Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Starting with the observation that surviving the night is itself cause for rejoicing, Khensur Rinpoche works through the eighteen qualities of precious human rebirth in this 144-minute session — eight freedoms and ten endowments. He explains the five personal endowments in detail, with an aside on why Australia qualifies as a Dharma central place like Tibet. He then maps the Three Trainings onto body, speech, and mind, stressing that taking a vow differs crucially from merely refraining: the person who commits even for one day accumulates virtue while asleep. A wine-glass analogy distinguishes arhats, who clear disturbing emotions but not their imprints, from those who unite wisdom and bodhicitta to reach full Buddhahood. The session closes with oral transmissions of Green Tārā and Vajrasattva and guidance on matching purification practices to different vow categories.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 02 PHR 2000 04 22.mp3
UUID: a785dfb1-679a-4995-ab43-af7f7a8a3da8
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Precious Human Rebirth Retreat (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 2000-04-22
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 144.0 minutes
Words: ~6,270
So the impermanence or death is is uncertain and we never know that when it comes and it is very instant and very immediate. So at this stage, by knowing that the impermanent hasn’t occurred to you last night and being able to have this opportunity to be here and practice having this, having this precious moment is very fortunate and you should feel rejoiced by yourself that that hasn’t occurred to you last night. What I’m saying is, so after having attained this precious human rebirth we should now think of making use of this precious human rebirth to attain the great result which is free from all the sufferings and attain and the ultimate happiness or the enlightened should motivate to develop that motivation to make good use of this precious human rebirth. So, to put at this stage, oneself and others, they not only lack the ultimate happiness or the unattainable happiness, they also lack the temporary happiness. By knowing this, one will develop love by thinking they develop love, wishing them to have all the happiness and its causes.
Not only they lack happiness, that they are also tortured by sufferings like suffering of change, suffering of suffering and suffering of pervasive conditionings and so forth. So by knowing this develop a great compassion towards those motherly sentient beings and including oneself wishing them to be free from all the sufferings and their So, in order to become enlightened for the sake of self and others I shall here purify or work to purify all the negativities and attain the good qualities for that purpose attain enlighten and attain all the good qualities for that purpose I shall hear, listen to these teachings and bring all the hearings into contemplation and meditation. And we’ll do a short meditation. So we do the refuge page one, verse number three, and then the the page twenty nine thirty thirty one and thirty two begins at verse four. So, our topic is about the precious human rebirth with the eighteen qualities, eight freedoms and ten endowments.
So, went through the eight freedoms. The eight freedoms are classified into two. The four are the freedoms from the human lack of leisure and the freedoms from the non-human lack of leisure. About the human lack of leisure, they are: freedom from being born with wrong views, being born in a place where victorious teachings are absent, being born in a remote place, and being born as a deaf and dumb person.
So which means that in order to have a precious human rebirth with these eight freedoms, it is not just enough to take a human rebirth, but one should not be born in all those four, free from all those four, the wrong views and so forth. They are also the non-human lack of leisure, and one should not be born in the three lower realms: the animal, hungry ghost, and the hell, plus not being born as a celestial being with a long life. So, the great master Nāgārjuna has said it, after having all these freedoms, one should make use of this time to seize the birth or to end the birth, which means after having attained all this human rebirth with all these freedoms, one should try to stop taking rebirth in saṃsāra or cyclic existence. And this is more like the request by the great master Nāgārjuna to practice. So, having eight freedoms with the precious human rebirth, yeah, having these eight freedoms, then one is being free from all the hindrances or obstacles to practice, but it’s not just enough for one to free from all the obstacles in order to practice, one also needs to have conducive conditions to practice as well.
So now as for the conducive conditions, there are ten endowments or ten riches set forth by the great master Asaṇga in his text called the Ground of Hearers, which means that the text composed for the lower vehicle disciples. So, there are ten riches and it is also classified into two categories like the five personal riches and the five circumstantial riches. So, it is like for example, you need to work and so in order to work there are it’s like the personal riches and the oral conducive conditions and the external conducive conditions which means the circumstantial. For example, in order to work, first you need to understand the language using the electronic things and how to speak and so forth, but it’s not just enough to have, that these are the personal riches, after having all this qualification for these circumstantial riches, you need to have a place to work, so it is like that. So, five personal riches are: being born as human, being born in a central place, possessing all faculties, not having committed any grave actions or heinous crimes, having faith in the source of teachings.
The first being born as a human. So, has to be born as human to do a practice, which it is because the human rebirth is the best rebirth to practice because on that because on human rebirth one has a very sharp intelligent mind as well as one have one can receive a numbers all the numbers of vows on this precious rebirth plus can and has the ability to attain both the temporal and the ultimate goals or results. So in order to attain enlightenment one needs to realize emptiness, selflessness, the four noble truths and so forth, all those great qualities. Without having a sharp intelligence or a sharp wisdom, cannot attain or realize emptiness and so forth. So, the precious human rebirth — humans have the best wisdom among the rebirths or among the beings and so through human rebirths one can achieve the great wisdom so that, and also one can realize all those great qualities emptiness, selflessness, and the four noble truths.
Now, the second great personal riches is to being born in a central place, not just born as a human, one should also be born in central place. So, once you take birth in the central place, there are two systems of establishing the central place. So according to the according to the great master, Vasubandhu, he said that the central place is According to him, the central place is the Bodh Gaya in India. It is because the Bodh Gaya is said to be the center of this world. Also, Bodh Gaya is the place where all the Buddhas show or come.
For example, it’s been stated that a thousand Buddhas will come, and four have already been in Bodh Gaya and the rest ninety six Buddhas will also come to central place which is Bodh Gaya. What today is So if we establish the center place according to the length, then the budgaya is said to be the central place. It’s also stated that in the four directions, cardinal directions of the Bodh Gaya, there are four great hills in the four directions, and in the center of the four hills or mountains, mountains. Bodh Gaya where Bodh Gaya is located and Bodh Gaya is said to be the the central place because in in that area between those four hills all the Buddhas has turned the the wheel of teachings. Yes, so through this point of view, the Bodh Gaya is said to be the central place and so to be being born in a central place means one should be born within that area, between four hills.
So, that one, establishing Bodh Gaya is a central place, it’s been from the point of pin pointing the place which is said to be the center place. On the other hand, we also establish a central place through the teachings, from a Dharma point of view, anyway, okay, so from the Dharma point of view, we, there is a different way of establishing the central place would be much clearer afterwards.
So, They’ve been said for the four types, the four main, four types of main Buddhist disciples or followers, which means the four are: the male and female lay practitioners, that is, the male and female who have taken lay vows, and two are the fully ordained monk and the nun. So these four are said to be the Buddha’s main followers. So the lay male and female lay practitioner means who have taken a vow, which means who accept the five vows, which are refraining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying or telling lies, and intoxicants. So for in in terms of the place, the Tibet the Tibet in Tibet, the Buddhist teachings has been vastly spread in the in Tibet, but in terms of the in terms of length, Tibet is not a central place. But from the Dharma point of view, now the Tibet is a central place because it has all the four male and female practitioners as well as the male and female fully audience as well.
So, from the Dharma point of view, Tibet is the central place. So now, Australia is the same as Tibet as well. We have male and female practitioners, as well as lots of fully ordained monks, as well as in Chenrezig, Queensland, there are lots of ordained nuns as well. So it’s more it’s it’s like it’s same as Tibet. So now according to the the fully fully ordained nun with Tibet.
In Tibet, we don’t have a fully ordained nun’s lineage according to the Tibetan tradition. So likewise, the Tibetan lineage of fully ordained nun does not exist at this time in Australia as well, because it doesn’t exist in Tibet. But the tradition of Burmese the Burma tradition of fully ordered nuns still exists, and it also exists in Australia. So there is a fully ordained nun according to the Burmese lineage. And I don’t know about those fully ordained nuns because originated from India.
So in olden days, India has a fully ordained nuns. When they’re doing their ordination or whatever, they don’t need to burn their forehead whereas in Burma’s traditions they burn their forehead so I don’t know about this So in terms of Dharma point of view, then Australia is a central place. And now, the fourth one is not having committed any grave actions or heinous crimes, which means, actually there are two types of bad actions, some of the actions are like those which cause harm to both oneself and others. But the grave actions or heinous crimes specifically means the actions of killing one’s own parents, killing an Arhat or an ordained monk and nuns, and stealing the objects of the spiritual community, or the monastic communities, and so forth. So, are, those actions have been called the grave actions or heinous crimes.
That if one comments this, then it’s very few chances, very less chances for the person to attain the realizations in the path and grounds. And then the fifth one is having faith in the source of the teachings. Once you want to develop a faith in the source of teachings because our aim is to attain the temporal and the ultimate results, which are the higher rebirth, the temporary goal which is the higher rebirth and the ultimate is definite goodness. So in order to attain those results, one needs to depend or needs to have faith in the methods which are the source of the teachings. The methods or the source of the teachings are the three baskets of teachings or the spiritual or the teachings, the texts or a book of the teachings set forth by the great Lord Buddha Śākyamūni.
And it is also said the Tripitaka, which are said to be the three baskets of the teachings. So, there are lots of books or teachings set forth by the great master, Lord Buddha Śākyamūni, but if one summarized, then all these teachings, entire teachings set forth by Buddha can be subsumed under three categories, which are called the three basket teachings, and the three are the first, the sūtra baskets, Vinaya and the Abhidhamma Kosh, or the Abhidhamma, so not Kosh. Teachings of the Buddhas are being subsumed under three categories, likewise, so there are different numbers of practice set forth by the Buddha, according to the schools or hearers, Sautrantikas, and the great vehicle disciples, that there are numbers of practice. Like the three baskets, like the teaching, all the entire practice can also be substituted in the three categories which are called the three trainings now. The training of ethical discipline, training of meditative stabilization and the training of wisdom.
So the practice is set forth by the Lord Buddha Śākyamūni has been divided into three trainings: the training of ethical discipline, meditative stabilization, and wisdom. How come there are three types of trainings? It is because every sentient beings has three doors: body, speech, mind. They commit different negativities through each dose. Through body, one commits the negativity of the act of killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct.
Through speech, one commits the negative deed of telling a lie, divisive speech, harsh words, and idle gossips. Four, right? So, all these seven negativities are performed or committed through body and speech, so in order to avoid or abandon those seven non virtuous actions, the teachings of the ethical disciplines has been set forth. In order to avoid all those seven non virtues of the body and speech, the practice of ethical discipline has been set forth. Just abandoning the seven non virtuous actions doesn’t necessarily mean that one maintains the ethical discipline.
In order to maintain ethical discipline, lead to very ethical discipline, one needs to avoid those seven non virtuous actions, but also need to make commitment that’s saying that I will not these seven non virtuous actions, it is because the act of those actions result a great suffering in future. So by knowing this and making a good resolution or making commitments within oneself, then one maintains one’s practice or maintains the ethical discipline. Although just making commitment and abandoning the non virtuous actions and simply abandoning the non virtuous actions, seven non virtuous actions without commitment, or saying not committing any of seven non virtuous actions, but one becomes, but doing one with the commitments, one maintains the ethical discipline and without commit there is a benefit, but one is not really, it doesn’t necessarily mean that one maintains the ethical discipline. Do you see the difference? It is very important for us to maintain or make commitments saying that I will not commit all the seven non virtuous actions and will lead to very good ethical discipline.
It is very hard to make that commitment forever, But one does not need to make commitment for make the ultimate, say, the permanent commitment. So one can make commitment for a day or a week. For example, like wake up in the morning. So, today I will not commit any of those seven non-virtues from body and speech and will try to maintain a very ethical discipline for a day. Just doing so is very, very helpful.
So making commitment is very very beneficial and helpful for example like a two part, say the two kind of person and although they are sane they don’t commit the act of killing and stealing for twenty four hours in one day, but one has made commitment of not killing and stealing for twenty four hours and one hasn’t. The difference is although they are sane, but the one who made the commitment will become that he has maintained the ethical discipline and had practiced as well, whereas the other one has the benefit of not killing and stealing, but because of not making commitment, his maintenance of refraining from the stealing and killing does not become ethical discipline. So this is the reason they are all the difference of making commitments and that is the one reason that people take the vows. Taking vows which actually means they’re making commitments that I’m not I will not do this and that. And the benefit of taking vows is that by by by by taking vows, one avoid all those negativities and means becomes, maintains ethical disciplines forever by making and preserving that vows one always cultivates virtuous actions even in one’s sleep because as one has taken the vow forever, like commitment forever, even in sleep, eating or walking or whatever, you accumulate the positive actions or the virtues all the time.
So if one receive a vow, there’s a huge benefit. It’s not just enough to take a vow. After taking a vow, one should maintain it. If you do not maintain the vow, then there’s a huge loss as well. So for example, one has two person, one has taken a vow and one hasn’t, and and they commit the act of some non virtuous actions, so the person who hasn’t taken any vow by committing that negative action he has he has negative deed or has committed negative actions of doing so but hasn’t had additional loss of transgressing his vow, whereas other person with the vow is not just committed one negative action, he also has the additional fault of transgressing the vow.
So one needs to be very careful after taking a vow. So, the practice, there are numbers of practice and the practice begins from the practice of avoiding the seven non virtuous actions of the body and speech. So for that reason, among the three trainings, the trainings of ethical discipline has been set forth the other two. And so the text which teaches the practice of ethical training is called the Vinaya, the first of the three basket teachings as we said before, the Tripitaka in Sanskrit. The first one is the basket of Vinaya or the discipline so that has been set forth to practice.
The first basket is Vinaya basket which is to train in the training of ethical discipline. And now, we have three doors of body, speech and mind, so we have finished with the first two; in order to avoid the faults of the first two, the ethical training or training of ethical discipline has been set forth. And now for the third door which is mind, and for the mind there are two types of faults, the coarse and the subtle faults or downfalls of the mind, the actions that we commit through mind. So, in order to stop or avoid the coarse negativities of the mind, the training of the meditative stabilization has been taught. So, as we said, there are two: the coarse and the subtle faults of the mind.
In order to avoid the coarse faults of the mind, training of the meditative stabilization has been taught. What are the subtle faults of the mind so that comes during our meditation so we do meditation and during the meditation we have an object or may be the object for the meditation where one focused. So for example, during one’s meditation one is not able to maintain maintain one’s mind focus on the focused object and one’s mind wonders during the meditation even one does the visualization and during the visualizations one there are one, sometimes one hasn’t got a clear visions or clear visualizations. It’s kind of sometimes feels like been the one’s focus object has been covered with smoke or somewhere in the darkness and so forth, which are said to be the force of laxity and the excitement. So in order to avoid all those laxity, excitements, and mental itch and wonderings, in order to have a good meditation, in order to avoid all those coarse faults of the mind like mental agitation, excitements, laxity and so forth, the teachings of the training of the meditative stabilization was taught.
And then the teachings which show how to practice the meditative stabilization in order to avoid the coarse faults of the mind is called the second basket which is the Sūtra basket. By training in the sūtra basket, benefit of doing so is that one can attain, accomplish the training in the meditative stabilizations. The benefits of accomplishing or perfecting the training of meditative stabilization is that the benefit of doing so has been stated by the good master Tsongkhapa. Once one has attained the meditative stabilization, then one’s mind will never wander and it has been very stable, it becomes very stabilized and one can easily place one’s mind wherever one wants and it’s like so one can place one’s mind on a meditational object and it will dwell on that place like a great mountain or a hill, or it’s like a cup. Once you place the cup on the table it will never move, it will stay where it is.
By attaining the meditative stabilization then one will stabilize. One’s mind becomes very stabilized or very steady, and wherever one puts one’s mind or focuses one’s mind, it will stay there and there is no harm from mental wandering, agitation, excitements or the laxity plus all the visualizations whatever one does will be very will have one will have very clear visualizations. So if one attains a meditative stabilization, then after that, no, no, no. If one attains a meditative stabilization, then one can be on a meditation and the focus on one meditational object and be in that meditation for months and months just at one time one can one’s mind will be very steady and one can maintain that meditation for months and months, no? And then the person Of course.
The person who has attained meditative stabilization doesn’t need any lunch or dinner like we have, he just stick with the food of meditative stabilization. And he or she can fly up like a bird in the sky. Our body is very heavy these days, it is because we eat too much. So, when one attain enlightenment meditative stabilization, then also has attained the calm abiding and so forth, and one doesn’t need to rely upon the contaminated food which we eat, and they just stick with the meditational food or the food and meditation stabilization. Because of not having all this contaminated food we eat, their body maintains very clean and very light, like a cloud, like crystal clear.
Cloud or cotton. Yeah, so the training in the meditative stabilization will sorry, stop the cause faults of the mind. In order to eliminate or abandon the subtle faults of the mind, the Buddha Śākyamūni has set forth the teachings and the training of the wisdom. So what are the subtle faults of the mind? Those are the attachment, anger, ignorance, self-grasping attitudes — those are the subtle faults of the mind. So, in order to overcome or abandon the subtle faults of the mind, the third trainings, the training of wisdoms has been set forth.
It is because in order to avoid all those subtle faults, one needs to realize the emptiness or train in the emptiness. So, train in the wisdom which is wisdom realizing emptiness, it is because as we set forth, the subtle faults are the attachment, anger, so on, or briefly speaking, then all the disturbing emotions, ignorance and so forth. So, one needs to realize the emptiness. In order to realize emptiness, one attains the wisdom which realizing emptiness because we need to abandon the opposite of the wisdom realizing emptiness, is the ignorance, the self grasping attitude. Abandoning the ignorance, self grasping attitude is very important because it is the root of all the disturbing emotions.
So it is like the root of the tree. Once you cut the root of the tree, gradually all the branches, the leaves will dry by its own. Likewise, cutting the root of the disturbing emotions, which is ignorance, the self grasping attitude, then all the other subtle faults, like attachments and so forth, will cease by its own. In order to overcome that self grasping attitude, the ignorance, the attaining the wisdom, realizing emptiness is very important. Therefore, one needs to train in the wisdom training of wisdom.
The training in the wisdom has been set forth after the training of the meditative stabilization because after having attained the meditative stabilization, then one has a very stable mind and through this one can meditate on emptiness and just by one focus on emptiness, one can maintain this meditation for months and months and become, get used to or more familiarized to the emptiness and then through this one attains the wisdom and can eventually abandon all the subtle faults of the mind. So, by abandoning the self grasping attitude, the ignorance which is the root of disturbing emotions, by abandoning that, all the subtle faults will decrease and one can liberate oneself from the subtle existence and attain all the liberations. So the teaching set forth the realizing, familiarizing oneself into wisdom and realizing emptiness is very important because by attaining the wisdom realizing emptiness, one attains all the disturbing emotions from its root and abandon all the faults of the mind, and one eventually attains the arhats or the liberations and the, yeah, attend to liberations and so forth and by attaining those then one does not need to take rebirth in the cyclic existence of Hamsara and always have, always live in peace and happy, there’s no sufferings at all.
So just by attaining a mere wisdom realizing emptiness, one can attain the arhathood, one can liberate oneself from the cyclic existence, but one cannot attain the Buddhahood. So in order to attain a Buddhahood, one one one needs to one needs to one needs to the wisdom realizing emptiness as a as a wisdom, and one needs to have a method which conjoins that wisdom, wisdom realizing emptiness to attain enlightenment and that the method is the bodhicitta or altruistic intention. So, attaining both the altruistic intention and wisdom realizing emptiness, using those two as a wisdom and method through this, the training in those two, and one one one abandons all the entire negativities and the fold and attain the Buddhahood can can can become enlightened. So, in the low vehicles, they have the wisdom realizing emptiness as well as they have a wishing, the intention to attain liberation. But, so, because of having those two, the wisdom realizing emptiness and the intention to attain liberation, which is Arathud, they attain the liberation, arahthood, means to free from cyclic existence or saṃsāra, but they don’t have bodhicitta or the altruistic intention in the law vehicles.
So, the low vehicle practitioners, but training in the low vehicles, one can overcome all the disturbing emotions and can abandon the cyclic existence or the sufferings of the cyclic existence, one cannot overcome all the negativities or faults or all the sufferings just by training in law of vehicles. So, we set forth two types of faults which are the two types of obscurations: the obscuration towards liberation and obscuration towards omniscience. Training in the lower vehicles or the liberated beings of the lower vehicles, they have purified or overcome the first obscuration which is obscuration towards liberation, but they haven’t abandoned the or cleared the Obscuration towards omniscience yet. So because of this, they are not free from all the negativities yet. So what is the obscuration towards omniscience which is not being abandoned by the arhats of the lower vehicles?
So, those Aarhats of the lower vehicles has attained liberation and they have abandoned the the obscuration towards liberation, but not the obscuration towards omniscient. It is because those arhats, the liberated beings, have abandoned all the disturbing emotions which are the obscuration towards liberation, but they haven’t purified the imprints of the disturbing emotions. Due to that, they are not free from all the negative. It is because they have the obnition towards obscuration towards omniscient, which is the imprints of the disturbing emotion. So what is the imprint of the disturbing emotions?
So if I demonstrate an example for that, it is like the cup. It’s like a cup with alcohol or wine in it. So one finished the wine, he drank all all the wine. We can say that there’s no wine in the glass or a cup, but one can still smell the wine in the cup. Likewise, it’s like the smell, the imprints of the disturbing emotions, which means like the smell of the wine in the glass.
So those liberated beings, the arhats of the lower vehicles, have abandoned the disturbing emotions but like the smell of the wine, the imprints of the disturbing emotions are still there. Have you ever noticed that you finish the wine and the smell of the wine in the glass? So, yeah, they still haven’t abandoned the imprints of the disturbing emotions, which is the obstruction towards omniscience. How does that imprint of the disturbing emotion obstruct one to attain omniscience, which is enlightenment? Because that imprint of the disturbing emotions obstructs the person from seeing the true nature, the true mode of existence of phenomena or things. So the imprint obstructs one from seeing the reality of things and due to this, it obstructs one from attaining omniscience, from becoming omniscient. So, what are the disadvantages of not seeing the reality of the phenomena or the nature of phenomena?
If one does not understand the reality of the true nature of the phenomena, one so if one teaches, for example, one gives the teaching, and because of not having the knowledge of seeing the true nature of phenomena, one can’t understand the wishes of the students or the disciples, what he or she needs and what that person needs. Without that understanding, one can teach but there is not much help or benefit that one can offer to the person or the disciple. So it is very important to note the wishes of the person or the student. So, if I know the true nature or the reality of a phenomena, then one can understand what the individual wishes.
So for example, Buddha Śākyamūni, when he teaches the benefit of knowing the two reality of the phenomena is that the Buddha Śākyamūni, when he teaches, he understand the wishes of the individual disciples or students. So because of this, for example, there are hundred people and have a hundred minds are there and a hundred different thoughts are there. During the teachings, as he understands each student’s wish, and for example, he said he set forth through his mouth the impermanent nature of the body. The person who wants to hear about the impermanent nature of the mind will hear about how the body is impermanent, whereas persons who are keen to know about the empty nature the the true empty nature means the mode of existence of the body, he or she hear about the empty nature of the body, and the person who wants to hear about the body, how the body is the selflessness, then he or she hears about what they were expecting or what they wish. This is the benefit of this, of knowing the true nature, the true mode of existence or the true natural reality of the phenomena.
So that’s how the Buddha Śākyamūni, when he teaches, the people receive or hear what they wish or what they have in their mind. So, we have finished the five personal riches which are: being born as a human, being born in a central place, possessing all faculties, not having committed any grave actions, and having faith in the source of the teachings. So we’ll stop the teaching here. And some people have requested here to give oral transmission of the Vajrasattva and the Gwin Tārā. So for the Green Tārā, I will give the transmission through the main source which is the main approach of the entire Tārā, which is also suitable for the Green Tārā oral transmission as well.
For Vajrasattva oral transmission, the text I have here are the two types, which is oral transmission of Heruka Vajrasattva that comes from the Yamāntaka practice. So it depends which one you want, the other Heruka Vajrasattva or from the Yamāntaka one. But I don’t have Vajrasattva practice, the text of the Vajrasattva practice for the lower action tantra, which means the Yamāntaka and the Heruka Vajasattvas are the higher shiwa tantras. So all this, the Vajrasattva of Heruka, Vajrasattva of Yamāntaka, and Vajrasattva of Goeste Mahaja, all those, the different Vajrasattvas comes from according comes differently according to the self regeneration practice. So which means that if you do the Heruka — the Vajrasattva of the Heruka, which means from this, when you follow through the Heruka self-generation practice, you visualize Heruka itself as a Vajrasattva.
Likewise, the Yamāntaka one is to visualize Yamāntaka itself as a Vajrasattva and the Guhyasamāja as a Vajrasattva. This is the difference. It’s a wishful. So the teachings of those practices of the Tārā was also originated or set by the Lord Buddha Śākyamūni when he emanated as Tārā and set forth the teachings. If one wants to do intense practice of Heruka Vajrasattva, then it is very, for the betterment, it’s good to have initiation of the Heruka, and if not, then it’s still very important or good to have the empowerment of the Heruka Vajrasattva because it is a very profound and secret tantric teachings.
If one does the practice of generating oneself as a deity, meditational deity and meditate on the deities with having empowerment or initiation then the practice becomes more essential, sorry, more beneficial or healthy. I’ve been taking short notes everywhere. Purification or purifying the negativities is very, important and at this stage we go through different types of negative, different types of sufferings and also we do different types of practice and sometimes we can’t perform good practice, and when we do the meditation, our meditation doesn’t become very effective, and doing visualizations we haven’t had clear visualizations and so forth, and we can’t attain any realization even though we practice so hard through meditation and so forth. It happens because of having lots of negativities and on virtues we have within us and those negativities have been accumulated since the beginningless of time, and that’s from the actions and the disturbing emotions we have accumulated. So it is very important for us to confess or purify all the negativities and the bad disturbing emotions, and through purifying all the negativities or non-virtues then will have one will have a clear good meditation and can attend realizations and so forth.
So this is how purifying the negativities or the non virtues is very important and the way of purifying the negativities, there are different types of practices it’s been set forth because it comes to different types of purification because of the different types of negativities or non virtues we accumulated. So, the negativities we accumulated through performing the ten non virtuous actions and then the negativities or the non virtues accumulated through taking the ordination or a monk or nun vows and then not maintaining it, like transgressing the vows and then the negativities or non virtues committed through not maintaining the bodhisattva vows and then not maintaining tantric vows. So the confession practice of the thirty-five Buddhas is very effective and very helpful to purify all the negativities one accumulated through transgressing the bodhisattva vows and the monk and nun ordination vows. After the when one does the practice of the confessions of the purification of thirty five Buddhas, after that practice there is a practice called the general confessions, which are to purify the negativities committed through doing ten non-virtuous actions. The Vajrasattva, Heruka Vajrasattva is the main tantric purification, the negativities committed through taking the tantric vows and the commitments.
So there are different sorts of purification practices one can perform and great master Tsongkhapa has done his purification through taking and doing the thirty-five Buddhas practices and making prostrations, reciting all the names or the texts of the thirty five Buddhas and through this he attained the wisdom realizing emptiness and perfected himself. So just by reciting one Buddha of the thirty five Buddhas, one Buddha name of the thirty five Buddhas, one can purify numbers, a huge amount of negativities because is set forth because each Buddha has made a commitment that just by reciting my name I will help, that I have made a commitment or promise to help purify the negativities of the practitioner or of the person. There are different types of practice as well. Also, if one and there are some other confession practices like if one commits the non virtuous actions through transgressing the ordination vows, then we have a quarterly, not a quarterly, every fortnight there is a practice of the confession practice in the monastic systems in every fortnight which is to purify if one has committed the negativities through transgressing the vows. Also, there are some other tantric purification of transgressing the tantric practices or tantric vows and that is through taking a self generation, self initiation practice and so forth.
So the fact is the confession practice or purification is very very helpful. Yeah. So we’ll stop here today. Because His Holiness’s prayers at page ten and then the melody but less. Lost, and then the dedication prayers, page five, verse seven, nine.
I am. Thank you. Good luck.