4 Karmas of Tantric Budhism: Destroying

The Karma or Buddha Activity of Destroying / subjugating is the siddhi or power to overcome obstacles to the path.

4 Karmas / Buddha Activities of Tantric Buddhism

Destroying or Subjugating as Buddha Activity

Destroying is associated with the all-accomplishing wisdom and Amoghasiddhi. It’s also called subjugating or accomplishing. Another name is wrathful energy, a sort of anger without anger or an uncompromisingness. It is often associated with Mahakala.

The key, the absolute, impossible to avoid key is that it must come from love. At the heart of the wrathful deity is the peaceful deity. The goal is not to punish others, it is to liberate them from their trap that is causing them suffering. If one doesn’t approach destroying with this basis in mind, then it is not destroying.

I’ve seen many people think they were practicing destroying when in fact they just lost their temper. Not only is it deceptive, it’s dangerous. Playing with these concepts and playing with the yiddam and assuming that you’re doing it correctly is one of the most dangerous things you can do in Tantra. That approach can take your mind-stream into a very bad place in future lives.

Working with the karmas is a way of generating tremendous merit if done correctly. If done incorrectly, it generates tremendous negative karma. These are not toys. These are highly sophisticated spiritual tools, self-existing qualities that can be manifest from one’s own being.

It’s good to experiment and play with them, but always maintain the desire to help others. Think: I really want this to help people and to benefit them. Many people think that misapplying the four karmas is the problem. It’s not. The real danger is bad motivation, always incorrect motivation.

Ego is so subtle, so sneaky, and so skillful at this game. The motivation that ego will hide from the conscious will be a mixed motivation. You can have the motive of wanting to benefit others and simultaneously have another motive of wanting to make yourself appear to be a great bodhisattva, a skilled yogi, or a powerful siddha.

The sense in your conscious mind will be I’m trying to help others but subconsciously there’s a sense of “I’m really good at this. Everybody can see me destroying so skillfully.” Watch for this. It is a huge, huge danger signal.

In fact, it is ill-advised to practice destroying it all. Even in sadhana practice there is a destroying ritual and the students are not supposed to perform it. Only the guru performs the ritual act of destroying obstacles. This ritual is omitted when the practitioners do the sadhana on their own without an actual lineage-holder present.

Ground of Destroying Karma

The ground of destroying is seeing a situation that cannot be accomplished by more peaceful means, even by the somewhat risky means of magnetizing. A person is for example so angry or so lost in their own hatred or their own extreme emotion. It can be almost any extreme emotion. It does not have to be anger but their emotion is so strong that it has to be forcefully cut through rather than negotiated through.

The other three karmas negotiate. Destroying does not. It is swift. It is uncompromising. It is remorseless. But it always acts from love. Never forget. It only acts from love and compassion. The motives must be pure. If they are not then it is dangerous to act.

A few stories about Trungpa Rinpoche, a 4 karmas siddha. One person was extremely self-damaging, drinking to the point of getting highly aggressive with people on a repeated basis. This was a close student and Trungpa punched the person in the chest and knocked them down. A fairly big fellow too.

The other anecdote: when he was in a destroying mood, according to certain close students, he would not say anything. He would just be very, very difficult to be around him. Almost terrifyingly so. The entire room would become pervaded by a thick black energy.

The lesson here is that destroying is not necessarily yelling or screaming or acting in an aggressive manner. It can be very calm and non-moving. Just a sense of the wrathful energy that cannot be ignored.

Destroying as Quick Cut

However, destroying can also be a very quick, almost merciful cut – a surgical, precise thing when the mood is right, simply pointing something out that will help the person. Something that might be painful to be pointed out in most circumstances can be destroyed when there is a lot of good feeling and a lot of esprit de corp. Just a quick pointing neurosis out like a sharp cut and then let it go and move on as if it doesn’t matter at all.

This is a very skillful way to destroy it. In fact, this can be a very good way of avoiding some of the ego-driven bases of destroying. It’s so minor, so quick, so in and out like a thief. There’s not enough time to develop pride.

Maybe later you think you did something skillful but it’s a lot less risky. It’s a feeling tone, the sense that maybe I could help this person right now. Not even said verbally or thought in so many words. You just want to point out something that you know has been holding them back for a long time. Maybe you’ve just met them but you can tell.

Fruition of Destroying Karma

The fruition of destroying is overcoming all obstacles. The path to destroying is this sense of the power of wrathful action, understanding what it is, what it means. The ground is seeing where the person is unreachable through another means. The path is calling upon this wrathful energy to puncture it in an appropriate manner with the intent to actually help the person.

They’re suffering so badly and causing others to suffer around them. They’re creating tremendous negative karma. The fruition would be, of course, that you cut through the issue, you overcome it and bring them home to their awakened mind, bring them home to sanity.

The best destroying destroys one’s own ego simultaneously as it cuts the other person. There’s a sense of a general wrathful energy that is arising from everyone, not from you.

The 4 Karmas or Buddha Activities: Conclusion

A sense of it arising from the group as is needed rather than arising from you is the key to the four karmas. If you are doing wrathful, you are doing it wrong. If wrathful is simply the inherent qualities that exist in a situation and it arises spontaneously, you’re a lot closer to the mark. Keeping that in mind, continually contemplating this, realizing that there is no absolute end game.

You do not have wrathfulness as an implement, but you access it as a freely existing energy. You do not own the four karmas as tools in a tool bag, but you access them as inherently existing qualities in the situation. If a situation needs pacifying, then pacification is inherent in it.

In fact, all the four karmas are inherent in every situation. Seeing them, drawing them out and letting them essentially self-apply is a fruitional approach to it so that your ego should be pacified, your basic qualities should be enriched, your mind, your longing should be brought forth, your desire to benefit others should be magnetized, and your obstacles such as ego and hesitation to help others should be destroyed. This is the completion of the four Buddha Activities. This is accomplishing the four karmas.

4 Karmas of Vajrayana, Part I: Pacifying

4 Buddha Activities, Part II: Enriching and Magnetizing

May all beings be happy

May all beings be peaceful

May all beings be safe

May all beings awaken to the light of their true nature

May all beings be free