West London Buddhist Centre

Mandala of the Heart – Tuesday

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Online Retreat: Mandala of the Heart

Tuesday 27 July

 

Yamantaka Mandala - The Art of Asia - Buddhism

 

’Who knows what happens on a quantum level?’
Paramananda

 

Recordings

8am

Saluting the 3 Jewels
Reading
Unled 45 min meditation with bells to mark 5 stages

 

 

 

 

‘There is nothing that is intrinsically a problem.
Meditation is not about wanting a cloudless sky.
As long as we know the sky is there,
The clouds are not really a problem.
The clouds can come and go as they please.
 
Rigdzin Shipko in ‘Openness, clarity, sensitivity

 

Buddha Canvas Art | Tibetan Thangka – Lucky Thanka

 

 

10.30 am
 

Talk by Bodhilila
Invocation of Amitabha
Amitabha mantra
Walking
laying down with sound of singing bowls
Led Metta meditation (Metta towards self and radiating it in all directions)

 

 

 

‘Is this not Amitabha, limitless light?
Not for a moment have I been separate,
Never separate, still I was unaware.
At the instant of awareness,
Buddha Amitabha is gone,
Dewachen’s pure land vanishes –
Within mind’s unborn nature, she ra ra,
In the play of awareness and empty bliss, ya la la,
Whatever arises is the sparkling dharmakaya.
Holding to the pure land is a delusion,
The label ‘buddha’ is a hurdle of attachment.
Amitabha is not outside, look within.
This finding the dharmakaya through oneself, a la l!
This being happy, always and ceaselessly, e ma ho!
from ‘Playful Display of Original Nature: a Song and Dance of Ultimate Fulfilment’ by Dudjom Rimpoche

 

Einstein on Compassion 

A human being is a part of the whole, called by us “Universe”, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as separated from the rest – a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. 

Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in all its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such an achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security. 

(Letters, quoted in ‘Geometry, Relativity, and the Fourth Dimension’ by Rudolf Rucker) 

 

4pm

Heart meditation led by Paramananda

Q&A with Paramananda and Bodhilila

 

 

 

 

What the Heart is Like

Officially the heart

is oblong, muscular,

and filled with longing.

But anyone who has painted the heart knows

that it is also

spiked like a star

and sometimes bedraggled

like a stray dog at night

and sometimes powerful

like an archangel’s drum.

And sometimes cube-shaped

like a draught-man’s dream

and sometimes gaily round

like a ball in a net.

And sometimes like a thin line

and sometimes like an explosion.

And in it is 

only a river,

a weir

and at most one little fish 

by no means golden.

More like a grey

jealous

loach.

It certainly isn’t noticeable

at first sight.

Anyone who has painted the heart knows

that first he had to

discard his spectacles,

his mirror,

throw away his fine-point pencil

and carbon paper

and for a long while

walk

outside.

              Miroslav Holub

Invocation of Amitabha
 

Turning to the West,
And the rays of the setting sun,

I bow to the ruby red light

That is the Buddha Amitabha.

Lover of light,
You sit on a rich red lotus,
Floating on the ocean of existence.

Your hands touch together in your lap,                                                                                   

A soft red lotus growing between them.

You are deep in meditation,
Completely at peace with yourself.

Rich red light emanates
From every pore of your skin.
Your red robes are embroidered with gold.

Soft red light and a rainbow surround you,

The wisdom aura of green encircles your head.

You are the rich red light of the setting sun

Sinking into the ocean of existence,
Your rays extending across the sea to meet us.

With your light comes your love,
A warm and passionate love for all that lives,

Suffusing all things,
Nourishing and healing,
Bringing back to life the hurt and wounded.

The red light washes over us,
Melting the ice of our hearts.
Yet always you are deep in meditation,
Your energy drawn inwards,
Moving from the senses
To the riches of your inner world.
 

From this wholeness and containment,                                                                    

Your love shines out.

And the lotus growing in your hands,                                                                

Each red petal slowly opening                                                                                               

And emanating light,
This lotus echoes the growth in us
Of our own inner life,
Our own aspirations,
The gentle warming and unfolding of our own hearts.

Lover of light,
Your discriminating vision
Sees each person exactly as they are,
Loves each one according to their need.

You perceive clearly the nature of all things,

Seeing with the eye of reality
Beneath the form to the thing itself.

O Amitabha
You are the fire element,
The spark of life,
The warmth and heat that is life itself.

Let the fires of your love burn brightly for all to see.

O Amitabha,
Help us to overcome our selfish greed,

to see clearly what we really need.

Help us to become content,
with what we already have
and be happy wherever we are.

O Amitabha,
Help us to come alive
to a world beyond the senses.
Help us to experience the joy of meditation,

The ever-renewing energies of our own minds.

Help us to enter Sukhavati
The blissful land of your light,
The blissful land of your love.

            by Dharmachari Saccanama December 1999    (and Viryabodhi, June 2006)

 

 

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