Essence of Vajrayana. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
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some rice in our right hand and recite refuge and bodhichitta prayers while constructing the mandala. To do this we sprinkle a little rice on the base, and with the inside of the right wrist rub three times clockwise and three times counter-clockwise. We then place one heap of rice in the centre of the base, one in the east, one in the south, one in the west and one in the north, to symbolize Mount Meru and the four continents. We then place a heap of rice in the east for the sun and one in the west for the moon. We then take a little rice in our right hand and hold the base with both hands while reciting the following mandala offering prayer:
The ground sprinkled with perfume and spread with flowers,
The Great Mountain, four lands, sun and moon,
Seen as a Buddha Land and offered thus,
May all beings enjoy such Pure Lands.
IDAM GURU RATNA MANDALAKAM NIRYATAYAMI
After reciting the prayer, we tip the rice towards us into a cloth on our lap. This is counted as one mandala offering and so we move one bead along the mala. We make as many mandala offerings as we wish during each session. At the end of the session, we make a long mandala offering of thirty-seven points and then dedicate our merit.
RECEIVING THE BLESSINGS OF THE FOUR EMPOWERMENTS
By receiving the blessings of the four empowerments every day, we can purify our broken Tantric vows and commitments and maintain the special blessings that we received directly from our root Guru when he or she granted the empowerment. Through this, our meditation on generation stage and completion stage will progress successfully.
We first make requests to Guru Heruka to bestow the blessings of the four empowerments by reciting three times the verse from the sadhana:
O Guru Heruka, the nature of the Truth Body,
I seek no refuge other than you.
Please purify all negativities of my three doors,
And bless me to attain the four bodies of great bliss.
The ultimate blessings of the four empowerments are the attainment of the four bodies of a Buddha: the two Form Bodies, the Emanation Body and Enjoyment Body; and the two Truth Bodies, the Nature Body and Wisdom Truth Body. These attainments depend upon progress in generation stage and completion stage meditations, which in turn depends upon receiving and maintaining the special blessings of the four empowerments.
Receiving the blessings of the four empowerments has four parts:
1 Receiving the vase empowerment
2 Receiving the secret empowerment
3 Receiving the wisdom-mudra empowerment
4 Receiving the precious word empowerment
RECEIVING THE VASE EMPOWERMENT
We imagine that due to our request Guru Heruka emanates from his heart Vajravarahi and the four Yoginis, who hold precious vases filled with wisdom nectar. They grant us the vase empowerment by pouring the nectar through our crown. Our body is filled with wisdom nectar, and this purifies all the defilements and obstructions of our body. We imagine that we experience great bliss, and thus we receive the blessings of the vase empowerment.
If we experience even a slight feeling of bliss through imagining the wisdom nectars pouring from the precious vases through our crown, this bliss is the actual vase empowerment. This empowerment causes us to accomplish the realizations of generation stage and the Emanation Body of a Buddha. It is called the ‘vase empowerment’ because it is granted by using a vase.
RECEIVING THE SECRET EMPOWERMENT
We imagine that as Guru Heruka Father and Mother engage in union, all the Heroes, the male Tantric Buddhas, enter Heruka’s body through his mouth and melt into his white bodhichitta, the white drops; and all the Heroines, the female Tantric Buddhas, enter Vajravarahi’s body through her mouth and melt into her red bodhichitta, the red drops. These white and red drops unite at the tip of Guru Heruka’s sex organ, and Guru Heruka then places them on our tongue. Through tasting this secret substance, which is the nature of all the Heroes and Heroines, all the defilements and obstructions of our speech are purified. In particular, our channels, drops and inner winds are purified. We imagine that we experience great bliss, and thus we receive the blessings of the secret empowerment.
If we experience even a slight feeling of bliss through imagining that we taste the white and red bodhichittas of Guru Heruka Father and Mother, this bliss is the actual secret empowerment. This empowerment causes us to accomplish the completion stage realization of illusory body, called the ‘realization of conventional truth’, and the Enjoyment Body of a Buddha. It is called the ‘secret empowerment’ because it is granted by using a secret substance.
RECEIVING THE WISDOM-MUDRA EMPOWERMENT
We imagine that a knowledge woman, who is an emanation of Vajravarahi, appears in front of us. Guru Heruka introduces her to us, saying:
This is a supremely qualified knowledge consort for you. By relying upon her, you should accomplish the Union of Buddha for the benefit of all living beings.
We promise to do this, and the emanation woman is delighted. We recall that no phenomenon exists from its own side and, by concentrating on this firm knowledge, we dissolve all our ordinary appearances into emptiness. From the state of emptiness we generate ourself as Heruka with a blue-coloured body, four faces and twelve arms, embracing our consort Vajravarahi, who has a red-coloured body, one face and two arms; and we engage in union. Through this, our bodhichitta melts. As it descends from our crown to our throat we experience joy, as it descends from our throat to our heart we experience supreme joy, as it descends from our heart to our navel we experience extraordinary joy, and as it descends from our navel to the tip of our sex organ we imagine that we are experiencing spontaneous great bliss inseparable from emptiness. At this point we have received the blessings of the wisdom-mudra empowerment.
If we experience any of the four joys through concentrating in the way described above, this is the actual wisdom-mudra empowerment. This empowerment purifies all the defilements and obstructions of our mind and causes us to accomplish the completion stage realization of meaning clear light, called the ‘realization of ultimate truth’, and the Truth Body of a Buddha. It is called the ‘wisdom-mudra empowerment’ because it is granted by our Guru giving us a wisdom mudra. In this context the term ‘mudra’ means Tantric consort. A wisdom mudra is a Tantric consort who is a manifestation of omniscient wisdom, whereas a knowledge woman (Tib. rigma) is a woman who is a Tantric consort.
RECEIVING THE PRECIOUS WORD EMPOWERMENT
In this empowerment, Guru Heruka gives us a special instruction on what the Union of No More Learning is and how to attain it. We imagine that we hear the following words directly:
When you received the third empowerment, the wisdom-mudra empowerment, you generated your body as Heruka’s body. This is an imagined divine body. You also generated your mind as Heruka’s mind, an imagined Deity mind. Finally, through continual practice of this meditation you will attain the actual body and mind of Heruka, the resultant union of the illusory body and the mind of great bliss and emptiness of a Buddha. This is the Union of No More Learning, the final goal.
Through hearing these words, we imagine that we experience great bliss, and through this we receive the blessings of the precious word empowerment.
If we experience a feeling of joy through imagining that we hear Guru Heruka’s words, this is the actual word empowerment. This empowerment purifies all the defilements and obstructions of our body, speech and mind together, and causes us to accomplish the union of Buddha Vajradhara’s body and mind. It is called the ‘word empowerment’ because it is granted by instructions in the form of words.
REQUESTING THE LINEAGE GURUS
In the auspicious prayers in the sadhana, it says:
May there be the auspiciousness of a great treasury of blessings
Arising from the excellent deeds of all the root and lineage Gurus,
Who