Meditation on Amitābha

Meditation on Amitābha

by Sakya Paṇḍita Kunga Gyaltsen

To the guru and Mañjughoṣa, I pay homage!

From the Good Actions:

When the time comes for me to die,
Let all that obscures me fade away, so
I look on Amitābha, there in person,
And go at once to his pure land of Sukhāvatī.
In that pure land, may I actualize every single one
Of all these aspirations!

Using this statement as a basis, I shall here explain a meditation on Amitābha.

When going to sleep at night, lie down on your right side and practise taking refuge and generating bodhicitta. Imagine that the place you are in is the pure-land of Sukhāvatī, and visualise yourself as your yidam deity. Consider that before you, on a lotus and moon-disc is Amitābha, red in colour, with his two hands in the mudrā of equanimity and holding an alms-bowl filled with amṛta-nectar. His legs are crossed and he is adorned with various jewelled ornaments. Imagine that he is surrounded by gurus, and, beyond them, buddhas and bodhisattvas. Mentally perform three prostrations, and recite three times either the seven-branch practice from the Prayer of Good Actions or, if you do not have that, the Ten Dharmic Actions prayer which I composed.

Then, as you breathe out, consider that your own mind dissolves into the Buddha's heart, merging with it inseparably. As you breathe in, consider that light emanates from the Buddha's heart, and, following the pathway of your speech, dissolves into your heart, so that the buddha's wisdom-mind merges inseparably with your own mind. Repeat this process three times.

Then, at the end, consider that the buddhas and bodhisattvas dissolve into the gurus. The gurus then dissolve into Amitābha. Amitābha, in turn, melts into light and dissolves into you. You too melt into light, imagining that the Buddha, yidam deity and your own mind all merge together inseparably. Recite the following prayer of aspiration:

Born there in a beautiful lotus flower,
In that excellent and joyous buddha realm,
May the Buddha Amitābha himself
Grant me the prophecy foretelling my enlightenment![1]

Fall asleep in that state, without allowing your attention to wander elsewhere.

As a result of this practice, in future, you will leave your body behind, like a snake shedding its skin, to be reborn miraculously from a lotus in the western pure-land of Sukhāvatī, where you will receive Dharma teachings from Amitābha, as explained in the Ratnakūṭa Sūtra.

This meditation on Amitābha was composed by the Lord of Dharma, Sakya Paṇḍita.

| Translated by Adam Pearcey, 2016.

Version: 1.3-20230405