Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 78-minute teaching, Geshe Jampa Gyaltsen opens with a verse from the Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life on the awakening mind (bodhicitta) and draws a parallel to Remembrance Day, showing how recalling others’ suffering aligns with Buddhist practice. He then walks through the graduated steps for cultivating bodhicitta using the Mind Training text: moving from renunciation (recognizing the faults of self-cherishing) through exchanging self for others to the giving-and-taking practice (Tonglen), which generates conventional bodhicitta. He presents two paths at the level of renunciation: the Mahāyāna emphasis on cherishing others versus the Theravāda focus on eliminating ignorance. Concretely, he outlines daily practice: setting motivation at dawn, guarding speech in social settings and examining the mind in solitude (quoting Atisha), and conducting an evening review to recognize virtuous action and apply antidotes to non-virtue. The teaching emphasizes that commitment to benefiting others is achievable through mental discipline alone and leads to genuine well-being. Pitched at practitioners already familiar with Mind Training teachings.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2012-11-11 – KR.mp3
UUID: e9a28dda-3fe6-48fc-9b8a-9271e2ca88c3
Teacher: Geshe Jampa Gyaltsen
Collection: Awakening Heart
Date: 2012-11-11
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~3,822
Thing is. So we’re beginning today with a quote from the Guide to Bodhisattva’s Way of Life that talks about, the mind of awakening or the awakening mind as we say in Sanskrit bodhicitta and in Tibetan, Changchub Sem, Changchub Sem, which we generally translate as the awakening mind or the mind of enlightenment. Verse nine of chapter one in the Bodhicaryāvatāra says, the moment an awakening mind arises in those fettered and weak in the jail of cyclic existence, they will be named a son of the Sugatas and will be revered by both men and gods of the world. So what this verse refers to is that once we’re able to once we have a degree of expertise has been attained in the practice of generating the mind of enlightenment for bodhicitta, at the moment that that arises in a in a being’s mind, then they become worthy of the great, veneration of as the as the verse says of gods and men. We know that that doesn’t literally mean that then prostrations are being made.
We haven’t the example of the Dalai Lama where we know that he has we can investigate and see that he has attained such a state and that we will offer our veneration to him. In general when a person has been able to attain this mind of bodhicitta, the verse refers to the way in which we are suddenly worthy of the veneration of every other form of living being because of the great qualities of what bodhicitta is and represents. And so we also understand that today is being Remembrance Day whereby it’s an occasion that we bring to mind the hardships and sufferings that people have endured in the course of establishing the nation state of Australia. We and generally people use the a minute silence to recall, the the suffering and hardships and that has been experienced in the process of establishing a nation state. We can understand from the perspective of generating bodhicitta that it is completely compatible with the idea of us when we seek to be able to also through the course of our motivation set ourselves to recall the hardships and sufferings of other living beings and set ourselves upon a quest for attaining bodhicitta.
So we can see how the two are very compatible and as Buddhists were making our aspiration for bodhicitta is a very important way of being able to recollect hardships that have been endured by others. So we know through our study of the text like mind training like the rays of the sun that we have been exploring the concept of bodhicitta and the means by which we are able to obtain it, to attain it. We’ve seen through the representation of within the text that there is what we call the conventional bodhicitta and the ultimate bodhicitta. Both refer to the bodhicitta that they refer to is the same in each instance but they are two different distinct paths of bodhicitta training. What we have the point that we have reached so far in our text is the completion of the teachings on the conventional bodhicitta.
How to cultivate conventional bodhicitta. And we are aiming to engage in the practices that will develop within our mind an expertise the attainment of ultimate skill of the mind of enlightenment or bodhicitta. Now this mind of bodhicitta we understand is based on the principle of wanting to be able to bring benefit to other living beings without conditionality in the sense that we want to without exception, sorry. Without exception every living being we seek to bring benefit to them in whatever way we are able to. So how is it that we are able to cultivate the mind of bodhicitta whereby our mind is under the power of this wish to benefit all living beings.
Now we’ve talked at various stages about the way in which our mind can be under the power of anger, can be under the power of jealousy, can be under the power of all, various negative mental states. What we’re trying to attain in our practice is where our mind is completely under the power of this wish to bring benefit to other living beings. And this is how we then seek a way to train in the techniques that will enable us to accomplish that. We can start by when we wake up first thing in the morning, we set ourselves the aim of being able to manifest ourselves in the world in such a way that we do nothing but benefit others and we seek to sustain that thought throughout our mind directing our thoughts and behaviour right through the course of the day until the moment where we retire at the end of the day to sleep. And this is how we set ourselves up to train to bring about the state whereby our mind is completely under the sway, under the power of the wish to benefit others.
So when we say that if we’re under the power if our mind is under the power of this wish to bring benefit to all beings and therefore we have accomplished expertise in bodhicitta, then do you feel that you have obtained some level of, expertise in this regard? Really? Oh, amazing. Alright. Alright.
No question. No question. Very good. Amazing. Good.
Good. Yeah. Yeah. Very good. Yeah.
So today we’ll condense what we’ve covered so far into a very brief exposition of what we’ve covered in the text so far. So when we come to trying to establish expertise in bodhicitta, we need to understand the best possible method by which we can train in bodhicitta. And we know from Mind Training Like the Rays of the Sun that we have been presented with the technique of Tonglen or giving and taking as a technique whereby we are able to generate expertise in bodhicitta. That is based on an understanding and practice of love and compassion. So the accomplishment of great compassion that can come about as a result of practicing Tonglen is if we take a step back from that position, we know that before we’re able to successfully engage in the Tonglen practice we must successfully understand the generation of loving kindness and compassion through exchanging self for others.
So it’s on the basis of exchanging self for others we develop the technique. We develop the understandings associated with exchanging self for others as the which then acts as the basis for the Tonglen practice. So when it comes to being able to train, to properly train in exchanging self for others, that itself has relies on a previous building block, which is the method by which we generate a sense of renunciation. So we have renunciation then arises on the basis of understanding the faults of self-cherishing. Okay?
So we understand the faults of self-cherishing cultivate a feeling of renunciation. And this is how we are progressing down downwards the steps of the practices that began with at Tonglen. So we’ve worked our way down from, now to renunciation. And in exploring renunciation, we will remember that we covered two different ways in which an individual may feel inclined towards, practicing to generate renunciation. The first was the one whereby we reflect upon the nature of cause and effect of past and future lives and death and impermanence.
Now this, Geshe-la suggests is something that often is a point of view that people as they get older become more keenly aware of as they go through the process of ageing. They become more aware of there is a more immediate concern for things such as death and impermanence and past and future lives. This is one branch of renunciation. The other is whereby we look within the social worlds that we inhabit and see the way in which negative mental states cause a great deal of hardship and suffering and see that mental states such as anger, jealousy, spiteful competitiveness, and other negative mental states come about and cause a great deal of unhappiness and suffering. We seek to understand why such negative mental states arise in our minds and we see that that comes about on the basis of self-cherishing.
And self-cherishing is making and not making this, real this understanding that self-cherishing lays at the root of all these negative mental states. It’s another way in which we can develop a strong feeling of renunciation. And of course on this path, Geshe-la suggests that it is also a great, inspirer to wanting to practice exchanging, cherishing others once you’ve come face to face with the faults of self-cherishing. So these are the two arms of renunciation. So as we’ve moved down these these graduated steps to renunciation, we have these two different So we and just to remind just to say those steps again that we’re trying to obtain bodhicitta.
What precedes that is the practice of Tonglen. What precedes the practice of Tonglen is the practice of exchanging self for others. And before we are able to really, fully practice exchanging self for others we need to generate renunciation. Now this is the way we’re doing these steps going downwards. You could also present these steps in the other direction starting at the, initial level and working up to bodhicitta or as we are doing starting at bodhicitta and working down.
The various texts do it in all different directions and it nearly depends on how it sits better for you, which way you like to study it because it is actually a very nice way to be able to synthesize the teachings and have it very clearly in your mind. So depending on your own preference whether you like to go from bottom to top or top to bottom. So Geshe-la suggests that when we come the level of renunciation, are faced with two paths that we can choose from. From. In one direction we may feel that our understanding of self-cherishing and the harm that it is causing will lead us to investigate a series of practices that we associate with the Mahāyāna path.
However, we may also analyse all the problems in the world, all the problems with cyclic existence with saṃsāra and see that it all comes about on the basis of ignorance and seek to develop trainings whereby this ignorance can be eliminated. And this path Geshe-la suggests would be the Theravāda path. So at the point of having, become acquainted with renunciation we have these two paths one towards Mahāyāna practices and one towards the Theravāda practices. So in relation to the path that leads towards the Mahāyāna practices where we confront self-cherishing, we look at self-cherishing and see exactly what it is and how does it manifest within our mind. And it is we can understand the presence of self-cherishing by the way in which a person goes about discrediting the value of other beings.
So in terms of one’s social world, if a person is continually discrediting the value of others and thereby privileging their own position then we can say that is an expression of self-cherishing. The way that we overturn this state of mind is by reassigning value to the worth of others. And thereby, when we talk about exchanging self for others, whereby once the privileged position was for oneself, we now apportion that value to others. And this is the way that we start step ourselves into the process of exchanging self for others. Because So once we decide to follow the on having made such an investigation, if we then seek to follow the Mahāyāna path and work on the trainings of cherishing others and cultivating, cultivating a cherishing of others and loving compassion then we lead towards the road.
This is the road that leads us towards body So now we’re going to if we can do devote the next two minutes to to setting ourselves whereby we go through these processes, these steps either from top down or bottom up. We remember that at the top, the ultimate of what we’re seeking to attain through these practices, we’re not necessarily referring to attaining the state of Buddhahood. What Mind Training Like the Rays of the Sun is specifically is about attaining bodhicitta. So normally sometimes we will have the ultimate aim to attain the state of the Buddha. But in this context, our ultimate aim is to attain bodhicitta.
Now if we just take a couple of minutes now to go through these steps for of, from bodhicitta down through renunciation, follow it step by step down, and then go and follow it step by step back up again. And if you go down and up and down and up and follow through these processes, you’ll think and think more about what’s involved in each of the steps as one progresses, then it’s it’s of great benefit and it’s a very important thing to do to be able to develop the practices. So for the next two minutes, we devote, our attention to going from top down and then down from bottom up through these, steps. So now if we attend to if we pay if we talk about now the way that we go about our daily life, we can imagine each day that we live, we wake up in the morning and as practitioners we need to first and foremost set our motivation and set our motivation intently and sincerely from the at the start of our day. It’s also therefore great it is it’s then very beneficial if we go through these steps to attainment of bodhicitta in our mind.
If we run through all the processes that are involved in us fully being able to attain, to attain expertise, attain bodhicitta. So in the morning if we’re able to wake up like that and set our motivation and run through the processes that enable us to attain bodhicitta, we then step out into our day. And the kind of day that we step out into whether it’s a day at work or at home, whether it’s a busy day, whatever kind of day that we walk into, whatever social worlds we enter into from that point onwards, if we need to remember to maintain this intention of loving kindness and bodhicitta through all the activities that we engage in. Now there most definitely will be times where we are forgetful of loving compassion and bodhicitta. There will be times when we forget they are not at the forefront of our minds when we’re engaging in our social activities.
If we find ourselves having let go, once we recognize it, we try to draw our mind back and realign it to have this guiding principle of loving kindness and compassion. Once again, take to run through the nature of our act activities through the course of the day. There is a quote from Atisha that is particularly relevant at this point that says, Atisha that says, when you’re around when you’re around many people then examine your speech. And when you’re alone examine your mind. And so they represent the two kinds of situations we find ourselves in usually in the course of a day either we’re in a social environment or we’re on our own.
Now when we’re in a social environment, it’s of great importance that we continually guard over the way that we talk and express ourselves amongst others. We need to be mindful of whether we are actually speaking virtuously or whether we are allowing, certain negativity to influence, the way that we speak. So when we’re amongst others, when we are in social settings, it’s important to take great care in guarding the way that we speak in amongst others. The second point was when we’re alone. Now when we are alone, it’s an opportunity whereby we need to examine our own mind and if we feel that at times when we’re alone that our mind is wandering all over the place and it’d is very scattered and fragmented, that we’re able to draw our focus back and be very, draw our focus back inwards and be very settled within our own mind.
So this is the quote by Atisha referring to these two situations. So at the end of the day So having set off the day started off the day with setting our motivation and going out into the course of our daily life. At the end of the day, before we retire, before we go to sleep at night, we should take the opportunity to examine the way in which we have conducted ourselves in the course of the day. And if we can go back through the various events and actions that we have experienced and recognise that we have behaved in a way that is consistent with our motivation, that we have behaved in a way that is virtuous, then we should take the opportunity to rejoice and rejoice as being form of to self congratulate. That you feel that you have set out to do something and you have attained it and it is a work you have done worthy and valuable things.
Okay? And by rejoicing in such a way, it encourages you to in in the future once again act similarly. On the other hand, if through the court when we make our investigation of the way we have conducted ourselves through the course of the day. If we see that there have been times where we have been inconsistent with our motivation. If there have been times where we feel that we have acted non virtuously, then it is an opportunity whereby we must recognize that we have in fact done that and not make excuses, but to make a clear recognition of our behavior, of our thoughts and then apply the antidotes whereby we are able to eliminate that habit from our the way that we live.
Now we know that there are the four antidotes to apply various antidotes, the power of antidotes and understand that if these non virtues have arisen that we make the wish after having recognised that we have in fact acted in such a way that we refocus ourselves, that we regret having behaved in such a way and refocus ourselves, redirect ourselves towards behaving more virtually more virtuously in the future. If you have free times, you know? Good. Okay. So just to finish off, when we talk about making that analysis of our daily activities.
We’ve talked about how to conduct ourselves through the course of the day beginning in the morning and ending just before we go to sleep. If we’re able to do that one day, two days, three days, four days. If we are able to be consistent in doing that each and every day then most definitely will be great improvement in the way that we are able to conduct ourselves in the course of our life. Now we come to, coming towards the end of this section. In the section of the text that we have completed, we have you’ll remember that there are a number of let me get the book page out.
Out. At the end of the section where we’re talking about cultivating the conventional awakening mind, we towards the end of that section, there are a number of There are the precepts of mind training and the section that says explanation of what appears in the text as maxims. And then following a couple of pages after that it comes to the precepts of mind training. Some people expressed, requested that Geshe-la would go through these in a bit more detail before we go on to the next section. So that’s something that Geshe-la will address when he begins these teachings again next year.
And so when we have completed that, we will then go into the section that refers to cultivating the ultimate awakening mind and the subject matter there that relates to emptiness. And so that will be that is what we have to look forward to in terms of completing this working our way through to the end of this text. On Wednesday night Geshe-la will be giving his final teaching before he leaves on liberation in the palm of your hand. And similar to today Geshe-la will be giving a summation of what he has covered so far in his teachings from that text. So if you have the opportunity to come on Wednesday night, you’ll hear a very succinct recap of all the things that Geshe-la has covered in that text so far this year.
So when we think about every as we go about living our life each and every day it’s very important that we focus our attention on setting our motivation. It is of absolute importance that we have in our mind this wish, this yearning desire to be beneficial to others to somehow whatever way possible bring benefit to others. And if we are able to set that motivation with a great deal of mental determination and hold ourselves to that commitment and have that as our overarching principle by which we navigate our way through our daily lives, then we will undoubtedly enjoy a far greater quality of life and well-being. Now His Holiness himself has often said that if you are able to truly commit your mind to wanting to bring benefit to others, it will inevitably lead to a more, to a very special kind of mental state within us. And with that mental state is what we would associate with, terms such as well-being that we will be happier, that we will live a greater there will be much greater value to our life and happiness within our life if we are able to sustain this motivation.
Motivation that wishes to bring benefit to others. It’s a very important point and it’s something that will bring you great happiness, increase your well-being. It doesn’t depend on having money to buy anything that will create something for you from some external, construction. It is something that you can do solely within your own mind with the power of your own mind and it is a surefire way that you will eliminate a great deal of unhappiness and hardship from your life and enjoy a far greater and happier sense of well-being. Alright.
So we’ll leave it here for today. Thank you. Thank you so very much. Also, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t.
It doesn’t. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Thank you. Oh, yeah. Thank you, Chris. Thank you.