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Mystic Lesson 1:

Practice self-healing with popular Buddhist Chant

Om Mani Padme Hum – Hail the Jewel in the Lotus

OM, symbolizes the pure, noble body, speech and mind of the Buddha, MANI, the
jewel symbolizes factors of method, compassion and love, the altruistic intention to
become enlightened, PADME means lotus, symbolizes wisdom. Growing out of mud
but not being stained by mud, lotus indicates quality of wisdom, which keeps you out
of contradiction. HUM means inseparability, symbolizing purity which can be
achieved by the unity of method and wisdom.

Pronounced : Ohm- Ma -Nee –Pad- May- Hum

This chant brings you joy and peaceful vibration.

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Listen to the guided chants……

 Get Involved with the lyric and melody. It helps to heal our body and mind,
almost like a mother singing lullabies to child. When you are tired, listen to the
soothing chants.
 Go by the meaning of the lyric. Awaken your inner soul with the enchanting
lyric. If practiced wholeheartedly it can release negative emotions like anger,
frustrations, depression etc.
 The repetitive lyric and melody brings a steady rhythm in our body. Feel the
rhythm and the vibration in your body, mind and soul.
 Focus on the lyric, melody and rhythm, the chant will help you focus your
thoughts.
 When we chant, it also acts to regulate our breathing. Watch your breatrhing
slowing down with the pace of music.

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Mystic Lesson 2:

Imagine yourself as a lotus seed buried beneath a

muddy lotus pond. There is mud all around you
and you can feel them clearly. Above you, above
this muddy pool of dirt, mud and filth, are
sunshine and air. Do not feel disheartened as
you begin your journey towards the surface.

With determination in your heart, you begin to assert your existence in the earth. Your
roots grow deep, deep into the mud. Your little stem grows up slowly. Suddenly,
“rise”. You are out of the mud. Your stem grows higher and higher, taller and taller.
You rise up slowly, fighting against the muddy water. Suddenly, you realize you are
out of the muddy pond. You reach up towards the warm sun, shining on you. Awaken
yourself and rise upwards, always. The shining sun rays are the light of new hope and
enlightenment. Always look up to it.

Now, your lotus bud begins to grow on top of your stem. Expand your buds and
grow larger and larger, finally bursting into full bloom. A full bloom lotus flower. You
stand beautifully above the muddy water, not dirtied or contaminated by the mud
from which you grow. You are pure, fragrant and beautiful.

Whoever has seen you has marvelled at your beauty. Your determination to grow out
of the muddy pond reminds them of the Buddha and his journey towards
Enlightenment. The Buddha, like a lotus, was determined to grow out of the muddy
surroundings, that is the defilements and sufferings of life. He had done all that had to

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be done and he has shown us that we all can do it too. We may have defilements but
we all have potential to grow out of our defilements and achieve wisdom, like the
Buddha. You are a beautiful, white lotus flower, and your role is to remind others to
rise above their defilements and sufferings, just as you are rising above the muddy
water and not dirtied or contaminated by the mud from which you grow.

Buddhist value: A lotus flower grows out of the mud and blossoms above the
muddy water surface, in the same way we can rise above our defilements and
sufferings of life.

Listen to what the Lotus says:

"I am the being, who in spite of my muddy surroundings, have remained untouched

and stood up to be the exemplar of beauty and purity."

It symbolized purity in the true sense of the term in spite of its seed being the

stagnant water. Lotus symbolizes Life ever renewed and revitalized when it peeps out

of the muddy waters every morning. With every sunset the lotus fold all its petals and

with every sunrise it unfolds its petals again. According to Egyptian Mythology, Lotus

is the symbol of genesis, rebirth, awakening, revival and restoration. With every sunset

the lotus folds its petals and with every sunrise the lotus unfolds its petals with a new

life with a new hope. Each new day is like a rebirth and awakening for the lotus.

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 Turning the Wheel of the Dharma

Explanation of the Mantra of Avalokiteshvara

by His Holiness Dalai Lama

His Holiness the Dalai Lama says, it

is very good to recite the mantra
Om mani padme hum, but while
you are doing it, you should be
thinking on its meaning, for the
meaning of the six syllables is great
and vast. The first, Om is composed
of three letters, A, U, and M. These
symbolize the practitioner's impure body, speech, and mind; they also symbolize the
pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha.

Can impure body, speech, and mind be transformed into pure body, speech, and
mind, or are they entirely separate? All Buddhas are cases of beings who were like
ourselves and then in dependence on the path became enlightened; Buddhism does
not assert that there is anyone who from the beginning is free from faults and
possesses all good qualities. The development of pure body, speech, and mind comes
from gradually leaving the impure states arid their being transformed into the pure.

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How is this done? The path is indicated by the next four syllables. Mani, meaning
jewel, symbolizes the factors of method-the altruistic intention to become
enlightened, compassion, and love. Just as a jewel is capable of removing poverty, so
the altruistic mind of enlightenment is capable of removing the poverty, or difficulties,
of cyclic existence and of solitary peace. Similarly, just as a jewel fulfills the wishes of
sentient beings, so the altruistic intention to become enlightened fulfills the wishes of
sentient beings.

The two syllables, padme, meaning lotus, symbolize wisdom. Just as a lotus grows
forth from mud but is not sullied by the faults of mud, so wisdom is capable of
putting you in a situation of non-contradiction whereas there would be contradiction
if you did not have wisdom. There is wisdom realizing impermanence, wisdom
realizing that persons are empty, of being self-sufficient or substantially existent,
wisdom that realizes the emptiness of duality-that is to say, of difference of entity
between subject an object-and wisdom that realizes the emptiness of inherent
existence. Though there are many different types of wisdom, the main of all these is
the wisdom realizing emptiness.

Purity must be achieved by an indivisible unity of method and wisdom, symbolized by

the final syllable hum, which indicates indivisibility. According to the sutra system,
this indivisibility of method and wisdom refers to wisdom affected by method and
method affected by wisdom. In the mantra, or tantric, vehicle, it refers to one
consciousness in which there is the full form of both wisdom and method as one
undifferentiable entity. In terms of the seed syllables of the five Conqueror Buddhas,
hum is the seed syllable of Akshobhya - the immovable, the unfluctuating, that which
cannot be disturbed by anything.
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Thus the six syllables, om mani padme hum, mean that in dependence on the practice
of a path which is an indivisible union of method and wisdom, you can transform
your impure body, speech, and mind into the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of
a Buddha. It is said that you should not seek for Buddhahood outside of yourself; the
substances for the achievement of
Buddhahood are within. As Maitreya says in
his Sublime Continuum of the Great
Vehicle (Uttaratantra), all beings naturally
have the Buddha nature in their own
continuum. We have within us the seed of
purity, the essence of a One Gone Thus (Tathagatagarbha), that is to be transformed
and fully developed into Buddhahood.

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The Four Foundations
General foundation and meditation topics – common to all Buddhists

1. The Precious Human Life

First meditate on the precious human life
endowed with every freedom and asset.
It is difficult to get and can be easily destroyed.
So now is the time to make it meaningful.
Read the above lines and reflect on the precious human life for a few moments or a few minutes

2. Impermanence
The universe and everything that lives there in is impermanent,
particularly the lives of beings, which is like water-bubbles.
The time of death is uncertain, and when you die,
you will become a corpse.
Dharma will help you at that time.
Therefore practice it diligently now.
Read the above lines daily and reflect on impermanence; each passing day we develop our
understanding of the same a little more and a little deeper and a little better, developing the spirit of
renunciation that will finally liberate us.

3. Karma
After your death, you will have to experience your own karma,
having no degree of control over what happens.
So give up harmful actions –
all your time should be spent in the practice of virtue.
Thinking this way, evaluate your life daily.
Read the above lines and reflect for a few moments or a few minutes; you may even write a paragraph
or two as part of your introspection.

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4. Samsara
One is constantly tormented by the three kinds of suffering.
Therefore, samsaric places, friends, pleasures and possessions
are like a party given by an executioner,
who will then lead one to the place of execution.
Cutting through the snares of attachment,
strive for enlightenment with diligence.
Read the above lines and reflect for a few moments or a few minutes

Refuge and Bodhichitta

We pray with our body, speech and mind. Prostration is a form of praying with
our body. Saying words of a prayer is praying with our speech. And to wish and
visualize is praying with the mind.
Refuge is something very basic in Buddhism. When we talk about refuge, we talk
about Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. There are different ways of looking at it. One
way of looking at refuge is to see Buddha as the teacher, Dharma as the teaching, and
Sangha as the people following those teachings. Buddha is somebody who found an
answer to all the sufferings and he wanted to show the way on how to be free from it.
Now, the Mahayana is different and specific because of the altruistic motivation factor
or bodhichitta. We need to develop, expand, and cultivate Bodhichitta. We all have
some kindness, love, and compassion. But it is very limited. We love our family. We
love our friends. We may love our countrymen on a larger scale. But somewhere, we
limit ourselves thinking that these are our friends, this is our side, and this is the other
side. We limit ourselves. But from the bodhisattva’s point of view, we should not limit
ourselves to our family or friends only. We should instead have the feeling of
benevolence, well-being, and compassion for everybody. This is an important
practice. It is a way of working on our mind, to change our self, purify our self, and
develop compassion and devotion.

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 Refuge and bodhichitta

From now on, until enlightenment is attained,

I take refuge in the Buddha, the dharma and in the finest assembly.
Through the practice of generosity and the other Paramitas,
may I attain Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings.

Repeat three times and sit in silence for a minute or two

or
alternatively make prostrations if you know to do the same

Four limitless contemplations

May all beings be happy
and create the causes for happiness.
May they all be free from illness (suffering)
and from creating the causes of illness (suffering).
May they find that noble happiness
which can never be tainted by illness (suffering).
May they attain universal, impartial compassion,
free of worldly bias towards friends and enemies.
Repeat three times and sit in silent contemplation followed by the following visualization

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 The Symbolic Lotus Flower

"I am the being, who in spite of my muddy surroundings, have remained untouched and
stood up to be the exemplar of beauty and purity."

Lotus has been the symbol of detachment from worldly desires and
illusions according to the Hindu religious scriptures. It symbolized
purity in the true sense of the term in spite of its seed being in the
stagnant water. Lotus symbolizes Life, ever renewed and revitalized
when it peeps out of the muddy waters every morning.

The flower has been a part of legends and almost every culture,
civilization and religion in the world look up Lotus to teach
something or the other to the multitude. According to the Egyptian
mythology, the Sun God (Ra) emerged out of the Lotus (Sesen) petals
and spread his light all over Cosmos. In Egypt it is rightly taken as a
symbol of genesis, rebirth, revival and restoration.

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Though Buddhism adopted the concept of "Om Mani Padme Hum" – a
hymn that celebrates the jewel in the lotus - the essence and spirit
being invested in the core of all mankind, which can glow into radiant
brightness if he can save himself from the debris of life.

Christianity has White lily as the equivalent of Lotus, related to Mary

the Virgin mother, signifying chastity. Doesn t "Blessed are the pure
in heart, for they shall see God" echo "Om Mani Padme Hum"?

Lotus as a flower symbolizes the journey and advancement of the

soul through the realization of the material world to be one with the
supreme soul. In China as well, Lotus is a symbol of creation.
The colour of the flower also contributes symbolically, like the white
lotus means purity and transcendence; pink lotus signifies the
supreme one, the Great Buddha and Goddess Tara; red lotus
expresses compassion and passion; blue signifies the supremacy of
the eternal over the temporal. It is said that Tutankhamen s body
was covered with blue lotus in his tomb.

Lotus also reminds of Tennyson s poetic marvel The Lotos Eaters

where the great hero Odysseus and his seamen reach the island and
got arrested in the self induced stupor of lotus nectar.

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