Please I invite others to share transcripts and teachings from our lineage masters.
Here's my first post:
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso
During the Medicine Guru Empowerment:
What are the trainings in the path of accumulation? According to this sadhana, it is training in the practice of visualizing the field of merit, training in the seven limb practice, training in the mandala offering practice, requesting practice, and training in receiving blessings and purifying practice. All these trainings are the training in the common paths. We should know how to practice each of these trainings and how to make progress in them.
For example, first we should know how to train in the practice of visualizing the field of merit, then how to make progress. In this context, the field of merit is the assembly of seven Medicine Buddhas and their retinues. In front of us we visualize the assembly of seven Medicine Buddhas together with their retinues. This assembly is called the field of merit because through the blessings of these holy beings we can accumulate a great collection of merit, or good fortune. From outer fields we create crops. From these holy beings, through their blessings, we can create, or accumulate, the great, huge, good fortune. So they are called field of merit. Visualizing these holy beings gives great meaning. With strong faith and conviction we visualize them. We should not expect to perceive them clearly, impossible. But it is important to really believe these holy beings are present in front of us. Although we cannot see them, they are there.
There is no place from which these holy beings are absent. There is no single land or place from which Buddhas are absent because their main body is the Truth Body Dharmakaya, and the Truth Body pervades everywhere. But to see them directly we need a collection of good fortune and to purify our inner obstacles, that is ignorance or mainly heavy negative actions, wrong views and so forth – inner obstacles. Previously we denied the existence of enlightened beings. This is an obstacle, wrong view, preventing us from seeing them. Visualizing is difficult and so forth, we need to purify. One thing is we need to make our mind become pure, and other thing is that we try to make some accumulation of merit, which means accumulate virtuous imprints, or accumulating good fortune, good luck, through performing virtuous actions.
So, anyway, with deep faith and strong devotion, we believe the assembly of Medicine Gurus, together with their retinues, are actually present. Then we strongly rejoice in their good qualities and make determination to follow their example. This means where they go, we want to go. In the very beginning they were completely ordinary, ignorant beings, then they were gone on the bodhisattva’s path, path of accumulation. They did not remain there, they were gone on the path of preparation; path of seeing; path of meditation; and then gone beyond – that means no more learning, or enlightenment. We want to do this also. Make the determination. We want to follow where you go. Meditate on this determination, while not forgetting the visualizations of the holy beings.
We can train in this practice continually. Through gaining familiarity with this practice, gradually we will in our mind become more and more pure, and our inner obstacles will be pacified. We will gain deep experience of this visualization, deep experience of visualizing the field of merit, visualizing the seven Medicine Guru together with their retinues.
Through this realization or visualization, through this experience there is a great possibility that we can see these holy beings directly. Because we pacify inner obstruction such as negativity of mind, including the imprints of wrong views, heavy non-virtuous actions we have performed, and so forth. And at the same time we are improving our faith and conviction in these holy beings. So we will gain the deep experience of this visualization. This is a realization. This realization is the path of accumulation. One single realization is the collection of good fortune, or merit. It is so many paths, which are the path of merit, good fortune. We will gain this realization. Through this we can see them, we can gain ability to see them directly, to communicate with them directly."
-Geshe Kelsang Gyatso NewYork Kadampa Temple 2006.
