When the local sangha I started to attend a couple of months ago announced that Venerated Lama Tsang Tsing would be visiting from India and offering the opportunity for three different empowerments, I was very excited. One such empowerment was for Chenrezi, a yidam who is the Tibetan version of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, or Guan Yin in China. To this Tibetan tradition, whose Chenrezi meditations I had attended for a little while, Chenrezi is the combined compassion of all of the Buddhas. It occurred to me that I may want to deepen my spiritual practice or just my compassion alone with this empowerment. So after receiving the okay from Guru Lucifer, I signed up.
Prior to the empowerment, the sangha provided a taking refuge ceremony for those who, like myself, hadn't before. Taking refuge is the formal initiation of a person into the Buddhist path. So this day was extremely important to me because I felt that I had done my initial explorations and studies of Buddhism, that I appreciated the values behind the religion, and that I could see myself devotionally committing to Buddhism for the rest of my life in some capacity. I wanted to be a Buddhist. Or, rather... I felt that I had finally been called to Buddhism 9 months ago after feeling an avid interest for some years prior and I was now answering the call.
I could feel the energy change in the room as soon as the ceremony began. As the Venerated Lama chanted, and eventually played music, it very much felt like a large number of associated spirits entered the space. To me, it felt like his teachers as well as his teachers' teachers were present.
Taking refuge during my sangha's ceremony involved coming up to the Venerated Lama in a line and giving consent for him to take a snip of your hair. Traditionally, the Lama of my sangha said, that you would shave your head. He jokingly asked the congregation if anyone wanted to shave their head before saying that they didn't have the equipment... Honestly, if they had, I would have done it. Although my hair is finally growing back from testosterone-induced loss thanks to thrice weekly red light therapy, I have struggled with my attachment to it for a better part of the last year. The symbolic relinquishing of it would have been really meaningful for me.
After my hair was lightly snipped, I received a dharma name in Tibetan. I teared up as soon as I saw it because it translates to "Sun of Wisdom" (Karma Yeshe Nyima). If you know me, you may know that the Sun is one of my resonating symbols. My offline name is directly related to the sun, I was born on a sunny July day with a sun-filled traditional western natal chart, and feel kin to the creative, generative, bright leadership power of the Sun. Additionally, Lucifer in the beginning of my Buddhist explorations instructed me to follow Manjushri, bodhisattva of wisdom. Although I self-admittedly fall short often, I do try to pursue wisdom as I grow and change throughout my life.
Once all of us who needed to take refuge had completed taking our dharma names, we bowed at the right knee. He chanted over us three times. We then were instructed to bow three times, putting our hands together at our foreheads, our throats, and our hearts per the traditional Tibetan form before fully going the ground and touching our foreheads to the floor. Having recently started a bowing regimen at home in order to improve my ability and willingness to submit to my allied spirits, I felt my energy give itself over to the Lama and to the lineage.
Afterward, the Lama led us in an empowerment of Chenrezi. The meditation practice is quite open to people, hence why I was able to attend Chenrezi meditations at the sangha before taking refuge (and to note, I have not taken samaya, which is a deepening of vows that allows one to pursue otherwise closed practices). Still, I don't think I will share much. I felt like I experienced an energetic effect more at the introduction to the empowerment than the empowerment itself, which is interesting. When the sangha announced and sent reminders of the empowerments, they quoted the Dalai Lama about how he gives empowerments to even those who don't seriously have a Buddhist practice because there are instances where such people become more motivated to establish practice after receiving the empowerments. I am curious if my self or practice will change in any way now that I have received this empowerment.
To be honest, while I am very thrilled for this milestone, I am not sure where my Buddhism will go from this point. I know it will go somewhere simply because I want it. While the Lama at the sangha has advised me to not mix Buddhist practices from different traditions lest I get confused, I wonder if I will explore more Tibetan Buddhist teachers. Maybe I will look into how to advance my relationship with Manjushri, who I so far keep a shrine to at home, bow to in the morning, and occasionally leave offerings of dried rose petals from my landlord's garden. In any case, I suspect I will not be waiting long to discover more as I walk the Buddhist path.
This weekend course focuses on how to properly practice Vajrayana methodologies of deity yoga (mantra and visualization). Learn how to participate in Empowerments and how to undertake sadhana practice.
This course includes a Guru Rinpoche and Yeshe Tsogyal wongkur empowerment. It is offered in-person at Clear Sky Meditation Centre, as well as online from your home.
