Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 47-minute session, Kyabje Rinpoche presents logical proofs for rebirth from the Compendium of Valid Cognition. Using classical Buddhist epistemology—consciousness requires a prior cause, illustrated by the smoke-and-fire example—he establishes that past lives must exist infinitely. He pivots to the practical application: recognizing all sentient beings as our infinite mothers forms the foundation for cultivating great compassion and love. Rather than small, biased compassion for those we like, he guides practitioners toward genuine compassion extending equally to strangers and enemies. The talk addresses a key objection: how could the Buddha develop such vast compassion in one lifetime? Establishing rebirth provides the answer. He concludes with Dharmakīrti’s specific reasoning for future lives: the death consciousness is joined to subsequent consciousness through attachment and karma.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1993-08-20 – 12A – KR.mp3
UUID: bf84a69e-ccd1-445a-addf-5af790552216
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Compendium of Valid Cognition
Date: 1993-08-20
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,377
Meditate on the awakened heart for ten minutes. For the sake of all living beings, in order to free them from their suffering and to lead them to happiness, I myself must remove all my various faults and bring to consummation all my excellent qualities. That is to say, I must attain the state of a Buddha. Having attained such a state, I then radiate out emanations of myself to all living beings where they can teach the Dharma to each living being and thereby lead them to a state where they themselves have removed all their various faults and brought to consummation their excellent quality. In order to achieve that end, I am going to listen well, reflect upon and meditate the essence of the universal vehicle in this present commentary.
So we have been discussing the proofs which establish the existence of past and future rebirths. And if we were to to state them extremely briefly in terms of the the proof of the establishing past lives, it would be it would be as follows. That if we take as our subject the knower or consciousness, it it this the subject being the knower, it had there was a previous consciousness gone before. The subject as knower, there was a previous knower gone before because it is a knower. For example, the present knower.
So I’ll just repeat that again, the subject. The knower, okay, the subject is the knower immediately upon birth. There was was a previous knower which had gone before because it is a knower. For example, the present knower. So representing a syllogism, and the the the subject of the syllogism is the the knower of the infant immediate immediately upon birth.
So the the the infant immediately upon birth has a knower or we could translate it to just simply say consciousness. The predicate which we’re attributing to the subject is that there must have been a previous similar type of knower having gone before. And the reason or the sign, because it is a knower. And then the analogy, just like the present knower. Present another line of reasoning just to illustrate the way this line of reasoning is operating, can take another example.
And that is, upon the mountain, which is the subject, there exists fire, which is the predicate, because there is smoke, which is the reason. So we can understand through that reason that there must be fire on the mountain because fire must have preceded smoke. Likewise, we go back to the proof in which we’re working with, there must have been, in the knower of the, meeting upon birth, there must have been a previous similar type having gone before because it is a knower. So there must have been a previous similar type having gone before because this knower because it is a knower. There must have been a cause preceding it, similar in type to itself.
If we realize the thesis of this syllogism where it says that the knower within the infant of the immediately born child must have been a preceding similar type of gone before, then we can then must posit that previous similar type having gone before has the knower within the womb of the mother, of the child, of the knower within the child, of the fetus within the mother. And if we apply the same line of reasoning to that, but we simply change the subject to the knower within the fetus in the womb as a subject. There must have been a preceding similar type having gone before to that knower. Why? Because it is realizing the thesis of that syllogism, then we, realizing that there must have been a preceding similar type of knower before, that preceding similar type of knower having gone before would be the death consciousness of that of the knower within the fetus the continuum of the fetus.
And we could again, substituting as the subject of the syllogism, applying the same type of reasoning, the death consciousness, the knower within the dying person as of that previous life had a previous similar type of knower gone before it, and that would have been where you could posit the knower present at the immediate upon birth of that previous life. And we could perceive using this similar types of reason beginninglessly backwards, infinitely in an infinite regression backwards. So we just simply extend the reasoning process. We can understand that there must have gone before present rebirth, a rebirth prior to that rebirth, extending that backward there must have been a rebirth prior to that former rebirth without beginning. There is always previous rebirth beginningless backwards.
And as has been previously discussed at another time, there are four types of rebirth. There is rebirth from womb, from egg, by heat, and spontaneous rebirth. These latter two types of rebirth methods, that of heat and spontaneous rebirth, there is no parent involved. On the other hand, the former two, that is birthed from womb and birth from egg and womb birth would include humans and animals and egg birth for birth of eggs, birds for example, require a mother from whom one is born. We have had numberless rebirths, then we have had numberless mothers over the course of these numberless rebirths.
And in fact, that all living beings, whoso so ever have been our mother. But not only that, have all living beings been our mother, but all living beings, but each living being has been our mother numberless times. In dependence upon this line of reasoning, we can establish past lives, previous rebirths, additionally, we can establish that all living beings have been our mothers. This can become the root within the universal vehicle of the cultivation of compassion, in the fact that recognizing all living beings as our mothers and going on to remember their great kindness. So we go on to recognize that all living beings have at one point been our mothers.
Just like our mother of this life, remembering the great benefit that she has been to ourselves. Likewise, all living beings over the course of our, this infinite number of previous rebirths have also extended that benefit to ourselves and this is a way that we can begin to understand the great kindness of all living beings. So, considering the great kindness of all living beings, we then begin to look at the situation which our aged mothers are in, in the fact that they are tortured by various sufferings. But on the other hand, we ourselves have attained this precious human life and we have some wisdom and we have been practicing in Dharma. So it’s very necessary that, considering the fortunate position that we’re in, that we begin to repay out of gratitude this great kindness that our mothers have shown us.
If we were not to return their kindness, then this would be a terribly sad situation. Would be looked very poorly upon by everyone. So seeking to repay their kindness, how are we going to repay them? If we were simply to return their kindness in terms of material things, you know, supplying them with food and clothing, material necessities, this would, this at best could be only a minor way of repaying their kindness because this would not be be in proportion to the great kindness. This could only bring about some minor temporal benefit to them.
So our kindness should be commensurate with the great kindness that they have shown ourselves and the benefit that they have shown ourselves. And what would be of such a significant way of returning that kindness? If we could eliminate from this very root the sufferings of all our mothers and bring them to a state of final happiness, then this would be proportionate to the vast kindness that they have shown us. Developing the attitude which wishes to free our mothers from their suffering is compassion and the attitude which wishes to lead them to final happiness is love. And developing these then we have really developed a sense of altruism, a beneficial intention toward our mothers.
So we should seek to develop the same great compassion and great love that Śākyamūni Buddha had, not simply simply a small compassion or a small love. We do have some small love and some small compassion for others, our friends and those we hold dear, and even perhaps for some strangers, but trying to develop a great love which extends to all living beings. So in the development of great love, we begin by cultivating it toward those who we hold dear, toward our friends, but then we go on. We begin to develop that same attitude when observing those we hold dear, We are presently indifferent towards strangers, and trying to observing all strangers and developing this great love for them.
And then having done that, we go on to develop it toward enemies. And developing the attitude which may all living beings have happiness and the causes of happiness. And it should be a sincere, a genuine love which arises merely upon seeing a living being when there spontaneously arises the wish, may this being have happiness and the causes of happiness. We cultivate great compassion toward all of these types of categories of living beings, beginning with those we hold dear. It must be But our compassion should not be mixed with attachment.
We have compassion for our partners, our boyfriends and girlfriends, but it’s probably mixed with attachment. Here we’re talking about a compassion which is not mixed with attachment, and developing that toward those who you presently hold dear. But then extending that to those who are indifference toward strangers, and this would include non humans, and developing this compassion toward them, and finally toward our enemies. And to the extent that such, even when we see our enemies, there uncontrollably arises the thought in one’s mind: may this living being be free of suffering and the causes of suffering. So it was in this manner that the Śākyamūni Buddha proceeded in his practice that over, not simply in one birth lifetime, but over many rebirths cultivating compassion and having cultivated compassion over many rebirths, generating the awakening heart, and having generated the awakening heart, entering into the universal vehicle, and developing the wisdom, realizing selflessness.
And thereby, through his journey over the path, was able to remove all his various faults and bring to consummation his excellent qualities. The reason that we have gone into this discussion of past and future lives was in order to establish that Śākyamūni Buddha in fact did develop great compassion, whereas there were some objections saying that great compassion could not be generated, that no one could generate great compassion because it could not be generated in one life and there were no past and future lives. And this is the reason why it is necessary to establish the existence of past and future lives in order to establish that it can be generated since there are past and future lives over which to generate it. So we’ve presented the reasoning establishing the existence of past lives, and I think perhaps now you’ve developed some some belief in the existence of past lives. So we can in establishing the existence of future lives, rely upon the same reasonings that we have made use of to establish past lives.
And the fact that if we go back through the various past lives, previous life The life subsequent to a previous life is the future life of that previous life. So there had to exist future lives because subsequent life was a future life to the previous life. But Dharmakīrti does set forth a specific type of reasoning in order to establish establish future lives, where he says that taking the subject as the mind, the consciousness which exists, the death consciousness, the consciousness which exists at the time of death, there arises a subsequent similar type to itself because it is a consciousness possessing attachment. So if we go through this line of reasoning again establishing the future lives, we are saying that the knower at the moment of death, the respiration is about to cease, that the person is just about to die, there is a knower present, a consciousness present. That there will arise a subsequent conscious which will join, joining onto a future consciousness because that knower, is, that is to say the death consciousness, is accompanied by attachment.
And due to the force of that attachment, this will act to join that death consciousness to a subsequent consciousness or knower. And that knower will be within the knower of the being of the intermediate state. Attachment here acts like glue sticking two pieces of paper. So it is the glue which is going to join the death consciousness and the consciousness of the intermediate state being. So that which brings about future lives most basically, that is to say, that which leads us into future lives is the is the is attachment.
But not just attachment, attachment plus karma, the type of karma which brings about future lives. So these two factors together bring about a subsequent knower of a future life. So it is only necessary that these two factors be present. That is to say the factors of attachment and the karma necessary to bring about a future of existence. In general, we can say that it is necessary that the accumulation of karma be preceded by ignorance.
But here, the ignorance has already been preceded and that we’re only talking about the consciousness existing at the time of death. It is like we already have the seed. When we have a seed, when we, if we pour water on the seed, this this brings about, this sprouts the seed. So we have a, this seed, the karma, and by watering it with craving, it activates and we we we, which brings about the sprout of a future subsequent existence. Just as our rebirths are we have taken infinite numbers of rebirths, numberless rebirths.
Also the karma is also numberless.