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Lama Zopa Rinpoche with Khadro-la (Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Drönme) at one of the holiest places in Bhutan, Kyichu Lhakhang, doing Guru Puja with tsog offering, Bhutan, May 2016. Photo by Ven. Roger Kunsang.
Speaking on the importance of Guru Puja, also known as Lama Chöpa, Lama Zopa Rinpoche recounted the words of the great enlightened being Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo:
“If you are able to do the practice of Guru Puja in your daily life, it contains all the important points of sutra and tantra. It is a complete practice, and it shows the palm [which means the heart] of the instruction of the ear-lineage of Ganden [the Lama Tsongkhapa tradition].”
Rinpoche added, “Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo usually emphasizes that even if one can’t do much else in daily life, Guru Puja is the essential practice. … This practice of Guru Puja is very profound, with many extra benefits, and is very quick to bring enlightenment. The lamrim prayer, the prayer of the steps of the path to enlightenment, Guru Puja has lamrim and also lojong, or thought transformation. Generally, the whole of the lamrim, from guru devotion up to enlightenment, is thought transformation. If your mind is not transformed into the path, how can you have realizations of the path? There’s no way, without transforming your mind. All the lamrim realizations—guru devotion, perfect human rebirth (its usefulness and the difficulty of finding it again), impermanence and death and so forth—are lojong, thought transformation. … The lamrim prayer in Guru Puja contains all the profound, vital points of the complete path of sutra and tantra.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche presides over Guru Puja at Kopan Monastery, Nepal, February 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
“Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo also mentions that when we do this practice we should think of the meaning of the words and meditate, not just recite the words blah, blah, blah, like an express train. As much as possible we should reflect on the profound meanings. Doing this definitely leaves an extraordinary imprint of the complete pure path to enlightenment. …
“As Pabongka Dechen Nyingpo says, ‘One hundred waters are contained in Guru Puja.’ He probably means that just as all the many streams from the snow mountains and other places go into the ocean, all the important practices of sutra and tantra are condensed here in Guru Puja. If you do this practice every day, you don’t miss anything.
“Since this is the very heart of the scriptures of the manifestation of the Joyful One, the blessing is unequaled by any other practice. So, it has great importance.”
Guru Puja with tsog on Maitreya land, offered by Kopan monks and nuns, as well as Kopan monks from Sera, Sangha from Tsum, and Western students. Khadro-la also attended. Bodhgaya, India, January, 2017. Photo by Ven. Lobsang Sherab.
Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave this teaching at Land of Medicine Buddha, California, US, 2001. It appears in Teachings at the Medicine Buddha Retreat and in Commentary on Lama Chöpa Jorchö.
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.