Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 93-minute teaching on Guru Yoga, Lama Zopa Rinpoche begins with the Heart Sūtra before pivoting into an extended reflection on guru devotion and spiritual gratitude. The core of the session weaves together two interconnected themes: the role of the Dalai Lama in preserving and spreading the complete Buddhist teachings to the West, and the extraordinary karmic fruits of even the smallest acts of devotion—offering a single flower, reciting a buddha’s name, or merely beholding a statue. Rinpoche illustrates the mechanics of karma through vivid comparative examples: a single flower offered to a stupa generates merit that eventually liberates numberless beings and brings them to enlightenment, far exceeding the merit of filling entire galaxies with jewels. He then expands this into a meditation on interdependence, showing how shelter, food, and clothing depend on the suffering of countless sentient beings across evolutionary time. The teaching emphasizes that without dharma practice and realization of emptiness and bodhicitta, saṃsāra perpetuates endlessly. Pitched at practitioners with some Buddhist familiarity, the session calls for clear priorities: prayer for the long-term success of dharma and for teachers who sustain it.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 03 guru yoga.mp3
UUID: 7ce7b6ee-367d-4310-81e6-060fe13edf1f
Teacher: Lama Zopa Rinpoche 3
Collection: Guru Yoga (Lama Zopa Rinpoche 3)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 93.4 minutes
Words: ~7,943
The last verse on page five of the booklet. Do not commit any non-virtuous actions. Perform only perfect virtuous actions. Subdue your mind thoroughly. This is the teaching of the Buddha.
A star, a visual aberration, a flame of a lamp, an illusion, a drop of dew or a bubble, a dream, a flash of lightning, a cloud—see conditioned things as such. Through these merits, may sentient beings attain the rank of the all-seeing, subdue the foe of faults and be delivered from the ocean of saṃsāra perturbed by the waves of aging, sickness and death. Page eight, the Heart Sūtra. I prostrate to the Ārya of the ocean, perfected Ārya. At one time, the Bhagavan was dwelling at Vulture’s Peak Mountain in Rajagriha together with a great community of monks and a great community of Bodhisattvas.
At that time, the Bhagavan was absorbed in the concentration on the categories of phenomena called profound perception. Also at that time, the Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Ārya Avalokiteśvara said this to Venerable Śāriputra: “Śāriputra, a son or daughter who wishes to practice the activity of the profound perfection of wisdom should look upon it like this, correctly and repeatedly beholding those five aggregates also as empty of inherent nature. Form is empty, emptiness is form. Emptiness is not other than form. Form is also not other than emptiness. In the same way, feeling, discrimination, compositional factors, consciousness are empty. Śāriputra, likewise all phenomena are emptiness—without characteristic, unproduced, unceased, stainless, not without stain, not deficient, not fulfilled. Śāriputra, therefore, in emptiness there is no form, no feeling, no discrimination, no compositional factors, no consciousness, no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind, no visual form, no sound, no odor, no taste, no object of touch, and no phenomenon. There is no eye element and so on up to no mind element and no mental consciousness element.
There is no ignorance, no extinction of ignorance, and so on up to including no aging and death, no extinction of aging and death. There is no suffering, no origin, no cessation, and no path. There is no exalted wisdom, no attainment, as well as no non-attainment. Śāriputra, therefore, because there is no attainment, Bodhisattvas rely on and dwell in the perfection of wisdom. The mind without obscuration and without fear, having gone beyond all error, will reach nirvana. All the Buddhas of the three times also manifestly, completely awakened to the unsurpassable, perfect, complete enlightenment in reliance on the perfection of wisdom. The mantra of great knowledge, the unsurpassed mantra, the mantra equal to the unequaled, the mantra that thoroughly pacifies all suffering should be known as true since it is not false. The mantra of the perfection of wisdom is declared: Tadyatha gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha. Śāriputra, the Bodhisattva Mahāsattva should train in the profound perfection of wisdom like that.” Then the Bhagavan arose from concentration and commended the Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Ārya Avalokiteśvara saying, “Well said, well said, son of good family. It is like that. It is like that. One should practice the profound perfection of wisdom just as you have indicated. Even the Tathagatas rejoice.”
Extensive dispelling of hindrances, three times: I and all surrounding sentient beings go for refuge to the Buddha, go for refuge to the Dharma, go for refuge to the Sangha. We prostrate to the great mother Prajñāpāramitā, surrounded by all her children and by the assemblies of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions. By depending on my prostrations to all of you, may these words of truth be actualized. In the past, the deva king Indra dispelled the maras by reflecting on the profound meaning of the wisdom gone beyond and reciting the profound words in daily recitation. In the same way, I also reflect on the profound meaning of the great mother Prajñāpāramitā and recite the profound words in daily recitation. May all diseases, spirit possessions, bad conditions, all the negative directions, that which happens due to past karma and immediate conditions—may all of this be dispelled, may it become nonexistent, may it be pacified.
I and all surrounding sentient beings go for refuge to the Buddha, go for refuge to the Dharma, go for refuge to the Sangha. We prostrate to the great mother Prajñāpāramitā, surrounded by all her children and by the assemblies of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions. By depending on my prostrations to all of you, may these words of truth be actualized. In the past, the deva king Indra dispelled the maras by reflecting on the profound meaning of the wisdom gone beyond and reciting the profound words in daily recitation. In the same way, I also reflect on the profound meaning of the great mother Prajñāpāramitā and recite the profound words in daily recitation. May all diseases, spirit possessions, bad conditions, all the negative directions, that which happens due to past karma and immediate conditions—may all of this be dispelled, may it become nonexistent, may it be pacified.
I and all surrounding sentient beings go for refuge to the Buddha, go for refuge to the Dharma, go for refuge to the Sangha. We prostrate to the great mother Prajñāpāramitā, surrounded by all her children and by the assemblies of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions. By depending on my prostrations to all of you, may these words of truth be actualized. In the past, the deva king Indra dispelled the maras by reflecting on the profound meaning of the wisdom gone beyond and reciting the profound words in daily recitation. In the same way, I also reflect on the profound meaning of the great mother Prajñāpāramitā and recite the profound words in daily recitation. May all diseases, spirit possessions, bad conditions, all the negative directions, that which happens due to past karma and immediate conditions—may all of this be dispelled, may it become nonexistent, may it be pacified.
End of the Heart Sūtra recitation. This is why I added this extra very powerful prayer for dispelling the obstacles. So here, I think it’s very good to recite this at the center as a group—it’s more powerful—or even individually when you’re at the hospital or at home. So here, you go for refuge to Guru, Buddha, Dharma, Sangha first, and then in the prayer you use the example of Indra: you meditate on the Prajñāpāramitā, the words and meanings—the profound meaning of the words and meanings of the Prajñāpāramitā—and then the obstacles are dispelled. So similarly here, as the disciples and the spiritual masters, by remembering and reflecting on the profound meaning of the Prajñāpāramitā as well as the words, the bad thoughts of human beings, non-human beings, bad thoughts and the violent, harmful actions are dispelled.
So here, what you can think or what is included is His Holiness the Dalai Lama. And then you see the center here, and yourself. So any obstacles you see that—the harms or obstacles to others—bad thoughts and harmful actions, a little bit Prajñāpāramitā. So I think first is His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who preserves the whole entirety of the Dharma—the Hīnayāna teachings and the Mahāyāna teachings of Sūtra and the Mahāyāna teaching of Vajrayāna Tantra. On this earth, in this world, since he is not—the Dalai Lama is the only one who preserves the whole entire Dharma revealed by Buddha, who takes full responsibility and spreads it and preserves it. So actually, because of his kindness, because of living in this world, the teaching of the Buddha is able to be preserved, able to spread from great teachers who have practiced, who had experience, who did extensive learning. From the whole day, whole life from a young time—from very young time they become monks in Tibet for many years and practiced study with many other learned ones, many thousands of learned ones among extensive listening, studying, and practice and having great experience. They’re able to teach many thousands, hundreds and thousands of monks and other beings. So able to produce qualified teachers from this among so many to teach, and they’re able to teach in many different parts of the world—even including just our own center, FPMT centers in different parts of the world. So many teachers from these monasteries are able to spread Buddhism in many different parts of the Western world. Amazing.
Just Australia, so many different parts of Australia, so many different parts of Spain and so many different parts of Western countries. For so many years. Anyway, just even FPMT, it’s just one organization, able to give so much freedom to sentient beings, to awaken their mind, bring the light of Dharma into their life, into their hearts and dispel the darkness of ignorance in their life, that which influences the life, which leads their life in the wrong way. To change that, to turn their life towards enlightenment, towards liberation, towards enlightenment—so that so many sentient beings are able to direct their life towards enlightenment in the West.
Those countries—in Tibetan it’s called “Nubchok Ling”—the land of the darkness of ignorance, the land of darkness. Not darkness of Western education, but darkness of Dharma, not darkness of Western education, technology or science. But the real light of Dharma is turning the life towards liberation, towards enlightenment, bringing light, turning the life towards liberation or enlightenment. So to give it that light, to turn towards that. Anyway, what is able to happen—even just this organization is able to give so much opportunity. So from each center there are many sentient beings through the years. So sentient beings are able to meet Dharma, able to learn, able to make their lives close to enlightenment, to liberation, sometimes close to enlightenment. Closer to enlightenment means more distant from saṃsāra. So anyway, unbelievable, unbelievable opportunity to learn the path, to hear extensively the teaching of Buddha—the philosophy and the Sūtra and Tantra and the essence, the heart. So unbelievable opportunities that make their lives meaningful. So this is due to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and all that. If it didn’t happen—coming out from Tibet—if they didn’t leave and this all doesn’t happen, doesn’t happen, including us. Including us meeting Dharma, it doesn’t happen. No way. No way. It’s impossible. No way to happen for us. And then all these great monasteries, not all the numbers of monks, teachings, special occasions, but even the other monks’ teachings wouldn’t happen—the institutions outside of Tibet and the continuity of elaborate study with the Buddhadharma, the pure Dharma. When they had to, that time it wouldn’t happen.
In the old times, when the Tibetans escaped from Tibet, you see, the Chinese government asked India’s prime minister, Nehru, to send the Tibetans back to Tibet. So then Nehru accepted—he was about to send the Tibetans back to Tibet. So then His Holiness requested to not send the Tibetans back to Tibet. So if that had happened, then you see, all these large monasteries and able to preserve—I mean start extensive learning with Dharma—all these monasteries, four traditions, especially I’m talking about the Gelug tradition—Ganden, Sera, Drepung—all these, all these wouldn’t—by now wouldn’t exist. And then able to send teachers, for example, here—obviously ABC—Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi coming here to teach, it wouldn’t happen. Geshe Chonyi wouldn’t be there. Instead of monastery planning extensive programs, it wouldn’t happen. That monastery wouldn’t exist there. If that happened to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru sending the Tibetans back, as the Chinese government asked. So it’s generally required. So including us, just very clearly, including us, we wouldn’t have met—we wouldn’t have learned Lamrim teaching, you see, we wouldn’t have Lamrim teaching. The heart, the base, the foundation of Tantra, the very heart of Buddhism, we wouldn’t have met it and it wouldn’t be understood by now. And we wouldn’t have an opportunity to practice now. All this understanding we wouldn’t have now, you see. And the mechanism that makes life really alive, the life really alive, the human life really meaningful alive, you see—like a car having petrol or a light having electricity, you see, that function. So like that, our human being, that level of function is really to benefit others—unbelievable extensive benefit. And then achieving enlightenment wouldn’t happen. So this is the great joy of life, what you can do with this human body. By understanding Paramita Dharma, what you can do is unbelievable. What you can achieve is unbelievable, unbelievable happiness. And what you can offer is so extensive, you see, to numberless sentient beings—not only happiness in this life, happiness in future lives, the ultimate happiness, permanent liberation from saṃsāra, ultimate happiness of enlightenment through them. Unbelievable what you can offer. So many ways you can benefit to others, so many ways you can benefit numberless sentient beings.
So our life wouldn’t be like this by now, obviously, if His Holiness didn’t come out of Tibet. And if he’s not still living in this world, or if his request to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru—I’m just giving a little of a story as a clarification, how it’s not just praise but it’s a real thing—to show how everything depends on this. Clearly, this is the route of all our happiness up to enlightenment. This life’s happiness up to enlightenment, everything. Us, including us, and also sentient beings—so they come from the teaching of the Buddha, or us—the happiness comes from the teaching of the Buddha. So the teaching of the Buddha existing in this world preserved completely and spread. So His Holiness is the main source, who preserves and spreads the complete Dharma. So there are many leaders of religions. If you’re just talking about Buddhism, many leaders—Mahāyāna, Mahāyāna Sūtra, Vajrayāna—and the four Tibetan Buddhism traditions. But there’s no other—others, like His Holiness—who takes full responsibility, who is able to preserve and spread extensively the Dharma there—the extensive Sūtra and extensive Tantra—so therefore the three classes of Tantra. So actually, Buddhadharma exists now in this world flourishing because of His Holiness. So extensively flourishing Sūtra and Tantra, that’s the complete Dharma. So therefore sentient beings in this world, including us, have unbelievable benefit today.
And then to learn continuously as much as one can, so much of what we can learn and put in and then integrate into the Lamrim, integrate into the heart—the Lamrim and the three principal aspects of the path—and then make it your own deity, integrate the path in the heart through Guru Yoga. So like that, integrating into this and able to achieve enlightenment. So able to take the essence, meaning of the life—meaning in your life—and bear such extensive benefit to sentient beings. So what I’m saying here, so this prayer is very important. We have responsibility to pray for His Holiness. We have great responsibility to pray for His Holiness, okay? So when we do protective prayers or whatever prayer, the very first thing—the very first thing—I say, one has family members and one has many, many things. But overall, the most important thing, including yourself and for sentient beings, is His Holiness the Dalai Lama—for a long life and his holy wishes to succeed. That’s the first thing. The very first thing to pray for is that. Whatever prayer you do, the protective prayer or whatever prayer you do, that’s the first thing to do. That’s the first thing, which helps everybody. It helps you. It helps yourself.
Can tell the story up to now. Up to now, the benefit of what you got, the learning—how much one has learned Dharma, or coming to the center such as ABC, like that, you see—have done that much practice, or you’ve done the best practices. And each time when you come to the center, you see, as mentioned on the board, whether reciting mantras or prostrations or the Thirty-five Buddhas’ names or the Vajrasattva, whatever—there are so many. By the Thirty-five Buddhas’ names just once, so many eons of negative karma are purified. Just reciting one time the name, one name—think, one of the Buddhas’ names. So many eons of negative karma are purified. And then the practices—the powerful Sukhāvati Buddha, it purifies by a certain name one time, it has power to purify one hundred thousand eons of negative karma. There’s that name just once. So then others, many, many eons of negative karma get purified. Just coming here, doing prostration or however you see, reciting. So whatever practice you do, it’s just unimaginable, unimaginable, unimaginable benefit what you get. Can you imagine? So I say, without Dharma, although it’s heavy negative karma, collectively—even one life, even one day’s negative karma, nothing you can do. You can’t purify. There’s nothing, you see. So only with Dharma—such like these practices—so many eons of negative karma get purified, just by such one name of those Buddhas. Imagine. So it makes life so easy, unbelievably easy. You don’t have to experience all those heavy sufferings in the lower realms or even in the human realm next time. These negative karmas—you’re born as a human being, experiencing so much, so many lifetimes with you suffering—so you don’t have to. They also get purified. So many years of negative karma get purified. Negative karma collective from beginningless time. So this is just—immediately going to the practices. This is without talking there are many other powerful things like self-initiation or many other things, many practices without talking about. Just immediately what you can do, who has—whatever has received initiation, no initiation, but you see—immediately you can take care by yourself doing these practices—what is led, what is done by the group at the center, you see. So incredible benefit you get, unbelievable benefit.
And doing prayer together, you see, is one hundred times more powerful than doing prayer alone in your own room, you see. There’s a big difference. Then Gyalwa Ensapa mentioned in the Tutor Transformation text, so doing prayer as a group has a lot of power. So if you’re doing some puja or some prayer or whatever, spiritual practice—whatever—so also doing it together has so much power. One hundred times more powerful than doing individually on your own pillow, on your own bed, in your own room, on your own cushion. So a huge difference in the past. So much power.
So what I was saying: up to now, we are alive up to now. So beginning, you want Dharma from the center, new to Dharma. So it was totally dark. Mind is like a dark room, like a world where there’s no—it’s a little bit like without sun, without moon, nothing, you see. So how does it turn to darkness? Like Greenland. Greenland, six months there is no light, right? So think about coming here or coming to the center to learn, to practice in the group. So far, how many years, you see? You’ve learned a lot and did a lot of purification, so many eons of negative karma purified. All these obstacles to achieve realization of the path to enlightenment—not to achieve liberation, enlightenment—so much purified. Extensive merits collected. Unbelievable extensive merits. Even when you—even at the beginning when you take refuge—at the very beginning of the practice when you take refuge, the merits of taking refuge, if it’s materialized, as it said, even the three realms or the three thousand great thousands or three thousand-fold universes—there, you see—so anyway, one universe, one entire universe, then count that one thousand, one thousand, three thousand—then like that, you see—again count that one thousand, like that one thousand—one thousand, two thousand, three thousand, that’s the second thousand. Then like that, one thousand, one thousand, two thousand, three thousand—so that’s a great one thousand or three thousand-fold universe. So anyway, in philosophy, if when you take refuge, the benefits, if it’s materialized—the benefits materialize even the great thousand or three thousand universes—it was filled, let’s say, even the sky. There is not sky. If the benefits of taking refuge, if it’s materialized, even this limitless sky is not enough. It’s small. Doesn’t fit, as it was saying. So that’s the very beginning of the practice, the refuge—benefit like that. Amazing. So very beginning.
As mentioned in the Lamrim, referring to not the sūtra—or mentioned in the Chanda Bhumi, the sūtra. However, something like the great one thousand or three thousand universes filled up with jewel—diamond, gold, silver, the seven jewels—totally full of Buddhas, okay? Filled with all the Buddhas. Can you see? As itself. First of all, the as itself. And how much merit you collect? Can’t imagine. So it is said in that sūtra—the Sūtra of the Piled Flowers. They mentioned that. So if you offer one tiny flower—you will offer one tiny flower—I mean, this is one flower. What it says, you will offer one flower to the stupa. Then you see how much benefit it contains to offer one flower to the stupa. Happiness, happiness. So here, just pay attention, just listen here, so that you get some idea, you see, in the daily life, why the offering’s practice—offering—is so important to the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. So you get some idea, you see, how it’s so important—the practice, the sevenfold practice offering or sevenfold practices—for to actualize the meditation on the path, Lamrim. This is part of the life to be successful, to have realization, complete the path to achieve enlightenment—how to be successful, you see. By you, you need to purify defilements and collect the necessary condition: merits. So the sevenfold practices are needed. So one of them—the first one is prostration, the second one is offering. So there, as mentioned, offering a flower to the stupa or to Bhagavan—what you experience is happiness, what you experience from beginningless rebirth. Happiness, what you experience from beginningless rebirth up to now. That much to be experienced in the future. Happiness—what you’ve experienced from beginningless rebirth until now. That much to be experienced in the future is unimaginable, unimaginable. You can imagine that. Just think that. That much what you experienced, happiness, to be experienced. That much to be experienced in the future. This is what you get, or this is what you get from that. So it’s immeasurable, unmeasurable, you see, like that. So now, on top of that, it doesn’t stop there. It doesn’t stop there.
On top of that, it’s achieving this: the state of liberation from the ocean of samsaric suffering and cause, karma and delusion, okay? This is liberation from the oceans of samsaric suffering—oceans of suffering of the hell beings, the hungry ghosts, oceans of suffering of animals, oceans of suffering of human beings, oceans of suffering of suras, oceans of suffering of asuras, oceans of suffering in saṃsāra, all that. So cessation of all that—total liberation forever, forever—and also ceasing the cause, karma and delusion, okay? Complete. So, but even though it is mentioned up to the nirvana in a solitary state, but it doesn’t stop there. It doesn’t stop there. Because why it doesn’t stop there is because such as offering to the—no question—but even the statue of a stupa, just even offering to a statue of Buddha, scripture of Buddha, stupa of Buddha, you see, just this. So here, I was talking about the stupa. As I mentioned also yesterday, immediately, even the motivation—not Dharma—but immediately these actions such as making offerings to the statues, to the scriptures of Buddha, immediately become cause to achieve enlightenment, because enlightenment is the highest success to say. So as mentioned in the sūtra, so the first sūtra, the Sūtra of Offerings. So whatever—then this whole object that has power, holy objects—even the motivation not Dharma, they immediately become cause of enlightenment. Cause of enlightenment—that appears to happen, the full enlightenment, cessation of all the cessation, even the subtle mistakes of mind, and completing all the realizations, okay? So that—so now, so that’s very commonly mentioned. Beginning of beginning of the Lamrim practice. So now it doesn’t stop there. Making flower offering to a stupa, you see. So you achieve this full enlightenment, bringing cessation, full enlightenment.
But it doesn’t stop there. So it doesn’t stop there. So what is on top of this, the benefit you get besides enlightenment yourself? Achieving enlightenment, okay, then you liberate numberless sentient beings—numberless hell beings, numberless hungry ghosts, numberless animals, numberless human beings, numberless suras, numberless asuras—from the oceans of samsaric suffering and cause, karma and delusion. So you, after being enlightened, you liberate numberless sentient beings from those realms, okay? So that’s just amazing, amazing, amazing what you can do. Amazing. So that—then it doesn’t stop there. On top of that, you bring numberless of those sentient beings, every single one, from those realms to full enlightenment, to full enlightenment. Then you, the one person, brought every single sentient being to enlightenment and there is nobody left in saṃsāra. At that time, only at that time, then your offering—one flower to the stupa is completed, only at that time. So like that, you see. So the reality is that. So one tiny flower, one very tiny flower, no matter how small the picture—picture drawing, picture of the deity—I mean the Buddha, no matter how small it is, no matter how big—statue or a drawing—or a stupa. So this is what you get. What you offer is a tiny flower or one grain of rice, you see. But what you get is all that. It’s unimaginable. Until you can enjoy the result—until you brought numberless sentient beings from the path, the Hīnayāna path, the Mahāyāna path, through enlightenment. And then there’s no sentient beings left—that even in saṃsāra. It’s all the cause of all that benefit, you see.
So this is the introduction. This is the introduction. First, what we should get the idea—what we should learn, should get a broader idea. So this is the experience of numberless Buddhas. Numberless Buddhas becoming enlightened is their experience, completion of this experience, okay? So what I’m telling now. So now here, you see, if you offer one plate of jewel, one plate of diamonds, the silver, or one plate of jewels to the Buddhas—can you imagine the benefits are much more than that one tiny—I was talking about one tiny flower, one grain of rice to offer to the one tiny picture of Buddha or statue of Buddha. I was talking about the benefit of what you get. Now, can you imagine if you put your plate—one plate full of jewels—you offer to Buddha? Can you imagine the merits? Unbelievable, much more greater. Can you imagine? So just now you moved, now this signal offering of jewels. So you can imagine that. So one grain of rice, one flower, one tiny flower—those tiny ones—have unbelievable benefit like this. Imagine how much merit you get when you’re quite—one plate of jewels. It’s a plate where you eat rice and where you eat the bowl, the big bowl of noodles, big bowl of fast food, fast noodles. Anyway, it doesn’t matter, big bowl of noodles. So you fill up with jewels and offer to Buddha. Can you imagine? So the merit is like one handful of earth and the rest of the earth. Big difference, you see. A handful of earth and then the rest of earth—kind of the difference in the size.
So now here, the same: one plate full of jewels you offer to Buddha compared to one grain of rice, okay? So now your house filled with jewels—your house filled with diamond, gold, silver—before and offer to Buddha. Can you imagine that merit? Mind-blowing, blowing the mind. Your house filled up with jewels offered to Buddha. So now the whole country like Singapore, you see, filled with jewel, big piles of jewels, offered to Buddha. Now you see—no way to fit our heart. I mean, to fit our mind. It’s like space. Karma can’t fit, cannot understand, can’t fit this. So like space—nothing to a karma also there. So now this world filled up with these big piles of jewels offered to Buddha. So now here we’re talking about galaxies or the three thousand galaxies or the great thousand or three thousand universes, you see, filled up with jewels you offer to Buddhas—Buddhas, okay? Not talking one Buddha, offering to Buddhas. So you can imagine.
So now next one or say, “For the sake of all beings, I must achieve enlightenment.” You put your palms together at your heart. For the sake of all sentient beings, I must achieve enlightenment. So just simply, generally, particularly like this. This one collects far more greater merit than—compared to this—then you see, a great thousand or three thousand, great thousand or three thousand universes filled with jewels offered to Buddhas. All this merit becomes small compared to this one. This one quite far more great merit. Understand? So therefore, far more greater than the previous one. So you see, as you can understand, if you analyze like this, so you can understand, you see, how it’s unbelievable. So every time when we sit from the center, you begin to practice teachings or begin practice Buddhism, at the beginning—so you see, from very beginning, after you sat down, how much merit you collected? It’s mind-blowing. Just from very beginning, the Jorcho, Bodhichitta, you see.
I might have mentioned also in the past. However, the Mudra Sūtra—developing the power of devotion. There is mentioned by Buddha that just to see—somebody merely seeing a drawing of Buddha or a form of Buddha, the statue—creates receives greater numberless greater merit than somebody offering every day one hundred thousand of divine food or a thousand food, okay? One hundred thousand food. Then one hundred thousand dresses. So you offer that many every day. I think it must be for eons. So I don’t remember how many eons—one hundred or one hundred eons or one thousand eons, don’t remember. However, eons, to whom? To the Arhats. So I think somebody must have remembered by my talking offerings. To the Arhat—not one Arhat—how many Arhats? Equaling the number of atoms of the universe. How many Arhats? Equaling the number of atoms of the universe, okay? So unbelievable. Wow. Can you imagine atoms of the universe, can you imagine? Offering every day that many to Arhats—Arhats the equivalent number of atoms of universes, okay? So many days—it sounds unbelievable. So here, it’s talking about somebody who did that, you see. Then somebody who just merely seeing a statue of Buddha or the drawing of Buddha—just merely seeing this—one collects numberless great merit. Then, so you see, then the other one—so the compared to—so the other one is serving unbelievable offering to just one Arhat. That merit is just unbelievable. But now here, after equaling the number of atoms of universes, okay? Every day, one hundred thousand food, one hundred thousand dresses, okay? So all that compared to this last one—somebody who just merely seeing a statue Buddha or drawing Buddha, you see—so all those others become small, merits become—it sounds unbelievable. But compared to this, it’s very small. This one is unbelievable. Numberless greater collected. One collects just when you see the statue of Buddha, painting, drawing Buddha.
So as I mentioned in the past, so there’s somebody who’s very poor, extremely poor. So now to get some to get a more clear understanding about this, the offering to Arhat—that’s just even just one Arhat. The karma, good karma—so as I mentioned in teaching this—so somebody who’s very poor offered, I think, some medicinal drink, something—shing-kun, champa. So not with that question, but maybe some food is here, medicine, drink or some food. So offered to a poor monk. Doesn’t say that the monk is—or a monk who has wisdom directly perceiving emptiness—doesn’t say, just a poor monk. So a poor person, then they just offered this to a poor monk, on foot to the poor monk. So you see the next life. Next life, this person was born in India as the most powerful king—King Kanishka—most powerful, most wealthy, most powerful, wealthy king. Next life. You see, that karma was just offering small food to a poor monk. That’s it. That’s it. So because karmas are expandable or even the virtue is very small, but the result is so big. So results of it. And then in reverse, also. So therefore, you see, results next time. The person was born as a very powerful king. So, therefore, now so like this—next life, unimaginable, you see, unimaginable for that.
So therefore now here, you see, I mean, not just one. This is talking about Arhats. Who completed the five paths, liberation and liberated from the ocean of samsaric suffering and cause, and cause, karma and delusion. Here. So that equaling atoms of the universe, every day offering hundreds of thousands of food—nectars—you see, and then hundreds of thousands of dress. Let me see that. So that means unbelievable. So when one divine earring or necklace, even the whole human beings’ wealth put together is not enough to—is not enough to cover the price of the one necklace of a deva. You see, can’t get to see—even a whole human’s wealth is not enough for one necklace of a deva. So now here, I mean, that necklace, but just you can get some idea—one hundred thousand deva’s dress. So this is something unbelievable—expensive, the price. So you offer every day to that many Arhats. Can you imagine? So that previous karma, you offered one food to a poor monk and next life unbelievable, King Kanishka, powerful king, most wealthy. So now here, can you imagine what the result would be? What the result would be—every day one hundred thousand food, one hundred thousand dress to offer that many Arhats every day. Can you imagine? And for eons.
So now here, just you see, somebody merely seeing statue Buddha or drawing Buddha by eye, you see, collected numberless, created merit. So all those other merits compared to this is pretty small. Can you imagine? So then it says there, it says that now if you prostrate—now it’s much more than that. You prostrate, make flower offering, incense offering, and so forth, you see, to the statue of Buddha. So if you do this in person like this or make flower offering or the incense offering—now you have numberless greater merit than merely seeing the statue of Buddha or a drawing of Buddha. You see, here, next one—prostrate or flower or incense. Now, numberless greater merit than the one before—seeing a statue of Buddha or drawing of Buddha, okay? So that’s amazing. So now by understanding this subject of karma, you can now you can realize how you are so fortunate, having met Buddhadharma, because you have met Buddhadharma this life. So far, that unbelievable, unbelievable fortunate to see that—originating to Buddha, Dharma, Sangha. The life becomes—can you imagine—the life by having a bit of Dharma or because of a bit of Dharma, life becomes unbelievable. Easy is everything like that. You see, to achieve any happiness you wish—any success, any happiness you wish—not only happiness in future lives, not only the present, even to achieve enlightenment. It’s been so easy. So easy to create the cause, you see that. So why I got stuck into this talk? Why I got stuck into this talk?
So as I said, we’re talking about how everything depends on the root of our happiness. This life, happiness, future life, liberation, and enlightenment. And you cause all this happiness to others—happiness of this life to other beings, happiness in future lives to other beings, liberation from saṃsāra to other beings. And you cause enlightenment to others. Or how it’s dependent to His Holiness the Dalai Lama—comes from his kindness. So what I was saying before: up to now, since we met—up to now, since we met Buddhadharma, up to now, all this amazing. You can see now even just with this explanation, you realize how you’re so fortunate, unbelievable fortunate, most fortunate. It becomes unbelievably easy to overcome suffering, to achieve liberation.
So since we have met Dharma up to now, so this unbelievable opportunity—so far what we practiced, closer to enlightenment, closer to liberation, closer to enlightenment. Enlightenment, all that from that. I was saying the first—the very first thing is His Holiness, then center, and yourself. So this prayer, you see, so remember sometimes the prayer for obstacles. That center here where you learn Dharma, the center where who supports, who helps you to practice—the center is an organization who helps you, who creates a condition to understand Dharma or understand the path to get out of suffering, to be liberated yourself from suffering and to achieve enlightenment. Organization who helps you, who creates a condition. So they have arranged practices, whether there’s statues, the scriptures, that makes—it makes impossible easy to purify negative karma. Just you open—just you open your eyes, you’re sitting on a cushion—every time when you come to the center, you see. I mean, I’m saying including that, even just from that, benefits on the immeasurable. Bringing to the path to enlightenment. You see, bringing to enlightenment, you see. So that is it. Who helps to learn Dharma, protects your life—from going to saṃsāra towards the end, towards liberation, towards enlightenment—protects you from saṃsāra, leads it towards liberation, enlightenment, brings you direct. So like that.
So therefore, we need to pray for the obstacles—as well as ourselves. The most important prayer is to attain the path to enlightenment. That’s the most important. So otherwise, if you don’t attain the path of enlightenment, if you live continuously in saṃsāra, it’s only suffering. It’s only suffering. Life is only suffering. All this pleasure we receive—samsaric pleasure, all this pleasure we receive—samsaric pleasure, comfort. All this we receive by the kindness of sentient beings. One is by shelter. So as I mentioned in the past, see, shelter—when the house is built—so many sentient beings had died, had to be killed—ants and worms and so many sentient beings in the ground, on the ground, in the ground have to be killed and die. And somehow, there are other sentient beings who are working have to experience karma—so that, you see. So many sentient beings died, they suffered and others experienced karma. So that’s how the shelter happened. That’s how you receive your protection for your life and comfort and all that. So you see, and then food. So as I often mention, for this one rice, numberless sentient beings have to suffer to receive this one rice from the field. Of course, all those people and having the machine or, I would say, animal, machine ploughing the land—in Nepal and those other places in India, some use machine, but many use animals and in a very hot sun. And then ploughing the land, the animals, the people suffer, unbelievable. So anyway, even doing machine, but there are so many mice, many ants, worms, so many of them killed. So the first of all, there’s forests. Forests have to burn, trees have to burn to have a field to grow food. So that is it. So basically they die—they are harmed and killed. So like that, so this is how you get the food. And it’s not just for one rice. You don’t do all that for just for this one rice. Many rice, you see. So what I’m saying is—so you see—now you see, so this one plate of rice, okay? This one rice came from another rice, that come from another rice, that come from another rice—so how many thousands of years ago since the rice happened in this world. Can you imagine how many thousands of years ago since this rice lineage of rice is this? This one rice, this one comes from another rice, nothing like, you see—if you think about, what do you call it? Not generation. Evolution. Evolution. Evolution. So you can see now how many sentient beings suffered. Numberless sentient beings suffered for this, died for this, others in the middle of this food.
Can you just for just the rice, just evolution of one rice, you can imagine numberless—and that means like some of them die, are killed, harmed, others suffer. So now, so this whole plate of rice, every rice is like that. Can you imagine? Numberless sentient beings suffering, dying. And then they are killed and harmed, others have to suffer. So for this rice, this lineage of rice, the evolution of this rice, okay? So then can you imagine—so then you finally, you eat this, then you survive your life. You survive your life by eating this. And you get comfort. You get comfort from that. You will survive your life. Amazing, you see. So like this, being in saṃsāra, that’s it. You see? If you don’t attain the path, if you don’t meditate, if you don’t learn Dharma, you don’t attain the path, if you don’t cease the cause of suffering—delusion, karma—so constantly I have to suffer in saṃsāra, as one has been suffering. As one has been suffering from beginningless rebirth in saṃsāra. So it’s because we don’t have—we neither have omniscience nor clairvoyance. They are not sentient beings. Even though clairvoyance, they can remember past lives, can see future lives, can remember past hundreds and thousands, even one past life. Even just life before, they can’t remember. So imagine, can’t remember one hundred thousand beginningless—but some sentient beings can’t remember. And then what we experienced in sentient beings is also samsaric suffering. It doesn’t say they can’t see the future, so it doesn’t seem like—so you see, you think “I want this life” and that’s it. Think “I want this life.”
So anyway, but it must be dinner time now. About now? Okay. Okay. So like this, how much they have to suffer for your life, for your health, for your—I mean, for your survival—some sentient beings in the world suffer. They have died. Like that. So then also clothing—not the same. There are many things to say. What we wear comes from animals, their skins or whatever, hairs or silk—all the silk dress. They had to burn in the—they had to put in the hot—burn in hot water and then it comes from silkworms. So but sentient beings are suffering. So however, some sentient beings suffer for this—even the dresses that we get comfort with, their protection. So if you think the evolution, it’s going up there, it’s going to come—going to—it’s up there. If you up there, you think evolution is going—unbelievable. So this how we live life, survive—survive life. We get comfort like that. So very unbearable, the—if you don’t practice Dharma, the life, if you don’t practice Dharma, don’t learn Dharma, don’t practice Dharma. If we don’t pray, we have the necessary prayer to have realization of the path to enlightenment, at least even the path to liberation. If we don’t do that, if we don’t do that, it looks like that. So longer we’re in saṃsāra, for happiness, that. So it’s very unimaginable, unbearable.
So they will—so to have realization of the renunciation—without renunciation, we can’t reach the liberation. So without the realization of emptiness, you see, there’s no antidote to saṃsāra. You see, cannot stop suffering of saṃsāra. There’s no antidote to the root of saṃsāra—the ignorance. We can eliminate that without the realization of emptiness. So that—also saṃsāra. What have relationship to bodhichitta? Can we achieve enlightenment? None of that. Then your actions—actions of body, speech, mind—eating, walking, sitting, sleeping, many hours of doing job—all this doesn’t bring cause to achieve enlightenment, doesn’t bring cause to achieve liberation from saṃsāra, doesn’t become antidote to saṃsāra, I would say, the root of saṃsāra, the ignorance and that’s antidote to that. So it becomes the cost of saṃsāra. That is it. Not even the Hīnayāna path. Like so the good version—the whole path to liberate numberless sentient beings from the ocean of saṃsāra and suffering, bring to enlightenment. The very root to make everything successful is the good version.
We will continue at seven-thirty.