of the ten inner winds into the central channel at our heart, and the jewel-like shape symbolizes the great bliss of Buddhahood. It is in order to receive these attainments that we prostrate to our root Guru.
To make a special prostration to Guru Heruka Father and Mother, we begin by contemplating his pre-eminent qualities through concentrating on the meaning of the following prayer:
As times become ever more impure
Your power and blessings ever increase,
And you care for us quickly, as swift as thought;
O Chakrasambara Father and Mother, to you I prostrate.
Now we make prostrations to the entire assembly of the Field of Merit by concentrating on the meaning of the following prayer:
To the Gurus who abide in the three times and the ten directions,
The Three Supreme Jewels, and all other objects of prostration,
I prostrate with faith and respect, a melodious chorus of praise,
And emanated bodies as numerous as atoms in the world.
We generate deep faith that sincerely wishes to attain the great bliss experienced by all the holy beings, which arises through the dissolution of the inner winds into the central channel at the heart. Then we imagine that from every pore of our body we emanate another body, and that from every pore of these bodies we emanate yet more bodies, until our emanated bodies fill the entire world. While reciting the prayer from the sadhana, we strongly believe that all these countless bodies make prostrations to our root Guru, who is inseparable from the assembly of Guru Heruka and all the lineage Gurus, Yidams, Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Dakas, Dakinis and Dharma Protectors.
Shawari
OFFERING
This has five parts:
1 Outer offerings
2 Inner offering
3 Secret offering
4 Thatness offering
5 Offering our spiritual practice
OUTER OFFERINGS
This has two parts:
1 The eight outer offerings
2 Offering the five objects of desire
THE EIGHT OUTER OFFERINGS
The eight outer offerings are water for drinking, water for bathing the feet, flowers, incense, lights, perfume, food and music. The purpose of making these offerings to the Gurus, Yidams, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas is to increase our collection of merit, or good fortune, and thereby create the main cause for our wishes to be fulfilled. In particular, by offering food and nectar we will gain freedom from the suffering of poverty and experience the enjoyments of the Buddhas. By offering bathing water and perfume we will become free from samsaric rebirths and attain the Form Body of a Buddha. By offering beautiful flowers we will become free from sickness, ageing and other bodily ailments, and we will attain the special attributes of the body of a Buddha. By offering incense we create the cause to keep pure moral discipline and attain pure concentration. By offering lights we will become free from the inner darkness of ignorance and attain omniscient wisdom. By offering beautiful music we create the cause never to have to hear unpleasant sounds but only to hear pleasant sounds, especially the sound of Dharma; and to receive only good news. Offering music is also a cause of attaining the speech of a Buddha. Knowing these benefits, we should try to make outer offerings every day, at least mentally.
To make water offerings we imagine that all the rivers, pools, lakes and oceans throughout infinite worlds appear in the aspect of water for drinking, water for bathing and perfume. As we do so, we recall that they are manifestations of their emptiness, their ultimate nature, inseparable from the wisdom of uncontaminated great bliss; that their function is to cause the holy beings to experience spontaneous great bliss; and that their aspect is that of the individual offering substances. In a similar way, when we offer all the flowers, incense, lights, food and music that exist throughout infinite worlds we maintain the same recognition of their nature, function and aspect. With this special knowledge we make the eight outer offerings.
From the letter HUM at our heart, we emanate infinite offering gods and goddesses, who are the nature of the exalted wisdom of uncontaminated great bliss and emptiness. They make infinite offerings of water for drinking, water for bathing the feet, flowers, incense, lights, perfume, food and music to the assembly of Guru Heruka and to all the other holy beings in the Field of Merit.
OFFERING THE FIVE OBJECTS OF DESIRE
We offer these special offerings by concentrating on the meaning of the verses from the sadhana, beginning with:
All forms that exist throughout infinite realms transform into a vast assembly of Rupavajra Goddesses,
With smiling faces and beautiful bodies, pervading the whole of space.
I offer these to you Guru Father and Mother and to the assembly of Deities;
Please accept, and through the force of all forms that exist appearing as Rupavajras,
May I and all living beings receive unchanging great bliss
And complete the supreme concentration of the union of great bliss and emptiness.
OM RUPA BENZ HUM HUM PHAT
We recall that not even the smallest atom of form exists from the side of the object and, by concentrating on this firm knowledge, we dissolve all appearances of form into emptiness, the ultimate nature of form. In the same way, we recall that sounds, smells, tastes and tactile objects do not exist from their own side and, by concentrating on this firm knowledge, we dissolve all appearances of sounds, smells, tastes and tactile objects into emptiness, their ultimate nature.
We then imagine that the ultimate nature of all forms that exist throughout infinite worlds appears in the aspect of countless Rupavajra Goddesses – female Deities, white in colour, holding mirrors reflecting the whole universe, who are born from omniscient wisdom mixed completely with the ultimate nature of all forms. The whole of space is pervaded by these beautiful goddesses, and we offer them to the assembly of Guru Heruka and all the holy beings in the Field of Merit.
We then imagine that the ultimate nature of all sounds that exist throughout infinite worlds appears in the aspect of countless Shaptavajra Goddesses – female Deities, blue in colour, holding flutes that spontaneously produce enchanting music, who are born from omniscient wisdom mixed completely with the ultimate nature of all sounds. The whole of space is pervaded by these beautiful goddesses, and we offer them to the assembly of Guru Heruka and the other holy beings.
We then imagine that the ultimate nature of all smells that exist throughout infinite worlds appears in the aspect of countless Gändhavajra Goddesses – female Deities, yellow in colour, holding beautiful jewelled containers filled with special perfumes whose fragrance pervades the whole world, who are born from omniscient wisdom mixed completely with the ultimate nature of all smells. The whole of space is pervaded by these beautiful goddesses, and we offer them to the assembly of Guru Heruka and the other holy beings.
With the same understanding, we offer infinite offerings of Rasavajra Goddesses – female Deities, red in colour, holding precious containers filled with nectar possessing three qualities – medicine nectar that cures all disease, life nectar that overcomes death and wisdom nectar that destroys delusions – who are born from omniscient wisdom mixed completely with the ultimate nature of all tastes. We then offer infinite offerings of Parshavajra Goddesses – female Deities, green in colour, holding precious garments, who are born from omniscient wisdom mixed completely with the ultimate nature of all tactile objects.
These offerings have five functions. They cause us (1) to accumulate great merit, (2) to increase our knowledge of the profound view of emptiness, thereby accumulating a great collection of wisdom, (3) to develop and increase great bliss, (4) to purify ordinary appearances