MANDALA OFFERING

Here is the basic open ground, the ground of my being

Here is the circle of my totality

This is the centre of my totality, the axis mundi

This is the environment in which I live,

These are the oceans and mountains the lakes and rivers the rocks and trees

These are beautiful places I treasure, the plants and flowers, the wildlife

These are the cities and towns that I live and work in, their value and downfall

These are the people I live amongst and work amongst

They are my friends and acquaintances those I depend upon,

These the people I struggle with, the object of my aversion and confusion

This is my work, my livelihood, my action in the world

This is my home, my garden and my possessions

The things I treasure and value and the objects of attachment

These are my loved ones, my family, my private life.

This is the body I inhabit in this life

These are my sense pleasures, the food, the music, the beauty I value

These are my dreams, my ambitions, my plans

These are all those things I wish for in my life that may or may not come to pass

These are my qualities, my talents and gifts

This is the knowledge and learning I have gained in my life

These are my habits, my emotional problems, my wounds

This is the core of my identity that I hold onto as real.

This is the spiritual journey I am on

These are the qualities and realisations I aspire to

These are the obstacles and difficulties of the path

These are the essential ingredients of my enlightenment

This is the treasure of my Buddha potential

This symbolises my enlightenment my victory over the confusion and suffering of myself and all sentient beings.

I offer this mandala of my essential totality and surrender my being to all the Buddhas for the welfare of all sentient beings

Please bestow your blessings.

All those objects of my minds three poisons

Coveted friend foe and stranger body wealth worldly pleasures

Without a feeling of loss I surrender

Receive them please and free all beings from their bondage.

OM YIDAM GURU RATNA MANDALAKAM NIRIYATIAMI

(This mandala offering can be performed in a similar way to the traditional offering placing the three rings of offerings onto a base plate. Reciting the first line one places an initial scattering of rice followed by the first ring with the second line. The second paragraph refers to the second ring of offerings. The third paragraph refers to the third ring. The last line of the third paragraph refers to the symbolic pinnacle of the mandala. The last verse is metered to the traditional Tibetan chant)