Bodhichitta

"There is bliss when the bodhichitta descends from above..." - Milarepa. A Yogi Fills His Skull Cup With Bodhichitta. A Wall Mural From the Lu Kang, the Dalai Lama's Secret Temple

In the previous two lectures about the Fuel for Spiritual Experience, we discussed the foundations that are present in all religions to take advantage of energy and to harness that energy in order to awaken our consciousness, in order to provoke a new kind of experience in life. The energy that provides that possibility, in Sanskrit, is called prana. 

As we mentioned in those previous two lectures, prana is the energy in everything. None of us are separate from prana; what we are is prana, but modified. That energy or prana is modified according to cause and effect, simple laws in nature that produce all that exists. Likewise, spiritual experience of any kind is produced by cause and effect, not by chance and not merely by divine grace. Even divine grace is cause and effect, it is not random or outside the law. Grace or blessings that come from above come because of cause and effect, because of karma. 

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." - Galatians 6:7

Whatever spiritual tradition we might feel connected to, these laws are fundamental in every tradition, yet they have different names. In this particular series of lectures, we are using Sanskrit and Tibetan words to describe the same experiences that are had in non Tibetan or Sanskrit based traditions such as Christianity. As evidence of that, I have found a beautiful scripture written by Thomas a Kempis some hundreds of years ago in a book called "The Imitation of Christ.” This book is one hundred percent Gnostic, yet it is also one hundred percent Buddhist, because of the principals that it expresses. If you read the book without getting caught up in the terminology, you will find a beautiful expression of Mahayana Buddhism. So I'll read you a short quote which sets the stage for today's topic. He wrote:

"Ah Lord God, my holy lover, when you come into my heart all that is within me will rejoice. You are my Glory and the exaltation of my heart. You are my Hope and Refuge and the day of my Tribulation. But because my love is as yet weak, and my virtue imperfect, I must be strengthened and comforted by you. Visit me often therefore and teach me your holy discipline. Free me from evil passions and cleanse my heart of all disorderly affection so that healed and purified from within I may be fit to love, strong to suffer, and firm to persevere. Love is watchful, sleeping it does not slumber, weary it is not tired, pressed it is not straightened, alarmed it is not confused. But like a living flame, a burning torch, it forces its way upward and passes unharmed through every obstacle.” - Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ 42

Thomas a Kempis

This short excerpt is pure Tantra, one hundred percent. He is describing the exact same thing that is written in the Yogas of Naropa, the Yogas of Niguma, and the Kalachakra Tantra. All the Tantras state exactly what this passage is explaining, which is through devotion, through love, the heart explodes and is inflamed with divinity. That is the ultimate key for spiritual experience. 

In the first two lectures we described how to harness the vital energies of the body — not only the physical body, but our inner bodies. Through harnessing that energy we fuse it, we harmonize it with the divine. That is what sets the stage for the divine fire called Candali or Kundalini to fill our heart, to fill our mind, to give us experience, but moreover, to help us be a fit vessel for that fire so that we can express the light of that fire in the world. 

Kundalini in Christianity

Levels of Instruction

To prepare humanity for that experience, all religions have been organized in three groups, or three stages of instruction. 

• First Stage: Introductory, outer teachings. Public level. Symbolized by Egyptians as “Apprentices.” In most religions, that which is taught to the public or laity.
• Second Stage: Middle level, inner teachings. Private. Symbolized by Egyptians as “Workers.” In most religions, that which is taught to the vow takers, monks, nuns, renunciates.
• Third Stage: Secret teachings. Symbolized by Egyptians as “Masters.” In most religions, that which is taught to the priests, lamas, rabbis, etc.

The first stage is always the introductory level; in Buddhism it is called Sutrayana or Shravakayana, and this is the introductory level, which is concerned primarily with ethics. Not just ethics to do something because someone tells you to do it, it is ethics based on real understanding of cause and effect. It is the understanding that when I perform a certain action it causes suffering. When you really see that, you do not want to perform that action any more. That is real ethics. That is what the introductory levels of every religion are supposed to accomplish: to guide you to that experience of knowing in yourself that “when I do that, it hurts me, it hurts someone else, I should stop.” This is what provides comprehension of suffering, what suffering is. The people working in this level of religion are generally focused on what is suffering, how do I suffer, and how do I change that. This is the Sutryana level; generally it is a public level of instruction. 

When someone has really grasped that, they have started to really understand that the way they behave, not only physically but also psychologically, has an impact on other people, then they want to change, they want to start behaving in a way that is beneficial to themselves and beneficial to others. This is what causes to emerge in the mind of that person a new type of psychology: a sensitivity to the suffering of others, and a gradual letting go of one's own needs. 

“As long as we continue bottled up in “self-sympathy,” any development of the Being becomes something more than impossible. We need to learn to see others’ points of view. It is urgent to know how to place ourselves in the place of others.” - Samael Aun Weor, Treatise of Revolutionary Psychology

When someone starts to realize, "I can make a difference not only for myself but for others," in Buddhism, this level of instruction is called Mahayana. It is the greater level, the second level of instruction. In every religion you have this level of teaching, and it is about cognizant love. This is when the attention of the person shifts away from themselves and towards others. This is not something theoretical, it is also not merely an aspiration. We begin with an aspiration, we begin with an intention, but someone who is really walking as a Mahayana practitioner, someone who is living the second level of instruction, does not even need to think about it; instead, it shows in their actions. It shows in what they do, it shows in how they deal with people, how they walk through life, how they deal with people at work, at church, at temple, on the subway, in the car. In every action they demonstrate a different attitude and manner of behavior. This is not to show off to their spiritual friends how spiritual they are, but because even alone, even unseen, they have this attitude in their mind. The Mahayana attitude can only emerge when someone spontaneously and naturally has already lived by the first level, conscious ethics. That basic introductory level of understanding cause and effect is summarized in the word renunciation, so you could call the first level ethics or renunciation.

What is that renunciation? We all think that renunciation means to put on robes and go live in the forest, but it does not mean that. Renunciation means to renounce harmful action. Whether someone else knows this intellectually or not is irrelevant; what matters is how we act, what is in our mind. Someone who has a true spirit of renunciation simply does not want for themselves and does not want to perform a harmful action, even in secret, because that person knows in their experience that that action will produce harm. Seen or unseen, it will result in suffering. That is real renunciation. 

When that spirit of renunciation based in that understanding of suffering has expanded beyond self-concern and is truly concerned for the welfare of other human beings, this is the birth or emergence of cognizant love; this is when this person has moved into a Mahayana-level mind stream. This is why the Master Samael Aun Weor stated, 

"What truly counts in these studies is the manner in which human beings behave internally and invisibly with one another." - Samael Aun Weor, Treatise of Revolutionary Psychology

In our minds. Because, you know, physically when we go to work or when we go to school, and we deal with people, we can be very nice and polite, friendly, smiling, but in our mind we're killing each other. You may have someone at work you have a conflict with that you are very nice with face to face, but in your mind, you beat them, you punish them, you humiliate them, you treat them bad. That is wrong. What is done in your mind is no different than what is done in your body; they are both ruled by cause and effect.

Jesus explained this principle in this way:

"You have heard that it was said by them of old time, you shall not commit adultery: But I say unto you, that whosoever looks on a woman [the sexual force of Malkuth, physical body, whether male or female] to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. Therefore, if your right eye offends you, pluck it out, and cast it from you: for it is profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that your whole body should be cast into hell." - Matthew 5: 27 29

A thought creates consequences in the same way as physical action. 

Once someone has demonstrated and proven that they have this spontaneous type of mind that is very concerned about the well being of others, they can be moved into another level of training. We usually hear this type of training called Tantra. In Buddhism the third level of teaching is called Tantrayana, Mantrayana, Vajrayana, etc.; it has many names. It is also called the esoteric level, or the secret level, where you need initiations to receive those teachings. There is a reason for that. 

These types of teachings are kept secret precisely because most people do not have a mind that is concerned about the welfare of others. In order to take advantage of that higher level of instruction, you need that kind of mind, because that level of instruction is designed to accelerate the growth of that kind of mind, the mind that is concerned for others, not for oneself. That is the whole purpose of Tantra. 

Nowadays people think that Tantra is sex, but it is not. The Sanskrit word Tantra means continuum, stream, or flow. In this course we are talking about prana and the way prana moves; this is energy. That stream or movement of energy is harnessed through Tantra. More specifically, through Tantra we learn how to purify our consciousness (buddha nature) so that we are no longer in disharmony with reality. 

Our own inner stream of energy must be harmonized with the divine energy, which is love for others, cognizant love, not selfishness, not lust, not pride, not envy, not gluttony, not greed, not fear. If we have a mind that is still ruled by those characteristics and then we enter into studying Tantra, we are playing with fire, literally. The highest levels of spiritual instruction are a big responsibility; knowledge has to be used with caution. 

Unfortunately nowadays, because the doors to this level of instruction have been opened to humanity, all of us think that we deserve to be in the third level, we think that we are the type of people that should receive the highest teachings. In other words, we have a lot of pride, a lot of ambition: spiritual ambition, spiritual pride. So we think that we can rush right on past all this boring stuff about ethics, and all this boring stuff about loving each other and compassion. People think, “Yeah, yeah, we get that, we know we're supposed to love each other but give me the good stuff. I want the secret teachings, I want the higher knowledge, I want to be taken into the temple, I want to know the real deal.” This is foolish. It is exactly the same as a three year old child wanting to be taken into the surgical hospital to use all the surgical tools. It would be stupid to give a three year old a scalpel, anesthesia, medicines, and all the other tools a doctor would use. That would be stupid, because the child is not going to know what it is doing. They are going to start playing games and hurt themselves and hurt other people. Tantra is no different. This is why for thousands of years the rules were very clear: to be taken from one level to the next by an instructor you would have had to have proven in your mind that you had the capacity to harness the higher tools with responsibility.

Do you want to know why people fall from the path? Why they fail? Why they hurt so many people spiritually? Why there are so many black magicians? Because they rushed to get the higher teachings and did not have a foundation in the first two aspects. All failures on the path are due to that person lacking understanding of ethics, renunciation (the first level) and lacking love for others (the second level). 

People rush to get powers, to awaken, but without real comprehension of karma, and without real comprehension of love. They become what we call an Hasnamuss, a person who has a split personality. They have powers that they have awakened, but they have no understanding of karma, cause and effect; they have no love. They are a devil mixed with an angel. This is very common unfortunately, and becoming more common. It is caused by pride, by ambition, by a lack of training.

Let us synthesize the goals of these levels:

• First level: Comprehend and eliminate the causes of suffering, which are pride, lust, anger, envy, etc.
• Second level: Train the liberated psyche in love for others and comprehension of the absolute
• Third level: Synthesize and accelerate the first two levels

It is very important that we have a strong comprehension of the foundations of our religion. That foundation is primarily cognizance of the suffering of others and how our own actions affect them.

The reason this is so important is because in order to enter into Tantra, to enter into the higher level of teaching, to receive that empowerment from the divine, you need a mind stream that is prepared for it. And that preparation is in cognizant love. To summarize the classes I have given so far on this topic, I have found a quote by Milarepa who some say is the greatest Tibetan yogi, and he said this:

"Bliss arises when the inner fire [tummo, Vital Heat] blazes throughout the body,
There is bliss when the winds of Roma and Kyangma [the two channels beside the spine] enter into the central channel [in the spine],
There is bliss when the bodhichitta [pure sexual energy] descends from above... and the translucent tigle [sexual energy] pervades from below.
When the white and red [male and female essences] unite in the middle [at the heart],
And the joy of a leakless body satiates one,
The whole body is suffused with undefiled rapture.
Sixfold is the bliss of the secret yogas." - The Song of the Snow Ranges

If you have paid attention in the two previous classes, you will understand this easily, because we have already explained everything described in this quote. To synthesize, the six blissful experiences of yoga are spiritual experiences. It is to have an awakened consciousness. Empowered and energized. Capable of seeing, not merely with physical but beyond the physical. That experience arises due to conditions that he explains very clearly in this quote. 

"Bliss rises when the vital heat is fanned.” What is vital heat? We explained about tummo, which is a Tibetan word that means "fierce woman.” Tummo yoga is the introductory practice to harness the vital forces of the vital body, which are, in their ultimate synthesis, sexual energy. That energy is the energy of the Divine Mother. It is her ability to create through us, in us, physically or spiritually. When that vital heat is fanned, when air blows it, what is the air? It is breath, it is prana, it is lung, the vital wind. That fanning is not just by doing a pranayama. That fanning is through being cognizant and aware and conscious from moment to moment. That is how prana, the vital wind, or lung fans our vital energy every time we breathe. From moment to moment, our breath, conscious, is fanning that vital heat. 

"When air from the nadis flows in the central channel.” We explained the two nadis on the sides of the central channel, one red, one white, solar and lunar, the sun channel and the moon channel, Rasana and Lalana. Through pranayama and other exercises those energies of the side channels meet to spark the central channel. 

Claudio de Dominico Celentano di Valle Nove, Book of Alchemical Formulas

"When Bodhichitta flows from above, when it is purified below." This is the main thing, Bodhichitta, this is the main thing, so let us explain what Bodhichitta means. 

What is Bodhichitta?

Bodhichitta is a Sanskrit word and it has two primary components. 

The first word bodhi means wisdom. In Hebrew, the same word is Chokmah. Bodhi or wisdom is Christ, it is prajna, it is the intelligence of the Buddha, it is the intelligence of Christ, it is the raw entity, the intelligence, the wisdom, the compassion of all the Gods. It is no't a person. If you can imagine in your mind for a moment all of the Buddhas and the angels that exist, all of them, and all of their minds are one. That is bodhi. Can you imagine in your mind a splendorous display, like the stars in the heavens, and every star is a Buddha, and in every Buddha is a mind, and all of those minds are one mind? That is bodhi. That is Chokmah, because in Christ there is only one, there is no individuality, Christ is one. 

The second part is chitta, which in Sanskrit is very difficult to translate directly into English. Usually it is translated into “mind,” but in all the Asian philosophies and religions mind and heart are not separate, mind-heart is one thing. We in the west tend to think of these as separate things, and there is a reason for that. But as a psyche, as a person, as a soul, they are really one. Chitta is our mind-heart. This word chitta comes from chitt, which means consciousness, or to be conscious, or from consciousness. 

So if you put all of that together, Bodhichitta means “wisdom heart mind,” or “conscious heart mind.”

Stated simply, bodhichitta is a psychological force that has very specific qualities. Primarily, it is a manifestation of divine love. 

The Virgin Mother and the Christ Demonstrate the Nature of Bodhichitta: the Fire of Love as Sacrifice

Bodhichitta is not in all things. Bodhichitta has to be created. It is a very precious substance that only emerges once it is created through an exact science.

That science has levels that correspond to the three levels of spiritual instruction.

Sutrayana Bodhichitta

If you have studied any Buddhism, you have heard about Bodhichitta, which is usually described to beginners as the longing to serve others, the aspiration to be of service, but specifically, to take all beings to enlightenment. This is how on the public level Bodhichitta is defined. If you go to any teaching by any lama, or any monk or leader from Mahayana Buddhism whether in China or other countries, they will talk about Bodhichitta as an altruistic intention to save everyone from suffering, to take them out of suffering. This is beautiful, but it is only the beginner level, it is just an intention, it is not yet an action. To turn that intention into an action requires something very specific, something that is not revealed in the entry level teachings of Buddhism. You see, this word Bodhichitta has many levels of meaning. We all heard the public level meaning, but that is not the only meaning, it has levels. 

Mahayana Bodhichitta

We know the beginning is to attain enlightenment, to lead others to enlightenment, but when you go a little further and you actually go deeper into the Mahayana level, you find out that Bodhichitta is actually a form of perception. This makes sense when you remember that Bodhichitta means “conscious mind heart, awakened mind heart.” What does it mean to be conscious or awakened? It means to see, to perceive. Not to imagine, not though fantasy, but to actually see something. 

Bodhichitta is a capacity to perceive, it is a type of consciousness that is different from other types of consciousness. Moreover, it is related with the highest Paramita, which is called Prajna. The Paramitas, or conscious attitudes, or perfections, are virtues or qualities of consciousness, and Prajna is the highest perfection or virtue in a Buddha. Prajna means wisdom, intuitive knowledge, objective knowledge. It is a type of perception that is far beyond physical perception. Prajna relates specifically to the upper triangle on the tree of life, to Binah and Chokmah. It is a type of intelligence and wisdom that perceives from that level of existence. 

Bodhichitta in the Mahayana level of instruction means to have the ability to see as Prajna. But specifically that means this: first, the mindstream of the person sees all things with cognizant love, and demonstrates the altruistic intention to save others from suffering. 

To move to the next level, one must comprehend the nature of the absolute, emptiness. Prajna is perception of the absolute, of the void, the emptiness. Philosophically this may be difficult for you to understand. Prajna perceives both conventional reality which is what we are all seeing, and ultimate reality (the absolute) at the same time. None of us have that, but when developed Bodhichitta has that. 

But this is still only the middle level of meaning of Bodhichitta, because there is a secret level of meaning. In traditional instruction, in the previous era, the ultimate meaning of Bodhichitta was only revealed when someone had earned it by demonstrating proofs of accomplishing the first levels. Nowadays, we have to talk about this level publicly. 

Tantrayana Bodhichitta 

In Tantrayana, the word Bodhichitta means sexual energy. In fact, བྱང་ཆུབ་ཀྱི་སེམས་, byang chub kyi sems, the Tibetan word for Bodhichitta, can be either translated as “conscious mind heart” or “semen.” It is the same word. That is no accident. They are in fact the same substance. What does that mean? It means that to develop Bodhichitta, the true capacity to bring others to enlightenment, you need energy. You need a way for that intention to work, and that is through the sexual energy.

This is why in the Lukhang we see a painting like this one. The Lukhang is the secret temple of the Dalai Lamas, where the secret teachings of Tantra have been preserved for quite some time. They were painted on the walls there as a reminder for the Dalai Lamas while they were doing their practices in order to keep the teachings fresh and vibrant. 

This painting is of a Lu (also called Naga). A Lu is an elemental spirit, an elemental goddess or god. It is a type of intelligence that is in nature. Every element has Lu, but especially bodies of water. This secret temple, which is behind the Potala Palace, is called Lu-khang, which is “the temple of the Lu,” and inhabiting that lake, it is said, are elemental gods or goddesses who teach those who deserve to learn. Those who deserve to learn are those who have developed a mind stream capable of serving others. 

This picture shows a Lu or Naga rising in the waters, and in her hand she has a jewel. This is not just any jewel, this is cintamani. In Tibetan it is called norbu. This jewel is the “wish fulfilling gem.” It is a jewel that can fulfill any wish, any desire, any longing. But she is protecting it. She is holding it there, rising out of the waters in the exact same way as the lady of the lake who has Excalibur for King Arthur. It is exactly the same symbol. Excalibur represents the sword of discriminative wisdom that Manjushri holds that can cut through appearances in order to best serve others. The Norbu represents the same thing, but you will notice something specific about this jewel: it is inflamed. That fire is Candali, Kundalini. That is the fire that is extracted from the water. That fire is the very energy of the Divine Mother. That is her ability to create, which manifests itself through this sacred stone. 

This tradition of the wish fulfilling jewel spread into the west over many centuries. Westerners call it “the Philosopher's Stone.” That myth came from cintamani, it wasn't invented in the west. The Philosopher's Stone can turn lead into gold. The lead is our mind, the gold is Christic, it belongs to Christ, Chenresig. It is the gold of the jewels and gems that the Lu wears. It is the gold of the Buddhas. It is the gold of a Master. It is the gold that shines from a Christified Master. This is why in traditional devotional art, gold is the primary element. If you look at thangkas and religious icons, gold leaf is very common. In any religious artifact or element gold is used because of metal relates to the Sun. It is the gold of Christ, and it represents a very specific quality. 

This image represents the same thing that the image of the goddess holding the jewel represents. This image shows the Christian representation of the same teaching. Here we see the virgin Mary, and on the table is a cup, and from the cup rises the face of Christ. 

In the ancient Western traditions, the holy grail was always considered to be made of stone. They interchange between talking about the holy grail as a cup or a stone. There is a lot of confusion about this. It is only in the last few hundreds of years that non-initiated writers, folklorists, mythologists and people who like fantasy converted the mystical symbols into something for comic books and children's tales, thus we have lost the richness of the actual myth of the holy grail. The story of King Arthur is a story of a Bodhisattva, someone who incarnated Bodhichitta. 

This cup has several important symbolic meanings. While the cup is always feminine, it can represent our body, or sex, or the mind. You cannot separate any of these from the others. You have a body because of sex, you have a mind because of sex. Your mind influences sex, sex influences your mind. The body is in the middle of all of it. The cup represents all of these. 

The cup is our life. The cup that we have is filthy. This is why Jesus in the gospels says:

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.” -  Matthew 23:25

That is how the cup represents our mind. Our minds are disgusting; let's be honest. Our minds are full of greed, lust, pride, envy, gluttony, and laziness. Our minds are not holy; our minds are animal. We have to clean the cup, the mind. We have to clean the cup, sex. We have to clean the cup, the body. And through that cleansing, gradually, Christ mind can emerge through polishing the cup. 

This is what both Thomas a Kempis and Milarepa were explaining in the quotes I read to you. Thomas a Kempis wrote, "My love is imperfect, I need divine help to cleanse myself, to cleanse my mind, to make my love clean." Milarepa said the same thing, "When Bodhichitta is purified below." He is talking about the mind that needs to be cleansed. We need that. We can do that, but not by ourselves. We cannot do it on our own. 

We need a lot of help. First, we need the help of the teachings. If any of us were so smart that we could get to enlightenment on our own, we would have done it already. We are not that smart or educated. All we are doing is producing more suffering every day. We need radical change today. Not just the intention to change, but actual change, empowered change. That first comes through studying the teachings, through learning the doctrine. Not just reading some books and thinking, “yeah, this is a good idea I like it.” It means practice, putting it into practice daily. To change one's mind, to change one's behavior. To really and truly become a better person, not just to think about it, not just to mean well, but to actually do it today. Because you see, everything that is in your life now is because of what you've been doing before now. Not because of what you thought or wished for or hoped for, but because of what you actually did. So if you want something different, something better, even if it's only for yourself, you have to start acting in a different way, in a way that will produce the effects that you want. Furthermore, if you want to help others, you have to do even more. We cannot do it alone, we need help. 

The teachings help us, but that's not enough, the proof of that is obvious: humanity has had spiritual teachings for thousands of years, and look at the situation we are in today. Humanity has had millions of people who believed devoutly in their religions, yet our situation has not gotten better. We can make offerings, give donations, go to church or temple every day, but that is not going to change things. What will change things is the quality of our mind. The change has to be inside, within us.

So learning the teachings is the first part: learning how to change, and why. That is the beginning level. The second level begins when we start to realize that the way we behave hurts other people, so we need to change in order to stop hurting others. That is when we start to develop this different kind of mind, a mind of Mahayana inspiration that wants to help others, to stop hurting others. Here is where the real help will come. 

Who have you known that has that quality? That is more concerned about you than themselves? Some of us think, “well gosh, I do not know anybody, I think I am the only one who thinks about me.” It might be true for some of you, but I think for most of you there is a person, probably more than one, but at least one: your mother. Do you remember her?  Without any doubt, the greatest teacher I have had in my life is my mother. No one every taught me more about love: the ability to give, give, and give, at any cost, for the sake of the child. That is a Mahayana attitude, that is Bodhichitta in a seed form, the beginning of it. In your experience, it may have been your father or another family member who showed you that, who gave and gave and gave for you, and asked nothing in return. That kind of love is similar to Bodhichitta. It is selfless, cognizant love. It is a love that knows it must give and does it because it must. It is love. That is real love. 

Entering the Higher Teachings

If you want to enter into the real teachings of Tantra, you need that kind of love for others. That is not love for one self, that is love for humanity, it is love for others, no matter what group they come from, no matter what country they come from, no matter what skin color they have. It is a love that wants to give and give and give. 

The first one who can teach you that is your mother. Your physical mother may not have been able to, for whatever cause. However, the real mother who teaches this to us —through many ways — is our Divine Mother. If you want to learn Bodhichitta, if you want to enter into the higher teachings, you need to ask her. She will teach you, she is the one, she has loved you forever. In spite of your discontent and ingratitude, in spite of your mistakes, she loves you. She always has and always will. Moreover, she is not separate from you. People hear about the Divine Mother and they think she is somewhere else. She is not. Her most sacred temple in the universe is in your heart. What do you have in your heart to decorate that temple? Greed, gluttony, lust, pride, vanity, anger, resentment, fear? We need to clean our temple quickly. Nonetheless, she knows that we are imperfect, and will still help us.

In every religion, the Divine Mother is depicted in different ways, because she actually has no form. Your Divine Mother has no form. She is not western or Asian. She is formless. She is intelligence. She is the intelligence that can create world systems. She is an intelligence that your mind cannot understand. And she is a type of love that will overwhelm you when you experience it. It will radically change you when you experience it. 

In Asian traditions, she is depicted in many forms. This picture is of Green Tara. It is stated in one tradition that when Christ — Prajna, that wisdom mind of all the Buddhas that I explained to you — when that mind of all the Buddhas looked at suffering humanity, and naturally felt compassion, from the eye of that mind flowed a tear. That tear is the Divine Mother. That tear of compassion from Christ is the mother who rushes to help her children when they are in need. You can call her Mary, Maria, Ramio, Coatlique, Tara, Athena, Hera, Fricka. These are all names of the Divine Mother, yet she is formless. 

Green Tara

This particular image of Green Tara represents a divine, wrathful aspect or protecting aspect. This is the mother who is actively engaged in protecting her child. Imagine the mother bear protecting the cub. That mother bear is ferocious, and that is why in this tradition she is called Tummo, a Tibetan word meaning “fierce woman.” She is fierce precisely because our heart mind, the Buddhata, or the Tathagatagarbha that we have, the soul essence, is threatened. It is trapped by pride, lust, envy, gluttony, greed, because of our own actions. We have encapsulated our soul in a very tight compressed knot of karmic causes and conditions. We suffer and make others suffer, and our mother is not happy about it. So, she is ferocious and fierce trying to free her child, which is you. You would not believe what she goes through, the suffering of our Divine Mother. Anyone who is a parent and has seen their child suffer knows the pain of that. But imagine watching your child suffer for lifetime after lifetime after lifetime after lifetime after lifetime… Can you imagine the pain? That is the pain she feels for you. 

In the book, "The Magic of the Runes,” Samael Aun Weor wrote something very penetrating. He said, 

"Oh ignorant mortals, how often has your Divine Mother visited you yet you failed to recognize her?” 

It is true. She never leaves us. She can even manifest herself in other dimensions to visit us in dreams. She can also come physically to visit us, but we do not remember her, we do not recognize her. You might think that sounds crazy, but it happens; she is the mother of the universe after all. 

So upon this aspect of the Divine Mother you see a rosary of heads around her neck. Those heads are our egos that she is waiting to consume, destroy, eliminate. She cannot do that as long as part of us is trapped inside of it, because she will not hurt her child. 

The science of Tummo yoga is the science of harnessing her creative powers. How does the mother create? Through her womb. Through her womb she creates and forms the child. Through her breasts she nourishes her child. The child of our soul is formed in the womb of our Divine Mother. That womb is sexual. That womb is the Kundalini. It is fire, but it is her fire, her intelligence. See this fire around her? That is her. 

No one can awaken the Kundalini by tricking the Divine Mother. You cannot trick the mother of the universe. She does not care how much money you have, she does not care what school you belong to, she does not care what your name is or if you wear a robe or not. What she cares about is sanctity, purity, chastity, and most of all, charity. Three factors: birth, death, and sacrifice. This is what she cares about. If we follow her guidance and live by her rules, this fire of hers can be born in us. This is what that quote by Milarepa is explaining: how the fire emerges in us to create the soul.

White Tara

This is another aspect of the Divine Mother, who is also Tara, but white. These are two faces of the same goddess. This aspect shows Tara as protectoress and savior, and around her are eight forms of suffering. These relate to the seven primary defects, and ignorance. Greed, gluttony, jealousy, anger, lust. She will defend us from them. She will help us comprehend them if we let her. If we keep indulging ourselves in lust and pride and anger and envy and gluttony and greed, she cannot do anything, because we want it. But if we are trying to separate ourselves from those elements, and cleanse ourselves of those elements, she can help us a lot. She, after all, has all the knowledge and all the wisdom of existence. 

What she does in the process of awakening her fire inside of us is to prepare our soul. She creates what in some traditions is called “the wedding garment.” What in Kabbalah is called the Mercabah, the chariot of Ezekiel. In Hinduism, it is represented by the chariot that Krishna drives. Krishna represents Christ. The chariot is our soul. Apollo drives his chariot across the heavens, that chariot is the soul. Krishna drives the chariot with Arjuna, with the horses that drive it. Those horses can represent the senses, but they also can represent the bodies of the soul. In Egyptian mythology, this is called Sahu, it is the bodies of the being: astral body, mental body, and causal body. The Divine Mother takes her forces and energies and raises them up in us in order to create this soul, this vessel, so that ultimately we are put in a position where she can then give birth to her son. That son is Christ, the savior.

It seems odd, does not it? If you think about what I just explained; the Christ gives birth to the Divine Mother who gives birth to the Christ. Right? That's what I said. Now you understand why Dante, in the Divine Comedy, at the very end said, "Oh Divine Mother, daughter of your son." Now you can understand it. Dante was another Gnostic. The Divine Comedy is pure scripture.

Christ, Chenresig,Osiris, Avalokiteshvara, Apollo, Jupiter, Heracles, Krishna, all represent an incarnation of Christ. These are our Christ, born in the soul. 

Now let us analyze that for a moment. Remember I explained that Christ is Prajna, the primordial wisdom mind of all the Buddhas, whose chief characteristic is cognizant love for all existing things. How will that be born in your heart if your heart is like it is now? Your heart has to be prepared. Can you take the wisdom mind of all the Buddha minds in the universe and have that light shine through your heart as it is now? It would destroy you; it would completely obliterate you. It is an energy of such a voltage that you would not be able to sustain it. That is why we have levels of the path. That is why you cannot rush to the end of the path. You have to start where you are, and be properly prepared. You need a vessel capable of transforming and directing that energy, and that vessel is the soul. We do not have it yet. 

Refuge Tree

Jesus said,

“With patience will ye possess your souls.” - Luke 21:19

We have to make the soul, and the one who does that is our Divine Mother and our Innermost. 

Chenresig (Christ) Holding the Mani at His Heart

This image is of Chenresig which is the Tibetan name for Christ. Do you see his hands folded in front of his chest? That is the Mani, the Norbu, the cintamani. Do you remember the stone, the wishing gem that the Lu was holding out of the water? That is what he has in his hands. That wishing gem, the gem that can fulfill all wishes and longings is held sacred between the palms of Christ at his heart. This is no accident. And this is because that wishing gem is not what we think it is. We hear about the genie coming out of the bottle who can grant any wishes and we always think,” Oh I wish I had all the money in the world.” Or we want a stack of chocolate pies. Whatever it is that we want, this is not the type of wish that this gem fulfills. What this gem fulfills are the deepest longings of your heart. I know you think its chocolate, but it is not. It is to be free of suffering; it is to be happy. That is really what we all want: to be happy, to be at peace. 

But let me tell you something: it is impossible to find happiness and peace so long as our mind-heart remains in the state it is in now. You cannot have peace if you have anger. You cannot have happiness if you have pride. You can never have satisfaction if you have lust. These desires, these egos, can never be satisfied. 

“Desire never rests by enjoyment of lusts, as fire surely increases the more butter is offered to it.” - Laws of Manu 2.94 

Desire cannot bring peace. Pursuit of pleasure cannot bring contentment. And a mind filled with desires cannot reflect Christ. Real peace, real love, real contentment come when the heart is clean, when the heart is tranquil, when the heart is simple. 

That is why this stone is held precious by Cheresig. If you think about this for a moment, Christ is the very ground from which existence emerges. Christ is the fire of all living things. It is the essence of life. Christ is Prana. And to that intelligence, the intelligence that has created everything, the most precious thing is that stone: मणि Mani. 

In Sanskrit, this word मणि Mani is translated usually as “jewel” or “gem.” It is written with two letters. The first letter म is a square, which is exactly the same as the Hebrew מ mem. This Hebrew letter מ mem is also the number forty. Well, this Sanskrit letter म m is the fortieth Sanskrit letter. That's not a coincidence. Jesus was in the desert forty days. The floods rained forty days and forty nights. The Israelites were in the desert for forty years. Forty. Mem. Water. Mem relates to water in Hebrew. 

The second letter of mani is an N, like the Hebrew nun. What is interesting is that this word Mani is the very heart of the most precious mantra in Tibetan Buddhism: Om Mani Padme Hum. Everybody has heard that. Even people who do not know about Buddhism, they've heard this mantra. Om Mani Padme Hum. Most people translate it into English as “the jewel in the lotus.” Mani is that jewel. But listen, the word Mani has more meanings than just jewel. It also means anything rounded. It means a magnet, a lodestone. In Tantra, it means penis or clitoris. Look it up in the dictionary:

मानी mani: precious stone, bead, measure, magnet, gem, globule, hump of a camel, crystal, jewel, clitoris glans, pearl, large water jar, glans penis, ornament, wrist, bell, loadstone, amulet 

“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation…” - Isaiah 28:16

You see how Christ is holding that gem in his hands? How does Christ create? Through sex, and through the heart. Not through lust. This is why the highest level of instruction is sexual. This is why the students who are walking all the lower yanas, to reach that highest yoga Tantra have to be prepared, to have a heart of Bodhichitta, concerned more for the well being of others than themselves, so that they can learn to use their own mani, their own jewel, their own gem, their own precious element. The most sacred part of the human organism: sex. It is the most powerful, it is the most sacred, and it is the one that we make the most filthy. It is the one that we use as a plaything, to hurt ourselves and others, merely because of pleasure. Because of ignorance. 

“Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?

“Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

“And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” - Matthew 21

M and N in Sanskrit spell Mani. M and N in Hebrew spells mana. Everyone's heard about the mana in the desert. That word mana does not mean bread. (I know in Sunday school we all heard that God was throwing bread from the clouds. No. That's Sunday school, comic book foolishness). The word mana literally means “blessings from above.” Is not that the same thing as the gem that Christ holds? 

Moreover, if you look at Om Mani Padme Hum, and you listen to just the first part of that mantra, what do you hear? O mani. O men. Amen. The Tibetans have been saying “Amen” for a long time. What does Amen mean? Faith. If you take that M and N and put an Aleph in front of it, it spells amen. What does that mean? In Tantra it is very significant, because the Aleph is related to the air, to lung. Prana. In other words, when you take prana with your breath, you live. Prana is the source of life. So if you take prana with your Mani, you take life, you absorb life, you use life, which is what we are all doing. Life is given and taken through sex. It depends on how we use it. If we misuse sex, we take life, we kill. This is why in the Zohar it states very explicitly that whoever expels their sexual energy because of desire is equivalent to a murderer, because they kill the capacity for God to create. For thousands of years now people have been ridiculing this passage because they do not understand it.

The power of God, of the Divine Mother to create the soul is in the sexual energy. So when that Aleph, that air is taken in, and controlled and used, it creates life. The way we live is by use of energy. Everything we are is energy. The body, the mind, are energy. But energy and matter are indivisible, they are the same, but modified. Everything you are is matter and energy that are exchanging with each other. What we are now is the condensation into matter of energy that we put into motion in the past, and everything that we are doing today is putting in motion energy that will crystallize tomorrow, and the next day and the next day. That alone should really give us cause to really reflect on what we do with our time and our energy. To really realize that what we do we become, what we think is what we become. That's why the Dhammapada, the first teaching that the Buddha gave, the most important scripture in the Sutryana level states:

“We become what we think.” - Dhammapada

That's the very first passage of the most widely read book of Buddhism. We become what the mind projects. It does not mean that if you imagine that you are the President, that you will then become the President. It does not mean that. It means that while you are constantly going from moment to moment with that stream of thought that's always thinking about me and myself and I, and then me again, you become that: selfish. Suffering. Ignorant. It means that. The pain and suffering you have now are a result of the way you think. The type of mind stream that you have. Change your suffering by changing your mind. Not by saying, “I'm going to change my mind today, I'm not going to be Christian anymore I'm going to be a Buddhist.” That's not the kind of mind change we are talking about. We are talking about changing the way you think, the way you direct thought, the way you direct emotion. It is a cognizance of oneself from moment to moment, not just for a brief moment every once and a while, but constant. Watchfulness. 

This is the basis for training in Tantra. The first two levels of any teaching are to train you to be cognizant of your actions. Not just physically, but psychologically. Through that cognizance, you are directing energy. Contemplate that very deeply: through every moment you are directing energy. When you take on and add the tools of Tantra, you are directing even more energy, so make very sure that you know what you are doing with your energy. If you take the tools of Tantra and continue using your energy in a selfish way, you will one hundred percent without a doubt become a demon, what is called an asura. Without any doubt. That is happening all over the world. People think that they are smart and clever ,and think that they deserve these kind of teachings, and so they rush into them and make a mess. That is why there are so many spiritual groups and people causing so much pain. Be very clear about how you use energy and how you use your mind. We need these tools, but we need to use them wisely.

The Wind Horse

Lung ta: wind horse

This image is called Lungta. It is a horse, and on his back is the Mani, the Norbu, the wish fulfilling gem. This symbol is quite old; it comes from different shamanistic traditions, especially the Bon tradition of Mongolia and Tibet. It is been adopted into Tibetan Buddhism, gradually. If you have ever seen a prayer flag, this is on it. Lungta means “wind horse,” it also means “river horse.” 

So now that we have been talking about prana, about air and water, you know what this means. That wind horse is you, your vital body, your energy in motion. This image represents what we should be: a vessel, a vehicle, for Christ. A vessel or a vehicle that carries that wish fulfilling gem of Cheresig. In other words, we should be a bodhisattva, someone who takes that wish fulfilling gem, and displays it and uses it for the benefit of others. That's what a prayer flag is supposed to represent: the winds take the prayers to benefit all beings. 

There is a deep esoteric meaning hidden in those images. What is hidden there is what is hidden about Bodhichitta in general. It is very beautiful to have the aspiration to develop Bodhichitta. It is very beautiful to have the intention to become a Buddha, an angel, or master in order to help other beings. We highly encourage it. In fact, the most important scripture in Mahayana Buddhism is a book about Bodhichitta, which stresses repeatedly this importance. If you want to know Buddhism, you need to know this book. In Sanskrit it is called Bodhicharyavatara, by Shantideva. This is the single most important book about Buddhism. If you want to know about what I am teaching, you need this book. But what is not taught explicitly in the written scripture is what I am trying to explain to you in these lectures, and what the master Samael taught in all of his books. The aspiration of Bodhichitta is beautiful, but mere intention is not enough. For any energy to be empowered and to work, it needs a method, a means to express. Energy needs a channel. Energy needs a conduit. What is the conduit for Bodhichitta? 

There are millions of people in the world following Mahayana Buddhism who are very devoted, and this is very beautiful. And the ones who are very serious, and the ones who really commit themselves, and are dedicated to developing this type of mind, will one day discover the secret truth about Bodhichitta, which is that if you waste your Bodhichitta (your sexual energy) through the orgasm, you can never develop Bodhichitta. If you experience the orgasm, if you expel the sexual force, whether physically or mentally, you can never develop Bodhichitta. It is impossible, because the sexual force is Bodhichitta. You cannot develop it if you are expelling it. You cannot simultaneously expend it and preserve it. 

With the pride of vajra holder,
the vajra with lotus enters the lotus.
With lingam placed into the bhaga,
the yogi performs hum phat;
the bodhichitta [sexual energy] is not emitted.

One's own secret-area five-pointed vajra [male sexual organ] marked with a lotus enters the consort's lotus [female sexual organ]. Within that state the yogi holds the pride of being the vajra-holder main deity Kakalchakra, he utters the syllables hum phat, and dwells within the activity of union arising from placing the father's lingum into the mother's bhaga. This brings the elemental bodhichitta [sexual energy] down to the tip of the jewel, where it is not to be emitted. - Quoted from Ornament of Stainless Light, an Exposition of Kalachakra Tantra, by Khedrug Norsang Gyatso (15th century AD).

Meditate on the supreme and unchanging [bliss].
With vajra [male sexual organ] placed inside lotus [female sexual organ],
brings the winds [vital forces] into the drops [bodhichitta],
the drops into the chakras;
the movement of drops halted at the vajra [male sexual organ],
always rigid, the yogi continually raises fluid [never releasing it].
With the yoga of mahamudra [great seal],
the descent to the vajra, and by its blessing,
the instances of supreme unchanging [bliss],
completed at 21,600,
will bring the great enlightenment,
the attainment of Vajrasattva [diamond soul].
-Quoted from Ornament of Stainless Light, an Exposition of Kalachakra Tantra, by Khedrug Norsang Gyatso (15th century AD).

When the melting of the bodhimind substances [sexual energy] is accomplished on the basis of having dissolved the energies into the central channel [of the spinal column], then the drops [of energy] can be retained at the tip of the jewel [sexual organ] until the innate bliss is aroused.

The drops should not be allowed to be ejaculated. This retention will only be possible if the energy that causes ejaculation has been absorbed [into the central channel].

In the beginning of the practice, in order to retain the drops in the jewel chakra and arouse the innate bliss, it is useful to visualize that the drops are directed into the central channel. Engage in the energy practices until this ability is achieved. Don't overly exert force.

- Quoted from A Practice Manual on the Six Yogas of Naropa:Taking the Practice in Hand by Jey Lama Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), Translated by Glenn H. Mullin and published in The Practice of the Six Yogas of Naropa (1997) Snow Lion.

Those whose white fluid falls
during their companionship with wisdom [prajna: consort or women],
by what will their bliss increase? [The basis of supreme bliss is the retention and transmutation of sexual energy].
Occasionally, at the appropriate time of year,
the deer-eating lion seeks the bliss of mating,
while the gravel-eating pigeon does so constantly.
Because their fluid falls once or many times,
neither finds supreme bliss.
Similarly the ascetic and the lustful
lose their fluid while in dreams and while awake.
Bitten by a snake while asleep, one will not live;
Similarly the ascetic weakened by not keeping his fluid
is ruined by a woman's womb.
- Quoted from a scripture of the Tengyur (Canonical Treatises): Great Commentary / Stainless Light (Vimalaprabha) by Kalki Pundarika (176-76 BC)

There are millions of people studying Buddhism who continue to fornicate because they have not been educated about this. They need to learn, they need to be taught, they need to be prepared. Otherwise, their spiritual efforts result in very little. 

So for you who now know this, you now have a Norbu, a wish fulfilling gem. If your wish is to receive enlightenment, you can do it. Apply these three factors: chastity, charity, and sanctity. Chastity is to hold that vital essence and to transform it the way it is taught in the Yogas of Naropa and Niguma, the way it is taught in Kalachakra, the way it is taught in Kabbalah, the way it is taught in Christianity, and in all the esoteric traditions: keep that energy and learn to transform it. It is not easy in the beginning, but gradually, the body learns. This is why in the Kalachakra Tantra it states; 

"Little by little the body disposes of the habit of emission and adopts the habit of non-emission." 

This is in the Kalachakra. Anyone who is a student of Kalachakra needs to know that. We need to develop the habit in the body of non-emission, of holding the energy and transforming it. 

The sexual matter in the body is the vessel for energy in the vital body. That is prana, that is lung. When we do our practices — meditation, pranayama, mantras, Runic practices, Yantric practices — we a're taking those energies and directing them. But first, we need the energies to be preserved within us!

When we are doing anything in life, we need to be cognizant, because everything we do is directing those energies. Some students complain, “I've heard this teaching and I see it makes sense, and I'm saving my energy, but I'm not having any experiences.” Saving the energy is the beginning, but to fuel experiences, you have to be awake, conscious, aware of yourself, all the time, from moment to moment. Be cognizant. The truth is, students do not have experiences because they are distracted all the time. When you go home from your spiritual class, you just go to sleep; you stop remaining aware. It takes a continual effort, especially in the beginning, it takes a lot of effort before you start to learn, and it starts to become natural, and you restore the natural, intuitive way of living. And then it becomes normal, it does not take the effort, and then your effort is on other things. The beginning is the hardest, the body fights because it has a long habit of wasting energy. But the fact is, in order for you to develop Bodhichitta, to have this type of mind, you need the energy, you need the matter, you need the vessel, the vehicle that can transmit it. You need to save that energy and work with that energy in a smart way.

This is what Milarepa described. That energy in your body is vital heat. Saving sexual energy is only one part of that puzzle, it is the critical beginning, but in reality you need to start saving energy everywhere: the energy of thought, the energy of emotion. All of this goes out through your energy of attention, how you pay attention, and what you pay attention to. Saving your energy just means you are trying to accumulate those forces, but if you are just wasting them all day long with bad behaviors, you need to change that. Once you start changing those bad behaviors, then energy can accumulate, and you can start using it, and then experiences come naturally. 

In the middle of this quote from Milarepa he says, "when Bodhichitta flows from above, when it is purified below." This is a very esoteric statement that has levels of meaning. It applies to the nadis in all of our inner bodies and physical body. It applies to how a certain type of energy flows from above and needs to be purified below. But the important aspect here is psychological. 

There is energy coming into us constantly “from above,” energy that keeps us alive. We are taking in energy through breath, food, water, but also through what we see, hear. Impressions are a kind of food. If we are feeding our minds garbage through TV, music, friends, going to places you should not go, looking at things you should not look at, you are making your heart temple impure, and you are corrupting the energies that are coming into it from above. There has to be a rigorous discipline and change in our behaviors. 

This is what is meant in the next passage when it says, "And the joy of a leakless body satiates one." What is a leakless body? Firstly, it is a body that does not leak sexual energy, merely on the physical level. To not expel sexual energy, period, ever. That is a leakless body physically. But Milarepa was way more than a literalist. When you study what he taught, there is immense meaning in his teachings. 

The leakless body also means the body of the mind. Does our body of the mind leak? That has to stop. If we really want spiritual experience, stopping the leaking from the physical body is important and difficult at first, but more important and more difficult is to stop that leaking in the mind, to stop sexual fantasy, to stop fantasizing about our anger, pride, gluttony, fears, worries, projecting all kinds of things about ourselves and others in our mind, which is all a very huge waste of energy. 

The very notion of being present and not thinking terrifies the ego. And that is why when most of us hear about this, we say,; “I cannot do that, that's impossible.” You can, and when you do it, you will start to taste what real happiness is. That is why this is called one of the six blissful experiences. When you can be fully present, not merely physically, but psychologically, emotionally, and mentally, and in your will, fully present, and not thinking, there is a kind of bliss in that. That bliss is not artificial, it is not imposed on you by something outside, it is not imposed on you by making the effort to be present. It is a bliss or joy that bursts spontaneously into your mind because it is the natural state of your mind. 

The natural state of the consciousness is pure happiness, joy, love. If you do not believe me, watch a child, who is not worried, who is not thinking, who is just playing, and happy, and at any giving instant is ready to be altruistic, ready to give. Not these spoiled kids that most of us have, I mean the kids that have not yet been spoiled by our culture. Altruism is natural and normal in the very young, but it becomes covered up and buried under pride and jealousy as the child ages, as the ego incorporates. But before that ego incorporates, we see beautiful virtues in children. We all have that, but we lost touch with it because we love our ego too much. 

Spiritual experience begins when we learn to be present and use our energy wisely. We set all these pre-requisites about ethics, about behavior, about saving energy, and everything else, but the spiritual experience that we need emerges spontaneously and naturally and easily when we are not thinking, when we are centered, when we have our energy intact, and when we pray. And that energy, that happiness that spontaneously bursts out of the heart is love. That is what the higher teachings seek to harness and develop, because in us, that love is just an embryo. Most of us have completely lost touch with it, and hardly know what love is, have barely a concept of what selfless love really means. Maybe we've never experienced it or never activated it in our own behaviors. We need to. 

If your heart is dead and cold, begin with the steps that I outlined: start by meditating on your actions, really contemplate what you do and why. And if it's not helping, start to really contemplate the suffering of others, seriously contemplate it. You might need some type of intense therapy — I do not mean going to a therapist, I mean letting your Divine Mother teach you and show you the reality that is going on around us all the time. This world is not the rosy-everybody-smiling-place that we see in commercials. It is not. Suffering on this planet is the worst it's ever been. I'm sorry if that's news to you, but it is a fact. Right now the suffering on this planet is the worst it has ever been. I know that our modern culture likes to think that everything is getting better and better, but that is not true. There are no facts to support that concept, even though we all have mobile devices and we think that's really cool, it hasn't eliminated suffering. There is more slavery in the world than there ever was; that is a documented fact. There are more weapons in the world than there ever was. We are now on the brink, that at any given instant, a single crazy person can press a single button and end all life. That is crazy. Yet, somehow, we live with it. We are in a constant state of warfare; right now, there are people killing other people over ideas, concepts, beliefs. Nowhere on this planet can you find clean water. Nowhere on this planet can you find pure food. Where do you find happiness? Where are you going to run to? What job, what city can offer you peace and solitude and solace and happiness? None. Let us face reality. Let us not run from it. Let us face it, and change it.

The reality is that the happiness we need can only be found in our heart, in spite of any circumstances outside of us. That happiness emerges and is developed through Bodhichitta. Through the application of this science. If you are a very serious person — by serious I do not mean that you look serious or act serious, I mean someone that practices consistently — you will realize it. Bodhichitta is scientific, it is not accidental. It does not come because you are in a particular group, it comes because of work. 

Moreover, we need Bodhichitta. Humanity needs it. This planet needs it. One person with Bodhichitta can change a lot. I mean real Bodhichitta, not just the aspiration. We have had millions of people aspiring to have Bodhichitta, but I mean the real thing. 

Masters

And let's make a distinction here, too; just because someone has created the solar bodies or become a Buddha does not mean they have Bodhichitta. These are different. There are many saints, many angels that have developed great virtues, and are very beautiful. In Asia they are called Pratyeka Buddhas or Sravakas. These are very saintly beings, but they have no Bodhichitta. We call them walkers of the spiral path, Nirvanis. There are Buddhas, and many of them have human souls and are on the planet now who are teaching religion, Gnosis, Buddhism, Taoism, and we all see them and think, “wow they look so angelic, they must be a real master, very high master, they always wear white.” Or “they always have a lot of followers so they must be a very great master.” We are very easily tricked by superficial appearances. Very easily. A real master, a high master, cannot be recognized by physical evidence. Ever. In fact, the highest ones are completely anonymous. And there are many, now on this planet, working to help people. (I am not one of them). There are many, helping humanity, and most of them are anonymous. They are not sickly sweet with a lot of sentimentality. I know a lot of us like that, but a real master is not like that. A real master who has Bodhichitta is serious, because suffering is serious, it is not a game. Such a master is extremely rigorous, dedicated, and devoted. We need to emulate that, we need those qualities.

When you go to some spiritual groups and everybody is very fluffy and light and smiling and happy, that is nice, it's fine, there is nothing wrong with that. But do not think that is because there is a master there. That can all just be personality; some people like those qualities because it makes them feel safe and secure. It makes them feel like they're okay, they can rest for a few minutes, and smile at everybody and eat cake and feel like they are being spiritual. That has nothing to do with mastery. There are other people who go around talking about love and generosity and that we have to love each other, this is good, we need that, but that's not mastery. It's easy to talk about love. The real master is the one who sacrifices, who serves, who asks for nothing. We need to emulate that. 

A great example of Bodhichitta, cognizant love, is Samael Aun Weor. Samael Aun Weor has terrific Bodhichitta, and he is an extremely severe master, very serious. If you've heard him talk you know what I mean. His voice, his message, his teaching, are extremely penetrating, very serious, very dedicated, and pure love. Samael is the angel of Mars, which is the force of love anyhow, he is the angel of love. The virtue of Mars is love. 

The Fiery Bodhichitta of Padmasambhava

Another great example of Bodhichitta is Padmasambhava, who also is a very serious master. Some of the pictures show him smiling, and this is the one you see most commonly, where he is smiling and he has a lot of angels around him, very beautiful. But when you know him, when you know his story, know his energy, know his teaching, you will then know why some people in Asia thinks he is a demon, because of his ferocity. Really, he is terrifying. He is ferocious because of compassion, because of love. So let's not confuse Bodhichitta with pink puffy clouds and Lolly-pops. It can show itself with sweetness, but it can also show itself with severity.

I am going to read you one little quote from this book that I am recommending; the Bodhicaryavatara, or "the guide to a Bodhisattva's way of life." This little quote is probably the most famous passage from the book. It's chanted daily by Buddhists all over the world and there is a hidden esoteric teaching inside of it which I will not reveal to you, if you meditate on this you will see it. But I'll read you a little piece of it;

"May I be a protector for those without one. A guide for all travelers on the way. May I be a bridge, a boat, and a ship for all who wish to cross the water. May I be an island for those who seek one, and a lamp for those desiring light. May I be a bed for all those who wish to rest. And a slave for all those who want a slave. May I be a wishing jewel, a magic vase, powerful mantras and great medicine. May I become a wish fulfilling tree, and a cow of plenty for the world. Just like space and the great elements such as earth may I always support the life of all the boundless creatures, and until they pass away from pain may I also be the source of life for all the realms of varied beings that reaches unto the ends of space. Just as the previous lords of bliss gave birth to Bodhichitta, and just as they successively lived by the Bodhisattva practices, likewise for the sake of all that lives do I give birth to Bodhichitta and likewise shall I too successively follow the practices. In order to further increase it from now on, those with discernment who have lucidly seized Bodhichitta in this way should highly praise it in the following manner: Today my life has borne fruit; having well obtained this human existence, I've been born in the family of Buddha and now am one of Buddha's children. Thus whatever actions I do from now on must be in accord with the family tradition. Never shall I disgrace or pollute this noble faultless family. Just like a blind man discovering a jewel in a heap of trash, likewise by some coincidence Bodhichitta has been born within me. It is the supreme elixir that overcomes the lord of death. It is the inexhaustible treasure that eliminates all poverty in the world. It is the supreme medicine that quells the worlds disease. It is the tree that shelters all beings wandering and tired on the road of samsara. It is the universal bridge that frees beings from wretched lives. It is the dawning moon of the mind that dispels the torment of addiction. It is the great sun that burns away the misty ignorance of the world. It is the quintessential butter from the churning of the milk of dharma. For all those guests traveling on the path of samsara who wish to experience true happiness, this spirit will satisfy them with joy and exalt them in the highest bliss. Today in the presence of all the saviors, I invite the world to be my guests at a feast of temporal and ultimate bliss. May Gods, Titans, and All be joyful.”

Questions and Answers

Question: Why did Master Samael Aun Weor teach the Om Mani Padme Hum mantra as Om Masi Padme Hum?

Answer: On the public level the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum is the mantra of Chenresig. It is the mantra of Christ. And that mantra has a tremendous power because in its syllables are the elements of nature, the elements that are inside of us that we need to transform. So on the public level, people receive Om Mani Padme Hum and they practice that mantra with great devotion, even hundreds and thousands of times a day in order to incarnate or harness the forces that are synthesized in that mantra. Master Samael Aun Weor taught that mantra, but he also taught the esoteric aspect, which is an aspect that is not taught in the physical plane by any other master, but in the internal worlds it is. The difference is one syllable, that changes from ni to si; Om Masi Padme Hum. And that changes the mantra, because that S sound, the Sssssssssss, is the sound related with the central channel, it's the sound related with the Divine Mother. It's the hissing sound of the sparks of the red and white channel that meet in the middle, and when that spark happens it makes a SSsssssssssssss sound. That mantra helps provoke that, so that's why he taught it that way. But do not go to a Tibetan Lama and ask about this. He will give you a big lecture on why you shouldn't pronounce it like that, because in the physical world they do not teach it like that. Yet, internally, they practice it that way. [Learn more in this lecture.]

Question: Did he also say that Om Masi Padme Hum is a representation of transmutation where Ma Pa is Ida and Pingala and the S in Masi is the central channel?

Answer: It might be, it could be, all the mantras hide meanings like that. If you take Om Mani Padme Hum or Om Masi Padme Hum and you stack it vertically, all of those syllables relate to the elements of nature; fire, earth, air, water, ether, etcetera. It wouldn't surprise me at all if that meaning was hidden there also. It's also true in other mantras like, in the previous lecture I told you about Lalana and Rasana, the two side channels. Those are the names in Tibetan Tantra for Ida and Pingala. And the sound of the central channel is Sssssssssssssss. Well everybody in the tradition of Samael Aun Weor has been doing this mantra for fifty years; La Ra Sssss. That is Lalana, Rasana, Sssss. And they didn't know. Now you know.

Question: Can you elaborate on how Christ gives birth to the Divine Mother?

Answer: Christ gives birth to the Divine Mother in the superior aspect in the relation to the world of Atziluth. Atziluth is the world of archetypes, and that world is the primordial force or energy of the clear light. At this level everything is in mere potentiality. In order for creation to occur there has to be a coupling. So that first force, the prana, is called Christ, it's the ray of light that emerges from the absolute. It's Christic. But it is not particularized. To be particularized it has to be born through a coupling, a sexual union, and this is the symbol of the yab-yum, or father-mother, or abba-ima, or Shiva-Shakti, all these contain the same thing. The Elohim is that, El and Eloah. God and goddess united. And in that uniting, Osiris and Isis, they have Horus, who is Christ particularized, or individualized. That's the difference. So, what you see there are levels of trinities and it's hard to grasp until you understand the four worlds in Kabbalah, but once you understand the four worlds, it makes sense. 

Question: I do not know if it fits with this theme but if I can know how to stimulate the heart, how to stimulate the emotion or compassion of the…

Answer: Yes,h this question is asked a lot and I am really glad you asked about how to stimulate the heart, especially when you are an intellectual type of person. You begin by analyzing your behavior. You cannot stimulate your heart artificially, you cannot force it. The heart is extremely delicate. Master Samael told us that the heart is so sensitive that it can feel and sense seismic movements on the other side of the planet. But of course in all of us the heart is so deadened and numb that we cannot feel that. But when we regenerate our heart, when we restore it to its normal function, that's how sensitive it is. And to restore that you cannot do it by force. Like modern times we want to take a pill and fix it. There's no pill, you cannot go to the doctor, you cannot pay someone a thousand dollars and get your heart improved. It takes time, it takes energy. It's going to be different for each person how they restore the powers of their heart. All of us have our own idiosyncrasy and this is why I am emphasizing; pray to your Divine Mother, call to her, rely on her, beg her to teach you. Her temple is your heart. That is her temple, she needs to restore it, she needs to make it strong because she needs to use it. So if your heart is dead, weak, you do not feel things, you do not feel compassion, start with that. 

Another step that you can take, very helpful. There are two levels to this; first is the most important part, you need to start meditating on suffering, not just thinking about it. Especially the intellectual types; stop reading so much, stop theorizing, stop thinking. You need to move your energy into your heart, and this mantra Om Mani Padme Hum or Om Masi Padme Hum has precisely that function. It awakens and opens your heart, so use that mantra continually all the time, Om Masi Padme Hum, chanting it, chanting it, chanting it, and visualizing all of the energies that you breath and that you take in through everything feeding and nourishing your heart. In that, you need to be contemplating suffering all the time, everywhere you go, everything you do, contemplate suffering, look at suffering, look at people, be aware of what's going on around you, look at how people are suffering. You do not see happy people, you might see people who fake happiness, or who have a temporary happiness, but you do not see real happiness. You need to understand that and your role in it. And if that's not enough, go and look at someone who is really suffering a lot. Visit a hospital. Visit a hospice where someone is dying. Visit a family member, especially one of your own, who is alone or ignored or shunned or suffering, visit them, spend time with them, give. 

The single best way for you to develop the powers of your heart is through altruism, through charity. But if you do it in a forced way like “I have to give because my teacher said so. It's part of the three factors of gnosis so I have to be doing charity, so I have to go and give I have to go and do this now.” No no no no, you're not going to get anything from that but resentment, because you're not doing it willingly. The best way to give altruistically is anonymously, without anyone knowing you have done it. 

I have a friend who was in the exact same situation, very intellectual, couldn't feel anything, was quite cold. So this guy decided he was going to serve the homeless. He didn't tell anybody, he just went, a lot, and spent a lot of time dealing with people who were angry, who were very lustful, who were very arrogant, who were suffering all kinds of addictions and diseases, and this guy would feed them hand to mouth and take care of them. This is a guy you would never imagine doing that, he's like a tough guy, acting macho. It transformed him, it softened him, taught him a lot. I am not saying you should do that, but you can emulate that example. Through your actions you can produce change. The point of that was to help them, but it was also to help himself.

This is a curious thing about westerners, let me point out quickly. Westerners have this strange mental thing about giving and altruism. We are very skeptical — with good reason. Westerners have been burned a lot by a lot of false teachers, false teachings, and politics, so we do not want to give. So when we hear about charity, donations, tithing, altruism and helping others, we are very skeptical. We need to change that. We need to give. It does not have to be known, it does not have to be open, it does not have to be a lot. But we need to give from our heart. It needs to be a natural thing, a spontaneous thing. 

It's funny that, for example, a lot of westerners go to Tibetan temples and are very enthused with Tibetan Buddhism and there are many centers opening all over the world. So people assume that it is the Americans and Europeans who are financially supporting the spread of Tibetan Buddhism. But they are not. Do you know who is financially supporting the spread of Tibetan Buddhism? Do you know who donates the most money to the Dalai Lama and the other leaders of Tibetan Buddhism? The Chinese. The Chinese are the primary donors to the temples. The Chinese are the ones that invaded Tibet, so how is that? Interesting, is it not? 

The Americans and Europeans do not give. In fact, amongst the various cultural groups, they are the most resistant to donating. They are the wealthiest, and also the stingiest. It is strange. I have travelled in many countries, and have seen with my own eyes how the poorest people are also the most generous. The temples and monasteries in Asia receive constant and stable financial support from the people — in fact, they don't even have to ask for donations, because the people give them on their own. Meanwhile in America and Europe the temples, churches, and non-profits face a constant battle to survive. 

We need to analyze that part of our behavior, why we are so skeptical of being altruistic and giving. Why are we so afraid or fearful or burned. 

But back to the topic of the intellect, we need to activate the heart and this is done through love, through developing a loving attitude. Not sentimental and not fake, but sincere. To start dealing with each other in a very sincere way from our heart. Honest. And there also mantras we can use, Om Mani Padme Hum is one. Om Masi Padme Hum. Any mantra with Om stimulates the heart chakra.

Question: If the Divine Mother comes to see you in your dreams and you are with child, and you give birth, does that mean that you need to create your Astral body?

Answer: Birth can be related to any new creation. To dream of giving birth can mean you will create something new. That could be spiritual, or it could be something else. Compare with your physical life; are you starting something new? 

It can represent some type of spiritual birth. It may or may not represent the solar body, it depends. You'd have to meditate further and analyze that. Birth is symbolic, we have many kinds of birth. You'd have to analyze it further.

Question: In many scriptures John the Baptist was always mentioned instead of Christ. Why?

Answer: The mention of John the Baptist in scriptures is symbolic. John the Baptist represents the Bodhisattva. The human soul who first has to be established and teaching the word and preparing the way for Christ. So John the Baptist represents us. He represents the initiate who has created the solar bodies and is choosing to enter the direct path. And once he does that, then Christ comes and takes over through him. So that's the meaning. There is a whole course about the Bodhisattva path, John the Baptist, the son of man, the son of God, and all of that is explained in the course The Path of the Bodhisattva. It's quite deep, but you can learn more about it there.