Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 46-minute teaching, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen walks through the ten signs of death appearing to gods—five distant signs (withering garlands, soiled clothes, unexpected sweating, gathering dust) and five close signs (dimming body light, water adhering to skin, harsh ornament sounds, unwilling eyes, attachment to place). He then explains why gods suffer profoundly: they possess perfect foresight of their rebirth, cannot accumulate new merit, and eventually exhaust their stored karma, falling to lower realms. By contrast, a human life offers the supreme opportunity to accumulate merit and practice the path toward liberation. The teaching grounds this in the three types of suffering and concludes by pointing to the role of karma and the three poisons—attachment, anger, ignorance—as the obstacles to freedom. For students engaged in Lamrim study.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 30 GP 1996 06 23.mp3
UUID: c3cb3b36-f56a-413b-9f8b-df0bb9f3b376
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Graduated Path (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1996-06-23
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.8 minutes
Words: ~2,691
To that god. Whenever as soon as it puts on, suddenly, the the flower garlands becomes old. If that happens, then it’s a sign of death for that, I’m sorry, for that god. So so then next is that the the clothes that they are or the the dress they are wearing, like becomes dirty or catches dirt, which even if they are wearing brand new dress, suddenly it catches the dirt and becomes dirty. So, then another next type of sign of death which is that the body sweats which are not like other time when usually when you’re walking or doing something, you saw it.
But just when you put it’s relaxing. At the time when you are just relaxing, again, body sweats. So when that appears, then again, it’s a sign of death. Or, if the body gathers different dust or dirt that which never been there. So, these five are known as the five sign of death which are known as the distance one.
So these are, what is it, sign of death which are the distant one, those five of the distant one, which is also possible to the to the human beings. So so this five sign of death, which is known as the distant one, can appear like one year or sometime before that. But then, the second one, the close of death, close five sign of death or is very, like, close to to death here. These five signs appear. So so the five close sign of death, those are the gods, such as the gods of the Thirty-three gods and so on, they have their own body light, light in their body.
And these lights, the lights weakens, the brightness of the light weakens. So so then the second sign of death is that, for example, when you when we take shower now, the the water just goes down and doesn’t stick to our body. But then when this sign appears, when we take shower, the water somehow stays in the body. So so then next one is that whatever ornaments things that you are wearing. Like, gives unpleasant sound.
Like, yeah, unpleasant sound. Nice. So then next one is like closing your eyes, which is when this sign of death appears. You don’t feel like opening your eyes, always wanting to keep it closed. And then next one is like a.
And another one is getting attached to one place. So, like, getting attached to one place, which is that even that can happen to human beings when they when they are dying. For some, they are they get attached to one place. So, for some, they are attached to their wife or husband. For some, they are attached to their children.
For some, they are attached to water, like dogs, cats, and so on. Like, getting attached to these different things? So so because of getting attached to this one thing or one place that it makes harder to that person’s consciousness to leave the body because the being that being, whoever it might be, is attached to that that particular thing. So as a Tibetan custom, when a person dies, then suddenly they read the chart, the astrological chart, and then explains to what that person is attached to. And whatever the person is attached to does any ritual practice to free that person from that thing.
So as an example, like, in in in the world, like, if there’s some some sickness or illness that that can be caught from someone else, and if there’s someone other person is having that illness, then most of the people don’t go next near to that person, always stays away from. Similar to that, when the gods, when they have this sign of death appearing to them, approaching to them, all the other gods, their friends or whoever, they they stay a distance from them. They don’t come close to So even the close friends that they have normally, they also stay quite distant from them. Like, they come and offer them a flower garland. But putting on top of a tip of a stick and then putting on to them and telling them, telling to that one who is dying, saying that make prayers to be born in the in the in the in the world, in Jambudvipa.
And and and again, accumulate merit and make possible again to get reborn back in the god’s realm by give giving the this kind of, what is it, advices? So so that, you know, also the gods are known as the the know the three three things, which are they know the past, is, and they also know the present, and they also know the future, which, what kind of causes that they have collected in the past, they know that. And they also know the present, what kind of rebirth that they will take and what kind of situation they have. And also they know what kind of future they have. So, because of knowing these things too, gives them strong mental sufferings.
So so another thing in the that no way you can accumulate virtue, which is having compassion towards others, or either no way you can generate the thought of renunciation by understanding the sufferings of oneself or taking the suffering, taking the experience of suffering one goes through. There’s no way that they can experience that or they can go through that and generate the thought of, I would say, renunciation. Not possible in the So so because the curriculum, they don’t accumulate new merits. They don’t accumulate new merits. And they enjoy all the merits that they have collected in the past.
And their merits, I would say, gets finished. They finish using their merits. And because of that, more likely, most of the guards take rebirth into into lower realms. Yeah. And god said they come to know all these that that that all these.
And and when this when the sign of death appears to them, they they come to know all these. And and they can also see whether they are getting reborn. And because of that, they go through great sufferings. So the best place for accumulating merit is this world, or known as the Southern Continent. That is the best place where, I where we can accumulate great merit.
So so because of that, this is the best place where you can accumulate the merit. It’s not the not this this is the time that this is not a time to enjoy the merits that we have accumulated, but it’s the time for us to, I would say, accumulate the merit. So so as an example, for example, what we wear, any shorts like teachers that we wear, the one which is costing ten dollars and the one which is costing twenty dollars Whichever we buy and use that. Like the wand that you receive from the teachers is the same. So, whatever that we enjoy, whether the things that we wear, whether the place where we live, the things that we eat, or the car that we drive, the more expensive we use, more merit that we use up.
So so so I wanna say for for for central Dharma practice practitioner, he said like, what we need is just enough to eat that which fills our stomach and just to put something on which keeps us warm. If we have that much then that’s enough. Yeah. So so, you like, should say, won’t go more in in more detail into that. It’s the time for us to accumulate merit, so we should accumulate merit as much as possible.
So even getting reborn in the god’s realm, one is still not free from sufferings. So so these are like the signs of the sign of the death that that is experienced by the gods of the desirables and also similar to that of the gods of the upper realms to have similar types of sufferings. So, for some of the gods of the upper realms, come to achieve clairvoyance through their concentration practice. So when they come to achieve that, they mistake it with liberation and they think that they have achieved the liberation. But then because of through their clairvoyance they see them again getting reborn into the lower realms such as in the hell and so on.
That because of that, they see that through their clairvoyance that they disbelieve in the teachings of Buddha saying that by achieving liberation you’re free of sufferings and so on. They they lose their belief in that, and and because of that, they again fall down into into in the hell realms. Yeah. So so it’s said that it’s much better to be born in the human realm. human realm as a as a a old a old person, male or female, and reciting mantra than getting, I would say, born or reborn in the in the culture.
So so as we had to take a rebirth out of common delusions, of those rebirth, if we were to take a human rebirth, even a poor one, poor old male or female reciting mantra, that is the best. And so, we should make prayers make prayers to be born as a human. And it’s where you can also accumulate merit and so on. So so, like, these places wherever we we are, we are reborn. In the in the god’s realm, in the the gods of the desire realm or even in the human realm such as like a successful place as America, Australia, Nepal Tibet, anywhere we are born, anywhere where we are born, we are not free of sufferings.
So so as taking example to this country, that it is is a very prosperous country which economically or in any way, either way, that it’s a very prosperous country comparing to Asia. Like, even if you want to travel to different states or different place, you can easily travel. But still if we think ourselves, we are not free of sufferings. So, that as we all recognize as something being suffering or something which is suffering is is the the the suffering of suffering which is of the of the three types of suffering. And and then next one which which we we say it’s happiness and which all people think it’s happiness.
That That is known as the second type of suffering which is suffering of change. So maybe some might think that what we see as happiness is Geshe-la is telling it’s not happiness. And some might not believe, but it’s not what do you say? Geshe-la’s explanation is saying it’s the explanation coming from teachings. So the the to which we say happiness is proven that it’s not happiness.
Being suffering, there are reasons and different proofs which I’ve given in the teachings. So one of one of the things that if you if you what we say as a happiness, if we stay on that state for a long time, then it changes into suffering. So when the weather is cold, the first time like we’re walking into the sunny spot or place, the first moment when you get in the sun, we experience happiness. At that point, where one sees as a pleasure or happiness, is showing that the past sufferings are coming to cease and it’s a starting of a next suffering which is starting from little to big Yeah. So which which is like on the very first moment, like suffering get us little by little, which then staying there long in the sun when you get burned or it’s very feel very hot.
Then at that point, it’s like a suffering of heat, which which is like a full suffering of heat. So, yeah, that’s that’s a full suffering of heat, which So, which shows that it’s not free of sufferings. And similarly, when we eat too much, we have a problem of stomach and again when we don’t eat we have suffering of hunger or gas inside the stomach and so on. So, when we look into this then, it shows that it’s not, I would say, completely free from sufferings. So, so then the next one that which is the pervasive suffering, that is this body that we we have which is the product of calm and delusion.
So so any of the five aggregates, we do have any of the five aggregates, whichever we take to the power of common delusions, what do say? One is not free from suffering. One has to go through sufferings. So, what we have to do is we have to become free from this body which is produced by common delusion. So so to become free from this contaminated body, we first need to know what causes these such as the karma and delusions.
We need to recognize the karma and also recognize the delusions and such as delusions are known as those of the attachment, anger, and ignorance. So then by avoiding these three, the attachment, anger, and ignorance, then one can also become free from this body, this contaminated body or one will achieve the state of is it? The aadhaats. So we stop here. Stop.
And we do some question and answer. Okay. Sorry? So to to to be reborn in the in the upper realms, known as the humans and gods realm, said we need to accumulate a merit. One have to accumulate a merit and the merit is what causes one to take the birth in the upper realms.
So as in yeah. We as a human being, we are born here in human realm, and this is also because of our merit. So, the god’s realm is like we are born in the god’s realm because of our merit. And because of our merit, it is said that god’s palace and all their wealth and possessions, all those that they enjoy, it’s because of their merits. And as it said that in the god’s realm that you don’t come to accumulate new merit.
That whatever merit that you have accumulated, it will be, what to say, it will end or it will finish up there, run up, yeah, in the god’s realm. And and then and then as I said in earlier teaching that most likely that all the courts most of the gods that they take reborn into lower realms. So it’s a as an example that if we have some money, we have already saved some money. If we use what we have saved, then it will come to an end one day if we don’t save more on top of that. So which we finish up what we have saved and become pro and similar to that, like merit that we have accumulated in the past finishes up or use up in the consul and then because of that, only place that they take the birth is in the lower realms.
So so so because of that, it’s advice for us to can enjoy the merits. At the same time, we should also accumulate the merits. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
So as Geshe la was giving this example that, like say, if there’s three storehouse, then the top store the gods and the demigods and the humans. So, the demigods are born there. We we get reborn in the in the demigods because of our merit too. So, of these different kamas, the karma which are known as virtuous karma or meritorious karma which causes us to be born in desired realm. And that of karma which is known as the immovable karma which causes us to be born in the upper realms.
So how these are, what is it, located? Is that one on top of the another one? So, like, these different residents or the place where these things reside, Geshe-la is saying that might be not so pleasant to explain this. There’s a six of the desire realm and then form realm seventeen.