0:00
Dharma Bites is brought to you by Free Buddhist Audio, the Dharma for your life.
0:10
Our work is funded entirely by donations from our generous listeners.
0:14
If you would like to help us keep this free, make a contribution at freebudastodio.com
0:20
forward slash donate.
0:22
Thank you and happy listening.
0:27
Awareness and our imagination to discern and experience what kind of Buddha we can be.
0:35
We need to develop our imaginal faculty, our imaginal power to get a sense, to get a sense
0:42
of who the Buddha really was and what being a Buddha really means.
0:48
So there are some traditional practices that are meant to enable us to awaken our awareness
0:56
and our imagination of the Buddha.
0:59
There's Vasa Bandu, one of the Indian teachers, said, taught four practices and two of those
1:07
four practices are the recollection of the Buddhas and the contemplation of the virtues
1:14
or the qualities of what it says the Tatargetas but it's against the Buddhas.
1:19
And Bonte writes about these in his book, The Meaning of Conversion Buddhas, he says,
1:25
In recollecting the Buddhas, one brings to mind the historical Buddha Shakyamuni, who
1:31
lived in India two and a half thousand years ago and the lineage of his great predecessors
1:37
of which the Buddhist tradition speaks.
1:39
In particular one reflects that these Buddhas started their spiritual careers as human beings,
1:45
with their weaknesses and limitations just as we do.
1:50
Just as they managed to transcend all limitations to become enlightened, so can we, if we make
1:56
So that's what Bonte is saying about recollecting the Buddha.
2:00
There's a lot more that could be said about recollecting the Buddha and in fact I'm
2:03
giving a talk on Dhamma Day where I'm going to be saying more about recollecting the
2:07
Then there's Bonte goes on to say there are several ways of approaching the practice of
2:12
the contemplation of the virtues of the Tatargeta.
2:16
One can dwell on the life of the enlightened one, the spiritual biography of the Buddha,
2:22
or Millerapa for example.
2:24
One can perform poojas in front of a shrine or perhaps just sit and look at a Buddha image,
2:30
really trying to get a feeling of what the image represents.
2:34
Then again one can do a visualization practice in which, to be very brief indeed, one conjures
2:41
up a vivid mental picture of a particular Buddha or Bodhisattva.
2:46
So that's what Bonte says about those two particular practices.
2:49
Our three-four poojas are also a kind of recollection of the Buddha.
2:53
When we say the Buddha was born as we are born, what the Buddha overcame, we too can overcome,
2:58
what the Buddha attained, we too can attain.
3:01
That is a kind of, you could say it's a reflection or a contemplation of the Buddha.
3:07
It's, you know, when you say it, it isn't, but you can contemplate it, you can't go
3:12
Or those of you who know the Tiratana Vandana, traditionally the first verse of the
3:18
Srita, Tiratana Vandana, is a recollection of the Buddha, that's what it is, it's a recollection
3:25
And of course, reading a life of the Buddha, such as the book by Vishupani Gautama, is a
3:31
good way to get a feeling for the Buddha as a person with a spiritual practice.
3:36
And are going on pilgrimage, I know some of you have been on pilgrimage, we're going
3:40
on pilgrimage to the Buddhist holy places in India, is another way.
3:45
And the contemplation of the qualities of enlightenment or of the Buddha is reflected
3:51
in our, in our study, in our twos, our shrines, our images, in the sadhana practices of
3:58
order, members and so on.
4:00
All these many diverse images of Buddhism, bodhisattvas, these archetypal images, such
4:07
as Amitabha, Avalokateshvara, Green Taro, whatever, all these images are produced from
4:15
the depths of meditation and they speak to us, speak to our depths, they speak to us
4:23
in a way that words and ideas may never do.
4:27
These images emerged from the meditations of unique people, unique minds, unique experiences
4:35
and we, in our uniqueness as a war, may respond to some and not to others.
4:42
There are so many figures, so many colors, so many gestures, qualities, associations
4:51
There are many, many different archetypes of enlightenment, symbolizing and emphasizing
4:56
different qualities.
4:58
And they are like the plants and the trees and so on, of the parable of the rain cloud,
5:05
the different unique individuals we can grow into.
5:10
Of course, we may even become a Buddha, a kind Buddha as yet, on imagined.
5:18
We hope you enjoyed today's Dharma Bite.
5:21
Please help us keep this free.
5:23
Take a contribution at freebudastodio.com forward slash Doni and thank you.