Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 26-minute session, Venerable Thubten Dondrub guides a complete Śākyamūni Buddha visualization practice for beginners. He opens with simple seated posture and calming breath, then walks step-by-step through constructing a detailed mental image: a luminous lotus and celestial discs, topped by Buddha in golden light, radiating compassion directly at you. He teaches how to recite mantra while maintaining the visualization, requesting purification of confusion and negativity as light floods your being. The practice then moves into role reversal — you dissolve your ordinary body and arise as Buddha yourself, seated in the same glory, sending rays of compassionate light to all suffering beings until the entire universe transforms into enlightened beings. He concludes with a grounding reflection on Buddha nature and dedication of merit. Suitable for meditation newcomers or anyone beginning deity practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 02 DB Śākyamūni Buddha Meditation Mp3.mp3
UUID: 2346621a-9c50-4a3e-ac6f-f38ad52433f4
Teacher: Ven Thubten Dondrub
Collection: DB How to Meditate (Ven Thubten Dondrub)
Date: 2013 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 26.1 minutes
Words: ~1,316
So just sit comfortably in the correct posture as much as possible. Then just calm the mind by doing the nine round breathing exercise just for a short time. So then if you find it helpful, rather than thinking one is sitting in this room surrounded by people, It’s as though one was sitting on the top of a a mountain. And just all around, there’s just clear sky. It’s incredibly still and quiet, and there’s just a clear sky all around you.
So then imagine that directly in front of you, just an arm’s length away from you, at about the height of your forehead, there appears this incredibly beautiful lotus. Many petals, different colors, all in the nature of translucent radiating light And then above the lotus appears a little bit smaller in diameter, a golden radiating moon disc floating horizontally above the lotus. Then imagine that floating a little bit above the lotus is a golden sun disc. A little bit smaller in diameter than the sun. Then imagine that seated above the moon disc appears the magnificent form of Śākyamūni Buddha, having an incredibly beautiful body, a hollow body of golden radiating light.
The Buddha, Śākyamūni, is seated with his legs crossed in the vajra position. His body is adorned with the saffron robes of a monk, the patched saffron robes of a monk, so that the right side of his upper body is bare, the left is covered by saffron colored robe. His right arm is outstretched with the hand resting on his right knee with the fingers pointing down touching the moon disc underneath him. His left hand is resting in lap in the meditation posture, supporting a begging bowl that is deep blue in color, the bowl full of blissful nectar that overcomes the cause of all suffering. Think that the Buddha’s face is extremely beautiful, youthful, smiling.
He is looking directly at yourself with intense, great love and compassion. But one is aware that at the same time as the Buddha is perceiving oneself, he is fully aware of all other beings in in the same loving, compassionate way. Think that the the, ear lobes of the Buddha are very long. His lips are a deep red color. The shape of his eyes is somewhat long and narrow.
And the iris is a very deep blue. The hair of his head is a deep blue color, each hair individually curling to the right. And above the hair on the top of his head appears the radiating golden uṣṇīṣa. So just try and hold that image however much appears as strongly as you can. Don’t give in to sinking or scattering.
Just let hold your mind in that image. So as you maintain that visualization, make a heartfelt request to the Buddha for your mind to be free of all confusion, all suffering, all disturbing thoughts, all negative imprints from negative actions. So then think that as you recite the mantra, the Buddha happily responds, sending these blissful rays of light, white light, from every part of his body. And that light pours into you, eliminating all that confusion, suffering and negativity. Imagine that as a result your mind becomes very calm, very clear, very bright, very blissful.
So continue reciting the mantra to yourself quietly, continuing the visualization. Just try and focus strongly as much as possible, trying to generate the strong feeling, thought, that now my mind is completely purified. So now think that the Buddha in front of you starts coming towards the crown of your head. And as the Buddha does approach you, the Buddha becomes smaller and smaller. When directly above the crown of your head, imagine that the Buddha now turns facing the same direction as yourself.
And then the lotus, sun, moon, and the Buddha, all of this dissolves into a massive, brilliant golden light. And that blissful light then pours into you through the crown of your head. Imagine this generates an incredibly blissful feeling throughout your whole being. And imagine that, actually, this this ordinary body, this suffering body that grows old, gets sick, dies, that body just dissolves away. It becomes completely nonexistent.
And in its place, imagine that you now appear as Śākyamūni Buddha. Imagine that there appears in the space where you are where you are seated, this incredibly beautiful lotus, multicolored in the nature of light. Above it, the sun disc, and then above that, a moon disc. Then you, not with this ordinary suffering body, but an incredibly beautiful body of golden light is seated. You have a pure, hollow body of golden light, and you are seated with your legs crossed in the vajra position.
You’re wearing the saffron robes of a monk. Your right hand outstretched with your right hand resting on your right knee, the fingers touching the moon disc underneath you. Your left hand, resting in your lap, holds a deep blue begging bowl full of wisdom nectar. Your face is very youthful, radiant. The ear lobes very long.
Lips are deep red colour. The eyes are somewhat long and narrow. And the eyes are deep blue. Your hair on the the head of your head, crown of your head is deep blue, and above is the crowning golden uṣṇīṣa. Just let your mind dwell on that image, that you are now experiencing yourself, your true nature as a Buddha.
Imagine as a Buddha, you are aware of the suffering of all sentient beings surrounding you, family, friends, helpers, harmers, all the different beings of cyclic existence. So think that out of great compassion, as you recite the mantra, from every pore of your body as the Buddha, rays of light go out, touching each sentient being. And as they do so, each being becomes free of all suffering, all causes of suffering, and each of these beings transforms into a Buddha so that at the end, no suffering sentient beings exist. The whole of space is full of Buddhas. So think of especially the sufferings of human beings, all the different kinds of sufferings human beings are experiencing.
You can think of particular people, family members, or friends, problems and sufferings they’re experiencing right now. You imagine that you, as a Buddha, send out these rays of light that touch them, reach out to them, and all their suffering is dispelled. All its causes are eliminated, and they transform into Buddhas. They realize their true nature. So imagining the whole of space filled with Buddhas, no sentient beings left, just perfect Buddhas.
Then imagine all these Buddhas filling all of space. They all dissolve into light. And that that blissful light absorbs into you from every direction. All this blissful light, this blissful golden light dissolves into you. So that all beings dissolve into your heart.
So then we can conclude the meditation by thinking that actually all of this was done just at the level of my imagination. I haven’t become a Buddha. I haven’t been able to enlighten all sentient beings. But how wonderful if I could do that! And within me right now exists the potential to do so.
I have Buddha nature that will never be destroyed. So no matter what, I must use this and all future lives to realize this Buddha potential, to help all beings realize their Buddha potential. There is nothing more meaningful, more wonderful than that. So we can conclude the meditation and the session by, if you would like to join in, dedicating the merit which is on bottom of page sixteen. Due to the merits of these virtuous actions, may I quickly attain the state of a Guru Buddha and lead all living beings without exception into that enlightened state.
May the precious bodhicitta, not yet born, arise and grow. May that born have no decline but increase forevermore.