The Heart of Unconditional Love
Page 9
OM is sometimes also used as the expression for invoking the Buddha with devotion and initiating auspicious celebrations.
MANI means gem or jewel, symbolizing wisdom.122 Here, the gem (mani) that the Buddha holds between the palms of his first two hands symbolizes or represents the Buddha’s wisdom that is free from concepts, yet fulfills all the wishes and needs of beings with its great power.
PADME means flower or lotus, which symbolizes loving-kindness.123 The flower (padme) that the Buddha holds in his second left hand symbolizes his loving-kindness that brings joy to all, yet remains unstained by conceptual or emotional impurities, for the essence of loving-kindness is the essence of wisdom.124 When loving-kindness appears among beings to serve them, it remains pure, for its suchness is free from the dual obscurations.125 Loving-kindness is thus symbolized by the lotus flower because even though the roots of the lotus grow in mud, the flower remains pure and unstained. The union of wisdom (mani) and loving-kindness (padme) is the path and the goal of enlightenment to be attained. The flower also symbolizes loving-kindness, compassion, and skillful means.
Phonologically, padma is the lotus, and the e vowel at the end of padme changes it to the vocative, the grammatical case for addressing and invoking (in this case, addressing the Buddha).
HUNG (or HUM) is pronounced hoong. It symbolizes the twofold innate wisdom or mind of the Buddha—the wisdom that knows all things as they are, in detail, and the wisdom that knows the true nature of all, as it is. It also symbolizes the five wisdoms or the five aspects of the Buddha or Buddha wisdom:
Ultimate wisdom: the openness or emptiness aspect of wisdom
Mirror-like wisdom: the aspect of wisdom that enables all to arise and function spontaneously
Wisdom of equality: the aspect of remaining in the all-evenness state
Discriminative wisdom: the aspect of knowing all (omniscience)
All-accomplishing wisdom: the aspect that accomplishes all Buddha actions, services, and purposes
HUNG is the ultimate, natural, and sacred sound that invokes the mind of the Buddha. It also embodies the bodhichitta of the Buddha. hung symbolizes the meaning of suchness, the nondual state, the ultimate goal to be realized through meditation.
When reciting the Six-Syllable Prayer, feel and think about as many of its meanings as you can. You could recite the Six Syllables in any of the following ways:
As a way of calling to the Buddha for his blessings, guidance, and protection
As an exercise in opening and vitalizing your enlightening energy waves
As a way to empower yourself to remain in absorption
As a way to empower and transform all into Buddha blessing
There are numerous other interpretations of the Six-Syllable Prayer:
OM, “Oh, embodiment of the body, speech, and mind aspects of all the Buddhas”; ma-ni pad-me, “who holds a gem and lotus” [or “who is the union of wisdom and skillful means”]; hung, “please look at me and all mother-beings with your loving-kindness.” om, Our body, speech, and mind, and the body, speech, and mind of the Buddha; through ma-ni, the wisdom [or emptiness] and pad-me, loving-kindness; hung, may they be united.
OM, The embodiment of all the Buddhas; ma-ni pad-me, who holds a gem [wisdom] and flower [loving-kindness]; hung, [to you] I pray.
OM, The embodiment of all the Buddhas; ma-ni pad-me, the lord of all-knowing wisdom and loving-kindness; hung, [to you] I pray.
OM, Buddha(s); ma-ni pad-me, the lord of all-knowing wisdom and loving-kindness; hung, please behold us with your omniscient wisdom.
OM, Buddha; ma-ni pad-me, who holds a lotus and gem; hung, in the expanse of your mind I contemplate. om, Buddha; ma-ni pad-me, the wisdom and skillful means; hung, in the expanse of their unity I contemplate.
OM, Oh, ma-ni pad-me, the holder of the gem and lotus; hung, [to you] I pray.
OM, Oh, ma-ni pad-me, the lord of wisdom and loving-kindness; hung, [to you] I pray.
OM, Oh, ma-ni pad-me, the lord of wisdom and loving-kindness; hung, please, behold us.
OM, Oh, ma-ni pad-me, the lord of wisdom and loving-kindness; hung, please grant the realization of nondual wisdom.
A number of sources say that pad-me symbolizes or represents wisdom and ma-ni symbolizes skillful means, such as compassion and loving-kindness. I have adopted that interpretation in previous books. However, in this book, I follow the detailed interpretations of ma-ni and pad-me given by the Third Dodrupchen Rinpoche.126 He writes:
MA-NI is the perfection of wisdom, as it has no concepts and has inconceivable power. pad-me is the great compassion, as it arises by relying upon or thinking of swamp-like samsara and it pleases all beings.127
Nevertheless, the essence of both my former and current interpretations is to teach the meaning of the union of omniscient wisdom (emptiness) and loving-kindness (skillful means) of Buddhahood through the symbols of gems and flowers.
There are also many teachings on seeing the Six Syllables as the Six Perfections—generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, contemplation, and wisdom. There are meditations on lights coming from each syllable and accomplishing the goals of purification and attainment.
Ter texts often add a hri syllable at the end of the Six-Syllable Prayer, making it a seven-syllable prayer: OM MA-NI PAD-ME HUNG hri. The hri symbolizes the heart-seed syllable of the Buddha of Loving-Kindness. The first Six Syllables are the part of prayer that invokes; the hri syllable symbolizes the mind of the Buddha, which is to be invoked.
If we could spend our life chanting or singing the six- or seven-syllable prayer with total devotion to the Buddha and total loving-kindness to all mother-beings, we would attain the fruits of many teachings. To chant like this would be to experience the enlightened heart-essences of all the Dharma teachings, such as devotion, loving-kindness, and wisdom. It would transform our body, speech, and mind into Buddha and Dharma.
People who recite the Six-Syllable Prayer with devotion and loving-kindness as their everyday prayer will gradually and naturally attain endless spiritual accomplishments. They will eventually become free from sick mentalities like grasping at “self,” arrogance, hatred, craving, and obsessive sensations.
Receiving Purifications and Blessings
Visualize and repeatedly generate devotion toward and trust in the Buddha of Loving-Kindness. Then visualize that from his body, the blessings of his body, speech, and mind—and of his wisdom, love, and power in general, and particularly the power of his loving-kindness—are projected in various forms of rainbow-beam-like lights with blissful heat. The waves of beams and rays come toward you with the sweet, soothing sound of the Six-Syllable Prayer. They enter you through every pore of your body. Your body is completely filled with the flood of the radiant blessing light with blissful heat and the soothing sounds of the Six Syllables, like a vase filled with nectar.
Again and again, think and feel that the beams of blessing light of the Buddha’s wisdom, love, and power and especially his loving-kindness have filled your body with inconceivable radiance and blissful heat and the feeling of unconditional love. Feel and believe that these blessing lights have completely purified all your ignorant mental qualities rooted in grasping at “self,” all the negative karma that you’ve ever accumulated, all your emotional and intellectual obscurations with their habitual tendencies, and all their undesirable effects—sickness, sadness, and fear that have until now filled our minds and bodies in the form of total darkness. Then think and feel again and again that this darkness within you is completely dispelled, without a trace, thanks to the power of the bright wisdom blessing light. Repeatedly recognize and enjoy the absence of that darkness, or ill-effects, and celebrate in the brightness of the blessing light of absolute love.
See, feel, and trust that not only are your negative mentalities and bodily ills purified and exhausted, but also that each particle of your body has become immaculate, transparent, and boundless like the clear sky. Every particle of your body is now transform
ed into a particle of radiant blessing light of loving-kindness of the Buddha.
The movements of your inhalations and exhalations, the waves of every particle of your body, become the energy waves of blissful heat of wisdom and loving-kindness—the blessings of the Buddha. Every blessing wave emits infinite dazzling rays with blissful heat and gentle or roaring sounds of the Six-Syllable Prayer. Think and believe that the unconditional love of the Buddha of Loving-Kindness has merged with your own mind and remains inseparable, as one. All your thoughts have become the thoughts of loving-kindness, wishing immeasurable joy and happiness forever for all infinite beings of the universe.
The waves of your body and physical activities also become the waves of the power of loving-kindness that fulfills the wishes and needs of all beings. You have the power to fulfill others’ wishes because of the power of loving-kindness that came from the Buddha and that has awakened and blossomed in you.
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MEDITATION ON THE INNER BUDDHA
THE INNER BUDDHA Stage is about recognizing Buddha qualities in your own mind.
Awaken the Realization of Loving-Kindness in Yourself
Before starting, remember and calmly focus your attention on what you have experienced in your body in the first stage.
Then recognize and feel that your ordinary thoughts and feelings have awakened into thoughts and feelings of openness wisdom, boundless power, and especially unconditional love—triggered by seeing and feeling them in the external Buddha. Think, feel, and recognize these boundless Buddha qualities in your every thought, every bodily particle, and every wave of your breathing with the sound of the Six Syllables—over and over again.
See that your mind and body have turned into light— light of the Buddha’s wisdom, power, and loving-kindness. Inconceivable beams of blessing lights of loving-kindness, filled with blissful heat with sweet sounds of the sacred Six-Syllable Prayer, emanate from your body. These light beams are, in fact, the blessing energies of the Buddha’s unconditional love.
Extend Loving-Kindness to Others
Having awakened and anchored the realization of loving-kindness within ourselves, we must now share those blessings with others, step by step. We begin with a loved one, then distant acquaintances, then strangers, then those we don’t like, and finally all infinite beings—bringing the Buddha’s lights and/or lights from our own blessed hearts to purify and enlighten each group in turn.
THE MOTHER AS OUR FOCAL POINT
So we start by focusing on a loved one, such as our mother. Tibetans generally use the mother to inspire them to awaken loving-kindness. She is regarded as the greatest symbol of love and care to us, her children, and a symbol of love in general. The mother is seen as an all-important and powerful teacher for us to understand and generate pure love loving-kindness.
Unfortunately, a lot of people do not have a relationship based on love and respect with their mothers. If so, they should substitute her with someone else whom they love and respect. Eventually, though, we should try to appreciate everyone, including our mother, as a source of inspiration and object of loving-kindness meditation, as she is the one who gave us our precious life and cherished us.
Many people want to use their husband, wife, boyfriend, or girlfriend as their initial source of inspiration to practice, because they love them more than anyone else. If your love for these people is pure, then by all means choose them. Unfortunately, however, what you feel toward your romantic partner could be more attachment or lust rooted in the tight grip of grasping at ego, rather than pure love. If so, and if you meditate on them, they could become a source of beastly attachment, craving, and obsession that will end up causing you and them pain sooner or later. So, when you start learning how to meditate on loving-kindness, it is best not to use your intimate partner as your inspiration. Instead, pick someone who opens pure loving-kindness in you without tightening your attachment.
HOW TO GENERATE LOVING-KINDNESS TOWARD YOUR MOTHER
So start with your mother (or a substitute) and reflect on the true loving qualities of all that she gave you. Remember and feel her kindness from the bottom of your heart—her kindness in giving you your body, giving you life, caring for you through so many hardships, teaching you how to handle life step-by-step, and training you to defend yourself from adversities, small and big.
Think about and feel from the heart the many sacrifices she endured for you over the years. Think about how she deprived herself of true happiness and the sources of true happiness for your sake. If you think about these things seriously, you will notice arising within you an unbearable urge to repay her kindness by dedicating every waking hour of your life, every ounce of your energy, to improving her life. When you experience this heartfelt love toward her, repeatedly express this heartfelt wish: “May my mother have true happiness and the cause of happiness.” Make a heartfelt commitment: “I will dedicate my whole life to bringing true happiness to her life.”
Then pray to the Buddha of Loving-Kindness from the depth of your being for his help, his blessings: “O Buddha of Loving-Kindness! Please look after my mother with unconditional love. Please bestow on her all your kind blessings so that she may enjoy happiness now and attain enlightenment before long.”
To maintain and strengthen your own feelings, now and then rekindle your devotion in the Buddha and his love, by thinking about and feeling his extraordinary loving-kindness and compassion to you.
HOW TO BRING BLESSING LIGHTS TO YOUR MOTHER
Now visualize that infinite beams and rays of blessing lights of unconditional love in various colors come from the Buddha of Loving-Kindness, whom you have visualized before you, and enter your mother. If you like, you can also see lights projecting from your own heart and body to your mother—as you have awakened yourself as a body and mind of Buddha blessings.
See the radiant and blazing blessing lights fill her body, purifying, healing, and transforming her every particle—as you did for yourself in the Outer Buddha Stage. All the sickness, sadness, and impurities of her mind and body, which assume the form of darkness in her body, are fully dispelled and purified by the power of blessing light. All her unwholesome concepts, emotions, and sensations become the Buddha’s radiant loving-kindness. All her virtuous wishes are fulfilled. All the particles of her body awaken into particles of the blessing light of the Buddha’s all-knowing wisdom, loving-kindness, and boundless power.
HOW TO MEDITATE ON LIGHTS
Buddhist meditation Masters describe how to meditate on the lights projecting from Buddhas. The Buddhas’ names may differ, but the principle remains the same. Karma Chagme Rinpoche128 describes how to meditate on the lights projecting from the Healing Buddha:
Lights of lapis-like color are projected.
They merge into oneself and the devotees.
Everyone’s sicknesses are dissolved like frost touched by sunlight.129
Mipham Rinpoche describes how to meditate on lights projecting from Shakyamuni Buddha:
While you are pronouncing the Buddha’s name and reciting his dharani,130 [imagine that] from his body he projects his great wisdom-lights in various colors. They dispel all your and beings’ obscurations. All beings have perfectly realized all the attainments of the Mahayana path and achieved the stage of nonreturners.131
The Third Dodrupchen teaches how to meditate on lights projecting from Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light:
Reciting [the prayer] with a one-pointed mind,
Invoke the mind of the Buddha and his disciples.
[Think that] from their bodies rays of light are emitted.
They pacify all one’s own and others’ suffering, and
Accomplish all the aspirations that we all have made.132
EXTEND LOVING-KINDNESS TO FRIENDS, STRANGERS, FOES, AND ALL BEINGS
Now reflect that there is not a single being who hasn’t been your kind mother during one or other of your infinite previous lives, as discussed in chapter 4. Like your present mother, these b
eings were kind to you, took care of you and made tremendous sacrifices for you. They all need happiness, just like your present mother.
Use the same formula—generating the same loving-kindness as you felt for your mother and sharing blessing lights from the Buddha and/or from yourself—to each of the following groups in sequence: friends, then neutral beings (strangers), then your so-called foes, and finally all infinite beings.
Take time to deepen the feeling of your unconditional love for each group. Try to develop a heartfelt loving-kindness toward each group before moving on to the next, as much as you can. Take time to purify and transform each group until you feel that all beings are transformed into the minds of loving-kindness and the bodies of blessing light of the Buddha and his Pure Land.
It might take a lot of effort to generate loving-kindness to your foes. But according to Buddhism, they too must have been your loving mothers once upon a time. The more angry and mean they are to you now, the more loving-kindness you owe them, for, like butterflies flying to candle flames, they are rushing toward a harsher and bleaker future due to their ignorance-driven misdeeds.