Protect Yourself

 So, what is self and what is not self?

 It is because of our confusion
that protection is necessary.
Ultimately, there is no self to protect:
it is only the idea of a self
that thinks it needs protecting.

 There is no self to protect
as indestructible non-dual awareness
is beyond the idea of a self.

 However, at this moment we are confused about what we are, and therefore we are vulnerable. Our understanding of absolute and relative is mixed up, and so we do need protection while we sort this out. We are not this body and mind. Whatever we see, we cannot be. However, we still believe and identify with this body and mind (involving the eight consciousnesses*): these can easily be deceived and distracted. Because of our closed mindedness, we open ourselves to negativity.

 This is what are we protecting ourselves from – negative forces. There are said to be 84,000 types of negative emotions, but these may be narrowed down into six: desire, hatred, jealousy, pride, fear and ignorance. They are within our mind and without, in the minds of others (both in the form and formless realms).

 When we are caught up in our relative, conventional side – a created self to which our awareness clings – we are subject to attack. Precisely because we have something to defend (a self), this makes us vulnerable all the time. We become competitive with others’ negative emotions, with friends and family or colleagues at work or play. However, there are out of body entities that also run on negativity: Tibetans called them Mara demons.

 To understand formless demons, one only has to understand that at death, something of us (a misunderstanding) continues to a new incarnation. Having accepted this, we can easily see that there are beings which remain in this formless state, smouldering in negativity. Like us, they wish for peace but cannot accept and/or access it, so they continuously feed off negativity. Many humans also feel and feed this way.

 There are a few ways in which to protect ourselves from this negative activity. I asked my teacher about this, and he replied, “Rest in Rigpa” (pure awareness). This may sound incomprehensible to an ordinary mind, but because one’s ultimate nature of pure awareness is empty of any contamination, there are no emotions there whatsoever – only wisdom. Resting in emptiness means that there is nothing to get hold of, and this is of no benefit to negative forces. It’s as if someone has come up to you and gives you a gift of abuse: if you don’t react (not accepting or rejecting), that gift remains with the giver. You are causing no harm. We can see this quite clearly when we receive a piece of gossip from someone, and don’t react to it. If we join in the gossip, we also feed of negativity like greedy demons. This is how we may empathise with the demons and show compassion.

 Another way of protecting is supplicating deities, and in those practices we become aware and have compassion for these negative forces, which are truly suffering. There are practices where little dough models known as ‘torma’ are made and offered to the demons, which then withdraw, satisfied.

I do a Wrathful Deity protection practice the basis of it is Vajra wrath cuts through aggression. I was a very angry boy! Incidentally, there are two stages in deity practice – development and completion. Tulku Urgyen explains the completion stage, which is resting in emptiness… as “Capturing the Life Force of Deity.” So you can see we have much power.

 On an everyday level, we have to watch the company we keep, and the information we digest, as these can feed our own negativity. On a physical level we have to be aware of the environment in which we live, and the food we eat: problems can be created by negative intentions for profit so we have to be aware. Be aware of adding chemicals to the body, internally or externally. Eat and drink what is natural and as close to the original source as possible, and get out, barefooted (earthing the body!), and into the sunlight.

 Our greatest weapon for protection is compassion. A compassion that expects nothing in return. It is unconditional. It’s up to us which sort of blessings we receive, and whether they are from the light or the dark. The blessings from enlightened ones come in the form of clarity, and bring a feeling of bliss, and rightness. There is much more within us than we realise, and by resting in rigpa, we can become aware of the connectedness of the teachings.

PS garlic around your neck is optional 😉

*The eight consciousnesses, five of the senses and three of mind: perception, judgement and memory.