To begin this practice,
We bring our awareness to the sensations of the body,
Observing the tactile experiences,
Releasing tension,
And establishing a profound sense of ease and stillness in the body.
And then,
We allow our body to breathe naturally,
Without any attempts to control the rhythm,
The pace,
The volume of breathing.
We allow each exhalation to take away all the types of tension,
All the types of deliberate movement,
And all the stories related to the past or to the future,
Resting with the sensations of breathing in the present moment.
And,
Having established a foundation of relaxation,
Stillness and vigilance in the body,
A foundation of relaxation,
Stability and clarity in the mind,
We then explore our motivation for doing this practice,
Bringing to mind our highest spiritual or psychological aspirations,
And then,
In particular,
Thinking of our highest aspirations related to full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings.
It is in order to progress towards that awakening,
It is in order to uncover our amazing potential,
Our basic goodness,
That we are performing this very meditation.
And then,
We activate the creative or the luminous aspect of our mind by imagining that we,
Along with all the other sentient beings,
Are currently in a pure dimension that is perfectly suitable for spiritual practice.
We are surrounded by all the different types of natural beauty,
Sitting on a vast green field,
Surrounded by majestic trees,
Seeing majestic mountains in the distance,
Hearing the melodious sound of water streams,
And so on.
And above us all is the vast blue sky,
A symbol of the vastness and purity of our own mind,
And its true nature.
And in this vast radiant expanse,
We imagine a fragrant,
Fresh lotus flower.
On this,
And on a moon disk,
Appears the radiant,
Charming form of Red Sarasvati herself.
Her body is energetic and youthful to represent the freshness of her wisdom and eloquence.
Her body is charming because she appears in the aspect of magnetizing,
Bringing together everything that needs to be brought together for full awakening.
Her body is ruby red,
She is adorned with silken garments,
With jeweled ornaments,
Sitting with her right leg extended,
With her left leg drawn in,
And in her right hand,
Upon her right knee,
She holds a wish-fulfilling jewel,
A symbol of endless,
Inexhaustible abundance,
Inexhaustible prosperity that she can bring to us,
To all the other sentient beings,
To the overall network of interdependence.
And in her left hand,
Next to her heart,
She holds a mirror,
A clear,
Round mirror that reflects all the aspects of samsara and nirvana,
Exactly as they are.
And this mirror symbolizes her perfect wisdom,
Which is,
In turn,
Simply a reminder of our own innate wisdom,
Our capacity for wisdom.
In general,
Sarasvati's form is a visual expression of the unified speech of all the Buddhas,
And in particular,
Of the ability to transform the minds of beings when they hear that speech,
To inspire beings,
So that they can cultivate greater degrees of wisdom,
Compassion,
Generosity,
And so forth.
And as we're gazing at Sarasvati's charming form,
Our own ability to use speech skillfully,
Our own eloquence,
And our own ability to understand reality accurately,
Our own wisdom,
These two facets of our being become awakened,
And all the obstacles for eloquence and for wisdom are gradually dissolved.
However,
Because true wisdom is inevitably accompanied by love and compassion,
Our own qualities of love and compassion are also activated and strengthened.
While gazing at the radiant form of Red Sarasvati,
We remind ourselves that she,
In a way,
Is an expression of the inspiring influence or the blessings of all the lineage masters,
All of our spiritual ancestors,
Of our teachers in this very life,
Including our root teachers,
Our heart teachers.
And she is also an expression,
An emanation,
A manifestation of our own basic goodness,
Our own Buddha nature.
And in a way,
She is a window into our own Buddha nature.
And we're looking into that window,
In particular,
In order to remove all the obstacles for the cultivation of wisdom and eloquence,
Mental clarity and verbal clarity that we need on the path.
And so we mentally supplicate Sarasvati,
Inviting her inspiring influence,
So that we can succeed in the cultivation or in the uncovering of wisdom and eloquence,
So that we can succeed in mastering all the sciences,
All the arts that we need on the path.
And we also ask her to bless us so that we can always meet genuine teachers,
So that we can always recognize those teachers,
Learn from them,
Follow their positive example,
And thus embody true wisdom that is so deeply needed in this world right now.
With this,
We imagine that from Sarasvati's heart,
Boundless rays of light stream forth,
Entering our own body,
Speech and mind,
Entering the body,
Speech and mind of all sentient beings around us.
These rays of light also come from Sarasvati's mirror,
From her jewel,
And with them,
They bring all the boundless qualities of wisdom,
Clarity,
Eloquence,
And all the types of abundance as well.
Entering our body,
Speech and mind,
They purify all the negative propensities,
All the unskillful actions of speech,
All the problematic,
Unskillful patterns related to speech,
And so on.
They dispel all the mental obscurations.
They grant us all the realizations of the path.
And as we continue imagining this process,
Opening up to it,
Feeling a sense of warmth and spaciousness,
We can,
For a little while,
Chant or recite Red Sarasvati's mantra.
OM SARASVATI HRIM OM SARASVATI HRIM OM SARASVATI HRIM OM SARASVATI HRIM OM SARASVATI HRIM OM SARASVATI HRIM OM SARASVATI HRIM OM SARASVATI HRIM And then we continue chanting or we recite the mantra quietly.
OM SARASVATI HRIM We then imagine and feel that for us and for all the other sentient beings,
All the obstacles to genuine wisdom have been removed.
All the qualities of wisdom,
Eloquence,
Mental clarity,
Mindfulness,
Abundance,
Prosperity,
Generosity,
And so forth,
All of these qualities have been truly cultivated or uncovered.
And we have all received all the mundane and supreme realizations related to the practice of Red Sarasvati.
With that,
Sarasvati Herself comes to the crown of our head,
Melts into light and absorbs into us,
Blessing our body,
Speech,
And mind,
And we rest in a state of union,
Oneness.
From that spacious state of knowing openness,
We re-emerge with the thoughts of dedication.
We dedicate the energy of this practice to our highest aspirations,
To the goal of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings.
And we also generate a powerful wish for the wisdom of all beings to continue growing boundlessly,
So that all the mistaken views in this world,
All the types of confusion in the hearts of beings,
So that all of that may be dispelled,
And true,
Genuine,
Compassionate wisdom emerges in the heart of each and every sentient being.
With that,
We bring our awareness back to the body,
Noticing the sensations of the body,
Introducing some movement to the body,
And then we slowly conclude this practice and invite the bell.
