Tibetan Bulletin
March - April 1995

Although means of telling the future were employed in Tibet, before the advent of Buddhism, they are not regarded as an alien remnant outside the Buddhist framework that it is occasionally convenient to call upon. Rather, they are used within the sphere of Buddhist concepts, functioning in accordance with Buddhist principles such as karma. There are no references to divination in the collections of sutras, but many can be found in the tantras.

Purpose: By looking into someone's future, the diviner or medium can assess the particular situation and recommend how to respond or deal with it Remedial action, in the form of rituals, evokes positive forces and can result in a change in the person's fortune. Rituals will not change a person's karma, and those requesting and performing a divination are aware of this. However, they can induce latent positive potential to take precedence over that which is perceived as the cause of an impending misfortune.

The efficacy of a ritual involves the patron making offerings of food and money to the monks or adepts performing it. The merit acquired from this gift is used to trigger the forces of latent positive potential in oneself or others. Thus, one is not transferring merit and stepping outside the laws of cause and effect, but merely using merit to awaken the forces of one's own or other's good karma.

If, for example, someone's relative is ill, or his business is deteriorating, an individual may request a qualified practitioner's divination to discover what ritual would be most helpful in setting conditions right. The success of this ritual depends on the strength of one's own karma. However, if the karma or predisposition to be ill is stronger than the latent positive potential in the sick person's continuum, the effects of the disease will not be overcome and the ritual will remain unsuccessful.

Performing divination for the ill is often considered quite tedious. Khamtrul Rinpoche, a Tibetan lama, says, "If you tell a patient to take Tibetan medicine or Western medicine, and I have to conduct a divination for each question. I feel that whatever we do, it is important for us to make the decision ourselves, because there is less cause for regret afterwards. If we are unable to do that, or have tried, but still feel we need someone else's advice, the next step is to seek guidance through divination.

It is said that the invasion of Tibet by the Chinese had been predicted through various means and accordingly many rituals were performed. However, since the Tibetan people's negative karma was too strong to be countered by rituals, they remained ineffectual.

Divination In Tibetan Society: Divination is very much a part of life in Tibet and continues to be so among the exiled community. Major decisions concerning everyday life such as marriage or business agreements are made only after consulting some form of divination. In most cases, people have favorite lamas who they consult. In nomadic areas where the sparse population is subject to the whims of nature, divination, signs and omens are seriously examined. They generally interpret these themselves.

Qualifications needed: When performing a divination, an individual is relying on the power vested in him by a particular deity. This power may have been acquired through a connection with the deity in a past life, and reinforced through retreats involving recitation of a mantra as many as one million times, identifying himself with the deity with clear concentration and the generation of divine pride. There are many ways of performing divination related to the practice of various deities. For example, there are divinations dependent on Manjushri, Tara, Vajrapani, the Five Dakinis, Palden Lhamo, Dorje Yudronma and Tsering Chenga (the Five Long Life Sisters)

The motivation for performing divination must be pure. Although anyone can acquire a relationship with a deity through intensive mantra recitation and consequently acquire certain powers, if they are used for unwholesome purposes, they will eventually rebound and bring about an unfortunate rebirth.