I don't know how to say it. So, I'm going to read it to you now. In the past, there was a monk called Kawa Zombe.

[05:25]

He was a very good monk. [...] That's it. Keep the commandments. That's all you need to know. [...] That's all you need to So, I'm going to read it to you. So, I'm going to read it to you.

[06:26]

So, if you want to be a good person, you have to be a good person. If you want to be a bad person, you have to be a bad person. Tung-Ching, Song-Lang, Dong-Yi, Hsieh, Tsog-Tse, Tsang-Po, Sok-Pa, Tse-Pa, Man-Tsog, Tse-Yi-Tung. Tung-Ching, Song-Lang, Dong-Yi, Hsieh, Tsog-Tse, Tsang-Po, Sok-Pa, Tse-Yi-Tung. Tung-Ching, Song-Lang, Dong-Yi, Hsieh, Tsog-Tse, Tsang-Po, Sok-Pa, Tse-Yi-Tung. Tung-Ching, Song-Lang, Dong-Yi, Hsieh, Tsog-Tse, Tsang-Po, Sok-Pa, Tse-Yi-Tung. Tung-Ching, Song-Lang, Dong-Yi, Hsieh, I don't know. I don't know.

[07:50]

I don't know. [...] Thank you. To summarize what we are about in our study program this weekend, it's helpful, first of all, to remind ourselves that what we are doing is not only worthwhile, but and a very good indication of our own karmic, of our own individual karmic destinies, which has made it possible that under such circumstances we could gather in the presence of His Holiness Sakya Tris and receive all the, all the

[09:18]

of the guidance necessary for our own spiritual well-being. To repeat, it is humanity or human existence itself is extremely hard to obtain. It is only rarely encountered by sentient beings. And once having been, even having been obtained, it is still, it is rare still that a human being encounters those philosophical and practical teachings which enabled him to find his way out of the sufferings of worldly existence and to experience the unhindered happiness of perfect liberation.

[10:41]

Even among those beings who have encountered, humans who have encountered teachings of enlightenment, it is only seldom that one finds a qualified teacher who is willing and able to explain them to one and to help one integrate those practices rightly into one's own consciousness, so that one's efforts might be fruitful. Even still, rarer is the opportunity gained among those who have found teachings and teachers. It is even rarer for one to find an opportunity to put those very teachings into effective practice and to achieve the results that they that they yield.

[11:50]

So, with this, all of this is to say that among the most fortunate, that among fortunate beings, you people are are still even more fortunate that having all of these requisite conditions met within your own circumstances, within your own individual karmic circumstances, that all of these conditions should somehow be met, and that here you would have the opportunity, unhindered, to receive these teachings of the Lamdre system of meditation, which has always been the prized treasure of the enlightened masters of the Sakya tradition.

[12:59]

for centuries, and further to receive these instructions in the presence of His Holiness, Sai Kirtananda, who embodies all that tradition, is unequalled good fortune. So, the point is that you should always keep sight of the context in which you encountered teachings and make the most of them, it would be a pity to waste such good fortune through carelessness or neglect. So, that said, we can return to our study of the foundation exercises or foundation practices. Now, in the Lamdre system, upon which we, system of meditation, upon which we are all embarked, it was said yesterday that there are two types of ngandro exercises.

[14:13]

Ngandro, of course, is the Tibetan word for preliminary or foundation practices. There are the common or ordinary ngondro exercises or practices and the uncommon ngondro. The common set of exercises are those reflections upon death and impermanence upon the sufferings of worldly existence, upon the operation of the law of karma, and... I always forget these. What are the four? Yes, thank you. Difficulty of obtaining human birth. I've got a blog about this for reflections.

[15:16]

I can never find it. This question is from somebody? Yes. The difficulty obtaining human existence. Yes. Opportunity to practice Dharma. Yes, that is that one. All right. And these reflections are called the four mind-turning reflections, meaning that reflection upon them enables one to disengage to some degree or another, or to the requisite degree, one's mind from overweening involvement in worldly daily activities through repeated reflection upon them, one's mind becomes reoriented, so to speak, towards things of more lasting value, in other words, dharmic values. Now the uncommon or extraordinary practices, nundra practices, are the ones in which we are presently studying.

[16:20]

That is the four or five exercises, foundation exercises, collectively known as the ngondro practices. the refuge, the practice of taking refuge, which is designed to, the practice of which is designed to tune one's mind towards, towards the, towards the, how can I say it? to attune one's mind towards a spiritual goal, towards a spiritual practice, towards a spiritual goal and the path that leads towards that spiritual goal.

[17:33]

And so it's an exercise in attuning oneself to one's spiritual ideal. Secondly, there is the practice of purification. through the meditation of Vajrasattva meditation, which includes the recitation of the hundred-syllable mantra. This exercise of purification is intended to remove the obstacles and obscurations which normally hinder the hinder the average mind in entering upon a spiritual discipline, which may hinder a mind. Thirdly, there is the fundamental practice of the mandala offering.

[18:47]

through the practice of which one accumulates the required merit needed to sustain the advanced practices, advanced Mahayana, Paramitayana and Vajrayana practices, and the experiences and profound insights that are incurred during that practice. in order to support oneself to support religious or bodhisattvic efforts on a vast scale effectively and profound deep insights one needs a considerable store or accumulation of spiritual merit and this is derived through the practice of the mandala offering

[20:00]

Fourthly, there is the practice of the Guru Yoga, through the practice of which one develops that required rapport, trust and confidence with one's own spiritual guide, so that by participating or sharing in his in his previously acquired experience and realizations that one also can proceed on the spiritual path in an effective, unhindered way. The fifth practice of the ngando exercises is that of prostrations, which, according to this system, may optionally be combined with the taking of refuge.

[21:08]

It may also be practiced as a category in its own right. So, I'm going to give you an example. I'm going to give you an example. Then it's a matter of sharing. Nei merba. Longshu chewa. Tseg tsemba. Rongrongku shawa ledem shunjiten kongu guleng tartsabazi. Nongare. Somong de mer sana mulu nyombo tonayong.

[22:14]

Then it's a matter of sharing. Nei gongwa. Jowa merba. Shawa leka tseyena tarma tsemba. Mandupa zogong de giji. Somong merbe geng. Some of you are not in it. You don't show up. Do you know that? Yes. [...] So, that's what I'm talking about. So, that's what I'm talking about. Tse-mi.

[23:27]

Tse-mi. Tse-mi. So, you have to be careful. You [...] have to be careful. So, if you want to be a good person, you have to be a good person. If you want to be a bad person, you have to be a bad person. If you want to be a good person, you have to be a good person.

[24:30]

In our first session today, we will discuss the offering of the mandala. We said that the accumulation of a considerable store of spiritual merit is essential if one hopes to progress on the Mahayana path.

[25:50]

This has been the message of any number of sutras and other Buddhist literature which state that a person who is endowed with spiritual merit will easily succeed in his efforts at in his efforts to master meditation and achieve the realizations. Whereas a person who is lacking in sufficient merit will find himself hampered by obstacles or

[27:00]

or sparse results from his efforts, no matter how diligently they might be performed. Therefore, it is It is significant that the accumulation of merit be assigned almost top priority among the six spiritual perfections required of the Bodhisattva, that he must accumulate merit, first of all, through the practice of generosity, charity, giving, and so forth, and the performance of beneficial, helpful deeds that benefit other beings.

[28:20]

Merit is also acquired through service rendered to the enlightened one and his religion. And since the three holy jewels, the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, are pure objects, pure objects of worship, of contemplation, that since their nature is pure, that meritorious or virtuous acts that are somehow directed towards or oriented towards these pure objects becomes intensified in its

[29:26]

effectiveness and in the scale of good results. Therefore, these three are called the pure field of merit. One can accumulate merit through the impure field by serving and helping beings and it can also be accumulated by offering, making offerings to and worshipping and serving the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. So for this reason alone it is prescribed that one should accumulate merit by making offerings of incense, flowers, lights and the like to the two representations of the three jewels. It is encouraged because it is a way of helping the

[30:36]

person who makes the offering to accumulate the merit which he will need in his practice. Now, among the various ways of accumulating merit, we have said that offering, making offerings to the pure field of the Three Jewels is especially effective Now, of the various ways in which one may make offerings to the three jewels, perhaps the most stylized, the most formalized manner, at least as of the system of Mahayana Buddhism with which we are concerned, is the offering of the mandala. Now the mandala, a mandala means literally a circle, but here it gives the sense of the external universe or the entirety of the universe or the cosmos.

[32:02]

When one offers the mandala to the Buddha, one is symbolically offering the whole of one's universe without any reservation and offering it with the intent to generate, to increase the well-being and store of merit of all living beings So this system, this method of offering, the mandala, is said to be, in a sense, the epitome of all offering, of all methods of offering, because it is really an offering of everything to the purest of recipients, that is the Buddha. Drupa Myandra teng, thongpa nga drupa tak, chun yin khong yin, ye shuk kun gyi si chong, rong gun dang du, kyepa Myandra, deng wu sen wu su, rung thong kyewa, to kong yin mo kyewa.

[33:15]

Ra dung ka wa su, yu myan na, to kong yin, ye par gyi shik, sung na wong. Myandra du, shong hong bu, yi kyepa yin mi. Duk zung yin na ma, dyepa gyepa kyewa. Kyewa ndong pa, ni kyewa na ma, rung bu kyi sung, sung yin ri. Ten ni tak, Myandra du, then there is no need to go to the temple. If you go to the temple, [...] there is no need to go to the temple. Then he said, he said, he said, Drubha Mendhra series.

[34:26]

Mendhra series, Chöpa Mendhra series. Mendhra Niko series. That's why it's so important to know how to do it. [...] Tosung hui chueh. Tosung hui chueh. Tosung hui chueh. Tosung hui chueh. Tosung hui chueh.

[35:28]

Tosung hui chueh. And then I think, yeah, yeah. Some of the young boys. And I like the time. My daughter. My daughter, Johnny. Martin. Martin. Do you see? Yes. Yes, I do. It's on me. then that's how many days I'm going to be there. So, so, [...] so

[36:50]

The song in the top again to go. She didn't. She gave it to him. She didn't. [...] When you come to that Tantra again. All right.

[37:52]

All right. This is... This is... If you don't have marriage, you can't see the money. All right, this is a... Krishna, would you like us to hold it here so people can see? Would you do it? Be very careful, the rice is going to fall off. All right. Now this is a mandala. It is a… It is a mandala, which is… There are two kinds of mandalas. There is one called an offering mandala and the other is the… is the…

[38:55]

How do you stick those lights? This is a normal light. Okay. I'll tell you all about this later. Dini. Dini. Dini. In the tongue sense, right?

[40:21]

That's true, Jigme Phuntsok. So, you have to be careful.

[41:49]

You have to be careful. Now, what we have here is a… What we have here is a model for an ordinary mandala offering. I'm sure you'll all have a chance to study it in detail and I'll try to work out with you the various details as they're described here to me.

[42:50]

In this, you need a table larger than this one, I'm told. And in the center you place your mandala disc. the disc should be very, very carefully cleaned. It should be absolutely spotlessly clean when you use it. Then you... Then Rinpoche poured... I don't know. [...]

[43:52]

I don't know. [...] I don't know In the past, there was a person called Kumbha. His name was [...] Kumbha. His You may... I don't know. [...] The mandala table, the table, offering table which you have should first of all be very clean and in the center you place the mandala disc which should also be, have been very carefully cleaned.

[45:41]

Atop that you bathe the top of the mandala disc with some scented water or herbal water and then place five heaps of rice, these five small mounds of rice. They should consist of… a mound of rice in the center and at each of the four cardinal directions should be a mound of rice. It's very good, it's not very good if you mix the rice with butter or something like that, some sort of butter, that holds the rice together. The mounds should be formed very distinctly.

[46:44]

It's not symbolically not a good thing if the mounds sort of slop over into one another and toad. They should be very distinct mounds, very carefully arranged. So one in the center and one mound at each of the four cardinal directions. Surrounding this mandala, the central mandala, you should place offerings, seven kinds of offerings. These are starting directly in front of you, you should place a bowl of water. I think this is... As to the visualization of Vajrasattva, you should first think of yourself in your ordinary form and visualize the crown of your head and eight

[48:04]

Technically speaking, this lotus emerges from, or they say, is to be visualized directly atop the aperture of Rama, the Ramaranda. That is to be found. have eight fingers back from the level of your eyebrows, four fingers from the brow, and another four fingers back should be the Brahman. Somewhere in there. Visualize the eight petals of lotus who still emerges from the aperture of Brahman. This aperture of Brahman is the the upper opening of the central psychic vein, the avadhuta.

[49:20]

All right, so this lotus emerges from the avadhuta, and atop it is the disc of a moon, upon which is seated the Bodhisattva, Vajrasattva. It's white in color. It has a single face, two hands. right hand holds a bhajana to his right, and his left hand holds a bell at his side. He's seated in a cross-legged posture in meditation. And although he is often depicted in this form without a in union with his consort. His consort is a Bodhisattva, Vajragarbha.

[50:25]

Vajragarbha. And she is seated in a yogic union with her father. Her father's cloth behind his neck, which It's called, it's great. Here you go.

[51:46]

That's why the nature of the race, the creation of the race, must not be shunned, because the creation of the race is not allowed. It is not allowed. Fish nice and easy. I don't know what to do.

[53:49]

I don't know what to do. [...] See you in a bit. This has great attachment to one being, so that's one of the advantages of it.

[55:38]

And it's very well explained in the dimensions of the book. Yeah.

[56:41]

What do you see? Yeah.

[63:14]

you

[70:35]

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