In the words of Milarepa (From Evan Wentz 'Tibet's Great Yogi Milarepa'):
"Without attuning body, speech and mind unto the Doctrine, What gain is it
to celebrate religious rites? If anger be unconquered by its antidote,
What gain is it to celebrate religious rites? Unless one meditate on
loving others more than self, What gain is it merely from the lips to say:
'O, Pity (sentient beings)'"
This meditation technique can be extremely powerful when practiced correctly.
To me, it represents the full idea of a Bodhisattva; a being who wishes to help
all sentient beings, without concern for his/her own interests.
In case you find this meditation very difficult to do, it may well be a very
positive sign! It is definitely extremely difficult to let go of our selfish
attitude and deciding to give all one's own happiness and positive karma to
others and take upon oneself the suffering of all sentient beings. If you do
this meditation seriously, it cannot be easy - unless you are an extremely
advanced practitioner. If you realize that doing this practice is too difficult
when trying to focus on all sentient beings, it may be helpful to start at an
easier level; instead of being surrounded by all other sentient beings, you can
imagine sitting opposite yourself of a future lifetime and practice giving and
taking. If that works well, try to imagine your mother, father or a good friend
with whom you practise. Next, one can try to think of ones entire family,
friends or neighbourhood, and so gradually expand it to include everyone, even
animals and life forms we cannot even see.
This meditation works in many ways, to name but a few: - reducing selfish
attachment - increasing a sense of renunciation - creating positive karma
by giving and helping - developing loving-kindness and bodhicitta - it
refers to all of the 6 Perfections: giving, ethics, patience, joyous effort,
concentration and wisdom.
A SAMPLE MEDITATION SESSION
Set yourself a time, like 15 or 30 minutes for the session, put a clock in
front of yourself. Take a couple of deep breaths to relax, check if your
body is relaxed and reasonably comfortable. Set the motivation: for example
recite the refuge prayer:
I go for refuge to the Buddha, I go for refuge to
the Dharma, I go for refuge to the Sangha.
(3x)
Setting the mind towards enlightenment:
By virtue of giving and so forth, may I become a
Buddha for the benefit of all sentient beings. (3x)
The four
immeasurables:
May all sentient beings have equanimity, free from attachment,
aggression and prejudice. May they be happy, and have the causes
for happiness. May they be free from suffering and causes for
suffering. May they never be separated from the happiness that is
free from suffering. (3x)
The seven-limbed prayer:
Respectfully I prostrate with body, speech and mind; I present clouds of every type of offerings, actual and imagined; I declare all the negative actions I have done since beginningless
time, and rejoice in the merit of all Aryas and ordinary
beings. Please teacher, remain until cyclic existence ends and turn the wheel of Dharma for all sentient beings. I
dedicate the virtues of myself and others to the great
Enlightenment.
Short breathing meditation (maybe 5 minutes or so):
Concentrate on the tip of your nose, and feel the breath going in and out.
To help your concentration, you can count every out-breath as one, and count
from 1 to 10. When you arrived at 10, simply start at 1 again. All the attention
is with the feeling of the nose and the counting, nothing more, nothing less.
Regularly check yourself if you are still concentrated, do not get angry
when distracted, simply return to counting from 1. Just before the end of
the session, release the concentration on the counting and the tip of your nose,
and simply be aware of how you feel.
Giving and taking; try to imagine the following:
- Visualize all sentient beings around you: enemies in front, friends behind
you all sentient beings are in the form of human beings. - First visualize
that all their sufferings take the form of black clouds of smoke that surrounds
them, and inhale this smoke. - Direct the smoke to your heart where you
visualize a black spot, representing your own egoistic self-cherishing mind.
- The destructive force of all the black smoke of suffering goes to this
self-cherishing mind, completely destroying it
Take some time to do this.
- Now imagine exhaling bright white nectar and light towards all beings. This
white nectar is your own potential for happiness which you give away.
Take some time for this part. When you are used to both practices, you
may try the following:
- If possible combine both above practices of inhaling black smoke and
exhaling light and nectar with every in- and out-breath. If this takes too much
effort, simply return to either giving or taking.
Near the end of the session, let go of the thoughts of giving and taking, and
take some time to sense how you feel now.
Next, try to make some sort of brief positive conclusion, like: "this
meditation is too difficult, so I need to practice more", "this was really
great, I should do this more often" or "I must work harder to control my selfish
mind", something like that - but it must be your own conclusion. Then try to
concentrate very strongly on this conclusion, but without discussing it in your
thoughts: just try to hold on to the feeling that the conclusion gives you and
try to focus intensely on it for just one or two minutes.
Dedicate the positive energy of the session to whichever goal you like, use
for example:
May all sentient beings have equanimity, free from attachment,
aggression and prejudice. May they be happy, and have the causes
for happiness. May they be free from suffering and causes for
suffering. May they never be separated from the happiness that is
free from suffering. (3x)
and below prayers:
By this virtue may I soon reach a
Guru-Buddha-state, and lead each and every being to that
state of Buddhahood.
May the precious Bodhicitta not yet born, arise and grow may that born have no decline but increase forever more.
