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20081030GRNYNL

Gate Gate..Namo Gurube...ge wa di yi nyur du dag....sazhi pökyi... sang gye chö dang tsog kyi...

0:03:30

For the benefit of all sentient beings one would like to listen to this teaching and obtain total enlightenment for the service to ourselves and all other sentient beings. With this motivation do kindly listen to this teaching.

The teaching you are going to listen to is the path through which the fortunate people are going to be led to ordinary and extraordinary enlightenment. It is path through which the past, present and future buddhas have traveled. It is the path that is shown and explained by the great forerunners and early Buddhist masters, such as Nagarjuna and Asanga. It is the essence practice of Atisha and Jamgön Lama Tsongkhapa. It is known as lam rim, the road map to total enlightenment.

It also has tremendous qualities. Four are particularly mentioned. If one gains a brief understanding of lam rim, one begins to understand that the teachings of the Buddha are not only not contradictory but are complimenting each other. Every word Buddha gives becomes a transmission. It causes you to understand the Buddha's intention clearly, and especially all wrong thoughts and actions will automatically be reduced within the individual. If you read any lam rim books they will tell you all this in detail. Here we are very short of time, so we don't want to go every session into such detail.

But we have to remember the outlines and there are basically two:

Going through the lineage tradition and knowing how many steps there are and why in that order and why these steps cannot be changed.

Actual Mental Training and Development

We have already talked about Buddha's, Atisha's and Jamgön Lama Tsongkhapa's life stories a little bit. So, while that is not sufficient, at least we haven't left this spot blank, but have at least some understanding. If you want to know more detail about this lineage, these are very clearly mentioned in Kyabje Pabongka's Liberation in the Palm of your Hands. Also the lineage prayer that comes as part of the preliminaries will clearly give you at least the names and qualities of each lineage master.

Finally it will come to the three most important points:

Common with the lower level - common with the medium level - mahayana

We call the first two 'common', because we are totally focused on the mahayana path, but before entering that, there are certain prerequisites that we must pick up from the lower levels, particularly taking refuge. Then, when we talk about the Four Noble Truths and the interdependent system of existence, past, present and future - that is 'common with the medium level', leading to nirvana. Then finally, the mahayana leads to total enlightenment.

This is the sequence and if you don't go through the lower and medium levels, if you don't study and meditate on this we are never going to get to the higher level at all, because these are the base foundation. That's why there are definitely three: common with the lower, common with the medium and mahayana.

Also, this mahayana level has the vast or compassionate aspect and the profound or wisdom aspect. These are a must in the mahayana level. Each of these steps are divided into two: the actual sessions and the periods in between sessions.

The session also has three: prerequisites of the session, the actual session itself and the conclusion of each meditative session.

The prerequisite here consists of the Six Prerequisites. These are not necessarily preliminaries. They are part of the practice but on the prerequisite level. We maintain them linked together within the session.

1. Cleansing the Place and Laying the Altar

2. Making pure offerings not influenced by wrong livelihood

including laying out the offerings with the art of decoration, observing the rules and systems

3. How to sit in the recommended posture. Here the recommended posture is the Vairochana's 8 point posture.

This outline also includes generating the Special Mind, taking refuge, generating the bodhimind and the Four Immeasurables.

We are still in that 3rd prerequisites. We already talked about how to sit and how to generate the special mind, the bodhimind. We also talked about taking refuge. We talked about the field of refuge and the actual taking of refuge. We explained the field of refuge and how to take refuge and also who is Guru, Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Here we are not going into complete detail on refuge, because that will come much later. But we did what we need for now.

0:15:50

The historical Buddha represents the enlightened society. Our own future Buddha is within us in the seed level right now and we talked about how to link these two. Taking refuge is all about that. How does this immature - I shouldn't say unborn - baby buddha connect with the historical Buddha who is representing total enlightenment. On another level, the connection between the historical Buddha and this one being taking to that level, we have briefly covered in the explanation of refuge.

I also introduced you to the field of refuge. Here Buddha Shakyamuni is the most important guru and the most important buddha. Lama is Buddha, Buddha is Lama. That is how the oneness comes in.

Then we explained the visualization of Namo Gurube, Namo Buddhaya, Namo Dharmaya and Namo Sanghaya. I don't remember if I have alredy done the shorter version of generating bodhimind and taking refuge together. This is:

I take refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha until I obtain enlightenment.

By practicing generosity and the other perfections

may I be able to obtain enlightenment.

sang gye chö dang tsog kyi chog nam la

jang chub bar du dag ni kyab su chi

dag gi gin sog gye pai sö nam kyi

dro la pan chir sang gye drub par shok

We also say that verse in the beginning of every teaching, but with a slight difference in the third line. During the teaching, you people should say in the third line dag gi chö nyen gye pai sö nam kyi - 'chö nyen' means listening to dharma teachings. The person who is teaching will say dag gi chö she gye pai sö nam kyi - and here chö she means giving the dharma teaching. So the wording changes from person to person. So for those who are listening the third line in English is:

by practicing listening to dharma, etc, ...

And those who are teaching say:

by teaching dharma, etc.....

So that has been changed from "by practicing generosity, etc". Again the refuge is important, that's why I am coming back to this shorter combined version of refuge and bodhimind.

0:20:48

Now I give you the shortest version of refuge meditation. You have to have an object to take refuge to. You can't just shout in the air: "I take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha." Maybe it does make sense, I don't know. But in your visualization you should have someone that you actually take refuge to. So in this case it is Buddha. In reality he is your own spiritual masters - with plural, but in the form of Shakyamuni Buddha. He is the one who gave us the buddha dharma. We are still in the official tenure of Shakyamuni Buddha as the official Buddha. There are lots of other buddhas, but for us it is Shakyamuni. His physical appearance is that of the historical Buddha in India. But is what we visualize going to be exactly the same as what we see in Buddha images created by artists? I don't know. When Buddha lived in India, did he really look like these images, with a little extra lump on his head? That is not a hair knot; it is supposed to be some kind of growth. Buddha is supposed to have curly hair, where each hair stands by itself, like we see with African-Americans, maybe even more so. Each and every hair curls individually. We have never seen photos and there is nobody today who has seen Buddha 2600 years ago. So probably he didn't look exactly like that. Buddha images made in Tibet will have a slightly Tibetan-looking face, that Mongol - type of round face and flat nose. Buddha images made in India have sharper, bigger noses. Images made in Thailand have this sharp, tall thing on the top of the head. You see every part different. That tells me that people keep on building it up, make it a little more exotic and different. If you really had a person with an extra lump on the head walking down the street we would probably run away, rather than saying that it is Buddha.

In meditation, on the imaginative level it changes. When we are not used to it, it is imagination. When you get used to it, it becomes reality. When we first learn to meditate we imagine. So the object of refuge, Buddha Shakyamuni, appears in golden color. His skin color was supposed to be golden. The essence of the earth is supposed to be gold. Therefore the color of Buddha should be golden. That itself tells you that people add up exotic details, one on top of each other. Maybe Buddha did look slightly yellowish, rather than pure white or pure black. So they made the yellow a little more intense and noticed that the essence of earth is gold, so they thought, "Lets make it golden color."

It doesn't matter what builds up. What matters is the person practicing this for their refuge. They have to develop trust that you are going to bring towards the Buddha. Since the teachings describe Buddha in that way we better follow it, rather than saying, "I think it can't be like that, so let me make the ushnisha shorter and change that yellow color a little bit. Make it a little more brownish." Don't do that. It serves no purpose and wastes our time. Plus, altering that may or may not create positive karma. We don't know. So it is better to stay with what we have and looking at the pictures and images may be easier for the individual to think. Then Buddha has one face and two hands. His left hand is in the meditative posture. When we talked about the Vairochana posture we noted how important it is to put the hands together in the meditation posture. We even talked about how the hands go one on top of the other, having either the right hand down and left on top or the other way round. All of this we talked.

But in the case of Buddha that is not really applicable. He sort of shows the meditative posture with the left hand down. Then Buddha in his life time, didn't work for a living. He lived his life by begging. Therefore he is holding the begging bowl in his hand. Traditionally, in India, Buddha and any other spiritual teacher would walk through the villages and people would give them food. That is how they ate their food. To represent that Buddha carried the begging bowl. Our omens are also such that we shouldn't think of an empty begging bowl. We think that the begging bowl is filled with nectar. These are the medicinal nectar free of illness, the nectar of longevity free of death, the uncontaminated wisdom nectar free of contamination. These three types of nectar fill the begging bowl.

The right hand is touching the ground. But since Buddha is sitting on the lotus, moon and sun cushions, it is not easy to put the hand down that far to the ground. But to represent that the hand is touching the cushion. The historical reason behind that is the competition between the devil and Buddha. The devil challenged Buddha all the time, so Buddha said, "I have a tremendous amount of good karma, but you have only some limited good karma. Your merit cannot challenge me, because it is limited." The devil said, "All right, if that is case, you are my witness that I have accumulated a lot of merit. But who is your witness that you have accumulated more than I have?" Buddha said, "The earth is my witness." And he touched the earth. Then the mother earth goddess popped up from the ground and said, "I was there. I am a witness."

When the native Americans talk about the Earth Mother and the spirit there, it is not just a made up story. There is a huge link in Buddhism. Anyway, that's the reason why his right hand reaches down. Then he is sitting cross-legged. We can see it in pictures, drawings and everywhere.

But you have to think that he is alive, living. Don't think of a statue, but of an actual living person. You can talk to her, she can reply, you can communicate and do whatever. YOu hae to think it is a living being.

In this shorter version of refuge Guru is Buddha; Buddha is guru.

0:34:33

Therefore, out of Buddha's physical appearance the body itself is sangha. The speech is the result of his spiritual development, therefore it is dharma. His mind is total knowledge, totally enlightened mind and therefore it is buddha. So Buddha, Dharma and Sangha are all in one physical appearance of a buddha.You don't have to get three, four different pictures everywhere, but have just one single solid picture. Then you take refuge in Buddha, Dharma and Sangha not just for today, not just to help you get over certain difficulties, but until they are no longer needed. Until then take refuge to them.

As usual, light and liquid are coming from the physical body of the Buddha, reach me and all sentient beings that are with me, my family, friends, relations, enemies and all others. They are all here to seek help from the enlightened beings. The light and liquid reaches to all of them and just by the touch of light and liquid it purifies all negative wrong doings and I become a pure light natured being.

That much for the first half of the verse:

I take refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Sangha until I obtain enlightenment.

Then the other half of the verse:

By practicing generosity and the other perfections

may I be able to obtain enlightenment.

This refers to the virtues of generosity, morality, patience, enthusiasm, concentration and wisdom. By these powers I and all sentient beings wish to become fully enlightened.

This is generating the wishing bodhimind. Intensified by acting with generosity and so on, may I become fully enlightened for the service of all living beings. That becomes the action bodhimind. So both, action and wishing bodhimind are completed. By this action of taking refuge and generating bodhimind the enlightened ones are becoming very happy. Buddha is very happy for me and looking at me and I appreciate Buddha. You have to build some connection of love here in the sense of appreciating love. By this a duplicate Buddha comes out from the original one. It is just like lighting one candle from another. This duplicate Buddha comes and dissolves to me. By that, I suddenly become Buddha myself. I look like Buddha, I am Buddha.

0:40:01

Then you develop the pride of being the Buddha yourself. That has to be generated. Then you generate light from your body that reaches to all other living beings and just by the touch of the light all environments become pure and all inhabitants become fully enlightened. Just the touch of the light transforms them. This particular lam rim has a lot of vajrayana touch. That is one of the reasons why it is called "Quick Path." It becomes very similar to the beginning of the lama chöpa.

DHE CHEN NGANG LAY RANG NYI LA MA LHA

GANG DER SAL WAY KU LAY Ö ZER TSOH

CHOH CHUR TRÖ PAY NÖ CHÜ JIN LAB PAY

DAK PA RAP JAM BA ZHIK YÖN TEN GYI

KÖ PAY KHYE PAR PHÜN SUM TSOK PAR GYUR

From Great Bliss I arise as the Lama-Yidam.

My body radiates light, transforming all existence.

Everything becomes pure.

It is exactly the same thing here. Not only you can do that, but you can also focus on yourself as Buddha and meditate and develop shamata here. You don't have to wait with that until you reach the level of shamata. You can even do it here. You will come across the normal shamata problems as when you visualize Buddha in front. When you can see the ushnisha, you will miss the legs. When you focus on the legs you will miss the upper part of the body. These will all appear but you can overcome them by zooming in and out and then you may able to focus, even if it is just a yellow lump. That is good enough as a basis for shamata.

Now we move to the Four Immeasurables.

Equanimity

All living beings, including myself, why are we suffering so tremendously? Who made that suffering? All our sufferings are not coming from outside but from within ourselves, from our own mind. It is strong obsession to whatever I like. It is strong hatred to what I dislike. Sometimes, during the elections we get that too. It is unnecessary hatred and obsession. Maybe it is entertainment, but sometimes people get angry, going too much beyond. Anyway, before I forget, next Tuesday happens to be election day, so we have to go. That's why I won't be teaching on Tuesday. So in case anyone is tuning in next Tuesday, either video or audio, I am not teaching then. This hatred and obsession is what makes us suffer all the time.

Even in these elections it gives us pain. If the person you support loses you take pain. If someone you don't like wins you get angry. So we suffer, and for nothing. In one way it is important. We can't say it is for nothing. Everybody says it must be important, so it must be. But on the other hand it is also for nothing. Likewise, within the family. Every time the pull and push of love-hate makes us suffer. If we can bring everybody above that love-hate and pull-push, that would be equanimity, a state that is free of obsession and hatred. Meditate on Buddha in front and see living beings around you. You may not see many of them clearly, but a sea of suffering living beings. So realizing that, think, "I wish all the suffering beings were free of obsession and hatred. How wonderful if they became free of that. I would like to make them free. I may be blessed to be able to do that." That is the first of the Four Immeasurables, Equanimity.

Love

How wonderful it would be if all these beings could remain in joy? They should always have nothing but joy. I would like to make that happen. I pray they will remain. I will make them remain. I may be blessed to be able to do that. That is the Second Immeasurable of Love.

Compassion

How wonderful if all these living beings were free from suffering and the cause of suffering. I pray they are. I will make them free from suffering and the cause of suffering. I may be blessed to be able to do that.

If you want to do it in detail then light and liquid comes, purifies all of them, makes them into what you wish.

This is what we can think when we say, "May all beings be free from suffering".

Joy

How wonderful if all living beings were not separated from the joy of liberation or nirvana and the totally enlightened Buddha state.

0:59:54

May they never be separated from that. How wonderful it would be. I pray they will remain in that joy. I will make sure that all living beings remain in that joy state. I may be blessed to be able to do that. We call that the "Joy that has never known suffering". That is the joy of nirvana - for the ordinary enlightenment, and for the extraordinary enlightenment it is the Buddha state.

These are the Four Immeasurables. And that covers the Third Prerequisite. Gradually you have to learn how to make them shorter, because these are all supposed to be done in the beginning of every session of meditation. Remember, the session itself consists of pre - actual - and conclusion. This is the prerequisite. There are six of them. It is going to take a hell of time for the meditation if you go in that much detail every time. That's why so many prayers we just say and you are supposed to pick up the meditation behind the words and when the words move, your meditation should move.

Meditation is known in the West. Saying prayers is also known in the West. But the words you say in the prayers and the emotional touch behind the prayers and move these together is a little more difficult. That is very strong in almost every Tibetan Buddhist practice. Mostly we do that first on the imaginative level and then hopefully it will be actualized.

By doing this light and liquid come from the Field of Merit, reach to all living beings and just by the touch of the light and liquid they become pure beings.

Even our body becomes a light natured body. Our life, our luck and fortune, our quality and knowledge, all fully develop. So that covers the Third Prerequisite: Sitting on the cushion, generating the Special Mind, taking refuge and generating bodhimind and the Four Immeasurables.

0:55:06

Generating the Field of Merit

There are two separate traditions:

Lama Chöpa Field of Merit

Nyur Lam Field of Merit

Whichever you use doesn't matter. This is the nyur lam outline and it applies to the de lam as well.

Lama Chöpa Field of Merit

I am not sure how I am going to talk to you. We have the big Lama Chöpa picture here [as a power point slide[ . Pabongkha's Liberation in the Palm of your Hands comes in two editions. One is in one volume, edited by Wisdom Publications and another in 3 volumes by Geshe Lobsang Tharchin. In his volume, in volume I there is a chart. Looking at the chart becomes a little easier.

You can see this tree. It is not a family tree, but it is the same idea. The whole Field of Merit is put in a tree. The difference between the western idea of family tree and the Tibetan idea of the Merit Tree is that in the western model each family members becomes a branch of the tree and it goes up and down and right and left.

Here it is different. They build a real tree and on that tree they put all these beings. A tree makes it easier to meditate or easier to explain. Whatever the reason behind that is I don't know. The whole tree becomes huge, almost like a huge lotus. It does have branches and leaves and everything, but the whole thing will become one huge lotus. The center of that lotus in the lama chöpa becomes Lama Lobsang Thubwang Dorje Chang. He is the most important, your root master. He is also the Buddha. He is also Buddha Vajradhara. Lama Lobsang means Lama Lobsang Drakpa. That is the Jamgön Lama Tsongkhapa. So it is your root master in the form of Jamgön Lama. At his heart level is the Buddha and within his heart is Buddha Vajradhara. In his heart is the letter HUM. It is like a transparent Russian doll.

1:00:34

There is one inside the other inside the other. You can see it clearly in the picture. He is surrounded on individual petals by the three most important yidams, Yamantaka on his right, Heruka on his left and Guhuyasamaja in front. Hevajra is at the back. They are all sitting on the same petal or something.

Then you have Buddha Maitreya with all the lineage masters of the compassion lineage. Then you have Manjushri, the wisdom buddha, with the profound or wisdom lineage. Then you have Buddha Vajradhara with the blessing lineage. Then comes your root masters with all the other direct teachers from whom you have taken teachings.

There are 5 different groups. In the lama chöpa you have Manjushri surrounded by different lineages. But that is different.

Then these are surrounded by the yidams, then buddhas, then bodhisattvas, then you have arhats, dakas and dakinis and finally you have dharmapalas. On the last row down there you see the different dharmapalas. Above that you see the dakas and dakinis. Above that are the arhats. They are monks. Then you see bodhisattvas, then buddhas. Then above that you see the different yidams of kriya, charya, yoga and maha anu yoga tantra. These are the four different tantras. This is a little complicated, particularly if you only talk over 1 or 2 hours. But we have a chart made available for you and it will be distributed. It is an empty chart and you can fill it in - like kids. If you have interest you may pick it up; if you don't have interest, you don't have to worry about it.

I will recommend that you bring the same refuge field Buddha over here. That is why I didn't explain this one very detailed. But one thing I have to explain. In the lam rim itself the central figure is not Lama Lobsang Thubwang Dorje Chang. In the lam rim lineage you will find Buddha in the center, not in Tsongkhapa form but in Buddha form. Otherwise, the rest is all the same.

Some time later you will pick it up but for the time being you can use your root master in the form of Buddha. We have done that for the refuge period and you can use the same thing as a substitute for the Field of Merit. Plus in your mind you acknowledge that all others are there. Just don't deny that they are there. Focusing on the Buddha is easy. You believe that in reality he is your root master in the form of the Buddha. Then you think all others are there.

Not only, all other enlightened buddhas are there; on top of that you have their teachings. That is representing dharma. Dharma is two: knowledge aspects and spiritual development aspects.

The knowledge is not just educational knowledge. It is spiritual development one obtains. It becomes knowledge and is expressed outwardly in the form of teaching, art, drawing, music or whatever. The dharma is traditionally represented as books.

The sanghas are represented by more than four monks. Here you can have Buddha, Dharma and Sangha all in one. If you have an elaborate Field of Merit you have all of them. If you have Buddha only then the Buddha has to have a letter OM at the crown, a letter AH at the throat and a letter HUM at the heart level. If you have it in detail, everyone in the Merit Field has these three letters. So whoever you have, they have these three letters.

Light radiates from the heart of either the Lama Lobsang Thubwang Dorje Chang or the Lama Buddha, inviting all enlightened beings, the lineage masters of all traditions, of profound wisdom, vast compassion, the blessing lineage, the direct teachers and all buddhas and bodhisattvas are invited. They dissolve and become oneness with what you have imagined here.

Your Field of Merit becomes the collection of all enlightened beings.

Then you say:

MA LÜ SEM CHAN KUN JE GON JUR CHING

DÜ DHE PUNG GYE ME ZÄ JOM ZÄ LHA

NGÖ NAM MA LÜ YANG DHAH KEN JUR PÄ

CHOM DHAN KHOR CHÄ NÄ DHER SHEG SU SOL

You who destroy all evil forces

And who know all things perfectly,

For the sake of all beings,

Please come to us.

We have these in the Jewel Heart prayers to suit the tune. 1:10:10

There are historical reasons for this verse. During the Buddha's life time one of his benefactors or sponsors was a royal family. One of their daughters was sent far away to the South of India, beyond the ocean, to get married. She was very unhappy in her new home. Naturally, she missed her parents, the kingdom and everything else and especially Buddha and his disciples. She had offered them lunch very often. She missed that most. The king said, "You are so unhappy. What can I do?" She said, "If you can invite Buddha and his disciples, then I will be happy." He said, "All right, I can invite them, but will they come? We are very far away. How do we do it?" She said, "Don't worry, I will do it. You just make the lunch." So she went up on the palace roof and looked towards Northern India and with folded hand repeated this verse all the time. At that time, Buddha was in his kingdom and told his followers, "Tomorrow we have to go out for lunch. Those of you with magical powers, please pick up the wooden stick." They had this system of picking up a piece of wood and they cut that put it in a tray. And if you didn't want to do something you didn't pick up a stick and if you did you picked one up. It is almost like we vote here.

So those with magical powers picked up the wood and the next day they went; they started flying in the air and their robes became wings. Some of them were dressed up like Halloween. They dressed up like kings and queens with wheels and chakras.

When I was a kid I had a cave. That was a huge room and there was one big wall and that had a mural of this scene: all these monks flying, some of them had fire balls coming out, some had wheels under the each of their feet. The whole drawing I saw as a kid for 5, 6 years. Every time I went to that cave there was this drawing.

So they all flew to this Southern King's palace, had lunch and in the evening they left. That's why this particular verse is considered very important as an invocation. It has been translated into almost every language. The Chinese have a long version of this and they sing it, accompanied by all kinds of instruments and I believe the Japanese use the same translation. The Mogolians use it, the Tibetans do and the Indians had it in Sanskrit.

Actually it means:

the leader and helper of all living beings,

one who destroys all evil forces. Y

ou know everything, Buddha with your retinue,

come over here.

Due to suit the tune some of the words got changed and that becomes a little upside down.

The Tibetans don't make foot notes, but in the nyur lam there is note in the middle of the text that at this point you can give them a bath. Day before yesterday in Ann Arbor I talked briefly how to offer a bath to those invited guests.

Giving Bath

In the ritual they are getting a vase of water and pouring it over a mirror. That's what they normally do. They take the picture of the invited appearing in the mirror and then pour water over it, meaning they are washing them. But in your visualization you don't think that. You create a huge bath house - not like a European bath house, but a real good bath house. It has beautiful scented smell. The walls are all mirrors and the floor is too, but with golden decorations. It also has jewel ornaments. When you actually give them baths, it is like when Buddha was first born. All the samsaric and non-samsaric gods have given Buddha the bath. Historically they supposed to have washed the Buddha. I don't know. I was not there.

Then you think: with this water I wash your body.

Then you say:

You, the enlightened ones, have no fault or dirt in your body, speech and mind. We, the living sentient beings, to purify our impure bodies, impure aspect of speech and mind, we offer this bath. By offering this may all living beings purify the impurities of body, speech and mind.

Then you use the abisheka mantra;

Om sarva tathagata abhishekata samaya shriye ah hum

Abhisheka is also translated as initiation. What really happens here is offering water and washing them.

I made that very short. In the Tibetan it is very elaborate. First you offer the bath to Buddha, then to all other gurus, then all the yidams, one by one. That will go for a long time.

At the end you dry their bodies.

It is the pure, clean towels I offer.

You have the mantras:

om hum tram shri akaya vishudanaye soha.

You make a little gesture of a mudra and think that you have wiped off all wet parts and then give them new clothes. They are light, beautiful, soft, warm. They are some kind of god's special silks. (I am adding all these words).

Then you say: I offer all this to you and I may obtain the vajra body.

Then you also offer ornaments, if it is a female deity. Tara for example has lots of jewel ornaments. The more ornaments you offer the more money you make, even if the economy is not in a good situation. If you offer limited jewelry, you are supposed to make less money. However, don't mess it all up and make it look terrible.

The most difficulty I have if people make their altar look like junk yards. There will be all kinds of pictures and post cards. I have difficulty looking at it. These things collect dust and look like a junk yard. That is not good at all. Whatever you have, keep it clean and wonderful.

So here jewels are offered, but with the art of presentation and with dignity. Just don't cover up the yidam completely. It is not just about the quantity, if you think the more you offer the more wealth you get. So then all the female deities will be so overfilled with jewels they can't move.

So don't do that sort of thing.

If you do it with a beautiful feeling then it is a very good practice.

This is followed by the Seven Limbs, beginning with prostration. I will do that next Thursday.

I didn't give you an opportunity to ask questions, but we can do that next Thursday.

dag gi ji ni sag pai ....sa zhi pokyi .....more dedication prayers from nyur lam prayers