Since early 2020, Kechara’s pastors have been sharing more of the Dharma online through live-streaming activities, given the current global situation. It was our way to continue serving Kecharians and the public at large, at a time when we couldn’t teach or share physically.

Two such online programmes were Easy Dharma for Difficult Times and Easy Dharma for the New Normal, which sought to provide teachings that would help increase Buddhist knowledge and as a result, improve the spiritual practice of those who watched the show. It was evident from the questions I received that the general public were interested in higher practices like tantra but were not familiar with the basis behind yidam (meditational deity) and sadhana practices. Therefore, I decided to devote a session to the exploration of deity practice within Buddhism, which I have expanded on in this article.

The Origins of Deity Worship

At the dawn of time, mankind lived in fear amidst primitive conditions and had to survive a dangerous world dominated by the forces of nature. To the minds of the earliest humans, the world was volatile and appeared to be the workings of various divinities, whose agendas seemed to clash with that of man. Humans survived with only crude tools, and only caves and other flimsy dwellings for protection, but nature was relentless. The world seemed to be controlled or influenced by powerful higher beings or gods.

Fortunately, mankind had the intelligence to adapt. Some developed the ability to commune with these gods and eventually devised ways to appease these unpredictable divinities who wreaked havoc on the lives of mortal men. This developed into a rudimentary system of worship, with the sole aim of appeasing them. It is on this basis that most of the world’s religions took root. The emphasis of my explanation on this topic is not so much on the actual existence of these divinities, but the manner in which they are worshiped.

Whatever spiritual tradition you practise, the basic concept of worship is the same. It is about appeasing an external deity or pantheon of divinities in order to be granted protection or a favour. What can be surmised is that this system of worship was developed in order to cope with the often-dangerous world of life, death and the afterlife.

The Arrival of Buddhism

The historical Buddha Shakyamuni introduced a new approach to spiritual practice. When the Buddha was born, a soothsayer foretold he was either destined to be a universal monarch or a great sage. Ultimately, the Buddha chose the path of spirituality. He renounced his princely life, sought out spiritual teachers and engaged in the various leading meditational practices of his day, including those of asceticism. This journey eventually led to his attaining complete enlightenment while sitting under a bodhi tree.

After his enlightenment, the Buddha taught what he had discovered. This way of understanding existence stood in stark contrast to what mankind previously believed. His teachings were deeply rooted in concepts of reality that defined our existence. These included the workings of karma – the law of causality, the development of the mind, increased awareness and so forth.

The concept of karma became the central theme in much of what the Buddha preached. Therefore, for the first time, spiritual practice was no longer about pleasing external divinities as masters of our fates, but about taking responsibility for ourselves. Buddha taught that we are the authors of our own fate and destiny, rather than a higher power.

This was revolutionary and came to define the Buddhist concept of worship. It is not about appeasing a deity, but engaging in formal meditational practices to transform ourselves. And it is done so in reliance on the Buddha as a guide; his teachings or the Dharma as the actual practice; and the community of like-minded practitioners or Sangha who uphold these practices. Following this method, we are able to purify our minds and uncover the potential of our own enlightenment.

Deity Practice in Tantra

In Buddhist practice, worship may superficially resemble appeasing a Buddha-deity in order to gain a boon or a favour but it is much, much more than that. Any Buddha-deity is fully awakened and has no ego, therefore does not need or even want us to worship, praise or make offerings to them. It is actually from the side of practitioners that we do these things in order to create the karmic causes to achieve the same transcendental state. It is due to the enlightened nature of a Buddha-deity that such worship results in purification of negative karma and accumulation of merits. This is because a Buddha-deity’s form is a manifestation of his or her enlightened nature, which is that of emptiness or transcendental wisdom and bodhicitta or great compassion.

It is said that the Buddha gave many teachings and each set of teachings were given according to the dispositions of the disciples in attendance. For the most advanced disciples, the Buddha appeared in the form of Vajradhara in order to give teachings on tantra. These teachings are about achieving Buddhahood through the quickest method, which is summed up as ‘taking the result as the path’. The result here is the form of a Buddha-deity also known as a yidam, and the path is a special method to propitiate and embody the yidam, which is known as a sadhana.

The Practice of Sadhana

Visualisation of a Buddha-deity is an important aspect of sadhanas, which are essentially spiritual manuals that assist us to become one with our yidam. In other words, they assist us to gain higher attainments and ultimately enlightenment, as these are embodied by the very form of a yidam.

A sadhana consists of invocation prayers, praises, mantras, offering verses and associated visualisations of a particular yidam. Each aspect of the physical form, the limbs, the colour of the skin, the implements, the hand gestures (mudras) and so forth are clearly defined in order for the practitioner to visualise the Buddha-deity while engaging in the practice.

It is said in the Buddhist scriptures that seeds of Dharma are planted into our minds just by looking at a simple line drawing of a Buddha, even if done in anger. Visualisation, however, is much more. It enacts certain beneficial effects in us as we directly invoke the likeness of a yidam in our minds. Each yidam has a particular primary effect in us due to the nature, energy and vows the Buddha-deity took before achieving enlightenment.

For example, visualisation of Manjushri’s form imprints the blessings of wisdom; Chenrezig imprints the blessings of compassion; Medicine Buddha vowed to heal the body and mind of all sentient beings before becoming enlightened and thus, blesses accordingly.

Most sadhanas, however, require one to have received tantric initiation from a qualified guru before engaging in it. These sadhanas are known as deity yoga. What I have covered above is just a brief overview of what it is; there is actually much more to it than that.

What is important to understand is that the worship of a yidam is to further our own spiritual journey towards enlightenment, by using the form of the Buddha-deity’s body as a means to achieve this. It creates the causes to achieve the body of a Buddha, and through this, to achieve the speech and especially the mind of a Buddha. The mind of a Buddha is the mind of enlightenment itself.

True Purpose of Deity Practice in Buddhism

In conclusion, deity practice in Buddhism is not meant to appease the Buddhas as they have transcended the need to be pleased. Although formal Buddhist practices may appear to be appeasing the Buddhas, the purpose is vastly different. The actual practice in Buddhism is to purify karma, accumulate merits by way of Buddha-deity practice, and thereby create the causes and conditions for spiritual realisations and to eventually become enlightened ourselves.

For more interesting information:

• Devoting Yourself to a Guru Who Has Passed On
• The Exaggeration of Attachment
• Introduction to the Four Noble Truths
• Why Non-Attachment Is One of the Keys to a Happy Life & Relationship
• Snakes, Roosters and Pigs by Tsem Rinpoche
• Ten Counterproductive Behaviors of Well-Intentioned People
• Finding Deeper Meaning in Life with Dorje Shugden
• Tales With My Lama: Daily Practice
• Tales With My Lama: Laugh Away Your Ego
• Tales With My Lama: Why Rinpoche Has To Suffer
• Tales With My Lama: Larger Than Life
• Tales With My Lama: Manjushri
• Tales With My Lama: Audience With Tsem Rinpoche

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