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Nondual
Highlights Issue #2489, Saturday, June 3, 2006
OUR PRAYER
May all the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and the MahaSattvas of all the
great
spiritual traditions, bless our Sangha and help us to:
protect all creatures, great and small;
be a refuge for those who are hurting
emotionally and physically;
speak with a gentle tongue;
give with a generous heart;
listen with loving-kindness;
see with the eyes of compassion;
and hear the cries of those who ask for our help
and the silent cries of those too afraid to ask.
With our sincere intentions and prayers,
in whatever way we are able,
may we bring:
joy to those who are sad,
wellness to those who are ill,
peace to those in turmoil,
and light to all who are in darkness.
And may we realize the Perfection
of all beings' Buddha Nature,
including our own.
With these intentions,
our Sangha enters Practice Day!
- posted to DailyDharma
Wishing Prayer for the Attainment of the Ultimate Mahamudra
By The 3rd Karmapa, Rangjung Dorje
Namo Guru
You Lamas, Yidams and Protectors of the power circles,
You victorious Buddhas and your Bodhisattva sons of the ten
directions and the three times,
Think lovingly of us and give your blessings
That our wishes may be fulfilled exactly as they are made.
Arising from the snow mountain of the perfectly pure thoughts and
actions of ourselves and all beings,
May the river of good deeds, unsullied by the concept of a
separation into three,
Flow into the ocean of the four Buddha-states.
Until that happens, may we, in all lifetimes, from one birth to
the next,
Never once hear the sound of pain or suffering,
But instead experience oceans of radiant goodness and joy.
Having attained a free and fully endowed birth,
A precious human life with confidence, diligence, and wisdom,
Relying upon a spiritual teacher and receiving his Essential
instructions,
May we then practice the precious teachings without hindrance in
this and all future lives.
Hearing the teachings frees us from the veils of ignorance.
Contemplating the Oral instructions removes the darkness of
doubt.
The light arising from meditation makes clear the nature of mind,
exactly as it is.
May the light of these three wisdoms increase.
May we receive the flawless teachings, the foundation of which
are the two truths
Which are free from the extremes of eternalism and nihilism,
And through the supreme path of the two accumulations, free from
the extremes of negation and affirmation,
May we obtain the fruit which is free from the extremes of
either,
Dwelling in the conditioned state or in the state of only peace.
The basis of purification is the mind itself in its union of
clarity and emptiness.
The method of purification is the great Mahamudra
Diamond-practice.
What is to be purified are the transitory illusory impurities.
The fruit of the purification is the perfectly pure truth-state.
May this become realized.
Overcoming doubts concerning the fundamental teaching gives trust
in the view.
Protecting this view without distraction is the essence of
meditation.
Correct meditation in itself is best behavior.
May we trust the view, the meditation and the conduct.
All phenomena are projections of the mind.
Mind is not a mind; the mind is empty in essence.
Although empty, everything constantly arises in it.
Through the deepest examination of the mind may we find its
innermost root.
Self-manifestation, which has never existed as such, is
erroneously seen as an object.
Through ignorance, self-awareness is mistakenly experienced as an
I.
Through attachment to this duality we are caught in the
conditioned world.
May the root of confusion be found.
It is not existent for even the Buddhas do not see it.
It is not non-existent, being the basis for both samsara and
nirvana.
It is not the opposites, nor both, nor something else, but rather
their union - the middle way.
May we realize the true nature of mind, which is beyond extremes.
It cannot be described by saying, It is.
It cannot be denied by saying, It is not.
The incomprehensible absolute reality is not composite.
May we achieve certainty about the correctness of this ultimate
meaning.
As long as this is not recognized, the wheel of existence turns.
When this is understood, the state of Buddha is nothing other
than that.
There is nothing that can be described as either existing or not
existing.
May the nature of reality, the true nature of the Buddha mind, be
recognized.
Appearance is only mind, emptiness is only mind, enlightenment is
only mind, and confusion is only one's own mind.
Arising is only mind; disappearance is only mind.
May every doubt and hesitation that concerns the mind be
overcome.
May we neither be sullied by forced intellectual meditation nor
disturbed by the winds of everyday life.
May we skillfully hold onto our practice concerning the nature of
mind.
May the immovable ocean of meditative peace,
Where the waves of subtle and gross thoughts come to rest through
their own power, and
Where the waters of the unmoving mind remain in themselves,
Unspotted by laziness, sleepiness or unclarity, become stable.
If again and again we examine the mind, which cannot be examined,
We see that which cannot be seen, with total clarity, just as it
is.
May the faultless mind, freed from all doubts about being and not
being, recognize itself.
Through the examination of external objects we see the mind, not
the objects.
Through the examination of the mind we see its empty essence, but
not the mind.
Through the examination of both, attachment to duality disappears
by itself.
May the clear light, the true essence of mind, be recognized.
Being without intellectual concepts, it is called the Great Sign,
or Mahamudra.
Being without extremes, it is called the Great Middle Way, or
Madhyamika.
As it embraces everything, it is called the Great Perfection, or
Maha-Ati.
May we have the confidence that the experience of one is the
experience of the meaning of all.
May we constantly and effortlessly experience the never-ending
highest joy, which is without attachment,
The clear light that is without categories or veils of
obscuration, and
The spontaneous, concept-free state that is beyond intellect.
Attachment to pleasant experiences vanishes of its own accord.
Illusory and negative thoughts are in their essence pure, like
space.
In that simple state of mind there is nothing that must be given
up or developed, avoided or attained.
May the truth of the uncomplicated nature of reality be realized.
Although the true nature of beings is always the Buddha essence,
Still we always wander in the ceaseless wheel of life, not
understanding that.
May infinite compassion arise for the limitless suffering of all
beings.
Although this infinite compassion is strong and unceasing,
The truth of its empty nature arises nakedly the very moment it
appears.
This union of emptiness and compassion is the highest faultless
way.
May we meditate inseparable from it, the whole time, day and
night.
May we attain the state of Buddha through maturity, realization,
and completion,
And develop beings through divine eyes and clear sight arising
through the power of meditation.
May we realize the Buddha fields and fulfill the wishing prayer
of the perfection of the Buddha qualities.
You Buddhas and Bodhisattvas from the ten directions,
Through your compassion and through the power of all the pure and
good that exists,
May the pure wishing prayers of ourselves and all beings be
fulfilled,
Just as they were made.
This is what should be done
By one who is skilled in goodness,
And who knows the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech,
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied,
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways,
Peaceful and calm, and wise and skilful,
Not proud and demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.
Wishing: In gladness and in safety,
May all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be;
Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,
The great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
Those born and to-be-born -
May all beings be at ease!
Let none deceive another,
Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings;
Radiating kindness over the entire world:
Spreading upwards to the skies,
And downwards to the depths;
Outwards and unbounded,
Freed from hatred and ill-will.
Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down
Free from drowsiness,
One should sustain this recollection.
This is said to be the sublime abiding.
By not holding to fixed views,
The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision,
Being freed from all sense desires,
Is not born again into this world.
- The Buddha, Sutta-Nipata I, 8