Through the virtues I have collected
By practising the stages of the path,
May all living beings find the opportunity To practise in the same way.
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PRaYERS FOR MEDITaTION
May everyone experience
The happiness of humans and gods,
and quickly attain enlightenment,
So that samsara is finally extinguished.
Prayers for the Virtuous Tradition
So that the tradition of Je Tsongkhapa, The king of the Dharma, may flourish,
May all obstacles be pacified
and may all favourable conditions abound.
Through the two collections of myself and others Gathered throughout the three times,
May the doctrine of Conqueror Losang Dragpa Flourish for evermore.
The nine-line Migtsema prayer Tsongkhapa, crown ornament of the scholars of the Land of the Snows,
You are Buddha Shakyamuni and Vajradhara, the source of all attainments,
avalokiteshvara, the treasury of unobservable compassion,
Manjushri, the supreme stainless wisdom, and Vajrapani, the destroyer of the hosts of maras.
O Venerable Guru-Buddha, synthesis of all Three Jewels, With my body, speech and mind, respectfully I make requests:
Please grant your blessings to ripen and liberate myself and others,
and bestow the common and supreme attainments.
(3x)
Colophon: These prayers were compiled from traditional sources by Venerable Geshe kelsang Gyatso.
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Naropa
The Yoga of Buddha Heruka
THE BRIEF SELF-GENERaTION SaDHaNa OF HERUka BODY MaNDaLa & CONDENSED SIx-SESSION YOGa Tantric commitments objects:
inner offering in kapala, vajra, bell, damaru, mala Introduction
Those who have received the empowerment of Heruka body mandala, but who are unable to practise the extensive sadhana, Essence of Vajrayana, can practise this short sadhana, which contains the very essence of Heruka body mandala practice.
It is very important to improve our understanding of and faith in this precious practice through sincerely studying its commentary as presented in Modern Buddhism – Volume 2: Tantra, in the chapter The Practice of Heruka Body Mandala. Having understood the meaning clearly and with strong faith we can enter, make progress on and complete the quick path to the enlightened state of Buddha Heruka.
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
April 2010
Je Phabongkhapa
The Yoga of Buddha Heruka
PRELIMINaRIES
Going for refuge
I and all sentient beings, until we achieve enlightenment, Go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. (3x) Generating the supreme good heart, bodhichitta Through the virtues I collect by giving and other perfections, May I become a Buddha for the benefit of all. (3x) Guru yoga
visualization and meditation
In the space before me is Guru Sumati Buddha Heruka –
Je Tsongkhapa inseparable from my root Guru, Buddha Shakyamuni and Heruka – surrounded by all the Buddhas of the ten directions.
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inviting the wisdom beings
From the heart of the Protector of the hundreds of Deities of the Joyful Land,
To the peak of a cloud which is like a cluster of fresh, white curd,
all-knowing Losang Dragpa, king of the Dharma, Please come to this place together with your Sons.
At this point we imagine that wisdom being Je Tsongkhapa together with his retinue dissolves into the assembly of Guru Sumati Buddha Heruka, and they become non-dual.
the practice of the seven limbs
In the space before me on a lion throne, lotus and moon, The venerable Gurus smile with delight.
O Supreme Field of Merit for my mind of faith, Please remain for a hundred aeons to spread the doctrine.
Your mind of wisdom realizes the full extent of objects of knowledge,
Your eloquent speech is the ear-ornament of the fortunate, Your beautiful body is ablaze with the glory of renown, I prostrate to you, whom to see, to hear and to remember is so meaningful.
Pleasing water offerings, various flowers, Sweet-smelling incense, lights, scented water and so forth, a vast cloud of offerings both set out and imagined, I offer to you, O Supreme Field of Merit.
Whatever non-virtues of body, speech and mind I have accumulated since time without beginning, Especially transgressions of my three vows, With great remorse I confess each one from the depths of my heart.
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In this degenerate age you strove for much learning and accomplishment.
abandoning the eight worldly concerns, you made your freedom and endowment meaningful.
O Protector, from the very depths of my heart, I rejoice in the great wave of your deeds.
From the billowing clouds of wisdom and compassion In the space of your Truth Body, O Venerable and holy Gurus,
Please send down a rain of vast and profound Dharma appropriate to the disciples of this world.
From your actual deathless body, born from meaning clear light,
Please send countless emanations throughout the world To spread the oral lineage of the Ganden doctrine; and may they remain for a very long time.
Through the virtues I have accumulated here, May the doctrine and all living beings receive every benefit.
Especially may the essence of the doctrine Of Venerable Losang Dragpa shine forever.
offering the mandala
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.
I offer without any sense of loss
The objects that give rise to my attachment, hatred and confusion,
My friends, enemies and strangers, our bodies and enjoyments; Please accept these and bless me to be released directly from the three poisons.
IDaM GURU RaTNa MaNDaLakaM NIRYaTaYaMI
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making special requests
O Guru Sumati Buddha Heruka, from now until I attain enlightenment,
I shall seek no refuge other than you.
Please pacify my obstacles and bestow upon me The two attainments of liberating and ripening.
Please bless me so that I will become definitive Heruka, In which state I shall experience all phenomena as purified and gathered into emptiness, inseparable from great bliss.
(3x)
generating the experience of great bliss and emptiness Due to my making requests in this way, all the Buddhas of the ten directions dissolve into Je Tsongkhapa who is inseparable from my root Guru, he dissolves into Buddha Shakyamuni at his heart, and Buddha Shakyamuni dissolves into Heruka at his heart. With delight, Guru Heruka, who is the nature of the union of great bliss and emptiness, enters my body through my crown, and dissolves into my mind at my heart. Because Heruka, who is the nature of the union of great bliss and emptiness, becomes inseparable from my mind, I experience spontaneous great bliss and emptiness. I perceive nothing other than the emptiness of all phenomena, the mere absence of all phenomena that I normally see or perceive. My subtle mistaken appearance of all phenomena, including the channels, winds and drops of my body, is purified.
At this point we meditate briefly on the emptiness of all phenomena while experiencing great bliss.
THE aCTUaL SELF GENERaTION
In the vast space of emptiness of all phenomena, the nature of my purified mistaken appearance of all phenomena – which is the Pure Land of keajra – I appear as Buddha Heruka with 298
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a blue-coloured body, four faces and twelve arms, the nature of my purified white indestructible drop. I am embracing Vajravarahi, the nature of my purified red indestructible drop. I am surrounded by the Heroes and Heroines of the five wheels, who are the nature of my purified subtle body – the channels and drops. I reside in the mandala, the celestial mansion, which is the nature of my purified gross body.
although I have this appearance it is not other than the emptiness of all phenomena.
At this point, (1) while experiencing great bliss and emptiness, (2) we meditate on the clear appearance of the mandala and Deities with divine pride, while (3) recognizing that the Deities are the nature of our purified channels and drops, which are our subtle body, and that the mandala is the nature of our purified gross body.
In this way we train sincerely in one single meditation on generation stage possessing these three characteristics. Holding the third characteristic – recognizing the Deities as the nature of our purified subtle body, and the mandala as the nature of our purified gross body – makes this concentration an actual body mandala meditation.
If we wish to practise completion stage meditation, we should change ourself through imagination from Heruka with four faces and twelve arms into Heruka with one face and two arms. We then engage in the meditations on the central channel, indestructible drop, indestructible wind, tummo and so forth.
Then, when we need to rest from meditation, we can practise mantra recitation.
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Reciting the mantras
the essence mantra of heruka
at my heart is wisdom being Buddha Heruka, definitive Heruka.
O Glorious Vajra Heruka, you who enjoy
The divine illusory body and mind of clear light, Please pacify my obstacles and bestow upon me The two attainments of liberating and ripening.
Please bless me so that I will become definitive Heruka, In which state I shall experience all phenomena as purified and gathered into emptiness, inseparable from great bliss.
OM SHRI VaJRa HE HE RU RU kaM HUM HUM PHaT DakINI DZaLa SHaMBaRaM SÖHa
(21x, 100x, etc.)
the three-om mantra of vajrayogini
at the heart of imagined Vajrayogini (Vajravarahi) is wisdom being Buddha Vajrayogini, definitive Vajrayogini.
OM OM OM SaRWa BUDDHa DakINIYE VaJRa WaRNaNIYE
VaJRa BEROTZaNIYE HUM HUM HUM PHaT PHaT PHaT
SÖHa
Recite at least as many mantras as you have promised.
The ‘three-om’ mantra is the union of the essence and close essence mantras of Vajravarahi. The meaning of this mantra is as follows.
With om om om we are calling Vajrayogini – the principal Deity – and her retinue of Heroines of the three wheels. sarwa buddha dakiniye means that Vajrayogini is the synthesis of the minds of all Buddhas, vajra warnaniye means that she is the synthesis of the speech of all Buddhas, and vajra berotzaniye means that she is the synthesis of the bodies of all Buddhas. With hum hum hum we are requesting Vajrayogini and her retinues 300
THE YOGa OF BUDDHa HERUka
to bestow upon us the attainments of the body, speech and mind of all the Buddhas. With phat phat phat we are requesting them to pacify our main obstacle – the subtle mistaken appearance of our body, speech and mind; and söha means ‘please build within me the basic foundation for all these attainments’.
the condensed mantra of the sixty-two deities of heruka body mandala
at the heart of each of the sixty-two Deities is their individual wisdom being, their own definitive Deity.
OM HUM BaM RIM RIM LIM LIM, kaM kHaM GaM GHaM
NGaM, TSaM TSHaM DZaM DZHaM NYaM, TraM THraM
DraM DHraM NaM, TaM THaM DaM DHaM NaM, PaM
PHaM BaM BHaM, YaM RaM LaM WaM, SHaM kaM SaM
HaM HUM HUM PHaT
(7x, 21x, 100x, etc.)
When we recite this mantra we are making requests to wisdom being Buddha Heruka with Vajravarahi, and his retinue of Heroes and Heroines of the five wheels, to pacify our obstacle of subtle mistaken appearance and to bestow upon us the attainments of outer and inner Dakini Land. Outer Dakini Land is the Pure Land of Keajra and inner Dakini Land is meaning clear light. The moment our mind is free from subtle mistaken appearance we open the door through which we can directly see all enlightened Deities.
For as long as our mind remains polluted by subtle mistaken appearance this door is closed.
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