Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 46-minute session, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen teaches the eight sufferings of human beings, a cornerstone Graduated Path topic. He illustrates each with vivid examples: meeting enemies, sickness, and defeat; not finding desired objects, explored through farmers whose crops are destroyed by frost, shopkeepers losing sleep over profits, government ministers burdened by national responsibility, and beggars searching daily for food. Having possessions brings its own suffering—theft, loss, mice eating stored crops. One striking image: a tailor steals scraps of fox fur to make a secret hat for himself. Throughout, Geshe Dhawa emphasizes that these sufferings arise from one’s own karma—attachment, anger, and ignorance—not from external causes like spirits or demons.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 28 GP 1996 06 16.mp3
UUID: fff82dbf-9b77-48c2-8699-e76b0a2dee81
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Graduated Path (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1996-06-16
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.7 minutes
Words: ~2,764
So such as meeting with with enemies. So, like meeting with enemies which are undesired objects and beating or getting into, say, or like getting beaten or enemy coming and taking your, I would say, And and also meeting with unwanted objects, which are such as meeting with sickness and and also the harm receiving the harm from spirits, and experiencing different sufferings. And also, there are other type of sufferings that one has to go through, which are like, what do you call, going into into, like, a cold and and getting defeat, like, what do call, getting defeated in in your yeah. Like, in getting defeated and experiencing the suffering of getting defeat. So so similarly, like, when one faces these sufferings, then once both body and mind becomes busy, one experiences many types of sufferings.
So all these happen all these things happens because of because of the what type of karma because of type of karma that one have collected. So, for example, such as those animals such as donkeys and so on. They have to carry a big load on their back. This too how do say, these two happen to them because of their karma. So so or not meeting with different conditions and and one experiencing different sickness or one getting separate from one’s close one.
All these things come into one because of a type of karma that one have collected. So, all these, if one don’t wish for oneself in the future, then one have to look what causes all these things and abandon the causes. So so the causes are such as attachment, anger, and ignorance. So these are the causes for that. So knowing this being the cause, one should, if possible, then try to abandon this from its root.
If not, then like applying antidotes against these causes as much as possible. And then the seventh one, suffering of not finding the desired object or the object that you wanted. So so this this is a type of suffering which for wealth projection for whatever. Even if one puts great effort to get those things, one is unable to find these things. So the suffering of unable to get what one wishes for.
So as an example, such as in order to get some help, you go to the person in charge of the country, like a minister or whoever, go to the person and ask his or her help. And after asking his or her help, even then afterwards when one doesn’t become successful in one’s wishes, what one wants, then that point one goes through our sufferings. So that yeah. So so for example, in in this country here, there are people living in city and people living in the country. One of those who are living in the city might think the one living in the country better and they how to say?
They see something better. And even the ones who are living in the country, the farmers, they are also not free of, what to say, sufferings. So looking to the farmers that like they had to get up early morning and don’t have time to eat breakfast, goes to the farm to work, and in the daytime they get, how to say, burned by the sun, like the sun heat, suffering of the heat. So in this way, they experience these sufferings. So so after doing the farming and until they come to the end, like, all the crops are gathered and put in the bag, until that time, they they go through great sufferings.
So so some with great effort, they do things but have very little crops or or or or And and also the whatever crops that you planted getting destroyed by what you call frost. Yeah, like getting destroyed by the frost. And there are these, I would say, I mean the sufferings that the farmers or the farmers go through. So then, again, but then farmers, you look the way they think, then the people living in the city seems happy or better off, better. They have their own shops and houses and so on.
So so that even the the, what do you say, the shopkeepers there, they too are not free of sufferings. They also have to go through great sufferings. Have to, what do say, put everything, like all what they earned into the bank and and try to collect more and all these all these sufferings they go through. And even in the nighttime or they’re sleeping, they they they have they have sufferings of, what to say, unable like, suffering of those losing those things that unable to go have a good sleep. And and for some for some business people like they’re looking for profits, but even not having any profits, they also lose, let’s say, their capitals.
Yeah. So these type of sufferings. And also, they sometimes also can lose their life because of their enemies, thieves, and things. So similar to this, if we don’t have wealth, then again there’s suffering of not having. So for example, like the beggars, when they get a food for today, they have the suffering of what I will eat tomorrow and has to go to another place.
Like, going to another place looking for food, but not finding finding not finding foods. So these sufferings that they like, this one of the sufferings which looking for food but not finding it. So, again, if you have well done possessions, again, there is sufferings. So so in saṃsāra or whatever whatever you have one whatever one falls in these two, one one one experiences suffering. So if one have a, like, a hundred a hundred thousand dollars, one one have a hundred thousand sufferings.
And if one have a million dollar, one one have a million sufferings. So, like, if one have a hundred thousand dollars then there are sufferings too which somebody might steal it or you might lose or you might spend it. Spending again, might spend it. So, all these sufferings that you go through. And similar with the farmers when they gather all the crops and put in the bags in the store, even then they have sufferings such as mice and mice coming to eat it and these sufferings that they go through.
So so even those who are skilled in different different things such as carpenters and so on, all all all goes through these different kinds of sufferings. So, for example, as a carpenter, the person like, the purpose for him doing that job or work is to get food and shelter for one and one’s children. So so so for him to or her to experiences not having enough food and shelter, that that type of suffering he or she goes through to. And also after completing whatever he he or she has to make, again goes through suffering but able to satisfy the owner. So there is different kind of that the being go through.
So, tailors too, Geshe-la was saying, that in Tibet, the tailors, they used to make a hat. I would say a fox skinhead, which they used to, the tailors used to make where the firm, what should do, the firm of the fox, like there are some part where it has good ones and some part of the skin is not so good. So the tailor has to really be good in cutting the skins and set it out, well set it out and then make the hat. So then the owner, whoever it is, also comes and looks at the tailor how he does. Sometimes the tailor also steal some of the skin.
So then the tailor, owner, whoever, don’t know how to make it. So detailer like chits it somewhere like that just cuts the good part of the skin and throws it on the corner, a little bit of it, and then cuts it another corner, a good part of it, and then throws it on the side. So then after when he finishes hours of work in the nighttime when he goes back, he just collects all the little bits part that he throw and takes it for him. So so then when he gets back to to house, so then he, like, take pulls out all the bits that he cut and then collects altogether and makes a head for himself. So, these sufferings even not having enough skins there to make a hat for him.
So, this type of that detail goes through too. So, same with the president here, the prime minister or such as president, whoever. We might think they they have no suffering and they they have a good time, like, going here, there, or flying to different countries and so on. But within within themselves, they they have, like, great sufferings. So because they have to take the responsibility for the country that whenever there’s something wrong or something goes wrong in the country that they they have they have to take care which they worry and they have great mental and physical sufferings.
And and like these sufferings which unable to defeat the enemies or and also unable to protect the friends and and losing losing country to others. These are different sufferings that they go through. So from the side of the ministers, they see the population. People are very happy. No problem.
But from the from the people side, again, they see that the prime minister or the ministers are very happy and no problems. So all these suffering that you wish but not finding it. And then the eighth one, the eighth type of suffering, the eighth one is the suffering of the five aggregates. Contemplating the sufferings of the five aggregates. So of the five aggregates, there are five types of sufferings.
Yeah. So, the five types of sufferings which is explained in great Lamrim teaching, which says that So, this contaminated aggregates induces suffering in one’s future, unlike when one takes another body, then it is what the five contaminated aggregates is what induces future sufferings. So so the second is that at present, one having these five contaminated aggregates, because of having these five aggregates that one one one goes through these different states of suffering such as birth, sickness, and aging. So so then the third type of suffering, which it’s. That’s good.
So it’s a it’s a it’s a basis of suffering, sub suffering? So as the the the contaminated aggregates, the five contaminated aggregates is the is the base on which one experiences past sufferings and it is the base of suffering of suffering and it’s also the base of suffering of cause. And the cause of suffering, sorry. And then and and then next one is that it also is the I would say, base of a of a pervasive suffering or or a conditional sufferings. So this, what do you say, suffering of the five aggregates, which is not explained in, especially not explained on the liberation of the BAM of your hand, but it is only explained on the great Lamrim teaching.
The reason why it’s not explained in here in the liberation on the BAM of your hand is because when it explains the three types of sufferings, The three types of sufferings. It it comes the three types of sufferings are explained in detail, then it comes it includes in there. So the reason why it is separately explained in in great text, these five, is that because it is explained in the sūtra separately, so because of that, it also explains separately in the Lamrim. So these eight are the sufferings of and these eight sufferings are the suffering of human beings? So now explaining all more in a brief more giving the explanation on in a more pre abbreviated version, which because now only, like, few more weeks to go.
That before they actually stop teaching, he would like to, like, go into the great scope and explain a little bit on on the great scope. So so if he can explain a bit on the on the great scope, then then well, it it shows that so it completes full learning teaching while he’s in Australia, like here for two years for this period of two years. So so as she was saying that when when one goes through some problems or or when or when wanna have some problem in family or if someone dies in the family, then most likely people think that something external cause, something that is caused by external from outside. They don’t think something being internal, about the internal cause of it. So the way of thinking it’s something being external is is not not right.
So so all these things happen happen all these all these thing happening, one should one should understand it being the nature of saṃsāra. Yeah. So when when these bad things happens to one, it is because of one’s own karma. So one already have left the karmic imprints in one’s mind. So for that imprints to ripen or give its result, ripen its result, it has to meet with the condition.
So, the condition might be external things such as spirit harm or anything. So, if one is to think that whatever problems or difficulties that one faces in the life, thinking that it is caused by some spirit or it’s a harm of a spirit. Then, on the other hand, if one experience happiness or pleasure, then for that, if one thinks that is because oneself had done something good or because of one’s own merit, that one is experiencing, then So if that is what, like all the happiness that one experiencing is because of one’s own merit, then those suffering or the problem that you go through shows that it’s not caused by demons and spirits. So, all these that the experience of happiness and health is how to say, is of our positive actions to whatever positive action that one have done to our body, speech and mind. And similarly, those sufferings or the trouble or the problem that one goes through is because of our negative karmas.
It’s because of our negative karmas that which we have performed to our body speech. So, with understanding this as a base, one should then engage in one’s own practice such as what to be adopted and what need to be abandoned. So so then if if if one follows in that way, then becomes like the advice which is giving, which seeing what is nothing to be trust in the wealth of saṃsāra or the prosperity of the saṃsāra and being untrustworthy and that which makes one lead to the path which seeking for happiness of liberation. So so as the advice which usually his holiness gives, such as like, if you can benefit other sentient beings, then benefit them, but what is it, not harm them. And this is, what is it, a very profound advice here.
So so when when the first part will, like, benefit if you can to other sentient beings, there includes the whole practice of Mahāyāna or the greatest scope. And then the next part which says, but not harm, don’t harm them if you can’t. In that part, it sort of abbreviates the whole teachings of the two small and medium scope. So we stop here for now, and if you have any questions. So the, what is it, the contaminated aggregates, what is that, a reason or that which is caused by karma and delusion.
So of those five aggregates, the rest the last four aggregates are consciousness. And these results is caused by, what do you say, karma and delusions. So the uncontaminated aggregates is the So the uncontaminated aggregate, which is the the body or the aggregates, which is not caused by common delusions. So when the being like one who practice along the path, when he or she come to have a direct, I would say, realization of emptiness, that point, when they have this direct realization of emptiness, at that very point when they have this direct realization of emptiness, the body, the contaminated body to transform into the, how do you say, the uncontaminated body. So another explanation that the we take what is it?
We are reborn in the world because of our under the