Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 38-minute session from a Buddhist retreat, Ven Thubten Dondrub guides students through a structured personal meditation practice centred on studying and reflecting on a text about patience. He begins with grounding exercises: the nine-round breathing practice combined with visualization of purification, then refuge-taking and bodhicitta intention-setting. He introduces the seven-limb prayer as a lifetime practice, not merely recitation, and explains the skillful method of visualizing offerings dissolving into light before inviting the guru-Buddha to the crown of one’s head. He then walks through a detailed guru-yoga blessing for overcoming obstacles to patience. The core work is reading each verse slowly, connecting the abstract words on the page to one’s own lived anger, reflecting on its faults through the lens of karma, and ending with dedication of merit. Pitched at practitioners already familiar with basic Buddhist ritual and visualization.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 12. Day 2 Study & Reflection on Text.mp3
UUID: ce34ac10-ebea-4d0e-9ca4-d66248218ac2
Teacher: Ven Thubten Dondrub
Collection: KI Retreat (Ven Thubten Dondrub)
Date: 2005 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 38.5 minutes
Words: ~1,432
The prayers. This is from the morning prayer section. So firstly we begin sitting comfortably in the correct position. Then establishing a calm, clear mind, doing the nine round breathing exercise and combining that with the on each in breath of the cycle, breathing in the blessings of the Buddhas in the form of white light with each out breath of the cycle, breathing out all the disturbing thoughts, negative imprints, and especially all the obstacles to meditating in the form of black smoke. So then recognizing that despite the fact that our mind and its very nature is pure, having this Buddha potential, Buddha nature, right now we don’t experience that level of mind, we experience our mind as disturbed by all sorts of afflicted thoughts.
That cause suffering and confusion that spreads out to others and we don’t experience the pure lasting happiness that we instinctively seek. How can we reverse this process is by relying on the Triple Gem of the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, relying on the pure, unbetraying methods of the Dharma to free our mind of all suffering and confusion and enable us to realise the true potential of our mind. So generate the devotional Mind of Refuge in the Triple Gem, visualising Guru Śākyamūni directly in front of oneself as much as one can, at least having the sense of that amazing, pure, enlightened mind pervaded by wisdom and compassion is definitely present in front of us. And combine that refuge with that strong bodhicitta thought wishing to achieve enlightenment so that one can be of perfect benefit to all sentient beings without exception, all the sentient beings who actually are only kind but only suffering. We think of all these beings surrounding us, starting with our parents on either side, the rest of our family and friends behind, antagonists in front.
As we generate that bodhicitta mind in taking responsibility for benefiting others, we can think, you know, how incredibly fortunate we are to be able to do that. In all our previous lives, we’ve been following the self-cherishing thought. Now, in this one brief life with a precious human rebirth, we have the incredible good fortune to be able to dedicate our life, energy, our mind to benefiting others. And this is the most meaningful thing that one could possibly do. It’s not a burden.
It’s an incredible good fortune to be able to do this, to try to do it, even to aspire to do it. I go for refuge until I am enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly. By my practice of giving and other perfections, may I become a Buddha to benefit all sentient beings. So we can do the seven-limb prayer. So although we read it just straight through quickly, actually this is a whole practice in itself and as we read it we should try to do the appropriate visualisations or generate as much as we can the appropriate state of mind.
Because this prayer is just a reminder of what we should be doing, not just for the three seconds it takes to read it but this is a lifetime’s practice that we can be doing all the time. Reverently I prostrate with my body, speech and mind. I present clouds of every type of offering, actual and imagined. I declare all my negative actions accumulated since beginningless time and rejoice in the merit of all holy and ordinary beings. Please remain until the end of cyclic existence and turn the wheel of dharma for living beings.
I dedicate my own merits and those of all others to the Great Enlightenment. So one of the skilful means of overcoming attachment is visualising and offering the whole universe, all the beautiful things of the universe, especially those things we’re attached to, to the Buddhas. So this is what we try and do right now. And as Geshe was pointing out in the teachings that the ordinary things that we are attached to are contaminated phenomena produced by delusion and karma are what are called technically true sufferings because they give rise to suffering. So we offer these to the Buddha so our mind can be free of attachment.
But we don’t offer them as contaminated phenomena. We try to visualise all these things, all the universe taking the aspect of pure lands with the thought that may sentient beings rather than live in contaminated environments, may they be able to live in and be reborn in pure lands where they can practice the Dharma and achieve enlightenment. So then think the Buddha is very pleased with our intentions, our motivation. Because of that we visualise the lion throne dissolving into light, dissolving up into the lotus sun and moon, and then the Buddha seated on those three cushions comes to the crown of our head, turning around, facing in the same direction as ourselves. So then we make a strong heartfelt request to the Guru Buddha for our mind to be completely free of all obstacles, to being able to meditate on and develop patience, the direct antidote to anger.
And wanting to be able to generate patience not just simply so we can stop anger that causes suffering to ourselves now in the future but so we don’t cause harm to others now and in the future. Think that the Buddha very happily responds to this request, sending this continuous stream of blissful white light and nectar from his heart into us that washes away all those obstacles that leave the lower body in the form of thick black liquid that completely dissipates and becomes nonexistent. Then imagine a continuous stream of blissful golden light in nature comes from the Buddha filling our whole being, blessing our mind to be able to correctly, single pointedly meditate on patience and blessing the mind to gain the actual realization. So having prepared our mind in this way, we can now for the rest of the session just at our own speed quietly read each verse of the chapter, just up to the point where we’ve covered so far with Geshe la’s teaching and commentary and just read each verse and then quietly reflect on its meaning and how this applies to myself, my life, how I can practice this and so on.
So as one does this reflection, don’t leave the word ‘hatred’ or ‘anger’ just as a thought, an abstract thought. Connect that word on the page with your own emotion, your own thought of anger. In verse three it mentions how there is the painful thought of hatred or anger. So reflect on times when oneself has got angry or even just irritated or annoyed or upset. And really feel how uncomfortable that is, how it actually is a disturbing thought.
And it produces at the same time a painful feeling. Also as we reflect or read about the faults of anger, see more and more clearly the different faults and negative qualities of anger, our own anger, then we should combine that with the understanding of karma that a negative cause can only produce a negative suffering result. A bitter fruit, a bitter seed produces a bitter result, a sweet seed produces a sweet result. So anything done with a mind of anger, physical or spoken, it can never bring an actual result of happiness. So we can bring our reflection to an end, making a strong determination to use this precious human rebirth more and more, to put effort into training the mind to overcome anger, cultivating patience, recognising that anger is a real enemy and that has no other function than causing me harm.
It harms my present happiness, my future happiness, and it harms my chance of liberation and enlightenment. Even it harms the chance for a good rebirth. So while I have the opportunity, I need to put effort into training the mind in developing patience. If I don’t do this, there is no way to overcome anger. Then recall the Buddha at the crown of one’s head, see the Buddha is very pleased with our efforts and determination.
Because of that, the Buddha happily dissolves into golden light and this blissful light comes down through the crown of our head, filling our whole being, blessing our body, speech and mind, in particular blessing our mind to be able to gain a complete and stable realisation from the mind of patience. And then we dedicate the merits. Page twenty six of the first section of the prayer book. .