Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. The magician who turns a stone into a horse — and our error in taking that horse as real — anchors Khensur Rinpoche’s 28-minute closing session of a three-day retreat on the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation. Rinpoche uses the analogy to explain emptiness: things appear truly existent and the mind grasps at them as such, but practice requires freeing awareness from both the appearance and the grasping. He then outlines what makes practice effective: keeping it free from worldly concerns, uniting method and wisdom, and sustaining effort day and night. The session ends with a structured sequence of prayers — generating and stabilizing bodhicitta, praying to meet qualified teachers and spiritual community, and dedicating the retreat’s accumulated merit for the long life of root gurus, the spread of the Dharma, and peace in the world.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 07 8VTT 1999 06 14.mp3
UUID: a97c713a-882a-4f03-b5ef-7c944204bd4d
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: 8 Verses Thought Transformation (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1999-06-14
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 27.7 minutes
Words: ~1,310
That’s the way it appears. So the fact is it is not, should see this like illusion that one should see that things are like illusion like the horse or made from the magician’s castle or spell. So saying that at that moment the magician converts the stone into a horse and so for us it appears as a horse, we are not only agreeing with the appearance of the horse, we also attach or hold the horse as it appears. So likewise, so one should not attach, not only think that appearance of a horse is unreal. And not only that, one should also should free ones mind from holding that horse as a horse.
Like so for similar thing to the objects they appeared to us and they appeared as if truly existent and we grasp there and we appear, the things appear to us truly existent and our mind also grasp or attach attach it to those things as they are, and agreeing or grasping that things are truly existent the way they appear. So but fact is you should see like illusion and let your free your mind from those appearance and attachment that grasping that things are truly existent the way it appears and seeing that everything is empty and it’s empty from its own accord and there is no truly existent. Yeah. So briefly speaking here what it says is while one is doing the practice of those, I mean I said the man through manus which is the three perfections and while doing this practice be sure that one practice should be free from of worldly concerns and training in the next next two one, two concentration and wisdom or your training in the views and be sure that your practice is free from the appearance and attachment of the truly existent of the mind or perception grasping true, truly existent.
And so through this process practice in the method and wisdom which actually means these two, yeah. And so to cultivate and then cultivate and do your practice all twenty four hours day and night. And and while you’re doing this practice and to, in order to become, to practice in whole twenty four hours day and night and in order to become your practice very deep, profound and very effective and you should also make request prayers to the lamas, your gurus, Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, bodhisattvas, dakinis and Dharma protectors and so forth to make prayers to those, all those to become your practice effective and perform. And then on the other hand, so excuse me, so yeah, so first thing you make request to all those Dharma protectors to become your practice very effective and perform. And on the other hand you should, by doing meditation you have accumulated merits and should do the dedicate your merits as well.
And about the prayers and normally we make the prayers of the making prayers that cultivate or made us, I mean, generate the making prayers to generate the bodhicitta or altruistic intention which is not cultivated and making prayers that, and bodhicitta which has been cultivated becomes more stable and increased and making prayers that bodhicitta which you have will never be declined and always increase. So in order to make this prayer that all I I’ll be able to generate the bodhicitta which has not been generated and once it’s generated it never be declined and always be increased. And in order to have that you should pray to have, as a method of achieving all those bodhicitta or cultivating those bodhicitta, should also pray that may I be matched with the spiritual teacher who possesses the bodhicitta and shows me how to attain. And may I be met with the teachings which helps to cultivate and also meet with the spiritual community or spiritual friends which accompanies me to cultivate the altruistic . And finally if we summarize the prayers here then we can say that may I always be have all the conducive conditions to practice and those and all and be free from all the obstacles.
And also make prayers that to have this, to receive the precious human rebirth without missing any numbers to cultivate, to meditate on a bodhicitta or altruistic intention here without missing any numbers means to have this human attain this precious human rebirth uninterruptedly and not like taking precious human rebirth in between hell realms and then human rebirth. So it’s not like that, to have always have the continuously have the attained precious human rebirth with the eighteen qualities and to meditate or cultivate bodhisattva. Okay. To share that. So and so including today, we have done the three three days retreat and and everyone I’m pretty sure everyone has a job and leave all the job behind and and came to do the retreat and have done lots of listening to the teaching and you have contemplated on the meanings and you meditate have done meditation and I and rejoice and I feel very happy to being for you to have to have and have done such things.
And for as for myself, I’m very fortunate and pleased to to have this opportunity to teach about the teachings composed by teachings from of the great master Langri Thangpa who has I mean great who has cultivated or who who has possesses the bodhicitta and I was being able to, very fortunate to have to get the opportunity to read and teach this and get this opportunity to put some imprints on this teaching. So all we have done very hard to leave some imprints on doing meditation on bodhicitta and listening about cultivation of bodhicitta and we are very fortunate to be able to leave some imprints on those bodhicitta to cultivate near futures and we have cultivate, I mean, achieved lots of merits. So we are very fortunate to be able to do this and cultivate the bodhicitta in such a time in this world. In this time of the world is very very the difficult and very few people here got opportunity to study about the cultivation of bodhicitta and so those who are included in this particular practice or course very or should feel very fortunate to be able to have this opportunity. So we’ll do here the prayers and then the dedication prayers that say that now we have accumulated numerous great merits by giving teaching as well as listening to the teaching.
And if we were to, if the size of the virtues we have accumulated is visible, then it will not fit in this world. So we have cultivate a huge amount of merit and so here we should dedicate all those merit we are merit for the long life of our great our root gurus like his holiness and so forth and pray for them for their long life and then they be and pray for activities to spread worldwide and due to that and as a result for that pray that and through their kindness pray that the Buddhist teachings, Buddhist teaching will last long in this world and by lasting this teaching for long, pray that and due to the power of that, may this world be free from all those wars and devastation and so forth. And make also prayers for yourself that be may I be able to cultivate bodhicitta within this life. And if not, be able to cultivate in next life and become a bodhisattva. And may prayers be made that all those Dharma centers will be able to, yeah, stay longer and pray especially for Bodhi House to be at to exist longer and very and become very effective and can serve the public for a long time.
Okay. Page number thirty three. Our thank you.