The Practice of the 35 Buddhas (part 2)
The Buddha taught that there are Buddhas in the different universes. In particular, there are 35 Buddhas who reside in the realms located quite near our universe. Quite near in our context, means somewhere near our Milky Way, which astronomers nowadays could see, using the very powerful telescopes.
Each of these 35 Buddhas has a different color. Among them, there are many white, blue and yellow Buddhas. Why are they in these different colors? It is because the humans in those realms where the Buddhas appear are in those colors. In some realms where the majority of beings are yellow, then the Buddhas there also appear in yellow.
This is something that Bodhisattvas do – when they become enlightened, according to their wish, they choose a realm of beings to show them the way to become liberated. To be in their midst, such a Buddha then pretends to be born as a child of a family in their realm. Taking their form, he then pretends to realize that samsara is problematic. And then he pretends to become enlightened when in actual fact, he is already a Buddha. In other words, he pretends to be a normal human being for the sake of helping humans.
Our Buddha Shakyamuni was no exception. He too, was already enlightened. But he came into this world as a human in order to show you that you have the potential to become a Buddha. You can do as he did and become exactly like him. So he appeared as the child of a wealthy family on this earth.
If a beggar boy who has a lot of suffering were to tell you that samsara had no meaning, you won’t pay him any attention. But when a very wealthy man, or a king, tells you that life has no meaning, that samsara has no meaning, that there is something else that you could achieve, he would be much more convincing than the beggar boy. You’d be more likely to give a wealthy prince your attention.
People in general think that someone very rich must be happy. But, the Buddha had conveyed quite the opposite message. "No. I am not happy. Here I am a prince. I have everything. And still, I find no satisfaction. There must be something else"—meaning enlightenment. So he ran away from the family trap, and went to the forest. He didn’t just sleep in the forest; he meditated there, and then he demonstrated his enlightenment. He went through it all to show us that it could be done. He was an example to his followers of how it could be done, and he is our example still today. The Buddha said, "You can achieve everything that I have achieved!"
The Buddhas in the different universes are in the same color and form as the beings in their respective realms. And lucky are the realms where they have Buddhas. A yellow Buddha appears to the yellow humans. A blue Buddha is in the realm of the blue-skinned humans. And black Buddhas appear where black humans are the majority.
Once I was visiting a museum in Chicago, and some Americans asked me, "Why is the Medicine Buddha always in this dark blue color?" And I answered, "There was a universe with people of that color, so the Buddha there was that color. The Medicine Buddha was that kind of blue." Then I corrected myself, "Not was, he still is." Why did I say is? It’s because he is still there, within our Milky Way.
We do have a stronger karmic connection to the Buddhas who are closer to us. Whether their universes are visible to us goes along with our illusions. For example, the Milky Way is within our illusion so it is visible to us. It means there is a karmic connection between the Milky Way and us. The Buddhas are there, in an area that is distantly visible to us, so you can still receive their blessings. Therefore, Buddha Shakyamuni selected the 35 Buddhas for us so that we could pray to them and supplicate them from among the millions of Buddhas.
Explanations on the actual practice
Visualize in the space before you the sky. In the sky, there appear 35 big lotuses. They serve as comfortable seats. You are mentally creating and offering them to the Buddhas to sit on. The 35 Buddhas include our Buddha Shakyamuni. You can imagine him in the center and arrange all the others around him any way you like – in a pyramid, circle or square.
In the Buddha realms, when a Buddha gives a teaching to his disciples, he is sometimes seated in the lotus posture or, otherwise, in the posture as when sitting on a chair like Buddha Maitreya. You can imagine the Buddhas sitting in either of these two ways. (But I don’t think they’d be doing gymnastics, or exercises like push-ups. So don’t imagine them in other postures.)
You invite all these Buddhas and they are there. And then, you do prostrations to them.
You begin with Refuge in the Triple Gem as written in the text.
The Refuge vow:
<sem tschen/ tam tshe/ tag par/ sang gye la/ kyab su tschi’o… >
which means, constantly all beings take refuge in Buddha….
Then, you read the section of supplication to the 35 Buddhas. There are two versions of it. The original version is in Sanskrit, the other is in Tibetan. If you know Sanskrit, you can read that version. Otherwise, read the Tibetan, which is quite nicely transliterated here.
The English translation from the Sanskrit is:
I prostrate to the Baghwan, the Tataghata, the Arhat, the completely perfect Buddha Shakyamuni.
In Tibetan:
<tshom den de/ de shin/ sheg pa/ dra tshom pa/ yang dag par/ dsog pe/ sang gye/ sha kya/ tub pa la/ tshag tsal lo,
dor je’i/ nying po/ rab tu/ jom pa la/ tshag tsal lo >
Here are some explanations of the Tibetan terms:
- Dorje’i nying po rab tu jompa is the name of one of the Buddhas.
- La in Tibetan is a grammatical term meaning ‘to’.
- tshag tsal lo means prostrate.
- The whole phrase, dor je’i/ nying po/ rab tu/ jom pa la/ tshag tsal lo, therefore means:
I prostrate to Dorje’i Nyingpo Rabtu Jompa.
Or, I prostrate to Vajragarbha, in Sanskrit.
I would suggest that you read the names in Tibetan. This way, it is more convenient for you when you could read together with the lamas. Reading the text in your language (e.g. German, or English) is also fine.
The prostration verse section has been composed with the names of all the Buddhas ending always with la tshag tsal lo.
The practice consists of three parts, or sections.
Section 1:
1. Visualization: The visualization of the Buddhas comes before you do the actual prostrations. If you want to accumulate merit, you can try to visualize in a more elaborate way. As I said before, you think in your mind, or you visualize the 35 large lotuses. Then you invite the Buddhas to come, and to sit down before you in the lotuses. Then, imagine them all coming and sitting down on the lotus seats that you have mentally created and offered them.
You don’t have to visualize each one of the 35 Buddhas in detail, because you cannot do it. Focus on Buddha Shakyamuni, and think that all the other Buddhas are also there. They have wisdom. They have compassion. From your devotion towards them, you have requested their presence, and you have supplicated them, and so they are there!
2. Then you recite the Buddhas’ names, one by one, saying according to the text, as in ‘I prostrate to Buddha Shakyamuni…’ Read the whole verse once complete with all its mental elaborations. This part is referred to as ‘the calling of the Buddhas’ by their respective names.
After you have finished the verse, then you move on to the next part.
3. Offering: Create in your mind the most precious of offerings. All the precious things that you can think of – precious lakes, precious flowers, precious jewels. You manifest the offerings mentally from your mind, in front of the Buddhas, as you would in the Mandala practice.
4. Seven-branch prayer: Recite the prayer once:
i. I prostrate to all these 35 Buddhas, including the countless Buddhas who live in all directions.
ii. I pay homage to the boundless qualities of the Buddhas.
iii. I request all the Buddhas to teach sentient beings.
iv. I request all the Buddhas to appear to sentient beings, don’t disappear!
v. I request all the Buddhas to liberate all sentient beings.
vi. I rejoice in all the merit of sentient beings, including great beings like Arhats, Pratyekabuddhas and Bodhisattvas.
vii. I regret all the (bad) karma of sentient beings, including my own (bad) karma – please give blessing to purify everything in one moment.
5. Recitation with Prostrations: After the Seven-branch prayer, you stand up to do prostrations by calling again the name of each Buddha, one by one.
Each complete recitation of the prostration verse begins with,
<sem tschen/ tam tsche/ tag par/ sangye la/ kyab su tschi’o//>
or ‘I prostrate to Buddha…’
and ends with the name of the last Buddha,
< de schin/ scheg pa/ dra tschom pa/ yang dag par/ dsog pe/ sang gye/ rin po tsche/ dang/ pe me/ den la/ rab tu/ schug pa/ ri wang gi/ gyal po la/ tschag tsal lo//>
Then you go back again to the words in the beginning.
The verse you recite again and again while prostrating to all 35 Buddhas.
As you prostrate, you should visualize all sentient beings are with you, including mosquitoes, as well as beings in the precious human forms. Imagine them all on a boundless plain. The 35 Buddhas appear above in the space, all the sentient beings also can see them, and are together with you doing prostrations to the Buddhas.
To do this prostration practice, you have to memorize the names of the Buddhas. I suggest that until you have the words memorized, you read the words into a tape recorder. Then you could play the disk, or cassette, as you do the prostrations while saying the words along with the tape. This is my suggestion. You only have to memorize the verse for the prostration part. The rest of the practice, you can follow the text.
In one German edition, in the beginning of the supplication verse before the names of the Buddhas, this phrase appears:
<… lama la/ kyab su tschi’o//>
It is a supplication to one’s teachers, and I have taken it out.
The phrase was not part of the original sutra, but a Tibetan addition. It means to take refuge in the teachers. Nowadays there are all kinds of teachers, so there is no security. It is safer and better to stick with the original text.
Chinese Buddhists have a slight criticism of Tibetan Buddhists about one point. Buddhism was invited into China 500 years before it reached Tibet. The Tibetans everywhere added ‘the Lama’, so Buddhism became known as Lamaism.
There were two reasons for the inclusion and placement of the phrase at the beginning of the verse. The first is to show respect for one’s teacher. This is understandable as you receive teachings from your teacher so you could be enlightened. As to its placement at the beginning of the verse, the logic is as follows:
‘Lama’ in Tibetan Buddhism should mean spiritual guides who are enlightened. These include all Arhats, and Pratyekabuddhas who have already attained their respective levels of enlightenment. Their achievements depended completely upon the Buddha. And all Buddhas became enlightened having fully and directly depended on the Bodhisattvas. The Bodhisattvas are the ones who will develop into Buddhas. In other words, one is a Bodhisattva first, before one develops into a Buddha. By that logic, some people supplicate first to the enlightened Bodhisattvas, and then to the Buddhas. But the order does not mean at all that the Bodhisattvas are higher than the Buddhas. Here, I am just repeating their logic to you.
If this logic and the placement of the words were taken to the extreme, the original meaning would be lost. Then, it could be dangerous. Do you know why it could be dangerous? It is because a teacher could then claim this: "I am a great teacher of Buddhism. I even come first in the supplication, and then the Buddha. So, I am above the Buddha." You can all see how that teacher has manipulated the intended logic of the placement. He has distorted the original meaning of the order to suit his own personal ambition, making the Dharma into his own kind of politics. Even today, these kinds of claims are being made. This is the reason I have removed that line.
Here in this practice, concentrate only on the Buddhas. Follow directly the original sutra text. The Buddha is the direct cause of your enlightenment. Prostrate to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and don’t add the teacher. Then, there is no danger of going in a wrong direction.
Do the long, fully stretched prostrations many, many, many times. They are called the condensed yoga. Prostrations are very good for health and they have many other benefits. They activate all the positive nerves in the body, which service your wisdom and clear your mind.
With hands together folded, touch the three points of body, speech and mind.
Then prostrate, and touch the Buddha’s feet. In this way, you get rid of all your negative karmas accumulated by body, speech and mind through the three mental poisons of ignorance, anger and attachment.
Think that you are sending all the poisons out of you when you stretch out your body and limbs.
Think that you are liberating all sentient beings in the six realms when you stand up. This is one way to train your mind to activate your Bodhicitta.
I have witnessed that some cancer patients have recovered from their cancers by doing prostrations. I have no proof, but I know someone whose cancer was completely eliminated by doing prostrations. Buddhist practitioners made this very new discovery by chance. I have also told a cancer research center so they could make further investigations into it.
A relative of mine had esophagus cancer. At that time, she could not swallow rice. She could only manage to eat thin porridge, a liquid rice porridge. The doctor’s recommendation was to cut away the cancer. But she refused to go under the knife.
She had heard that doing a lot of prostrations cured one of her friends who had stomach cancer. She did not have much confidence in it at first. Nonetheless, she made up her mind to do it. Her thinking was this: "Let me die. But I will do prostrations until I die and the merit will follow me. The cutting by operation won’t make much difference. I will still die in any case. It might be postponed by a year or two, so it doesn’t matter." She then committed herself to doing only prostrations.
You know, when you do many, many prostrations you will like doing them. Physically, you will feel very comfortable. And so, she did many prostrations every day. Then later, having been able to swallow only porridge before, gradually, she was able to swallow rice. Then later, she could eat again. She stopped prostrations for some time, because they were too much for her. She was growing very thin. But when she felt that the tumor might be growing again, she started doing prostrations again. This time, she did them until the tumor had completely disappeared. She is normal now. This is her seventh year since recovering from her serious esophagus cancer.
Another young Bhutanese lady, had blood cancer in the limbs. She went to a very good cancer research center for two months. I saw her last in Timphu, the capital of Bhutan. It is now her fifth year since her recovery. She did so many prostrations that she developed a lump on her forehead. She is also completely recovered.
One of our khenpos has serious liver cancer. When he first came to the hospital in New Delhi, the doctors told him he could eat whatever he’d like. They had given up on him thinking that he would die within two months. There was no point in putting him on a strict diet. "Let him enjoy," they had thought. Then I told Khenpo to do prostrations. Now it is his fourth year since his diagnosis.
The prostration practice is very powerful, whether as an exercise, or for blessing. The recoveries of all three people must have been due to the blessing as well. Maybe the practice produces an effect that burns the cancer cells, I don’t know.
There is no difference whether you do the prostrations in the way of the Four Foundations Practice, or to the 35 Buddhas. The Bhutanese lady and my relative just recited "Namo Buddhaya, namo Dharmaya, namo Sanghaya," meaning "I take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha", that’s all. But they all did the long prostrations. It is good to know. You should all know this because sickness can happen at any time.
Here, you do prostrations to purify your negative karma to attain enlightenment.
Section 2:
Purification: After doing as many prostrations as you’d like, a hundred, or a thousand, you sit down again on your seat, with your hands respectfully joined towards the Buddhas.
Read the rest of the practice text. It is a list of bad karmas that sentient beings can accumulate. Any sentient being has created, and can still create these bad karmas in the past, present, or future.
It starts with <de dag/ la sog pa/…>,
or You and all the others …
and ends with <… tschö tsching/ dom par/ gyi lag so//>,
or …and promise not to do bad things from now on.
The confession prayer is recited three times.
As you recite the words, you should really know that they are the negative karmas. You recite the words with the motivation that you wish to get rid of the negativities.
Pray to the Buddhas to give blessing to purify all the negative karmas, all the karmic seeds of negative actions that are still in your consciousness. Do not interpret the word, ‘confession,’ in the Christian sense. Here you are repeating the whole list of negative karmas. You are thinking that the blessings of the 35 Buddhas are purifying all of the negativities.
If there is no karmic connection for something to happen to you, then it can never happen to you.
Nagarjuna, who lived after Alexander the Great, learned the Greek alchemy of turning stone into gold. He gave gold to many beggars and inadvertently caused inflation in the country! The king sent a messenger to Nagarjuna to beg him to stop!
Nagarjuna thought to himself, "When the beggars come, I can’t help but give to them. I think now is the time for me to leave this world. Rather than wait for a natural death, I need a cause to die now." Nagarjuna knew for the good of the country, he had to end the inflation. So he decided to take himself out. He then tried to see if there was an unnatural cause for his demise. Was there any negative karma left in his mind, which could act as a cause to end his life?
Through his wisdom, Nagarjuna’s investigation into his mind showed him one karmic seed that could kill him: countless millions of years ago, when he was a baby, he had killed an ant by cutting off its head with a blade of grass. That karma was still left there.
So Nagarjuna told the messenger, "Please cut a piece of grass, and touch my head with it." The messenger did as he was asked. Miraculously, Nagarjuna promptly removed his own head, and presented it to the messenger saying, "Now I die." Nagarjuna then disappeared.
This example shows how a karma was stored in the dualistic mind, which when ripened, gave rise to an illusion. Nagarjuna had attained the Bodhisattva bhumis but he had yet to become a fully enlightened Buddha. He was still in an illusion. However, his illusion was so light that it was more like looking at a picture screen, and as such it could no longer trap him.
Section 3:
The third section is the dedication of your merit to sentient beings. Recite the dedication prayer three times.
It starts with: All Buddhas, be aware, [now I am going to dedicate!]. … please be my witnesses!
<sang gye/ tshom den de/ […] dag la/ gong su sol//>
The merit I’ve accumulated in this life, or in any previous lives, from only giving a bit of food to a living being, and up to enlightened merit, all these my merits I have combined them here and I dedicate them to sentient beings.
In other words, the results of my merits must benefit sentient beings.
In this way, you are making an earnest wish that the good results of your merits, from as small as giving a biscuit to a dog up to the merit you accumulate for the sake of enlightenment, should go to sentient beings. Make that wish from the bottom of your heart in front of the 35 Buddhas.
These are then the three sections: the prostration, the confession, (I have to use this word, but please understand it in the Buddhist context) and the dedication. Practice all three sections in front of the 35 Buddhas.
This afternoon we will read the practice text together, just to show you how to follow it. Then we will do some Shi’nay meditation.
