Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 25-minute teaching, Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains how to dedicate merit from a long life puja so it becomes inexhaustible. He begins with a practical principle: combining one’s merit with that of all sentient beings and Buddha makes dedication far more powerful. Using the water-drop-in-ocean analogy from the Ratna Megha Sūtra, he shows why merit dedicated to enlightenment never diminishes, even if anger or wrong view arises later. The key is viewing everything—merit, enlightenment, oneself, the guru—as empty of inherent existence while dedicating. He covers recitation of the Medicine Buddha’s name to multiply merit a hundredfold, and emphasizes this dedication practice belongs in daily life: after any good action, apply the same method. A teaching grounded in doctrine and lived practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2005 05 02 6 HK Long Life Puja 6.mp3
UUID: c3788ae7-33f4-47e2-ae88-0d199bc19c67
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: 25.1 minutes
Words: ~1,435
To I said, to not get destroyed completely and also to not become less, to not become weaker. So we should attend this. So by putting together, one’s own merit and all other sentient beings’ merit. Other sentient beings’ and Buddha’s merit. So it becomes very powerful by putting it all together.
Then dedicate so it becomes inexhaustible by putting all together. Then by dedicating the merit to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings, the merit become inexhaustible. How much you enjoy the result? You experience the result, having collected merit, having created good karma. It never finishes.
It becomes inexhaustible. Like, if you put like as Buddha mentioned in the Ratna Megha Sūtra, the sūtra requested by Ratna Megha, that if you put one drop of water into the ocean, then you see, it’s a mix the one what you put is one drop of water, but it gets mixed with the rest of the ocean. So so it never get it never get finished, you see. It becomes it becomes inexhaustible. You can enjoy the drop water, you see, by mixing with the ocean.
You can you can enjoy that for you see, until the ocean finishes. So that if you dedicate the merit, the second thing, if you dedicate merit to achieve enlightenment, so that it becomes inexhaustible how much you enjoy how much you enjoy the the benefit result of the the result happiness which is caused by this merit, you see, never finishes. So that for these two things, then also if anger or wrong view arises, the merit become the merit cannot be completely destroyed. Merit that is dedicated to reaching enlightenment cannot be completely destroyed. Like those other merits which are not done with the bodhicitta and with not dedicated to reaching enlightenment.
Like I said, like you use the you use the result one time and then normal to enjoy. So like that and so dedicated merit dedicated to achieving enlightenment is inexhaustible. So also it cannot be completely destroyed. But the merit dedicated to enlightenment, for something that means if anger or heresy arises later, the merit may just become less or weaker. Like, is it like huge like huge rock mountain.
So many rocks are taken from that mountain by truck, you see, to build a house or whatever. Many rocks are taken, but the rest, still the mountain is there. So it’s like that. It’s a merit dedicated to achieving enlightenment. Means later, heresy or anger arises.
It doesn’t destroy completely the merits, but it becomes weaker, but it becomes less, weaker. So therefore, when we dedicate merit, it should be merits should be dedicated say, when we dedicate to achieving enlightenment, it should be done by seeing the emptiness. So that’s why part of dedication always it works to see that it doesn’t exist from its own side or empty. But sometimes, same thing. So maintain maintain the emptiness, look at everything empty.
The merit is dedicated and then enlightenment, sentient beings.. So everything is, say, looking looking at them empty as they’re empty. They exist, but they’re empty from their own side. You see? So that reason is that why always bring up emptiness when we dedicate merit for enlightenment.
So so so that later, heresy or anger arises, the merit cannot be destroyed by a single arising of anger cannot be destroyed. It doesn’t become so it doesn’t become weaker. See. It can harm. So like that.
Yeah. So so we have to dedicate this way. Then we should do the recitation of the name and mantra, which multiplies each merit collected, which makes it increase one hundred thousand times. Due to all the past present due to all the past present, which are made, collected by oneself, that may be dedicated by others oneself, oneself, family members, all the students and benefactors of the organization, and including all those who give up their life to the organization during service to Dharma teaching and Buddha and all the rest of the Dharma means. May we meet only a perfectly qualified guru in all the lifetimes and to be able to see only enlightenment qualities from each guru’s side, from our side, in all the lifetimes.
And to be able to do only action in most pleasing to all the minds of virtue friend from each guru’s side, from our side in all the lifetimes. And to be able to fulfill the wishes of to be able to fulfill the wishes of the holy mind, the virtuous friend from each guru’s side, from our side, in all lifetimes, for the first we dedicate this. So if this happens, then everything happens. All the works for one self can complete it. All the works for other sentient beings can be complete.
Dedicating all the past, present, future merit. One may dedicate, but others dedicate too. They would exist, but which which do not exist from their own side. They were totally empty. May I exist, but who is totally who who do not exist from his own side, who is totally empty. You see, the the guru Vajradhāra’s enlightenment, which exists but which doesn’t exist from its own side, which is totally empty.
These are the sentient beings who exist but do not exist from their own side, we’re totally empty. To that, enlightenment which exists but doesn’t exist from its own side which is totally empty. I, who exist but who do not exist from my own side who is totally empty. So the emptiness, nothing nothing exist.
There’s no such thing this and that. They exist, but in that, nothing exist. There’s no such thing, this and that. Everything is in one taste and emptiness. In the in the emptiness, everything is in one taste.
So this this were dedicated merits, as I have just explained. That’s where we just where just we meditated. It’s not only here. It’s in the daily life, you know, in your daily life when you after you did the after you finish the practice, then this is what at least this dedication should be done. Even you help somebody, you you collect a merit.
After you did charity or liberty, animal or charity, you help somebody. You see, you collect merit, and you do the dedication like that. Not only let me say only when you do prayer. It doesn’t mean all of that. Recite the name and mantra, each one hundred thousand times.
So I recite. If if you don’t recite, then you don’t get benefit. You have to recite. Somebody else reciting, it doesn’t help. You know?
If keep quiet, you have to recite to get to get them to increase, to get them to increase the merit one hundred thousand times. Somebody somebody eat lunch. If you you yourself don’t eat lunch, somebody eat lunch. You see, that doesn’t help. So you have to eat a lunch, you know, to so it’s similar.
You have to recite, you know, otherwise you don’t get the benefits. Time. Stomach’s stomach’s waiting for that. So example can become very clear. Then whatever prayer we did then to actualize, you can recite also Medicine name.
In other traditions, I saw some sadhana texts, the daily sadhana. At end, there’s a to actualize the prayer, The medicine Buddha’s name recitation, and that makes sense. Because the medicine Buddha reciting this blessed name, you see. It helps whatever prayer you normally do to get actualized. So then also you can recite this and other names.
So recite the first Medicine Buddha’s name. You can recite one time or two or whatever, you know, three times. Think about that. Then the other one. Blessings are imminent because of the truth, due to the infallible dependent arising, and due to my special attitude, may all my pure prayers be succeed immediately.
So Yeah. So so I hope I hope the hope. I’m hoping for the best. Anyway, so so I would like to take an opportunity to thank here the Khen Rinpoche, the abbot here. Everything.
This. And everything.. And and I wish that he should have long life. It’s also to attend for all her effort, everything. For everything. For teaching and helping the helping the students, all the people here, they who need help.
And and then then Chenrezig Institute and the monastery that I mean, other projects. Okay? So other ones here, those who were working for the project. I also would like to thank you very much for the opportunity to thank. So I enjoyed the long life puja.
Thank you very much.