Robina Courtin 2011 – too hard — 2011 09 0Ven Robina Courtin Refuge and Bodhisattvas Vows. Track 1

Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.

About this talk. Ven Robina Courtin teaches refuge and bodhisattva vows in this 145-minute ceremony, insisting that Buddhist practice belongs in your ordinary life—at parties with lipstick, eating breakfast, being intimate with partners. She emphasizes that moral vows accumulate merit automatically, even during sleep, making serious practice radically accessible. She frames refuge through two foundations: fear of suffering and faith in Buddha’s methods, then builds toward bodhicitta, the aspiration to become a Buddha for all beings’ sake. She explores the eighteen root bodhisattva transgressions with precision, engages a participant’s question about creator versus non-creator views, and leads formal refuge and vow ceremonies with visualizations, prostrations, and recitations. For those taking formal vows for the first time and practitioners renewing their commitments.

File metadata (for organising)

File: 2011 09 0Ven Robina Courtin Refuge and Bodhisattvas Vows. Track 1.mp3

UUID: 7f83c2c0-67bb-4471-90c2-dd0a09fc7ef5

Teacher: Ven Robina Courtin

Collection: z Robina Courtin 2011 – too hard (Ven Robina Courtin)

Date: 2011 (exact day not recorded)

Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide

Duration: 145.1 minutes

Words: ~15,173

So let’s just think for a moment about bodhicitta, the meaning of it, and try and make this our aspiration, you know, for taking refuge, taking the lay vows if we’re planning to do this, and then those of us later after that ceremony taking the bodhisattva vows, you know. So assuming that you do feel comfortable with this bodhisattva path, like I said, even though the actual refuge is the Hīnayāna teaching, it’s in the first stages of the Lamrim, which is junior school, you know. It’s actually junior school, which is Hīnayāna. But because we’re here at this center, is a Tibetan Buddhist center, is Mahāyāna, and because perhaps most of you are taking teachings on bodhisattva, you know, bodhicitta, then we’re having this as our aspiration. So why we wanna the first reason to remember to take refuge, like we discussed, the first reason, as they say in the teachings, there are two reasons what they the way they talk about the Tibetans, they say there are two causes for taking refuge.

Fear and faith. Both they sound so abstract to us. So what it means is remember, like I said, the reason you want to turn to a doctor because you do not want the suffering results of your sickness, which is the fear part. It’s a very simple idea, we understand it perfectly. The reason here, at the first level, the the first reason we want to even rely upon the Buddha because we want his methods in our life to help us get rid of our ridiculousness, you know, our rubbish, our misery, our suffering.

This now, and not to mention the future. We don’t want the suffering results of ridiculous our crazy states of mind, and our actions. That’s the first one, to have some sense of kind of cause and effect, and then there’s the wishing then to rely upon the Buddha for his methods. To whatever degree you have this may if that makes sense. That’s the reason.

You don’t take refuge with the Buddha because it sounds nice or because you think he looks good or because someone else says you should or because you all these reasons. It’s a simple reason. You’ve developed some understanding of suffering and some wish to go beyond it, and therefore I’m gonna rely upon the Buddha. That’s the first thing. And then the the the confidence thing, the faith confidence, confide with faith confidence, is simply that you’ve listened to Buddha’s teachings, you’ve thought about their meaning, and to the degree they make any meaning for you, to the extent they make any meaning have any meaning for you, to this extent you have confidence in the Buddha.

They’re the two things. You gotta have confidence in the doctor, and you gotta need his advice. That’s the meaning of refuge, very simply. So if this is, again, like we’ve talked in the past, if this makes sense, renew this in your mind, great, and be totally delighted that you want to do this, you know. Feel really delighted that you’re making this commitment.

And if you think about it, what you’re doing, you’re not making you know, it’s about Buddha, but really what the commitment is is to practice morality. This is the basic thing, to practice morality, which means to not the broad You know, in the first parts of the teachings in the Lamrim, there’s this general, know, Buddha’s exhorting us to the ten don’ts, the list of ten don’ts, the three of the body, the four of the speech, and then the very beginnings of working on our mind. Working on our mind, as we talked last weekend, is actually the is the hinayana still, but is the second scope, is high school. That’s where you become your own therapist. That’s you learn to look at the causes of suffering and how to achieve your own liberation.

That’s more advanced than this first stage. You know? But what happened? I wandered off in my own head. Now I’ve lost the plot.

I was thinking too many things at once, I’m sorry. Oh yeah, Buddha’s list of ten don’ts, okay? And so here in this refuge, if those who wish can take these lay vows, these lifelong commitments to never kill, never lie, never steal, no sexual misconduct, no drugs and alcohol, any or all of those lifelong commitments, they’re quite powerful. Remember the power of vows, we discussed this. That’s a second little ceremony that comes after refuge for those who would like.

Refuge is one thing, the vows is another. So but before we even take the vows, what you’re doing is committing as a Buddhist is actually to try and attempt to live according to the ten non virtues, to go against them. That means you’re at least attempting, not committing as a vow. There’s a crucial difference, by the way. If you just to say, I wanna become a better person, I wanna try not to harm others, that’s not a vow.

A vow is a very specific, very potent thing, which is incorporated in these different levels of vows, you know. And that’s where you have the five lay vows, a set of five lay person’s vows. But like I’m saying in the very beginning part, there’s this list of ten not not vows, they’re just general guidelines for your life. This is what you’re doing when you say I want to be a Buddhist. You’re going to abide by the you know, at least attempt not to kill sentient beings, not to steal things, not to commit sexual misconduct or cheat on your partner.

That’s the first three of the body. The four of the speech are not to lie, not to speak badly about others behind their backs, not to use harsh speech, and not to just rabbit on about nothing. That’s the four of the speech. The last three, actually, we didn’t talk about those at all, but I’ll talk about it now. Those last three are the beginnings of working on our mind.

As I’m saying, the actual real job of being your own therapist and really looking at the delusions and how they cause suffering, which is what is expressed in the second noble truth, that’s high school, that’s the second scope. That’s where you really become a Buddhist, you know, in the unique you really take on this unique practice of working on your mind. But in the beginning stages, in junior school, at the end of these seven, though the last three, which make up the ten non virtues, which we have to avoid as a Buddhist, the last three are about your mind. So Buddha’s just beginning to get us to the three root delusions. You’ve got attachment, aversion attachment, anger, and ignorance.

And a particular level of ignorance here, is like sort of a real deep kind of thick a heavy, a thick mindedness, kind of you know, thick as a post, as we say. It’s not the specific ignorance of ego grasping, it’s the general ignorance of having a very thick mind, a bit a bit, you know, slow minded, not very bright. This kind of ignorance. So the first one, attachment, he’s beginning to get us to they call it what we’re trying to avoid is this very gross level of attachment, which is the one they call craving. You know, there’s regular just dissatisfaction, which then causes us to have ordinary attachment, want the cake and want this, and always want something more, the new handbag, the new job, the new husband, whatever.

But the really extreme example, the gross example of attachment is literally called craving, which is an extra level of it. Always wanting something more, greedily wanting this, greedily wanting this, and it’s a real real suffering. It’s an intense suffering, know, a quite a painful suffering, this extreme level of craving. In fact, for that to ripen in this life as a result of strong attachment in the past, it would be really great suffering, you know. Some of it, we all got attachment, we mightn’t have it at that level, so at least at this first level of practice, begin to at least refrain from the stronger levels of attachment, you know, control yourself a bit.

In relation to anger, the way that the gross gross level of anger, we can say they call it ill will. Sounds kind of funny. But what it means is is that kind of anger, once you’re angry with a person, that you can’t give it up, and you want and you want them to suffer, and you think about even harming them, where you can’t give it up. That’s a heavy heavy kind of anger, isn’t it? I mean, might get angry, but it finishes quickly.

How aren’t we lucky? But this one is ill will, bitterly wanting the person to suffer, thinking they’ll suffer, hoping they’ll suffer. This is really heavy duty, you know? This is really kind of serious. So at least refraining from that level of gross anger.

Quite intense. So you can see how it makes people completely crazy. The third one, this ignorance, this gross level of day to day ignorance, they call it wrong view. So if you think the really extreme level of ignorance is a person who’s like like we’d say, fundamentalist. You can see it, narrow minded, very kind of small minded.

My view is right and you’re wrong. And hey, we’ve all got that. We can see it. You mightn’t call yourself a fundamentalist, you know. But if you’re stuck in your view, and you fight with people, it’s because you’ve this very rigid mind.

So that the ignorance makes the mind very very tight, very rigid, very narrow, very small, and very fearful. So try at least to attempt to practice not being so small minded, bloody minded as we’d say, you know. For example, the wrong view like being a racist or being, you know, thinking that harming others is good, extremely wrong views, the exact opposite to morality. So at least refraining from these kinds of actions of the mind, beginning tentatively in this first level of practice, in the first scope of the Lamrim, which is where refuge fits, where you commit to being a Buddhist. Actually, you’re committing to attempt to live this way.

Being a Buddhist doesn’t mean saying you take refuge in Buddha Dhamma Sangha every day. Relying upon the Buddha, you’ve to take his medicine, and his medicine is to refrain from the ten non virtues. Refrain from them. The minimum level. Then you can you can encapsulate that in the, you know, make it more powerful by taking a vow.

There’s a very big difference. We discussed this, remember? You really need to understand this very clearly. The power of a vow is such that once you’ve formally taken this vow, and there’s this whole system of vows in Buddha’s Vinaya that have been around for two and a half thousand years, and Buddha’s really big on vows, you know. And as said, probably in this life, it’s not enough that we’ve just from the past have been a good person.

We’ve probably practiced in a spiritual path and have kept vows of morality. It is that what gives huge power to the practice of morality that is the result is resulting in our human perfect human rebirth, you know. And so that when you have a vow to not kill, every second you keep that vow, you’ve taken it formally, which some of you will do today. You’ve taken it formally, means every split second, you’re keeping that vow. Even you’re on the toilet, you’re you’re having you know, you’re in bed with your boyfriend, you’re fast asleep, not thinking of killing at all or not killing.

Every second you have the vow, you’re ticking over the virtuous karma and purifying your mind. So it’s a marvelous and easy way to practice morality, and the practice of morality is the very essence of what the Buddhist path is. It’s the fundamental one, you know, this first stages of practice. It’s being a good person. So if you think of doing this, and you think you’re gonna take refuge, you’re gonna commit to being a good person, and attempt not to kill, lie, steal, the ten, and then if you want to go to the next step and actually take the five lay vows tonight, you should be completely weeping in bliss with yourself.

It’s beyond belief. Lama Zopa has ever said one time, just to have one kind thought in this suffering world is unbelievable, you know? So you should be so happy with yourself that you actually here we are sitting in this room, you know, actually deciding we want to live a life of morality and refrain from harming others. It’s quite stunning actually. You should be overjoyed with yourself, and I’m really not kidding.

It’s unbelievable. Committing to it, it’s unbelievable. Committing to it, it’s unbelievable. Please don’t take it lightly. It’s extraordinary, you know.

This world, you know. Look at most people not being mean, don’t even think one kind thought, just thinking attachment, and anger, fear, and depression, and jealousy, and what I want, and what he doesn’t want, and blah blah. Not to mention the extreme examples of incredible mental suffering, just ordinary people. So it’s astonishing. And the fact is even if we’re all crazy, could see some of my crazy friends in prison, you know.

Story I told about Richie putting the head his cell mate’s head down the toilet. But then I took it out, he said. He didn’t kill his fourth person. I would rejoice, that’s practice. So he might look like a maniac, but he’s actually made a commitment to become a better person.

Maybe you’re a maniac now. I mean I mean when I first became a Buddhist, was out of my brain, know. But I really if we mean well, and are committing ourselves to sow new seeds in our mind to move into the future. That’s why often we get very disappointed when we meet Buddhists, and we discover that they’re ordinary people like you and me, and they just do wrong things, and they get angry and get upset and they talk about each other. Oh, I thought Buddhists were meant to be kind of, you know, perfect.

So we’re all human, we’re all rubbish, we’re ridiculous with our habits and our misery, that’s where we are now. But the fact that we’re here wanting to move forward, that’s what we rejoice about. Sure, we’ve got delusions, we’re all crazy and lazy and angry and this and that. But the fact that we’re sitting here and appreciate the idea of wanting to become better, wanting to practice morality, it’s absolutely stunning, know. It’s marvelous, so be delighted with yourself.

And even more so, if you feel ready to commit yourself to the vows, that’s even more amazing. Just extraordinary. It’s fantastic. So delight, please. So then let’s just think of, like I said, the bodhicitta part.

And this part I remember when I first heard the teachings of the lamas, I remember liking the teachings on emptiness, liking the teachings on karma. bodhicitta, I thought, how come these people say this with a straight face, you know? I didn’t get it. It feels it felt so remote, so high, wanting to believe all sentient beings to enlightenment. What are they talking about?

And it seemed distant, know. You say love and compassion, that feels okay, but bodhicitta is so outrageous, you know. So some of us tonight will take the bodhisattva vows. So even now here, let’s look at even the meaning of bodhicitta and love and compassion as a basis for taking refuge first, which is if we if we feel we’re a part of the Mahāyāna lineage, this is our broader picture. We’re heading towards that one, you know.

So what is love? Love is really simple, simply defined as a bare bones is a thought, the wish, may you be happy. So then you grow that love to be incredibly affectionate, and eventually will encompass all its sentient beings, take, you know, utilizing all those stages of the path in the Mahāyāna wing of the bird, you know. Amazing love is may you be happy, and it’s this wish that others be happy. When you see them happy, you delight in it.

That’s the meaning of love. Of course right now it’s completely polluted by our attachment, but that’s the meaning of love. The meaning of compassion, excuse me. Compassion is like the flip side, and they really come together, you know. Compassion is you see it, you know, is may you not suffer.

So happy love is may you be happy. Compassion, may you not suffer. That’s the bare bones of a compassionate thought. So when you see suffering, find it unbearable. That’s compassion.

And they really come together, the flip sides of the same coin. Sometimes love comes first, sometimes compassion, but they you know, we can see some they tend we need to grow them both, and this is where the mahayana path, those eleven little techniques of combination of the two systems in bodhicitta to achieve bodhicitta that they discuss in the Lamrim, know? That is culminated in this technique called Tonglen. Love and compassion, that’s the culmination of it, love and compassion. The growth of huge love and compassion.

Now the thing is, even on the Hīnayāna path, where you become liberated from suffering in your own self, already you become an astonishing being. If if in, you know, if once you’ve you’ve realized emptiness, you’ve perfected your realization of emptiness, and therefore you’ve accomplished astonishing levels of love and compassion. There’s no question. Hīnayāna you know, a person who’s achieved the the Hīnayāna path of liberation realizing emptiness and perfecting it in their life, their goal is liberation, naturally you achieve love and compassion, just naturally. Because what’s left in your mind once you’ve removed the delusions is only love and compassion, and all the other virtues, because the mind is in oneness with the virtues.

Virtues are at the core of our being, they cannot be destroyed. So if you removed all the pollution, there is only love and compassion in all the others. So of course there’s infinite love and compassion, there’s no question. But what happens to a person on the Hīnayāna path, you once you’ve accomplished that perfection, that nirvana in that life, then when you die, your love and compassion is overridden by your bliss, and by your motivation for countless eons. May I get I want to get out of saṃsāra, I must get out of saṃsāra, that’s been your motivation.

So even though you’ve got immense love and compassion, when at the time of death, the bliss overrides it, and your motivation for countless lives, I must get out of liberation, I must get out of suffering, it propels your mind into a subtle state of bliss where you remain for eons. And the Buddha, they say, has to come along and tap you on the shoulder, eventually. So okay honey, get out of nirvana now, and come and get back on the path, and lead sentient beings to liberation, to enlightenment, you know. So the thing is if you’re on the path, that’s where you’re at as well. At some point, you’ll have a you’ll perfect your realization of emptiness.

At some point, you’ll cut the root of suffering. You’ve got love and compassion, there’s no question. But your motivation over countless lives has been bodhicitta. I must become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings. So what will happen to you if we’re on the Mahāyāna path, and that’s our motivation?

Same level as the Hīnayāna practitioner, let’s say, in terms of realization of emptiness perhaps. When you die, your motivation of compassion will override your natural wish of bliss, and you’ll be reborn again, and continue working for sentient beings, perfecting the compassion wing, and this is the unique one now. The unique level of compassion and love on the Mahāyāna path is they call it great compassion. You can say great love as well. So not only do you say, may you be happy.

Not only do you say, may you not suffer, but you go to the next, you take it one notch up to the unique level of compassion on the Mahāyāna path, and love, and you say, what can I do to take it away? That’s the great compassion. That’s the unique characteristic of the Mahāyāna path. That’s the one of the responsibility of the, you know, on the bodhisattva path, that it’s my job. As his Holiness used to call it, universal responsibility.

That’s what it means. That’s great compassion. Some people call it something different, you know. It’s this compassion, may you not suffer, but that’s not enough. You go to the next one, what can I do to take it away?

You take responsibility. That’s the one of the bodhisattva. And then that, these then culminate in they then go to, next notch up, bodhicitta. So bodhicitta is the result of this great love, great compassion. So bodhicitta sounds like this.

You go, what can I do to take away the suffering? And then you realize you’re not qualified yet. You’ve not become a Buddha yet. You’re not qualified, perfectly qualified to to take a, you know, to to guide sentient beings out of their suffering. So then it kicks in to become bodhicitta, and then you say, and I therefore I’m not qualified.

What am I gonna do? Not kill myself and just turn my back away? No. I must continue to work on my mind, perfect my mind, become a Buddha, because then I am qualified. And then never give up, you know.

His Holiness says Bodhisattvas think in terms of eons. So if the Mahāyāna is our lineage, that’s that’s that’s that’s where we will go with this. Now maybe somebody sitting in this room, I don’t know, might not have the Mahāyāna lineage. Maybe you want the Hīnayāna one. Maybe you think I wanna get out of saṃsāra, and that’s it.

That’s up to you to decide, you know. Check your mind. So if that is your if that’s the aspiration you have, then we make our motivation for taking refuge. First, the the basic one, the fundamental one. I’m sick of suffering, you know.

I’m sick of this rubbish, I’m sick of these old habits, I’m sick of this misery. I wanna get the hell out of suffering. That’s that’s that’s amazing. And I now, because I know why I’m suffering, my own karma and my own delusions, my first step is I’m gonna turn to the Buddha, rely upon him, and then start to practice his methods to get me out of saṃsāra. But then if the bigger one is there, and you think, and even why am I doing that?

So I can continue to work on my mind, perfect love and compassion, accomplish bodhicitta, perfect the bodhicitta, and manifest as a Buddha, then I can never stop benefiting sentient beings. This is why I’m taking refuge. This is why I’m gonna take the lay vows if I am. And indeed, this is why I wanna then stay on and take the bodhisattva vows. So just to remind us, if you haven’t taken refuge before, what you’re committing to to take what the basis is you’ve got to have some, you know, putting it in my words, you’ve got this faith and the fear and faith business.

You know, the sicker, the suffering don’t want the results, and you’ve got confidence in the Buddha. That’s clear. You’ve got to have that. But the way I’d say it to us Westerners, because we’re all brought up with a with a creator religion, you’ve got to really be comfortable, and have no conflict with the idea that creator not creator. You know?

Some people have a lineage of a creator. They really the idea of a Buddha not being created is a horrible idea. So if you’ve got any kind of confusion about this, and you’ve and you don’t feel comfortable with the idea of Buddha not being a creator, I’d say that’s a really important point, to be very content with that idea. And then of course, it doesn’t mean you have to understand all Buddhist teachings. No way.

The minimum level here is to want to practice morality. The minimum level that you’re committing to is to abide by the ten non virtues as much as you can. Don’t harm, don’t kill, don’t lie, don’t bad mouth, do your best, you know? Then of course you can add the five lay vows if you wish, like I said. But the basic commitment to refuge is having a confidence in Buddha, wanting to practice morality, having a view of karma that you realize that whatever you do say and think leaves imprints in your mind that will bring results to you, and hey, therefore I better be a nice person for my sake, not to mention others.

Comfortable with this. And then you’re committing to to remind yourself daily, I take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, three times, morning, night. Then in relation to the Buddha, you have con you try to have respect for the images of the Buddha, See them as if they were the emanation of the Buddha himself. In relation to the Dharma, the same according to the text, the m p three plays, those kind you respect the words. And then the Sangha, having some respect for the Sangha who live in the fullness of the vows, or Lord Buddha’s Vinaya, because they keep alive the Dharma in any one place.

So this is the bare minimum, you know, commitment. And then you if you wanna add to that the vows, as you know, the five vows. So before we do the refuge, does anybody have any questions about all that? Everybody’s comfortable. Okey doke.

Yes, sweetheart. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Tell me your thoughts. Yes, of course, there’s no doubt. I think that part, there’s no doubt.

No, there’s no question. I have, yeah, absolutely. But if there’s, if there’s always no conflict in our mind, I mean, do you what? Tell me just out of interest, what’s your what’s your sort of view on the things, you know, about this in relation to the Buddha? What’s your view?

Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Right. Yes. That’s it.

Understand only. Yes. Yes. No. Of course not.

That’s right. Exactly. Yes. Uh-huh. Yes.

Right. Yes. Mhmm. Mhmm. Yes.

I understand. It’s amazing. Amazing. Yes. Right.

Right. Right. Yes. I know. I understand.

So then you feel and then you feel you somehow that feels an auspicious and good thing for you to do to commit yourself to being a Buddhist. Right. Yes. I understand. Yes, exactly.

Yes. Yes. I understand. Yes. Yes.

I understand. Right. I know exactly. So for you then the idea that you still have a feeling of a creator. That makes sense to you, does it?

Yes. Right. No. Right. No, I understand.

Yes. Right, I know. Sure. So then, okay, now this you brought up a really interesting point actually, I didn’t really stress this point. So normally, I’m gonna just say to you what they say in the teachings.

It’s not meant to be fundamentalist, it’s interesting. It’s like okay. That’s interesting. Because normally they say in the very traditional teachings, you know, that you check off these different things, the criteria we need to come we need to fulfill in order to be ready to take refuge. One of them would be that you you’re really comfortable to follow Buddha’s path, and that it doesn’t and that it doesn’t mean and that it doesn’t it that you wouldn’t follow another path, not because you should be naughty, but because it would if it would conflict with you.

If one person says one instruction. So let’s put it this way. Let’s say I really like Catholicism, and then or Christianity, and the teachings say that I can kill because it’s okay because they haven’t got a soul. That’s an instruction from coming from Jesus, isn’t it? So then Buddha says don’t kill.

That could be conflict. So that kind of conflict, that doesn’t you you are like the Buddhist idea of not harming not killing, do you? That makes more sense to you. I have no conflict with nothing. Okay.

So you you feel so you so then what would you this is interesting talk. Okay. Very helpful. So what do you feel that taking refuge means for you then? How would you say that what that means for you?

What it means, what you’re gonna be doing tonight if you do it. What would you be doing tonight? Taking refuge. Yeah. Yes.

Uh-huh. Right. Right. Yes. Yes.

Right. Right. Mhmm. Yes. Exactly.

Right. I understand. Yes. Right. Right.

Right. Right. Okay. Yep. Yes.

Okay. So for you then, if you think of the Buddha, you sort of think of the Dalai Lama. Is that what you mean? No? Or something different?

Buddha. Okay. I understand. Right. Yes.

Yes. Right. Right. Mhmm. Okay.

No. I understand. That’s right. Exactly, darling. Yes.

I understand. Okay. That’s right. So you feel this taking refuge for you is somehow an auspicious and good thing to do. Okay.

I understand what you’re saying. I understand, darling. Thank you very much. Okay. I understand exactly.

Very nice. Thank you. What’s your name? Judy. Thank you, Judy.

Have we met before? Have we met before? No. Haven’t. Okay.

Good. You’re an old Catholic girl, are you? Well. Who taught you? The nuns?

Yes. Which nuns taught you? Oh, was a Sakurai girl. Oh, where did go? Yes, darling.

Oh my god. We we probably played basketball together, dear. Oh, yes. Actually, I played tennis, and I was in Adelaide playing a good one. Where would where’d you in Adelaide or somewhere else?

Adelaide. Okay. Yeah, that’d be right, darling. There you go. Well, you’re a good Loretto girl.

Well, that’s good to hear. Okay. Okay, Judy. So anybody else want to say something before we go? Yes.

Yes. Perfect. Just no difference. You’re just renewing your commitment. It’s wonderful to do this.

It’s wonderful to do this. And if you’ve the lay vows too, this is a brilliant thing to do. Especially taking the lay vows, it also purifies the broken vows. It strengthens it. It’s really excellent.

It’s like shining up a nice silver pot. Well done. Anyone else? Anything? Well then, let’s go.

So what you’ve to do, if you feel comfortable, is you’ve got to do six prostrations, if you can. You do three to the image of the Buddha in the front, and you do three to the person in front who you meant to see as the Buddha. You do your best there. Okay? Imagine arms sort of representing the Buddha.

Things like that. So you’re you’re doing three prostrations if you want to. You just do them with your hands if you like. We don’t want to do them all the way down. Three to the Buddha in front, and then three to the person in front, and then you kneel on your right knee if you can, otherwise sit in a chair.

That sounds very short, what we’re going say. So do that now if you like, but just cut it down on your chair. If you can do the full prostrate, do the proper ones, otherwise do it just with your hands, it’s really fine, as you wish. I’ll sing the thing. Keep your fingers nice together in like a like this.

Look. This one. Not like that. Like that. That’s better.

Now three more to the this this other one. So kneel on your right knee. Come up, maybe way out of the chairs there. You you come in. Come up closer.

And kneel if you want, just so I can see. It’s nice to see you. Come up close. Be let’s be cozy. Or sit on the chair if you prefer.

It’s perfectly fine. If you can, on your right knee, and have your hands in the prayer mudra like this, if you can. Otherwise, sit on the chair. And it’s really short. So we just first of all, we imagine whoever you’d like, you know, like, you know, Julie said the Dalai Lama or whatever.

If you can think of the Buddha, countless Buddhas pervading space, all the holy beings, all people whose practice a spiritual path who benefit others, imagine or as manifesting as an enlightened mind, a fully developed being, and they’re pervading space. And you think of all the holy beings of the past, any of the Lamas you know. You think of all these lineages of these holy beings. The the the lovely term Tensin, Dalai Lama’s name means knowledge holder. So you think of all these knowledge holders all the way back to the Buddha in front of us, blissing out that we’re doing this.

We’re kind of like joining Buddha’s family, you know, to live a life of morality. It’s just a marvelous thing. So they’re so delighted, and we are delighted. So thinking like this. And you’re thinking the person here is is actually manifesting the Buddha for us, and we’re gonna now repeat after me.

It’s very short. So we say, first, you say, venerable. Please listen to me. Please listen to me. I and you say your name.

You say, I whose name is, and you say your name. I whose name is from this moment until the time of my death, go for refuge to the Buddha. A a supreme, you know, a supreme being. Go for refuge to the Dharma, the supreme path. Go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma, Sangha.

Go refuge to the Sangha, the supreme assembly. Please please accept me. And this word I’m gonna say now is upasika, which is the person who’s holding these commitments. Please accept me as an upasika until the time of my death. Venerable, please listen to me.

I, whose name is, from this moment until the time of my death, go for refuge to the Buddha, supreme being. I go for refuge to the Dharma, the supreme path. I go for refuge to the Sangha, the supreme assembly. Please accept me as an upasika until the time of my death. Venerable, please listen to me.

I, whose name is, from this moment until the time of my death, go for refuge to the Buddha, the supreme being. I go for refuge to the Dharma, the supreme path. I go for refuge to the Sangha, the supreme assembly. Please accept me as an upasika until the time of my death. And so now you go I’m gonna say this is the method, and you’re gonna say, it’s sort of like going sort of like really saying wow.

So you can say excellent. You’ll say excellent. This is the method. Okay. Far out.

So now you imagine I’m gonna click my fingers, and now you imagine that just imagine you’ve received like you’re sort of plugged into this power source that goes all the way back to Lord Buddha two and a half thousand years ago, and all the marvelous practitioners throughout the centuries, hundreds of thousands, millions of people who practice morality have been who perfected their minds, achieved enlightenment, all the rest. Kind of you’ve sort of like plugging into that source and becoming part of that marvelous energy, you know, as I click my fingers, you imagine you receive all of this directly inside you. Okay. And so now, those of you who would like to take the vows, you stay on your knee, and those of you who’d like not to take the vows, you sit back on your chair, or whatever you want to do. Or you just be quiet as you wish, but be comfy.

Yeah. Sit on your chair if you’re not going to do it, it’s fine. And be careful the vows I’m going say because you check the ones you want to take and not take. So you’d be silent for the ones. If you’re like the people in Moscow who never pay taxes and therefore their income, when it came to stealing and lying, there was complete silence.

Okay. So now you say you’ve of gone up in a notch now. You’ve got to say to me, which sort like means teacher. So Please listen to me. Just as the Arhat literally means enemy destroyer, those who’ve achieved their liberation, you know.

Just as the of the past have refrained from killing, so will I, whose name is from this moment until my the time of my death, refrain from killing. I will follow. I will do it. L’Opon, please listen to me. Just as the Arhats of the past have refrained from stealing, so will I, whose name is, from this moment until the time of my death, refrain from stealing.

I will follow. I will do it. Lopon, please listen to me. Just as the Arhats of the past have refrained from lying, will I, whose name is, from this moment until the time of my death, will refrain from lying. I will follow.

I will do it. Lopon, please listen to me. Just as the Arhats of the past have refrained from sexual misconduct, so will I, whose name is from this moment until the time of my death, refrain from sexual misconduct. I will follow, I will do it. So this last one is drugs and alcohol, so if you’re have your glass of champagne or whatever you do, you don’t don’t take the vow.

Lopon, please listen to me. Just as the Arhats of the past have refrained from drugs and alcohol, so will I, whose name is, from this moment until the time of my death, refrain from drugs and alcohol. I will follow. I will do it. And again you imagine, when I say this is the method, and you say excellent.

This is the method. And you imagine again you receive the power of this power source of these amazing commitments that are so potent and so marvelous that will completely bless your mind stream. And every second you keep them, even when you’re not thinking about it, you’re ticking over virtuous karma, purifying your mind. How marvelous. Think you’ve received all of this.

And now you sit down. So my computer, I forgot. On the table, must be just the computer things. Thanks, Bill. So that’s it.

You’re done. Cooked. You’re a little Buddhist now. Okay? You’ve become a little Buddhist.

So Oh, you’ve renewed your commitments. That’s fantastic. So I think now if you would like to come and get a those who haven’t received it before, and you’d like a a refuge name, this little booklet here which got certain, you know, explanations from lamas or brumaty in here, different little prayers and things, the commitments and the vows and what they are and the different conditions of breaking them, all these things, which I should have done really. Probably some battery left in it. Anybody got a Mac cord to plug in?

Think I’m running out of battery. I’ve got the body subject vows in here, it’s going to run out. Oh dear. We’ll see what happens. I’ve got about twelve percent left of the battery.

I forgot to go to my cord. So, yeah, so you should try and avoid harming any beings. This is what you’re committing to with the Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha. All these things are in here, read nicely. Must be practiced, taking refuge.

I wanted to do all these. General advice. Okay, you read it all you care for yourself. Okay? The vows are in here, there’s a couple of little prayers, advice from Rinpoche.

Okay. Yeah. And so I think it’s really good too, one time I think Lindy, I mentioned to Lindy, those of you who’ve taken for the first time, it’s really good that as a little group that you meet again one time at least to go through this and to check things, and if you have questions, you can go it’s really helpful, you know, just to really make it a little bit deeper for you. Yeah. So you’ll be the group who took refuge with this nun here, on this day in Buddha House in Adelaide.

That’s how Oh, where? Beg your pardon? Adelaide. Sydney, London. I don’t know where I am.

That’ll do. That’s Tel Aviv, yeah? Okay? That’s good. Okay.

Fantastic. So come up if you want to, you know, come up and I’ll give you a name. Let me just turn my computer on first. Been recording this? But how can you hear it if I have no mic?

Picked up where? Oh, I’m so sorry. You should have told me to pick it up. I would have happily picked it up. I forgot.

I’m so sorry. It doesn’t matter. It’s fine. Don’t worry about Okay. I’m so sorry.

Didn’t think remember. You should have told me. So causing others to hold the incorrect encouraging others to abandon the pratyamakti. And we said all that? Oh, no.

We didn’t. So causing others oh, no. We didn’t. We’re up to number twelve. So turning someone away from working to attain enlightenment and encouraging them to work merely for their own liberation.

For example, if someone is training in bodhicitta, saying to that person, if you practice this, you’ll never attain enlightenment. Would it not be better to train Hīnayāna? At least you’ll be free from saṃsāra. Thirteen, encouraging others to abandon their pratimoksha vows, their lay vows. Okay.

So if they do abandon them, you’ve created a transgression. Saying that the pratimoksha vows are not necessarily for Mahāyāna practice is wrong. They are the best working basis for tantra. Fourteen, causing others to hold the incorrect views that you might hold regarding the Hīnayāna teachings, such as saying that by practicing the Hīnayāna one can never give up attachment or by being released from suffering and delusions. If the other person believes you, it is a transgression.

So you need to read through these. It seems some of them seem sort of irrelevant to us, but if one looks carefully, one can see. It’s good to discuss. Proclaiming false realizations of emptiness. Although you have not understood emptiness, teaching others, if you meditate on this, you will be like me and understand emptiness directly.

This teaches others through through pretension. If the other person believes you have realized emptiness, it’s a transgression. Accepting as gifts material you know has been stolen or embezzled from the Three Jewels or from a bhikṣu. Seventeen, taking material from someone who is meditating on calm abiding and giving it to someone who merely recites texts. Such an action may cause the meditator to abandon his or her practice.

And then eighteen, abandoning bodhicitta by thinking I can’t I can’t help sentient beings. I don’t want to help this particular sentient being. So the four conditions for breaking these, which apply to all of them except for the vow about emptiness and bodhicitta, Just by having wrong view about emptiness, just by not having just by not wanting to help sentient beings, you break those two immediately. For the others, you have to have four conditions in place in order to break them. That you know you’re breaking a vow, but you don’t care.

Because you lack confidence in karma, you think that doing a negative action doesn’t matter. Due to ignorance, you may not think that the action is negative, and you will act contrary to the vow. Recognizing that the action is negative makes the transgression incomplete. In other words, recognizing that you know the action is negative. So you don’t fully break it.

So I wanted to look at these very carefully. Not abandoning the thought to do the action again. So if you do not regret the action and generate the wish to avoid it in the future, which is the fourth, the third, and the fourth of the four opponent powers, or even if you have the wish to do the action again, then this contributes to a complete transgression. If you wish to never commit such an action ever again, then the transgression is incomplete. Rejoicing or admiring yourself for having done the action, so you delight that you’ve done it, broken it.

So if you break the first vow, then you think how good it was that I could show off my good qualities. So if you feel upset or regret the action, then the transgression is incomplete. So in other words, to really break a vow like the way they’re talking here, you’ve got to be you’re pretty intense. You’ve got to know it’s you’ve to know it’s negative, you’ve got to not care, you’ve got to not not you don’t regret it, you think it’s good, and you don’t want to and you don’t want to stop doing it again. That’s quite heavy.

And I think if we do these things we can be lazy about them, you know, and not really notice. That’s why it’s so important to study. And that’s why I’m gonna send to Lindy at least one text, which is a really brief commentary on each of these, a summary of various lamas including Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche on these vows. And that could be good, a simple essential instructions. And I think there’s some stuff from Rinpoche somewhere around as well.

We should get those. And you just go through, you discuss, you really take it look at carefully what it means, you know. And finally, having no shame or consideration for others. You do not care about the consequences of the action for yourself or for others. You are careless in karma.

You do not feel that the action has anything to do with your karma. So that’s the I think that’s that’s the eighteen root vows. So my feeling is that’s enough, just want to tell you those, but you’ve committed to go through the rest of them slowly with the with the it’ll take you a few sessions, you know, with commentary, and slowly begin to understand them well and think about them, you know, like that. So I think that’ll do. Yes, good.

Yes. Others. Precisely. That’s right. Exactly.

That’s exactly right. That’s exactly right. That’s what it means. Yes, darling. Yeah.

Not in here. That’s in the Oh in the forties. Yes. Okay, I think see the thing is once you start getting into these okay let’s have a look. I’ll just go through briefly.

No no, it it’s not that. What it means like it means that would mean attachment. The point is, listen to me, listen, this is where it’s really easy. Listen people, listen listen. This is like very liberating.

We are already ordinary human beings. We have got bucket loads of attachment. We’re bucket loads of delusions. This is the way we are. That’s why Lama Zopa spends ninety nine percent of his teachings giving us these marvelous techniques that enable us to redeem the rubbish actions we do.

But forget music. Look at food. We’re eating food six times a day. And what do you think motivates food? If you look at the way you create karma, okay, there’s an intention to do something.

Then you do then the thing is there, you do the action, and you complete the action. And then we look at the motivation, which is the main thing that determines the karma. Well, what do you think eating is? Every time we eat, it it’s motivated by attachment. You don’t go to food spontaneously, oh, must eat because I want to benefit sentient beings.

Not spontaneously, you don’t. You go because you’re hungry, you’re needy, you want this, you want that, the chocolate. Every time we put it in the mouth, that’s much worse than eat listen to music. Don’t worry about music. So what do you do?

Lama Zopa gives us this marvelous practice. Before you shove it in the mouth, before you go to your party, don’t be fundamentalist about this now, you sit and you think, why am I doing this? That’s why you should think before you put the food in, you just have to think, and I’m going to do this, send this to Lindy too, a little way of incorporating emptiness and bodhicitta into how you eat food. It’s simple little steps, and there’s a way of thinking that you first think of it as empty. Before you shove it in, you think it has no inherent nature.

Then you think, you know, I’m gonna you think of the sentient beings who made it and who died for it, then you think, I’m gonna eat this so I can be healthy, so I can continue to keep my body’s energies and and benefit sentient beings. We still got attachment. Right? Because we haven’t purified it, but just those thoughts creates inconceivable virtuous karma in your mind. You can’t conceive of it.

Do you understand my point? And then that not so much that makes attachment go away, but you just bite before you eat, which is normally attachment, you stop before you put it in, and you remember bodhicitta. That’s I can’t describe that as inconceivable. That is inconceivable. You see my point?

So then you do the best that you do in your life, and you try to remember bodhicitta. And then it doesn’t mean you don’t go out and have fun and make yourself beautiful, because bodhisattvas are making people happy. So you actually think I’m gonna go to a party. Why am I gonna go? If it’s just attachment, well then don’t bother with bodhisattva vows.

But it doesn’t mean you just sit there looking all miserable. Practicing this stuff doesn’t mean you have to look miserable. You actually give people joy. So you actually think, I’m gonna go there, and I’m gonna look divine with my lipstick and be a little goddess, and make people happy. Meanwhile, you enjoy yourself.

Have a happy mind, be loving, but you keep remembering bodhicitta, and you remember emptiness. The same if you have a boyfriend, you have a girlfriend or a husband, you like having sex, but you know, don’t feel guilty, but you think of bodhicitta before you do it. Honestly, truly, sincerely, then your life becomes completely immersed in this stuff, and it actually goes into every action of your life, rather than thinking of bodhicitta being some holy thing you do with your eyes closed. I mean, if you’re gonna be monk and nun go to the mountains, best. But given that you’re not, this is a way of redeeming your ordinary life and transforming it.

Because if that’s why you have to remember them, and you remind yourself fifty times a day because you got your vows, I’m trying to be a bodhisattva. It’s unbelievable, which means the person could benefit others. Do you see? That’s why you’ve got to remember these things. There’s a the skillful ways of living your life every second.

That’s what we’re gonna talk a bit about this on what day? The merit business? Yeah, is this is the topic on how to bring ordinary views and attitudes of bodhicitta and emptiness into our ordinary daily life. That’s the point. This is this is the real skill, you know, making life really rich and tasty.

Because in the end, being a Buddhist means you’re changing your mind. You’re changing your thoughts. The default mode of most of the things we do in life is attachment. You keep doing them, but you put bodhicitta on top, you put emptiness on top. You see my point?

So those thoughts have gone in, and slowly, guess what, if every time you eat your food you remember bodhicitta, slowly that will desperately weaken the attachment, and you’ll be eating now for the sake of others You have to remember this one. Do you see? So the vows here, I mean whatever the vows, you know? So what one was it in relation to? Morality?

Generosity? Morality? Generosity? In relation to generosity? No?

Was it? Yeah, that would mean literally just following attachment, following reputation, being like a typical samsaric person. So this doesn’t by having bodhisattva vows doesn’t preclude doing ordinary life and having a party, but you actually think, you know, what is to stop us if you’re going to go to a party? Of course you’re excited if you like parties or dance or something, but what’s to stop us from thinking I’m really going to do this to benefit sentient beings? You’ve to fake it till you make it, and mean it sincerely, you know.

And when you mean it sincerely, you’re sort of like a regular girl having fun, but in your mind you’re being a bodhisattva. In your mind you do it with bodhicitta. It’s marvelous, you know. Remember it, that’s all. I can’t find I don’t know where it is.

I’m sorry I don’t memorize all my vows. I’m very lazy. I can’t tell you where it is. It’s too much to go through. I think this is where you’ve to have your discussion.

I mean you’re committed to take them before you know them all well, what to do, but the general attitude is the one of sincerely wanting to understand them and wanting to keep them, wanting to know how you break, and taking it seriously, in other words. It’s really that’s why it’s absolutely vital you have the meetings until you’re really clear with as many commentaries as you can. It becomes something very familiar. Then fantastic. Now, I think what you have to do is just sit there, and we’ve done our refuge, we want to teach it, but remind ourselves.

This is taking a ceremony in this book from his holiness. It’s perfect. You know, we just I repeat what he says and everything. It doesn’t take too long. Put yourself in vows.

No. That’s not it. Here we go. The vow the vows ceremony. The vows are right.

Okay. So just we’ve done a remind ourselves of our motivation. We’re done with this. Like we said at the very beginning, in order to, you know, unbelievable, just be so amazed and delighted that we’re actually daring daring to attempt to live the life of a bodhisattva. Of course it’s faking it till we make it, but taking these instructions, these marvelous amazing vows, remember again and again his holiness talks about it in here.

The unbelievable benefit of vows, as Rinpoche says, you know, you can you can sit, you know, you only create karma. karma is equal to the word intention. So if you’re sitting here now, right now, not killing, unless there’s any no intention to not kill, there’s no virtue of non killing created. But the second you have a vow not to kill by sitting here even without thinking it, because of the power of the vow, you’re ticking over the virtue of non killing, which is a crucial action of of morality. You know?

So the same with the bodhisattva vows. Every second you have them and are keeping them purely and renewing them daily with the little prayers, which I’ll read out later before we finish. We’ll do it together. This is a marvelous way, this simple little prayer, about twelve lines. It’s a beautiful little prayer that you would say three times at least in the morning to remind you, and it’s all and by saying it, as Rinpoche says, you purify, and you strengthen your kept vows, and you purify your broken ones.

It’s fantastic, and it reminds you every day. And then every second you have these vows without thinking about them, you are ticking over that phenomenal merit. So it’s one of the easiest ways, especially being ordinary people in ordinary life, it’s one of the easiest, quickest, most marvelous ways to accumulate bucket loads of virtuous karmic seeds and to massively purify our minds. When we understand this, we should we’re just so happy. It’s like kind of getting a hundred thousand percent return on your investment.

I’m not kidding, you know? It makes you very glad, but it makes virtuous karma very easy. It’s fantastic. So this procedure for enhancing the generation of bodhicitta through ceremony is now discussed, as his Holiness says. So should think of the extensive benefits of bodhicitta, which I hope if you’ve done what I asked you to do, you’ve you’ve been through the Lamrim and looked at the extensive benefits of bodhicitta, you know.

The main one is the vow of bodhicitta. Just the way it trains the mind, transforms the mind. Not necessarily right now we don’t see much difference. We’re hugely, it’s like you’re growing the most stunning seeds for the most unbelievably fabulous garden in the future. And that’s what a gardener, you sow seeds now, you wait for the fruits.

So sowing the seeds is what we’re doing in this life. We might look much. We might even feel like we’re getting worse in this life. Doesn’t matter. You’re sowing a phenomenal, fabulous, marvelous, wonderful seeds for a magnificent, you know, gardens in the future, which is the real skill of vows, you know.

So to enhance and stabilize our our bodhicitta, we should engage in the ceremony that reinforces it, So it’s recommended that Mahāyāna practitioners take the bodhisattva vows, as doing this helps to bring a very strong sense of commitment to engage in this in the actions of the bodhisattva. So this text of his holiness is using is called the main path to enlightenment by Tsongkhapa. And so this practice of bodhicitta, and of exchanging and equalizing oneself with others, has been regarded as the core of all the practices of the Buddhas by all the Buddhas and the bodhisattvas of the past. In order to realize such an advanced state of the altruistic attitude of this within your mind, it’s important to train your mind in the lam rim, you know, as in the properly graded course of application. So an effective method for reinforcing your training of the mind in this bodhicitta is to repeatedly enhance it by taking, you know, the bodhisattva right from your lamas.

Doing this will have an added value in that you are taking bodhisattva vows at the same time, thus making your generation of bodhicitta more powerful and inspired. The fact of participating in such a ceremony will act as a reminder in the future that in the presence of such and such a person, you know, I’m trying to represent the Buddha here, you have taken this commitment to work for the benefit of others. So so it says all the Buddhas that was skillful, compassionate masters of the past were originally ordinary beings like ourselves. They took the initiative of generating bodhicitta in the presence of their lamas and have taken the solemn pledge, engage in the practice. So you too, we all of us have this potential within us to emulate their examples.

Because your our mind is can change and has the nature of emptiness. We possess within ourselves the Buddha nature, the seed that allows for full enlightenment. Remember, this is our state, you know. This is certainly the Mahāyāna view. This is the natural state of every mind, the natural potential.

The natural potential. So by doing this, we’re like giving we’re sort of like massively feeding this potential, unbelievably, like giving it a like a pretty atomic bomb underneath it to make it grow, you know? It’s amazing. It sounds like the opposite. It sounds like destroying it, doesn’t it?

I mean grow it. So also all the essential nature of our mind is clear light, and all the delusions that taint it are merely superficial and have not penetrated to its core. This is the essential point that Lord Buddha says, you know, that our minds are innately clear, and that the delusions are are not they don’t belong. They can be removed. They do not belong in our mind.

And okay. So we’re gonna take the Bodhisattva vows, and so some Tibetan masters of the past speak of different traditions, never mind that. So this is being conducted now in the presence of the representative Buddha Śākyamūni in the aspect of his image. Although we don’t have the fortune to see Buddha himself in person, we do have the great fortune of having access to his own precious teachings, is actually superior to seeing him in person. The same is the case with the great Indian masters like Nāgārjuna and his immediate disciples.

And so if you make the necessary effort and undertake the practice and study, we can fully enjoy a benefit equal to that of having met them in person. In Tibet, due to the profound kindness of all the translators as well as that of all the great religious kings, Tibetans had the good fortune and opportunity to undertake the practice and study of Buddhism without having to undergo the ordeals of traveling to India. On the basis of all these translations of the original Indian texts, many indigenous works later emerged, composed by masters of all the great traditions of Tibet. All this literature is at our disposal now. So imagine in space in front of us all these marvelous exalted masters, including Buddha Śākyamūni, Nāgārjuna, Āryadeva, the eighty Mahasiddhas, the great masters of the Nyingma tradition, Atisha and his followers, the masters of the Kadampa tradition, the five great masters of the Sakya tradition, the lineages of Lamdre practice, the great masters of the Kagyu lineage, such as Marpa, Milarepa and their followers, and also the great masters of the Gelugpa tradition, Lama Tsongkhapa and his followers.

Just imagine that we don’t know what they look like, feel we’re surrounded by the the minds of these beings, and imagine their forms, you know. All these knowledge holders in the past. So around you also are all the protectors who have taken the oath in the presence of Buddha Śākyamūni to safeguard and protect the precious doctrine of Buddha. Visualize as well the harmful all the harmful spirits, actually an embodiment of your own delusions from which you have been protected by the guardians. Also visualize various emanations of the Buddhas actively working for the benefit of all living beings.

Surrounding you are all sentient beings also in the aspect of human beings, although they’re undergoing all their sufferings of their own particular realms. So imagine pervading space, all the suffering sentient beings, and all these marvelous holy beings. So now have a strong sense of compassion directed towards all these sentient beings, especially your enemies. So having created this mental image, question yourself as to how all these objects of refuge, all the holy beings, know, and all the lineage Lamas, all the Buddhas, and all the body of the past, have achieved such a high state of realization and reached the state where they can provide protection for all living beings. You will find that it’s because their having made effort in the practice of Dharma in general, and in particular this practice of bodhicitta.

So think, I will, from today, follow in the footsteps of all these amazing beings, and take the initiative of generating bodhicitta. Remember the bodhicitta is this aspiration. I must continue working on my mind in order to perfect it, in order to become a Buddha, so that I can unceasingly benefit sentient beings according to their needs for as long as time exists. That’s bodhicitta. I mean, it’s mind blowing if you think about it.

We even dare think it. Extraordinary that we dare even think it. So this is and this is the logical conclusion that Buddha says. This is the logical result of all beings, so why not aspire to it? How foolish not to become who we really are, you know, a Buddha.

But what bodhicitta is is what makes is what causes a person to want to become the Buddha, and it comes on the back of this great compassion, which comes on the back of compassion, which comes from from the love. This progression, you know. The wish that others be happy, the wish they don’t suffer, I will make it happen. Then bodhicitta. It’s just unbelievable to have it, to think it.

Extraordinary. And remember, every thought is a wish, and every wish is a seed you’re planting in the mind. As Lama Zopa says, everything exists on the tip of the wish. So to think marvelous thoughts like this, don’t underestimate it. It’s absolutely extraordinary.

And so now, strictly speaking, a practitioner who’s taking the bodhisattva vows should have already, actually as a prerequisite, this actual aspirational attitude of bodhicitta. Although it’s very rare. Some among you might have it. But for the majority of us, it’s very difficult to possess such a genuine and non simulated bodhicitta. At least we should have a strong single pointed admiration for it, and simulate the experience of this altruism.

So now the person from whom you’re taking the bodhisattva vows should have the realization of bodhicitta, and such a such a master should also be expert in the right of giving the vows. So I just want I mean, His Holiness says it here, but it’s embarrassing to even read his words because we know it’s nonsense. Although I don’t claim to have it, but I just want to make these my words. I absolutely, without certainty, with certainty, have not the full qualifications. I can def and I can say too that I am confident that I do have a strong admiration for the observance of the noble ideals of bodhisattva.

I myself, Rabina, have received the bodhisattva vows according to the procedure outlined in this text from my lamas, Lama Yeshe, His Holiness, Dalai Lama, Ling Rinpoche, Zong Rinpoche, Zong Rinpoche, many holy beings. All the Lamas also connected to this center. You know? So today the bodhisattva vows are being imparted to you through the same ceremony. So now initial request to the preceptor.

So the ceremony begins with a request to the to the master to bestow the vows. So when you make the request, you should kneel and bow. So kneel down. Sorry. And bow down.

So put on your right knee, and you just repeat three times. If you can’t kneel, you stay seated. It’s perfectly fine. So repeat three times with hands in the prayer mudra. Oh, my master, pray attend to me.

You decide whether you’re a son or a daughter. I, a son or daughter of the family, seek to take the vows of Bodhisattva ethics. Should there be no harm, kindly listen to my plea and bestow the vows. Oh my master, pray attend to me. As son or daughter of the family, you say whichever one you are, seek to take the vows of Bodhisattva ethics.

Should there be no harm, kindly listen to my plea and bestow the vows. Oh, my master, pray attend to me. I, a son or daughter of the family, seek to take the vows of Bodhisattva ethics. Should there be no harm, kindly listen to my plea and bestow the vows. So now I should be quoting heavily from all the sutras and related commentaries by great bodhisattvas explaining the great benefits of bodhicitta in order to inspire you to rejoice in having So I just want to say to inspire us, you know, to inspire we think of his holiness in Dalai Lama.

We think of the the lamas that we know that we’re close to, who we can see are the living, literal living manifestation of bodhicitta. This is the most inspiring. This to me proves that if they can do it, I can do it too. This to me gives such courage, you know? And the benefits of having this attitude in the mind all the time.

Just extraordinary. Quickest path to enlightenment. And so now I’ll just say one time, and then you sit down. So now I will say to you, I’ll ask you a question, you don’t have to answer anything. Oh, silent daughter of the family, listen to me.

Do you aspire to liberate the beings who are not liberated yet? Free those who are not free yet. Relieve those not relieved yet, and lead to the state beyond sorrow, those who have not reached that state yet. Do you desire the lineage of Buddha not cease? If so, you must stabilize your generation of the altruistic mind and reaffirm your pledge.

So now you sit down. And so now to accumulate merit, we’re going to to amass vast stores of merit. That means just that means to put in bucket loads of wonderful virtuous karmic seeds in your mind. That’s all it means. We should now reflect upon the great advantages and benefits of taking the bodhisattva vows.

So we again imagine, remind ourselves, imagine all the Buddhas and the bodhisattvas and the holy beings above in space. And in their presence, with mindfulness upon their great exceptional qualities, we should have now strong confidence in them while maintaining our perception of our own lama, who is this master, who is conducting the ceremony as a real living Buddha. And that’s just something you just have to do. We have to, you know, do your best. That’s all.

We try and have a pure view. Because for your own mind, that’s the point. I mean, this is something I’m doing, because Rinpoche has given me permission to do, you know. So I feel the blessings of the holy beings coming through me. This is the best.

Undertake the seven limb practice, prostration, making offerings, and so forth. And when we recite the verses of the seven limb practice, do so slowly, reflecting upon the meaning of each verse, contemplating the exceptional qualities of the body, speech, mind of the Buddhas. And while developing faith from the depths of our heart, sing the praises of these Buddhas. And we follow this with acknowledging our negativities, admiration of our qualities, supplication to the holy beings to turn the wheel, and dedication. As explained earlier, we imagine the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in front and above us in space and ourselves surrounded by all living beings in the aspect of human beings.

Think that as a preliminary to taking the vows, you will engage in the seven limb practice. And so with such reflections, now I will recite here the following verses, which is from the king of prayers. So think of each meaning as I say the verse. Think of the meaning as I say each verse. Oh, lions among humans, Buddha’s past, present, and future, to as many of you as exist in the ten directions, I bow down with my body, speech, and mind.

On waves of strength of this king of praises of exalted sublime ways with bodies numerous as atoms of the world, I bow down to the Buddha’s pervading space. On every atom is found a Buddha sitting amidst countless bodhisattvas. In this infinite sphere of mystic beings, I gaze with eyes of faith. With oceans of every possible sound in eulogy of the perfect Buddhas, I give voice to their excellent qualities. Hail those past bliss.

Garlands of supreme flowers, I offer them, and beautiful sounds, supreme parasols, butter lamps, and sacred incense, I offer to all awakened ones. Excellent food, supreme fragrance, and a mound of powders as high as Meru, I arrange in mystic formation and offer to those who have conquered themselves. All these peerless offerings I hold up in admiration for those gone to bliss. In accord with exalted and sublime ways, I prostrate and make offerings to the Buddhas. Whatever ill deeds I have committed under the power of desire, anger, and ignorance, through my body, speech, and mind, I confess and purify these individually.

In the merits of all sentient beings, solitary realizers, learners, and those beyond learning, Buddhas in ten directions and their heirs, I rejoice in all their virtues. Oh, the light of all universes in ten directions who realize Buddhahood through the stages of enlightenment, I appeal to all of you protectors to turn the unsurpassed wheel. I entreat with folded hands those intending to enter nirvana to live for eons equal to the atoms on earth for the benefit and happiness of all beings. These last two verses requesting the holy beings to teach and requesting them to stay, are the two main causes for our continuing to receive teachings and continue to be life to life to meet the holy beings. They say these are the most important ones, you know.

Constantly requesting requesting requesting the lamas to teach, requesting requesting requesting them to stay in saṃsāra. This is why, for example, Buddha House is a center. You should be always requesting the holy beings to come. Requesting requesting. Even if they don’t come for twenty years, it doesn’t matter.

You never give up asking, because asking is the main cause. Keeps us close to the holy beings, close to the Dharma, close to the teachings. Whatever little merit that I have accumulated through prostrating, offering, confessing, rejoicing, requesting, and entreating, I dedicate all towards attaining full enlightenment. And so now, his holiness asks us to do the undertake the confession of negativities, which is the Thirty-five Buddhas practice. So to re so we while we recite, we reaffirm our visualization of all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas and ourselves being surrounded by suffering sentient beings.

And the factors that obstruct us in accomplishing what you must seek to do, that is work for the benefit of others, is your self-cherishing attitude and if committed, forced by your selfish thoughts. So when doing this recitation, let us stand up and do the prostrations in unison. So if you know the practice, I’ll recite it, a version that I know, and I’ll do it very quickly, the names and the prayers. So if you want to do the practice, or just sit there and meditate on it, it’s up to you, or you prostrate short ones, long ones, as you wish. It’ll take about four minutes.

I’ll do it very quickly, I promise. Maybe I should do it slowly. So if you don’t know how to do it, you just be fine. Or you don’t have to give it a go. Just sort of try.

Do long prostrations, and I’ll recite. Okay. We the Buddha, I prostrate. The great destroyer, strong with I prostrate. Of five Buddhas, many as the full enlightened, this sustaining living, not just the three lower realms.

In this life, life proceeding was in all sense like realms with. When I’m negative karma, created mother, created rejoice in the creation of negative karma, such as possessing selfish immaterial, offering objects material object of sun, taking taking us to rejoice rejoicing in these actions, but skilled by these karmas, whatever I created, causing me and others tending to born in the nagas. In the nagas stages, animal birth, petty realm, irreligious countries, Long life god, living me with the perfect organs, holding wrong views, not being pleased with Buddhist descent. All these negativities I am announcing, I’m accepting these actions as negative. I’m not keeping secret, not confessing.

I’ll hide them. From now, I’ll create this life in existing once in the realms of the three lower realms. Merits have created, merits created by small actions such as giving one mouthful of food to bring the born and the animal. Merits are created by keeping precepts. Whatever merits are created by generating bodhicitta, all the merits of the highest transcend wisdom I’ve created.

All the negatives all the negative karmas are rejoicing in all these. I confess individually. Rejoice in all the merits. Persuade all the Buddhists who got my request may receive the highest, most sublime, transcendent wisdom, the sublime kings of the human beings, those who are living in the present time, those who live in the past, for all those acknowledged vastness, infinite duration with hands folded in mood or prostration, I go for refuge. Okay.

So now you kneel you kneel again on one knee, and you make the following request three times. O master, kindly bestow upon me the perfect vows of Bodhisattva ethics. Do bestow them quickly. O master, kindly bestow upon me the perfect vows of Bodhisattva ethics. Do bestow them quickly.

O master, kindly bestow upon me the perfect vows of Bodhisattva ethics. Do bestow them quickly. So now you sit down again. So you should sit solemnly down on your cushion with a feeling of joy at the immediate prospect of receiving the vows. So now the heading says determining the presence of any obstacles.

So in order to examine if you are adequately qualified to take the vows, the master asks the following. Oh son or daughter of the family and spiritual brothers and sisters called each of you people. I can’t all your names. I’m sorry. Are you a Bodhisattva, and did you make aspirational prayers for enlightenment?

And you say, yes. I have. And then I say, do you wish to receive from me the ethics of the bodhisattva and also all the basis of bodhisattva training? Yes, I do. Okay.

So now the heading says the main rite. So now the actual ceremony of conferring the vows begins. Reaffirm again the visualization of all the Buddhas and all the bodhisattvas in the space in front of you, and yourself being surrounded by all the sentient beings. Just remember that. We can’t see a thing.

It doesn’t matter. Just feel the presence. Enlightened mind is mind is mind, which is it is not physical, and therefore is beginningless and endless, and therefore can’t be seen. But minds are indestructible. So if minds are to become enlightened, then they’re here.

Minds that are enlightened pervade space. So we just put a body to them and imagine the Śākyamūni, imagine Nāgārjuna, imagine Tsongkhapa, imagine all the holy beings, and all utterly blissed out of what we’re doing here. Utterly blissed out, and I’m serious. So overjoyed. It’s like a loving parent.

When you see one good thing the child does, you you’re so happy, you know. You can imagine the Buddhas, imagine the bodhisattvas, and then all the suffering sentient beings who whom we are vowing to support, to never give up benefiting for as long as time exists. So I think although I too am still in the cyclic existence, tormented by delusions and suffering, I am much, much more fortunate than many of these sentient beings in that I have obtained a human existence and possess the capacity to judge between what is beneficial and what is harmful. Therefore, being always mindful of the great preciousness of bodhicitta, I will determine that I will work for the attainment of the completely enlightened state for the benefit of all. I will, by taking the bodhisattva vows, dedicate my whole life and energy to the practical application of the noble ideals of the bodhisattva.

And so in your mind now, you make the following pledge. Just as the great bodhisattvas of the past, first generated bodhicitta, took the vows and dedicated themselves to the bodhisattva deeds, I too will take the vows and observe them by engaging in the bodhisattva deeds. So now I’ll ask you the following three times, and after each question, you reply positively. And when you finish the third repetition, strongly imagine that you have received the complete set of the bodhisattva vows. I think you have to be on your knee for this.

It doesn’t make sense. You’ve got be sitting on your knee. Lightly along your knee again. Okay. So now and I can’t say all your names, so I can’t think of all of you.

I’m so sorry. So imagine I know every one of you know your names. I oh, oh, you know, oh, sons and daughters of the family, will you take from me the bodhisattva’s morality of restraint, the morality of gathering virtue, and the morality of working for others’ welfare? In short, all the ethical codes of bodhisattvas and their practices, which were the basis for the training of all the bodhisattvas of the past and are for all those present and will ever remain so for all future bodhisattvas? You say, yes.

I will. Oh, all of you, sons and daughters of the family, will you take from me the bodhisattvas morality of restraint, the morality of gathering virtue, and the morality of working for others’ welfare, in short, all the ethical codes of bodhisattvas and their practices, which were the basis for the training of all the bodhisattvas of the past and are for all those present and will ever remain so for all future bodhisattvas. Oh, all you sons and daughters of the family, will you take from me the bodhisattvas morality of restraint, the morality of gathering virtue, and the morality of working for others’ welfare, in short, all the ethical codes of bodhisattvas and their practices, which were the basis for the training of all the bodhisattvas of the past and are for all those present and will ever remain so for all future bodhisattvas. So you sit down now. So thinking again here too that, you know, as that you’ve received this, you’ve kind of plugged into this amazing power source, this unbroken living living lineage, tracking back from me to my holy gurus, to their holy gurus, all the way back to Lord Buddha.

Unbroken. Unbroken continuity of holy beings. And we’re plugging into this amazing power source of these holy beings and kind of becoming with you know, joining them under their protection, Under their guide, in guidance, you know, and their protection, especially that. And inspiration. Because if his holiness can do it, and can do it, and all the holy beings can do it, our lamas can do it, then we can do it.

This is the point. They’re the living examples of showing us what we can become. This is what gives us the inspiration. So now I speak to the Buddhas. I’m gonna speak to the Buddhas now.

And you imagine, as I speak to them, you you imagine yourself with your head touching with your head the feet of all the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas visualize in front of you. You imagine this. And I’m gonna talk to the Buddhas now. Oh, I beseech the attention of all the Buddhas who, though residing in countless realms in the ten directions and being beyond ordinary comprehension, possess the mind from which no event or sentient being is concealed. I call to your kind attention that all these bodhisattvas in front of me have taken the perfect vows of a bodhisattva three times from me, Thubten Kunsel, and I bear witness to this event.

So giving you words of encouragement, I’ve sort of been doing that already, and the great benefits in all this, to remember. So the Bodhisattva Śāntideva says,, his holiness says, that the power of generating the practical aspect of the mind is such that once you have generated it through taking the vows, this is the point, you know, even when you are asleep, you’re constantly, constantly creating merit. I think that’s, again, the main point that Rinpoche mentions the vows. This is from Buddha, and this is what his Holiness is saying. This gives us it’s like it it should make us very happy, you know.

Even without thinking about it, if we’re keeping these vows purely, then we’re creating phenomenal amounts of purification and phenomenal amounts of virtuous karma. So it’s like an easy way to create virtue. And why not take an easy way? It’s marvelous, you know. So says that the moment we have taken these vows, all the Buddhas in all the directions will have an indication of this great event and will bear witness to our taking them.

They will perceive that on such and such a day here, the ninth of September, two thousand eleven, in Adelaide at Buddha House, you know, in front of all these all these various people, they took the bodhisattva vows from the Bhikśunī Thubten Kunsel. Because of this, the Buddhas will pray for the success of all you bodhisattvas and will also sustain all of you as their sons and daughters. The bodhisattva vows are superior to many other forms of vows, so taking them constitutes the accumulation of huge, vast, you know, stores of virtue, and also protects the practitioner from many negative actions. So don’t speak unnecessarily of these vows to an untrained one and those who don’t have faith in the bodhisattva practices. Doing so can be harmful for the listener who does not appreciate the bodhisattva principles, and such persons may speak against the bodhisattva vows and thus indulge in grave negative actions.

Therefore, when speaking about these vows, it’s crucial to judge the suitability of the listener. And so now finally, to complete the ceremony, His Holiness says we should do the seven limbs again, and I’ll just read that out. And again, you meditate on the meaning to complete the practice. Oh, lions among humans, Buddhas past, present, and future, to as many of you as exist in the ten directions, I bow down with body, speech, and mind. On waves of strength at this king of praises of exalted sublime ways with bodies numerous as atoms of the world, I bow down to the Buddha’s pervading space.

On every atom is found a Buddha sitting amidst countless bodhisattvas in this infinite sphere of mystic beings. I gaze with eyes of faith. With oceans of every possible sound and eulogy of the perfect Buddhas, I give voice to their excellent qualities. Hail those past to bliss. Garlands of supreme flowers, I offer them, and beautiful sound supreme parasols, butter lamps, and sacred incense, I offer to all awakened ones.

Excellent food, supreme fragrance, and a mound of powders as high as my Meru, I arrange in mystic formation and offer to those who have conquered themselves. All these peerless offerings I hold up in admiration for those gone to bliss. In accord with exalted and sublime ways, I prostrate and make offerings to the Buddhas. Whatever ill deeds I have committed under the power of desire, anger, and ignorance through my body, speech, and mind, I confess and purify these individually. In the merits of all sentient beings, solitary realizers learners and those beyond learning, Buddhas in ten directions and their heirs, I rejoice in all their virtues.

For the light of all universes in ten directions who realize Buddhahood through the stages of enlightenment, I appeal to all of you, protectors, to turn the unsurpassed wheel. I entreat with folded hands those intending to enter nirvana to live for eons equal to the atoms on earth for the benefit and happiness of all beings. Whatever little merit I have accumulated through prostrating, offering, confessing, rejoicing, requesting, and entreating, I dedicate all towards attaining full enlightenment. So I think what I want do is just find this one prayer, which is the prayer usually when we when we know we’re in ceremonies with his holiness, we kneel down and recite a prayer three times. And the one we do at initiations, for example, that’s the Bodhisattva prayer that we should do.

And that’s also in the Lama Chopa. And that’s something did we tell people yet about Sunday? Lama Chopa. Yeah. We forgot we forgot Lama Chopa Tsog.

We forgot Tsog offering, which is coming up on the seventh, Wednesday. We did we forgot it. And so we’re gonna we’re gonna offer the opportunity to do it together on Sunday at four o’clock. And in there is the Bodhisattva prayer. There’s the renewal of all these things.

So if you wanna come to that, you’re very welcome. But in there is if you’ve got that booklet, that this particular prayer is in there. And I think it’s in here too. I’m not sure. But we’re doing together on Sunday at four o’clock.

Everybody’s having vows. Where is this prayer? Not sure if it’s in here. No. There’s another prayer here.

I’ll just say I will finish with by saying that prayer. It’s the one in Lama Chopa. It’s the one his Holiness always does with the practices. And this is the prayer you should have to to recite daily three times. And as Lama Zopa says, by saying it, you strengthen your kept vows, and you purify your broken ones every day.

It’s wonderful. It’s a lovely prayer. It’s got refuge in it as well. I go for refuge, the triple gem. I confess individually my black karmic debts.

I rejoice in the merit of all living beings. I take hold with my mind the perfect state of Buddha. I go for refuge until my enlightenment to the Buddha, Dharma, and supreme Sangha assembly, and I do so to attain the enlightened mind. In order to fulfill the aims of myself and others, I shall develop a supreme enlightened motive, and towards all dear beings, my enlightened guests, I shall act in supreme enlightened conduct. May I become Buddha to benefit all.

That prayer every day three times. That’s your commitment, And then just study the vows. And that’s all. We’re done. So we rejoice, we delight.

May we never develop, even for a moment, wrong views towards the deeds of our most precious gurus. With faith and respect gained from seeing their goodness, may their full inspiration flow into hearts. Okay. Thanks, everybody.