Tantric Techniques (43 page)

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Authors: Jeffrey Hopkins

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

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          1. has equally been my enemy; and each has equally been neutral.
          2. 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.
          1. The times I took birth from a womb or an egg are unlimited in number, and therefore my mothers are also unlimited in number.
          2. Each sentient being has to have been my mother many times.

          Second Step: Appreciating Kindness

          Visualize your prime nurturer, vividly in front, and think:

        1. 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.

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          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:

        1. 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:

        1. 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:

        1. 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:

        1. 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:

        1. This person wants happiness but is bereft. May she or he be im-bued with happiness and all the causes of happiness!

          Extend the same wish to neutral beings, and enemies.

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          Then intensify the feeling, starting with friends, with:

        1. 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:

        1. 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:

        1. 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:

        1. 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:

        1. 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.
          1. Even if I have to do it alone, I will free all sentient beings

          The Practice
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        1. 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.

        1. 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:

        1. I will attain Buddhahood in order to liberate stricken transmigrating beings.

          and say:

        1. To pacify the suffering
          Of limitless realms of sentient beings, Release them from bad transmigrations, Liberate them from afflictive emotions, And protect them completely
        1. From the varieties of sufferings
          When the discomforts of cyclic existence crowd in,
        1. I will generate an altruistic intention to become enlightened.
          May I always be a refuge
        1. For all destitute sentient beings, A protector of the protectorless,
          A support of those without support, A refuge for the unprotected,
        1. One who makes the miserable happy.
          May I cause the pacification
        1. Of all sentient beings’ afflictive emotions. May whatever virtuous actions

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        1. 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 Be of benefit to all beings
        1. Without there being any exception.
          Making effort until enlightenment, I will strive at actions temporarily

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