Cultivating a Daily Meditation

Cultivating a Daily Meditation - Dalai Lama XIV

In his discourses His Holiness touched upon all the essential points of the Buddha dharma, and provides a clear and simple method to cultivate a daily practice of meditation. He also goes into depth on how we should proceed in the effort to generate both the heart of compassion and the expansive view of emptiness, the Great Void, in our daily life. In addition, the question and answer sessions that follow each talk makes both inspirational and informative reading which often leads to issues that arise in the course of a layperson's practice.

In a sense His Holiness's discourses are principally a commentary on how one should proceed in order to cultivate a daily tantric meditational practice. The visualization used as the basis of the contemplation is that of Buddha and the four great Bodhissatvas: Avalokiteshvara, Manjushri, Vajrapani, and the female Bodhisattva Arya Tara, and explains the symbolic significance of these figures.

The picture that emerges from the totality of His Holiness's exposition is that Buddhism, in spite of its being labelled as religion, is mainly a way of life programmed to ensure that we bring some happiness, peace, meaning and purpose into lives, and that we learn to live in harmony with the environment.