Avalokiteshvara Practice

This is the 39th entry from my fieldwork diary. The original date is 02.11.2010.

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Drupon Sangyas:

"Avalokiteshvara is the heart of Buddha Amitabha. Avalokiteshvara has many manifestations. Even some animals can be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara. He has great compassion for all the beings in the six lower realms. If you want to help them then Avalokiteshvara practice is the one with the most benefit.

How can we increase love and compassion? With a deep devotion in the heart for our practices and meditation. That way it can increase. When we practice we become closer to the Buddha-nature mind. The 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva is a good guide on how to increase your love and compassion.

Great yogis are happy because they are close to Buddha-nature. It isn't always easy to be that way but if we practice a lot we can achieve this, even when there are difficulties.



If we compare ourselves to animals, we can see that we understand things that they don't. We have a lot of ignorance during the first stages of practice but then step-by-step the loving kindness and compassion increases.

We suffer and become depressed because we don't have a balanced mind. We create negative karma every day without even realizing it, we look for selfish ways on how to become happy. We only think of ourselves, not of other people. But we need to think of how we can help others.

How to destroy bad karma? The antidote, amongst other things, could be Avalokiteshvara practice. It's the most beneficial one for removing anger and desire.

If someone makes you suffer, you need to meditate immediately. Don't become upset. Avoid dwelling on it. Don't let it get to you.
H.E. Garchen Rinpoche has said that even a person who has been unfriendly towards you could've been your kind mother in a previous life. So therefore you need to repay their kindness and, instead of becoming upset, pray for them and their well-being.

If we go into a shop full of all kinds of nice material things, we need to remind ourselves that these things are just impermanent. Everything is.
There are 4 elements that did not exist in the beginning. They were created by our minds.

We have a tendency to become attached to beautiful people. Shantideva said that we need to meditate on the fact that their beauty is only temporary, it is empty. He asked, "If you like the person, then why not like them when they are also dead?" And if you still like them beyond death, perhaps you liked not only for their physical beauty, but also their consciousness?

Most yogis of the past became enlightened on their own. And even though some yogis were married, they could still achieve enlightenment with their partners because they practiced together (for example, Marpa).

So visualize the 4-armed Avalokiteshvara and his fountain for the whole universe."

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*Important side note: These diary entries do not reflect every word the teacher said, and there may be some mistakes or misunderstandings, for which I am sorry and accept responsibility. In a few instances, I have interjected my own interpretation or explanation.