When we bless our inner offering, the basis of the offering is the ten inner substances, but the visual object of the offering is a nectar pill dissolved in alcohol or tea. When we bless torma and tsog offerings, the visual object of the offerings and the basis of the offerings are the same, both having the aspect of nectar for eating. Apart from these differences, the four stages of clearance, purification, generation and transformation are the same when blessing the inner offering, the tsog offerings and the torma offerings.
The procedure for making nectar pills that was mentioned in the yoga of experiencing nectar is also similar to the procedure for blessing the inner offering. However, there are some differences with respect to the visualized basis upon which the pills are established, the substances that are used, and the number of OM AH HUM mantras that are recited during the blessing.
BLESSING THE OUTER OFFERINGS
This has two parts:
1 General explanation
2 How to bless the outer offerings
GENERAL EXPLANATION
Traditionally there are eight outer offerings, which are sometimes followed by a further six. Listed in the order in which they are offered, the eight offerings are: nectar for drinking, water for bathing the feet, flowers, incense, light, perfume, food and music. The purpose of making these offerings to the Gurus, Yidams, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas is to increase our merit, or good fortune, and thereby create the cause for our wishes to be fulfilled. In particular, by offering food and nectar we will gain freedom from the suffering of poverty and obtain the enjoyments of the Buddhas. By offering bathing water and perfume we will become free from samsaric rebirths and attain the Form Body of a Buddha. By offering beautiful flowers we will become free from sickness, ageing, and other bodily ailments, and we will attain the special attributes of the body of a Buddha. By offering incense we create the cause to keep pure moral discipline and attain pure concentration. By offering lights we will become free from the inner darkness of ignorance and attain omniscient wisdom. By offering beautiful music we create the cause never to have to hear unpleasant sounds but only to hear pleasant sounds, especially the sound of Dharma; and to receive only good news. It is also a cause of attaining the speech of a Buddha. Knowing these benefits we should try to make outer offerings every day, at least mentally.
All Buddhist practitioners should keep a statue or a picture of Buddha Shakyamuni and regard this as the living Buddha. Practitioners of these special Vajrayogini instructions should also keep statues or pictures of Je Tsongkhapa and Vajrayogini and regard these as they would the living Je Tsongkhapa and Vajrayogini. In front of these representations of the Buddhas, Gurus and Yidams we arrange three rows of offering bowls. The first row, closest to the shrine, is for the Field for Accumulating Merit visualized in the practice of Guru yoga; the second row is for the in-front-generated Deity visualized during the torma offering; and the third row is for ourself generated as the Deity. We can arrange more than three rows if we wish. We can set out a hundred rows of offerings, or even more, if we have the time.
According to Mother Tantra, offerings are made starting from the left hand of the Deity. Thus, offerings to the self-generated Deity should be set out starting from our left and offerings to the in-front-generated Deities should be arranged starting from our right, and placed in the order already explained. Traditionally we use water for the first two offerings and the sixth, but we regard it as nectar.
In front of us, on a small table, we place in a row from our right to our left a damaru, a bell, a vajra and the inner offering. The bell faces us with the vajra to its right, just touching it. The other ritual objects should be placed a little apart. The bell symbolizes emptiness and the vajra symbolizes great bliss; together they remind us that when we received the empowerment we made a commitment to train in great bliss and emptiness, and in the union of these two. ‘Great bliss’ refers to the bliss that arises through the melting of the drops inside the central channel through the power of meditation.
HOW TO BLESS THE OUTER OFFERINGS
This has four parts:
1 Clearance
2 Purification
3 Generation
4 Actual blessing
CLEARANCE
For the clearance stage of the blessing we recite OM KHANDAROHI HUM HUM PHAT and visualize either ten or countless wrathful Khandarohi Goddesses emanating from the letter BAM at our heart. These Goddesses drive away all spirits who try to interrupt us. We then reabsorb the Goddesses into our heart.
PURIFICATION
While reciting the mantra OM SÖBHAWA SHUDDHA SARWA DHARMA SÖBHAWA SHUDDHO HAM we meditate on the lack of inherent existence of the eight offering substances and of all phenomena. This practice purifies our ordinary appearances and ordinary conceptions.
GENERATION
We visualize the following:
From the state of emptiness eight KAM letters instantaneously appear in the space in front of us. These eight letters, which have the nature of great bliss and emptiness, transform into eight skullcups. Inside each skullcup a letter HUM appears. These letters, which are in nature indivisible bliss and emptiness, transform into the individual offerings: water for drinking, water for bathing the feet, and so on. Each offering has three attributes: its nature is the wisdom union of great bliss and emptiness, its aspect is that of the individual outer offering, and its function is to cause those who enjoy it to experience special, uncontaminated bliss.
ACTUAL BLESSING
Above each skullcup we visualize the three letters OM AH HUM, one above the other, and we then recite the appropriate blessing mantra. For each blessing mantra we insert the Sanskrit name of the offering between OM and AH HUM. The Sanskrit names of the eight outer offerings are: AHRGHAM, water for drinking; PADÄM, water for bathing the feet; VAJRA PUPE, flowers; VAJRA DHUPE, incense; VAJRA DIWE, light; VAJRA GÄNDHE, perfume; VAJRA NEWIDE, food; and VAJRA SHAPTA, music. Thus to bless the water for drinking, for example, we recite the blessing mantra OM AHRGHAM AH HUM.
After verbally blessing each offering in this way we imagine that the letter HUM above each skullcup dissolves into the offering, followed by the letters AH and then OM. In this way the offerings are blessed and transform into the nature of the wisdom union of great bliss and emptiness possessing the three attributes.
OM is the seed-letter of all Buddhas’ bodies, AH the seed-letter of all Buddhas’ speech, and HUM the seed-letter of all Buddhas’ minds. The letters OM AH HUM therefore symbolize the body, speech and mind of all the Buddhas. These three letters are the source of all the mantras of the Gurus, Buddhas, Yidams and Dharma Protectors, and when we recite this mantra we invoke the great power of all these holy beings. Despite its brevity, this is one of the most blessed and powerful of all mantras. If we recite it with conviction and strong faith we will receive the blessings of all the Buddhas.
While we recite the blessing mantra we can perform the accompanying hand gestures, or mudras, which symbolize and bless each offering. Illustrations of the various hand gestures can be found in Appendix III. As we recite the blessing mantra for the music offering we play the damaru and bell. We hold the bell in our left hand and play it at the level of our heart to symbolize the experience of clear light, which arises through the dissolution of the inner winds within the central channel at the heart. To attain the wisdom of clear light through meditation we need to ignite the inner fire and cause it to increase, and this is symbolized by playing the damaru. We hold the vajra and damaru in our right hand. We play the damaru at the level of the navel because we ignite the inner fire by concentrating on our navel channel wheel. We begin by playing the damaru and imagining that it ignites our inner fire, and then we accompany it by playing the bell briefly, signifying the subsequent experience of clear light. Playing the instruments in this way sows in our mind a special potential to accomplish these attainments in the future.
The six additional outer offerings are also known by