Methods of Purification

 

Even the Buddha himself was once an ordinary person like us. But how did he achieve the realization? He followed the teachings of the earlier Buddhas and practiced those teachings. In doing so, he realized enlightenment and liberation from Samsara, and in return he passed the teachings on to others.

 

Anyone who follows the Buddha's teachings will surely achieve results and purify negative karmic causes. Then that person will be like a man who has caught smallpox in the past; he will never catch any again because he is immune. The sickness of samsara will never come again. And this is the determination of the following teachings.

 

In the Bön tradition we have three main methods for completing the liberation from the karmic causes of passion or emotional defilement: Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen. Let's take the example of finding a poisonous plant that blocking our path.

 

According to the Sutra method, we must avoid these, otherwise we will be burned up and completely destroyed. The methods employed by the Sutras represent the path of renunciation (spong lam).

 

But it is not necessary to destroy the poisonous plant because if we know the right method we can turn the poison into medicine. This is the method of the Tantras and represents the path of transformation (sgyur lam).

 

But if we don't touch the plant and just leave it alone, the poison won't harm us. This is the method of Dzogchen that represents the path to self-liberation (rang grollam).

 

The Sutra system uses various antidotes to control the passions, while the Tantra system uses visualization to transform the negative karmic vision into the positive pure vision in our imagination. This is done with the mind, but the method in Dzogchen is different because Dzogchen goes beyond the mind.

 

When the emotional defilements arise, we don't follow them or support them in any way. Also, no antidotes or transformations are to be sought here. When they appear, we leave them as they are and they will resolve through themselves.

 

Their energy will dissipate. They go away and do not harm us. In Dzogchen we leave everything as it is and it frees by itself. The thoughts cannot harm and they leave no traces. These are the most important methods for purifying the Kleshas or passions and purifying negative karmic causes.