Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

eginning and at the end then this is a demon in the
channels. If one practices the Vajrayana, deep breathing
should be used to cure this.
e. Offerings. Demons may occupy offerings of water,
flowers, lamps, etc. For this reason, there are in the
Vajrayana some special mantras for such cases.
However, the common mantra of purification may be
used: OM AH HUM, at which all demons flee.
f. Treatment. The treatments given for all the above
sorts of demons differ in the three yanas. In Hinayana,
the common method is to take the three refuges, which
all demons fear. One should note that in the exoteric
yanas there are only three, but in the esoteric Vajrayana
tradition, there is a fourth refuge—the guru. In this yana,
guru-yoga is the name of visualization practices where
one's teacher is visualized sitting on the top of one's
head, where the guru is identified with the Buddha. This
practice demons fear very much, also. Here I have a
story:
My friend, Mr. Huang, received instruction in torga
(Thodgal) (see Ch. XIV) but lacked the necessary
preparations. Without these, he went directly to a
hermitage to practice. When he started, a dragon
appeared—it was in his bowl when he ate food and was
in front of him when he sat down to meditate. Because
of this, he could not practice at all and so telegraphed
our guru, Nuo Na Rinpoche. The guru replied, "You
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