"We need to know the meaning
of a certain mantric sound, which direction it is pointing, what it
stand for, before we can have confidence in a specific mantra. In
chanting a certain mantra, we are suppose to use our inner eye to
visualize the figure, color, movement and gesture which all
together form a total unity"
This is the part that
i do not understand. Can you clarify with an example?
I am not sure whether the below example
answers your question. It is rather lengthy and not fully detailed,
but I hope it will be of some help.
If you look at the mandala of the five
Dhyani Buddhas, it is represented in a clockwise direction from the
East by the Buddha Aksobhya, South by Ratnasambhava, West by
Amitabha, North by Amoghasiddhi and in the centre by the Buddha
Vairocana embodying the wisdoms of all Buddhas. Each of these
Buddha is also represented by the color blue, yellow, red, green
and white respectively and also the seed mantras of HUM, TRAM,
HRIH, AH and the universal sound OM.
Each of these different Buddhas stands for
various aspects of our consciousness. Thus the Buddha Aksobhya in
the east is of the color blue that of the rising sun and holds a
mirror and a vajra, the first step of our reflective thinking. If
we are entering the mandala, we need first to regard the world like
an image in a mirror, recognizing the nature of the world as it is,
a continuous process of becoming and changing and we are also part
of this stream of becoming as well. It is only when we regard the
world as it is, can we than think and feel with other living
beings. This is term the consciousness of the Mirror-like Wisdom.
It is characterized by the earth touching mudra.
When self centred feeling is converted into
the feeling for others, into the compassion for all that lives, it
is the Wisdom of Equality, as embodied in the figure of
Ratnasambhava. The right hand here is also touching the ground but
with palm turned outwards, in the gesture of giving.
When we give ourselves totally, we
recognized the sameness of all beings as well as appreciating their
differences, we recognized the divine inherent in each individual.
In acknowledge diversity, we no longer attempt to make others be
the same way as we are. This is expressed in the gesture of
meditation which is the mudra of the Buddha Amitabha, the Buddha of
Infinite Light, whose time is that of the setting sun. The mantra
HRIH points to that area of infinite light which stands for the
light of fully developed consciousness within the human mind. The
sound HRIH has an ascending tendency from the level of speech up to
the thousand-petaled lotus flower of the crown chakra of the seed
mantra OM. The Wisdom that arises here is called the Wisdom of
Discriminating Clear Vision.
On the basis of such vision, when the ego
bound karma creating volition is converted into the karma free
activity of the saint, where it is no more motivated by desire or
attachment but by universal compassion, we have now reached a
higher level in which we are raised above the world and are
blessing it at the same time we are active within it, with all
feeling of fear having fallen away. Here the gesture of prayer is
raised to the level of the heart. The wisdom that arises here is
term the All-accomplishing Wisdom.
In this way we slowly approach the center
which is the pure light of Buddhahood, the light of Dharmakaya.
Buddhahood can only be found in the realization of all those
qualities which, taken all together form the Mandala of the Five
Dhyani Buddha. The central Wisdom, represented by the Buddha
Vairocana cannot be experienced immediately. It has to be
approached step by step, learning initially to distinguish between
different qualities, until finally we are able to experience
wholeness in the unity of opposites. We need to circumambulate the
center in a clockwise direction fully experiencing the periphery
before the center can be understood. Therefore we go around the
center again and again in a spiraling fashion until we can totally
merge with it. It is like a kind of recurring movement in our
meditation effort where we attain each kind of wisdom one after
another until we arrive at the wisdom which complete all actions;
the inner attitude of compassion for all sentient beings and
finally approaching the wisdom of Dharmadhatu, i.e., the purified
mind in its natural state, free of the obscuration rendered by
dualism.
