Mantras and Mudras: Meditations for the hands and voice to bring peace and inner calm. Lillian Too
merit created to your own spiritual awakening. Keep your feet together and your fingers closed as you prostrate. The merit gained is simply enormous. As Rinpoche would say, “the merit is like sky!”
The sun of real happiness shines in your life when you start to cherish others.
KYABJE LAMA ZOPA RINPOCHE
The chanting of mantras becomes extremely powerful when it is practiced with the pure motivation of helping or benefiting others. This altruistic intention develops what Buddhists refer to as “bodhichitta,” or the spontaneous kind heart. When you chant this mantra three times to generate powerful motivation before any kind act or prayers, the mantra becomes very meaningful:
DAG DANG ZHEN DON DRUP LAY DU
DAG GI JANG CHUB SEM KYAY DO
TRANSLATION:
To accomplish my own and others’ aims I generate the mind seeking Enlightenment.
Alternatively, you can meditate on the Four Immeasurable Thoughts – your heartfelt wishes for all beings:
May all beings abide in equanimity, free of hatred, anger, and attachment
May all beings be free of sufferings and the causes of suffering
May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness
May all beings never lose the joys of high rebirth
The meditation on the Four Immeasurable Thoughts is considered to be a classic in masterful motivations. Meditate on it.
This is the image of the Dharmachakra, which signifies the teachings of the Buddha. It is placed at the top of Mandala Offerings and is most auspicious.
OVERCOMING ANGER
Anger obscures your mind and makes your everyday life unhappy. Anger causes you and others great problems from day to day. Anger is extremely harmful.
The antidote to anger is patience; as soon as anger begins to arise, you should immediately recognize it and remember its shortcomings. Practice patience and at once there is tranquillity, relaxation, and happiness.
The pain of anger is like red-hot coals in your heart. Anger transforms even a beautiful person into someone ugly and terrifying. What was happy, peaceful, and beautiful completely changes and becomes dark, ugly, and terrifying. As soon as you apply patience, however, anger stops, and as soon as it stops, even your appearance suddenly changes . . .
KYABJE LAMA ZOPA RINPOCHE
The mandala is a representation of the universe, in its conventional form or as a completely purified realm of existence. There are many different mandalas with distinct concepts and for different purposes. Cosmic mandalas represent our universe and its development; deity mandalas represent our universe as an Enlightened Being’s pure realm. In Tibetan Buddhism, deity mandalas are visualized in meditation. They are also painted or created from colored sand as three-dimensional representations for special pujas (ritual offering ceremonies) or initiations; those made of sand are dismantled and dispersed after completion to signify the impermanence of all phenomena.
The mandala offering is one of the most engaging and uplifting of Tibetan Buddhist rituals. During pujas, or to precede teachings and practices, one makes a mandala offering. This is a powerful symbolic prayer offering of the entire universe to all the Buddhas of the ten directions. A mandala offering can be performed either long or short. Also, one can offer a mandala either using a mandala offering set, comprised of a base, rings, and substances that are piled up like a mountain, or with the mandala hand mudra. The mantra that goes with the ritual can either be long or short, depending on which ritual you wish to perform.
Practice making this mandala offering mudra. Place your hands in this mudra in front of you as you recite the mandala offering mantras (either long or short). The two upright fingers in the center signify Mount Meru (the Buddhist axis of the cosmos), while the four corners signify the four continents.
THE SHORT MANDALA OFFERING
SA ZHI PO KYI JUG SHING MAY TOG TRAM
RI RAB LING ZHI NYI DAY GYAN PA DI
SANG GYAY, ZHING DU MIG TAY UL WAR GYI
DRO KUN NAM DAG ZHING LA CHO PAR SHOG