So, before we start the session, I would like to request everybody to please make a refuge to the Buddha Dharma Sangha and then the four endless thoughts to all sentient beings, and then the prostration to the Buddha Dharma Sangha again, and then offering them the mandala, and then we start the session. Okay?
[Prayers] [REFUGE AND BODHICITTA PRAYER] I take refuge in the buddha, Dharma, and Supreme AssemblyUntil the attainment of enlightenment.
Through the merit of practicing generosity and so forth,
May Buddhahood be accomplished for the benefit of beings. [THE FOUR IMMEASURABLES] May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness.
May they be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
May they be inseparable from true happiness devoid of and suffering.
May they realize great equanimity, without attachment to loved ones and
aversion to others. [SEVEN-BRANCHED PRAYER] Through homage, making offerings, confession,
rejoicing, exhorting, and supplicating,
whatever small virtue I have amassed,
I delicate it all to supreme enlightenment. [OFFERING MANDALA] The ground is anointed with fragrant waters and strewn with flowers,
adorned with Sumeru, the four continents, the sun, and the moon.
Through my imagining this as a buddha realm and offering it,
may all beings enjoy and completely pure realm. [GURU YOGA] Glorious and precious root guru
who sits on a lotus-moon seat on the crown of my head,
Through your great kindness, having taken me as a disciple,
Grant me the accomplishment of the body, speech and mind of the Buddhas.
So, the attitude preparation to receive the teachings on the Lord Buddha, the attitude preparation has to be, I want to benefit all the sentient being, therefore, I’m learning Dharma, therefore, I will liberate all the sentient beings. That as a mental state. So that’s the very important foundation for all of us.
And the second part is that you don’t have to say, ‘Oh, I’m receiving teaching from him. So now, therefore, he is my guru’. You don’t have to do that. You can have many guru as you want throughout all the different lineages and throughout all the different traditions, long as you’re not coming down to the confusion state. That’s the most important.
So, having an instructor is limitless, and then over the time, as your quality develops, how you perceive your teacher changes over time. You should not force yourself from the beginning that ‘Oh, I’m receiving teachings from this, I am receiving teaching from that. Therefore, I should not have doubt, therefore, I should not have a negative opinion.’ You don’t have to worry about these things. If you have negative thoughts or negative doubt, it’s absolutely fine. But the most important is the sense of openness to the Lord Buddha’s teaching and sense of pure intention that I want to do good to help others by the result of this Dharma teaching.
Because I’m not the one who’s giving teaching. It is the Dharma that is giving a teaching. I’m just part of the…, we are all part of the repeating the teachings. So, see it that way.
So I will read it slowly. And you can take your time to digest. Okay?
Kalu Rinpoche
Teaching on Stages in the Path of Illusion，Lesson 1，Part 3
7th Aug. 2021
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