Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Lama Zopa Rinpoche leads practitioners through an integrated Gyalwa Gyatso sadhana in this 34-minute session, beginning with bodhicitta motivation grounded in the Foundation of All Good Qualities prayer. He guides detailed self-visualization as Gyalwa Gyatso with consort, progressing through the elaborate construction of a celestial mansion filled with deities and symbolic ornaments rendered in exacting detail—walls of colored jewels, gates with banners, celestial beings offering flowers, and more. The practice moves through outer offerings, inner offerings, invocations of the enlightened lineage, and culminates in the secret offering of bliss-emptiness union. Practitioners conclude with mantra recitation and divine pride. Intended for those who have received Gyalwa Gyatso initiation.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 06 GGR.mp3
UUID: 2143db63-c3d9-4e68-a889-d30ea3d8b085
Teacher: Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1
Collection: z Gyalwa Gyatso Retreat (Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1)
Date: 2004 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 34.8 minutes
Words: ~4,043
Establishing the refuge field in front. So first, establishing your motivation. We need to not forget those two aspects as I’ve been saying each session. Just spend a few minutes generating those two aspects in your own way, just for a couple of minutes, the bodhicitta aspect and that sense of emptiness. Try and conjoin the mind with those two over the next couple of minutes.
Establishing the refuge field in front with Gyalwa Gyatso, the lineage lamas, Buddhas, and bodhisattvas. Seeing as inseparable from your guru and taking heartfelt refuge, thinking about the two causes for refuge. I go for refuge till I’m enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and supreme assembly. By the merit in giving and other perfections, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. I go for refuge till I am enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and supreme assembly.
By the merit in giving and other perfections, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. I go for refuge till I am enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and supreme assembly. By the merit in giving other perfections, may I become a Buddha to benefit all sentient beings. The Foundation of All Good Qualities, page thirty nine. We’ll just read right through this session.
The foundation of all good qualities is of kind and perfect Guru. Correct devotion to him is the root of the power. By clearly seeing this and applying great effort, please bless me to rely upon him with great respect. Understanding that the precious freedom of rebirth is found only once is greatly meaningful and difficult to find again. Please bless me to generate the mind that unceasingly day and night takes its essence.
This life is impermanent as a water bubble. Remember how quickly it decays and death comes. And just like shadow follows the body, the results of black and white karma follow. Finding firm and definite conviction in this, please bless me to always be careful to abandon uneven and slightest negativities and accomplish all virtuous deeds. Seeking samsaric pleasures is the door to all suffering.
They are uncertain and cannot be relied upon. Recognising these shortcomings, please bless me to generate the strong wish for the bliss of liberation. Led by this pure thought, mindfulness, alertness and great caution arise. The root of the teaching is keeping the Prātimokṣa vows. Please bless me to assist this essential practice.
Just as I have fallen into the sea of Samsāra, so have all mother migrating beings. Please bless me to see this, train in supreme bodhicitta and bear the responsibility of freeing migrating beings. Even if I merely develop bodhicitta but I don’t practice the three types of morality, I will not achieve enlightenment. With my clear recognition of this, please bless me to practice the Bodhisattva vows of great energy. Once I have pacified distractions to wrong objects and correctly analyzed the ultimate reality, please bless me to generate quickly within my mind stream the unified path of calm abiding and special insight.
Having become a pure vessel by training the general path, please bless me to enter the holy gateway, the fortunate ones, the supreme vajra vehicle. At that time the basis of accomplishing the two paths of the Vajrayāna is keeping pure vows and Samaya. As I have become firmly convinced of this, please bless me to protect these vows and pledges like my life. Then having realized the importance of the two stages, the essence of vajrayana, by practicing great energy, never giving up the full sessions, please bless me to realize the teachings of the holy Guru. Like that may the Gurus show the noble path.
True friends who practice it have long life. Please bless me to pacify completely all outer hindrances. In all my life may I never be separated from perfect Gurus. May I enjoy the magnificent Dharma. By completing the quality of the stage of the path may I quickly attain the state of Vajradhāra?
So imagining the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and the lineage Lamas within the refuge field dissolve into the central figure of Gyalwa Gyatso, who is inseparable from your lama. He comes to the crown of your head facing forward and dissolves into the center of your heart. And fill that one nature with your guru’s mind, Guru Gyalwa Gyatso’s mind, and your guru’s mind, which creates great bliss in the mind. The mind and body dissolve into emptiness. And from within that emptiness, in an instant I arise in the form of the Ārya great compassionate one whose color is white with reddish luster, one face, two hands.
My right hand holds a rosary of pearl and my left hand holds an Utpala flower and embraces the consort. Sadhana six, blessing the offerings of the self generation. All becomes empty. While it is empty, ours arrive, which become broad and vast skull cups. Inside each is a hum.
The hum’s melt becoming drinking water, water for washing the feet, flowers, incense, butter, lamps, perfume, food and music. By nature of bliss and emptiness and appearing as offering substances, these objects of enjoyment of the six senses have the action and function of generating extraordinary, undefiled bliss. Thirteen. First, generate a strong bodhicitta motivation that you transform your death into the dharmakaya and to later arise as the sambhogakaya to benefit beings, Ārya beings, Bodhisattva sentient beings that is, and to then benefit as a Nirmānakāya all sentient beings. From the three in your heart, light radiates to all the ten directions and purifies the environment which turns into celestial mansions.
The sentient beings therein are purified and become Gyalwa Gyatso. The celestial mansions melt into light and absorb into the deities. These then melt into light and absorb at the spiritual heart. As it dissolves into the hri at your heart, the mirage vision appears. Think that it is empty and the mind is blissful.
Your Gyalwa Gyatso body and consort absorb from the bottom up, top down, front to back, into the syllable at your heart. And as it dissolves into the syllable at your heart, the smoke vision appears. This vision, think that it’s empty and the mind is more blissful. And also hold to divine pride that this three is your Gyalwa Gyatso result time, Sambhogakāya. The ah, the base of the hri, then dissolves up into the body of the hri.
And with that the sparks vision occurs. See that it’s empty and the mind is more and more blissful and it’s becoming more and more subtle. Then the letter ra dissolves upward into the ha, and with that the flickering lamp vision occurs. Think that it is empty, the mind more blissful and more subtle. Then the letter ha dissolves into the line that is at top of the head of the ha, and the consciousness supports eighty conceptual thoughts together with the wind it rides on dissolves into white appearance consciousness.
With that white appearance, think that it is empty. The mind is more blissful and is more subtle. The top line of the then dissolves into the crescent indicator and the red vision comes. See that it is empty, the mind more and more blissful and more subtle. Then the crescent indicator dissolves into the two dots.
The increasing consciousness dissolves into black near attainment. With this black appearance think that it is empty. The mind more blissful and more and more subtle. Finally the two dots get smaller and smaller and then disappear like a rainbow into light in the sky. And with that the clear light dawns.
The clear light is like the light of autumn dawn. You should recognize that it is empty of inherent existence. The mind is the most blissful that it can ever be. The mind is most subtle as it ever could be. All the gross winds and minds have been completely dissolved.
And so now the most subtle mind and the subtle wind becomes active. Meditate on this, holding this is my result time, Gyalwa Gyatso dharmakaya, thinking that it’s empty and the mind is very blissful. So while still having a mind focusing on emptiness, understanding the emptiness of all phenomena, the wind that supports that mind manifests generating the four elements, the vajra protection wheel and the celestial mansion. This is a unique feature of tantra and emulates very close to the Buddha’s mind. But whilst abiding in meditation, understanding emptiness, he’s also able to see relative phenomena He’s also able to manifest physical bodies and physical things using the wind that supports his mind.
So from with emptiness arises a yam from which appears a blue bow-shaped wind mandala marked by victory banners. Above that is a ram which becomes a red triangular fire mandala marked by a garland of flames. Above that is a bam from which comes a white circular water mandala marked by a vase. Above that is a lam from which becomes a yellow square Mount Meru made of four types of jewels. In the center of that is a hum from which comes a sun disk on which is a hum, which becomes a variegated vajra marked by a hum at its center.
From that light rays radiate downwards and everything below becomes the vajra ground. Light rays radiate outwards to the left and right making the vajra fence all around. And light rays radiate upwards transforming everything visualized above into the vajra roof. Under the roof and above the fence is the vajra ceiling. All are in the nature of flaming vajras forming a single structure with no gaps.
Outside are mountains of flames in five different colors like the fire at the end of the aeon blazing into the ten directions. At the center of the fence is a pam from which arises a variegated lotus, at the center of which is a hum. This becomes a variegated vajra of the following colors: Eastern prongs, white, which is in front of you Southern prongs, which is to your right, yellow Western prongs behind you, red and Northern prongs to your left, green and a blue hub. On top of this hub is a bhrum, which totally transforms into a square celestial mansion constructed of various precious substances and having four doors. The walls are in five layers.
From the outside in these layers are blue, yellow, red, green, and white. On the circumference of the jewel wall is a red jewel frieze, studded with jewel triangles, squares, and so forth. Upon that is an architrave of four golden girdles. The outer face of these rafters protrude with water monsters, from which mouths hang garlands and half garlands of pearls. Outside beyond that are jewel ornaments hanging from ends of cantilevers.
Upon that is a balustrade of the shape of half lotus petals. This is a door with golden vases standing on it, containing eight banners and eight victory banners. The four corners of the roof are adorned with four parasols. At the foot of the outer wall is a red ledge. On this stand many goddesses in various dancing postures and colors presenting offerings.
Outside the doors and vestibules, as well as outside and inside the four corners of the mansion walls, stand half moons, upon which rest round jewels adorned by vajras. In front of each of the doors are four square plinths. Upon each plinth is a vase. From each vase emerges a pillar. These pillars support the gateway arches of eleven layers.
On top of this is a dharma wheel flanked by a stag and a doe. To the right and left of the gateways are fine vases from which grow wish fulfilling trees bearing the seven precious emblems of a monarch. In the empty space above the mansion are accomplished yogis and gods emerging from clouds. They are holding flower garlands that make everything beautiful. Within the celestial mansion are eight pillars that support the vajra beams.
The beams beautifully support the roof. The peak of the roof is decorated by a vajra and a precious jewel. The ceiling and the floor on the inside of the celestial mansion are blue in the east, which is in front of you yellow in the south, which is to the right of you red in the west, which is behind you and green in the north, which is to the left of you and white in the center. Taking the intermediate state as a part of the Sambhogakāya. In the center of the floor is an eight petal lotus, at the center of which is a moon and sun disc.
On the four cardinal petals are sun discs, and the four doors are variegated lotuses with a sun disc on each. On the center seat is a hri, from which becomes an Utpala flower marked by a hri. On the seats of the four cardinal directions are ri ni sa, from which come curved knives marked by their individual seed syllables. At the eastern door, which is in front, is a hum, from which arises a vadra marked by a hum. At the southern door, which is to your right, is a tram, from which arises a jewel marked by a tram.
At the western door, which is behind you, is a hree from which arises a lotus marked by a hree. At the northern door, which is to your left, is an aar from which arises a double variegated vajra marked by an aar. Just spend a few moments clarifying that visualization together with the mandala house, thinking that it’s all in the nature of light, all lacks inherent existence, In particular, focusing on the Utpala flower in the middle marked by the hri. Develop strong divine pride that this is my result time, Gyalwa Gyatso, Sambhogakāya. Taking the birth as the Nirmānakāya.
Light radiating from these makes offering to the exhorted beings and works for the benefit of all sentient beings. As it returns and dissolves, I arise in the center as a great compassionate one. Gyalwa Gyatso, white in color with a red luster. One face, two hands, three eyes and slightly bared fangs. Gyalwa Gyatso smiles peacefully with an expression of mild wrath.
My hair is blue black and knotted on the top. The remainder hangs loose on my shoulders. My right hand is in the gesture of counting a pearl rosary and my left hand holds an Utpala flower and embraces the consort. I sit with my right leg stretched and my left leg drawn inwards. In my lap is the consort, the secret wisdom dakini, the Sangwa Yeshe Khandroma, red in color with three eyes and slightly bare fangs.
Her face is both wrathful and smiling with an expression of bliss. She is naked and her hair hangs loose. Her right hand is playing a golden damaru and her left hand holds a skull cup filled with blood that she offers to her lord. Her legs encircle her lord and her left leg stretched out and her right leg drawn in. Both deities are adorned with various jewel bone ornaments and are seated amidst strongly blazing light.
In the east, which is in front of you, is a white Vajra Dakini. In the south, which is to the right, is a yellow Ratna Dakini. And in the west, which is behind you, is a red Padma Dakini. And in the north, which is to your left, is a green karma Dakini. All four of them have three eyes, slightly bared fangs, and are smiling with an expression of passion and wrath.
Their right hands hold curved knives, and the left hand holds skull cups filled with blood. Their hair flowing loose, they are all naked and adorned by five mudras. They stand in the dancing pose of right leg drawn in and left stretched out in half Asana. They are dancing amid a blaze of light. At the eastern doorway, which is in front of you, is a white wrathful one of the vajra race, holding a vajra in the right hand and a skull cup in the left.
At the southern doorway, which to your right, is a yellow wrathful one of the Ratna race, holding a jewel in the right hand. At the western doorway, is behind you, a red wrathful one of the Lotus race, holding a lotus in the right hand. At the northern doorway, is to your left, is a green wrathful one of the karma race holding a Visvajra in the right hand. These latter three hold utpalas in their left hands. All four furies have three eyes and a smiling, wrathful smiling expression.
Their fangs are slightly bared and their hair is tied up in top knots. They adorned with various bone and jewel ornaments. Their left legs are drawn in and their right legs are stretched out. They are standing amidst blazing light. On the crown of the principal and all surrounding deities is a white Om.
At the throat is a red R and at the heart a blue hum. The heart of the principal is marked by a white hri. From this seed syllable light radiates and strikes all the environments and inhabitants, and external environments become celestial mansions. And all inhabitants sentient beings transform into deities. This radiating light invites the supporting Protector of all sentient beings without exception, divine destroyer of the intractable legions of Mara, perfect knower of all things, Bhagavan, your retinue, please come here.
Om Maha Lokeshvara Sapariware Agaccha Puja Pupe Dhupe Aloke Gandhe, The supporting and supported mandalas of wisdom being dissolve into the individual commitment beings and become non dual. Sahum Svāhā. Please bestow the empowerment upon us. Thus requested, the Tathagatas grant the empowerment and the female Tathagatas bestow the empowerment with the vases of water. The male and female bodhisattvas utter benedictions and the male and female wrathful deities, eliminate interferences and the goddesses make offerings.
Just as the gods offered bathing water to the lord at the time of birth, likewise I offered this divine purifying water to bathe the divine body. By saying this, the empowerment is bestowed through the crown and the water of consecration fills the body and purifies the defilements of the three doors. The excess water of the crowns of the Lord and his consort and the two deities in the west, which is behind you, transform into Amitābha. The two deities of the eastern direction, which is in front of you, are crowned by Akṣobhya. The two of the right, the south, the right are crowned by Ratnasambhava.
And the two of the north, which is to your left, are crowned by Amoghasiddhi. Presenting the blessed offerings. Presenting the inner offering and imagining these gurus and deities are inseparable from your root lama and it creates great bliss in their mind when you offer. Onto the mouth of my kind and precious root guru, the precious and peerless body, speech and mind qualities and enlightened activity of all the Tathagatas of ten directions three times, Om Alham. To the mouth of the all pervading victorious master great vajrajadhara, Om Alham.
To the mouth of saviour, Om Alham. To the mouth of Lord Avalokiteśvara, the spiritual son of the victors, Om Ah Hum, to the mouth of Mahasiddhi Tilopa, Amahun, to the mouth of Mahasiddhi Naropa, Amahun, to the mouth of Most Venerable Marpa Lotsawa, Amahun, the mouth of translator Milarepa, To the mouth of Gampopa Sonam Rinchen, To the mouth of Phagmo Drupa, To the mouth of Rinchen Gonkyi, To the mouth of Buton Rinchen Drub, To the mouth of Sachen Kunga Nyingpo, Om Ah hum. To the mouth of Great Tsongkhapa, the king of the dharma, Om Ah hum. To the mouth of Kedrup Gelek Pelzang, Om Ah hum. To the mouth of Baso Chökyi Gyaltsen, Om Ah hum.
To the mouth of Mahasiddhi Dharmavajra, To the mouth of Victorious Losang Dondrub, To the mouth of Kedrup Sangye Yeshe, To the mouth of Khedrup Pandita Losang Chökyi Gyaltsen, To the mouth of Mantra Holder Gendrajin, to the mouth of Tulku Tenzin Trinley, Amarhum, to the mouth of Master Losang Kesang Gyatso, to the mouth of Vajradhāra Chökyi Jungnay, Amarhum, to the mouth of the Vajradhāra Guru Losang Gyatso, Amarhum, Furthermore, to the mouths of all Gurus who have given me initiations of Tantric teachings and pith instructions together with the lineage Gurus, Om Ah Hum. Om mani padme hum, Om tare tuttare ture svaha, Om ah hum. Furthermore, to the mouths of the oath-bound protectors, Om Ah Hum, Surya, Om Ah Hum, Om Ah Hum, Om Ah Hum, together with the four-caste Dharma protectors, Om Ah Hum, to the mouths of all guardians possessing power and skill to protect the Dharma, Om Ah Hum, to the mouths of the heroes, the dakinis, direction protectors, field protectors, nagas and so forth abiding in the twenty four places, thirty-two places, eight charnel grounds, Om Ah Hum. To the mouths of the naturally abiding rulers of the land and local sentient beings as deities, Om Ah Hum. All Buddhas and bodhisattvas are invoked and they dissolve into one’s body.
All the guests are delighted and are satisfied by the wisdom nature. Secret and suchness offering. You as Gyalwa Gyatso in union with a consort. On the basis of that, the white bodhicitta on the crown of the head melts and starts to descend down the central channel. And as it descends down the central channel, it becomes more and more blissful.
And try and conjoin that with the understanding of an emptiness. And from the crown of my head it reaches my throat, I experience bliss. And when from my throat it reaches my heart, supreme bliss. And when from my heart it reaches my navel, distinguished bliss. And when from my navel it reaches the tip of my jewel, the pristine awareness of simultaneous bliss and voidness arises and I remain in single-minded concentration on this inseparability of bliss and voidness.
So imagine this very blissful mind. And with this blissful mind, one uses that mind to understand emptiness. Looking for the I within the body and mind. Looking for that inherently existent I. See if you can find it.
That unfindability of the I within the mind body is the emptiness of the I. Sadhana twenty one. Brief offering praise. Pray, praise exceedingly by all the Buddhas, one who has accumulated all sublime qualities, on whom has confirmed the name Chenrezig, to the ever compassionate one, I bow down. The compassion of all the victors, noble marks accompanied by rainbow light, like a mountain of stacked moon discs, to you who are extremely beautiful, I bow down.
Bhagavan who binds the three worlds with the joy of simultaneously born great bliss, who is the treasure of all attainments to the secret wisdom dakini I bow down. I offer praise to the dakinis of the four races whose dance of a hundred various expressions bestows all attainments on practitioners and generates simultaneously born joy. The wisdom of all the victorious ones is like an optical illusion. By their show of their dance, the wrathful ones accomplish various enlightened activities. I bow down to the doorkeepers and praise them.
From now on in all my lives, may I be guided without separation by the love of the great compassionate one, and may I swiftly attain the three kais. Recitation and visualization. At my heart is a sun disk on which is a white syllable hri with a reddish luster surrounded by the mantra rosary. Light radiates from the hree and the mantra rosary and completely fills the inside of my body, purifying the sins, obscurations, and the latencies accumulated through beginningless time. The light rays radiate outwards, striking all environments and their inhabitants and cleansing their impurities.
All environments are transformed in celestial mansions, and all sentient being inhabitants are established in the state of the All Merciful One. The light rays present pleasing offerings to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. All of their blessings and qualities are gathered and dissolved back into me. Again, is an open end session and I’ll ring the bell ten minutes, ten to four.