Tantric Techniques (41 page)

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Authors: Jeffrey Hopkins

Tags: #Health & Fitness, #Yoga, #Body; Mind & Spirit, #Meditation, #Religion, #Buddhism, #General, #Tibetan

BOOK: Tantric Techniques
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        1. 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:

          O

          vimaladhaha h
          ūṃ
          .

          Imagine Mount Meru with lotus and divine residence:

        1. 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 lo-tus; its stalk, rising out of the center of Mount Meru, is adorned with jewels, petals made of jewels, a gold corolla,

          a
          Tsong-kha-pa indicates (
          Deity Yoga,
          103-104) that it is easier for beginners to meditate on the deity in front first and then oneself as a deity, since meditation on a deity in front requires many activities whereas self-generation is aimed at developing
          steady
          concentration on oneself in divine form. Thus, the order of the first two of the branches could be reversed.

          The Practice
          175

          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
          bhr
          ūṃ
          ,
          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:

          Nama

          sarvatath
          ā
          gat
          ā
          n
          āṃ
          sarvath
          ā
          udgate sphara

          ahima

          gaganakha

          sv
          ā
          h
          ā
          .

          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 ves-sel (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.

          O

          namo mah
          ā
          -
          ś
          r
          ī
          y
          ā
          yai, sau me siddhi siddha s
          ā
          dhaya,
          ś
          ivi
          ś
          iva

          - kari, abhaha, sarva-artha-s
          ā
          dhani sv
          ā
          h
          ā
          .

          Facing in front where a painting, or the like, of the deity is placed, bow down, saying the mantra:

          O

          sarvatath
          ā
          gata k
          ā
          ya-v
          ā
          k-citta-vajra-pra

          amena sarvatath
          ā
          ga-ta-vajra-p
          ā
          da-vandana

          karomi.

          Then, kneeling, invite the deity through making the seal of invitation (seal 20), which is a beckoning gesture, saying:

        1. 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.

          Ā
          rolik, ehyahi.

          Assuming the same posture as Avalokiteshvara, that is, sitting, hold up the oblation at the level of your head, and offer it, saying:

          O

          avalokite
          ś
          vara argha

          prat
          ī
          ccha sv
          ā
          h
          ā
          .

          If the proper ingredients have not been obtained, beg the deity’s pardon:

        1. Whatever even slightly has been done wrongly

          176
          Tantric Techniques

        1. Out of the obscuration in my mind, Please, O Protector, bear with it all
          Since you are the refuge of all the embodied.
        1. Whatever has been done here
          Due to non-acquisition, lack of thorough knowledge, Or not having the capacity,
        1. It is right for the Chief to bear with it all.

          Then:

        1. 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 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—arrives together with his inestimable mansion which fuses with the imagined mansion.

          Offer a seat while reciting:

        1. It is good that the compassionate Supramundane Victor has come.
          I am meritorious and fortunate. Taking my oblation,
        1. Please pay heed and grant my request.
          From compassion for myself and transmigrators As long as I make offering
        1. May the Supramundane Victor please remain here Through your powers of magical creation.

          Displaying the pledge vajra seal (seal 24), recite once:

          Ś
          a

          kare samaye sv
          ā
          h
          ā
          .

          Make seal 26, and say the essence-mantra for the lotus lineage:

          Ā
          rolik
          .

          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:

        1. 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.

          The Practice
          177

        1. 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 ratnatray
          ā
          ya, nama

          ca
          ṇḍ
          a-vajrap
          āṇ
          aye, mah
          ā
          yak

          asenapa- taye, namo vajrakrodh
          ā
          ya, tadyath
          ā
          o

          hulu hulu ti
          ṣṭ
          ha ti
          ṣṭ
          ha bandha bandha hana hana am

          te h
          ūṃ
          pha

          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:

          Ā
          rolik
          .

          With the seal of generating magnificence (seal 14), spread magnificence on top of the offerings and say the appropriate mantra for generating magnificence:

          O

          divya divya dhipaya, ave
          ś
          a mah
          āś
          r
          ī
          yaye sv
          ā
          h
          ā
          .
          (Lotus lineage) With the oblation seal (seal 28), offer oblation, saying:

        1. You have come blissfully, Supramundane Victor. Come here and please be seated.
          Receiving my oblation also,
        1. Please take pleasure mentally from this. I have respect for you.

          O

          sarvatath
          ā
          gata-avalokite
          ś
          vara-sapariv
          ā
          ra argha

          prat
          ī
          ccha sv
          ā
          h
          ā
          .

          With the foot-bath seal (seal 29), offer a foot-bath, saying:
          You have come blissfully, Supramundane Victor.

        1. Come here and please be seated. Receiving my foot-bath also,
          Please take pleasure mentally from this. I have respect for you.

          O

          sarvatath
          ā
          gata-avalokite
          ś
          vara-sapariv
          ā
          ra pravarasatkara

          prat
          ī
          ccha sv
          ā
          h
          ā
          .

          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:

        1. You have come blissfully, Supramundane Victor. Come here and please be seated.
          Receiving my bath also,
        1. Please take pleasure mentally from this.

          178
          Tantric Techniques

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