Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 39-minute foundational teaching, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen addresses a core Buddhist question: why does Dharma practice reduce suffering? He dismantles the illusion that wishing for happiness works — we must understand its causes. His central insight: mind shapes body. When we understand suffering arises from our own patterns and past actions, our mind suffers less, and the body follows. He uses everyday examples, including breathing meditation as a trick to redirect an angry mind toward neutral ground before deeper practices like bodhicitta or emptiness. He explains why internal development — mental qualities, virtuous motivation, ethical conduct — carries to future lives while wealth cannot. The teaching distills to a simple formula: Buddhist practice is views (understanding dependent arising) and behavior (avoiding harm). Suited to practitioners new to Buddhism.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 02 ALB.mp3
UUID: 2afb4376-659a-428a-91f0-589f6243c946
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: A Look at Buddhism (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1995 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 39.7 minutes
Words: ~2,506
So we we wish we wish what we wish for us us is happiness, and we don’t want to suffer. So, but then just wishing for happiness and waiting there when we never receive happiness or just wishing that mean not go through any sufferings. That doesn’t mean you you you never go through sufferings. So it’s same thing like if you just wait, how much you could get some money? Doesn’t mean that you’re going to get some money?
So so So now what we should do is that we should check, analyze what brings about the happiness, what causes the happiness, and then what one should do to remove the sufferings? This is what one should know and analyze. So when you analyze that, then the only teachings or the Dharma practice is the best that which brings happiness and that which also removes the sufferings. So, doing a Dharma practice, doing a Dharma practice that can bring happiness to this life and that as well as to the future lives. So even if you look to your life at this very time, then if you analyze it, then the Dharma practice is the best method for for for gaining happiness and removing sufferings.
So, for example, one advantage as knowing the Dharma practice is that if a person goes through a severe suffering, like physical suffering, then if that person knows something about Dharma, then the suffering that he or she goes through has less and then less than the one who don’t know about any Dharma practice. So, for example, the person who knows Dharma or a person who have the understanding of Dharma practice, For him or her, even if there’s a physical pain, he or she may think that it is a result of our past action, one thing, one way of thinking. And or another way of thinking, it’s the nature of saṃsāra that one goes through these sufferings. And this way of thinking weakens or this way of thinking makes them have less sufferings. So how they suffer less is that because when they think over these points then they they have the physical suffering very strong but mentally they don’t suffer because they think about these different points.
And when they think about these points, when they have less mental sufferings, then that also helps reduce the suffering of physical too. So the reason how it works is that body the our body follows our mind. So so because of that, if our our mind experience less suffering, then physically one experience less suffering too. So then the person who don’t know about any Dharma practice or understanding of any Dharma practice, then for them not only they go through the physical sufferings, but they also go through mental sufferings, like mental sufferings. Which they have to suffer both physical and mental.
And because of that person going through a strong physical and mental pain that that person may scream or cry. And because of that, that who is around that person also experience suffering and pain of that person because of that person is crying and screaming and which also brings physical and mental sufferings around who are around too. So, one need to practice Dharma and then whatever, what kind of Dharma practice, what kind of practice one do is totally depends on one. To whatever one is interested, one can do that. So then those who are interested in learning and understanding Buddhist teachings, then like continuous teachings will explain how one should do the practices.
Like in the very beginning what type of motivations one should generate and continuously how one should engage in the practice that will be explained in the coming next teachings and that’s also what is the aim that is also the aim which has been from the office. Mhmm. So probably we’ll stop here for tonight and whatever questions you like to ask, you can ask. Yeah. Anyway, there are like a you can there’s a sentence comes out, like complete sentence.
So then when you come to the end, I can pick up from there. Yeah? So, like, in Buddhist teachings, there are many ways one can start or many ways one one can meditate. So depending on the level of the person, in which level the person is, Like there are different ways, there are many different points which you want, it’s important for that level. So like there are many levels of meditation.
For example, meditations on bodhicitta, meditation on emptiness, and there are many other meditations. What type of meditation you like? Yeah. That’s very good. As to this explanation of bodhicitta, bodhicitta can needs guess they need to explain a lot.
They need to give a quite big explanation on that. So generally, what bodhicitta means is a good heart. So which which is oneself and like, between oneself and others, you cherish more of others and wish wish to bring happiness to the other. That that type of mind that that type of mind is what is known as So in order to generate that type of mind or bodhicitta within one, there are two different ways, two different ways one can train. So to explain those two different methods or way of training will take long time.
Maybe Geshe-la will explain in the next teachings. Next time? Yeah. Through nine times. If you’re doing emptiness Uh-huh.
How long do you concentrate on the nine times, or do you just go to a state of emptiness? And then that Mhmm. From the So one can also meditate on emptiness there but meditation on emptiness also is not easy. As it needs to have it’s quite complicated and needs a lot of explanation. So when one is doing breathing meditations, mainly your mind should be concentrating on the breath, going out in and out.
So, this breathing meditation actually is what how you, like for example if your mind is in a negative state, are tricking your mind and taking it to a different state by doing these breathing meditations. Geshe-la will give you an example here. So like as an example that if you if you have a nice place to to sit on and and then if you find someone is taking your place, sitting in your place, then just go and say directly, oh, this is my place, take it up. Might disturb the person or feel angry, make you make the other person angry. So so then here, we should trick the person.
So how you trick that person to get up from your cushion is that go to the window and tell, oh, there’s very interesting thing there. And then So then if he if he if the person goes to the window and then quickly come down and sit down, So in the same manner, like if our mind is with a negative mind like anger, hatred or attachment and so on. So to bring our mind from that state, to bring into a neutral state, then what you do there as a trick is to do the breathing meditations. And then when you concentrate on the breath, then the mind is already out from the negative states. So then when it’s on a neutral state, when the mind is on a neutral state, then you start doing other meditations like meditations on bodhicitta, meditations on emptiness.
Then that’s how you start. He said, if you do meditate while you are angry, then you might all your body might be shaking at the same time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah?
Could you talk a bit more about the nature of the mind? So also as the example that we use the rack like covered with the rag. Same thing like if the image of the Buddha is like inside rubbish rubbish, then if you sort out the rubbish and there you can find the Buddha image of Buddha. In the same manner like as as example, like with the with the mind to like a our mind is clouded by these different delusions. So in a in a dark room, for example, if there’s a piece of gold there because it’s dark, you cannot see.
So so then if you if you use a flashlight or switch on the light, then the darkness is clear out so you can see the gold. So the same thing with the mind is it’s clouded or darkened by the delusions and its imprints. So so so if one is to remove those those delusions, the three poisons, like one another one after another, then then slowly one come to see the clear nature of the mind. So one thing, one reason is that, for example, the development of our mind can be can be developed like limitlessly. Whatever like whatever qualities you study, whatever qualities you study, it can be let me say, the qualities can be, I wanna say, the mind can take qualities.
So that mind come to understand the qualities is that because the mind itself has that nature, a clear and knowing. So for example, with with the anger, if you do if you’d increase anger, that comes to a limit. It cannot go to limitless. So for example, the anger can be like can be removed very easily. Like if you are angry to some person, if you hit a box or give a punch, then probably your anger is gone So this one is because of the karma of the individual sentient beings.
What what kind of karma they have created from their past lives? So the different ways of creating different karmas. Like for example, because of different ways of creating a karma, we all have different forms, like physical shape, different way of thinking, different way of working, different, yeah, different way of working. So for example, there are also good ones who wish who who are the good ones, which is also as a result of working for others. So so like, yeah, there are also those who have problem with their mind, problem with body and also goes with sufferings, goes through different sicknesses.
And this how it happened is is created by ego or the self grasping. Yeah? Good. Yeah? So with the external development like materialistically, like one cannot reach any enlightenment.
Not even like a better rebirth for our future. It’s good for. So what actually helps our future or for the achievement of enlightenment, different level of enlightenment is the only thing that one can carry with us when we leave this body. So for example, like, as a house of individuals, whatever how much wealth wanna cure in our place, in our houses house, when there will be a time when we have to leave all those things. And maybe sometime also it causes a problem with this world.
Maybe like there might be like many people wanting your things when you when you leave. So in short, whatever one carries to the next life when one leaves this body, that is what actually helps for this life as well as for our future lives. And that is the actual cause for our enlightenment. Some more questions or? So, yeah, like it’s possible.
It’s like whatever like the person is very wealthy if he or she uses his wealth for the for dharma things, for dharma things. Again, depend on that person’s motivations. What he’s why he’s doing or what he’s seeking out of that. So even for example, doing a charity, if you will see things that are doing that action for fame or for for for big name. So if you you do the charity and if you have the motivation saying that if I do this, others will say good thing about me.
If you do out of that, then that action is not so beneficial. And same thing if you hope for reward for your action. Then there are benefits of giving but doesn’t become so pure practice. Any more questions or? So in short, whatever practice one is interested in, one can do that.
So, but whatever one do, whatever practice one do should be done well or pure. So, for example, the Buddhist practice can be like summarized into two words too. Which is these two words are like it’s included within two words which is the views and or the theory and the practice. So one can speak like very extensive on this, but can be like summarized into these two. So the practice or the behavior is like avoiding giving harm.
And then the theory is the, I wanna say, the dependent arising. So dependent arising here means that whatever phenomena all come into existence because of its cause and conditions. It depends on its cause and conditions. So because of that, all the things that we have, like, all the thing that we have, like, house, clothes, friends, everything is a cause it’s all caused by its it it all has a cause. So so whatever practice you do, for example, if you do if you’re doing a Buddhist practice or if you’re doing a Christian practice, the important there is to have a good mind or good heart.
So if you have the good heart, then there is a good result? So so instead of that, if you if you have a, like, a bad mind or do a bad action, then it will bring a bad like, a similar result which is a bitter result. So this this explanations of, like, what I’ve explained here or in what is explained in Buddhist teachings. But doing a good having a good heart brings a good result. You can analyze there whether it’s whether it’s works or not.
So for example, like, if there is a very short-tempered person, then as a result, for example, the friends, his or her friend may stay away from that person. And same thing in community. People won’t come close to that person. And same thing if one is working a working place. There’s a danger of losing the jobs with that.
So that’s like as an example, that’s a result of having anger. So if you have a good heart, then if you live with a good heart, then there is the how to say, the friendly atmosphere or good atmosphere with your partners or with your parents or with your relatives. And also if you have a good heart then you have to worry about your jobs or not getting a job. I mean if you have a good heart then lots of work comes up after you. So then we stop here today.
So so then next week, also, Geshe-la will give a teaching, which is he will think what is beneficial, and then he will give an explanation. Yeah. So thank you very much. Yeah. Yeah.