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 addresses a central concern in Graduated Path practice: why meditate on suffering and lower realms if it seems to torture rather than liberate? He frames the answer through Lama Tsongkhapa’s teaching that pure Dharma requires renouncing attachment to this life and samsaric rebirth. By analyzing our actual patterns of virtue and non-virtue, conviction in karma—its certainty, non-dissipation, and multiplication—naturally arises. When we recognize that without purification our karmic trajectory leads downward, genuine renunciation emerges. This renunciation becomes the ground for both liberation and bodhicitta. Each meditation—impermanence, suffering, karma—conditions the next, transforming what feels like torture into essential practice. For practitioners beginning Lamrim study or those questioning their motivation.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 05 GP 1996 02 11.mp3
UUID: abc9b7fe-04b8-40b4-b9dc-77d05860ecd0
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Graduated Path (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1996-02-11
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 44.8 minutes
Words: ~2,419
Quoting a line from the teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa, as Lama Tsongkhapa advised in the teaching saying that in order for one to do a pure Dharma practice, one have to get rid of the attachment towards this and the future life. So if you are attached to this life then your practice doesn’t become a pure Dharma practice. So, and then if you are attached to your future life, then your Dharma practice, though it is pure Dharma practice, doesn’t become cause of liberation. So any Dharma practice or that one perform, as long as one have attachment towards this and future life, it only becomes a cause, I would say, cause of our suffering in this and future lives. So in order to perform pure Dharma practice, one have to, what do you say, get rid of the attachment towards this and future lives.
So, when you say attachment to your future life, which is if you wish for yourself to be born as a god like Brahma or Indra and so on. And like attach having attachment towards their body, wealth, and and places places. That is like what it like having like the attachment towards future life is what like having attachment towards the body, place, and the possessions. So even like for without having the thought of benefiting others, if one wishes to be born in the pure land, just for self purpose, then like in the pure land, if one is to be born in the pure land then there is no physical and mental sufferings. So, if it’s solely for the purpose of oneself then that is still is in the circle of having attachment to to to the future lives.
So to actually get rid of the attachment towards the future life, what one need is one need the understanding and the conviction towards the law of karma. Oh, yeah. So, in order to have conviction in the karma or understanding to understand that, one first need to contemplate all one person need to contemplate all karma. So for that purpose, like to contemplate over the karma, Buddha explained karma in four different ways that how karma is definite and one more meet karma which one haven’t done karma that which one have done will not dissipate. And the increasement or the multiplying karma.
So, the first which is karma is definite. And karma multiplies. And karma that one haven’t done, one won’t meet. karma will not dissipate. So, one one had one had to, like, thoroughly analyze these four types of karma and and and then accordingly, one engage in the practice of karma.
So, by practicing karma, which is adopting what is good for one and avoiding what is bad for one. Engaging in these practices that one come to generate the renunciation. So then if one have the thought of renunciation, then on the basis of that, whatever practice one engage or whatever practice that one do, it becomes a cause for liberation. So, the practice that which are conjoined with the thought of renunciation becomes a cause of our liberation. And as Lamrim Chenmo says that if that is conjoined with the thought of bodhicitta, if this renunciation, if that is conjoined with the thought of bodhicitta, then it becomes the cause of, what’s the full enlightened state.
So the time that we spend today here listening to the teachings and explaining the teaching, in order to become a cause of full enlightenment, it has to conjoined, and this practice has to be conjoined with the bodhicitta. So this generation of bodhicitta too doesn’t come without any causes. It need to have its own causes and conditions. The causes and conditions like thinking all mother sentient beings and wishing them to lead to the state of happiness generating this wish that I will lead them to the state of happiness. So so may I have the blessings to lead all of them to the to the state of happiness from from the gurus that gurus and the buddhas, like making that kind of request and prayers and meditating on love.
And similarly, like meditating on compassion which is how nice if all sentient beings become free from suffering. And next generating this wish. So I will free all sentient beings from the state of suffering and may I have the blessings from the gurus and the buddhists to be able to do this? In that way, you meditate on compassion. So so in order to lead all mother sentient beings to the fully enlightened state, I here will engage in this practice like such as hearing and the teachings now and like generating that type of motivation and we do short meditation here.
So, last time that Geshe la explained was sufferings of upper realms and the lower realms. This part, actual, generally the explanations on these sufferings of upper realms and lower realms comes in the medium scope. But, in the medium scope where it talks about the four noble truth and the twelve links arising. During that time, all these different type of self suffering is explained. But then Lama Tsongkhapa especially like after explaining the impermanence and death, like teaches the sufferings of the lower realms.
For doing that there’s a great purpose behind. So, the practice we just shared with a small scope, There are these topics on precious human rebirth which is one. And second, they talk about the impermanence and death. And third is the practice of refuge. So, order for one to generate a good refuge, pure refuge, one needs one of the causes or one of the necessary conditions in order to generate pure refuge within one, one need to know the sufferings of saṃsāra and especially the sufferings of the lower realms.
Especially the sufferings of the lower realms. So, because of that, in order for one to generate a pure refuge, the suffering of the realms are explained here. So the teachings that has been explained here is those common practices which is shared by the small scope and so on. So if we want to speak more mere, I would say the small scope, just the ordinary small scope, then we don’t need to think or we don’t need to do this practice for the sake of others. Because this is the topic which is shared by the small scope and so on that we do these practices, we engage in these different practices for the purpose of others and thinking of one’s own sufferings and general sufferings of saṃsāra.
So so as it is explained in the in the text known as the Guide to the Way of Bodhisattva’s Life. It says that if There’s no way to generate the thought to leave saṃsāra for the sake of others. Maybe I have to put it another way around, sorry. If doesn’t have, if doesn’t generate this wish to live or to escape saṃsāra even for the purpose of oneself, even in the purpose of oneself in the dream, there’s no way that one can generate this the same thought for the sake of others. So in order to free sentient beings from the state of sufferings and lead to the state of happiness, first one need to, I wanna say, meditate on the sufferings that which one goes through and the general sufferings of saṃsāra.
So one might feel that one is torturing oneself or making oneself suffer by doing meditations on death and impermanence and also meditations on sufferings of the lower realms. But all these practices that one is doing, this meditation on impermanence and death and plus meditating on the sufferings of lower realms in order for one to generate the thought of renunciation. The thought of renunciation. So, for example, meditating on impermanence. First, at the very beginning, it serves whoever the person may be to do Dharma practice.
Like makes the person to do Dharma practice and even in the meantime doing meditation on impermanence that makes the practice that So, in the meantime by meditating on impermanence, make one continually engage in the practice. Finally, at the end, meditating on impermanence makes the person perfect on his or her practice. So then second, thinking or contemplating the sufferings of the lower realms is to generate this wish to leave Samsāra which is to generate renunciation within one. So, as a it’s definite that one one will face the death and then after death, what happens to one? So so after that death, what happens?
It is not like what you say. It will stop there forever like the of a bottle lamp or fire on the grass. If you put up, it stops there forever. So it is not like that. So it doesn’t stop there or disappear there forever.
So one definitely will have to take another rebirth. So, then, the place where we take rebirth are the two, which is the upper realms and the lower realms. So, the only two places that we we take rebirth after our our our death, one can one can, how to say, one can understand this through, what to say, through logical reasonings. So, if you look into the lower realms, then one of them is the animal realms. And among animal realms, are, what do you say, the domestic ones known as the wild type of animals.
Similarly if you look to the upper realms like the rooms of gods and also that of humans. And like animals, in the animal realms doesn’t mean that animals, what to say, are always animals. Animals are born always like animal. It doesn’t mean that animals are always born as animals. It it it, what is it, depends on on its causes, the old karmas.
So similarly in the human realms too, doesn’t mean there’s always exact number of human beings which is human dies and being born back as a human. What do you say? It doesn’t mean that. So the numbers are like gross or sometimes it goes up and sometimes there are less number of human beings, sometimes there are more numbers of human beings. So that taking human rebirth is because it totally depends upon the positive karma of our past lives.
And similarly like taking the rebirth of lower realms or the animals, it’s also because of our negative karmas and that made us take rebirth of animals. And similarly that’s God and rest of the beings because of their karmas that they are born there And in this way, if you analyze logically in this way, then what to say, one will understand. What to say, that one will come into, one will understand. So we we put a lot of effort now that we say we are working for our future which is like getting rid of suffering and also collecting things which are which are supposed to be happiness. So we we put a lot of effort in this but but what we are we what we are doing is is wrong.
So so like working for future, the right way of working for future is first to analyze after death where we will take rebirth. And it will be one of these two that have whether it’s upper realms or the lower realms. So, which rebirth that we take, whether it’s upper or lower we have, I wanna say, no freedom or no choice. And if we have a choice then there will no one who wants to go to lower realms. So because we don’t have a choice or or freedom.
So because it’s totally up to our karma, What type of karma that one have collected, whether it’s virtuous or non virtuous karma. Whichever is stronger, that karma leads one and one to take a rebirth. So if our karma, what do say, if our karma is, what do you say, equal in both ways then whatever whatever action that one is more accustomed with, that that makes one to take rebirth into one of these different states. So if our power of actions are equal and the, the familiarity of the action or the familiarity of the action is also equal then as I said in the commentary which is given commentary of Abhidharmakośa, it says that whatever common that one have, which one have done previously, that makes one to take rebirth. The first karma ripens then, whichever the karma that one have done first.
So so so as as myself, for example, of of these two, the virtue and non virtue, the the non virtuous karma is much stronger? And all my thoughts are directed towards these different delusions like attachment and so on. And very few or none which leads towards Dharma practice or which is beneficial to the future life? So so because that which is beneficial to our future life like as if you say, any practice that I do, some even if I have a good beginning I don’t have a good ending or not good completion. And some, if I have a good completion, not having good beginning.
And not having a good motivation and not doing a pure in the meantime and then not having complete or say good completion or the good ending. So these things are not much benefit for the future, future lives. So then if we look to our negative actions, then say if one of our friends get hurt, then we really get angry towards the other person who brought that harm and try to give worst harm as possible and like having the worst motivation and engaging in a worse action and completing with satisfaction. So in that way we have a perfect action of negative actions. We have a perfect negative actions.
So it is our negative actions are always stronger, very strong. So so as oneself and others, we are we are we are very much the same where we have collected very heavy or strong negative actions and very weak virtuous action. So that unless we engage in a purification practice like applying the four powers and purify those negative actions, we are definitely going to take a root which is into lower realms. So, then to talk about the lower realms, there are, I wanna say, the hot hell, the beings in the hot hell, the beings of the cold hell.