Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Anchored in verse 18 of the Guru Puja — praising the lama for enabling students to attain the three bodies of a Buddha in a remarkably short time — this 44-minute commentary by Khensur Rinpoche introduces Guru Yoga through the Ganden Lhagyama (Hundred Deities of the Land of Joy) lineage. Rinpoche explains why the spiritual master is the root of all good qualities, then gives step-by-step visualization instructions: imagining Tsongkhapa enthroned on a white cloud in Tuśita pure land, flanked by his two spiritual sons, and understanding the entire image as inseparable from one’s own teacher. He then walks through the seven-limb prayer — requesting the masters not to pass into parinirvana, prostration, offering (including mentally transformed offerings understood as lacking true existence), confession using the four powers, and rejoicing in Tsongkhapa’s extraordinary deeds. Suited to practitioners beginning a regular Guru Yoga practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 04 PP 1989-05-20.mp3
UUID: 010ed5a8-86b2-4410-b590-ec83115c12bb
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Preliminary Practices (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1989-05-20
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 44.8 minutes
Words: ~2,193
In order to establish all sentient beings equal to space in complete happiness and bliss, I must achieve perfect complete Buddhahood. In order to do this, I’m going to listen to this profound teaching whereby to put in to practice what I have heard. Therefore, adjusting our motivation to such a way of listening to this teaching, we’re going to listen to this. Okay. So today we’re going to Ramesh is going to explain the the practice of Guru devotion, the devotion to this no.
I’m sorry. Guru yoga. Guru yoga. The yoga of the spiritual of the spiritual master. And this is, he’s going to explain this in accordance with the verse from the, Guru Puja, the offering to the spiritual master, which I’m looking for.
There’s a few there’s a So it’s only one verse. If you can either if you’d like to take a look at it, we can pass out the Lama Chöpa, the Guru Puja text, it’s just one verse. Or eighteenth verse. So it’s just one verse. Verse eighteen.
So the verse, explaining the meaning of the verse is that the one is paying homage, prostrating to all the compassionate spiritual masters, the Gurus, the Lamas, who bestow the teachings and through practicing the teachings one is able to attain the three bodies, the body of great bliss, the wisdom truth body, the enjoyment body, and the emanation body in even one instant or that is to say in a very short time. So in the verse it says that even in one instant that we’re able to attain in this sphere of great bliss. That, here it’s speaking of a short time and it’s meant in a short time in comparison to the great length of time of say the length of life in a hell realm or the length of life of a long lived God, a long lived God, that through in comparison to them, the great kindness of our lamas, we can attain the sphere of the three bodies in even an instant. And therefore, understanding the the great kindness of the spiritual master, the lama, it’s compared to a wish fulfilling gem. That having whatever we desire can be fulfilled in reliance upon devoting oneself to the spiritual master.
And therefore, with this great faith that we we pay homage or prostrate at the lotus feet of the of the lama or the guru. So the Master Tsongkhapa said that the Lama is the root of all things, all excellent qualities. Both qualities within this world and the qualities and those transmundane qualities, mundane qualities and transmundane qualities such as the state of the superior or Buddhahood. So, you know, whatever qualities they may be, you know, without question, the really great excellent qualities, but even minor qualities. It is said that the spiritual master is even the root of these or the foundation of all qualities.
So the the said that in the attainment of liberation and omniscience that the Lama is extremely important. That without the Lama there is no liberation, there is no omniscience. That even in our worldly activities and wanting to engage in some sort of activity, some sort of some type of work, that we need an instructor, someone to show us how to do it. And therefore what to say of Buddhahood to which we’ve never traveled before and that we need we need someone to guide us to Buddhahood and therefore it is omniscience and liberation is completely dependent upon the spiritual master. Tsongkhapa has said that in normal circumstances though we try to memorize the words of texts, can’t hold them in our mind.
That we reflect on their meanings, we don’t come to any understanding. Though we seek, though we engage in meditation, gain no realization. And what are we to do in such a circumstance? This is because it is necessary to rely on the quintessential instruction of the lama. That is we must practice guru devotion, guru yoga.
So, obviously, the Guru Yoga is extremely important. Now, how do engage in the practice of Guru Yoga? The Buddha has said as to the place of Guru Yoga that we can meditate the spiritual master as if in the palm of our hand. We can meditate at the spiritual master at our heart, at the crown of our head, or in the space in front of us. The Buddha said that visualizing the spiritual master in this way, we, the spiritual master, represent the condensation of all the blessings of the Buddha.
So these are the places where the Buddha specifically mentioned that we could engage in, that we could, that the place in which the visualization within the practice of Guru Yoga could take place. There are various lineages and types of Guru Yoga. There’s the lineage which is coming from the first Pänchen Lama, the author of Guru Puja, for example. There’s the lineage coming from Donakapaladin. And so there are various types of practices of Guru Yoga.
In the of the various types of practices of Guru Yoga. For example, that coming from Guru Puja, this is quite an extensive practice. And there’s also the practice of Guru Yoga in connection with the six-session Guru Yoga. But this requires an empowerment. So there’s a we’re going to talk the practice with reference to the Guru Yoga of Donakapaladin, in which we can readily understand this.
We can easily practice this. And this is in the lineage of the Ganden Lhagyama or the hundreds of deities of the land of joy. Hundreds of deities of the land of joy. The practice in meditating the practice of the hundred deities of the land of joy. There are three realms of existence within the desire realm, one of these three realms, the desire realm, there are the God realms.
And within the God realms there are six types of gods. And within these six types there is one level which is referred to as Ganden or the land of joy. This in Sanskrit is Tuśita. Within Tuśita there is Tuśita itself or the land of joy, and within a distance from Tuśita is the temple in which resides Maitreya. Within the temple, upon a lion throne, sits Maitreya.
At his right side sits Atisha, and at his left side sits Tsongkhapa. Surrounded by many various deities. So we should imagine that this area is extremely, it’s a pure land, it’s extremely clean, The surface is very smooth without any flaws like lapis lazuli. And then from the heart of Maitreya, a light shines out and a white and upon and beneath Maitreya there forms a white cloud. Upon this white cloud is a lion throne, upon which sits Tsongkhapa.
Tsongkhapa’s right side is Gyaltsab Rinpoche, his two sons, spiritual sons, and the right side is Gyaltsab Rinpoche, and the left side is Khedrupje, his two spiritual sons. So, Rinpoche has his hands in the mudra of turning the wheel of Dharma, the teaching mudra, like Rinpoche is showing. In each hand he’s holding the stem of a lotus which the stem comes up and the actual lotus blooms near his ear. They’re on each side.
Both the right and left hand are holding the stems. There and the lotuses are pink in color. And both Khedrupje and Gyaltsab Rinpoche have their right hand in the teaching gesture and the left hand in their lap in meditative equipoise gesture. So we should seek to generate great faith in the object visualized before us in the form of Tsongkhapa and his two spiritual sons. We should think of this visualization as Rinpoche Tsongkhapa being inseparable from one’s own individual spiritual master.
That without this thought, thinking that though it is an aspect of Tsongkhapa, it’s an aspect of Khedrupje and Gyaltsab Rinpoche, but in fact it is in the nature of my own spiritual master. We aren’t practicing Guru Yoga. We must have this understanding that these beings doing this particular aspect, but in fact they are in nature my individual lama. Then having completed this visualization with this thought in mind, the inseparability of these three masters from one’s own in nature, inseparable from one’s own individual spiritual master, then we are going to perform the seven-limb prayer. And here we begin the seven-limb prayer with a request not to pass into parinirvana or final nirvana.
That imagining that on this lion throne, upon the lotus, that these masters are appearing and that this fills us with a great sense of joy and we develop a sense of faith and devotion and that they have come in order to benefit sentient beings by giving the teachings. And we ask them to remain and to give the teachings and not to pass into parinirvana. Then so we’re we’re performing the seven-limb prayer, and we begin with the limb of requesting not to pass into parinirvana. Then the next limb is the limb of prostration or homage. And here we take to mind become mindful of the qualities of the body, speech, mind of the spiritual master.
Remembering how taking to mind that within the mind of the spiritual master is the omniscience or that which is able to know all things. And the speech is such that it is able to lead disciples along the path to liberation in Buddhahood. And the body, just by merely seeing it, one generates faith that there is a seed of liberation is implanted in one and thereby one’s own ultimate purposes are fulfilled. So these are remembering the qualities of the body, speech and mind of the spiritual master and generating a great sense of feeling of paying homage to those qualities. Then the limb of offering.
We can offer all the types of various physical objects such as flowers, incense, light. But we can also offer things within our own mind. The various types of when we offer the various waters, the various types of waters, the mental offerings. But we don’t only offer these types of substances, that is to say the actual substances, but we transform all of space into various we fill all of space into all the various types of offerings, know, whatever would be desirable objects both within the world and those things beyond this world that all these unimaginable types of offering transforming all these into mentally transformed offerings. And then we seek to imagine or come to understand that the three spheres within this offering, that is the offerer, the object of offering, and the substances of that are offered lack true existence.
And this is a great blessing. Then the next limb is the limb of confession of negativity. And here we should apply the four counteracting agents or the four powers. The first of these are the power of reliance. This is essentially going for refuge generating an awakening heart.
The second is the power of recollection and this is the generation of regret with respect to past negative actions created. The third is the power of determination and this is the determination to not to reverse from, to not repeat again. And the fourth is the power of the antidote. That we have been involved in negative actions from beginning this time. There has been no beginning to cyclic existence and therefore there has been no beginning to the negative actions that we’ve engaged in through body, speech, mind.
And we seek to acknowledge these negative actions to recollect them and bring them to mind and to bear them, to confess them. I’m thinking of all the negativities that we’ve created, all the transgressions of our of our various vows, bodhisattva vows, tantric vows, and seek the blessings of the spiritual master in order to purify them. The next limb is the limb of rejoicing. And, you know, considering the unimaginable deeds of, of Tsongkhapa, taking to mind and finding, and developing a great sense of inspiration and joy in what he accomplished. That thinking about how difficult these times are during the five degenerations, that in spite of this, the flourishing of the five degenerations that Tsongkhapa engaged in the various study and listening to the great texts.
For example, the text on the perfections, on the middle way, on Vinaya, the discipline, on Abhidharma. That he listened to all these vast teachings, reflected upon them. He also listened and reflected upon all the tantric teachings of the various four levels. Not only did he listen and reflect to them, but he gained an understanding. And not only did he understand them, but he put them into practice.
And all the various stories which relate the great practices that Tsongkhapa engaged in in Tibet, his unimaginable deeds. And he went on to completely abandon all the eight worldly dharmas. And in this way, taking to mind the great, all these vast actions and deeds of Tsongkhapa, his great understanding that again, and the great practices that he engaged in developing from the depths of the heart and rejoicing in his actions and his deeds.