December 14, 2017

The Seven-Limb Prayer

[Rinpoche chants in Tibetan what seems to be an oral transmission]

So, just a few words. We have the seven-limb practice every day. Many other practices begin with the seven-limb practice, with the preliminary practices. Within that, each practice becomes a remedy, an antidote, to the different types of delusion. Prostrating is a remedy to pride. Offering is a remedy to miserliness. I think confession is a remedy to the three poisonous minds. Then, rejoicing is an antidote to jealousy.

I think requesting to turn the Dharma wheel can be an antidote to ignorance, because receiving teachings reduces ignorance as well as purifying avoiding the holy Dharma, which is a very heavy negative karma. In Lamrim Chenmo and Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, it is mentioned that the negative karma created is heavier that destroying all the temples, all the monasteries, all the stupas, all the scriptures and all the statues that exist in the world; it destroys everything. The negative karma of avoiding the holy Dharma is much heavier than that. So, requesting to turn the Dharma wheel is an antidote to that; it purifies that negative karma of heresy to the Dharma.

Then, requesting the guru—the buddhas in ordinary aspect—to have a stable life is the antidote to having disturbed the guru’s holy mind. This is very important because it purifies the heaviest negative karma, it becomes the antidote to that.

For each one, there is a temporary and an ultimate result explained. The ultimate result is to achieve the immortal vajra holy body, the buddha’s holy body. That is the ultimate goal.

Requesting the guru to have a long life becomes the method to pacify your life obstacles and karma and to have a long life. That’s the karmic result. Actually, although [the long-life puja] is in my name, it becomes [a cause of] long life for all of us here. Those who are living in pure morality, whatever they pray for has a lot of power because of that Dharma connection. It is very powerful—the guru praying for the disciple, the disciple praying for the guru, parents praying for their children, children praying for their parents, for blood relationships and so forth. And then praying for people staying in the same house, for material relationships, praying for each other—these strong relationships have more power. This is mentioned in the teachings.

What I am saying is that the long-life puja is for everybody’s long life; that’s the reality. Due to your connection, your prayer has the power to help. There is not much else you can do because others don’t know the Dharma. You can advise others to not kill, to not do things like that. If there is something like that, you can help other people in the world like that. That’s all I want to say.

[Prayers in Tibetan]