Happy New Year, dear fellow sojourners and “ curiousists” @NightHawk999@_Barry@mbready@Michele1@Bucket & @BlessingsDeers!! Well wishes radiating to you all from the Heart of Loving Kindness, Compassion, Empathetic Joy and Equanimity! May you be so blessed as pure vehicles of Light and Love!
So happy to share yet another luminous beacon shining on the path of the Pure Land journey!
This is the first I have heard that characterizes the power of Amitabha as “ magnetizing “ in the life of the devotee, drawing to such a one
“ auspiciousness “ or successes on all levels!
I am now reading Andrew’s book “Preparing to Die” and I really want to start practicing the Amitabha practice.
I loved how @BlessingsDeers in one of your posts you framed it as archeology. As someone who has difficult times with any kind of deities but loves absolute and abstract concepts, I have been looking for a framework to give to my mind so that it can truly get behind such a practice.
I love the idea of evoking Amitabha out of our own unconsciousness.
I love this because it places Amitabha “inside” of me, instead of outside. I have always had troubles worshipping deities placed outside because it never made sense to me!
My mind likes to prod me with this question:
“What if it is all just your imagination and no Amitabhas exist out/in there?”
Well, in a way it is right lol
But I do believe if I can choose to imagine anything, why not train my mind to imagine beautific visions and utilize them as vehicles to center my aspiration so that I am drawn to experiences of that same energy (of the higher realms) I am putting into them?
How do I start the practice?
I know I can take the course by Andrew (thank you for posting its link here) but I do not know if I have spaciousness in my schedule to do until a few months from now.
I put the Amitabha Buddha Thangka as my screen saver and focus on it when the time limit puts it up. Today is the Full Moon, dedicated to Amitabha Buddha in the Tibetan calendar and a good day to recite mantras and practice accordingly. The Druk Calendar app for the iPhone is a helpful reminder for getting into Tibetan monthly rhythms.
aaaaaahhh… now I understand the magic of yesterday… MG… what a Blessing…
yes
ALOHA!
I am also reading this book! Along with more than a dozen of other books! hihihi. I find it more fun like this.
so do I and this video (that I shared on the first post of this thread) did a magic on me:
I listened and viewed it before doing the Pure Lands with AH last year and it stayed imprinted in me till this day in a way that connects me deeply and directly to Amitabha.
Also, every night, before going to bed I sing this song:
Also in a very unexplainable way, this daily practice feels a bit like when you are weaving an art piece… in this case, the connection with all sentient beings through the Blessings of Sukhavati. It’s a kind of resonance prayer where every day, each frequency vibrating through my body, makes the energy of the Amitabha in me more lightful and consistent.
How I understand you.
A tantric practice that I LOVE and also do everyday, is to connect with two deities - Amitabha and Vajravarahi, one at a time, and when I feel their energy above or behind me, I say their mantras three times and allow that energy to fill my heart. When I feel it there, I say thank you.
Yes, questions are so important…
I love your questions and curiosity! Some people say that’s the way to transform all “normality” into pure enchantment
this is why practicing is so important - it evolves from an abstract concept into a living energy organism in your life. I LOVE watching what happens. I’m the kind of person that believes in experimenting and paying close attention to the details to SEE things unfolding (or not).
Exactly! There was a moment in my life where I made a decision after asking myself “Are you happier believing in fairies or not believing them?”. You can guess my answer…
after that, I experienced one of my most amazing conscious dreams ever… I was in the forest with several fairies flying around me. They looked like as if in a Disney movie, but real… full of light and gaiety.
Also two other times last year (one in summer and another in November) I saw a giant grasshopper flying who sure looked like a fairy to me!
see if any of my sharings make any sense to you - video and or song.
if not, let me know what usually works for you.
this is the best! I had one of my most astonishing lucid precognitive dreams with AH a few months before the Pilgrimage and a few days before it started, I had another lucid dream which I believe was only possible to have experienced because I was under AH’s “umbrella”.
Thank you for all of your recommendations and replies, dear @NightHawk999, @BlessingsDeers, and @_Barry May your practice bring you lots of joy and may you have wonderful lucid dreams tonight!
LOVE this mantra. say it every day…
many times in the rhythm of wagon wheal…
@YelienaT thanks to our Beloved @Kalabasis I share today a wonderful meditation that if it hadn’t been @Kalabasis to share with me, for sure I would have thought about him
it’s delightful, highly creative and grounded:
