offering an explanation of the consecration of Manjushri Sapa and which we all received yesterday afternoon. Since most of you have copies of the text, I think these would be very valuable in referring to the particular sections of practice which he will be describing for us this afternoon. We won't be practicing it. We will receive general and specific instructions according to Rinpoche's understanding of what we should know about this practice, this particular meditation. At the end of the session, there will be an opportunity for us to ask questions, specific questions, if there are any areas which have not been clarified to your satisfaction. So if you have questions, make a mention note and save them for the end of the program.

[01:09]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[02:40]

Good deal, come on, bring me a cocktail, man. Shorty, I said, come on, bring me a cocktail, man. I said, come on, bring me a cocktail, man. I said, come on, bring me a cocktail, man. Thank you for watching. Thank you. Thank you.

[04:27]

Thank you. Thank you. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Thank you. Thank you.

[06:15]

Thank you. Thank you for watching. Yes, I'm going to do it.

[08:19]

I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. Yes, sir. Chant [...]

[09:32]

When I was a child, I used to go to the temple to pray. [...] In receiving all teachings of Dharma, it is important that we begin by reminding ourselves of the right and therefore effective way of accomplishing a Dharma study.

[12:05]

As we explained yesterday, This is best done, first of all, by putting from one's mind all distractions and directing one's attention fully upon the task at hand. At the present moment, that task is to receive the instructions upon the correct way to practice the Dharma, and therefore it requires our complete attention, we should do so also with the right attitude, that is, bringing to mind all those countless beings who suffer and yet have no way to help themselves or to find access to these teachings of Dharma which bring happiness and liberation from suffering.

[13:14]

As students of the Great Way of Mahayana Buddhism, we students of the Great Way of Mahayana Buddhism, we have taken the vow to seek out all the teachings of Dharma that are helpful to beings and to realize them in our pursuit of Buddhahood on behalf of beings. Therefore, it is Therefore, it is one. The idea is that it's important to remind ourselves of beings and our vows to seek out these Dharma teachings for the sake of beings.

[14:34]

As students also of the Vajrayana system of practice, we have recourse also to other meditative techniques, it is advised that one should at all times of receiving the transmission of Dharma visualize one's teacher in the form of Shakyamuni Buddha himself. and think that boundless rays of radiant light shine forth from his heart to touch all beings, remove their sufferings, establish them in the happiness of liberation. These lights also touch our own being, dispelling there all destruction, confusion, obscurations and obstacles to understanding and realizing the truth of Dharma. And we should also think of our environment as being the pure land of Buddhas, where things do not exist as we ordinarily think of them through delusion, not as real and substantial, but as non-dually empty and apparent.

[15:49]

While they appear, they are nonetheless empty. Though they are empty, they nonetheless appear. freeing our minds of attachment in this way, we should also identify ourselves with the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, Ven. Sri, who tirelessly seeks out all the profound doctrines of Buddhadharma on behalf of suffering beings. If we thus purify and prepare our minds we will be able to approximate the present moment as it really occurs on the level of ultimate reality, free from conceptualizations. And in this way the transmission will be more effective and it will stay with us as a guide in our own practice of dharma. He said, look, this one, [...] this one.

[17:26]

That's it. If you don't do it, you will not be able to do it. That's the way it is. If you don't do it, you will not be able to do it. That's the way it is. [...] He put down the chawali. When the chawali got soft, he put down the chawali. When the chawali got soft, he put down the chawali.

[18:41]

When the chawali got soft, he put down the chawali. When the chawali got soft, he put down the chawali. When the chawali got soft, he put down the chawali. If you don't believe in God, you will not be able to see God. If you [...] believe in God, you will not be able to see God. This is what I am talking about. This is what I am talking about. This is what I am talking about. So, we have to take care of our children.

[20:00]

We have to take care of our children. So, we have to take care of our children. So, we have to take care of our children. I don't like it. I don't like it. I don't like it. and he said to me, [...]

[21:00]

There is a lot of people who don't know how to do it. They [...] don't know how to do it. If you don't believe in it, you will see that it is not true. If you [...] believe in it, you will see that it is not true. When I was a child, I used to go to school.

[22:48]

I used to go to school. [...] When I was young, I used to go to the temple to pray. I used to go to the temple to pray. I used to pray. That's why we have to do this. We have to do this. That's why we have to do this. We have to do this. If you don't want to do it, you can't do it.

[23:59]

If you don't want to do it, you can't do it. If you don't want to do it, you can't do it. If you want to do it, you can't do it. Nyen tu do rong song ji la so ba nu go rong den du ki wa gyan ge le ni po to gong to yu le te. Ken be yeshi de te we tu ji de tar ma duk bo tok bi. Song ji ko wa le pi go ni ba ja chi ko yu ma re. Song ji ko na le yu, song ji ko na le yu, song ji ko na le yu, song ji ko na le yu, the painting of Saint King Mok Mok Ming of Ngoc Lyu, then they hear it. Then they tell you that they knew that [...] Saint King Mok Mok Ming of Ngoc Lyu, then they hear it.

[25:00]

Then they tell you that they knew that Saint King Mok Mok Ming of Ngoc Lyu, then they hear it. Then they tell you that they knew that Saint King Mok Mok Ming of Ngoc Lyu, then they hear it. Then they tell you that they knew that Saint King Mok Mok Ming of Ngoc Lyu, That's why we say that the sun will rise and the moon will rise. The sun will rise and the moon will rise. The sun will rise and the moon will rise. The sun will rise and the moon will rise. the language of the people, [...] Rang runga sarang na to jiru, tu jiru jiru jiru ma, do jiru pang maga.

[26:02]

Taa jiru dang kongziru, jiru na jiru nyam sarang na jiru, jiru nyam sarang na jiru, jiru wo sarang na jiru. Tsong bwa jiru na jiru na jiru nyupa sarang na jiru. Jiru jiru [...] j That's it. That's it. When I was a child, I didn't know how to read. When I was a child, I didn't know how to read. I didn't know how to read. When I was a young boy, I used to go to school.

[27:06]

I used to go to school. [...] He said to me, I'm going to pray for you. He said to me, I'm going to pray for you. He said to me, I'm going to pray for you. He said to me, I'm going to pray for you. When I was a child, I used to go to school with my parents. I used to go to school with my parents.

[28:06]

When I was a child, I used to go to school with my parents. In undertaking to accomplish this or any other form of Buddhist meditation, it is never enough merely to sit down and recite the words of the meditation manual.

[29:39]

The important factor in meditation is the attitude of one's mind when one undertakes to practice. Therefore, all of the major systems of meditation all of the major systems of meditation begin by teaching their students how to be reflective, how to orientate the mind in a way that makes true meditation possible. In the Kagyu and Nyingma traditions, we have the four turnings of the mind upon which students are encouraged to meditate.

[30:55]

In the Sakya tradition, we have variously the system, the teaching known as the three visions, in which the in which the distinction between the impure level of perception, the experiential level of perception, and finally the resultant pure level of perception are made. We also teach our students the The reflections contained in the essence teaching known as Parting from the Four Attachments. The purpose of all such teachings is to enable us to redirect our minds, to orientate our minds toward our goal,

[32:05]

to enable us to see clearly what we are undertaking and why. Only in this way will it become truly meaningful and effective. So therefore, we began our our own practice of this meditation of Manjushri Sapaen by reflecting very briefly upon the way in which the mind learns to free itself from the four levels of attachment. This afternoon we will provide just a very brief summary of these stages of weaning the mind away from attachments which are obstacles to the spiritual life.

[33:11]

The first of these, which will be familiar to you all, is the reflection upon the human condition. It is obvious to everyone that human beings are impermanent creatures. There is no one who is not aware of his or her mortality, the frailty of human existence, the difficulty with which it is maintained and the ease with which it is lost. And human existence, even at best, is transient. human life passes away quickly.

[34:13]

It is gone before we know what has happened to us. And for each one of us, death always looms before us. And everything that we do, every breath that we take, only serves to bring us that much closer to the inevitable moment when we ourselves will experience the separation of body and mind. in death. And at that time of death, none of our experiences in life will prove to be friends to us other than Dharma. Not the human friends that we have accumulated and wooed and nourished throughout the many years, not our family or friends, not our wealth, not our pride or prestige or good reputation. Not our pride or good reputation.

[35:21]

At that time, only the Dharma will prove useful to us, only the Dharma will befriend us at that time. It is virtue that we will be desperately in need of at the time of death. And therefore we must be mindful of our need for virtue our need of Dharma, here and now, while we have the opportunity to make use of it. At the time it will be of no use to us, if at the time of death, when it is too late, we then learn the value of Dharma, the value of virtue. we must at all times remain mindful of the consequences of virtue and non-virtue and our responsibility for each action of body, voice, and mind.

[36:41]

If we are honest, we must admit that most of the time our actions of body, voice, and mind could hardly be called virtuous. Our thoughts are filled with ourselves, our own selfish interests, our own petty concerns, and most of our actions spring forth from desire, aversion, and ignorance. Only seldom do they truly arise from an absence of desire, aversion, and ignorance, and thus are pure. So what prospects then do we honestly have for happiness in the future if we are every day accumulating only causes for future suffering rather than of happiness? We must be mindful of the law of cause and effect and make certain that the causes that we are accumulating

[37:54]

the causes that we are sowing will be virtuous ones and not otherwise. When we consider the effects, the long-range effects of our actions, good and bad, we then get a glimpse at the vast scope, the vast and endless scope of of the sufferings of worldly existence. This so-called happy or higher existence of the enjoyed by humans, asuras and gods is happy only in contrast to the lower realms where the suffering

[38:56]

of where the pain, mental and physical pain, the anguish that is experienced among the hell beings, the ghosts and the animals, is constant and terrible. Here we have respite from pain on that scale, and yet when we Look at the sufferings of human beings about us in our own world. We seldom see beings who are truly happy, who have the prospect of present and future happiness, and yet the unhappiness of beings, of human beings, is all about us. The pain, the body and mind, the grief, the anguish, the frustration, the ignorance that pervades all these beings and causes them to be their own worst enemies and causes them to create only suffering for themselves and for others.

[40:11]

All of that is rife. All of that suffering is rife. We can see it at every moment, all about us. So the happiness of this so-called happy realm of the humans can only be seen in the context of the even greater suffering of the lower realms. The gods, too, who are free from the gross forms of pain, enjoy comfort, mental and physical ease so much greater than our own, and spend their while in the enjoyment of aesthetic pleasures. And yet they too suffer. Because of their pride and their lack of interest in the Dharma, they are sure to fall, and yet they don't see their impending doom.

[41:19]

They remain ignorant of the Dharma, which could help them when their own impermanence catches up with them. But they ignore the Dharma, remain ignorant of it, and thus are unable to free themselves from pain when finally it approaches. Because of their prescience, they have foreknowledge of their impending death. Seven days in advance of their fall, the gods become aware that they must fall and they foresee their future rebirth in the lower realms among the hell beings usually. And the anguish with which they helplessly await that fall is terrible and hard to bear. So wherever

[42:22]

beings exist, they are never free from the presence and the prospect of pain. They constantly remain subject to the experience of the three kinds of suffering, of the suffering of pain, pure and simple, of impermanence, and of the limitations of conditioned existence as a whole. Therefore, reflecting upon this, this vast scope of pain, we must resolve to turn our minds away from further involvement in this whole sorry process of deluded becoming and direct our minds toward toward liberation.

[43:23]

And yet we must not in haste seek liberation merely for ourselves alone, as is the wont of practitioners on the path of the disciples who seek the personal liberation of our hardship. We should with we should instead direct our efforts along the great way of Mahayana Buddhism, which is superior in seven ways to the Hinayana system. Essentially this path is one that begins with a recognition of the sameness of all beings, an awareness of our essential identity with our fellow beings, and through a recognition that our pains and their pains are one, and that it would be unworthy of us to seek selfish liberation from pain

[44:46]

while knowing that we leave all these beings behind in suffering. So out of this concern for beings arises the reflection upon our responsibilities toward our fellow beings. When we consider that just as in this present lifetime we are related by blood and by mental, uh,

[45:21]

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