Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 45-minute teaching, Diana Taylor explores purification practice as a path to healing and wisdom, grounded in the Buddhist understanding that suffering arises from ignorance rather than circumstances alone. She opens with the paradox that pain can awaken the mind and lead to transformation, drawing on her experience teaching dying and healing courses at Tārā Institute. She explains how visualisation techniques, particularly white light meditation, work to reorient the mind toward positive states by addressing the mind’s habitual tendency toward turmoil. Taylor walks through the white light practice in detail: receiving compassion and wisdom from an external source, absorbing it inward, and radiating it outward infinitely. She connects purification to forgiveness, showing how releasing negative interactions unlocks energy and clarity. Throughout, she emphasises skillful adaptation of method to circumstance and individual capacity, using the Lotus Sūtra’s burning house parable to illustrate how different techniques serve the same goal. Pitched at both newcomers and those familiar with Buddhist visualisation practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 10 Ret..mp3
UUID: 7da1f56b-539e-413a-a2ad-f79c099d1e39
Teacher: Diana Taylor
Collection: Retreat (Diana Taylor)
Date: 1997 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.4 minutes
Words: ~4,185
What is it that my mind is thinking that labels this as good or bad? Do I really need these things that I want? Maybe there is something which is actually beneficial in pain. Now I can be pretty certain that everybody sitting in this room, which includes myself, is here because there has been some pain in your life which has opened your mind in some way. That you said the way we live our life normally is not enough.
There has to be something more. Our minds are awakened by pain, whether it’s physical pain or emotional pain. When our minds are awakened in that sort of way there’s something incredibly beneficial. When I do the healing courses at Tārā Institute and working with people then who are suffering from life threatening illnesses And over and over again they say this has been one of the most beneficial things that could have happened to me in my life. Now I’m not seeing everybody who suffers from cancer obviously, so not everybody thinks in this way.
But the sort of people who will attend a Buddhist healing course, the sort of person who says, What can I do even though there is suffering here? And they find there are ways in which their lives can be beneficial even if they’re bedridden. So even incredible suffering can be something which is beneficial. So you see, part of the pain of suffering arises from not wanting the pain. When we see it differently, a lot of that pain goes and a lot of joy comes back into life, even though there might still be physical pain sitting there.
Then again there is the pain which arises in our minds because we don’t understand the true nature of reality. And this is one of the key aspects of Buddhism that it is our ignorance which is the root cause of all our suffering. It is our ignorance which assumes that we exist as something which is permanent, which is not changing and which has a right to exist over and above everybody and everything else in the world. That’s the ego-orientated point of view. And all our suffering arises from that.
If we understand that, and it’s a very subtle and difficult thing to understand it’s easy to say it, but to understand that in its depth is quite difficult. If we understand that, and we can see it in the context not just of this lifetime but of many lifetimes, then we have a way of moving out of our suffering, out of the very causes of our suffering, and having a mind which is always calm and clear. So by dealing with our suffering, dealing with our pain and beginning to understand the pain and beginning to transform the pain, that also is a form of purification practice. So we can do this purification practice through understanding the teachings, the Dharma teachings. If I teach in a healing course, if I’m teaching death or dying over and over again, I’m teaching the basics of Dharma.
What we teach in those courses is no different to what you teach in an introductory to Buddhism course. But it becomes very potent when you’re teaching to people who are so acutely aware of death. It becomes very potent and very meaningful. But it’s the same teaching. Same teachings about karma, same teachings about thought transformation, same teachings about purification.
Trying, same techniques to find ways in which we can create a mind which is calm and clear instead of having a mind which is confused and which is in turmoil. So that’s what purification is. It’s understanding the causes of the suffering and through understanding the causes of suffering thereby understanding ways to step out of it. And there are also the visualisations which we can do which are designed to influence the more subtle parts of the mind in a very powerful and strong way. So part of the difficulty that we have and part of the reason that we’re constantly in a state of turmoil is because our minds are habituated to being in a state of turmoil.
This is why it’s so hard to sit meditate. Because our minds are so used to being active that they don’t want to sit still for any period of time. And it’s very difficult to make it sit still. So we need to habituate our minds into a mind which is more positive thinking rather than a mind which is negative thinking. The visualization techniques that we use in the purification practices, which are the same techniques that we use in healing practices, they are simply designed to orientate the mind towards a state of positive mind rather than the state of negative mind.
That’s really all that purification is about. Any questions at this particular stage? All totally calm and clear. So purification and healing are the same thing. And the visualizations for purification are very simple.
Some of them have been adapted by people working with New Age philosophies. Some of them have been adapted by the mystical traditions of other religions. Some of them have been present in the mystical aspects of other religions for thousands of years. And what we are trying to do is to simply create a positive state of mind. And the way in which we usually do this is by visualising white light.
When we do the white light visualisation, what is seeing that this white light carries with it, or is composed of, or has the nature of, wisdom and compassion. That’s omniscient wisdom and ultimate compassion. There’s nothing second rate about this white light. And also this white light is infinite. I can remember when I started doing meditation practice, I was doing Chenrezig practice, imagining the white light in the form of compassion.
And I was imagining little dribbles of it coming down. I was in retreat at the time, solitary retreat. So I imagined these little dribbles coming down and then one day I thought, Why am I imagining it like that? Why can’t I just imagine a good shower? Oh no, no, no.
It can’t possibly be a great shower. Then I thought well why can’t it be a great shower? So I started visualizing it as a great shower and at first this seemed like a terrible thing to do because I was taking too much for myself. That’s what it felt like. But this is working with the mind.
We’re visualizing something. So there’s no reason why we can’t imagine it as being infinite. Actually, can I add something? I actually do that when I’m actually in the shower. I remember once I teaching at Tārā Institute and I was doing the white light meditation and I said you visualize this white light coming down as a heavy shower of rain.
And just as I said there, there was a great downpour! My sister was there and she said, Did you have a tape on then, Diana? So yes, we can visualize this as a shower break. So the important thing with this visualization is that it has the white light is this profound wisdom, profound compassion. There are many different ways of doing it and many different levels of subtlety.
Khensur Rinpoche last night was talking about the Vajrasattva purification practice. And that in itself can be done at different levels. But behind that is this visualization of the white light. And that the source, whatever you visualize as the source of white light, is coming from the mind of wisdom and compassion, which is the mind of Buddha or, if you like, the mind of God. Because in Christianity, when God is mentioned, God has the omniscient wisdom and God is the God of Love.
These two things again. So if you prefer to use that sort of visualization or you imagine it coming from the heart of Christ or Mary, no problems with that. It doesn’t have to be Buddhist. But if you’ve had some sort experience with Buddhist practices and you’re familiar with something like the Thousand Arms Chenrezig, there with the white, you can see there’s a thousand arms all around there, each one has the eye of wisdom in it. So each arm is able to act with compassion.
Or whether you imagine it, there’s another Chenrezig, imagine it coming from the heart of Śākyamūni Buddha. What else have you got around? I can’t see them all. Even from the Dalai Lama himself, if you went to the Kālacakra or you heard him, did he come to Adelaide? Whatever you imagine as that source.
So that we visualize that white light coming from a source which is outside ourselves. The process of imagining it coming from outside. We allow ourselves to receive, to be receptive. To be receptive means to open up. We open ourselves up to possibilities by visualising it coming from outside.
And then in the process of visualisation we absorb the white light and we begin to generate it ourselves. In that way we become not just receptive to it but we become of the very nature of white light ourselves. And in that way we can then give in the same way that we had something given to us. You can see in these visualization techniques there’s very profound psychology behind the visualization itself which is to do with finding a methodology which opens up the mind, which also means opening up the heart because there’s no difference between those two. So we open up the mind, we open up the heart and in the process the mind becomes clear, it becomes radiant and it begins to send out light of its own accord.
So in the Medicine Buddha practice, I don’t think it’s in the Healing Buddha book but in the Medicine Buddha Sadhana itself, As the dedication, May all people who see me, hear me, touch me, speak of me or hear about me, even my enemies when they are angry with me, may they by that very act be healed. And we can make this dedication when our heart is radiant with that quality of love and compassion and wisdom. And even if we can’t develop that to its fullness in this particular life time. By doing these visualisations, we are setting up our mind so it is open to becoming precisely that. And we are also setting ourselves up so that in each moment of our lives, in this particular lifetime, some of that quality is actually present at each moment.
Now if you just imagine for a second what your life would be like if at every moment there was this infinite wisdom and infinite compassion, so that you knew how to deal with every situation that arose with deep compassion. How would that change the relationships which are important to you? How would that change the relationships which are problematic to you? How would that change your perception of yourself and who you are if you had this wisdom and this compassion. It’s pretty mind boggling just to try to even imagine what it would be like.
But even if we just imagine a little bit of this present in our lives, then we begin to see how that begins to transform the people around us. This is one reason why Buddhists tend not to run around as missionaries telling everybody else they should be Buddhists. Because the attitude is much more along the lines that if we have this quality of wisdom and compassion then quite naturally people will say, you know, what’s happened to her? What’s happened to him? There’s something which is different, is really positive in this particular person.
How come they’re like this? So people then become attracted towards somebody who has a sense of peacefulness within themselves, who has a sense of clarity, who acts with a quality of wisdom. Then they say, well, how come you’re like this? What have you done? So that attracts people to Buddhism but that’s not the reason for doing it.
The reason for doing this is so that we can express wisdom and compassion in their own lives. So that’s what purification practice is. Just learning how to generate wisdom and compassion. So that’s what we’re going to do now. It’s the white light meditation.
It’s the same white light meditation that I would use in the healing course. But that doesn’t make any difference whatsoever. So if you’d like to settle yourselves down. And remembering that in the process of settling yourself down, you’re already bringing your mind into becoming introspective. So using this process, adjusting your body, letting go of any tension and balancing yourself around your spine and then focusing in on the breath.
Being aware of how your body actually changes as your mind becomes more quiet. Just note that and then go back to just being aware of the breath. Now visualizing in front of you that figure which to you represents this embodiment of wisdom and compassion. Allowing that to be present in front of you. If you prefer some sort of abstract symbol then use that as long as it represents wisdom and compassion.
It may even be a person that you have profound respect for, but then seeing that person also as the transmitter of this wisdom and compassion. And just as you would melt into a state of calm and peacefulness in the presence of a very wise person, a very compassionate person. So you experience the same thing in the presence of the light which is coming from the source of wisdom and compassion. It’s a very deeply personal experience allowing the white light. As the white light enters through the crown of your head, moves down through your body, you can imagine it like honey if you like, white honey coming down.
Then all the confusion, all the fear, all the anger, all the pain, any negative aspect of mind, any quality of ignorance, all this becomes washed out of you. Visualize it coming out of the pores of your body, coming out of various openings in your body. There’s black smoke, there’s black creatures coming out. All these things are passing away from you. If it worries you that there’s blackness coming out then imagine the Lord of Death with great delight feeding on all these black creatures.
It’s just what it wants. So all this white light is coming down melting through you and all the blackness is coming out. Giving that visualization as strong as you can. Your mind and your body becomes more and more pure, more and more clean. Each time you breathe in great waves of compassion, great waves of wisdom coming in.
Each time we breathe out all the negativities coming out, the grossest ones ones coming out, all the more subtle ones, the ones that we’re not even aware of. All of this is also coming out. Keeping that awareness of the white light. But now it begins to fill you up like white milk. Coming from your feet and coming up through your body.
As it rises through your body, the more subtle confusions and fears and obscurations. They float up to the top as this white milk of compassion and kindness rises up through your body. Eventually it comes out through the aperture at the top of your head. As it comes out then all the darkness comes out and just evaporates. Going through that process over and over again from the feet up very slowly and in your own time.
Now visualizing the most subtle confusion, ignorance and fear. It’s like a hard black knot at the heart. As you breathe in, then the light explodes instantly and your heart shines with this white light. And you abide in that. Repeating this process again and each time more and more subtle qualities of ignorance and fear exploded instantly as you breathe in the white light and you become radiant with this white light.
By the time you do this, you become more and more clear. The very finest, most subtle of the obscurations are going. You become radiant, body of light. As that body of light, you become aware of your family and your friends. And the radiance of your light is touching their hearts and touching their lives.
Transforming them in exactly the same way that you have been transformed. Those people that you don’t like are also being transformed. The light which is radiating from you is infinite, omniscient, deeply compassionate. It has the ability to transform every sentient being, to bring peace to the most distorted and unhappy mind. All these people, all these creatures similarly becoming radiant with a white light.
Let yourself and every sentient being around you. Simply present, abiding in this mind of innate wisdom and profound compassion. Staying with that sense of abiding in wisdom and compassion. Being wisdom and compassion. Did anybody have any difficulty with that or want to share your experience?
From the heart. The reason it’s from the heart is because the heart is the seed of the mind and therefore the seed of compassion. And the most subtle aspects of the mind reside in the heart. It’s only the gross stuff that’s up here in that brain. Sorry?
The explosion? I don’t know. Maybe yes, maybe no. I mean that white explosion can be quite potent. And if there is tension there, if we’re the sort of person who holds our chest tight or holds our heart tight through fear then there can be a sensation of pain there which might be a good thing.
Or trying not to let that happen. The mind is saying I want this to happen and another part of you is saying Hang on, this is too dangerous, it’s too radical. So that can create pain. But if things become painful by doing a visualization, unless you’ve got somebody to help you specifically so that you can be confident, otherwise it’s better to come out of that and do something which is simpler. Somebody asked me earlier about the Tonglen practice, which some of you will know, where you do a similar sort of meditation but you’re actually imagining yourself taking on the sufferings of other people.
And when do that particular practice do experience pain and they do feel physically the pain that they are taking on from somebody else or from other people in general. One of the things I usually recommend under those circumstances is to actually stop doing the Tonglen meditation at that particular point of time and go back to the purification practice. Because the reason we start to experience the sufferings is because of the lack of wisdom within us and the fear that arises from lack of wisdom. So we need to go back to the purification practice. When we are doing that purification practice also we can make requests of the deity that has the white light.
Make requests that our confusion is eliminated but also that we attain the necessary realisations so that we have the ability to do some of these things. Requests to attain realisations can be a very potent prayer to make with these sorts of visualisations. So say, Okay, I don’t know, I am frightened, I can’t do this fully but please help me to understand how I go doing this more effectively. We need to be careful. We need to use what wisdom we do have all the time.
There is no one practice which is foolproof one hundred percent of the time because everything is dependent on the circumstances at which we are using it. It is dependent on the degree of our wisdom or the degree of our ignorance. What will work for one person is not going to work for another person. What works for us at one particular point in our lives is not going to work later. What doesn’t work earlier might work later.
So we need to be aware of different methodologies. We need to be aware of how the mind is functioning so we can actually select a technique and a method which is going to be appropriate for us at a particular time. The Lotus Sūtra also tells a story where there is a man who has this huge house but the house is crumbling and falling down. A fire breaks out in the house and the house is starting to burn up and then he realizes his children are inside the house. So of course he runs in to try and get the kids out of the house but the kids are busy playing a game and they’re so involved in the game that they don’t want to get out of the house.
They want to play their game. And he says, But you can’t. The house is burning and they won’t listen to him. So he says, Look, I’ll give you a better game if you come out with me than this one. So they all rush out because there’s a better game outside.
Now the point of the story is that the method that these children were using to try and achieve happiness, which they thought was going to work, wasn’t working. So the Buddha developed another method which was in fact in some ways misleading and which wasn’t going to give them ultimate happiness but got them out of the burning house. So by giving them a better game he wasn’t giving them enlightenment at that particular point but he was actually getting them out of the house by using an intermediary method if you like. So we have many many methods which we can use which we use skillfully according to our understanding of ourselves and according to our understanding of how the mind works. You were very quiet this afternoon.
Maybe we should do some more meditation then. Did anybody have any difficulty with radiating the white light? Right? Right. Yes.
So part of you is seeing it almost as though you have to push it out of yourself. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. What I was trying to get at with that is not sending it like a caesura, like I said in my example, I’ve got to push a button and send it off out into the ether.
But the fact that we are so radiant with the light that is coming from us in any case, there’s no effort involved in it anymore. That’s the feeling that should be there. When you’re with a person, when one of the Lamas is here, if you’ve been here when Khensur Rinpoche has been teaching, when Lama Zopa has been here, or somebody of that quality, and you just sit in the Gompa and you can sense something very powerful which is radiating from them even though they’re not actually doing anything. That’s the quality I’m talking about. So this radiant white light is coming to us and it’s coming it’s just there, like the sun’s not making any effort to send light to us.
It is just part of the radiance of the sun. So this infinite white light comes to us through the sheer radiance of wisdom and compassion. And we become radiant in the same way as it comes out from us whether we want it or not. We just can’t stop it. A kid who is about to have a birthday party and they are all happy and jumping about, they are radiating all this joy You can’t stop them.
They’re not sending it out and making us happy. It’s just coming. It’s just there. These things are actually quite easy. In some ways they’re harder when we try to understand what it is that happens but it’s easy in the sense that it is just simply there.
The effort is actually in getting rid of the obscurations and the negativities. That’s where we do have to put effort into it, is to just let them go. Once that happens the rest is natural cause and effect. One of the things we need to think of in this context too is the quality of forgiveness and the relationship between forgiveness and purification. Anybody want to make any, give any ideas as to what this connection actually is and why are they connected?
Yes. Definitely. Definitely. Definitely. It doesn’t mean to say all the illnesses from that, of course.
No. No. But But I know What does it mean not to forgive somebody? Being angry? Not good.
Yes. Yeah. That’s got that quality, hasn’t it? Yes. Yes, yes.
Separation. We’re locking ourselves into some negative interaction, aren’t we, in the process of not forgiving? We are trying to determine that this negativity between myself and the other person is going to continue forever. We have to use energy to lock in. It’s definitely bad housekeeping.
Yes.