Lotus Petals
     - Snippets of Meditation for a Busy Day
          Ven. Tenzin Legtsok

Sometime back, during a phone conversation my sister spoke of how she longed to be surrounded by the Buddha’s teachings as she had been during the previous year at various centers in India, how she found it so difficult to practice amid all the busy-ness of her life in the US.  Feeling for her and my mother, who is in the same boat, I wrote down some of the thought transformation techniques found in the teachings, as I imagined they could be used in relation to typical situations of people leading busy lives. I was fortunate to be equipped for this through some extended time spent recently in reading and reflecting on the teachings of our invaluable gurus, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Zopa Rinpoche, Lama Yeshe and others. Being like a block of knotty wood, difficult to shape into anything useful, I am unable to actually practice these methods myself.  If you find some inspiration and delight in them, it is all through the kindness of our gurus, and I rejoice.  Any misinterpretations are my own fault.

Namo Gurubhya
Homage to the Lama,
One in essence with all enlightened ones of the past, present and future,
The one who abides like a drop of light in the center of my heart, 
Please bless me to transform all experiences of this life,
Pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral,
Into benevolent actions,
Accomplishing the ultimate ends of every single sentient being. 
Please bless me to transform every appearance of this brief human existence,
Beautiful or ugly, delightful or disgusting,
Into objects giving rise to wisdom and compassion.

On waking in the morning
May I observe the essential nature of this mind,
Clear and radiant with awareness from a fathomless past. 
How wondrous! 
Within this spacious crystalline awareness,
Like a cloudless autumn sky at dawn,
All thoughts and emotions,
Sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and tangible objects appear. 
All appearances of this life, myself and others, arise and pass away
Like clouds in the open expanse of mind,
Ripples on an ocean.

Seeing the innate purity, the Buddha nature,
Of myself and others,
May I remain full of love and respect to every being,
No matter what occurs throughout this day. 
May deluded  emotions
Clutching at some objects as innately attractive,
And others as innately repulsive,
Be released.
May ignorance grasping at objects as
Innately existent from their own side,
Not mere projections of my mind,
Be released as it arises
Giving way to spacious blissful wisdom in my heart.

While washing in the morning pray;
By washing away the dirt of my body with this pure clean water,
May the root of all disturbing emotions,
Ignorance that darkens and confuses my perceptions like the grogginess of sleep,
Be washed away completely. 
May I know myself and all other phenomena as they truly are,
Naturally empty of existing from their own side,
Naturally empty of existing without relying on causes and conditions, 
Naturally empty of existing without relying on parts,
And empty of existing apart from being labeled by the mind. 
Throughout the day may I know each experience just like a dream,
Appearing real from its own side,
Though actually a mere projection of my own mind.

Thinking in this way,
May I generate the joyful wisdom
That transcends every experience
Bringing freedom into my heart.

To be continued in subsequent issues …