Question asked by Demian
I am having a hard time in school. In school, I have a certain Catholic friend named Isaac who keeps on mentioning and teaching me dirty obscenities. It has given me a hard time and also, he is a hacker that's part of Anonymous(he showed me proof). He's suffered past traumas of his family members and friends dying and changed his personality to disguise his old one in order to be with the crowd. However, he is annoying with his dirty facts and I have had times of placing black magic curses and bindings on him(I repented to Lord Avalokitesvara, Vajrasattva, and Sitatapatra for this). They only made things worse and I don't know how to stop his dirty facts. How do I stop this? In fact, because of his dirty facts, I keep on having obstacles of dirty obscenities during meditation and prayer. What can I do?
Also, I found that there are some lamas that use Vajrakilaya to perform black magic curses and death spells as I have found. Who exactly is Vajrakilaya and why would a dharmapala like him be used for black magic? Guru Rinpoche used him as a yidam, and yet Vajrakilaya causes death.
Who is the oracle Gyalchen Karma Trinley and who is that spirit/demon/protector?
Is there such thing as making your own mantra or making the mantra of an enlightened being or bodhisattva like Begtse, Jogyo, and other beings? If so, then how does one create one? I found out the mantra of Dakini Yeshe Tsogyal which went as "Om Ah Hung Benza Guru Jnana Sagara Bam Hari Ni Sa Siddhi Hung". I also found Milarepa's mantra as well. But is it possible to make mantras for teachers like Dakini Sukhasiddhi, Dakini Niguma, Lama Naropa, Lama Marpa, and others?
Does it matter how we visualize deities? According to a website, some monk said that children nowadays can visualize goddesses like Saraswati and Tara into anime form. But is this true that we can visualize deities into whatever we want or they must be in the way they traditionally were?
As for Chod practice and prayers, is there an initiation for Chod and how can I find Chod prayers? I'm having a hard time finding the prayers.
And finally, how do I pronounce the English dialects for Tibetan language? I have found letters like o with 2 periods above them, u with 2 periods above it, e with an apostrophe over it, and many others.
Dear Demian,
Thank you for your questions. As I mentioned in an earlier reply, there is nothing you can do that will act as a quick-fix to curb your friend’s desires. This is because this type of behaviour is habituated, which can be difficult to break. For your part you can only pray to the enlightened beings to let him realise that his behaviour is destructive and also slowly educate him about this. Any lasting change can only come about when he himself wants to change, no matter how much we force the issue, even using black magic to do so as you have done in the past. As this is an internal behaviour, he needs to want to change for any methods to work. Once he wants to overcome these desires then there are methods that he can use to do so, for example meditation which includes visualisation. Perhaps you can read this article by Pastor David Lai on his own blog, which talks about this: http://www.davidlai.me/2016/07/28/curbing-sexual-desire/
Vajrakilaya is not practiced within Kechara. As far as I am aware it is not a practice common within the Gelugpa tradition, but it is within other traditions such as Nyingma and Kagyu. Therefore I cannot tell you more about the practice of why some people claim that Vajrakilaya was used to perform black magic curses. However, this may be due to his wrathful appearance and the wrathful imagery found in his practice. May Buddhist deities can appear in very wrathful forms, and their practice includes violent imagery that includes the binding of slaying of enemies. This does not actually mean that through their practice outer enemies can be destroyed. The enemies the practices deal with are actually internal enemies. This actually refers to our negative emotions, negative karma and imprints. It is through the practice of these deities that we can subdue our internal enemies. A comparison can be made with the imagery and practice of Dorje Shugden. Dorje Shugden’s prayers often include the slaying of an enemy, but this enemy is actually our negative karma, negative imprints and everything that keeps us bound to suffer within samsara.
Within the Gelugpa tradition, the oracle of Gyalchen Karma Trinley is from Sera monastery and the tradition of consulting the oracle is largely only done so at Sera monastery. As far as I am aware the oracle takes trance of the deity Gyalchen Karma Trinley, who is a worldly protector (therefore not enlightened), who is part of the extended retinue of Hayagriva.
Mantras are the enlightened energies of the Buddhas in the form of sound, therefore mantras are not simply made. They are given by the enlightened beings themselves when they teach the practice of that particular deity. Some mantras can be traced back to Buddha Shakyamuni, and they can also be found in sutras and tantras that have an authentic lineage stemming back to the enlightened beings. For the masters and enlightened beings you have mentioned, that are from the Kagyu tradition, their mantras already exist. If you would like to know these mantras then you should enquire with a qualified master from that tradition.
As for the visualisation of the deities it is important that they are visualised according to the method and form as described in the texts. This is because the form of an enlightened being is very important. Visualising the form correctly allows us to generate merit. Visualising with the correct iconography also shows us the path to enlightenment, as every part of an enlightened beings’ form represents the path towards enlightenment or an aspect of enlightenment that can be achieved through that particular deity’s practice. For children, however, some people may advise them to visualise a simpler form of the deity so that they can create affinity with that particular deity. In this case, when they are old enough to visualise correctly then they should be taught how to do so. In my own personal experience, I know some parents who teach their children how to visualise correctly, a little at a time, so that they can build up a complete visualisation according to the traditional manner. This is because children have a very good imagination and are able to learn quickly.
Chod practice within the Gelugpa tradition belongs to the Highest Yoga Tantra set of practices. Therefore one does not engage in the practice without an appropriate empowerment. As such it is not advisable to read the prayers unless under the guidance of a qualified Guru once you have received the empowerment. As for the pronunciation of Tibetan in English phonetics, there are various systems. The most common of these is the Wylie system. As far as I am aware this system does not use accents above either vowels or consonants. For those systems that use accents, it usually follows the standards of European languages. You can research more how to pronounce the letters according to the European uses of the accents. I hope this helps.
Thank you.