First of all, His Holiness Harkinji has given us a few words of introduction about the significance of the course of study we've undertaken in this seminar. Following that, this evening, Dejeev Rupa Jai will begin his explanation. various practices that we study. Thank you very much. Welcome. I'm very happy to be here tonight. [...] I'm very happy When we all are born again, we are all refreshed to life with all these life conditions.

[01:23]

That I think is very, very important to get out of this the best possible result. And the best possible for this life, as well as for many lives, is to fight this battle. And though in the world there are many different traditions and teachings, which we all have to have faith in, All of us have a deep motivation for removing sufferings of all living beings. But the true path, the path which contains the whole dimension, and also the final, the direct path, is Lord Buddha.

[02:35]

Lord Buddha is a very kind man. So therefore, it's very, very important that when we have this very great opportunity, that it should not be wasted and utilized in the best possible way. And to do this, a great Indian pundit, Bhakti Bandhu, has said that First, one must have a belief, a base for all qualities, that you must have a good moral content. And then after this, you must have a healing, contemplation and meditation. through the first one, hearing is through receiving teachings, second, contemplating, studying it by yourself, and finally leading to meditation.

[03:49]

Generally speaking, in Tibetan tradition, we have two kinds. like monasteries where nuns go into a very wide topics of logic and abhidhamma, paratma paramita, madhya-miksa, vipitaya, and the five main cause which they will study and have to study. Many, many years I studied, and then after that I began to practice. But here, and also we have another tradition, which we study whatever we could. And then, whatever you have studied, you just began to practice it.

[04:53]

And since we have a very short life, and there are so many causes, and severity, say, in Buddhism, I don't know, propagands, traditions, etc. Practical. And also for as far as study is concerned, most of you have missed in studying your own bodhisattva, which contains the truth. Preliminary teaching of Mahayana in general, and Vajrayana. So you study Kārttika or Radiation, you already got it.

[05:56]

So now is the time is that you have to practice it. To practice Dharma, first thing that you do is the formations. And the foundations, there are generally two kinds of foundations that we call the common foundation and non-common foundation. Common foundation is, as it is described in the school notion, the different kinds of sufferings of the realm of existence. Difficulties of obtaining fresh food, like with all the expeditions. And, you know, also because the law of Karno, you know, all activities, all the kind of results that we have right now.

[07:08]

are the agents to our previous actions that we have produced, the essence of the destinies and everything we feel we have, that is due to our previous actions that we have taken. So, the law of karma, all these common And now we are doing this, what we call, non-karmic partition, which is... Vajrayana's first step in the rule of practice is that he has the first thing you have to do is these foundations.

[08:16]

And these foundations are very, very important. They are just like a foundation when you build a house. The foundation is the most important. When you have a solid and strong foundation, then the high buildings you build can be very stable and very, very fast. But if you have a weak foundation, then even though you build very high, you may build a very high building that will collapse and everything goes wrong. So therefore, Even if it takes a long time, it is very, very important to work with foundations, because the foundations work in two ways.

[09:18]

One, that it purifies the non-religious faith that we have, and also any non-religious faith that we have committed in. accumulated from the beginningless time. And there are so many, many of them. So therefore, we have to purify them. And from one side, it accumulates matter, which is very, very necessary for the right thought, the right motivations. So therefore, you have now, you will be studying him and thinking of the Bodhicitta, which is the first step. And this Bodhicitta will not arise just by studying, or just by taking.

[10:22]

But it will arise here, co-digital within yourself, you must first have to remove these obscurations which are caged to the environment. And on one side, you must feel the privilege, the merit. So by performing these things, foundations that purifies all our requirements and non-virtuous deeds, that one side gets all, accumulates the merits, and then when we have these two things set, bodhicitta naturally arises, and even if one wants to stop, one never can stop, even if it is in life only. So, therefore, it is very, very important to work on this foundation.

[11:29]

And without this foundation, no matter how hard you work on it, or actually practice, or even very little, you won't be successful. So, therefore, many, many And you will be able to also help them not just to do one-on-one practice, even in a clinic. And that's why I have described myself as one of the patients in a way or another. And you will be able to see yourself as also one of the people who have prosthesis. And I believe that a lot of people And one can do it. So if one can do it like this, then I can do it. It would be such a good thing to be the deity.

[12:35]

And then the deity achieving inside this job. And there are all the common cities and non-common cities. And then you get it. And also, now that I feel foundation day, we have many different... different texts which are various lamas and lord. But now we have here one which is very simple and very easy. And it's all together with the venerable Devendra Rinpoche himself. wrote a few years ago. So, therefore, I think this is very, very beautiful for you to practice. And since Rinpoche himself wrote, and also Rinpoche himself has been practicing so much that I have asked Rinpoche to explain it to us in detail.

[13:43]

So, everybody should study it very much. carefully what Rinpoche will teach us. Thank you. I don't know how to say it in Tibetan, but it's like this. It's like this. It's like this. So, you have to understand this.

[14:50]

You have to understand this. [...] I don't know if I'm going to be able to do it. I don't know if I'm going to be able to do it. I don't know how to say it in Chinese.

[15:54]

I don't know how to say it in Chinese. Although I don't Although I realize that there is no way in which I could really add to any exposition of the dharma given by His Holiness Sai Kye Threesome, still at his request I will try to provide for you some of the details of instruction for those practices which he has described to you just now.

[17:16]

For the past six months or so, we have all been engaged in the study of a book called The Three Visions. The efforts which you have made as students and the efforts which I have made as teacher, all must have had some purpose. And that purpose was not merely to pass the time through the discussion and talk about a particular book, but those the sessions of study which we have engaged in were all oriented towards eventual practice and further eventual realization of those doctrines and insights described in that text.

[18:39]

These practices of the mandro or foundation stage are the, or as their name indicates, the first step in transition from theoretical understanding to realization or internalized realization of these teachings and instructions. Now, as His Holiness has said, there are two types of ngandro teachings, the common and the uncommon. The common teachings are the reflections upon impermanence, the operation of the law of karma,

[19:44]

And the rest. Yes, yes, all of those four or five basic reflections, which we have studied extensively in the past six months. These reflections are, were, as you know, designed primarily to reorient the mind towards a spiritual goal. Now the uncommon wonder or the uncommon foundation is are those specific practices which we will be studying and practicing during this seminar. Their purpose is to reorient one's entire being towards the realization of ultimate reality.

[21:02]

In other words, rather than just merely directing one's thought or countering one's distracted mind or one's... how do you say... one's... Instead of trying to turn one's mental orientation away from the affairs of this world towards a religious goal, one is now trying to orient the whole of one's being, one's physical as well as mental components towards the realization of that path. These practices These five practices are designed to remove the obstacles, mental and physical, towards that wholehearted or whole reorientation towards enlightenment. Notice. I don't know if it's true or not, but it's true.

[22:17]

I don't know if it's true or not, but it's true. I don't know if it's true or not, but it's true. I don't know if it's true or not, but it's true. So, I'm going to read it to you. I'm going to read it to you. So, I'm going to talk a little bit about what I'm going to talk about today.

[23:19]

So, I'm going to talk a little bit about what I'm going to talk about today. So, I'm going to talk a little bit about what I'm going to talk about today. So, I'm going to talk a little bit more about this. [...] I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

[24:19]

I don't know. [...] I don't know So, I'm going to talk a little bit about this. [...] I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

[25:19]

I don't know. [...] As many of the Mahayana Sutras relate, the foundation or basis for our belief that Buddhahood is attainable is the doctrine or

[26:25]

is the doctrine or the knowledge that all beings are by nature endowed with Buddha nature. So with this inherent or innate Buddha nature as the ground for our efforts, our spiritual with the human endowments as the practical basis for those efforts. And the presence of spiritual friends who are kindly disposed towards us as the prerequisite, as secondary prerequisite conditions for practice, we are able to undertake those, undertake the practice, those practices

[27:57]

which serve as efficient methods to bring within the range of our attainment the highest spiritual results of liberation and perfect Buddhahood. These five factors of ground, basis, secondary conditions, methods and results are all essential in our spiritual in making possible the spiritual career of the Bodhisattva. Now, we said that all beings partake of Buddha nature, that is, that all beings are endowed with Buddha nature inherently.

[29:24]

An enlightened being, a Buddha, is one who has removed the obscurations to the realization of his Buddha nature, or true nature. A Buddha is said to be one who has realized his natural purity and the purity of his own nature and has also purified all adventitious defilements These adventitious developments, the passions of desire, hatred, delusion, pride, anger and the rest, are accumulated by unenlightened minds, ignorant of their true nature.

[30:56]

One who has realized the natural purity of all phenomena. and has purified those adventitious environments, is said to be a Buddha, and he is no longer bound by the delusions, limitations of unenlightened existence. However, unenlightened beings such as ourselves, We have so far remained unaware of our Buddha natures. We have not yet learned, we have not yet come to recognize within our own minds, within ourselves, that natural purity of which we are endowed. And further, we have not yet learned to apply those

[32:07]

to make those right efforts through which the occidental or adventitious developments can be eliminated from our mainstream mental continuities. The fact that we have not yet accomplished these two efforts of self-recognition and self-purification constitutes the only difference that can be positive between ourselves and the Buddhas. This is the only difference between Buddhas and beings, that one has accomplished these two, has made the efforts and gained the realization of Buddha nature.

[33:20]

So far, the other, the ordinary being, has not. Therefore, we have two different concepts of exalted, perfected Buddhas and lowly, benighted beings. Once the efforts at purification are made, efforts at right insight into one's own nature are made, then no difference at all can be found between ourselves and the Buddhas.

[34:23]

In the summer, when the weather is warm, you can go to the riverbank and swim. I don't know. [...]

[35:29]

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know how to do it. [...] Gomba is the name of the place.

[36:36]

It's a place where you can go to sleep. [...] It's a place where That's why it's so important for us to be able to do it. We have to be able to do it. We are all endowed with Buddha nature, and yet we don't recognize it.

[37:47]

When we... It's essential in any spiritual undertaking to develop a degree of skill in study, reflection, and meditation. It's well known that these three factors are needed in any system of spiritual practice. It's also... It's also the case that

[39:03]

worldly minds are likely to be inept even in the accomplishment of these three fundamental practices or efforts. When we listen to teachings and doctrines, our minds are likely to wander from the point where we find ourselves tuned out so often from the the message, unable to concentrate our minds upon what is being said, in reflecting upon those teachings, we might find ourselves often doubting even the veracity of such well-meant

[40:38]

and such well-meant teachings and instructions. We are unwilling to credit even the most basic teachings are to raise all kinds of doubts and suspicions about such doctrines of enlightenment and liberation. In meditation, again, our minds are easily distracted, reluctant to engage in practice, inclined to be lazy, and generally, on the whole, we are fitful about making efforts of any kind, to any degree.

[42:01]

But, on the other hand, worldly works are involved, when worldly activities are involved, where able to commit ourselves wholeheartedly with great delight and anything that promise holds even the glimmer of some slight reward or some self-aggrandizement, some material gain, some temporary advantage, we have no reservations, no reluctance, no laziness about going all out for activities of this sort. This is an indication of the reason why we are beings who don't recognize our Buddha nature. the, as a result of our orientation, our mental bent or tendencies towards worldly activities, towards deluded, selfish patterns of behavior that we have accumulated over such long periods of time, our

[43:32]

inclinations of this sort have become so strong, so forceful, that it is only rarely, and just barely, that we're able to incline our minds at all towards the recognition of something like our own true nature, or towards the purification of the obscurations to that realization. But all the other all the other, how do you say, the current of our mind stream or the flow of our mind stream towards these worldly activities, towards these currents of deluded behavior, selfish behavior, are so strong and they all proceed from, they are all, can be characterized as unwholesome.

[44:45]

They are unwholesome because they, not only do they lead us into further delusion, further bondage, further suffering, but they are by their very nature negative. For beings such as ourselves, it can be said that we are governed by these mental obscurations, these deluded mental habits. We are, as the sutras say, endowed with with attachment and greed that flows like great rivers, like a great flood of water, with hatred that burns like a great holocaust, with ignorance that is

[45:54]

like the thickest gloom of night with envy and jealousy that is like a mighty wind and pride that is as with pride that is as hard to, that is as stiff and arrogant as a great mountain. All of these similes indicate just how very much in the

[47:03]

grips of unenlightened, of the adventitious defilements our minds are. These meditations, these practices of the foundation, these foundation practices, therefore, are essential, truly essential in countering this I don't know.

[48:08]

This… This… this handicapped or limited, handicapped state of mind that we now find ourselves in. They're essential because they are the methods which help us to eliminate, to eradicate those very strong forces of mental habit that prevent us from recognizing our own Buddha nature within and from purifying effectively those obscurations to liberation. They are designed to eliminate from our mental and physical components all of those

[49:22]

adventitious defilements, and it can be, and as a result of their practice, I mean, as a result, as to their efficacy, we can say that, that those spiritual efforts, those efforts made on the Mahayana path, that are, that have been preceded by these foundation practices, is is very likely to succeed, and that those efforts that are made, devoid of all those efforts that are made on the Mahayana path, which have not been preceded by these foundation practices, is almost certain to bring about very little, if any, good result. I don't know.

[50:28]

I don't know. [...]

[51:28]

I don't know. [...] So, what is the meaning of this? The meaning of this is that you have to understand the meaning of this. The meaning of this is that you have to understand the meaning of this. I don't know. [...]

[52:29]

I don't know. [...] I don't know So, I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I'm going to tell you a story. I don't know what to do.

[53:53]

I don't know what to do. [...] There are several ways of counting these preliminary practices or foundation practices of the ngandro. By thumb counts, there are four. We'll talk about five, perhaps six. The first of these is the taking of refuge, the refuge.

[55:00]

The instructions for this practice in brief are that one should visualize the Visualize the three jewels in front of you, in the sky in front of you, the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha and yourself seated in front of them and in taking the refuge, in seeking refuge in these three jewels, as they are called, one should have aroused within oneself very clearly, very sincerely from the heart the thought or the attitude that one seeks refuge in these refuges

[56:24]

not for oneself alone, but in order to achieve the benefit of all beings, to further the enlightenment of all beings, and that one seeks refuge on behalf on their behalf as well as for oneself. With this enlightened attitude or this enlightenment-oriented, unselfish enlightenment-oriented attitude firmly fixed in mind, one should then recite from the heart the formula, the refuge-taking formula. Now this formula can be recited in its regular or abbreviated or expanded versions.

[57:42]

The regular version of the Refuge consists of the four lines, which run, I take refuge in the holy preceptors, I take refuge I take refuge in the Perfectly Enlightened Ones. I take refuge in the Holy Teachings. I take refuge in the Exalted Assembly of Bodhisattvas.

[58:49]

This is to be recited at least three times in each session of meditation, or any number of times if one is focusing upon the Nando practice of taking refuge itself. Or one may choose to to recite the abridged version of the Refuge, which is quite simply put in three lines. I take refuge in the Buddha, I take refuge in the Dharma, I take refuge in the Sangha. This too should be recited at least three times or as before. Finally, we have an expanded version of the Refuge formula, which many of you will have already learned from the Meditation of Great Compassion.

[59:51]

There it runs. Does anybody have that book? Yes, thank you. I'm remembering something else. The expanded version of the refuge runs, With great devotion through body, voice, and mind, I take refuge in that holy master and in the holy preceptors of our line of transmission. With great devotion through body, voice, and mind, I take refuge in our teacher, the enlightened one, who has attained the ultimate in renunciation and realization.

[60:57]

With great devotion through body, voice, and mind, I take refuge in the holy teaching, which is the essence of the Buddha's words and realization. With great devotion through body, voice, and mind, I take refuge in the exalted assembly of bodhisattvas who uphold the doctrine of enlightenment. Parenthetically, I might add that when we say, with great devotion through body, voice, and mind, it's meant, of course, that with great devotion expressed through the body, one's body, voice and mind, one takes refuge. Now, these are the three reductions for the refuge formula available or given in the system, in the Sakyapa system of meditation, which of course we are engaged in, which of course we are presently studying. I think he concluded with a famous quote from Calm.

[62:13]

What was the quote from Calm? I'll never understand it. It's not very good. All right. And we concluded with a quote from Calm, Providence. Yes, before concluding with a quote from Kahn, Rinpoche referred to his own experience to his own experience in the past in which in which he himself undertook these very same practices, these very same foundation practices just as you presently are doing.

[63:19]

When he was a student of the great Ngawang Lekpa Rinpoche. He was instructed, first of all, to learn and practice these very same basic steps. As Rinpoche has mentioned in his earlier lectures, his own guru, Ngawan Lekpa Rinpoche, placed great store, placed great emphasis on these very foundation practices. And in fact, he himself, in the early part of his career, his Ngawan Lekpa's career, had spent 15 years in solitary retreat

[64:29]

the first three years were devoted solely to the practice of these foundation exercises. And the first 12 months, the very first 12 months were spent, were focused about the this very practice of the refuge exercise, refuge taking exercise. Mawan Lekpa Rinpoche in his meditations recited the refuge 2,400,000 times. 2400.

[65:34]

It's 2400,000. It's 2,400,000. 2,400,000. Is that 2,400,000? It sounds more. All right. 2,400,000 times the... That was it. Yes, that's it. So, you have to be careful. You have to be careful.

[66:35]

You have to be careful. [...] So, I'm going to talk a little bit about what is the meaning of the word, what is the meaning of the word, what is the meaning of the word. I don't know. [...]

[67:36]

I don't know. [...] So, I'm going to read it to you now. Deepam Mombotan. GENERAL ASSEMBLYMEMBER 1 No, no. GENERAL ASSEMBLYMEMBER 1 No, no.

[68:43]

Rinpoche, the Chesham Kiddul Narewa? Rinpoche, the Chesham Kiddul Narewa? Rinpoche, the Chesham Kiddul Narewa? You need to... You talk the... You need to... [...] So, I'm going to give you a little bit of information about how to do it. So, I'm going to give you a little bit of information about how to do it.

[70:09]

So, I'm going to give you a little bit of information about how to do it. So, you have to be careful. You [...] have to be careful. The second of the nunder practices consists of prostrations.

[71:24]

After the hundred thousand recitations of the refuge come one hundred thousand prostrations. Now it's possible, it's permissible and possible to combine the two, to combine the two so that by synchronizing one's practice of both, one can complete 100,000 recitations of the refuge while performing the 100,000 prostrations. Now, in brief, the instructions for the performance of prostrations are as follows. one should stand erect in front of one's shrine or an image of the Buddha and very mindfully fold one's hands together

[72:51]

in the Indian gesture of greetings or salutation, folded hands, which is supposed to resemble the... One should very mindfully hold one's hands in the Indian gesture of greetings, so that one's hand resembles a budding lotus or a flower just beginning to bud whose petals are just beginning to blossom.

[74:10]

Now, placing one's folded hands One then places one's folded hands at each of the three psychic centers, at the forehead, which corresponds to the body center, or one's physical center. One should think that all one's physical, one's unwholesome karma accumulated from beginningless time through one's bodily actions are being purified through this prostration, through these prostrations.

[75:12]

All the actions, all the evil actions of killing and hurting others physically taking by force from others, and in short, all unwholesome actions committed by body, visualize that these are all being purified, and one places one's folded hands at the forehead. Then place one's folded hands at the heart, and visualize or think that all the unwholesome karma accumulated through the wrong use of one's voice from beginningless time are being purified. That is to say, all the unkind words, all the lies, slander, cruel and hurtful words that one has uttered in the past are being purified.

[76:16]

Finally, place one's folded hands in the region of your heart, the heart center, which is the center of the mind, and think that all obscurations, all mental obscurations and defilements with which one's mind has become sullied throughout beginningless time, are being purified. That is to say, all one's wrong views, malicious thoughts, malicious and unkind thoughts dishonest thoughts, all are purified through these prostrations.

[77:22]

And then one should perform these three gestures while standing erect. And then very mindfully, one should perform a full prostration. There are two types of prostrations. Full-length prostrations, in which one extends the body to its own length on the floor in front of the shrine, so that all eight points of the body will touch the floor. I will explain those later in the time of actual practice tomorrow. Or one can do an abbreviated form of the prostration in which one falls to one's knees and bows one's head to the ground before the shrine.

[78:30]

Either will suffice. Both are quite good. It's a matter of choice. There's also a variation in the gestures in some schools folded hands on top of the crown of one's head, and then at the other three centers. This is also all right, and it makes no difference which form you use. Now, as we said, you can recite the Refuge Formula while performing these 100,000 prostrations, you may choose to recite the Sutra of the Three Sections, in which one confesses before the 35 Buddhas of Confession all the unwholesome deeds and obscuring karmas accumulated through the doors of body, voice and mind.

[79:47]

or you might recite, or you might, as the great Mawanglekpa Rinpoche did, recite the verse in praise of Sakyapandita. When Mawanglekpa Rinpoche was in retreat, he devoted himself to the guru yoga of Sakyapandita, and he recited This verse of homage to the great teacher, Sakyapandita. I think it was 65,000 or 65,000. Yes. Thank you.

[80:49]

Thank you. Yes. I didn't hear you. I'm sorry. Yes. Thank you. Yes. chose to recite the verse in praise of the great Sakyapandita while he was doing prostrations. With each prostration he recited the verse. This verse of praise to the Sakyapandita all cognizable things, his wide eyes perceive, the merciful one who achieves the will of all living beings, having the power to perform activities transcending thought.

[81:53]

At the foot of that guru, who is Manjushri, our protector, I reverently bow." This verse, of course, commemorates the the great wisdom, compassion, and power with which the Sakyapandita became endowed through his own practice of the path. And he invoked these three aspects of enlightenment through his recitation of this verse that he performed He recited this verse and performed prostrations to the, let's see, well, he performed this prostration, he performed prostrations 4,200,000 times while reciting this verse. And Rinpoche himself has, in his own career, devoted considerable time to the practice of prostrations and the recitation during the performance of the prostrations.

[83:22]

bodhisattva rambhu shukla gong ye [...] So, that's what I'm going to do. So, I'm going to do this. So, that's what I'm trying to say.

[84:36]

So, that's what I'm trying to say. So, that's what we're trying to do. So, that's what we're trying to do. The third practice, the third yantra practice, is the recitation of the hundred-syllable mantra of the Bodhisattva Bajrasattva.

[85:47]

This hundred-syllable mantra is especially efficacious in purifying mental obscurations and unwholesome karma accumulated through body, voice and mind. Tomorrow we will explain, we will give the particulars of instruction for the performance of this, for the recitation, for the performance of this meditation of the Bodhisattva Vajrasattva. In brief, however, the mantra consists of a Sanskrit, of 100 Sanskrit syllables, which are

[86:54]

Do you want the Sanskrit or shall I translate? You want it both? All right. Thank you. Om bhajra sattva samayam anupalaya. Bhajra sattva. Again. Om bhajra sattva samayam anupalaya. Yes. Yes. Yes. So, it's like that.

[87:59]

So, it's like that. [...] Yes. Rinpoche has given us the pronunciation of the hundred syllables as he was, according to the instructions, the pronunciation of his own guru, Ngawanlekpa Rinpoche. Ngawanlekpa Rinpoche recited this mantra 1,800,000 times. Tomorrow, I will distribute a translation of this hundred-syllable mantra.

[89:07]

I'll give the Sanskrit and English versions of this mantra for your benefit tomorrow. In the interest of saving time tonight, we have a short quaya in which to finish the remaining three minutes. I don't know. [...]

[90:08]

I don't know. [...] I don't know what to do. I [...] don't know what to do. Yes. [...] Following the recitation of the 100-syllable mantra for 100,000 times, one then proceeds to the practice of the fourth mantra, which consists of 100,000 offerings of the mandala.

[91:50]

The purpose of this practice The purpose of this exercise is to accumulate the requisite merit for the realization of emptiness and the other insights encountered through advanced practice. A mind which is not endowed with sufficient marriage is not a fit vessel for those profound realizations, nor able to sustain them, these exalted insights, nor accomplish the transcendent activities of the bodhisattvas.

[92:54]

So, as it is much as merit is very definitely an essential requisite on the path, this offering of the mandala is designed to to fulfill that need or that requirement. Briefly stated in its practice, the exercise consists of offering to the Buddha and Bodhisattvas, in a symbolic form, all one's own being, and all the external universe and all the internal components of one's own individual being.

[94:03]

These offered with an attitude of sincere faith, devotion and a desire for the benefit of all beings.

[94:16]

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