The Practice -a
As explained in the preceding five chapters, Tsong-kha-pa presents in the second chapter of his Great Exposition of Secret Mantra the meditative procedure of Action Tantra mainly through interweaving the Susiddhi Tantra, the Concentration Continuation Tantra, and their respective commentaries by Varabodhi and Buddhaguhya. While not itself a ritual manual, Tsong-kha-pa’s presentation offers almost all of the contents of such a ritual, which can be extracted to make just such a formulation. Thus, as a way to both summarize the material presented in the above chapters and to flesh out many of the details of actual practice, the present chapter is devoted to providing a means of achievement (sgrub thabs, sādhana) around the deity Avalokiteshvara, based on the Great Exposition of Secret Mantra
with supplementary material drawn from his student Dül-dzindrak-pa-gyel-tsen’s Presentation of the General Rites of Action and Performance Tantra and Their Application to the Three Lineages, Set Down by Dül-dzin According to the Foremost Tsong-kha-pa’s Practice and from the eighteenth-century Ye-shay-gyel-tsen’s Illumination of the Meaning of Action Tantra, along with His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s commentary to Tsong-kha-pa’s text in Deity Yoga.
First the structure of the meditative ritual is given in outline form for the sake of getting a handle on how the five overarching formats of the practice relate to each other:
• prior approximation, effecting the achievement of yogic feats, and activities
• yoga with signs and yoga without signs
• concentrations with repetition and concentration without repetition
• meditative stabilizations of exalted body, speech, and mind • calm abiding and special insight.
Outline
I. Prior approximation: approaching the state of a deity YOGA WITH SIGNS
A. Concentration with repetition
MEDITATIVE STABILIZATION OF EXALTED BODY
1. Preliminaries to the four-branched repetition
2. Actual concentration with repetition
a. Concentration on the four branches of repetition
(1) First branch: Other-base
(2) Second branch: Self-base
MEDITATIVE STABILIZATION OF EXALTED SPEECH
(3) Third branch: Mind/Moon
(4) Fourth branch: Sound
b. Repetition in dependence upon the four branches (deity in front, yourself as a deity, moon, and letters)
(1) Repeat mantra within observing the form of the letters (a) Repeat mantra within observing the form of the letters at the heart of the deity in front
(b) Repeat mantra within observing the form of the letters at your own heart
(2) Repeat mantra within observing the sound of the letters
c. Concluding the concentration of four-branched repetition
B. Concentration without Repetition
1. Concentration of Abiding in Fire
2. Concentration of Abiding in Sound
YOGA WITHOUT SIGNS
MEDITATIVE STABILIZATION OF EXALTED MIND
3. Concentration Bestowing Liberation at the End of Sound
II. Effecting the achievement of yogic feats
A. Analyzing dreams
B. Performing the above meditation in modified form and burnt offer-ings or repetitions of mantra and so forth
III. Activities
Action Tantra Means of Achievement
Prior Approximation: approaching the state of a deity
YOGA WITH SIGNS
A. Concentration with repetition
MEDITATIVE STABILIZATION OF EXALTED BODY
1. Preliminaries to the four-branched repetition
What to do initially in your place of dwelling
Daily, when you rise from bed in the early morning for the first session and at the beginning of other sessions, construct the pledge seal of the lotus lineage (seal 2 ) and, holding it at your heart, say: Oṃ padma-udbhavaye svāhā.
Make homage to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas: putting your palms together, observe all the Buddhas in the ten directions and bow down at their feet, saying: Oṃ sarva-tathāgata kāya-vāk-citta-vajra-praṇamena sarva-tathāgata-vajra-pāda-vandanaṃ karomi.
Offering yourself, offer your body, saying:
If until I am in the essence of enlightenments, I totally and thoroughly offer myself at all times to all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas abiding in the ten directions, may the great Buddhas and Bodhisattvas please take hold of me. Please bestow upon me the unsurpassed feat of Buddhahood.
Go for refuge and generate an altruistic intention to become enlightened:
To Buddha, Doctrine, and Supreme Community I go for refuge until enlightenment.
To achieve the welfare of myself and others I will generate the mind of enlightenment.
Listen, O Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
Abiding in the ten directions,
I now for the sake of perfect enlightenment Will generate the mind of enlightenment.
Create protection by making the seal (seal 4) of the Fierce Unobscured One (mnol ba med pa), saying the mantra:
Oṃ vajra-krodha mahābālā hana daha pacha vidhvaṃsaya ucchuṣma-krodha hūṃ phaṭ.
(Create protection with this mantra also when eating, drinking, urinating, and defecating.) Reflecting on purity, think:
The two syllables—ma, the entity of Vairochana, on a moon at my heart and ha, the entity of Achala, at my head—with interconnecting flames—are stirred up. and say:
Oṃ svabhāva-śuddhāḥ sarva-dharmāḥ svabhāva-śuddho ’haṃ. (Oṃ naturally pure are all phenomena; naturally pure am I.)
and imagine:
All phenomena have become naturally pure.
Then, leaving the house, brush your teeth and so forth. Collect and remove the dirt and dust in the temple and so forth.
Bathing outdoors and entering the place of practice
Go to a shore where beings do not gather and where there is nothing frightful. Construct the pledge seal of the lotus lineage (seal 2) and, holding it at your heart, say:
With seal 5, touch clean earth, saying:
Picking up the earth, divide it into three portions, and put them in a clean place. Protect yourself through Amṛitakuṇḍali by constructing seal 6, pressing the lower lip with the upper teeth, looking with a fierce gaze, and saying:
Namo ratnatrayāya, namaṣcaṇḍa-vajrapāṇaye, mahāyakṣasenapataye, namo vajra-krodhāya, tadyathā oṃ hulu hulu tiṣṭha tiṣṭha bandha bandha hana hana amṛte hūṃ phaṭ.
To expel obstructors in your body, construct seal 7, and say:
To put on vajra armor, construct seal 8, and put on vajra armor to prevent obstructors from entering. Then construct the vajra armor seal (seal 9), and touching it to the head, tops of both shoulders, heart, and neck, make (that is, imagine) the armor, saying:
Namo ratnatrayāya oṃ khakiḷ hūṃ phaṭ.
To dispel obstructors, construct seal 10, and touching it to earth and water, say:
Namo vajrāya hūṃ, hana dhuna matha vidhvaṃsaya udsarāya phaṭ.
Cast this mantra into the water:
Namo ratnatrayāya, namaṣcaṇḍa-vajrapāṇaye, oṃ hana hana, vajra vajraṇaha.
Constructing seal 11, touch this seal of Kīlikīla to the water, and sprinkle the earth with the water, saying:
Mantrafy the earth seven times with:
and pick up one portion of the earth. Wearing a bathing cloth, enter into the water just to the disappearance of the navel, and bathe, washing below the navel with the first portion of earth. Then, wash your hands with the second portion of earth, and construct the seal of Sarasvatī (seal 12), saying:
Oṃ śruti smṛti dhaṛani hūṃ ha.
The seal and mantra can serve as ablution. Or:
Squat, stop talking, and put your two hands between your knees. Bend a little the middle and ring fingers of the right hand with the palm turned upwards, and hold this towards your mouth. Wipe your mouth many times with water in which anthers have been soaked, and having touched the two ear-holes, two eyes, nose, mouth, hands, navel, and heart two or three times, drink three gulps of the water, wiping your lips twice.
Tying up the hair on your head, create protection by saying: Oṃ susiddhikari svāhā.
Pick up the third portion of earth, mantrafy it with:
and circling it to the right, face it to the sun, and rub it on the entire body.
Construct the water-stirring seal (seal 13), and with it stir the water, saying:
Namo ratnatrayāya, namaṣcaṇḍa-vajrapāṇaye, mahāyakṣasenāpataye, namo vajra-krodhāya ḍaṃṣṭokaṭa bhairavāya, tadyathā, oṃ amṛtakuṇḍali, khakha, khāhi khāhi, tiṣṭa tiṣṭa, bandha bandha, hana hana, garja garja, visphoṭāya, sarva-vighnāṃ vinayakāna, mahāgaṇa-pati, jīvita-antakarāya svāhā.
Then, offer three handfuls of water to the Three Jewels, saying:
Saying:
cup your hands together, and pour three handfuls of water on your head, and wash your hands. With that very mantra confer initiation on yourself with three handfuls of water:
Mentally invite Avalokiteshvara and ask him to reside on a lotus imagined in front of you. Bathe his body, saying:
Oṃ sarva-tathāgata-amṛte svāhā.
Then, if repetition is to be done in the temple, repeat the mantra twenty-one times while in the water:
Oṃ sarva-tathāgata-avalokiteśvare svāhā.
Go up to the temple, and wash your feet; facing east or north, do ablution:
Squat, stop talking, and put your two hands between your knees. Bend a little the middle and ring fingers of the right hand with the palm turned upwards, and hold this towards your mouth. Wipe your mouth many times with water in which anthers have been soaked, and having touched the two ear-holes, two eyes, nose, mouth, hands, navel, and heart two or three times, drink three gulps of the water, wiping your lips twice.
Enter the place of practice, and visualizing the deities vividly, make homage, bowing down at their feet, saying:
Oṃ sarva-tathāgata kāya-vāk-citta-vajra-praṇamena sarvatathāgata-vajra-pāda-vandanaṃ karomi.
Repeat this engagement in the pledges:
Oṃ viraja viraja, mahāvajri sata sata, sarate sarate, trayi trayi, virdhamani saṃbhañjani taramati siddha-agretaṃ svāhā.
Putting on the robe, sitting on the cushion, and blessing the offerings
Put on the robe, and having sat on the cushion, bless the offerings by removing contamination from yourself through pouring scented water in the palm of your hand, repeating the essence mantra three times:
Ārolik ārolik ārolik.
and sprinkling the water on top of your head, thereby clearing away defects of contamination and so forth. Sprinkle the cushion made of kusha grass or other material while reciting the mantra of Kuṇḍali:
Namo ratnatrayāya, namaṣcaṇḍa-vajrapāṇaye, mahāyakṣasena-pataye, namo vajra-krodhāya, tadyathā oṃ hulu hulu tiṣṭha tiṣṭha bandha bandha hana hana amṛte hūṃ phaṭ.
and sit on the cushion in either the lucky, lotus, or vajra crosslegged posture. Then, anoint with incense a bracelet made from an uneven number of threads spun by a girl and wound and tied in an uneven number of knots and with one rosary bead of the lotus lineage set in the center; repeat a hundred times into the bracelet the knowledge-mantra of the lotus lineage, the mantra of the lineage mother:
Homage to the Three Jewels. Homage to the Bodhisattva, the great being, the Superior Avalokiteshvara.
May I cure all illness
Of all sentient beings
Through their seeing, hearing, Touching, or remembering me.
Tadyathā kaṭe vikaṭe kaṃkaṭe kaṭa vikaṭe, kaṃkaṭe bhagavati vijaye svāhā.
and tie the bracelet to the wrist of the right hand. Repeating the lotus lineage essence-mantra:
Ārolik.
put a sprinkler made of kusha grass on the ring finger of your right hand. Into the ze’u kha, the skull binder made from red silk or cotton, cast the mantra: Oṃ rakṣa rakṣa mānā sarva-buddha-adhiṣṭhana ātma civara svāhā. and tie it on your head. Also, put on clothing into which this very mantra has been cast. Tie up your hair as an image of the crown protrusion:
Go for refuge and generate an altruistic intention to become enlightened, as before, saying:
To Buddha, Doctrine, and Supreme Community I go for refuge until enlightenment.
To achieve the welfare of myself and others I will generate the mind of enlightenment.
Listen, O Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
Abiding in the ten directions,
I now for the sake of perfect enlightenment Will generate the mind of enlightenment.
Clear away obstructors in the flowers and so forth through repeating into scented water either the mantra of Kuṇḍali:
Namo ratnatrayāya, namaṣcaṇḍa-vajrapāṇaye, mahāyakṣasenapataye, namo vajra-krodhāya, tadyathā oṃ hulu hulu tiṣṭha tiṣṭha bandha bandha hana hana amṛte hūṃ phaṭ.
or the mantra of all activities of the lotus lineage:
Oṃ namo mahā-śrīyāyai, sau me siddhi siddha sādhaya, śivi śivaṃkari, abhaha, sarva-artha-sādhani svāhā.
Putting scented water into the left hand, repeat into the water the lineage essence: Ārolik.
and sprinkle the flowers and so forth. From the seal of dispelling obstructors (seal 10) construct the seal of generating magnificence (seal 14), and with it distribute magnificence on top of the perfume, flowers, and so forth and repeat the mantra of generating magnificence:
Oṃ divya divya dhipaya, avesha mahāśrīye svāhā.
thinking that thereby:
The offerings turn into perfect divine substances.
Then, bless them into magnificence with the mantra of Kuṇḍali: Namo ratnatrayāya, namaṣcaṇḍa-vajrapāṇaye, mahāyakṣasena-pataye, namo vajra-krodhāya, tadyathā oṃ hulu hulu tiṣṭha tiṣṭha bandha bandha hana hana amṛte hūṃ phaṭ.
and repeat the essence mantra of the lotus lineage: Ārolik.
Self-protection
Make seal of expelling obstructors in the body (seal 7) and repeat the mantra of expelling obstructors:
Then repeat into the scented water either the mantra for all activities of the lotus lineage:
Oṃ namo mahā-śrīyāyai, sau me siddhi siddha sādhaya, śivi śivaṃkari, abhaha, sarva-artha-sādhani svāhā.
Namo ratnatrayāya, namaṣcaṇḍa-vajrapāṇaye, mahāyakṣasena-pataye, namo vajra-krodhāya, tadyathā oṃ hulu hulu tiṣṭha tiṣṭha bandha bandha hana hana amṛte hūṃ phaṭ. and sprinkle it on yourself, dispelling obstructors.
Place-protection
Repeat into scented water seven times:
Oṃ kīlikīla vajri vajri bhur bandha bandha hūṃ phaṭ.
and sprinkle the scented water in all directions. Making the ritual dagger seal (seal 15), and reciting:
Oṃ kīlikīlvajri vajri bhur bandha bandha hūṃ phaṭ. think:
Through implanting the obstructors with the Fierce Vajra Daggers they have become immovable.
Repeating this general mantra for the three lineages into the fumes of powdered incense:
Oṃ susiddhikara jvalita, ananta-murtaye jvala jvala, bandha bandha, hana hana hūṃ phaṭ.
and this mantra for the lotus lineage:
Oṃ padmini bhagavati mohaya mohaya, jagad mohani svāhā.
think:
The upper demonic gods are bound.
Then, repeating the essence mantra into scented water:
Ārolik.
sprinkle the environs with scented water. Repeating the secret mantra of the knowledge kings of the three lineages:
Bhrūṃ oṃ amṛtodbhava udbhava hūṃ phaṭ, namo ratnatrayāya, namaṣcaṇḍa-vajrapāṇaye, mahāyakṣasena-pataye, oṃ sumbha nisumbha hūṃ, gṛhṇa gṛhṇa hūṃ, gṛhṇāpaya gṛhṇāpaya hūṃ, ānayaho bhagavān vidyā-rāja hūṃ phaṭ svāhā. think:
All directional obstructors have been bound.
From the dagger seal (seal 15) make the fence seal (seal 16), and saying:
Namo ratnatrayāya, namaṣcaṇḍa-vajrapāṇaye, mahāyakṣasena-pataye, tadyathā oṃ sara sara vajra-prakara hūṃ phaṭ.
think:
A vajra fence has circled the area without break.
Displaying the fence seal itself (seal 16) upside down, move it in a circle (seal 17), and saying:
Namo ratnatrayāya, namaṣcaṇḍa-vajrapāṇaye, mahāyakṣasenapataye, oṃ bhisphu-rakṣa-vajrapāṇi hūṃ phaṭ.
think:
A vajra tent has come to be on top of the vajra fence.
To bless the fence and tent into magnificence, recite the mantra of Kuṇḍali:
Namo ratnatrayāya, namaṣcaṇḍa-vajrapāṇaye, mahāyakṣasena-pataye, namo vajra-krodhāya, tadyathā oṃ hulu hulu tiṣṭha tiṣṭha bandha bandha hana hana amṛte hūṃ phaṭ. and making the dagger seal (seal 15), say:
Oṃ kīlikīla vajri vajri bhur bandha bandha hūṃ phaṭ.
To close off the area make seal 18, and say:
Namaḥ samanta-vajraṇāṃ, oṃ tara tara, turu turu, maṭa maṭa, bandha bandha, sarvatra apratihate, sasime samabandha, kuru kuru tara tara samanta-vajre, samanta-vajre, kuru amale kuruṇa, maye tutaye tutaye, bara bara, kara kara, sumima samanta, vidhvaṃsaye, jvalāya svāhā.
2. Actual concentration with repetition a. Concentration on the four branches of repetition
First branch: Other-base
Imagining a deity in front of yourself
Imagine the ground for a divine residence:
In front is a ground of many precious substances covered with grains of gold.
Bless it into magnificence by reciting once:
On top of it is an ocean, white like milk, adorned with flowers such as lotus and utpala. Flocks of birds as if made of jewels fly overhead.
Bless these into magnificence by reciting once:
Imagine Mount Meru with lotus and divine residence:
In the middle is the great square Mount Meru adorned on all four sides with stairs, made respectively of gold, silver, sapphire, and topaz. The mountain is covered with well-grown wish-granting trees, themselves adorned with thousands of flapping victory banners. On top of the mountain is a huge lotus; its stalk, rising out of the center of Mount Meru, is adorned
with jewels, petals made of jewels, a gold corolla, and topaz anthers with silver lines surrounding the top at its center. From the lotus stalk hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, and millions of lotus latticeworks emerge. The syllable bhrūṃ, standing upright in the middle of the lotus, transforms into an empty inestimable mansion. In the middle of the palace is another lotus, the deity’s seat. With seal 19 bless the imagined residence into magnificence by reciting a hundred times: Namaḥ sarvatathāgatānāṃ sarvathā udgate spharaṇahimaṃ gaganakhaṃ svāhā. Imagine a canopy over the divine residence: Instantaneously, a canopy appears over the residence.
Inviting the deity
You have previously prepared an oblation; the substance of the vessel (gold, silver, stone, wood, and so forth) and the contents (barley and milk, sesame and yogurt, cow urine and rice, and so forth) are determined by the feat that you are seeking to receive from the deity after the meditations are completed. Infuse the oblation with incense, and bless it into a magnificent state by reciting the appropriate mantra seven times.
Oṃ namo mahā-śrīyāyai, sau me siddhi siddha sādhaya, śivi śivaṃkari, abhaha, sarva-artha-sādhani svāhā.
Facing in front where a painting, or the like, of the deity is placed, bow down, saying the mantra:
Oṃ sarva-tathāgata kāya-vāk-citta-vajra-praṇamena sarva-tathāgata-vajra-pāda-vandanaṃ karomi.
Then, kneeling, invite the deity through making the seal of invitation (seal 20), which is a beckoning gesture, saying: Due to my faith and your compassionate pledges, Come here, come here, O Supramundane Victor.
Accepting this oblation of mine, Be pleased with me through this offering. Ārolik, ehyahi.
Assuming the same posture as Avalokiteshvara, that is, sitting, hold up the oblation at the level of your head, and offer it, saying:
Oṃ avalokiteśvara arghaṃ pratīccha svāhā.
If the proper ingredients have not been obtained, beg the deity’s pardon:
Whatever even slightly has been done wrongly
Out of the obscuration in my mind,
Please, O Protector, bear with it all
Since you are the refuge of all the embodied.
Whatever has been done here
Due to non-acquisition, lack of thorough knowledge,
Or not having the capacity,
It is right for the Chief to bear with it all.
Then:
The Supreme Superior, the Great Compassionate One, Avalokiteshvara—with white body bedecked with various jewel adornments, having one face with an affectionate smiling aspect and two eyes, with four arms, the two upper hands holding a wishgranting jewel at the heart, the other right hand holding a pearl rosary, and the other left hand holding a white lotus, with an antelope skin draped over the left shoulder, sitting in the adamantine cross-legged posture on a lotus seat—arrives together with his inestimable mansion which fuses with the imagined mansion.
Offer a seat while reciting:
It is good that the compassionate Supramundane Victor has come.
I am meritorious and fortunate.
Taking my oblation,
Please pay heed and grant my request.
From compassion for myself and transmigrators
As long as I make offering
May the Supramundane Victor please remain here Through your powers of magical creation.
Displaying the pledge vajra seal (seal 24), recite once:
Śaṃkare samaye svāhā.
Make seal 26, and say the essence-mantra for the lotus lineage: Ārolik.
Make the great pledge seal of the lotus lineage (seal 2) and revolve it to protect against obstructors. Dispel obstructors from the articles of offering, saying:
To Buddha, Doctrine, and Supreme Community I go for refuge until enlightenment.
To achieve the welfare of myself and others I will generate the mind of enlightenment . Listen, O Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
Abiding in the ten directions,
I now for the sake of perfect enlightenment Will generate the mind of enlightenment.
and repeating into scented water:
Namo ratnatrayāya, namaṣcaṇḍa-vajrapāṇaye, mahāyakṣasena-pataye, namo vajra-krodhāya, tadyathā oṃ hulu hulu tiṣṭha tiṣṭha bandha bandha hana hana amṛte hūṃ phaṭ
and sprinkle the flowers to clear away obstructors. Putting scented water in the left hand, repeat the mantra for the lotus lineage into the water and dispel obstructors with it: Ārolik.
With the seal of generating magnificence (seal 14), spread magnificence on top of the offerings and say the appropriate mantra for generating magnificence:
Oṃ divya divya dhipaya, aveśa mahāśrīyaye svāhā. (Lotus lineage) With the oblation seal (seal 28), offer oblation, saying:
You have come blissfully, Supramundane Victor.
Come here and please be seated.
Receiving my oblation also,
Please take pleasure mentally from this.
I have respect for you.
Oṃ sarva-tathāgata-avalokiteśvara-saparivāra arghaṃ pratīccha svāhā.
With the foot-bath seal (seal 29), offer a foot-bath, saying:
You have come blissfully, Supramundane Victor.
Come here and please be seated.
Receiving my foot-bath also,
Please take pleasure mentally from this.
I have respect for you.
Oṃ sarva-tathāgata-avalokiteśvara-saparivāra pravarasatkaraṃ pratīccha svāhā.
With the seal of washing the body (seal 30), imagine washing the deity’s body with great clouds of perfumed water which have risen from many precious gold vases and so forth filled with fragrant perfumes; say:
You have come blissfully, Supramundane Victor.
Come here and please be seated.
Receiving my bath also,
Please take pleasure mentally from this.
I have respect for you.
Oṃ sarva-tathāgata-avalokiteśvara-saparivāra sarvadevatā-acintaamṛta svāhā.
Mentally offer clothing and adornments; offer music, and mentally raise up melodies of praise.
With the perfume seal (seal 31), offer perfume, saying:
With faith I offer these perfumes Of wholesome divine substances Arisen from the clean, most clean.
Receiving them, be pleased with me.
Oṃ sarva-tathāgata-avalokiteśvara-saparivāra āhara āhara sarvavidyādhari pūjite svāhā.
With the flower seal (seal 32), offer flowers, saying:
With faith I offer these flowers Of auspicious divine substance, Grown from the clean, most clean.
Receiving them, be pleased with me.
Oṃ sarva-tathāgata-avalokiteśvara-saparivāra āhara āhara sarvavidyādhari pūjite svāhā.
With the incense seal (seal 33), offer incense, saying:
With faith I offer divine substances
Made with perfume,
Pleasant essences of the forest.
Receiving them, be pleased with me.
Oṃ sarva-tathāgata-avalokiteśvara-saparivāra āhara āhara sarvavidyādhari pūjite svāhā.
With the seal of divine food (seal 34), offer food, saying:
With faith I offer These foods of mantra,
Receiving them, be pleased with me.
Oṃ sarva-tathāgata-avalokiteśvara-saparivāra āhara āhara sarvavidyādhari pūjite svāhā.
With the lamp seal (seal 35), offer lamps, saying:
With faith I offer these dispellers Of darkness, conquering harmers, Auspicious and virtuous.
I beg you to receive these lamps.
Oṃ sarva-tathāgata-avalokiteśvara-saparivāra ālokāya ālokāya vidhādhare pūjite svāhā.
Repeat one hundred times the mantra of blessing the place into magnificence:
Namaḥ sarvatathāgatānāṃ sarvathā udgate spharaṇahimaṃ gaganakhaṃ svāhā.
Praise the Three Jewels—Buddha, his doctrine, and the spiritual community:
Homage to the One-Gone-Thus,
Protector with great compassion,
Oceanic field of merit and attainments.
Homage to the pacifying doctrine,
Through purity separating from desire,
Through virtue liberating from bad transmigrations, In all ways the supreme ultimate.
Respectful homage to the spiritual community,
Liberated, teaching the path of liberation,
Completely dwelling in the precepts,
Excellent field of merit, endowed with attainments.
Praise the lords of the three lineages—Mañjushrī, who is the physical manifestation of the wisdom of all Buddhas; Avalokiteshvara, who is the physical manifestation of the compassion of all Buddhas; and Vajrapāṇi, who is the physical manifestation of the power of all Buddhas: Homage also to Mañjushrī,
Bearer of the appearance of a youth, Vividly adorned with the lamp of wisdom, Dispeller of the three worlds’ darkness.
Homage to the always merciful,
Whose name is Avalokiteshvara,
Composite of all excellent qualities, Strongly praised by all Buddhas.
Homage to Vajrapāṇi,
Powerful and fierce,
Virtuous king of knowledge-mantra, Tamer of the hard to tame.
Make praises specifically of Avalokiteshvara, and repeat one hundred times the mantra of bringing forth praise:
Namaḥ sarva-buddha-bodhisattvānāṃ, sarvatra saṃkurumita avijñārāśini namo stute svāhā.
Disclose ill deeds with an attitude of contrition and future restraint:
Ones-Gone-Thus residing
In all directions of the worlds, Foe Destroyers, and Bodhisattvas, I ask you to heed me.
Whatever ill deeds
I have committed in any lifetime,
Or, disturbed by the power of desire,
Stupidity, or anger in cyclic existence
In former lives or in this life,
Whatever ill deeds I have done,
Asked others to do, or admired even a little, Even slight ones unconscientiously done
To Buddha, doctrine, or spiritual community,
Or gurus, father and mother,
Foe Destroyers, Bodhisattvas,
Or any object of giving,
Or to other sentient beings— Educated or uneducated—
Having mentally collected all these,
To the perfect Buddhas and their children
Manifest before me now
And disclose individually
And repeatedly my mistakes
With pressed palms and saddened mind.
Just as the perfect Buddhas know The ill deeds that I have committed, I make individual disclosure.
Henceforth I will not do such.
Take refuge in Buddha, his doctrine, and the spiritual community with strong intent:
So that the sufferings of beings might be pacified
I respectfully go for true refuge
To Buddha, Doctrine, and Spiritual Community As long as I remain alive.
Admire your own and others’ virtues:
Set in equipoise, I take admiration
In the varieties of practical implementation of doctrine. Entreat the Buddhas to remain teaching and supplicate them not to withdraw physical appearance so beneficial to the world:
To generate nonconceptual pristine wisdom
I entreat you to turn the wheel of doctrine And not to pass away from sorrow Until trainees are satisfied.
Make prayer-wishes:
Just as the earlier Buddha-children
Made prayer-wishes,
I also with a virtuous mind Plant prayer-wishes in that way.
May all beings have happiness, Peace, and freedom from disease.
May I be capable in all activities And also possess all good qualities.
May I be wealthy, generous,
Intelligent, and patient,
Having faith in virtue, memory
Of former births in all lives, and mercy.
Cultivate the four immeasurables—compassion, love, joy, and the equanimity that is devoid of the conceptions of subject and object as inherently existent:
May all sentient beings be free from all suffering.
May all sentient beings be endowed with all happiness.
May all sentient beings be blissful with the bliss of Buddhahood.
May all sentient beings pass from sorrow with the unsurpassed nirvāṇa of a Buddha.
Generate an altruistic intention to become enlightened such that it definitely suffuses your mental continuum:
Foundational Step: Equality
1. From their own point of view, friends, enemies, and neutral beings equally want happiness and do not want suffering.
2. From my own point of view, each and every one of them has been my friend limitless times over beginningless cyclic existence and will definitely help me again in the future; each has equally been my enemy; and each has equally been neutral.
3. Thus from whatever side it is considered, my own or others, there is no point in exaggerating feelings of intimacy or alienation. I should not value one person as basically good and another as bad, even though their present actions may be good or bad, helpful or harmful. There is no reason to be nice at heart to one person and not nice to another. Though it is true that people are friends or enemies temporarily— helpful or harmful—it is a mistake to use this fluid state as the basis for an inflexible attraction or hatred.
First Step: Recognizing Friends
1. My births in cyclic existence have no beginning.
2. When I was born from a womb as an animal or human, or when I was born from an egg, I required a mother. Since my births are innumerable, I must have had innumerable mothers over the course of those many lifetimes. The implication is that every living being has been my mother at some time. See whether there is a reason why any sentient being has not been my mother; such a conclusion is impossible.
3. The times I took birth from a womb or an egg are unlimited in number, and therefore my mothers are also unlimited in number.
4. Each sentient being has to have been my mother many times.
Second Step: Appreciating Kindness
Visualize your prime nurturer, vividly in front, and think:
This person was my mother many times over the continuum of lives; in just this present lifetime she has bestowed on me a body that supports an auspicious life in which I am able to progress spiritually. She sustained me in her womb for nine months, during which she could not behave as she wished but had to pay special attention to this burden that she carried in her body, making it difficult to move about. Even though my movements would cause her pain, she would take delight in them, thinking how strong her child was, rather than becoming angry and concentrating on her pain. Her sense of closeness and dearness was great.
If you use as a model a person other than your mother, recall in detail the kindnesses he or she extended. Having understood the kindness of your prime nurturer of this lifetime, extend this understanding gradually to other friends, then neutral persons, and finally enemies.
Third Step: Returning Kindness Think:
If my mother (or best friend) of this lifetime was blind and, not in her right mind, was proceeding along the edge of a frightful cliff without a guide, and if I, her own child, did not pay attention and take on the task of helping her, it would be awful.
Extend the example:
All sentient beings throughout space have been my mother and have protected me with great kindness; they do not know what in their behavior to discard and what to adopt in order to promote their own long-term interests. Without a spiritual guide, they are walking along the edge of a cliff of frightful sufferings in cyclic existence. If, knowing this, I did not consider their welfare but only my own freedom, it would be awful.
In response to being cared for by others in this and other lifetimes, develop a determination to help them in whatever way is appropriate: I will do whatever I can for these beings—my own nurturing friends—stricken by such suffering.
Commit to their welfare.
Fourth Step: Love
Starting with your best friend, think:
This person wants happiness but is bereft. How nice it would be if she or he could be imbued with happiness and all the causes of happiness!
Continue the same meditation with respect to more and more friends until this wish for happiness and all the causes of happiness is equally strong for all of them, and then consider neutral beings and finally enemies.
Then intensify the feeling, starting with friends, with:
This person wants happiness but is bereft. May she or he be imbued with happiness and all the causes of happiness!
Extend the same wish to neutral beings, and enemies.
Then intensify the feeling, starting with friends, with:
I will do whatever I can to cause her or him to be imbued with happiness and all the causes of happiness!
Extend the same wish to neutral beings, and enemies.
Fifth Step: Compassion
Bring to mind a friend who has obvious pain, and think:
Like me, this person wants happiness and does not want suffering, yet is stricken with such pain. If this person could only be free from suffering and the causes of suffering!
Visualize a friend who, even though not blatantly suffering, will suffer in the future due to substantial counterproductive actions of the kind that we all have committed over the course of beginningless time. Think:
Like me, this person wants happiness and does not want suffering, yet is stricken with such pain. If this person could only be free from suffering and the causes of suffering!
Slowly extend this meditation person by person, first with more friends, then with neutral persons, and finally with enemies, eventually including all sentient beings throughout space.
Then intensify the feeling, starting with friends, then neutral persons, and then enemies:
Like me, this person wants happiness and does not want suffering, yet is stricken with such pain. May this person be free from suffering and the causes of suffering!
Extend the same wish to neutral beings, and enemies.
Then intensify the feeling, starting with friends, then neutral persons, and then enemies:
Like me, this person wants happiness and does not want suffering, yet is stricken with such pain. I will help this person be free from suffering and all the causes of suffering!
Extend the same wish to neutral beings, and enemies.
Sixth Step: Total Commitment
1. Afflictive emotions do not dwell in the nature of the mind; therefore, they can be removed.
2. Since afflictive emotions can be separated from the mind, it is realistic for me to work to achieve enlightenment and to help others do the same.
3. Even if I have to do it alone, I will free all sentient beings from suffering and the causes of suffering, and join all sentient beings with happiness and its causes.
Seventh Step: Seeking Altruistic Enlightenment
Analyze whether in your present state you have the capacity to bring about the welfare of all beings by freeing them from suffering and joining them with happiness.
Though I can help others on a limited level, I cannot yet do so on a vast level. In addition to giving food, clothing, and shelter it is necessary to educate people so that they can take care of their own lives. Teaching what should be adopted and discarded is crucial, and therefore I must know their dispositions and interests and have full knowledge of beneficial practices. Thus it is necessary for me to achieve enlightenment, in which the obstacles keeping me from realizing everything knowable are completely removed and I gain total realization of the nature of persons and things.
Think:
I will attain Buddhahood in order to liberate stricken transmigrating beings. and say:
To pacify the suffering
Of limitless realms of sentient beings,
Release them from bad transmigrations,
Liberate them from afflictive emotions,
And protect them completely
From the varieties of sufferings
When the discomforts of cyclic existence crowd in,
I will generate an altruistic intention to become enlightened.
May I always be a refuge
For all destitute sentient beings, A protector of the protectorless,
A support of those without support, A refuge for the unprotected,
One who makes the miserable happy.
May I cause the pacification
Of all sentient beings’ afflictive emotions. May whatever virtuous actions
I have accumulated in this and other lives Assume the aspects of the collections That are called merit and wisdom.
May whatever effort I make
By way of the six perfections
Without there being any exception.
Making effort until enlightenment,
I will strive at actions temporarily
And limitlessly over lives so that, in short, All the afflictive emotions of all sentient beings May be pacified and they be freed.
Second branch: Self-base
Imagining Yourself as a Deity: Meditation of the Six Deities
1. Ultimate Deity (also called emptiness deity or suchness deity): meditate on yourself and the deity as the same in being empty of inherent existence Ascertain what is being negated—inherent existence:
Imagine, for instance, that someone criticizes you for something you actually have not done, saying, “You ruined such and such,” pointing a finger at you. Watch your reaction. How does the “I” appear to your mind?
In what way are you apprehending it?
Notice how that “I” seems to stand by itself, self-instituting, established by way of its own character.
Ascertain the entailment of emptiness:
Analyze whether the “I” that is inherently self-established in the context of the mind-body complex could have a way of existing other than being part of or separate from mind and body.
Take other phenomena, such as a cup and a table, or a house and a mountain, as examples. See that there is no third category of existence. They are either the same or different.
Decide that if the “I” inherently exists as it seems to, then it must be either one with or separate from mind and body.
Ascertain that the “I” and the aggregates are not inherently the same by considering the consequences if the “I” is the same as mind-body and if the “I” is established in and of itself in accordance with how it appears to your mind:
Since mind and body are plural, a person’s selves also would be plural!
Since I am just one, mind and body also would be one!
Ascertain that the “I” and the aggregates are not inherently different by considering the consequences if the “I” is inherently different from mind-body and if the “I” is established in and of itself in accordance with how it appears to your mind:
I and mind-body would have to be completely separate!
In that case, I would have to be findable after clearing away mind and body!
I would not have the characteristics of being produced, abiding, and disintegrating!
I would have to be just a figment of the imagination or permanent!
I would not have any physical or mental characteristics! Not finding yourself either of these ways, realize the absence of inherent existence of the “I” in space-like meditative equipoise.
Reflect on the sameness of yourself and the deity in terms of your final nature:
Just as my own suchness is ultimately free from all the proliferations of inherent existence, so also is the deity’s suchness. Hence, in nonconceptual perception of the final mode of subsistence of phenomena, the suchness of myself and of the deity are undifferentiable, like a mixture of water and milk.
2. Sound Deity (also called tone deity)
From within emptiness my wisdom realizing the ultimate deity manifests as the tones of the mantra resounding in space. Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ.
My mind having the aspect of realizing the undifferentiable suchness of myself and the deity becomes a moon disc. The mantra tones resounding in space are set upright on the edge of the moon disc in the aspect of written letters, like very pure mercury adhering to or completely mixing with grains of gold. (The letters are not just color and shape but are fused with their respective sounds.)
The moon and mantra letters transform such that variegated rays of light are emitted from the moon and mantra letters. From the points of the light rays innumerable forms of the deity emerge, pervading the entire sphere of space. Through emanating great clouds of offerings they make splendid offerings to all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Also, they emanate great clouds from which a rain of ambrosia descends, extinguishing the fires of the sufferings of all transmigrators, hell-beings and so forth, as well as satisfying beings with whatever they need— giving a good body to those who need it, coolness to those suffering from heat, the warmth of the sun to those suffering from cold, food and drink to the hungry and thirsty—emanating to each just what he or she needs, providing beings with the basis for practicing the spiritual path as well as teachers to instruct them in the four truths, the two truths, and so forth, whereby they ascend the five paths and ten Bodhisattva grounds and attain the final happiness of Buddhahood.
Then, the divine bodies dissolve back into the rays of light with all their magnificent qualities of body, speech, and mind and return and enter the moon disc and mantra letters, whereupon I emerge in the full form of Avalokiteshvara, the Supreme Superior, the Great Compassionate One, with white body bedecked with various jewel adornments, having one face with an affectionate smiling aspect and two eyes, with four arms—the two upper hands holding a wish-granting jewel at the heart, the other right hand holding a pearl rosary, and the other left hand holding a white lotus—with an antelope skin draped over the left shoulder, sitting in the adamantine cross-legged posture on a lotus seat.
5. Seal Deity
Construct the pledge seal of the lotus lineage (seal 2) and bless into a magnificent state the heart, the point between the brows, the neck, and the shoulders through touching them with the seal and repeating the pledge mantra:
With the oblation seal (seal 28), offer oblation to yourself as the deity, saying:
With the foot-bath seal (seal 29), offer a foot-bath, saying:
Oṃ pravarasatkaraṃ pratīccha svāhā.
With the seal of washing the body (seal 30), imagine washing the deity’s body with great clouds of perfumed water which have risen from many precious gold vases and so forth filled with fragrant perfumes; say:
Oṃ sarva-devatā-acinta-amṛta svāhā.
Mentally offer clothing and adornments; offer music, and mentally raise up melodies of praise.
With the perfume seal (seal 31), offer perfume, saying:
Āhara āhara sarva-vidyādhari pūjite svāhā.
With the flower seal (seal 32), offer flowers, saying:
Āhara āhara sarva-vidyādhari pūjite svāhā.
With the incense seal (seal 33), offer incense, saying:
Āhara āhara sarva-vidyādhari pūjite svāhā.
With the seal of divine food (seal 34), offer food, saying:
Āhara āhara sarva-vidyādhari pūjite svāhā.
With the lamp seal (seal 35), offer lamps, saying:
Ālokāya ālokāya vidhādhare pūjite svāhā.
Offer praise:
Homage to the always merciful,
Whose name is Avalokiteshvara,
Composite of all excellent qualities, Strongly praised by all Buddhas.
6. Sign Deity
Within observing just that deity that has been generated, develop clear appearance of your divine body and develop pride in being that deity. To do this:
Stop the exhalation and inhalation of breath; withdraw inside movements of the breath throughout the body like a turtle’s retracting its limbs and like drinking water drawn up with the
middle of the brow), two eyes, two shoulders, neck, heart, and navel.
tongue by means of the upwards-moving wind. Also, withdraw inside the usual intense movement of the nonequipoised mind out through the senses. Nevertheless, leave your eyes a little open, raise your face a little, and set yourself in one-pointed meditative equipoise, observing your own body clarified as a deity. Like a person dwelling in a cave and looking outside, you are as if inside the divine body observing it from within.
Hold your breath as much as you can, all the while observing one aspect of the divine body.
Then, let the breath out gently; relax, viewing yourself clarified as a deity.
Again hold your breath and observe the same one aspect of your divine body.
Do this until you gain the capacity to stop—by means of the clear appearance of the deity and by means of the pride of being a deity—the pride of ordinariness. Both clear appearance and divine pride divine pride are necessary. Resting
Ceasing to visualize your divine body, observe the letters on the moon disc in space (which is the second part of the third deity, the “letter deity”). Ceasing to visualize the letters on the moon, observe the moon disc in space (which is the first part of the letter deity).
Ceasing to visualize the moon disc, observe the sounds of the mantra reverberating in space (which is the second deity, the “sound deity”).
Ceasing to observe the sounds of the mantra, observe the pride of the sameness of the nature of yourself and the deity (which is the last part of the first deity, the “ultimate deity”).
Ceasing to observe the pride of the sameness of the nature of yourself and the deity, observe the suchness of self, your own emptiness of inherent existence (which is the first part of the “ultimate deity”).
Remain in meditative equipoise on your own emptiness.
All at once rise in a divine body, which is the same as that visualized earlier.
Between sessions
Between sessions remain within deity yoga, albeit not as complete as before, going about daily activities.
MEDITATIVE STABILIZATION OF EXALTED SPEECH
Third branch: Mind/Moon
A moon disc appears at the heart of the deity in front.
Fourth branch: Sound
The written letters of the mantra are set upright and facing inward around the edge of the moon disc at the heart of the deity in front.
Rays of light are emitted from the moon and mantra letters. From the points of the light rays innumerable forms of the deity emerge, pervading the entire sphere of space. Through emanating great clouds of offerings they make splendid offerings to all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Also, they emanate great clouds from which a rain of ambrosia descends, extinguishing the fires of the sufferings of all transmigrators, hell-beings and so forth, as well as satisfying beings
with whatever they need— giving a good body to those who need it, coolness to those suffering from heat, the warmth of the sun to those suffering from cold, food and drink to the hungry and thirsty—emanating to each just what he or she needs, providing beings with the basis for practicing the spiritual path as well as teachers to instruct them in the four truths, the two truths, and so forth, whereby they ascend the five paths and ten Bodhisattva grounds and attain the final happiness of Buddhahood.
b. Repetition in dependence upon the four branches (deity in front, yourself as a deity, moon, and letters)
(1) Repeat mantra within observing the form of the lettersa
(a) Repeat mantra within observing the form of the letters at the heart of the deity in front
Dül-dzin-drak-pa-gyel-tsen (549.4-550.3) structures the repetition of mantra within observing the form of the letters differently. Instead of performing both whispered repetition and mental repetition first within observing the form of the letters at the heart of the deity in front and then both whispered repetition and mental repetition within observing the form of the letters at one’s own heart, he performs whispered repetition within observing the form of the letters at the heart of the deity in front and then within observing the form of the letters at one’s own heart, after which he performs mental repetition within observing the form of the letters at the heart of the deity in front and then within observing the form of the letters at one’s own heart. In his version, the steps of meditation are: (1) Repeat mantra within observing the form of the letters
(a) Repeat mantra in whisper within observing the form of the letters
(i) At the heart of the deity in front
Focusing on the three—the front deity, moon, and letters—repeat mantra in whisper, as if reading the letters, while exhaling.
While inhaling, switch to observing yourself as a deity without repetition. Repeat the above.
Inhale—indto your own heart from the heart of the deity in front—the moon disc together with the mantra letters standing at its edge.
Perform whispered repetition, focusing on the moon and letters.
At the end of exhaling, emit the moon and letters back to the deity in front, focusing on moon and letters, without repetition. Repeat the above.
(b) Repeat mantra mentally within observing the form of the letters
(i) At the heart of the deity in front
Holding your breath after inhalation and focusing on the three—the front deity, moon, and letters—repeat mantra mentally as if listening to your own recitation.
While exhaling, switch to observing yourself as a deity without repetition. Repeat the above.
Inhale—into your own heart from the heart of the deity in front—the moon disc together with the mantra letters standing at its edge without repetition.
Stop your breath and recite mantra mentally, focusing on moon and letters, as if your mind is in the center of the moon disc and is reading the letters of the mantra standing on the edge of the moon disc facing inward.
When exhaling, stop repetition of mantra, and move the moon and letters with your breath to the deity’s heart—focusing on the moon and letters.
With inhalation, repeat the above.
Whispered repetition
Focusing on the three—the front deity, moon, and letters—repeat mantra in whisper, as if reading the letters, while exhaling.
While inhaling, switch to observing yourself as a deity without repetition. Repeat the above.
Mental repetition
Holding your breath after inhalation and focusing on the three— the front deity, moon, and letters—repeat mantra mentally as if listening to your own recitation.
While exhaling, switch to observing yourself as a deity without repetition. Repeat the above.
Resting
Stop repeating mantra.
Ceasing to visualize the forms of the mantra letters, observe the moon on which they stood at the heart in the deity in front (which is the moon branch). Ceasing to visualize the moon, observe the deity in front (which is the branch called “other-base”).
Ceasing to visualize the deity in front, observe your own divine body (which is the branch called “self-base” and, within it, the sixth deity, the sign deity, as well as the fourth deity, the form deity).
Ceasing to visualize your divine body, observe the letters on the moon disc in space (which is the second part of the third deity, the “letter deity”).
Ceasing to visualize the letters on the moon, observe the moon disc in space (which is the first part of the letter deity).
Ceasing to visualize the moon disc, observe the sounds of the mantra reverberating in space (which is the second deity, the “sound deity”).
Ceasing to observe the sounds of the mantra, observe the pride of the sameness of the nature of yourself and the deity (which is the last part of the first deity, the “ultimate deity”).
Ceasing to observe the pride of the sameness of the nature of yourself and the deity, observe the suchness of self, your own emptiness of inherent existence (which is the first part of the “ultimate deity”).
Remain in meditative equipoise on your own emptiness.
All at once rise in a divine body, which is the same as that visualized earlier.
Between sessions
Between sessions remain within deity yoga, albeit not as complete as before, going about daily activities.
(b) Repeat mantra within observing the form of the letters at your own heart
Whispered repetition
Inhale—into your own heart from the heart of the deity in front— the moon disc together with the mantra letters standing at its edge.
Perform whispered repetition, focusing on the moon and letters.
At the end of exhaling, emit the moon and letters back to the deity in front, focusing on moon and letters, without repetition.
Repeat the above.
Mental repetition
Inhale—into your own heart from the heart of the deity in front— the moon disc together with the mantra letters standing at its edge without repetition. Stop your breath and recite mantra mentally, focusing on moon and letters, as if your mind is in the center of the moon disc and is reading the letters of the mantra standing on the edge of the moon disc facing inward.
When exhaling, stop repetition of mantra, and move the moon and letters with your breath to the deity’s heart—focusing on the moon and letters. With inhalation, repeat the above.
(2) Repeat mantra within observing the sound of the letters
Whispered repetition
Within retaining visualization of the deity in front and yourself as a deity with the moon and the mantra letters on the moon at your heart, repeat mantra in whisper, focusing on just the sounds.
Mental repetition
Within retaining visualization of the deity in front and yourself as a deity with the moon and the mantra letters on the moon at your heart, repeat mantra mentally while stopping breath and distraction, focusing on just the sounds.
c. Concluding the concentration of the four-branched repetition
With the vase seal (seal 36) offer the virtue of the session for the sake of feats:
I offer this virtuous root of mine to the Supramundane Victor as a cause of such and such feat. O Protector, please bestow such and such feat. Arrange whatever offerings have been newly acquired, and clear away obstructors in the flowers and so forth through repeating into scented water either the mantra of Kuṇḍali:
Namo ratnatrayāya, namaṣcaṇḍa-vajrapāṇaye, mahāyakṣasena-pataye, namo vajra-krodhāya, tadyathā oṃ hulu hulu tiṣṭha tiṣṭha bandha bandha hana hana amṛte hūṃ phaṭ.
or the mantra of all activities of the lotus lineage:
Oṃ namo mahā-śrīyāyai, sau me siddhi siddha sādhaya, śivi śivaṃkari, abhaha, sarva-artha-sādhani svāhā.
Putting scented water into the left hand, repeat into the water the lineage essence: Ārolik.
and sprinkle the flowers and so forth. From the seal of dispelling obstructors (seal 10), construct the seal of generating magnificence (seal 14), and with it distribute magnificence on top of the perfume, flowers, and so forth and repeat the mantra of generating magnificence:
Oṃ divya divya dhipaya, avesha mahāśrīye svāhā.
thinking that thereby:
The offerings turn into perfect divine substances.
Then, bless them into magnificence with the mantra of Kuṇḍali: Namo ratnatrayāya, namaṣcaṇḍa-vajrapāṇaye, mahāyakṣasena-pataye, namo vajra-krodhāya, tadyathā oṃ hulu hulu tiṣṭha tiṣṭha bandha bandha hana hana amṛte hūṃ phaṭ.
and repeat the essence mantra of the lotus lineage: Ārolik.
With the oblation seal (seal 28), offer oblation, saying:
You have come blissfully, Supramundane Victor.
Come here and please be seated.
Receiving my oblation also,
Please take pleasure mentally from this.
I have respect for you.
With the foot-bath seal (seal 29), offer a foot-bath, saying:
You have come blissfully, Supramundane Victor.
Come here and please be seated.
Receiving my foot-bath also,
Please take pleasure mentally from this.
I have respect for you.
Oṃ pravarasatkaraṃ pratīccha svāhā.
With the seal of washing the body (seal 30), imagine washing the deity’s body with great clouds of perfumed water which have risen from many precious gold vases and so forth filled with fragrant perfumes; say:
You have come blissfully, Supramundane Victor.
Come here and please be seated.
Receiving my bath also,
Please take pleasure mentally from this.
I have respect for you.
Oṃ sarva-devatā-acinta-amṛta svāhā.
Mentally offer clothing and adornments; offer music, and mentally raise up melodies of praise.
With the perfume seal (seal 31), offer perfume, saying:
With faith I offer these perfumes Of wholesome divine substances
Arisen from the clean, most clean.
Receiving them, be pleased with me.
Āhara āhara sarva-vidyādhari pūjite svāhā.
With the flower seal (seal 32), offer flowers, saying:
With faith I offer these flowers Of auspicious divine substance, Grown from the clean, most clean.
Receiving them, be pleased with me.
Āhara āhara sarva-vidyādhari pūjite svāhā.
With the incense seal (seal 33), offer incense, saying:
With faith I offer divine substances
Made with perfume,
Pleasant essences of the forest.
Receiving them, be pleased with me.
Āhara āhara sarva-vidyādhari pūjite svāhā.
With the seal of divine food (seal 34), offer food, saying:
With faith I offer
Receiving them, be pleased with me.
Āhara āhara sarva-vidyādhari pūjite svāhā.
With the lamp seal (seal 35), offer lamps, saying:
With faith I offer these dispellers Of darkness, conquering harmers, Auspicious and virtuous.
I beg you to receive these lamps.
Ālokāya ālokāya vidhādhare pūjite svāhā.
Praise the Three Jewels—Buddha, his doctrine, and the spiritual community:
Homage to the One-Gone-Thus,
Protector with great compassion,
Oceanic field of merit and attainments.
Homage to the pacifying doctrine,
Through purity separating from desire,
Through virtue liberating from bad transmigrations, In all ways the supreme ultimate.
Respectful homage to the spiritual community,
Liberated, teaching the path of liberation,
Completely dwelling in the precepts,
Excellent field of merit, endowed with attainments.
Praise the lords of the three lineages—Mañjushrī, who is the physical manifestation of the wisdom of all Buddhas; Avalokiteshvara, who is the physical manifestation of the compassion of all Buddhas; and Vajrapāṇi, who is the physical manifestation of the power of all Buddhas:
Homage also to Mañjushrī,
Bearer of the appearance of a youth, Vividly adorned with the lamp of wisdom, Dispeller of the three worlds’ darkness.
Homage to the always merciful,
Whose name is Avalokiteshvara,
Composite of all excellent qualities, Strongly praised by all Buddhas.
Homage to Vajrapāṇi,
Powerful and fierce,
Virtuous king of knowledge-mantra, Tamer of the hard to tame.
Ask for forbearance for not having the circumstances to perform the rite exactly according to the tantra:
Whatever even slightly has been done wrongly
Out of the obscuration in my mind,
Please, O Protector, bear with it all
Since you are the refuge of all the embodied.
Whatever has been done here
Due to non-acquisition, lack of thorough knowledge,
Or not having the capacity,
It is right for the Chief to bear with it all.
Request Avalokiteshvara to depart together with his inestimable mansion, saying:
Concordant with effecting the welfare of all sentient beings. Having gone to a Buddha Land, Please may you come again.
From the seal of invitation (seal 20), make the seal of requesting departure (seal 37), and say:
Ārolik gaccha. Together with his inestimable mansion he has gone to his natural abode.
Free the directions and intermediate directions that were bound earlier by making the seal of unequal limbs (seal 38), circling it from the left, and saying:
Oṃ hulu hulu caṇḍali-mataṃ givi svāhā.
Between sessions
Between sessions remain within deity yoga, albeit not as complete as before, going about daily activities.
CONTINUATION OF MEDITATIVE STABILIZATION OF EXALTED SPEECH
B. Concentration Without Repetition 1. Concentration of Abiding in Fire
(Because mantra is heard as if recited by someone else, it is said to be without repetition.)
1. Contemplate the emptiness of inherent existence of yourself and the deity through the six deities.
2. While visualizing yourself in the form of Avalokiteshvara and conceiving of yourself to be Avalokiteshvara, imagine a tiny moon at your heart with a blazing tongue of fire, like the flame of a butter lamp.
3. Your mind of wisdom realizing emptiness appears as the mantra sounds in the flame at your heart, resounding continuously like bells. Within stopping breath and distraction, your mind is as if dwelling inside the tongue of flame and itself is appearing in that flame as the sounds, as if listening to recitation by someone else or resounding of their own accord. Observe mainly the flame and sounds. Because your mind of wisdom itself is appearing as the mantra sounds, the sounds of the mantra and your own final nature are completely mixed like water and milk.
4. Exhaling, observe your own larger divine body.
Repeat steps 3 and 4.
2. Concentration of Abiding in Sound
(Because mantra is heard as if recited by someone else, it is said to be without repetition.)
1. While visualizing yourself in the form of a deity and conceiving of yourself to be a deity with a flame at the heart, imagine a tiny deity within the flame.
2. Imagine a moon disc at the heart of the tiny deity.
3. Imagine a flame on the moon disc at the heart of the tiny deity.
4. When this visualization becomes firm, your own mind appears as the mantra sounds within the flame at the heart of the tiny deity. Within stopping breath and distraction, your mind is as if dwelling inside the tongue of flame and itself is appearing in that flame as the sounds as if you were listening to recitation by someone else or the letters were sounding of their own accord. Observe mainly the sounds of the mantra. Because your mind of wisdom itself is appearing as the mantra sounds, the sounds of the mantra and your own final nature are completely mixed like water and milk.
5. Exhaling, observe your own larger divine body.
Repeat steps 4 and 5.
Gradually, calm abiding, which is a state of meditative stabilization conjoined with the bliss of mental and physical pliancy, is achieved. The final stages of achieving calm abiding are:
The “winds” (currents of energy) involved in unhealthy physical states are calmed and leave the body through the top of the head, where a tingly sensation is felt.
Then, a mental pliancy, which is a pacification of unhealthy states making the mind heavy and preventing its usage in virtue according to will, is generated; this makes the mind serviceable.
Through its force, a “wind” of serviceability moves throughout the body, inducing a physical pliancy that causes separation from physical states of roughness and heaviness, whereupon you are able to use the body at will in virtuous actions without any sense of hardship. Your body is light like cotton and as if filled with this serviceable wind.
Experiencing this special internal sense of smoothness, you have a bliss of physical pliancy.
Due to the mental consciousness paying attention to this bliss accompanying the body consciousness, a bliss of mental pliancy is generated. Your body seems to have dissolved, and nothing but the object of meditative observation appears.
Your mind is so buoyantly joyous that it now seems almost unable to remain on its object, but the excessive buoyancy is gradually removed, and you attain an immovable pliancy, remaining stably and joyously on the object of observation. This is calm abiding.
YOGA WITHOUT SIGNS
MEDITATIVE STABILIZATION OF EXALTED MIND
3. Concentration Bestowing Liberation at the End of Sound
1. Focus not on appearance in a divine body, whispered repetition, mental repetition, or the concentrations of abiding in fire and abiding in sound but on the emptiness of inherent existence. Although there are still divine appearances to the appearance factor of your consciousness, they no longer appear to the ascertainment factor, which is concerned only with the emptiness of inherent existence, which is now the focus. Because of the previous training, these other factors remain appearing without effort, and you simultaneously and explicitly realize their absence of being established from their own side.
2. Alternate analytical and stabilizing meditation on the emptiness of inherent existence in order to make them of equal strength.
3. Gradually the power of analysis itself is able to induce physical and mental pliancies similar to those of calm abiding, but to a greater degree.
Thereby, special insight, which is a union of calm abiding and special insight, is attained.
II. Effecting the achievement of yogic feats
Feats are in three categories:
1. pacification, such as avoiding untimely death, illnesses, epidemics, harmful influences, and contagion
2. increase, such as enhancing life span, youthfulness, magnificence, power, qualities of realization, and resources
3. ferocity such as killing, expelling, or confusing harmful beings.
These feats—which also include clairvoyance, invisibility, the capacity to understand all treatises immediately upon reading them, swift footedness, and empowering pills for youthfulness and so forth—are sought in order to enhance the power of the very yoga that comprises prior approximation. Thus, although the triad of prior approximation, effecting achievement of feats, and engaging in altruistic activities suggests a movement from the first to the last, the yoga that constitutes the first phase is the most important. The feats that allow a practitioner to perform special activities for the benefit of others bring about merit further enhancing the capacity of this same yoga so that Buddhahood can be achieved. A. Analyzing dreams
B. Performing the above meditation in modified form and burnt offerings or repetitions of mantra and so forth
III. Activities
Using the yogic feats of pacification, increase, and ferocity for your own and others’ temporary and final aims.
