THE FIELD OF MERIT
Having completed the preliminary practices we now visualize Lama Losang Tubwang Dorjechang and all the other holy beings in front of us so that we can offer the seven limbs, make praises and requests, and receive blessings. The assembly of holy beings visualized in front is known as the ‘Field of Merit’. If we sow ordinary seeds in an external field we eventually harvest crops such as rice and barley. In the same way, if we sow seeds of faith and the spiritual path in the Field of Merit we harvest the excellent inner crops of increased good fortune, blessings, and Dharma realizations. Conversely, if we do not sow seeds in an external field no crops will grow and, in the same way, if we do not sow seeds of faith and the spiritual path in the Field of Merit we will not receive blessings and realizations.
Sowing seeds of faith and the spiritual path in the Field of Merit is the principal cause of pure happiness. Through this practice, temporarily we will experience peaceful and controlled minds and a gradual reduction of our daily problems, and ultimately we will attain the permanent peace of liberation or enlightenment. Ordinary farmers can generally sow seeds only once or twice a year and the results they achieve are short-lived, but we can sow seeds in the Field of Merit as often as we like and the increased good fortune and spiritual realizations that result bring happiness not only in this life but in all our future lives as well. Milarepa once wrote a song to ordinary farmers in which he said:
You are farmers of this life,
But I am a farmer of future lives.
If you examine carefully you will see
Who receives more benefit.
Ordinary farmers toil for hours in the fields experiencing many hardships and problems, and even then the results of their labours are not guaranteed. The few temporary benefits that they do receive are mixed with a great deal of misery and frustration. Spiritual farmers, on the other hand, do not experience such problems. By sowing seeds in the Field of Merit we will definitely grow crops such as love, compassion, bodhichitta, concentration, mental and physical suppleness, wisdom, and eventually the unsurpassed joy of full enlightenment. These experiences will bring great peace and happiness to ourself and to all other living beings. Therefore we should consider ourself very fortunate to be able to visualize the Field of Merit and make offerings to it. Such practices are the very essence of a meaningful human life.
According to the words of the sadhana, we visualize the Field of Merit as follows:
Within the vast space of indivisible bliss and emptiness, amidst billowing clouds of Samantabhadra’s offerings, fully adorned with leaves, flowers, and fruits, is a wishfulfilling tree that grants whatever is wished for. At its crest, on a lion throne ablaze with jewels, on a lotus, moon, and sun seat, sits my root Guru who is kind in three ways, the very essence of all the Buddhas.
In the space in front of us we visualize a vast plain of lapis lazuli covered with powdered gold. In the middle of this there is an ocean of milk-like nectar, its bed strewn with precious jewels. Rising from the centre of the ocean is a huge wishfulfilling tree. The roots and trunk of the tree are made of pure gold, its branches of silver, and its twigs and leaves of fine, white crystal. The tree is adorned with flowers of exquisite red pearls and fruits of dazzling rubies, emeralds, and other jewels. The entire tree is of unearthly beauty and its leaves and branches whisper with the sound of holy Dharma. If we wish for wealth it bestows wealth, if we wish to be cool it bestows coolness, if we wish to be warm it bestows warmth.
The tree is supported by two naga kings whose bodies are half-immersed in the ocean. The trunk divides into seven large branches – three to the left, three to the right, and one in the centre. On top of the central branch is a vast lotus flower which is white with a reddish tint and has thousands of petals. Upon this is a huge throne made of lapis lazuli supported by eight snow lions, two in each corner. Each snow lion supports the throne with one front paw and holds a jewel with the other.
Snow lions are not ordinary animals but very rare creatures found high up in snow mountains. Some people say they do not exist at all, that they are entirely fictional, but this is not so. They do exist, but can be seen only by those with great good fortune. Many paintings depict the great Indian Mahasiddhas riding on snow lions. We should visualize the snow lions that support the throne like these, not as ordinary lions. One of the characteristics of snow lions is that if their milk falls on the ground or is stored in an ordinary vessel it immediately turns sour. This is used by Conqueror Vajradhara as an analogy to illustrate the dangers of transmitting Tantric teachings to those who are not blessed with an empowerment.
The lion is generally regarded as the king of animals because it is the most powerful of all animals. In the same way these snow lions symbolize that Lama Losang Tubwang Dorjechang, the principal being in the Field of Merit, has the power to subdue all harmful influences. Specifically, Lama Losang Tubwang Dorjechang has eight special powers: the power of body, the power of speech, the power of mind, miracle powers, the power of being wherever desired, the power of his Pure Land, the power to fulfil wishes, and the power of enlightened actions.
Covering the entire surface of the throne is a lotus flower which has eleven tiers, each tier being slightly smaller in diameter than the one beneath it. The top tier has four petals, one in each of the cardinal directions.
The plain, ocean, tree, and other features are all by nature inseparable bliss and emptiness. As mentioned before, pure view is an essential characteristic of Highest Yoga Tantra. From the point of view of generation stage, pure view entails viewing ourself as the Deity, the environment as the Deity’s Pure Land, and all the inhabitants as Heroes and Heroines. From the point of view of completion stage, pure view entails regarding everything as a manifestation of bliss and emptiness. The pure view of completion stage is more difficult to understand than the pure view of generation stage, and we will understand it fully only when we have actual completion stage realizations.
In completion stage practice we bring our inner winds into the central channel through the force of meditation. As the winds enter, abide, and dissolve within the central channel all impure conceptual minds that depend upon the impure winds that flow through the left and right channels cease. We attain a very subtle, blissful mind of clear light, known as ‘spontaneous great bliss’. When this subtle mind meditates on emptiness it readily mixes with emptiness, like clear water mixing with clear water, and we attain a realization of inseparable bliss and emptiness. Here ‘bliss’ refers to the subjective mind of clear light, ‘emptiness’ to the object, emptiness, and ‘inseparable’ to the complete fusion of these two into a state of indivisibility. Subsequently, when we rise from meditation, we experience everything as a manifestation of our mind, which is a union of bliss and emptiness. Therefore, everything is seen as having the nature of indivisible bliss and emptiness.
The words of the sadhana say that we visualize the Field of Merit ‘amidst billowing clouds of Samantabhadra’s offerings’. There are two ways to understand this. According to Sutra, ‘Samantabhadra’ refers to one of Buddha Shakyamuni’s Bodhisattva disciples who was renowned for his ability to mentally create vast clouds of offerings filling every corner of space. According to Tantra, ‘Samantabhadra’ means ‘thoroughly good’, and refers to indivisible bliss and emptiness. Thus we visualize the Field of Merit manifesting from the vast space of indivisible bliss and emptiness amidst masses of beautiful offerings, which themselves are manifestations of indivisible bliss and emptiness.
At the very top of the lotus flower, in the middle of the four petals, we visualize our root Guru in the aspect of Lama Losang Tubwang Dorjechang, sitting on a sun and full moon cushion. The lotus itself symbolizes renunciation, the moon cushion conventional bodhichitta, and the sun cushion ultimate bodhichitta. Together, these three seats symbolize that our root Guru has attained these three realizations.
We may wonder, ‘Who is my root Guru?’ According to the words of the sadhana, we should recognize as our root Guru the Spiritual Guide from whom we receive the three kindnesses. According to Sutra the three kindnesses are: to give vows, to give textual transmissions, and to give commentarial explanations. According to Tantra they are: to give empowerments, to give transmissions, and to give special advice based on personal experience. In both cases we regard a Spiritual Guide as our root Guru if he or she holds a pure lineage,