Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 99-minute session, Geshe Jampa Gyaltsen guides students through the foundational practices of the Lamrim, emphasizing how both teacher and student must approach the teachings with proper motivation. He opens by establishing the preliminaries: the student must cultivate a mind focused on future lives, supported by reflection on death and impermanence, while the teacher teaches from compassion and not for reputation. Geshe-la then develops the critical distinction between renunciation of this life’s vanities and striving for a precious human rebirth—an essential stepping stone to advanced practices like bodhicitta and the realization of emptiness. He illustrates this through a detailed analysis of Prince Chandragomin’s disciple, showing how fear of death and reflection on lower rebirths kindle the mind that turns toward dharma. Throughout, he addresses a sophisticated debate: whether non-Buddhist Indian yogis who meditate on impermanence and ethics can truly realize those concepts without accepting Buddhist premises like rebirth and the absence of a permanent self. The session concludes with practical standards for how a teacher should conduct a teaching—seated elevated not for personal glory but in honor of the lineage, with clean garments and a radiant face, motivated by compassion. Designed for serious practitioners with foundational familiarity with Lamrim teachings.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01-700101_1006-02.mp3
UUID: 8495d5be-2fbc-40d7-8267-8706ffd551fc
Teacher: Geshe Jampa Gyaltsen
Collection: Awakening Heart
Date: 1970-01-01
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~4,554
So at this juncture, both the listeners and the Dharma teacher must generate the motivation. Issue of the motivation is critical since both the listener of the teachings must generate the requisite motivation to listen to them and likewise the teacher must generate the requisite motivation. So here the motivation must be the motivation akin to a stainless vase therefore ideally one would generate a motivation of spontaneous or uncontrived bodhicitta if this is not possible at least an artificially generated motivation of bodhicitta Here when one speaks of an artificial motivation of bodhicitta, it’s a motivation of bodhicitta which is generated through the power of effort, through artifice in other words. And one does this generating the thought, may I lead all sentient beings without exception to the state of full Buddhahood. However, such a thought in and of itself is not sufficient.
One must create the causes for the state of full Buddhahood to occur. To create these causes, one must actually listen to teachings and study the Śāstras in which they are explained. And from his own side, Geshe-la’s motivation must be in accordance with Vasubandhu’s verse in the Abhidharmakośa of Vasubandhu, Dharma should you teach without affliction and with a pure mind. Here an afflicted means of teaching Dharma would be teaching Dharma for one’s own repute or for instance out of competitiveness with others. What should be adopted is a mode of teaching motivated by compassion thinking.
May the listeners from their side benefit at least a little bit from these teachings. From the standpoint of the listeners, the bare bones minimum motivation is to be focused on future lives at least. Let us generate these motivations for one or two minutes. Generally speaking, Geshe-la covers the outline at the beginning of each teaching. But today he will do so in a much more concise way.
So it is beneficial whenever we cover a topic to reflect on the meaning of the outline. And here the most important topic we have covered are the three faults of the vessel, which are extremely difficult to eliminate. As Kamalaśīla says, this is one of the most difficult things to eliminate. And it is said in the LAMRIM that the main foremost means not to forget the teachings is either to rely on the root text or if that is not possible to rely on the outline. So since we have been covering Lamrim for a couple months now, Geshe-la will go through the outline again.
And this outline is on pages six seventy three and seventy four of your English edition of Pabongka Rinpoche’s, the Blue Book. So the first outline is the greatness of the authors, in this case the greatness of Atisha, there is not much to be said here. The second outline is the greatness of the dharma which is taught, explained in terms of the four greatnesses and the three characteristics. This is what we will develop again. The first of these outlines is on page six seventy three.
The greatness of allowing you to realize all the teachings are without contradiction. This is basically trained in to reflecting on the various teachings and seeing how they all interlock with each other. The second greatness is the greatness of finding easily the intent or the import of the conqueror’s teachings. This can be understood in two terms. Either in terms of the Three Principal Aspects of the Path which are renunciation, bodhicitta and the correct view of emptiness or in terms of teaching the paths of the beings of the three scopes, the small, middling and great scope.
Greatness is the greatness of abandoning naturally the foremost of thoughts. The foremost of thoughts was explained previously as abandoning dharma. And the third outline on page six seventy four is how to listen to the dharma which has these two greatnesses. These refer to the greatnesses of the four greatnesses in general and the three characteristics in particular. And Geshe-la will now explain how we address this.
And in this context, are three outlines of which the two major ones are how to listen to dharma and how dharma is to be explained. Within the context of how to listen to dharma, there are the interfering factors and the beneficial factor. The interfering factors are the presence of the three faults of the vessel. The beneficial factors are the presence of the six discriminations which have already been explained. So all the training in the manner of listening to the Dharma is the responsibility of the students.
Training in the manner of explaining the Dharma which is generating the correct motivation for explaining the Dharma is the responsibility of the teacher. And in this context, have reached the outline of how the Dharma is to be explained. As you remember last time, Geshe-la developed the meaning of the verse which was taught by the son of Sudhasa. He asked us first for our own interpretations and then he presented a concise presentation of the meaning of that verse. And this verse runs as follows, when I see in the mirror of the dharma, the shape of my thoughts, my mind is afflicted and turns in the direction of the dharma.
And therefore the two first verses of this stanza, when I see clearly in the mirror of Dharma, the shape of my non virtuous or my wrong behavior are verses which arose within the experience of the son of Sudhasa as a result of the teachings of Prince Chandragomin. The two following verses, my mind is greatly afflicted and I turn it in the direction of Dharma refer to the experience in the mind of the son of Sudhasa upon hearing the teachings from Prince Chandra, the experience of great mental suffering which leads him to turn his mind to the Dharma. Now Dharma in this context can refer in general to the teachings regarding liberation or the attainment of full enlightenment from within the totality of the objects of knowledge. However, here it is particularly harmonious with this verse to think that it refers to generating a mind striving for one’s benefit in future lives. Here, based upon the advice or the instructions given by Prince Chandra, the son of Sudhasa generated a fear of death.
This fear of death which arose with him, within him led him to reflect on the fact that there were only two possible destinies after this life. The higher or the lower realms and that as a result of his wasted life, his destiny would almost certainly be the lower realms. As a result of this, he in turn generated a mind which in keeping with the Three Principal Aspects of the Path turned away from the vanities of this life. And here it is important upon hearing the teachings for the act of hearing not to remain purely an act of hearing, but for the teachings to be blended with the mind. When this happens, it is said that one has realized the first crux or the first pith of hearing.
Now here the first crux or the first pith of the activity of hearing in Geshe-la’s opinion refers to renunciation or definite emergence. And within the opposition between the mundane and dharma, on the other hand, when the son of Sudhasa turned his mind to Dharma, what is to be understood here is that he turned his mind towards striving for the benefit of future lives. So since we have heard many Lamrim teachings, we might have the doubt within our mind. Well, yes indeed, there is such a striving for benefit in future lives, higher status, the status of a god, for instance, but there is nothing remarkable about this since after all, our goal our goal ought to be liberation or full enlightenment. The answer to this doubt is that all indeed ultimate goal are the advanced practices of mantra which call for instance in the case of Anuttara Yoga Tantra for training initially in bodhicitta and the correct view.
These practices are far removed from what we can practice at present and therefore as a foundation for this, one must train in the mind striving for benefit in future lives. To give an example for this, we can all understand clearly that if we intend to build a luxurious three story house for ourselves with on the top story a kitchen, a living room, guest rooms, rest areas and so forth. Such a third story cannot be built without the first two stories beneath it. It is impossible to build a third story in and of itself. Therefore, if our goal is the state of full enlightenment endowed with the full bodies for the benefit of all sentient beings as vast as space, the cause for such or the causes for such a goal are the generation of the mind realizing emptiness as well as conventional bodhicitta.
However, the causes for these cannot be other than renunciation. And in this context, as Je Tsongkhapa explained in these Three Principal Aspects of the Path, So reflecting on the fact that this rebirth of leisure and endowments is transient and fleeting to turn away from the vanities of this life. So reflecting again and again on the incontrovertibility of causality turn away from the vanities of future lives. When for even one instant, no attachment to samsaric existence is generated, it can be said that renunciation has been well generated. So in this context, two forms of renunciation or definite emergence are explained.
Geshe-la here refers to the first one which is renunciation from the fleeting vanities of this life. So in this context, what is meant by the vanities of this life? What is meant by the vanities of this life are the exclusive focus on the affairs of this life. The mind which turns away from this life is a mind which counteracts this. It is a mind which is focused on rebirth in the higher realms as a god or as a human being.
Why is it important to generate such a mind? It is important to generate such a mind because apart from a rebirth in the higher realms as a god or as a human being, it is totally impossible to give rise to any form of renunciation. It’s an indispensable prerequisite. Generally speaking, within higher rebirth, the human rebirth is privileged as a basis for practice and within the four categories of human rebirth, human rebirth in the four different continents. It is a human rebirth in the Southern Continent of Jambudvipa, which is privileged and within the human rebirth in the Southern continents, it is the precious human rebirth with the eight leisures and the 10 endowments which are the foremost basis for practice.
And what is the strategy to be adopted for attaining the states of liberation or full enlightenment? It is to obtain again and again, life after life, a precious human rebirth. As Je Tsongkhapa says in his Concise Lamrim, his Song of Realizations, this basis which is fully qualified on which foundation, on whose foundations the supreme can be attained. The supreme here refers to liberation or full enlightenment. Attainment refers to obtaining the state and the basis refers to a precious human rebirth with the eight leisures and the 10 endowments.
And the text continues, until we have obtained it, we shall strive. The meaning of the second verse is it in the same way as when we are going somewhere, we will keep on walking until we get there. Likewise, in this context, it is not possible to obtain at once such a state. And therefore until the specific causes for a precious human rebirth with the eight freedoms and the 10 endowments have not been generated within our continuums, we shall strive. And the foremost cause for generating these causes within our mind stream is the mind striving for one’s betterment in future lives.
In turn, the cause for giving rise to this mind striving for one’s betterment in future lives is fear of death. In this context, we’re talking of fear of death. One must understand clearly the relationship between fear of death and death and impermanence as is explained in Mind Training Like the Rays of the Sun. There is a mundane or worldly fear of death which arises in beings who have put no effort of any type in religious activity or dharma and who at the time of death, out of great craving for their body, their possessions and their relatives are terrified by death. This is not what is talked about here.
What is referred to here in the context of death and impermanence is that fear of death which arises upon reflecting that at the time of death, there are only two possible destinations, a destination towards the higher and towards the lower rebirth, and that they are contingent on their causes. Now, such a fear of death cannot be generated if one does not believe in past and future lives and karma and causality. Without such a belief, all this process becomes quite extraordinary and strange. However, on that foundation, one thinks in this life, do I have the requisite causes to give rise to a higher rebirth? And upon realizing that one does not have them, then one gives rise to fear of death within one’s mind stream.
And therefore, the death and impermanence or the fear of death which is referred to here is not that of a mundane being terrified at the loss of his objects of sense craving. It is instead that of a being in whose mind the wish for or the mind striving for a future rebirth has been generated and who realizes that the causes for a virtuous, a happy future rebirth have not been created and that the causes for lower rebirths have been created in full awareness of the terrifying suffering of the lower realms. And therefore as the Kadampa Geshe said in mind training as the rays of the sun, it is not death I am afraid of, it is the destination after death. There is nothing to fear in abandoning this body. What there is to fear are the multiple future destinations.
Therefore, the cause for the mind striving for benefit in future lives is turning away from the vanities of this life. Turning away from the vanities of this life arises when the mind reflecting on death and impermanence is generated. This mind reflecting on death and impermanence is however not the cause of a higher rebirth in future lives. It is merely the factor which causes us to search for the cause. The cause itself is the ethics which abandons the 10 non-virtues.
And therefore, the greater one’s meditation on death and impermanence, the lesser in turn will be envy, competitiveness and prejudice within our mind stream. Since envy, competitiveness and prejudice or bias arise in dependence on the conglomerate of the bodily and mental aggregates and when attachment to these is reduced, likewise they are reduced too. And therefore, to give rise to a mind striving for benefit in future lives, one must turn away from the vanities of this life. To turn away from the vanities of this life, one must meditate on death and impermanence. In this context, there arises a major doubt which Geshe-la broached last time.
If we take the case of non-Buddhist religious practitioners, specifically Indian non-Buddhist practitioners such as the Sankhya yogis. Sankhya yogis, it is established, meditate on death and impermanence and engage in an ethic which is an abandonment of the 10 non virtues, striving thereby to obtain a happy rebirth. Now, a Sankhya yogi, who in a future life has obtained a happy rebirth as a result of meditating on death and impermanence, and of an ethics which has given up the 10 non-virtues in a former lives, can such a one be said to have realized death and impermanence or not? So this is up to you to decide. This is how topics will be analyzed in the monasteries in debate.
Geshe-la is just launching the topic. It is up to you to decide. And the difficulty which arises here when one analyzes in debate is that the Sankhyas and the non-Buddhist yogis of India, for instance, accept the existence of a self which is permanent one and autonomous. Then if they accept the existence of a self which is permanent one and autonomous, they cannot be accept on the basis of the same foundation which is the composite of the bodily and mental aggregates that these bodily and mental aggregates are impermanent. Therefore, it is impossible for them if they accept a self which is permanent one and autonomous to consider that these aggregates are impermanent and transient.
If this is the case, it is not possible for them to turn away from the vanities of this life. If it is not possible for them to turn away from the vanities of this life, they cannot generate a mind striving for benefit in future lives. And if this is the case, they can in a way practice an ethics which is an abandonment of the 10 non virtues. And therefore the main topic which was covered today was renunciation in its two forms. Renunciation to the transient vanities of this life and that renunciation to the totality of cyclic existence.
The main focus, however, was renunciation to the transient vanities of this life and generating the mind striving for benefit in future lives. Keep this in your minds. And therefore, Geshe-la would like to encourage us to reflect over and again on a mind, on the benefits of the mind striving for one’s happiness in future lives. Since without this, it is impossible to give rise to the advanced states of mind such as bodhicitta, let alone the mind which realizes the ultimate nature of phenomena. It is not that there is no benefit for us in attaining teachings on bodhicitta or on emptiness, because in so doing we implant karmic imprints within our mind regarding these, but we are unable to realize these without the foundation of the mind striving for happiness in future lives.
So we have completed the presentation of the manner to listening, to listen to the teachings. In other words, what is the responsibility of the students in the temporal? Now regarding the manner in which the teachings are to be explained, Geshe-la will cover this without relying on a word by word presentation of the text. The first of these is that the teacher must be seated on an elevated seat. The reason for this is not to glorify the teacher but in any way or to imply that the teacher has any realizations from his or her own side.
It is in honor of the lineage the teacher has received from the Buddha Śākyamūni through Nāgārjuna, Asaṇga and the great trailblazers which he is imparting to us at present. And the traditional example given for this is the transmission of the Buddha’s teachings to the 500 Arhats by Ānanda who was the closest disciple of the Buddha because Ānanda was so close to the Buddha. He received the totality of the Buddha’s teachings and when the time came to put them in writing at the first council, Ānanda was then seated on an elevated seat in front of the Arhats. He recited the teachings which were taken down in writing. So the first, the second thought, excuse me, which the teacher should not engage in is to explain topics without thinking of the benefit of the student.
This is something which normally does not occur in Buddhist circles since all teachings are for the benefit of the student or the disciple. Likewise, it is said that the teacher should not explain for his own sake or to boost his own self or reputation. Likewise, it is inappropriate to teach to criticize others. Likewise, one should not teach animated by envy or competitiveness, instead one should teach out of love and compassion. So Geshe-la had previously explained the interfering factors from the standpoint of the listeners, the three faults of the vessel for instance.
He is now explaining the interfering factors from the standpoint of the teacher. And there are six discriminations which a teacher should have which are akin to the six discriminations of the student. The main difference is that the teacher should see himself as a physician or a doctor. These are the preliminaries and upon engaging in teaching Dharma, the teacher must wear clean garments and must look on the students with a happy and radiant face. However, Geshe-la would like to point that he would clap his hands when he taught them.
That which should be abandoned as well are inverting the sequence of the topics in the outline presenting what should be presented earlier later, which should be presented later earlier. Likewise, what should be abandoned is teaching the easy and skimming over the difficult or teaching the difficult which one does not understand to the students which is akin to a blind person leading the blind. So this doesn’t really concern us too much. This is why Geshe-la is covering it rapidly. And then the teacher visualizes all the lineage teachers dissolving into his main teacher who in turn dissolves into himself.
At this point before starting to teach, a teacher should snap his fingers before being seated. This combined with reciting a verse on impermanence is so as not to give rise to pride when one seats in front of a large assembly. So this verse reads in part understand that all composite phenomena are impermanent. So we will have completed here the presentation of how the teaching should be listened and explained. The tradition in Geshe-la’s homeland was that when, and this is something which we don’t do in Australia, when the students were sleepy or inattentive, the text rested on a large wooden stand and the teacher would use a wooden stand to correct the student.
These are different local usages. So when Geshe-la was at Sera Je Monastery, the tradition was for the teacher to pull the lazy student by the ear. There were several ways of proceeding. Some teachers had a more forceful approach. Some teachers kept talking kindly to the student.
We have at present fifteen minutes. Geshe-la would like to take your questions regarding renunciation, the mind striving for future lives, what was covered today. And please do make them concise. There is no need to develop the question too much. Geshe-la was saying if you don’t remember your questions, you can ask them next time but I believe this is the last time.
It makes no difference. Geshe-la says we have been progressing very well. We’re basically we have reached section almost of relying on the spiritual teacher as a foundation of the path. And therefore, please ask your questions. Yes.
Yes, most probably since at this point, at this juncture, one is abandoning the vanities of this life and these are intimately connected with the eight worldly dharmas. So here one has to clarify things. His Holiness the Dalai Lama says, when one is speaking of striving for the benefit of future lives, it means that one is striving principally mainly for future lives. Obviously, we need the basics for this life. We need clothes, a house, and something to eat.
So this has to be taken care of naturally. Yes. This is a very close relation. However, here it would be preferable not to talk of the six perfections for which one would need to have generated initially bodhicitta, but of a training akin to the six perfections in generosity, in ethics and so forth. These are all the necessary causes for obtaining in a future life a precious human rebirth through generosity, through ethics and so forth, one obtains a precious human rebirth.
Yes? We cannot speak for the non-Buddhist Indian yogis. What we can say is that from a Buddhist standpoint, to answer your question, somebody who does not practice the 10 non virtues and who does not turn away from the vanities of this life has no hope to get a human rebirth of any type. To get a human rebirth, one must practice an ethics which is an abandonment of the 10 non virtues and this must be conjoined with pure prayers to get a precious human rebirth. Otherwise, it is not possible.
Are there other questions? Yes. Adrian, yes. It will be impossible for Indian non-Buddhist yogis to gain a realization of emptiness. Because to gain a realization of emptiness, one must rely on the great works of Nāgārjuna and his disciples.
And this direct realization of emptiness is necessarily preceded by a conviction in emptiness, which is necessarily preceded by a faith in emptiness none of which non-Buddhist yogis have. They don’t accept emptiness of any way. They don’t even understand the term. How could they realize emptiness? Yes.
Are there other questions? Yes. I’m sorry? Buddha put a lot of thought before attaining full enlightenment. He actually progressed on all five paths.
So he had to progress on the path of accumulation, preparation, seeing, meditation and no-more-learning and he had to be a Buddhist to progress in all of these. He was a Buddhist before reaching enlightenment. And in addition, before entering the path, in other words, the path of accumulation, he would have had if he was a being of sharp capacity to generate both renunciation and some type of understanding of bodhicitta. To do this, he would have had to abandon the force of cyclic existence. To do this, he would have had to take refuge in the triple gem.
In other words, he would have had to be a Buddhist. Are there other questions? Yes. Excuse me. Go ahead.
No. Being re fear of being reborn in hell is not in and of itself a virtue. It depends on the reasons for which one is afraid of being reborn in hell. Take the example of a worldly instance. Not killing someone in this country because you know you will be sent to jail for life is not virtue.
It is an ethically neutral deed from a Buddhist standpoint. This is Geshe-la’s deep hope most definitely. You. Definitely. Yes.
So Geshe-la has already explained this but to recapitulate, as Je Tsongkhapa said, without repeated habituation to the thought of death, virtue will not arise. We will remain mired in the affairs of this world. Therefore, one must think again and again of one’s own death. And then if one does this, virtue will arise. Geshe-la wants to ask you, do you understand what it means to die?
So for us to practice as Jetsün Milarepa giving totally up any preoccupation with food, with clothing, and with lodging is very difficult. However, we can train to generate this mind which is striving for future lives and to focus mainly on future lives. Therefore, have teachings on Mind Training Like the Rays of the Sun on Sunday. We were clarifying the schedule.