In The Ornament of Clear Realization and the Prajnaparamita sutras, methods are often mentioned for transforming afflictions into the path. One of them is bodhicitta; for example, unwholesome deeds such as killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, and lying are no longer deemed unwholesome if committed out of bodhicitta. Another method is gaining realization of emptiness; with this wisdom as a basis, afflictions stop being afflictions and are turned into the path naturally. Thanks to bodhicitta and realization of emptiness, afflictions are made useful; otherwise, in trying to fight afflictions head on, one could come upon harm, even end up in the three lower realms.

We all know that the Buddha transmitted the Dharma to followers according to their capacity and guided them on the path step by step. The Outer Tantra, having also empowerment, the practice of generation stage and so forth, is part of Vajrayana, but it lacks the view of the Inner Tantra. Hence, practitioners can only visualize themselves as they are in the present world (though sometimes they also visualize themselves as buddha), then visualize the buddha and the yidam in front and recite mantras. The Outer Tantra offers many ways to recite mantras; it is of the view that one can attain buddhahood by way of mantra recitation.

When followers of the Outer Tantra practice in retreat, they are very particular about personal hygiene, keeping a vegetarian diet, and washing themselves three times a day; the focus is on one’s conduct, and they do very well in this respect, but less so in the practice. Actually, the more one is fixated on the particulars of behavior, the more likely problems in practice will surface. The higher the state one reaches in practice, the more likely some improprieties may appear in one’s conduct. Naturally, impropriety does not mean wrongdoings such as killing, stealing, lying and so on are casually tolerated. You can get a better understanding of this from the life stories of the eighty great siddhas of ancient India.

Note that, in the Inner Tantra, the practices of ngöndro (outer and inner preliminaries), the specific main practice, the six paramitas, etc. are no different from the other categories of tantra or even that of sutra. However, some uncommon practices and conduct of the Inner Tantra are unique.

Take the example of afflictions such as greed, anger, jealousy, arrogance, etc. The Lesser Vehicle considers these negative emotions to be real; hence, in order to obliterate them, one must be armed with substantial opponent powers, or one may sustain real harm, which is a frightening prospect. The Great Vehicle, having understood more deeply the truth behind afflictions, does not think afflictions, the so-called five poisons or three poisons, have real property. But even so, in the illusory world, one still cannot face the truth directly but must rely on other external conditions such as bodhicitta to transform afflictions into the path. The Outer Tantra holds that afflictions are neither real nor fundamentally impure; instead, the five poisons can be transformed into the five wisdoms of the buddha, given certain conditions; without the right conditions, one is still afraid to confront afflictions directly. It is only in the Inner Tantra that the practitioner finally attains a profound state of realization.

If one has a bad dream at night but does not know it is a dream, one will be as terrified by circumstances in the dream as by the same events in daytime; whereas if one knows one is dreaming, even jumping from the tenth floor of a building will not stir any fear. By the same token, genuine practitioners having attained realization of emptiness perceive no difference between things appearing in dreams and during the day. Aiming to quickly destroy attachment, they deliberately accept the five meats and five nectars which originally are regarded as defiled; it is not unlike jumping from the tenth floor of a building in the dream on purpose. Doing so lends particularly obvious effect on cutting through attachment and no harm to their practice either. From the standpoint of self-benefit, this is a very good practice. But from the summit of Dzogchen looking down, this is still an attachment: if all are illusions, why bother doing anything intentionally?

Nonetheless, Vajrayana was propagated in Tibet and the lineage of Tibetan Vajrayana kept intact and pure. As Vajrayana places great emphasis on pure lineage, requirement for oral transmission is absolute in order to stamp out false teachings. For the same reason, many strange terms are used deliberately in the Vajrayana texts so that only realized vajra masters can explain what they mean. Another feature of Tibetan Buddhism is to clarify questions through debate; any viewpoint, even just a sentence, can be traced back to its origin in these debates until finally it is proven the bona fide words of the Buddha. Thus, the doctrine of Tibetan Vajrayana is totally reliable.

It seems that the Inner Tantra is not found in the esoteric Buddhism of either Tang Dynasty or Japan but in Tibet only. So I think only authentic practitioners from Tibet really understand what the Inner Tantra is about; they are the real authority on this subject. Other than this group, no one else is qualified to define what Vajrayana is, no matter how grand a title one carries.

In terms of appearance, the wrathful deities look even more sinister than ordinary demons. People may easily mistake them for the deities of an evil cult if they do not know what the wrathful deities represent. For example, there is a blazing fire at the back of the wrathful deities and Dharma protectors, but white light at the back of the peaceful deities. Actually, fire here represents wisdom of the buddha—just like fire can burn down everything, so can wisdom cut through all afflictions. In addition, wrathful deities hold in their hands not bowls but human skulls, and the skulls contain not wholesome foods like fruit and grains but red blood. What does it mean? Blood represents desire, and desire is the main cause of ending up in the three lower realms. Drinking the blood represents eradicating completely the desire for samsara.

Why do the deities appear in peaceful and wrathful forms? It is for the liberation of special beings. Normally, bodhicitta is effective in subduing evil beings. When Sakyamuni Buddha attained enlightenment, he overwhelmed Mara’s troops with bodhicitta; but it is only when one has garnered the same kind of power as the Buddha that bodhicitta can function effectively in this kind of situation. Bodhicitta is not useful against powerful demons that are endowed with great blessings from a previous life. As demons are also subject to causality—some due to hatred, others the ripening of past evil aspirations that make them what they are now, which have little to do with renunciation and bodhicitta, only the appearance of wrathful deities can subdue them.

Beginners of Vajrayana need not and are, in fact, forbidden to accept the five meats and five nectars. There is an analogy in the Kalacakra Tantra: Some people can cure their illness and prolong life by taking a medicine called Nectar of Brahmā directly, while others are not allowed to drink it but can only carry the nectar in a gawu box around their neck because they will die if they drink the medicine. Similarly, some people may greatly benefit from undertaking the kind of tantric practices that accept the five meats and five nectars, but beginners who try to do the same will incur much harm with no progress to show for it. Therefore, these practices are off limits to them. If and when we reach a state of realization whereby we perceive all phenomena as a dream, with no attachment, we can then adopt the practices to speed up our progress.

Some may question if practitioners have eliminated all attachment, does it mean they are free to commit unwholesome deeds like killing, stealing, lying and sexual misconduct? Of course not. Vajrayana stresses that practitioners in their realized state do not have attachment to the discriminating notions such as sentient beings, killing lives, or good and evil, but other beings still harboring such attachment will be hurt by the unwholesome actions. So, a genuine practitioner can never behave this way, nor is it permitted in Vajrayana.