Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Kyabje Rinpoche opens by establishing bodhicitta motivation for Mahāyāna practice, then examines the causal chain of karma and rebirth. He traces how virtuous or non-virtuous minds generate corresponding karma and feelings, distinguishing between contaminated virtuous karma—actions tainted by afflictions like desire, which produce mixed results and samsaric rebirth—and uncontaminated virtuous karma, which yields pure happiness. The afflictions themselves, not worldly enemies, are identified as the true adversary. Rinpoche then teaches how to identify afflictions and apply opponent forces: contingent ones for secondary afflictions like anger or desire, and the universal opponent force of meditation on emptiness to address ignorance at the root. In this 67-minute talk, he shows practitioners how emptiness wisdom and bodhicitta must work together to eliminate suffering at its source.
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File: Line in 0097 – KR.mp3
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Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Awakening Heart
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,508
So, at the time of attending a Dharma teaching, it is crucial both for the listeners and for the teacher, the explainer, to generate a good motivation. Generally speaking, all Dharma is contingent on the motivation good or evil. There are many types of good motivations and likewise many types of bad motivations. However, supreme among all good motivations is the motivation of bodhicitta. So this is the motivation both listeners and teachers must try to generate at this point.
And the teachings we will be receiving are Mahāyāna teachings. Without the motivation of bodhicitta, there is no entering into the Mahāyāna. So this is the motivation we have to generate for these teachings. And what do we mean by such a motivation? What we mean by this motivation is that while we ourselves are one, others are countless, they are infinite as space, and they are all related to us, they have all been our parents in past lives.
They are strictly identical to us in that all of them aspire for happiness, and all of them wish, just like us, to avoid suffering. However, they are unable to accomplish their goals. They do not know how to accomplish, how to attain happiness, and they do not know how to abandon suffering. So we from our side must take responsibility for them and pledge ourselves to place them in a state of full enlightenment, which we are not able to do so, to do at present. Then reflecting on this we must say to ourselves, to help others I will abandon all my faults and actualize all my qualities, attaining a state of full enlightenment for their benefit.
With this as a motivation, let us meditate for one or two minutes. Page five. So in keeping with the quote of Vasubandhu which Rinpoche mentioned last time, arisen from variegated karma and in various worlds, Rinpoche would like to cover this quote again. So as Rinpoche explained last time, actually in this quote of Vasubandhu, various worlds refers to karma, but Vasubandhu has not been very clear what the term karma itself refers to, and this must be understood in the light of a quote of Ārya Candrakīrti, which says, They are known as sentient beings because they are endowed with sentience or with mind, and this leads them wherever they go. So the characteristic of all beings, therefore, is to be endowed with mind, and karma itself is the result of mind.
Now, in the same way as there are virtuous and non virtuous minds, there are also virtuous and non virtuous karmas. When we speak of virtuous and non virtuous minds, and of their results, virtuous and non virtuous karmas, the way we discriminate or differentiate between them is that the result of both virtuous and non virtuous karmas are feelings. But in one case, the result of virtuous karma is a feeling of happiness, which is what we are striving for, and the result of non virtuous karma is a feeling of suffering, which is what we are trying to avoid. Therefore, not merely karma, but actually our very bodies and our speech are the result of mind as well. It is therefore very important to understand that our bodies in this life are the result of past karma we have accumulated, and that if we want to speak of a creator God, unlike the Hindus, for instance, who speak of Īśvara or Vishnu, if we want to speak of a creator God, then the creator God is our very mind.
It is not the mind of others, which has nothing to do with the world we live in. It is actually our very mind, creates our environment and our bodies. So we could say, if we wanted, that this is really the creator of the world we live in. And therefore it is the continuum of mind which defines our future states and is the continuum of the mind from past lives which in turn impels us in this life and defines our condition in this life. Now, if we have been impelled in this life by a stream of virtuous consciousness, then this virtuous consciousness continues, and the virtuous karma which has been accumulated in past life can and will mature and lead to happiness.
Likewise, however, for non virtuous states of mind in past lives, which in turn give rise to non virtuous karma. As Rinpoche explained, mind, insofar as it is unceasing, as it was a continuum of the mind is unceasing, leads to these happy or unhappy experiences in future lives. Therefore we have to understand that we have three different layers of experience. The first are virtuous and non virtuous minds. These in turn give rise to their effect, which are virtuous or non virtuous karmas, and these in turn give rise to their result, which are virtuous or non virtuous feelings or sensations.
Now, there are only virtuous and non virtuous minds, there is no middle ground. There is nothing else but virtuous or non virtuous karma. Again, there is no middle ground. And there is nothing else but happy or unhappy feelings. There is again no middle ground.
Therefore, these virtuous minds give rise to a feeling of happiness and these non virtuous minds give rise to a feeling of suffering. Generally speaking, however, from within the two causes and conditions, we can say that whole karma is a cause, the condition for karma to mature is the afflictions. Now with respect to non virtuous karma, most definitely the conditions for non virtuous karma to mature are the afflictions which enable it then to give rise to a feeling of suffering. With respect to virtuous karma, there are actually two types of virtuous karma: contaminated and uncontaminated virtuous karma. Contaminated virtuous karma is virtuous karma, which however, or the motivation for which has not been totally devoid of afflictions.
The afflictions have been part of the motivation, and therefore while this is virtuous karma, it is called contaminated because while the result is indeed happiness, it is a happiness which is not devoid of suffering. In the same way as for instance, milk in general is nutritious, but milk in which poison has been put may be nutritious for a short period of time, but great suffering will arise from this nonetheless. Now the second category of virtuous karma is uncontaminated virtuous karma. This is virtuous karma which has been generated without any connection whatsoever with the kleshas, with the afflictions. Now this is purely virtuous and leads to pure happiness.
And then if we reflect on the causes of the six realms of existence, the three lower realms, the hell realms, the realms of the pretas and the animals, and the three higher realms, the realms of the gods, demigods, and humans, we will see that for the cause of rebirth in the three lower realms is a non virtuous deed impelled by a non virtuous motivation, in other words, totally unalloyed non virtuous karma, which gives rise to pure suffering, the cause for rebirth in these three higher realms, the realms of the gods, the demigods, and the humans, is virtuous karma, but it is contaminated virtuous karma. What is meant by this is it is a virtuous karma which has been generated in connection with the afflictions, specifically in connection with desire. Rinpoche says, specifically in connection with craving, which can be held to be a synonym of desire in this context. And the virtuous karma which is accumulated in this way does indeed give rise to the bodies we have, human bodies, human rebirths. It does indeed give rise to some type of happiness, but this happiness is mixed with suffering, because the motivation of the deed has been an affliction, desire or another affliction.
There is no way for a result in the nature of suffering not to arise in dependence upon an affliction. Therefore, our goal has to be to find a way to eliminate afflictions, which are our foremost enemy. If we look, for instance, at our bodies in this life, we can see that even though indeed we have obtained a precious human rebirth, we experience considerable suffering. We experience the sufferings of hunger, of thirst, and more generally the four sufferings of birth, disease, old age, and death, as well as the various sufferings which are intrinsic to samsaric existence, such as encountering what we do not wish, not encountering what we wish, and so forth. All of these sufferings we experience because the cause of this rebirth has been a delusion, has been an affliction.
So if we can generate karmic causes, which are totally bereft of afflictions, these will lead in turn to unalloyed happiness, unalloyed bliss, without the slightest trace of suffering, and these are called uncontaminated virtuous karma. So as Śāntideva said, the enemy, my uninterrupted enemy since beginningless time, have been the afflictions. Friends and enemies of this life, however, are mutable indeed. The meaning of this quote, Rinpoche says, is that our true enemies, those which inflict on us the suffering of the lower realms, are the afflictions. They are the delusions which abide within our mind stream.
These are our unabashed, unalloyed enemies. They never ever will be our friends irrespective of what we do, and therefore we should we should not have the slightest tolerance, the slightest patience for them. We should annihilate them, we should destroy them, we should crush them the moment they arise within our mind streams. On the other hand, worldly enemies and friends are highly mutable. Today’s enemy, if we create the appropriate conditions, will be tomorrow’s friend.
Today’s friend, if the circumstances change, will be tomorrow’s enemy. Therefore, with respect to worldly enemies who are highly mutable, we must train in patience. However, with respect to this terrifying enemy of the delusions, patience is completely inappropriate. And as to the delusions, it is important for us to understand that the delusions are within our mind stream, and therefore we and we alone can address them and overcome them. The Buddha and the enlightened beings cannot overcome our delusions, irrespective of how much they want to do so, and for that matter, it is totally impossible for us to destroy the delusions of others.
Therefore, we and we alone are responsible for our destiny, and must totally eliminate the delusions within our mind stream. So now, he says, now to be able to eliminate the afflictions, we first must be able to identify them. We must know what is an affliction and what is not. Now we actually know what are the coarse afflictions. They are desire, anger, envy, jealousy and more fundamentally ignorance.
These are all cause afflictions and there are opponent forces to each one of them. So once we have identified an affliction within our mind stream, we have to apply the requisite opponent force. In the case of desire, it will be meditation on the ugly and the filthy. In the case of anger, it will be meditation on love. In the case of ignorance, it will be meditation on the wisdom of selflessness.
Through each of these opponent forces, we will be able to eliminate the affliction in the same way as heat and cold cannot coexist, in the same way an opponent force and affliction cannot coexist. As the opponent force increases in strength in the mind, the affliction abates. However, we must understand that there are two broad categories of afflictions. We have the secondary afflictions, which are desire, hatred, and so forth, and we have the root of all afflictions, which is ignorance, that ignorance which apprehends phenomena as inherently existent. Likewise, we have two broad categories of opponent forces.
We have the contingent opponent forces, which are temporarily or occasionally useful. So for instance, when one of the secondary afflictions such as anger or desire arises within our mind, we apply one of the contingent, occasional opponent forces, such as love, or meditation on filth, depending on the affliction which has arisen. However, these contingent opponent forces are not universal. They cannot be applied to all afflictions. If, for instance, desire arises within our mind, love is not an opponent force for desire, it will enhance it.
On the other hand, if hatred arises in our mind, meditation on filth is not an opponent force for hatred, it will make it even worse. So these are contingent and local opponent forces. The root opponent force is meditation on the selflessness of phenomena. That acts as an opponent force for the affliction of ignorance, which is at the root of all afflictions. Then in the same way as when you cut the roots of a tree, you destroy the entire tree, trunk and branches, trunk and branches.
In the same way, when you apply this opponent force to ignorance, which is the root of all afflictions, then you destroy all of the afflictions without exception. So this opponent force is a universal opponent force. Therefore Rinpoche says there is no object of meditation superior to meditation on emptiness. And therefore, the ignorance which apprehends phenomena as inherently existent is the root of samsaric existence and is the root of the afflictions, and it coexists with self-cherishing. These two are like friends, they abide side by side.
So we first have to generate the antidote to the ignorance which apprehends the self as inherently existing, and this is the wisdom which understands emptiness, which understands phenomena as selfless. And in addition, we have to generate the antidote to self-cherishing. The antidote to self-cherishing is bodhicitta. So these two, the wisdom which cognizes emptiness and bodhicitta, must be generated indissociably, in union with each other. When Rinpoche refers to self-cherishing, self-cherishing is actually an effect, it’s a result of the apprehension of the self as inherently existent.
And it is that mind which says, I have to take care of number one, I am the most important, others will take care of themselves, I must think of myself. That is the mind which has to be dispelled through this motivation of bodhicitta. Now, in training in this way, by uniting the wisdom which realizes selflessness with bodhicitta indissociably, we will eventually be able to eliminate both the apprehension of the self as inherently existent and self-cherishing, and one who has done this is a fully enlightened being, is a Buddha. Okay. Page nine.
The verse nine. Okay. Take care. Okay. I have one announcement.
It’s Day of Miracles is coming soon. It’s March 11 and there will be a precept in the morning, 05:30 and 06:30 which is giving refuge. And if you’re serious thinking about entry into Buddhist path, and this is the way to take a refuge and March 11. And, yeah, and if you want to take refuge, please make sure give me a name in the office. Thank you.