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If you ask yourself right now, "Who am I?" what is the answer? Are you a loving parent? A wise psychologist? An angry son? A jealous lover? A proud businessperson? Or, are you identifying more as an open, compassionate being of light?

When identity is based more on ultimate truth, we can see joy and light reflected in the people and places around ourselves; but when the sense of self is based on dualism and relative truth, our world has more experiences of suffering and darkness. The identity based on the authentic self has the view of openness and infinite potential; the ego-based identity is continually subject to boundaries and restrictions. Not recognizing the true nature of mind is the essential ignorance from which attachment and aversion arise.

From these three root poisons of ignorance, attachment, and aversion come all our other disturbing emotions. The disturbing emotions are what create the ego-based identity. And the ego-based identity, in turn, gives rise to all our problems in life. Our identity, therefore, is yet another doorway to enlightenment. By shifting our sense of who we are, we have the ability to transform everything for the better: our feelings, our relationships, all our experiences, even the entire world we live in. Change Can Happen.

The teachings on the six lokas practice give insight into how we can take on the more authentic identity we are seeking. The six lokas practice is from the Zhang Zhung Nyan Gyud, a principal cycle of Bön dzogchen teachings, and is traditionally done as part of the entry into the higher dzogchen practices. I myself did a 49-day retreat on this particular cycle of teachings with my teacher Lungkar Gelong when I was around 15 years old.

Essentially, the practice involves our visualizing transforming into a divine being of light called Shenlha Ökar. As this new identity we then have the ability to clear our negative emotions and transform them into enlightened qualities, such as love or wisdom.

It is customary in tantra to visualize self-transforming into a deity who actualizes our desired result. Just a single meditation session can give us powerful taste of a new, higher identity; yet when done regularly over time, the practice also can bring a long-term change in our sense of self and our view of the world. When people are feeling unhappy, or depressed, or not good enough, they often feel they can't change, that they are stuck, but this is not true. Every situation is changeable, and it can change very quickly. If all the right causes and conditions meet, it is a question of days, weeks or months, not a question of years. In order to self-transform into a higher dimension, it is essential to recognize that any given moment of identity is not in its innate nature. Like every other life experience, our identity is subject to constant change. In fact, it is our very nature to change our identity.

Think back to all the stages you already have been through in life. From infancy to young childhood to adolescence, young adulthood, or middle age, you can see clearly that your view of the world and the way you see and think of yourself has changed many times over. Are you the same person now that you were at age five? Definitely not. Recognizing this possibility for change is what makes people feel better when they read inspiring books or attend the teachings. But the truth is, the moment they are trapped in emotions, they believe that's who they are. And that is the problem.

One moment you might feel great, as if you are the best and most beautiful person in the world; the next moment you might feel you're in the hell realm. Or, you can feel trapped in a single realm of emotions for years at a time. For example, many cities have a bad section of town, a "hell neighborhood" whose inhabitants are defined by anger. Every rusty bar on a window or piece of broken glass on the pavement conveys a sense of anger, and for the people living there, anger penetrates their sense of self. They themselves are reflections of the hell realm: They are broken, damaged, hurt, neglected, dangerous. Meanwhile, just a few miles away there may be a "god neighborhood," where every home borders the golf course and has a Jacuzzi and a swimming pool, and every resident feels pampered, balanced, and secure.

The citizens of an entire nation can identify mainly with the dimension of pride, while another nation may experience perpetually unsatisfied hunger or greed. The Six Realms We can see evidence of different emotional identities everywhere we go, and in everyone we meet. The Bön Buddhist tradition tells us there are six actual realms, or lokas (Sanskrit), that make up all of samsara. According to the teachings, each of the six realms is inhabited by a specific type of sentient being, and each is characterized by a specific negative emotion. We humans are said to play out our lives strictly in the human realm, where jealousy pervades our sense of identity. Clearly, however, at one time or another each of us will identify to some degree with each of the six realms and their corresponding emotions.

The six realms are as follows:


HELL REALM

The hell realm is dominated by anger. Anger manifests as conflict, tension, shouting and violence. At its most extreme, it can lead to death or war. Anger often only serves to perpetuate our problems because it causes pain and destruction and makes us lose control and self-awareness. Its antidote is pure, unconditional love.


HUNGARY GHOST REALM

The hungry ghost realm is characterized by greed and desire. Greed can be defined as a sense of excessive need that can never be satisfied—like trying to quench one's thirst with salty water. Greed itself perpetuates feelings of loss. Think of an addicted gambler who constantly loses, is constantly dissatisfied with any winnings, but keeps playing on and on, thinking “maybe next time … maybe next time.” Greed is closely associated with attachment, money, and sexual desire. People consumed by greed look outward for fulfillment but can never find true satisfaction, because the loss they feel is actually lack of self-knowledge. The antidote to greed is open generosity.


ANIMAL REALM

The animal realm is dominated by ignorance. Ignorance brings a sense of being lost, of having a great need without knowing what one really wants. The ultimate sense of ignorance is lack of knowledge of self (lack of innate awareness, ma rigpa), and its antidote is wisdom. But we can also think of ignorance in terms of doubt. Doubt produces confusion, distrust, fear, insecurity, and instability. The deepest doubt is self-doubt, and the antidote is self-awareness. The real sense of doubtlessness is abiding in the nature of mind, in the realization that everything is perfect as it is and that you have been complete from the very beginning.


HUMAN REALM

The human realm is characterized by jealousy. Jealousy is the feeling of discomfort that arises when you watchfully or carefully guard over something to which you are attached.

The object of your attachment may be an idea, a relationship, or a possession. When you feel jealous, you see the source of happiness as something outside yourself. You may think, "I should be driving that car … wearing those shoes … living in that house." Because of the closed, overly protective nature of your attachment, the antidote to jealousy is the great opening of the heart that arises from connecting to your own true nature.


DEMI-GOD REALM

The demigod realm is filled with pride. Pride is related to feelings of accomplishment and uniqueness. It has a very territorial aspect and seems to be particularly connected to ego and identity. Usually pride is about feeling superior, but sometimes it is about feeling inferior, like a “reverse pride.” In either case we feel special and different, and may feel intolerant of differences in others. The pride of the demigod realm is probably the cause of every war created on the earth. Its antidote is the great peace and humility that arise from resting in one’s own true nature.

After practice, real change can happen. Maybe when you actually meet your famous person again you will discover you feel a little bit more openness toward them … and after a few more practice sessions, maybe also a little bit of love. These changes keep happening as you yourself begin to change. The practice really works when one trusts in it and applies it.

When I am having a real problem with somebody, doing the six lokas practice regularly over time can help me to view that person absolutely differently. I often recommend to therapists who receive these teachings that they self-transform into the being of light before seeing their patients. All these qualities of love, compassion and openness can be valuable in their work. You can feel a transformation in a single visualization, but without regular practice it is difficult to achieve any kind of long-term change.

For example, a woman I know had been having some major conflicts with her mother. She told me she had been wishing for her mother to be less critical and angry and more peaceful, loving, and kind. One day, she said, she had gone to visit her with the intention of improving the relationship. She traveled there filled with compassion, love, and good intentions. But as soon as she arrived at the house the mother greeted her with a criticism: "Why are you wearing that?" Right then all her love and compassion flew out the window. It wasn't until after she had reacted as usual in hurt and anger that she remembered her reason for being there. "Yes, I'm not dressed very well, let's go inside and have a cup of tea," she said.

But it's very exhausting for anyone to try and be kind when that’s not who they are. I can imagine that if the daughter had been regularly doing the six lokas practice, her experience could have been quite different. Suppose she spends half an hour each day practicing. In each session she transforms herself into the divine being of light. She evokes the image of her mother as an angry hell being; she experiences the mother's suffering; she cultivates great compassion; she burns the image and its karmic seeds; and she perfects and empowers the beings and the realm. At that point the old image is gone.

Her mother is vividly transformed into a loving, beautiful person. By the time the daughter goes to see her mother, she is now able to meet her from a place of spaciousness and even to find humor in the negative comments. She and her mother can have a lot of fun joking about her clothing, and go in and have a nice cup of tea together. It is all a bit less effortful.

Doing the practice does exactly that. It's like spending a weekend with a happy person—when you return home, the window or door that bothered you before is not so terrible after all, and the effects can support positive changes in view for days afterward. You see your problems in a new way.


GOD REALM

The god realm is characterized by a lazy balance of all the negative emotions. This balance brings a feeling of self-centered, lethargic pleasure. A little bit of anger, a little bit of jealousy, a little bit of pride ... all of the emotions, but just a little bit. This false harmony makes us feel all our desires and needs are fulfilled, but something always comes along to tilt the balance. As soon as the causes and conditions supporting the balance are exhausted, we feel each of the afflictions stronger than ever, just as any of the other beings do.

The antidote to this selfish pleasure is the all-encompassing compassion for all sentient beings that arises from self-awareness. This is not to say that any of these emotions is entirely negative. As samsaric beings who are always subject to conditions and relative truth, emotions can serve us well. Even anger can energize or inspire us, strengthen or protect us—as long as we know how to work with it.

We need to know the best way to be with our emotions, to express them, and to playfully work with them toward our wellbeing and enlightenment, without being driven by them. From the point of view of samsara, the god realm is the perfect place to be. Who doesn't want balance, security, and the fulfillment of all one's needs? But from the point of view of the teachings, the god realm is just another realm of suffering, and we need to go beyond it if we are to achieve true self-awareness.

If you stay too long in the god realm, chances are you are not even going to the demigod realm next, but will be heading right to hell. The lazy pleasure you feel gives a false sense of security that inevitably will hurl you into the lower realms. Once you are in the god realm, it seems like everything is perfect and will last forever, but time moves quickly, and then shortly before the shift happens your whole world starts to collapse. It goes down very fast. There is also immediate suffering, as you realize that all your beliefs about being self-illuminated and secure were only based on illusion.



Most psychotherapists may not agree with the Buddhist perspective that says it's possible to be free of negative emotions. Still, the person who has no anger, or greed, or pride is truly not missing anything. Someone who is close to enlightenment simply doesn't have the same degree of emotion that exists in other human beings. If you're in that place, it's wonderful. The dharma explains that in each of the six realms there is some cause or condition that keeps the sentient beings there from experiencing awareness of their true nature. Each negative emotion has its own action and its own results. Each obscures the truth. Each shuts us down to people around us and to the beauty of the moment. Each, inevitably, brings suffering.


A Journey to a New Identity

When we recognize which realm we are identifying with, we naturally want to minimize our pain and suffering. We usually try to fix things outside ourselves. For example, when we feel like a hell being we lash out at the person who makes us angry. Or we try changing our clothing, changing our hairstyle, changing our job, changing our partner, changing the town or country we live in, or changing our name.

Making these external changes may help temporarily, but it will not fundamentally change our experience. For example, the hell realm will follow us to the next relationship, the next job, or the next town. In every new town we will find all the same annoying neighbors and co-workers, but with new names and faces. The problem with a window in our old house will be a problem with the door in our new house.

Even someone who escapes from the army to join a Tibetan monastery may find in the monastery the same boss giving orders, the same strict discipline, and the same disciplinarian he tried to escape from. The reason you experience a certain realm in your external surroundings is because the emotion of the realm is also in you. You can see only what you are—and what you are is what you see. You may know conceptually that a problem is nothing more than a projection of your mind, that it is impermanent, it is illusion. But as long as the emotion remains with you, it seems so real. It pervades your consciousness.

When you're having a conversation, the emotion is still there. When you're watching a movie, it's still there. When you're asleep and dreaming, it's still there. As much as anything, it is there. Our ego-based identity is very proficient at keeping these experiences alive in us. Self-image determines emotionally and energetically how we feel, how we relate to other people, and how we perceive the outer world. Only when we are truly able to change our self-image will we be able to change our view, our perception of reality.

If we have the right view, there is no reason to get angry. If we have no cause for anger or destruction, then when we walk through the hell neighborhood we will not experience the threat of anger. Ultimately, with the right identity and the right view none of the six realms will manifest. I know I can change my identity; therefore, I want to change, because my current state does not allow me to achieve my full potential. How can I change my view and my identity? It is a matter of journeying internally into the psychological dimension, to the fields of energy where the actual identity as a hell being or other being was created.

For example, imagine you are going through a very difficult time because you are very angry at someone. When you look inward, you see someone who is experiencing a hell realm. What you see is not the innate Buddha, it is not a being from the god realm, it is not a hungry ghost. It is a self who specifically is facing hell. Experientially, you cannot point exactly to where this self is located. When you go deep, however, you can feel the pain. You can feel it in certain locations in your body. Maybe this experience as a hell being is manifesting as physical illness. Maybe it manifests as energy. Maybe it manifests as a form of confusion or mental suffering.

Even if you are feeling quite open and relaxed and are not actively angry, you still may find you are subtly connecting to this self-image as a hell being. Just recognizing your self-image in this way is powerful, because it is an opportunity for transformation. But if you can journey even deeper to find the very seed of your identity, then through the six lokas practice you can clear the seed so the emotion can't grow back.


The Being of Light

At this time you could simply close your eyes and say, "I want to purify my hell realm." There is the "I" who is in hell and wants to purify, and then there is "my hell realm," which I want to purify. But it is very difficult or impossible for a hell being to purify hell. The "I" who wants to purify the hell realm needs to be a much higher sense of self-image, one that itself is very pure. Imagine that instead of anger, your identity is one of pure love.

You feel love deep in your body, your energy and your mind. Imagine that you also embody generosity, great wisdom, openness, peacefulness, and compassion with the same intensity. You will need these antidote qualities in order to purify and transform the six disturbing emotions and their manifestations in your life.

In the Bön tradition, Shenlha Ökar is the wisdom being who actualizes all these perfected qualities. Our practice, therefore, is to imagine becoming this divine being of light so we can embody the qualities in ourselves. Through the power of our mind and the blessings and empowerment of the deity, we can feel an immediate and profound transformation in our mind, our energy, and all the cells of our body. How well we can purify our disturbing emotions depends on how much we are able to embody the deity's qualities in one place deep in ourselves, where we feel stronger and more solid, grounded, and ripened.

At the moment of transformation we want to feel the change as clear, direct, and strong as possible: "Now I am the divine being of light." It is not, "I think I have transformed," or "I have tried to transform"—having thoughts like these is a sign of not having the qualities of the being of light. Normally when you bring your mind toward a certain individual—your "famous person"—the emotion of anger rises immediately and effortlessly. However, as the divine being of light, the moment you look inward and see the image of this person, your experience is different. You now have no cause for anger; instead you feel beautiful. You feel immediate compassion for the person's suffering, which comes only from their ignorance, their lack of self-realization.

As a being of light, you now can send rays of light from your heart that enter the energetic dimension of your hell realm, purify all the negative images and their environment, and perfect them. You can go even deeper and purify the very karmic seeds of anger. There are six seeds from which arise each of the six negative emotions, and there are six seeds that give birth to the six antidotes to the negative emotions. Each seed of emotion is comprised of subtle prana that is related to karmic traces. In meditation practice, we use Tibetan characters to identify these karmic seeds.

For example, DU is the seed syllable of the hell realms; when we burn our mental image of DU, it is helping to burn away our karmic image of hell. The Divine Being of Light Shenlha Ökar (Shen Deity of White Light) is also known as Lhachig (Great God) of the Bön tradition of Tibet. He appears at the center of the Bön Refuge Tree (Tshog Shing). Shenlha Ökar has one face and two arms. His hands are placed in his lap in the gesture of meditation. He is luminous white in color and is adorned with the 13 beautiful ornaments of a peaceful deity: a crown, earrings, three necklaces (short, medium, and long), bracelets, anklets, arm bands, a scarf, a skirt, a throne, a golden decoration behind the throne, and a halo. Seated on a snow lion throne, he abides in a pure land.

Shenlha Ökar manifests for the benefit of beings as the Six Subduing Shen (Buddhas of the Six Realms of Samsara), in order to guide the beings of the six realms (Tib. kham, Skt. lokas) from suffering to liberation. Real Results When we have burned away the seed, we are a divine being who can now perfect the hell beings and the hell realms, transforming them into buddhas of love and pure lands of love.

Where there used to be feelings and images of anger and hate, there now are only images of love.