samsara

Amitabha Mantra | Om Ami Dewa Hrih

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Amitabha (Boundless/Infinite Light) is an important figure found in the Mahayana and Vajrayana schools of Buddhism, with his function varying differently between the two.

In the Mahayana schools, especially the Pure Land school, Amitabha is venerated as a fully enlightened Buddha and his realm Sukhavati (a place ideal to practice the Dharma) is aspired after death. This isn’t a permanent heaven, but rather a flawless realm for one to continue practice and achieve enlightenment in.

In Vajrayana, Amitabha is a Dhyani (meditation/wisdom) Buddha and is the head of the Lotus (Padma) family, associated with the direction of the West, the same direction of his heavenly realm Sukhavati. He is responsible for the transformation of desire and attachment into discerning wisdom. He is also invoked in the practice of Phowa meaning “transfer of consciousness.” However, when practiced in accordance with long-life rituals, he appears as Amitayus (Buddha of Infinite Life), a sambhogakaya (enjoyment body) form of Amitabha.

Amitabha usually appears as a red Buddha in meditation posture, adorned with Dharma robes and holding a begging bowl with both hands. The meditator is to visualize oneself as a bodhisattva, white in color, with Amitabha, the Bhagavat, in front. Through his sadhana, one eventually dissolves the barrier between Amitabha and oneself, becoming the very essence of “lucidity and emptiness.”

Om Ami Dewa Hri

Front Image Link: https://www.himalayanart.org/items/24733/images/primary#-617,-1000,1381,0

Back Image Link: https://www.himalayanart.org/items/77019/images/primary#-1434,-2204,2971,0

Om Krim Kalikaye Namah

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Kali is a wrathful emanation of the great Mother Durga and the consort of Lord Shiva.

Kali is destruction and time. She is representative of the cycles of samsara, specifically birth, death, and rebirth. Despite this association, she is also a symbol of moksha (liberation), as she encourages effort (shakti) and action in one’s life to overcome obstacles and suffering.

Kali is nature and matter, everything that changes in existence. She is that which primordial, unchanging consciousness (Shiva) is thrust into. This duality is the core of what we see in the famous image of Kali dancing on Shiva, as she is the play (dance) of nature and he rests motionless beneath her as the foundation of reality (consciousness/space).

Although Kali seems fearsome, this aspect of the goddess has immense motherly love for her devotees. She gladly removes tribulations and gives boons to her followers as long as they remain strong and diligent. Negative thoughts and emotions are offered to Kali who purifies them instantly. The mantra “Om Krim Kalikaye Namah” is an invocation and homage of the glorious goddess Kali Ma, who chooses carefully her disciples according to their endurance and diligence.

May all negativity and misery be abolished!

Jai Maa Kali!

Image link: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1968.44

“The powerful black Hindu goddess Kali effortlessly slays an eight-armed spotted green demon with an impossibly long trident. His chariot horses and two minions lie incapacitated below. Kali’s tongue lolls out, indicating her ability to catch blood before it touches the ground: one of her demonic enemies has blood that generates another demon every time one drop comes in contact with the earth. The demon is a metaphor for wicked thoughts that give rise to more evil thoughts; Kali aids her followers in eradicating them all.”

Mahamrityunjaya Mantra

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We have recorded a rendition of the Mahamrityunjaya mantra with a new affiliate @kshatriyacowboy. This verse can be found in the Rigveda (RV 7.59.12) and is devoted to the great Rudra-Shiva in his form of Tryambakam or “The Three Eyed One.”

ॐ त्र्य॑म्बकं यजामहे सु॒गन्धिं॑ पुष्टि॒वर्ध॑नम् ।
उ॒र्वा॒रु॒कमि॑व॒ बन्ध॑नान् मृ॒त्योर्मु॑क्षीय॒ माऽमृता॑त् ।।

oṃ tryámbakaṃ yajāmahe sugandhíṃ puṣṭi-vardhánam
urvārukam íva bandhánān mṛtyor mukṣīya mā ‘mṛtā́t

There are many translations of this mantra, but it is generally referred to as the “Great Conquest Over Death” or “Death Destroying” mantra.

The Mahamrityunjaya mantra is a request to be separated from the clutches of death; a longing to be free of attachments to samsara and one’s inherent ignorance regarding the perception of self. The mantra expresses a specific wish to not be removed from the possibility of immortality; requesting to have one’s attachment to samsara be broken (the suffering of bodily/individual bondage) but for one’s consciousness (Self/Atman) to remain intact for eternity; completely overwhelmed and overflowing with devotion for the primeval essence. This is requested as a means to continue worshiping the divine Shiva for all of infinity, who is none other than the progenitor of primordial consciousness; the true state of one’s being. The mantra describes this metaphorically as a cucumber (or melon) being separated from its vine but continuing to live on as an emanation of its source (Shiva). This request is for consciousness to become free from the shackles of the flesh (vine) associated with the experience of samsara (change), ego, and death. Through this process, one’s true Self may live on forever in constant reverence of the primordial source; the original state of awareness from which one’s perception comes and to what one’s consciousness is inseparable from, no matter how obscured or hidden by one’s mundane delusions.

Oh Three Eyed one, great Shiva,

Fragrant (blissful, aromatic) sustainer of prosperity,

As the cucumber is removed from its vine (bondage),

May I be relinquished from death (attachment to samsara) but not from immortality.

Om Namah Shivaya

-Ansuz Society

Dharma Practice

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“Think of the simplest thing you do, such as making a cup of tea. You know that in order to do something as easy and simple as making a cup of tea, you must acquire all the necessary conditions and ingredients. You need a source of heat and you need a source of water. You need a container in which to boil the water, you need tea leaves, and you need a cup to drink the tea in. If you do not have those things, you cannot make tea. When it comes to making tea, we take all of these things for granted. We think of it as a very simple process. Yet somehow when it comes to the practice of Dharma, we are unwilling to go through the process of accumulating what is necessary. 

Furthermore, when you make tea you have to know what your are doing. You have to know how to use the stove. If you do not know what you are doing, you are going to burn your house down. When it comes to practicing Dharma, you think that you do not need to know what you are doing; you do not need to know anything, and you do not need to study. This is incorrect.”

-MD Vol. 3 (The Dispelling of Impediments or Obstructions) 

It is important that we approach our practice in this simple and straight forward way, making sure to acquire and assemble all of the ingredients of a practice (physically and mentally) before attempting to accomplish it. If we expect fruition of a practice without doing any preliminaries to ensure our accomplishment, we will likely fail and discontinue, or worse, lose our faith altogether. Be diligent and disciplined with your routine, take things step by step. Don’t be afraid to ask for help or advice from those who embody the qualities you want to develop or achieve. This is crucial on our path towards awakening. 

May all beings be liberated. 

Awareness, Samsara, and Meditation

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The fact that there will always exist a present moment is a point of permanence one can take solace in.

Past and future are littered with attachments and desires, polluted by expectations and other products of our ignorance like fear, anxiety, etc.

Whether we know it or not, these afflictions are the causes of our suffering, keeping us “fettered” in a state of constant flux, away from the present moment.

Although this is the case, it isn’t something that we need to be upset about. This is just the nature of living within the confines of endless change, the endless spinning of Samsara that all beings are subject to.

One thing that doesn’t change in our experience, however, is the primordial state of awareness regarding the here and now. Minds natural state of naked clarity. Like the center of a wheel, true nature of mind is fixed in place no matter how fast the rest of its parts may be going.

When one can reach this realization and become familiar with it, they can observe their minds’ habits and patterns more easily,  removing obstacles, worries, and distractions with consistent practice. One can begin to sever problems from their roots.

This is a method to liberate one from Samsara and achieve a state of samadhi, free of time and space. A tiny glimpse of this pure “enlightenment” is enough to shatter our many delusions and make us strive to practice with more vigor and dedication.

To reach that place within that doesn’t change, is to escape the motion that the “Wheel of Life/Wheel of Becoming” represents, giving one a sense of peace that doesn’t exist in any materially found means.

If we can learn to rest in this experience of present awareness, we can observe all phenomenon that arise in our experience without attaching ourselves to them, giving us a a sense of well-being, freedom and love.

May all sentient beings find a place of unchanging peace within.

Ending the Futhark with Dagaz

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We end the Futhark with Dagaz (ᛞ) because we believe that after one realizes the true Self, represented by Othala (ᛟ), one can then “break the cycle” of saṃsāra, like the breaking of dawn on a new day. 

This process of enlightenment is represented by Dagaz.

In reality, whether you end with Othala or Dagaz, one can theoretically come to the same conclusions either way. 

These choices are not meant to be dogmatic, but philosophical. Make the decision on your own, based on research and practice. 

Hailaz / Namaste