people had gathered, some to listen and others to see him humiliated. When he saw the large throne without steps he realized that it had been constructed in this way to make him look foolish. Without hesitation he stretched out his hand so that it seemed like an enormous elephant’s trunk and with it he reduced the throne until it was just a small speck. Then he returned the throne to its former size and, to the increasing amazement of the gathering, flew up to the top of it! After a brief period of meditation he flew into the sky and circled the gathering before returning to the throne. Seated once more he said: ‘Listen carefully. I will now give a week-long discourse on the meaning of one verse of Dharma. This is the same verse that in the past I could not remember or understand even after three months of trying.’
When the seven days of teaching were complete, many thousands in the audience had attained a direct realization of emptiness, while others attained the elevated states of a Stream Enterer, a Once Returner, a Never Returner and a Foe Destroyer. Others who were present were able to develop the precious bodhichitta, and those who came to test him increased their faith in the Three Jewels. Afterwards Buddha himself prophesied that among all his disciples Lam Chung would possess the greatest skill in taming the minds of others. Even today we can see pictures of Lam Chung, who is one of the sixteen Foe Destroyers often depicted in Buddhist art.
setting up a shrine with representations of buddha’s body, speech and mind
Facing our meditation seat, on a higher level, we set up a shrine with a picture or statue of Buddha Shakyamuni at the centre. If we have them we can place a scripture to Buddha’s right and a stupa or a picture of a stupa to his left. The statue or picture of Buddha represents his body, the scripture represents his speech and the stupa represents his mind. In addition we can place on our shrine other statues or pictures of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Spiritual Guides.
With our present, ordinary state of mind we cannot perceive the actual body, speech and mind of Buddha; but if we regard the image of Buddha as an actual Buddha and make prostrations, offerings and requests to it, our actions will have the same merit or value as if we had performed them in the presence of the living Buddha. Buddha Shakyamuni said:
Now my four disciples and others make offerings to me directly. In the future many people will make offerings with faith to an image representing my form. These actions have the same meaning.
Since both actions have equal merit and their ripened effects are the same, we would not gain any greater benefit if we were to meet the actual Buddha and make offerings to him than we would if we were to make offerings with faith to his image. We can gain conviction of this if we follow three lines of reasoning. First, since an offering is, by definition, that which delights the Buddhas, we can be sure that every time we make an offering to the image of Buddha all the Buddhas of the three times and ten directions are overjoyed. Second, since Buddhas possess clairvoyance, such as clairvoyance of divine eye, clairvoyance of divine ear and clairvoyance of knowing others’ minds, we can be sure that every time we make an offering to the image of Buddha all the Buddhas behold our offerings by means of their clairvoyance of divine eye; that every time we sing praises to Buddha all the Buddhas hear our praises by means of their clairvoyance of divine ear; and that every time we make offerings or praises inwardly these are known to all the Buddhas by means of their clairvoyance of knowing others’ minds. Third, since a Buddha’s body is not obstructed by material objects we can be sure that the Buddhas come into our presence whenever we make prostrations or offerings with faith, regardless of the fact that our minds are so clouded by delusions that we cannot see them.
It is taught in some philosophical scriptures that no place exists where there is no Buddha. According to Secret Mantra the mind and body of a Buddha are the same nature, and so everything that is pervaded by a Buddha’s omniscient mind is also pervaded by his divine body. Since the mind and body of ordinary beings are different in nature, their bodies cannot go everywhere their minds go. For example, if we think of India our mind goes there but our body does not. A Buddha’s body spontaneously goes wherever his or her mind goes. Therefore, whenever a Buddha hears our prayers his body comes into our presence. We do not see it because our mind is like a window with the blind pulled down.
On one occasion while Atisha was with his disciples in Tibet he suddenly broke into smiles and laughter. When his disciples asked him why he was so happy he replied ‘Right now in Magadha, in India, my disciples are making offerings to me in front of my statue, and they are singing beautiful songs.’ If through his clairvoyance Atisha was able to take delight in the songs of his disciples, can there be any doubt that the Buddhas receive our praises, offerings and requests whenever we make them with faith?
We receive great benefit from making prostrations, offerings and requests every day in front of the image of Buddha on our shrine. If we are very busy, even just looking at the image with faith and with our hands pressed together in respect is prostration, and creates a strong potentiality for us to see actual Buddhas in the future. In one of his previous lives Shariputra entered a temple where there were many paintings and statues of Buddhas. As he beheld them he wondered ‘When will I see the real Buddha face to face?’ All night long he gazed at the images and longed to meet the real Buddha. As a result of the good karma he created on that occasion, in a later life he became one of the main disciples of Buddha Shakyamuni and attained liberation in that life.
With our present impure mind the only way we can perceive Buddha is in the form of someone like our Spiritual Guide, or as an image, like the image we have on our shrine. Due to our karmic obstructions we perceive these forms as impure, but our impurities do not exist from their own side. As our mind becomes more virtuous we perceive Buddha’s image differently. When our mind is pure we perceive the image of Buddha as Buddha’s Emanation Body and not as a mere work of art. When we gain the concentration of the Dharma continuum we perceive the image of Buddha as Buddha’s Supreme Emanation Body and we are able to receive instructions from it directly, just as Atisha received instructions from his statue of Arya Tara. Atisha brought this statue with him to Tibet and whenever he was asked an important question he would say ‘First I will consult the Lady Tara.’ When we attain the first spiritual ground of a Bodhisattva we perceive the image of Buddha as Buddha’s Enjoyment Body, and when we attain full enlightenment we perceive the image of Buddha as Buddha’s Truth Body.
arranging suitable offerings
In front of the image of Buddha on our shrine we set up beautiful offerings, making sure that as we do so our mind is free from gross delusions, worldly concerns and any bad or impure motivation. For example, we do not set up offerings with the thought ‘I will make these offerings look very beautiful so that people who enter my room can appreciate my good taste.’
We may arrange a row, or many rows, of seven offering substances: water for drinking, water for bathing, flowers, incense, light, perfume and food. These can be offered as actual substances or as water. The seven substances represent the objects that delight the senses. In some Asian countries it used to be customary for hosts to offer these things to their guests whenever they entered the house. In the same spirit we can offer anything we find beautiful or welcoming.
When we are making offerings it is especially important to guard against feelings of greed or miserliness because these can easily enter our mind and destroy the virtue of our action. For example, we may buy some delicious cream cakes to offer to Buddha but on our way home we may feel a strong impulse to eat one. Even if we manage to resist this temptation we may still feel a sense of loss as we lay the cakes out on the shrine, and we may find ourself thinking about how soon we can take them down. Again, we may find that when we are buying offerings we are tempted to select the cheapest kind, thinking that we can economize because the offerings are only going on the shrine. Thoughts like these destroy the merit of our offering.
If we offer water to represent the seven offering substances, and if the water we offer has eight good qualities, we experience eight special benefits:
(1) Offering cool
