Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

In doing prostrations, concentration is needed not only
for counting, but also to make the action more
spiritually profitable. This happens when prostrations
become a meditation to be performed slowly and
mindfully, in which we think one-pointedly of the
object of worship. For example, we may visualize on
the right hand our father, and on the left, our mother; in
front are our enemies with their families; and behind are
the beings of the six realms, who have all at some time
been our parents. Thus, together with all beings we
worship the Teacher (see Appendix I, II, and App. III, A,
5).
There is a chapter of the Avatamsaka Sutra where the
vows of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra are written. In
the stanzas of this chapter, detailed visualizations are
given regarding the vows of this wisdom-being. By
Samantabhadra's meditative powers, countless Buddhas
appear; then, one of them becomes a group of Buddhas
as small and numerous as dust. One should visualize
oneself in as many forms as there are Buddhas, all
worshipping at their feet. Each one of these Buddhas is
surrounded by hosts of Bodhisattvas—altogether, there
are as many Buddhas as there are grains of dust in the
universe. If one does not have good powers of
concentration, how will it be possible even to start
visualizing all these forms?
In the Sutra of Amitabha Buddha, it is said that to praise
one Buddha with this physical body is not enough. One
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