Before knowing what a twin flame was, I was on my path towards spiritual enlightenment. This was the time right before I first came into contact with my twin. Prior to knowing “of” him. I actually met him online, and never met him in person. It was almost 3 years before I got to see my twin in the physical.

The reason why I came across Buddhism, was because of a soulmate I met 12 years ago. I truly thought he was the person I was supposed to be with. We had a very passionate love that I can’t explain. It was love at first sight, and then…well he remarried his ex-wife. That was a big blow to me because he told me he was in love with me but loved his wife. For years, I could never find anyone else like him and it broke my heart.

He divorced his ex-wife and then he found another wife. He kept coming back in and out of my life, and the last time he did, he said that he was going through a separation…well, he never did and ended up still married to his karmic partner to this day. After, the last time we met. I had given up on love. No one could ever top the love I had for my soulmate and I went into a deep depression.

A friend of mine who was a monk actually saved me. The first thing he said was to love myself. At that point in my life, I realized I was so focused on my soulmate that I forgot to love myself and realized, maybe he was a soulmate to teach me a lesson in life. He was the reason why I gave Buddhism a try.

Since then I have learned to really love myself. I started to get my life back in order, I started to smile and feel really positive because when I learned to love myself, I had love for others and that was truly amazing.

That was when I came into contact with my twin. He was a lot like me. A mirror. Everything that he experienced, I have also experienced on different levels. I felt like I have gone though my karmic lessons well in advance to only see a repeat of what my twin was going though and even if I tried to help him, I saw that he too had to go through the same things, it was his karma and that really broke my heart. At the same time, my twin has helped me see my faults, and that is where I even further improved my well-being. I have become awakened! He has helped me to come into mission, and that is to help other sentient beings to also become enlightened so that they too can become awakened as well.

In Buddhism, I have learned a lot about karma and have learned how to deal with karmic situations. I am not saying I am a master (LOL) but I am more aware now that ACTION is everything! What we do is how we project our future. Its all boils down to morality and ethics. Everything is impermanent, so attachment will lead you to suffering. I try to practice this speech to my friends without tagging it to Buddhism, because really it is a philosophy and not a religion and some people are so closed minded because of their religious beliefs.

So, if you are interested in my lineage, keep reading…I am a nerd BTW, I am so bubbly I can mask it well (LOL).

Vajrayana Buddhism: The Way Of The Diamond

Vajrayana Buddhism is known as“the Way of the Diamond.” It’s sometimes also called Tantric or Esoteric Buddhism.

As far as different types of Buddhism go, Vajrayana is one of the most unique.

What makes Vajrayana Buddhism so special is its approach to rapid Enlightenment through the use of tantras — mystical texts that date back to the 6th century CE. Some of these practices combine spiritual and physical practices that can be overwhelming for beginners. 

Because of the intense application needed for many Vajrayana Buddhist practices, most Vajrayana schools only accept advanced teachers and students.

Vajrayana Buddhism proposes that it can provide a faster path towards enlightenment, thus reducing the need of experiencing several lifetimes before reaching illumination. It is to be practiced by every individual, not only monks.

Among the venerated deities are several Buddhas (often considered as different stages in his own path towards enlightenment), female Buddhas known as Dakinis, and fierce deities seen as protectors. They also venerate many Bodhisattvas, which are important figures that achieved a very high level of enlightenment and look for the benefit of those around them.

The concept of Karma is very important and implies that every being and each action is interconnected and related to the universe. Karma defines the ethics and morality, which give compassion a central role. Suffering is considered to be caused by hanging on to things and experiences that are not permanent.

Life is seen as one stage in a cycle of births and rebirths, known as samsara. Souls are often stuck there because of ignorance and selfishness. The final stage is considered to be the nirvana, which is usually conceived as achieving the enlightenment level of a Bodhisattva.

Therefore, the biggest goal of the individual should be to become a fully awaken Bodhisattva. The ultimate gesture of compassion is to make the decision not to enter nirvana but to return to the world again with the objective of helping others reach their enlightenment.

Vajrayana Buddhism is full of symbolism and rites, mostly focused on the search for enlightenment. The rites are often meditation that includes tantric practices, combining the physical and spiritual worlds. The rites often incorporate a series of loud sounds of trumpets and the strong smell of incense in order to stimulate the senses.

The temples and monasteries are considered as sacred places and the practice of pilgrimage is common. One important destination is the statue of Jowo Rinpoche, located in the city of Lhasa, in Tibet.

However, the most sacred space is generated inside the mind of the individual, through meditation. It is considered that only in such place the interaction with the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas is possible.

There are a series of elements that are used as aids for meditation practices:

• The mandalas, which are colorful circular arrays created as representations of the universe. They often included images of deities and demons.
• The mantras, short sentences that are repeated several times to facilitate concentration.
• Prayer wheels that contain printed mantras. Spinning them is considered to release the mantra to the universe.
• Symbolic ritual gestures, known as mudras, often done with the hands and fingers but sometimes with the entire body, including yoga techniques and breath control.

Karma Kagyu

The central teaching of the Karma Kagyu is the doctrine of Mahamudra, also known as the “Great Seal”. This doctrine focuses on four principal stages of meditative practice (the Four Yogas of Mahamudra):

• The development of single-pointedness of mind,
• The transcendence of all conceptual elaboration,
• The cultivation of the perspective that all phenomena are of a “single taste”,
• The fruition of the path, which is beyond any contrived acts of meditation.

It is through these four stages of development that the practitioner is said to attain the perfect realization of mahamudra. Mahamudra is practiced both independently and as the completion stage of Vajrayana practice.

Within the Karma Kagyu, meditative practice is almost invariably presented in a progressive manner. Early practice includes samatha, introduction to Buddhist history and philosophy and initiation into the lower tantras – classically across the iṣṭadevatās (Wylie: yi dam) Avalokiteśvara, Tārā and Amitābha. This is followed by ngöndro and vipassanā. During the traditional three-year retreat, retreatants usually focus their practice on the Six Yogas of Naropa. At the Anuttarayoga Tantra level of practice, the principal iṣṭadevatās of the lineage are Dorje Pakmo, Hevajra and Cakrasaṃvara.

While one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Karma Kagyu is its emphasis on meditative practice, all forms and levels of Buddhist history and philosophy are also taught, most notably the shentong branch of Prāsaṅgika Madhyamaka philosophy.

If you are interested in my lineage, you can visit their website here: https://kagyu.org/