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Nonduality Highlights: Issue #4284, Sunday June 19, 2011
Great bliss free from attachment is unceasing.
Luminosity free from clinging is unobscured.
Non-thought beyond conceptual mind is spontaneity.
May meditative experience free from striving be continuous.
-Rangjung Dorje, posted to DailyDharma
I pay homage to the guru.
Shakyamuni, Victorious One.
Supreme guide of the realm for this fortunate aeon,
Sons of the Victorious one,
Assembly of noble Bodhisattvas who tame sentient beings,
Lord guru, matchless savior of beings in the dark age,
The three Roots and oath-bound Dharma guardians?
Again and again, I ask from my heart,
Recalling you with longing and one-pointed mind?
Please turn your attention toward me.
Take hold of me with your loving kindness
And with the power of your unhindered compassion
Grant your blessings that my thoughts and aims
be carried out in accord with Dharma.
Through past acts, not without merit,
I have obtained this precious human birth.
Through past merit, not slight,
I have met the sublime Dharma.
Accepted by the guru, I was able to obtain empowerments,
Blessings, and the essential instructions.
All this wealth I now hold in my hands.
But my mind, like a babbling monkey, falls under the sway
Of the enticing, deceptive demon of distraction
And I cannot take advantage of the wealth that is my own.
Thus, this free, well-favored human birth
And the lama's teaching are both wasted.
Now I am at a turning point:
All the teachings that I've asked for,
All I've received, are like a myth.
My body has the appearance of a practitioner,
And I have a practitioner's conceit;
My mind cannot fathom the true teachings.
Lacking even a trace of common Dharma, much less holy Dharma,
The sixteen rules for ordinary social behavior
Are just something that I've heard of.
Seeing myself behave badly, I'm without shame;
Seen by others, I'm unembarassed;
My bond to the teachings is short as a marmot's tail.
Unable to practice properly true Dharma's ten virtuous deeds,
Harboring sectarian bias toward the one Buddha's teachings,
I slander the teachings and great beings
I gather up bad karma.
Based on Dharma,
I carry a great weight of evil deeds.
The more teaching I've received,
The more my vision of myself inflates,
Though intellectual analyses cannot penetrate
The deep meaning of the teachings.
With conceit, I think, "I keep the Pratimoksha
disciplines!"
But the four dharma practices have been lost without a trace.
With conceit, I think, "I posses the precious Bodhisattva
training!"
But the Four Boundless Ones are just like pictures of a lamp.
With conceit, I think, "I keep the Secret Mantrayana
samayas!"
But, not respecting the first root transgression,
I become careless about all the rest.
I can glibly explain the Four Thoughts That Turn the Mind to
Dharma,
But my attachment to phenomena
Shows that my own mind has not truly changed.
Though I rely on a teacher, respect and devotion slowly ebb away;
Instead of having pure perception, I have wrong views,
And see the guru as my equal.
Love and respect toward my vajra friends weakens;
Unable to endure a few harsh words, I complain constantly.
Lacking thorough training in bodhicitta,
The love and compassion that comes about
From seeing all beings of the six realms as my parents
Disappears like mist.
Although I act as if I practice the paths of kyerim and dzogrim,
I cannot even cope with ordinary endless delusion.
I recognize that the ultimate teaching of sutra and tantra
Is emptiness, but can't make use of that recognition;
My mindstream stays hard as horn.
When I practice remaining in mind's true condition
I am without stability, yet I mouth off about the profound view
And toss cause and effect to the winds.
On the outside I can give a show of good behavior;
On the inside, desire, attachment, greed rage like fire.
Though my body remains in isolated mountain retreat,
My mind wanders into town constantly, night and day.
Without enjoying a real measure of certainty in myself,
Thinking to act for other's benefit is just a fairytale.
Although it is impossible that the Three Jewels betray me,
Due to my weak devotion, I fear I will betray myself.
Thus, although I am without the wrong view
Of not believing in the teacher and the holy Dharma,
In these bad times we sentient beings
Are busily perfecting our bad karma,
Knowing, heedlessly, falling under the sway of unawareness;
Failing to maintain mindfulness, we suffer a great loss.
When I examine myself, I see
That everything I've done has only added on to my confusion,
That all my thinking has been stained
By the obscuring emotions and by grasping.
Not seeing that even my virtuous acts
Are polluted with negativities
Where else is there to end up but in the lower realms?
As for the way I behave and what I've done,
Bringing these to mind, I am sickened.
Looking to others, I am only more discouraged;
There are no friends to benefit and ease my mind.
If I cannot take care of myself now,
Others cannot give me refuge when hope is exhausted
And I'm in the hands of the messengers of the Lord of Death.
To wait for a rescue that can never come,
Isn't that self-deception?
Thus, with shame and remorse recognizing my own errors,
Whatever offenses against Dharma have occurred,
Whatever samaya transgressions and violations,
I won't try to conceal from those with wisdom vision.
From the bottom of my heart, I confess;
With your compassion, please endure me.
Be my refuge from the danger of the precipitous, errant path;
Grant the deliverance of finding the perfect, liberating path.
My whole life has been spent practicing this and practicing that
With nothing in my hands to show for it,
No attainment.
From now on, avoiding the miserable path of knowing much,
And missing the one thing I need
Why not go on the path of knowing the one thing that frees all?
Certain, unfailing hope, sole, supreme Lord upon whom I rely,
Root guru who combines all refuges in one,
I supplicate you with devotion and one pointed mind;
Supreme refuge, lord of greatest kindness,
Take hold of me with your compassion.
Grant your blessing that I am able to see my own faults.
Grant your blessing that I have no wish to see the faults of
others.
Grant your blessing that evil, cruel, and vicious thoughts be
pacified.
Grant your blessing that wholesome thoughts arise deep from
within.
Grant your blessing that desire may lessen and contentment
increase.
Grant your blessing that I remember the uncertainty of the time
of death.
Grant your blessing that I be unconcerned at the time of death.
Grant your blessing that I develop trust in Dharma.
Grant your blessing that I practice impartial pure perception.
Grant your blessing that I develop unfabricated devotion and
respect.
Grant your blessing that I persevere, seeing that I have so
little time left.
Grant your blessing that I be able to establish Dharma as my
ultimate innermost goal.
Grant your blessing that I free my mindstream the innermost
practice.
Grant your blessing that I have no obstacles to practice
Grant your blessing that the fruit of my practice may ripen
quickly.
Grant your blessing that all conduct with those with whom I have
a karmic link may be meaningful.
Grant your blessing that the duality of hope and fear be
extinguished.
Grant your blessing that I see nondual wakefulness.
Grant your blessing that I recognize my own innate wakefulness.
Grant your blessing that I hold the dharmakaya citadel.
Grant your blessing that I gain the great effortless certainty.
By means of the great weapon,
Indestructible primordial wakeful awareness,
May the void life-force of samsara and nirvana
Both be severed, at once.
Then, in the unending great bliss of Nyema's feast
May we always enjoy the activity
That is beyond joining and parting.
In the pervasive space of evenness,
Even the word "suffering" does not exist
So who ought to be striving for happiness?
In the Kingdom of Samantabhadra
Happiness and suffering are of one taste;
Without grasping, they liberate of themselves.
May I attain Samantabhadra's kingdom in this very life!
- Vajrayana confession prayer of His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche
Om. Tryambhakam Yajamahe
Sugandhim Pushtivardhanam
Urvarukamiva Bandhanan
Mrityor Mukshiya Maamritat
- The Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClxgIS-_X_g&feature=related
Translation as Given by Swami Sivananda in Japa Yoga:
Om. We worship the three-eyed One (Lord Siva) who is fragrant and
who nourishes all beings; may He liberate me from death, for the
sake of Immortality, even as the cucumber is severed from its
bondage (of the creeper).
Significance
In this mantra, Lord Shiva is addressed as the three-eyed one.
The deeper meaning of the term "Shiva," according to
the Sanskrit dictionary by Martin Mittwede, is "that which
is auspicious and benevolent." Shiva not merely denotes a
specific deity among other deities, but is an appellation for the
Absolute Consciousness or Godhead.
The Third Eye of Shiva
Shiva is generally depicted with three eyes. The third eye is the
eye of wisdom, which stands for spiritual vision and knowledge
beyond the duality of past and future, knower and knowledge,
subject and object. The third eye is not only associated with
spiritual realization and meditative vision, but also stands for
Shiva's power to destroy evil. In Hindu mythology, Shiva is known
to destroy evil with a mere glance from this third eye,
especially when his righteous anger is aroused.
AumBhur Bhuvah Swah Tat Savitur Varenyam
Bhargo Devasya Dhimahi DhiyoYo Nah Prachodayat
- Gayatri Mantra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfKigD3vY8A
A basic translation can be given as...
Oh God, the Protector, the basis of all life, Who is
self-existent, Who is free from all pains and Whose contact frees
the soul from all troubles, Who pervades the Universe and
sustains all, the Creator and Energizer of the whole Universe,
the Giver of happiness, Who is worthy of acceptance, the most
excellent, Who is Pure and the Purifier of all, let us embrace
that very God, so that He may direct our mental faculties in the
right direction.
Om Mani Padme Hum
- Chenrezig
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPszteX0z7k&feature=related