In the past, when I was young, I used to go to the temple to pray to the Buddha. When [...] I was young, I used to go to the temple to pray to the Buddha. In the past, when I was young, I used to go to the temple to pray to the Buddha. I would pray to the Buddha, and the Buddha would tell me what I should do. [...] This is what I want to say to you.

[01:02]

I'm going to read a quote. You will recall from our... You will recall from our many sessions of study in the Lande lecture series that it is of utmost importance that we approach these lectures with the right attitude.

[02:51]

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 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

[04:01]

in order to promote the enlightenment of all living beings without exception. This entails a recognition of 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. So, when one seeks out teaching of Mahayanist doctrine, one should approach those occasions of study with a sense of purpose, a sense of

[05:29]

attention and respect. And especially when one is engaged in learning the tantric practices of the Vajrayana path, such as we have undertaken to do with our studies in the Lamdre and in the foundation meditations, which will prepare us for tantric meditations. There are Vajrayana practices, which also serve to enhance these sessions of study. In particular, you should not think of the situation as being an ordinary one of human beings gathered to discuss one or another topic.

[06:47]

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 boredness. And 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

[07:56]

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 ordinary person, but you are none other than Maitreya Sri Bodhisattva Himself, the great Bodhisattva of wisdom, who tirelessly seeks out the teachings of enlightenment on behalf of unenlightened beings. then you should think of all the appearances of teacher, of student, of one's environment, all of this as being, as appearing, as owing its appearance to interdependent origination, that is, that there is nothing

[09:26]

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 has its, which definitely has formed an appearance, but in itself is nothing substantial, 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.

[10:42]

So by remembering this, one's own wisdom is deepened and one's act 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. 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 principles which we have just explained, then what the efforts today in

[11:51]

learning the practices, learning something of the teachings and practices of Mahayana Buddhism would be a greatly enriched relationship. The Countless teachings of enlightenment uttered by Lord Buddha have maybe categorized as belonging either to the lesser or the greater vehicles. That is, those teachings which are... those teachings of the lesser or Hinayana vehicle which are designed to bring about individual salvation and those teachings which belong to the Mahayana or greater vehicles which are designed to promote universal liberation.

[13:06]

Now, we here are followers of the Mahayana school of practice and in our own studies at this center We are concerned with the, 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. In our own course of study and practice at this center, we will be attempting, we are attempting to combine the two, exoteric and esoteric.

[14:16]

In our efforts, whether it be study, or study, meditation, or the accumulation of merit and virtuous actions, and so forth, we should Keep in mind the three elements. Keep in mind three elements which must be present in our 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.

[15:50]

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 see. So, 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 the two types of preparatory practices.

[17:03]

You're 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 Moojan Kuntal Sundar. There, in the ordinary preliminary practices, we learnt to meditate upon the unsatisfactoriness of worldly existence, the certainty of death, 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 meditation.

[18:18]

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. Now, the second type of preliminary practices are called the esoteric or the extraordinary foundation meditations. They are a feature of the Vajrayana autonomous system of meditation.

[19:19]

Here one seeks to prepare one's whole being, body, voice and mind for advanced tantric practices through a series of foundation practices. They are four or five in number, depending on how you count it. Firstly, the taking of refuge, the purification meditation of Vajrasattva, the mandala offering, the guru yoga meditation, and

[20:23]

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 such as Sakya, in which Rinpoche will explain what you need to know about each of these preliminary practices and give you direct guidance in the way in which they are to be It needs to be stressed that the training in these four preliminary or foundation meditations, as we'll call them, is essential if one

[21:52]

aspires to attain enlightenment through relying upon Vajrayana principles. 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.

[22:57]

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. It is not right to meditate upon Aryatara, upon the Goddess Tara, without having completed Foundation Meditations. There is a 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 prerequisites.

[24:04]

When a beginner first undertakes to... first embarks upon the path of Buddhist study, meditation, and other practices, he or she will usually 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, the doctrines, the practices, will be liable to experience weakness in faith, weakness in interest,

[25:16]

doubts, confusion, and discouragement. 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 and strengthening one's mind in a sense of of confidence, not only about the validity of the Dharma, the authenticity of such principles as enlightenment, liberation, the possibility of Buddhahood, so forth, but also strengthens one in self-confidence, a sense of clarity of purpose and confidence in one's ability

[27:07]

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

[28:09]

That is floating. Am I going too slow? Then the second of these four foundation meditations is that of the Vajrasattva meditation. Its primary purpose is one of purification through the 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, insanity, and things like that.

[29:17]

These will be purified through the meditation of Sri Bhajansatva. Now, after having through these first two preliminary practices, or more or less remove the obstacles to one's entering into practice and sustaining later meditation, one needs to build upon that. 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, body, voice, mind, all that you identify with, one's entire universe is offered up through this mandala offering and through this one overcomes a sense of attachment

[30:36]

to I in mind, 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 the impulses of the mind, but accumulates in the process a tremendous store of merit just by the fact of being able to, or willing to give up all that you, to give up all selfishness in order to achieve the highest good of all living beings. a great deal of merit is acquired even by thinking in this way and by practicing this meditation of the mandala offering, one accumulates great merit.

[31:52]

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 nature of, the real nature of phenomena, insight into the nature of ultimate reality, 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.

[32:53]

These experiences, however, really depend a great deal upon one's having a good qualified teacher. who has experienced Him 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 Mahamudri insight, or insight into the non-dual clarity and boredness of one's own mind. depend a great deal upon the skill of one's teacher. So in order to develop a sense of clear-minded and trusty, confident rapport with one's teacher, one trains next in the

[34:03]

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. So, you can see then that this training of... this training in the four... these four preliminary practices does have purposes which are considered valid and important by experienced Buddhist meditators.

[35:15]

And that further they are, as we said, prerequisite to successful practices on the Vajrayana path. When you hear meditators, the teachers of meditation, or when you read about them, declaring that they have attained such and such realizations, or have experienced such and such states in their... 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

[36:32]

It's not communicated out of a sense of pride and accomplishments or through sheer boastfulness, but are spoken in the context of 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 will be in need of assurance about the validity of their practice and their results.

[37:42]

So, since spiritual attainments, realizations, are indeed the result of right efforts in practice. We need to take seriously the words of those teachers, those teachers of meditation, who have stressed to us the importance of mastering these four foundation practices. For example, we have the word of Rinpoche's own great teacher, Avalokiteshvara Rinpoche's own great teacher, Gautama Avalokiteshvara Rinpoche, who at the age of 15,

[38:54]

and began his own career as a meditator with the performance of... Which is the... At the moment I'm trying to change the capital of the country. What was his name? Jogesh Saiji. Being a Nazi, he became a Jogi. He became a Jogi. At the end of Tokyo, who began his own career as a meditator through the practice of the four foundation meditations. Now, keeping in mind that all that All that is required of a beginner is that he perform 100,000 refuges, 100,000 prostrations, 100,000 recitations of Vajrasattva's mantra, 100,000 of the Guru Yoga recitation, and 100,000 mandala offerings.

[40:12]

500,000 in all, including prostrations. This is the basic requirement for the amount that you need to train yourself. But Gatanavan Lekharamache did not stop with merely a hundred thousand recitations or performances. For example, during his youth, he recited the refuge formula 2,400,000 times rather than 100,000 times. He recited the Vajrasattva mantra 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 100,000.

[41:38]

And he performed the guru yoga practice in which he took Sakyapandita himself as his guru. He performed that. 6,500,000 times rather than 100,000. And he, in the recitation of mantras, he recited the mantra, Om Mani Padme Hum, of Chenrezig. 100 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.

[42:56]

Just to give an idea that he did many other meditations. He recited the 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 some 2 million times so you can see then that he did not He did anything but ignore or downplay the importance of these foundation practices.

[44:03]

And what was the result? Gautama Lama Nibbāla Rūpa Rinpoche became known in his own lifetime as unequaled among the living teachers of Tibet, as a real fountainhead of of knowledge and experience of the Dharma, of the Buddhist teachings. Both as a teacher, as a practitioner, he was known as a great master. And his name is most highly revered, even up to the present moment, by all of the greatest teachers of Tibetan Buddhism. His qualities are so great that it is hard for even other advanced teachers to fully fathom them, to fathom them fully. And through his own, through his training in these four foundation meditations, he became able to become a great teacher, to attain great realizations.

[45:17]

for himself, for others' sake, to communicate the same foundation of meditation, 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 kind of achieving those same results, experiences, through our own practice. So that will just give one example of why these four foundation practices are indeed to be taken seriously. I can't remember till now so many. Jewels. [...] And to resume our discussion of the first of these four foundation meditations that are refuge.

[46:46]

We will review some of the main features of the instruction for the practice of the refuge. These instructions are, which Rinpoche is giving us, do not differ in the slightest from the instructions taught and written by his own teacher, Gautama Nagarjuna, and other great masters. Considering the foundation practice of refuge, of the refuge, we have to note five topics.

[48:04]

They are cause, the object, 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. Now, 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?

[49:10]

Did you go through all this? Bigger face. Yes, that's right. Fear, faith, and compassion. Fear, faith, and compassion. Okay. Good. Not really. Good. Let's concentrate. All right. To repeat, these three are fear, faith, and compassion. By fear we mean a sense of uneasiness about the about human existence, the conditions of human existence.

[50:21]

That human existence involves us in 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, that it is a sense of insecurity and 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, and in spite of the pleasures which it also affords,

[51:41]

that even these are unstable, subject to change and impermanence, and cannot be clung to as real supports. Then, through reflection upon the law of the principles of karma or karmic cause and effect when one contemplates these 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 prevail in the animal world and which we see, which we understand prevails in the lower realms, the hell realms and the ghost realms.

[52:52]

We see that all of these experiences of pain, gross pain, are the result of karmic actions, of unwholesome actions of body, voice and mind, perpetrated through carelessness and through being, through our minds being governed by negative emotions, desire, hatred, delusion and the like. So, through an awareness of this, 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, fear of what might happen if we continue to allow our mind to selfishly and deludedly and carelessly.

[53:56]

So, then through reflecting upon the And so this sense of fear, 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. 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 real trust, not merely through belief or through

[55:06]

a sense of wanting it to be so, but because we realized that through his compassionate efforts on our behalf for over very long periods of time that he did indeed attain a state of illumination, that the what is 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 is, and erring inside is truly authentic and valid, and that his omniscience, his omniscient wisdom is unobstructed.

[56:21]

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 being over countless eons of time in order to remove their suffering, 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,

[57:37]

very deep affection, fondness, and a wish only for that child's well-being. And in this regard, for the well-being of beings, Lord 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 in skill and means to help beings to develop greater insight and sense of loving compassion for one another.

[59:05]

In other words, dharmic qualities. So, just as his wisdom and compassion are unlimited, unchecked, they're not hindered by anything whatsoever, so are his spiritual powers. But they are similarly unobstructed. 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. 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.

[60:25]

This, and when one, whenever one remembers, this is called, and this is called, the taking refuge through faith, or really through confidence. Remember, fear, faith, and compassion. So, and when everyone... When everyone reflects upon his good qualities, this is called belief. or the faith of belief, or the confidence that it comes through belief, that you just 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 the more fatal aspect, merely an expression of one's belief, even without knowing it to be so.

[61:28]

You just think that for various good reasons, and because wise people tell you, sir, that you think it must be so. That's belief in the Three Jewels. But higher than that is confidence. Confidence, the faith of confidence, which means a real logical and painstaking examination of the qualities of Buddhahood, all that can be ascertained about him and his teachings. All of these develop within us a sense of a confidence and that is superior to mere belief. Then the third cause for taking refuge is compassion. When one reflects upon all those beings in this world and in others who are... whose...

[62:30]

These conditions of existence do not allow them any immediate hope for attaining these teachings of liberation and the prospect of gaining freedom from the realm of birth and death. And these conditions, in fact, really consign them a very long future of further deluded suffering, then when one contemplates the unhappiness of those beings and the prospects for future unhappiness, and their prospects for future unhappiness, realizing that they are less fortunate than you yourself, and not having knowledge of the path to enlightenment, to liberation from suffering, nor having any knowledge of, any sense of protection, any connection or protection with three jewels, or any spiritual friends to steer them from paths of non-virtue and of suffering.

[64:00]

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 to see beings who are, if we only knew it as close to us as our own, as the members of our own family, and who through ignorance and through lack of needs are only compounding their great... their sorrow for themselves and their suffering for themselves and for other beings.

[65:08]

And... this... this... when one finds it difficult to contemplate their 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, and develops a sense of urgency to do something on their behalf, to do something, whatever one can. to remove those sufferings and the prospects of suffering, and to do all that is in one's power to help them out of their plight.

[66:15]

So with this sense of compassion, of feeling of fellowship and compassion for all those other beings, one feels compelled, one feels impelled to take refuge and undertake to follow the spiritual path for their sakes. The topic is that of the object of refuge. This 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, Dharma and Sangha, that is the Enlightened One, or the Buddha, His teachings, or the Dharma, and His assembly, or community, that is the Sangha.

[67:20]

Now, who is the Buddha? in whom we take refuge. He is the enlightened one who has obtained the two bodies of enlightened. That is, through his accumulation of merit and wisdom, he has obtained the four body, that is, the sambhoga and nirmanakaya bodies, and through his accumulation of wisdom has attained the dharmakaya, or the body of reality. It is this enlightened being upon whom we Buddhists rely as our guide, as our spiritual guide, to the attainment of that same state of enlightenment.

[68:24]

The dharma, briefly put, is the path which we follow to enlightenment, from unenlightenment to enlightenment. It consists of, it has a dual aspect, it is both the teachings and the realizations. The teachings are comprised of the three collections of Buddhist literature, that is the 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.

[69:26]

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 the... by a Buddhist follower of the Great Way. They are... They belong either, belong to the three classes of insight. That is, those which are derived from through three types of training. The experiences which grow out, which come about as a result of training in, one, in moral discipline.

[70:39]

Two, training in meditative techniques. And three, training in insight or meditate, pardon me, wisdom. That is, the training to, through both analysis and meditative absorption, to perceive directly such principles as selflessness, emptiness of the life. All right. These are the experiences to which the Buddhist literature, the teachings, refer. All right. Now, where are we? the Sangha, what is the nature of the Sangha or the Buddhist community, which is an object, a third object of refuge. The nature of the Buddhist community, which we refer to here, is the assembly of great Bodhisattvas who have

[71:53]

already attained the first bhumi or the first stage of bodhisattvahood. They are those bodhisattvas who dwell on one or another of the first through the tenth bhumis or spiritual stages of bodhisattvahood. It is in that assembly of great bodhisattvas that we place our confidence as spiritual guides, on the path by spiritual helpers and friends on the path. That's it.

[72:56]

That's it. [...] Very good. We're going to have a very brief intermission. Can I ask you to speak up just a little bit? Because we're recording. Okay. We don't want to miss anything. Refuge. Two already has been Japs do yu, who to do refuge.

[74:00]

And Japs do yu, which is put object to Japs do. And then Japs do tsu, which is this third one. And how to do Japs do? Japs do is to take refuge, right? And this is what we're talking now. When you do practice, be sure to do constitute each verses with the constitute and when you do the prayer, when you say that and do visualize that your own Lama to lead me to, until I be enlightened, to lead me to Buddhahood.

[75:03]

And in the third verse, then Buddha and Bodhisattvas to show me the road. And that's second one. Dhammi chö nam la gyab su chö, which is the Buddha's teaching. What you practice, that's the teaching you are, what you're going to do, the practice. Dhammi chö, chö tse ma gyei. That's what you're going to do. That's the two. For example, like four verses. First one, this is a short explanation. As first one says, say like, show me, lead me the road, and then, I'm sure, something, show me the road. And this is the road itself. And the number one, Lam is road.

[76:17]

Way. The road, the real road. Road. And then, Papa Gendrona Gyatpochung, the Buddha, all the monks who helped me and to come with me, be your friend to protect the on the road. I don't want it. I don't want it. When you say, it's very important that you do mindfully, and when you say the word, and you, you know, think about what you're saying.

[77:26]

It's not just a mumbling in the mouth, because that may have a little blessing, but it's not much. So, every, each verse you say and think about in your mind is very important. If you don't understand English, please stop and ask the question, because... First verse, if you visualize the Lama, shows us the road. Yes, he really would lead me that way, to lead me. The second one shows the road. And third one, that's the real road, you're in road now, right? You're going in road. A fourth one is the monks to... Come with you, help you in protecting the Lord. Thank you. When you use the rosary, tonga, which I think many people use mala, and we notice that some are holding down and some holding just one hand and anywhere they wish, but it's proper way you hold this above your heart and hold it

[78:48]

And hold it this high. And this is inside when you count. And this is just holding up. So holding up like this. And this just hold up. And this is a count with your finger inside. This means all the... The blessing it come to in your mind. So you hold this and counting inside. And it's like in Western, your mind is in here. But in Buddhism, Tibetan mind is in here. So you want to receive the blessing from Buddha in your mind. blessing in mind, so it's holding back your blessing inside, not outside.

[80:08]

I noticed some people using backward too. That's not the way. But I can't stop, you know, sometimes I've seen it. This is the way. Yes, come to the left hand, you can hold this. If you sit and use it, maybe if you're walking you may have to use it, like, you know, while you're doing something with that. That is, Papa will do the left hand counting and hold it up in about this. What I did just now, I did it like this. [...] I Then he said, if you want to be a monk, you have to be a monk. He said, if you want to be a monk, you have to be a monk. He said, if you want to be a monk, you have to be a monk.

[81:12]

He said, if you want to be a monk, you have to be a monk. He said, if you want to be a monk, you have to be a monk. He said, if you want to be a monk, you have to be a monk. In the past, when we were young, [...] And this is our fourth one. This is the Yangtze virtue, how much. And Buddha himself said that if he explained this, how much virtue you have when you do jangdo, you cannot even, you know, count it.

[82:22]

It's countless and tremendous that even the fall of the sky. But this is a very just short explanation. He's going to say that jungle is the most important thing. Jungle is what? Refugee foundation? I don't know. Yeah. Refugee is jungle. Right. So this, Jambu is not only just a beginning foundation, it's everything. And without Jambu, you are not really a religious person. And if you finish Jambu, then you are a very faithful religious person. Jambu is so important. I don't know what to say.

[83:27]

I don't know what to say. [...] If you do it in the jungle, even the evil and devils who try to harm you, they can't harm you at all. And this is just this life. And then also in the next life, or any end of life, you will be enlightened with doing it in the jungle. and you getting married. And anything you wish for, wish fulfilled.

[84:29]

Devotee speaking. And first he said Jambro is one here, Mr. Ang, was how important, just like, you know, you must do Jambro first because Jambro is like a foundation seed And it's butter and milk. You know how, how do you say?

[85:33]

We say, you know, butter without butter and milk is very weak. And then this short story that said in India, there was a monk, a full-bowed monk who was in a retreat. And then he, when the disciple came in, brought a piece of woolen into his, the woolen piece was nice and warm, or, you know, some kind of clothes he used. So he gave that, and there was a burglar, he saw this disciple was carrying to one, going to give it to this monk. So then after the disciple left and the monk looked, it was really nice, he wanted to use it. But he was inside and there was, right after, this burglar came and said he wanted that woolen, you know, somebody give you, he want that. So this monk said, well, I can't give you from the door because he doesn't want him to come through the door, but I will give you from the window.

[86:41]

And then the Buddha said, OK. So he said, well, you both put both hands through the window. He first put in one hand and said, give it to me. And the monk said, no, this is the tradition in Buddhism. And when you ask something with both hands, receiving something, you know, giving both hands. So you put both hands through the window and I will give you my willing both hands to you. So he said, OK, so he opened the window up and then the black man who put his hand both inside. So he tied his both hands, tied really hard with rope and then brought a stick and beat him. And every time he beat Salaam Alaikum many times, then this man was almost just fall all over. He hardly walked. So then he released, let's go home now. So this, the Vibhula thought, oh that's terrible, he has no way to ask him again, you know, he was just so all over.

[87:47]

And then he was walking back, it was dark, and then on the way, there was a bridge, and on the way, and he thought, oh that's funny, the monk, because every time he beat me, he used that, but he memorized, you know, that too, because he, I heard it so many times. He was saying Lama Lajaputra, Sanjaya Lajaputra, and there was lots of evils, devils coming through, like the spirit who haunts him all his life. But when he said Lama Lajaputra, Sanjaya Lajaputra, not Tibetan language, Sanskrit language, because this is happening in India. And so he saw, and they all tried to find a human body to, you know, the spirit. But when he was saying this loudly, he saw all of, they tried, come to you, get him. But when he said this loud, and this all around, went away, said, oh no, we can't do, because he's the one who's doing refuge.

[88:51]

He had a protection. Even he didn't know what meaning was. He's not much virtue, even didn't know the meaning. didn't harm him and he got, he was saved by saying this. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it.

[89:31]

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