Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 60-minute teaching, Lama Zopa Rinpoche presents the Ganda practice—a method for liberating hungry ghosts through blessed water. He teaches powerful mantras that transform ordinary water into medicine and nectar, then explains how consciousness can shift rebirths even after death. The core practice is direct: hold blessed water, visualize it becoming nectar, recite the mantra seven times, release it into the ocean. Lama Zopa then vividly describes hungry ghosts’ suffering—mouths tiny as needles, stomachs vast as mountains, thousands of years without food—grounding compassion in concrete reality. He concludes with prayers that blessed water benefits all sentient beings who drink or touch it. For practitioners with basic Buddhist background seeking practical compassion methods.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2005 06 01 5 TAIWAN Hualien 1st JUNE05 Pt2.mp3
UUID: 37920ee8-d51e-4068-87ce-7941f86335c4
Teacher: Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1
Collection: z Taiwan (Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1)
Date: 2005-06-01
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 60.1 minutes
Words: ~1,560
So while eating while eating, I have other mantras to other powerful mantras for people that I chat. Achanta, Mukupa. Mhmm. So same visualization about the water, about the ocean, like mountains. Put the Mukupa.
So same beautiful system. Bless the sand, rest of water and people. And then those bit then those particular people who want to harm others, terrorists, and then the countries who, you know, want to harm to other countries. So and then also one south. Is so these are five powerful mantras.
The five powerful deity, you know, beautiful, they come out. This you’ll chant So, what the so, normally, when the person die, which rebirth will take, depends on at the time of death, whether the person dies with a virtual thought or non virtual thought. So, even the person dies with non virtual thought, but still there’s opportunity in the intermediate stage, due to the meditators, practitioners, concentration, and then due to Buddha’s due to the truth of Buddha’s teachings, the man does what the Buddha said, the benefit like this. So then, the person’s the person who passed away still can due to concentration, but through true words of Buddha, the benefit of this mantras, the person still can change their rebirth from the intermediate state. Even though going to lower realms, but it can change their rebirth.
So that’s that by doing such as the jangwa. There’s a power, but the practice of jangwa. So the main thing there in jangwa, a method to have good birth is by reciting this powerful mantra and blessings of sand thrown on their bodies. From blessed water, purify them. And then so there’s a few different ways to do to purify, and then transfer the consciousness and purified.
But this method is the main one for the hungry ghosts. So when the person die when the person die, then this man ride down and put on the body, touch on the body, purifying the karma, get higher rebirth. Then even by wearing by wearing the mantra, sand blessed, put on the head like that. Purifying the karma, higher rebirth. You you your chant mantra, bless on the sand or water, then you sprinkle on the graveyard or the other person after the person is burnt, you know, or the ashes burned.
Even on the graveyard, it has power to where if the person is born, then purified, reborn in the higher realms So now so so those five powerful mantras and then few other mantras, bless the water. So so now we’re going to sprinkle it to the water. Okay. Also, by putting this water back to the ocean, also blesses the the ocean with all the mantras. So bless by the by putting blessing the bless the water with all the mantras, putting in the ocean.
Mhmm. There is nobody who touches the water. Even the human beings who are Also, drink the water. So this particular this practice is one particular one. Which is great benefit, particular very good practice, liberating the hungry ghosts.
Uh-huh. The practice. It’s it’s called it’s called the practice. This practice is called Ganda.
Ganda. Uh-huh. Yeah. Buddha. Buddha.
Is it from Buddhist teachings? Uh-huh. It’s the name of the Uh-huh. It’s the name of the deity. So so while you’re holding the jar of the water like this, right hand top, left hand bottom, then you visualize the Buddha.
Then recite the mantra seven times. Then you put the water back in the ocean. Then think all the oceans appear nectar to all the hungry ghosts that the omniscient mind sees. That fully they they all drank fully satisfied, purified all the negative karma, people from all the suffering, they all become Compassion Buddha. So this is meditation.
Then you check the water, then again you recite Ganda mantra seven times, you put back in the ocean, then you mentally say this prayer mentally, so seven times like that. The hungry ghost’s neck is so tiny, like like horse tail. The neck is so tiny, and the limbs are so tiny, and the stomach is like mountains, like valleys. Huge. This is the karma.
This is their suffering their suffering is a result of attachment and miserliness, unable to practice giving. So the general suffering is that they heavy suffering, hunger, and thirst. So they don’t find a drink, even drop of water, even wetness, dampness, wet wetness on the ground cannot find even for hundreds of thousands of years, cannot find and suffer so much. And then, could not find even spoon of food for hundred thousands of years. So this is major suffering.
Then hot and cold, and then exhaustion. Look for food, and then exhaustion. And then push your body like this, so very exhausting to work. Then disappointment, unable to find food. So so they look for so they see from distance, you know, water or food.
Then they try to go there and, you know, so they naturally, the body is so exhausting, then there’s a coming guardian that stops them. Then they went even they reach there with all these obstacles, then they don’t see the food or the water become full of a past blood and the garbage. Like that, all disappeared. So the unbelievable disappointment. So these are general suffering of the problem.
The particular one is the outer obscuration. There’s the the outer obscuration. Those are blocks. Even you see the food, but there are many other obstacles. Those karma guardians stop.
Then to get food. And also, there’s so many parasites like a forest. You know, so many So then also, you see, not easy. Even if you find food, but there are so many guardians that attack. Then, when you reach where there’s food, then inner food obscuration, you know.
The food there’s no food there, Something else. The inner obscuration, you see, mouth is like eye of needles, so tiny, so can’t go inside. Then even the drop tiny drop went the throat has fiery knots, so can’t go through the stomach. So so many obscurations. So so therefore, making water a charity for the hungry ghosts, you know, even a drop of water and making charity, unbelievable merit, you know, you collect unbelievable merit.
But, of course, merit you collect merit is not the main thing. The main thing here is they need to suffer so much. So so this is very so for them, it’s a very, very say, like, we didn’t get food and drink for, like, a thousand years like that. You know? And how it is working?
I like this. It’s how how important they need food and drink. So after after trying to mantra, they put the water back, you know, in the ocean. Then all the practice, get has to take they they they find divine food. What what they find the divine food, all the predators of Buddha’s field, nectar is the food.
They find divine food means much better quality than our food, human food, and nectar. Then the other drink, the nectar. So oceans of nectar they receive. Then they imbibe that drink that, they get higher. But so the so they get yeah, So much.
And then, not only the hungry ghosts, even the even the human beings and animals living in the water or outside, however, anyone who drink this water, birds, the the animals living inside the water, anyone, people, anyone who drink the water, all they need to come and get purified, the karmas get purified, they they go and they they get higher rebirth. So that’s like that’s the greatest gift to put them cause them to have good rebirth, you know, the higher Okay. Perfect. May I become only like you. May I and the family, all the all the system with a connection to ourselves, may we become only like best Buddha, like your holy body, like your lifespan, like your qualities, like your holy name, That Wherever wherever we are, and that the universe will come to place, where even we are and all those sentient beings even the universal country made made to be free from sicknesses and poverty and the perils of the wars.
All that and then now the dharma Also, the the water placed with mantras mixed with the ocean, purifying all the animals. And living number of things, living in the water, they’re all purified. May anybody may any may anyone who comes to the beach, may anyone who will see the water, anyone who will see the ocean, who see the beach, who anyone who comes here, human beings, animals, and other beings, hungry ghosts, spirits, nagas, So anyone who comes with cancer, AIDS, any disease, anyone who comes to they wanna see the water, who will swim the water, you know, come to this beach. So may all the sicknesses in the body just by coming to the beach, seeing the beach water, you know, completely purified of all the sicknesses there. And by expanding the Dharma, may it enlighten everyone’s heart in this world and especially in Taiwan, everyone in this in Taiwan.
And they much have much prosperity enjoyment, no economic problem, perfect enjoyment, generally a lot of people in Taiwan, and then then achieving life in the