In order to begin this practice of Manjushri,
The Buddha or the Bodhisattva of Wisdom,
We first allow our awareness to descend into the space of the body,
Noticing the tactile sensations arising in the parts of our body that are currently in contact with the ground.
Noticing the tactile sensations in our feet and toes,
Releasing the muscle tension from that area,
Then exploring the sensations in our pelvic floor,
In our abdomen,
Spending some time with our hands and fingers,
Releasing the tension,
Releasing all the deliberate movement there,
Then bringing our awareness to the shoulders,
And finally spending some time with our face,
Softening the facial muscles,
And experiencing a deep level of relaxation,
Finding a profound sense of ease throughout the body,
All while allowing our body to breathe naturally,
Without any attempts to control the breath,
To manipulate its rhythm,
To change the pattern of breathing in any way,
Allowing the body to continue resting as a support for the ensuing practice,
And then exploring our motivation for doing this meditation by revisiting our highest spiritual or psychological aspirations,
And generating a truly vast and truly profound,
Meaningful motivation that aspires to fully uncover our amazing potential for the benefit of all sentient beings,
In order to bring them the greatest possible happiness and the greatest possible freedom from suffering.
And then,
For the main part of this practice,
We use the creative or the luminous aspect of our own mind to imagine ourselves in a beautiful dimension full of natural beauty,
Where we are surrounded by majestic hills,
Verdant fields,
Beautiful trees,
Streams of pure water.
In front of us is clear blue sky,
And in that open space,
On a beautiful,
Fresh,
Fragrant lotus flower and a moon disk,
Abides Manjushri himself,
Surrounded by a halo of rainbow light,
In a body that is orange in color,
Youthful and energetic,
Representing the freshness of his wisdom,
The clarity and the agility of his mind.
In his right hand,
He wields a sword,
A blazing sword of wisdom.
With his left hand,
He's holding the stem of a lotus flower,
And on that lotus flower there is a Dharma text.
His two legs are fully crossed,
And his beautiful,
Shining,
Youthful form is adorned with silken garments and beautiful jeweled ornaments.
He is compassionately smiling,
Gazing at us and at all the other sentient beings,
Reminding us of our own deepest potential for wisdom,
For clarity,
For discerning intelligence,
And along with that also for love,
Compassion,
And so forth.
In his heart center,
On a moon disk,
The essence of his wisdom appears in the form of the syllable D,
Radiating boundless light,
And bringing boundless levels of wisdom to all sentient beings,
Including us personally.
And so we imagine that this orange light dissolves into us,
Dissolves into all the other sentient beings,
Bringing us ordinary and supreme attainments on the spiritual path,
Bringing us all the types of wisdom or intelligence,
Bringing us perfect eloquence,
Bringing us universal knowledge,
Bringing us the ultimate levels of wisdom,
And so on.
While we visualize all of that,
We open up to the inspiring influence of all the Buddhas,
To the inspiring influence of the unified wisdom of all the Buddhas,
And to the innate wisdom of our own basic goodness,
Our own Buddha nature.
And while that's happening,
While we imagine this process happening for ourselves and for all the other sentient beings,
We can recite Manjushri's most famous mantra,
OM ARA PATSANA DI,
As it's pronounced by Tibetans.
First,
If we wish,
We can chant the mantra a few times,
OM ARA PATSANA DI,
OM ARA PATSANA DI,
OM ARA PATSANA DI,
OM ARA PATSANA DI,
OM ARA PATSANA DI,
OM ARA PATSANA DI,
OM ARA PATSANA DI,
OM ARA PATSANA DI.
And then we can either continue chanting,
Or recite the mantra quietly,
Pronouncing each syllable clearly,
While imagining that the boundless light of wisdom is absorbing into us,
Inspiring our innate potential for goodness,
Bringing us greater degrees of clarity,
Wisdom,
And along with that also love and compassion,
Resting in this process of recitation,
OM ARA PATSANA DI.
We release the process of recitation and simply rest in a state of stillness,
Silence,
And spaciousness,
Opening up to the inspiring influence of Manjushri.
And then we imagine Manjushri coming to the crown of our head and in order to inspire us further,
We imagine that he melts into light and that orange light absorbs into us,
Blessing our body,
Speech,
And mind.
So we rest in a state of union,
Where our body,
Speech,
And mind,
Manjushri's body,
Speech,
And mind,
And the body,
Speech,
And mind of all the spiritual mentors of all the lineages are one.
Out of this state of resting,
We re-emerge with our thoughts of dedication,
Dedicating the energy of our practice so that in everything we do,
We might maintain the wisdom,
The discerning intelligence,
The clarity of Manjushri's mind,
Dedicating the energy of this practice to our goal of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings,
Dedicating the energy so that all the wisdom,
All the genuine wisdom in this world might keep growing,
Unfolding,
Until we all truly understand interdependence and then apply that understanding of interdependence in how we act,
Therefore acting with wisdom and compassion,
With wisdom and love.
And so,
Just like Manjushri,
May every being come to embody wisdom and compassion,
And may we be inseparable from Manjushri and Manjushri's qualities in everything that we do.
With that,
We come back to our body,
Grounding our awareness in the sensations associated with our breath,
Noticing the ground that's holding us,
And slowly introducing some movement to the body as we conclude this practice.
