Lockdown Easter

Protector, following the example of your life,
As long as the ocean of the realms of beings exists,
I dedicate my own and others’ merits, all together,
In order to guide the sentient beings who fill the whole of space.

From Lama Mipham, The Rain of Blessings

A pure vision of the place where we are ...

The root of the Vajrayana is “pure vision”, or the perception of the perfect purity of all phenomena. To enact this purity of perception, we do not perceive the place where we are now as just any ordinary place; we imagine it to be a celestial buddhafield. As we recite the description in the visualisation, we consider this place itself to be the supreme paradise of Guru Rinpoche, Zangdopalri - the Glorious Copper Coloured Mountain - where everything reflects total perfection. The ground is composed of gold, the trees are wish-fulfilling trees, and the rain is the rainfall of nectar. All beings are dakas and dakinis; the calls of the birds are the sounds of Dharma; the sounds of nature, wind, water, and fire reverberate as the Vajra Guru mantra; and all thoughts are expressions of wisdom and bliss.

From Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Guru Yoga (New York, 1999)

A retreat hut

If the meditator is able to use whatever occurs in his life as the path, his body becomes a retreat hut.

Jigme Lingpa

Shall we go ...

                                                Shall we go,
                                                you and I
                                                while we can?
                                                Through
                                                the transitive nightfall
                                                of diamonds

                                               From Robert Hunter, 'Dark Star' (1967)

... what is the mind?

"You ask, that's your mind. I answer, that's my mind. If I had no mind, how could I answer? If you had no mind, how could you ask? That which asks is your mind."

Damo (Bodhidharma)

... no theories ...

... the Tathagata had no theories, beause he had seen the nature of things ...

From Walpola Sri Rahula, What the Buddha Taught, (Bedford, 1959).

(Tathagata is the main title the Buddha used to describe himself in the Pali canon: from the Sankrit for one who has transcended all coming and going.)