Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 42-minute talk, Lama Zopa Rinpoche blesses a new Abbess at a Taiwanese nunnery supporting the Maitreya Statue Project. He tells the story of the Abbess’s former master—a humble, seemingly unlettered teacher who became a great bodhisattva whose mere presence benefited all beings in the region. Rinpoche shares the master’s four core pieces of advice: focus entirely on one task while chanting or praying; cultivate one-pointed mind and recite Buddha’s name with conviction; be honest and don’t change the subject. He then teaches the power of rejoicing—how rejoicing in others’ merit allows practitioners to collect merit proportional to those beings’ realization, potentially accumulating in seconds what would take thousands of years of solitary practice. For practitioners ready to deepen commitment.
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File: 2005 06 06 6 _1st Nunnery unedited.mp3
UUID: 7b57584c-f784-4888-a0f9-362070ba6f39
Teacher: Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1
Collection: z Taiwan (Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1)
Date: 2005-06-06
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 42.5 minutes
Words: ~2,004
About to go to a nunnery as Abbess. It supports the Maitreya Statue Project. That’s all I know. So sixth of June two thousand five. It was the next day.
Every month’s behalf. So then every holy community, everybody correct me that. So we offer. To the major field. Then may I and all sentient beings achieve holy body, Buddha’s holy body.
Yes. And by offering by offering this soft and thin and soft, the divine scarf to to to the holy body. Mhmm. Mhmm. Which offered with the indestructible devotion.
May I also meet you. Normally, which if you are praying, whichever date you are praying, you can you can mention about master’s name or the statue that, you know, one is the or whichever you want. Thank thank But this mantra, I’m not — I do often ask. May I become only like you, like your holy body, like your lifespan, like your pure land, like your holy name that offers beings liberation. Mhmm.
Bringing from the suffering, from the lower realms This is we universe world country earlier place house. where one thousand people connect to ten thousand. Living just say, may nobody in this universe will come to May nobody experience war. May nobody experience sicknesses, quarrels, war, famine, disease, torture, poverty, the dangers of the fire, water. The man, everyone embrace bodhicitta, loving-kindness in everyone’s heart in everyone’s heart and and the real life.
Whole path to be to be prosperous, now prosperous, everything prosperous. So reality could be enlightened being, but even just extended the masters, holy deeds, how he lives life and how he benefits, you know, great, great holy being in this world. So what I heard what I heard was from the a place, this temple master in China and the they came to the region, but there was nothing no rain, nothing growing, so it dry. The prayer of the master worked, and then rain came, things grew, and he lived in the hermitage for for many years, eating fruit. And then there was tigers who was living around the house of the hermitage like that.
So and did did not it did not didn’t seem, you know, give so much teachings, but just his example, just his, you know, ultimate good heart, I mean, good heart is bodhicitta, compassion. Just just just, you know, just as as a example, we are living life and just being the incredible benefits to this to this. So to I said to change the mind to to increase devotion and to practice. So so the master’s mother passed away and then become, let’s say, become his disciple, reincarnated and become his disciple. So now the abbess so this is story of what I story of what I know.
Some of it can tell more. This is all story. The master gives master doesn’t doesn’t talk much, much teaching, but he gives four advices all the time. So one thing is that I’ve forgotten now. One thing is while you’re doing something, you shouldn’t do something else.
Should not for No. While you’re doing something. I guess, for example, while you’re praying, I can make some while while you’re doing, you know, chanting mantra or something. Then while you’re doing that, you do something else, think something else, doing something, then you don’t it makes it because of the obstacle. You don’t get to be able to perfectly the one million repetitions of the mantra if you do think something else and then people finish that.
So I think for me, it’s a very good advice. So, you know, I was like that. So before you want to do something, think of something, doing something else, and you don’t get nothing will get done well, you know, perfect. So I So one is that advice. There’s four advice perhaps.
She said that she doesn’t know the three advice. She said, you know, a master always Four advice. Four advice. Yeah. The rest please.
She said, the master always said, you be focused, just one mind, and to recite the Buddha’s name all the time, and to be honest, that. Don’t change the subject. And sometimes the disciples will say that there’s a street basket and so many sutras. So it’s very difficult to learn. But the master said, it’s not difficult.
The most difficult thing is to recite in one single pointedly It’s the most difficult. The Buddha’s name. It’s the most difficult one. And he said, besides you have to practice wisdom and collect merit, so everybody has to have a way to collect the merit. That’s good.
She said, you know, when the mother is still alive, people feel that she that the mother doesn’t know anything, you know, cannot even recognize one letter. But after he passed away, and then people know But you mean he didn’t learn writing? She didn’t learn writing. Writing. She she doesn’t know.
But that’s how people, you know, criticize it or or this monk doesn’t know even later. But after That’s from ordinary people. Yeah. Ordinary people thought that. But after he passed away, they realized that he’s a very highly realized person.
Yes. Yeah. Holy being. Yes. And, actually, he has a very high realization.
Yes. Yes. Yes. But he never show up. Definitely.
There’s no question. It’s definitely great bodhisattva from just a little story I heard. It’s great. Great a bodhisattva, that just just just as existing, being there naturally can have benefit in the area in the country. So even the not only human beings, even the animals, insects.
So by blessing of the seed of compassion, taking a lot of benefit to make it a little bit inspired to practice. So it’s very good to prepare to bring him like that in our lives. So it’s a great example. So sending the master also to those masters. Ago, he passed away.
Nineteen nineteen. Nineteen. One nine. Nineteen years ago, he passed away and that’s the relics. And when they they took picture when It’s only part of the relics.
They have two two more monasteries. So they all the same masters, really, or different masters, really? No. That’s all What I heard was that. So when the masters, the holy body is, you know, taken from the monastery to the cremation.
So one master one master called Xu Qin or Xu Qin. Very old one. I went to I went to see him two times. So that That master is kind of sort of living or emphasizing the pure morality. Mhmm.
Mhmm. So that master came came and came and talked came and called this master. Mhmm. And even though even though it’s a generally recognized that he passed away Mhmm. But, you know, but the master spoke.
Oh, really? Yeah. Mhmm. The master came Mhmm. To talk to to talk, and then this master responded.
Oh. He talked to him again. Even though it was a decided he passed away. He’s all there. You know?
But it’s like, Milarepa did say. I see. So Milarepa passed away. Mhmm. See?
He’s in in the cremation coming back all the wood, I think. Was very far to start. Oh, yes. Very far because he achieved the the eight siddhis. Mhmm.
So he can by right now, the wind, which takes maybe so many days, a month. He came that he came within a few hours Uh-huh. With his power. Then he he was able to see able to make able to come there before the fire. So he talked to him.
Mhmm. Came out of the light and spoke to him. So similar Mhmm. Similar story. Pray that to have same quality as the master have and benefit the sentient beings.
And all the people who made a hundred thousand who contributed benefit. So she apologized of the Abbess and how wonderful it is. And that benefit is so many sentient beings liberation and the lower realms of Samsāra and they have brought liberation and enlightenment. And then after that, really advise everyone who come here to collect merit. So do prayers and offerings and purify.
So all those who will come to the practice, so it’s just all the merits for the collectors. Yeah. All those who came in the past come now and who will come in the future to to rejoice. So next rejoice is that who put all the the sanghas who do practice here. And then all the people come came past, come now, got married here.
And we’ll be coming to judge. So we’ll address all the firstly, you know, the master and the abbess who built this temple. Temple, not a house, but also holy objects. And all the all the all the people, many thousands of people who contribute this. What they raise, rejoice, how wonderful it is.
Then after all the people came in there. But now, the collect merit, come to collect merit, purify, you know, the chanting prayer, you know, All the people who come here to collect merit, all their past merit, from beginning of birth, you know, present merit, which you will collect in future, or their future merit rejoice. Then all their, all their collective merit from from beginning of the birth, now we will collect in future. So rejoice. So if you so so if you say, if you rejoice, you know, the master and the abbess, So all who build the temple statues, all this.
If you rejoice their merits, then also yourself could cause in the future that you can build many, many temples like this, holy objects like that. Are able to build you have to build you build with many so many temples like this with holy objects, and then you are able to benefit so many sentient beings, cause them to collect merit, purify their mind, bring them to liberation. This is what Then if you rejoice others’ merit, if you rejoice others’ merit, then if their level of mind are lower than yours, generally speaking, then you collect more merit, double merit than what they collected. And then if the level of merit is higher than yours, you collect how how much merit they collect? That much — half — you get to collect.
So that so this for example, Buddha, if you rejoice if you use it with Buddha, then understand more clear. One Buddha in one day’s merit. If you rejoice, we get half what Buddha collects. One day, then half the merit we get to collect. So but without rejoicing, that great enlightenment, Bodhisattva said, it will take thirteen thousand years to collect that much merit.
So by rejoicing, you collect that much merit, which are thousand years in one second. So then we have to rejoice one bodhisattva’s, know, all the path, present, future merit. So that’s that’s unimaginable merit we collect. Then the the numbers are unimaginable. So just here, when we rejoice, we collect, you know, so many times, we collect merit.
Like that. Yeah. I’ve got a new now I’ve gotta just record it, Brian, because I don’t know. Can you say what the name of the nunnery was? And the next one we’re visiting is called Isn’t that the same?
No, it’s not. Tong and tong is not the same. Yeah. But Ah, you go. I suppose they are cat fans too.
Meow. Thank you. He’s dropped the Buddha behind him. Which ones? And it’s okay.
Idea. See, like this. Like that, you see. Everybody has a mantra, we got some mainly not waste not waste of space. So everything like a miniature.
You think this is a very good example because they haven’t wasted any space. Mhmm. Every every part of the building has had some sort of Buddha image or painting, so none of it is wasted. So Rinpoche is saying that’s what he’d really like the Maitreya project to be able to do.