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Start by praying for the root lineage blessing: First empty the mind. Next, visualize the Root Lineage Guru Living Buddha Lian-sheng appearing above your crown and radiating light on everyone present. Chant the Root Lineage Guru Heart Mantra 7 times. Pray to the Root Lineage Guru to empower you so that the practice will be auspicious.
Engender the Four Immeasurable Minds: Visualize your parents, children, relatives, friends, and enemies join you in this practice.
Wake-Up Call: Clap twice, then cross hands and snap thumbs and middle fingers.
- Recite the Purification Mantras and Earth God Mantra
- Recite the Invocation Mantra
- Tender the Great Homage with Visualization
- Mandala Offering
- Form Offering Mudra:
Interlace fingers (with hands back to back) so that palms and fingers face upwards. Hook the index finger of the left hand over the middle finger of the right. Hook the index finger of the right hand over the middle finger of the left. Press the thumb of the left hand over the little finger of the right. Press the thumb of the right hand over the little finger of the left. Manipulate the ring fingers so that they stand vertically, back to back.
Explanation of the Mudra:
The Offering Mudra represents Mt. Sumeru and the Four Continents. (Purvavideha in the East, Jambudvipa in the South, Aparagodaniya in the West, Uttarakuru in the North). - Visualize Offerings in the Mudra:
Offerings: Food. Flowers, incense, lamps, tea, fruit, water, soapy water, wish-fulfilling conch, Seven Treasures. Eight Jewels, (Diamonds, gold, silver), Dharma implements, clothing… - Offering visualization:
- Visualize Mt. Sumeru at the center of the universe. The Four Heavens, East, South, West, and North, surround Mt. Sumeru. A sun and moon are in the east and west directions from Mt. Sumeru.
- Visualize the offerings transforming from dots into lines, then planes until offerings fill Mt. Sumeru, the entire universe and the ten directions all the way to infinity.
- Visualize all the treasures and jewels being offered to the deities.
【Cultivation formula 2:】 Visualize the offerings transforming to be as massive as clouds and the sea.
【Cultivation formula 3:】 Visualize the offerings filling the entire universe. - Recite the Offering Verse:
xu mi si zhou bing ri yue,
hua zhu zhen bao gong yang fo.
zhong zhong zhen qi zhu gong de,
xiao ye su su zheng pu ti.
(Mount Meru together with the Four Continents, sun and moon,
Transforms into precious treasures to offer to the Buddhas.
May the immeasurable merits arisen from these treasures
Quickly remove negative karma to realize Buddhahood.)
Recite the Offering Mantra:
Om, sa-er-wa, da-ta-ga-da, ee-da-mooh, gu-ru lana, man-cha-la, kan, nee-lee-yeh, dah-yah-mee.
After finishing the mantra recitation, touch the brow point with the mudra. Release the mudra.
- Form Offering Mudra:
- Dedication
- Recite the Hundred Syllable Mantra (3 times)
- Tender the Great Homage with Visualization (same as step 3)
- Recite the Completion Mantra
Om, Bu Lin. (3 times)
Om Mani Padme Hum.
End of Practice: May all endeavors be auspicious.
Note: For Mandala Plate Offering Sadhana, please reference ‘True Mandala Offering Practice’ in Living Buddha Lian-sheng Sheng-yen Lu Book 275, Pith Teaching to the Path of Liberation, and ‘Offering Sadhanas’ in Book 81, True Buddha Liturgies. Also see Living Buddha Lian-sheng’s answers in the Interaction is Power Series Q&A of April 12, May 24, and June 7, 2020.
An empowerment must be received from Living Buddha Lian-sheng or an authorized True Buddha School master before one engages in this particular sadhana.
