Chapter 17. Thursday, November 8: Final Medicine Buddha Session
Medicine Buddha’s prayers
In the Inconceivable Secret Sutra, it says that the last of the one thousand buddhas (though I’m not a hundred percent sure about this), who is called Shonnu Norbu Taye, generated bodhicitta and then took the ordination renouncing a householder’s life. He then trained his mind in the scriptures of sutra and tantra through the oral transmissions and instructions and practiced. He became the bodhisattva Stainless Star and, following the bodhisattva’s deeds, he expressed the power of prayer.
Here it’s describing how Medicine Buddha, when a bodhisattva called Stainless Star, made prayers.
E-ma!
This is an expression of sadness, which he probably made because he is going to express the sufferings of sentient beings.
When I become the Medicinal King, the King of Lapis Lazuli Light, may any sentient being who recites my mantra or hears my name or sees, hears, touches or remembers me or does the recitation-meditation never have any sickness or harm. May they have a long life, the Dharma and wealth.
This wealth could be referring to both spiritual and material wealth. The expression here in the Tibetan is chö nor: chö means Dharma and nor means wealth. So, it could mean Dharma, or spiritual, wealth and material wealth or just Dharma wealth. Of course, the prayer could be referring to both spiritual and material wealth, which can be used to increase the happiness of sentient beings and free them from the sufferings of nonvirtue. The wealth could be used for sentient beings to perform the actions of the ten virtues instead of those of the ten nonvirtues.
May they not have rebirth, old age, sickness and death, sorrow, unhappy minds and quarrels (fighting and screaming), suffering and delusion. And may they have all happiness.
Like that, may I become meaningful to behold for anyone who makes a connection with me. May I be meaningful to behold for anybody who sees me; may I be meaningful to behold for anybody who hears me; may I be meaningful to behold for anyone who remembers me; may I be meaningful to behold for anyone who touches me.
It then says:
There is no doubt about for anyone who passes through my mind.
I think the Tibetan term yi gyug pa tang might mean remembering a sentient being, having them pass through the mind, but I’m not sure.
There is no doubt that for any sentient being who makes a statue of Medicine Buddha or does concentration, or meditation, on Medicine Buddha, but even for someone who doesn’t concentrate on Medicine Buddha but simply expresses my name or even makes seven steps in my direction (which means toward a Medicine Buddha statue or to do a puja), the door to the evil-gone realms (which means the lower realms) and to samsara will be closed. May they be born in the higher realms, have all seven qualities and achieve peerless enlightenment.
This means being born not just with the body of a happy migratory being, as a human being, but with all seven qualities, such as the thought of devotion, morality and wisdom.64
May the power of my prayers be equal to that of all the buddhas of the fortunate eon, especially in regard to profundity, extensiveness and power.
This means equal to the prayers that the one thousand buddhas of this fortunate eon have made.
May I equal these buddhas’ life span, actions, Dharma, the sentient beings they subdue....
Each buddha subdues the sentient beings with whom they have karmic connection. I think it’s referring to the number of sentient beings each buddha directly subdues—I don’t think it includes the indirect ones, which now include us. Buddha’s teaching has been left in the world to guide us to enlightenment, but I don’t think we are included. It probably means, for example, the sentient beings during Shakyamuni Buddha’s time to whom Buddha directly gave teachings, subduing them, liberating them from samsara and bringing them to enlightenment. In the text Sutra of the Fortunate Eon, which is beautifully written in verse form, there are stories of each of the buddhas: when each buddha will descend in this world, the names of their mother and father, their race, how that buddha first generated bodhicitta as a bodhisattva, and after their enlightenment, the number of sentient beings each buddha will teach, liberate from samsara and bring to enlightenment. Even the numbers are mentioned in the story of each buddha.
I don’t remember the exact number, but it seems Maitreya Buddha will subdue an unbelievable number of sentient beings. Maitreya Buddha will descend in this world when the life span of human beings goes down to ten years. The life span will decrease due to delusions, due to degeneration of the mind.
When Maitreya Buddha descends, he will be beautiful, very tall, golden in color and radiant. All the ten-year-old human beings, who will be very small, will wonder how Maitreya Buddha came to have such a tall, beautiful body, and they will question him about it. Maitreya Buddha will reply, “It happened through collecting merit.” That will then inspire human beings in this world to practice morality, such as the ten virtues and so forth. When they then practice morality and collect merit, their life span will become longer and longer. From ten years it will go up to eighty thousand years. After the human life span goes up to eighty thousand years, there will be a dark age. It is usually only in the periods that the life span starts to go down that a buddha descends, but it seems that Maitreya Buddha will descend when the human life span has reached eighty thousand.65
Just as Shakyamuni Buddha was born into the Shakya caste in India, Maitreya Buddha will be born into a Brahmin family in India. He will also reveal the teachings in Varanasi and perform the rest of the twelve deeds. As one of the twelve deeds, he will show sentient beings the four noble truths. By showing them suffering, the cause of suffering and the way to be liberated from suffering, he will inspire sentient beings to practice Dharma and to renounce samsara. In a similar way to Shakyamuni Buddha, Maitreya Buddha will show the twelve deeds.
Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo gave the teachings in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand in 1921, eighty years ago. If you count from that year, Maitreya Buddha will descend in this world to give teachings in four billion nine hundred million years. (I don’t think this is when the human life span is ten years but when it is eighty thousand years.) So, eighty years have already gone. There could be different explanations, but this is what is mentioned in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand.
May I equal these buddhas’ life span, actions, Dharma, the sentient beings they subdue and the duration of their teachings.
This means that during the time that Medicine Buddha was the bodhisattva Stainless Star, he made prayers to have a life span equal to that of the thousand buddhas of the fortunate eon, to equal their holy actions, to equal the Dharma they teach, to equal the number of sentient beings they liberate and bring to enlightenment and to equal the length of time their teachings last.
May any sentient being who always remembers my name, who recites my name and mantra, who remembers my qualities or who expresses offerings....
This is like at the end of reciting each Medicine Buddha’s name, when we say “... I prostrate (chhag tshäl lo) and make offerings (chhö do). Please grant me blessings (jin kyi lab tu sol).”
Making extensive offerings
There’s something that I forgot to mention before. When we recite chhö do, which means make offering, at the end of each name, we can offer all the extensive offerings here. We now have all the extra colored lights. Even in regard to light offerings, we’re not offering just one light but many hundreds, many thousands, of lights. There are also extensive offerings of drinking water and all the other things. When you use the words “offer” or “make offering,” at that time, if possible, you should offer all of them to Medicine Buddha. If you can do that, it’s very good. You should make all the offering s here to each buddha seven times. You should at least offer the offerings here and also the many lights up there in the Ashes Temple. However, at least offer the extensive offerings here.
Maybe at another time I can explain the benefits of each of the different offerings. But I would like to express here that if you were doing retreat in your own home, you wouldn’t have the opportunity to offer all these many sets of offerings. All these lights are here because they were offered by the great benefactor who has been the main sponsor of International Office, paying all the wages, as well as supporting many other projects. I don’t know where she got the lights, but she brought quite a lot. There are also many around the Aptos house.
When we do the extensive offering meditation, even if we are offering just one light, we offer it to the numberless buddhas and bodhisattvas, to the numberless Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and to the numberless statues, stupas and scriptures, not only in this universe but in all the universes in all the directions. We think of all the holy objects not just in this world or universe but in every universe. If we do the extensive offering meditation and offer one of the lights to the numberless statues, we collect numberless causes of enlightenment. By the way, we also collect numberless causes to achieve liberation from samsara; and by the way, we collect numberless causes of good rebirth and the happiness of future lives. For hundreds of thousands of lifetimes, we will experience good rebirth, wealth and all the other kinds of temporary happiness while we are in samsara. We collect all this with just this one light. There are also numberless stupas and numberless scriptures, so with each one we collect numberless causes of enlightenment, of liberation from samsara and of good rebirth and happiness in future lives.
There are also numberless Buddha, Dharma and Sangha in all the directions. Just from here you offer one light to all the numberless holy objects in India, to all the numberless holy objects in Tibet, to all the numberless holy objects in Nepal. You offer the light to every painting or statue of buddha, large or small, in every monastery. You offer the light to every holy object in every universe, even to very small pictures of the Guru Puja merit field the size of a thumbnail. If you make just this one light offering to all the statues, stupas, scriptures and thangkas in all the ten directions and then offer it to all the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha in all ten directions, in those few seconds you have collected numberless causes of enlightenment and, by the way, numberless causes of liberation from samsara and the happiness of future lives, as well as the success of this life.
It is the same with making a food, tea or any other kind of offering. Within that few seconds, you have made the offering to every single holy object that exists in any universe in any direction. From here you have made offering to every holy object in anybody’s house. If anybody makes an extra tsa tsa, one more image of buddha, you get more merit. If anyone anywhere in the world makes one more image of buddha—one more thangka, one more statue, one more tsa tsa—it means you get more merit. You simply have to take the time to think, “I’m offering this.” That’s all you have to do. Somebody else works very hard to make the tsa tsa, getting plaster dust up their nose and everywhere else, making everything white, but you, by simply making offering, have created an extra cause of enlightenment.
I think it’s a very good for those who are making tsa tsas to remember and to rejoice in this. Because you have made one more statue of buddha or one more stupa, all the other sentient beings who are making offerings to all holy objects will create more merit. Not only does your making the holy object enable you to collect merit and purify your own mind of negative karma, enabling you to have realization, but you are helping other sentient beings to collect more merit. One more statue means other sentient beings who make offering to all holy objects create an extra cause of enlightenment, liberation from samsara and also good rebirth and temporary happiness. This is one of the benefits of making a tsa tsa. Anybody who makes offering to all holy objects then includes this tsa tsa that you have made. All the merit that each sentient being collects is your gift to that sentient being. It is something to rejoice in and feel happy about.
You can collect merit not just by making tsa tsas but in many other ways. However, the particular advantage of making holy objects such as statues is that they make it so easy for other sentient beings to collect merit, because you can give these holy objects to other sentient beings for them to prostrate and make offerings to or to circumambulate. Each time they even see the holy object it purifies their mind, their defilements. Remember how I mentioned the benefit of simply seeing a statue of buddha. You collect great merit. I don’t remember exactly, but I think you collect more merit than from making offerings to arhats equal in number to the sand grains of the Pacific Ocean for eons equal in number to the sand grains of the Pacific Ocean. Arhats are those who are free from samsara, who have completely ceased not only suffering but even its cause, delusion and karma. (I also mentioned the story of someone making an offering of a medicinal drink to four ordinary monks. The karma of that offering to Sangha was so powerful that in his next life that person became a powerful and wealthy king in India.) This is making offerings to arhats, the ultimate Sangha, who have not only actualized the wisdom directly perceiving emptiness but are totally free from the suffering of samsara. By simply seeing a statue or picture of buddha, you collect numberless times greater merit than from making offering to arhats equal in number to the sand grains of the Pacific Ocean for the same number of eons. It then says that there is no doubt that if you actually make offerings or prostrate to a statue or picture of buddha, the merit is much more. These are quotations from what Buddha said in the sutra, Mudra Generating the Power of Devotion.
If you produce holy objects, such as pictures or statues of buddha, it benefits very much not only you but especially other sentient beings. I have just mentioned one example of how powerful holy objects are in purifying the mind and in collecting merit. There’s also incredible benefit in giving holy objects to other sentient beings. It gives other sentient beings, including children and animals, more and more opportunity to see holy objects. Of course, if you have devotion, you experience stronger purification and collect more merit, but even when animals and people who aren’t Buddhist, who don’t have faith in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, see, touch or go round holy objects, they get the benefits mentioned in the sutra. It makes it so easy to benefit other sentient beings, to help others to collect merit and to purify their minds. From that they then have realization. They meet and understand Dharma, and from that they then actualize the path and cease their defilements. This is how, by making holy objects and giving them to others or giving others the opportunity to see them, you bring other sentient beings to enlightenment.
It doesn’t require much intelligence or many years of study just to go around a stupa or to do prostrations or make offerings to a statue of Buddha. Making a stupa, a tsa tsa or any other holy object and giving it to other people is a very easy way to help to liberate other sentient beings. That is the particular advantage that I have been noticing. There may be no time to explain Dharma or it may not suit someone; the person may not have the karma to hear or the wish to learn Dharma. Even though the main thing is to understand and meditate on lamrim, it’s not that everyone has the karma and the time for that. Of course, again, the person needs much merit; without that, their mind cannot change, and realization cannot happen. It’s all a question of how much merit a sentient being has. Since even success in obtaining the happiness of this life depends on how much merit you have, there’s no doubt that you need a lot of merit to have realization and to offer extensive benefit to sentient beings.
I mentioned before the merit that you collect by making one light offering using this extensive offering meditation, which takes only a few seconds. I don’t need to repeat this again and again. It takes only a few seconds, but within those few seconds you have collected so many times skies of merit. Now here there are so many lights and so many flowers. For all of us doing retreat here—of course, I myself haven’t made it to all the sessions—every time we do the sadhana, especially when we make extensive offering of the many water, flower, incense and light offerings here, with each offering we collect numberless causes of enlightenment, of liberation from samsara, of the happiness of future lives and of the happiness of this life. From each offering arranged in this hall we create these causes numberless times.
If we were doing retreat at home, we wouldn’t have this unbelievable opportunity, because we wouldn’t be able to arrange such extensive offerings. Also, our having the opportunity to collect all this merit is by the kindness of the organizers here at the center and by the kindness of the people who put effort every day into arranging the offerings. So, remember the kindness of the people who put effort into the offerings.
When we do a group retreat it’s always good to make extensive offerings. I started this tradition quite a number of years ago in Taiwan. It happened when I was at a nunnery outside Kaoshiung to do a Medicine Buddha retreat, I think, though not using the sadhana that we’re using here. That nunnery helped to build the Kopan nunnery and has also been a benefactor of Kopan monastery. I told the abbess that I was going to make very extensive offerings, so she went to the market and bought many orchids, which she hung from the altars. The nuns were very good; they made very extensive offerings.
After that I went to Kopan, where upstairs on the roof of the Chenrezig gompa, where the November course is held, they had built a dining room with glass all the way around, from where you could see the Boudhanath stupa. Downstairs were rooms where Lama Lhundrub and the other teachers used to live, and I was staying on top of that. They built the room as a dining room and put tables and everything else inside, but I converted it into an offering room. All the tables were covered with offerings, then later we made another offering area outside. We bought nearly one thousand of the nice stainless steel bowls, which don’t rust. We also had offerings on the wall at the edge of the roof. Sometimes pigeons and other birds would land in the bowls to take a drink, then together with the bowl they would fall down.
Gloria, a nun from Hong Kong, did the offerings outside for quite a long time—three months, I think. Since there were many offerings, she spent a long time outside in the hot sun. After three months, her right arm, which was exposed, was black and her left arm, which was covered by her zen, was white. After she finished the offerings, it seems she then did very extensive dedications.
One time I sponsored a Namgyälma long-life puja for Geshe Lama Konchog. I said that all the bowls should be set up in the gompa to make one thousand offerings. The idea was that each time the ARGHAM, PADYAM, PUSHPE... offerings were made, which happens many times in the puja, everyone was supposed to remember all the many offerings and offer them to Namgyälma. It takes just a few seconds to do this. All you need to do is, when you read the part of the offerings, just remember the offerings and offer them. As I mentioned before, this collects unbelievable merit. Anyway, I told Lama Lhundrub to tell the monks that this was the idea.
The tradition then started that when the monks are doing Namgyälma practice or the puja called “One Thousand Offerings,” they borrow many bowls from upstairs. Also, when the nuns do the thousand-offering Namgyälma puja, they take all the bowls down to the nunnery to make extensive offerings. It’s very good. If everybody can then remember during the puja to make all the offerings each time, everybody gets an unbelievable opportunity to collect merit.
Medicine Buddha’s prayers
It says here in the last prayer (sorry, this is not the last prayer):
May any sentient being who always remember my name, who recites my name and mantra, who remembers my qualities or who expresses offerings, after three lifetimes be born in front of me, Medicine Buddha, and possess all qualities.
I think this means be born in Medicine Buddha’s pure land.
When somebody meditates on my form with precious qualities and with intense intention makes request, as soon as that sentient being dies, like a shooting star, may they be born in the pure land where I became enlightened.
Like a shooting star means the consciousness, like in powa, shoots to the pure land.
May that sentient being possess my qualities, and may all sentient beings become like that.
Medicine Buddha’s bodhisattva deeds are immeasurable, his skill in means is immeasurable and his special extensive prayers are immeasurable.
Dedications
Please dedicate the merits to actualize bodhicitta...
“Jang chhub sem chhog rin po chhe....”
And to realize emptiness...
“Tong ye ta wa rin po chhe....
“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and the merits of the three times collected by others, may I in every second from now on, in all future lifetimes, be able to bring benefit as limitless as the sky to sentient beings and to the teaching of Buddha, like Lama Tsongkhapa and like Medicine Buddha, by having the same qualities within me as they have.
“Due to all past, present and future merits collected by me and the merits of the three times collected by others, wherever I am and wherever I will be, in whichever universe, world, country, area, place and house, just by my being there, may all the sentient beings living in that universe, world, country, area, place and house never ever be reborn in the lower realms. (In other words, may just my being there be able to benefit others in that way.) May my being there save them from the lower realms, and may they never ever again be reborn in the lower realms. May they immediately find faith in refuge and karma, actualize bodhicitta and realize emptiness. May they have perfect peace and happiness. May all those sentient beings never ever experience war, famine, disease, torture, poverty, sickness or dangers from fire, water, air or earth, such as earthquakes. May any of these things they are now experiencing be immediately stopped, and may they never ever experience them again. May they immediately be freed from all sicknesses and spirit harms. May those who have manic depression, which is incurable, immediately be relieved of that, and their hearts be filled with great bliss instead of depression. May those who have many headaches or any incurable sickness, such as cancer, AIDS or multiple sclerosis, and those who are in a coma immediately be healed just by my being there in that universe, world, country, area, place and house.
“May the blind see, the deaf be able to hear and the lame be able to walk. May those who have much hardship and difficulties because of poverty immediately gain wealth. May the hearts of those with relationship problems immediately be filled with loving kindness and compassion; may they find satisfaction and joy in their life. May those who want to receive teachings be able to receive the unmistaken teachings they need. May those who need a guru be able to find a perfectly qualified Mahayana guru. And may those who would like to do retreat be able to find a perfect place, with all the conducive conditions, and be successful in achieving realizations. May they receive everything they are looking for and immediately be liberated from all the defilements, all the negative karmas, and be able to actualize the whole path to enlightenment and achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible.
“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and the merits of the three times collected by others, may anyone who has died whose name has been given to me, for whom I have promised to pray and who relied upon me, as well as all the numberless beings in the hell, hungry ghost and animal realms, immediately be liberated from all their sufferings and reincarnate in a pure land where they can become enlightened or receive a perfect human body and achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible by meeting a perfectly qualified Mahayana guru and the Mahayana teachings.
“May my hearing a sentient being is sick cause that sentient being to immediately recover. May my hearing a sentient being has died cause that sentient being to immediately be born in a pure land of buddha where they can become enlightened. And may the sentient beings who have become human beings but who have no opportunity to practice Dharma meet a perfectly qualified Mahayana guru and the Mahayana teachings and, by putting them into practice, achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible.
“Due to all 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 in this organization, especially those who give their lives to the organization to offer service to sentient beings and to the teaching of Buddha, and all those who rely upon me, for whom I have promised to pray and those who are offering service have long lives and be healthy, and may all our wishes succeed immediately according to the holy Dharma. Most importantly, may we be able to actualize Lama Tsongkhapa’s pure teaching, which unifies sutra and tantra, the steps of the path to enlightenment, within our mental continuum in this very lifetime without even a second’s delay.
“May all the gurus have stable lives, and may all their holy wishes be accomplished immediately.
“May all the Sangha in this organization be able to complete the scriptural understanding and realization of the path to enlightenment in this very lifetime, based on living in pure vinaya, by receiving all their needs and all protection.
“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and the merits of the three times collected by others, may all the social service and meditation centers be most beneficial, pacifying immediately the sufferings of body and mind of sentient beings. May they also be able to spread the teaching of Lama Tsongkhapa in the minds of all sentient beings by receiving everything needed. May all the projects of the centers, such as here at LMB where the temple with 100,000 Medicine Buddha statues and the 100,000 stupas are to be built, and the other social service projects, as well as all the individual projects of all the rest of the FPMT centers, whatever activities they are doing to benefit sentient beings and the teaching of Buddha, succeed immediately by receiving everything needed. Also, may all the projects to build holy objects in different countries, including the building of the 500-foot Maitreya Buddha statue, be completed as quickly as possible by receiving all the funding and everything else that is needed. And, especially, may the Maitreya project, all the holy objects and all the other projects, as well as all the centers, cause all sentient beings to generate bodhicitta in their minds and then cause all sentient beings to achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible.
“Also pray to Medicine Buddha for Diana, who has very heavy sicknesses. May she immediately be healed, and may anyone with similar problems also immediately be healed.
“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 from their own side, may the I, who is also empty from its own side, achieve His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s, Medicine Buddha’s, enlightenment, which is also empty from its own side, and lead all sentient beings, who are also empty from their own side, to that enlightenment, which is also empty from its own side, by myself alone, who is also empty from its own side. By myself alone, who is not there, or not here.
“I dedicate all the merits to be able to follow the holy extensive deeds of the bodhisattvas Samantabhadra and Manjugosha, as they realize.
“I dedicate all the merits as the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the three times have dedicated their merits, as they admired most.”
[The group recites further dedications in Tibetan, then the multiplying mantras, Final Lamrim Prayer and the two Lama Tsongkhapa dedications.]
So, good morning or good night or....
Chapter 18. Friday, November 9: Final Medicine Buddha Session
Combining lamrim with sessions
It seems that many of you in this retreat are about to finish ten thousand of the long mantra, which is the number of mantras for enabling actions. But as it was originally planned that this retreat would last three weeks, you can recite more than ten thousand mantras. Recite as many mantras as you can. It may not happen that you will be able to do Medicine Buddha retreat again and again, so do as many mantras as possible.
The other point is that in the group retreats that I have been joining, I have suggested doing one of the lamrim prayers that contains the complete essence of the path to enlightenment at the beginning of each session. The lamrim prayer becomes the motivation, but it also plants the seed of the whole path to enlightenment. In other words, with each session you plant the seed of the whole path, which brings you closer to the realizations of the path, closer to enlightenment. Each session brings you closer to the ultimate goal of your life, freeing the numberless sentient beings from all the oceans of samsaric suffering and its cause, the defilements, and bringing them to enlightenment. With each session you become closer to enlightenment by doing direct meditation on lamrim by going over one of the lamrim prayers at the beginning of the session, which also acts as the motivation.
At the beginning of each session you can read either one of the lamrim prayers or a section from The Essential Nectar. Maybe in the mornings at the very beginning you can read a few lines from the guru devotion section of The Essential Nectar and then at the beginning of the first Medicine Buddha session, you can read a little bit from the perfect human rebirth section. As the motivation, you can start with perfect human rebirth, the graduated path of the being of lowest capability, then move on to the path of the being of middling capability and then to the path of the being of highest capability. Start by spending maybe ten or fifteen minutes on perfect human rebirth; at the conclusion of that, you then read the sections on how samsara is suffering in nature and on bodhicitta, on how, like you, numberless other sentient beings are suffering in samsara, so you need to free them from all their suffering and bring them to full enlightenment. You then begin the session.
At the beginning of the second Medicine Buddha session, after you have done the prostrations, you can complete whatever sections of the graduated path of the being of lowest capability you didn’t complete in the first Medicine Buddha session. Again, that becomes the motivation of a being of lowest capability. You then think about how samsara is suffering in nature, which is the motivation of a being of middling capability, and about bodhicitta, the motivation of a being of highest capability. You continue from wherever you stopped in the first session. You then continue with the rest of the subject the next day. At the end of the first session, if there’s time, you could read a few words from the guru devotion section, then in the next session, you could continue the lamrim meditation from where you stopped the day before. When you have completed the section on bodhicitta in The Essential Nectar, you then go back and start again from perfect human rebirth. But in the first session in the morning, at the end of the guru yoga, you should always read a few lines, even if it’s only four or five, from the guru devotion section.
Simply reading the lamrim slowly and meditating on the words becomes a direct meditation on the lamrim. In the morning reading the lamrim section of Guru Puja becomes direct meditation on lamrim. At other times, even if you don’t recite a particular lamrim prayer, you can just slowly go over The Essential Nectar, then meditate on it.
The other thing you can do with the different lamrim prayers is to meditate more elaborately on the section that you are supposed to cover in that session. Elaborate from the lamrim outlines or by reading The Essential Nectar. In this way there will be more lamrim meditation. Of course, while you’re reciting the mantra, you can also meditate on lamrim or read a lamrim text. If you don’t know the outlines of the meditation subjects by heart, you can read one of the lamrim books and meditate on lamrim, with your mouth just reciting the mantra. If you wish to do that, you can.
Most people here are getting close to finishing the mantras and can then maybe spend more time on lamrim. With the mantra you can also just do the particular visualization that goes with it. It can be a very effective retreat, and if you do lamrim meditation with each session, it also becomes a lamrim retreat.
Even when we are at home, we are supposed to meditate on lamrim. We are supposed to live our daily life, even our working life, with lamrim: with guru devotion, renunciation, bodhicitta and emptiness. We are supposed to do even our work with lamrim, with the attitude of the three principal aspects of the path. Everything we do then becomes a cause of enlightenment. Not only does it become a cause to achieve liberation from samsara, but especially it becomes a cause to achieve enlightenment and an antidote to samsara, because it’s done with the thought of emptiness, looking at everything that appears to us as a hallucination, as it is a hallucination. We look at phenomena in that way, thinking that they are merely imputed by the mind.
How dharmakaya manifests
Are there any questions? Or maybe half a question?
[The question from a student is inaudible.]
Is dharmakaya nihilistic? Do you mean something coming into existence out of nothingness?
Dharmakaya is not nothingness. There are two types of dharmakaya. Dharmakaya is a general label, and within that there are the transcendental wisdom dharmakaya and the svabhavikakaya, the holy body of ultimate nature. The omniscient mind, which is the conventional truth aspect, is the transcendental wisdom dharmakaya; the nature of that, which is emptiness, free from both gross and subtle defilements, is the svabhavikakaya.
I think that taking the holy body of form, the rupakaya, has more to do with the wind, which is the vehicle of the omniscient mind and inseparable from it. The wind, which is inseparable from a buddha’s holy mind, takes form, or manifests.
It has to do with the power of a completely purified mind, which is free from all gross and subtle defilements, free from obstacles, or resistance. Since there are no blocks, it is able to spontaneously manifest in numberless different forms in accordance with the karma of sentient beings. Basically, I think it has to do with the power of mind, with the power of a completely purified mind.
You can manifest in various forms even before you become enlightened. A bodhisattva on the first bhumi is able to manifest one hundred bodies and then go to different pure lands, make offerings and prostrations and listen to or give teachings. I think that a second-bhumi bodhisattva is able to manifest a thousand bodies, and it keeps increasing with each bhumi. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but a bodhisattva on the ninth or tenth bhumi can manifest an unimaginable number of bodies. So, that’s even before becoming enlightened.
In regard to exactly how to do that, maybe you can try, and when you achieve that level, you can then inform me.
I remember a long time ago at Kopan I was working on Wish-Fulfilling Golden Sun, the very first meditation course book, which we used for many years but which I still haven’t finalized. I was thinking to write a different lamrim book. I have some other ideas—I wasn’t thinking to use that same one. But in those old fortunate times, many people did use it, especially in the courses, and it seemed to have been helpful. Some years ago I asked Dr. Adrian and a few other people to write some additional material and make it into a book, but I think that maybe it didn’t happen. After so many years, Dr. Nick still wants to use it, but there are now so many Dharma books. I mean, in the early times there were only a very few. When we started doing the Kopan courses, I think there were two small books by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Essay on Buddhism and Introduction to Buddhism. They were very thin, just six or seven pages, I think. Of course, The Book of the Dead was there and many people talked about it. And Lama Govinda’s book, Way of the White Clouds, was a common one that many young people read after taking drugs. Many people were inspired by Buddhism through reading Lama Govinda’s book. There was also another book, and maybe Geshe Wangyal’s book was available then. There was also Milarepa’s life story. Many people read that. I think it was their karma, but after taking drugs, they went to bookshops and found Milarepa’s life story, which then inspired them in regard to Buddhism.
Piero’s story
Many of the old students here will know Piero Cerri very well, but some of you may not know him. Piero is one of the very old students, one of the original Italian students. The first one was Mario Maglietti. He’s Kagyü, a follower of Khamtrul Rinpoche, who has a monastery near Tashi Jong. I remember Mario as the first Italian that came to Kopan. I think the next one after that may have been Massimo Corona, though I’m not really sure of the order they came. Anyway, Claudio, Piero and Massimo were the very first Italian Buddhist gangsters. I’m joking ! They were the first Italian students to come to Kopan in those early times, though not to the first course. Massimo was there for the second course, I remember. In the second meditation course, I started teaching straight from the beginning on the preliminary prayer, la ma sang gyä la ma chö....66 I think it happened because it fitted the people who were there, most of whom had already met Dharma. I went as far as karma, but then I had to leave, as Lama and I had to go to Dharamsala at that time. Anila Ann, you were there, right? And the course was continued, I think.
I don’t remember which year we first went to Italy, but it was after some time.67 At that time Geshe Jampel Sangye, one of the most outstanding, learned geshes from Drepung Gomang Monastery in Tibet, was teaching in a university in Rome. I think that Namkhai Norbu might also have already been there when we came for the very first time to Italy. Apart from Namkhai Norbu’s Nyingma center, I don’t think there were any other Dharma centers in Italy at that time. We did the first course in a Christian church where people came to make confession or to do retreat. I think the priest sometimes came to the teachings. On Sundays we participated in the holy communion. Some students attended, and others circumambulated outside while we were inside the central church. We were the last people to go up to take the wine and bread. Lama didn’t have any superstition, so Lama took the bread, but there was no wine left. Of course, I have a lot of superstition. That was the first course in Italy.
I think the next course was at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa, which had belonged to the family of Massimo Corona, who is the International Office director. I think that property was his share of his family’s property. From there, many centers were gradually started around Italy.
So, the story of Piero.... Piero came to Buddhism after he had been a communist. I guess drugs kind of opened his mind and he read Milarepa’s life story. I’m sure it was Milarepa’s blessing, Milarepa’s holy action, that seeing that book affected him and helped him to look for Buddhism and for a guru. I think it definitely had to be Milarepa’s holy action guiding him, as well as the action of all the buddhas. If it’s one buddha’s action it has to be the action of all the buddhas. He read Milarepa’s life story, which greatly benefited his mind.
When he read the book, he thought that much of Milarepa’s life story was about renunciation of possessions. Of course, he didn’t have any idea of the whole path to enlightenment, so he thought to just give everything away, all his possessions. He got rid of everything, then came to India and Nepal to look for a guru. I think he was following Milarepa’s example. When he came to Kopan, of course, he had nothing. He was wearing a long yellow dress that was so thin you could see through it. Anyway, he spent a lot of time in Dharamsala and in Nepal, and by listening to teachings and studying them, he gradually learned what the real Dharma is and how to begin to practice it.
Wish-Fulfilling Golden Sun
Why have I brought up Piero? I’m not sure how my talk jumped to Piero.
[Ven. Sarah reminds Rinpoche that he was talking about how there weren’t many Dharma books in the early days.]
Oh, that’s right. I was saying that after they had taken drugs, different people, according to their karma, met different Dharma books. The point of what I was saying is that in those times there were very few Dharma books, just two thin books by His Holiness. Now there are so many good books.
I have had different ideas, but so far they haven’t been actualized into a new lamrim book. Nick thinks the original book, Wish-Fulfilling Golden Sun, is still very good for people’s meditations. He feels it is something complete. Some people want to fix up this book and publish it.68
What I was wanting to say is that there in Wish-Fulfilling Golden Sun it talks about the five knowledges. I think normally there are the five great knowledges and the five small knowledges. I think the last one might be dra, in Tibetan. It refers to knowledge of the way of making sounds in Tibetan, and also in Sanskrit, by putting different syllables together with AH. I think there’s one mistake there. I think it says that dra means hearing some meaning or words in the sounds of running water and so forth.
There’s another mistake in the section on making life meaningful, on how the precious human body qualified by eight freedoms and ten richnesses is meaningful because with it one can achieve the three great purposes. One time I was working on that section with Anila Ann. Do you remember? I was dictating that section to Anila Ann, who was an expert ski instructor, so I think I mentioned in Wish-Fulfilling Golden Sun something about having the opportunity to ski. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I wasn’t saying you would have the opportunity to ski next life; I was talking about having the opportunity to ski in this life.
Basically, practicing Dharma benefits future lives. The meaningless activities of this life don’t bring happiness next life; they don’t benefit after this life. Even though they can help to bring temporary pleasure in this life, they can’t bring happiness beyond this life. Achieving the happiness of this life is nothing special. Even animals, even tiny insects such as ants, can achieve the happiness of this life. Achieving sense pleasures, the temporary happiness of this life, is nothing special. It doesn’t make your life more special than that of an animal. That isn’t one of the three great purposes you can achieve by having this precious human body, especially one qualified by eight freedoms and ten richnesses. No matter how expert you are in achieving the happiness of this life, you aren’t fulfilling the special purpose of having a human rebirth, especially a perfect human rebirth. The special purposes of having a perfect human rebirth are to achieve the happiness of future lives, liberation from samsara and full enlightenment. You can achieve all of these happinesses because you can create the causes to achieve these three great purposes even in each second.
Attachment to the happiness, or pleasure, of this life is a nonvirtuous thought, and that is the first renunciation. The very first Dharma, the fundamental Dharma, is renunciation of the attachment that clings to this life’s pleasure. That nonvirtuous thought is the very first thing to renounce.
All the actions done with this attachment become nonvirtues. If you renounce this attachment that clings to this life’s pleasure, your attitude becomes pure, and everything you do—meditating, sleeping, eating—becomes Dharma. If you renounce this worldly concern, the thought of the eight worldly dharmas, the attitude of your life then becomes pure. Nothing you do is done for this life.
There is no thought of seeking the pleasure of this life; there is no attachment to comfort, to receiving praise from others, to having a good reputation, to receiving material gifts and so forth. In regard to all these, you are free from expectations. Your mind is totally pure and free from this attachment. There is nothing that makes your life go up and down many times a day. When you don’t fulfill your expectations or something that is opposite to your expectations happens, you go down. When you receive what you expect, you go up. With this renunciation, there are no ups and downs. Your mind is completely calm, peaceful, tranquil. From that you achieve real inner happiness, real inner peace.
Everything you do becomes Dharma. By renouncing attachment, you then renounce all the actions done with attachment. With attachment, everything—eating, walking, sitting, sleeping and even doing prayers or meditating—becomes nonvirtuous. That doesn’t happen once you renounce this attachment, the thought of the eight worldly dharmas. Once you renounce that worldly concern, none of these nonvirtuous actions happens. Attachment pollutes all these activities of eating, walking, sitting, sleeping, working, doing prayers and meditating. It’s like putting poison in food. It makes everything black; it makes everything a nonvirtue. When you renounce this life, it means you renounce this attachment that clings to the pleasure of this life, and all those nonvirtues are also stopped. All these actions becoming nonvirtuous is stopped. All the actions you do become virtuous, including doing prayers, meditation, preliminary practices and so forth.
So, there in Wish-Fulfilling Golden Sun, I put something about having the opportunity to ski. Do you remember how it’s said? The happiness of future lives? After that you can ski? In the section on perfect human rebirth, I mentioned having the opportunity to ski. I noticed that mistake a long time ago, but so far we haven’t made a new version of Wish-Fulfilling Golden Sun.
What makes an action virtuous or nonvirtuous?
As we are talking about motivation, I’d like to ask a question. If somebody is starving and you give them food, not with a virtuous thought but with a nonvirtuous thought of worldly concern, clinging to the happiness of this life, with attachment to your reputation and with the hope that other people will praise you, is that charity virtuous or nonvirtuous? Somebody is dying of starvation, and you give them food but with the motivation to receive praise from other people, “Oh, you’re such a generous person. You’re so kind.” With that expectation, seeking the happiness of this life, you give food to somebody who is dying of starvation. Of course, the food enables them to survive. So, is that charity virtuous or nonvirtuous?
[The reply from a student is inaudible.]
You’re saying the motivation is nonvirtuous but the feeding is virtuous? So, is that action of charity virtuous?
[The reply is inaudible.]
But the action of giving food is virtuous? Why is that action virtuous?
[The reply is inaudible.]
In that case, if someone wants to be killed and you then kill that person because they want to be killed, it’s then a virtue because it makes the other person happy. You are making that person happy because they want to die. It’s similar to the previous example, where filling their stomach makes the starving person happy. Now here, since the person wants to be killed, you are making that person happy. So, it has got to be virtuous.
[There is an inaudible comment, something about turning off life-support.]
So, the person wants to live on the machine. Here I’m talking on the basis of what the other person wants. Do you understand? Someone is starving, and you give them food, but your motivation is nonvirtuous. So, is that action virtuous or nonvirtuous? Someone said that it’s virtuous because it helps the other person. I’m now asking, if you kill somebody who wants to be killed, is that action virtuous or nonvirtuous? There are many other examples that are similar, such as sexual misconduct, which are based on what the other person wants, on what makes the other person happy. There are many different examples where what you do makes the other person happy but your motivation is nonvirtuous. So, is your action then virtuous or not?
Anyway, I now have another question. When I talked about giving food to this person dying of starvation, somebody said that there are two different things, that the motivation is nonvirtuous but the action is virtuous. Does everybody agree?
[There is an inaudible discussion.]
If you make charity of food so that someone doesn’t die of starvation, but your motivation is nonvirtuous, is that action virtuous or not? Here we know that the person’s motivation is nonvirtuous, because they’re expecting something in return. Their motivation in giving the food to that person is for the happiness of this life, to receive a good reputation or praise from other people.
Now, let’s say that you have cancer, which shortens life, and you take medicine with attachment clinging to the pleasure of this life. Is that virtuous? Your motivation for taking the medicine is simply attachment clinging to this life’s pleasure. You want to have a long life, but the long life is just for yourself; you’re not thinking of having a long life to benefit other sentient beings. Of course, the thought of benefiting others is a Dharma motivation. But here you simply want a long life for yourself. Your motivation is attachment to this life’s happiness. Taking the medicine cures the cancer and enables you to have a long life. So, is it virtuous to take medicine to cure the cancer on the basis of attachment? I’m talking about the action of taking medicine with attachment clinging to this life’s pleasure. Is that action virtuous or nonvirtuous?
[The reply is inaudible.]
Yes, an action can benefit others without being virtuous. There are actions that benefit others but are not necessarily virtuous.
If your making charity to others with the nonvirtuous thought of attachment clinging to your own pleasure of this life becomes virtuous because it helps the person to stay alive, in that case it is the same with everything you do in your daily life—eating food, going to sleep, going to the toilet, doing your job—because you’re doing all these things to help you survive and have a long life and be comfortable. None of them involves killing or any other violent action toward others. Everything you do during the day then becomes virtuous, because eating and drinking stop your hunger and thirst, having a house protects you and gives you comfort, clothing gives you comfort and doing a job gives you money, which helps you to have this life’s pleasures. Everything you do during the twenty-four hours helps for that. There is no violent action toward others; therefore, all these actions would become virtue.
If everything we did naturally became virtuous, there would be no purpose in meditating nor in generating a motivation before we begin a practice. When we do any practice there is preparation, which is the motivation; the actual body of the practice; and the dedication. These three things make the virtue complete, or perfect. Therefore, there would be no reason to generate a motivation at the beginning of meditation, before we visualize Buddha or meditate on lamrim. We wouldn’t have to generate a virtuous motivation before any practice. There would be no reason that we should generate a virtuous motivation before we meditate.
With a motivation of bodhicitta, you can direct the action of meditation to enlightenment, make it become a cause of enlightenment. And with a motivation of renunciation, the action of meditation becomes a cause to achieve liberation from samsara. Of course, it doesn’t have to be bodhicitta or renunciation of samsara to be a virtuous thought. There are other virtuous thoughts that are detached toward this life and seeking the happiness of future lives. If the motivation is none of these three—a thought of seeking enlightenment or of benefiting others, a thought of seeking liberation for oneself or a thought seeking the happiness of future lives—there is no other virtuous thought as a motivation of activities. Other than that, there is either no motivation or a motivation of attachment clinging to this life, this nonvirtuous thought.
Sometimes meditation can be harmful to us; it depends on the kind of meditation and on how we think. Generally, if you were doing a wrong meditation, which you believed to be a correct meditation, since the purpose of doing it would be to benefit yourself, all your actions of meditation would be virtuous, because what you are doing is actually to benefit you. If whether something is virtuous or nonvirtuous doesn’t depend on the motivation, all the actions of meditation have to be virtuous. In that case, there would be no need for you to generate a virtuous motivation.
The emphasis is on watching your mind, and if you find it to be nonvirtuous, either you do breathing meditation or, if your mind is too disturbed, you transform it by remembering impermanence and death (especially that death can happen at any moment), the sufferings of samsara, karma and the sufferings of the lower realms. You cut attachment and change your mind into the thought of seeking the happiness of future lives, liberation from samsara and eventually the thought to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings.
When we meditate, we have at least to generate a virtuous motivation. If we can’t generate bodhicitta or even the thought of seeking liberation from samsara, at least we should generate a virtuous thought that our action of meditation becomes a cause of the happiness of future lives.
There is a text of questions and answers by Panchen Losang Chökyi Gyaltsen, the great enlightened being who was the author of Guru Puja and also a mahamudra text. One of the questions in the text is, “What is the beginning of meditation?” Panchen Losang Chökyi Gyaltsen replies, “The beginning of meditation is the motivation,” and he then gives the example of how when Dharma texts, Buddha’s teachings, such as Prajnaparamita, were translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan, they always began by saying, “In the Indian language blah, blah, blah” and “In the Tibetan language blah, blah, blah.” Just as the texts always begin with this, meditation always begins with the motivation.
If an action was virtuous because it was peaceful and didn’t harm others through killing and so forth, whenever we did meditation, there would be no need to generate a virtuous thought because just doing the meditation itself would be virtuous. This mistake would arise. This is why there is so much emphasis on watching the mind and changing it not just into virtuous thought but into renunciation of samsara, and not just into that but into bodhicitta.
Now, what has happened with the charity? Is it now virtuous or nonvirtuous when done with a nonvirtuous motivation? Is everybody saying non-virtuous or virtuous? You understand that what you’re doing may help that starving person, but your main motivation is expectation of a good reputation or something for yourself. The nonvirtuous motivation is stronger. So, is the action virtuous or nonvirtuous?
I have already mentioned bodhicitta there in the three levels of motivation. It means the thought of seeking enlightenment for others or the thought of benefiting others. I’m including somebody who is sincerely, purely, benefiting others but has no understanding of or belief in reincarnation and karma. The other two virtuous motivations are the thought of renunciation to achieve liberation for oneself and the thought seeking the happiness of future lives.
Now, you have to understand the conclusion. If you believe that an action, even if the motivation for it is nonvirtuous, is virtuous because it is peaceful and doesn’t hurt others, what about when a bodhisattva kills somebody with a weapon. Since there is violence and the other person is hurt, that has to be nonvirtuous, even though the bodhisattva has bodhicitta. The other being who is killed is not a buddha or an arya being; it’s somebody who experiences pain. Since the action of killing someone with a weapon is violent and causes much pain to that other being and also shortens their life, is it nonvirtuous?
[The reply is inaudible.]
But isn’t killing with a weapon violence? It hurts that person, and of course they don’t want to die. It’s not what they want; it’s against their wishes. So, is that nonvirtuous?
[The reply is inaudible.]
In that case the charity would be nonvirtuous because the motivation was nonvirtuous. It is the same. If you are giving the power to the motivation, then the charity is nonvirtuous because the motivation is nonvirtuous. There is talk about a mixture of white and black karma, as you mentioned, but I don’t think it applies to the example I gave of making charity with nonvirtuous thought, with attachment to receiving a good reputation or something else in return. I don’t think you can bring in that discussion of a mixture of karma here, because if you separate the two things and say that the motivation is nonvirtuous and the action is virtuous, then, as I mentioned before, all the activities of our daily life such as eating, sleeping and doing our job, which are done to help ourselves, would be virtuous. Everything we did would become virtuous, even though the motivation was attachment. That mistake would happen. There is then a danger that anything that appears to be spiritual would become Dharma.
For example, there is the story, from the topic of karma, of somebody who did a three-year (or lifetime) Yamantaka retreat. When that person then died, he was born as a hungry ghost who looked like Yamantaka, with the many arms, but who was a hungry ghost, a preta. He was a preta but he looked like the deity he had been meditating on during his life as a human being.
There is also a story about two people who were doing deity retreat in Penpo, an area north-east of Lhasa. One of them died. Every evening the other meditator would do the sur practice, which involves burning tsampa and making charity of the smell. One evening he didn’t do the practice, and a terrifying hungry ghost with many arms then appeared. The meditator asked, “Who are you?” The hungry ghost replied, “I am your friend. The one who was doing retreat with you before.” Even though he did retreat on a deity for many years, he didn’t know how to do the retreat properly. He missed out the lamrim motivation; he practiced the deity without lamrim. His mistake was to do the retreat with attachment and without bodhicitta. There wasn’t even a virtuous thought seeking the happiness of future lives, which would at least make the motivation Dharma. There was neither bodhicitta nor renunciation. There was no Dharma thought. If his motivation were at least that, he wouldn’t have been born as a preta. There was no virtuous motivation, only attachment clinging to this life, wanting to be famous or to have a good reputation as a meditator. So, he was then born as a hungry ghost.
Now here you are doing meditation on a deity, but if your motivation is not virtuous, there will be a problem. It was because this meditator didn’t know how to do retreat and so did deity retreat without lamrim that he was born as a hungry ghost. Lama Atisha told the story of somebody who was a yogi of Hevajra (I think here yogi means that he meditated on Hevajra, not that he had realization of emptiness and bodhicitta), but he did the tantric practices without lamrim. He was even born in a hell realm. Such things happen.
This is why the motivation is so important. The motivation controls the action. The following example is normally given: if the root of a plant is medicinal, the flowers, fruit and the rest of the plant will be medicinal; but if the root is poisonous, the rest of the plant will be poisonous. What an action becomes depends on the motivation with which it is done. A great bodhisattva is permitted to do the seven actions of killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, telling lies, slandering, gossiping and speaking harshly because they have such great compassion for others that they are able to transform these actions into virtue. They are able to transform everything into virtue.
For example, in one of his past lives Guru Shakyamuni Buddha was the bodhisattva captain of a ship who killed a man who was planning to kill the rest of the five hundred traders on the ship. By killing the man, that bodhisattva collected great merit and shortened the duration of his time in samsara by one hundred thousand eons. This means that he was one hundred thousand eons closer to liberation and to enlightenment. It made him much closer to enlightenment, not because of his action but because of his motivation of great compassion. His great compassion transformed that action. What determines whether an action is a virtue or a nonvirtue is its motivation. Therefore, in regard to this action of charity, even though the food enables the person to survive and have a long life (and it is similar in our everyday life when we eat food or take medicine: it helps us to be healthy and live long ), but this action of making charity becomes nonvirtuous, even though it is useful for that starving person, because of the power of the non-virtuous motivation.
There is no discussion here about a mixture of karma. If you talk here about a mixture of karma, with the motivation being nonvirtuous and the action being virtuous, it means that the motivation can’t influence any action that we do. It means there is no connection. It then also does not become Dharma. This is why it’s important that we generate a virtuous motivation at the beginning of any activity that we do. The topic of a mixture of karma doesn’t apply here. It applies to some other activities in relation to the special power of holy objects, but not in this case. It doesn’t apply to ordinary beings doing this kind of action.
Dedications
“Jang chhub sem chhog rin po chhe....
“Gang ri ra wäi khor wä zhing kham dir....
“Päl dän la mäi ku tshe tän pa dang....”
Give all the merits of the past, present and future, as well as all the resultant happiness up to enlightenment, your own body as a wish-fulfilling jewel, all your possessions and everything else to all sentient beings. [meditate]
Give everything to every hell being, every hungry ghost, every animal, every human being, every asura being, every sura being. [meditate]
All the realms become pure lands, where there is no suffering and only pure perfect enjoyments. (Think of the pure land of whichever deity you practice or in which you wish to be reborn.) All the beings receive whatever they want, whatever they need. Every human being receives many billions and billions of dollars, and all the rest of the beings receive whatever they want, whatever they need, which includes a guru, teachings and realizations. Having these enjoyments causes them to actualize the path of method and wisdom and to cease all their defilements, gross and subtle, and they all become enlightened in the essence of the deity. [meditate]
“We have collected many times infinite skies of merit, and due to all these merits may whatever sufferings other sentient beings have ripen on me; and may whatever happiness I have ripen on all sentient beings.
“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and the merits of the three times collected by others, from now on, in every second, may I bring skies of benefit to sentient beings like Medicine Buddha and Lama Tsongkhapa, by having the same qualities within me that Medicine Buddha and Lama Tsongkhapa have.
“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and the merits of the three times collected by others, may any sentient being who sees me, touches me, remembers me, thinks about me, criticizes me, praises me, harms me, helps me or makes any other connection with me, just by that, immediately be liberated from all sickness, spirit harm and negative karma. May they immediately be healed of all sickness, both curable and incurable. May those people who are possessed by spirits and have become completely wild and crazy, as well as all other people affected by spirit harms, immediately be freed from all those spirit harms by simply seeing, touching, remembering, thinking, talking about or dreaming about me, or seeing even photos of me. May those sentient beings immediately be healed, freed from all sickness, spirit harms, negative karma and defilements. May they actualize the whole path, especially bodhicitta and the wisdom realizing emptiness, and may they achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible.
“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and the merits of the three times collected by others, which are merely labeled by mind, may the I, who is merely labeled by mind, achieve Medicine Buddha’s enlightenment, which is also merely labeled by mind, and lead all sentient beings, who are also merely labeled by mind, to that enlightenment, which is merely labeled by mind, by myself alone, who is also merely labeled by mind.
“May the teaching of Buddha, especially Lama Tsongkhapa’s teaching, be completely actualized within my mind and in the minds of all the students and benefactors of the FPMT, all those who sacrifice their life to the organization to serve other sentient beings and the teaching of Buddha, as well as in the minds of all those who rely upon me, those for whom I have promised to pray and those offering service. In this very lifetime may we be able to completely actualize Lama Tsongkhapa’s teaching. May it spread and flourish in the world in all directions, and may I be able to cause this to happen.”
[The group recites the two Lama Tsongkhapa dedication prayers in Tibetan, followed by the multiplying mantras.]
Good night, good morning.
So, I think the example of skiing is helpful for clarifying nonvirtues.
Notes
64 The seven qualities are a good social class, a beautiful body, a long life, a life free of illness, prosperity, wealth and great wisdom. [Return to text]
65 We’re not sure what to make of this apparent contradiction. [Return to text]
66 La ma sang gyä la ma chhö
De zhin la ma ge dün te
Kün gyi je po la ma yin
La ma nam la kyab su chhi
The guru is Buddha; the guru is Dharma;
The guru is Sangha also.
The guru is the creator of all (happiness);
To all gurus I go for refuge.
[Return to text]
67 It was 1975. [Return to text]
68 A version of this book (with the two mistakes Rinpoche mentions!) may be found on the LYWA website. [Return to text]
