Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 33-minute Q&A session, Kyabje Rinpoche addresses questions about balancing spiritual intensity with self-care, managing practice when time is limited, and responding ethically when wronged. He opens by cautioning against overdriving practice to physical harm and advocates sustainable balance. For practitioners with limited meditation hours, he teaches reflective practice: briefly reciting “All sentient beings are suffering; for their freedom I will gain enlightenment”—done swiftly without elaboration—is sufficient. The core teaching addresses a specific ethical scenario: when stolen from, accept loss as karmic ripening, mentally gift it as generosity practice, yet still report the thief to police out of compassion—not anger. He closes by clarifying non-egotistical rejoicing: celebrate not your own achievement but the confluence of teachers and conditions that enabled your practice. For practitioners with Buddhist background.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1994-07-13 – 4A – Retreat – KR.mp3
UUID: 487d2c15-cefc-42e7-b44c-612924f6186b
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Chenrezig
Date: 1994-07-13
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,809
About sort of way to get there is very important. So in the past, there’s a lot of situation where people in initial stages, even they engage spiritual practice, they went really hard on despite whatever the physical discomfort they may achieve or experience, should I say. And as a result of that, it created a physical problem then which ended in the premature death, which means they lost their lost their this precious human rebirth, so to speak. So it was not a very skillful means to do that the way to do like that. So in other word, you know, to look after your bodies and taking care of your bodies and, you know, kind of giving a little bit of rest and practicing.
It’s all part and parcel of of getting there as long as you do the right sort of, you know, reason to do that. So just driving all the way without getting there, it’s like a kind of, I suppose, exercising type, you know, you do a slow exercise and that sort of which he didn’t say that, but if which speaks English, probably perhaps he will say that to you. Don’t go into a straight hard exercise. You know? Just slowly, slowly, and when you get there, when you get your body really moved, something along the line.
Yo. But helpful. But in my normal life, I have a limited amount of time to spend meditating. So sometimes it takes at the stage I’m at, it takes all of my time to reduce my irritation with people to feel just a small amount of love and compassion. Mhmm.
So should I concentrate most of my time on developing that and just do, say, a small amount of deity yoga? Or should I Yeah. Yeah. Lower my expectations as it were and not worry about being too perfect with my development of bodhicitta and sort of Trying to work out with your Work out a balance. What what is the better method of practice for something?
Mhmm. You’re saying that instead of practicing that sorry. Instead of spending more time on the, let’s say, a formal sort of practice, what do we say, or trying to work out how to get on with other people, so to speak, or the irritability that people cause trying to work that down, reduce. And reduce that and trying to develop bodhicitta. Is that more important than spending a lot of time on deity yoga?
Okay. Or or or should I not not have such high expectations for developing bodhicitta at this stage and and practice you know, what what balance of practice should I get? Sort of. I’m not You’re talking about meditational practice? Yes.
Which sort of meditational practice? Is is is the best? Lam Rim, like tonglen taking and giving, or deity yoga. Given that that in the busy life, we haven’t got much time. Yeah.
So it takes me a long time to develop a good feeling before I get on to other forms of meditation. Uh-huh. So should I be satisfied with that, or should I keep it shorter? Short process. Even if it’s not even if the feeling isn’t perfect.
Okay. I get it. Okay. I get it. Okay.
Fair enough. Mhmm. This one again. Buddhist says that if you find that when you it takes a long time. You said you find you very helpful and everything when you got the time.
Right? That’s fine. When you got the time, it’s important that you try to do as best as you could, and there’s nothing wrong to your expectation. Your expectation is nothing wrong. That’s fine.
But when you can face with the short time constraint that you haven’t got time, you’re very busy, and that that those time, you can do it quickly, so to speak. It’s like a thing called reflective meditation. You just, you know, take a quick glimpse and and and to suffice it, so to speak, with that. That’s in itself, nothing wrong with it. It’s all part and parcel of a skillful means of getting there.
And No. You can do the kind of a very quick reflective sort of practice go through roughly very quickly sort of. That’s fine. When you do that, you’re not constituting any kind of a transgressional sort of act. That’s fine too.
But when you get a good time, when you got a free time, do it thoroughly and, you know, as best as you can. When you haven’t got time, do it really quickly and they call it reflective sort of meditation sort of just have a quick look over it or go through quickly. So in itself, it’s something that you shouldn’t be feel guilty about or anything like that. You depart and pass up the whole thing. See, when you do practice, you say, things like that.
When you do a quick practice, just you can sort of sort of when you haven’t got time, you can sort of you don’t have to go deep in great details or anything like that, but just simply say in your mind that all these other sentient beings are suffering suffering all mother sentient beings are suffering. And for them to make free, I will I will try to gain enlightenment as quickly as possible. Just think that like that really quick in your mind, and that should be enough. You don’t have to, you know, work out the logistics sort of angle or the points and that kind of stuff, you know, and just say that really quickly in your mind and you get on. That’s that’s fine too.
That’s nothing wrong with that. That’s also a a stepping stone, so to speak, to get a little bit that much further further up. Yes, please. Possessions, all your property is stolen. Yeah.
And you know who the thief is. Yeah. And so my reaction to that thief is the thief has behaved and has acted that way through ignorance Yeah. Delusions. And it is not the thief’s fault, and I rejoice in the fact that my that my karma has ripened.
Mhmm. I was probably too attached to those goods anyway. Mhmm. And so I accept that. Mhmm.
Now having done all of having accepted all of that, I now go to the police. You wanna go to insurance? Yeah. Okay. I now go to the police.
No. No. No. I’m sorry. I now go to the police.
I go to the police not because of what’s happened to me Yeah. But because I’m very concerned that this person Yeah. Is going to go around stealing from other people Yeah. karmically. Who are not going to react in the same way as I am Yeah.
Who are going to get very angry about it Mhmm. And might do any number of terrible things themselves. Yeah. There’ll be some bad reactions as a result. Is that correct?
Yeah. Yeah. Is that how I should approach it? I I go to the police, but I go to the police for that reason. Is that right?
Correct. The the the the and for the benefit that other the thieves. For the benefit of the not for my own benefit, not not out of anger. Yeah. And not that he won’t get as many kind of consequences.
Yeah. Yes. Also for his benefit. Yeah. Alright.
I’ll get yeah. Fair enough. Alright. It’s pretty self explanatory in my sorry. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Fair enough. Fair enough.
I take your point 100%. As a general rule, the way one As a general rule as a general rule, the way you think is fine, is a logical sort of a logical sort of a clearest manner to think is correct. However however, I mean, you gotta you you are the best assessor of the situation. Okay? You are the best assessor of your situation.
You gotta work it out what sort of, you know, what sort of thing will happen to him as a result of reporting to police. As a general rule, if you if you do anything without knowing the consequence, if it is motivated with virtuous act, virtuous mind of benefiting others, even if it does not create a great deal of meritorious things, somehow you don’t constitute the negative thing of it. It does not become a negative actions. That’s the that’s the rule. Okay?
General rule. Not rule, but that’s what it is. However, you know, you gotta work out the pros and cons of it, you know, despite your love and compassion for him because you Rinpoche doesn’t know what sort of circumstance you’re talking about here. I mean, it could be anything, you know. If just say if I mean, this is my bit of addition.
If he’s in Pakistan or some Muslim country, he’s gonna be beheaded or losing a hand. You rather not report type thing. So you gotta work out in that sort of sense, but it’s you the best sort of thing. If by reporting police in your genuine belief that that person will be rehabilitated properly, just to give you an example, rehabilitated properly and he will get improved or whatever, then sure, that’s fine. But in a really peculiar circumstances where in your belief is more kind that perhaps is not reporting is better suited for.
That’s, you know, you just have to work out the particular what is gained by doing certain things and what can avoided or achieved as a result of not doing so. Unlike I’m in some extreme country, you know, just steal something, you know, you get your arm chopped and, you know, that that’s that’s my bit of to make a bit bit more understandable to you. Answering leaving that answer aside, which add like like add a little bit here, it says, should you happen to confront a misfortune misfortune of your goods or whatever got stolen or whatever, it is irretrievably stolen, so to speak. Okay? Should that sort of happen here, you should try to think, cultivate that there’s two purposes here.
First, you must have stolen something from him or his previous in your lifetimes. So now you feel happy that, okay, I’ve stolen something, so we’re even sort of thing. So feel happy just get rid of get rid of your the consequences of stealing before in that thing like that. So in that way, you won’t be that upset as a result of getting things stolen. Right?
And from other point of view is that to think is now the goods are gone. Right? Instead of being miserable about it, so you’re trying to think and be happy that and and and and you dedicate, like, I have given this as a gift or as a generous generous practice part of to that thief whoever took it. Right? So if you do that, then actually the goods you lost, you haven’t quite wasted it.
So it has achieved two purposes, you see. One is that now you don’t have to go through that again, you know, of having to experience thing that’s taken care of. Other, while it will be misfortune of losing your goods, you have practice giving. See, it’s all attitudes which makes it very worthwhile. So should you happen to have that sort of misfortune, is this how you sort of counsel yourself about that?
And that is truth as well. It’s not just over in a hocus pocus thing. It’s truth as well. I mean, yeah. I see.
I might go, but you can’t get exactly the same. Yeah. Try to replace them with something else. So is is it saying you should be going for insurance or not? If you probably, if you go for insurance.
I suppose if you go to insurance, you know, then, like, you you’re taking from the the insurance owners owed owed you something. They have owed you some previous lifetime. I mean, the logic. So, you know, know. But you got a gist of it all anyway.
Don’t don’t need to sort of stress too far now. So do you want me to ask? Is it alright with claim insurance? If that person has stolen something from me in a previous lifetime Yeah. And then I deserve well, you know, it’s well, I don’t know deserve, but if it’s, you know, it’s a it’s I’ve got the karmic consequences coming to me.
Now if I go and claim on the insurance, there’s not a great loss anymore. I mean, that you know, I’m I’m I’m I’m certainly deteriorating. I’m Yeah. Suppose you can go and claim the insurance. That that that’s it then.
It takes care of yourself, isn’t it? There’s nothing wrong. I don’t need you to ask that. I mean, you know? Janet Janet.
Yeah. Okay. Okay. Sorry. In a sense in a sense, sense, sort of we don’t have a choice, so to speak.
So what we are doing here is we’re engaging the pursuit of making the having the right of making in the pursuit of the having the opportunity to make the choice. That’s why we are here, for instance, we talk about the the benefit of the virtuous act and so forth. You’re learning that. Right? Now, I mean, this choice could have been tricky words.
You gotta think from the the spiritual point of view. Everything we do is a result of karmic reaction and so forth. So that the very fact that we we study the qualities of being in develop that type of mind and so forth, then we we get some intentions. Intentions. We develop an intention, right, to achieve that quality.
So in actual fact, we’re in the process of getting the opportunity or right to make the choice speaking from that point of view. I mean, of course, you got a right to make choice to make a cup of tea type thing. You You know what I mean? Do did that answer you probably or not? That, I mean, I suppose you’re not supposed to be self pat on the back and saying, you know, I’m great being here and everything.
But because it’s You you do. Remember, it’s the end of the evening practice. You do that. You give your personal pat. Some Remember what you said is that, okay, okay, it is true that that that the very fact that you are here and, you know, get the opportunity to practice in your circumstances is due the lot of factors, a lot of other people’s help in the previous lifetime, the teachers and the friends, the circumstance, and a lot of things.
Right? So it is it’s it’s a kind of not a a a it’s it it is all these things don’t happen because of one particular cause or conditions. A lot of things is made these things possible for you to be able to practice. So do you understand that? It made it made it possible for you to be able to practice.
So when because of the previous lives, the lamas and the gurus all, you know, help you, guide you, so that you are in this situation today here like this too. So when he said, you know, be happy the fact that you’ve done a good job, it’s not like kind of with idea that all of I’ve done this job for myself. I’m so good. He didn’t mean that. He said he did expression of kind of a state of rejoicing rejoicing that with the help of all other people’s, you know, previous lifetimes and a lot of other things, I’m I I have been able to, you know, do a reasonable day’s job done today.
Therefore, it’s to be rejoice. In a sense, you’re sort of rejoicing rejoicing rather than saying taking actual credit, so to speak. You’re not taking credit for what you’ve done, but in a thinking for the the every reason that has made you possible to to be able to, you know, do the practice and and so forth. Okay? It’s a lot of other reasons.
It’s not a kind of it should not be act like a taking credit you as you, you know, you take a credit. It’s not like that. Saying it’s wonderful because all these things, this made me able to do or enable me to be able to do this, get job done really well today. That’s that’s that’s to be nice, kind of rejoicing, rather than have a touch of a conceit or ego or saying, oh, oh, giving me a credit. I’ve done a marvelous job that I sort of did it type thing, not that sort of way.