Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 24-minute session, Ven Thubten Dondrub guides practitioners through a day-one foundational practice on recognizing precious human rebirth. He begins by establishing correct meditation posture using the Vairochana position, then leads a nine-round breathing exercise to calm the mind. He teaches how to take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha while cultivating bodhicitta—the commitment to work with one’s mind for the benefit of all beings. Central to this is understanding that all experience arises from mind alone, making mind-training essential. He then walks the practitioner through visualizing Śākyamūni Buddha, making requests for the removal of obstacles to realizing precious human rebirth, and receiving blessings in the form of white light. The session concludes with a glance meditation on the entire graduated path, reciting Lama Tsongkhapa’s Foundation of All Good Qualities. Suited for those beginning a retreat or formal practice grounded in Tibetan Buddhist foundations.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1a. Day 1 Prayers for Meditation Precious Human Rebirth.mp3
UUID: 34ff6811-2d6b-47a6-a5f5-dac3907d2ab7
Teacher: Ven Thubten Dondrub
Collection: Meditations DTL (Ven Thubten Dondrub)
Date: 2006 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 23.7 minutes
Words: ~2,236
The first part of the precious human rebirth, about recognising the freedoms that we have to practice the Dharma, to work with our mind. So this is the first stage being able to develop renunciation that frees us from cyclic existence. If we don’t recognise our precious human rebirth, we’ve wasted just perpetuating cyclic existence, uncontrolled mind. But when we recognise that we have this amazing opportunity, then we start to turn our mind to the practice of the Dharma, or liberate us and lead us to enlightenment. So this is the first of the principal paths that has been discussed in the text that will be the Geshe will be teaching the path of developing the non attached mind of renunciation or the mind of here it’s translated as the mind of seeking awakening.
To make our meditation as effective as possible, first we begin by sitting as much as we can in the correct Vairochana posture. So the main part of the posture is to be able to sit with the spine well aligned, upright, the upper body positioned well so that we’re not leaning to the left or right forwards or backwards, but the upper body is well positioned. We place our right hand on top of the left with the thumbs slightly touching, the elbows and upper arms, upper arms, just a little bit away from the sides of the body. And by lifting and holding back your shoulders just a little bit, but in a relaxed, comfortable way, and then lifting up the head, tucking the chin in just slightly, one can position the head correctly so that it’s not tilted down or lifted too high. Your mouth is lightly closed, and it’s best to meditate with your eyes just a little bit open, directing your gaze down just a short distance in front of you without but without really actively looking instead having a passive unfocused gaze.
So then place your awareness at the crown of your head and just for a short time move your awareness down through your body, just checking your posture, fine tuning it. Also, noting any areas, points of tension, becoming aware that that tension arises because of uncontrolled pulling inwards in all directions, unconsciously holding on to that. So when we become aware of that, we can begin to gently let go of that those conditions that allow that tension to arise or continue. So now we begin to prepare our mind to meditate correctly by firstly establishing a calm, neutral mind by doing the nine round breathing exercise. Firstly, on we start by focusing on the breath coming in the right nostril and concentrating on the breath going out the left for three cycles of breath, then observing and focusing on the breath coming in the left nostril out the right for three breaths, and then the last three breaths of the cycle focusing on the breath coming in both nostrils and going out both.
And as we do that nine round cycle, with each in breath of the cycle, we can imagine the blessings of the Buddha coming into us in the form of very calming, joyful white light. And with each out breath, we can imagine all our disturbing thoughts, negative imprints, obscurations, and so on. Any particular obstacles we have to meditating in general, we imagine they take the form of very thick black smoke that we breathe out with each out breath. Now on that neutral mind, we build a virtuous mind by cultivating the thought of refuge in bodhicitta, by recognizing right now that it is our own mind giving rise to all our experience, why we know the breath, why we have a sense of our own identity, what why how we experience the body and the whole world around us. It it can only arise in dependence on our mind.
And the way we experience everything originates with our mind. All happiness and suffering comes within our mind. By recognizing this, we recognize that we that we have to work with our mind. There is no choice if we want to even modify our suffering, let alone eliminate it. If we want to enhance our well-being, we have to work with our mind.
There’s no other significant way to do this meaningful way. And to do that, we need a perfect method, a complete, unerring method, and that can only come from a perfect source. And that perfect source is the enlightened mind. Recognizing that and really wishing to take control of one’s mind, we generate this thought of refuge, placing complete confidence in the Buddha, the Buddha’s teachings, and the great practitioners of those teachings. With that thought, we visualize the field of refuge in front of us.
If you know how to do the complete field of refuge, that’s good to do. Otherwise, least visualizing Śākyamūni Buddha as the embodiment of all holy beings, the embodiment of the Dharma, the embodiment of the Sangha. Think of the Śākyamūni Buddha appearing out of great compassion to benefit us, appearing seated on a magnificent lion throne, cushions of lotus sun and moon, his holy body, radiant, transparent, golden light, appearing as a pure, renounced bhikṣu monk holding a blue begging bowl in his left hand, the very embodiment of great renunciation, wisdom, and bodhicitta. At the same time as we generate that devotional mind of refuge in the triple gem, we do this because we want to be free of suffering. As we think about this, we can become aware that every living being wishes to be free of suffering exactly like myself.
And all these beings, I am totally connected to. Just for my mere existence, I depend on other sentient beings, directly and indirectly, just for my mere survival. On top of that, for every good thing that happens to me, every good quality I develop, it only arises depending on the help, support, kindness, encouragement of others. So how can I just work for my own happiness? I have to seek refuge in order to not only achieve liberation, but complete enlightenment to benefit all these beings, especially since they have been my mother many times, and are trapped in suffering right now.
Most of them are having much more suffering than myself right now. And what is worse, in their confusion, creating a cause for more suffering. So try to feel the presence of all these beings surrounding you right now. Your mother of this life on your left, your father on your right, the rest of your family, friends, those people you remember who have helped you in some way in this life, those people who may have harmed in some way we imagine directly in front of us, so we make sure to include them in our compassion. And then as much as possible, imagine all other human beings, all other beings in the six realms of cyclic existence.
Think of them appearing in human form, but experiencing the different sufferings that are unique to each realm of cyclic existence. And think no matter what, I must achieve enlightenment for their sake. And that’s why I’ll do this practice this morning. That’s why I’ll do this retreat as well as I possibly can. So we can do the refuge bodhicitta prayer twice in Tibetan, one time in English.
I go for refuge until I’m 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. May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness. May all sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. May all sentient beings be inseparable from the happiness that is free from suffering.
May all sentient beings abide in equanimity, free from desire for friends and hatred for enemies. 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 we offer the short mandala thinking of offering all the whole universe, everything beautiful in it, every everything especially that we’re most attached to. We offer to the triple gems to be free of all these things so our mind can open to receive the blessings of the Buddhas. So you can go to the Lumrim section to page seventeen. So firstly, focusing on checking with the Buddha in front of us.
I feel that the Buddha is very pleased with our practice, our motivation, our wish to benefit all sentient beings. So then because of that, imagine that the lion throne dissolves into light up into the lotus sun and moon, and then the Buddha seated on these cushions comes to the crown of our head, turning around facing the same direction as ourselves. So then make a very strong heartfelt request to the Guru Buddha for one’s mind to be completely free of all disturbing thoughts, all negative imprints, and particularly of all the obstacles that one may have to meditating in general and in specific any obstacles you’ve found in trying to meditate on and realize one’s own precious human rebirth, the obstacles one has to recognizing that one has it, the obstacles to really realizing, fully appreciating the great meaning and rarity of such a rebirth. Then think that Śākyamūni Buddha happily responds to this request by sending from his heart a continuous stream of blissful, powerful white light and nectar that comes into us, and it causes all those obstacles, negativities to take the to leave the mind in the aspect of very thick black liquid, and this pours out from the lower part of the body, completely dissipates and becomes nonexistent.
So then imagine from the Guru Buddha’s heart, blissful golden light and nectar comes into us, blessing our mind to be able to effectively meditate on the graduated path, especially right now on the precious human rebirth, to be able to meditate on it correctly, single pointedly, and to gain the unmistaken realization. So now we put an imprint of the whole path in our mind by doing a glance meditation on the whole Lamrim, going through Lama Tsongkhapa’s Foundation of All Good Qualities. We read this together. The foundation of all good qualities is the common and venerable guru. Correct devotion to him is the root of the path.
By clearly seeing this and applying great effort, Please bless me to rely upon him with great respect. Understanding that the precious freedom of this rebirth is found only once is greatly meaningful and is difficult to find again. Please bless me to generate the mind that unceasingly day and night takes its essence. This life is as impermanent as a water bubble. Remember how quickly it decays and death comes.
After death, just like a shadow follows the body, the results of black and white karma follow. Finding firm and definite conviction in this, please bless me always to be careful to abandon even the slightest negativities and accomplish all virtuous deeds. Seeking samsaric pleasures is the door to all suffering. They are uncertain and cannot live their life long. Recognizing these shortcomings, please bless me to generate a strong wish for the bliss of liberation.
Led by this pure thought, mindfulness, alertness, and great caution arise. The root of the teachings is keeping the Prātimokṣa vows. Please bless me to accomplish this essential practice. Just as I have fallen into the sea of saṃsāra, so have all mother migratory beings. Please bless me to see this, train in supreme bodhicitta, and bear the responsibility of freeing migratory beings.
Even if I develop only bodhicitta but I don’t practice the three types of morality, I will not achieve enlightenment. With my clear recognition of this, please bless me to practice the bodhisattva vows with great energy. Once I pacify distractions to wrong objects and correctly analyze the meaning of reality, Please bless me to generate quickly within my mind stream the unified path of calm abiding and special insight. Having become a pure vessel by training in the general path, please bless me to enter the holy gateway of the fortunate ones, the supreme vajra vehicle. At that time, the basis of accomplishing the two attainments is keeping pure vows and samaya.
As I have become firmly convinced of this, please bless me to protect these vows and samayas like my life. Then, having realised the importance of the two stages, the essence of the vajrayana, by practising with great energy, never giving up the four sessions, please bless me to realise the teachings of the Holy Guru. Like that, may the gurus who show the noble path and the spiritual friends who practice it have long lives. Please bless me to pacify completely all outer and inner obstacles. In all my lives, never separated from perfect gurus, may I enjoy the magnificent Dharma.
By completing the qualities of the stages and paths, may I quickly attain the state of Vajradhāra.