Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 46-minute introductory talk, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen distills Buddhism to a single root cause: self-grasping, the delusion that the self is inherently independent. All 84,000 afflictions spring from this one misconception, he explains, which is why Buddha taught 84,000 teachings—each an antidote to one of its manifestations. He walks through the Four Noble Truths, emphasizing that hearing Buddhist teachings plants seeds in the mind; they germinate through continued contemplation. The Q&A session is practical: maintaining integrity when facing ethical gray zones, using love meditation as an antidote to anger, whether dreams generate karma, and how practices like mantra and prostration support purification and merit-gathering. Pitched at those exploring Buddhism or considering refuge.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 08 ALB.mp3
UUID: 06f30e13-b495-4a03-acc2-79ee055298dc
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: A Look at Buddhism (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1995 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 46.0 minutes
Words: ~2,657
So so the the root of all those delusions, the the attachment, anger, and ignorance. That is this self. That is the inherent existing self. And one should apply an antidote towards it towards this eye that which which produces or causes all these different delusions. So Buddha Buddha have taught Buddha Śākyamūni have taught, like, eighty four sets of teachings?
Eighty four thousand sets of teachings. Sorry. So these eighty four thousand teachings are taught as an antidote of eighty four thousand delusions. So so so this self the ignorance of grasping is is the root of all those those eighty four thousand delusions. So so, for example, if we if we see the fault of anger, then by knowing that the fault of anger that one can stop getting angry.
But that’s only what we can do with angers. But by doing that, you cannot stop other delusions. So so but then if one is to see the fault of this ignorant self-grasping, then to apply antidote to get rid of that, then that is like applying antidote to all those eighty four thousand delusions. So when one has explained this, the of ignorant self, the faults of self-grasping. It doesn’t mean that one will definitely recognize that and one will get rid of easily.
It is that one need to need to apply the antidotes continuously again and again. So, for example, like among these three types of sufferings, for us, the former true sufferings are easier to notice. The true suffering of pain and the suffering of change. But then the third one might not be easy to recognize. So out of our karmas that we are we have reborn in in the in the Samsāra and being while in Samsāra, we have never seen the faults of Samsāra.
We have always seen the qualities of Samsāra and enjoyed. So like saṃsāra or saṃsāra is the continuations of our self, the continuations of this body. And then the place of this saṃsāra is like the like the like the displaced idol. It’s a place of the of the saṃsāra. So to know that this body that we have is suffering, to know that.
And plus to know the place of this body, Adelaide, this place, to know that also being suffering is not easy. So in short, as long as we take the samsaric body, one is never free from suffering. So knowing recognizing the sufferings, then one should one should look for its cause and apply the antidote for the cause. So, like the causes as explained, karma and delusions? So, these first two truths, the true suffering and the true origin or the true cause of suffering.
These are the first two which is to be abandoned. So, then the third noble truth is the true cessation the true cessation of sufferings. So that which leads to this state that is known as the true cessation is known as the true path. So, if contemplate and think over these four points, like the two points which is to be abandoned and those two points which is to be adopted, If you contemplate and think over it again and again, that will leave imprints in your mind. So here I’m explaining the the different suffering of saṃsāra and the the qualities of liberations.
And you you here also listening to it. And both of us fortunate to to to be able to do like it, to be able to do this. So just hearing the word liberation keeps an imprint in your mind. So if you want to leave the imprints in one’s mind, for example, liberation, then next time when you hear it, then you don’t need to put much effort to understand it because when I kept the imprints in one’s mind, that one would easily understand what So so that it’s not that when one come to hear a talk and then one will understand everything what is explained. It is even if one doesn’t understand, just keeping, leaving the imprints in one’s mind.
It’s like the seed that one is planting. And the imprints meets with the conditions then at that time one will come to understand what it means. And similarly, like when you saw the seed, when meeting with all the conditions, then you can enjoy the result. So as all these explanations that Geshe-la is giving is a a introduction sort of introduction to Buddhist teachings. So listening to these talks that you should analyze, you should check whether these teachings have its own, whether it has, how deep you can go into, how much you can deepen your understanding into these things.
And it doesn’t mean that when you do that, you become a Buddhist. So so first, one has to study. One one need to know what what one is doing. And then secondly, when one sees that it’s been meaningful and it’s been reasonable, it has a lot of meaning, then if one wishes, then one can become a Buddhist. So, like, are different religion groups, like Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, Muslim, and so on.
And all of these all of these are not because of they all have different views. So so the the main difference there is the what what what refuge that they they go that they follow to. So whatever refuge one takes into, like for example, with the Muslim religion that they worship the sun sun and moon. And then and then whatever whatever they they do, they trust in that. And then they they practice according to it.
So so the difference is one of the of these different refuge objects. So we stop here tonight and if you have any questions. What what Geshe la explained here, most of most of that is not not his what do say? Not his his own explanation. So so that what he’s explaining from is from Buddhist teachings, which which he’ve been trained from the age of nine up to now.
So so so all those Buddhist teachings, like those past Kadampa masters have summarized the essence of those teachings known as the Lamrim or the Graduated Path to So so this this explanation is that the wish to free all sentient beings from suffering, and the wish to lead all of them to happiness. It’s being love and compassion. It’s to it’s explanation according to the Lamrim teachings. To this Lamrim teaching, Lamrim is the graduated path to liberation that that text. Lamrim, that’s the Tibetan word, and graduated path to enlightenment.
So, Buddhist teachings are very extensive and to study all of them one by one. Because at this time, in this age or in this time, that one has to work and one has to do other things. One has enough time to do all these practices. So because for that reason that those past masters have summarized all the essence of the teachings into this particular text called Lamrim and taught to the followers. So there are two different texts which are known as the essence of those teachings.
And like the mind training teachings and learning teachings and so on. And it is not so complicated. It is easy to practice. Yeah. You want the name of a person or you can also, I was just explaining him that and then he can see said was saying that he can explain in numbing text or something like that.
Yeah. Yeah. So if the verdict, whatever makes, if it’s true, then there’s nothing to come. Like, it’s true, so there’s no further result that one has experienced. But then if it is made a wrong, what is it, then one had to experience like a similar type of similar type of result in the one’s future.
So so they are like if it’s something that one need to decide under someone’s control. So even for those actions, like if one needs to give a wrong verdict, then one do create some negative actions but not the complete negative actions. So as one is working in that situation, shouldn’t fall into one side. With this motivation, one should, like, the motivation of being honest, one should try to be in the middle. So even like even if you are like physically showing that you are falling and helping the other side, like mentally you should be in the middle.
And because the karma actually is created by the mind. It’s created mentally. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
One is to meditate on love. So meditation on love, which is not not like falling into one-sided, but like a meditation on love towards towards everyone. So so one thing that if you try to meditate on on love, that that at that time when you are meditating on love, the anger cannot come there while while one is meditating on love. And then secondly, one also have to think the the faults or the disadvantages of anger. So so the anger that that is that we our mind creates the anger.
It’s nothing the anger is solid out there which it’s something nothing solid out there which makes you makes brings the anger. So as example, like getting angry to someone is that by seeing the person’s behavior, So the anger arises because of seeing the behavior of the person. And that behavior that you see is creation of our mind. Like we build up all the creations and then because of that one feels angry to us. So so that when just when one is angry to a person, then even the way the person looks at one seems to be angry, seems to cause anger anger.
But then that is also creation of our own mind. How the person looks at one is always the same. But one creates and builds up these different things. And then that causes one to have So so then if it’s something that the other person is like if one knows that other person is actually making angry to one, causing anger for one, then at that time once you should try to do good towards the other one. So so so if you do good even if the person is angry towards you, then because the other one is also a person which the other one is also a person, so the more good you do towards others, he or she might recognize that.
And then they will do good to one too and then the friendship becomes better. So meditating on love to us all. And and we do because we are under the control of karma and delusions, we do get angry angry. But then while one one one get angry, one should meditate or think over the, what do call, the faults of anger and so on. So so then this this happens.
This happens to us because of we are under the control of karma and delusions. There’s a but then if one has a strong regret after that, then that regret purifies that past karma, that bad karma. And not only how strong one have, if one have also decided not to repeat anymore that action from the depth of one’s mind. Then then not only that one purifies the past karma, but one also stops committing another one in the in the future. So just, for example, just wishing something, wishing bad for say he or she had an accident or something like that.
That doesn’t mean they will they will go through an accident. So it it doesn’t mean that they will have accident, but just thinking that that that thing that thought have is a negative. And same thing like if someone to tell one self that, then one won’t be happy if one get angry. So it’s like taking one of the ones that as an example that if if they do tell me that, then I won’t be able to bear that or I get angry with them. So same thing, apply that to others and if you think on that way then one can stop.
Yeah. Yeah. So negative dreams. Like for example, like if you do in your dream if you do kill a person, like, say, that’s an example. Kill a person that have no negative actions because it’s it’s just a dream.
So it’s like same thing, if you if you, like, a final winner, win a hundred hundred thousand dollar in your dream doesn’t mean that you get get that. So it’s similar to that. So so the things that comes in dreams So doesn’t come to create bad karma. So, like, even if one have a good dream, very good dream or very bad dream, once you once you like, shouldn’t be that one it shouldn’t it is not what is it? Thing that one need to get too excited about.
So as an example, when you look into a mirror and then the reflection of one face comes into the mirror. So the reflection comes there, but the reflection in the mirror, it’s not one to one face. So this the reflection in the mirror and then the what do we dream now in in what we dream. The dreaming and the dreamings are as as same. As another example, it’s like in the typewriter, the tabular code that you that you have there in front itself is not existed there from its own side.
It it is existed there independent of the cause and conditions. So so so because of an existing independence of cause and conditions, it is known as non truly existing. So so the as example to non truly existing is like a as a one of the example is the dream. The dream is given as a example of non non existing. If one is to dream of one’s own guru and so on, he thinks it has a good result, good karma.
So so the reason that one creates good karma out of it is that if you dream once one teacher in the dream, then when one awakes, one one one feel one rejoice, one feel good about it. So so that like, dream can cause and I was dream can cause to create good. But dream itself have no good and bad. Any other questions? You can ask anything you like.
So if you happen to step over as an insect, one first thing is that you don’t you don’t have this what you call wish to kill. So so but even then, you don’t have the wish, but there are different levels of negative actions one one one come to commit. But then right after that, when you when you reject over that action, that will So that will that will, let’s say, remove that karma. So then and then with that, if you with with the if you do recite the mantra and make prayers. So so if and then making this prayers that may that being reborn in the pure land, that that and then with that, if you recite the mantra, it helps to the to the the dead, to dying one, or and then plus it helps to want to.
So so then relating to different practice, meditation practice, whatever practice one engage in, they are like the practice of three different three scopes, the practice of three scopes. If one is engaging in those practices, then whatever one is aiming for to that practice. It becomes a cause for that. And similarly, if one is doing a mantra recitation or bhaji sattva mantra recitation, if one is aiming to do that practice for one’s purification, it becomes a cause for that. And if one is aiming doing the practice for for accumulation of merit, then it becomes that too.