2. Offerings – Giving and Taking – Prostrations
Before I give further crazy comments, I should first carefully point out the dangers of self-righteousness, depression, or even simple-mindedness when studying these spiritual teachings and instructions no matter if crazy or not.
So: Please be careful! Too easily can our enthusiasm for exploring death ultimately become a self-destructive delusion. We strengthen our ego walls instead of transcending and melting them down. Even if the wall becomes beautiful, with colourful stones and crystals. That would be the opposite of the path to freedom and bliss and eternal life. This may sound paradoxical at first, but it lies in the nature of things. The more we try to dissolve our ego-illusion, the more it defends and solidifies itself even more elaborately and sophisticatedly. Similarly, we also tend to defend the survival of our body ruthlessly and by all means. For example, when we become ill. Then our resistance forces really flourish. Our ego-illusion is not different as far as this is concerned. So we should – for safety’s sake – first work a little on our generosity, serenity, calmness and common sense. We should first create something like a framework, a mandala, and then we might loosen up!!
In short: Seek your personal healthy balance between meaning and meaninglessness and always give humor its spot which means lighten up.
Nowadays, an incredibly colourful and diverse entertainment program is offered from early morning on. So many new films and series are produced simultaneously that we really have to make an effort to keep up with everything. Unlike before, we are of course also introduced to topics like death and cruelty in a completely different way, although I very rarely see modern, educated people actually behave as if they knew that they were extremely mortal. Only few people live for eighty years or even longer. But nevertheless, one’s own death remains nothing one likes to talk about or even think about: That will come soon enough etc. etc.
When people formerly discovered their spiritual inclination, they looked for a teacher, or even a master, a magician or a witch, and then one went into apprenticeship and let oneself be guided and advised. These teachers then carefully kept an eye from the beginning on ensuring that the apprentices didn’t get too much in their own way and, without noticing it themselves, wall themselves in, burden themselves, and make themselves unnecessarily unhappy.
Surprisingly, it’s precisely the particularly clever ones, the quick understanders, the effortless memorizers, who most successfully wall themselves in with exactly these same talents. I have often diplomatically represented my own religious tradition – the tradition of Shambhala Buddhism around Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche – at large conferences and meetings with representatives of the most diverse religious and spiritual traditions in Europe. So I have gotten to know representatives of the most diverse religious traditions personally and often very privately. And everywhere there are the over-clever, fascinating personalities who know and understand very much, but usually are not at all free, happy, and radiant? Cleverness is actually even an obstacle on the path of recognition and insight. On one hand, intelligence and skill can of course be very helpful on the path to liberation; one can quickly learn languages and easily handle complex connections and links. But again often these very qualities become the greatest obstacles. And vanity plays the least role here. Its rather, self-righteousness or even terror and fear and inner driving forces, obsessions and speed active here. Inner fury? Slower thinkers who never got used to understand everything on the spot are more used to leave time for space and openess and time to also open up for left and right, and above and below.
It’s the snails who win the race here.
First, we may have understood that we have created all concepts, explanations, and ideas on our research journeys – whether into space or into cells, atoms, time, quantum, and so on – by ourselves, perhaps over millennia. It was not just there but it was created name by name, piece by piece. Whoever continues to search and research will also find more and more and create further connections. And when we continue researching, we also repeatedly encounter enormously intelligent constellations and phenomena, inexplicable deviations that cannot be denied but make no sense. Because Being itself is boundlessly intelligent, wide and deep. But instead of simply recognizing it and open up, we want to grasp and hold on. And looking for confirmation can become addictive. We keep inventing names, ideas, and discovering connections; we compare, split and connect. And then there’s also greed, we are living in a very greedy world right now and by that the temptations are great to exploit insights for commerce, success and war machinery. Suffering and pain.
Sisyphus laughs. But too often the laughter gets stuck in the throat?
So we need to be aware of the delusions of knowledge and facts and so called confirmations that can become so devastating on the spiritual path.
And there is also the delusion of justice. People lose themselves in incredible rule systems about right and wrong. Everything must be evaluated and judged.
And there’s naturally the delusion of health. In small societies, but with very good healthcare, for example, the fear of cancer has become so dominant that people go for check-ups every year – secretly even twice? The cancer mania?
There’s the delusion of beauty.
There’s the delusion of security.
There’s the delusion of property.
There’s the mania of sexual satisfactions and sexual excesses.
There’s the delusion of intoxicated states, wanting to escape the delicious simplicity and nakedness.
Even helpfulness and renunciation can become mania.
Last but not least, religions too can become delusion…
On the other hand, it’s quite simple, at least theoretically, to let go of such delusions and manias. The attentive reader thinks at this point perhaps – as I myself are doing right now – of the monkey who has forced his hand through a small hole into a coconut to grasp the delicious prey inside. But since the monkey’s fist is clenched now around this prey inside the coconut, its bigger and he can not pull it back out through the hole. The monkey is stuck. Now the monkey would only need to simply let go of the prey in the coconut, then he could pull his hand out again and would be free. But the monkey doesn’t do it. He could thus easily free himself from his captivity. But for that, he would first have to let go. It’s equally easy theoretically to transcend one’s ego walls. But we don’t want to simply let ourselves go and we don’t want to give up confirmation so easily. So it takes much sensitivity, gentleness, lubricant, patience, and skilful means – good persuasions – to gradually become softer, more yielding, and more permeable. But that’s also an important prerequisite for further study of my crazy comments on the Book of the Death.
Basically, it’s not about fighting of our delusion, but rather even making friends with it. „But how can we make friends with our delusions and manias without further strengthening and nourishing them? How can we get the clinging monkey in us to relax and let go of the prey?“
And yes – hurray – there exists actually a way, a method, quite wonderfully! There are the exercises and processes of offerings. Ongoing offerings. No matter if ritualistic or casual.
There is a way to exercise letting go in tiny steps and thereby open up for emptiness and vastness more and more, over and over again and step by step.
We offer the mandalas of body, speech, and mind.
We design the mandalas by taking time for details. So we choose pretty bowls and decorate fresh fruits on them and place them on an altar or shrine or a special place, at a certain time. We buy noble incense sticks, light them, and thus offer fragrance, ceremonially in a bowl on our shrine. We present a noble bowl with tea or alcohol and so on and on.
We offer – that means: we take time to give something.
In the same way we offer the body with devotion by turning to it attentively. We cleanse the body and care for our hair. We brush and pluck and embalm. Then we dress ourselves attentively. We prepare the clothes thoroughly and then put them on. We check the six directions of above and below, left and right, and behind and in front. Be attentive and careful! One can easily forget a direction!
Then follow the offerings on the level of speech. So we seek texts, songs, and magic formulas and we recite, read, dance or sing. We paint a picture by letting inspiration run free. Silent thoughts also belong here. We speak or repeat inwardly further prayers, mantras, and sacred texts…
And then there are the very demanding offerings on the level of mind:
My attentively socialized readers will now think: „Great, then I’ll simply donate even more to Bread for the World or UNICEF. I’ll kill two birds with one stone. On one hand, I open myself and loosen up, and on the other hand, hungry and suffering people all over the world benefit from it on top of it.“ Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. The wonderful wall-breaking effects of offerings remains extremely small, yes tiny, and can under certain circumstances even have the opposite effect if you are doing it with second thoughts. And if we even on top of it pat ourselves on the shoulder after such offerings we completely missed the point and what remains is a graceless money transfer.
There are some simple foundations, basics to make offerings most effective and the most important one is: The offering has to be completely senseless, open, from the heart but without any confirmation!
For beginners: I do always recommend my students to go into the forest carrying some coins and then take a deep breath and simply throw one coin away somewhere into the forest ceremonially and attentively. A simple act of senselessly throwing away. It would be good to do it over and over again for example daily over a few weeks. Always relax for some time after you offered the coin. You may enjoy the moment: Look into the forest. Look at the trees. Allow yourself to be enchanted. How does it feel? And immediately we offer another second coin. Feel the moment. How does it feel? But – and that is most important – don’t tell anyone about it! Don’t tell anyone about your coin offerings, so that really no confirmation what so ever takes place. This is really most important. This is even the most important thing about the whole exercise! As soon as you’ve told someone that you’re doing this exercise, the exercise has almost completely lost its effects and teachings. That would be a shame, but then of course it can’t be changed any more. Too bad!
Offerings are an integral part of almost all religious celebrations and masses I know of. We can also organize offering on a large scale. But there will always be participants who want to give a meaning and purpose to the offerings originally planned as completely meaningless. Meaning is not what offering is about. Hindus and Buddhists might claim: „Through offerings I improve my karma.“ That’s a shame! That is too bad! Because in this way they are trying to find a back door again to give some meaning to the offering and to get a grip on it. Okay, we could say: That’s all well and good. But in this way the liberating effects and outcomes remains pretty small, and the access to vastness and genuine compassion opens only slightly. On the other hand here there’s the great and so simple chance for powerful liberation strikes. It’s theoretically so simple?
Without confirmation! Dharma – the teachings – are without confirmations as well.
Offering is like a cleansing, but it doesn’t last long; we get dusty again very quickly and repeatedly. So one can’t offer too often! We also clean our kitchen daily again and again; our mind needs such cleansings at least as frequently as our kitchen.
In almost every mass and religious ceremony, and indeed I guess in almost all religious traditions, offering is an integral part. In all religions, one prepares the space, the church, the mosque, the environment – a mandala – for magical feasts with offering – acts of cleansing and sanctification. The reason why the opening effects of offerings in groups, in masses and celebrations remain very effective even with obvious confirmations is, because at these occasions offering are an integral part and not standing out, and one doesn’t easily get the idea to pat oneself on the shoulder for it or connect any purpose with it or receive confirmations in any way.
Atisha – a very well known Buddhist master – taught his students in this context the exercise of giving and taking. This is a yoga, a meditation exercise, and it goes like this:
One sits down in a peaceful place, for one’s morning meditation, opens oneself up, allows vastness to happen– opens up further – and relaxes. Over and over again. It’s particularly important for the exercise to pay attention to relaxation and to observe oneself regularly in this regard during the yoga: „Am I still open, easy and relaxed?“ The problem of these exercises is that one can easily tense up imperceptibly and increasingly during these exercises. So a certain openness, lightness, and humour are the basic foundation to this yoga. Because as I already explained: one cannot transcend one’s ego by fighting against oneself. Loose, cheerful, and light – these are the basic prerequisites. Repeatedly physically loosening up again and again. For example shaking the body here and then. So we sit there for a while and relax and enjoy the peace as much as we can. That is step one.
Now we think about some very concrete terrible things happening right now somewhere in this world. We imagine how soldiers are suffering in a war right now – it’s important that it’s about a real war really taking place right now – or a famine or catastrophe. And we open up for the terrible images. We imagine what is going on right now in the hail of fire at the front. We can allow these images without tormenting ourselves. One must find a balance here between allowing as much as possible without being overwhelmed by it. This takes some practice. That is step two.
Now we imagine how with the next inhalation, we breathe in the dark and the black and the tormenting, the pains and sufferings – the images of all the terrible things happening there – all of that we inhale into ourselves. Inhaling… We take the dark into us. We allow it to be near. We even imagine to take the dark karma of others upon us, into us. We can practice this for several inhalations. That is step three.
When one begins with these exercises, it’s difficult at first to find the right measure. We don’t want to torment ourselves with these exercises, but on the other hand we want to feel the dark and painful as closely as possible because it is actually really happening. So this takes some practice.
Remember: It should always remain somewhat technical!
After we have thus invited dark, gray, suffering, and pain with inhalation for a few breaths, we now radiate light and peace and gentleness with each exhalation and send them in the direction from which the dark and terrible came. We give away and share some of our good karma, our inner luminosity with each exhalation. Step four.
Now a foundation for a long exercise is created, and we can continue by breathing in dark, grey, and pain with each inhalation, and then with the next exhalation sending out light, peace, and goodness, for example toward the war front.
Emphasize the exhalation and the streaming out of light, love, deep joy, and goodness.
After we practised for ten minutes like this, we should end the exercise by returning to the first step and dwelling for a while longer in peace and the magic of simplicity. Step five.
So it’s an exercise closely connected with our inhalation and exhalation, with taking and giving. At first this probably sounds strange, complicated and technical, but it is in fact easy to get used to it and it can deepen our feelings and insights and open us up for completely new realities.
For practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism, this is a familiar yoga. The exercise is called Tonglen, which in Tibetan means something like taking and giving. The degree of intensity changes repeatedly over the years. Even after decades, the exercise can open new perspectives. No routine should develop here either. For my Buddhist friends, adherents of Tibetan Buddhism, this has become a regular part of daily exercises. A very effective part. Fortunately this yoga also has a safety feature: if one overdoses it, one simply falls asleep and dreams around. That doesn’t matter, and the next day one can simply try again. It doesn’t have to work because we have no pressure for success. Tonglen is like an adventurous journey one regularly embarks upon. Don’t torment yourselves with it, because that’s not the point here!
Concrete offerings, ceremonies and prayers, the exercises of giving and taking and then as a third very powerful tool there is are prostrations. These three are the prerequisites we need for further study of the crazy texts on the Tibetan Book of Death.
So here now some lines about prostrations:
The phrase „Kindly bent to ease us“ probably goes back to Jonathan Swift. I like to interpret this as: „May we, for the sake of our own relief, kindly bow.“ “Kindly bent to ease us”. I love this phrase. Often when I bow, I must think of these five words. In India it’s normal to bow on the street when meeting acquaintances, when entering a temple, at the beginning and end of a prayer and many more occasions . One lights an incense stick, bows with it in front of an altar, puts the stick in a vessel with ashes or sand, and bows once more. In some Christian traditions one curtseys and crosses oneself; these are all kinds of bowing. With a bow one expresses appreciation, respect, love, and kindness.
Appreciation.
With a bow I enrich every encounter with an ceremonial aspect.
So – that was it: Now I can calmly return to the crazy comments on the Tibetan Book of the Death. It was important to me to explain the meaning and some aspects of a mandala – so the appreciation and designing of the environment – as a basic foundation for all spiritual exercises and to hand over a few aids to my revered and loved readers. Such exercises for cultivating compassion and insight into emptiness are most important. And to exercise them regularly is also most important! Even if that simply means quickly squandering a few euros in the forest. Or simply bowing excessively ceremonially for no reason. We could bow right now. Thank you!
To conclude this commentary, I would like to mention a classical prayer:
May all beings be happy!
May all beings be free from suffering!
May all beings experience the joy of being free from suffering.
May all beings attain profound, radiant glory.
