Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 45-minute teaching, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen focuses on confession and purification as central to the path. He begins by identifying delusions—especially ignorance of karma and cause and effect—as our true enemy, explaining why Buddha’s teachings on this law are reliable guides. He then explains confession in detail: how even grave negative actions can be purified with skillful practice (he cites Angulimala, who killed ninety-nine people yet became an Arhat through proper confession); how the depth of purification depends on the quality of one’s practice, distinguishing three levels—thorough confession removes negativity at the root, moderate practice lightens it, basic practice simply stops accumulation. He cautions against relying on popular dharma books, stresses combining purification with bodhicitta and emptiness meditation, and closes with practical daily instruction: each evening, reflect on your actions and feel genuine regret to halt their increase.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 13 LR 1995 08 27.mp3
UUID: 52dd4134-758b-4a52-a3f2-61a942ec79d6
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Lam Rim 1995 Jan-Dec (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1995-08-27
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.8 minutes
Words: ~2,449
So quoting from the teachings of Pramānavārttika text, where there are four lines quoting from the Pramānavārttika text saying that we should stop even committing the slightest negative actions. So even if it’s a very small negative action, one should apply all antidotes and see that as an enemy to remove it. So our main enemy — that which brings harm to one, this life as well as our future life — is the delusions. That is our main enemy. So how one comes to see all those delusions as an enemy, one should rely on the words of those enlightened beings.
For example, the words in the Pramānavārttika text. So those scriptural teachings, for example — those are the teachings which are given by Buddha — all those teachings that are given by Buddha, that is what one should follow, one should take as a valid statement. So a valid statement which is free of lie.
So the enlightened being Buddha himself is free of all the faults. So because of that, he never tells a lie. We come to tell lies under the influence of delusions. So Buddha never tells a lie and what he explained, his statements are known as the valid statements. So relying on those statements, the teachings of Buddha, for example, like on these teachings, one should practice where one comes to destroy or remove the delusions.
The delusions — those which are our enemies. Sorry. The delusions: there are many different kinds of delusions and the worst of all of those is that of ignorance in the law of karma, or in the law of cause and effect. So ignorance in the law of karma, law of cause and effect, or karma, is not knowing that by doing a virtuous action that will bring forth a happy result, and not knowing that by doing a negative action, a non-virtuous action, brings suffering. Not knowing this, we come to create many different karmas.
We come to accumulate many different karmas. So first what we need to do is to hear and contemplate the valid teachings which give the explanations of the law of cause and effect, or the explanations of karma. One should first listen and contemplate on these very well. So set up your motivations — whatever motivations, these three levels of motivation, set that up in your mind. The first motivation of small scope: that you listen to the teachings in order to achieve a higher rebirth in your future. Or you set up with the motivation: I listen to the teachings in order to achieve liberation in future. And thirdly, listen to the teachings in order to achieve the fully enlightened state for the sake of others. So these three motivations — set up these three motivations — and the preliminary meditations. So the teachings are among the seven limb practice. We are on the part where we do the practice of confession.
And confession is a very important practice. And what we confess is the negativities. And Geshe-la today will explain in detail how we do the confession practice. So we do practice, we do meditate, and we do our daily practice as much as possible. We do this, but for some time we don’t come to gain realisations of our practice.
And it also happens that those realisations that we have gained, or those understandings that we have gained, we also lose. So these things happen to us because of the negativities and the obscurations. So yes, the sufferings or the sickness that we go through in this life, or taking birth in our future in one of the lower realms, or even taking human rebirth in our future while facing lots of problems — all this has a cause, and it doesn’t exist without a cause. So how all this comes into existence is because of its cause, and how we create the cause is, as Geshe-la explained earlier, that out of ignorance one comes to create these many different karmas and because of that we experience those karmas. So if we wish for a better birth in our future, or a peaceful future, then one should strive, start from right now, to confess our negative actions.
So if we confess properly, then any negative action can be purified. It can be purified. Even one of the most heavy negative actions, one of the five heinous crimes — these also can be purified through a proper confession practice. Even the heinous crimes, also known as the gapless actions — these are like killing one’s father, killing one’s mother, and killing an Arhat and so on. So in the lower tenets, in the explanations, they explain that those of the five heinous crimes cannot be confessed — you have to experience the result of those actions.
But then if you look to the upper tenets, like in the Prāsaṇgika tenets, it explains that any negativity can be confessed, can be purified. So any type of karma — there are actions, whether it’s virtuous karma or non-virtuous karma — they fall into two: definite and indefinite karmas. Even the definite karmas can be purified by doing a proper confession practice. So we create a karma, then the imprint of our action, the karma, we put it on, place in our mind — that mind comes from our past to present and goes to the future. We keep the imprint. So that imprint that we have left in our mind, if we confess it before it meets with its conditions, or before it ripens, then it can be confessed. So then that karma, whatever karma it is, if it meets with its conditions to ripen, then nothing can stop it. One has to experience the result. So as an example, if the seed in the field meets with those necessary conditions like heat, moisture, and so on, then it will definitely grow. So as the master Dharmakīrti explains in his teachings, saying that if there are all the conditions, then it will definitely bring about the result. That is what master Dharmakīrti explained.
So similar to that, master Nāgārjuna also explains in his teachings, in the text called the Friendly Letter — in it he explains that out of carelessness one may have accumulated many negative actions, but then it doesn’t mean that one will continuously accumulate negative actions. It’s possible that one can also stop doing negative actions, in the same manner as the sun comes out from behind the clouds. So for example, Angulimala, that person had killed ninety-nine people in his life, but then in his later life he did a confession practice, a proper confession practice, and achieved the state of an Arhat. So similar to that, another explanation is that even negative actions — the negativities of the skilful one, even though they are heavy, it can become lighter. And the negativities of the foolish one, even if they are light, can become heavier.
So the skilful one here means one who is skilled in doing the practice of confession. And even if the skilful one does very heavy negative actions, they know how to do the proper confession practice so the negative action can become lighter. And the foolish one is one who doesn’t know how to engage in the practice of confession. So even if that person commits a very small negative action, because of not knowing the practice of confession, it becomes very heavy.
So depending on one’s confession practice — if the confession practice is done very well, very good, then one can purify or confess the negative action from its root. And if it’s done medium, the negative action becomes lighter. And then if the confession practice is done at a basic level, then it stops the negativity from increasing. So some people might be very interested in doing meditations on the final view, on emptiness. But these meditation practices, meditating on the final view, won’t have much benefit if one doesn’t have enough practice on the purification part.
So if one is to do the practices in combination of these three — purification practice, purifying the negativities, meditating on bodhicitta, and meditating on emptiness — if one is to do a combination of these three together, then no doubt one will gain the realisations. So if one does not engage in the practice of purification, then even if one has done a small negative action, it increases every day and then becomes a very heavy negative action. So don’t think that I am just talking all the time about negative actions.
It’s the same with the positive actions. If you do a small positive action, and if that action is conjoined with renunciation and bodhicitta, then it also increases day by day. And finally it leads one to the enlightened state. So whatever practice or teachings one engages in, one should engage in the teachings which are known as the valid teachings or the valid scriptural teachings — whether it’s the teachings of Buddha, Lama Tsongkhapa, or the teachings of those different masters of different schools. So you see these days there are many different books that are published.
And most of the books, they make it sound as pleasant as possible because they want to sell it. And all the teachings explained in the book may sound very simple, as if one can gain those attainments easily. So what is explained in those books — it’s nothing that one can fully trust in. So I want you to rely more on those teachings which are known as the valid teachings or valid scriptural teachings.
And those teachings — when you read those teachings, it tells you all your mistakes, all your faults. And then not just leaving it at that — when you find out your faults then you engage in the practice of purification. And these are the teachings that are known as the valid ones. So, like the Chinese government tells the Tibetans that if you accept your fault, then you have your human rights. So when one comes to recognise one’s own faults and mistakes, and at that time one engages in the practice of purification, then that also leads to having trust, to genuinely trusting the law of karma.
So as I myself am explaining here: if you were to do negative actions, you experience negative results, and the same with positive actions. So then if the listeners don’t know the teachings or the Dharma, putting all these explanations — that by doing negative actions one creates a negative result and by doing positive actions one creates a positive result — these don’t suit them. It doesn’t make sense to them because of not knowing the teachings of Dharma.
So we hear and know the teachings, and we regularly read the books. And what we should do is stop doing even the slightest negative actions. So if one is to think that this is too very small, so it doesn’t matter if I commit these negative actions, then one comes to create two kinds of negative actions. One, that action itself is negative, and then another one is not respecting the teachings. So the law of karma, or cause and effect, is explained in every religion, and to generate respect and faith in the teachings is very important.
So today, when you go to bed, just relax and keep your hand on your chest and think over what actions you have done today. Just go through all the things that you have done. So while you’re lying down, if you go through what you have done on that day, and if you remember those negative actions that you have done on that particular day, then you don’t have to get up to do the purification practice. You can, while you’re lying down, reflect over your actions. And you can reflect over your actions.
And doing this — just having regret over your actions — that stops the negative action from increasing. So whatever negative actions one has committed from beginningless time up to now, just feeling scared, like having fear of them — just having fear of those negative actions doesn’t help much.
So at present, we have achieved this precious human birth. And those with this precious human birth, having these eighteen qualities, are very few. We can count them easily. Just taking human rebirth doesn’t mean we have all the qualities. So we have all these eighteen qualities, and we hear the teachings of the Buddha, which explain clearly how to do the purification practice. And before one dies, if one is to engage in these practices, then at the time of death one need have no fear in facing death.
So while one is healthy and strong, one engages in all those negative actions without being careful. But then when death is coming closer, then one cries saying that I’m scared and I have done such and such negative actions. Saying this doesn’t help. So the best way to leave the body at the time of death is that if you have done something very good and you are satisfied with your actions, and with joy you leave this body — then that’s the best way. So for purification practice, one can engage in the purification practice known as reciting the names of the thirty-five Buddhas and doing Vajrasattva mantra recitations.
So for some, even if they engage properly in the purification practice and they did it very well, but then they go through different sicknesses and other problems — if this happens, at that time one should not lose one’s faith in the practice. So when this problem arises or sickness strikes one, at that time, as explained before, all the conditions have ripened, so nothing can be done. All the practices that we do — the practice of making offerings, the practice of making prostrations, and purification practice — all these that we are doing is aimed for our future rebirth, for our future happy rebirth. So all the practice that we do, like making different pujas or different practices — all those different practices that we do — are a cause for our future, to ripen the result. They become a cause for our future result.
So if we engage in the practice of purification, does the negative action get purified? Then yes, it does get purified, and you can see some signs of being purified. So those who always engage in negative actions in this very life — some people are that type of people. Some live…