"The five Buddha families are expressions of confusion and also clarity. Each includes both the potentiality for enlightenment and the experience of confusion." Chogyam Trungpa
The Five Buddha Families
In his most popular book about the Vajrayana, Journey Without Goal: The Tantric Way of the Buddha, Chogyam Trungpa explains that Tantra deals with "the discovery of our own innate awakened state of mind and indestructible Vajra nature." He writes that Tantra is based on the personal experience of clarity that arises from the practice of meditation. And he introduces the Five Buddha Families like this:
"Tantric discipline of relating to life is based on the five Buddha families - Vajra, Ratna, Padma, Karma, and Buddha. We constantly come across people who are partially or completely one of these five, and everybody is a fertile person, a workable person. From the Tantra viewpoint, by directly relating with all these different people, we are actually relating with every possible style of enlightenment." In this excellent book, Rinpoche describes each of the five families, and also vividly depicts the means and theories involved in Tantric meditation. It's a very good book for beginners interested in learning more about Vajrayana Buddhism.
In the book, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, Chogyam Trungpa says, "Each Buddha family has an emotion associated with it, as well as elements, colors, landscapes, directions, seasons, and other phenomenal aspects. Generally, one can feel that certain people have the quality of earth and solidness, and certain people have the quality of air rushing here and there, and other people have the quality of warmth and a presence connected with fire."
Irini Rockwell is a student of Chogyam Trungpa and the director of a program called the Five Wisdoms Institute. She gives practical instructions for working with these energies in her book, The Five Wisdom Energies: A Buddhist Way of Understanding Personalities, Emotions, and Relationships. Rockwell writes: "Understanding these energies, we can see how our own patterns of behavior, emotions, intellect and temperament correspond to one or more of the five families. This awareness can provide a practical way of working with ourselves and others." Rockwell points out that love, not judgement, is the key: "Five energies work is based on the premise that fundamentally we are good, sane, intelligent people. An attitude of unconditional friendliness - called Maitri - toward whatever arises in our being is the catalyst for turning our energy around."
Like Trungpa, Rockwell's book provides detailed descriptions of each family. Briefly, she explains them like this: Vajra energy reflects what it sees without bias like a crystal-clear mirror, and also has a self-righteousness that can harden into anger when confused. Ratna exudes richness, equanimity, and satisfaction but can turn into greedy territoriality and pride in its neurotic quality. Padma glows with passion and compassionate wisdom that can, at its worst, manifest as grasping. Karma, like the wind, is all-accomplishing action that can become neurotically hungry for power in confusion. Buddha is all-pervasive, peaceful space that can become dense, ignorant, or immobile when confused.
Rockwell writes: "Although someone's style of behavior might emphasize one particular energy clearly, the other energies are always at play. It takes awareness, time and practice to really understand the full range of energies within ourselves. We are all very colorful." Her book offers exercises for working directly with these subtle energy levels in ourselves, and in our relationships. She gives a detailed description of all five, including how each one manifests both as wisdom and as confusion or neurosis, plus advice about how to transform pain into liberation through working with the energy.
Books Available from Amazon
Journey Without Goal: The Tantric Wisdom of the Buddha
by Chogyam Trungpa ($12 from Amazon). An invaluable, accessible introduction to the Vajrayana Buddhist path.Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, by Chogyam Trungpa ($10 from Amazon). One of Trungpa's best-selling and most influential books.
The Five Wisdom Energies: A Buddhist Way of Understanding Personalities, Emotions, and Relationships, by Irini Rockwell ($12 from Amazon). A handbook for understanding and applying awareness of these energies in our daily lives.
Links
Founded by Chogyam Trungpa, the Shambhala organization offers both Buddhist and Shambhala meditation programs all around the world. Find one of their centers at this site www.shambhala.org.
Also founded by Chogyam Trungpa, Naropa University offers Maitri Energy training classes. www.naropa.edu
The Five Wisdoms Institute offers training for teachers, health professionals, managers, and individuals. www.fivewisdomsinstitute.com
