Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 103-minute teaching, Geshe Jampa Gyaltsen emphasizes the critical importance of integrating Buddhist teachings with one’s own mind and practice rather than merely listening passively. He opens by discussing the three faults of the vessel—an upside-down vessel, a leaking vessel, and a contaminated vessel—and insists that students read the assigned pages in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand beforehand and review them afterward to gain real benefit. The centerpiece is the Jātaka tale of Prince Chandra and Sudhasa’s son, a cannibal demon whose encounter with the virtuous prince’s unwavering commitment to honor his word and dharma practice sparks his radical transformation. Geshe Jampa Gyaltsen uses this story to illustrate how a teacher’s role is to mirror back the student’s own deluded behavior so that genuine repentance and change can occur. He closes with a series of Q&A segments addressing how to work with afflictions, non-conceptual realization, and the nature of mental continuum. Suitable for those with some prior Buddhist study.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01-700101_1008-01.mp3
UUID: a198d152-00b4-4118-a340-b870c7231cf9
Teacher: Geshe Jampa Gyaltsen
Collection: Awakening Heart
Date: 1970-01-01
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~4,133
So at this juncture regarding the motivation which must be generated to listen to these teachings as was explained previously, Ideally after eliminating these three faults of the vessel one should generate an uncontrived motivation of bodhicitta but at least after eliminating these faults one should generate a contrived motivation of bodhicitta. So as Buddha Śākyamūni said in the King of Concentration sūtra, the Samādhi Rāja sūtra, one who listens to the Dharma which I teach and do not put it in practice is akin to a doctor who goes to the physician yet does not ingest the medication prescribed. We have to be very clear regarding the goal, the purpose or the aim for which we attend these teachings. So what is the goal or the purpose of listening to these teachings? You are fully aware that the purpose is to practice and the reason which is adduced for this is that Buddha Śākyamūni and all the lineage masters of Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand down to Pabongka Rinpoche all taught for this purpose.
And the reason for this is as was clearly explained in the quote which Geshe-la mentioned as well as in another passage of the sutras in which the Buddha says, the Dharma I taught I taught to you for you to practice that we must listen or attend teachings for the sake of practice. Listening alone is of no benefit. And in the quote from the King of Concentration sūtra, the Samādhi Rāja sūtra, the example which is given for such mistaken behavior is that of a sick person who goes to a physician and yet does not ingest the medication prescribed. Likewise, if one attends teachings, let us say for instance teachings on the Mahāyāna, but one does not practice them, then one would be similar to the sick person given in this example who has gone to a doctor yet does not take the medication. And therefore if we do not mix the activities of listening or hearing the teachings with our mind, if our mind is not connected to these, then attending teachings is exactly exactly the same thing as watching a show on television.
It is a form of voyeurism. We are in the situation of someone who is fascinated by the wealth of others and tries to learn how many millions or hundreds of millions of dollars others have. Yet we have no relation whatsoever to this person and their wealth will be of no benefit for us. We just ogle it as it were. You have received many teachings.
Most of you in this room have attended teachings for months or even years. If you do not blend these teachings with your mind but merely continue studying, then you will have gained no benefit from these teachings in this life, and this life would have been wasted. And therefore, the procedure Geshe-la would suggest for us is before his teachings to check the pages which Geshe-la will be covering, read them through, and then this evening for instance after the teachings at our home when we return home to read through what Geshe-la has taught from Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand at home. Then there may be differences in presentation between Geshe-la’s commentary and the text. We should take note of these and bring these up in the next teaching.
Geshe-la does his best to give an accurate commentary and Yorlösawa does his best to translate it. Geshe-la can see that you are receiving this by the questions you are asking. And if you proceed in this way, it would be as if you had two copies of Liberation in the palm of your hand. Wants to know if you’re following the text as he teaches in Tibetan. I told him I suspect not.
Then at home I cannot say. Then that’s a bit strange, he says. There is time, isn’t there? Kishina hopes sincerely that you have enough time to read the text at home. He would hate to think you are completely unable to prepare his class.
Then he would like you therefore to read before the course and he would like you to try to follow in the text as he teaches, cover it again at home, and write down your questions regarding the differences. Those of you who do not own a copy of Liberation in the Palm of your Hand in English, then write down your questions based on Geshe-la’s teaching in the class. So the way Geshe-la would like us to proceed is when he explains an outline, for instance, the three faults of the vessel which these are all these outlines are given on pages six seventeen onwards of liberation the palm of your hands with reference at the level of the outline to the page number in the text where it is. So it’s page six seventy four for the outline, pages 81 to 82 in the root text. Geshe-la would like us to listen carefully, read that section and then whenever there are doubts on essential points write them down.
So we have reached outlines five and or the fifth and the sixth recognitions which are outlines three, thirteen, twenty-five and twenty-six on page six seventy four developing the attitude that the target as a holy beings and the attitude that this tradition should be preserved for a long time on pages 88 of your English book text. Now Generally speaking, the fifth outline might be better understood as developing the recognition that being specifically our gurus, our root gurus are holy beings. It is foremost this recognition which has to be generated here. So what are the reasons for which our virtuous friends or gurus are to be seen as Buddhas or perhaps if it were a mistaken view that they should not be seen as Buddhas. The reasons for this are that Buddha Śākyamūni, our teacher who accumulated during three countless eons, the merit to attain full enlightenment before manifesting a supreme emanation body, manifested it for the sake of beings and even though we ourselves have not had the good fortune of encountering such a supreme emanation body, we have had the good fortune of encountering spiritual teachers.
So what is the reason for which our spiritual teacher therefore must be seen as a Buddha? It is because the Buddha Śākyamūni practiced for three countless eons to attain full enlightenment and made powerful prayers for the benefit of beings attaining finally the state of full enlightenment and should we who are striving to practice the teachings not encounter an emanation of the Buddha, these prayers and this practice of the Buddha would have been in vain. Therefore, he or she who teaches us the teachings must necessarily be an emanation of Buddha Śākyamūni who practiced for three countless eons for our own benefit. Now the reason for which we did not encounter ourselves a supreme emanation body is due to the degenerations which are threefold. The degeneration of the age, the degeneration of beings and the degeneration of the afflictions.
And this recognition of the gurus as Tathagatas arises through the understanding that the only being imparting dharma who has connected at this juncture with our mind is our guru. Therefore our guru can be no other but an emanation of the supreme emanation body. And the sixth recognition on page six seventy four developing the attitude that this tradition should be preserved for a long time is developing the wish that through the virtue and the roots of virtue which we have accumulated through listening to the teachings and practicing these beneficial teachings dwell for long in our world. And the crux within these attitudes is to put in practice whatever we have heard as teachings. Otherwise, irrespective of the great teachers who we call our masters and of the great teachings which we claim to have attended, none of this will have been of even one iota of benefit.
So what therefore should be the motivation for studying these great Mahāyāna treatises? It should be to use them as a mirror to examine our mind in the same way as we use a mirror to examine our face for blemishes or stains so that we can remove them. We use these great Mahāyāna treatises as a mirror to indicate us to us what is correct and incorrect behavior and to then put effort in abstaining from incorrect behavior. And the example which present is on page eighty eight and eighty nine of your text, the example of the life of prince Chandra and the way he practiced. So Geshe-la would like us to listen carefully to this account of a former life in the Jatakas of the Buddha as Prince Chandra also called the son of Sudhasa who put tremendous effort in practice.
So many lives ago Buddha Śākyamūni was renowned as Prince Chandra and he was once walking in a small grove, a park. And of all Prince Chandra was in the in the park. He met a Brahmin who had asked him for instructions in the teaching. However, in this context, they learned that the son of Sudasa was threatening to make war on the kingdom. And since the goal of Sudhasa’s son was to make war to Prince Chandra, both sides feared a great number of deaths and therefore Prince Chandra offered himself saying to the son of Sodasa, your ultimate goal is to defeat me, take me.
One of Sudasa’s warriors was physically very powerful and put prince Chandra on his shoulder and took him to Sudhasa. And when prince Chandra was brought to the dwelling of Sudhasa, he entered a terrifying place because Sudhasa had slaughtered many human beings and had at times eaten their remains. The floor was covered with blood and human bones, and the ceilings were darkened with soot. And the reason for which Sudhasa’s son wanted to capture prince Chandra was because he considered that through eating prince Chandra who was of high caste, of high education, and of beautiful physique, he would gain some of his qualities. When prince Chandra saw the horrible setting of Sudhasa’s son, tears welled up in his eyes.
Sudhasa’s son then taunted him saying, you Prince Chandra are famed for your practice of the Dharma. What practice of the Dharma do you have when tears rise in your well in your eyes at the thought that I will eat you? Tell me the truth, be honest. Your practice of the Dharma is not. You are crying because you are going to lose your father, your mother, your wives, and your sons.
And prince Chandra said to Sudhasa’s son, this is not the case at all. Tears have well in my eyes because I was receiving instructions on the dharma from a Brahmin and I had not made the offering requisite for such an instruction. If you allow me to leave and make such an offering, I will return at once. And Sudhasa’s son did not believe Prince Chandra in the slightest saying to him, nobody who comes to my place ever is able to escape but should anyone escape, why would he want to return? Prince Chandra said to him, my words are truth, I do not lie.
If you allow me to leave, I will return. You have my word of honor. Then Sudhasa’s son decided to test Prince Chandra and said, you go, you can go and while you go, I will start stoking the fire to roast you when you return. And the Prince Chandra therefore returned and made the offering of 4,000 gold coins, which would correspond maybe to 4,000,000 Australian dollars, for one stanza of the teachings.
And after this, even though his father, his mother, his siblings begged him to stay with him, he returned to Sudhasa’s son. So do not think of the value of the money here. Think of the fact that this was a previous incarnation of Buddha Śākyamūni who was making an offering for the teachings to his guru. Then Sudhasa’s son was astonished. He had not believed prince Chandra.
And when prince Chandra returned, he said to him in his astonishment, sit aside. I won’t cook you at once. The fire has become very smoky and with a smoky fire, the meat doesn’t taste good. And he decided to test prince Chandra. So while prince Chandra was seated waiting for a new fire to be built, he asked him, what exactly was this Dharma the Brahmin taught you?
And prince Chandra answered, the difference between Dharma and non Dharma lies in reception by the listener. Therefore, I would not explain likely these teachings in this setting. Then prince Sudhasa’s sons suspecting that prince Chandra did not teach because he did not like him said, you kings and princes, don’t you eat flesh like me killing animals with arrows and bows? To this prince Chandra rejoined, there is a very important difference indeed. Eating the flesh of animals killed while hunting is at odds with dharma but the animals are of a far inferior category of beings than human beings.
You do not eat animals. You ambush human beings and eat their flesh. Then Sudhasa’s son asked him, isn’t your own behavior of leaving for the village, the city, excuse me, and then returning to face being eaten alive, not at odds with worldly conventions. And prince Chandra said, no, my behavior is not at odds in worldly conventions since I had given you my word that I was to return and I had to keep my pledge. And this was the second question, the third question which Sudhasa’s son asked prince Chandra is.
He said, when I capture others and I ready the fire to eat them, roasting them alive, they scream, moan and cry, yet you do none of the above. How is this? And prince Chandra answered, they scream, moan, and cry because of their sins and their non virtuous karma. I have not sinned. There is nothing for me to cry about.
At this point, tremendous repentance was born in the heart of Sudhasa’s son. He started crying freely and his hair stood on end and he said to Prince Chandra, not only will I not eat you but I beg you to please teach me these verses of Dharma which you have received. And the stanza which was imparted to Sudhosa’s son was the following one. Upon seeing clearly in the mirror of Dharma, the shape of my own evil behavior, anguish arises within my mind and my mind and I turn to dharma. And the meaning of this stanza is that upon seeing the actual shape, the appearance of our wrong behavior in the mirror of the dharma, in other words the mirror of the texts, one’s mind repents and experiences suffering because of this and turns away from such behavior.
And at this point, prince Chandra said that if Sudhasa’s son, Sudhasa’s son, excuse me, engaged to listen to the teachings in full bodily verbal and mental accordance with the way to listen to the teachings, he would explain the meaning in detail. At this point, Sudhasa’s son spread out his vestments on an elevated seat for prince Chandra sat beneath him and said, will now listen to the teachings. Understanding clearly that because of his tremendous past non-virtues at the time of death there would be no other destination for him than the lowest of the low realms. He radically transformed his behavior and vowed to practice. In addition, Sudhasa’s son had formed the project of devouring 1,000 human beings.
He had devoured so far 999 and Prince Chandra was to have been the one thousandth. He took the oath in front of prince Chandra of never being a cannibal again. So this ends the account of the conversion of Sudasa’s son. It teaches us the importance as Sudhasa’s son did, even though he was an extremely great sinner of inextricably mixing the teachings with one’s mind so that complete repentance and reversal may occur. In addition to attend teachings, putting one’s own life and behavior on one side and the teachings on another side without any relation between them is of no use and a complete waste of time.
It is also of no use to attend teachings to satisfy one’s curiosity and to gather information. This is completely irrelevant. What is also idiotic is to attend teachings for the entertainment value of the teachings and for the tales which are recounted. There’s an anecdote which is recounted regarding the seventh Dalai Lama who was teaching once and during the teaching mentioned the existence of a fort in one of the areas of Tibet. One of the listeners of the teaching said this was the most profound and interesting teaching.
I hadn’t realized there was this fort in that part of Tibet. There are also those who only seem to attend teachings to compare the teachings of various teachers attending first one teaching then another teaching by another teacher on the same topic and criticizing the difference between the teachings. Togden Rinpoche said that this was extremely poor and miserable behavior. With these attitudes, there probably will be no benefit whatsoever for sentient beings. Therefore Pabongka Rinpoche says that the either the guru or the Acharya when he teaches must teach first and foremost to benefit the mind of the students and the student or the disciple from his own side must apply the teaching directly to his own mind.
And said that one of his teachers when he taught was such that whatever he taught was of benefit immediately to the mind of the students. Whereas another teacher who was known for his erudition seemed to be unable to benefit the minds of his students. And one of the students asked Geshe Potawa, he said Geshe Chekawa Yeshe Dorje is an extraordinary scholar but when he answers questions and teaches, he doesn’t seem to benefit the minds of the students in the slightest. On the other hand, this other Geshe seems to benefit always the minds of his students. What is the difference?
And Geshe Potawa answered. Geshe Chekawa is an extraordinary scholar but his main goal when he teaches seems to be to investigate phenomena and he gives definitions, gives a definiendum of the definitions and analyzes whether they are appropriate or not. My own main motivation is to impact the minds of the students. And when Geshe Chekawa heard this comment of Geshe Potawas, he was very moved and came to Geshe Potawa to request teachings from him. Upon receiving them, they had a big impact on his own mind and he said, I had not previously had the opportunity to hear this great teacher.
Therefore, what is the behavior of a virtuous friend of the Mahāyāna, a Mahāyāna spiritual teacher? It is to focus exclusively on what is of benefit to the mind of the trainee, the disciple and to teach that in a summarized and powerful fashion. So Geshe-la has completed the section for today and we’ll stop here. And the main focus of today’s teaching was on how to listen to teachings and how to apply them to one’s own mind. This was illustrated with the account of Sudhasa’s son’s conversion and practice.
Geshe-la would be asking us questions on the summarized presentation of this account. At present, you can ask questions on what was covered today. Alternatively if you have questions on other topics, Geshe-la will take them as well. Yes. Could you could you repeat where you are?
I kid I didn’t find it. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. That is your question. So she says this is a very good advice to investigate one’s mind and on this basis to be able to tame it.
This is exactly how one should practice. One should check one’s mind and whenever desire on the one hand or anger on the other hand arise in the mind, one should subdue them. Then as a result of this, one’s mind will become peaceful. One can then progressively train in calm abiding in and in dependence on calm abiding, one can gain realization of for instance impermanence or emptiness. So we can see that whenever we try to focus, let us say, on definite emergence or bodhicitta, our mind instead of remaining focused on the inside, on the topic, wanders out through the sense gates.
So one must train in withdrawing the mind inwards and keeping it focused on whatever one chooses to focus it upon. Are there other questions? Yes? For beginners like us, it is very difficult to give rise to non conceptual realizations at the beginning. Therefore, when we focus the mind inwards, if the object on which we focus the mind is coarse, it may be possible to give rise to a non conceptual realization fairly rapidly.
But if the object is subtle, that will not be possible and one must rely on conceptuality. Yes. Deference to the elders, says Geshe la. So Saafo, please. So what do you mean by meaningless talk?
So if one hasn’t studied really well then it seems difficult to be able to talk meaningfully about the dharma. Yes. It is best to focus on the right reflections. Yes. Because of our beginningless habituation to these afflictions, it is very difficult at the beginning.
But if we keep trying, we accumulate merit, we understand how to apply the antidotes, then our mind will improve and it will become easier and easier. Are there other questions? Yes. So it’s desire, anger, pride, ignorance, afflicted doubt and wrong views. These are called the six root afflictions.
And there was a question from the back somewhere. Yes. Pamela. So from his own side, Geshe-la is 100% certain that you fulfill the criteria of someone who has not succumbed to the first fault of the vessel. In other words, he’s 100% sure that when you attend teachings you actually do pay attention to the teachings.
The vessel is not upside down in other words. Regarding the two other faults, the vessel which is contaminated and the vessel which is pierced, the vessel which is contaminated is the biggest problem for all of us and as for the vessel which is pierced, he would suggest that you yourself check your own mind, you know best. So to avoid the second fault of the vessel, the appropriate motivation must be generated. Therefore, if one attends teachings just to document or to inform oneself on the teachings, one will have succumbed to the second fault of the vessel. Likewise, if one attends teachings of the Mahāyāna only for one’s own sake to attain the state of an arhat, then one will have also succumbed to the second fault of the vessel.
So all in these presentations of the Lamrim there are topics such as the four noble truths or for that matter the presentation of emptiness which are shared with the practitioners who aim only for the attainment of the state of an arhat. There is nothing within the training in bodhicitta which is shared with practitioners who are aiming to attain arhathood for their own benefit. So therefore Geshe-la says Pamela’s coming here is meaningful, has purpose. It does not necessarily have to have a complete correlation with the purpose of this text. Are there yes.
Are there other questions? Yes. It’s best to posit beginninglessness with respect to the mind. It is the mind which is beginningless. Then for our coarse aggregates to be said, our body in other words, to be said beginningless would be very difficult.
However, if we do not limit ourselves to this body but we understood this body in its cause and continuum then since this body is a product of the union of the spermatozoa of the father and the egg of the mother and that in turn is a product of the bodies of the father and the mother which themselves are the product of the bodies of their parents then there is no beginning to the material continuum in that sense. Are there other questions? Yes? Isn’t very sure. The name prince Chandra Chandra in Sanskrit means moon.
Then this prince was of beautiful complexion. He was kind and humble, easygoing. So in this sense perhaps there’s a relationship with the image of the moon. Therefore, for next time, please read carefully the account of Sudhasa’s son and prince Chandra in pages in the eighties, the 80s pages of the liberation in the palm of your hand, and Geshe-la will ask us questions about this.