Kuan Yin
Mountain Smoke Offering (For Kathryn)
by Karma Jang Chub
“There shall be no distinction, no regard to male or female, good
or bad, exalted or lowly; none who cry out shall be denied access to
this Land of Purity.”
- Honen Shonin (1133-1212)
Why wait until the flowers fall to understand that form is emptiness?
Implements:
3 rocks (visualize as skulls: no form, no birth, no will)
Fire vessel (visualize as the skull of the practitioner)
Vajra (Dorje) or wand
Vajra dippers or long handled spoons
Bell
Firewood (Include some Juniper or Juniper berries)
Clean source of fire
Hand fan
7 willow twigs bound with cotton string
Large bowl for mixed offerings
Small bowls for: water, butter or ghee, any other vegetable oils,
and a portion of the grain
Offerings:
Ones self, actions and omissions thru endless incarnations
5 grains, 2 of which are rice and corn
3 sweets: white sugar, dark sugar, honey
3 whites: powdered milk, grated cheese, curd
Much spice
Cake
A portion of the practitioner’s meal
Hell or play money
Fragrant flowers
Any and all objects of desire, corporeal and imagined
Spoken liturgy is in bold print.
Arrange implements.
Ritualists are first cleansed by water and fire. In deference to
custom, and because it is for specific purposes, we suggest not using
black garments or offerings. No dress code for Guests!
Animal flesh is inappropriate.
Cast handful of grain for the Earth and Residents.
Raise Vajra, ringing bell to the Buddhas of the 10 directions and Kuan
Yin.
Projecting the image of crossed Vajras, visualize Vajra Space.
Abiding in the limitless, the
Palace appears within.
Seven Branch Prayer (Based on a version attributed to the 14th Dali
Lama)
We take refuge in the Three Jewels.
Accept these real and imaginary
offerings, given with pure motivation.
We confess without exception all our
wrongdoings.
We delight in the practice of
unhindered activity in all Ten Directions, unimpeded and without any
thought for outcomes.
We give thanks for the turning of the
wheel, engine of swift progress.
We offer the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
our own bodies that we may assist in this Great Work.
We dedicate such merit as we have
accumulated to the Supreme Awakening.
OM MANI PADME HUNG
NAMO AMITABHVA
NAMO ARYA AVALOKITSHYAVARA
NAMO KUANSHIYIN BODISATVA
NAMO HAYAGRIVA
Refuge:
Praise and petition to Kuan Yin,
inexhaustible wellspring of mercy, Mother and nurturer, healer of
afflictions, remover of impediments, guiding star, gate of our
liberation.
Hear this cry!
Cauldron of pure descent,
singular vessel of salvation.
Supremely indifferent caregiver. With
you, hell is paradise.
Undefilable fountain of all
inspiration and rapture,
Pure and perfect Beloved of the saints
and mystics, hear our cry!
We seek refuge in your mercy!
We call for mercy, enthroned forever
in our hearts and in all the worlds.
Without kindness, teachings are of no
avail.
Without gentleness of spirit, there is
naught but misery.
Without compassion there is no Dharma.
I take refuge in the quality of Mercy.
I take refuge in Compassion, and in
the Compassionate One.
I take refuge in Mercy manifesting
within my own being.
Kuan Yin hear my cry!
Na Mo
Kuan Shi Yin Pu Sa
Chant the 7 syllable mantra, letting each sound pass into silence
before the next pure sound, like waves on the beach. Do not
connect the sounds or project associations, meanings or images. As
these occur, let them go with the waves.
Abide a while in this peace.
No form, no birth,
no will.
Making a vessica with the Vajra and vibrating Om Ah Hung:
Bless prepared firewood (ask that any creature harmed by this
fire be reborn in the Pureland)
Bless implements.
Bless offerings.
Greeting the 4 classes of beings:
Greetings honored Guests.
Welcome to the feast.
Welcome beings of perfected
compassion, beyond and in all places and times, non manifest and
assuming myriad forms for the benefit of sufferers.
Welcome good guardians and protectors,
teachers, all servants of truth, diligently aspiring to and achieving
appropriate direction, just and courageous concealers and revealers of
the treasures.
A special welcome to fellow wanderers,
devising and dawdling in endless webs of payment and repayment, action
and reaction, vicious circles whirling within circles, interminably
pursuing the garden of delight through this graveyard of worlds.
Most special welcome to the insatiable
and voracious ones, insane with greed, fearful and in fear, befuddled
and hungry, ignorant, lonely, cast down and abused, victims becoming
victimizers, sick, luckless and delusional, criminal and malevolent
spirits all bound and driven by snares and hooks of wretched
circumstance and error.
Partake!
Offering:
Build a small fire. Using dippers, make the smoke offering. Fan
fire and add ghee and oil as needed. To conclude, sprinkle a little
water on the coals with, then burn, the willow bundle.
Now the feast has ended. All have had
their fill. As we go on our ways old conflicts and debts are all
abrogate, assuaged by this great enjoyment. Thank you to all, and good
journey. Farewell!
No
form. No birth. No will.
We dedicate this work to the
end of suffering.
We ask for help with this work.
We give thanks for help with
this work.
OM
Dispose of ashes in flowing water, or where no one will walk on
them.
A note on Vajra Space:
“Projecting the image of crossed Vajras, visualize Vajra space.”
This involves a request to the Buddhas of the Ten Directions thru the
juxtaposition, around a vertical axis and standard quarter and mid
quarter points, of two interwoven fields.
Two pyramids of power, one with apex up and one with apex down,
copulate.
The remaining axes (plural of axis) branch and rotate
orthogonally, forming a hypercube.
Union of these two figures creates a hypercubeoctahedron of
invisible light.
This is not done to contain or exclude anything, at least not in
these proceedings. This is done so that the Eleventh, called upon by
Name and working thru the ritualist, can act within this microcosm
while reverberant with the universe.
More Amrita for my friends!
