Chenian Short Lectures in America
Collection
by Yogi C. M. Chen | 18,758 words
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Chapter 2 - Lecture Concerning Kurukula
Kurukula is not the same as the Red Tara. The Goddess Tara is a different incarnation of Avalokitesvara and is from the Great Compassion of Avalokitesvara. Tara has twenty one transformations or forms, most of which save the believer from worldly evil conditions, like disease, fire or other calamities. But most of these are negative in aspect, that is, they can help you to not suffer from this or from that. But Kurukula is positive in aspect and is of another system of Avalokitesvara, not from the Tara system. Tara has twenty one forms but Kurukula is not one of those.
Kurukula is under a condition of love, positive love, not negative toward bad things. The Taras help you to get rid of all bad things but Kurukula helps you get everything you like; so they are on opposite sides and are quite different. Some think that Kurukula is only for love or sex, that after a ceremony to her you can get a wife, girlfriend or boyfriend. But it is not only like this, for there are many kinds of love.
It is very easy to get inspiration through her to help you know the final, the highest and the profoundest love, that is Universal Love. This kind of Universal Love is connected with Avalokitesvara, the Great Compassion. This Great Compassion is so because Avalokitesvara loves all sentient beings and he who loves all without any condition becomes Great Compassion. Our worldly love is directed toward the beautiful and rich and only when all conditions of our desires are met then we love her or him, but this Universal Love is without any condition.
Universal Love is connected with equality that means to love all equally. Not only to love my parents, but also to love others parents; not only to love my friend, but also to love my enemy; not only the beautiful one, but I also love the ugly one or the evil one; not only to love the young one but the old one, too. There is no condition to this kind of love, called "Without Condition." To love without condition you must know the Great Compassion of no condition which means you should love every sentient being without any condition whether or not you have some relationship with them.
To love you must first recognize the very reason for love; you have to recognize the Sunyata of the entity of the whole body of the whole Dharmakaya. The whole Dharmakaya includes the body of every sentient being so that when you get the five elements and realize the Dharmakaya then you can get the entity of the whole Universe.
Every sentient being, even a small insect, is part of your body just like your own hair. If even one hair is pulled, you have a little pain which the whole body shares; you feel that "this is my own body" so that there exists for you the whole transmigration over so long a time and the whole Dharmadhatu, containing so many sentient beings, are included in the entity of the Dharmakaya. We must first recognize and realize that entity which means if a sentient being feels a little pain, we feel it.
There is a story about a person who had great compassion with the whole entity. Once he was preaching and a dog came into the altar hall. One Lama hit the dog but the preacher forbid it and felt the pain on his own back. The dog did not bark and went away. By this kind of Samadhi the preacher occupied the whole body of every sentient being and whenever he wanted to share the suffering in place of that being, he really felt it. And the dog itself did not feel it. Even though the dogs body was hit, the pain is on that of the preacher. Once a sage suddenly began crying and nobody knew the reason for his crying. He said that outside there was a pig who was going to be killed, so please forbid it. The pig itself does not feel anything and does not cry. Not only by talking, saying that I will suffer in place of you, but with his whole breath such a one occupies every sentient being. Whenever his compassion is connected with the entity of the Dharmakaya, he can take all the suffering from sentient beings into his own body. So with this kind of Great Compassion, if you have the Samadhi, and really can do it, then you really have Universal Love.
This practice connects with the fourth initiation. For practice of the third initiation of Vajra Love there are also many different conditions, which are not like our usual habits as human beings. So try to read many Buddhist books, try to contact many Buddhist teachers; they know many things that never have been heard of by you and that cant be learned through any study or biography. There are many different practices; many different techniques which really have the power to achieve Universal Love and to really do something to help others. This is the very essential practice of Avalokitesvara.