Please pour down your inspiring blessings upon myself and all my mothers, so that we may quickly stop all perverse minds, from disrespect for our kind Teacher to the most subtle dual appearance.
Please pour down your inspiring blessings, so that we may quickly generate pure minds, from respect for our kind Teacher to the supreme mind of Union.
Please pour down your inspiring blessings to pacify all outer and inner obstructions.
When we have made these requests we imagine that the blessings of all the holy beings descend from their hearts in the form of lights and nectars. These enter our body and mind, purifying our negative karma and obstructions, and increasing our merit, good qualities, life span and realizations. These blessings greatly increase our potentiality to gain the realization of the meditation we are about to do.
We then make requests to the Lamrim lineage Gurus, beginning with our principal Spiritual Guide, reciting the prayer three times:
So now my most kind root Guru,
Please sit on the lotus and moon on my crown
And grant me out of your great kindness,
Your body, speech and mind’s attainments.
Our Spiritual Guide emanates another form in the same aspect which comes to the crown of our head facing the Field for Accumulating Merit. With folded hands he then helps us to make our requests to the other lineage Gurus. We can recite the long prayer by Je Tsongkhapa called Opening the Door to the Supreme Path or recite the brief prayer beginning:
I make requests to you, Buddha Shakyamuni,
Whose body comes from countless virtues,
Whose speech fulfils the hopes of mortals,
Whose mind sees clearly all existence.
and ending:
I make requests to you, my kind precious Teacher,
Who care for those with uncontrolled minds
Untamed by all the previous Buddhas,
As if they were fortunate disciples.
After this we make a special request to gain the realization of whatever meditation we are about to do. Since in this instance we are about to meditate on how to rely upon our Spiritual Guide, we request in the following way:
I and all my kind mothers continue to take rebirth without freedom or control because we have not yet relied wholeheartedly upon our Spiritual Guide. Please bless us to gain this realization.
We make this special request three times and then imagine light radiating from the heart of Guru Buddha Shakyamuni to the outermost limits of the Field for Accumulating Merit. From the furthest boundary all the holy beings dissolve into light and gradually gather into the five central groups of Gurus. These in turn dissolve into light and gather into Guru Buddha Shakyamuni who comes to the crown of our head and instantly transforms our principal Spiritual Guide, who is at our crown, into the same aspect as Buddha Shakyamuni. Then we generate strong faith in Guru Buddha Shakyamuni, regarding him as in essence one with all the objects of refuge including our main Spiritual Guide. We offer again the practice of the seven limbs, reciting the short prayer of the seven limbs, after which we offer a mandala. Then we request:
O Guru Buddha,
In nature the wisdom Dharmakaya,
Synthesis of all Spiritual Guides,
Please bestow your inspiration.
O Guru Buddha,
In nature the Sambhogakaya,
Synthesis of all Buddha Jewels,
Please bestow your inspiration.
O Guru Buddha,
In nature the compassion Dharmakaya,
Synthesis of all Dharma Jewels,
Please bestow your inspiration.
O Guru Buddha,
In nature the Supreme Emanation,
Synthesis of all Sangha Jewels,
Please bestow your inspiration.
We repeat our request for blessings and make heartfelt requests to attain the realization of the meditation that we are about to do, recognizing how necessary it is to gain this realization if we are to attain liberation and enlightenment. At this point we can also recite the Prayer of the Stages of the Path included within the prayers for the six preparatory practices in Essence of Good Fortune.
In response to our requests Guru Buddha Shakyamuni radiates light which enters our body and mind, purifying our non-virtue and eliminating obstructions. In particular, it purifies obstacles to our gaining the realizations that we have requested. Our body is transformed into the nature of light and our mind develops a very strong potentiality to attain these realizations.
Now we have completed all six preparatory practices and we are ready to do our actual Lamrim meditation. Throughout the meditation we should remain aware of our Spiritual Guide, in the aspect of Buddha Shakyamuni, at the crown of our head. Whenever we experience difficulty in our meditation – whether it be distraction, laziness, or any kind of unpleasant feeling about the meditation – we can pause, offer a mandala, and request inspiration from Guru Buddha Shakyamuni, ‘Please help me to eliminate this hindrance and apply myself well to the meditation.’ Then we can again visualize the light and nectar descending from Guru Buddha Shakyamuni to our heart, eliminating our obstacles and blessing our mind with good energy to continue our meditation. If we practise like this, combining meditation with requests to receive inspiration and blessings, we will definitely gain realizations. Geshe Dag Powa said:
If we combine with our meditation the practices of purifying negativity, accumulating merit and making requests for inspiration to our Spiritual Guides and Yidams, there is no doubt that our mind will change. Since our present state of mind is impermanent, if we practise in this way repeatedly, although we may think we have no hope of gaining profound realizations, we will gain them quickly.
The essence of the six preparatory practices is contained in the prayers called Essence of Good Fortune and in a shorter practice called Prayers for Meditation, both of which can be found in Appendix II. The sequence of prayers explained above differs slightly from the sequence in Essence of Good Fortune, which presents a complete but less extensive system of practice. The prayers should be recited with each session of meditation. Our actual Lamrim meditation is done at the conclusion of the Prayer of the Stages of the Path or at the appropriate point within the prayer.
Contents Page
Vasubandhu
What is Meditation?
Before presenting the actual meditation, there now follows a general explanation of the nature and purpose of meditation. To meditate is to familiarize our mind constantly and thoroughly with a virtuous object. Meditation has many functions: it overcomes inner problems such as those created by anger, jealousy, attachment and ignorance; it controls our mind and brings inner peace; it enables us to cultivate virtuous intentions that lead us to perform good actions; and it eliminates non-virtuous intentions that lead us to perform harmful actions. By practising meditation we gain experience of the many levels of spiritual realization and progress to higher and higher levels of spiritual attainment until we accomplish the highest of all, the state of Buddhahood.
To practise meditation we first need to learn Dharma by listening to and reading correct instructions. We then need to contemplate the meaning of what we have heard and read. We contemplate Dharma to understand