How To Offer A Mandala

0:02 I had set it up before, but you were uploading it. Oh no, I just checked it out. Okay. So I hadn't even paused and I just... Report an error in the passage at 0:02 Highlight the passage at 0:02

0:27 I just bring mine. Report an error in the passage at 0:27 Highlight the passage at 0:27

0:37 So Report an error in the passage at 0:37 Highlight the passage at 0:37

0:40 hi, welcome. Okay, just stop the high issue of the counter for Percy John. them. Report an error in the passage at 0:40 Highlight the passage at 0:40

0:49 What's I know, it's hard to keep it straight. And then to add even more confusion, in the calendar it actually says that this is starting at 10.30. So I kind of purposefully started a little bit late this morning in case somebody shows up. Report an error in the passage at 0:49 Highlight the passage at 0:49

1:06 We'll get it straight on these days. And then I guess we'll all be enlightened. Report an error in the passage at 1:06 Highlight the passage at 1:06

1:14 So let's just start with a quiet meditation. so that's why I don't like it. Report an error in the passage at 1:14 Highlight the passage at 1:14

1:20 my mind when you guys can take it. Report an error in the passage at 1:20 Highlight the passage at 1:20

1:29 just take a moment to come up. Feel your cushion beneath you and allow your body to come into posture. Report an error in the passage at 1:29 Highlight the passage at 1:29

1:43 Nice deep breaths and imagine them cleansing away all the distractions and sluggishness and blocks that might keep you from being here. Report an error in the passage at 1:43 Highlight the passage at 1:43

2:00 All the things you've already done today, all the things you might still do today. Report an error in the passage at 2:00 Highlight the passage at 2:00

2:16 And then also imagine with each new breath that you're just bringing more and more into this room, more and more into your body. Report an error in the passage at 2:16 Highlight the passage at 2:16

2:23 body and your awareness and your concentration are just... I wish Report an error in the passage at 2:23 Highlight the passage at 2:23

· · · silence, 5 minutes

6:59 to free all beings, Report an error in the passage at 6:59 Highlight the passage at 6:59

7:03 to Buddha and Dharma, Report an error in the passage at 7:03 Highlight the passage at 7:03

7:08 inspired by wisdom and compassion. Report an error in the passage at 7:08 Highlight the passage at 7:08

7:19 As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the miseries of the world. With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge, to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha, until I reach full enlightenment. Inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 7:19 Highlight the passage at 7:19

7:50 As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain and dispel the mysteries of the world. With the wish to free all beings, I shall always go for refuge to Buddha, Dharma and Saṅgha. I reach full enlightenment, inspired by wisdom and compassion, today in the Buddha's presence, I generate the mind of full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings. Report an error in the passage at 7:50 Highlight the passage at 7:50

8:20 As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain dispel the miseries of I've Report an error in the passage at 8:20 Highlight the passage at 8:20

8:34 heard it said that the reason we do it three times is because we have a better chance of maybe. conscious for one of those times. And I was just reading, I'm going to give you guys who would like it, a handout by Tibetan children on mandala. And she said, you know, why do we do these preliminary practices 100,000 times? Report an error in the passage at 8:34 Highlight the passage at 8:34

8:56 said I've heard it so that maybe once. So that's a better chance, actually. So welcome. So the people in here came because the subject is, Report an error in the passage at 8:56 Highlight the passage at 8:56

9:20 you all really want to be here, you didn't just come because of a sunny morning and something to do. That's okay too. And how many of you have sets? Report an error in the passage at 9:20 Highlight the passage at 9:20

9:33 Did you bring it with me? How many do not have sets? See it's absolutely fine not to have a set. I think she was asking. The main thing with offering the mandala is the visualization. So that's really what we're going to focus on at first. And then I'm going to, we'll just go through how it is both with a ma, or with no ma, just your hands, we'll do the mudrā, and then also with the set. Report an error in the passage at 9:33 Highlight the passage at 9:33

10:03 But the visualization remains the same, so it's the same visualization the whole time. And even then, you don't want to get so caught up with the visualization that it becomes like this technical exercise to remember everything. And I'm afraid I do that one sometimes, it's like lists, the lists come out again, you know. Report an error in the passage at 10:03 Highlight the passage at 10:03

10:23 First level, second level, you know, it's like that's not it at all. It's all about opening our hearts and giving, giving, giving. So, just a little bit about my connection with this practice and why on earth I would be teaching it. Report an error in the passage at 10:23 Highlight the passage at 10:23

10:43 Most of what I know comes from teachings that Lama Zopa Rinpoche have given and Geshe-la have given about the Lord Mondo. Report an error in the passage at 10:43 Highlight the passage at 10:43

10:53 Sure, yeah, yeah. Do you want to put it up here? Is that better? Sure, yeah. Hopefully I'll knock it off when we all start doing things later, but sure, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 10:53 Highlight the passage at 10:53

11:07 I hope I say everything right. But I mean, it's being recorded there too, so it's kind of horrifying when somebody says, oh, I've been listening to your classes, and you're like, oh gosh, I hope I was doing the right thing. are you doing? Report an error in the passage at 11:07 Highlight the passage at 11:07

11:22 Anyway, keep shaking your toes. So most of what I know actually comes from far greater beings, so let's hope that I've retained them. Janet and I were talking about the ability to retain and that. Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Geshe-la, of course, and then also there's a booklet that's out that's on this as a practice, the entire practice of it, including a commentary. Report an error in the passage at 11:22 Highlight the passage at 11:22

11:47 I believe FKMT has that booklet. I'm going to give you guys some handouts. One of them is from Geshe Wan-Yal, Mongolian Geshe. And then one is just from Chubten Children, from her website. Report an error in the passage at 11:47 Highlight the passage at 11:47

12:05 Come on in, Ty. I'm coming for the right time. We're just starting. Report an error in the passage at 12:05 Highlight the passage at 12:05

12:15 So, but I'll give those to you a little bit later because otherwise you won't be listening to me anymore. This practice offering the mandala, mandala itself in Tibetan is kilkhor, which actually means taking the essence. So it's sort of like you're taking the whole essence of the entire path or you're taking the essence of the universe. You're offering like the creme de la femme, you know, you're offering the best, the very best. Report an error in the passage at 12:15 Highlight the passage at 12:15

12:49 And so that's kind of what it's referring to. And the reason that we do practices like this, this mandala practice is what's called onaliphasis and we usually do preliminaries before we do just about anything. I think we always do preliminaries before we do everything. We always do preliminary practices before we meditate. We do preliminary practices before we enter tantra. Report an error in the passage at 12:49 Highlight the passage at 12:49

13:15 We do preliminary practices before we do any kind of higher practices, calm abiding meditation, things like that. And the reason is, Report an error in the passage at 13:15 Highlight the passage at 13:15

13:25 You guys that took this class from me last year are going to use the same analogy. I use the same analogy. I like this analogy. It's like you're getting ready to put in a garden and you need to get the soil ready. And so our mind is the field and we're getting it ready for all the seeds. Oh, you can come in again. Everyone's always scared to come in late night. Report an error in the passage at 13:25 Highlight the passage at 13:25

13:49 Geshe-la just says when you come in late, it's always good to just prostrate in some way, like in your mind. Same when you go to the restroom and come back in again. I was trying to remember that. Remember he taught his son in quite detail what we were supposed to do and then of course we all forget. He's so forgiving. Report an error in the passage at 13:49 Highlight the passage at 13:49

14:08 So if you haven't, if anybody here has ever put in a garden, you know, and you have to, especially for the first time in an area where it's really rocky and it's got a lot of old roots and things like that, that's the purification practices to take all those things out. me. Report an error in the passage at 14:08 Highlight the passage at 14:08

14:23 So you're getting rid of the rocky, yucky stuff. And then the accumulation of merit. Those practices are merit. I'm just thinking of some garden stuff. And then the accumulation of merit is really for fertilizing the field and sort of like putting in the good stuff, conditioning the soil, road tilling it maybe, get a little oxygen in there, things like that. Report an error in the passage at 14:23 Highlight the passage at 14:23

14:49 Both of them take a lot of effort and you're usually doing them. When you're in the mood to do something else, right? You've already got the seeds, you've got the plants, you're really in the mood to get those in. So we always want to kind of bypass that one step, but it's actually really useful to do because otherwise, you know, the plants won't get enough oxygen, they won't thrive, the teachings won't thrive in our mind. Report an error in the passage at 14:49 Highlight the passage at 14:49

15:13 So they say that our minds just are hard and rocky at this point, which I can relate to. So all of these preliminary practices, and there are a number of them, there are nine within our tradition that are usually done in these batches of 100,000 this, 100,000 that, 100,000 that, are ways for us to condition and clean out the soil before we start doing the higher practices and also the more profound study. Report an error in the passage at 15:13 Highlight the passage at 15:13

15:46 So don't bypass those preliminary practices. And we may not have the time to go and do long retreats to do them, but we can do them in a daily way. Mandala is one that, I actually started doing the mandala practice years ago as a daily practice and had to give it up when I began the director of the center. Report an error in the passage at 15:46 Highlight the passage at 15:46

16:09 So at some point I need to start it again. But it's one that you can actually do in a really small way every day. You don't have to do, you know, hours and hours of it to get some benefit in your life. And like with frustrations, which you can also do that way, with frustrations you might just notice times that you are more blocked or more, your mind feels more solid and rocky or just like things aren't taking root. Report an error in the passage at 16:09 Highlight the passage at 16:09

16:41 I think the best reason to do mandala besides all that is you're creating the causes for your own heart to be open, to give. Because the Buddhism bodhisattva doesn't need me. They don't need all these jewels we visualize, they don't need all these lambs, they don't need all these offering goddesses and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 16:41 Highlight the passage at 16:41

17:04 It's all about our hearts opening and giving and giving and being willing to give. It's the mind of giving. It's like in Shantideva's Guide to a Bodhisattva's Way of Life. It's not the actual giving even as much as it is being willing to give everything. And Venema Renee, I remember one time said, Something about if you're giving and giving and then you remember some favorite pair of socks in the drawer and you're like, oh, I can't give that one. Report an error in the passage at 17:04 Highlight the passage at 17:04

17:31 It's like, no, give that too. Just give, give, give your old teddy bear, give your, you know, give whatever. Because it's all about your mind opening up and offering. And what are we offering for? We're offering to receive all these same qualities that we just frustrated to. It's all these qualities of... Report an error in the passage at 17:31 Highlight the passage at 17:31

17:52 Enlightened body, speech and mind, the way I like to think of it is what would I offer for limitless patients? What would I offer for the ability to know a student's mind so well that I would know exactly what to do for them? What would I offer for my favorite of all of the enlightened qualities of the body where you can manifest in whatever form is needed, wherever it's needed. Report an error in the passage at 17:52 Highlight the passage at 17:52

18:23 In whatever way, without effort, spontaneously, simultaneously, all over the planet in order to benefit others. What would I give to that? Dang straight, I'm going to give that old pair of socks. I'm going to give everything and then I'm going to make up stuff. And that's kind of what you're doing too. We're expanding our mind by visualizing amazing amounts. So it doesn't have to just be your own. Report an error in the passage at 18:23 Highlight the passage at 18:23

18:51 own belongings. But include those too. So don't just do these visualizations that are vast and beautiful and golden and jewel-like. Also throw in the things that matter to you, things that you think are beautiful, like your favorite shawl, your favorite jacket, you know. So, because it's all about kind of undoing those green knots too, you know, those miserliness. Report an error in the passage at 18:51 Highlight the passage at 18:51

19:15 They also say that this practice, the mandala practice, actually contains all of the six perfections. So the given one is fairly obvious, but the ethical conduct, they say, is from the discipline of getting, really working with the mandala set itself and getting it ready and all the discipline involved in that. Report an error in the passage at 19:15 Highlight the passage at 19:15

19:38 And those who have started setting up one know that it really kind of takes some effort to do. Collecting all the beads and then you have to get that little, there's like a little special substance and you have to clean everything with that and then you, you know, you sort of put it all together and it definitely takes a little bit more effort and they say caring for it and, Report an error in the passage at 19:38 Highlight the passage at 19:38

20:00 you know, that whole aspect of it is through discipline and that contributes to ethical conduct and morality. I think it also used to be that they would have to check for insects because they would always use rice. It was traditional to use rice in insects because that was what was available. Some people still do and Xera still does. I think children still do. Some people still do and if that's the case then you also have to make sure that those little bugs get in there and then you're, you know, by accident. Report an error in the passage at 20:00 Highlight the passage at 20:00

20:34 Patience also from doing that but from doing, from learning all the... Versus memorizing, you know, patience with yourself and also just patience with the process, patience with the visualization, because it's quite an elaborate visualization and you decide to go for it. You can do simplified verses. Joyful effort, which is really just, and it is a joyful practice. Report an error in the passage at 20:34 Highlight the passage at 20:34

21:02 Concentration, trying to get that visualization clear. Report an error in the passage at 21:02 Highlight the passage at 21:02

21:08 Wisdom, and that is at the, wisdom usually refers to, it's kind of a code word for emptiness. And so it has to do with remembering the emptiness and the dependent arising aspects of this practice. And that just means that, you know, we do these practices to create karmically, to create the seed for, you know, the transformation of our mind to occur, for abundance to occur and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 21:08 Highlight the passage at 21:08

21:36 Those are dependent arisings that come from us doing this. So the action when we're doing it is contributing to that. Things are empty of existing in the way that they appear to exist. And so that's what the emptiness is referring to. So all six perfections are really included in this practice. Report an error in the passage at 21:36 Highlight the passage at 21:36

21:56 And then for inspiration, they always tell the story of Lama Tsongkhapa, who's the founder of this lineage into Buddhism, did 1.8 million mandalas with nothing more than stone and sand or grain. And so his hands, they say, his forearms were bloodied from doing them so well. But as a result of that retreat, he did an eight-year retreat, and it was during that retreat that he did a, I don't know how many he did a day. Report an error in the passage at 21:56 Highlight the passage at 21:56

22:29 We can have Janet get on her calculator. Report an error in the passage at 22:29 Highlight the passage at 22:29

22:34 But they say that... of the room, I don't want to be out of the room. Report an error in the passage at 22:34 Highlight the passage at 22:34

22:37 He was able to gain all the realizations of the path in a lifetime. He was able to actually receive teachings directly from Manjushri. I mean, amazing realizations came. And Lama Zopa Rinpoche says that if you want to gain realizations in this life, then we should offer the module every day to our gurus. Report an error in the passage at 22:37 Highlight the passage at 22:37

22:58 And that there's no way to attain enlightenment without doing that. And definitely even just trying to make progress on the path. So again, if you're feeling stuck or if your practice is feeling like it's not going somewhere, then you can try doing a Magala practice. Report an error in the passage at 22:58 Highlight the passage at 22:58

23:19 So, one of my friends when he was teaching about karma said that there are three interesting points about karma. If you want something, you make sure that others get it. If you don't want something, then don't do it to somebody else. And if you have something in your life you want to keep, then give it away. It's like the opposite of what we would think. And karma works that way. So if we want to create the causes for abundance and create this massive merit, then we visualize giving everything and giving the entire universe and giving everything that we find most precious. Report an error in the passage at 23:19 Highlight the passage at 23:19

23:56 And that actually ends up creating the causes for us to always have enough. It's an interesting thing that happens. There are four kinds of mandalas. Outer, inner, secret and suchness are empty. Suchness is one of those weird words. Voidness, suchness, empty. So the outer, there's two outer mandalas you guys all might be familiar with. Report an error in the passage at 23:56 Highlight the passage at 23:56

24:26 There's the long one and that's the one we'll spend the most time with. But there's also the short one. Report an error in the passage at 24:26 Highlight the passage at 24:26

24:34 And those are offering really, they're really based on offering like the entire universe. Ideas based within the Tibetan cosmology of the universe, but basically offering form, offering beautiful things and offering actual beings within that universe or within that mandala. Report an error in the passage at 24:34 Highlight the passage at 24:34

25:03 With the shorter one, you're also really focusing on sort of offering your own future Pure Land. So after we get enlightened, it's like the sort of take it till you make it approach. It's like assuming we will all get enlightened, you know, with that kind of assumption, then you're already offering what you envision your own Pure Land to be. Report an error in the passage at 25:03 Highlight the passage at 25:03

25:22 And that one can be kind of fun, especially if you're doing a bunch of them because you can get creative on what you want there. With just a short one, you don't have that much time. Although in Tibetan, usually it kind of stretches out. But you are offering flowers and you're sort of imagining the ground, the ground being golden and soft to the touch, they say, without thorns or stones. Report an error in the passage at 25:22 Highlight the passage at 25:22

25:49 I was imagining fountains of tea and throwing in the things that I like. Things like that. Pools with lotuses and things like that. The inner mandala I actually think is sort of the most tasty. The inner mandala is where you're offering all those things that you're the most attached to. So offering, you know, there goes those. Report an error in the passage at 25:49 Highlight the passage at 25:49

26:19 Your favorite socks, you know, your favorite jacket. I always throw the caps in, you know, Bodhi and Shanti. They're always like up at the end, you know. I used to always offer, you know, Report an error in the passage at 26:19 Highlight the passage at 26:19

26:35 all the things that you most adore in the universe, you can throw in there. And then you also get into offering your own body. So the things about your own body that you like. And maybe you don't like this body, but you liked your body at 20. Well, offer that body, you know. Time is just a concept. You can offer whichever body you think was the best one. You can offer your friends, your closest friends, those people that you most adore, all your merits or your virtues. Report an error in the passage at 26:35 Highlight the passage at 26:35

27:13 And even if we think, oh, I haven't done it. That's not true. We've done actually a lot. So you can offer your practice. And if you've done a particularly difficult retreat, you can offer a retreat. You know, like that. So it can be whatever. It's really quite personal. You can even offer your delusions. Report an error in the passage at 27:13 Highlight the passage at 27:13

27:36 You can offer like a really rough, horrible thing. Incident, which I shall remain silent about. For me, it happened yesterday. You can offer just times that you lose it. You can offer those up. Actually, especially to your guru. Especially to your own guru. Report an error in the passage at 27:36 Highlight the passage at 27:36

27:58 Are those times that you get cut off in traffic when you're riding your bike? So, I mean, it's really okay. You're offering everything. And it cuts your own attachment. It cuts your own ego. It really, it's just a method. Report an error in the passage at 27:58 Highlight the passage at 27:58

28:17 With the emptiness or the suchness mandala, you're really focusing on the emptiness of the three spheres. So the emptiness of me, meaning emptiness always sends people right off the edge. I'm not saying that things aren't, like we're all, Report an error in the passage at 28:17 Highlight the passage at 28:17

28:36 It's not like that at all. Emptiness just means that things don't exist the way they seem to or the way they appear to our eyes too. And the way that we believe that they, it just means that they're empty of that kind. Things are not, Report an error in the passage at 28:36 Highlight the passage at 28:36

28:54 I know you can't get into that too much, but with the emptiness mandala or the suchness mandala, you're thinking about how you don't exist the way you think you do. I mean, that's when I think we get the most tripped out of how I exist. I am like this, so I can never change. I am what I am. I am what I am. I can never change. Report an error in the passage at 28:54 Highlight the passage at 28:54

29:22 I'm just like that. He's like that. He's always like that. Because he said this to me once in 1973, he's always like this and he'll always be like that. So we solidify people. So we remember that we don't exist the way that mandala and all the objects I'm offering don't exist. Report an error in the passage at 29:22 Highlight the passage at 29:22

29:48 Great little pair of socks in the drawer that I adore so much. It's really just some cloth and, you know what I mean, like it's not so exciting as I imbue it with all this amazing. Report an error in the passage at 29:48 Highlight the passage at 29:48

30:07 So you remember their emptiness and then you remember also the emptiness of the one that you are offering to. So if it's your guru or if it's the merit field or whoever it is that you're offering to. Report an error in the passage at 30:07 Highlight the passage at 30:07

30:22 And that helps cut, you know, the other was cutting your sort of miserliness or your greed. your attachment, this is really cutting your Report an error in the passage at 30:22 Highlight the passage at 30:22

30:33 And you can actually try to remember all of these things in one mandala, but it takes some practice. It's actually really good to remember the emptiness of the whole thing, no matter what. Report an error in the passage at 30:33 Highlight the passage at 30:33

30:52 It's good to remember it at the end, at least. Report an error in the passage at 30:52 Highlight the passage at 30:52

30:58 And of course you can do them all without having a mandala set. It's best actually, I think it's best to actually start out without one and to really focus on what it is that you're visualizing, what you're thinking and just doing it. I mean actually the simplest way is just to hold, take your mala in your hands and just like this, just offer. Report an error in the passage at 30:58 Highlight the passage at 30:58

31:23 This is the way, we're used to this, right? We've seen this before. I'm offering this to you. So we've done this. Nobody has to learn anything. Report an error in the passage at 31:23 Highlight the passage at 31:23

31:31 You're just focusing on, you know, all the giving, offering, whatever my Pure Land is, all the things I'm most attached to, you know, remembering the emptiness. I can do all that without having to think too hard about weird mudras or things falling or, you know, what comes next or like all that stuff that begins to come into our mind. Report an error in the passage at 31:31 Highlight the passage at 31:31

31:53 So that's really the simplest. And there's something very sweet about this. I really like this. Sometimes I just choose to do it this way because I just think it's really, really sweet and beautiful. It just feels like I'm giving, you know, like that. So there's just something incredibly humbling about that. The mudrā, does everybody know how to do the mudrā? Report an error in the passage at 31:53 Highlight the passage at 31:53

32:17 Okay, let's try to do the mudrā. The mudrā is, it's sort of like... Where's the church? Here's the steeple. You sort of just bring them together so that you're just interlacing your fingers. And then you're going to hold down your pinkies with your thumbs. You just don't do anything else, just do that. And then your ring finger becomes Mount Meru. Report an error in the passage at 32:17 Highlight the passage at 32:17

32:44 So you put your ring fingers back to back and that becomes the mountain in the middle. Nothing else has happened. Then in the front, they're sort of already interlacing in the way you want them. Your forefingers will pull down the second finger. Donna, look on that child. Report an error in the passage at 32:44 Highlight the passage at 32:44

33:20 It depends on the person and how big your hand is. I don't think it has to be, and I also don't do it like really, I've seen people like, I did like that when I first started, like your hand would be in pain by the end of it. I noticed a relaxed quality, the first Copan course I went to, Venable Neal was just offering it very relaxed, his hands were very relaxed, and I thought, oh, we don't have to be hurting ourselves trying to make it. Report an error in the passage at 33:20 Highlight the passage at 33:20

33:55 So that's basically it. So it's sort of like you bring them in and then you find your, I always do it in that same order and then after a while of course it becomes more natural but you're basically holding down the pinkies and you're holding down the second finger and the other ones are just sort of working. Report an error in the passage at 33:55 Highlight the passage at 33:55

34:13 What that's creating is in the middle it's Mount Meru and then the other four points are really referring to the four continents and you're just sort of imagining the sun and moon like in the air. Report an error in the passage at 34:13 Highlight the passage at 34:13

34:26 They don't have any. But that's the mudrā. A lot of times you'll see people take their mala and put it sort of around. That's representing that iron fence that goes around. I've also seen it more complicated than that, but I think that that's usually what that's referring to. And they say if you're offering a mudrā or like this, it's really good for you not to be offering nothing. Report an error in the passage at 34:26 Highlight the passage at 34:26

34:55 So maybe to look around and find something. So sometimes you might notice that Pujas people will pick up their bell, for example, and offer the bell. Sometimes I'll just like grab something, like a pen. I mean, I know it looks really weird, but I just feel like at least my hands aren't empty. Report an error in the passage at 34:55 Highlight the passage at 34:55

35:13 But that's another good reason to have your mala on you, which of course I'm the queen of forgetting. Anyone who's ever done our midday prayers on Friday knows that I almost always forget my mala and somebody in the group has to lend it to me. But it is good to offer something always. And we're actually going to touch on that in a minute when we start going through with this set. So, let's see. Report an error in the passage at 35:13 Highlight the passage at 35:13

35:42 Yeah, so I was going to just say, actually, it's really good to just work with the visualizations of the mandala for a while and the mudrā and just thinking about what everything needs before you go through the process of investing in a set and cleaning the set and all that, which is a beautiful process to do, actually. Report an error in the passage at 35:42 Highlight the passage at 35:42

36:03 It's really sweet to do. And picking out what you want in it and putting in personal things in it. Because everyone's looks different. That's one of the things I think is really cool with this practice, too. Everybody's finished set looks really different. People put in personal items, like I put in some jewelry that was my mom. Report an error in the passage at 36:03 Highlight the passage at 36:03

36:26 So every time I offer it, I say, when I got ordained, I put in my jewelry. So sometimes an old earring comes up, you know, and it's like, it's great. I like that. I'm offering that, you know. I'm literally offering that. And so every... Everybody will choose things. Or you'll go to a certain place and you'll get, or someone will bring you a rock from Kailash or something like that. So you'll have little things in there that will remind you of various aspects of your life that you're offering people who may not be around or parts of yourself. Report an error in the passage at 36:26 Highlight the passage at 36:26

37:01 The merit field that we envision usually is the same one, or at least this is how I have learned it. It's the same one that we visualize in the... Report an error in the passage at 37:01 Highlight the passage at 37:01

37:13 For the other preliminary practices, so it's the merit field that's pretty much depicted here. You usually begin with, in this tradition, Lama Tsongkhapa in the center, who's representing your own teacher, and then Maitreya on his right, which is representing this method or bodhicitta, and Manjushri on his left. Report an error in the passage at 37:13 Highlight the passage at 37:13

37:41 And then all those lineage lamas of those two, Traditions from them, and then at his heart is Shakyamuni Buddha, and at his heart is Bhajadara. Report an error in the passage at 37:41 Highlight the passage at 37:41

38:01 And then if you are, if you have Tantra, then you can also visualize Bhajadara again, because it can be everywhere, right? Bhajadara again, and then from him all the lineage Lama is Tantric. And then all of the Yidams, and all of the Deities, and all of the fully enlightened. beings and all the bodhisattvas and all the arhats and all the Arya beings. Report an error in the passage at 38:01 Highlight the passage at 38:01

38:29 So it ends up being like, as one of my teachers said, it's like this enormous football field of enlightened beings made of light. I mean, they drew it like this in this kind of two-dimensional way, but the way we're visualizing it is three-dimensional and living and active and lively. It's like they're all communicating with each other. So it's not like, They're not like solid and unmoving and stern or anything like that. They're really excited to see you. Report an error in the passage at 38:29 Highlight the passage at 38:29

39:05 They're really happy to have you here. And so that's what we're trying to get to. And also remembering that they're all made of light. Because I remember talking with Venable Neo once about how I was having a hard time seeing the ones who were behind the other ones. They're made of light, women. They're made of light. I should remember his voice. So we can't solidify them either. Report an error in the passage at 39:05 Highlight the passage at 39:05

39:33 They're all just kind of these sparkling, transparent beings, including our own teachers. And we should imagine our own teachers are there. And often, I mean, if it's just too much... To visualize all that, you could just visualize either Shakyamuni Buddha or your own guru or both. I always kind of imagine it like a hologram. Report an error in the passage at 39:33 Highlight the passage at 39:33

39:56 They are one and the same, but you could also just pick one, especially if you're just starting out. You don't want to get overwhelmed before you even start. Just setting up the merit field. I love to hear Geshe-la or His Holiness or the other high lamas when they describe it because... They can picture exactly where everything is and they have such detail and you know that they're seeing it while they're teaching it. But after just years of at least knowing vaguely where they all are, you can begin to do that actually. Report an error in the passage at 39:56 Highlight the passage at 39:56

40:31 You kind of know where they at least generally are. I have to admit that all the lineage Lamas don't really have faces in my mind. Nargajuna's kind of there, I kind of know Shantideva's there, but I haven't put faces on them quite yet. They're just sort of all blandly Indian or Tibetan or, you know, it's not like a lot of detail going on. Report an error in the passage at 40:31 Highlight the passage at 40:31

40:55 I put the most detail on my gurus because I know what they look like and I know that they know me and I know that they would be smiling. kind put a little extra effort there. Report an error in the passage at 40:55 Highlight the passage at 40:55

41:07 So I started doing this as a Nundro retreat, I mean Nundro meaning a Nundro practice, meaning a preliminary practice, Bodhi's going to join us actually, she hasn't come to the Gamba for a long time, Report an error in the passage at 41:07 Highlight the passage at 41:07

41:23 during a retreat that I was doing at Koh Phan Monastery and I decided I was going to memorize everything and there's quite a bit of detail in the visualization of the mandala itself and so I decided I would make Index cards for each of the things and I would color them and they would be color coded and then I would know exactly like what was on where and all and actually it's really useful to do in that retreat which wasn't even that long a retreat it was a six week retreat and that wasn't the focus of the retreat that was just that was the way you know your mind in a retreat. Report an error in the passage at 41:23 Highlight the passage at 41:23

41:56 Totally willing to do just about anything except what it is that you're supposed to be doing. So in that amount of time, like when I would go on walks, I'd bring the index cards and I would just kind of get to know them. And that's the basis of my visualization now. Like it still comes in what, you know, what the four continents are, why the precious queen is precious, you know, like what the qualities of the horse are. Report an error in the passage at 41:56 Highlight the passage at 41:56

42:21 Like it really still feeds in. So if you ever have even just like a weekend at Vajrapani or something, do this and try it. It's really quite a fun thing to do and it's actually virtuous and it feeds into your visualizations for the rest of your life. I've never picked up, I don't even know where those cards are now. But it definitely feeds in. And this visualization actually comes up in other teachings and things too so the more familiar you are with it the better. Report an error in the passage at 42:21 Highlight the passage at 42:21

42:48 and the Particularly my experience with the inner, when you're doing it as a nundra, you actually start with a long mandala and then you do a series of short mandalas for however long your session is. And so I was doing a lot of inner mandalas because I knew that I was going to get ordained and so I wanted to offer everything and I found that incredibly powerful. Report an error in the passage at 42:48 Highlight the passage at 42:48

43:15 I was just offering my... Attachment to my friends and family, my attachment to my old life, my clothes, my hair, those earrings. I was offering everything. And it was really very powerful because I knew that in reality I was offering everything. I was giving up those things. And again, remembering that by doing that, you are actually creating a cause to always have enough. Report an error in the passage at 43:15 Highlight the passage at 43:15

43:39 So it actually, in the end, benefits you to do these kind of things. Um. So visualizing, Lama Tsongkhapa said it's really, really important to try to visualize as clearly as we can. And I always just kind of give the little, you know, do the best you can. You know, he was amazing. And I think his life is a proof of how important that kind of clear visualization is. I also think that people can kind of get overwhelmed and stop doing the practice entirely. Report an error in the passage at 43:39 Highlight the passage at 43:39

44:14 And so it's like, don't... Don't do either extreme. Don't feel like if I'm not perfect, then I can't do it. And don't also just get lazy and don't try. So it's kind of like to try to figure out where you are and to just keep getting better. But he said that the clearer your visualization is, the more merit you create. Report an error in the passage at 44:14 Highlight the passage at 44:14

44:40 And Lama Zopa Rinpoche says this too. Because your karma, karma is a product of mind. Karma is what our mind is doing. So if your mudrā isn't entirely perfect but your visualization is really good, that's what really matters. If your beads are flying everywhere but your visualization is really spot on, then that's really the better thing to focus on. Report an error in the passage at 44:40 Highlight the passage at 44:40

45:10 Lama Zopa recommends actually seeing like with everything that you're offering, like imagine beams of light are going out and on the end of every beam of light is another entire mandala set and on every that has beams going out. So it's like you're creating, that's a Samantabhadra approach. It's like you're sending out beams of light and billions, trillions and trillions of of mandalas are shooting out just from your one little set or your one little mudrā or your one little cup. Report an error in the passage at 45:10 Highlight the passage at 45:10

45:45 So think big. Think limitless. Because ultimately our mind actually is limitless. We just don't think of it that way. These kind of practices are ways for us to expand. Report an error in the passage at 45:45 Highlight the passage at 45:45

46:04 Rinpoche says, although the mandala base is small, you must imagine everything in the universe on it. It's like seeing many objects reflected in a tiny water bubble, or looking at a mountain through the eye of a needle, or looking at a city from an airplane. It's very important to think that all these objects actually exist. Report an error in the passage at 46:04 Highlight the passage at 46:04

46:26 The imagined symbol of the universe does exist as a creation of the mind. It's really quite profound. And they say that once we start doing the mandala sets, or even I think with malas too, the more valuable the material you can use for the set, the better. You know, it's more of an offering. Water bowls, the nicer quality of the water bowls that we offer is also a good thing. But if you can't afford a good set, again, don't use that as a reason not to, because remember Lama Tsongkhapa just used stone and sand or stone and grain. Report an error in the passage at 46:26 Highlight the passage at 46:26

47:03 But they say that, of course, if you do have the money to spend and you spend it on yourself instead of when you're offering materials, that's just, you're just creating negative karma. So again, it's all to do with your mind. There's a story of the one who became King Ashoka when he was in a previous life when he met the Buddha and he didn't have anything to offer and he offered a handful of sand and visualized it as pure gold. Report an error in the passage at 47:03 Highlight the passage at 47:03

47:31 And just, I think this is like 10 or something, shows you what his mind is like. So just from doing that and just the strength and sincerity of his visualization that he was born. As King Ashoka, he was able to do all these amazing things, like build all these stupis and offer all this service. So do we have any questions about anything that I've just said, and then we can start going through the practice. Report an error in the passage at 47:31 Highlight the passage at 47:31

47:56 Yeah. Can Report an error in the passage at 47:56 Highlight the passage at 47:56

48:00 you share a mandala set with someone? The book has his own practices, and he was talking about getting a mandala, but he wants to do his own vision. Can you share it with someone? That's a good question. I've never heard that one before. I mean, I would think energetically it's probably good to have your own, but I don't think there's anything, like, I've never heard any prescription against it. Report an error in the passage at 48:00 Highlight the passage at 48:00

48:23 I mean, they say if you use somebody else's, I remember, Tenzin Lama said this when he first came, actually, he taught me this one. He said if you borrow somebody else's mala, you should do a mala of manis to purify it. And then before you give it back, then you should do a mala of manis. Or, you know, when the person gets it back, then they should do a mala of manis. And he goes, even if nothing else happens, you've just done all those manis. Report an error in the passage at 48:23 Highlight the passage at 48:23

48:49 That was kind of a trick. But otherwise, I don't know, you look like you were thinking, like, had you heard something or you just had that quizzical look? No, except that I know that, and often it's teachers, but they do give. They give mandalas away to others. They give mandalas and they give beads and things away. You know, exchange little beads from this and that mandala. Report an error in the passage at 48:49 Highlight the passage at 48:49

49:14 So, you but other than that, I I don't know either. I haven't heard that one before. I should actually, yeah. Does anyone have a pen? I didn't bring a pen. I can write that. Or I'll try to remember. forget, but I'll try to remember. Can you share? Report an error in the passage at 49:14 Highlight the passage at 49:14

49:50 good. Report an error in the passage at 49:50 Highlight the passage at 49:50

50:01 Oh, you have to turn it? Sorry. No, that's alright. Report an error in the passage at 50:01 Highlight the passage at 50:01

50:09 So, those who have a set, you can go ahead and get out your set. Last time that we offered this, there were a bunch of sets in the bookstore and we were able to pass those out and we just got some. Pooja Rice and everybody could have a play set. And ultimately I think that would be a great thing to do. I think it would be great to just have a bunch of, you know, like you do in school. Report an error in the passage at 50:09 Highlight the passage at 50:09

50:32 And then you just put them away again at the end of the class. If you don't have a set and you're interested, you can look on to somebody who has a set or sit next to them or whatever and watch. But don't make them feel nervous. That's all right. And that's okay. Thank you for your service. Report an error in the passage at 50:32 Highlight the passage at 50:32

50:51 And even if you're watching those of us who have been doing it for a while, it doesn't mean we're going to do it right. So when you get a mandala set, it's good to have a cloth that you wrap it in that is only for that. Report an error in the passage at 50:51 Highlight the passage at 50:51

51:12 I actually, when I started my mandala practice, I was starting it with a friend and we were both in Kathmandu. And so we did the whole process of... it together, which was kind of cool because I didn't have a clue what I was doing. I thought a number of times about getting a more attractive one, but we purposefully got really, really sturdy cloth. Report an error in the passage at 51:12 Highlight the passage at 51:12

51:34 That was ten years ago. And it's lasted really well. I've only washed it a couple times. When I washed the set, I also washed the cloth by hand. And it just lasted really, really well. But this shape where it has this... What that is, and you might notice we actually used a couple of these on the, you can see the little cloth, you see the little tail underneath? That's because we used them as altar cloths, but this tail actually comes up around your neck. Report an error in the passage at 51:34 Highlight the passage at 51:34

52:01 That's what that's for. And then ostensibly you're supposed to go like that with it. I don't think you really need to. But at first I would always try to do that. I was always like, and then I realized, you know, it just stays there. I don't think you really need to. But the shape of it is to, Report an error in the passage at 52:01 Highlight the passage at 52:01

52:21 This is always the lively part. I can see the excitement growing in the background. I always put something on. This isn't really much, but you know what I mean. Kind of the heavier the items in your mandala set, the more likely it's going to kind of weigh it down. Like in the morning when we do puja, I usually set my books and stuff on it. Report an error in the passage at 52:21 Highlight the passage at 52:21

52:46 I've got very, very, very, very, very heavy items in mine. I've got stones and various, you know, like beads and jewels and things like that. And the entire thing is really, really heavy. And, you know, with rice, it's actually much, much lighter. And I think part of it was with rice, too. Not only was it available, but if you went on rounds, if you moved, you know, and you're on foot or something and you had to carry this thing. Report an error in the passage at 52:46 Highlight the passage at 52:46

53:19 This thing, I hate traveling with it because it's so heavy. I keep thinking I should create a lighter version to just travel with because it's just very, very heavy. But if you're in a car, of course, it doesn't matter so much. So why don't actually... I only made... Mary, would you be cool to go make some more copies? Because I didn't make enough. I just made five copies, I think. Maybe those could get passed out and then you could make... Report an error in the passage at 53:19 Highlight the passage at 53:19

53:48 Oh, you know, I think I left them all in the copier. They're just 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. So just make, and post, I didn't count you, 10. Sorry. So, yeah, just get, maybe start with somebody who doesn't, yeah, who's never done it before. Report an error in the passage at 53:48 Highlight the passage at 53:48

54:17 Actually make an extra one for me or bring me the original. Oh, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 54:17 Highlight the passage at 54:17

54:21 That same one you used before? Yep, I just reformatted it. This is from Geshe Wang Yel. Report an error in the passage at 54:21 Highlight the passage at 54:21

54:33 And I just thought it was nice with the circles and the numbers and all that stuff. It's sort of like where the different heaps go. Because that's what you're actually basically doing. So while she's doing that, I think I did mention that when you first start and you first buy a set, that it is good to wash everything, at least with saffron water. Report an error in the passage at 54:33 Highlight the passage at 54:33

54:57 But if it's possible for you to get, there's like a special little pill or special little substance that some llamas have. I think it's getting harder and harder to find, actually. Report an error in the passage at 54:57 Highlight the passage at 54:57

55:08 I think, anyway, I can't remember even what's all in it. But at least with saffron water to wash everything and let it all dry. So all the objects that you're offering, and then spread that out and let that dry, but also the rings themselves. And the base, especially the base. And they say occasionally that it's really good to wash the base, even if you're not going to wash the whole set, to just periodically wash the base off. Report an error in the passage at 55:08 Highlight the passage at 55:08

55:38 I like to pick holy days to do that, just because it's something virtuous to do. See, it's already weighing it down. Do we have anything heavy? Report an error in the passage at 55:38 Highlight the passage at 55:38

55:49 I'm like, huh? I could be better. Yeah. What's the, what's the heavy for, I Oh, mine is just weighing it down. Should I put a cushion under it, or is it better to have it so it comes up? No, you could do that. It does make it deeper, though, so it doesn't go flying. That's what I'm wondering. Yeah, you could do it. Try it, book widths. What did you mean by heavy? Oh, just here. It's up on the, see how it's resting on the table, and then the weight of it is making it go like that. Report an error in the passage at 55:49 Highlight the passage at 55:49

56:20 Yeah, I think it is easier. It makes like a little pouch for you to be working in. Yeah, let's try it. Let's try it. Or, you know, even a prayer book. The prayer books, the FPMT prayer books are pretty good. Sure, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 56:20 Highlight the passage at 56:20

56:43 I need all the people. Okay, thanks. Sure, let's do both. Is this heavy now? Report an error in the passage at 56:43 Highlight the passage at 56:43

56:52 once you sew, you're taller. Oh. Yeah, I give one to Hillary struggling in the bathroom. It took me about five years to get to this point where I already met. Well, it's exciting that you, because last time you used one of the loaner sets, right? No, I didn't use the set. I liked what you said this morning about the other, the other protections and because I've always kind of... Report an error in the passage at 56:52 Highlight the passage at 56:52

57:25 said, oh, what's the point of reading all that? It's 60, I'm just excited to do No, it's true. It's like with the water bowls. They say one of the results of doing your water bowl practice is developing concentration. And we wouldn't think of it, right? We think we're just setting up these offerings. I don't know what we think we're doing, but everything is well thought out to be transforming your mind in some subtle ways, in some gross ways. Report an error in the passage at 57:25 Highlight the passage at 57:25

57:55 So it's the same with the prostrations. We think, oh, this is a physical activity, right? No, our whole mind is supposed to be visualizing this whole field of all these Buddhas and then memorizing their names. So again, it's like sort of the same thing where it's working on a lot of different levels to help us progress on the path. So this is that same way. Report an error in the passage at 57:55 Highlight the passage at 57:55

58:15 So before you start any practice, then again, you sort of set your motivation again. May this help transform my mind. And may I be able to use this practice to transform my mind so that I can benefit others. And I can progress on the path all the way to full enlightenment. And then again we try to bring up that merit field that I just described. Imagining Lama Tsongkhapa in the middle. Just somebody with a little panda's hat is good enough. Report an error in the passage at 58:15 Highlight the passage at 58:15

58:47 And then you can imagine Maitreya who's usually that seated Buddha. -hmm. How? Report an error in the passage at 58:47 Highlight the passage at 58:47

58:54 That's the easiest way. He looks different than the others because he's usually seated on a seat. And then he's on his right and Manjushri, the wisdom, is on his left and Manjushri is the one with the sword. So any aspect of that you can bring in. And then all of the lineage Lamas from both Maitreya represents the method aspect. Report an error in the passage at 58:54 Highlight the passage at 58:54

59:20 Majjusha represents the wisdom or the emptiness teaching. So all those lineage Lamas are coming out from him. And at the heart of Lama Tsongkhapa, the central figure, you can imagine Chakimari Buddha. And then at his heart, you can imagine Vajradhara. And if you don't know what Vajradhara looks like, Vajradhara looks sort of like a solitary Vajrasattva. Report an error in the passage at 59:20 Highlight the passage at 59:20

59:50 But blue. So even if you can just imagine a blue blob, that's a good start. And then behind him, if you want to do the complete visualization, just to imagine all the, it's Vajradara again, and then from him are all the lineage lamas of the tantric teachings, the secret teachings. Report an error in the passage at 59:50 Highlight the passage at 59:50

1:00:13 The teachings that enable us to get enlightened quickly, quickly to the benefit of others. And then you can imagine, of course, your own teachers and Report an error in the passage at 1:00:13 Highlight the passage at 1:00:13

1:00:29 also all the Yidams. So even if you don't know all of them, you might know what some of them look like and you can kind of just imagine them. Just imagine lots of arms and different colors and different heads and things. And then all the fully enlightened Buddhas and you can imagine them all in that aspect of Shakyamuni. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:29 Highlight the passage at 1:00:29

1:00:49 That's easy. And then all the Bodhisattvas. Those on the path, the Mahāyāna path. All the Hinayana Arhats. So those who have attained complete liberation from saṃsāra. And then Arya beings. I kind of imagine them all seated. I mean, to my eyes, because I haven't reached any of those realizations, they all just look sort of similar. Report an error in the passage at 1:00:49 Highlight the passage at 1:00:49

1:01:18 But I kind of know who they all are. And then they have like dakas and dakinis. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:18 Highlight the passage at 1:01:18

1:01:26 So you're just imagining again, just imagine like an entire football field of holy beings out in all directions, all made of light. And they're all totally delighted that you're trying to learn this practice and do this practice. So they're all gazing at you with excitement and happiness and pleasure. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:26 Highlight the passage at 1:01:26

1:01:50 And even if you can't visualize a single thing, like your mind's just gone. Black. Try to imagine at least Shakyamuni Buddha, the way he looks in this statue behind me, in the aspect of a monk, golden and made of light, and just feel that all the rest of their presence is there. They say Buddha is the bodhisattvas around us all the time, and we just aren't aware of that. And so now we're trying to actually feel their presence, be aware that they're there. Report an error in the passage at 1:01:50 Highlight the passage at 1:01:50

1:02:27 And then... In our minds we generate refuge, which is basically understanding the situation that we find ourselves in where we've created our reality based on following our deluded minds, our afflicted minds, into trouble time and time again and creating negative karma that then ripens as our suffering and ripens into these realms of suffering that we keep taking birth in or forced to take birth in. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:27 Highlight the passage at 1:02:27

1:02:55 Really what psychic existence is. And so we go for refuge to somebody who's gotten out, the Buddha, and his methods, his teachings, the Dharma, and those that are sincerely trying to practice his teachings, the Sandha. Report an error in the passage at 1:02:55 Highlight the passage at 1:02:55

1:03:10 And then we look around us and we see all other beings are also struggling or suffering in the same way and have no one. And so we generate bodhicitta, knowing that we can't leave them, that we have to... this, use this life use these opportunities and use these instructions ourselves so that we can help them quickly And so then those with a base, you pick up the base, and it's good to put a little something in your hands first. Report an error in the passage at 1:03:10 Highlight the passage at 1:03:10

1:03:45 So you're always kind of thinking about these various, these things that just seem like rules. Again, it all has a reason. And the reason is so that you don't have an empty hand. So then you pick up the base with that one and you begin Report an error in the passage at 1:03:45 Highlight the passage at 1:03:45

1:04:04 clearing the base. And so you pick up a little bit of the jewels or the rice or whatever your substance is. And you're rubbing three times in a clockwise direction. So that's rubbing away from you. And what that is, is that's rubbing away all the karma and delusions. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:04 Highlight the passage at 1:04:04

1:04:26 All the negativities in your body, speak your mind. You can do it as many times as you want, but it's kind of in that outward way. Let me move this guy in the way. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:26 Highlight the passage at 1:04:26

1:04:41 I learned this, usually if a mandala is really fast, I mean, we're going to go slow. If Rana Ravina leads you in a mandala, you just do what you can. You just do the best you can. And even in the mornings for puja, we tend to go at a pretty steady clip. So, you know, I'm telling you sort of ideally. In the comfort of your own room, how you would visualize. Maybe with Geshe-la too, you have more time. He goes pretty slowly when the long mantra is recited and when he's being the umze. Report an error in the passage at 1:04:41 Highlight the passage at 1:04:41

1:05:13 But usually you don't have time for a whole lot more. But I was taught to do three times counterclockwise for all that karma delusions. You know, you're getting rid of all that. And again, three times. And I've never seen this anywhere else and I can't remember who taught me this. For the three poisonous minds especially, anger, attachment and ignorance, to eliminate those from my mind. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:13 Highlight the passage at 1:05:13

1:05:38 So to do two sets like that and then one set towards you, grant me all the realizations, grant me all the blessings. So these are going outward and then this is coming inward and then you're clearing it off. So at that point there's still nothing on your base. I have these little tiny beads and they kind of get caught everywhere. And hopefully one will shoot off and hit you in the face, but hopefully it'll be a blessing of some sort. Report an error in the passage at 1:05:38 Highlight the passage at 1:05:38

1:06:05 People in the front row would wear goggles. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:05 Highlight the passage at 1:06:05

1:06:11 And then you start with the recitation. We're not going to do the actual recitation. I'm going to just describe what's happening first and then we'll do the recitation. So then you're... Starting with the recitation, and the first thing you're talking about is the golden ground, the golden ground. The one that we just described is the pure land, right, this golden ground. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:11 Highlight the passage at 1:06:11

1:06:32 So that's Aum Vajra Bhumi Ahum. The first thing that you sometimes hear people say, Shinkambu Agyu, or Shinkambu Agyu, you sometimes hear both ways, really just means, let's offer mandala. Like, it doesn't have any more meaning than that. I thought it was some, like, secret thing that Lama's going to say, and then it's like, oh. It's like, let's offer a mandala. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:32 Highlight the passage at 1:06:32

1:06:58 Okay, you know. So we've cleared it, and then we start. And the first one you're doing is the golden ground. So before you do anything else, before you offer any of your base, you put things on it. And the reason is because we don't want to be offering an empty base. So those go on first, and then we put on our ring. And as Janet pointed out in the first time I taught this course a year ago, it's good to know what side your rings are going in. Report an error in the passage at 1:06:58 Highlight the passage at 1:06:58

1:07:30 I had a beaded mandala before this one. All the beads came off, so I don't highly recommend that type, depending on how red box you are with your offerings. But it's easier to tell. These are harder to tell what direction, especially as you get older and your eyesight fails. But you try to figure out what direction they're going up, and then you place it on. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:30 Highlight the passage at 1:07:30

1:07:51 Also, I usually do, nobody's ever said this, but I just kind of, I don't know if you do, there's a seam in it where they join it together. I just try to put that in the back. Why? I don't know. There is a seam. You can feel it. Report an error in the passage at 1:07:51 Highlight the passage at 1:07:51

1:08:06 Well of course you might have a far better quality one than I do. I'm visualizing it though. Sarah gave me a clue about putting what's up and what's down because in between all the symbols, which I wouldn't know what's up and down, are little flowers. Yeah, that's what I go by. Yeah, I always go by the flowers. Yeah, so you can always just find the little flowers. Mark that down in your notes. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:06 Highlight the passage at 1:08:06

1:08:30 It'll mean something to you. Like, go by the flowers. Yeah, and this one, see this one. On the top one, I don't have the flowers, but there is... Something else that you can tell has that sort of base going up through. So then Om Bajra Bumi Ahung. And then the next thing you're doing is encircling by that iron fence again. So it's that same idea, that same visualization. So as you're putting your beads on, go around the outside. Report an error in the passage at 1:08:30 Highlight the passage at 1:08:30

1:09:01 This is the way I always learned. Om Bajra Bumi Ahung. I don't have it. If you want to look on in... In Tibetan, I didn't put the Tibetan in there. Actually, Mary, would you be so kind as to get the gold prayer books? Because then those people that wanted to look on, I think it's on page, I want to say around 80, something. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:01 Highlight the passage at 1:09:01

1:09:25 You do 73, you might go through, and then the long one. It's probably around 82 or 83. And you said the fence, but it's still, you're dropping it in here, right? Yep. Yes, yes, yes. You're inside the ring. Yeah, good point. You're inside the ring. Otherwise, it'll just be a really big mess. Yeah. And then you're starting with Mount Meru, right in the center. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:25 Highlight the passage at 1:09:25

1:09:54 Sure. Well, yeah, I've got one, but give me another one. That one's being used. Report an error in the passage at 1:09:54 Highlight the passage at 1:09:54

1:10:02 Cool. Is it A6? A6. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:02 Highlight the passage at 1:10:02

1:10:13 What's that? You're going to the pilgrimages. You're going to the pilgrimages. Rabina's checking up on me. She just peeked at me. Okay, so let's see. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:13 Highlight the passage at 1:10:13

1:10:26 So then the way that Mount Meru actually, and the way you visualize Mount Meru, we tend to think of Mount Meru as a mountain, right? More like Mount Shasta or, you know, Mount Kailash or something. The way they visualize it is actually upside down, like an upside down pyramid. Yeah, totally different. That's a great look. Whoa! That was very Santa Cruz. Yes, exactly. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:26 Highlight the passage at 1:10:26

1:10:53 Point side down. That's Mount Meru. And so it's got these four sides and the east is, and you're never going to remember this, but just remember, just listen. The east is like a radiant silvery crystal. So this is, east is us for this purpose. East is towards us. The south is a bright blue lapis lazuli, the west is ruby and the north is gold. Report an error in the passage at 1:10:53 Highlight the passage at 1:10:53

1:11:25 And so then that reflects into the continents that we're going to set up. So you imagine that as this sort of flat upside down pyramid and on top of that that's where everything else kind of is. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:25 Highlight the passage at 1:11:25

1:11:42 Then we talk about the places that, and so also there's all this... Around it, you know, so it's little points, it's going down, there's all this water, and the water's reflecting all those colors as well. And actually, when I was memorizing the various things on my index cards, the Nagas all live down in the waters, and there's jewels in the waters. Report an error in the passage at 1:11:42 Highlight the passage at 1:11:42

1:12:06 Depending on how long you have to visualize, you can actually imagine all that happening too. There's all these amazing jewels down in the water, and the Naga kings and all that stuff are all popping around. And we haven't even gotten to the main part of the offering yet. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:06 Highlight the passage at 1:12:06

1:12:19 Then comes the places where the humans can live. And so those are in the cosmology, those are the four continents. So then we start with Charleu-Papeau. And in the way with all these continents, all of them, there's three of them. We're in the south. We're in what's called, I always mispronounce it. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:19 Highlight the passage at 1:12:19

1:12:39 Chao, chao from Vipa or something like that. Chao, chao, Vipa. So. So where we live, it's actually like the lifespan is fairly good for the most part, averages like 80 or something like that. But in these other places, actually, it's like up to 500 years, sometimes longer. There's a lot more sort of bliss and happiness and so forth. Report an error in the passage at 1:12:39 Highlight the passage at 1:12:39

1:13:04 But they say it's for that reason that it's actually better to be born where we live because we can practice Dharma. We have more reason. We have more inclination to it because we see suffering more. So just to remember that whenever I'm doing it, I'm like... Better to be here. That's probably all you're going to have time for. I'm telling you all the details, but again, as it's going really fast, you may not be able to remember it. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:04 Highlight the passage at 1:13:04

1:13:29 So there's first the eastern continent, Charle-Papeau, and then you're going around those. And then eastern, it's the west, and then north. Each of them has two subcontinents next to each other. So then you come back around. Report an error in the passage at 1:13:29 Highlight the passage at 1:13:29

1:13:55 So you're just doing the two on either side the same directions and you're always working in a clockwise manner and you're just placing the little heaps right where Report an error in the passage at 1:13:55 Highlight the passage at 1:13:55

1:14:11 he's putting the little numbers. So you're starting with one in the middle, and then two, you're just bringing them in that over to three, four, five, and then on either side of two, on either side of three, on either side of four, on either side of five. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:11 Highlight the passage at 1:14:11

1:14:28 And then you go to what's called the precious things. And so then you have the precious mountain or the precious heap, and it's just made of all these jewels. And that's about as much as I can ever remember when I get there. I'm just like... Mountain of Jewels. Rinpoche, Riwo. But you can, the actual seven precious gems, they say the seven precious gems, which are gold, silver, lapis, coral, diamonds, pearl and emeralds. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:28 Highlight the passage at 1:14:28

1:14:59 Those are what's called the seven precious gems. Those come up in everything. Everything is made of seven precious gems. So if you can memorize that. Gold, silver, and they aren't what we call jewels, right? Gold we wouldn't call a jewel, but they do, so we'll stick with that. Silver we also wouldn't. Report an error in the passage at 1:14:59 Highlight the passage at 1:14:59

1:15:16 Coral we wouldn't call. Some of these things we would call semi-precious, I think, but in Tibetan cosmology they're considered seven precious gems. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:16 Highlight the passage at 1:15:16

1:15:26 So that's the precious mountain, the wish-granting tree. People have heard the wish-granting tree described where it's... Its roots are gold, its trunk is silver, the branches are lapis, the leaves are emeralds with sapphire buds, pearl flowers and diamond fruit. So you can kind of imagine what that would look like. That's the wish-granting tree. Wish-fulfilling cow is one of my personal favorites. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:26 Highlight the passage at 1:15:26

1:15:55 Diamond horns, sapphire hooves and a tail like a wish-granting tree. Body is beautiful and healthy and it's excrement. It's pure gold. Imagine that. Kind of like the chicken. Yes, the goose. Like the goose. The goose that lay the golden egg, that one. I think it's the goose. Well, maybe there was another one, actually. Report an error in the passage at 1:15:55 Highlight the passage at 1:15:55

1:16:26 And then the uncultivated harvest is... I think it's the Dusa They've got quite a few animals. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:26 Highlight the passage at 1:16:26

1:16:29 The crops that grow without any need for us to help. And its fruit is perfect and it's beautiful and delicious and it satisfies everything, all of your desires. So I kind of just imagine like, you know, I actually sort of imagine like a little strawberry garden and it just like satisfies all your needs. Then you go back around in the same. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:29 Highlight the passage at 1:16:29

1:16:50 So now we're at number 18. In the Tibetan version it's Koro Rinpoche. So that's when all the Rinpoche's start. You know, if you're like trying to follow and everybody in a big group is doing it and you're like, where are we again? And all of a sudden they start doing all these something Rinpoche, something Rinpoche, and you're like, oh, Rinpoche just means precious. Report an error in the passage at 1:16:50 Highlight the passage at 1:16:50

1:17:09 So you hear Rinpoche a lot in this. The next seven are the possessions of the wheel-turning king or the universal mom mark. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:09 Highlight the passage at 1:17:09

1:17:21 And so offering them becomes the cause, creates the cause for us to become. Such a king. So the precious wheel is here. The precious jewel. And they say that jewel is like this huge, I think it's lapis actually. It's like this enormous lapis with all these qualities. The precious queen. I was imagining it would be Tibetan. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:21 Highlight the passage at 1:17:21

1:17:47 Who knows why. More interesting than my eyes. The precious minister. The precious elephant. Which also has all these qualities. The precious horse. And that's supposed to be this really gigantic, I always imagine this beautiful stallion that you can apparently see for miles and it has all these powers and it can race at all these different speeds and things like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:17:47 Highlight the passage at 1:17:47

1:18:11 The precious general. And I always get the minister and the general confused and I finally thought of in government things the minister is a little higher up than the general, right? General's kind of considered a little like lowly, so he comes after the minister. And then the great treasure base, Bunpa. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:11 Highlight the passage at 1:18:11

1:18:33 That's where that one ends with Bunpa. And now it's time. So I run into some, most of you guys have smaller base rings. I have small objects in larger base rings, so you want to make sure that your base ring is really full before you put on your next level. Because otherwise you're offering not full things. It's inauspicious to do. You might notice that your hand's getting tired. Mine is. Report an error in the passage at 1:18:33 Highlight the passage at 1:18:33

1:19:02 Kind of rest it like this. Sometimes I just have to like stretch it out. So then the next one, you're going to start hitting all the goddesses. And so then they all have kind of the game. So they all have the Ma, which is female in Tibetan. Goddess of beauty. Is number 26. Again, you're just doing these, you're just dropping a heap in each direction. Goddess of beauty, goddess of garlands, goddess of song, goddess of dance. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:02 Highlight the passage at 1:19:02

1:19:35 Sometimes it's like going so fast that you just, at this point, that I just am imagining all these really, really beautiful women holding things and offering them a dancing around. Because they're basically like the bliss goddesses, right? These are all the... The offerings of sense objects that then the Buddhists and Bodhisattvas just transform into bliss. So they're just receiving them in bliss. So that's basically the gist. Report an error in the passage at 1:19:35 Highlight the passage at 1:19:35

1:20:03 Goddess of Dance and then Goddess of Flowers are going to go in the... Oh, and I didn't mention that. They go in the... What's it called? Not in the cardinal, but the ones in between the cardinal. Thank you. Ordinate? Is that it? Ordinal. Ordinal. Yeah. They go in between... Report an error in the passage at 1:20:03 Highlight the passage at 1:20:03

1:20:22 So the first ones are east, south, west, and north, and so this would be southeast, like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:22 Highlight the passage at 1:20:22

1:20:34 I can't do all of these simultaneously, it's confusing, but you know what I mean, they go in between the other ones. The same is true for the goddesses. And then it goes goddess of flowers, goddess of incense, goddess of light, and goddess of perfume. that. Anyway, like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:34 Highlight the passage at 1:20:34

1:20:49 And then your next level should be full. And again, you just make sure it's really, really full. I've watched Rinpoche, Lama Zopa Rinpoche do it. He always is like... He really packs it in and he takes total time. Like there's no hurry at all. So everyone else is speeding along and he's just like this. Report an error in the passage at 1:20:49 Highlight the passage at 1:20:49

1:21:19 He's making each level totally beautiful. And so I learned from that because I happened to notice it, right? I have a karma to see it, so now I have to do it too. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:19 Highlight the passage at 1:21:19

1:21:30 And then you went on the next one. Sometimes people have four rings. Have you seen people with four rings? If you do it with four rings, then that actually, your level of all the ministers and all that will go in your fourth ring, in yours. You know, it'll be cut between these. Yeah, everything moves up. Exactly. That's my translator over there. So then you're going to do, in the third ring, it's just the sun and moon, Nima, Dawa, which is the first Tibetan word just about that most of us learn. Report an error in the passage at 1:21:30 Highlight the passage at 1:21:30

1:22:03 And then the precious parasol is actually in the front this time. So it's not going in the same order. This time we're doing Nima, Dawa to either side of Mount Meru. And then the precious parasol in the front, and then the precious, the victory banner throughout all directions, which is kind of like those victory banners of medieval, you know, the kind of triangular ones that are like unfurled and stuff like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:03 Highlight the passage at 1:22:03

1:22:29 And again, you make it nice and flat. And then all of this, then you can put on your little top thing, whatever your top thing is. There's one that usually comes with a set that represents... Usually has on it, I think the pre-printed ones are always, this one has a Kaj on it and then also a Dharma wheel. Like when you're requesting the teachings, there's a Dharma wheel. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:29 Highlight the passage at 1:22:29

1:22:54 So most of those come like that, but then you also see sometimes people put like really big crystals, you know. Or just really beautiful, some really beautiful piece of stone. Or like when Rubina has that really big ball like it's flying. She said it went flying off of her mandala at Bodna, went down the entire stupa and never got nicked. Report an error in the passage at 1:22:54 Highlight the passage at 1:22:54

1:23:19 Most of the big things that she has in her mandala set were given to her by llamas actually. A lot of times by llamas actually. And he'll ask her to put it in the mandala. So whenever everybody's like all laughing and stuff, she's just following the gurus. So then at the end you're holding it up and you're holding it away. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:19 Highlight the passage at 1:23:19

1:23:36 My wrists and arms are not that great these days, too much time on a computer, but it's good to hold it up high, but not if you think it's going to fall. And then to just imagine, then take time to really imagine sort of all around it all those great things. So all the things that you wanted to offer, all the most beautiful things in the world that you can imagine, the most beautiful places in the world, the most beautiful food. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:36 Highlight the passage at 1:23:36

1:23:59 Like if you have favorite foods, you can imagine that. You know, your cats and dogs and loved ones and sisters and like whatever else you think are precious to you. Just imagine it all sort of, you know, flying around in space around it. Report an error in the passage at 1:23:59 Highlight the passage at 1:23:59

1:24:16 And they always say, imagine that you're offering everything and not leaving anything out. And then we say the little mantra that's, Report an error in the passage at 1:24:16 Highlight the passage at 1:24:16

1:24:29 And what you're doing at that point is, after you visualize everything, when you do that little mantra, you're imagining, this is the way I learned it, is then you're sort of sending up everything to that merit field, especially to your teacher or to Shakyamuni Buddha in the middle. And then right before you tip it, imagine that they're just flooding you with blessings. They're just filling you with all that you need. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:29 Highlight the passage at 1:24:29

1:24:58 And that's why when you turn it towards you to dump it, you're sort of turning it this way. And you're just like imagining all those blessings just flying into you like that. There are differences of how you set it up so that we had the eastern one facing us. And that's one type. Report an error in the passage at 1:24:58 Highlight the passage at 1:24:58

1:25:18 A visualization, there's also one where you can imagine the east being a way. And I think requesting the realizations is with the east towards you. And I think that's why I just chose that one to memorize because I felt like I could only memorize one. Let's go for the realizations. But I can't remember even now what the other one is. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:18 Highlight the passage at 1:25:18

1:25:39 I think it's in... I think it's in... Okay, Accumulating Merit. I was going to say it's also, I think, in Tujjinsha Bins. It's definitely in the FPMT one. So let's do it again. Report an error in the passage at 1:25:39 Highlight the passage at 1:25:39

1:25:57 If you're just doing a short one, and this happens a lot, in the morning puja actually we do three short ones, three short ones and one long one. Sometimes for places where you don't have time for a long one, you'll just do the short one. So that's when you're doing, usually it's like a, what's, Report an error in the passage at 1:25:57 Highlight the passage at 1:25:57

1:26:18 I'm not actually doing a complete visualization, but I just do sort of the main point. So I do the, you know how in the mudrā that you could see the four continents and the sun and moon and Mount Meru? It's pretty much what you're replicating on the short one. And you're only going to use your bottom ring. But you can still do your cleansing. You know, you still do your cleansing and then receiving all the realizations. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:18 Highlight the passage at 1:26:18

1:26:44 You're still doing that part exactly the same. You're doing it to sa-ju-po-gi. Is that one? Report an error in the passage at 1:26:44 Highlight the passage at 1:26:44

1:26:56 So that's saying it's the ground covered with flowers. You're imagining this ground, this golden ground that's covered with flowers. I'm still going around with the iron fence, but that's partly because of my own habit. And now I'm just going to do wheat at the places of the continents. So I'm just going to do one, two, sorry, it's two, three, four, and five. One was already in the middle, that was not Maryville. Report an error in the passage at 1:26:56 Highlight the passage at 1:26:56

1:27:25 And then I actually do, it's usually, there are two times, there's actually five heaps and a nine heap one. And I usually do nine heaps. What's the matter? I'm not, it's not on there. Report an error in the passage at 1:27:25 Highlight the passage at 1:27:25

1:27:45 I am. I'm just doing nine heaps. And the nine heaps are the first nine heaps of the four continents. Mount Meru is five. And then the four... Do you know what? I don't even... Report an error in the passage at 1:27:45 Highlight the passage at 1:27:45

1:28:04 I think it's in the four top ones then. I think it just goes straight up to the top ring. The sun and moon and the victory banner and the parasol. That's what I think it is. But anyway, so it's nine heaps total and then you're just putting your little thing like that. That's just the short one. But they say that you're still visualizing it contains everything. So you're not short shifting the Buddha's. You're actually imagining it being this. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:04 Highlight the passage at 1:28:04

1:28:34 still filled with everything beautiful and all and then you're just again doing that Report an error in the passage at 1:28:34 Highlight the passage at 1:28:34

1:28:48 Hilary, I didn't put it in there. It doesn't come up that much except in pujas. We don't really do a short one like that where we wouldn't build a whole thing. Usually people don't even get out their mandala set for the short ones. In the Nalanda tradition, actually, there's a place in Guru Puja where we request the Guru to teach, and you request the Guru to stay. Report an error in the passage at 1:28:48 Highlight the passage at 1:28:48

1:29:21 In the Nalanda tradition, you actually do get out the mandala set, and that's the tradition that Lama Zopa also does, and you just do a short one like that. So we do that in the morning Puja, but Geshe-la doesn't do that. When we do Guru Pooja, as a group, he doesn't do that. And I often will just secretly, behind the scenes, I'll offer the mandala and request him to stay or request him to teach. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:21 Highlight the passage at 1:29:21

1:29:45 Because again, visualizations, 99.9 % of it, right? But I have seen sometimes when Rubina's there, she just digs it out and gets to work. So even if he's not slowing down or anything, she just gets herself out. And even if he's not offering one, she'll just get herself out. Report an error in the passage at 1:29:45 Highlight the passage at 1:29:45

1:30:03 When he was teaching just recently, the reason he didn't do that was that he didn't do it because the juice fly all over the place. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:03 Highlight the passage at 1:30:03

1:30:17 Very practical. Very practical. That's good. I thought maybe it was just the difference between Nalanda and Sarah Jay. Because when I say Nalanda, I mean Nalanda, the current Nalanda in France. I've seen the monks who go there, they all do it, but I think they probably all get it from Lama Tsongkhapa too. But I think it's good to do. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:17 Highlight the passage at 1:30:17

1:30:39 And probably Rubina doesn't care if they go flying all over the place. That's the other thing, if your jewels and things go flying, actually we've already offered them, so it's kind of alright. But it's kind of, you know, it's up to you if you're going to collect them all and try to stick them back in there again. That's okay. It's hard if you've like put out a lot of money on them. Report an error in the passage at 1:30:39 Highlight the passage at 1:30:39

1:31:02 We chase jewels in the morning. Yeah, we do tend to chase the jewels in the morning. Okay, so let's do it again. And this time, I'm just going to follow this one so you guys are all doing the same. I wanted to give you some description on it in that one. So we're going to do it in sort of English. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:02 Highlight the passage at 1:31:02

1:31:24 So we start, and we have, you do have a little bit right in your left hand, right? You've got a little bit, okay, so then you put your mandula base in there, and then you have a little bit in your right hand, and you start kind of scrubbing it. This is before we start, you can't, you know, I'm just getting rid of all my parma and delusions, and then especially the three-poisonous mind, anger, attachment, anger, and please chant me, all the realizations, like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:24 Highlight the passage at 1:31:24

1:31:54 Om Vajra Bumi Ahum. I'm just doing it in English, is that right? Okay, Mighty Golden Ground. Where are we? Om Vajra Bumi Ahum. Om Vajra Ground Ahum, sorry. That Bumi's in it for a while. And then we place the first ring on the base and we take a little bit more and then we sprinkle it around the inside and that's the kind of thing. Report an error in the passage at 1:31:54 Highlight the passage at 1:31:54

1:32:18 Om Vajra. Fence Aho. Sounds funny in English. The iron fence around the edge. In the center is Mount Meru, the King of Mountains. In the east, the continent, Lupa Ho. In the south, Zambuling. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:18 Highlight the passage at 1:32:18

1:32:42 In the west, Balancho. In the north, Draminyan. And then in the east, the subcontinents. Lu and Lupak. Yeah, it is. Six and seven. So it's like first to your left and then to your right. Report an error in the passage at 1:32:42 Highlight the passage at 1:32:42

1:33:04 And then it's above and then it's below the other continent. Nayav and Nayazan. And then to the west, Yodan and Lam Chodro. And that time it's to the right and to the left of the continent. And then to the south and to the north. to go backwards. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:04 Highlight the passage at 1:33:04

1:33:26 Jaminyan, Jaminyan, Here are the precious mountain, the wish-granting tree, the wish-fulfilling how, with that special dung, the unplowed harvest. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:26 Highlight the passage at 1:33:26

1:33:43 Here it says, here's the note about the if using four rings, this is where you place the second ring, but we're just using three rings. The precious wheel, Report an error in the passage at 1:33:43 Highlight the passage at 1:33:43

1:33:58 the precious jewel, the precious cane. The precious minister. And then on your ordinate directions. Okay, the one between the cardinals, whatever that's called. The precious elephant. The precious horse. The precious general, which for me just came out as the horse. Report an error in the passage at 1:33:58 Highlight the passage at 1:33:58

1:34:29 Then the treasure, the great treasure vase. I actually got a little horse and a little elephant in Chinatown and I find it highly amazing where they pop out. The elephant always wants to be one of the goddesses. So she just comes out wherever she pleases. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:29 Highlight the passage at 1:34:29

1:34:49 Here are the goddesses, the goddess of beauty, the goddess of garland, the goddess of song, the goddess of incense, and then in the middle. okay. I know. Report an error in the passage at 1:34:49 Highlight the passage at 1:34:49

1:35:03 The goddess of flowers. Oh, did I miss one? I did. I'm sorry. What did I do? I missed one. I'm sorry. It should be goddess of beauty, goddess of garlands, goddess of song. Oops, your thing just turned off. Goddess of dance. And then the next four are goddess of flowers. We are at 30. Goddess of incense, goddess of light, and goddess of perfume. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:03 Highlight the passage at 1:35:03

1:35:36 That's why it's really good when you're just learning it to just do it on your own because you can go whatever level, I mean at great speed, thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:35:36 Highlight the passage at 1:35:36

1:35:47 Something's not coming out. Okay, then you're on the top one and you're just going with the sun on your left and the moon on your right. So the sun, the moon, in the front the precious parasol, in the back the banner of all directions. The sun on your left, Report an error in the passage at 1:35:47 Highlight the passage at 1:35:47

1:36:11 and then the moon on your right, and the precious parasol, and the banner of victory in all directions. Let me just make sure everything's full. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:11 Highlight the passage at 1:36:11

1:36:26 No, that was on the first level. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:26 Highlight the passage at 1:36:26

1:36:31 And then now you're just imagining everything flying around in space and all, you know, Shanti and Bodhi go flying by. cow. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:31 Highlight the passage at 1:36:31

1:36:40 In the center are the most perfect riches of gods and humans with nothing missing, pure and delightful. To my glorious, holy and most kind root guru, the lineage gurus, and in particular the great Lama Tsongkhapa, Buddha who is the king of sages, Bajra Dharam, and the entire assembly of deities, I offer these as a Buddha field. Report an error in the passage at 1:36:40 Highlight the passage at 1:36:40

1:36:58 Please accept them with compassion for the sake of migrating beings. Having accepted them, please bestow on me and on mother sentient beings abiding as far as the limits of space. You're an inspiration of loving compassion. Oh, is that what we're saying? That's all that we're saying, yeah. Remember doing it together? Report an error in the passage at 1:36:58 Highlight the passage at 1:36:58

1:37:16 Yep, that's it. That's that part that's long. Everybody really starts getting lost and it's going on really fast. And then you're holding it out, you're offering it, and then you're ending with that mantra. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:16 Highlight the passage at 1:37:16

1:37:34 So now you believe that you're really receiving your mantra. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:34 Highlight the passage at 1:37:34

1:37:45 So see the visualization, visualize that from their hearts emanate brilliant white light and nectar. This is on page 3. one. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:45 Highlight the passage at 1:37:45

1:37:53 Which enters through your crown chakra, completely filling your body and mind, purifying all obstacles formed by negative karma and delusions that hinder us from gaining realizations. And then you can, at the end, you can imagine that the merit field dissolves into Shakyamuni Buddha, including, you know, you've got Lama Tsongkhapa in the center. Report an error in the passage at 1:37:53 Highlight the passage at 1:37:53

1:38:16 So imagine... That everything dissolves into Shakyamuni Buddha or into Lama Tsongkhapa, who is inseparable from your own root guru. And that he then comes to the crown of your head and then he dissolves. So all of those qualities of all of those amazing holy beings all melt into your mind and become oneness with your mind. And you just kind of focus on that oneness for a moment. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:16 Highlight the passage at 1:38:16

1:38:41 Really imagining, as Lama Isha says, there's no separation at all. Like water into water. Report an error in the passage at 1:38:41 Highlight the passage at 1:38:41

1:38:59 Dedicate the merit from having done this practice as many times as you've done it, with as much concentration as you have, with some clear visualizations as you could, with as much sincerity in your heart as you could muster, and you just dedicate all that merit, and then today all the merit that we gained by practicing it together to all sentient beings and to their happiness and to... Report an error in the passage at 1:38:59 Highlight the passage at 1:38:59

1:39:27 Ending their suffering. And especially today we can dedicate it to the people of Tibet who are struggling so hard and all their loved ones that are here who are separate from them and worried about them. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:27 Highlight the passage at 1:39:27

1:39:41 May a resolution be gained that was peaceful. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:41 Highlight the passage at 1:39:41

1:39:52 So that's it. We can do it again. I just wanted to give people who wanted to a chance to leave with a good mind. But I'm also happy we can go through it again. Report an error in the passage at 1:39:52 Highlight the passage at 1:39:52

1:40:06 How do you pack it up? I'm doing the thing of gathering all my offered beads. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:06 Highlight the passage at 1:40:06

1:40:18 Sure, let me show you how. This is the other thing. They're everywhere. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:18 Highlight the passage at 1:40:18

1:40:35 So what I do, Hilary, is... Yes, patience. This is all your patience. And the smaller the bead, the more patience. It seemed like such a great idea. I actually really like the way it looks, but my friend and I went, there's a beads district in Kathmandu, and they have beads from everywhere. So we just chose beads to be our base beads, and these were Czech glass beads, sold in the fall. But we just liked the way they looked. Report an error in the passage at 1:40:35 Highlight the passage at 1:40:35

1:41:10 She got colorful ones, and I got more like sand. But they ended up being really not so great for monoliths, like the second they hit the brass. They just fly, you know. So it comes looking like, you know, you have this base, so it's this great place to sort of store everything in. So I just always put my rings in there. And then I usually... I Report an error in the passage at 1:41:10 Highlight the passage at 1:41:10

1:41:45 was leaving mine empty, but I thought probably traveling, it would help to protect the rings from the end. Yeah, maybe. I don't know. I don't know, I don't know, I'll learn through that detail. That might have been a practical. Probably, yeah. Probably, Report an error in the passage at 1:41:45 Highlight the passage at 1:41:45

1:42:02 yeah. I used to be able to get it all in there. They say, actually, that's a good measure. You definitely need that much, you know, when you're trying to collect yours. But it's good to have all this extra, too, because you're going to lose it all. And especially if you're doing it outside, like at Bogai or something, you're just going to lose it. Like, you're never going to be able to find it all. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:02 Highlight the passage at 1:42:02

1:42:20 And it's a nice offering, anyway. Just, like, leave it. So... It's really good to have probably about twice that much so that you don't have any kind of feeling of like graspiness towards it like, I have to go get that, you know, elephant. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:20 Highlight the passage at 1:42:20

1:42:35 She's gone flying. And then you just let it go. And then you just kind of bring the corners together. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:35 Highlight the passage at 1:42:35

1:42:48 Something exciting. And then I just do it like this. Report an error in the passage at 1:42:48 Highlight the passage at 1:42:48

1:42:59 I have a really long tail on mine so it goes around quite a few times. I kind of do it like that so I can rip it off in a hurry. You never know when you let it off. So it ends up looking a little bit like, you know those old lawn mowers where you used to do the thing? Like the grandpa kind? That's the way it feels. It's like, especially first thing in the morning. So that's it. Does anybody have any questions? Report an error in the passage at 1:42:59 Highlight the passage at 1:42:59

1:43:26 I actually think, I was reading when I was looking at Venable, oh, Tuchton Children, we're going to need hers too. Who would like the, it's a longer article, and it's also available on her website, so if you would rather not have the paper. I just made five copies, but yeah, we can make some more. This is just an article about Lama Zola practice from Chubrin Chodron. Would anybody like it? Her website is, you just put in her name, Chubrin Chodron. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:26 Highlight the passage at 1:43:26

1:43:59 It's the same one that I handed out last time. I think I have it. I have it from last time, too. Except Hillary's just more organized. You know, I've got a problem, too. I don't know if it's one for the speaker. Yeah, because now the person's like, lean forward, and they're like, what is it? My problem is my model turns my hand black. You know what? I've seen that before. Report an error in the passage at 1:43:59 Highlight the passage at 1:43:59

1:44:28 I'm not sure. I think it's the metal. It might be the metal. I think it's the metal, actually. And mine used to do that. I had just a base. It wasn't one of those kind of sets. I had gotten the base from one place and the rings from someplace else because they were the beaded rings. And I think it was just a lower quality of metal. And I think it just does that. I don't think it's the end of the world. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:28 Highlight the passage at 1:44:28

1:44:58 You could try washing it occasionally, but I think it's probably just the metal. Can you spray it? You know what, I've not, I thought of that too, but I haven't ever heard of anybody that did it. Yeah, because the finish is coming off. Yeah, mine is too. Yeah, and that's probably what's making the black. Report an error in the passage at 1:44:58 Highlight the passage at 1:44:58

1:45:14 I was just wondering if Yeah, Report an error in the passage at 1:45:14 Highlight the passage at 1:45:14

1:45:23 On your hand. Plus I think I put a beautiful piece of hard coal in it. Well that you might actually pull out. I did. I did. It's offered now downstairs to the middle that's on the desk. Yeah, well that could have been it. Report an error in the passage at 1:45:23 Highlight the passage at 1:45:23

1:45:42 Anybody else? So when you want to do the... Oh, here. With your mandala, could you do it just simultaneously when you're doing... Yeah, and you know the inner mandala is there, right? So right on page 87, you can do that one. So you start with the long one. So say you were going to just do this as a practice or whether you were doing it as an ongoing practice or you just wanted to spend a morning doing that. Start with all those, visualize the merit field and do the refuge and bodhicitta and set your motivation and then do the long mandala and then go into the... Report an error in the passage at 1:45:42 Highlight the passage at 1:45:42

1:46:19 mind going, I mean, the inner mind going, just do which i think is very powerful to do i just love it yeah i do too like to do that one in english saji pookie i think i maybe because we've done it so many times i kind of have an idea of what it is i'm offering so that's okay but with So you don't mix them? Well yeah you could. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:19 Highlight the passage at 1:46:19

1:46:47 I mean you may do some short and then some... But I was thinking like put the short in the longer mandala. Oh no, yeah, no, do it after. Do it after, yeah, yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:47 Highlight the passage at 1:46:47

1:46:57 Is there like a sets of three you should do these mandala often? No, you can just do it once if you wanted to. Definitely good to do at least once, but no, I don't think there's any number. And then how did some kaphas... wrist gets sort of worn out like what He was using his forearm, which is technically a good way to do it. Just to clear, you know, at the beginning when you're clearing it, he was doing it like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:46:57 Highlight the passage at 1:46:57

1:47:29 And he was using this base, which apparently is still visible in Tibet, where he did this, where he did his retreat. It's worn and then... Yeah, so he just took what was available there, whether it was sand or grain or whatever, and used that as his jewels, and then he did this. Yeah, and back again. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:29 Highlight the passage at 1:47:29

1:47:49 And since he did so many, since he offered 1.8 million, then it just gradually, yeah, just gradually wore his arm down, I guess, too. I think the point was just that he had the diligence to keep going. I would have been like, ow! I think I'm going to break. We were like, catch a lot. Report an error in the passage at 1:47:49 Highlight the passage at 1:47:49

1:48:13 Can we maybe renegotiate this? That was a good question. Anybody else? Report an error in the passage at 1:48:13 Highlight the passage at 1:48:13

1:48:25 With the inner mandala, are you also using the rings? Yeah. And so where would you be putting the things? Well, I don't think you are. I think you've already got it set up. Yeah, I think you're already, you know, you're following along mandala. So you've already got everything all set up and now you're just focusing on this visualization. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:25 Highlight the passage at 1:48:25

1:48:44 That's my understanding. And with the suchness one, I don't think I've ever seen a separate written mandala. And if I have, I haven't been able to find it because somebody actually recently asked me to look for it. And I realized that it's just your visualization. You're just visualizing the emptiness of everything. Yeah, but you're not like visualizing. Report an error in the passage at 1:48:44 Highlight the passage at 1:48:44

1:49:10 You're visualizing the emptiness of something rather than something. That's a good point. So with the inner one, you're doing the short mandala beats? Report an error in the passage at 1:49:10 Highlight the passage at 1:49:10

1:49:23 The inner one, you're following. You already have set up your long mandula. You could also do your long and your short, but you're not resetting it up each time. With the inner one, yeah, oh, that's what you're saying. So if you're just doing, if you're setting it up each time, then just do the nine, just do the nine heats, but you're not thinking so much. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:23 Highlight the passage at 1:49:23

1:49:42 This is for the object of my attachment. It's not like that so much. Maybe that's why I like it so much, too, because you're not having to coordinate it. You're just making the heaps, and then you're visualizing all the things that you treasure and all the things that you hold. You're just doing the night. Yeah. Yeah. Report an error in the passage at 1:49:42 Highlight the passage at 1:49:42

1:50:11 Totally. Can you repeat the question? it's just that if you don't have a mom that was set. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:11 Highlight the passage at 1:50:11

1:50:20 Oh, I see what you're saying. No, I was going to say, yes, you can just visualize, just do your visualization and do your mudrā and, you know, and visualize. Visualize exactly where that heat goes, that heat goes, that heat goes there, like that. So that you're just visualizing it in the air, you know. And then by the time you get your mandula set, you'll know where all those things go, you know. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:20 Highlight the passage at 1:50:20

1:50:42 So it kind of works actually better that way to just, you know, using your little guide, you know. And then be like, okay, yeah, that's there, that's there, that's there, like that. And it does come into your mind then after you get it really set in your mind whenever a mandala is being offered. I haven't used my mandala set for a while because I've been having some problems with my forearms and my wrists. And so when I'm offering with this, yeah, I've got some black too, so I think it is kind of just the face. Report an error in the passage at 1:50:42 Highlight the passage at 1:50:42

1:51:12 I just visualize exactly like I were offering it. So now I'm doing it the opposite way. I'm visualizing. What I would have offered with my set, but like this, because it's all about that. And actually, you can give it a little more detail, because you're not chasing down things and looking for the horse and all that stuff. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:12 Highlight the passage at 1:51:12

1:51:33 Where is it going to pop up? Yeah, so you're just practicing the visualization and strengthening that. That's what I would do rather than, I mean, you could play with the other, but I think, I mean, you'll get that part down. The hardest thing is the visualization. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:33 Highlight the passage at 1:51:33

1:51:49 And once you do get a set, I mean, actually in Teacher and Children's article, she said that when she originally learned that she was in Singapore and they would, I think they had a class like this, and then they got together and met once a week and did their mandala together. And I thought, that's a sweet idea. We should probably do something like that. We haven't organized it. Maybe, because somebody else actually, Lynn just recently requested that we do that, that we just all get together and just offer mandalas. Report an error in the passage at 1:51:49 Highlight the passage at 1:51:49

1:52:18 Which I thought was a really nice idea. I never would have thought of it. And I think it would be wonderful to do for the benefit of the center and the Lama Zopa Rinpoche project. So I just had to figure out when we could do that. But then it could just be a playtime, you know. Everybody bring what you have. And then we could just, everybody could make one. And we could borrow some and, you know, like that. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:18 Highlight the passage at 1:52:18

1:52:37 So I'll let you know if we do something like that. But I mentioned it to Michelle. She said, that'd be great. All the extra merit would come for the center. It'd be great. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:37 Highlight the passage at 1:52:37

1:52:48 But practicing it in a time that you aren't feeling like everybody's staring at you is really useful. So the first couple of times you come to soap and you're like, oh my god, you know, everyone's, and of course nobody is. They're all just like, where are we in the text? Nobody's looking at your, yeah, nobody's, oh look, oh he's hitting the cymbals, the drum, you know, there's so many other things happening, nobody's watching you, but you're so sure that everyone's watching you. Report an error in the passage at 1:52:48 Highlight the passage at 1:52:48

1:53:14 Oh my bank just fell. Yeah, it's really not like that. Anyway, is there any last questions? Ty? So when you want to go mandala set shopping, what do you look for? What are the options? Report an error in the passage at 1:53:14 Highlight the passage at 1:53:14

1:53:36 It's totally personal. I think what looks, I mean, you know, they do say that it's the better the quality, the best quality you can afford is good. In my mind, I would love to offer like a silver one. You know, like Beno Rubina has a silver one. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:36 Highlight the passage at 1:53:36

1:53:52 But even taking mine and having it silver plated, I think it would also be very expensive. I think it's just your own personal, it should fit your hands. It shouldn't be so gigantic. I've got fairly small hands, so I wouldn't want it to be really, really gigantic for my hands. And you should also think about the weight, which I didn't think about the first time. Report an error in the passage at 1:53:52 Highlight the passage at 1:53:52

1:54:14 I got really, really heavy. The bass alone on my last one was so heavy. You know, then you add everything else and you're like, you know, which is fine for Rubina. She doesn't have that problem. So it just depends on the strength of your arms and things like that, the size of your hand, what looks good to you, what looks beautiful to you, what's available where you live, you know, all those things. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:14 Highlight the passage at 1:54:14

1:54:36 Although we now have internet, so you can shop that way. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:36 Highlight the passage at 1:54:36

1:54:42 And then another question which I've never found the answer to is what do you do with an old one once you... Report an error in the passage at 1:54:42 Highlight the passage at 1:54:42

1:54:49 I have one. I've got a Domro in the same boat. I don't know quite what to do with them. So I think it's all just personal. What looks good, what feels beautiful, what feels right in your hands, what you can imagine holding up if you had it loaded down with pearls and jewels and the whole universe. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Report an error in the passage at 1:54:49 Highlight the passage at 1:54:49

1:55:19 You know, I was talking to Maritza when I was kind of thinking about putting together, collecting jewels and things, and she said that she had brought her things that she was thinking about putting in the mandala to Geshe-la to see, and he told her, well, this one's good, this is not so good. And I think some of the things that she told me, and it was kind of useful, I thought, for myself personally, was to watch that you don't take objects that are too sharp. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:19 Highlight the passage at 1:55:19

1:55:47 You know, an earring with a real pointy back, you know, for a pure steer, you may end up stabbing yourself, which I imagine would be a good purification. You wouldn't want to always do that maybe. Right, right, right. And also it's like sometimes people I've seen put nice little shells in things, but there are some that are real fragile and they're just great. Report an error in the passage at 1:55:47 Highlight the passage at 1:55:47

1:56:10 It's true. So like kind of thinking about... The items, that was really helpful to me to try to decide what things I wanted to put in. Yeah, it's true. It's true. It's sort of like if you're putting in, you have to imagine it being tumbled with everything else over and over and over again. So you don't want it to be so... I did that. I actually had a pin that was my mom's that was in the shape. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:10 Highlight the passage at 1:56:10

1:56:35 It looked like a Bodhi leaf. It was one of those filigree where they take the actual leaf and then they have the gold on it. But it was just, it was too sharp. The point was sharp and it was too fragile. So after about three times I took it out. But yeah, exactly. That's a good point. Even this is getting chipped. Yeah, yeah. And that's kind of alright with me with some of them. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:35 Highlight the passage at 1:56:35

1:56:56 I just still decided to leave them in there. But I did the same. After a while I just began pulling out things that didn't seem like they were going to be that strong. Because I do have actually a piece of lapis. It's actually a lapis pin and I had to pull the back off. It was like a brush. But the lapis itself has sort of gotten scratched. Yeah, lapis is soft. Report an error in the passage at 1:56:56 Highlight the passage at 1:56:56

1:57:19 Oh, Report an error in the passage at 1:57:19 Highlight the passage at 1:57:19

1:57:22 the ground. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, so it's a good point. And same with even some beads that have sharp edges. You're going to hurt yourself and be crying out every time. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:22 Highlight the passage at 1:57:22

1:57:39 So one thing that we actually are going to... Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. Report an error in the passage at 1:57:39 Highlight the passage at 1:57:39

1:57:42 Do anybody who is able to, Lama Zopa Rinpoche requested for, especially for the situation that's heating up in Tibet, but also for peace everywhere, is the reading of Sūtra of Golden Light. And so I was going to suggest if anybody is able to, just that we do a quick reading. What we did yesterday is everybody grabbed... Report an error in the passage at 1:57:42 Highlight the passage at 1:57:42

1:58:05 From like 10 to 15 to 20 pages, depending on how fast you read. Anyway, I'll just read them quietly to ourselves. We didn't do the ones where it was like the Tower of Babel. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:05 Highlight the passage at 1:58:05

1:58:15 It was just everyone just quietly reading it. And we actually managed, in 25 minutes, I think we only had like 8 people. Yeah, but Hillary and I have to go. That's okay. No, but I mean yesterday, I think we only had like 8 people and we actually did it really fast. So, whoever could do. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:15 Highlight the passage at 1:58:15

1:58:36 It's great. And actually, do you know where they are? Report an error in the passage at 1:58:36 Highlight the passage at 1:58:36

1:58:43 They're all the way on the bottom shelf and the first, you know, like... Yeah, you go all the way out to the bottom shelf and there's that. Maybe we can take a quick potty break, too. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:43 Highlight the passage at 1:58:43

1:58:55 Stretch your legs. Report an error in the passage at 1:58:55 Highlight the passage at 1:58:55

1:59:02 Donna, don't forget you're here. Oh, thank you. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:02 Highlight the passage at 1:59:02

1:59:12 a long million dollars I'd like for me to do that with the solution. So we're going to serve it. You know what, when, yeah, you'll hear the melody if you're following along with a teacher and there are differences. I mean, you're mostly just chanting it and kind of, if you hear Tibetans do it, they kind of chant it and their voice kind of just curls around it the way, so the more comfortable you get with it, the more you just kind of do whatever. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:12 Highlight the passage at 1:59:12

1:59:39 want to with the Nazi. But we do have one, if it's all Engie's doing it, all English speakers doing it, then we all tend to do a similar sounding one. But you'll hear it, the more things that you do, you'll hear that. I don't know, you know, knowing Tipton Children, she probably has a downloadable audio because she's so organized. So you can see, check out her site and see if she's got a downloadable audio. Report an error in the passage at 1:59:39 Highlight the passage at 1:59:39

2:00:06 But otherwise, just listen. and like Chud and Rinpoche is going to come bye you guys Chud and Rinpoche is going to come and we'll definitely be doing them there And the more you do it, the more. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:06 Highlight the passage at 2:00:06

2:00:21 So with that, do I need to change it often? Not necessarily, just chuck it, make sure that no insects get in. And also, like if you happen, we have mice here. And so like children, yeah, children used to have one. Sarah has it too, but she's probably all right. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:21 Highlight the passage at 2:00:21

2:00:46 But children actually found that they would eat through the clock. She's probably all right. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:46 Highlight the passage at 2:00:46

2:00:49 And so she began to put them in a Tupperware container that fit her whole thing. And it is lighter. And you can also add other things to it. So that's just your base. So I feel like that's your sand and then you can put some jewels and all that. So you can still, I guess, if you see something or something, they should be nice or, you know. Report an error in the passage at 2:00:49 Highlight the passage at 2:00:49

2:01:18 you find, if you throw it in there, and that's nice. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:18 Highlight the passage at 2:01:18

2:01:24 Oh, I never even drank this. You know what I would love, actually? We can turn this off because I'm not going to be teaching about this. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:24 Highlight the passage at 2:01:24

2:01:34 Are you okay? What's happening? Yeah, it's down at the bottom of the shelf. All the way down. We'll fix the shop. Report an error in the passage at 2:01:34 Highlight the passage at 2:01:34