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 opens with a striking image from the Eight Verses of Mind Training: sentient beings are like precious wish-fulfilling jewels—yet while a jewel trapped in dirt cannot escape, a being caught in saṃsāra can be freed by our care and guided to happiness. He distinguishes genuine cherishing—working to liberate beings from suffering—from mere politeness, then introduces bodhicitta: aiming all spiritual practice toward the liberation of all sentient beings. The session focuses on two methods of training bodhicitta: the seven cause-and-effect instructions and the practice of exchanging and equalizing oneself with others. He examines how the self-cherishing mind underlies all personal and social suffering, then explores the boundless benefits that arise from prioritizing others’ welfare over one’s own. For practitioners engaged with Graduated Path teachings.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 37 GP 1996 07 21.mp3
UUID: 7a1b35ca-4003-4b17-ad4a-5c0f31af0f0f
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Graduated Path (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1996-07-21
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.9 minutes
Words: ~2,488
So quoting a line from the mind training teachings known as the eight verses of mind training, where in that mind training teaching it says that sentient beings are like precious jewels which dependence upon sentient being, we come to, let’s say, collect all the virtue. In two ways that sentient beings are like precious jewels? So how sentient beings are like the precious wish-fulfilling jewel is that sentient beings are one way that sentient beings are like the wish jewel. That if the wish fulfilling jewels are covered with rubbish or dirt, then itself don’t have any power to come out from that dirt. So similar to that sentient beings who are in saṃsāra too, what to say, don’t have power itself to come out from.
So so another way, if one is to take out that wish-fulfilling jewel and and make our prayers and request to it, What all our wishes of this life can be fulfilled by making prayers and request to it? So likewise, the wish fulfilling jewel can fulfill our wishes. Similar to that, if one is to cherish the sentient beings, the other sentient beings, then that is what give gives us all the all the happiness that of this life and that of our future lives. So with with with the precious, which is fulfilling jewel, it can fulfill our wishes of this very life. Not it can also feel fully the wish of our future life, but but by cherishing other sentient beings.
That is that is what fulfills both our wishes, that of this life and that of our future lives. So of these two that are like sentient beings and the wish-fulfilling jewel, we should cherish more of the the sentient beings and creating virtuous activities and leaving imprints of those virtuous activity in one’s mind. So by cherishing others by cherishing others, that is what brings happiness among the families, and that is what brings happiness in the community. And that is what also subdues our mind. And if our minds are subdued, then that is what also subdues our body.
So this is like the advice which comes from the eight verses of mind training teaching here. Mhmm. Like cherishing others. So on this subject, Geshe-la, let’s say, we’ll also speak later more detail. So when we say cherishing other sentient being, doesn’t doesn’t mean just smiling at them?
So when you say cherishing others, how the work or or the how we cherish others is that freeing those sentient beings who are in saṃsāra freeing those sentient beings and leading them to the state of happiness, which is those sentient beings who are in saṃsāra are under great sufferings and their wishes great happiness but they don’t have this opportunity for happiness. Think that at present with oneself, one are in better chance which is having both internal and external conditions That is the external conditions that one have attained or achieved this precious human body. And not only that, on the basis of that one can also do some practices. That is the internal conditions. Not only that, one I’ve also met with a spiritual master who can show one the path.
So when have all these opportunities that that this is the thinking that this is the time to help those sentient beings. And and working towards that is how you cherish other sentient beings. So so so in order to free all sentient beings from that state of suffering, at at this point, one one is unable to do do that. So so aiming all all your all your practice, whatever you you perform, thinking that I do this practice to free all sentient beings from the state of state of that suffering, which is whether you are listening to the teachings or whether you are explaining teachings or even just reciting a single line of mantras or like aiming it for that purpose. Keeping this in mind that we generate a bodhicitta motivation and do short meditation.
So there is two methods of training on bodhicitta, which are that of the seven cause and effect instructions is the one method. And the other method which is exchanging and equalizing oneself with others, that is the second method. So the first one, Geshe-la explained in the last teaching. And today, Geshe la will explain the second method. So both these methods have its own, I wanna say, lineage, separate lineage.
So so when you engage in this method of training our mind, that both of these starts with recognizing all sentient beings being one’s mother and goes all the way up to the fourth which is meditating, contemplating love which is the heartwarming love. And up to there when one reach to that fourth level then the rest of the practice which is done together, Both practice are mixed together and performed. So, and also in Guru Puja text and also in other Lamrim text such as the liberation on the BAM of your hand, it explains these two methods like to practice together. So, bring both these practice together which explains the eleven points of meditate meditations. So so those eleven points, actually, said, won’t be going into detail of all all of those, but we’ll explain briefly on each of those eleven.
So so with the with this second method, that is exchanging and equalizing oneself with others. This method is explained under five points. So of these five, the first one is, I wanna say, equaling oneself with others, equaling and exchanging oneself with others. So that’s the first point. And before you do that, that practice has to be preceded by like, meditating on recognizing all things in being one’s mother, remembering their kindness, and paying their kindness, and meditating on love.
And then one start from So the practice that you perform like from the beginning, like recognizing also being one’s mother, their kindness, and repaying their kindness, and the later part, generating this special insight and final result of bodhicitta, there is no difference among these two methods. So so the difference is with the the heartfelt love, the contemplation on love. So the first point which is coming from exchanging and equalizing one self with others, that part of the explanation which comes from the Guru Puja where we’re all equal in not wanting sufferings and and wanting happiness. So as one doesn’t even wish slightest sufferings, smallest suffering. Whatever happiness that one experience, one is never satisfied with it.
Being like that is same with other sentient beings too. They don’t wish even the slightest suffering, and they are never satisfied with all the happiness that they that they experience. So even even in the dream dreaming state dreaming state that we are equal, that wishing, not wishing even a slightest sufferings and never satisfying whatever happiness that we experience. So we’re equal in that state, equal with all sentient beings. So so that one should start from now on, like, cherishing others because of this reason that they are equal to one, that one shouldn’t ignore them, but one should cherish them.
So so that when going to the first method which is seven cause and effect instructions when recognizing all sentient beings as one’s mother and when one remember their kindness, not only remembering the kindness of when they are our mother of this life, but also remembering the kindness of our past mothers. So when one is contemplating the seven cause and effect instructions, at that point when one contemplate the kindness of the mothers, we only contemplate the kindness of the mother of this life. When one is following the second method, is exchanging and equalizing oneself with others, not only we, I would say, contemplate the kindness of this, kindness of the mother of this life, but also on top of that we contemplate the, let’s say, kindness of our mothers who are in the past. We have been our mothers. So so, like, the kindness that we receive from this life’s mother that we don’t need to explain.
So even when they are not our mothers, the kindness that we receive from other lifetimes, from other sentient beings are great too, which all like what we have, the body, our belongings, and the place where we live. All these comes through the kinds of, what you say, other sentient beings. So so all even the happiness of this life too depends upon the kindness of other sentient beings and all our practice too. Like the practice of generosity too depends upon other beings. If there’s no sentient beings then there’s no practice of generosity that we can do.
And the same with morality and same with tolerance or patient. And even the ultimate achievement, the liberation or fully enlightened state, that too depends upon the kindness of other sentient beings. So so now the actual part which is changing oneself with others, in order to do that part of the practice, one first need to, how to say, first have to contemplate those faults associated with cherishing self and also the benefits which comes through by cherishing others. So these two points that we have to contemplate. So So, those faults of cherishing self, which as it is explained in the Guru Puja, that this, what you call, this chronic disease known as the self-cherishing mind.
Is the cause of all sufferings, all unwanted sufferings. And similarly with in the way of life, all the suffering in the saṃsāra comes or or by wanting happiness for self. So so also in the mind training teaching, which the eight verses of the mind training teaching, it says that blaming all to one thing, which is mind, blaming to that for everything, because that is what causes all the problems or unwanted sufferings. So how how it is caused by this self-cherishing mind, such as the harm that we receive from weapons, poisons, and the nagas. So all these that we receive such as from weapon poison from that we receive from nagas and also in our future life getting reborn into the lower realms, animal hungry ghosts and hell realms.
All this is caused by this self-cherishing mind, which is because of cherishing self that one takes the life of others or one commits the act of stealing, such as the act of sexual misconduct, and so on. And because of that, one experiences all these. So and similarly, also, all those sickness that we that we experience, those great sickness that we experience too is caused by this self-cherishing mind because of this self-cherishing mind that we happen to eat different kinds of food and it causes us to have all these sicknesses. So so and and also unable to give give up such as one to one belongings, like shelters, and also holding to good reputation and unable to give that up holding to that, one goes through great sufferings such as the fear of enemies and so on. So like, looking from people in the high positions such as king and ministers to that going through going through calls or fights and so on.
This is because of the self-cherishing mind. Similarly because of the self-cherishing mind of the king that giving punishment to the public to bringing all those problem or difficulties in the public too because of that. That too is because of the self-cherishing mind. And among the communities facing different problems too is because of self-cherishing mind. And similarly like having wars like other countries too because of this self-cherishing mind.
So one should like contemplate in many ways these faults of self-cherishing mind. So in short, like, from beginningless time up to now, causing us going through the, or causing us having all these sufferings is these two minds. One of them is the self-cherishing mind and and the other other one is the self grasping mind. These are the two which which causes all these. So So, all the problem that we are going through in this life is caused by these two minds, is one is the self-cherishing and one is the self grasping.
And similarly, like all the suffering that one will experience in our future life too is caused by these two minds. So the self grasping mind which is grasping to this eye that it’s being truly existing. And the self-cherishing mind is cherishing oneself is unable to give up that feeling of feeling of I. So we are left here up to now from the beginning of time. Is because didn’t search what causes that.
If we do search for the cause, then it is these two, the self-cherishing and the self-grasping. So these are the two which causing all the problems. It’s important for one to see the faults of those self-cherishing mind and staying away from that mind. So so when you when you contemplate on these different faults of self-cherishing and when you come to realize these the faults of those, those are the faults of self-cherishing mind, then next step is to meditate or contemplate the benefits of cherishing others. So so and for that, like, the benefit of cherishing others, Śāntideva explained in his teaching saying that all the happiness in in saṃsāra is is it’s I would say, comes from cherishing others.
And, similarly, in the Guru Puja, cherishing all mothers are the doorway to happiness. And it’s also the source of infinite, what do say, knowledge. So even if all sentient beings come to us one as an enemy, one should, how to say, cherish one should still cherish them. So and another text of mind training, seven point mind training, where it explains that contemplating or remembering the kindness of all others. So all all the wealth of the arhats are too caused by cherishing others.
So by cherishing other others that because of that mind not not engaging in this act of taking other’s life. So by doing that, by not committing the act of killing, that one will experience happiness in this life and as in the future life, one will be reborn in the upper realms where one will have a long life. And and then to the poor one, like giving them, like practicing the generosity or giving to the poor one. By doing that, one receives wealth. So so that the one of the text it says that we don’t need to give a lot of explanations.
And it says just to look to these two like the ordinary beings by mainly working for the sake of themselves and ordinary sentient beings mainly work for themselves and such as Buddha have worked for the sake of others and what kind of result that Buddha have achieved. Just check those results. So