Visualisation

• Visualisation 


  The formation of a mental image of something.
• Buddhas 


  Enlightened beings.
• Bodhisattvas: Future Buddhas. As the ideal types for Mahayana Buddhism, beings who have experienced enlightenment but, motivated by compassion, stop short of entering nirvana so as to help others achieve it.
• Deity visualisation: Tibetan Buddhists will visualise a deity (an enlightened being not a god), focusing on the visual features and spiritual qualities. They may imagine themselves as that deity in order to absorb their spiritual qualities. It helps awaken their Buddha nature.
• Buddha Nature: The idea that everyone has the essence of a Buddha inside them.
• Medicine Buddha 


  Visualised to reduce suffering and promote healing.
• Avalokiteshvara: Bodhisattva of compassion. Visualised to help develop a sense of compassion.
• Buddha Amitabha: Buddha associated with Pure Land Buddhism. Visualised in the hope he'll help them be reborn in the Pure Land.
• Mandala: A sacred diagram of the Buddha's teachings, symbolising the universe, a Buddha, a Bodhisattva or a paradise. It has colourful circle-shaped patterns. They are highly intricate and can take weeks to complete. In Tibetan monasteries, they are made from coloured sand.
• Nibbana 


  A state of complete enlightenment, happiness and peace.
• Anicca: Impermanence. Demonstrated on mandalas which are brushed away on completion.