Joyful Path of Good Fortune. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
Читать онлайн книгу.
Buddha heard her request through his powers of clairvoyance and he summoned his five hundred Foe Destroyer disciples, telling them that those with miracle powers could come with him the following day. One disciple, not wanting to be left behind, meditated all night to attain the necessary miracle powers so that he could fly along with Buddha!
Magadhabhatri’s mother-in-law meanwhile told all the local people that Buddha Shakyamuni would be arriving that day with five hundred disciples: ‘Magadhabhatri tells me that they are going to fly here miraculously from her father’s land!’ There was great surprise and excitement. Many groups of people gathered on the surrounding hills and gazed at the sky to see from which direction Buddha would come. For their benefit Buddha emanated eighteen forms in similar aspect to himself in each of the eighteen gateways of the town. Although only one Buddha entered Magadhabhatri’s house, everyone in the town and surrounding area saw Buddha and developed very strong faith in him. From that time forth they engaged fully in the practice of Dharma.
accumulating merit and purifying negativity by offering the practice of the seven limbs and the mandala
the practice of the seven limbs
The seven limbs are:
(1) Prostration
(2) Offering
(3) Confession
(4) Rejoicing
(5) Beseeching the Buddhas and Spiritual Guides not to pass away
(6) Requesting the Buddhas and Spiritual Guides to turn the Wheel of Dharma
(7) Dedication
The practices of prostration, offering, beseeching and requesting accumulate merit; the practices of rejoicing and dedication multiply merit; and the practice of confession purifies negative karma. These seven practices are called ‘limbs’ because they support our meditation as limbs support a body. Without the use of limbs we cannot accomplish much in the way of physical actions. Similarly, without the limbs of accumulating merit and purifying negativity we cannot accomplish much in the way of meditation.
Each of the practices has a different function: prostration overcomes pride; offering overcomes miserliness; confession overcomes all three root delusions – desirous attachment, hatred and ignorance; rejoicing overcomes jealousy; beseeching overcomes our wrong views and the negative karma we have created by committing negative actions towards the Buddhas and Spiritual Guides; requesting overcomes the negative action of abandoning Dharma; and dedication overcomes the power of our anger to destroy the merit of whatever good actions we dedicate.
prostration
The practice of prostration was taught by Buddha Shakyamuni, and it was one of the main practices of Naropa and Je Tsongkhapa. There are three types of prostration: physical, verbal and mental. We make physical prostrations by paying respect with a physical action of our body, such as by making full-length or half-length prostrations, bowing our head, or pressing the palms of our hands together. We make verbal prostrations by paying respect with our speech, such as by reciting praises to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. We make mental prostrations by paying respect mentally, such as by developing faith in the Three Jewels. We can perform all three types of prostration together by making physical prostrations with faith whilst reciting praises or mantras.
To make physical prostrations we place the palms of our hands together with the thumbs tucked in and then touch, in turn, the crown of our head, the point between our eyebrows, our throat and the point at the level of our heart. Then we bring our body to the ground either in half-length prostration with our palms, knees and forehead touching the ground, or in a full-length prostration with our whole body stretched face downwards on the ground. Touching our crown and forehead creates the cause to attain the body of a Buddha. In particular, touching our crown creates the cause to attain the crown protrusion of a Buddha, and touching the point between our eyebrows creates the cause to attain the hair-curl of a Buddha. Touching our throat creates the cause to attain the speech of a Buddha, and touching the point at the level of our heart creates the cause to attain the mind of a Buddha.
According to Secret Mantra we begin by placing the two hands palms together at our heart. The five fingers of the right hand represent the five root winds and the five fingers of the left hand represent the five branch winds. Bringing the hands together represents the gathering of these subtle energy winds into the central channel. Touching the point at the level of our heart symbolizes the winds absorbing into the indestructible drop at the heart. When this is actually accomplished through meditation we gain the highest attainments of Secret Mantra, such as the realizations of example and meaning clear light.
If we recite the following mantra as we make our physical prostrations, the power of each prostration is multiplied by one thousand:
OM NAMO MANJUSHRIYE
NAMO SUSHRIYE
NAMO UTAMA SHRIYE SOHA
NAMO means ‘homage’ and MANJUSHRIYE means ‘Glorious Peaceful One’. A Buddha’s mind is peaceful because it is completely free from the two obstructions: delusion-obstructions – delusions and their seeds; and obstructions to omniscience – the imprints of delusions. Any being who is completely free from these is a Buddha. SU means ‘noble’ or ‘good’; and SHRI means ‘glorious’, and refers to the qualities of the Dharma Jewel. UTAMA SHRIYE means ‘glorious and unsurpassed’, and refers to the Sangha Jewel. Thus the meaning of the whole mantra is:
I pay homage to the Buddha Jewel,
I pay homage to the Dharma Jewel,
I pay homage to the Sangha Jewel.
We can also recite prayers as we physically prostrate. For example, we can recite the four verses of prostration from the King of Prayers of Superior Excellent Deeds Sutra:
However many Lions of Conqueror Buddhas there are
In the worlds of the ten directions and three times,
To all of them without exception
I prostrate with body, speech and mind.
By the power of my excellent pure view,
All Conqueror Buddhas appear clearly to my mind;
Bowing with bodies numerous as atoms of the world,
I prostrate to all these Conqueror Buddhas.
Upon each atom are Buddhas numerous as atoms
Surrounded by all Bodhisattvas;
In this way I visualize the Conqueror Buddhas
Filling the ground and all of space.
With an inexhaustible chorus of praise
And the sound of infinite prayer,
I proclaim the good qualities of all the Buddhas
And praise all Those Gone to Bliss.
If we physically prostrate while reciting the first verse we are making prostrations with our body, speech and mind. The second verse shows how to multiply physical prostrations by imagining that we have countless bodies prostrating simultaneously. The third verse shows how to make mental prostrations by generating faith and remembering the countless good qualities of Buddha, which go beyond our imagination. The fourth verse shows how to make verbal prostrations by offering praise to Buddha.
If we cannot recite these four verses, when we have finished reciting the mantra we can prostrate while reciting Buddha Shakyamuni’s prayer:
Guru, Founder, Blessed One,
Tathagata and Arhat,
Completely Perfect Buddha,
Great Victor, Shakyamuni, Lord,
To you we bow, go for refuge and offer gifts.
O Please bless us.
As we offer this prayer we prostrate to Guru Buddha Shakyamuni who is our main Field of Merit. Then we prostrate to all five groups of Gurus, including