Various Deity Practices

Various Deity Practices

Ksitigarbha Mantra and Practice
Date Posted:
May 2007

Rinpoche gave the following Ksitigarbha mantra practice for students.

Begin the practice with:

Refuge and Bodhicitta Prayers:

I go for refuge until I am enlightened
To the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Supreme Assembly.
By the merits I create through practicing generosity and so forth
May I become a buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings.

The Four Immeasurables Prayer:

How wonderful it would be if all sentient beings were to abide in equanimity, free from hatred and attachment.
May they abide in equanimity.
I myself will cause them to abide in equanimity.
Please, guru-buddha, grant me blessings to be able to do this.

How wonderful it would be if all sentient beings had happiness and the causes of happiness.
May they have happiness and its causes.
I myself will cause them to have happiness and its causes.
Please, guru-buddha, grant me blessings to be able to do this.

How wonderful it would be if all sentient beings were free of suffering and its causes.
May they be free of suffering and its causes.
I myself will cause them to be free of suffering and its causes.
Please, guru-buddha, grant me blessings to be able to do this.

How wonderful it would be if all sentient beings were never separated from the happiness of higher rebirth and liberation.
May they never be separated from these.
I myself will cause them never to be separated from these.
Please, guru-buddha, grant me blessings to be able to do this.

Generate the following motivation:

The purpose of my life is to free all sentient beings, who are the origin of all my past, present, and future happiness, from the oceans of suffering and its causes—the delusions—and lead them to the peerless happiness of full enlightenment. Therefore, I must attain enlightenment, and therefore I must recite the great mantra of the Unchangeable Wheel Essence to protect the country and to bring great peace and happiness to everyone.

The Bhagavan, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha (Destroyer Qualified Gone Beyond), told Deva Garbha that in the future, in order to protect the pure country, this land of the Buddha, established with its king and kings’ dynasty, he must recite the great mantra of the Unchangeable Wheel Essence. By the power of the words and the glory of the great mantra of the Unchangeable Wheel Essence, the entire country would be protected. Then, in future times in this land of the Buddha, all enemies will not harm the king, the kings’ dynasty, and all their virtues. They will be protected so as to never be separate from the Buddha and to be within the entourage of the Buddha.

From then on Deva Garbha, the great Perfected One, expressed the words of the great mantra of the Unchangeable Wheel Essence in order to protect the entire country.

Recitation of the Mantra:

TAYATA MUNI MORE / MUNI GHA BHE / MUNI KI LI DHA YE / MUNI ROGI BA TSA LE / MUNI HALI DE / MUNI GHA ME SHE BHA KHYE / MIRLA BHAG / KHE BHAA LA LA BHAG KHYE / SO RI KIRTA / TOR NA KIR TSA LE / BHA TAG SHA KIR TE / KU KU LA MIR LE / AVA SHYA SA RE / ER HA KI LI BHA / MUNI BHAA THABA SVAHA

The Great Perfected One, Deva Garbha, expressed and requested to Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, the Destroyer Qualified Gone Beyond One, with many entourages, to please rejoice in the expression of the great mantra by men.

At that time, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha (Destroyer Qualified Gone Beyond One) said to the great Mugalyana (one of the heart disciples of the Buddha) and to the bodhisattvas and mahasattvas, Maitreya, and so forth: “A son of the race must memorize and should hold these words of the great mantra called the Unchangeable Wheel Essence offered by the Great Perfected One, Deva Garbha, in order to protect the country with the mantra.”

The Buddha explained elaborately to all the king’s race and to all the virtuous kings, “In the future, in this world, due to this cause and condition, the king’s race and the virtuous kings with their entourage and all the people living in the country will receive benefit and happiness. They will always turn the wheel of Dharma and be extremely far-famed and highly glorified. Evil views will be destroyed and the right view will be established. Beings will have the Dharma eye and will cause the Triple Gem’s existence to continue unceasingly. Limitless sentient beings minds’ will be completely ripened and devotion to the Mahayana will be strongly stabilized. Beings will abide in the meditation of the Six Perfections, cut all defilements, and will come to quickly abide beyond the limits of defilement (abide in full enlightenment).

Dedication:

May the supreme jewel bodhicitta
That has not arisen, arise and grow;
And may that which has arisen not diminish
But increase more and more.

May the loving compassionate thought of bodhicitta
be generated within the minds of everyone in Nepal and in my family.
May sickness, famine, fighting, and dispute never arise.
May harm from earth, water, fire, and wind never occur.
May we continually enjoy the peace and happiness of the holy Dharma
like the rising of the sun.

May all the father and mother sentient beings have happiness.
May all the lower realms become empty forever.
May all the bodhisattvas, whoever or wherever they are,
May all their prayers be actualized immediately.

Through the merits of these virtuous actions
May I quickly attain the state of a guru-buddha
And lead all living beings, without exception,
Into that enlightened state.

Just as the brave Manjushri and Samantabhadra, too,
Realized things as they are,
I, too, dedicate all these merits in the best way,
That I may follow their perfect example.

Deepening Vajrayogini Practice
Date Posted:
May 2007

Rinpoche gave the following advice to a student who had cared for Lama Yeshe before he passed away. She had a sash from Lama Yeshe, and said it had healing qualities. She asked if she could use it for others. Then she asked how to make her Vajrayogini practice more in-depth.

My very dear Nanette,
Thank you very much for your kind letter. It is true we haven’t met for a long time. Yes, I remember that you took care of Lama Yeshe, that you were one of the nurses. Thank you very much for all the help you have given in the past.

There is no problem regarding the sash. You can use it to help others whenever you feel that is useful – that is completely OK.

I am living with my friend diabetes; it has not become very bad. I was going to go to New York to receive His Holiness’s teachings, but then I started receiving unbelievable teachings on the Tantric Grounds and Paths from Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche at Vajrapani Center. People are so amazed by the teachings, their minds are being blown away, and people are enjoying it so much. So, then I changed my plans to stay and complete these teachings and also to receive private teachings and rare oral transmissions from Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche.

Regarding your question on how to make your Vajrayogini practice more in-depth, what you need is guru devotion, renunciation, bodhicitta, and emptiness. The more lam-rim you practice, the more profound your Vajrayogini practice will become and through this it becomes the quickest path to enlightenment. It is very important for you to practice Vajrayogini with renunciation, bodhicitta, right view, method, and wisdom.

Also, you should study the various commentaries on Vajrayogini and every day do some meditation on the lam-rim and read the lam-rim. If you haven’t read Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, that may be easier for you to read. You should study it from the beginning to the end, also Lama Tsongkhapa’s Lamrim Chenmo. Maybe the part on emptiness is too elaborate for you, but you can still read it, even if you don’t understand it. It still leaves very positive imprints on your mind, and sooner or later, from the imprints, you can realize emptiness by eliminating all the defilements and negative imprints. When you achieve enlightenment you will be able to do perfect work for sentient beings.

After you have read these lam-rim books, you should start from the beginning again, read a little every day, with mindfulness, and relate it to your own life. In this way, it becomes meditation. Also, you can study the different Vajrayogini commentaries a little every day and practice the meditations.

In case you are not doing this already, you should recite one lam-rim prayer every day. If you are not already reciting one, then when you do your six session guru yoga you can insert a lam-rim prayer in it, before the guru absorbs into you. If you are doing Lama Tsongkhapa guru yoga, then it has a lam-rim prayer in it. Reciting a lam-rim prayer every day prepares your mind, planting seeds in your mental continuum to achieve the whole path to enlightenment. Read the lam-rim prayers mindfully and relate them to your own life. This is the very very best, this is what makes your life meaningful, and is better than even reciting 100 million “Om Mani Padme Hum’s.” Then, also you should do purification practice in the evening, recite 21 long Vajrasattva mantras, with the four powers, or 28 short mantras. Or you can recite 21 long mantras and the rest short mantras.

Please continue to make your life most beneficial with bodhicitta and wisdom.

With much love and prayers...

 

More Talks on this Topic: Various Deity Practices
Date of Advice:
January 2000
Date Posted:
November 1999

See also Tara the Liberator, a commentary on the practice of Tara.

 

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