Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 45-minute talk, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen opens with Nāgārjuna’s Friendly Letter: Buddhist practice exists to tame the mind and cultivate virtue. He addresses a central difficulty of our present era—even our positive actions become “mixed” or incomplete, with motivation, execution, and dedication rarely all aligned. Using giving as an example, perfect practice requires three elements: good motivation, right understanding during the action, and sincere dedication at the end. He illustrates this with the image of protecting a Buddha statue with shoes due to good intention—an ordinary action transformed to virtue by motivation alone. Concluding with Milarepa’s story—purification through building a tower, then enlightenment through effort and his teacher Marpa’s guidance—Geshe emphasizes that sincere practice can bear fruit despite the imperfections of our time.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 08 CwC.mp3
UUID: e1ba946a-d163-4a85-8024-5ddc440e2098
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Coping with Change (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1996 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 44.9 minutes
Words: ~2,639
Quoting a line from the teachings of Nāgārjuna in that in that text known as the friendly letter, Nāgārjuna explains that the purpose or the main purpose or the root of our Dharma practice is to subdue our mind or bring to have a virtuous mind. So, like, Buddha have taught many teachings. All all his own word and and and also many different teachings, different treatises, all those teachings. We listening to these teachings, contemplating and meditating over those teachings. The purpose of that, doing all these, is to to subdue our mind.
So our practice our practice of listening contemplating and meditating on the teachings of the Buddha is is to subdue our mind or or lead our mind towards virtue or make our mind virtuous. So make our mind virtuous is that taking our mind away from wrong or bad behaviors and that is what leading our mind towards virtuous mind. And as a result of a virtuous mind, the result of virtuous mind is always something good or a good result that we have. So whatever effort that we put in our practice, our it should our practice should be aimed to lessen our delusions. So lessening our delusions and we or the person and and our practice shouldn’t, what’s it, shouldn’t go against each other, should should be like should shouldn’t be opposite to each other.
Yeah. So if if if the person and the practice become two separate or something opposite to each other then like you carrying something or like you carrying a crop then our practice the result of our practice is not much. If like what do you say? We won’t have a good result here. So so so similar to that, Tsongkhapa also said that good and bad karmas depends upon our motivations.
So so living with this practice which is like for example is not easy and just just generating a virtuous mind doesn’t mean you can easily generate bodhicitta. So so to generate bodhicitta, first one have to look for its substantial causes like first just generate a good heart and then which are which is known as the cause of bodhicitta. Yeah. So having a good motivation can can cause even our bad actions or to become can cause our bad action to become a cause of virtue. So as a as a example, say there is a statue of a Buddha which is made out of clay sitting out in the in the rain and then there was a rain coming and it’s the rain is damaging these two statue.
And at that point when you see that and you don’t want the statue be damaged by the rain and that you had this good intention. So just do not not to get damaged by the rain if you even put your, what do quarrel, boots or shoes on top to cover the to cover the rain, to stop the to stop the rain. That, like, putting the shoes on on the on on top is it’s not not good action, but because of the intention because of the intention, it that actions becomes positive or good too. So so then if if say another person comes by and he sees that there’s a shoes on top of Buddha’s head, he thinks, oh, that is not good. And if he removes the shoes away from the head, again, he has good intention.
So so still his action becomes positive. So so in this way first we had to generate good intention and then that intention leads to our actions which then we first put effort to generate bodhicitta, motivation within bodhicitta. Later when you develop, when we develop more and more, we can effortlessly generate this mind that is bodhicitta and and gradually we we will be able to achieve the full enlightenment. So in this way, like gradually, little by little, we we we developed this good heart or the good intention and the good heart. And and that’s how we also come to defeat or outshine this self-cherishing self self-cherishing thought.
And it’s not one can defeat easily this self-cherishing thought. And little by little, we can we can do that. And and then instead of cherishing self, we can then cherish others. So so generating a bodhicitta motivation like that. In order to bring happiness to all sentient being to all mother sentient being, I need to achieve the full enlightened mind, full full enlightened state.
So so generating this this type of bodhicitta motivation, we do short meditation. So this period or this time is known as the period of five-fold degeneration. So the degeneration of time. So this is known as this period is known as the degenerated period of time. Sorry, which which is that we we quarrel each others and that to have the victory for oneself and to defeat the others in that way we we quarrel and we we fight.
So so this is what what a sign that it is the degenerated time. And second is degenerated delusion. And then third is degenerated sentient beings. And degenerated. So so during this degenerated period, our virtues too becomes a mixed mixed virtue.
So when said even if we do a a virtue, it becomes to be a mixed mixed virtue, which doesn’t becomes a pure. For example, even if we try to do some practice, listening to our teachings or contemplating or meditating or or or any practice that one performed, we might have a, at the very beginning, a very good motivation, but we might fail in our actual practice and the dedication. And similarly, we might have a not a good motivation but we’ll do good actual part of the practice but then again, not do a good dedication. So so finding we find very difficult to to have, like, complete like, having a perfect practice, which is good motivation, good actual part of the practice, good completion. So so for example, as a as a practice of giving, so in order to have a perfect practice of giving, what one it is a good motivation at the beginning to start with, which is starting the practices done for the welfare of others.
And secondly, in the meantime, when one does the practice of giving, one have to one has to know all these three, the object, the person whom you’re giving and oneself are non inherently existent. And and then and then and then finally, at the same time, one does the action with with with respect giving to the person. And then and then end ending it with with with a good wishing prayers. And if you do in this this way, then definitely it’s a as a perfect giving which have a perfect result in the future. So so so for example, if in our practice, like if we have we have done a practice of giving, we might have a good motivation in the beginning to do the practice of giving.
But then when the actual part comes that we have to do in front of someone or or we have to meditate or do something in front of somebody like showing someone to to to have more to have to to have fame and reputation like we have to do in front of somebody or yeah, show someone. So so so so when we do that, then the the practice become mixed, which is like a it doesn’t become pure. So I use this word like mixed but actually it’s a striped like that’s what that’s what it is. So so when we do then next thing, when we do a non virtuous action, then then then our non virtuous action is, like, perfect, which have complete starting motivation and the actual part, and then also the complete ending. So so we shouldn’t be doing like that.
And what we should be doing is that we should we should should stop doing the non virtuous action as much as possible or as less as possible and our virtue we should make as perfect as possible even if one even the virtue is very little. We should try to make it perfect as possible. So so whatever action virtuous action one have done, if it’s done perfectly, then then whatever one wishes for one’s future that to be reborn in the upper realms when it can be achieved it can be achieved. So so at present that we have achieved precious human body and not only that we have met with the teachings of the Buddha and that didn’t that didn’t come out without any cause and it is the result of our past lives past lives are merit or virtuous action. And through the power of our past life virtuous action that at present now we have achieved this precious human body and which at present we have no difficulty in living with food and.
And not only that, we also have met with the teachings of the Buddha. So so that our past lives’ merit has have protected one right now which which we don’t have to experience the suffering of lower realms. And don’t have to experience the suffering of lower realms, and we we can we don’t have to worry about at present and which we can relax right now is is is the result of our past meritorious actions. So so so on on the basis of this body, we we can we can also collect the the what do quarrel it? The permanent happiness.
So and not only that, but we have we have this body which on the basis of this body we can we can also achieve it’s possible we can also achieve that the the fully enlightened state on that on I would say, on the in this very life on this part on the basis of this body. So so those who have achieved a state of enlightenment within this very within that within this very life, they are like such as on the basis of that this human body that they have achieved the Buddha would similarly like the other master known as Gyalwa Ensapa to achieve the enlightened state on the basis of this human body. So the basis, the the human body that they have and the human body that we have has no difference. So this body that we have we have gained right now, which is which is the result of our our past merit, we shouldn’t waste. We should we shouldn’t waste this body.
So so we we we think or we consider that we need to do Dharma practice because it’s something very good. We need to achieve Buddhahood and we need to train on the path and so on. These are these we have in our mind. So like gaining these different realization on the path doesn’t happen without any effort. And similarly, getting free like, I would say, escaping the saṃsāra or become free of saṃsāra too doesn’t come without any effort.
So so with with great effort and with great hope, bring some practice like aiming to achieve sorry, aiming to achieve aiming for the full enlightenment or aiming to achieve the full enlightened state. Then if you do that, then even one doesn’t achieve the full enlightened state, one achieves that level which which the effort that one have put in in our practice. So so for example, I’m like a person like me that I haven’t put much effort the practice of my meditation and and happen I might say that I did such and such practice, but I didn’t had any realizations or achievements. So so for example, like, you know, one might someone might say that in Buddhist teachings, there are teachings which says that if you do the practice of giving, you you receive wealth and and so on. So I explained and and with very little effort, one have done some practice of giving and one is hoping for the wealth, then it what to say?
If like one have put little effort of the practice to the practice of giving and wonder if one doesn’t receive the wealth as a as a reward, then the person think that this doesn’t work or doesn’t it’s it doesn’t yeah. This doesn’t work. They might think or say it like that way. So the Kadampa Jikarma have said Sorry, as an answer to this doubt, which is something like, I did but I’m not receiving. I but I didn’t receive the result.
And so for that, he said like, when when did you did or when did you practice? And the case what he was saying is, when did you practice? In the daytime, your mind was wandering all all the way, all over, and in the nighttime, you’ve been sleeping. And when did you do the practice? So so like millerappa, the yogi millerappa have achieved.
So the state of union or the Buddhahood on on that very on that very life. And that is because Milarepa have put great effort in his practice in his practice and which region in his earlier part of life he have collected a great amount of merit. And then later part of life, he he did great meditation. And and in that way, he he achieved the union state of Buddhahood on that very life on that very life. So so so with us, if with us, like, enjoying most part of our life, you know, for different things, like eating, sleeping, or doing other entertainment.
Like how how and with with very little effort, how how it possible that we can achieve? So in the in the sorry. Miller, in his history life story that he built this the nine-storey building in in Lhodrak in Tibet. And you yeah. You can still see the building.
And that’s he built him by himself. So it was in in Miller Rapids life life story that when he was eighteen or nineteen years old, he has another sister and and mother. And they were What do say? They were, what do you say, pressured by their relatives. Sorry.
And then had What do quarrel? Had many difficulties which then mother sent Milarepa to What do say? To study what do you quarrel? Is it black magic? Like, to do some, like, black magic which like, hail, like hail and so on, making a shower what to say, rain of hail and so on.
So so he went to those the master one who teaches the black magic or the spell and and and he achieved he accomplished that that achieve that practice and where he where he one time and like when one of his uncles took place, when they have having a merit ceremony, he made a big hailstorm and and and killed many people and and many animals too. So so then later on, then again, then Miller went to the the teacher, his teacher, and requested him for different instructions and teachings. And Marpa told Marpa didn’t give teachings. And and and as a a pure as that Milero perhaps accumulated great negative actions that Marpa told him to to do all those like, Marpa told him to build this nine store building as a as a as a practice of purification. So so then finally, through his hardships and purification practice, he received also instructions from Marpa, different teachings and teachings and initiations.
And then finally he achieved the enlightened state, enlightenment. And so so that is how what how what did. But with us, we haven’t we haven’t put that much effort in it.