First of all I want to say tashi delek, and this is a video for this first session of online gathering and I will explain to you everything in detail and there will be a translation along with it.
So in this very moment, you don’t need to be in this meditative posture. You can just sit back, relax, make sure that your mind and your intention is pure, that is the most important. When it’s time to receive empowerment, instruction about how to meditate and so on, so forth, yes, definitely, but when you receive a teaching, it is good to be in the meditative state, at least a posture. But if that is not possible, it is still fine.
But most important is a pure intention and that pure intention has to be, “that since I received these teachings of the Lord Buddha, and Bodhisattvas, and I will benefit all the sentient beings by learning the Dharma, by practicing the Dharma, and by genuinely sharing the Dharma to all the sentient beings”. Having that pure intention is the most, most important in this session, and also for the next episodes as well.
So I will start with the refuge, mandala and visualizing your own guru, and my own gurus, so that’s that.
[Prayers] [REFUGE AND BODHICITTA PRAYER] sang gyé chö dang tsok kyi chok nam laI take refuge in the buddha, Dharma, and Supreme Assembly
jang chup bar du dak ni kyap su chi
Until the attainment of enlightenment.
dak gi jin sok gyi pé sö nam kyi
Through the merit of practicing generosity and so forth,
dro la pen chir sang gyé drup bar shok
May Buddhahood be accomplished for the benefit of beings. [THE FOUR IMMEASURABLES] sem chen tam ché dewa dang dewé gyu dang den par gyur chik
May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness.
duk ngel dang duk ngel gyi gyu dang drelwar gyur chik
May they be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
duk ngel mé pé dewa dam pa dang mi drelwar gyur chik
May they be inseparable from true happiness devoid of and suffering.
nyé ring chak dang dang drelwé tang nyom chen po la né par gyur chik
May they realize great equanimity, without attachment to loved ones and aversion to others. [SEVEN-BRANCHED PRAYER] chak tselwa dang chö ching shak pa dang
Through homage, making offerings, confession,
jé su yi rang kül zhing sölwa yi
rejoicing, exhorting, and supplicating,
gewa chung zé dak gi chi sak pa
whatever small virtue I have amassed,
tam ché dak gi jang chup chir ngo
I delicate it all to supreme enlightenment. [OFFERING MANDALA] sa zhi pö chü juk shing mé tok tram
The ground is anointed with fragrant waters and strewn with flowers,
ri rap ling zhi nyi dé gyen pa di
adorned with Sumeru, the four continents, the sun, and the moon.
sang gyé zhing du mik té pülwa yi
Through my imagining this as a buddha realm and offering it,
dro gün nam dak zhing la chö par shok
may all beings enjoy and completely pure realm. [GURU YOGA] penden tsawé la ma rin po ché
Glorious and precious root guru
dak gi ji bor pemé den zhuk la
who sits on a lotus-moon seat on the crown of my head,
ka drin chen pö go né jé zung té
Through your great kindness, having taken me as a disciple,
ku sung tuk kyi ngö drup tsel du söl
Grant me the accomplishment of the body, speech and mind of the Buddhas.
So you visualize your own guru, I visualize my guru, Chamgon Dorje Chang Kenting Tai Situ Rinpoche, my guru, as he has been my guru for many lifetimes after lifetime, so that as my witness, as my refuge, and then I will start this session, as I always do that, every time. So you visualize your own guru, whoever you consider as a guru, and if you don’t have a guru, then you just visualize a Buddha with a pure intention, that’s the most important.
Okay so the topic is Creation and Completion.
The reason I chose this, it’s a universal teaching. It’s nothing to do with “his or her tradition, and lineage and order and so on, so forth”, it is basically a Dharma teaching that belongs and should be studied and read by many practitioners. It should, and that means you. And I think that is very important to understand in that way, because nowadays even we have so much information, we still go into like a sectarian world, “my tradition, his lineage, her lineage” and then the bigger one try to minimize the smaller one, the smaller one try to compete with the other different lineages and traditions, and so on, so forth. So therefore, that is their responsibility. Your responsibility, and my responsibility is to keep the pure intention to the Dharma, and receiving the teachings of the Lord Buddha, and with that pure intention in mind, and wanting to benefit all the sentient beings, that is the most important.
So, the reason I chose this text is because you can read 20 times, and each time you read, the way you reflect towards your mind can be more profound over time, as you continue to do your practice. The practice definition can be visualization of the deity, it can be a calm meditation, shamatha, and vipassana, it can be your daily routine of whatever the other practice that you may be doing. And whenever you come back to this one, even you read 20 times, 30 times, each time you read, there will be profound reflection towards yourself, and that is my personal understanding, and that can be your personal understanding over time.
So here, the title is like this “lam zhugs kyi gang zag las dang po pa la phan pa’i bskyed rdzogs kyi gnad bsdus” – The Essential Points of Creation and Completion That Will Benefit the Beginner Who Has Entered the Path [Kye Dzog Ne Dü, bskyed rdzogs gnad bsdus, Essential Points of Creation and Completion].
So “lam zhugs” means the path, “lam” means path, “zhugs” means entering towards the path.
“kyi gang zag las dang po pa”, “gang zag” means individual like yourself, or myself.
“dang po pa la phan pa’i”, “phan pa’i” means that can heal and benefit, to shed the light towards the confusion.
“bskyed” means creation, like an example, when you’re visualizing a deity, when you are making a prostration, when you are taking refuge, all these, and whether you are chanting a mantra, whether you’re reading a sutra, whether you’re going around stupas, all these are seen as a creation, it’s not simply creating or projecting a deity, it’s seen as a duality practice. Our mind is projecting into an external layer, and then where we visualize a different object, and so on, so forth.
“rdzogs” means completion, completion means basically all the visualization transforming into a more subtle level, so that you create the circumstances to recognize the nature of the mind.
“rdzogs kyi gnad bsdus shuk so”, “gnad bsdus” means the essence of all the guidelines are presented here; “shuk so” means are presented here.
[1] “I bow to Pema Nyinje Wangpoinseparable from the Lake-born Vajra, who manifests
the infallible absorption of bliss-emptiness, steady and everlasting,
emanating and resolving in a hundred ways.”
So the first Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, the reason I am saying this, is because he is, it’s a little bit like a preface, when you read a book. So in the traditional text, there’s always a bowing down to the root guru. So the first Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye, his main guru was Situ Pema Nyinje. And then previous Kalu Rinpoche’s guru is Situ Pema Wangchuk, and my guru is Chamgon Dorje Chang, our present Situ Rinpoche, so that is generation to generation.
So it also has some kind of a special meaning to me, because, the same guru over the lifetimes, after lifetimes, anyway that’s just my personal explanation to you.
Monthly ZOOM teachings by Kalu Rinpoche
First session – 11 apr. 2021
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