【Description】
Self-cultivation is like taking the exams to enter a university, or even harder. Some may not be able to pass the tests after 10 or 20 years of cultivation; some can’t attain Buddhahood even after a lifetime of cultivation.
Grandmaster JinBodhi said, “If one wants to elevate fast on the path of self-cultivation, or completely change their fate, they need to cultivate three kinds of illumination: body illumination, mind illumination and consciousness illumination.
Let’s learn how to cultivate these three kinds of illumination, as taught by Grandmaster JinBodhi.
【You willearn】
- Ways to clear drowsiness and gain clarity
- Let go and calm your heart
- Ways to see things beyond time and space
- Ways to gain great wisdom
- Ways to visualize compassionate illumination
- Chant The Six-Syllable Mantra with Grandmaster JinBodhi
【Featured aphorism】
- The key to solving the problem is not to block it but to guide it.
- A person with a broad mind can eliminate worries naturally.
- Consciousness illumination can bring purity.
- A wise person knows how to prioritize matters and choose appropriate methods of dealing with them.
- Inner peace comes from letting go.
- Great wisdom is great compassion.
- True consciousness illumination is to stand higher and look further, seeing the future across time and space.
- Softness leads to an unobstructed self that is healthy and happy.
【Content】
Hello everyone. (Hello Master.)
Most of you first came to Bodhi Meditation due to health reasons. A few came to learn how to elevate mental and spiritual states. Thus, you have the opportunity to learn here. But studying entails countless challenges meditatively, intellectually, physically, and familially. They will all occur. Most of you truly wish for health, intelligence and wisdom.
Of those present today, who seeks to be illuminated in body and mind, boundlessly wise, intelligent, healthy, and beautiful? Anyone? (Yes.) You’re not asking for too much or being misguided. Many Buddhist practitioners are intelligent and beautiful. Are you lost? Those who make mistakes are confused and unwise.
First, lack of wisdom is commonly due to insufficient knowledge. Because you know so little, problems obstruct and afflict you. Second, lack of wisdom is due to a lack of comprehension. Comprehension is the ability to understand, adapt, and apply. Some people are capable of drawing inferences and applying them. Do you understand? (Yes.) Say you learned something here and quickly applied it to other situations. Inference and extrapolation allow you to apply something in many ways. For example, in Chengdu, Sichuan, there’s an ancient irrigation system – Dujiangyan. Heard of it? (Yes.) For those who haven’t, try swimming in it. Few survive it as the water is rapid and freezing. Two thousand years ago, the river flooded from the mountain run-off.
Summer floods devastated the Chengdu Plain’s flat land. The entire region was flooded and people evacuated. Who has seen a tsunami on the internet? Do you understand tsunami? In English, it’s tsunami. No need to applaud. It gets better later. The summer floods were tsunami-like. Very scary. Water usually flows gently and tranquilly but give it some force and it’s very scary. In the Dujiangyan area, there was a massive flood every 2 to 3 years. Though scary to inhabit, the plain is great agricultural land. These days, we’re all city dwellers with no concept of agriculture. Flat farmland is easy to manage and has the highest crop yield. In mountainous areas, agriculture is difficult. The vast North American plains have hundreds of kilometers of farmland. In California, after driving for an hour, I was still looking at the same apple orchard. The car couldn’t escape the sight of the neatly planted apple orchard. Flat farmland is easier to plant than hilly land, which is hard to cultivate, water, fertilize, and harvest. So, the local king looked for an accomplished person to manage the flooding. Otherwise, the river flooded annually, making the land unlivable. It was good land. But when flood water coursed down like mad every year, people and farmland were destroyed. Technology was basic then. Many suggested damming the river. Many experts gathered and among them was Li Bing, a water expert. Li Bing said to the king, “Water needs to be guided, not dammed.”
How big a dam would be needed to stop water coursing downward? What do you think? No, it’s unstoppable, but it can be diverted. The king thought Li Bing made sense. The irrigation system used to divert the river is the famous Dujiangyan. Check it out online – ancient China’s most famous water engineering project. The river could now be diverted to irrigate the entire plain, yielding more farmland. Areas could be watered according to need. No more destruction of farmland, people and housing. It was accomplished in one fell swoop. The system’s reasoning comes from knowledge of meridians and blood circulation. When blood vessels rupture, they can’t be sewn up to stop the blood from flowing. You’d lose a limb or brain function if there was a lack of blood circulation in a limb or neck. So, blood needs to be diverted rather than stopped. In ancient times, an ignorant official might respond to a rebellion with forced incarceration or beheading of rebels. A wise ruler would find out why the rebels were upset. When babies cry from hunger, discomfort, or a dirty diaper, the mom can guess from the cry what the issue is. When people rebel, there is a reason. They are trying to say something. A wise emperor would try to resolve whatever issue led to the rebellion. It’s his responsibility as the ruler of his citizens to help them solve problems.
Good rulers will relieve disasters with government money and resources. Once the problem is resolved, citizens settle down. The early Han Dynasty subscribed to “Ruling through Inaction,” with few rules and low taxes. Everyone supported themselves, with the government stepping in if help was needed. This is the general principle of “Ruling through Inaction.” Someone’s upset? Calm them down. If farmers rebelled, they must be going hungry. Officials rebelled, on the other hand, for power. Farmers only did so if there was famine. Humans live to eat. You’d be dead, or nearly, if you went hungry for 3 days. So, citizens rebelled because of hunger. Each province had government food reserves that could be sent to a neighboring province’s disaster area. Once food arrived, peace ensued quickly. So, guiding water instead of stopping it applies to ruling a nation, managing disease, and engineering water. The core lesson is that we should learn something, infer, and apply it to many situations. If the baby cries, there’s definitely an issue since they don’t cry without reason. A healthy, fed baby doesn’t cry. Parents, take heed. Once you resolve the issue, even a baby wouldn’t cry for no reason. The ability to understand, adapt, and apply can be learned through reading and listening. Learn to recapitulate others’ stories since it hones your power of perception as it calls for in-depth understanding and analysis. This is the trainable portion of wisdom.
Some people’s power of perception is due to spiritual inspiration from meditation. Some are genuinely intuitive and spiritually inspired, but there are many frauds. A long-time practitioner messaged me asking whether I had any instructions for him. Though this disciple had an important role, he usually didn’t message me.
I asked him, “Why the sudden message?”
“A local practitioner with spiritual powers told me there was a message from you, Master.”
I told him, “I didn’t give any instructions.”
“Are you sure, Master? The local practitioner told me you had instructions for me.”
I said, “You should have asked him what the message was.”
The local practitioner didn’t have power of perception or spiritual inspiration. Power of perception and spiritual inspiration are not mysterious qualities. The truly spiritually inspired are very accurate in their perceptions. Fake spiritual inspiration is self-consoling behavior. I should perhaps bite my tongue. They speak of feeling this or seeing that to be admired since they’re neglected at home. That’s not spiritual power but rather self-consoling behavior. Perception and spiritual inspiration are very important in self-cultivation, and come slowly through practice. Some will blame a lack of perception on genetics or negative karma. Can they change? Yes. Buddha, because of his compassion, taught us how to change. Most importantly, cultivate diligently, practice the correct way and do good deeds. Then our knowledge, perception, etc. will improve.
Classes on cultivation can be elementary, secondary, tertiary or graduate level. Getting through some cultivation levels is more difficult than graduating from university, since you may still not pass after practicing for 10 years, 12 years, or even a lifetime. That’s the way it is. I hope what I teach you today will enable you to pass after 3 days of cultivation. (Got it!)
Your immediate reaction just now demonstrates your great powers of perception. (Got it!) Don’t celebrate yet. To awaken in 3 days, you need to practice well. It also depends on whether your master will teach you or not. I don’t feel any pressure teaching as long as I’m in my zone. In the cultivation of Buddha dharma and meditation, these are the 3 key points. First, illumination of body. Second, illumination of mind and heart. Third, illumination of consciousness. Consciousness roughly equates to the ability to understand and the depth of perception. Consciousness includes understanding, the depth of perception, observation, and analysis. Illuminated in these 3 ways, you will reap immense rewards. Your life will begin to truly change.
Bodhi Meditation methods include chanting, prostration, The Meditation of Greater Illumination, The Meditation of Purity, etc. My teaching is quite profound today because I want you, in the shortest possible time, to achieve something, which includes physical and mental health and wisdom. What I teach in this class is integrated with my personal journey of cultivation. I distill my experiences and feelings into my teachings for you.
So, today I beseech you to listen well and listen carefully. You may also take notes. Practice is most beneficial to one’s health. Some may say that despite much practice their health is still poor. Putting aside negative karma and genetics for now, have you paid attention to the 3 types of illumination in cultivation?
Looking at people through my dharma eye, I usually see impurities and dark energy. Opaqueness indicates disease. When I look at someone’s brain, if it’s filled with impurities, it can’t function well. When I look upon those with peaceful minds, their brains look like pristine snowy mountains. A mind without distraction, as steady as a rock. Song Dynasty’s Su Dongpo’s poem states: “I am seated firmly on the golden purple lotus, and nothing can move me, including the 8 winds.” It’s a state of imperturbable serenity in which nothing troubles them, not when you curse me or my mom. In one ear and out the other. So they’re never troubled. The more you focus on the curses in detail, the more it will pain you. Even when your mom scolds you, calling you a lazy pig, it pains you. As you think carefully on “lazy pig”, you feel less than a pig and suffer greatly. Your mom’s thoughtless turn of phrase pains you when you listen too carefully. Would you prefer if she called you a monkey? Nope. That’s not good either. So, don’t look for trouble. Be big-hearted and you won’t be troubled. Remember the term “big-hearted”.
In cultivation, visualize your body illuminated, inside and out. Next, your mind and heart illuminated. An illuminated mind mainly refers to your consciousness. Don’t be too detail-oriented about where the heart is located or whether you think with your heart. Debates aside, if a master teaches you a practice, it may aid and liberate you. For illumination of mind and heart, visualize a light bulb lighting up its surroundings, like a dark room lit up by a light. Illumination of the mind and heart illuminates the body just as a light bulb lights up the room. This is a beginner’s visualization. Especially while practicing GI, we cultivate illumination. This is in accordance with the 2nd of Medicine Buddha’s Great Vows. Illumination of mind and heart, and thus the body is like a light bulb lighting up its world. Visualize that the light bulb has lit up the empty house that is your body. The 3rd illumination is that of consciousness. How to illuminate mental consciousness? First, don’t think about your troubles. Second, don’t pursue fame or fortune. Let it all go. Third, just visualize yourself illuminated with serenity and purity. Thus, illumination may produce purity and clarity. Wrong or hurtful actions and words, and inner troubles are due to an unfocused consciousness. An example I’ve used for English speakers to describe beginner’s meditation is that of a transparent bucket full of tepid river water that is settling. The water swirls until the heavier mud settles on the bottom and the lighter debris floats on top. The top and bottom are dirty and the middle of the bucket is relatively clear. When our mental consciousness is pure, there’s clarity and discernment. Those whose consciousness isn’t illuminated enough converse in an interesting way.
“Hi, Mr. Huang. Have you eaten yet?”
He answers, “I saw a movie yesterday.”
“Did you bring your kid today?”
He answers, “I had a student reunion.”
He’s unable to stay on topic.
I say, “Let’s go drink tea.”
He says, “Last Chinese New Year’s fireworks were very loud!”
Who is he talking to? I realized he was indeed talking to me but had a foggy consciousness. Mixed up like porridge, without rhyme or reason. Someone who talks distractedly won’t have a serene and pure brain. No way. His brain is full of sticky hodge-podge. So, don’t get drowsy during meditation. If, as you practice The Meditation of Purity, you start snoring and talking in your sleep, you’re practicing the Sleep of Purity instead of The Meditation of Purity.
In beginner’s meditation, especially in a democratic society, as the master, I don’t dare set high expectations for my disciples. When I meditated, my master said if I fell asleep, I’d go without food for 3 days. If I wasn’t sitting properly, I’d be disciplined by standing against a wall for 3 hours. 3 hours of standing against a wall is very painful. Try it. You won’t last 13 minutes. There was pain in my neck, my back and the soles of my feet. Many confuse meditation and sleeping. Some say they’re meditating but fall into a comfortable sleep and then awake. But meditating and sleeping are not the same. Some claim they’re meditating when they’re actually sleeping because it sounds better. Many meditate when in fact they’re drooling in their sleep. So, my master’s strict request was no drowsiness or sleepiness during meditation. His wish was that after meditation, the brain would be pure, illuminated and clear. Those who’ve practiced well don’t have an empty brain. There’s clarity and discernment. A confused person lacks wisdom since their brain lacks clarity. Some girls toss their pantyhose and later ransack their room but still can’t find them. If we’re unclear about where we place something, of course we won’t know where to find it. A Chinese herbalist would struggle as his apothecary chest has 3 types of herbs in each tiny partitioned drawer. If he randomly organized herbs, he might poison someone. He has a responsibility. Some women walk in the door, kick off their heels and toss their scarf and coat. When they go to work next morning, they distractedly look for clean clothing.
You’re unlikely to do your work well if you lack organization and order. With no clear discipline or planning, you may say and do the wrong things. You have no clear sense of what to do. If your kid gets a fever on a work day, what would you do? Go to work or take care of your sick kid? You’re already of 2 opinions. Those who’d go to work, hands up. Those who’d take care of your kid, hands up. This means you’re quite wise. You’re all cautious, straining your brain to not answer incorrectly. You’re correct. As rational people, you’re able to prioritize issues. An even wiser person would be able to determine the effort required. Say your kid’s fever only needs 2 pills and sleep, but the mom stays home for a month though the kid recovered in one day. Was she correct? No. It was too much. It’s a mistake to stay home for a month because your kid has a cold. Kids get colds all the time. It would be scary if your kid never gets colds. Then, getting a cold may be fatal. Usually, a cold or two a year is normal. A wise person would be able to prioritize clearly and determine the effort needed. Do you understand what I mean by degree of effort? If your kid’s fever has been reduced with a pill after one day, but the mom stays home for a month, this is a mistake. You’ve gone overboard. Why give him pills for another week when his fever is gone? Is that right? That’s wrong. You’ll cause brain and liver damage since fever reducers are harmful. I’m not belittling medication.
Go to the official website for all the side effects. Many drugs such as fever reducers shouldn’t be taken if you don’t have a fever. Cancer drugs are expensive but if you don’t have cancer, should you take them just because you can? Irrational, right? Taking expensive cancer drugs just because you’re rich is irrational. It’s like swallowing a bomb. You should be rational and wise in handling life. You ought to have clarity because drowsiness leads to a lack of wisdom. Meditating will produce wisdom and illumination of consciousness. In the future, your eye of wisdom will open. In sutras, especially as mentioned in the Heart Sutra and Diamond Sutra, Guanyin Bodhisattva observes your practice entering Dhyana Paramita, a deep meditative state. Form is not different from emptiness. Emptiness is not different from form. Everyone sings it like a familiar lullaby. Perhaps everyone can understand somewhat. There are many facets to it. No eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind. No form, feeling, thinking, intention, or consciousness. No form, sound, smell, taste, touch, or dharma. Especially no realm of vision or mental consciousness. Do you understand? Today’s class material is quite profound, but will be a great help to true practitioners. Don’t negate the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind, and feeling. We experience the world through our 5 senses, right? You feel a city is beautiful and clean because of the trees and its warmth. These are feelings. If you smell the clean air and the fragrance of spring flowers, that’s your sense of smell. If you’ve never heard anyone yelling in this city in the past year, that’s your hearing. Because you didn’t hear yelling, you’re serene, but upon hearing it, it makes you upset, anxious, nervous, or crazy. So, we call that feeling arising from senses or sensations. Why does Buddha say there are no feelings from the senses when there obviously are? He’s telling us to forget, dilute, eliminate, and ignore them.
Say you smell fragrant flowers but when you inhale deeply, you have an allergic reaction. Or you’re accustomed to beautiful sounds, so discordant sounds scare you. Beautiful sounds may not be so good while cacophony might not be so bad.
It’s not that good, bad or middling are never not those things. Hands up if you like chocolate. OK, you get it for lunch and dinner. That’s a joke. Just because you find it delicious doesn’t mean you should eat more, right? Same goes for when you’re told wildflowers are there for the picking. So, a neighbor did so and came to me with a swollen hand. Many wildflowers protect themselves by secreting poison. They’re inanimate plants and can’t fight you off with Shaolin martial arts. So, they protect themselves with poison. The ignorant pick beautiful wildflowers only to get a swollen hand. I couldn’t help my neighbor. The swelling took a month to disappear. That’s the price he paid. Some wildflowers might not be poisonous but you should habitually leave things alone that don’t belong to you. So, you should let go of the feelings from your 5 senses. What’s the benefit? Only then can your inner world become serene. Many men’s hearts are moved by the sight of a beautiful woman. Unlike men, women howl like foxes at the sight of a handsome guy. When a male singer appears at concerts, the female audience howls. A disciple went with her granddaughter and howled once involuntarily. The grandma said she couldn’t help it. The women here are not like this. Your hearts remain like still water at the sight of a handsome guy. (Got it.)
I saw a few blushes, followed by applause. Why applaud? Is your heart truly still? If your heart was truly still, would you be hurt emotionally? Those who’ve been hurt, hands up. Shy? Never mind, hands down. Every woman wants to raise her hand but is embarrassed. Don’t judge and let go of what you see, hear, smell and feel and the resulting emotions. Only then will you be serene. Serenity results in clarity. This is why meditation is wondrous. Some ask how sitting quietly in meditation will benefit them. Well, the benefit is wisdom, which arises from serenity. No desire. No greed. No fear. Only when you can let go of your feelings from the 5 senses will you achieve the first level of purity. After the serenity seeps in deeper, your brain becomes lucid and clear. This clarity leads to elementary wisdom. Like the herbalist’s apothecary chest, it’s clear what’s what in some cases. Are you still clear when we’re operating across time and space? Say a woman wants to marry a man who’s tall, handsome, personable, and successful. Many people are fated to marry the wrong person and suffer after marriage.
But if her eye of wisdom opened and saw her fate, she wouldn’t marry him. Many divorcees are experienced in the pointlessness of a tall and handsome partner. A life partner for company is good enough. At least you won’t die alone. A state of virtual desirelessness is quite an elevated state in its own way. Life experiences when examined will still your heart and mind. Your volatile heart creates emotional problems that turn into physical disease, sometimes fatal. The body has moving energy. If you eat the wrong food, it can hurt your stomach or liver. If you breathe polluted air, it’ll enter your respiratory system the way poison gas does. Most dangerous are emotions, including anger, that lead to high blood pressure and glaucoma. One angers until the eyes bulge, almost as if they were popping out of their sockets. When one’s blood pressure rises, one may faint or even die on the spot. Others recover from fainting but are paralyzed.
Unrequited love, like an illness, brings suffering. As mentioned before, disease arises from emotions. You see with your third eye that someone’s liver doesn’t look good. He responds that he was examined a year ago and his liver is good. Diagnosis requires the illness to be severe enough to have physical symptoms. Why does no one tell you your liver is unbalanced and you need some herbs, dietary changes, or methods to live happier in order to fix your liver disease? Western medicine only diagnoses when there’s already liver disease. Many are diagnosed as late stage cancer patients with malignant tumors. An ancient renowned Chinese doctor said, “A top doctor cures disease before it is disease.”
He’d suggested preventing disease before it reached pathology. When asked about his older brother’s medical skills, the younger brother said, “My older brother is a genius. Compared to him, I’m a mediocre doctor – Patients find me when they’re on the verge of death and desperate. Sometimes, I’m powerless to bring them back to the land of the living – If someone has late stage liver cancer, even if it was removed, they still might die. Late stage brain cancer is even more hopeless. But my older brother’s genius is in discovering issues before they’re serious and prescribing some herbs, a dance and song a day, or daily activities.”
Through lifestyle recommendations, he prevents illness holistically. He’s genius for preventing disease before disease occurs. In today’s chat, I want you to understand that to prevent disease, your emotions should be gentle and illuminated.
So, illumination of consciousness can produce great wisdom. Great wisdom arises from a great big heart and mind. By big heart and mind, I mean big-hearted, broad-minded and broad-visioned. What’s great wisdom? No need to guess. It is all-encompassing compassion or All-Compassion and the possession of an All-Compassionate heart. Only such a heart can put out the fire of greed and reduce the temptation of all that attracts us through our 5 senses. Why are movies so violent? Because they are exciting and unlike real life. Twenty years ago, I declined when disciples asked me to go to Hong Kong. Why? I was afraid because HK movies are all about mobsters. Some of the students today came from HK. Are you mobsters? Once, when I was lost in HK, I was surprised when a stranger walked me to my hotel.
“Are you a mobster?” I asked.
“Who me? Mobster?” he answered.
HK movies were all about the triad. Why? Even now, HK movies that are well known are about the triad, right? Why? By that logic, all Americans are serial killers and the English are all 007s who are extremely handsome, lethal, and womanizing. Movies include violence, murder, and sex to attract viewers. You pay to watch the terror and adrenaline-inducing scenes. You know it’s fake but you still watch it. No wonder you suffer. You lack composure. You try to imitate the movies but fail. Upon watching 007 movies, men dress and act like 007 and then get beat up by thugs. As a kid in Qinghai, I had a friend who knew some beginner martial arts. He cut his hair like Jackie Chan back then – long and unkempt like dried grass. All martial artists seemed to have the same haircut. My friend also rolled up his sleeves and pants like the actors in Kung Fu movies. One day, he showed up with a black eye and a nose bleed. When asked, he said a few kids beat him up with bricks.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing. They thought I was a martial artist.”
I asked, “Didn’t you learn some martial arts?”
He responded, “Yes, but once they started hitting me, I forgot.”
All this from watching movies. So, be careful how you dress in the future. Don’t dress like a hero, OK? I feel the highest mental realm calls for dressing up as a turtle. If you use a pot as your shell, it can be used for self-defense. Even if secret weapons are launched behind you, you’ll be okay. A motorcycle helmet completes the outfit, fully capable of self-protection. Because you lack knowledge and a higher pursuit, you watch violence. A desire within you drew you to the violence and shock value in the movie. A movie poster and a few trailers induce you to buy movie tickets. I’m upset about how cold it is in movie theaters. The movie is terrifying and the theater is cold. Why torture yourself? Plus, you get a huge bucket of popcorn and get fat too. I discovered that movie theaters, once dimmed, are the best place for naps. The more violent the scene, the more soundly I sleep.
Since youth, I trained to be still amidst chaos. I am so still that as violent as the movie might be, I still sleep. You know all my secrets now. So, to be serene, and have true illumination of consciousness and wisdom means transcending time and space to see into the future. No need to look at the past. Look into the future using logical thoughts and feelings. Illumination of consciousness or great wisdom and great illumination originate from great compassion. So, great compassion is the source. Many profess disbelief in Buddhism but this isn’t Buddhism. This method gives us physical and mental health, and enables us to not be controlled by mental afflictions. This is my experience in cultivation. Many religions espouse compassion and all religious leaders are All-Compassionate. Only then do we believe and rely on them. These holy men base their lives on All-encompassing Compassion. So, they guide our cultivation, thoughts, and details of everyday life. Only then may illumination bathe our body, mind, and spirit. Thus our body, including unhealthy genes, may repair itself. Oncogenes, through compassionate illuminated cultivation, may repair themselves so that cancer does not occur. Countless potentially fatal genes are expressed or repressed depending on karma. Say you have fragile skin but don’t protect your hands or use lotion. You’re constantly washing. Many women ruin their hands this way. You have genetically weak and allergic skin. The method taught today may be able to change your skin at the antibody or molecular level. This effect is created by the mental state: compassion. Illumination comes from compassion, not anger and not when someone has steam coming out of their ears. No way. That means they lack wisdom. How should you cultivate? Apply the method I taught today in your practice, whether it be chanting or GI. First of all, remember to see yourself as compassionate. If you take bribes or see yourself as a bad person who’s done a lot of bad deeds or you’re a mob boss, no matter. First, think of yourself as compassionate. Even mob bosses wouldn’t last long if they lacked feeling and honor. Mob heads all hold honor in high regard. What is honor? It represents their version of justice, balance, and right and wrong. Only then will their followers endorse them. No matter your current level of compassion, pretend you’re compassionate. Then you’re planting a seed of compassion at a cellular level in your life. After this lecture, we’re about to start chanting. You visualized illumination during the lecture. While chanting, think “I’m compassionate. I’m illuminated.”
More specifically, “My blood is compassionate and illuminated.”
Illumination signifies compassion. “My brain cells are illuminated. My painful joint is illuminated. My painful tooth is illuminated. My past troubles are illuminated. My annoying kid will also be illuminated.”
Think like this. Don’t think, “What do I do? I’m sick!”
Right now, the best method is for you to visualize illumination. Even visualize that the sound of the mantra is illuminated and radiating light. You should visualize your bodies as pristine, translucent and illuminated. Whether your visualization is fuzzy or clear, both are okay. The clearer the better.
No need for detailed anatomy. Just visualize a translucent illuminated you. Practicing this simple but deep method enables health and wisdom within yourself. Adjust your posture. No need for notes anymore. Practicing correctly means no falling asleep. Some may feel they’ve practiced hard or haven’t slept due to excitement. What do you do if you’re sleepy? Chant with your eyes open. If you still fall asleep, then kneel while chanting. Falling asleep or feeling drowsy and foggy during practice will yield poor results. There’s still some benefit from practicing, but much less than if you’re awake. Practicing while awake and clear-headed gives the best results. So, don’t allow yourself to get drowsy. You must visualize your body, mind and heart and consciousness illuminated or illumination of body, speech, and thought. The sound of chanting is also illuminated. Even praise for friends and family should be illuminated with compassion. This praise will win you goodwill from the recipient. If you chatted and communicated this way with people, especially as a salesperson, instead of one item, you’d sell 100 per day. Others will be attracted to you. Though you’re seemingly unchanged, you’ll be more charming. This is due to the visualization of compassionate illumination. Those who are compassionately illuminated won’t be demonically possessed. Not funny. Fainting from evil possession or having a haunted home means you attracted evil energy. If you’re radiating illumination and bathe in bodhisattva light, evil won’t come to you. Forget your health issues. Visualize yourself illuminated. Palms together. Let’s chant the mantra. We can use this method to chant mantras. Let’s begin chanting the Six-Syllable Mantra.
Visualize your body, mind and heart, speech and consciousness illuminated. The sound of the mantra is also illuminated.
Compassionate illumination bathes you and the whole world. Continue.
Rub your hands. Rub your face. Think: “I am the happiest and the most joyful. I’m youthful again. My body, mind and heart are illuminated, compassionate and gentle.”
Shake your hips. Loosen up. Some had shoulders that hurt to the point they couldn’t brush their hair. Perhaps after our compassionate, gentle chanting, your shoulders are better. (Got it.) Others had leg pain. Perhaps after chanting and visualization, it’s better. (Got it.) Your joints are relaxed and supple. (Got it.) Stand up and move around a bit. The practice is very effective and is a powerful blessing. Move around. Move around.
Those with painful shoulders who couldn’t raise their arms, has your pain disappeared? Try it. It’s easy, right? (Right.) Those who benefited, hands up. Don’t all raise your hands. The rest put your hands down. A few here. It was painful raising your arms before. Now, it’s easy. Anybody? (Yes.) Wave to me. Let me have a look. Congratulations! So fortunate! Everybody’s so fortunate!
Many had painful backs and legs. Move around. Your back was tight and uncomfortable and legs were heavy. Try moving around now. After about 15 minutes of chanting, you feel relaxed, right? (Right.) Hands up. Let me see. Wow, that’s great. You’re very fortunate! (Got it.) Great! Great! The journey of cultivation is very difficult. It’s missing a spark of compassion. From compassionate illumination of consciousness, mind, heart and body comes health. See how important compassionate illumination is? Sutras speak of the Buddha like moonlight radiating light upon our body and heart. What state is that? Compassionate, gentle, illuminated, and protective. In this auspicious state, your benefits will be great. Body, mind, and spirit will receive purity, illumination, and translucency. More importantly, you’ll begin to have wisdom. (Got it.) After chanting, do some of you taste sweet dew in your mouth? (Yes.) Hands up. Taste your own saliva. Not each other’s. OK?
It’s very important if you taste sweetness in your mouth. What is it? (Sweet dew.) You can’t buy it. No factory produces it, but it’s most beneficial for your health. It’s the best medicine in the world, practically able to raise you from the dead. So, pay attention. The next time sweet dew is produced through your practice, swallow slowly. Your digestive ailments will improve quickly. (Got it.) Right. It’s especially important.
Your bodies have become soft and supple and even your formerly stiff fingers have softened. Give them a shake. Your shoulders are also soft because your heart is now compassionate. Once compassionate, your speech and body become gentler and softer. Once soft, it’s free-flowing. Once free-flowing, your body and your life will be happy and healthy. (Got it.) Great. Great.
Right. Please be seated. (Thank you Master.) Be compassionate and gentle, and you’ll receive boundless benefits. Aside from health and wisdom, businessmen will have more prosperous businesses. When you’re compassionate and gentle, you’ll be charming and your prices won’t be exorbitant. When you’re communicating, you’ll be honest, sincere, and likable. A compassionate gentle person produces an energy field that attracts people. If you’re in sales and people find you personable, you’ll definitely sell more and get rich. But you can’t have a greedy heart and think of business while you chant. You can’t do that. Whether prosperity finds you or not is up to karma. Chant with a compassionate heart. While doing business, keeping chanting in your heart. That would be great. While chanting, if your eyes dart left and right, that’s not good. Instead of being relaxed, you’re stiff and too heavily motivated. If you have a compassionate, gentle heart, you’ll have an energy field that’s very attractive. When that attraction becomes stronger, whether you’re managing a business or a family, you’ll be filled with infinite charm and appeal. Everything will get better. Do you remember the name of this class? On the Journey of Cultivation Part I. There’ll also be Part II, III, IV, etc.
This is the end of our class today. Thank you everyone. See you next time.