Dharma Salon, Ridgefield, Washington, USA

Dharma Salon, Ridgefield, Washington, USA, a photo by Wonderlane on Flickr.

Tantra

The tantric path includes the following steps:

Lamrim ( literally, stages of the path ) These are indispensable topics for reflection and contemplation and also the meditations and activities that should naturally follow on from them.

The Lamrim embodies the necessary prerequisites for tantra. It is set out as a progressive set of steps.

Relying Upon a Spiritual Guide ( learning from someone already on the path )

The Preciousness of Human Life ( the importance of using life for something valuable )

Death and Impermanence ( uncertainty of death and the unsatisfactory nature of this world )

The Danger of being Reborn in a Lower Realm

Taking Refuge from Samsara ( the cycle of endless grasping and eventual disappointment )

Karma ( the law of cause and effect which works in this world as well as at esoteric levels )

Developing Renunciation for Samsara ( integrating spiritual understanding and values )

Developing Equanimity ( accepting, and seeing past, both good and bad experience )

Recognizing that all Beings are as Precious as our Mothers ( the beginnings of bodhichitta )

Remembering the Kindness of Others

Equalizing Self and Others ( realising that we all want, and deserve, to be happy )

The Disadvantage of Self-Cherishing

The Advantage of Cherishing Others ( loosening the hold of ego through caring )

Exchanging Self with Others ( this is the core practice for developing bodhichitta--it involves developing the wish to voluntarily take on others' problems and freely give them one's own happiness in exchange.

A sketch of the technique is as follows: breathe in others' woes as black smoke--let it settle into the heart, then breathe out all one's own happiness as white light--let it expand to fill all the cosmos.

A practitioner should imagine and rejoice at the effect of both the in- and out-breath. For, on the in-breath, the reality and weight of all the problems in this world sink into the heart and help to dissolve the ego. Likewise, the out-breath brings relief and joy to all others. )

Developing Great Compassion

Taking Responsibility to Relieve Others' Burdens ( "exchanging self with others" in action )

Sharing One's Own Good Fortune with Others

Bodhichitta ( the desire to attain full enlightenment for the sake of all beings )

Tranquil Abiding ( developing advanced stages of concentration )

Superior Seeing ( developing emptiness--that is, non-identification with the personal ego )

Common Preliminary Tantric Practices
These are the beginning activities that are unique to the Vajrayana path.

Prostrations ( physical prostration, visualisation and prayer for taking refuge )

Vajrasattva Meditation ( visualisation and mantra recitation for purification )

Mandala Offering ( visualisation and prayer for developing surrender and gaining merit )

Guru Yoga ( visualisation, mantra recitation and prayer for developing devotion and receiving blessings)

-Daniel Reyes