math teacher website additional education.

The world around is huge, unknown and interesting.

Profession: Mathematics teacher, teacher of additional education.

Professional interests: Working with gifted children and children who want to learn.

Hobbies: Art, reading, photography. Passion for creating multimedia presentations.

Region: Saint Petersburg

Place of work: GBOU secondary school 247 of the Krasnoselsky district of St. Petersburg

It's good that you have the opportunity to create your own mini-site, thanks to which you can communicate with colleagues, share experiences.

In my portfolio, I will publish presentations that I use in math classes, as well as the work of my students.

About Me

Mathematics teacher, teacher of additional education. She worked as a deputy director for educational work. Pedagogical experience 23 years.

Books that shaped my inner world

Classic literature. Literature about art, theater. Russians folk tales. Historical works.

My view of the world

You can't look into tomorrow today,

Just the thought of him makes my chest ache.

Who knows how many days you have left to live?

Don't waste them, be smart.

Omar Khayyam.

My achievements

Diplomas, thanks, certificates, advanced training courses - these are my achievements in my professional activity.

Graduates awarded with gold and silver medals. Prize-winners and winners mathematical olympiads in universities. Graduation 9 class 2012-2013 academic year average score 4.6. (GIA), graduation 2014 - 2015, average score 4.1.

Dear friends!

I bring you news that I am sure will not leave you indifferent: Geshe-la has returned his monastic vows to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

This act was agreed with His Holiness in Elista during His Holiness' stay there.

This step was taken, among other things, in order to stop the dirty and unfounded rumors spread by some people who are uncomfortable with Geshe-la's activities in Russia about Geshe-la's alleged violations of his monastic vows. The names of these people are partly known to us, partly unknown... I can't say anything for sure, but I have good reason to suspect Andrei Terentyev and Yeshe Lodoy Rinpoche Tenzin's assistant, in particular, of what happened. The reason is very simple: envy and rivalry...

There are many others who are involved in this crime. Everything that happened to Geshe-la is on their conscience. For the past four or five years, they have deliberately denigrated the name of Geshe-la, His Holiness's favorite disciple, in front of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, hoping that Geshe-la will be forced to stop his activities in Russia. As absurd as it may seem, slanderous information was going to His Holiness even during Geshe-la's recent retreat in Kurumkan. It became obvious that these people are not going to calm down until they get their way. What did they want? Apparently, they dreamed that Geshe-la would take off his monastic vows and leave Russia forever. And the first they, unfortunately, succeeded ...

In this situation, the only correct and wise decision was to return the monastic vows, and by doing this, Geshe-la demonstrated to everyone, including us, his students, the very essence of lojong practice: give all the victory to others, accept all the defeat. Geshe-la himself, who is, I emphasize, a highly realized tantric yogi, no longer needs to keep monastic vows, since this self-restraint is relevant only in practice. entry level path, to the realization of emptiness and realization in tantra. Geshe-la remained a monk mainly for our benefit, just as Lama Tsongkhapa in Tibet kept monastic vows until the end of his life only for “educational purposes”, for the benefit of others, thereby sacrificing his personal tantric practice of the highest stages.

However, the fact that these people forced Geshe-la, a pure monk, to give up his monastic vows cannot but cause outrage among us, his disciples. I have to admit that there is a share of our fault in what happened: all these years we have been too passive and silent, negative side. I am afraid that His Holiness the Dalai Lama did not reach even a tenth of the truthful information about the great benefit Geshe-la brought to people in Russia all these years. The damage done is already irreparable, but we still have the opportunity to convey our indignation and indignation to the officials from the office of His Holiness in Dharamsala. Therefore, I suggest that all Geshe-la centers join the letter of protest, which will soon be sent to His Holiness's office by Lama Tsongkhapa's center. If we remain silent this time as well, it will mean that we agree with what happened. Perhaps it makes sense to collect the signatures of the students of Geshe-la - names and surnames in English. All this will be attached to the letter. It is also important to give detailed information about the benefits Geshe-la has brought and is bringing in Russia, and it seems to me that each of the Geshe-la centers could write about this from their side so that the letter is as objective and comprehensive as possible. I ask you all to think about this and inform me of your decision as soon as possible.

In conclusion, I want to inform you that out of compassion for his students, Geshe-la intends to continue teaching in Russia for the time being, despite the fact that he has a strong desire to retire to mountain retreat for the rest of his life. Everything is impermanent, so we all need to make every effort at this difficult moment to ensure that the Teacher stays with us.

Please forward this letter to the Green Tara Center in Buryatia, the Atishi Center in Irkutsk and the Manjushri Center in Tuva.

Maya Malygina

Library of Buddhist Lectures "Tushita"

Translation: Maya Malygina

Transcript: Tushita Dharma Center

Editorial: Tushita Dharma Center

Vast Field of Merits

1. The Importance of Visualizing the Field of Merit

2. Visualization of the vast Field of Merit

2.1 - Blessing of the earth

2.2 - Wish Fulfillment Tree

2.3 - Central Throne

2.3.1 - Mandala of the body of the Spiritual Mentor

2.4 - Lines of succession

2.5 - Lotus Thrones

3. Objects of Refuge

4. Benefits of Offering the Field of Merit

5. Answers to questions

Commentary on the first volume by Lamrim Chenmo read at Kurumkan in July 2002 The Vast Field of Merit The fourth preparation is the visualization of the Field of Merit. That Field of Merit that I have described to you before is only for the practice of Refuge.

1. The Importance of Visualizing the Field of Merit Lama Tsongkhapa said, “Our current situation is such that we cannot properly listen to the Teaching. Listening to the Teaching, we cannot properly understand it. When we reflect on the Teaching, it is very difficult for us to comprehend, properly, its essential meaning. When we meditate, it is difficult for us to achieve realizations. Our mind is very weak, laziness is very great. We are also lacking in enthusiasm. And in such critical situation the most powerful instruction is leaning on the Field of Merits.” So, when you rely on the Field of Merits, because of this, your spiritual progress will be much faster. Relying on the Field of Merit, purifying negative karma and accumulating merit, as well as praying to the Field of Merit are all very important factors.

When Lama Tsongkhapa had direct vision of Manjushri, he asked Manjushri one question. In fact, Lama Tsongkhapa and Manjushri are one and the same, this is a single whole, as I already explained to you, but such a split in them happened solely for our benefit, to help us. Lama Tsongkhapa asked Manjushri, “What best method very fast realizations?” because we all really want fast realizations. However, desire alone is not enough to quickly achieve realizations. To do this, you need to create a special mechanism, create a reason. Manjushri replied: “In order to achieve realizations very quickly, you need to pray to the Spiritual Guide, thinking that the Spiritual Guide and the Deity are one. This is the first.

Secondly, it is very important to accumulate merit and purify negative karma. Third

is a meditation on the basic principles of Lamrim. When these three factors are combined, realization can come very quickly.”

Manjushri continued, “Accumulating merit and purifying negative karma will help your mind mature. Pure prayer to the Spiritual Guide and seeing the Spiritual Guide as inseparable from the deity bestows a very powerful blessing. And contemplating every posture of Lamrim will help you achieve realizations.” Manjushri said, "When your mind matures through the accumulation of merit and the purification of negative karma, realization will come very quickly and effortlessly." It is very difficult to translate all this into English. And again Manjushri said: “When you have an abscess on your body, when it ripens, it is very easy to remove it. In the same way, when negative karma matures, thanks to the practice of purification, it is very easy to squeeze it out, eliminate it, like an abscess.

Understandable, right? I was afraid you wouldn't understand. So you are very smart if you understand.

No, in fact, in itself this saying is not so deep, but it is simply worded so differently in Tibetan. He also said: “When the fruit ripens, it will fall to the ground by itself. Similarly, when the good dispositions on the mental continuum are ripe, it is very easy to achieve realizations.”

Think about it. This example has a deep meaning. These are not just words. Try to make your mental continuum mature, then the realizations will come to you, and you won't have to run around hunting for these realizations. This is very precious advice that Manjushri gave to Lama Tsongkhapa. Thanks to this advice received from Manjushri, Lama Tsongkhapa, especially for us, in order to benefit us by showing us how www.tushita.ru - a library of Buddhist lectures 2 The vast field of merit should be practiced, retired to a place called Vergo Chonze to conduct preliminary Ngöndro practices there. Now it is a very famous shrine in Tibet, a place of pilgrimage. Many practitioners in the Gelugpa tradition go to this place to do Ngöndro practices. Lama Tsongkhapa did his ngondro practices there. It was at this place that Lama Tsongkhapa made many hundreds of thousands of prostrations and mandala offerings. Lama Tsongkhapa himself did not need, of course, any purification, he was Manjushri in human body. But he did all this in order to show us that at the moment we have so much negative karma that no realizations are available to us until we clear it. Therefore, after doing so many times one hundred thousand prostrations and many other purification practices, he then demonstrated the achievement of realization, although in fact he always had it.

Lama Tsongkhapa in this place did prostrations on a stone slab, and this slab is still preserved there, and the marks from the hands of Lama Tsongkhapa were imprinted on it when he made prostrations, such grooves right in the rock, in the stone. And because he did prostrations so much that he wiped his hands to the point of blood, there are still traces of his blood there. That is, by doing so, Lama Tsongkhapa pointed out to us that the state of the Buddha cannot be achieved by practicing calmly and slowly, that is, for this one must make very great efforts. Lama Tsongkhapa did not tell us that just stay in the natural state and then you will become a Buddha. He pointed out to us that in order to become a Buddha, one must first purify a lot of negative karma and accumulate a lot of merit. We should follow the example of Lama Tsongkhapa. We should say: “Such a great master as Lama Tsongkhapa, and even then he had so many difficulties, deprivations in his practice, and how hard he practiced in order to achieve realization. I have to put in the same amount of effort too.” And then, when you think of this example, your own difficulties will seem like nothing to you.

When Rechungpa parted from Milarepa and was about to leave, Milarepa said to him in parting: "I have one essential instruction for you." And Rechungpa prostrated before him and said, "Please give me this pith instruction," and prostrated. As an essential instruction, Milarepa showed Rechungpa his bottom. Rechungpa saw that Milarepa's buttocks were hardened, like our heels, the skin on them became very rough.

And Milarepa said to Rechungpa, “Look how hard I have achieved my realization. How many hours did I have to sit like this for the skin on my buttocks to become so rough. And you, without the same difficulties, will not achieve realization. This is my essential instruction." Since then, Rechungpa has not been able to sit still. When he was resting, he kept remembering this instruction of Milarepa. Every time he saw Milarepa's ass with such rough skin, he instantly jumped up and sat down in meditation, because he could not lie down and rest calmly.

But I say this to my very lazy students, and not to those who are already enthusiastic. Some of our students are too enthusiastic, they run too fast. This instruction is definitely not for you, you should save your strength and slow down a little. Save a little of your energy, don't waste it all at once. Focus on the purity of your practice.

www.tushita.ru – a library of Buddhist lectures 3 The Vast Field of Merit Lama Tsongkhapa also made the mandala offering ngondro there. As the basis of the mandala, he also took one stone, on which he made the mandala. After such intensive prostrations and mandala offerings, one day Lama Tsongkhapa again picked up the Buddhapalita text, which expounded the view of the Void from the Prasangika-Madhyamika point of view. He had read the same text many times before. But this time, after such a cleansing practice, when he opened it and began to read, the meaning of this text suddenly appeared before him in a completely new light. And while reading this text, Lama Tsongkhapa realized the Void, and the pure view of Prasangika-Madhyamika was born in his mind. So, by his own example, Lama Tsongkhapa also teaches us how to generate the right view and how to know the Void. We cannot achieve realizations simply by reading books and understanding them. We should read books, then do purification practices, accumulate merit, then read books again. And then you have the opportunity to comprehend the Void. So, if you want to know the Void, you should go this way.

After you know the Void, spiritual practice will go very easily for you.

Because the most difficult thing is the preliminary practices.

One yogi was engaged in cleansing practices and the practices of accumulating good karma. One day after practice, he asked his friends to bring him one book that he wanted to read. A friend brought him a text of the Lojong (mind training) Kadampa tradition. And while reading this text, he suddenly, in the middle of reading, spontaneously generated pure bodhichitta in himself. You understand?

So, as I have already told you, realizations cannot be achieved if you close all doors and windows and sit in strict meditation, shutting yourself off from the whole world. In order to achieve realizations, it is necessary to purify negative karma, accumulate merit, read texts, listen to the Teaching from your Mentor.

Some masters achieve realizations right during the Teaching, listening to the Teaching from their Mentor, others, after a cleansing practice, open books and achieve realizations while reading. If you do powerful cleansing practices and powerful merit-accumulating practices, then they will ripen your mind, and when your mind is ripe, then, as Manjushri said: "The fruit will fall by itself, just a slight breeze is enough." Here, just a light breath of the breeze is the fact that you opened some book or went to listen to the Teaching from your Mentor.

The great yogi Turpa said: “In Everyday life constantly accumulate merit, purify negative karma all the time, pray to the Spiritual Guide, seeing him as inseparable from the deity. If you do this continuously, the realization that you thought could only be achieved after a hundred years will be achieved in an instant by such a skillful method.” Some Teachers also say that without the accumulation of merit and the purification of negative karma, meditation alone is like a dry grain not moistened with water - it cannot germinate. So, as you can see, the instructions of all the great Teachers, if you put them together, come down to the same thing.

What is the Field of Merits? The Field where you can accumulate merit is called the Merit Field. For example, if you want to reap a rich harvest, then your field is of great importance for this. If you want to reap a rich harvest, you must use the field that you have. Otherwise, if you starve to death, then the fault will be yours. This guilt lies in the fact that you, having

–  –  –

Some Masters give such an example. If a person has large field, which can be sown, on which you can reap a very rich harvest, and instead he runs something, quarrels with other people, fights for a piece of bread, worries about his future all the time, then if a sage looks at such a person, he will say: “What a fool he is. If he uses his field, then, firstly, he himself will become rich, and secondly, he will help many others. And just like that, we have an absolutely incredible Field of Merit.

Wherever you visualize this Field of Merit, it will always be in front of you at that time. This means that wherever you visualize Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in front of you, that is where they will come to you and stand before you and accept offerings from you. And because of this, you will be able to accumulate absolutely incredible merit. But we don't use this Merit Field. Instead of accumulating merit, we accumulate money, learn how to deceive others, and so on. Real money is merit. Paper money is just a symbol of money. Well, they wrote the Constitution, approved that this and that is accepted for banknotes. Now all people, as by agreement, are acting. When you already have high, great merits, then everything comes to you by itself.

There are three cases in the history of Tibet when the Tibetan bodhisattva rulers, Sotsen Ganpo, for example, seeing that there were a lot of poor people in Tibet, and social inequality is very sharp, they simply collected all the property and divided it equally among all Tibetans. And thus, all Tibetans became equal in their position. And they did this three times. But why did they end up giving it up? Because after such a division, a year passed, and those people who had great merits became rich, those who did not have merits remained poor, became poor. This happened three times, and the situation was the same every time. Those people who have little merit, could not keep the money, it instantly flowed between their fingers, went to some completely strange things. They bought some strange things, completely unnecessary, and they ran out of money very quickly. Those people who have great merit bought everything they needed, then invested money, scrolled it, received some interest.

So, real wealth is merit. When you have high merit, money will come to you.

2. Visualization of the vast field of merit 2.1 - Blessing the earth First you must bless the earth. Visualize the most beautiful land emerging from the Void, very flat, golden land, that is, the land that happens in the Pure Lands. A golden earth, but nevertheless it is very soft to the touch. Golden does not mean that it is made of gold, it means that it is very durable and reliable, and so it is all covered with greenery. It is studded with wish-fulfilling jewels, many wish-granting trees and extraordinary birds grow on it. In general, this land is the same as in

–  –  –

You also visualize a great many offerings on earth, in space, which you are going to offer to the Field of Merit: victory flags, flowers, incense, oil lamps, various dishes, aromas. And a lot of other precious things that you want to offer to the Field of Merit, you visualize all of this, and once you visualize it, then all of this is actually there. If possible, the mantra for increasing offerings can be recited at this place. I gave it to you before. Then you visualize the Field of Merit itself.

2.2 - Wish Fulfillment Tree There are two ways to visualize the Merit Field. One is based on the naked commentary and the second is based on the Lama Chod-pa system. The visualization of the Field of Merit according to Lama Chodpa is special. There is no visualization that is superior to the visualization of the Field of Merit described in the Lama Chodpa.

The tradition of visualization of Lama Chod-pa comes from the line of Vensapa. Vensapa himself and Chokyi Dorje performed similar visualization. They visualized a similar Field of Merit and did this practice and achieved very high realizations. And these instructions are borrowed from the miraculous texts of the Ganden tradition, the tradition of Lama Tsongkhapa.

So, you imagine that from the union of Bliss and Emptiness, which is like space, the Field of Merit is generated from this space.

Visualize the precious earth emerging from the Void first.

In the middle is a milky lake. A very beautiful, beautiful Wish Fulfillment Tree grows from it. If you can't visualize it all in such detail, you should at least feel that it is. If you know all the details of this picture, what grows out of what, you will feel that it is all there. Even if you don't see it mentally. So, do not panic that you are not able to present the whole picture. For example, the roots of this Tree of Wish Fulfillment are made of gold, and you will think: “So, the tree grows from a milky lake, its roots are under water. How can I visualize all this? In general, do not ask such questions.

So, the roots of this Tree are of gold, and its trunk is of silver. This is not just so, these are rather deep symbols. And the branches of this tree are made of lapis lazuli, its leaves are made of crystal, but at the same time, very flexible. And the barrel is silver, but not as hard as silver, but flexible and resilient. We are so accustomed to the silver, gold, and crystal that exist in our world that we cannot imagine that crystal, silver, and gold in the Pure Land can be different than ours. So, imagine: crystal leaves are beautiful, but at the same time very soft, flexible, resilient and incredibly beautiful. I can't explain it to you verbally in every detail. You must see it for yourself.

The flowers on this Tree are of ruby, and the fruits of seventeen kinds of diamonds. We call such stones the Wish Fulfillment Jewels. Previously, in Tibet at www.tushita.ru - a library of Buddhist lectures 6 Vast Field of Merits we had such Jewels that fulfill all desires. Now, in my opinion, they are no longer left, at least they cannot be found. Because when the merit of sentient beings was exhausted, all these unusual fairy-tale things disappeared.

And before they were. Previously, the owner of such a Wish Granting Gem had to perform a special ritual. At the end of this ritual, raise this Precious Stone above your head, hold it three times and make a wish: “I want such and such a bag of gold, such and such a bag of other good things.” And he had all this. In fact, this is not a legend, because many stories about it have been preserved. For example, the bodhisattva kings in Tibet did a lot of practice of giving, gave away all their wealth, all the treasures they owned, they had nothing left but this Wish-fulfilling Jewel. And then they performed this ritual and said: "Let me have as much wealth, as much treasure as before." And, instantly, their entire treasury was filled.

The Tree has seven roots and a trunk from which seven large branches grow.

The tree is about the same shape as on this tank. On this Tree there are eleven rows of lotus thrones, like steps of a ladder, and on each of them, in addition to the lotus, there is also a seat of the sun and the moon. At the top of the Tree and in the center is the largest lotus throne, on it are the lunar and solar disks. To be more precise, on a lotus flower there is a throne adorned with jewels, supported by either four lions or eight lions - and so, and so can be visualized. On each of the eleven rows of lotus flowers, visualize the sun and moon disks as cushions.

What is the symbolism of the lotus flower? Although the lotus grows out of mud, it itself is not stained with mud. This symbolizes renunciation that is untainted by samsara, free from attachment. The sun dispels the darkness of ignorance, so it symbolizes wisdom, knowing the Void. The moon, on the other hand, quenches suffering from heat, just as bodhichitta quenches the suffering of living beings, so the moon symbolizes bodhichitta. You have to understand: the fact that all the Buddhas and Deities, all the figures of the Field of Merit are sitting on lotus thrones with these two cushions. This symbolizes that they have all three of these realizations: renunciation, bodhichitta and knowledge of the Void.

2.3 - Central Throne The next question arises. When you visualize the Field of Merits according to Guru Puja, what is the central figure in it? Some say it's Lama Tsongkhapa, others say it's your Root Spiritual Guide. Here the main figure is called Lama Lobsang Tuwang Dorje Chang. Firstly, the first part of the name - Lama - indicates the presence of your Spiritual Mentor in this central figure. Lobsang means Lama Tsongkhapa. Tuwang - Buddha Shakyamuni. Dorje Chang is the Buddha Vajradhara. They are all one and the same, and that is how you should see them. They are one and, in this case, manifest themselves in the form of Lama Tsongkhapa. That is, your Spiritual Guide has the appearance of Lama Tsongkhapa. And Buddha Shakyamuni outwardly here reveals himself as Lama Tsongkhapa. And Buddha Vajradhara reveals himself as Lama Tsongkhapa. In order to symbolize that they are one, in Lama Tsongkhapa's heart you imagine the image of Shakyamuni Buddha. In the heart of Shakyamuni Buddha, you need to visualize Vajradhara Buddha.

www.tushita.ru – a library of Buddhist lectures 7 The Vast Field of Merit That is, you understand that it is like an actor who plays four different roles in a play. First he comes out in one costume, represents one character, and you call him Lama. Then he leaves, changes clothes and goes out in a different role, and you call him Lobsang, and this name of Lama Tsongkhapa is Lobsang Dragpa. Then he changes clothes again and appears in the third role of Tuwang - Shakyamuni Buddha. And the fourth costume is Dorje Chang or Vajradhara. Or the opposite is true: first he is Dorje Chang, then he is Tuwang - Shakyamuni Buddha and so on. And finally, his last role - he comes out in the guise of your Spiritual Guide. This means that the same being - Buddha Shakyamuni - manifests himself in various forms in order to benefit various living beings.

So, the perception of them all as a single whole and the development in oneself of strong faith and strong reverence for Lama Lobsang Tuwang Dorje Chang is the main practice in this Guru Yoga. In general, in the perception of them as a single whole and the development of faith and respect in them lies the essence of the practice of Guru Yoga.

And also the realization that they show us three kinds of kindness.

Three types of kindness from the point of view of the sutra:

1. Kindness of giving vows - The Spiritual Master gives you the Refuge vows, the bodhichitta vows, and the vow of abstaining from the ten negative karmas.

2. kindness of transmission of the Teachings

3. the kindness of giving detailed comments on the Teaching.

The Spiritual Guide from whom you received these three: vows, transmissions and comments, is precisely the Spiritual Guide who bestows the three kinds of kindness.

Three Kinds of Kindness According to Tantra:

1. the kindness of giving initiations

2. kindness in the transmission of tantric texts and mantras

3. kindness in conveying comments and instructions.

The one who bestows these three on you is a tantric teacher who shows the three kinds of kindness.

Of all your Teachers in the center, you should visualize that Spiritual Guide who is thrice kind to you in this way.

Lama Tsongkhapa, whom you visualize as the central figure in the Field of Merit, is also known as the three beings. The tantra speaks of the being of samaya, the being of wisdom, and the being of concentration or samadhi (samayasattva, jnanasattva and samadhisattva). Lama Tsongkhapa and Buddha Shakyamuni in his heart are samaya beings. You must know that the samaya being is a nirmanakaya.

This is the gross body of a Buddha that ordinary beings can see. Buddha Vajradhara, who is in the heart of Buddha Shakyamuni, is a being of wisdom, that is, a sambhogakaya Buddha. It's over subtle body Buddha. At the heart of the Buddha Vajradhara is the seed syllable HUM, which is the being of concentration, and this is the Dharmakaya. I am not at liberty to explain this to you in more detail now.

By itself, visualizing the Spiritual Guide, which is three beings, is a very deep practice.

www.tushita.ru – a library of Buddhist lectures 8 The Vast Field of Merits So, the main, central figure of the Field of Merits Lama Chod-pa is Lama Lobsang Tuwang Dorje Chang. He is dressed in monastic saffron robes and has a pandit's hat on his head. His right hand is folded at the heart in a gesture of giving the Teaching. In his left hand he holds a bowl filled with nectar.

There are two kinds of demons. In this case, we are figuratively talking about demons, in a figurative sense. One kind of demon causes obstacles for us, causing diseases and other obstacles in practice. And this nectar, which is in the bowl of Lama Lobsang Tuwang Dorje Chang, is designed to dispel these obstacles that such demons put up. When health is poor, it is very difficult to practice the Dharma. If you die prematurely due to any disease, then it will be a great loss, because you will lose a precious human life ahead of time. Therefore, in order to remove these obstacles, Lama Tsongkhapa holds a bowl of nectar in his left hand.

His right hand is folded in the gesture of giving the Teaching in order to eliminate internal obstacles, that is, your obscurations. This is the second type of demons - internal demons. These are your delusions. Since the demons of your obscurations can only be eliminated by giving the Teaching, Lama Tsongkhapa's right hand is folded in the gesture of giving the Teaching. In these two ways, Lama Tsongkhapa frees sentient beings from suffering, which is symbolized by the gestures of his hands and what he holds in them.

The best way that the Buddhas, Lama Tsongkhapa, all enlightened beings can help sentient beings is to give them the Teaching, not to perform some miracles.

The Buddha said, “I cannot relieve sentient beings of suffering as easily as pulling a thorn out of a leg. I cannot purify living beings of negative karma as easily as the dirt from the body is washed off with water. I cannot convey my own spiritual attainments to sentient beings. I can free them from suffering only by showing them the Way, only by giving them the Teaching.” It is through this gesture that the Buddhas liberate sentient beings. This is a gesture of giving the Teaching.

Therefore, when you see Lama Tsongkhapa with the gesture of giving the Teaching, you must immediately remember and realize that only in this way can he, on his part, liberate you. Therefore, you must be more active and do everything in order to use this giving to be freed.

2.3.1 - Mandala of the body of the Spiritual Guide Then, if it is possible for you, imagine also the mandala of the body of the Spiritual Guide. At the mideyebrow of Lama Tsongkhapa, you imagine the white Vairochana Buddha in union with his wife. Vairochana symbolizes the purity of the body, the aggregates of form. In the throat is the red Amitabha Buddha in union with his wife. It symbolizes the purity of the skandha of discrimination, a purified version of the skandha of discrimination. Then, in the heart is the blue Akshobya Buddha with his wife. It symbolizes the purity of the totality of consciousness. At the navel chakra, you visualize the yellow Ratnasambhava Buddha with his consort, which symbolizes the purity of the aggregate of sensation. And then, in the lower chakra under the navel, next to the secret organs, you visualize the green Amoghasiddhi Buddha with his wife, and his wife is Tara. It symbolizes the purity of the samskara skandha - the skandha of volitional impulses.

www.tushita.ru – a library of Buddhist lectures 9 The Vast Field of Merit In this way you realize that your Spiritual Guide is the embodiment of the five Dhyani Buddhas. You must understand that Buddha Vajradhara is primary here. Five Dhyani-Buddhas already emanate from it. From each of the five Dhyani Buddhas, in turn, five Deities emanate, and there are twenty-five of them. Five more Deities come out of them, and hundreds and hundreds of deities come out.

You must know the body mandala of the Spiritual Guide very well. You understand that his five skandhas are the five Dhyani-Buddhas, his four elements are the four dakinis. His ten limbs are the ten Dharma Protectors. In his right hand is Kalarupa. As for the left hand, I do not know - it is not indicated here. In the left hand resides another Dharma Protector.

Therefore, when you ask for blessings from your Spiritual Guide, you should understand that Kalarupa is in his right hand and for this reason, when he blesses you, he thereby grants you protection. That is why it is customary for the Master to bless his disciples with his hand. Therefore, if a student perceives his Spiritual Mentor as a Buddha and asks him for blessings with such perception, then even if the Spiritual Mentor is an ordinary person, at that moment he becomes an oracle for the student, which includes all Buddhas, all deities, all Protectors, all dakas and dakinis. And when the process of blessing takes place, then through the body of the Master they all bless the student, and therefore the student receives a blessing that is equal to the blessing

Buddha. At the time when the Master gives a blessing to a student, he says to himself:

“Even though I am an ordinary person, let all the Buddhas and deities bless my disciple through me now.”

No matter how hot the sun is, fire cannot be lit without a magnifying glass. And similarly, no matter how powerful the blessing of the Buddha is, without a Spiritual Guide, you will not receive this blessing. Therefore, for you, the Spiritual Guide is a medium through which you receive a very strong blessing. Therefore, the Spiritual Guide is a very powerful object of accumulation of merit for you. You should never perceive your Spirit Guide as being separate from the deity. This is mistake.

One day Naropa took Marpa into the forest and asked, "Would you like to see Chakrasamvara?" Marpa was very happy: "Please," he said, "I really want to see him." And then Naropa snapped his fingers, and the complete mandala of Chakrasamvara instantly appeared in space. Then Naropa asked Marpa, “To whom would you prostrate first, to a deity or to me?” And Marpa thought. He thought: “I see my Spiritual Guide all the time, and today I saw Chakrasamvara for the first time, so I’d better make my first prostration in front of Chakrasamvara.” And he made the first prostration before Chakrasamvara. And then Naropa told him: "The Deity is an emanation of the Spiritual Guide, without the Spiritual Guide there is no deity." He snapped his fingers and Chakrasamvara melted into his heart.

After that, Naropa said to Marpa, "Because you have made such a mistake, your lineage will end because of this."

At the same time, Marpa did not criticize or insult his Spiritual Guide in any way.

On the contrary, he treated him with the strongest reverence. He mixed up the sequence of prostrations, and this action had just such a consequence. Therefore, you must be very careful. Since your Spiritual www.tushita.ru is a library of Buddhist lectures 10 Extensive Field of Merit Mentor is a very powerful object of accumulation of merit, a very powerful Field of Merit, then in relation to the Teacher you can accumulate huge, immeasurable positive karma in an instant. And in the same way, in relation to your Mentor, in a moment you can accumulate the heaviest negative karma.

That's why my Master told me: "Be very careful about your Spiritual Guide." And indeed it is. My Master told me this for my own good. He didn't have the slightest selfish motive. I know it.

I am talking about Geshe Nawang Dargya, my Master. One day he asked me to shave his head. And I forgot to prostrate to him. He immediately laid siege to me and said: “Fool! Do the prostration first. Before you touch your Spiritual Master's head, first prostrate, and then you can shave me." But when I began to prostrate, he did not even look in my direction, showing with his whole appearance: “What good is it for me that you prostrate. For you, this is an incredible boon.” This is what is called a truly kind Spiritual Mentor. Geshe Nawang Dhargyey is not stupid enough to demand prostrations from me in order to please his selfishness. My prostrations did not arouse any interest in him, he told me all this out of concern for me.

Once Geshe Nawang Dargyey said to me: “In this world, only your Spiritual Guide and your parents will criticize you, and most other people will never criticize you. They will scold you only if they are angry with you. Do not think that your Master and your parents are so stupid and do not know that you will be angry with them for scolding and criticizing you - they know it. But they are willing to endure your resentment against them and your misunderstanding of their words for your own good.”

These words of Geshe Nawang Dargye were also very helpful to me, so now I am retelling it to you. Geshe Nawang Dhargyey was extraordinarily kind to me. In particular, I am indebted to him for teaching me good devotion to the Master and also for giving me a very detailed teaching on Emptiness.

2.4 - Lines of Succession If you receive a comment about what is in the Merit Field and then see this image somewhere, you will have a stronger belief in the Merit Field.

And if you don’t know who exactly is there, then the Field of Merit will not evoke special feelings in you.

Visualize in the center of the Field of Merit Lama Tsongkhapa, from whose heart beams of light are radiating: that is, one beam of light comes out to the right, one to the left, one up, one down, and so on. When one ray of light to the right emanates from the heart of Lama Lobsang Tuwang Dorje Chang, then from this ray a line of succession of the extensive method appears, which is headed by Maitreya Buddha and the Spiritual Guides of the line of the extensive method sit. Maitreya Buddha is in the center, surrounded by Asanga, Vasubandhu and so on - this is the lineage of the extensive method. The extensive method teachings include teachings such as bodhichitta. The Abhisamayalamkara is a text that also belongs to the lineage of the extensive method. It was written by Buddha Maitreya and given to Asanga.

www.tushita.ru – a library of Buddhist lectures 11 The Vast Field of Merits On the ray of light that emanates to the left of Lama Tsongkhapa, the Masters of the lineage of profound wisdom reside. Here are such Teachers as Manjushri, Nagarjuna, Chandrakirti and so on. Atisha and Lama Tsongkhapa are both to the right and to the left of the central figure, because both Atisha and Lama Tsongkhapa are holders of both lineages - both the vast method and the profound wisdom. Also on the left and on the right is a disciple of Atisha Dromtonpa.

That is, they are both Teachers of the extensive method lineage and Mentors of the deep wisdom lineage.

Also from his heart comes a light upward. There, above his head, you can see the Masters of the tantra lineage. There are only five lines of transmission of the tantric Teaching, and in the central one you can see only the image of Manjushri. The other four lineages are the lines of transmission of the tantras of Chakrasamvara, Yamantaka, Guhyasamaja, and the deities of the sixteen drops of Kadam. And from each of the deities of these tantras comes a line of Teachers. That is, these lines are headed by the Deities themselves, and from them the lines of transmission to other Teachers, other Mentors proceed further. All the Mentors who are depicted here are the Mentors who kept the Teaching and passed it on. If we talk about the Yamantaka tantra, then in this line there are such Teachers as Lalitavajra, Amoghasiddhi, Ralotsava and so on. All the teachers of the lineage of this tantra are present there. And it is the same with the Guhyasamaja tantra and other tantras.

All the above four lines of transmission of the tantric teachings are long lines of transmission, and the central one (where only the image of Manjushri is reproduced) is a short line of transmission. It is headed by Buddha Vajradhara and then, vertically, you can only see the image of Manjushri. This lineage is called the short lineage of tantra. So there are two lines of transmission: the long line and the short line. Why is one line called short? Because Lama Tsongkhapa received tantric teachings directly from Manjushri himself. Here Manjushri is the Nirmanakaya and Buddha Vajradhara is the Sambhogakaya.

2.5 - Lotus Thrones Below the Tree, under Lama Lobsang Tuwang Dorje Chang, are eleven rows of lotus thrones.

The first row from the top is occupied by the main deities of Maha-Anuttara-Yoga Tantra or Highest Yoga Tantra. There are four main deities of Maha-Anuttara Yoga Tantra. In front is Guhyasamaja, you can see him in the front row.

On the right, that is right hand from Lama Tsongkhapa, is Yamantaka. When you look at the tanka, it is to your left and to the right of Lama Tsongkhapa. You must understand that the deities do not stand as they are depicted here - in a row. They stand on four sides. The central figure is Lama Tsongkhapa, in front of him is Guhyasamaja, to his right is Yamantaka, to his left is Chakrasamvara, and behind him is Hevajra. In fact, the image of the Field of Merit is three-dimensional.

But, since the image is two-dimensional, it is drawn - so.

In the second row in the center is the deity Kalachakra. Here is Vajrayogini. Also there are all the deities of the tantra of the sixteen drops of Kadampa. That is, in the second and in the first row, if we take them as a whole, there are all the deities of Maha-Anuttara-Yoga-Tantra.

www.tushita.ru – a library of Buddhist lectures 12 The Vast Field of Merits The third row is occupied by the deities of Yoga Tantra. In the fourth row are the deities of the Charya Tantra. In the fifth row are the deities of Kriya Tantra. In the sixth row there are only Buddhas - these are thousands of Buddhas who should come to this world, and thirty-five Buddhas of repentance. Below the Buddhas (seventh row) are bodhisattvas: Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara, when they manifest themselves in the form of a bodhisattva.

Below the bodhisattvas are the Hinayana arhats (eighth row), who are called pratyekabuddhas. In general, there are two types of realized beings in the Hinayana - these are shravakas (listeners) and pratyekabuddhas or those who realize alone.

Arhats-pratyekabuddhas or those who realize alone are very much like Buddhas and even have a small ear. Below them (ninth row) are the shravaka arhats or listeners. The next row (tenth row) is occupied by dakas and dakinis, who are called to help you in spiritual practice, to help you achieve realizations faster. Then (eleventh row) are the Dharma Protectors, who protect you from the obstacles that prevent you from achieving realizations in spiritual practice and remove these obstacles.

Still lower are the four worldly Dharma protectors: Indra and others. You must understand that they are not included in the Field of Merit itself and are not objects of Refuge. They are, as it were, assistants to other non-worldly Dharma Protectors. So, in these four worldly Dharma protectors, you should not take Refuge.

They are not included in the Field of Merits and are outside of it. For example, when His Holiness the Dalai Lama gives the Teaching, his assistant is next to him.

Although you see them both, you understand that his assistant is next to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, not because he, too, should be worshiped as His Holiness. He is there to help His Holiness. Therefore, if you take Refuge in His Holiness, worship him, then you do not take Refuge in an assistant. Here is the same situation.

This vast Field of Merit refers to the practice of Guru Yoga. Before that, I explained the Refuge Merit Field. If you can do both, that's very good. If you do them together, then do them one by one: first you do the Refuge, then dissolve it all in the Void and visualize the vast Field of Guru Yoga Merit1.

3. Objects of Refuge

An object suitable for Refuge must have four qualities:

1. He himself must be free from samsara.

2. He must have great compassion and care for others more than for himself.

3. He must have the potential, the power, necessary to save all living beings from suffering.

4. He must have equanimity towards all living beings. He should not have a feeling of closeness to some and a feeling of hostility to others, or he is indifferent to some, and helps others. He must treat everyone equally.

For the visualization of the Ngöndro practice of Refuge through the Lama Chodpa, see below in the Questions and Answers section.

www.tushita.ru – library of Buddhist lectures 13 Vast Field of Merit Such a being is called a suitable object of Refuge. And all the qualities of this being are also objects of Refuge. If a Buddha becomes a suitable object for Refuge, then his wisdom aspect, Dharma, also becomes a suitable object for Refuge. And his disciples, who have gained direct knowledge of the Void, also become suitable objects for Refuge.

4. The Benefits of Offering the Field of Merit So you must visualize the image of the Field of Merit very clearly in front of you. At the same time, you must have a strong conviction that all the Buddhas, deities, Protectors, and so on are really in front of you at this moment. And you should also have inspiration: “All these beings are suitable objects for Refuge. They enter the field of accumulation of vast merit. And I want to make extensive offerings to all the figures of the Field of Merit." This is the kind of inspiration you should have. You should be thinking, "They are incredible objects of merit, so I want to and will make extensive offerings to them."

Sometimes you might think that if you don't help big monasteries, don't sponsor monks in monasteries, then you don't accumulate merit. This is wrong, because you can accumulate merit every day by visualizing the Merit Field in front of you and making extensive mental offerings to it. On the altar you can place any delicacies, any delicious things that you have at home. Now that you know how to visualize the Merit Field, if you don't use it, it will be a big loss for you.

If I show you some place and say: “Here, here, underground, in this place, there are gold, diamonds and other extraordinary jewels.

The only thing you need is to dig them up." And you, knowing this, nevertheless, will walk somewhere, sleep, drink vodka, in general, in no way use the chance that I gave you. Then, someone else comes, rips out this treasure and leaves with it. And then you regret: “What a fool I was.

I was given that chance, but I didn't use it." But this situation is nothing at all compared to not using the Merit Field.

Today you have gained a precious human life, and I will explain to you how to find the real gems. I explain how to extract real riches, real jewels and diamonds from this precious life. If you do not use the knowledge that you are now receiving (and this is incredibly precious knowledge), then any day you can die, and then at the time of death you will have a lot of regrets. But it will be too late. At wise people there is never regret, because they act at the right time.

Chances are not so many, not so often we have them. But the chance you now have is much rarer, more unique than the current position of Putin and Bush. They were given a chance, they were made presidents. But this is nothing compared to the chance that you now have.

Now you are, as it were, at a crossroads, at a crossroads. From this crossroads there are only two ways, two roads: either you return to where you, in fact, came from, that is, to the lower worlds. Either you go up. You www.tushita.ru – a library of Buddhist lectures 14 The Vast Field of Merit must understand that precious human life is your temporary residence, and your permanent residence is in the lower worlds. This is true. So, do not return to your permanent place of residence. You should try to get a residence permit in the higher worlds, and then in the Pure Land. Some people work so hard and for so long just to get a residence permit in Moscow. Well, what is all this for? It's nothing. Well, even if you get this propiska, it won't give you anything. It is necessary to strive for registration in the Pure Land. Even if you do not achieve high realizations in this life, at least you must secure a residence permit in the Pure Land. And by relying on this Merit Field, you will surely be able to be born in the Pure Land.

To do this, it is not even necessary to sit in a strict retreat, formally do the practice. Do the same practice that you usually do, but do it more purely, with more understanding, with more faith after today's teaching. When you do Guru Puja, you visualize the Field of Merits.

Visualize it, but more clearly after this commentary, with more faith and more understanding. With stronger feelings.

Your practice doesn't have to be too long. In general, at the beginning it is better to make the practice shorter, but to emphasize purity. If you get used to doing the practice for a long time, but of poor quality, impure, then this is dangerous. Then you will sing, recite something all day long, but you will not really practice. This can be compared to how a person tries to clean the house, and it cleans both day and night - just continuously. But how is it removed?

I swept it in one corner, shifted this dirt to another corner, then it crumbled there again. I rubbed it with a rag in one place, then ran to another place and rubbed it a little there. So, day and night, he spends his whole life in such meaningless cleaning. Sometimes you do the same practice. Be careful.

If you have an understanding of the doctrine, a strategy and a plan, then even if you “hit with an ax” or “dig with a shovel” once, then this will be an effective action.

First you need to dig here and here, then here, and then lay the foundation.

Everything goes according to plan. And then you can already put the walls of the house. And if one person with such an understanding, who acts strictly according to the plan, is engaged in construction for half an hour every day, and the second is constantly pottering around, digging, but nothing works out for him, he says: “What is happening? I'm tired. What a nightmare! ”, And so, let’s say, a year passes. And in a year, the first person already has a tall house, and the second one has nothing, everything is torn up, dug up, complete confusion and disorder.

Consistency and continuity are very important in spiritual practice. You can practice every day for half an hour, an hour, two hours, it's up to you. But the practice must be continuous. And great emphasis should be placed on the quality of practice. The continuity of practice is especially emphasized in the Gelugpa tradition, where it is believed that practice must be done daily. My Master always said that a pure daily practice for half an hour is much more effective than a strict retreat for a year, two or three years. "Our practice is like medicine," my Master told me, "Medicine should be taken regularly." If at first you took no medicine at all for a whole year, and for the next year you were heavily treated with various medicines, then this is dangerous, because it can lead to madness. Especially, such a library of Buddhist lectures www.tushita.ru 15 Vast Field of Merit is in danger for Western students. This is what my Master Geshe Nawang Dargye told me.

He directly scolded his Western students. He said, "You don't know how to properly take Dharma medicine." Regularly, every day is very important. And I stress this all the time too. If you do your practice every day cleanly, take Refuge, recite NAMO GURUBE…, or Refuge in Russian (in the Teacher, in the Buddha…) with faith and respect for the Field of Merit (to the objects of the Refuge), if every day you try somehow increase your level of renunciation, bodhichitta and understanding of the Void, then, day by day, month by month, your realizations will increase. Then there will be real change. And then, you will receive the teaching not with the aim of achieving something extraordinary and becoming special, but with the aim of strengthening your realization of the Refuge, strengthening your renunciation, developing your bodhichitta even more, deepening your understanding of the Void. With such feelings, with such motivation, you will come to the teaching.

Even if you see Manjushri directly, you should not ask him questions on some new topics, so that he will give you some unusual, secret and most secret of all teachings. You should tell him, “I have very weak refuge, very poor renunciation, very weak bodhichitta. Basically, I am under the influence of my selfishness, selfishness, although sometimes I feel some compassion. I don't have a correct understanding of the Void. I am completely under the power of my obscurations and stay in the darkness of ignorance.

Please, Manjushri, give me a teaching that will enable me to strengthen the practice of Refuge, develop renunciation, bodhichitta and deepen the understanding of the Void. This is the main request you should make to Manjushri.

And if you do not see Manjushri, you must know that he is indeed in front of you. That is, when you visualize the Field of Merits, Manjushri is in front of you. And you make a similar prayer to the Field of Merit, after which you visualize yellow light and nectar coming from the Field of Merit, which blesses you.

These are very practical and useful instructions for you. If you do not use them, then it will be like throwing away a diamond that fell into your hands. If you use these instructions, it will bring you incredibly good results.

After you visualize such a Field of Merit, you invoke wisdom beings into it. In fact, wisdom beings do not need to be invoked at all. They already exist in front of you. As soon as you visualize the deities or the Field of Merit, the wisdom beings are already there. But it is necessary, nevertheless, to do such a visualization that you invite the beings of wisdom, and they dissolve in the figures you visualize, in order to convince yourself that right now the beings of wisdom have appeared. This is purely a psychological trick. In fact, there is no need for such a visualization.

The sutra says, "Wherever there is strong faith in the Buddha, the Buddha himself is present."

Before one who strongly believes in the Buddha, the Buddha himself is always present. You must understand that there is not a single phenomenon, not a single phenomenon that the Buddha would not know. When the Buddha's wisdom cognizes phenomena, his consciousness is also there. It can be said that the Buddha's mind is everywhere and in everything. Everywhere, www.tushita.ru – a library of Buddhist lectures 16 The Vast Field of Merits Where the mind of the Buddha is present, his body is also present – ​​the body of the Buddha. Because body and mind are inseparable. So, wherever and whenever you visualize the Field of Merit, there will undoubtedly be both wisdom beings and the Buddha himself. If you make an offering to Sergius to the owners of the area, the spirits, then they will undoubtedly come one hundred percent. They come at this time, but you do not see them. When you visualize the Field of Merits, the Buddha is undoubtedly in front of you at that moment.

There are a lot of phenomena in this world that exist, but we simply do not see them. If you go to the cemetery at night, you will feel the presence of non-human beings there. You will feel it by some rustles, by movements, vibrations of the air, by your own feeling - your feeling will change if you are in a cemetery. But you won't see anything. So you have to say to yourself, “To say that if I don’t see something, then it doesn’t exist is stupid logic. There's so much that exists here, but I don't see it." So, the main obstacle in developing the belief that the Buddha is now here is your subconscious philistine logic, which whispers to you: "If the Buddha is here, why can't I see him?" But this is illogical. You must disprove your own false concepts. No need to refute other people yet, refute yourself first. Gradually you will become convinced that your logic is wrong, such concepts will disappear from you, and your faith will be strengthened. Moreover, you do not have to say to yourself: "I must have faith, I must gain faith." Eliminate this misunderstanding, and faith itself will come.

It was also difficult for me at first, but then, gradually, I eliminated false ideas and misunderstanding from my consciousness, and faith itself came, in a natural way.

And you don't have to say, "I must have faith, I must have faith." Eliminate your misconceptions, eliminate your misunderstanding, and faith will come by itself. As a child, for example, I could not believe that the Earth was round. I thought that if the Earth is round, then the people who stand on it will just fall off it. That is, in my imagination I thought that the world was just flat, not round, but flat. We can see it with our own eyes. Here is a flat surface. But this is stupid logic. And you, in the same way, have a lot of all sorts of stupid pseudological reasoning in the spiritual field.

For example, as a child, I did not know about the law of gravity, so I thought that everyone should fall from the Earth. If I knew about the law of attraction, I wouldn't think so. Also, I didn't know at the time that the Earth is simply too big, which is why it looks flat, when it's actually round. When all these explanations gathered in my head, all my early false ideas about the Earth disappeared, and they were replaced by the conviction that the Earth is round. Nobody told me: "You have to believe that the Earth is round."

It just happened.

And I do not force you to believe that the Buddha is in front of you. Faith is up to you. When I began to study Buddhist philosophy with this approach, from this point of view, I realized that Buddhism is not a religious dogma, it is a science that first gives all explanations, and then says: “And now, after all these explanations, it's up to you whether you accept them or not." The Buddha himself said: “Do not take my teachings on faith just because I, the Buddha, give them. You must investigate, test all my teachings just as gold is tested. How is gold checked? It is cut, burnt and melted in the fire. Similarly, analyze www.tushita.ru - a library of Buddhist lectures 17 The Vast Field of Merit and my teaching. If it is true, accept it; if it is not true, contradictory, discard it.” This is one of the unique and incredible features of Buddhism.

I myself am a Buddhist, but I still cannot accept everything that is mentioned in the Buddhist teachings. But, by the way, this is not necessary: ​​to accept everything. For example, I still do not believe in the existence of Mount Meru, the four continents and the like, which are mentioned in the Abhidharma. At the beginning I thought that I was the only one who did not recognize Mount Meru and the four continents as real, but later I learned that His Holiness does not take these explanations literally either. When one day His Holiness, while apparently in America, said this during a teaching, I thought: “Wow!”. And I began to respect Buddhism even more. When we studied Abhidharma at the university, the Teacher began to talk about Mount Meru and the four continents, that the sun revolves around this Mount Meru. I thought: “What is this?”, because at that time I already had sufficient scientific knowledge. And then I said to my friend: "I have more faith in science than in all these explanations."

This is where I don't believe in Buddhism. I did not accept all this, because it seemed to me very doubtful that the sun revolves around Mount Meru. After all, four continents are located around Mount Meru, and our Earth is located on one of them. This is stated in the Abhidharma. And now the Sun revolves around Mount Meru, and when it sets behind it, then we, on Earth, have night.

And when I asked my Teacher how to deal with the change of seasons, he said:

“When the Sun revolves around the upper part of Mount Meru, then the daylight hours are less, when the Sun revolves around the middle part of Mount Meru, there is more sunlight (the mountain expands from top to bottom). And most of all it is when the Sun revolves around the base of Mount Meru. But there are a lot of logical inconsistencies in all these explanations.

In one of his texts, Trijang Rinpoche said that the explanation of Mount Meru and the four continents is not the actual teaching of the Buddha. The Buddha did not give such teachings. The fact is that in those days in India, when the Buddha gave teachings, Hinduism flourished there and, accordingly, Hindu ideas about the world. The existence of Mount Meru and the four continents is all taken from Hindu beliefs. If the Buddha began to teach that the Earth is round, then he would simply not be understood. It would be such a blatant revelation and people's minds weren't ready to know that the earth is round. Therefore, the Buddha, when he gave the teaching, relied on Hindu explanations about Mount Meru and the four continents. But if you look at the Kalachakra tantra, then a completely different explanation is given there. There is a mention that the Earth is round. It says that the evolution of the world has been going on since beginningless time and that the Earth is round. These explanations are very similar to scientific ones.

5. Answers to questions Question: There are a lot of objects in the Field of Merit, it is difficult to imagine them. What's the point of this? Why such a complex Merit Field? Maybe it's enough to imagine only the Buddha?

Answer: In the beginning it is very important to visualize only the Buddha and just feel that he is surrounded by other figures of the Field of Merit. For example, in our daily www.tushita.ru - a library of Buddhist lectures 18 The Vast Field of Merit Prayer talks about the Buddha, who is surrounded by all bodhisattvas, deities, and so on. Then, in the future, when you practice Guru Yoga, you will already visualize the Buddha and Lama Tsongkhapa as a single entity and clearly visualize around them the masters of the lineage, the deities of all classes of tantra, the Dharma Protectors. Each of these visualizations has a purpose. All this is for a reason. Therefore, if at first it is difficult for you to visualize the entire Field of Merits, visualize one Buddha and develop strong faith in him, take Refuge in him, and just feel that all his retinue is present around him: all deities, all dakas and dakinis, and so on. Further. Then, when your practice deepens, becomes more qualitative, and your concentration increases, then you can already try to imagine the entire Field of Merit, all the masters of the line of succession.

Question: You said that our teacher's limbs are the Defenders of the sides.

There are ten sides, but where are these ten limbs?

Answer: I don't know myself. The text says there are ten. Maybe ten fingers are meant here. Here they suggest that these are not limbs, but ten parts of the body: arms, legs, head, back ... I don’t know. Ask doctors. They will tell you what ten limbs we have. Ask Larisa.

Question: When we talk about Refuge, we are talking about taking Refuge in a living being who has been liberated from samsara. This is on the one hand. On the other hand, the texts say that when we take Refuge in some living being who is not liberated from samsara, but we believe in him as in the Buddha, then we receive the blessing of the Buddha. It seems to me that this is a contradiction.

Answer: In general, you cannot prove that your Spiritual Guide is not a Buddha.

But if we take it in particular, talk about specific people, then here it is also impossible to say: “This one is a Buddha, but this one is not a Buddha.” Since all of your Spirit Guides give you the full teachings of the Buddha leading to liberation and are representatives, personifications of the Buddhas, you can take Refuge in them. A Buddha statue cannot protect you from samsara. But the Buddha statue represents Buddha, so you take refuge in it. Since a Spiritual Guide gives you the full teachings of the Buddha, he is the representative of all the Buddhas, and besides, it is impossible to prove that a particular Spiritual Guide is not a Buddha. For all these reasons, you take refuge in him as in the Buddha.

Continuation of the question: Then it turns out that we can take Refuge in any living being, not even freed from samsara.

Answer: But any living being does not give you a teaching that leads to liberation from samsara. There are two logical arguments here.

Continuation of the question: And how, for example, I, being under the influence of obscurations, can say for sure that this living being gives me the true teaching, and this one does not give me the true teaching.

Answer: There is always a way to check. Follow to the original source. If a teaching contradicts the original sources, then it is not the teaching of the Buddha. Lama Tsongkhapa said very clearly that the authenticity of a teaching can be verified by whether it corresponds or not to the root texts. Earlier in Tibet, some said: "This teaching is pure, because it was given to me by my Master." Others said: "No, this teaching is pure, because my Teacher gave it to me."

Sometimes these teachings contradicted each other. That is why Lama Tsongkhapa said that "my Master's teaching" is not a criterion. The criterion for the authenticity of a doctrine is that

–  –  –

Question: When we do the Ngöndro of Refuge through the Lama Chod-pa, are there any features of the visualization of the Field of Merits? Just for the first time, let's say, there is a central throne, on one side - Manjushri, on the other side - Buddha Maitreya. This applies to everything in general, right?

Answer: Yes, this is the practice of Refuge in general. And when you practice Refuge through Lama Chod-pa, visualize the Field of Merits of Lama Chod-pa and that's it.

Do the same visualization as on this tank2.

Continuation of the question: And light, nectar - also the same, right?

Answer: Do the same visualization as on this tank. Simply, the Merit Field there3 is slightly different.

Question: And what is the symbolism of the golden root, the silver trunk, and so on? And why is the visualization of the Field of Refuge different from the visualization of the Field of Merit? In the Field of Refuge, there are five thrones per plane, but here they are by level.

Answer: No, the Refuge Merit Field is also a similar Tree.

Here on another tank.

Continuation of the question: Geshe-la, Pabongka Rinpoche writes that there is a huge throne.

There are five more thrones on this huge throne, and all the objects of Refuge are located around these five thrones on the huge throne. Why are they horizontal?

Answer: Visualize the Refuge Merit Field like this. Just different artists different style they are all drawing. The main thing is to correctly visualize Shakyamuni Buddha, the most important thing is these five figures, and there are already the details of the tree and the thrones themselves, how many of them there are not so important.

Continuation of the question: And the symbolism of the golden root, the silver trunk?

Answer: I don't know the symbolism of the golden root and the silver stem. Maybe gold is a symbol of stability. I don't know. Doesn't matter. Just know that it symbolizes something. The most important thing is to know the symbolism of the lotus, the sun and the moon. This is what is very important. Ask another Master. I don't know myself. Maybe there really is some specific symbolism.

Question: I have a lot of practices. And it often happened that I could not do them due to lack of time, or lack of strength. When you say "overzealous student," what does that mean? If I don’t have time to do or just don’t do the practice, then what should I do?

Answer: List the great variety of practices that you do?

Continuation of the question: Yamantaka, Guru-puja, Avalokiteshvara, Chod practice, Chakrasamvara we got, Vajrayogini. Six or seven ... Answer: Chakrasamvara, Vajrayogini and Chod practice more concisely.

Place the greatest emphasis on the practice of Guru Puja. Do the pure practice of Refuge. Do a brief sadhana of Yamantaka.

And then you'll be like some Tibetan monks who read fat books all day long Tibetan books, but there is no change in their consciousness. And then like this: “Ah! What are you doing there!?”4. And again for your text Tanka Field of Merit Lama Chodpa.

Field of Merits of Refuge.

Geshe-la shows how a person is distracted from reading.

www.tushita.ru - library of Buddhist lectures 20 A vast field of merit is taken. And they also read all night, because they have received so many initiations that they are not able to cope with all the practices and fall asleep with their noses buried in their texts. Although I warned you not to receive too many initiations. Or make short commitments. When Bogdo Gegen gives initiation, the minimum obligation is simply to recite the mantras. And your egoism thinks: “Now I have to do the sadhana of Chakrasamvara, the sadhana of Vajrayogini, the sadhana of Chod to read every day. And then I will become a special yogi and achieve quick realizations.” This is your mistake. Make the main emphasis, focus on the practice of refuge.

What I told you today is not my personal advice, it is the advice of Manjushri, the advice of Lama Tsongkhapa. There is no one in this world who is higher than Manjushri and Lama Tsongkhapa. If my Spiritual Guide says something that is contrary to the advice of Manjushri and Lama Tsongkhapa, I will say: “Well, he probably tests me this way, or he has some other reasons,” but I will never take his words literally. As I have already told you, be very careful with those Teachings that contradict the root texts.

If you were to do the Refuge Practice that I explained today for thirty minutes every morning, every day, for thirty minutes properly, with the right motivation, you would have had very great results by now.

Therefore, do not make a mistake in strategy.

One of my friends, with whom I studied at the University of Varanasi, had a lot of practice commitments. He received so many initiations, probably ten different deities, and he read his texts all night long. And, passing by his room, we saw him sleeping with his nose buried in these texts. And then he woke up. And one of the sheets of text stuck to his forehead. When we watched him, he frantically searched all over the room for this leaflet: “Where did he go?”, And he stuck to his forehead. "Where is he, where is he?" And it's on his forehead. When we said: "Yes, here it is - on your forehead." "Yes! Yes!" - he said. So, be careful, otherwise you will become the same.

Question: Can Tsog offering practice be done alone during a retreat?

Answer: Yes, Tsog practice can be done alone, but it should not be done too often. Do it twice a month: the tenth and twenty-fifth day.

Those people who receive initiation into Chod, do the big sadhana on Chod once a month - on the full moon. Personally, I read a short, concise Chod sadhana every day. It is still too early for you to practice Chod intensively. And then you will become too fixated on melodies, on singing, on damaru. And when some such small emotions arise in your mind during your singing, you will immediately decide that you have gained renunciation. Tears will flow from your eyes in a stream, and you will think: “Oh-oh-oh! What a beautiful Chod practice this is. I feel such a special energy!”

So, focus on the practice of Refuge that Lama Tsongkhapa clearly spoke about: “Purify negative karma. Accumulate merit." Just as I explained to you. And then meditate on the essential points of Lamrim. That's what's most important. This is the diamond. If, in addition to this, you are still able to perform other practices, then do them as auxiliary ones.

www.tushita.ru – a library of Buddhist lectures 21 The Vast Field of Merits Question: If there was a long break in practice, does the power of initiation remain after that? Do I need to practice Vajrasamaya? Does it compensate or not to start the practice again?

Answer: You must take the initiation again and purify the disturbed samaya.

But, nevertheless, even if you have not done the practice for a long time, you need to immediately resume it and do it until you receive a new initiation.

Because the more you have a break, the more you do not fulfill your vows, obligations, the harder your fall that you have made. If you have very little time, then at least in order to fulfill your obligations, do the practice in a condensed form, take on the path the three bodies of the Buddha, the three kayas. Or, in order to fulfill your obligations, you can read the text of the sadhana very quickly.

Question: I wanted to ask about emanation. Can you tell me more? Is the Buddha's emanation a different being, a different personality? And how to understand that the Teacher is also an emanation of the Buddha?

Answer: Buddha Vajradhara, in order to help sentient beings, revealed himself in the form of Buddha Shakyamuni. Because if Buddha Vajradhara manifested his form of sambhogakaya, sentient beings would not be able to see him. Then, when Buddha Shakyamuni was already dying, his disciple Ananda asked: “When you leave, who will keep the Dharma, take care of it? Who will take care of living beings?” Buddha Shakyamuni said, “Don't worry. In this world, my emanations will always be present. And in all difficult times, I will come here in the form of a monk, in the form of a Spiritual Guide and bestow blessings on sentient beings.”

Therefore, Buddha Shakyamuni first came in the form of Guru Rinpoche, laid the foundations of Buddhism in Tibet. But, in reality, it was Shakyamuni Buddha himself. Then, when the Teaching declined, Shakyamuni Buddha came in the form of Atisha. Like the same actor playing different roles. I already told you. Then, when the Teaching again fell into decay, he came to Tibet in the form of Lama Tsongkhapa. Now Shakyamuni Buddha is present in this world in the form of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and is guiding us.

So, when you visualize Lama Lobsang Tuwang Dorje Chang, you should feel, realize that Buddha Vajradhara, Buddha Shakyamuni, Lama Tsongkhapa and His Holiness the Dalai Lama are indeed one. Lama is His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Lobsang is Lama Tsongkhapa. Tuwang - Buddha Shakyamuni. Dorje Chang is the Buddha Vajradhara. So there are four names, but the essence is one. And this one entity, bearing these four names, is called Lama Lobsang Tuwang Dorje Chang.

And in relation to your other Spiritual Guides, you should think that they are one with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Even if they are not actually one with His Holiness, it doesn't mean anything because you will get the same merit by thinking like that. I am not one with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I am just an ordinary person, and His Holiness is a Buddha. But if you perceive me as one with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Buddha, then it will be just as good for you as if it were in reality. Therefore, the blessing of the Spiritual Guide does not depend on the Spiritual Guide, but, to a greater extent, depends on the disciple.

If your immediate Spiritual Guide is a real Buddha, if I am a real Buddha, but you do not see me as a Buddha and think that I am an ordinary person, then you will receive the blessing of an ordinary person. And if I am not a Buddha, but you think I am a real Buddha, then you will get the blessing of a Buddha even if I am not a Buddha. So, the blessing of the Spiritual Guide depends on the faith of the disciple, and not on whether the Spiritual Guide is a Buddha or not a Buddha. So, it is very important that once you have recognized someone as a Spiritual Guide, from then on try to see him as one with the Buddha all the time and you will benefit from it. And for me, this will not be of any use, because for me it will only be self-deception. If you think that I am Manjushri and I am not Manjushri, if I let my guard down, then I will take birth in the lower realms.

I jokingly told one young Rinpoche in the monastery, he is only ten years old, and this is a very tall Rinpoche. In a previous life, he was the Spiritual Guide of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and was the greatest master of philosophy. He and I are very good friends. And jokingly, I once said to him: “If we are not careful, then when I die, I will be born in hell. I will lie there, on a piece of red-hot iron, and in a few years you will appear there too. And the two of us will lie there. In fifty years another person will come to us.” I'll ask him: "Who are you?" He will say, "I am the reincarnation of Geshe Tinley." "Very good,

– I will say – and I am the real Geshe Tinley. Come on, come here, sit down." And in a few years another person will appear. We ask him: “Who are you?”. And he will say: “I am the reincarnation of Kentrul Rinpoche” (this is the name of this Rinpoche). And you tell him: “Yes, yes. And I am the real Kentrul Rinpoche. Come here." Thus, all of our reincarnations will burn in hell together if we are not careful. And he said to me, "Yes, this is a very profound teaching." He is only ten years old, but his mind is incredibly sharp.

One day my Master Geshe Wangchen and I were talking about philosophy, and every time we talked about philosophy, he kept coming and sitting with us. But we never even thought about the fact that at the age of ten he could understand that lofty philosophy that we are talking about. During one of these discussions, I told Geshe Wangchen that I had previously discussed with another Geshe about the Chittamatra view. He is a big believer in the Cittamatra view, and I told him that the Cittamatra view, in my opinion, contradicts itself. We had a dispute, and I told him: “You can take the following as an example: a table that is so wobbly that it can only support the weight of one cup, and if you put more than one cup on it, it will collapse. Is such an example possible? And he said, "Possible."

And we started a dispute. I said, “According to the Cittamatra view, everything is a projection of the mind. If two people look at one single cup that is on this shaky table, then there will already be two cups on the table. Because, since, according to Cittamatra, everything is a projection of the mind, then his projection of the cup and my projection of the cup are two different projections. My projection of the cup is not his projection of the cup, and his projection of the cup is not mine. It turns out that there are two cups on this table. Thus, if ten people simultaneously look at this cup standing on this wobbly table, then the table must break, because in this case there will be ten cups on the table. That is, according to the view of Cittamatra, ten cups are a projection of ten consciousnesses. So, according to the view of Cittamatra, if we conduct a practical experiment, then the table should break from this. But the table doesn't break. There is a contradiction in this."

www.tushita.ru – library of Buddhist lectures 23 Vast Field of Merits We discussed it and laughed. Geshe Wangchen made little to no comment, and then this young Rinpoche and I went back to our home. We went into his room and sat down to talk there, and suddenly he said to me: “You spoke today with Geshe Wangchen about the view of Chittamatra. You think that the view of Cittamatra contradicts itself, but I see no contradiction here. I said, "Why is that?" To this he said, “Yes. When ten people look at this cup, they see ten projections of the cup on the table. This is true. But don't forget that they see ten different tables at the same time. So there are ten table projections too. Therefore, the first person has his projection of the cup on his projection of the table. Therefore, it turns out that there is only one cup on each table.

I was shocked:

how could a ten year old boy understand that? This is what real reincarnation is. That is, this is a person who, at such a young age, can understand such complex things, although he has not yet studied this.

One day another Geshe, a student of Geshe Wangchen, jokingly said to this young Rinpoche, “Don’t teach English language. It will ruin you." At this he laughed and said, “No, there is nothing wrong with learning English. And if it were bad to learn English, then everyone who learned English would be spoiled by it. A person deteriorates only if he is weak. And you need to have as much knowledge as possible. And there's nothing wrong with learning other languages." This is a ten year old boy. This is what is called a real Rinpoche.

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1 DHARMA NECTAR

2 Editor's note... 3 Part 1. Retreat on the practice of Lama Chopa's extraordinary Guru Yoga... 4 Lecture Lecture Lecture Lecture Lecture Lecture Lecture Lecture Part 2. Essential instructions for meditation on Guru devotion Lecture Lecture Lecture Lecture Meditation on Guru devotion Applications

3 Editorial. Once upon a time, Kachen Yeshe Gyatso broke his promise to his Teacher not to write down instructions received “by word of mouth”. He had to "throw promises to the wind" in order to preserve the secret instructions in times of decline. Mindful of this story and its relevance to our time, contrary to the Master's advice not to record in print the lectures given in Kurumkan in 1999, we decided to still ask his blessing to collect these precious pith instructions in a book. The book contains instructions from Venerable Geshe Jampa Tinley on the fundamentals of Buddhist practice. AND Special attention it focuses on the most significant of them, without which no progress on the path of spiritual perfection is possible, the practice of Guru Yoga, the correct entrustment of the student to the Spiritual Mentor. The first part of the book includes a series of lectures on conducting the preparatory practices of ngondro in seclusion, performed through the practice of Lama Chop's unusual Guru-yoga. It is a commentary on this text given by Venerable Geshe Jampa Thinlay in August 1999 at the All-Russian Meditation Center in Kurumkan (Buryatia). These instructions are based on a commentary on the text "Lama Chopa" of the secret oral tradition of the Wensapa lineage, called "Throwing Promises to the Wind." The text was written by a disciple of His Holiness the First Panchen Lama, Kachen Yeshe Gyatso. For a more complete understanding of how to conduct ngondro retreats, this material is supplemented with excerpts from a more extensive commentary on the Lama Chopa text given by Geshe Jampa Tinley in Moscow in 1999. The Moscow Commentary was given on the basis of a commentary on the text of Lama Chopa by the First Panchen Lama, Lobsang Chokyi Gyaltsen. In particular, the practice of prostrations is explained here by the Master in more detail. The second part of the book includes the pith instructions for meditation on Guru devotion, also given by the Master at Kurumkana in August 2000, before initiation into the Yamantaka Tantra. These unique pith instructions on Lamrim topics were given to Geshe Jampa Tinlay by his Spiritual Guide, Venerable Panor Rinpoche, who spent 35 years in secluded retreat in the mountains of Tibet and Dharamsala in northern India. These instructions are an invaluable treasure of the living tradition of the realized masters of the theory and practice of the Buddha's Teachings. We hope that the book will be of benefit to all those who, thanks to the kindness of the merciful Instructors, have discovered for themselves an excellent path to Liberation and sincerely strive to realize it for the benefit of others. And let, following this path, no one lose pure devotion to their Precious Teachers, thereby contributing to their health and longevity. While working on the book, we tried to preserve the lively style of the Teacher's presentation, making minimal corrections when editing the translation. We also apologize for possible inaccuracies and other shortcomings. We would like to thank all those who contributed to the design and publication of this book. This publication is not intended for a wide audience, but for those who have all the necessary transmissions and initiations that allow them to practice the unusual Lama Chop Guru Yoga. Thanks to this edition, may the pure Teaching of Buddha Shakyamuni of the tradition of Lama Tsongkhapa continue to be revived in Russia and spread for the benefit of all living beings. 3

4 Part 1. Retreat on the practice of unusual Guru yoga Lama Chop. Lecture August 1999. I am glad to meet you today, residents of Kurumkan, as well as all my students from all over Russia. Today, a very important event is taking place here, not only for Kurumkan, but for the whole of Russia. Starting from this moment, this place, where we do our spiritual practice, becomes a zone of peace, consent, where smoking, drinking alcohol, and killing living beings are prohibited. This is a zone where everyone should respect each other and even respect others more than themselves. You must treat all other people as more important. This is our ancient tradition. If you follow this tradition, then harmony and peace will come by themselves. And if everyone talks only about himself and considers himself the most important, then the onset of peace and harmony is impossible. And not only those who meditate, but any person who comes here should treat others with more respect than himself. In this zone of the world, three things are very important. First: don't notice the bad things. If you see something, then try to close your eyes and not notice it. If you open your eyes, look only at the good qualities of others. Undoubtedly, each of you has something good, so always try to see only the good qualities of others. The second important thing: when you hear something bad about others, try to close your ears. As soon as you hear that someone starts a scandal, says bad things about someone, criticizes someone at that moment, do not try to stop this person, but just close your ears. Let him talk, because someday he will get tired and leave. Therefore, one should not argue with other people when they speak evil of someone. When someone speaks on the topics of the Teaching, says something good about others, then try to hear this person, open your ears and take the essence, the nectar of his speech. Third: from the moment you start saying something bad to other people, immediately close your mouth, right with your hand. Always watch your speech, listen to what you yourself say. Sometimes we are very good storytellers and very bad listeners. So listen to what you say. And from the moment you start saying something bad to other people, immediately cover your mouth with your hand. And if you talk about something good, useful to others, then you can talk, but not too much. Because others may get tired of your speeches. Especially during retreat, these three things are very important. This is what is called the three monkeys. Maybe you have seen a sculpture of three monkey figurines. One monkey closes his eyes, the other his ears, and the third closes his mouth. It does not mean at all that you need to completely turn off the functions of your senses. It is meaningless, otherwise, if you follow this understanding, you will become like a blind-deaf-mute person. The meaning here is that as soon as you start seeing and hearing something bad about others, you should immediately try to limit your perception through your eyes and ears, otherwise it will make you even more clouded, pollute your mind. The mind becomes polluted through the eyes and ears. And then you start to pollute and talk about bad things in your speech. But your mind can become clear through your eyes and through your ears. If you notice the good qualities of others, try to see the good in them, then through your pure vision and mind you become purer. So the main goal of our retreat, our meditation practice, is to make our mind clearer. And this applies not only to those who are engaged in seclusion on the territory of this center, but also to all the inhabitants of Kurumkan. During our seclusion, when you begin to see, hear and 4

5 to say bad things, try to stop these three at the same time. Better read mantras. Kurumkan is a holy place, so those who live in such a wonderful place should also be cleaner. And then other people will appreciate it, respect you and will strive to communicate with you more. One of the main reasons why we do meditation here in Kurumkan, your homeland, is the prediction made by the great yogi Soda Lama. Among the Buryat masters of the past, Sodoy Lama is a special yogi. He was known as the reincarnation of Nagarjuna, who was one of the main promulgators of the Madhyamika school of higher philosophy. I heard that in the past, even before the revolution, he made such a prophecy that communist times would come to Russia, that Buddhism would be destroyed, datsans, temples would be destroyed. But then another time will come when everything will begin to revive, and people will come to this place to engage in contemplative practice, meditation. And all those prophecies that he made began to come true. Today his last prediction is finally coming true, from now on people start meditating here. And this is a very big holiday for all of Buryatia, for Kurumkan the fulfillment of the prophecies of the great yogi Soda Lama. And, of course, Sodoy Lama will be here among us, although you will not see him, he will look at you and rejoice. I heard that when he passed away from this life, no one saw his body because it shrunk in size and then dissolved. This means that he is in the Rainbow Body. Those people who will have very high karmic imprints will see him later. One of Lama Tsongkhapa's disciples, Dupchen Choi Dorje, achieved the realization of the Rainbow Body and, being in the Rainbow Body, did not give the Teachings for a very long time, but was engaged in meditation. Then, after one hundred and fifty years, he found a suitable disciple, Vensapa, and began to pass on the Teaching to him. It's raining today, which is a very good sign. When something good happens, at that moment it starts to rain. Why is it said so? Because when it rains, everything in nature begins to grow, grass turns green, flowers bloom, trees bloom. And so today, when we start our practice, it started to rain here, and this is a sign that our perfections will grow. Of course, you will not be able to achieve high levels of realizations right away, but you will achieve some level of spiritual perfection. What is spiritual realization? Spiritual perfection, realization does not mean that you have to learn to fly from one place to another, this is not the main thing when achieving realizations. Spiritual perfection through meditation is when one bad quality of your mind is reduced and one good quality cultivated then it is called spiritual perfection, realization. Why? Because it is a source of happiness for yourself and for others. How does it make you happy? Buddhism says that through the accumulation of material things you cannot become happy. If you become some kind of boss, you will not be able to achieve happiness either. This, of course, will solve a certain problem, but when one wish comes true at the same time, a new problem appears. When you are not the boss, you have a problem because you are not the boss. And when you become a boss, problems arise because you are already a boss. If you do not believe me, then ask the head of administration, who is here. The most important way to achieve happiness is to reduce the bad qualities of your mind and increase the good ones. If a very angry person through meditation has reduced his anger, anger a little, then his mind will find peace just as much. How much do you increase positive traits your mind, so you reduce it negative qualities, and the more you find happiness, joy for yourself and others. If you start spiritual practice, then your neighbor will become more calm, more peaceful 5

6 towards you. He will be surprised: “What happened to my neighbor for two days, he does not swear and does not argue with me, for the second day he smiles at me ?!” In your home, even cats and dogs will become just as peaceful. And the more angry, angry you become, the more you will scold your children and beat your dog. Therefore, those people who do not engage in seclusion, who live in the Kurumkan region, should strive to reduce the bad qualities of their mind and increase the positive ones, try to read the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM as much as possible. For those people who will engage in formal meditation practice in retreat, this is very good, excellent. Those who do not have the opportunity to meditate in retreat can practice retreat informally. What is retreat, retreat? Reclusion means limitation. There are two types of borders, external and internal. Those who are engaged in formal practice in retreat should not go beyond the fence that is here, beyond the territory of the datsan. If you violate this, you will be hindered during retreat. It is very important to have self-discipline, to be able to control yourself. If someone violates this prohibition three times, goes abroad, he will be forced to leave here. I think that you will not break these rules. After all, in order to come here, you had to go through difficulties, overcome a variety of obstacles. You must be your own teachers, be able to discipline yourself. And now about the inner border. What is this? The inner boundary means that you do not allow your mind to go beyond the positive state. As I told you before, as soon as you start seeing something bad, try to limit your vision, because seeing bad things causes a flood of negative thoughts. And then, create "boundaries" for hearing and speech. When you are here in retreat, try to constantly develop a mind that cares about others more than about itself. Until today, we have most often neglected others and cared only for ourselves. We kept saying, "Me, me, me!" - and what result have we achieved? Shantideva said: “All ordinary people talk about themselves all the time and do everything for themselves. So what is the result they achieved? They have achieved great suffering!” All the great Teachers of the past, Bodhisattvas like Sodoy Lama and others, they all said, "Mother sentient beings, mother sentient beings!", cared more for others than for themselves, and what result did they achieve? Through showing concern for others, they have achieved superior happiness for themselves. Spiritual achievements come by themselves through the manifestation of concern for others. And ordinary people, even when meditating, they think, “I want to achieve such-and-such perfection, I must become a special person, no one else must achieve any perfection. I have to be the one here an unusual person only I must learn to fly from one mountain to another, and then everyone will make offerings to me.” If you practice meditation with such motivation, then even in ten years you will not achieve even the simplest realization. In such a case, on the contrary, instead of achieving some kind of realization, there is a danger that you will go mad. In Europe, people meditate in the same way that Soda Lama meditated. But the more they "meditate", the more strange they become. Why is this happening? Sodoy Lama, the more he meditated, the more special he became, the more spiritual realizations he achieved. Why? The main reason here is rooted in the right motivation. When they start meditation without the right motivation, with a very strong egoistic attitude, desiring realizations only for themselves, then they do not achieve any perfection. Therefore, it is very important to have compassion. Meditation is like an airplane, but compassion and faith are like gasoline. What a good plane 6

7 no matter how, without fuel, he will not be able to fly. And if you have no compassion, no faith, then no matter how high Teachings I give you: tantric and others, it will be useless. The plane will look nice, but it won't be able to take off. But if you generate compassion and faith in your mind, then even if you have a small plane, it will fly. Highest Yoga Tantra is a very large and high speed aircraft and you should be aware of it. In this world, many people have airplanes. Spiritual Guides give them all the time because the disciples are constantly asking. Especially in Europe and in the West they ask for the biggest planes. But here I will not give you a big plane, because it is not practical, you cannot fly it. Having one fuel is still not enough, you must also be able to fly an airplane, otherwise you can fly in another direction. Therefore, I will give you a small plane here, but I would really like this plane to fly with you. And for it to fly, you need to have compassion and faith. And just like the great Masters of the past did, try to develop a concern for others. While here in seclusion, say to yourself, “Now is the time. Previously, I always cared only for myself, neglected others, but now, during my seclusion, I will try to take care of others more than myself, I will show compassion for others so that I always have the thought of others in my mind. And as soon as thoughts about myself begin to appear, selfishness begins to appear, selfishness, I should try to reduce the number of such thoughts. In your daily life, of course, you will not be able to constantly show concern for others more than for yourself, because it is very difficult for such people to live in society. But during seclusion, being here is no problem. You are in reclusion and someone is starting to tower over you please let them do it you are in reclusion. When you work, then it's different. And so, during this month, or two to five months, you should develop this conviction in yourself: “I will try, while I am here, to take care of others more than myself. Whoever comes or comes here, I must treat him with a desire to help, with a desire to do something good for him, to benefit this person, to treat him with respect. If you have in your mind this concern for others more than for yourself, then all the other, good, positive qualities of the mind will come to you on their own. Joy and all other positive feelings will arise spontaneously. Before you began the practice of retreat, your mind was dominated by selfishness. As soon as you saw that someone else, your neighbor, for example, had more success, that he was more lucky, then envy immediately began to appear in your mind. Your egoism immediately told you: why does he have this, but I don’t have this? Envy arises from selfishness, and when envy appears in you, you will not experience joy, you will start arguing with your neighbor again, you will start saying nasty things to him, and everyone around you will also not experience joy. And then they, in turn, will start arguing with you, and you will become even more unhappy. If you examine these sufferings, and if you have a sharp mind, then you will see that all problems come from this state of the selfish mind. And so Buddhism says: all your suffering, even a little headache are due to the selfish mind. This is truly the worst poison. No one creates our suffering, we create it for ourselves. You must understand that this selfishness is a poison, a poison. And that is the source of your suffering. And you have to tell yourself that until now, until today, you have been constantly taking this poison and constantly harming yourself. Selfishness is a sweet poison. When you say to other people: “I am the smartest, I am the best”, then for a short moment you experience joy, happiness. But that will make you even more unhappy. What should you increase through spiritual practice? It is this mind that manifests 7

8 concern for others. We call this state of mind precious. And if there is this precious mind that cares about others more than about itself, then all the other positive qualities of the mind come by themselves. Young children do not think about what is good and what is bad. The main thing that they are interested in is whether it is tasty. And if the poison is sweet they can eat it. And if you give a very good, very useful medicine, but very bitter, not sweet, then the child will not want to eat it. That's why they say: act like a child. And we all look like children too. We keep saying "Me, me, me" all the time, even though we know it's not very good. Why? Because it's sweet. And so we, like children, become attached to sweets. Although we know that it is good to be a holy person who cares for others, we do not practice it. Why? We act like children because it is bitter, not sweet. Today we must say, “No matter how bitter this medicine is, I will take it. The time has come when I need to heal my mind. My mind is suffering from the diseases of obscurations, and at the moment the best remedy for this is a mind that cares about others.” Try to have this state of mind that cares about others constantly prevail in your mind. And as soon as selfishness begins to appear in your mind, you must say to yourself: "I am in a retreat, I should not allow my selfishness, selfishness to manifest." And be mindful of what you think, what you say, and what you do. This is called meditation. And not only when you are actually doing meditation during the session, but also in the intervals between sessions, when you are walking, doing something, constantly watch your mind. For this, we need a special sign to constantly remind us of this, because our mindfulness is very poor. Tomorrow there will be two sessions, and in between them, try to write yourself a reminder: “Caring for others is the source of happiness, selfishness is the source of all suffering,” so that these inscriptions remind you of what you need to be attentive to. In some places, hang a sign: "Watch your mind." In some place hang: "Do not look for happiness outside." Somewhere else hang the inscription: "Look for happiness within yourself." And also "If you harm others, then you indirectly harm yourself", "If you help others, then you indirectly help yourself." And when you see these inscriptions, read them, they will immediately remind you of how to behave. It is also necessary to make an inscription: "Do not shout loudly, do not make noise, people are meditating." The mindfulness of our mind is very weak, awareness is unstable, and therefore we need such reminder inscriptions so that they can constantly tell us what state of mind we should be in. Those who do not go into strict retreat, who live in Kurumkan, in the region or in Ulan-Ude, make a promise to yourself that for one or two months you will be in inner retreat. Although you will not tell other people that you are in retreat, inside you will keep this awareness: “I will not go beyond a positive state of mind. For one month, I will not say anything bad to people, I will not even swear with my neighbor! During this month I will let my neighbor live in peace, but in a month I will start living as before. I'm kidding! For one month, try your best to control your speech, try to treat others with respect, try to help others, say nice things to others. For one month, try to criticize only yourself and speak well of others. It's not easy, but it's very useful. If you can criticize yourself, then you strong man. If you cannot even hear one small bad word about yourself, then this means that you are a very weak person. The strength and weakness of a person is not determined by his physical appearance. If a person is very large, with a big mustache, this does not mean that he is necessarily strong. And if people are like Boris (jokingly looking at the translator) and can tolerate criticism, then they are very strong. Within 8

For one month, try to keep this awareness, it will really improve you. This is the real medicine given by the Buddha. All other medicines are temporary types of medicines, they relieve a person only of temporary illnesses. When you drink them, one disease goes away, but another comes. From beginningless time until today, we continue to take such medicines, but so far we have not been able to help ourselves. And now that we have been born as human beings, when we have this precious human life, say to yourself, “I will try my best to take this real medicine, the Dharma medicine. Although it is invisible, it is the most powerful. All other types of medicines are children's medicines. And those people who do this kind of informal meditation, go on with your regular work. Recite mantras while preparing dinner. If the wife is preparing dinner, then let her not think that she is constantly preparing food for her husband, and he does nothing, lies and sleeps there on the sofa. Don't think so. You must understand that in past life you were the husband and he was your wife, and he was constantly cooking for you, and you were lying on the couch doing nothing. What cause you created, then you got such a result. In this life you are constantly preparing dinner for your husband, and in the next life your husband will become your wife and he will constantly cook food for you. Don't think that women are always born women, sometimes you were very fanatical men and in a previous life you said, "Stupid women and the like", and due to the karma created by this, in this life you were born in the form of a woman. And the blame here does not fall on others, the whole reason lies in yourself. Be that as it may, in Buddhism there is no difference between men and women, the attitude is the same. But the head of the family is usually a man, and it is necessary to accept this, there is nothing wrong with that. But do not be too resigned, sometimes you need to become stronger. And if your husband never does anything at home, then it will be possible to scold him. But when you are in retreat, then take all the defeat on yourself, give all the victory to others. Through giving victory to others, you achieve real victory. This is the Buddhist theory. In chess, this is called a gambit: you sacrifice a piece, but you get some kind of advantage. Today I will not talk much, but I will give you just a few small tips. I will now give you the transmission of the vow of refuge, Bodhichitta, then the transmission of the mantras for your practice. In order to take the vow of refuge, you must first learn what the vow of refuge is. The main vow of taking refuge, the commitment you make to not harm others. When you have this vow, you become a pure Buddhist. Through not harming others, less sentient beings will harm you. If you do nothing wrong to anyone, then you will not have enemies. Even harmful spirits will help you, because you are not harming anyone. Even a wild animal can become your assistant. In Tibet, when Tumo Geshe Rinpoche was meditating in the mountains, because of his vow of not harming any living being, he never had a single bad thought about other living beings. Thanks to this, wild animals, a bear and others, Bigfoot Yeti, became his helpers. When he was meditating in the mountains, these animals brought him water and fruits. And when he was in meditative concentration, they did not allow anyone to approach him, they were his bodyguards. When the session ended, they left, and then people could come up to him. And when Tumo Geshe Rinpoche was meditating in some other cave, they guarded his former cave. Once such a story happened. A boy stole a bell and a vajra from Tumo Geshe Rinpoche. And the bear that was the helper went to the boy's house and started screaming there. People were very scared and wondered what happened? When they recognized the bear as Tumo Geshe Rinpoche's assistant, they asked the little boy who stole these things, "What did you do?" He confessed that he stole the bell and vajra from 9

10 Tumo Geshe Rinpoche. And they said to him: "This is your mistake, return them to their owner." But the boy was afraid of the bear. Then the boy's father took the bell and the vajra, approached the bear, apologized to him and said: "I return them to you." And the bear calmly took it and came back. And this is indeed what happened. It is this power of mind that arises when you have such a vow of not harming any living being and when you keep this vow. With this power of the mind, you can even tame wild animals. And it's even easier with people. Now, get ready to take the vow of refuge. (Transmission of the vow of refuge). Try to keep this vow in its purest form. Those who once violated this vow, try now, after the transfer, to keep it clean, without violating the retreat to the end. Today you have received a new, pure vow. Now remember that you have this refuge vow not to harm others, not to harm anyone. As soon as you start harming others, immediately remember that you have a vow of refuge and try to stop right there. This is called keeping the vow. Now I will give you the Bodhichitta vow. What does the Bodhichitta vow mean? The main obligation of the Bodhichitta vow is to do your best to help others and to keep this vow to the best of your ability. You will be able to help others, you will be able to keep this vow, if you have a state of mind that shows concern for others. So try to never part with this state of mind that shows concern for others. This is a precious state. Real peace comes when there is peace and tranquility when your mind is in such a precious state. Now do the visualization and repeat the words of the Bodhichitta vow after the Teacher. (Transmission of the Bodhichitta vow). And try to keep this vow pure, and that too is a practice. It is a very good fortune to take the Bodhichitta vow, and it becomes even more valuable if you keep it pure. Try to make this vow a source of happiness not only for you, but for all living beings. Now I will give you the transmission of mantras, first the mantras of Avalokiteshvara. Those who do formal meditation between sessions, as well as all other people who do not formally meditate, try to recite the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM as much as possible to increase your love and compassion. The virtue that you get from reciting the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM is incredibly high. The Buddha spoke about the benefits of reciting this mantra: “If you try to count drop by drop all the drops that make up a large lake, it will turn out to be impossible, and no matter how many mantras you recite, they also cannot be counted, like these drops of water in the lake. Similarly, you accumulate as many virtues as drops of water from a large lake by reciting this mantra. So recite the Avalokiteshvara mantra as much as possible. This is real wealth that you can take with you into your next life. But you must understand that such benefits do not come to everyone who simply recites this mantra, but only to those who, by reciting this mantra, generate in their hearts a deep feeling of compassion for all mother sentient beings. And those people who have received the pure, complete transmission of this mantra are especially benefited. When all these conditions are brought together, then the recitation of the mantra becomes a powerful, powerful practice. (Transmission of the mantra). Now I will give you the transmission of Tara's mantra. Tara is the deity of activity. To increase your success in your deeds, recite this mantra OM TARE TUTTARE TURE SUUHA. (Transmission of the mantra). I will now give you the transmission of the Manjushri mantra. Manjushri the wisdom deity, recite this mantra to increase your wisdom. (Transmission of the mantra OM ARAPATS NADI). Now the Vajrapani mantra. Vajrapani is the deity of power. In order to increase your strength, for the sake of success in your practice, in order to help others, recite this mantra OM VAJRAPANI HUM PHAT. (Transmission of the mantra). Now 10

11 mantra of Buddha Shakyamuni: OM MUNI MUNI MAHA MUNIE SUUHA. (Transmission of the mantra). Now Migzem: MIGMED TSEVE TERCHEN CHENRESIG, DIMED KENPE VANGBO JAMPE-YANG, DUDPUNG MALYU JOMDZE SANGBE-DAG, GANGCHEN KEYPE TSUGEN TSONGKAPA, LOBSANG DAKPE SORVA SOLVA-DEB. This is the mantra of Lama Tsongkhapa. (Transmission of the mantra). Today we had a very good opening ceremony. First of all, I want to thank the head of administration, who gave us a great help in organizing our retreat, allocated a plot of land and also provided great financial assistance. How can we thank him? As we practice, in gratitude for his kindness, we will pray for his continued success, that he will always be the chief of staff, and that he will constantly help us. And we will not only pray for this, but that in the next life he will become the head of the administration and again help us. If everyone were to just meditate, it would be impractical. Some should be born as heads of administrations, some should be born as spiritual practitioners, some as Shiretuy Lamas (abbots of a Bur datsan). Then we can do more to achieve more together. Your main goal is to help people. And I will support the head of the administration as long as he provides assistance to the residents of Kurumkan. But from the moment I hear from people that he began to harm them, create problems, ceased to respect the Teachings of the Buddha, then even if he gives me a million dollars from that moment I will stop supporting him. Because I personally do not need anything. I once again wish him success in his work and wish all the inhabitants of Kurumkan a happy life, prosperity and harmony. It is very important to live in harmony. Do not listen to scandals and all sorts of bad words. Nowadays, especially the politicians have become such that they constantly throw mud at each other, even if there is no reason for this. Therefore, do not listen to baseless accusations against other people. When someone says this, close your ears. Let him speak, but close your ears at this moment. And when some bad words almost escaped your lips, then try to immediately close your mouth. But sometimes, in order to benefit others, in order to stop a person from doing bad things, one can speak sternly out of compassion. When you criticize someone, say some unpleasant words to others, this should be done only if you have a feeling of strong compassion in your heart. And if out of a feeling of selfishness, anger, you almost said something bad, then try to close your mouth, ears, close your eyes at this moment. And in order to benefit others, out of a sense of compassion, one can sometimes speak sternly. Buddhism does not mean that you have to be weak and let yourself sit on your head. Therefore, it is very important not to let people sit on your head. But do not sit on the head of others. It's stupid and uncomfortable to sit there. Joke. Sit in your seat, it's much more comfortable. And let other people sit in their places, it is also more convenient for them. In the future, you can do fast retreat for one or two or three days. Try not to eat for one full moon day while meditating. Especially those people who are obese, it is very beneficial for you. But people with poor health do not need to go to extremes. It is very important to maintain balance. Don't take too much food, but don't go to the other extreme of not eating at all. Eat twice a day, meat can be allowed in two or three days. Especially on favorable days according to the lunar calendar, on the full moon on the fifteenth, eighth and thirtieth lunar days try not to eat meat. Today 11

On the 12th we have a function in the afternoon, then in the evening we will make the Tsog offering. Everyone should have the text of the Guru Puja. And now the consecration of the virtues. Lecture August, 10 a.m. I'm glad to see you again. Today we will begin to prepare for seclusion. When we are going to do spiritual practice in seclusion, it is very important to prepare well, that is, to adjust our body and mind to the place where we want to go into seclusion. There is no such thing in our tradition that, upon arriving, immediately starting an intensive meditation practice is not a very skillful approach. First, for a few days, try to relax the mind, make it more calm, peaceful. Don't let your mind think negatively and at the same time try to relax it. Sometimes, in order to prevent a negative state of mind from manifesting, some people begin to restrain themselves, to force themselves to do so. This is not a very smart approach. Why? Because for some time of a few days, a month, or even two or three months, a person will be good, will show the positive aspects of his mind, but then after that, due to the violent suppression of negative emotions, there will be an explosion, as it were, and his mind will become even weirder. Therefore, this method is considered not a very skillful way to train the mind. Never go to extremes. To train your mind you must be very skillful. If you do not manage to skillfully approach this, then for some time five months or even two or three years you can become a very positive person. Everyone will think that you are a Bodhisattva. You will even act like a Bodhisattva, for example, you will give everything, but inside, in the heart, nothing will change, the mechanism of the mind will remain the same. Outwardly, the person looks very spiritual, and then after some time passes, doubts arise, various negative thoughts appear in the mind. He begins to think: “Have I chosen the right path? After all, becoming a spiritual practitioner, I lost everything, now I have nothing! Maybe this path is wrong?!” This happens when you start spiritual practice with very high expectations, hope, but you don’t see the result. Then such a person falls into despair, he has anger, doubts, and he begins to blame others. All this is due to poor training. My Spiritual Master told me: “People who cannot run on marathon distances, from the very beginning they run very quickly, then they completely run out of steam. We have to practice like a skilled marathon runner." And in life, such people always start a lot of things, start various projects, and none of them finish. These are all stupid actions. You should, like a good marathon runner, run slowly at the beginning of the distance. A more skilled marathon runner does not even run at the beginning of the distance. First, he must know well where to run, in what direction and why to run? When he is sure where to run, in what direction and how to run, why run then he starts. And he runs slowly, confidently, quietly, but reaches the end of the distance. Such a person will do what he started and will be successful. Emotional people behave otherwise. When someone says to them: "Run!" - they immediately start to run, not really knowing where. Such a person runs, runs, then catches himself: “Where can I run, and why am I actually running?” And this is a mistake. Therefore, for six years I taught you: why run, where to run and how to run. Now it's time for you to finally try to run. But don't run too fast, run slowly, knowing your target exactly. And don't run too slow some of my students are too slow. This is the other extreme. And it's also wrong when some of my students try to run very fast. My lazy students, when I say not to run too fast, stop running altogether and walk. But 12

13 I do not tell them this. I appeal to those people who try to run too fast, like Boris. But when I say that there is no need to run fast, Boris stops running altogether, even stops walking. When I advise him to relax, he begins to actively relax. Now he's relaxed enough. If you are a person like Boris, then the time has come for you to run! Some students I have to approach more strictly, they have to study more intensively and practice more rigorously. I would recommend to some students not to be so strict about their practice. And in order for me to be able to tell you directly about this, you must have devotion to the Teacher, and then I can tell you about it, I can help. And if your devotion is childish, then it's better for me not to tell you anything. In order to benefit you, it is better to be strict with you, as Marpa was strict with Milarepa, as Tilopa was strict with Naropa. But I am afraid to do this to you, because you can stop respecting your Teacher because he criticizes you, and by doing so you will create very heavy negative karma for yourself. True spiritual practice must begin with unwavering devotion to the Spiritual Guide. Your devotion should be such that even if the Master cuts off your hand, you should not have doubts. You must know that there is a reason for this. If your Master kicks you out of here, then even then you must not lose your devotion to the Master. You must know that there is a reason for this. “He says this for my own good!”, you must think. In fact, a true Spiritual Mentor does everything he does for the benefit of his students. In the Gelugpa tradition, devotion to the Master is very important. If one loses devotion to Master and breaks the vow of devotion to Master, then even if he builds a monastery, people will not go there. One of the heaviest karmic offenses is the violation of devotion to the Teacher. Therefore, first you need to investigate your Teacher, who he is, what qualities he has. You don't have to accept him immediately as your teacher. But once you have accepted him as your Master, hold on to him life after life as your Spiritual Guide. Even if he is not a Buddha, through him you will receive the blessings of all the Buddhas. This is very important to know, which is why I am talking about it. It makes no difference to me whether you accept me as a teacher or not. To be honest, if you don't accept me as a teacher, it will be very good for me. Then I would immediately go to a secluded place. My place is in the mountains. I descended from the mountains and would go into the mountains to a completely unknown, isolated place. Because for a wild beast the most the best place where he may be is a wild place. But since I have been giving you the Teaching for six years, a very strong karmic connection has been established with you, my students. I see your devotion and that's the only thing keeping me here. It is very important to have devotion because it benefits you. But don't worry, I will never use you. For myself, for my own purpose, I will not say a single word to you. But for your benefit, in the future, I may scold you if I see your devotion getting stronger and stronger. And if your devotion is a childish devotion, then I will talk to you like children. For example, I want to tell you a story about a student of Jamyang Shep. Jamyang Shepa is incredible, a great master. His rebirth is now in Tibet. Once in the monastery, Jamyang Shepa, for no reason, began to beat his disciple. And this disciple was a big geshe, and he had many disciples in this monastery. If you were a geshe with many disciples and your Master started beating you, what would you think? You would probably think, "Perhaps my Master is jealous of me because I have so many disciples." And when he beat this geshe, many people stopped him. Jamyana Shepa's mother also asked him not to beat Geshe: “Why are you beating him, he is so wonderful, what is the reason?!” Jamyang Shepa said, “I can't tell you why I'm doing this! Do not bother me, stupid people, I must beat him!” But everyone tried to stop him and not 13

14 still allowed this geshe to be beaten, especially the mother. And since Jamyang Shepa had great respect for his mother, he obeyed her and said: “Well, if you stopped me, so be it. For me personally, it doesn't make much of a difference." And left. A few days later, one morning, Jamyang Shepa suddenly exclaimed: “Here it happened!”, and called all those people who stopped him. He said, “The geshe I wanted to beat went to Lhasa, fell off his horse and broke his leg. Try to save him now! He learned about it through his clairvoyance. “You wanted to protect him then, and now he fell off his horse and broke his leg! Now try to save him! If you had not stopped me at that moment and I had beaten him, then he would not have fallen off his horse and broken his leg. And now he won't come back here. He won't meet me!" And a few days later, that Geshe actually died. Therefore, once you have accepted someone as your Master, do not allow any doubts to arise in your mind regarding his actions, whatever he does, for there is always a reason for this, and he does it for your own benefit. And now another story. This is also a true story that happened recently. The current Jamyang Shepa lives in Tibet. It's incredible high level master, student of the previous Panchen Lama. He lives in Lavran monastery. That Teaching of Buddhism, which spread at one time in Buryatia, Kalmykia, Tuva in the past, is precisely the Teaching of Lama Tsongkhapa as presented by Jamyang Shepa. Main commentary on philosophical schools , which I gave you from his textbook is a commentary written by Jamyang Shepa. So one day Jamyang Shepa asked an old monk to come to him. Jamyang Shepa is laconic and has a very stern nature. He is so strict that people can't look him straight in the eyes, they're afraid. For three, four hours he can sit without moving. If he called someone to him, it meant a lot. And when the old monk was called to him, he ran running, bowed and asked, bowing: “What should I do?” Jamyang Shepa asked, "Do you have any devotion for me?" The monk replied: “Yes, I am very devoted to you! I can do anything for you, whatever you require! Jamyang Shepa laughed and said: “No, after all, you are just talking with your tongue!” "No, I can do anything you ask!" Then Jamyang Shepa said: “If you can do everything, go up to the fifth floor of the monastery and jump from there!” The monk said: "All right, as you say." But when he reached the fifth floor, he looked down and got scared, it turned out to be too high for him, he was unable to jump down. “Stupid monk, go ahead, jump, come on! shouted Jamyang Shepa, You won't die, maybe you'll break your leg, but you won't die! Jump! But the old monk could not jump. And when the second, third time the order sounded, he still did not jump. And then Jamyang Shepa said: "All right, as you wish." And next to him was one little Rinpoche child, and turning to Jamyang Shepa, he said: “Ask me to do this, I will go up there and jump!”. Jamyang Shepa told him, “I know you can do it, but you don't have to. I wanted that stupid old man to jump out of there!” Why did he do this? It turned out that a month later this old monk had a very serious pain in his leg, a large wound appeared on it. It got bigger and bigger, and he couldn't walk anymore, couldn't heal the wound. For six months the old man suffered from this incurable disease, and then he died. When this monk was still ill, Jamyang Shepa told him, “It is already too late, but if at that moment you had jumped off the roof, you would have only broken your leg, which could be cured. Then you wouldn't have died so soon." Another story. I heard that in Lavran Monastery many monks achieve many different spiritual perfections. Why? Because the monks of Lavran Monastery are characterized by incredibly high devotion to the Masters when they once accept someone as a Spiritual Guide. They regard His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama and Jamyang Shepa as an inseparable whole, and 14

15 other Spiritual Masters as their emanation, showing the same respect, without any differences. They see His Holiness the Dalai Lama as an emanation, a manifestation of Lama Tsongkhapa, the Panchen Lama also as a manifestation of Lama Tsongkhapa, and Jamyang Shepa also as a manifestation of Lama Tsongkhapa. And Lama Tsongkhapa as a manifestation of Buddha Shakyamuni. Such is the line of succession and such devotion. And this is their main practice. If they hear criticism of their Masters, they immediately stop it by saying, "Please don't say that, I don't even want to hear it, because you are talking about my Master." Such unwavering devotion to the Master! They believe that if someone violates devotion to his Teacher, then it is better for such a person not to practice the Teaching at all, because it becomes useless. And indeed: if you break devotion to the Teacher, then you can meditate for a hundred years, but you will not achieve anything. Dromtonpa, turning to Atisha, asked why there are no people in Tibet who achieve high realizations, although so many people are engaged in spiritual practice. Then Atisha said: “How can you achieve the highest spiritual achievements if you Tibetans consider your Teachers as ordinary people. The root of all realizations, of all spiritual accomplishments, is devotion to the Teacher.” If you have this unshakable devotion to the Teacher, then even if you are a lazy person and just lie down and relax, anyway, at every moment you accumulate virtues. And all the Buddhas and all the Bodhisattvas will be pleased with you because you have this unwavering devotion to the Master. Even if your Master is an ordinary person, one day, due to this very reason, this unwavering devotion and faith, you will be able to directly see Manjushri or Avalokiteshvara or some other deity. All dakinis will constantly help you, ensuring the success of your practice. But if you have broken devotion to the Master, then even if you are a Geshe, all your actions are useless. And if you give the Teaching to others, it will not be beneficial. Now the next story. One day Jamyang Shepa came to the place where one of his very good students, a big geshe, who also had many students, was staying. In the heart of Jamyang Shepa, this disciple was the closest disciple. And somehow, without any reason, Jamyang Shepa approached him and said: “You fool, leave this monastery! I don't want you to live here. For me, you are no longer my student! It's up to you whether you consider me your Teacher or not, but for me you have ceased to be a student. Get out of the monastery, now, today!”, and did not explain anything at the same time. But the student immediately realized that there must be a reason for this demand, that perhaps there was some kind of obstacle for him. And then he bowed to Jamyang Shepa and said: “Whatever you ask me, I am ready to do it! If in this life you do not accept me as your student, please accept me as your student in future life. Please, life after life, don't leave me as your student! Maybe I am a very bad person, I will leave the monastery, as you ordered me. I will always pray to you in my heart.” Jamyang Shepa listened to him for a while and left without saying anything. And all the other students also agreed, thinking that Jamyang Shepa must have some serious reason for this. And if I did that now, you would think that Geshe Tingley must have gone mad. This is called childish devotion. And then the disciples said to this geshe, “It’s too late already, where are you going now? There, behind the fence of the monastery, there is a house. You can spend the night there, and then in the morning you will go further.” Geshe did just that. The next morning, Jamyang Shepa sent one of his monks there, saying, "Invite that fool to me!" And when the geshe came to him, bowed, Jamyang Shepa offered him fruit and said: “This is for you. Now you don't have to leave here. Your obstacle has disappeared, you can continue to live in the monastery and continue to give the Teaching. And do not invent anything bad for yourself!” because this geshe was thinking: “Maybe my Master Jamyang Shepa has stopped loving, 15

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Course X Guide to the Bodhisattva Lifestyle Part I Homework Activity I

As usual, first generate the right motivation. Yesterday we talked about the precious human life. Ignorance, not understanding how valuable human life you have, is one of the weaknesses

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Author: Translation: Transcript: Editing: Tushita Library of Buddhist Lectures Venerable Geshe Jampa Tinley Maya Malygina Tushita Dharma Center Tushita Dharma Center 1. Visualization of the Merit Field of Refuge...2

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So, as usual, develop the right motivation first. Think that you are receiving this teaching in order to tame your mind and also to benefit all sentient beings. Think like this:

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