Tibetan Buddhism is often portrayed as a peaceful, meditative tradition centered on compassion and enlightenment. However, this masks a complex esoteric system that includes the worship and manipulation of worldly protectors (Chökyong) and wrathful spirits. While some of these entities are invoked for protection and blessings, they can also be weaponized against perceived enemies. In this article, we explore the darker side of tantric practices involving these beings and how they can be used to harm others.
Worldly Protectors: Not Always Benevolent
Worldly protectors (Tib. Chökyong) are not enlightened beings but rather powerful spirits, often local deities or ancient demons that were subdued and bound by tantric masters into serving the Buddhist dharma. Unlike fully enlightened protectors, who “alledgedly” operate beyond mundane entanglements, worldly protectors still possess emotions, grudges, and the capacity for harm. Their allegiance to particular sects or lineages makes them especially useful for those seeking to gain favor or exert power.
Beyond protectors, Tibetan tantric Buddhism includes rituals explicitly designed to summon harmful spirits to attack enemies. These practices often involve wrathful deities and demons, coercing them into carrying out curses, sickness, or even death.
Gyalpo spirits are mischievous and vengeful entities, often former monks or rulers who became wandering ghosts. These spirits can be bound through ritual to inflict misfortune, financial ruin, or insanity on an intended victim. Their influence is particularly feared in tantric monasteries.
Mamo spirits are wild, untamed female entities that exist in liminal spaces between worlds. These spirits are associated with plagues, natural disasters, and personal calamities. Invoking them requires blood offerings and precise tantric rituals to direct their chaotic energy toward an enemy. (These days the blood offerings have probably been replaced by symbolic blood offerings like red tormas–offering cakes made of barley flour and butter and painted red). The risk, however, is that Mamos are unpredictable and can turn against the summoner if not properly controlled.
Wrathful Drupchods in Tibetan Monasteries
In Tibetan monasteries in India and Nepal, large-scale tantric rituals known as drupchods are performed to invoke wrathful deities such as Vajrakilaya and Mahakala. These elaborate ceremonies involve extensive mantra recitations, fire offerings (homa), and ritual dances aimed at subjugating negative forces. While officially framed as purification rituals, they also contain elements of esoteric warfare.
The practice of using effigies (linga) in Tibetan Buddhist rituals, particularly during drupchods invoking wrathful deities like Vajrakilaya and Mahakala, is well-documented in esoteric Buddhist literature. These effigies are crafted to represent specific enemies, both spiritual and human, and are often imbued with personal or symbolic elements to establish a metaphysical link to the intended target. The ritual destruction, burning, or expulsion of these effigies is believed to direct the wrathful energy of the deity towards those perceived as threats.
Scholarly research highlights the significance of these practices. For instance, Haoran Hou’s study on The Ritual Use of Human Effigies in the Esoteric Buddhist Literature from Karakhoto, discusses how liṅga effigies were utilized for purposes such as inflicting harm, healing, and exorcism. These rituals, originating in India, traversed through Tibet and extended into regions like the Tangut Empire and the Yuan Dynasty. The study provides translations and annotations of ritual texts, illustrating the methods of making and using liṅga effigies for harming humans and other purposes, while exploring their transmission across Eastern Central Asia between the 11th and 14th centuries.
Additionally, contemporary practices continue to reflect these ancient traditions. At the Palpung Sherabling monastery in Baijnath, India, monks perform the cham dance on the eve of the Tibetan New Year, invoking the wrathful deity Mahakala. This ritual involves monks dressed in vibrant robes and menacing masks enacting sacred dances, accompanied by drums, cymbals, and horns. A significant aspect of this ceremony is the creation and subsequent burning of a large mask-like representation of Mahakala, made from barley flour and butter. This act symbolizes purification and the elimination of negative forces, aligning with the traditional use of effigies to target and dispel obstacles or perceived threats.
These sources underscore the ritualistic use of effigies in Tibetan Buddhist ceremonies, highlighting their role in both historical and contemporary contexts to symbolically address and neutralize adversarial forces.
How These Forces Are Used in Power Struggles
While many Tibetan Buddhists are unaware of these esoteric practices, high-ranking lamas and tantric practitioners have long used them to settle disputes, intimidate rivals, punish samaya breakers, and maintain control. Whether through secret rituals, oracles, or direct curses, these entities serve as supernatural enforcers in an unseen war for power within the tradition.
Historically, factions within Tibetan Buddhism have accused each other of using protectors and demons for political advantage. Even the exile of the Dalai Lama from Tibet involved a struggle over a protector propitiation. In modern times, stories persist of lamas employing such methods against those who leave or criticize the lama or the tradition.
Breaking Free from the Grip of These Forces
For those who have problems in Tibetan Buddhism and experience its darker aspects, the lingering influence of these protectors and spirits can be overwhelming. The key to breaking free lies in renouncing, breaking ties, forgiving those who harmed you, and refusing to participate in any aspect of Tibetan Buddhism. If one needs protection it is necessary to embrace a spiritual path that does not require servitude to wrathful entities. I find solace in Christian prayer and deliverance, a system that offers freedom from demons, witchcraft, and pagan practices.
Conclusion
While Tibetan Buddhism outwardly promotes compassion and enlightenment, its esoteric layers reveal a different story, one where worldly protectors and demons can be weaponized against others. These beings, bound by oaths and rituals, operate in a liminal realm and can be used for both defense and destruction. Understanding their dual nature is crucial for anyone seeking to navigate or escape the hidden dangers of tantric practice.
References:
Hou, Haoran. The Ritual Use of Human Effigies in Esoteric Buddhist Literature from Karakhoto. BuddhistRoad Paper Series 2.3. Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 2023.
Cuevas, Bryan J. Illustrations of Human Effigies in Tibetan Ritual Texts: With Remarks on Specific Anatomical Figures and Their Possible Iconographic Source. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 21, no. 1 (2011): 73–97.
Dreyfus, Georges. The Shugden Affair: Origins of a Controversy. Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, 1998.
Nebesky-Wojkowitz, René de. Oracles and Demons of Tibet: The Cult and Iconography of the Tibetan Protective Deities. The Hague: Mouton, 1956.
Lopez, Donald S. Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998.
Samuel, Geoffrey. Civilized Shamans: Buddhism in Tibetan Societies. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993.
Kapstein, Matthew. The Tibetans. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2006.
Goldstein, Melvyn C. A History of Modern Tibet: The Demise of the Lamaist State. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989.
Tantric Deception 