Chapter 7. Monday, October 29: Final Medicine Buddha Session

Think, “I need to purify all the defilements, negative karmas and downfalls collected with the ten nonvirtuous actions numberless times during my beginningless samsaric rebirths up to now. On top of this, I have collected many vices by breaking the pratimoksha, bodhisattva and tantric vows during beginningless rebirths. I have also collected the heaviest obstacles to actualizing the path to enlightenment, negative karmas in relation to the virtuous friend, during my beginningless samsaric rebirths up to now.

“If I were now in the lower realms, in a hot hell, being there for even one second would be unbearable, like suffering for eons. Because death is definite, I could be there right this moment experiencing that unimaginable suffering. Not only is death certain to happen but it could happen at any time—even this moment. Therefore, I must purify all these defilements and negative karmas right now, without even a second’s delay. Therefore, for the happiness of all the numberless other sentient beings, I’m going to do prostrations by practicing the Confession of Downfalls.”

[The group performs prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas.]

Hello. Good afternoon.

Unless you know by heart the names of the Thirty-five Buddhas, my suggestion is that you imitate René or whoever else is reading them. Verbally following what the person who is leading is saying will help you to become familiar with and memorize the names. Repeating the names many times helps you to memorize them. After some time you will have memorized them. It’s a way to do this.

As I have mentioned many times in the past, reciting each of the names of the Thirty-five Buddhas just one time purifies many thousands of eons of various negative karmas. It purifies having collected those different negative karmas not just one time but for thousands of eons. Besides the ten nonvirtuous actions, many other negative karmas collected for many thousands of eons are purified by reciting the names of the Thirty-five Buddhas just once. Reciting the names verbally has that incredible advantage. It’s like an atomic bomb; it’s such an incredibly quick way to purify. If you don’t recite the names, that doesn’t happen, even though you still collect merit by doing prostrations to these buddhas and to the Triple Gem. If you don’t recite the names, however, you are losing this unbelievable opportunity to purify negative karma. Since you are now giving yourself time to practice, if you don’t recite the names, it’s an unbelievable loss.

For example, take de zhin sheg pa me tog päl la chhag tshäl lo (“To Tathagata Glorious Flower, I prostrate”). Reciting that buddha’s name just one time has the power to purify 100,000 eons of negative karma. If only one person recites the names, only that person gets all that benefit; the rest of the people don’t get it.

It’s very good to memorize and know by heart some prayers, especially the Thirty-five Buddhas. That’s all I’m going to say.

I remember some years ago when we did the Most Secret Hayagriva retreat at Vajrapani Institute, I told everybody to make sure that during that time they memorized this prayer so that before they left the retreat they knew at least the names of the Thirty-five Buddhas and the confession prayer. I guess many people may have done that. So, that’s my request. If you at least memorize the names, it gives you the chance to recite them anywhere, even when you are traveling by plane or by car. Even while you are driving a car or walking along, you can visualize the Thirty-five Buddhas in front of you and then recite their names.

Reciting each name once purifies so many eons of negative karma. This practice is what made Lama Tsongkhapa very successful in realizing the path to enlightenment, in realizing bodhicitta, emptiness and so forth. It was also practiced by many of the lineage lamas of lamrim. Lama Atisha, even when he was very old and shaky, still did prostrations by reciting the Thirty-five Buddhas’ names. For many of the lamrim lineage lamas, the Thirty-five Buddhas was a very important practice in their daily life, and what made it possible for them to purify all their obstacles and to have realizations. It was part of their daily practice, as well as part of the preliminary practices.

We have the opportunity to purify so easily the obstacles to having realizations of the path, to developing our mind in the path to enlightenment. This is such an easy way to purify, to save ourselves from the sufferings of the lower realms and to liberate ourselves from samsara. Purifying ourselves allows us to have realizations of the path, including emptiness, and that then helps to liberate us from samsara. It also enables us to actualize bodhicitta, which then allows us to complete the Mahayana path and achieve enlightenment, which then allows us to enlighten the numberless sentient beings.

It’s very good to repeat the names out loud rather than silently. It’s only when you’re taking the oral transmission of the Thirty-five Buddhas’ names that you keep quiet and just listen.... If you know the names by heart, it’s very good to repeat them. Thank you so much.

You can just repeat the names straight through—you don’t need to have a break between them. It’s like singing a song together.

[The group finishes the prostrations and confession prayer.]

Think, “All the defilements and negative karmas that have been collected in my mental continuum during beginningless rebirths up to now have been completely purified. Not even the slightest negative karma has been left in my mental continuum.” [meditate]

In emptiness there is no creator, no I. There is no action of creating. There is no creation, no negative karma. [meditate]

In emptiness there’s nothing. [meditate]

All phenomena—including the I, the action of dedicating, the merits that are dedicated, the goal of enlightenment to which they are dedicated, the sentient beings for whom the merits are dedicated—are completely empty of existing from their own side. With continual awareness of this, you then impute labels and dedicate.

Due to the merits of the three times collected by me and the merits of the three times collected by others, may I achieve Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s enlightenment and lead all sentient beings to that enlightenment by myself alone.

Making requests to the Medicine Buddhas 

Sorry to interrupt, but I would like to mention that it is essential to recite the name of each of the Medicine Buddhas seven times. It is mentioned in the Medicine Buddha sutra as being very, very important for success. Reciting each name brings incredible blessings; it’s so precious.

With each buddha, if possible, completely rely upon that buddha with your whole heart, then recite that buddha’s name seven times. With total refuge, or trust, in that buddha, recite his name seven times. After that, you recite, “May whatever prayers you have done in the past for me and all other sentient beings be actualized immediately for me and all sentient beings.” This is mentioned in the meditation that accompanies the Medicine Buddha initiation in the Rinjung Gyatsa, and it might be the same in the Sukha Gyatsa. Both of these collections of the initiations of hundreds of deities have Medicine Buddha initiation.

The meditation is similar to what is in the small Medicine Buddha booklet. It’s not Padmasambhava’s simple healing meditation with the medicine goddesses, but a different book that has recently been published in a new form, Medicine Buddha Sadhana.³³ Reciting each name seven times is there, but I don’t think this prayer of request, “May whatever prayers you have done immediately ripen for me and all sentient beings,” is there at the end. I normally add this prayer from the Rinjung Gyatsa Medicine Buddha initiation to the short practice of Medicine Buddha. This is how I try to do the practice.

After that, you then say, “May all my prayers succeed immediately.” When we were revising the Medicine Buddha sadhana, I did mention to add this but I think it was left out. You add, “May whatever prayers you have done in the past immediately be received by me and all sentient beings” or “May whatever prayers you have done in the past be received right this moment by me and all sentient beings.” You make that strong prayer. After that, you say, “May all my prayers succeed immediately.” I added that request aft er that. It refers to any prayers you normally do in daily life to have realizations yourself, including bodhicitta, and to benefit other sentient beings.

Some time ago I compiled a daily meditation practice, a Shakyamuni Buddha guru yoga,³⁴ for beginners who want to do some serious meditation every day, something basic but extremely worthwhile. It’s a booklet to guide people who have done a meditation course, such as the November course in Nepal or a weekend course in another center, and want to continue meditation practice in their daily life. This booklet can be given to them to do as a daily practice. At the end of that booklet there are quite a number of dedication prayers to either have realization or benefit other sentient beings. There are different ways to make your life most beneficial for others. So, May all my prayers succeed immediately refers to all those prayers that you normally do in your daily life, even if you don’t specifically think of the individual prayers. After you recite the name of each Medicine Buddha seven times, you recite this request.

In the practice Medicine Buddha Sadhana, you normally visualize the Medicine Buddhas on your crown. After you make the request to each buddha, that buddha accepts your request. The dharmakaya way of accepting is to accept with delight but in silence. The rupakaya way of accepting is to respond to you by verbally saying, “Yes, yes.” While you are reciting each buddha’s name and making the request, you can visualize nectar coming from that buddha. After that, that Medicine Buddha absorbs into the Medicine Buddha below, until finally the last one, the Medicine Buddha, absorbs into you.

However, in the visualization here you have invoked the Medicine Buddhas in front of you, so you make the requests to them in front of you. Make the request and think that the Medicine Buddha has accepted your request. A replica of that Medicine Buddha then absorbs within you and blesses you. When you do the sadhana in retreat or do Medicine Buddha practice, you normally do it in this way.

When somebody has died or is very sick and dying or has a big problem, you might want to do Medicine Buddha puja to help that person. If you want to pray for somebody in particular to be healed or to have success, remember them when you recite each Medicine Buddha’s name and make the request. For example, if you are praying for somebody who has died, think of that person immediately being reincarnated in a pure land where they can become enlightened or receiving a perfect human rebirth to be able to practice Dharma and benefit all sentient beings. Remember that particular purpose when you are reciting each Medicine Buddha’s name seven times.

You can apply the Medicine Buddha practice to any purpose, to bring any success. After I read the sutra—I think there are two types of Medicine Buddha sutra wrapped up there on the mandala—I realized that you can use this practice for everything. You can do it to pacify any problem, including court cases. It’s very, very effective. Medicine Buddha practice is the best one to do especially in the case of somebody who is dying or who has died. After doing Medicine Buddha practice, at least visualizing the Medicine Buddhas on the person’s crown, you can do powa, transferring the person’s consciousness to a pure land, if you have received the lineage of powa and done the retreat until you had signs. Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche advised that the transference of the other person’s consciousness is much more effective after Medicine Buddha practice.

In the early times in Tushita Retreat Centre there were many dogs. Now most of the dogs have died and I think there are only two left; before there were about fifteen dogs—a big population. When I mentioned to Lama that maybe we should give some of the dogs to other people, Lama said, “I love my dogs. I don’t want to give them away.”

I later gave a few away to different people, but with a commitment, not of a sadhana, but to read a lamrim prayer or chant mantras for the dogs. I gave one dog, Detong, to a lady who worked in the Spanish embassy in Delhi. She wasn’t Buddhist but I think she was a very sincere, good person. I don’t think I met her, but I gave her a dog and said that every day she had to recite the lamrim prayer Foundation of All Good Qualities to the dog. She took it very seriously and did it. Detong was in Delhi for about a year, then one day the woman’s servants forgot to close the door and the dog got out. (Wongmo knows those dogs very well.) Detong means bliss-voidness. So, Detong was lost.

I was very happy to hear that every day she had done the whole lamrim prayer, Foundation of All Good Qualities, for the dog. I rejoiced in the sincere way she followed the instructions. I was supposed to give her another dog but I don’t think it happened.

Another dog went to Austria. One of the main dogs that Lama had was a Pekinese called Dorje Den. Dorje den is Tibetan for “vajra seat,” and refers to Bodhgaya. Jane Seidlitz took care of him for a long time, about twelve years. I think he lived such a long time because he was in good hands.

When one of the dogs died while Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche was giving teachings at Tushita, I asked Rinpoche to do powa. The first thing Rinpoche did was to recite all the names of the Medicine Buddhas, and I think Rinpoche might have then done powa. The reason I brought up the dogs is in relation to Rinpoche doing Medicine Buddha prayers and powa.

Anyway, when you do Medicine Buddha practice, it’s very good to remember at that time particular projects or people you want to pray for or particular difficulties that you’re having.

Action Tantra mudras

Some people, those who have done nyung-näs in the past, might know the Action Tantra mudras, but others may not be familiar with them. I think the mudras might also be a bit different in the Nyingma, Kagyü and Sakya traditions.

This is the mudra for OM ARGHAM AH HUM. When His Holiness Song Rinpoche introduced us to the lower tantra mudras, Rinpoche did the same mudra for ARGHAM as in Highest Yoga Tantra. But some years ago when we were receiving many hundreds of initiations at Tushita in Dharamsala from Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche, Rinpoche told us it was this mudra.³⁵ The abbots of Namgyal Monastery and the Tantric College, as well as high lamas, geshes and other monks were there in the Tushita gompa. What Rinpoche said was very skillful. Rinpoche said that he was doing nothing new but just reminding us that this was the mudra for ARGHAM. I think the mudra that is most commonly done is the Highest Yoga Tantra one, and the lower tantra mudra is not as common. I think sometimes there is a danger that these practices will be forgotten or degenerated. This is the Highest Yoga Tantra mudra for ARGHAM and this is the Yoga Tantra mudra, as used in Kunrig practice. One has to learn many mudras. In the lower tantras the mudras are regarded as very important. Since they’re part of the samaya, you must do the mudras. But it’s not like that in Highest Yoga Tantra.

This is the mudra for ARGHAM in the lower tantras. There’s also a picture of it in the nyung-nä text, as well as pictures of the other mudras. Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche said that it’s like the shape of a conch shell and is visualized full of water.

The mudra for PADYAM is the same in both tantras. In this mudra for cleaning the feet with water, you gradually release your fingers to represent pouring the water.

The mudra for PUSHPE, flowers, is like this and DHUPE, incense, is like this. These are the Highest Yoga Tantra mudras for PUSHPE and DHUPE. You curl your fingers in for DHUPE. When the offerings are more elaborate, there’s one called ANCAMANAM, water for cleaning the mouth, which is like this. Anyway, it doesn’t come in this practice.

This is the lower tantra mudra for ALOKE, and this is the Highest Yoga Tantra one. This is the lower tantra mudra for GANDHE, offering scented water at the heart, and this is the Highest Yoga Tantra one.

The mudra for NAIVIDYA, food offering, is the same in both.

The lower tantra mudra for SHAPTA, music, is like this. His Holiness Serkong Tsenshab Rinpoche said that there is a different mudra for SHAPTA, but it’s been lost. His Holiness Song Rinpoche and Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche used the same mudra for SHAPTA.

Making offerings

To make offerings to the merit field, the Medicine Buddhas, you snap your fingers outwards then do the “lotus turning” mudra. Snapping your fingers is to remind you of emptiness. You yourself, generated in the deity Medicine Buddha, are empty. There is the appearance of you as Medicine Buddha, but it’s empty, just as when you see the reflection of the moon in water, the water is empty of moon. There is no moon there. You see a reflection of the moon in the water but it’s not the moon. There’s the appearance of you as Medicine Buddha, but it’s empty. All these phenomena are empty of existing from their own side. Why? They are all merely imputed by the mind. What is the subject, the Medicine Buddha who is making offering? It’s what is merely imputed by the mind, existing in mere name. Therefore, it’s totally empty of existing from its own side. The basic reason that you, Medicine Buddha, who is making the offering, exist is that you exist in mere name, merely imputed by mind. Because of that, even though Medicine Buddha is appearing, it’s empty of existing from its own side. Who is making the offerings? The merely labeled I, Medicine Buddha, is making the offerings.

In dependence upon many causes and conditions, the sound of a finger snap happens; therefore, it’s empty of inherent existence. You snap your fingers to remind yourself of that.

The action of making offering also appears to our hallucinated mind as a real action of making offering, but it’s empty. It is totally empty. The action that is happening is also happening in mere name, merely imputed by mind, so it’s empty.

The object to which you are making offerings is the merit field, the Medicine Buddhas. When you think of the Medicine Buddhas, they appear to your hallucinated mind as truly existent Medicine Buddhas, real Medicine Buddhas from their own side, but what they are is what is merely imputed by mind. Therefore, they’re empty of those real Medicine Buddhas appearing from their own side.

It is the same with the offerings. Again, each of the offerings appears to be something not merely labeled by the mind, something truly existent from its own side. But it is empty, because what it is is what is merely labeled by mind.

To do the practice of offering correctly, you do it with this awareness of emptiness, and you begin the practice with bodhicitta. In other words, everything in the practice of tantra, from the beginning of the sadhana to the end, is done with lamrim.

When you snap your fingers, transform numberless offering goddesses from the blue syllable HUM at your heart. Not just one, but numberless offering goddesses carrying the drinking water, the nectar, fill the whole sky. When they offer the nectar, great bliss is generated in the holy minds of the Medicine Buddhas.

I usually emphasize that when you make offerings, you should think of the guru. Whether you are offering to one or many buddhas, do it without forgetting guru yoga. Whether it’s one buddha or many buddhas, think that they are the guru. If you like, you can think they are one specific guru, your root guru. By making one offering with this guru yoga mind, you collect far greater merit than by making offering to all the buddhas, all the bodhisattvas and all the statues, stupas and scriptures of Buddha that exist in all universes. By making one offering by thinking of the guru, you collect far greater merit than by making offering to all those holy objects.

That’s why the lamrim prayer in Lama Chöpa begins with, “zhing chhog dam pa je tsün la ma la..., Supreme merit field, holy and perfect, pure guru....”³⁶ The guru is the supreme merit field. We should remember this in our daily life every time we make offerings when we do sadhanas and when we offer water bowls, flowers or other offerings to the statues, paintings and pictures of Buddha in our house. We should always remember that their essence is the guru.

It is the same with making offerings to the guru’s pores. The guru’s pores means not only the guru’s disciples but even dogs, horses and other animals that belong to the guru. If you give a piece of meat to the guru’s dog or a biscuit or bunch of grass to the guru’s horse, you collect far greater merit than from having made offerings to all the buddhas and bodhisattvas in all the ten directions and to all the statues, stupas and scriptures in all universes. All that merit is less than the merit from offering one bunch of grass to a horse that belongs to the guru by thinking of the guru. In your mind, you think,” This is my guru’s horse,” then offer the grass.

The guru’s pores also include the guru’s friends, family, such as brothers and sisters, and neighbors, and if the guru is lay and married, their husband or wife and children.

The merit you collect from making offering to all the numberless buddhas and bodhisattvas and all the numberless statues, stupas and scriptures of Buddha is small compared to that from giving food or drink—even one piece of fruit or candy or one glass of water—to even one of the guru’s pores, one disciple of the same guru.

As I often say, when you make offerings to a monastery, it is very good to think that most of the monks there, especially in the Gelug tradition but also in the other traditions, are disciples, or pores, of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and many other great lamas. Thinking especially of your guru, His Holiness, you then make the offering to the monastery. The merit from this is unbelievable. There are many advantages to doing this. First of all, because you are making offering to gelongs, those who are living in higher ordination, there is more merit. By doing that, you collect unbelievable merit. In the past in India, one person offered a medicinal drink to four monks. Simply from that karma, he was born as a powerful, wealthy king in his next life. Making offering to Sangha is very powerful.

In the major monasteries, there are thousands of monks. Even if you can’t afford to offer tea to all the monks, if you offer a bottle of milk, a small packet of tea or just a handful of tea leaves to the monastery to be mixed in the tea that is served to all the monks, you receive unbelievable merit from having offered tea to all those thousands of monks. It’s the same if you offer even a few rupees toward a money offering that is offered to all the monks. On top of the merit you collect by making offerings to those thousands of monks who are living in higher ordination, if you think that they are pores of your guru, of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, you collect the most extensive merit. You collect extensive merit by making offering to even one monk, and there are thousands of monks in the monasteries.

It is similar when you offer food to the people at a Dharma center. Even if there are no Sangha but only lay people, since they are disciples of the same guru, offering them food and drink is an easy and powerful way to collect merit just at that same place where you are.

The point is to think of the guru when you make offerings. After making each offering, think that the guru generated bliss in his holy mind. That’s the essence of the offering. Puja means pleasing, and pleasing the guru is the best puja, the best guru puja. Here the essence of the offering is that the guru generates infinite bliss after you make the offering.

You then snap your fingers inwards, which means that at the end the offering goddesses you transformed from the syllable HUM in your heart are absorbed back into your heart.

It is said in tantric commentaries that visualizing that the offering goddesses absorb back into your heart helps to actualize clear light—I mean the real dzogchen clear light. Another term for it is the dzog rim, or graduated completion stage, clear light. It helps you to draw the winds into the central channel.

Sometimes we also do like this. [Rinpoche demonstrates one hand facing in and the other out.] There was one Ganden Tripa, the regent of Lama Tsongkhapa, who came to America—including, I think, to Vajrapani Institute—and who has now passed away. Many years ago there was a discussion about this mudra when this Ganden Tripa came to Nepal with some Tantric College monks sent by His Holiness to bless and consecrate the Boudhanath Stupa, which is closely linked to Tibet. He was then the Tantric College abbot. At that time Mummy Max, an African-American, was our benefactor. After Zina, the Russian nun, Mummy Max took care of Lama and me for many, many years. Mummy Max invited the abbot and the Tantric College monks to do a Tara puja. At that time there was a discussion about this mudra with the abbot, who later became the Ganden Tripa. He said that one hand facing out and the other facing in means that while some offering goddesses are being transformed from the heart, others are coming back and absorbing. So, that’s what he said. Anyway, I think normally both hands face out, and when you finish the offering, both face in.

Here in the lower tantras doing the mudras is regarded as very important.

Again here think that you, Medicine Buddha, are existing in mere name; you are empty. Even though everything appears to be inherently existent, you have the understanding that everything is empty. Nothing has even the slightest inherent existence, not even an atom, even though there is an appearance of inherent existence, just as even though it looks as if there’s a moon in the water, there’s no moon there.

Transform all the different offerings from your heart one by one, filling the whole sky all at once. All the different offerings also appear to be inherently existent, but because they exist in mere name, they don’t have inherent existence. Even though they appear to have inherent existence, they don’t. It is the same with the objects of offering, the Medicine Buddhas: they exist in mere name. Even though they appear to be inherently existent, they don’t have inherent existence. And the offerings are of the nature of bliss.

[Rinpoche chants the ARGHAM offering mantra.]

Think that their essence is the guru and that they generated infinite bliss within them.

[Rinpoche chants the PADYAM offering mantra.]

Think that skies of bliss, infinite bliss, is generated within Guru Medicine Buddha’s holy mind, then think of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

[Rinpoche chants the PUSHPE offering mantra.]

Infinite bliss is generated in Guru Medicine Buddha and in His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

[Rinpoche chants the DHUPE and ALOKE offering mantras.]

Think that infinite bliss is generated in the holy mind of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Medicine Buddha. They experience skies of bliss.

[Rinpoche chants the GHANDE and NAIVIDYA offering mantras.]

Infinite skies of bliss are generated within His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Guru Medicine Buddha.

[Rinpoche chants the SHAPTA offering mantra, then the verse of prostration and praise in Tibetan.]

[Ven. René reads from the sadhana: “At my heart on a moon disc is the resounding mantra circle. From this, rays of light are emitted, purifying all the negativities and defilements of all sentient beings. All the qualities, might and powers of all the buddhas and bodhisattvas are withdrawn in the aspect of light, absorbing into the mantra garland.”]

Motivation for mantra recitation

Think, “Every single mantra I recite is for every single hell being, who is my kind mother, to free them from all their suffering and its causes and bring them to enlightenment.

“Every single mantra I recite is for every single hungry ghost, who is my kind mother, to free them from all their suffering and bring them to enlightenment.

“Every single mantra I recite is for every single animal, who is my kind mother, to free them from all their unbearable suffering and bring them to enlightenment.

“Every single mantra I recite is for every single human being, who is my kind mother and experiencing so much suffering, to free them all their suffering and its causes and bring them to enlightenment.

“Every single mantra I recite is for every single asura, who is my kind mother and has so much suffering, to free them from all their suffering and its causes and bring them to enlightenment.

“Every single mantra I recite is for every single sura, who is my kind mother and has so much suffering, to free them from all their suffering and its causes and bring them to enlightenment.

“Every single mantra I recite is for every single intermediate state being, who is my kind mother and who has so much suffering, to free them from all their suffering and its causes and bring them to enlightenment.”

Also think that you are reciting every single mantra for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, for world peace and for the success of all FPMT Dharma activities, including the Maitreya Project.

You can now chant the mantra—the visualization is explained in the text.

I would like to emphasize again that when you recite the first long mantra, where many Tibetans might normally recite PURANI PURANI PURANIYE, you should instead recite PAURANI PAURANI PAURANIYE, which is the way to recite it in Sanskrit.

At the beginning of the sadhana there should be, of course, the motivation; then just before you begin the mantra recitation also make sure to renew your motivation so that the recitation of mantra becomes Dharma and doesn’t become service to the ego, the self-cherishing thought. Make sure the recitation doesn’t become work for the ego.

Also, before you recite the mantra, as I mentioned before, to make it most beneficial make sure you dedicate each and every single mantra to every single sentient being. Also dedicate each and every single mantra for His Holiness and your other gurus to have long lives and for all their holy wishes to succeed. Also dedicate for the success of all the FPMT centers’ activities and the FPMT projects, such as the building of the 500-foot Maitreya Buddha statue and here the temple with 100,000 Medicine Buddha statues and the 100,000 stupas and for the various social service projects. Also dedicate for world peace. Make sure that you have dedicated for others. Even knowing that each mantra you recite is for everybody makes you feel very joyful, and you know that what you’re doing is very meaningful.

When you recite for everybody in this way, every single mantra is also recited for bin Laden. When we recite mantras, do dedications or practice tonglen, we make prayers for sentient beings. When you see an insect in the road or flies flying around here, you have already done prayers for them. Your recitation of mantra and your prayers cover all those beings, all those insects you see on the grass or in the road, all those people who are suffering so much that you see on TV, hear about on the radio or read about in the newspapers. Your recitation of mantra and your prayers cover everybody; they cover all those different beings in different situations who are experiencing so much suffering .

When you then see an insect or a worm in the road, think, “I’m doing sadhanas and prayers in my daily life for this being.”

End of mantra recitation

At the end of the mantra recitation, to make the mantras powerful for quick success, you can recite the Sanskrit vowels and consonants, OM A AA I II U UU RI RI LI LI E AI O AU AM SVAHA and OM KA KHA GA GHA NGA / CHA CHA JA JHA NYA / TA THA DA DHA NA / TA THA DA DHA NA / PA PHA BA BHA MA / YA RA LA VA / SHA SHA SA HA KSHA SVAHA, followed by the heart mantra of dependent arising, OM YE DHARMA HETU PRABHAVA HETUN TESHAN TATHAGATO HYAVADAT TESHAN CHAYO NIRODHA EVAM VADI MAHA SHARMANA YE SVAHA. If you recite this at the end of the mantras, whether you are reciting the mantras for purifying, increasing, controlling or some other activity, your recitation becomes very powerful.

When you recite the Vajrasattva mantra at the end of the mantra recitation or the sadhana to purify mistakes you have made, things you have missed and so forth, as His Holiness Trijang Rinpoche advised and as I have also mentioned during other retreats, you must ring the bell and at that time meditate on emptiness. You purify the negative karma in emptiness, which makes the purification extremely powerful. While you are ringing the bell, as in an initiation, you should understand that the sound of the bell is telling you that no phenomenon has inherent existence. That’s what the bell is saying. Phenomena don’t have inherent existence, as they appear to us to have and as we believe them to have. All phenomena are empty. This is what you meditate on while you’re ringing the bell. Purifying the negative karmas in emptiness by meditating on emptiness brings very powerful purification.

A sutra—I don’t remember which one—mentions that simply listening to a teaching on emptiness collects far greater merit than practicing the five paramitas of charity, morality, patience, perseverance and concentration for ten eons. Of course, we can understand how difficult it is to practice charity and especially morality, patience and the others. So, just listening to teachings on emptiness collects far greater merit than practicing these five paramitas for ten eons. Giving teachings on emptiness collects far greater merit than listening to teachings on emptiness for ten eons. And meditating on emptiness for a moment, concentrating on emptiness for a moment, collects far greater merit than giving teachings on emptiness for ten eons. This shows how unbelievably powerful it is to meditate on emptiness for even a moment.

During the Vajrasattva mantra, while ringing the bell, meditate on right view, on emptiness. The bell is saying, “All these phenomena—I, action, object—appear to be inherently existent, and you believe them to be inherently existent, but they don’t have even the slightest inherent existence.” Since you are meditating on emptiness for much longer than a moment, there’s unbelievable purification and merit, as I mentioned.

At the end of the Vajrasattva mantra, it’s good to do as I did at the end of the prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas. It’s good to say, “In emptiness there is no I, no creator. There is no action of creating. There is no creation, no negative karma.” It reminds everybody of emptiness; it brings everybody back to emptiness.

Tea offering to the protectors

What’s next? The potato offering? I love the potato offering.

We’ll recite Praise to Six-Arm Mahakala.

[Rinpoche and the group chant the praise.]

Do you have copies of the tea offering to the protectors that begins with the offering to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the root guru? I just added verses to the basic prayer composed by His Holiness Serkong Dorje Chang, though I don’t know whether it was the one who passed away in Nepal or in Tibet. I think it could be the one who passed away in Tibet. I put His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s name at the beginning of the prayer and also added a tea offering to Most Secret Hayagriva.

The verse of tea offering to Namthöse (Vaishravana) came from His Holiness Serkong Tsenshab Rinpoche, who is also one of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s gurus. One night, when His Holiness Serkong Tsenshab Rinpoche was in Nepal to give the initiations of the hundreds of deities of the Rinjung Gyatsa and Sukha Gyatsa, he had a dream about Namthöse, who is the protector of the higher training of morality, enabling one to keep vows. Kalarupa is the protector of the higher training of wisdom and Mahakala is the protector of the higher training of concentration. These three are the Dharma protectors for the three higher trainings or, in other words, the protectors for the three principal paths. Mahakala is the protector for bodhicitta. I think Kalarupa is the protector for emptiness and Namthöse for renunciation. These three Dharma protectors are the protectors of the lamrim, of the three higher trainings. In the dream Rinpoche was teaching His Holiness the Dalai Lama this verse for offering tea to Namthöse. Rinpoche could remember the verse the next day, so I wrote it down and added it there. I think it is something that perhaps needs to be practiced at Kopan Monastery.

Near the end of the prayer there’s also a verse about support for the Sangha in this organization and for the organization as a whole. That has been added there. Kopan as well as any other FPMT center can recite that verse.

[Rinpoche recites OM AH HUM three times.]

Maybe somebody can stand here and pour the tea.

[Rinpoche and the group chant the tea offering prayer.]

Dedications

“No matter what kind of life I experience—happy, unhappy, healthy, unhealthy, gain, loss, rich, poor, receiving praise or receiving criticism—and even if I am reborn in a hell realm, from now on may all my actions and experiences of life be most beneficial for all sentient beings, causing them all to achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible by my becoming enlightened.

“From this may every asura being, every sura being and every intermediate state being receive everything they need. May every human being receive billions and billions of dollars. May all the rest of the beings also receive everything they need, everything they want. And may all the places they live become pure lands.”

You can think of the pure land of Medicine Buddha, Vajrayogini, Chenrezig, Amitabha, Heruka or Tara or of any other pure land where you wish to be reborn. The hells and all the other realms become pure lands where there is no suffering and only beauty and pure, perfect enjoyments.

Having all these enjoyments causes sentient beings to actualize the paths of method and wisdom in their minds. They cease all their defilements, gross and subtle, and they all become enlightened. Every hell being becomes enlightened as the deity of whichever pure land you thought of before. They all become enlightened as that deity.

We have collected two times skies of merit right now by giving away all our merits and all our happiness. And by giving away our body to all sentient beings, we have collected skies of merit, numberless merits. We have also collected numberless merits by giving away all our possessions. Right now we have collected so many times numberless merits.

“Due to this merit, may whatever suffering sentient beings have ripen on me and may whatever happiness and merit I have ripen on all sentient beings.

“It is through the guru’s kindness that I have met the teaching of the peerless founder. By this merit, may all transmigratory beings without exception meet and be guided by perfectly qualified Mahayana gurus.

“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and the merits of the three times collected by others, which are merely labeled by mind, may the I, who is also merely labeled by mind, achieve Medicine Buddha’s enlightenment, which is also merely labeled by mind, and lead all sentient beings, who are also merely labeled by mind, to that enlightenment, which is also merely labeled by mind, by myself alone, who is also merely labeled by mind.

“I dedicate all the merits collected by me and by others to be able to follow the holy extensive deeds of the bodhisattvas Samantabhadra and Manjugosha.

“I dedicate all my merits in the way that the buddhas of the three times admire most.

“May the numberless sentient beings in the three lower realms and all those who rely upon me, those for whom I have promised to pray and those whose names have been given to me immediately be reborn in a pure land where they can become enlightened or receive a perfect human body.

“May I, the members of my family, all the students and benefactors in this FPMT organization, especially those who sacrifice their life to the organization to benefit sentient beings and the teaching of Buddha, and those who rely upon me, for whom I have promised to pray, and whose names have been given to me, those who are offering service and all of us here be healthy and have long lives, and may all our wishes succeed immediately according to the holy Dharma. May we all be able to completely actualize within us Lama Tsongkhapa’s stainless teaching, which unifies sutra and tantra, without even a second’s delay.

“May all the Sangha in this organization be able to complete scriptural understanding and realization of the path to enlightenment in this very lifetime by living in pure vinaya and by receiving all their needs and all protection.

“May all the social service centers and meditation centers be most beneficial for all sentient beings, pacifying the sufferings of body and mind of sentient beings. May they be able to spread the teaching of Lama Tsongkhapa in the minds of all sentient beings.

“May every center’s projects to benefit others, including the 100,000 stupas, the temple with 100,000 Medicine Buddha statues and the other projects here at LMB, succeed immediately by receiving everything needed. May all the rest of the projects in the organization, including the Maitreya Project, the building of holy objects, monasteries and nunneries, succeed immediately by receiving everything needed. May all these projects be most beneficial, enabling everybody to have perfect peace, happiness and equanimity.

“May the teaching of Lama Tsongkhapa spread all over the world and flourish, and may I be able to cause this to happen.”

Chhö kyi gyäl po tsong kha päi.... 
Dag dang zhän gyi dü sum dang....³⁷

To multiply each merit we collected today 100,000 times, we’ll recite the multiplying mantras.

[The group recites the first three multiplying mantras (see note 13).]

We’ll now recite the buddha’s name that has the power to make whatever prayers we have done succeed as quickly as possible.

[The group recites the buddha’s name (see note 13).]

Due to the power of the blessings of the eminent buddhas and bodhisattvas, the power of infallible dependent arising and the power of my pure special attitude, may all my pure prayers succeed immediately.

So, good night, good morning.

 

Chapter 8. Tuesday, October 30: Final Medicine Buddha Session

Thirty-five Buddhas practice

Think, “I must free all the numberless hell beings from all their suffering and its causes and bring them to full enlightenment.

“I must free all the numberless hungry ghosts from all their suffering and its causes and bring them to full enlightenment.

“I must free all the numberless animals from all their suffering and its causes and bring them to full enlightenment.

“I must free all the numberless human beings from all their suffering and its causes and bring them to full enlightenment.

“I must free all the numberless asuras and suras from all their suffering and its causes and bring them to full enlightenment.

“I must free all the numberless intermediate state beings from all their suffering and its causes and bring them to full enlightenment.

“Therefore, I must achieve enlightenment. Therefore, I need to actualize the steps of the path to enlightenment, and therefore, I need to purify all my defilements.

“To be in a lower realm, such as a hot or cold hell, for even a second would be unbearable; it would be like suffering for eons. And I could be there any time, even in this moment, because death is definite. Not only is death definite, but it can come any moment of any day—even this moment. Therefore, I must purify all my defilements. During beginningless rebirths up to now, I have committed the ten nonvirtuous actions, broken the pratimoksha, bodhisattva and tantric vows, and collected the heaviest negative karma in relation to my virtuous friends. Without even a second’s delay I must purify all these negative karmas collected during my beginningless samsaric rebirths up to now.

“Therefore, I’m going to do prostrations by reciting the Thirty-five Buddhas’ names to free the numberless sentient beings from the oceans of samsaric suffering and bring them to full enlightenment.”

[The group performs prostrations to the Thirty-five Buddhas.]

Again do the visualization of purification even if you have already done it during the prostrations. Strong beams are emitted from the merit field and totally illuminate within you. All the defilements and negative karmas you have collected during beginningless rebirths up to now are completely purified. There’s not even the slightest negative karma left on your mental continuum. [meditate]

In emptiness there is no I, no creator. Emptiness means the total absence of true existence, of truly existent phenomena. Emptiness is devoid of all phenomena appearing from their own side. To express it in another way, all the phenomena that are appearing from their own side as independent or as existing by nature are totally nonexistent. In this very nature, emptiness, there is no I, no creator, at all. [meditate]

There is no action of creating negative karma, and there is no creation, negative karma. [meditate]

While the mind is aware of this state of emptiness, that everything is totally nonexistent from its own side, dedicate the merits. Dedicate the merits with continual awareness of emptiness, of how everything is empty.

Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and the merits of the three times collected by others, as well as the merits collected by doing these prostrations, may I achieve Guru Shakyamuni Buddha’s enlightenment and lead all sentient beings to that enlightenment by myself alone.

Jang chhub sem chhog rin po chhe....³⁸

Dedication of session

As I mentioned yesterday and as mentioned in the lamrim, we are doing this Medicine Buddha practice in order to achieve full enlightenment for sentient beings. We are also doing it for the Buddha of Compassion, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, to have stable life and for all his holy wishes to succeed, as well as for all our other virtuous friends and all other holy beings to have stable, long lives and for their holy wishes to benefit other sentient beings to succeed.

We’re also doing this practice for world peace, for nobody to ever have to experience war, famine, disease, torture, poverty, sickness, dangers from fire, water, air or earth or any other undesirable thing and for the whole world to be filled with perfect peace and happiness, for everyone’s mind to be filled with loving kindness and compassion.

We’re also doing the practice for the success of every FPMT center and its projects, including here at Land of Medicine Buddha, the temple with 100,000 Medicine Buddha statues and a place for the Sangha, as well as the 100,000 stupas to purify sentient beings and liberate them from the oceans of samsaric suffering and quickly bring them to full enlightenment. We’re doing it for all the projects of this organization, particularly for the building of the 500-foot Maitreya Buddha statue to be completed as quickly as possible by receiving everything needed.

Also, we’re doing the practice for all the people who are dying now in the war to never ever be reborn in the lower realms and for them to be born in a pure land of buddha where they can become enlightened or receive a perfect human rebirth.

Think, “I am going to dedicate this session to these purposes. I am going to do this session for these purposes.”

Mudras with prostration verses

This mudra is the same as, for example, in the prostration verses from the seven-limb practice in Lama Chöpa, which describe the deep and extensive kindness of the guru.³⁹ This signifies the dharmakaya, this one the sambhogakaya and this one the nirmanakaya.

When you turn your hands in the lotus-turning mudra, you shouldn’t spread your fingers but keep them together. This creates the cause to achieve the webbed fingers that are one of a buddha’s thirty-two holy signs. Keeping your fingers together creates the cause for that special sign of a buddha. This is how His Holiness Ling Rinpoche and His Holiness Trijang Rinpoche did this mudra. You do the mudra at your heart.

The essence, or heart, of the merit field is the root guru, the root virtuous friend. Out of dharmakaya, out of sambhogakaya and out of nirmanakaya, the merit field is guiding you, bringing you toward enlightenment. You yourself will then also guide other sentient beings in that way. I added that last part, but I thought you could also think like that. After you become enlightened, out of dharmakaya, sambhogakaya and nirmanakaya, you can then also guide sentient beings. This mudra has that meaning.

First you do like that, then second you ring the bell, then you turn like this. We should offer music when we do the invocation.

Ven. René: We’ll start with prostration to the guru.

By whose kindness the greatest bliss
Can be achieved in one single instant, 
To you, the lama, a jewel-like field, 
I pay homage to the feet of the vajra-holder.

[Ven. René then recites Prostrations to the Three Rare and Supreme Ones, Prostrations to the Lords of the Three Types and Prostrations to the Assembly of Deities of the Medicine Buddhas to the following point:]

The fully realized destroyer of all defilements, fully completed Buddha, having fully realized the absolute truth of all phenomena, Buddha King of Glory Renowned with An Excellent Name, to you I prostrate and go for refuge; to you I make offerings.

Rinpoche: “May whatever prayers I have done be actualized immediately.” Did you do that prayer?

Ven. René: Yes. After each buddha.

Rinpoche: Yes, that’s right—you do it after you have repeated each name seven times. You say, “May whatever prayers you have done in the past be received by me and by all sentient beings” and then say, “May whatever prayers I have done be actualized immediately.”

Ven. René: Do we stop at the end of each one or go straight through the seven and do the request at the end?

Rinpoche: The idea is to recite each name seven times, then after that you make the request. Did you do the request at the end of each of the seven repetitions?

Ven. René: In the previous sessions we went straight through all seven buddhas and did the request at the very end. Should we stop after each buddha and do the request?

Rinpoche: Yes, after each buddha. After you finish repeating the first name seven times, you then make the request. You then recite the name of the next buddha seven times, then make the request. In regard to the request, you say, “May whatever prayers you have done in the past ripen on me and all sentient beings right this minute,” and then say, “May whatever prayers I have done be actualized immediately.”

Making offerings

I mentioned transforming offering goddesses from the heart of you, the deity, and they then make the offering. But when you do ARGHAM, PADYAM...SHAPTA, you can offer not just one set of offerings but all the offerings. Also, if you have arranged many offerings at your own house, each time you recite ARGHAM, PADYAM...SHAPTA when you do the sadhana, you can think of all the offerings in your house and offer them each time. It doesn’t have to be that you offer them just one time in the morning. When you do sadhanas during the day, every time there are offerings you can remember all those offerings and offer them. The actually performed offerings are offered along with the visualized ones. It’s such an easy way to collect merit and to then quickly achieve enlightenment.

Seven-limb practice

In the Medicine Buddha puja, you practice the seven limbs in relation to each buddha. Here, if we recite each limb seven times with meditation, I think it will be very, very powerful. It’s very good to do the seven-limb practice precisely and effectively because it’s one of the important basic preliminary practices. There are three essential points: purifying negative karma, collecting extensive merit and increasing the merit. Confession purifies negative karma; offering prostration, requesting to turn the Dharma wheel and requesting to have stable life collect merit; and rejoicing and dedicating the merits for enlightenment increase the merits.

Did you meditate on rejoicing in the other sessions?

Ven. René: In Lama Chöpa in the morning.

Rinpoche: Oh, I see.

With the short Medicine Buddha practice, I normally try to repeat each of the seven limbs seven times to collect a lot of merit. It then becomes very powerful.

(i) Prostration

Since you have done prostrations at the beginning, you can actually leave that limb or you can still do it the seven times. In that case you visualize numberless replicas of your body in the form of the deity, but very tall, like a mountain. From the four directions and four corners, they all lie down, prostrating to the holy objects on the altar or to the merit field, while you’re reciting,” With my three doors, I prostrate,” seven times, with the meditation. When you do the practice of four mandala offerings to Tara, many other practices normally come with it. Physically you put your palms together and mentally you visualize numberless replicas of your body, as tall as mountains, lying down and covering the ground in all directions, prostrating to the altar or the merit field.

If you have visualized 100,000 replicas of your body doing prostrations, in that minute you have done 100,000 prostrations. You collect the same amount of merit as if your actual body had done 100,000 prostrations. The more bodies you can visualize the better it is. This is one basic meditation that makes prostrations most profitable in collecting extensive merit.

Physically put your palms together, verbally recite go sum gü pai go nä chhag tshäl lo seven times and mentally do the same meditation. If you can’t physically do prostrations because of old age or sickness, according to how many bodies you can visualize doing prostrations, you actually get the same merit as your actual body doing that number of prostrations. It’s very important to understand and to remember this. It is mentioned in the lamrim teachings. You shouldn’t think, “It’s just a visualization.” I think you get if not more, then not less merit....

So, we’ll do that practice. Put your palms together. You can read it in English seven times.

Ven. René: “Reverently, I prostrate with my body, speech and mind.”

(ii) Offering

My suggestion is that it would be good to do the extensive offerings at least once a day, either in Lama Chöpa or in one of the Medicine Buddha sessions. I did the extensive offering meditation in Lama Chöpa on the first day. Here you also recite this limb seven times. You can do the same meditation, offering all the offerings here, the many offerings at the house where I’m staying and all the many offerings in the gompas of all the FPMT centers. However, at least offer all the offerings here and all the lights in the Ashes Temple. Recite this line seven times then offer all these offerings to the merit field, to the Medicine Buddhas, thinking of the guru, His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Ven. René: “I present clouds of every type of offering, actual and imagined.”

If you were told you would get a billion dollars if you climbed Mount Everest or did some other risky thing, you would be very happy to do it. But you find it more boring or more difficult to do the extensive offering meditation than to risk your life climbing Mount Everest. There must be a better example, but I can’t think of one right now. If you can get a billion dollars from some activity, you’re happy to do it even if it endangers your life. However, you find doing the meditation of extensive offering boring and tiring. You get tired just hearing the words “extensive offering.” Just hearing the word “extensive,” you get a pain in your back. But for a billion dollars, you’re willing to sacrifice your life.

Here, in such a short time, we have unbelievable opportunities to collect merit, the cause of realizations of the path to enlightenment. We can collect numberless causes of enlightenment, numberless causes of liberation from samsara.

Remember the example in the lamrim of going to a land of jewels where you can collect as many jewels as you want, but returning empty-handed. That example is applied to someone who is born a human being, with all the opportunities, but doesn’t practice Dharma and then dies with an empty life. Here we have all these incredible opportunities, and if we don’t take them, if we don’t practice, we will die and go to our next rebirth with an empty life.

(iii) Confession

Next recite the limb of confession seven times.

Think of what I usually explain at the beginning of prostrations or Vajrasattva recitation about practicing the power of regret. In your heart think of all the ten nonvirtues you have collected and of the negative karma you have collected by breaking the pratimoksha, bodhisattva and tantric vows, as well as the heaviest negative karma collected in relation to the virtuous friend, during beginningless rebirths up to now. Remember all that then think, “I am confessing all these negative karmas and downfalls.” Then recite the limb of confession seven times.

Ven. René: “I declare all my negative actions accumulated since beginningless time.”

(iv) Rejoicing

With rejoicing, you can repeat the words together or just individually repeat them maybe five or ten times. You can do the practice in the following way. In one session rejoice in your own merits of the three times. In the next session rejoice five, ten, twenty-one or more times in the merits of other sentient beings, especially of bodhisattvas, who collect limitless merit in every second, and also rejoice in the buddhas’ merits. So, in one session you can rejoice in your own merits and in the next session rejoice in the merits of others. Generate a feeling of happiness five, ten, twenty-one or more times. You don’t need to repeat the words together; it might be easier if everyone just does their own individual practice. Leave some space there for individual practice.

First think in this way.” Without merit there is neither ultimate happiness nor even temporary happiness. Without merit, I can’t experience the slightest pleasure.” You should first think in this way so that you see how precious merit is. Because, of course, you want happiness and don’t want suffering, you have to have merit. You then see that merit is important for success.

You then think, “I have collected numberless merits during beginningless rebirths up to now. How precious it is, how precious it is, how precious it is. How wonderful it is that I have collected this merit.” Think then about your present merits, “How precious it is! How wonderful it is!” Think then about the merit you will collect in the future, “How precious it is. How wonderful it is.” Feel happiness in your heart. “I have collected numberless merits in the past, present and future. How precious it is! How wonderful it is!” Once you have started with that, just keep on saying, “How wonderful it is!” In your mind think of how precious all your numberless past merits, present merits and future merits are. Once you have begun with that feeling of how precious they are, then think, “How wonderful it is! How wonderful it is! How wonderful it is!” Rejoice in this way, making your mind happy.

Each time you think, “How wonderful it is!” and feel happy, the merit you have collected during beginningless rebirths is increased, or multiplied. You collect skies of merit each time. It’s like investing a hundred dollars in the stock market or a bank and then getting billions of dollars from it. Each time you think “How wonderful it is!” you are getting something better than billions of dollars.

Then think, “Other beings, especially bodhisattvas and buddhas, have collected so much merit in the three times, past, present and future—how wonderful it is! May I able to collect all that merit that each living being has collected to benefit every sentient being.” It’s mentioned in either a lamrim or Guru Puja commentary to think like this at the end.

You can also mainly rejoice in your own merit then at the end rejoice just one time in the merit of others.

In each session stop there at the limb of rejoicing for just one or two minutes, and each person can then do their individual practice.

Ven. René: “And rejoice in the merit of all holy and ordinary beings.”

(v) Requesting to have stable life

Visualize a golden throne in your hand then offer it to the merit field, to the guru. With this visualization we recite the line seven times.

Ven. René: “Please remain until the end of cyclic existence...”

(vi) Requesting to turn the Dharma wheel

It’s mentioned that here you can visualize Brahma, because it was Brahma who, by offering a dharmachakra, first requested Buddha to turn the Dharma wheel. You can visualize Brahma then offer the dharmachakra with the request to turn the Dharma wheel.

If the top of your mandala is a dharmachakra, you can hold that when you do the limb of requesting to turn the Dharma wheel in the seven limbs.

Visualize this, then recite the line seven times.

Ven René: “And turn the wheel of Dharma for living beings.”

Think that the merit field has accepted both requests.

(vii) Dedication

At the end of the practice I normally try to mention “merely labeled” as I do the dedication seven times. Of course, if you can think properly, it makes it very powerful.

Think, “I, others, merits, enlightenment—everything is empty of existing from its own side. They are all empty of those real ones that are appearing from there.”

Dedicate with that awareness or with the awareness of merely labeled I, merely labeled others, merely labeled merit, merely labeled enlightenment. You can do it either way: by looking at them as empty or with awareness of dependent arising, of how they are merely labeled. You then recite the dedication seven times. The Tibetan translates as, “My merits and others’ merits are dedicated to achieve enlightenment.”

You meditate that they are all merely labeled or that what appears to you as something real from its own side is a hallucination. In this way the dedication is done by sealing it with emptiness, which protects the merits from being destroyed by anger or heresy.

So, please read that line seven times.

Ven. René: “I dedicate my own merits and those of all others to the great enlightenment.”

Meditating on emptiness

Here I think maybe we’ll just sleep tonight....

This section on emptiness is different for those who have had some experience, for those who are able to recognize the object to be refuted. Once you’re able to recognize the object to be refuted, the false view of the false object, which is apprehended by ignorance to be truly existent, you have the correct idea of emptiness, and it’s easier for you to meditate and get to that point. Those who have had many experiences can go immediately to that point of emptiness. Otherwise, it might be good to use different meditation techniques in this part of tong pa nyi du gyur, they all become empty, emptiness only. It might be a good idea to use different ways of meditating on emptiness, not only here in this retreat but also when you do a Highest Yoga Tantra deity retreat and each time when you meditate on dharmakaya in a sadhana. You can use the same ideas there.

Generally, you should apply whichever technique is most powerful, most effective, for your mind. However, first you should try the different techniques. If one technique isn’t effective, another technique might be. There are different tastes. It’s all tea but there are different tastes of tea. As you know, emptiness is one of the basic lamrim meditations; it’s a very important point of meditation in lamrim practice. The wisdom understanding emptiness is the only one that can directly cut the delusions, the defilements. It’s the only one that can directly cut the root of samsara. Therefore, meditating on emptiness is important in our daily practice and in a retreat. We have to do what we can to make our meditation on emptiness as effective as possible. Sometimes, due to strong guru devotion with the support of a lot of merit and purification, it’s possible that you will suddenly have some experience of emptiness.

Anyway, maybe not tonight. We’ll try tomorrow or at another time....

Emptiness only is a new term that you’ve probably never seen or heard before. This is probably the first time you’ve seen this translation. The Tibetan term is tong pa nyi. Tong pa means empty, and it can refer to ordinary emptiness, such as space being empty of substantial phenomena, a cup being empty of tea, a stomach being empty of food or a purse being empty of money. All these are examples of ordinary emptiness.

The extra word nyi is used to specify the kind of emptiness. In Tibetan the term is not just tong pa, but tong pa nyi. The nyi, which means only, cuts out ordinary emptiness. So, what kind of emptiness are we talking about? In the Madhyamaka teachings and also in the lamrim, if this bell is empty of bell, it means the bell is nonexistent. It negates itself. And it is the same with all the rest of the phenomena. If a house is empty of house, it negates the conventional truth. It means the house doesn’t exist. It’s another way of saying the house is nonexistent: “This is not house, so house is nonexistent.”

While the bell is existing, it’s empty. It’s not empty of bell but it is empty of something; it is empty of something about the bell. The bell is empty of a bell existing by nature. The bell is empty of the bell that appears to one’s own ignorance and is believed in by that ignorance. It is empty of the bell that is not merely imputed by the mind. That truly existent bell, that bell not merely imputed by mind, doesn’t exist. It appears to us in that way, and we believe it exists in that way, but that bell is not there. It doesn’t exist at all. That bell is false, a total hallucination. That bell is totally empty, totally nonexistent, right there. [meditate]

The bell is totally empty of existing from its own side. [meditate]

Here, when you meditate, it becomes meditation on emptiness only. By cutting ordinary emptiness, you are meditating on emptiness only, the absence of true existence. Emptiness totally negates the object to be refuted. In the view of your mind there is no appearance of conventional truth. [meditate]

In tong pa nyi, the nyi stops ordinary emptiness and shows emptiness only. In the view of your mind the object of refutation is totally nonexistent, the object that appears to be truly existent is totally nonexistent, totally empty. In the view of your mind, during that time it’s not space but like space. Somebody who has realized emptiness would not be seeing emptiness as we see the absence of people in an empty house or the absence of tea in an empty mug. I guess that person would see emptiness as something very intense. In the view of that mind, during that time there is no such thing as this and that: “This is I, the meditator” and “This is emptiness.” There is no such duality. There’s no subject and object. There’s no such discrimination during that time. There is no this and that. [meditate]

There is the total absence of I and the other phenomena that appear to you and that you apprehend to be inherently existent. There is total absence, total nonexistence, of that. [meditate]

So, just read that section.

Ven. René: So, we’ll do the abbreviated sadhana. “OM SVABHAVA SHUDDHA SARVA DHARMA SVABHAVA SHUDDHO HAM, All phenomena are empty by nature and thus become emptiness only. While they are emptiness, a PAM appears....”

Motivation for mantra recitation

Think, “I’m going to recite this mantra for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and of all my other virtuous friends and all other holy beings. May all their wishes succeed immediately.

“I’m going to recite this mantra to quickly free every single hell being from all their suffering and its causes and bring them to full enlightenment.

“I’m going to recite this mantra to free every single hungry ghost them from all their suffering and its causes and bring them to enlightenment.

“I’m going to recite this mantra to free every single animal from all their suffering and its causes and bring them to enlightenment.

“I’m going to recite this mantra to free every single human being from all their suffering and its causes and bring them to enlightenment.

“I’m going to recite this mantra to free every single asura being from all their suffering and its causes and bring them to enlightenment.

“I’m going to recite this mantra to free every single sura being from all their suffering and its causes and bring them to enlightenment.

“I’m going to recite this mantra to free every single intermediate state being from all their suffering and its causes and bring them to enlightenment.

“I’m going to free all sentient beings from all their suffering and its causes and bring them to enlightenment as quickly as possible by myself alone.

“I’m also going to recite this mantra for world peace.”

As I mentioned before, think that you’re reciting each mantra so that nobody experiences war, famine, disease, hunger, poverty, dangers from fire, water, air or earth or any other problem. Think, “May any problem sentient beings are now experiencing be pacified, and may they never experience any problems in the future.”

Also recite each mantra for the success of all the FPMT projects and centers, including the Maitreya Project and Land of Medicine Buddha.

Tea offering to the protectors

You can think that there is an ocean of uncontaminated great bliss in an extensive jewel container or, in accordance with Highest Yoga Tantra, in a skull. Offering this to each of the different protectors in the merit field causes them to generate infinite bliss within them and fully inspires them to pacify obstacles and to grant the success of all your wishes and prayers, including all the things I mentioned at the beginning of the session and before the mantra recitation. Remember any particular success you want to achieve, make a request and think that they fully accept to immediately grant you help. There are worldly devas, landlords, wealth-giving protectors and nagas included in the eight groups of worldly beings called de gyä. Think in particular of all the nagas, devas and landlord spirits in this area. Make the offering to all these beings in Tibet and in the rest of the world, then in particular to those situated in this area, then ask them to help you. They are fully inspired to help.

I would just like to mention here that it’s particularly good to do the tea offering to the de gyä, these eight groups of powerful worldly beings, so that you don’t have obstacles when you travel. They control the weather. Of course, the whole thing has basically to do with people’s karma and delusions. The main cause of problems is negative karma done in the past. If things were done that upset the devas and made them angry, they then come and cause a lot of harm with storms, hailstones or drought. Nagas receive pollution from people, who disturb them and destroy their environment; they can then cause sicknesses, failures and many obstacles in the lives of the people in that area.

You normally do this tea-offering practice before you travel or before you start a big project such as building a monastery or a house. You ask these worldly beings not to cause obstacles and to help everything go smoothly. It’s also common to do this practice when wrathful tantric actions of Highest Yoga Tantra are used to subdue evil beings, or interferers, who are harming many sentient beings or holy beings or causing many obstacles. When peaceful means can’t subdue those evil beings, you use wrathful tantric actions. Externally, there can be violent actions but the motivation is one of great compassion, of course. The correct way to do the practice so that there’s no danger of its becoming negative karma for you, the practitioner who engages in that action, is by having unbearable compassion for those evil beings. As in the stories of bodhisattvas, you would sacrifice your life to be born in hell for that evil being. You have to have great compassion as the background, the motivation, for your action. Of course, you’re more qualified to do such wrathful actions if you have realization of emptiness and the divine pride and clear appearance of yourself as the deity, as in the realization of generation stage. You should have stable concentration of yourself as the deity, with clear appearance and especially with stable divine pride that you are the deity. If you have these qualifications on top of lamrim realization, you are qualified to do these types of activities.

In the wrathful practice you hook the consciousness of the evil being into a figure that has been made and then transfer the person’s consciousness to a pure land. You also throw a wrathful torma with a decoration of flames. Anyway, I don’t need to tell you the details of the meditations here at the moment. That being then doesn’t engage in any more negative karma, in harming any more beings. These practices are quite commonly done in monasteries by qualified geshes or tantric practitioners.

It might seem a little strange to have gone into such details, but in my letter to President Bush (see appendix 1), I did mention, just to give him some idea of this, that even though there are many religions, in particular the leaders of each Tibetan Mahayana Buddhist tradition and their monasteries could be requested to do pujas for months or years. In this way people in the military forces wouldn’t have to die, and there’d be no side-effects. Because the wrathful practice is focused on only one particular person, there’s no danger to anyone else. You don’t kill other people, and you don’t have the danger of so many people in your own country getting killed. And the cost of one muscle—not “muscle,” missile....

Lama Yeshe always called Marcel, “Musal,” which sounded like “muscle.” Marcel Bertels is the monk who has been working very hard for quite a number of years for the Maitreya Project and for the FPMT organization. Lama had a book in which he would write down his expenses—how much money was borrowed, how much was spent—and also Dharma notes.

On one side of the book he would have Dharma notes, such as things His Holiness said that he found very effective, and on the other side were his expenses: money to Yeshe Khadro, Marcel and Peter, money in and out. I just remembered that Lama always wrote “Musal” for Marcel.

Anyway, one missile must cost quite a few million dollars. I said in my letter that the expense of sponsoring monasteries to do pujas is hardly anything. You could sponsor pujas in many monasteries of the four Tibetan traditions, and sponsoring pujas would cost hardly anything compared to the millions of dollars that one missile costs. Of course, many monks in Sri Lanka, Burma and other countries could pray too. Since there are many pure monks, their prayers would have much power. But in particular I mentioned the Tibetan tantric methods. It might look a little strange, but I thought to offer my ideas anyway.

The people in many different countries in the world also wouldn’t have to get upset. It wouldn’t upset so many other Muslims. The war, of course, upsets many Muslims, but here the focus would be only on that very person. Since nobody else would know about it, there would be no protests. Unlike with the present war, nobody would know about it.

Since there are so many religions in the world, I was thinking that it was very strange not to use spiritual means to solve the problems.

This tea offering is a very good practice to do to stop disasters that have to do with the weather, with the elements, such as hurricanes or tornados. It’s very effective if it is done by a qualified person, somebody who is living in pure morality, whether a lay or ordained person, has strong compassion or bodhicitta and realization of emptiness. However, the very basic thing is morality. The purer a person’s morality, the more effective their practice will be. The worldly devas then listen to the person and will obey whatever order they give them. It’s such a simple practice, taking only one or two minutes, but it can overcome the problems of tornados and other disasters. Within hours a tornado can destroy many billions of dollars of property: whole houses and whole towns. A whole building with all the people inside can go up into the sky. This simple practice deals with the beings who are causing, or even involved in, all that violence.

A few years ago, the first or second time I was at Geshe Sopa’s place doing a course, George Propps was there but then left for Florida, where he lives. When Yangsi Rinpoche, Tsen-la’s brother, was at Kopan, I think Lama asked George to be his benefactor, and George sponsored Yangsi Rinpoche for some years. I remember one time he sent a small airplane, but not one with remote control. I went up on top of the hill and played with it, but I think it flew a little then dropped.

Anyway, George went to Florida, then sent a telephone message to me. He didn’t tell Geshe-la but he told me that there was going to be a hurricane and he asked me to pray. But I then gave him a job. I told him to recite a few malas (rosaries) of the Kshitigarbha mantra. There are two mantras, a long one and a short one, but I’m not sure which one he recited. I don’t remember right now what else I told him to do, but that was the main thing. I then did a tea offering in my room at Geshe Sopa’s place. Of course, that didn’t have much power, but I tried. The weather forecasters had predicted that the hurricane would be coming to Florida, where George was. He chanted the mantras. The hurricane came toward Florida but then went around it. He explained afterwards what had happened. He had total faith that his practice had worked.

When a hurricane or tornado comes, you can’t send planes to fight it or send in the army. No matter how much scientific knowledge or technology you have, you can’t do anything. Here, due to the power of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, with just a very simple prayer and the chanting of a few malas of mantras, you can stop the problem; you can stop many billions of dollars of property being destroyed and many people becoming homeless, or even dying. On the basis of refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, you chant those mantras and do this tea offering. It’s a very simple practice.

I just wanted to let you know that you can use this practice with those kinds of dangers, not only to help yourself but to help many other people in the country, to save their lives from danger. Kshitigarbha’s mantra is very powerful, and Most Secret Hayagriva’s mantra is another one that is very powerful in overcoming these things.

[Rinpoche chants the tea offering prayer.]

Here the practice is condensed, with just mention of the eight worldly beings, or de gyä.⁴⁰ But there’s a separate prayer, which I asked my relative, Pemba, the resident teacher in the Hong Kong center, to translate. There should be a translation of that prayer available.⁴¹ To control the weather and for big construction projects, it’s good to use that prayer along with this one. At the point where the names of the eight worldly beings come in this prayer, you then make the tea offering to them by reciting that longer version. Within the eight groups there are outer, inner and secret groups. You can insert that prayer there—it’s just a few pages. These beings are worldly beings and not objects of refuge, but they are very powerful. It’s a useful practice.

One time when I was at Geshe Sopa’s place for the teachings, we were planning to have a picnic outside but it was raining. I think I used this practice on two different occasions during two courses. It could be a coincidence and not because I did my prayer, but the sun did come out on those two occasions. In the end we did have the food outside. It seems the prayers did help. Of course, it’s based on karma, but it could also have been a coincidence.

Dedications

“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and the merits of the three times collected by others, may bodhicitta be generated within my own mind and in the minds of all sentient beings without even a second’s delay. May that which has been generated be increased.

Jang chhub sem chhog rin po chhe....”

Dedicate in the same way for emptiness to be realized in your mind and in the minds of all living beings and for the wisdom of those who have realized it to be increased.

“Tong ye ta wai rin po chhe....⁴²

“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and the merits of the three times collected by others, may all the father and mother sentient beings have happiness; may the three lower realms be empty of beings forever; may all the bodhisattvas’ prayers succeed immediately; and may I be able to cause all that to happen by myself alone.

“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and the merits of the three times collected by others, from now on and in all my future lifetimes, in every second may I be able to bring limitless skies of benefit to sentient beings and to the teaching of Buddha, like Medicine Buddha and Lama Tsongkhapa, by having the same qualities within me as Medicine Buddha and Lama Tsongkhapa have.

“I give away all my past, present and future merits and all the resultant happiness, both temporary and ultimate, up to enlightenment, including all the merits collected today by taking Eight Mahayana Precepts and in all the sessions and break-times, as well as my possessions and my own body in the form of a wish-granting jewel that fulfills all the wishes of other sentient beings. I make charity of all of this to every single hell being, every single hungry ghost, every single animal, every single human being, every single asura, every single sura, every single intermediate state being.

“I also offer all this merit to all the arhats and all the higher bodhisattvas, and it becomes the cause for them to complete the path. I also offer it to my gurus, and it becomes the cause for their success in spreading Dharma, for their holy wishes to succeed.”

By making charity of our own body, all our belongings, merits and all the resultant happiness, we have collected so many times limitless skies of merit.

“Due to this merit, may whatever suffering sentient beings have ripen on me and may whatever happiness and merit I have ripen on all other sentient beings.

“Due to all the merits of the three times collected by me and by others, from now on may whatever actions I do—eating, walking, sitting, sleeping, working—and whatever kind of life I experience—happy, unhappy, healthy, unhealthy, gain, loss, rich, poor, receiving praise or criticism from others, and even being born in a hell realm—be most beneficial for all sentient beings, causing all sentient beings to achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible by my becoming enlightened.

“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and the merits of the three times collected by the buddhas, bodhisattvas and all other sentient beings, which are like a dream, may the I, who is like a dream, who appears to be inherently existent but is empty, nonexistent, achieve Guru Medicine Buddha’s enlightenment, which is also like a dream, and lead all the sentient beings, who are also like a dream, to that enlightenment, which is like a dream, by myself alone, who is also like a dream.

“I dedicate all these merits to be able to follow the holy extensive deeds of the bodhisattvas Samantabhadra and Manjugosha.

“I dedicate all my merits in the way that all the buddhas and bodhisattvas of the three times have admired as best.

“I dedicate all these merits to the numberless beings who are suffering in the lower realms. May they immediately be liberated from all those realms and reincarnate in a pure land where they can become enlightened or receive a perfect human body and achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible by meeting perfectly qualified Mahayana gurus and Mahayana teachings.” (This dedication includes all the people who have died whose names were given to me, for whom I promised to pray or who relied upon me.)

“Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and the merits of the three times collected by others, may I, my family members, all the students and benefactors in this organization, especially those who give their life to the organization to offer service to sentient beings and to the teaching of Buddha, and those who rely upon me, those for whom I have promised to pray, those who are offering service to me and all of us here have long lives and be healthy. May all our wishes succeed immediately in accordance with the holy Dharma. May we be able to completely actualize the steps of the path to enlightenment, the stainless teaching of Lama Tsongkhapa, which unifies sutra and tantra, in this very lifetime without even a second’s delay.

“May all the gurus have stable lives, and may all their holy wishes succeed immediately.

“May all the Sangha in this organization be able to complete the scriptural understanding and realizations of the path to enlightenment in this very lifetime by living in pure vinaya and by receiving all their needs and all protection.

“May all the social service centers and meditation centers be most beneficial for all sentient beings, immediately pacifying the sufferings of body and mind of the sentient beings. May they be able to spread the complete teaching of Lama Tsongkhapa in the minds of sentient beings by receiving everything needed.

“May LMB and all the Dharma projects here be successful, including the temple with 100,000 Medicine Buddha statues, the place for Sangha and the 100,000 stupas to liberate sentient beings and bring them to enlightenment.”

In silence, without words, the stupas will free so many sentient beings from samsara and bring them to enlightenment every day. For hundreds or thousands of years, these stupas will liberate and bring sentient beings to enlightenment every day.

“And may all the other social service projects here, such as the school, and those in all the rest of the centers, as well as all the other projects of each individual center, succeed immediately. May all the other projects in this organization to build monasteries, nunneries and holy objects, including the 500-foot Maitreya Buddha statue, succeed immediately. May this statue be completed as quickly as possible, without any obstacles, by receiving all the necessary funding. May the Maitreya Project and all the other projects in all the centers cause sentient beings to achieve enlightenment as quickly as possible, by causing them to actualize loving kindness, compassion and bodhicitta.

“May Lama Tsongkhapa’s teaching spread and flourish forever, and may I be able to cause this to happen by myself alone.” 
 

---

Notes

³³ See note 20. [Return to text]

³⁴ A Daily Meditation on Shakyamuni Buddha: How to Meditate on the Graded Path to Enlightenment can be found in the FPMT Catalogue. [Return to text]

³⁵ For this and the other mudras, see pp. 157–61 in Nyung Nä: The Means of Achievement of the Eleven-Faced Great Compassionate One, Avalokiteshvara, which can be found in the FPMT Catalogue. [Return to text]

³⁶ Through the power of having made offerings and respectful requests 
To you, holy and perfect, pure gurus—supreme field of merit, 
I seek your blessings, saviors and root of well-being and bliss, 
That I may come under your joyful care. (V. 84.) [Return to text]

³⁷ See Essential Buddhist Prayers, Volume 1, p. 267, for the Tibetan. In English, these two prayers are: 
By pacifying all the signs of obstacles 
And by perfecting every single required condition, 
May the Dharma tradition of the Dharma king Tsongkhapa 
Be preserved and developed.

Due to the two types of merit collected 
Over the three times by myself and others 
May the teaching of the far-famed 
Victorious One’s pure wisdom blaze forth. [Return to text]

³⁸ May the supreme jewel bodhicitta 
That has not arisen, arise and grow; 
And may that which has arisen not diminish 
But increase more and more. [Return to text]

³⁹ Lama Chöpa, vv. 18-22. [Return to text]

⁴⁰ In short, to all the visible worldly gods such as asuras and rakshas; 
To the eight classes of gods, including their entourages; 
And especially to the gods, nagas, and landlords of this location, 
I offer this nectar drink that gives rise to bliss, 
Please take it and accomplish all my wishes quickly. 
 – From The Iron Hook Swiftly Hooking All Wishes. [Return to text]

⁴¹ The prayer is Ablution to the Eight Powerful Worldly Spirits. [Return to text]

⁴² See footnote 38. The first line is “May the precious view of emptiness,” the rest of the verse is the same as the bodhicitta verse. [Return to text]