The New Eight Steps to Happiness. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
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on training the mind by reciting the prayers entitled Essence of Good Fortune, found in Appendix III, while contemplating their meaning and engaging in the appropriate visualizations. For those with less time, a more condensed practice called Prayers for Meditation can also be found in Appendix III. Both sets of prayers contain the six preparatory practices for successful meditation. These are:
1. Cleaning the meditation room and setting up a shrine
2. Arranging beautiful offerings
3. Sitting in the correct meditation posture, going for refuge and generating bodhichitta
4. Visualizing the Field for Accumulating Merit
5. Offering the seven limbs and the mandala
6. Requesting the holy beings to bestow their blessings
The instructions on the six preparatory practices are based on the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras. Atisha received these instructions from his Guru, Lama Serlingpa, and subsequently this tradition flourished throughout the Kadampa world.
Both Essence of Good Fortune and Prayers for Meditation include the practice of Guru yoga, which is the gateway to receiving the blessings of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. In this particular practice we visualize Buddha Shakyamuni in the space in front of us, surrounded by all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Focusing on Buddha Shakyamuni, who is seen as one with our Guru, or Spiritual Guide, we develop faith and request his blessings. When reciting these prayers as a preparation for meditation on Eight Verses it is auspicious to make a minor alteration to the visualization. At the heart of Guru Buddha Shakyamuni we visualize Buddha Amitabha, who has a red-colored body and sits with his two hands in the gesture of meditative equipoise. Alternatively we can visualize Buddha Amitabha instead of Buddha Shakyamuni. The reason for making this slight alteration is to strengthen our connection with Bodhisattva Langri Tangpa, who, as already explained, is an emanation of Buddha Amitabha. Visualizing in this way helps us to develop greater faith in the author of these verses and in his instructions, and this will help us to receive his inspiring blessings more quickly.
Buddha Amitabha is known as the “Vajra Speech Buddha,” which indicates that he is the manifestation of the speech of all Buddhas. In the future all living beings will meet this Buddha in the aspect of an ordinary being who will guide them along the path to enlightenment. Buddha Amitabha, Buddha Amitayus and Buddha Vajradharma are the same in nature, differing only in aspect. On the crown of Avalokiteshvara, the Buddha of Compassion, Buddha Amitabha, his Spiritual Guide, is always present. In the same way, on the crowns of all faithful disciples, Buddha Amitabha, their Spiritual Guide, will always be present.
Apart from this change in the visualization, the remaining preparatory practices are exactly the same. A brief explanation of the six preparatory practices will now be given.
CLEANING THE MEDITATION ROOM
AND SETTING UP A SHRINE
Cleaning practice
We know from our own experience that dirty and untidy surroundings tend to bring our mind down and drain our energy, while a clean and tidy environment uplifts our mind, making it clear and vibrant. When people invite special guests into their home it is natural that they show their respect by making an effort to clean the house beforehand. In our meditation session we invite all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to appear before us, accept our offerings and prayers and help us in our meditation, so it is only natural that before we begin our session we should spend some time cleaning our meditation room.
Having physically cleaned our room, we should imagine that our environment transforms into the Pure Land of Buddha. We feel that all the enlightened beings are delighted to come into our meditation, and that our mind becomes lucid and concentrated. It is very helpful to recall the story of Lam Chung, whose sole practice was sweeping the floor of the temple. Imagining that he was sweeping away his delusions, Lam Chung spent all his time cleaning the temple, and by doing so he purified his karmic obstructions, received Buddha’s profound blessings and spontaneously developed high realizations. This story is explained in detail in the book Joyful Path of Good Fortune.
Setting up a shrine
If our circumstances permit, it is very beneficial to set up a shrine with representations of Buddha’s body, speech and mind. A shrine provides a focus for our faith, serving as a continual reminder of the Buddhas, through whose kindness living beings have the opportunity to attain permanent inner peace and the supreme happiness of enlightenment.
In the center of our shrine, to represent Buddha’s body, we place a picture or statue of Buddha Shakyamuni, and of any other holy beings who have a special connection with our daily practice. On the left side of the shrine, to represent Buddha’s speech, we can place a Dharma book; and on the right side of the shrine, to represent Buddha’s mind, we can place a stupa.
When we go for refuge to the Three Jewels, we make commitments to regard all images of Buddha as actual Buddhas and all Dharma books as actual Dharma Jewels. It is therefore very important to treat Buddha images and Dharma books with respect. We should arrange them beautifully in a place that is clean and elevated, and not put them down casually like a cup of tea. Dharma books are a principal means for dispelling our ignorance, the source of all our problems, but if we treat such books with disrespect it only causes our ignorance to increase. We should therefore not leave Dharma books on the floor, step over them or mix them with ordinary books or magazines.
One of the best methods to increase our faith in the Buddhas and to receive their blessings is to gaze at an image of a Buddha again and again, regarding it as an actual Buddha who is supremely kind to all living beings. When we see a Buddha statue, for example, instead of thinking of it as an object made of metal or stone, or focusing on its artistic faults or merits, we should feel that we are in the presence of a real living Buddha and develop deep faith. By viewing images of Buddhas in this way, it is as if we are opening a window in our mind through which the blessings of the holy beings can enter. This special way of viewing Buddha images is based on wisdom, not ignorance, and serves to increase our faith and receive blessings.
The representations of Buddha’s body, speech and mind are so blessed that, even if we have no faith, just seeing them blesses our mind. There was once a man called Shri Datta, who had committed many extremely negative actions such as trying to poison Buddha. Many years later, when he was an old man, Shri Datta became interested in Dharma and requested Buddha to grant him ordination. It is said that to receive ordination we need at least some small virtuous potentiality that is a cause of liberation; but when clairvoyant disciples of Buddha examined Shri Datta they were unable to find a single such potentiality, and so they declared him unfit for ordination. However, these disciples could not see the subtle karmic potentialities that are seen only by enlightened beings. When Buddha looked into Shri Datta’s dark mind he saw a tiny potentiality for virtue, and he told his disciples, “Many eons ago Shri Datta was a fly who landed on some horse dung near the stupa of a Buddha. It was raining heavily and the water carried the dung, together with the fly, around the stupa. Although the fly had no intention of circumambulating the stupa, it nevertheless received Buddha’s blessings just by seeing the stupa, and this left on its mind a virtuous potentiality to attain liberation.” Buddha then granted the ordination. As a result, Shri Datta’s positive potentiality increased and he attained liberation in that lifetime.
In the Lamrim teachings it says that just seeing an image of a Buddha places a potentiality on the mind that is a definite cause of enlightenment, and which nothing can destroy. This potentiality is likened to a tiny wisdom nectar pill that is swallowed and passes through our body intact, uncorrupted by all bodily impurities. Because Buddha is a completely pure object wholly beyond samsara, the imprint of seeing a Buddha image has a special quality that does not belong to samsara, and even if it is placed in a mind filled with delusions it can never be corrupted or destroyed. This imprint or potentiality is also compared to a spark with the power to ignite a fire that in time consumes a haystack the size of the world. We have seen how, due to the imprint of seeing a stupa, Shri Datta was able to generate the wish to enter the path to liberation, and by practicing Dharma, burn away all the delusions in his mind.
From these examples we can understand how seeing images of Buddha has the same