Mahamudra Teaching - Dharma Media

Mahamudra itself, just as soon as a negative thought arises, at that very moment, by the power of
Mahamudra, negative thoughts are vanquished. Mahamudra just suddenly kind of destroys or
uproots the negative thoughts. Through that we can manifest activities to others to also demolish the
delusions of others. So that is what is called fire ceremony.
So therefore, in a nutshell, all of these practices are included in the mind. This is how our mind can
stand right where it is, how the mind can be sovereign over the whole world or the entire universe
through the meditation of Mahamudra and thereby achieve all the excellent qualities.
We can go deeper into the meaning of the mandala meditations. The idea of the mandala is that it is
like the whole globe or like a country or like a family and that the principal deity is like the leader of
the country who at the center rules the entire country. Globally speaking, the United Nations kind of
takes care of the world internationally. Or, more locally, in the family, anyone who is more powerful
in the family rules that family. It is that kind of idea, which is built into the mandala. For example, in
practicing Chenrezig, the great deity of compassion, whether of the 1000-armed or 4-armed form, we
visualize that the whole universe is Chenrezig’s mandala and that Chenrezig is at the center
surrounded by the four Buddhas.
We meditate with the sense that the entire universe is outside. Actually it is all contained within our
body. Our body includes the five afflictive emotions. The negative thoughts of the body are the five
Buddhas, the five skandhas are the five female Buddhas, the eight consciousnesses are the eight
Bodhisattvas and the eight objects of the eight consciousnesses are the eight female Bodhisattvas.
They have that nature. It is not literally that. But the nature of these is the five Buddhas and eight
Bodhisattvas. Or sometimes we say six afflictive emotions. The six afflictive emotions are the six
Buddhas in the six realms, which are within our body. Then in the mandala we build 1002 Buddhas.
When there are any of these, for example, the five Buddhas, the eight Bodhisattvas, or the six
Buddhas, or the five female Buddhas or the eight female Bodhisattvas, each individual one has
significance. They each have meaning with respect to the transformation and purification of our own
thoughts and the duality, which we are subject to.
All of these kinds of thoughts are to benefit all sentient beings. Within the mandala there are four
gates with one in each of the four directions. These four gates symbolize the four activities: the
peaceful activities, the power activities, the increasing activities, and the wrathful activities. So each
and every one of these activities can be utilized to purify our own negative thoughts as well as to
benefit all sentient beings.
One may briefly look inside our mind with respect to how to use these four activities to purify our
delusions. Through the “peaceful” means we are gentle to ourselves and to our thoughts. We uplift
ourselves, bring joy, and in that kind of way peacefully purify negative thoughts. And then there
arise some other kind of negative thoughts, which have a little more strength. They are kind of going
here or there, you need a little more power to control then. Wisdom will transform your thoughts.
When we utilize this “power” activity to purify our thoughts, then that quality itself “increases”
activities to purify all the delusions, negative thoughts. And in the case of the “wrathful” activities or
insights, sometimes our mind is so arrogant that it enslaves you. At that time use the power of the
wisdom to directly penetrate its nature and destroy that. So we have to use these four activities to
purify our inner negative thoughts.