Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. The ship that can carry us out of suffering — Śāntideva’s image for a precious human life — sets the frame for this 45-minute session with Khensur Rinpoche on the Ganden hundred-deity practice. After developing the bodhicitta motivation, Rinpoche maps the three realms (desire, form, formless) and their subdivisions to show why practitioners invoke Je Tsongkhapa from Tuśita specifically. He then walks through the seven-limb prayer: the homage verse praising Je Tsongkhapa’s body, speech, and mind in turn, followed by an extended section on offerings. The sharpest instruction here distinguishes imaginable from unimaginable offerings — Rinpoche argues that meditating on love or compassion, or sincerely memorizing a scripture, outranks any material gift. Practice itself is puja.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 03 KoP 1997 12 02.mp3
UUID: 65134bb3-f1f6-460c-846e-52c80ccad2b1
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: King of Prayers (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1997-12-02
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.3 minutes
Words: ~2,842
So it’s necessary that we adjust our motivation. Therefore, we cultivate for a few minutes the motivation of the awakened heart. Quoting a verse by Śāntideva where he says that this human life, possesses eighteen attributes by means of which we can practice the Dharma, is like a ship by means of which we can cross over an ocean of suffering. So it is by means of this human life possessing these eighteen characteristics that we can abandon cyclic existence, that we can go completely beyond suffering. This human life, which is likened to a ship, was built from the karma that we the fortunate karma that we’ve created in former lives.
And moreover, such a human life will be difficult to attain again. Why is such a human life so difficult to obtain? It is difficult from the point of view of the causes which bring it about, that these causes are difficult to create, and that this life possesses eighteen attributes has been difficult to create and has been difficult to find and will be difficult to find once again in the future. So we should ensure that we don’t waste our precious human life, that we take its essence through our practice of Dharma. We can abandon the cyclic existence.
We can achieve liberation. While we have such a life, we should not allow ourselves to fall into sleep. We shouldn’t waste our lives simply running after various types of entertainment, but ensure that our human life is made meaningful. How can we ensure that we make our life meaningful? It is through our practice of Dharma, but even moreover, in terms of our practice, the practice of the precious universal vehicle, the Mahāyāna.
In order to actually practice the universal vehicle, it’s necessary that we awaken our hearts. And as a means to awaken, hearts, it is necessary that as a prerequisite, we develop love and compassion. And compassion expressed in the thoughts, it would be wonderful if myself and all sentient beings were free of suffering and the causes of suffering. May my self and all living beings be free of suffering and the causes of suffering. I will lead all living beings to a state where they are free of suffering and the causes of suffering.
And love expressed in the thought, it would be wonderful if myself and all living beings had happiness in the causes of happiness. May myself and all living beings have happiness in the causes of happiness. I myself will lead all sentient beings to a state where they have happiness in the causes of happiness. But we have to ask ourselves whether or not we, in fact, have the ability, the capacity whereby to lead all sentient beings to a state where they’re free of suffering, where they have had complete happiness. And we see, in fact, we at present do not.
Well, who does? Only a living being who has removed all their various faults and has brought to consummation all their excellent qualities has such an ability. Therefore, developing the aspiration that for the sake of all living beings, I must attain a state where I have completely eliminated all of my various faults and had brought to fulfillment all my excellent qualities. That aspiration to achieve that state for the sake of all living beings is the awakened heart. In order to attain that end, I’m going to listen to this present teaching on the essence of the universal vehicle Dharma, the practice of guru yoga or union with the spiritual master.
Having listened to it, I will reflect upon it. Having reflected upon it, I will meditate it meditate on upon it for the sake of all living beings. So last week, we began a teaching on the hundred deities of the land of joy. The land of joy in Tibetan is Ganden and in Sanskrit is Tuśita. So we have to I want to go over this first verse that we talked about last week where it said, from the heart of the lord protector of Tuśita’s hundred gods.
We have first have to understand that that the the universe is made of is is constituted of three realms. This is to say that the habitats where sentient beings dwell. There is desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm. So there is amongst these three realms, the first of these is desire realm. And how does this does this name come about that we we call this particular habitat the desire realm?
It is because the the it it is evolved out of the the afflictive of afflictive emotion, the afflictive emotion of desire and the karma which is created through that desire. So the a being through that force of that afflict that particular type of afflictive emotion and karma goes on to take a particular a rebirth in a particular type of That rebirth environment is termed a desire realm. And the beings themselves who take rebirth are termed beings of desire realm or desire beings. So we have desire beings and the desire realm in which those types of beings inhabit. So there is the desire realm.
Above the desire realm is a realm called the form realm. And this realm is the beings have a particular relationship to form in terms of their afflictive emotions. So it is the afflictive emotion with regard to form and the beings who take taking by that afflictive emotion, creating a special type of karma, which brings about a particular type of environment called the form realm. And the beings who take who take rebirth in such a form realm are termed form beings. So only within this form realm, those only what we would term gods or celestial beings take rebirth?
And then above the form realm is what is termed the formless realm. And the beings within the formless realm are formless. They have no body. They have of the five aggregates, they have only four aggregates, the aggregates of feeling, perceptions, compositional factors, and consciousnesses. They do not have an aggregate of forms.
So they they are born into this realm, into a formless environment, and they are with are the beings are termed formless beings. So those are the three realms. Within this first realm, desire realm, there are six levels of beings. There is there are three within the unfortunate realm and three in the fortunate realm. So of the three in unfortunate realm are the three levels of the hell beings, the hungry ghosts, and animals. And then the three levels within the fortunate realm are humans, the demigods, and the desire realm gods.
So it they’re the the the demigods are kind of in between the the humans and the desire realm gods in terms of of their beauty and their prosperity. They’re they have they’re they’re much more beautiful and more prosperous than the humans, but not quite as as much so as the as desire around gods. Now with within the desire realm gods habitats, where they where the desire realm gods dwell, where they live. There are six there are again six levels within that realm of the desire realm gods. There are six levels.
The first being that of the Brahma realm, then the heaven of what is called the heaven of thirty-three, and the third is called Tuśita. So Tuśita is an abode within the desire realm inhabited by desire realm gods. So when when in the practice, we request that the Je Tsongkhapa along with with his two spiritual sons descend from Tuśita, we are requesting them to descend from this this particular level or realm. So the the first verse is is is a verse of invitation, asking them to for to please to descend before ourselves. And the second verse is where they are to abide and what they are to do having once descended where it says, in the sky before me on a lion’s throne with a lotus and moon seat sits the holy guru with his beautiful smiling face, supreme field of merit from from my mind of faith.
Please stay one hundred eons to spread the teachings. So we we invite Je Tsongkhapa along with his two spiritual sons to to this to this space before ourselves, and they we they are seated upon a lion throne, a throne supported by lions, upon which is a lotus and moon cushions, and we are asking them to propagate the Buddhist teachings for the sake of all sentient beings. And then the the next verse reads as follows. Your your mind of pure genius that spans the whole range of range of knowledge, your speech of eloquence, jewel ornament for the fortunate ear, your body of beauty resplendent with the glory of fame, I bow to you so beneficial to see, hear, and remember. So this verse is the beginning is the first of the of the seven limbs prayer.
It’s the the first limb of paying homage. So we we are paying homage to Je Tsongkhapa along with his spiritual sons, the the three of them. And first, we pay homage in terms of their mind. And we that the extolling or praising them in terms of their mental quality of possessing a wisdom which realizes all phenomena along with their great compassion. And then we praise, we offer a homage in terms of their speech.
That is to say that they are able to teach the holy Dharma, both sūtra and tantra to in eloquent and complete fashions to their disciples. And finally, praise in terms of paying homage in terms of their body, the qualities of their body is such that they are a beauty to see. It is in this way that we pay homage through our three doors of body, speech and mind to the body, speech and mind of the three, Jayson Kappa and his two spiritual sons. This verse is the first of the seven limbs, and that is the verse of pain of homage or prostration. Then the next verse is the verse of making offerings where it says as follows. Various delightful offerings of flowers and perfumes, incense, lights, pure sweet waters, those actually presented in this ocean of offering clouds created by my imagination.
I offer to you a supreme field of merit. So in the text, the order is slightly different than is presented in the English translation. But there’s a general arrangement of making offerings where we in Sanskrit, we use the words argham, padyam. And these argham and padyam are the first two waters which are generally offered. So first we offer water for the mouth and then water for the feet.
And then it refers here to sweet waters, pure sweet waters. Those are the waters which are first to be offered, which are mentioned first. And then the offering of flowers comes next. We offer a great variety of flowers in various colors, red, white, yellow, and we offer it in in different forms. We offer garlands of flowers.
We offer we offer bouquets of flowers. And then offer scents, of incense, sweet smelling aromatic fragrances like sandalwood, etcetera, various powders. And then we offer lights in the form of butter lamps, but any types of lights. It can be made of various substances, electric light, whatever, but also the lights of the sun and the moon. So a great variety of types of illumination.
Then we continue with series of offerings which are being made. Quite often in a very hot climate, a fragrant water is applied to the chest. It’s sprinkled on the chest as a means of cooling. So the water is usually scented, so some type of fragrant water which is sprinkled or rubbed on the chest as as a method of cooling in hot climates. And then the the text itself simply goes on to say etcetera and so forth.
And by what we mean by and so forth would be various types of food offerings. We can offer, know, think, offer fruit and biscuits or whatever. We can then we we go on to offer music, and this can be all types of music music from horns, music of drums, but whatever types of pleasant sounds that can be offered. And then it the text goes on to say that both actual and that which is simply imagined. So we set out actual offerings as is arranged on the altar, but we should also go on using our meditative concentration to create a panorama of beauty in terms of whatever is beautiful to the eye.
We should offer that beautiful countryside, beautiful scenery, flowers, you know, fields of flowers. And to imagine that the entire space is filled with these magnificent offerings multiplied till they fill all of space. So first, whatever we can, in fact, actually offer, we can offer that, setting those offerings out. But again, offering whatever we we simply is of beauty to the eye, whatever is of joy to behold. You know, when we go for a to a park, you know, sometimes they have set out beautiful displays of flowers, offering those in our imagination, or forests full of trees.
Anything of ponds, anything of beauty its surroundings, that in one’s imagination. So with regard to offerings, there are two types. There are those which are imaginable and those which are unimaginable. We said that there were two types of offering, those which are imaginable and those which are unimaginable. And by and by imaginable, we mean those which are there is something more that could be offered and therefore there is simply they’re limited in some way, therefore they are termed imaginable.
For example, flowers and incense, that there is something more precious than flowers and incense that we could be offering. So those which are more precious than these are termed unimaginable. And by unimaginable, by way of example, there is the verse where we I take refuge until I’m enlightened in the Buddha Dharma and the Sangha. You know, we are continually repeating this verse of going for refuge and the generation of the awakened heart. If you were the the If we were to memorize or hold those words in our mind, this verse, then this would be more precious than substantial offerings or this would be an unimaginable offering because it’s more precious to be able to hold this in our minds.
But over and above that, if we were to go on and actually practice what is being taught, you know, if we were actually in fact to go for refuge to the Three Jewels, then that would be an unimaginable offering also. If we were to meditate on love and compassion, if we were to go on to develop the awakened heart, this would be an unimaginable offering. Why? Because there’s no higher offering that we could possibly ever make. But also we can various types of imagined offerings, those which are just simply visualized.
I mean, this can be the visualized offerings of if we if they’re if this visualization is done with great reverence and and respect and devotion, then even the visualization of flowers offering them is an unimaginable offering if it’s done with great devotion. So there’s a verse in the offering to the spiritual master, Guru Puja, where it lists a great deal of skillful actions and that we transform our own skillful actions having practiced in this way. There’s a list of activities that we’ve been involved paying homage, etcetera, and that we’ve through these activities we’ve accumulated a vast collection of skillful actions. And we imagine as if transforming these and give them some form in our visualization. We transform them into umbrellas and banners of victory, and we offer these.
So this offering with the great reverence, so this would be an unimaginable offering. This would be offering of practice. So the word offering in Tibetan, it’s chopa. In Sanskrit, it’s puja. Puja.
Puja. Yeah. Puja. So puja has the connotation of being pleased. That is to say, the object to whom we are making offering, as in the case making offering to the lama, the spiritual master is pleased.
So it has the idea that through the offering, the object of our offering is pleased or takes joy in what we are offering. So for example, our offering is that which pleases. And if we were to memorize a passage of a text, a scriptural text, a sūtra, for example, then this way of practice would be pleasing to one’s lama. That if we were to meditate, for example, meditate on love, meditate on compassion or the awakened heart, that our lama would be extremely pleased with this way of practice. This would be offering, the offering of practice.
As Milarepa said, I have nothing to give. I have no food, drink, nor money.