Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains the Lama Chöpa prayers, visualizations, and offerings. He mentions that this sort of explanation is not common within the Tibetan tradition, but for Westerners, he wants to provide some detail. Rinpoche says that the essential point is faith. If the prayers are recited with deep devotion, they become powerful. In this way, any mantra or prayer contains the complete path to enlightenment, and we receive all the blessings and realizations. Rinpoche gives the example of the refuge prayer. He says that when it is recited with devotion, it contains the 84,000 teachings of the Buddha. Otherwise, it’s just like a parrot or a tape recorder; there’s no meaning.

Rinpoche explains how to make The Four Immeasurable Thoughts more powerful by relating them to tong-len and generating each one within oneself and all sentient beings. He also notes that when we recite the word “happiness”, we should think of “enlightenment”, not just ordinary pleasure.

Rinpoche describes how to generate special bodhicitta by first thinking of the suffering of one hell being and then extending this to realize that there are numberless hell beings. Therefore, we generate the thought to free them from the unbearable sufferings of the hell realm and general suffering and bring them to enlightenment. In the same way, we think of a preta being, animal, human being, sura being, asura being, and intermediate stage being. Rinpoche urges us to use this reasoning to feel the sentient beings in our heart and think of them like a mother who has a beloved child. This becomes our motivation for actualizing the profound path, the yoga of the guru-deity.

Rinpoche goes on to explain the visualization of the refuge merit field and how to make offerings. He mentions that there are three aspects of offering: making the offering, the yoga of eating, and charity to sentient beings. He describes how the Mahayana way of eating is by making charity to the sentient beings living in your body. He further explores the Vajrayana method of making tsog offerings. By practicing the yoga of eating, we make an unbelievable purification, and each mouthful becomes a quick path to achieve enlightenment.

Rinpoche concludes the session with a reminder to dedicate the merit while recalling emptiness. This makes the merit inexhaustible and protects it from being destroyed by heresy or anger.

From April 10 to May 10, 2004, Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave extensive teachings during the Mahamudra Retreat at Buddha House in Australia. While the retreat focused on Mahamudra, Rinpoche also taught on a wide range of Lamrim topics. This retreat marked the beginning of a series of month-long retreats in Australia. Subsequent retreats were held in 2011, 2014, and 2018, hosted by the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Bendigo.

Find out more about Lama Zopa Rinpoche, his teachings and projects at https://fpmt.org/