Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Khensur Rinpoche opens this 142-minute session — the concluding class of a two-year Lam Rim series — with the story of the future Buddha Śākyamūni in a hell realm, asking to drag both his own plow and that of a suffering companion, an act of compassion that marked the birth of bodhicitta. The main teaching covers the fourth perfection, enthusiastic effort: its definition as a mind that joyfully engages positive action, two forms of laziness that block it (procrastination and self-underestimation), and their antidotes — contemplating impermanence and Śāntideva’s maxim that nothing is impossible with effort. Rinpoche briefly introduces concentration and wisdom before formally closing the Lam Rim curriculum. The session ends with a guided bodhicitta-generation ceremony, seven-limb prayer, and a symbolic offering to Maitreya, the future Buddha.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 29 LR 2000 10 10.mp3
UUID: cc5c62ff-c3d5-4eb0-be31-57c66b15e584
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Lam Rim (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 2000-10-10
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 142.0 minutes
Words: ~6,272
We’ll first develop the motivation of altruistic intentions along with this motivation then start the practices of listening, meditation, and contemplation. Loving oneself and all motherly sentient beings — by nature they are the same, wishing happiness and not wanting suffering. Should develop love and compassion by wishing all these motherly sentient beings be free from all these sufferings and its causes and have the happiness and their causes. By doing so, we’ll have huge benefits. Developing love and compassion is very, very essential and it’s important.
And on top of this, it is very important for one to develop this special insight which is taking entire responsibility to bring all these sentient beings towards enlightenment by oneself. So although one develops a special insight to take responsible to bring all the sentient beings into enlightenment, at this stage one merely develops a wish but one hasn’t attained the ability to accomplish such wish. So who has attained this capability or potential to bring all these sentient beings into enlightenment? When one looks for it, all the practitioners like hearers, solitary realizers, bodhisattvas, even those practitioners haven’t attained the potentiality yet. It is because they have not entirely overcome all the negativities and haven’t attained all the good qualities.
So only Buddha has attained attained this capability. It is true, and he or she has attained this capability through practicing the paths and perfect all the paths and overcome entire false or negativity and have attained all the good qualities. If one has attained what Buddha has attained, which is overcome entire negativities and attained good qualities, then one can free all the sentient beings from the suffering and bring them to the enlightenment. So, if one try, one can attain enlightenment or become Buddha. So therefore, one should develop develop a wish that in order to bring in order to free all the sentient beings from the suffering and bring them to the state of ultimate happiness, I shall here purify all my negativities and attain entire good qualities.
By doing by cultivating such wish or thought is very, very, very important and there is no other there is no greater intention or motivation than this which is called such a wish or intention is called the bodhicitta. So if one tries, one can attain enlightenment or become Buddha. And how does one become Buddha? It is through this way, by practicing and meditating in the paths of Bodhisattvas and so forth. By doing such practices one minimizes or eliminates the negativities gradually or one by one and finally attains can attain entire good qualities.
Whenever that happens, one eventually has become Buddha or reached enlightenment. So in order to accomplish such should have motivation for that purpose, I shall hear first listen to the teaching and bring all the hearing into contemplation and finally perform the meditation and attain enlightenment. So therefore one should have developed a proper motivation to listen for the teaching. So we shall do a short meditation on such motivation. We’ve been last time that we stopped teaching at the third perfections, we have been dealing through the six perfections.
Among the six, the first three perfections, the perfection of giving, ethics, and patience has been finished. Today we are starting from the fourth which is enthusiastic effort. The enthusiastic effort, the fourth perfection, the great master Śāntideva has set forth. The mind which cultivate or happy to cultivate cultivate the positive action is called the enthusiastic effort, which is a mind which is happy to make effort to cultivate positive action, willingly with enthusiasm. So how one can cultivate the enthusiastic effort or develop the enthusiastic effort?
For example, if we demonstrate an example like Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, first, one sees the qualities, the good qualities of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. For the Buddha, the qualities are body, speech, and mind, and the Dharma has the ability to free oneself from all the sufferings, and the quality of Sangha is that they have the ability to accompany you to fulfill one’s wishes. So by knowing all these good qualities, then by seeing the good qualities of quality, then one develops faith or devotion. And then by having that faith, then one develops the wishes, that wishes have those qualities, and after wish one finally develops an enthusiastic effort or enthusiasm. Therefore, in order to cultivate the enthusiastic effort, one needs to have a wish to have something.
And to have that wish, first, one needs to have a faith by seeing the qualities of the particular object. So therefore, for that reason, it comes that faith is the basis or foundation of the good qualities. Through this one cultivates the enthusiastic effort and enthusiastic effort is the one which wishes to attain something and deal with and put effort again and again to cultivate a particular wish is called enthusiastic effort. The enthusiastic effort is very important. Whatever action action one performs, either worldly or the the worldly or the dharma activity, if one has enthusiastic effort, any action one engages, one will be able to accomplish the work or finish the work.
Without enthusiastic effort, the work will remain undone because if one lacks enthusiastic effort and one performs something and in the middle of the action then its opposite, which is laziness, comes through and then one will likely leave the work undone or unfinished. So therefore, having enthusiastic effort is very important which helps one to accomplish or finish the work entirely. And it is because if one has the enthusiastic effort, one will never stop. One often put effort towards the work and will continue and will work until the work has been done. So this is the benefit or importance of having enthusiastic effort, but enthusiastic effort alone is not that enough.
It needs the company of the wisdom or intelligence. If one has both the the friendship or combination combination of wisdom and enthusiastic effort, then one can achieve anything what one starts. Whatever one starts, one will be able to finish. It has been also stated that if one put effort or if one put yeah, if one put effort, there is nothing which is impossible or nothing is impossible if one put effort on it. So wisdom and the combination of wisdom and enthusiastic effort is very important.
If one has enthusiastic effort but haven’t got that good wisdom, it’s still okay. One will not be able to attain something big without wisdom, but enthusiastic effort alone will help one to accomplish a large amount of the work one performs. So whatever practices performs, one should perform the practice with the enthusiastic effort through great enthusiasm and should continue with one’s practice and never get interrupted or never stopped practicing. If one does this, the benefits of applying enthusiastic effort is the great master, Tsongkhapa, has stated that if one has enthusiastic effort, then the benefits of enthusiastic effort is that one’s knowledge will increase like a waxing moon — starting from the first day and increasing until the fifteenth of the month, it is full moon.
So likewise, if one has enthusiastic effort, one’s knowledge will increase like a waxing And by having enthusiastic effort, one will be able to maintain a good characteristic or the characteristic of body, speech, and mind, And by doing so, with leading a good characteristic life, then the benefit of doing so is one will be able to lead a meaningful life. And also any action one performs, one will be able to accomplish or finish the finish the action. So, whatever action one performs, one should perform with the enthusiastic effort. Then because if one does this, one will be able to fulfill one’s wishes or able to finish one’s work. If one hasn’t got or applied enthusiastic effort and disadvantages of not doing so is one will not attain any realizations through training in the passing grounds and will not be able to benefit both this and future lives.
One will not be able to perfect or practice the entire six perfections. The reason why we can’t cultivate proper enthusiastic effort is because there are two obstacles which disturb us from cultivating enthusiastic effort. The first obstacle is, for example, one is practicing the particular practices and thinking that I can do this practice, but it is not the right time to do it at the moment. This is not our time.
So that thought, this thought is one of the obstacles. And the other one is the thought, Oh, this is not I can’t handle this practice. Do this practice. Underestimating or putting oneself down that pointing out that I can’t do this. At this stage I can’t do such practice.
So this is the second obstacle. The thought that I can’t do this, such thought is a laziness, but this laziness is called the laziness of underestimating oneself or putting oneself down. So, One needs to abandon or stop those two laziness, the first one or the thought which is I can do this but later on, not now, and should never develop such a thought. In order to avoid that thought, whenever such thought arises, one should the reason why that thought arises is because thinking that I won’t die, because I’m not sick, I’m young, and so forth, but one can’t really say this and should never develop such a thought by thinking in order to abandon that thought should think that the death is uncertain and one never knows when death comes. All this, I’m young, I’m not sick, is not a good reason to say because there have been many that a child dies before his or her mother and the mother has to arrange her kid’s funeral. Also one can’t say I can’t die because I’m not sick —
There have been many people who the perfectly fit person died before, the very sick, ill people. Therefore you should think that the death is uncertain. It may come in this year or this month or today itself and think if I die then I will be born in the lower rebirth and by taking birth in the lower realms, I will not have this opportunity like this in the lower rebirths and will go through huge sufferings. So you should think in that way. By thinking this way one will eliminate such a thought first laziness.
And should make a resolution within oneself that I should practice straight away. Also, such thought arises like, I can do this, but not now. Such thought is also caused by other disturbances like the wandering mind that indulges in singing, dancing, and so forth. Because thinking that by doing such things, one will have some happiness, one indulges in that happiness which helps one to waste time. So at that stage, one should console oneself by saying, Look, that is not happiness, this is what you think is happiness, but it is not happiness.
You should think happiness only comes through dharma, and by cultivating the positive actions, one will have the happiness in both this and future lives. So therefore, should cultivate positive actions to have happiness in both these and future lives and should always say, to consort one, tell oneself that should not perform such actions and these are not the real happiness. And if one does this, then if one does this yeah, if you do this, then you cultivate a negative, and when after you’re dead you will be born in the lower rebirth and undergoes through the huge suffering. Therefore, encourage oneself to do positive actions by thinking it will give the happiness in both these these and future lives. For example, one will receive some happiness by eating food — one is so hungry and eats something which gives the happiness of overcoming that hunger — and then wearing some warm clothes in the winter gives some happiness, and in summer, light clothes, or going to a stream, gives you some happiness.
But the fact is all this happiness also comes from positive actions. So all this happiness by eating food, wearing warm and light clothes, Those happiness are the results of positive actions. For example, the benefits of eating food the happiness through eating food is that happiness is the result of causes and conditions that are performed by causes and conditions, and the main cause is the positive action which one has cultivated and meeting by meeting that positive action with the condition, the condition which is the actual eating the food, so by meeting of that condition and the causes, the positive action and the act of eating, by cultivating those together one receives the happiness of eating. So therefore the main cause of that happiness is the positive action. Likewise, wearing a warm jacket in winter and wearing the jacket is the conditioned, and the actual cause is the positive action, so by meeting those two, one receives the happiness.
What the thing is, not So, therefore, those happiness are the result of positive action. It is because without positive actions, one will not have that happiness. It is because without positive action, one can’t get the food. If one hasn’t got a food, there is not a benefit or happiness of eating food, so therefore the positive action is the main cause. For example, like the people who undergo starvation in Africa, because they haven’t cultivated the positive actions, they have difficulty finding the food.
So not having conditioned the food, those people will not have haven’t got the happiness of eating food. So, and those happenings are also, happiness are also excuse me. Those happiness are contaminate contaminated happiness, which which turns into suffering in the next moments. It’s called they those are under the list of suffering of change. If contaminated happiness needs a cause of positive action, it is not necessary to mention that positive actions are the cause for the uncontaminated actions, uncontaminated happiness.
So therefore, by knowing so, one should console oneself that the positive actions are the main cause for happiness and should encourage oneself to cultivate the positive action as much as one can and should never let one’s mind wander in the meaningless tasks which waste one’s life. So should stop that laziness by thinking, I can do that, but not now. Should always cultivate, try to stop that thought and involve in the positive action, rather straightforward as much as one can. So, therefore, should cultivate enthusiastic effort as much as one can and by doing so, will able by doing so, one leads a very meaningful life. The meaning of the meaningful life is if one performs any actions which help one to have happiness in both this and future life is called a meaningful life, and for the betterment should try to attain the ultimate, the unchangeable happiness.
If one fails to attain that, should try at least that one can have the contaminated happiness in both this and future life. If one cannot attain to neither of those, the ultimate and the contaminated happiness, then one has lead the empty Through this, one abandons the first obstacles. The second fault, which was underestimating oneself or putting oneself down by saying that I can’t do that. So, to abandon that second obstacle, which is I can’t do that or underestimating oneself, one should think about the quotation set forth by the great master Śāntideva, Nothing is impossible if one cultivates or if one puts effort on it. In another way, we also think that I can’t cultivate bodhicitta, I can’t become a Bodhisattva, an Arhat, a liberated being, and a Buddha and so forth.
Attainment of all these — Bodhisattvas, Arhats, Buddhas — depends upon one’s effort. So all these Bodhisattvas, Arhats, Buddhas are not Bodhisattvas, Arhats, Buddhas from the very beginning, or they’re not just born as such from the beginning, but they have become Bodhisattvas, Arhats, and so forth through cultivating or through applying enthusiastic effort. For example, Lord Buddha Śākyamūni, from the beginning he was same like us, that he was an ordinary being, full of disturbing emotions, had huge anger, very angry person, always cultivated the negative actions or involved in the bad actions, very frightful, and so forth. Later on, by meeting with spiritual teacher and receiving instructions or receiving teachings and instructions from the spiritual master, which instructs him it shows him the teachings of what to be practiced and what to be abandoned. By taking all these instructions into practice, finally he trained in the three scopes of small, middling, and the great scope, or the first, second, third part of the Lamrim teaching, and then by performing those practices, one first becomes a Bodhisattva and attain enlightenment Arhat stage, and finally becomes Buddha. So, from the very beginning, the Lord Buddha Śākyamūni was an ordinary person like us.
He has taken numbers of rebirths, and before that life, he had received a rebirth of kings and so forth, and before the kings he was like an ordinary person, an ordinary person like us. In the very beginning, he was not something born as a Buddha from the beginning. There is no such thing in Buddhist theory or Buddhist teaching that someone from the very beginning has attained entire realizations and abandoned all that is to be abandoned and perfected all the good qualities and attained omniscience and accomplished both self and others’ purposes. So such things do not exist in Buddhist teaching that one is perfectly all right from the beginning. Can one think that one can attain the ultimate result without practicing or cultivating the causes which are wisdom and method?
It was said that he developed a bodhicitta when he was in the hell realm. Before that life, the Buddha Śākyamūni was a human, born in a human rebirth, and during the human rebirth, he developed great compassion, and after developing that great compassion, the Lord Buddha Śākyamūni passed away and was born in the hell realm. In the hell realm, it was said that him and his companion were pulling a plow — like pulling a field plough — and his companion was very weak and couldn’t pull any longer, and by seeing his companion, he developed great compassion again and, asking the people helping, to put his ropes on his neck too, and said I will drag both for myself and him. Doing so, he was able to develop a good bodhicitta or altruistic intention in that rebirth. And then after this, he cultivated many merits and then finally developed as a Bodhisattva, trained in the six perfections and perfected all the perfections, and finally engaged in the tantric practice and became Buddha.
And now towards the fifth perfection, which is perfection of concentration. The definition of concentration is the mind which focuses single-pointedly on the positive actions in the sense that whenever one focuses one’s mind single-pointedly, stably like a pin on a board or on the focal object, whenever one has that focused mind, one achieves concentration. And by having that concentration, the single pointed mind, and through the single pointed single pointed mind, then one examines or scrutinizes the view of wisdom realizing emptiness and investigates the meaning of emptiness, and by knowing the ultimate mode of existence of the phenomena, or emptiness, through such investigation one attains the sixth perfection, which is the perfection of wisdom. So through such practices or investigations one receives the sixth perfection of wisdom. The combination, by meeting of that wisdom with the altruistic intention, bodhicitta, which are called the wisdom and the method, and by conjoining those two, wisdom and method, into one and does the performance and practices, one will be able to overcome entire negativities abandons the sufferings and so forth.
By having those two, one can quickly abandon all the negativities and sufferings like the fire burns the small dry branches quickly. The qualities of the wisdom and methods are immeasurable. The greater the wisdom and method becomes, the faster one eliminates the negativities and the sufferings. It is like a bushfire in the forest in Australia. When fire becomes very strong, it quickly burns all the little grass and so forth.
Wisdom and method are like that. The greater it becomes, the faster and quicker it eliminates all the negative and suffering. So, here concludes the Lamrim teaching today, and we have or we are finishing the Lamrim teaching here today. Within the six perfections, I was able to go detail through the fourth perfection, which is perfection of enthusiastic effort, The last two, the concentration, the wisdom, haven’t explained that detail and haven’t got much time today, but the next teaching will be on Heart Sūtra, and those two concentration and the the wisdom will come under the teaching of the Heart Sūtra. So therefore, I will explain more detail about those two during the next teachings.
Traditionally, we have been teaching Lamrim nearly more than two years. Traditionally, Tibet, our great masters, they go very detailed through the first and the second scopes, the small and the middling scopes very detailed, and they wanted that detail of the third scope or the third chapter, it is because if we do, we can practice the first two scopes, which are suitable for us to practice as well. If one is able to practice or perform the practice of the first two chapters correctly and nicely, it is to be sure that one can practice the third one. Therefore, for that reason, the lamas will not go that detail of the third scope. Likewise, I have went very detailed through the first and the second scope of the teaching in the last two years, and within the great scope, I have explained in detail of the first four perfections as well.
In order to preserve the culture and the traditional practices, after the conclusion of the Lamrim teaching, we performed the ritual practice called the generation mind or it’s called the offering of the altruistic intention. We won’t be able to perform such big practices here, but in order to preserve the culture and the tradition, we’ll do a little practice here as well. So, for example, in order to build a very good building or a house, first one needs to have a very proper or good solid foundation. By having built a very solid foundation, one will build the ground floor, for example, ground floor very strong and nicely, and then build the first floor and the second floor. The foundation ground floor and the first floor is perfectly built, very strongly built, it is sure that the second floor will be okay.
One can build easily and nicely. Likewise, a lack of foundation of that, the building should the beginning of the Lamrim teaching started from the cultivation of the relationship between spiritual teacher and the disciple. It’s like a foundation. By practicing that, and then starting from the practices of small scopes, by starting from how difficult it is to achieve or attain this precious human rebirth, which is like a first ground floor. Then the first floor, the middling scope, is like the first floor.
If one can perform those two practices, then the great scope is very easy. Therefore, I have went very detailed, taught very detail of the first and the second scope in the last two years, and you have received a numbers of teaching. You have heard numbers of teaching or detailed teachings on those two scopes. And so I request you to practice as much as you can and bring all the hearings into contemplation, and if one does this, then the purpose of listening has been fulfilled, and then bring all the concentration finally into the meditation. By doing so, one can achieve the realizations in the path and grounds.
Therefore, I again request you to practice, bring all the hearings into practice. So, what we need is we need happiness without suffering. So in order to have that happiness, how one can achieve that happiness without suffering? Which can be attained through practicing in the wisdom and method of the three scopes, small middling and the great scope. So therefore, you have received numbers of teachings, and as we talked have explained the importance of the enthusiastic effort, should apply one’s effort continuously and try hard to practice in the three scopes, and through this one will achieve the happiness without suffering.
I know that you practice very nicely, and we practice well, and as we have a saying in Tibetan, should have the summer water in winter — so please, continue your practice, and increase your practice as much as you can. The practice is the root. If one does practice, if one has practiced, then one can overcome the unwanting sufferings and all the miserables and will attain what one wishes. Therefore, the practice is the root of everything. Therefore, one should practice as much as one can.
So, we’ll do here the praise of generating mind, which is altruistic intention. I don’t think I need to explain about the altruistic intention that detail now because we have been giving teachings on developing the altruistic intention or bodhicitta in a number of teachings. Briefly speaking, the bodhicitta, the altruistic intention, is like the root of the tree or like the center of the tree trunk which supports all the leaves and so forth. Likewise, the bodhicitta is the root to support entire good qualities of the great scope, that there are numbers great qualities in the practices of great scope that one will be able to perfect both the self and others’ purposes and so forth. But all those good qualities comes or depends on the root, which is altruistic intention.
So, yeah, all the good qualities of the great scopes are the results or come through or from the bodhicitta, the altruistic intention. The Buddhas, Buddhist all these are the results of bodhicitta. Therefore, I request you to practice and cultivate the bodhicitta. Cultivate bodhicitta. So, the bodhicitta is very, very important and the greatest quality among the Buddhist practices or Buddhist teachings.
There is no such greater quality than the bodhicitta. We have been practicing the bodhicitta in the last couple of years, and by doing all these practices, we have a deal, a huge amount of positive actions or merit. Also, we have attained numbers of merit by receiving and giving teachings today. Through the power of all we shall here combine all the merits we have gained in the past and the present. We should combine all these in one, and today should do the practice to develop a bodhicitta in one’s mind.
So, if one develops bodhicitta within one’s mind stream, then cultivating such will have huge benefits. So, we shall develop an altruistic intention here. To do so, first, visualize in front of you one’s lama, the guru, nature is one’s guru in the form of Buddha Śākyamūni, and and on the top of the Buddha Śākyamūni, the front space, visualize entire Buddha’s, Bodhisattvas, and so forth. Then in front of those, visualize yourself sitting in front of them. At the right hand, towards the right, visualize one’s present father and all the male beings, and the present mother and the female beings at the left, visualize this and then visualize that one is being surrounded by the entire beings.
So one is being surrounded by the entire beings of the six realms and see, visualize those sentient beings in the form of human and see they are in very weak conditions and visualize that they are in weak conditions undergoing through huge sufferings. And then, after having visualized that and to develop a motivation by thinking that all these motherly sentient beings who surround you — and among those motherly sentient beings there is not a single sentient being who has never been one’s mother. Therefore, remembering their kindness and seeing them suffering and are in very weak conditions to develop a motivation here that I shall attain enlightenment in order to free those motherly sentient beings from suffering and bring them to So, with this motivation, we shall first do the practices of perform the seven limb prayers seven limb practice of seven limb prayers, and then make them After having recited the seven in place, then we make the request mandala offering to Lama to grant the permission or grant the bodhicitta vows in the sense to develop a bodhicitta. The page number page number one seven limb praise The generation of altruistic intention is done through the recitation of the refuge and generation of mind verses, the refuge prayer.
By reciting — taking homage in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha until the attainment of enlightenment for the sake of all beings — through the refuge and generation of mind verses prayers. And the reason why we take refuge in Buddhadharma and Sangha is because they are the most excellent committee or the community of the Buddhist, most excellent one. It is because at this stage we undergo through huge sufferings. It is because of our lack of understanding of the practices of what to be done and what should be performed and what should be abandoned. Of the not proper understanding, we always opposite in different ways, always act opposite.
Therefore, we undergo through the huge sufferings. So in order to avoid one from going opposite, one should take refuge in Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha because Buddha is the one who shows you the proper way and gives you the instructions of what to be practiced and what to be abandoned. Buddha is the teacher who shows you the instructions of what to be practiced and what to be abandoned, so showing the practices of So it showed the teacher who teaches the instructions or who shows the instructions. If one does not practice, then it won’t help. So if one practices the instructions given by the Buddha, then by cultivating what is to be cultivated and abandon all the abandonments, by doing so, what one cultivates is cultivates the causes of happiness, and the things to be cultivated are the causes of happiness, and the things to be abandoned are the causes of sufferings.
So by listening, taking all the instructions into the practices, one gradually cultivates the causes of the happiness and will attain happiness and minimize gradually minimize the sufferings by eliminating the causes of the sufferings, and at the end, finally, one will be able to generate the wisdom realizing emptiness, which is understanding one studies in the practice of the view of emptiness, and through this, finally within one’s mind stream, one is able to develop a wisdom that directly realizes emptiness, and that wisdom directly realizing emptiness is the main actual Dharma which protects one from suffering. It is because by cultivating the wisdom directly realizing emptiness, by having that which abandons the root of suffering, which is the self-grasping attitude. So the self grasping attitude, the ignorance, the self grasping attitude is the root of the suffering. Root of the suffering, it is like the root of the tree. So that wisdom directly realizing emptiness eliminates the root of the which is the self grasping attitude, and it becomes like cutting the root of the tree.
By having that, one cuts the root of the tree and gradually by cutting that, one gradually all gradually, all the branches, leaves will fall down. So likewise, through that wisdom realizing emptiness, one cuts the root of the suffering, which is the self grasping attitude. So by cultivating that, one cultivates the dharma, which is the actual dharma who protects one from the suffering. And sangha is the one who accompanies you in all the time to cultivate that wisdom, cultivate that wisdom directly realizing emptiness, which helps one to newly develop that wisdom realizing emptiness. Once one has realized or attained wisdom realizing emptiness, the Sangha are the ones who help you to increase one’s knowledge and also help one not to degenerate from one’s realization.
So for that reason, we Buddhists take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and these three — the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha — are the perfect and ultimate refuge. So therefore we say, I take refuge in Buddhadharma and Sangha, will abandon the negativities. It is because we undergo through suffering. There is no other person who forces you to suffer. It’s our own negativity which puts us into suffering and which makes us suffer, so therefore, purify all the negativities through regret — by regretting the past negative actions and making the resolution that one will not cultivate negative actions anymore.
So, by eliminating the negative actions, one will not have negative actions, and by not having negative actions, one will not suffer. The third line says, Rejoice for others, rejoice for the beings’ positive actions or virtues. Beings here could mean the entire sentient beings, but here the beings means the five types of beings: the ordinary being and the beings of the Hearer schools, solitary realizers, Bodhisattvas, and the Buddhas. These are the five beings, but should rejoice for these positive actions or rejoice for these virtues. By doing so, by rejoicing for their virtues, it helps one to increase one’s own virtues, and as a result of developing one’s virtues, one will have rejoice for others or the beings’ virtues or positive actions, and on top of that should rejoice for one’s own positive actions which have been cultivated in many lifetimes as well as especially in the last couple of years of receiving the teachings. And having developed a motivation here, through the power of all these positive actions and merit I have gained, may I attain enlightenment in order to help those motherly sentient beings.
So through this motivation, do three prostrations and sit in a kneeling position, and then we’ll perform the practice of generating bodhicitta. Develop that motivation and don’t let your mind away from that motivation. Repeat. So we have recited, repeated two times. At the end of the third recitation, the last words are, I attain enlightenment in order to help motherly sentient beings.
And so that yeah. And the end of the third recitation is a time where one receives or develops the bodhicitta, the altruistic intention, and it is also a time where one develops a bodhicitta. So with the proper motivation and at the end of the recitation imagine that you have developed a bodhicitta. So, now you have developed a bodhicitta which is a very great quality and you are very fortunate to have this opportunity to develop develop the bodhicitta. And now, you have attained many merits or virtues by practicing and receiving teachings in the past years and have attained great amount of merit by developing bodhicitta here, so should now visualize all the virtues or the merit you have gained in the form, visualize that all the virtues are transformed into the substance or into offering substances like victory banner, parasols, white umbrella, musics, and so forth.
And all the virtues, the merits, have been transformed into the offering substances, which fills up the entire space, and at this stage, one can’t have the ability to keep all the offering substances or all the merits, so therefore transforming all these merits into offering substances and making the offering, offer it to Maitreya Buddha, the future Buddha, and by making offering to the future Buddha, the benefit of doing that, and in the future, the Maitreya Buddha, the future Buddha, will come to Bodh Gaya and give his first teachings, and as a result of making offerings, one will take a rebirth during the time where the future Buddha Maitreya will give the first teaching in Bodh Gaya, and by receiving the teaching from him, one will have a benefit of attaining arhat or becoming enlightened in their particular life. So now imagine that all your merits are in the form of offering substances like a flower, and imagine you’re holding them in your hand and making offering to Maitreya Buddha. So we’ll recite the offering praise for Maitreya Buddha, and you imagine that you are making offering to Maitreya Buddha and imagine that he gladly accepts your offerings.
And by making offering to at the end of the third offering recitation, Rinpoche will throw the flower up in the sky and imagine that all the offerings have been accepted by the Alright. Turn down to the. Sit down. So now by making this offering the Lord Buddha, the future Buddha, Buddha Maitreya, has gladly accepted our offering and have been pleased, and he in return has given a prediction by placing his hands on our head, saying in the future, at the time he gives the wheel of Dharma in Bodh Gaya, we will be there to receive his teachings and become arhats, the liberated beings, become Bodhisattvas, and the person with great enthusiastic effort will become Buddha. If we make good prayers here, during the time of Lord Maitreya Buddha turning the wheel of Dharma in Bodh Gaya, we will all be there together.
Hello, hello, how are you? Now, we do the make the final Thanksgiving Mandala Offering, which is at the page the long one, the page two. Long Mandala