Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 43-minute session, Kyabje Rinpoche teaches the fifth through seventh limbs of the seven-limb guru yoga prayer. He begins with the request limb—asking the guru to turn the wheel of Dharma—explaining how this practice counters wrong views about karma and rebirth. He then covers the request that the guru not pass beyond sorrow, unpacking a paradox: the guru has already transcended birth and death through non-dual realization, yet appears in an ordinary body as a gift to students. Using the metaphor of a beautiful shoulder bag, Rinpoche illustrates how the guru’s coarse form contains enlightened wisdom. He walks through visualizations for each limb, describes the dedication limb’s three kindnesses, and maps how the seven limbs function together to purify negativity, accumulate merit, and strengthen positive qualities. He concludes with practical instruction: understanding teachings is only half the work; transformation requires disciplined practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1992-09-25 – 15B – KR.mp3
UUID: c63716d6-3ff3-434c-9922-debc8453badf
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Guru Puja – Lama Chopa
Date: 1992-09-25
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,052
With compassion. Lama Losang Töndrü Chen is like me to a simile, like clouds. Just as clouds, the rain forms and falls upon and really causes the crops to grow or those crops which are growing, it nourishes them to continue to grow or it brings them to a state of having it ripened. Then the beings can have happiness and well-being through this harvest. Likewise, may your love and your compassion and wisdom fall like rain upon the limitless beings.
This rain would take the form of various, your teachings of Dharma and Dharma of the vast and profound Dharma teachings and causing new realizations to be developed. Those realizations and wisdoms and compassion which have already been developed, that they are nourished, they continue to grow, and those which are continuing to grow are brought to full consummation, the fully developed qualities. By means of this rain of wisdom and love, that all of the various sufferings and afflictive emotions are pacified and the excellent qualities are newly generated. Those which have already been generated not only will be nourished but additionally they will increasingly be brought to consummation and fulfillment. So this is a request for the turning of the wheel of Dharma to be granted, of teaching.
So it is only by means of the holy Dharma that both the temporal and ultimate welfare of living beings are brought about. Is through the Dharma is given to the teachings in a loving, with great love, with great understanding, in an unerring, unmistakable fashion. And who is this teacher that we are making this request to grant, to give the teachings? Lama Losang Töndrü Dorje Chang. We will say, Please turn the wheel, Dharma, for the welfare of living beings.
And this is the limb of request. The limb of requesting the turning of the wheel of Dharma acts as an antidote to our wrong views. Such types of wrong views as the holding the nonexistence strongly of past and future rebirths and the non validity of the law of cause and effect. That is to say that from skillful actions, happiness arises and from unskillful actions, suffering arises. How are these wrong views overcome?
By the teachings of Dharma. Therefore by requesting the turning of the wheel, this acts as an antidote to our wrong views. So if we didn’t have wrong views, would be no need to request the turning of the wheel of Dharma. But it is for the purpose of ceasing our wrong views that we request the turning of the wheel of Dharma, the granting of teaching, the giving Next comes the the the sixth limb of the seventh limb prayer. The the requesting the Lama Losang Töndrü Dorje Chang to pass beyond sorrow.
It’s contained in the following verse. Though you advise your body is subject to neither birth nor death and is a vessel of unity’s wish granting gems, please abide forever and in keeping with our wishes, pass not beyond sorrow until saṃsāra ends. This is being addressed to Lama Losang Töndrü Dorje Chang, who is in the nature of the wisdom of non-dual bliss emptiness and having moved all through the practice of Yuganaddha, of unity, having removed all of its various faults and brought to consummation all of one’s excellent qualities, achieves an illusory body which is not subject to all of the various processes of birth, aging, disease, or death. But though in fact it is not, this is a very subtle body and would not be able to appear to ordinary students. Therefore for their benefit, Lama Losang Töndrü Dorje Chang has taken on a coarse body, a body of flesh and bone in order to appear to the students.
This is like this body of flesh and bone. Conditioned body is like a container of the wisdom of non dual bliss emptiness. And this is taken for the benefit the students in order that they be able to receive the teachings and requesting that this appearance as it appears in this coarse form not pass beyond beyond sorrow but to remain until cyclic existence comes to an end, until awakening. So, which I was explaining is the word Tibetan which is a very, it’s a carrier like shoulder bag, a very beautiful shoulder bag. Think in this picture a thangka, this middle picture is a thangka.
Near his left arm, he’s carrying a shoulder bag where they put their valuable possessions in. So this is, in general, it would be a beautiful container. So this is what the idea has been gotten at here. By using this word, they’re saying that this coarse body that the Lama appears in is simply a beautiful, tremendously, it’s a body for and it contains the wisdom of the non dual bliss emptiness of Lama Losang Töndrü Dorje Chang. It’s just like a place, a container to put the wisdom in.
It’s not needed, but because we would not be able to make contact with this wisdom of non-dual wisdom, non-dual emptiness and bliss, we are able to make contact with the container and that which is contained. It has an ordinary course aspect it is this which gives us teaching of the Dharma. Without this coarse aspect, then there would be no way that we could relate with the wisdom of non dual wisdom, emptiness and bliss. So for the sake of all sentient beings, please in order to continue to give the teachings, in this container, remain in this coarse body until cyclic existence ends. So at the preceding verse where we offered, we are making requests for turning the wheel of Dharma.
We can visualize offering an eight spoked Dharma wheel and at the same time forming a mandala of eight heaps, one in the center and seven piles around and as a physical offering. And imagine that this is an eight spoked wheel of Dharma that you’re offering while requesting that the teacher would turn the wheel of Dharma. Here in the requesting to not pass beyond sorrow, you can imagine offering a mandala of five heaps and this is to be visualized in the form of a cross. Is a cross. And so offering and imagining this way while making this request, it’s an auspicious relationship.
So then the seventh limb is the limb of dedication. We’re making a prayer of dedication, and it reads as follows: We dedicate the collection of white virtues thus created that we may be inseparably protected throughout all our lives by Venerable Gurus possessing the three kindnesses and that we may attain the Vajradhāra state of unity. So by means of the preceding six practices, the practices of the paying of homage, by prostrations, offering, confession, rejoicing, requesting the turning of the Dharma and requesting not to pass beyond sorrow, we have accumulated a tremendous collection of skillful actions. Now we are going to dedicate that and we are dedicating that we may throughout in this life and throughout unremittingly throughout all our rebirths until our Buddhahood that we may be cared for by the lama possessing three kindnesses. And these three kindnesses are the kindness bestowing empowerments, teachings on tantra giving explanations of various precepts of the way of practice, the way what is to be avoided, what is to be practiced, what is to be cultivated, what is to be done and what is to be not done.
May we ourselves and all living beings become cared for, come into your care until we have attained the Vajradhāra state of unity. So by means of this prayer of dedication, skillful actions will be inexhaustible. So the seven limbs constitute three activities, the accumulation, purification, and increase. The limbs of prostration and confession are the means by which negativities are purified. The limbs of offering, requests of turning the wheel of Dharma and requesting not to pass beyond sorrow are the activities of accumulation.
Then the rejoicing and limb dedication are the activities of increasing the skillful actions already created. So having completed the prayer of the seven limbs, then at this time we should offer a mandala and then make requests at this point of meaning, great purpose, of making single pointed requests. At this point, it, it’s like driving a stake into the ground. It’s unshakable. It’s very stable.
So in the same unshakable way, like a single point of purpose of great meaning making requests. So what is meant by great meaning here? The request of great meaning? In terms of Sūtra, of the discourse, there are three great meanings. One is that may my mind become the Dharma, that is of the various fundamentals of the Dharma, for example renunciation and awakening the heart, etcetera.
And secondly, may that Dharma become the path that may my practice go well. And thirdly, may I have no obstacles in following the path. They they another explanation of the three meaning, these three great meanings, requesting the following blessings that through my distorted made by the forces of my distorted attitudes, I quickly cease any disrespect showing toward the spiritual friend from now until I attain the unity of no more learning, unity of no more learning, which is Buddhahood. May I quickly cease this distorted attitude of showing disrespect quickly from now until the attainment of the unity of no more learning. The second is that may I easily and quickly generate the respectful attitude toward the spiritual friend from now until the unity of no more learning.
And that may all of my obstacles to that achievement, all of the various contradictory conditions, inhibiting conditions, be completely eliminated. Please bless me with us. So these are the three main purposes according to the sūtra. Don’t look. So if these three meanings set out in terms of the mantra tradition, it is very much similar to what we’ve just said in terms of the sūtra, but it is in terms of may I quickly bring about the cessation of the appearances of duality. May the appearances of duality quickly end. May I generate the understanding of non duality and may I eliminate all the conflicting conditions and obstacles to that understanding. So in response to these requests of great meaning, nectars flow forth. First, white nectars entering oneself and purifying all of the distorted attitudes of showing disrespect.
Then yellow nectars go forth whereby one develops the attitudes of respect. Thirdly, red nectars go forth eliminating all the various obstacles and conditions within oneself. So that finishes the seven-limb prayer. Now we’re going to have a break and during the course over the break you should reflect, practice and meditate on the teachings that you’ve been given. If you do this, this will be unimaginably beneficial in terms of the accumulating positive actions and purifying various negativities.
So the purpose of listening to the Dharma is to understand it, understanding what is to be adopted and what is to be rejected, what is to be practiced, what is to be cultivated, what is to be abandoned. That is to say, we try to understand in order to practice. If we practice, then we will eliminate our various faults and we will bring to consummation our excellent qualities. Ultimately, we’re seeking to develop all our excellent qualities and remove our various faults. This is the result that we’re trying to achieve and you should reflect upon this fact that this is what we’re aiming at.
In order to achieve this then, we have to practice. This attainment of removing our faults and developing excellent qualities depends upon practice. If we practice, then we can attain that result. If we don’t practice, then we will not attain that result. So it’s extremely important that upon understanding that we put it into practice.
So the fact that we have not as of yet removed all our various faults and developed our excellent qualities is not just because we don’t know, we don’t understand. Just understanding in itself is not sufficient. It’s also necessary to practice. Even though we may understand how to practice, it’s still necessary to practice. So please, as much as you understand, put that understanding into practice.
Questions. I’ll stop there for today.