THE SNOW LION BUDDHIST NEWS & CATALOG

"I have no doubt these precious texts will benefit many people, as they have benefited me."—Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, director of The Cup and Travellers and Magicians

"The Vajrayana tradition is rich in authentic scriptures written by realized masters. This book presents four of the most authoritative and widely studied works from the Nyingma School elucidating the Tantric practices of deity visualization, mantra recitation, and meditation. For anyone interested in these profound practices, especially those engaged in retreat, these texts are essential reading."—Erik Pema Kunsang, translator of Wellsprings of the Great Perfection

The first of the following two excerpts from Deity, Mantra and Wisdom is taken from Getse Mahapandita Tsewang Chokdrub's text, The Husks of Unity: A Clarification of the Development Stage Rituals. Together with the second, Notes on Visualization by Kunkhyen Tenpe Nyima, it provides key information for anyone practicing deity visualization.

From "The Husks of Unity"
by Getse Mahapandita Tsewang Chokdrub

This training contains four elements: clear appearance, stable pride, the recollection of purity and arising as bliss, clarity and non-thought.

Clear Appearance
Clear appearance involves visualizing the entire form of the deity in an instant and then holding the visualization in mind. Alternatively, you can also start by visualizing each element of the deity's form and ornamentation individually, moving from the jeweled crown on their head to the lotus they are seated on. When you are able to visualize each element, they can all be visualized together. Next, let your mind rest one-pointedly on the visualization, which should be like a reflection in a pure, clear and pristine pond that is undisturbed by the breeze. Once you have begun this training and are focusing on the individual elements of the deity's form, you do not have to follow a fixed order or number of sessions. Instead, you should train according to your own capacity.

Stable Pride
The topic of the second section is stable pride. The pride you need to develop here involves thinking that you yourself are the very deity you are meditating on, a buddha in whom all faults are exhausted and all qualities are complete. When this vivid sense of pride is embraced by a detached frame of mind, the genuine unity of development and completion will have been reached. Its object of purification is the presence of ordinary, impure manifestations, along with the tendency to grasp these impurities as being the self. The process of purification involves training in clear appearance and the recollection of purity, which later transform into pure appearance and pure pride, respectively, through the skillful method of training in the pride of the deity.

Recollecting Purity
The third topic is the recollection of purity. The points that were previously explained in the context of visualizing the deity should be applied to the meditations here as well. The main thing to understand is that the qualities of the buddhas are naturally and spontaneously present within the mind's innate nature. Therefore, since these qualities are primordially pure as the deity and its essence, you should understand that the deity in your own meditative practice is pure as well, being in essence those very same qualities.

Naturally, you need to keep these purities in mind as you recite the liturgy. In the context of meditating on the appearance of the deity, you must train in these pure aspects with strong interest and develop a stable appreciation of each individual purity. At that time, when you rest in the meditative concentration of the development stage, you should connect this with the clear appearance and stable pride mentioned above.

Bliss, Clarity and Non-thought
The fourth section concerns training in bliss, clarity and non-thought. It is very important that your development stage practice be clear, pure, and stable as just taught. Further, it should also be free from any form of conceptual fixation, any sense that these factors truly exist. Instead, your practice must be embraced with the knowledge that its very essence is empty while its nature is to appear in a way that is utterly unidentifiable, like the moon's reflection in a pond or a rainbow.

If you seal the development stage with the completion stage, it becomes a wonderfully skillful method for letting all mandalas arise as the dharmakaya. It transforms the accumulation of merit of the mentally imputed development stage into the absolute, unconditioned accumulation of wisdom. In this way, it unites the two accumulations, the two kayas, the two truths, and means and knowledge. For this very reason, you should be aware that this is one of the hallmarks of the profound and short path of Mantra.

If you do not know this and approach the development stage in isolation, as something that truly exists in its own right, then it does not matter how stable your clarity and pride are. Not only will it not be a path that leads to awakening, it will be a terrible impediment that ties you to samsara. If you apprehend a peaceful deity as existing in its own right, you will be reborn as a god in the form realm, while meditating on a wrathful deity in this way will bring you a rebirth as a karmic ghost or powerful demon like Rudra. In the annals of the Secret Mantra, there are stories of this actually happening.

To conclude, it is important to train in the development stage while incorporating these elements of clarity, purity and stability. You should do so for as long as possible, without becoming weary and fatigued. However, when fatigue does set in, you should begin the recitation.

From "Notes on Visualization"
by Kunkhyen Tenpe Nyima

Start out by placing a painting or statue before you, using one made by a skilled artisan and with all the appropriate characteristics. Next, arrange offerings before it and practice the preliminaries. You can do the latter in a brief form or a more extensive one; either is acceptable. Then, according to the oral instructions of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (which he taught from the Condensed Realization of the Gurus), visualize a throne on the crown of your head. It should be held up by snow lions and piled with lotus, sun and moon-disc seats. Upon this throne, imagine your kind, precious root guru in the form of the guru Vajradhara, the embodiment of all sources of refuge. Then, with great devotion, pray to him as the very essence of all the buddhas throughout the three times and offer him your body and all your possessions. Supplicate him to bless your state of being and, in particular, request his blessings so that the true absorptions of the development stage will arise in your mind this very moment. Imagine that your guru is pleased by this and smiles. He then dissolves into red light and dissolves into your crown. Once your ordinary mind and his enlightened mind have merged inseparably, rest for a while.

Once this is finished, gaze at the painting or statue placed before you. Then close your eyes and visualize the image immediately, transfering it to your own body. Train by alternating between these two steps. Once you've gotten used to the visualization, you can refine your ability by changing its size, increasing or decreasing the number of figures, visualizing the central deity and then the retinue, and so forth. You can also alternate periods of simultaneously visualizing the complete form of the deity with periods where you only focus on certain parts or ornaments.

Whichever you do, start out by focusing solely on the central deity. Starting at the tip of its crown and working your way down to the lotus seat, try to develop a clear visualization of each element: the color of its body, its face, hands and ornamentation, its clothing, the pupils of its eyes, the shape of its arms and legs, the appearance of the marks and signs, the radiation and absorption of light rays and so on...work at visualizing all of these in minute detail.

The figure you are visualizing should not be a corporeal entity. It shouldn't be flat like a painting or protrude like a carving, in other words. On the other hand, it should not be a mindless entity either, like a rainbow. Rather, it should be clearly defined in every respect—its front and back, left and right sides, proportions and so forth. Yet at the same time, it should be devoid of any sense of materiality. You should train as though it is a body of clear light, as if a deity with the wisdom of omniscience, love and power had actually arrived.

Once you have a handle on this aspect of the practice, you can move on to sequentially visualizing its other elements—the retinue, celestial palace, the layout of the pure realm, and the protection circle. At times you can focus on the visualization as a whole, while at others focusing on specific elements.

The term "clear appearance" refers to the point at which every aspect of the supportive and supported mandala circles arise in your mind with a sense of vivid clarity. This is one of the primary functions of the development stage; it is a unique method that allows one to practice calm abiding by focusing the mind on the deity. For this very reason, it is important to meditate by forcibly keeping your awareness on the visualized form of the deity. Once you are familiar with this process, the five meditative experiences will sequentially arise.

From "Practical Advice"
by Padmasambhava

"Whether you meditate on the deity in front of you or meditate on yourself as the deity, after you have received the master's oral instructions, the master should have given you, the disciple, his blessings and protected you against obstructing forces.

"Next, sit on a comfortable seat and be physically at ease. Take a well-made painting of the yidam deity and place it in front of you. Sit for a short time without thinking of anything whatsoever, and then look at the image from head to foot. Look again gradually at all the details from the feet to the head. Look at the image as a whole. Sometimes rest without thinking about the image and refresh yourself. Then in this way, look again and again for a whole day.

"That evening, take a full night's sleep. When you wake up, look again as before. In the evening, do not meditate on the deity but just rest your mind in the state of non-thought.

"Following this, the deity will appear vividly in your mind even without your meditating. If it does not, look at its image, close your eyes, and visualize the image in front of yourself. Sit for as long as the visualization naturally remains. When it becomes blurry and unclear, look again at the image and then repeat the visualization, letting it be vividly present. Cut conceptual thinking and sit.

"When meditating like this you will have five kinds of experiences: the experience of movement, the experience of attainment, the experience of habituation [familiarity], the experience of stability, and the experience of perfection.

1. When your mind does not remain settled at this time and you have numerous thoughts, ideas, and recollections, that is the experience of movement. Through that you approach taking control of the mind. This experience is like a waterfall cascading over a steep cliff.
2. Then when you can visualize the deity for a short time with both the shape and color of the deity remaining vivid and clear at the same time, that is the experience of attainment. This experience is like a small pond.
3. Following this, when the deity is clear whether you meditate upon it from a long or a short distance, and when it remains for a sixth of your session without any occurrence of gross thoughts, that is the experience of habituation, which is like the flow of a river.
4. Next, no thoughts move and you are able to maintain the session while clearly visualizing the deity. That is the experience of stability that is like Mount Sumeru.
5. Following this, when you can remain for a full day or more without losing the vivid presence of the deity's arms and legs even down to the hairs on its body and without giving rise to conceptual thinking, that is the experience of perfection.
   
   Practitioner, apply this to your own experience!

"If you sit too long with an unclear visualization of the deity, your physical constitution will be upset. You will become weary and consequently unable to progress in your concentration. You will have even more thoughts, so first refresh yourself and then continue meditating.

"Until you attain a clear visualization, do not meditate at night. In general it is important to visualize in short sessions. Meditate while there is sunlight, when the sky is clear, or with a butter lamp. Do not meditate when you just have woken up or when you feel sluggish or hazy.

"At night, get a full night's sleep and meditate the next day in eight short sessions. When meditating, if you leave the session abruptly, you will lose concentration, so do it gently.

"When your visualization becomes vivid the moment you meditate, you can also practice at nighttime, during dusk, and at early dawn.

"In general do not weary yourself. Focus your mind on the visualization, grow accustomed to it with stability, and visualize the complete form of the deity."

Excerpt from Dakini Teachings, by Padmasambhava as revealed by Nyangral Nyima Ozer (Transl. Erik Pema Kunzang, Kathmandu, Nepal: Rangjung Yeshe Publications, 1999, pp. 178-179).

More about the authors . . .

Jigme Lingpa (1730-1798) was one of the great saints of eighteenth century Tibet. His profound spiritual revelations and erudite writings have proven to be some of the most enduring classics of the Buddhist tradition. To this day, they continue to inspire others to lead a life of meditation.

Patrul Rinpoche (1808-1887) lived his life as a wandering yogi devoted to the practice of meditation. An accomplished scholar and prolific writer, he has won the hearts of many with his rare ability to present profound philosophical thought in a manner directly applicable to personal practice.

Getse Mahapandita Tsewang Chokdrub (1761-1829) revitalized the tradition of the Nyingma School through his commitment to the study and preservation of the Ancient Tantras and the revival of many Nyingma monasteries. Among his extensive literary works, his commentaries on the development stage have become central reading for numerous practitioners of Buddhist Tantra.

The Dharmachakra Translation Committee draws its inspiration from the vision, commitment, and magnificent achievements of past Buddhist translators. Directed by Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche, the Committee is dedicated to making Buddhist classics available to modern readers in their native languages.

Books by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee:

• Deity, Mantra, and Wisdom: Development Stage Meditation in Tibetan Buddhist Tantra


• Middle Beyond Extremes: Maitreya's Madhyantavibhanga with Commentaries by Khenpo Shenga and Ju Mipham