[~15 minute intro talk for online practitioners]

Welcome. Who here has practiced the Sadhana of Mahamudra before? Ok thanks that’s helpful.

I’m going to give a brief overview of this meditation practice, just for a little orientation. But none of this information is required to do this practice. In fact I think you’ll find that as we get into it, the imagery, the evocation of sacred world, and the speed at which we move through this text, will sweep away our conceptual mind pretty quickly.

That’s completely fine.

So my first point is that if at any point doing this meditation you feel overwhelmed or bombarded by the chanting, the imagery or the text, just stop, relax, rest a bit. Listen for a bit. Just enjoy it. And then, if you feel like it, jump back in. This practice can feel like a stampeding herd of horses. It’s ok to let the group carry you if you just want to listen for a bit.

My second point is about devotion. There is a lot of supplication in this meditation. A lot of begging and praying and being devoted to. It’s very easy to think, given how most of us were raised, that this begging is to an external being, someone or something outside of ourselves. But this is not true. In Buddhism, the good news is that no one is coming to save us. There is no external god or deity or concept that will swoop down and make everything all better. Maybe that’s the bad news too, but that’s the real situation.

So if we aren’t supplicating to, making offerings to, being devoted to something else, what are we doing? Very simply, we are supplicating our innate, in-born, awake-ness. We are praying to the wisdom and compassion that is within every one of us. We are supplicating it to come forth. We are evoking it to come out, show itself, become manifest in our lives.

We all know that inner voice of wisdom and compassion. You could call it the inner-guru or inner-teacher. That’s what we are calling forth in this meditation, and that’s what we are ultimately devoted to in Buddhism.

The last thing I want to do before we start practicing is give you a map of the terrain, so it will be a little more familiar as we go through it.

Before we start, please mute yourself and stay muted until the mantra recitation.

1. Shamatha Vipassana Meditation for a few minutes
2. Refuge: We start the sadhana with taking refuge, and dedicating any benefit that comes from practicing to those suffering. Already there is enough in this one section for a one-hour talk, but, like so much in this practice, we are just getting started. So we press on. We repeat the refuge three times.
3. Creation of the Mandala: With three syllables: HUM HUM HUM we evoke sacred world. This section describes the visualization of the Sadhana of Mahamudra, the world, the characters, the environment, the central figure in the visualization and the figures in his forehead, throat and heart centers. Libraries could be filled with books about this one section alone, but the most important thing to connect to is the feeling, the tangible energy of awake that comes from Dorje Trollo Karma Pakshi and the whole environment. If you can imagine or visualize some or all of this scene, so much the better.
4. Supplication: Having cleared away the clouds of our own confusion and having seen the reality of enlightened energy in this form, we supplicate it. Again and again we “aspire to see its face.” We admit how confused we are, how much suffering we go through, how all of our attempts to be happy have failed. We beg, prod and cajole this internal wisdom to come out and help us.
5. Identification: It works! We merge completely with our inner wisdom energy. In celebration, we repeat the Four Dharmas of Gampopa seven times. I will count them and signal you to stop by slowing down on the last repetition.
6. Offerings: We are completely, 100% generous in this section. We offer up everything we have to our internal wisdom and compassion: “Food, wealth, companionship, fame, sensual attachments… wantingness, desire and passion, anger and hatred… all that arises within.” We aren’t just offering up the good stuff… nothing is left out. Everything in our entire experience is fuel for waking up.
7. Abhisheka and Mantra: In this section, we say HUM HUM HUM many times. You’ll know when we get to the mantra recitation part. We will start chanting the mantra out loud all together. This is when you can unmute yourselves. The mantra will fade into silence, but keep saying it to yourself, go on mute again and read the description of receiving the abhishekas.
8. Concluding Verses
9. Shamatha Vipassana Meditation for a few minutes
10. Dedication of Merit to end