Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this brief 7-minute talk from 1985, Geshe Nawang Dhargyey addresses how a spiritual teacher transmits teachings and offers two practical guidelines for sustained practice. He frames the transmission of dharma through the example of Atisha, who attributed all his realizations to his gurus rather than claiming them as his own — a model of humility Geshe Dhargyey follows in his own teaching role. He then turns to meditation practice, offering concrete guidance: start with short sessions to maintain enthusiasm, and always stop at the peak of joy and aspiration rather than pushing until fatigue sets in. Using the analogy of a happy parting between friends, he explains how ending meditation while eager ensures the mind will naturally return with renewed motivation. This talk is pitched at practitioners beginning or deepening a meditation practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 06 SF 1985 05 04.mp3
UUID: 585c33ae-8da0-4da9-896c-a65bba4dc01f
Teacher: Geshe Nawang Dhargyey
Collection: Advice from a Spiritual Friend (Geshe Nawang Dhargyey)
Date: 1985-05-04
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 7.4 minutes
Words: ~596
And he was quite confident of his the power of his teachings, saying that if you if you only practice what I’ve taught you, there’s no doubt of you becoming bodhisattvas. And I’m quite happy to say that I have transmitted what I’ve got from my master. When Atisha was praised saying that you have great qualities and that you have developed the precious mind of enlightenment, then Atisha said, It’s not my mind, it’s the mind of this precious mind I have, as Acharya Serlingpa. And when he was praying that you have a direct wisdom, understanding, emptiness, and he said, That’s not my wisdom, it’s the wisdom of my guru Avadhutipa. And he always attributed all qualities that he had to the kindness of his masters.
Similarly, he always maintained modesty and humility saying that he didn’t have any qualities. Any quality that he had, he said, was due to the kindness of his gurus. Similarly, whatever I have been able to explain to you, these were not my own, but I’m like a messenger here, transmitting the teachings of my precious masters. And I’ll stop here. I’ll stop here and because otherwise you know if we listen to the teachings for long time the mind gets tired although we are physically here and wouldn’t be able to pay attention to.
Similarly with regard to meditation, you should start off meditation by short sessions. In the beginning, shorter the duration of meditation the better so our enthusiasm always remains. Otherwise, if you try to meditate right from the beginning for a long time, because we aren’t used to meditating for a long time, the mind will get tired and such that it will feel bored with meditation and later will not want to, will not feel enthusiastic in meditating. In order to avoid such a thing happen, such a thing is always best to meditate for a short while. In other words, it’s better to have many short duration meditation sessions rather than one long meditation.
In Sydney, we went to a place called Yarngbool for weekend meditation. That was a wonderful meditation such that everybody didn’t want to go back to Sydney but wanted to stay there. It was the most memorable time, virtuous and it’s because the technique they adopted was quite a correct one and because we had a few short duration meditation sessions such that enthusiasm for meditation outlasted the time of the retreat. It is sad that we should stop our meditation at a time when we are feeling most happy and when we want to meditate more. Then we shouldn’t continue further but stop there and then so that there is the same feeling of wanting to meditate more and more in the next session so that we don’t feel bored with meditation.
If one kept on meditating at the height of enthusiasm, after some time enthusiasm will wear out and then you will feel quite bored with meditation. So much so that when one sees the meditation cushion, one is repelled by it. It’s similar to two people who part from each other in a very happy mood and when they part from each other at the heart of their friendship, then it will be sad parting and they will always be thought of meeting again. But if they had to part from each other in angry and selfish mood, then it will be the last parting and we will never meet again. Similarly, we should stop the meditation at the height of enthusiasm while in meditation.