Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 23-minute talk, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen begins with a teaching story: a Geshe asks a Lama how to purify negative karma from profiting by selling dharma texts; the Lama advises writing out the entire volume in gold, removing the karma and leading to higher rebirths. From this story, Geshe Dhawa explores the gravity of abandoning dharma and five key obstacles preventing enlightenment. He explains why meditation on emptiness (selflessness) is uniquely powerful: ignorant grasping is the root of all three poisons and all delusions. When the root is destroyed, all branches fall away. He warns against sectarian bias—favoring one’s own Buddhist school while diminishing others—which creates heavy negative karma. Studying Lamrim, he concludes, integrates all teachings into unified practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 09 LR 1995 03 12.mp3
UUID: d2e9803c-6960-46d0-a1b2-cdd142c87c40
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Lam Rim 1995 Jan-Dec (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1995-03-12
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 23.3 minutes
Words: ~1,466
So so then so then the the Geshe asked the the Lama saying that what what can I do to purify those negative actions of of enjoying that enjoying the the money that you get from selling the books, the text? And then Lama told him that you have if you if you do write out the whole volume of text, write it in the in the gold in the in the gold. Write all the text in the gold and make new one. Then that also removes or that takes away all the bad karma of using the money. And it also helps you to gain the highest states in your future life.
Not this life but in the future life it helps you gain your higher states. That’s what the Lama explained. So so just looking to this story that this what do say? The negative actions of abandoning dharma is is very heavy. So then if one understands the first three greatness, then again it’s easy that one never commits these actions like abandoning Dharma.
Similarly, if one does very well the guru devotion, guru yoga practice, Then again, that is what one another antidote towards removing the negative actions. Onwards, if one does a practice of meditating on the practice of how precious this human birth is and also practicing on impermanence or meditating on impermanence that helps one remove the attachment towards this life. That helps one’s remove the attachment towards this life by these two practices. And if one practice on bodhicitta, like doing some practice on bodhicitta, that helps one again to destroy the self-cherishing thought. Then thirdly, if one practice on the right view, then So that is like practicing on the emptiness or the right view, which means if one to practice or meditate on the selflessness of the person, the selflessness of the person, then then you you stop commit like, creating all those negative actions out of the ignorant self grasping.
So in this sūtra, Buddha explains that Buddha was given a raised a question to Buddha. There was a question raised. And then the question was which which which negative action which will be more heavier? The negative action of like destroying all these stupas in the world or like abandoning the dharma? And then the answer was that abandoning dharma has a has a greater negative action than destroying all these stupas in the world.
So that if one doesn’t if one don’t stop the attachment towards this life, then if one has attachment towards this life, that means all the practice that one does, like the practice on precious human rebirth, the meditation on impermanence, the meditation on or meditation or the practice of emptiness. All this this practice becomes for the purpose of this life. All becomes for the purpose of this life. So so So which which becomes which which which becomes a cause mainly for the happiness of this life? So so then the second, like, the if one has this self-cherishing thought within one, then whatever one does, there’s no chance for generating bodhicitta within oneself, if one has this self-cherishing thought within one.
And whatever whatever one practice whatever one practice, if one have this self-cherishing thought, that never it never becomes a cause for enlightenment. So then if one practice and meditate on emptiness again and again, then that is what destroys the ignorance of grasping. When one is destroying this ignorance of grasping, that means the known as the three poisons be also destroyed through the practice of emptiness. So as Śāntideva explained in his teachings saying that emptiness destroys the ignorance of grasping. In the same way that it also destroys the three poisons, which is attachment, hatred, and then ignorance.
So, for example, if one is getting rid of the attachment, if one is using lots of antidote towards getting rid of attachment, this doesn’t help to get rid of the other kind of poisons that are hatred and so on. Why? Because attachment is a branch of the poisons. So then if one is to use an antidote towards the ignorance of grasping, then that ignorance of grasping is the root of all those different poisons, all those different delusions. And if one is to destroy that, then that practice becomes antidote towards all the branch delusions.
So same thing like if seed for example, if the seed is burned, then even if you sow it, if you put in the earth it cannot bring about a sprout because the seed is already destroyed. In the same way the seed of all these different delusions is the ignorance of grasping. And if you destroy that then if you destroy that, then there’s no like the other rest of the like branch, what do call it, the delusions stop stop arising. Up to now, we finished starting from the text which we first talked about the greatness of the composer or the teacher. And then secondly, we talked about the greatness of the teachings.
Like the greatness of the teachings, we just counted as in four, which we have just finished explaining. If you do, like, like, give a extensive explanations of these greatness, those teachings and the teacher, then you can talk to one point, to one of the greatness, like whole day you can talk about. But I guess, they’re saying that just talking all about for whole day about one greatness. He said one thing, don’t have time, and the second is, like, maybe you just get confused. So for example, if there’s a very rich person there, then he or she may have lots of things that is used for his livelihood or her livelihood.
And same thing if he’s a monk, like a simple monk, as in Geshe la, for example, then he also have some things that he uses for livelihood. So so so as an example of that, like how how you how you live your life with that amount of things around you. So if you have also whatever understanding of the teaching you have, if you live with that, then that is what a complete sort of living is. So, for example, if something is missing there, then you won’t have a good life. For example, if you don’t have tea, milk, and sugar together, then you won’t have good tea.
But then if you have all these three together, there’s like a lot or little, you can somehow make a good tea out of that, these three. But then if you put too much, then again, maybe it’s different. So, we stop here today, if you have questions here, you can ask here. Mhmm. It was like we should have same respect.
Exactly. Yeah, not have less or yeah, That’s what So just to make it clear that Geshe was saying that, for example, if one is Geluk student and one is doing the practice of Geluk, then if one does that, put all the teachings which comes from Geluk teachers higher and then the rest of the teachers teachings, like for example, Sakya or whatever other school is. If you put in a lower place and also have less respect towards them, then that’s one way of creating the negative action of abandoning Dharma. So that’s what one shouldn’t be doing. Same thing with other schools like if other schools if one is a Sakya school or Kagyu school, then respecting that most and not respecting the rest.
If one does that, then that is what you say negative action, that is what where you collect heavy negative actions, which is abandoning Dharma. So this is what one shouldn’t shouldn’t do. So so so because of that reason that Lama Tsongkhapa explains that one should one should be able to take all the teachings in the form of instruction in one’s practice. That’s what that’s what that’s the reason why Lama Tsongkhapa was explaining this. So it’s just that what we have been talking about is the qualities of Lamrim.
So if you study Lamrim, this is what happens. Are able to take if you study Lamrim, then that’s how it happens. You’re able to take all the teaching in the form of instructions. That’s what in the Lamrim text if you study. So the reason that we are explaining all this here, the qualities of Lamrim, is because the Lamrim text is short, which is very precise, mainly wanting mainly to subdue one’s mind.
That’s one way of explaining how Lamrim text are presented to subdue one’s mind. And it has all these great qualities inside if one is to study. Yeah. Other questions, please? We stop here if there’s no questions.