Empowerment/Abhiseka
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Empowerment/abhiseka (Skt. abhiṣeka or abhiṣiñca; Tib. དབང་, wang; Wyl. dbang) is the initiation that transmits or awakens primordial wisdom (Tib. ཡེ་ཤེས་, yeshe), the power or realization in the mind of the disciple.
Subcategories
Tulku Thondup explains that among the different ways of categorizing empowerments:
empowerments given to disciples who have not been initiated before are called causal empowerment;
the empowerment given to students for developing their maturation or restoring the broken precepts are classified as empowerment of the path; and
empowerments given to those who are ready to achieve the final attainment and which cause the disciple to attain the ultimate fruition are classified as empowerments of result because they bring the final result.
The Function of Empowerment
Empowerment is to ripen or mature our buddha nature. Even though all beings possess the buddha nature, without receiving empowerment it is not possible to receive blessings and accomplishments through a particular practice, just as it will never be possible to get oil by pressing sand.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama says:
"When an empowerment is conferred on you, it is the nature of your mind—the buddha nature—that provides a basis upon which the empowerment can ripen you. Through the empowerment, you are empowered into the essence of the buddhas of the five families. In particular, you are ‘ripened’ within that particular family through which it is your personal predisposition to attain buddhahood."
Two Causes & Four Conditions
Two Causes
The ==associated cause (mtshung ldan gyi rgyu) is the presence of the buddha nature
Thecooperative cause (lhan cig byed pa'i rgyu) is the use of various substances (rdzas) during the empowerment, such as the vase, image cards and so forth.
Four Conditions
The causal condition (rgyu'i rkyen) is the disciple who has faith and intelligence
The dominant condition (bdag rkyen) is the teacher who is fully qualified
The objective condition ([[dmigs[rkyen]]) is the teacher's knowledge of the empowerment, deities, and mantras, and samadhi
The immediate(condition (de ma thag rkyen) is the previous phase or empowerment, since each phase prepares the student for what follows, and that is why empowerments must be given in the proper sequence[2]
Empowerments Given to the Rigpa Sangha
Many great masters have bestowed the most important empowerments needed for our practice upon the Rigpa sangha over the years, in particular, Kyabjé Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche in 1987 and 1990, Kyabjé Penor Rinpoche in 1988 and 1995, Kyabjé Dodrupchen Rinpoche in 1999, and Kyabjé Trulshik Rinpoche in 1999, 2003, and 2005.