Meditation Practice: Archetypes, Mantra & Visualisation

Buddhist teachings are incredible profound, practical and effective. And, they could seem unusual to our modern sensibilities. In fact, the historical Buddha predicted that his teachings would last 2000 years – and we are over the 2500 year mark. I personally have benefited immensely from the ‘triple gem’ – Buddha (awakened Teachers), Dharma (Buddhist teachings) and Sangha (the community of awakening beings). I joyfully look forward to watching how transformative, liberative practices and communities of training continue to evolve. My primary Dharma Teachers Qapel (Doug Duncan) and Catherine Pawasarat Sensei, who are lineage holders in the sangha of Venerable Namgyal Rinpoche.

Deity yoga is from the tantric or yogic branches of Buddhism. This type of meditation can seem especially foreign to Westerners – full of imagery and symbolism from the Himalayan kingdoms, India and East Asia. Indeed – they are powerful archetypes (of which there are over 100 in this tradition), each providing a multi-dimensional experience of aspects of the awakened mindstream. Like Western archetypes of the Greek Gods or the Tarot’s major arcana – the Vajrayana Deities give us a direct experiential taste of liberative qualities like compassion, discernment, equality or interconnection. And, the strength of these Buddhist archetypes lies in their well developed multi-layered structured practices (sadhanas) which include mantra and visualisation components.