Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 43-minute teaching delivered at a Tibetan monastery, Lama Zopa Rinpoche begins with direct instruction on emptiness: seeing all phenomena as illusions, like mirages, and abandoning clinging to true existence. He then conducts a guided tour of sacred relics—Kadampa Geshe Sharawa’s statue containing Langri Tangpa’s preserved tongue, eye, and heart—interwoven with the monastery’s history of severe persecution during the Cultural Revolution. After leading a supplication practice requesting blessing and purification, Rinpoche offers extensive guidance on transforming daily life into practice. He shows how to extend bodhicitta and emptiness awareness through eating, working, and sleeping, so that every action becomes extensive merit accumulation and a direct antidote to ignorance. For practitioners already grounded in Buddhist fundamentals.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 02 Prayers and Meditations.mp3
UUID: 06ac0142-e494-4551-9066-29a346f1b8cc
Teacher: Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1
Collection: z LZR in Tibet (Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1)
Date: 2002 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 43.8 minutes
Words: ~2,655
Yeah. So so everything is appear to your mind as as illusion like mirage. You see that you you you see that there’s no water. It’s just sand and a hot hot sun, you see. There’s no water there.
But you have the but you realize there’s no water there, you see. You see, but you have the but you have the mirage like water, a vision of water, so like that. So that’s how you see everything because you meditate or you realize everything empty. So like that. So so this way so this way then you see, living daily life in this way, you know, with this practice unstained by the eightfold worldly dharma.
So that looking at everything as illusion, you know, and then that see, that means to not cling on. That means to not cling on. Cling on as to meaning not to not cling on as truly existent. To not hold on to as a truly existent as one thing. The same thing is also when you do that, you know, then the attachment rising in a clinging on being also doesn’t happen.
So there’s without clinging holding on them as true like this, that’s one thing. So on the basis of that then it has been holding it has been grasping this doesn’t happen. This way then you can liberate from the boundaries of to Samsāra and achieve not only its liberation, enlightenment. So this is a this is a anyway, normally my teachings I start to do not finish, but this is something so is I think everything. Who do want to put them?
I’ll just put them. Okay. Here’s the first one. So this is the Kadampa Geshe. So this is Kadampa Geshe Langri Tangpa’s statue.
This contains Kadampa Geshe Langri Tangpa’s tongue and eye and heart. Those three things when the holy bodies are cremated, those three things didn’t get burned left. So those three are inside of this statue. Before before the before, know, was the independence time before, those three things were inside the stupa and that stupa was destroyed. And so those three things didn’t get lost.
So those two things were put inside the statue as a relic. So that’s for this statue is very, very precious. And then here, behind the Padmasambhava, there is Thangka of Maitreya Buddha And the story is that during Geshe Langri Tangpa’s he found a treasure, you see bronze not bronze, but the other material, remember the high school, brass, yes. Brass, material of the statue, he found treasure. So that was destroyed.
And so when that was destroyed, the Thangka, the material Thangka was inside the statue as relic. So the statue doesn’t exist now, but the Tanga is back side, which was at a rally inside the material that the material statue that Langri Thangpa was thinking. So that Tanga was relic, which will be a relic inside this that’s a material statue that found by [unclear] So furthermore story is that statue didn’t have this bump, you know, on the forehead before.
And after the consecration, this lump of between the two eyebrows, that happened right after the consecration. So it means that extra wisdom is entered within the statue. Open this line to bind cloth with indestructible devotion, This is the main one, this is the holy seat of Kadampa Geshe Sharawa. So this is statue. This new statue, not from old time.
But the stupa outside, the top part is new, but basically is from old time, Kadampa Geshe Sharawa’s time. It’s very, very precious. And that’s the monastery protector. You know, the five holy protectors, Dharmapala. So that’s the, you know, the holy speech.
The one protector of the speech. It’s on the left side of the altar. Statue, I’m sure he’s first talking about is in the sphere center. Oh, this is the the holy object of the holy body. This is the holy object of the holy speech.
Natural art. The you can see very clearly natural art appeared from the rock here. Very, very clear. So the right side is center of the altar. As I mentioned, this is Kadampa Geshe Sharawa’s monastery.
It’s about half an hour drive from Langri Thangpa’s monastery. So this Tārā statue is offered by one Geshe from Sera. This new one offered by the artist who is making statues here now and offered for his next long life. I brought here by Achela. So I thought I didn’t know at the beginning, maybe just some of the old lady from the town.
After she said that and I thought maybe it’s Amala came today, I thought those look the same and the way of behaving or way of very deeply requesting for long life, so on and so forth. The way of very deep requesting, they were doubtless, downed, strong request from very inside. It’s all the same. So I thought maybe Amala came today. Amala, I did a long life puja.
I thought he came today. So I was asking ourselves, no, it’s Amala’s sister Amala’s sister. So look at the same behavior. It’s all same. So the story is that Lama Tsongkhapa came here, stayed one night, one day at our place in the past.
Lama Tsongkhapa was in that respect had much tooth pain or something, then gave one tooth to the family, to that one’s tooth gave to the family. And then the family was called a filled was on the tooth out, then you see then felt much better, felt much happier. So then the family was named by that. Go ji chi means tooth taken out, De wa is happiness, Shug pa is wealthy. So family was named by the But during the change of a revolutionary time, the family was very, very heavily tortured.
Very, very heavy. So she has seen a slight pain or kind of stress or something like that. Very, very heavy tortured as well as as well as as Kumbum. In other words, the monastery, Khumbum is a monastery where we were this morning. So this that earlier where Kumbum was during those times, maintained life for many years.
So during the revolution time, they tortured so much as I like. They tortured beat with sticks, and that’s why destroyed the arms, their hands, and and the very prison and and a very, very heavy torture. So beat with sticks. And that’s why the arms just destroyed. There was old man, the abbot you saw, old monk of the abbot.
So his his teacher his teacher was very, very heavily tortured and and passed away, ended the torture. And but but but when he passed away, he was in a state of meditation for seven days. Very well because he tried to hide the all the relics, all the objects in the ground and things like that. So he was very heavy torture for a long time and then and the torture passed away. But he when he was taking meditation, which is which is a result of his practice, his lifetime practice.
What? Oh, I thought you said something. Maybe we just do direct supplication on the foundation of going for refuge requesting blessing of Kadampa Geshe Sharawa. We think Kadampa Geshe Sharawa, the order of Buddha Dharma Sangha, visualize all good Buddha Dharma We do direct supplication on the foundation of the qualities of the enlightened one. What you can do maybe I my mind.
I’m requesting you to me to purify all the wrong conceptions from incorrect devotion to the guru up to the subtle dual view of the appearances, in my mind that exist in my mind and in the minds of all mother sentient beings. I’m requesting you to immediately generate all the right realizations from correct devotion up to enlightenment in my mind and in the minds of all mother saint and beings. I’m requesting you to pacify all outer and inner obstacles, correct devotions to the guru up to the subtle dual appearance, present in the mind that exist in my mind and in the minds of all mother sentient beings. I’m requesting you to immediately generate all the right realizations from guru devotion up to enlightenment in my mind and in the minds of all mother sentient beings. I’m requesting you to pacify all outer and inner obstacles to actualizing the entire graduated path of enlightenment in my mind and the minds of all sentient beings, my mothers.
Understanding that the precious freedom of this rebirth obtained only once is greatly meaningful and is difficult to find again, please bless me to generate a mind that unceasingly day and night takes its essence. So taking the essence means, so in the morning, if you give rise to this thought at the beginning of the day living with that thought, then whatever you do becomes means to collect the merit and by power of purification because everything what you do is for the different what do is by following the guru’s advice and whatever you do for the guru. So that’s how it becomes whatever you do that day with good virtue. So it becomes means of unbelievable purification and means of collecting quite extensive merit and the quick enlightenment. And that’s how it sort of becomes taking essence of the rest of the day time.
Then in the morning, all day you maintain the recollection and then you continue with that thought, you leave it rest of the day, leave it a thought, then I can see that becomes causal. Whatever you do become causal, there are causes to each liberation from saṃsāra, so like that. Then in the morning, the one that is meditation on impermanence. In the morning, one does meditation analysis, just on impermanence, something like that. So whatever you do, it is by cutting attachment, thereby it will become Dharma.
So whatever you do can cause happen if it’s like a liberation sometimes cause to achieve liberation for some sake. So by doing meditation on bodhicitta in the morning, by then living life with that thought that originated in the morning, then whatever you do with the cost is achievement, whatever activity you do, everything, reciting or meditating, everything becomes so everything becomes — walking, sitting, sleeping, everything becomes — whatever is done, it becomes means to collect extensive merit, limitless kinds of merit, good karma and cause of enlightenment, so like that. And cause of happiness also means whatever you do, eating, walking, still sleeping, including business and whatever you do. So everything becomes with that thought of bodhicitta. So everything becomes cause of enlightenment.
So this morning what I mentioned in the right view, then rest of the day living with thought. Looking at everything, each object, everything as illusion or merely imputed by the mind as they are, the way they exist or looking everything, say, by looking at everything, by recognizing everything what the way the phenomena appears inherently existent. And then by recognizing that and placing mindfulness on that and then when you practice the mindfulness on that then you understand that all is empty. So this way there is no thought of apprehending that they apprehending, believing that exist from their own side. So then whatever you do with that thought, it becomes cause to antidote to saṃsāra and like the medicine or like the sword cut the root of the poisonous tree that which is ignorance root of saṃsāra.
So like the sword, if you cut the root of poison, it is the ignorance root of saṃsāra. So that’s to be powerful. Everything become an antidote to that and it will be eliminated and cuts that. And also developed by developing the wisdom then ceases even the seed of delusion that latent imprints. Manifestation, that is, the seed of delusion; that is the nirvana of a solitary state that we achieved on this mental continuum.
So that the ultimate mind which is free from even the seed of delusion. So whatever meditation you want us in the morning and then continue to rest of the day with that thought or what is, we see, the level of lam rim realization that you have reached and then continue living the life with that. So that’s how one takes the essence day and night all times. So conclusion, this is how the nature of life is. Nature impermanence, as mentioned there, like water bubble, that the death can happen at any moment.
The death can be perished in any time. So the conclusion, any small negative karma, one must abandon. Any small negative karma must abandon. And any small any smallest virtue must practice. Any small merit one must practice.
As you should So one must practice all the virtue. So see there are various practices. So I think there are various practices, but I want you to understand is when you eat, when you do eating, there’s you’re going to I think become virtue by practicing the Hīnayāna way or by practicing Mahāyāna way, Sūtra way, by practicing yoga of eating, tons of practice, then it becomes such a powerful means of accumulating merit and purification. It becomes so powerful purification, pollutions you accumulate, you see pollutions. If you when you’re eating, if you do yoga of eating, those practice, you see, if you and then once dedicating also, either as an offering, either use the food as offering or use eating food as offering by burning the food as an offering, which I see.
So it doesn’t you don’t lose pollutions. So like eating things from, you know, from benefactors offered with devotion or eating food from the Sangha, monasteries, drinking, you know, eating food from monastery, community of sanghas, those are pollution. So if you do the yoga of eating, so you see, you purify those pollutions. So like that so similar when you’re working also, you can use that to become virtue, know, means powerful means, correct merit and purification. So suddenly when you see, so whatever action you do, you see, you can make it with the especially with the means of body with the bodhicitta attitude, whatever action you do, you can make it to become cause to quite extensive merit and very powerful means and to achieve enlightenment and quickly.
So I think one way gets us to talk about the practice of all the virtue, so sleeping time, day sleeping yoga. So you see, whatever you do, use those, I say, skillful means that the quite extensive merit and purification, you see. So you use those techniques, whatever activity you’re doing in daily life. So I think that’s one way that’s my understanding. One way means to collect all the virtue, practice all the virtue.
So whatever you do is to practice more. All the words, but especially the most means to collect extensive merit and that becomes very powerful purification. So I think that one way to understand that. One way to understand means so you see, for example, when we practice Guru Yoga, I know Guru Yoga, there’s so many different practices within that, such as visualizing where you collect vast merit, with each recitation you purify yourself and all others. Finally, you see there are so many different practices and to do all those, you see, like even doing tsatsas in between times.
Between sessions, you make tsatsas also. So to collect all the virtue, you have one way to understand like that. Like Atisha’s way, like the Kadampa Geshes So any benefit you can do for certain things even during practice in the daily life, while you’re in a session or while you’re out of session, know, something like that. Then to practice, so of course, mindful in this work that the two things that I mentioned, it’s just my understanding.