Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 44-minute talk, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen systematically examines the sixteen ways of accumulating virtue through ethical conduct across body, speech, and mind. He works through ten non-virtuous actions to avoid—three physical (killing, stealing, sexual misconduct), four of speech (lying, divisive speech, harsh words, meaningless talk), and three mental (covetousness, harmful intent, wrong view)—then six additional actions to avoid (alcohol, wrong livelihood, harm) and three to cultivate (generosity, making offerings, meditation on the four immeasurables). Concrete examples ground the teaching: a businessman not cheating customers, animals blindly following a leader off a cliff, longing for another’s possessions. The sixteen reduce to three core practices: generosity, morality, patience. In the Q&A, he addresses nuanced cases—lying to save a life, reading without generating delusion—showing how Buddhist ethics adapt to context rather than function as rigid rules.
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File metadata (for organising)
File: 06 4NT.mp3
UUID: 2d2d2c22-4851-4aaf-8449-54d26888bb58
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: The Four Noble Truths (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1996 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 44.7 minutes
Words: ~2,158
So these sixteen — which Geshe-la will explain — are quite important. And the first thirteen are things that one needs to avoid. And then the last three are things that one needs to adopt or practise. So of the thirteen, the first thirteen: from those, ten of them are the ten non-virtuous actions which are committed through our body, speech, and mind. So the first of the ten is not killing — also not taking others’ lives.
So not killing — taking the life — which means not taking the life of all beings, which is not only animals but every being. So taking a life doesn’t mean only that oneself commits the action by going there, taking a weapon, and killing — taking the life. It doesn’t have to be that. So even like ordering someone to kill or take the life of another being — that too is an act of killing. And like ordering someone, and the other person goes there and kills the animal —
Then as soon as that animal dies, these two persons — the one who orders and the one who does the action — both receive the act of killing. So usually we don’t engage in this act of killing. We don’t kill or take the life of others. But if we do make this commitment or take this vow of not killing, then if one wants to take this vow of not killing or take the commitment of not killing, then one receives the benefit of not killing.
So then the second is that of stealing. Stealing is taking others’ belongings. So taking the belongings of others — others’ things — by force or through power. Or like taking their belongings without their knowing, in a hidden way. Or letting others steal or take others’ belongings for one. So all of these are acts of — oh sorry — acts of stealing.
So then the third negative action is avoiding sleeping with others’ partners. And that is like avoiding doing that. So we face — it is that partners getting divorced and these things — is a result of their past life, that they have used others’ partners which were not belonging to one. Because of that act in one’s past life, this life one faces separation from one’s wife or husband. So these three actions are committed by our body, physically.
So then physically avoiding these three actions — these are the three virtuous actions that you accumulate. So then through our speech there are four non-virtuous actions. So the first one is telling a lie. So telling a lie — which is telling untrue or wrong words — is telling lies.
So even when you are having fun, when you tell a joke — a lie — when you tell a lie, that is a negative act of telling a lie. And only if there is some reason behind telling a lie — then there might be a reason or purpose for telling a lie — then it might not become a negative act of lying. But otherwise, even just telling a lie in a joke is a negative act of lying. So then the second negative action is that of divisive speech.
So this divisive speech is that of separating two — whether it is two friends being separated, or it can be a group separated into two, or different committees separated into two. So by engaging in this act of divisive speech — like if you are able to separate the two into two separate groups — then as soon as that act is completed, one receives the negative act of divisive speech. So like divisive speech can also be done among two friends who are already far apart — who are already separated — making them more separated, making them even further apart. That too is known as divisive speech. And the detailed explanation on this will come in the Lamrim teaching. And then next, the third one is harsh words.
So which is like speaking harsh words to cut others’ speech. Sorry. And disturbing the mind. Right? And then the fourth one is actually meaningless talk.
So this meaningless talk — like speaking without reasons, speaking many things without any reason. Like — I would say — this is known as meaningless talk. So like pointless talk, or like reading stories of different wars and things like that, talking about that without any point. These two are known as meaningless topics. So these four are four negative actions of our speech, and avoiding doing these four accumulates four positive actions through your speech.
So then next is the negative actions of our mind. There are three, and the first one is — so what do you call it — it is a form of attachment. And if one is to see, let’s say, someone who has a special golden vase, and one sees that and wishes to have it for oneself — then that wish or that attachment to have it for oneself is — so like, the one kilo of gold that Tony has — if I had that, the desire or the attachment that — if I had that, I would say longing — that is the covetousness. So then the next one is harmful intent. So which is the wrathful aspect of the mind towards others — or the harmful aspect of the mind towards others? And then the third is wrong view. So then wrong views — there are many types.
And some examples, let’s say, are: the view believing that cause and effect don’t exist, the view of believing that the refuge doesn’t exist, or that past and future lives don’t exist. These are known as wrong views. So these three are known as the negative actions of our mind. Avoiding these three, one again has three positive actions of our mind. So these are not only the precepts — there are more which are explained, I would say, there are more which are explained from this text known as the Precious Garland.
So then, things that you have to avoid. And other things that you won’t avoid — is drinking alcohol, which is alcohol that leaves your mind and body without choice. So then second is enjoying the right way of livelihood. So practising the right way of livelihood — which is like not deceiving others or not cheating others. In any measurements that you have to give to others — like in kilos or whatever — you don’t cheat others.
So similar — like if it’s a businessman, then one should take — I want to say — profits which are accepted in the country or in the town, and like not taking extra. So if one is dishonest and cheats others, then that is not a good or right way of living. So if it is a fully ordained monk — like if it’s an ordained person — then one should live a life which is free from the five wrong livelihoods. So then next one is avoiding bringing harm or torturing others.
Like avoiding the act of killing, beating, or like stabbing. Or — what do you say — or driving criminals on a hard stony ground. Like, let’s say, torturing others. So these three are also known as negative actions.
And this makes a total of ten. So then, sorry. So then the next three — which one has to adopt or engage in — the first one is engaging in the act of giving. Giving — like yourself making yourself give. So for example, in the act of giving — if a beggar comes around and you don’t give by yourself, if you let others, like your son or daughter, give whatever you want to give to the beggar — then whoever gives the object to the beggar receives the benefits.
So one must give oneself — one must do the act. So then the act of giving also shouldn’t be like feeding the dogs and the birds, like throwing food to them, but should be done with respect. Like if you do the act of giving with respect, then out of one object you receive — how to say — many benefits. And then the next is making offering to those who are worthy of receiving offerings. So to whom one should make offering is: those who have more knowledge or are more qualified than oneself. To them one should make the offerings. And then the third is meditating or contemplating over the four immeasurables. So the four immeasurables are: the immeasurable equanimity, the immeasurable love, the immeasurable joy, and the immeasurable compassion.
So in total, now, of sixteen: which is the ten — plus the three, on top of that, which is the thirteen — and plus the last three which are things that you adopt or practise. So total of sixteen — sixteen ways of accumulating virtues. So if these sixteen are to be summarised, then they can be summarised into these three: that is generosity, morality, and patience. In these three it is summarised.
So even if one is not able to do the extensive practices, once one is trained in these three simple ones — that is generosity, morality, and patience — if one does these practices with good friends or with noble friends, then one’s practice becomes good. So how to say — following or having good friends is very important. And like if one doesn’t have a good friend, misfortune can happen. Like the example of different animals — say the cows: the rest of the cows just follow the first one, whoever leads. And if that one falls over the cliff, then there’s a possibility the rest of them will fall over the cliff too.
So because of time, Geshe-la couldn’t complete the rest — that is how you create karma — and this part, how you create karma, will be explained in the next teaching. So if you have any questions, you can ask.
So like — let’s say while you are coming up from the street, if you see someone running down, and behind there is someone coming with a gun. And then the person with the gun comes to you and asks if you saw the person running in this direction. And if you tell the truth, telling the truth may, let’s say, endanger the other’s life. So at that point — so at that point, if you say you didn’t see any person going there, there are points and good reasons to say that. Right.
So these things — if you have points and reasons behind saying that — then Geshe-la said it might be okay. But if you speak according to your practice, then those things too one should — I want to say — advise avoiding. So if one is to engage in this act of meaningless talk, what happens is: if by reading whatever it might be, it causes one to generate attachment and anger, then one shouldn’t read. So even if one is to read — if one is to read without any attachment and anger — then it’s okay; but whenever we read anything, just by reading these different things, these many things which have happened might make one generate different states of delusions — attachment, anger, and so on.
Yeah. Okay. So if you read with a good motivation, then it’s okay. Because motivation is — what do you call it — the main one.
So like if you are reading whatever material it is — if there is some point and some reason, then it’s okay to read. But if you don’t have points or reasons, then — yeah. Sorry. I can’t get you. Sorry.
You’re reading which book, you said? Or? You’re saying whose mind? So it’s less than that. Mara — you said Mara, that is the devil.
And Geshe-la is saying that devil or the Mara might mean — how do you say — delusions. So it’s the delusions which — I want to say — control our mind. And because of that, we are left here in saṃsāra. So.
Any more questions? So if one were to request him to come in his actual form, it might be very difficult for him. He might not come in his actual form. That is because beings have — what do you say — no karma to see the actual Buddha. So for them, Buddha manifests into different forms and comes there and trains them or subdues the beings.
Buddha Śākyamūni is here now, but we can’t see him because we are obscured by our karma — the karmic obscuration. So because, let’s say, we don’t see — only because we don’t have the karma and we are not so purified.