Je Tsongkhapa and his Two Sons descending from Tushita Pure Land

      HOW TO PRACTISE AFFECTIONATE LOVE

      To generate the realization of affectionate love observing all living beings we contemplate as follows.

      In general, Highest Yoga Tantra is known as the quick path to the attainment of enlightenment, but in the Sutras it is the spontaneous mind of compassion observing all living beings that is explained as the quick path. If we have this mind, then through its power we will never waste a single moment, but draw closer and closer to the attainment of enlightenment every moment of the day and the night. With such a mind of compassion we will be like the Kadampa Geshe Chekhawa, for even if we wished to go to the hell realms in our next life we would definitely be born in the Pure Land of Buddha through the power of our pure karma and pure mind. We should think:

      All the previous Buddhas attained the state of enlightenment in dependence upon the realization of compassion for all living beings, and it will be the same for all future Buddhas.

      Attaining enlightenment is the main purpose of obtaining this present human life; therefore I must attain enlightenment, Buddhahood.

      We generate this thought strongly, and then think:

      Although attaining enlightenment depends upon generating the realization of compassion, this is impossible without an object of compassion. Only living beings can act as this object.

      Therefore, for me, all living beings are my Spiritual Guides who are leading me to the Mahayana path by acting as the objects of my compassion.

      They are also all my kind mothers of previous lives.

      Understanding and contemplating all of this, from the depths of our heart we generate a mind that feels very close, warm and happy towards all living beings equally. This is affectionate love for all living beings. We transform our mind into this affectionate love and meditate on it continually until we develop a mind that spontaneously feels very close, warm and happy towards all living beings equally. When we develop this affectionate love our mind is pervaded by pure love for all living beings, and this makes our mind peaceful and balanced, free from anger and attachment. Thus, this affectionate love is also called ‘equanimity’.

      If we have on our consciousness the ground of equanimity – affectionate love observing all living beings – it is very easy to develop the remaining realizations of cherishing love, great compassion and bodhichitta. Detailed explanations of training in cherishing love, great compassion and bodhichitta can be found in the book Modern Buddhism and other Lamrim texts.

      In short, Lamrim and Lojong together with generation stage are the preliminaries for Mahamudra. The actual principal practice of Mahamudra is a completion stage practice. The real Mahamudra is a higher realization of completion stage – the union of great bliss and emptiness, meaning clear light.

      There are two ways to practise Lamrim and Lojong as preliminaries for Mahamudra – extensive and condensed. The extensive practice is done according to the great texts of Lamrim and Lojong as mentioned above.

      The condensed practice is done according to the Prayer of the Stages of the Path, or the prayers requesting the blessings of the stages of the path in Offering to the Spiritual Guide, or the request prayer of the stages of the path of both Sutra and Tantra in The Hundreds of Deities of the Joyful Land According to Highest Yoga Tantra: the Guru yoga of Je Tsongkhapa as a Preliminary Practice for Mahamudra.

      We make these requests while doing analytical meditation on Lamrim, Lojong, generation stage and completion stage. For example, we can understand the condensed way of practising bodhichitta from the verse in Offering to the Spiritual Guide:

      For the sake of all mother sentient beings,

      I shall become the Guru-Deity,

      And then lead every sentient being

      To the Guru-Deity’s supreme state.

      This is the way to generate bodhichitta according to Highest Yoga Tantra. In the line, ‘I shall become the Guru-Deity,’ the Guru-Deity is our personal Guru-Deity. For modern Kadampa practitioners their Guru-Deity is Guru Heruka. This is because their principal Highest Yoga Tantra practice is the practice of Heruka Father and Mother. Through contemplating the meaning of the verse above, we should generate the mind of bodhichitta according to Highest Yoga Tantra and meditate on it.

THE SECOND GREAT PRELIMINARY GUIDE, TRAINING IN PURIFICATION PRACTICE, THE GATEWAY TO PURIFYING NON-VIRTUOUS ACTIONS AND OBSTRUCTIONS

      As a result of the non-virtuous actions of rejecting the value of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha in previous lives, animals have no opportunity to listen to or practise Dharma.

      Although we humans have such an opportunity, the vast majority of us have no interest in Dharma; and for those who do have some interest, when they listen to Dharma they experience difficulty in understanding the meaning, when they contemplate they do not develop joy, and when they meditate they do not develop any realizations. They experience so many outer and inner obstacles that they are unable to practise Dharma purely. These are also the results of the non-virtuous actions of rejecting the value of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha in their previous lives.

      Non-virtuous actions are the main causes of all our suffering in this life and countless future lives; and especially they are the main obstacles to attaining Dharma realizations. Therefore we definitely need to purify them through purification practice. Buddha taught many different methods to purify non-virtuous actions, downfalls and broken commitments, but the supreme method is the practice of meditation and recitation of Vajrasattva. This practice is a scientific method to purify our mind and transform it from an impure mind into a pure mind using Tantric technology.

      All Buddhas specifically appear in the form of Vajrasattva to purify the minds of living beings. For this reason the practice of meditation and recitation of Vajrasattva is superior to other purification practices. We should practise the meditation and recitation of Vajrasattva by following the sadhana, the ritual prayer for the attainment of Vajrasattva. A simple, essential practice for the attainment of Vajrasattva can be found here.

      In this purification practice it is most important to practise sincerely the four opponent powers, which are the power of regret, the power of reliance, the power of the opponent force and the power of promise. Detailed explanations of these can be found in the books Joyful Path of Good Fortune and The Bodhisattva Vow.

THE THIRD GREAT PRELIMINARY GUIDE, TRAINING IN THE PRACTICE OF THE MANDALA OFFERING, THE GATEWAY TO ACCUMULATING THE COLLECTION OF MERIT AND ATTAINING AN ENLIGHTENED PURE LAND

      In general, the practice of accumulating the collection of merit is very extensive. However, in this context there is great meaning in giving a separate explanation of the practice of making mandala offerings. Here, ‘mandala’ means a Pure Land of Buddha generated through the power of correct imagination.

      The practice of the mandala offering is a scientific method to attain the Pure Land of a Buddha. It contains the practice of the four complete purities mentioned in Tantric teachings – the complete purities of worlds, body, enjoyments and activities. For qualified practitioners this practice of the mandala offering is very profound and powerful, and attainments are achieved quickly. For this reason, to show an example to others, Je Tsongkhapa made offering the mandala one of his principal practices.

      How do we offer the mandala? We stop our appearance of impure worlds, their inhabitants and enjoyments through correct imagination, and believe that every appearance of worlds, their inhabitants and enjoyments appears as the worlds, inhabitants and enjoyments of a Buddha Land. In this way we generate a new Pure Land of Buddha through our correct imagination, and we offer this new Pure Land of Buddha to the assembly of Deities of the Guru-Deity. The principal