(By Tsem Rinpoche)

Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/SpecialSetrapMeditation.mp4

June 11, 2010

A personal message from myself to Datin Jennifer. Datin Jennifer is very devoted to Setrap. She has completed one million mantras already and daily still does one hundred rounds on her rosary to Setrap! That is 10,000 mantras per day.

I was so happy for her. I decided to tape a Setrap meditation for her to listen to. It would help her very much more. I also thought it would benefit many more people also. So decided to have it available.

Enlightened protectors like Setrap not only take care of our temporal needs/problems, but with continued devotions, they lead us to practices that rid sufferings from the core. They have the omniscience, compassion, skillful means to do so. Reliance upon them are very helpful. We do not need alot, but relying on one loyally such as Setrap will be more than enough. Setrap is a general protector of the BuddhaDharma. He has sworn to Shakyamuni, Guru Rinpoche and Loden Sherab to protect those sincerely in need.

My good wishes to everyone.

Tsem Rinpoche

Transcript

A Special Setrap Meditation – by Tsem Rinpoche

Transcribed by Rachel

Proof read by Philip Yong

Dear Datin,  your daughter told me that you have done a million Setrap mantras, that you do your Serkym, golden drink or black tea, every single day and she also told me that you do approximately 100 malas of Setrap mantras per day.  I was very, very happy and I was very relieved and I was very excited and also, if I may say so, proud for you and I wanted to put this little tape recording for you.  Right now in the room is just me and you daughter and Monlam and Pastor Loh Seng Piow and it’s just us. And I wanted to put a recording down and I sent an sms to Paris asking where she was because I wanted to come up and explain and it just happened that it was in the Ladrang downstairs so it was kind of like, it all just matched perfectly.  I wanted to give you a special meditation for Setrap for the next level and the meditation is not very long and complicated and there’s no way you can go wrong, even if you meditate on wrong completely.  And that’s what I want to stress to you Datin, is you can’t go wrong with Setrap, it’s impossible to go wrong with Setrap.  It’s impossible to do anything wrong with Setrap, it’s impossible to get him angry, it’s impossible to get harm from him.  It is absolutely not in existences, possibility even for a minute percentage that he can harm or punish or not be pleased with what you’re doing, as long as you are doing from your heart.  You see, you can recite his mantra completely wrong, you can do his offerings completely wrong. You can do his Sadhana and his black tea completely wrong and he will not look at that, but you see through that medium, through that vehicle, you will be contacting Lord Setrap.  So if it’s wrong mantra, wrong prayer, wrong Serkym, wrong ritual, but you see when you think about him, he’s there immediately because he has the speed of thought.

So when he looks at you and he says hey, you know this person, this woman, this practitioner, this devotee is evoking me and her prayers are such and she’s doing this ritual, he rejoices.  Because you have to understand, his mind doesn’t operate on a normal, ordinary basis; he’s omniscient and all perceptive; he is all perceiving and all knowing.  Hence, all there is to be known, (3:05 – Tibetan), all things to be known, he knows, he perceives.  So therefore, having that omniscience is a sign he has expelled and deleted, all forms of defilements and obscurations and because of that he is a fully enlightened Buddha.

So one of the obscurations, or defilements is anger, or pride.  So, if he has no anger and it’s been deleted, there’s no possible way anger can arise.  I mean real, real anger cannot arise.  So, since there’s no anger, there’s no vengeance.  There’s no anger and there’s no vengeance, there’s no action or harm or harming.  So therefore, on that logical basis, I want you to keep it in your mind and I want you to get out of this Taoist, Chinese, whatever kind of thinking that if I do it wrong these Gods are gonna get me.  They will never get you, never ever get you.  Alright?  There are such more, 100 thousand times percent more worse people than you that praises Setrap and he doesn’t get them and when he takes trance, he’s compassionate to them, and he’s nice to them and he’s sweet to them and he’s kind – I’ve seen it.  There are exceptional cases where he shows wrath, but that wrath is not anger or harm or punishment, or your gonna get it; it’s a wrath of removing the obstacle of the person.

So, it is not feasible, logical and against all scriptural authority or scriptural basis to think that we can do something wrong and then Setrap’s gonna harm us, or something’s not gonna be right, or if Setrap doesn’t harm us, it won’t produce good result.  Impossible.  So I want you to put that out of your mind one hundred percent, one hundred precent.  I want you to put that out of your mind.  And I’m gonna share this tape with other people and you are the inspiration, because when we give a Dharma talk, it is always for somebody and when others listen to it, many, many people will benefit from it.  Alright?  So this is for you, but I’m gonna share this with other people too.  Alright?  But you are the inspiration for me to speak this; you are definitely the inspiration Datin Jennifer.

Now, doing the black tea, doing the rituals, the mantra and all that is very wonderful, it’s very, very powerful and it’s very efficacious.  So what I would like you to do every single day is this:  is I would like you to start with it by reciting Namo Guru bey, Namo Buddhaya, Namo Dharmaya, Namo  Sanghaya, Namo Guru bey, Namo Buddhaya, Namo Dharmaya, Namo  Sanghaya, Namo Guru bey, Namo Buddhaya, Namo Dharmaya, Namo  Sanghaya; and I want you to recite that and I want you to think you take refuge in all universal teachers, all teachers that have arisen to give Dharma, or to give spiritual relief to others – you take refuge.  Take refuge means you trust.  Alright?  For example the Dalai Lama, you know, for example any literally ascended master or enlightened master, you take refuge in.

The second refuge is Namo Buddhaya which is you take refuge in all beings or fully ascended.  Ascended means out of Samsara; out of Samsara’s suffering; out of the clutches of Samsara.  I take refuge in the Dharma, Namo Dharmaya, means:  I take refuge in doctrines, philosophies, teachings and explanations that help any individual lessen selfishness, increase selflessness and generate the mind of compassion.  So, any teachings that exist in the universe, not just on planet earth because as you know there are masters everywhere that teach anything, that reduces selfishness and increases selflessness and helps us go to the goal of achieving Bodhicitta or compassion, I take refuge in those teachings.  Because the Buddha’s teachings can manifest in many guises and many forms and many ways; it doesn’t have to be labelled Buddhism, or Dharma – it doesn’t have to be labelled in that way.  Since it doesn’t have to be labelled in that way, any teaching that teaches the reduction of selfishness and increase of compassion, is a correct path.  Why?  Because the cause of all suffering and the cause of all problems and the cause of all difficulties is selfishness.  Alright?  Everything else – enemies, you know, financial problems, difficulties, you know, anger, you know, a break-up, disharmony, disease – all that arises from our actions and those actions arise from the selfish mind and when those actions arise from the selfish mind, then the result will be something that comes back to us that harms us.  So all other types of problems, difficulties, obstacles and fears all arise one hundred percent, indirectly and directly, from the selfish mind.

Hence, what is important is to alleviate that, to alleviate the selfish mind completely.  Hence, any teachings that teach us to reduce the selfish mind, and to increase it to selflessness, and to develop compassion, I take refuge in.  I take refuge and confidence in, I rejoice in and I pray for it’s propagation.  Then the last is, you should think, the third of the refuges – Guru and Buddha are one, Dharma is two, number three is Sangha.  So when you take refuge in the Sangha, you take refuge in all beings, who work selflessly for others, all beings that have absorbed the selfless path, or any religion, of any path, of any background, of any spiritual denomination, it doesn’t matter; they have worked for the benefit of others.  Since they work for the benefit of others and they constantly strive to benefit others, I take refuge in them, take confidence in them, I take complete faith in them, I trust them, I will emulate then and I and wish them long life, continued success, great works, and may I become just like them one day.

So therefore, when I say Namo Gurubey, Namo Buddhaya, Namo Dharmaya, Namo Sangaya, what you should do every single day in your practice now is to recite that either seven, twenty-one or  one hundred and eight times, thinking about what I just shared with you.  Thinking about that, contemplating and recite that, because that is a very powerful formula to recite Namo Gurubey, Namo Buddhaya, Namo Dharmaya, Namo Sangaya – it’s very, very protective; very powerful.  And with that type of thinking.  And if you don’t know what to meditate on or if you want to rest your mind, you can simply visualise Setrap.  Visualise Setrap with, maybe, Shakyamuni in his heart, Tsongkhapa in his heart, Tara in his heart – it doesn’t really matter because they’re all enlightened beings, but visualise and think ‘I take refuge’.  And when you take refuge in Setrap, when you take refuge in the Buddha, you can see him in his ordinary form, which is, you know, ferocious, his normal form, what you’re used to, with the flags and all that, but the face should be smiling at you, not wrathful, with the big bulging eyes, his face is placid like a very happy, beautiful Lama and very pleasant towards you – that’s a very auspicious way to think.  So you should recite Namo Gurubey, Namo Buddhaya, Namo Dharmaya, Namo Sangaya well, seven, twenty-one, one hundred and eight times.  All right?  You don’t have to be consistent every day in the number, but just being consistent in doing some.

Then after you’ve done Namo Gurubey, Namo Buddhaya, Namo Dharmaya, Namo Sangaya, whatever amount of times you’ve decided, then what’s the second thing you can do is this: do Shantideva’s prayer, which Paris will provide for you. You do Shantideva’s beautiful prayer, long or short form, up to you, and you contemplate on that very strongly and you think that you wish every word of that prayer to come true, you wish every word of that prayer to manifest and you add your own special prayers and your own special wishes and most important is at the end of that Shantideva’s prayer, where you pray that you may manifest all the time in the future, even if one sentient being remains, may you remain in Samsara to free them.  Think of that prayer very strongly, think of that to manifest and come true.  Setrap will be very pleased. Alright?  So after you recite that prayer then you do your normal whatever you usually do and then you do your Setrap prayers, you do your Setrap Serkym and you do your Setrap Mantra and after you finish your mantra, I would like to add on to this, is it would be very good if you do Yonten Shigyurma, which Paris will show you how, and that will be a dedication.  That dedication will encompass all dedications, and on special days, perhaps once a month, alright, perhaps one a month, day and time and place – whatever – you choose.  Then at the end of everything, you recite The King of Prayers instead of Yonten Shigyurma.  Alright?  And if you wish to do The King of Prayers at the end everyday, that’s up to you, but I’m sure you know what you’re timing is, so I leave it to you.  And I don’t want you to get nervous ‘Oh Rinpoche told me to do it everyday, I didn’t do it.  Let’s not get into all of that, let’s not get into this kind of fear Dharma, fear religion, if you don’t do it you go to hell.  That’s not what this is about.  I’m telling you can do it once a month, whenever you like, you just follow that and don’t even question it, don’t even say is it ok if I do it twice a month – you can do it fifty times a month.  And if you skip one month cos you forgot, do it the next month – nothing’s gonna happen.  So you just relax; no fears, no paranoia absolutely zero, zero, zero negative consequences.  If I say to you go to the gym once a month and you skip one month – what’s gonna happen?  So you get a little fatter.  Big deal, we lose it next month we do it twice.  Alright.  And Setrap is much better than the gym; there’s no cellulite problems here.

So anyway, Namo Gurubey, Namo Buddhaya, Namo Dharmaya, Namo Sangaya – refuge formula, refuge mantra.  This is called refuge mantra. (14:41 – Tibetan)  or refuge mantra, after that you an do Shantideva’s Bodhisattvacharyavitara prayer – short or long, up to you.  Then you think ‘oh can I do long sometimes…can I do short sometimes’.  I know you’re complicated.  You can do either one whenever you like, however you like, no problem.  Because, the point of the prayer is not to bind you and tie you down and chain you and say if you don’t do it you’re gonna get it.  The point of the prayer is to help us to focus our energies of why we’re doing Setrap.  I repeat:  the reason we do Shantideva’s prayer is to help us to think why we are doing Shantideva’s prayer.  Alright?  So therefore, don’t have fear.  Then after Shantideva you do your normal Setrap ritual.  Sometimes you do the long version, sometimes you do the short version. Sometimes you don’t do black tea, sometimes you do the mantra.  It’s ok.  Setrap doesn’t mind.  No one minds.  Let me just give you a little teeny example.  On planet earth there’s 6 billion people and 20 billion animals and insects, I don’t know.  So there’s like 30 or 40 billion sentient beings in planet earth, and that’s planet earth and then there’s another hundred million planets that have intelligent life forms we are told by scientists, ok.  There’s another hundred million planets minimum.  That has intelligent life forms.  So all these other planets have like, you know, 40 billion life forms, they put that all together then there’s this teeny little woman on planet earth who forgot Setrap’s prayer.  I think he’s quite busy to worry you didn’t do his prayer.  You just do his mantra and he’ll be fine. I mean he could be at another part of the universe helping somebody, he’s not gonna look back and say ‘oh well she didn’t do my prayer, that’s it, I’m not gonna bless her’.  I don’t think so.  Ok, so you don’t think like that.  You understand?  So I want you to totally relax and I want you to totally be happy – you do whatever you can.

And the second thing is I want to reiterate to you, you make offerings on your altar and you can sit there for a few minutes, you can sit there for a few hours, you can sit there for a few days.  Doesn’t matter one difference to Setrap how many hours or day you sit – it’s the sincerity. Alright. You sit on the chair comfortably, you don’t torture yourself and sit on the floor because you will meet prosperous people who find it difficult to sit on the floor for a long time.  Yes you can watch TV and do it.  Why can you watch TV and do it?  Because you’re gonna watch TV anyway.  I watch TV, so we may as well do mantras and watch TV, then TV and no mantras. You get what I mean?  So you just relax.  If you fall asleep, just continue your mantras ok.

Now, that is the basic practice that I want to give you, that is the step by step recitation I’m giving. Now the next step is I’m gonna give you the visualisation.  When you do the visualisation during the mantra visualisation (17:50 – mantra).  This I want you to do.  I want you to visualise Amitabha Buddha; red and resplendent.  And totally beautiful, in front of you.  An arms length away and his size is that of a thumb.  And his details are complete; he’s handsome, he’s sixteen years old, his body is straight, his colour is that of a ruby – shiny, resplendent – wearing the robes of a monk, his hair is cropped like that of a monk with an ushnisha on top and he’s sitting in a full lotus posture, with his right hand inside his left, with his thumbs touching, in meditation posture and he has a very gentle, beautiful gaze, with blue eyes, looking at you, with long lashes and a very beautiful resplendent face, that’s timeless.  And he’s smiling, he’s very gentle, he’s extremely, extremely loving and compassionate because he’s a Buddha.  And within Amitabha, are all the Buddhas, all the awakened beings, all the enlightened beings – within him.  Then, Amitabha looks all over into Samsara and sees so much sufferings, so much problems, so much difficulties, so much endless grasping and endless chasing of actions and deeds that bring people even more sufferings.  And Amitabha is very, very concerned, he’s very moved, he’s very, very, very much wanting to help.  So from this motivation of wanting to help and benefit, from this motivation of wanting to be of tremendous help and tremendous benefit, then from Amitabha’s heart, a light comes and it comes before him and it envelopes his whole body.  And from this light, red light, flames appear.  Within these flames, a horse appears, very powerful, very fierce, very wrathful, very strong, very, very quick, like lightening and then on top this horse arises from this fire and lights of compassion and wisdom and protection.  Compassion and wisdom and protection.  Arises the glorious king of all protectors, Lord Setrap.  His face is red, like that of a very old General and he has three eyes that are bulging, blood-shot. Why?  Because he’s extreme in wanting to remove your obstacles and he’s so extreme in wanting to remove it, he is so energetic and so enthusiastic and so – it almost looks like anger –  he’s so motivated to remove your sufferings, it almost looks like anger where it manifests in the form of gnawing his lower lip with his top teeth.  And his whiskers are on fire, he’s wearing the helmet of a grand old general with the five flags on top.  Five colours representing the five elements and the five Buddhas and the five aggregates, transformed in to the energy of enlightenment.  And he’s holding a jewel club, ready to strike down our inner enemies and our sufferings and our difficulties.

He’s not ready to strike down our enemies but our inner enemies. Alright. So he’s not someone who goes and clubs down people you don’t like, he don’t do things like that, and if we wish that, it’s not very good.  And in his right hand is holding a lasol (cudgel) with a man bound and tied and that man bound and tied is someone that is us; suffering, wondering, have a monkey mind, difficulties, problems and we bind those problems, we bind that monkey mind, we bind that delusion, we bind that mind that has a huge attachment to dualism.  Then that mind is bound and Setrap is holding that mind and he’s clubbing it.  He’s clubbing it with a club of righteous view.  He is clubbing it with the club of righteous view, righteous action, the four noble truths, the 12 interdependent links is manifested in that club.  And when he clubs that delusion with the 12 independent links, with the 4 Noble truths, righteous view, righteous action, he destroys the defilements.  And that is the inner meaning of how he’s very wrathful.  Alright?  And then, those delusions and the monkey mind manifests its ugliness by resulting or getting results of poverty, unhappiness, disharmony, separation, loneliness, sickness, disease – all that is manifested from delusions, which is selfish mind. So this person here he has bound, is symbolic of our self grasping, dualist mind, and it is bound.  And hence, since this mind bound, the result of this mind which is loneliness, financial difficulties, problems, separation, fear, all that is also bound.  So Setrap in that way finds it, by clubbing it with the club of Dharma.  Why does it have a jewel? A jewel relieves us of poverty; inner, outer, spiritual, materialistic poverty –  material poverty.  So therefore, this jewel, when he clubs it, it’s symbolic that it will bring wealth. Why? When delusions are destroyed, we will gain spiritual wealth.  Spiritual wealth leads to material wealth. Wealth, full stop.  So it’s symbolically shown in that way.  It’s very profound.  And, the lasso that Setrap holds, is the lasso of ethics; the lasso of our vows and our commitments and our samaya.  Our Samaya is what binds our monkey mind. Our Samaya and our vows is what binds and ties up, holds, our delusions and our illusions and our monkey mind.  So the lasso is the manifestation of Setrap’s commitment and Samaya, which is giving us the message we should hold our commitments and samaya and our vows, because by holding those commitments and vows, or Samaya, whatever word we choose, we bind the monkey mind, we bind the delusion mind, we bind the mind that can create more sufferings. That’s why holding our vows is extremely important, extremely important.

And Setrap wears the clothes of an ancient Marshall, ancient General and that wearing of the clothes is a manifestation of Setrap’s enlightened mind. Why? A general’s, Marshall wear or his armour, the purpose of the armour is not to be able to be killed by arrows or weapons or stones; it is to protect the body. So when Setrap wears the armour, it is the manifestation that he has developed compassion, he has developed wisdom, he has eliminated all faults of the mind such as delusions; hence, when we are free of these negative states of mind, nothing can harm us, so it becomes as if it is armour. Example: When Lord Buddha became enlightened in the last watch of the night, when Mara was shooting arrows and flames and all kinds of weapons and rocks and molten and spears, when each Buddha was shot from Mara and his armour, it was weapons and lava and stones, but when it reached Buddha, it just melted in front of him and manifested into flowers. Why? Because Buddha doesn’t have any armour to be harmed any more. So literally you could throw a stone at Buddha and by the time it reaches the Buddha, it will become flowers, or a rainbow or a bird singing, whereas if the guy over there threw a rock at Tsem Rinpoche, and he threw one rock, by the time the rock came to me it would become a boulder; I’ll be crushed.  Cos I have all this negative karma that can be harmed.  So therefore, Setrap – a symbolic note – a manifestation of his mind and his body and his being not being able to be harmed, is the armour that he wears; impenetratable.  And the way he sits on his horse is symbolic of quick action – why?  Some deities sits on the horse with both legs facing you.  That’s kind of slightly casual looking, it’s almost like a circus where they, you know, they sit on this side of the horse, that side of the horse and then they sit on the horse, or they stand on the horse.  But Setrap is sitting on the horse with his leg left and right of the horse, right on the bridle – holding on.  What is the symbolic of?  Quick action.  He’s ready to move.  Cos when you sit on the horse that way, you’re not posing, you’re ready to go, you’re going at lightening speed.  So that is symbolic of Setrap’s omniscient mind being able to travel very, very, very quickly.  So therefore, those are some basic kind of explanations I am giving about Setrap, that’s a little deeper than the last time, because I think you are ready for more.

So you should visualise from Amitabha he dissolves into light and he dissolves into light because of his great compassion. This light turns into fire, from this fire appears the horse, appears Setrap in the whole symbology.  And do not look at Setrap as flat, or like a 3-D picture of like statue; he should be alive, moving smiling, happy, very pleased to be there.  And this visualisation of Setrap is the portal in which the actual Setrap comes through and blesses you.  Alright?  So the portal can be a thangka, it can be a statue, it can be a tsa-tsa, it can be a line drawing, it could be your visualisation.  You see any of that becomes a portal, that portal we call Samaya being or Darmzeepa.  Ok?  Then, when we actually call Setrap, that is the wisdom being coming and that wisdom being we call Yishipa.  So Yishipa Darmzeepa (29:30 Tibetan) that means the wisdom being, the real Setrap comes and enters the Samaya being of the birth or the visualisation we have and it blesses the visualisation.  Why do we do that?  When we visualise Setrap that is not Setrap.  If we visualise Setrap and simply visualise that, something else might enter and we think it’s Setrap; it’s not.  So to avoid that, Kyabje Zong Rinpoche says we have to invite the actual deity.  How do we invite?  We say “Setrap please come forth”.  And then Setrap comes forth and the real Setrap comes, you just visualise the real Setrap coming, and he enters your visualisation, becomes one and it becomes even more brighter.  Then you think Setrap is really there.  Setrap is really there.  And then you do the mantras and if there’s a special person that is sick, not well, or a special person that there light has been stolen, or their mind is not ok or they’re having black magic or they’re having sufferings, or a group of persons, you can visualise them in front of Setrap, and Setrap’s light coming down to them, and blessing them and removing their problems, removing their difficulties completely and they become very bright.  They become very alive, they become very powerful.

They achieve happiness, long life, future good rebirth, practice, spiritual awakening, you visualise that.  If it’s a group, same thing, you can visualise a group there.  If it’s an institution, you can visualise an institution there.  Example: in my mediations, I can visualise Ganden Monastery or I can visualise Kechara House.  I can visualise a friend and Kechara House and Ganden and they can all fit right in front of Setrap – no problem.  And we can visualise the institution and we visualise Setrap’s light coming down and blessing the institution and wealth comes, sponsorship comes, knowledgeable people come, growth and happiness and spiritual awakening.  So we can visualise a building that represents the institutions, we can visualise the person that we’re concerned about, we can visualise a group, we can visualise animals.  So if there are animals that we love and we all know you’re an animal lover, we can visualise all your dogs in front of Setrap, with the institution, with your family – everybody is there.  And why you are reciting the mantra you request Setrap, from you heart, to bless these beings and then give them what they need.  You visualise the lights coming down, encompassing these beings, surrounding these beings, purifying these beings and giving them whatever they need, so their life becomes long, their health becomes strong, wealth, obstacles removed, health and – most important – spiritual awakening.  They gain Bodhicitta and realisation of the non dual mind or emptiness.  Ok.  Compassion.  You think like that.

And at the same time you can visualise another light coming into you and doing that same thing.  So it’s doing to the group, in front of you, in front of Setrap, is it doing to you.  Otherwise it’s gonna be like ‘oh I do all that for them, now I do me, I don’t have time, the telephone rang, oh what about me – you can do it together.  That means another light comes to you.  Then when the light comes to you Datin, when the light comes to you, you don’t even have to visualise the group, sometimes you just do yourself.  Sometimes it’s ok to be selfish.  Forget the planet, I’m just gonna bless myself.  It’s ok.  So you visualise the lights coming to you and it enters the crown of your head and it enters your body and you visualise the light filling you up from the bottom of your toes, all the way up to your hips and to the tips of your fingers and to the top of your neck, the top of your head, and the lights are filled and listen to me carefully, from every single pore of your body, the light is overflowing and surrounds you and you are inside an egg of red light.  And this egg is the manifestation of Setrap’s power.  Nothing in this world can penetrate this.  Why?  Because it’s Amitabha.  Nothing can penetrate Amitabha’s omniscience.  Nothing can penetrate Amitabha/Setrap’s power, enlightenment and state of enlightenment.  Ok.  So you’re protected within this and you visualise all your sickness, all your unhappiness and all your worry, removed from your body.  And you visualise Bodhicitta, you visualise happiness, you visualise long life, you visualise very wonderful happy mind, spiritual awakening coming forth and dissolving into you.  You visualise that.  And another thing you can visualise is all the Buddha’s teachings are condensed into the Lamrim and another book that’s very useful to you would be Wheel of Sharp Weapons.  So you should visualise these two texts, coming from Setrap’s heart in the form of light ok.

They’re lights but they look like a book and you don’t have to visualise each page; just visualise the lamrim book and the wheel of sharp weapons coming forth and dissolves into you and millions of these books, millions and millions and billions of these books dissolving into you and the books dissolve into your body, fill you up and you gain the realisation and the understanding of Lamrim, the complete graded path to Buddha’s teachings by Kyabje Pabongka Dorje Chang and you also visualise the great Wheel of Sharp Weapons, the text, and you should get a copy of the text and read through it, it’s very, very powerful, and visualise it going to you and you gain the realisation.  And by gaining the realisation of Lamrim and Wheel of Sharp Weapons, many of your sufferings go down, simply because you understand them better.  So you visualise yourself, in this, you visualise those books going down to the people in front of you.  So, in short, you can visualise the people in front of you, the group, the institution, and you, or just them or just you.  Either way.  What ever is needed on that day, what ever id needed on that week. Whatever is necessary.  So, if one of the animals is not well – Buddha forbid – you can visualise that animal under Setrap’s protective light and then obstacles being removed and Setrap healing them. You can visualise that – it’s very powerful.  And it’s very good to everyday blow mantras of Setrap onto the animals that you have, out of great love and pray in the future, they can be great practitioners, great teachers, great meditators and great beings that proliferate the true path; the path of cessation of suffering, the path of compassion.  Ok.  You can think like that.  So during your mantra you can think about that and if you get a little tired, just relax, think about nothing. So you can do that in front of your little altar and then you can do that little visualisation on your altar.  I know it’s gonna be a little hard because our mind jumps back and forth, but practice, try to get focus and try to get practice.  It will benefit your mind tremendously.

And then when you finish your little meditation, it maybe take you 10 minutes/15 minutes/half an hour/1 hour – I don’t know – and them maybe you did 1000 or 2000 mantras, you can finish the rest on your chair watching TV.  And then when you finish the mantra, when  you finish, you do Yonten Shigyurma.  Can you do in front of the TV?  Yes.  Just put your video on hold/ pause.  Pause to the world and you do your dedication.  And so what do you do? This last part is after Setrap has blessed the group and yourself and whatever, you visualise Setrap dissolving into light.  Small – the size of your thumb.  And all the universal masters and your teacher and Setrap are one.  And all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and Deities and Amitabha are Setrap.  You don’t have to think they’re doing anything.  You think they are Setrap. And then you ask Setrap to dissolve into you by folding your hands and then you visualise Setrap dissolve into your central channel, into the crown of your head and he goes into your body and he melts into your mind, melts into your heart and you and Setrap become one and for a few minutes you just think ‘May I never be separated from all the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and deities and their manifestations.  Think like that very strongly and think you are protected.  And that will be very powerful for you.  And then as I said, at the end of that you can do Yonten Shigyurma, or you can do King of Prayers, or if you can’t do either, you just think whatever’s in the King of Prayers, whatever’s in Yonten Shigyurma, may it be so.  That would be an ok dedication; that is definitely permissible.  So, therefore, when we do this, I’m trying to help you to reach all the Buddhas and the Dharma and the Sangha through Setrap’s practice.  See usually we do that through a Yidam’s practice, such as Vajrayogini or Tara, but we can do it through a protector practice – Kensur Rinpoche told me in the past.  Khensur Rinpoche’s a great master and a great lamrim master and great lineage master and great master of Ganden monastery, Khensur Jampa Yeshe. So, he told me, I asked him – if we do protector practice such as this can we gain attainments.  He said, of you can.  I said, why?  He said, because it’s a Buddha.  Then I said, why don’t we do it through him.  He says because the protector’s practice is not laid out in a way such as a yiddam’s practice is laid out.  So traditionally you are using a Yidam but it’s not improper for a protector practice to be done that way.  So, I’m basing this visualisation and practice on what Khensur Jampa Yeshe Rinpoche had explained to me so kindly many years ago.  Alright.

The visualisation I have made for you, to help you to focus.  The visualisation is not in any text you can find; it is from me to you.  If it has not benefit, which I am sure it will, it will have not harm.  But I based that on what Khensur Rinpoche has explained to me that it is possible to gain attainments and spiritual benefits from a protector practice, in this case Lord Dharmapala Setrap, or in short, DS.  Because when you write this in sms it’s quite long, so we just put DS.  Dharmapala Setrap.  Dharmapala means the holder of the Dharma.  Setrap.  Ok.  And you can do that and anything else you want to do.  You wanna make candle offerings, you wanna make incense – whatever you like.  It’s up to you.  You want to offer a vegetarian club sandwich to Setrap…fine.  That’s up to you.  Can you eat the food after you offer?  Sure.  Why?  It’s blessed.  It’s totally blessed.  Now, since I mentioned it last time I recommended Setrap and we’ve been consistent on this – you’ve been consistent, I’ve been consistent in sharing with you to continue the practice.  So therefore, this meditation was designed for you, and I had you in mind because you are doing so well with all of this and I’m very happy for you.  So, I wanted to offer this to you as a gift and I wanted to give this to you as a celebration of your tenacity, loyalty, dedication and faith in such an enlightened protector from Ganden Shartse Monastery; Lord Setrap.  And again, this lineage of Setrap came to me through my enlightened master Khensur Jampa Yeshe Rinpoche, who is without any fault and who is 82, a grand old monk of Ganden.  So therefore, since he has given me Setrap, Setrap cannot be in anyway not beneficial and help us gain attainments or else great masters like that would use something else.  Alright?

Now, it would be very good for us to have a Setrap altar, a Setrap image, Thangka, Statue, tsa-tsa, painting and if you already have one, which you do which is fine and to make offerings everyday of water and incense.  And when you’re making these offerings think it’s to all the Buddhas, through Setrap, all the enlightened masters, all the enlightened beings through Setrap.  That’s even more beneficial.  And then, we can sit comfortably in front on a chair or we can sit away, no problem.  Alright.  We need to do it comfortable, because if our body’s comfortable, our mind will be comfortable and this little visualisation that I gave you and that I will share with other people, but let me repeat again, you are the inspiration, you are the reason that I came up with this and you are the reason I am speaking about this.  And my motivation is that, through Setrap’s practice, your seeds of compassion will awaken even further, your seeds of wisdom will awaken even further, your wish to be of benefit to others will manifest even more and what ever is not awakened or not manifested or not present, then the seeds of bodhiccitta and compassion and the seeds of wisdom and the seeds of activities will be planted in your mind so it manifests in the future.  That’s my motivation and that’s what we can do with Setrap’s practice that will be very, very beneficial for us modern people.  How many mantras can we do a day?  Up to you.  How many black teas?  Up to you.  What kind of black teas? Up to you. What time of the day should se do this?  Up to you.  Why should we do this? Also up to you.  And can we go wrong in doing this?  Never.  There can never be a wrong prayer or a wrong method to pray to Setrap.  Whatever it is, because he’s a Buddha, it will be turned around into something positive.  Alright?

So this is the main practice of Kechara House and this practice because I am from Ganden Shartse Monastery, is derived from Ganden Shartse Monastery, 600 years of historical practice of Setrap.  And Ganden is the monastery of  Lama Tsongkhapa and Lama Tsongkhapa being a fully enlightened Buddha and one of the, if not the most elite master in Tibet, if they are going to put this protector into Ganden Shartse Monastery, you can be sure he must be a pretty good candidate to be stuck there.  Because I don’t think Lama Tsongkhapa’s monastery, Ganden, would have any Tom, Dick or Harry protector – if that’s the right way to put it.  So you have to understand, the first Dalai Lama’s root guru, is Lama Tsongkhapa.  So you can say the Dalai Lama’s such an illustrious being, who has emanated to benefit others – that’s not to mention Panchen Lama and Trijang Rinpoche and Zong Rinpoche and all theses, Pabongka Rinpoche and all these great Lamas, who in their previous incarnations were Lama Tsongkhapa’s direct students.  They’re very illustrious and they’re still incarnating now.  You know and benefitting others.  So therefore if such a great being who produces such great students and such great institutions, so if this protector, and he is, is the protector, and he is, of such an institution of Ganden was started by the incomparable Lama Tsongkhapa, we can be sure that this protector is not any Tom, Dick or Harry, ineffective or kind of getting old and can’t do his job – I don’t think so.  So therefore, we should feel very amazed, that in Lama Tsongkhapa’s own personal monastery which all the other Gelugpa Monasteries came from – Tashi Longpo, Sera, Dre-pung, Amdo Tashi and the other thousands and thousands of Gelupa monasteries or monasteries in Tibet or around the world came from Ganden, Ganden is the mother and the father because it’s Tsongkhapa’s home base and in this home base, is the protector Setrap and he was picked from everybody else, to guard Lama Tsongkhapa’s personal monastery, what do you think?  Setrap must be exceptional.  Alright?

So I want everybody to think about that and really be amazed and really be dumbfounded that we even have the fortune to even hear the name Setrap, and do the practice, and in a comfortable, modern, convenient setting.  How fortunate am I to come across these teachings.  How unfortunate for me would be to disregard these teachings, and go on my merry way creating negative karma and more suffering for myself and others.  Yet how fortunate I am to realise and pull out of it to some degree and be of benefit to others.  We should think like that very, very strongly.  Ok.

I wish you well, I wish everybody well who hears this.  I wish everybody to have the seeds of enlightenment, Buddha’s compassion, which is in us the seeds and wisdom and activities, to manifest and to open up and I wish you and everybody to realise the Lamrim and to act from it and to use our lives, not for ourselves, use our lives for others, I wish that for you and everyone who hears this and I pray from my heart sincerely, may the Dharmapala Setrap, DS, help you gain attainments, remove your obstacles and open up your compassion, wisdom mind, to become a fully enlightened Buddha.  I wish you well and please continue your practice, please continue whatever you are doing, as comfortable as you can, as much or as best as you can, either way, doesn’t really matter, do it very sincerely.

May all beings who don’t have Dharma, receive the Dharma, May all beings who have the Dharma but misunderstand it, may I take on the responsibility to clear it, tirelessly, life after life; and may those whose Dharma has waned grow once more and flourish once more.  And as long as space endures and even one sentient being remains in Samsara, may I also remain, until they are liberated, and may I be the direct and indirect cause for them to be completely liberated from Samsara.

Thank you, Datin, Thank you Datin Jennifer.  I’m very happy to share this with you, I’m very happy to share this with everyone, and I’m very, very, very rejoiceful with what you have been doing and from time to time when you are free and comfortable, please go to KH and join in the Setrap puja with everybody else and enjoy the beauty, enjoy the love, enjoy the power, enjoy the energy, and share with each other Setrap’s incredible blessings.  You don’t have to hobble on there everyday, maybe once a month, every two months – up to you, whenever you’re free.  Go down there and join in and do the puja and if you’re unable to, you do the puja at home, you do whatever is comfortable for you.  Alright?  Make that connection.

(Dedication prayers)

Download the Audio teaching here:

Download file

Download Buddha images here.

Please support us so that we can continue to bring you more Dharma:

If you are in the United States, please note that your offerings and contributions are tax deductible. ~ the tsemrinpoche.com blog team