the year of the Dog

There are many ways in which we could examine the meaning of the Fire Dog year. We could look at Kukuraja (ku ku ra dza / ku ku ra tsa – the Mahasiddha who lived with a cohort of dogs.) Kukuraja was one of the teachers of Marpa Lotsawa. Kukuraja—the Dog King—lived on an island in the midst of a swamp of poison. He was known also as Kukkuripa—the Dog Lover—he is famous for these lines:

Where deliberate effort and self-conscious striving are present – Buddha is absent,
In view of this all chanting, rituals, and offerings are futile.
Within the peak experience of the Lama’s inspired transmission however,
Buddha is ever-present – but who is there who wishes to see that?

Kukuraja entered the sphere of Vajrayana through puzzling over the problems of existence – which inspired his itinerant life. One particular day—on the road to the next village—he heard the sound of whining emanating from the underbrush. He investigated the source of the sound and found a starving young Dog – so weak that she could not stand. He picked her up and carried her with him on his journey – sharing his food and watching with delight as she returned to health and strength. By the time they arrived in Lumbini—the town in Nepal where Shakyamuni Buddha was born—Kukuraja had become accustomed to her company and sought out a cave where they could both live. During one period in which Kukuraja was involved in continuous recitation of mantra, twelve years elapsed during one meditation session – and at its conclusion Kukuraja attained powers of prescience and unobstructed insight.

There are many compound words which employ the word ‘dog’ and amongst them is a word that speaks of the tenacity of the dog: Dog soldier: The Dog Soldiers were the elite military in the tribe, the last line of defence for the people – and therefore greatly esteemed. The warriors in the society wore a particular sash—which trailed the ground—and a sacred arrow. In time of battle, Dog soldiers would impale their sashes to the ground with their respective arrows and stand the ground covered by their sash – to the death.

It would seem that the word ‘dog’—tagged onto another word—often gives the word an earthy twist – sometimes arduous, sometimes heroic, sometimes crazy, sometimes saintly, sometimes violent – but never deceptive or disloyal.

There are also sun dogs – elliptical pools of rainbow light which appear in the sky on either side of the sun. Sun dogs are caused by ice crystals in the upper atmosphere and betoken a change of weather within 72 hours. One can spot them on days where there are blue skies and thin high altitude cirrus or alto stratus cloud. If one places ones thumb—at arm’s length—over the sun, then the sun dogs might be seen at the distance of the extended little finger. Whether it is the fire of change or the light of change – both the fire Dog and the sun Dog betoken change.

‘Disgusting old dog’ was the epithet employed by DoKhyentsé Yeshé Dorje of Dza Paltrül and the secret name which betokened his understanding of the nature of Mind. The story behind DoKhyentsé Yeshé Dorje reviling Dza Paltrül as a disgusting old dog is usually employed to illustrate the nature of informal symbolic transmission. DoKhyentsé Yeshé Dorje takes hold of Dza Paltrül’s hair and throws him to the ground – for no apparent reason. Dza Paltrül smells alcohol on DoKhyentsé Yeshé Dorje’s breath – and conceptualises ignominiously in puritanical vein – at which DoKhyentsé Yeshé Dorje rebukes him thus: “You disgusting old dog – how does this wretched thought enter your mind!” At that moment Dza Paltrül realises his egregious error and lies exactly in the position DoKhyentsé Yeshé Dorje cast him loose. It is then that he recognises the nature of Mind. Thereafter—whenever Dza Paltrül gave transmission of the nature of Mind to his own disciples—he told them that he first realised the nature of Mind through receiving informal symbolic transmission from his Tsawa’i Lama DoKhyentsé Yeshé Dorje and that the secret name he received at that time was ’Disgusting Old Dog’.

The year of the Dog offers opportunities for idealism – both personal and general. Idealism involves change and change involves justice. Justice involves reward and punishment. Reward and punishment are self-existent and self-administered. The Dog year is a serious period of time – but not serious in the sense of lack of laughter and enjoyment. The seriousness of the Dog year is simply a seriousness that does not support facile involvement. The Dog year is ultimately rewarding for those with seriously good intentions and the serious will to fulfil those intentions.

According to TransHimalayan Astrology, this could be a year in which loyalty and honesty support each other as the basis of action. That is the nature of the Dog – and the nature of its intelligence. The Dog is intelligent – but its intelligence is pragmatic rather than elaborate. The Dog is a working animal – rather than an indolent speculator. The Dog does not employ intelligence as a means of excusing itself from all effort of will, stamina, and courage. The remarkable quality of honesty and loyalty, are there even where intelligence is meagre – these very qualities will enhance ones perspicacity. One does not have to be intellectual to be intelligent. One simply needs to be honest and loyal – and those qualities of being will lead to the development of all other qualities.

One needs to be dogged in one determination in respect of practice – and dogged in ones devotion. The Dog is devoted – and its devotion is of a rugged nature. The devotion of the Dog is not the prissy sentimental devotion which falls apart when the Lama does not appear to be flattering the disciple’s vanity. The Dog does not expect to be admired or cosseted – but rather to gain respect through being thorough and painstaking. The Dog is tenacious and fulfils the task at hand. The Dog does not write off failure and irresponsibility with endless lame and tepid excuses. It is easy to be a Dog – but only when one realises that doggedness is its own reward.

Dogged honesty and loyalty—not only to ones Lamas but to ones partner and friends—will allow a sense of power and resilient strength. In contradistinction, self-serving devious strains of laziness and self-satisfied failure to fulfil obligations have the opportunity of exhausting themselves this year. The year of the Dog is one in which cheerful tenacity and good-natured openness to unstinting effort and kind-heartedness will garner massive rewards. The year of the Dog is one in which the idle, indolent, shiftless, slothful, lethargic, sluggish, languid, listless, apathetic, malingering, and unappreciative will either change – or discover that spiritual practice has become an area in which they are lost. Those who fail to become dogs—and remain as birds—become the birds too blasted by scattergun for the dogs to bring to their masters. Theirs is not even the reward of becoming part of a partridge pie. It is thus a year for ’do or die’.

Practice and View are interdependent – and it is possible for involvement to reach such a low ebb of energy that stagnation does not merely betoken stasis – but spiritual death. In the case of spiritual death – a Lama has to relinquish a student and advise a return to ‘the mundane life of conventional society’ to learn the basic lessons of coherent autonomous survival. Spiritual death is the state in which we are no longer touched by the teaching – but subsist as emotional pariahs on the outskirts of samaya.

The implications of each astrological animal and the manner in which it overcomes the adverse aspects of the previous year’s animal are highly significant in terms of how we make use of Losar as a pivotal point.

This has a profound significance with regard to the manner in which time passes and the manner in which one approaches practice – and ones relationship with ones Lamas.

The Fire Dog succeeds or secedes from the Wood Bird of the past year. There is enmity between the bird and the Dog – and therefore the transition is a difficult one. Amongst the astrological animals there are various possible relationships: friendship, neutrality, and enmity. In the years where the transition relates to friendship or neutrality between the animals in segue – the possibilities of change are mainly creative and developmental. With enmity however the change has to be dramatic. The bird has to be killed, or the dog will never be a real Dog.

Each animal has a ‘potency’ and a ‘frailty’ in terms of practice. Every animal is therefore portrayed in both distinguished and discreditable mode – alternating as the years pass and thus reflecting the manner in which the neuroses are transformed into the non-dual wisdoms of the Buddha Families.

In terms of perception the Dog is concerned with justice and fair play. The Dog is happy to be accountable and to give of his or her best. The Dog can be relied upon to be helpful and accommodating of all just demands. The Dog has the quality of being incapable of restraint when assistance is required. The Dog does not hide out or lie low when work seems necessary – nor does the Dog allow others to carry the burden of responsibly.

Monty Python once produced a dictionary of terms coined entirely from the names of towns and places to which they gave their own meanings. One which we remember with amusement was ‘ozark’. The definition of an ozark was: One who offers to help when the work is done. The Dog is not an ozark.

Dogs do not talk with great confidence about their capacity – but when it comes to the task at hand however, they surpass requirements and achieve success well beyond their own estimates. Birds on the other hand like to appear highly confident – but can often fall far short of the image they wish others to accept. Birds speak ambitiously in terms of what should be done—and how it should be done—only to have a plethora of excuses as to why he or she cannot offer anything at all in the way of time and real effort. Birds lack the loyalty and honesty possessed by dogs – but expect to be valued for these qualities nonetheless. Birds are hurt most when they are ignored by the Lama – even though they instigate their being overlooked and disregarded, by virtue of their inability to complete any task adequately. Birds appear to be enthusiastic – but their incapacity to follow through makes their enthusiasm tediously unimpressive. When Birds are confronted with the hard facts of their unreliability – they become stubborn and resentful. They wish they were receiving the praise allocated to Dogs – but are unwilling to carry out the necessary work involved. Faced with this discrepancy Birds place themselves ‘in the right’ by ‘right of incapacity’ – and expect praise for no apparent reason. The Bird is conceited and possesses a propensity for pedantic sophistry when accounting for their poor behaviour – blaming the Lama for having artificially created the challenges to which they have failed to rise. The solution to this contorted dilemma—for the Dog—is to leave Birds to twitter meaninglessly on their own, on the basis that there is work to be carried out and tasks to be accomplished. Birds are ‘flighty’ and need to flitter around the Lama, manifesting facile displays – but without ever coming close enough to engage in a substantial manner.

In contradistinction, Dogs stick closely to their masters’ heels; not in terms of obsequious subservience – but in respect of authentic application.

The devotion of Dogs is predicated on work rather than mere physical proximity to their masters. Dogs—at their worst—tend to alternate between alarmism and pessimism – but even these negative mental states are invariably at the service of the lineage with regard to how they view ‘the outside world’.

Rather than following the instruction of the Lama, Birds vaunt an air of independence – from whose ‘lofty heights’ they denigrate those who take instructions to heart and seek to undermine their relationship with the Lama. Dogs on the other hand are so fully aware of their own real independence – that displays of fanciful ‘intimate separateness’ are meaningless to them. Dogs know that they are inseparable from the Lama whenever they are acting in accordance with the Lama’s wishes – and so no matter how far afield they roam at the behest of the Lama, they never feel excluded from the kyil’khor.

The Fire element adds further qualities to the nature of the Dog. The Fire Dog year is a pyrotechnic opportunity for the committed practitioner – because the simple honest-to—goodness quality of Dogs is complemented by the secret nature of the Fire element.

The fire element—in terms of astrology—has a two dimensional quality. The first—relating to heat—gives qualities of: eagerness, keenness, enthusiasm, excitement, zeal, fervour, vehemence, and zest. The second—relating to light—gives qualities of: happiness, pleasure, elation, joy, bliss, rapture, passion, and ecstasy. The qualities of Fire combined with the Dog transform doggedness into charismatic endeavours. The fire Dog is not merely a hard worker – but one who accomplishes projects with flare and panache.

Yogis or yoginis as Fire Dogs are not overnight sensations who pose as the most ardent disciples and then disappear. Their ardour is cogent – because it is based on unflagging industry. The Fire Dog is an intriguing prospect – because the down-to-earth nature of the Dog gains a mystical dominion through the auspices of the Fire. The Fire Dog thus represents the functioning of the Buddhakarma of enrichment.

This is the ability to fulfil the manifest nature of the Lamas’ vajra command – through experiencing involvement in the Lamas’ projects as the field of informal symbolic transmission. In contradistinction to the Fire Dog, the Wood Bird is falsely enthusiastic – being given to anger rather than to effort. The Wood Bird imitates serenity through passive aggressive withdrawal from honest combination. The Wood Bird vows to implement the Lamas’ assignments yet secretly bathes in the tepidarium of indolent phlegmatism.

The Wood Bird offers the Lama empty promises of spectacular results rather than honest willing work as a disciple. Fire Dogs are transparent in their appearance and are content to be who they are. They have no need to twitter or brood in order to make others feel guilty concerning wrongs never committed. The Fire Dog has no need of the Wood Bird’s self indulgent atrophication and self-protective inertia.

The Fire Dog explains simply and honestly without attempting to double-think the Lama with re-interpretations of events which are self substantiating. The Fire Dog does not hide behind intractable defences of self imposed incapacity.

In terms of the 60 year cycle the Fire Dog year of 2006 is a mi-zèd (mi zad) year. Mi-zèd means ‘inexhaustible’ and—to a certain degree—‘inflexible’. The previous year was a Sakyong (sa sKyong) year – characterised by ‘control’, ‘rule’, or ‘imperial sway’. Whether a ‘governing faction’ is wise and kindly, or merely one which seeks control – depends on samaya. When samaya fails then the governing impetus of Wood Birds exhausts itself and displays its degeneracy. The Wood Bird’s only hope at such a time resides in the honest hard work and loyalty of the Fire Dog.