Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 44-minute teaching on Lama Chöpa, Kyabje Rinpoche guides the visualization of the guru’s body mandala: 32 deities placed on different parts of the lama’s body, with light rays from the guru representing directional guardians and lords of wealth. The root guru sits at the center, ringed by all teachers who have given you Dharma. On the right are lineage masters of the vast deeds (Maitreya); on the left, masters of the profound view (Mañjuśrī). Rinpoche explains how Je Tsongkhapa unified three separate Kadampa traditions into a single lineage stretching back to the Buddha. The practice—visualizing the mandala, making offerings, and receiving blessings from the guru—is a direct method to transform oneself into the deity and attain Buddhahood. Intended for practitioners with Heruka initiation.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1992-07-31 – 8B – KR.mp3
UUID: 79642d15-832c-4e72-8a34-92aa5240c113
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Guru Puja – Lama Chopa
Date: 1992-07-31
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,050
At the right left shoulder is Dhupa, kalpa blue, Dhupa, kalpa blue. Right knee is. At the left knee is. Black. Topo, chin.
Black at the left knee. At the crown is blue in black. Blue. At the feet? Yes.
So at each of the feet, counting as one is at the at the sole of the feet? Blue in color. Blue in color at the sole of the feet. Blue in color. So this is these 32 parts of the the lama’s body.
I the I can be meditated upon as the 32 deities according to the practice of Guhyasamāja making up the body mandala. So on the the text that verse goes on to say, which means so it means directional guardians, lords of wealth and their attendants. So the light rays radiating out from the lamas bodies going into the 10 directions, the four main directions, the four sub directions up and down, these light rays are the directional guardians along with the lords of wealth and their attendants. So means really being. Means all or plural.
Means can mean a cushion or it can mean something that you rest your feet on. Shove means feet. So this refers to, you know, just as in the case of Yamāntaka, he is standing upon various deities, the deities of the sun and deities of the moon in order to display how he has subdued them. So these beings, all these various beings are not Buddhists, are not bodhisattvas, they are beings who have not had realizations of the grounds and the paths, they have not entered into the path. Some of them are actually harmers, that is to say that is why they are being suppressed, but some of them are not harmers, some of them actually do benefit such as the worldly beings such as Īśvara, etc, but they have not had the realizations of the path.
So, it is not so this can be interpreted in two ways. One, that they are being suppressed under the feet of lama in the sense that they’re not allowed to bring about harm for those who actually do harm but even those deities who have not had any realization is this in this sense it means that they are not above the feet and in their their they, that their level of attainment doesn’t even come up to the feet of the Lama. So they are like, like the lion throne and the lions are supporting the thrones of the Lama. They are as if under the lama as far as realizations etc. So in one respect it’s that they are being suppressed, they are harmful types of deities, worldly beings or in the case of those worldly beings who actually benefit others like Ishara, etc, they cannot come up to the level of the lama, they are still beneath his feet.
So there is two interpretation. So so it shouldn’t be interpreted that as if in the sense that stomping on these, these, these malevolent worldly beings, but that’s not, it’s out of compassion, that the lama is holding them back from harming others, suppressing them from hurting others out of compassion. So from the heart of the Lama’s heart, the light, think you’re familiar with that term, radiates spread out and upon this at the center of this beam of light, this ray of light is one’s root guru in actual aspect of that teacher. So, the actual aspect of one’s root guru. Then surrounding him or her are all the various other gurus that you have, who have taught you the Dharma, those who have given you empowerments, those who have given you various teachings, that these encircle the root guru.
So you should imagine that all the the those who have touched with the Dharma are surrounding. So then a light beam radiates out to the right as depicted in the picture, and this is the central figure resting upon this light beam is Maitreya who was representative of the lineage of the vast deeds and this would include lamas such as Asaṇga and so there would be many of those lamas surrounding him. These are the lineage lama. So the lama. The one’s one’s the lama, one’s lama.
So the the lineage lamas are depicted to your right. That is to say, the of the vast deeds. These are the Bodhisattvas and those who teach the in terms of the six perfections, the graduated path, these types of teachings. Then to your left a light beam radiates out and at the center of this light beam is, Mañjuśrī and it’s symbolic of the path of the profound. So there’s the path of the vast and path of the profound here this is the path of the profound and this would be such lamas as Nāgārjuna, Candrakīrti that is to say those who teach the profound emptiness.
So in front of both, Maitreya and Mañjuśrī are three groupings of lamas. These are the three lineages of the Kadampa. These three lineages are the the lineage So, the various lamas who are surrounding Maitreya and Mañjuśrī are the Indian masters, Indian masters, right? Then the then the the in front are these are the Kadampa masters and these represent the Tibetan masters. And these are three groups or there are three lineages of Kadampa masters and they are the Lam Rim pa, the Lam Rim means graduated path, so those who are in the lineage of the Lam Rim of the graduated path, and those who are the lineage of the vast extensive text, the textual and those who are in the lineage of the quintessential precepts.
You know, the rather than, rather than working with either the Lanrim, the graduated path, or extensive text, they take the quintessential, advice of their teacher as the main source of their practice. So these are called the precept or quintessential precept lineage. So there are these three lineages that are depicted. So these so within the within Tibet within the Kadampa lineage there was the new Kadampa and the old Kadampa and these three we’ve just described on both sides the Lam Rim, graduated path, the textual, and the precepts these are. These are the old.
Three are included in the category of what are called old. Then in front of these three lineages are Kadampa masters, the graduated path, the textual, and the precept acting as it was these are the old Kadampas. It is situated a single entity of the new Kadampas and this it was Je Tsongkhapa who took these three lineages and combined them into one and so this represents the lineage of the teachings teachings from, such masters as Je Tsongkhapa, etc. That from Tsongkhapa onwards represents the new Kadampas in a lineage down to one’s own root.
So that is that is that is the lineage lamas. Those are the lineage bridge. Thus far we’ve described the fact that our actual Lamas, those who we received actual teachings from, etc, are situated in front of us. And to each of us, to our right side are the Lineage Lamas of those who teach the vast deeds of the Bodhisattva and to our left are the lineage Lamas of those who are the teachings of the profound view of emptiness that flow through. And then we’re going to also go on to discuss the lineage of the lamas and the blessings of the practice.
So this is the lamas of the practice the blessing, literally, the the blessings of the practice. So we we we won’t go any further today. We’ll stop there. So take five minutes if you have any questions. Talks you?
That place, empty places where the future lamas who will extend an unbroken lineage, the transmission of the vast and the profound teaching. If you practice well and then you go on to teach others and then they’re going to place you at that place. So today we’ve talked about how to visualize the body mandala consisting of the 32 deities and we then talked about the way in which we are to situate the actual lamas, is to say those lamas we receive teachings from even if it’s only one verse, they should be visualized as having those you have received direct teachings from, actual direct teachings from, and then those who are your indirect or that is indirect teachers, the teachers of your teachers who will concentrate the lineage of the teachings and on your right side are the teachings of the Vast deeds. This refers to the various bodhisattva deeds, the paths and stages, and the graduated path, etcetera, these types of teachings, those who transmit these types in the lineage. And then on the on your left side was the lineage of the profound, So what we’re depicting is the unbroken lineage originating with the Buddha himself that is say from India that the Buddha and the Buddha’s teaching the Buddha taught the Dharma and the teachings consist of both method and wisdom.
The method represents the teachings of the vast practices and this lineage of teachings went through Maitreya and then there’s the wisdom aspect of the teachings and this represents the profound view of emptiness and this is transmitted through Mañjuśrī and so there is coming down from the Buddha, into these two lineages of the method and wisdom, to Maitreya and Mañjuśrī and then surrounding them are all the Indian Panditas, the masters, and then coming down further in the lineage are the various Kadampa representing the Tibetan part of the lineage was the old and first the old and then these were combined by Tsongkhapa into what became known as the new and this lineage has come down from one teacher to another down down down to your own root teacher. Within the old Kadampa there were the three sects of the Nyingma, Kagyu, and Sakya. And within the new Kadampa is the one sect of the Gelug. So so one meditates on the body mandala that is the generating the deities in the lama and develops, generates reverence, faith and makes offerings, offers seven limb prayer, offers mandala, makes requests for all the various realizations in the past to be generated and receives the blessings from the deities and when the lama’s body mandala in this way and this is the method of receiving the blessing from the lama.
And then having received the blessings from one’s lama flowing into oneself then this blessing from one’s lama flowing into one’s channels and elements and constituents then one generates these into the deity, and this is the method for attaining Buddhahood. It’s So we we, it would be, it would be acceptable to meditate on both. You know, when we do the Lama Chöpa, we meditate on ourselves as Heruka and generate the body mandala within within front of ourselves. But also here we regenerate the body mandala of the Lama and both of these, by doing both of these is extremely powerful method that has great potency and ability. So in actuality we should meditate on ourselves as initially as Heruka generating all of the various deities and the mandala of the deity, and then within that context, we then go on to make offerings to the spiritual master and meditate on the body mandala of the spiritual master.
Meditate, you know, if we were meditating according to Guhyasamāja or as we are here according with Heruka, in the case of if one was a yogi of Guhyasamāja, one would perform the self generation practice and generate the 32 deities within their body and then subsequent to that they would do the practice of Lama Chöpa and meditate the 32 deities within the body mandala of the lama. We need this empowerment, we can’t, and if we do this, by the power of this practice we can attain Buddhahood within three years and three months. Through this practice that we can gain the power and the force whereby we can attain Buddhahood in one year or even as little as three years and three months. One lifetime, or three years, three months.