Discovering Buddhism at Home -FAQ

Module 14 - Special Integration Experiences (page 1 | 2)

A student asks:


What do I need in order to do the Discovering Buddhism Module 14 Integration Requirement? I don't plan on making a lifetime commitment at this point, but I do want to get the Certificate of Completion.

Please clarify for me exactly what needs to be done for the 35 Buddhas prostrations and the Vajrasattva mantra practice, only to meet the completion requirement of module 14.

I'm very new to, and exploring Tibetan Buddhism right now, so l need very specific guidance.


Another student answers:


I'd say we ALL need specific guidance! :) What you need to do in order to "properly" do the Module 14 requirements is to really have, or simply want to work to have, the conviction deep inside that every single sentient being needs you to do those practices for them to get out of Samsara and that all those purification practices are absolutely necessary for you to help even one sentient being escape the awful existence that is Samsara, much less the "whole lot" of the sentient beings that you want to help. The rest is "just details". (Details that happen to be given to us by very kind folk so we aren't flailing in the dark, so to speak. ) Lama Zopa Rinpoche often remarks that one prostration done with the right attitude (bodhicitta) is worth a "gazillion" (my paraphrase) of prostrations doing in a rote manner, just reeling them off.

That attitude is something that you can develop and you can help the development of that attitude by studying the Dharma and doing the prostrations. That attitude can be gained by studying the subject matter of the Lam-Rim, which is exactly what the db@home Program teaches and the purification practices taught in the db@home Program. So, the two go hand-in-hand, so to speak, and each practice, one of learning and other of purification, helps the other get better. Either practice, learning or purification, can be done alone, but it'll be like trying to making gallons of lemonade without either the lemons or the water, or trying to keep the right proportions so it tastes best (so folk will drink it?) even as you are making it. (There's gotta be a better analogy out there...)

Every thing you do in the Modules will prepare the foundation that you will need for the Module 14 Integration Practices. Actually, each Module's materials will pretty much start you out on the practices done in Mod. 14 so that you will already have significant experience with the Module 14 practices when you start the actual Module or be giving you great advice as you go. Unless you have a Center near-by, it might be sometime before you are able to receive (or go to receive) the empowerments for the practices. The practices, as I understand them, can be done without empowerments, but the empowerments (the initiations into the practices) will help those practices immensely.

You note that you don't plan on making "lifetime commitment at this point", at this point. That's fair enough. Sounds like you are taking careful steps. I am not sure, though, what "commitment" you are referring to. Buddhism? The course? The certificate will have no value with out a "commitment" of some sort and if you develop a real commitment, the certificate will simply be a step on the Path.

Hope this helps some.


Thubten Yeshe replies:


I couldn't have said this better. Good advice for all.


Merry Colony adds:


Again, apologies if this has already been answered, but because there are many opinions about what one can and cannot be practiced with Vajrasattva I will mention here what Lama Zopa Rinpoche says and what you will find within our "The Preliminary Practice of Vajrasattva" book where all the references are clearly made:

According to Lama Zopa Rinpoche one can practice both the solitary Vajrasattva and also the Vajrasattva with consort without empowerment. One can also recite the Vajrasattva mantra or the Heruka Vajrasattva mantra without empowerment. What one cannot do is visualize oneself as the deity without empowerment. Also it is always better to receive the oral transmission of this or any practice, though that is not mandatory.

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