As prescribed by the Purification Puja Liturgy, the special shrine had been set up facing south, and, in our temple, this was at a forty-five degree angle from the main shrine. During the sadhana, students and Master Samantha sat facing north toward the Kuan Yin shrine. After the sadhana, Master went to her seat in front of the shrine while everyone else reoriented themselves to face the main shrine.

Just like yesterday, you are all still sitting slightly at an angle from the center. (Master laughter and audience laughter)

Today is the third of the first lunar month, and we have just finished the third Kuan Yin Purification Puja. As with other times, I was filled with a Dharma bliss during samadhi.

Just as I was about to emerge from it, I asked Kuan Yin for some guidance. I asked her, "The mind of man is like waves in the ocean, forever going up and down. Before one wave is dissipated, another wave crests. How can one calm the continuing turbulence inside the mind? In other words, how does one modulate the mind to bring it to a peaceful state? I was asking Kuan Yin to show us how to modulate the mind.

All these theories and practices taught by Buddhism today are meant to help us to modulate the mind, so it can remain calm, stable, non-agitated, and immovable anywhere, any time, under any circumstances. So, how can we modulate this moving mind to make it immovable?

This was what Kuan Yin said, "Your mind has to embrace the sky." Her answer was very simple. One's mind has to embrace the sky if one wants to modulate it. You have to give this some thoughts.

Then Kuan Yin spoke again, "As the sky is able to embrace you, why can't you embrace the sky?"

Ask yourself this, "Being above and being so immense, the sky is of course embracing us. We are like a particle of sand being covered by this large expanse of sky. How can we embrace this great expanse?" To enlarge and expand this particle of sand has to do with the mind and the method of transforming the mind.

That was why Kuan Yin said that, if one wanted to modulate the mind, one had to embrace the sky. A mind that embraces the sky will automatically be free of troubles. Emotional afflictions exist because one's mind is small and narrow and unable to become as expansive and limitless as the sky.

So, if we want to modulate the mind, we have to expand it. Think about the sky, and we will see a stretch of boundless and infinite blue sky. When we raise our heads to look at the blue sky, we always feel very happy. I don't know if you enjoy frequently looking at the sky. I love looking up at the sky, whether it is during the day or at night. The sky in daytime is different from the sky at night, but both are beautiful in their own rights.

As soon as you think of the sky, a stretch of blue appears. What is most important is that this stretch of blue is infinite. One does not know where it begins or where it ends. It is forever expansive and boundless. For thousands and thousands of miles, this stretch of blue is without a shred of cloud. A soon as you think of this blue sky, your mood will not be the same.

So, this is Kuan Yin's teaching. When your mind is disturbed and restless, you have to inspect this agitated mind and immediately bring the sky into your view. Look at your mind and treat it as a stretch of sky which is limitless and infinite, pure and quiet, and without any stain on it. You cannot peg or attach anything to the sky. Even the clouds are just a temporary phenomenon and will be dispersed by the wind.

Kuan Yin also said, "Think of that quietness, that moment when it is free of any clouds, just a stretch of blue sky. Dwell in that pure state of quietude, that infinite realm without any borders. It is so unlike things in our human world which have limits and restrictions. Think of that boundlessness. When you dwell in that state of mind, your mind will gradually calm down and become unmoved. When you adjust your mind to become like the sky, you are transforming it to the state of immovability."

Why are we doing these Purification Pujas today? When disasters happen, why do we want to resolve and transmute them? This is because our minds are at this agitated state and are unable to rest in peacefulness. Actually there are no disasters. Only our minds that are moving continuously, without a moment of rest. You have generated this very strong feeling against things that are not happening according to your desires and intent, that is why your emotions are rocking up and down, and you are feeling uncomfortable and the difficulties. When things go against your wishes, they then become the so-called disasters, obstacles, and hindrances.

If your mind is like the untainted and cloudless sky, harboring none of these desires and limitations, just a stretch of pure and fluid blue, then your body-mind will naturally light up. No more weighing down, and you enter into a state of light being. There is this stretch of blue filling up everything in the universe.

That is why in our practice, we visualize that, amid the stretch of blue in the moon disc, there appears the seed syllable and its transformation into the Personal Deity. When you can penetrate deeply into this stretch of blue sky, your mind will definitely become quiet.

Today, problems arise in a person because his mind cannot become quiet. If you look at everything without disturbance and agitation, your mind will automatically become quiet and peaceful. You will not find something disturbing even if they are regarded by others as disturbing. The so-called disaster regarded by others will not be felt as disasters by you. What others find to be so unpalatable, you will relish them. What others find to be so awful to drink, you will not find it difficult to drink. You will not feel upset at things others find upsetting.

When you are not seduced, moved, or bedazzled by anything, your heart then becomes as quiet and still like the sky, then there will not be any of the so-called difficulties or disasters. This is the teaching from Kuan Yin today.

Honestly, purification is modulating this mind. Why is this child of yours disobedient and does not like to study and pursue a good career? Why are they marrying somebody you cannot get along with? Why are there so many problems with your family, job, coworkers, and boss? Enter into the sky. Bring the sky into your mind. Embrace the sky. When you dwell in that non-doing, that expansiveness, and, most importantly, that stretch of pure and unstained quietness, you enter into the sky. Kuan Yin advises one to dwell in that tranquillity, and, most importantly, that infinite boundlessness.

When you do such visualization, your mind will gradually be able to become stabilized and quiet down. When you anchor yourself from moment to moment in this quiet state of mind, then no agitation in your environment will be able to move you. When you gain an understanding into why things happen the way they are, you will no longer react so impulsively and so easily agitated. You will not be so easily moved by one sentence or certain things. This is very important. To do cultivation is to cultivate this mind. What we are practicing is modulating this mind.

So, this is Kuan Yin's teaching. To modulate the mind is to modulate it to embrace the sky.

May you be blessed with auspiciousness.

Om Mani Padme Hum. (audience applause)

Toolbox

Back Top Print Bookmark Tell a friend:

© 2008 Padmakumara. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright & Terms of Use.