Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 75-minute ceremony, Lama Zopa Rinpoche integrates detailed instruction throughout a Long Life Puja, starting with how to meditate on guru-devotion during chanting—remembering Lama Tsongkhapa’s stainless teaching as the unmistakable path. He guides practitioners through meditation on the sufferings of lower realms (hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals), explaining two key purposes: developing renunciation of saṃsāra and generating compassion for those beings, which leads to genuine bodhicitta and entry into the Mahāyāna path. He uses the breath as a metaphor for impermanence and discusses the Guru Entering the Heart meditation, clarifying which practices require higher tantric initiation as prerequisite. For practitioners already familiar with tantric Buddhism.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2005 05 02 3 HK Long Life Puja 3 (inc Calling Guru from Afar).mp3
UUID: fe45a235-f6a9-4c6c-8cd0-698ec2a3018f
Teacher: Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1
Collection: z Long life puja hong kong 22 may (Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1)
Date: 2005-05-02
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 74.7 minutes
Words: ~1,308
The first stanza. First first stanza. Doesn’t matter. Yeah. What about the maturity?
Next. So while I’m chanting, you can meditate on me. I’m not going to mention other things, but I thought to mention this part. Where it says, while you are reflecting the the guru has I have a pitiful one who was given up by all the Buddhas who has no fortune. While the one is while one is reflecting that one is shown the unmistakable path of the guru, they remember and remember the guru, remember the guru’s kindness.
So here, you should remember what is that? You should remember the lama, the stainless teaching of Lama Tsongkhapa, you know, the unified Sūtra and Tantra. So so to to what is that what is that the pure, unmistaken path? So that’s to meaning is the unified unified unified. K.
So that k. Next. So, yeah, those all those the hell realm, hungry ghost, animal realms, that is unimaginable. Those beings who are unimaginably suffering. So here it says meditate.
You know? As it is as you as it is ripened or ripened on oneself now or you visualize that oneself become like those beings and, you see, so reflect their sufferings. So, see, to discover, to feel how much this they are suffering. So two reasons. One is the general renunciation of saṃsāra so they will overcome delusions.
The be able to come over to able to overcome delusion, you see, and the need karma, which causes to be born lower realm. Not only that, even just karma which causes to be to rank in saṃsāra. You see, even that sort stop, you see. So to be totally free to be liberated forever from holy from whole entire saṃsāra. So that’s one purpose.
The other the other one is so that so that you can generate by discovering the suffering, then you can generate compassion to all those living beings. Narak hell beings, hungry ghosts, you can generate compassion to them. Then from that, then bodhicitta with the realization you see. Then, of course, then then you enter that the door of the Mahāyāna path. So you enter the Mahāyāna path.
You complete the whole path and then complete the two types of merit and cease the two two types cease the gross subtle obscurations and then you achieve the two Kayas. Then you have to perfect what was intended by the means. So that’s the whole purpose of why why discover why important to meditate and to come to know the sufferings of the lower realms. So then here also says, you see, between the lower realm, those unimaginable sufferings, and now you’re you’re in the human realm, between that, you see, this is this breath, you know, this breath going out and coming in. That’s all that.
That’s all that. So once it stopped, once this has stopped and there’s all this new karma, so much created one day. And from the from birth, from from beginnings past lives, there are so many which are not finished experiencing and which not purified. So so therefore, like that this inexpressible, this is, you know, like that there was the suffering between that and now, see, here is just this breath bringing in and out. See, that’s never this once that once that stopped, lower realms will appear to see.
So there’s nothing something very far distant. And so so here it’s saying even that even that is about to happen. See, like that. So, yeah, impermanence. Just just that.
So we can just go straight. So from here, starts the so generation stage, the next one, completion stage. Read next. I got late. You have done.
I have got late. After this, you can recite the end of the Guru entering the heart. Guru entering the heart, you can do that. Then the may the prayer similar we do with the chanting, the may I become one like you, the guru, the like your life span, like, like, pure enlightenment or the life, say, like your holy name. So after that, then then then, say, may I never see heresy in even one second in the actions of the virtuous friend and to whatever action done to be able to see pure from my side.
And with that devotion, then may the blessings of the guru be entered in my heart. So so that path can be done. Mhmm. So here, and then if you wanna start the guru’s mantra, then here you can start the to do to do exactly the the meditation guru into the heart, that one you need to you are required to need there’s a you you need to receive the higher tantra initiation as preliminary. You have to be able to do the guru guru the the secret meditation, the guru entering the heart.
General melt the light, melt the light, then absorb the center of the two eyebrows, and then bless the speech and body and mind. That one is okay. You don’t require higher tantric initiation received. But to do the guru internal heart, there’s a special meditation that goes with the or the Guru Puja, you know, at the end, say, at the end of Guru Puja. So those, say, like that, they require the high to to be able to do those meditations into the heart to exactly the need to receive a higher tantric initiation for that.
Buddha has infinite Buddha has infinite qualities. Dharma has inconceivable qualities. Sangha has inconceivable qualities. Devoting to this object of refuge who has the inconceivable qualities, the resultant ripening result is also inconceivable. May I may I know all certain things?
Okay. Then make offering. This natural rice, this natural food made offering to the Buddha Dhamma Sangha who has inconceivable qualities. The pure meditative food. So everybody have to visualize the rice.
Oceans of oceans of Tibetan rice. Oceans of like the sweet rice. Some years ago. Some I know. Six, seven years ago, think maybe.
During one during one meditation during one meditation course. So I talked about I think I must talk about emptiness. I must talk about the emptiness. The dependent arising. So I talked about, see, I think maybe three days dependent arising, but I because I mentioned very fast, depending on the So I mentioned very fast.
So there was one one old lady who came from England came from England. She’s a student from our center, London, Jamyang Centre. So so she so she heard for three days about Tibetan rice. She talked about Tibetan rice. I was talking about independent arising.
So because I because I didn’t pay much attention didn’t pay much didn’t pay much attention to my words. How how I spoke, you see. I mentioned very fast dependent arising, something like that, very fast. So she heard she so she heard three days Tibetan Tibetan rice. So then then she asked somebody, what is it about Tibetan rice?
Then the other student explained, no, no, it’s not Tibetan rice. It’s dependent arising. All of then she realized what was talked about for three days. So it was talked about arising. Remember that.
But this old lady but her English here is also very very special. But when she speaks, you’re gonna you’re gonna hear every single word. But there’s also a tune, and there’s a kind of melody. You know, when she speaks, you know, Oxford English. Oxford English.
Is that Oxford? I am not Oxford. Oxford English. Yeah. So she very nice to hear. And when she speak, long, you know, kind of chanting, you know.
Each word is kind of chanting. Normal normal people don’t speak that way. But she is on a special level speaking English. It’s nice to hear.