Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches the seven-limb practice in this 70-minute Taiwan session, anchoring the work in bodhicitta—the resolve to free all beings from suffering. He walks through each limb step by step: visualizing offerings to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha across all directions; performing prostrations while mentally multiplying your body to amplify merit collected; and then rejoicing in the spiritual accomplishments of countless beings across past, present, and future. The highlight is his extended teaching on rejoicing itself: by rejoicing in one bodhisattva’s daily merit for a single second, you accumulate as much merit as thirteen thousand years of solitary practice would yield—making rejoicing the easiest path to boundless merit. Suited for practitioners already initiated in the seven-limb practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2005 06 11 5 TWN 11TH + 12TH JUNE05 1.mp3
UUID: 65096a9c-c028-4bbb-8e69-69288cd49ec2
Teacher: Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1
Collection: z Taiwan (Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1)
Date: 2005-06-11
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 70.4 minutes
Words: ~2,746
Where? What’s happening now? Four miseries. They say, you’re doing the miseries. So we just think we’re trying to four miseries.
Four miseries. K. My impermanence here, four miseries. She said four miseries, but my impermanence here, four miseries. But maybe the miserable maybe the four miseries can be transformed into causes and conditions for enlightenment.
Two miseries or four miseries. Yeah. Four miseries. The four miseries, miseries. Yeah.
Which practice? Then bodhicitta, the purpose is to free the numberless sentient beings from all the oceans of suffering, cause, and bring it to enlightenment, and thereby must receive enlightenment. And liberate, the numberless sentient beings, well, the sentient beings from whom I received all my past, present and future happiness, who was most kind of the most precious one in my life. So, to liberate them from all the suffering to liberate from all suffering causes of being enlightened. I’m going to, let’s say, Then there’s several practices.
We did the blessing offering before, so it’s in here, which is the several practices. We did the blessing before. Already we did. So I’ll just do the seven-limb practice. We did the blessing before, so now we can do it. So now we’ll just do a straight seven limb practice.
The offerings. And slowly the offerings, yes. That’s very important. In each session, you must do the to do the offerings. Again, number, seven, one by one.
All the deities form, then lined up in the four direction corners, cover the whole cover the whole earth. Then prostration to the statues, I think so the prostration to collect more merit, and then the essence of all the holy objects, all the holy objects, something like that. And so not only that that you think they’re here also, many holy objects, so the purpose of having all these holy objects, statues, this for us this for sentient beings to collect merit and to purify to collect the extensive merits as much as possible, to purify the defilements and the karma, all these obstacles, spiritual realization, path enlightenment. And then, to that by taking cause then to achieve the realization path of enlightenment, to realization path of liberation and path of enlightenment. So, for us sentient beings to be liberated from saṃsāra, which continuation has no beginning, which is one of natural suffering and which continuation has no beginning.
So, get liberated as quick as possible for that, and to achieve enlightenment. For that, so this so why I provide for these holy objects is for that. So there’s another reason. The main reason. Of course, by doing a second version, making offering, making offering and so forth.
Of course, by the way, it brings success of this life, which is happiness, life can fulfill, but that’s not the main purpose. Even the temporary happiness in the future life, even the future life happiness, temporary happiness, that’s not the main goal. The main thing is to be free from to get liberated as quickly as possible from saṃsāra and to achieve ultimate happiness, not only that, to achieve the great liberation of full full enlightenment. That is the main reason why we have these things Cool. That’s why I provide see, why I set up holy objects.
Many holy objects provide that to have to have have the center, to have the gompa where, you know, people can practice like this. Yeah. Then I believe other times to purify, to accumulate merit, you know, to plant the seed of the path to liberation enlightenment. Yeah, so therefore, when we do meditation visualization prostration, not only see the statues, but also visualize, but all the they are here, you know, prostrating towards all the holy objects here in the four direction corners. Should include all the holy objects here in the prostration.
With actual body, how many how much inconceivable unimaginable merit you’ve had with the actual body that as I mentioned, like, absolutely how many atoms the body cover from here down to the bottom of the earth. So, that many You get born as a wheel-turning king. You could be born as a wheel-turning king one thousand life times, including the number of How many times? Including the number of atoms. How many atoms your body can can cover from here down to bottom of Earth?
So even ended even ended even and even how many atoms each toe covers or each finger covers, even the hairs, long hair, how many atoms when you do prostration and the hair covers. So, see, so that’s a considerable number, unimaginable just that without thinking the atoms that cover the rest of the body. Just even though what how many one even the so even the even the tiny toes, you know, the last toes, the last toes, the tiny one. So, anyway, some people thought last toe must be big. So how many atoms it covers from here down to the bottom of the earth is immeasurable.
Just even that is unbelievable. You know, how much merit you practice, like something that, you know, you might faint, know, you might be unconscious, so much, you see. Unbelievable. So therefore, it is said that visualizing they visualizing the body during prostration. In visualizing the body during prostration, you see, collect the same amount of merit.
You collect the same amount of merit as the extra body during prostration. So, at the moment we can’t manifest. You see, many hundreds, thousands of bodies doing prostration. Only when we achieve, the first bhūmi, when we achieve the Mahāyāna path, the ārya path, exalted path, first bhūmi, then we are able to manifest one hundred bodies during a prostration, able to go to pure land, many different pure land, things that so many things can do. Able to do meditation, different concentrations, different meditation, they’re able to do a hundred different meditation.
So that then the seventh bhūmi one thousand, they were manifesting a thousand bodies each session. The Buddhas, bodhisattvas, see. So that didn’t go it goes more and more. Then the ninth and tenth, that’s billions and billions, so many billions, you see, zillions, they are able to manifest and to prostration the Buddhas. So, there’s about, say, maybe eleven things or something that’s eleven or thirteen, I’m not sure.
Different things can activities can do. So all the number, first bhūmi, one hundred, you see? All those things, able to do those one at a time. So now here, billions and zillions and things like that, you see so many able to do. Making offerings, prostrations, making offerings to the Buddhas, like that.
So, therefore, if they see, even they do manifest so many billions or zillions of body through the prostration, prostration. So, for us, a very ordinary being, there’s no question we need to do even more number than them. But we can’t manifest. So, therefore, then only what we can do is by visualizing. So many bodies are doing prostration.
So, how many body how many body you visualize? You get the same amount of merit. There are many actual bodies that have done prostrations. So there’s an unbelievable source of it’s a treasure of merit, you know. During prostration with extensive meditation like this, visualizing numberless.
Many bodies is possible. How many numberless bodies like that? The actual bodies are very limited, you see. Know, very limited. But the mentally there is, we can, there’s no resistance, Mountains or buildings or or, you see, rocks or, actually, factories or the there’s no resistance.
So you can visualize as tall as the tallest you can visualize in the world. There’s a quickest running person in the Olympic Games, quickest running or all this, you see. So you visualize the tallest person in world, tallest. So, there’s no limitation. This is so to collect unbelievable merit, to visualize the prostrations.
So when when you are sick or illness or other times when you’re sick, or the or, you know, paralyzed or some or deformed or whatever. Can’t use the limbs, you know, the body can’t do the prostration, doing the prostration, see if it’s to so that one can do visualized one. You see, still can do prostration. Even, yeah, even, you know, even two palms can put together, but still you can visualize your procession. So still quite a possible method.
Yeah. So we do we do the visualization meditation. Okay? Not just the Buddhist statues, but also include all the statues. So all the all whole altar.
You know? Then numbers of the body from four, in all four directions, laid down and prostrate to all of them. Know? I think think that is actually good like that. We collect most merit, most extensive.
So as we go through it, try realize what each one practice is. So then, you get done the then do the meditation as much as possible. So here, it’s not just reciting words, but you actually get done the practice by thinking the meaning. So alright. Yes.
So we we made our offerings, mutual offerings, and other blessing was done before. So we offer all those exchange offerings there from the center of the gompa. And then at other centers, in California, yeah. All those exchange offerings, flowers, thousands of lives, many hundreds so many hundreds of water. You know, all the many flowers and or, like, thousand many thousand light open water open, so that fruit offering, tea offerings like that.
Then all the offerings here. So we offer and then if there’s a if there if a offering to a if there’s a offering to a house, And also they also offer those at the same time same time. So as many as as many, you can think about offerings. So you can be offering the musics. You know, whatever music they then all the all the offerings different places which are natural.
Great bliss, then offer. So first offer to Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, all the ten directions of the Three Jewels, Then make make offering to make offering to after that, all the ten directions, all the Buddhas, Dharma, Sangha, the Buddhadharma, the Buddhadharma, all those cherished most by Buddha. So now we’re making offering to the numberless, inconceivable. So even the hell beings, what numberless beings in the hell realms, what numberless beings in the hungry ghost realms, what numberless beings in the animal realm, for the happiness, numberless human beings, what happiness, numberless beings, so that as numberless sentient beings, you know.
So in heart, in your heart, think of think of this in the living thing of heart, and then do the practices with feeling. So it’s clear from from whom you’re doing the practice. Now this time rejoice in the numberless sentient beings’ merit from beginningless time to the present and projected into the future, all the three time merit, that is the object of rejoicing. But by thinking by thinking that so, see, without merit, that that that there are no way they can achieve happiness, you know, success. So and from the merit, they can achieve all the have the temporary ultimate liberation, enlightenment, everything.
So, you know, how wonderfully it is. How wonderful is that? That’s the. The. It’s they collect the merits in three times.
How wonderful it is. So feeling happiness. One has to feel happiness in the heart, then when you feel happiness in the heart, that is the meditation of rejoicing. So it doesn’t become just words, but it it should become rejoicing when you feel happiness in the heart. You see, I was having a class this morning.
So did it how wonderful how wonderful but in the heart and in the, you see, past, present, future sentient beings. Okay? Awareness evolved, happiness, temporary, ultimate, liberation, and enlightenment. But then how wonderful it is, that awareness, how wonderful it is that so feeling generating happiness to as many as possible. That’s the one at one time.
So, yeah, by rejoicing others’ merit, they are not losing the same, so we collect a limitless merit. Inconceivable merit, we collect the most extensive. Because since the level of man is lower than yours, then you collect you collect by rejoicing, and you get more merit, double merit. More than what what that’s in the main what those in the main classes. So they are numberless in the mix.
So there will be so many, You see, who’s level of mind is lower than yours. They have a numberless. Then there are those whose level of mind is the same as yours, so we collect the same amount of merit. There are numberless of them. Then there will be numberless sentient beings whose level of mind is higher than yours, so we collect half the merit.
Is it what they have collected from that? The half, that much amount we collect. So there are numberless of them. So you can see the numberless merits we collect. You see, like that.
So numberless merits, the first one is even more, not just numberless merits, but more. So the as I told so many times in the past and then similar, it’s a great enlightenment quote that by rejoicing one bodhisattva’s one day merit, how much merit you who is not a bodhisattva get — what a bodhisattva collects in one day. How that much merit will collect in that second. But but without rejoicing, you will go and collect that much meditate, it will take thirteen thousand years, the thirteen thousand years. It will take.
So but here, if you rejoicing, collect it within one second, which would take thirteen thousand years without the rejoicing. So it’s so it is the easiest way rejoicing is the easiest way to collect merit. The the practice, you know, collect merit. It’s the easiest way. It’s about the choice.
If we do practice, then it’s the most numberless, unbelievable. So that So now, we rejoice not just one bodhisattva’s one day merit, but we visualize that bodhisattvas, all the past merit from beginningless time to the present, then all the future merit, unimaginable how much merit there will be. Then the numberless bodhisattvas, so we collect the merit, you see. So we collect a numberless amount of merit, they can’t imagine, you know, how much merit we collect.
But the rejoicing depends on each sentient being’s mind. Impossible. So here, when we rejoice other sentient beings, includes bodhisattvas. Non bodhisattvas, non bodhisattva, bodhisattva. So we right now, we collect quite a lot.
So many times, unbelievable. Unbelievable. You know? So many times, it means merit. K.
Yeah. As the Lama Tsongkhapa explained in the lamrim, in the lam rim, in the Songs of Experience of the Path. So as regards to collecting virtue, rejoicing is the best. So if you want to feel good if you want to feel good luck, you know, good karma, then you see rejoicing is the best. If it’s done, then if it’s practiced, then you collect most extensive merit.
And and and and yet the the the easiest one. By having made this mental offering, through the embodiment of all Buddhas. Please bless that my mind become Dharma. Dharma becomes the path. And no obstacle to the path.
Especially to generate love and compassion, bodhicitta. The conventional bodhicitta and the ultimate bodhicitta. May bodhicitta be generated in the hearts of all sentient beings. Also, family members. In the heart in the heart of the all the students and benefactors in this organization, those who sacrificed their life doing service to others, to this organization.
So What am I am I like? Happy, unhappy, healthy, unhealthy, gain, loss, poor, rich, receiving criticism or praise, by reputation, liberty, living or dying, born in a higher realm, whatever happens to my life from now on, may it become most beneficial. Whatever action I do, whatever life experience, may I may it be most beneficial to all to all sentient beings, which which which is causing all the sentient beings to receive enlightenment as quick as possible. As quick as possible. Same meaning, when it becomes whatever action one does, whatever life one experience, and that that become beneficial to sentient being this way, which means it become whatever happen, action one does, life one experience, it become path to enlightenment.
So just read just mention a little bit on the last part, the following subjects.