Wheel of Life — 04 WoL

Wheel of Life (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)

Wheel of Life — 04 WoL

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Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.

About this talk. This 37-minute session unpacks the Wheel of Life diagram, showing where refuge, precepts, and the twelve links of dependent arising actually appear in the visualization. Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen covers the vows at each level—lay precepts (eight), novice ordination (thirty-six), full monastic (two hundred fifty-three)—then brings in the Atisha story as a case study in attachment: at eleven, facing an arranged marriage, a dakini appeared and warned him not to sink into the swamp of desire. He later explains practical visualization techniques, specifically why meditators offer light to Yama, the Lord of Death, and how this purifies the delusions and karma binding one to saṃsāra. Best suited to those already studying the Wheel.

So with the medium scope — the follower of the medium scope — there are two kinds, which are known as the near medium scope and the special one. The near medium one, as a result, achieves the state of hearers and solitary realizers. And the special one — their result, what they achieve, is the fully enlightened state. So then, for the Mahāyānist, as a cause for generating bodhicitta, having a fear in the suffering of the lower realms, and plus the general suffering of saṃsāra — and on top of that, having great compassion. So by which object should one take Mahāyāna refuge? The Mahāyāna aryas.

So when we take refuge, it shouldn’t be like saying that “I am a Mahāyānist, I take refuge only to Mahāyāna aryas.” Not being like that — but having the same two causes: having fear in the suffering of the lower realms plus the suffering of general saṃsāra, and seeking refuge in all the ārya beings. That is the reason that we need.

So then the next part is the trainings, which are on different precepts, which come in different numbers — which are eight, ten, and so on. So what we should train in is these different precepts, and that of the eight precepts of individual liberation. And if you relate this training to the bodhicitta practice, then there are bodhisattva vows — similar to that of tantra. So the Buddha taught in the sutras in these different teachings the eight types of trainings.

So of the eight, the first is the precept which is taken for one day. And then next is the lay precepts, which have a total of eight. And like that, also the Mahāyāna precepts — the eight Mahāyāna precepts. So the eight precepts which come from the Mahāyāna precepts are the four root vows, and then avoiding alcohol, and avoiding singing and dancing, and avoiding sitting on a high throne, and so on. So for the lay precepts, when you count as eight, then of the four root ones, the sexual misconduct — that is which is, for the lay person, when you count the eight precepts — that is to avoid having sex outside one’s partner. And there are also the ten precepts which I explained. So with the getsul — the novice vows — there are a total of thirty-six, which is shortened or summarized to ten. Those are the other ten, which is the expanded form. Similarly, with the fully ordained monks and nuns.

With the fully ordained monks, there are two hundred and fifty-three vows or precepts which are explained. And so these are all what one needs to train in. So what is written at the bottom of those drawings is the refuge first, and then second, these different trainings — what things that one has to do. So then next are the lines which explain the forward and backward counting — the explanation of the twelve links of dependent arising. That is explaining how one takes birth into saṃsāra and how one becomes free from saṃsāra.

So these different trainings are mainly explained for those who have taken different vows. And for those who have taken no vows, for them too, these precepts here — or the training here — mean to train in, to train or to avoid doing, the ten non-virtuous actions. And as in general, as it is explained in the text the Precious Garland, where it says that there are thirteen precepts. So as Nāgārjuna explains in this text called the Precious Garland, there are thirteen precepts which one has to abandon, and then there are three which one has to cultivate.

So a total of sixteen precepts which are explained. So then on the top, there are also two lines which are expressing joy. So here, it gives the story of Atisha — that when Atisha was growing up to the age of eleven, Atisha performed many deeds of great masters. When Atisha reached the age of eleven, his parents — the king and the queen — made this arrangement to marry him.

So when this arrangement of marriage was made by the king and queen, at that time, there came a dakini — a manifestation of a dakini, a manifestation of power — who came to the group and sort of told Atisha, saying not to get attached. Like, “Fortunate one, do not get attached. If you, brave one — heroic one — like sink or fall into the swamp of desire, do you not think the cloth of your morality will get corrupted?”

Yeah. So saying this line, she — the dakini — made a request not to get attached to the royal, I would say, to the royal belongings, to the royal life. So also like telling that the Buddha, when he was first in the royal family — the king’s son, Siddhartha, the prince — likewise left the palace and then took ordination and had that type of life. So similar to that, these first two lines on top are telling or advising one not to get attached to saṃsāra, because if one gets attached to saṃsāra, then one gets driven into saṃsāra.

So then later there are a few lines which say one should put effort — and one should put effort and remove — and enter into the teachings of the Buddha.

So it is like telling that if an elephant were to fall into a swamp — though the elephant is very strong, there is no way it can save itself from the swamp — what is there as a final thing is to die. So it is telling to the king, saying that if you do get attached to the wealth of saṃsāra, then you get bound by the saṃsāra. So then if one wanders drawn by the wealth of saṃsāra, then there is only one place that one will go, which is the lower realms. So one should give up all the royalties and enter into the path — enter into the Buddhist teachings. So the entrance to the Buddhist teachings is like taking refuge.

So then once you become a Buddhist — the doorway to that being taking refuge — just by doing that is not enough. It is not enough. And one should be constituents and careful, and practice the Vinaya teachings. So by training in the Vinaya teachings, one applies the antidote towards the common delusions.

And through that one comes to achieve cessation. One comes to achieve cessation. Yes.

So for tonight, we will stop here. And next week, Geshe-la will explain the meanings of the three animals in the middle and the rest. So we do some question and answer. So of the four limbs — the limbs of the Lord of Death — it does explain here too, like the delusions and so on.

I don’t know. I guess, like, you’re saying you don’t know, but when we look to the moon, we see there’s a shape. Maybe. Yeah.

So the deity itself is known as the armor. But what is given in the drawings there — there’s nothing that actually looks like that. Yeah. So you’re saying is it just imagined, or is it real, that you — yeah, in other words, why do you visualize that? That’s why, like, coming in, going down. Yeah. Okay.

So this is not to satisfy or to feed the Lord of Yama. Doing this practice is to prolong one’s life — to prolong one’s life, for that purpose it is done. And because death strikes one because of one’s karma and delusions — so when we do this purification practice: taking white light, and then the white light going into one and removing all the delusions and negativities in the form of black light, and taking it out from the lower part which then goes into the mouth of the armor, then feeding the armor, which satisfies it, and imagining that they walk away from there. And this is — because once one’s delusions and karma have been removed, the Lord of Death will not strike that one. So for that reason it is done. Okay.

So the Yama, or the Lord of Death, is one who — when we die — checks how many negative karmas we have done, what positive karmas we have done. That is the one which is the Lord of Death, O Yama. Because Geshe-la has not been to that place, he cannot tell very clearly. Cannot tell very clearly. Yeah.

The accident happened also because of karma. Yeah. Yeah. So as Anthony requested to give him the transmission — so, we said, we will just chant the prayers.

Oh, yeah. So we start here.