Online Retreat: Fires of Transformation
Day 3
‘To begin with, pay urgent attention to impermanence…’
Resources for Day 3:
Sunday 8am
Welcome, Padmasambhava quotes and poem. Metta Bhavana meditation (with a focus on receptivity) led by Bodhilila.
Sunday 10.30
Talk by Ratnadeva followed by questions to reflect on.
Please note this session ends after 34 mins – we forgot to end the recording when we moved into groups!
‘The crucial situation is change’
Ratnadeva
Ratnadeva describes Vajrayogini (unfortunately his earlier talk about Dakinis was not recorded).
Dakini Puja dedicated to Vajrayogini
Dakini Puja
Dakini,
Dawn of the world,
Twilight of the world,
Naked.
Clothed only in space.
Dancing on the corpse of appearances.
Dakini,
Without limits,
She is without fears.
She protects from all fear,
Great dark Mother of Wisdom.
Vajrayogini,
Lotus dakini,
Giver of bliss.
She holds the skull.
She pours out the nectar of liberation.
Blissful dakini,
Lotus opening,
In the infinite blue world of space,
Red lotus petals
Unfurling,
Glowing,
Transparent,
Red light burning,
Radiant.
Sun disc blazing.
Brilliant.
Wisdom dakini,
Bringer of sudden insight.
She holds the moon crescent blade.
In an instant understanding comes.
Illusions dissolve into spacious awareness.
Fearless dakini,
She wears a garland of skulls,
Dancing in the fires of change
On the blessed womb of emptiness.
She returns from the mounds of death
Into the White Plains of knowledge.
She blazes forth in pure golden flames.
Dakini!
Sky dancer,
Dakini within,
Sings,
Dakini without,
Dances.
No separation,
Guru Dakini of my heart,
Speak!
Guru Dakini of my mind,
Sing!
Guru Dakini of my actions,
Dance!
Hrih Guru Padma Vajra Ah
Into that space of freedom,
I dance!
Naked before the ocean,
I dance!
Trusting in Buddha nature,
I dance!
Steady confident, serene,
I dance!
Vital, dynamic, bold,
I dance!
Open, spacious, liberated,
I dance!
Dance,
Dancer of Dharma,
Dance,
Clothed in light,
Dance,
Calling out your names,
Dance,
Moving in emptiness,
Dance,
In vastness of space,
Dance,
Dynamic joy,
Dance,
Energy in space,
Dance,
Drinking a cup of bliss,
Dance.
Dance the earth,
Dance the sky,
Dance the elements,
Dance the mind.
Dance,
Subduing.
Dance,
Attracting.
Dance,
Maturing.
Dance,
Holding everything in your dance,
Everything in your embrace,
Everything in your heart!
Om ah hum maha guru sarva siddhi hum
Look with attention
Feel with depth
Sense with clarity
Enter the palace of liberation
Now is the time
To pass into the land of mirror knowledge,
Where there is no hatred.
Now is the time
To pass into the land of serenity
Where there is no craving
Now is the time
To pass into the land of intuitive action,
Where there is no envy.
Now is the time
To pass into the land of the plane of essence,
Where there is no ignorance.
Now is the time
To pass into the land of impartiality,
Where there is no pride.
Now we go there,
To meet the Guru.
Now we go there,
To the Glorious Copper Coloured Mountain,
Now we go there,
To the Pure land of the Dharma,
Now we go there,
To the Realm of Dharma’s infinite light!
It is time to go x3
We follow,
We follow,
We follow.
OM AH HUM VAJRA GURU PADMA SIDDHI HUM!
Verses by Dhiramati
Sunday 4pm
‘The effort we put into our spiritual development needs to be directed towards the growth of the whole psyche, not just a part of it.
We need to unify our energies, and this means enlisting the co-operation of our unconscious energies – by means of myth and symbol, and by the exercise of imagination and devotion.
The rational approach will not do it on its own.’
Sangharakshita
Talk by Bodhilila
Meditative reflection on Padmasambhava’s Advice to the Three Fortunate Women
Padmasambhava mantra – Calling the Guru from afar…
The Advice Given the Three Fortunate Women Before the Departure
Then Ngang Chung, the glorious noble queen, invited the Guru, that second Buddha, into the temple of turquoise dedicated to her tutelary deities.
Piling up on a precious throne fine silks and tables of divination and regaling him with many pleasing things, she greeted him respectfully and made this request:
“Give me a few words of great import, an effective verse which I can memorize. Though I have not renounced the world, I would like to cherish within me a Doctrine which at a later time would lead me to Buddhahood.”
To this the Guru replied, “Listen, Queen Ngang Chung! To begin with, pay urgent attention to impermanence, then strongly turn your mind towards taking Refuge, and direct your prayers to the lamas.
These are the preliminaries without which no means exists.
After that, disposing yourself physically to be calm, as in an empty house the raindrops slowly gather, relax – do not force your mind or body.
Since the tranquillity of Sunyata is the foundation, by forcefully turning your mind to emptiness, you chase misconceptions.
In the thoughts which arise, understanding will come without doing anything.
Again and yet again work on whatever estranges you from meditation! Lay bare whatsoever arises, good and bad thoughts alike!
The child who knows his way, carries along on the path every harmless thing he happens upon and nothing that harms him.
During the time of insight which is surrounded by a calm, and gentle aura, openness and appearance are inseparable.
The six senses come forth, though appearance and voidness are inseparable; this is the real foundation, without which no means exists.
During the period of meditation, there is not anything; it is simply open.
But when you waver towards appearances, delusions will arise.
After careful examination, understand not to discriminate, to neither accept nor reject.
As anything can happen, peace will arise from within.
Even when you do not meditate, for personal growth you need to exercise effort.
If you do so without accomplishing anything thereby, know that at all times Realization is your own nature, and from within, act for the benefit of all beings!
Unceasingly do Dharma actions; when you purify yourself of your faults, Realization will naturally come from within.
Seal your virtuous action with prayers and a dedication for the purpose of all beings.
Without such prayers and dedication, no means exists.
Not falling into the errors of excitement or passivity, be filled with confidence.
Here, in few words of great import, lie preparation, enactment, and fulfilment, the Doctrine’s deepest reaches, of this life as of the life to come.”
Thus did he speak. And Queen Ngang Chung was led to salvation.
Closing Ritual
OM AH HUM VAJRA GURU PADMA SIDDHI HUM!
OM AH HUM VAJRA GURU PADMA SIDDHI HUM!
OM AH HUM VAJRA GURU PADMA SIDDHI HUM!
Invocation to the Guru
Padmasambhava of blazing light,
Touching the body of enlightenment.
Padmasambhava of radiant appearance,
Touching the heart of wisdom.
Padmasambhava of luminous vision,
Touching the depths of mind.
Padmasambhava,
Dwelling in the land,
Dwelling in our hearts,
Dwelling in the in- and outflow of each breath.
Padmasambhava,
Revealing jewels and treasures in our struggles,
Revealing the truth in each changing moment,
Revealing the heart essence of compassion,
In the simplest action.
Padmasambhava,
The local spirits and deities draw near,
The gods and goddesses of the sense realms draw near,
We your followers draw near,
You speak to each of us in our hearts,
Wordless,
Open and free,
You reveal your secret treasures.
Padmasambhava!
Magician,
Shaman,
Moving between worlds.
Padmasambhava!
Vision seeker,
Finding the ways to freedom,
Padmasambhava!
Compassionate master,
Revealing the inner path.
Padmasambhava!
Heart Guru,
Opening the ways
To knowledge,
To healing,
To love.
Padmasambhava!
Mystic yogi,
Burning in the fires of transformation.
Padmasambhava!
Alchemist in the cauldron of the heart.
In the cauldron of experience,
The blazing fires grow.
Guru,
No growth without change,
No life without death,
No progress without obstacles!
Holding the vajra to our hearts!
Holding everything there in our hearts!
Dark and light both,
Our sorrow and joy,
Fear and strength,
Agitation and calm,
Pleasure and pain.
Happy and sad.
All we call blessing
All we know as hurtful.
Everything there,
In the dance without centre,
Embodying all experiences,
Everything naturally self-liberated.
from Blazing Light Puja by Dhiramati
Skull Garland Mantra
Transference of Merit and Self-Surrender
May the merit gained
In my acting thus
Go to the alleviation of the suffering of all beings.
My personality throughout my existences,
My possessions,
And my merit in all three ways,
I give up without regard to myself
For the benefit of all beings.
Just as the earth and other elements
Are serviceable in many ways
To the infinite number of beings Inhabiting limitless space;
So may I become
That which maintains all beings
Situated throughout space,
So long as all have not attained
To peace.
6. Below transference of merit, with some space in between please add this final poem….
Without a centre, without an edge,
The luminous expanse of awareness
That encompasses all –
This vivid, bright vastness:
Natural, primordial presence.
Without an inside, without an outside,
Awareness arisen of itself, as wide as the sky,
Beyond size, beyond direction, beyond limits –
This utter, complete openness:
Space, inseparable from awareness.
Within that birthless, wide open expanse of space,
Phenomena appear – like rainbows, wholly transparent.
Pure and impure realms,
Buddhas and sentient beings are seen,
brilliant and distinct.
As far as the sky pervades, so does awareness.
As far as awareness extends, so does absolute space.
Sky, awareness, absolute space,
Indistinguishably intermixed: immense, infinitely vast –
The ground of samsara, the ground of nirvana.
To remain Day and night in this state –
To enter this state easily – this is joy.
EMAHO!
