The visualization procedure of the Amitabha Buddha Deity Practice of the True Buddha School is described below:
Enter the altar and recite the Purification Mantras.
Recite the Invocation Mantra. Invite all Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Dharma Protectors.
Tender the Great Homage with Visualization
Form the Mandala Offering Mudra, make the offerings. (Sit)
Recite the Fourfold refuge mantra. Namo Guru Bei, Namo Buddha Ye, Namo Dharma Ye, Namo Sangha Ye (3 times).
Practice Armor Protection.
Recite the High King Avalokitesvara Sutra (1-3 times).
Form the “Meditation Mudra” with both hands. Hold both hands below the navel chakra, with the right hand over the left and palms facing up. Form a circle with the thumb and index finger of the right hand, and form another with the thumb and index finger of the left so that both circles meet. Alternatively form the “Root Mudra”. First, hold both hands in front of the chest and interlace fingers to form a fist. Then extend the two middle fingers to touch and form a circle. (Place in front of the chest)
Visualize while forming the mudra. First visualize emptiness. In the void, Amitabha Buddha with a red-colored body appears, wearing a robe, seated cross-legged on a thousand-petaled lotus platform, hands in the meditation mudra, holding a bowl filled with nectar, his compassionate eyes gazing upon all beings. Visualize the nectar in Amitabha Buddha’s hands transforming into white light, rising in an arc, and pouring into the practitioner’s crown chakra, making the practitioner’s body transparent like white crystal, eliminating all karmic obstacles. (Alternatively, white light emanates from the lotus in Amitabha Buddha’s hands, illuminating the meditating practitioner.)
Recite the Amitabha Heart Mantra (108 times) Om, ah-mee-deh-wah-seh. While reciting the mantra, count the prayer beads.
Nine cycle breathing.
Next, visualize Amitabha Buddha transforming into a red dot, entering from the top of the practitioner’s head, descending along the central channel, reaching the practitioner’s heart, and sitting on a lotus platform in the practitioner’s heart. At this time, Amitabha Buddha gradually grows larger, until he is as large as the practitioner. The practitioner then becomes Amitabha Buddha, and Amitabha Buddha is the practitioner. The two are perfectly merged, without any difference.
Entering Samadhi. (Without a single thought arising, with a single-minded concentration, one enters the Samadhi of Amitabha Buddha.) Hand forms the meditation mudra.
Emerging from Samadhi. Praise Verse.
Homage to Amitabha,
Whose majestic, pure vow brings peace and bliss,
To all sentient beings in the turbid worlds,
Guiding them to No-birth in His Western Pure Land.
(You may add 100 or 1000 recitations of the Buddha’s name here.)
Dedication
May all who uphold the name of Amitabha Buddha,
Be born together in the Pure Land of His Western Paradise.
Repaying the Fourfold Generosity from above,
And aiding those who suffer in the Three Paths below.
Upon seeing the Buddha,
May I be liberated from the cycle of birth and death,
And may I develop the qualities of Buddhahood,
And thus free all who suffer.
Tender the Great Homage to the Buddha. Exit the altar.
Living Buddha Lian-sheng believes that the Amitabha practice of mantra, mudra, and visualization presented here is not complicated. If practitioners follow the instructions and practice consistently over time, they will become increasingly proficient. Every time when entering the altar to cultivate, practice will make perfect. One can even comprehend the essence, truly enter samadhi.
There are many different images of Amitabha Buddha on the market. Some are seated on lotus thrones with hands in meditation mudras and holding alms bowls. Some Amitabha Buddhas are standing with lotus pedestals in their hands. Some have both hands forming the “Wish-granting mudra”, in a welcoming posture, and so on.
The visualization can be used flexibly:
Holding an alms bowl filled with nectar: “Visualize the nectar transforming into white light and entering the crown of the head.”
Holding a lotus pedestal: “Visualize the lotus flower transforming into white light shining on the meditating practitioner.”
Both hands forming the wish-granting mudra: “Visualize the light from the white urna between Amitabha Buddha’s eyebrows rotating, rising into the air, forming an arc, the light shining into the crown of the head, and filling the entire body with radiance.”
Living Buddha Lian Sheng says: “The visualization in esoteric Buddhism can be applied flexibly, the most important thing is to fix the mind on one form of Amitabha Buddha.”
After the Nine Cycle Breathing, if one wants to continue practicing inner fire to incinerate the light drops, it is also possible.
If someone after reciting the “High King Sutra” wants to recite the “Amitabha Sutra”, it is also possible.
When dedicating, if one wants to cultivate on the behalf of another, they can add the following:
“I dedicate the merits of this practice to [insert their name here], so that he may be reborn to the Buddha Pure Land, or establish a karmic connection with the Buddha sooner, or repent and turn to good etc.”
Dedication can also be applied flexibly, it does not have to be fixed and rigid.
Living Buddha Lian Sheng, in his book “The Great Perfection”, on page 141, wrote the Sadhana for the esoteric practice of Amitabha Buddha Personal Deity Practice. This esoteric practice is more complex, requiring the recitation of the “Seven-Branch Prayer” and “transformation visualization.” Some disciples find it difficult to learn, therefore, I have specially written a simpler “True Buddha School Amitabha Buddha Practice Procedure.” The two methods have equal power and merit. Practitioners can compare them.
Some Tibetan Living Buddhas believe that the easiest way to attain achievements, the most reliable and fastest Great Esoteric Practice to attain Buddhahood is still the Amitabha Buddha esoteric practice.
I believe this statement is very true, because Amitabha Buddha’s forty-eight great vows are extraordinary. The Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss welcomes all beings, regardless of their capabilities. In the Pure Land school, reciting the Buddha’s name, as long as one single-mindedly seeks rebirth in the Pure Land, or single-mindedly recites the Buddha’s name seeking Amitabha’s compassionate guidance, one will succeed just by reciting the Buddha’s name for seven days before death.
I believe that the Pure Land school’s “belief in rebirth” is a direct shortcut to be reborn. A practitioner of Esoteric Buddhism who visualizes, goes deeper than the Pure Land school, cultivates the Amitabha Buddha practice, will achieve “Amitabha is my true nature, I am Amitabha, Amitabha is me, this mind is the Buddha, this Buddha is the mind, nothing is left unaccomplished.”
Living Buddha Lian Sheng realized, among all Buddhas who relieve suffering, in the Saha World, Amitabha Buddha is number one. Even a three year old can recite a line of “Amitabha Buddha.” The light of Amitabha Buddha can be divided into “Immeasurable light, Boundless light, Unobstructed light, Incomparable light, Blazing King Light, Pure light, Joyful light, Wisdom light, Unceasing light, Inconceivable light, Ineffable light, Light Surpassing the Sun and Moon.” The Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss has Realm of the Three Grades and Nine Classes of Rebirth.
I have seen these dharmalaksanas of the Amitabha Buddha:
The “Amitayurdhyana Sutra” states:
I believe that disciples of the True Buddha School, if choosing their personal deity, can select Amitabha Buddha, because his power of salvation is the most extensive. The Dharmakaya [or Dharma-body] of Living Buddha Lian Sheng, “Padmakumara”, is the Lotus Bodhisattva of the Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss. The fundamental profundity within is ineffable. I specially write this verse to record it:
