Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
This transcript was generated using AI speech recognition and correction
File: 1991-06-02 – Side 1 – Interconnectedness of Being – KR.mp3
Collection: Dependent Origination
UUID: 1e407662-b016-4b5d-bd51-654a6238f523
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# Khensur Rinpoche 19910602 Interconnectedness of Being 02-06-91 Side 1.MP3
> **Collection:** Audio Recordings — Khensur Rinpoche Teachings
> **Duration:** 44.7 minutes
> **Words:** 2,494
> **Model:** Deepgram Nova-3
> **Corrections:** 0 Buddhist terminology fixes
> **Transcribed:** 2026-03-01 22:47
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We’re going to begin by cultivating for three minutes as our motivation, the awakening heart. So, everyone in the world is the same that they all want happiness, that none want to suffer. But we as individuals are but one person and others are numberless. So we are to hold as most precious, the most valuable, the majority. So, we’re all the same in not wanting to be not wanting to suffer and wanting happiness.
So, begin by cultivating a compassionate attitude. That is, the wish that all sentient beings, including myself, be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. And then seek to cultivate the attitude of love, which is the wish that may others have happiness, a stable type of happiness, a happiness which is completely bereft of any suffering, and may they have the causes of their happiness. In order to bring this about, in fact, the happiness of both oneself and others and the elimination of our sufferings of others and oneself, then we as individuals must develop ourselves. So for the next three minutes, try to develop the motivation, the intention that in order to benefit both myself and others, to be of the greatest benefit I can to all of sentient life, that I must train myself, I must grow as an individual, and therefore developing this intention to listen to this present teaching.
The left hand button. So we begin with a few preliminary prayers which are recited in Tibetan. You’re quite welcome to recite along. So first, third verse on page one, and then the second. In verse number five on page four.
Yeah. Quoting from the Buddha, two lines in which he said, That which is a product has was created, and that which exists has a cause. So previously we were discussing the dependent origination, the interdependence of being, and we’re going to continue that discussion. So we’re going to discuss dependent arising. In general we can say that there are two types of dependent arising.
Dependent arising with respect to internal phenomena. That is to say those phenomena which are included within the person or the sentient being. And then there’s the dependent arising which is external to the sentient being. So there’s internal and external dependent arisings. So with respect to the first of these two categories, that of internal dependent arising, we said that this was the phenomena which are included within the continuum of the sentient being.
For example, as people, we have a body and mind. Beginning to investigate how did this body and mind arise? What was it? How did it develop? And this how did it arise?
in dependence upon what? But we’re also going to investigate external dependent arisings and simply as a means of understanding we’re going to take as a simple example that of the growing of crop. For example, the various types of grains that we edible grains that are grown, whether it be rice or wheat or barley, etcetera. So we can easily see the process of the development of external dependent arisings. We can see with our eye that it’s necessary to engage in types of work and that we can see the actual crops growing.
But it’s more difficult to understand the nature of the internal dependent arises, processes by which the internal phenomena arise. So if we take an example of external dependent arisings and understand the nature of the process of external dependent arisings, we can use that understanding since it is much simpler to get at in order to understand the more difficult dependent arising of internal phenomena. So using an example of an external dependent arising in order to understand the nature of internal dependent arising. Okay. So we’re going to use it as the basis of external phenomena, understanding dependent arising, growing of rice as an example.
If we know how the dependent arising works with respect to the process of rice, then we can understand internal phenomena. So the question arises, in Tibet they plant rice in this So in Tibet they plant the rice in springtime and it ripens during the course of the summer. But I’m not sure when they plant rice in Australia. Is it the same? So the seasons are reversed.
And when it’s summer in Tibet, it’s winter in Australia. And when it’s summer in Australia, it’s winter in Tibet. When do they plant rice in Australia? Anybody know? In the tropics.
When where there’s only two seasons then, when the weather is dry. Most things in that respect would Because the being up there in the the top New South Wales and Queensland. So, whenever they plant it, it probably doesn’t make much difference, but whenever it was planted in the previous season and it depends upon having been planted in the previous season through a process of dependent relatedness, then we end up with a crop the following season. So there is this this process of unfoldment of the final harvest. First one, some of their field has to be prepared, and the farmer there’s the seed, the farmer plants the seed, the crop grows, ripens, finally it’s harvested, and then we get to eat it.
So it’s going through this process. So we get the grains to eat and there’s a profit made out of the grains and people enjoy eating their rice. And so it’s decided again to plant another crop. So the field is prepared, it’s fertilized, the farmer plants the seeds, and again the process is repeated. So using that as an analogy with respect to our present embodiment that we ourselves in a previous life were like the farmer.
And then there was a commission of actions. And this is like the planting of a seed. And then this seed ripened, and we took embodiment in this life. This is the development of the crop in the following season. So generally we’re quite comfortable in our present embodiment.
And this is due to the good works, activities, actions committed in our previous rebirth, that now we’re able to enjoy this particular embodiment or our particular food and shelter, etcetera. And with respect to rice, you know, we we’ve harvested a crop of rice and we found it rather delicious. And we think, well, I I want to eat this again in the future. So we go about planning another preparing another field, planting the rice again, ensuring that we have another crop the next season. So our human life is is really quite wonderful.
We have these very beautiful bodies with intelligent minds. Whatever we make effort at, can achieve, that we can understand anything that we apply ourselves to, that we can bring about whatever type of shelter and food and clothing that we wish. And this is, in many ways, we’re superior to animals in this type of embodiment. So we have been beginning to appreciate this wonderful body that we have, this wonderful life as a human, but this life is transitory. It’s definitely that it’s going to come to an end.
Then this embodiment that we have taken will be annihilated. And if we appreciate what we have during the course of this life, then we want to repeat it again in the future life. For example, we want to have even a better embodiment, a more beautiful body, better food, nicer shelter, homes. And so, in order to do that we have to make effort as a method to ensure that have created the causes for such an improved embodiment and environment. So it’s necessary that we make effective effort in implementing some methods whereby we can achieve not only the same type of embodiment in the future with all the good things that we possess, but even better.
Just as in the case of our present embodiment, our present life came about in dependence upon having created actions in our previous rebirths and due to which we are able to enjoy our present life. And likewise, by implementing various methods we can enjoy a better life in the future as compared to our present life. This is in the case of the example of the planting of rice. If you know having had a good amount of a harvest and enjoying the fruits of that harvest, If one prepares the field well again, provides the necessary cultivates it, provides the necessary fertilizer, then one can assure that not only will there be this equal quality of crop, but perhaps even a better one due to the effort put into it. If on the other hand there’s no effort to fertilize, no effort made to cultivate, and it’s done haphazardly, then you can’t be sure what kind of crop you’re going to get.
And the same applies to the course of our lives, that this body will eventually have to be abandoned. And if we have created the causes and have created effective types of causes as a method, we can achieve an even better type of embodiment of a type of human life in the future. If we don’t, then we won’t. Ethiopia. Ethiopia.
So even having achieved a human life in the future is not completely sure, unless we’ve created the causes, how the requisites of a good life will come about. For example, are people who are born as humans, as in the case of Ethiopia, But though they’re born as humans, have very difficult time. For example, they have no food. I mean, when we when we see the pitiful plight of these people in Ethiopia, we we would we think our hearts go out to them, but it also we think how difficult it would be to be born in such a situation. But things could have been even worse.
That is to say, we could take a non human type of rebirth. For example, as a dog or cat or horse or snake, and these conditions are even worse. So whatever we might have, that things have gone well for us, that we’re comfortable, it’s because we’ve created the causes in previous life, that created effective, skillful causes. Whereas on the other hand, those who are in these pitiful conditions have not created these effective causes, but on the other hand have created unskillful types of causes. So whatever we’re able to enjoy as far as food and clothing is because we have created the causes to be able to enjoy these.
In the same way as the field and planting the rice properly and cultivating it well, then we can enjoy a bountiful harvest. On the other hand, if we haven’t cultivated well, then we will not be able to enjoy the fruits of our skillful labor. We all understand quite readily that the quality of external phenomena, whether it be clothing, food, a house, whether they’re beautiful, whether they’re pleasant, whether they’re delicious, whether they’re efficient. All of these are dependent upon the quality of the causes. If they’re constructed well, if they’re made from good materials and crafted well, then we have a high quality product which we can make use of, which is durable, which is beautiful, which is which is enjoyed.
So we all can readily understand that the final product is very much dependent upon the quality of its causes. That independence, if we have high quality causes, then we’re going to have a high quality product in the end. On the other hand, if we use poor materials and it’s created poorly, then we’re going to have a poor result. So this is in the case of external phenomena, that they depend they arise in dependence upon the quality the quality of external phenomena arises in dependence upon the quality of its causes. Whether those quality those causes are good or bad determines the quality of the final result.
And this is exactly the same with respect to internal phenomena. That we ourselves, the quality of our embodiment, its nature, is dependent upon the qualities of the causes which have gone previously to create it. Whether we possess a beautiful body, whether we are intelligent, whether we have compassion, whether we have lots of objects of enjoyment, all depends upon the quality, in this case, of the skillful qualities of causes that we’ve created in the past. On the other hand, for those who are repulsive by appearance, who have no food, no shelter, who have little intelligence, who have no compassion, aren’t beautiful, then all of these have arisen in dependence upon unskillful causes created previously. So we, in general, are quite fortunate in our type of life that we’re able to enjoy, that we have happiness and we don’t have a great deal of suffering.
But when we want to continue in this process, we want to even have more happiness and we don’t want to suffer at all. And so, our present life isn’t going to last forever. It’s impermanent and it’s going to end. So, to ensure that we create the causes for a type of life that we wish for ourselves in subsequent rebirths, a type of life which is predominantly happy with little suffering, it’s necessary that we create the effective causes to bring that about, that we can determine the quality of our future life. On the other hand, if we don’t create these causes and create instead unskillful negative causes, then we have determined, in fact, a type of life which is going to be predominantly suffering in nature.
So those who are wise, those who are intelligent and seek to consider the rational foundation of their lives, effort in implementing causes whereby to ensure that things will go well for them in future lives. But those who aren’t particularly wise or those who are unthinking and are only thinking about saving up for their old age. They consider only the course of this life alone. They think about how to ensure that things go well for them in their old age and they’re saving up their money, for example, or superannuation. That’s their main goal in life.
And those who don’t think at all simply live they have no perspective whatsoever, but they simply live from hand to mouth, supplying their need day by day. So there are these various perspectives in the way that one views existence that people can have in dependence upon their wisdom which they bring to bear on the quality of life. And due to these differences in their wisdom, this will influence the types of activities that they engage in. So those who think only in terms of their day to day existence aren’t very much different in this respect than an animal. An animal simply when it’s hungry it goes out and eats, and when it’s thirsty it finds something to drink.
So it’s simply meeting its immediate needs only.