The Mamo’s Language A short guide to peace on Earth
By Lama Rangbar
“The Future degenerate times will be known when the innocent are persecuted without cause and hardened criminals gain authority; when spiritual practitioners are ridiculed and sinners are praised; when impure foods are consumed; when professions of warfare, rape, and pillaging become the norm; when gyalpos, srinmos, the eight classes of spirits, and particularly evil nagas and nyens rise up and become powerful, and multitudes of epidemic diseases are let loose upon humans and animals; when the pattern of repeated broken promises causes samayas and vows to be broken.”
Furthermore:
“Those who remain true practitioners of Dharma, are as rare as the stars in the daytime. For these rare practitioners, should they be tormented by evildoers, if they accomplish the appropriate activity rituals, they will completely defeat all harm-doers and obstacles. They will become victorious over the maras and be free of diseases. Gaining the glory of both samsara and nirvana, they will become the lord over all possible appearances.” *
As Vajrayana Buddhist practitioners we often hear the names of various kinds of beings or spirits mentioned in the practice texts that we often engage in. If you are like the average Western practitioner, somewhere deep inside some healthy questions arise and probably persist: “Who are these beings? Where are they? Do they really exist even though we cannot see them with our fleshy eye for the moment? If I make offerings to them, do they actually receive them? Do they have any real sway or influence over us, or are these all simply some kind of primitive expressions or fantasies that afforded solace to cultures that had no real science?
In order to understand other beings, we first have to understand what a being is to begin with. For this to get anywhere near the understanding needed, the key is to first consider a few basic points. One is the unobstructed nature of basic space, the second may best be called inter-dimensionality, and the third is interdependence.
For most of us, a being is essentially any entity defined by a biological boundary of some kind (a body) with a reference of identity to and around that boundary. It is a relative reference point of a collective. It may believe in its own existence regardless of ample objective evidence that it, in fact, has little inherent existence separate from the rest of nature.
According to several Buddhist Tantric texts, once such an identity is established and held as supreme, five distortions arise within what would otherwise display as five pure or pristine wisdoms. These are as follows:
1. Hatred is a distortion of the wisdom which is like a mirror (the corresponding element is Water and the color is blue). This wisdom basically means that seeing everything clearly as your own nature and nothing other, one is not deluded or fearful.
2. Desire is a distortion of the wisdom of discrimination (the corresponding element is Fire and the color is red). This wisdom basically means that not confusing objects which seem to cause bliss to be the source of bliss, we can be content with our own nature and one is then free from desperation.
3. Arrogant pride is a distortion of the wisdom of equality (the corresponding element is Earth and the color is yellow). This wisdom basically means that truly understanding eveness, one is freed one’s own isolating self-importance, and one becomes humble and happy.
4. Jealousy is a distortion of the wisdom that all is accomplished (the corresponding element is Air and the color is green). This wisdom basically means that seeing everything is already complete exactly as it is, one is no longer separated from nature and we then automatically rejoice in the happiness of others.
5. Ignorance is distortion of the basic awareness of space (the corresponding element is Space and the color is white). This wisdom basically means that seeing open space awareness simply without veil, as our own nature, one becomes undistracted from truth.
The above distortions are experienced by each being in different intensities, depending on their individual evolutionary standing and perceptions. When they reach levels of high intensity, they cause significant disturbances inside our minds, which lead to sicknesses of different types. Fear disturbs the kidneys, grief disturbs the lungs, desire disturbs the heart, hatred disturbs the liver, etc. These inner disturbances of mind manifest outwardly as disturbances in the five elements around us.
1. Water loses its settled quality and whips up into waves and tsunamis.
2. Fire loses grip on its location and reaches out wildly everywhere.
3. Earth loses its stability and shakes.
4. Air is whipped up into windstorms.
5. Space becomes obstructed.
In the Vajrayana there are frequent mentions of eight classes of beings. Among them are Nagas or serpent castes of beings, Earth lords, Tsen, tree spirits, a Cannibal class called Rakshasa, King-like spirits, Dza, planetary or astrological emanations, giants or Yakshas, (sometimes known in English as Gin or Genies, Shinje or death spirits (Tib Wyl. gshin rje), Tseurang, perhaps known as Leprechauns and Bar tsam gyi Lha, or intermediate state beings (let’s say flying fairies). There are also Mamos, the female elemental beings. Since the systems that innumerate these beings vary, so do their classification and categorization. In some systems, Du or four maras top the list.
Out of these, although Nagas and King-like Spirits can also cause diseases, the Mamos seem specifically related with these types of viruses. The Mamos are sometimes depicted as frightening women with bristly hair, snarling teeth, wearing various animal pelts or belts fashioned from human skin or the flayed skins of children or holding a bag of poison or pestilential disease and a lasso. The word virus also means poison. Other times they are exceedingly beautiful with different bodies, mounts, clothing, decorations, hand implements, with powers of seduction.*
It is commonly understood among Lamas and strong practitioners that the disease we have which is of the family called Covid19, and other similar viruses, are manifestations of what could be phrased as the renegade or unsettled behavior of the Mamos. One can call it a message from them, because this is their direct way of communicating with us.
One of the most interesting aspects of Mamos is that they can be either very helpful to humanity or harmful, depending on our own behavior. It doesn’t even mean their behavior differs in either case, all that is required is that our own behavior differs. If we behave respectfully, mindful of our relationship with them, they arise as symbiotic. This is a function that makes this situation interesting and important.
The Mamos have ranking in status, authority lines and power. By the time a huge plague is manifested in the human realm, it must first have been somehow in accordance within the sphere of ultimate wisdom. In other words, the manifestation of the virus must first be approved by the boss Mamos who no longer dwell within the confusion of samsara like other ordinary beings. By the way, wisdom is no friend of personal preferences unless our preference is really wisdom alone. From there, the henchwomen, who receive orders from these high bosses but are closer to the sphere of ordinary beings, are then given their marching orders to enact the manifestations.
The highest protector of the Nyingma or ancient school is a female Mamo called Ekajati or “The Single-Plaited Mother.” She has one breast, one eye, and her hair is brought on top of her head in a single top knot. Whenever we receive initiation into tantric mandalas of important deities male or female, we do so understanding that there are rules to the game and we are subject to those rules. Our system becomes geared or calibrated to listen to signals that these fierce guardians offer on a daily basis. We are required to sit down with ourselves and listen deeply to these hints and messages. When asked if he read the newspaper, His Holiness Dudjom Jigdrel Yeshe Dorje responded (to paraphrase), “I do not need to read newspapers. I can simply read the entire world news in the sky at any given moment.”
Originally, Ekajati, Mamo Pokhasiddhi, Durtrod Lhamo, and others were not tame beings. Quite the opposite, they were wild and unruly and often quite destructive to humans. These beings lost their tempers easily and often. If humans made a mistake in manners, even when unintentional or unseen by other humans, these beings would retaliate instantly without warning. But powerfully realized beings using a combination of compassion (skill/method) and wisdom bound these beings under oath and transformed their lives into expressions of perfect wisdom and method protection. The relation with the Mamos and other oath-bound protectors was a mutually supportive or symbiotic aspect of humans living in harmony with Nature and her needs.
In good times when all was going well, an entire culture or country would maintain their living relation with these various classes of interdimensional beings on a daily basis by the practices of making offerings. These practices afforded humans the time and means to listen to the call of the voice of the elements and adjust their behaviors as needed. The practices assured the timely fall of rain, abundant crops, pacification of illnesses, etc. In Tibet, the sovereignty of the entire country rested on the integrity of the relation between the people and these fierce guardians, and yet this relationship broke down when politics took on a role predominating over harmony with nature.
Even if you had to drum up an idea on your own, it would be very difficult to name any singular event or thing that would be more effective than coronavirus for unifying humanity. Seen as a manifestation of a wisdom being, the virus has the capability to cut across all political lines. The virus is not a Republican or a Democrat. The color of your skin doesn’t matter and your country of origin doesn’t matter. It doesn’t really care about your age, and although money and multimillion-dollar underground bunkers can afford some measure of isolation, bunkers may only be as impenetrable as the strength of our own immune system.
Many of us can already see the virus itself as a message from the Mamos, who have been assigned for thousands of years to play a vital role in maintaining the balance of the world’s elements. They are, in fact, none other than the personification of the elements. Imagine if Fire could talk! Now, even many people who consider themselves to be critical thinkers with scientific skills speak of the manifestation of this virus in personified ways, at the very least understanding that it has something to do with cause and effect.
Although many claim the virus is not airborne, the WHO explains that it is in transmitted through the air. The means of the virus spread deals with the contamination of the space element, called “Nam drip” by Lamas in the modern time. Nam drip loosely translates to “obscuration of the sky.” This obscuration started with carbon pollution, by and large, and continued with aerosol spraying of particulate matter.
Respiratory disease have been spiking over the past two decades. It is no stretch of the imagination that the part of the human that deals most directly with the sky itself, the lungs, is the first thing to be engaged by the virus. Another poetic part of the palette of components within cause and effect is the origin of the virus, which has been said to have been formed via a metamorphosis from a virus of carried by a snake or Naga or water-class entity, to a bat, a space-going creature. Early medical tantras refer to several specific foods that must be avoided, and bat flesh is high on the negative list. It matters not if your view is that this virus was manmade or weaponized, as this does not diminish its origin, its pathway or medium of movement, nor does it affect the natural logic of the retaliation.
But obscuration of the sky doesn’t stop at the level of chemicals or particles in the air. All kinds of waves of energy of so many frequencies are broadcast by radio, radar, microwaves, 3G, 4G, and 5G, among other sources. For our own convenience our residences have wifi broadcasting throughout the home without a second thought about what the subtle or even gross side effects might be. Many people immediately get a splitting headache just being near a cell phone tower or from having their cell phones next to their heads. We are, after all, made largely of water and waves move through us.
Again, there is another contributor to Nam drip and that is sitting in front of a computer from which the eyes are bombarded not only by the screen’s radiation, but by the images that we see and must somehow process. The images and the energetic choices they demand of us—such as “like this, try to get it,” “dislike that, try to avoid it,” and “this has nothing to do with me, I’ll ignore it”—put a load on our system, obscuring the basic space of our minds. This obscuration disturbs the quality of our sleep, increases our stress levels, and even affects our ability to digest properly. Although we think that sea creatures are the only beings gagged with plastic ropes and floating bags, etc., we ourselves are suffocated by clogged mind traffic and impure air.
The tantras provide Buddhist practitioners with many sublime methods for overcoming hindrances such as plagues and viruses. Most of these texts, regardless of if they operate from a female side or male side, enable us to overcome background influences of many invisible forces that impose themselves on our systems, overloading them with work and making us vulnerable to their view of life which is simply to replicate. The key to overcoming any virus lies in finding a way for our own systems to recognize and eliminate the intruder. Even vaccines are supposed to enable this same mechanism. The job of the virus is to remain stealthy while hiding in the shadowy recesses of our inability to identify or locate them and reject their agenda. This brings us to the practices that help us do exactly that. I despise entering political discussions, but by way of example, when an official of a country basically proposes that if you are old you should sacrifice yourself for the good of the economy, this is not a healthy message to internalize. Such a message if internalized could be exactly the thing that makes your system resign to defeat at the hands of the thief who has lied to you telling you he was the meter reader and that is why he snuck into your living room. That is one aspect of what is meant by Don. Somehow, in the background are malicious agitated spirits going through everyone’s minds that are far from being based on wisdom or compassion. We must pacify our own frustration, hatred and whatever other causes that reside within us.
Within the pantheon of Tibetan practices are the practices of Sangye Menlha and Urgyen Menlha (Medicine Buddhas); the practice of Tara Ritrod Lomma Gyonma (the twentieth Tara that protects from pandemics); Vajra Body Armor practice, ( a form of Guru Dragpo): Ta Chag Khyung Sum, (The Amalgam of The Three Extremely Wrathful Deities, Hayagriva, Vajrapani and Garuda): and finally, Mamo Truk Kong (among many others). These practices work on different levels to overcome the invisible background situation that supports contagious disease. One of the practices by way of example is the pacifying of the agitation of the Mamos both by way of recognition and apology for our own misdeeds and broken samayas; shakpa, and by making offerings via different elements, typically by smoke, or said another way, by offering medicines through the air. Here, once again, the notion of samayas or bond with the Mamos is critical. Once again, the Mamos are not really separate from us and when they are angry, it probably means we are full of frustration, agitation, anger and hate.
These practices work only when certain elements are present. To begin with, the apology must be sincere and not a placation. This in turn means we must understand what we did wrong in our own individual lives. Then, finally, we must promise never to do these actions again. Although this doesn’t mean the virus will instantly disappear, the cause may disappear, pacifying the intensity of further manifestation.
In some way, the practices help us identify how we have allowed ourselves to be misled by misguiding notions and errant propaganda and to correct the situation. You cannot catch a thief if you don’t even know they are already in your house disguised as your lamp shade. Once we identify an enemy or intruder such as a virus and we truly decide we have the right to live, our system will do whatever is needed to rid ourselves of the unwanted influence. This is the key to some of the methods we can employ.
Native Americans have and have always had their own practices for assuring these good relations with these beings, which are intrinsically tied to their basic, more or less unerring ways of daily life. Luckily, many of these living examples surround us today. This is evidence that it is not a dogma-based view but instead a very natural understanding. Unfortunately, in today’s world, people have become separated from the subtleties of mind by engaging only with the more physically visible aspects of phenomenon and have therefore increased their gross attachments and focuses. Long ago, I believe close to the time of Louis Pasteur, when microbes were first discovered, he was ridiculed by phrases from the scientific community such as: “If you cannot see it, it cannot hurt you.” Today, having ascertained that small things beyond our ability to see rule our very existence, we have become increasingly open to exploration of things that are ultra small and even nano in nature. But we are still essentially materialistic in our views. And whereas we now acknowledge that smallness does not discredit the potential for strong influence, we are still by and large ignoring the subtle and super-subtle messages coming our way. We have ignored them time and time again, acting like very bad children soiling our own beds irreverently. Countless numbers of people either don’t believe or don’t care about what we are doing to the planet and continue to act as if there were no such things as cause and effect on a limited system we are all part of. The message of the Mamos is therefore nothing short of natural genius. As a mother who loves and protects her own children, the Mamos sent warning signs. When we ignored them, they raised their voices with strong weather patterns. Again they spoke up through the form of fire, which burned ferociously in different areas of the world. Mamos shake their earth-element body regularly and still we act just like an ant colony, surprised by something that we think is unrelated to us. For the most part, we humans are just simply not doing our job or understanding our inherent interconnectedness.
This virus, as we call it, will continue expanding its influence. It is the Mamo’s viral message to us all to come together and cooperate and look at the unruly nature of our own undisciplined minds and actions and calm them down deep within. No political placations, no insincere self-serving posturing and lying, and no amount of narcissistic chest pounding is going to turn her head away from her task one iota. The numbers of people that will perish from this disease means that everyone will probably know someone who has been visited by or killed by this wave at some stage. The joke meme that circulated in which Trump allegedly said: “People who have never died before are dying” will form a pressure whereby people will not be able to think about politics in the usual manner. Excuses will not save people. Budgetary reasoning and capitalist ideologies will not stop this virus. We will see a tidal wave of public need crash through the doors of all public offices and only the mature and the brave will occupy those front-line posts. They will not be filled by the faint of heart but by those who understand that there is nothing higher than selfless service.
It is worthy to note that the waterways in Venice, Italy, are suddenly clearing themselves up and dolphins are coming closer to Mediterranean beaches. Without the constant burden of ill-behaved humans polluting the water element, she (Mamaki ) is resilient. There is a future for humanity after this virus has come and gone. Bear in mind that the only thing that can stop the virus is cooperation and a change in the behavior of humans. There is no species left on this planet from any of the previous mass extinctions that did not adapt.
We cannot vote the Mamos out of office as they are the elemental building blocks we are all composed of, but as they ramp up the severity of their message in the form of the flour Buddha activities, they can certainly vote us into obscurity if that is what we feel is really needed. Instead, we must heed the message of the Mamos in regards to all life as a whole and adjust our ways of life sufficiently, with reverence, respect, and even gratitude for being corrected from our errant path of self-destruction. No, let me rephrase that: either we do all that or we likely perish, as the Mamos finish their job of using perfectly calibrated responses to our behavior until we either listen and adapt, or transform into new beings or back into the soil (her body), from which we arose in the first place.
As usual, the name of the game is humility, compassion, and wisdom. Let’s start with some humility and praise the Mamos. I feel hesitant to propose this burdensome new way of seeing and acting, but it is not the Mamos who lack intelligence, it is our own inability to recognize our own faults. We seem to simply hate admitting we’re wrong because we are all so justified in everything we think, say and do. We are not very good children and not very good parents as a result.
If one individual had great disturbances of mind, generally the effects are fairly limited to that person’s own sphere of life. Those close to such a person may be affected in several ways, but the general strength of the cause is not tremendous as far as an entire population is concerned. However, when large groups of humans adapt certain behaviors, consumptive patterns, use of technologies, unbridled pillaging and polluting of the environment, then there is a collective weight of the actions, which displays as the real disturbance of the outer five elements as described above. As such, since this problem was created by the collective actions of humans, it must be solved as a collective action, and this could be a blessing if we play our cards right, beginning today.
Do all the excellent practices you wish, but please realize that if they are not based on compassion but instead based on more fear and selfish perspectives, they probably will not be of any use. Moreover, they will only agitate you more. Tara practices are therefore a very safe bet.
The strong disturbance of our minds we are experiencing coming from fear of the virus or a sense of helplessness facing this situation or from frustration with our leaders or others, can be pacified with a single understanding. Once again, the answer is the awakening of our own individual Bodhi-Mind of Compassion and employing compassionate prayers and actions which have unobstructed positive effect in the real world. All beings wish for happiness and yet don’t seem to know how to manifest happiness. All beings wish to be free of suffering but don’t seem to be able to avoid that suffering. So, please use the four boundless meditations and engage all beings as a compassionate wisdom collective. You are never really alone.
“May all beings have happiness and the cause of happiness. May they be free of suffering and the cause of suffering. May they never be disassociated from the supreme happiness which is without suffering. May they remain in the boundless equanimity, free from attachment to dear ones and rejection of others.”
*This note was written by Man, Son of Peace, a follower of an exemplary teacher who had and still has flawless relations with all Mamos, known as The Lotus Born. By generating humility and engaging in offering to the collective good, may I and all beings be able to receive sufficient wisdom from the Mother’s single breast that brings life to those otherwise doomed by the hubris of self-infatuation.
Notes:
* Translated from the text of the Triple Amalgam Deity Ta Chag Khyung Sum by Acharya Dawa Chodrak Rinpioche © Saraswati Bhawan Publications
** Paraphrased from Machik’s Complete Explanation: Clarifying the Meaning of Chod, translated by Sarah Harding.