You will recall from our mini-sessions of study in the Landre... You will recall from our mini-sessions of study in the Landre lecture series that it is of utmost importance that we approach these lectures with the right attitude. in essence, in its essence, right attitude lies in having a sense of purpose, true sense of purpose about one's efforts to seek out and understand the

[01:22]

principles and practices of Buddhism. And our purpose as followers of the Mahayanist path and the Sakya tradition should be one of unfeigned resolve to use this knowledge, to acquire and use this knowledge in order to promote the enlightenment of all living beings without exception. This entails a a recognition of fellowship with all other beings and a sense of responsibility to make efforts, to make spiritual efforts on their behalf rather than for the sake of oneself alone.

[02:59]

So, when one seeks out a teaching of Mahayanist doctrine, one should approach those occasions of study with a sense of purpose and sense of attention and respect. And especially when one is engaged in learning the country practices of the Vajrayana path, such as we have undertaken to do with our studies in the Landre and in the foundation meditations which will prepare us for tantric meditations, there are Vajrayana practices which also serve to

[04:24]

enhance these sessions of study. In particular, you should not think of the situation as being an ordinary one of human beings together to discuss one or another topic. But think of the teacher who is teaching you as being none other than Shakyamuni Buddha himself, who is personally expounding to you the principles of enlightenment and the path for their attainment. And as he speaks, the words that you hear, the sounds that you hear become a proclamation of non-dual... become a proclamation of the doctrine of voidness.

[05:42]

As he teaches, also rays of light shine forth from his heart to touch your own heart and there dispel all the darkness of ignorance, doubt, confusion and the obscurations of the... negative emotions and awakens within your own mind also a discerning wisdom, discerning insight into the true import of these teachings which you are hearing. Nor should you think of yourself as being an ordinary person. But you are none other than Manjushri Bodhisattva himself, the great Bodhisattva of wisdom who tirelessly seeks out the teachings of enlightenment on behalf of unenlightened beings.

[07:08]

then you should think of all the appearances of teacher, of student, of one's environment, all of this as appearing. as owing its appearance to interdependent origination, that is, that there is nothing solid and real and substantial inherently existing by itself as we like to think of things ordinarily, but rather While apparent, while apparent, while everything is clearly apparent here, nonetheless it is all through interdependent origination. It is much as with the appearance of a rainbow, which definitely has form and appearance, but in itself is nothing substantial.

[08:20]

has no inherent nature of its own and owes its appearance itself to a mere concatenation of causes and conditions. So through a similar concatenation of causes and conditions, this present situation also, everything involved in this present situation, is by its very nature devoid of any inherent essential existence. So by remembering this, one's own wisdom is deepened and one's of learning the Dharma becomes enhanced, magnified, and made more efficacious through one's approximating ultimate reality through this reflection, through these visualizations and reflections.

[09:36]

So if one keeps the right attitude and tries to, during the course of this study session, to practice these tantric visualizations, keep in mind the philosophical the philosophical principles which we have just explained, then one's efforts today in learning the practices, learning something of the teachings and practices of Mahayana Buddhism will be greatly enriched. I went to the temple. I went to the temple.

[10:37]

I went to the temple. [...] That's why I'm here. I'm here because I want to see you. [...] We have to be careful. We have to be careful. We have to be careful.

[11:40]

We have to be careful. We have to be careful. We have to be careful. So what I want to say to you is, you have to give the job back to the king. You have to give the job back to the king. You have to give the job back to the king. You have to give the job back to the king. Thank you. The countless teachings of enlightenment uttered by Lord Buddha have maybe categorized as belonging either to the lesser or the greater vehicles, that is,

[13:32]

Those teachings are the lesser or hinayana vehicle, which are designed to bring about individual salvation, and those teachings which belong to the mahayana or greater vehicle, which are designed to promote universal liberation. We here are followers of the Mahayana school of practice, and in our own studies at this center we are concerned primarily with the study and practice of both the exoteric, or sutra, practices, concepts and practices, and those of the esoteric Vajrayana principles and practices.

[14:51]

In our own course of study and practice at this center, we are attempting to combine the two, exoteric and esoteric. Now, in our efforts, whether it be the study or study, meditation, or the accumulation of merit through virtuous actions and so forth, we should keep in mind the three elements, keep in mind three elements which must be present in our

[16:02]

actions in order for them to be effective as we wish. That is, there must be... These three elements are preparation, main practice or the main practice, and the result. These three are interdependent and all of them, The latter two must be preceded by right preparation if one is to succeed in either one's main practice or in the attainment of the spiritual results you seek.

[17:26]

These meditations, these preparatory practices and teachings are rightly called foundation teachings. They are the sine qua non for all the spiritual experiences which may follow. Again, there are two types of preparatory practices. You are already familiar with the ordinary preparation, ordinary preliminary meditations, which we studied in great detail in the book, The Three Levels of Spiritual Perception, by Moojin Kondrathundu. There, in the ordinary preliminary practices, we learned to meditate upon the unsatisfactoriness of worldly existence, the certainty of death,

[18:52]

the operation of the laws of impermanence and of karma, of cause and effect, and developing the spiritual qualities of great love, great compassion, insight through training in the two stages of meditation, concentration and insight or wisdom meditations. These are the exoteric, or that is, the exoteric or ordinary preliminary practices which prepare one for undertaking a main system of advanced meditation, some type of real advanced meditation.

[19:56]

Now, the second type of preliminary practices are called the esoteric or the extraordinary foundation meditations. They are a feature of the Vajrayana or tantric system of meditation. Here one seeks to prepare one's whole being, body, voice and mind for advanced tantric practices through a series of foundation practices.

[21:01]

They are four or five in number, depending on how you count them. Firstly, the taking of refuge, the purification meditation of Vajrasattva, the mandala offering the guru yoga meditation and the performance of prostrations. Now, if the performance of prostrations be combined with the taking of refuge, that is, you take refuge while performing prostrations, this gives us four. four foundation meditations. And these four are the subject of our new series of lectures at Jetsonsakya, in which Rinpoche will explain what you need to know about each of these preliminary practices and

[22:28]

give you direct guidance in the way in which they are to be practiced. When I was a child, I used to go to school with my parents. [...] If you don't know how to do it, you can't do it. If you don't know how to do it, you can't do it. If you don't know how to do it, you can't do it. If you don't know how to do it, you can't do it.

[23:37]

If you don't know how to do it, you can't do it. If you don't know how to do it, you can't do it. Rongo senda kula kulta. Kangkyo utsana ipati bala. Kya nukti? Tiska kure. Rongo, lewa yi sangu kone, gye utsawa, kya tong teta wa, tse songi songi, gyo mano wala, mipati tabla, sangi kure. Tani rongo senda la, When I was a child, I used to go to school. I used to go to school. When I was a child, I used to go to school. When I was a child, I used to go to school. I don't know what to do.

[24:57]

I don't know what to do. [...] It needs to be stressed that the training in these four preliminary or foundation meditations, as we'll call them, is essential. if one aspires to attain enlightenment through relying upon Vajrayana principles.

[26:20]

For anyone who anticipates Vajrayana meditation, it goes without saying that that person will first have had to complete these four foundation meditations if he is to derive any benefit at all from his advanced practices. This applies to every practitioner of Vajrayana meditations. It is not right to meditate upon a Vajra without having completed the foundation meditations. It is not right to meditate upon Vajrayogini without having completed the Vajrayogini meditations.

[27:27]

It is not right to meditate upon Aryatara, upon the goddess Tara, without having completed one's foundation meditations. Nor is it right to meditate upon Sri Mahakala, or the other deities of the pantheon without having completed one's training in the foundation meditations. All right. Having established that they are important not to be ignored, not to be circumvented, let us say exactly why they are essential. as prerequisite. When a beginner first undertakes, first embarks upon the path of Buddhist study, meditation, and other practices, he or she would usually

[28:40]

encounter a number of difficulties, which are due firstly to the undisciplined or unruly state of his or her own mind, which has for so many years or even longer periods of time been untrained in the ways of virtue. And also, through ignorance of the teachings and the doctrines, the practices, we'll be liable to experience weakness in faith, weakness in interest, doubt, confusion, and discouragement.

[30:02]

Therefore, the practice of the refuge, the repeated practice of taking refuge, is the first of the four foundation meditations. Its benefit lies in removing these obstacles, these various obstacles, strengthening one's mind in a sense of confidence, not only about the the validity of the Dharma, the authenticity of such principles as enlightenment, liberation, the possibility of Buddhahood, and so forth, but also strengthens one in self-confidence, a sense of clarity of purpose and confidence in one's ability to undertake a great

[31:30]

a spiritual task such as is involved in following the Mahayana, Mahayanist way. Further, through one's practice of this first foundational meditation, that is of refuge, one receives a transmission of blessings from the enlightened ones, that the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas take note of one, and through one's invoking their blessings, that one receives a very real blessing, a sense of strength, encouragement and persistence in one's own spiritual efforts. This is the effect of accomplishing this foundation meditation of the refuge. Am I going too fast when I notice note-taking? Am I going too slow?

[32:40]

Then the second of these four foundation meditations is that of the Vajrasattva meditation. Its primary purpose is one of purification. through one's performance of the Vajrasattva meditation, which consists of the visualization of the bodhisattva, Vajrasattva and the recitation of his hundred syllable mantra, the various mental and physical obstacles which one may have accumulated through previously acquired unwholesome karma, such as illnesses, mental hang-ups and insanity and things like that, these will be purified through the meditation of Sri Vajrasattva.

[33:54]

Now, after having, through these first two preliminary practices, more or less removed the obstacles to one's entering into practice and sustaining later meditation, one needs to build a build-up, one needs to build certain positive conditions as well. So through the third foundation meditation, that of the mandala meditation, through which one offers one's entire being, one's entire universe as it were, one's body, voice, mind, all that you identify with, one's entire universe is offered up through this mandala offering.

[34:58]

And through this one overcomes a sense of attachment to I and mine, this egocentric impulse that's in one's own mind. And through this training and a practice where you give up your all, on behalf of all living beings, in order to bring about the highest good of all living beings, that one's training in this kind of unselfishness on a great scale not only counters this narrow, constricted self-centeredness, centered impulses of the mind, but accumulates in the process a tremendous store of merit just by the fact of being able or willing to give up all selfishness in order to achieve the highest good of all living beings.

[36:07]

A great deal of merit is acquired Even by thinking in this way and by practising this meditation of the mandala offering, one accumulates great merit. And as you recall, merit along with wisdom is one of the two essential accumulations required to achieve Buddhahood. Now, after the accumulation of merit, one is then in a position to undertake, to develop real insight, for example, insight into the true nature of one's own mind, insight into the real nature of phenomena. insight into the nature of ultimate reality.

[37:09]

All of these things that we presently have no glimpse of, things that we know, which to us now are only words, become a direct gnosis or a direct perception to the purified, meritorious mind of a meditator. These experiences, however, really depend a great deal upon one's having a good, qualified teacher who has experience in himself, who knows just how to bring the meditator's mind, the student's mind, into a sense of direct, into a state of direct perception of the Mahamudra inside, or inside into the the non-dual clarity and wholeness of one's own mind.

[38:11]

These things depend a great deal upon the skill of one's teacher. So in order to develop a sense of clear-minded and trusting, confident rapport with one's teacher, one trains next in the guru yoga meditations. By meditating upon one's teacher and invoking his guidance and blessings through this guru yoga practice, one becomes receptive to the transmission of his blessings and guidance and becomes sensitive, open or receptive to, sensitive to what he is trying to show you about your own mind and the nature of reality.

[39:25]

You can see then that this training in these four preliminary practices does have purposes which are considered valid and important by experienced Buddhist meditators. that further they are, as we said, prerequisites to successful practices on the Vajrayana path. When I was young, I used to go to school. I used to go to school when I was young.

[40:33]

When I was young, I used to go to school when I was young. I used to go to school when I was young. When I was a young boy, I used to go to school with my father. [...] Kashi niri kemei kukoni. Yangen nomari. Hondo sayong na. Pertsen na. Kendo kona di. Bantwa nyeshi tsaiji. Jaso misong neresi. Dorje sempi yege jawa.

[41:37]

Menda sakotsamaya. Bantwa kyobji. Sumarisi. Menda ambenda bama ahun seni. Menda tsamba namba di. And I'm not done with somebody else. I'm not done with somebody else. If you don't believe me, I will tell you the truth.

[42:51]

If you don't believe me, I will tell you the truth. I will tell you the truth. Thank you. Could we get some liquor, please? Could somebody bring in something to drink? Rinpoche would like to take something. Yes, something for Rinpoche. When you hear meditators or the teachers of meditation

[44:00]

or when you read about them, declaring that they have attained such and such realizations or have experienced such and such states through their own practice or have beheld the face of so-and-so deity, You should understand, thank you very much, that this is not uttered, this is not communicated out of a sense of pride in accomplishments or through sheer boastfulness, but our but are spoken in the context of

[45:18]

of guidance and encouragement to their own present and future disciples, that is, to other students who are beginners in meditation, who will be in need of guidance as to correct methods of practice and also would be in need of assurance about the validity of their practice and their results. So since the Since spiritual attainments and realizations are indeed the results of right efforts in practice,

[46:26]

And we need to take seriously the words of those teachers, those teachers in meditation who have stressed to us the importance of mastering these four foundation practices, who at the age of fifteen began his own career as a meditator with the performance of the Gatang Lama Lekpa Rinpoche, the Kamdol Gatang. . [...] who began his own career as a meditator through the practice of these same four foundation meditations.

[47:56]

Now, keeping in mind that all that is required of a beginner is that he performed a hundred thousand refuges, a hundred thousand prostrations, a hundred thousand recitations of the Vajrasattva's mantra, a hundred thousand of the guru yoga recitation, and a hundred thousand mandala offerings. five hundred thousand in all, including prostrations. This is the basic requirement for the amount that you need to train yourself. stop with merely a hundred thousand recitations or performances.

[49:00]

For example, during his youth, he recited the refuge formula 2,400,000 times rather than 100,000 times. He recited the Vajrasattva Mantram 1,800,000 times rather than 100,000. He performed 4,700,000 prostrations rather than 100,000. He recited, he made one million mandala offerings rather than one hundred thousand. And he performed the guru yoga. practice in which he took Sakyapandita himself as his guru.

[50:08]

He performed that 6,500,000 times, rather than 100,000. And he, in the recitation of mantras, He recited the Mantram, or Manikyamikung of Chenrezig, let's see, the Dung Cheep, whatever. That's it. One hundred million times. This he did by reciting every day of his life a minimum of at least 5,000 recitations. And this was just... Here we're talking about just basic preliminary practices, just to give an idea that he did many other meditations that he...

[51:20]

He recited the mantra of the green Tara some 10 million times and that of the white Tara some 18 million times. And similarly, the mantra of Mahakala is sung ten million times. So you can see then that he did not... he did anything but ignore or downplay the importance of these foundation practices. And what was the result? Gautama Mahaprabhu Rinpoche became known in his own lifetime as unequaled among the living teachers of Tibet as a real fountainhead of knowledge and experience of the Dharma, of the Buddhist teachings.

[52:52]

Both as a teacher, as a practitioner, he was known as a great master, and his his name is most highly revered, even up to the present moment, by all of the greatest teachers of Tibetan Buddhism, that his qualities are so great that it is hard for even other advanced teachers to patent him fully. through his own, through his training in these four foundation meditations, he became able to become a great teacher, to attain great realisations for himself and for others' sake, to communicate those to others, and without obstacle to spread the teachings of the Dharma among many people in many directions at a time when Dharma has grown quite weak in the world.

[54:04]

So in a very... In a very real sense, too, we ourselves are beneficiaries of his training in those same foundation meditations. Through his taking the trouble to prepare himself to become a teacher, then he has, through his own transmission of those teachings and insights, we ourselves have become beneficiaries and have the possibility of becoming and of achieving those same results and experiences through our own practice. So that will just give one example of why these four foundation practices are indeed to be taken seriously. Do you understand? At the end of the day, they are so one. I don't believe it.

[55:06]

I don't believe it. I don't believe it. I don't believe it. That's when you hear the story. [...] When I was young, I used to go to school.

[56:06]

I used to go to school. [...] I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. You understand what I'm saying?

[57:08]

You understand what I'm saying? You understand what I'm saying? You understand what I'm saying? I don't know if you can hear me, but I can't hear you. I don't know if you can hear me. don't they patina joseon we're going to send a trembling because simple people sent only a little now you're not going to see control something change in the community magic a lot in that you know I understand that knowing some relative to the particular now you know control Sunday

[58:54]

Then, if you don't have money, [...] There is a lot of people, there is a [...] lot of people, Then you get the njiri kongji some day.

[59:58]

That's right. That's the yul, let's say, yul. Yul. Chul. Yeah. That's right. That's the njiri kongji. That's the njiri kongji. That's the njiri kongji. Okay. That's the njiri kongji. That's the njiri kongji. That's the njiri kongji. To resume our discussion of the first of these four foundation meditations that are refuge, we will review some of the main features of instruction for the practice of the refuge.

[61:13]

These instructions which Rinpoche is giving us do not differ in the slightest from the taught and written by his own teacher, Gautama Avalokiteshvara Rinpoche, and other great masters. Now, in considering the foundation practice of refuge, of the refuge, we have to note five topics. They are cause, the object,

[62:22]

In other words, the cause of refuge, the object of refuge, the mode or method of refuge, means of refuge, the benefits of refuge, and the instructions for refuge. But let's turn to the first of these, the cause of refuge. Actually, there are three causes, three primary causes, which impel the thinking Buddhist to seek refuge, or the thinking person to seek refuge in the Buddhist trinity. They are Did you all have this last week? Did you go through others? Yes, that's right.

[63:26]

Fear, faith, and compassion. Fear, faith, and compassion. No, that's funny. No, that's funny. No, that's funny. All right. To repeat, these three are fear, faith and compassion. By fear we mean a sense of uneasiness about human existence, the conditions of human existence, that human existence involves us in

[64:43]

a state of general unsatisfactoriness, that there is not only the experience of real and imagined suffering, but also the experience of impermanence, constant change, of death and the separation from that which is dear to us, the meeting with that which is very disagreeable to us, and so forth. it is a sense of insecurity, an awareness that human existence does involve a great deal of gross and subtle pain and has within it the potential for the experience even of unbearable pains.

[65:59]

And in spite of the pleasures which it also affords, that even these, are unstable, subject to change and impermanence, and cannot be clung to as real supports. Then through reflection upon the principles of karma or of karmic cause and effect, when one contemplates the sufferings that unfortunate beings who, even in the human realm, find themselves afflicted by misfortune tragedy, not to mention the terrible sufferings which we see prevails in the animal worlds and which we see, which we understand prevails in the lower realms, the hell realms and the ghost realms, that we see that all of these experiences of

[67:26]

of pain, of gross pain, are the result of karmic actions, of unwholesome actions of body, voice and mind perpetrated through carelessness and through our minds being governed by negative emotions, desire, hatred, delusion and delight. So through an awareness of this general unsatisfactoriness of worldly existence, of ego-centered worldly existence and of its results, its karmic results in the future, we develop a healthy sense of fear. of fear of what might happen if we continue to allow our mind to act selfishly and deludedly and carelessly. So then through reflecting upon the... And so this sense of fear

[68:47]

of healthy fear impels us to realize that something should be done about it and causes us to develop an interest in the protection and guidance of the Three Jewels, the Buddhist trinity of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. When we reflect upon the qualities of the Three Jewels, the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, or more specifically upon the qualities of the Enlightened One, the Buddha himself, we develop a sense of confidence, an ability to rely upon his guidance with with real trust, not merely through belief or through a sense of wanting it to be so, but because we realize that through his compassionate efforts on our behalf for over

[70:03]

very long periods of time that he did indeed attain a state of illumination, that the insight the enlightened insight which he has attained is one which does truly perceive the true nature, which does rightly perceive the true nature of all modes of being, of all phenomena, that his unerring insight is truly authentic and valid. and that his omniscience, his omniscient wisdom is unobstructed.

[71:06]

Not only is he endowed with transcendent wisdom, but with great compassion for beings that the Buddha even though liberated from delusion and sufferings himself, never for a single instant turns away from unenlightened beings, but as the culmination or the expression of the fulfillment of his many prayers to become able to help beings over countless eons of time in order to remove their sufferings, that he has that his mind of enlightenment, of wisdom, is also non-dually one of wisdom and great compassion, that he perceives every living being just as a mother might regard her only child, that is, with very deep affection,

[72:31]

fondness and a wish only for that child's well-being. And in this regard for the well-being of beings, the Buddha's mind of great compassion is constant and spontaneous. Further, not only is he endowed with wisdom, with transcendent wisdom and great compassion, but also with tremendous spiritual powers. And that translates into the ability to work among beings for their good. in countless ways, in countless world systems, the Buddha is acting constantly on behalf of beings through many exercises and skill and means to help beings to develop virtue,

[73:51]

insight and a sense of loving compassion for one another, in other words, dharmic qualities. So just as his wisdom and compassion are unlimited and unchecked, they're not hindered by anything whatsoever, so are his spiritual powers, that they are similarly unobstructed. And so through his having attained on our behalf these perfections of wisdom, compassion and power, he has become for human beings the highest kind of refuge, the highest source of strength, guidance, protection.

[75:03]

When one reflects upon qualities such as these, such as those which he embodies, one develops a sense of confident reliance, of trust and reliance upon his guidance. And whenever one remembers, this is called taking refuge through faith, or really through confidence. Remember, fear, faith, and compassion. When everyone reflects upon his good qualities, this is called belief, or the faith of belief, or the confidence that comes through belief.

[76:17]

believe that the Buddha is enlightened, that there is benefit to be obtained through one's practice and through one's taking refuge. This constitutes a more creedal aspect, merely an expression of one's belief. Even without knowing it also, you just think that for various good reasons and because wise people tell you so, that you think it must be so. That's belief. But higher than that is confidence. Confidence, the faith of confidence, which means a real logical and painstaking examination of the qualities of Buddhahood and all that can be ascertained about him and his teachings, all of these develop within us a sense of confidence, and that is superior to mere belief. Then the third cause for taking refuge is compassion.

[77:27]

When one reflects upon all those beings in this world and in others whose conditions of existence do not allow them any hope for an immediate hope for attaining these teachings of liberation and the prospect of gaining freedom from the realm of birth and death, and whose conditions in fact really consign them to a very long future of further deluded suffering. then when one contemplates the unhappiness of those beings and their prospects for future unhappiness, realizing that they are less fortunate than you yourself,

[78:40]

and not having knowledge of the path to enlightenment, to liberation from suffering, nor having any knowledge of, any sense of of protection, any connection or protection with three jewels, or any spiritual friends to steer them from powers of non-virtue and suffering, but are through delusion only accumulating for themselves the causes of further and greater suffering in the future, then when you contemplate the lot of those beings, it is then that one feels a sense of sadness, of sorrow, of real grief,

[80:04]

to see beings who are, if we only knew it, as close to us as the members of our own family, and who through ignorance and through lack of means are only compounding their great... their sorrow for themselves and their suffering for themselves and for other beings. And... Thank you. This... This... When one finds it... difficult to contemplate such suffering on such a large scale of time and place, then one realizes that one cannot ignore them, that it is cruel to ignore the sufferings of these beings.

[81:17]

and develops a sense of urgency to do something on their behalf, to do something, whatever one can, to remove those sufferings and those prospects of suffering, and to do all that is in one's power to help them out of those their plight. So with this sense of compassion, of feeling of fellowship and compassion for all those other beings, one feels compelled, one feels empowered to take refuge and undertake to follow the spiritual path for their sakes. That is true. I don't know.

[82:39]

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Yes. Yes. Yes. The second topic is that of the object of refuge.

[83:57]

These should be quite familiar to you, so we'll merely review what you have probably heard before. That is, the object of a Buddhist refuge is the Buddhist trinity of Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, that is, the enlightened one, or the Buddha, his teachings, or the Dhamma, and his assembly or community, that is, the Sangha. Now, who is the Buddha in whom we take refuge? He is the enlightened one who has obtained two bodies of enlightenment.

[85:20]

That is, through his accumulation of merit and wisdom, he has obtained the form body, that is, the Sambhogaya and Namanakaya bodies, and through his accumulation of wisdom has obtained the Dharmakaya, or the body of reality. It is this an enlightened being upon whom we Buddhists rely as our guide, as our spiritual guide, to the attainment of that same state of enlightenment. The Dharma, briefly put, is the path. which we follow to enlightenment, from unenlightened to enlightenment. It consists of, it has a dual aspect, it is both the

[86:26]

the teachings and the realizations. The teachings are comprised of the three collections of Buddhist literature, that is, the Vinaya, the code of discipline, the sutras, or the direct words of the Buddha, the direct teachings of the Buddha, and the Abhidharma, that is, commentaries on the words of the Buddha. Now, the second aspect of the Dharma are the realizations. The realizations are those experiences of the path and of the result of the path, that is, of the state of enlightenment, which are experienced by a Buddhist follower of the Great Way.

[87:40]

They belong to the three classes. of insight, that is, those which are derived from through three types of training. The experiences which come about as a result of training in, one, in moral discipline. Two, training in meditative techniques.

[88:42]

And three, training in insight or wisdom. That is, the training through both analysis and meditative absorption to perceive directly such principles as selflessness, emptiness, and delight. All right. These are the experiences to which the Buddhist literature, the teachings refer. All right. Now, where are we? Now, the Sangha, what is the nature of the Sangha or the Buddhist community, which is an object, a third object of wreckage? The nature, I mean, the Buddhist community, which we refer to here, is the assembly of great bodhisattvas.

[89:51]

who have already attained the first bhumi, or the first stage of bodhisattvahood. They are those bodhisattvas who dwell on one or another of the first to the tenth bhumis, or spiritual stages of bodhisattvahood. And it is in that assembly of great bodhisattvas that we place our confidence as spiritual guides on the path, as spiritual helpers and friends on the path. Intermission. Sondji ma sotjikwa, nawa nan den bako.

[91:37]

Sorosan. Dzokwa sondji tandingdiye nana sedu. Sondji nana nipati yi. Blan piyam bako. Dabata tongchichi blan piyam bako. Sorosan gori. Ambu chun nana kiasi chur turbi. When I was a child, I used to go to school with my father.

[93:19]

I used to go to school with my father. [...] I think you mentioned already five different ways of doing refuge. If too early has been just Japs do yuk, or who do Japs do refuge. And the Japs do yuk, which is what object do Japs do. And then Japs do tsu, which is the third one. And how do you do Japs do?

[94:20]

Japs do is to take refuge, right? And this is what he's talking now. And we... is that when you do practice, be sure to concentrate each verse and when you do the prayer, when you say that and do... visualize that your own lama to lead me

[95:04]

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