Awakening Heart — 2012-07-18

Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.

About this talk. In this 117-minute teaching, Geshe Jampa Gyaltsen grounds Buddhist practice in the cultivation of sincere intention and compassion, emphasizing their direct benefit to one’s own mind and life. He opens by establishing the foundational mental states: right motivation and bodhicitta, the sincere wish to benefit all beings. He then contrasts sensory happiness with mentally-generated happiness, arguing that mental well-being far outweighs pleasure derived from external stimuli alone, and that Buddhist training specializes precisely in cultivating this deeper form of joy. Moving into patience and anger, he unpacks Śāntideva’s logical framework through several vivid analogies—why one would not blame fire for burning, or a cloud for passing through clear sky—to show that blaming others for their harmful actions makes no rational sense. He traces causation deeply, examining the role of our own past karma, the agent’s mental afflictions, and conditions that must align for harm to arise. The teaching emphasises sustained investigation, particularly early morning reflection, and warns that retaliation destroys both patience and the foundational intention to benefit others. Pitched at practitioners with some familiarity with Buddhist philosophy, especially Śāntideva’s work.

File metadata (for organising)

File: 2012-07-18 – KR.mp3

UUID: d8c7b10b-70e9-449c-a2b0-ccbbfaab94a5

Teacher: Geshe Jampa Gyaltsen

Collection: Awakening Heart

Date: 2012-07-18

Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide

Words: ~7,135

So when we begin, we understand we begin with the understanding that maintaining our motivation is very important. That it’s very important that we have the right and proper motivation appropriate to our practice. And that we also have in Tibetan what’s called, is a mind of sincerity. Or at one extreme, it’s the mind of sincerity all the way up to implying the mind of enlightenment. So it is this sincere wish for enlightenment for the sake of benefiting all living beings.

So these are the two states that we must focus ourselves on at beginning. And so it’s very important for us to think about these things, about the way that we construct our motivation and this attitude of sincere intention or like some in Tibetan, sincere intention. Geshe-la refers to his holiness the Dalai Lama speaking on this topic where he taught he has talked about having setting the correct motivation and having this sincere intent to bring benefit to others by continually sustaining these states of mind, such a state of mind and with the stress upon continually, continually sustaining the state of mind brings enormous benefit to oneself. Now if we are continually motivated by the thought that we should bring in some way through the way we live, bring benefit to other living beings, to every kind of living being. If we’re able to be driven by this desire to be of benefit to others, the end result is we end up creating an even greater happiness for ourselves.

And it’s somewhat, even if it doesn’t seem as if that would necessarily be the case. But the Dalai Lama has assured us, and it is one from his own experience, and it is 100% true, That the more that we the more that we occupy our mind with the thoughts of the welfare of others, the knock on effect of that continual state of mind is that our lives and our life, our mind, and our social world becomes a happier place. And this can be guaranteed is 100 certain. So if we think about these topics, with the the especially this lovingkindness, this, might this sincere intent, this sincere mind wishing to be of benefit to others. If we combine that with our capacity to understand and reason and our ability to make intelligent inquiry into the nature of things and we combine that with this motivation and our sincere intent to benefit others, then we will most definitely be able to cultivate a lifestyle where we are through the way we live beneficial to other beings.

And this is something that we’re an experience we can accumulate for ourselves that we can see from experience. That a sense by practicing this sincere intention to be of benefit to all beings that when this is continually sustained, we enjoy a far greater sense of personal well-being and our social worlds also become far happier and more contented. Now it would be a mistake however to think if I was to generate this mind of wanting to benefit others that I would become popular and people would like me and in some way therefore take the result and put it ahead of the course in terms of trying to get something out of generating this sincere intention, well, it would be the wrong way around of doing it. We’re not doing it because we want to be popular or because we want to be liked or we want to be highly regarded. We’re doing it for the very for the internal effect we experience from generating those states of mind.

Now if we’re able to sustain continually this mind of sincere intent, drive, this sincere wish to be of the absolute best possible benefit to all living beings, we’ll find that within our closest relationships, for example, with our children or with our family, with our nearest and dearest ones, they will understand through the way that you are living. They will experience the effect, the benefit from the internal well-being that you are experiencing through engaging in this mental application. And so we remember that there is going to by sustaining this, being able to sustain this sincere intention that we are able to become for our well-being increases and the well-being of our nearest and dearest increases. And so there is a quote from Lama Tsongkhapa within the Lam Rim where he talks about if we strive for the welfare of others, for the purpose of others, The word literally means for the meaning of others. So we can take that as saying if we strive to attain the purpose that others will wish for other people’s purpose.

If we strive to engage in practices motivated by being able to create beneficial results for other people, the end result is in fact that we gain. The profit or the gain comes within our own mind and within the way that we experience our life. So by being motivated by the desire to be of benefit to others, we end up being of great benefit to ourselves. This is not about gaining anything in terms of being of benefit to others through financial means or in a material sense necessarily like that. What it is talking about is generating these mental states because it is the mental state, the motivation, this intention that has the greatest resultant effect in terms of our own well-being within our own mind.

Generating this mind of sincere intent and this mind of bodhicitta is something that we can think about, that we can cultivate, that we can generate within our own mind. And we are able to experience and then we will be able to make an experiential inquiry into the way it works. And we should feel confident, we should feel reassured that it comes with this guarantee that will, if engaged correctly, it will bring great reward to within the benefit to our own mind. And as it benefits our own mind, by extension it benefits those who are nearest and dearest to us because of the way that we live and inhabit our social worlds will be enriched by the greater sense of well-being that we are able to experience. So this is not something where we necessarily have to think only in terms of accumulating some, making an accumulation that will somehow be of benefit for future lives.

But it is something that we can see will bring benefit that we will be able to see the benefit occur within our lives. If we’re able to generate this mind of bodhicitta, we can get assurances, again, from Śāntideva, the author of this text, who reassures us that even thinking about, even generating, even momentarily this mind of bodhicitta will bring great benefit and pleasure to our mind and will be respected and regarded by even even gods will respect and regard us for being able to sustain even for a moment this very deep sincere wish or intention for the welfare of other living beings which ultimately is expressed as bodhicitta, cultivating this mind of bodhicitta. So if we look back through the history of the Buddhist tradition for the Śākyamūni Buddha himself, the historical Buddha, and all the great minds that have engaged in study and training of Buddhism through the history of Buddhism. People such as Nāgārjuna were able to hear from them that they all have repeated the same message about the benefits of generating this mind of bodhicitta. And that if we are truly able to have a sincere intention for benefiting others, if this truly permeates our mind and our motivation, then the benefit is for us to experience in this life.

We will be happier. Life will be better. And also the results will come about in future lives that we will be happier and things will be better. These are all this experience that has been the experiences of these great Buddhist tradition, great Buddhist practitioners have been relayed to us through their teachings and they all affirm this same point. So now if we could take the next few moments that we’re able to really, think about and set our motivation and this attitude towards cultivating the sincere intention to benefit others, this mind of bodhicitta.

And if we can try and set our motivation note for the next couple of minutes. In short. So when it comes to thinking about these things, it’s lot easy to it’s much easier to just think about them. Thinking is the easy part. Now when we come to analyzing our condition, we know in brief, in short, that we can use the shorthand expression that everybody wants happiness and nobody wants to suffer.

This is a shorthand expression of a larger philosophical idea, but expressing it in this concise way really does alert us to the essential quest that people generally strive for in the course of their normal lives. That we want as much happiness as we can and we want to eliminate as much suffering, minimize whatever suffering is going to occur and eliminate whatever we possibly can. But if we begin to analyze more deeply a little about the nature of happiness and what exactly is the kind of happiness that we’re talking about, we ask ourselves the question what is happiness? And we reflect upon the two kinds of happiness that we are able to experience. We are generally able to divide happiness between the sensory pleasures that give us a kind of happiness and the happiness that derives that is mentally generated.

Now when we think about happiness, generally we’re thinking about happiness in terms of the future. How in the future we are able, best able to set ourselves upon a course of experiencing the most possible happinesses. And when we do this, we analyse it and divide it between sensory happiness and mental generated happiness. Sensory happiness, there needs to be little explanation about sensory happiness. It’s something everyone experiences and everyone knows about.

And it’s quite often a kind of happiness that takes as that relies upon some kind of external event to stimulate this physical happiness. And quite often that is driven by money. So it’s important that we think deeply about these two things that the thinking is important that we make a true and thorough investigation into happiness And the way that we divide happiness into this physical happiness or sensory happiness and mental happiness. Now we know that when we experience sensory happiness that we’re we can rely on all kinds of all kinds of external external things to be able to We’re able to rely on external things especially money to be able to bring about great deal of sensory pleasure. But if we look at the other side of the coin, the mentally created happiness, we understand that when mental happiness is lacking and when we are in enduring a state of troubled mental state, no matter what usual resources we rely on to give us this physical, this sensory pleasure, it no longer has the power to generate within us the kind of happiness that we might have had at other times when we weren’t feeling so mentally unhappy.

So by looking at this, can analyse and see that while it is true that there are a great many things that will give us sensory pleasure, a lot of external things that will give us sensory pleasure. If we’re not conjoined with a mental pleasure, then it doesn’t matter how good or how diverse or how many these external stimulants are, they will not bring deep within our mind any kind of happiness. So we should put our attention towards the happiness that is mentally created. Now if you think about this is what we need to think about. It’s time as I guess they may mention of the way a saying where the teachings have been given.

The teachings have all been given and now it is time that for people to make the analysis to think. All the teachings on the whole path have been given. They exist. We know the time has come for us to make analysis to extract the true meaning and understand for ourselves. So make this investigation into the nature of happiness.

And we can, as we get help in making this investigation, can It has been illustrated for us that mental happiness far outweighs the potential that sensory happiness has for us. So how is it that we can, if we take this investigation a step further, how is it that we can understand and cultivate this mental happiness? What is it that we can understand about it? Well, in terms of Buddhist teachings, the focus of Buddhist teachings is directed at this mental happiness. It’s all about cultivating mental state States of mind that are pleasurable, that are happy, that cultivate well-being for us, that are affirmative, that bring us a sense, a very profound sense of well-being and mental peace and happiness.

The Buddhist teachings are focused entirely on cultivating this kind of happiness. So there are other ways, other resources for different kinds of happiness. But if your interest comes to this mental happiness, the kind of mental happiness that we believe is to be the stronger and the most dominant form of happiness, then one of the greatest techniques for cultivating this kind of happiness is found within the Buddhist teachings and the Buddhist trainings. This is the specialty of Buddhist training, of Buddhist techniques. That’s what it specializes in being able to cultivate, give us the means by which we can practice to cultivate this kind of mentally generated happiness.

So we can identify that when we are talking about this kind of engaging in these practices and trainings that enable us to be able to accrue this sense of well-being and enjoy this happiness, then it refers to doing something that will accomplish happiness. So it is future focused. It refers to engaging in behaviors that are going to be able to cultivate happiness. So this is the distinction that we make when we talk about these kinds of trainings that they are future focused and give us the means by which, for example, cultivating loving kindness and compassion in our meditations. This the means by which we are able to set in motion the mechanisms within our mind to attain happiness in the future.

Now when we come to think about suffering, generally when our mind turns towards suffering, it is occupied with a sense of suffering that has occurred or has been accumulated in the past. And this is our mind when it thinks of suffering, thinking of happiness is often directed to the future and hoping for it to occur. But suffering usually derives from our sense of what suffering is derives from our experience of having held it in our mind in the past. That it’s already happened to us. Now when it comes to us thinking about trying to cultivate benefit to other living beings.

And we’re thinking about trying to free them from the suffering that constrains them and to create the causes that will bring about future happinesses. We think of two things which is loving kindness which we talk about having a sense of compassion and a sense of loving kindness which accumulates into the terminology of great compassion within Buddhist terminology. We talk about having great compassion. But it’s driven by this sense of having a sense of compassion that wants people to be free from this suffering and not experience that suffering anymore. And love, which is this hope for happiness to come in the future.

If we think about this, and when we come to now thinking about the nature of suffering and wanting to bring an end to the various sufferings that we experience, we know that again there’s physical suffering and mental suffering. There are two kinds of sufferings that we can say that we experience. And we can again, it’s very easy in terms of the physical category to understand easily What it is and what it feels like and how experience of it feels from the various kinds of physical ailments that we might have. Like we have headaches or viruses or anything that’s related to our physical health and the suffering that it creates. Now this kind of physical discomfort that illness causes us, we can usually and hopefully we’ll be able to rely on things such as medicine that will bring normal medicine through tablets that will be able to bring some kind of relief or cure to our physical ailments and alleviate this physical suffering.

But we know from a Buddhist perspective when we try to look for the root cause of why this illness came about in the first place. When we trace back the cause of this illness it’s traced back beyond the merely physical appearance of it but is traced further back through what we call karma and the accumulation of karma from previous lives. Where we come to think of a remedy for this kind of ailment, we think of accumulating the kind of karma that will result in us not experiencing this suffering. To not accumulate the kind of karma that results in these kinds of physical suffering. So a book while from a physical and medical perspective, the origins of illnesses are traced and medicines are concocted and they do have benefit.

From a Buddhist perspective, we try and trace those illnesses back much further than what they physically appear to be. The cause is karma. And we try to analyse and understand the nature of the karma that has created that suffering and try to do what we can to eliminate that kind of suffering. So if this physical ailments that we experience, we must All the time that we are experiencing these physical ailments, we know that it is something that we don’t want to experience and we wish it would be alleviated from it. And within the Buddhist context, we understand we’re trying to accumulate causes that will not bring about such resultant effects.

So when we think about reducing the nature of suffering that we’re experiencing, we’ve talked about you being able to rely on the practice of patience as a way to be able to to endure the any kind of physical sufferings or the sufferings that come upon us. And using as our mental resource, the power of patience to be able to minimize the effect that any of these, the effect these sufferings will have upon our mind. So when we talk about the study and practice of Buddhism, principally we focus on the nature of suffering because it is the nature of suffering which binds us to what we call cyclic existence. And we are bound to this cyclic existence which continually produces within our lives great hardships. And this is the karma that we create that binds us to saṃsāra.

That means that we will inevitably experience great hardships is we can confront this through our Buddhist training practise through the understanding of the principle of patience. And this is one of the aspects of patience that we’re being taught about. That we use it to be able to endure the sufferings that arise upon us with this understanding of the nature of karma and the causation of suffering. We are able to rely on that to help sustain our ability to be patient through it all. And thereby not further add to that suffering by creating more causes that were compounded, But using our power of patience to have a mind that is able to withstand, use our mind to be able to withstand the intensity of these different kinds of sufferings.

So now there is, as we become familiar with the kind of trainings and practices of the Buddhist path, we are able to rely on that to make an investigation into the nature of reality through the various explanations that Buddhist philosophy gives us as tools to make investigations into the way situations and experiences occur. This is the benefit of, Dharma of the way that the Dharma is able to act within this context of understanding patience and applying patience to our experiences. It is where we’re able to endure certain conditions on basis of having a far deeper understanding of the nature of why situations unfold and all the component aspects of each and every situation. Okay, and it’s this being able to rely on that study that the insights we’ve gained from those that study and investigation. This strengthens our ability to practice patience in the face of sufferings and hardships.

And this is the second type of way that our patience is fortified. So now in this topic of the way that the understanding of the Dharma fortifies our ability to practise patience. We know that when we are in a situation and where we are in a situation where someone who we might generally think of to be an enemy whereby using that sort of extreme terminology. But just a person with whom that we get very angry at. When we know through our study, through listening to teachings, through our trainings that when it comes to anger arising within our own minds that it’s not simply the presence and the behaviour of an external third party who is responsible for the nature of our own anger.

We know through the analysis that we have gone through that when it comes to understanding how it is that our anger arises, and in this context we’re talking about anger that has arisen, we know that we are not looking for external causes. We’re not looking for singular causes. We’ve been trained to investigate into what lies beyond within our own mind of how anger itself is being produced. We know that we have a mind that is under the sway of this drive for desirous attachment. That this fulfilment, this continual quest for fulfilling our desires.

And that when these desires aren’t able to be filled, we have this frustration that can lead to anger. So this is the kind of investigation we’ve been alerted to when that we are able to rely on when it comes to dealing with applying patience in a moment of anger. So in the second way that we apply, we fortify our ability to practice patience. It is a reliance upon all the teachings we’ve heard that have investigated the true source of nature that lies within our own minds, in our own mental afflictions, our desires attachment, our misunderstanding of the nature of reality, our self grasping, all of these things that occur for the state of anger to be generated within our own mind. And knowing that, not being able to understand that in a moment of anger, it fortifies our ability to practice patience.

This understanding gives us the fortifies our ability to practice patience. So a brief illustration of this is through if we can see from an experience whereby we’re in a situation with our friends or loved ones are getting angry. We’re able to be able to at that moment to be able to understand, have some sympathy for the things that have come about in order for that anger to arise. We know from our experience when it’s the nearest and dearest that is being overwhelmed by anger in such a way that we’re able we make some analysis, some sympathetic analysis to the nature of the way it has come about. And it doesn’t therefore so profoundly affect our ability to maintain a good state of a stable state of mind because we’ve made this in.

We have some sympathy for what we perceive to be the extenuating circumstances to the way that they are getting angry. And this is an illustration of how we’re able to rely on the investigative power that the Dharma gives us to understand the nature and processes of anger that fortifies our ability to practice patience. So when it comes to thinking about the nature of this anger and hatred and anger and the antidotes to it, then it’s important for us to be able to recognise that it is something that requires thorough investigation. It’s not a simple and trifling matter that is easily and quickly understood. It requires an investigation.

And to be able to sustain a serious mental investigation we require, we rely on a sense of physical well-being. We know that we’re not able to think clearly and deeply and start sustain investigate thought while our body is weak or is troubled. But we must understand that it takes sustained effort to become to come to this understanding of the nature of anger and hatred and its antidotes. Now of course, when it comes to making these investigations and when it comes to relying on our mind that is at its strongest and that is at its most insightful, The best time to engage in these kinds of reflections is in the morning. And the best time of course is as early in the morning as it can be for you.

Because generally we say that in the morning the mind is fresh and the intellect is at its strongest and our ability to think in with to make insightful penetrative thinking is done most easily early in the morning before of the day begins to invade our minds. Now, if you’re able to get up, guess shall I suggest if we’re able to get up at 04:00 or 05:00 to sit and make these investigations, it would be very good. But of course, time that best suits you or is appropriate to you and your lifestyle. But most certainly it is true that the earliest you can possibly do it, the earliest time in the morning you’ll be able to sit and make this reflection for as much time as you have given whatever other time constraints you have placed upon you. That the first thing in the morning is without doubt the best time to try and think deeply about these things.

So now we’re talking about when we come to the third kind of way that we’re able to strengthen our capacity to practise patience. And we’re talking about the manner in which we’re able to in the here and now strengthen strengthen our capacity to be able to practice patience. So when it comes when we analyze the nature of all the different kind of sufferings and hardships that we might be enduring. Make an investigation into this long chain of causes and conditions that contribute to it coming about. That we know that there’s no single factor that is solely responsible for producing it.

That this kind of thing is bound to occur and that it is bound to occur by the nature of all these causes and conditions that fall together. And this is a way in which we are further able to fortify our patience and our understanding of a situation that will fortify our patience. No, no worry. So Geshe-la has reached up to number 37. Now we’re directing our attention to with the text in verse 37.

If when under the influence of disturbing conceptions, people will even kill their treasured selves. How can they expect it not to cause harm to the bodies and other living beings? Verse 38 says, even if I cannot develop compassion for all such people who through the arrival of disturbing conceptions set out to try and kill me and so forth, the last thing I should do is become angry with them. And so we’re covering this section now whereby we understand that even when we observe these behaviours of other people and how out of control their behaviours are such to the extent that they, as it says in previous verses, that they harm themselves. They do all kinds of things.

They are so disturbed by their own mental states that they act in such a way. If at the very least we’re not able to generate compassion for them, we should it just makes sense that there’s no absolute reason that we should get angry at them. I mean if it’s understood all the things that work together and the way that the people themselves are unable to completely control what is happening not only within their past but within their own mind. That they’re so uncontrolled that they’re even causing harm to themselves. So therefore they’re likely and bound to cause harm to anyone else around them.

These people really should be objects of our compassion but even if that is too hard to generate, at the very least, it’s really impossible to seriously say we should be angry at them. So now we come to a part of the text where we should be alerted to the fact that if we think very carefully and take great notice of what the points are being made, there’s great benefit to be derived from where Śāntideva has arrived to. Where we’ve been brought, where he through the verses that have preceded, where he’s brought us up to, the way that he’s navigated us through this. And the point which we are arriving at now is an important point that will give break that if understood will bring great understanding and benefit to us. So what Śāntideva refers to in this when he says about saying the last thing I should do is become angry at them.

When it talks about if we find ourselves unable to generate compassion, the last thing we should do is get angry at them. This point is illustrated by understanding the if we use an example fire. And understand that if we get if we know the nature of fire, if we know that the nature of fire is that it is hot and will burn, then putting our hands in fire and then getting angry at fire is rather a ridiculous process to engage in. And this is the same way when we are able to observe all the components that have gone together in another being’s mind that it produces them to behave in a way that normally has caused us to be angry. If we can with this understanding, bringing this example into our minds of not getting angry at fire because not getting angry when we put our hand in fire because we know the nature of fire is to burn.

If we use that illustration, it’s very easy for us to again fortify our patience in not getting angry in the situation no matter how it seems that we could or should or would want to be warranted or justified to get angry. So if we understand that there’s if it’s in somebody if it’s in someone’s nature to get angry to do things that are harming us and making us that generally would act as the basis for us to get angry. Knowing the nature of that and understanding that there is no reason for us to get angry on that basis. Then we also go to another example whereby if it is not within the nature of that person to be habitually angry or behave badly, but it is something that is an occasional thing, then getting angry at them in that situation would be just as mad as getting angry at a cloud that passes by a clear sky. Because we know that the nature of the sky generally is clear.

So why should we get angry at the momentary passing of a cloud? So these are the two examples of why in these situations it is absolutely pointless for us to get angry in these situations. So the texts have read, even though I cannot develop compassion for all such people who through the arrival of disturbing conceptions set out to try and kill me and so forth. The last thing I should do is become angry with them. Even if it were the nature of the childish to cause harm to other beings, it would still be incorrect to be angry at them for this would be like begrudging fire for having the nature to burn.

And even if the fault were temporary in those who are by nature reliable, it would still be incorrect to be angry. For this would be like begrudging space for allowing smoke to rise in it. And so in another example, if we were to imagine someone being so angry they would pick up some kind of weapon. If they picked up a stick and they struck us with something, we asked and we were to get angry. Then we were analyzing that situation who do we get angry at.

Now if someone was being struck with a stick and you saw that they were getting angry at the stick, you would think they were quite mad. They had quite lost their senses that they were angry at the stick. Because if someone’s hitting you with a stick, normally we get angry at the person, at the agent, the person who is wielding the stick to inflict the harm. Well, we can use that very same logic and extend it one step further by saying that just as we don’t get angry at the stick that’s doing the hitting, we shouldn’t also get angry at the person when it is anger and hatred within them that is driving them to act in such a way. So that is where we should be directing our attention to what is the cause of the unhappiness of such a situation.

Just as no one when their right mind would get angry at the stick. Well, we take that a step further and we’d say, well, you wouldn’t get angry at that person either, but you’d get angry at, you would direct your attention towards the hatred and anger itself that lies within that person. So the text says, if I become angry with the wielder, although I am actively harmed by his stick, then since he too is secondary, being in turn incited by hatred, I should be angry with his hatred instead. So we go on. If we make a further investigation into the nature of all the things that have come together in order to cause an event to take place, we can go even as has been said before, we can take our investigation either further and then understand in terms of all the component parts of that action of where it is more that we fit into it ourselves.

So if we follow this investigation and we see that just as if we go beyond that which is obvious and as it appears, and we see that within that we ourselves are some way part of the conditions in which this negative state, this other person is getting angry and acting on their anger is causing. The verses read, previously I must have caused similar harm to other sentient beings. Therefore it is right for this harm to be returned to me who is the cause of injury to others. Both the weapon and my body are the causes of my suffering since he gave rise to the weapon and I to the body with whom should I be angry? Now where we refer to it is me who is the cause of injury to others.

This something that must be read specifically within the context of the explanation of cause and effect and cooperative conditions. Of course, it’s not a statement to be taken out of context. But when we make this investigation into the role that we are playing within this situation within a particular circumstance. This can be further example. And a further example of this is if we’re struck with a sword and the sword cuts us and we bleed.

Well, it’s this body that suffers and how did this body come about in the first place? Well I’ve created the karma that was going to ripen with the body that was going to be prone to suffering. That was going to be prone to experiencing suffering in all kinds of ways that from internal and inflicted from external. So again, when we go into the nature of the causes and conditions that are involved in one scenario, we can trace it all the way back so that even our own actions in terms of previous karma accumulated is involved in the full equation. Again we’re stretching out this equation and taking it as far back as we possibly can.

And it’s something that is to be done within the context of this Buddhist investigation, this philosophical investigation. And we can see that when it comes far more dubious where anger and blame should really be allocated. Because the more we go back through this chain of causation and causes and cooperative conditions, we see the more that we are involved in this scenario than what we would have thought superficially in the flush in the heat of the moment. So Geshe-la is just jumping a few verses. A bit.

Which creates an interesting scenario when Geshe-la’s memorized it and I’m reading it. So it makes for a bit of a trick. Sleight of hand of 51. So now if we go, I guess let’s go on ahead to another point where it actually ties, but specifically ties that up in a sense where it says, if we look at this scenario where we’re getting angry and we allow ourselves to be seduced into anger and we return that anger and hatred, then there’s absolutely, it kills off not only kills off the patience that we could generate at that time, but it diminishes the power of our patience. Our ongoing enduring power of patience and ability to practise patience.

And if we once again get seduced into retaliation, then our ability to generate this mind of loving kindness which as we said right when we set out at the very beginning, what we’re trying to do all the time is continually maintain this mind of sincere intention. Well, the minute that we’ve been drawn into responding to think, well that’s forgotten. That’s absolutely finished. And there is, well forget it because it’s destroyed as the text says. Nevertheless, should I return the harm, it will not protect them either.

By doing so, my conduct will deteriorate and hence this fortitude will be destroyed. So now if you look back over the verses that we’ve covered and the way that we’ve analyzed the scenarios of anger and read back at another time through the texts, and it reminds you of the issues that we’ve been covering and the explanations that you’ve heard, then it will be of enormous benefit to you and a benefit that you probably won’t know, won’t feel until you’ve been able to do it continually. You do it over a number of days. You do it over a number of weeks, number of months. But if you’re able to maintain this habit of reflecting upon the nature of anger and the ability of patience to stop anger and the way that we are able to make an understanding of the scenarios in which anger arises.

There is absolutely certain that over time, over time you will see an enormous benefit, an enormous resource you will have cultivated within yourself to be able to practise patience and deal with anger. So just one question because Chim Jampalyang, very difficult. So who’s the lucky question? So I’m just trying to explain the idea of denying anger, is a bit yeah? So when you’re saying denial anger, you’re saying where you have anger, you’re not expressing the anger, but you’re not also eliminating it psychologically, you’re holding onto it and the danger of that.

Is that what you mean? Is that what you mean by denying anger? So throughout going backwards and forwards, Geshe-la was referring to all the time we have to presuppose that you’re making an intense investigation into the faults of anger. And if the faults of anger are clearly understood in your mind, and this is where it depends because maybe the fault is in not truly understanding deeply enough the faults of anger. So if truly, understand the faults of anger then you won’t want to hold on to any kind of anger whatsoever.

And it will be through the power of understanding the down, the faults, the harm of anger. That would be what would be able to minimise the amount of anger and reduce you holding onto anger. Now in terms of anger, when we talk about subtle gross and subtle forms of anger and we again, which transmutes into what might transmute into resentment when we talk about resentment? Well, again, it comes back to an investigation into the nature of the faults of that state of mind and our ability to see what role it will play in to be able to analyse the faults of resentment. And by analysing the faults of resentment and the harm that it causes.

So this is what Geshe keeps going back to that it’s an investigation. If you’re holding onto it, generally it’s not because you’re holding onto it. It’s because you’re not understanding deeply enough the faults of anger. You could only possibly hold on to it if you don’t understand deeply enough the fault of the anger as well. I’m close.

I’m good to tolerate. I’m sorry. Just a reminder about the Chokhor Düchen Guru Puja next Monday night, the first turning of the wheel of the Dharma by Buddha Śākyamūni teaching the four noble truths. So it’s a very auspicious day, 07:00. And, the symposium coming up, Buddhist ethics in twenty first century, some wonderful speakers that, the weekend, eleventh and twelfth.

So please register in the with the office. And, just like to thank everybody who’s been doing who are doing the transcribing of the teachings. It’s a wonderful practice, an opportunity to assimilate the teachings and to make an offering to the center. And, if you’d like to join the busy beavers of transcribers, then please see Julie Stoner, Jewel, over in the corner there. And, then in October, there’s the calm abiding retreat with, teachings with Geshe-la.

Long weekend in October. And then, of course, there’s chai. Thank you very much. Bye.

Key terms in this teaching

bodhicitta jang chub sem (Tib)

A principal consciousness that combines the two factors of wishing to free all beings from suffering and of wishing to attain enlightenment in order to achieve that; the spontaneous altruistic mind of enlightenment can be either aspirational or engaging. LYWA

four noble truths denpa zhi (Tib)

The subject of the Buddha's first turning of the wheel of Dharma. The truths of suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path to the cessation of suffering as seen by an arya. LYWA

Guru Puja Lama Chöpa (Tib)

A special Highest Yoga Tantra guru yoga practice composed by the fourth Panchen Lama, Losang Chökyi Gyaltsen. LYWA

loving kindness maitri (Skt); yi ong jam pa (Tib)

In the context of the seven points of cause and effect, the wish for all beings to have happiness, with the added dimension of yi ong (beautiful or affectionate)... LYWA

puja chö pa (Tib)

Literally, offering; a religious ceremony, usually used to describe an offering ceremony such as the Offering to the Spiritual Master (Guru Puja). LYWA

samsara khor wa (Tib)

Cyclic existence; the six realms of conditioned existence, three lower - hell, hungry ghost, and animal - and three upper - human, demigod, and god. LYWA

self-grasping dag dzin (Tib)

The mind that apprehends the self as inherently existent. This refers to both the self of persons and the self of phenomena. LYWA

shamatha zhi nä (Tib)

Calm abiding; a state of concentration in which the mind is able to abide steadily, without effort and for as long as desired, on an object of meditation. There are nine stages in its development. LYWA

Definitions adapted from the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive glossary, as taught in the Gelug tradition.