Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 25-minute talk, Kyabje Rinpoche opens with a meditation on compassion and bodhicitta, establishing that all beings equally desire happiness and freedom from suffering. He traces the development from cherishing others through compassion and loving-kindness to bodhicitta—the aspiration to attain enlightenment for all beings’ benefit—and explains how this thought must mature from effortful meditation to spontaneous arising. He then introduces the Kadam instruction lineage, emphasizing its core principle: all Buddhist teachings function as methods to tame the unruly mind. Mind-taming is central because controlling it automatically restrains unwholesome actions of body and speech. He traces the lineage back to Atisha, the Indian teacher who brought this approach to Tibet. Direct and practical throughout.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1994-12-13 – 20A – 9th Chapter – KR.mp3
UUID: 7f77d88a-9a1b-443d-b708-94d596798ce6
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra
Date: 1994-12-13
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~1,661
First, let’s briefly for a few minutes meditate on kind thought where we shall meditate on precious mind of enlightenment. In our case, we do want happiness and we do not want sufferings or problems. Similarly, all other mundane beings who are countless in number as if like the limitless extent of the space, they also equally do want happiness and do not want sufferings or dissatisfaction. From that perspective, we are all of the same situation. But from one point of view, it is okay to work for one one alone’s accomplishing of happiness and to remove sufferings of oneself alone.
But that itself is not sufficient and to be only working for one alone, for person alone, happiness and suffering is quite inappropriate at the same time neglecting others’ plight, because in that case it would be a direction based on self centeredness. An example of how inappropriate that would be would be like a food which may have all ingredients and everything quite well, but there are some toxic elements in it, blended with poison, and then the whole food has gone wrong. So it is something like that. Also one needs to work for the welfare of all other beings. And that is done by firstly developing the thought considering others dear, the thought of cherishing others dear.
Out of that will come the compassion which is a thought wishing all beings to be free of suffering and the causes of suffering. When that very thought intensifies further to become a thought thinking, I alone will take the responsibility to remove all other sufferings and the causes of suffering, then that becomes a compassion combined with the superior thinking of universal responsibility. Similarly, based on the thought considering others dear, one then needs to develop loving kindness, thought thinking, not only myself but all other beings be with happiness and the causes of happiness. In the reference on the causes causes of happiness, what they mean is, what they refer to are the wholesome state of mind such as the state of mind of generosity, of appropriate ethics, of patience and of the precious mind of enlightenment, the realization of reality, emptiness and so forth. In this way, these are the wholesome state of mind which really are the sources of all happiness.
So here one, in developing loving kindness, wish that this wholesome state of mind be with all sentient beings. And one then can intensify the loving kindness by thinking, may I wish that they be with happiness and causes of happiness? I pray that that be so, and I’m prepared to take responsibility on myself alone to accomplish happiness and the sources of happiness for others. Through such way of meditating, when one is able to do that, then that becomes loving kindness combined with the superior thinking of universal responsibility. That way of training on compassion, loving kindness, combined with the superior thinking of universal responsibility, there then will come the further advanced level of altruism, kind thought, where where one would even have a strong wish to attain enlightenment where there is no weakness of mind at all, and all perfections of mind are there to wish to attain that in order to benefit all beings.
When such furthest the ultimate of kind thought is developed, then in the beginning it would arise in the form of effort requiring meditation, that it would not arise spontaneously. But by meditating again and again, when it comes to a level where that very thought wishing enlightenment for others benefit comes spontaneously, then it is called the precious mind of enlightenment of the spontaneous nature. In order to attain such state of enlightenment for others benefit, one needs to practice the path which in our present context refers to the great vehicle method of skillfully attaining enlightenment. To do the practice one first needs to know about what practices one needs to do, and that part is done by learning process of one’s practice. So in this way, one can hear one can hear presently, build up the intention, thinking, therefore I will take interest in the learning part of the essence of Mahāyāna, part, whatever I afterwards come to know I will ascertain through through profound reflection and whatever has been confirmed to be wholesome through profound reflection, I will very well meditatively familiarize with them in order for those wholesome direction of mind to become part of the mind.
So please, we can think in those lines here. Here. So here to interpret briefly firstly Rinpoche did the special start of the discourse as being the last discourse of his stay this time. So to give it to the lineage touch, it was done in that way just briefly. And now here are to start with the pre-thirteenth-century lineage of instructions called the Kadam instructions.
There there is very inspiring lines of advice where in meaning it says all teachings in essence should become method to tame one’s unruly mind. And therefore, we shall go through the meaning and its implications here. What the meaning of the advice in essence says, firstly, in the historical context, Buddha, Śākyamūni, the historical Buddha gave various levels of teachings in order to benefit beings and people of different levels. Later on, whatever the Buddha taught was clarified and commented upon by the subsequent great teachers such as Nāgārjuna, Asaṇga, and throughout the history, all those who were very confident and competent in explaining the correct levels of method to cater for the different levels of people’s spiritual training. And now all, whatever they’re taught, are called as the teachings.
So that is what to start with, we can look at what teachings mean. So anyway, this evening is the time to give advice because so far in all the previous teachings, there have been lot of actual commentaries and instructions on the different levels of teachings. And now this evening being the last of the Tuesday teachings, would be a good, session to have a summary of how to practice and what, to practice, by putting into a core important points of all those teachings of the past. So in a way, we can look at a collection of lot of advices. So the connotation about it is like as if parents would advise their children in the traditional sense and would be affectionate and also very close.
So that’s why it would be something like that. There are all those varieties of teachings given and the purpose of all those teachings are that they are methods through which we can tame our body, speech and mind. Taming our body, speech and mind in meaning means, we through applying the teachings as the method make the unruly, unwholesome, activities body, through our speech and through our mental thinking subside, overcome and in their place we develop wholesome beneficial activities through body, speech, mind. Among the three, the taming of the body, of the speech and of mind, main thing we need to apply is to tame our mind because when the mind is tamed then physical actions and verbal actions which are unwholesome automatically get restrained. Through that way we can then relate that all the varieties of teachings were given as very effective method to tame our mind.
When the mind is not tamed, then it is called the untamed mind. The meaning of untamed mind means the mind is not working towards wholesome avenues of its activity. It has become tough, hardened. It has become hardened in that sense as if like old dry tree, which is no good for making anything out of it as a good timber. And so that way, the mind has become hardened in wrong negative sense.
And the reason why the mind has become hardened is because it is so much associated with impure thoughts, the delusions, the impure thoughts. And out of such, then the very state of untaintedness of the mind comes down. Now, in order to solve such problems we, as mundane beings have, we need to apply the Dharma, the instructions about taming the mind. And when we do that then the impure thoughts, so called the delusions, they become lessened and lessened and the wholesome, the good state of mind and its working become more and more dominant. In that way we then reverse the whole trend of being the mind untamed towards becoming more tamed.
So here in the special method of taming the mind there are special instructions from Tibet’s pre thirteenth century great practitioner teachers of the Kadam lineage. They were the they were part of the tradition where they a whole day and night meditated after having done thorough learning and reflection, that they meditated morning, night and all the time, and their instructions are very effective for making the mind grow and become wholesome. Therefore, here, we shall briefly go through their methods of taming the mind. As regards the Kadam lineage and their tradition, it started with the great inspiring teacher by the name of Atisha who came from what is present day Eastern India. And before also, it started from there.
And this teacher, Atisha, before coming to Tibet, firstly consulted his personal deity who was Tārā, the female Buddha. Between the two, Atisha and Tārā, his personal deity, there was face to face communication always every day. The teacher a teacher was able to consult Tārā and get advice as on relevant matters, so what to do and so forth. So all of such then, at one point, he requested Tārā, would it be beneficial to go to Tibet as I am being requested and invited? And in response, Tārā said, oh, it would be very good if you go but rely on a lay practitioner there.