Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

Middle Fire Mindfulness La (Ram in
(smrti)
Sanskrit)
Fore Air Tranquility Hum
(samatha)
Thumb Space Wisdom (prajna) Kom (Kam in
Sanskrit)
2. Becoming Close to the Buddha
Because one has now come into the mandala, one has
approached very close to the Buddha, and there are
many special things to be done. In exoteric Buddhism,
the Buddha seems very far away—Buddha is Buddha
and man is man.
(The writer here looked up and caught Bhante's eye,
for the latter had been speaking on this very subject
in the Vihara weekly lecture the evening before
using two similes from the Saddharma Pundarika
Sutra.)
But in the mandala one becomes just like the family of
the Buddha. Before one can actually become a Buddha,
one must get rid of the concept "I am human"; otherwise
Buddhahood will be impossible. To rid oneself of this,
in Vajrayana there is a special "society" (of Buddhas,
bodhisattvas and deities), with special modes of
behavior (of offerings, worship, etc.), living in a special
country (the mandala of the Pure Land)—all this to
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