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':thing Above this, nobody si1;s above that and this means that • the Guru or the l.rt.l11a is supreme. There is no onr hif?her or more imuortant than th9 Lame;.. The second syllable, "~lA", is the Tibetan word f'or mother, and means that the Lama looks upon all. sentient beings as a mother does upon an only child, ~ith the same deep compassionate concern. The next word is t'1e \#ord, "D~·tPA", which means "holy or mo~t pE'rrect," tl:n very best, i~decd. The ne-xt word ;_s "N»I", which rr.eans ''nll" nnd this menns that -::»nf't ~.s taking ref'uge not in ,just one':; Root Lama, but in all tho Lama!! of' the tran!=mission. The second line mflan!l, "X takE· ref'uge in the whole r.:,thcri••e of' deities of' the mandalR" and refers to such deiti.hs ~~ Chnkrasnmbnvra nnd othrr hi~h YidD~!I which in meditulior. one f'ixe~ one's mind to. They are joi~1ed with ont- f'or ttt~ r< c;t of' one's liCe, and tl~cy hnve rnro.ny attendant deities. Tid.... is what the term, "the gathering of' deities" means. So t.,..e-t eventu~lly one's mind and the deity's mind bec~me th~ snmo. The word "mandala" m~ans the c:L.·c.:te or disc. Xt is literally ~he center and the circumf'cr~nce. So you can translc:1te it by the term "di~c", describ~ng the arran~em~nt of' the deities. One takes ref'uee in al]. the medi ta tional. deities of' the mandala. The thil"d l.inP is, "X take ref'uge in all the AwakPned and enlightened, Transcendent nnd accompli~hed Conquerors." A"·akened Enlieht.er.r.tent is ~ eJ:"pression :for Buddha, anct means the awakenin~ ~rom sleep-like ignornnce and the enli~htenment in all f'orm!l of' knowlPd~e. Th~ word "conqueror" ref'erR to conqucrinc the enen1y of' the def'ilement~. The def'ilements have been comtll~t~ly van~ui~hed. The term "accom~lished" means that all r:rert t qualities have been i''ully dnveloped and attained, all the physi~al mnrks of' perfection of' Awakened Enlif(htenment, aJ.l the verbal tone~ ?:f perf'ection nnd £111 the perf'ect que.li tie~ of' the A'#akened EnU.RhtP.ned ~lind. The term "transcendent" means that tho Awak~ned Enli~htened Mind has transcended the limits of' saf'1s~ric ex:!.RtP.nce 111nd :i..!l f'ree f'orever f'rom thP. vicissitudes of' suf'~erin~ n~d misery in sams::.ra. And one tnkes ref'uee in B.l.l the Hnc!dhaR. The ne::oct line is, ":I take ref'•.tP.e in th" Suprf"me Dhnrma." Just as w~t~r qu~~ches thi~~t and food cure~ huncrcr~ one weRrs clothes when one is col.d; and wealth and prooPrty make

11 existP.nce in this lil'o easier; all of these tllinp,s are very bene.ficial and helpf'ul to uR, but they are not or ultimate or supremo help. Total or suprem"e help is derived through the Dharma which describes the way we can transcend the sur~ering and misery which we are exposed to in samsara and come to realize Full and Complete Enlightenment. This is the greatest possible benerit that we can recetve1 thia is the greatest possil>le help that can be given. The next line is, "X take re~uge in the noble Sangha." Just as tl&ose people who have oriented themselves to achieving enlip;htenment are nobler that ordinary sentient beings, so those individuals that have come to a realization or the nuture o~ existence, the empty nature or self, such as the Arhnts, nre more noble thaa people who are strivine for this attainment, and similnrly Bodhisattva& who have orientatated themselves towards acheiving enlightenment ror the wel~are o~ others are nobler that Arhnts and again, higher level Bodhisattvas are nobler still than lower level Bodhis~ttvas, but the people who have orientAted themselves towards enlightenment on whatever level they may have reached, come under the term "Sangha." These are noble individuals. So one takes refuge in the noble Sangha. And, finally, one takes re~uge in the protectors: the Dakas and Dakinis and the Dharma Protectors who clear away nonconducive circumstances, impediments to Dharma practice and create conducive ~ircumstances. X~ X wore to go into a more detailed discussion o~ this, we would be here all nit~ht and it's already very late. When one does prostrations, i t must be done with deep devotion nnd deep ~aith, accompanied with recitation of the prayer for reruge. If this mental attitude is not present, then there is very little point in doing prostrations. When one ~inishes as many prostrations as one is doing at a time, whether it is 100 or 200 or whntever, one sits and imagines all the Sources o~ Hefuge dissolved into lip,ht; this lieht is absorbed into one's ow~ ~orm and one feels great joy, tremendous happiness that one is receiving the blessings n~ re~uge, the blessines o~ all o~ the Three Roots and the Three Jewels. This is a most wonder~ul and beneficial way o~ practicing the meditation. · · In future talks, I will be tal1! .~ei\1.t;; P. and thinking of . he·~ ~~ 1 tll terms of gre a t re Fpe~ t ~f~~2 ~ ly . When one rtn . \' DFholeso=""e =1r:t1on :'\;'ld ob s c, r ~. t.1on, is. ~hat w1 thout understand.~.n e t ""! em W:! mr.• y ter.u to bel1 r:·1~, 11 Ch, : !'1 3·: ~ no unwholesome karma, I :'laY '! r.o ob~curations," and such an 'l. ttitude ls not a go od starti~g p:ac" !o:":' the ce~it~tion, and it is o~e that will cause us ~o h v e gr~at doubt 2nd misg1v1n~ s Rbou~ the efficacy of such prar.t1c~~ . So, we n eed a t the very be ~i nning to unders t and clearly wnat unwholeso~e actio~ 1s and w~ ~ t obscurations are.

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As I have described before, ever,y sentient being has )find and this mind is no thing in itself. It is empty. It is clear and it is unimpeded. It is not com:·etent Mind, which recognizes its own nature to be clear, empty and unimpeded, and is a fully awakened and enlightened Mind. Not recognizing the nature of Mind to be empty, clear and unimpeded means ignorance is present or the Mind ·is ignorant. And, when the Mind is ignorant, there is a great deal of confusion. If you should ask, "What is 'ignorant?", it is Mind ~hich does not know its own nature and therefore knows nothing. This mind exhibits no determinate characteristics. It exhibits no form or shape or color. It is ver,r difficult to talk about. But, for the sake of example, suppose my hand represents Mind ·just as it is in itself. Then ignorance is like this pi~ce of cloth oyer it, which immediately hides the nature of Mind. It is not seen. It is not understood. This is· the first and deepest obscuration. Mind, not knowing the nature of emptiness, Mind not understanding that it is no thing in itself, can think of an I, ot a self, some thing, and this is the clinging to an I, the clinging to self identity, which we all experience, which we all do. And because of this supposition of an I, the clarit7 aspect of Mind, which is the appearance in the foremind of all of the manifestations about us. ~nd the objects of all the senses are regarded as something other, something which is not of this I, something alien to it, and are given a reality of their own. And here we have the twofold clinging: clinging to self as an existent entity and to operational phenomena as other external entities. And this twofold clinging to an I and to other is a second obscuration which further clouds the nature of Mind and is like this second !old of cloth. Due to the supposition of I and other, clinging to the concept of I and the concept of other, there arises emotionality; specifically the emotions or t~e emotional dispositions of attachment, of aversion and stupidity. !hese emotions themselves interact and develop. Out of attachment, jeiousy and greed arise; out of aversion, anger arises; and 'out of stupidity, pride. And of these six basic emotional dispositions, there is rurthur interaction and generall7 we say that there are traditionally twent7-one thousand kinds of attachment, twenty-one thousand kinds of aversion, twent7-one thousand kinds of stupidity, and twenty-one thousand combinations of all three of these together. In other words, we are replete with emotional dispositions. And all this emotionalit7 is in itself a third obscuration. Because of the rampant emotionalism, through basically attachment and stupidity, a great deal of action is perpetrated. And the kind of action that is perpetrated from these basic emotional motivations is what ve call unwholesome action, or nonvirtuous action; actions which torment and include such physical· actions as the taking of life, of stealing and of sexual misconduct. Or then there are the verbal actions of lying or creating disharmony

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through speech, of harsh language and of gossip. Then there are. the mental dispositions of coveting, vanity, of en~ity and of wrong views. ~nd this constant !low of unwholesome action, of karma arising !rom emotionality, is a fourth obscuration which again only further clouds the nature of Mind. A well-endowed disciple, who has great, or perhaps you should say, tremendous capability, who meets a compassionate Lama, can be given what are called the pointing out instructions, which point out directly the nature of Mind. This disciple can realize immediately the meaning of Mahamudra, or the great symbol, and in an instant clear away all of the obscurations and reach enlightenment. Needless to say, aucb individuals are indeed Vtr.f very rare. And yet, without clearing away obscurations of these kind, we simply cannot reach enlightenment. So, for ordinary people like ourselves, we rely on a complex set of actiona and practices and techniques. We begin with prostration• and the cultivation of faith and devotion. We persevere at the one-hundred syllable mantra of Dorje Semba, through the practices of mandala offerings and prayers to one's Guru. Stage by stage, bit by bit these obscuration& of emotionality, the obscuration& of instinctual clinging and finally the obscurations of ignorance. And with the removal of this final obscuration, enlighten~ent is realized. Unwholesome karma, such as the taking of life, stealing, lying etc., or the ten unvirtuous actions and emotional dispositions of attachment, aversion, stupidity, pride, jealousy and greed; these are referred to altogether as unwholesome things. The reason for this is because these emotional dispositions and these particular actions are the cause of suffering in samsara. It is through accumulatin,karma and being subject to emotionality that one gathers unwholesome karma wnicn is experienced as birth aa a bell-being or as an animal or in any of the great realms or auffering within samsara. Obscurations refer to the biding aspect of karma and emotionality, but particularly the obscuring and clouding aspect of instinctual clinging and of ignorance itself. And here tne emphasis is on the fact that things are clouded. They are not known because they are bidden by ignorance, by emotionality, by instinctual clinging to a self and others. And, it is not only the nature of Mind which is obscured, but also compassion. It is the extent of the obscuration, the totality with which it hides all the qualities we need to develop, and which emphasizes the great importance of clearing away these obscurations. And this is why we need to know something about what constitute• obscuration& and what constitutes unwholesome things, so we know exactly what we are dealing with. On the other hand, one might ask, "Are +.he3e obscurat1ons, are these unwholesome things substantial tbings7 Do they have any corporality?" Well, they don't. They have no corporality whatsoever. Ultimately, they are empty, they are no-things in

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themselves. They are empty. And if they are not things in themselves, bow can they be so harmful? How can they obscure? ~ind itself is no-thin~ in itself: !rom time immemorial lUnd bas never been a thing. It s never been some thing. And so all which arises from lUnd can be no-thing. It's empty. And bow do the::;e obscurat1ons harm us? Well, one considers the example of a drP.am. During a dream one can see things, one does see things, one can talk, communicate, one is subject to fear, joy, happiness, anger, jealousy. And yet, none of the::;e emotions that we have in the dream has any real intrinsic reality. There is no surety or absoluteness about them ~hatsoever. And it is exactly tne same thing with obscurations and unwholesome things now. Ultimately they are no-things in themselves. But until we are free from instinctual two-fold clinging to I, the concept of I and the concept of other, we'are subject to action, i.e., the law of karma which can harm and can help us. ~n fact, the whole effectiveness and the possibility of being able to clear away such obscurations and unwholesome action is dependent upon their ecpty nature. It is because they are empty tnat ultimately speaking they are not sure, corporal or real things. It makes it possible for them to be cleared away, to be r~mcved. If any obscuration or unwholesome action was a real thing, th~rP ~ould be no way whatsoever of removing it. But, because they ~re ebsentially no-things in themselves, then through meditation on Dorje Semba, Vajrasattva·, through reel tation of this mantra, we can clear away all of these obscurations. So, it is in order to clear away unwholesome karma and obscurations that we practice the meditation ot Dorje Semba. To practice the meditation of Dorje Semba, O!'.e ililagines that upon one's head there is a white lotus, and above this the flat dis~ of the moen. Above this there sits Dorje Semba or Vajrasattva. In essence this is one's Lama present on tne top of one's head. In manifestation it is Vajrasattva. Vajrasattva is white in color and wears the same jeweled ornaments as Chenresig does: that is a crown, earings, necklace, armlets, br~celets, etc. His body is a brilliant white. He has one face and two hands. His right hand holds a golden dorje to his heart. His left hand holds a silver bell in his lap, and hi~ !eet rest in what is called Semray Chiltl".lng, .or the posture of relaxation, which is the left leg drawn in and the right leg • sl1g~tly in front. When one meditates on the form of Dorje Semba, 1t is iDJportant to ceditate that it is not a corporal form, that it is in essence empty. It is no-thing in itself. It appears liKe a rainrow in the sky, like the moon reflected in water. It is brilliant in its appearance: brilliant and full of the radiance of blessings and inspirations. Yet, ultimately it is no-thing, has no tangibility or corporality. When you meditate on Dorje Semba, the si~e that one meditates Dorje Semba is entirely arbitrary. Further, one meditates that on the forehead of Dorje Semba there is a white Om, at the throat a red Ab and at the heart a blue Hung. In the centre, right in the heart, there is a white mo:.n, above wb.ich stands the letter Hung, also ~bite, and around this stands in the circle the syllables of the one-hundred syllable mantra. One needs to

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meditate that all of these thing• reall7 are present in the form of Dorje Semba. At ~his point, Dorje Semba is a projection of one's mind. That is, it is tnrougb one's own.conceptual thought and imagination that one is imagining Dorje Semoa to be on one's bead. It ia a conceptual thing. And tnia is called "the deity which holds the bond", the bond of one's mind. !hen from the vnite Hung in the heart and the mantra which surroun~s the Hung, brilliant light radiates out in a!! directions, ia offered to all the Buddhas and draws the attention of all the Buddhas in the Pure Land. The1 send their emanations in the fo~ or »orje Semba. One meditates that all of these manifestations of Dorje Se~b~ are absorbed into the Dorje Semba on one's head. The Dorje Semb·, that one imangines is coming from the Buddhas is called "the tra~cendent aspect of the deity". By meditating that the transcendent or the awareness aspect or the deit1 is absorbed with the bonding aspect of the deity, one joins tnese two. l~e awareness aspect is Joined witn the bonding aspect of the deity. If, wnen one me~itates at the beginning or the meditation that Dorje Semba is on one•s nea4, ann one nas absolutel1 no doubt, bas cumplete confidence that Dorje Semba is really present on one'a head, and one has no doubt or uncertainty ~ithin one's mind, then one do~s not need to do this un\fication of the bonding aspect and the ali.lre!lesa aspect of the del ty. But, we who 'lre practicing Dha~A and beginning to practice Dharma nave Yery many doubts and we are acu~ely conscious or the fact that.these deities that we imagine on the top of one's head are simply projections of our mind. And we think, "well, this is Just a projection of my mind. How can this be at all effective in clearing away obscurations and iD clearing g,way unwholesome karma?" If there are any doubts whatsoever, the meditation is not effective, the obscuration& and· defilements will not be cleared away. So in order to remove all vestige of doubt, one imagines that a brilliant light comes from all of the Buddha Lands and through this absorbtio:l iuto the bonding aspect of the deity, the bonding aspect and the awareness aspect of the deity are Joined together and it really is Dorje Samba on one's head and one can have complete faith and confidence in this. This is the main reason for this part of the meditation; this utter confidence, utter trust that Dorje Semba is present on one's head. One prays to him with the deepest sincerity, the deepest yearning, praying that one's self and all other sentient beings be blessed by the purification, the co~plete removal of all unwholesome ka~•. unwholesomeness of all obscurations, of all moral failings and f· ult£whatever has been accumulated from the beginning of s•~~ara-- and that one's Self and all sentient b~ings will bd c~mpletelJ purified of all these things. After this prayer, one med1t~tes that from the white Hung in the heart, and the mantra Wtlioh ~urrounas it, the elixir of awareness begins to fall, and eventually p')urs forth in great qua11tity; and this elixir completely f\lls Dorje Semba's body, and begin~ to flow out of 1t through the pores of Dorje Samba's body; pr1nc1pallt !rom

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his large toe e-n hts right foot. From t~-.~;1 lt enters one's own body through the crown of the heR.1, at'.d as 1 t t'nter~ one's own body, all of the unwholesomeness, impure ka1~a, defilements, obscurations; all of these things are expell~d from t~e body through the pores and through the orifices as a black ooze. It is very important to meditate that the obscurations and unwholesomeness go out as black ooze. There are definite reasons for meditating that they take the color black. Ultimately speaking, the obscurations and unwholesomeness have no 1ntr!~sic reality, are empty, and exhibit no form or oolor whatsoever, so or.e has to create an association, a condition or connection through which one can focus one's attention upon them and the connection used is the color black. The reason black is chosen is because of the five basic colors of white, yellow, green, blue and red; t~1e presence of black deadens every color,. That 1a, when black is mlxed with white, the white is gone; when black is mixed with yellow, the yellow is deadened. The same is true for red, green and all the other colors. This symbolizes the deadening effect of unwholesome action with regards to all aspects of our being. So unwholesome action is present, and those aspects of our personality, of our being a~ deadened and made unwholesome. For this reason one meditates the unwhole~omeness and the obscuration& take the form of a black ooze and k:~ completely expelled. In addition to tt!~, one also meditates that the corporeal body which arises as c.. mE'.ulfe station CJf our own delusion, th1 s flesh and blood body we now experience, also is dissolved by this elixir of awareness, and all corporality and tan6ibility of this body is w~she~ away. ~o flesh, blood, bones, sinews, tendons, everytbing are also expelled and the body becomes brilliantly clear, brilliantly luRterous, becomes like a rainbow. It appears as through the indivisibility of emptiness and clarity. So when one meditates, one sits with the body straight, meditating in this way, repeating the one-hundred syllable mantra over and over again in a soft-spoken • voice. This is the outer practice of Dorje Semba and in the outer pr:~.ctice of Dorje Semba, it is illlport.ant to actually say the mantra spoken. An example that is used to illustrate the ineffectiveness ot just mouthing the mantra without any vocalization is of a horse · moving his lips as he stands in the sun. In the meditation, one is making use of one's total being. PhJsically, one is sitting straight and erect, and using the rosary, vr mala. Verbally one is repeating the one-hundred syllable mantra, and mentally one is focusing on the unwholesome karma that one has accumulated in the past, praying for its removal and doing the visu~lizations of the meditation. Through the power of these three·kinds of action,·being connected with the blessing of Dorje Semba himself and the energy and the power within the mantra of Dorje Semba, one may have no doubts whatsoever that through proper meditation one's unwholesome action and obscurations will be completely cleared away.

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Q: Is this something which we attune to naturally which one might say•1s immanently present or 1s this something which we project with our mind? A: It 1s bo~h immanently present in th~t Vajrasattva is present right from the very beginning, so to speak, and it is also a mental projection. It 1s through the connection between the immanently present an~ the mental force of the meditation that obscurations can be cle~re~ away. This can be described through example. Suppose that the immanescence of Dorje Semba were represented b7 a jug o! milk which is present, and one's meditational aspirations were represented b;t a glass. So, with the jug of milk and the glass present, milk can be poured into the glass and the glass will be filled with milk. But, with just the glass and no jug o~ milk, the glass can vever be filled; and similarly, without the glass and the pouring, the milk just sits there in its jug. But, witn the interaction of the two, with the interactions of our own aspirations and mental meditation, which is symbolized by the glass and the pouring, and with the presence of the milk and the jug which symbolize Dorje Sembs 1 s immanescence, then the glass is filled with milk and our meditation is effective. In addition, one needs to invoke what are called "the four forces which clear away unwholesome action". These four forces are individually powerful apd together they can clear away any unwholesome action whatscev~r. The first is called the force of the Mind, and is a reliance upon the vow or the attitude of say, Refuge or Bodhicitta, or t~king lay, monk or nun ordination. Renewing this attitude because one h3s commited unwholesome action is the force of the lUnd. The second force is the force of Remedial Virtue or Remedial Action, ~hicb means that one undertakes some particular act to clear away the effects of unwholesome karma; one does some noble or virtuous ac~. In our context, this would mean Dorje Semba meditation und the repetitio~ of the one-hundred syllable mantra. The third force i~ tt1e ofcrce of Remorse or Regret, and is the feeling that one generates by t~1nking about the effects of such action; how much it hurts others, how harmful it is to one's self karmically, and generating the feeling of sincere regret and remorse that one actually did that actl~n. The fourth force is the force of Resolution, 1n which one resolves and vows never again to do that particular action. To do Dorje Semba meditation in the fullest possible way, one does one-h•.mdred thousand of the one-ilundred. syllable mantras and six-hundred thousand of the short mantras. And when one finishes the meditation session, say, one's done onehundred or one-thousand of the long m:1ntras, one concludes this with repeating the short mantra, OM BEN,;A SATO HUNG, a number of times, contributing towards the accumulation of the six-hundred thousand repetitions. Mantras which one repeats during the day do not contribute to the accumulation of the one-hundred thousand or the six-hundred thousand. It is onll the mantras that one says during the meditation session.

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If one should become sick, onP &hould ~cditate, when one is doing this meditation, that the sickness is being expelled in the form of blood and pus. The blood and pus comes out of one's body if one l'epeats the one-hundred syllable mantra and this is purifying one's.self of the sickness. If one is subject to the influences of demons, then one meditates that these demons are e~pelled from the body in the !orm of frogs and snakes and other animals like this. There are various indications ~bether one's meditation ls going well. The most important indications are a totally different feeling of physical and mental well-being, perhaps accompanied by a deepcn1n6 of faith in the Three Jewels or the development of new an~ deeper ccmpasslon for sentient beings, or a better understanding of the meaning of emptiness, a feeling that one is coming to understand directly what this refers to, an increase and depth to one's wisdom and under~tanding of Dharma, a renewal of the a~ersion and revulsion for samsara. These are the best signs that one's meditation is being effective. At the end of the meditation session, one joins one's bands in prayer and prays to Dorje Semba, first confessing that through stupidity and lack of k~owledge, one bas committed a great deal of unwholesome action and one. is relying on Dorje Semba to clear away this unwholesome action .. and all the karmic effects of it. One confesses and admits that one bas broken the fourteen root and eighteen branch precepts,broken vows, broken resolutions, unwholesome karma, non-virtuous action, all the moral failings, subjection to emotionality; all of these things one confesses and admits and prays to Dorje Semba for complete purification from all of these things. At this point, J)orje Semba calls to·one and says, "You have been completely cleared of all unwholesome karma and obscuration&", and one should think at that ~·c:nt, "Yes", and be very, very happy and cultivate a feeling of happiness and joy that one bas cleared away all of these ·obscurations. Tbe Dorje Semba, who is extremely happy to bave helped one clear away all these obscurations, dissolves into light and his form, the form of light, dissolves into one's o~~ form, like water being po~red into water and one lets the mind rest for a valle in its natural s~ate w4taout any effort or contrivance. And after this, one dedicates the merit of the practice, dedicating it to the benefit of all sentient beings. Q: If one is also doing another Ylddam such as Chenresig or Manjusri, should one devote more time to Vajrasattva meditation or do these equally, or what should one do? A: If one is gathering or accumulating the one-hundred syllable mantra, then t11ls should form the predominate part of one's practice; but one should do the Yiddam meditation, whatever Ylddam it is, regularly every day, even if it is only for a short time. Q: Would another Yiddam have the same effect as the Dorje Semba medt.tation? A: Generally speaking, all of the Ylddams are tbe same in essence and are equally effective, but the best and most powerful method ot clearing away obscurations is Vajrasattva meditation.

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Q: I! one follows the Buddha's precepts and questioned everything and applies this !or instance to the law of karma, saJ·ing, well, the law of karma does not seem to be anything, like the self is no-thing, so perhaps there is no law of karma. Yet one realizes this is a wrong view. How does one cope with this kind of situation .. A: If one tninks that there is no such thing as karma at all, this is a wrong view. If on the oth'!r hand, one thinks in essence karma is empty, devoid cf intrinsic being, yet as long as one is subject to this in~tinctual two-fold clinging, of I and other, one is subject to the laws o! karma. This is not a wrong view. To illustrate this empty nature of karma and yet its existence; aopealing to a parallel. What exactly is it that we have learned in the course o! our education? Many of us have been edu9ated here in Canada. Some of us will have gone to school for fifteen or . twenty years. That's a lot of learning. If this learning were in any way tangible it wouldn't be able to fit in our bodies whatsoever. It might fit into B.C. It probably wouldn't fit into Canada actually. But it's not tangible. It's empty. And so it doesn't take up any room. It doesn't stay in any place. It doesn't exhibit any cbaracteristl~ whatsoev$r. Yet, as soon as we want to apply what we've learned, there it is. We know it immediately. And karma is like that •. r.a1~l is empty. Yet the results of karma are birth among hell-belnJs, among hungry and thirsty ghosts and animals. Well, hell-be~~gs, hungry and thirsty ghosts and animals are ultimately speaking empty, yet they experience tremendous neat and cold, and pain and misery, hunger and thirst. Q: ifuat is the difference between love and compassion? A: In Buddhism, love and affectlon refers to the kind of feeling that the mother nas for a chtld, a feeling of great affection and love. Compassicn, en the o~her hand, is a kind o! feeling one gets when ~~~ s~es a person doing something which you know is going to cause thGm ~ let of pain and a lot of hardship. One feels concerned and co~passionate and wishes to help them find a way out ot the difficulty which he is creating for himself. In Buddhism, compassion is most important, but without the generation of love, compassion cannot arise.

Q: A:

Is compassion part or the intrinsic nature of Mind? Compassion is an inherent quality of Mind.

Q: The loss of effects o! not saying the mantra out loud; does that apply to other Yiddam meditations such as Chenresig? A: It applies also to Chenresig meditation and repeating Chenresig's mantra, but does not ap~ly to some on the higher Yiddams such as K8rlo Demchog or Dorje Palmo. For these meditations it is said that it should only be hear~\at the neck.

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Q: When one is doing Dorje Semba meditation, should one meditate that all sentient beings are doing Dorje .Semba meditation with you? A: At this point, no. One is doing the outer practice and one does not do this meditation at this uoint. ~~ At the beginning of an initiation the lama and some of the people will b~ saying the one-hundred syllable mantra as people are coming in for the initiation. Does thls imply that one should do the one-hundred syllable mantra before any pract1ceY A: It is good to do Dorje Semba meditation before any practice, but it is quite alright not to do the one-hundred syllable mantra meditation before practice also. The reason that it is used or said immediately before initiation is that the people wmo come for initiation, being sentient beings, have a great deal of unwholesomeness and ob~cu~ations with them so by repeating the Dorje Semba mantra right at the ~eginning one creates a condition tbrc~ih which all the obsc~rations and defilements of all the participants in the initiation can be mere readily purified.

Qr Does one spend an equal amount to time thinking about evil actions done in the ,ast and in visualization Rnd interchange of these two? A: If one is doing Porje Semba meditation for a~y, one or two hours at a time, it is extremely difficult to think of everyting the whole time. So during the medit~tion, while one is repeating the mantra, one sometimes focuses one's attention mainly· on Dorje Semh~ ~itting on one's head, sometimes on one's body being cleansed through the elixir of awareness, and sometimes on one's unwholesome actions being expelled as the black ooze from the body. Sometimes one focuses one's attention on the mantra, sometim1s on an attitude of e~reme remorse and regret as to actions done in the past. But it is not necessary to think of individual unwholesome actions that one has done in the past, but to think of them collectiv~ly as engendering great regret and remorse for all of the acti~ns that one has done in the past.

Q: Whem is it that the blackness goes? A: One meditates that it penetrates very deeply under the earth. One can meditate many different thinBS that hapnen to it, but for our purposes in this meditation it is sufficient to meditate that it goes far, far away deep into the earth.

Does Nondro or the foundatio~al pr,actices have to be done in the traditional order, starting with prostrations, Vajrasattva meditation, mandala and Lam~ Nalgor? A: This is the traditional way of doing lt. First do prostrations and then Vajrasattva meditation~nd·thcn proceed with the other practices, but if there are particular reasons why it is difficult to do it in this order, then one can change the order and do, say, Vajrasattva meditation first or someting like that. Q:

How can one know an enlightened be1ng·? In actual fact one can use a bit of discrimination and discern soce o! the qualities v'rticn enlightenment produces. it. nerson who has reached enlightenment will be free of emotion~ll~y ~o a large extent. He will not be subj~ct to anger and ave:rstt~n nor Jealousy and greed, nor attacrunent and clinging. If on·.! examines people carefully, these kinds o! qualities can be d1sc~rned. It is said, one doesn't know who's a thief and who's a Bu~dha, so one keeps one's possessions safe and one fosters faith and devotion for everybody. Q:

A:

Q: Could you offer some explanation o! the unimpedetness o! mind and its relationship to i't rman:3.k.aya or a sentient. being. ).n tne world? A: Cnimpededness re~ers to tne completely uninterupt~d, unobstructed· !low o! th~ught. For e~aaple, if ~his door were closed, people couldn't zo out 1~d that would ~e an obstruction or an icpediment. But with the door C'lpeft, pee>ple Just go out of the door very easily. As ~pf!ied to th~ ~lnd, it refers to the completely unimpeded natu!"e of thoug,lt , o:te tt1ought after anotner after another without any break. If there's any break, that would be an impedim~nt. Mind exhibits these three aspects of emptiness, clarity and unlm~1ededness or unobstructedness. The emptiness or the empty nature of mlnd is absolutely formless, without any corporality or tangibility ot it so it is never seen in any way whatsoever. Tne clarity is a finer aspect of mind, and the unimpededness a still finer aspect. So the real1zaticn of emptiness b~comes Dharmakaya or existentiality, and is not seen or nercieved but is directly realized. The finer aspects of mind, su~h a~ clarity, aris~ through the interaction of the tremendous merit aud aw':lreness of the Bodhis~ttvas with the potentially inapirational blessings of Dbarmak.ayd. And th':lt is Sambhagakaya, which ia the clarity aspect of mind. The still finer aspects of mind become Nirmanakaya or a sentient being in the world which is a manifestation of enlightenment, in such a form which can be percieved by a person of great merit, such as the people who came in contact with Sakyamuni Buddha. One does not need.to examine carefully whetner ether people nave realized emptiness or not. What is most important is to examine oneself as to whether one's self has realized e~ptiness or not. Q: Wh~t do you mean by finer aspects? A: Well, that's sl:nply what was said- finer, nobler. even be more subtle - that idea.

It could

2)

MANDALA OFFERINGS October 27, 1974

In the Buddhist tradition, the arising of the physical form is not due to creation by any agent. That is to say, we do not become human because of the activity of worldly deities or because of serpent kings. We take whatever form of existence that our own actions, that our own karma determines. Right now we all experience birth as a human being "in this country, in this world; an~ this human existence is the result, the karmic effect of actions that have been accumulated in the past. The kind of actions would be those actions which do produce the human existence. In the past we have accumulated a great deal of wholesomeness and a great deal of unwholesome action, but some time or other in the past every single one of us must have accumulated a great deal of action which directly developed into the present experience of the human existence. Because we all experience the same basic environment, the same basic setting, the actions that we have done in the past must have been very similar. This kind o.f relationship between actions in the past and the similarity of environment is called Karma Which Agrees ln Euvironment. In addition to the general karmic framework which produces the similarity in environment which we all experience, there is also the differences in the particular karma which each of us has accumulated. For instance: some of us now experience a life which is short, there is much sickness, there is difficulty, ~ain and a lot of frustration. So ~hat even though ~e have a form of human exis-tence, it is still a very difficult form of existence. This kind of result means we must have taken life or hurt other beings. Or in another example: someone who in the past was very subject to greed, who stole a lot, say, will find himself now, though human, being very poor without much wealth and always in need. Another person who accumulated karma through protectin~ life in the past will. find that the present human existence is very long, full of physical well-being, free !rom sickness and disease. These particular differences that arise are called the Special Aspects of K~rma Which Differentiate the Experience of the Individual. So we have the two aspects of karma: the general karmic picture which gives rise to the si~llarity in environment, and the special aspects of karma which give rise to the differences in individual exnerience. In particular, in our own very· special case, we have currently the very good fortune to be able to practise the Holy Dharma. This means we have what is called the Precious Human Existence, which is the term for describing the human existence which is endowed with eight freedoms and ten special fortunes or blessings. It

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is a very difficult form of the human existence to obtain; it is very, very rare and is only accumulated through tre~endous a~ounts of ftholesome karma in the past. The unique aspect of the human existence is its Lreat potential, because it can be u~ed as a frame~ork to direct our long texm future either to deepen our involvement in samuaric existence or to improve our positlon within samsaric existence or to set out on the road to freedom and eventually full enlightenment. ~hes~ are all the possibilities with which we are presented in the frecious Human Existence. Feople who are interested in practising Buddhism must first orient themselves tow~rds Full Enlightenment by developing and cultivating a deep faith and confidence 1-n Buddhahood or in the Awakened Enlightened ~lnd. In practicing Dharma, one ne~ds to foster a great deal of faith and confidence in tt1e Fully Awakened Mind, in Buddhahood. This faith is further developed through taking refuge and prostration practices which we discussed before. There are people who have done these practices and there are people here who definitely intend to do these nractices. This is very, very wonderful, indeed, because for the~e individuals, they will not only come to realize much morP deeply ~hat it means to have faith in full enlightenment, in Buddhahcod, but also through con•tantly generating the motivation for refuge, the yearning for refuge, such individuals come under the power and protection of Awakened Enlightenment and will be able to proceed in their Dharma practice without interru;.ticn, without impediment, without obstruction, and use the refuge and prostration practices as a basis for gathering the accumulations and clearing away the obscurations. The main purpose of being human, the objective for which we can use tht human existence is to realize enlightenment. We do this by first making use of this very fine existence that we have now to take refuge and to make prostrations. In this way we generate faith and confidence in the practices of Buddnism. Also to make full use, to make the human existence truly meaningful, we need to use it to realize and to understand exactly what is meant by unwholesome activity or unwholes~meness and what is meant by wholesomeness or wholesome activity. We have to be able to recognize the difference between these two things and to be able to use this recognition as a basis for abandoning what is unwholesome and practicing what is wholesome. If we do this, the human existence becomes truly meaningful. It is for this reason that I sp~nt a great deal of tin1e yesterday evening discussing Vajrasattva meditation or the meditation of Dorje SPmba and the o~e-hundred syllable mantra. Through this discuss1~n. you are acquainted with what obscurations are, what unwholesomeness means and how these things can be remedied, how they can be expedd~d, how through invoking the Four Pow~rs of Purification: the Power of Reliance, the Power of Resolution, tt-~e Fewer of Remorse, and the Power of Remedial Activity one can rid one's self completely of all unwholesomeness

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and obscurations. Through Dorje Semba meditation, one is able to remove all unwholesomeness and obscurations; but having removed all unwholesomeness and obscurations, one then relies upon what is called Mandala Offerings to gather the accumulations of merit and awareness. These accumulations are extremely important and they're so powerful that if one effectively does gather the accumulations of merit and awareness, one simply must become enlightened; there is no other alternative. In order to offer mandalas, what kind of visualization, what kind of meditation does one do? Initially, one begins by imagining that in front of one in the sky, there is a heavenly palace, a beautiful castle in the sky with four sides and four doors: brilliant, resplendent, beautiful, magnificent. In the center of this castle there is a lion throne which su~ports a lotut and then the sun and moon. Above this ther sits one s Root Lama manifesting as Vajradhara, Dorje-Chang. This is very similar to the way in w~lch one visualized the Refuge Tree. Above the Root Lama, there ~it all the Lamas of the transmission, one above the other. Sitting around one's Root Lama there is in front, the Yiddams; to Vajradhara's ri3ht, the Buddhas; behind him the Dharma; to his left, the Sangha; and dispersed around are all the Dharma Protectors. This field of deities in front of one is referred to as the Accumulation Field or the Gathered Field, and are the individuals to whom one is g6ing to offer the mandala, the symbolic offerin~ of the universe. The one that is offering the mandala is one's own self. What one is offering is a mandala and as a basis for meditation one uses an actual implement which is called a "mandala". It is simply a round piece of metal with something like an inverted plate. If one is wealthy, one should use the very finest materials to make the mandala, perhaps gold or silver. If one does this without greed or avarice, then really, one will accumlate merit in accordance with one's motivation. If one doesn't have such wealth, then to use copper or other metals to form the mandala is fine. I! one has no wealth wh~tso~ver, even to practice these meditations with a flat piece of wood or stone will still be beneficial as Buddha himself taught. One also uses something which one is going to place on the mandala as the actu•l offering. If one has the wealth to use gold or silver or gems, this is very, very wonderful, very meritorious; 1f one doesn1t have this kind of wealth, then use rice or other grains; and even fa111ng that, if one really is destitute, to uee even clean sand or earth will also be very beneficial. One ~eglns by taking the mandala in ~d and cleaning it. What one thinks about at this point is that ultimately, one is ignorant and it is from this ignorance that the concept of "I" has originated. This concept of "I" has led to the concept of "others", from thi~ emotionality and from that, karma. This karma has created all the suffering and misery that pervades samsaric existence. All of the impurity, the manifestations o! our bewilderment, all of the

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unwholesomenes:3, p:11.!1 :md zuffer1n~ l.n t.he \oihole world is due to 1&norance ~nd not undeistand1n~. 3o as one cleans the m~ndala by ru~bing it ln the clockwise direction three times, and repeating tne one-hundrt!d syllabl~ :n·mtra of l;orJe Semba, one imagines everyting beinb ourlfi~d; ~11 ~hr. ienor~nce, im~urity ~nd negativity in the world dls.;olvlr £ int·' not:li'1cne:.~3. Then ctill holding the mandala, one lets f~ll onto it a f~~ gr3ins of rice. One imagines that now there a:ipears tne Golden FOI.l!lt·"'l.n of the Uni·1erse; it is completely pure without any defil~~~nts whatsoever. Everything has changed now fro~ imp~re manife~tations to pure manifestations. Cne takes the ,:;;econd h3.ndful of rice, or whatever one is using,· and sprinkles tt in a counterclockwise circle around the mandala. This represents.the iron wall which surrounds the univefse. One then takes a thJI.d nantlful and illl.tgl.nes, as one lets it fall on the mandala, cne is pl~cing the King of Mountains, Mt. Meru at the cent~r of the universe. Then stage by.st~ge one places the four major contla~~~s, the eight subcontinents each with a grain of rice :l.nd the appropriate visualization, and so builds U'P the mandala. st·.,ge by st:lge. While one is imagining :ill of these con~inents on the m~ndala, one also thinks of all the valleys, the rive1·s, the lakes that exist in all of these continents. Everything that is beautiful, all the trees, canyons, everything beautiful to see,.these ar~ all pre3ent and one is ~lso offering these. In addition to that, one thinks of ~11 the structures erec~ed by people: the beautiful buildings, beautiful temples, beautiful houses, towers, all of these things are also on each of these four continents. In addition, one imagines in the eastern quarter there is a mountain of Jewels, a mountain of di~monds and rubies ~nd sapphires, all of tne most beautiful and precious stones. In the south there is a wish fulfilling tree, a tree which grants wishes, whatever the aspirant seeks; whether it be riches, wealth or whatever. In the west, the cow that provides all want~'3.nd needs. And in the north there is the gr~in which needs no cultivating, grain which grows spontaneously from the ground and can be harvested without needing to be threshed or worked on in any way whatsoever. One doesn't meditate just one of these and one of that and one of this; but meditates that the whole uni~erse is full of such wonderful things replicated many many times, and that these are magnificent, huge and beautiful things which one is offering. All of these constitute part of the mandala. In Buddhism the highest form of birth whlch the greatest accumulation of merit can produce, is termed the Uni•1ersal Monarch; the monarch which influences ~nd rules the whole universe. Such a Univers:il Monarch is traditionally endowed with certain particular possessions, the first of which is called the Precious Wheel. It is a wheel wrou~ilt of gold which is vast, a huge wheel with a thousand spokes large enough that a Un\versal ~onarch can stand at the hub and be transported by this wheel anywhere in the universe merely through thinking of the desired destination. It is

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propelled by the merit and the wholesomeness of the Universal Monarch and doesn't require the rather contr1ve1 way in which we affect our own transport~tion through oil and ulanes and all of this. The second ~osoessi~n of the Universal Monarch is the Wishfulfilling Gem. A magnificent, large gem, crystal clear yet radiant with resplendent light which shines out !rom it. All who conceive the light of the gem can think of their own aspirations and their own hopes and these will come to be granted. The third is the Noble Queen, the wife of the Universal Monarch who is a woman free of all faults; physically beautiful with the most pleasant voice and the most pleasant and agreeable mind and who is the constant companion of the Universal Monarch. There is also the Universal Monarch's Minister who accomplishes whate~er the Universal Monarch wishes, as soon as it arises in the mind of the Ur.iversal Monarch, with no need for lengthy discussions or communication. His ability is supreme and his judgement perfect. The Universal Monarch also has a Chief General who defeats all enemies or foes of the Universal Mon~rch and brings peaca and order to the whole universe. There are also the horse and elephant, great and noble animals which can be summoned by the Universal Monarch just by thinking that he needs to go somewhere. As he mounts them, they know exactly where he wants to go and they take him there with the spead or light. So these are the Seven Kingly Possessions which one also imagines together with the mandala. One offers not just one ot each, but hundreds of thousands of millions of these wonderful things to the Three Jewels and the Three Roots. One also imagines goddesses rendering offerings to all of the Six Sources; some rendering offerings of flowers; some of incense; some of light; so:oe of garlands, jewels and flowers; some of scented water; some of music; some offering beauty; some dance. These are the eight traditional offerings which are symbolized by the eight goddesses. One doesn't imagine just eight goddesses, but the sky full of millions of goddesses, all rendering offerings to the Three Jewels and the Three Roots. One also offers the sun and the moon, which illuminate the world wa live ln. Beautiful canopies, beautiful banners, all of these things; literally all of the wealth and splendor that men have, that the gods nave, that the dragon kings aave; all of the imaginabl~ wealth in tne ~hole universe one imagines to be brought together in this mandala. As it is said in the prayers, "wealth which outnumbers the number of drops ef water 1n tne ocean". All of this 1s brought into the mandala •. O~e imagines 1t being offered to the Lamas, the Yiddams, the Protectors, to the Buddhas, the Dharma and the Sangha. This 1s the long version of the mandala offering and in its full form requires the placement of thirty-seven piles of rice on the mandala. If one could offer a lot of tnese, this 1s very good, indeed. Perhaps in a session one can only offer one or two of ~hese. Even one is sulfic1ent, so rico is it in ~ue accumulation of merit.

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But when one ls doing t~ls visualization, ~dklng these offerings, one sho~ld not .1u·= t vl ~.;u'='l lze or 1;:nagln~ that one is offering a s1ncle tn'mdala, but t :-I::t t the st . ~ , ~ 11 uc~. ng ·- f f~red ~0 the ~lx 3ources . im:.- does ori ·~ c "'.'fer wandala~ at o1ll? T. e answer to this is f•)t;.:lU t!l the pray n!.' W'11r.h follm-.'3 the short ronndalfl . It s;,.ys, "By c rre rir. -> this uob J. e , fin·~ :nandala which 1 leases the Three Jewels ~ ~ u.i the: 'I .&ree Ro•>1 s , :·1ay no obstr.cle :; arisP on the Bollhl p ath". Ttli3 mLan:;; that :-·. s on~ prac t :'.cen and t.::-eaol:> tb e path to enlightenment, one is nraj·1 nr: alw:\ys to =>~ ::'rc~ 0f obst";Lcles both in this life :ald in 11 fut ·.: r~ l~. 1es. One r c.: •s to r alize tne thou g hts, the way in 1t.'hict1 '!..\1e :;·~nlightcned t·Un ·l .~· u. :tctlons or the way the Enlightened :and ::..~ , .)1e wat th~ 'llin~. ~; of t:1e ~uddhas of the three t\lli:!:> are . E:::.ving tbat realizr M.':'ln, 0.11e will not be be"'· ilder?.l.l by sea. rosa ric eXJ s .ence !'lo r '"' ill on ·~ J'~ &t ~. '1 t!'le pe:tc& of tnP. Arh:a ts and !·r:at1eka tuddh~~ ; but ~tr ! ve tC" li~~r ~ t e ~entlent beings whose numbers arc e4~a1 to the ext!:.it r f "'~ ~-:- ~k;:.·. At the E·-~ .' o f offering roar.d J. !:',;, :o.n~ ' olng this med1 tat ion fo r a se ss~. on, u.lC th ~ n prays, "a?.?i. ',; ~fferee all t~e we :-:.1 th in the univer~e, all my ow~ wealth and all ~he wealth of uncountably 1nf!n1te num~ers of beings, I am co~1leiely filled with the two acn u'llulatio~~ = the accumulations of ~crit and transcending awaren~ss". The Buddha Field or the Buddhas imagined in front of one, to whom one has been making these offerings, are grea~ly pleased by these offerings. They dis:>olve into light and this light dissolves into one'c s elf. With this, one te~lizes that ~11 things are of the sawe flavour ; and one lets the mind rest like that. In the mandala pr~ctice, there is a particular point, ~here people who are going to be doing it can bring in ~hat are called Seven Offices of Worship. These are: Howa~e, Confebsion of Unwholesome K~rroa, Offerings , Rejoicing in the herit of Others, Asking the Buddhas to Teach the Dharma, Asking Them Not to Pass into Nirvana, and Dedicating the Merit of Practice to the Welfare of Others. There ls a translation of the 3even Offices of Worship th~t 1s used in the Cnenresig meditation in the program of t~e Black Crown Ceremony. There is either that or the Seven Offices

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of Worship as they are found in the Prayer for Noble Conduct. These Offices could be included at this point in the mandala. Q: Where does one draw the line between the framework of the visualization and one's own process of imagination supplementing this? . A: While one is actually offering mandalas, one should concentrate on the form of the visualization ot the King of Mountains, the tour continents, the eight subcontinents, and all.of the things involved in the traditional mandala offering. But when one is thinking of making offerings to the Buddha or to the Three Jewels at any other time, then one offers whatever one can imagine, whatever is beautiful and wonderful in the whole univer••· Qs When one thinks of the various th~ngs that are happening throughout the world, how does one use this kind of thinking to enrich one's concern and to he'p other beings who are sufferin6 throughout the world? A: One understands from these kinds of considerations the very limited extent of one's own mastery, not only over one's environment but over one's physical and mental being. And understanding the severe limitation of one's ability, one can formulate a very definite de~ermination and resolution to achieve a much greater degree or master, in fact, total mastery so that one can really -help other oeings. And similarly, the kind of ccnsideration that you are talking about, of people experiencin6 a famine and drought can be used to develop within one's self, the feeling of compassion and concern for them which will also serve tc reinforce one's own Dharma practice. One uses.these two kinds of motivation ot conciousness of one's own limitation and concern tor other's welfare to work hard at Dharma practice so that one gathers the accumulations, clears away obscurations and gradually comes to tbe full realization of Mahamudra, which means that one gains total mastery over one's y:hysical and mental being and then can be of ver,y definite and immediate help to vast numbers of other beings. ~: Can choice overcome bad karma? If you choose not to do a bad action, if you choose to do mandala offerings, can that choice get rid of bad karma in itself? A: Both the aspiration to a certain form of action and the actual perseverance in that action can be virtuous.

Q: A:

What is the difference between DorJe Balgor and DorJe Palmo? They are the same.

Q: In the mandala offering there is a certain mantra that is said at one point; what should one be thinking when one is saying this mantra? A: One should think, "Bow I am making these magnificent, glorious and infinite offerings."

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Q: \hen one is cleaning the mandala ~t the be~inning of the pr:1ctice, one rub;:; 1 t three -+.. imes in a clock:lllise direction ~itb th~ wrist, What 1:3 t!H! l't!P.anln~ uf t'Jis? A: One takes q s~~ll h~nd~u, of rice ~nd rub~ the mundala three times in a clock~ise dircctlon. Thl~ i~ symbolically cleaning it. The rea3on one u :.;~:.; ~he lo~~r L=t.r t c !.' thP. hand is because this is rega.rded as tc~e fr(lnt of 4.!"lt1 h:lnd an:l there is a 3light traditional preference to U!>e front ~1s ppp0!31!d to the back of anything. Rinpoche says if he and I are talking together, if we fa.ce each other face to f :ce, t:ilk front to front so to :n·eak, then we can communicate fairly well. But if one of u~ t~rr.s around and tries to talk in the other direction, it makes tblngs difficult •

• Q: ~hat is the origin of the Four Foundational lr-ctices? A: Foundational rructlces whiclJ h~!Ve been orientated towards clearing away obscurations and gathering accumulatious have always been part of Buddhist r·ractice •. The particular form in which we practice them now was originated with the inception of the Kagyu Tradition. In particular, the lma~ined offerings in the mudra, Four Offerings, originated with Tilopa and the full form of the mandala offering was brought in by 1-'~:~rpa, the Translator. I

Q: These p~actices seem to be very complicated; is there a reason for this? A: The man:r ast)ects of these meditations necessarily involve the whole being, that is one is acting physically, mentally and verbally all at the same time. This is necessary in order that one be able to clear ~way uhysic3l, mental and verb~l obscurations, all of which we h~ve accumulated since beginningless samsara. Nhile this is the main pur~ose of having all of these various n~rts of the practice, the single mos.t important ~':1rt is the attitude and the imaginative process that one does mentally. When the mind is clearly focused en the meditation, then the physical and· verbal actions a1~ adjuncts to the mental concentration and devotion. But, really, this is the s:.tme a~ any thine; we do in the world. ·,ihcn we work at any activity in the world, we are doing it physicallJ, verbally and mentally also. We have to make similar involvement with Dharma activity.

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GURU YOGA October 30, 1974

~1 of us have achieved a human form, which is a precious form. It 1s precious because one can, by relying on this form, achieve the higher realms o! existence. The higher realms of existence are achieved through the practice of virtuous action and the abandonment of unskillful unvirtuous action. However, existence in the higher realms, though temporarily very happy and peaceful, is not something which is permanent. So, we•must apply ourselves to the practice of Dharma in order that we can achieve liberation completely from the cycle of existence, so that we can achieve the state of complete aw3kened enlightenment •••• Buddhahood. The perfectly Enlightened One taught many different teachings so that beings could travel the path to complete awakened enlightenment. In fact, he taught what are called the collections of the 'eighty-four thousand' different teachings of Dharma; all different methods one can rely upon in order to achieve a state of liberation. The purpose· of these teachings was that one could rely on these teachings and achieve the higher states of existence. By giving up unvirtuous activity and practicing virtuous activity, one could achieve the realms of men and gods. Buddha taught that if one relies on the peaceful tranquility one achieves throug~ the practice ot deep meditative absorption and if through this tranquility one achieves bliss, one may be born in the realms of the gods and in particular, the desire realm gods. In addition Buddha taught a great deal about relying on peaceful tranquility , and developing this one-pointedly. In particular being attached to the aspect of clarity in the state of peaceful tranquility. By relying on clarity, one finds rebirth aa a god in the form realms. It one, through peaceful tranquility, achieves the state of emptiness and relies on this, one achieves rebirth as a god in the formless realm. Now, these teachings are not teachings which lead to complete liberation from samsara. One is still within the realm of samsara, but on a high level, in the realm of tne gods. Buddha also taught about the various stages that one could achieve through meditative absorption. The state of the Arhat is achieved through the practice of insight meditation, which relies on the aspect of emptines~. Through this, one can achieve the level of the Arhat. So with respect to the Arhats, one has achieved only one quarter of realization~the nature of emptiness. A Sravaka Buddha bas reached the state of half an understanding of emptiness. When one has achieved complete realization of the nature of emptiness, then one has reached the state of the first level Bodhisattva. Then one passes through the five paths and ten stages of realization to

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tbe state of com;.lete awakened enlightenment. One then, through the understanding of emptiness, has come to understand the meaning of no-self in either phenomena or the individual. In addition, Buddha taught a great deal concerning the purification of one's obscurations and accumulation of spiritual merit and awareness. This is kchieved through the reliance on the six perfections of the Bodhisattva. All these lead one to the state of complete awakened enlightenment. Th's is the method of the Mahayana, and though one can achieve liberation by relying on t.ue we~.uuu UJ. ,;ne Mahayana, it takes a long time. lf one wants to achieve liberation very, very swiftly, without delay, then one relies on the skillful means of the VaJrayana, the secret, immutable vehicle. So Buddha gave all these various teadbin~s; the eighty-four thoLlsand collections of Dharma, that by relyin~ on different aspects of these teachings, might achieve the states of the higher realms; men and gods. Or one mi~ht achieve the state of an Arhat or PL·atyeka Buddha or the state of a Bodhisattva from the first to the tenth level of enlightenment, ultimately to Bujdhahood. Or one may achieve the state of Buddhahood very swiftly by relying on the Vajrayana. All of this was taught by the Buddha. Rimpoche says that he knows something of the meaning of Dharm~ and that it would be very easy for him to tell you a little bit about Dharma, or Just give you a bit of teaching, something that you might find very easy to understand;~such as how to do a very simple meditation. But just by relying on one single aspect of the Dharma, one cannot achiev~ the st3t~ of complete awakened enlightenment. And for this reason Rimpoche is delivering many different teachings, telling you many aspects of Dharma; teaching you about Nondro; how to purify oneself of obscurations and so on. R1mpoche compares this to a man who is very poor, a man that has no money and wishes t~ buy som~ material possessions. Nov, it would net be possible for him to buy these things all at onece. He first must.gather a certain amount of money. He gets together, say, five dollars and then, a little later is able to save a bit more and save a bit more. Finally he is able to meet the sum that he needs in order to get the possessions that he wishes. In tr.e same way we learn Dharma by passing through various stag~s, first achievin~ and prao tising ce r.t:1in pre para tory practices; purifying oneself of obscur:lt.ions, achieving spiritual merit and awareness until one reaches the state one wishe~ to achieve. For instance, Rimpoche might explain to one, how to develop the state of peaceful tranquility by watching the breath come in and go out. Now, he could not say that by relying on this one practice alone, one could achieve the state of Buddhahood. One could not in fact, achieve Buddhahood through relying just on this one meditation of watching the breath. Ho~-:ever, it is a st,.c;e which one bas to develop. By relying on this meditation one developes the state of peacefi tranquility, and b·ised on that state of peaceful tranquility, one gives rise to other types of meditation. So it is like saving up until one can achieve a certain goal. Now, it is certainly not the

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case, that developing meditation such as watching the breath or turning the mind to the various feelings in the body, are not or any beni!it. ·Certainly these are very benificial, but as Rimpoche has said, by relying on these aspects alone, one cannot achieve liberation. It is not the ca,e that these methods are not Dharma. They certainly are Dharma, and the Lama that teaches these methods is indeed very kind, and very beneficial to one. But when one has consolidated tnis state of peaceful tranquility, in addition one must couple this state with the clear understanding of insight and the understanding of the perfection of wisdom. So up to this point Bimpoche has discussed a great deal concerning the taking or Refuge and the endgenderment ot the enlightened attitude; the desire to reach enlightenment for the sake or all sentient beings. And if you use these practices and in addition do such practic~s as watching the breath or various other meditatiions, certainly not giving up these methods, but combining the~, then a great deal of benifit will come from this. Diligence or 9pplicatton ia extremely important in the practice ot Dharma. Certainly thi~ is the case in worldly work. If one is very laz~, then nothing at all is achieved. So, one must develop an attitude of perseverence and application, an attitude of patience to one's Dharma practice. One engenders a feeling of great perserverence and diligence if one meditates on the four tho.ughts which turn the mind to religious practice. These are the ordinary preperatory practices. Up to this point the meditations concerning the Special Foundations have been discussed: that is the the prostrations, taking of Refuge, the meditation of Vajrasattva, the purification Mantra, the offering of the Mandala, and this evening will be discussed the teaching of Lama Nalg~r or Guru Yoga. When one does this meditation, it is possible that one meditateds that one's body is just one's usual human form. However, if one imagines, instead of this, one's form as the form of a diety, then this seta up a condition tor the blessing to arise quickly in the stream ot one's being. lor this reason it is better to imagine that your body is the form of a diety. This can be compared to one's preparing one's bouse for a visit ot a very high person, such as a king. One prepares the bouse by clean1ng 1~, Hwe~p1ng it out, making it absolutely spotless and making very lavish preparations. In this way we turn our body; transform our body into the form ot a diety, so that the condition is set u~ for the blessing to be born very swiftly. Now when one is doing this meditation, one may imagine one's own form is the form of any diety which one chooses, but in the tradition of the Kagyupa, one generally imagines that one's form is the form of Dorje Palmo. There are two reasons why one imagines Dorje Palmo for this meditation. Pirstly, Dorje Palmo is the secret Yiddam of many or the great Xagyupa Lamas, such as Marpa, Milarepa and Gampopa. Secondly, in the achievement or complete awakened enlightenment, there is necessary, both means and wisdom.

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~or3e

Palmo then is this aspect of wisdom, that is, the wisdom of complete emptiness. For these two reason3, one relys ~n Dorje P~lmo and one meditates that one's form is the form of Dorje Palmo. One can imag1~~ one's form as DorJe Palmo and do this very very clearly, imagining the various ornaments and so on. Then this is very good. If thls isn't possible, then qne thinks I am in fact Dorje Palmo, and simply conceiving of one s self as Dorje Palmc is satisfactory for the meditation. Then-when one is doing the actual meditation of the Lama Nalgor, one may im~gine the object of one's meditation to be in the sky 1n front of one, or the more usu~l way of doing this is imagining that the object of meditation is upon the crown of one's head. When one begins the meditation, or.e imagines that either in front of one's self or on the, crown of one's head is resting upon a snow lion throne, upon which is a lotus &~nand moon seat. On this sits one's own root or source lr..ma.1n essence, but in outward manifestlltion the Buddha Vajradhara, or, 1n Tibetan, Dorje Chang. Upon the crown, then, of your lama's head, sits his own source lama and above him, his source lama until one goes through a strlng of lamas or the actual line of transmission until one reaches the source of Vajradhara or Dorje Chang at the top. Then in close clu~ter around this main line of t~e ~amas ui the transmission, one imagines their close diciples and in addition all the lama of all the various schoo~~of Buddhism, such as Nyingmapa, Sakyapa and so on. One imagines these are all gathered around a central line. Wben one imagines one's lama and the other lamas upon the crown of one's head, one must develop great confidence and devotion in them •. The basis for this confidence and devotion is an understanding of the qualit~3s of one's lama. R1mpochehas spoken before of the qualities of B~idha, of complete awakened enlightenment itself. One thinks that compared to the Buddh:l himself, one's own lama has all these same qualities, there is absolutely no difference. And in terms of who bas been most kind to one's self, the lama is even more kind th~n tha Buddha. One bas not had the o~portunity to meet a Buddha, to receive teacbinJS from a Buddha. Yet one bas been able to meet one's lama and to receive the teachings from the lama. The lama, in fact, possesses all the qualities of the Buddha. And when one thinks in this way there is a great feeling of faith and devotion developed. Buddha ta.ught tba t when one thinks of one's lama as the Buddha, then one will in £act receive the blessing of the Buddha. If one thinks of one's lama a3 a Bodhisattva, then one receives the blessing of a Bodhisattva. If one th~nks of one's lam~ as an ordinary individ~al• that is, as an instructor or spiritual teacher, then one recieves the corresponding blessing. If one has absolutely no faith in one's lama, then one receives no blessing at all. When one is meditating in the practice of Lama Nalgor, then, though one may not be able to visualize clearly the various lamas, what is really important is that one bas this great feeling of faith and devotion.

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When one is meditating that the lamas are upon the crown of one's head, one also imagine~ that in front of the lamas are gathered all the Yiddams, to the right are all the Buddhas, to the rear are all the Dharma, to the left are the sacred Sangha and gathered around in the sky in a great cluster are all the protectors, the Daks and Daki~ies. One thinks that all these beings of Refuge are in fact, just different manifestations, different aspects of one's own lama. ·These aspects appear in different forms in order to help sentient beings through different methods. They are all in !act one's lama, not different from one's l~ma. If one does not hav~ a great deal of time to do the meditation, then one can immediately think that in fact, the objects of one's meditation are the beings of Refuge. If one has more t!me, then one can imagine that from the dieties and lamas that one has imagined upon the crown of one's bead; light radiates forth and attracts the eyes, draws the eyes of the true Buddhas and the d1eties. ~d from attracting their eyes, they in !act, come forward and d~olve into the dieties and lamas that one has meditated upon. One does this if one has more time to do the meditation. In meditating this way, one thinks that there are hundreds and thousands of emanations of one's own form and together are all sentient beings doing prostrations, offering homage to the assembled lamas and other beings of Refuge. In addition, one im3gines that one is making wonderful copious offerings; offerings that are pl~asing to the various senses. This is what one thinks to begin with: One thinks that one is openly confessing all the unskillful actions that have been committed by one's self and by all sentient beings. One thinks that through this confession, one becomes completely pure, that all sentient beings become purified of their actions. One resolves that in the future one will not commit actions of this nature. One then rejoices in all the virtuous actions that have been accomplished by all beings. One offers prayers urging that the Buddhas and the various emanations of the Buddhas may not pass into final Nirvana, but may continue to work !or the benefit of sentient beings. One urges that they turn the Wheel of Dharma in order to help beings. And finally one offers or dedicates all this merit that bas been achieved through these six different types of service. One dedicated& all this merit to the ultimate enlightenment of all sentient beings. These are what are called the Seven Offices, the Seven Religious Services. One then prays that pure impartial 'love and compassion may be born in one's stream of being. One does not develop the t~e of love and compassion which is generated only towards certain individuals only. But one develops love and compassion which spreads to all beings. One prays for the blessing that one may quickly achieve the realization that is possessed by all enlightened individuals; that is that one may quickly come to achieve the realization of co-emergent wisdo~.

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When one is then practicing these foundations, if one has some understanding of the Tibetan language so that one can do the appropriate sounds as one is reading the prayer, and in addition to know the meaning of the words that one is reading, then one comes to understand very clearly the meaning of the foundational practices; the exact meaning of the prayers that one is offering. In the actual prayers that one offers directly from the scripture, one is offering the prayer of Mahamudra. But right now, since the meaning is very very difficult to understand, and one ca~not readily understand it, this will not be explained at this time. This prayer is, in fact, a very deep and powerful one. All those in the past that have achieved a state of realization, have in fact, relied on the practice of Guru Yoga, of Lama Nalg~r. The reason for this is that, by relying on this practice, one comes to understand Mabamudra. lor instance Naropa, with great faith and devotion in h1s teacher Tilopa, constantly relied on his guru and on this meditation. He went through many many hardships at the bands of Tilopa, and through going through these various hardships he came in time to reach complete realization of Mahamudra. As Tilopa said, he could immedia~ely give 1u~·~1~c~1uns concerning Mahamudra, but this would not be effective for his diciple Baropa at that time. I~~NBS necessary first to remove great obscurations, to achieve ~erit before Baropa could come to the complete understanding of Mahamudra. So he vas given first: teachings, preparatory teachings, scriptual authorities, initiations and so on. In order to illustrate the great hardships that Naropa went through and which indicate ver.r clearly his great faith and devotion in his teacher; Bimpoche tells the story of Tilopa instructing Baropa to go and get him some food, saying that be vas very very hungry. So Naropa saw in the distance people working in the fields. He went over there, carrying a skullcap, and asked if he could have some of their food. !hey gave h1m a bowl of soup and he returned very pleased that he had recieved this, and gave it to his teacher. When Tilopa had finished this he instructed him again. He said tb1s soup was very very good, and could be please go and get another bowl. !his time when he returned to the field, he found that the people there had gone back to work, so be had to use fairl7 devious means in or4er to get another bowl of soup. When he got this and started charging across the field with this bowl ot soup, the people aaw him making off with this and caught up to him and beat him up, until he was lying exhausted on the ground, totall7 disheartened. He looked around and could not see Tilopa anywhere. Be lay in this condition on the ground for a day. When he came to, be could barely move, and Tilopa was peering over him saying, •well, what seems to be the problem?• Pollow1ng this, Tilopa blew air on his body and he 1mmed1ately vas better. Tilopa and laropa arrived at a very tall bouse, and Tilopa said to Baropa, "Well in fact if you have great faith in me, you will climb to the top of this house and jump off, and there will be no doubt in your mind." And of courae, his diciple, with abaolutely

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no doubt at all, did this. Be climbed to the top and jumped off and reached the bottom in a very battered condition. In this condition be lay for one day. When at last Tilopa arrived on the scene, he again applied a few medicines and his blessing, and immediately his diciple vas better. !ilopa and Naropa bad managed to make a number of pens with very sharp points out of bamboo. This had been achieved by working them down with a knife and applying them to tire. Tilopa said to Haropa, "Well, nov if you can really carry out austerities that your lama is instructing you to do, then you will take these tine pointed objects and stick them into the ends of you fingers. So immediatedly Baropa did this, thinking, well, my lama has said that I should do this. !here must b~ some purpose or b1nefit in it. So be applied these to his fingers, and this was very very painful. He stayed in this state until, again his teacher came and applied different methods, until be vas finally better from this. Tilopa and Iaropa were walking along and they saw in a distance a great wedding party, and there was a very beautiful bride. She was dressed in a beautifUl gown with flower garlands around her neck. And !ilopa said to Baropa, go over there and get that bride and bring her here so we can fix things up. This will be very very good. So immediately his diciple took off in order to get the bride. While he vas attempting to carry her away from the wedding party, the groom and the other attendents were quite enraged. They beat him up so he was laying once more, completely disheartened and exhausted upon the ground and couldn't get up, and no where in sight was his teacher. After a period of one day Tilopa returned and again gave him various blessin~s and he was able to get up. Tilopa instructed his diciple to bring him a woman, that in tact, he needed this woman, that Baropa should bring this woman to him, and he would be able to give further instructions about this. Baropa thought, well, he must accom~lish this and when he actually did bring the woman to the prescence of Tilopa; Tilopa vas greatly enraged and said, "\~at on earth are you doing. What are you doing bringing this woman here!" And in order to punish him for doing this, he beat him up, leaving him once again on the ground. On another occasion, Tilopa instructed Naropa when they came to a ravine to stretch his body across this ravine so that Tilopa could walk across his body in order to reach the other side. And while he was in this extended position, his teacher instructed him to stay in that position until he returned and wished to get over to the other side. While he was in this position, since it vas a very vet marshy area, his body was subject to the attac~ of leaches, but still he stayed in this position. And when at last Tilopa returned and vas walking across the top of his body, his feet slipped from the edge so that be was down into the water and his teacher waa extremely angry with him tor not staying in the same position. His Teacher, being so enraged at him, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and proceeded to beat h1m on ~ne head and from the blow on his

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head, tbe thought came to his mind that now in fact he would fall into unconsciousness. But at this point, he in fact realized the nature of his own mind. This was in !act the pointing out instructions. Sq in this way, Naropa went through many different hardships at the bands of his te~cher. Following each of these he was given various instructions. It wasn't until be had gone throu3h these various austerities that be could recieve the pointing vut instructions. And in the same way Marpa the Translator journeyed from Tibet to India on several occasions and stayed with his teacher, Baropa; working with him, studying with him for twelve years and seven months. During this time he bad absolutely no doubt or wrong view concerning his lama, and eventually achieved realization. In the same way, Milarepa relied completely on his ~eacber, Marpa and went through many various trials and tribulations, until in fact, he relied on the instructions of his teacher and achieved realization. Most of you are very familiar with the story of Milarepa. Milarepa, after receiving instruction3 in meditation from Marpa, went orr to meditate in a solitary area in a cave. And after meditating fer a long time, be eventually realized that the conditions he wa5 in were very very poor. He bad no water and no fire and barely any food at all. He thought to himself, well, I think I'll go build a fire. So he wrapped his few rags around him and set off outside in order to collect so~e wood, and when he got outside, be found that there was a very very strong wind. This wind blew so strongly that through the effect of having very little food for so long he was knocked unconscious. When be came to, he looked up and saw that some or his tattered rags were hanging from a tree, and be felt very sad and longed at this time to see his teacher }~rpa. And while he was sitting i~ this state, feeling very unhappy, be looked up into the sky and saw that Marpa was approaching on a great white cloud. Marpa spoke to him at this time and said that he had felt and heard his yearning and what was the problem. At this time Nilarepa sang many songs expressing his joy and feelings of devotion at seeing his lama. Marpa gave him more instructions and he returned to his cave to meditate. If one relies on the compassion of one's lama, then one can dispell the various obstacles,that do arise in one's Dharma practice. Milarep~ experienced such obstacles, but by relying on the compassion of his lama, these were dispelled quickly. On another occasion Milarepa returned to his cave and found that five very fierce men had arrived. He found that some of them were looking through his books. One was meditating. Anotner was looking throu~b anything that l-tilarepa had. Others were just genera.l.l.y wor.atlug. A't 1"lr::~'­ A1~arepa was a little afraid of these, and ao be tried to remove these beings by feeling love and compassion for them. However this only increased their pride and was not successful. In !act another two appeared on the scene. Milarepa tried at this point to teach a great deal of Dharma to them, but this was absolutely no benCfit. So then, Milarepa recalled the instructions of Marpa, his teacher.

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All outward manifestations are but the bewilderment of one's Olin mind. And thinking of this, be no longer thought in the dualistic terms of these outer beines and himself. And resting in this knowledge, he had no dou~ and no fear. When Milarepa had achieved this realization, then these ver,r fierce men immediately dispersed in a great feeling of being very upset and distraught. They quickly left his cave. Through this event Milarepa's realization greatly increased. So in this same way, the lamas of the oral tradition of the ~agyupa tradition relied on the instructions of their lamas. They followed the instructions that were given, accompl~ed and carried out what they intended to carry out. And, in fact, relied on the meditation of the Guru Yoga. The teaching of this meditation, then, is extremely important. The one who instructed in Lama Nalgor was the Buddha himself. When one is doing the practice of Lama Balgor, one says Karmapa Cheno a number of times, as many times as one wishes. One may think particularly of the Lama, Karmapa, but it one has not in fact met him, one may think of one's own lama as one is saying Karmapa Cbeno over and over again. This means one is making obsience to the one which is full of activity or has activity. The reason for this is that what one's o~~ lama~s, is the activity of all the Buddhas. And so•when one says this Karmapa Cheno, one may think of one's own lama; or in the case of many individuals who are here tonight, who have in fact received initiation. and teaching from Xarmapa himself, one may think of Karmapa. · · a It one is doing the foundational practices, so that one is actually planning to do one hundred thousand prayers to one's guru, one offers the following prayer which bas seven lines and asks tor six different s~ecific blessings. The first line is addressing one's prayer to one sown lama. One thinks or one's own lama as being the union of all the lamas of the line and of all other lines, all the Yiddams, all the Buddhas, all the Dharma, the Sangha and the Proctectors. These are all gathered in one's own root lama. One prays to one's root lama, one askd first for the blessing of being able to give up clinging to a self. That is, one no longer clings to the idea that one is an existant entity with any lasting nature. The next blessing that one asks for is that one may be without any needs. That is, nov we are in the situation of needing many different material things. We need clothes and food and friends and so on. So one prays that in one's own stream of being, one no longer has need. Thirdly, one prays tor the blessing tnat all thoughts which are not concerned with Dharma be prevented, be blocked ott. And in this particular part or the prayer one is asking ror tne specific blessing of realizing that mind is without origination. One prays tor the blessing that all manifestations of bewilderment be pacified in their own place. That is, one realizes that all illusions are in fact like dreams, having no intrinsic nature. This being so they are pacified in theil' own snbere, their own place. Lastly, one prays tor the blessing that one might ~eal1ze all phenomenal appearances to be in tact the Dharmakaya, !bat is,

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one realizes ultim~tely tnat outward manifestations in fact, are empty of any intrinsic v~lue. One realizes emptiness, and this being so, one realizes Dharmakaya. When OTI.e is saying this prayer, one can say it in an audible voice. One can¥ay it very loud if one wishes. However if one flnds that one's neighbors don't appreciate this, then one can say 1t not quite so loud. So when one i~ dc1ng the foundational practices, one sl)ls this prayer OJ·.~ hundred thousand t1mes. When one is ~aying thi~ prayer, ~ne·~ mi~d should not be wanderlng to anything else. If one ·s wind wan1"r!:l ·-:.w::~~· froc t:1e pr~yer, then it is very difficult to accrue any ben1fit from sayinB it. So one says this pr~yer in a meditation session. One says it as many times as one can in that p~rticular seGsion. Following th~t, •one offers particular prayers to one's lama, asking for t~e bestowing of particular initiations and then one i~~gines th~t ~11 th~ surrounding lamas around the central line disuolve into light anc\ are absorbed into the rua.i~ line of trg,·:smission. These lamaa dissolve into light and melt into the form of Dorje Chang upon the crown of one's head. 1\nd at this time one may im;1gine the form of one 's own lama upon the crown of ones head. Now one may be meditating that one's lama is in front of one or upon the cro·~ o! one's head. One might imagine that on the forehead of one's lama is the letter OM, but one .does not actually have to meditate th~t there is this letter. However from the placa of the forehe~d one imagines that white light comes forward, f~lls down and reaches one's own forehead. This light enter~ one's O\m form and one imagines that all unskillful actions that have been commited through the body are completely purified. One recieves the vase initiation. One recieves empowerment to meditate upon the stages of arising and ultimately one achieves thd state of Nirmanakaya. Then one 1m~gines that from the throat of the lama red light comes forth and strikes one's self at the same place in the throat. All obscurations that have been accrued through actions commited through speech are completely purified. One recieves the secret initiation and recieves empowerment to meditat~ on channels and prajna. And one ultimately achieves the state of Sambhogakaya. Then !ro~ the place of the heart i~ the lama, if o~a is meditating on the letters, there will be a blue HUNG. From the throat a red AH. From the heart a blue light comes forward. When this strikes one's own heart, all obscurat1ons and unskillful action acc~ed through mind are completely cleared away. One recieves the wisdom-awareness initiation and empowerment to do deep meditative concentration in the stages of arising and in the stage of perfection. Ultim~tely one ~chieves t~e state or the fruit of Dharmakaya. Through this particular initiation one can meditate on both compassion and wisdom, meditate on both the father and mother dieties. Then one imagines that simultaneously light comes from the white lieht at the forehead, red light from the throat and blue light from.the heart of the lama's form and strikes, one's own body at the forehead, throat and heart. And one thinks that all the obscurations of body, speech and mind

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are simultaneously purified. One receives empowerment, receives the fourth initiation into the meditation of Mahamudra and ultimately achiev~s the essence body itself. Then following that, one imagines that the lama dissolves into light. One's lama enters one's own form and one's own body, speech and mind become indivisibly united with the body, speech and mind of the lama. The lama melts into light and is dissolved into one's self, and thinking that one is indivisible from one's lama, one places one's mind in this state, without any contrivance, resting naturally. Following the meditation, when one arises, one thinks that all appearance is in fact the form of the lama; that all sound is the speech of the lama and all mental activity is the very mind or heart of the lama. And following the practice of Lama HalgBr then, one sha~es, dedicates the merit for the benefit of all sentient beings. So this concludes the special foundational practices.

November 6, 1974

Q: Could Rimpoche talk a bit on Mahamudra practice? A: .Mahamudra means meditation. In order that one be able to meditate on Mahamudra, it is like learning to drive a car. One has to learn bow a car is driven first. For this we need to do the foundational practices. The foundational practic~ NBndro, is like a road, and in order to drive a car somewhere, you need to own a car. And having a car is like doing various meditations on the Yiddams, Mantra meditations and visualizations. When you have a car and you have a road to drive it on, you can just sit in the car and go wherever you want. So, when you have done these practices you can go, and it's like driving a car two or three thousand miles a day. This is like Mabamudra. Driving a car along the road requires a certain amount of discriminative thought. But in Mahamudra, one doesn't need to think at all. One has no contrivance, no meditation. Q: Bot knowin~ Tibetan, I've found the ~~gl1sh translations a lot more rewardin~ and meaningful. I'd like to know which practices Rimpoche thinks specifically are very important to actually ~ay in T~betan; especially relating to prostrations and the beginning Bondro practices? . ~~ It's quite alright to do any of these practices in English. Buddha said that if one bas the education and learning, one can use this as an instrument to enlightenment. And without this kind of education and learning, one can rely on faith and enlightenment will nevertheless be reached.

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Q: Is there a difference between the way a Bodhisattva takes form in ~xistence and 1n the way an ordinary person takes form in the Bardo state, the state between death and birth? A: A Bodhisattva, when he wishes to take any tangible form of existence for t~e benefit o! sentient beings, can take existence merely through thinking that he is to be born in such and such ~ form. A sentient being immediately in taking existence, becomes su~ject totally to stupidity or ignorance, and becomes completely unconscious. When he revives !rom this unconscious state, the force of the manifestations of bewilderment to which he is subject cause him to take physical existence. It vas said of Rongen Dorje, that even while he was in his mother's womb, !or him it was like being in a spacious castle in one o! the heavenly realms. And during this time he was fed the amazing elixiers of the heavens.by gods and goddesses. During this time he taught thousaAds and thousands o! gods and goddesses about the Dharma. Q: Is there a wrathful aspect to Cbenresig? A: One o! the slightly wrathful aspects of Chenresig is Dorgen Rimpoche, an emanation of Gur~ Rimpoche, Guru Padmasambava. In the west part of Tibet there vas considerable difficulty in opreading the Dharma. Tnere were many many obstacl6s ~ncountered through deamons and various other circumstances. And Guru Rimpoche emanated in the form· ofDorje Trolo and Dorje Trolo to wrathful emanations ultimatley o! Chenresig, and through activity in these quarters, created conditions that were suitable for the development of Buddhism. There are also various other Yiddama that are emanations of Chenresig.

Q: If one bas completed all one's responsibilities in the world, what is th~ objection to suicide? A: Suicide is unwholesome activity, because if one has in fact, completed all responsibility and completed everything that it is possible for one to do, one has reached full enlightenment; one bas become a Buddha, and Buddhas do not commit~suicide. If one is contemplating suicide or commits suicide, it is generally from out of either panic or fear or because one is in a situation of tremendous suffering or because one is crazy. A person who really does understand something about religious practice and knows what he is doing will not commit suicide. Q: Y:1at is the difference in preparation for Mahamudra between concentratin6 on the breath and using the meditation techniques of the Yiddam. A: There is a difference between these two techniques. When one rel~es on the technique of the focusing o! the coming and going of the breath, this is a perfectly good technique for the establishment of tranquility meditation, which can be used as a basis to develop insight and which will lead eventually to Mahamudra. But here one is depending essentially on one's own capability and power and strength. I! one uses the meditation techniques of meditating on a deity or Yiddam, or on the other hand, through meditating on one's

43

lama; one is employing or making use of both the power and the blessing and inspiration of the Yiddam or one's lama as well as one's own power and strength in meditation. through this two-fold force one comes to realize Mabamudra more easily. Q: Wh~t is unwholesome about eating onions? A: In the beginning of th:s Xalpa, the merit of human being~ was almost that of the gods. And so this physical human form wa~ much finer and more subtle thaa it is now. It was so fine and subtle that it shed its own brilliance and radiance and the world was filled with light shining from human forms. There was no sun nor moon nor stars in the sky. There was no need of any external illumination. But as this Kalpa progressed, the merit of human beings gradually deteriorated. An~ ~u uhe radiance ana the human. form degenerated. The physical form became courser, less subtle, and the world became darker. In order to alleviate this darkness that the world was sinking into, the most powerful gods, such as Indra and others together with the titans, stirred the waters of the ocean. Through stirring and working with the waters of the ocean, the sun and the moon came into existence, and all of the stars. &lso out of this came a tremendously potent elixier, which vas kept in a beautiful crystal vase. A great deal of the elixier vas generated and the gods would drinkit as much as we drink tea now. They would always pour it from this vase. While they were doing so on one occasion, one of the great titans thought to appropriate this vase for himself. He swooped down on the gods, snatched the vase away, and flew as quickly as he could. The gods of course, took up the chase immediately and realizing that he could not escape, be drank this very potent elixier. The gcds threw weapons at hi:, and one of these was a wheel which j~st sliced his body into ribbons. Any normal person would have died, but because he bad already drunk this elixier, his body could not just degenerate and become nothing, so powerful was it. And the blood and flesh of his body fell onto the earth and it is from this that onions and garlic now grow. This helps to explain the dual nature of these plants. It is said that because of the wrong aspiration and unwholesome view of this particular individual, that the odor and smell of garlic and onions is so powerful it can destroy the efficacy of Mantras. But nevertheless, because of the elixier that this ~erson had drunk, these plants are extremely benificial for one s own body. Of course there are many parts of his body that hadn't at that point received the benif1ts of the elixier which he had drunk. And the lands upon which these parts of his body fell became the cause of diseases such as rabies and of the poisoness plants which are so fatal that they kill anybody who eats them. If one is using the lower Tantras, such as Kryia Tantra, then because or the power of onions and g~rlic, one should not eat them at all when one is doing these practices. If one is doing the higher Tantras, such as Anahata Yoga ~antra, then it doesn't make too much of a difference. Eating garlic does not affect the attainment of realization, such as through meditating on Mahamudra and coming to realization, or receiving the blessings and inspiration. But it does affect

the power of Mantras. There are various Mantras which one can use to cure wounds and to bring good health an4 things like that. It is this kind of power that the eating o! garlic and onions affects. Q: In it possibl~ to dedic· te merit specifically to a dying being that one comes across~ A: Yes, one can ccrto.inl ·• do this and it would be · very beneficial, very helpful.

Wt.:1t is Rtm!'och'?. 's raJ.:\tionship to Jamgon Kongsprul? How are they r~lated? A~su w~at due s the expresbi O ~ ~~~-~rising" mean as in ·•co-arisin6 ~lra::~ e3rt .,., A: Ja.1lton Kongst'rul ~h~ Gr . at ·.,a.s or.e 'Jf' t.:;e gre!ltest recent teacher·· in Tlbe~ c. :· Bt;uc!~lisrn. ~e lived in .C:?.s te!~n Tibet t-.nd comple iely maste;: ·~ all of ·~he ~choo:id of B'..lddi.: ism and wrote great treattsies whic:-. t-~ - ~~ :yt, ~.l)gether ::l.ll of the practices . He ",{as r'!g ~ rded by many ~ · • ?;. ~e-:-. at t :'la t .• :.i.'e r\~ -. 13\Addh. • Many people feel that Kalu R1mpo c ~r is an 1ncar ~~ ti~- 0! ~r~s great saint. I don't k:1ow of any r-c:-; .. f; c t ton . '3ochen :'~.T·' :ncho: w:~ en he came to Sikkim, said that I ·..·-:~i-: an em ana t1 r n 0~ J -!. :..1::;o~ K~ngsprul, but perhaps I may havP. sor·1::- of the 6reat b:'.e:o:. s~ "'CS ~. r.d ins piratioz=s of this very very great t'!Rcher , but I d~n't k~cw ~nything in ~~sel!. Co-arising awa r er.es:: ltr.s ..,hat ! ·;aq ..~ ~lki : ,z, 'lbout before. In describing this ba i~ ~~t;ni+.lor '";hich 1.s c:- • •mu:.taneously the seed or potential fo~ ~)11 e :llght~nm~=t . It s the intrinsic, or mindnature itself, b9in ~ int~insically no t~in~. clear and unimpeded. Q:

A Bodhisattva con~c~':>1H;ly chocse!' hi s ~ebirth and is conscious in the womb. Why is i~ tha~ he is not necessarily born fully conscious and must be retrained in the Dharma? A: There are Bodhisattvas that have taken birth and have needed no education whatsoever. There are others that have needed a great deal of education, but whether a Bodhisattva needs or does not need education, is not becauF-e he needs to lee.r.l to read or anything like that. It is to provide opportunity for sentient beings to be brought into cont ct rit~ · ~e Bcdh!sat tv~s. A sentient bein~ can be trained and h~ l ~~d in the way to enlightenment, through helping and training a Bodhisattva. Q:

Q: What is the relationship 'h~t:~~en whP.t you describe ash ::.Yenly worlds and. hellir.h ,.,crld· Rr.d +.he bodi~s w':lich we see in the heavens l:hich astroncmic:.ll and C ..ogica~. scientists have plotted ou .? A: We, as sect ent betng3, are ~ubject to manifestations of our own b~wilderment. Since these ma~ifestations of bewilderment arise throug h the power of Karma, exactly what appears 1s going to depend upon our Karma. As long as we have not achieved any realization, these manifestations seem to be very true and we believe them to be the way of the universe. And as long as these continue to appear to us, and we believe them to be true, the universe appears to us

45

in this way, and in different times and different places, the universe appears in different.ways. So we can take our own impression of the universe to be what it is; a manifestation of our own bewilderment. Buddhahood, or full enlightenment; knowing exactly how things are describes the way the universe appears to be, the way it is. But it's like hav1ng a hundred people asleep in this room. \ihen they go to sleep they all have different dreams. And when they wake up, you listen to one persor. say that his dream is true, all others are false. There is not just a single impression of the universe. In one of the Sutras there are many different accounts of the way the universe appears and has appeared to various sentient beings. To some it has appeared as a disk, to oome as a square, and to some as a rect~ngle, to others as rourt4. Not one impression of the whole universe, but many many different ones. Q: What is the basis of Rimpoc~'s confidence in the possibility of achieving enlightenment and his confidence in the presence of inherent Buddha nature in all beings~ A: Tne source of confidence and belief in these things is that they come through the spoken word of the full enlightenment of Buddhahood, Buddhahood whose knowledge and awareness completely embraces all phenomena, all reality. And knowing exactly how things are, .that there are these teachings and that Buddhahood is possible. And all sentient beings have the potential for Buddhahood. If one approaches the practices of Buddhism with this idea, that it is possible, and one has confidence in this, then gradually one will come to believe more deeply and deeplJ in the empty, unimpeded and clear nature of mind. · Q: Has Rimpoche taken the vow not to kill, and if so, hov is it that he eats meat? A: I've never killed anything to eat. If there's anything intrinsically wrong with meat, well then my own body is meat. But you are quite right. Buddha taught that eating meat was a very great form of unwholesome activity., And the unwholesomeness was somewhat reduced when if one was de!in&tely in need of meat, because one's body was weak and needed the strength which eating meat gives one. Then it is also somewhat reduced if one does not actually kill animals for one's self. If one eats what has been killed, there is some slight lessening of the Karma involved in the action. If one either kills an animal for one's own purpose to eat it or one orders someone to kill an animal so that one can eat it; these are the very worst kinds or unwholesome activity. Q: Isn't animal raising in direct line. Like knowing that society raises animals for that purpose, solely for that purpose? A: There is this kind of connection certainly, and it is for such reasons that Buddha said eating meat was very very unwholesome. And it is this kind or intrinsic unwholesomeness that is present with

s:tcsaric exic'\.ence, 't~3 t ~~ ·e . te.; the r.ee;ess1 ty for u .. to be constantly confe ss1 ng and :J.dr:i t til ~t; '!. , 1 of ti': ~ unwholesome ::t.ctions that we have accum . \l!lt~d f!'orn b~:tl"ln.!.'!'l~lr :.:l • =~ msara. Much of it 1.s just this kind of relati ou :.:t;' p . .l\1;~ hy br.ing, we are doing a lot of unwholesome actio~ . 0 : As lon6 ~s ;.:g 'r ~ ~. l'J~~ ~ ln th •• c y :.,_ ·· , ~he ~t'! '3 no wa.y t 'J ·vo td it'? A: Ye 3 , as l ~ n .:: ·~ ::; r::·..: ·_ ·. .·: o1·1et1 t:• ~:itt :>aric e:le can eat. And tht~ cre"l.t~.~ a lot of t~ ·: ~::·. olesonc :.ctirm tn :;am:;ar3; rarma which i !> eh ·1.rC!,., by ~. 11, 'lnd t ';. s for t 1;, re r. son tl1at ....-e need to continual l y co'"'l.fo:; s, .Ld!"ui t. a~ 1 ;1u rify all the ..4nw~ole sorcc action that has bee~ d~ e. If we proje~t : ·; l :•l'i 3 n cf :'u•lti~a , uoC!s tnis not ~ep:-~rate us from our own intrl 'l.;lc. J~ :.!.-,3 :;at•tre:' .\: In this kind v ! · -r ·t .: l,...ative pr-:>c~· ..:; , o:1e iG invoki!'lg dual1t:r. But t .1~ re are t·,ro ~{ \ .• o ~· of uuJ.lity . r:-H.:re is duality ..,hicb further decp~nn our involv ~ rn~~t ~lto ~~m~ar1c existence, but ~lso th~re !s th'J d .. ::.,.!.ty ~hie~ ~n l ::; to g~t us out of it. This focusing t ile a tten -:. >. n on an tmnrl11Jc\ t'or.n of B·Jdc!:,a 1.!:3 a moans b·: which we c~n not ~~l y come to t~'J c om®' n - ~ ~tl o~ wi ~ h th'J ble s sings and 1nspir~tlon of Bu1d~ ·, in his p~;'r~ ::!li f'' J~ o !.n th i fom thqt is 111agined and !lO 1ncr'J.-se the !'alt1 1 :;., !1 t!l! : ':'~i.>tl w-4:.~ 1:1 us. Through this kind of inter!'lctic."l 3!'ld th.r:.•1 ,;:: fr,·::q .. 1:w, •. ;,~ nlnd co:ne a to rest one-pointedly, and with th~t one-r :' l~1.,: d ,e~~~ . +. . 1:.; can be used as the ba3is for development of 1n{ i~h nnd d1rAct t~al1z . t1on !.nto the natu=e of ~ind. ~:

'What does OJ.! 41A~ E F-tn··lE t.! :·~ r. ·.nr.' The mantra C.t-1 :;."! / • ~ ::>t-1? ;:n.-t ha:a no tr'l':lSl? tion. It was:1' t ev~n translate d 1ntc ~lo~ta n from th6 original S'lnskrtt. Anc\ ~o a1s1~ning :•.ny :::e :; i:1r cr tran::l'ltion to it is not vcr:,- rurycsclul . T:1c ~c:..ntra ari~w ~ 1.-h ro, ,.,:: thP. fusic-n of P.'!\r rena~s of emptiness and co J:,pa~:-; 1on. Clnl:: very .i r,h ~ r.vel BochLGa tt.v ·'\r; can under~ tan a~~d Bodhi:;at.tvrs. Q:

A:

Q:

Ho·,; t.lo ·. s :; · e "'alk the line betwe .'U\ non-strivinG and t!'le need for

dicinli~c.:

A: W:1 n o:: e 1 3 p ract1c1nt; mu$rma, if mind bcc :->mes t :~ ick and dull and ve!'y to tighten it; to make it very firm, the mind is very scattered, there is

C'n e becomes very sleepy or the unclear, this 1s when one needs bring 1t into focus. When a lot of mental activity going

47

on, everythine is flyine all over there are thougtts of attachment, things are coming up a great deal one should relax and let the mind

the place, 30 aversion, all or the tiMe. settle on its

to speak; or these This is when own.

Q: Rimpoche has said that our practices aim at the goal of realizing NahOJ'ludra, and in the system of the nine Yanas they say that Hahrunudra is a creparatory practice to i:aho.-Ati, Hhich to hear without understanding decreases rai th in i.ahamudra practices. ,-/ould 'Rimpoche com:·1ent on this? A: The word Naha Yoga. refers to the practices which are called the staces of transformation, one of the practices in Vajrayana Buddhism. In Tibetan the term is Cherim. It's 11 i·iaha," 11 ani" and 11 a ti ~ The "maha" refers to Cherim or the stn3es of transformation or the principle emplo1J'I'lent of t'"lese techniques. "Ani'' refers to the principle em7"10yt·tent of the stages of perfection, which is a second principle technique in Vajrayana. And 11 ati 11 refers to great perfection in the !Twnan syster1, Dopochemopo, which is the direct realization into the clear empt7 nature of ~jnd. It is at this !l"~int s;;nonamou3 ,.,i th i·~ahamudr.'\ in the Kargyupa syster11. It is as if ,-ou ,.,ere calling one !)erson b7 two names. ~:

Wh,- d6 they do it that way? The r:umopas Hi sh to present their teachings as the very very very best.

A:

HoH do JOU trannmute saxull.l energy into something finer? '.lhen one renlizes one's own Illind to be no thing in itself, then defileMents o.nd all the emotional drives which we feel· are realized to be no things in themselves. And Hhen one realizes thnt all phenomenon are no t~ings in themselves, are empty, one realizes t~at the::r arise like dre8.r.'ls, like apparitions, and when one has achieved these two realizations all F.ctivity becomes pure. Q:

A:

C Hc.'J! H3ZIG

In the f'B.!lt , :'l:l!''J of you have obtained the initiation for C!1.cnrczir; or Ava) oki.. toshvara , and there a!'e many of you H 1lo :1r~ve bnen prt>.~ticin.::; t !1 i!l !rleditation f">r scme t i 1 ~e . Also t ·Gre n~e nn.~:: of you wh~ ">rly recently raceived t~e initiation ":>r t:hL noclit~tion . So tonir;ht , I Hant to tt>.lk about the 1 .edit ··. tion for r.•,o~re zig . 'rhi s uill not onl:: be a helpful :'c;11indel' !'nl" all of tho~e Hho have been pr.::!.cticinc Chenre~iP; Nedit~t 1 on but will also provide the essential basis for ~ ractico for those who have not yet received thia teachinG , fO !'" ,_., i thout !luch tc-cr.ing , there is r.o way that one can do the ) ~actice of this neditation . , For t!lis l'l~dit-:-. tion, \·!e begin \-lith \.Jhat is re::\11 ! the root of all Bu1dhist pr-actice ; thC'.t is , aoing for refuce . ~e alAo, at this point , foster wh£ t is , in effect , the r0ot , the basis of i;~ hayana. '"' ractice , which is the enc;enderinc of Bod! icitta . So the meditation starts with the fornal rc:-.·.e; .br ~nce or mot i v.::1tion of go inc for refuge in the ouddha , Dha1~a , and the San~ha, and tho cn3enderment of the hnlichtenine Attitude; the3e b e ing the foundations upon vlhich the rest of the meditation rests . The refuee pra:rer is the tvro lines "'hich rend , in en13lish , "until J rea c h enli ghten:-1ent , I r;o for refuge to tho Buddha , the Dharma and the Host Perfect Gathering . 11 11 Buddha 11 means the m-takening from sleep - 11 :-:e ignorance and the enlic;htenr.1ent that comes ~lith t !1e development of all fo r ms of knoHledce . This is ~rha t "Buddha" %\'leans , and refers to all Buddhas , the Transcendent , accomplished Conquerors . The \-lord 11 Dharma 11 refers to the teaching3 uhich cone through enlighteru:tent Nhich have become known and have been tau~ht , so that all sentiant beings may be provided Hith the !'!eR.ns to r each Full 8nlic:'·\terunent . It refers to both the Hinayana , thP. i•ahayana , indeed , all of the thousands ~nd thol: sands of 11 tea.chinr.s t htt.t con1e doHn to us today . f1ost Perfect Gathering" means the Sangha , because thin is not only a e~thering of the most perfect enli s htened beinas but is also tho most r 9rfect reference object for the accumulation of merit and cwareness . Tha.t ia , one 0ructices w o rohi ~ with res pect to the ~nncha: ~ 11 of the Do~hioa ttvns , I rhc to , Con~uer o rs, etc . ~ o it is called "'rhe J.:os t .t'erfec t r;a the ring" for thes e'! tH o !'leaninc;s . "I" sht:,ly pefers to one3elf . "Until enli c;h teT"I·lent is nctun.lly re : ' ~hc cl 11 rllenns t"lat u ntil one ~omes to r" al izo the nc.turc of r•tinr.l or until one ,.e:1 ches f'ull Bucldlvthood , · me \-rill always continue to so for refuge . This is the idea thet one is t ~ll ~ine rcfuce, noing to the Buddha , Dharr.Ja and 3a.ngha for refuc:a .

49 'rhe sour-cn 0f r r• r uc;e is .\ : 1~ l :en l) d Enl ieh ten:•tc nt or od , "lnd all of the inconcoi~able qualities of enli ::;llt('nn cnt: the :r.ontal qualities, the qu::tlities of the phy::ic?.l :·or!"t, :lnd the qualities or the spee c h of e~11~:1 t r:- 11='1e~ ~ . It is the tl·err~ent.lous p oHer llnd capability , t ·~ e force , t"le strenr, th o.nd dyna...,isrr~ in Avrlllcened .:.::nliehterunent tht•.t ')no is appeal i ne to for refuge . The se el:er of refuge is onenelf; it i s also ~11 5entient b c inns . Oneself ar.d all sentient beines a re extre~ely limited in u~y sic al nnd ~ental cr:p nh ilities; because of the ie:norance v!hic h li:1its ou r ca ::- ahilitien He !\re subject to samsaric exi.::;tence . Sams9.ric existence is s:rnon:,•Pious Hith fe f.l r , t!'ihulation , sufforine , nnd frustration . It is from this feeling of suffering ard dissatisf:-tction Nith ex ~ stonce that one c;oes to enli~~tennent tor refuge . The sub ~ tance of refuge is just this attitude , thnt ':>ne is in a verJ unsatisfactor•r situation . F'rot•l this uns a tisfactory situation, one is st~iving to achieve ' enl ::. c;hteT".:nent . One focuses on enlie'"'ten.,cnt as the ~., urce of refu s e and takes refuge in enlighten...,ent in order to be sheltered and protected from this ocean of suffering which we call samsaric existence . The next branch of this pra ~rer concerns the engenti erMent of Bodhicitta or ra~sine the mi nd to enli ehtenr~nt . It reads , " Hay I , throug h all the • ood worl< thttt I do throu~h eenerosityft etc ., rcnch Buddhahood for the welfare of all sentient beings . 1 The first ·ide a is :. I , " t his is the \otork oneself is doinG • Generosity and all the other aood work n eans the Six ferfections: ~ene ro sity , morality , for e be a rar ce, dili £ence , meditative s t ~b il i ty and wisdom . T~rough p r s cticinB the se Six .t'erfecti on::; , •1irtuous action is n. ccWl'lulated . One is vowing th a t this kind of virtu ~us a ctivity is coin ~ to be used to enabJe one t o ro a ch f ull Buddhah ood . The reason that 0ne is ai:nint; for full Duddh ahood, is th a t ~! i th t h e attain 1ent of all the qual 5. ties , pol.rer , nnrl ca ..)ability of Full ·,::nli c:h terunent , one i s coin r. t o direct nll this ability to helping other sentient being s . So that the final ~ otiv~tion for doiPB all of these ~ r a e tices s uch as :"' e i t ' tion on t.hc nrezig 1 s 1'orn1 , repetition ..,r th P r.1e.ntra , or ho l ding the tnind in 5BMadhi , is to re~ch enlightenr1ent i n order to help others . This branch of the ~ rn;rer is called ~ ai sine the i·d nd to the Ob jec ti ve of "! :nliehtennent . 'l'he prayer is mane up of , first the a t titude of r c fuge, and ~ec o~ rll y , the onr,~'lri,!"J'''lr·n ~ cf 8odhici t ta . Tho ne xt r>::trt of the me 0 i tation b or:ins ·;i th the lines , "Cr o~ ;ninc th e h e :..:.d of each and every b e int:; Hhose mx·tbcrs mntch the bound l e ssness of spacA , th e ~e rests a lotus white r;>.nd n full ;-.to on s c at . 11 Th .. s means thC~. t one thinlts o f oneself and al l other bein3s . On t ile cr':>Hn .,f ':>ne 's head o.ncl of a!l other beine3 , there is an eieht- pctallcd wh ite lotus , above Hhich rests t h C' flat disc of the moon . "All other beings whoso nw~bcrs Totatch the boundl.essness of. space' means thst the Buddh~h

50 i.nf~nlty of :::;-').r.P. r~fJcct::. th 'r. t~.: 1it ~· of thn nt.u:ber:. of sen';:iC'nt l:) . ~\rc-: t't>~t t'H·ro arc . Thnt i ~ , ti-1 : .>; 5f one thirJ{s '' f all •. ,,,~tin r.t. bri~~s t~ ·.• t there arc , t.,is 5 s ~: n :i"1finit:.e nu; ;~i "r ; t:'1~re i~ T''"' ii:lit to t'1i.~ . On top of the ~e~d of f'!V~'!., J (ill~ Of t'1f'!!:C 1 t ; .0rc l S t: •i:; ... ~it ~ l!>t'.':: ... ~c\ !"!(lO~ ::;e;;t . ·:.'he 11f'l::t ~ i. "le i ::; "i•'rorr. ·r::I !!pp . . r..r:: th~ n:•c'lt :.11 - :->ee in :o: 0ne" ·:hich L; ~:J'I L!:,...~!i:;h tr '?.~"'-). c.tion 0f --:henr•·zic;': nc:1e . 1·0\-T :~1 to:., :--r t '· o l•)t!.t :; an·l ·:~ ot:'n , one i:-•nr.:i ne;; th ·-! t a. letter , 11 ~ ! :·n · ' , ~!' !· C'l:'.r .,. . ·r:v~ lett~r ii.:f! iz H"litP . Tho !:'03.~on for ne~. :it~ting th ·· t +-ho ~. etter '1RI ?.ppo~rs '. s t '·n. t ·.-r:1en ":l-J.enrezil! ;··as .:'::·1·· ·oc n.:; t !1o •:: :'1'- · · di.:·H~ nt of ~11 ~tu o ·~ hD • s co:~i' 'l.Ssicm, the fit"::;t t.li ns t :~.!t !"p;>carec\ W\S the letter HRI :·rhich tm•!"'eod nt" : ;t:cnrozi~ . :.io the let.ter ;.t:1I is the se~0. syllable for Chen!·rzig . Tr,is :ts just "'h!l t it NCar.~ . A sP.'ld i:l scmethine 'He :Jlr.r~t ~. n t· ., ~ ~rourd ~nd it gro•"'s into first a s!1oot , and then ~ full floHcr ·.-: hi.ch bcnrs fruit . The syllable Hnl is tho !:o ~ C. frofll :rhi ch ' :henre zig appears . • ~·lh~n you 13.re Hell versed in thi s r.u~d!. tati on , JOU can i!'"1agino tho "H;{l 11 on · n e' ~ heaC: and tho he'ld of a.ll ::entient beings , 11nd ir.afine fro:"l this HRI brilliant light shines out~~rd . This li Ght ~enders offerines to all Buddhas in every direction , in all the Buddha real:-:s , and it P.lso '.:orks for the bcn J fit of nlJ sentient beings . As it ~trikez all ~erti o nt bein:s , it relieves their riisery and frustr a tion tha.t f\re f ':l.ctor::: o f sa.·asuric existence . 'i'hen light fror.1 all Ruzts ti-e Budcth .\r.1i toh 11a , the B•--::d i"c. of Boundl er::= J.i:ht uho~c forrrt is t'ed. ~ii:: hc.nd:: hold n. b·: ·:gine; boHl '.r~ .. ro ·n ...,c::o· ';"'tion po::-ition; his teet ~re cro::;::~d in Va .. r:"l i · ..JSit.jC".r · . :1e ~: o ars th" si :,tp!.e !"o~··es of c·. r.1or.!: :)'"JC is t.dorn"d · ·5. th tho t! ·irty- tuc r~ 'ljor ;,ar~•s of :>erfec tion a,....d the ci:..;ht~p . ino1· !"•lC..rkc of )erfection s\tch as the cleft on his he'ld , thti •.-!hoel of the Dharmo. thg.t is inscr-ibed ' on the pcl ~ s o~ ~is ~~~1s nnd the ::;~les of his feet . ~o ~h~n!"ezic is cro:rned by c. comT1letely perfected Buddha , the Buticl~a :u i t~b 11n . "I!Y!.. lt~tahle he sito , his legs crossed , !.e::~.nint; his b~ck ~ gQinst a ~tainless Roon , ~11 r~ru:e deities in essence 11 joinn'l s::>ion of ·rhich Chcnrezig is the et~t ~"~odhtont . It l'lleans that ~;he nr ezir; is a.l·mys loolcinc upon overy sentient beinG -.-tith deer 'love and a con1 assione.te conc:e ~"n, doinr: ·.!hateve;... he can for their welfare . Th is compassionate concern is reflected \lith his uncea9ing gaze , as he looks upon every sentie ftt beinr; all of the tine . .So one prA:,rs to Chenrezig , "I pray to you, All - 3ceing One , nnd I bou rny head . " 'f!1is phrnse is in t ~~ e pr o.:rer to reflect t :-..e f eel:$ n e; of devotion , the P.Ct Of devotion as it : s p er , •etr~. ted in hod:r , speech and r.lind . T~at is , t he n r ~ yer and inaging ~henrezig 1 s foM~ is t. e act of ~ent ~ l devotion; t ~ e repeating of this praJ cr is verbal devotion ; and tho attitude Hith uhich one is approachinG this , j ~ ining the hands , etc ., is p ~ysicn l devotion . So one -.~ :;;.y s homage to t;henrezig ~·lith one 1 s \·thole beine . In t : ~ e :Slacl~ Hat progra:n, vo•l should hav •' fcund :ln orange piece of p3.ncr Hhi ch is a seven fold service . If one hc.s ti~e, one can include this seven fold service , with one sli c ht T•lultiplicn.tion , in the meditation of Chenrezin. The fir::; t office of service is that of Homage . One :lo\.\lcl chco.nee it slightly to read , ''~'11th cor.tplete faith 1 pay homage to the All - Seeing One ~nd all the Victors and their sons uho d !ell in the ten directions and three tines . 11 This 1~ e~. ns that one ls pn.yin~ ho11aec :)rinci pally to Chenrezig , but also to all 0udcl.has and Bodhisattvas . The Victors a:-e the Buddhas and their sons , the :Sodhise.ttvas . "'1'ho.t ducll in the ,ten d irec t j "ns 11 l'llee.ns in the tot ality of space . "And the tbree timec," in t :1e eternity of tirtte: past , present and future . One is :-'aJin{! horota.ge to all of them \-lith complete, clear and lucid devotion . The ::;Qcond office is the o ffic e of OfferinB • "I offe r both c.ctual ~nd i..ta ()iT'led flowers, i ncense , lumps , perfullle , food, :·otusic and lolU Ch else . I beseech the hol:r assel.thlar,e to accept thnoe offeri n~s." One is offel'ing floHers , incense , ln1r1ps , perf 1:1c , food, 1nusic , ~tc . both actually in the offet•inc;s th.o.t one plac es on the shl'•ine i ttt also i:·m,.ined offerings , i!10.~inin3 apace to be fi lled Hith such o f fo:-ings . OffePing t ·,esc things principally t o Chenrczig , ~>ut o.lso to all Buddhas and Bodhise.ttvas . One prays to ther•l to accept

53 thCSF. nfft)r:n;.~ jt"l rll'OOr th_t O.ll Sentient OClTWS !laJ l)e hcl. •cu . i'1, is is the Office of ('fferi ncs . ;-ohe third ·)ff:tce is the office of Confession . ''I confess all tho unr.J:illful nctions tll r.t I have t1ore , i nf luenced by t:cfi ,_ er.tP.~~ts : aD the ten un•li rtuous act::;, t ' ~e five i l1 CXniable ~~-.c\ oti'\c ~·s f thes e things be c 1 e ·; red cuaJ a1~d ·ur::. f i.o r1 • C'r.e t:'.l.Jo vo1 s n0t to do thor.1 a:o.in . At the encl of 11 ·:;~ :i. ~ off~ce, ·:me c;h0uld thinl:, :'t.ll ·'> f this ununoJ. cso.:cne:~s '1as ~c<Jn cl ~'l!'Cl~. o:.·s~.y , h. s been rP:1oved . 11 I re~o i~c ;. ~ t ;".c : 1erit of ·.sh s=t tever :rirt \e Sr-::.vd:as , i~r-a t:re : : P ~·Ufidh!.'\s 1 -:;o~bi S'l t tv as, t•.nd '1rr.iir::tr:r people ~· ther t:".rou~ro':.lt t:1e t;;!r!?P. ti::tos . " 'rhe 3ro.valtas, l'ratye!.:e. 1 ~dt to pass int'J r irvano. but , until the CJClc is complcte l:r ecpticd , to lo~k Hi th crcnt cot .~~ !=tssion up 0n all sentient beinr;s ·.-1ho fl ::mnder in t .•i s ocean of frustrat~. or ~.nd e or,..rM. 1 T!\is : .o~tr.s t 11at one is r rRyinc to the Budd!las not to pnas into Fine.~ i7irvtl.nn. but to st;iy and he1p ~en ient bein ·:s until the cycle of sar1se.ric existence is completely e1-:ptieIPs ~;one confusion on t:"l.e part or the translator . The r.un , PalMo , was a Tibetan nun t-iho fror.1 the time tne.t she H:•.s very :,rotmg , p ray e d to Chenrezig. She lived to be over 100, ~nd oll of the tir.1e she "Ins pro.~.. inc to Chenrezir; over anu over a(~ain . If you have plent·r or ti.·1e to do this r1edi tRtion, if yr.;-u ~;.rent t in anJ l'inci or a hurry , J')U can o.lso incorpor,lte the prayer 3he u .. ed all the tir'le. DurinG the swm':'ler l ... et'!'eat , this n un uould 9A.t nothint:;, and r:;o through the :-etrcP..t this HC'.J - - every othor do.y ea ~inG one 111eal , and Hould :)r:J.y to t::henrezig throu~hou t her Hhol e life and she cwne to ht'tve r•tC.nJ r.1any visions of Chanre z ig . '.i'his i.::J the o r~.J~r she uses , so it is a. ~'Jrayer Hhich hns ~ ~:- e3 t blessing, creat inspiration . '.rhe prayer be[ins , "I prn.y to Chen'!'czig . uho :i. s rn:J L2llla, I pr ay to Chenrezig Hho J. ~ •nJ Yidrun . I p!'ay to Chenrezic uho ia the .3 u:"rerno e.nd Perfect C':ne . 11 Tho.t is , that Chenrezig 5~ ~he c~bodimont of all ryos i tive qualitie~ . "I p r :~y to .::;hen!"f'zir, ':!ho is the - ~rd of :~efu~e . I ~)rE'..y to f!henrezic H~o i s the !ord of Love . " 1''1i~ ~=·c~nr th~t '~honrozi~ hac a totsl co~passionate concern for all oentient ~eine s . 11 ael:;:lne upon :rour ~Ol·l!Hl nsion nd the co:nra ::: sion •.-thi ch ~11 the Victors have, for nll ~~T'. tient beinr;s iih.o suff.;;:• intolerl'bly in sn:.!suric exist ':"!nce , '"l'lo hnve t·tande:i."-?C1 in ~~.r.& ::C'. ric exi::tence for co\lntless tir:te , I pr ;> rc.ys for ''~hll. teve:i."

55 01;estJlf :1nd ell ;,er:tient bei!"gs, Hho fror.t bee;inl'lin::less t1=11e ·.,~vo ~ccur.t'.Jl a ted a grc :\ t deal of un• Jholc~o~;te kar;1a, the pot·Jer of llhich, es~.,eciall:r that which i3 attributeci to a~~or , h ~ s cnused countless beincs to be born nc hell bcin3:1 ·.-rho \'e they surfer the l•li so:--..r of in tense heo.t nnd cold, to he i>·)!'n ·in the f ·10l'! t ;-.e:rfec t he~. vens. Then one says tho W\n tra 11 Oi! . Ai'I l' i\ lJi :E Y:l.i7'·IG . " \~$\in, c:o.ll sentinnt boin,zs h:·ve accunuJ .?. tc'i tre :trndon3 l·::.!r :·1a. rron hp.·.·innin.,.lcss tiMe, but pril"ci ;·a.lly those Hho arc 3\,bject to inten'"O t_;l'e<ed , i1ave heen born CS , ratas 'md h1.1r.r;r~· eho~ts !'tld nre suffer:tne fr'>n t,irst and hllnce;o. h~:r !;.11 nuch bein: :s b~ born in your (Ghenrc::::.ie;'s) ?u:oe Lanr4, B-::-dhil:t • .· lJ oont·· "lllt be-in~s Nho ~'la'TO accu!tU u.terl 1·~-~1o. from i ·. •: r:in.nin ~. :len ~ ·;i~ ~ -~ , but CS!1 0ciall:r boir:G subject to - tunidi t-.:: ha\· & ~ -..": •~1-: l:·cr·J £'"> on··r.J ··.ls .:he:.... e t!~eJ ::uffe -... fr'=n c0: . ~1:t~. cation ~11 : ':' tu~-. ;. C:i. t ..,r 1 duJ.lTH)3S o.nd foolishness j :.~ a :.' all ~UCh Cein~~ O(' ho ~~ in :rour :~ reconce. .:;.nd then one s~:rs 01·: E -J ' I l' .. Oi·iZ HtTUG. All ser.t~. en t boeir.gs he. vine nccu::lUlnterl un>;hol csor~e ~;a .·.r'. f:r?:n :·ecinrin;::less. oa:•lsnra , but es::> eciall:,r th ·•t ·..:hich is due t.., jeo.lo1J. ::: y, E".nd l'ho h3.ve ~een born in the titan rct-.lns, nncl suffnr- frol"t quarrelin; and bickeril1C• Me.::- they be born in !·oul' ?ure i. e.nd , Borlhil A. All scPtinnt beinGS who in the course of bc~innincless :::::l!.Jsn. :.. a havP. a.cctt·lulated unwholes ome karr.t3., esz>e ciaJ.ly those uho h ~ ve accu;·mlated lonta.'1eous l y l!ber.:. ting s entient beings in e•1ery re~lr.1. One r. !'a.ys then, alGo, that through the povrer of pre.yinr.:; to Ghcnrezic in this way , that Rll sentient beings who have becone the ob.~ ects the.t one is seeidng to help -:nd Hho l·rill become one's folloHers in the future, ~rill le a :!""l and apply · the law of lH that one has done -:- t housc:mcl . And Hhcn tsn of tho "e he.ve been d.,ne, one has done a huntJ.red thousand , gnd one Hi 11 rnar){ tha. t off :i th c.nother set of ua:-kers that would move ~round the r.tale 1 ike this to 3how thnt one has done a hund!'ed thou9and ~antras . :ihen thi3 y·tarker \lorlc s ar ··und t~e l-lhole rnala , that will !'•tean tha.t one has doJ"'c ten million . And ,.,ri th Ct)n:,letine ten !··. i llion 1 rmc Hill have done a hundred rdlli-:>n !·tantras . This is vcr:: , ver:r .:;ood . To Y.eep tracl: t)f the nu.""lber of rtantras t :~e. t :.'O U have dorel so you look , 11 0'& I've done a lot now out I've got o. lot .-~ore to go . 11 So one Hill do lots and l0ts of •·lantras . :lhen y ou rcpe:t.t the l'te.ntra , (lj·i i·tAWI !'!l Di·;c. HUl·n , o•1er e.nd ov '3r aco.in , :ou can think about a nUJTiber of different thincs . S-:>metirnes one i-:naeines t;henrezig clearly on one's head , cle o.r .:. 1 i : taeining his brilli:1nt o.ppe FrtlT'Ce 1 and sa:r s the r:mntra OH hAl'I Pt\DHE HU!!G. Scmetirnes one says the rnantra as 0ne is prayine to Chenrezis , p raying e~rnestly for such blensin g s o::; tl ·e develo:'>!nent of compo.ssion 1 the develo~)l'l ent of realization , the re ali zation into the n a ture of all phenmtena , t~c rPalization of e ~pt iness . One pra;s for the bless~ nc; o f a r .J vulsion for sa."''\saric e;d s t ~n ce 1 of a d ee;> ened co1-1p:1ssion for :-.11 sentient beines 1 o f deeper fc.i th in the Three Jewels . One , ro.ys for these kinds of b lessings • .;o.teti!lles one can , 11.s one says the n antra , thin){ -::>f li!; ' t shin i n~ from ~henrezie 1 s body and this b1•il j. iant s!)lendor pervadin ~ the ~mi verse transforming o.ll s r:nt ient beinGS into for~11s -:>f Chcnrezig and thinkine; of the \·tho l e universe as beinB transfornec into a paradise ~~d all se~tient be i ngs as ChenreziB . Focusing one ' s attention on this , one se.y~ the ::tantra , 0;; J·;ANI PAD ·.Z HUNG, o ver and over again. Sornetirnes

57 jus~ let the :tinn :-est ~1ithout any contrivance or l'.:ffort, in l. t3 n atural st., te, to say the 111antra . .jol•lOtirnes thlnk of all sentient beings Hith deep col1lpassion and concern, and s'l.:f the r.mntra lilce this . Generally, think of each of these tl ines for J. i vc, ten, fifteen rninu te s a. t. n tine and then thinlc ub:")t· t a.nother o:;pect of the r.teditntion , but al). the tine re ;H~n tinc; the .t:rm tra a~ much as :rou ca.n . .'.J"ld if ::ou do all of t :'!is nll of the time, l"er:;ulc.rly, ;~ra.duall:r :rou can come !"ot ~o !:nou tire ·.lness , to ,.,ant to Horl~ hard ~. t Uharr:1s. ·· r :';I.Cti Ct:", ::.nd riecper ft\i th and comp a ssion, de., ligh t shines outuards and 1:1akes offerines to all of tho -=3uddhas in nll directions, and li3ht \-15. th !'.11 of their blessings r e turns. Or smtetimes fron the ~RI, light shines out~rards, cl~arins a~ray all of t ! e suffcrin5 and misery of all ser.tient beines in all real~s a~d establishing everr sen ~ icnt bein;~ in the realization of Chenrezig so the.t they too become Chenrezig . Or.e does these meditations over .an•i over again as ·,rell . '.i'he se are very, ver.r ~rofmmd n e

n of ·~ :1er. :.·c~ic f~O il'l ~!.J. for:-1s of ne~ativity , fror.t unHholeso:-.te ::~·.l'fl\ ~ , ~nvirtu...,uz o.ction , emr.-tiono.l dcfilen ent , i.~'"':>rc.nce, ~ nd i n:: tine tua~. ~ l i.ncing . ·ihenro:!ig is con!1l e tel:r free fro:"": 1 t ·~~!.>': ~ ... ; '"S '· 3.1"1 · t : ~i 'I is ::i:;nifj e: ~.: ~ri ti1 o. ~~u re Hili to for:.1 ·. :l~.:.cl~ ~- s f ~"ec f .."''>: t ell ~ t ins or any i n· ·uri tles H~::'. ts~e,•c!:' . : ;:l.l5.r: ·:henre:ic i1c.s f our ~ ands ; the four ha~ds sit;l"if:,• the fOl.l.!" :i::.. : ec.::~lr 0 hles: love , conp::l ss i :m, joy r-.nd ir.~p2.rtiality . 'J.,ho 'lc..nc's joinr.o in p=-~yer at the he!'.rt si~ni~r tl:at ~he!1rezi:; is ~>r .... ~·i 1~ de·1otedly to o.ll Buddhas not to -r ass into Firvana h1.• t t.-, tc':'.c :1 t he D!1ar1 Hl for countless eons in order that r~ ll ~er~ t5.ont ')Pings i 1ay eventually o.chieve J i beraticr. . '::'hn r ich t t:c.nd h0ldinc +;be C!7S tal rosar ~" sy:t!:oli zes ~h,n:-c zi r; t. ·.ret :-_:h . :ovin,s ~h rose.r~p or ~L D.Hin ~· th~ ros nry to :rtrcls hiM , dtt·""r.lt\8 •.ll ::r.ntiont '>ei!'"!gs out of 3 ?-!: arj c e:-::i stonce . 'fhe lof :: ; ~: .11"1 !'!?lcE r..c; the l·rhi te lotus , si3nifi es the flUl'i t)· of C !~ er. : e-:ir; ' ~ a t t f\ iru'! ent , , r:d c !~ is free fron1 ·1l l : ~c file. !ents fl.nf Cbcnrezie 3nd r.1a.ke une of it, t hen He are just relying on our own initiative. Dut if ,.,e ~ ndit~te on ~henr~zia, then with the interaction of C!-lenT"e~ig' s blassing and onQ 1 s own faith a.-1d rr.ecU tn tir"J~·., -;r.:c: quiclot of :•1 ilk. 3y pol.!ring these tHo together, nne ~et s Hhite liquid o.zfl..in. .:>o, once oneself, Rs a sc"lticnt heine;, and Chenrezig nrc ,.oined through th9 proce.:;.: of ·:necli tation, one beco:·1es Gh nrez ig . J"n the ila~rtt:,·ana, 1 t is very ir.:porte.nt to r rnr. tice ,.,.i ti1out ~ny cot\b t or hesi t :>. t :.on . 'ihen YO'-'· qre u'>in~ th-3 Medit ~~ tio~ of Chemrezig , be convinced th.at this can actually (;')!lle o'bout. Be con Finccd the.t reciting the r. antre. i~ beneficial. If one prectices it with this tot'\l conviction, free rrom : >.ny doubt , it l lt India. In the so.."':le ~·:ay, it is v"ry ~rlpt-I·t- ~·.r.t- fN' t.ll of you to pre.ctic~ without rloubt or Jack of conviction. At the end of tho ~editation session, one r~ditates th ;t t lic;ht ~;ocs out frof.l the heart of oneself a3 Chenrezis end tho whole '.rorld, all senti~nt beinGs as Chonrezig , dissolve into li ~h t ':\!ld is ab::~orbed into one 1 s ovm forr.t as Chenrezig. One 's ~ ~ n · fo~~ ns Ch~nrezig dissolves into light, iz absorbed int":' tho !'iU nnd 1:o.nt::-a at the hea:-t. The lotus nnd tho :1nntrL'. erfection of generosity . \~hen one is list e ninr; to the Dharma, one is sittinr; still, focusing the attention on \1,en in the room, is the perfection of modi tation. ;\nd while one is listening, to understand exactly what is beinc said, to com prehend the uords of the Lamn, is the perfection of wisdom. So , in just listening to the Dharllla, one can practice all of the Six Perfections together. This is what one should try to de in everythi~g that one does.

71

G·::HZHAl ?RACTICE

In the course of beginninr:less existence in :3ar•tsara , all of us az sentient bein '· s have been subject to bewilder~o1ent . 1'hj. s suujec tion has enabled us to becol"le subject to the power of the Ha.nifost~tions of beHilrler:nent that ~rise !'rollt ~tind • •\11 of thi!; be::ilce_ 'lent ancl these nanifestations ar:i.se simply fror:1 :~~inti i10t }·noHin~ its OHn nature . rot lcnouing its o•rn nature , not !'Qcognizing hoH it can be controllerl , : ;inn is lih:e the child vlhich doesn't follou advice and discipline of its ~other and just does everything wrong . So what we need to do is to re[ain some control over our mental beinG, over our !•linn, to co1:1e t-:> understand the nature -:>f our r.1 ind; and through thi 3 under r tandine , gain control and .Lull lmd:;l edge of t 1 e nt.ture of our oun cr.istence . !3ecau!jo of this fundai•tental lack of control or limitation of our r.tt:)nt ~ l ::bilities r11any , r1o.ny different for:ns of be\.zilde:-ment and c-:>nfusion arise, and this confUsion and bewilde~w~t is the basis for our emotionality , r e~ctinc with ~. ttt-.chr.tent , avel'si on and pas~i vi ty to everything that c>.ppears before us . This basic eJ"lotionality uithin U3 i:; the Ground for conceptual thinldng, for discursive , conce~ tuC'.l frame of thoucht . 'Al l of this serves only to rei n force our subjection to the uanifesta.tions of our o\·t n bevlilder::lent , and to increase these .l::'.nife3tations and to increase the bcllilder:1ent itsel f. So we need very defi itely a strai~htforwc.~d nethod by whic~ we cnn rele a se ourselves fron the subjection to bewilderNent . Because of the proliferation of belvilt er:lent and the proliferation of such Manifestations which el"lhrace our whole viO. J : )f 1_ ivinc:; and existeT'ce , it is ver-J difficult indeed to terninate nll of these Jolo.nifestations at one til'te , ver"j , very difficult to just stop them from arisin6 , but all of these r.tanifestations of beHilderr.tent l-lhich are rooted in discursive thinl:in0 and emotional! ty are not · the 1.. eal definite substantial things that l-Ie take them to be . All of t!-1.ese impure m=u1ifestations , bt,,ure because of the basic ignorance of tHind , could be turned into pure manifestr. tions , manifestations Without the taint Of Olr'lOtionali ty and discursive thinkinc; . This is a vev~ easy mo th0d . It requires that one understands thot external phenox.tenal re t'.lity ia not reality as nuct"l, it has not the assuredness or peMttanence that ,.,e ordinarily ~ssociatc with the idea of re ~lity; th•t those thin~s which we t~ce to be real have in fnct no intrinsic e;.:.:. 3't ence , theJ are no thines in thell'lzel ves , they a1•e er.tpty; thn t discursive thinkinG and e: totiohali ty :?.re also !lO things in ther.1selves; they are not real thinBS and are in !'ac ticc ryf Dharml:l . ~11 of t! tc se , o.3n.in , ~:·hi le conceptu~l tbou s hts , h ~ lp to deepen one's faith , one ' s respect , one 1 a devotion , one's ~onfidence in tho p r ac tice of i)h:?..rnn. ~.n !~ in the possibility of r.chievin~ enlin:• . . teJ"_"nent . An~. t-.3o.in , these concep tus.l th '>UGhts clear O.Wl.J ntany obscura tions S\nd . ~a t.h.er ~rea t 1·1eri t and throuGh such thouch ts as these , on e i s r·i'lle to tranr fo r 111 the conceptual fr :-J:'le of e~ictence from Wh?.t is ~ nvrholes"J!Tle to Hhat is very fine nnUt this , hi) \·till not be able to proceed effectively Hith his pr ncticl) . ~e have & very deeply incr ni ned sense of self nq d we consider ourself to be some thing , ahra.ys cal line this Hhich He construe our ... elvos , ''I , " "I rul"' , ·• 11 1 BlTl doing this . " This concept of 1:! 11 is the basis of enoti.:m ~.lity . It :t s iT' ::"eference to this "I " that enotionnlity arises , that ave•~ sion arises , and that stupidity or indifference arises . All of this leads us f urther into the rlepths of Sru. saric existenc e bec".USe it aive~ rise to unHholesor.te ldnds o r thoug~ t Ll.nt:\ unHhole c one reactions to the ~rorld o.round \tS . In the Vo. j ~"o.yo.na we mal:e usc of concep i;ual t!lOUE::;ht to trc:.nsfor.·• the frone of our existence , so t ·-:at , for in::.t ;mce in ChonreziG ~editation , one consider::; o~eself to be~ deity , to be ~t1 eiwcziG , and to h:~we the iro:~.gined fo!'I : of ·::her:rezig . This forn of Chenrezig is no cor;Jo real , sub3 tantio.l , fles :1cnd- hlood body lilte the one He have no,: . It is a forr-; ~·T 1ich i:; sinul tRneously Oi.J :>earr.nce and emptiness . It i3 no thine in i ts clf , 1et avpenrs Ni th the brilli~.nc,... of a r a inbot·r. ~·/hen one is i :-.t:![;ining one ho.s this form , uell , one is using a conceptual frr:c1e ; one is · thinldn!} , "I ho.ve this for:-t . 11 In speech , one is repe r.ting a ::~ant r a but Hi th the underst::!nc.l ing that the sound C\f the :.m ntra is indivisible frOITl e:~lp tiness . One lets the Li nd rest i n sOJTladhi , Hh.: ch is the nrisine of awareness or r>erceptiol" and ernp tiness tottether , £1.b~olutely indivi~ :tb le . /11 of this is done in a crmceptual Hay , but t he \·Ih':'le fr P.me of concept has chanced so that no lon~er- is it ~r- un: .holes one frame, but one o f r: ure ;.u:mifestations , pure concepts . Aa nne n r ctices this thr ou ~h the concentra tive t-.bili ty of r~ind , through reliance on tl is !'lUre conceptunl fre.:ne , uhet is hcin- thour.;ht of actually co:: es into h.eing , so that one bec o:nes Ghenrezig and throuch thie one re uches Ful l ml i e h ten:·len t . It is ver ~· itnpor t :".nt that ~rou should underr;to.nd there is a distinction to be Jitade Hith rer ard to conceptual thouc ~· t . There ere eood conceptual though ts , wholesome thou ~~ ts, end there o.re 'n:·Iholesome conceptual thou ;:-hts . The unHhol esor.t e ones , the ones uhich are rooted in e1notion n li t y and ienorance , serve to cre a te karr11a which binds us deeper to Sansaric existence '-Ihile Hholesome or fine conceptue.l though ts nerve to loosen t he bonds of S3.rllsaric e xistence and to set us on 1

?L~

the path of frc :::dom . A lot of people think , '1 leU. , thin i!i nll very nice to do tl•ene lf the indi vidu!l.l interacting -:t th the blessings ann the !10v1er of FuJ.l 3nl i ; h tcnman t ' of the ~~dam::. . Throuc;h this interaction , one can receive all of the blessi!';gs and 1 ~ noH with certainty· the nat'.lre and being of such Yidans and Buddhas . 5o there is no need whatsoever to ent e rt ~ in doubt si~ply bcicauze the:~e thin~s are not seen . The liloli ts of our ·:isual ability do not define the limits of u h o.t e~ists , of uhat is po3sible . The lirnits of our visual ability are defined by our o\m ignorance . This isnorance pervades our exintence ; it pervades our !"'lent~l bein~ and because of this ignorence , no :tatter ho~·t much \.Je l-tish to investignte and analJze , and thinl~ t=~.'> out l':arroa , ue are never eoing to see d irectly a relationshi p between a certain action and ~ certain result . For ~ re we ~oin~ to see directly a Buddha st~ndinG in front of us or anythi~f like t :1at . This is because of the ignorance that is so prevalent in our being. Take a much rnore liTrli ted example: ;re have , each of us, a mind . Yet 'tre cannot se rl this mind at all and He lmow nothin g about it . This is our p roblem. Or, toke qnother e:;atn:>le l.rith two peopl e: I look at a person , he has a mind, and I hc.ve a r.1ind , hut I cannot see -thether he is thiru:ing a good thought or a bad thou~ht . LikeHise, he cannot look at rne and see direc tl1 ~1he t her I am thinldng a good thou!}h t or a. bad thought . Each of us lmoHs nothin ~ about the oth e r fo~ erson' S rrlind at all . Only the COIIlp letc re:,oval Of all ignorance , or F\.111 EnliGhten.ment , Buddhahood cnn see directly what is happeninG • It is out of t his total clarity of

76 under :• tandint: "\nd O.tvarene:Js that Buddha t e.ugh t the Dharma , describin6 the relationship betHeen action Rnd result and the ·~~~r that Dharma can be practiced. By a;>proachin g the Dharrna and the teachincs of Buddha and the ideo. of cnliE;htenment Hith an attitude of belief and confidence, one uill understand Hhat is being said, and throue;h this understanaing he able to practice what is virtuous , to ab3l1C:on Nhc.t is 1m·rholesome. Thus, accomplish somethinc t ' :at i3 trul~.. neaningful . In the Buddhist scriptures the.t have cor.1e doun to us to the :"~ resent clay, there are Many, T•lany stories of some event n of Buddha's life lvhich reveal very clearly the extent of his kno~rledge and understanding, the fact t :1.c.lt he h~d no i 5nor3nce ~rhatsoever. OT!e time, there \vas a very t-Tedth] ;"~atron of Buddhn naroed Gompo Hho invited Buddha and h~. s attend~~t ~ onl~s to his hoMe nnd \vishod to serv6 llim t-. Y"A!ll . Buddha t.tillingly accepted this in.vi tation; he uith l 1lan:r of h is monks c8Jile to Gompo's home. They · l1ere sat dolm :.t thei '!' places c.nd ~-rare served very , very fine food, o.l'':lOS t t:'. s fine 1:\S the ;>reparattons end food t ha t were served to his Holiness K'=l.rJr.n~o. h~re in Vancouver. After this, Gompo •\sked t.be Buddha to teo.ch the Dho.rr.~a . ~uddha. gave a disc:)urse on the Dharma at t ile end of Hhich he sat Hi th a sndle on his faca . d-:,r.te of his close disciples · such as Shariputro., 1-:aurlge.ly-a.yana, and 1\.nando. bent to~ro.rds Buddha o.nd asl~ed , · 11 Why are you s::tiling? 11 and Buddha. said , "I 1 ve been loold ng in to the past of our ~-r orthy patron here to see \.n existence ca.n ,;e do ::oMothine thnt ,.,·11 !'f.lo.lly ho l p others . ~/hen one r.ontet·tplates the faults of s ~unr.'"'ric existence and come:: to ~cquaint one::.elf 1oli th the p o;,~ioili tic::. of o.xi stence ancl the perva.si veness of suffer5.n.'} in all forrns of c::j s t"'nce , r.-no bec;ins to feel t~a t there is o.n incredi ''1 e ~:ount of sufferinc in Sm1so.ra . 7~is is ::;uf~~rinc , which , ·rhen rou roollJ think about it , no one , no sin~le individual could 1ossibl.., tole~~te . It is n..n incredibl ·; po.i n!'ul ~.nd f:-ustr ~ ting r~rr.~ of e::istence . ~lith this feeling and undorstandin8 of the pervo.si veness of sufferir.c , t ite depths

of suffering , t'1e inescapa.bi li t:r of frustration ancl 11iiscry , one reoolves or uilJ. recolve to transcend the linit:: .or SarolS!lric existence , to r each enlichtenr·tent , o.nu to reach

82 enliGhte~~ent not only for one's own sake , but aloo to enable others to be froo fr oM Hha.t is an ocean of sufferinG. 'J.hrouBh app!yinc; one oel f to the con templa.tion o f ltarna.: throueh cornin~ to understand uhat the effects of unHhole3ome action are , what the effects of wholesome action Rre , what constitutes un:.r hole sol'le action, \-that constitutes Hholesome action ; throuch nll this one ~r~duallJ comes to unrlerstand 11o~r J~"l'l::;aric e;d s tence Horl~s . One cnn rNil-:e use of this knoH~. edr,Ef1ot only to h•prove one 1 s position Hi thin tho re~.lm of StU'lsaro. but gr:-.dually to ··take u :: e of lca1"710. throur:h the abo.n.t deal of benefit froltl these conteNplations . The::oe conteJ ·ip latiors ure especially b eneficial in r>rovidinG one ui th the irotpetus and the drive to rersevere in ~a:-na prac t:ee . Until one !'ealizes the staae of one-flavor in J.iah8l1tudra, one needs to contemplate these every cA.ay . After t :1ese contcnplations, tl· e next step 1& to £0 fo r Refuge . The fi.rzt thinB to enable one to eo for Rcl''uge is to understand very clearly Hhat is meant by the !f co:-;tp ~ s.:Jion , one CF-.nnot even consirler such a tra.d5. t~ on to he t.he l·iA.he. ·a.nn nr the Grc~ t Vehicle . It is bec~u ::;e of the c~t. r.,nn i :.1po rt c rc e , crucial inport.':T'C• • .,r ');,ot:-.:. ~= .::· t;lw•· s~ ar.d c*":'r•'l:-'2- ssion in th e i·~!\ha.,•ana - tradition that ue ~i SC\.:SS these topics o•rc.r nno'Hcrftll . ·.co.r..s of d o1.Pc; these prc.c tice s in ::hl:'.t i·re call the found ~ t i on~1 pr~ctice~. It is just to ~ rovide this p repnration 1-1hich is so necessary for the ~chieve :- 1ent of enlic;hten:·:ent , th.nt ~:e need to do these pruc tices no''' · ·/ e s'·10uld Hork as :'lard a::: we can at d-::>irg thmn . One could achieve !·\,11 Bnlightennent thr •)u~:1 t :\c clco.rin~ P.'V1e.y of obscura.tiC'I!1S and the 3 0.th~ring of ·.>.CCUl~ul~tiono, ~'lut it t 11.Jces rath~r a lone: tin e . '1'o nchieve ~nli~· ~ tur,h Hhich one can estnblish the Mind in tranquill ity . In the path of the sutras , one m3.l~es usc of foc 1Jsi nc; the nind on the emp ty nature of all phenol"lena or on the forM of a ~ud dha or on a partictflt".r thi.nc, 1ha tever it :nay be, on the coming and goin c of the brec.th , for i nstance . Any of these that people f ind conducive can be prc.cticed es a ~eans for brincin ~ the mind to rest , cn~blinG ?ne to r.~in control over the uirection and conccntrati~n of one ' s c.t tention . In the Vnjrnyana there are O.Gain rnPny different technlqu~s . One c an focus the mind on the for:: of a dci t.r, · on the sound of a nc.ntro., o~ the mind in 3~adhi or aspect~ of thP. fo:--n of o. deity , on particular letters -- all of these also ·rill :30rve as a basis for establishing the :nind in peace ·.·.ritho1.1t rlistr!\ction . One needs to pre.c tice this a.nd ac hie ve this 3bili ty until the mind will rest of its own accord and just carne to rest and sit completely still. .ihen one he. s o.chievecl. this abilit:r , it is verj' ~9.31' for ~"' enetrntinG insicht directly into the nature of rttind to he (1e11onstrated . 'i'he Dharrno. t'u1t has be en taught for the past r.l':mth or so , the :0harrna >·!h~. ch nany of you listened to and learned is not shcllow . It has a treMendous meaning; it is very deep and r·rof'lund . It is not 'brief , it i~ ro t just a little . 'i'lleso teachinr;s have man:; rrunifications, r'!!'n~r as;>ect::; l·thich need to be learned and studied mo re and used for objects of conte;,pla tion until they are instil) ed within one. So in tlle ~as t , one has heard , in reality, a vast body of very profound tea.chir~g; p"rticularly the teachinr;s concerning etnptiness and co:>m:>a::>:ion uhich need to be practiced and developed every day to the best of one's ability. If one le:.lrns all c.bout th o:;o thinr,s, anrl. meU .,_ro ~oinc; this ne rlitution, 1'\o;! this • 1 editn.tiotJ i~ done; if .rou hring :;,ur &tin ::-~ t '' l eer or, the I· ecH t . tio~1 ~-:! chout di:tr:•ction, "'nd unuer !': t '\.nd :!ell all 'lf the f ·1cets to Ghenrezig ,,e~itatjon so thc.t ~r.,u lJeco:ne 'ICr".J' f11.ni 1 ~. E'.r ·.11th 1harflla pr~. C tiC e i or if JOU l~ O the fou~ foun d~ti')~~~ ·r c ctices -- in doing the~c thines , one trains the t:ind j r: t'ocu!l.i.n['; on a :::inc:lo ohj~c t and ~oe:; 311 nf the :•r:-.c tic as f'rof,'crl.:r ,o~i thou t any confusion . Cncc :T">U h::n re ce tabli shed this founc1a ti"n of :1h~I'Iifl. !•r'n the :tnte2:ration of these t 1 JO into the sane pre c tice . m1en one builds a house , one fir~t builds a very solid four.rla tion to it and then one can bu ild as r1any stories to the house as one uan t ,s to . There 1 s no point in bui ldin""; a. hr,use uhich docsn • t have a solid found a. ti on . In the sf'.r::e Hay , uhel" one i.la.s a very oolid foundation in Dhe.rrrto. pr ctice nnd under s tands re'\lly l·tha.t one is d"':'inr,, then one ·can _cc..rn all of tho vnrious !Jr8ctices and techniques , and rrtake use of them and app) y . ther·l . Eu t t :'l ere is very 1 it tle pnint in h9.vina this kr.oH~. eclGe and te~chinG until one does have a very solid foundntion . .:;.., .o~hen all of you have a very solirl foundation in o:u:trr.t:'l r;ractice , !mort the fo~ndations o:i' Dho.rma , of meditc.ti'>n, and understand the Chenrezi ncditation , then ·rou co.n r-eceive .i' u~ther teaching in all of these things and in all the as pee ts "' f l)hl.'l.r .ta . The ter".chi na n of the Karg:;ur:o. . trarii ti on r,oroe throuell 'filop ."' , r:. :-opa , 1;arp a , l.i 1 arepa. and many other very h irhly attc.inecl lnllividua.ls . 'i'he special te t' ch5ng'" of the ' .agyupa orc:.er :-.re : t h e ..>ix Y0c;as of lfaropa o.nd l·io.ha:tudra . The trc: : enr~ nuslv- poHc:-ful blessings of the ; t..~fi,jU 1 lD. order and the extro:.te n0 tcncy 0f the t.ecbPiqu , s and teac :L~ l"gs of the r.agJu sc ho ol h~.ve rc cnl t~d :i.n Ha.ny ir; :\:i.viduals co ..tin~ to .:;u11 Enli [ hi;c!~rlent :· r. tho course of this tradition , so much so t.!~:-. t ·1l l :ther :.;chool :. of ::.uddilisr•t in ··.'i be t, :u::.d c::re~. t :-c::;pect for the : : n(L'U!')t , s}stcfTl , os )ecially tho :J:i x 'oc;a.s of F:..ropa "'nd l nho.r.mdro., El.nd c :?.lled the i:3.!3:fU cyste! t "t~e ocean of attairttent " beca tse of the treraendous nu:nbe rs of inc!iv.:.duals H!lo havfl i:tado ''Of?. :1f these tec.chincs to roo.c '1 1•\111 Enl.: gi1. ten mont . :\11 of the cchools of Buddhisz11 in 'l'ibet have their pa.rticu :. . .r :;tron · points . The Golul~pa school "l :::"C cot•l!"letel;: un.·iv:'.led ir: t!.eir pre.ctice of the r>erfection of Illor.?.lity; the :):lk~·apa sc!1ool o.re un::-i val~d in their schola~ tic learninG and th~ir un cle rct~l" ~i n~ of the sntras P.nd tflntras; t~e l!Jin ~.... ap~s are c · :.::-'letely un!'ivaled in the5.r practice or :r1 edi tc.tion nnc1 their- c.!)plication of J.)harr.H~; l!l"d the r.ac:ru;>as arc co:op l ete }.J ·n:"i V !;' led in their a ttainn ent . '.Je ?.re very , VOl":/ fortunate indi vj duals indeed . :Jo rettll:r , if one has the

cHl~. ~:cnce :>. ~cl ho.s t.hc ,'ntiC'nce l\11'~ forcbeo.r ;-.nce , really am! trul :I re~c'l !h:r::icnl fo:~; that e.ll :-:-:>und is ·:1· ntra; :1nd that Jn i~·i , o.·:nrenes:; arc inse ·· c rable frofl'l ~l iP •~ines~ . derli t::\tir.3 in thP. conce,, tuc.l fr·a:·lc::orl.: in thi:; v~•.., ~- ~ .hA .·r c.c tice ol' the ~tRge o f tr e.nsfor; .J~tion . :.. ettir:g the 1:: nrl r~~t i r its natural st'lto , em!· t~r e.t: the cnC. of ;. e·li c"l.t.:.o·,, i:: tho : •ractice of the stage :>f ;Jer fect5on . Q:

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