Question asked by Demian
Dear pastors,
I am having difficulties of keeping good karma and being spiritually pure. It is hard to prevent bad karma as many students in my school are very "unspiritual" and I don't know what to do about it. I have been taking up the Saraswati practices, but have a question. How does one keep themselves spiritually pure especially in modern day society at school and so on?
I have been following this website's instructions on the Saraswati practice:
http://tbsn.org/english2/ceremony.php?id=10
Dear Demian,
Thank you for your question. Buddhist practice is not about keeping oneself spiritual ‘pure’, but is more about doing good things and lessening bad actions. The transformation in daily life revolves around two things, as does the path to ultimate enlightenment. This is the development of both compassion and wisdom. When you engage in these two, you necessarily purify negative karma that you have accumulated and generate good karma or merits at the same time.
To do this, one follows the path of the Dharma, coupled with deity practices. The emphasis here is not on deity practice (although it is an integral part), but actual transformation in one’s life. It can be boiled down to this: helps others and learn more. When we make this real transformation in life, and face whatever challenges that may come our way (as they are the results of our negative karma), we become spiritually ‘pure’.
This path of transformation is set out in the book called Liberation in the Palm of Your Hands, which you can find at book shops that have a large section on Buddhism, otherwise it is available online here: http://www.vajrasecrets.com/lamrim-liberation-in-the-palm-of-your-hand. This book is a little technical for beginners, so a more accessible option would be the book called Joyful Path to Good Fortune, which is a simplified version.
Two very powerful practices that you can engage in everyday, coupled with the transformation mentioned above, are Vajrasattva (https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/?p=60113) and the 35 Confessional Buddhas (https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/?p=105819), to purify the negative karma you collect on a daily basis and whatever negative karma you have collected in the past. You do not need to engage in both, but concentrate on one.
When on the Buddhist path, you should follow one teacher and one tradition. This is to ensure you do not have a misunderstanding of the teachings and do not get confused. Therefore you should choose which teacher/teachings to follow. The link you have provided to the Saraswati practice belongs to another tradition, one that I have not studied, and neither am I familiar with it. Therefore I cannot possibly comment on it. However, in Buddhist practice, all authentic lineages must trace back to the Buddha or other enlightened beings. You should do some research to make sure that the practice does indeed trace back to the enlightened beings and is therefore an authentic practice. Rather than practice too many things, you should research yourself and then choose a tradition/lineage to follow all the way until you are enlightened. I hope this helps.
Thank you.