Thank you to Venerable Geshe Sonam, Venerable Khedrup, Dekyi Lee, Annie Bien, and Dave Gould for leading the sessions, and to everyone who attended the White Tara retreat.
Here are some resources that emerged from the retreat. NOTE: this practice of self-generation is intended only for ones who have received first either an unexcelled (anuttara / ‘highest’) yoga tantra, or two day full empowerment of kriya tantra; as well as the White Tara permission (jenang) initiation (which Geshe la gave in November 2024). One may meditation on this practice without these prerequisites by visualizing Tara in front of oneself, or above one’s head, instead of visualizing oneself becoming White Tara.
Practice Text:
We chose the White Tara Chintachakra Long Sadhana because it provided more aspects for commentary and explanation, however there are shorter versions also for daily recitation. For this long text we learned of several places where additions from the Tibetan original were needed.
- Before the beginning of page 4, one must do a brief self-generation as White Tara – since it is White Tara (oneself visualized as) who has the power to do this blessing. Also one first adds an additional OM SVABHAVA SHUDDHA SARVA DHARMA SVABHAVA
SHUDDHO HAM, and OM VAJRA AMRITA KUNDALI HANA HANA HUM PHAT for blessing the vase an meditating on the vase contents becoming the nectar of deathlessness (as Geshe la described on day 1 (morning of Dec 29). - First sentence of the last paragraph on page 6 after ‘a white syllable TAM emanating rays of light’: add ‘fulfilling the benefit of all sentient beings’.
Images:
Geshe la spoke of the importance of having an image, thangka or statue of White Tara in one’s home, and told stories of how White Tara has intervened and blessed those who make offerings to her and do her meditation. Paula Chichester recommended one artists White Tara image due to the inspiring beauty and accuracy of his art. In seeking permission to include this image in our recorded video, he shared that the website would no longer be maintained, as his eyesight had failed, he was no longer painting and he no longer had the resources to maintain the site. Paula encouraged him to create a donation page, and due to donations from our community he is now able to maintain his website Dharma Art Services.
Questions and Answers: Geshe la’s answers in Italics:
1. Question about all the purification visualizations and how does this work with conceiving oneself as already pure and perfected White Tara?
Geshe la referred back to the Cakrasamvara commentary, he said during Vajrasattva basically we put the divine pride/clear appearance of the deity in the background, and focus our attention on ourselves as an ordinary being , then return to divine pride after Vajrasattva. With the other visualizations receiving the consecration etc. , these are simply all to firm up the divine pride and clear appearance of the deity – but also to accomplish the wishes of beings by purifying the realms etc.
In the case of the former (Vajrasattva example) he said it is just like emptiness and bodhicitta in sutra. When we are focusing on emptiness the bodhicitta has to be put in the back of our mind, it is still there but in limited form while we focus on emptiness.
2. Question about Amitabha, appearing, then later in the same place above one’s head Amitayus appears: are Amitabha and Amitayus the same or different?
They are in effect the same: Amitabha is the nirmanakaya/emanation body aspect in the form of a monk, and Amitayus is the sambhogakaya/enjoyment body aspect in the form of a celestial prince. They are different aspects of the same essence. Sometimes we focus on the Amitabha aspect, but when visualizing the vase and nectars, the sadhanas tend to focus on the Amitayus aspect.
3. Question about visualizing Amitayus gathering back all the life force of sentient beings, and this then coming into us, and feeling like this might be a kind of theft?
Geshe la said this is visualization, right? So on the basis of us visualizing receiving these things from others it is not as if they lose their material possessions or lifespan. Rather, the visualization is a meditative exercise that can benefit us in creating and ripening the causes of wealth and longevity.
4. Question about who are the initiating deities and how do we visualize them?
We visualize the Five Dhyani Buddhas, but as the practice of White Tara is the Lotus family we can visualize more Amitabhas than the other Buddhas.
Kriya Tantra Mudras:
Geshe la spoke a little bit about offering mudras and demonstrated the padyam mudra. Here, explained by Geshe Sonam’s classmate and friend Geshe Sangpo from our sister center in North Carolina, we can learn in detail how to make offerings with these mudras.