THE YOGA OF THE GURU
Those who wish for attainments Should mentally and skilfully fill this universe With the seven precious objects. By offering them every day, Their wishes will be fulfilled.
This reveals the offering of the mandala. Although it explicitly mentions only seven points, implicitly it refers to the thirty-seven-point mandala.
It is important for practitioners to obtain a traditional mandala set which consists of a base, three rings and a top jewel. The rings and base are used to support heaps of rice, or some other grain, which represent the various features of the mandala. Such simple things may seem useless to those who do not know their significance, but they can be very valuable in the hands of a practitioner who knows how to use them to accumulate a vast collection of merit.
To construct the thirty-seven-point mandala we first take a little rice in our left hand and hold the mandala base with that hand. With the right hand we scoop up more rice and sprinkle a little onto the surface of the base. With the inside of the right hand we rub the base clockwise three times. This symbolises the purification of the universal ground. As a result, all rocky and uneven grounds become smooth and level and all our delusions are purified. Then we rub the base three times counter-clockwise and imagine that all the blessings of the body, speech and mind of all the Buddhas gather into us. We think that the whole ground has been blessed and recite the mantra for blessing the ground: OM
VAJRA BHUMI AH HUM. We then sprinkle the rice that remains in the right hand onto the base and visualise that the whole universe transforms into a pure golden ground.
Then, while reciting OM VAJRA REKHE AH HUM, we place the largest ring on the base and, in a clockwise direction, pour a ring of rice inside it to represent the precious iron fence. We then place one heap of grain in the centre of the ring to symbolise Mount Meru, visualising it as a huge mountain made of precious jewels. Next we take another handful of grain and place it in a heap in the east, the part of the mandala base nearest to us. This represents the eastern continent. Proceeding clockwise around the ring, we place heaps of grain in the three remaining cardinal directions to symbolise the southern, western, and northern continents.
Now we make eight small heaps to represent the eight subcontinents. Beginning with the eastern continent and proceeding in a clockwise direction, we place one heap a little to the left and one a little to the right of each continent.
Then we make four small piles of grain inside the eastern, southern, western, and northern continents to symbolise respectively the mountain of jewels, the wish-granting tree, the wish-granting cow, and the unsown harvest. We imagine that there are countless continents and sub-continents, each possessing their own special wealth of resources and riches.
Now we place the second ring on top of the grains and pour a heap of grain in the east, south, west, and north to represent respectively the precious wheel, the precious jewel, the precious queen, and the precious minister. We then place a heap of grain in each of the intermediate directions, south-east, south-west, north-west, and north-east, to represent respectively the precious elephant, the precious supreme horse, the precious general, and the great treasure vase. We imagine countless numbers of each of these filling all of space. Again we take grain and place heaps clockwise, first in the four cardinal directions to represent the goddess of beauty (east), the goddess of garlands (south), the goddess of music (west), and the goddess of dance (north), and then in the four intermediate directions to represent the goddess of flowers (south-east), the goddess of incense (south-west), the goddess of light (north-west), and the goddess of scent (north-east). We imagine that there are countless offering gods and goddesses filling space.
We then place the third ring on top of the grains and make a heap of grain in the east for the sun, one in the west for the moon, one in the south for the precious umbrella, and one in the north for the banner of victory. We imagine that all of space is filled with innumerable precious objects.
As we place the top jewel, which is the last thing to be placed on the mandala, we imagine an abundance of other precious jewels and resources enjoyed by both humans and gods. In the space above Mount Meru there are the environments of the desire realm gods, and above these there are the form realms. These god realms transform into Pure Lands and the enjoyments of the gods become pure enjoyments.
Having constructed the mandala, we take a little rice in the right hand and hold the base with both hands. We imagine that all the innumerable world systems and everything contained within them have completely transformed into Pure Lands and pure enjoyments. We imagine that all these are present on the base of our hands, and yet the base does not increase in size and the universe does not become smaller. Just as a mirror can reflect huge mountains, or a small television screen can show images of entire cities, so we imagine that we hold the whole universe in our hands. We concentrate single-pointedly on these countless worlds, resources, and inhabitants, and, with firm faith, offer them all to our Gurus and the Buddhas.
While we construct this mandala we should recite the offering prayer from the sadhanna. When we have recited the long mandala offering prayer we can continue, while still holding the base, to offer the twenty-three-point mandala. We do not need to construct a new mandala because the twenty-three precious objects are included among the precious objects of the thirty-seven-point mandala. The twenty-three precious objects are: Mount Meru, the four continents, the eight sub-continents, the seven precious objects (from the precious wheel up to the precious general), the treasure vase, the sun and the moon.
To offer the twenty-three-point mandala we recite from the sadhanna:
O Treasure of Compassion, my refuge and Protector, I offer you the mountain, continents, precious objects,
treasure vase, sun and the moon, Which have arisen from my aggregates, sources and elements As aspects of the exalted wisdom of spontaneous bliss and emptiness.
With this verse we make outer, inner, secret and suchness mandala offerings. The outer mandala is offered by visualising the mountain, continents, precious objects, treasure vase, sun and moon. The inner mandala is offered by mentally transforming our aggregates and elements into the form of the outer mandala. The secret and suchness mandalas are offered by imagining that our mind of indivisible bliss and emptiness transforms into the mandala. From the point of view of it having the nature of great bliss it is the secret mandala, and from the point of view of it being a manifestation of emptiness it is the suchness mandala. If we wish to collect twenty-three-point mandalas as one of the great preliminary guides we can construct them using the base, with or without the rings, and recite this verse.
Offering the mandala is the best method to free ourselves from future poverty and to create the cause for rebirth in a Buddha’s Pure Land. By making mandala offerings we lessen our attachment to worldly enjoyments and possessions and we accumulate a vast collection of merit. As a result we will experience a gradual increase of our enjoyments, wealth, and finally we will attain our ultimate goal, full enlightenment. If we wish to experience these benefits we should familiar ourselves with the practice of offering the mandala.
Je Tsongkhapa was an enlightened being who did not need to accumulate merit, but to show a good example to other practitioners he offered a million mandalas during one of his long retreats in the south of central Tibet, in the cave called Ölga Chölung. For a base he used a flat stone and, through offering so many mandalas, he rubbed the inside of his wrist until it was raw and bleeding.
Many practitioners have received visions of holy beings as a result of offering mandalas. Khädrubje, a disciple of Je Tsongkhapa, would take his mandala base with him wherever he went because mandala offerings were so important to him. After Je Tsongkhapa had passed away, Khädrubje received many visions of him while he was
making mandala offerings. The bhikshuni Pälmo also emphasized the practice of mandala offerings and she received a direct vision of Avalokiteshvara as a result. Whenever Atisha offered a mandala to Tara he would immediately receive a vision of her, and when Chandragomin offered mandalas he received visions of Avalokiteshvara. These examples indicate the power and importance of this practice.
If we are strongly attached to someone or something we can imagine the object of our attachment on the mandala base, transform it into a pure object, and then offer it while praying, ‘May I be free from all attachment.’ In a similar way we can offer all the objects of our ignorance, anger, jealousy, pride, and so forth. While reciting the verse from the sadhanna we can offer all objects of our delusion and pray to be free from those delusions.
To make mandala offerings as one of the great preliminary guides, we collect one hundred thousand mandala offerings. At the beginning of each session we offer a thirtyseven-point mandala, and then we count seven-point mandalas. To construct and count seven-point mandala offerings, we place a loosely threaded mala over the fingers of the left hand, take some rice in it, and then hold the mandala base with that hand. Then we take some rice in the right hand and recite refuge and bodhicitta prayers while constructing the mandala. To do this, we sprinkle a little rice on the base and, with the inside of the right wrist, rub three times clockwise and three times counter-clockwise. We then place a heap of rice at the centre of the base, one in the east, one in the south, one in the west, and one in the north. These represent Mount Meru and the four continents. Then we place a heap of grain in the east for the sun, and one in the west for the moon. We then take a little rice in the right hand and hold the base with both hands while reciting the following mandala offering prayer:
The ground sprinkled with perfume and spread with Flowers, The Great Mountain, four lands, sun, and moon, Seen as a Buddhaland and offered thus, May all beings enjoy such Pure Lands.
IDAM GURU RATNA MANDALAKAM NIRYATAYAMI
After reciting the prayer we tip the grains towards us into a cloth on our lap. This is counted as one mandala offering and so we move one bead along the mala. We make as many mandala offerings as we wish during each session.