(By Tsem Rinpoche)

The Benefits of Offering Lamps are:

1. One obtains bright, beautiful and good eyes.

2. One has proper understanding and views.

3. One will easily obtain the ‘heavenly eye’, and can see distant and subtle phenomenons.

4. One does not break precepts.

5. One’s wisdom is perfect, and will attain to nirvana. One will obtain the wisdom that discriminates between what is to be virtuous and non-virtuous.

6. One’s performance of virtue will not be hindered by difficulties or obstacles.

7. One is often able to see Buddhas and becomes the eye for all sentient beings.

8. One can take rebirth as a wheel-turning lord king, king in the Trayastrimsha Heaven, or king in the Brahma Heaven.

9. At the point of death, one will recall virtuous dharma without forgetting and all those positive deeds done while living will appear in the mind; one will have joy in the mind and recall the Buddha; the body and mind will be pure without any worries or suffering at point of death.

10. Both eyes and four limbs will always be free from defects.

11. One will be healthy and the vocal cords will be soft and flexible and one’s voice will be charming and beautiful.

12. One’s mind will be clear and bright with intelligence, not affected by stupidity.

13. One’s life will be stable and peaceful and all necessities will be sufficient, one’s mind will be free from fears.

14. One’s wealth will increase and body and mind will be free and liberated.

15. One’s body will be healthy and strong, filled with vitality.

16. One will not have verbal feuds, clashes or quarrels with others. One can travel (the world)without any worries and without creating any kleshas or disturbing emotions or give rise to ignorance.

17. One will not do anything out of a hazy and confused mind. One will not be easily misled by external factors.

18. One will not take rebirth in a dark and gloomy place.

19. One will possess great merits

20. One will not run into any mishaps while travelling or walking like stepping on unclean substances, be free from fear of dogs or wolves and their barks or howls, one will not fall and hurt oneself and not drop into pits and lose one’s life.

In Avatamsaka sutra it says, “Offering Lamps can dispel all darknesses.”

In the Treasury of Bodhisattvas Sutra, it says, “Offering 10,000 bright lamps to confess and extinguish hosts of negative karma and defilements.”

In Cakrasamvara Tantra it says, “If you wish for sublime realizations, offer hundreds of lights.” Cakrasamvara Tara includes Vajra Yogini.

In the Sutra of Giving, it says, “Those who offer lamps, will possess the pure heavenly eyes and clear wisdom in the future.”

[Extracted from: A Facebook post by Uwe Meyer]

Dear friends,

It is very important to practice the offering of butterlamps. Try to complete a minimum of 100,000. It is very good for your realization on the sutra path. It is excellent for results on the tantric path.

Tsem Rinpoche

P.S. Do not leave any burning flame left unattended.

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Transcript for “H.E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche on the Benefits of Butter lamp Offerings”

Now, I just arrived back in Nepal about 1 day ago and our Ladrang people has been working very, very hard setting this place up and we’re gonna do something very special tonight. So I thought I’d invite a few people over so it won’t too crowded and what we’re gonna do tonight is this – In our Buddhist tradition we have a special system of 5 preliminary practices and the 5 preliminary practices are designed to transform our minds, change our minds and by changing outer circumstances. So we do the 5 preliminary practices correctly and we do it very well and we do it completely – we will see diseases heal, we will see if we’re obstructed by spirits, the spirits will be quelled or stopped. If we find that our mind is sleepy and dull and un-alert we find our mind become very, very alert – very, very sharp. If we have some depression or if we have some unhappiness or we have some kind of disturbances in our mind, or we’re not at peace, the five preliminary practices also help us to clear these kind of disturbances and give our mind some kind of peace.

As we all know, as we all know very clearly, we can pray, we can pray to the Buddhas, we can pray to God, we can pray to the deities and we can pray and pray and pray but no matter how much we pray – if we don’t change our minds, we won’t be happy. If we don’t change our perspectives, we won’t be happy. So we can pray, we can do pujas, we can do rituals, we can do offerings, we can see Lamas, we can see Gurus, we can go to temples, we can do all of those things but our minds won’t become happy. Why? We’ve been brought up to think a certain way, we’ve been brought up to perceive things a certain way, we’ve been brought up to look at things a certain way and so we’re stuck looking at our relationships, we’re stuck looking at our environment, we’re stuck looking at our friends and our house and our living lifestyle, in a certain way. So when we’re stuck looking in certain way, what happens is this – when we feel we can do nothing about it, we become unhappy.

When we’re very young and we just start out in business and we start doing work, we feel very optimistic, we feel very enthusiastic and we feel very bright. And then as the time goes on, our fixed way of looking at things, our fixed way of seeing things, our fixed way of accepting things or not accepting things slowly makes us become unhappy, bitter, maybe even angry. And so the anger builds up, the unhappiness builds up and the sense of hopelessness builds up. And no matter how much good food we eat, or how much wonderful families we have, or how much pujas we do, or how much business we do or how much wealth we collect, we still feel as sense of emptiness, unhappiness and perhaps even senselessness. Senselessness means – what’s the reason for all of this. We feel a sense of that and the reason for that is because the things…the way we look at things, the way we perceive things, the way we understand things didn’t generate happiness. The way we’ve been dealing with people, the way we’ve been looking at family, the way we’ve been doing business – is not bad, but it didn’t bring happiness.

So therefore, as we get older and older, old doesn’t mean you’re old, older means as you start doing things through wrong perception, wrong relationship, wrong attitude, our unhappiness becomes deeper and deeper and deeper. And you know, we don’t know why. Why do I say this? Here there are international people, our faces are different but inside we’re all the same. Exactly the same and that’s not cliché, that’s the truth, because I meet international people, I meet hundreds and hundreds of people every year and when I talk to them, it’s the same thing all the time.

So my point is what is – if we feel this type of senselessness or unhappiness and maybe we don’t feel it at this time but we come across many people who feel this but no matter how many pujas we do, how many mantras we do, or how much business we do or sometimes we just don’t think about it, we try to keep ourselves busy, we still feel this kind of hopelessness, senselessness and unhappiness. So therefore, in Kathmandu, you see a lot of Lamas, you see a lot of monks, you see a lot of Dharma teachers, you see a lot of temples, but we don’t really know what’s going on inside. We cannot look at the temples, we cannot look at the Lamas, we cannot look at the Pujas, from the outside. If we simply just look at the Lamas and we do the pujas from the outside, nothing on the inside changes. Pujas are important, venerating deities, showing respect to Bhagawan is very important, but it will not make us happy.

So what’s important is this is – if we listen to the Dharma, the Dharma is very important if we listen to it, whether we are Hindu, whether we are Buddhist, whether we are Christian, it doesn’t matter. Dharma means correct conduct. Dharma means correct view. Dharma means correct attitude and the cultivation of correct view and attitude, then our mind becomes very happy. So what happens is this is – Dharma is something that Buddha has spoken about that when we think about it, it makes a lot of sense, it makes a lot of logic, it makes a lot of …it makes a light come on. And when we adapt it to our lives, and we put it towards our behaviour, we start seeing other people react differently toward us, we see ourselves react differently toward others, and then we see the dynamics of people acting different towards us, we acting different towards them and then, we see things become lighter, happier and better.

You see because our lives cannot be just eating, sleeping, working, making business, making money, it cannot be just that. Those are important and we need to do that but those are not the only reasons that we are here. So hence, if we study Dharma, you don’t need to study as if you’re a monk or a nun, if you study Dharma and you understand Dharma, your attitude and your mind will change.

Now in this room everybody’s educated. Everybody has gone to school, everybody’s educated and most of us here are very exposed to the world. My point, if I simply do a Puja and I throw some flowers on you and I put a little red tika on your forehead and say you’re blessed, nothing happens to you. You see because I don’t have the power to bless you. I don’t have any power to bless you. Nobody has the power to bless you but we have the power to bless ourselves. What’s a blessing? My type of Dharma is not simply doing Pujas and then doing some blessings and then sending you off. My type of Dharma is different. I like to explain. I like to talk. I like to share and I like to give you knowledge. I don’t give you all the knowledge in one night cos it would be too much but a little bit of knowledge each time we meet. So each time we meet, I like to give you knowledge and the knowledge I give you is not to make you a Buddhist. Not to make you a Hindu. Not to make you a Christian but my knowledge that I share with you is to help you, become the person that will be happy. That will be satisfied.

You’re thinking but if I, that if I have food, I’ll be happy. If I have money, I’ll be happy. Well, if that’s the case, look at everybody who has money and food that you know. Are they happy? Or they’re distraught or they’re worried. In Kathmandu if you have money, you have food, you’re not happy but you’re comfortable and one more…In Kathmandu if we have electricity we are very happy. That’s an extra we need to add here. So if we have money and food and electricity, then we’ll be much more happier. Much more. Oh don’t get me wrong…I love Nepal. I’ve been coming to Nepal for twenty years. My father has a house here and I have wonderful friends in Nepal. I love Nepal. And if I didn’t love Nepal I wouldn’t establish a house here. Definitely not. I like it because it has everything I like, spirituality.

So getting back to the point, what I don’t like is to just do a lot of long rituals, give a lot of long initiations, give a lot of long rites and pujas and then you say ‘oh you have been blessed’, because I will feel like, maybe I’m not telling the truth. What I like to do with my friends and people, is to share Dharma knowledge, to have them ask questions, then I answer them to the best of my ability. To share this knowledge, why? Because when you have knowledge and you apply it, you will see a transformation in your mind. And when your mind transforms, when your mind changes, when you’re mind becomes better, everything around you becomes better.

Nobody in this room doesn’t have problems, including me. Nobody in this room has…doesn’t have unhappiness. Nobody. Whether you’re a Lama or whoever you are – it doesn’t matter. Everybody has some unhappiness. Everybody has something that makes them not happy and if we leave it there, it becomes stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger all the time.

See, myself, I didn’t choose to be a Dharma teacher. I was born in Taiwan. My father is Tibetan. I was born in Taiwan, because when Tibet lost its country, my father immigrated to Taiwan. So I was born in Taiwan and at the age of seven, against my will, I was adopted over to the United States. Why do I say against my will, because I didn’t want to go. So at the age of about 17/18, I met my Root Guru His Holiness Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, this is the last picture on the, on the right. This is my Root Guru. This is Zong Rinpoche, that’s Zong Rinpoche’s Guru – Trijang Rinpoche, Trijang Rinpoche’s Guru Pabongka Rinpoche. So this is what we call a lineage Guru. So my Root Guru Zong Rinpoche came to America to give teachings, I was very young. So I lived in a Dharma centre in America and I cooked there and I cleaned there and I worked on the outside and I supported myself. So I lived there and I received a lot of teachings from His Holiness Kyabje Zong Rinpoche and he’s one of the greatest Lamas within the Tibetan tradition. Greatest. So infact he was already in his mid seventies, at that time. So I learned quite a lot from him but you have to understand I was already interested.

So at the feet of Kyabje Zong Rinpoche, I promised to become a Monk, I promised to take ordination and I promised to go to India to join the monastery there. And the monastery that I joined there is called Ganden Monastery and Ganden Monastery currently has 3000 monks. So I joined that monastery in Jan 1988. I arrived in India January 19… I’m sorry, in October 1987. Then 1987 October, I arrived in India, from India, I went to Dharamsala, in Dharamsala I met His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, this is 20 years ago and I received my monk vows from His Holiness directly. And then after I met His Holiness Dalai Lama I went back to Delhi, from Delhi I came to Nepal. I came to Nepal because I had to do some things and I was in Nepal for about 1 month to 2 months from November…no in December until January. That was the first time I ever came to Nepal 1987, very, very first time. And it’s funny because a lot of the shop keepers that I saw 20 years ago, are still the same people. They’re like him. Same people. That time I didn’t have any money to buy, I just come to your window, look and I go bye bye. I just leave. So what I… now I still don’t have enough money – your price very high. (laughs) Just kidding! Just kidding. So um…. I remember pilgrims book store too but I think that time you were… you were a very small budgie. Running around and looking for toys.

So anyways, I remember that time. I used to walk around and come here, and I stayed in a Monastery in Boda and… I was having some neck pains. And so I met one of my teacher’s students and this person took me back to Kathmandu Guest House. That’s the first time I ever went there. In 1987, December and gave me a message because this person’s a message therapist and gave me a wonderful massage to heal my neck. And I was very appreciative. So I remember going to Kathmandu Guest House and I thought to myself, that time, it was 20 years ago – what a nice hotel. Got heater, got water, because at the monastery there’s no heater and no water. Because we were washing outside in the wells. And so I said – what a nice hotel its got heater, its got water, its so warm and comfortable and I thought wow! So I asked my friend, not my friend but my teacher’s student – oh how much is it to stay here I can’t remember… something that time it was 10… 15-20 US dollars I can’t remember, but she gave some price and I thought – Oh, well I’ll never be able ever to stay here. Ever. I thought to myself. So I didn’t think oh no I wasn’t sad or nothing because I’m not interested in Hotels. I thought I’ll never be able to stay here. And now 20 years later, I have always been staying there in Kathmandu Guest House because my students found the place and we stayed there and it’s convenient because Kathmandu Guest House, then we walk around to all the beautiful shops and then we go to Pilgrims book store. 

So Pilgrims is one of my favourites because I like books. I study, I like to read and I like to share. So I like that. Any case, it’s funny now we’re all in one room. All the places I used to hang out. So I used to go to Boda, walk around, circumambulate, see the shops. Very, very nice. In any case, that was my first trip to Kathmandu and I said I’m gonna be back again and again and I have been. Always again and I brought many, many, many people to Kathmandu already, many, many people, because there are so many powerful spiritual places. So I decided to have a home here cos I would like to stay here more during the year and I would like to bring more of my friends here to experience the spiritual places cos there are many holy places, many, many holy places and if you know the meaning behind them, where they are, what to do there, it’s even better. You don’t go there just like a tourist and take a look. 

In any case, we have built a butter lamp house. What is a butter lamp house? A butter lamp house is a house that contains many butter lamps in order that you can complete one of your preliminary practices. And one of the preliminary practices is offering 100,000 butter lamps. 100 000. So of course we can’t offer in one day, you can buy 300, 400, 1000 and offer every single day without a break. So when you offer the butter lamp, when you offer the butter lamp, there’s a prayer to do, there’s some mediation to do, and every day you’ll prepare it and you will light it. So you do 100,000 and you’ll focus on a particular Buddha. And the reason you do this is because – in order for our minds to transform or understand the Dharma or learn the Dharma, in order for that to happen, we need to have knowledge. Hence, we either need books or a spiritual friend. A spiritual friend is translated as Guru. A spiritual friend or a Guru, whatever you want to call it. So, that spiritual friend should have knowledge. And that spiritual friend, he or she conveys the Dharma to you. 

So when you learn the Dharma, you think about it, you learn the Dharma, you think about it, the second requirement you need is the collection of merit. So people get that mixed up, people say – oh, good karma and bad karma and they leave it as that. It’s not as simple as that. Good karma and bad karma is one type, then you also have merit. Merit is something different. Example – merit is something that you do, without the selfish mind. It’s something that you do without the selfish mind, hence, when you do that action, merit is accrued. For example, if you offer a butter lamp to a Buddha and you pray to the Buddha for money, long-life, health, wealth and happiness for yourself. When you offer to the Buddha, you collect karma, good karma. When you have a butter lamp and you pray, that you can be someone of benefit to others, you can be someone that can bring happiness to others, you can be the cause of other people’s lasting happiness and you offer the butter lamp, that action becomes merit. 

Difference. The difference is when you collect good karma, the karma is stored. When you collect good merits, the merit is stored. When you collect karma, the karma remains dormant, it remains inactive, until the situation comes that triggers it to open. So when the situation comes that triggers it to open, you experience that karma. So what happens is if you offer that to the Buddha and you wish for happiness and health or business, your business goes up, you get good health but once you receive that benefit, then the karma is finished. It is extinguished. So hence, it’s almost like wasting that action. Where as if you offer a butter lamp to the Buddha and you pray for other people’s happiness, other people’s welfare, other people’s benefit and you truly mean it and it’s real, it’s not something you do for the moment, you really do it and you offer it, you collect merit. So when that merit is triggered, what happens – you will become the cause of other people’s happiness. Either you become someone that can be of benefit to them medically, physically, emotionally, financially, you’ll be of benefit to others and you will also get long life and you will also have happiness. So happiness, long-life is a given, is a given. 

So what happens is that, that action when triggered is continuous, it doesn’t finish. So in every single life-time you are born, you will always receive the benefits of offering that butter lamp. The difference like this – if you have an amount of money and you put that in the bank, that money you don’t touch the principle, you just live off the interest. Always you’ll be safe. But if you touch the principle and it runs out, you’re finished. Karma is like touching the principle. Merit is like touching the interest alone. 

So hence, when we offer butter lamps, when we have a good motivation, butter lamps when you light it, it dispels darkness. The darkness is gone. When we offer a butter lamp, to the Buddha, any Buddha, any Buddha that we like, when we offer a butter lamp to the Buddha what happens is – the Buddha doesn’t have darkness, the Buddha does not have any ignorance or any stupidity, nothing. But when we offer to the Buddha, the Buddha doesn’t need the butter lamp from us. The Buddha doesn’t need our Puja, the Buddha doesn’t need anything from us but when we offer the butter lamp to the Buddha – what happens? We create the causes for our own personal darkness to go away. Our personal darkness. What’s our personal darkness? Anger. Why is anger a darkness? Because when we show anger we’re unhappy. Other people are unhappy and then it continues. Many people can be killed because of anger. Darkness is what….jealousy, hatred, miserliness, stinginess, tricking people – those are all darknesses. Why are they called darknesses… because those are qualities in us that make us unhappy short term and make other people unhappy long term. So hence, those are called darknesses. 

By offering a butter lamp to the Buddha, the darkness does not go away, by offering a butter lamp to the Buddha we collect merit. The merit that we collect is stored in our consciousness, in our mind stream, so that when we study the Dharma, when we contemplate on the Dharma, when we think about the Dharma, the information will go in. The information will go in and our mind will change. 

So the purpose of making butter lamp offerings is for us to help transform our minds. Why? How many people do you know, do a lot of pujas, do a lot of prayers, offer flowers, in temples but they’re selfish, they’re quite greedy, they don’t change, they’re quite angry. I’m not criticizing people. I’m not criticizing…but they themselves don’t know that they are like that. They think that if they go to the temple and they make offerings of butter lamps, or money or flowers, they think that all their sins are absolved and everything is fine. But if that’s the case, if that’s the case, then we can do negative things to people all day long and just go to temple daily to absolve our sins. Doesn’t makes sense, doesn’t make sense at all. 

So my point is… what is…offering butter lamps has a few benefits. One is, the money we would have used for something negative, we can use for something positive. One. Number two, when we offer a butter lamp, it helps us to eradicate stinginess. Why? Because it’s something we would have used for something else for ourselves. So it’s a small practice to eradicate stinginess. Second, when we offer a butter lamp to a Buddha, the Buddha, any Buddha, Vajrayogini, Tsongkhapa, Shakyamuni, Amitabha, Tara, any Buddha that we offer a butter lamp to, from their side, when we offer the butter lamp we create a strong connection with them, we receive their blessing and we collect merit. We make a connection why – in the future when we mediate on them, our minds will transform. When we make a connection with them, we receive a blessing. The blessing we receive is what? What is a blessing? A blessing is when, they touch our lives and we see our minds change. The people we’re angry with, we forgive. The people that we want to hurt or get revenge with, we forgive and you know what happens, you know what happens, the people that wanna hurt us, their minds change also – because of our attitude towards them. 

Everybody in life has enemies. The best way to stop an enemy is not to confront them and hurt them, the best way to confront an enemy is through a lot of compassion. A lot of forgiveness. Forgiveness doesn’t mean let them take advantage of you. No. You see if someone…if you’re walking down the street and someone robs you, next day you forgive them. It’s done. But you don’t go the next day, waiting for other people to rob you again or walking down the same place in a stupid manner. You don’t do that, of course not. So when you offer a butter lamp, you create the causes of receiving a blessing, so that whatever you have prayed for, will come true.

The third thing. When you offer a butter lamp to the Buddha, you create the karma of opening your mind to receive more Dharma, more and more and more and more and more Dharma. Why? The purpose of light is to dispel darkness. When you offer a light in front of the Golden Buddha, in front of a Buddha, when you offer, it is symbolic of your darkness being lifted by the light of the offering you have made to a Buddha. So it’s very, very important, alright? 

Therefore, today we have – they have constructed a butter lamp house and we have purchased 1,100 butter lamps. So tonight, we’re all going to do a little prayer. I thought since we’re gonna meet, why don’t we meet and do something positive and virtuous and nice together. So therefore, after we do this light prayer together, we’re all gonna walk to the butter lamp house in the back and we gonna light 1100 butter lamps. So what I want you to think is this – we’re gonna light it principally to the Buddha Vajrayogini and we’re gonna light it that other people may be very happy. I’m gonna light it for the people who have worked here very hard to have this arranged – this house, this Ladrang arranged. I’m gonna light it for all my sponsors and patrons. I’m gonna light it for my many, many students back in Malaysia and for our different departments that are growing. You can see on the web-site. 

So we’re gonna do that offering. The first set of butter lamps I’m gonna do 100, 000. I’m gonna do 100,000 is to dedicate for all the people that have helped me in my lives. So what I’m gonna do is I’m gonna give you all a butter lamp and I want you to do the same. I want you to think about people who have been kind to you. I want you to think about people who have been gracious to you and who have helped you and today we will offer a butter lamp for them. So today’s meeting will be short and sweet and we’ll offer butter lamps to the Almighty. In order to receive their blessings. 

So what we do is we don’t simply just light it, we’re going to do a prayer. So I thought today I am going to give you a light explanation of why we do butter lamps. So …in our tradition we have 100, 000 butter lamps, 100,000 prostrations, 100,000 mandala offerings, 100,000 Guru yoga and 100,000 Vajrasattva. We do those practices in the privacy of our own altars and shrines. We do that every single day, in order to purify the negative karma that we have, that arose and we do that to invoke the blessings. So therefore, it’s much more than just going to temple and receiving some type of… offering some flowers or putting some money there. 

In my system of Dharma, I actually make us do the work. No one else can do the work, why? Happiness is experienced in our own mind, release from pressure is experienced in our own mind and unhappiness is received or experienced in our own mind. So the only way we can do that is if we transform our own mind. 

Now what we do is, today I don’t give you Dashan you will give yourselves Dashan together with me. So we will invoke and do prayers together, after that, we’ll go light 1,100 butter lamps. We will do this together tonight and we will bless each other, you will bless yourselves. Everybody has the power to bless. My type of Dharma that I teach is not you go to someone to worship. You bless yourself at home, alright? 

Everybody please sit comfortably. This mantra is very famous in Tibet. It is the lineage of the Dalai Lama. It is called Mig-tse-ma. It’s on the bottom. Five line prayer to Lama Tsongkhapa. It’s called Mig-tse-ma, short form. 

So the first line is – MIG-MEY TZE-WEY TER-CHEN CHENREZIG 

The second line is – DRI-MEY KHYEN-PI WANG-PO JAMPAL YANG 

If you look at the translation right below –

Avalokiteshvara great gold-mine of objectless compassion.

Manjushri Master of Stainless wisdom.

Vajrapani, subduer of the entire gathering of Maras (maras is evil spirits).

At your feet Tsongkhapa, crown jewel of the sages of the land of snow.

I make request that all sentient beings achieve enlightenment.

That is the meaning of the mantra you’re reciting. So hence –

Mig-mey-tze-wey ter-chen Chenerzig is Om Man Padme Hum.

Dri- mey khyen- pi-wang-po-Jampal-Yang is Om Ah Ra Pa Tsa Na Dhi.

Du- pung ma-lu jom-dzey sang-wey-dag is Om Vajra Pani Hum.

Combined, you are Tsongkhapa. So I bow my head to your feet, to your feet great master, let me become just like you. May I gain compassion, my I gain wisdom, may I gain great confidence. So, when you pray to Tsongkhapa, if you keep one statue of Tsongkhapa, all three Bodhisattvas are included into one. Hence, in Tibet, the largest statues are Tsongkhapa, the largest. The largest statues of Buddhas are many, many Tsongkhapa statues all over. 

So like that if we do this mantra every day, when we do this Puja, when we receive the mantra we just do it – 

MIG-MEY TZE-WEY TER-CHEN CHENREZIG

DRI-MEY KHYEN-PI WANG-PO JAMPAL YANG 

DU-PUNG MA-LU JOM-DZEY SANG-WEY DAG 

GANG-CHEN KE-PEY TSUG-GYEN TSONGKAPA 

LO-SANG TRAG-PEY SHAB-LA SOL-WA DEB – one time. Twenty one times a day, enough. If you have time, more. 

If you want to dedicate for your beautiful mother, which you should, if you want to dedicate for your beautiful father or if you’re worried about your children or someone or something, you can do this mantra and visualise them in Tsongkhapas’s heart. And ask Tsongkhapa to bless them. Very, very powerful. We always think how can we help people we love and care about? How? You can do it by Tsongkhapa. 

So you can visualize Lama Tsongkhapa like so – in his heart, surrounded by light and rainbows, is your mother and your father and then you do the mantra and you visualize Lama Tsongkhapa surrounding them with light and blessing and protecting them. Very powerful. So, I’m sure everybody here loves their parents. One of the best ways to repay their kindness. And if sometimes some of us are feeling down, depressed, unhappy – this mantra, very powerful to cure it. Very, very powerful. Then, this mantra when you do, Tsongkhapa when you pray, all Bodhisattvas are combined. All. So, if you do one, you get three for free. Isn’t that a good deal? 

So, if you wish to do Puja, just what we did just now, that’s all. Why? You’re busy. You have many things to do. So, if you do this everyday for 10 or 15 minutes and just the mantra, enough. You don’t need to do a lot. Not at all. Just a little.

(Student) – “We can do it in English?”

Of course you do it in English, but the mantra, try to memorize in Tibetan. Why? Because the Gurus originally recited in Tibetan, so it’s very powerful. Tibetan is not a better language than Nepali. No! But because this mantra was especially recited in Tibetan. Everything else in English, that mantra you do in Tibetan. Even if your pronunciation is off and sounds funny and different and people may laugh – Tsongkhapa will understand you. Tsongkhapa won’t laugh at your funny weird pronunciation. Repeat after me – 

MIG-MEY TZE-WEY TER-CHEN CHENREZIG 

DRI-MEY KHYEN-PI WANG-PO JAMPAL YANG 

DU-PUNG MA-LU JOM-DZEY SANG-WEY DAG 

GANG-CHEN KE-PEY TSUG-GYEN TSONGKAPA 

LO-SANG TRAG-PEY SHAB-LA SOL-WA DEB

…stayed in the Monastery in Varanasi, over a thousand years ago and he was one of the greatest Indian Buddhist Pandits alive. And he was very great because he traveled to Nepal and taught Dharma in Nepal, then he went to Tibet and stayed in Tibet for 13 years and died in Tibet. As one of the greatest living masters. So in Tibet, we worship this great Guru, we respect this great Guru from India. So this prayer is written by Atisha. Atisha from Varanasi, taught us to offer butter lamps to the Buddhas. So we’re reciting the prayer that Lord Atisha actually composed for us. Alright? So many of the prayers that we have in Tibetan come from the great Indian and Nepalese Masters. So translated into English of course it’s very, very beautiful. So you are not worshiping something Tibetan or doing something Tibetan, this is from your own wonderful, rich culture from the back. It’s just no one explained to you. OK?

So, let’s recite the prayer by Lama Atisha or Great Sri Atisha. 

E Ma Ho E Ma Ho. I offer these beautifully exalted clear and luminous lights to the thousands of Buddhas of the fortunate eon, to all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the infinite pure lands and the ten directions, to all the gurus, Yidams, Dakinis, Dakas, Dharma Protectors, the assembly of deities from the mandala. Due to this, may my father, mother and all sentient beings in this life and all their future lives be able to see directly the actual pure lands of the complete and perfect Buddhas. May they unify with Buddha Amitabha, inseparable oneness. Please bless us that may our prayers be actualized as soon as possible due to the power of the truth of the three jewels and the assembly of deities of the 3 roots. Tayatha Om pancha criya ava bodha naya so ha (x7) The light transforms into single brilliant 5 colored wisdom. On a lotus and a moon disc the syllables Om and Dhi appear. From there 108 beautiful Goddesses of light, Marmema, appear wearing beautiful garments and precious garlands. Every Goddess holds a light in her hands and from them emanate billions of trillions replicas of light offering Goddesses. All of them make light offerings uninterruptedly to all the Buddhas’ and Bodhisattvas’ fields throughout all of space and to the peaceful and wrathful deities.

(Rinpoche Chanting)

For related talks on preliminary practices: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/?p=28238

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