Qawwata bihi jinnahu dha-junga dhimana rabda bayi jawabu l-rabbu. [...] Ātmāṃ caṭaṭṭuḥ paśyāṃ bāyāṃ caṭaṭṭaṃ ālāṃ caṭaṭṭaṃ caṭaṭṭaṃ ālāṃ caṭaṭṭaṃ caṭaṭṭaṃ caṭaṭṭaṃ caṭaṃ [...] caṭ Sādhu bi-sādhu [...]

[01:53]

As-salaamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Inthani ṭhākī ṭhīni ṭhākī [...] Today our programme will be practice-oriented.

[05:16]

We will devote the day to learning and practising as a group, first the meditation of Green Tara and then the four mandala rite of Green Tara, the rite of Tara. Now, as we will be performing the rite today, Jetsun Kusala requests that you be vegetarian today until we have finished the program. That means that you will want to eat vegetarian for lunch today. And it's not your fault if you had ham and eggs for breakfast because we didn't announce it yesterday. However, we hope that you haven't had breakfast yet. How many of you, you all have brought your copies, is that right?

[06:22]

All right, we'll be needing these throughout the day. Let's see. He won a church, he came out in the council and I'm going to be, but then I'm going to have to do it. Don't push it. I'm going to have to do it. I'm going to have to do it. I'm going to have to do it. When I was a child, I used to go to the temple to pray.

[07:31]

When I was a child, I used to go to the temple to pray. When I was a child, I used to go to the temple to pray. When I was a child, I used to go to the temple to pray. All right. I generally, in the beginning, such programs of the study of tantric material. It's customary to begin with a specific request, a versified request to the teacher to impart these teachings and instructions.

[08:45]

This is a stylized format in Vajrayana teachings because, and it stresses the importance of the teacher, that it reminds us of the role of the teacher in our own learning process, that it is through the kindness of the teacher that we receive the information we need to know the guidance and the blessings in practice and the ability to accomplish our own spiritual aims. Just as in Hinayana Buddhism, a monk, a person may not obtain the monk's vows, and the blessings of the monastic life without having a recourse to an abbot who is willing to confer them upon him, the vows upon him.

[09:50]

So in Vajrayana Buddhism we have no way of entering into the Vajrayana Kath, unless we have a qualified teacher who is willing and able to provide us with the necessary consecration, the necessary instructions, the blessings that link us to the Yidam or to the deity upon whom we're meditating, and to help us enter the path of experiential practice. So that is the purpose of the remembrance of the teacher that is the prelude to the instructions such as those we'll receive today. However, we will dispense with this part of the program since we don't have that particular text. We simply want to bring it to your attention that That is the customary way of beginning in a Tibetan Tantric program of this sort.

[10:57]

Yes. [...] All right, if you'll open your pages to the sadhana for meditation upon Kadira Ranya Tara.

[12:42]

A sadhana is a Sanskrit term meaning a meditation manual. And Kadira Ranya, Kadira is the name of a particular tree. And aranya means a forest or a grove. So this particular form of Tara refers to her mythical location in a Indian mythology, that she is a goddess of the forest who dwells in this particular grove. You will recall yesterday the various stories where a girl or a woman dressed in green or in leaves appeared. These were all references to this mythical origin of Tara.

[13:45]

So she is Tara, the saviouress who dwells in the in the Kabira tree grove. So, the meditation is, like all tantric meditations, divided into three stages of practice. The preliminary stage, the stage of main practice, and the conclusion. We'll begin with the preliminary stage of practice. This consists firstly of the refuge. The refuge, the visualization, this requires three elements of practice, that is, physical, vocal, and mental. Physically, you should be seated on a comfortable cushion, seated in a proper posture of meditation, seven points of proper meditation, meditative posture.

[14:51]

Vocally, you should single-pointedly concentrate upon and voice the refuge formula. And mentally, you should accompany this recitation of the refuge formula with the visualization that is described here in brackets at the top of the page. These are, I think, self-explanatory. You think of your teacher, you visualize in the sky before you a great wish-fulfilling tree in a Buddha realm. On top of the tree is a lotus and a moon disc. On top of that moon disc, one's own root guru, that is the ulama from whom you have received this particular meditation, a consecration. So you would visualize, in this case, Jatankusula in the form of the Buddha Amitabha.

[15:57]

Amitabha is red in color like the setting sun, the color of the setting sun. His hands are folded in his lap in the posture of meditation. So you should visualize her in that form. And always when you perform visualizations, you should never think of these deities as having solid flesh and bones. They have a body of light. You should think of them as being real, like we see ourselves. Real in appearance, but insubstantial, meaning that they have no solidity. They are like this. They have the substance of a rainbow. Okay? So, you visualize her in the form of the red Buddha of boundless light, surrounded by countless Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

[17:00]

And before them, you should think of yourself as seated clearly before them, as if they were really there. And visualize also all living beings are surrounding you. . How many of you are familiar with these tantric meditations? How many of you have not practiced them or are not familiar with, for example, refuge visualizations? You are all... Excuse me. All right. Two, three, four. How many of you have not practiced them? How many of you have not practiced them? Then you should understand that doing the taking of refuge, which is

[18:29]

designed to put one in self, how to say, to mentally prepare oneself to perform the meditation proper. First, the first step is to put aside all distractions and to orient one's mind, become clear in one's purpose about why you are performing this meditation, what one hopes to accomplish. Therefore the refuge is a statement that one is It gives a sense of direction. One begins by drawing upon the strength and the guidance and the blessings of the Buddha, the Dharma and Sangha, which are our... are the principles in which we are taking spiritual refuge, that is, we are drawing our strength and our guidance from them. So that is the purpose of taking refuge. And you are told to visualize that all living beings

[19:54]

without exception, surround you during this act of taking refuge. This refers as, this reminds us of our Bodhisattva's vow. Do you recall during the consecration we took the vow that we would share our, we would share the benefits of our spiritual career and the attainment of Buddhahood with all living beings. So in taking refuge also you share with them the act of taking refuge and the benefit, the blessings that come from the refuge. Please stand by visualizing to your left that your own mother, whether living or dead, is seated beside you and like you she is taking refuge with a sincere heart. To your right is your father. Before you visualize your enemies or those human and non-human beings that for some reason create obstacles of suffering for you, then surrounding you on all sides visualize that you are joined by all other living beings without exception, that is, all beings of the human and non-human realms, whatever they are, but you visualize them in human form.

[21:12]

And so it's just as if you were seated in a great plane surrounded there by countless living beings who, like you, are taking refuge from body, voice, and mind. That is the visualization that should accompany the taking of refuge. You understand? I don't think so. I don't think so. I don't think so. Oh, DJ, like any of the urban meds that's over at Sangeetancha, the Yodishuni Rangatambara is. Any of them at all? Any of them is here? I'm not sure if they're Sangeetancha or Sangeetancha.

[22:17]

I'm not sure. [...] Yes. All right.

[23:48]

So the act of taking of refuge in has these three elements, the mental, physical, and vocal. And one should single-pointedly, with clear visualization and with a sincere heart, recite three times the following prayer or the Or refuge formula. Now this is the famous verse written by Pandit Atisha. You recall we discussed him yesterday. He was the great Pandit, the great Indian sage whom Tara advised to go to Tibet. and from whom Csikszentmihalyi's ancestors received this particular Tara initiation. He composed this four-line refuge and bodhicitta formula, which we recite here.

[24:52]

It is recited by, it's very popular with the adherents of all four orders. It reads, in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, I take refuge until enlightenment is reached. That single statement is the refuge formula. When you say Buddha, you should have the concept of the Buddha as the enlightened one, as the teacher who reveals the path to enlightenment, the path which will lead you to enlightenment. Dharma refers to both the teachings, that is the the communicated teachings, the scriptures, the doctrines expounded verbally and so forth. And also, more importantly, it refers to the realizations, those experiences or insights to which those teachings refer.

[25:53]

And so you should think of the Dharma as the path. which has been revealed by the Buddha. The Dharma is the path which will enable you to reach your Goa. And Sangha refers to the exalted community of the Bodhisattvas, the great sons of the Buddha, Manjushri, Avlokiteshvara, Maitreya, and so forth. All those Bodhisattvas who have obtained at least the first stage of Bodhisattvahood. These are your friends and helpers on the spiritual path. So one should have these concepts or associations in your mind at the time that you recite these words. So the refuge is until you have actually attained Buddhahood. Now the second, the last half of the verse It is not the refuge prayer, but the bodhicitta or the bodhisattva's vow.

[26:59]

It says, by the note of giving in other good deeds, may I achieve enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. This is the bodhisattva's vow that vow to attain Buddhahood for this good of all beings through the mastery, the perfection of the six paramitas or six perfections. The first of these six perfections of the Bodhisattva is giving. So, and the phrase other good deeds refers to the remaining five perfections of ethical conduct, patience, diligence, meditation, and wisdom. Recite this prayer three times with a sincere heart and then visualize that in response to your prayer, the guru in the form of, the teacher in the form of Amitabha and all of the other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas surrounding her

[28:11]

all dissolved into light and are absorbed into your own being. In this way, you should think that you have received the blessings of all the enlightened ones, that your body, voice and mind have become completely purified, that you are now capable, able to You are now able to perform this meditation secure in the blessings and the protection of the enlightened ones. He said, I don't know what to do.

[29:13]

He said, I don't know what to do. He said, I don't know what to do. He said, I don't know what to do. I don't know. . . . Dīnājñājñājñājñājñājñājñājñājñājñājñājñājñā

[30:42]

All right. Now, this completes the first two parts of the preliminary stage of meditation. The preliminary stage has three parts, the refuge, the bodhisattva's vow, and the Four Infinitudes are the so-called Four Boundless Meditations.

[32:11]

Now, this is a very abbreviated form of the sadhana or meditation of Green Tara. In Jetsun Krishnala's lengthier version, At this point after the Buddhas, after the Guru is being dissolved into you, you yourself turn into Tara and light rays shine from your heart to make offerings to the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and so forth. And there is an entire process of meditation that accompanies the refuge visualization, what we are given here. is an abbreviated version which we will follow for our regular and personal practice. You just should understand that there are lengthier versions that are more elaborate. You become Tara,

[33:13]

and light shine forth, and it's back and forth until finally you get to the four boundless meditations, who were just skipping over all of those visualizations and going to the four infinitudes. Yes. All right. It's energy for this and for that. All right, the third meditation that makes up the preliminary stage of practice is that of the Four Infinitudes.

[34:22]

How many of you attended Jetsun Krishnala's seminar last year on the Four Infinitudes? All right. So... Jetsun Krishnala teaches so much. Yes. Yes. Yes.

[35:36]

Yes. For those of you who may not be familiar with the meditation of the four infinitudes, Jetsun Krishnalaya will give a very brief summary of the nature of these and purpose of these four meditations. These infinitudes are the meditations of boundless or infinite friendliness, infinite compassion, infinite rejoicing, and infinite equanimity. The purpose of these meditations is to help us to become, to become, how do you say,

[36:49]

integral to become whole and independent in our reactions to other beings, our responses to beings to help us regulate a positive attitude towards other beings at all times regardless of how they of how they might behave, our response should always be one of total positivity. We should be able to act, instead of react to beings' treatment of us, we should be able to act independently by showing them always these positive qualities. of friendliness, compassion, rejoicing and equanimity. So these four meditations are enjoined by the Buddha for all Buddhists to practice and master. They are expressed in the four lines of this prayer. The first line, May all sentient beings have happiness and the cause of happiness.

[37:52]

refers to the first meditation, the meditation of infinite friendliness, where one develops an all-encompassing attitude of love, friendliness and good wishes towards all sentient beings. And the instructions for practice are varied. Usually one starts with someone that you find it easy to love like your own mother or other person who is very close to you. Develop a sense of all-encompassing love towards that one person and then extend it gradually towards others. And so finally you can practice towards all beings in the various directions, towards those in the east, south, west, north, above and below, and then finally directing that same positive attitude of love and friendliness towards all beings at all times in all directions without any exception. And when one has mastered this meditation, then one has attained infinite friendliness

[38:58]

For the purposes of this meditation, for the purposes of this particular green tar meditation, you may want to skip over all of those intermediate stages and just meditate briefly friendliness towards all beings in all directions. The same with the second sentence which runs, may all be free from sorrow and its cause. That refers to the second meditation. of infinite compassion. It consists of a wish, an attitude that all beings might not suffer, that they might be totally freed from that suffering. And the cause of suffering, which is of course unwholesome karma, that is ignorance, which gives rise to one wholesome karma that is sin, that causes them to experience pain.

[40:02]

The third line is that of rejoicing, that one directs towards all beings an attitude of infinite rejoicing in whatever virtue, whatever happiness that they presently have. And they wish that it might only increase in every way and that they might always experience only happiness and well-being. Then the fourth line refers to, the fourth line which runs, may all live in equanimity, free of attachment and aversion. This refers to the fourth infinitude of, infinite equanimity in which one maintains mental stability or tranquility, serenity in the face of the good or bad actions of others. One is never disappointed in beings because they reject you or the teachings.

[41:09]

One is never gladdened because they accept you or the teachings. One has a sense of not of indifference or of neutrality, but in all unwavering friendliness and love and compassion towards all beings at all times, regardless of what they do or do not do, that one's attitude should be unwavering, constant, and it should not be partial. By equanimity we mean that you favor some more than others, You like all beings, but you like some more than others. Or you make distinctions. This means that without any discrimination that you have these positive attitudes towards all. That is the meaning of equanimity. Not that you are indifferent ever to them. All right? Yes. Yes.

[42:15]

So these are the three components of the preliminary stage. The purpose, we said, of the preliminary stage of a meditative session to prepare one's mind for the experience of the actual meditation that follows. Now, when one has received consecration, such as we received yesterday, it does mean that you did take refuge, you did take upon yourself the Bodhisattva's vow. Therefore, it is part of the refuge of the Buddhist refuge that you constantly renew it each time that you practice these meditations.

[43:45]

So that is the purpose of this preliminary stage. One is taking refuge again. One is awakening the resolve to attain enlightenment each time. So it should be very clear to you, if you took yesterday's you are now a Buddhist. You now have a refuge and you have the responsibility that that implies. And that is why it is repeated here and why you will be repeating it again and again in your regular sessions of practice. Yes. What do you want to do?

[45:22]

I want to go to Amritsar. [...] All right. Now, that we now leave the first or preliminary stage of practice and enter the second or stage of main, stage of actual practice.

[46:26]

All right. And so we enter the second stage, the stage of actual practice or the main meditation. There is one very important factor that must not be forgotten in your sessions of regular practice, and that is your posture. This is extremely important, that during the practice of this meditation, that you should be seated comfortably and in the correct posture or as close to the correct posture as you can get. And at all times, avoid moving the body about backwards and forwards, from one side to the other, and moving the head from side to side. While you are doing the meditation, you should try to maintain stability, tranquility, and the mind should, the mind and, Neither mind nor body should be unruly.

[48:30]

Now, you all know the seven points of correct posture that Jetsun Kusala has taught several times last year. Is that correct? You do not. All right, briefly there, you should be seated in the cross. Your legs should be folded in the cross-legged posture. If you cannot do the full lotus, then do the half lotus. That is, just fold one foot over the thigh of your other leg and so forth. The spine should be completely straight, your shoulders slightly squared. squared comfortably the neck should be straight but ever so slightly bent forward at the at the arm's apple this is what bent forward the hands should be folded in your lap with the right is it right over the left isn't it right yes

[49:33]

with the right hand placed over the left hand and the thumbs touching. And this should be, your hands then should be folded in your lap in this way. That allows the currents of energy to keep rotating that way. So, next the eyes should be focused at a point directly in front of your nose about an arm's distance before you can just imagine some spot about an arm's length before you. The eyelids should be half opened and half closed. The jaw should be ever so slightly relaxed and the tip of your tongue should be curled upwards slightly. That is the correct posture for Buddhist meditation and it's very harmful if you move the body from side to side because that agitates the mind and the energies within the body and it leads

[50:51]

It impairs your meditation and mental stability. If you move to the left, that engenders desire. You move to the right, that develops anger. If the head is tilted backwards, that brings on pride. If it's bent forward, that brings on delusions, and so forth and so on. It's impossible to achieve a state of real meditation if you're going to move the body about. Okay, so that's one point she wanted to make. Then, what she said earlier was that the stage of main meditation, the stage of the main practice begins with the Sanskrit mantra of purification through emptiness, which runs Aum Svabhava Siddhaha Sarva Dharma Svabhava Siddhaha. which in English means, om pure by their nature are all things, I too by nature am pure.

[52:06]

Om pure by their nature are all phenomena, and I too by nature am pure. All right. Now, this is, as we had yesterday, this is the final purification. It's necessary in these tantric meditations to put aside all the ordinary, worldly, conventional thoughts and conceptualizations that we have of ourself in order to liberate, to free the mind from these thoughts' limitations. So that's why we purify through emptiness. We purify the world that is our own concept of ourselves in the world, we purify that into Intoness as if it never existed. And then we recreate ourselves out of that state of Intoness that is a recreation, a recreation of ourself, not in terms of ego principles, but in terms of divine principles, our own true nature.

[53:15]

All right? I see. Yes. [...]

[54:16]

Yes. Yes. Okay. Okay. Yes.

[55:40]

Yes. And now we have the process of creation. That is, one creates oneself anew in the, in identification with your spiritual ideal.

[56:44]

That is, here Tara represents the principle or the state of enlightenment which we, to which we aspire. So now we identify with that spiritual ideal and we function on the level of that ideal rather than in terms of our ordinary conceptions about ourself, our sense of ordinariness, of human ego and so forth. So that is the purpose of this process of creation. And the meditation is very clear. I'll just read that out to you. Out of that state of emptiness appears the syllable PANG. You probably don't know how to visualize Pong, and I probably don't have anything to write it down to show you. No, that's not Pong. That's Oma Hong. All right. Okay, sure, if you want me to fill it in.

[58:49]

Thank you. All right. Now, ah, you all know ah. But it's, all right, all right, you don't know ah. Excuse me. No, thank you. No, no, you're thinking of the one, ah, that it comes at the throat.

[59:58]

That is this one up here. You see? There's the letter, but it has something on the bottom. That's a different letter. That is a long ah. This is short ah effect. Out of ah comes the moon. Out of pa comes the pang, comes the lotus. It's a different letter. OK. OK, then. So you visualize first that at a state of emptiness, suddenly there appears this letter, Pong. It's usually said to be green in color. It's of various natto, the various fairy colored. which is green, and then it dissolves into light and suddenly reappears as a lotus, right at the spot where you're seated.

[61:07]

Then on top of that lotus, in the center of the lotus, there appears this syllable A, which is usually described as white. It doesn't specify the color, I'm just saying usually. Out of the white A, it dissolves into light and suddenly appears as a moon disc, which is lying flat, just like a frisbee, okay? just lying flat on top of it. It's not standing up or looking like the moon in the sky. It's lying flat, okay? And in the center of that white moon disk, there appears suddenly the green syllable, tang, which is this syllable here. Can you all see this? This is my son's house. This is my son's house. This is my son's house.

[62:08]

This is my son's house. It's in a good cause to me. You get a sabbath, no matter how hard you are, you don't get sabbath no matter how hard you are. In this text, there's not a bar over the eye. It should be there. It's in our ritual. It is a long tang. That's right.

[63:17]

It's identical. Well, it should be identical. It should be the same letter. Okay? This lengthens the vowel. There's a short ta and then there's a long ta. This is the long one. Tang. I'm ruining your precious... Got it? Can I put it down? Thank you. All right. So, then you... visualize that this syllable, tan, is the quintessence of your own consciousness, your own consciousness principle. And it shines forth boundless rays of light. It doesn't say what color. You can make them multicolored or just like sunlight, shining forth throughout space to make offerings to all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

[64:24]

You don't have to visualize really offerings, just think you are making You know, there's merit in offering things to lamas, to buddhas, and so forth. So you're doing that to get merit for the sake of being. So just think that you're offering them all kinds of treasures and wonderful things. Okay. And also that these rays of light shine forth and touch all living beings, removing their sins and obscurations, and they are all also like you, transformed into holy time. And now the rays of light again return. The rays of light that you sent out to the Buddhas and beings now begin, are reabsorbed into the syllable tang. And you could put a bar over this tang, a little bar at the top to show it's a long ah, wherever it occurs. It's not in this text. And as this happens, that green syllable, tang, dissolves into light.

[65:33]

And suddenly you yourself appear there as revered Tara. Here we have reverend Tara. I don't like that rendering, so change it to revered Tara. Jetsun Tara, not reverend Tara. I mean, it means the same thing, but it sounds funny to me. Revered Bhattaratha, the Jeet Kune Do, revered, then there's the Pakpa, the holy Pakma. You know, reverend, reverend, you know, Yiju Maji, Yiju Maji, the preacher, reverend Segre, Nimbleman, that guy, you know. Okay, so revered Tara, just put out the end. And you yourself, you should now visualize yourself as holy Tara, revered Tara.

[66:38]

Your body is flawless. That means, remember what we said, no substantial body. It is a mental body, a body of light. You should never think of it as solid. This creates very bad effects for meditators who make the mistake of thinking of doing these visualizations as if they were solid. Okay? So it's a body of light. And you visualize yourself in the form of Green Tara, which is described here. I'll just read it to you very quickly. The body is green like an emerald, has a single face, two hands. Her right hand shows the gesture of giving. Would you show us the Chagya? Yes. All right. You can see just Kusala showing the gesture of giving with her right hand extended with the palm outward as if this is a gesture of liberality, of generosity, whatever. Chagya. Yes. And your left hand, her left hand is held at her heart with the ring finger.

[67:46]

touching the thumb. And you visualize that between the ring finger and thumb, you're holding the stem of the lotus, as the Shi does, and the stem blossoms by the side of your ear. It's a blue Utpala flower. Utpala is a blue lotus, and Padma is a day lotus. white lotus. She has a very serene, joyous expression on her face, smiling, peaceful, delightful, very beautiful. The rest of the description, you know, we told you yesterday, the hair is piled up in a yogini's knot, half of it, it streams down over the, over her shoulders.

[68:48]

she is 16 years old. It says in the bloom of youth. That means she's a perfect 16. That is the, that is the, that indicates eternal youth. You know, the 16, means she's mastered the 16 times of emptiness and is therefore free from birth, death. It is immortality. She is the eternal youth, yes. What does the lotus mean? What does the lotus mean? It stands for renunciation, the purity of one's renunciation, just as the lotus has its roots in the mud, in the muck of the world, but yet it blossoms only out into the open air, lifted above the mud, lifting it above the water. So renunciation, purity of renunciation, we are in the world, but not of it. our renunciation exalts us out of the way.

[69:55]

Yeah? What color is the first lotus? What first? Not so easy to know. It would be probably the... Yeah, multicolored. Yes. All right. What does the palm say? Palm stands for Pema, Padma, Lotus. Yes. Okay. All right. Okay. Her body is fully developed. That means she has breasts. She is adorned by jewel ornaments. That means she wears many kinds of, these five kinds of mudras or ornaments, you know. What do you call them? Bracelets, earrings, necklaces. Yes. And on her forearms. Okay. Okay. And anklets also. She has anklets.

[70:56]

Just like these marks, these beauty ornaments that Indian women like to wear. She wears a garment of finest silk. It is like the gods do, multi-colored, radiant silk garments. You can check the various representations of Tara later during the lunch break to get the details. All right, and she's seated not in the crossed posture. I mean, during your meditation, you can use it with your legs folded, but you visualize yourself as seated in the so-called Raja Lila or, how to say, king's play mudra. Meaning kings, when they are just, you know, they're in total control and are relaxed, it's called Raja Lila, they just start to relax, they have their right leg slightly extended as she does in all of these pictures, resting on a smaller lotus, and the other leg is folded.

[72:02]

This is the classical Raja Lila Ori, king at playing mudra. I mean, he's allowed to relax, everybody else should be uptight, see? He can relax. That is the... But you don't... We have a lot of things to do. [...] Thank you. Yes, there's another point that Jetsun Kishle wants to make.

[73:22]

First, when you visualize yourself as Tara, and so you visualize yourself seated in that particular posture we just described, and you can check it out on the Tonga there, the painting there. But for yourself, even though you have that visualization of yourself as Tara, it's best to keep the the cross-legged posture of meditation. Don't sit like she does. Just visualize yourself seated that way. All right? Also, we repeat again how important it is that you don't make the mistake of thinking of these visualizations as either real or unreal. The whole purpose of this meditative technique is to free our minds from the bonds of conceptualization, of delusions, of taking things at face value, of real.

[74:26]

That's what has got us into this fix of believing things are real as they appear to be. instead of dealing with them in their true nature. So the point is to get rid of all of these wrong views, and this meditation helps that. But if you reify this meditation and treat it as real, then you are just substituting one poison for another. Therefore you don't think of, don't cling to it as either real or unreal, as existent or nonexistent. Try to maintain a philosophical philosophically correct perspective here in these visualizations. All right? Your body should be... Yes. So think of your body, when you were doing your meditation of bringing to heart, as having the, as being very clear,

[75:43]

in its appearance, just as we now see each other very clearly. It is that clear in all the details, but it is a body of light, a mental body, like it has the substance, the texture of a rainbow, of an image reflected in a mirror, or what else? You gave several examples. Yes. Okay. Those two, think of those two examples to get the right, you know, it's very clear that your reflection in the mirror, it's very clear, but there is no, there is no real body there. You're just seeing a reflection. It's just seeing a clear reflection of it. So think of these examples and avoid the fault of that. reifying, reifying, making real. Okay? Then, let's see.

[77:03]

What did you just say? I'm sorry. The second part. Okay. So this process of creating oneself with the as the deity, has a purpose. It is, as we explained, a way of overcoming, of correcting all of those deluded forces that make us think of ourselves in our present ordinary terms, not realizing our full potential, not realizing our true nature, but identifying simply with a sense of ego, of individuality that we have learned from others and our circumstances.

[78:12]

Our self-image is a limited one, and it is based on this delusion of the ego principle. We are trying to correct that fault by using those same mental habits of ego building to to rebuild, to use those same energies to build ourselves in harmony with our true nature, that is, our Tara nature, our Buddha nature. And that is the purpose of this process of identification with the Deity. And therefore, when one is visualizing oneself as the Deity, it says it is It says that when the texts tell us that we should dwell in the pride of the deity, that is, you know, usually we have the pride of being who we are, I'm so and so, I'm like this, I have these qualities and so forth. We have a sense of egotism or pride about being who we are, what we are. But here one identifies with one's spiritual ideal with Tara and dwells in the pride.

[79:18]

But when it says the pride of the deity, it doesn't mean like, this kind of impure human pride that I'm better than everyone else and now I'm Tara so I can do what I like and you know, this sort of thing. It means that one identifies with these spiritual qualities that Tara represents of wisdom, of compassion, of service to one's fellow beings, of her effort, her arduous efforts to free beings from suffering and to bring about their welfare. Therefore, when one identifies, it's a kind of a, this meditation or this process of identification is a kind of a, what do you call it, a mental jiu-jitsu. You use these, the same forces and energies that go into ego activity, ego making, impulses. Use those same impulses to create a... to create an identification with our Buddha nature instead of with our ego nature.

[80:31]

That's the... what is happening. So can you miss your vipa prior or knowledge prior also? Yes. Identification with your spiritual ideal rather than with your present seemingly separated, limited state. Okay. All right. We have to... Lillis? Behind you is a poem. Okay. Okay. Khusulki Chakra. Yes.

[81:40]

That's how it is. That's the way it is. Do you know the Khenchites, Madhya Bhim, Oma Ahun Rewa, the Chöpa Puli Jela, the Jahun Bhamkho, the Jela, do you know the Rangitawala Oma? Oh, the Kushi Lokpa. The Lokpa. Kushi Lokpa. Upside down. The Lokpa. Oh, the Lokpa. I don't know. [...] Okay. You need just another the... Yeah. Okay. All right. Now... Okay. All right. Okay. Keep it home later. Keep it home later.

[83:09]

. [...] What is the meaning of this? What is the meaning of this? What is the meaning of this? All right. Bini tamo oma? Tamo oma. Bini omban ze saman ze? Bini tamo oma. Bini omban ze saman ze? Bini tamo oma.

[84:11]

Bini tamo oma. [...] Yes, we have a bit of a problem in that our short version does not agree with her lengthier version and so we're trying to reconcile the two so that they will say the same thing.

[85:25]

It's just that the other one is much longer and the elaborate. But we'll follow, for our purposes, we'll follow the shorter version. After you have visualized yourself as the goddess, then you focus your attention upon your own heart. Visualize there a moon disc that is lying flat always. And standing atop that is the green syllable tongue. You can put a little bar over that A to show that it's a long A, a long A. And then rays of light shine forth from this syllable tongue to invoke the transcendental knowledge aspect of the deity. All right, this means that we're dealing with two forces here. There's the yourself, the meditator, you visualizing yourself as Tara. But you're not the real Tara, I mean the real Bodhisattva. you are just identifying with her.

[86:28]

So you're going to identify, invoke the real Tara, who by her vows to help all beings who call upon her, will come. This is called the transcendental knowledge aspect of the deity, that is, her true nature, the true goddess will respond to your summons, which is which is expressed by the recitation of the Sanskrit mantra, Om Vajra Samaja, which means something roughly, Om Diamond Assembly. Vajra means diamond or adamantine. Samaja means assembly, meaning diamond on vacation. And then you perform the... the Vajra invoking mudra, which Jetsun Krishnala will demonstrate for you now.

[87:30]

Please. At the... All right. Could you fold your thumb under your left, the fingers of your left hand and of your right hand, then put your... left hand so at the heart and bring the right hand over it and then all right and then cross your hands with the right coming in over the uh on outside the left on top of the left and cross your hands with the fingers, forefingers slightly curved inward and snap your fingers as you say the mantra, Manvasya Samanta. This is the summoning, the moving the fingers, just as we say, come here, you know, this is the mudra for it.

[88:37]

Come. And then after, Jyotirbhagacchaitanya, and now after you visualize that she responds true to her vow she appears before you and now you're going to offer make offerings to her there are one two three six seven eight the eight offerings which are uh we will be setting at the altar table this afternoon in more detail. But this consists of, first you visualize that from your heart many, many goddesses, offering goddesses issue forth. Just visualize many small replicas of goddesses shining forth. They all have the substance of light. They're making countless offerings, filling the sky with these offerings of of water, flowers, incense, lights. These represent the things that we like in our life.

[89:39]

Water for drinking, water for bathing, water, flowers, incense, lights, perfume or fragrances, food, music, All of these things. And visualize these goddesses are making those offerings to Tara. And you perform and you recite these Sanskrit mantras which run. You see we have here, om, vajra, argam, ah, hum. And as you say argam, you perform the particular mudra for that particular offering. Argam means drinking water. Just occasionally I will teach you the mudras for each one and you recite those phrases and perform the appropriate mudra with each. First she's going to teach them all together, then she'll run through them one at a time, okay? The tumbler, they chew the air, the tumi chew the air.

[91:26]

Do you know how to use it? How do you [...] use it? Shri Mataji. Shri Mataji. Shri Mataji. Shri Mataji. No. Okay. Okay.

[93:01]

All right. So just to identify these eight offerings, these you will run into in every Vajrayana ritual and meditation. offering to the deities. So you might as well learn them here. That will help you in your other meditations. Argam is the Sanskrit word for water. But here it is water that is intended to be, it is an offering of pure water to be that the it is drinking water. The padhyam Fadum refers to water that is used for bathing or anointing the feet. In Indian culture, this is a very hospitable thing to do, and we humans like it, Indians like to have feet bathed.

[94:07]

So this is the offering of bathing water. Flowers and what the rest of these are just offerings to the various senses. First of all, flowers are like ornaments, ornaments to be worn on the head. Incense is an offering to the, incense or dupi is an offering to the sense of smell, the nose, that is. Lights or lamps are an offering to the eyes. Scented water or perfume, fragrance is an offering to the body, that is. To bathe in fragrant waters. Yes? Does that mean many times? No, just one moment. Yes. They are not Tara.

[95:38]

They do not have her. They look like her in that they are female goddesses, but they are not Tara. They are just the so-called offering goddesses. There are eight kinds of offering goddesses. Each one has a different color, like, you know, for the water it's white, for the other kind of water it's red, or the lamps are red. Just visualize, for your purposes, just visualize that tiny goddesses issued forth from your heart all carrying these offerings. Yes. They are offering goddesses like servants in a restaurant or something, waitresses who bring you your food and so forth. So just visualize them, goddesses of many colors, red, green, white, blue, red. Filling the sky, making offerings to Tara, we have these offerings that we like.

[96:39]

OK? What's up? Rang rangi pi chöpa puya tsang re tsé la shen na mi mabhu. Chöpa puya tsang re tsé la shen na mi mabhu. That's why we have to do something about it. If we don't do something about it, it's not good. [...] No, here, that was appropriate in the refuge meditation, but not appropriate here. Here, it is only yourself.

[97:40]

Okay? All right. So then, you make these, all right, food is for the mouth, music is for the ears. All right. Now, Jetsun Krishnilov will show you the mudras for each of these eight, starting with Argam. Jetsun Krishnilov Okay. Okay. All right. You may think that the... the mudra for making the offering of drinking water is an obscene gesture.

[98:56]

She's been told as much by her children that in the West that this particular mudra looks like an insult to other people. It's often taken as an insult. But therefore she is slightly modifying this mudra so that you won't have the same problems. Yes, so it's enough if you just bring together the tips of your fingers. Like that. Yes. So, as you say, OM BHAJRA ARGAM. [...]

[99:56]

OM BHAJRA ARGAM. [...] OM B They're the same. First, the two waters are the same. You just do it twice. Yeah, first two waters. And it is optional whether you want to snap your fingers after each one. You can, like she is just doing, to show them one after the other. One, two, then three. There are two of us in the first evening. All right. This is number four, Dhupe. Okay. And number five, the lamps. These are the incense sticks. I'm sorry, water, not water, not incense sticks. All right. Naivedya number seven is the offering of food.

[101:02]

All right. And number eight is shabda, the offering of music, something like clashing of cymbals or beating of drums or whatever. So it's just, how do you do it? You bring together the two forefingers and then... And then snap your fingers. That represents sound. So whenever you perform mudras, you always perform them right at your heart, not at your throat or the forehead or any other thing. Your hands should be centered right before your heart. Unless it is clearly stated that it was a mudra to be done elsewhere. All right. So, after you have made the offerings, yes. Okay. Arhagam.

[102:04]

Arhagam. Arhagam. Yes.

[103:09]

Yes. [...] And now, after you've made these offerings, these eight offerings to Tara, visualize that she becomes not duly absorbed into yourself, whether she dissolves into light or is absorbed down through the crown of your head. As you are visualizing this,

[104:10]

we recite the four syllables for this absorption, ja, hun, ban, ho. And each one of these four syllables is accompanied by an appropriate mudra that she is going to teach you. All right? Ja. That is ja. Ja. Hun. Hun. There should be the, your wrist should be flexed outwards so that there is an opening between them. You see? Like that. That you can see through if you had to. That represents a noose. So it's not placed back to back but open. This represents the chain where the little fingers and the forefingers are linked together like with two hooks and then the thumbs are folded in this represents a chain the links of a chain okay and then uh you now you bring the the the hands the wrist back

[105:30]

Then you make the absorption mudra and think that you and Tara, the true Tara, become truly not dual. Okay, so these are the Sanskrit syllables that represent their variations, but this is the way she's teaching. Yes, let me finish what she's saying. There are variations on the last of these mudras, but you always follow what your teacher's instructions are. These are according to her tradition. And these will be repeated in this afternoon's ritual several times, so you'll have a chance to ask questions and to learn it properly.

[106:43]

We're going to have to finish. We're going to have more pages this morning, so I would suggest we move along. All right? All right, and now you visualize the actual form of it. Here's the white silver om. You can see it here or you can copy it during the lunch break. At your forehead there appears the white syllable Aum, at your throat appears the red syllable A, and at your heart the blue syllable Hung, representing the enlightened body, voice, and mind of the Buddhas. Okay? Aptara. Okay? the Umbanzas, Samanzas, the Jela.

[108:14]

What is the Chöpa Thama, the turnitin Chöpa? Chöpa Thama, [...] Oh, good. All right.

[109:22]

Now you visualize again that rays of light shine forth from the syllable tang. You can put a bar over the ah to make it a long ah here also. this syllable tongue, rays of light shine forth from the syllable tongue in your heart to invoke the five Buddhas of consecration. They are named here. These are the five Buddha families. And they appear in the sky before you as you recite the mantra of invocation Om Vajrasamaja. And you perform that same mudra that she taught you earlier. They appear before you together with their retinues, like surrounded by bodhisattvas, dakas, and dakinis, and the rest. And again you make offerings, just as right up here, as you made offerings to Tara when she first came, you repeat that again. All right. . All right.

[110:33]

All right. Now, in the translation of this text, something has been omitted, so you can write it in. Right after where it says, drinking water, and so on, as above. Now, In this space between, right after that line, right in, here is something, you have to request the, put in the brackets, request for consecration. Close bracket. Request for consecration. And all right, you've written that in and closed the brackets.

[112:10]

Now here's what you say to them in request. Say, consecrate me. Consecrate me, all you Tathagatas. Consecrate me, all you Tathagatas. Yes, Radha. Under the line that begins drinking water on Vajra, I can write in, okay, got it? Consecrate me all you Tathagatas, exclamation point. That is, you have to ask them to consecrate you. And then in reply, they speak to you thus. When the Buddha, the Blessed One, was born, the gods showered him with fragrant water, and so with the pure water of the celestials we bestow upon you consecration. All right? That is your request and their response. You just think that they are saying this.

[113:12]

You read it, but you think they are speaking to you in this way. All right. And as they do, as they speak to you in this way, they are holding a vase. You can visualize that each one has a vase or that all together they're holding a vase filled with this, with pure water or the water of the celestials, ambrosia, elixir of life. And they pour this water from the water of consecration over the crown of your head as they recite this following mantra, which is . All right. . As there is traditionally, even as one recites this mantra, you use this mudra.

[114:15]

Yes. You showed this mudra, but face it towards yourself, like you are consecrating yourself really mentally. If you are, for example, consecrating the deity or the visualization of the deity before you, then you would face it outward. But here, it's faced inward. Is this part one? Yeah, right up towards your eye, like facing your eye.

[115:17]

So then you say, you use this mudra, and you say, Yes. All right. All right. Oh, yes. All right. Now, they poured this ambrosia or elixir of immortality over the crown of your head. from consecrated vases. So this is vases, that means each one is holding a vase, and they're sort of, you know, sort of in the sky before you, and they just sort of pour it.

[116:25]

And it flows down, you think of your body as being just like a container, you know a glass or whatever and that this this ambrosia just flows down to the crown of your head and fills up your entire body as it flows through your body it rinses away purifies all defilements impurities obstacles and obscurations whatever is in hindrance to you the purity of your being are purged and your body is made totally pure and clean your whole being is. And the water, you know, when you fill up a glass, you know, it rises to the top and overflows if you keep pouring. That's what happens here. The water overflows at the crown of your head. And at that point, your own teacher, that is, Jetsun Kusala, appears on the crown of your head in the form of the Buddha boundless light, Amitabha, red in color.

[117:29]

You should visualize that she's about Six inches in height. The distance between the tip of your thumb and your forefinger are outstretched, okay? That's about six inches. Like on top of a lotus and a moon disc, there she sits, about six inches in height. Okay? And that shows that you belong to her spiritual family, her Buddha family, that of Amitabha. Because Tara belongs to Amitabha's family. Oh, really? Now we have the recitation of the holy mantra of Tara on top of page 3. Again, you focus your attention on the syllable tongue, the green syllable tongue within your heart.

[119:01]

Put a bar over that R so that it becomes a long R. Okay? A long A. And you visualize that a moon disc within your heart, that is a frisbee-like disc lying flat in your heart. In the center of it is this green syllable, tang. And surrounding it are the ten syllables of Tara's mantra, om tare, tutare, ture, swaha. And you think these letters are circling. Here are these letters in Tibetan. You should have them in that form. Right here, I direct your attention to this card and to Jyotish Kisla's right. And think that they are circling. In a clockwise fashion manner, they are surrounding that central letter so that you start with OM at six o'clock. There's, you know, here's six o'clock and you've got OM.

[120:03]

OM THA RE TU THA RE TU RE SVA HA. Okay? And they are standing up like pieces of, like chess pieces on a chessboard. They stand up. They're not lying flat. We have to write them flat, because we can't show three-dimension writing. So, they are three-dimension, they stand up like chess pieces around that central level. Okay? Okay. Yes. You said how much... That's it. .

[121:16]

OK. All right. Now, there is a visualization that accompanies this recitation of the holy mantra. It is described here that rays of light shine forth from these letters within your heart to make offerings to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas throughout the space. They also touch all living beings, remove their sufferings, establish them in the happiness of Tara, just as we visualized before. And these light rays also return or absorb into the syllable tongue within your heart and these other letters within your heart.

[122:16]

And with, in this way, these light rays bring back all the blessings, wisdom, power and compassion of all the Buddhists and Bodhisattvas. So that as you're reciting the mantras, sometimes you can focus on the light rays going out, making offerings to the Buddhas, bringing back blessings. Sometimes you can visualize light rays going out and removing the sufferings of beings and turning them into Tara and so forth. Sometimes you can just focus on the light rays coming back in, bringing all the blessings of wisdom, compassion and power of the Buddhas into your heart. Just, you know, vary the vision of vision. and recite the Mantram of the Revere Tower as many times as possible. For beginners who are, who are just practicing this for the first time, do at least 108 recitations of this mantra.

[123:20]

If you have a rosary, that is, do one round on your rosary of this mantra. If you are very busy and just don't have time to meditate or perhaps at all, but want to keep the connection alive with Tara, at least do 21 mantras a day, just om tare, tutare, tuta, swaha, and recite that 21 times. If you are able, if you are a serious practitioner and a devotee, you should recite it as many times as you can in each session, many hundreds, even thousands or tens of thousands of times. That is up to you in your own circumstances, in your own resolution. All right? Yes. If you don't want to drink, you can't drink.

[124:46]

If you don't want to drink, you can't drink. If you don't want to drink, you can't drink.

[124:55]

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