Joyful Path of Good Fortune. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

Praying in this way induces an immeasurable superior intention, ‘I myself will make this happen.’ Meditating on this intention compels us to make an immeasurable request, ‘Please, O Buddhas and Spiritual Guides, bless me to do this.’

      If we gaze at a perfectly cloudless, blue sky we will not prefer the east to the west or the west to the east. In the same way, when we gain the realization of equanimity we will not prefer some people to others. All beings will be equally important to us. Before we have this realization our gaze is, as it were, fixed upon uneven ground. Some areas look high and others look low.

      Most of the personal problems we experience are caused by our own biased mind. We think that we, our family, and our friends are most important. We cherish those who are close to us and take their concerns to heart, but we neglect almost everyone else, thinking that their concerns are insignificant. When we gain equanimity we will see all beings as equally precious and as a result we will find that many of our own problems are overcome.

      Equanimity is an equal concern for others and not a mere indifference. Indifference is as far away from equanimity as hatred and attachment. When we develop equanimity we will experience great peace and happiness. Our mind is like a well-ploughed field where we can plant the seeds of compassion, love and bodhichitta.

      Immeasurable love Observing all the beings around us we meditate:

      All these beings long for happiness, yet most of them do not know what the cause of happiness is, and those who do know cannot create it. Therefore, all of them lack what they desire.

      Meditating in this way induces in our heart an immeasurable wish, an immeasurable prayer, an immeasurable superior intention and an immeasurable request:

      How wonderful it would be if all living beings were to possess happiness and its cause.

      May all beings possess these.

      I myself will make this happen.

      Please, O Buddhas and Spiritual Guides, bless me to do this.

      When we have generated this immeasurable wish continuously and spontaneously, we have gained the realization of immeasurable love. Since living beings are countless, so are the benefits of immeasurable love. Even when our meditation goes badly and we do not experience any special feeling, we still receive many benefits from meditating on immeasurable love.

      Immeasurable compassion Observing all the beings around us we meditate:

      All these beings are afraid of suffering and wish to be free from it, yet in ignorance they continue to commit negative actions which are the very cause of suffering.

      Meditating in this way induces in our heart an immeasurable wish, an immeasurable prayer, an immeasurable superior intention and an immeasurable request:

      How wonderful it would be if all living beings were free from suffering and its cause.

      May they all be free from these.

      I myself will make this happen.

      Please, O Buddhas and Spiritual Guides, bless me to do this.

      Immeasurable joy Observing all the beings around us we again meditate in order to generate an immeasurable wish, an immeasurable prayer, an immeasurable superior intention and an immeasurable request:

      How wonderful it would be if all living beings were never to lose the happiness of humans and gods or the supreme joy of liberation.

      May they never be parted from these.

      I myself will make this happen.

      Please, O Buddhas and Spiritual Guides, bless me to do this.

      generating the bodhichitta motivation for a specific practice

      Before engaging in our actual meditation we generate the motivation to do it solely for the sake of attaining full enlightenment for the benefit of others. For example, if we are going to meditate on how to rely upon our Spiritual Guide we motivate ourself:

      I will now train my mind in faith and respect for my Spiritual Guide so that I can benefit others by building the foundation that supports all other realizations of the stages of the path to enlightenment.

      This bodhichitta is called ‘engaging’ or ‘practical’ bodhichitta. It decides to engage in a specific practice as a means of actually accomplishing the goal of aspiring bodhichitta, which is the wish to become enlightened for the sake of all other living beings.

      visualizing the field for accumulating merit

      There are two ways of visualizing the Field for Accumulating Merit. According to the first way we imagine that the objects of refuge gradually gather into Guru Buddha Shakyamuni who comes to the crown of our head and descends to our heart, and then we visualize the Field for Accumulating Merit in the empty space in front of us. The second way is easier. We simply impute the Field for Accumulating Merit upon our visualization of the objects of refuge.

      The objects of refuge are now designated as the Field for Accumulating Merit because when we offer the practice of the seven limbs and the mandala the holy beings act as a field in which we plant and nourish our seeds of virtue. By making these offerings we create and increase our virtuous energy, purify our negative karma and increase our potentiality to gain the realizations of the stages of the path. These results are the good harvest of our virtue.

      We begin this practice by remembering all the details of the previous visualization, from Guru Buddha Shakyamuni at the centre to the outermost row of Dharma Protectors. In addition, to increase the protection of Dharma, we visualize a guardian in each of the four cardinal directions of the Field for Accumulating Merit. At the crown of each holy being we visualize a white OM, the seed-letter of Vairochana; at the throat a red AH, the seed-letter of Amitabha; at the heart a blue HUM, the seed-letter of Akshobya; at the navel a yellow SO, the seed-letter of Ratnasambhava; and at the secret place a green HA, the seed-letter of Amoghasiddhi. These seed-letters indicate that all the holy beings in the Field for Accumulating Merit are, in essence, the same as the five Buddha lineages.

      We then renew our conviction that we are in the living presence of the holy beings. In this we are like a blind person who is led into a room where a discourse is being given and whose friend describes how all the people appear. The blind person believes what he or she is told without hesitation. He vividly imagines all the people as if he were really seeing them and he actually feels their living presence.

      Next we recite the prayer inviting the Field for Accumulating Merit – inviting all the wisdom beings to come before us and unite with the commitment beings visualized in front of us:

      You, Protector of all beings,

      Great Destroyer of hosts of demons,

      Please, O Blessed One, Knower of All,

      Come to this place with your retinue.

      From the hearts of all the holy beings light radiates, reaching all the Buddha Lands and bringing the wisdom beings into our presence where they become inseparably one with the visualized Field for Accumulating Merit.

      Buddha Shakyamuni said ‘Whenever anyone develops faith in me, I am present.’ Therefore it is certain that if we recite the prayer of invitation with faith, the wisdom beings will come. Then we can abandon all doubts that the holy beings are actually present.

      At the time of Buddha Shakyamuni there lived a young woman called Magadhabhatri who had immense faith in Buddha Shakyamuni and his disciples. She went abroad to another country to live with her non-Buddhist husband and his family. Although they were often visited by their venerable non-Buddhist teacher, this never satisfied Magadhabhatri, who was always talking about the good qualities of her own Teacher, Buddha Shakyamuni. By listening to this her mother-in-law developed great faith in Buddha and asked Magadhabhatri to invite him to visit them. When Magadhabhatri promised the family that Buddha and his retinue would be arriving the next day they could hardly believe her. They said that even if Buddha was already on his way it would be impossible for him to get there so quickly. Magadhabhatri climbed to the top of the house holding flowers and incense, and requested Buddha to come by reciting