I am a tibetan born and bred with some expeirence in learning bhuddism but still I have some addiction involving watchin explicit content. Although I know that it is wrong I keep falling in that loop. I wanted to ask advice from Lamas but I have no one near where I live.

What could be a good way to tackle this addiction from a buddhist perpective. Any tibetan buddhist material where I can learned from. Share your expeirence as a buddhist if you have such. I am still working on it. And daily chant the 37 practises of bhoddisatvas everyday but I keep finding myself in that mood.

Most of us will still interact with the world and its possibilities (I pick these for my example instead of challenges or problems - as the latter pose a whole different form of motivation). How is this interaction fuelled, if not by some form of desire or at least intention?

So time ago, when I was learning a sadhana, I was introduced to the offering mantra:
OM [DEITY] SAPARIVARA ARGHAM PADYAM PUSHPE DHUPE ALOKE GENDHE NIVEDYA SHABDA.
I was explained that this rappresented various offerings. So far so good.

The trouble started when, some days ago, I started looking at various sadhana and I saw various variations of this formula for example:
OM [DEITY] [SOMETHING ELSE] SAPARIVARA ARGHAM...
Or
OM...NIVEDYA SHABDA [SOMETHING ELSE] [DEITY] [SOMETHING ELSE]
Or
OM VAJRA SAPARIVARA....(without naming the deity)

Questions:
1 Can someone explain to me how...ehmm...suffixes work in the offering mantra?
2 Does "OM VAJRA" act as general offerings, good for all enlightned deities?

Sorry for my ignorance, I realized that this might not be the best place to ask.

Best bleesings.

I’ve been a student of Buddhism for a long time (32 years)and a practitioner of Zen for most of those years. But I am drawn to Tibetan Buddhism far more than I am Zen as I get older. We have a wonderful Tibetan Temple in my city with plenty of offerings for people to come and visit and learn and so forth. I have been to this center three times and have come away frustrated each time because I cannot understand what Geshela is saying due to his heavy accent. I don’t know what to do about that. I’ve considered talking to the head administrator who is a western woman and asking her… And there’s where I get stuck. Because I don’t know what I would ask her or if I should ask her anything at all. I read and love many Tibetan teachers but I hate to limit myself too YouTube and podcasts of these teachers I admire. I could use your advice.

I am somewhat new to Buddhism. I am also going to a Sakya temple for the first time soon to hopefully expand my practice. I do not have any empowerment for green Tara, but nonetheless I've been praying to her mainly asking for her compassion and wisdom so I may see things more clearly.

However, I do have this desire that I try to stay detached to, but still it persists. I want to see or hear green Tara during one of my praying sessions. Having an experience like that would just be really cool. That's it really. Is this wrong?

So I added our local lama on Facebook and he seems to be asking me about what I do and if I live nearby then sent me a photo of the Kurukulla deity. He even sent an audio of the mantra. Does it mean anything? Should I be scared? I'm kind of new to Tibetan Buddhism so... Not sure what I should think of it.

Is anyone aware if Chogyam Trungpa's bad behavior was happening before his car accident? There are enormous numbers of documented cases of normal, decent people getting a brain injury and then displaying psychopathic behavior, usually for the rest of their lives. I remember reading a study years ago that claimed over 90% of people on death row have had a traumatic brain injury. Is it possible this could have been the case with Trungpa?

For today's Sojong post I'd like to share some resources on the Mahayana Posadha (Uposatha/Sojong) for reflection.

Firstly I have a text discussing the Mahayana Posadha here. While the text being discussed is from the 13/14 centuries (well after the time when Vajrayana began) It doesn't seem explicitely Vajrayana but definitely has some of those elements contained within. For example, it gives various instructions on how to make various mandalas for the Posadha ritual. The author of this paper even mentions that it does show a pretty big similarity to what we would see in the Tibetan tradition. This is espescially the case, in my oppinion, considering the fact that that there is also a portion dedicated to the dissolution of the mandalas.

I think for this Posadha day it's best that we reflect upon the practice as it has been traditionally done and to dedicate our merits from this practice to the attainment of Buddhahood for the benefit of all other beings. To make sure we are practicing in accordence with the Mahayana. To give up sense pleasures because as has been said by Milarepa before, "Desires achieved increase thirst like salt water". Because of this let's reflect on how we don't need sensual stimulation to be happy this Posadha day.

Wishing you all the best in your practice!

My partners mom just broke her hip and had to have hip replacement surgery so I am putting together a little get well basket. She follows/practices Tibetan Buddhism (not sure the correct way to say that as I am not very familiar with Buddhism). I found this bell at an antique market but am not sure if the label is accurate and google is not being helpful. I was hoping someone here would be able to help me, does anyone know if this is accurate and if it would be appropriate to include in the basket? Also any other recommendations would be appreciated!

Edit: I recommend anyone with a similar question to read below to understan how it was asked from an incorrect framing.

I was wondering: Is it acceptable/possible to apply the desired characteristics to a deity other than the Tibetan or generally Buddhist pantheon?

The reason for my question is related to the following thought: I understand (maybe wrongly) that the chosen deity must somehow resonate with "oneself," in the sense that it should spark interest and reverence in the conscious and unconscious mind; there must be some kind of energy flow directed towards it, which a more familiar identification might provide more intensely.

I also find (maybe due to ignorance) that the truth of sunyatta overrides any truth priority that any given set of deities, cosmologies, or any local cultural formulations might lay claim to. I also understand (maybe incorrectly) that in general deity yoga is a climb-the-ladder-to-lather-throw-it type of practice.

Conversely, I can see that, from a pragmatic, able-means point of view, the Tibetan or generally Buddhist deities have a longer trajectory associated with practice, so even if this hypothesis is correct (that other deities could be more effective for a non-Tibetan person), we might find ourselves in a situation analogous to Java and Python programming languages: Python in itself is a more pragmatic language, but the trajectory of Java as a language is longer, making it so that it has a much larger inventory of assets, and most programs use the latter rather than the former. So other deities would be like Python, Tibetan/Buddhist ones like Java, and the fact that practices are historically related to the latter rather than the former is the fact regarding assets and programs.

I say all this because I, for better or worse, am generally skeptical of deities at an unconscious level, so I am anticipating (maybe wrongly) that they will not "pull" me enough even if consciously I wish for that to happen. So I thought I could bypass that with deities that I had been interested in during my childhood or something like that.

I know I may be getting ahead of myself, but I wanted to ask that question. I would also like to ask non-Tibetan people and generally people born and raised outside Buddhist countries: What's your experience with deity yoga as a person foreign to that pantheon?

Salutations and thanks to everyone in advance.

Does anyone know if she is available as a teacher?

Recently when shopping for statues for my workplace I bought a small statue that looked to be Green Tara. When I went to check out it seems the store inadvertently swapped it with a statue of Shiva. Having spent an insignificant amount on it I couldn’t be bothered to try to return it and exchange it for an actual Green Tara statue.

Long story short, is there any use of a statue of Shiva in the Vajrayana tradition or should I try to rehome it to a Hindu family/organization? It appears to be the standard shiva holding a Trishula ( trident).

I appreciate any advice you can give, I want to be respectful as possible because I know even though I’m not from a Shaivite background the symbols can be a physical manifestation of the divine to some Hindus.

Thanks

Ngöndro is a key aspect of Vajrayana Buddhism It is traditionally done with great diligence, and practitioners are often expected to complete a certain number of repetitions (e.g., 100,000 prostrations, mantra recitations, etc.) for each practice. This usually takes years unless there me is in retreat.

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Thank you for your understanding.

I am asking this question because I personally have had great success in establishing these sacred bonds with my teachers, but know that this is only due to their willingness to be receptive to an online practitioner. I am willing to guess that not all guru/disciple pairs are capable of forming across the internet. I want to hear about other practitioners experiences, positive or negative. I do not mean ones that formed in person than continued over the internet.

Thank you in advance for your replies.

Can anyone confirm or deny if I've got the details right? The thangka in question can be seen here. It is old, and some details are obscure and possibly faded or damaged, though the image has a lot of power even in its present state.

I think the smaller figures in the thangka are as follows.

Top (left to right):
Vajrakilaya
Guru Rinpoche
Vajravarahi

Bottom (left to right):
Zhizan/Zhepan (the deer-headed protector. Not sure who the naked running figure is: a demon or obstructing spirit that he's expelled?)
Mahakala
Hayagriva? (It looks like a red two-armed form of him, but I don't see a horse's head. If it's there, it's very faint)
Gesar

Hello friends and fellow seekers on the path,

Does anyone know of a very good and authentic guide to carrying out daily puja? I have an altar, bhumpa, Pherba, stupa, seven altar bowls, kartika, dorje and vajra, and oil lamp and I'd like to begin proper puja so that I can re-orient my mind to the practice in a better more consistent way.

Any guides would be welcome

(I know many people advice finding a guru. Believe me, I would love to. But based on location and time constraints - I can at least make time to honor the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and other guiding spirits - it simply isn't possible for the forseeable future).

Wade

Can you help me find the meaning?

I am new, I need to clear my doubt, thanks for sharing opinions.

Hi, I'm a beginner to Vajrayana and am currently doing a ngondro. I am curious about tantric sadhanas such as the Cakrasamvara. When doing the complete sadhana are all parts done in one sitting? Can it be broken down in parts done over a few days? Thanks

I recently purchased this small metal solar electric prayer wheel for a close friend because the plastic one I got on Amazon makes wild grinding and whirring noises. The problem is that this one also makes some small grinding noises inside the mechanism, is this normal for these small prayer wheels? Has anyone had this problem and found a solution? Thank you very much in advance 🙏