Recollection of Davies.
Devanusati Meditation foundation practice.
We begin the meditation with a quick body scan,
Followed by a few minutes of breath meditation,
Establishing a good quality of mindfulness,
Presence of mind,
Before undertaking the visualization.
Going to be bringing our awareness to no feelings.
On the surface area of the skin of the body.
Starting at the top of the head.
Simply aware of any feelings at the top of the head.
Mindfully aware.
Moving your awareness down the back of the head,
Simply aware.
Including the ears.
Now including the face.
Sweeping the awareness down the front of the neck.
The back of the neck.
Aware of the area on top of the shoulders.
Simply aware.
Relaxing any tension.
Include your chest and upper arms,
Simply aware of the feeling.
And now include the area of the upper back.
Feeling the pressure under the bottom,
Under your buttocks.
As you sit on the mat or cushion or chair,
Simply aware of the body sitting.
Now include the arms embracing this whole upper body area with mindful awareness.
Include your hands.
Feeling your hands.
Pressing in your lap.
Or against your leg.
Include the upper leg style both above and below,
Simply aware of that area of the body.
Include the shins and the calves,
The knees.
And now include the feet.
Have a broad awareness that knows the felt experience of a body.
Sitting.
Bringing your attention now to the tip of your nose.
The area over the upper lip.
Going to be practicing mindful awareness of the entire in-breath and the entire out-breath.
The feelings.
In three areas.
At the tip of the nose,
In the chest.
And in the abdomen.
Taking a few deep in-breaths,
Breathing deeply in,
Aware of the feelings,
Nose,
Chest,
Abdomen.
Breathing out long,
Knowing the feelings,
Abdomen,
Chest,
Nose.
As you breathe in,
You'll notice your chest expands,
Your abdomen expands,
Simply aware of the feelings.
And as you breathe out.
Abdomen contracts a little.
Just contracts a little.
Breathing in,
Aware of the feelings,
Nose,
Chest,
Abdomen.
Breathing out,
Aware of the feelings,
Abdomen,
Chest,
Nose.
Allowing the breath to become.
Natural,
Normal,
Ordinary breath now.
But still aware of the feelings.
Just be mindful of the breath for the next minute or so.
It's important to establish.
Some assentedness,
Some presence of mind.
When thoughts arise simply.
No thought is a thought.
Not grasping.
Not following on with the next thought.
Giving the interest in knowing the feelings of the breath.
Nose,
Chest,
Abdomen.
Abdomen,
Chest,
Nose.
The Lord Buddha describes that parallel realms,
Lower and upper realms,
Really do exist.
Devas appear frequently all throughout the Pali Canon.
He explains that being generous,
Keeping ethical standards and possessing five qualities in particular lead to the heavenly world.
Those qualities are faith.
Confidence.
Especially in the Buddha,
The Dharma and the Sangha.
Virtue.
A beautiful quality of mind that arises from being truly ethical.
Knowledge and learning,
Particularly with regards to wisdom teachings and understanding the law of karma.
Generosity.
An openness and kindness of heart that cherishes the well-being of others as well as oneself.
And wisdom.
A quality of discernment pertaining to the true nature of things.
Maintaining good ethical standards.
Being generous and kind,
As well as cultivating skillful qualities.
Generates great merit.
This merit is another factor in being born in a heavenly world.
The more a being cultivates these qualities.
The higher they will tend to be reborn in the heavens.
There are six heavens in the sensual world.
And above these are the Brahma realms.
Imagine before you now a gracious and beautiful mother-like deva.
Whatever qualities speak to you of true motherly love,
See these qualities now in this deva.
This is Mayor Toranyi.
The Mother Earth Goddess of the Bhuma Devas.
She loves all creatures on Earth and all parts of the Earth equally with boundless,
Impartial,
Loving-kindness.
The Mother Earth Goddess is like a queen to the earthbound Bhoomadevas.
She is dressed regally and elegantly.
Like all Queens,
Mayor Taurani has a retinue.
Mayor Toronyi is surrounded by hundreds of kind tree davers.
They are all smiling kindly at you.
Having been the Bodhisattva's mother in many past lives,
Mayor Toranyi,
Recollecting the Bodhisattva's merit,
Washed away Mara's army on the eve of the Buddha's enlightenment.
Recollect Meher Torani's boundless goodness now.
And sincerely rejoice in your heart.
Thank her for her presence in her parallel realm.
And now come back to the breath for a minute or so.
Now,
From the northern direction.
Comes Vesuvana,
King of the Yakas.
From the eastern direction comes Dhataratha.
King of the Gandabas.
From the south comes Virulaka.
King of the Kambundas.
And from the West comes Wirupaka.
King of the Nagas.
Each of these great kings are adorned with royal crowns and beautiful golden ornaments.
But rather than try to visualize every detail of these devas,
Just try to get a sense of their great merit,
Power,
Knowledge and skills.
For to be born as a great king in a quarter of heaven Great merits and impressive qualities are assured.
Recollecting that these four great kings guarded the Bodhisatta from the moment that he descended into his mother,
Mahamaya Devi's womb.
And received him into this world with their very own hands.
Rejoice now in their great merits and wonderful qualities.
Once again we will meditate for a minute or so.
Aware of the breath.
As it comes into the body.
Where of the breath as it leaves the body.
Gladdening the mind.
Rejoicing in the merit of the tavers.
We were just contemplating.
The merit of the four great kings from the Chhatu Maharaja realm.
The first heaven realm in the sensual world.
Now we will consider Tavatingsa.
Imagine that Saka,
Devaraja,
Is before you now.
The body of the King of the Davers is made of subtle form.
It is a dark emerald green.
And translucent.
Is see-through.
Like a jewel.
But this jewel of heaven is different.
Because rather than reflecting light magnificently,
Bright light actually radiates outwards from inside his graceful and elegant body.
Which is even more wondrous.
Devata means radiant one.
And Asaka Devaraja is king of the Devas.
As such.
He is extremely radiant.
He wears a golden crown.
Nick.
Chest.
Upper arm.
Wrist and ankle ornaments.
All of pure gold.
Sarka's throne is an emerald-coloured slab of stone.
But when he sits upon it,
It becomes warm and soft.
The light which shines from Sarkar.
Is the light of merit.
Recollecting that our Buddha,
As a Bodhisatta,
Cultivated loving-kindness for seven full years.
And as a consequence was reborn as Sakka in a past life.
This is the kind of goodness that Sākha must have performed.
And many others.
To be born as King of the Devas.
Sakha's accumulation of the five qualities of faith,
Knowledge.
Virtue.
Generosity and wisdom is truly vast.
Superior to that of the other devas who look upon him as their worthy leader.
Rejoice sincerely in Sarkar's virtue.
Merit.
Radiance.
And beautiful qualities.
Recollect now that you also have these five qualities to some degree.
And aspire to cultivate them further.
Rejoice in your own good qualities and noble intentions.
In the time of the Buddha,
Sakadevaraja saluted the Buddha as he entered the town of Rajagaha.
And recited verses of praise.
On another occasion,
Sakka visited the Buddha on a hilltop in Rajagaha.
He asked thoughtful questions to the Buddha.
The Buddha answered these questions with impeccable wisdom.
And while listening.
Sakha penetrated the Dhamma.
And entered the stream of Dhamma.
He is possessed of unshakable faith.
And is destined for Nibbana.
Sakka's retinue,
Who had joined him in visiting the Buddha,
Also entered the stream of dhamma while listening.
Imagine Sakka and his wives,
Along with the 33 ministers and their beautiful celestial courtesans.
Feeling confident at heart that these lovely,
Radiant beings with great merits and grace have entered the stream of Dhamma.
Imagine the beauty and radiance of their minds shining out light in all directions.
Rejoice in their grace.
Their beauty.
Their merits.
And their noble destination.
Share your merits with Sarkar and his retinue.
Rejoicing their merits.
And humbly request their blessings as well.
And now meditate for a minute or so.
So much goodness in the heavens,
Recollecting this goodness and feeling glad at heart.
Settling with the awareness of breathing.
Who have the in-breath.
Aware of the out-breath.
We will now consider the Yama heaven realm.
The heaven realm above Tawatingsa is full of celestial mansions.
Palaces and temples.
Literally floating in the sky upon fragrant and auspicious heavenly clouds.
The Yama heaven realm is vast.
Like the sky.
There is such a wonderful sense of peace.
And space.
The devas here have superior merits than the devas of the four great kings and the devas of Tawatingsa.
This place feels extremely safe.
Far from the reach of any type of conflict.
Imagine now that the king of the Yama heaven realm has appeared before you.
Suyama Devaputta.
See him meditating in a beautiful temple.
Upon a cloud.
Surrounded by a self-illuminated azure blue sky.
Around him in this vast heavenly world.
Of thousands of other Davers.
Meditating in their private temples on fragrant auspicious clouds.
Way off in the distance are their mansions and palaces made of sparkling jewels.
Try to sense the peace.
Serenity.
And subtle joy.
Of these radiant.
Peace-loving Yamadevas.
And rejoice.
Feel happy for them.
Now imagine them smiling at you.
Spreading loving-kindness towards you.
Share the merits of your practice with the Yamadevas.
And request their blessings.
This could simply mean that they share merits and spread loving-kindness with you as well.
Feel glad and confident at heart knowing that so many lovely angels really do exist in the heavens.
Meditate for a minute or so.
Aware of the in and out breathing.
Imagine now that you are in Tusita heaven and that Maitreya Bodhisatta has appeared before you.
He is gold in color and has a transparent jewel-like body.
Like yellow sapphire.
He sits upon a multi-tiered throne of celestial lotuses,
Also gold in colour.
Having developed qualities and accumulated merits for 16 incalculable periods.
Maitreya's merits are truly vast.
His merit shines from his mind in bright rays of silver.
Gold and white lights.
His foremost quality is loving kindness.
And gazing upon his handsome form now.
You can feel his metta shining into your own mind.
You notice now that a lotus has appeared under you as well.
It is white.
Soft.
Fragrant and welcoming.
You have been offered a lotus seat within Arya Maitreya's mandala.
And you suddenly become aware of many other Tushita Devas.
Just like previous Buddhas,
Maitreya will have foremost Bhikkhu and Bhikkhuni disciples.
There are those who will be foremost in wisdom and those foremost in Samādhi.
There will also be those disciples who are foremost at the divine eye.
Those who can expand and expound upon simple teachings.
And those who are adept at simplifying complex teachings.
These foremost disciples surround Maitreya in an inner circle.
Also sitting on lotus thrones.
You are gazing upon an enormous accumulation of virtue.
Appreciate these beautiful Davos.
Beautiful in form.
In heart.
And in mind.
As Maitreya's foremost disciples,
They all have one quality in common.
Profound.
Boundless,
Impartial loving-kindness.
Meta.
They are spreading their loving-kindness throughout the universe.
Feel bathed in this warmth.
To see to heaven is pervaded with intense goodness.
And subsequently,
All of the devas here feel great contentment all of the time.
Try to feel this goodness.
Try to feel this contentment.
Empathic joy.
Rejoice in the merit,
Happiness and kindness of these beautiful Tushita devas.
Share merits with them.
And spread loving-kindness to them as well.
And ask for their blessings and protection.
Now meditate away over the breath for a minute or so.
Mindful of goodness.
Mindful of kindness.
Feeling blessed.
Aware of the in-breath.
Aware of the outbreath.
Now we will consider the Brahma realms.
In the Brahma worlds there are 21 planes.
Imagine now that you are in the Brahman world.
We are on the sixth plane.
Among the avasara brahmadevas.
Abhasara means streaming radiance.
The Abbasara Brahma Devas are masters of the second jhana.
When their minds are in the jhanic absorption,
They are extremely bright.
Subsequently.
This entire realm is extremely bright.
As radiance streams outwards in all directions from each Brahmadeva's mind.
The form of these Brahmadevas is so extremely subtle.
That you cannot see any actual beings.
But you can see the light.
Imagine a complete absence of any darkness or shadow.
Only light.
Only brightness.
The second jhana is described as a deep state of meditative absorption.
Characterized by rapture,
And happiness.
Born of inner composure.
Completely free from applied or sustained thinking.
Simple,
Pure.
Rapturous happiness.
You can intuitively sense this pure form of rapturous happiness emanating from the minds of millions of Abbasara Brahmadevas.
Allow yourself to feel happy for these luminous Brahmadevas.
Sincerely wish that their happiness may not only last,
But increase.
May the Brahmadevas develop liberating insight as well as profound peace.
Meditate for a minute or so.
The bright.
Light,
Happy mind.
Still in the abhasara,
Brahma realm,
The realm of streaming radiance.
You notice something unusual now.
It is as though some of the boundless light that you are observing is gathering in a denser,
Brighter ball of light right before you.
You can feel incredible bliss and tranquility radiating towards you from this light.
Brahma Sahampati has made an effort to visit you from the Pure Abodes.
The 23rd.
Plane.
Of 31 planes.
His form is too subtle for you to perceive.
But he is aware of you.
And He is radiating loving-kindness.
Brahma Sahampati encouraged the Buddha to teach those beings with little dust in their eyes.
Describing us as being like lotuses underwater.
But above the mud.
Heading towards the light.
Brahma Sahampati is experiencing his final life in this extremely subtle state.
Soon he will be completely free from samsara.
Rejoice in Brahma Sahampati's secure,
Peace and safety.
Thank him for his compassion towards beings.
And once again we'll meditate for a minute or so.
Having considered and rejoiced in the qualities and happiness of various types of devas.
Devas from the chatur maharaja heaven,
The realm of the four kings.
From Tawatingsa and Yama heaven.
From Tushita Heaven.
And the Brahma world.
Hopefully,
Your mind feels bright and uplifted.
Blessed and encouraged.
For the mind becomes like what it considers.
This concludes the guided portion of the meditation.
You can continue to meditate if you like.
Or end the session now.
As you wish.
