Retreat
2025-05-26 - 2025-05-28
Session 1
Going for refuge and promising to accomplish a Buddha’s enlightenment to benefit all mother beings
[Meditation in italics in the sadhana]
Session 2
Meditation on affectionate love
The purpose of this meditation is to enter the path to enlightenment. The object of our meditation is our own mind being transformed into a warm heart and feeling of being close to all living beings without exception.
Session 3
1st of 3 parts on Guru Yoga. The purpose of this meditation is to gain tantric realisations accomplished principally through faith and correct belief. Buddha Maitreya attained enlightenment not for his own purpose but to benefit all living beings each and every day through his emanations. Who are his emanations? Certainly it is my Spiritual Guide from whom I received instructions, transmission and empowerment of Buddha Maitreya. Thinking in this way we should strongly believe that our Spiritual Guide is an emanation of Buddha Maitreya. The object is our own Spiritual Guide above our crown in the aspect of Buddha Maitreya (visualisation and special recognition).
Session 4
Guru Yoga - emphasising making requests and receiving blessings from our Spiritual Guide.
The purpose of this meditation is to receive a special power to transform our very subtle body and mind into the body and mind of an enlightened being. How do we do this? By shining the sun of our faith on the snow mountain of our Spiritual Guide. Through this the blessings of all Buddhas will flow down and bestow special power to transform our very subtle body and mind into the enlightened body and mind of a Buddha. The object of this meditation is the strong belief that our very subtle body and mind have received the special power to transform it into the enlightened mind of Buddha Maitreya. We believe that our body and mind and Guru Buddha Maitreya’s body and mind become one nature.
Session 5
For success in our practice we need to emphasise equally the preliminaries as well as the actual practice.
This session we will emphasise the self-generation of Buddha Maitreya. The purpose of this meditation is to transform ourself into an enlightened being. We remember the special feeling that we received the special power of Buddha Maitreya who is seated on our crown. With delight, Guru Maitreya dissolves into us. Then our body transforms into yellow light, and then becomes smaller and smaller until finally it become the emptiness of all phenomena that we normally see. Then while continuing to meditate on emptiness, contemplate thr pointing out Instructions on Buddha Maitreya and our Pure Land. Our final object of meditation is ourself as Buddha Maitreya and our world as Tushita Pure Land.
Initially just believe. Too much investigation is not good. Correct belief, correct imagination. Remember the self we normally see as an ordinary person does not exist at all.
Session 6
Meditation on non-dual profundity and clarity.
Session 7
Train in the meditation on non-dual profundity and clarity. The purpose of this meditation is to quickly become a Buddha in order to benefit each and every living being every day. In this context clarity means the appearance of our world as Tushita Pure Land and ourself as Buddha Maitreya. Profundity means the emptiness of all phenomena. Recognise the appearance (clarity) is none other than its emptiness of all phenomena (profundity). They are the same object but with 2 aspects. Clarity is like the blue of the sky, profundity is like the sky itself. The blue of the sky and the sky are non-dual. They are the same object with different names.
Session 8
Determination to continue to meditate on self-generation. The purpose of this meditation is to encourage ourself to maintain our practice of self-generation continually without ever giving up. We should maintain our practice on emptiness continually. If we want to make progress on self-generation we need deep familiarity on the emptiness of our self and all phenomena. We should know that our self that we normally see as an ordinary ignorant person does NKT exist, then we will understand that there is no problem in generating ourself as an enlightened being. Through continually practising our meditation and concentration, we will reach the 4th level of tranquil abiding and then our goal will be nearly complete. Then we will just need to improve our meditation on non-dual profundity and clarity. And we will become an enlightened Buddha.