How does Mo Work?

Mo evolved from its shamanic origins through the powerful influence of Mayahana and Vajrayana Buddhism. The Mahayana Bodhisattva ideal of compassionate activity for all sentient beings is the inspiration for Mo; while Vajrayana Buddhism, or Tantra, is the power that drives it. When doing Mo for someone a Lama will first of all enter into a visualisation practice, in which he or she visualises a Buddhist meditational deity or awareness being such as Padmasambhava, Manjusri, or Green Tara for example. At the same time the Teacher invokes the energy of that awareness being by chanting its mantra. If the motivation of the Teacher is genuine compassion rather than an aspect of his or her selfinterest, the Teacher may then act as a conduit for the Mo without obstructing its flow with ego. The essential principle behind Mo, or behind all divination for that matter, is the Tantric Buddhist principle of the interplay of Emptiness and Form. Form arises from the empty state, exists in its characteristic condition for a period of time, then dissipates and is re-absorbed into the empty state. From this perspective the only difference between something as fleeting and intangible as thought, and something as immense and substantial as a mountain, is its duration. All things are impermanent. If Form and Emptiness are translated as Pattern and Chaos we start to see how divination works. As human beings we all act out patterns, consciously or otherwise, and so we all arrive at a particular end point in our life or lives depending upon the pattern we are engaged in. For Buddhists this process is known as Karma. Whilst the complexity of the interaction of all sentient beings is beyond the grasp of the intellect, it is not beyond the reach of

wisdom. As all sentient beings and formed things in the universe are interdependent and are not isolated one from another, wisdom can arise from the empty state to give an understanding of events that are unclear to the rational mind, or that have not yet fully evolved into the present, material world. All that is necessary is a mechanism by which this wisdom can be introduced and interpreted. Mo is such a mechanism. All of these mechanisms or divinations have the same principle. Firstly there is a method for introducing a random result, thus allowing wisdom to manifest free of the intellect and of ego. There are many, many methods for generating a random result, such as heating the shoulder blade of a sheep in a fire so that a random pattern of cracks appear; such as observing and interpreting the movement of crows in flight, such as interpreting the pattern of tea leaves left in the bottom of a cup; such as using the throw of dice or the dealing of cards. Secondly there is a specific procedure or formula for interpreting the random result. As you can see, the pattern of emptiness and form continues - a method to allow emptiness to manifest wisdom; and a procedural form that allows interpretation of the result. Mo is generally done in two ways, by the casting of dice or by seizing the beads of a tengar or mala (rosary) at random. The latter method is known as Teng Mo and is the principal form practiced by Mingyr Dorje, although he also uses dice Mo where appropriate. First of all a visualisation practice is entered into. Then a random result is generated by seizing the beads on a tengar anywhere at all with both hands. The random number of beads thus obtained between ones left and right hands are then reduced in a certain way giving a final random count of between 6 (maximum) and 0 (minimum) beads which are interpreted in the following way.

Even Numbers

Odd Numbers 1 Excellent 3 Good 5 OK 6 or 0 Terrible 4 Bad 2 Not so good

In some forms of Mo no empowerment or transmission is necessary, such as with some forms of dice Mo. In other forms however, such as this version of Teng Mo practiced by Mingyr Dorje, a transmission from a Lama or Master is required.