Ritual and Emptiness, an

Introduction to the Lion-Faced

 Dakini Practiceby Grand Master

Sheng-yen Lu, Living Buddha

Lian-sheng,

transcribed by TBSN UK Correspondent Jason Chau
from a simultaneous translation done by Janny Chow of the Purple Lotus Society, March 1998
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‘Ladies and gentlemen - I would like to, at the beginning of this transmission, first pay homage to Reverend Liao Ming, the Sixteenth Karmapa, Guru Tipten Tachi, Guru Sakya Chun-kung (all are human gurus of Grandmaster), we sincerely invoke all the lineage gurus to manifest and bless light on all of us, so that everything will be auspicious during this transmission of dharma. And to continue yesterday’s talk on this transmission of the Lion-faced Dakini practice. Yesterday, I mentioned that the practice could be summarized into two words - ‘Sze Mu’ (Lion-faced Dakini) practice (a Chinese pun which also sounds like ‘wife of the guru’). This student asked me if I can talk more about this ‘Sze Mu’ practice - but I had to consult with my wife first - but I will come back to the proper teaching of the dharma now.

As in all Tantrayana practice, you have to have the mantra, the mudra, and the visualization, because they all signify the purification of the body, mind and speech. When you enter into a state with all these elements purified, you will go into the realm of the secrets of the Buddhas. So by transforming the karmic hindrances, they can be produced by these three agencies by transforming (into) the purified states.

This is the mudra (Grandmaster demonstrates this), and you hold this mudra in front of your chest. And then do the visualization. As I have explained before, in doing the Tantrayana visualization, you must always have these three sections.

The whole universe is actually represented by the word ‘She Kung’ - which literally means ‘Emptiness’. At first, there are none of these things or phenomenon, and from there, out of this emptiness, everything is generated. Everything arises from this Emptiness.

And what represents Emptiness? A moon disc. And from the moon disc, everything is arisen. So when we do the visualization, in the first step, we visualise the emptiness, which is represented by the moon disc.
In the Bible, in the Book of Genesis, it talks about how this world was created. It talks about how God took a rib from Adam to create Eve. And then is formed a couple, and they have two children. And, according to the Bible, one of their sons killed the other son - and this son is called Cain. And then Cain married and had more children. But now, here is a mystery (audience laughter) - there’s a problem in this - who is the wife of Cain? So who has created Cain’s wife? When you have studied the Bible for a long time, you believe what the Bible says. But who created his wife? Maybe Buddha Shakyamuni did! (audience laughter).

In the Bible, it talks about two bodies of light - the Sun and the Moon. But later on, the scientists learned that the Moon’s light is a reflection from the Sun. So if you are standing on the Moon and look out, you would also see two lights - one would be the Earth and the other would be the Sun. So it wasn’t very clear, only from reading the Bible that one of lights which gives off light onto another is just a reflected light.

Back to our Tantrayana visualization - in the first step, you visualize the moon disc, and on the moon disc there is a seed syllable. Padmasambhava is an emanation of Amitabha - so the Lion-faced Dakini is an emanation of Padmasambhava. Therefore it is also from Amitabha. There is this seed syllable ‘Hre’ on the moon disc. And then you visualize the seed syllable ‘Hre’ transforming into Padmasambhava. In an instant Padmasambhava, transforms into the Lion-faced Dakini. This Dakini is like a female lion, and his body is blue in color. Most of the Dharma Protectors are dark blue in color, and have one face with two arms. And the body is naked.

Some people will ask ‘How come these statues are naked?’. This is fine because they are from the Dharmakaya realm. When you are from the Dharma body realm - they are usually represented by nakedness, which represents Purity. Because in that state, all their Body, Mind and Speech are completely purified, that is why they are presented by nakedness.

The Dakini’s right hand is holding a knife, and the left hand is holding a skull. The right leg is slightly bent while the left leg is extended. And he is stepping on a corpse - the corpse representing demons. So after you make this visualization, then you visualize this dakini blessing you with the three lights. We always talk about the blessing of the three lights, so visualize the ‘Om’ syllable from the brow point, emitting off white light; there is an ‘Ah’ syllable emitting a red light from the throat, and the ‘Hum’ syllable emitting a blue beam of light from the heart.

After these three beams of lights touch your brow point, throat and heart respectively, then in an instant, you’re transformed into a dakini yourself. So out of emptiness, you give rise to this.
So first of all, you have from this emptiness, and you have the manifestation of dakini which is very far away, and then after the blessing you become one and merge in this yogic union. And this dakini also has Padmasambhava sitting on the top, and in her heart chakra there is a seed syllable ‘Hum’. And surrounding this seed syllable is a blue light. These beams of light are revolving around the heart chakra, and these beams are very sharp - like swords. It will be able to shred all kinds of obstacles and hindrances.

When we form the mudra, it represents purification of our body, and when you engage in the visualisation, you are engaging in the purification of the mind.

I have talked before on why we do visualisation in Tantrayana practice - because this is to engage your mind to one point of focus - focus your mind onto one image. And this is to stop you from having all these other random thoughts. By these three different stages - in the first step you have the moon disc; in the second step you have the seed syllable; and in the third step you have the personal deity appearing. Buddha Shakyamuni has said that if you are able to bring your mind back, and focus on one point, then you’ll be able to accomplish many things. This kind of thought has to be a very subtle kind of thought. The more subtle you can bring your mind - the more subtle the level is when you bring your mind to it, then you will generate a greater power. So completely engage your mind on the Lion-faced Dakini. If you are indeed going into a subtle stage of mind, then you can indeed invoke the real Lion-faced Dakini to appear. When you are doing this visualization, you are actually training your mind, by bringing it into the most subtle level of thought. The more subtle the level you can go into, the more you can invoke the Dakini to appear and become one with you. Eventually you will reach the one point, and when it becomes true, then indeed you yourself become the Dakini. You feel you are in complete union with the deity.

Actually, all these practices are creations, created by us to help you to become one with the most subtle of consciousness. As stated in the Diamond Sutra, even a Buddhadharma is just a tool. So all these visualizations are tools only that we create to help us to do this type of practice. Actually what is true and what is illusory is just only one thought. It all depends on your thought. So all these different steps of practices; armor protection; mandala offering; mantra chanting; and doing the prostration - all these are just tools. Visualization is also a tool. It helps to transform your mind, and bring it to the really subtle level. When you can reach the subtle level, then the illusory becomes the absolute, and you can really go into the absolute dimension of mind. So all of these can be transformed by a power that can be achieved by the transformation of the mind.

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