Tibetan Buddhism: Generating Oneself as the Diety

In front of himself or herself, the diviner places a vajra, a bell and a damaru (drum), some barley and vermIlion powder to sprinkle in the drink, as well as an arrow to which is tied a white scarf. He or she then generates himself or herself as a deity and performs the preliminary ritual for removing obstacles according to the ritual of Tam.

end quote from:
"Tibetan art of divination"

This way of thinking likely is somewhat unusual or foreign to Christians. Often one looks to God and begs God to help them. 

But, in Tibetan Buddhism there are three forms of approaching the Godhead or Diety. 

One would be begging for help like Christians often use in their prayers. 

The second often called "In front of" is like you are talking to a friend deciding what to do next so it is sort of a two way conversation.

The Third method is Generating Oneself as the Diety.

I think the reason we don't see this in Western Culture is because Generating Oneself as a Diety takes a lot of time for people to not only learn about but to actually do in most cases. However, there are some people who just automatically can "Be" the Diety in any given moment. But, for most people in our culture it might take some time even getting used to the concept of "Being God" in that moment.

However, once you accept that God can and does possess your spirit at any and all times this is an easy accomplishment. 

You might say to me, "Buddhists don't believe in God!"

I find that is only semantic and not actual. For example, instead of saying "God Bless You!" a Buddhist would say, "Buddha Bless You!" 

However, there is a different way someone from Tibet approaches reality that a western mind does.

When I asked Geshe Lobsang Gyatso (a Gelugpa Geshe) about this he said paraphrased:

"What is physical is both real and unreal simultaneously and what one experiences in dreams is both real and unreal simultaneously".

So, this might be difficult for a western mind to grasp when humans are perceiving reality in this way.

However, it is a very useful way to perceive reality when trying to survive in as hostile an environment as 8000 feet elevation to 15,000 feet in elevation where most Tibetans live.

So, in order to survive the shock of so many people dying likely young in that kind of environment or dying by accident this way of perceiving reality would be very useful on a variety of fronts.

In other words you have to be sort of a risk taker culture to live at all in that type of environment for thousands of years. However, if it is all you have ever known "Survival of the fittest" is taking a lot of lives but those who make it remind me a lot of the American Settlers who settled and survived settling America under many harsh conditions without water, electricity, difficult weather with no weather forecasters, little food or none etc.


The other interesting thing about Geshela (Geshe Lobsang Gyatso) was that when my wife and I brought him to the U.S. for the 2nd time in 1986 on our return from India after about 4 months in Nepal and India and Thailand he expected to die soon because he was in his early 50s. He said to me, "My parents died at 52 and 54 in Kham, Tibet so I think I must die soon too." I said, "People live a lot longer here in the U.S. Geshela. So, I think you will live much longer too." I was right he lived until almost 70 even though his life had often been very difficult at times in Tibet and India where he lived most of his life.

He had traveled with the Dalai Lama when they escaped death at the hands of the Chinese on their way from Lhasa to India. He said fighter planes used machine guns on his group as they tried to escape Tibet to India and many people died from this along the way then in 1959.