Linda: Metaphysical Lecture II, Tues PM, April 28

Vajrasattva Mediation
Parenthetical statements are my own musings

Taking Refuge

“ I take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and the Sangha most excellent”

These are the Three Jewels in Buddhism.
The first is the Buddha, or the Unsurpassable Teacher (all religions) who shows us the path and who has practiced this path for 3 countless eons.

The second is the Dharma, or the teachings. These are scriptural and realizational. Of the realizational scriptures, there are those that deal with the causal truths of the path and those that are the truth of cessation – the final refuge. The Dharma, or teachings, is our real Protector. It is this that will free us from the suffering of the 3 realms, especially the lower realms, and which will bring both temporary happiness and the help needed to abandon negativity. The Buddha and Sangha are within the Dharma and are a means of exposition of realizational and saving truth.

The third jewel is Sangha most excellent. There are two kinds of sangha: aria beings who are bodhisattvas and noble. These are the Supreme Sanghas. And there are the monks and nuns who are our leaders and inspiration. In Tibetan the two syllables of san - gay mean: san = to be awake from sleeplike ignorance and gay = to have knowledge, omniscience, and realization. We depend on these teachers to keep us on a correct and unmistaken path. The Sangha is a precious leader who will increase our virtue and decrease our negativity.

One needs all three Jewels if one is to proceed in a correct and unmistaken way:
{Revelation (Buddha), doctrine (teachings), method (actions/virtue)].

“I take refuge until Enligtenment is reached”

One will continue to rely on the Three Jewels until one has achieved the perfect state of Buddhahood. This gives one the time frame and the goal of spiritual practice.

“By the collection of generosity and other virtues (perfections)”

The previous translation used the word “merit” for “collection”. Rinpoche changed this, as merit indicates the 5 Perfections, (see previous lecture), but in fact, we also have need of the 6th Perfection, which is Perfect Wisdom. Thus, we much practice the Six Perfections for 3 countless eons in order to attain Buddhahood. (This is the ordinary timeline, but intense spiritual practices such as these can speed the process up to even a single lifetime or even a single moment.)

“May I attain Enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.”

This sentence is specific to Mahayana Buddhism and is its goal. One will practice the Three Jewels until one is steeped in such compassion, such as wanting pure happiness, cessation of suffering, joy, and equanimity, and wisdom which includes perfect omniscience so that one may then return to this world until all sentient beings have come to the same compassion and wisdom.

Activating the Awakening Mind = The Four Immeasurables
Already discussed at length.

Vajrasvattva Meditation and Recitation (This is the actual practice and it is recommended that one sits in the 7 point Vajrasvattva position – comfortable)

“AH! In my ordinary form, above my head”

AH! This represents the unborn nature of all phenomena or pure appearance. It is without the negativity of mistakes of body, speech, mind, perceptions of reality. It is realiziation, in fact unborn, unproduced, empty. It realizes the illusion of the world. Why unborn? To be discussed next week with lectures on Emptiness.

Ordinary Form: This is our form, one in which there are obscurations and negativities from the body, speech, and mind. These are from our actions of negativity (body, speech, mind) as well as the imprints on our soul of the negativity from previous lives.

Above my head: One is going to visualize the deity as being an arm’s length above one’s head.

“Is a white lotus with a lunar seat in its field”
We are born unpure, as most of us are born of the womb. There are 4 kinds of births: womb, egg, miracle, and heat + moisture (realm of subtle beings?). Our object is to purify the cyclic existence from the negativity that came from previous births as well as being born from an impure egg and impure seed. (This is the acknowledgement of the fact that we are not perfect and we were not born perfect.) To remedy this imperfection, one must first visualize that which is perfect. From the mother is the Wisdom aspect symbolized by flesh, skin, bones. From the father is the Method symbolized by marrow, ? and ?.

There are three phases to this visualization:
A white lotus. This is the pure place of birth of a deity. It is the Mother (Pure Substance, Pure Being), and visualizing this kind of pure birth within a lotus is the antidote to birth by the womb. (It is said in several traditions that births in the Golden Age were without pain, and that the birth of Jesus was one without any pain or suffering on the part of Mary.)

A lunar seat in its fold - the moon which is white, round, and cool. This is the essence of the Father, the seed. (It is active and absolute, the method)

“From a HUNG above this arises the lama as vajrasattva.”

This is the third stage of visualization. HUNG is life force. When one is born of the womb, one has the 5 elements of earth, wind, fire, space, and water. But there is the need of a 6th element in order to conceive. This 6th element is the subtle consciousness. Thus, a child is not fully conceived until this consciousness enters into the body. (In some traditions, it is said that this occurs at the quickening, around the third month of pregnancy. I always thought it was interesting that after the third month, aborting a child was medically much more difficult. There is a definitive and qualitative change around that third month.) So, when one visualizes HUNG, one visualizes a clear and knowing consciousness. Thus one is visualizing the deity (Vajrasattva) as having a perfect substance (lotus born) with a perfect method (lunar seed) with a clear and knowing consciousness. One visualizes the perfect deity (body), and the perfect sound or mantra (method/speech) and the perfect consciousness (thoughts). These visualizations are the antidote to impure appearances in the consciousness of the cosmic wind.

(In thinking of this imagery, I was struck by the comparison of the lotus, the moon, and the HUNG with the Christian symbolism of the Blessed Virgin, the Christ, and the Holy Spirit. One can find similar analogies in Islamic and Hindu symbolism. I can imagine there is an analogy in Judaism, but it doesn’t spring instantly to mind – my own ignorance.)