Essence of Vajrayana. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

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СКАЧАТЬ a small television screen can show images of entire cities, so we imagine that the mandala in our hands contains the entire universe. We concentrate single-pointedly on these countless pure worlds, enjoyments and beings, and with firm faith offer them all to our Gurus and the Buddhas.

      While we construct this mandala, we recite the offering prayer from the sadhana. When we have recited the long mandala offering prayer we can continue, while still holding the base, to offer the twenty-three-point mandala. We do not need to construct a new mandala because the twenty-three precious objects are included among the precious objects of the thirty-seven-point mandala. The twenty-three precious objects are: Mount Meru, the four continents, the eight sub-continents, the seven precious objects (from the precious wheel up to the precious general), the treasure vase, the sun and the moon.

      To offer the twenty-three-point mandala, we recite the verse from the sadhana:

      O Treasure of Compassion, my Refuge and Protector,

      I offer you the mountain, continents, precious objects, treasure vase, sun and moon,

      Which have arisen from my aggregates, sources and elements

      As aspects of the exalted wisdom of spontaneous bliss and emptiness.

      With this verse we make outer, inner, secret and thatness mandala offerings. We offer the outer mandala by visualizing the mountain, continents, precious objects, treasure vase, sun and moon. We offer the inner mandala by mentally transforming our aggregates and elements into the form of the outer mandala. We offer the secret and thatness mandalas by imagining that our mind of indivisible bliss and emptiness transforms into the mandala. From the point of view of its having the nature of great bliss, the mandala is the secret mandala, and from the point of view of its being a manifestation of emptiness, it is the thatness mandala. If we wish to collect twenty-three-point mandalas as one of the great preliminary guides, we can construct them using the base, with or without the rings, and recite this verse.

      Offering the mandala is the best method for freeing ourself from future poverty and for creating the cause of rebirth in a Buddha’s Pure Land. By making mandala offerings we lessen our attachment to worldly enjoyments and possessions and accumulate a vast collection of merit. As a result we experience a gradual increase of our enjoyments, wealth, and good conditions. Our temporary wishes are fulfilled and finally we will attain our ultimate goal, full enlightenment. If we wish to experience these benefits, we should familiarize ourself with the practice of offering the mandala.

      Je Tsongkhapa was an enlightened being who did not need to accumulate merit, but to show a good example to other practitioners he offered a million mandalas during one of his long retreats in the south of central Tibet, in the cave called Ölga Chölung. For a base he used a flat stone, and through offering so many mandalas he rubbed the inside of his wrist until it was raw and bleeding.

      If we are strongly attached to someone or something, we can imagine the object of our attachment on the mandala base, transform it into a pure object, and then offer it while praying, ‘May I be free from all attachment.’ In a similar way we can offer all the objects of our ignorance, anger, jealousy, pride, and so forth. While reciting the verse from the sadhana, we can offer all the objects of our delusions and pray to be free from those delusions.

      To make mandala offerings as one of the great preliminary guides, we collect a hundred thousand mandala offerings. At the beginning of each session we offer a thirty-seven-point mandala, and we then collect seven-point mandalas. To construct and count seven-point mandala offerings we place a loosely threaded mala over the fingers of our left hand, take some rice in that hand, and then hold the mandala base with it. We then take some rice in our right hand and recite refuge and bodhichitta prayers while constructing the mandala. To do this we sprinkle a little rice on the base, and with the inside of the right wrist rub three times clockwise and three times counter-clockwise. We then place one heap of rice in the centre of the base, one in the east, one in the south, one in the west and one in the north, to symbolize Mount Meru and the four continents. We then place a heap of rice in the east for the sun and one in the west for the moon. We then take a little rice in our right hand and hold the base with both hands while reciting the following mandala offering prayer:

      The ground sprinkled with perfume and spread with flowers,

      The Great Mountain, four lands, sun and moon,

      Seen as a Buddha Land and offered thus,

      May all beings enjoy such Pure Lands.

      IDAM GURU RATNA MANDALAKAM NIRYATAYAMI

      After reciting the prayer, we tip the rice towards us into a cloth on our lap. This is counted as one mandala offering and so we move one bead along the mala. We make as many mandala offerings as we wish during each session. At the end of the session, we make a long mandala offering of thirty-seven points and then dedicate our merit.

      RECEIVING THE BLESSINGS OF THE FOUR EMPOWERMENTS

      By receiving the blessings of the four empowerments every day, we can purify our broken Tantric vows and commitments and maintain the special blessings that we received directly from our root Guru when he or she granted the empowerment. Through this, our meditation on generation stage and completion stage will progress successfully.

      We first make requests to Guru Heruka to bestow the blessings of the four empowerments by reciting three times the verse from the sadhana:

      O Guru Heruka, the nature of the Truth Body,

      I seek no refuge other than you.

      Please purify all negativities of my three doors,

      And bless me to attain the four bodies of great bliss.

      The ultimate blessings of the four empowerments are the attainment of the four bodies of a Buddha: the two Form Bodies, the Emanation Body and Enjoyment Body; and the two Truth Bodies, the Nature Body and Wisdom Truth Body. These attainments depend upon progress in generation stage and completion stage meditations, which in turn depends upon receiving and maintaining the special blessings of the four empowerments.

      Receiving the blessings of the four empowerments has four parts:

      1 Receiving the vase empowerment

      2 Receiving the secret empowerment

      3 Receiving the wisdom-mudra empowerment

      4 Receiving the precious word empowerment

      RECEIVING THE VASE EMPOWERMENT

      We imagine that due to our request Guru Heruka emanates from his heart Vajravarahi and the four Yoginis, who hold precious vases filled with wisdom nectar. They grant us the vase empowerment by pouring the nectar through our crown. Our body is filled with wisdom nectar, and this purifies all the defilements and obstructions of our body. We imagine that we experience great bliss, and thus we receive the blessings of the vase empowerment.

      If we experience even a slight feeling of bliss through imagining the wisdom nectars pouring from the precious vases through our crown, this bliss is the actual vase empowerment. This empowerment causes us to accomplish the realizations of generation stage and the Emanation Body of a Buddha. It is called the ‘vase empowerment’ because it is granted by using a vase.

      RECEIVING THE SECRET EMPOWERMENT

      We imagine that as Guru Heruka Father and Mother engage in union, all the Heroes, the male Tantric Buddhas, enter Heruka’s body through his mouth and melt into СКАЧАТЬ