Extensive Food Offering Practice
Think:
The purpose of my life is to free all living beings from all suff ering and its cause and lead them to full enlightenment.
There are numberless hell beings from whom I receive all my past, present and future happiness, all realizati ons and enlightenment. They are the kindest, most precious beings in my life. Therefore, I must liberate them from all suff ering and its cause and lead them to enlightenment by myself, alone. There are numberless hungry ghosts from whom I receive all my past, present and future happiness, all realizati ons and enlightenment. They are the
kindest, most precious beings in my life. Therefore, I must liberate them from all suff ering and its cause and lead them to enlightenment by myself, alone. There are numberless animals from whom I receive all my past, present and future happiness, all realizati ons and enlightenment. They are the kindest, most
precious beings in my life. Therefore, I must liberate them from all suff ering and its cause and lead them to enlightenment by myself, alone. There are numberless human beings from whom I receive all my past, present and future happiness, all realizati ons and enlightenment. They are the kindest,
most precious beings in my life. Therefore, I must liberate them from all suff ering and its cause and lead them to enlightenment by myself, alone. Food Offering Practices 9 There are numberless sura beings from whom I receive all my past, present and future happiness, all realizati ons and enlightenment. They are the kindest, most precious beings in my life. Therefore, I must liberate them from all suff ering and its cause and lead them to enlightenment by myself, alone.
There are numberless asura beings from whom I receive all my past, present and future happiness, all realizati ons and enlightenment. They are the kindest, most precious beings in my life. Therefore, I must liberate them from all suff ering and its cause and lead them to enlightenment by myself, alone.
There are numberless intermediate state beings from whom I receive all my past, present and future happiness, all realizati ons and enlightenment. They are the kindest, most precious beings in my life. Therefore, I must liberate them from all suff ering and its cause and lead them to enlightenment by myself, alone.
In order to do all this, I must fi rst achieve full enlightenment myself. Therefore, I am going to practi ce the yoga of eati ng and make charity to all senti ent beings, including those who live in my body, and, through the connecti on with all senti ent beings I have created by making food charity to them
at this ti me, bring them to full enlightenment by teaching them Dharma when they become human. Visualization If you are familiar with the visualizati on, visualize the Guru Puja merit fi eld. If not, simply visualize the deity that you practi ce, for
example, Chenrezig, Tara or Guru Shakyamuni Buddha. But when you visualize the single aspect, remember that in essence it is your root virtuous friend, who is, in essence, all gurus, Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, and the statues, stupas, scriptures, and thangkas of the ten directi ons. Visualizing in one of these ways, make the off ering, thinking that numberless buddhas throughout the ten directi ons receive an immeasurable amount of nectar.
10 Food Offering Practices Blessing the Offerings OM AH HUM (3X) Mantra of Clouds of Offerings OM NAMO BHAGAVATE VAJRA SARA PRAMARDANE TATHAGATAYA / ARHATE SAMYAKSAM BUDDHAYA / TADYATHA OM VAJRE VAJRE / MAHA VAJRE / MAHA TEJA VAJRE / MAHA VIDYA VAJRE / MAHA BODHICHITTA VAJRE / MAHA BODHI MÄNDO PASAM KRAMANA VAJRE / SARVA KARMA AVARANA VISHO DHANA VAJRE SVAHA (3x)
Extensive Power of Truth By the power of truth of the Three Rare Sublime Ones, The blessings of all the buddhas and bodhisatt vas, The great wealth of the completed two collecti ons, and the sphere of phenomena being pure and inconceivable; May these piles of clouds of off erings arising through transformati
on by the bodhisatt vas Arya Samantabhadra, Manjushri, and so forth – unimaginable and inexhausti ble, equaling the sky – arise and, in the eyes of the buddhas and bodhisatt vas of the ten directi ons, be received.
Also, bless all the extensive off erings in all FPMT center gompas, East and West, at Kopan, Tushita Dharamsala, and everywhere else. In the house where I live in America there are well over 400 water bowl offerings, thousands of light off erings and fl owers as well, so you can off er all those off erings, too,
along with any off erings at your own house. You can bless them all together here. Again, recite the mantra to multi ply the off erings:
OM NAMO BHAGAVATE VAJRA SARA PRAMARDANE TATHAGATAYA / ARHATE SAMYAKSAM BUDDHAYA / TADYATHA OM VAJRE VAJRE / MAHA VAJRE / MAHA TEJA VAJRE / MAHA VIDYA VAJRE / MAHA BODHICHITTA VAJRE / MAHA BODHI MÄNDO PASAM KRAMANA VAJRE / SARVA KARMA AVARANA VISHO DHANA VAJRE
(3x)
Offering the Food Offering to the Guru Puja merit field or the one deity that you are visualizing as everything 1 Put your palms together and prostrate to each guru in the merit fi eld (or to the one deity that you are visualizing as everything), meditati ng that their essence is your root virtuous friend. Visualize that each one receives numberless nectar food off erings and generate infi nite bliss within their mind.
Do these three acti ons – prostrati ng, off ering and generati ng infi nite bliss – over and over again, as many ti mes as possible or at least twenty-one ti mes. This also applies to each of the following off erings to all the other holy objects.
Offering to all the Buddhas, Dharma and Sangha in the ten directions Prostrate and make numberless nectar food off erings to all the Buddhas, Dharma and Sangha in the ten directi ons, meditati ng that their essence is your root virtuous friend. From your side, generate infi nite bliss within them.
Offering to all the statues, stupas, scriptures and thangkas of the ten directions Prostrate and make numberless nectar food off erings to all the statues, stupas, scriptures and thangkas of the ten directi ons, meditati ng that their essence is your root virtuous friend. Generate infi nite bliss within them as many ti mes as possible.
Offering to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and all other virtuous friends Prostrate and make numberless nectar food off erings to the Buddha of Compassion, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and all your other virtuous friends, meditati ng that their essence is your root virtuous friend. Generate infi nite bliss within them as many ti mes as possible.
Offering to all the holy objects in India Prostrate and make numberless nectar food off erings to all the holy objects in India, meditati ng that their essence is your root virtuous friend. Generate infi nite bliss within them as many ti mes as possible.
Offering to all the holy objects in Tibet Prostrate and make numberless nectar food off erings to all the holy objects in Tibet, including the stupa we built at Sera monastery and the Shakyamuni Buddha statue in the Jokhang,2 Lhasa’s central temple, meditati ng that their essence is your root virtuous friend. Generate infi nite bliss within them as many ti mes as possible.
Offering to all the holy objects in Nepal Prostrate and make numberless nectar food off erings to all the holy objects in Nepal, for example, the Swayambhunath stupa3 and the Boudhanath stupa,4 as well as all the other holy objects in Nepal, meditati ng that their essence is your root virtuous friend. Generate infi nite bliss within them as many ti mes as possible.
Offering to all the holy objects in all other Buddhist countries Prostrate and make numberless nectar food off erings to all the holy objects in all other Buddhist countries, such as Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand and the rest, meditati ng that their essence is your root virtuous friend. Generate infi nite bliss within them as many ti mes as possible.
13 Offering to the Medicine Buddhas, Ksitigarbha and Chenrezig Prostrate and make numberless nectar food off erings to the seven Medicine Buddhas for success, to Buddha Ksiti garbha so that you can fulfi ll the wishes of all the senti ent beings, instantly bringing them all happiness
up to enlightenment, and to Thousand-Arm Chenrezig so that you can develop great compassion and liberate numberless senti ent beings from all their suff ering and bring them to full enlightenment, meditati ng that their essence is your root virtuous friend. Generate infi nite bliss within them as many ti mes as possible.
Offering to all sentient beings 5 Then make numberless nectar food off erings to every hell being, every hungry ghost, every animal, every human being, every asura being, every sura being and every intermediate state being. They fully enjoy those off erings and become completely liberated from all suff ering and its cause. They all become enlightened in the aspect of Shakyamuni Buddha or the deity you practi ce.
Additional Offerings Offering to the Guru Puja merit field or the one deity that you are visualizing as everything Now prostrate and make all those other off erings – the light off erings wherever you are, those in your own houses, the extensive offerings in all FPMT center gompas and all the extensive off
erings in the house in America that I menti oned before – which are nature of infi nite bliss, to each guru in the Guru Puja merit fi eld (or to the one deity that you are visualizing as everything), meditati ng that their essence is your root virtuous friend.
Do these three acti ons – prostrati ng, off ering and generati ng infi nite bliss – over and over again, as many ti mes as possible or at least twenty-one ti mes.
Conti nue doing the three acti ons of prostrati ng, off ering and generati ng infi nite bliss as many ti mes as you can while making off erings to all the other holy objects as follows:
Make extensive blissful offerings to: All the Buddhas, Dharma and Sangha in the ten directi ons All the statues, stupas, scriptures and thangkas of the ten directi ons His Holiness the Dalai Lama and all other virtuous friends All the holy objects in India All the holy objects in Tibet All the holy objects in
Nepal All the holy objects in all other Buddhist countries The Eight Medicine Buddhas, Ksiti garbha and Chenrezig Conti nue to present these off erings for a total of twenty-one ti mes or however many ti mes you are able by prostrati ng, offering, and generati ng great bliss in the guru’s holy mind.
Then, refer to the following pages for General Food Off ering Prayers and the visualizati on to use while eati ng. Extensive dedicati on prayers begin on p. 31.
