From the glossary on www.lamayeshe.com:
deity (Tib: yidam): an emanation of the enlightened mind used as the object of meditation in tantric practices.
An example of such a meditation is here excerpted from a White Tara practice described by Lama Zopa Rinpoche:
The guru deities—all the Buddha’s holy mind, the wisdom of Dharmakaya, that which is the absolute guru, bound with infinite compassion, which embraces me and my family and all living beings—manifests into White Tara, specifically to grant long life realizations. Her nature is of white light, and she is extremely youthful and beautiful. She has one face and two arms and is sitting in the vajra posture. The right hand has the palm facing outward on the knee, in the mudra of granting realizations. The left hand has three fingers pointing up, signifying Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. She is holding the stem of an upali flower. She is sitting in the vajra posture on a lotus and moon disc seat, looking at me and all sentient beings with compassionate eyes and a loving smile. She is beautifully adorned with divine dress and jewel ornaments.
Rinpoche gave the following advice regarding generating oneself as the deity, however one must have the relevant empowerment in order to visualize oneself as any particular deity.
Yi means mind, dam means seal – two things not to be separated. Something sealed means not to be separated. Yi is your mind. With what is it sealed? With the deity that you’re going to become one with in the future. Your body, speech, and mind will become one with the deity’s holy body, holy speech, and holy mind, and then you will achieve enlightenment. So, the quick way to achieve that is through tantra.
In everyday life you visualize yourself as the deity, not just only the deity but the guru. One has the understanding that the deity and guru are oneness, one thing. When you visualize yourself as the deity it means the guru. This way, not only when you practice the sadhana, but when you get dressed or when you eat, drink, or sleep, during all these activities, sense enjoyments, etc., think of yourself as the guru-deity. It is good to have the awareness of the deity, but the main thing is the guru. When one experiences sense enjoyments or other things, all of this becomes an offering to the guru and one collects the most extensive merit. If you just think of yourself as the deity then it becomes merit, but not the most merit. The main awareness is of the guru. Your form is the deity but the awareness is of the guru.continue reading on www.lamayeshe.com
I have a definition question related to something mentioned in the Graded Path to Enlightenment (prayer ?)
ReplyDeleteWhat are the four sessions mentioned in stanza 11?
Mantra retreats are generally structured into four sessions a day. It's a way of dividing up the practice day into before dawn, between dawn and noon, afternoon, and evening.
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