Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 44-minute talk, Lama Lhundup guides students through the third and fourth of six essential preparations for Dharma practice, focusing on refuge and the bodhisattva motivation. He begins with refuge in the Three Jewels — understanding their faultless qualities, contemplating the suffering nature of cyclic existence, and developing fear and faith as the two causes for genuine refuge-taking. He then moves to the uncommon, great-vehicle approach to refuge, where compassion for all sentient beings becomes the primary driver rather than personal fear. Throughout, he offers concrete meditation techniques: visualizing the field of merit with one’s guru inseparable from Buddha, surrounding oneself with all beings in human form, and inviting the Buddha’s light to purify negative karma. He concludes with the mind of enlightenment or bodhisattva intention — both its aspiring form (the wish to attain Buddhahood for all beings’ sake) and engaging form (actually undertaking the practices) — and describes a visualization where, having generated this mind, one receives the Buddha’s blessing, transforms into a Buddha-like form, and radiates light that liberates all surrounding beings. Suitable for practitioners new to these foundational practices.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 09 HY.mp3
UUID: 04cf7777-5557-4fab-994e-c7ee1e5b2bb6
Teacher: Lama Lhundup
Collection: Helping yourself helping others (Lama Lhundup)
Date: 1987 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 44.3 minutes
Words: ~2,408
So now that we have found this body of leisures and fortune, which has only been found once and is difficult to obtain, rather than allowing it to become purposeless, we should try to give it great meaning and we should seek to take its essence by practicing the Dharma purely. And therefore, you are requested to generate the motivation that I’m going to listen to this teaching in order to attain Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings. So in the practice of the Dharma and the various practices of meditation and our activities, in order to make them a path, there must be preparations or preliminaries. So if we’re really going to meditate on the path, then we have to have the completion of six preparations in order to actually meditate on it. So these six preparations, at first, when we aren’t familiar with them, they’re difficult.
But once we’re familiar with them, they will come easily. So, in the morning class, on Monday morning class, the first two of the six preparations have been explained, for example, the refuge. And it would be good if you could listen to the tape of these first two of the six preparations. So, today, Lama Lhundup will explain the uncommon great vehicle method which is incorporated in the four immeasurables. So, in refuge, the uncommon refuge of the great vehicle.
So, you know, in order to practice the Buddhadharma purely, for we who are beginners, there are many hindrances. But by taking a perfect refuge, this can act as an antidote to these hindrances and lessen them. Up to Buddhahood we have to take refuge. Even the bodhisattvas are constantly taking refuge. So in order to take refuge we have to know the measure of the objects of refuge, what the objects of refuge are.
For example, we have to know that the objects of refuge are the Buddha, Dharma and the Sangha or the Three Jewels. So these objects of refuge have no faults. They have not just a few excellent qualities, but they have all excellent qualities. And we should think about these qualities and the fact that these objects of refuge only exist for the benefit of sentient beings. In thinking in this way we will develop faith in the objects of refuge.
Additionally, we have to think of the suffering of cyclic existence, that taking birth in cyclic existence can only bring us suffering. It’s in the nature of suffering, so thinking of the suffering nature of cyclic existence will counteract the thought that we’re going to find marvels within cyclic existence. We have to consider the suffering nature of cyclic existence and the way it’s going to bring us suffering. It should be in the same way as if we broke the law, for example, and we were going to have to go to prison. Because we had great fear of going to prison, that there was no way we were going to be happy in prison, that we were going to undergo a great deal of suffering, we would try any method that we could to get out of going to prison. So likewise, these aggregates that we now possess are within the sufferings of cyclic existence.
These aggregates can only bring us suffering. We should not be surprised that we undergo suffering because of these aggregates. We are only going to undergo suffering. So, when we’re thinking about cyclic existence, we don’t have to look outside of ourselves. We can just look at this body.
Having such a body, wherever we go, we’re going to undergo suffering. So we have to think about suffering. You know, even if we had the body of a deity, no matter what type of migrator’s body that we have within any of the six realms, whether it’s a beautiful body, whether it’s a pleasant body, no matter what type of body, it’s only going to be a source of suffering. So, you know, we have to think again and again about our suffering. We have to think, I have suffering.
And no matter, in the future, whatever type of body I may take, if I take a human body, it’s a suffering aggregate. Whatever type of body, whether it’s a hungry ghost or anywhere within cyclic existence, whatever type of body, it’s a suffering body, it’s a body of suffering. This way, this will reduce our attachment for taking another body again. From again and again considering the nature of the body within cyclic existence as a suffering body, one sees that one is going to have to again and again take a body in cyclic existence. One develops disgust for cyclic existence, and one sees the suffering involved and one generates fear of again taking rebirth in cyclic existence. So, having developed the fear, this acts as a cause for the taking of refuge.
So, you know, we generate this fear of cyclic existence, and we think, you know, what can protect me from cyclic existence? We should understand that only the Three Jewels have the complete ability or have the power to protect us from the sufferings of cyclic existence. And if we’re considering that they alone are our protection, then like a small child going to the protection of its parents, we wholeheartedly or fullheartedly go for protection to the Three Jewels and develop great faith in their ability to protect us. So, the cause of taking refuge is fear and faith. So, once we’ve developed these two causes completely for going for refuge, then whatever practice we take up will come easily.
Whatever we do, whatever activity we do, if it’s conjoined with this mind of refuge, if it’s together with this mind of refuge, it will act to bring about liberation and omniscience. So, going for refuge is the doorway into the Buddha Dharma. So this is just the general refuge. So earlier we made request to the field of merit, the objects of refuge. So before when we were making requests to the Field of Merit, we imagined in the space before us a large throne, and upon the throne was a lotus, the sun and the moon, and in the middle of the lotus was another throne.
As it appears in the offering to the spiritual master, the Lama Chöpa field of merit. Here we’re just imagining and making a request, a supplication to this field of merit, that upon the throne sits one’s root guru, who is inseparable in nature from the Buddha. And the Buddha should be thought of also as being the yidams, the Dharma protectors, etc. So we should, in meditation, make effort to imagine this field of merit before us. We should imagine that the body is in the nature of light. It’s a light body and it’s very clear and we should try to visualize its head and the body very clearly.
So, when we make a supplication to the field of merit, we should think that this is really the Buddha before us now. And so this is the object of refuge that we’re imagining before us. We should also imagine that on our left side is our mother, on our right side is our father, in front of us are our enemies, and surrounding us completely as far as the eye can see are all sentient beings of the six realms, but they all appear in the form of human beings. So, what is the cause of refuge for the uncommon refuge, or the uncommon cause for going for refuge, is that we consider that all sentient beings are tortured by suffering. We are unable to bear the sufferings that all sentient beings are experiencing, and thereby we develop a great compassion.
Through this great compassion, we decide that who has the ability to alleviate not only my own suffering, but the ability to alleviate the suffering of all others? And realizing that only the Three Jewels have this ability, this becomes the uncommon cause. So great compassion becomes the uncommon cause for going for refuge to the great vehicle, the great vehicle refuge. So then we think not only in this life but up to the time of Buddhahood I will go for refuge only to the Buddha, to the Three Jewels. So, that oneself and others are in the oceans of suffering, we make supplication from the depths of our hearts to the objects of refuge, the Three Jewels, to protect us, both myself and all my mothers, from the fear of suffering, of cyclic existence.
So we make this supplication to the object of refuge and from the Buddha immeasurable light shines out entering our body. And by the power of this light entering our body, all our karma, all our karma which would cause us to be reborn again in cyclic existence, goes out from the bottom of our body and goes into the mouth of Red Yama. And the Red Yama closes his mouth and goes beneath the earth. Then we should think that, we should make a firm determination that now all my negative actions, all my negative karma have been perfectly purified and no longer exist. So, you know, this firm determination that all my negative actions have been completely purified, trusting in this fact that they’ve been completely purified is tremendously beneficial in purifying your negative actions.
So, no matter what type of negative actions we may have committed, such a method can purify them. So, if we desire a long life as an object that we want, this can bring about a long life for ourselves. So why is that? The reason we have a short life is due to the influence of karma and afflictive emotions. But now we’ve gotten rid of all these negative karmas into the very mouth of the Lord of Death, Yama. And therefore we can be assured of a long life having done this process.
We should make this supplication again and again in this purification process again and again, and our mind will quickly change to a good mind. First we take our seat and then we, for example, when we’re meditating on the graduated path, we go for refuge. So having taken our seat for meditation, first we should adjust our motivation. Having adjusted our motivation, we go for refuge. When we’re meditating, for example, on the Graduated Path, again we develop a higher motivation, we adjust our motivation.
We go for refuge. We recite, I go for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma, the Sangha, to attainment of Buddhahood, etc. And then we also, for the sake of all mother sentient beings, may I quickly attain Buddhahood for their sake. Therefore, again, we develop the mind generation or the mind of enlightenment as a motivation. So with respect to the mind of enlightenment or the awakening heart, we can talk about two types.
When we think, May I, by the practices of generosity, ethics, patience, effort, etc., may I attain Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings — this is the aspiring mind. But when we actually engage, when we think I’m going to undergo the training of generosity, ethics and effort, etc., then this is actually called the engaging mind of enlightenment. So the aspiring mind of enlightenment and engaging mind of enlightenment. So we should try to cultivate well this mind generation or the mind of enlightenment.
So we make supplications to the Lord of Subduers. That is the Buddha. And having cultivated this mind of enlightenment, the Buddha is very pleased with us. So having generated such a mind, the Buddha is extremely pleased with us. And from our side, we think of all the excellent qualities of the Buddha and it develops from the depths of our heart a mind which, for example, is like if a mother and child haven’t met each other for a long time and they finally see each other, they embrace one another.
And likewise, it’s as if our mind and the Buddha’s mind embrace each other. So, you know, from beginningless time up to now, we have not meditated on this mind of enlightenment. At this time, we’re actually meditating on the mind of enlightenment and it tremendously pleases the Buddhas. So the Buddha is so pleased with us that from the Buddha, the Lord of Subduers before us, the Buddha, comes a replica of the Buddha who comes down and dissolves into our body. And we should think that we have changed into the same nature as the Buddha, same entity.
So we shouldn’t at this time think that we have an ordinary body. Our body doesn’t appear to be ordinary. And from the point of view of our mind, we have actually attained Buddhahood and we should think that, that I have attained Buddhahood. So, we now have, from the perspective of our mind, we now have the appearance of a Buddha. And from our body radiates immeasurable light to all the sentient beings surrounding us.
And this light purifies all the negative actions of all these sentient beings and their ordinary bodies are changed into the bodies of Lords of Subduers, of Buddhas. So we had the motivation of the mind of enlightenment seeking to place all sentient beings in Buddhahood. And now we should think that since we have actually placed all sentient beings in enlightenment, in Buddhahood, that we have gained the fruit or we have achieved our goal of placing all sentient beings in Buddhahood and therefore having achieved our goal, we should develop great joy. And this is called the resultant path of the mind generation. So this meditation will implant latencies or predispositions for meditating on the path of both sūtra and tantra.
So in order for us to actually appear in this way as the Buddha, we have to meditate again and again. So, you know, for us to be able to appear from the viewpoint of our mental consciousness as a Buddha, we meditate one minute or two minutes or five minutes, ten minutes.