October 22, 2025 • 23 mins
Like it or not, magic is interwoven with Tibetan Buddhism. Is it symbolic? Or is it real?
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(00:00):
Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!
Well, actual magic and dirt.
I have a funny feeling that something a little strange is going on.
Hello to every one of my fine listeners.
(00:20):
Thank you for being here and giving the podcast your attention in this matter.
Welcome to the first time, or welcome return, to the Double Dorje Podcast, Series 2, Episode 10, with
me, Alex Wilding.
In the last episode, the one about devotion, I talked a little bit about the sense of magic that it seems
(00:44):
to me we really need in our formal practice.
That sense that something really special is going on.
Just like in a way we speak of the magic of Christmas time, so we should feel the sense of the magic
every time we sit on our meditation cushion.
In that episode, I did say that actual, I suppose we might say to be very correct, efficacious magic, magic
(01:09):
that has an effect, was a whole other discussion.
So, that's exactly the one I'm brave enough, or maybe foolish enough, to take on today.
Just in case, let me make it clear that I am not talking about the magic where, with a touch of the
wand, something disappears in a puff of smoke, or candles light themselves automatically, as they may do at
(01:33):
Christmas time in the dining hall of Hogwarts, or pots of gold suddenly appearing on the table.
I'm talking about the more subtle kind of magic in which somehow, sometimes perhaps obliquely, but somehow,
the desired effect does come about.
(01:54):
Boring, I know, but of course I have to first of all mention that if the Double Dorje podcast lights your
candle, please do take a moment out to share, like, follow, or subscribe.
Thank you in advance, it really does help.
The question of whether or not there is any such thing as real or efficacious magic, however we choose to
(02:16):
define it, is one of those that's unlikely ever to be settled, and I'm going to try to avoid pushing any
sort of definite conclusion on you.
If I were to try that, it would be improbable that I'd change anybody's mind anyway, so let me not bother.
But it is an issue I think that we do need to think about seriously, especially if we are would-be
(02:42):
Vajrayana practitioners.
Having said that, I don't want to hide behind a screen of prevarication, so I will admit that I do believe
(03:07):
that there is something in it.
All the same, I have the normal cynicism about these things that an educated Western person will usually
have, so I have no doubt at all that most of what enthusiasts claim is actual magic is nothing of the sort.
(03:27):
If I can allow myself a brief minute of speculation, I do strongly suspect that most of the effects that
actually are some kind of magic are things of which it could be said that they would have happened anyway,
or at least they could have happened anyway, yet somehow the world configured itself through a long chain,
(03:51):
or chains perhaps even, a network of events, so that this particular thing did indeed happen, and not that
particular other thing.
Perhaps this was something that the magician was hoping to obtain, or perhaps it's just an extraordinary
(04:11):
configuration of events or objects in the world that is intensely meaningful to the observer, even though
every single feature could be accounted for in ordinary ways, mechanically so to speak, or according to the
laws of physics and chemistry.
Be that as it may, we have an abundance of theories of magic out there.
(04:35):
Some people of course think that it's all tosh.
James Frazer put the idea of sympathetic magic promoted in his work The Golden Bough, while Alasdair
Crowley put forward an almost mechanistic understanding.
According to that, if the rite is performed in the exactly correct manner, the result will follow with the
(04:59):
same inevitability as Newton's laws of motion.
I like to label that view of magic as the idea that “it's all in the ritual”.
At the other end of the spectrum, to this view of it's all in the ritual, there is the view that it's
all in the magician.
(05:20):
If the energy, I really actually dislike using the word energy in vague ways, but I can't think of a better
one at the moment, if it's focused powerfully enough, this focus is what will bring about the effect.
In this view, the ritual is nothing more than a support, even if a very important or maybe necessary
(05:41):
support.
There is a story that Milarepa was meditating on one shore of a lake, while another practitioner was living
on the opposite shore.
This other practitioner noticed that when Milarepa made offerings to the Nagas - Nagas by the way are
(06:03):
spirits who live in or near bodies of water, in this case of course the lake - the Nagas would actually come
to the surface to eat the tormas that he was providing.
But the same did not happen when our other practitioner, whatever his name was, made just the same prayers.
The difference of course, is not the ritual, but the quality of Milarepa's meditation.
(06:28):
And then there are of course more nuanced theories put forward by modern magicians, a field in which I am
not an expert.
Before I get to my main point, let me suggest a couple of readings for those who are interested.
As an instance of serendipity, after I decided on the topic of this episode, I came across a book titled
(06:54):
Buddhist Magic by Sam van Schaik.
This work takes a good look at the extent to which magic is and always has been an integral part of actual
Buddhist practice, practice on the ground as it were, including in those traditions that some authors,
especially when writing for Western audiences who like things to be tidy and clean, present as being in
(07:18):
some way “pure”.
These traditions are, in the picture painted by those authors, free of what they see as the superstition or
contamination of magic.
Buddhist Magic, the book, is fairly easy to get hold of, and while it's not a lightweight read, it is quite
easy to take in.
(07:39):
The second source is a blog entitled A Perfumed Skull, in which Ben Joffe, or Dr. Ben Joffe as he now is,
blogged about the research for his doctorate thesis.
I shan't say more about its contents because it is extraordinarily wide-ranging, but I, however, do for one
(08:00):
find it quite fascinating, and I would recommend it to anyone who's interested in this kind of thing.
If you google A Perfumed Skull, you will soon get there.
I will warn you that if you like what you find there, you should pencil in a good few hours on your
reading calendar to get through it.
(08:29):
Well, so much for the background.
I chose this topic, not because of any particular event or discovery, but simply because I had one of those
penny-dropped moments last week while I was doing one of my regular practices.
I realised the fact, perhaps a rather obvious fact, that the whole thing is soaked in what are essentially
(08:52):
magical operations.
Admittedly, the operations and ingredients used are nothing like as bizarre or even off-putting as one
might find in the more, let's say, lower-grade magical procedures, but magical nonetheless.
Getting up to place something on the shrine table, sitting down again, getting up to take something
(09:14):
outside, coming back in, moving small dishes from one place to another, carrying incense round the room
held in a silk scarf, putting tea into an offering bowl.
Now, if it's all symbolic, why are we going to all this physical trouble?
If we as Westerners come across Tibetan Buddhism following some gentle route, whether through books,
(09:38):
lectures, or well-meaning friends, we'll often find stress placed on how much of the typically Tibetan
practice can be understood symbolically.
And indeed it can.
Some people even say that this symbolic interpretation is the only proper one.
The argument goes a bit like this.
One.
(09:59):
The six worlds, that is, the paradises, the worlds of the jealous gods, the human world, the animal world,
the world of the hungry spirits, and the hells, are to be understood as vivid portraits, symbolising our
own human mindsets.
Two.
The offerings that we put on our shrine, the pure water, the flowers, the lights, and so forth, symbolise
(10:25):
our pure intentions, expressing our motivation to become enlightened for the benefit of all sentient
beings.
Three.
The lights that we think of radiating from our heart when we are, for instance, doing Chenrezig meditation,
symbolise the compassion that we are learning to cultivate.
(10:48):
Four.
The pure amrita that we visualise flowing through our body when we do the purification practice of
Vajrasattva and recite the 100-syllable mantra,
this symbolises our acknowledgement of our own imperfection and our efforts to purify our mindstream.
(11:08):
Five.
The lights that stream from the bodily centres of the visualised lama or deity, typically that's from the
head, throat, and the heart, into our own corresponding bodily centres, symbolise the blessing that we can
receive through our devotion, practice, compassionate action, and meditation, and so on, and so forth.
(11:31):
And all of it is indeed perfectly well and good.
I'm not saying that these ideas are wrong, even if we look on all of these present visualisations as purely
symbolic, and find the whole thing a bit wishy-washy.
Eventually, however, in particular as we go on to practise and experience more elaborate rituals, the idea
(11:56):
that it's all symbolic starts to wear rather thin.
There's just far too much that has to be explained away as symbolic for this line of thought to be
convincing.
We can, I'm sure, only really perform these sorts of meditations with authority and confidence if we accept
that there is some kind of magic going on.
(12:20):
We may be uncertain about what kind of magic it is, but if we ultimately believe that it's all our
imagination, just symbolism, I don't think things are going to go really all that far.
(12:48):
Dirt.
The subject of dirt.
For me, it was dirt that made the penny drop the rest of the way.
Dirt that underlines the sheer physicality of many of the things we do in the name of practice.
Good, down-to-earth dirt, showing that there is more involved in this practice than mere symbols or images
(13:08):
on a video screen.
Let me offer you some examples.
The Lama is famously central to Tibetan Buddhism, and I hope that most of us do realise that this word
refers to far more than just a person who may be entitled to use that honorific, be referred to, for
(13:30):
example, as Lama Fiona, because they have done a three-year retreat.
Without question, Lama often means far more than any one particular person.
One sense of the word is the Lama in the sense of a person who may or may not be officially designated
as a Lama, but who is recognised in the community at large as having achieved the power resulting from
(13:57):
Tantric practice.
Such a Lama is often seen as a source of blessing in ways that might surprise us Westerners.
We might expect blessings to be given when the Lama places his or her hand on the head of the disciple, and
this is certainly something we might easily see.
But there are other ways, and not all of them are procedures that we might easily be comfortable with.
(14:24):
In some cases, when a Lama brushes his hair, the hairs that are combed out are viewed as having a power
that can only be called magical.
I was told by a Bonpo teacher that disciples or followers who have obtained such hair will keep it aside
for use when times are bad.
When they are feeling sick or low, they will burn some of the Lama's hair and breathe in the smoke.
(14:49):
Ah, they will say, now things are getting better.
I heard of a Lama with a very high reputation who was spending most of his time in a retreat cabin, though
evidently not the kind of super-closed retreat from which the retreatants don't emerge until a later date
when it's all over.
I'm tempted to say when it's all over and the cleaners can move in.
(15:13):
This Lama was in the habit, when he wanted to do a poo, of wandering amongst the rocks quite some distance
from his cabin, making sure he wasn't followed by his servant.
The reason for that?
Because if devotees found it - have you guessed?
Yes, they would want to eat it.
(15:34):
In another case I heard of, devotees were coming to visit a yogi who was extremely poor.
When he was asked if he could give something to a donor as a blessing, he had absolutely no possessions and
resorted to rubbing his chest, which we can safely assume was thoroughly grimy, to roll up a bit of dead
(15:54):
skin dirt into a tiny pill.
The devotee was thrilled, felt that it had been of enormous benefit, and after this the yogi regularly had
to find such material on his body to give to visitors.
Let me just mention in passing that bodily secretions of various sorts being used in magical rites is by no
(16:16):
means exclusive to Tibetan Buddhist magic or Buddhist magic.
It is found in many parts of the world, including European magic, provided you look closely enough.
Anyway, next example.
Many years ago in Kathmandu I met a young Australian woman who had been travelling in Tibet itself with a
(16:36):
Tibetan yogi, a lama.
I'll call her Sheila, although that wasn't her real name.
She is Australian after all.
Excavations had recently been done under one of the major stupas, reputed to stand over the remains of the
Buddha before Shakyamuni.
Don't ask me to explain this historically, these stories don't really work like that.
(17:00):
Some Tibetans had been getting into the excavation pit in order to eat some of the dirt from the base of
the stupa, and Sheila, in a moment of great devotion, did the same.
When her teacher, a thoroughbred Tibetan let me remind you, found this out, he laughed loudly, telling
Sheila that she was as bad as the Tibetans - so superstitious.
(17:24):
These uses of dirt are not just one-offs.
When certain longer retreats are done in the fully traditional way, the participants are not allowed to
wash their hands, face, body or clothes for months or even longer.
Washing is thought to disperse the blessings of the retreat.
(17:47):
I heard that a concession has recently been granted, allowing the retreatants to clean their teeth,
provided this is done with consecrated water.
To the best of my knowledge, we don't have any statistics about any unfortunate skin conditions or about
the tooth decay found amongst those who emerge from such retreats.
(18:08):
Frankly, I dread to think.
A less radical expression of the same idea is the thought that when implements, like a Dorje and bell, have
been blessed, they should not be cleaned or washed, because this would take the blessing away.
Some of us might think that a blessing from a powerful lama would set up some kind of tingly electrical vibration thing in the metal.
(18:31):
But there is this view that the blessing resides in the traces of bodily material, in other words,
the dirt.
My reason for bringing up these stories about grime is not to suggest that we will be better Buddhists or
better meditators if we are dirty.
(18:52):
But dirt is real, it is physical, it is concrete, and I want to suggest that when we sit on our cushion
and imagine radiating light from our heart, whether as an offering to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, Lamas,
Yidams, Dalkinis and Protectors, or whether the light represents blessing going to all sentient beings who
have perhaps been our mother in the past, alleviating the suffering and helping them on the path to
(19:16):
enlightenment, something real is supposed to happen.
It's not supposed to be just a nice thought.
We are expected to be magicians.
Little magicians maybe, but magicians.
There are four activities practised in connection with a lot of these meditations.
(19:40):
Pacifying, increasing or enriching, magnetising or controlling, and destroying.
When, for example, we practise the enriching section, it really is expected that good fortune, or perhaps
even wealth, will increase.
This effect is supposed to actually happen.
(20:01):
Of course, like everything, there are limits dictated by karma, but it should really make a difference.
And when we consume a blessing pill that has been consecrated by millions of mantras recited by the Dalai
Lama and his monks, it's not just a nice thought.
Something is supposed to happen.
(20:23):
Perhaps not to the same extent as the person I heard of whose experience sounded very much like a three-day
acid trip.
Perhaps not even immediately noticeable. But something.
The physicality of swallowing a pill, tasting the bitter herbs, getting up and offering a biscuit, or
pouring tea as an offering, illustrate this yet again.
(20:46):
Let's assume you are somebody who has confidence in certain types of Western magic.
Would you get in touch with a witch for a love potion, pay your money, and be satisfied with being shown
the bottle on your computer screen?
Would you then take a screenshot and convince the object of your desire, perhaps through trickery, to eat a
(21:08):
printout of that picture?
You might argue that this method is also physical, but it seems to me pretty obvious that the magic chain
has been broken, hasn't it?
It has to be admitted that almost every ordinary Tibetan on the yack trail will have a belief in magic and
a willingness to see meaning in external events in a way that, by the standards of most Westerners, would
(21:34):
appear superstitious.
Each of us has to come to terms with the extent to which we are willing to grant that there is something
more than imagination and more than symbolism going on.
Unfortunately, I feel that if somebody cannot at least be open to those possibilities, to run with them,
(21:54):
Tibetan Buddhism as we know it will not really be for them.
Fortunately, there are other forms of Buddhism, and indeed other traditions altogether, where they may feel
more at home.
In summary, if you have done things properly, obtained your empowerment properly, performed your ritual as
prescribed, there is supposed to be a result, something is supposed to happen.
(22:19):
Often enough, of course, we are aiming, or at least we should be aiming, at something that we would call a
higher goal than mere worldly benefits, that is to say aiming at enlightenment.
But if we try to filter out the magical worldly side altogether, I suspect we may find that what is left is
very thin and not so likely to drag us in its wake on the path to Buddhahood.
(22:51):
So, once again, that's it.
Please don't forget that if you like this episode, or even the whole podcast, please do whatever it is your
platform allows, such as liking, following, subscribing, or whatever.
And don't forget that some of the woo-woo might just be real!
(23:12):
Bye!
Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!
Well, actual magic and dirt.
I have a funny feeling that something a little strange is going on.
Hello to every one of my fine listeners.
(00:20):
Thank you for being here and giving the podcast your attention in this matter.
Welcome to the first time, or welcome return, to the Double Dorje Podcast, Series 2, Episode 10, with
me, Alex Wilding.
In the last episode, the one about devotion, I talked a little bit about the sense of magic that it seems
(00:44):
to me we really need in our formal practice.
That sense that something really special is going on.
Just like in a way we speak of the magic of Christmas time, so we should feel the sense of the magic
every time we sit on our meditation cushion.
In that episode, I did say that actual, I suppose we might say to be very correct, efficacious magic, magic
(01:09):
that has an effect, was a whole other discussion.
So, that's exactly the one I'm brave enough, or maybe foolish enough, to take on today.
Just in case, let me make it clear that I am not talking about the magic where, with a touch of the
wand, something disappears in a puff of smoke, or candles light themselves automatically, as they may do at
(01:33):
Christmas time in the dining hall of Hogwarts, or pots of gold suddenly appearing on the table.
I'm talking about the more subtle kind of magic in which somehow, sometimes perhaps obliquely, but somehow,
the desired effect does come about.
(01:54):
Boring, I know, but of course I have to first of all mention that if the Double Dorje podcast lights your
candle, please do take a moment out to share, like, follow, or subscribe.
Thank you in advance, it really does help.
The question of whether or not there is any such thing as real or efficacious magic, however we choose to
(02:16):
define it, is one of those that's unlikely ever to be settled, and I'm going to try to avoid pushing any
sort of definite conclusion on you.
If I were to try that, it would be improbable that I'd change anybody's mind anyway, so let me not bother.
But it is an issue I think that we do need to think about seriously, especially if we are would-be
(02:42):
Vajrayana practitioners.
Having said that, I don't want to hide behind a screen of prevarication, so I will admit that I do believe
(03:07):
that there is something in it.
All the same, I have the normal cynicism about these things that an educated Western person will usually
have, so I have no doubt at all that most of what enthusiasts claim is actual magic is nothing of the sort.
(03:27):
If I can allow myself a brief minute of speculation, I do strongly suspect that most of the effects that
actually are some kind of magic are things of which it could be said that they would have happened anyway,
or at least they could have happened anyway, yet somehow the world configured itself through a long chain,
(03:51):
or chains perhaps even, a network of events, so that this particular thing did indeed happen, and not that
particular other thing.
Perhaps this was something that the magician was hoping to obtain, or perhaps it's just an extraordinary
(04:11):
configuration of events or objects in the world that is intensely meaningful to the observer, even though
every single feature could be accounted for in ordinary ways, mechanically so to speak, or according to the
laws of physics and chemistry.
Be that as it may, we have an abundance of theories of magic out there.
(04:35):
Some people of course think that it's all tosh.
James Frazer put the idea of sympathetic magic promoted in his work The Golden Bough, while Alasdair
Crowley put forward an almost mechanistic understanding.
According to that, if the rite is performed in the exactly correct manner, the result will follow with the
(04:59):
same inevitability as Newton's laws of motion.
I like to label that view of magic as the idea that “it's all in the ritual”.
At the other end of the spectrum, to this view of it's all in the ritual, there is the view that it's
all in the magician.
(05:20):
If the energy, I really actually dislike using the word energy in vague ways, but I can't think of a better
one at the moment, if it's focused powerfully enough, this focus is what will bring about the effect.
In this view, the ritual is nothing more than a support, even if a very important or maybe necessary
(05:41):
support.
There is a story that Milarepa was meditating on one shore of a lake, while another practitioner was living
on the opposite shore.
This other practitioner noticed that when Milarepa made offerings to the Nagas - Nagas by the way are
(06:03):
spirits who live in or near bodies of water, in this case of course the lake - the Nagas would actually come
to the surface to eat the tormas that he was providing.
But the same did not happen when our other practitioner, whatever his name was, made just the same prayers.
The difference of course, is not the ritual, but the quality of Milarepa's meditation.
(06:28):
And then there are of course more nuanced theories put forward by modern magicians, a field in which I am
not an expert.
Before I get to my main point, let me suggest a couple of readings for those who are interested.
As an instance of serendipity, after I decided on the topic of this episode, I came across a book titled
(06:54):
Buddhist Magic by Sam van Schaik.
This work takes a good look at the extent to which magic is and always has been an integral part of actual
Buddhist practice, practice on the ground as it were, including in those traditions that some authors,
especially when writing for Western audiences who like things to be tidy and clean, present as being in
(07:18):
some way “pure”.
These traditions are, in the picture painted by those authors, free of what they see as the superstition or
contamination of magic.
Buddhist Magic, the book, is fairly easy to get hold of, and while it's not a lightweight read, it is quite
easy to take in.
(07:39):
The second source is a blog entitled A Perfumed Skull, in which Ben Joffe, or Dr. Ben Joffe as he now is,
blogged about the research for his doctorate thesis.
I shan't say more about its contents because it is extraordinarily wide-ranging, but I, however, do for one
(08:00):
find it quite fascinating, and I would recommend it to anyone who's interested in this kind of thing.
If you google A Perfumed Skull, you will soon get there.
I will warn you that if you like what you find there, you should pencil in a good few hours on your
reading calendar to get through it.
(08:29):
Well, so much for the background.
I chose this topic, not because of any particular event or discovery, but simply because I had one of those
penny-dropped moments last week while I was doing one of my regular practices.
I realised the fact, perhaps a rather obvious fact, that the whole thing is soaked in what are essentially
(08:52):
magical operations.
Admittedly, the operations and ingredients used are nothing like as bizarre or even off-putting as one
might find in the more, let's say, lower-grade magical procedures, but magical nonetheless.
Getting up to place something on the shrine table, sitting down again, getting up to take something
(09:14):
outside, coming back in, moving small dishes from one place to another, carrying incense round the room
held in a silk scarf, putting tea into an offering bowl.
Now, if it's all symbolic, why are we going to all this physical trouble?
If we as Westerners come across Tibetan Buddhism following some gentle route, whether through books,
(09:38):
lectures, or well-meaning friends, we'll often find stress placed on how much of the typically Tibetan
practice can be understood symbolically.
And indeed it can.
Some people even say that this symbolic interpretation is the only proper one.
The argument goes a bit like this.
One.
(09:59):
The six worlds, that is, the paradises, the worlds of the jealous gods, the human world, the animal world,
the world of the hungry spirits, and the hells, are to be understood as vivid portraits, symbolising our
own human mindsets.
Two.
The offerings that we put on our shrine, the pure water, the flowers, the lights, and so forth, symbolise
(10:25):
our pure intentions, expressing our motivation to become enlightened for the benefit of all sentient
beings.
Three.
The lights that we think of radiating from our heart when we are, for instance, doing Chenrezig meditation,
symbolise the compassion that we are learning to cultivate.
(10:48):
Four.
The pure amrita that we visualise flowing through our body when we do the purification practice of
Vajrasattva and recite the 100-syllable mantra,
this symbolises our acknowledgement of our own imperfection and our efforts to purify our mindstream.
(11:08):
Five.
The lights that stream from the bodily centres of the visualised lama or deity, typically that's from the
head, throat, and the heart, into our own corresponding bodily centres, symbolise the blessing that we can
receive through our devotion, practice, compassionate action, and meditation, and so on, and so forth.
(11:31):
And all of it is indeed perfectly well and good.
I'm not saying that these ideas are wrong, even if we look on all of these present visualisations as purely
symbolic, and find the whole thing a bit wishy-washy.
Eventually, however, in particular as we go on to practise and experience more elaborate rituals, the idea
(11:56):
that it's all symbolic starts to wear rather thin.
There's just far too much that has to be explained away as symbolic for this line of thought to be
convincing.
We can, I'm sure, only really perform these sorts of meditations with authority and confidence if we accept
that there is some kind of magic going on.
(12:20):
We may be uncertain about what kind of magic it is, but if we ultimately believe that it's all our
imagination, just symbolism, I don't think things are going to go really all that far.
(12:48):
Dirt.
The subject of dirt.
For me, it was dirt that made the penny drop the rest of the way.
Dirt that underlines the sheer physicality of many of the things we do in the name of practice.
Good, down-to-earth dirt, showing that there is more involved in this practice than mere symbols or images
(13:08):
on a video screen.
Let me offer you some examples.
The Lama is famously central to Tibetan Buddhism, and I hope that most of us do realise that this word
refers to far more than just a person who may be entitled to use that honorific, be referred to, for
(13:30):
example, as Lama Fiona, because they have done a three-year retreat.
Without question, Lama often means far more than any one particular person.
One sense of the word is the Lama in the sense of a person who may or may not be officially designated
as a Lama, but who is recognised in the community at large as having achieved the power resulting from
(13:57):
Tantric practice.
Such a Lama is often seen as a source of blessing in ways that might surprise us Westerners.
We might expect blessings to be given when the Lama places his or her hand on the head of the disciple, and
this is certainly something we might easily see.
But there are other ways, and not all of them are procedures that we might easily be comfortable with.
(14:24):
In some cases, when a Lama brushes his hair, the hairs that are combed out are viewed as having a power
that can only be called magical.
I was told by a Bonpo teacher that disciples or followers who have obtained such hair will keep it aside
for use when times are bad.
When they are feeling sick or low, they will burn some of the Lama's hair and breathe in the smoke.
(14:49):
Ah, they will say, now things are getting better.
I heard of a Lama with a very high reputation who was spending most of his time in a retreat cabin, though
evidently not the kind of super-closed retreat from which the retreatants don't emerge until a later date
when it's all over.
I'm tempted to say when it's all over and the cleaners can move in.
(15:13):
This Lama was in the habit, when he wanted to do a poo, of wandering amongst the rocks quite some distance
from his cabin, making sure he wasn't followed by his servant.
The reason for that?
Because if devotees found it - have you guessed?
Yes, they would want to eat it.
(15:34):
In another case I heard of, devotees were coming to visit a yogi who was extremely poor.
When he was asked if he could give something to a donor as a blessing, he had absolutely no possessions and
resorted to rubbing his chest, which we can safely assume was thoroughly grimy, to roll up a bit of dead
(15:54):
skin dirt into a tiny pill.
The devotee was thrilled, felt that it had been of enormous benefit, and after this the yogi regularly had
to find such material on his body to give to visitors.
Let me just mention in passing that bodily secretions of various sorts being used in magical rites is by no
(16:16):
means exclusive to Tibetan Buddhist magic or Buddhist magic.
It is found in many parts of the world, including European magic, provided you look closely enough.
Anyway, next example.
Many years ago in Kathmandu I met a young Australian woman who had been travelling in Tibet itself with a
(16:36):
Tibetan yogi, a lama.
I'll call her Sheila, although that wasn't her real name.
She is Australian after all.
Excavations had recently been done under one of the major stupas, reputed to stand over the remains of the
Buddha before Shakyamuni.
Don't ask me to explain this historically, these stories don't really work like that.
(17:00):
Some Tibetans had been getting into the excavation pit in order to eat some of the dirt from the base of
the stupa, and Sheila, in a moment of great devotion, did the same.
When her teacher, a thoroughbred Tibetan let me remind you, found this out, he laughed loudly, telling
Sheila that she was as bad as the Tibetans - so superstitious.
(17:24):
These uses of dirt are not just one-offs.
When certain longer retreats are done in the fully traditional way, the participants are not allowed to
wash their hands, face, body or clothes for months or even longer.
Washing is thought to disperse the blessings of the retreat.
(17:47):
I heard that a concession has recently been granted, allowing the retreatants to clean their teeth,
provided this is done with consecrated water.
To the best of my knowledge, we don't have any statistics about any unfortunate skin conditions or about
the tooth decay found amongst those who emerge from such retreats.
(18:08):
Frankly, I dread to think.
A less radical expression of the same idea is the thought that when implements, like a Dorje and bell, have
been blessed, they should not be cleaned or washed, because this would take the blessing away.
Some of us might think that a blessing from a powerful lama would set up some kind of tingly electrical vibration thing in the metal.
(18:31):
But there is this view that the blessing resides in the traces of bodily material, in other words,
the dirt.
My reason for bringing up these stories about grime is not to suggest that we will be better Buddhists or
better meditators if we are dirty.
(18:52):
But dirt is real, it is physical, it is concrete, and I want to suggest that when we sit on our cushion
and imagine radiating light from our heart, whether as an offering to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, Lamas,
Yidams, Dalkinis and Protectors, or whether the light represents blessing going to all sentient beings who
have perhaps been our mother in the past, alleviating the suffering and helping them on the path to
(19:16):
enlightenment, something real is supposed to happen.
It's not supposed to be just a nice thought.
We are expected to be magicians.
Little magicians maybe, but magicians.
There are four activities practised in connection with a lot of these meditations.
(19:40):
Pacifying, increasing or enriching, magnetising or controlling, and destroying.
When, for example, we practise the enriching section, it really is expected that good fortune, or perhaps
even wealth, will increase.
This effect is supposed to actually happen.
(20:01):
Of course, like everything, there are limits dictated by karma, but it should really make a difference.
And when we consume a blessing pill that has been consecrated by millions of mantras recited by the Dalai
Lama and his monks, it's not just a nice thought.
Something is supposed to happen.
(20:23):
Perhaps not to the same extent as the person I heard of whose experience sounded very much like a three-day
acid trip.
Perhaps not even immediately noticeable. But something.
The physicality of swallowing a pill, tasting the bitter herbs, getting up and offering a biscuit, or
pouring tea as an offering, illustrate this yet again.
(20:46):
Let's assume you are somebody who has confidence in certain types of Western magic.
Would you get in touch with a witch for a love potion, pay your money, and be satisfied with being shown
the bottle on your computer screen?
Would you then take a screenshot and convince the object of your desire, perhaps through trickery, to eat a
(21:08):
printout of that picture?
You might argue that this method is also physical, but it seems to me pretty obvious that the magic chain
has been broken, hasn't it?
It has to be admitted that almost every ordinary Tibetan on the yack trail will have a belief in magic and
a willingness to see meaning in external events in a way that, by the standards of most Westerners, would
(21:34):
appear superstitious.
Each of us has to come to terms with the extent to which we are willing to grant that there is something
more than imagination and more than symbolism going on.
Unfortunately, I feel that if somebody cannot at least be open to those possibilities, to run with them,
(21:54):
Tibetan Buddhism as we know it will not really be for them.
Fortunately, there are other forms of Buddhism, and indeed other traditions altogether, where they may feel
more at home.
In summary, if you have done things properly, obtained your empowerment properly, performed your ritual as
prescribed, there is supposed to be a result, something is supposed to happen.
(22:19):
Often enough, of course, we are aiming, or at least we should be aiming, at something that we would call a
higher goal than mere worldly benefits, that is to say aiming at enlightenment.
But if we try to filter out the magical worldly side altogether, I suspect we may find that what is left is
very thin and not so likely to drag us in its wake on the path to Buddhahood.
(22:51):
So, once again, that's it.
Please don't forget that if you like this episode, or even the whole podcast, please do whatever it is your
platform allows, such as liking, following, subscribing, or whatever.
And don't forget that some of the woo-woo might just be real!
(23:12):
Bye!
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