Types of Rushans

Outer Rushens

 

Now that you understand about the interrelationship of karmic causes and consciousness, you can understand the purpose of the preparation in Dzogchen. It is always imperative to know exactly the purpose of our practice, otherwise we cannot persist. Nirvana means a state in which all negative karmic causes and obscurations have been purified.

 

Basically we speak of six realms or destinies ('gro-ba dru) and each has its characteristic forms of suffering. For example, when we are reborn in the hell realms, we experience the great suffering from heat and cold. When we experience such intense suffering, how is it possible to do a practice? The Rushan exercises, however, can give us some experience of what it is there.

 

When we are reborn in the Preta realm, we experience intense hunger and thirst. But we will not die from this suffering until the energy of the karmic cause for a Preta rebirth is exhausted. In a rebirth in the animal world, whether as a wild animal or a domestic animal, we experience suffering. Even in the finest realm of devas, where we possess great powers and longevity, when our good karma for a deva rebirth is exhausted, we will suffer death and rebirth elsewhere. So there is no escape from suffering anywhere in Samsara.

 

Now it is possible for us to accumulate karmic causes and then react to them, and it is also possible to accumulate karmic causes and not react to them. For example, we can get angry and kill someone, but we can also get angry and not kill anyone. It is also possible to kill someone when we are not angry like soldiers do in a war. They just have to shoot at other soldiers and don't even know the names of those they kill.

 

In all these cases we accumulate karmic causes. However, by the time the fruit ripens, we will experience different results depending on the exact causes. Sometimes the results come immediately and other times only after a long time, perhaps in a future life. This is because when a karmic cause manifests its result, certain other conditions or circumstances, such as secondary causes, must be present. If these secondary causes are absent, then the primary cause cannot manifest its result.

 

In general, karmic causes are not only related to anger, but also very much to desire. If there is too much desire in the individual's mind-stream, it will result in rebirth as a hungry ghost in the Preta world. A hungry ghost experiences constant frustration from its desires, especially great hunger and thirst which can never be satisfied.

 

This experience of suffering in the Pretaloka dimension (Preta realm) is generated by desire, just as suffering in the hell worlds dimension is generated by anger. But if we have practiced many acts of generosity in our previous lives, then our suffering in the Pretaloka is correspondingly less.

 

We can have the cause of a human rebirth and find ourselves reborn here on earth, but some people are born into favorable circumstances and some are not. Some are rich and some are poor. Some can live an honest and good moral life but get bad results; while others lead dishonest and immoral lives and get good results. They will become rich and famous.

 

This all depends on what Karma the individual has accumulated in previous lives. A dishonest, stingy, and immoral person accumulates bad Karma in this life, even if the results of that Karma firstly manifest in a future life. Their fame and fortune today are the result of their holding of good Karma from the past. But that stock will soon be exhausted and they will find themselves in much less fortunate circumstances.

 

Such a person is like a rabid dog that bites many people and then dies. The effects of karmic causes are not limited to a single lifetime, but exist on a continuum of lifetimes. So we shouldn't be fooled. The results of the present actions will surely come.

 

There are cases where we tell lies and do other things that are usually bad to help people, like killing a bandit who is robbing and harming many people. It all depends on our intention. When the intention is good, even if the action itself was bad, the results are far less bad than when we intend to do harm.

 

And the same goes for good deeds. In general, generosity is a good action, but providing Iraq with guns is something that would cause great harm to others. So just looking at the action is not enough, we must always consider the intention, and it is our intention that is the fundamental condition of our Karma. So we have to pay a lot of attention to the motivation, the Bodhichitta.

 

A function of the Khorde Rushen practices is to offer us experiences, many experiences of all six realms of rebirth, and these in turn provide the conditions or secondary causes for many karmic causes to manifest their results. Normally these karmic causes are unconscious, we don't even have the knowledge of their existence, but here, in the context of Rushan practice, we offer a space to manifest their results. The consequences of these causes manifest as Samskaras or unconscious impulses.

 

In terms of the tradition, visualizing the teacher, lama or guru overhead, one has to imitate the behavior of all sorts of things associated with the hellish emotional states, through all the intermediate realms, such as the Pretas, the animals, and so on , up to the conduct of the gods, are entangled. By imitating or performing the activities of body, speech and mind of the various beings from the six realms, we allow the unconscious impulses stored in the Kunzhi and associated with these realms to manifest in consciousness at the present time.

 

With complete confidence and without any inhibitions, we scream, run, jump, laugh, cry, do whatever comes to mind. We do whatever the impulses dictate. We act very much like a being from hell, like a Preta, like an animal, like a lion or like a bird. We can act like a god or demigod, or as many different types of people. There is no limitation here.

 

We must clearly visualize the environment in which these creatures live, and try to speak and think like them, because this will facilitate the manifestation of the relevant tendencies or Samskaras. We behave as gods and goddesses like Shiva, Vishnu and Sati. Even if we become Lord Shiva and have the experiences of Shiva, we still remain in Samsara. Even if we are Shiva, Sati, as our consort, will still cause trouble to us as Shiva all the time.

 

Thus we discover that wherever we are reborn in Samsara, there is no rest, no refuge, no lasting happiness. Even the gods still experience suffering in Samsara.

 

But all of this is done in a wilderness retreat, far from people and cities. Otherwise, when people see and hear us, they would think that we have gone insane and send the police to take us to the hospital.

 

Once we have treated this Karma for worldly beings and it is exhausted, we imitate the Bodhisattvas and their efforts to help other beings. This is done by visualizing and speaking teachings aloud. Then we visualize that we are Buddha surrounded by our devotees and we are giving teachings to them.

 

Not only do we visualize that we are a Buddha, but we actually speak aloud while giving the teachings to this imaginary audience, doing the appropriate Mudras, while reciting the scriptures of Prajnaparamita, etc. Our intention is to release them from their suffering in Samsara. But even a Buddha does not have the capacity to save everyone because everyone has a free will.

 

The Buddha is like the sun, which shines its light evenly and impartially everywhere, but the man must come out of the shadows to receive and enjoy the sun. The individual must voluntarily meet with the Buddha, hear the teachings, understand them, and put them into practice before any results, that is, salvation or liberation from Samsara, can be achieved.

 

The individual cannot be forced to salvation. But a Buddha can use skillful means to subdue even difficult beings, so we then visualize ourselves as a wrathful and peaceful deity to subdue others or turn them into disciples who listen. In this way we come to experience all good and bad conditions, all of Samsara and Nirvana. These practices and activities represent the outer Rushans.