SAMANTABHADRA

AND THE
PATH OF INTERNAL ALCHEMY

by Dale Goodyear
d_good_year@hotmail.com

The Bodhisattva Samantabhadra is extremely important for those who desire to pursue Internal Alchemy
within a Buddhist framework.

The Four Fundamental Bodhisattvas of Mahayana Buddhism are Maitreya, Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara,
and Samantabhadra. Maitreya governs the Fire of Love, Manjushri the Air of Equanimity (or Calm),
Avalokiteshvara or Kuan Yin, the Water of Compassion, and Samantabhadra the Earth of all physical
activity and expression, all the way down to the genetic code that rules how we manifest and express.

Internal Alchemy is about transforming ourselves in both soul and body by mixing Polarities, particularly
spiritual Fire and Water, and creating a balanced and healing Steam, or Mist, that propels our soul and
body into Liberation.

There are many aspects to Internal Alchemy, and various styles of it have been practiced by all Mystical
Traditions, whether Taoist, Buddhist, Hindu, Sufi, or Western. Here I present the fundamentals of my
own path of Alchemy with Samantabhadra, who is the Bodhisattva Sponsor of Alchemy and all Right
Change and Transformation.

The following illustrations show a process of taking the Fire from above (in the upper Dantian) and the
Water from below (in the lower Dantian) and bringing them together in the Heart Chakra (in the middle
Dantian).

Since the nature of Fire is to rise, and the nature of Water is to sink, we reverse their positions in the
Heart, bringing Fire beneath Water so that their natures meet and interact, producing a third force of
"Steam" (or Mist--it is neither hot nor cold but exactly balanced according to our need).

Because Samantabhadra governs the physical, he provides a space for this Alchemy in the Heart Chakra.
This space has two chambers which separate the Fire and Water but still allow them to interact.

The space Samantabhadra provides is like a manifested sine wave, an S. The Fire in the lower chamber
transmits its essence through the middle of the S into the Water in the upper chamber. Then the S
becomes an element to transmit and radiate the resulting Steam or Mist to the Heart Chakra and entire
Body.

In this Alchemy, Fire is rainbow-red; Water is rainbow-blue; and the resulting Steam or Mist is rainbow-
violet or royal-purple, the product of red and blue united.

This particular Alchemy brings Fire and Water together first into the Heart Chakra and then circulates the
resulting Steam from there through the entire energy body and physical body. It is really a spiral nebula
Matrix, bringing all things into the Center, after which some of the nourishing and nurturing Steam goes
forth to circulate through the outer body and aura, while the rest goes yet "deeper" into the "Heart behind
the Heart" a vast space where our inner spiritual and immortal Crystal Light Body is being prepared.

First, let's envision ourselves seated in meditation, and see how the Alchemical Fire and Water reverse
positions within the prepared Space of the Heart Chakra which expands to fill the entire middle Dantian:

Next, let's look at the Alchemical action in the Heart more closely, using both imagery and the English
letters for Fire and Water (you can substitute the appropriate letters for other languages, of course):
To practice this Alchemy, you use these thoughtforms in the modes that work best for you, either
internally seeing them, or feeling them, or imagining them, experiencing them in whatever way you can.
And then you also invoke Samantabhadra and commune with him, asking him to sponsor your Alchemy,
to do it with you. That will accelerate the whole process tremendously, because the fastest route to
Liberation is always a combination of Self-Power and Other-Power--until the day comes when you realize
and experience that Self is Other, and Other is Self, in the same way as the Little Heart Sutra teaches us.

Next I will go into another powerful way of producing Internal Alchemy and Transformation through the
immense Saving Power of Samantabhadra.

We can take his Chinese name, Pu Xian, and see that it is a Polarity (just as the Chinese name of
Avalokiteshvara, Guan Yin), a Polarity of Yang and Yin, or of Tian and Di ("Heaven" and "Earth"), or of
Dao and De (the "Way" and its "Power").
Pu means "all, all-encompassing, univeral," and equates to the univeral and omnipresent Dao. Xian
means "good, able, virtuous, worthy," and equates to the De, the Power, Virtue and manifest Action of the
Dao.

With these two, Pu and Xian, we can create an entire Yi Jing of Samantabhadra, with its 64 hexagrams
that correspond with the 64 components of the physical genetic code. I don't mean that Samantabhadra's
names for his 64 codes would be the same as those of the Yi Jing we are familiar with. I simply mean that
with the Chinese syllables of his name we can have a focus of some aspect of Samantabhadra's "Genetic
Code," through which he can bless us according to our motivation and purity of heart. (If anyone tries to
abuse and misuse his Codes--such as trying to use them for fortune telling or magic instead of meditation,
enlightenment, healing and liberation--be assured Samantabhadra will simply shut the door to any further
blessings.)

The easiest way to meditate on and take in these Codes is to simply scan them visually before sleep each
night, asking Samantabhadra to heal and liberate our own genetic code with his liberated and enlightened
Genetic Code. In that way he will daily place his Completeness over our incompleteness until the day
comes when we are Complete like him.

There is another fundamental Matrix we can meditate on with Samantabhadra. It involves the ancient Tai
Xuan Jing system of 81 tetragrams that use 3 fundamental Forces. This 9 x 9 Matrix really expresses the
"Holy Spirit" of the Buddhas--which Buddhists call the Nirmanakaya, "Body, or Vehicle, of
Tranformations"--in manifest Nature, including our own soul-and-body nature.

In Buddhism, Samantabhadra is particularly the Bodhisattva of the Nirmanakaya.

To create this Matrix under Samantabhadra's sponsorship, we still use the syllables of his name, Pu and
Xian, for Yang and Yin; then we add the 3rd Force of synthesis, the Fruit of Yang and Yin, "Heaven" and
"Earth", and Dao and De: the "Child," the Ren (meaning Human, both man and woman) who unites and
expresses both Polarities in mystical union.

For that 3rd Force, we use the frequent title of Samantabhadra--in Chinese, Wang. It means "Ruler"--
gender-neutral: either "King" or "Queen". For that matter, in Chinese Buddhism, Pu Xian manifests in
both masculine and feminine Transformations. So using the Matrix of "Heaven", "Earth", and "Human",
we have:

Pu = Heaven (Tian, also Dao and Yang)

Xian = Earth (Di, also De and Yin)
Wang = Human (Ren)

In the same way as the 64, we can use these 81 Codes for meditation, asking Samantabhadra to bestow
upon us his Blessings and Saving Powers. We can also visually scan the Codes either before bed or upon
waking up. (We might scan one set, such as the 64, before bed; and the other set of 81 when we wake up;
or alternate nights doing the 64 and the 81 Codes.)

I have posted the 64 Pu Xian Transformation Codes and the 81 Pu Xian Wang Transformations Codes
separately as Appendix A and Appendix B.

As you utilize these Alchemical Methods, Samantabhadra will partner with you and greatly hasten your
path to Buddhahood.