Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. An audience member’s sharp question stops the session mid-story: when the bodhisattva king gave away his wife to perfect generosity, was he not treating her as a possession? In this 103-minute commentary on Śāntideva’s Bodhisattva Way of Life, Geshe Pema Tsering first covers the snake-versus-body comparison — we dread the snake, yet the body itself propels us into far worse suffering — then works through self-cherishing as the root of all fear and negative conduct. He introduces the ghost-versus-god verse (“if I give, what shall I have left?” against “if I enjoy this, what shall I have left to give?”), then tells the king’s story that sparks the audience exchange on temporal harm, ultimate benefit, and pure motivation. Throughout, Geshe Pema Tsering returns to habituation — repeated familiarization with cherishing others — as the practical method by which bodhicitta gradually arises.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 02 2008 07 29 BW.mp3
UUID: ed789f84-b38b-47e3-8b98-b17cda510855
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Bodhisattva Way of Life (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2008-07-29
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 102.6 minutes
Words: ~7,003
Does anybody know how how cold it’s gonna get tonight? So, again, Geshe-la is encouraging us to give rise to a good motivation and with the intention of benefiting also in being establishing them in the state of enlightenment, and we ourselves must attain enlightenment, and we are going to accomplish that. In order to accomplish that, we’re going to study and practice according to these teachings. And in this way we give rise to Oh, And then we start with the preliminary prayers with the the Heart Sūtra. And we move on to the Splendid Praises.
I and all surrounding sentient beings go for refuge with the Buddha, go for refuge with the Dharma, go for refuge with the Sangha. We prostrate to the great mother of Prajñāpāramitā, surrounded by all the children, by the assemblies of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas over the ten directions. By depending on my to all of you, may these words of truth be actualized. In the past, the Deva king Indra dispelled the maras by reflecting the profound meaning of the wisdom gone beyond and reciting the profound words in daily recitation. In that same way, I also reflect on the profound meaning of the great mother, Prajñāpāramitā, and recite the profound words in daily recitation.
May all diseases, periods of inauspiciousness, bad conditions, all the negative directions, that which happens due to past karma and immediate conditions, may all these be dispelled, may it become nonexistent, may it be pacified. So we we move on to the next topic, which is the making effort to abandon self-cherishing. Is that working? It has two divisions to it. First is self-cherishing is the cause of all fear, of all fearful things or events.
And then secondly, reflecting on how self-cherishing acts to encourage one into all sorts of negative conduct. So with regards to the first one of those topics, which is again self-cherishing is the cause of fear, we’ll read the next root verse which reads: Because of attachment to my body, even a small object of fear frightens me. So who would not revile as an enemy this body that gives rise to fear? And Geshe-la is explaining that verse again saying that if we are fearful of small harms that might be done in relation to our bodies. Again, why aren’t we fearful of greater harms that are actually caused by this very body?
And Geshe-la was explaining, giving us an example. For example, we are very fearful of being beaten by a venomous, a poisonous snake, and we engage in all sorts of ways to protect ourselves from such an event ever happening to us. And on the other hand, so if we are fearful of that, why aren’t we fearful of the body itself, is the one thing that propels us into birth in the lower realms of existence where the suffering is much greater than that. So again, and so Geshe-la explains, so if we are fearful of this small little harms, why aren’t we fearful of this very body which is a cause of such greater harm? And then the commentary to that is is very straightforward.
It’s just saying again, so not exchanging self or other, and then whoever is attached to his or her own body in this way will be great gives rise to great fears even in relation to small harmful things such as snakes and so forth. If that is the case, which intelligent person would not see this enemy, would not give rise to the notion that this body, which is the cause of all these fears, is not an enemy? Who wouldn’t think of the body as an enemy? Who would allow oneself to give in to self-cherishing? And that is the conclusion.
It’s the very last sentence. self-cherishing is not is not reasonable. It’s unreasonable. And Geshe-la has explained, so again, in the same vein as Geshe-la has explained before, if we are out of fear of being hurt by such things as a snake and so forth, we engage in all sorts of ways to protect the body. Again, how much more so in relation to the self-cherishing attitude, which is the the real source of of all the the greatest suffer ings that we experience in our lives.
That is the case, we should avert the self-cherishing attitude. We should abandon, let go of it, and instead adopt an attitude that cherishes others instead. In this way we can avert all these fears. I guess let’s explain. So then again by by cherishing others instead, again, we are able to clear a way to dispel all fears and we are able to attain bodhicitta, we are able to attain liberation, are able to attain enlightenment and so forth.
On the other hand, the source of every fear is the very self-cherishing mind itself. This is the cause of every fearful thing that happens to us, of every suffering that happens to us. So again, Geshe-la says the same thing again in a different order. Again saying, if we can give up this cherishing attitude for our own bodies, emphasis on our own bodies, then whenever such dangers or harmful things such as a snake would come away, then we wouldn’t be afraid of it. We ought because the self-cherishing attitude is cherishing of our own bodies and our own selves is a source of every suffering.
Again, we ought to to let go of it and instead develop in this place an attitude of cherishing others. And and Geshe-la is saying, however great or small a fear may be, a suffering may be, a wound, a disease, a new illness and so forth, all sorts of sufferings. How big or small they may be. Again, is that self-cherishing mind that is overly concerned with oneself that is thinking with fear, may that not happen to me, may this not happen to me, may this not come my way, or which is fear, which is working in ways, engaging activities in order to avoid also protecting oneself from such things, avoiding such things. Must I must protect myself from this.
I must avoid that and so forth. It is the self-cherishing mind that does that, isn’t it? It’s the self-cherishing mind that we must get rid of, And then Geshe-la explains it again from a different perspective, saying again that because we completely disregard others, we have a complete disregard for others. Again, that’s the reason we are not concerned with with whatever harm comes their way, whatever fear fearful thing they experience because we have total disregard for them. And it’s, again, because we we lack…
What was that? English language. So if So again so again because let me start again. So because we we lack because we have this total disregard for whatever fearful thing that occurs or comes other people’s other being’s way, then again, we we are not able to develop any concern for them. We we are not yeah.
Concern is the best word. We are not concerned about them at all. So in the same way, in this in explaining them in this negative sense, again, we have to do is give up any regard for ourselves, disregard ourselves, our own interests and so forth, benefits or pleasures and so forth, again, we this this interest, this concern for the welfare of others, this concern for their protection, for their well-being, for their freedom from and sufferings and pain and so forth will will arise. When that can happen, when we are able to develop a concern for others, getting rid of that disregard, the total disregard for others, and then again in the same way, developing a disregard for ourselves, getting rid of the self-cherishing, when that happens, Geshe-la says, we have developed then bodhicitta. Is that making sense?
Cool. This one. Makes sense, but achieving it somehow. One. Which part?
Yes. Well, if we are to disregard our body So Gichalaz explained that we have to give up any concern not only for our own bodies but for the tree, body, speech and mind, whatever happens to our body, speech and mind. We have to develop a concern, we have to develop a mind that cherishes the tree also, the body, speech and mind of others. And the reason we do that is because that is the cause of compassion. That gives rise to compassion, that gives rise not only to just any compassion, but it gives rise to great compassion.
It ends up giving rise to great compassion, which is a a mind that is concerned with every sentient being without exception. And that’s and that is the reason. Yeah. That’s the reason why we have to do that. And then just to lead to the natural conclusion, again, if great compassion arises, eventually in the natural process of, natural unfolding of events, will arise, the wish that oneself be enlightened in order to liberate us from every suffering that arises, and that is bodhicitta.
If bodhicitta arises, again, attain bodhisattva hood, and you attain enlightenment itself. And even even before the the onset of when you have when you have attained great compassion, you already your actions are already benefiting others. And right there and then, you’re already experiencing real happiness. And Geshe lah is explaining again, now this mind of great compassion and the mind that that cherishes oneself, they are directly opposites. They directly contradict each other.
They directly oppose each other. They are both, and the interesting thing is they are both minds that wish freedom from suffering. Now one wishes freedom from suffering for oneself alone, and the mind of great compassion wishes freedom from suffering for all sentient beings without exception. And Geshe-la further explains that when you develop that wish with regards to one sentient being alone, than oneself, then there is already compassion. When you have this concern that they’d be free from suffering, whoever the sentient being may be, whatever the sentient being may be.
When you have that, there’s already compassion. There’s There’s not great compassion, but the concern that another being be free from suffering is already compassion. So then we move on to the next topic, which then is reflecting on how the self-cherishing mind attitude acts to encourage one into all sorts of negative conduct. And we’ll read the next root verse one twenty two and the first half of verse one twenty three. By wishing for a means to remedy the hunger, the thirst, and the sickness of the body, I might kill birds, fish, and deer, and loiter by the side of roads to rob others.
And then the next verse says, if for the sake of its profit and comfort, I would kill even my father and mother. One. And again, so then, again, would briefly went over for the verse again, same said the same things. But the conclusion is then, again, if if for the sake of of its profit and its comfort, one would even kill one’s father and mother, again, just explaining, pointing out the fact that this self-cherishing, this mind that cherishes oneself above all other things is the source of great evil, of all sorts of evil and suffering. And Geshe-la is just saying, reiterating that this is actually so, isn’t it?
In our lives, for the sake of our bodies, for the sake of ourselves, we engage in all sorts of activities. In case I was using the word lekka, which is activities or work. So we do all sorts of work activities in order to benefit the body, to benefit ourselves, and not just proper work or proper activities. We do all sorts of improper work and activities in order to benefit. We do whatever it takes, isn’t it?
Commentary to those verses, say exactly the same thing. They say, again, for the sake of was holding on this mind that was holding on to self-cherishing, again, in order to avert any discomfort of the body or suffering of the body, disease, hunger, thirst, and so forth. Again, we go on and we kill animals, we kill fish, deer, so forth. And we even hide at the side of the road in order to rob people. If for the sake of the body, again, out of the self-cherishing attitude, out of the self-cherishing mind, again, we would even kill our mother and our father for the sake of benefiting of the profit and the comfort of this body.
And then we read again the the the next half of verse one twenty three and the next verse one twenty four. So the next half is proceeding where you stop. You stop. I would even kill I would even kill my father and my mother. And then it goes on to say, and and I would steal the property of the triple gem.
Then I would undoubtedly proceed to burn in the flames of the deepest hell, and Geshe-la was explaining, so by stealing away from the possession of the triple gem, again, the ripening result of that action is birthed in the lowest deepest hell. And again, the next verse goes on to say, therefore, what wise man or woman would desire, protect, and venerate this body? Who would not scorn it and regard it as an enemy? This one. Okay.
And again, the commentary to that of verse three forty says exactly the same thing that is in the in the root verse. Again, one would even away from the possessions of the three the Three Jewels, and that leads to rebirth in the lower, in the deepest hell. So what wise person would cherish this body, would have any desire with regards to the body, protect it or would venerate it or indulge it in any way? Wise person, again, would see his or her own body as the enemy.
And so that being that being the case, one should one should avert or one should arrest every aspect or every type or every manifestation of the self-cherishing mind. Is making sense? That okay? And Geshe-la was saying again with regards to these teachings, it’s not that we should completely give up on our bodies. It is in dependence on a healthy body that we can actually accomplish virtue, engage in virtuous activities, and we can accomplish the causes of liberation and enlightenment.
So it is not that we should completely give up on our bodies. We need to nurture our bodies, we need to feed our bodies, and we do need to engage in ways to protect it from any adventitious harm or diseases and so forth. We need to have healthy bodies, basically, so that we can practice. But we have to have that, we need all that in the proper context. Geshe-la was saying we need, also need together with that, we need an understanding that every sort of negativity there is is creating dependence on the body also.
So we need also an understanding that there are many faults that come together with the body that are developed in relation to the body. So we need both sides of this understanding. Is that okay? And Geshe-la is explaining again, this teaching is about the self-cherishing. It is that concern for the body that comes out of self-cherishing that is the wrong thing, that is the distorted thing.
The self-cherishing is a distorted mind, it’s a deluded mind, it’s a wrong mind. The self-cherishing is the mind that comes dependence on the self grasping, which is grasping to an inherently existent self. And that is wrong, is distorted. So it is that notion that we actually have to give up because when we act in order to protect our bodies or anything related to the body, with the motivation of self-cherishing and self grasping, that is going to generate negativity. So that is what we have to avert.
That is what we have to get rid of. That is what we have to the word is in Tibetan is is which is mostly translated as to abandon. Some some people translate as to get rid of. Some people also translate as to let go of. Just let go of.
And again, Geshe-la reiterates, again, the body, as our bodies, as as they are, they appear to us to exist in the way that they appear. So they do not exist in the way that they they actually appear to exist. And that is why we have to give up. We have to give up that conception that holds to them as existing the way that they appear to exist, as having existed from their own side or having inherent existence. This is what we have to give up.
Now for the non analytical mind, again, with the independence this understanding, for the non analytical mind, the mind that is not analyzing the ultimate way of existence of the body, again, body does exist conventionally. And with that, we have to work in appropriate ways, again, to keep it healthy and nurtured and so forth, with that one, with that mind. And Geshe-la used another word, which is maybe to abandon, but again, a good way to translate it is to let go of it, to let go of that conception of inherent existence, to let go of that conception of that attitude of self-cherishing. This one. And then this So we move on to our next topic.
I forgot to mention, all these topics we are approaching, they are part of major topic, which is the way to exchange self for others. The next topic with regards to this way of exchanging self for others is reflecting on the faults and the benefits of cherishing self and other respectively. That has two parts to it. First of all, is a list of the disadvantages and the benefits of cherishing self and other respectively. And second, it does the the reason letting go of self-cherishing.
Yeah. And then again we have quite a few bits of divisions and subdivisions. As for the first one of those, which is a list of the disadvantages and the benefits of cherishing self and other respectively. That has two parts, which is an extensive explanation and synopsis, a brief explanation. As for the extensive explanation, have five parts to it, five topics.
First of all, explaining it in terms of giving. Secondly, in terms of harm or harming. Thirdly, in terms of praise and renown. Fourth, in terms of application to activities. And fifth, in terms of benefit and bliss or pleasure.
So with regards to explaining the disadvantages and benefits of cherishing self and other respect, in terms of giving, we read the next verse which is one hundred and twenty five, which reads something like this. If I give this, what shall I have left to enjoy? This is a qualm that people this is what people think. And says that such selfish thinking is the way of ghosts. Then again, another another call.
If I enjoy this, what shall I have left to give? And such selfless thinking is a quality of the gods. Isn’t that beautiful, isn’t it? And again, Geshe lah, was just going through the the verse again. So the first half, says, if I give this, what shall I have left to enjoy?
Such selfish thinking is the way of ghosts, and this and this this this is how most people think, isn’t it? This this does occur to us, isn’t it? And this is basically, you know, a general way to explain that this is miserliness and as such it is a negativity in itself. And again, Geshe-la goes on, if I enjoy this, then what shall I have left to give? And again, same way Geshe-la was then using the example of food.
For example, if we if I eat if I give this food away, what will I have left to eat? Or if I if I if I eat all this food, what will I have left to give? And this is the way that gods think this is a this is an extremely virtuous action, and Geshe-la was saying. And the result of such such thinking, of such action is great fortune in the future, great wealth in the future, great enjoyment in the future. Did you say thoughts?
Yeah. That’s just a figure of speech. And the commentary to that is pretty straightforward and saying again, if by overpowered or powered by miserliness, if we if if our thinking is that if we give away our wealth or whatever enjoyment we have, if we give that away, what is going to be left for us to enjoy? Again, this sort of thinking that thinks only of one’s own welfare or one’s own benefit alone is this thinking of ghosts. It’s the way that ghosts think, and that gives rise to all sorts of fears.
Fears. And guess what was gonna say, again, and sufferings in general. So a source of all sorts of suffering. And, again, the same vein, if, again, if if I enjoy this, then what will be left for me to give away? And this way of thinking that thinks only of the welfare and the benefit of others, this is the way that gods and goddesses think.
And from that of thinking, all sorts of all excellence or all excellent things come about. All yeah. All excellent things. This is bodhisattvas do. This is how bodhisattvas think.
Bodhisattvas, the only concern is the benefit and the welfare of others, and they have no regard for whatever happens to them. No. This is not the way we think. This for us is is very difficult for us to think like that. So this is not how we think.
We we we wouldn’t be able to well, if we have only a little bit of food in front of us, we would think first of ourselves, and and we think of the consequences to others, if at all, later on. Now, Bodhisattvas never act that way. Bodhisattvas, if there is only a little bit of food, you know, they they always have others’ interests first first of all, before their own interests. So again Geshe lah was saying, and still to what he just said, Geshe lah says, if one habituates oneself, one will be able to think that way. The more one habituates oneself with this type of thinking, the more one will be able to think that way.
More often one will think that way until it becomes second nature. So it’s all about habituation. Again, keyword here is habituation. Geshe-la was saying, it’s not enough to know about it. It’s not enough just to read about it or to to know about it.
One has to continually familiarize oneself with those things. One has to continually study those things and bring those thoughts to mind. And if one does so, then it will become clearer and clearer, and it will eventually become a second nature. Okay? And again Geshe-la said, again reiterating, this is why the teachers repeatedly teach about those topics, bodhicitta, exchanging self for others and so forth, because it’s for our benefit, so that we can familiarize ourselves with those things, so we can gain the habit.
And again, if one habituates self for however many years due to the force of that habituation, again, those teachings or those ways of perceiving or thinking will become clearer, will become stronger. And the more one does, if one keeps on doing, eventually it will become second nature. That’s why it’s very important that we engage in training. If right now when we hear such teachings we think, oh, how could that possibly happen to me? How can I possibly think that way or act that way?
It is only due to the fact that we haven’t trained our minds, that we haven’t engaged in any habituation and familiarization with this object. If we do engage in training, if we do habituate ourselves, it will arise. It is possible. Again, saying, for example, if if we when we in terms of food, we think that if we give away the food that we have, that we we we’re going to we’re going to die. We’re not gonna have enough to eat, and we’re gonna die.
This is how we think. But that’s not actually the case. Again, if if you give away your food, again, you don’t die because of that. And even if I if it might take one, two, or three days, even if it might take a long, you still you won’t die because of that. And you eventually you get something to eat.
And so eventually you do get something to eat. You do find something to eat. Somebody gives you something to eat. So you you can give away, and you you won’t experience any harm in yourself. But because of of the fear, because of the self-cherishing mind, we have this we have this way of thinking that if I give away, I won’t have any left for myself.
I will die. I will I will I will how to say? I will suffer and so forth. And again, Geshe-la was saying, again, the same goes for money. Again, there is there is nobody who has ever died because of giving away money.
There is no record of anybody dying because of giving away money. Don’t die because of giving money. All that happens is that you accumulate, you practice a good virtue, a good cause for to experience a good result in the future, and also you experience the the happiness and the pleasure that comes out of of giving immediately. Nobody has ever died because of giving money. And then Geshe-la was giving us the story of a king in the past who was who was and who was practicing, who was engaging solely in the perfection of giving.
He was trying to perfect his practice of generosity, his practice of giving. And he gave away everything. He gave away to his followers, to his students, and to everybody. He gave everything, all wealth. He gave his wife.
He gave his children. He gave away everything. And then one god came down to test him. This god wanted to check if his motivations, if his were really honest. He was he was really sincere in his motivation.
So this god came down and asked this king for his eyes. And the king, how to say, without a second thought, immediately gave away his own eyes. And at that moment, he didn’t even have his eyes left. And then just bear in mind that being was a bodhisattva. So then at that moment he didn’t have even his eyes.
And then at that moment, the king himself made that that such an aspirational prayer as if if my motivations were pure and correct, then may may I have eyes again? May I gain sight again? And if my motivations were were impure or incorrect, then just how do you say? May I remain blind? And immediately after he made this aspirational prayer, then he he regained his eyes and regained his sight again.
Yes. And again and again so then and still he had regained his sight, but he had given up everything. So he was completely destitute, and he went just wondering about but still, while he was wondering about, there was everybody everybody was looking after him. And and everything that he needed would just come his way. One one way or another, it would come his way.
So by then he had already completed the perfection of giving by such needs. Do want to ask something? So again, Geshe-la is saying, this is how it is. By giving, we do not become destitute or beggars or anything like that. And again, Geshe-la explains what what what leads us to eventually experience life as as beggars and destitutes and so forth in the future is miserliness.
If we are miserly, then again, the result of that is poverty in the future. If we give, then result of that, as the text was pointing out, is we attain all sorts of excellences. All excellent things come our way. All our needs come our way. You want to ask a question, you can ask now.
If it’s question time. No, every time it’s question time. When the king was giving away all of his things, was he viewing his wife as a chattel, as a second class citizen, and how was he actually cherishing his wife by giving her away? I mean, that would have been a pretty bad thing for her in the cultural times. I mean, culturally, she would have been disowned by her family because she was no longer worthy of being a consort to the king.
I kind of figured unless he was a real hue, that she would have been a bit upset. Mean really, was she just a shackle? Shackle. Was she just a a a possession? An object.
So so first of all, he the king well, first of all, he’s about Sadhguru. So then Geshe-la is explaining, it it is not that he was looking down on on on the woman as an object or something inferior or something like that. He was looking at something he can still have high regard for another sentient being and still give it away. And his intention, he was you were asking how can he how can how could it possibly be beneficial for her? And it is beneficial in that he he was doing that.
He was complete. He was bringing to perfection his practice of generosity, the perfection of giving. He was bringing to perfection, to completion. And and that is and that leads what he was doing that was motivated to to benefit all beings including his wife. And he’s and only only as an enlightened being we can truly benefit someone completely, perfectly, precisely benefit someone.
And then and he did that so that he could attain enlightenment, so that he could benefit every single family, including his wife. Everyone without exception. Wife, strangers, families, enemies, whoever. And only with only that in mind, he was doing what he what he was doing. He even he even gave his own eyes for that.
I understand that, and thank you. So Geshe was asking how how is it that giving away his wife could possibly hinder or contradict enlightenment? He was saying Geshe-la was saying, wife is somebody which we culturally we we we people, we ordinary beings regard as something really important. But this king was able to overcome his own his own attachment, excellence, as you put, his own attachment and so forth for the sake of benefiting, truly benefiting all sentient beings so that he could attain enlightenment and to truly benefit all sentient beings. So was his enlightenment dependent upon someone else’s suffering, I.
E. The wife? Good point. So Geshe and and and let me just say this is this is all the speculation. We don’t really know the details of the story, but Geshe lah is then explaining to us.
And then Geshe lah is giving you the perfect answer. Sorry. Of course. So usually the way we see, the way we ordinary beings see is that when the king gave away his wife, then that is bad for her. That’s how we think.
That’s how we ordinary beings see it. We think, oh, he’s doing something bad. That is bad. She’s suffering. And and again, we and and then we we we might think, oh, so how come his enlightenment came in dependence on on her suffering?
But the fact is that that king has completely given up any regard or concern for his own interests and completely given any and his only concern is with the benefit of all sentient beings, and not just a temporal benefit, ultimate benefit. So by when he gave up his wife and and gave her away, he might have experienced in that life alone a type of suffering with with regards to death. But because that led to his enlightenment, he will be able to perfect and precisely lead her to her enlightenment, to ultimate enlightenment. So even though he might have generated a temporal temporary suffering, which is minute, he has actually accomplished the ultimate benefit of every sentient being, including his wife, by that action. And that is and that is the judgment that we that we have to draw.
What is more important? Is her temporal happiness in that one single life or her eternal happiness as an enlightened being? And not only hers, but of all sentient beings. So should I give up the benefit of all sentient beings for so that my wife in this present life alone won’t suffer to be separation of of with her husband, or should I take up and lead all sentient beings, including my wife, to the ultimate happiness of enlightenment? And that’s what what he he chose.
He chose to lead all sentient beings to enlightenment. So collateral damage was in effect even back then. Collateral damage. Yeah. I cannot translate that.
I cannot translate that. I don’t know how to translate that. Hey, Jorge. The end meets meets the means. Not sure if I can translate that.
But the fact is he accomplished enlightening. I understand. Have a good one. Thank you. So again, Geshe-la is saying, again, we we ourselves, ordinary beings, when we see when we hear such stories as this of this king, and we see all the suffering going around, I mean, had to give away his wife, he had to give away his children, and they were all suffering a lot because of that.
They were all crying a lot because of that. But at the same time, they were experiencing this very core side of suffering, so suffering of suffering. Again, that by acting in that way, with the pure motivation that he had, because he was a bodhisattva, and bodhisattvas can do that. So because of his pure motivations, he he could quickly that would make it possible for him to quickly attain enlightenment and then to quickly alleviate all sentient beings, including them from every suffering. So what level of bodhisattva level was he?
Obviously, he was of a higher level of body sackful, therefore he had the clairvoyance to see that he was going to be enlightened very quickly. I mean, obviously because he’s getting his sight back and things like that, but obviously he’s already at a very high level of bodhisattva. So, we we don’t know, we don’t know which level of bodhisattva he was. But Oh. Thank you.
Yes. Also. Still, And again the qualities of those actions are determined entirely by motivation. Entirely by the motivation. One has to see for oneself what is motivation?
So only oneself can determine that. And if one’s motivation is pure, then such actions can bring benefit great benefit. If one’s motivation is impure, then of course not. Is saying this this story of this king, this tale of this king. People who read it, there’s a lot of a lot of crying going around in this in this story.
Story of this king. Uh-huh. And a lot of people cry, I said, a lot of people cry when they hear the story. Oh, yeah. Just I’ll cut it.
Twenty nine seven. Yeah. Yeah. So Geshe-la was asking, so what what occurs to you right now when when other people are suffering? So Geshe-la was answering that.
Right now, as it is, when other people suffer, we couldn’t be bothered. We couldn’t be bothered. How can I say that? Less or more. I don’t know.
We couldn’t be bothered at all. Now when suffering occurs to us, we are all out and about saying, okay, worried and concerned and all that. This is how it is right now as it is. Now when we practice in that way, giving up self-cherishing and starting to cherish others, then the opposite is going to happen. When suffering occurs to others, we’ll be all concerned and about trying to help them in any way we can.
And when suffering happens to us, we’ll be disregarding ourselves and suffering the same way that we are presently disregarding what’s happened to others. And Geshe-la was saying that. And that is very difficult, isn’t it? And Geshe-la is saying, he’s quoting again a previous verse from this text which is saying, referring to this teaching on exchanging self for others as a holy secret teaching. And again, secret, Geshe-la pointed out, is secret because not everybody can is is willing to listen to that, to lend his or her ear to that.
And Geshe-la was saying again that it is extremely difficult, but it’s again just a matter of habituation. If one habituates oneself to think in that way, one will think that way. If one puts the work that it takes, one will end up thinking that way. And again, it’s quoting. It’s making reference.
Maybe I don’t know if were here or not, but maybe last week or the week before, we were given a verse which was saying was telling us that we have habituated ourselves to to relate to this body, which to which we had no power or or to produce whatsoever. We had no participation in this creation whatsoever. It was produced by the union of the seed of the father and the mother. And we, for the mere power of habituation, we have come to conceive of it as I, as me. And if we come if we have come to to relate to this thing which is completely unrelated to us, in the it came about completely independent of our will or power.
If we have come to conceive of it as I or me, again we came through the same process of habituation, come to regard others as oneself, come to cherish others more than oneself. All it takes is habituation. So again, Geshe-la was saying again, other people’s or beings’ bodies, they also came about by the union of the seeds of the father and the mother. One’s own body came about by the union of the seeds of the father and the mother. It’s a completely independent process that happens completely independently of our will, of our power.
And again, so if we if we’re able to habituate ourselves of conceiving of this body as I am I, again, or or or me, again, we can we can certainly do that with regards to other people’s bodies or other beings bodies. How come you understand? I understand that, So you’re saying you cannot bear to see, right, the suffering of others or suffering of so many people. So if you cannot bear to see it, so what is it that you are doing? If you cannot bear, you’re going to immediately do something about it.
What is it that you are doing? If I wasn’t saying, of course, you can you you bear to see it. We see suffering every day, and we do bear with the suffering of others. What we do not what we do not bear with is our own suffering. But the sattvas cannot bear to see others suffering, and they immediately engage in ways to relieve them from suffering.
This one. This one. This one. Do you understand? Oh, yeah.
So if if you ask me if if and then, I I was just picking up people randomly. So I think if if Hiro were to harm Alex so usually we we get angry with hero. Right? But we have to stop and think about it. We have to realize that Hiro is afflicted by disturbing emotions and conceptions.
He’s sick. He’s ill. He has no power over himself. He has no free will. He has no independence.
He’s overwhelmed by affliction by afflictions. He’s sick. He’s in a high fever. And when we think that way, we give rise to compassion. We have compassion for him.
We wish that he will be free from this affliction. Okay? And the same for Alex. Alex is also running in high fever. Alex is also desperately, terribly suffering.
He’s also afflicted by afflictive emotions, disturbing conceptions, and so forth. I will also have compassion for him, not only for the physical suffering that hero is inflicting on him, but for the suffering that pervades the entire lives. Because it’s also karma. I mean, Hiro is beating on this chap because he created the karma in another lifetime.
Yeah. So again, Geshe-la was gonna say, again, even the the the karma that he has accumulated, he has accumulated because he was afflicted by he was disturbed by afflictive emotional conceptions. Again, what we have to do is not disregard that, we have to develop compassion. And again, so, hero is afflicted, he is afflicted, we are all, we are all sick. We are all alright?
Is that good? Real good. It’s not too easy. It’s not easy. No.
Not easy. There’s no there’s no place for easy here. No. A few. It was if it was easy, we’d all be happy by now already.
Is that okay? Is that okay? Everybody happy? Happy. Happy.
Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much. Yes. You you not wanna ask any question today?
No. Good. Good. You can if you want. I’ll always make an effort to interpret as best as I can.
This one. Yeah. You want to lead the prayer?