receive our newsletters
join Friends of FPMT
Tsa-tsas at Kachoe Dechen Ling, Aptos, California, US. Photo by Chris Majors.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche dictated this advice on making tsa-tsas and requested that it be made available to all who do the practice of tsa-tsas.
If you do nine tsa-tsas according to the tradition of Lama Atisha, prepare everything according to what is normally instructed for making tsa-tsas.
When you make the first tsa-tsa think and dedicate: I will make this tsa-tsa to complete all the wishes of the holy mind that the three times (past, present, and future) virtuous friend has.
Second tsa-tsa: Dedicate, thinking to purify: May the tsa-tsa purify completely, purify the obscurations, and accumulate the merits of all the fathers and mothers of the past, present, and future.
Third tsa-tsa: Dedicate to purify the obscurations and the negative karma of having collected the five heavy negative karmas without interruption of myself and all sentient beings.
Fourth tsa-tsa: Dedicate for myself and every sentient being to not be reborn in the eight states, which have no freedom to practice Dharma.
Fifth tsa-tsa: Dedicate, particularly, for myself and every sentient being to not be reborn in the three lower realms.
Sixth tsa-tsa: Dedicate to heal all the diseases of all the sick people, myself, and every sentient being.
Seventh tsa-tsa: Dedicate that all devas who are dying not be reborn in a suffering world.
Eighth tsa-tsa: Dedicate for intermediate state beings (to not have fear, to not suffer, and to be born in a pure land where they can become enlightened or attain a perfect human body and meet Dharma in order to achieve enlightenment).
Ninth tsa-tsa: Dedicate for all the sentient beings (to purify all the obscurations and achieve enlightenment).
Tsa-tsas at Kachoe Dechen Ling, Aptos, California, US. Photo by Chris Majors.
Lama Atisha gave this advice on how to dedicate tsa-tsas to Zue Dorje Gyaltsen (zus.rdo.rje rgyal.mtshan). Then Dorje Gyaltsen gave this practice to Geshe Drogpo Kharpa (dge.bshes grog.po mkhar.pa). Then he gave to Geshe Draknakpo (dge.bshe brag.nag.pa), who gave to Gomrimpa (sgom.rim.pa), then he gave to Droe (grod) then he gave to Zhang (zhang) and then he gave to Chim (chim).
This is Lama Atisha’s tradition of practice for making tsa-tsas, his holy heart practice. This is how he practiced. It is very inspiring. It gives incredible inspiration; then one wants to make tsa-tsas.
This is the idea of totally mad Zopa. In the West it is easier [to do this practice] as tsa-tsas are not made from earth dust. It’s plaster. So you can make many tsa-tsas at one time. You can dedicate each tsa-tsa, according to what Lama Atisha explained. You can do like that or if you want to do more then you can dedicate for each two tsa-tsas, each three tsa-tsas or five tsa-tsas, like that. You can do like that. And if you don’t have time at all, if you are going to die right now, then make one tsa-tsa before the breath stops. Make one tsa-tsa but dedicate that for all the nine purposes, the nine reasons.
Okay. [You are] most welcome to enlightenment and to liberate sentient beings from the oceans of samsara as quickly as possible and to bring them to enlightenment as quickly as possible.
Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche
Scribed by Ven. Tenzin Namdrol, Kopan Monastery, Nepal, January 2021.
For more on tsa-tsas, please see the tsa-tsa resource page:
https://fpmt.org/education/practice/holy-objects/tsa-tsas-a-resource-guide/
Watch Rinpoche’s recent teachings and find links to transcripts, MP3s, additional practice advice, and more on the page Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s Teachings on Thought Transformation during the Time of COVID-19.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche is the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.