Meditation and Modern Buddhism

‘Guru’ is a Sanskrit word meaning spiritual guide. A spiritual guide is any spiritual teacher who sincerely leads us into correct spiritual paths by giving correct instructions and by embodying the teachings in their daily activities.

Guru Yoga is a special way of relating to our own spiritual teacher where we regard them as an enlightened being. Guru yoga is a special and powerful method that enables us to receive the blessings of all the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and holy beings.
In this retreat we visualize our Guru as Guru Sumati Buddha Heruka (see picture)

A blessing is a transformation of our mind from a negative state to a positive state, from an unhappy state to a happy state, or from a state of weakness to a state of strength through the inspiration of holy beings such as our spiritual guide, Buddhas, and bodhisattvas. Geshe-la says:

“From our own side, it is difficult to cultivate and maintain a peaceful and positive mind. We know this from our own experience; although no one wants to have negative minds, they arise without choice. In reality, the only way to develop a positive, peaceful, and calm mind is to receive blessings from Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Of course, Buddhas do not bless only the minds of Buddhists, but the minds of everyone - non-Buddhists, religious people, non-religious people, even animals. For example, through receiving blessings even animals can sometimes develop positive and peaceful minds, and at that time experience some happiness.

Our friends and relatives cannot help us to develop a peaceful and calm mind, and can sometimes even act as a cause for us to develop negative minds. However, if we check carefully within our own experience, we can see that sometimes, for no particular reason, we naturally develop a calm and peaceful mind. Where does this experience come from? I can say that it is definitely the result of receiving Buddha's blessings at that time. In this way, we can understand that our happiness depends upon a positive mind, and this depends upon receiving Buddha’s blessings. There is no other source from which we can develop a positive mind.

Therefore receiving blessings is important both for those who seek Dharma realizations and for those who seek ordinary happiness. Without receiving blessings it is difficult to develop even a temporary peaceful mind, and even if occasionally we do develop a calm mind through our own effort, this will last for only a minute or two before it changes. Developing a calm and peaceful mind for any length of time totally depends upon receiving blessings from Buddhas."

Merit is the good fortune created by virtuous actions. It is the potential power to increase our good qualities and produce happiness. One of the main purposes of engaging in the practice of making mandala offerings is to create abundant merit that will enable us to effortlessly develop good qualities and fulfill our spiritual aspirations.

A mandala offering is offering of the entire universe visualized as a Pure Land, with all its inhabitants as pure beings. We offer to all Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and other holy beings. When we offer the mandala, we imagine we are offering the entire universe in our hands, but our hands do not become larger, and the universe does not become smaller. If we find this difficult to understand, we can think about how large images can be reflected in a small mirror or how whole cities can be shown on a television screen. Geshe-la says:

“Making mandala offerings is the best method to free us from future poverty and to enable us to obtain future rebirth in a Pure Land. Buddha Vajradhara made a guarantee that practitioners who sincerely make mandala offerings would never suffer from future poverty. Kadampa Geshes also said that if we want to be wealthy in the future, then we should stop ordinary business and make mandala offerings. We need to remind ourself of this many times because at first we may have doubts about this practice and lack confidence and determination. Through familiarity our faith and conviction will grow, and our determination to peeeeeee this will increase. Eventually, we will feel that we are actually making a huge and generous offering to all the holy beings. From such a profound and special practice of giving we will of course receive wealth. Making mandala offerings is also a very powerful method to increase our merit and to develop pure concentration."

Faith is the root of all virtuous qualities and spiritual realizations and prevents us from perceiving faults in people or things that are pure or holy. The object of faith is any object that is regarded as holy or pure such as enlightened beings, spiritual teachings, spiritual realizations, and spiritual teachers and friends. Faith is like pure eyes that enable us to see a pure and perfect world beyond the suffering world of samsara. Geshe-la says:

“With faith our mind becomes completely pure, free from negative conceptions. Our negative thoughts and delusions will disappear, at least temporarily, and become unmanifest. With such a pure mind we will never experience any problems, and we can easily attain every Dharma realization of both Sutra and Tantra. So faith is a very important quality to develop."