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Soundfile 19940902GRSRWT_01

Speaker Gelek Rimpoche

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Transcriber Wee Lin

Date Sept 17, 2020

First and foremost I would like to encourage you to do kindly have a good motivation. That is very important. Motivation that by spending seven days here and doing Buddhist practice in general and particularly the White Tara practice we may be helpful and we may benefit our self and all others that at least that some kind of positive karmic connection may open and some kind of gateway may be entered, sort of open and enter to reach to the level of enlightenment. That is also not [just] for our own purpose but for the benefit of others [as well], meaning that if we get to open some kind of positive doorway, we are going have constant positive experience within us and we may be able to share that very experience with others. Even if we don’t share the path we may be able to influence others and lead them to through these steps. So through that way ultimately we may be able to benefit all beings, not only human being but all sentient beings.

Of course it is hard work, difficult and long way but may we reach to all the beings one by one and may be able to help them. That much of strong heartfelt motivation is the first call.

0:03:20.7 That is important. [If your motivation is ] I would like to do a retreat so that I may feel good or I would like to have some positive Buddhist experience or something like that , that is not good motivation. The motivation here is to try to strongly pray [with] very strong mind that at least [we get] some kind of opening and connection which would ultimately lead to the state of enlightenment. So I hope everybody should do that for our self and for the benefit of all others. That is the first point I would like to request you

0:04:46.0 The second point [I would like to make is this.] I have been constantly asked and urged actually by the organizers, the coordinators for the retreat and people who have been working in the office that they want a schedule, they want to know what’s going on, what time and all this. It is totally my fault that I did not provide any schedule so please forgive me. I thought we are always having schedule, hour after hour , minute after minute , we have schedule throughout the normal usual American busy life. So if you spend seven days without schedule and let it flow naturally. Let us experiment with that once. That’s why no matter how much urging from the coordinators and the office people I sort of play dumb, “Ya ya ya I will let you know.” The reason is let’s just flow through. However the timing for food and break and get together are all there. So whatever comes, take it and let it flow naturally. Don’t expect anything. That’s my second request. I am sorry. It is radical shift for American life. A lot of people feel uncomfortable with that. I am sorry but sometimes it is nice too.

0:06:38.0 And thirdly we have provided this booklet. Everything in this booklet we don’t expect you to do every day. However, if you turn to page 1, the first thing you have is ritual for morning bath. I am sure a lot of people here are quite new and not familiar with Vajrayana. However the Tibetan Buddhism and particularly the tradition that I came through is always Vajrayana connected and oriented so those of you who have been practicing a number of years , that is nothing new to you.

In the morning this is not going to be said together because you are not going to take bath together as a group. So in the morning when you get up, first thing when you take bath , visualize that a White Dakini (actually the color is red) but since we are practicing White Tara, a white dakini a very beautiful, youthful, attractive and cute or whatever you want to visualize , nice, young girl or boy whatever you like, it doesn’t matter. In reality it is the enlightened being in the physical form of dakini. I should not go beyond that. That may be too far for me to go but in the dakini form or whatever you like and comes and sort of if you are taking a shower, it sits on the showerhead and the ordinary water that is coming out of the shower head is not ordinary water but the enlightened beings’ blessed nectar pouring on our self and not only washing the outer dirt from our body whatever we have, sweat or dirt. That represent our delusions and ignorance particularly ignorance and obstacles for longevity , illness etc.

0:09:44.1 All washed away by this nectar. I use the word nectar which really means Nawa mapa … There are different kinds of nectar. The nectar which free our self from the illness is the medicine or medical nectar and the nectar which gives the longevity which is called life nectar and most important nectar is uncontaminated nectar which purifies contaminated thoughts and obstacles. That is why I use the word nectar. I did not use word nectar just because its fancy and romantic. Maybe it is fancy, maybe it is romantic , it is ok but more than that it is the values of the nectars. I think there is one more but I don’t remember and Chodak Rinpoche says he doesn’t remember either. The most important thing is it is the uncontaminated wisdom nature enlightened beings’ positive karmic results in the form of liquid pouring on our body and washing them. So a little visualization is very interesting, that’s what you do.

0:11:52.4 Then you have this mantra. It is probably better to memorize the mantra if you want to practice. These are all optional and suggestion only, nothing compulsory. The mantra here is OM ARAYAM CHIR KAM VIMANAYE UTSUMA

MAHAKRODHA HUM PHAT. You can say that or if you don’t memorize it, you probably can say that before you get into the shower. Then you can say Om Ah Hum. Om Ah Hum will also do and that everybody will remember. Then finally when you are taking a long hot bath and shower at the end then dakini will also dissolve to your body. Remember that.

Slightly before that, before you get up you have to go to sleep first. So particularly in Mother Tantra oriented Vajrayana practice they will give you the yoga of sleeping first. We are not really giving you the Yoga of Sleeping here but sort of give you a watered down version of sleeping yoga. So when you go to sleep tonight , if you have a understanding of emptiness or what they call Buddhist wisdom , actually truly , the true reality of all phenomena, that’s what it really is. And so if you have understanding of that, then you can sleep within that attitude and that idea, which is dissolving every single existence into the void nature, if you have understanding .

If you don’t, at least you think when you lie down above your pillow in reality you are facing all enlightened beings in the physical form of Tara.

0:15:28.4 Sort of in the presence of Tara or almost using the Tara’s lap as your pillow or something in that manner and you sleep. That choice is yours. If you do that you make three prostrations before you go to sleep and when you get up , do three prostrations on your bed itself. If that is not convenient because you have bunk bed and your bed is on top then that will be a problem. So before you climb up or side of the bed you do three prostrations before you go down. Think that you are prostrating to Tara for protection, blessing, preparing to be able to have some opening and connection and when you wake up in the morning thanking [Tara] for that. So do three prostrations before you go to sleep and three prostrations when you get up. If you want to do that every day, you can do it in your home. These are also not compulsory. If you don’t like it don’t do it. But if you like it, go ahead and do it. So that is the sleeping style and then getting up and taking bath.

0:17:13.5 Then we have the food offering. That will be we say together as a group for all the three meals whenever you have them. Then we have some additional optional mantras here. These are the very important mantras. Actually the [mantras] were from every different teachings of the Buddha. In some places some mantras were mentioned and in somewhere else some [other mantras] were mentioned and many of them were collected together by one of Rimpoche’s late master, Kyabje Trijiang Rimpoche. Kyabje Trijiang Rimpoche collected all of them and made them as a daily practice for people. He selected a little booklet and put them in there. Rimpoche took out from [ the booklet]. So if you say those mantras, even when you are saying little Om Tare Tuttare Ture Soha or Om Mani Padme Hum the mantra has the power to increase [ the effects] by hundred thousand times. Sometimes the mantras have different powers. Sometimes [ what they say] is unbelievable but it does have its own effects.

0:18:56.0 Then you also have mala mantra. Those people who are using mala if you say the mala mantra seven times and blow on your own mala that will help. You are not going to do that in group at all, it is your choice. Then the mantra for the foot, if you do this, it is helpful because by the power of this mantra any insects that die under your foot will be benefitted. The insects are going to die anyway and you are going to walk anyway , so saying the mantra will benefit them. We will say the offering mantra together. This offering mantra is not the food offering mantra that we have. It is for blessing the offerings, the water, flower , incense etc that will be laid out here tomorrow,. That we will do together.

0:20:07.3 Then prostration mantra. If you want to you can do it, if you don’t want you don’t have to do. They are all your choice. Then the mantra for meat is very useful for those who are meat eaters. Those of us who eat lots of meat. It is very useful because it benefits the being whose meat belonged to before.

So then the rest of those ( Chomde de chen zewa jawa …… ???) they are the prostration for the different Buddhas , the second one (….) is the Buddha Sakyamuni and third one is ( ….) this is Medicine Buddha, (…) the fourth is the Mintupa which is the powerful Buddha for purification. It even have the purification mantra given to you. These are all optional for you. You don’t have to do that together here and we are just giving them to you here. So when you take home you have those. (….) We also chose Amitabha Buddha here. The reason why we chose Mintupa Buddha here is because for purification of negativity. Amitabha Buddha because some practice where we like to at least give you a watered down version of little practice of transferring your consciousness and that is the reason why we put … over here.

0:22:55.1 (….) That’s Maitreya Buddha. The same reason. Some people will be very close to and would like to go in their future life to Pureland of Tushita where Tsongkhapa and Atisha and all these great masters are living there so that’s why Maitreya Buddha . All the mantras are of those Buddhas there and these are the mantras on page 4. These are the actually the mantras which will destroy the lower realms. A lot of people have asked me that “ Somebody’s dying here, what can I do, somebody is dying there, what can I do?” People would call me on telephone and ask me to pray. “Ya, I can pray,” I said that and I can only say “you say Om Mani Padme Hum or your Migtzema or something”, that is sort of maximum I can tell those who have not been regularly with us, That’s all I can say and so limited for me. Because at the last minute if I were to try to explain on telephone, “ say this Buddha’s name, say that Buddha’s name , say this mantra, say that mantra”, that would not mean anything. So it is better that somebody who knows , at least will say Om Mani Padme Hum or something. We had to do that.

That is why we pick up those mantras so it is useful for the people who are dying to have these mantras said near them. Not only to say these mantras near them but also even after passing away saying those mantras and get your breath touch their body. Traditionally in Tibet we just blow [the breathe] that way but it might not be very convenient in the West. People would be wondering what you are doing. Particularly a number of people who works in the hospital and doing Hospice work and all these , they asked me what to do. But if you make it very obvious it is not very nice, it may have more problem than benefit. It may create more problem than benefit. So just say quietly and at least the breath, if you go nearby the breath will touch them. These are the sort of things that are very useful to do but if you do your own sadhana or Guru Yoga practice or Lama Chopa there is nothing better.

0:26:15.4 I always share this interesting Story. I believe it was 1989 probably. I came here and visited before I moved here. I think it was 1986. I had to go from here to Holland and from Holland I had to go to Delhi because a friend of mine was very sick and was about to die. When I reached Delhi I and visit with a number of friends. And finally when he was dying and he sort of requested Rimpoche to be there to pray. I said “yes”. I was with him and he was about to die , then there was this funny thing. He said “Rimpoche Rimpoche”, I said “Ya? ” He said “Rimpoche where are the Tantric monks?” I said “What do you mean?” He said “I can hear the Tantric monks chanting the Tantra of….” I couldn’t figure out whether it was Yamantaka or Guhyasamaja or something else. “The Tantric monks are chanting, where are they, where are they?” And then suddenly he went off for a little while and then he called his wife’s name and said “ She still hasn’t come, we are going to miss the plane , could you go and tell her to hurry up or we are going to miss the plane.” He had the idea of going, taking a plane or going to be delayed and then hearing the mantras and the Tantric monastery chanting together and music. Suddenly I started saying the Yamantaka sadhana and by the time I was half way through he woke up completely and did not die till three days later. I don’t know whether I have done service or disservice , I don’t know whatever it is. So for that I always tell you sadhanas are very powerful. It works that way. And even for people who are dying , that happens.

0:29:01.6 It was 1977 in little place called Arlington near Dallas , Texas. I was there because there was a very funny, an extremely funny and but very effective American healer, called Norbu Chen. He sort of claimed himself to be a Tibetan incarnate lama healer. He sometimes dressed himself in the monk’s robes and all these and that. He was not an incarnate lama but there was no question that he was a great healer. He visited India and went to Dharamsala. That time both Kyabje Trijiang Rimpoche and Kyabje Ling Rimpoche were living in Dharamsala. So he went and saw Kyabje Trijiang Rimpoche. Kyabje Rimpoche received him and Norbu Chen requested for a certain empowerment. Kyabje Rimpoche was very happy to give him that and gave him that empowerment in his own room. Only three of us were there, a woman named Doris Duk , I believe she died recently, this Norbu Chen and myself because I was there. So at that time Norbu Chen asked Kyabje Trijiang Rimpoche to give him Yamantaka initiation. Kyabje Rimpoche told him “Ya but if you want to have the initiation in Dharamsala, you should ask from Kyabje Ling Rimpoche , otherwise why don’t you take from him,” referring to Gelek Rimpoche. “Why don’t you take him to America and Texas and get the initiation from him in Texas.” And that is the reason why I came to Dallas, Texas in 1977 .

So when I was there [ I found that] this fellow’s knowledge point of view was definitely virtually nothing. It was almost like you can say he was totally hocus pocus, nothing. He had a big altar room and every window was shut and the place, dark. He had a couple of doctors working with him and he took only a couple of patients a month and that was also at the beginning of the month. His charges were very expensive too. And before he did any healing he would have those patients waiting in the living room and he would yell at them like hell. And then he would go inside the altar and he would say Lama Lagtu..che wo, Sangye Lagtu… che wo, Chola Lagyu chew wo, Ganden Lagyu Chew wo, meaning taking refuge to Guru , Buddha etc. That was also not very clear in pronunciation. Sometimes he even got mixed up with the Genden which is Sangha and Gelek . I was standing there , he was yelling [ inaudible]. A very funny guy [indeed]. Anyway then he would suddenly sort of almost go into a trance and within that trance, his patient would be pushed through. Then he would just touch on the head and wherever his hands went, people really got better. People on the kidney dialysis didn’t have to do dialysis anymore. The doctor who was working with him told Rimpoche that he used to wear thick glasses but now did not need to wear them anymore. He really cured people . That is true. But as far as his own knowledge in Buddhism was concerned , it was virtually nothing.

0:34:15.3 So as requested and I did the Yamantaka initiation near Dallas , Texas in a place called Arlington, Texas. An old Mongolian Lama called Chojie Lama who used to live in New Jersey side came to help Rimpoche as an attendant. Rimpoche laughed saying that it should have been the other way around, that he himself should have been the attendant but since Rimpoche had come all the way from India, he did the initiation instead.

This Norbu Chen was supposed to die on one Friday. Rimpoche remembers very clearly it was a Friday because there were two or three doctors with him and they all said he was going to die then. He had a very shallow breath. He had been quite sick since his trip to India and was preparing to go that Friday. That was like a week or ten days after the Yamantaka initiation and he was going to die. Rimpoche went on Friday evening. Rimpoche did not know what to do so he quickly prepared and did White Tara longevity initiation.

Rimpoche is just sharing this story because we are going to do that initiation tomorrow. We begin with this and probably end up with White Tara Longevity initiation by his Holliness Depong Gyalgon???

I was put in an apartment with another Tibetan. The next morning that was Saturday morning around about 10 or 10.30 we went to his house, rang the bell and he was up in his dressing gown opening the door. The first thing he said was “ Why didn’t you let me die?”. He was crazy person, totally crazy. He said “ Why didn’t you let me die? “ Rimpoche said “ Well I don’t know.”

0:36:40.5 So the sadhanas and this White Tara practice etc is really one of the best for healing . And also as I mentioned to you, these are the mantras particularly for that purpose. However your usual practice is definitely more important and more effective.

So that’s about it for tonight and I would like to welcome all of you tomorrow. This is Summer retreat. We did very different than winter. For winter we get up early because it is cold. Summer is warm and nice so I think we don’t start till 10am. In the morning you can take a walk, do your practice or whatever you want to do. I think breakfast is 8.30 so before that you have time and after breakfast you have little time. We start 10 am. And that is going to be tomorrow. So 10am we will begin with White Tara initiation which will probably go up to 12 or 12.30 and then lunch break. We try to put up the schedule. Basically there will be three sessions, morning, afternoon and evening sessions. Every morning we would like to do the White Tara practice. If there are a number of different activities that come up we may shift it to earlier. People may like to be a little easy so we can go to the lake. Canoes are available and if you want to jump into the lake it is not too cold. It may be cold tomorrow morning but I was told it is going to be warmer by next couple of days. So then you also have time to go in the afternoon. But we will be doing three sessions. Different things are also going on in between. There will be choice of different things . So that’s about it.

0:40:38.0 Life worthwhile , open some nice connection to the enlightened and make that sort of your goal and try to do and then relax. And whatever you have to do , don’t fight or break your legs and things like that. Don’t pick fight with anybody. What we have left are some protectors pujas. We have not done. I did not see this yet. It was holiday yesterday. Page 29, 30 we might as well do all these. So page 29 is the Six arm Mahakala prayer. Avalokitesvara and Tara is almost the same person , one is male form and the other female form. Otherwise they are the same.

0:42:34.5 The wrathful form taking the physical form of protector is Mahakala. Originally Mahakala is Avalokitesvara , it is Heruka , it is Love compassion of Buddha. That is Mahakala. The page 29 and page 30, 31 through 32 we do Dharma King Chogyal which we always do. It is the Manjushri in the protector form and it especially protector for Tsongkhapa’s teachings. And as you have Mahakala as male you have female Mahakali as protector which we call Palden Lamo. Page 33 to page 34 then 35 through 38 is the Setrabpa who is my own protector and in reality it is the Buddha Amitabha in the wrathful form of protector and then you have the final Lam Rim dedication.

0:44:36.0 Enlightened yidams in their reality manifest in such a way they are there to help. It is almost like you have gods and that type of thing. In reality they are enlightened beings.

0:45:05.9 Wangindra which nowadays Indians Sanskrit will pronounce as Bigendera. But actually Wangindra is Ngawang. That’s not me. Tara appeared to the Wangchu and give almost all her Tantras. These are the shorter version of the lineage. And so gave to the Naga Wangchu. Naga Wangchu wrote a number of different rituals about Tara and all these and Naga Wangchu gave to a Buddhist master called Bodhigaya, who must have been a guy living in Bodhigaya. So the master named Bodhigaya so it give to Bodhigaya, Lama Dorje dempa or the Bodhigaya. Guru Bodhigaya also wrote a number of rituals on that. And from Guru Bodhigaya one of the Tibetans earlier translator and master Peri Lotsawa. Actually a number of different lineages from India came to Tibet. Some 20 different lineages came from India by the different masters. But complete one is like two important, out of which Peri tradition is considered much more important. And this Peri is not the Peri of Kyabje Peri Rimpoche’s. Not that one but another Peri. So from the Peri Lotsawa then it was brought to Lama Lenakpa. Now it is in Tibet. Lenakpa practiced White Tara for 6 years and Tara appeared to him and gave lots of Dharma teachings. Now comes the juicy part.

0:47:29.3 From Lama Lenakpa it went to Nyami Deva Rimpoche , one master Deva Rimpoche. Deva Rimpoche was a very learned scholar who was very proud, learned and young. He was in Tibet and he went to Nepal to sometimes. One day while he was walking round in Nepal there was somebody who was a palm reader, someone who read palm. So Deva Rimpoche showed his palm to that person in Nepal and that person looked at his hand , looked to his face and he said “ Oh you are great and learned. You also have the great fortune to be able to practice and become a great being. But there is a very big obstacle.” And Deva Rimpoche asked, “What is that? “ He replied, “Unfortunately you only have three years max to live, nothing more. You have the karma to have that big fortune on one side but your life karma has only three years left, so what are you going to do? You really can achieve lots but you don’t have time. What are you going to do? “

0:49:19.0 So he decided to cut out all his studies and went to sit in a cave in the mountain and meditate. He was very worried. He himself also had lots of funny dreams and a number of times it was quite clear that one of reasons why he had the palm reader read his palm was because he had lots of funny dreams. Anyway two years passed so he thought with only one year left he had better do something, gave up everything and go into retreat somewhere. He then chose one teacher who could concentrate and do something. Then he thought he would go to central Tibet and get a teacher under whom he would like to concentrate ,do study and practice more. Not learning much but sort of guiding under that practice. On the way he met Lama Lenakpa. So he told Lama Lenakpa the story and expressed his anxieties and worries. Lama Lenakpa said “ Don’t worry about it, relax. And don’t worry.” He kept on saying don’t worry but two years have gone. He kept saying don’t worry about it, be here. So he had been sitting there and two years had gone. He only had three years so he has only one year left.

He began to boil water. So kettle started whistling then and so then Lama Lenakpa said “ Don’t worry, I will have method.” So with about a year or so of his life left, about that time Lama Lenakpa gave this very initiation that you are going to get today. And he gave that initiation and then Lama Lenakpa finally said, “Well now you had better not go anywhere else, just sit behind in the mountains somewhere around here and meditate.” So while he was doing that practice for about a month , Tara appeared to this young learned teacher, scholar , who was practicing. And Tara said “Don’t worry , you will live for 60 years.” So he got some 30 more years more to go. Tara also said “You will be very helpful for lots of others.” When he became 60 he again did the same practice and then Tara appeared and said “You build one image like me and you will have 11 more years to live.” At that time, they made one White Tara thangka and they considered this thangka as very important and actually living wisdom. That very thangka is still today supposed to be in Reting Monastery , north of Lhasa. Like a day or so journey from Lhasa.

0:53:32.3 Journey from Lhasa into Reting Monastery there are thangkas still supposed to be there. By the time when he became 80 he again made prayer to Tara and then Tara said “If you make another image of mine you will live many [more] years. If you keep on telling 10 or 11 or something, then it goes repeating, so many years. This time it became many years. So in total Lama Nyema Deva Rimpoche lived for 95 years. That was longevity for Tibetans [who had to live] with harsh weather, high altitude , living on meat and dairy only. For somebody who lived 95 years is very long life.

0:54:44.7 So then from that time onwards many masters even Kadam tradition and later the new Kadampa or the Gelugpa tradition ,many of them like second Dalai Lama, the first Panchen Lama and all of those who lived many many, long long life are basically their basic practice is White Tara. And particularly this particular initiation that I have taken first when I was kid and last before 1959 is from Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche. And Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche himself is the reincarnation of Devapa who went on and repeating that and in his incarnation lineage he was the reincarnation of Devapa and Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche was considered a living Tara. And not only that it is interesting story there.

0:56:05.6 During the 13th Dalai Lama’s period, 13th Dalai Lama escaped from Tibet twice. Once he was chased out by the Chinese force, kicked into India, then he went back to Tibet and the British chased him out of Tibet and he ran to China. He took refuge twice. 14th Dalai Lama took once and still remain over 35 years. 13th Dalai Lama did not remain very long, couple of years here and couple of years there. But when he went to China as refugee because that was in 1912 . So during that period Kyabje Labsung Rimpoche accompanied 13th Dalai Lama as one of the attendants. And 13th Dalai Lama had one attendant later known as Tsarong the famous Tibetan, the books were written on Tsarong called the Rockerfella of Tibet. Every Westerner who went to Tibet had lived with the Tsarong family and all these. Tsarong was not Tsarong at that time. He was known as Jesi Nanga at that period. He was one of the favourite boys of 13th Dalai Lama. He was powerful and all the incarnate lamas are accompanied him and 13th Dalai Lama and all the government officers , everybody was scared of this favourite boy. He was the most powerful guy. With 13th Dalai Lama’s party. So he was a rough, he was very abusive to everybody. Abusive is maybe wrong language. He sort of put down everybody and particularly all these incarnate lamas around and he scolded them all the time “ What do you think these are, they have to sit on different place and they have to have every facilities and what do you think they are, who are you, why are you. He would shout at them all the time. What difference do you have. You are also one of the human beings. What difference do you have.

And one day Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche got a little annoyed. He was the young Rimpoche there and he said “Do you really want to sit differently”, and he said “Ya, I will show you.” He said “what do you have , show me.” So Lhatsun Rimpoche showed his hand and at time he was Lhatsun Rimpoche , not Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche yet, showed his hand. He saw an eye in there and he said, “huh, magic ! Magician, get out from here.” But later he had respect and said this Lhatsun Rimpoche is something different. He showed me an eye in palm in China. So anyway this is Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche from whom I had been able to take this very initiation, first time as kid with my father and the last time, a couple of days before I left Tibet.

Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche gave this initiation to the another incarnate lama known as Somaling in the Somaling Rimpoche’s house in Lhasa. That was the last one. And even during that time , Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche told me “I have looked , practiced and learnt and perfected this particular practice and now I am not sure how many time we will meet you will do the same thing.” So with that we had, I considered it a very important and privileged. So be able to, Though Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche on that day gave me every single thing he was using over there during that teaching including little Tara pictures which I brought from Lhasa and left in my house in Drepung Monastery but anyway the White Tara is here in the United States and we will be able to share with you. So I think it is very fortunate for me and particularly very fortunate for you people. I do hope you will appreciate. And if you don’t have appreciation , no matter whatever you have , you will not be satisfied. If you have appreciation everything will be great. If you don’t have appreciation, we have a saying in Tibetan, If you have a donkey if you put gold dust in the donkey’s ear, the donkey’s ear will move. If you put sand in the donkey’s ear, the donkey’s ear will move . Donkey’s ears will not make difference between gold dust and sand. So here , call appreciation.

1:02:08.5 I should say this particular longevity initiation is with unbroken lineage until Kyabje Lhatsun Rimpoche it is really unbroken. Of course I had from Kyabje Trijiang Rimpoche , Kyabje Ling Rimpoche and HH Dalai Lama and counted every lama will give you the longevity initiation and most of them give you White Tara, Amitabha , different ones and but I had a number of them of the number of different masters. And all of them with unbroken lineage and there is no problems in the lineage up to me and it is actually living with the blessing and if you practice it makes difference in your life. You don’t have to doubt it. If you doubt it you can prove to yourself and that is what it is.

1:03:31.0 So in order to receive this there are a number of activities, activity of the disciple who receive this, activity of the Vajra Master who gives this. Activity of the disciple who receive this has prostration , cleansing and mandala offering. First two is over. Activity of the lama who gives you this has to receive by himself which I definitely did , have done retreat , have opportunity for a number of times and only at least numbers , nothing else but numbers are done and even today the generating and the front generation and the picture and the little silver bell generated in the form of Tara and self generation, saying mantras and ritually prepared the longevity pills and longevity nectar and there’s cleansing and including giving gifts to the evil spirits and obstacles driving them away , meditating protection realm , all are completed. As part of the disciples we have completed almost all things except mandala offering, so we should stop here because people make me take a little break here. We come back and do the mandala offering and do the rest. And I am not even sure what’s happening with lunch.

1:05:21.1 Taking refuge means. It is very,. Actually taking refuge is gateway whether you become a Buddhist or not Buddhist. That’s what the gateway is. Those of you know , I don’t have to repeat. Those of you who don’t know, for their benefit , I would like to say a little bit. Taking refuge actually really means to connecting , contacting with Buddha, dharma and sangha. And Buddhist take refuge to Buddha, Dharma and sangha. And what does that means. Taking refuge, you know. I took refuge to India when I was kicked out of Tibet. So when I went to India I said , “well I can’t go back. If I go back I would be shot. “ So please let me in, I will follow your rules and regulations. Very similar to that. But from whom are we taking refuge? Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. That is objects of refuge from the Buddhist point of view. And there are a lot of reasons why Buddha, why Dharma and why Sangha. And what is Buddha, who is Buddha, what is dharma , what is sangha. There are a lot of those things. There is mix, there is understanding , there are all sorts of things. I would like to make that absolutely clear as much as I could for the benefit of the people who are taking refuge for the first time as well as those took refuge already , also to remind them.

1:07:10.9 The question arises, what is Buddha? Each one of you think. What is Buddha? And probably you will think he is speaking wrong English, he should have said Who is Buddha. Or what is Buddha? And the idea what we get immediately in one’s hand , immediately you refer to image of Buddha or the painting of Buddha or you go back to historical Buddha, that Buddha who came 2500 years ago. I cannot say you are wrong but that’s not the Buddha what we are looking for. Buddha image is Buddha image. It is representation. It represents Buddha and we do give respect , we bow, we prostrate , we do all these just to get purified our negativities. But Buddha image is Buddha image. Buddha thanghas are Buddha thanghas. That’s not object of our refuge. I was told during the cultural revolution in Tibet, during that, the Red guard came in and brought out all these images and broke them saying, you’ve been praying for protection from these and they cannot protect themselves, what are you expecting. That’s not what we are praying for. We don’t take refuge to the images. That is important. That is the Buddha’s representation not the Buddha. Buddha images is not the Buddha. It may have wisdom beings within that. That’s different issue. And historical Buddha is historical Buddha. It is 2500 years ago. So we are not really looking for that either. What we are really looking for Buddha is the fully enlightened beings everywhere.

1:09:43.6 Do you understand? Fully enlightened beings. Do you get me? Anybody has difficulties understanding that ? Enlightened and non enlightened. Being is being, right ? Human being, sentient being, living being . And enlightened and not enlightened so there is nothing in between. If you are enlightened you are enlightened, if you are not enlightened you are not enlightened. Nothing in between. The fully enlightened beings are the actually what we refer to enlightened beings or they are buddha. Whether they are Sakyamuni or Sakya Tura or Buddha Amitabha or Buddha this or Buddha that, does not matter. They are Buddha. Why? They have overcome the obstacles of, gross obstacles , the delusions what we have , the subtle obstacles the imprints of those delusions. Since they have overcome so they have conquered our emotional things so that’s why, Muni muni maha muni , the word Muni Muni is translated into Tibetan Tupa Tupa Tupa Chembo , Muni Muni Maha Muni. Tupa Tupa , tupa means one who has conquered or controlled , controlled what? Delusions . Tupa Tupa Tupa Chembo , Muni Muni Maha Muni Three Munis. So first is gross delusions, second is self interest so and forth and third is even imprint of delusions are totally overcome. That is the Maha Muni. Some people adds up Sakyamuni because that is particularly referring to the Buddha Sakyamuni. But generally Muni Muni Maha Muni is referred to all the Buddhas. That is what it is. Some people will say Muni Muni Maha Muni Sakyamuni Soha. Some don’t. Doesn’t matter.

1:11:57.8 So that means Buddha referring to that. Historical point of view , that historical Buddha’s picture coming in front of us representing that. That is the causal refuge. Causal, cause. And the result. Are you clear? Causal refuge. Now the result refuge is more important than causal refuge. The result refuge is, when you become a Buddha within our self , we do have Buddha nature , Buddha seed within us. And that. There are two, static Buddha nature and growing Buddha nature. The growing Buddha nature is the one which gradually grow and when it becomes fully matured then we become a Buddha. I am talking about Buddhist point of view. So that is within us. And the most important Buddha is my future Buddha. Because that makes difference to me. The historical Buddha represents , my future Buddha I would like to mature that. And these two, I would like to connect the immatured little baby or whatever it is , invent or even seed level buddha within me and the fully matured representing fully enlightened beings ,connecting them together and try to bring. And that is the true Buddha, that is the true refuge taking to the true Buddha. Some people may have problem with that but I do hope you understand what I am talking about. The problems we can talk later. It will be only philosophical problem. There are no other problems there. Or theoretical problems.

1:14:12.6 Now the second point is dharma. What is Dharma? Actually word Dharma Sanskrit is two meanings, one is all phenomena is called dharma , the other what we look for dharma is translated into Tibetan is Cho. The word cho is the past tense of correct, which means correction. So dharma means one who really , one which corrected our negative emotions and negative habitual patterns which has been corrected in positive way and which is our own true dharma, our future dharma. When you look at historical Buddha the spiritual development within those Buddhas are called Dharma, actually philosophical point of view , yiou have to have two dharma. The dharma, the knowledge and the transmission and so and forth in one category and the dharma , the spiritual development, another category. The true dharma is the spiritual development , the knowledge etc etc are the relative dharma. Absolute dharma is the spiritual development. So therefore when you are taking refuge to dharma, historical representation , you are focusing on the spiritual development of those enlightened beings and within our self when the negativity and its imprints , when you overcome , that is actually conquered, overcome , the positive when you gain within our self is our dharma. How good how big, how small , how weak , how strong , depends on the individual. But we each one of us has also dharma within us, buddha nature within us , dharma within us. That is result dharma. And that is what we build up every day. That is the dharma, that is the spiritual development.

1:16:58.0 Then sangha, relative sangha and absolute sangha. Relative sangha are more than four persons fully ordained four persons. Whether bikshu or bikshuni , does not matter. Fully ordained , more than four persons. That’s why you see highest assembly and all these. It has to be more than four. That is relative sangha. But absolute sangha really means when the individual person overcome the ignorance , when you see the true reality , true nature, normal American language , I am sort of tempted to say when you solve the puzzle of mystery of the life. Then you have overcome the ignorance, and when you have that, you have the true understanding of reality. That is absolutely true. The life has a lot of mystery to us. We haven’t solve that problem. I don’t if people agree or not. It is mystery, you don’t know what is going to happen next hour, nect day, next minute, it is mystery. Anyway there are a lot of things we are always surprised, one after another. It is always like that. Some people have clairvoyance , they will see earlier, either directly or indirectly through the dreams. So when you see the emptiness in the traditional teaching in Sanskrit , they called them arya. The arya if you translate it becomes special. Why it is called special? Because you have gone beyond the ordinary level. Ordinary level where the mystery is controlling and when you become special , beyond that, you solve that problem. So you see the true nature , true reality. So that is what Buddhist technically called person who understand emptiness and develop wisdom , face to face encounter with your mind [ amegi shava or jogpa chempa, chugpa chempa ???] you may call it all sorts of names. And all these but in reality that is the face to face encounter with true reality. When you know that, that person , man, woman, children , dog, cat, whatever might be, it is true sangha and at that time.

1:20:21.3 So that is each one of us again have the seed and also little bit on the way up. Everyone of us has very positive dharma within us, spiritual development within us. Big? small ? I don’t know. You know. Weak? Strong ? You know. Each one of us know within our self. But if you don’t know , we don’t have it. That is one thing. It is clear. If you don’t know, you don’t have it. We may not recognize , that does not mean you don’t know. If somebody says, ya you have this and that, Oh ya, I do. So that’s how it is. Ok ? That is the sangha within us, historical representing. So actually building connection with historical representation and our self and committing our own little immature baby buddha to be able to bring to the level of maturity and bringing our own dharma to the level of strong dharma, bring our true sangha to the level where you can really make use of it and that is the, Then sort of rely on knowing the quality of the Buddha, knowing the quality of the dharma, knowing the quality of the sangha and if you have time you can study this , there is a lot of those. Like there are the eight qualities of the Buddha , eight qualities of the dharma , eight qualities of the sangha. That is one way of putting . then three ways , the quality of the body of the Buddha, quality of the mind of the Buddha and quality of the speech of the Buddha , all these there are millions of different interpretations but what really is knowing the quality , admiring it and having the idea of seeking it. And also rely on that , rely on Buddha, dharma and sangha because as myself I have a problem, I do have suffering I do have pain, I do not know if I die now, where am I going to go? We don’t know that. So that is why we can seek refuge and so the really true refuge is knowing the quality of the Buddha , dharma and sangha and knowing that you can develop in that level and deciding that you would like to go through that level and rely on those who have fully developed, taking me to that path is the true refuge. In addition to that Mahayana refuge adds up great compassion , for the benefit of all sentient beings committing yourself and all these become the Mahayana special way of doing it. And that is taking refuge.

1:24:03.0 So normally here you refuge and Bodhisattva vows together but I would like to do separately today so because there are some new people who will like to take refuge to Buddha, dharma and sangha and there are some people who may not like to take Bodhisattva vows, just like to take refuge and leave it there. So for the benefit of everybody