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 joining 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
- Fourfold Refuge
- Armor Protection
- Recite the High King Avalokitesvara Sutra (1 time).
- Recite the Rebirth Mantra (7 times).
- Recite the Root Guru's Heart Mantra (108 times):
Om, gu-ru, lian-sheng sid-dhi hum - Mudra and Visualization
Amitabha Vajra Mudra (Meditation Mudra or Root Mudra):
Meditation Mudra: Hold both hands below the navel chakra, with the right hand over the left and palms facing up. Form a circle with the thumb and index finger of the right hand, and form another with the thumb and index finger of the left so that both circles meet.
Illustration of Mediation mudra:
Root Mudra: Hold both hands in front of the chest and interlace fingers to form a fist. Extend the two middle fingers to touch and form a circle.
Illustration of Root mudra:Seed Syllable:
Seh (red in color)
Visualization: First empty the mind
Chant the Emptiness Mantra:
Om, si-ba-wa, su-da, sa-er-wa, da-er-ma, si-ba-wa, su-do-hang. (3 times)- Above an expanse of ocean is a stretch of clear sunny sky. A moon disc rises from the ocean into the sky. Inside the moon disc is red Sanskrit seed syllable「」''seh,'' emitting great red light.
- The seed syllable inside the moon disc revolves and transforms into Amitabha. Amitabha holds a nectar-filled bowl with his Meditation Mudra and looks compassionately at all beings.
- Visualize the nectar from the bowl held by Amitabha transforming into a stream of white light which rises up in an arc and comes down to enter one's body through the crown chakra. As a result, one's entire body becomes crystal clear and purified of all karmic hindrances. (Or, the lotus in Amitabha's hand emits white light on oneself.)
- Recite the Amitabha Heart Mantra (108 times):
Mala Beads Visualization:
Hold mala beads in front of the chest and move each bead with the thumb during chanting. Visualize the left hand transform into a vajra bell and the right hand into a vajra scepter. The mother bead or emblem transforms into the Many-Jewels Buddha's Stupa and the four ''divider beads'' transform into the Four Deva Kings. The tassel transforms into a ''lotus hand'' while the string threading through the beads transforms into a circle of inherent white light of Vajrasattva. During mantra chanting, when a bead is moved, visualize Amitabha appearing inside the bead and come to the forefront.
Mantra: Om, ah-mee-deh-wah-seh. - Entering Samadhi
(Nine Cycle Breathing, Entering of the Deity into Oneself, Release of Oneself into the Cosmic Consciousness, Breath Counting) - Emerging from Samadhi
Praise Verse:
Jing-yuan zhuang-yan an-le li,
Pu-ji zhuo-shi zhu-you-qing;
Si-fang jie-yin zheng wu-sheng,
A-mi-tuo-fo wo jing-li.
Homage to Amitabha
Whose majestic, pure vow brings peace and bliss
To all sentient beings in the turbid worlds,
Guiding them to No-birth in His Western Pure Land. - Recite the Principal Heart Mantras
- Recite the Buddha's Name (3 times)
Na-mo san-shi-liu-wan-yi yi-shi-yi-wan jiu-qian-wu-bai tong-ming-tong-hao ah-mi-tuo-fo.
Namo the 36 trillion 119 thousand and 500 Amitabha Buddhas. - Dedication
May all who uphold the name of Amitabha Buddha
Be born together in the Pure Land of His Western Paradise.
Repaying the Fourfold Generosity from above,
And aiding those who suffer in the Three Paths below.
Upon seeing the Buddha,
May I be liberated from the cycle of birth and death,
And may I develop the qualities of Buddhahood,
And thus free all who suffer.
I, ________ (your name), dedicate the merits of this practice to the Root Guru. May the Root Guru always be healthy, remain in Samsara, never enter Nirvana, and forever turn the Dharma Wheel. May everyone be healthy, free of hindrances, strong in cultivation, and may all circumstances become auspicious.
May all supplications be completely fulfilled.
May all hindrances be removed. Wun!
(For a detailed explanation of this dedication, please refer to page 165 of A Complete and Detailed Exposition on the True Buddha Tantric Dharma.) - 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: Xiu-fa yuan-man, ru-yi ji-xiang. May all endeavors be auspicious.
An empowerment must be received from Living Buddha Lian-sheng or an authorized True Buddha School master before one engaging in this particular sadhana.