Sweeping away the obstacles, bad karma, bad luck and negativities of the old year, going into a new year with a purified “clean slate”, is an important lunar New Year practice in Buddhism. (This Year Losar falls on Feb 10. Purification practices ideally should be performed Feb 3-9.)

It’s also an important practice before formal retreats, important ventures and dedications, or any important “launch” of something new. Or, just anytime. It is critical to purify negative karma endlessly, since our lives are impermanent.

Vajrasattva practice is certainly the most popular purification and renewal process for “year-end.” Prior to Losar or Lunar New Year, it is important to do a de-clutter and cleanse. Starting off the New Year with blessings and offerings to the Three Jewels is important, but first, we try to purify the stains from the previous year.

Vajrasattva, which combines all the principles of karmic purification, is the ultimate Buddhist practice for clearing obstacles, negativities, curses, evil intentions of others, and our own internal demons. Simply reciting his 100-syllable mantra while visualizing white cleansing light filling our bodies — when combined with the four powers of Refuge or dependence on the Three Jewels, Regret and of our past negative actions, the Remedy of the mantra and visualization, and the intention to Refrain in future.

These are called the four Rs in short:

• Refuge (or Rely, if you prefer)
• Regret
• Remedy
• Refrain.

By setting our minds and intentions to the remedies at the end of the year, we start the new year off fresh and clean, ready to accumulate Dharma merit through virtuous practices, giving, and compassion.

Related

• For a feature on the different “New Years” in different traditions, see>>

Beautiful Chanting of Vajrasattva’s 100-Syllable Mantra in Sacred Sanskrit:

Understanding the Significance of Lunar Year End in Buddhism

Being attuned to the cyclical flow of time, Tibetan Buddhists attach profound significance to the end of the lunar year. It is seen not just as a temporal conclusion but as a pivotal period of purification, preparation, and transition — to be followed by renewal and new, pure beginnings in the new year.

The end of the lunar year, seen as a symbolic dissolution of the old, allows individuals to cleanse their spiritual slate of negative karma accumulated over the year. But, this is more than “cleaning the slate” for an individual. In Buddhist belief, groups, social groups, countries, and worlds all have their own accumulative karma. This manifests as turmoil, war, epidemic, strife, poverty, environmental instability and other ways. The goal of our practice is always to benefit all sentient beings, not just ourselves. We set out to do our part in deploying the four Rs for our wider group of regions, countries, cultures. We collectively take Refuge in the Three Jewels, regret our actions as a group, agree to remedy our bad behaviors, and Refrain from them in the future.

Vajrasattva’s 100-Syllable Purifying Mantra in Sanskrit (see video below for pronunciation and chanting!)

Oṃ Vajrasattva
samayam anupālaya
Vajrasattva tvenopatiṣṭha
dṛḍho me bhava
sutoṣyo me bhava
supoṣyo me bhava
anurakto me bhava
sarva siddhiṃ me prayaccha
sarva karma sucha me
chittaṃ śreyaḥ kuru hūṃ
ha ha ha ha ho
ḥbhagavan
sarva tathāgata vajra
mā me muñcha
vajrī bhava
mahā samaya sattva āḥ

Purifying Practices is the Main Symbolic Activity

In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, this is done primarily through a series of purifying practices and rituals which aim to clear emotional, mental, and spiritual obstacles. As a group we do temple or town-wide practices. As an individual we might practice alone, or join purication mantras and chanting online for live events, or even pre-recorded events.

These preparations before the Lunar New Year, known as ‘Losar’, target the resolution of negative patterns, attitudes, and actions. This aids in fostering a conducive environment for spiritual growth in the upcoming year. Central to this process is the usage of purification practices, which the Vajrasattva practice epitomizes.

The Vajrasattva practice, a well-respected purification ritual in the Vajrayana tradition, utilizes visualization, mantra recitation, and meditation to clear karmic imprints. It’s recommended that committed practitioners engage in such rituals with sincere intent, helping to expunge not only the root of negative karma, but its prospective recurrence.¹

Additional activities incorporated during this time include making and consuming special foods, lighting butter lamps, and offering donations to monks or spiritual centers. These deeds are believed to generate positive karma and set a positive foundation for the approaching lunar year.²

Therefore, the advent of Losar in Tibetan Buddhism is not just about welcoming the new, but also addressing and clearing the old effectively. The process of renewal involves sincere introspection, purging harmful patterns, and setting intentions for the path ahead, fostering a holistic transition into the new year.

Vajrasattva Practice: Purification before the Lunar New Year

Even if Vajrasattva is not your Yidam, he is always the main go-to purification practice. Before starting anything new — even mundane things, such as projects at work, or moving to a new home — it is traditional to purify the old before taking on the new.

• For an in-deth feature on Vajrasattva practice see>>

In the case of the New Year, that’s the entire year. For samaller projects and ambitions, the same principle applies: Refuge (or Rely), Regret, Remedy, Refrain.

Refuge

This practice is ultimately simple. First, as with any Buddhist practice, we take Refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, the Three Jewels. This can be as simple as:

I take Refuge in the Three Jewels: Buddha, Dharma and Sangha until I reach Enlightenment.

Usually, you state your refuge three times to set your intention clearly.

It is best to make offerings, even if they just mental offerings, to signify sincerity, but also to generate merit. The act of giving at any time of the year, is aupsicious and good karma. If you’d like your year end purification to be symbolized by a real action, rather than a visualized offering, this is the time of year to make extra donations to your favorite Dharma charity or other types of compassionate activity or charity. If you cannot donate money, you donate time. The idea is to make offerings in the spirit of your Dharma practice.

Regret

Now, for the remaining Rs: Regret, Remedy, and Refrain.

Meditate for a moment on what you regret. What, over the last year, do you regret the most. Especially focus not on guilt, which is not the point, but on recognizing it was negative so that you can move on to remedy and refrain. After you’ve meditated (short or long) on your shortcomings over the last year, you move on to remedy.

Remedy

Remedy in meditation takes symbolic and tangible forms. With most Buddhist practices it is important to involve the Body, Speech and Mind. You are here in Body, and you visualize the “body” of Vajrasattva. Speech is the mantra, which is more than a collection of sounds. It’s a centuries-proven method of focusing the mind on purification. You invoke the help of Vajrasattva and supplicate purification. The sound of the mantra is sound.

Your visualization is light. You visualize Vajrasattva as clearly as you can in front of you (or in whatever method was taught by your teacher.) Purifying white light, peaceful, pacifying light emits from the heart of Vajrasattva and enters the crown of your head. The light floods down from your crown chakra at the top of your head, from chakra to chakra until your entire body is fight with purifying radiance. The light is so intense and warm and comforting.

Mind is your regret and your refrain promise. No one is going to police you, but yourself. Your mind is the the karma police. Set your mind on your regret and your promise to refrain from the negative conduct in future.

Keep reciting over and over, until you everything but the sound of the mantra and your visualization fades away. You focus only on Vajrasattva and the sound of the mantra.

Refrain and the Eight Rights

Now, with the New Year, this year starting February 10, 2024, work on the Refrain aspects. The main teachings of Buddha, the Eightfold Path, is a conduct practice. He taught in terms of the the Eight Rights (Buddha didn’t teach “don’t do this” he taught “do this”) Specifically, he taught, at Deer Park in his first teaching:

“This is the noble eightfold way, namely, right understanding, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right attention, right concentration, and right meditation.” — Shakyamuni Buddha at Deerpark

Refraining is as simple — or not so simple as — following Buddha’s teaching on conduct: the Eightfold Path.

Of course, we all slip. Ideally, rather than wait until the end of your next year, you can remember to do a short, daily Vajrasattva session to purify as you go forward. Why take so much baggage into a lucky New Year?

Key Practices in the Last Week of the Lunar Year in Buddhism

Aside from Purification practices, what else is customer before the Lunar New Year?

Before Tibetan New Year, or Loosar, arrives it’s important to prepare! To mark the end of the old year and beginning of the new one, it is important to clean the home and create a relaxed environment. Shopping for food, clothes and traditional decor also sets tibetan households into a festive spirit.

Families often buy special cuisine like momos or sel roti for celebration treats! People decorate their yards with colorful prayer flags and hang garlands made from wildflowers. On New Year’s Eve there is even more hustle as family members finish (or start!) preparations for big feasts and gatherings. With good tidings and wishes of joy by candlelight, it’s time to count down until Tibetan New Year though we are never done with preparing… Losar is made up of fifteen days of celebrations after all!

 

Happy Losar 2024 on Feb 10 this year!

15 Days Before New Year

Preparing for the actual day is often more involved than the celebrations! (For preparations, see below.)

Running up to New Year, Tibetan Buddhists especially, undertake purification practices, especially Vajrasattva and other practices in the last 5 days of the old year — that help us remove obstacles, negative karmas, and situations going into the New Year.

Traditionally, celebrants will prepare for Losar by

• Cleaning their houses (sweeping away the misfortunes of the previous year) — before New Year. It is not considered lucky to sweep for the first few days of the actual New Year as you might (sweep away the new good luck.)
• Buddhist monasteries and gompas will perform rituals on this last day, the famous mask dances, which symbolically drive away the negative forces of the old year.
• Traditionally, a person should not clean their house for the first few days of Losar to symbolically preserve the luck.
• Serious Buddhists might spend the last five or more days on purification practices such as Vajrasattva and Vajrakilaya. There will often be protector pujas, for example to Palden Lhamo, the great protectress of Tibet and the Dalai Lama. [More about Palden Lhamo here>>]
• In monasteries and traditional Tibetan Buddhist areas, Cham Dance is typically performed during Losar — a special Buddhist ritual dance that is performed in order to drive away evil spirits. See our feature on Cham Dance>>

What are some of the traditions associated with LOSAR, and how can you participate even if you’re not Tibetan Buddhist yourself?

If you’re feeling a bit left out when it comes to celebrating traditional Tibetan Buddhist festivities, then Losar is the perfect celebration to get involved in!

Everyone can participate in this exciting event. It’s the traditional New Year for Tibetans and marks the beginning of their new year. It also marks 15 sacred days — but even if you’re not Buddhist, you can enjoy the festivities which range from traditional ceremonies to feasting to music, concerts and dance celebrations. If you have an opportunity to watch a traditional Cham Dance, don’t miss it!

Many celebrants share food with their friends and family or indulge in the ceremonial tsampa, an average dish of roasted barley flour mixed with butter and tea.

Astronomical observations act as a common tradition throughout LOSAR as well, which involve looking at the first sunrise, and often checking out your lunar horoscope for the year ahead.

Tashi Delek! “Auspicious Wishes!”

Other traditions include exchanging gifts and wishing loved ones good luck during this time, offering khatas to older relatives, phoning all your family and friends even if you can’t see them to wish them well, with a hearty “Tashi Delek” (བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས) — which can translate as “auspicious wishes.”

What are some of the best ways to celebrate LOSAR 2023, whether you’re in Tibet or elsewhere in the world?

Celebrating Losar 2023 can be a blast, no matter where you are in the world! Think of Losar 2023 as an occasion to celebrate friendships and come together as one no matter which corner of the world you reside in!

On New Year’s Day, people usually wake up early and take a bath before donning new clothes. Afterward, they traditionally place offerings of dough called Torma on the family shrines to begin their annual praying ceremony. The creative designs created from this special pastry make for an exciting experience!

Usually, the family will come together to enjoy a celebration dinner, offering presents and tokens of appreciation. In Tibetan households, Kapse cake and Chang alcoholic drink are customary items served during this meal.

Traditionally, everything should be symbolically new — new clothes, new food (no leftovers!), new enthusiasm for the year ahead.

On the second day of Gutor, a multitude of religious rituals take place — the first day of the year is mostly family, the second day is for Dharma practice and to honor the Sangha. People are encouraged to honor and respect their teachers, Rinpoches, guides, and the monk and nun community by making donations to local monasteries, Dharma centers are other groups that help propagate Dharma.

LOSAR Shrine Offerings

If you have a shrine, replace all offerings with fresh and elaborate new offerings.

The most iconic culinary item featured during Losar is the scrumptious New Year deep-fried cookies known as khapse — which make ideal shrine offerings as well! For offering, you will usually find piles of different types of khapse and often multi-colored candies. To make a stunning display for their shrines, we often adorn them with an abundance of cookies, candies, fresh fruit, and dried fruits to create aesthetically pleasing arrangements that are teeming with freshness.

All the “sensory” offerings should be as elaborate and fresh as possible to signify your generous offerings and help bring in an auspicious year, especially

• tea
• flowers
• beautiful objects
• sounds (try looping some celebratory music or mantras on a player)
• light — plenty of bright lights and cheeriness
• khatas (white scarves) which can be placed around statues or other objects on your shrine.
• seven (or eight) bowls of water to symbolize the sensory offerings (or, ideally, multiple rows of water bowls!) Waters represent purity and blessings.

Seven (or eight) bowls of water represent the seven sensory offerings (or eight if you include “sound”) which reflect how we welcome guests to a dinner:

• Argam: water for drinking
• Padyam: water for washing
• Pushpe: flowers
• Dhupe: scents or incense
• Aloke (or Dipe): lights or butter lamps
• Ghande: scented water or perfume
• Naividya: food
• Shabda: sound (this one is isn’t always a bowl, since we make sounds when we pray, celebrate and recite mantras.

The ultimate offering is your own Dharma practice and activities.

Nothing inspires more debate amongst Buddhists, than the notion of rebirth. There’s no doubt the Buddha spoke often about rebirth, Samsara, suffering, karma and escaping the cycle. Many modern Buddhists tend to avoid or ignore the topic on the basis of modern sensibilities, rationalization and logic. After all, Buddha didn’t teach us how to stay in the cycle of rebirth — but to escape it.

• For more on Rebirth, Reincarnation and Karma — with many fun and educational videos — visit our sister Youtube Channel TrueRebirth @truerebirth

Yet, escaping rebirth and Samsara, and breaking the cycle of Karma is not the same thing as denying it. In other words, Rebirth, Samsara and Karma are all obstacles and problems to be solved — and Buddha prescirbed the cure for our malady. But, that’s not the same as saying “rebirth isn’t important” or denying its possibility.

Modern day cause and effect

Yes, today, modern Buddhists think of Karma as “cause and effect” in our present lives. We use mindfulness to stay aware of cause and effect and prevent negative karma. But, many of the teachings of the Buddha dealt with overcoming karma imprints from previous lives. One of the early recording teachings were on the topic of Buddha’s previous lives. Obviously, it was an accepted concept. In the time of Buddha — and for most Buddhist’s today — rebirth and karma and samsara are very real.

Of course, many modern, rational and secular Buddhist just ignore it, even though there is certainly a body of anecdotal evidence for rebirth and previous lives. No, we’re not saying science has firmly come done on the side of — objectively proven! However, there is a solid body of very credible evidence — enough so that notable scientists, phsycisists, quantum physicists, psychiatrists and others remain receptively open to the possibility. Some are swayed by the body of anecdotal evidence. It’s certainly not going to stand up to peer-reviewed publication, but it’s convincing, never the less.

To hundreds of millions of people, rebirth, or reincarnation, is a powerful, widely accepted belief. (They’re not the same thing, but more on this later.)  In many parts of the “East” it’s just accepted as fact; meanwhile, in the “west” Buddhist teachings on rebirth are often described as a “metaphor”, a skillful means designed to simplify teachings. (Many westerners do not have a belief or notion of rebirth.)

Is there evidence or rebirth or reincarnation — one, or both? It was, and remains today, a belief widely accepted by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Why does it persist as a belief, in this age of science and logic?

Video with Oprah Winfrey “Reincarnation Proved”:

In part, it persists because there is some scientific anecdotal evidence of Rebirth—and no absolute proof that it doesn’t exist. Why does it even matter, especially when the Buddha taught a way to “escape” the cycle of suffering and rebirth? Because, as long as there is suffering, rebirth as a belief will persist, in part as an “explanation” of our suffering.

Why is There Suffering?

“Have you ever wondered why some people in the world are born so poor? And, on the other hand, some people are born so rich? Have you ever wondered why some babies are born with illness and others are fine? Do you ever wonder why life seems so unfair?”

To many people, there is a logical reason behind it—and some science to support it. It’s called Rebirth or Reincarnation. Hundreds of millions of people in the world—Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, Gnostic faiths (including early Christians) and many others—believe in reincarnation or rebirth. But is there proof that of reincarnation/rebirth? Some noted psychiatrists and scientists claim that there is, some of which were widely published in Journals.

Ian Stevenson Collected “Irrefutable Evidence”

The best known evidence is the work of Ian Stevenson, who spent fifteen years collecting data from over 4500 people who spontaneously recalled past lives. According to Dr. Robert Almeder of Georgia State University, “This was important research, empirical research and I could not think of any alternative explanation as plausible for the data as that some people reincarnate.”

Video featuring Dr. Ian Stevenson’s theories and evidence:

It is Irrational to Disbelieve Reincarnation?

Dr. Almeder continues: “As a matter of a fact, some people, after reading the data… said “look, it’s not unreasonable to believe in reincarnation”…. My reaction was stronger. My reaction to the data was that it’s irrational to disbelieve it. A lot of people thought that went over the top, that it was too strong a claim. I meant it in a very simple way, that if you have a very commanding argument that you can’t refute, not to accept the argument is to act irrationally. ” He goes on to say that there’s a very strong argument in Stevenson’s data that has not been refuted.

Dr. Stevenson himself said, “It’s not unreasonable to believe, because this is the best fit on the data.” One of the reasons why the data is not refutable is the presentation of supporting historical facts: the spontaneous memories of children 2-4 years old. These children had no exposure to past live history information, yet unfailingly gave details of past lives that were verifiable.

Some Children Had Birthmarks Supporting Claims

In Dr. Stevenson’s studies “some people had birthmarks or birth defects that corresponded to the injury in their past lives, said Dr. Phang Cheng Kar, a noted psychiatrist. These injuries or birthmarks were supported with medical or autopsy reports. “It’s very convincing.”

Almeder goes on to say “[This means] by implication that human beings are more than their bodies, that a personality, in the end, is not reducible to a statement about biochemical states, brain states, biological properties produced by brain states.”

Reincarnation is the concept where the mind or spirit is reborn after the physical body has died. The mind can be reborn as a new human being or into various other states, depending on the causes created by the previous life. Hence the disparity in our various states of being. Reincarnation is not the same as rebirth. Reincarnation tends to involve a belief in the soul (atman) reincarnating (typically a Hindu belief), while rebirth considers the aggregates of consciousness, energy or mind stream (as it’s expressed in Buddhism).

Absence of Proof is not Proof of Non-Existence

Most science is built around the notions of proof. However, where there is an absence of proof (for example, “does God exist” or “are we reborn?”), it is not correct for scientists to say it doesn’t exist. They can, properly, say, they don’t believe it, or do believe it based on their own beliefs or experience, but they cannot say absolutely, by evidence, that God or rebirth don’t exist. Even the “theory of Evolution” is a theory (despite a preponderance of evidence.) That leaves probabilities. A scientist might believe it’s probable or improbable there is rebirth, but not that there is or there isn’t (as a fact, not a belief.)

In absence of absolute evidence of rebirth we must then consider the preponderance of evidence — which anecdotally points to the existence of rebirth. It is more likely, than not, if one looks at the evidence, rather than one’s own feelings on the matter.

Quantum Physics and Rebirth

Interestingly, rebirth is somewhat supportable by modern day Quantum Physics — again, theoretically. Roger Ebert, in his article “The Quantum Theory of Reincarnation” stated it well from a “layman” point of view:

“Everything, consists of quantum particles. These particles can as well be in one place as another, even at the same time. We, ourselves, consist entirely in and of this material. Our identities, our names, our personalities, our beliefs, opinions, senses of humor–indeed, what we think of as our minds. We consist of one-dimensional bits of the cosmic total. And we might just as well be different bits–elsewhere–because the “self” is essentially an organizing principle which we have imposed upon this chaos…”

Mr Ebert’s succinct and clarifying statement fits both the scientific view of the universe, and, shockingly, a very Buddhist perspective. The references to “self” as an organizing principle, is very nearly the plunge into the heart of the Heart Sutra. 

“Therefore, our identities were assembled from this quantum material…”Mr. Ebert continues, “by the organizing principle of our conception of ourselves. We bring ourselves into being. Our consciousness is the gravitation. We came from whirling nothing, we return to whirling nothing. The dust we came from and the dust to which we return are not really there, but thinking makes it so… But the puzzle is, what reality does Everything have, apart from my thinking of it?” 

Mr. Ebert’s musings are not only unsettlingly sharp and thought-provoking, they strike at the “soul” of the rebirth argument. We’re all made of quantum particles (or stardust as we romantically referred to it a few years back), so what is there that dies? Is it simply a re-“organizing principle imposed on chaos”? Is it just our conception of ourselves changing?

If those arguments all sound too theoretical and mind-bending, we can return, at least, to the concrete world of Doctor Stevenson, or perhaps to more “everyday” physics, such as Einstein’s law of relativity E=MC2.

Basically, matter in the universe simply cannot be destroyed. You could think of it as recycling. Converting. Changing. But it never extinguishes. Scientists now theorize that the Great Bang at the beginning of the Universe was not a beginning but rather a “restart” or the rebirth of the Universe, a cycle that repeats over and over throughout eternity.

Rebirth Fits the Model of Physics

Matter becomes energy. Energy becomes matter. Mindstream, in Buddhist thought, (referred to with different terms/descriptions) is basically energy. Science does tend to support, at least partially, the notion that mind is perhaps a field of energy rather than brain matter. (See Buddha Weekly’s feature How is the Mind Different from the Brain? Science May Support the Duality of Separate Mind and Brain) If the mind is energy—a concept gaining scientific acceptance—it is more reasonable to assume rebirth is possible, than the reverse, especially when you consider the work of Doctor Stevenson. In absence of contrary evidence, rebirth fits the model of physics. Extinction does not. While there may not be clear scientific proof of rebirth—yet—conceptually, rebirth is a better fit with science than extinction. As Dr. Stevenson said, “It’s not unreasonable to believe, because this is the best fit on the data.”

Scientific Proof

Is there scientific proof of reincarnation? Proof, no. Theoretical support, certainly in part. The models we accept today for how the universe works are a better fit with rebirth than oblivion of life. And the extensive evidence collected by people like Doctor Stevenson makes it easier to believe than not.

Dr. Phang Cheung Kar (M.D.): “In studies on reincarnation by a the psychiatrist, the late Dr. Ian Stevenson from University of Virginia, Dr. Stevenson has collected more than 4,500 cases of spontaneous previous life recall. When I say spontaneous, I mean people who spontaneously, not through dreams, not through hypnosis, not through other methods, simply recall a past life. A typical case would be children around 2-4 who just make statements about their past life. They say things like “you’re not my mom, you’re not my dad” and they make statements referring to their past lives.”

Our Series on Rebirth and Reincarnation continues in part 2>>

One way of viewing Karma is as an aggregate of all of our actions, thoughts, words, dreams, desires into a user-controlled version of fate — that is you control your fate instead of some invisible higher being.

Another concept of karma, aligned to both mystical sciences and scientific mysticism (Quantum Physics), is that karma are the empowering energy connections that bind us to the universe through all of time and space. Then, there is the simplified notion of karma: every deed has a consequence. Even the most basic karmic concepts still align well with basic physics: for every action there will be an equal and opposite reaction.

Buddhist belief in karma is rooted deeply in teachings on Samsara, the Buddhist Wheel of Life and the important concept of attachment as a root cause of suffering. You don’t have to literally believe in rebirth, the principal of cause and effect influencing future suffering, to appreciate the elegance of karma as a concept. This is beautiful illustrated in various stunning and frightening depictions of the wheel of suffering (top image.)

Why Karma is actually empowering

Karma is an empowering concept, unlike the belief in fate that grew out of ancient Greece, or the Biblical belief story of Job that illustrates how helpless man is against the will of God. With Karma, we are in the “driver’s seat” not a god or some whimsical “fates” playing around with our destiny. The formula is an easy one. Good deeds and merits bring auspicious consequences; negative deeds result in negative outcomes — in the end.  The “result” is rarely immediate, but it is certain. The good news — we can control our own outcomes.

Buddhism teaches Karmic consequences. Buddhism also has remedies. For example, mindfulness can be a remedy for negative karmic actions — if we are mindful, we will not trigger negative actions. Mindfulness, or staying in the present, is a remedy for clinging. If we don’t dwell on happy or sad memories, what is there to adhere to? If we don’t hope and dream about a better future, what is there to be worried about? Understanding karma, likewise helps us move past attachment to ourselves, and generates a genuine compassion for everyone else.

Karma is not fate

If you believe in fate, you believe we are helpless. This is not a Buddhist concept. Buddhism, ultimately is a very practical, and also individual-centric practice in the sense that we all have the potentiality to be Buddhas or Bodhisattvas. And, we achieve that through adhering to various precepts which also help us overcome both clinging and karmic consequences. If we follow the precepts, karmic consequences are positive.

Buddha, ultimately, taught a self-help path to Enlightenment. Understanding karma, we can develop many important insights. Living mindfully with Karma, we can rapidly move along the self-path to Enlightenment.  Siddartha Gautama Buddha showed us that understanding karma is empowering. Buddha gives us hope that no matter what negative karma we have accumulated in this, and previous, lives, it can be overcome.

The EightFold Path and Four Noble Truths

The Eightfold Path is Buddha’s prescription for an end to suffering. Shakyamuni Buddha taught the “middle way”, avoiding extremes, based on the Four Noble Truths:

1. Life is suffering.
2. The origin of suffering is wrong knowledge, which results in misunderstanding (ignorance), attachment (craving), and aversion.
3. The cessation of suffering is attainable.
4. The Eightfold Path leads to the cessation of suffering.

The Eightfold Path, bound up in the important concept of karma, teaches two wisdom, three ethical and three mental development methods for generating positive karma and escaping the Wheel of Suffering:

• Right View
• Right Intention
• Right Speech
• Right Action
• Right Livelihood
• Right Effort
• Right Mindfulness
• Right Concentration

Types of Karma

Although there are slightly different interpretations of karmic types, varying somewhat from Vedic belief to Buddhist, the overall concept is similar across most people who practice with karma. Depending on your teacher or belief system there are basically four types of karma:

• Sanchita Karma, which is the aggregate total of all of our action karma in previous lifetimes, which set the stage for our condition in the current life.
• Praradha Karma, our past karmic consequences in the past actions of our current lifetime. Some practices, such as mantra practice, Vajrayana practice, and other advanced practices can actually help mitigate this karma, even though traditionally it is said that we can’t do much to alter events as a consequence of Praradha karma. Good deeds or positive karma can also help offset negative past karma.
• Agami Karma are the actions in our present lifetime that will affect our future lives or incarnations — the Christian concept of “as you sow, so shall you reap” but advanced across future lives. Positive actions, following the precepts, charity, compassion, and practice all accumulate for optimum karma in future incarnations.
• Kriyamana Karma is the most intense form of karma, the one we see in our daily lives, where our current actions (good and bad) result in immediate consequences. Negative actions may result in retribution. Positive actions may, in this lifetime, be returned in kind. It is also know as immediate karma.

Working with Karma

The very concept of karma is encouraging, positive and uplifting, even if you come to realize you’ve accumulated negative karma. The very nature of karma shows us the remedy, both in this life and future lives. Truly repentant people who accumulate merit and good deeds without clinging to pride of accomplishment, can very well take charge of their positive future karmic outcome.

A mantra practice, which also helps create focused mindfulness, can be a positive practice in remedying negative karma. Vajrasattva purification mantras, or any Yidam mantra, can be most effective if mindfully practiced. Compassionate acts, charity, avoiding killing (including the practice of eating meat, and mindfully avoiding killing insects) all help move karma from the deficit column, gradually but genuinely, into the asset column.

Unlike fate, karma gives us hope, in this lifetime, and almost immediately, of a better life and lives for everyone.

Ultimately, karma is empowering and inspiring.

With activities of building the mandala with gems or rice and mudras, we purify our bodies.

With sound and mantra and the offering words we purify our speech.

With visualization — transforming our “mandala set” into an entire Pureland universe as an offering — we purify our mind.

With the complete activity, we offer our transformed body, speech and mind to our Gurus and the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

Modern life — so little merit

Modern life affords us so little time to practice accumulating merit and purification — and so many opportunities to generate negative karma. Modern life also tends to create many excuses to postpone — just for today. Who has time for daily offerings? It’s all most of us can do to fit in ten minutes of meditation. Isn’t it better to attend the next Vajrasattva Retreat or Empowerment than to take ten minutes a day for offerings?

The solution — a five to ten-minute mandala offering. Done properly, it is a complete merit and purification practice. It purifies all three of body, speech and mind.

Time is the first issue. The second, in terms of modern life, is the seemingly antiquated references in the mandala ritual to continents, elephants and jewels. These are symbols — and they connote not only external cosmos and universe as an offering, but also internal cosmos of our own bodies. For this reason, Mandala can be thought of as one of the supreme offerings.

The second issue is sometimes cost. Many teachers recommend having the “nicest set you can afford” simply because we wish to offer the best to the Enlightened Ones, but gold, gold plated or sterling sets can require a mortgage. Fortunately, there are inexpensive sets on stores such as Amazon (not vouching for this one — please shop around, there are many beautiful ones out there — but I found it randomly, but the price is right at about $69>> (This is an affiliate link. The price is unchanged, but BW may receive a small percentage.)

The mandala offering is actually an offering of all Universes and dimensions — not mythical continents — with Jambudvipa (the southern continent) representing our known perceptual universe. All the other named “continents” and sub-continents are dimensions and universes beyond our world. [More on the “modern mandala of universes” below.]

[A 37-Heap offering mandala ritual below, with activities.]

Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains:

You can also increase the merit of the offering by imagining that you’re offering many universes, as many as you can imagine. After constructing the mandala, imagine beams of light going out in all directions from the mandala. On the end of each beam is another mandala. Then from each of these mandalas emanate beams of light with a mandala on the end of each, and so on. Another way of multiplying the mandala is to imagine another whole universe on each atom of the first mandala, and then another universe on each of those universes’ atoms, etc. You can also imagine a duplicate image of yourself making a mandala offering in each atom of space. The entire space becomes filled with mandalas.

Although the mandala base is small, you must imagine everything in the universe on it. It’s like seeing many objects reflected in a tiny water bubble, or looking at a mountain through the eye of a needle, or looking at a city from an airplane. It’s very important to think that all these objects actually exist. The imagined symbol of the universe does exist as a creation of the mind.

Mandala combines meditation, purification, offerings

Mandala set offerings is a practice that combines the best of meditation, mantra, purification, and offerings in one very powerful act, and many teachers, as early as the great Lama Tsongkhapa, advocate this critical practice as a daily essential. It purifies negative karma and accumulates merit not just for ourselves, but for all beings. (Full Mandala offering method at end of this article.)

Mandala offering is a powerful method for accumulating extensive merit in a short time. The Tibetan word for mandala is kyil.kor: kyil is essence, kor is taking—taking the essence. The term means taking the essence on the base of offering a mandala, and what you get from this is merit—the cause. Therefore the essence you take is the generation of the whole path, from guru devotion up to enlightenment, as well as the result, the unification of the dharmakaya and rupakaya. The cause is merit, the path; and the result is enlightenment. — Lama Zopa Rinpoche [1]

Modern Concepts of Mandala — External and Internal Cosmos

When we offer a mandala, as heaps of rice or gems, these are symbols representing a visualized cosmos, both external universes, and internal cosmos. In the spoken offering of the mandala, we list Mount Meru, Videha, Jambudipa, Godaniya as continents — which can strike some meditators as “quaint” by today’s standards. Only Jampudipa is recognizable to us — this represents our entire universe as we perceive it. The rest — Mout Meru, Videya, and the others — are concepts for other dimensions and realities outside of our experience.

This is what makes the Mandala set offering so striking and profound. We visualize offering not only ourselves, or simple sensory objects to the Buddha, but a vast cosmos of known and unknown universes, times, dimensions, and realities — and our own internal mental cosmos. If done correctly, visualized in this context, the offering merit is vast.

In Tibetan Buddhism, there are many types of Mandalas, which we symbolically purify and offer to the Enlightened Ones, the Buddhas. These include

• Mandala Set with rings, gems, or grains — think of this as the “everything” offering; all internal and external factors purified and offered
• Body Mandala — our internal body cosmos of channels and chakras and sensory organs
• Pureland Mandalas and Sand Mandalas — visualizing the Purelands of the Enlightened Ones as offerings
• Mudra Offerings — using the hand gestures as “symbols” or “stand-ins” for the mandala.

Of these, the most emphasized practice in most Tibetan Buddhist traditions is the Mandala set. It reinforces our visualization with activities and sound, making it a complete offering of Body, Speech, and Mind. It helps us recognize the vastness of all external, unseen, and internal phenomena. It helps us understand the Emptiness of all phenomena.

Many traditions coach students to undertake 100,000 of these offerings as a “foundation” practice. Most Sadhanas, of almost any Englithened Yidam, include one or multiple mandala offerings. This isn’t just “settling the stage” for our minds. This is literally about “offering the entire universe” — purified through visualization and mantra — to the Enlightened Ones. The merit is as vast as the universe we offer.

Lama Tsongkhapa — One Million Mandalas

Even the great Lama Tsongkhapa, an enlightened being, practiced daily, focusing especially on purification and increasing of merit. Manjushri, at one point, advised the famous enlightened scholar to put aside scholarly pursuits and focus on purification and offering of the mandala. It was as a result of this, we are taught, that Tsongkhapa gained the higher realizations.

Lama Tsongkhapa did over one million mandala offerings, but because Lama Tsongkhapa was very poor, he used a stone base and stones. The first purification mandala involves cleaning the base with your forearm while reciting mantras. It is said that Lama Tsongkhapa’s arm was scarred from the constant cleaning of his natural stone base.

Daily Mandala Accumulates Vast Merit

Accumulation of merit and purification are two foundation practices of any Vajrayana Buddhist. We accumulate merit in many ways—following the precepts prime among them—but extraordinary merit is accumulated through the practice of Mandala offerings.

Doing the mandala offering is a way of clearing out all these negative states of mind. Here, “mandala” means the universe and everything in it. Instead of looking at things and saying, “Oh that’s good. I want it!” we train ourselves to think, “Oh, that looks good. I’m offering it to the Triple Gem.” — Venerable Thubten Chodron [2]

Short video offering the Mandala with Venerable Thubten Chodron of Sravasti Abbey. For full teaching, see the second video below:

In doing a mandala offering, we offer the entire world, everything, not just our earth, but every one of the billions and trillions of planets throughout all universes. We visualize we are purifying incorrect motivations and receiving great blessings from the merit field. We offer the mandala from our hearts, to open our minds.

The Golden Ground and Mount Meru

The base of a Mandala set represents the golden ground of the world or universe. The first ring placed on the base represents the iron fence and the continents. The next rings represent Mount Meru. The Mandala top symbolizes all the precious things in all the universes, our own precious virtues.

One of the Most Important Daily Practices

Mandala offerings are considered one of the most important daily practices because the act accumulates different types of merit, but ordinary and primordial wisdom merit. We practice generosity, which overcomes the stingy or greedy mind full of desires and attachments. We then give up these attachments to the material by offering them to all beings in the universe. We visualize we are offering up the wealth of the entire universe to the Buddhas, the Bodhisattvas, the Dharma, and the Sangha. Every day, this reminds us of the importance of good conduct, generosity, and merit activities. Mandala gives us the motivation to achieve our goal of Buddhahood.

Venerable Thubten Chodron explains this merit accumulating practice in a teaching video:

It is both a purification and an offering. In making the daily offering to all beings, to the prosperity of all beings and the entire universe, we accumulate great merit. To advance in our own spiritual lives, we need only lightly shadow the example of Lama Tsongkhapa, being diligent in our daily and weekly practice. Prostrations, mantras, meditation, and mandala offerings all accumulate merit and purify negative karma. An annual retreat, while of great value, is not as potent as a simple, short, daily practice.

Three Types of Mandala Offering

We are taught there are three types of mandala offerings, which fall into the broad descriptions of external, internal, and secret. External is practiced by all Buddhists, a whole-hearted and generous offering based on sutra and suitable for everyone. Internal and secret are both unique to advance tantric practice.

Mandala practice includes all three types of offering. Meditating on the concept of Mandala is a worthwhile activity. Mandala itself is a form of meditation, that illustrates for us the illusory nature of reality. Merit is accumulated by the act of offering benefits to the entire universe.

Each Day a New Offering

Unlike other offerings, we offer the same mandala offerings over again each time. We begin by purifying our incorrect motivations by wiping grain over the base of the mandala. We then draw blessings towards ourselves. Each day we offer the same semi-precious gems, grains and other materials, renewed and pure each time they are offered. This becomes a precious new offering. Important in renewing the offering is intention: the intention to make offerings, to purify negative karma, to offer merits to all beings suffering in the universe.

Lama Lena short teaching and how-to on making a Mandala Offering:

Mandala Universe

The mandala is a microcosmic illustration of Buddhist cosmology — more importantly, a map of our own minds. It need not be taken literally, and, in fact, helps us remember the nature of ultimate reality. It is not a physical representation of reality. Yet the symbolism is rich and worthy of hours of focused meditation. Using modern visualizations is not as valuable as trying to visualize the traditional cosmology.

At its center is Mount Meru, not a literal mountain, but the center of the entire universe. Surrounding Mount Meru are seven golden mountain chains.  There are four levels of ground, four below the oceans and four above. Above all, is the sun and moon. The highest level in the mandala is the domain of the gods in the desire realm. There are four great continents and eight subcontinents on the great ocean surrounding Mount Meru. A great iron fence surounds the ocean, which rests on golden ground.

Order of Offering Mandala Diagram

Modern English Mandala Set Offering

(East is closest to you, regardless of actual direction. This means south is to the right of the ring, West is across from you, North is to the left.)

(Rub your wrist 3x clockwise and then 3x counterclockwise while reciting:)

OM vajra ground AH HUM, mighty golden ground.
OM vajra fence AH HUM, the iron fence around the edge,

First Ring on Base

(Put the first ring on.)

(1 – Offer your gems or rice to the Middle to Mount Meru, numbers on diagram) 

In the center is Mount Meru, the king of mountains,

(2 – Offer in the East (immediately in front of you))

In the east the continent Videha,

(3 – Offer in the South – to the right, see diagram)

In the south Jambudvipa,

(4 – Offer in the West – opposite you, see diagram)

In the west Godaniya,

(5 – Offer in the North, left, see diagram)

In the north Kuru.

(6 to 7 – SE and NE, see diagram 6-7 — or left and right of east)

In the east are the sub-continents Deha and Videha,

(8 to 9 – SW, SE, see diagram 8-9 — or top and bottom of South)

In the south Camara and Aparacamara,

(10 to 11 – NW, SW, see diagram)

In the west Shatha and Uttaramantrina,

(12 to 13 – NE, NW, see diagram)

In the north Kurava and Kaurava.

(14 – E, see diagram)

Here are the precious mountain,

(15 – S, see diagram)

The wish-granting tree,

(16 – W, see diagram)

The wish-fulfilling cow,

(17 – N, see diagram)

The unploughed harvest.

Second Ring

(18 – E of the second ring, see diagram)

Here are the precious wheel,

(19 – S of the second ring)

The precious jewel,

(20 – W, of the second ring, see diagram)

The precious queen,

(21 – N of the second ring, see diagram)

The precious minister,

(22 – SE of the second ring, see diagram)

The precious elephant,

(23 – SW of the second ring, see diagram)

The precious horse,

(24 – NW of the second ring, see diagram)

The precious general,

(25 NE of the second ring, see diagram)

The great treasure vase.

Third Ring — the Goddesses

(26 E of the third ring, see diagram)

Here, the goddess of beauty,

(27 S of the third ring, see diagram)

The goddess of garlands,

(28 W of the third ring, see diagram)

The goddess of song,

(29 N of the third ring, see diagram)

The goddess of dance,

(30 SE of the third ring, see diagram)

The goddess of flowers,

(31 SW of the third ring, see diagram)

The goddess of incense,

 (32 NW of the third ring, see diagram)

The goddess of light,

(33 NE of the third ring, see diagram)

The goddess of perfume.

Top Ring

(34 S of the top ring, see diagram)

Here, the sun,

(35 N of the top ring, see diagram)

Moon,

(36 E of the top ring, see diagram)

Precious parasol,

(37 W of the top ring, see diagram)

And victory banner.

(38  centre – middle)

In the center are the marvelous riches of gods and humans, with nothing missing, pure and delightful.

(Place the top of the mandala ornament.)

I offer these as a Buddha-field to my glorious, holy, kind root guru, to the lineage gurus, to the great Je Tsongkhapa, the Buddha who is the King of Sages, Vajradhara, to my Yidam (name your Yidam), and the entire assembly of deities. Please accept these with compassion for the sake of migrating beings. Having accepted them, please bestow on me and on the mother sentient beings abiding as far as the limits of space your inspiration with loving compassion.

Detailed Mandala Set Offering Practice (Version 2)

Take your mandala set on your lap. Hold the mandala base in your right hand. If you have arthritis or can’t hold the base, place it on a table.

NOTE: Do not speak the (brackets out loud — these identify where to pour the grain on the mandala). Italics are actions, not spoken.

Take some grain in your left hand and hold the mandala base. Take grain with your right hand and put it on the base. Wipe clockwise three times with your forearm, tipping the grain away from you. Visualize that you are purifying incorrect motivation.

Take grain and put it on the base again. Wipe anti-clockwise three times with your forearm, tipping the grain toward yourself. Visualize that you are receiving great blessings from the merit field to open your mind to offer the mandala from your heart.

Spread some grain over the base to symbolize the golden ground with precious jewels.

Say:
OM vajra ground AH HUM, mighty golden ground.

Place the first ring on the base. Take more grain and sprinkle it around the inside of the ring. This symbolizes blessing the iron fence that encircles the universe.

Say:
OM vajra fence AH HUM, the iron fence around the edge,

In the center is Mount Meru, the king of mountains (sprinkle in area 1, centre)
In the east the continent Lupapo  (area 2)

East is toward you if the aim is receiving blessing power from the merit field. East is away from you if your aim is accumulating merit.

Say:
In the south Dzambuling  (3)
In the west Balangcho  (4)
In the north Draminyan (5)
In the east are the sub-continents  Lu and Lupag  (6 and 7)
In the south Ngayab and Ngayabzhan  (8 and 9)
In the west  Yodan and  Lamchog dro (10 and 11)
In the north Draminyan and  Draminyan Gyida. (12 and 13)
Here are the precious mountain (14)
The wish-granting tree (15)
The wish-fulfilling cow (16)
The unploughed harvest. (17)
Place the second ring on top of the grain-filled first ring. Visualize placing the eight precious objects belonging to a wheel-turning king who rules the four continents.

Say:
Here are the precious wheel  (18)

The  precious jewel (19)
The precious queen (20)
The precious minister (21)
The precious elephant (22)
The precious horse (23)
The precious general (24)
The great treasure vase. (25)

Continue on the inner area of the second ring. These eight symbolize the eight goddesses carrying eight different types of offerings:

Say:
Here are the goddess of beauty (26)
The goddess of garlands (27)
The goddess of songs (28)
The goddess of dance (29)
The goddess of flowers (30)
The goddess of incense (31)
The goddess of light (32)
The goddess of perfume (33)

Place the third ring on the grain-filled second ring. Place the grains to your left and right for the sun and moon. Place the banner of victory toward you to receive blessing power from the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. If there is an obstacle, place the parasol toward you to symbolize receiving protecting power from the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

Say:
Here are  the sun (34)

The moon (35)
The precious parasol (36)
The banner of victory in all directions. (27)

Place 38 the mandala top in the middle to symbolize the offerings of Samantabhadra.

Say:
In the center are the most perfect riches of gods and humans, with nothing missing, pure and delightful.
To my glorious, holy and most kind root guru, the lineage gurus and in particular to the great Lama Tzong Khapa, Buddha who is the king of sages, Vajradhara, and the entire assembly of deities, I offer these as a Buddha-field.
Please accept them with compassion, for the sake of migrating beings. Having accepted them, please bestow on me and on mother sentient beings abiding as far as the limits of space your inspiration with loving compassion.

Final Meditation
•    Visualize an enormous tree on the top of Mount Meru with many branches spreading throughout space. On each branch is Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, creating from his concentration innumerable priceless offerings to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Transform the universe you have just created into a pure universe.
•    Hold the mandala at your heart and offer it. Recite the mantra:

Idam guru ratna mandala kam nirya tayami

•    Having made your request, tip the grain toward you, thinking that you are receiving their blessings. Visualize that from their hearts emanate brilliant white light and nectar which enter through your crown chakra, completely filling your body and mind and purifying all obstacles formed by negative karmas and delusions that hinder us from gaining realizations.
•    The merit field dissolves into Buddha Shakyamuni, who is inseparable from your root guru. Buddha Shakyamuni comes above your head. At his heart, visualize a moon disk surrounded by the syllables of his mantra:

Om muni muni mahamuniye soha. (Recite this 100 times.)

Outside this mantra is the mantra of Lama Tzong Khapa, which represents the mantra of your own guru:

Om ah guru vajradhara sumati kiti siddhe hum hum. (Recite 100 times.)

•    Perform your meditation practice then dissolve the merit field. At your heart is an open lotus, Guru Shakyamuni descends through your crown chakra and sits inside the lotus. Think that he becomes inseparable from your mind.

Collapsing the Mandala

It is important to face the Mandala towards you, with a cloth in your lap, and tip it into your lap so that all the offerings and rings fall towards you (caught in a cloth on your lap. You can then store the mandala by placing the rings inside the hollow of the base, and the grains or gems inside the rings, wrapped in your cloth.

NOTES

[1] “Mandala Offering” Lama Zopa Rinpoche

[2] “The purpose of mandala offering” Venerable Thubten Chodron

[3] How to offer Mandalas, Lama Yeshe Archive>>

In Lama Atisha’s moment of despair, Chenrezig, the Compassionate One, appeared to Atisha and said, “I will manifest as Jambhala, the Buddha of wealth, to help suffering beings. I shall alleviate their poverty so they will not be distracted from practicing the good heart.”

This is just one version of the timeless story of Jambhala, a “wealth deity,” a profoundly simple story that illustrates why wealth is not necessarily the root of all evils.

Buddhism is non-materialistic, but…

Although we think of Buddhism as non-materialistic, “a lack of money is an obstacle” to practice, Jonathan Ciliberto wrote in a review of  “A Shower of Jewels: Deities of Wealth” in Buddhist Art News.

Poverty itself can make practice difficult. It is difficult enough to find birth in the precious human realm, our opportunity to practice the Dharma, without adding to suffering with the burden of poverty. One of the great perfections of practice is generosity—helping all sentient beings. Instead of thinking of wealth as selfish (or feeling guilt about its accumulation), we should instead consider the Buddhist concept that wealth can be a virtuous means to help others.

Wealth Practice Can be Virtuous

In the west, particularly when discussing spirituality and generosity, there can be a stigma attached to the idea of accumulating wealth.

Wealth or auspiciousness practice is widespread

Venerable Zasep Rinpoche, during a teaching on White Mahakala at Gaden Choling, explained that in eastern countries wealth practice is not frowned upon as it might be in western cultures. While meditating on — and trying to accumulate — wealth might seem the opposite of generosity, as always with Buddhist philosophy, it comes down to intention. If the intention of accumulating wealth is to achieve virtuous deeds — generosity, healing, relieving the suffering of others and yourself — then wealth practice and meditation can be thought of as meritorious. Of course, you have to be generous with your wealth.

White Mahakala himself is an emanation of Avalokiteshvara, the Compassionate One. “How wonderful it is that Shakyamuni Buddha, gave us all these practices to help us,” said Zasep Rinpoche. He pointed out we have Medicine Buddha practice for health, Manjusri for wisdom, and White Tara for long life — and for wealth we have deity meditations on White Mahakala.

The best explanation I’ve seen, from a western perspective, was from the book Worlds of Transformation: Tibetan Art of Wisdom and Compassion (Authors, Marilyn Rhie, David P. Jackson, and Robert A.F. Thurman):

“These deities of prosperity are… benevolent, and are helpful to spiritual people by supporting the educational purpose of life in the Buddhist perspective.” (p. 228, 232). [More on this excellent book here>>]

Why practice for wealth?

Simply put, if we are living in poverty ourselves, it is difficult to help others:

If every day is a battle for survival, how can we stop to help others survive? If we can’t think beyond the next mortgage payment and the kid’s university tuition, how are we to focus on compassionate giving? How much more help is it to have enough wealth to allow us to be unselfish to as many sentient beings as possible?

The purpose of practicing White Mahakala, or Jhambala, or any wealth deity is fundamentally to provide the means to oneself and others. It’s purpose is also to remove obstacles to our own practice, such as poverty which might prevent us from dedicating the time for practice. If we can’t afford to take time off for retreat, or we’re so worried about our bills that we put off our daily practice, we will find practice blocked. If we’re so poor we have nothing to give to others, how can we practice generosity? If we can’t even help ourselves, how can we selflessly help others?

How does Renunciation and Wealth Aspiration Reconcile?

Many Buddhists might point to monks who renounce the world to defend the notion that poverty is a merit to practice. For those, at the stage of the path where renunciation is beneficial, this is certainly of great merit. Yet, these monks in turn depend on the charity of lay followers. Especially in countries with robust Sanghas of monks, these communities rely on the generosity of others who have the means to give.  Of course, giving is a practice, but how much more beneficial is it to help as many beings as possible? The monks give us a chance to accumulate the positive karma of giving.

Ultimately, wealth practice supports dharma practice generally, helps dharma centers, and removes obstacles that arise when we do not have enough time, money, or other resources.

One of the attendees at the White Mahakala teaching by Zasep Rinpoche asked if there were any dangers to this wealth practice. Rinpoche answered, with his typical beaming smile,

“There is no danger if the motivation is pure.”

” The eightfold path is often represented as a wheel with eight spokes. Pick a wheel with just one or two and it won’t take you very far.” — Mark Vernon [13]

“Some traditional Buddhist teachers tend to serve “Dharma-Lite” like “Coca-Cola Lite,” rather than “the Real Thing” Dharma,” said Alexander Berzin in June 2000 talk. [1] He was referring to “lite” motivations in modern, westernized Buddhism, where teachers avoid the topic of rebirth or other core beliefs— to make teachings more suitable to the western psyche.

For the purposes of this feature, I’m going to call it “Designer Dharma” — picking and choosing which core beliefs to subscribe to—based on personal belief, culture, “laziness” or preference. A separate issue is more systemized cultural “modern revisionism”.

Often cited in support of this notion of “pick and choose” and “revisionism” is the Kalama Sutta, sometimes referred to as “the Buddha’s charter of free inquiry”—an regularly mistranslated and poorly interpreted sutta. [11] (See more on Kalama Sutta below). Since I, myself, often pick and choose, and have difficulty with some doctrines such as rebirth, I thought I’d research “What the teachers say.”

Zasep Tulku Rinpoche: “You can be a Buddhist without believing in reincarnation.”

In a recent interview with Venerable Zasep Tulku Rinpoche, I mentioned the difficulty some westerners have with some Buddhist doctrines such as reincarnation. Rinpoche replied,

“You can be a Buddhist without believing in reincarnation. Don’t worry about the past. The future is a dream. Stay in the now. The most important thing is to watch your body, speech and mind, and if you cultivate merit, and practice loving kindness, then you are a good Buddhist.”

[10 Interview at Gaden Choling, Fall 2015]

However, it’s important to note that Rinpoche was not advocating “Designer Dharma” but rather, reassuring those who might have difficulty with a specific belief not to be discouraged but to continue practicing.

The most common advice from teachers of western students is best summarized in this quote from Thanissaro Bhikko: “You don’t have to believe in rebirth, you just have to take it as a working hypothesis.” [9]

Designer Dharma: pick-and-choose Buddhism

Many westernized Buddhists, myself included, tend to pick and choose Buddhist teachings, particularly with relation to difficult topics such as rebirth or reincarnation that might not to resonate with western culture and rational scientific minds. Many of my Buddhist friends merrily avoid these topics, rather than confront them. If pushed, some will say, “I’m a Buddhist, but I don’t believe in X.” The biggest “X” tends to be “rebirth” I’ve found.

Core beliefs in Buddhism—which might, or might not become part of a Buddhist’s “Designer Dharma”—almost invariably include:

• the Four Noble Truths
• Dependent Origination
• the Eightfold Path
• the Three Characteristics of Existence
• the Three Jewels
• Five Precepts
• Karma
• Rebirth
• Nirvana

Some of my Buddhist friends definitely “subscribe” to the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path, but can’t bring themselves to accept rebirth. Others, like myself, accept the core beliefs, but need constant reinforcement on rebirth and karma.

Agnostic Buddhism: “Teachers… use the idea of rebirth metaphorically”

“Many contemporary forms of Buddhism in the West—especially Zen and vipassana—seem to pay little attention to the doctrine of rebirth,” writes teacher Stephen Batchelor. [8] “Teachers in these traditions often use the idea of rebirth metaphorically to describe the moment-to-moment process of “dying” and being “reborn.” However appealing, psychologically astute, and didactically skillful such interpretations may be, they can give rise to the misleading impression that in traditional Zen or Theravadan cultures the doctrine of rebirth is likewise not taken literally.”

“Rebirth has always been a central teaching in the Buddhist tradition,” writes Thanissaro Bhikkhu of Metta Forest Monastery. “The earliest records in the Pali Canon indicate that the Buddha, prior to his awakening, searched for a happiness not subject to the vagaries of repeated birth… On the night of his awakening, two of the three knowledges leading to his release from suffering focused on the topic of rebirth.” [7]

Even some westernized Tibetan Buddhists tend to practice “Dharma-Lite” when it comes to rebirth—this despite the fact that His Holiness the Dalai Lama is accepted by them to be the 14th incarnation. Certainly, in Mahayana Buddhism, the belief in bodhisattvas who continue “taking birth as long as there are living beings in the world that need to be saved from suffering,” makes rebirth an unavoidable core belief. [8]

Mark Vernon: “Half-baked” western cultural Buddhism?

In a very interesting feature on “Buddhism and the dangers of pick’n’mix religion”, Mark Vernon makes several key swipes at what he calls pick’n’mix religion. Understandably, he writes at length about the notable efforts of Stephen Batchelor, known for his somewhat controversial Buddhism Without Beliefs [14]—himself an ex-monk “heavily engaged in bringing Buddhism into the west.” He points out that Batchelor is “courting trouble along the way” because “he knows that if Buddhism is truly to address the human condition as manifest with modernity, it must resist the temptations of the quick sell.”

“When Buddhism appeared in Japan, it took three centuries for its Zen manifestation to emerge. Buddhism has been a part of western culture for about half that time, since philosophers like Schopenhauer first encountered it; which perhaps explains why it can appear a little half-baked.” [13]

Dalai Lama Teaches on Reincarnation: “…accept the existence of past and future lives”

“In order to accept reincarnation or the reality of the Tulkus, we need to accept the existence of past and future lives,” wrote the Dalai Lama from Dharamsala in September, 2011. [6] “Sentient beings come to this present life from their previous lives and take rebirth again after death. This kind of continuous rebirth is accepted by all the ancient Indian spiritual traditions and schools of philosophy, except the Charvakas, who were a materialist movement. Some modern thinkers deny past and future lives on the premise that we cannot see them. Others do not draw such clear cut conclusions on this basis.”

The Dalai Lama explains the arguments for rebirth: “There are many different logical arguments given in the words of the Buddha and subsequent commentaries to prove the existence of past and future lives. In brief, they come down to four points: the logic that things are preceded by things of a similar type, the logic that things are preceded by a substantial cause, the logic that the mind has gained familiarity with things in the past, and the logic of having gained experience of things in the past.” He adds that there are many people “who can remember their immediate past life.”

Science: Anecdotal evidence, but no verifiable corroboration

Never-the-less, logic aside, such teachings require faith, as there’s no verifiable corroboration from science — even if many scientists are willing to remain open to the concept due to some anecdotal evidence. [3] Most commonly cited is extensive anecdotal evidence from Dr. Ian Stevenson, who collected data from 4500 people who spontaneously recalled past lives. There are dozens of other anecdotal studies supporting “past lives” with credibility, but not carrying the weight of proven science.

Often tossed about are pseudo-scientific theories that attempt to “prove” rebirth is possible, drawing heavily on quantum physics and Einstein. Or, using the often cited example of the “five-year body”—based on the biological fact that all cells in the body are replaced fully every five years (See Thich Nhat Hanh below). These are reinforcing inferences rather than evidence.

Nevertheless, the majority of western Buddhists—myself included—tend to bypass our discomfort with the notion of rebirth, by practicing as if we believed in it. Western teachers often coach their students just to practice, and that wisdom will come eventually. In other words, we don’t “pick and choose” but rather give the “benefit of the doubt” because we trust the wisdom of our teachers, and the ultimate wisdom of the Buddha.

Thich Nhat Hanh: “Nothing Remains the same in two consecutive moments.”

Many Zen Buddhists avoid the topic, and when they discuss it, rebirth is often presented in terms which would be palatable to westerners.

The illustrious teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, whose books are inevitable bestsellers, describes rebirth in very western terms: “When you grow very old, you are no longer the same as when you were five. When you are five, or you are ten, you are neither the same, nor a different person.” He cautions against the views of Eternalism (where a soul survives forever, returning life after life) and Nihilism (where there is nothing). “Everything is impermanence. Nothing can remain exactly the same in two consecutive moments… Birth and death are like waves, and you are riding on the waves…” (from video “Rebirth in Zen Buddhism” (see video below).

Alexander Berzin: “Rebirth… central to Buddhism.”

Alexander Berzin cautioned: “rebirth [is] a topic that is central to Buddhism. I think it’s very important to acknowledge that.” Certainly, in Mahayana Buddhism it’s central. In the lam-rim “the graduated path to enlightenment… it speaks about the pathway minds of three levels of motivation. The first level motivation is to aim for fortunate rebirth.” To be motivated by rebirth, of course, we have to believe in it. “The second level is to aim for liberation. Liberation from what? Liberation from uncontrollably recurring rebirth, which is what samsara is referring to.”

He continues by describing how important belief in rebirth is to other key Buddhist teachings on karma, compassion, the nature of our minds. Rebirth contextualizes the teachings on karma and compassion.

Four Noble Truths and Eightfold path.

The four noble truths, taught by the Buddha, were designed to free us from the cycle of samsara. He taught the path as the “eight fold path” as the remedy for “Dukkha” or suffering. Buddha clearly taught in the context of belief in multiple lives. Rebirth was commonly accepted in Buddha’s lifetime. Buddha spoke of having many previously lives.

In the west, we tend to accept concepts such as karma more as a “moral imperative” rather than a metaphysical concept, since often westerners have trouble with the concept of karmic seeds. Thus, stories such as the Jataka Tales: The Previous Lives of the Buddha—believed to be “pearls of wisdom” from the mouth of the Buddha himself [5]—tend to be soft-pedaled as “children’s fables” to illustrate morality, rather than literal stories of Buddha’s previous lives. Whether the stories were meant to be fables or literal stories is irrelevant; what’s clear is that the Buddha Himself clearly believed in rebirth.

For the modern Buddhist, we often side-step rebirth and rationalize Dhukka as “suffering in this life.” Yet, however much we wish to avoid or rationalize, rebirth is not an avoidable issue that can be side-stepped, given sutra and traditional lineage teachings.

Can We Pick and Choose What to Believe?

Teachings on reincarnation, hell realms and karma are recurrent and prominent in both sutra and tantric teachings—in Pali cannon as much as Mahayana sutra. Yet, they tend to be actively avoided in western teachings. I’ll admit I’m amongst those who has difficultly with seriously contemplating such notions, especially such things as hell realms. There might be some rational foundation for rebirth, but hell realms? (Of course, hell realms, in the west, are often described as psychological hells, rather than “actual” hells.)

The question, then, is can we “pick and choose?” Of course, in the modern world, we are free to believe anything we wish, and we’re certainly free to pick and choose. But, does picking and choosing create obstacles to our progress on the path to ultimate Enlightenment? And, did Buddha encourage or discourage the practice of “Designer Dharma”?

Kalama Sutta: “carte blanche for following one’s own sense of right and wrong”

In The Kalama Sutta, most often cited in relation to the concept of “picking an choosing”, translator Thanissari Bhikkhu is quick to point out: “Although this discourse is often cited as the Buddha’s carte blanche ford following one’s own sense of right and wrong, it actually says something much more rigorous than that. Traditions are not to be followed simply because they are traditions. Reports (such as historical accounts or news) are not to be followed simply because the source seems reliable. One’s own preferences are not to be followed simply because they seem logical or resonate with one’s feelings.”

From the Kalama Sutta, Buddha says: “When there are reasons for doubt, uncertainty is born. So in this case, Kalamas, don’t go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, ‘This contemplative is our teacher.’ When you know for yourselves that, ‘These qualities are unskillful; these qualities are blameworthy; these qualities are criticized by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to harm & to suffering’ — then you should abandon them.” [12]

Rebirth, No Rebirth? Was it a Critical Doctrine?

On the surface, the answer is “probably” since “the theme of rebirth is woven inextricably throughout the Buddha’s teachings. And freedom from rebirth has been a central feature of the Buddhist goal from the very beginning of the tradition.” [7]

Venerable Thich Nguyen Tang, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, teaches: “To Buddhists, however, death is not the end of life, it is merely the end of the body we inhabit in this life, but our spirit will still remain and seek out through the need of attachment, attachment to a new body and new life. Where they will be born is a result of the past and the accumulation of positive and negative action, and the resultant karma (cause and effect) is a result of ones past actions.” [2]

In most paths of Buddhism, our teachers advise us to meditate on impermanence and death. In part, this is to give a sense of urgency to our practice, or to encourage compassion, or simply to help us focus on the very nature of impermanence. But underpinning these meditations, particularly in lineage-inspired guided meditations, is the cycle of rebirth across endless lives. Vajrayana meditations often focus on the bardo experience — which is the experience between lives. There can be no bardo, without rebirth.

Thanissaro Bhikku: “Annihalationism… those who denied rebirth”

In an interesting article in Tricycle, Thai forest monk Thanissaro Bhikku made the point that “scholars—who should know better—keep repeating the idea that the Buddha lived in a time when everyone took for granted two principles: (1) that rebirth happened and (2) that karma had an effect on how rebirth happened.” He explained that the Pali Canon gives “clear evidence to the contrary.” His key point was that Buddha didn’t believe in rebirth because of cultural/religious norms—the Buddha argued for it. If the Buddha argued for rebirth, it follows that it’s important.

“The Buddha frequently referred to the two extremes of wrong view that blocked progress on the path: externalism and annihilationism. ‘Annihalationism’ is the term he used to describe those who denied rebirth.” He gave a compelling argument for the issue of whether karma and rebirth were mainstream in Buddha’s time. Buddha taught, however, that “if you assume that karma has results, you will act skillfully. And when you act skillfully you gain four assurances in the here and now.” [9]

Modern Revisionism: “Wow… I’m concerned others will actually think that’s Buddha’s view”

In response to an idea making the rounds on the internet, that “reincarnation is a non-Buddhist idea grafted on to Buddhism later,” a Dogen scholar associated with the San Francisco Zen Centre argued: ” I appreciate what you say about how we can’t know what happens after death, and therefore Zen doesn’t emphasize that teaching. However you also say that Dogen was very adamant that there is no reincarnation, that the idea of reincarnation is a non-Buddhist idea that was grafted onto Buddhism later on and isn’t originally part of Buddhism.’ Wow. I am concerned that others will actually think that is Dogen’s and Buddha’s view. As you probably know, there are many, many early Pali Suttas in which the Buddha talks about rebirth.” [10]

To which, a clever commenter posted, “I haven’t believed in rebirth for several lifetimes now.”

Lama Surya Das: “All traditional Buddhist teachers believe in rebirth.”

In his book, Awakening the Buddha Within, Lama Surya Das makes the strong claim, “The more classical Tibetan texts and teachers stress that to be considered a Buddhist you must: take refuge in the Three Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha); seek liberation from suffering (samsara); and believe in karma and rebirth. They say it is meaningless to seek liberation if you don’t accept karma and its implication of continuity.”

However, he continues, in the very next sentence with: “Many current Western teachers including myself agree that traditional belief in rebirth is not necessary to be a genuine Buddhist, and that an agnostic position on rebirth teachings is fine until one discovers certainty within oneself. I personally feel the most important criteria or characteristic of Buddhist spirituality is a sincere commitment to the possibility of spiritual awakening and enlightenment, combined with an open heart, an inquiring mind, and daily awareness practice based on ethics, meditation and wisdom.”

Designer Dharma: “Four Kinds of Rebirth”

In his book “Awakening the Buddha Within”, Lama Surya Das, describes four ways you can interpret rebirth, leaving it broad enough for even the most agnostic Buddhist to accept one of them:

1. “Life to life … I die, I am reborn
2. Intentional rebirth in linear time (…reincarnate lamas like the Dalai Lama vow intentionally to keep coming back… to liberate all beings til the end of samsara…)
3. Spiritual rebirth (Total renewal and personal transformation in this very life.)
4. Moment-to-moment rebirth in the timeless present… Every moment there is a new you… science tells us that almost every cell in your body changes every seven years… You are not the same person you were yesterday…”

Final Word: “The Truth of Rebirth and Why it Matters for Buddhist Practice”

There is no question that Buddha taught the cycle or rebirth. His teachings were based in his own Enlightened experience as described in various sutras such as   Majjhima Nikaya (Pali Buddhist text). We can take rebirth as a “working hypothesis” rather than a doctrinal fact, as western teachers often advise to “doubtful” western students. To this, perhaps it’s best to let Thanissaro Bhikku have the last word:

“So we’re faced with a choice. If we’re sincere about wanting to end suffering and to give the Buddha’s teachings a fair test, then — instead of assuming that he was a prisoner of his own time and place, unable to question his cultural assumptions — we have to examine the extent to which, in adhering to our own cultural assumptions, we’re imprisoning ourselves. If we don’t want to drop our self-imposed restrictions, we can still benefit from any of the Buddha’s teachings that fit within those limitations, but we’ll have to accept the consequences: that the results we’ll get will be limited as well. Only if we’re willing to submit to the test of appropriate attention, abandoning the presuppositions that distort our thinking about issues like karma and rebirth, will we be able to make full use of the Canon’s tools for gaining total release.” [7]

NOTES

[1] “The Buddhist Explanation of Rebirth“, Alexander Berzin in Morelia Mexico, June 2000. 

[2] “Buddhist View on Death and Rebirth“, Venerable Thich Nguyen Tang 

[3] For a broader discussion of the evidence supporting rebirth, see our previous two features in Buddha Weekly: “Rebirth, Part 1: Is There Evidence of Rebirth or Reincarnation?”   

[4] Coward, Harold (ed.), 1997, Life after Death in World Religions, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.

[5] “The Jatakas: Stories of Buddha’s Previous Births.” 

[6] “Reincarnation” Dalai Lama 

[7] “The Truth of Rebirth: And Why it Matters for Buddhist Practice”, by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 30 November 2013, 

[8] “Rebirth: A Case for Buddhist Agnosticism” Stephen Batchelor 

[9] “The Buddha didn’t just believe in rebirth, he argued for it.” Thanissaro Bhikku guest feature in Tricycle, Sept 2011 

[10] “What Should We Think About Death“, Brad, Hardcore Zen 

[11] “A Look at the Kalama Sutta“, Bhikkhu Bodhi 

[12] “Kalama Sutta: To the Kalamas“, translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikku

[13] “Buddhism and the dangers of pick’n’mix relgion.” the guardian, Mark Vernon 

[14] Buddhism Without Beliefs, Stephen Batchelor, Riverhead Books, ISBN-10: 1573226564, ISBN-13: 978-1573226561   

[15] “Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it” Fake Buddhist Quotes website.

It’s easy to fall behind on commitments

Damage from broken commitments sounds very heavy, ominous, depressing. Any vow or promise should be taken seriously, but it carries an even more rigorous standard in Buddhist practice. Many of us have collected numerous practice commitments; it’s easy to do. A teacher we admire comes to town and we rush out to attend the empowerment for that wonderful opportunity to recieve precious teachings. Do this every year, and you could end up with dozens of commitments for practice. Then, what to do? Of course, we can self help: purify and — if we’ve completed retreat — perform self-initiation — and if not, attend the next initiation with our teacher. But, what if we continue to miss our commitments. Or, worse, want to give them up?

Lama Zopa, in advising a student wrote:

“If you are busy and want to abandon your commitments mentally, this is the most disrespectful. If you are busy and have the wish to do them but are unable to do so, this is lighter.”

It’s tempting for people brought up in “the west” to wonder if breaking our practice commitments and our promises to our teacher is really all that big a deal. What about unintentionally betraying our Bodhisattva and Vajrayana vows? In “the west” don’t we all do it? The little white lies. Caring for one person more than another. Thinking negative things about people even if we don’t say them out loud.

“As human practitioners of Dharma, we make mistakes; from time to time we may break our vows and commitments,” wrote Venerable Zasep Tulku Rinpoche, in his Guidelines for Dharma Students. “When we do so, we feel that in some way we have let down our Gurus, and the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. We may have faced many obstacles due to unfavourable conditions and lack of time and energy, but at the same we also know that we have made lifetime commitments.”

I’ll admit to having broken commitments out of a lack of mindfulness, a tendency to laziness or just sheer exhaustion. Those are my excuses, anyway. A lot of times, we don’t want to even think about it. We tend to think: “Oh, it’s not that big a deal, right?” or “I just thought it, I didn’t act on it, so it’s okay.”

But are we steadily accumulating negative karma, compounded daily? Will this lead to negative habits which make matters even worse? Isn’t it best to ignore it, and move on with better habits? What do you do if you feel hopeless behind on your commitments? These are all questions I’ve asked myself many times, and judging from conversations with some of my friends, I’m not alone. Fortunately, we needn’t panic. The Buddha actually established vows for our benefits, but he also built in an escape. Lama Tubten Shenpen Rinpoche explained during a teaching in Austria:

“..the Buddha has established this set of vows for monks and nuns, it has been allowed [by Him] to give them back again. Therefore, basically, when we take them, we take them for our life-time, we repeat the prayer “I take these vows in front of the Buddha for my life-time”, but due to his Compassion and his understanding of the human mind, the Buddha has also established that if somebody cannot keep them, it is possible to give them back. And not only is it possible to give them back once, but it is possible to give them back three times in one’s life.”

Of course, you could worry that Tantric vows are somewhat different, however, teachers usually advise us to worry less and just to “pick up where we left off.”

Zasep Tulku Rinpoche: “Do not abandon your commitments… Just pick up where you left off.”

Venerable Zasep Tulku Rinpoche advises: “Do not think your practice is no longer worth the effort just because you have broken your commitments; do not abandon your commitments and daily practice; just pick up where you left off. My kind teacher, the most holy Tara Tulku Rinpoche said, “If you forget to eat breakfast, you don’t give up there and then. The next day, you go ahead and eat breakfast. Simple.”

Simple, wonderful, precious advice, but I thought I’d compile some wise words from various teachers on this subject, more words from my teacher Zasep Tulku Rinpoche, and sage advice from Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Lama Tubten Shenpen Rinpoche. The question we try to answer here, is not “can we ignore it?”—the answer is obviously no—but rather, what to do about it.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has practical advice:

“Anyway, continue to do the practice again, start from now. Each day you do the practice it leaves positive imprints on the mind. Even if you recite the words and your mind is totally distracted, it still leaves imprints on the mind, and sooner or later you will have attainments on the path.”

The first issue: do you feel authentic

Sometimes we lose our motivation through lack of progress or laziness. One common reason for “giving up commitments” is you did not feel you were doing your practice authentically and felt guilty about it. This was an actual question from a student to the most Venerable Lama Zopa. She felt she was just reciting the words, and not progressing. His answer (on the Lama Yeshe archive) was quite illuminating:

“I understand very well your problem. Your problem is my problem too. It is very true. When I do pujas with other people, and they go very fast, it does not give a chance to meditate, and I don’t want it to become just words. This is why I have difficulties doing pujas with others. But on the other hand, even if you are able to just recite the words, it is very good because it leaves positive imprints and it has only positive effects. It leaves positive imprints to realize the two truths, which is the basis of Buddhism, and to realize the path of Buddhism—method and wisdom. It also leaves the imprints to realize the qualities of the buddhas, which is the goal of Buddhism—to do perfect work for sentient beings. To achieve the rupakaya and the dharmakaya for sentient beings is the goal. There is still a huge difference between just reciting the words and watching TV or reading novels…”

But what if you want to abandon the commitments. Lama Zopa replied to the same student:

“If you are busy and want to abandon your commitments mentally, this is the most disrespectful. If you are busy and have the wish to do them but are unable to do so, this is lighter. Try to do whatever you can. To abandon them could create the cause to be unable to practice in the future. But if you are busy working for others and you miss your commitments due to that, there is no need to regret much. If you miss doing them because of laziness, then there is a loss; this is more your fault. This is what His Holiness the Dalai Lama used to say when I consulted him on this matter. Don’t worry, and try again. The most important thing is to live life with bodhicitta, which becomes work for others.”

With empowerment come commitments

Formal commitments are made with vows. To break a commitment you would have taken a vow. Obviously, even if you didn’t formally take a vow with a teacher, it is good merit to practice the commitments as if you’d made a vow. Some of my friends are confused as to whether they received initiation or not. For example, a good friend attended a Vajrakilaya event with His Holiness the Shakya Trizin, and remains confused to this day, as to whether he was empowered or has the commitment. He sat with a crowd, listened to the practice initiation—mostly in Tibetan—but there was no talk of commitments, no Sadhana was given out for practice, and it felt more like a blessing.

Lama Tubten Shenpen Rinpoche, at a teaching in Austria answered a student on this topic. The student asked: I was very new in Buddhism and people were bringing me into a very high Initiation – I realized that I got a commitment, and then I was standing there. Is this a bad karma I have?

Lama Tubten Shenpen Rinpoche:  No, we could say in such case that you have not taken the Initiation completely, because in order to take an Initiation, it is not just to listen and to repeat, and to see what is going on, but it is a deep inner process of transforming ourselves into the deity, into visualizing some syllables melting into ourselves, it is a whole process we have to go through in order to pretend to [really] have taken the Initiation. Somebody who just arrives like this and does not know much, from my point of view, has not taken the Initiation. [1]

Zasep Tulku Rinpoche, in his Revised Guidelines for Dharma Students, pointed out:

“There are different ways of receiving initiations. An initiation may be taken purely as a blessing, for protection or healing. Most of the thousands of people in Tibet, in India and the West who flock to Kalachakra initiations take the initiation as a blessing and to create auspicious conditions for the future. In order to receive a Tantric initiation as a actual empowerment, and not just a blessing, you are required to take Refuge and Bodhisattva vows before the initiation. When you take a higher Tantric initiation, you are additionally required to take Tantric vows.”

You can purify broken commitments

Broken commitments simply means you’re human. We move on and purify any negativities and bad habits we’ve developed — such as not doing our daily practice — and renew our vows with our teachers. This normally involves purification (for example Vajrasattva practice, or 35 Confessional Buddhas), and confession to the teacher, followed often by taken the vows again. The most Venerable Zopa Rinpoche answered a student on this issue, in this way [2] [Note, his advice varied for different student scenarios. To see more of his answers visit the link here>>]. He advised the student to perform both purification practices, then gave very kind advice:

“When you are doing these purification practices, my advice is to feel in your heart as much as possible that you are doing them for others, to free all the hell beings, hungry ghosts, and animals from the most unimaginable suffering and bring them happiness. Remember that you are practicing for the benefit of all sentient beings. Otherwise, the motivation is too much concerned with one’s own mistakes, negative karma, and avoiding the hell realms. All of this involves the self too much, has a selfish motivation, since one does not have a realization of bodhicitta. Then, make a dedication to develop and actualize bodhicitta for oneself and sentient beings without the delay of a second, and that if it is generated, may it increase.”

Breaking the commitments isn’t the big Issue

Breaking the commitments isn’t the overwhelming issue. The bigger issue is that breaking the commitments means we’re not practising. If we’re not practising, nothing happens.

So, is “what do you do about it?” This is the question that prompted me to write his story. Most teachers ask students to rely on the foundation practices in the Lamrim. Meditation on Death is particularly important to motivating daily unbroken practice, for example — it motivates practice.

Also, many teachers have “different” guidelines. Some are stricter than others. Lama Tubten Shenpen Rinpoche explains:

“When you take an Initiation of the fourth Tantric class (anuttarayogatantra), you take, at the same time, the commitment to perform a certain number of meditation sessions per day, as well, according to the Initiation you have taken and according to the master who has given the Initiation, you also have a certain amount of mantras to recite daily, and sometimes the daily practice of the deity on which you have taken the Initiation.

But all this depends on the master who is giving this Initiation; some masters are known as being very strict concerning the commitments, and some are known to be more ‘supple’ in giving commitments.”

Rationalizing broken commitments

It’s easy to rationalize the misdemeanours: I don’t kill, not even insects; I practice generosity; I keep my practice commitments (but sometimes I rush); and so on. Thinking this way makes it seem like a “white lie” to avoid hurting someone’s feelings isn’t a breach of our vows. Or, when you’re sick in bed with the flu, it’s easy to assume “I’m too sick to practice today,” is not a breach of commitments. I think rationalizing is the biggest challenge I personally face. I endure extremely painful arthritis, for example, and sitting during practice is painful, sometimes excruciating. Am I excused from practising on those terrible days when I can’t even think through the pain? The answer, in my mind, is no. But the reality is, I sometimes do just that.

I’m generally good on my commitments, I certainly feel my broken commitments are more the “misdemeanour” type—but thinking this way is a trap in itself. It trains some of us (speaking for myself, anyway) to overlook those small, relatively harmless issues.

So, I miss a practice because I’m in pain, I’ll make it up tomorrow. I’ll do a mini-one day retreat this Sunday to make up for my week of missed practice sessions. The rationalizing mind can be very dangerous this way, at least for me.

Zasep Tulku Rinpoche: “Focus on the Commitments You Already Have”

Zasep Rinpoche advises, “Instead of taking additional initiations (commitments), I suggest you focus on the deity practice you have already received.”

It’s difficult to resist empowerments, especially if they really move you spiritually. Some of my friends seem to make it a hobby to collect initiations. I almost fell victim to this thinking early on, attending several very moving empowerments within a 3 year period. Although I have a particular devotion to one deity practice, I am committed to many. I don’t regret it, but I certainly am satisfied with my current commitments.

“When you decide to take an initiation, you should find out what are the daily commitments and vows,” advised Venerable Zasep Tulku Rinpoche.

Practice Every Day. Just Do It.

“We try to practise every day, but sometimes we feel that the practices have become routine recitations, an obligation and no more,” Rinpoche continued. “This can happen especially when our lives are too busy and we are very tired. When this happens, we need to make time for a retreat to renew our commitments and refresh our practice. When we break our vows and commitments, we should do purification such as Vajrasattva mantras, prostrations, and reciting the Sutra of the Three Heaps by chanting the names of the thirty-five Buddhas.”

Lama Zopa Rinpoche: How to Overcome the Obstacle of Laziness

The great Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche wrote extensively on the breaking of commitments. I was particularly interested in his answer to students on how to recharge practice when faced with laziness, fatigue or even pain—all of them, more or less my obstacles. “When you don’t think of impermanence and death, that death can happen even today, at this moment, then attachment to this life arises.” He consistently advised the Lamrim practice of meditation on death and the precious human rebirth. He advised one student to think, each morning, that today he could die. He wrote this in his very popular Online Advice Book.

Pabongka Rinpoche: Even if You Don’t Understand, Follow the Commitments

To one student who wrote that he felt he could not keep his commitments because it involved too much reciting, Lama Zopa replied, “even if you don’t understand the subjects, Dharma texts, and prayers, it is still extremely worthwhile to read or recite them because it leaves positive imprints. When you read mindfully, sooner or later you will be able to understand the meaning, not only intellectually. Each realization of the path is contained in the sadhanas and ceases delusions and karma, liberates us from all the sufferings of samsara and their causes, and ceases defilements, even subtle defilements.” He wisely pointed out that many of us spend hours watching movies or reading novels each day, which have no Dharma value, so setting aside a little time for practice is always possible for most people.

What to do if you feel like you’ve taken on many commitments, almost “too many sadhanas” as one of Lama Zopa’s students put it. His straight-forward answer was that he still had to do them but “If you have many sadhanas, the general advice is you make your main meditation whichever is your main deity. You can do the other sadhanas fast. The most important thing is to meditate on the dharmakaya, then a little on the sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya. If you have many sadhanas to do, the rest of the sadhana you can do quickly.”

He added “The great enlightened being Pabongka Rinpoche said, ‘Even if you don’t meditate on the meaning of the sadhanas, you are still reciting. But if you stop doing the sadhanas it is so very unfortunate. You don’t even get the good fortune from just reading or thinking of the words, which leads to positive imprints.’”

Deliberately Abandoning the Commitments

When asked outright what it meant if someone deliberately abandoned the commitments, his very direct answer was: “If you are busy and want to abandon your commitments mentally, this is the most disrespectful.”

However, to this same student, he gave, what I thought, was very powerful advice: “Try to do whatever you can. To abandon them could create the cause to be unable to practice in the future. But if you are busy working for others and you miss your commitments due to that, there is no need to regret much. If you miss doing them because of laziness, then there is a loss; this is more your fault. This is what His Holiness the Dalai Lama used to say when I consulted him on this matter. Don’t worry, and try again. The most important thing is to live life with bodhicitta, which becomes work for others.”

NOTES

[1] Dharmaling website>> “Vows and Commitments”

[2] Lama Yeshe archive: “Advice for broken commitments.”>>

According to the Lama Zopa, Karmic debt like Usury:

“If you don’t purify it in this way your negative karma will keep doubling and re-doubling day by day, week by week, month by month, and year by year up to the end of your life and even one day’s negative karma will become as huge and heavy as a mountain—–in time, even one atom of unpurified negative karma can swell to the size of the Earth.” [1]

To make matters worse, it is virtually impossible to avoid negative karma day-to-day. According to the highly realized teacher Zasep Tulku Rinpoche, in explaining why we need Vajrasattva practices:

“When you walk, or when you drive a car, insects are crushed. Unintentionally, we hurt sentient beings. Or, even just eating food —– doesn’t matter whether you’re vegetarian or not —– you’re harming sentient beings, because the farmers, they kill some insects and animals. So, even if you’re a vegetarian, you’re still involved with killing. There’s no such thing as perfect livelihood. Nobody has that, as long as you’re living on this earth.” [4]

Although this sounds depressing, Vajrasattva practice (and other purification practices), are a remedy to these negative karmas we inevitably earn. With this simple practice, we can balance our karmic books.

Great Atisha Purified Immediately

Virtually all of the realized masters practiced purification. If it’s good enough for the great Atisha, it’s good enough for any Tibetan Buddhist. Atisha was famous for purifying any negative Karma immediately.

“Even in public or when riding his horse, as soon as he noticed a breach of his ethics, he would stop what he was doing, drop to one knee and then and there, purify it with the four opponent powers –– the powers of dependence, regret, remedy, and restraint.” [2] —– Gyoto Foundation.

Another famous story, is the story of the ant and Buddha’s disciple Nagarjuna. Even in the time of Buddha, one of his disciples accidentally stepped on an ant. Zasep Rinpoche, in a teaching on Vajrasattva, reassured students: “What can you do? Things like that happen. We create negative physical karma.” Vajrasattva practice “removes the negative karmas. You are purified.”

In Nagarjuna’s case, he purified this karma through his own death. In Tibetan Buddhism, using the four opponent powers, and especially Vajrasattva practice, there’s a less fatal way to purify past negative karmas.

A Necessary Practice: All Schools of Tibetan Buddhism

“All schools of Tibetan Buddhism consider the preliminary practice of Vajrasattva to be necessary,” writes Rob Preece, a psychologist and teacher, in his book Preparing for Tantra.[3] Vajrasattva Practice, the best known method of practicing the “four opponent powers” — is taught by most Tibetan Buddhist teachers as one of the critical foundation practices — one we cannot do without. Each of the foundation practices — refuge, bodhichitta, prostrations, mandala offerings, Guru yoga, Vajrasattva practice — are designed, with precision, to target aspects of practice we all need, as Buddhists, to progress towards Enlightenment.

Gelek Rimpoche emphasized this point in his book Karma:

“We have to take care of all negative forces, no matter how small they may be, no matter how weak they be. If we don’t take care of them, they will have their result.” Yet there is a way to mitigate the negative effects. Rimpoche explained, “negative karmas can be washed away by applying the four powers.” [5]

Four Opponent Powers

Whether Buddhist or not, the four opponent powers are easily acknowledged as an “effective” method, from both a human — and a psychological — point of view, to remedy the harm caused by negative actions. The opponent powers, as described by Venerable Thubten Chodron, are:

• Regret: not to be confused with guilt. We acknowledge our responsibilities.
• Restoring the Relationship: After acknowledging, we restore our vow to not harm through taking Refuge and altruistic activities.
• Determination Not to Repeat: we make a promise to ourselves.
• Remedial Action: we try to mitigate or fix the harm. This can be apologies, altruistic acts, and purification practices such as Vajrasattva[6]

The order is often stated differently, as is the language. The great Lati Rinpoche gave the four opponent powers as:

• Power of Reliance
• Power of Regret
• Power of Antidote
• Power of Resolve.

Why is Vajsattva So Important?

Vajrasattva practice distills the key element of purification — the four opponent powers — and provides a powerful visualization and mantra focus to magnify those powers of regret.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche, in The Benefits of Vajrasattva Practice wrote:

“The Vajrasattva purification practice, which is more powerful than negative karma, can prevent you from experiencing the problems that negative karma would otherwise bring you. Thus, the practice of purification is one of the most important solutions to our problems and is extremely necessary, even for people who believe that we have only one life.” [1]

From a more psychological point-of-view, Rob Preece writes: “In order to cleanse the mind, we tap into an aspect of our innate purity, namely, Vajrasattva … when we understand this symbol, we see why this practice can be such a powerful and transformative process. It is like tapping into a natural source of health and using it to burn away sickness. It is like lighting a powerful fire of brilliant white heat that burns away the darkness of obscuration from the mind.”

Arguably, Vajrasattva practice could be the most important of foundation practices, since. Even if we’re accumulating vast merit (achieved through altruism, Bodhichitta and Mandala offerings, for example), we still have to deal with the laws of “cause and effect” — karma. To use a real world example, even if we’re earning lots of money, we still have to pay down our debts to realize stability. In Vajrayana, progress in practice relies on purification of negative karma (paying down the debt). Both Ngondro (foundation practices) and Lamrim teachings stress the importance of working on Vajrasattva purification every day.

Chanting the Vajrasattva Mantra is a powerful purifying practice. (See mantra text below):

When to Do Vajrasattva Practice

As Lama Zopa Rinpoche advised, every day before bed, we should do a Vajrasattva meditation to purify any of the day’s negativities — such as the ant we stepped on in our garden.

For the serious student, as a foundation practice in Vajrayana, the teacher might ask you to do a formal retreat, to purify all past negativities. This would involved 100,000 repetitions of the long Vajrasattva mantra while visualizing purifying energy entering the body. Purification, combined with intention and visualization is a potent combination.

Lama Yeshe once explained to Rob Preece why he should do a Vajrasattva retreat:

“If you just get a taste of the mind’s clear nature, then it is so worthwhile.” [3]

For any student with a Yidam practice, normally a Vajrasattva recitation is included in the Sadhana’s to “compensate for any mistakes.”

The ultimate answer is, anywhere, anytime. There isn’t a day that passes where a human being unintentionally accumulates little negative karmic accumulations. Reciting the 100 syllable Vajrasattva mantra while driving or in the shower or on a walk (where you might step on that ant!) — all are appropriate.

How Does It Work: Purification Visualization and Meditation

Psychologically, Vajrasattva practice is soundly based. Firstly, the four Rs of Regret, Restoring, not Repeating and Remedial action are very firmly grounded in psychology.

In addition to the four Rs, in common with all Vajrayana practices, the visualization of Vajrasattva (often in union with his consort, representing the union of compassion and wisdom) is ultimately based on “emptiness.” Most deities arise in our minds from emptiness. Ultimately, where there is emptiness, there are no afflictions, no obscurations, no negative Karmas.

Vajrayana practice, at one level, is all about helping deconstruct our incorrect assumptions about the nature of reality. In doing so, as we come to realize that all things are interdependent and ultimately empty of a true self, we remove attachments and afflictions — the cause of our negative karmas.

The Six Remedial Actions

Vajrasattva practice is only one of the possible remedial actions. At one level, purification arises from positive actions — at least the remedial action aspect. In other words, as long as we regret, restore and vow not to repeat, any positive action can provide the remedial action.

The six recommended remedial actions are:

1. Reciting Sutras or Tantras
2. Reciting mantras
3. Meditating on emptiness
4. Creating sacred art such as statues or thangkas
5. Making offerings to the Three Jewels
6. Reciting the names of the Buddhas, as in the practice of 35 Buddhas.

The supreme method, Vajrasattva practice, includes elements of all six. You recite, meditate on emptiness, contemplate sacred art, make offerings, and recite the name of Buddhas (Vajrasattva and consort).

Venerable Thubten Chodron said, in a talk on Negative Karma,

“These are six remedial actions that are specifically spelt out, but in actual fact, any positive action we do—reading a Dharma book, coming to class, studying, doing some meditation, doing community service—–they all become remedial actions. Lama Zopa was saying one of the best ways to purify is to take precepts, because if you take a precept not to do something, then you are actively not doing it and you’re purifying that negative karma.” [6]

Listen to Teachings on the Essence of Vajrasattva from Khenpo Sherab Sangpo:

Some Practice Suggestions

There are many ways to practice purification. Vajrasattva practice also can be practiced in different ways, as long as, somehow, we combined the four powers.

The most basic suggestion is to simply think of regret, take refuge, vow not to repeat and then apply one remedial action, such as the mantra of Vajrasattva. Below, is Vajrasattva’s 100 syllable mantra (which should be recited at least 21 times, preferably more). The version here includes the English interpretations as suggested by the Bodhicitta Sangha: [7]

oṃ Vajrasattva
The most excellent exclamation of praise, the qualities of Buddha’s holy body, speech, and mind; all that is precious and auspicious. Vajrasattva, you whose wisdom is inseparable bliss-emptiness,

samayam anupālaya
And whose pledge must not be transgressed, lead me along the path you took to enlightenment,

vajrasattva tvenopatiṣṭha
Make me abide close to your holy vajra mind,

dṛḍho me bhava
Please grant me a firm and stable realization of the ultimate nature of phenomena,

sutoṣyo me bhava
Please grant me the blessing of being extremely pleased and satisfied with me,

supoṣyo me bhava
Bless me with the nature of well-developed great bliss,

anurakto me bhava
Bless me with the nature of love that leads me to your state,

sarvasiddhiṃ me prayaccha
Please grant me all-powerful attainments,

sarvakarmasu ca me cittaṃ śreyaḥ kuru
Please grant me all virtuous actions and your glorious qualities,

hūṃ
Seed syllable of the vajra holy mind, the heart essence and seed syllable of Vajrasattva,

ha ha ha ha hoḥ
Seed syllables of the four immeasurables, the four empowerments, the four joys, the four kayas, and the five wisdoms,

bhagavan sarvatathāgatavajra
You, who are the vajra of all who have destroyed every obscuration, of all who have attained all realizations, of all who have passed beyond suffering, and of all who have realized emptiness and know things just as they are,

mā me muñca

Do not abandon me,

vajrī bhava
Grant me the nature of indestructible union, the realization of your vajra nature,

mahāsamayasattva
You, the great pledge being with the holy vajra mind,

āḥ
Make me one with you.
Syllable of uniting in non-duality.

hūṃ
Syllable of the wisdom of great bliss.

phat
Syllable that clarifies the wisdom of inseparable bliss-emptiness and destroys the dualistic mind that obstructs realization.

Body, Speech and Mind

In more formal Vajrasattva practice, we visualize purifying karmas of the body, karmas of the speech and karmas of the mind:

• Karma of the body: our negative actions, such as killing an insect
• Karma of the speech: saying negative things, insulting someone, speaking in anger
• Karma of mind: even if you hold your tongue, thinking negative thoughts.

By incorporating the four powers into practice, we definitely involve the mind. Mantra definitely adds in the element of speech. Visualization, typically, is meant to help purify the body.

How does visualization purify body? His Eminence Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche the Third put it this way: “What is the purpose of Vajrayana practice? Purifying one’s impure perception of all appearances and experiences.”

When practicing Vajrayana visualization, the visualized Enlightened Being arises from emptiness, helping us understand the all-important concept of Sunyata.

“When you do these practices, this “I” —– ordinary man or woman ego —– is already gone,” said His Eminence Zasep Tulku Rinpoche. [8]

A Simple Visualization Practice of Vajrasattva

The simplest complete Vajrasattva practice would include refuge in the Three Jewels, a statement of regret, a vow not to repeat, a visualization of Vajrasattva and a glorious glowing white deity, and the mantra. As the mantra is chanted, we visualize glowing white light (or white nectar) flowing from Vajrasattva’s Holy body into our own. Alternately, in more advanced practices, Vajrasattva would be in union with his consort, representing Emtpiness and Wisdom. As the white light fills us, negativities, visualized as dark smoke, or sludge, or any negative substance, is expelled.

The visualization is not disimilar to visualization practices used in the treatment of diseases such as Cancer. These meditations have proven in various trials, to be effective for some people. In these meditation, the cancer is visualized as “burned up” or expelled by white light.

To embellish slightly, the practice is expended into:

• Expelling downward: negativities expelled through feet, cleansing the Body
• Expelling upward: negativities expelled through mouth, by filling up the body from bottom to top (like filling a glass), cleansing the Speech
• Expelling spontaneously: white light or nectar fills your heart, then your entire body, with the negativities disintegrated by the light — which cleanses the Mind.

For example, as recommended by the great Lati Rinpoche, expelling downwards can be thought of this way:

“Imagine the nectars and light rays descend from above through your body. They flow down and wash away all the negativities of your body and obscurations in the form of black, ink-like liquids that come out of the anus, the secret organ, and from the pores of your body. Illness in the form of blood, phlegm and pus and harmful spirits, and interfering forces in the form of frightening animals like scorpions and snakes come out from the orifices of the lower part of your body. When a volcano erupts, the lava washes away all the trees and things in that place. Likewise, the nectar forcefully washes away all negativities.”

Sadhana: Words Have Power Over Our Own Minds

Typically, we speak our intentions aloud in Buddhist practice, recognizing the power of Speech. By combining some of the purifying visualizations above, we can add words to empower our practice of purification. As recommended by Venerable Thubton Chodron: [10]

While visualizing Vajrasattva (refer to embedded images) as a divine white glowing body made of light say the refuge three times:

I take refuge in the Three Jewels. I will liberate all sentient beings and lead them to enlightenment. Thus, I perfectly generate the mind dedicated to attaining enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.

Then, express the power of regret, by making a request of Vajrasattva:

O Bhagavan Vajrasattva, please clear away all negative karma and obscurations of myself and all living beings and purify all degenerated and broken commitments.

To include the power of remedial action, visualize purifying light or nector streaming from Vajrasattva, into you, purifying the negativities, while chanting the 100 syllable mantra (below is Tibetan pronunciation, Sanskrit is above):

om vajrasattva samaya manu palaya

vajrasattva deno patita

dido may bhawa

suto kayo may bhawa

supo kayo may bhawa

anu rakto may bhawa

sarwa siddhi mempar yatsa

sarwa karma su tsa may

tsitam shriyam kuru hum

ha ha ha ha ho bhagawan

sarwa tatagata

vajra ma may mu tsa

vajra bhawa maha samaya sattva

ah hum pey

If you have trouble with this, or have not yet memorized it, use the short version (many times!):

Om Vajrasattva Hum

Then finish with the power of determination by directly addressing Vajrasattva:

Through ignorance and delusion I have broken and degenerated my commitments. O spiritual master be my protector and refuge. Lord, Holder of the Vajra, endowed with great compassion, in you, the foremost of beings, I take refuge. I shall do my best not to do these destructive actions again in the future.

Finally, as always in Buddhist practice, it is critical to seal the practice with a dedication (and visualize absorbing Vajrasattva into your heart as a stream of white light):

Due to this merit may we soon

Attain the enlightened state of Vajrasattva,

That we may be able to liberate

All sentient beings from their sufferings.

May the precious bodhi mind

Not yet born arise and grow.

May that born have no decline,

But increase forever more.

NOTES

[1] Lama Zopa Rinpoche, in The Benefits of Vajrasattva Practice 

[2] Vajrasattva Practice, Gyoto Foundation

[3] Preparing for Tantra: Creating the Psychological Ground for Practice, Rob Preece, Snow Lion (Sept. 16 2011) ISBN-10: 1559393777, ISBN-13: 978-1559393775

[4] Vajrayogini Teachings, 11 Yogas of Vajrayogini, Zasep Tulku Rinpoche, Dec 3, 2016.

[5] Karma, by Gelek Rimpoche, published by Jewel Heart, ISBN 1934994146, 9781934994146

[6] The Four Opponent Powers, Thubten Chodron

[7] Bodhicitta Sangha Heart of Enlightenment Institute

[8] Interview with Zasep Tulku Rinpoche in Buddha Weekly

Part 3: Zasep Tulku Rinpoche discusses how to find a teacher; why its important to meditate on death; how to start with Deity Yoga; how wrathful Deities can be misunderstood; and the role of internet in Dharma teachings.

[9] The Lightning Path of Buddhism Buddha Weekly

The Lightning Path of Buddhism: The Power of Yidams

[10] Vajrasattva Sadhana, Thubten Chodron

• Part 1 of Rebirth Series: Is There Scientific Evidence of Rebirth is here>>

Reincarnation and rebirth are mainly eastern concepts and form the basic tenets of the three major eastern religions of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. However, Hinduism and Jainism talk mostly about reincarnation of the soul, or Atman, Buddhism focuses on rebirth of consciousness.

The doctrine of Buddhism discounts the existence of a soul or Atman. According to ancient Buddhist texts, there is no permanent self which moves from one life to another. Instead, it is the consciousness or the stream of consciousness which, upon the end of one life, joins another, much like a flame which is transferred from one candle to another. There is a certain relationship between the past and the present lives, neither are they identical, nor completely distinct.

Such transmigration of consciousness is the effect of Karma, and this process of rebirth continues until the consciousness attains Nirvana, or complete independence of material wants and desires. Only then, can the “self” be free.

What Does Science Say?

Please see Part 1 of Rebirth Series: Is There Scientific Evidence of Rebirth is here>>

In our present world, driven with science and rationality, the opinion is divided about the existence of the phenomenon of reincarnation. However, scientists have routinely been presented with evidence to at least partially support the notion of rebirth. Reincarnation or rebirth serve as the only conceivable explanation for children as young as three years of age, having detailed knowledge of their past lives, where they stayed, what they did, even how they dies. Other evidence of reincarnation includes xenoglossy, or ability to speak in a language with a person has never learnt and existence of matching scars and birthmarks.

What Constitutes Proof of Rebirth?

In science, generally, to refute a theory, you only need one refuting piece of evidence. At least, that’s the standard used when refuting theories. In other words, science cannot unequivocally state there is no rebirth or reincarnation as long as there is one instance of rebirth. Professor Ian Stephenson’s landmark work, widely accepted in the scientific community as valid, presents multiple instances of children with memories of previous lives. To read more about his work, see part one of this series>>

The Body is Reborn Every Second?

In theory, the human body is constantly being reborn. Cells in the body are constantly reborn. Even though we might hold  the illusion that we are unchanging, in fact we are a different physical human being now, than we were one month ago. The same is true of the Universe. Of every atom and molecule in the Universe. We are constantly recycling, even within our “one lifetime.” It is, perhaps, for the more science-oriented, easier to accept the notion of some form or rebirth. It’s easier to accept recycling of energy and matter, certainly, than extinction.

Quantum Theory

The landmark work of Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Phsyics, still best introduces the parallels between modern physics and eastern philosophical thought: “Quantum theory thus reveals a basic oneness of the universe. It shows that we cannot decompose the world into independently existing smallest units. As we penetrate into matter, nature does not show us any isolated “building blocks,” but rather appears as a complicated web of relations between the various parts of the whole. These relations always include the observer in an essential way. The human observer constitute the final link in the chain of observational processes, and the properties of any atomic object can be understood only in terms of the object’s interaction with the observer”

The concepts of basic oneness, “cannot decompose”, and observational processes could interchangeably be used when discussing Quantum Theory or Buddhist Teachings. Mr. Capra wrote: “If physics leads us today to a world view which is essentially mystical, it returns, in a way, to its beginning, 2,500 years ago. … This time, however, it is not only based on intuition, but also on experiments of great precision and sophistication, and on a rigorous and consistent mathematical formalism.”

Nasa Scientist and Physicist Thomas Campbell

Thomas Campbell, and eminent scientist, believes in reincarnation. In a review on a video featuring Dr. Campbell, the site Beyond the Psychic Veil summarized the argument this way:

“There is no time. There is no space. Everything is one. Hence, we are all experiencing everything all at once. That means you are you, you are the neighbor, the dog (yes animals may reincarnate as well), the kid on the skateboard, the grouchy guy in the corner store, you are me, the Dalai Lama, Jesus, Hitler, Joan of Arc. You are everyone, all at once, in all points of time, and all points of space. However … you are focused on seeing and experiencing reality through your perspective only at this time.”

This isn’t evidence of rebirth, certainly, but the arguments are a fit with current Quantum theory. If, in fact, it’s a matter of perspective, rebirth becomes an easy notion to accept. The arguments are also very inline with Buddhist concepts of existence, emptiness, and self.

Past Life Regression

Putting aside physics, other types of evidence—albeit not accepted by everyone—is past life regression. Past life regression is a method by which a patient is put in a trance and guided by a series of questions into her past life. This can lead to the answers of many questions in an individual’s present life, for example, someone’s irrational fear of insects could be accounted to a trauma suffered in one’s past life.

Although many scientists have heavily criticized some pieces of evidence which prove the existence of reincarnation, some scientists are skeptical. The events which have occurred have no other rational explanation except reincarnation or rebirth. The field of science is heavily divided on this issue, although nothing in science contradicts the possibility of rebirth, and many scientists argue there is substantial suggestive evidence that rebirth is more than just a mystical concept.