khyāvataṁ jijī-jiñjana-sindhu-siṅgetana-nirādha-vairagyau-bhūla-bhūtaṁ bhagavad-gītā-nirādha-vairagyau-bhūla-bhūtaṁ bhagavad-gītā-nirādha-vairagyau-bhūtaṁ KUMAMI CHODO DUGPE TANPA YIN JANGA TEDA LALA NANCHOKAYE CHOKAYE GANGNAM LAMI KHYER GANGNAM TEDA JANGA SOMTSENG PA YANGNAM THAMUN CHOKAYE THAMUN CHOKAYE GANGNAM LAMI CHODO DUGPE TANPA YIN JANGA TEDA LALA NANCHOKAYE CHOKAYE GANGNAM LAMI KHYER GANGNAM LAMI CHODO DUGPE TANPA YIN JANGA THAMUN CHOKAYE THAMUN CHOKAYE GANGNAM LAMI CHODO DUGPE TANPA YIN JANGA THAMUN CHOKAYE THAMUN CHOKAYE GANGNAM LAMI CHODO DUGPE TANPA YIN JANGA THAMUN CHOKAY Namo Sangye Namo Buddha, [...] Sangye

[01:23]

YANGNEN DAO DEKHA NIRDZE RANGNAN DRAGON [...] PRAYING MANTRA SANSKRIT CHANT

[02:43]

CHANTS IN TIBETAN I don't know what to say. [...] I would like to say a few words in Khansa language.

[04:08]

My name is Mahbub Merdan. I am a teacher in Khansa. I would like to say a few words in Khansa. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Today our program will be practice-oriented.

[05:16]

We will devote the day to learning and practicing 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, Geshe Gujarla 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. I guess so. I guess I know some of the truth. I don't know. [...] In Cambodia, there is a saying that if you want to become a Lama, you have to be born as a Lama. If you want to become a Buddha Lama, you have to be born as a Buddha Lama.

[07:27]

If you want to become a Theravada Lama, you have to be born as a Theravada Lama. If you want to become a Kali Lama, you have to be born as a Kali Lama. He said, he didn't allow my son to mend it. So, I'm not going to do [...] it. Generally, in beginning such programs of the study of tantric material, it's customary to begin with a specific request.

[08:33]

a diversified request to the teacher to impart these teachings and instructions. This is a stylized format in Vajrayana teachings, and it stresses the importance of the teacher. 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, ability to accomplish our own spiritual aims. Just as in Hinayana Buddhism, a monk, a person may not obtain the monk's vows

[09:39]

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. So in Vajrayana Buddhism, we have no way of entering into the Vajrayana path 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 are 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 received today. However, we will dispense with this part of the program since we don't have that particular text.

[10:43]

We simply want to bring it to your attention that that is the customary way Tibetan tantric program of this sort. In the past, when I was young, my father was a monk.

[11:48]

He was a monk. He was a monk. He was a monk. Yes, it's a very good question. I think it's a very good question. All right, if you'll open your pages to the sadhana for meditation upon Kadiraranya-tara. All right, a sadhana is a Sanskrit term meaning a meditation manual.

[12:48]

And Kadiraranya, Kadira is the name of a particular tree. Aranya means a forest or a grove. So this particular form of Tara refers to her mythical location in the 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. So she is Tara, the saviouress who dwells in the Kadira tree grove. The meditation is, like all tantric meditations, divided into three stages of practice.

[14:04]

The preliminary stage, the stage of main practice, and the conclusion will begin with the preliminary stage of practice. This consists, firstly, of the refuge. The refuge, the visualization, All right, this requires three elements of practice, that is physical, vocal, and mental. Physically, you should be seated on a comfortable cushion, seated in the proper posture of meditation, the seven points of proper meditation, meditative posture. Vocally, you should single-pointedly concentrate upon in 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.

[15:19]

These are, I think, self-explanatory. You think of your teacher You visualize in the sky before you a great wish-fulfilling tree in the Buddha realm. On top of the tree is a lotus and a moon disk, bone top of that moon disk, one's own root guru, that is, the lama from whom you have received this particular meditation in consecration. So you would visualize, in this case, Jetsun Kusala in the form of the Buddha Amitabha. 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.

[16:25]

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. So, you visualize her in the form of the Red Buddha of Boundless Light, surrounded by countless Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. 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?

[17:39]

How many of you have not practiced them or are not familiar with, for example, refuge visualizations? You are all, let's just, all right, just two, three, four. Rāṅgoma. [...] All right. Then you should understand that doing the taking of refuge which is designed to put one in self, how to say, to mentally prepare oneself to perform the

[18:41]

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 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. You are told to visualize that all living beings, without exception, surround you during this act of taking refuge.

[20:00]

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 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. This 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.

[21:04]

That is, all beings of the human and non-human realms, wherever they are. But you visualize them in human form. And so it's just as if you were seated on a great plane surrounded 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. Namaskar. PRABHUPĀDA, TRANSLATING IN HINDI You have a pair that's going to have to go away. If you don't like it, you can't eat it. [...]

[22:06]

If you don't like it, you can't eat it. [...] Yes. Yes.

[23:20]

Yes. Yes. Yes. All right. So the act of taking 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 refuge formula.

[24:20]

Now, this is the famous verse written by Pandita Teja. You recall we discussed him yesterday. He was the great pundit, the great Indian sage, Tara advised to go to Tibet, and from whom Jetsun Bhutala's ancestors received this particular Tara initiation. He composed this four-line refuge and bodhichitta formula, which we recite here. It is recited by Jetsun Bhutala. 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.

[25:27]

which will be due to enlightenment. Dharma refers to both the teachings, that is, the communicated teachings, the scriptures, the doctrines expounded both verbally and so forth, and also, more importantly, it refers to the realizations, those experiences or insights to which those teachings refer. And so you should think of the Dharma as the path. which has been revealed by the Buddha, the Dharmas, the path which will enable you to reach your goal. And Sangha refers to the exalted community of the Bodhisattvas, the great sons of the Buddha, Maitreya, Avalokiteshvara 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. One should have these concepts or associations in your mind at the time that you recite these words.

[26:38]

So the refuge is until you have actually attained Buddhahood. Now the second, the last half of the verse is not the refuge prayer, but the Bodhicitta or the Bodhisattva's vow. It says, by the merit of giving another good deeds, may I achieve enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. This is the Bodhisattva's vow, that vow to attain Buddhahood, this good of all beings, through the mastering, 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

[27:39]

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, all dissolve 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 and able to You are now able to perform this meditation secure in the blessings and protection of the enlightened ones.

[28:52]

He's a very good man. [...] namo guru de namo ayatare de chaatva. Chaatva shuguna chobhapu. Chobhapu sare shuguna kun. Kunjapsungi. Gyutawa chhebi. Kunjapsunga kyon gurudwa. De tela jhye menduwa. De chen jhye nama chhesha. De, de, [...] PRABHUPĀDA – Hmm. I don't know.

[30:28]

The Lama Chod Sangyi, they run a team Saturday. They need young kids. 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 infinities, or the so-called four boundless meditations.

[32:10]

Now, this is a very abbreviated form of the sadhana, or meditation, of Green Tara. In Jetsun Kusala's lengthier version, At this point, after the guru has been 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 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, like you become Tara

[33:13]

and light shine forth and it's back and forth until finally you get to the four boundless meditations. Here we're just skipping over all of those visualizations and going to the four infinities. Yes. Alright. Alright. 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 Kusala's seminar last year on the four infinitudes? All right. So. When I was young, I used to go to school to learn how to read and write.

[35:32]

When I grew up, I learned how to read and write. When I grew up, I learned how to read and write. For those of you who may not be familiar with the meditation of the four infinitudes, Je Tsongkhapa will give a very brief summary of the nature and purpose of these four meditations. infinitudes are the meditations of boundless or infinite friendliness, infinite compassion, infinite rejoicing and infinite equanimity.

[36:35]

The purpose of these meditations is to help us to become how do you say, 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 reacting to beings treating 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.

[37:43]

They are expressed in the four lines of this prayer. The first line, may all sentient beings have happiness in the cause of happiness. 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 in 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 of all-encompassing love towards that one person and then extend it gradually towards others and finally you can practice towards all beings in the various directions towards those in 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.

[38:50]

And when one has mastered this meditation, then one has attained infinite friendliness. For the purposes of this meditation, for the purposes of this particular Green Tower 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 in this cause. That refers to the second meditation of infinite compassion. It consists of a wish and 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 unwholesome 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. 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 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 this positive attitude towards all. That is the meaning of equanimity. Not that you are indifferent ever to it. All right? So these are the three components of the preliminary stage.

[42:48]

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. So that is the purpose of this preliminary stage.

[43:49]

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 consecration, 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. In the past, when I was a monk, I used to go to the temple to pray. You know, I'm listening to you more about Tamil, Jengu, Telugu, Rishikesh, Kalaksh, Senegalese, French.

[44:49]

So, I'm doing this, you tell me, I'll tell you. You know, I'm... [...] I don't know. [...] I don't know All right.

[46:14]

Now, we now leave the first or preliminary stage of practice and enter the second or main stage of actual practice. All right. So we enter the second stage, the stage of actual practice or of the main meditation.

[47:36]

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 or 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 in the mind, but neither mind nor body should be unruly. Now you all know the seven points of correct posture that Jetsun Kusala has taught several times last year, is that correct?

[48:38]

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 Adam's elbow, just slightly bent forward. The hands should be folded in your lap with the right, is it right or the left? Is it right? Yes, with the right hand placed over the left hand and the thumbs touching. And this should be, your handstand should be folded in your lap in this way.

[49:50]

That allows the currents of energy to keep rotating in 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

[50:50]

It impairs your meditation and then of 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, om svabhava-suddhaha sarva-dharmaha svabhava-suddhoham. which in English means, Aum, pure by their nature are all things, I too by nature am pure.

[52:06]

Aum, 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 ourselves 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 Intimus as if it never existed. And then we recreate ourselves out of that state of Intimus. That is a recreation of ourselves, not in terms of ego principles, but in terms of divine principles, our own true nature.

[53:15]

All right? I see. I see. I see. If you don't know how to read English, you don't know how to read Chinese, you don't know how to read Tibetan, [...] you don't know how to read

[54:40]

It's a very good book. It's a very good book. It's a very good book. ... Yes. ... The process of creation, that is, one creates oneself anew in the

[56:13]

in identification with your spiritual ideal, that is, here Tara represents the principle or the state of enlightenment 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 ourselves, our sense of ordinariness, our 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, PUNG. You probably don't know how to visualize PUNG, and I probably don't have anything to write it down to show you. No, that's not pang. That's omahum. All right. This is called pang. Oh, pang. I don't know if it's pang, but it sounds like pang to me.

[57:46]

I don't know if it's pang, but it sounds like pang to me. [...] I don't know if it I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Oh, yeah. That's in the Legos there. Oh, Legos. So, did you get Lola Young? Didn't Young, the college, Ali Young, and Omar. Didn't it be Ma Da Young there? They met at the Ma Da Young there. Yeah. Okay. Okay. I don't get it. Okay. I don't get it. Okay, sure.

[59:07]

If you want me to fill it in. Thank you. All right. Now, ah. You all know ah. But it's, all right, all right, you don't know ah. Excuse me. Thank you. Doesn't look quite like that one. No, no, you're thinking of the one. that it comes at the throat. 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 ā. This is short ā. Out of ā comes the moon.

[60:11]

Out of pā comes the pāṅ, comes the lotus. It's a different letter. Trust me. OK, then. So you visualize first that out of state of engineering, suddenly there appears this letter, PUNG. It's usually said to be green in color. It's a very, it's very colored. which is green, and then it dissolves into light and suddenly reappears as a lotus, right at the spot where you're seated. Then on top of that lotus, in the center of the lotus, there is a, there appears this syllable I, which is usually described as white.

[61:16]

It doesn't say, doesn't specify the color, I'm just saying usually. Out of the white I there is, it dissolves into light and suddenly appears as a moon disk, which is lying flat, just like a prism, 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? I don't know. [...] In this text, there's not a bar over the eye.

[62:43]

It should be there. It's in our ritual. It is along our tongue. That's right, it's identical. I mean, 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. Tongue. I'm ruining your precious.

[63:50]

Got it? Can I put it down? Thank you. Alright. 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. You don't have to visualize really offerings, just think you are making, you know there is merit in offering things to lamas, to buddhas and so forth. So you are doing that to get merit for the sake of being. So just think that you are offering them all kinds of treasures and wonderful things. And that they're, let's see, 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 a holy tower.

[65:02]

And now, the rays of light again return, the rays of light that you sent out to the Buddhas and beings now begin to be reabsorbed into the syllable TANG, and you can put a bar over this TANG, a little bar at the top to show it's a long path wherever it occurs. It's not in this text. And in this, and as this happens, that green syllable TANG dissolves into light, 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 doesn't. It sounds funny. Okay, so revered Tara, just cut out the end.

[66:08]

And you yourself, you should now visualize yourself as holy Tara, revered Tara. 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 Jessica Ushula is showing the gesture of giving with her right hand. extended with palm outward as if this is gesture of liberality, of generosity, whatever.

[67:33]

And your left hand, her left hand is held at her heart with the ring finger touching the thumb. And you visualize that between that ring finger and thumb, you're holding the stem of a lotus, just as she does, and the stem blossoms by the side of your ear. It's a blue utpala flower. Utpala. I haven't heard of it. Utpala is a blue lotus. And padma is a day lotus, white lotus. OK, so she has a very, very serene, joyous expression on her face, smiling, peaceful, delightful, very beautiful.

[68:36]

the rest of the description you know we told you yesterday the hair is piled up in a yoginis not half of it it screams down over the over her shoulders she is 16 years It says, in the bloom of youth, that means she's a perfect sixteen. That indicates eternal youth. Youth means she's mastered the sixteen kinds of emptiness and is therefore free from birth and death. It is immortality. She is the eternal youth. 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. of lifting above the mud, lifting above the water.

[69:43]

So renunciation, purity of renunciation, we are in the world but not out of it. Our renunciation exalts us out of the world. Nāta-yujjhī-rūḍhi pāṇḍai-vī. Pāṇḍai-vī. [...] Pāṇḍai-vī many kinds of, this five kinds of mudras or ornaments, you know. Bracelets, earrings, necklaces. Yes.

[70:44]

And on her forearms. Okay? And anklets also. She has anklets. And just like, you know, these marks, these beauty ornaments that Indian women like to wear. That's okay. She wears a garment of finest silk. It is like the gods do, multicolored, radiant silk garments. You can check the various representations of Tara later, during the lunch break, to get the details. 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 Leela, or, how to say, king's play, mudra. Meaning kings, when they are just, you know, they're in total control and are relaxed.

[71:49]

It's called Rajalila. They just start to relax. They have their right legs slightly extended, as she does in all of these pictures, resting on a smaller lotus. And the other leg is folded. This is the classical Rajalila, or king at play. I mean, he's allowed to relax. Everybody else should be uptight, see? He can relax. That is the… But you don't… I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but [...] I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing,

[72:59]

Thank you. Yes. Or, yes, there's another point that Je Tsongkhapa wants to make. 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 Thangka there, the painting there. But for yourself, even though you have that visualization of yourself as Tara, it's best to keep the cross-legged posture in meditation. Don't sit like she does, just visualize yourself seated that way. Also, we repeat again how important it is that you don't make the mistake of thinking of these visualizations as

[74:09]

either real or unreal, that 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. That's how 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...

[75:11]

When I was young, I didn't know how to read. [...] So, think of your body as when you were doing your meditation, as being very clear 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?

[76:22]

You gave several examples. Yes. Okay. Those two, think of those two examples to get the right, you know, it's very clear, 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. You're just seeing a clear reflection of it. So think of these examples and avoid the fault of reifying, reifying, making real. Okay? Then, let's see. What did you just say? I'm sorry. Say it one more time. now this process of creating oneself with the

[77:27]

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 the sense of ego, of individuality that we have learnt from others in our circumstances. 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 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.

[78:45]

Therefore, when one is visualizing oneself as the deity, it says that when the texts tell us that we should dwell in the pride of the deity, that is, 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 pride. egotism or pride about being who we are, what we are. But here one identifies with one's spiritual idea, with Tara, and dwells in the pride. 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. Now I'm Tara, so I can do what I like, and 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.

[79:48]

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 an identification with our buddha nature instead of with our ego nature. That's what is happening. identification with your spiritual ideal rather than with your present seemingly separated, limited state. Okay. All right.

[80:51]

We have two. Lilus, then behind there is a poem. Okay. There was a time when I was very young. OK.

[82:08]

You need to just enlarge the... Okay, alright. Now, uh... Okay. Alright. I don't know. I don't know. PRABHUPĀDA – See, yejī-pālādi, kṣetukṣu-jñānaṁ bhaṅkāra-jñānaṁ bhaṅkāra-jñānaṁ, denī-dījela jñānaṁ bhaṅkāra-jñānaṁ, denī-yānaṁ bhaṅkāra-jñānaṁ, jñānaṁ bhaṅkāra-jñānaṁ, denī-yānaṁ bhaṅkāra-jñānaṁ, jñānaṁ bhaṅkāra-jñānaṁ, denī-yānaṁ bhaṅkāra-jñānaṁ, jñānaṁ bhaṅkāra-jñānaṁ

[83:48]

M.D. Yes, my name is Oma. I was born in Omba. [...] I was born in 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 elaborate. But we'll follow, for our purposes, we'll follow the shorter version. After you have visualized yourself as the goddess, When you focus your attention upon your own heart, visualize there a moon disk that is lying flat always, and standing atop that is the green syllable Tang. You can put a little bar over that A to show that it's a long A, a long A. 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, visualizing yourself as Tara. But you're not the real Tara, I mean the real Bodhisattva you were just identifying with there.

[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 expressed by the recitation of the Sanskrit mantra, om vajra samaja, which means something roughly, om diamond assembly. Vajra means diamond or adamanti. Samaja means assembly, diamond convocation. And then you perform the the Vājra-invoking mudra, which Caitanya Kṛṣṇa will demonstrate for you now.

[87:30]

Please. At the... Put your, 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 cross your hands with the right coming in over the, outside the left, on top of the left, and cross your hands with the fingers, four fingers slightly curved inward, and staff your fingers as you say the mantra, Mombasa Samantara. This is the summoning, the moving the fingers, just as we say, come here, this is the mudra for it.

[88:35]

Come. 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 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8 offerings, which 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 substrates of light. They are making countless offerings, filling the sky with these offerings of water, flowers, incense, lights. These are all the, these represent the things

[89:36]

that we love in our life. Water for drinking, water for bathing, 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 You see we have here, om vājra ārgaṁ ahaṁ. And as you say ārgaṁ, you perform the particular mudra for that particular offering. Ārgaṁ means drinking water. So, Jāsakaśāla 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.

[90:44]

Okay? No, no, [...]

[91:56]

I don't know how to say it. Gandhi. Gandhi is a young man. His name is Lillacoon. [...] Lillacoon All right, so just to identify these eight offerings, these you will run into in every Vajrayana ritual and meditation offering to the deities.

[93:17]

So you might as well lay them here, because it 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 padyam, Padum refers to water that is used for bathing or anointing the feet. In Indian culture, this is a very hospitable thing to do, having it. And we humans like it. Indians like it. They like to have their feet bathed. So this is the offering of bathing water. Flowers and 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.

[94:24]

Incense or doofy is an offering to the sense of smell, the nose. Lights or lamps are an offering to the eyes. Scented water, perfume, fragrances, and offering to the body, that is, to bathe in fragrant waters. Yes? I have a question about that. You visualized that many gods and bishops work in one part. Does that mean many towers, bishops and bishops? No, it is... Now I'm sure about this. There are two big problems here. 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, is she born from your heart or 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 and making offerings to God are these offerings that we like.

[96:39]

OK? We passionately want to that many people are willing to do this. Here, I'll have it here. Okay. No, here, that was appropriate in the refuge meditation, but not appropriate here. Here, it's 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, Jai Sankuchila, we'll do the mudra sports. I'll show you the mudras for each of these eight, starting with Argam. In Argam, there is a saying that if you don't have a father, you can't have a son. This is a very important saying. You may think that the mudra for making the offering of drinking water is an obscene gesture. She's been told as much by her children that in the West that this particular mudra looks like an insult to other people.

[99:07]

It's often taken as an insult. But therefore she is slightly modifying this mudra so that you won't have the same problems. So it's enough if you just bring together the tips of your fingers. Like that. So, as you say, Om Vajra Aakam. Aakam. Aakam. Om. [...] Aak They're the same.

[100:08]

First, the two waters are the same. You just do it twice. And it is optional whether you want to snap your fingers after each one. You can. Like she is just doing. Just show them one after the other. One, two, then three. All right. This is number four, duhute. All right. And number five, aloke, the lamps, shown by... These are the incense sticks, ganhe. I mean, sorry, water, not incense. All right. Naivedya number seven is the offering of food. All right.

[101:08]

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 represent sound. 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 there is a mudra to be done elsewhere. So, after you have made the offerings here... Yes. Okay. Agam. Okay. Agam. Padayam. Bhuvay. Dhuvay. Avamge. Gelde. Nivedi, Shukla.

[102:32]

Yeah. I'm feeling this one. I'm feeling this one. I'm feeling this one. And [...] now, after you've made these offerings, these eight offerings to Tara, visualize that she becomes non-dually absorbed into yourself, whether she dissolves into light or is absorbed down to the crown of your head. As you are visualizing this, you recite the four syllables for this absorption.

[104:19]

JA, HUNG, BANG, HO. And each one of these four syllables is accompanied by an appropriate mudra which she is going to teach you. All right? JA. That is JA. JA. HUNG. HUNG. And there should be the, your wrist should be flexed out 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. Bam. Bam. This represents the chain where the 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. OK?

[105:21]

And then, ho. Now you bring the hands, the wrists back to back. And then you make the absorption mudra and think that you and Tara, the true Tara, become truly non-dual. These are the Sanskrit syllables that represent their variations, but this is the way she's teaching. Yes, let me finish what I was saying.

[106:22]

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. 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. We're going to have to finish two and a half more pages this morning, so I would suggest we move along. All right? Yeah. All right. And now you visualize that at your forehead appears the white syllable Om. You can see it here or you can copy it during the lunch break. At your forehead there appears the white syllable Om. At your throat appears the red syllable ā, and at your heart the blue syllable haṁ, representing the enlightened body, voice, and mind of the Buddhas, okay?

[107:36]

Not Tara. Okay? Yes. [...] Uh, the, uh, Umbanda Samantabai is a jailer. Who did the Chöpil Khamo, the journey to Chöpil? Chöpil Khamo, Chöpil Khamo. RANG CHING YIN NYE TSE [...] RANG CHING

[109:08]

Now you visualize again that rays of light shine for us in the syllable tongue. You can put a bar over the R to make it a long R. here also. Then this syllable tongue, rays of light shine forth in the syllable tongue in your heart to invoke the five buddhas of consecration. They are named here. That is, these are the five buddha families. And they appear in the sky before you as you recite the, the mantra of invocation, Om Vajra, Om Vajra Samaja. And you perform that same mudra that she taught you earlier. They appear before you, together with their retinues, surrounded by bodhisattvas, dhakas and dakinis and the rest.

[110:10]

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? It's as a... PRABHUPĀDA – kundza begāsan, kundzati. Madhu, mā śubha yā, mā śubha yā, kundzati. Jitārāṅgaṅge. Jitārāṅgaṅge. PRABHUPĀDA – jitārāṅgaṅge. Jitārāṅgaṅge. All right. All right. 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 on Vajragarbha Maham and so on as above, now

[111:18]

in this space between, right after that line, right in, you have to request the, put in the brackets, request for consecration, close bracket, request for consecration. And, all right, you've written it in, in close the brackets. Now, here is what you say to them in request. Say, consecrate me. Consecrate me, all you Tathagatas. Consecrate me, all you Tathagatas. Prabhupāda.

[112:36]

Yes, Rādhā. Under the line that begins, drinking water on Vājra-ārakam, right in. Okay, got it? Consecrate me, all you tathāgatas, 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. 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 the pure water or the water of the celestials, ambrosia, elixir of life. And they pour this water from the water of consecration

[113:41]

over the crown of your head as they recite this following mantra, which is... OM SARVA DHODAKAPA ABHI KHEKAPA SAMAYA SHRIYE HUNG OM SARVA TATHA GATHA ABHI SHEKHATHA SAMAYA SHRIYE HUNG SATYALA WANGU VITUSHIN RANGLA RANGLA WANGU VITUSHIN LAKPA TUDISHE LAKPA TUDYOKHA SATYALA WANGU As there is traditionally, even as one recites this mantra, you use this mudra. 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.

[115:08]

But here, it's faced inward. Is this heart level too, or? Where? It's the migi part. Yeah, right up towards your eye, like facing your eye. All right. So then you say, you use this mudra and say, om sarva-tattva-gata-abhishekata samayi sriye. Yes. Yes. Yes. All right. All right. Oh, yes. All right, now. They pour this ambrosia or elixir of immortality over the crown of your head from consecrated vases.

[116:17]

So this is vases that means each one is holding a vase. And they sort of, you know, sort of in the sky before you and they just sort of pour it. And it flows down. You think of your body as being just like a container. glass or whatever, and that 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 a hindrance to you. The purity of your being are purged and your body is made totally pure and clean. 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 a Buddha of boundless life, Amitabha, red in color.

[117:29]

You should visualize it. She's about Six inches in height, the distance between the tip of your thumb and your forefinger outstretched, OK? That's about six inches. Like on top of a lotus and a moon disk, there she sits, about six inches in height. OK? And that shows that you belong to her spiritual family, her Buddha family, that of Amitabha. Thus Tara belongs to Amitabha's family. OK? I don't know what to say. Now we have the recitation of the holy mantra of Tara on top of page three.

[118:30]

Again, you focus your attention on the syllable thang, the green syllable thang within your heart. Put a bar over that ah so that it becomes a long ah. Okay? A long A. And you visualize a moon disk within your heart. That is, a frisbee-like disk 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. If there are these letters in Tibetan, you should have them in that form, right here. I direct your attention to this card to Jyotisala's right. And think that they are, in a clockwise fashion, they are surrounding that central letter so that you start with OM at six o'clock.

[119:59]

Here's six o'clock and you've got OM, OM, TA, RE, DU, TA, RE, DU, RE, SO, HA. Okay? And they are standing up like pieces of a Like chess pieces on a chessboard, they stand out. 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 out like chess pieces around that central letter. OK? OK. Yes. OK.

[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 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 taṁ 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 Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. So that as you're reciting the mantra, 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 vary the visualization. and recite the mantra of revered Tara as many times as possible. For beginners who are just practicing this for the first time, do at least 108 recitations of this mantra.

[123:19]

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 practice at all, but want to keep the connection alive with Tara, at least do 21 mantras a day, just on Tare Tuttare Tuttasvaha, recite that 21 times. If you are able, if you are a serious practitioner and are 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 and your own circumstances and your own resolution. All right? Yes? Yes, yes, [...] yes.

[124:33]

@Transcribed_v004
@Text_v004
@Score_IC