Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 44-minute teaching, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen explores the third and fourth verses of the Eight Verses on Training the Mind, centered on examining your mental continuum and immediately applying antidotes when delusions arise. He anchors mindfulness in the four types of action, teaching practitioners to catch delusions early before they take root. Vivid analogies drive the point home: the thief who returns if you leave the door open; the sleeper who sleeps longer if indulged; alcohol consumption spiraling out of control. He draws a sharp distinction between worldly enemies, who can only harm us in this life, and the true enemy—delusions, which harm us across all lives. He closes with three methods for abandoning delusions: through behaviour, meditation, and investigation, and explains how attachment and hatred are exaggerated projections we create, not inherent properties of objects.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 03 ToM.mp3
UUID: 385a7d4f-474c-474a-a5bd-2507f89fb307
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Training of the Mind (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1996 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 44.5 minutes
Words: ~2,267
Quoting a line from Sūtra, which is requested by the disciple called Paljin. In that Sūtra, he said one should engage in the bodhisattva deeds in order to free those suffering sentient beings from saṃsāra. So that sentient beings experience this continuous suffering in saṃsāra is because of their karma and delusions. So the karma and delusion too is rooted in the self-cherishing thought, or the self-centred mind. One should know that these are rooted in that. So unless we get rid of this self-cherishing mind, or get rid of this contaminated body — that is, this body which is under the control of karma and delusions.
As long as we have this body, that means wherever we are reborn, in one of the higher realms or the lower realms, one always goes through these sufferings. And as long as we have this body, this contaminated body, it is a result of our past actions. This body that we have is one which causes further suffering in our future too. So never even getting a moment of attachment towards this life, and always trying to generate — at all times try to generate — the thought of renunciation. The thought of seeking liberation in one’s mind, like day and night.
One should try to train oneself in this way. So those who are seeking liberation, one of the necessary things we need is to have this precious human body, and, if possible, then on top of that, like a person being ordained. And that is more suited to one who is seeking liberation. So then on the basis of this precious human body, we train on the path. And we train on the path in these three higher trainings. Or if one has taken ordinations, and whatever ordination that one has taken, one is keeping the precepts that one has taken purely — like that of lay precepts, or that of bodhisattva precepts, or that of the tantric precepts, and also that of the refuge precepts. Any of them, if one has taken it, then keeping them pure is the practice on the path.
So having faith in it and practising — keeping it pure — is what is meant by walking in the Buddhist teachings. So thinking or contemplating over this contaminated body, how, as long as one has it — taking oneself as an example, one’s contaminated body as an example — and thinking that as long as one has this, one goes through these different states of suffering. And then applying the same to other sentient beings who have this contaminated body, and thinking that the other sentient beings go through the same kind of suffering that one goes through. Thinking over their suffering and wishing them to be free — like meditating on compassion — and similarly wishing, as one wishes the state of happiness, wishing others to have the state of happiness too — like meditating on love. And finally, oneself taking the full responsibility to free all sentient beings from the state of suffering and lead them to the fully enlightened state. For that purpose, I will listen to the teachings — like generating that type of mind. And we do a short meditation here.
So today, Geshe-la will explain the eight verses — the third and the fourth. So the past teachings explained that one should hold all sentient beings very dearly. And one should hold all sentient beings very dearly. And similarly, if you see good qualities in others, you should, instead of feeling jealous towards them, respect others’ qualities. That is what was explained last time too.
And similarly, those in whom you don’t see any qualities, or those who don’t have qualities, you shouldn’t look down on them. So as Buddha advises in the sutras, Buddha says that one shouldn’t look down on others just because you don’t see any qualities in others. So related to this, there are also many histories which have been explained. But because there are only four days of teachings of this mind training teaching, he is not going to have time to give you all these detailed histories.
So as we said, one should see all sentient beings as being supreme, and respect them if you see their qualities, and shouldn’t look down on those who don’t have qualities, or in whom you don’t see qualities. This is what has been advised. But if you think that because of our delusions we won’t be able to do that, then again, the third verse is the answer to that, which has been explained there. So the third line: “Examine my continuum throughout all actions; as soon as emotional affliction arises.” So then continuously — the other next line — that which, if affliction arises, then that which endangers myself and others.
And by facing it, I shall strictly avert it. So: examining one’s continuum throughout all actions — which is, in every action, whatever you do, you should analyse your mental continuum. And if you find there is a delusion arising, then right there you should get rid of the delusions. Otherwise, if you let the delusions be, then that is what causes suffering to one another.
So every action can be summarised into four types. Of those four actions, every time you should be aware — with your mindfulness — whether any afflictions or delusions are arising or not, and whether attachment and so on are arising. And if it happens that even a very small delusion is arising in your mind, then you should right away apply antidotes. So here, by facing whatever delusion arises — attachment, hatred, or any delusion — at that time you should directly apply antidotes, which is: if something is popping up, you just nail it down or push it down. So as an example: a thief comes to our room and steals, takes out all our things, and we didn’t notice that. But then the next day, if we notice that the thief has come in and stolen our things.
So but then if you don’t do anything — you knew that this thief came in and stole, but if you don’t do anything, if you again leave the door open — then the thief will again come and steal your things. So as an example: if a delusion arises within one’s mind — let’s say anger arises — then if instead of seeing its faults you let anger grow in you, then it will rise to its peak. So to that, another example which is given in the sutras: the sutras say that if a person likes sleeping a lot, whenever he or she feels like sleeping, if he or she just goes to bed and sleeps, then that will make him or her sleep for longer periods. It doesn’t help him or her to become awake.
And then similarly, on a special occasion, like a marriage celebration or a New Year celebration, if you drink first one glass of wine or whatever alcohol, it doesn’t stop you right there but lets you drink another cup, another glass — two glasses — and then slowly it lets you drink more and more. Finally it lets you drink so much that you become completely drunk. And then when you go back to your home, it causes trouble among your wife or family, and then that brings all the other troubles — among the children and the neighbours too. So that is how if you don’t stop, it brings more and more trouble.
Similar to that, in all our actions, we should always be mindful with our actions and one shouldn’t let delusions arise. And if you let these delusions arise — like that of the three poisons: anger, attachment, ignorance, and so on — if you let these three poisons arise in you more and more, then the imprints become more thick. You leave thick imprints in your mind, which then makes one circle in saṃsāra and continuously experience different types of sufferings in saṃsāra. But on the other hand, if any time a delusion arises, an affliction arises, if you right away apply the antidote, the other imprints that you have left there from the past become more light, more thin. So then, because of applying antidotes towards the delusion of this time, that also helps to get rid of the imprints that one has kept from the past lives.
So in the Bodhicaryāvatāra, in that text, it explains and advises us, saying that even if you are burned in the fire or if you are tortured, you shouldn’t become friends with afflictions. You shouldn’t become friends with delusions. The worldly enemies — the normal enemies that we have — they can only harm us in this very life. So the so-called enemy of this life can only harm one in this life. But then the enemy, which is known as the delusions, is one which harms us for all our lives. So the so-called worldly enemies — to them we should be friendly. They can only harm one in this very life, and how should we not receive harm from them? What we should do is be friendly with them. Even if they are harming one, one should be friendly and not react in a wrathful way, but in a peaceful manner. If you react towards them in that way, they will turn into friends. But then one shouldn’t be friends with that enemy which is known as the delusions, that which brings harm to one in all our lives. So if one is to be friends with the delusions, then the imprints of delusions in your mind will thicken up and which will harm one for all our lives.
So in these two lines, which in short means: one should befriend all the worldly enemies, but one shouldn’t befriend the enemy which is harmful to one for all our lives — that is the delusions. So for example, even if all the beings in the world turn out to be our enemies, the limit of the harm that we can receive is only that they might take our life, this very life — not further than that. So one should befriend the worldly enemies. One should see delusion as the real enemy, which is the one which really gives harm or brings harm to one. Once you try to get rid of it, get rid of it.
So abandoning delusions, or getting rid of delusions, there are three ways you can do it. One is through your behaviour that you come to abandon delusions. Secondly, through meditations or through contemplating, that you come to abandon them. And thirdly, through looking into it that you come to abandon the delusions. So for beginners, the delusions harm much more strongly — the delusions give harm with much stronger force for beginners.
So the advice which is given in the teachings is that one should examine one’s mental continuum. One should examine one’s behaviour. Examining the behaviour is one way that you get rid of the delusions. So through contemplation or meditation, that you come to get rid of the delusions — there are eighty-four thousand delusions which have been explained in the teachings, and there are eighty-four thousand antidotes which are explained. Like meditating on the antidotes and getting rid of the delusions.
So all the practices that we do related to the three scopes — that of the small, medium, and greatest scope — or all those common practices which are done among these three scopes: all of those practices serve to become antidotes towards delusions. So then the third one is that how, for example, how attachment arises in our mind is that we create something which is not there in the object, whatever we are attached to, and to that which we have created, we are attached. So as an example, if one is attached to this flower on the table there — the flower itself is not the object of attachment. So the object of the attachment is that beauty which we exaggerate in the flower — that exaggerated beauty nature that we create regarding the flower, that is the object of our attachment.
So the nature of attachment is such that the more you meditate on it, or the more you concentrate on it, it has the nature that it can go forever — there is no limit. So when one has attachment towards the flower, then one should meditate on the antidote to attachment. And the more you meditate on the antidote, the less attachment you have to the flower. So it is also explained in the teachings, saying that the object of attachment doesn’t exist. So similarly, with the object of hatred or anger.
Like normally we feel angry towards the person we hate, which we don’t like. But similar to that of attachment, the object of hatred doesn’t exist. Similar to the object of attachment, with the object of hatred — it is something which we create in the person, which is not existing, and to that which we create in the person — something that we hate — but within the person, that which we have created isn’t actually there. So that object too doesn’t exist. So actually the object of attachment or hatred doesn’t exist. But then if you do meditate towards the antidote of both of these, then the more you meditate, the less attachment or hatred you generate towards the object.