Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

practice of all four yogas?
11. Are meditations on the yidam all of the same
type, or is there a different type for each Yidam?
Firstly, how to select the yidam.
a. One commonly used method is for the lama to have
some dice and by shaking these determine with a book
on divination which yidam to select for a disciple. The
disciple kneels and takes out the dice and the yidam is
decided accordingly. This is the lowest method and
similar to those used by non-Buddhists.
b. Another way is for the disciple to be given a stick or
flower and then, standing outside the mandala, to throw
it inside. This mandala has the Tathagata family at the
center, while to the East is vajra-family, in the South,
Jewel-, West, Lotus-, and to the North is the
Karma-family. All yidams are associated with one of
these five families. This method may show which
department is suitable for a disciple; for example, a
meek person may get a yidam of the Vajra-family, or an
angry man one from the Lotus-family. Still, this method
is open to several objections. Firstly, each initiation has
a special yidam, so the question of yidam is not settled
properly. Again, the yidam will not be the same every
time, as its selection may be influenced by one's faith;
not being settled, this is bound to be rather
unsatisfactory. Also, it may create uncertainty in one's
713