Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Choegye Trichen Rinpoche teaches the four lines that part one from worldly attachment, a foundational verse in Tibetan Buddhist training. He begins by establishing that study, contemplation, and meditation are all essential, but only when untainted by the eight worldly dharmas—concern for reputation, wealth, pleasure, and status in this life. He walks through how attachment to worldly aims corrupts each practice: a scholar motivated by this life develops arrogance and judges others; a meditator in secluded retreat who mentally obsesses over enemies and loved ones has not truly renounced the world. Rinpoche then develops the second line’s teaching on renouncing saṃsāra itself, detailing the three sufferings—the acute suffering of lower realms, the suffering of change that undermines even divine happiness, and the pervasive unsatisfactoriness that marks all conditioned existence. He then introduces bodhicitta, the commitment to exchange one’s own happiness for others’ suffering. The final section addresses correct view: recognizing the intrinsic emptiness of mind and phenomena without grasping to that recognition itself, a teaching requiring direct guidance from a qualified master.
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File: choegye-trichen-rinpoche-parting-from-the-4-attachments-03-4a
Teacher: Choegye Trichen Rinpoche
Collection: Parting from the 4 Attachments (Choegye Trichen Rinpoche)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Words: ~3,383
One who’s learned in the scriptures can function like an experienced and helpful guide to help many travelers to get through. Likewise, meditation is so important. Both small experiences meditation leading to ultimate enlightenment such as Shravakas and Pratyekabuddhas, all resulted from practice of deep meditation. So both study and meditation and contemplation indispensable. It is important, however, that these three practices are unaffected by the worldly concerns of this life’s welfare alone.
If one is doing study with attachment to this life’s purpose, one earns the wealth of arrogance. One will have nothing but a great supply of arrogance. If one is doing it for the purpose of selfish in this life, one will look down upon those who haven’t studied very much. One will be jealous of others who may be a bit more learned or expert in the study of knowledge. The practice of knowledge or study must therefore benefit oneself and others.
Not use it as one with which one abuses others, looks down upon others, and oneself is not better with the knowledge for one suffer from great suffering of arrogance. It is cause of leading oneself to the lower rebirth. Therefore, if your study is afflicted by worldly concerns such as eight worldly dharmas, it’s better to abandon than to practice. Likewise, with the meditation, if one has studied and analyzed them, and then go back and learn to meditate on the topics that you have gone clarification. Meditation is also correct and incorrect form.
Anyone who is doing meditation The practice of meditation is so important. You may not be able to get rid of many defilements even through study and contemplation, but with meditation you will. Such as attachment and desire may be remedied by practicing on certain forms of meditation, such as meditation on repulsive looking objects. To remedy your hatred, you might develop loving kindness. Meditation, loving kindness, and compassion.
So meditation, therefore, is a direct remedy that can alleviate all forms of afflictions and defilements. If one has a desire, meditate on a repulsive looking object. Anger, one meditate on loving kindness and compassion. So meditation is a very powerful remedy to get rid of all defilements and afflictions. Even the most subtle form of defilements, the obscuration to omniscience is also removed by practice of meditation.
So one can see that to attain the Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha stage of enlightenment or ultimate enlightenment depends solely on the practice of meditation. Attainment of enlightenment totally depends on how effective meditation one can do. The seed of attainment and enlightenment is meditation. You can see how indispensable meditation is. But however, if meditation practice, however much you do, if it’s afflicted by selfish concerns of this worldly life, then it is better not done than doing the practice of meditation.
Meditation is a great remedy for many sufferings. All the way to be leading to enlightenment, meditation is so important. So if one’s practice meditation is afflicted by worldly dharmas of concerns of this life, one should abandon. Whether you have studied and contemplated later, and then do meditation upon the subtle meanings of the topics. If one does meditation for the purposes of this life’s welfare, even if one were to go to various secluded places, where you close the door, you might even close your eyes, but letting the mind go wild.
If one’s mind could not be content and subdued. Engaging in worldly affairs of eight worldly dharmas, even remaining in seclusion. Once physically you may remain in seclusion, by letting the mind to become engaged in mental activities of putting down one’s enemies, looking after one’s loved ones, and engaging in love and aversion. Constantly constricted between attachment and aversion while remaining in physical seclusion. Is a meditation definitely afflicted by attachment to this life?
Meditation is so important, but only if it is unaffected by such worldly dharmas. Meditation afflicted by eight worldly dharmas is better given up than to follow on. It is incorrect meditation. Meditation that is one is doing for the benefit of life other than this, of course, is correct form of meditation. Even if you physically remain in seclusion, close the door of your meditation cell, close your eyes even, but let the mind go hither and thither without any sense of calmness and stillness.
Even no matter how much you engage in recitation of mantras, prayers, but nevertheless, one engages mentally in worldly affairs. So that’s the afflicted form of meditation. The person who is afflicted by the worldly attachment to this life engages in meditation, but will criticize those who engage in study. He or she may even criticize other meditators saying their meditation is a wrong form. Look down upon others who doesn’t meditate.
One’s own meditation suffer from great delusion and distraction. These are therefore afflicted by eight worldly dharmas. Meditation afflicted by eight worldly dharmas. So, with study, with meditation, morality, all of these can be looked at, what is the correct form, incorrect form. Correct form is to be practiced if one were to become free of the attachment to this life.
An incorrect form should be abandoned. It has been stated in the Abhidharmakośa of Vasubandhu. As I stated that one should have morality, study, contemplation, meditation. The importance of combining these factors together, but emphasizing the importance of distinguishing the correct from the incorrect. And practice the former, give up the latter.
Thus, morality and meditation. Jetsün Dragpa Gyaltsen has explained according to the intention contained in Abhidharmakośa. Through this, it has indicated very clearly the correct form of morality, study, meditation, as well as how to identify the incorrect form of these three. This also implies the importance of the difficulty of finding your precious human rebirth. That your human rebirth is extremely difficult to find as it is.
Yet it is impermanent. However precious your life is, it is impermanent. It won’t last long. All that is born will die. All those who meet end in separation.
All those which accumulate it ends in exhaustion. These teachings are implied. And the shortcomings of the worldly existence. Now in order to attain the stage beyond sorrow, nirvana, a stage that is beyond or unafflicted by any forms of suffering. It is important for oneself to abandon any attachment from the worldly realms of existence.
In order to achieve enlightenment, one has to let go of attachment to the three realms of existence, form realm, formless realm, and desire realm. When you look at the realms such as form realm and formless realm, they are many celestial. These two are celestial realms. They have exquisite physical conditions and enjoy everything almost with no effort. But nevertheless, they’re still in the worldly existence.
The nature of worldly existence is suffering. And therefore, it is important to let go and develop detachment with the three realms of existence. In order to be able to let go or renounce from the worldly existence, it is important for one to know the shortcomings of worldly existence. Why one has to let go or renounce worldly existence? The desire realm is a realm in which we belong to as well as six other realms of the celestial gods.
Form realm is some seventeen classes of realms of celestial gods. Formless realms are four such higher classes of gods. So all the beings found in the three realms of existence, one shouldn’t become attached to any of these realms of existence, instead develop non-attachment. And these songs of expressions are very blessed indeed, pointing out the importance of developing non-attachment to the worldly existence. For worldly existence is affected by many shortcomings.
What are the shortcomings of the worldly existence? In essence, there are three types of suffering. Suffering of suffering. Suffering of change, and suffering of all conditioned phenomena. All sufferings are subsumed in these three.
Suffering of suffering, suffering of change, suffering of conditioned phenomena. The suffering of suffering largely is concerned with sufferings of the three lower realms, such as hell beings, animals, and hungry ghosts. Their suffering is interminable. There’s no gap of time during which they can have a pause from suffering. Just merely thinking about someone talking about sufferings of the lower rebirth can make our flesh tremble.
If one has genuine realization of the sufferings of the worldly existence, if you truly meditate on the sufferings of the world, there’s no time but to cry. We could not bear even a poking of a needle for a moment, but the sufferings of the three lower realms is incessantly heat and cold and all kinds of sufferings. Like having to spend all of their life in burning pit of fire. But due to heaviness of karma, they can’t die. It seems beings aren’t stopping the causes that will fall themselves in such a rebirth.
They instead seem to be cultivating. How pitiful that beings continue to create causes of very suffering they don’t want. And Dragpa Gyaltsen laments how pitiful indeed that beings are creating causes of suffering they don’t want. If one thinks deeply on this, there’s reason to make ourselves shiver and feel deep remorse and sadness. These are just rough brief explanation of the suffering in the three lower realms.
The suffering of change. Once you therefore abandon the causes that will bring oneself to rebirth as animals and hungry ghosts and hell rebirth, their lifespan is enormously long and drawn out. It is important to recognize suffering. What are the sufferings? Suffering of suffering.
Suffering that’s the heaviest of all forms of suffering. Suffering of suffering is just like suffering of a leper. No matter what he does, scratches or removes one’s layer of skin, it exacerbates the suffering. The suffering is merely all lepers are like that. They have no time but suffering continuously.
The suffering of suffering means they have completely doubled forms of suffering. Beings are not stopping the causes of suffering, but yet cultivating, sowing the seeds of unhappiness. Isn’t this pitiful? So says, beings who create negative deeds in this life sooner or later end in prisons. Most beings unknowingly and unconsciously creating causes for such prisons of next round, let alone the universe.
How come beings create such causes? The suffering of change is that even the gods of the Brahma and Indra enjoy great happiness at this lifetime. But when their lifespan changes, when their situation changes, they will be fallen from this glorious birth. Even the sun and moon, one day will go darkness, unable to shed a single light, even that of a small firefly. Today is very bright, but it will change.
Say, if a sun or moon were a being, there will be a time that it wouldn’t even see where to stretch its arm. Even though you have so much light to the world now, there will be an inevitable time that will happen. Even the most powerful king pulled down from his high offices to become servants and even end up as prisoners. There’s no certainty how long can anybody sustain a status of any kind. A law of impermanence.
Ordinary people cannot fathom the subtle meanings of the law of impermanence. The law, the suffering of change is all affecting you around you. Look at the rich people who enjoyed great wealth and prestige in the past, who turned into beggars who have nothing. Some people who maybe exercise a lot of power, but now have no power whatsoever. We have gathered here with many people here.
There will be time that no one will be in this room. Suffering of change affects us all. Human beings as we ourselves are know whatever you do, for example, in activities, there’s no time that work ever gets done by doing. There is never a time that one feels adequate, but yet, one never feels or have the wisdom to stop. Activities never get done by doing.
There’s no sense of contentment whatever we do. If one doesn’t have, one wants so much. If one has so much, one doesn’t know how to look after them. Rich people have so many animals, cattle, people working for them. Constantly, their worry increases with their wealth.
Yet, they do not know how to stop that very suffering. For their very status is the cause of their unhappiness. There’s no happiness whether you’re wealthy or poor. Person instead of getting rid of such causes of unhappiness, yet cultivating the seeds for their future unhappiness. There’s nothing that is certain that we can rely upon.
What is certain is death, but yet one doesn’t think about that. One is cultivating causes of uncertainties. One has no certainty how long one will live. If one dies, one has no certainty where one will be reborn. There’s no guarantee one won’t be born in the three lower realms.
There’s every likelihood that one will be born as the causes one creates are there. This implies the teachings of law of cause and effect, that whatever you do, if you create good causes, they will bring good causes and happiness. If you create unhappiness, causes of unhappiness, they will become causes of unhappiness. Therefore, it is important to see the cause and effect relationship, learn to restrain the negative causes, and learn to cultivate the causes of wholesome deeds. If one learns how to abandon attachment to the worldly activities, one will be able to go beyond the sorrowful nature of the world.
If one has no attachment to worldly activities, and this life, this worldly existence in particular, one can go beyond sorrow. Going beyond sorrow is reaching nirvana. Nirvāṇa is to say, go beyond sorrow or destroy all the foes of the inner mind. Getting rid of suffering means getting rid of one’s inner afflictions, the inner enemies that we haven’t discovered. If one is able to let go and have non-attachment, then one will be able to achieve state beyond suffering, nirvana.
And Dragpa Gyaltsen says, I feel like singing the song of my spontaneous experience of deep meditation. He says, there’s no benefit for oneself seeking enlightenment. Even the world is full of suffering. What is the good of me attaining enlightenment myself? Thus, he comments on the second line.
One attached to one’s own purpose, one doesn’t have renunciation. All living beings have one another time when one’s own kind mother. Ignoring them is a great cause of pity. This implies the importance of meditating on thought of enlightenment or bodhicitta. One should learn to meditate on loving kindness, and that is to create cause of happiness.
Meditate on compassion, that is to alleviate sufferings of sentient beings. It is important to learn how to meditate on the equality of oneself and others. And if one doesn’t meditate on the equality of oneself and others, knowing that just as myself wishes happiness, so do all living beings. Now bearing this in mind, then one dedicate for the well-being of other beings. What one does, one dedicate for the benefit of others.
Sending all the good things we have done for the benefit of others is exchanging one’s goodness for the others. If one is able to meditate on these four lines of the parting from the four attachments, it will enable oneself to gain firm footing of realization. By learning how to exchange one’s happiness with the sufferings of others, one cultivates cause, the thought of enlightenment. Just may all the sufferings of other beings ripen upon me. May all my happiness reach to other living beings.
There’s a story. One teacher, someone threw a stone at a dog, and the teacher, having seen this, actually felt as the stone fell on his rib. And most of the students thought the teacher was pretending. And the teacher actually cried saying, and when people checked on his rib, there he had a bruise. He has actually done this, what is taking the suffering of the dog that had been hit by a stone.
Now the fourth line is whereby if you have grasping, you do not have a correct view. The meaning of the fourth line, that is if you have grasping, you haven’t got a correct view. Of course, in this very short time, we don’t have time, but actually this is no justice to this text, to try to talk in one evening. In other traditions, in Kagyu, Gelug, and Sakya, they all have various forms of Lamrim or graduated path to enlightenment. This is one of the earliest forms of text that became the basis or which instilled faith in most authors to write their lengthy commentaries on gradual path to enlightenment.
Now this is the fourth line. The meaning of the fourth line. If you have attachment or if you have grasping, you don’t have the correct view. It says that the importance of oneself being able to recognize the nature of one’s own mind. The self-cognition of one’s nature of one’s mind, but if one has if one develop grasping to that cognition or awareness, then it is not the correct view.
The view is the one that which liberates oneself from all sufferings and conception. But if one grasps or clings to it, it does the opposite. The view needs to be explained and the subtle meanings. If one has the incorrect view, one will not be able to achieve any higher liberation. Let alone the ultimate enlightenment, one would not even achieve the stages of the Pratyekabuddha and Shravakas.
Even falls into the extremes of eternalism and nihilism. Those people who deny existence of liberation and all cause and effect, those are nihilists. For them, there is no liberation to seek and do not create causes for higher rebirths, for they believe in nonexistence of things or are nihilists. Those people who expound existence for them, they aren’t able to cultivate anything on their own for they assert existence of things of an eternal kind. So what one needs to resort to is the self-cognition of awareness of one’s own mind, the intrinsic nature.
Without falling into the extremes of the two. Of course, realizing the ultimate truth of the views is harder. One needs to the correct view is nature of one’s mind. Using mind as an example. The mind itself is explained by the example of dream.
For instance, if a person dreamed that he became a king and he become punished by somebody, all happened only in dream but never in reality. All the currents in the mind are illusion. It is important for oneself to be able to abide in the intrinsic nature of the mind, the emptiness of all things including one’s mind. It is important to gain very clear cut realizations on the correctness of the view by gaining instructions from your spiritual master. It isn’t something that everybody can try without proper instructions, guidance.
One will not be able to attain even the stages of arhats. If one falls into the extremes of eternalism. There’s no liberation for people who believe in eternalism. Those who deny the existence of anything other than what one can see, for them there is no higher forms of rebirth. One falls into these two extremes of nihilism and eternalism.
The view, of course, due to lack of the correct view, they fall into these two pitfalls. If one is able to realize the self-cognized awareness of the intrinsic nature of mind, one examines the nature of the mind.