About Empowerments and
Practice of Tantra
Question: May I ask about empowerments; I was listening to one teaching from Garchen Rinpoche a while back, it was an Yamantaka empowerment. Is the general idea that its not recommended to take empowerments from other teachers than Pemako let alone to practise that/those deities? Thank you
Kim: Your question concerns *tantric* teachings and empowerments.
You can take all the empowerments you want from anyone you like and practice what you wish but few things you need to know.
1) for someone who is still a beginner, having more than one teacher will make one's head spin, i.e. one can loose clarity regarding direction because it is like trying to travel on two boats at the same time and 2) due to slight differences in subtle energy between lineages, if one does practices from more than one teacher/lineage on regular basis, there might be some subtle friction, sort of like food that digests poorly, in the system. I speak from my own experience and remember Sivakami telling me of some of her students who started making good progress with her teachings that then deflated when starting second practice at the same time. The nervous system is simple in the sense that it cannot be tuned into more than one musical key at once.
Point number one I've seen quite a few times in my teaching career, that beginners minds get confused about direction when they try to follow two (or more) teachers at once. There is an old saying about digging wells, that to find water one should dig deep in one spot rather than dig many shallow holes. Same thing with practice. I think that especially in the US where there is a lot of selection, people dig shallow holes and consequentially don't make much progress.
There are some good teachers out there, such as Garchen Lama, so I see no problem in joining teachings and *receiving* empowerments as much as you like. However, keep in mind my second point. Whether some teachings from separate lineages match or not, you just have to test yourself.
I have joined many teachings over the years both live and online but I have purposefully avoided receiving empowerments from lamas who I didn't feel a click with. Empowerment also creates a karmic link with the teacher so I haven't wanted to create otherwise unnecessary karmic connections with lamas who I am not excited about, and also because most vajrayana teachings/empowerments come with rules and regulations aka samaya, that usually is strict. Because of these reasons I have not taken that many empowerments from living lamas. I have of course received hundreds of them from dead lamas
As a teacher of this sangha, I highly recommend all to do some reading on whatever you wish to read and if you wish to join whatever buddhist/spiritual/psychological events/retreats you might be interested in, go ahead. But please understand my motive in saying that. I don't wish our sangha to be close minded or attached to Pemako. I don't wish our practitioners to become cultish even in the slightest. At the same time, joining other teachings, you will probably see yourself why I have critisized the established methods so much, so you will understand Pemako and my style of teaching better.
Finally, like I've said, if you find a better teacher and method that bears fruit more effectively than this one, choose that one. This is common sensical.
