Preliminary Practices

Preliminary Practices (Khensur Rinpoche)

Preliminary Practices

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Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.

About this talk. In this 48-minute talk from January 1989, Kyabje Rinpoche teaches mandala offering, the cornerstone merit-accumulation practice for Chenrezig preliminary instruction. He begins by establishing why the teaching matters—we have precious human freedom and the power to direct our next rebirth through conduct. The bulk of the teaching focuses on mandala offering itself: the visualization (a lotus base supporting a celestial mansion with lama and deities), the three essential attributes (recognizing benefits, understanding shortcomings if omitted, practicing correctly), and the different heap configurations in different traditions—37 heaps in the classical system or 23 in the Tsongkhapa school. Toward the end, he shifts into Buddhist cosmology, explaining how different realms of beings perceive the same reality according to their karma.

For the sake of all sentient beings equal to the extent of the space, I must attain the supreme, perfect, and complete state of Buddhahood for which purpose I listen to the profound great vehicle teaching. So it is important that one must have such motivation and one must have perfect conduct. The great master has said now when the time we have freedom and everything is in agreement, if we don’t hold it, then once we fall down, who else will lift us up? So the first line, the part which says, while the time when we have freedom, so this freedom refers to our very precious human body which is with only 18 qualities, the quality of leisure and quality of endowment or quality of freedom. There are two destinations where we are destined to go.

One is to the higher rebirth, the happy migration, and the other is to the bad rebirth, what is called the bad migration. And these two are the possible definite destination. And it is up to us at this moment that we have the complete freedom whether how we determine our next rebirth. Therefore, it is called we have freedom. We are at present on the intersection of two roads.

Now it is up to us whether we choose to go to the good river, the happy migration, or we choose to fall down to the bad river, the bad migration. So we have this freedom whether how we determine our next rebirth. Therefore, the very phrase in that line is meaningful when it says that now when we have our freedom. What determines to go to good rebirth and what determines to fall down to bad rebirth is dependent on one’s conduct of body and speech. If one does want conduct of body and speech good, then this will lead one to a happy migration, good rebirth.

Whereas if one conduct of body and speech are bad, then this will lead to fall down to bad rebirth. And once we have our conduct, subordinate, speech gone wrong, then we will fall down to the bad migration. And once we will fall down into the bad migration, it will be of intense suffering and it will be for a long endless duration of experiences. And it is in continuation to that quotation. It is explained, therefore, once we are falling down, nobody else will lift us up.

We have to leave aside the bad conduct of body and speech, and we have to try to do good conduct of body and speech. And from where the good conduct, the body and speech will come, they will come from good mind. And where does good mind come from? Good mind come mainly when one has generated the good mind like the renunciation thought, like the great bodhicitta thought, and like the renunciation, like the correct view thought. And with these as the main motivation behind a person’s action, whatever he does to body and speech will be very meaningful and the person will very soon attain Buddhahood.

In order to have such good mind or good thoughts of renunciation, bodhicitta and correct view, what we need is we need to accumulate good amount of merit. So here comes the importance of accumulating merit. And normally, there are so many different means by which one can accumulate merit. One of them is the one of them is through offering mandala. Therefore, here, now the explanation will be about mandala offering.

In the 50 Verses of Guru Devotion, it has been said that to one lama, one should offer three times in in three times, one should offer to one’s lama, the the round the round globe literally. So, this means that one should offer to one teacher especially the teacher who are in the aspect of one’s own lama, in the lama aspect. And one should offer the round globe which here means mandala. Once you offer mandala three times a day. With regard to the Mandala offering, it should be complete with three qualities.

The way with mandala offering, it should be complete with three qualities or three attributes. One should think about the cost benefits of offering. One should think about the shortcomings of not offering and one should think about the proper way of offering about benefits of offering the mandala that has been explained a lot about it in the sutras and in the tantras. Anyway, to explain it in brief, it is explained that mandala offering comprises the practice of all six perfection. How it comprise all the six perfections is because with the mandala base, it has explained that one should apply it with the scented spanning substances and this should be done at least once a year if not at least every month and if not once a year.

So the duration how it is applied has been recommended in various ways. So this way applying becomes the practice of generosity. And then making it in a proper arrangement without any unevenness, without unevenness that has been explained as the practice of morality. And when while doing the offering, if some animals or living beings happen to come in to the mandala, then one tries to tries to put aside the animals or insects. So that very practice while doing the mandala offering is explained as the practice of patience.

To to ask you practice of diligence, practice of joyful effort. And then being the mind being single pointedly abiding on the mandala, staying on the mandala without distraction has been explained as the practice of concentration. And being able to know and being able to arrange the heaps, each of the heaps are unmistakenly in the proper places has been explained as the practice of wisdom. And it has been explained in the beginning before one makes the offering of mandala, one should have the motivation of of bodhicitta, altruistic mind aspiring for enlightenment. So that should be in the beginning.

And in the process, in the middle, in the process of offering, one should have the awareness of thinking that this very act of the offering everything is in truth non existent. So that becomes the ultimate bodhicitta. Therefore, it has been explained one should have both the bodhicitta complete while doing this offering. So, through these two means and the six perfections practice, it is explained that one will attain the two supreme bodies of Buddha, the body of truth, Dharmakāya, and body of form With regard to the size of the mandala in the scriptures, there has been quite large because it has been explained about this one. Two.

One. No. It’s about that size. And this that seems quite big. It could be because when Lama Tsongkhapa was doing his mandala offering in a place called Varka Choling, that time Lama Tsongkhapa was offering mandala of his stone and the base and the side each angle of the mandala would comprise about four fingers which is about eight inches.

So anyway when he was talking that, it was explained that whatever amount of the particles are covered by that size of the mandala till down to the base, golden base. All are number of particles equal to that number of particles one accumulate merit. So when one does the offering, as much big one has visualized, that much the merit will be equal equally accumulated. So this can be understood when we put our logic through that example. So these are the benefits of offering and now the shortcomings or the disadvantages in not offering the mandala, it is if we don’t offer then we transgress what is called pombha, the root transgression.

Suppose in the mantra practices, once one has attained empowerment, one should offer to one Vajra master three times a day a mandala offering. And if one misses offering the mandala in the morning, then that is becoming transgression of the pombha, the root transgression. And if one misses the daytime offering, then that also is another gross transgression. So these are just in brief the disadvantages of not offering and there will not be much more further explanation. We now come to the proper way of proper way of offering the mandala.

It is best through this one should first know that how one should offer the mandala and how one should have the perfect visualization. And knowing this, the perfect manner of visualization and so forth, knowing this if one offer, then it can be very meaningful. So with regard to the way of offering way of offering, it will be explained after basically the term mandala is the Sanskrit word and when it is translated into Tibetan, it is translated as and this, according to the original Indian word, has the meaning means the essence, and means taking. So mandala has the sense meaning taking the essence. Because this practice is accumulating vast, vast amount of virtue, therefore it can be called by the term taking the essence.

Accordance to the four kinds of the actions, peaceful actions, increasing actions, controlling actions and wrathful actions. So for peaceful actions it hasn’t explained the shape being round and for the increase it being square and for the wrathful being triangular. So in short, it is important to know what are the different shapes related with different kinds of actions. There are different man different manners by which one can offer the mandala and one we can offer one we can offer is in accordance to the bodhisattva’s way of life. In accordance to that, one can visualize the ground earth being very equal, being very even and very perfect with all the with all the ornaments and so forth.

And on top of that one visualized different flowers and on top of that one visualized different offering goddesses so one can visualize that they are making the mandala offering. And also the other way one can visualize or one can do the offering is one visualize from PAM syllables emitting or PAM syllable transforming into a lotus. And on top of that lotus, one can visualize a celestial mansion and one can visualize within that celestial mansion one’s lama and all the objects to whom one offers being in there and one does the offering. So here we are offering it in accordance to the Abhidharmakośa, treasury of knowledge text and this in accordance to that, there has been tradition of offering the mandala of 37 heaps. So that tradition started from the lama called In the tradition of Lama Tsongkhapa, there is the mandala offering of 23 heaps.

23 heaps, sometimes practitioner offer 25 heaps. So that 25 heaps, two extra is when one add the base golden on ground and the encircling iron fence. So in the first tradition in accordance to the is of 37 heaps, whereas here in this tradition we make the offering in different way because we don’t offer those for which are special qualities of each of the each of the continents starting from Rinchen Jungden with the precious mountain and the wish-fulfilling tree and the wish granting cow and unploughed crop or harvest. So these four need not be extra offered because when one has offered the four continents itself, when one has offered at that time, the four special qualities of those four continents are include already. And also the eight offering goddesses starting from the goddess of beauty of rosary of of song and so forth.

They they are explained not to be offered extra because when because these eight offering goddesses, are already on the different layers of the king of the mountain. So when one has already offered the king of mountain, Mount Sumeru, then at that time one has already offered these eight offering goddesses. So there’s not any repeated need for offering them And on top of that, the parasol or the umbrella and the banner, these two are not offered. Therefore, in total, in this tradition of Lama, the 14 are all 14 are left out not offered. Therefore, the number becomes 23.

And on top of that, the two, the golden base and the encircling iron fence, these two are not offered. And if these two are offered, then that becomes two extra, making 25. Is that clear?

25 heaps. The most popular or widespread practice is the 37 heaps one. Therefore, the explanation will be briefly about the 37 heaps offering. So when the explain if the explanation is about the 37 heaps, then it has to be an explanation based on the Buddhist geographical or cosmology text called Abhidharmakośa, Treasury of Knowledge. So when you accept the explanation in accordance to that text, Nowadays, the world is explained as being round, so it really becomes difficult that there’s no room for explaining traditionally where there is the whole Mount Of Mount Meru and the base water and so forth.

Anyway, nowadays scientists are saying earth in that perspective and in accordance to their observation, something is there. So in accordance to their observation, something is formed there, something exists there. For example, if there is a cup of water in front before a human, then that cup of water appears to human as water, cup of water. Whereas when it is looked by a being of God realm, a God, then it appears as a cup of nectar. And whereas very intensely negative action rebirth like those in the hungry Ghost.

When they look at that cup of water, to them it appears as cup of water full of sorry, cup full of blood. And when these three different visions appear, each of them can see it, can actually enjoy it. The gods can enjoy it as nectar and humans can enjoy it as water and those of the hungry ghosts or pretas, they can enjoy according to what it appears to them. Not that it has not been seen by other that we should deny it because of each according to his own vision, it it can be formed outside there and can also accordingly be enjoyed. And for those sentient beings who are who are specific trainee, who are specific disciple of Abhidharmakośa texts, for them the whole system is explained as being being flat and square and it rarely appeared to them that way.

And whereas those specific trainees who are subject to be explained in accordance to Kālacakra, to them the old system appear as round. Not because somebody has not seen that we can’t say that it it is not there because in this house, there could be possible Buddha has come. But because we haven’t seen, we can’t deny that Buddha is not there. And likewise, there could be so many non human beings around us, but because we we can’t see them doesn’t mean that we can deny their existence. For example, just near us there is that statue of Maitreya.

At the moment we can’t see it as Maitreya in the form of Nirmānakāya form or sambhogakaya form. Whereas afterwards when we realize the realization called the concentration of continuation of dharma, so when we attain that realization that statue will appear as Nirmānakāya, emanation form. And whereas afterwards when we attain the realized state of a state of ārya bodhisattva, bodhisattva superior being, then at that time, that same statue will appear to us as the enjoyment body, sambhogakaya Maitreya. For example, at the moment, that statue seems like made up of soil and rock and it is immovable, it doesn’t talk and it leans down to move whereas afterwards when we attain realization state called the concentration of continuous dharma at that time, that statue will actually appear in the form of deity and will give us continuous dharma. Therefore, because the scientist has not seen that they are not, that they can deny doesn’t make very logical.

And if one person hasn’t seen something, then it should not be nonexistent for others too. Talk about the cosmology, there is not much time enough to explain about. Anyway, we say normally accumulating merit for three countless eons. So one countless eons is equal to 80 intermediate eons. 80 intermediate eons make one one great The whole cosmology, the duration it starts to form are comprised within 20 intermediate eons and the duration the whole cosmology remains its duration of 20 intermediate eons and the duration of whole cosmology when it when it disintegrates, then it is for duration of 20 intermediate eons and the vacuum after a new one is formed and old one is gone, so the vacuum period is also of 20 intermediate eons.

So these 40 or these 80 in total makes one great aeon. So they’re starting from the very universe when things are good and then it disintegrates into worse and worse state, the whole process of from better to worsening and worsening, they all they all arise because of our karma. So with this South Continent, Jambudvipa, there will come time it is completely gone. There will be complete vacuum. The sentient beings at present who are in here, they will the the same to see time.

Completely. So this South Continent too, after 20 intermediate eons of abiding of remaining when it comes to a vacuum, it comes to a finish. And then again, the second the new process of forming will start. So that process will start first. There will be only airs and the on top of this air, there will be shower of rainfall which comprise into which will comprise into whole whole masses of water.

So this whole masses of water being straight up, their most essential essence turns out into the king of mountain, Mount Sumeru. And then the inferior, the one which is inferior to that, the essence of the water will form into the four continents. Right from the ground base, golden base, and the king of mountain and the surrounding Golden Mountains and the