“The Lotus Essence:

A Daily Practice of the Three Spheres of Avalokiteshvara Jinasagara”

Having bowed before Avalokiteshvara Jinasagara ('Ocean of Victorious Ones') and the Five
Deities of His Mandala, I will explain a profound daily yoga which combines the three
spheres of body, speech and mind.

First of all, take refuge:

Until awakening, I and all sentient beings, as infinite in number as space is vast, pay
devotion through our three doors and take refuge in the guru, the yidam and the three
Rare and Sublime Jewels.

Generate bodhicitta:
To establish all sentient beings as infinite as space in the happiness that is free from
suffering and, ultimately, to establish them in the state of Avalokiteshvara, I will meditate
on the two profound stages.

The development phase: meditating on your body as the sphere of the deity.

In the centre of my heart is a red syllable Hri. Light emanates from the Hri which dissolves
my body and I transform into the samayasattva, the Great Compassionate One
(Avalokiteshvara). I’m brilliant red with a serene and smiling face and four arms. The first
two hands are joined at the heart. My right hand holds a garland of lotuses and my left
hand holds a red lotus. I’m dressed in silk, adorned with precious jewels, and seated cross-
legged on a lotus.

The Nirmanakaya Buddha, Amitabha, crowns my head. He is red and seated cross-legged in
the gesture of meditation.

In my heart is the wisdom being (jnanasattva) red Hayagriva. In his right hand he holds a
lotus garland and his left hand displays the subjugation mudra. He stands atop a lotus and
sun disk within a blazing mass of fire. His right leg is bent and his left leg is outstretched.
He is radiant with a semi-wrathful demeanour. A red letter Hri stands upright in his heart.

At my navel is the dakini Sangwa Yeshe (“Secret wisdom”). She is red in colour, has a
scowling smile and is in a passionate mood. Adorned with bone adornments, her four
hands hold a curved knife and kapala, a sword and a katvangha. She stands on a bed of
pistils in the centre of a lotus with right leg bent and left leg outstretched. On the four
petals of the lotus stand the dakinis of the four families in the act of offering pleasing and
enjoyable gifts to the main deity (Avalokiteshvara).

The union of the samaya being and wisdom being is a primordial, magnificent,
spontaneous presence.

The recitation phase consists of meditating on your speech as the sphere of mantra
 By verbally reciting the mantra, the dakinis in my navel emit the sound of the
mantra, which, in the form of red light, exhorts the deity in my heart (Hayagriva)
to recite his mantra, which, taking the form of light, exhorts the Lord of the
family, Buddha Amitabha, at the crown of my head, to recite his mantra. This, in
turn, emanates red light, prompting enlightened beings to benefit ordinary
sentient beings. The light purifies the last subtle cognitive veils of the
bodhisattvas, causing the vajra-like samadhi to arise in them. It raises the
shravaka and pratyekabuddha to the level of the Great Vehicle, overcomes the
two types of veils in the ordinary beings of the three realms, and then returns,
purifying the veils of my three doors – established in the dimension of the self-
illuminating primordial wisdom.

In this way, principally recite the ten-syllable mantra

Om a hum hri om mani padme hum

If at the end of the session you want to elaborate a little, recite an appropriate number of
times this same mantra followed by

Om duma gaye nama svaha / harinisa racha hri ya hum ja

The completion phase: the sphere of natural luminosity, suchness itself

The deities in my body dissolve where they are. I melt into light and dissolve into the seed
syllable, Hri, in my heart. In turn, the syllable dissolves into light – beginning at the bottom,
it dissolves to the top, into the nada and ultimately into luminous emptiness: remain
beyond any conceptual elaboration within your true nature.

Without moving from this realization, I’ll act with equanimity. Once this is stabilized, I’ll
obtain the supreme fruit, the state of the Great Compassionate One, which is replete with
the four kayas.

In this way, may I liberate all beings from the three realms of samsara.

Thanks to this vessel that quickly purifies any veil and to this method that allows us to
realize all the ordinary and supreme siddhis instantly, may all beings be wholly liberated
from the ocean of samsara!

This sadhana is based strictly on the original sources of Ba Khelma; I, Karma Ngawang Yonten Gyatso, have written
down this daily practice in the upper hermitage of Palpung Monastery [1].

May virtue and goodness increase!

© Sakya Friends, 2024. Translation from Tibetan to English (from Volume 4 of the Drubthab Kuntu, pages 433-436)
by Sakya Friends. Editing of English translation: John Whitney Pettit.

[1] Palpung Monastery was the center of the non-sectarian Rime movement in Tibet, where over 1000 monks
gathered for study and practice. Palpung is known as the seat of four lines of incarnate lamas, including Jamgon
Kongtrul, one of the founders of Rime movement in Tibet.