TERMA – HIDDEN TREASURES AND JEWELS OF LIGHT – IN BLISS AND IN PAIN
For the last four days I have had heavy bronchitis and fever.
Any aspect of being, whether it be illness, depression, separation, financial misery or joy, exuberance, abundance, birth, death, marriage and falling in love, all have the same possibility to reveal treasures and insights through our precious lives here.
It is challenging, in my case, when I cannot breathe or sleep properly and am battered by an aching physical body that is suffering, to catch spaces in those energies and make an effort to surrender and practice, however fleeting those moments may be.
Last time I had bronchitis I was in the middle of a retreat with the University of Massachusetts Medical School Mindfulness Program and I learned how to be with the energy of that suffering.
So this time I could go into it more effectively with presence.
In the middle of the night, when I could not sleep for persistent coughing for example, I listened to the Dalai Lama speaking about Dzogchen, the Heart Essence of the Great Perfection, on You Tube.
It was difficult to concentrate, but the essence of the talk was that according to the Secret Mantra Vehicle in order for the fundamental innate mind of clear light to manifest, it is necessary first of all for the coarser mind, caught up in thoughts and concepts, to be harnessed by yogas, such as the yogas of vital energies, pranayoga, or the yoga of inner bliss or fire or heat, tummo.
These yoga practices harness and purify thought into revealing the fundamental innate mind of clear light.
Well, why not try it in the midst of pain with a little more presence than I did before?
As I was attempting to meditate on this I practiced the Kriya Breath of Babaji and withdrew my consciousness into the central channel and waited, surrendering to the innate nature of the Light.
After a long period of being still there was a wondrous silence (wondrous because my breathing had been so labored for so many hours prior to this) and then the vast vista of being, an inner lucidity of primordial purity dawned in my consciousness.
It is best described as spontaneous presence when the natural radiance of mind becomes manifest for the benefit of others.
This is our nature, that Light and Presence are our innate mind and heart.
I remember being told the story of a famous Lama who for all his years of practices could not remain mindful while under the influence of drugs when he was in hospital after a heart attack. He realized how important practice was and how when he was not able to be mindful he had to rely on the good karma of years of practice.
So on another occasion I decided to have a very hot bath to try to alleviate the heavy breathing as steam is known to help breathing trouble.
I had been absorbing the terma of Princess Mandarava, also known as Dakini Pandaravasini, a divine consort of Guru Padmasambhava.
I used the same principle of relying on the good karma of Princess Mandarava’s terma to guide me as I sank into the steamy waters, first visualizing myself sinking into the emerald waters of the Naga King’s abode of Lake Namaru in Tibet where She had visited.
I practiced the Kriya Breath of Babaji and withdrew my consciousness into the central channel and waited, surrendering to the innate nature of the Light.
I drifted consciously into a space between wakefulness and dreaming and called upon Divine Mother in all Her forms.
Devotion to Her is a wondrous thing.
From the point between my eyebrows a white hrih came forth and then a ruby hrih from my throat and a clear blue hirh radiated from my heart, a yellow hrih from my navel and a green hrih from the secret place.
This was a most magnificent form of Light Language revealing itself from the power of concentration as a Rainbow Body.
This is also our nature, using the power of concentration with intention to manifest a portal which benefits all living beings.
You could use any place and time and any vibration.
I use the seed syllable hrih because this had manifested spontaneously some time ago in an initiation with the Dalai Lama.
You could just as simply use OM or AMEN and be with Shiva or Shakti at Mt Kailash, Yeshua or Mary Magdalene at Bethany.
Each of us, when we share with divine focus and pure intention, becomes a gateway, a portal, for another to reach love and compassion, other worlds and other dimensions, to touch immortal pure awareness.
When we share with courage, faith and will, we allow those we share with to return again and again, regardless of time or place, to divine consciousness.
This is known as Terma or hidden teaching, an esoteric form of revelation from alchemy or tantra.
You create magic in this way.
Transporting others at will by the Light of your Consciousness.
This earth is a Pure Land and all its beings are Christ, Buddha, Guan Yin.
I am just a shoeless monk opening hearts by sewing seeds of love and compassion.
If a single heart awakens just a little with me, then that is miracle enough for me.
As it is written…
Whoever sees, hears, recalls or encounters Terma will be placed on the path to perfect enlightenment.
When you tell the story of your own Terma, your own hidden treasures that were revealed over the course of this precious human lifetime, what will you tell your friends and children and what will they tell their children?
Since this is you creating magic I would tell the story of how I see you, the Buddha and Divine Mother, and your life in the seven paradises, your intention to manifest here on earth for the benefit of all living beings, your choice of mother and how you entered her womb with the power of the five clairvoyances, how you quickly perceived the illusion of samsara, practiced the six perfections and trained on the stages of the path, developing qualities through your practice of secret mantra, accomplishing the state of immortal pure awareness holder, attaining enlightenment, journeying beyond into nirvana, and then intentionally reincarnating for the benefit of all beings.
We carry the sacred flame of enlightenment, the miracle of the inner fire of bliss, within us.
Let it shine.
This is the mantra of the Heart Sutra, the Prajnaparamita Sutra, the Sutra of the Blessed Mother.
ག༌ཏེ༌ག༌ཏེ༌པཱ༌ར༌ག༌ཏེ༌པཱ༌ར༌སཾ༌ག༌ཏེ༌བོ༌དྷི༌སྭཱ༌ཧཱ།
Gate gate pāragate pārasaṃgate bodhi swāhā
Go beyond your self, go beyond what you know, go beyond the breath, empty yourself, bathe yourself in the miracle of the fire and bliss of Divine Love and Light.
Love and soul blessings
Altair and Mother
