How to Circumambulate

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

The practice of circumambulation has three divisions:

1) Preparation
2) Actual body of the practice
3) Completion (dedication)
PREPARATION

You first generate a pure bodhichitta motivation, the ultimate good heart wishing to
attain full enlightenment for sentient beings.
Up to now you have been studying the lam-rim, and you have covered the first two of
the three capable beings. Now you will study the path of the third capable being.
First you listened to teachings on perfect human rebirth, on how it is highly
meaningful, rare and difficult to find again; then teachings on how death is definite, it
can happen at any time and nothing will help at the time of death except Dharma; on
the sufferings of the lower realms; on refuge, the qualities of the Three Jewels; and then
on karma, the causes of suffering and of happiness, the practice of virtue.
You then studied the path of the middle capable being, especially the Four Noble
Truths: true suffering, true cause of suffering, true cessation and true path (shunyata, or
emptiness, the path that abandons all obscurations.) You also studied the sufferings of
the higher realms, of human beings and of the worldly gods.
On the basis of that renunciation of samsara, you now generate bodhichitta. In
particular, you think of how all sentient beings have been your own mother and kind
during beginningless rebirths. Not only have your parents of this life been kind, but
every sentient being has been your mother and been kind to you during beginningless
lives. Now, your mother sentient beings want happiness and do not want suffering, but
due to ignorance they dont know what is the cause of happiness and what is the cause
of suffering. Thats a big problem, a huge problem. Their wish is for happiness, but their
methods for creating the cause of happiness are totally wrong. Its like that at the level
of the individual, at the level of the governmentat every level.
In their actions they destroy even the little merit, the cause of happiness, they have
collected. They always destroy the cause of happiness, instead of creating it. The main
thing is that they always destroy the cause of happiness, the little merit, or good karma,
that they have by giving rise to anger, heresy, ill will and so forth. They destroy the
cause of their happiness like destroying an external enemy.

Then, day and night they run around creating the causes of suffering with the
motivation of attachment to this life, anger or ignorance. Like ants keeping so busy
running up and down, they keep themselves so busy day and night in particular with
the motivation of attachment to this life. Not only is there attachment to future-life
samsara, but attachment to this life. Then there are the motivations of anger, ignorance
and all the other delusions. The motivation is the main problem, the main mistake. In
that way, they keep busy day and night creating the cause of suffering.
In general, they create the cause of samsaric suffering; and in particular, they also
create the cause of the sufferings of the lower realms (the hell, hungry ghost and animal
realms). They dont know about reincarnation; they dont know about karma, the
actions of the delusions; they dont know about the mind. Their biggest mistake is that
they dont know about the mind. Mind is a very big subject, probably bigger than the
subject of external phenomena. In tantra, especially, you learn the subtle details about
the mind.
Anyway, they dont know what rebirth is; they dont know what death is. It is a big
mistake not to know what death is. Not many people are interested in learning about
death. Its very strange. Its something thats going to happen to you, but nobody wants
to learn about it. Youre always distracted with learning external things, always external
things, but you never learn about death, something youre going to experience soon. Its
very, very strange. That is the most important thing to learn about in the world. You
should learn about and analyze the different ideas about death held by people of
different religions to see which ideas are more correct. Its really a big subject and a very
important subject. If you have the correct understanding of death, you know how to
guide yourself, so you dont have to be afraid. If youre practicing meditation,
practicing Dharma, youre able to be free from the fear of death.
People might have high degrees in science and this and that, but they never learn
about death. Even though they have to die soon, they never learn about death. Its very
strange. If you learnt about death, you would seek to learn whatever methods there are
to be free from death. But because you dont learn about death, you dont look for the
methods to become free from death.
Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths, so you learn about true suffering and true
cause of suffering. When you learn about true cause of suffering, you learn that
suffering comes not from outside but from your mind, from delusions and karma. So,
who created delusions and karma? You created them! They werent created by Buddha
or by God. No! You created them; your mind created them. Also, since you created the
delusions and karma, you can stop them. By stopping delusions and karma, you can
stop suffering, and you then have ultimate happiness, everlasting happiness. Because
you created the delusions and karma, you can also cease them. In this way you can then
cease suffering. So, it is completely in your hands.
By ceasing delusions and karma, you then cease suffering, which has three divisions:
suffering of pain, suffering of change and pervasive, compounding suffering. All the
suffering of samsara comes in these three. The suffering of pain includes the suffering of

rebirth, old age, sickness, death and so forth. By ceasing the cause, delusions and
karma, youre able to cease all the suffering of pain.
Then, the nature of all samsaric pleasures is the suffering of change, because you label
pleasure on what is suffering. Thats why the pleasure doesnt continue. You have
happiness at the beginning, but it doesnt continue. Dharma happiness, however,
always continues. And while samsaric pleasure doesnt increase, Dharma happiness
always increases, and you can complete it when you achieve full enlightenment, great
nirvana. So, you can also cease all the suffering of change, all the samsaric pleasures
that are suffering in nature.
The fundamental suffering, from where the other two sufferings come, is pervasive
compounding suffering. This means being under the control of karma and delusions, so
because of that you are pervaded by suffering, and because these aggregates are
contaminated by the seed of delusion, they are pervaded by suffering. These aggregates
then compound the suffering of this life and of the future life, the suffering rebirth.
Todays consciousness is the continuation of yesterdays consciousness and of the
consciousness of past lives, from beginningless rebirths, so it carries various karmas,
which then compound the suffering of this life and compound the suffering rebirth of
the next life. With a beautiful object, a desirable object, attachment arises. With an
undesirable object, anger rises. With an indifferent object, ignorance arises. You then
create karma, planting seeds that then throw future rebirth, future suffering. Pervasive,
compounding suffering is the foundation of the two other sufferings.
By ceasing delusions and karma, you then achieve cessation of this third suffering,
and thats how you achieve ultimate liberation, liberation from the oceans of samsaric
suffering, and ultimate, everlasting happiness, because once you achieve that
happiness, its always there. Its not that it degenerates so again you have to practice
Dharma. You dont need to do that. Dharma practice is just one time. You dont need to
repeat it over and over, like feeling hungry, eating food, then feeling hungry again.
Practicing Dharma is not like that.
So, this is how sentient beings are suffering. They want happiness and do not want
suffering, but what they do brings the total opposite of what they want. This is the big
problem, for us and for other sentient beings. This is why we have to educate ourselves
in Dharma, in meditation, by listening to correct teachings. That the teachings are correct
is very important. There are so many meditations in the world, with this master
teaching this and this master teaching that. There are so many meditations, but correct
meditation is rare. Correct meditation, beneficial meditation, is rare.
So, you have to listen to correct teachings, reflect on them, then meditate on them and
actualize the path. You have to actualize in your mind what is explained by Buddha in
the texts. Its really a big awakening: a big awakening from suffering, a big awakening
from ignorance. We have been ignorant during beginningless rebirths. In this life, when
we have a human rebirth, which happens just about only one time, we need to start to
awaken our mind from the ignorance of beginningless rebirths. This is soooo precious!
If you can recognize it, what youre doing here now after coming to Nepal, to
Kathmandu, to Kopan, is unbelievably precious. Nepal is a simple country; its very

poor compared to the West and very dirty and dusty. Well, I suppose some parts are
clean and some parts are dirty. Anyway, compared to the West, its very dirty and very
poor. It has been like that for many years now, but for thousands of years it has been an
incredibly holy place, blessed by many buddhas, great enlightened beings, and
bodhisattvas. There are so many caves and hermitages where meditators actualized the
path and became free from samsara and enlightened. This is besides the many holy
places in Tibet. You have to know the stories of the holy places; theyre very inspiring.
So, from that side, Nepal and Tibet are very rich. Nepal, Tibet and India are rich with
blessings and very holy.
What you are doing now is starting to awaken your mind from the sleep of ignorance
from beginningless rebirths. It is not just ignorance from this morning or from birth but
from beginningless rebirths.
You have to know that what youre doing here, the life you are beginning here, is so
incredibly precious. Really! Ive been joking a little, but Im not really joking. Im
serious. Really, you will see this more and more afterwards. The more you meditate, the
more you study, the more you will understand how your life has become so precious
through beginning to understand Dharma. That is the way to open your mind. That
itself is the way to liberate yourself and the numberless other beings from the oceans of
samsaric suffering. You can help to cause the numberless other beings to be free from
the oceans of samsaric suffering. Not just that, but you can cause them to achieve the
great nirvana, full enlightenment, the fully awakened mind, or buddhahood, with total
cessation of the obscurations and completion of the realizations.
Anyway, this is side-talk. I was talking about how your mother sentient beings like
happiness and do not like suffering, but are totally mistaken in their actions. At this
time, and it will happen only about one time, you have got a human rebirth, a perfect
human rebirth, so you have the opportunity to free them from the oceans of samsaric
suffering and bring them to the ultimate happiness of full enlightenment. To do that,
you yourself need to be a perfect guide, so you need to achieve buddhahood. You then
have omniscience, understanding the past, present and future all at the same time and
able to read the mind of every one of the numberless hell beings, hungry ghosts,
animals, human beings, asuras, suras and intermediate state beings. You are able to
read all their minds at the same time, not one after the other. At the same time, you are
able to understand, directly and clearly, all their different karmas, their different levels
of intelligence, of merits and of suffering, as well as all the different methods that fit
each sentient being. You know everything exactly, with no mistake. You also have the
perfect power to benefit them with your body, speech and mind, to reveal methods
with your body, speech and mind to bring them to full enlightenment, to buddhahood.
You also have infinite compassion, compassion for every single sentient being.
Think, To achieve this I need to purify my mind and collect extensive merit and
actualize the path to enlightenment. Therefore, Im going to circumambulate the stupas
and also recite mantras.
I gave quite a bit of side-talk, but the essence is, Therefore, Im going to
circumambulate the stupas and also recite mantras.

THE ACTUAL BODY OF THE PRACTICE

Body circumambulation
You can collect merit as extensive as the sky in relation to a stupa, the essence of which
is all the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha of the ten directions and all the statues, stupas
and scriptures of the ten directions, by thinking it is a manifestation of your guru. (Of
course, many of you havent yet met your guru.) The general practice is to think, These
stupas are manifestations of my guru. That becomes a very profound practice, a very
profound meditation. With this recognition, with this awareness, or understanding, you
then go round the stupa. That means that when you circumambulate the stupa one
time, you circumambulate all the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha and all the numberless
statues, stupas and scriptures of Buddha in every universe. You circumambulate
everything. You may not have been to Tibet, but you have already circumambulated
every single holy object there. You may not have been to China, but you have
circumambulated all the holy objects in China. And you have already circumambulated
all the holy objects in Nepal, as well as all those in Sri Lanka and Burma, where there
are stupas and statues of Buddha everywhere. Wow, wow, wow! By circumambulating
here, you circumambulate all those holy objects in places you havent been. This collects
the most unbelievable merit. Really amazing merit. Its something that leaves no space
in your mind for depression. You will enjoy these unbelievable, inconceivable merits
every day of your life. Its so amazing that theres no time for depression.
So, thats the meditation.
Then, you can visualize that light comes from the stupa and totally illuminates your
whole body and mind. The obscurations you have collected during beginningless
rebirths are gone, completely gone. When you switch on a light in a room, the darkness
disappears. Like that, you are totally illuminated and all the negative karmas and
obscurations you have collected during beginningless rebirths are gone. You can also
think that this happens not only to you, but to all sentient beings. The light goes to all
sentient beingshell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, human beings, asuras, suras
totally illuminating and totally purifying them. You can also think that you are leading
all the sentient beings around the stupa. Think that light then comes from the stupa and
purifies all the sentient beings.
So, that is the circumambulation of the body.
Speech circumambulation
The circumambulation of speech is reciting mantras. At the beginning you recite the
name of the buddha Rinchen Gyltsn, which causes one circumambulation to become
a million circumambulations. It increases by the power of reciting this Buddhas name.
You recite CHOM DN DE DE ZHIN SHEG PA DRA CHOM PA YANG DAG PAR DZOG PAI SANG
GY RINCHHEN GYLTSHN LA CHHAG TSHL LO a few timesmaybe seven times. You

dont need to recite many; its up to you. One circumambulation then becomes a million
circumambulations, which means you collect unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable
merit, as if you have done one million circumambulations. If you do a second
circumambulation, its another million. Since so much purification is done and so much
merit collected, it becomes a quick path, a quick way to achieve realizations and
enlightenment.
After that you can recite OM MANI PADME HUNG or any other buddhas mantra. For
example, theres unbelievable merit if you recite Shakyamuni Buddhas name and
mantra: LA MA TN PA CHOM DN DE DE ZHIN SHEG PA DRA CHOM PA YANG DAG PAR
DZOG PAI SANG GY PAL GYL WA SHA KYA THUB PA LA CHHAG TSHL LO, TADYATHA OM
MUNE MUNE MAHA MUNEYE SOHA. When you know you are dying, if you think of
Buddha and are able to recite his name and mantra, you will never be reborn in the

lower realms. You will be free from that. Refuge is like that. If you rely on Buddha and
recite this mantra, its impossible for you to reincarnate in the hell, hungry ghost or
animal realm. Its unbelievable. Reciting Shakyamuni Buddhas name and mantra one
time has the power to purify eighty times one hundred billion eons of negative karma.
(The number, in Tibetan, is trak trig chenpo gy chu.) That many eons of negative karma
get purifiedwow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow! Its amazing, amazing,
amazing. Theres no scientific knowledge that can compete with this, that can purify
that many eons of negative karma.
So, you then recite OM MANI PADME HUNG, Praise to Buddha, the Thirty-five Buddhas
prayer or Vajrasattva or any other mantra. Thats the speech circumambulation.
Mind circumambulation
Mind circumambulation is compassion for all sentient beings suffering or devotion to
guru, Buddha, Dharma, Sangha.
COMPLETION

Last is dedication. The shortest way to dedicate the merits is with the following two
dedications. Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and the
three-time merits collected by numberless sentient beings and by numberless buddhas,
may bodhichitta, the ultimate good heart, be generated in the hearts of the sentient
beings of the six realms, and especially in the heart of everybody in this world (this
means not only people, but even insects; in all the hell beings, hungry ghosts and
animals). May it be generated in the hearts of my family members, both those who are
living and those who have died, and in my heart without even a seconds delay. And
may the bodhichitta that has been generated in others hearts be increased.
Its very important to dedicate for bodhichitta, the ultimate good heart. Bodhichitta
means no self-cherishing thought at all. There is a total change of attitude: instead of
cherishing yourself, you cherish only the numberless other living beings. Not one
person and not even one ant is left out. You cherish only all the sentient beings and

dedicate your life only to them, to free them from the suffering of samsara and bring
them to buddhahood, to enlightenment.
The second dedication is related to emptiness, which you can slowly come to
understand. I will just do a short dedication.
Due to all the past, present and future merits collected by me and the three-time
merits collected by numberless sentient beings and numberless buddhas, which exist in
mere name, merely labeled by the mind (because of that, they dont exist from their
own side, they are totally empty from their own side. Saying dont exist from their own
side makes it clear; otherwise, empty means it doesnt exist. This way there is no
mistake.) Due to those merits, may the I, who exists in mere name, and because of that,
does not exist from its own side, is totally empty, achieve the ultimate happiness of
buddhahood, with total elimination of the obscurations and completion of all the
realizations, which exists but does not exist from its own side, which is totally empty,
and lead all the sentient beings, who exist in mere name, merely labeled by the mind,
and because of that do not exist from their own side, who are totally empty, to that
buddhahood, or full enlightenment, which exists in mere name and because of that,
does not exist from its own side, which is totally empty, by myself, who exists in mere
name and because of that does not exist from its own side, which is totally empty.
These are two short dedications related to bodhichitta and to emptiness. You can then
dedicate the merits to immediately stop war in the world, religious disharmony,
diseases such as Ebola, economic problems and all the dangers from fire, water, air and
earth, such as earthquakes and tsunamis. You can pray, May perfect peace and
happiness prevail in everybodys life all over the world. And you can then say, May
everybody have the opportunity to actualize the realizations of the graduated path to
enlightenment.
The preparation, actual body and completion are done. So now you can
circumambulate.
Thank you very much.

This talk was given in the stupa garden at Kopan on November 28, 2014. It was transcribed and edited by Ven.
Ailsa Cameron. The first few minutes of the talk, which were not recorded, were reconstructed from notes taken by
Sophie Labrousse.