Michael Conneely - Buddhism

The Lord Buddha, Shakyamuni, formerly the prince Guatama Siddharta, attained 'enlightenment' when he seated himself under the bodhi tree 2,500 years ago and made a vow to the earth that he would not leave that spot until he had succeeded.

In Buddhism, 'enlightenment' is seeing reality as it really is. It is seeing that under the impermanent flux of the phenomenal world of our experience, lies 'emptiness'. Enlightenment is the ultimate, blissful state of being.

In the centuries since the Buddha, three 'vehicles' to enlightenment slowly evolved. These are called:

These three vehicles each seem quite different from each other, but in fact they each stem from the Buddha's original perception, and they each share the same goal: enlightenment.

Each of these three vehicles lasted for about five hundred years in the fifteen-hundred-year period that Buddhism lasted in India from the time of the Buddha's life - though each still persists to the present day, independently of the later developments that occurred.

Note that the later 'vehicles' do not in any way 'supersede' the earlier 'vehicles'. The Theravada is the necessary foundation of both the Mahayana and the Vajrayana. The Vajrayana is fully rooted in the Theravada and the Mahayana.

In Theravada Buddhism, the method of achieving enlightenment tends to renunciation and self-abnegation. It is the foundation of all Buddhism.

Theravada Buddhism emphasizes the ethical and the psychological. The perfected Theravadan is the Arhant. The Arhant is the hero of the Theravada.

How can one sum up Theravada Buddhism, as it might manifest in the person? Theravada practitioners evince a commanding calm centeredness and create thereby a different world around them, redrawing the surrounding landscape by the presence of their transformed consciousness. They show great respect for 'where the individual is at'.

The two meditative techniques which tend to this mode of Buddhism are Anapana ('mindfulness of breathing') and Vipassana ('insight meditation'): Course Modules BB1 and BB2, below.

Mahayana Buddhism developed out of Theravada Buddhism at around the time of Christ, and continues to this day. In Mahayana Buddhism, the perfected being is the Bodhisattva. The Bhodisattva is a being who has come to merit Nirvana because he or she has gained enlightenment; but who turns back to the world, and undergoes further incarnations to heal the suffering of others, out of compassion for suffering beings,.

In the Tibetan Wheel of Life, even in the darkest hell realms there is a Buddha blessedly pointing the way to liberation. The greatest meditation seats have been found in the deepest hell realms. However great your suffering and ignorance, enlightenment can be attained.

This approach of blissful compassion totally remaps the personality and envisions the 'self' in quite a different light.

The Mettabhavana (the loving kindness meditation) is a form of meditation, observed in the ethnography, which tends towards the Mahayana state: Module BB3, below.

Vajrayana Buddhism grew out of contact with Hindu tantra. It was superimposed, in certain areas, onto Mahayana Buddhism from 500 - 1000 CE. Its two foundations are the meditative awareness of the Theravada and the compassion of the Mahayana.

The hero of Vajrayana is the Yogin or the Yogini.

The core of the Vajrayana is tantra. Tantra is the 'quick way' to enlightenment. You become enlightened by consciously setting out to act 'as if' you are enlightened: by becoming a god, by experiencing the non-dual ecstasy of enlightenment.

Theravada Buddhism distrusts the senses. Tantra's approach is very different. Instead of viewing pleasure and desire as something to be avoided at all costs, tantra sees the energy of our desires as something to be carefully and skillfully used to achieve enlightenment. They are a resource on the spiritual path, fuel for the journey, a catapult to enlightenment.

Tantra seeks to transform every experience - no matter how 'unspiritual' it may superficially appear - into the path of enlightenment. Thus, the essence of tantra is dealing skillfully with pleasure.

Followers of the Vajrayana embody strength and spaciousness of mind - a robust personality type empowered by the inclusion of body and sexuality into non-dual meditation. A powerful poised energy is fed by forthright rituals and the inclusion of wrathful archetypal figures and chthonic entities tamed to the service of the Dharma. There is an intelligent sense of boundaries, a lot of humour, and a matter-of-fact dealing with endings and beginnings. Contact with Padmasambhava and his female tantric consort the Dakini Yeshe Tsogyell, leads to grounded and poised presence. Contact with Tara produces melting manifestation of ultimate compassion beneficially touching all suffering or tortured minds. Consciousness of impermanence leads to a strong sense of what is really important.

I provide you with a simple but adequate historical and conceptual introduction to Buddhism.

Samsara is the world that is chained to the wheel of dearth and rebirth. We meditate on the nature of this world. In Buddhism, it is the delusion in which we wander. The root of our suffering in this world is ignorance (avidya). Ignorance is the cause of craving, thirst, and 'grasping', and the failure to 'Let Go'.

We gain perspective on emptiness. This is Sunyata: the 'void', and viewed more 'positively', it is the 'mother of everything'.

Nirvana is the 'blowing out of the flame of the candle'. Nirvana is cessation, uncreated, the end, the taintless, subtle, ageless, the undecaying, peace, deathless, exquisite, bliss, marvellous, pure release, non-attachment, the refuge, the ultimate. It is the end of the subject (me) wanting an object (other). This extinction of the division between subject and object is called non-duality.

In the Buddhist perception, the Nirmanakaya is the form realm; the Sambhogakaya is the imaginal realm, the realm of visions, and the Dharmakaya is the realm of emptiness. We study the different procedures and control mechanisms such as guru-lineages and cultural-containment patterns that exist in four different tantric spiritual forms, for accessing and navigating the imaginal realms. This module is most important for considering how Buddhism can cooperate with other spiritualities using the imaginal realms.

We examine the Buddhist perspective on what is meant by the 'self'. The western project of self, what is often called, 'individuation' is a valid task, but remember the Buddhist analysis is that the 'self' only takes you so far - that in an important sense, it is empty. The Buddhist perspective is that a strong sense of self is useful in that it enables you to tread the path of enlightenment, but that it is ultimately unreal because it is conditioned, and because the only true reality is the blissful void: the emptiness beyond and beneath self. We compare this to the western cultural self, to the all-absorbing western project of the construction of self (for example through lifestyle or therapy), and to the western consumerist construction of self. We look at Buddhist methods such as 'letting go' and 'mindful awareness' and 'guarding the sense doors', getting rid of attachment to objects, bewaring the monkey-like facility of the mind to create endless deluding rationalizations to justify to self and its proliferating wallowing in ignorance.

What are the qualities of the Bodhisattva? What does a Bodhisattva look like? How can I become a Bodhisattva? Concepts are shared. Exercises are given in taking on your sufferings and the sufferings of others, and transforming adverse conditions.

'Arising as Deity' is the key to Buddhist tantra. Indeed it is the key to all tantric spirituality. In some senses, the Tibetan Buddhist elaborations of the methods are the most powerful and other tantric spiritual forms can greatly benefit from contact with them. This module communicates the details in written form, e.g. Going for refuge, generating Bodhichitta, the Bodhisattva Dedication, Mantra, receiving blessings, guru yoga, bija, seed syllables, Mandala, the Vajra ground, the circular Vajra fence and cardinal points, the Vajra canopy, the Vajra tent, the emanated Protection Circle, the inner phenomenon-source abode. Pure Lands, Clear Appearance, Divine Pride, the yab-yum, Highest Yoga Tantra, the four stages of practitioner (action, performance, yoga and highest yoga practitioners). The five aspects of the completion stage (isolated speech, isolated mind, illusory body, clear light, union), the goal: mixing bliss with emptiness, like water mixing with water.

We learn Chakras, channels and 'winds and drops' and inner fire meditation. The power of Buddhist tantra is the uniquely well-studied way body energetics fuel blissful enlightenment.

BA 16. Comparison with Hinduism, Paganism and Shamanism: especially Pure Lands, Journeying and the Imaginal Realms.

The experiential part of the course covers the following 15 modules, all of which are coded 'BB':

BB 1. Anapana ('Mindfulness of Breathing Meditation').
The 'Mindfulness of Breathing' meditation may be seen as the foundation stone of Buddhist practice. It brings you present to the 'now', and it holistically achieves harmony of mind and body. It can build to insight and promote the discharge of bodily-held distress. The Lord Buddha took the vow, witnessed by the Earth Goddess, not to leave his meditation seat beneath the Bodhi Tree, until he achieved enlightenment.

This is protracted mindfulness meditation. It transforms the consciousness by the production of penetrating insight.

We focus on glorious and resplendent Bodhisattvas of compassion such as Tara and Avalokiteshvara. Being in contact with a source of unconditional love is the only way to deal with people who we find impossible.

In a separate and very special unique tantra, we focus on Avalokiteshvara and the Horned God of Paganism: what aspects of compassion have Buddhism and paganism got in common? This module is absolutely unique; it is invaluable, powerful and unforgettably transformative. We experience the different energetics of compassion that are inherent in the Pagan God and Goddess, and in the Bodhisattva. Ritually and meditatively we join these hitherto culturally cut-off but at-root identical forces of compassion.

BB. 7. Adverse Circumstances: We learn to find the meaning in adverse circumstances.

This beautiful tantra is from the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Amitabha, Akshobhya, Amoghasiddhi, Ratnasambhava, Vairochana - these are resplendent Buddhas: the five facets of the one infinitely precious jewel, whose form is incomparable beauty and light.

What is our reaction to this powerful representation of the Buddhist perspective on existence? We might like to compare it to the Pagan perspective on life, on existence.

Padmasambhava is the bringer of Buddhism to Tibet - a most powerful tantric yogin. He is the paradigm for 'taming and transcending of our demons' and 'putting them into the service of the Dharma'. Unless the self brings the demons to consciousness, and befriends them, they will drain energy and rule the self, leaving it prey to obsessions, unconscious drives and fated driven behaviours. Padmasambhava is thus a yardstick for the new spiritual paths. His consort, the beautiful Dakini, Yeshe Tsogyell, the Goddess of the Lake, the adamantine sow, the bliss-bringer is a most powerful paradigm of enlightened womanhood.

Enlightenment can be achieved by those with strong desire natures. This yoga involves generating as deity, body energetics (winds) reconfiguration, experiencing something of the eight signs of death in the Tibetan Book of the Dead, experience of 'the Vajra-like concentration of the path of meditation', holism not dualism, union of subject and object through visualisation in the form realm and the resplendent visionary Sambhogakaya realm, Spontaneous Great Bliss that meditates on emptiness, a state of clear perception, and of unwavering compassion. Its emanations pervade the universes.

Sweet Saviouress of Tibetan Buddhism: Female Bodhisattva of ultimate Compassion. Her summoning mantra is 'Om Tara Tutare, Ture Svaha'. White Tara is the beautiful epitome of pristine quality of the essence of compassion. Green Tara involves herself in the manifest world, doing her work of compassion there.

Seated on a lotus, Manjushri is a prince of great beauty, decked in jewels, bangles and scarves, his body fiery orange; his eyes ferocious and tawny like a lion's, and his aura is burning red-gold. High aloft, he brandishes the flaming sword of wisdom in his right hand: razor-sharp, the wisdom-sword cuts through delusions and ignorance, effortlessly: it is the sword of non-duality which terminates suffering. He fearlessly asks you questions as to the reality and truth of your life. He is wisdom incarnate, fully-awakened, supreme and omniscient. His mantra is Ah Ra Pa Cha Na Dhih. He is sworn to continue to serve all sentient beings until the end. He will take on any appearance that is needed to bring you to enlightenment.

Some of us hold vast, heavy energies in our make-up. This is our inherited personality. Astrologically, they might be signified as some combination of Mars, Pluto and Uranus. They are neither 'good' nor 'bad', but 'neutral'. It is how we understand them, and how we use them, that matters. Negatively used, these vast boiling energies can lead us to do harm: to be destructively angry, to be hyper-picky, to be invasive, to be a leach. But positively used, these great energies can be used to defend the Dharma (the Buddhist Way). These forceful energies can be personalized as Dharmapala, or 'Dharma Protectors'. The Bodhisattva state, itself, necessarily embodies wrathful forms. A wrathful Bodhisattva is Vajrapani. Vajrapani wields the force of positive destruction. He is only ethical. He bursts through barriers. He annihilates ignorance and sears away limitations. He is dark blue and horrifically fearsome, terrible and scowling. He crushes a corpse and hurls a thunderbolt, yet his left hand is held to his heart in the teaching gesture (mudra). His teeth are filed to points and drip blood. A circle of flames surrounds him. He is a wrathful protector. Compassion need not be soft. It also can be wrathful. We need to be able to ethically overcome hindrances. In this ritual and visualizing module, we realize connection with such wrathful deities as Vajrapani, Mahakala, Yamantaka Chakrasamvara, and Dharmaraja, through to such peaceful, blissful deities as White Tara and Vajrasattva, to conclude with the peaceful healing calm of the Medicine Buddha.

The Michael Conneely School of Astrology	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3
The Michael Conneely School of Astrology	Star Mates	Foundation Vedic	Tantric Vedic

Book sales

Enroll here

Prices