The four immeasurables
May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness.
May all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
May all sentient beings not be separated from higher
rebirth and the bliss of liberation.
May all sentient beings abide in a state of equanimity, free from attachment and hatred, free from holding some close and others distant.
MEDITATION Phakyab Rinpoche Special Instructions
Translated from the Tibetan by Robert W Clark Broadmoor CA, September 2015
Source : http://healingbuddhafoundation.org
I. The Purifying or “Healing” Meditation:
Having arranged your seat (cushion, altar, offerings, etc.), visualize vividly in front of you your root lama in the center of a great refuge field of the Three Jewels.
Take refuge in the lama and the Three Jewels from the dangers of lower rebirth, continued birth and death in samsara, and from obstacles to the attainment of supreme buddhahood.
Develop bodhicitta in the depths of your heart, with the determination to practice meditation, etc., in order to attain supreme Buddhahood for the sake of all beings.
Sit properly in the Sevenfold Posture of Vairocana—
[1] legs crossed in vajra position or some variant of it,
[2] hands open, 3 or 4 finger widths below navel, right over left for women, left over right for men, tips of thumbs slightly touching, [3] shoulders slightly raised, but without tension or stiffness,
[4] spine straight, like stack of coins,
[5] chin slightly tucked in towards throat,
[6] tip of tongue touching palate just behind upper front teeth,
[7] eyes partially open, softly focused beyond the tip of the nose.
Begin the meditation session with the visualization of the tigle: The tigle is your most subtle consciousness in the form of a small, radiant sphere, about the size of a pea. Its color is a light yellow, like a burnished gold in bright sunlight. This subtle consciousness is the extremely subtle mind. It is the basis of all our awareness, and it is what survives in the process of dying and transmigration. It travels forth from the body at death, transits the bardo, and enters the womb of the next life at the time of conception. It is known as “the perfect wisdom of non- duality,” It is the “Buddha Nature” (Tathagatagarbha). It is not different from the Dharmakaya.
2 Purification by way of the tigle:
It rests upon a lotus blossom four finger widths above the crown of your head.
It sends forth innumerable rays of light that reach out to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas in every direction requesting their blessings and powers. They bestow all of their blessings and powers, and the light rays carrying them back to merge into the tigle. The all of the wisdom, compassion, and powers of all the buddhas and bodhisattvas are now within the tigle.
The lotus blossom merges into the tigle which now moves downward and enters the crown of the head. Its rays of light purify the crown cakra, eliminating all defilements of the body that developed from non-virtues of the body committed in this and former lifetimes. The body is in this manner cleansed of all defilements, obstacles, and imperfections such as disease and injury. It becomes completely pure.
The rays return to the tigle, and the tigle descends into the throat cakra, eliminating all the defilements from verbal non-virtues of the past. It continues down to the heart cakra and eliminates the defilements of mental non-virtues. The tigle continues down to the navel cakra and there it eliminates the defilements that give rise to every kind of fear, anxiety, and insecurity. Finally the tigle descends into the secret cakra located at the bottom of the abdomen by the area of the reproductive organs. From there it sends forth innumerable rays of light that eliminate any traces of subtle defilement that might remain from any non-virtuous actions in this or former lives. In this manner all karmic defilements are completely eliminated and every aspect of your body, speech, mind, qualities, and activities are full cleansed of these defilements as well as any tendencies or propensities to commit defiled actions again. Visualize your body as being like a vessel of purest crystal, fully cleansed on the outside and inside, and radiant with light.
3 The light radiating from the tigle now extends a short distance out of the body in all directions forming a “sphere of protection” that encloses or envelopes the body and prevents every kind of harm from reaching you. No harmful force or influence can penetrate this vajra-like barrier. Any harmful or demonic being who might encounter it is instantly terrified and flees for his or her life.
II. The “Stabilizing” Meditation that culminates in the attainment of Samatha:
The tigle is stabilized within the secret cakra. Focus the mind one- pointedly on the tigle, not allowing it to wander to any other object. Keep the mind focused exclusively upon the tigle for a half hour, an hour, or as long as possible. If it wanders, bring it back to the simple awareness of the tigle. You can find your own creative ways to keep the mind focused on the tigle. For example, think of it as a tennis ball: when you play tennis, you keep your mind continually focused on the tennis ball. If you lose your focus, you always quickly return it to the ball.
With consistent practice, the mind will stay focused and stabilized upon the tigle for a longer and longer time, and it will become easier and easier to remain focused and undistracted.
You will then proceed up through the “nine mental states” that culminate in the attainment of Samatha
III. Cultivating Vipashana that leads to the wisdom realizing profound emptiness:
1. The tigle in the secret cakra sends forth limitless rays of light through which it reaches each and every living being in every world throughout endless space, as well as all material elements of every world.
The rays of light eliminate all defilements within the beings, leaving them completely purified in body, speech, and mind. They purify all the elements that compose the environments of living beings and all worlds and material objects.
All the purified living beings and elements merge into the rays of light and return to the tigle, merging into it.
Your own body dissolves into light and merges into the tigle. All animate and all inanimate objects without exception are now fully within the tigle.
The tigle becomes more and more light and insubstantial and at length dissolves into the vastness of non-dual reality, like a rainbow gradually dissolving into the bright blue sky.
Allow your mind to abide in this non-dual state of profound emptiness as long as possible.
When you arise from this meditation, dedicate the merit to the attainment of perfect enlightenment with the aspiration to free all beings from misery and establish them in the state of perfect happiness.
5 For information on the “nine mental states” and more details on how to cultivate Samatha, refer to: Samatha Meditation (republished as Calming the Mind: Tibetan Buddhist Teachings on the Cultivation of Meditative Quiescence) by Gen Lamrimpa, translated by Alan Wallace.
For even more detail, consult Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, by Pabongka Rinpoche, edited by Trijang Rinpoche, translated by Michael Richards.
http://healingbuddhafoundation.org
