Morning Meditation Practice

Establishing a daily meditation practice is essential if we are to make lasting progress along the spiritual paths. For those who wish to establish a daily practice, and participate in this practice with others, we have Morning Meditation Practice. It's the perfect way to start the day.

We begin the morning with prostrations, a very special practice designed to purify all our negative karma. Prostrations are terrific exercise and a great way to wake up in the mornings!

What is prostration?

Prostration is an ancient practice designed to help us develop very special qualities, including humility and respect. We begin with our palms pressed together at the level of our heart, then touch our hands to our crown, point between the eyebrows, throat, and last the heart. This represents our wish to attain the special qualities of a Buddha's body, speech, and mind. After touching these four places, we kneel and place the crown of our head to the ground (half-length prostration) or we can extend our whole body onto the ground (full-length prostration).

Our morning prostration practice is the Sutra of the Three Superior Heaps, a special practice of thirty-five prostrations followed by short prayers. The practice is designed to help us purify negative and destructive states of mind, such as anger.

Our morning meditation practice begins promptly at 6:30am. We start by preparing our minds for meditation with the chanted prayers called Wishfulfilling Jewel, which honors and requests the blessings of the Dharma Protector, Dorje Shugden. Dorje Shugden practice is a very traditional practice that was practiced in Tibet and India for many generations before it was brought to the West by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. After we have completed the first half of Wishfulfilling Jewel, we engage in a Lamrim, or "Stages of the Path" meditation. These twenty-one classic meditations enable us to mix our mind completely with a virtuous object, such as minds of love and compassion, and minds realizing profound truths, such as the truth of actions & effects and the true nature of reality. We do one of the twenty-one meditations each day until we have completed the cycle, and then we begin again. After we finish our Lamrim meditation, we complete our practice of Wishfulfilling Jewel and dedicate all our positive energy to the benefit of all living beings.

A daily practice including prostrations, Wishfulfilling Jewel, and Lamrim is a time-tested method for genuine spiritual progress!