Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 46-minute teaching, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen covers offerings—a central merit-accumulating practice on the Lamrim path—emphasizing their accessibility through visualization rather than expense. He begins with flower, light, and incense offerings and their specific benefits, then shows how to transform everyday sights into offering practice: gardens, markets, streetlights. He presents the ten traditional types of offerings, stressing the importance of personal practice and pure motivation free from attachment and delusion. A practical note: when negative emotions arise in meditation, switch to purification practice rather than forcing concentration. Pitched at practitioners familiar with visualization and merit field work.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 08 LR 1995 07 30.mp3
UUID: e6a66388-1d14-4421-843e-d286624c6895
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Lam Rim 1995 Jan-Dec (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1995-07-30
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.9 minutes
Words: ~2,482
And canopy offering, which is made like what you call canopy. Yeah. Made out of flowers. You like visualize in those form of objects, like, made out of flowers and you make the offerings. And you can also visualize, what do you say, a mansion of gods made out of flowers.
So in the same way, you can visualize, like, a flower table, flower cushion, flower throne, and and make offering to the to the refuge the merit fields. So then the next thing also, the the garland. You can also visualize that in your flower garland. And the garland that you make the offerings, like garland, which is offered to the crown or other parts. And you can also visualize that those flowers transform into different objects, like offering objects.
So like the flowers, you shouldn’t make the flower offerings or the flowers which are poisonous, comes out of poisonous tree or flower those which has bad smell. So making these offerings, we can offering the offering objects that in this world, the whole offering object that you cannot make offerings. Beside that you can also mentally visualize the flowers in the gods’ realms and in the other parts, other rooms like other continents. You visualize all the flowers and the offering object and imagine that keep making that offering. So when you do that, you accumulate your merit you accumulate the merit according to your visualizations.
So so if you if you do this practice of offering, like you can mentally imagine and make the offerings, then there’s many good things that it’s, let’s say, it serves as your practice, one thing, and it’s easy to do that. And then also, you don’t need to spend anything. Spend anything. Don’t you think it’s good? So that’s how you make the offerings.
So so if you do spend a lot lot of money to make the offerings, then I can some pain may arise. Like some pain that if you pull the hair out of your nose. So then next is like making light offerings. For example, light offering in the night, in the dark place where if you make a light offering in the night then the places which where the light can dispel all the darkness, all all that places. So, the light clears the darkness of, yeah, the darkness and the benefit of doing that, benefit of making the light offerings is that in one’s future one becomes to one become one one becomes able to keep the pure moral, moral disciplines like becoming whether one have one is a monk, fully ordained monks or nun, one is able to, like, keep the pure vows.
So same thing with with the incense offerings. If one is to make the incense offerings, then the scented smell, goes over the space like the incense fills the space. So same thing in a way that in the future one becomes one become able to preserve the pure moral disciplines. So, so like a sorry, offering of light is that in one’s meditation place, you may have light offerings in your room, like the light that you use normally, light in your room. You can visualize that as offering making offerings.
And not only that but all the light in the street, in the city, and also the light in your cars that you can visualize, imagine that, and make them offering too. So same thing that when you go into into the gardens or parks where you see beautiful flowers and beautiful light offerings. All that you imagine and make offerings offerings, then that that all that can be offered. So so same thing like when you go to the markets, you see many different fruits. All of them you can make the offer make offerings.
So so at that time, if you if you generate attachment towards or desire towards the fruits, then it becomes negative. But then instead you visualize and imagine that you’re making offerings, then it becomes a virtue. So, like, you visualize, imagine that you’re making all these offerings and for example, you’re offering to the merit field and to what part of the merit field you offer. If it’s a flower, then you offer to the crown of the merit field or as some garland around the neck. And if it’s music offering, then you offer it to its ear.
So so when you make a sound offering to Buddhas, like whether it’s a pleasant sound or unpleasant sound. If you make even an offering of unpleasant sound, for the Buddhas, for the enlightened beings, when they hear it, it is pleasant, pleasant. But for us it is unpleasant sound. So as for us we accumulate a non virtue out of making this unpleasant sound, making offering of unpleasant sound. But for the Buddhas, they hear a pleasant sound.
And same thing when with food like food, food that is offered to Buddhas are always delicious or good, fresh. But we may offer food which are not fresh or what do you call, bad foods. So if we do that then it’s we that accumulate non virtue. But for Buddhas, it’s always delicious or good food. So whatever offering you make, for example, the actual arranged offerings, the actual objects, even if it’s just a stick of incense, you are making that offering, you shouldn’t have attachment towards the object.
So then whatever you you offer out of non attachment and and then after offering you imagine, you think that they enjoyed, the merit field enjoyed it, merit field enjoyed it pleasingly. So so then you write there, you dedicate the merit of that and that offering. So so as we said, like, in in the sūtra, in one of the sutras that ten types of offerings that you can make. So, one kind of offering is that offering to actual Buddha, seeing a Buddha and making offering. So the first one is that making offering to to actual Buddha by seeing them or or you can make the offerings to the to the image of the Buddhas, imagining them being real.
And then second is So second is making offering to the stupas where where where it contains the the relics of Buddhas. So the third one is making offering like a offering to those stupas which one haven’t seen or not having contacted with the eye eye through our eyes. So for example, like, those who haven’t been to India or seen Bodh Gaya, the temple, making imagining that and then making offering to that. So so then whatever offering you make, that’s the fifth one, should should be done by oneself. Like, I want you to like, yeah, once you use once a hand to make the offerings.
So, the reason that one should make the offerings is that because one wishes one one is wishing the benefits of making offerings. So then the sixth one is that which is making someone offering to one’s offering objects, once offering objects. For example, giving to someone who is poor who don’t have anything and let him or her make the offerings. So so that action is actually done out of out of out of benefiting mind, wanting wanting to benefit the person. Like with that motivation, you hand or give the offering to that person and that person also makes the offerings which becomes beneficial to both.
And then the seventh one is the offering of service. So that extensive offerings is referring to like if you are if it’s like following once a year, then you make it as extensive as possible, like make it big as possible, various different kinds of offerings. And the ninth one is, what is it, undiluted offering, non diluted offering. So, the offerings which are free from these different thoughts of delusions like attachment, hatred, anger or out of carelessness and so on. If you So, making offerings without these delusions.
So so an offering those offerings with respect. And the tenth one is the the offering of practice. So the offering of practice has many other explanations. So that will be explained in the next teaching. So if you have any questions, you can ask them.
Any questions that you would like to ask, you can ask. Yep. So, Michelle, Geshe-la said Geshe-la said that it’s in this level which is I mean, it’s not the total bad, but but out of that motivation, if you offer the offerings, then it’s it’s not the pure offerings. So with the example, let’s explain here. If you’d plant a different grains, like barley or wheat.
So so that you saw that seed, the grains or the seed, and after a few months you enjoyed the result. And then once you enjoyed the result, that’s it. That’s all. So then another another thing is that, for example, if you if you plant a fruit tree, then there’s this motivation that one will enjoy the fruit for many years. For that purpose, you plant the fruit trees.
If one is, one wishes to enjoy the result of one action for many future lifetimes, then one shouldn’t do it out of, let’s say, once you didn’t do make the offerings for the purpose of self. So so if you if one does make the offer to perform the actions, it is part of benefiting others, then that will that will help both one and others. So as is explained in the meetings before saying that the ministers, so when they are working, they are appointed as worker for the country. And if they work good, if have worked well, then both purposes are served. People get happy and he gets his payment like So whatever offering we make, if we do it, one shouldn’t do it for the purpose of this life And one always had the motivation to help, sorry, to do the practice for the benefit of other lives, future lives.
Any other questions? Yeah. So, like as GJ was saying, normally when we use umbrella it’s to keep the rain away and then to give protection from the sun. And another reason of making umbrellas, offerings of umbrellas is that to cool, to bring the pleasure of coolness. So so when when you are in in practice, for example, some meditation practice, And at that time if negative emotions arises, then one should stop one’s meditation.
And then instead of continuing with that meditation, say breathing meditations or you do the purification practice which is visualizing the merit field and taking the nectars and purifying oneself. So you visualize the refuge field or the refuge object in the space before one and taking the nectar from the refuge field and then dissolve into oneself. Taking the nature of body, speech and mind of the refuge field and dissolving into one, purifying one’s body, speech and mind. And especially whatever negative emotion there was, there is thinking, imagining that it’s been completely purified, removed. So, to make it more extensive than before one does this purification practice, one when one has the visualizations of the merit fields ready, then you make the offerings, like the offerings and the mandala offerings and so on.
And and starting the meditations with the breath breathing meditations. So so when when when even if that is not working, then you shouldn’t force yourself. It’s like if you force yourself, then it’s like slapping yourself. If that happens, then you do other things like playing computer games. Then when you are more more more relaxed, calm, then you can start your meditation.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So at once, how do you visualize the moon? And then on the moon, you visualize the hum syllable.
And then from that hum, light radiates. And then on the tip of all the lights, you visualize the offering which is visualizing those offering holding like flowers. And then similar with different objects and you make the offerings. Okay. With regard to the merit field, I was imagining it as a field, like in nature, So the the merit field like a it’s one’s own refuge object.
Whatever refuge or whatever belief one have, everybody had their own refuge objects. So the the for example, in Buddhism, like very rough roughly Buddha Buddha Śākyamūni, you visualize Buddha and then make the offering to him to that to the Buddha. And if it’s a if you’re a Christian like making offerings, then they make offering to Jesus. Similar to the different religion they have their own refuge objects. You visualize that and you make the offering to them.
And if you do the extensive offerings to the refuge field then it’s like, for example, in Buddhism then that’s, see the top picture up there. And that’s the extensive visualizations. Yeah. This was. Fourth and fifth of ten.
So the fifth one, for example, making offering by self, one self making the offerings. So the sixth one is you make another person to make the offerings. For example, you buy the objects, whatever offering you’re making, and then you give it to the poor person who don’t have any objects to make offerings. And then you let that person to make the offerings out of this benefiting mind, helping mind. So which which for the sixth one, you need to wish to benefit.
So that’s one is that making offering to to to this to those images Buddha or the stupas. In a huge land. Which is in other countries where you didn’t have your eye contact with it. Imagine that making offering to them. So, like, for example, let’s say in Tibet, this is this Buddha image which fulfills all the wishes, Jowo.
So, imagine that in one’s and making offering to that. So, like a question back to you is in your house, for example, you and your husband both work for your house. So then is it something like because your husband is doing why you want why you’re doing your the work in your house. It comes to that. It sounded like two do the work in my house, but I count on my husband to do that too.
It’s like mean, I can understand that that that I have to have exceptional resolve. I mean, if I if I, you know, truly wish to Mhmm. Free all sentient beings, I have to be strong in that resolve, and I have to believe that I do it myself. Mhmm. But I can’t believe that everybody else isn’t doing it too, but all these other people are doing it too.
So in that sense, I don’t feel as though I’m alone. Uh-huh. Do you see what I mean? A the teacher by now. But when I’m around