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 explores the sixth verse of Training of the Mind, teaching how to view everyone — both helpers and those who harm us — as supreme spiritual friends. The foundation is bodhicitta, the altruistic intention to achieve enlightenment for all sentient beings. Three obstacles prevent this: attachment to this life, attachment to future pleasures, and seeking only personal liberation. Overcoming each requires specific practice: meditation on impermanence, renunciation by recognizing universal suffering, and cultivating compassion with three essential qualities. Geshe-la shows how every encounter teaches us — whether kindness teaches generosity, harm teaches patience, or a beggar teaches giving. He connects this to merit, explaining how positive karma ensures higher rebirth and, combined with bodhicitta, becomes the cause of enlightenment.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 07 ToM.mp3
UUID: ee7f24fc-f51c-43b6-a8d0-82025c44b575
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Training of the Mind (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1996 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.2 minutes
Words: ~2,223
Quoting a line from the teachings of Nāgārjuna, Nāgārjuna said, or advises, that that which pleases most all the conquerors — or the Buddhas — is to please sentient beings. If the sentient beings are pleased, then that is what pleases all the Buddhas too. So looking into your mind and then remembering the other sentient beings. So if you remember the other sentient beings, then that is one thing which shows how you please the Buddhas.
So if, say, you chant prayers — I make prostrations to Buddha and similarly you make requesting prayers — but if you go and hurt the other sentient beings, like kicking out those animals, then it is the same as kicking or going against the Buddha. So in general life, in order to please our parents — the most kind parents — they are pleased if we listen to their words or advice, like: to be nice, to have a good heart, and to study well. All these that we receive from our parents — if we follow that — then that is how we please our parents. So similarly, as Lama Tsongkhapa said, if you generate this wish to achieve the fully enlightened state for the sake of other sentient beings, then that is the altruistic mind, and that is what you have generated.
So for us, even if we are unable to generate genuine bodhicitta within our mental continuum, if we put some effort and try to generate this mind — the mind that is bodhicitta — that is what we should try to do. And especially if you are doing tantric practice, then you have to generate this mind, this bodhicitta, like six times a day. And if you don’t do that, then you receive the downfalls of the tantric precepts. So even if you are not doing tantric practices, at least once a day you should generate this mind — just to benefit other sentient beings. So doing it at least once a day, generating this mind once a day, is what we should do.
And that doesn’t mean that we have to sit in the meditation posture and do all these practices. We don’t have to do that. But as it is already translated — this four-line refuge prayer, and the next two lines which are the bodhicitta lines — it’s been translated there. And once a day, chanting these prayers and contemplating all the meanings, at least once a day do these practices.
So to generate this mind within oneself, even with effort, it is still very difficult. And because there are three conditions — or three obstacles — which obstruct one from generating this mind. And those three are: first, attachment to this life; second, attachment to the possessions or wealth of future lives; and thirdly, wishing only to gain self-liberation.
These three states of mind are what obstruct one from generating this mind of bodhicitta. So at least while one is parted from these three states of mind — even if we want to talk about bodhicitta — that just becomes a mere word, and the actual realisation of the mind doesn’t come with it. So to remove the first obstacle — that is, attachment to this life — one has to contemplate or meditate again and again on impermanence. So then secondly, to get rid of the second obstacle — that is, attachment to the pleasures of the future lives — the way is to meditate or contemplate over the thought of renunciation. And that is thinking: nothing in saṃsāra is satisfactory; whatever place you live in is a place of suffering; whatever friend you go with is also a friend which brings suffering; whatever possession you enjoy, that too brings suffering — in that way, you contemplate and try to generate renunciation. So then the last — that is, seeking self-liberation: for that, if you put your effort in contemplating bodhicitta, then that is what actually gets rid of this mind.
So then gradually, contemplating on these different states — if you are able to generate compassion, the great compassion, within oneself, then through the gradual process of these practices, you are able to generate this great compassion within you. And this great compassion — if you have generated this great compassion — means that you have now developed this love for the path. So this great compassion should have three qualities. This compassion has to have the quality that it has the nature of being unable to bear the suffering of others. That is: for example, if you are having a very bad headache, you are unable to bear it — using that as an example, applying the same to all other sentient beings. If you see sentient beings suffering, then when you generate this compassion, you are unable to bear that they are suffering too. So it should have that type of nature.
So then, that compassion should be a product of the practice of love, and also of recognising all sentient beings as having been one’s mother and remembering their kindness. It should be the product of those practices. So then the third quality is that compassion should bring about the result, which is the special insight — that is, taking full responsibility for other sentient beings, freeing them from the state of suffering. So these different practices that are the cause of this compassion, and as a result of this compassion, that special insight is what makes bodhicitta possible.
So then this bodhicitta is what makes one take full responsibility to lead all sentient beings to the enlightened state — which is to free all sentient beings from the state of suffering and bring them into the state of happiness. And for that purpose, I hear today, listening to the teaching of mind training, generating this type of mind. And here we do a short meditation.
So normally at the start of the teachings, one explains extensively on motivation. So giving extensive teachings on motivation and making it simple to understand is because the first part — the motivation — is very important. For that purpose. So Geshe-la said: today’s teachings, we follow on from the last time, and that is on the sixth verse — the last line of the sixth verse. That is also the line which we didn’t cover last time, and that is also very important. So we start from here.
So the line is: “I shall view them as my supreme spiritual friend.” So the spiritual master, or the Lama, is one who is very kind to one. Once one has started taking someone as one’s Lama or guru, since then, whatever Dharma teachings that you receive from that person — all those teachings that one received from that guru — are something very special, which is something that has been very kind to one.
So the spiritual master, or the guru, or the Lama, is one who gives the precepts or morality to one. So the precepts given by the guru — there are two kinds. One is known as the precepts given by humans, and the precepts given by the gods. So the precepts of the gods are actually known as the sixteen — and those are the ten virtuous actions plus six. Rather, it is coming from the teachings of — so now, knowing the ten virtuous actions or the sixteen virtuous actions, and comparing yourself before meeting the spiritual guru and after meeting the guru. If you recognise those ten or the sixteen virtuous actions, plus the changes that have taken place in your mind after knowing these virtuous actions — all those positive changes that have taken place in your mind are through the kindness of the guru. So if no development in your practice is made — if you have been taught and let’s say you have been pulled in one side or the other side, like pulling to the right side or the left side — when you pull the rope, you go all the way across in one side. And when you come back, you don’t take the same route, but come and take another route. So receiving the teachings and not receiving the teachings should have some difference.
And then similarly with the human precepts — or the human Dharma known as Dharma of sixteen — which is the sixteen pure behaviours. So these sixteen precepts came in the very early days, when the first teachings came to Tibet — King Songtsen Gampo, the first king of Tibet — gave these sixteen precepts. So these sixteen precepts are something very good for us. But because today we don’t have much time, we won’t be covering all sixteen. Maybe next time, when there are another teaching and more time.
So all this explanation is that the spiritual master, or the friend, is one who is very kind to one, because he or she is the one who shows the path to liberation. So in the past previous teachings, we talked about those beings upon whom we desperately place our hope, and whom we have benefited a lot. And those are the ones — that is the part where you should train your mind — to see them as your spiritual friend. So those beings are the ones which we should view as our own spiritual masters or lamas. So for example, those beings who are bringing harm to one — they are the ones who show one the practice of tolerance. And the ability to practise patience is through the kindness of those beings. So at this time, when someone makes one angry, that is the time — if one is able to practise tolerance — that is what becomes very effective. And one may think: one sits quietly and one is not angry, and during that time one can practise patience. But the other — actually practising in the moment — becomes more effective.
So there was a story: in the past in Tibet, there was a person doing meditations, and a person came by and asked him: “What are you doing?” And he replied, meditatively, saying: “I’m doing meditation on patience.” So then that person went and made a circle and came back again and asked the meditator: “What are you doing?” And at that point, the meditator was already a little angry, saying — a little louder — “I’m meditating on patience.” And then when the person made a third circle and came back again, he asked the same question: “What are you doing?” And then the meditator was really angry and said: “I’m meditating on patience — you —!” — which said that.
So these situations — when someone makes you angry, whether it’s your enemy, your friend, the close one near you, or a relative who makes you angry — that is the time, at that time, they are showing you the practice of tolerance or patience. So even when a beggar comes to you, at that time, if you have enough — giving them what they want is best. And even if you don’t have anything to give, instead of thinking many bad things about the beggar, you think positively. At this point I don’t have anything, but maybe in the future, when I have, I will give. So not thinking negatively — saying they always come or they are always like this — instead, you think that at that time they are making one practise giving. One should, at that time too, see them as one’s spiritual master or guru, who shows one the practice of giving.
So if you are able to practise in this way, that is what makes one able to purify all the negativities of oneself. And at the same time, that is what makes it possible to complete the accumulation of merit. So merit, or positive karma, or good karma — these are the same. So the mind that has a nature which is beneficial to one is what is called merit or positive karma. So because these positive karmas have the nature of benefiting, they will benefit oneself and also others.
So how it benefits oneself is that through the power of those positive actions, it makes one possible to achieve a higher rebirth. And plus, if that action is conjoined with bodhicitta practice, then it becomes the cause for one’s full enlightenment. So then how it becomes beneficial to others is that through the power of that good action, one takes a noble rebirth — a good rebirth — where one becomes very helpful to others, which is in helping, giving teachings, and doing many good actions to others.
So a person who trains in this way — even if that person is naturally very poor — he or she is in reality very wealthy, and very much — like the wealthiest of the whole universe. So on the other hand, if the person is under the influence or control of the three poisons, then even if that person is very rich and has, like, millions of dollars, it means that the person has millions of sufferings. And those dollars only help one in this very life, and are nothing helpful to one’s future life.