Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 47-minute session from Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Mahāmudrā International Retreat, the focus is guru yoga practice — specifically, how to train the mind to perceive the spiritual teacher as enlightened rather than ordinary. Rinpoche addresses a fundamental obstacle for Western students: our inability to trust our own perception. He teaches that appearance itself is unreliable, shaped entirely by karma and delusion. Using examples from the Tantras and stories of great masters like Asaṇga and Nāgārjuna — who appeared as ordinary monks yet were Buddhas — he establishes that seeing mistakes in the guru proves nothing about the guru’s actual nature. He then guides students through a structured meditation: establishing the merit field, reflecting on why guru-as-Buddha is essential for receiving blessings, and generating unshakeable conviction that even the guru’s ordinary form is precious and kind. The session concludes with detailed dedication prayers and instructions for post-meditation discussion. Aimed at serious retreat practitioners engaged in guru devotion practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 56 2004 04 22 MR.mp3
UUID: 1c018372-be22-4576-b4f7-d6ab585a7c50
Teacher: Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1
Collection: y Mahāmudrā International Retreat (Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1)
Date: 2004-04-22
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 46.9 minutes
Words: ~2,956
That for us as Western students, it’s actually more useful to start with a final point. There’s nothing to trust in your own appearance. And that’s what he’s doing. He’s talking a lot on that subject. And the reason is to grasp the first point Vajradhāra accepted requires a certain amount of faith from our side, you know, who Vajradhāra is and that we believe what he says.
And as westerners, we don’t necessarily even know who vajradhara is, let alone believe what he says. So Ribur Rinpoche says, if you know who vajradhara is and you have faith, it’s very, easy to realize this. Anyway, so what we’re going to do I’m explaining this is because we’re going to start from the fourth point. We’ll start from where Ramesh is starting, and then we’ll do it according to how he’s explaining it. So please sit down again.
Then recollect what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to change the mind that has no faith to the mind that has so much faith that just by recollecting the guru, we’re overwhelmed by devotion. Why are we trying to do this? Because we wish to achieve enlightenment. And achieving enlightenment depends not on intellectual understanding, but on receiving the blessings of the guru so that we can generate the realizations of the path.
Generating realizations depends on the blessings. The blessings come through the mind of devotion. Therefore, all these meditations, reasonings, quotations are to establish in our own mind that the guru and Buddha are one for our own benefit. So focus on the merit field and in front of Lama Losang Tubwang Dorje Chang is one’s own guru in ordinary form on a small throne. And surrounding him are all one’s gurus, all those with whom one has made dharma contact, also in their ordinary forms.
Think that they are all joyfully smiling at you, very pleased with you, very happy, and imagine them in perfect forms. That means if they have any kind of physical imperfections, you think you don’t think that, you think perfect forms. Now think to yourself, myself and all sentient beings since beginningless time have been wandering in cyclic existence, experiencing the general and particular sufferings of the three lower realms. Why? The reason is because we haven’t trained our mind in the correct way of relying on the guru.
Therefore, right now, myself and all sentient beings are going to train our minds in the correct way of devoting to the guru. Please, Guru Yidam, grant blessings that we may be able to generate the correct realizations of the path. Think that through the force of this request, inconceivable streams of nectar flow from the holy bodies of your gurus, purifying all your negativities and obstacles created since beginningless time and particularly those that prevent you from generating the realizations of correctly devoting to spiritual guide. The nectar then fills up your body and those of all sentient beings, filling us with merit, wisdom, long life power and so forth, and particularly granting all the blessings so that our mind can ripen very fast in the stages of the path of correctly devoting to spiritual guide. Then begin by reflecting on why we need to see the Guru as Buddha.
The reason is because what we are seeking is profit and not loss, happiness and not suffering. What we are seeking is the highest happiness enlightenment. And this comes by seeing the Guru’s Buddha. Remember, even if the guru is a fully enlightened Buddha, if we don’t view him that way, we won’t receive that benefit. And even if the guru is not a Buddha, if we view them that way as a Buddha, still we’ll receive all the benefit, all the blessings of all the Buddhas through our mind of devotion.
Remember what Geshe Potowa said, whether the guru has great blessing or small blessing doesn’t depend on the guru. It depends on oneself. Kachen Yeshe Gyaltsen says, it doesn’t make the slightest difference from the side of the lama whether or not you consider him Buddha. The difference is on the level of your mind, your own realizations. Because to the extent that you regard your spiritual teacher as a Buddha, to that extent, you will receive blessings from all the Buddhas.
Rinpoche says, seeing the guru’s Buddha has to come from the disciple side by putting effort. How then do I train my mind? vajradhara says, do not see mistakes in your guru. Focus only on the qualities. By concentrating on the guru’s qualities, you will abandon all wrong views.
So now the first reasoning, there is nothing to trust in our appearance. Reflect on how whatever appears to us is unreliable. Remember there’s great benefit to see the guru’s Buddha. However, when I look at my gurus, I see mistakes. How is that?
Think just by relying on what I perceive and thinking that is true is a big mistake. Believing what appears to me to be true is not reliable. Because since beginningless time, my perception has been completely driven by delusions and karma. Just because I see mistakes doesn’t mean the guru has mistakes. Just because I see ordinary doesn’t mean the guru is ordinary.
Remember one container of liquid appeared to humans as water, prettas as pus and blood, devas as nectar. How the liquid appears is according to karma, how pure or impure the mind is. This is a great key to understanding guru devotion practice. Depending on karma, different appearances arise and different phenomena are then labeled onto those appearances. Therefore, I cannot rely on what I see.
Come to that conclusion. Devas, Pretas, humans all perceive the same phenomena differently and experience it according to their perception. Therefore, I cannot be sure of the appearance to my mind, which is driven by delusions and karma. It’s the same with the guru. Buddha manifests in Sambhogakāya forms, pure forms for higher beings, in the Rūpakāya forms for ordinary beings, and in ordinary forms for obscured beings like myself.
For those who don’t have even the karma to see this ordinary forms, Buddha manifests as dogs, pigs, animals. When Buddha manifests in the form of a dog, he behaves exactly the same as a dog. That is the meaning of manifesting as a dog. When Buddha manifests as a human being, he behaves exactly the same as ordinary people do. That’s what it means to manifest ordinary.
But it doesn’t mean Buddha is ordinary. Those ancient great pundit yogis, when they reincarnated as a child, they would cry, make kaka peepee exactly the same as an ordinary child. But they were not ordinary. The great masters, Asaṇga, Nāgārjuna, Candrakīrti, and so forth, were also perceived by sentient beings of their time as ordinary monks. Externally, they appeared to be ordinary.
In actuality, they were Buddhas. Therefore, we cannot say who is Buddha and who is not Buddha. We cannot trust our perception. The fact that we see mistakes, that alone does not prove that gurus are not Buddha. Other people whose minds are pure, less obscured, see the same gurus as Bodhisattvas or as actual Buddhas.
For example, his holiness, the Dalai Lama. When Geshe Khen Rinpoche Dorje Chang went to see his holiness, as he entered the room, he saw him in the form of the deity Guhyasamāja. And someone else saw him as Chenrezig, resting in the nature of mind. Somebody who has pure mind sees the deity. For us common people, we see a human form having the aspect of sickness and all of that.
In reality, his holiness is Chenrezig, essence of all Buddha’s compassion. But how we see is according to our quality of mind, pure or impure. Kadampa Geshe Chengawa said, considering the negative karma delusions that we have accumulated, the fact that we can see the guru as a human and not as a dog is exceptional. Therefore, we’re extremely lucky. If we had to rely on our appearance as reality, it would mean that all phenomena are permanent and inherently existent.
Because this is how they appear to us. And this is wrong. Not just our view of the guru, but all the ordinary appearances of an ordinary being are mistaken. So generate the conviction that whatever we perceive is completely deluded and messed up by karma delusion and all the negativities we’ve accumulated since beginningless time. Our minds are confused, and we cannot trust our appearance.
Now think, since this is so it is so kind and so precious of the guru to appear to me in this ordinary form, that I can communicate with, that I can receive teachings and guidance from, that can give me advice, that can inspire me. This ordinary form for my ordinary mind is so precious and so important. Think without these ordinary forms, I’m completely lost. Like a baby left in a hot desert, a huge place with nothing. Or in a forest at nighttime, very dark with many vicious animals.
Really focus on how precious and how kind this ordinary aspect is. The Buddha is appearing in this way, so precious. Repeat to yourself counting on the mala, This ordinary aspect that I can communicate with is so precious and so kind. With the awareness, this ordinary aspect is all the Buddhas repeat over and over. The guru showing this ordinary aspect is so precious and so kind.
So precious and so kind. It’s not that Buddha doesn’t want to appear to us in a pure aspect. But if they appeared that way, we couldn’t see it. We’re blocked. So this is the only form that’s left to manifest in an ordinary form.
Having sickness, having delusions, having mistakes in the action. Only this aspect is left to guide sentient beings. There is no other way to guide me. Therefore, even in each second, this ordinary form is so precious and so kind. Repeat over and over, so precious and so kind.
Remember the quote from Guhyasamāja Tantra, towards the qualified lama who is the originator of all your realizations up to enlightenment, common siddhis and sublime siddhis. Reflect on the qualities, not looking at it, having mistake. Keep this instruction as your heart practice and complete this commitment. Rinpoche says, this doesn’t mean that you look at the guru having qualities when you’re happy. And times when you’re told to do something you don’t like, when things are not okay, not according to your wish, you don’t look at the guru having qualities, but instead instead see them as having mistakes.
It means that whatever circumstances, whatever happens in one’s life, Reflecting only on the qualities and not seeing mistakes in the guru is to be kept as your heart practice. So generate determination to practice in this way, not just session times but also between session times. May I not arise heresy even per second in the actions of glorious guru. May I regard whatever actions are done as pure. With this devotion, may I receive the blessings of the guru in my heart.
Dedication prayers. Due to merits three times created by me, Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and all other sentient beings. The bodhicitta, cherishing others, letting go of oneself, letting go of the I, is the source for all happiness, success to myself and all other sentient beings. Be generated within my own mind and minds of all sentient beings without even a second’s delay, may that which has already been generated increase. Due to the merits of three times created by me, Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and all other sentient beings, May all the father, mother, sentient beings have happiness.
May three lower realms be empty forever. May all Bodhisattvas prayers succeed immediately, and may I be able to cause all this to happen by myself alone. Due to merits three times created by me, Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and all other sentient beings. May His Holiness, Dalai Lama, Buddha of compassion, all other holy beings, all our virtuous friends of stable lives. May all the holy wishes succeed immediately.
Due to the merits three times created by me, Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and all other sentient beings, may I be able to offer skies of benefit all sentient beings as Lama Tsongkhapa did by having within me the same qualities Lama Tsongkhapa has from now on in all my future lifetimes. Due to merits three times created by me, Buddha’s, Bodhisattvas and all other sentient beings, which are totally non existent from their own side. May the I, which is also totally non existent from its own side. Achieve Guru Śākyamūni Buddha’s enlightenment, which is also totally non existent from its own side. Need all sentient beings totally non existent from their own side.
To that enlightenment, which is totally non existent from its own side. But myself alone, who is also totally non existent from its own side. I dedicate all my merits and greatly admired by the Buddhas and bodhisattvas three times and realized by Mañjuśrī and Maitreya. May I be able to completely actualize Lama Tsongkhapa’s teaching which unifies Sūtra and Tantra Within my mind and spread these teachings, the minds of all sentient beings. Thus, may Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings flourish forever.
Due to the merits three times created by me, Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and all the sentient beings. May any sentient being who hears me, touches me, remembers me, thinks about me, talks about me with praising, criticizing, abuses me or treats me badly, simply by having made that connection with me, never ever be reborn in lower realms. May those sentient beings immediately liberated from all disease, outer harms, negative karma and defilements, and quickly achieve enlightenment by actualizing the whole path, especially bodhicitta. May anybody that I hear is sick, may that immediately cause them to may that cause them to immediately be recovered. And by my hearing that somebody has died, may that cause them to immediately be born in pure realm where they can get enlightened.
Due to merits three times created by me, Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and all the sentient beings, may I, the members of my family or students, benefit this organization, and all the rest as sentient beings meet only perfectly qualified Mahāyāna Gurus in all our future lifetimes. From our side, may we see them only as enlightened beings. May we do only actions most pleasing to the holy minds of virtuous friends. May we able to fulfill the holy wishes immediately. Purpose of my life not just to achieve happiness for myself alone, but to free all sentient beings from the ocean of saṃsāra’s suffering.
In order to do this, I’m going to make this food offering and also make charity to all sentient beings in my body. Through this connection, may I be able to teach Saddharma in the future. Purify food into emptiness and then generate it to uncontaminated blissful nectar using the deity that you practice. Palms together offering numberless oceans of food to Guru Puja merit field. With awareness that each guru is all Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha, ten directions.
The nectar offering generate infinite bliss in the holy mind. So now this nectar charity is giving it to them. A charity to numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, numberless intermediate state beings. They will fully enjoy it, liberate from more suffering causes, actualize the path, became enlightened in the form of deity that one practices. By this offering, accumulate numberless skies of merit.
Due to all these merits, may I, my family members, all the organizers this course, the members of Buddha House, everyone who’s offering service, all the students and benefits of the organization, and all those who offer service to the organization, and all other sentient beings, especially those who died for this food, who suffered to provide this food, who worked for this food, who created negative karma for this food, the benefit of this food, and all those involved with cultivation of this food. May all of us sentient beings, in all future lives, never separate from the triple gem. Always get merit by making offerings to the triple gem, and receive all the realizations of the path from Guru Devotion up to enlightenment without delay, one second. To you we offer desire enjoyments of this circle of magnificence. Please stay by being pleased and satisfied. Instead of uncontaminated bliss, grant us the holy body, speech and mind.
Please grant blessings to achieve in this life. Mahāmudrā Vajradhāra Yoga, inseparable method and wisdom. So there’s no formal activities planned for this lunchtime. Tomorrow lunchtime, venerable Tony will continue with the explanation of Guhyasamāja Sadhana. But has been suggested that those who have questions or want to talk regarding this topic of the guru, the subject whom he’s teaching.
If there’s questions in your mind and you feel that you need to discuss with other people because it’s new or you’re not familiar, then for those people to talk just talk quietly somewhere and not disturbing other people. And if you really don’t want to talk then put the yellow ribbon on. But those who who need to just discuss this subject a little bit to get more familiar. And then when we come back at three o’clock, then maybe we’ll have a little bit of time at the beginning if there are questions that have arisen on this practice of Guru Yoga. If there’s any doubts that need to be clarified, and then we can all as a group just give answers.
So there’s a wealth of of of understanding in this group. Thank you very much. So please keep your mind on the subject.