Question asked by Bhavisha
Dear Pastor,
NAMO BUDDHAYA,
H.H. rinpoche made me understand the science of mantra so well that I will not forget it in my entire life. But visualizations are also important part of buddhist practices and I don't understand it. Especially those practice which r not about yidam or dharma protector where we visualise deity in front for specific porpuse where in some practices they are blessings with white light and all. Help me to understand this about visualizations. Why it is important and how dose it help in reality? ( yidam and dharma protector visualization are quite understandable me like one want to be one with Tara and that why they visualize their selvs as Tara) but put light on this whole topic.
As always greatful 🙏 ✨️
Dear Bhavisha,
In the case of self-visualisation as the deity, as in the case of Tara you mentioned, this can and should only be done by those with the appropriate initiation into that system. In regards to practices in which we don’t have those initiations, we are visualise them in front of us.
In Buddhism, there are three ways in which we live, interact with the world, create karma, create merit and progress on our spiritual journey – the body, speech and mind. So when we are meditating or engaged in practice, we keep our body in meditation posture, not moving etc. This engages in our body in spiritual practice because we are not using it for worldly activities. When we recite mantras and prayers we are engaging our speech as part of our spiritual practice. Then when we visualise, we are engaging our mind in spiritual practice.
The form of an enlightened deity is sacred, so by visualising a deity in front of us, we are generating merit and creating a link with that deity. Each part of a deities body, their colour, mudras, implements, etc, are actually a road map on the path to enlightenment, that is why they are important to know their iconography well and the meaning behind it. When we visualise the lights, this is mentally asking the deity to bless us with whatever purpose we wish, whether it is to overcome a particular obstacle or gain certain spiritual qualities on the path to enlightenment. So when we ask a deity for help verbally, we use our speech to ask for their help and create a strong connection with our speech. The visualisation aspect of practice is doing this with our minds.
Whatever spiritual activity we do, it will always be the strongest when we are engaging all three – our body, speech and mind. Because then we are engaged in the practice using our whole being. I hope this helps to explain better. Thank you.