This is a guided meditation on Guru Rinpoche or Padmasambhava,
Who is venerated in the Indo-Tibetan tradition of Buddhism as the second Buddha who brought the Buddhist teachings to Tibet.
In this meditation Padmasambhava is seen as both an ancestral teacher,
The union of all ancestral and root teachers,
And an expression of our own Buddha nature or our basic goodness.
And so to begin this practice we need to settle down in naturalness,
In a state of stability,
Stillness,
Relaxation and clarity.
Finding a comfortable posture we first allow our body to rest in stillness,
Breathing naturally and releasing physical tension.
All the types of physical tension including the subtle movement of our fingers and toes or muscular tension in our face.
After resting,
Breathing and releasing.
We then also connect with the silence behind our speech,
Including the inner silence behind and beyond our mental stories and mental chatter.
Merging with that silence while releasing all the chatter,
All the verbal activity,
All the child breath,
Letting go of all the stories in order to be silent.
And then also connecting with the spacious clarity of our mind,
The space beyond identification with any mental appearances.
Releasing there and releasing all identification,
All mentation with a child breath.
In this natural state we mentally turn towards Buddhist refuge,
Our true reliance on the Buddha,
The Dharma and the Sangha,
The awakened mind,
The teachings leading to awakening and those who have already realized part of those teachings.
And with this refuge as our foundation we also generate the altruistic intention of bodhicitta,
Thinking,
I am doing this practice of Guru Rinpoche in order to become fully awakened for the benefit of all sentient beings.
In this state of altruistic determination we allow the image of Guru Rinpoche to naturally arise in our mind.
In the space of rainbow light,
On a lotus flower,
With sun and moon cushions,
He appears as a radiant presence.
His body is made of rainbow light and it's not a static image,
It's a joyful presence that is alive and engaged.
His compassionate and playful gaze is resting upon us and all the other sentient beings at the same time.
Guru Rinpoche Padmasambhava is wearing many layers of clothing,
An inner white robe,
An outer blue gown,
Monastic shawls and finally a big brocade cloak.
His hat and shoes are also made from that radiant,
Rainbow-colored brocade.
In his right hand resting on his right knee he holds a vajra scepter,
A golden-colored symbol of compassion,
Bliss and skillful means.
In his left hand resting on his lap is a skull cup inside of which there is a long-life vase brimming with nectar.
All of these are symbols of his perfect wisdom.
There is also a trident in the fold of his left hand,
A symbol of enlightened female energy.
Guru Rinpoche's mind of omniscience simultaneously cognizes the ultimate nature or emptiness and the multiplicity of phenomena,
Including all beings that he guides to full awakening.
Looking at his image,
Whether it appears clearly or not,
We generate feelings of inspiration,
Of devotion to our own basic goodness and to our ancestral teachers,
And intense compassion for all beings.
The wish to bring them all to genuine freedom from suffering.
Allowing our mind to focus on Guru Rinpoche's presence,
Especially the feeling of his presence,
We rest our mind in this experience for some time.
Simply being with him,
Being in his compassionate presence that is also the presence of our own basic goodness,
Our own dignity.
To invoke Guru Rinpoche's inspiration,
We can imagine being surrounded by all the sentient beings.
And although on a relative level right now they have different life forms,
For auspiciousness we imagine them all as human practitioners,
Humans who are also doing this meditation with us right now.
All these beings are looking at Guru Rinpoche as the union of all the ancestral teachers.
And the eyes of beings are full of devotion,
Determination and a burning desire to be free.
With a single voice,
All of them are chanting as application to Padmasambhava,
Thus invoking his wisdom mind and his activities.
With this,
We can simply focus on the internal feeling of supplication,
Or combine it with the chanting of Padmasambhava's mantra,
Or quiet recitation of it.
And in this case,
The mantra is used as a prayer of request,
As an invocation.
Om Ahum Vajaguru Padmasiri Hum Om Ahum Vajaguru Padmasiri Hum Om Ahum Vajaguru Padmasiri Hum Om Ahum Vajaguru Padmasiri Hum In response to this prayer of supplication,
Guru Rinpoche sends forth beams of blessing light.
First,
There is a white ray of light coming from his brow to our brow.
This white light has the nature of the enlightened body,
And it purifies all the negativities ever created with our body,
All the negative karma of the body that we have created throughout the three times.
Our body becomes like a rainbow,
Clear,
Radiant,
And truly beneficial to all beings.
Guru Rinpoche then sends a red ray of light from his throat to ours.
This ray is in the nature of enlightened speech,
And it purifies all the verbal negativities we have ever created.
Our speech gains the qualities of Guru Rinpoche's speech,
Becoming perfectly capable of bringing benefit to all beings.
Padmasambhava then sends a blue ray of light from his heart to ours.
This blue light is in the nature of enlightened mind,
And it purifies all the mental negativities,
Including all the imprints of our afflictions and our wrong views.
Our mind becomes just like the mind of all the awakened Buddhas,
Full of omniscience and love.
Finally,
From his navel comes a yellow ray of light.
It enters our own navel and grants us the empowerment of primordial wisdom or wakefulness,
The primordial mind of clear light,
Completely beyond all afflictions and all false duality.
With this,
We allow our mind to simply rest naturally for some time.
Simply looking around us,
We see that the minds of all beings have also been purified and are now open to receiving the transformative blessings of Guru Rinpoche.
All confusion,
Pain,
Suffering,
Violence,
And negative karma have been dispelled,
And all of existence now appears as a beautiful realm of rainbow light,
Full of the sound of Guru Rinpoche's mantra.
Guru Rinpoche himself now comes to the crown of our head,
Facing the same direction as we do.
Having his presence above our crown,
For some time we enjoy the feeling of closeness,
And also strengthen our desire to experience our own primordial wisdom,
Our wakefulness embodied by Padmasambhava.
He then melts into light,
Which absorbs into us,
And we drop all the concepts of self and other as inherently existent,
And simply rest.
Before concluding the practice,
We recall the qualities of wisdom,
Compassion,
And power that are embodied in Guru Rinpoche.
These qualities are also ours,
Already present in our basic goodness.
To awaken them,
We dedicate the merit from this practice towards the goal of attaining full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings.
Also through this merit,
May all beings immediately be liberated from all the types of suffering,
And immediately attain the true happiness of liberation.
May the altruistic intention of Bodhicitta be borne in our own mind and in the minds of all sentient beings.
With this,
We return to our normal awareness,
Conclude the meditation,
And invite the bell.
