Offerings to oneself as Maitreya
(a) Removing interferences
(Recite the following mantra while visualizing that all impure energies—particularly those deriving from the mistaken view of inherent existence—are chased away from the objects of offering.)
OM VAJRA AMRITA KUNDALI HANA HANA HUM PHAT
(b) Dissolution into emptiness
OM SVABHAVA SHUDDHA SARVA DHARMA SVABHAVA SHUDDHO HAM
Everything becomes empty
(c) Transformation and blessing
All the offerings are recognized as non-duality,
Yet manifesting in the form of the individual offerings
And functioning to elicit the experience of bliss
As objects to be enjoyed by all the six senses.
(The elaborate visualization can be done as follows. The eight objects of offering dissolve into emptiness, from which the eight syllables OM appear. These transform into offering bowls each containing the syllable HUM. The HUMs dissolve into light and transform into the individual objects of offering. Then visualize that above each offering bowl are the syllables OM, AH, and HUM in ascending order. Recite the following eight blessing mantras. As you recite OM, white light radiates from the syllable above the first offering into the ten directions of space and draws the enlightened quality of the holy body of all buddhas and bodhisattvas back into the OM, which then sinks into the offering bowl. In a similar fashion, red light from the AH and blue from the HUM draw back the enlightened qualities of the speech and mind of these holy beings. In this way all eight offerings are transformed and blessed.)
OM ARGHAM AH HUM
OM PADYAM AH HUM
OM… etc..
(d) Presentation of the offerings
(While reciting the following offering mantras and performing the appropriate mudras, visualize offering goddesses emanating from your heart, presenting the offerings to yourself as Maitreya Buddha and then dissolving back into your heart.)
OM ARYA ARGHAM PRATICCA HUM SVAHA... (etc.)
After invoking the wisdom beings and again generating clear appearance and divine pride, we bless all the sense objects in the universe and offer them to ourself as Maitreya. We can also offer these objects of enjoyment to other beings, seeing them as Maitreya as well.
The offerings are blessed and purified because if we view them dualistically they’re impure and therefore not worthy of offering. Thus we have to recognize all the objects we offer as non-dual in nature.
The significance of offering is not simply giving. The way we usually give has no significance; it’s just part of our normal ego game. Giving the tantric way involves total transformation. That’s what a mandala means: it signifies totality. Everything that exists is transformed; this is not some half-half practice. We transform every possible enjoyment into the blissful, everlasting energy of the non-superstitious wisdom of Maitreya and then make the offering. By recognizing ourself as an enlightened being and the enjoyments we offer as the energy of transcendent, non-dual wisdom, everything we do becomes the path to enlightenment.
For example, normally when we eat and drink we don’t do so with appreciation. Some people are obsessed with food and eat too much. Others think eating is a hassle, negative; they think that eating is animal behavior. It doesn’t have to be that way; we can eat with respect and appreciation. When we recognize food as the energy of universal love and wisdom, each mouthful brings the experience of blissful energy, which increases our satisfaction. Increasing satisfaction in this way increases our wisdom. It is very powerful. The enjoyment of eating depends more on the relationship we have with our food—the attitude with which we eat—than on the amount of food we consume. If we eat with a bad feeling we get a bad effect; if we eat with a good attitude we get a good result. Eating with superstition can automatically produce a stomach ache.
Anyway, we know from everyday life that if we eat with a negative mind, even if we completely stuff ourselves, we don’t find satisfaction, only more dissatisfaction, whereas if we eat with a reasonable attitude, even a small amount of food can satisfy us, both physically and mentally.
One reason for the increasing incidence of cancer in the West is that we eat without appreciation. We appreciate money but not food. I’m not going to say much on this but that’s what produces cancer. Before the industrial revolution there wasn’t much cancer because people’s hunter-gatherer attitude to food was much more appreciative and more in harmony with nature. Now there’s no relationship between nature, people and the food we eat. Even you and I don’t have a proper relationship. Everything’s so dualistic.27
Take electricity, for example. Without it, city people would die, wouldn’t they? Anyway, they’d be in trouble. On the other hand, as I read in Readers Digest recently, high voltage electricity can damage the body. I don’t know if this is true but it could be. However, I’m getting off topic here.
The main point I’m trying to make is that we have to transform our entire environment—mountains, houses, our body, all sense objects, everything—into a reflection of transcendent, blissful wisdom and recognize its non-dual and clear light nature. This method cuts our ordinary ego concepts and view, so it’s very important.I think the rest of the sadhana is fairly self-evident.
Praise
(Thinking deeply about the excellent qualities of Maitreya Buddha, recite the following prayer)
I pay homage and offer praise to Maitreya Buddha
Who, by accomplishing the meditation of loving-kindness,
Has conquered all enemies and harm: the negative forces of Mara,
And cares for all mother sentient beings with great compassion.
Recitation of the mantra
(With strong concentration visualize the following as clearly as possible.)
At my heart is a moon disc
Upon which rests the golden syllable hum [or mem]
Surrounded by the glowing letters of the mantra:
OM AH MAITRI SARVA SIDDHI HUM
From these much brilliant light radiates in all ten directions
Filling the entire universe and purifying all negative energy
—Just as the rays of the sun instantly eliminate darkness—
And leading all beings to the state of Maitreya Buddha.
Again light radiates forth in the form of magnificent offerings,
Which are presented to Maitreya residing in Tushita
And also to the buddhas and bodhisattvas in all ten directions.
The blessings and inspiration of the three doors of these holy beings
Are drawn back in the form of nectar and radiant light
That melt into the syllable and mantra at my heart,
Infusing my mind with the bliss of enlightenment.
(Now recite the mantra as many times as possible, maintaining divine pride and the clarity of the visualization. During the recitation, the meditations on loving-kindness and compassion and the visualization of purifying light and nectar can be continued.)
Optional offerings and praise
(At this point, if desired, you may repeat the offerings to oneself as Maitreya and the praise above.)
Meditation on the graduated path to enlightenment
(At this point you may do a glance meditation on the entire graduated path to enlightenment using short texts such as The Foundation of All Good Qualities, The Three Principal Aspects of the Path, Lines of Experience or A Glance Meditation on All the Important Points of the Lamrim.28—or you may select a particular point and meditate upon its meaning.)
After that we do the last part of the sadhana, the concluding dedication practices.29
I think you now understand the sadhana, so that’s enough.
NOTES
27 For more of Lama’s opinion on all this, see Becoming Vajrasattva, pages 168 and 196. [Return to text]
28 See The Joy of Compassion, Virtue and Reality and Illuminating the Path to Enlightenment respectively (all published for free distribution by the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive) for the first three texts and Appendix 4 of this book for A Glance Meditation on All the Important Points of the Lamrim. [Return to text]
29 See Appendix 2.
