The Bardo of Meditative Absorption

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

The bardo of meditative absorption may be described as the period of time we spend in meditative equipoise. It terminates when we arise from this state. It is called a bardo because it is not like our ordinary current of deluded thoughts, nor is it like phenomenal perception as experienced in the course of life. It is a period of meditative stability, a state of concentration as fresh and untarnished as the sky. It is like a motionless ocean in which there are no waves.

It is impossible to remain in this state when the mind is full of thoughts (appropriately likened to a gang of robbers), or even when it is occupied with more subtle mental undercurrents, mixed and matted together like threads. Stable meditation is impossible in such circumstances.

The teachings say that meditators must not fall under the power of their thoughts, which are like thieves. They should instead have undistracted mindfulness and powerful diligence with which they can prevent their concentration from disintegrating.

The dream bardo and the bardo of meditative absorption are subdivisions of the present life. The bardo of the present life naturally includes our practice. Even if it is intermittent, it life naturally includes our practice.

Even if it is intermittent, it is of necessity performed within the scope of our present existence. It is only here that we can meditate.

Dudjom Rinpoche Jigdral Yeshe Dorje –
Counsels From My Heart
 Shambhala Publications

The Hundred-Syllable Mantra

~ DudjomTersarNgondro

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The Meaning of the Hundred-Syllable Mantra ~
The mantra is a prayer evoking Vajrasattva’s promise. Here are the words with their equivalent meanings.

OM
Most highly praised,

VAJRASATTVA SAMAYA
Vajrasattva! The sacred link between us—

ANUPALAYA VAJRASATTVA
Guard it closely. O Vajrasattva,

TENOPATISHTHA DRIDHO ME BHAVA
May you remain firmly with me.

SUTOKAYO ME BHAVA
May you completely satisfy me.

SUPOKAYO ME BHAVA
Make me blossom fully.

ANURAKTO ME BHAVA
May you always be loving toward me.

SARVA SIDDHIM ME PRAYACCHA
Bestow on me all accomplishments.

SARVA KARMASU CHA ME
In all my actions

CHITTAM SHREYAH KURU
Make my mind most virtuous.

HUNG (The vital seed syllable of Vajrasattva.)

HA HA HA HA (Syllables indicating the four boundless attitudes, the four empowerments, the four joys, and the four bodies.)

HO (A laugh of pleasure at those.)

BHAGAVAN SARVA TATHAGATA
O Victorious, Virtuous, and Transcendent One of all the Tathagatas,

VAJRA MA ME MUÑCHA
You are the diamond—do not forsake me.

VAJRI BHAVA
Make me a diamond holder.

MAHA SAMAYASATTVA
O great being of the commitment,

AH
May I be inseparably united with you.

THE POWER OF ACTION AS AN ANTIDOTE 
This entails performing positive actions as antidotes to negative ones. In this case, it refers to the essential points of visualizing the deity, reciting the mantra, concentrating on the negative actions and obscurations being washed away, and so on.

THE POWER OF REGRET 
This is to give rise to intense remorse for the negative actions one has performed in the past—as if one had taken poison.

THE POWER OF RESTORATION OR RESOLUTION
This is the firm resolution to refrain from negative actions in the future, even if one’s life is at stake. These last two powers are complete when at the end of reciting the mantra, one verbalizes one’s parting, in verse or as prose, with such prayers as “In ignorance and confusion . . .” Even if one cannot do this, giving rise to true regret and recognizing the fault in future wrongdoing will automatically produce the resolution to refrain. There is not one of us who has not entered the door of the Secret Mantra Vehicle. And once we have done so, if we do not subsequently keep the commitments, we will go to hell; if we do keep them, we will attain Buddhahood. There is no other destination than these two. The Secret Mantra Vehicle commitments are very subtle, numerous, and difficult to keep. Even Lord Atisha said that after he had entered the Mantra Vehicle, he committed fault after fault in rapid succession. So for us who have few antidotes, weak mindfulness, and no vigilance (we do not even know the different categories of vows, nor the point at which we break the precepts), there can be no doubt that breaches of our vows are falling on us like rain. We should therefore do the practice of Vajrasattva every day and recite the hundred syllables twenty-one times. By doing so, our downfalls will be blessed and their fully ripened effect will be prevented from growing greater. And by reciting the hundred-syllable mantra one hundred thousand times, all our downfalls will be eradicated, as the Ornament of the Essence says:

Clearly visualize Vajrasattva Enthroned on a white lotus and moon: By reciting twenty-one times The hundred syllables according to the ritual, Downfalls and the like will be blessed And therefore not grow greater. Thus the greatest accomplished beings have taught, So do this practice constantly. If you recite it one hundred thousand times, You will become the very embodiment of total purity.

Torch Lighting the Way to Freedom
Complete Instructions on the Preliminary Practice of the Profound and Secret Heart Essence of the Dakini
By Dunjom Rinpoche Jigdral Yeshe Dorje 
Translated by the Padmakara Translation Group
Shambhla Boston & London 2011

We offer these words of advise to our sangha as we remember and pray for Venerable Dhomang Gyatrul Rinpoche who entered Parivirvnan on April 8th.

As Lama Tharchin Rinpoche said, in speaking of Kyabje Thinley Norbu Rinpoche’s parinirvana:

“It is like doing one mantra on a holy day where the merit multiplies by millions. During this time, we can remember Rinpoche’s wisdom, his kindness, how much that has penetrated our mind, how our lives would be inconceivable without him … We can come together and pray, make aspiration prayers together that immediately this life has set we can be reborn in the Pureland, that we can practice together and attain fully enlightened Buddhahood always together. Then we don’t have any separation, from life to life.”  

See Orgyen Dorje Den for Parinirvana of Venerable Dhomang Gyatrul Rinpoche Puja Schedule and Swift Rebirth Prayer

 

The Essence of all Paths, Lama’i Naljor or Guru Yoga

~ DudjomTersarNgondro
Dungse Thinley Norbu Rinpoche

The essence of Kuntuzangpo’s inconceivable object of sublime appearances of skillful means as dharmata is the actual empty nature of great prajna, Kuntuzangmo. Unchanging throughout the three times, this limitless sphere of space, which is the source of the manifesting and gathering of all Buddhas, is not from the path of learning and practice.

This is the enlightened Lama who has attained the non dual union of Vajradhara, which only means the result of Buddha, the Three Kayas. Therefore, the term yoga is not appropriate in this context. It is for those practitioners who have the joy of devotion and diligence to try to achieve the state of the enlightened Lama.

Whatever Dharma is practiced, the subject who is the practitioner is practicing in order to increase and enhance the union of skilfful means, or phenomena, and prajna, or emptiness, which is for the benefit of the practitioner. That is why this is called Yoga.

In a brief way, all yogas are contained in the two yanas: the causal yana, or Mahayana tradition, and the result yana, or Vajrayana tradition. The result yana of Vajrayana is as said in The Lamp of the Three Ways:

Even the understanding of one meaning excels beyond ignorance.

There are many methods, there is no hardship, And it belongs to those with keen faculties. So therefore, Vajrayana surpasses all other vehicles.

Thus, as it says, Vajrayana surpasses the causal vehicle with characteristics in these four ways.

In particular, as our incomparable Lord Buddha Shakyamuni said:

Do not rely on an ordinary individual; rely on Dharma.

Do not rely on the words; rely on their meaning.

Do not rely on relative truth; rely on absolute truth.

Do not rely on consciousness; rely on wisdom.

Thus, this teaching from the glorious voice of Buddha on the four ways of relying completely reveals the meaning of everything, which is the way of taking wisdom as the path and the pinnacle and king of all vehicles.

It is as said in The Precious Treasure of the Supreme Vehicle:

In the aim of the common, conceptual vehicle, even though mind is the basis, path, and result, all of these do not arrive at the meaning. In this vehicle of Vajrayana, wisdom is the basis, path, and result of Buddha, so by establishing wisdom, liberation from samsara is swift.

In other vehicles, although there is hope to attain enlightenment, the basis is the root of samsara, which is ordinary mind. Not only does that path take a long time, but the result is extremely difficult to accomplish because the way of establishing the basis is mistaken.

~ Dungse Thinley Norbu Rinpoche
A Cascading Waterfall of Nectar
Shambhala Publishing 


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