To prepare ourselves for this session of dharma study, we should recall the instructions, those instructions which enable us to turn our minds away from worldly distractions and ordinary conceptualizations that often detract from one's obligation to dharma practice and the attainment of best results therefrom. That is, practice with proper attitude.

[01:09]

Here a proper attitude would be a resolve to apply oneself wholeheartedly to the study of dharma today. in order to become able, as a result of one's studies, to accomplish the highest good of all other beings. When any virtuous action such as this is motivated by this highest resolve, to work for the enlightenment of other beings as well as oneself, then that action becomes magnified in its results and in its efficacy.

[02:17]

Therefore, one should begin with this resolve to work towards enlightenment through these present efforts. Secondly, one should be attentive to the dharma that one is receiving, putting aside all distractions, and to keep them in mind for one's own future practice. Thirdly, one should relinquish all ordinary conceptualizations of this present effort in studying the Dharma.

[03:24]

This can be done in several ways. a dharmic event occurring on a deeper level, wherein a transmission of dharma knowledge is being enacted. You should see the teacher as being none other than Shakyamuni Buddha himself, who is expounding the dharma to you, visualizing teacher as Shakyamuni Buddha, you should think that rays of light shine forth from his radiant body to dispel all the darkness and obscurations from your own mind, and that your own mind, thus purified, becomes

[04:29]

and that also great insight into their profound meaning arises within your own consciousness. You should think of yourself also as not being an ordinary person, but visualize yourself in the form of the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, Manjushri Bodhisattva himself. You are that a Bodhisattva of wisdom who tirelessly seeks out all the profound teachings of enlightenment on behalf of ignorant beings. Nor is the present situation an ordinary one. Think of your environment as being one in which all appearances are non-dual appearance and voidness, that all sounds are the sounds of dharma, they are the sounds of the Deity's mantra, and that this presence

[06:05]

where in the transmission of Dharma is taking place. So if through these tantric visualizations and recollections one applies oneself single-pointedly to listen to these teachings today, not only will your efforts in study be heightened, enhanced, through thus approximating the transmission of Dharma on a higher level, but will one's merit in making these efforts will also be likewise magnified and enhanced? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

[07:12]

I don't know. In this way, you will be able to understand the meaning of the word. so [...]

[08:14]

I don't know how to say it. [...] I don't know how to say it Then you get a Dorje Shindong. Then you Lungwa Yisong. [...] I don't know what to say.

[09:42]

I don't know what to say. [...] Then they don't give you that. They put the dog chasing the song. So long the dog chasing the song. Then you have all the trouble. Then they tie you up. You don't get it. Don't [...] get it. So now you're going to do. You're going to do. You're going to do. You're going to do.

[10:44]

You can't go to Senki. lamre system of meditation We have already become familiar with the four recollections which Serve to prepare us for Advanced Buddhist practices You will recall that

[12:11]

We studied progressively the meditations, the reflections upon the unsatisfactoriness of worldly existence as a whole, the reflections upon impermanence and death, reflections upon the unfailing operation of the law of karma, and the opportunity to practice dharma.

[13:17]

Through these four reflections, our minds were... our minds became progressively disengaged from involvement in worldly activities and strengthened in the resolve to apply ourselves in practice to these teachings of enlightenment while the opportunity was available to us. These were preparations for the exoteric Mahayana meditations, such as training in the inconcentrative and insight stages of meditation, the realization of the two kinds of non-self, etc.

[14:37]

Now we are studies engaged in preparation for another kind of advanced meditation, that is, advanced tantric techniques. But here too, those four reflections in practice unless our Unless all our later practices derived from a sense of renunciation and Diligence that is aroused in the mind through these four reflections those meditations

[15:49]

will be ineffective. But if, upon those four reflections, we then prepare our minds for advanced practice by undergoing first the training in the four foundation meditations, our meditations, all our later meditations will assuredly be fruitful. So, at this point we are now discussing these four foundation meditations which prepare us for advanced tantric practice. The overall purpose is to enable us to acquire purification and merit.

[17:02]

The four foundation meditations which prepare us for advanced tantra practices are, as you know, refuge, Vajrasattva meditation, the mandala offering, and the guru yoga. There is a fifth foundation practice that are prostrations, which is usually in our system combined with the practice of the refuge meditation. Now, the first of these four foundation meditations is that of refuge.

[18:15]

Its purpose is to... is to... is to enable us to enter into the path of practice by reciting the refuge formula 100,000 times or more, accompanied and accompanying this recitation with the visualization and the ritual of taking refuge, our minds, so to speak, embark upon the path. We have a point of entrance into the experiences of the path. And by training our mind in these practices, we develop a sense of reliance upon the Buddhist trinity and develop a sense of rapport with them, which

[19:34]

makes us receptive to their blessings and guidance and also our practice of refuge impels us to make, to progress further in subsequent stages of practice. So, in a word, the purpose of the refuge The... Once having entered into practice, however, we become aware of the difficulties involved in practice. We encounter mental traits or physical problems

[20:43]

or emotional, negative emotional states which hinder us in making effective progress in our training. In order to purify these karmic hindrances then, these emotive and cognitive obscurations and obstacles which we may have accumulated through our past non-Dharmic actions. It is necessary to purify body and mind and speech And so we undertake next the meditation of Vajrasattva.

[22:00]

Vajrasattva is the... Here is the Bodhisattva who functions as a purifying object of meditation. Through reciting his 100-syllable mantra 100,000 or more times, our karmic obstacles and obscurations will be purified. The purity alone, mental and physical purity alone, are not does not constitute sufficient foundation for advanced tantric practices.

[23:02]

Our mind must be enriched, strengthened, matured through the acquisition of merit that is the result of virtuous actions. While virtue is acquired through acting unselfishly through body, voice and mind, performing services for others and for the dharma, working for the dharma, etc. One of the most effective ways of gathering merit according to the Vajrayana tradition, is through the practice of the mandala offering.

[24:13]

Now, the mandala, symbolically representing the whole of our being, the whole of all the components of our personal being, And, in fact, the whole of our universe, our subjective universe, is offered in a spirit of sincere devotion and relinquishment and unselfishness to the Buddhas for the highest good of all living beings. becomes an act of worship on the highest level and accordingly

[25:24]

and accordingly brings about an acquisition of a great amount of virtue or merit. So, the third foundation practice consists of offering the mandala, that is, the symbolic universe, to the enlightened ones on behalf of all beings at least 100,000 times or more. and results, and if performed effectively, correctly, results in the acquisition of a great store of merit. Having acquired, having entered the path purified, purified one's way of internal and external obstacles and having acquired a store of merit.

[26:36]

One needs finally a sense of guidance and confidence in advanced stages of tantric meditation. And so the fourth foundation consists of the guru yoga practice through which one meditates upon one's own teacher and consciously strives to invoke a sense of rapport, of intimate rapport with his mind directly, and invoke also a transmission of his insight, blessings, and a sense of his own dharmic experience, which will serve as

[28:05]

charted practice. Here one recites the formula of invoking the guru, accompanied by appropriate visualizations, and thereby develops through this practice, through the practice of this meditation, for 100,000 or more times, one does indeed develop this strong sense of intimate rapport with the guru. So, through all of these foundation practices, that is, to recapitulate, the prostrations combined with, no, sorry, refuge meditation combined with prostrations, accompanied by the Noble Resolve of the Bodhichitta, and the meditation of Sri Vaishnava Sattva, and the Guru Yoga meditation, the Mandala offering and the Guru Yoga meditation.

[29:40]

one's mind becomes, one's mind and body become purified, strengthened, enriched and matured to such a degree that one is, one is with assurance able to undertake these profound and difficult practices of the Vajrayana path. And through having this foundation upon which to practice, upon which to base those practices, one can expect to succeed. Failing to have achieved the whole of these foundations, one really should not expect success in advanced practices, no matter what they might be.

[30:48]

With these foundations to build upon, one can safely and successfully undertake to meditate upon any of the tantric deities, whether it be Sri Hevasma or Vajrayogini or whomever, and one has every reason to expect the highest success from one's practice if one has been diligent and thoroughgoing in one's prior practice of these foundation meditations. So, in our, in the past few weeks, we have discussed and given you the instructions for the first two of the four foundations.

[31:52]

That is, we've discussed the refuge, the Sri Vajrasattva meditation. Tonight, we'll discuss the third foundation, that is the Mandala I don't know. He did it. When I was young, when [...] I was young

[33:40]

It's going to be a long day. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

[34:44]

I don't know. I don't know. uh, part of it. When I was young, I had a friend who was a monk.

[35:48]

He was a monk. [...] And the men that were chasing would say, you know, You know, you [...] know

[37:12]

took me to kidney rock America. then we're going to talk. I'm going to talk on. I don't know what to say. I don't know what to say.

[38:16]

I don't know what to say. [...] The Sanskrit word mandala is translated into Tibetan by the word kinkor. In English, Both words, underline king or, would be translated as simply a circle.

[39:20]

A circle. Now, the circle, a circle signifies or represents totality or completeness and this is What is signified when one performs the mandala offering? That is, that you are offering to the enlightened ones the whole of your being. Historically, this ritual of mandala offerings is strange to an offering made to the Buddha by a universal emperor, Chakravartin Raja.

[40:29]

Chakravartin Raja. That is, emperor of the universe who once offered the Buddha the whole of his empire, the whole of his kingdom, that is, the whole of the universe. Now, at present we are not able to make a similar offering, but we can offer all that we have, that is, all that we might rightfully claim as belonging to ourselves, that is, of which there is no other owner, our own body, voice, and mind, our faculties, our experience, our property, property that belongs to us, and even one's own family, all that is one's own.

[41:35]

That is, the whole of one's belongings can and should be offered up to the enlightened ones in this effort to accumulate merit. Because merit is acquired through the making of gifts, and the more unselfish the merit, the more thoroughgoing the gift, the more merit is acquired. So the purpose of this foundation practice is to train ourselves in total unselfishness through this giving, this offering up the totality of our own being and all our belongings. Um, but this, even this gift must be performed rightly.

[42:48]

First of all, it must be sincere, and it must be, and it must not be, um, performed wrongly. What would be a wrong offering to the Buddhas? Well, what if, let us say that most of the belongings that we have, most of our own property, this has not been purely acquired. We have acquired them ourselves, maybe sinfully, through sinful means. through greed, through the mental poison of greed, or selfishness, or miserliness, or through other negative means, we have acquired what we are now offering up.

[43:56]

So there is the fault, the state, the taint rather, of sinful acquisition. of the very things that we're now planning to offer, the enlightened ones. Then, even though we offer them up, at the time we are offering them, we may be holding back. We don't really mean it. We're merely doing it through rote. We're merely doing it. We're pretending to give them up. We're really thinking. miserliness.

[45:23]

We try to hold back something for ourselves. We don't give up the attachment to it. So there is still the taint of clinging, even at the time of giving them up. And finally, there is taint of pride. Even if we do manage to get through making the gift Then we become very conceited about it and think, well, I did it. I did what is hard for others to do. I'm really quite a giver. I've given up all that I've got and so forth. And you become very conceited and proud. And so, at every stage then, Our gift, our offering, has been tainted with... So, at all three stages of our

[46:29]

sin with miserliness and with conceit. This kind of the offering, however, that is to be made here through this mandala, practice of the mandala offering, must not be an offering such as this. It is a total offering of the totality of one's being and all that pertains to oneself, without clinging to it, without conceit about doing it, but only with thought that through this offering to the enlightened ones, all that I am and have, that may all beings acquire merit and enlightenment. through this offering may also become enabled to help them in this.

[48:01]

So that is a real offering. Now, the mandala, let's go into the specifics of the practice of the mandala offering. This offering of the totality of one's universe is symbolized by the mandala itself, which is an arrangement symbolic arrangements of using certain instruments. That is, a mandala board, if you will. And there are specifications about the type of mandala or circle that one may use in the ceremony, in the ritual. Now, one may use Let's talk about the material, the mandala. Now when I say the mandala, I'm talking about the specific instrument or the particular... the particular utensil that you're using and you're... to symbolize this offering of your universe to the enlightened ones.

[49:21]

This may be of three kinds of material. three classes of material. The best one would be of gold or silver. The second best would be of lesser metals such as bronze or copper or something like that. Or, and the least preferable would be of stone or wood. It should be of one toe in diameter. That is, the span between the tip of one's thumb and the tip of one's middle finger.

[50:25]

Yeah, whatever you call it. If it is of wood or stone, however, If it is not a metal substance, it should be, it should equal, the diameter should equal the distance from the tip of one's elbow to the tip of one's hand. Okay? It should be larger. Now, and it's quite all right to use these lesser materials. For example, Rumiche's own great teacher, Katamawan Lama Rumiche, was very poor he couldn't avoid one of the costlier models so he used first a wooden mandala and he did five uh to go to the uh First, he could only afford a wooden

[51:35]

mandala, and so he used that. He made 500,000 offerings of the mandala, using the wooden mandala. Then he acquired a stone mandala, and he used that to perform another 500,000. offerings of the mandala. Now, of course, there are shorter and longer versions of this mandala ritual. He, of course, practices the longer version, which is much longer than the shorter one. And so, he, whereas other lamas have I've said it is alright to use these short, these smaller, smaller utensils, smaller instruments as the one's mandala.

[53:09]

which I stress that they should be, they should be large. He prefers the larger models because not, since the whole point of making mandala offerings is this willingness to giving that the larger they are, the bigger the effort, the more they're offering. So it's right within the giving of the mandala, the spirit of the mandala offering is to use the larger models and so forth. In any case, it's not right to scam or to use sub-size mandala services. Those are two. Ratasona, Sergo, Sheru, Lasopa, Romboche. That's what I call them. [...]

[54:14]

That's what I call them. [...] That's what I don't know. So, you can't say, law by A and B. And then law by E goes on and on. It goes on and on. It goes on and on. ha [...]

[55:50]

They didn't teach it. That's all you taught me to say. [...] That's The So, I'm going to read it to you now.

[56:57]

uh, Physically, the offering of the mandala consists of arranging one's offering upon the surface of this mandala. You must succeed in Ramachesa and in holding the utensil which we are calling here a mandala.

[58:29]

So holding one should, first of all, hold the mandala in your left hand. Okay? Not in your right. Hold it in your left and then place your offering on the surface of the mandala with your right hand. Not with your left. If you offer with your left hand, it means that you are... It means that you will starve in the future. So... But before you place the offering, there are first a few things that you should know about the offering itself and the preparation for the placement. First of all, let's talk about the material you use in your symbolic offering. Ideally, that is.

[59:32]

Ideally, you should offer the five kinds of precious metals, such as gold, silver, so-called precious stones. If you don't have those, then the second best kind of offering which consists of medicines. The five... the five prescribed kinds of medicine. These are herbal in nature. And I couldn't begin to tell you what they are. Mirabalam or something like that. And... Yeah. In any case, they grow in India. Well, yes. So, one makes the second best would be an offering of medicinal herbs.

[60:35]

If you don't have even those, if you are a poor meditator, it's all right to use white stones, white pebbles. All right. So having prepared your offering, now you must prepare the mandala, the surface of the mandala for the ceremony. This means that you must first purify the surface of the mandala. This you do. By reciting the hundred-syllable mantra of purification, you must know it from your Vajrasattva meditations. You recite that hundred-syllable mantra while at the same time repeatedly cleansing the surface of the mandala by rubbing it with this portion of your right hand, the heel of your right hand.

[61:58]

You can't use a rag or a sponge or any other thing to cleanse it. It's not the nature. The point is that you must use the surface of your own skin to cleanse this. The surface of this mandala while reciting the mantra. Having done this, Then you next wash the surface of the mandala with, ideally, herbal water, some kind of concoction of water in which purifying herbs have been placed. Then you pour a little bit over the surface of the mandala and cleanse the surface.

[63:07]

If you don't have that kind of herbal medicine or herbal liquid, then you can use a substitute, for example, a less expensive mixture of herbs. Or, if you don't have that, then just use clean water. Plain, pure, fresh water. All right? Now, you are ready to begin the offering ceremony. These five precious members of the Mountain Meditation, where do they go? This is going to be elaborated as we go along. I don't know myself yet.

[64:16]

That's why I'm asking you to be quick. So, now you take up your... the offering itself. That is, we're using, as you notice here, not gold or silver or even stones. We're using rice. And so, the rice symbolizes our offering. You take up a small pinch of rice. Right hand, and then starting... This is complicated. Starting at the front of the mandala, which is assuming that my hand is the mandala. Starting here, you draw a line up to the center of the very center of the mandala's surface. And there you place one pinch of rice. You move across and then drop.

[65:25]

You move to the center. Yeah, you move to the center. Now, I don't know. He did a lot of things. And unless you all come and stand over his shoulder, I don't know how we're going to control this because it's all a matter of... Do you all have a picture of the mandolin in your mind? Right around the circle, right? That's good. okay so visualize this round circle and you understand that it is in this position when you're putting the rice at different points right so now the first one is as you can see from this one is getting what i saw him do was he came up from the I'm going to see me. I don't know.

[66:43]

Don't go and chew your coffee, somebody. Can you bear that, Micah? All right, watch Rinpoche. He's going to show you. As you recite the first one, he's going to do the whole thing. So, I'm going to read this to you now. Shorter version.

[68:26]

Very short, very short. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. There's a right and a wrong. Yes, if you do it, even the short aversion must be done correctly.

[70:55]

And if you do it, that will be also effective. You're not to rush it and leave out parts, basically. Alright, so he showed you, he demonstrated to you. three versions of the mandala offering. The first is the very long offering, which spells it out in every detail, things that you are offering, and each one has a particular location. Then in the shorter version, which consists of seven basic things which are offered, and each has a particular location, that's the middle-length offering. Then in the very short Our version, the prayer consists of, the offering prayer consists of four short lines, which most of you recognize from your laundry prayers when you ask the teacher to teach, if you remember. We recited every Tuesday for the past 10 years, and that is the offering in the short form.

[71:59]

So you mean to talk about that on the second? Yes. Now, Gautama, I want to use the middle-linked version. But for our purposes, it would suffice to learn and practice the short version. So that is why I'm going to take the purse to teach you tonight. Lullus. Lullus. So, in I'm the shot. I'm the shot.

[73:11]

Let's talk about the symbolism involved in this representation of our universe. But, so one would have to understand some things about Buddhist cosmology in order to appreciate this symbolism of this, the offering, the arrangement of one's offerings on the surface of the mandala. Basically, the Buddhist conception of the

[74:43]

universe is that it centers around a great mountain, Mount Sumeru, in the center of the universe. And it is surrounded by four great continents. in each of the major directions. And each of those four great continents has on either side of it two sub-continents. Now, you're at liberty to think of continents as planets, and of the Buddhist notion of oceans as space, or whatever. These are not, I should point out, this cosmology is not, But for, as a general, for general purposes, Buddhists accept this notion of the cosmology.

[76:00]

And it's definitely represented here in the mandala. So, Rinpoche has drawn out for you a map. In the center, you have Mount Sumeru, which is something like a ziggurat. on which, on its slopes, you'll find all kinds of inhabitants in their different realms, leading up to the highest gods and so forth. They're all located somewhere in the slums of this mountain. Now, in the East, in the East, the Shara, the Shara, [...] Now this is the east.

[77:01]

The point facing away from you. Now assuming that I am facing the mandala. I'm facing the mandala from here. This will be east on the point opposite me. The far side of your mandala is east. There is the planet, eastern planet symbolized here by a kind of a crescent, a crescent with its two subcontinents. All right, so we have east, I see. All right. So let's go. Thank you. So East. South.

[78:23]

South is represented here by a kind of a shape, which I supposed to represent. It sort of resembles the shoulder blade of a sheep or something. Sort of pear-shaped. That represents our own continent with its subcontinents. He has quite a lot of knowledge. He studied the six continents. Yes. [...] Yes, alright, so then to the To the west you have Godinia and its subcontinents.

[79:57]

And then to the north would be Uttarakuru. Okay? With its subcontinent. Now, you should think of this in terms of very vast expanses of space. Here is the ocean. Here is the ocean, either the ocean of space or of water, however you want to interpret it, surrounded, and the universe surrounded by what is called an iron wall, meaning the circumference of the universe. There is something like, really these, it's also represented as seven, these oceans are concentric circles, the continents are on concentric circles. But if you want to think of them, if it helps you to think of them as oceans of space, vast, vast expanses of space, and so forth. But Rumiche says, try to visualize just the cosmogony in the center of space.

[80:59]

this great, this great mountain in which these various world systems, various world systems are, masses of, of, of lead masses are, are located in various points. It's okay. Then you should think of these as being, so the basic idea is that this is the constitution of the, of our universe. That it is, has this arrangement. And that Rinpoche, of the universe, of our universe, but this one happens to be correct.

[82:14]

So, in any case, you are to, when you're offering the universe, you should think of it as being the whole of all the, these represent the whole of all the land masses or planets, whatever. I don't know how to say it. [...] I don't know how to say it So, I tried. So, I told him, get in, you can't stand him, you can't fight him.

[83:17]

He said, get in, you can't stand him, you can't fight him. So, I told him, get in, you can't stand him, you can't fight him. That's it. Don't get [...] it. Now, you should really take points out, however, that this is only the representation of our most immediate universe, that our particular universe has this construction. However, this is...

[84:20]

In our world system, there are a thousand such universes. When you multiply one universe by a thousand times, that constitutes our world system. Now, a thousand such world systems gives you one great world system. and then a thousand great world systems gives you the gives you the the next the next world system a level of world arrangement of world systems which is which is called the really the the world of three times a thousand.

[85:24]

In other words, you get the idea, then, that they're not... that this represents... this is a representation of the universe, but it also symbolizes just about everything that is in... it symbolizes the whole of the physical... physical space, meaning that space and everything that is in the world, animate and inanimate world, composed of many world systems, of which our universe is only one small corner. So you get the idea that then I don't know. So that being the root of what I read there, to me there, was a tragedy.

[86:47]

You understand what I'm saying? Yes. It was a tragedy, what came upon me. The root of what I read there was a short-shell compositor. So many years ago. You know? It's been a long time ago. It's a short-shell compositor. When I was young, I used to go to school. When I was older, I used to go to school. When I was young, I used to go to school. When I was older, I used to go to school. All right. Now, let's get a, let's talk about Sumeru, which is the, the first, the first item on our mandala. Mount Sumeru, conceived of as being external, it represents the axis moon at the center of the universe.

[88:11]

And to give you some idea of its dimensions, it is said to be some 8,000... 8,000 paxes in height. Alright, now what is a paxe? A paxe is... is approximately 500 yards multiplied by 8 gives us what? 4,000 yards. When Paxei is 4,000 yards approximately. Then Sumeru is 8,000 Paxei's height. 8,000 times by 4,000. 32 million. 32,000. 32,000 yards times 3. Yeah, 8,000. 8,000 times 4,000. Yeah. 32,000. 32,000, yeah.

[89:12]

All right. Now, how many yards in a mile? Barely. 5,200 HP. It's about 1,600 HP. But that's pretty tall. Yeah, right. 32 million yards. There's 1,700 yards. How many yards in a mile? 1,700? 1,700 yards. Let's get on to it.

[90:16]

So you get the idea. It's quite...

[90:18]

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