An empowerment, or abhsheka, is further sunrise, further East, further dawn of Vajrasattva, further Tai Tung (Great East). Abhisheka enables you to be among the tathagatas and sugatas, the Victorious Ones, and their sons and daughters of the bodhasattva path. It enables you to join together the invincible powers that exist: the vajra, ratna, padma, karma, and buddha possibilities. That strength and way of conquering the universe can only be realized by receiving abhisheka. Without receiving empowerment, there is no power! Without receiving abhisheka, studying the vajrayana is purely paying lip service.

From “Surrendering,” in The Profound Treasury of the Ocean of Dharma, Volume Three: The Tantric Path of Indestructible Wakefulness, page 390.

Offered on the upcoming occasion of the Abhisheka of Vajrayogini in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Friday, May 31st.

Visit the Chogyam Trungpa Digital Library for more than 300 audio and video recordings, with linked transcripts and captioning.