Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 39-minute White Tārā initiation, Lama Zopa Rinpoche traces the lineage from Buddha to his gurus and instructs students to view the place as pure land and the lama as Tārā. He describes White Tārā’s luminous form—one-faced, two-armed, holding a lotus, crowned by Amitābha with a long-life vase—and teaches the four preliminaries: refuge, karma confession, merit rejoicing, and bodhicitta or the Bodhisattva vow, with options for different commitment levels. The core empowerment involves visualizing nectar flowing from Tārā like a waterfall, purifying obscurations and life obstacles while restoring scattered life force and merit. Tārā then melts into light and absorbs into your being. Blessed long-life pills are distributed. Suited for those preparing to receive the initiation.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2005 06 03 2 TAIWAN WHITE TARA.mp3
UUID: ba7c821d-b79d-45e8-b134-2ea0edae654e
Teacher: Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1
Collection: z Taiwan (Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1)
Date: 2005-06-03
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 38.9 minutes
Words: ~1,544
Yeah. Can you please repeat the the prayer the question. So this initiation of White Tārā from from White Tārā, then it’s a there’s whole unbroken Gautama lineage, you see. So down to down to my gurus. And then I received from many lamas this initiation from from many other lamas.
So so this unbroken lineage, the The the the ear-whispered lineage. So I received from them unbroken lineage. It is therefore blessing, unbroken blessing from my. So so I think to taking this long life initiation. Okay?
And this place where you’re taking initiation, I think of not ordinary place. And this I meditate on this as a pure land, blissful realm like that. So beautiful like that. Appearance of Tārā’s, you know, wisdom. So and then also lama, ordinary not ordinary being.
You stop that ordinary view, then think Tārā, that actual Tārā. So there was a with the torma, with the Tārā picture. There’s also think that actual Tārā sitting there. So the white so white Tārā, the nature of nature of light, you know, like, say, like crystals, natural but natural light. So see the white one faced two armed, right hand in the middle of giving sublime realizations, left one in the the left one in the middle of granting refuge, and then holding the stem of a lotus flower, then adorned with the beautiful ornaments of jewel and scarves, divine scarves, and then having the seven eyes for the vigilance.
Seated vajra posture. Then above the crown, there’s the crown there you see Amitābha. Like, Amitābha, but holding the long life vase. So radiating one. Then on all the lineage lamas above. First one, first, is taking refuge with Dharma Sangha.
K. Yeah. So Then next one is confessing also next is confessing karma individually. So think everything purified. The next one is rejoicing.
Feel happiness in your heart, all the merits collected in the past and present, present, and future, as well as other than feeling happiness, others made us collect in the past, present, and future. Okay? Feel happiness. From the merit, all the happiness we achieve. So therefore, you know, feeling happiness.
The next one. So now here, to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings, that depends on that depends on taking Bodhisattva vow and living by Bodhisattva vow. So therefore, here, those who haven’t taken bodhicitta in the path, Bodhisattva vow, the wishing vow and engaging vow, wishing vow, avoiding black Dharma, practicing white Dharma. Engaging vow, the receiving vow, they refraining from eighteen root falls and the forty-six auxiliary downfalls. So we haven’t taken with a subsequent path and we can’t can’t and they will take it now.
Then what you can do is you can’t take the engaging vow now, then you can do the wishing vow. If the wishing vow is even that difficult, then at least what you should do is I’m going to practice more compassion now towards sentient beings. And definitely I’m going to practice bodhicitta in this life. So I should they should think that. Then those who are taking Vow, then think at the end end of this, I received bodhicitta in presence of all the Nirmānakāya Buddhas, all the Buddhas, bodhicitta.
That Tārā one Tārā, are visualized, you see. Then feel great happiness. Same for those who are taking wishing vow. Wishing vow is avoiding black Dharma, practicing white Dharma, can do that. So that what so you practice for white Dharma, for if you practice for white Dharma, then you abandon black Dharma.
Yeah. So that for white Dharma is, say, open-hearted sincerity with guru as spiritual master and then with the sentient beings. Sincerity, not telling lies. There is a the guru, spirit master. Then there is a open heart, sincere heart, and then being, and then as a placing the Bodhisattvas on the throne, respecting them like Buddha.
Then sentient beings who lack Dharma, you inspire them, then you inspire them to bring into Mahāyāna path. Since the Bodhisattva vow is well taken, if you take the vow you collect limitless merits, made it so it makes life your your life most meaningful, beneficial to a sentient beings. Then whatever merit you collect every day increase millions of times, so it makes life again so most beneficial. And then so then this becomes the best your best contribution for the peace and happiness in living, especially in particular this world. Your best contribution for the world peace.
I also feel great happiness about this. Now the now the creating now, say, to create the basis for the initiation, then one generates oneself as White Tārā. So those who didn’t receive great initiation of lower tantra, like generation great initiation, like that, or the generation initiation of lower tantra. Or or say, if you receive high tantra initiation, of course, you can visualize yourself as White Tārā.
But now that you have received it, you can’t visualize yourself as White Tārā. But you can visualize White Tārā on your crown. So those who have received it, you can visualize yourself as White Tārā. Okay? As I explained before.
Okay? So purify name this, then wisdom realize the means, then generate oneself as White Tārā with white color. Mhmm. Those who we have this great initiation. So I’m not going to cover all the detailed visualization, just the essence is there.
And using strong devotion to the guru, and then beams of light from the heart purify the front generation Tārā. So light poured from the from the Tārā, nectar flow down. White red nectar flows down like a a like a waterfall, you see. Then, into your through your crown, then fill the whole of your body and purify all the defilements of karmas. Fill, purify all the sicknesses, the karmic obscurations and life obstacles.
That’s one very important. Then the life force that has been taken away by spirits, you know, scattered. So all those all those are, see, brought brought back, see, restored it within you. Then you achieve the immortal realization, so generate generate very strong faith. The essay so the s the essence is the from from from Tārā, nectar flows down.
Then the like waterfalls and nectar flow down and fill the whole of your body and purified all the obscurations, the life force, the harmony, the karmic obscurations. The essence of the five elements, including space. And then life force that had been detached, now it’s been restored within you. And then your body become very glorified, perfect, magnificent, and immortal realization. So that’s then in your crown, purified all the four things and the life obstacles.
And then what is revived is all the power, the merit that has been degenerated has been increased and restored within you. You receive all the qualities. The power of Indras, Brahmas, all their power, glorifications of the sun and moon. The those yogis, the blessings and realizations, you know, that the wisdom from the say, the wisdom from the pundits and the wealth from the world and king so forth. Yeah.
Yeah. It’s immortal immortal realization. Then I’ll let let the image from the Tārā. Into you, then purify the four things and four things, the life obstacle. Then then the received received the blessing, say, the vitality which has been dissipated has been revived within you.
That then the Tārā descended on the crown. When I say, then that that absorbs absorbs within you, melting light absorbs with you, then your your body, spirit, mind become inseparable with Tārā’s virtue of holy body, virtue of holy speech, virtue of holy mind. So that those who haven’t received the great initiation then melted Tārā, Tārā melted light, then absorbed at the center of the two eyebrows. Then absorbed from through that, and then bless your body speech mind like that. That that that meditation.
So maybe maybe come up those who came up before, the mandala offering. Maybe those who came up before the mental offering came up. And the rest, they would have put down, say, passed down. Yeah. Yes.
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Maybe that. Okay.
Yeah. Maybe it’s wet. Maybe the the to the first. Maybe. Yeah.
Maybe wet Blessed. Two times. She should think two times. Because there are not many people can just let everybody else the long life nectar and the bodhicitta nectar, then the after you drink, then think the chakra winds and drops there, which is degenerated has been revived, has been revived, become healthy. And then all your body mind pervaded by bliss.
And all the life obstacles eliminated, and you you achieve immortal realization, undying immortal realization. K? So when you actually drank this nectar. Okay. So I did chanting mantra and the blessed deity, the prayers.
Long Then by taking the long life pill, then think pure land or the antidote for disease. And then all your body become I say, strength. Become strong. Okay? You are liberated from the untimely death.
It is immortal realization. So there’s pill for everybody, then there’s the extra one. If there’s anything left over, you can take for all the family members to give other people. How do I