Since all is one, and we are all it, there is no one else here and we are completely alone. We are governed by karma because there is no one else here, all energy directed outwards can only go inwards. There is no true "outer", all is within. You have no inherent existence. Neither do I. We are just a oneness. That oneness came from nothing and will return to nothing. This is all impermanent. Our perceptions are false, our perspectives are illusory. A table exists but our perspective of viewing it is false information translated by our senses from electrical signals to our consciousness. Every thought exists. So what happens if you think of a deity? This is secret information, most will not understand the extreme implications it conveys. These things are often hidden in plain sight.
Very perceptive. Well done, sincerely. This is why Buddhists on the secret path meditate primarily on enlightened deities. They are connecting with the thought-form directly. Unenlightened deities are called "worldly". They are primarily concerned with this world. We call those demons, etc. They want recognition, they may betray their followers, etc. It is incredibly dangerous to work with unenlightened deities. A newbie will absolutely never be asked to do so.
>God is an enlightened deity
I did not say that and I cannot advise you about it. To study the secret path requires dumping out all preconceived ideas about spirituality. It is not about making the path fit your ideas. You have to empty yourself in order to be filled.
I'm not here to convert Christians. I encourage Christians to continue on their path, as it is not my place to judge them, nor my place to judge Christianity. Once you start becoming aware of how deep Eastern traditions really go, you will become aware of how much was taken out of Christianity by malevolent forces, human or otherwise, after Jesus's' desth. Most Christians have been taught that Lucifer is within. This is backwards. The false exterior we call reality is the deceiver. But judging it is a mistake. Trying to subdue or kill it is a mistake. Learning to befriend it, oddly enough, is the way to be free. Bringing terms like Lucifer, Satan, God into the picture just confuses things. It's much simpler than that. It's all you, so learn to heal it and befriend it. There's really not much else we can do. Any attempt to control it just pisses it off. If you want to surf you work with the waves, not against them. We want to be, ultimately, in harmony inside and out, rather than trying to "kill the devil".
After considering it awhile I think the Dalai Lama would agree that if one were to meditate on Christ within their heart as a Buddhist would meditate upon Buddha or the Guru within his heart, then yes. Ultimately what we are talking about is igniting the "Buddha mind" or "Christ consciousness " within. It is not my place to try to "mix the traditions", but the Dalai Lama has made it clear that Christians are very welcome to join in the secret traditions. I just am not qualified nor authorized to tell you how to combine the different faiths. I do feel strongly that it's what we are moving towards.
In the post-meditation phase, one should focus one-pointedly and undistractedly on whatever one sees, good or bad, with mindfulness and awareness. In this way, one knows what one is seeing. Normally we're not aware of what we're seeing, because our mind is distracted.
We should maintain mindfulness and awareness so that we are able to look without distraction at whatever appears to us in daily life. If the mind is distracted, we will simply be wandering in delusion; one delusory state will follow another, and our mind will have no clarity. If the mind is focused on visual images, we will have stability. There is also the practice of focusing the mind on sounds. Whatever sounds appear, whether pleasant or unpleasant, focus the mind on them with mindfulness and awareness, without falling into distraction.
Focus on the visual images that appear to the eyes, the sounds heard with the ears, the smells perceived by the nose, the tastes apprehended by the tongue, and whatever sensations of touch are experienced by the body. In short, all sensory perceptions are an object of focus for one's meditation. Thus, in a relaxed state of mind, focus one-pointedly with mindfulness and awareness on the five objects of perception. This is the postmeditation practice. Doing this practice will benefit your meditation during the sessions, while resting in the meditation session will also benefit your post-meditation practice.
Jamgon Kongtrul addresses this point in his text Creation and Completion, asking, "Can one habituate oneself to a state of meditation only through periodic meditation practice?" He answers, "No, one cannot." He says that although periodic meditation practice is beneficial, one cannot habituate oneself to the state of meditation through that alone. One needs to have a continuity of mindfulness and awareness. Meditation sessions alone will not work; one needs to cultivate mindfulness in the postmeditation state. Then one will develop stability in meditation.
From my perspective the hardest thing about introducing this stuff to people is that if I give you everything it would be like trying to explain physics to a person who has never learned basic math: Not only would it be overwhelming it would read like gibberish. There is a lot of vocabulary to learn, a lot of new ideas, strange concepts, and meditations to explore.
What I've tried to do instead is post the least complex practices, such as Inner Fire and Mahamudra. The other visualization systems tend to be extremely complex and time consuming. No empowerment is needed to practice Inner Fire. There is an empowerment for Mahamudra but it's easily obtained if a person wants to find it. You can even get it done through a livestream.
I do not have any idea how an empowerment into a deity from another tradition would work. You would have to find someone who had that empowerment, and that does not exist as far as I know. Maybe the Gnostics have something like that. In Buddhism the deities aren't worshipped, they are used as tools. Connecting with them unlocks the enlightened parts of your mind. In theory it is entirely possible to connect directly to Jesus Christ like this, regardless of whether Jesus was an historical figure or not, because you are connecting to that internal thought-form. It would need to be a completely benevolent thought-form, incapable of inflicting even the slightest accidental harm and fully aware of emptiness/impermanence etc to be considered enlightened from a Buddhist standpoint.
The empowerment is needed to prepare your mind for the path. Like primer for paint, it establishes the proper foundation for further growth. It is not optional. As Westerners we're used to religions that cater to our convenience and sense of equality, everyone can join. This isn't like that. Everyone is welcome to try but most won't commit and it requires actual effort, finding a compatible teacher, taking vows, learning to be extremely humble, etc. The stuff I've posted is meant to be helpful even to people who won't make that effort or commitment. People who want to explore the entire path require a teacher. You don't want to learn to access your subconscious mind and screw something up in there. That would be a very harsh way of learning humility. Inner Fire meditation, used carelessly, can be harmful in this way, as I mentioned in it's description. You are connecting directly to your body's heat control system, bypassing whatever safety mechanism that usually keeps you from accessing it.
The stupidest thing a person could do would be to pursue this, take the vows, recieve the empowerment, then start violating their vows repeatedly, on purpose, without quickly confessing the violation to someone. People who do that do not need to die to find hell, it will manifest for them within this very lifetime.
The most gifted individuals are those who have developed in previous lives, have already reached the full capacity of devotion, and are born as great,
superior beings. For them, even without following the stages of practice, it is still possible to perceive the truth of reality. For all others, it is as the noble Nagarjuna said: Listening to Dharma engenders contemplation, and contemplation gives rise to the meditation experience - this is the sequence.
So if you abandon distraction and continuously apply effort, first the intelligence that comes from listening
will result in comprehension of the general characteristics of the phenomena of cyclic existence and its transcendence. Then, contemplation will pacify blatant grasping to the reality of illusory appearances, meditation develops the definitive direct experience of mind, and so on. Thus the previous stages act as causes for the arising of the latter. When this is not the case, it is like desiring results without any cause.