Ritual Service and Means of Attainment

Ritual Service and Means of Attainment (bsnyen sgrub)

• Whenever any means for attainment (Skt. sādhana) is practised, it will comprise the four branches of ritual service and attainment" (Skt. caturaṅgasevāsādhana). The four branches are as follows: ritual service (sevā) entails the recitation of mantra and one-pointed prayerful devotion to a visualised meditational deity; further ritual service (upasevā) entails the prayer that the meditational deity's blessings will descend, transforming the mundane body, speech and mind into the three syllables of indestructible reality (rdo rje yig 'bru gsum); attainment (sādhana) entails that accomplishments (siddhi) are received from the buddhas of the ten directions into the meditational deity and thence into oneself, either in actuality, meditation, or dreams; and great attainment (mahāsādhana) refers to the ultimate realisation experienced when body, speech and mind are identified with the meditational deity. GD (from the Glossary to Tibetan Elemental Divination Paintings)