Chapter 1. Friday, October 26: Combined Jorchö and Lama Chöpa Puja

You have already generated the motivation in my absence....

[The group recites verses 2–6 of Lama Chöpa.]

Those who are familiar with the practice should meditate on purifying ordinary death, intermediate state and rebirth, ripening your mind in the path-time three kayas and planting seeds to achieve the result-time three kayas. 

[There is a long pause for meditation, then the Lama Chöpa practice continues to the end of verse 22.] 

Extensive offering practice

Here we’re going to do the extensive offering meditation. We blessed all the extensive offerings here before, but besides these offerings we’re going to bless all the extensive offerings at the Aptos house,² where there are many hundreds of bowls of water offerings, many thousands of light offerings and flowers inside and outside the house. We’ll also bless all the extensive offerings in all the rest of the FPMT centers’ gompas, including the two thousand offerings at the center in Mongolia, the many offerings at Kopan Monastery and all the extensive offerings at Derek Goh’s house in Singapore. We will bless them all together, then offer them. 

First we will bless the offerings. 

[The group recites the Offering Cloud Mantra³ three times, with music.] 

Before we offer all the offerings here, in the Aptos house and in all the rest of the FPMT centers, we first make charity of them to every hell being; we give all the offerings to every hell being. 

We give all the offerings here, including every single light, and all the offerings in all the rest of the FPMT centers to every hungry ghost. 

We then make charity to every animal, every insect. 

We make charity to every human being. Again these days there are many economic problems because of the recent destruction in New York,⁴  which you hear about billions of times every day. Many people all over the world have lost jobs, with airlines, banks and insurance companies collapsing everywhere. 

We first make charity of these offerings to sentient beings, and we then make the offerings together with all sentient beings or on behalf of all sentient beings. Sentient beings own the offerings, and we become the manager, or organizer, who directs the making of the offerings to the Triple Gem. In this way everybody gets merit. We make charity to all sentient beings and then make the offering of what belongs to sentient beings on their behalf. So, the offering is coming from them. 

In daily life when you make water offerings at your own house, first make charity to sentient beings before you offer. Knowing that the offerings belong to sentient beings also helps you not to cling to the offerings, thinking, “This is my offering.” It also helps it to become pure practice, because it is an antidote to self-cherishing thought. 

No matter where they are—in Africa, Tibet or any other part of the world, or in any other universe—every single human being gets merit by our making offering for them and also by our dedicating the merit at the end, which makes the practice very powerful. Every mother sentient being gets all this merit, and from that they then get happiness. It’s great to do this practice, especially with the present problems in the world. Sentient beings need a lot of merit. What’s happening in the world is happening because of negative karma, and the opposite of that is good karma. Human beings need a lot of good karma to have successful lives. Without talking about good rebirth, the happiness of all their future lives, liberation from samsara or full enlightenment, but just about not having problems in this life, such as difficulties surviving, and about having comfort and happiness, sentient beings need a lot of good karma. 

So, we give all the extensive offerings here and in the rest of the centers to every human being. 

We give all the extensive offerings to every asura being and to every sura being. 

We also give all these offerings to every intermediate state being. All the intermediate state beings receive them. 

Think: “I must achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings; therefore, I’m going to do the practice of offering. I’m going to offer all these offerings to the guru-Triple Gem on behalf of (or together with) all sentient beings.” 

First, we will offer to the gurus. Put your palms together and prostrate particularly to your gurus, those with whom you have a Dharma connection. Offer all the offerings here and those in all the rest of the centers, as well as those in the Aptos house, which are all of the nature of infinite bliss, to the gurus and generate infinite bliss within them. There are three points: prostrating, making the offerings and thinking the offerings generated bliss within the gurus. 

With this guru yoga mind, feeling with your whole heart that each guru is the essence of all the buddhas, prostrate, make the offerings and think the gurus generated infinite bliss within them. You can do this five, ten, twenty-one or more times, but always with these three points. 

Then prostrate and make all these offerings here and those in all the rest of the FPMT centers, which are of the nature of great bliss, to the whole Guru Puja merit field by meditating that each being in the merit field is your own root virtuous friend. With this meditation, with this guru yoga mind, prostrate, make the offerings and think they generated great bliss within them. 

Prostrate and make all these offerings here and all the extensive offerings in all the rest of the centers, which are of the nature of infinite bliss, to all the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha in the ten directions, by meditating that their essence is your root virtuous friend. Think they generated infinite bliss within them. Prostrate, make the offerings, think they generated bliss. Offer with these three things as many times as you can. 

Prostrate and make all the offerings here, those in the Aptos house and those in all the rest of the FPMT centers’ gompas to all the statues, stupas, scriptures and thangkas in all the universes in all the ten directions, by meditating that their essence is your root virtuous friend. Think they generated infinite bliss within them. Offer as many times as you can: prostrate, make the offerings, generate bliss. 

Offer all the offerings here, all the offerings in the Aptos house and those in all the FPMT centers’ gompas, which are of the nature of infinite bliss, to all the holy objects in India, by meditating that their essence is your root virtuous friend. Think that they generated infinite bliss within them. Prostrate, make offering and generate bliss within them. Do these three as many times as possible. 

Prostrate and make all the offerings here and all those in the FPMT centers’ gompas to all the holy objects in Tibet, including the most precious one in the Lhasa temple, the Shakyamuni Buddha statue blessed by Buddha himself during Buddha’s time. It is actually Buddha benefiting sentient beings in the form of a statue, liberating many hundreds, many thousands, of sentient beings every day from the lower realms and from samsara by allowing them to collect merit and to have realizations of the path to enlightenment from that merit. Think also of the stupa we have built in Sera Monastery in Tibet, as well as of the Maitreya Buddha statue, Meaningful to Behold, which is in Drepung Monastery, and of the most holy Most Secret Hayagriva statue in Sera. Prostrate and make all the offerings here and in all the rest of the centers to all the numberless holy objects in Tibet, meditating that their essence is your root virtuous friend. Think that they generated infinite bliss. Do these three—prostrating, making the offerings and generating bliss—over and over, as many times as possible. 

Now prostrate and make all the offerings here and all the offerings in the Aptos house and in all the FPMT centers’ gompas to every single holy object in Nepal, including the most precious Swayambhunath Stupa in Kathmandu, which contains a natural crystal stupa that appeared from the lake that once completely filled the Kathmandu valley. This crystal stupa, a manifestation of dharmakaya, was predicted by Buddha himself. It appeared from the lake spontaneously and is now inside the Swayambhunath Stupa. 

Also remember the Boudhanath Stupa, which is called “the all-encompassing, wish-fulfilling stupa.” The woman who started to build the stupa passed away when she had completed the vase, and her four sons then completed the stupa. After they completed the stupa, numberless buddhas and bodhisattvas absorbed into the stupa when the four brothers dedicated the merit and made various prayers. The eldest brother made prayers to become a Dharma king and be able to spread Dharma in Tibet, the Snow Land; the next brother prayed to become a minister and help his brother to spread Dharma; the third brother made prayers to be the abbot to pass the lineage of ordination in Tibet; and the youngest brother made prayers to become a powerful yogi to pacify obstacles to the spread of Dharma in Tibet. The eldest brother became Trisong Detsen, the Dharma king of Tibet, and each of the others became what they had prayed for, with the last one becoming the powerful yogi, Padmasambhava.⁵

There were many obstacles to building Samye, the first monastery in Tibet. In the daytime people would build and at night spirits would tear down what had been built. This happened many times. Padmasambhava was then invited to Tibet from India. He hooked and subdued the spirits, except for three who ran away. He then made the spirits pledge to become Dharma protectors, protecting the Dharma and Dharma practitioners in Tibet and the Himalayan regions. Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism was then preserved and spread in Tibet for many years, and so many beings achieved unmistaken realizations of the path to enlightenment and achieved enlightenment in Tibet. Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism has now spread all over the world, even in the West, and every year tens of thousands of people are able to have the opportunity to follow the path to enlightenment and to make their lives meaningful, including us. That we can make our lives meaningful twenty-four hours a day every day by having refuge in our heart, by practicing bodhicitta, by meditating on emptiness and by collecting merit are all benefits from the Boudhanath Stupa. 

So, we prostrate and make all the offerings here and all those in the rest of the FPMT centers’ gompas to Boudhanath Stupa and all the numberless other holy objects in Nepal, meditating that they are all our own root virtuous friend. Think that they generated infinite bliss. Prostrate, make offering, generate bliss: do these three over and over, as many times as you can. 

Prostrate and make all the offerings here and all the offerings in the rest of the FPMT centers’ gompas and in the Aptos house, which are of the nature of infinite bliss, to all the holy objects in Sri Lanka, Burma and all the rest of the world, meditating that their essence is your root virtuous friend. They generated infinite bliss. Prostrate, make the offerings, generate bliss within them. 

Last, prostrate with your two palms together and make all the offerings here and in the Ashes Temple [Memorial Shrine]⁶ and all the lights and other offerings in the Aptos house and in all the rest of the FPMT centers’ gompas, which are of the nature of infinite bliss, to the seven Medicine Buddhas (or eight Medicine Buddhas, if you include Guru Shakyamuni Buddha) for success. Without talking about reciting the name and mantra of Medicine Buddha or meditating on Medicine Buddha, if you simply make offering to Medicine Buddha, Medicine Buddha’s entourage, which includes the twelve groups of harm-givers living under Medicine Buddha’s orders, will always protect you. They’re called nöjin in Tibetan, which translates as harm-givers, but I’m not sure of the exact meaning of the term. Each of the twelve leaders has an entourage of seven hundred thousand. If you simply make offering to Medicine Buddha, the entire entourage of Medicine Buddha always protects you. Thus, all your wishes get fulfilled. 

We also offer all the offerings here and all the offerings in the rest of the FPMT centers’ gompas, which are of the nature of infinite bliss, to Bodhisattva Kshitigarbha, so that we can instantly fulfill the wishes for happiness of all sentient beings, like Bodhisattva Kshitigarbha himself. We also make offerings to Thousand-Arm Chenrezig, Compassion Buddha, so that we can develop great compassion and quickly liberate the numberless mother sentient beings from their unbearable sufferings and bring them to full enlightenment. So, we specifically make offerings to Medicine Buddha, Bodhisattva Kshitigarbha and Thousand-Arm Chenrezig, meditating that their essence is our root virtuous friend. By meditating that they are our guru, we collect the most extensive merit. 

We’ll now do the next prayer from Guru Puja. 

[The group recites verses 23–31 of Lama Chöpa.] 

We can also visualize the sixteen goddesses from the Heruka Chakrasamvara practice making offerings. Infinite bliss is generated within the holy minds of the beings in the merit field. We can also offer the eight auspicious signs, the eight substances and the seven royal emblems. Offer numberless quantities of each of them. 

[The group recites verse 32, the twenty-three-heap mandala.] 

Due to the merit of having offered this mandala, may I, the members of my family, all the students and benefactors of the FPMT organization, especially those who sacrifice their lives to the organization to benefit sentient beings and the teaching of Buddha, and all the rest of the sentient beings be able to completely actualize in this very lifetime the stainless teaching of Lama Tsongkhapa, the pure wisdom of the Victorious One, which involves living in pure morality, having the brave attitude to do extensive works for sentient beings and practicing the yoga of the two stages, the essence of which is the transcendental wisdom of non-dual bliss and voidness. 

Mä jung nam thar tsang mäi thrim dang dän 
Lab chhen gyäl sä chö päi nying tob chhe 
De tong chhog gi rim nyi näl jor gyi 
Lo zang gyäl wäi tän dag jäl war shog

IDAM GURU RATNA MANDALAKAM NIRYATAYAMI 

[The group recites verses 33–37.] 

Renewing the bodhisattva and tantric vows

Taking the bodhisattva vows 

Those who have taken bodhisattva vows in the past take the vows again to purify the vows that have been degenerated and to enhance those that have not been degenerated. 

Think: “The purpose of my life is to free all sentient beings from all their suffering and its causes and bring them to enlightenment; therefore, I must achieve enlightenment. Since it’s impossible to achieve enlightenment without taking the bodhisattva vows, I’m going to take the bodhisattva vows for the benefit of all my kind mother sentient beings.” 

[The taking of the bodhisattva vows is recited in Tibetan.] 

Think: “I have received pure bodhisattva vows.” 

Taking the tantric vows 

Those who have taken the vows of Highest Yoga Tantra should think, “My kind mother sentient beings suffering in samsara for even one second is like suffering for eons. It’s unbearable to me. I must liberate them from all their suffering and its causes and bring them to enlightenment as quickly as possible. Therefore, I must achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible. There’s no way to achieve enlightenment quickly and more quickly without living in the tantric vows. Therefore, I’m going to take the tantric vows for the benefit of all sentient beings, to liberate them from the oceans of samsaric suffering and to bring them to enlightenment as quickly as possible.” 

[The taking of the tantric vows is first recited in Tibetan, then Ven. Sarah Thresher reads it in English.] 

Think that you have received pure tantric vows. The vows that have been degenerated have been revived; those that have not been degenerated have been enhanced. 

Samayavajra practice 

We’ll now recite the Samayavajra mantra. 

Sang gyä chhö dang tshog kyi chhog nam la....(3x) 

Visualize Samayavajra above your crown, then purify your negative karmas as with the Vajrasattva practice. Purify particularly the heaviest negative karmas, those collected in relation to your gurus, which are the greatest obstacles to achieving realization as well as to all other success. Think that you are purifying those you have collected during beginningless past lives and any you have collected in this life. 

[The group recites the Samayavajra mantra, OM AH PRAJNA DHRIKA HA HUM.]

Think that nothing is left. Every single negative karma, every degenerated samaya vow, collected in relation to the guru has been completely purified. 

Due to these merits until I achieve enlightenment may I never transgress the samaya vows of Guru Vajradhara. 

[The group recites verses 38–39 of Seven-Limb Practice.] 

Rejoicing 

Think: “I have collected numberless merits in the past and in the present, and I will collect numberless merits in the future. Without merit there’s no happiness, not even temporary happiness. There’s not the slightest happiness I can experience. So, all the past, present and future merits are very precious. How wonderful it is that I have collected all these merits!” Feel happiness in your heart. [meditate]

“The numberless merits that I have collected in the past and in the present and that I will collect in the future are so precious. How happy I am that I’ve collected all these merits. How wonderful it is!” [meditate]

“I have collected numberless merits in the past and in the present and I will collect numberless merits in the future. They are so precious.” [meditate]

“How wonderful it is! How wonderful it is! How wonderful it is! How wonderful it is!” Generate greater and greater happiness. [meditate

Each time we feel happiness, which is rejoicing, we collect skies of merit. 

We now rejoice in the merits of other sentient beings and particularly in those of the bodhisattvas and buddhas. They have collected numberless merits in the past and the present and will collect numberless merits in the future. From that they receive so much happiness and so many perfections. Think, “How wonderful it is!” [meditate]

“May I be able to collect that much merit for the benefit of each sentient being.” [meditate] 

[The group recites verses 40–42 of Seven-Limb Practice, then the long mandala offering. Ven. Sarah then reads Special request for the three great purposes three times in English. The group then recites the nine-line migtsema twice in Tibetan.] 

You can do the request and the visualization of purifying the negative karmas collected in the relationship with the virtuous friend.

[Ven. Sarah reads Requesting the Guru three times and Visualization.] 

This requesting prayer describes the different levels of qualities of the guru and what the guru is. 

[Ven. Sarah reads verses 43–52 of Making Requests to the Guru in English.]

Read the next verse twice in English, then we’ll do it once in Tibetan.

[Verse 53 is recited twice in English, then Rinpoche chants it once in Tibetan, followed by verse 54.]

Recite your root guru’s mantra.

[This is followed by recitation of the mantras of Shakyamuni Buddha, Yamantaka, Heruka, Guhyasamaja and Vajrayogini then OM AH HUM and ge wa di yi nyur du dag...] 

Now, the blessing of the tsog. 

[The group recites verse 55.] 

We’ll skip the next part of the prayer and just do the invocation and the offering of the tsog. 

[The group recites verses 61–67, Praise in Eight Lines and verses 68–69.] 

Recite Lama Ösel’s long-life prayer. 

[The group recites Lama Ösel’s and Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s long-life prayers.] 

The lamrim prayer can be read in English with the addition of Practicing Guru Devotion with the Nine Attitudes. Stop just before the verse on the paramita of charity. 

The Eight Verses 

Compassion for terrorists 

Whenever I see beings who are wicked in nature and overwhelmed by violent negative actions and suffering, I shall hold such rare ones dear, as if I had found a precious treasure.

Here with this verse⁷ we should think of all those people who are terrorists, such as Osama bin Laden. They’re the main object of meditation for us when we say “those with wicked minds, those who have engaged in heavy negative karma and those who have much suffering.” They will have to experience heavy results for many eons. Not only will they experience these problems in the future, but when they are again born as human beings due to another good karma, they will have to experience being attacked, wars and so many other difficulties in their lives. This will happen not just in one human lifetime, but in many hundreds, many thousands, of lifetimes. For many, many human lifetimes they will have to experience being attacked and killed, which is the effect similar to what they did to others. Their having a human life will be caused by another good karma, not by their destroying the Twin Towers. They will not get reborn as human beings in New York by destroying the New York buildings. Anyway, I’m joking....

This is on top of the sufferings in the lower realms that they will have to experience for many eons. Therefore, when we recite this verse at the present, the terrorists should be objects of our compassion rather than objects of our anger. This verse fits them very well; it fits the nature of their minds and of what they did, their heavy negative karma and so forth. Their wrong views are like rocky mountains, heavy and fixed, and they can’t see that their views are wrong. It’s difficult for them to see that what they’ve done is negative karma. 

Because of all the resultant sufferings and the consequences for many eons (the negative imprints left on their minds will make them continuously engage in negative karmas, for example), they are real objects of compassion. People get upset or angry when you say, “You must have compassion for the terrorists.” When you just say the word “compassion,” people get angry. People are very angry because they can’t bear the destruction that has happened in the United States and the effects in all the rest of the world. But you should have compassion for the terrorists. 

Since it’s difficult for people to understand this, you have to explain that because of their many wrong views and harmful actions, the terrorists themselves will have to experience all those sufferings for thousands and thousands of lifetimes, even when they’re born human. Each time they are born human they will have to go through all these disasters. This is in addition to suffering in the lower realms for eons. When you think of their situation (their wrong views, the heavy negative karma they have created and what they will have to go through), there’s no choice—compassion has to arise. You see that their situation, with all their delusions, negative karmas and sufferings, is unbearable. When you understand their situation, compassion naturally arises. 

Of course, if you don’t understand all this, being told that you should have compassion for the terrorists only makes you angry. It only makes you say,” What are you talking about? They destroyed all this!” There has been such a negative effect on the world that people can’t understand when you say that they should have compassion for the terrorists. If you talk about peace, people get angry. But if you think in this way, particularly as described in this verse, the terrorists are objects that cause you to develop compassion. These people themselves have unbelievable suffering. If you understand their situation—their suffering, their negative karma, all the harm they did to so many other sentient beings—you see that they’re pitiful. It only makes compassion arise. Of course, if you have compassion, realization of bodhicitta then comes. You then enter the Mahayana path, complete the two types of merit and achieve all the infinite qualities of a bodhisattva. You then achieve the two kayas, dharmakaya and rupakaya, and are able to liberate numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment. Now when we think of this, these people who engaged in so much heavy negative karma, caused so much suffering and harmed the world are so precious in our life. What they did is unbelievably harmful to themselves, but for us, as individuals, it’s precious because it enables us to develop compassion and that enables us to become buddha. We then have all the means to liberate sentient beings, who are numberless. So, this benefit comes from the terrorists. 

Wrong rejoicing

I want to mention to you, and maybe it can go to the FPMT centers and the website, to make sure that you don’t rejoice in the wrong things, because it’s heavy negative karma. If you feel dislike or hatred toward the Taliban, when you then hear that some of them have been killed, you naturally rejoice. You naturally feel happy in your heart. However, if you hear that one thousand people have been killed and you rejoice in it, you then receive the same heavy karma of having killed one thousand people. If you simply feel happy on hearing that information, you create the heavy karma of having killed one thousand human beings. Even though you’re not in the war and you don’t actually shoot or bomb anyone, as far as negative karma is concerned, you create the same heavy negative karma as the person who killed those one thousand people. Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo explains this in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. 

I thought to mention this great danger. If you feel dislike or hatred toward the Taliban, there’s a danger that when you hear some of them have been killed you will immediately feel happy. If you don’t feel hatred toward them, I don’t think you will rejoice. But if you feel hatred or anger toward them, rejoicing will happen. So, this is very heavy. Of course, people who practice lamrim in their daily life, those who remember karma and what is said in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand and other lamrim teachings, don’t need to be told this. But I thought it might be useful to remind those students who have heard it but maybe don’t remember it in their daily life. 

The first time I heard that a few places in Afghanistan had been destroyed (the report didn’t mention people), because I wasn’t careful to watch my mind at that time, I suddenly felt kind of good. Then I immediately remembered karma. There was no mention of any people being killed—just of a place being destroyed. Because that happened the first time, after that I was more careful. When you hear such news, be careful not to rejoice. 

Of course, if you meditate on these verses, your view changes; but when you don’t meditate, when your mind is not in the state described in these verses—holding those sentient beings as precious or feeling compassion for them—you see them as undesirable. At times when you’re not meditating, what has happened appears heavy. 

The destruction of Buddhism 

Buddhism in India was attacked three times by Muslims. (I’m not giving you reasons to get angry with Muslims. If you remember the verse that I mentioned just before and keep your mind in that state, it will be OK.) Before, inside the stupa at Bodhgaya, there was a Buddha statue that radiated its own light at night. It didn’t need any other light as it had its own. I think this Buddha statue was made by the same artist who made the Shakyamuni Buddha statue in Lhasa. He wasn’t an ordinary man, an ordinary artist, but a transformation. Maybe because sentient beings’ karma to have such an incredible holy object had run out, the whole statue was destroyed. The present statue that we see inside the Bodhgaya stupa was then made. Even this statue is exceptional—so alive and beautiful. I think His Holiness also likes it very, very much. 

The bodhi tree, where Buddha showed the holy deed of becoming enlightened, was also destroyed three times, but because the roots were under the ground, it grew again and again. I don’t think there are any stories of Hindus attacking Buddhism, but there was some karma that the Muslims attacked Buddhism three times. I think it also happened in Indonesia. Somehow there was some karma there.

I heard a story from Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche that a long, long time ago one of the monks in a Buddhist monastery was very naughty and didn’t follow the discipline. The gekyö, the monk who looks after the discipline of the monastery, got very angry and punished that monk very harshly. That monk then generated much hatred toward Buddhism and made many negative prayers to be able to destroy it. So, in all of his following lives he was born as a Muslim and attacked Buddhism. That was the original karma: as a monk, when he was punished by the disciplinarian, he generated much hatred toward Buddhism and made many prayers to destroy it.

This story shows the effect of prayers. If you make bad prayers to harm somebody, they can have an incredibly negative effect. If you make good prayers, they can have an incredibly positive effect. It shows the power of mind. Since prayer is what the mind thinks, it’s the power of mind. The negative mind, as well as the positive mind, is very powerful. It shows us that in our daily life we must put a lot of effort into praying to benefit other sentient beings, as in the incredible prayers and dedications of the bodhisattvas. We must generate the power of positive mind and dedicate our prayers in that way.

Even with Shakyamuni Buddha and Lama Tsongkhapa, who were able to achieve enlightenment, the skies of benefit they offered came from prayer. They were able to completely cease the oceans of samsaric suffering, which have no beginning, achieve the vajra holy body and liberate numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering. All these skies of benefit came from prayer, from the power of the positive mind.

According to Padmasambhava’s prediction, the world will eventually be conquered by the Muslims. When I was in Tibet and maybe fourteen or fifteen years old, the monk who looked after me, supervised my becoming a monk in Domo Geshe’s monastery and rode with me from Tibet through Bhutan to India was reading Padmasambhava’s predictions. I think the Muslim invasion starts from Mecca, the main Muslim holy place, then eventually takes over the whole world. At that time there will be much killing and war and many more disasters.

Due to karma, nobody will be able to defeat them, and the Muslims will conquer the whole world. At that time the Shambhala war will start, and those bodhisattvas will then defeat the Muslims. I guess there will be manifestations in different kinds of materials, as mentioned in the Shambhala prayer. The bodhisattvas will come as an army, but as soon as they have conquered the Muslims—or, as it says in the text, “the barbarians”—they will immediately stop showing the aspect of an army and teach the Dharma. The teachings of Buddha will last for one hundred years. This is why there is a dedication to be born in Shambhala at the end of the long version of Six-Session Guru Yoga.⁸ You pray that if you don’t become enlightened in this world during this period, that you be born in this world during the time that the Kalachakra teachings are being spread, hear the tantric teachings and practice them, and achieve enlightenment. Pabongka Rinpoche explained that this is why, even though there are many other pure lands, at the end of the long Six-Session Guru Yoga you pray to be born in the Kalachakra pure land, Shambhala.

Anyway, let’s go back to compassion. That’s safest.

We’ll finish the prayer.

[Ven. Sarah concludes the reading of The Eight Verses of Thought Transformation.]

Dedications 

“Due to the past, present and future merits collected by me and the merits of the three times collected by others, may I, the members of my family, all the students and benefactors of this organization, especially those who sacrifice their life to this organization to benefit sentient beings and the teaching of the Buddha, as well as all the rest of the sentient beings, from now on in all our future lifetimes meet only perfectly qualified Mahayana gurus. From our side, may we see them as only enlightened beings and do actions only most pleasing the holy minds of the virtuous friends. And, from now on in all our future lifetimes, may I and every other sentient being be able to immediately fulfill the holy wishes of the virtuous friends.

“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and the merits of the three times collected by others, may the virtuous friends have stable lives and all their holy wishes be accomplished immediately.”

Think here particularly of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who is the sole source of peace in the world and the holder of the entire Buddhadharma, thus giving sentient beings the opportunity to listen to, reflect, meditate on and actualize the paths to liberation and enlightenment.

I have heard from good sources, from those who are able to predict well, such as Khadro-la in Dharamsala and a Tibetan woman here in America, who is over eighty years old, that there will be a lot of obstacles to His Holiness during the next three years. Khadro-la explained to me from Dharamsala that while there will be good things, there will also be many obstacles to His Holiness during these coming years. Of course, that’s in the view of us sentient beings. In India, Khadro-la, with some of the ascetic monks from the mountains, is making one hundred thousand tsog offerings to Tara for His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She chose monks she thinks are pure practitioners. Many pujas are also being done. It seems this year—and maybe the next few years—is quite a heavy time in the world, and also for His Holiness’s life.

So, it might be good to do tonglen practice,⁹ to take upon yourself all the obstacles to His Holiness and other great holy beings, those who can bring unbelievable benefit to the world, and allow them to have long lives. Of course, you too can benefit the world but maybe in a very limited way compared to them. Doing tonglen practice and taking all their life obstacles becomes the same as the practice of chöd, or slaying the ego; it is bodhicitta practice. When you sacrifice yourself to save somebody’s life, it becomes all those practices. Here we’re talking about those great holy beings living longer in this world, where, with all the violence and turmoil, there’s an incredible need for them.

There’s also a special puja for long life in which you turn away the dakinis. When somebody’s sick from spirit harm, you usually make a figure of the person, called lu; you dress this figure up with jewels and surround it with food and many other things. You then tell the spirit how beautiful this figure is, with all its jewelry, and even though there’s very little there, you tell the spirit that there are clothes, jewels, food and drink and so forth, like in a department store. You tell the spirit how much wealth there is, and as you say the words, all that wealth appears to the spirit. The spirit is actually able to see all that you are describing.

One time when His Holiness Zong Rinpoche was in Italy, an Italian woman had spirit problems that caused her telephone to always ring even though no one was actually calling her. His Holiness put a blessed string on the telephone and that stopped the ringing. Maybe you can do that if you don’t want to hear the telephone. I’m joking.

When doing lu for that woman, His Holiness used a mold, like that used to print tsa tsas, to make the face of the lu. It was a smiling face. His Holiness carefully painted the face of the lu and made it very nice. At that time His Holiness said that you shouldn’t say that the face is ugly, because while you’re making the lu, the spirit is waiting nearby and hears whatever you say. Therefore, you have to say how beautiful it is and other nice things. I got the idea from that to carry a mold to make the lu instead of molding it by hand. My mold is of the Chinese Maitreya, which is also called “Laughing Buddha,” because it has such a happy-looking face.

You give the lu to the spirits as a substitute for the sick person. After you have satisfied the spirits, you then teach them Dharma. You tell them not to harm other sentient beings, and that if they harm others, suffering will result from that karma. If they benefit others, on the other hand, the result will be happiness. If you plant a hot chili seed, only a hot chili plant results from that. If you plant a seed of sweet fruit, only sweet fruit comes from that. So, you give a teaching to the spirits, such as the verse, “Do not commit any nonvirtuous actions....”¹⁰ 

This puja is short but very effective. It takes hardly any time—maybe ten or fifteen minutes, depending on who does it. When doctors can’t do anything and someone is about to die, if you do this short puja, that person can sometimes completely recover. One time a child in France was dying, and the doctors said there was no hope. Geshe Lama Konchog was in Holland, and he performed cha sum, a very short puja with three tormas. Within a few minutes of his finishing the puja, that child the doctors had decided was going to die had completely recovered. 

It’s a short puja but because it’s related to sickness caused by spirits, it has a quick effect. You give the spirits the lu in place of the sick person with life obstacles. There’s also a long-life puja similar to that, which the Tibetan Government sometimes offers to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Because I had heard from Khadro-la about obstacles to His Holiness’s life, I asked this 80-year-old extremely spiritual Tibetan woman about His Holiness’s life. She suggested that people from four countries take the obstacles. Each person would actually become the lu, rather than making one out of tsampa dough, then take the obstacles to His Holiness’s life. In other words, the person would be given to the dakinis or those other beings as a replacement for His Holiness. That person would take the obstacles. She said that only then would His Holiness’s life obstacles be removed. At the moment I’m thinking about how this could be done. This is just for your information; this is just the news.

“May all virtuous friends have long lives, and may all their holy wishes be accomplished immediately.

“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and all the merits of the three times collected by others, may I, like Lama Tsongkhapa, be able to bring skies of benefit to sentient beings and the teaching of Buddha from now on, in every second of all my future lifetimes, by having the same qualities within me as Lama Tsongkhapa has.

“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and the merits of the three times collected by others, which are empty, may the I, who is empty from its own side, achieve Guru Vajradhara’s enlightenment, which is empty, and lead all sentient beings, who are empty, to that enlightenment, which is empty, by myself alone, who is empty.

“I dedicate all my merits to be able to follow the holy extensive deeds of the bodhisattvas Samantabhadra and Manjugosha. 

“As all the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the three times have dedicated their merits, I dedicate my merits in the same way.

“May Lama Tsongkhapa’s teaching spread and flourish in the world, and may I be able to cause this to happen.”

For those who are going to do the retreat, we’ll now have a break then do the seating and other preparations. There are a few things to do, including giving tormas to the interferers and the landlord, though maybe he’s now sleeping. Maybe we’ll have to make a phone call to the landlord in order to give the torma. I’m joking. There are just a few preliminaries: blessing the place, blessing one’s body, speech and mind and other things like that.

We’ll then do an abbreviated version of the Medicine Buddha sadhana and recite just a few mantras, which won’t be counted. 

 

Chapter 2. Friday, October 26: Retreat Preparation

Motivation: impermanence and death

Guru Shakyamuni Buddha achieved full enlightenment in this world but then passed away into the sorrowless state. All we can see now are Buddha’s relics and substitutes for Buddha, such as statues. This is all we can devote ourselves to, do prostrations to and make offerings to. Buddha didn’t stay in that holy form, from that time in India up to now. There’s a place near Kushinagar, in India, where fire was offered to the holy body in the normal way. There is an extremely beautiful garden there in the place where Buddha’s holy body was offered fire. It’s most pleasant and taken care of very well. I think the caretaker has done a very good job.

“Since you can see the place where the Buddha’s holy body was offered fire, why couldn’t this happen to me? Death could happen to me at any time, even today. Even tonight it could happen.” 

After Buddha there were Nagarjuna, Asanga and so many other great Indian pandits, who wrote many texts, as well as many Tibetan lamas from the various traditions, who wrote commentaries that have been studied up to now in the monasteries. So many beings have become enlightened from their teachings. But the Six Ornaments,¹¹ the pandits and the two arhats, Shariputra and Maudgalyayana, who brought great benefit to sentient beings, have all left. 

“Even though there were so many arhats at that time, they have all left . So, of course, my death will definitely happen, and it could happen to me at any moment.”

In Tibet there were Marpa, Milarepa, Sakya Pandita, Lama Tsongkhapa and many other great lamas, but they have all left their holy bodies. All you can see now are tiny pieces of Lama Tsongkhapa’s robes or ding-wa, the seat cloth. Or sometimes you see one or two of Lama Tsongkhapa’s hairs. But you can’t see that holy body. 

“So, of course, my death could happen at any time.”

Many of my gurus have already passed away, including Lama Yeshe, who quite a number of us here met and received teachings from, with all the loving laughter. During that time, Lama looked very real and permanent, like something that was going to be there all the time. During that time, this is what we believed. Many of our gurus have already passed away. Quite a number of us here received teachings from many incredible, enlightened gurus, such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s tutors, His Holiness Ling Rinpoche and His Holiness Trijang Rinpoche, and His Holiness Zong Rinpoche.

“So many of my gurus, including Lama, have already passed away. I can’t see them in that aspect; they have left their holy bodies. So, death could happen to me any day, even in this moment.”

In regard to my family, I don’t remember seeing my father. He passed away while I was still a tiny baby sleeping in a bamboo basket. My mother has also passed away. She reincarnated as an extremely beautiful, very good child, of whom I had great hopes, but that child has also already passed away. Instead of sending him to Kopan Monastery to be educated, his parents sent him to Penor Rinpoche’s monastery in South India. About fifteen days after he arrived there, he was playing outside when rain suddenly came. As he rushed inside, he fell on the cement steps and fractured his skull. He had many operations, but then passed away.

Many members of my family and other relatives have already passed away, including also a sister. I don’t remember whether she came after me or before me, but there was another sister besides Ngawang Samten, who is a nun and now at Lawudo. Ngawang Samten is the eldest child, but there was another sister, who passed away when she was young.

“So many family members and relatives have already passed away. I’m in a similar situation to my parents and other family members who have passed away, who have already gone. Therefore, my death could happen any time, any day, any moment. It could be my turn now.” 

Also think of the many friends and people you knew who have already passed away. “So many people who are the same age as I am, even born on the same day, have already died in this world. Therefore, it could now be my turn. I could die at any time. Any day, any moment, it could happen.”

Then think in the following way. “In my life, since the time I was born, death has almost happened to me many times. Occasionally, I have almost fallen off a cliff, a roof or some other dangerous place. It has happened many times that I have almost had a car accident in which I could have died.”¹²

Blessing of the seat 

It doesn’t matter whether it’s from the cushion or the ground, but think that from there down to the bottom, it becomes solid, in the nature of vajra. To bless the ground, recite the mantra OM AH VAJRA ASANA HUM SVAHA. [This mantra was repeated nine times.] 

Think that all the ground is blessed in the nature of vajra. 

Blessing of the body, speech and mind 

Next is blessing your body, speech and mind. At your crown is OM, which transforms into a white wheel with OM in the center. At your throat is AH, which transforms into a red eight-petaled lotus with AH in the center. At your heart there’s a HUM, which transforms into a blue vajra with HUM in the center.

White, red and blue beams are emitted from the OM, AH and HUM respectively. All the blessings of the holy body, holy speech and holy mind of all the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions, in the forms of the three vajra deities—Vairochana, Amitabha and Akshobhya—are absorbed into your three places. Meditate on this. The blessings of the holy body, holy speech and holy mind of all the buddhas and bodhisattvas are absorbed into your three places.

Think that your body, speech and mind are blessed into the nature of the three vajras, the holy body, holy speech and holy mind of the deity. 

Some practices also have blessing of the materials. Since there’s no separate text for Medicine Buddha explaining how to do the blessings, I have used some of the basic ones from the Vajrayogini text. I didn’t use everything because Vajrayogini is a Highest Yoga Tantra practice. 

I think we can do the sadhana tomorrow. I thought to do the short sadhana, but we would have to make it even shorter. It would have to become shorter and shorter, until it disappeared. There would then be nothing. 

[The group offers a short mandala.]

Recite the mantras to multiply the merits, increasing them one hundred thousand times.¹³

[The group recites the multiplying mantras.]

Then recite the buddha’s name to actualize all the prayers we have done.¹⁴

[The group recites the final multiplying mantra.] 

Due to the blessings of the eminent buddhas and bodhisattvas, due to my special attitude and due to dependent arising, may all my pure prayers succeed immediately. 

So, good morning and good night. Thank you. See you tomorrow. 

---

Notes

² This is Kachoe Dechen Ling, Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s home in California. [Return to text]

³ OM NAMO BHABAVATE VAJRA SARA PRAMARDANE / TATHAGATAYA / ARHATE SAMYAKSAM BUDDHAYA / TADYATHA / OM VAJRE VAJRE / MAHA VAJRE / MAHA TEJA VAJRE / MAHA VIDYA VAJRE / MAHA BODHICITTA VAJRE / MAHA BODHI MANDO PASAM KRAMANA VAJRE / SARVA KARMA AVARANA VISHO DHANA VAJRE SOHA.
Most of the prayers and mantras mentioned in this book can be found in the FPMT Catalogue. [Return to text]

⁴ The Medicine Buddha retreat began on October 26, 2001, only six weeks after the 9/11 attacks. [Return to text]

⁵ The abbot was Shantarakshita and the minister was Selnang. For further details see The Legend of the Great Stupa. [Return to text]

⁶ A specially designed building at Land of Medicine Buddha where the ashes of beloved ones are preserved in individual beautiful small stupas. [Return to text]

⁷ There is a gap in the recording at this point, but it seems that the following comments relate to the fourth verse of The Eight Verses of Thought Transformation. [Return to text]

⁸ “In brief, may I be born in Shambhala, the great jewel treasury, and complete there the stages of the peerless path in as quick a time as the amount of white merit I have gathered from this virtuous practice.” [Return to text]

⁹ The meditation practice of taking the suffering of others onto oneself and giving them all one’s own happiness, possessions and merit. [Return to text]

¹⁰ Do not commit any nonvirtuous actions, 
Perform only perfect virtue, 
Subdue your own mind: 
This is the teaching of the Buddha. 
[Return to text]

¹¹ The Six Ornaments are Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Asanga, Vasubandhu, Dignaga and Dharmakirti. [Return to text]

¹² There is a tape missing at this point, so the next ninety minutes of the teaching have been lost. [Return to text]

¹³ CHOM DÄN DÄ DE ZHIN SHEG PA DRA CHOM PA YANG DAG PAR DZOG PÄI SANG GYÄ NAM PAR NANG DZÄ Ö KYI GYÄL PO LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO (1x or 3x)
JANG CHHUB SEM PA SEM PA CHHEN PO KÜN TU ZANG PO LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO (1x or 3x)
TADYATHA OM PÄNCHA GRIYA AVA BODHANI SVAHA OM DHURU DHURU JAYA MUKHE SVAHA (7x)
[Return to text]

¹⁴ CHOM DÄN DÄ DE ZHIN SHEG PA DRA CHOM PA YANG DAG PAR DZOG PÄI SANG GYÄ NGO WA DANG MÖN LAM [THAM CHÄ RAB TU] DRUB PÄ GYÄL PO LA CHHAG TSHÄL LO (1x or 3x)
Due to the power of the blessings of the eminent buddhas and bodhisattvas, the power of infallible dependent arising and the power of my pure special attitude, may all my pure prayers succeed immediately.
[Return to text]