Question: In Shoden Session #2 you refer to the Dhyana Technique as Binzuru- Ho. What is the significance of that?
Vajragoni: Binzuru is the Japanese name for Pindola Bharadvaja, who is a healing Arhat in Buddhist lore. The Arhats are beings of great transcendent wisdom and their role within Mahayana Buddhism is also to protect and maintain the Dharma; there are many stories in the early Buddhist Canon concerning this particular arhat’s magical healing abilities and his aid is often invoked. Within the context of this Dhyana Technique, his healing “energy signature” is invoked and the adapt receives the benefit of merging with this higher frequency signature; so, through Binzuru’s intercession, one receives the added healing energy that has empowered many throughout the millennia.
Question: In reference to the above photo, what is he holding in his hands?
Vajragoni: In his left hand he’s holding a begging bowl, which is the traditional posture of the historical Buddha’s disciples; in his right hand he’s holding a religious scroll, most likely containing the Tantra of the Lightning Flash, which is attributed to the Medicine King Buddha (the Buddha of the master of medicine), a tantra that grants healing and spiritual nourishment.
Question: Binzuru-Ho goes on to say that the five hand positions (mudras) of Binzuru will help to counteract the influence of the Five Skandhas. What are they and why do they need to be overcome?
Vajragoni: What we perceive to be as a “self” or person is actually a collection of five “aggregates” called skandhas, or khandhas in the Pali… Hence, the temporal existence of the person hinges on these five aggregates, and when they are disbanded there is no longer a person. The five Skandhas are as follows:
1. Rupa (form): Essentially, material entities that are concretized instances of sensorial impressions.
2. Vendana (sensation): How one perceives and responds to all experience. This includes all of the sensate associations of pleasant or unpleasant feelings.
3. Samjna (thought): All cognitive associations that result in “conceptualizations” about perceived phenomena.
4. Samskara (motion or volition): This is “embodied conditioning” wherein karmic presuppositions cause one to “react” to phenomena in certain ways; this skandha also contains bundles of habitual associations that determine how one perceives their environment and hence makes preconceived judgments about it.
5. Vijnana (mortal consciousness): an inner cognizance that uses the other skandhas as its object of perception. This skandha consists of 8 interrelated parts: Seeing consciousness (caksur vijnana); hearing consciousness (srotra vijnana); smelling consciousness (ghrana vijnana); tasting consciousness (jihva vijnana); tactile/kinetic consciousness (kaya vijnana); empiric consciousness (mano vijnana); focusing (manas) and storehouse consciousness (Alaya vijnana).
Without transcending the skandhas one remains attached to their heavy karmic influences and thus one is blindsided to the salvific Unborn Light THAT can free one from this dark and heavy bondage. Consider it this way…what we perceive “ourselves” to be is similar to denizens of a thick and oozing tar pit where everyone’s movement is hindered and weighed down with conflicting thoughts and emotions and sensations, all of which are bracketed by the surrounding samsaric ooze that constitutes one’s waking environment. In order to become liberated from this incarceration one needs to “turn about” and precede the skandhas by welcoming the hidden Unborn Light of infinite Buddhas whose boundless bodhipower breaks the spell of defiled aggregated existence thus cleansing the inner chamber of the bodhi-nursery where the defiled tar baby (gotra/asuddha) is now supplanted with the radiant Suchchild as the former state of agitation that once afflicted the temporal home (rupa/body) of Mind’s Essence is quieted through the Recollective Resolve and the animated image is discarded like a rotting piece of wood.
The general repository, if you will, of the defiled seeds (bija) of ordinary consciousness that contains all the karmic sensate data since beginningless time, is known as the 8th Vijnana or the Alaya-vijnana. In China, the great translator Paramartha was the first to declare that the Alaya-vijnana was “defiled”, hence the Alaya-vijnana can be classified as defiled garbha and is therefore the defiled twin of the Tathagata-garbha; after the aforementioned cleansing process occurs, the defiled seeds give way to the Bright Splendor of the Amala-vijnana THAT is the pure unadulterated and awakened consciousness of the Tathagata, as revealed through the developing Dharma Child.
So, what the Binzuru-Ho Dhyana Technique effectively does is to quieten the influence of the skandhas by Recollecting the Mantra from the Heart of Wisdom Sutra that declares the form of the Alaya-vijnana is in actuality the emptiness of the Tathagata-garbha when cleansed of its karmic defilements, and then, of course, vice versa as the emptiness of the Tathagata-garbha reflects the form of the Alaya-vijnana when in pluralized obstruction mode. What the UBLR (Unborn Light Reiki) adept does next in this technique is to transcend this little seesaw affair by merging with the Amala-vijnana through THAT marvelous Reikian Light of the Unborn as ones awakened primordial consciousness now shines within the Sugata-garbha (the supreme womb of Buddhaic Light).
Shoden Session #2: Binzuru-Ho
Invoking the deathless and unseen Light of the Unborn: The skandhas (form, sensation, thought, motion, mortal consciousness) cloud the clarity of the Unborn Light; as a result, these personal aggregates penetrate the inner chamber of the bodhi-nursery and stifle the progress of the developing dharma-child. If properly invoked, the antecedent Light of the Unborn prevents the rain of discrimination from soiling the serene sweetness of this Child of Light that only yearns for the Truth of IT’s Unborn Essence.
Dhyana Technique: In order to antecede the five skandhas practice the following:
Binzuru-Ho: Binzuru is a healing arhat who was a close disciple of the historical Buddha; through this technique his aid is invoked through utilizing five hand positions or mudras. Each mudra corresponds to one of the five skandhas, which in turn counteracts their influence through the healing Reikian Light of the Unborn. This is based on one of Usui’s self-treatment methods.
All hand positions relate to areas around the head and neck; remain in each position for 5 minutes.
- Sit and gassho (hands in prayer position) this helps to focus the mind and awaken the Recollective Resolve. Gently close your eyes.
- Sit with hands in lap and palms facing upwards; silently invoke the aid of Binzuru.
- Place your hands with the tips of the middle fingers together and touching gently the forehead (the palms facing you). Recollect that form is emptiness and emptiness is form; now antecede even this assertion through THAT marvelous Reikian Light of the Unborn.
- Gently place your hands on the temple areas of the head…right hand on right temple, left hand on left temple. Recollect that sensation is emptiness and emptiness is sensation; now antecede even this assertion through THAT marvelous Reikian Light of the Unborn.
- Place one hand on the back of the head while the other hand rests gently on the forehead. Recollect that thought is emptiness and emptiness is thought; now antecede even this assertion through THAT marvelous Reikian Light of the Unborn.
- Rest both hands gently on the back of the neck thus cradling the head…cupping them together (joined at the thumbs) at the base of the skull. Recollect that motion is emptiness and emptiness is motion; now antecede even this assertion through THAT marvelous Reikian Light of the Unborn.
- Rest both hands on the top of the crown, one overlapping the other. Recollect that mortal consciousness is emptiness and emptiness is mortal consciousness; now antecede even this assertion through THAT marvelous Reikian Light of the Unborn.
- Gassho: Give thanks for Binzuru’s intercession.
