Vajrayana

Vajrayana is the branch of Mahayana Buddhism that uses tantric methods such as visualisation and mantra to bring our already present awakened nature directly onto the path. The name means "diamond vehicle". In Sanskrit a vajra is both a diamond and a thunderbolt: something indestructible that cuts through everything. Tibetans call it dorje tekpa, and often simply Secret Mantra (sangngak). Tibetan Buddhism as a whole, the Nyingma school included, is Vajrayana at its core.

Same goal, different means

Vajrayana is not a separate religion bolted on to Buddhism. Its view of emptiness and its motivation, bodhicitta, the wish to awaken for the benefit of all beings, are those of the Mahayana. Take them away and nothing of Vajrayana is left. What differs is method.

The sutra path works from the cause. You gather merit and wisdom, and over a very long time they ripen into awakening. Vajrayana takes the result as the path. It starts from the premise that buddha-nature is already here, and trains in seeing it now. That is why practitioners visualise themselves as a meditation deity, recite mantras and regard their surroundings as pure. This isn't make-believe. Nor is it positive thinking. It wears away the habit of taking ourselves to be limited and ordinary, a habit we reinforce every day, mostly without noticing.

Because the methods are powerful, you don't simply pick them up from a book. You receive an empowerment (wang), a reading transmission (lung) and the teacher's oral instructions. That also creates samaya, the bond with the teacher and the practice. Without it, a text stays a text.

Vajrayana in the Nyingma tradition

The Nyingma school maps the whole Buddhist path as nine vehicles, or yanas. The last six are tantric, and the summit is Atiyoga, better known as Dzogchen. What begins in Vajrayana with deity and mantra grows simpler and simpler in Dzogchen, until only recognition remains.

That doesn't make it something to save for later. Most people first meet Vajrayana through the Ngöndro, the preliminary practices, which hold the whole path in miniature: refuge, bodhicitta, Vajrasattva's purification and guru yoga.

At Rigdzin Dzogchen Ling we practise the Düdjom Tersar Ngöndro every Saturday in Hoofddorp, and Chöd on Sundays. Twice a month there is tsok, the tantric feast offering, on Guru Rinpoche Day and Dakini Day. If you'd like to see what Vajrayana looks like in practice, Saturday morning is a good place to start.