Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen begins this 45-minute teaching with the refuge prayer and its dual motivation: freedom from our own suffering, and extending that wish to all beings. This reorientation—from self-centered to other-centered—is the key to lasting happiness. Compassion is not innate but trainable, developed through two classical methods (the seven cause-and-effect precepts and exchanging self with others) and concrete practices: the nine-round breathing meditation, contemplation of human rebirth’s preciousness, expanding compassion toward all beings. He stresses that taking responsibility for others, even before we feel ready, paradoxically transforms us. He illustrates this with vivid stories—hermit fathers in the Egyptian desert questioning their vocation, a child fighting a bull to save his father—showing that compassion arises through action and understanding, not sentiment. He closes by transmitting Pabongka Rinpoche’s impermanence text, an unbroken lineage from one of Tibet’s greatest twentieth-century masters.
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File: 13 H and M of A.mp3
UUID: 991d9fe8-c498-475f-8daf-25553db9194f
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: The Heart and Mind of Awakening 1996 Jul-Sep (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1996 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.4 minutes
Words: ~6,481
Terms of adjusting our motivation — it’s a continual process of reorientation, reorientating ourselves toward what is the ultimate concern, what is the ultimate value in our lives, with the direction that we’d like to see our lives go, who we’d like to be — you know, perhaps ten years from now, twenty years from now. Quite often, in beginning a teaching or meditation session, we recite the refuge formula, the refuge prayer. It has two parts. Not only refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and the supreme community — I go for refuge until awakening — but it also has another part, which is that not only are we seeking freedom from our own fear and destructive anxiety around the compulsive recurrence of the dissatisfactory patterns of our lives under the influence of afflicted emotions — under the influence of hatred, attachment, and most basically ignorance — and under the control of karma, which we’ll be talking about tonight.
Not only are we doing that for ourselves in order to be liberated from those conditions which by their very nature are dissatisfactory, but we’re trying to raise the level of our motivation and why we’re doing it, why we’re involved in this, doing it all. To go beyond our limited vision of what the good life might be composed of, to include others as to why we’re traveling the spiritual path. That is to say, to generate love and compassion as the motivation behind what we’re doing. You know, it’s tremendously profound — the intentionality that we bring to life, that we bring to our actions. I think it’s very much a determinant of the quality of the outcome.
So we’re trying, aren’t we? I think it’s terribly important that we — at least on my part as an ordinary person — that we at least keep pointing our cart in the direction that we like our lives to go. Keep reorienting ourselves in that direction. Even though it’s hard to be loving and compassionate all the time, it’s more difficult not to love at all, to have a closed heart. And the pain of closing our heart — these are very rare words, I think.
They’re very rare concepts, ideas in our modern-day society. And it’s very necessary that we keep reminding ourselves of the necessity to begin to open our hearts — to go beyond self-centered, exaggerated self-concern. To begin to concern ourselves a little more, as best we can, with something which lies outside of our self-interest — even if it be our family, which more often than not we identify in terms of our own self-interest more often than not. To begin to maybe develop some degree of altruism. A beneficial intention where there’s little or no self-interest involved.
Just a willingness to give, a willingness to help — for the sake of giving, for the sake of the benefit, for the sake of helping — that’s going to be derived by the other person or whosoever. Through the creative potential of my practicing generosity and the other perfections, may I achieve the state of Buddha for the sake of all living beings. Through the creative potential of my listening to the Dharma, through the creative potential of my practicing meditation, the creative potential of my going to work, taking care of the kids, cleaning the house — listen, we can, if we’re skillful, transform any mundane or seemingly mundane activity into something which is going to help us to travel the spiritual path. Know, again and again — when we talk about the awakened heart, bodhicitta — we’re going to go into it rather extensively.
We spent quite a deal of time on the two meditative traditions for the development of the awakened heart: the meditative tradition of the seven cause-and-effect precepts, and that of equalizing and exchanging self and others. These are the ways that we can actually work with — the means, the methods — by which we can actually awaken our hearts, by which we can actually develop love and compassion. Rather than it being a mere abstract notion which, however desirable, is something which is God-given or something which is innate in certain individuals.
But on the contrary, that we can actually develop — just as we can go to a gym and exercise and develop our muscles and our flexibility — we can also develop the ability of our minds to be more loving and more compassionate. That’s the quality of our minds, and it’s the quality of the Dharma that it’s able to bring about those potentials of the mind — to actualize what we want to become. In order to overcome selfishness, it is necessary to be daring. You know, I think, this orientation is very rare — I think. But, you know, we lose sight, don’t we? We narrow down our focus of what is important and what the good life is made up of, or what is of concern to ourselves.
You know, it is as if — I remember having lived in Dharamsala, which is in Northern India, just at the foothills of the Himalayas. And quite often during especially the monsoon season, sometimes you wouldn’t see the sun for days at a time. You’d be at an altitude of say six or seven thousand feet. Quite often you’d be completely surrounded by clouds. And your scope of awareness would be narrowed down to just a few feet in front of you during the course of your day more or less. And you begin to think that’s the measure of the world — this few meters around the compass around you. That’s all there is. That’s all that you’re concerned about.
That’s the focus of all your energy and time and concern. And then one day the sun breaks through the clouds and you see, oh, there’s something other than this sort of world which I’ve reduced my life down to. There’s another world out there — and it’s like a greater vision and expansion of our horizons takes place. And likewise, in an analogous sense, in terms of our mental vision — what it means to be in this world with other people who are very much like ourselves.
But you know, simply by conducting a life in such a claustrophobic, narrow-minded way, even minor irritations can be major difficulties. Our life becomes problematic by its very nature. You know, some people’s minds are like Velcro. You know, they keep catching on things. And everything is a problem.
I feel very sympathetic for these people because you see how much they suffer. Other people — it’s like the surface is like polished marble. You know, like dragging a silk cloth over polished marble. There’s no resistance. It doesn’t catch on anything.
They glide through life, you know. Somebody honks their horn and then pulls in front of them in traffic. No problem. You know, they don’t — it goes unnoticed. What to say, they don’t need to forgive because there’s nothing to be forgiven.
This is — you know — they glide through life. Life is so much smoother. They have a greater vision about what their difficulties are. And if we can begin — you know — this phrase that I use from time to time which kind of trips off my tongue: the psychology of misery is the pathology of epistemology. If you follow what I mean.
You know, the psychology of our misery. You know, what is the internal cause of our problems, of our suffering, of our dissatisfaction, of frustration, of all of our disappointment? You know, what is the psychology of that? I’m not talking about if you’re run over by a truck. If you stub your toe or whatever.
I’m talking about the internal conditions necessary for a way of suffering, a way of dissatisfaction and disappointment in our life — is the pathology. Pathology — sick, unhealthy, not very good, couldn’t be better. Epistemology — the way we make sense out of our world. You know, out of this chaos around us we follow some types of rules to organize our experiences into some kind of coherent pattern so that we can find some kind of security, so that we can predict what’s going to happen next, so we can have some kind of control over our lives. And quite often the rules that we use — the way that we make sense about our lives — are pathological, aren’t healthy. That’s — I think that’s almost the bottom line of Buddhism.
It’s not the — that we are making some mistaken ways of making sense about our world, of going about our world, of approaching life. And if we can begin to spot these mistakes, we can begin to correct them and live a better life. We’ll have a more healthy approach to living. Our minds will be that much smoother.
Our lives will go that much easier. We’ll find that much more fulfillment. And one of them — and they’re two basic ones. You know, with all the various pathologies that are very much part of our life — these are: ignorance and also self-centeredness.
These are basic. Our basic problems. The basic pathology. All of our suffering, all of our difficulties, all of our hassles, all that goes wrong with our life, all that makes us feel unloved and unlovable, all that makes us feel defensive, isolated, having to guard our territory, feeling fragmented, alienated — you know, this constant struggle that we are all constantly involved in in one way or another — all stems from these two basic pathological patterns in our minds: self-centeredness and ignorance.
The moment we begin to open ourselves up, even if only slightly, to others about this — to begin to become concerned — and I’m talking about just as if you were to go into a gym. Even if you haven’t worked out for years, you’re fat and stiff and you begin to exercise. You begin to loosen up a little bit and you begin to develop some of the capacities of your body in various ways. We begin to exercise until we develop a capacity to be able to do what we want with our bodies.
Why can’t we do that with our minds in the same way? To be loving people, to develop that capacity, to exercise the ability to be caring and the decent people that we essentially are, to allow our basic sanity to find expression. So you know, but we need to actually do it. We need to actually exercise. Just as thinking or wishing —
Even the wish, I think, is really worthwhile. There was a story on the news tonight about this little boy who was awarded some fantastic award. And he saved his father from being gored by a bull. And this little boy, nine years old at the time, he just ran out and beat the bull. And the bull was a huge bull.
And he had a stick and he’d skip and hit and hit. And finally the bull went away. You know? And they were praising the boy. They said, you’re a hero.
He said, I just love my daddy. You know, there was an act. There was a need and there was a response. And, you know, I think that’s quite significant. And, you know, part of — we are social beings and mental health is a social phenomenon.
It’s not something that we are able to develop in isolation from the world about us and the people about us. It is very much a response to the needs of others. And taking responsibility is probably the greatest, the most effective means to travel the path to one’s spiritual welfare. To solve one’s problems. To develop a healthy approach to life.
To the degree that we’re able, to the degree that we assume responsibility, to that same degree we will develop the ability to respond. You know, if taking responsibility has any real meaning at all — there’s something besides a mere romantic notion — then we have to develop ourselves to be able to respond. And there’s a story about it — it’s told — it was translated by Thomas Merton and some of you might be familiar with him. He was a Trappist monk, an American who lived — he spent most of his time in Kentucky at a monastery, a Catholic monastery.
And it’s a story about — it took place in early Egypt when the Christian fathers would live as hermits in the desert. And there were these two particular hermits — hermit fathers, Christian fathers — who each lived in isolation in caves in that area in the Egyptian desert. And they were quite different from one another. One of them was quite mild and meek and very humble and very compassionate and loving and very tender-hearted. You know, people who went to confession would go to this tender-hearted monk because they knew that he would give a less harsh — what would you call it?
What do you call it? Penance on this side. They always went to him as opposed to the other hermit monk who lived nearby — actually a few days’ travel away — who was quite stern and quite heavy-handed, and I guess people who were on a real guilt trip would go to him. They could really work out their penance and they could feel that they had really done something in living up to the strict tenets that the harsh father would give out. Anyway, it so happened that around the same period of time both fathers were experiencing spiritual difficulties — they began to question their vocation, what they were involved in, what they were doing.
They began to question whether they were on the right path, whether perhaps they should give up their struggle and what they were striving for. And simultaneously they decided — they had heard about one another, each one of them was rather famous in the area — and they decided to pay a visit to each other in the hopes that maybe they could be helped through this dark period of their life. And they set out towards each other’s caves simultaneously.
And in the night, just as evening was approaching, they arrived at a resting spot — they were going to spend the night there — and they spoke to one another. And the mild monk said to the strict father, I’m on my way to such and such a hermit cave in that direction. The strict father says, I know where he lives. Why are you going to him?
He said, well, I have some doubts. I began to question my vocation and what I’m involved in. Perhaps he can give me some answers to the many questions that I face in this struggle, this difficult period that I’m going through. He said, well, I’ll take you there in the morning. So the next morning, they arose and they went to the strict father’s cave and — you know — after a little while, it became apparent that the father that the mild monk had been seeking to find — he had actually met in the desert that night — and he had taken him back to his own cave in fact. And so the strict father said to the mild father, he said, I want you to spend some time with me. Just — you can serve me for a while. And so over a long period of time, perhaps a year, the meek father served the strict father. And he would listen to the various confessions that he heard, and various penances and various advice that he would give to the people who came to him.
He listened to his prayers and finally, in serving him in this way and learning in this way and seeking his advice — after about a year’s time, he came to the strict father and said, you know, I have found the way again. I’m back on the path. I have restored my faith and now I’m going back to my own cave. And the strict father said to him, you know, when we met that night about a year ago, and you were coming to my cave to see me, and you were experiencing great doubts —
You were affected by the devil and struggling against the darkness. I too was in the same situation as yourself. I too was experiencing doubts. I too was losing my faith. I was coming to see you.
And the meek father said to the strict father, why didn’t you tell me that? Why didn’t you express what you yourself were going through, that was so similar to what I was experiencing? And the strict father said, you know, if at that moment one of us had not been strong, then we would have both been lost. So you know, it’s not as if we’re going to ever have it all together. Maybe we will, sure.
But if we wait to have it together before we begin to help others, there’s going to be a hell of a long wait. Now, maybe rising to the occasion — as it were — not in the sense of pretending to have it together, but doing what you can, setting aside your own agenda and concerning yourself with the difficulties of others, is the way that we can be of greatest help to ourselves. The way that in fact we can bring ourselves together. I’ve seen so many times in the course of my personal relationships with my teachers — having been a translator for them — many times they would be perhaps sick or tired, but then someone needed their help.
You know, someone had some problems and, setting aside their own personal feelings, own personal difficulties, their own personal needs at that particular time — they were there for that person. And somehow, I think, in being there and developing the abilities to respond to the needs of others, we’re going to find our own needs, our own ultimate welfare, fulfilled. You know, trying — why is it that we don’t love each other? Why is it that we don’t have time for each other?
The energy for one another? And beginning to try to understand each other. You know, each other’s needs, each other’s problems. And then realizing that we’re in fact not all that very different from one another. You know, perhaps superficially there are differences — maybe some economic differences and different particular situations — but scratch away the superficial differences.
We’re all very much alike. Suppose we have a son who becomes an unbearable young man. It may be hard for us to love him. This is natural. In order to be loved a person should be lovable.
If our son has become difficult to love we will be very unhappy. We wish we could love him but the only way we can is to understand him. To understand his situation we have to take our son as the subject of our meditation. Instead of taking the concept of emptiness or some other subject, we can take our son as the concrete subject for our meditation. We don’t blame our son.
We just want to understand why he has become like that. Through this method of meditation, we find out all the causes — near and far — that have led to our son’s present state of being. The more we see, the more we understand. The more we understand, the easier it is for us to have compassion and love. Understanding is love itself.
Understanding is another name for love. Love is another name for understanding. You know, it’s quite necessary that we begin with ourselves. You know, the universal vehicle — the Mahāyāna — is not some abstract ideal notion or some romantic concept, but it is rooted in the practical everyday life. And just acknowledging our own pain, our own suffering, our own dissatisfaction — the nature of what it means to be the ordinary human being that each of us are — and beginning to understand our situation.
And if we begin to understand ourselves, begin to love ourselves — maybe for the first time — you know, makes us sincerely wish ourselves well. I deserve to be happy. I’m a sentient being just as much as anyone else. I deserve happiness. Why not? I don’t have to earn it. I don’t have to be a worthwhile person or achieve some kind of status in order to earn the right to be happy. Just by my very nature, I should be happy.
The Dalai Lama has said that it is the very nature of sentient life that we seek happiness. We don’t have to somehow deserve happiness. And, you know, to have compassion for ourselves and understanding of the nature of our problems, and wishing ourselves not to suffer. And wishing ourselves well. We can begin to truly perhaps love one another because we can begin to understand their situation.
You know, we are — I think — just not all that different from one another. Understanding our own needs. You know, if we’d only overcome the narrowness of our vision, our fear — and we’re all running scared — we’re all so much in the same boat in life, that we deserve each other’s sympathy and compassion and love. And beginning to widen the scope of what it might mean to find a good life for ourselves — beyond our self-interest — to actually develop some degree of altruism. And pragmatically, as the Dalai Lama said, this is the way that we can be wisely selfish. Rather strange words in a way, I think — to be wisely selfish.
But by becoming concerned — by beginning to open our hearts as best we can to others and taking responsibility for others — we are going to experience much more happiness. And how hard we struggle over the course of our lives. You know, I’m fifty-one years old. I’ve struggled my whole life to find happiness.
You know, how far have I gotten on my journey to that happiness? You know, we have to question ourselves — how much have we learned? How much has our exaggerated self-concern, our self-centeredness, our struggle to get me, my, mine — our own happiness for ourselves — in fact gotten us? And how much pain has it given us?
How is it worth it? Maybe beginning to look at the reality of where it’s gotten us — and we can begin to reorientate and begin to take up other possibilities, a different approach. And that approach is an approach of other-centeredness. Just to be a little more concerned, a little more sensitive to the needs of others. Going out of their way.
As a need — you know — maybe first it’s just a matter of pragmatism. A way of finding a way of being wisely selfish. But at some point, you do things just because you love. You fight the bull just because it was there, you know, goring your father and you love your father. You don’t want him to be hurt.
There’s no matter of self-interest involved at all. It appears that oneself is forgotten. And in that self-forgetfulness, maybe we’ll find all of what we’ve been struggling all of our lives to find. You know, some kind of happiness and fulfillment and the quality of life that we want for ourselves. So in this process — so now, why do we do it? We can do this. We can do anything for this reason. It can be the intentionality, the motivation behind any activity. In some way, even if it’s just to say it in terms of words and thought: may I be doing this for the sake of others. And even just a wish is like a miracle.
You know, like a light which vanquishes the darkness of a billion years. Just a single moment of light. So the inner focus of our life becomes Buddha. You know, this happy, healthy, sane human being that we all can become, that we’re all destined to become, that we all should become. And we try to — you know — we do something about it as best we can according to our capabilities and time and energy, and to orientate ourselves to actually begin to practice, to take those steps on this journey in terms of the Dharma — the actual methods and techniques — how we can actually exercise the mind and develop these abilities to solve our problems and to find a good life for ourselves.
And this process all occurs within the social context of the spiritual community — those like-minded individuals who acknowledge that they themselves are on a spiritual journey, and they are seeking help and that they have something to give and receive in the interdependency of the path. The social context in which this process takes place, that growth takes place. And, you know, looking at the possibility of doing it for something beyond one’s own immediate self-concern — and To the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Supreme Community, I go for refuge until awakening. Through the creative potential of my listening to the Dharma, may I achieve the state of the Buddha for the sake of all living beings.
To the Buddha, the Dharma, and the supreme community, I go for refuge until awakening. Through the creative potential of my listening to the Dharma, may I achieve the state of the Buddha for the sake of all living beings. To the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Supreme Community, I go for refuge until awakening. Through the creative potential of my listening to the Dharma, may I achieve the state of the Buddha for the sake of all living beings. Reverently, I pay homage with my body, speech and mind, and present clouds of every type of offering — those actual and imagined.
I disclose all my destructive acts accumulated since time without beginning, and rejoice in the skillful actions of holy and ordinary beings. Please remain until cyclic existence has ended and turn the wheel of Dharma for living beings. I dedicate the skillful actions of myself and others to the great awakening. Beginning with, again, adjusting our motivation in terms of developing love and compassion. We work through a spectrum of individuals — we’re working with a range of individuals — trying to develop the flexibility of mind to first be able to invoke compassion and love and then be able to invoke it toward different objects. You know, first begin with the easiest object, which is probably maybe a partner or a parent or a child. You know. Actually, I think it’s difficult to begin with yourself, but anyway, it’s usually a good place to try. Quite often the object that we forget about — that we are deserving of our own love and compassion.
So we have worked through a spectrum of individuals. Now we’re going to build up a group of individuals, just developing the ability of mind, this capacity. Meditation in one sense — the various techniques that we use — are like a recipe book. You know, a little bit of this and a pinch of that and mix it with that, and we put it together and we make something. And here we’re trying to, again, develop the skill — to be able to evoke positive, tremendously positive states of mind.
Begin to develop the ability to evoke them at will — just by being able to think about a subject, turn our mind in a particular direction, and be able to hold that. And we talked about the different types of meditation — in terms of analytic meditation and stabilizing meditation. Generally, in the west, people think of meditation as only stabilizing or concentrated meditation. But in fact, analysis — trying to penetrate an object — is an extremely important area of meditation. And, you know, we try to put together this recipe.
We invoke a particular state of mind, and we try to hold that state. So that like a dry sponge in a humid atmosphere that begins — the mind begins to absorb. Begins to integrate this invoked state. It becomes a second nature to ourselves. It becomes our primary nature.
We change. We grow in that way. So, you know, what we call a loving person, a compassionate person — we have a sense of — maybe there’s an unthought-out sense — that this person’s very nature is that. That’s just who they are.
You know, like the Dalai Lamas of the world or the Mother Teresas of the world. They somehow have loving electrons and compassionate protons and selfless atoms in their brains and that’s why they are who they are. You know? And look at poor old me. Compassionate people are just those, you know — those people we have the impression are predominantly compassionate. That they have the various patterns of mind — in terms of love and compassion on the one hand, anger and hatred on the other — that they express more compassionate states and loving states. And we therefore call them a compassionate person, as they have the predominant patterns of their mind. And likewise, if we can begin to develop the skill of evoking compassionate states, these loving thoughts, then we too become identified. We too can apply and label ourselves as loving people, as compassionate people.
Nothing more than that. You know, the basis of labeling — and the person is labeled to that. Our various states of mind are the basis upon which we are labeled I, or Japa, or whoever. And if that basis is compassionate — that is to say, it’s predominantly compassionate thoughts, more compassion and less anger — then we become a compassionate person. There’s nothing innate about it.
There’s nothing about our physical makeup or our brain or structure which makes us compassionate. It’s the predominant state that we express. So we can exercise that quality. We can develop that quality. So we’re going to look at development of love and compassion in terms of a whole group of people.
We’ve been, you know — we’ve been working with this process for some time now. This is just playing with that and working with that. It doesn’t mean this isn’t the ultimate meditation. It’s not. It’s just something we’re working with, exercise, training — that’s great.
Someone that you love, are very close to. Just in thinking about that person — I love this person very much. They’re over there. You know, if you can’t see them, just think, oh, they’re there.
Okay. And somebody that you’re not so quite close to, that you like, but you’re friendly with. They’re over there. We’re going to work with four people tonight. You know, don’t worry about crowding them. It’s okay. The more the better. The fourth person is just a neutral person. They’re neither appealing nor unappealing. So we’re going to work with development of our compassion for this whole group.
And we’ll do the nine-round breathing meditation which we’ve been working with. You know, first block the left nostril — breathing in through the right, coming down and around and then breathing out through the left nostril and all the negativities and obscurations especially those associated with desire — doing that three times — and then blocking the right nostril first, breathing in through the left, and breathing out and all the negativity and obscurations associated with anger, hatred — doing that three times — and then breathing through both nostrils through the mid-brow point and breathing out all the negativity and obscurations associated with ignorance. And these obscurations and negativities go out in the form of thick black smoke and go away into the distance.
And they’re done. Gone. Never to return again. You begin to have a sense of purity, a sense of brightness and lightness, alertness, and vitality — in your mind physically and mentally — imagining that process occurring. Then we’ll meditate a little bit on appreciating — you know — we talked about the value of the human life, that we take it so much for granted.
You know, it’s like it’s a given and we don’t even notice how fortunate we in fact are in terms of our freedom, in terms of our privilege. And therefore not valuing it, we don’t make use of it. When you begin to value something, then you’re going to make sure that you don’t waste it. So we have — in Buddhism — a great deal that the Buddha taught is tremendously simple, very simple-minded. Like common sense. But the common sense isn’t all that common, is it?
Maybe transcendental common sense — that, you know, we have this life and freedom, especially in the west, where we have the capacity to do — as opposed to many in the world who don’t have the same freedom, don’t have the same fortunes as ourselves. We’re going to imagine ourselves so that we begin to appreciate — that we don’t take for granted what it is that we have — and therefore ensure that we don’t allow it to go to waste. We’re going to meditate on that. First we’ll do mindfulness of breathing and between that time.
So a lot to do. Okay. If you take a firm comfortable posture. It’s called the Heartspoon. Strange name but — encouragement through recollecting impermanence by Kyabjé Pabongka Rinpoche, who was probably one of the leading figures of Tibet, one of the greatest Lamas of the twentieth century.
He was the root Lama, the main Lama and spiritual master of many of the past tutors of the Dalai Lama. And he made a significant contribution to what we’re hearing in terms of the Dharma that we receive today. He was a significant figure in that way, shaping present-day Buddhism as it exists in the Tibetan tradition. So this was a teacher — who came to Austria, I believe, two years ago or three years ago — Ribur Rinpoche received the teaching from Pabongka Rinpoche on this text composed by Pabongka Rinpoche.
Ribur Rinpoche in turn gave the transmission to Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, who will be coming very shortly. And then last year, Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche and myself — or I should say, I was a scribe — we translated this together. So it’s a very short text. And I thought it would be worthwhile — since it’s this unbroken miniature transmission of this text from the person who wrote it, this great master of the twentieth century, Pabongkhapa, down to Ribur Rinpoche, down to Rinpoche, and even — you know — just as even a plastic cup could hold nectar — I thought maybe I’d pass it on to you. Okay?
So I’m just going to — maybe you can just listen — I’m just going to read this text to you. I think it would be worthwhile to have this transmission. So Heartspoon: Encouragement Through Recollecting Impermanence, by Kyabjé Pabongka Rinpoche.
Kyabjé means someone who is worthy of refuge. Ah, the hurt — kind mama, look to this pity for one — how I behave and how I’ve cheated myself my entire life. Please look upon this mindless one with compassion. The essential advice to give yourself — Heartspoon. Keep it within your heart.
Don’t be distracted. Don’t be distracted. Reflect upon the state of your life from the essential drop at your heart. Since beginning this cyclic existence — which hasn’t ended up to now — though you’ve experienced countless cycles of rebirths, just so many variations on happiness and pain, you’ve achieved not the slightest benefit from them. And though at present you’ve attained leisure and fortunes so difficult to find, always till now they’ve finished and been lost, have been empty and without meaning.
Now if you care about yourself — the time has come to practice the essence of future happiness: virtuous actions. You appear so capable, smart, and clever, but you’re a fool as long as you cling to the child’s play of the appearances of this life. Suddenly, you’re overwhelmed by the fearful lord of death. And without hope or means to endure, there’s nothing you can do. This is going to happen to you.
Because you think, I’m not going to die for some time. I’m not going to die for some time. While you’re distracted by the never-ending activities of this life, suddenly the fearful lord of death arrives announcing, now it’s time to die. This is going to happen to you. Though you make arrangements saying, tomorrow and tomorrow, just then suddenly you have to go.
This is going to happen to you. And without choice, leaving behind in disarray your unfinished work — left food and drink — you have to depart. This is going to happen to you.
There’s no time other than today to spread your bedding and go off to sleep. And upon your last bed, you fall like an old tree, and others — unable to turn you with their lily-soft hands — tug at your clothes and blanket. This is going to happen to you. Even if you completely wrap up your body in your last inner and outer clothes, still you have no freedom to wear them other than just today. And when that body becomes as rigid as earth and stone, you behold for the first time your own corpse.
This is going to happen to you. Though you struggle to speak your last words, your will and expressions of sorrow — pitifully your tongue dries up and you can’t make yourself clear, and intense sadness overwhelms you. This is going to happen to you. As others put your final food, holy substances, and relics with a trickle of water into your mouth — you’re unable to swallow even a single drop, and it overflows from the corpse’s mouth. This is going to happen to you.
Those surrounded by a circle of close relatives, heart-friends, and those near to your heart — even though they’re loving and distressed at the ending of your being together, while crying and clinging, just then you have to separate forever. This is going to happen to you. Though you experience horrific hallucinations like a turbulence of waves, and overwhelmed by unbearable excruciating pain — pitiful though you may be, there’s nothing to be done.