Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Prostrating with fists, Khensur Rinpoche warns in this 47-minute talk, may cause rebirth as a hooved animal; failing to rise quickly from the ground risks rebirth without legs — vivid reminders of why precise form matters as much as motivation. This session covers prostrations as the fourth preliminary practice, opening with a Mahāmudrā verse linking purification to the realization of emptiness and citing Tsongkhapa’s own retreat at Olkha Chölung as proof of the practice’s power. Rinpoche then walks through three modes of prostration (physical, verbal, mental) and the precise body mechanics: feet together, hands cupped as if holding a jewel, brought to crown, brow, throat, and heart in sequence. The talk closes with the four opponent powers and how to apply them within each prostration.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 11 PP 1989-06-17.mp3
UUID: 071531af-6288-4866-b0f6-5fb8c7895824
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Preliminary Practices (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1989-06-17
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 47.4 minutes
Words: ~2,769
I must attain perfect, complete Buddhahood for the sake of establishing all sentient beings equal to space in complete happiness and bliss. In order to do that, I’m going to listen to this profound teaching on the great vehicle. Try to adjust your motivation such that you’re going to listen to this teaching with this awakening heart. So, we’re discussing the various preliminary practices, and we’ve already discussed the first three, that is refuge, the practice of guru yoga, the Vajrasattva practice, and now we’re going to discuss prostration. From a text by Pänchen Lhödrub Gyatso, which is entitled Mahāmudrā, there is a verse in which says that in order to see the nature of the mind, it is necessary to practice purification and accumulation of positive potential.
And this is done through the recitation of the hundred syllable mantra and the confession of downfalls during prostrations. And then in A Discourse of the Buddha, he said that when one sees dependent arising, one sees the Dharma, that is to say, emptiness. And having seen the Dharma, one sees the Buddha. So, when he referred to seeing the Buddha, that is to say, the attainment of one’s own Buddhahood. In order to attain Buddhahood, it’s necessary to realize emptiness.
And as a means of attaining emptiness, we must purify the various negativities which act as an obstruction and collect the necessary personal power or positive potential. The practice of prostrations is a method both to purify negativities and accumulate positive potential. So in the it is said in the various discourses that there are in the necessary accumulation which we need to collect, the practice of prostrations has ten benefits. So to give a to list a few of the ten benefits which are derived from the practice of prostrations, that one’s own body will attain a golden radiance, that you will have a beautiful body, that you will be able to purify negativities, that you will not have to take rebirth in a bad migration, that you will develop all the excellent qualities, and that your excellent qualities will be equal to those of the Bodhisattvas and the Buddhas, and that you will attain all the various enjoyments in the future, etcetera. And he said that the Buddha said that by making an extended prostration, with the arms out, that the earth that one covers being made up of atoms, and that for each of those atoms one will accumulate the karma necessary to take rebirth as a universal emperor one thousand times, equal to the number of atoms that you are covering in each prostration.
And so this is some of the benefits to be derived from doing prostrations, and not only that, but Tsongkhapa, when he did his practice of prostrations at Olkha Chölung. Olkha Chölung. Olkha Chölung. There he did the practice of the confessions of downfalls, and he was able to realize emptiness. So, you know, in general, we can just the benefits to be derived from the practice of prostrations are almost innumerable, innumerable, but, you know, through the practice of prostrations that we collect the necessary accumulations for the various qualities and the various methods of purification, and we are able to achieve all the grounds and paths and the realizations of emptiness, etc.
Additionally, through the practice of prostrations, we’re able to purify the negativities that we’ve already built up. No matter what type of unskillful actions we may have created in the past, they can be completely purified through the practice of prostration in combination with the four opponent powers. So in the discussion of prostrations, concerned with the three aspects of the prostration: the object of our prostrations, the prostrator him or herself, and the actual way in which we prostrate. With respect to the object of prostrations, this can be done in accordance with what we have already discussed in practice of Guru Yoga or the yoga of the spiritual master. And if it can be done in the extensive form, as was explained, it can be performed with the object of the as explained within the practice of Lama Chöpa or Guru Puja, the offering to the spiritual master.
And as it was explained, it can also be done in the visualization or the object of prostration can be abbreviated. If it’s done in accordance with, as was explained in our Guru Yoga practice, then there is said to be great blessings, quick blessings. The blessings are very soon to come, and there’s, it, we can create great positive potential, and we actualize realizations very readily. So as was explained in accordance with the object of the visualization of the merit field, in accordance with the offering to the spiritual master, that is, the Lama Chöpa or Guru Puja, then we can imagine in the central figure being what is called Lama Losang Tubwang Dorje Chang. Lama Losang Tubwang Dorje Chang.
This picture. The picture. So we should try as best we can to imagine before us this extensive visualization within the central figure being the Lama in the aspect of Tsongkhapa and Dorje Chang. That is the Lama in the aspect of Tsongkhapa. At His heart is Guru Śākyamūni, and at His heart is vajradhara.
And then this is surrounded on His right side is the lineage of the vast and extensive deeds of the Bodhisattvas. On the left is the lineage of the profound, and behind is the lineage of the blessed instruction. Then beginning the various meditational deities, the various levels of Tantra, the various Buddhas and bodhisattvas, the various heroes, heroines, etc, filling the entire space. In a discourse by the Buddha entitled Good Explanation, in which he says that in the practice of prostrations, one should imagine not only that one’s own body, one’s single self, but try to one should imagine that one has as many bodies equal to the number of atoms in our world, visualizing, thinking this way that there are you have as many bodies equal to the number of atoms in our world. And then with this, make prostrations to the object of prostration.
So, we can make prostrations in the three manners of physical, verbal, and mental prostration. You know, first with verbal would be the actually reciting from one verbally the excellent qualities of the Buddhas, for example, extolling them verbally. This would be a verbal prostration, paying homage verbally. Then the mental prostration would be the development of faith, conviction within one’s own mind of the extraordinary qualities of, say, the Buddha’s knowledge or the Buddha’s love, etc, developing this quality of faith would be a mental prostration, a mental homage. And then the physical prostration could be even limited to the raising of one’s hand in a sense of homage as a gesture of respect.
This could serve as a physical prostration. So, with respect to physical prostrations, there are two types. There are — call them drawn prostrations and extensive prostrations, maybe shortened, drawn prostrations and extensive prostrations. A drawn prostration is when we are using the placing the two knees, the two hands, and the forehead on the ground as a means of respect. This is a drawn shortened prostration.
An extensive prostration would be when the when the entire body is laid on the ground and the hands are extended in front of one, forward in front of one. This would be an extensive prostration. So, you know, briefly covering we’ve covered the object of our prostration, the the person, the bodily manner of the person who is actually doing the prostrating, and then we’re going to talk about the actual way of prostrating, the mode of prostration. And we should try to this should be done very well, you know, as was if it’s done well, then you will accrue all the great all the various benefits that we’ve already explained before. But on the other hand, if the prostrations are not done well, then there are many disadvantages, are many difficulties that arise.
So, the physical prostration should be done very well to accrue all the benefits. Begin with the legs. The legs should not be spread apart, they should be together. That would include the feet, they should be together. Then one should stand up straight.
One’s hands should not be flat together. This is a gesture of the non-Buddhist practitioner, and it would cause one to be reborn in a place where there are no teachings of the Buddha. So the gesture of the hands should be such that the thumbs are placed inside the hands as if you were holding a jewel. So this has, you know, great meaning, this gesture. Bringing the two hands together, the palms of the hands together represents the union of method and wisdom that’s necessary to attain Buddhahood, along with the ten practices of the ten perfections represented by the ten fingers and two thumbs, eight fingers and two thumbs.
This is what is called — gives rise to as an auspicious — a difficult word to translate — an auspicious coincidence or coming together of auspicious qualities bringing giving arising, bringing forth some type of auspicious fruit by this arising of this coming together. Then the the hands held in this gesture are brought to the four places. First, at the crown of the head. And this, they implant the seed for the attainment of the, the, what is called, the top protrusion, the crown protrusion on the Buddha’s head that imprints the seed, creates a cause for that ultimate attainment. Then the hands are brought to the level of the touch between the eyebrows, and this imprints the seed to attain the hair treasure, or the hair that is between the Buddha’s eyes.
Then it’s brought to the throat, and this imprints the seed for the eventual attainment of the Buddha’s speech with its sixty melodious qualities in order to teach the Dharma. And then the hands are brought to the heart, and this intends to attain ultimately, omniscient mind of a Buddha and the exalted wisdom bliss within the Buddha’s mind. On the other hand, if the gesture is placed, the hands in this gesture are placed at the forehead first, and this acts to purify the negativities of body, and the placing at the throat acts to purify the negativities of speech, and at the heart acts to purify the negativities of mind. So, you know, in making prostrations, we should keep the body straight, the body shouldn’t be crooked, and that we should ensure that the forehead actually touches the ground. If one were not to touch the ground with the forehead, this would act as a cause such that in the future existences you would take rebirth as a type of creature who walked on its head.
And one should keep the body straight. If one were to prostrate and the body were humped over, crooked, this would create a cause for being reborn in future existence such that you would have a humped over body, crooked body. And having made a prostration, one should rise up very quickly from the ground. One should not remain on the ground. You know, when we do a few prostrations, it’s quite easy, but if we do a lot of prostrations, when it becomes difficult, there’s a tendency to want to lay on the ground for a while.
But one shouldn’t do that. If you were to lie on the ground and not rise up quickly, this would create a cause for being reborn in the future with such a type of body with no legs, for example, as a snake. So, then this also acts — the quickly rising up from one’s prostration acts as a related arising, a coincidence to one will quickly achieve one will quickly rise up out of cyclic existence and be free from cyclic existence. A dependent arising coincidence. Additionally, your hands should be held flat to the ground.
They shouldn’t be — you shouldn’t make fists, for example. If one were to prostrate in that manner, making their fists without their hands flat on the ground, this would serve as a cause for taking rebirth as a type of animal with hooves. And additionally, by keeping the hands flat and the fingers closed, this serves as a cause that one will attain among the various major marks and signs of a Buddha, the major marks and minor signs of a Buddha, one will attain the webbing, which is between the Buddha’s fingers, the skin which connects the fingers. There’s a like a webbing, and this will act as a cause to create that. So, again, having once made prostrations that you should quickly rise up.
But not only just quickly rise up, you should rise completely up. That is, you should completely straighten your body in an upright manner. You shouldn’t just straighten up partially in order that you can quickly go down like a shortcut for your next prostration. You know, that you should be diligent and arise straight up in a straight up manner. Otherwise, you begin the next prostration already bent over, having not straightened up completely from the previous prostration, this acts as a cause to be reborn as a type of animal which has a curved spine, which is bent over.
That’s a type of being, which is humped over. Again, having risen up from the prostration, there may be a tendency simply to act in a very relaxed manner, that it was decided that you may just simply put your hands behind your back and relax for a while between the prostrations. And since one should imagine that in the space before you is this immense field of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, to put one’s hands behind one’s back in that manner is considered disrespectful, and it would act as a cause to be reborn as a type of being which had hands growing out of its back. If one were to, you know, to avoid all these various faults and to prostrate in a proper manner, then one would accrue all these benefits which have been previously explained, are unimaginable. On the other hand, if one were simply to go about it in a very haphazard manner, there would not only be no benefit, but there would be many faults would be accrued.
So prior to actually making prostrations, one should try to adjust one’s motivation as we do before the teaching. You know, trying to generate the thought that I must attain unsurpassed perfect Buddhahood in order to establish all sentient beings in complete happiness and bliss. And in order to do that, as a means of doing that, I am going to engage in the practice of prostrations and try to develop as a motivation for your prostrations what you’re about to do, the awakening heart. So having then developed the proper motivation, then the actual prostrations are going to be performed, and these are done in conjunction with the antidote, which is called the four opponent powers, or the four counteracting agents, since we’re trying to purify various negativities through this practice. Then the actual application of the four opponent powers, one makes use of the power of recollection, remembering all of the various negative actions that one has created in this life.
And then reviewing, when you begin to review them, then it will come to mind that you have created a great deal of negativity in this life, and they develop an awe, and they’re thinking how much negativity that you’ve created, and developing a sense of regret about all this negativity. But not only in this life, having to understand that I committed these same negativities in a previous life, my last life, and the life before that, and life before that, that this process has been going on since the beginning of this time, and developing a real sense of regret about all these various types of negativities that you’ve created. And then making use of the power of reliance. This is one takes refuge, you know, as was to the, in this case, the field of merit, which you have imagined, relying on them. And then through the motivation, which you’ve already created, the motivation of mind generation or the awakening heart, that one is doing this practice for the sake of all sentient beings, the power of relying.
So, you know, the power of reliance going for refuge and generating, and then the developed