The power of prayers
[Rinpoche and students chant mandala offering and refuge prayer]
Maybe I’ll go over how to meditate when you do this refuge and bodhicitta prayer. We do this prayer at the beginning of sadhanas, meditations and practices, therefore it’s very important to know how to meditate on it. It’s the most essential thing, so this is just to get some idea.
To be able to meditate, you feel something in the heart and you transform your mind into this refuge and bodhicitta and then you recite the prayer. Then the prayer doesn’t just become words recited from your lips, it is harmonized with your heart. What you recite and what you feel, what the mind feels, is harmonized. Then, it becomes very meaningful. This is not a prayer just to recite, it’s a meditation. In Buddhism, any prayer you do is a meditation. When people don’t understand it is meditation they think it’s a ritual, probably due to some previous background in Christianity or whatever. With their previous religion they saw prayers as just ritual and maybe even felt aversion for them and then, with these Buddhist prayers, their prejudice has continued.
Whenever you do a sadhana or recite any prayer, the most important aspect is the meditation, your mind meditating in the meaning. That’s the most important thing, the main thing. The idea is that as you recite, you meditate on the meaning. Therefore, this is not just some ritual as some people think, not something empty, something without meaning, just some just blah, blah, blah. It’s not like that. Every word in Buddhism is for meditation; every word is to subdue the mind, to rid it of attachment, anger and ignorance and all those delusions to do with attachment, all the delusions to do with anger, all the delusions to do with ignorance, to pacify all that and the selfish mind.
Then in tantra, you stop the ordinary appearances and the ordinary concepts. You have pure appearance, pure thought. You visualize that the four purified results you are going to achieve in the future when you become a buddha are happening now. You visualize transforming your completely purified body into the deity’s holy body and the completely purified place into the deity’s mandala, the manifestation of the deity’s wisdom, and the completely purified actions into the deity’s holy actions. When you become enlightened, with the deity’s holy body, every beam emitting from every pore of your holy vajra body, in one second, liberates inconceivable numbers of sentient beings from suffering and brings them to enlightenment. The pure actions you do when you become enlightened for the sentient beings is utterly unimaginable. What a buddha’s holy body, holy speech and holy mind can do to benefit numberless sentient beings even in one second is utterly unimaginable.
For example, when Guru Shakyamuni Buddha was in India, there was a woman called Magadha Sangmo living near Saravasti, where the Buddha had a monastery and lived for three years. The actual place is still there and you can see the Buddha’s room and all those different things. There was a family in Magadha where the husband was Hindu and the wife, Magadha Sangmo, was Buddhist. She wanted to offer lunch to the Buddha but the husband didn’t believe the Buddha would come. He couldn’t see how it was possible. But she just said, “The Buddha will come.”
She cleaned the house and made a very expensive meal and then she stood outside holding incense in her hand and recited the prayer that is part of the preliminary practice when we do the eight Mahayana precepts in the morning. She chanted [the invocation] Ma lü sem chän kün gyi …, “You who are the guide of all sentient beings, the divine being who destroyed the hosts of maras.”
As I mentioned, just before he became enlightened, at dusk time, the Buddha destroyed the millions of maras who were attacking him to stop him achieving enlightenment. This also includes the four maras: the mara of the Lord of Death, the mara of delusions, the mara of the contaminated aggregates—how the aggregates are always in the nature of suffering, with the continuity from one life to the next—and the mara of the deva’s son. The mara’s son refers to the maras manifesting in various forms, shooting the five arrows of delusions at people trying to practice Dharma—the arrows of pride, miserliness, attachment, anger and ignorance. So, when somebody tries to practice charity as the antidote to miserliness, the mara shoots the arrow of attachment, and then attachment and miserliness arise, interfering with that person’s practice of charity. Or if somebody is trying to live a pure, moral life such as renouncing desire and being celibate, the mara shoots the arrow of attachment, then desire arises, not allowing that person to live in pure vows. These are just examples.
They shoot the five arrows of delusions that then disturb your heart, not allowing you to practice Dharma. You want to practice Dharma but there are obstacles. This understanding is very useful. In your daily life, when you’re trying to practice Dharma, trying to live a pure life, suddenly these delusions arise. It’s good to remember that there’s somebody influencing your mind, your life. It’s not just you but somebody else influencing your mind. Remembering this helps you overcome the delusion so you no longer follow it, you renounce it. If you don’t think that, but instead think this delusion is you, this is what you really want, then you are totally overwhelmed by the delusion and you are unable to practice Dharma, unable to achieve realizations, unable to make your life meaningful. Your life is wasted and you engage in many negative karmas that are liable to become harmful to you and to other sentient beings.
So, when you are trying to practice Dharma and delusions arise, it is useful to remember that those evil beings are influencing you. In that way, you don’t allow yourself to become influenced by them. Because you are being controlled by somebody else, you want to be free from that. Especially in the West, people never want to be controlled by somebody else! It is very worthwhile to escape from that, to give yourself freedom from such influences.
The four maras I’m referring to here are the gross ones. There are also subtle ones related to the subtle negative imprints. I have read about these, but I don’t remember more about those four subtle ones.
Anyway, Magadha Sangmo chanted the invocation, “You who directly, perfectly, understand all phenomena.” That means all past, present and future phenomena. “You who are the destroyer of the enemy, the delusions.” That means the Buddha had already destroyed his own maras, his own enemies, the delusions, and then he is the destroyer of the delusions of us sentient beings. I’ve translated it as “destroyer” rather than “destroyed” and not only his own enemy, delusion, but he is also the destroyer of our delusions, our enemy, where all our suffering comes from.
There are six qualities related to worldly beings and devas, and six particular qualities related to the Buddha, such as having transcendental wisdom, having dharmakaya. There are two aspects of the dharmakaya: the transcendental wisdom body and the ultimate nature body. Then there is the rupakaya, the form body that also has two aspects: the sambhogakaya and the nirmanakaya. Only the arya bodhisattvas can directly see the sambhogakaya, the body adorned with the holy signs and exemplifications. Ordinary bodhisattvas can see the nirmanakaya. Of the five Mahayana paths to achieve enlightenment, the first, the path of merit, is divided into three: the small, middle and great path of merit, then the contemplation of the continual Dharma. Once the bodhisattva has achieved the third, the great path of merit, he can see numberless buddhas in the nirmanakaya aspect, what manifests for ordinary beings.
Magadha Sangmo chanted “chom dän” referring to these six qualities of the Buddha and calling the Buddha and all his surrounding entourage, and then she chanted, “Please descend to this place.”
Her husband didn’t believe that the Buddha would come. It’s not like nowadays. It’s not like she sent an invitation many days before. She just arranged the place and prepared an extensive meal and waited outside with the incense, chanting this prayer. But, despite her husband’s disbelief, the Buddha’s disciples came, not on the ground but flying between the mountains, riding on snow lions or elephants. They were unbelievably glorious and magnificent, so the husband thought, “Oh, is this the Buddha?” Each time somebody came, he asked, “Is this the Buddha?” but his wife replied, “No.” Then the next one, “Is it the Buddha?” and she said, “No,” and so on.
After all the disciples had come the Buddha came at the very last. From where the Buddha was to Magadha was very far; it would take weeks to walk the distance, but the Buddha came in the time it took to stretch your arm out. As he came, during that short time, all the sentient beings in the forests and on the roads were liberated from suffering by the Buddha. It was most amazing. Many insects and of course ants in the forest or on the ground were all liberated. When you become a buddha, it’s like this.
No matter how far a phenomenon is the Buddha can see it. He sees all phenomena. That’s why the Buddha came, even though Magadha Sangmo had not sent an invitation. She didn’t even phone or fax him!
Actions of the buddhas are one of the four completely purified results that you visualize in tantric practice, results you will experience in the future for all sentient beings that you visualize as happening now. Doing this practice, you collect inconceivable merit in such a short time and you purify inconceivable negative karma. Many eons of negative karma are purified—many tens of millions of eons of negative karma are purified by doing the tantric practice of visualizing the four purified results you will achieve in the future as happening right now. You visualize yourself as a deity and you visualize the place as a pure mandala, the manifestation of the wisdom of the buddhas, thus stopping impure thoughts and impure vision. That’s how the tantric path becomes the quick path to enlightenment. These practices are the foundation of tantra. Then on this basis you do many other unbelievable practices.
I lost what I was talking about.
You should remember how to meditate like this whenever you say prayers. This is unbelievably important. You should not just recite, just saying the words. That doesn’t benefit your mind much. All the prayers are meditation, every word is meditation, so when you recite you should keep your concentration as much possible. Even when the mind gets distracted, you should try to bring it back by practicing remembrance—remembering the object of meditation—and awareness—recognizing the distraction. You should bring the mind back as much as possible and keep the concentration on the meaning of the prayer so that it becomes a meditation as much as possible. Otherwise the words are recited but you are not meditating. If you are not meditating then sometimes you are not paying attention; you don’t hear the sound you are making. Your mind is too distracted, too preoccupied with other things, especially nonvirtue, such as the objects of desire or of anger and so forth.
Without paying attention, if you don’t hear even the sound, you can spend your life praying for hours every day with your mind completely distracted. Then, you are not collecting good karma, you are not collecting merit. In that way, your life gets completely wasted; you don’t even hear the prayers. Without hearing the prayers, they cannot leave positive imprints on your mind. Even that doesn’t happen when your mind is preoccupied with external objects of desire and so forth. Therefore, whether you understand or not, it’s very important to keep the mind on the prayer you are reciting and to do the meditation. Even if you don’t understand the prayer, it leaves positive imprints on your mind that will allow you to understand it later and then to achieve enlightenment.
Absolute and conventional Buddha, Dharma and Sangha
The first two lines of the refuge prayer are: “I go for refuge until I achieve full enlightenment / To the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.”
There are two types of refuge: causal refuge and resultant refuge. “I go for refuge to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha” shows the causal refuge and “until I achieve full enlightenment” shows the resultant refuge. These two types of refuge are explained in the commentary of Maitreya Buddha’s Abhisamayalamkara, the Ornament of Clear Realizations, one of the roots of the sutra teachings.
I think I mentioned some time ago that when we say the word “buddha” we should think of what that actually means. A buddha is a being who has perfected all the qualities of cessation of the oceans of samsaric suffering and the cause, karma and delusion, and even the cause of delusion, even the subtle defilements, the negative imprints left by the disturbing-thought obscurations, the ignorance holding true existence. Because of that, the holy mind is perfected in all the qualities of realizations.
As I explained before, from sang gye, the Tibetan for buddha, sang means “eliminated,” having eliminated all the oceans of samsaric suffering and the cause, karma and delusion. When that happens, because of that, then gye happens, which means “developed.” Here it means to have fully developed all the qualities of the realizations. This is the peerless one. There is nothing more to achieve; there is no higher happiness to achieve, no higher understanding or realization to achieve. This is the meaning of sang gye.
Then, there is the absolute Buddha and the conventional Buddha. The absolute Buddha is the dharmakaya and the conventional Buddha is the rupakaya, the buddha that appears to the obscured mind. In Tibetan it is kun dzob sang gye, the “Buddha known to the all-obscuring mind.” It is generally translated as “conventional Buddha” but that is not quite correct. Kun dzob means “all-obscuring” so it is that which appears to the obscured mind. That is the rupakaya.
The Dharma also has the absolute Dharma and the conventional Dharma or the Dharma of the all-obscuring mind, the Dharma that is the truth for the all-obscuring mind. The absolute Dharma is the cessation of not only suffering but also the cause, karma and delusion, and the cessation of the subtle defilements. The wisdom directly perceiving emptiness is the absolute Dharma.
The conventional Dharma is the Dharma for the all-obscuring mind, that which is also truth for the all-obscuring mind. There are two truths: absolute truth and conventional truth. These two truths are truth for the absolute wisdom and truth for the all-obscuring mind, for the illusory mind. This refers to the Tripitaka, the three baskets of teachings of the Buddha—the Vinaya, the Abhidharma and the Sutra baskets. All the 84,000 teachings of Buddha are condensed into these three baskets and they are the conventional Dharma, the Dharma for the all-obscuring mind or the illusory mind.
There is also the absolute Sangha and the conventional Sangha or the Sangha for the all-obscuring mind. The absolute Sangha is one who has attained the cessation of the suffering and defilements, and the path, the wisdom directly perceiving emptiness. That can be an ordained person or a lay person; it can be anybody who has this realization of the absolute Dharma.
The conventional Sangha is a group of four fully-ordained nuns or monks living in pure vows but not having the realization of the absolute Dharma. From the two truths, this is the truth for the all-obscuring mind.
I think you may have gone through refuge and have heard about the qualities of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. This is the very essence, something very brief. The buddhas have all the qualities, the power, to liberate you and all sentient beings from the oceans from samsaric suffering and the cause, karma and delusion.
Refuge in one refuge object protects us from the lower realms
We can be liberated from the lower realms—the hells, the hungry ghost or the animal realm—by taking refuge in one object of refuge, the Buddha, the Dharma or the Sangha.
For example, when we are dying, in the very last minute of our life, the very last thought, if we develop compassion or bodhicitta for sentient beings, or emptiness, or even remember a text like the Heart Sutra and have devotion to that, even that protects us from reincarnating in the suffering lower realms. If we remember a nun or monk, somebody we have faith in and devotion for, and if that person is in our thoughts in the very last minute, when we die with that thought we will be totally saved from reincarnating in the lower realms.
I normally mention this when you take refuge vows. We can explore the whole of science and we won’t find one thing that will protect us from reincarnating in the lower realms, that will save us from these terrible sufferings. But if we die with devotion to a monk or nun, that will definitely protect us from being reborn there.
Or if we remember a mantra, like om mani padme hum. For the Tibetan people, chanting this mantra is very common, but now also in the West more and more people are chanting it. We are unbelievably fortunate to be able to chant om mani padme hum, this wish-fulfilling mantra. We are not only able to fulfill all our own wishes but also the wishes of the numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, human beings, gods, demigods and intermediate stage beings. We’re able to fulfill all their wishes for happiness up to enlightenment by this practice of om mani padme hum. Most importantly, we are able to develop compassion for each and every single sentient being. Then we are able to bring peace and happiness—not only temporary happiness but the happiness of future lives, including liberation from samsara and enlightenment—to numberless sentient beings. We are one living being, but we are able to bring to numberless sentient beings all this peace up to enlightenment, the cessation of all the suffering, of all the defilements and the realizations of all the qualities. We are one person, but we can become wish-fulfilling for all sentient beings by chanting om mani padme hum. This mantra contains the whole entire Dharma. It’s most amazing. If we can remember the mantra in our last thoughts, there is no question; we are completely safe, so there is no worry at all.
Now our life is most critical. Depending on one way of thinking, the lower realms; depending on the other way of thinking, the higher realms—in a pure land where we can become enlightened or in the human or god realms where there is more happiness. The birth we take depends on whether we think in a negative way or a positive way, whether we create nonvirtue or virtue. As far as refuge, meditating on a text, there’s no question, but praying with devotion to one member of the Sangha, we will never get reborn in the lower realms. We become fully protected.
Even with the entire knowledge of science about death, there is nothing to protect our mind as we are dying from reincarnating in the lower realms, where there is the most unimaginable suffering. Science is completely empty on this subject. I am not talking about emptiness here. I am not talking about the ultimate reality but just ordinary empty, the lack of anything.
Becoming the absolute Buddha and Sangha
Even if we owned the whole world, at the time of death there would be nothing else we could depend on. Even if we owned all the wealth in the world, nothing could help us; everything has to be left. We can’t even take an atom with us. Even if all the human beings in this world were our subjects, neither they nor our family or friends could help us. Even this body that we cherish the most has to be left.
Anyway, “I go for refuge to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha” is the causal refuge and “until I achieve enlightenment” is the resultant refuge. By studying the Dharma, that which is the truth for the all-obscuring mind, by studying the scriptures, we actualize the absolute Dharma within us. Then we become the absolute Sangha. And then, by ceasing all the defilements and completing all the realizations, the absolute Dharma, we become a buddha. This is the resultant refuge, the meaning of “until I achieve enlightenment.”
We have gone through the general sufferings, the six types, the four types and the three types. From beginningless rebirths we have experienced the general sufferings of samsara, particularly the sufferings of the lower realms. We need to feel that. We need to start with our own suffering and recognize that. Then, we go for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha so we ourselves can be liberated from the oceans of samsaric suffering and the cause. That is the Hinayana refuge, generated by having a useful fear of the suffering of the lower realms. I say “useful fear.” This is a useful fear because it liberates us from samsara by making us practice Dharma and by doing so overcoming suffering.
As well as fear there is faith in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Because they have all these qualities, we can rely on them with our whole heart. That’s the other aspect of the Hinayana refuge.
The Mahayana refuge is this. Having the useful fear of our own samsara we then think that numberless other sentient beings are also experiencing those general sufferings of samsara. Numberless hell beings have experienced the general suffering of samsara, particularly the lower realm suffering, not only now but numberless times from beginningless rebirths. Numberless hungry ghosts have experienced the general suffering of samsara, particularly the lower realm suffering, not only now but numberless times from beginningless rebirths. Numberless animals have experienced the general suffering of samsara, particularly the lower realm suffering, not only now but numberless times from beginningless rebirths. Numberless humans have experienced the general suffering of samsara, particularly the lower realm suffering, not only now but numberless times from beginningless rebirths. Numberless gods and demigods have experienced the general suffering of samsara, particularly the lower realm suffering, not only now but numberless times from beginningless rebirths.
We try to get the idea that it is not only us who have been experiencing the general sufferings of samsara from beginningless rebirths, particularly the lower realms, but all sentient beings. When we think like that then naturally we think we must free them all from those sufferings. We must free the numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, gods and demigods from all the oceans of samsaric suffering and the causes, karma and delusion.
With our whole heart, we totally rely upon the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and then generate compassion. The third cause of Mahayana refuge is compassion for all sentient beings. With the understanding that the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha have all the qualities, all the power, to save ourselves and all sentient beings, from the bottom of our heart we go for refuge.
These three causes—fear, faith and compassion—are the causes of taking Mahayana refuge. There is also tantric refuge as well.
The next two lines of the refuge prayer are: “Due to the merits I create by practicing charity and so forth / May I become a buddha in order to benefit all transmigratory beings.”
All sentient beings are completely under the control of karma and delusion, and because of that they always reincarnate in the six realms and experience all the oceans of suffering of each realm. Like this they continuously suffer and have been suffering from beginningless rebirths. We need to understand this very deeply. The Tibetan word dro wa can be translated as “transmigratory being.” By being under the control of karma and delusion, they always transmigrate into one of the realms and have to suffer. Although dro principally means “to migrate,” another meaning is “continuously” as in to continuously run toward death. There is not one day, one minute, when they are not constantly running toward death.
The benefits of generating bodhicitta are limitless. Every time we meditate on this, every time we generate bodhicitta, we collect so much merit. If it manifested as form, the merit we collect would be greater than the limitless sky. Then, for whatever practices we do after that, if they are done with bodhicitta and refuge, the merit increases a hundred times. To chant a mala of a mantra of one of the buddhas, if it is done with bodhicitta, we collect limitless skies of merit with each mantra. If we go from here to Boudhanath stupa with a bodhicitta motivation in order to circumambulate for all sentient beings, then we collect limitless skies of merits with each step we take. It’s like this for whatever activity we do. It’s most amazing.
I’ll stop here.
