As Duo'erna poured the water, she said, "This is the vase lineage empowerment. Through it, you may practice the generation stage and visualize the Yidam's bodily form. Yet without a Bodhi heart, this empowerment is nothing more than water."
Then, holding a length of lotus-a symbol of Guanyin-in her slender, pale fingers, Duo'erna lightly touched three places on Qu Zan: the crown of his head, his throat, and his chest.
"Opening the Channels, Opening the Winds, blessing your throat chakra for the vajra recitation to come."
As Duo'erna chanted, Qu Zan felt a cool, pure sense of Bodhi coming from his crown, throat, and chest.
"The [Seed Syllable] I impart to you is '??,'" Duo'erna said in an even voice that held loving kindness.
They had reached the most crucial part of this empowerment.
Duo'erna closed her eyes and visualized a white seed syllable, "??," as pure and bright as the moon, within her heart. The syllable radiated boundless white light, illuminating the entire scripture hall.
At that moment, Qu Zan and Duo'erna were connected through body, speech, and mind, and he too saw that seed syllable, "??." Its phonetic rendering was "Bam."
Duo'erna formed a mudra and recited the White-Robed Guanyin Root Mantra three times: "Om Pandaravasini Svaha."
The white "??" seed emerged from Duo'erna's heart, transformed into a mass of solid white light, crossed the mandala, and shot into Qu Zan's body. It settled within his body and mind, standing quietly as white light flowed around it without dispersing.
This was not simply memorizing a written character. It was planting the seed of the Yidam's primordial wisdom within the disciple's body, sowing a seed for him.
Duo'erna opened her eyes and explained its meaning to Qu Zan before her: "This 'Bam' is White-Robed Guanyin's seed syllable. This single