magicalbuddhism

Magical concepts and practices exist within Buddhism, particularly in Vajrayana or Tibetan Buddhism, which is based on Hinduism's tantric system. Tantra involves visualization and seeing the teacher as a personification of perfection. However, some Western practitioners have manipulated these ideas for their own preferences. The practice of chaos magic is unpredictable and can be used by advanced wisdom practitioners. It is important to use these practices responsibly and with wisdom to create good and benefit others. We should utilize Buddhism or any other interest to develop ourselves and eventually make a positive impact on our community. Hi everyone, I thought I'd talk a little bit today about the idea of magical Buddhism or magic in Buddhism. Now a lot of people don't like this idea that there are magical concepts, ideas, very strange ways of dealing with things within Buddhism, but of course there are. These things have grown up over the years and some people will prefer the very linear processes within Buddhism, you know, you sit, you meditate, you do the practices and you eventually gain peace and wisdom and insight and enlightenment. People like that, that's a progressive path, but there is also a sort of random chaotic element and that's what we'll discuss a little here. In Vajrayana, some people are still using this term Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism is just Tantric Buddhism, it's very much based and dependent upon the system that was developed in Hinduism and a lot of the ideas are still there within Tantra. And so Tantra is very much a magical system, a system where the visualisation and the idea that the teacher is a Buddha and therefore is a personification of perfection is very important and if that teacher is indeed an able personification of qualities that people need, then it's very helpful. Unfortunately, a lot of these Western Tantrists have just taken this idea and manipulated it for their own preferences and a lot of it has come from people who saw the way Westerners were and thought, oh, we can make use of this, we can get engaged with this. So it's the being caught up in the world, in samsara and using samsara as a base to create the kind of chaotic magical system that some Tantrists do. That's fair enough, that's a way of approaching things, that's a way of doing things. So the idea of the Dacca and Dacchini, which is the magical, the wisdom practitioners, at a high enough level, they are in fact using chaos or chaos magic. And chaos magic is very unpredictable. Just like there's an approach in Zen where the Zen teachers are very, almost incomprehensible or very traumatic in their response or very dramatic in their response. But this is within the confines of a strict system. And again, some people have abused that power and that authority because it's a centralised authority. And this is different to the way a lot of us prefer to work, which is with our own wisdom base and our own understanding. And we have to take responsibility for that. So even though we may be using some of the tactics and techniques, if we use them in an unhelpful way, in a way that is based on our lesser capacities and our more mixed up feelings and thoughts and ideas, then we can do a lot more harm than good. So doing good is one of the primary, or creating sukha as opposed to dukkha, creating good, happiness, peace, wisdom, compassion, all the things that actually unravel people. This is the point of utilising Buddhism in its highest aspect. And if you can do that with whatever it is, including, as I say, the magical aspects of Tantra, or whatever religion, or whatever thing that you wish to, whether it's psychology, whether it's using computers, whatever is the thing that interests you, grabs you, and makes some use of your potential initially, because you have to create something for yourself initially. And then from there you can move on to improving those around you, family, friends, and perhaps eventually the wider community. Anyway, that's all from me for today. Bye now.