Golden Light Sutra: Oral transmission

[Page] 166? 106? That was the same thing yesterday, no? [Student explains] I see. 166? Oh yes, that’s right.

Think, “The purpose of my life is to free numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment: numberless hell beings, numberless hungry ghosts, numberless animals, numberless suras, asuras, human beings, intermediate stage beings—to free them from all the suffering and its causes, to bring them to enlightenment. Therefore, I must achieve enlightenment. Therefore, I am going to listen to the oral transmission of the Buddha’s teaching, Golden Light Sutra, the most precious. By hearing each word, I purify so much negative karma, and that plants the seed of enlightenment in my own heart and directs my life toward enlightenment and then brings so much peace and happiness in the world, in the country, the area, like that. And I collect inconceivable merit by hearing these words.”

[Oral transmission]

So, page 169, the back side.

Advice on Practicing Dharma after Kopan: Rinpoche’s Shakyamuni Book

Since there are some of you going back to the West and if it is the first time you have attended the course here, I would like to say a few words about how to carry on, after you learned here during this one month what to do in your life, how to carry on, how to continue your practice. Those who attended the course in the past time may have already received many lifetimes’ practices, a few lifetimes of practices, not only for this life.

Anyway, the one thing is to practice one guru yoga every day: Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga⁶ or Guru Shakyamuni Buddha. If it is your first time, unless you have some strong feeling for Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga then that’s different, but because you have been visualizing Guru Shakyamuni Buddha during this course and maybe reciting the mantra, maybe you are more familiar with the Guru Shakyamuni Buddha yoga that I put together, the daily meditation practice, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha guru yoga.⁷

This book is made for two reasons. For people attending the course for the first time, after the course then there is the question of how to carry on, what to do. So, this abbreviated practice has many essences of the practice, the preliminary practices and the lamrim prayer, the meditation prayer of the whole path to enlightenment. There is something complete. This book is made so that after having done the course you know what to do to carry on, to do the lamrim practice meditation based on something such as a guru yoga practice. If you can do that, that’s extremely good; it makes life so rich if this can be done. Of course, it’s up to the individual person.

If this can be done at the beginning of each day of your life, then for the rest of the day really you feel very rich. You feel the day is meaningful, having done that practice in the morning, at the beginning of the day. So, that’s one thing.

By practicing guru yoga, you receive the blessing of the guru and from the blessing of the guru realizations come from within. It’s like when you pour water on a seed. The plant is as a seed, but when you pour water on the seed, that produces the stem, then the plant comes, then the tree and the fruit. So, the realizations, enlightenment, come from within your mind, which has all the potential, from your buddha nature.

With all these conditions, in order to purify the obstacles, the negative karma, the defilements, you need to create the conditions, the merit, which you do with guru yoga practice, where you one-pointedly look at the guru and Guru Shakyamuni Buddha as inseparable, oneness. This destroys the mind that sees them as separate and the guru as an ordinary being. By looking at them as one and seeing them as one, then from the cause, the devotion, this makes you receive the blessings of the guru. It is received in your own heart like water pouring on a seed. Then, realizations come from within; they get developed.

And that way you can sooner or later be liberated from the oceans of the undesirable sufferings of samsara, and even achieve enlightenment to be able to liberate numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment, which is the main purpose of our life. It is the objective or the main project of our life, the goal of our life, the purpose of being born as a human being at this time.

Advice on Practicing Dharma after Kopan: Meditate on the lamrim

Then, there is the actual body of the meditation, which is on the lamrim path. On the basis such as guru yoga then you meditate on lamrim. With that, there is the lamrim, there is the Foundation of All Good Qualities, the prayer which plants the seed of the whole path. Just by reading that mindfully, then within that one or two minutes it plants the seed of the whole path to enlightenment in your heart. Each time you read such a lamrim prayer mindfully, the seed of enlightenment is planted every time, every day. If in one day you do some different lamrim prayers, or the same prayer at different times, then many seeds are planted and that becomes the main cause to receive the realizations of the path to enlightenment, sooner or later. The more imprints you plant the quicker you’ll receive realizations on the path to enlightenment.

So, it’s not only guru yoga, but the basis of guru yoga is combined with the direct meditation on the lamrim. You can meditate on the lamrim after you finish the lamrim prayer or, depending on which meditation you’re going to do within lamrim, you can stop at that point in the prayer and do the elaborate meditation there. Or you can finish the prayer and at the end do the meditation, before Guru Shakyamuni Buddha absorbs into you.

My suggestion to you is to study as much as you can. Now there are many books coming out in English. Before, quite a number of years before, there were very few. The first book by His Holiness was just three pages long, an essay on Buddhism or something, but now there are so many. My suggestion is to study Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand, that is the most elaborate one, or you can study Lama Tsongkhapa’s Lamrim Chenmo. I think it’s all in English? The Great Treatise is in English?

[Student explains it is.]

So, you can do that. You can do that, or you just read Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand or Essence of Refined Gold. Study the lamrim from beginning to end. Study first. If possible, study it two or three times. Read some today, read it with meditation, then do some tomorrow. Whatever time, in the day you are working, or at night, whatever, whenever you have time, read some slowly and think about it. When you think, see how it is related to your own life, your own mind. Then it becomes a meditation. Do that at least once a day.

Since you have done the course and most of the actual meditations, since you’ve covered much of it, you have some idea. Still, you can read, go through the lamrim. In that case, once you have an idea of the whole lamrim, as far as meditation, then one day do guru devotion meditation. If there are different techniques, today you can do this technique, tomorrow you can do that technique—if there are different techniques, you can do that.

However, do one meditation on guru devotion, even for ten or fifteen minutes, whatever time, until you have a stable realization of that, as it is explained in the teachings. You realize the guru is all the buddhas, all the numberless buddhas, and from the bottom of your heart, you feel the oneness. Your own guru is all the buddhas and all the buddhas are your own guru. So, the oneness. All the numberless buddhas are your own guru, and your own guru is all the buddhas. From the bottom of your heart, you feel this rising devotion, not for a few hours or a few days but something that is very stable, unshakeable, very stable. That has to be obtained by quotations, by logic, by reasoning; that makes it stable. Whatever mistake that you seem to see, externally, in your view, any mistake you see, nothing can destroy your devotion, nothing can make you lose your devotion, nothing can affect you. But still you do a little bit of meditation to stabilize.

I am not going to elaborate here but this one is extremely important, the most important, because how this and future lives are going to turn out is based on this. How your life is going to turn out, this life and future lives, your success in actualizing the realizations of the graduated path, from perfect human rebirth, the beginning of the prayer, right up to enlightenment, the three principal aspects of the path, then the two stages of Highest Yoga Tantra, all that success depends on the guru devotion practice, how correctly, how well that is done.

Yesterday also I mentioned to our monks and nuns here, a person who is expert in devoting to the virtuous friend is defined by seeing that that person follows every single word the guru says, and is able to put it into practice, is able to do it. That’s the definition of a person who is expert in devoting to the virtuous friend. That’s where we have to pay most attention because from there we create the heaviest negative karma, but also, if it is done well, we create the highest merit and gain the quickest realizations. It’s the quickest way to purify negative karma, any heavy negative karma, and the quickest way to collect extensive merit, the quickest enlightenment. Everything comes from there. That is wish-fulfilling. That is wish-fulfilling. You can have every realization quickly if it is done well. So, that’s one thing.

The other one is mind training. The first part of the lamrim is the graduated path of the lower capable being. You can do one month’s meditating on the perfect human rebirth, the next month on its usefulness, the next month on how it is difficult it is to find again, the next month on impermanence and death, the next month on the suffering of the lower realms and the next month karma.

You can do that and you may get to achieve realizations of those meditations, depending on how much purification you are able to do and how much extensive merit you can collect, with the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and also with sentient beings. You collect extensive merit by rejoicing, making offerings, offering service, then bodhicitta, compassion for others. You collect extensive merit with the sentient beings and also rejoicing. Depending on guru devotion, depending how strong, how well it is done, you can achieve realizations. Some people can achieve them very easily. If you really meditate like this every day. I don’t mean the whole day but do the perfect human rebirth meditation for however many minutes—half hour or whatever—and so on, up to karma. Then, when you finish karma go back, until you achieve realizations. Do it like that. Until you achieve all those realizations, you can do it like that. The definition of those realizations you have to learn from the texts or teachings.

After that comes the graduated path of the middle capable being. Meditate on that until you have realizations, then the graduated path of the higher capable being. However many months or years it takes, meditate on that until you achieve stable realizations. Then, meditate on the higher capable being’s path, bodhicitta, how many months, years or lifetimes it takes. Then, emptiness should be every day. Recite the Heart Sutra or any other text, teachings on emptiness or quotations, or just do the meditation. You should do the meditation on emptiness, something, everything, because that is an atomic bomb, able to destroy samsara, delusions. Without that you can’t escape from samsara, therefore you must do it. At least you must recite the words. There are many texts, the Heart Sutra, the Diamond Cutter Sutra or a Mahamudra text. Even if you don’t understand it, read it every day to leave imprints on the mind, so that sooner or later, sooner or later, after some time understanding comes like a lotus opening. It just comes one day, then also the realization can happen.

Advice on Practicing Dharma after Kopan: Continue lamrim mindfulness in daily life

During the working day, for the rest of the day, when you are not doing sitting meditation, in your working life, if possible, do the meditation that you did in morning, try to continue that in your daily life, in your working life. Continue with that same thought, with that same feeling that you generated during your meditation. If it was the perfect human rebirth, try to see how it is so precious. Generate that strong feeling how it is so precious, much more precious than a wish-granting jewel or much more precious than mountains of gold, diamonds, most precious. Those feelings that were generated during meditation, as a result of meditation, try to continue that experience for the rest of the day, while you are working, see how this is so precious. When you keep this feeling, then naturally you won’t get angry and you are very mindful, so you don’t engage in negative karma. You are constantly only practicing Dharma; you engage only in what’s meaningful without difficulty. That makes your life so meaningful. Even during the break time, even your working life becomes so good. Everything becomes good karma.

Everything overall—your sitting meditation, your working life—everything is to do with bodhicitta. Your sitting meditation, your working life, eating, walking, sleeping, whatever, is to do with bodhicitta. That makes your life most beneficial.

That way your working life, the break time from sitting meditation, is not break time from the Dharma. There is no break time from the Dharma. It is very important to practice Dharma during the break time from sitting meditation. That’s very important, because if you don’t practice Dharma then you can collect so much negative karma, anger can arise. If you don’t practice Dharma, anger can arise, strong attachment can arise, then so much negative karma increases. Then it becomes an obstacle for the sitting meditation. Instead of supporting it, it becomes an obstacle for the sitting meditation, you can’t even do the meditation. This way, the sitting meditation helps your working life to have a better quality, to be inspired and better and more compassionate. You do everything with a pure motivation, a Dharma motivation. It helps that and then, in the same way, your working life helps your sitting meditation. Your break time life, all that becomes meaningful, Dharma, the cause of enlightenment, that helps your sitting meditation. It becomes very strong; it’s very easy to meditate; there are less distractions. Then it becomes easy to have realizations. This is practicing Dharma in both times.

It is totally wrong after a session to think that you have finished your meditation and then you can do anything. After getting up from the thick meditation cushion, you think because you have finished you can do anything. Now, you can become wild and do anything that comes into your mind. It’s not like that.

Do any service you can do for others with a sincere heart, whether small or great, whatever it is—helping animals or human beings, any sentient beings, practicing kindness and forgiveness in daily life, especially in relationships. The heaviest thing, the most difficult thing is relationships, so you must practice forgiveness. This way, whatever happens, any problem that arises, your mind is always in a happy state. With an open mind you can help others. You are always happy. Otherwise, you are so depressed. You have so much understanding of Dharma but you’re unable to practice, so your mind is depressed and then you can’t do anything; you can’t do any practice, you can’t even recite om mani padme hum once because your mind is so unhappy, so depressed.

If possible, do prostrations by reciting the names of the Thirty-five Buddhas in the morning. After you get up and wash, you should do prostrations, set up the altar, then make offerings, by reciting the Thirty-five Buddhas’ names or you can also do Vajrasattva, either way.

Vajrasattva and Medicine Buddha oral transmission

In the evening time before going to bed, you can chant the Vajrasattva mantra, either the short one, OM VAJRASATTVA HUM, at least twenty-eight times or if you can, one mala, or recite the hundred-syllable mantra at least twenty-one times. It’s very good to do that meditation. That way, all the negative karma collected during the day gets purified; it doesn’t get multiplied, doubled the next day and tripled the third day and so on. Today’s negative karma gets purified. The first thing is it stops multiplying day by day, which makes it very light. Then it purifies this life’s negative karma, as well as so many past lives’ negative karma. By reciting the long mantra twenty-one times great benefit is received. When you die, the negative karma is very light, even if you have committed so much heavy karma. Because of the skillfulness of the tantric practice of Vajrasattva, it becomes very, very light. You don’t have to be reborn in the lower realms or you don’t have to suffer for a long time; it is easy to have realizations and quicker to be free from samsara.

I’ll do the lung of Vajrasattva and the Thirty-five Buddhas, then we’ll stop there.

[Oral transmission]

The Medicine Buddha is very powerful for purification. For any problem in life, you can use Medicine Buddha to solve the problem. It can help with any problem. It is very powerful purification. Even if somebody has died, if somebody has problems, the best thing is to practice Medicine Buddha for a good rebirth. And it is very powerful to fulfill all your wishes.

[Oral transmission]

Then the Heart Sutra. This is the heart of the Prajnaparamita. The Perfection of Wisdom is the heart of all the Buddha’s 84,000 teachings, and this one is the heart of all the teachings of the Perfection of Wisdom.

[Oral transmission]

Dedication

Due to the three times’ merits collected by me, the three times’ merits collected by others, may the bodhicitta be generated within my own heart and all of us here, and in the hearts of all the students, all the benefactors, all those who sacrifice their lives for this organization, giving service to sentient beings and the teachings of Buddha, and may it be generated in the hearts of all the sentient beings.

[Chanting]

May bodhicitta be generated in the hearts of myself, all of us and all the family members and all the students, benefactors, all the leaders of this world, every leader of this world. May bodhicitta be generated in their heart without delay even a second and in the hearts of everyone in this world.

[Chanting]

May it be generated in the hearts of all the terrorists and all the gangsters, all the Maoists, all those groups who are causing destruction to the world or harming others. May bodhicitta be generated in all their hearts, without delay even a second.

[Chanting]

Then all this opportunity that we have to purify, to collect merit and to plant the seed of the whole path to enlightenment every day, and this incredible freedom to practice Dharma, to benefit sentient beings, is all by the kindness of His Holiness Dalai Lama, so dedicate to fulfill all His Holiness’ wishes immediately and for him to have a stable life.

[Chanting]

Due to all the three times’ merit collected by me from now on, may I be able to offer in every second, may I be able to offer limitless skies of benefit to sentient beings, the teachings of the Buddha, like Lama Tsongkhapa, by having the same qualities within me as Lama Tsongkhapa has, from now on, in all the future lifetimes.

[Chanting]

Due to the past, present and future merits collected by me, the three times’ merits collected by others, that which are empty from their own side, which exist but are empty from their own side, may the I who exists but is empty from its own side, achieve Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s enlightenment, which exists but is empty from its own side, and lead all the sentient beings, who exist but do not exist from their own side, who are also empty, to that enlightenment, which exists but doesn’t exist from its own side, that which is totally empty, by myself alone, who exists but does not exist from its own side, who is totally empty.

May I dedicate all the merits to be able to follow the holy extensive deeds just as the buddhas Samantabhadra and Manjugosha realized and may I dedicate all the merits in the same way as all the three times’ buddhas dedicated their merits—I dedicate all my merits in the same way. May the general teaching of the Buddha, particularly the teaching of Lama Tsongkhapa, spread in all the directions, may it flourish forever in this world by completely actualizing within my own heart and in the hearts of my own family members, all of us here and in the hearts of all the students in this organization, the FPMT organization, and all the supporters, and those who devote their lives to this organization, those who give up their lives for this organization, doing service for sentient beings, the teachings of Buddha.

[Chanting]

Rinpoche thanks students

Those who are here who are leaving, anyway, leaving or staying, I want to thank you very much. Thank you very much to everyone from the bottom of my heart for all your sincerity, all your open hearts, seeking something which is extremely worthwhile. Many times we seek something which is empty, which has no meaning. This time we are seeking something more worthwhile for you and for all sentient beings.

Of course, since I came here I destroyed your schedules. [Laughter] Anyway, thank you very much for all your discipline also, for following the sessions. Well done. Well done. And then, of course that is here, what I call the long-life man. There is one arhat of the sixteen arhats who has all this white [hair] with this long white one [beard]. I’m not sure of the name of that aspect, otherwise I can give that name to him.

Anyway, Ven. Antonio, this is the first time he has been at the Kopan course and leading a course. He studied at Lama Tsongkhapa Institute and with many other great geshes, Geshe Rabten Rinpoche, who is also my guru, my first philosophy teacher. So, he has followed many great lamas.

And twenty-five years a monk? Twenty-four. I added one more year. Venerable Antonio has been very good in his monk’s life, from the beginning, in the middle, all through. All through. Sometimes, people are good at the beginning but then go down. Sometimes, they have a bad beginning but then get better. But he’s always good. He’s been a good example of the Sangha of the FPMT organization for many years. He has been very beneficial for sentient beings. So, I rejoice and here I would like to thank Antonio Rinpoche very much. For his love and compassion and all the effort and guiding you, leading this course. Particularly during this course, then in general in all the past things as well.

And then, Ani Karin also helped, you know. She doesn’t travel much to many countries and give talks but just stays at Kopan. From Kopan she benefits all the world. From Kopan she benefits all the world. For so many years she has been leading many meditation courses many times each year. She herself practices very sincerely, she lives in the practice. She is a great example as a nun. Even though she didn’t travel all over the world and give talks and this and that, she has so many years’ experience, guiding and teaching. So, thank you very much, Ani Karin.

I don’t think I ever thanked her. I can’t remember thanking her. So anyway, thank you very much.

Then there are many others here from different places, working in different centers, like that. Thank you very much.

To anybody who supported, who helped the course here, to everybody I want to thank you very much, even the person who rang the bell. So, everybody. OK. Thank you so much. Maybe the food is getting upset!

Notes

⁶  Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga eBook & PDF is available from FPMT. [Return to text]

⁷ A Daily Meditation on Shakyamuni Buddha eBook & PDF, available from FPMT. [Return to text]