Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 21-minute teaching, Lama Zopa Rinpoche introduces Guru Puja by asking practitioners to recognize their spiritual teacher as inseparable from Śākyamūni Buddha. He then outlines the dual purpose of the practice: purifying negative actions and karma — ranging from destructive thoughts like suicide or harming others to subtle forms like showing an unkind face — and accumulating merit through offerings of flowers, light, incense, and devotion. Rinpoche emphasizes how in times of economic hardship and widespread suffering, consistent merit-making over years or decades becomes crucial; he cautions against expecting overnight transformation and urges practitioners to use this period to rebuild their depleted spiritual reserves. He concludes by welcoming practitioners to chant in Tibetan or read English translations, with freedom to leave if needed.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 03 Guru Puja.mp3
UUID: dc2a3d15-1433-42a0-9023-cc9fcd678804
Teacher: Lama Zopa Rinpoche 3
Collection: Puja Tune (Lama Zopa Rinpoche 3)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 20.8 minutes
Words: ~1,347
Do you have any teachers that to whom that you already established Dharma connection, such as receive empowerment, initiations, or receive commentaries, the explanation on the graduated path, explanation on on different aspect of Buddha’s teaching, or or if you have received refuge vows or any other lay vows or bodhisattva vows or you have received, like, oral transmissions. So with that, if you have established if you if you regarded somebody as your spiritual teacher, spiritual friend, then try to see Śākyamūni Buddha is no different than your spiritual teacher. Śākyamūni Buddha is oneness with your spiritual teacher. Then that Śākyamūni Buddha, to that your spiritual friend or spiritual guru who is embodiment of all the other Buddhas, then in order for you to accumulate extensive positive energy, extensive virtue, extensive good causes to bring happiness to you this life as well as future lifetimes until the everlasting happiness which Buddha which which which you can achieve in Buddha’s Pure Land. You know?
So and at the same time, to purify at the same time to purify past wrongdoings, past mistakes, to purify the past mistakes, past wrongdoings, wrong thinking, harmful thinking to oneself including the thinking of suicide, thinking of giving up life including that is negative emotion. Sometimes human being thinks that negative means it’s a harmful thought for others. Harmful thought for yourself, you regard it as something is not necessary to be purified. Maybe some people don’t even regard that as negative. But as long as you have a mind to torture your body, mind to torture yourself, such as to give up the life, yes, including total suicide, you know, when business goes wrong, when family have a problem, then immediately say, I want to give up my life.
Including that is negative karma, negative action. It has the power to bring more suffering, continuous suffering. Including that, the negative intention, negative actions like wishing or including having one moment of thought that I want to destroy other, I want to destroy the peace of other. I want to create rumors of wrong actions of others. I want to create all sort of wrong speech, criticisms, including taking the life of other.
So all those are the wrongdoings, including like showing very, very long face to others, you know, like when you see friends around, you know, instead of be respectful and be kind and show very long face, you know, the the this one. What do call this? Normally, it’s about this much, but that day, you know, this one become like a very heavy negative karma. Unbelievable heavy negative. Unbelievable heavy negative karma showing long face to other.
Unbelievable. You know how much that can disturb yourself and how much that that can destroy the peace in others surrounding around you. Unbelievable. Know the negative karma is you can imagine you know you can imagine so therefore all this need to be purified otherwise you keep continue and the long face will become really long face, you know. Keep continuing, then you never have a chance to smile even for a moment.
Don’t talk about smiling to others but never have even a chance to smile for yourself. You know, so it’s how to say it? So the most powerful object that where you can purify all these wrongdoings, negative karmas is Guru, Guru Śākyamūni Buddha, you know, who is no different than your spiritual friend, spiritual guide. And in order to actualize both purification of wrongdoings and accumulation of the good causes for the happiness, they make offerings. Offering of flowers offering of light offering of mandala offering you know offering of incense offering of devotion all the good thoughts you know so so you offer so this is about Guru Puja so this is all about Guru Puja so if you if we practice like this and Guru will be pleased.
Puja means offering or pleasing the Guru So if we act that way, guru will be pleased. You know, otherwise, guru guru always concern us, concern our happiness. But we all the time how much Guru teach us? But we all the time do the wrong thing. We all the time, you know, stay unhappy.
All the time don’t know how to transform our problems into path. Then Guru kind of like, you know, like guru feels tired. Guru will feel like like, how come, you know, that the the Dharma pupils are, like, never never learn. You know? So then guru will feel sad.
Then heavy negative karma again, you see, heavy negative karma, you know, so you see. So Guru Puja is so powerful that you will accumulate very, very powerful, extensive merit, especially today’s time, world economic, very bad. You know? So many people suffer, you know, losing job, you know, like like tearing tearing away the bread, you know, like almost peeling out the skin like that. It’s so painful.
So you see? So we create the cause till we suffer now. You know? So now awake, try to understand and use dharma to this time, spend more time in dharma and try to create more merit. So by next year maybe it will be better, maybe end of this year will be better.
But if we just put aside next year all economic go up, your economic still will be go down. No. All economic will go up, but once on individual economic will still continue to degenerate because because what we are experiencing now is exhaustion of merit. Exhaustion of merit. Most of the economic disaster for the individual is exhaustion of individuals merit.
Exhaustion, you know, we have used up all the merit. We did bang in quite a lump sum from the past lifetime, but for the past thirty years, we just used it and never, never add up, never earn even one percentage. And the moment completely empty bank, you know, then then now to recover. I cannot hope that the whole day doing Mandala tomorrow will change your life. Not possible.
Don’t run to the cave, come back next week. Not possible. It is too it’s it’s kind of like when when when too I would say, the crisis when the crisis of the exhaustion of our merit went too too extensive. You see? So we are in we are not not not getting to that serious matter.
We are still okay. We still have a job, you know, even though maybe the pain becomes slightly lesser, never mind. We still have a job. We still have, you know, things are not that bad compared to many others. See?
So while having while having while we are in this this stage, we keep accumulate the merit maybe at least one year or five years or maybe ten years. I will hope maybe about twenty years later will be slightly better, you know. I will not hope tomorrow because my that’s the usage what I know that how much I use my merit is too much. So I will not expect next year my life will be perfect. But I will hope at least twenty years time I will be okay.
You know but in many of our case why not maybe end of this year will be alright maybe at least by next year will be alright you see so therefore I just want to share so rejoicing that we all are here rejoice yourself Feel how fortunate, feel happy yourself. Know, like that. Thank you. So some of the, you know, the prayers might might do in Tibetan. So if you if you cannot if you don’t understand and if you feel rather to read the English translation then you can read the English translation.
But if you want to participate the chanting of the tune then you can participate in Tibetan. So just feel free. At the end if Puja takes too long and if you have any other appointments, you know, you should feel free to leave anytime. Okay? Yeah.
Thank you. .