General Spiritual Director
April Filled with Blessings
Apr 23, 2024
Final Retreat Day on Vajrayogini
This is the final full day of the Summer Festival 2015. Tomorrow Saturday the Festival will conclude with the annual screening of The Life of Buddha. The Festival is winding down, slowly dissolving back into the emptiness from which it arose a mere two weeks ago.The taxis are lining up to take people to the station or to the airport. There are less tents in the woods, and the lines at the cafes and the food vans are smaller. It’s a dream disappearing but what a blissful and meaningful dream it’s been!
For the many still remaining there is more space in the temple and the marquees, This last day of retreat feels very relaxed and enjoyable. Gen Ananda guides the actual self-generation meditations on divine pride, clear appearance, and the union of non-dual appearance and emptiness. In other words, we are training in dissolving our ordinary self into emptiness and then imputing ourselves upon an imagined pure body and mind. We are imagining ourselves as Buddha Vajrayogini, a manifestation of all Buddha’s wisdom and compassion. This act of pure imagination, based on wisdom, enables us to develop the qualities of an enlightened being swiftly.
As Gen Ananda points out, quoting Venerable Geshe-la’s book Modern Buddhism:
We have changed our basis of imputation countless times … (but) we have never changed our basis of imputatin from contaminated aggregates to uncontaminated aggregates. Only through relying on Buddha’s Tantric teachings can we accomplish this.
To be meditating on Vajrayogini’s mandala inside our Kadampa temple that itself is based on the design of Buddha Heruka’s celestial mansion feels extraordinarily blessed.
It is a day of glorious sunshine. People are deeply enjoying their final days here. The departures are not sad, but joyful. Our time together has been so meaningful. And our practice keeps us all unified as we head off to support our own Dharma centers back home. We know we will meet up at another Festival or Dharma Celebration soon … and especially at next year’s Summer Festival to receive the transmission on The Oral Instructions of Mahamudra. Till then, bon voyage and happy practicing!
