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The Lost Sadhanas Project: Maitreya
Practice: The Fourth Step - Destiny
Maitreya appears as a sun-child, eternally optimistic, new, and looking at the world with eyes of wonder.
He says,
I see the world before it was overlaid with malice and destruction.This practice looks at one's actions in life and how they benefited or harmed others. Beneficial actions and consideration of the welfare of others brings souls to Maitreya's world.We return to the steps to his paradise. The fourth step is the final step, before rebirth in a life that may be lived as a bodhisattva, where the paradise in not distant but is one's true home. How should one act?
This is the step of legacy. What sort of life will the person leave to history? One may be a conqueror or hero for one's country, one's race, one's team, one's party, or one's gang. Heroes are also responsible for those they harm. The voices of the wounded call out, "Do not let him [or her] pass [into a paradise]." The hells call.
Or one can be wealthy, having taken their money from the lives of the poor. He may stand on a mountain of gold and silver, with a table full of meat and bread while his wild dogs chase away the starving. His wealth and worldly success seem a guarantee of immortality, but the way to paradise will be blocked by the voices of the poor.
The person may live a life of scholarship and be wise, but will he or she teach those who wish to overcome ignorance? Or will he hoard his knowledge like a miser, gaining status from it and dismissing others as inferior or primitive? His words will form iron chains that will bind him to a dark rebirth.
The farmer, the craftsman, the carpenter, the horseman or soldier all do jobs that allow their families to survive. Some do what they like. Some have jobs they hate. But all are caught in the bonds of necessity. The question is: Can they see past their own families, towns, religions, and works? Are they awareness temporarily inhabiting a body? Will they sacrifice themselves because of their love for others? Are they fulfilling their destinies, and completing or meeting their karmic obligations?
When they have found their destinies, dark karma is washed away. Destiny is the final step that leads to Maitreya's paradise.
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Introduction | Methodology - Participant/Observer | The Bodhi Tree Sadhanas | Vajra Dakini Discussion | Vajra Dakini Commentary | Vajra Dakini Sadhanas | Vajra Yogini Commentary | Maitreya Sadhanas | Vajradhara Speaks About Yidams | Lost Sadhanas Conclusion