Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen begins this 40-minute session by examining two types of faith: one built through analysis and proof, which cannot be shaken by contrary views, and one merely heard from others, which crumbles when contradicted. He then teaches offerings—transforming your virtue, the virtue of enlightened beings, and imagined objects into gifts to buddhas and bodhisattvas. These practices don’t benefit the Buddhas but train your mind in generosity, joy, and freedom from stinginess. He illustrates how merit accumulation manifests tangibly: practitioners who cherish others succeed with less effort, while those without such training struggle. Throughout, he emphasizes that transformation requires continuous daily practice, not isolated sessions. For those studying the Lamrim systematically.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 10 LR 1995 08 06.mp3
UUID: 65e507a0-11e6-429f-a21d-1ec7008ffeb7
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Lam Rim 1995 Jan-Dec (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1995-08-06
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 40.3 minutes
Words: ~2,400
But then, in the next, a person another person comes and explains, bodhicitta is nothing. It’s, and tells about, something bad about bodhicitta. Then the faith that person have easily changes, weakens, becomes very weak. So English is saying that people come to him and like telling him that in the past they were Christian and then they studied Buddhist, they became Buddhist and that they want to change the religion and other practice. So those who are like that don’t have a strong faith.
So So then for those who are known as the intelligent one, then they, as it is explained, they analyze it and when they analyze and then they come to see the result, the proof, when they get proven by themselves, then they engage in the practice. And that is more strong based. Faith those then the faith that the person generates there is irreversible. It’s a it’s a faith which is very So so it’s like like when knowing that there’s a person in this room, that you have seen a person in this room and you go out and then they are like, if there’s a hundred people outside and telling you there’s no person inside, I mean, there’s no way they can convince you because you know there’s a person inside. So their faith is like that.
So then the next next type of offering, the fourth one is offering transforming one’s virtue into offering objects and making offerings. So so that is that those virtue that one have accumulated in the past and the present the virtues that one have accumulated in present and also those virtues that one will be accumulating in the future. All of them transforming into offering objects objects and and making offering to to the lamas or making offering to the lamas. That’s what the third type of offering is. So so next is that you can also offer the virtue of others.
For example, all the virtues of others up to three times and all the virtue that is accumulated by those enlightened beings and bodhisattvas or for example, all the virtue that is accumulated by Buddha, Buddha Śākyamūni, all of them transforming into form, offering objects, and making offerings. You receive you receive great amount of merit out of doing these offerings. So so in what form you transform those virtues or the merits is that all those offering objects like flower, incense, light, and so on. And you can also transform them into beautiful parks and gardens or beautiful forest and then make offerings. So so and also, in short, one can offer that all these virtues transforming into beautiful beautiful place where like gods and the god and goddesses are full of gods and goddesses and enjoying enjoying the five sense objects or the five objects of desire realms.
And then, you know, like, making all those together, offering to the to the making all of them offerings. Making all of them and offering to to the Buddhas. So making all of these offering to the to the to the the deities, and and and they accepted all these offerings and imagining that now they they receive special joy out of accepting these offerings. So so imagine this that they they accept the offerings and they generate out of that, they experience this great joy or bliss. It’s not that the Buddhas gain special qualities out of your offering.
But imagining this helps it helps yourself to achieve these different different states, different would say, different joys or different states of joys. To help one to achieve those states by making these offerings. So so again, like making those offering to Bodhisattvas, then same thing, Bodhisattvas are accepting those offerings. Similarly, generates great joy within them. And Bodhisattvas, those are Bodhisattvas which are not completely completed their path, not completely perfected their path and imagine them they have completed their path.
So same thing again, like making this offering to the hearers and the solitary realizers, those beings. And thinking or imagining that they enjoy it and becomes a cause for their liberations. So this type of offerings is what we call we have we have we we don’t have any shortage of making these offerings. I mean, there there you can you can make as much as you want, these offerings. So making these offerings, you don’t have to run.
For making these offerings, you don’t have to go to the shop and buy things. And you also don’t have to be stingy or you don’t have the thought of miserliness towards your offerings. So I’m making this kind of offering which is pure offering. It’s very good for one. For example, whatever we offer, if it’s a light offering, then even that that offering should be you don’t shouldn’t have thought of miserliness towards your offering objects.
Oh, be free from that. So after he finishes the explanations of offerings, and the seven limb practice, the first two, the first one is the prostrations and the second is making offerings have been completed. So and the next teachings, Geshe-la will be teaching about about mandala, mandala offerings. How you make how you pile up the grains and or what do you imagine and then how you make the offerings. So if you have any questions, you can ask.
So any any questions you’d like to ask? Any doubt you have, you can ask. Yeah? Yeah? So and in the in the Lamrim teachings, it explains how you how you make the offerings.
So doing all these practices is to perfect these two accumulations for one to achieve the full enlightened state. Which which these two accumulations are the accumulation of wisdom and accumulation of merit? So so then perfecting the accumulations of merit is that by making offerings and so on. Like those offerings that is explained that is the supreme offerings and the superior offerings and so on. By making these offerings, one come to perfect the accumulation of merit.
So so perfecting the accumulations of merit is is by perfecting that what as a result one achieves one of one of the Buddha’s body of the two, the the the form body that is the result of the perfecting accumulation of merit. So then the wisdom body, that is the perfection of accumulating wisdom. So so so the perfect how how you accumulate the perfection of wisdom is that by by through training yourself on the practice of emptiness, bodhicitta, and so on. These are like perfecting the accumulation of wisdom. So a combination of these two together, the wisdom and merit, then you perfect both accumulations.
So so you analyze into into these that are not only one time but many times whether those explanations make sense or not. Yeah. So know, design or knowing how one had perfected, how much accumulation of merit one had done. One can, I mean, one can see in a way that how those who are training on the path, those who are training on the path, are concentrating mainly on cherishing others and how successful their life is and how much less problems they have? By seeing them, you can see like how much, that that that shows how much perfection of merit one have accumulated.
How much one have perfected in accumulating merit. So as you see that people more like in a sense successful that doesn’t have to put much effort but become more successful in many ways. And without expending much, they fly here, there, even flying and then playing in a nice car. And all these things is a sign that result of perfecting some level of merits, accumulation of merit. So then there’s in the other hand, who work very hard and never become successful in their work.
And in their work like work very hard, they find very difficult in the evening just to fill their stomach. So this shows that they have, that they don’t have enough accumulation of merit. And another causes because of their past life, didn’t have much practice of giving. Yeah. Yeah.
That quiz. Yeah. So, most of the time when we make the offerings, we make to the supreme field, let’s take supreme objects. To them, we make the offerings. And once we make the offerings, then even if you happen to see some faults or faults in the person, you should you should train your mind thinking that it is not because of the person, from the object or from the person.
It is because of one’s own mind and because of one’s own superstitious thought that it it happens that. That’s how one way of train it. So this this is because for as an example, say if there’s a person which you don’t like. So, I mean, that person whom you don’t like may have two eyes and we’re just using the two eyes to everyone. But the way you see that person looking at you might be very, how do you say, not pleasing.
I mean, you may think that that person’s looking you badly. But from the person’s side, maybe you may be looking in the same way to everyone. So this is one of the reason that because one’s self is not completely pure, that shows the others also impure. So if you look in the theory in the views, then for example, like the ultimate view, then you can think the object from its own side. It’s not existing from its own side.
It just existed there because one labels that. And for example as Tony, I guess, leaves as an example. When he was first born, when he was first born, he was not Tony. But then after someone labeled him Tony, then since then he became Tony. So it’s just it’s just one labels that and it appears to be that.
So so in the teachings, that’s how it should it should it should be explained in that way. Like for example, you should make offerings because if you make offering, you accumulate merit. That’s the sort of That they are the reasons what is given in the teachings. But then when one is actually making the offerings, then at that time, one shouldn’t think that I will be accumulating merits because I’m offering. Shouldn’t think it this way.
So at at that time, when one is actually making offerings, one should think for benefiting others. So so at that time, one should concentrate on benefiting others. Yeah. You. So when we say that it was that the expensive car using these things is a result, in that it’s a result of past accumulation of merit.
Out of that one receives this. But then we’re not saying that itself, using that itself is something, what do say? So it’s like I would enjoy that as a result of past merits. And like more whether that is positive or negative, it’s more because of the motivations. How much, what type of motivation one have.
That is how it directed. The motivation more directed to us whether it’s positive or negative. So for example, like, even I’m driving an expensive car, the person knows how to train their mind. Still then the person can do the practice. Back, a big rain.
And so there are many cars passing through fast. So so then it happened there was a woman was driving fast, and she stopped and then asked her where where issues are going. And then they said, going to Buddha house, and she said, okay. I dropped you there. And then she dropped.
So this shows that the person has some training of the mind, like some compassion. So, I mean, there are people sometime waiting in the in the robes for lifts. Like, and then if one doesn’t stop, then just go by and then say goodbye, then that shows something that’s not much of training within one’s mind. Yeah, yeah. So if you know how to train your mind, then there’s many way you can do it.
Yeah. I can know it. Yeah. Yeah. So, I guess you’re saying that this it’s the matter of training, how much training one, how much effort one puts in.
And if one, not that it happens by doing one or two practice, that one becomes perfect in the practice. It’s how much one trains in itself in the practice. For example, with the bodhicitta, the generation of bodhicitta, there are these two instructions which are given. This is one is like exchanging and equalizing oneself with others, like the tonglen. And then the second one is the seven instructional cause and effect.
On these points, everyone has to train again and again, many times, like again and then continuously. Then one can lead to one’s mind, one can direct one’s mind towards what one wishes. So otherwise if it’s so easy that if we do one or two times and we achieve those states then probably there was no sentient left here now. So, one way of checking oneself is that when you first begin to study practice and now in this stage, if you compare these two minds that you have, then you can see the difference. Stage by stage if you analyze, then you come, you have the familiarity with the practice, you become familiar with the practice.
Like in India, close to India, the other country is Bhutan. And people from Bhutan, like, when you first meet, like, if you say, are you tired? If you ask them, are you tired? Then they said they reply saying that if you are not tired, you won’t get food. That’s what they answer is saying.
So So, in the same way that you should work hard, train yourself, and then as a result of your training, achieve the fruits. If you collect. If you slowly continue like doing the practice of virtue, then that’s how you reduce negative actions, negative So all the positive side of the practice, you should not only do just one or twice, but like continuously doing like one two every day, like making offerings or prostrations or anything. Like, once once or twice every day. Then that’s how you build up.
Yeah. So we stop.