Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 50-minute talk, Kyabje Rinpoche opens with detailed guidance on generating bodhicitta (altruistic intention), the foundation for the Chenrezig (Avalokiteśvara) initiation that follows. He instructs practitioners to visualize themselves surrounded by all sentient beings, recognizing their wish for happiness equals your own, and developing understanding that their welfare vastly outweighs self-centered concerns. He then walks through the seven limb practices—prostrations, offerings, purification of negativities, rejoicing in virtue, requests to teach, and dedication—concluding with three verses recited thrice to invoke the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas as witnesses. The final portion addresses persistent philosophical questions about deity yoga: if the spiritual path aims to eliminate conceptual elaboration, how does visualizing an enlightened form help? Rinpoche explains that emptiness understanding is inseparable from deity yoga practice itself—the deity body is visualized precisely as an expression of emptiness, not contrary to it.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2023-05-02 – 1B – Semkye and Jenang Melb – KR.mp3
UUID: 7215fb27-59da-47d3-a75e-f35664f0fe2c
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Chenrezig
Date: 2023-05-02
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~3,264
Organized as secondary. So if there is a conflict of time, then if you can one must give priority to the meditation and the contemplation rather than chanting and and recitations. Now to participate in the ceremony, you should visualize, where the thangka is depicted,, the teacher, the master of our teaching, the teacher Buddha Śākyamūni is depicted. You should visualize that there is a Buddha Śākyamūni in real person and visualize that he’s surrounded by the great realized masters of the past such as Nāgārjuna and so on, which the whole lineage of the Indian great teachers, the great Indian teachers, and also the great Mahasiddhas, the realized masters such as Saraha and so on, and also the entire lineage of the great teachers of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, and also you should visualize the lineage masters of many other major Buddhist traditions such as in in in the Chinese tradition, Vietnamese traditions, and so on, where the the the transmission of the Dharma has come from the Buddha through successive lineage of teachers. And then most importantly, you should imagine yourself being surrounded by all sentient beings, all the sentient beings of the six six realms of existence.
And then focusing your attention towards sentient beings, you should cultivate the understanding that just as yourself, all these sentient beings too wish to be happy and overcome suffering. Just as yourself, all these sentient beings have the natural right and the potential to be happy and overcome suffering. And then and then compare yourself with others and see that, you know, when I speak of my own well-being, I’m talking about a matter of, an interest of a single individual. When I reflect upon the well-being of other sentient beings here, I’m talking about the interest of infinite others. So in this way, try to understand the importance of the recognition of others’ well-being and also reflect upon the disadvantages of self centeredness and self-cherishing attitudes and the benefits of the thought cherishing the well-being of other sentient beings.
And and with these reflections in your mind, then you should generate the intention to And also the recognition that if I were to devote my entire life simply seeking the fulfillment of my own selfish ends, then let alone not being able to help others. I will not even be able to help myself bring about my own well-being. In contrast, if I were to dedicate myself for the benefit of other sentient beings, then in fact the fulfillment of my own interest will be achieved as a byproduct. So engaging in these reflections, then one should generate the intention, the determination to cultivate within yourself the altruistic aspiration to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all beings. And then with this thought as a background, then you should perform engage in the seven limb practices.
So we won’t do the chanting of the seven limbs, but here you should mentally engage in the reflection. So first, you should visualize making prostrations to the to the objects of veneration. And then you should imagine making offerings to these objects of refuge which you have visualized in front of you. Imagine making offerings to them of all possible articles of offering, whether they are owned and or not owned, unowned. And most importantly, you should imagine making offerings of all your, wholesome actions of body, speech, and mind throughout all times.
And as a result of which, should imagine that these objects of refuge, these objects of veneration, and they become pleased by your offering of your spiritual practices. And then since it is the unwholesome actions that obstruct one’s progress on the path, Therefore, one should make a determination to declare and purify all the negative actions, unwholesome deeds, also the obscurations, the defilements that are that exist in us and and direct focus to these past negativities, you should cultivate a deep feeling of remorse for the past indulgence in these acts, and also as if a poison has entered into your system. And then you should also make a resolve that you will never indulge in these negative actions again. So with these thoughts, you should declare and purify your negativities. And particularly, it is very important here to develop a deep sense of remorse for any actions, harmful actions that you may have committed in the past that have been destructive to other sentient beings.
So for these, you must develop a deep sense of regret and remorse. And also since rejoicing in one’s positive actions is a major factor that would enhance one’s practice of future wholesome actions. Therefore, here, one should focus one’s attention to the positive actions of others such as those of the Buddhas, the Bodhisattvas, and also the assembly of Shravakas and Pratyekabuddha, and including even ordinary beings who may have committed only one or two incidents of wholesome actions, even towards these, one should generate a deep sense of admiration and without even a trace of envy and jealousy, but rather a pure admiration towards these. And also, one should cultivate a deep sense of admiration and rejoice in all the positive deeds that you may have done and ensure that no sense of regret enters into your mental continuum for actions, positive wholesome actions that you may have done in the past. Next is making a request to turn the wheel of the Dharma.
So those who are taking the ceremony of generating the bodhicitta, you know, it is you should keep your hands folded, palms folded. Actually, I often remark that, you know, when we act out our negative emotions, we tend to employ our hand a lot to gesture. For example, when you say, I did this, then, you know, you you sort of put your fist at your on your chest, and when you want to sort of really blame someone, you point your finger and say, you did that. So we tend to use our hands a lot when we express our negative emotions. However, I think it is also important when we engage in spiritual activity and engage in wholesome deeds.
It is also important to equally use our hands and and perform the gestures. Because otherwise, the your hands might feel kind of a sense of unfairness and may may complain that why is it that I’m being used only when negative expressions takes place and not when there are positive expressions. And next is making a request not to pass into nirvana. And finally, it is the limb seventh limb is the limb of dedication. So with these practices of the seven limbs as the preliminary, we will recite the three stanzas which has been distributed on a single sheet.
We will recite these verses three times. So the these three stanzas that has been distributed on the leaf on the sheet, the first stanza refers to the practice of taking refuge as the preliminary to generating the the altruistic intention. And then the second stanza is the actual ceremony of generating the the altruistic intention. And then the third stanza is quotation from Guide to the bodhisattva’s Way of Life. And this is to really make firm your generation of the altruistic intention.
So when you do this recitation, what you’re doing is you’re invoking all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to bear witness to this ceremony and calling out to them to bear witness for your generation of the altruistic intention. So by reciting these three stanzas three times, that would constitute the actual ceremony of generating the mind. So we will recite together. With a wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha until I reach full enlightenment, enthused by wisdom and compassion. Today, in the Buddha’s presence, I generate the mind for full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings.
As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, Until then, may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. With a wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha until I reach full enlightenment, enthused by wisdom and compassion. Today, in the Buddha’s presence, I generate the mind for full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain. Until then, may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world.
With a wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha until I reach full enlightenment, enthused by wisdom and compassion. Today in the Buddha’s presence, I generate the mind for full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, Until then, may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. So with this, the ceremony for generating the mind is completed. But if you can recite these stanzas on a daily basis, that would be very beneficial.
As a Tibetan master said that there are some people who when everything is fine, when the sun is shining, there is enough food and and a good shelter, then they are they seem like great practitioners, Dharma practitioners. When calamities strike, then the the the Dharma practitioners are nowhere to be found. So similarly, when you feel happy, when you when you feel everything is fine, then maybe then you can take the time to read these verses. And if adversities strike, and then you can fold it up and throw it away. So with this ceremony for the mind, generating the mind of enlightenment completed, Next will be the the blessing ceremony initiation of four armed Avalokiteśvara, the great compassion, according to Atisha’s tradition.
So this is Vajrayāna teaching. So this belongs to the tradition of secret mantra, tantric tradition. And generally, tantra, the practice of tantra is common to both Buddhist and non-Buddhist schools. It’s not unique to non-Buddhist ways of thinking. No.
It’s not unique to Buddhism. What makes a specific practice of Tantra Buddhist is the complementary factors, which is the motivation of bodhicitta, altruistic intention, and also in all practices, in all Buddhist practices, whenever there is a process for visualizing a deity, it is important that the deity is visualized from within the understanding of emptiness. And it is these factors that make a specific tantric practice Buddhist. I felt that, you know, I was supposed to end the session at 11:00. I I I realized now, actually, we have more time.
So given that we have a little time, I would like to give a little bit of explanation to the Vajrayāna practice. When we speak of Vajrayāna practice which involves principally the visualization of deity, it is important to realize that understand that the visualization of deity is not an easy matter. Yes, on a daily basis, practitioners of Vajrayāna, we do engage in a lot of deity visualizations. But in any case, even on an everyday basis, we do, in a sense, we do in fact engage in a lot of visualizations. For example, whenever we think of something, we often our mind is flooded with images of past experiences, recollection of thoughts, certain fears, and so on.
So we tend to dwell a lot on past experiences and in all sorts of imaginations. Similarly, we tend to project into future with apprehensions, with anticipations, and so on. So in a sense, on a daily basis, we do spontaneously engage in a kind of a visualization process all the time. So if one’s deity meditation becomes nothing more than that, then there is actually not much significance to be derived from such deity yoga practices. In fact, in the past, a series of questions have been raised about the efficacy of deity visualization.
For example, two of the important questions that were raised was, one was that since deity visualization seems to be characterized by imagining of various aspects of the deity. One is, in some sense, proliferating more conceptual images and more conceptual elaborations. So if that is the case, how can deity visualization, deity yoga be beneficial to the ultimate aim of the spiritual practitioner, which is to bring about the cessation of all these conceptual elaborations. So that was one question raised. Another question that was raised was that how can a deity yoga meditation be effective in countering, in acting as an antidote against grasping at self existence, against this fundamental ignorance.
Because deity yoga practice is again associated with the world of multiplicity, world of diversity, and therefore it further perpetuates more and more conceptual elaboration. So how can such a meditation practice act as a remedy against grasping at self existence? Now the responses to these questions have been given in the following. One is that, yes, deity yoga meditation is part of the skillful means aspect of the path as opposed to the wisdom aspect of the path. However, deity yoga practice not merely a visualization of deity and with all its characteristics.
But deity yoga visualization in the context of Buddhism is something that is grounded in the meditation on emptiness. And how meditation on emptiness is part inherent part of that practice is in the following. Because in order to engage in the deity yoga practice, first of all, before doing the visualization, the practitioner must cultivate a single pointed understanding of emptiness, a single pointed mind focused on emptiness. Once that has been done, then that very understanding of emptiness, that very mind, that very cognition is then imagined as transforming into a deity, so taking a kind of a shape arising as a deity. And then not only that, but also then you take that deity which has arisen from your understanding of emptiness.
You take that deity as, again, your object of meditation and then reflect upon its inherently its its emptiness, reflect upon its absence of inherent existence. And through this way, the one you know, the response has been given that the realization of emptiness, the meditation and emptiness is an inherent part of the deity yoga meditation. So therefore, given that in the deity yoga meditation there is an intimate union of the method aspect of the path and the wisdom aspect of the path. Therefore, such a meditation practice can act as a direct antidote to eliminate grasping at self existence. Then, however, a question can be raised.
If this is so, still what need is there to deliberately cultivate the imagination of an enlightened body, a deity? Why cannot one undertake such a meditation on the emptiness of inherent existence simply on the basis of our ordinary physical existence constituted by blood, flesh, and blood, bones and so on. Why can’t we do that meditation? And why what need is there? What what further significance is there for doing that meditation on emptiness by deliberately cultivating an image of a deity.
Here the significance is that just as in relation to the attainment of Buddha’s dharmakaya, the truth body, there is a very close and direct correlation between the nature of dharmakaya and also the mental state, the state of mind that one finds in the direct experience, non conceptual experience of emptiness. Similarly, when cultivating the means for actualizing Buddha’s form body, Rūpakāya, it is more effective if one can cultivate the imagination or visualization of the Buddha’s body, enlightened body, with all its enlightened characteristics while engaged on the path. Because the more you cultivate familiarity with the enlightened characteristics of the Buddha’s body, the more one will become familiar with it and closer one will feel towards it. And in this way, one can also ensure a much more closer correlation or correspondence between the actual path and the resultant state. I think it is important to understand what is meant by the word deity yoga.
There might be some basis for misunderstanding here or confusion because of the English term deity. Because the deity can be applied to many different types of deities. What is meant in the Vajrayāna context in the Buddhism when we speak of deity yoga or lha, the Tibetan term which is translated as deity, really refers to in fact, an enlightened being. And this is the same kind of understanding of appellation to Buddha as the god of all gods, that kind of understanding. So the point of the deity yoga meditation is that just as when we engage in the meditation on emptiness, what we are engaged in essentially is to cultivate Buddha’s omniscient mind of wisdom.
Similarly, when we engage in deity yoga meditation, what we are essentially doing is to cultivate Buddha’s enlightened form. So this this is the point that one must bear in mind. Another significance of the Yoga meditation is that although it is essentially a meditation on emptiness, but the focus, the object upon which you are meditating on emptiness is a unique one. It is totally unlike meditation on emptiness on one’s ordinary mind. Because when we engage in deity yoga meditation, the object is a pure phenomena.
It is an enlightened body. And when we speak of emptiness, we should not have the notion that somehow there is something called absolute emptiness, which is totally independent of the world of objects and the world of things. As one of the texts states that, in fact, emptiness is not independent or not independent from the world of diversity. And this is very true because, emptiness is a quality of, the world of dependent origination. We cannot conceive emptiness that is not an emptiness of something.
And therefore, the profound meaning of emptiness is understood in terms of dependent origination because it is a quality. It is the way things are in relation to the dependent originated dependently originated things. So what is happening is that when we engage in the deity yoga meditation, we deliberately cultivate the image of this enlightened body. And although we do not actually experience it, but at least at the level of imagination, we conjure this enlightened body and then focused upon it, we realize reflect upon its emptiness. And that and and focused on that emptiness, we then also cultivate a sense of identification that I am this dharmakaya.
And from within this emptiness arises a form of a deity with faces, arms, and so on. As Tsongkhapa points out in his great exposition of tantra, that this object upon which one is meditating on emptiness is really a unique object. And it is fact the imagination of the imagined, enlightened form. And therefore, it is this makes this comment, actually, in his great exposition of tantra in the context of explaining a very difficult passage cited from an Indian master, again, following in the tradition of the Nālānda monastery. And so what we find here is that it is this deity body that one has visualized, and it’s which ultimately transforms into the actual form body of the Buddha.
And emptiness of that eventually actualizes culminates as dharmakaya, the truth body. Because so far as our own impure mind is concerned and also impure body is concerned, its continuum ceases when all the impurities are eliminated. So the continuity of the Buddha’s enlightened form is found while on the path in the deity yoga meditation.