Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 101-minute teaching, Kyabje Rinpoche begins with bodhicitta—the aspiration to lead all beings to enlightenment—as the supreme motivation for listening to dharma, then pivots to a systematic unpacking of karma and virtue from the Lam Rim tradition. He walks through the ten non-virtuous deeds (three of body: killing, stealing, sexual misconduct; four of speech: lying, harsh words, divisive speech, gossip; three of mind: covetousness, ill will, wrong view), explaining how mental afflictions drive harmful actions that bind us to suffering. He then builds a fourfold framework for virtue—including deeds intrinsically virtuous such as shame and honesty—and returns repeatedly to a key theme: self-love is essential. By caring genuinely for our own happiness, he argues, we naturally create the causes for virtue. Suited to practitioners with Lam Rim familiarity.
File metadata (for organising)
File: Line in 0090.mp3
UUID: 0c199940-ea82-4345-ae18-66c2dd3b76cb
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Awakening Heart
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~3,019
# Line in 0090
**Collection:** Audio Recordings — Unclassified
**Duration:** 101.0 minutes
**Words:** 3,026
**Model:** Deepgram Nova-3
**Corrections applied:** 8
**Transcribed:** 2026-03-08 23:20
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Okay. So to listen to dharma, we must have a motivation of benefiting others. And this is a motivation which strives to help others. In dependence on such a motivation, we will then accumulate a large amount of merit to listening dharma. And not only will the act of listening to dharma be beneficial for ourselves, it will also be beneficial for others.
And then what is the supreme of the beneficial of the good motivations? It is the motivation of bodhicitta. Now generally speaking, we should reflect on the fact that we are alone whereas the number of beings in existence is infinite. And therefore, we should place our own welfare far below that of the infinite number of beings which surround us. Dharma is a practice where oneself is abased and others are elevated.
The welfare of others, the happiness of others must come before our own happiness and our own welfare. And then when we refer to the happiness of others, we don’t refer to ordinary mundane happiness, but we refer to that supreme happiness, which is the state of full enlightenment. And then with the wish of placing, freeing others of all suffering and placing them in that state of supreme happiness, we then check ourselves to see if we have the capacity to do so. At present, it is very clear we do not have this capacity. We do not even have the capacity to place ourselves in a state of happiness, let alone others.
And this is the case because we have not eliminated all faults and we have not actualized all qualities. So with this motivation of placing others in a state of supreme happiness, we should then engage in practices to eliminate all faults within our mindstream, which prevent both our actualizing our own happiness and our actualizing that of others. It is very important for us to understand that the happiness of others does not occur in the ultimate at our expense. When we lead others to the state of ultimate happiness, automatically, we ourselves reach such a state too. The welfare of others leads automatically to our own welfare.
If we take, for instance, the case of the Hīnayāna Arhats, the Hīnayāna Arhats, because they have focused only on their own welfare and not on that of others, have attained a state of mediocre attainment. It is mediocre because they have not abandoned all faults, and they have not actualized all qualities. So they have not even actualized their own welfare, let alone that of others. Our goal is much higher than this. And then the means which is to be used for leading us to such a goal is Dharma.
There is no other practice but Dharma, which can lead us to the state where we eliminate all faults. And of the Dharma teachings encapsulated in the Lam Rim, the principal one is the teaching on bodhicitta. So we should with this motivation, then listen carefully to these teachings, reflect on them, and then meditate on them. And let us therefore meditate for one or two minutes on generating this motivation of bodhicitta, which is the very essence of the Lam Rim teachings, which themselves encapsulate all the Mahāyāna and generate this motivation and then engage in the activities of hearing, thinking and meditating.
As Buddha Śākyamūni said, from such and such a cause, such and such an effect. As Rinpoche explained last time, this quote means that the cause is related to the effect in nature, and specifically from a virtuous cause happiness will arise, and from a non-virtuous cause unhappiness will arise. Now generally, we all want happiness and we all want to avoid unhappiness and suffering. Therefore, we have to create the causes for happiness and to avoid creating the causes for suffering. Now in this quote of the Buddha, when the Buddha said from such and such a cause, such and such an effect arises, one can actually say that the cause is of one suchness, of one nature with the effect to which it gives rise. And therefore, a virtuous cause will create mainly the feeling of happiness.
It could also create other phenomena such as the environment and so forth, but its main creation is a feeling of happiness. Likewise, a non-virtuous cause will create mainly the feeling or the sensation of unhappiness. And therefore, for us, since we want to have mainly happiness and to avoid unhappiness, we must put an end to the cause of unhappiness and we must generate the cause of happiness. Because both happiness and unhappiness are results, they arise from their causes, and therefore if we generate the cause of happiness and we eliminate the cause of unhappiness, then the results, happiness and the absence of unhappiness would arise. Now it is the case that all beings want happiness and all beings want to avoid unhappiness.
We are actually able to understand this intellectually. But animals such as dogs, cats, sheep, and so forth, although they don’t understand intellectually that they want happiness and don’t want unhappiness, it is in their very nature to want to be happy, and it’s in their very nature to want to avoid suffering. Okay. So as Rinpoche explained previously, we are to understand as karma that deed which is engaged in newly by a doer based upon a motivation. And as Vasubandhu explained clearly, generally speaking, virtuous deeds can be divided into four categories.
The first is happiness, the second is motivation, the third is nature, and the fourth is similarity. Now within the first category, happiness, happiness is a nominal division of virtuous deeds. Happiness in and of itself is not a virtuous deed, but it is a nominal division of virtuous deeds because the actual state of liberation, which is a state of extreme happiness, is called happiness. And since this is most definitely virtue, then the state of happiness is qualified by that and included in this division. Now as to the second division, which is motivation, generally speaking, there are two types of motivations, virtuous and non-virtuous motivations.
And in dependence on these two motivations, all activities of the three doors of body, speech and mind are engaged in. Now the three activities of the body which are non-virtuous, that is killing, stealing and sexual misconduct, as well as the four activities of speech which are non-virtuous, which are lying, harsh words, divisive speech and gossip, are all virtuous or non-virtuous in dependence on the motivation which impels them. A deed such as prostration, for instance, is a virtuous deed insofar as it’s motivated by a virtuous motivation. A deed such as killing is non-virtuous because it arises from a non-virtuous motivation, likewise for sexual misconduct or for that matter for beating somebody. If the motivation were virtuous, the deed in and of itself would become virtuous.
So in dependence on a good motivation such as love, compassion, let alone bodhicitta, a deed in and of itself becomes virtuous. In dependence on a bad motivation, a deed becomes non-virtuous. So Rinpoche says, if we were to summarize things for ease of comprehension, then from within the 10 non-virtuous deeds, we have seven deeds of body and speech: killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, harsh words, divisive speech, and gossip. And three deeds of mind, three non-virtuous deeds of mind: covetousness, ill will, and wrong view. Now these seven deeds of body and speech are karma.
They are merely karma. They are deeds in other words. The three deeds of mind can be said, to keep things very simple, to be afflictions, to be klesha. So from within the twofold division of karma and klesha, the seven deeds of body and speech are karma. They are deeds. And the three deeds of the mind, covetousness, ill will, and wrong view are klesha. They are afflictions. Now karma and klesha are mutually related because karma is the result of klesha. So the seven non-virtuous deeds of body and speech are the result of the three non-virtuous deeds of the mind.
It is through the motivation of the three non-virtuous deeds such as covetousness that the non-virtuous deeds of the body arise. Therefore, it is through the motivation of the afflictions that karma is accumulated. For instance, from the non-virtuous motivation of covetousness, only non-virtue arises. There can be no virtue. And more generally speaking, from any of the three motivations of the mind, any of the three non-virtuous mental deeds, covetousness, ill will, and wrong views, only non-virtue arises. There can be no virtue which arises in dependence on these. On the other hand, always to keep things quite simple, from a mind which is not motivated by covetousness, ill will or wrong view, only virtue arises. Virtue alone arises. And it is in dependence, therefore, on these two, in dependence on the afflictions within the mind and the karma they create, that the wheel of cyclic existence arises.
So we can say that the 10 non-virtuous deeds are the root of all suffering. And therefore, Rinpoche says, if we take, for instance, the case of animals, it is very clear that animals both undergo suffering and can undergo happiness. And they undergo both suffering and happiness because they are able to create the causes for happiness and suffering. Specifically, animals have both covetousness and ill will. They have both desire within their minds and anger. Most probably, they do not have wrong views. This is something we would not expect to find in an animal. And therefore, from within the non-virtuous deeds, they can most definitely accumulate those of the body. They probably cannot accumulate non-virtuous deeds of speech.
This is why it is said in general with respect to all beings, from non-virtue suffering arises, and the motivation thereof is what impels the wheel of life. Therefore, put an end to all of this, in other words, an end to the afflictions. We have to therefore understand that suffering arises primordially from the afflictions, primordially from the kleshas, which are the cause of karma. And this is why there is no suffering in the minds of arhats or great Ārya beings. Generally speaking, any deed which is motivated by the three mental delusions of covetousness, ill will, and wrong view, and gives rise to any of the four deeds of speech will be in and of its nature non-virtuous.
Whereas as Rinpoche explained, any deed which is motivated by the opposite of these mental afflictions, by the opposite of covetousness, non-covetousness, by non-ill will, and by right views will be a virtuous deed. Now we can say broadly speaking, that the absence of covetousness, if it is fully actualized, corresponds to renunciation. And the absence of ill will when it is fully realized, led to fruition, corresponds to love, and likewise, the absence of wrong views fully actualized corresponds to wisdom, specifically that wisdom which understands emptiness. So we have here completed the presentation of the second division of virtuous deeds, which is the motivation. As to the third division of virtuous deeds, deeds which are virtuous in and of their nature, we can understand it best through understanding those which are non-virtuous in nature.
There are two broad categories of those which are non-virtuous in nature. The first is shamelessness, and the second is deceitfulness. Shamelessness is that absence of any shame or any sense of embarrassment when we commit a non-virtuous deed. For instance, we commit something which is evil or non-virtuous. Most of us have a sense of shame and we flush and are embarrassed. But there are people who have absolutely no shame within their mind.
For instance, a bhikkhu, a monk is the foremost representative of the Buddha’s doctrine. He’s a member of the Sangha. So he must have remorse, and when he does something non-virtuous, then he must regret this. Now there are persons who even though they have vows, will for instance have girlfriends and be very proud of this. This is a classic case of shameless and scandalous behavior.
With respect to the second type, which is non-virtuous by nature, deceitfulness. Deceitfulness is, for instance, to take vows in front of the Buddhas or in front of one’s teachers, and say, for instance, I will abandon this and this behavior, and then actually, instead of abandoning it, engage in it on the sly. Now this behavior, this type of attitude can only cause sadness in the mind of the Buddhas and the teachers. And anything which displeases the Buddhas or the teachers is in and of its nature non-virtuous, whereas anything which pleases them is in and of its nature virtuous. It is to be understood as follows.
The main focus of the activity of the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas is the welfare of beings. It is their only preoccupation. They are like a mother with her single child. And then if the child says to his mother that he will behave correctly, and then runs off and behaves wildly, like a wild animal, this causes tremendous sadness in the mind of the mother. Likewise, if we take pledges and vows in front of the Buddhas, and then we break them, then this causes sadness in the minds of the Buddhas, and this is a source of great non-virtue. Generally speaking, pleasing the Buddhas is virtuous, and this is the root of the Sanskrit term for virtue, punya. Punya means to please, to satisfy these holy beings. So these two deeds, shamelessness and deceitfulness, are those which are inherently non-virtuous, and the abandonment of shamelessness, in other words, a sense of shame, and the abandonment of deceitfulness, in other words, a sense of honesty, are naturally virtuous deeds. In the same way as for instance sandalwood is naturally fragrant.
And then we have covered the first three of the divisions of virtue. As to the fourth division of virtue, that which is endowed with similarity or that which is similar. This refers to the fact that the three categories of non-virtuous minds, which we refer to as covetousness, ill will, and wrong views, are actually accompanied by a large range of primary minds and mental factors. And all the primary minds and mental factors accompanying, for instance, covetousness will be non-virtuous in the same way as all of the friends of a bad person will generally speaking be bad people.
Likewise, all of the minds and mental factors accompanying ill will and wrong views will also be non-virtuous or negative minds. On the other hand, all of the minds and mental factors accompanying the abandonment of covetousness will be virtuous minds, and all of the minds and mental factors accompanying the abandonment of ill will and wrong views will also be virtuous minds. We could say likewise that a mind such as renunciation has many minds and mental factors accompanying it, all of which are virtuous, likewise for bodhicitta, likewise for the mind striving for liberation. So it is important to understand that the three mental factors are not karma, and the three bodily deeds as well as the four deeds of speech are karma. So we have here covered the fourfold division of virtue, which is one, happiness, two, motivation, three, deeds which are non-virtuous or virtuous by nature, shamelessness and deceitfulness are non-virtuous by nature, a sense of shame and a sense of non-deceitfulness are virtuous by nature.
And the fourth category we have just covered, which is deeds which are virtuous or non-virtuous by similarity. Now we have to understand that to wish for happiness, and to engage in non-virtue is contradictory or incompatible behavior. Likewise, if we want happiness to arise, we have to engage in virtue. Otherwise, it will not arise within our mindstream. And to summarize things, Rinpoche says, it is therefore critical for us to have a sense of love for ourselves or self-love.
Because if we have love for ourselves, then we will naturally want ourselves to be happy, and we will accumulate the causes for this, which is virtuous practice. On the other hand, if we don’t love ourselves, if we don’t like ourselves, then we will do everything it takes to be unhappy. Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much.
So we will stop here now. I have few announcements, please. Losar, Tibetan New Year is on the twenty-fifth. We’re not going to singing or any dancing, etcetera, but we do prayers in morning and especially prayers for this bushfire and those people who were killed and also many Tibetans died in the last year since March. And therefore, we do pray for them. It’s a New Year and Compassion Day with the Venerable Chamtrul Rinpoche, 09:30AM to 04:30PM, and it’s February 28. And we have a Day of Miracles, March 11. This is a very special day.
And if you like to take refuge, this precept in morning, 05:30. And if you like to take refuge, must make sure to ring up here and put your name down. It starts at 06:30. And long life puja for Venerable Khensur Rinpoche on March 15. Make sure put you know, name down if you’re going to come for lunch.
It’s very important. We have to make sure. And Easter weekend, Tārā puja, this would be a great weekend teaching. And so if you like to join that, you must make sure registered. And Tibetan Liberation Annual Foundation Day, which is April 25, ANZAC Day, and October retreat.
That’s all I want to say, which is fifteenth until the twenty-fifth. Okay. Thank you very much.