Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Geshe Kyab delivers a 100-minute commentary on Chapter 6 of Śāntideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, focusing on patience and the futility of retaliation. Building on the previous week’s teaching about revenge, he argues that when someone harms you, the Buddhist response is not counter-attack but to stop the cycle of harm yourself. He then turns to verses 55–61, which demolish justifications for retaliation: gaining material wealth through wrong livelihood carries no benefit to future lives; a long life built on cheating, intoxicants, weapons, or animal slaughter only accumulates negative karma; and claims that material gain will fund future virtuous deeds ring hollow if anger is the present fuel. Geshe Kyab anchors each point in concrete modern examples—drug epidemics, weapons manufacturers, the Madoff Ponzi scheme, organized begging rings—to show how lucrative wrongdoing destroys merit. He stresses that anger is the thief that steals whatever virtue we accumulate, and ends with a Q&A on divisive speech, merit, and dedication.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2017 04 27.mp3
UUID: cf2e00bb-2d95-4c63-8bdc-5a194aaa2058
Teacher: Geshe Kyab
Collection: Thursday Patience (Geshe Kyab)
Date: 2017-04-27
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 100.2 minutes
Words: ~8,783
Good evening everyone. Please, page thirty four from the Gold Book. English. I go for refuge until I am enlightened. Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, I go for refuge until I am enlightened.
By the practice of giving other perfections, may I become Buddha for the benefit of all sentient beings. May all sentient beings have happiness and causes of happiness. May all sentient beings be free from suffering and causes of suffering. May all sentient beings be inseparable from happiness that is free from suffering. Sentient beings abide in equanimity, free from attachment for friends and hatred for enemies.
Reverently, I prostrate with my body, speech and mind, every type of offering actually arrayed. I declare all my negative actions accumulated since beginningless time. Rejoice in the merit of holy and ordinary beings. Please remain until the end of the cyclic existence. Turn the eternal wheel of Dharma for living beings.
I dedicate all my own merits and those of all who are in great enlightenment. Page ninety seven, please. Short mandala offering. Thank you. Today, class starts from the verse number fifty five.
But before I start tonight’s class, I would like to review last week’s class or teachings, mainly about retaliating or revenge. Which was where Śāntideva was strongly teaching us that we must stop retaliating or taking revenge. Last week we talked about if you do retaliate or revenge when someone harms you and your family, Śāntideva was saying, when you do that, then you are really hurting yourself, as well as the others within this lifetime. And additionally, he was saying, then this vicious anger cycle continues. Not only just hurting this lifetime and yourself, so is the others, also this vicious act, will cycle one life to another life, one life to another life.
So that’s why somebody must stop it. Somebody must stop it once. You know? That’s what Śāntideva was saying. Now, when he was saying somebody must stop that vicious act, so then now, who is going to stop?
You cannot ask the person who really harms you and your family. That person wouldn’t be stopped because he was already harming you and your family, and his or her state of mind is very different than your state of mind. So we cannot ask him to stop, because he was already in that vicious act. He already acted such a ridiculous one. But then the question is, Who will it be?
Then it comes to us, you know, as a Buddhist practitioner, so we need to stop. When I was saying we need to stop, we are Buddhist practitioners, that means responsibility comes. What does responsibility mean in this particular perspective, stopping such retaliating activities? Because we, as Buddhist practitioners, not only just Buddhist practitioners, we take responsibility, actually. We do.
The first thing is to be responsible. One angle is just think about us as practitioners. Not only just practitioners, Buddhist practitioners are different than other practitioners. We are very different. Secondly, if you look at the second angle, our teachers teach us all about stopping negative emotions.
Our teacher has The Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and all other lamas teach us the you know, the main practice is stopping negative emotions, especially anger. Anger is one of the worst negative emotions than any other negative emotions. Anger is the So that’s why we have a great responsibility to stop retaliating. Another angle is that someone else, not only just the Buddhist practitioner, or do we have so many great lamas receiving so many teachings, also we took vows, many different vows. Lay vows, Bodhisattva vows, tantric, etc.
Also, someone may have so many initiations. If you look at that perspective, big responsibility is really not retaliating when someone harms you and your family. Then, that, let’s say you have no many initiations, or the vows, tantric vows, or the bodhisattva vows, or the lay vows, forget it. But just a Buddhist practitioner. You are just a Buddhist practitioner.
If you look at that point of view also, why are we practicing Buddhists? You must have a certain understanding of the Buddhist view. Buddhist view is that everything is about practice. What does practice mean? Practice means stopping negative emotions.
That’s the main thing, practice. So then, if you look at that angle perspective, we must be different than those people. Isn’t it? I’m just giving you some ideas on how one can stop retaliating when someone harms you and your family. We must be different than those people.
Otherwise, we have no really base of Buddhist ground. The base of Buddhist ground is the practice, which we are supposed to be practicing. Practice means repeating again, stopping negative emotions when they arise. Practice does not mean that you just close your eyes and meditate for hours and hours, and then when the time comes to really stopping retaliating and revenge, if you couldn’t do it, that means we are not practicing. Here, the main point is retaliating or revenge.
So, chapter number six, which is the patience. Now, here we are talking about the opposite of the patience. So that’s why the last week Śāntideva was saying, there is no goodness in retaliating. Absolutely not. If you do act such a vicious act, if you do that, this will be a cycle, continually.
Will never end. What does it mean that this vicious act will be cycles? What does it mean? Because once you act such a retaliating act, then you are accumulating great negative karma. Once you do accumulate negative karma, when you pass away, you will carry on that negative karma to the next life, even the next to the next life, Continually like this.
That’s why somebody must stop it. That means we are the ones who need to stop. You need to stop, I need to stop, we all need to stop. When such a thing happens in our lives, if someone harms you and your family, it’s a little difficult, but really we can do it, you know. But it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t discuss it.
Sometimes people misunderstand when I was saying such a teaching. It doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be talking when things like that happen, when someone harms you and your family. Of course, we have a right to check, right to ask the questions why you are harming us. If it is possible, I’m just saying it is possible. Of course, we need to discuss it, we need to talk about it.
But other than that, having wrongful intentions and malicious thoughts is absolutely not in the Buddhist path. It is not acceptable. Especially if someone really does have many, many vows and initiations, so we must be very careful. Not only are you accumulating the negative karma, if someone has many vows, you are accumulating multiple negative karma than those who have no many vows. Now, Śāntideva, last week, was talking about if you do this retaliating, then there will be many difficulties, not only just in this lifetime, but also the next or next life, because this will cycle, you know, which is usually what we call cycle of violence.
The cycle of violence means that. Violence acts and leads the cycle of violence. That means somebody must stop it. We are practitioners, and we need to stop it. Each of us.
Once you stop it, that particular violence is going to be stopped there. That’s it. There wouldn’t be results in the next lifetime because you stopped it. You did practice. You applied the antidote towards somebody’s harm to you and your family.
That’s great! That’s why patience, tolerance, forgiveness comes in this particular antidote. Of course, love is the best antidote to anger. Love is the best. But as I mentioned before, nobody can just practice or apply the antidote love if you are not familiar with meaning of love, if you are not familiar with how to apply antidote love to anger, then it’s very difficult.
So that’s why these are the daily basis we need to do this meditation, you know. Just projecting the three different groups of people. Some groups of people are considered as your loved ones. Then the next one considered as your enemies. Then the strangers, you know.
So this one is where you need to meditate. Then you have to check it out, these three different projections, and how you feel about your mind towards these three groups of people. Usually, one side of the mind will be attachment and loving because that side people are loved ones. The problem is the second one, you know. We feel hatred, which is the second group of people are enemies.
Because of this, they are enemies. We feel uncomfortable with the enemies. The The third group of people, we feel not that much different because they are neutral human beings. They are just stranger. There are no different feelings.
So these are the daily basis we need to do this meditation. Then, really, one day you will understand and you will also be able to stop such violent act towards someone harming you and your family. But right away, it’s difficult. You need this practice, how to stop it. In order to do this practice, you need to do this meditation on a daily basis, bringing all these three different people, three different projections, three different people to check your own feelings.
So this meditation is very, very wonderful, and also, you need to expand this one. So that’s why there is a book by the Dalai Lama, How to Expand the Love. That book gives you so much detail. You can get it from Amazon dot com. AU Australia.
Mostly, the Australia Kindle are only books. You cannot get any other things. So see how to expand the love. Not so much like this. It’s very how do say, it’s a portable book.
Beautiful. You may be able to download a Kindle, I think. So that book gives you really all these three different people, your feelings towards these three different people, and then interacting with how you feel about it. But cannot give you all the details now, because we have to move on. That’s why retaliating is very, very nasty.
Next time, before you do this retaliating, think about it very carefully, really. Think about it seriously. Now, we are moving on. Mostly, today’s class is all about retaliating. Now look at page thirty six and verse number fifty five.
That is a Tibetan one. Here is the If I don’t wish for it, because it would hinder my material gain. Well, though material gains in this life will have to be discarded, my negative karmic forces will remain secure. Now, this translation is Because it will hinder my worldly gain, even if I do not want this, I shall have to leave my worldly gains behind, and my evil along will remain unmoved. Similar, similar translation, I think.
So this means because it will hinder my worldly gain, even if I do not want this, I shall have to leave my worldly gain behind when we die. And my evil alone will remain unmoved. Exactly. So if I don’t wish for it because it would hinder my material gain, well, thought, though material gains in this life will have to be discarded, these are the answers, my negative karmic forces will remain secure. So this is another defence if someone is thinking, am justified in retaliating because when someone is insulting you, or talking badly, you know, to put you down to get the worldly, those gaining things.
This happens. They may interrupt your worldly material gain. Let’s say just an example. Let’s say now, if someone is really cheating you or maybe insulting you, then maybe they’re talking bad things. Try to hinder.
Try to abstract your wordly gain. What material things, you know. That you try to gain something, but then someone is interrupting you. So that point of view is we are talking about it. So that’s exactly the verse.
That’s what they’re saying. If you don’t wish for it because it will be hindered by material gain. Something like that. Because you think that when someone does something like that, you think that I must retaliate. Because I must retaliate because otherwise my worldly gaining may interrupt those material things.
But then Śāntideva was saying, Śāntideva was just looking at that point of view and saying, All you are doing is as stated down there. Well, the material gain in this life will have to be discarded. So what it was saying is that all the material gain eventually be discarded, disappeared. Only the memory, isn’t it? After we die, then all material gain is also gone This particular material gain we are not only just talking about material gain, this one is one of the outwardly concerns, like gain and loss.
That gain is in order to gain, like a wrong livelihood, let’s say. You gain all these materials because of cheating and lying. Many those wrong things cause so many wrong things, then gaining materials. That’s what we are talking about. Here.
It’s mainly case. Okay? Not in the right way, gaining materials is very difficult nowadays. So, then what would be all these materials gain, you gain all these materials from wrongdoing things. But then now, on top of that, you are retaliating when someone is insulting you or someone really is talking bad things to you, or tries to interrupt to gain your materials.
But then, if you look carefully, as Śāntideva was saying, if you think carefully about this particular point of view, then after all, all these material gains are gone once you pass away. This is just for temporary pleasure. That’s what Śāntideva was saying. Just a temporary pleasure. After all, everything is going to disappear.
You cannot carry on all these materials to the next lifetime. Only if you can carry on to the next life is the evil. This translation is saying that negative karmic forces remain secure. Negative karmic forces will remain secure. Negative karmic that negative karma that you accumulate, will carry along to the next life, next to next life.
That’s only. Otherwise, other than the worldly pleasures that you gain from the materials, you cannot bring those things to the next life. Also, material things you gain from causing so many negative actions, cheating things, lying things. That is why if you carefully look at this particular verse, as Śāntideva was saying, the best thing is to stop retaliating. Sometimes people may get these kinds of ideas.
People do get such ideas like that. But then, if you are a Buddhist practitioner, we do believe in karma, so that karma, retaliating karma, is very much you say it, outbe. It’s a very heavy karma. Very, very heavy karma, which comes from the wrong motivation or intention. It’s called harmful intention.
Namsem, namsem, that’s Buddhism. Tibetan we call it namsem. Namsem. Harmful intention. Retaliation starts from the harmful intention.
Namsem. Which is very, very bad. To harm and hurt somebody else. I will retaliate, and I will go to retaliate them. I will take revenge, which is the eyes for an eye.
Then the world is going to be blinded. We all do this kind of act, retaliating one eye for an eye, then the world is everybody is blinded. Generally speaking, something like that, world is really blinded. Only the hardships to revenge, to retaliate. So, if you don’t, then people think that you are weak.
Nowadays like that, because of the totally blind. But Śāntideva was saying, really, people who are harming you, people who are hurting you and your family, those people are really blind. They are really, because they are ignorant. They ignore everything. So we, as practitioners, must stop it.
From their point of view, maybe we are weak. But ultimately, we are not weak. They are the ones weak. So that’s why they do all this nasty act, because they are fearful. They fear greatly.
So that’s what can do now. But we shouldn’t be doing such a thing like that. Otherwise, all these negative karma forces continually remain unmoved. So this is going to happen. Well thought, gains in this life will have to be discarded.
Eventually, nobody can bring the material into the next life. My negative karmic forces will remain secure. Okay, now, look at the fifty six, fifty seven, fifty eight, fifty nine. These four together. Okay, I will explain to you.
Now, is also an example. Monlam Logger Den Yong Ne, One more. Okay. During thee suo dei jeng jang, chen bi tokwa chi sundo, do mo la ba dohs, fifty nine. This translation is First, one.
Death today would, in fact, be better for me than long life through an improper livelihood. For even this is one of the Eightfold Noble Paths. Opposite of the Eightfold Noble Paths. Wrong livelihood. Okay?
Right livelihood. One right livelihood is one of the eightfold noble path. The opposite of the right livelihood is the wrong livelihood. So this is exactly what he is talking about. Then, long life through an improper livelihood, for even having lived a long time, there will still be the suffering of death for someone like me.
Someone who wakes up after having experienced this one is an example a hundred years of happiness in a dream. Wow! An order who wakes up after having experienced just a moment of happiness. These two try to be comparisons, you know. Once they have an awakening, that happiness does not return once you wake up.
After all, to either of the the two, similarly, it comes down to exactly the same for someone who has lived for long and for someone who has lived for a short while. So that’s why I try to compare this example to actual one. Though I may have obtained great material gain, and even have enjoyed many pleasures for long, I still go forth empty handed and naked, like having been robbed by a thief. Wow! Just like, you know, Śāntideva was so great.
It’s unbelievable. This translation is, maybe sometimes some translations are much clearer. Okay? I will read it. Thus it is better that I die today than live a long but wicked life.
For people like me should live a long time, there will always be the suffering of death. The main point is that talking about another Actually, this verse, Śāntideva pointed out, comparing it to someone living a long life based on having so many material objects, know, success. Mostly all these material gains or livelihood is not the right livelihood, actually the wrong livelihood. Wrong livelihood is the eightfold noble path. When you gain materials from killing animals, sacrificing animals, selling intoxicants, if you gain materials from selling alcohol, drugs, that’s the wrong livelihood.
It doesn’t matter how much money and wealth you have, everything is the wrong livelihood. Because of how you got those materials from, which is very important. Selling intoxicants, drugs, cigarettes, and butchers killing animals. It’s very, very sad, you know, unbelievable. You kill animals and you gain materials, you gain wealth.
It is very painful. Then the worst thing is that you gain so much wealth material, creating weapons. Like atom bombs, guns. Look at how many people are killed every day because of guns and weapons. Atom bombs.
Nowadays, I think they’re called missiles or something. Very small things can destroy huge cities like that. One particular small missile can destroy. When I was in the United States, one of the Malaysian Airlines flights, flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, Then, after they passed, Russia, and then Ukraine. On top of Ukraine, I think Russia sent this missile and destroyed it, killed everybody.
Do you remember that? In twenty fourteen? No, it was not so many years ago. After one of the Malaysian airlines disappeared, traveling to China, Maybe next month something like that happened. Unbelievable.
How can you do such a thing? Just passengers, these innocent people in the sky. But anyway, after all, the evidence was one of the Russians’ missiles. I don’t know if accidentally hit it, or maybe they probably did it. The point is that just one particular missile destroyed such a huge jumbo jet, and killed everyone inside the jet.
I’m just saying, look at this. Now, this company gained so much wealth building that particular weapon. Unbelievable. How can you live in? And their family also, you know.
How many bloods are there? Every day they eat, they wear so many people’s blood. It’s very scary. If you look at it that way, the Buddhist perspective is wrong livelihood. Sometimes, little here and there things happen, small, small things.
Maybe a little excusable, but those kinds of weapons, selling weapons, all these intoxicating things, harming people. Look at the drugs. Today I saw news this afternoon in Melbourne. There are many youngsters, they think they are having some good time actually. But then some of these youngsters are having some kind of drugs.
They are showing some pictures, which look like just medicine, actually, a tablet. It doesn’t look very nasty, actually. It looks like a nice tablet, but actually these are not good. They are showing you different drugs, but I have no idea. They are calling many different names.
Nowadays they have one new, very, very bad, bad, it’s not good for the body. Many people are hospitalized, some people died. Some of these youngsters are. And some people are just, after taking these drugs, they have no idea, they have no feelings. They look like what do you call that?
Jangrolang. We call it jangrolang. You call it a zombie? Like that. I was laughing.
Like this. And then we went to her, they have no feelings. Someone just is very young, just twenty something years old, and someone just on the street. So sad, mean, police are so busy, so much busy. The point is, who did it?
Because these are young people, and they are young, and they really don’t care because they are young. But the people who created this poison, it’s sad. Even though Sikimi is a small country, my own cousin took some tablets. Not so bad. He almost died because he became a little zombie like this.
One night he fell and hit his head on the wall and cracked. And they took him to the hospital. I went to see him. I said, You will look like a jangrolang. He didn’t know what that means, jangrolang.
That’s a Tibetan word. He didn’t know that. I said, You will look like a zombie. People are saying, Can you do it again? He said, No, I cannot do this again.
I was teasing him. He was young, just twenty five years old. Unbelievable. This kind of poison is really if we really think seriously, Buddhist teachings These lamas are so smart, very, very smart. I don’t know if there were drugs in India but they talk about intoxicants like alcohol.
It must be something, maybe, you know? But these are all wrong livelihood. So this is exactly what this one is saying, this particular verse, doesn’t matter if you live a long life having so many materials, gaining materials from the wrongdoing, and then after all, know, how do you say it, it’s just, you know, there will always be a suffering of death. So this particular translation is, does it better so that’s why this one is saying, better to die today, I think. So that’s exactly better to die today.
Better not to live a long life If someone is acting like this, creating so much material that is harming others, then now it’s saying, Better to die today, if you die today, at least you are not accumulating so many negative karma. Otherwise, you will continually accumulate so many negative karma because as much as you live a long life, that much as you will act like that. That is the point in this one. Also, not only just that, it’s better to die today. Sooner or later, we all die, actually, you know.
But in a person who is really accumulating more negative karma, then better to die today, than just living a long life. But on the other hand, you are living a long life, as much as you live a long life that much as if you serve other sentient beings, if you do take good deeds, of course, then you must live a long life. So that’s why we need those people in this world to serve other needy sentient beings. But this one is particularly only gaining materials for oneself. Also, causes so many problems for others in order to gain the materials.
So this is particular for that person, that kind of people we are talking about. Because after all, if he doesn’t stop it, or if he doesn’t die as quickly, then he or she will continually accumulate so many negative karma. Then, after some time, it’s very difficult to clean all this negative karma. The next one is The next one is main thing, the example I’ve given you. Suppose someone should awaken from a dream in which he experiences one hundred years of happiness, or suppose another should awaken from a dream in which he experiences just one moment of happiness.
For both of these people who have awakened, that happiness will never return. Similarly, whether my life has been long or short, at the time of death, it will be finished like this. It’s the same as people who are just dreaming and having so much pleasure, so much enjoying for hundreds of years, or someone who is just having little pleasure in the dream, when they wake up, all those beautiful dreams are finished. Even though one is dreaming, enjoying so much in the dream for many, many years. One is just enjoying a little bit in the dream, but both when they wake up, the dream is already gone.
You have that pleasure again. That’s only in the dream. The same thing, you live a long life or if you live a short life, have so many materials. After all, you know, the same thing. After you die, then there is nothing you can take with you.
If you’re living a long life or short life, those materials cannot go with you. That’s one just to give you an example here. Although I may live happily for a long time, through obtaining a great deal of material wealth, I shall go forth empty handed and destitute, just like having been robbed by a thief. The point is that it is the same thing. All of these are just like a dream.
There is nothing really there is not any essence. There is nothing that we can bring with us when we die, all these materials. So then why are we gaining so much material and just harming others? That is the main point here. When people gain so many materials, cheating, lying and harming others, that is the main point here.
We are not talking about gaining material from doing the right things, like the right livelihood, which we are not talking about. Of course, that’s important. That’s supposed to be. But here, the main thing is that you gain so much material from causing so many hurting so many people, causing so many harm, then gaining materials. We are talking about here.
After all, nothing. It’s just only your positive karma can which can bring with you. But otherwise, only the negative karmic tendency or the imprint goes with you. Once you accumulate negative karma, this negative karma will be resisted in your state of mind. Then, when you pass away, your subtle mind, subtle wind transforms to the next life, and this carries on with the subtle mind, together carry on that negative karmic tendency or imprint to the next life.
Once you arrive in the next life, it will activate, and give you the results. Results. Just like that. So then what? That cycles again.
That’s why as much as we can try to gain the materials from doing the right things as much as we can. Even though you are not gaining that much materials from the right actions, it’s Okay. It’s Okay. It’s good, sometimes much better. It’s not easy to gain materials or so much wealth and money just by only doing the right things.
Even though we can hear from time to time, not only just those companies, but private people. Some private people also do so many things to gain materials. This happened in Florida. I remember his name also. It was so painful.
He cheated mostly the older, elderly people, men and women, he cheated. Madoff, his name is Madoff. I think you may remember. Now he’s in jail. Millions and millions of dollars.
Unbelievable. He took money from the older people, people who saved all this money for I think in the United States they called it four zero one. They saved this money for the old age. But now they put this money, they give this money to this man’s hand. This man was the I don’t know what his professional was.
He tried to take money from the people, tried to be invested to gain more interest. That’s why all these older people are giving actually, elderly people, mostly the seventies and eighties. This is the age where they really needed that money, isn’t it? Unfortunately, so many, many millions in Florida and New York. Mostly they were from Florida Palm Beach, which is a very, very rich area.
He bought a huge mansion in Manhattan, which is in the middle of New York City. Very, very expensive. How many million dollars? Then here and there, after all, I think he arrested. You know?
He arrested, the police arrested him. Then they were showing the picture of his Manhattan mansion, and here’s the jail cell now. It’s unbelievable! And he’s not a young man, also. He wasn’t that much young.
Was almost nearly in his seventies, actually. It’s unbelievable. Everything’s gone. Now he’s in jail for almost life because of cheating people. Not only just cheating people, but all these older people.
It’s very painful. People are crying, some people are heart addicted because now how can they live? It? Their living is their livinglihood is gone. But some people, they’ve got it back a little bit.
Most of his money, he enjoyed it, you know? Flies here, there. The point is that these things happen often. Sometimes, you can see things like that happen Even though it’s not a million, million dollars, sometimes you can see how people are, trying to gain something from you. They are so good at how to talk.
Their talking is very, very unique. They talk to you. This happened to me also. For twenty five or thirty dollars, I lost it, you know, but I did get it. After all, they are not that much poor, you know.
I met they looked like they very poor, and when they talked, they came to you and actually brought one paper, you know. It looked like the paper was from the government. Then I feel when they talk to you, Oh, no money. This is that. They need to go to school and so on and so on.
I feel so sorry for that. They live in their own country in the United States. And I said, Okay, then I give them twenty five dollars. A few days after the news came saying, Don’t give money to these people. What happened?
What is going on? Geshe-la, I think you did. I said, I did. Now, as you look at the television, they are saying, Don’t give them. They are scammed.
I was laughing. I said, It’s okay now. It’s twenty five dollars. It’s not a big deal. Of course, it’s for me.
But it’s okay, finish now, you know. Sometimes they cheat you. Even though they just come to you, I think they raised a couple hundred thousand dollars like that, you know, door to door, door to door, talk, very sweet talk. You feel like, I must cry sometimes. They make you like that, and they look also ugly, actually.
Know, clothes are not so good. But somebody told me, some of these people are driving very good cars also. I didn’t know. I was a little, how do you say, A little too Buddhist, I think, you know. India also, it’s very true in India.
You know beggars? Can you see in Mumbai? Many beggars. Mostly these are the beggars. Yes, these people who are begging, they are really, really poor.
However, they have leaders. Their leader is very rich. Their leader is very, very rich. Buildings. But all these beggars belong to that person.
Yes? They’re allowed to beg, and after they need to bring all the money back them, they get a little percentage. Sometimes it’s strange, I mean, but there are so many buildings. This happens in India many times, and after the government sees it, nowadays they are checking all these beggars. Of course, are so many beggars, but some beggars are not really poor.
The point is, how can we judge them? How can we understand? It’s difficult for us, isn’t it? But I think once you give it to them, then finish. If they are rich or poor, it doesn’t matter.
My point is that’s a wrong livelihood. Absolutely wrong livelihood. Okay? We shouldn’t be living like that. As much as we can, try to live the right way.
That’s what we need to do. Now, page sixty, verse number sixty and sixty one. Suppose I said, while living off my material gain, I would consume my negative karmic force and do positive things. Well, if for the sake of material gain I became enraged, would my positive karmic force be consumed and negative karmic force come about? If the very purpose for which I am living should fall apart, what use is therewith a life committing negative deeds?
This Now, here is the yeah, surely material wealth will enable me to live, and then I shall be able to consume evil and do good. But if I’m angry on account of it, will not my merit be consumed and evil increase? And what use will be life of one who only commits evil if for the sake of material gain, he causes the material needed for life to degenerate. So this one is talking about the Let’s say someone has a little argument. Yes, I should live a long life, gain materials.
Then I can do some purification practice, do some good deeds, so I can do some good deeds. You know, because with that, I can do retaliating if someone really tries to harm me, to interrupt my material gain. Because if I gain some materials, I can do some good deeds. Or if I live a long life, I can do some purification. That is why the saying, I can retaliate someone, is that I am justifying to retaliate against someone who really interrupts and hinders my gaining materials.
If you say such a thing like that, Śāntideva was saying, No, no, no, no, you cannot do that because if you compare bad deeds and good deeds, mostly the bad deeds are very, very heavier than the good deeds, even though you may accumulate some merits, but after all, because of your bad deeds, everything will be destroyed, Especially the anger. Here is the particular anger. Yes, some people may think that way, you know. Yeah, I would like to gain materials even though I’m doing some wrong things. If anyone is really insulting me or interrupting my gaining materials, I will be retaliating.
At least I can do some purification. This is almost like sometimes people go to confesses in churches and temples. They go there, they confess, they give some donations, which is wonderful, but they go back and do the same thing again. The next time they come back and they give some donations to the church and they confess again, but they go back and they do the same thing. That’s exactly it.
This is something like that, you know. Similar like that. So Śāntideva was saying, no. It’s your act of goodness or the act of this retaliating. If you compare the act of retaliating and bad deeds, they are much, much heavier than the good deeds or merits.
So that’s why it’s not a good idea to retaliating someone really interrupting and insulting you in order to gain some materials. So that’s what Śāntideva was saying, I think. Surely, material wealth enable me to live, and then I shall be able to consume evil and do good. So that’s a kind of purification, to do maybe some practice of generosity, etc. But I am angry on account of it, will my not be consumed and evil increase?
Because of that, I will retaliate if someone is really interrupting and insulting, you know, in order for me to gain materials. If you say that, then here is, but I am angry on account of it, will not my merit be consumed and evil increase? Because anger is one of the worst negative emotions than any other negative emotions. It doesn’t matter how much merits you are accumulating in that point of view, but after all, because of your anger, anger is still there because you are retaliating the other person who is really insulting to you. So anger is already there.
So that means evil increases. Consumed, merit will be consumed, and evil increases. And what use will be the life of one who only commits evil, if for the sake of material gain, he causes the merits needed for life to degenerate. Everything degenerates because of the due course. There are no proper merits.
After all, there are no proper merits. I think this one is very important, even though us, course, merit is very, very important. Without merit, it is very difficult to be dreams come true, especially gaining and achieving those Mahāyāna paths. It’s very difficult, because as much as you act on bad deeds, that much all matters will be decreased. Why?
Because, for example, even though you are not acting any bad deeds, and you are not accumulating any new merits, but your past merits that you accumulated can really decrease if you are only enjoying the luxury life. Do you understand? Of course. Now here is a different case. Here is that you are accumulating merit.
The same time, you are retaliating and harming others, which is absolutely the way merit will degenerate. Absolutely, yes. What I was saying is, let’s say you are not harming any other human beings or any other animals, but you accumulated so many merits in a past lifetime, but now you are enjoying all these merits within your luxury life, and there are no new merits that are accumulating. So that means all those merits that you accumulated also decreases because of new merits coming in, and all merits are decreasing and degenerate because you are enjoying such a pleasure and luxury life. Now, I will give you one thing.
Yogi, especially the yogi and those great practitioners who achieved calm abiding meditation. He has not achieved the second meditation, which is the penetrative insight, Vipassana, has not achieved yet. Only achieved calm abiding, let’s say. Also, that yogi already approaches the tip of the saṃsāra, which is one of the formless realms. Last state of the formless realm, and he also realised calm abiding.
Now, the yogi is very much enjoying meditating for thousands of years. He was enjoying this state of meditation just like this, enjoying. After a thousand years, he wakes up. He wakes up, and when he sees some of the mouse cutting his hair, because he was meditating for thousands of years, his hair grew up and down. Then, now, the mouse is coming and cutting his hair.
Then suddenly, he gets upset. Why? Why are mouse cutting my hair? And he gets upset. Then he feels unease, uncomfortable.
Then he says, Oh, I thought I achieved But why did these thoughts come up? Why did I feel unhappy because the mouse cut my hair? Then now he was saying, I thought I achieved liberation. Then he feels really upset. He feels really upset, Yeah, I really not yet achieved liberation.
So then, when he sees through the hiscular voids that he is going to be born in a hell realm because of this strong anger, then he was totally in disaster. He gets totally mad. Then why did this happen, actually? Why is this happening here? Because of the lack of merits.
He enjoyed this pleasure that once he achieved calm abiding, he wasn’t meditating. The second one, which is the most important one must be meditated and achieved, which is the Vipassana. But he was just only in his own arrogant mind, or whatever it is, Oh, I am now the tip of the saṃsāra, I am now liberated, I no need to meditate further more. So then, when he wakes up, then suddenly he sees mouse cutting his hair. Then he feels this, you know, in his mind, very much uncomfortable.
Then he felt like, this is not a liberation now. He was confused. Absolutely, he wasn’t actually liberated, but he thought he did it. He was only achieving the calm abiding. That’s why some of these yogis make big mistakes after achieving calm abiding.
Even though this yogi really just felt upset when a mouse was cutting his hair. That’s it. Because of that, he wasn’t accumulating new merits. All merits are already degenerated because he was enjoying that state. Once you achieve calm abiding, mentally and physically, you will feel so much blessed.
Because of that, he misunderstood, Oh, this is the liberation. This is the peace. Actually, it was peace, but not the ultimate peace yet. He misunderstood. After all, everything is a disaster.
So that’s why in Buddhism, mainly the achievement of calm abiding is not that much important. You must achieve the second meditation, which is the analytical one, Vipassana in Sanskrit, English translation is called penetrative insight, insight meditation, which is very important. If are such things like that, degenerating their merits, then what would someone be in order to gain some materials? Then, retaliating when someone interrupts you to gain the materials. Even though you do some gaining materials, you do some purification practice, or there’s some goodness, but that’s not enough because you’ve already retaliated it in order to gain some minerals, isn’t it?
Very much two different things. That’s what the Śāntideva was saying, No, no, no. Be So don’t misunderstand. Oh, I can lie, I can cheat, that in order to gain some materials, maybe I will give some donations. I will do something like this and that.
You can do that, but you need to stop it after that. Don’t do and don’t take any wrong actions. Maybe a little better. But mostly people go back there again, you know. You confess something, you give some donation to the church, then you go back, then you do the same actions again.
Then you come back and you confess. Then you go back and do the same things again. But that is not really the good thing to do to confess, know, not the right confession, I think. Once you make mistakes, absolutely fix it, and don’t make the same mistakes again. That’s good.
Making mistakes is one thing, fixing is another thing, but if you do the same mistakes again, that’s now the problem. Okay? Śāntideva was really, really unbelievable. Okay, now break. I will teach you next week, from verse sixty two.
Go, go. Okay, you are saying divisive speech, yes? Slandering. Slandering things? Okay, divisive speech happens to be because of the jealousy.
Main thing is there. Because of the jealousy, then people divide people to speak between two couples, two friendships, between teachers and students. Or if I go a little greater between two organizations, or if I go more than that bigger between two monasteries, which is called It’s very, very Between two monasteries and two organizations, there’s a huge scene. It’s called Gyendik, especially the monastery, like Sikkim, that’s called. It’s Am I saying it correctly?
Sikkim? Sikkim. Sikkim. Yeah, that’s called Sikkim, which is a very, very high level scene. Especially in two monasteries.
One of the heinous acts out of the five. Yes, the five heinous acts. If two monasteries are like that. But if you divide two people, not the heinous act, but still it is too bad because of the jealousy. Okay?
So that’s why the antidote is you need to cut out jealousy. The main thing is you shouldn’t be jealous if somebody is having a good time, or they are loving each other, or they are having a good relationship, you just pray for them. People do this, know, in a specific they try to divide these two wonderful people. It comes between that. So you need to cut out jealousy.
That’s the main antidote here. Do you understand what I’m saying? Okay. Jealousy is very, very bad. Jealousy is almost like when you are having small things in your eyes, you know, some kind of a small dust or something goes into your eyes, you have to clean it.
Jealousy is that much like it. It’s very bad. Okay? So that’s why you must cut out the jealousy. You know, and really pray for them if they are really I don’t know.
I’m giving you general information. I don’t know exactly one particular device by speech, but I’m just giving you my answer, is in general. Leave them alone. Do nothing. Do nothing.
Just pray for them. Just leave them alone. That’s where you can be able to cut out jealousy. Especially if someone is a Buddhist practitioner, we shouldn’t feel this jealousy mind, which is not good. That’s the antidote to cut out divisive speech.
Next question. You have good merit, do you die then? Once your merits run out, you will die. You mean that? Yes.
It’s not necessary to die, but you may get some problems, some more emotions, more unhappiness, more suffering and pain. This happens. Necessarily mean that your merit is decreasing, then you die. It’s not necessarily like that. But you will suffer a lot.
Less merits, more suffering in pain. More merits, less suffering in pain. That’s why in Buddhism Sometimes when I say merits, in western countries, people misunderstand the merits. Merit is not we are not talking about the luck. We are not talking about the luck.
Merit is almost like a virtue, actually. Virtuous action. Maybe one day I will give you little details about the merits. I don’t have a translator here. The Vasubandhu’s Ornament of Realization, that book I’m sorry, not Ornament of Clear Realization, that’s not Vasubandhu, that’s Maitreya.
Vasubandhu is a great Indian master, and his book, Abhidharmakośa Karika, almost like Buddhist science. That book mentions that there are two different merits. One merit comes from One merit comes from materials, and one merit comes from non material merits. Both have seven different merits. For instance, the practice of generosity, money, food I’m just giving you one example.
Giving food, money, water, and materials, you are accumulating merits, One type of merit comes from giving materials. That is called the material merits. Another type of merit is called non material, like meditation. And also, going to airports, train stations, bus stations, to receive your lamas and teachers. And also, serving lamas and teachers.
These are the non material merits, which are the greater merits, actually. Especially when you serve the teacher. When you serve and receive a teacher coming from the outside, or driving to the airport, bus stations, train stations. So there are different merits, you know. But merits are very, very important.
Once you accumulate merits, you must be dedicated. Then, that merit will not be degenerated. That’s why dedication is very important. One of the Buddha’s sutras says, If you accumulate tons and tons of great merits, then your dreams will come true. So that’s why accumulating merit is very, very important.
Otherwise, merits are almost like I’m just giving you an example. I did say this before. Almost like if you don’t dedicate, the merits will be degenerated. Means, let’s say you have couple thousand dollars. If you put that money to the bank, if you deposit that money to the bank, then the bank will be taking care of that money.
But if you don’t deposit money to the bank, if you keep the money in your flat, one day you may lose it. The thief may come and steal. So the same thing merits are if you dedicate merits, then that merits nobody can steal from you, especially the anger. Here is the thief, it’s the anger. Even though you get angry, especially some of that merits cannot be destroyed by anger because you dedicate it, which is good.
But if you don’t dedicate it, then merits will degenerate because we have so many emotions in our lives, especially anger, upsetness, jealousy. So see, it degenerates. That is why, if you dedicate merits, also when you deposit money to the bank, sometimes you get interest. If you dedicate the merits, sometimes merits will be multiplied also, especially if you dedicate merits in the days of Buddhist Saga Dawa, in those times, this will multiply. I’m giving you an idea of depositing money to the bank and dedicating merits.
Otherwise, a thief may steal a couple of thousand dollars. It’s possible. Anger may steal your merits. If you get one strong anger, then that’s it. Everything destroys.
Next question. Anyone? Any questions? You need to dedicate before you get angry. If you are short-tempered, then you must dedicate as quickly as possible, before you get angry.
Is why every Buddhist teachings, and when you do Buddhist prayers, at the end of teachings, we dedicate. Sometimes we dedicate special dedication here at the centre, we do dedication to His Holiness, Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, and also we dedicate the general, the other sentient beings. Of course, you can dedicate your family and friends, of course. But here traditionally, we do this dedication, to the lamas’ long life, because if lamas live long life, then they will teach us. Isn’t it?
They are like Buddha. And not only just that, I will give you my secret dedication. Do you want to know? It is more than a million dollars, actually. I have so many dedications, I will not give you all my dedications.
But I have one secret dedication I don’t think anyone of do. One of my dedications is that I dedicate whatever in my life in the future, whether I can achieve enlightenment very soon or not, or whatever it is. But one of my dedications is that I dedicate to Maitreya Buddha to appear in this world, I will be his first disciple. That is one of my secret dedications. Now you know one of my secret dedications.
You need to do that. There are some other secret things, but I will tell you slowly. Not every time. Because the Maitreya Buddha will appear in this world after Śākyamūni Buddha’s teachings are totally finished in this world, then the Maitreya Buddha will appear. So how wonderful if we are his first disciple.
That’s why I’ve been dedicating it since I was very young. I hope the Amitābha Buddha heard it enough, you know. Okay, now, dedication. Buddha House dedication prayer. Page thirteen.
Lord of Dharma, which is put in various dispositions of those to be subdued, makes clear in the light of your well spoken advice, Source of the Gelug tradition, essence of the Buddha’s teachings, foremost holy lama, to you I make request. O lama, please, please live long. Thank you very much.