Finding Equanimity Through Avalokiteshvara

This Tibetan Buddhist practice takes us towards cultivating equanimity—impartial openness of the heart—through a guided meditation on the qualities of Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion. By accessing his form, mantra and wisdom, we allow our own qualities of understanding and kindness to unfold.

Transcript

To begin this practice,

Let's first find an experience of stability and stillness in our body,

Allowing it to rest in a comfortable stationary position,

Breathing naturally,

And noticing the parts of our body that are in contact with the earth,

With the ground beneath us,

Feeling that stability,

That stillness,

That sense of support being held by the earth.

And then generating a very positive motivation for this practice,

Thinking of our highest spiritual or psychological aspirations,

For why we're practicing,

Whether that's our wish to attain full awakening or become a kinder,

Wiser person,

Or to learn more about ourselves or to benefit the planet and other beings,

Making this motivation both profound and vast.

Profound in terms of our goals for personal well-being,

Our journey of self-discovery,

Vast in terms of benefiting other beings and the planet itself.

And then with this motivation,

Turning towards our practice of Chinrezi or Avalokitesvara,

The Buddha of Compassion,

And for that,

Using the clarity aspect of our mind,

Our mind's ability to envision,

Imagine.

In this case,

To envision and imagine a pure realm full of natural beauty,

Where we find ourselves sitting in a beautiful field,

A field covered with flowers,

Surrounded by majestic mountains in the distance,

With streams of water,

Pools of water,

Rainbows,

Beautiful birds singing the songs of Dharma,

Trees whose leaves also make the sound of Dharma,

Calling wind that brings joy and a sense of freshness.

And in the open blue sky in front of us,

A majestic lotus flower,

Open,

Fragrant,

Radiant,

Fresh,

A symbol of our own Buddha nature fully unfolding.

A reminder that just like this flower,

Our Buddha nature is incredibly beautiful,

And each quality potentially present in our mind,

Our qualities of compassion,

Love,

Wisdom,

Generosity,

And so forth.

All of these qualities can bring joy to other beings.

Upon this lotus flower,

We see a moon cushion,

And on this flat moon cushion suddenly appears the form of Ching-re-zi himself,

The form of the four-armed Buddha of compassion,

A naturally radiant expression of wisdom and compassion in perfect union.

This form is youthful,

Energetic,

Beautiful,

Compassionate,

Gentle,

And yet vibrantly active,

Sitting in the full lotus posture with his legs crossed,

Holding a beautiful jewel in his first two hands,

Right in front of his heart,

And with his other two hands held next to his shoulders,

Holding a crystal mala or crystal rosary and a beautiful lotus flower,

Crystal mala in his second right hand,

Beautiful white lotus flower in his second left hand.

These four hands together representing the qualities of the four immeasurable states,

Or four immeasurable attitudes of loving-kindness,

Compassion,

Empathetic joy,

And equanimity.

His beautiful youthful face is full of compassion and kindness,

And with his soft gaze he is looking at us and at the same time at all the other sentient beings throughout all the realms of existence.

Because his mind,

The fully awakened mind of a Buddha,

Can directly cognize our trials and tribulations and the experiences of all the other beings.

And so for some time we will just abide in this experience of being tenderly held in Chindresi's attention,

Feeling or imagining what it would feel like to be held in someone's tenderness,

For someone to be aware of us with affection and love.

So resting in this as if we were receiving a giant cosmic hug,

Unconditionally loved and accepted by this cosmic being,

That is also a reflection or a symbol of our own Buddha-nature,

Our own basic goodness.

And then to cultivate the quality of equanimity,

One of the four immeasurable attitudes,

We think of Chindresi's mind,

Chindresi's heart,

Chindresi's perception of reality.

We think of how the Buddha of Compassion would see us and all the other sentient beings.

So in between ourselves and Chindresi we can imagine three beings,

Most likely humans,

A friend,

Someone we feel close to,

Someone we appreciate,

Someone we love,

A stranger,

So a specific person we feel relatively indifferent towards,

And finally a so-called enemy,

That is,

A person we don't particularly like,

We don't trust them,

We don't feel close to them.

Maybe we even feel anger or hatred towards this third person.

So an object of our aversion,

These three people representing these three groups,

Friends,

Strangers,

And enemies,

Are right there in between us and Chindresi,

Sitting in the same field and gazing at Chindresi's radiant form with us.

From our point of view,

They are a friend,

A stranger,

And an enemy.

Subjectively,

We divide them into these three categories.

We interact with them accordingly.

And in many cases,

We reserve our love,

Compassion,

And so forth only for those belonging to the friend category.

And even then,

Only if those friends follow our rules.

The moment they dare to cross us,

Disagree with us,

Do something wild and unexpected,

We immediately put them in the stranger or enemy categories.

So from our view,

From our vantage point,

It's all very conditional.

But to cultivate equanimity,

We can try and think of how Chindresi perceives these very beings.

For the Buddha of Compassion and for Universal Compassion itself,

These beings would not be a friend,

Stranger,

And an enemy.

It wouldn't matter if they are currently following some rules.

It wouldn't matter if they are living up to our expectations.

For the Buddha of Compassion,

These are three sentient beings that want to be happy and free from suffering.

We are also a being just like that.

For Chindresi,

The four of us are equal in our wish to be happy and free from suffering.

And we are all perhaps equal in that we haven't yet fully realized our true nature.

Because of failing to realize our true nature,

We fight,

We create the causes of suffering,

We circle in samsara,

We participate in systems of oppression,

We suffer and we bring suffering.

But because Chindresi himself is an expression of full awakening,

He would know that our experiences of being deluded are like a dream.

And just like we can become lucid in a dream,

We can awaken to our true nature,

All of us together.

Equally,

Regardless of the category,

We're put in by somebody else.

But one of the conditions for awakening is to equally open our hearts to all other beings,

To extend our care and affection to everyone.

Which doesn't mean that we start disregarding the social conventions.

It's just at the level of our heart,

Deep at the level of our inner true nature,

We can equally share compassion,

Love,

Empathetic joy,

Tenderness,

Empathy,

With every other being.

And so,

As we view these three beings and ourselves through the eyes of Chindresi,

We can imagine that from his heart,

A shower of light and nectar descends towards all of us.

And not just us four,

But also all the other sentient beings,

Who still have to discover their true nature and become fully awakened.

These streams of light and nectar remove our delusions,

Our afflictions,

Our wrong views,

The limitations of our heart,

Our negative karma,

Our limited projections.

So,

Chindresi's blessings grant us wisdom and compassion,

Soothing our suffering,

And soothing our wish to bring suffering to others.

And so,

As we rest in this experience,

For a short while we can recite Chindresi's mantra,

His mantra,

Om Mani Padme Hum,

Which perfectly reflects the qualities of both wisdom and compassion in union.

So,

We'll just recite that quietly,

Or simply rest in this visualization.

Om Mani Padme Hum Om Mani Padme Reciting this mantra quietly and thinking that we're offering its liberating energy to all beings,

Every sentient being there is.

Om Mani Padme Hum We then imagine that all the beings around us,

Including the first three that we imagined,

The so-called friend,

The so-called stranger,

The so-called enemy,

We imagine that all these beings melt into light,

And as light,

Absorb into Chindresi's heart,

Merging with this universal energy of compassion and wisdom.

And then Chindresi himself comes to the crown of our head,

Facing the same direction,

Resting there to bless us and guide us.

And there,

Above our crown,

He also melts into light,

And this light absorbs into us.

And as a result,

We find perfect union with Chindresi.

Our body,

Speech,

And mind,

His body,

Speech,

And mind,

The body,

Speech,

And mind of all the true lineage masters,

Are perfectly one.

So we rest in this experience of unity,

Releasing all thoughts and abiding in spaciousness.

From this experience of spaciousness,

We move on to dedication.

We then dedicate the energy of this practice to our highest spiritual aspirations,

To the well-being of all who live,

So that all beings may find true equanimity,

True kindness,

True compassion,

True joy,

And so that all beings may discover their true nature.

With this dedication,

We slowly conclude the practice and invite the bell.

Reviews

OMGoodness, Michael you are amazing. I love your meditations with their beautiful visualizations and the healing messages offered 🙏🌞💙 in gratitude

Excellent instructions for visualization and for generating goodwill. Thank you.

Om mani padme hum🙏🏻🤍🕯️