Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Using the image of a fertile field left unplanted, Khensur Rinpoche opens this 47-minute Lamrim session with a second, less familiar approach to taking refuge: tracing all one’s good fortune back to the kindness of the Triple Gem, rather than faith alone. He shows how the three causes of precious human rebirth — ethical discipline, the perfections, and pure prayers — each depend on having received teachings. He then covers offerings: water presented to Buddha becomes nectar, a single morsel of food offered to the Three Jewels yields immeasurable merit, and the best offering of all is meditation on compassion, bodhicitta, and emptiness. The session closes with a special dedication — it is the Dalai Lama’s birthday — and Rinpoche leads the group in long-life prayers, dedicating months of accumulated merit to His Holiness.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 17 LR 1999 07 06.mp3
UUID: 33cc7374-2fa0-44ca-9f1d-42833e2affd2
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Lam Rim (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1999-07-06
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 47.0 minutes
Words: ~2,594
And the second is the Dharma, also the refuge object. Buddha the one who shows you the path, who is like one teacher and through his advice and teachings. And the teaching which Buddha gives is called the Dharma, the teachings he gives which show you the path and how to behave in practice and how to practice, and through his instructions and teachings, by giving how to lead ethical disciplines, how to maintain the meditative stabilization, and how to acquire the wisdoms. And the teaching he gave in which by going on the path he has shown, finally when one attain which helps one to attain the wisdom which realizes the emptiness directly, and such a teaching given by Buddha is called the Dharma. So the wisdom which realizes or actualizes the emptiness directly is called the Dharma.
And so it is the Dharma and it acts as an antidote towards the disturbing emotions, the causes of the disturbing emotions and disturbances, causes of the suffering which are bad actions and disturbing emotions and so forth. So the dharma, the wisdom realized in emptiness, acts as an antidote and abandons the causes of the suffering. And also the is also the dharma. Cessation is that when it abandons the disturbing emotions from its root, which means it will never let the disturbing emotions or the causes of the suffering will come or return or will never let it to return or come back. That is called cessation, which is also a Dharma.
So it’s not the the Four Noble Truths, the teaching of Four Noble Truths, the suffering, the true suffering which we do not wish. And the second is the origin of the suffering which is the causes. The second is the true origin which is the causes of the suffering. And then the next two the true path and the true cessation are the path the true path is the one which actually acts as an antidote towards the disturbing emotions and it abandons the disturbing emotions and the cessation comes from the true path when it actually so by applying the antidote towards the true towards those true sufferings and then but through this it attains the cessation and which which is the final result of the abandoning the disturbing emotions from the root and will never let it return or come back. So the mainly, normally, usually, normally when we call Dharma, Dharma are the true path and the true cessation.
And so we say I take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. So the Sangha, or it’s called the spiritual community, and the word here is the best of the assembly, and is the one who follows the instructions or the teachings of the Buddha, and by practicing the teachings given by Buddha, when they attain or gain the two truths, which are true cessation and the true path, within their mind streams, they are called the Sangha or spiritual community. So those three are the ones who protect us from the suffering and its causes, the disturbing emotions. And it says that I take refuge in Buddhadharma and Sangha until the attainment of enlightenment, so the way of taking refuge in the Triple Gem is not to protect you from just a single day or today itself. The way of taking refuge is that one has to take refuge until the attainment of enlightenment.
So the way of taking refuge in the Triple Gem, there are many, and in the last time we have taught taking refuge through faith, taking refuge with generating a faith by seeing the qualities of the Triple Gem. And then there is another way of taking refuge in the Triple Gem by recalling or by remembering the kindness of the Triple Gem. And I would like to say some words about how one takes refuge by recalling their kindness. So the way of taking refuge by recalling the kindness of the Triple Gem is that, say, we wish to have good things happen to us, and the good things which we accumulate are like virtuous actions and so forth, and those virtuous actions and good activities are acquired and obtained due to the grace of the Triple Gem, either directly or indirectly. So as we wish for the best and we like those good actions, and we acquire them through the grace of the Triple Gem, directly or indirectly, due to that they are very kind to us.
So so if we speak to the point of from the Buddhist point of view, then everything, the good things we have like happiness and the, good, happiness and the appealing, things which, are comes from the virtuous activities and the virtuous activities which act as a cause is also obtained by the through the kindness or through the grace of the Triple Gem either directly or indirectly. So if you give an example here, at this stage we have obtained this precious human rebirth, the optimum human rebirth. And so the causes of attaining, having this optimum rebirth, are the three causes, or by collecting the three causes which are the ethical disciplines and practicing the perfections and so forth and making prayers. So the ethical discipline acts as a basis, and then the practice of generosity and so forth are accompanied towards that basis. Then the third cause is making immaculate prayers, and by collecting all these three causes, we have gained this precious optimum human rebirth. So by having cultivated or collected all the three causes, we have obtained this precious human rebirth.
And so it is our previous life or your former rebirths who actually cultivate the three causes. And how it collected all those causes is that by listening to the instructions from either the either from the lama or the buddhas and without without having the teachings from the Buddha, Lama or a Buddha one will have no knowledge of what things to be done and what to be avoided. So due to that it is the kindness of those Lama and Buddhas one cultivated all the three causes and we have gained this precious human rebirth. And also, for example, at this stage we are financially okay, and it is the result of practicing the practice of giving or generosity, and we should have the instruction of how to practice Chenrezig, or giving. Without the instruction of the lama, one will not have the knowledge of practicing Chenrezig. And likewise for beautiful appearances or good looks are the result of practice of patience and without having the instructions from the teachings one will not have the knowledge of practicing patience.
And so it goes same for the rest of the six perfections. Third one is making correct prayers or supplication to attain this precious human rebirth. And so so this is also by the advice of the by advice or the through the teachings of Lama who have instructed you that one has to make prayers. Without his instruction we will not know or will not understand of making prayers of supplication to attain the precious human rebirth. So, all this goodness of this present life are the results the are the result of the cultivating the virtuous actions or virtuous deeds and the through the power of virtue deeds and the the virtue the power of virtue deeds are gained through by listening the instruction of the lama or Buddha Buddhas or the spiritual community from spiritual community.
So for this reason, when we make the tea offerings, we say that the Lama is the Buddha, and it says that the Lama is the one who has given everything or who has created everything, which in a sense means all the goodness we have, like by showing, by giving the teachings and instructions, we can attain the high rebirths and the good state of definite goodness, as well as all the goodness of this life and the next life also come by listening to or attaining the instructions of the lama or Buddhas. So by recalling the kindness of the Triple Gem, one should pay homage or reverence and then make offering to the Triple Gem. If one, for example, does one prostration to the Triple Gem with respect, then the benefits of that single prostration are immeasurable because the object of refuge itself has great immeasurable qualities, due to that even the benefits or the virtues of doing a single prostration towards the Triple Gem are immeasurable. And then we should pay homage and make make and also make the offering, say the offering of water.
And so the merit or the fortune of every person is different. There’s a huge difference in one’s merit. And for us, like, when we drink water, we imagine we are drinking water and also we taste water. And when we make this offering of water towards the Buddha, for Buddha, the water is not water. It becomes a nectar for him.
It’s called amrita, in Sanskrit. So so if one makes the offering of of water towards the Buddha, then one is making the offering of nectar towards the Buddha. And then as the the offering becomes a nectar, and then the object of making offering is Buddha. So due to that, one attains the huge amount of merits, and so that merit is gained without any cost.
And we also gain the great store of merit by making food offerings towards the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, because normally we eat what is best for us, and we are eating the very good food and so forth. So, when you make the food offering towards the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, the merit gained from it is immeasurable, a great store. So we make those delicious food or offer those delicious foods to Buddha, but Buddha is not eating it or he’s not having the fruit. Yes. So, the merit what we gain is we gain the merit of making offering of food to Buddha, Buddha is not having or he’s not.
He will not eat your food. So, for example, the landlord or a householder has a very, you know, a piece of land which is very fertile and good and gives lots of crops. And if that person fails to grow a crop or cultivate anything for a year, the person will feel very sad or get very upset because he knows that the thing will come up very well in his field. No. So that farmer is the worldly farmer and we are the farmer of Dharma.
And our field is Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. So Buddha, Dharma and Sangha are the very fertile field of the Dharma, and for that if one makes a single offering towards that field one receives a huge benefit or huge merit. So, as it is a very fertile field, if one fails to make an offering towards Buddhadharma and Sangha, then it’s very sad and one also has great loss of the huge amount of merits. So in that case, as one receives the huge amount of merit by making a single food offering towards Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, one should try very hard to make offerings all the time, or in six times. So the way of making offering towards the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, there are many ways.
There are many. And among those offerings, the best and excellent offering towards Buddhadharma and Sangha are meditating or doing meditation on the compassion, love, bodhicitta and the emptiness and on the six perfections. Meditating on those many practices are the best offering towards Buddhadharma and Sangha. The offering here in Tibetan word is chopa, whereas in Sanskrit it’s the puja, which means to please. To please means so to please the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, the best best way of pleasing is, say, someone makes the huge offerings of material things and one makes the offering by maintaining ethical discipline, very pure ethical discipline in a single day.
And for Buddha, he prefers or he preaches more by that offering of leading ethical discipline and then making a huge amount of material offerings to him. So it’s very important to accumulate the store of merit as much as one can because we wish happiness and do not want suffering. And then the happiness is the result of cultivating merit or the results of the good merit. So without merit one will not have the good result which is happiness. So as we wish happiness, one should cultivate the merits.
It says that if one has a good store of merit then one will attain or one will have whatever one wishes in terms of practicing the Dharma. So we have many wishes within ourselves and many of them we cannot succeed. So it happens because of not having the proper amount of merit or it happens due to lacking merits. So today is the birthday of His Holiness, the fourteenth Dalai Lama.
And so about his history, I mean, of taking a bird in the Amdo region in which is in the northeast of Tibet. And and how he was brought from that region toward the center of Tibet. So those stories, we I mean, I’m not going to deal with it because everyone knows about this. I want to speak about the benefits we get from His Holiness taking a birth. General Buddhist teachings have spread in many countries like Tibet Mongolia, China, Indonesia And so forth.
So the Buddhist teachings had spread in many countries, but now most of the teachings in on those countries have degenerated and they mainly in a figure. Buddhist in Tibet has maintained very well. These are the main recounting of the lineages of the Dalai Lamas. And the teachings of the sutras and tantras still remain unmistakenly in Tibet. So and now in these days these days in Tibet, the the teachings are degenerating, in India, in Tibetan Buddhism in India still has the pure teachings and all those teachings exist.
That the pure Tibetan Buddhism still exists in India is due to the kindness of His Holiness, because of his escaping or fleeing to India. And and not only in India, these days in all around the world like United States, Europe, European countries, Australia, Japan and so forth, has, the teaching has been spread in all those world wide and which is something which haven’t happened in the past. And it is the kindness of His Holiness that the teachings have been spread all worldwide. If he stays a long, long life, that will help for the longer existence of the teachings.
So it’s very important for him to stay long because of the longer existence of the teachings. And without him, it’s very difficult for both in Tibet and West to maintain the Dharma. So today is the birthday of His Holiness and we should celebrate and rejoice. And so we will also make prayers for his wishes to be fulfilled, and do the long life prayers for His Holiness. So we’ll do the long life prayers now standing up. So up to now for the last many months, we have been giving the teaching and receiving the teachings, and by receiving all these teachings you have accumulated great store of merit, and so today we should dedicate all those merits you have gained for the long life of His Holiness and our great teachers.
It’s in English,