Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this nearly three-hour teaching from Taiwan in June 2005, Lama Zopa Rinpoche uses the occasion of breakfast to anchor a wide arc of practice instruction. He begins with tonglen—taking on others’ suffering and giving happiness—delivered with vivid, urgent language to awaken genuine compassion for the numberless beings in saṃsāra. He then introduces the generation stage of highest tantra, explaining how visualization purifies ordinary perception and plants seeds for enlightenment. Finally, he demonstrates these principles practically by transforming the morning meal into nectar and making extensive offerings. Throughout, he emphasizes both the merit that arises from such practice and its ultimate purpose: liberating all sentient beings as swiftly as possible. Pitched at practitioners who have received tantric initiation.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2005 06 11 9 TWN 11TH + 12TH JUNE05 5.mp3
UUID: aa1ff1c6-77da-4f88-ac12-d3acccb70c1b
Teacher: Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1
Collection: Taiwan (Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1)
Date: 2005-06-11
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 178.0 minutes
Words: ~1,395
Now, do tonglen as a special body today? To practice the highest tantra. One hell being who has most unbelievable suffering that I receive all their past happiness, present happiness, future happiness, the most precious, most precious, most kind one. In the suffering of — this is most unbearable suffering — even one second, this is like most unbearable suffering of our ego. It’s one.
Now they are numberless, so now they are — think we must without delay I must without delay liberate them, bring them to enlightenment. Now then, obviously, all of them are much much more unbearable. See? Before then, one of the sentient beings is suffering — one human. And then one second, most unbearable, so I cannot bear it even one second.
So now there are numberless of them. So much, much, much so unbearable. So I must free them from suffering and bring them to enlightenment. It’s. Then similarly, one person — a being who’s suffering so much.
Receive all my past and present and future happiness from that. This happened. And once I’m I’m I’m I’m I must liberate them. But even one second. Of course, possible.
Well, now the numbers of them, animals. I see one animal that’s suffering — most unbearable. And then I just see all my past happiness, the from being a present and all the future happiness. I’m most.
Even one second is like something unbearable. Most unbearable. So then the number of the animals — the number is so much, much, much, and so that’s it. Yeah.
So much pressure, must bring to enlightenment. So One human being. Totally hallucinated. Yeah. So living in so many piles of hallucinations, living life with all the wrong concepts.
Totally bound, totally attached, saṃsāra, saṃsāra pleasure, saṃsāra sort of prison. So totally bound, chained in some sort of prison by the sentient beings themselves. Without realizing how saṃsāra naturally will suffer, without realizing how saṃsāra pleasure will only suffer This so without realizing true suffering, true pervasive suffering. So so if you have been talking about this — for even one second, You know, from — I give my past, present, future happiness, most precious — to them now. Then, not even a second, so I must liberate them.
Enlightenment. Not even one second. And then most of — now the numberless — what is the number? They are like an ocean, you know, from me — and they see all my past. The most precious — their suffering is most unbearable, much much unbearable. I must free them from the suffering, bring them to, bring enlightenment.
Yeah. So the same. Then should be similar like that as I discussed before. What is it from what I said about all the past. Yeah.
Believe. And then she’s always living with all these clouds of, you know, so many hallucinations — those clouds of wrong concepts. So many feel the wrong concepts, wrong views. So I received all my past. This has happened.
This has happened. There are numberless of them. I send them my happiness. I receive all their suffering.
It’s almost I’m much more. Much much much more. I must free them from suffering. I give my past, present. Then I must not waste even one second.
One second. I’ll be like, I must bring them to enlightenment as quickly as possible. This is a sleepy way of talking. Sleepy way of expressing. And a sleepy sleepy way of listening.
So now the with this with this very strong compassion, very intense, very strong, so they can’t stand even a second with the — so that means being in saṃsāra suffering. So now I must liberate, liberate — not even one second to delay. So as soon as possible I must liberate them. So know that. Then they recite this prayer.
It generates an expression, but if you that’s the prayer that has time to do that. Then here, the meditation that yeah. The highest tantra, the generation stage, the gradual generation stage is today. The very essential practice of that — which has a preparation to purify the ordinary appearance, to achieve the Buddha. To make the mind rapid, to achieve sambhogakaya, path and nirmanakaya, path and dharmakaya, plant seed to achieve result at that time, plant seed which causes to achieve the result time.
Purpose for the benefit of sentient beings, to be able to do perfect work for sentient beings. The quickest way to liberate, quickest way to liberate all the migratory beings of saṃsāra and bring them to full enlightenment. The purpose. The seven-branch offering stanza. So we ask, we request the merit field to wait.
The rest of the seven-limb practice. So so we’re gonna we’re gonna ask for permission to have breakfast. I think at most the last three syllables for oneself and so on. They’re probably not even practicing — you’re eating. I could offer charity too — syllables.
So already generate those who are generating, you know, once started doing it, then they already done. So then these meditators, have done the visualization. So then they purify the food and all that. Put that food there into — into bliss and emptiness — then all the pure bliss and emptiness. The breakfast — bliss and emptiness — as they are empty.
Then, say, then those who have the secret initiation, visualize, extend your container, then label it nectar. And then those who have this empowerment, you will visualize it into nectar as explained in the highest tantra. One can do also the the recitation of the blessing — the mantra of the food offering mantra — can do that. And if you do that, then you would do the offerings. You receive skies of merit from the offerings.
You know? You know? Unbelievable merit. Blessed have been, you know, on our behalf. So Since we are since we are offering, we can offer not not only this, the breakfast, know, visualizing the nectar, you know, nectar, all the offerings are offerings here.
Offerings are the all the every sacred Gompa, which is in nature and in cities there, after offering to the Sangha, which is all the different places out there. We offered at the same at the same time, so this way. So why not? So the most unbelievable merit of life. Just offering the breakfast, nectar, see, the nectar, I mean, the ocean nectar and many, of course, comfortably made it full, but we added all the other offerings, then unbelievable.
We have incredible opportunity to collect extensive merit as much as possible, also why not taking the opportunity. So we offer together the breakfast, the the nectar, also a lot of food. Then all the offerings here — all the offerings up to some of the places — are sort of Dharma offerings. We offer all together Today, groups of many — group of many merit fields.
Then there is the essence of those. I am including that. Generate the visualization. Right. Next, the numerous offerings — the food and all the offerings here — and the devas of the ten directions.
I offer to all the ten directions of the Dharma Sangha, all the ten directions of statues to the scriptures, all of those and the five Dhyāni Buddhas. That meant that all the essence of the ten directions of the Dhamasanga and all those essence of the virtuous friends, so I offer to all of them. Then let’s make charity. Then as charity, every helpless being, every hungry ghost, every animals, every human beings, every sura being, every asura being, any of these things, they are fully enjoyed. By exercising complete patience, liberating them from all suffering and its cause, they all become enlightened directly.
Every human becomes enlightened directly. Every animal becomes enlightened directly. And the rest. And all once again, all the others — so to benefit all sentient beings — and they also give up wrong views. May they also never be separate from the Trikaya Guru.
Trikaya Guru also created merit in the offering. This is blessing from the Guru. Trikaya Guru — may there be a lot of good reception. Trikaya — may they achieve in this very lifetime. That’s it.
Please enjoy. Bliss in bliss out. With the with the with the blessed blessed breakfast.