oral transmission of Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga

Tonight, it’s difficult to do the preparation. It will take a long time and, I think, it will go too late, so I thought to cancel it and maybe do the preparation and initiation on the same day, tomorrow. There has been that system. 

His Holiness Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche was His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s tutor in Tibet, not his actual guru but helping him, offering him an education in sutra and tantra and the extensive understanding of the philosophy through debate and very deep study. He is called “Tsenshab” but that is not actually a guru, not as in guru-disciple. Later in India, His Holiness took the commentary on the Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment composed by Lama Atisha, which integrates the 84,000 teachings of the Buddha that comes in three levels: the Hinayana, the Mahayana Paramitayana and the Mahayana Secret Mantra, Vajrayana, teachings. These three levels of teachings are taught because there are sentient beings who have different levels of intelligence and karma, different merits. All that is integrated into the few pages of the Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment. The lamrim, the graduated path to enlightenment, started from Lama Atisha’s prayer.

It clarified all the wrong concepts, all the confusion that was around then, that if you practiced sutra you could not practice tantra and if you wanted to practice tantra you could not practice sutra. In those days many people regarded these as like hot and cold, complete opposites. There were a lot of misconceptions about tantra. By composing the Lamp for the Path, Lama Atisha cut all those wrong concepts in Tibet and made it very clear that these three different levels of teachings taught by the Buddha were for one person’s gradual practice to achieve enlightenment, therefore they were for everybody.

After that came many commentaries. Lama Tsongkhapa wrote the most extensive commentary, the Lamrim Chenmo, as well as the middle length one, by leaving out all the debates that negated the wrong views in the section on special insight. Then he wrote the very short one, Hymns of Experience. Many great lamas who completed the path to enlightenment wrote commentaries from their own experience. Then, so many bodhisattvas, so many enlightened beings, happened in Tibet and the countries around Tibet.

Because Kyabje Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche was the incarnation of Marpa’s son, Darma Dodé, he was always called by people Tugse Rinpoche, meaning Marpa’s “tugse,” his holy son, his holy mind son, Darma Dodé.

There is a story that Marpa advised his son Darma Dodé not to go to some public function but he went anyway. He rode his horse, but he fell off and knocked his head on a stone, breaking his skull. Evidently, when somebody said something not pleasing to His Holiness Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche’s holy mind, Rinpoche’s head changed a little bit. I don’t think common people could see it, but the part of skin on the aspect of the head that was bald—where Darma Dodé cracked his skull—changed slightly. That was an interesting thing. Rinpoche passed away in Ladakh. When I was in Dharamsala relics were brought in a vase, so I went to see them at the McLeod Ganj bus station.

The last time I met Rinpoche was in Delhi. Rinpoche advised me to do good. He was extremely kind to me all the time, giving me many teachings and initiations and teachings. No matter how busy Rinpoche was, even during lunch, he tried to answer questions on philosophy that confused normal people. Rinpoche helped me to understand them. He was very, very kind.

I haven’t seen his incarnation much, only in pujas and teachings, but the young Tibetan lady who is a dakini had a lot of connection with Rinpoche and she told me that his skin goes up and down in the same way that Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche did in his past life. It’s not everybody who can do that! So, that’s very interesting. They are totally different aspects but there are some external signs like that.

I don’t why I was talking about Rinpoche. I’ve forgotten. Anyway, it doesn’t matter.

I thought tonight to do some lung, the ones that you have asked for. The first lung is very important because every day when you meditate on the lamrim, the fundamental practice should be guru yoga. The most extensive guru yoga is Lama Chöpa, Guru Puja, but there is another shorter one, Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, that you can practice. For people who haven’t received a great initiation, there are tantric practice meditations within the Ganden Lha Gyäma, the Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, you can do. There’s a very special, very secret meditation that goes with the prayer, Mig me tse wäi ter chen chän rä zig, and then the guru entering at the heart. You need a highest tantra initiation for these things. Even a lower tantra great initiation is not enough; it doesn’t qualify you to receive this very secret meditation that goes with the migtsema and also the guru entering the heart.

These are not in the Guru Shakyamuni Buddha daily meditation that I put together many years ago for somebody who really wants to seriously meditate every day, to receive the guru’s and Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s blessings in the heart and from there to generate guru devotion, in order to receive the realizations of the path to enlightenment. Along with the listening, reflecting and meditating you need to have the guru yoga practice. It’s aimed for people who really want to seriously meditate every day, maybe after having done courses like the main one here at Kopan, or in India, at Tushita Dharamsala or at Root Institute in Bodhgaya or in the West. After having done courses, if somebody wants to meditate every day, to have realizations, to make life meaningful by develop the mind on the path to enlightenment, this book is also for that.

Those who are able to practice the extensive one, Lama Chöpa, that’s unbelievable, but there is also the other very common one, Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga. This is not something that is very hard, although some people might take it that way, but it is something inside your heart, the very heart of the practice. Maha-anuttara tantra, the highest tantra, has many secret practices to achieve enlightenment most quickly. It has guru yoga to develop devotion and receive the blessings of the guru and to receive the realizations of the path. And then there’s the lamrim, the basis, the three principal aspects of the path to enlightenment based on guru devotion, and lojong, thought transformation. Even though the entire lamrim is lojong, specific lojong practices are also there. It’s incredible; it’s different from other guru yoga practices. All the important things, the practices, are contained in it, therefore it makes life most meaningful, most productive.

The first lung is the oral transmission of Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga. This is different from other guru yogas. This has very special qualities that you will understand from the benefits. By practicing Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga—by listening, reflecting and meditating on it—it becomes very effective for the mind, for the heart. It hits the ego, the self-cherishing thought, it pacifies that and whatever other delusions you have. Then, listening, reflecting and meditating, whatever you’re doing becomes pure Dharma and the cause to achieve realizations, leading to the happiness of future lives, liberation from samsara and full enlightenment.

Then, in every second, you are able to achieve the three great meanings. It pacifies all the obstacles to gaining realizations, the obstacles in your life and to your Dharma practice. Another benefit is that if you practice Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, beside this migtsema, you don’t experience paralysis through pollution, through being harmed by the spirit king and tsen, the landlord or the nagas, or from spirits called za or de that cause paralysis. It’s not just from some condition of the blood, there are external beings also that are connected, that become conditions and cause harm. Whoever practices Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga does not receive these harms.

Originally, this Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga was only given privately but later it was put together and made public. There is the story of a family living in the mountains whose child was possessed by a spirit. Many lamas tried to stop the spirit, doing many pujas and other things, but that only made the spirit completely wild and violent. Nothing helped. They finally asked a lama who practiced Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga and, after checking if it would be beneficial, he sent a shoe and some beads from his mala, not even the whole mala. The beads were placed around the windows and the shoe was hung from the ceiling above the child’s bed. When they did that the spirit was terrified. It saw the beads as the ten very wrathful guardians and the shoe as a mountain pressing down on it. The spirit was screaming and wanting to leave but the lama made it promise never to harm any place where somebody recited migtsema.

There’s the nine-round one and the five-round one.

Vajradhara, lord of sages, source of all realizations;
Avalokiteshvara, great treasure of nonobjectifying compassion;
Manjushri, master of stainless wisdom;
Lord of Secrets, destroyer of the entire host of maras;
Losang Dragpa, crown jewel of the sages of the Land of Snow:
To you, Guru-Buddha, embodying the three refuges,
I make requests respectfully with my three doors.
Please grant your blessings for myself and others to be ripened and liberated.
Please bestow the supreme and common realizations.
[Please bless me to become quickly like you.]

In Sera Monastery, they recite migtsema to Chenrezig, the Compassion Buddha, the great treasure of objectless compassion; to Manjushri, who has stainless understanding; and to Vajrapani, the Owner of the Secrecy, who destroys the entire host of maras.

As I mentioned, there are four maras, both gross and subtle, and this is related to the subtle one and the negative imprint. After you remove the disturbing-thought obscurations, there are the subtle defilements left by the concept of ignorance holding things as truly existent. If you remove that you have no dualistic views. You’re also free from the appearance of true existence. Only at that time have you removed the dualistic views and your mind is fully enlightened.

So, it’s related to Manjushri, the one who has stainless understanding, and to the Owner of the Secrecy who destroys the entire host of maras, which here means subtle maras. The mara of the aggregates refers to the continuation of the cycle of existence into the next life under the control of karma and delusion. Karma and delusion are what cause us to circle, like the driver. Because the aggregates, which are in the nature of suffering, are under the control of karma and delusion—the mara of aggregates—we are forced to experience so many problems. There are the mara of the delusions, the mara of the Lord of Death and the mara of the deva’s son, who is said to shoot arrows of the five delusions at people who are practicing, trying to harm them. Vajrapani, the Owner of the Secrecy, is the one who destroys the entire host of maras.

Then, the text says Tsongkhapa is the crown jewel of the sages, the learned ones of the Land of Snow, which means Tibet. There are so many learned ones, highly-attained practitioners who are pure and good-hearted and the crown of all of them, who has all those qualities, is Lama Tsongkhapa, whose teachings they respect and admire. There are many hundreds of disciples of Lama Tsongkhapa, like the stars in the sky, so learned, pure and good-hearted. There have been many disciples up until now, and now there is His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the fourteenth and present Dalai Lama. And there are many of my gurus, those with inconceivable qualities, with great understanding, with realizations of sutra and tantra. Such great holy beings in this world are extremely rare to find. And Lama Tsongkhapa is the crown of them all.

His disciples, up to the present gurus and His Holiness Dalai Lama, are like the sun shining in this world with their teachings, giving extensive benefit to sentient beings and extensive benefit to the teachings of the Buddha. This is most amazing.

Then, “Losang Dragpa, at your holy feet I make requests.” Although there is a five-line migtsema, normally at Sera they recite it as four lines because Vajrapani is Lama Tsongkhapa himself, so they leave out the line about Vajrapani. That’s the kind of story.

The spirits made a vow that they would not harm anybody who recites migtsema. It is also very effective for healing. Also, by practicing Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, all your wishes are fulfilled.

The other special thing about this practice is that you are able to develop the seven wisdoms: the four major wisdoms—great understanding, clear wisdom, quick wisdom and profound wisdom—as well as wisdom to explain the Dharma, debating wisdom and writing wisdom. When you do the Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga you develop these wisdoms. The other guru yoga practices don’t have the particular meditation to develop these wisdoms, so this has the benefits of the other guru yoga practices and on top of that, you develop wisdom and don’t receive harm from those different spirits. Without having those obstacles, sicknesses, diseases, you are able to complete the practice of Dharma.

The next benefit of practicing the Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga is that in your next life and all your future lives you’ll meet Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings. That’s the very special benefit. Practicing other deity guru yogas don’t necessarily have this particular benefit, but practicing Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, again and again you’ll meet Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings, like refined gold, in your future lives.

Lama Tsongkhapa studied the Buddha’s direct teachings, the Kangyur, as well as all the commentaries by the Six Ornaments and those other highly-attained pandits. He studied them all extremely well, as well as checking and studying teachings from the other traditions, the Nyingma, Kagyü and Sakya.

Then he wrote those most unbelievable clear teachings of the words of the Buddha, both sutra and tantra. Many learned ones praised the clarity, profundity and extensiveness of Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings, the special quality of his teachings. When you read them, they go very wide and very deep. No matter how many other lamrim texts you read, if you read Lama Tsongkhapa, it has that kind of feeling of being very deep and very vast, something different from the other commentaries. It touches all the important aspects and so is very beneficial. There are no mistakes there and because of that, following his teachings you can have a correct practice and have correct realizations and are able to achieve enlightenment quickly.

The last benefit is that when you die you will be born in Tushita, the pure land of Maitreya Buddha and Lama Tsongkhapa. This is not Tushita Dharamsala or Tushita Delhi! This doesn’t refer to the FPMT centers called Tushita in Dharamsala and Delhi. Maybe that can be the interpretive meaning! When you die, your consciousness is very easily able to transfer to Tushita pure land. And then you will see Maitreya Buddha and Lama Tsongkhapa, Maitreya Buddha’s heart disciple, and be able to receive teachings.

I think I’m going to do this lung and a few others tonight. So generate the motivation like this.

“No matter how long it takes, no matter how hard it is, I must free sentient beings from the oceans of the samsaric suffering and bring them to enlightenment. Therefore I must achieve enlightenment. Therefore I’m going to take the oral transmission of the Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga and the others.”

Think in your heart that taking the oral transmission is also for the benefit of the numberless hell beings, the numberless hungry ghosts, the numberless animals, the numberless human beings, the numberless gods, demigods and intermediate state beings.

[Rinpoche chants]

When you listen to an oral transmission it is very, very important to put as much effort as possible into not missing even one word, in order to receive the complete transmission. You have to hear the sound; it’s not that you have to understand the meaning of the words. For an oral transmission that is not required. Of course, if you understand the meaning it also becomes a commentary, but for an oral transmission it’s enough just to be able to hear the words.

I have taken many oral transmissions and many teachings in recent years from many unbelievably great, pure and good-hearted lamas, like the sun shining in this world. I’ve realized that receiving an oral transmission is more difficult than an initiation because with an initiation, even when the lama explains a lot, there’s an elaborate understanding, a middle one and then a short one, the essence. If you’re able to think about the essence, then you have received the initiation.

His Holiness Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche used to mention when he was giving those many hundreds of initiations very quickly every day that even if we couldn’t follow everything he said it was OK just to believe whatever the guru said had happened to us. However, to receive an oral transmission, you have to hear every single word. If you miss any words, if you don’t pay attention, then it doesn’t become a complete transmission. This is how I think. You have to pay attention. If you’re doing something else, such as doing other prayers, your attention isn’t there and then you miss the oral transmission.

When we were receiving the oral transmissions some of the lamas were talking a lot. If you can listen at the same time as you are talking then that’s OK, but if you can’t hear the teaching then you miss out. So, I think in some ways receiving an oral transmission is more difficult.

That’s why I’m asking you to try to pay attention to every single word. An oral transmission is something you hear that leaves a positive imprint on your mind. It says that in the text. It leaves a positive imprint and then in future lives you meet Dharma again, when you hear the words or read the text, you’re immediately able to understand the meaning. You’re also able to practice, cease the defilements and have realizations and then achieve liberation and full enlightenment. You can’t imagine—just listening leaves a positive imprint that has unimaginable benefits, incredible benefits in the future, even if you don’t understand the teaching, whether it’s a commentary or an oral transmission.

Usually for Western people if you don’t understand something you have no use for it. It’s like “Oh, these teachings aren’t useful for me,” so you give it up. If you do that, if you give it up from your heart, losing your respect and devotion, you create the very heavy negative karma of abandoning the holy Dharma, a karma that is heavier than destroying all the statues, stupas, scriptures and temples in this world. This is mentioned at the beginning of the Lama Tsongkhapa’s lamrim, that the karma is heavier negative karma than having destroyed all the chorten.

Chorten is the same term as stupa so it’s very easy to get limited understanding, thinking it only refers to stupa, that the karma is heavier than destroying all the stupas in this world, but it’s not only that. Chorten refers to any holy object, such as stupas, scriptures, statues—anything that is an object to worship, to make an offering to. You need to check in the books how the term chorten is translated. It’s not only stupas. According to Kyabje Chöden Rinpoche’s commentary, abandoning the Dharma like this is heavier negative karma than destroying all the holy objects in the world. Don’t do that. Even if you don’t understand the topic now, you can leave it until the future to understand it. Keep your respect and devotion to it so you don’t create the very heavy negative karma of abandoning the holy Dharma.

Even if you don’t understand the teachings, the special benefit of Buddhist teachings is that just reading and listening to the teachings purifies your negative karma and ensures you get a higher rebirth in the next life. You can be born as human being and meet Dharma again and practice it. It has that benefit, even if you don’t understand the teachings. Just by listening like that, for the time being it leaves positive imprints on the mind and eventually that will definitely bring you to liberation from samsara and enlightenment. That’s the special benefit of listening to Buddhadharma.

[Rinpoche chants]

The Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga says,

You strove for much learning and practice in this degenerate age,
And made your freedoms and richnesses meaningful
By abandoning the eight worldly concerns.
Savior, we sincerely rejoice in your extensive deeds.

In these degenerate times, there is the degeneration of the mind, where delusions increase and our mind is very stubborn and difficult to tame. In these times it’s difficult to even hear the Dharma and more difficult to understand it. With the degeneration of delusion everything becomes extremely rough, gross, and then there are the degeneration of sentient beings, the degeneration of time and the degeneration of life, where life becomes very short. With the degeneration of time there is no peace; there are wars, many problems, many sicknesses, famine and many things like that. It’s such a difficult time. There are many obstacles for anybody who attempts to listen extensively to the Buddhadharma and to practice.

When Lama Tsongkhapa was giving teachings to so many learned disciples, bringing extensive benefits to sentient beings, his guru Manjushri, the manifestation of all the Buddha’s wisdom, advised him that it was more important to stop teaching and go to a secluded place in the mountains to meditate, to live an ascetic life, renouncing attachment to this life. Right while he was giving teachings Lama Tsongkhapa immediately left for an isolated place to meditate. He just stopped teaching and left with eight disciples. They all lived an ascetic life and did intensive preliminary practices, meditating on the path and achieving great attainments.

At the beginning, his guru, Lama Umapa, went to see Manjushri. Lama Tsongkhapa asked Manjushri questions through his guru but later Lama Tsongkhapa himself was able to see Manjushri directly. There are different ways of having the appearance of a deity: the appearance of the transcendental wisdom and experiential appearance, through the senses, guru and disciple sitting next to each other and the disciple receiving teachings. It was like that. Lama Tsongkhapa saw Manjushri with his senses, sitting very close. He received teachings and he could ask all the subtle questions about emptiness and other things directly, and he received all the answers from Manjushri. Therefore, it is said that all of Lama Tsongkhapa’s lamrim teachings, the stages of the path to enlightenment and many of the other teachings Lama Tsongkhapa wrote, are the same as Manjushri teaching them because so much is what Lama Tsongkhapa received from Manjushri.

Like this, Lama Tsongkhapa abandoned not just the eight black worldly dharmas but the other two types, the mixed worldly dharmas and the white worldly dharmas. He abandoned all three types. His Holiness Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche has a very different explanation of what the three types are, but I don’t remember now. The black ones are attachment clinging to this life, grasping, feeling attached to the four desirable objects, and becoming unhappy, sad or angry when the four undesirable things happen.

I’m not a hundred percent sure but I think the eight mixed worldly dharmas refers to not having these eight black worldly dharmas but still having the ignorance holding true existence. For our whole life we believe and we make our mind hold onto all this as true. We live our life in that hallucination, believing the hallucination to be reality. The eight white worldly dharmas might be that, even if we don’t have that, we still have the thought seeking happiness for ourselves, the self-cherishing thought.

When Lama Tsongkhapa practiced Dharma, he did so unstained by the three types of eight worldly dharmas. However, in these degenerate times it’s very difficult to practice Dharma. Whatever Lama Tsongkhapa himself achieved, by listening to Dharma and then attempting to practice, his human body was made very meaningful.

The best translation of the last line is, “In the savior’s extensive actions we rejoice sincerely from the depths of our heart.” Normally people say “protector” but I think “savior” is the correct translation. The Tibetan for savior is gon whereas the word for protector is sung ma. If you use “protector” for both, then what’s the difference?

You can understand how extensive Lama Tsongkhapa’s holy actions were by studying his philosophy, his commentaries on the sutra and tantra paths. The more you study those extensive teachings, the clearer all the difficult points become, points that even many great meditators have made mistakes over. Lama Tsongkhapa has given very clear guidance; his explanations have this flavor, like cream or sweets. That’s a special action of Lama Tsongkhapa, benefiting sentient beings by showing the sutra and tantra teachings of the Buddha very clearly where a great many meditators have made mistakes. I think I mentioned this some nights ago.

Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche, a very high lama and the head of the Nyingma tradition, wrote a text in his previous life about the four Tibetan Mahayana Buddhist traditions: Nyingma, Kagyü, Sakya and Gelug. After talking about the Gelug tradition, he expressed that Lama Tsongkhapa wrote the clearest explanations of the teachings of Buddha. That’s what he said. Lama had this text and he showed it to me, so I saw that myself. Like Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche, the learned ones who have experienced the path themselves have seen this aspect of Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings when they have inspected them with a straight mind, not a curved mind.

A curved mind means you don’t really pay attention, you don’t read it thoroughly. You might read it but you follow your own tradition and don’t really take in what you are reading. With a straight mind you read it, check up on it and then you really understand it. And especially when you have a realization, then that’s the real flavor of the Gelug, the special advice of Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings. Many learned ones who read Lama Tsongkhapa and checked his teachings saw how unbelievable they were. “In the extensive teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa, which are like pure refined gold, I rejoice.” That is one of the special qualities of Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings. That’s one thing, the teachings themselves.

The other thing is that, having studied the teachings, when you explore them and meditate on them, you really get the experience. Studying them is one thing but when you meditate you get the experience. Then you really see the benefits of Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings.

With a lot of merit realizing emptiness is not difficult

For example, in the three principal aspects of the path to enlightenment, Lama Tsongkhapa talked about renunciation of this life and of future lives, and bodhicitta and then he said we need to realize emptiness and dependent arising. Here he is not talking about gross dependent arising but subtle dependent arising.

There are two points of view on this. According to Kyabje Denma Lochö Rinpoche and Geshe Lamrimpa in Tibet, this dependent arising is emptiness; it means emptiness. Kyabje Chöden Rinpoche—or maybe Kyabje Pabongka Rinpoche, I’m not sure—says this is the dependent arising of cause and conditions, the gross dependent arising. So, there is a little bit of a different view there. Rinpoche, who was kind of expressing big surprise or shock, said, “Oh, some people say this is subtle dependent arising but it is gross dependent arising.”

You can see how samsara is a causal result but nirvana and even enlightenment are also causal results, so this dependent arising is “unbetraying” as the text states. There are some specific English words that I translated which express this point, but I can’t remember them now. Getting the translation exact is very important as it is the object that your mind focuses on, that your mind is entrusted to and then, suddenly you see that you have been believing in things as truly existent. All phenomena—the I or outside phenomena like the colors or these thangkas—have appeared to the mind that way, and not just from this morning, not just since birth, but from beginningless rebirths. After you have discovered one object of refutation, the gag cha—for example, the colors of the brocade of the thangka—then wherever you look, you will see everything as a hallucination. Once you’ve discovered the hallucination the first time, everywhere you look, the ceiling, the floor and so forth, you will see it that way, and particularly you will see the I that way.

Before that, you didn’t realize the gag cha, the false way the I appeared. You didn’t see the I as gag cha. Now, you see the I as gag cha after all and then, when you look at the I you see it that way. There’s the I existing on the I. The first I is the truly existent one, and you see that on top of the merely-imputed I. The truly-existent I is projected onto the mere I imputed by your mind, merely imputed by your mind, by the negative imprint left on your mind by ignorance, the concept of true existence. That is the I on the I. Then you see it that way.

If you have a lot of merit then for just a second you know that this is not true, that this is the false I. For just a second you see all this, that it doesn’t exist, that it can’t be true because the I is a dependent arising. This understanding of dependent arising is the very simple king of logic for those who have a lot of merit. Of course, that’s not me at all; there is no success. But I think those of you who have great merit, immediately, after that, for just a second, you see as empty that which you haven’t seen as empty from beginningless rebirths. Only now, only today, this hour, this minute, you see that the real I is empty. There’s nothing to hold onto. Even though you have held onto it from this morning, from birth, from your past life, from all the beginningless rebirths you have had, now you have this realization, due to having collected all these unbelievable merits and due to strong guru devotion, obeying your gurus, never criticizing them, doing extensive practice of purification and collecting merits, meditating on emptiness and so forth.

This only happens when all the conditions come together. It can’t happen with a mind critical of the guru—thinking the guru doesn’t like me, and this and that, and this and that. It can’t happen then; your mind is far from the experience. You made all the problems; your own mind thinking the wrong way made all the problems, made everything negative. Because of that you don’t even have any interest in the teachings or in the prayers you recite. You recite the words with your lips but your heart isn’t in it; there’s no feeling in your heart. It becomes the opposite of practice.

However, when such positive conditions come together—strong guru devotion and having done extensive purification and meditated on the lamrim—with all that together and with imprints from past lives maybe, then it just clicks. You suddenly see the object of refutation clearly and emptiness clicks, just like that, like clicking the fingers. First you need to have collected all the right conditions, and when you have, it’s a question of clicking the mind. Suddenly there’s nothing to hold onto. You have been holding that real I from beginningless rebirths and then, suddenly, there’s nothing there to hold onto. The real I doesn’t go anywhere. It doesn’t go through the window or out the door; it doesn’t go to Tibet or China or Africa or some other place. Just there, suddenly you see there’s nothing there to hold onto.

For that to happen, you need a lot of merit and you need to hear the teachings from a teacher with the experience and the skill to guide you. Then, while you’re going through the experience you know what’s happening to you. When you have a clear idea, you don’t have to worry about falling into nihilism. Otherwise there’s unbelievable fear. The fear of losing the I is even greater than seeing a tiger, it’s a very deep fear.

When this is happening to you, when you have your own experience like this, no matter how many learned teachers explain emptiness to you in a way that contradicts Lama Tsongkhapa’s teaching, you have had your own experience. Nobody can cheat you because you have your own experience. You have seen the emptiness that Lama Tsongkhapa explained; it actually happened to you exactly as he explained. Your mind cannot change by reading some other philosophical text or by hearing some other famous learned teacher telling you that Lama Tsongkhapa’s way is wrong and you should do it that teacher’s way. Nobody can change you; nobody can deceive you. There are many positions on emptiness but Lama Tsongkhapa’s explanation has been completely proven by experience.

This has been the case with many meditators who have had a lot of merit. Their mind has suddenly clicked when all the conditions have come together. You need a lot of merit to have that experience exactly as Lama Tsongkhapa explained it.

Maybe I can mention one of my gurus, Gen Jampa Wangdu, who completed the path in this life. He achieved shamatha in Dalhousie then he achieved bodhicitta when he was living high up in the mountains near Dharamsala. He realized mahamudra, emptiness, further down, under a rock in the place His Holiness Ling Rinpoche lived. He lived there for seven years and Geshe Rabten told me that this was where he realized emptiness. He had great success with the Six Yogas of Naropa, with clear light and illusory body.

We had received teachings from His Holiness, where His Holiness talked about that, and after that, one time when we went back to my room Gen Jampa Wangdu described his own experiences to me. His great success in attaining the path was due to having accumulated unbelievable merit. He  was known to other meditators and was extremely close to His Holiness. When he went to see His Holiness from time to time, he didn’t ever have to go to His Holiness’s office to make an appointment. The only appointment he ever made was because I requested His Holiness Dalai Lama to give a secret Chenrezig initiation, Gyalwa Gyatso. He said that one had to go through the office. Usually he didn’t have to go through the office; he went straight to His Holiness. I think with his clairvoyance he could see from his cave when His Holiness had time. I think this was probably because he had achieved shi nä, calm abiding.

He guided certain geshes, lamas, who lived around him and there were quite a number who had great realizations. He said if you have a lot of merit then realizing emptiness is not difficult. It’s a question of how much merit you collect. By correctly devoting to the guru you collect the most extensive merit—by obeying their advice, by offering service and pleasing them. Obeying the guru’s advice is the main thing and then correctly devoting with thought and action. With thought means looking at the guru as a buddha, without mistakes, with only qualities; with action is obeying and offering service with respect.

The next one is if you have material possessions then you make offerings to collect merit. Depending on how well it is done, everything happens from that—doing the greatest purification, collecting the most extensive merit and receiving the most extensive blessing. So, by paying the most attention to this, you can achieve enlightenment, otherwise you can’t. If you haven’t discovered that this is the most important practice to do in order to achieve enlightenment, then you are simply doing whatever you like. If you are like that, following the selfish mind in that way, breaking the guru’s advice, then nothing happens; there are only obstacles. When you practice or try to do a retreat there will be a lot of problems. You will get lung, which might be unfamiliar for those of you who are new here. When you have lung, you can’t really do meditation; there are many obstacles and you are overwhelmed by problems.

The text goes on to say that when this experience of realizing the object of refutation happens, what you have been holding onto is lost; suddenly there’s nothing to hold onto. You realize it is empty; it doesn’t exist. Then the text says at that time the person has entered the path that pleases all the buddhas.

The importance of rejoicing

When we do the Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, it’s very important to stop, at least for a few seconds or a minute, and to rejoice in Lama Tsongkhapa’s past, present and future merits and in all the skies of qualities of his holy body, holy speech and holy mind. How wonderful! He’s an enlightened being, so rejoice. After that, rejoice in Lama Tsongkhapa’s holy activities, these eighteen volumes that are the clearest teachings on the entire path, both sutra and tantra. Rejoice that, due to these teachings, Lama Tsongkhapa’s many disciples and their disciples up to the present have achieved enlightenment. Each of Lama Tsongkhapa’s disciples, up to the present guru, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, has been of unbelievable benefit to the world, building monasteries and teaching sutra and tantra.

Can you imagine how His Holiness the Dalai Lama continuously brings peace and happiness in this world, even just by giving a one-hour talk? Just by seeing his holy face we get inner peace and receive blessings. Whether it’s an hour or a day or two we can learn very extensive, very deep Buddhadharma in such a short time. Can you imagine? It’s amazing. Many people in the West think life is meaningless and they are depressed, but by bringing peace and inspiration, by showing how to make life meaningful, His Holiness gives millions of people hope and peace, inner peace and happiness, making their lives meaningful. Unbelievable transformation in their hearts comes through listening to teachings from His Holiness, allowing them to achieve enlightenment quickly. He causes millions of people to turn their life toward enlightenment. That’s amazing. Before it was only samsara, only the lower realms, but now they turn their lives to liberation and enlightenment. In the same way, many other great lamas bring the most unbelievable benefit to sentient beings. All this has come from Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings. That is a real reason to rejoice.

For you, after coming to the Kopan course and studying lamrim, every single Dharma understanding has come from Lama Tsongkhapa. Every single purification you have done by practicing lamrim has come from Lama Tsongkhapa. Every single merit you have collected with bodhicitta, with renunciation, whatever, has all come from Lama Tsongkhapa’s kindness. No question if you have had your own experience. Therefore you can rejoice in this.

When you come to that place in the recitation, stop there and meditate on rejoicing. That’s it. Then, sooner or later you will develop all the qualities that Lama Tsongkhapa has and you will be like the limitless sky in the benefit you can bring to all sentient beings and to the teachings of the Buddha. When you finish rejoicing, think in your heart, “May I have the same qualities as Lama Tsongkhapa and in all my lifetimes offer extensive benefits to sentient beings and to the teachings of the Buddha.” Think like that when you stop rejoicing. Whether you do the prayer alone or as a group, I have been telling the centers that the special thing about FPMT is to take the opportunity and meditate on rejoicing. In that way, everybody going to the center from their home collects inconceivable skies of merit. Afterwards, they return home with all that merit and that makes it very easy to achieve enlightenment.

[Rinpoche chants]

I’m not sure if it is in the present Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga book, but after the mandala there should be a prayer to meet Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings again. That’s very, very important. This was composed by the fifth Dalai Lama. There are a few long prayers expressing the qualities of Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings which the fifth Dalai Lama condensed into four lines that contain it all.

[Rinpoche chants]

oral transmission of Shakyamuni Buddha’s mantra

The aim of all the teachings the Buddha taught is to actualize wisdom, which means the ultimate wisdom realizing emptiness. The text says “wisdom gone beyond” which refers to the path and also the result, the transcendental wisdom, the dharmakaya. The Prajnaparamita is the result and the Prajnaparamita also the scripture. There is also the Prajnaparamita that is nature, the emptiness of phenomena.

The perfection of wisdom comes in three ways, as the elaborate one of a hundred thousand lines in twelve volumes; as the middle one of twenty-five thousand lines in three volumes and as a short one of eight thousand lines in one volume. Then, there is a very condensed one, which directly reveals wisdom and indirectly reveals method. The essence of all these Prajnaparamita texts is the Heart of Wisdom Sutra, the essential wisdom. After that comes this one, the Prajnaparamita, the wisdom gone beyond, in a few syllables.

I’m not going to go through it in too much detail but just give the general meaning.

“The bodhisattva Compassionate Eye Looking One stood up from his seat and placing his robe over the shoulder, knelt down on his right knee where the Buddha, Guru Shakyamuni Buddha, was. He turned toward him and put his palms together, and smiling, he asked the Buddha, ‘Please explain the Prajnaparamita in a few syllables that just by hearing collects great merit and purifies all the negative karma, all the defilements of action, definitely bringing us to enlightenment. For those who are practicing tantra, there will be no obstacles to accomplish the Secret Mantra. Please explain this.’

“Chenrezig asked the Buddha this and the Buddha replied, ‘Yes, yes,’ to the bodhisattva, the exalted, the Arya Compassionate Eye Looking One whose holy mind is enriched in the power of control. ‘You are a child of the race and it is good that you attempt to benefit for sentient beings for a long time. Therefore, listen well, son of the race, listen extremely well and keep this in mind.’”

This Prajnaparamita has only a few syllables but just by listening you collect incredible merit and all the obscurations of karma are purified, and you will definitely achieve enlightenment. And those who are attempting the Secret Mantra, by reciting it, will achieve the tantric path without any obstacles.

“The great bodhisattva, Arya Compassionate Eye Looking One, whose holy mind is enriched with control or power, asked the Buddha, ‘Please explain the benefit for sentient beings.’ Then the Buddha’s holy mind went into the concentration of meditative equipoise called liberating sentient beings. At that time, from the center of the two eyebrows, where there’s a white hair curled toward the right, many hundreds of thousands of beams came out and covered all the buddha realms. Any sentient being who received this beam, even in the hell realms, would definitely achieve peerless, complete enlightenment. All the buddha realms moved six times, like earthquakes and there was a rain of devas’ sandalwood powder in the presence of the tathagatas, at their holy feet.”

At that time, the Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha, taught the Prajnaparamita, saying bodhisattvas should have equal thought, loving kindness and the wish to repay the kindness. To be free from all negative karma, they should train to have that kind of mind, and also recite this Prajnaparamita, the wisdom gone beyond. He then gave this mantra for them to recite:

TADYATHA OM MUNÉ MUNÉ MAHAMUNAYÉ SOHA

Today I’m not going to go through the meaning of the Buddha’s name mantra word by word because it takes time. Maybe I’ll explain it tomorrow or another time.

The Praise to Shakyamuni Buddha calls him the “endowed transcendent destroyer” and “the completely perfected, fully awakened being.” The term for buddha, sang gye, means “eliminated” and “developed” thus he has eliminated all the gross and subtle defilements and developed the entire realizations of the path to enlightenment. “The subduer from the Shakya clan” refers to the caste the Buddha was born into in Lumbini, India, at that time. Chag tshäl lo means “I prostrate.”

The Tibetan word chag is very commonly used, generally meaning to wash with water or to clean the dirt from something. Tshäl means to express your wishes. What is that? That’s the happiness of future lives, then liberation from samsara and full enlightenment. Your ultimate wish is to achieve full enlightenment, the unification of no more learning which has seven qualities. Therefore chag in this context means to contain or purify, specifically all the defilements relating to the lamrim, from mistakes toward the guru up to the subtle defilements, the very last defilement to be purified, the subtle dualistic view of the white appearance, the red appearance and the near-attainment dark appearance. Chag refers to the purification of all the wrong concepts, all the obscurations, including three poisonous minds, self-cherishing, not only all the gross minds but all the subtle minds, because what goes to enlightenment is not the gross mind but only the subtle mind. So chag and then tshäl contain all the realizations we need to achieve up to enlightenment.

Before that is Lama tön pa chom dän dä but it has a very profound meaning therefore maybe I won’t mention that today as it takes time.

Then, there is the mantra TADYATHA OM MUNÉ MUNÉ MAHAMUNAYÉ SOHA. In many of the Tibetan texts it says TADYATHA OM MUN-I MUN-I MAHA MUNIYE SOHA but Khunu Lama Rinpoche said that’s a mistake. In Bodhgaya when Rinpoche was teaching A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life to disciples from different traditions he explained that was a mistake in many texts because Sanskrit is not commonly studied. MUN-I MUN-I should be MUNÉ MUNÉ. When I asked a monk from Sarnath University, Geshe Jampa Gyatso’s brother, who’s supposed to be expert in Sanskrit, he didn’t say it was wrong whereas Kyabje Khunu Lama Rinpoche said that was wrong.

This mantra contains the entire graduated path of the lower capable being, the middle capable being and the higher capable being— MUNÉ MUNÉ MAHAMUNAYÉ—the whole path from guru devotion up to enlightenment. Everything is there. SOHA means the base is established in your heart by having guru devotion, devotion to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. By establishing the base in your heart, SOHA, you then actualize all the realizations of the lower, middle and higher capable beings, MUNÉ MUNÉ MAHAMUNAYÉ. You can also relate this to the Hinayana path, the Mahayana Paramitayana path and the Mahayana Vajrayana path. All these paths are contained in this. Having actualized all these paths, the OM purifies your impure body, speech and mind and you achieve Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s vajra holy body, vajra holy speech and vajra holy mind. Then you are able to do perfect work for sentient beings. That’s the purpose. There is an A in TADYATHA which means “like this.”

The Buddha said, “Having achieved the wisdom gone beyond I have achieved peerless, fully-completed enlightenment. All the buddhas also come from this.” This mantra has been received from the great tathagata Shakyamuni, therefore from these few syllables, this one mantra, the Buddha’s name mantra, the bodhisattvas will become tathagatas, arhats, fully completed buddhas, the light, exalted for all the ordinary beings, called the Victorious Ones.

The Buddha told the bodhisattva Chenrezig, “Anybody who listens to your name, anybody who memorizes your name, anybody who reads your name, anybody who tells others about it extensively or writes it into a text and makes offering, all those sentient beings will become buddhas in the future.”

If you recite this mantra just once, how much negative karma gets purified? It says here in the Kangyur ten million eons of negative karma is purified. That many eons of negative karma collected during all those eons is purified by reciting this mantra. So, it has limitless benefit. This is what the Buddha explained.

I might have received the lung of this, I don’t remember a hundred percent. There’s also a short prayer I mentioned before that my mother used to say which was similar, but now I don’t remember it by heart.

By receiving the oral transmission, when you practice or when you recite it for yourself, it has great benefit for your mind, and when you recite it for others—when you teach others or when you give an oral transmission—there’s a much greater effect; it’s much more beneficial for other sentient beings. They receive the blessings, the continuity, because this name mantra came from the Buddha. There is a continual lineage from Shakyamuni Buddha so when you recite it for others they receive the benefit like that.

I think maybe we’ll stop here tonight.

Dedications

Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and the three times’ merits collected by all sentient beings, may bodhicitta be actualized in my heart, in the hearts of my own family members, in the hearts of all the students and all the benefactors of this organization and also the people who offered service to the organization in the past, who are offering service now, who will be offering service in the future to this organization, FPMT, and those who rely upon me, whom I promised to pray for, whose names were given to me, and all the sentient beings—may bodhicitta be actualized in all their hearts and for those in whose hearts bodhicitta is actualized, may it be increased.  

[Rinpoche chants]

May not only yourself but also all your family actualize bodhicitta.

Now, the second one. Due to the three times’ merits collected by me, the three times’ merits collected by all the sentient beings and buddhas, may bodhicitta be actualized in the hearts of all the leaders of the world, especially the leaders of mainland China. May there be bodhicitta in countries where there are so many problems due to the leaders’ lack of good heart, lack of bodhicitta, lack of compassion and loving kindness for the people in that country. One city has many millions of people, and the whole country has many millions of people. They all suffer so much due to the lack of a good heart and wisdom, not knowing what is the right thing to benefit oneself and others and what is the wrong thing that harms oneself and others, not having this wisdom. If there’s bodhicitta they will also have the wisdom to be able to see these things. Please pray like this.

[Rinpoche chants]

Then the third one. Due to the three times’ merits collected by me, the three times’ merits collected by others, may bodhicitta be actualized in the hearts of all the people who follow the different religions in this world. Only then can this world can be filled with perfect peace and happiness so that everybody can lead their life only benefiting others, not harming them, and whatever they do becomes the cause of enlightenment, the cause of happiness for all sentient beings.

[Rinpoche chants]

May everybody realize emptiness due to the three times’ merits collected by me, the three times’ merits collected by all the sentient beings and buddhas.

[Rinpoche chants]

And may everybody actualize the two stages of tantra.

[Rinpoche chants]

Next, we dedicate for His Holiness to have a stable life and for all his holy wishes to succeed immediately.

[Rinpoche chants]

Then there’s the particular special prayer to fulfill His Holiness’ holy wishes.

[Rinpoche chants]

Due to the past, present and future merits collected by me, the three times’ merits collected by all the sentient beings, may whatever suffering sentient beings have ripen to me. May whatever happiness and merit I have ripen on all sentient beings.

Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me, the three times’ merits collected by all the sentient beings, may all the father, mother sentient beings have happiness. May the three lower realms be empty forever and may all the bodhisattvas’ prayers succeed immediately.

[Rinpoche chants]

Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me, the three times’ merits collected by all the sentient beings and buddhas, may I be guided by Lama Tsongkhapa, the direct Mahayana guru, in all the lifetimes and may I never be separated from the pure path which pleases all the buddhas.

[Rinpoche chants]

The dedication is done to achieve enlightenment because then the merit becomes inexhaustible; it can’t get completely destroyed by heresy, anger, ill will and so forth. That’s why you seal it with emptiness when you dedicate the merit. If you don’t do that, even if you dedicate the merit to achieve enlightenment, later if heresy or anger arises toward the guru or toward the teachings of Buddha and so forth, it can destroy all your merit.

The great enlightened being Pabongka Rinpoche gave this example. Even though many travelers may come to a mountain and take many stones away, the mountain is still there. Like that, the merit becomes weaker, it becomes less. If you seal it with emptiness and then later heresy or anger arises it cannot harm the merit, it cannot make the merit less. However much extensive merit you have collected and dedicated to achieve enlightenment, it is fully protected. Therefore, you can see how extremely important it is to seal it with emptiness.

When the merit is not dedicated to achieve enlightenment, the example is given of a tree that in one year gives fruit once and then is finished; it doesn’t give fruit again and again. Merit not dedicated to achieving enlightenment is completely destroyed if heresy or anger arise. Even if you have the time or opportunity to collect extensive merits by doing practice or making offerings to the Sangha, by making charity to many sentient beings and so forth, if you’re not careful, if you don’t dedicate the merit to achieve enlightenment by sealing it with emptiness, and if heresy or anger arises, especially if you’re not practicing patience, it destroys all the merits.

It’s not easy for the mind to become virtuous and so it’s difficult to collect merit. Even if that happens and you collect merit, if you don’t dedicate it or you dedicate it in some other way, not for enlightenment, then the merit gets destroyed again. That’s why it’s not easy to develop your mind on the path to enlightenment or to have realizations. Even if you try to collect a lot of merit; even if your mind actually becomes virtuous, the merit is not necessarily protected. It is very, very important to pay attention to how you dedicate, otherwise the mind stays the same or even becomes worse, never achieving realizations.

Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me, the three times’ merits collected by other numberless sentient beings and buddhas, which are merely labeled by the mind, which means they do not exist from their own side, they’re totally empty, they exist but they’re totally empty from their own side. Try to recognize that, try to feel that. Due to that, may the I, who is also merely labeled by mind—that means the same thing, it does not exist from its own side, it is totally empty—achieve Guru Lama Tsongkhapa’s enlightenment, which is also merely labeled by mind, and then lead all the sentient beings, who are also merely labeled by mind, to Lama Tsongkhapa’s enlightenment, by myself alone, who is also merely labeled by mind.

I dedicate all the merits to be able to follow the extensive deeds realized by Buddha Samantabhadra and Manjugosha. I dedicate all the merits in the same way that the numberless past, present and future buddhas dedicated their merits. I dedicate all the merits in the same way.

Then the last one. Due to all the three times’ merits collected by me and by all sentient beings, may Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings like refined gold be actualized within my own heart and in the hearts of my own family members—all my family members and anybody who is connected to me, even the pets, the dogs and cats— and meet and actualize Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings in all their hearts and in the hearts of all the students in the organization and those benefactors who help the organization and the centers, all the benefactors who helped in the past, who are helping now and who will be helping in the future, especially here at Kopan, the nunnery and Kopan Monastery. There are so many students who have offered service to the organization in the past, and those at the individual centers who have offered service in the past, who are offering service now and who will be offering service in the future, in all their hearts, to completely actualize Lama Tsongkhapa’s teaching, and in the hearts of everybody, those who rely upon me, whom I promised to pray for, whose name was given, and everybody in this world, may they all flourish.

[Rinpoche chants]

Good night, or maybe it’s good morning! Thank you.