Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 46-minute verse-by-verse commentary on the Guru Puja, Kyabje Rinpoche explores why the spiritual master becomes a more effective field of merit than all Buddhas of the three times and ten directions. He unpacks the meaning of “the hair from your pores”—the guru’s heart disciples who carry forward teachings—then turns to why enlightened beings manifest in ordinary form: to inspire trust and allow teaching to occur. He guides listeners through the guru as the embodiment of all inner qualities: the body mandala, the 62 deities of Guhyasamāja, and the guru’s fourfold role as guru, yidam (meditational deity), dakini, and dharma protector. The commentary concludes with tantric theory on wind energies and the central channel—how subtle and coarse winds are purified through practice to activate non-dual bliss-emptiness wisdom. Intended for practitioners initiated into yidam practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1992-10-23 – 16B – KR.mp3
UUID: 4bf54568-3fc6-4a79-85a7-8376d7ca3215
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Guru Puja – Lama Chopa
Date: 1992-10-23
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,081
Eight, We make our request to you, O compassionate refuge protectors, even a single hair from your pores is for us a field of merit more highly praised than all the victorious ones of the three times and 10 directions. So the three times are the past, present and future. The 10 directions the four cardinal, four ordinal, and upwards and downwards. And that the Buddhists who reside in all these directions and who existed within all these three times, that you are a field by means of which we are able to create a more effective field for the creation, for the accumulation of creative potential than all of these Buddhas of the 10 times and the three times the 10 directions. Not only that, not only is the lama him or herself a more effective object in which to create greater potential, but merely the hair of the pores of the lama is a greater object with respect to the accumulation of greater potential than all Buddhism of the direction and times.
Here, what is meant by hair? It is not the hair on the bodily hairs. But for example, in terms of Je Tsongkhapa, he had two disciples, Gyaltsab Je and Kedrupje, and they were called his sons. He taught them the Dharma and he gave them sūtra and tantra and they in turn propagated the teachings in vast ways to many, many sentient beings. They are like analogous to the hairs of the lama.
That is to say, in the same way Śākyamūni Buddha taught to Maitreya and Mañjuśrī, the Dharma, and they in turn propagated the teachings benefiting vast numbers of beings. So these sons and daughters are the hairs, are being symbolic of the hairs means with respect to which we can accumulate creative potential. Even the cat and dog and the relatives of the lama are like these hairs. So here we’re remembering being mindful of the great kindness of the lama in terms of being an object with respect to which we can accumulate creative potential even greater than all of the Buddhas of the three times and the 10 directions. And not only them but he or she herself but all of hairs, that is to say, the very heart disciples of the lama, are also objects that create accumulation of creative potential.
So this is the showing of respect by means of remembering the mindfulness of the lama? Now we’re looking verse 49. We make our request to your compassion refuge protectors from an intricate lattice of mirage like skillful means emblazoned with the three body wheels of those gone to bliss manifest in ordinary guise to lead all beings. So this is the request in terms of the terms of offering, the making offering of three types of offering, external, inner, secret and offering of suchness. And here where it says gone to bliss.
That is to say, that’s an epithet of the Buddha having brought the bliss to The three body wheels, this is speaking of the three bodies of the Buddha, the truth body, the enjoyment body, and the emanation body. These three bodies are attained simultaneously upon attainment of Buddhahood. They are the same entity. The wisdom truth body is that aspect of the Buddha which understands the various dispositions and capacities of the students. But if the Buddha were simply to remain in that aspect, then it would be of no benefit to ourselves as ordinary persons.
So the Buddha manifests in an ordinary guise and this has to be appropriate to ourselves. If the Buddha manifested in too beautiful an aspect or too wonderful an aspect, then too exalted an aspect, we would not be able to meet with him. We would not be able to see him. Or on the other hand, if he manifested into a lowly type of aspect, then we would not have any trust. We would not be able to develop faith in the Buddha.
So the Buddha takes on ordinary guise very similar to ourselves in a corresponding in order to teach us the Dharma. So in order to help us to trust and develop faith, he takes on appearance which is very similar to ourselves in a coarse body. And there in that guise teaches the Dharma and acts as a refuge to us so that we can listen to the teachings. And this is a demonstration of his extreme great kindness to us in taking such a manifestation. Ordinary appearance, it not only means the coarse conditioned body, but it also means displaying the qualities of hatred and attachment.
But this also is a display of ordinary appearance. So, and such a guise, acting as as the means by which we can listen to the Dharma, that we can hear the teachings on the various texts, that we can receive advice, that we can receive instructions on methods of meditation, that we can act in as a means to help us develop excellent qualities and realizations. This is the lama in terms of his excellent qualities of the external aspect, the external aspect of his excellent qualities. But this outward appearance is merely that. It is an appearance and we’re looking at verse 15 where it says, We make a request to you, O supreme gurus, the essence of the Three Jewels of refuge, your aggregates, elements, sensory bases, limbs and are in nature the fathers, mothers, male, and female bodhisattvas and the wrathful protectors of the five Buddhist families.
So these are, we’re talking about the inner qualities which these external appearances are expressions of. And as we talked about when we talked in terms of the body mandala, that the five aggregates are the five buddhas gone to bliss. The limbs are the 10 wrathful protectors and various the sensory sources until finally, this outer appearance is actually the inner expression of the 62 deities of the Guhyasamāja, the deities of the Guhyasamāja mandala. So making a request in terms of contemplating the inner qualities. Verse number 51.
We make our request to you, oh protectors of primordial unity, foremost holder of the Vajra, all pervading lords of hundreds of Buddha families, upholding, unfolding from the play of omniscient pristine awareness. You are the quintessence of 10,000,000 cycles. So describing the qualities of the lama, the lama is here it says all knowing or omniscient, that is to say having the wisdom of the Buddha. If it’s explained in terms of mantra, that is this all knowing wisdom is the wisdom of the non duality of bliss emptiness. Out of this wisdom emanating all of the various mandalas of Guhyasamāja, Heruka, Yamāntaka.
That is to say, this is a way of saying that the Lama is the master, the Lord, the Lord of all of these mandalas, if they are emanated from Him. He is the Lord of them. Then mandalas, of mandalas, hundreds of thousands of mandalas, and that He is the holder of the Vajra, that he has attained the Yuganaddha which is the union of the illusory body in the clear light and that he is, it says here, Lords of hundreds of Buddha families. Hundreds here, it says a 100. 100 families.
Generally we talk about the five lineages of the victor, the five families of the victor such as Akṣobhya, Amoghasiddhi, etcetera. So if these are expanded, can expand them into 100 families. Each of them have twenty, twenty, twenty, twenty, twenty, twenty which makes 100 families. But then if these are condensed down, we say five families. If we can condense these down into three, which is the body, speech, and mind.
And we can condense these down into one, which is Vajradhāra. So he possesses the qualities of all of these hundreds of families, these 100 Buddha families. So now we have the request in terms of offering of suchness. All ordinary living beings circle within cyclic existence due to the coarse winds. When we are born, we are born with both coarse winds but also subtle winds and extremely subtle winds, wind energies.
Generally due to the coarse winds, this manifests as various impure environments and various afflictive emotions. Through the practice of secret mantra and moving through the generation and completion stages, that one is able to cause the coarse winds vanish and the extremely subtle winds are activated. And it is out these extremely subtle winds that we are able to create an environment of a Buddha field and able to bring it into the afflictive emotions and all the various things. This extremely subtle wind energy has been free of faults from the beginning, in the middle, let us say when we are practicing the path and it is free of all faults also at the time of the attainment of Buddhahood. Is, we looking are at verse 52 where it says, We make our request to you immaculate Samantabhādra, who are in reality ultimate bodhicitta, free of beginning or end.
The nature of all things pervading everything in motion and addressed, inseparable from simultaneous bliss and play without obstruction. So this everything is a play of these wind energies. Samantabhādra refers to this most subtle wind energy which is said to benefit all since it has always been free of all negativities and all faults. Requesting all the requests brought together in complete form. And then next comes the fourth type of request that is to say the ritual in terms of the ritual that is a puja.
A puja has a very single point. Comes to a single point and we’re making a single point of it. We’re bringing this all together, condensing all of these other various qualities in terms of the qualities of the kindness, etcetera. And now we are saying that to Lama Losang and to Yönten Dorje Chang, making a single point of request in terms of like in this ritual like, remembering the great kindness that you are the lama, you are the yidam, the meditational deity, you are the dhakini, you are the Dharma protector, you are all of these. We’re looking at verse 53 where it says, You are gurus, you are yidams, you are Dharma protectors.
From this moment until our enlightenment we seek no refuge other than you. In this life the Bardo and all future lives hold us with your hook of compassion, free us from saṃsāra and nirvana’s fears, grant all attainments, be our unfailing friend, and guard us from interferences. So you being all of these things that from now until my attainment of Buddhahood, I will seek no refuge other than you. In this life, Please protect me from various sufferings, fears, undesirables the coarse havoc upon my death that during the intermediate state, please protect me and in my next life, act as my refuge. That is to say until I attain Buddhahood, please protect me.
The Dalai Lama is a condensation of all of these four. Lama Losang to which Yönten Dorje Chang is the Lama. The Lama is one who protects from sufferings and fears. The Lama is the yidam, the meditation or deity, that is to say the granter of the ordinary and supreme powerful attainments. The The Lama is Dakini, that is to say the one who assists one in the practice of Dharma.
And then finally, Lama is the Dharma protector, That which protects us from all our various interferences. So you are all of these and please protect me and go refuge only to you. So Lama nama is the highest quality, is the holder of the highest quality, and this highest quality is the Yuganaddha or unity, that is to say the wisdom of non dual bliss wisdom. Next, we say the term yidam, or generally translated as meditation or deity. Not all deities are idams or meditation deities.
This is the word that which purifies the mind. And through the yidam is that which purifies the mind. That is through by means of having taken the four empowerments, practicing the generating completion stages, at the completion stage causing the winds to enter into the central channel, one generates the wisdom of non dual bliss emptiness. And this is what purifies the mind. And this all occurs in dependence upon this deity.
So the deity which, in dependence upon which the mind is purified is one’s meditational deity.