Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 51-minute empowerment, Kyabje Rinpoche uses a striking analogy—a skilled doctor is useless if you never visit the hospital or take prescribed medicine—to explain why both Buddha’s compassion and sincere human effort are essential to practice. He opens with preparatory practices to remove obstacles, establishes why this moment in human rebirth is precious and suitable for authentic practice, and describes how the seven Medicine Buddhas developed compassion for suffering beings in this degenerate age. Before the empowerment itself, he teaches the critical point: your motivation must not seek personal relief alone, but be set on attaining the state of Medicine Buddha in order to liberate all beings. He then guides the visualization of the mandala with seven Medicine Buddhas and leads the audience through the ritual: mandala offerings, three supplication prayers, and the seven-limb prayers. For practitioners ready to receive empowerment.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1999-11-28 – 1A – Empowerment B – KR.mp3
UUID: 1cc930e8-2859-4a0a-a19d-9db8c3662c26
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Medicine Buddha
Date: 1999-11-28
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~1,745
Yeah. That energy. That So, to do practices here, this practice is a very perform perform practices due to that they have hindrances or obstacles we encounter during the practices. So, in order to avoid all the hindrances and obstacles we make here, we request prayers towards the Mahākāla deity to get rid of all our obstacles, as well as we send the torma or spiritual cake towards those evil spirits who causes harm harm in our practices, and we give we give a torma, spiritual cake to those evil spirits by requesting them to leave the sacred or the practice ground. So we’ll do the Mahākāla puja.
Master Śāntideva has stated that at this stage we have attained or obtained this precious human rebirth with having 18 qualities, the eight leisures and the 10 endowments. And not only we have attained this precious human rebirth, we also are free from all the obstacles and life busyness, and we have time and also have attained this rebirth through rebirth through this, one can overcome all the sufferings and attain the the all the good qualities or happiness. And also, we have obtained both the external and internal conditions to practice. So our wish is to attain the ultimate happiness without any sufferings. And in order to achieve that, to achieve that wishes, or achieve those wishes, through what skillful means one obtains or complete one’s wishes, it is only done by familiarizing oneself with the practices or the Dharma by listening, contemplating, and meditate and meditation.
And the Master also said that having all these opportunities and conducive conditions, if one still lacks putting effort in practicing Dharma and let mind wander, then wastes waste all the good opportunity. So, one does this, then there is no such greater fool than doing this. So, in order to achieve that happiness without suffering, one should be one one should not have any obstacles from the external hindrances from the element as well as internal, one must not have any problems with one’s health. Because if one has the problems of of those external and internal obstacles, then it is one has or one face be difficult to achieve that happiness without suffering. Especially in this time or this era of the time of degeneration, we have the to both the internal and external hindrances or obstacles are increasing.
So these seven Buddhas, from the beginning, they have motivated, developed a motivation to free those sentient beings from all the sufferings and the diseases. Specially they have motivated for the beings in, beings of the degenerated time because they have greater sufferings and more illness or diseases. So as they have attained enlightenment by focusing to help the beings of, you know, focusing to motivated to benefit the sentient beings. And so, as they have motivated to help sentient beings, and on our side, by making prayers doing the making prayers towards the medicine Buddhas. And by doing this, both their wishes and our requests met.
And through the power of that, that we can receive the blessings from the medicine Buddhas, receive the blessings of the Medicine Buddhas. And due to this, can, by this, we can overcome all the external and internal hindrances or obstacles, and and we’ll able to perfect or accomplish one’s practices. So, all those medicine Buddhas, from the beginning, in order help those suffering sentient beings in future, they have first developed the altruism or the bodhicitta, and by this they’ve done the practices of six paramitas and six Perfections, and through this they were able to abandon all their negativities and complete their wishes. So, they have qualified or accomplished everything what need from their part. So if we, on our part, make the supplication prayers, supplication prayers, well as perform the practices in proper, perform the practices properly, then it is it becomes then their their wishes and our request or our our wishes met, like met, and it becomes like the the ring of the ring of faith has been touched by the hook of Buddha’s mind, or the Buddha’s.
If so, and then through this one can overcome one’s diseases, suffering, and so forth. And if one lacks making supplication prayers, putting, or doing practices, then that becomes like lacking one part. The things which are to be done from the Buddhist part has been presented there, but we lacks from, but we lacks the practices from our part. And that, and, and, and, and, but if one lacks doing practices, then one will not able to overcome all one’s suffering or one cannot accomplish one’s wishes. It is it is like in order to make a sound, one has to clap both hands just by waving one hand or one palm.
It doesn’t it doesn’t make any sound. So so which shows that the the the making supplication prayers and practicing is very crucial or important. So it is it is it is like, for example, we we the the people, the doctors, they study and they’re complete their studies and want to, and their motivation is to help the sick people or the sick people and have set up the hospitals and so forth. But if they in their stays in the hospital waiting or expecting or waiting for the patients, and on your part you get fall sick, but you don’t go to the hospital, then there’s no help that the doctor can provide. Because, so, no, so it is like that.
So, by going to the doctor and to the hospital saying doctor and through this taking and taking his prescriptions, one recovers from one illness or one disease. So, without going there, never will it be cured. So the example is like that. So, no matter how good doctor or qualified or good doctor is or she is and no matter how good medicines they have, if you do not, if you don’t go there, then there’s no help of doctors as well as for medicines. So, today, we are giving empowerment of Medicine Buddha, which is like giving you instructions and to the permission to practices the the the yeah, practices the practice of Medicine Buddha.
And by receiving this and and you and if you put and you put this into practices, then it will help you to overcome one’s hindrances of the body as well as one’s mind. So, to give the empowerment, there are two things. One thing, activities by the guru and activities should be done by the disciples. So, the activities from my side, the guru’s part has been performed this morning that the like, they’re generating self-generation visualizations, consecrating vows, and requesting the Medicine Buddhas on the on on students’ behalf, so forth. And now, your part, they are first to taking cleanse, the water, the mouthwash, the water you have done that, you have taken that water before you enter the teaching.
Now, it’s the time to make the mandala offering. So, do the mandala offerings. The, in front of you, guru has already visualized or generated him into the medicine Buddha. So, in front of you, visualize the guru who is medicine Buddha and and and the mandala at his right, which is on the table, on top of the mandala, is visualized seven Medicine Buddhas. The main Medicine Buddha is in the middle and three at the left and three at the right.
And in front of that, in front of those seven in the in in the front of medicine Buddhas sits towards the right and left sit the Bodhisattvas. At the left is a Bodhisattva radiant, white radiant as a moon, and at the right is a Bodhisattva radiant as a sun. And upon and and and and in the front space, visualize all the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, the arhats, and so forth. And and visualize around and and visualize that you yourself you are surrounded by all those motherly sentient beings. So, the initiation here we’re giving is according to the Rinjung Gyatsa.
And so, the Medicine Buddha mandala of Rinjung Gyatsa is being visualized with Buddhas. The main one is in the middle and others are three on the left and three on the right. The mandala of the medicine mandala of the Sukha Gyatsa is a bit slightly different than the Rinjung Gyatsa. And the mandala or visualization of the medicine Buddha of Sukha Gyatsa is that there are three main Buddha three main Medicine Buddhas. Medicine Buddhas are in the middle, and then four are in the four directions.
So before you receive the empowerment, one should set up your set up a proper motivation and should not develop the motivation just to overcome the suffering and the diseases of this lifetime. And also should not be on just to take, achieve a human rebirth in next life, and also should not take these practices just to liberate oneself. One should rather develop a motivation, a motivation that in order to liberate both one self and others and bring them, free them from all the entire sufferings and bring them bring them towards the state of ultimate happiness, I should attain the state of medicine Buddha. And for that for for that purpose, I shall here receive this empowerment of Medicine Buddhas. So having developed this motivation, now here one offers the requesting mandala to give the empowerment.
And imagine that along with the mandala one offers all one’s possessions, one’s bodies yeah, one’s body possessions and so forth. Else? Yeah, long mandala. It’s in the narrow book. So, here, now is the time to make a supplication or request to Lama who is inseparable from Medicine Buddha, to grant the the empowerment, and you need to make this supplication three times.
And now, here, here you fold your hands together and repeat the supplication request prayers. It’s a really long one. So, and then say da, which is I, and if you have your refuge name or Dharma name, and repeat I, da in your name. So we have done the three repetition three we started the supplication prayers three times. Now it is the time to do the seven-limb prayers, which is in the maroon book.
That’s the mandala. Mandala. Yeah. It’s called seven-limb prayers. What which what?
Page number? One. Page one.