I'm drinking water. I go in this second boat here. We're doing clockwise around the central mandala in the second. Thank you. Yeah, I suppose. All right, in the next bowl you place paddy, bathing water. What's the next thing? We pass fruit? No, no. In the third bowl you put rice. You'll notice that this rice stands for an offering of flowers.

[01:06]

Or you can just offer a flower. As you notice that, you may be able to see that the rice stands for that. I thought I had started. Nine o'clock. Point. Point. Nine o'clock is the right thing. OK, I'll do it this way. Right here in front of me is water. Six o'clock. All right. Now going clockwise around in a circle. OK. Water. Again, water for bathing. Third, flowers. Yes, you'll all have a very good chance to study this arrangement here.

[02:09]

I'm sorry we can't. Okay, in the third bowl, flowers. In the fourth bowl, incense. It's rice with, as you notice, sticks of incense. Then at 12 o'clock you have lights, a candle or an offering, what do you call it, butter lamp. That's at 12 o'clock. About 1.30, I'd say, you call it. You have another bowl of scented water. This represents perfume or perfumed water, fragrant water. At 3 o'clock you have an offering of fruit which is an offering of, it can be a, it's just an offering of, an offering food, an offering cake or anything that's symbolic of food.

[03:15]

Here we have an apple. Okay? At about 4.30 you have a final bowl filled with rice. Now, in the Kajupa system, Kajupa Mandala, you sometimes will see a pair of small symbols. We have rice. This represents music. So, we have a final bowl of rice at 4.30 which represents music, an offering of music. So, to repeat, you have an offering of drinking water, pure drinking water, pure bathing water, flowers, incense, lights, perfume, offering of food and an offering of music.

[04:35]

These are offerings, these are the offerings which according to Indian tradition are to be made to the gods, to the celestials. According to The great master, Gayadhara, who was one of the successors to Virupa, one should make offerings, make those offerings to the gods, make, one should offer to the gods those things which are prized as offerings among humans themselves. So these are symbolic offerings of the things that one would offer to someone that you wish to show respect or honor to, things that would be needed, prized, and accepted as an offering of respect. All right. So one's central mandala,

[05:38]

should be surrounded by these seven symbolic offerings. Now there are two, you need two mandala discs. On your shrine, that is, the table that you have set up for your offering purposes, you will place the first mandala as it has been described here. That is called your rupi-mandala, or your... There's no... Yes, sir. I'll call you. Yes. Yes. I don't know how to translate this except very awkwardly.

[06:48]

It's it means something like the. You know how to translate it awkwardly. I can't even think of the words. Rupee ten, yes. Yes. Alright. May I request your help? I don't know how to translate rupee ten in any way that makes sense. Ta, nanya mongala, ula, kala lamanya, jupa, ini, nona, iram, ila sanji, jala sanrat niram, Yes. Oh, I see. Well, for want of a better term, this, the first mandala,

[08:13]

is maybe called the shrine in the sense that it constitutes a representation of the object of worship, the object of your offering. In other words, the recipient of your offerings. Each of these mounds are symbolic of the gurus, the buddhas, the dharma and the sangha. And you should visualize that on all sides, that this mandala is surrounded by the actual is actually surrounded by the preceptors, the Buddhas, and in back, of course, as yesterday in the refuge shrine you had the Buddhas on one side, the Dharma represented in the back, the Sangha on the left and so forth.

[09:55]

In this way you should visualize your shrine mandala as associated or representing the recipients of your offering. Now in your hand you hold another, a second mandala disc. This is called your offering mandala as opposed to your shrine mandala or as distinguished from your shrine mandala. This is the disc which you actually use for making your repeated offerings. Yes, sir. [...] This is the disc which you actually use for making your repeated offerings.

[10:58]

Yes, sir. This is the disc which you actually use Namaste. You take raw, karawa, king. You remember it. You take many good truth. Just only one. Just it. That you remember good. Remember good one more. That one more you know. Number two more you know. Number two more you know. I'm going to do it. [...] So, we are going to talk a little bit about what we are going to talk about today.

[12:01]

I prefer, or choose, dam kache. Wish? Wish? Yes. Now let's turn to the second mandala, which you will, as we said, keep in your hand for the actual offering exercise.

[13:31]

Now, this mandala may be fashioned only of certain materials. Ideally, it should be a mandala of either silver or gold. However, you may, if you haven't a disc of silver or gold, it is all right to use a mandala fashioned of wood or stone. Copper. Oh yes, yes, yes. It could be of these substances. Wood, stone, bronze or bell metal.

[14:32]

Yes, copper. Copper is zong, is copper, but it's really sort of yaks for them. Yes, I do understand that. That's what I'm saying, what they're using. All right. All right, not steel. Copper. bronze, bell metal, stone That's a bronze. That's a bell metal, isn't it? Sort of like whatever. Anyhow, bell metal is your alloys, you know. What do you call it? Your alloys to come and mix with other metals. That's... I was just trying to... Yes, okay. We've got to move along. Please... Yes.

[16:06]

Wood, stone. However, please note that if you choose to use one of the lesser substances, that is, anything but gold and silver, your mandala should be much larger. A mandala of silver and gold should be one toe in length. That is the length from your outstretched thumb to the tip of your forefinger. That's one toe. Got it? Should be that, the diameter of your mandala should be that wide. All right? This one. All right. This one. No, this is what he said. This is toe. Yeah.

[17:08]

As we were saying, it's from here to here. This is just what I told you. This. Yes. From the tip of your, from your middle finger to your thumb. Your second type of mandala, that is fashioned of wood or other base metals, should be... What did you call this? should be one true in length, which is the length from your elbow, the tip of your elbow to the tip of your middle finger. True. T-R-U. What's that?

[18:23]

If it's made of wood, copper, bronze, etc. So you're just talking about the offering mandala. That's right, yes, the offering mandala. Okay. So, and according to Gata-Ngawang Lhakpa Rinpoche, if you have a choice between these two, like a smaller gold and silver mandala or a larger mandala of wood or so, you should choose the larger. I believe he said originally we should use the silver or gold record. According to Gautama and Labrador Maitreya, it's better to choose the larger because then you're... No, if somebody else asks you... Yes, sir. Supposing you have to choose from the two. If you are asking somebody, if he shows you a small silver or gold and he has a larger one, then you should choose. Yes, I think this is what I was indicating. The larger one. The silver or gold.

[19:26]

Now, I've run out of material. In the Tamil language, it is called Duna. Duna means mud, [...] Yes.

[20:35]

Now, upon your offering mandala, which you're holding in your hand, you should place mounds of, you have to make mounds, which are symbolic, as we will explain shortly. Now, these mounds, these five tiny mounds should be fashioned of only certain substances. First of all, the best, or ideally, you should make mounds of jewels. If you haven't jewels, then the next best type of substance to use would be would be of herbal medicines. There are certain types of medicines that you should use. Next best would be to use one of the five types of acceptable grain such as rice, wheat, barley,

[21:49]

and the like, that's lentils, and so forth. He didn't say, he said, et cetera. You should again, with this mandala, you should be very careful to make certain that it has been absolutely cleansed of all impurities, very well washed, and made absolutely spotless. Not only the surface, but every part of your mandala should be very well cleaned. Also, your hands should be very, very clean.

[22:53]

I'm going to read it. You need to terminate the curse. You have to release it. Yes. Now, first of all, the first thing you do is purify yourself and the offering mandala by the recitation of the hundred-syllable mantra.

[24:22]

While reciting this hundred-syllable mantra, you should rub the surface of your mandala of your mandala with the heel of your hand. I like that. I think that's right. Heel. Is this the heel? Well, anyhow, it's right here. The heel of your hand. And in your fingers you should clasp a few grains of rice because you should not do things empty-handed, religious things empty-handed like that. So you just hold a few symbolic grains of rice in your hand and rub the surface of the mandala while reciting a hundred-syllable mantra. Okay? Yes. The mandala disc should be held in your left hand and the offering, sorry, the execution of the offering should be made in the right hand.

[25:32]

As you recite this hundred-syllable mantra and make the rotating gesture, you should think that all of your sins and obscurations within have been absolutely purified. I'm going to talk about the mantra. Yes. Let us move over here. Let us let [...] Gata Ngawa and Lekpa Ramache spent 24 months, that is two years, in offering the mandala, in performing this mandala offering exercise.

[27:02]

At the end, as a result of so many offerings, the side of his arm had become quite calloused. mindrā-bhakti-jyoti-pūni, nirā-māna, kusu-kṣem-bhutuṅga-rīt, tuṅgo-gacchang-aṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅgaṅ That's it. That's it. I don't know.

[28:20]

I don't know. I don't know. It is called Lumba. [...] It is called Lumba So, I'm going to teach you how to do it.

[29:20]

So, I'm going to teach you how to do it. I mean, I told him, I got it. No, no, no, no. Dhyamma yawpo, kazi, pepe toju, sejindo toju, kazi, toju tanga pata, dhyamma kong, dhyamma gong, gong [...] gong,

[30:38]

Then you know the place where I'm going down, and I think that you know, you should be able to say no, [...] no Then he said, y'all saw what it is. Now y'all see what it is. Yeah, yeah, y'all see what it is. Now y'all see what it is. Yeah, yeah, y'all see what it is. Now [...] y'all see I don't know how to say it. I don't [...] know how to say it.

[31:44]

I don't know how to say it. [...] I don't know. I don't know. Rinpoche recalls that Gata Ngawan, like Rinpoche, his teacher, told him that

[32:44]

that, of an experience that he had as a result of offering the mandalas. Nalanda Paramahamsa started out as a very poor monk, very humble and poverty-stricken monk. But because of his great diligence in practice, and as we've indicated, because of his care in mastering just these basic foundation practices that we are discussing today, that as a result, his spiritual qualities became very well established and recognizable. At one time, he went to visit another very famous Sakya Lama, who was the disciple of one of the great abbots of Ngor.

[34:15]

Now this particular disciple, his name was Kunga Chökyi Wangpo. Chökyi Wangpo was also a contemporary and close friend. He was a reincarnated lama, or a tulku himself, and he was a very close friend and contemporary of the great Jamin Kintsi Rinpoche. Now, a number of people went to see this great lama. Many people sought audience with him, but because of his dedication to practice, it was very, very difficult, if not impossible, ever to get a chance to see him. Now, this great lama had spent all his life in the meditation of the Lamdre, and in particular, he had recited, he had performed the meditation of Hevajra, a very long period of time, and had recited the very lengthy mantra of Hevajra at least sixty to hundred thousand times.

[35:17]

Now, he was well known, I mean, he had had He had attained the very highest siddhis. Virupa had appeared to him. He himself was considered to be an emanation of Virupa. So, Ngawang Lekparamaje, as we said, a very poor mendicant, came along with the other pilgrims hoping to get a chance to meet the great Lama. But the attendant, the Lama's attendant, turned everyone away and said that he couldn't be disturbed and all of that. But Ngawanlekpa Rinpoche hung on thinking that he might, since he had come so far and had been so so diligent that he just had the hope that he might get a chance. And he was right because the attendant did admit him. He did get to meet the Lama and the Lama took him into his own house, into his own quarters.

[36:22]

The Lama was of course dressed in a very high fashion. He was wearing golden robes and was living in very exquisitely decorated quarters. So he took him into his own shrine, shrine room, where there were two high thrones. arranged and he told Ngawan Lakpa to sit on the highest throne. Ngawan Lekpa was very reluctant to do this because as a very poor and ordinary monk he didn't feel that it was at all right circumstances, but the Lama insisted because he said that it would be a good omen or a good prognostication for Ngawan Lekpa's own future career as a great teacher. So at his insistence he sat on the throne, the Lama then offered his own golden robes

[37:28]

and made prostrations and offerings to him, all indicating that as a result of his own offerings and his own diligence in offering while he was poor, that he himself would be the recipient of the worship of of countless others. And this was, and in fact, this did come to pass in the later part of his career that our Leper Rinpoche became, as you know, head abbot and the object of many people's reverence and worship. We'll take about a two or three minute break while tea or coffee or something is being served. If you want to just... So, it's like this.

[38:51]

It's like this. Tibetan monks very often make the mandala offering by depositing the five mounds of grain in this manner, but they hold the mandala and drop it from the bottom part of their hand in this way.

[40:01]

This, according to Gataṅgala Lekha-Ramacche, is a mark of disrespect and should be avoided. One should either drop the five loaves of rice in this manner, in the manner of pouring, in this way, or by dropping it from all five fingers brought together in this manner. Okay? So there are two ways to do it rightly and one way to do it wrongly. That's all about the so-so-so-so shadow. No, no, [...]

[41:11]

Now, as you offer, as you drop the five mounds, as we said, the mandala is symbolic of the external universe. First you drop the central mound. in the center, and then at 12 o'clock you have the eastern continent and so forth around it, the cardinal points. But the point that you need to know first of all in dropping the mounds is that there are certain eras that should be avoided, since this is symbolic. It's a symbolic offering. It should be done rightly and in keeping with the symbolism involved. For example, if you drop the grains of rice between the... If, after dropping the central grain of rice, the central mound of rice, and then you place the, say, the... Then, on the periphery of the mandala, you place the remaining four mandalas too far away, so that there is too much distance.

[42:25]

This indicates that you're going to be reborn in the barbarian realms at the far extremes of dharma in the next life or something like that. So, on the other hand, if you drop it too close through carelessness, this means you're going to find yourself hymned and crowded in by great crowds of people and a lot of quarrels, a lot of thoughts, and a lot of problems. So... Here we are. We did that last time. Thank you very much. Another point to keep in mind is that before making the orifice, before dropping the mounds of rice, you should be sure to first anoint the surface of the mandala with this scented herbal water.

[43:50]

You can check out the samples later. If you don't do this, if you neglect to do this and just place the mandala opium on the dry surface of the mandala itself, this will result in you being born in desert regions. And you yourself will be utterly lacking in compassion and all the other good qualities. I don't know. [...] Rungpa Lhapa Nyi Nar Gyi Chong Nyi.

[44:56]

He was the one who taught me how to meditate. He was the one who taught me how to meditate. I don't know. [...] I don't know As we said, this mandala offering is performed properly is extremely effective.

[46:19]

We have given any number of examples. I could give any number of examples of great good fortune that resulted. We can give any number of examples of great good fortune that resulted from the correct performance of this mandala offering. It's said that the great Tsongkhapa his success in establishing the great monastery of Gandena and others was the result of his earlier practice of offering. He used a stone, a mandala made of stone by the way, and this was the result of his earlier practice and we've already given one example of Rinpoche's own preceptor. So if this symbolic offering of the universe, if performed properly, is so efficacious and does bring about very notable results, it follows as a corollary that the erroneous practice or performance of this mandala will also bring about notable

[47:41]

notable bad results. That's why one should be careful in learning to do it properly from the start. It is a symbolic offering, and if it is effective in bringing about good results, its abuse can be effective in bringing about bad results. In the duṣṭhaṅga-saṅgha-gīlīs, nirmaṇḍa-jīva-telā, tsaṅgpa-soṅdeṅga-siddhi, tsaṅgpa-soṅdeṅga-bhū, nirmaṇḍa-telā, tsaṅgpa-soṅdeṅga-siddhi, nirmaṇḍa-telā, tsaṅgpa-soṅdeṅga-bhū, nirmaṇḍa-telā, tsaṅgpa-soṅdeṅga-siddhi, nirmaṇḍa-telā, tsaṅgpa-soṅdeṅga-siddhi, nirmaṇḍa-telā, tsaṅgpa-soṅde So, I'm going to give you a little bit of information. So, I'm going to give you a little bit of information.

[48:51]

This is a very important point. Yet, you cannot do it. You [...] cannot In the past, there was a monk named Zhang Mingjing, and there was a nun named Li Hua, and there was a monk named Wang Xiong.

[50:14]

Zhang Mingjing and Wang Xiong, there was a monk named Ren Boqi, and there was a monk named He Song, and there was a monk named Jun Jiu, and there was a monk named Ma Mei Bai, and there was a monk named Wu Tu, and there was a monk named Ku Luo, and there was a monk named Mo Fei, and there was a monk named Sun Mo, and there was a monk named Sun Bo, and there was a monk named Sun Bo, and there was a monk named Tang Xiu, and there was a monk named Mo Fei, and there was a monk named Tian Li, and there was a monk named Tian Wan, So, I'm going to read it to you. I'm going to read it to you. you know, [...] you know

[51:31]

That you too much. You know, you know, you know, you know, According to the great Jamyang Kintsi, Rinpoche, Chögyal Pagpa, the seventh patriarch of Sakya, who met with such success as a Tibetan Lama, as perhaps the first Tibetan Lama who won international fame and prestige

[52:54]

and whose religious works extended beyond the Tibetan boundary. All of this was the result of his own efforts, his own early efforts in performing the mandala offering, the same mandala offering. The fullest form, the most complete version of the mandala offering ritual was in fact composed by this great patriarch, Chögyal Pāpa. He wrote the mandala offering prayer called the Thirty-Seven Mounds. This prayer is the one that is used, has been used ever since by monks of all the four orders, Saikibha, Nyingmabha, Kajibha, Gelugbha.

[54:11]

All of them, without exception, make use of this very excellent ritual composed by Chogyapapa himself. In his lifetime Chogyapapa met or experienced the results of his offerings At a very early age, at the age of about 19, he became the imperial tutor to the great Mongol emperor of China, Kublai Khan. And when Kublai Khan and his ministers received, requested and received from him the initiation of Hevajra, the emperor offered to Chögyalpapa,

[55:14]

the 13 Myriadis of Central Tibet. At the second consecration or the second initiation ceremony, he offered to him sovereignty over all three provinces of Tibet. At the third initiation, he he abolished, he made the offering of all the instruments of torture used by the Mongol armies in subjugating the Chinese people in an effort to please his teacher and he relinquished the practice of torture and genocide as had been practiced against the Chinese, the subjugated Chinese at that time. So these offerings on this great scale, on this scale, were

[56:23]

attributed by Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche to Chogya Bhagavata's own earlier practice of the offering of the universe to the Three Jewels and his work in composing a mandala offering ritual which, as we said, has remained the most popular the most popular and most exclusively used version of the Mandala Offering Ritual by all Four Orders ever since. Now this form, this version of the Mandala Offering Ceremony was recited by Rinpoche and you've heard it in each of the ceremonies, and each of the initiation ceremonies in which this mandala was offered to his owners in requesting the various initiations during the past few months. You know it as Jesus.

[58:15]

You know it as Jesus. So, I'm going to give you an example. I'm going to give you an example. So, I'm going to read this. Now in offering the full, the most complete version of the mandala offering, as we have said, was that composed by Chogyal Papa, in which

[60:01]

in which one offers the entire universe, starting with Mount Sumeru in the center, surrounded by, in each of the four quarters, the four great continents, and these together with their subcontinents, and all the best the best symbols of worldly prosperity and wealth and good fortune are offered. So a total of 37 offerings are made, starting from Mount Sumeru down through the various auspicious signs, the various emblems of good fortune. All of these are offered to the three jewels. And in return, one requests that their blessings, the blessings of the three jewels, that in accepting this offering, that a blessing will be bestowed upon oneself and all beings, that they will

[61:27]

that all will enjoy good fortune and partake of liberation and become endowed with merits sufficient to endow all beings with the perfection of the nirmanakaya and the dharmakaya, that is, the two bodies of Buddhahood. May this be the ultimate result, the highest blessing bestowed upon all beings. So, that's the longest version, we said. Now, there's another offering of the seven realms. This was the one practiced by Mawanglekwaramoche for 24 months. Here, Mount Sumeru together with its four continents and the sun and moon are offered and then a request is made.

[62:40]

Now there's a third and even shorter version which is called the Well, I don't know. It doesn't have a particular name. It's just the shortest form of offering. You'll find it on the pages that I passed out yesterday. It's the verse for the mandala offering that begins, Yes, everyone got it. Anyhow, it's a... Yes. I think... All right. Since copies of this are not available for everyone, we'll break here for lunch.

[64:02]

And after returning, we will perform 100 offerings of this mandala together and we'll go into it in great detail about the symbolism involved. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. We have described the two kinds of mandala that are to be used in sessions of mandala offerings. That is to say, the shrine mandala and the offering mandala.

[65:17]

Now, if you plan to perform the hundred thousand offerings of the mandala, then you will definitely need to arrange a shrine mandala as we have described here. and you will need, of course, to have the second offering mandala. However, if you are not able to do the hundred thousand offerings and only wish to accumulate merit for a short while, say a couple of hours or a day or two, and you only plan to engage in a limited practice, then it's not necessary to arrange a shrine mandala. Just visualize the three jewels in the sky in front of you and have your one mandala disc to be used for the offering ceremony.

[66:22]

I don't know. [...] In the past, there was a man called Ragan. He had a dog and a cat. He had a dog and a cat. then you can get rid of it. You know, that's what I told you. Don't get it. Don't get it.

[67:28]

You know, that's what I told you. Don't get it. [...] You I don't know how to say it in Tibetan. I don't know how to say it in Tibetan. I don't know how to say it in Tibetan. you do. So, we are going to talk about this.

[68:53]

So, we are going to talk about this. [...] Then you can't use it. You can't use it. You can't use it. You can't use it. You [...] Then it is time. I can't tell you. Can you tell me? No, no, [...] no

[70:13]

Then it's a little me. I am. [...] So, we have to be very careful. We have to be very careful. We have to be very careful. We have to be very careful. So, you have to be careful. You have to be careful. You have to be careful. You have to be careful.

[71:18]

You have to be careful. So, you have to be careful. You [...] have to be careful. It's the same as the way of life. It's the same as the way of death. It's the same as the way of life. It's the same as the way of death. It's the same as the way of life. [...]

[72:20]

It's the same as the way of life. [...] It's the same So, you have to understand this. You have to understand this. In this way, you will be able to get rid of all the negative karma. You [...] will be able to get rid of all the negative karma.

[73:20]

You will be able to get rid of all the negative karma. [...] You will be able to get rid of all the negative karma Then you tell him, you can't get in. You can't shut up. You can't get in. [...] You can I don't know. I don't know. Although the material offering of the mandala seems to consist primarily in arranging grains of rice on a

[75:03]

on a round surface and reciting verses. This is merely the form. There is meditation that goes with it and this is where the real offering, the real mandala lies. As you are making the offering, symbolic external offering, you are to accompany the action with a visualization or a meditation. So at this point we will describe that visualization and the symbolism involved. Internally or mentally you are to think that you are offering the entire universe, both animate and both the animate and inanimate universe is being offered.

[76:17]

The concept of universe is the word, the very word mandala means a circle or disc and here it refers to the surface of the earth and by extension to the whole of the universe. It symbolizes the wholeness, the totality of the universe and all that's contained therein. The concept of universe that we are using here is that derived from the Buddhist Abhidharma literature.

[77:18]

There, the cosmology The Abhidharma cosmology is one centered around a central point known as Mount Sumeru, the axis mundi, which is thought to be the very center of the physical universe. This great mountain has four sides, each slope. Each of its four slopes, which face the four cardinal directions, are formed of a different substance.

[78:35]

In the east it is crystal. In the south it is Vaidurya. Vaidurya is something like, it isn't the same, but it's like turquoise, blue in color, it's a blue stone. In the west it is a stone, it is coral, Padma Raga. In the north It is gold. Now, around this, in concentric circles, formed in concentric circles around this central axis mundi, you have seven ranges of mountains.

[79:39]

In other words, you would have a range, a mountain range, a concentric mountain range, followed by an ocean, also that circles the Mount Sumeru in a concentric manner. and again you would have the second range of mountains and then the second ocean and so forth, concentric circles, mountains interspersed with, interspersed by oceans. And lying outside this, these ranges of oceans and mountains are the great continents. To the east you have the continent Videha, Purva Videha, and it has two subcontinents, or satellite, if you want to think of them as planets and satellite planets, all right, or as continents and subcontinents.

[80:49]

To the south you have our own realm, our own earth of Jambudvipa and its two satellites. To the west lies the continent Godinia and its two satellites. In the north lies the great continent of Uttarakuru and its satellites. Each of these four great continents is inhabited by different species of beings with differing characteristics. Also, inasmuch as the rays of sunlight reflecting off Mount Sumeru, the rays of light reflecting off Mount Sumeru also cause the sky to appear differently.

[82:21]

appear in a different color in each of these directions. For example, the rays of light that reflect off the white eastern slope of Sumeru are again reflected upward by the oceans and make the sky in the eastern quarter appear white. In the south it the, it reflects off the Vaidurya, blue Vaidurya slope and causes the sky in our realm to appear blue. In the west it appears red. In the north, yellow. These different continents are inhabited by infinite numbers of different types of beings and their characteristics are of course conditioned by their

[83:49]

their karma and the particular conditions that prevail in each of the different continents. We won't go into all of those details which are found in the Abhidharma literature primarily. Now, circling outward from this Now, I'm not clear here, but it seems that there are the... These continents or this universe, the physical universe that is fashioned of the different mandalas, that is, the mandalas of the great elements, the earth mandala, the water mandala, the fire mandala and the... How is it? The fire mandala, the water mandala, and the air mangala, all of these form the material universe.

[85:01]

And the physical universe is said to consist of the three the universe of the three thousands. But it doesn't mean in this, I have to explain that this doesn't mean that there are simply three thousand universes. Somehow it is a thousand such universes as our own. The first thousand of All right, take our universe, multiply it by a thousand. That makes the first thousand, or kilocosm, I think it's called, kilocosm of worlds, of universities. Now, a thousand of those, a thousand of such

[86:07]

You got that, right? A thousand of our universes make the first thousand kilocosms. Now multiply that by a thousand and that forms the second. Now multiply a thousand of those and that forms the third. Now that is the range of the universe we are dealing with when we are visualizing this mandala, the external mandala that our own offering represents. So, you should now think of this vast, vast space inhabited by vast myriads of living beings. All this inanimate, all this inanimate and animate universe is represented by this offering disc that you hold in your hands, and thinking of that wide universe, the real external universe, as being your own, as being something that you yourself, that it being ownerless, you claim and offer to the Buddhas as your offering.

[87:34]

This is the, in a very rough fashion, this is the cosmology upon which the arrangement of this mandala offering is modeled. For exact details, in the interest of time, we refer you to the Abhidharma literature and to other texts that have more details about the specifics involved. So, Logos. That's why we don't have a family. That's why we don't have a job.

[88:42]

That's why we don't have a job. That's why we don't have a job. Yes. Yes. Yes. Now that was the horizontal visualization of the universe. Vertically, it will suffice if you just understand that at the very peak of Mount Sumeru dwells, is found the the abode of the celestials, the celestial realm, that is the realm of the gods of the realm of desire, that is our own realm of corporate beings.

[90:16]

Indra and his court are found there, and the other deities of the Hindu and Buddhist pantheon, well, of the Hindu pantheon, are found there. And then above them you have a series of stages. And at one point you enter another realm, the realm of the gods of the rupadhatu or the realm of form. And then even higher you have the gods of the realm of the formless realm. Now, all of these, it's not necessary for you to visualize all of these different details that we've described. If you can become acquainted with them in detail, then it is quite certain that you will become familiar enough with them to have a pretty good approximation of which continent is where and what the general layout of the cosmos is.

[91:26]

But in any case, not to worry for that. The thing is to sort of approximate, have a minimal approximation of, in the center you've got this mountain and vertically it's, horizontally and vertically there is this sort of an arrangement of the universe and that this is the, this arrangement is the model for your own symbolic offering of the mandala. Then he went to the forest to look for a tree. He found a tree. He [...] went to the forest to look for a tree. I don't know what else to say.

[92:27]

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