Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Holding a lit match and refusing to drop it: Geshe Pema Tsering uses this image in this two-hour session to press home why self-cherishing must be completely abandoned, not merely reduced. Working through Śāntideva’s verses on exchanging self for others, he maps the visible disadvantages of self-cherishing — servants who won’t work, employers who won’t pay — then cites Milarepa to reframe happiness itself: what worldly people strive for is suffering in disguise, and only cherishing others produces lasting joy. The second half covers the practical mechanics of exchange: vowing to place oneself under others’ welfare, using body and speech only for their benefit, and treating possessions as belonging to others rather than oneself. A frank Q&A tackles the worry that this path simply means letting people walk all over you.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 03 2008 08 12 BW.mp3
UUID: dd2beddb-c2d8-4d07-a247-d639520e596b
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Bodhisattva Way of Life (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2008-08-12
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 120.2 minutes
Words: ~8,156
Oh, yeah. Hello. So the Geshe again is instructing us to give rise to good motivation and with the intention then to establish all sentient beings in the state of enlightenment, and I myself must attain enlightenment. In order to accomplish that, I’m going to study and practice according to Śāntideva’s way of the bodhisattva. And in this way, we give rise to a proper motivation.
And then we start with the preliminary phrase with the Heart Sūtra. Page two. This? Thus, you see here one time, it is like that. Is like that.
Once you press the profound perfection of wisdom just as you have indicated, even the Tatatas rejoice. The Bhagavan having thus spoken, the venerable Sharipurtham, those surrounding their entirety along with the word of gods, humans, and Gandharvas, were rejoicing, highly praised that’s spoken by the Bhagavan. And we go to the dispelling of hindrances. I and all surrounding the ancient beings go for a future Buddha, go for a future the Dharma, go for a future the Sangha. We prostrate to the great mother, Prajñāpāramitā, surrounded by all the children, by the assemblies of Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions.
By depending on my prostrations to all of you, may these words of truth be actualized. In the past, the deva king Indra dispelled the maras by reflecting on the profound meaning of the wisdom gone beyond, reciting the profound words in daily recitation. In that same way, I also reflect on the profound meaning of the great mantra, and recite the profound words in daily recitations. May all diseases, spiritual possessions, bad conditions, all negative disturbances, that which happens due to past karma and immediate conditions, may all these be dispelled, may become nonexistent, may be pacified. So we in the last Tuesday with Jampa Gendun and and and Geshe, you have started a topic.
You have gone through the, which is the reasonableness of discarding self-cherishing. And then this topic has four divisions. And the first one that you saw last week was the unseen disadvantages. And now we’re starting to approach the next one, which is the visible disadvantages of self-cherishing. And then we read the next verse.
One hundred and thirty two, if you have the text. It reads, let alone what is beyond this world because of my servants doing no work and because of my masters giving me no pay, even the needs of this life will not be fulfilled. And then Geshe lah is going briefly through the verse and already anticipating the commentary Geshe-la was then saying, again, if we do not give up cherishing ourselves, our own interests, and then adopt a position that cherishes others, then this is what happens to us. If we do not actually exchange self for others, then because of that, because of this lack of concern for others, people will dislike us, and then our servants will not work for us, our masters will not will not pay us and so forth. So there’s a these are the disadvantages.
These are the the same the visible disadvantage that happened as a result of self-cherishing in this very life. And again, so then and then the commentary basically says what Geshe-la has already told us that again by by not practicing this letting go or this abandonment of cherishing oneself, the mind that cherishes oneself, and then and not practicing this familiarization, this habituation with cherishing others. Then again, how would you say that? Let alone, no, there is no need to mention the disadvantages that will happen in future lives. In this very life, your servants will not serve you, and your masters will not pay you, and and people will dislike you, and so forth.
So and and that’s what Geshe-la was concluding. Then again, you won’t be able to accomplish your wishes, your desires. And and that’s the reason another reason for us to actually practice and exchange yourself for others. And then we we approach the next topic, which is a presentation of disadvantages in brief. All the disadvantages, the both the the the unseen and the visible disadvantages.
Yeah. Yeah. And then the the verse reads, by rejecting the matter that establishes both foreseeable and unforeseeable joy, I cast magnificent delight completely aside. And then because of inflicting misery on others, in confusion, I seize hold of unbearable pain. And Geshe is then going through the verse again and saying, for the words that that that’s translated as, the visible and the invisible joy and then the the the the foreseeable and unforeseeable joy and Geshe-la wasn’t saying so then the the that that’s joy which is foreseeable is the joy that pertains to this life.
The results that the happiness that we experience in this life and the unforeseeable joy that invisible joy is that which pertains to future lives. And again, so then by by cherishing others, then again one experiences this both this visible and this invisible joy. Joy and happiness in this present life and in future lives. Now by not not cherishing others and holding on to self-cherishing mind, the mind that cherishes one’s own interests alone. Again, one inflicts pain and suffering on others.
And then because of that, because of this ignorance and in in this confusion with regards to the causes of happiness and the cause of suffering, then again, one only sees sees hold of this this unbearable pain. And then again, the commentary says pretty much what what Geshe has already told us. Again, by not caring much about the interest or the welfare of others, again, one loses. Both the visible and the invisible happiness of both these and future lives. Having having sorry.
Having abandoned this exchanging of self for others, having given up this exchange of self for others, which is the method that accomplishes both the happiness that is visible, the happiness and joy that is visible and is invisible concerning them to this life and future lives, then one also, by giving that method up, one gives up all the perfect bliss and happiness and excellent things which are the result of this method. And on top of that, if one has done that, then one by causing much suffering onto others by harming them, again, one remains confused, completely confused as to the methods for accomplishing the ways that happiness and suffering accomplished. And in this way, one one experiences, how to say, this relentless suffering, this unbearable suffering in the future. And then Geshe saying, no. This is a very difficult issue because the way we think is and Geshe-la was explaining how we think.
We think that if I am concerned with my own interests alone, and I go and work in order to accomplish my own interests alone, and I get my job, and I get the money, and I get all the clothing, food, and comforts that I need, and so forth, and hospitals, everything. And this is how we think. And on the other hand, if I were to work to serve others, to help others, and I wouldn’t make money, and then I get a salary or a decent salary or anything like that. And then if I were to fall ill or sick, again, there would be nobody to look after me, and I would suffer. I would meet with a lot of suffering, with a lot of limitations, and a lot of suffering.
And Geshe-la was saying so, we conclude then that the self-cherishing attitude is quite good, isn’t it? And Geshe-la was saying this and this is how it is. This is this is what we see, isn’t it? By in dependence on the mind that cherishes the interest, is concerned with with the welfare of others, we we don’t experience any happiness. We experience suffering, isn’t it?
So this is this is what we see. This is how we see we see things. But then the text is telling us that the the other way around. It’s saying that cherishing others is the cause of every, the source of every happiness, and cherishing oneself is the source of every suffering. And that is to say that, actually what we see as happiness, what we see, that happens that we see as, which is a result of our self-cherishing.
Geshe-la says, that is actually all in the nature of suffering. It is all suffering. And that which we call the self-cherishing, or the cherishing of others, is the actual cause of of real lasting happiness. So then all these things that we regard as as as we call happiness. Again, they are not.
They are suffering. And they are so the so called suffering of change. They are not stable, reliable happiness. They are in the nature of suffering. So the and that’s why, again, we say that this self-cherishing mind again brings us suffering.
It’s involved with suffering and brings us suffering. And the and the mind that cherishes others brings us real lasting happiness. And then another way to approach it, Geshe-la was saying, is that we usually think that all this so called happinesses and comforts that we have attained in this life, we attained this life, we all think that we have attained solely by our own efforts, by our own work, the money that we have earned, and the studies that we have done, all this hard work that we did, we think that is the only cause that gave us, again, all this money and comfort and so forth. And the fact is that if we had not in the process of acquiring all those happinesses, if there were no if there is no benefit to others involved, la Geshe-la says, then we do not get those things. It is by benefiting others that we get that we get those those so called happinesses.
And I guess, Geshe-la was saying again, if that was really the case that we have accomplished all those things by our own efforts, again, then every trader or shop owner and so forth there is, you will all be equally happy. And that is not the case. Some of them are successful and happy. Some of them are not successful and are unhappy. Unhappy, some, so they remain basically in the same situation that they were in the beginning.
And others, they are not successful, and they, let’s say, experience even a worse situation than when they, before they started their enterprise. And Geshe-la also says, again, the same for those scholars, for those students, people who are studying so much. Again, if it was the case that was what made them great scholars and successful in their fields. Again, just by studying, by their own efforts, then all of them would equally be successful. And that’s not what we see.
Some of them are successful, some of them are not. Some of them find themselves even in a worse situation than before they started. And again, the difference is that some of them have the imprint of having benefited others, some of them are actually benefiting others. And those who are unsuccessful and more miserable, they are not. And Geshe-la was insane.
So then we can see how all the the happinesses of of this life alone, they depend also on this benevolent mind, on this mind that that cherish es the the welfare of others. And then if we there is no need then to mention the liberation and enlightenment, ultimate happiness of liberation and enlightenment. That is obviously, Geshe-la was saying, that is a direct result of cherishing others. So, again, there is both temporal and temporarily and, ultimately, again, this cherishing the the welfare of others is beneficial both in this life and in future lives. So so in brief, every happiness there is comes about due to cherishing others.
So, Geshe-la was saying, we have then seen all the the the advantages and the disadvantages of sorry. We have seen all the visible and invisible disadvantages of the self-cherishing, then the conclusion then is that we should discard, we should let go of the self-cherishing mind. And then the next next topic is just that. The reasonableness of discarding, of letting go, of self-cherishing. And we read the next verse, a hundred and thirty four.
And then the next verse then just is saying, if all the injury, fear, and pain in this world arise from from grasping at a self, then what uses that great demon to me? And then, in case you’re not just the the verse is pretty is pretty straightforward. I wasn’t saying so again, but this by cherishing oneself alone, again, one’s own interest alone, and we we do experience in this life all sorts of harm and hurt, physical and so forth. Again, we experience all sorts of fears, and anxieties, and stress, and all that. So we experience all sorts of suffering because of that.
So this this I, this notion that we have, this this grasping to our self, this self-cherishing, this I Excuse me. This? Excuse. So this this what is the use then? What is the use of of this eye then?
Well, I should I should definitely get rid of it. And, again, the commentary the commentary to that to the root versus saying basically the same thing. Again, all these worldly beings, both human and non human alike, how to say, we experience all sorts of harms from them, and we do also harm a lot of humans, whoever they are, or whatever they are, or what essential beings that might be. Again, we experience all sorts of mental fears, literally speaking mental fears, but in all sorts of fears, anxieties, stress, and so forth. And we experience all sorts of physical suffering also due to that.
Whatever suffering is sufferings there is, whatever fears, and whatever harms and hurts there are, again, all that comes by by focusing on this self, on the eye, and then holding on, grasping onto this self-cherishing. And again, because of that, all if that is the case, then if all these undesirable things arise due to the self-cherishing, to this to this great demon, which is a self-cherishing mind, then why why do I hold on to it? I should actually get rid of it. And still on the same topic, we read the next verse which which reads, if I do not completely forsake it, I shall be unable to put an end to suffering. Suffering just as I cannot avoid being burnt if I do not cast aside the fire I hold.
And then again, the Geshe-la was explaining the the the words of the verse, and it’s pretty straightforward. In English, again, it’s the same thing. So we are told that if we do not let go, thoroughly let go, completely let go of this of the self, Geshe-la was saying the text has a word for self alone, it’s self-cherishing. If we do not completely let go of self-cherishing and in this place develop a heart that cherishes the welfare of others, the benefit of others, then again we won’t be able to to get rid of suffering. And the same way that if we don’t if we do not if we want to avoid being burned, having our hands burned, we have to we have to let go of that matchstick.
Is that how you say matchstick? Sorry. What does that mean? Matchstick. Matchstick.
Match. Match. Should I say this match only or match? Match. Match.
And then interestingly enough, again, the commentary is more specific. It’s saying that again, by by not completely giving up the mind that cherishes oneself, again, oneself oneself will not be able to get rid of all the suffering of all sentient beings. And just like in the example that if one is holding a match in one’s hand, if one does not wish to be burned by that, one has to let go of the match. So again, one cannot avoid being burned if one does not let go. And Geshe-la was then saying, going back to the beginning of saying, again, the commentary is telling that we will not be able to get rid of the suffering of all sentient beings.
And that is because we can still get rid of of our own suffering, even though we might not develop the mind that cherishes the benefit, the welfare of others. And we do that by by realizing emptiness. If we do realize emptiness, we can get rid of our own suffering. And still but we won’t be able to with that alone, we won’t be able to rid all other sentient beings from suffering. In order to accomplish that, we have to develop a mind that cherishes the welfare of others and gives up let go of one’s own cherishing oneself.
Geshe-la was saying now we all of us, we we we we are people who say and who pray that, you know, may I be able to free all sentient beings from every suffering and endow them with every happiness, then may I be able to establish all sentient beings instead of enlightenment. And if that is our aspiration, that is our true aspiration, then there’s no way to accomplish that if we do not give up, let go of our own self-cherishing, and then develop, cultivate a heart that cherishes the welfare of others. And Geshe lahat is saying, so now now that’s again is another very difficult point because letting go or giving up this attitude, this this chair that cherishes one’s oneself, cherish one’s one welfare of oneself alone is extremely difficult, Geshe-la was saying. And Geshe-la was saying, so it is it is it is a bit easier to we think it is a bit easier to cultivate an attitude, a heart that cherishes welfare of others. But giving up our own welfare, this self-cherishing mind, is extremely difficult, Geshe-la says.
And then and the and the point is, Geshe-la was saying, is that by not giving up the mind that cherishes oneself, we won’t be able to properly develop a mind that cherishes others because these two minds Geshe-la was saying they are opposites. They are contradictory. And Geshe-la was saying. Now we we we always read that that those those prayers of refuge and and and the mind of awakening, the mind of enlightenment. And we say, you know, may I accomplish for the sake of all sentient beings the practices of the six perfections, may I accomplish enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings.
And before that, we we read, you know, I’ll go for refuge to to the Three Jewels and so forth. And Geshe-la was in saying, well, first of all, we do not have a proper mind of refuge, which is a prerequisite to giving rise to the mind of enlightenment. So but but leaving that aside for the time being, we even though we might say the the how do say? We might spell out enunciate that prayer of of the mind of awakening. This is for the sake of all sentient beings.
Again, in the in the in the very deep in our hearts, because we haven’t given up the self-cherishing mind, because we haven’t given up concerns for our of our own welfare and so forth. That’s it is not a a proper genuine mind of enlightenment. So deep inside, we do not have that. And then our prayers are pretty much, like, much like empty words. Hot air.
Is that how you say? And Geshe-la was gonna say, so because because our prayers then become just mere words, again, the benefit whatever benefit we derive is again the benefit that might come from mere words. No more than that. Nothing more than that. Even though you might we might think that it is extremely difficult to give up that self-cherishing mind, concerns for our own welfare alone.
Again, still Geshe-la was saying, when we practice, when we sit down to meditate, or whenever we are try to develop the mind of enlightenment, we have to still, even though we might think it might take a long time, we have to develop the determination that I will give it up. I am I have to give up these concerns for my own welfare alone, and I have to develop a mind that cherishes the welfare of others when it contemplates then the disadvantage of one and the benefits of of the other. And and however long it might be, might be maybe only for five minutes or maybe three or two or one minute only that we we have actually given up concern for our own welfare. That minute, again, is is going to be is going to bring us that minute alone, again, is gonna bring us, how to say, inexhaustible good results. It’s extremely beneficial.
So even though the task at hand is extremely difficult, we should never by any at any moment, give give in to to defeatist that’s how that’s how we say defeatist thoughts. And this is how we have to practice then. Every time we we go into practice, to do a formal practice, we have to exercise that letting go of concerns for our own welfare and benefit alone. And then if we do that, we give up for one minute, and two minutes, and three minutes, or five minutes, you know, slowly, this mind is going to become stronger and stronger within us. And it’s gonna be easier and easier to let go, and we’re going to be able to let go for longer and longer, and then we’re going to be able to give for to let go for more minutes, maybe more hours.
And then, you know, if we keep on doing that, that by habituating ourselves, we grow grow used to it. And one day, Geshe-la says, we’ll be able to give up for a whole day, and then soon for a whole month, soon for a whole year, and so forth. This is an extremely important point because if we do not give up the self-cherishing mind, the mind is concerned solely with one’s own welfare alone, again, we will not be able to give up suffering. At the same time, we cannot get rid of suffering. The self-cherishing mind is the cause of every suffering.
Again, mind that cherishes others is always the cause of every happiness. So if we do not develop that, we won’t be able to attain great happiness. In the same vein, so if we remain ignorant about that, we won’t be able to accomplish those things. This is extremely I was saying this is an extremely important point to understand. So, Geshe-la was saying, again, if if when we are then developing that thought, that things, you know, may all sentient beings be free from suffering, endow them with every happiness.
Again, may we do it from the very bottom of our hearts, completely wholeheartedly? And and then if we do that, then we’ll be able to derive great amount of benefit even if it is just for a moment. Because I was gonna say, on the other hand, if we do not do it wholeheartedly, then again, we won’t we won’t be accomplishing much more than, how do you say, mere words or a lot of hot air. Geshe-la was saying Geshe-la was saying, we we are all slaves to the self-cherishing mind. Was insane.
We we we of of all the the the countries that are, because Geshe-la was saying the one we cherish most is the one that we were born in. Of all the the cities or towns that are, the one we cherish most, we like the most, is the one we have lived in. And again, I guess I wasn’t saying, if I’m Brazilian, then I like Brazil most of all. And if you’re Australian, then you like Australian. Australia, most of all, is the best country in the world.
Again, of all the cities of Australia, you like the one you live, and the one you were raised most of all. Of all the people, you like those who are close to you, to your loved ones and relatives most of all. And from all those people, the one that you like most of all top is yourself. And we all like this. All do like this.
This is an extremely What’s the word for that again? It’s an extremely I forgot the word, I can say it. Extremely perverted, perverse, perverse mind. That’s the word. Yes.
Every chance we have an opportunity we have, we should be contemplating then the disadvantages and the faults of the self-cherishing mind. And we should we should understand how how it is that contemplate how it is that it gives us suffering. But we but this this alone is just so difficult to think, to contemplate, this this sort of thinking. It’s so difficult to give rise to because we we don’t see it. We don’t we don’t actually think that it actually gives us suffering.
We think that it gives us happiness only. So this this already is an extremely difficult task. It’s a very difficult task to accomplish. And it boils down to the fact that we do not know what is real happiness, and what is suffering. Because we do not understand that what we call happiness is actually suffering, and that we’re not we do not cannot see and understand what is real lasting happiness.
Again, we we do not accomplish the the causes for for for realizing those things. And Geshe-la wasn’t saying it doesn’t matter how powerful an authority may be, a person with authority, with great authority, with great power, great wealth, so forth. We see all those things as fame and power, authority, money, and all that. It doesn’t matter how great those things may be. Again, we completely over overlook the fact that this the self-cherishing mind is is how to say?
Fueled with false and shortcomings. Quoting Jetsün Milarepa and Milarepa was saying that worldly worldly beings, when they when they look at me, they they think I I am crazy. I myself, when I look at them, I think that they are all crazy. Just explain all this wealth and power and all that that people working like crazy and strive to obtain is all is all meaningless. They’re all crazy people.
And this is how how how it was. Again, when if we were to see Milarepa, again, without any clothes and house and and food and money or, you know, without a job, we would think that he’s completely crazy. And and then and then and and he, on the other hand, he would look at us and he would think we were complete complete lunatics. And then we approached in the the next topic, which is a synopsis. And this has three parts.
First of all, says the way to exchange self and other. Secondly, arresting the misapplication of the principles once one has exchanged self for others. And thirdly, practicing unwaveringly. Is that okay? And so then, as for the the first one of those topics, send the the way to exchange self for others, again, we read the next verse, a hundred and thirty six.
It reads, therefore, in order to allay the harms inflicted upon me, and in order to pacify the sufferings of others, I shall give myself up to others and cherish them as I do my very self. Okay? And Geshe lah was briefly explaining the first two lines of that verse. Again, one, in order to stop this, how can I say that, with regards to the suffering of others, Geshe-la was saying, again, has to give up any concern for oneself, and then take on to oneself the suffering of others? And whatever happens one may have, one has to give all of it to others.
And that’s what is meant by this those first two lines of the verse. And again, the third line of the verse is talking about one giving oneself to others. So again, in order to accomplish, to relieve others from suffering and and accomplish the others happiness, and, again, one has to give oneself to to this work, to this task of accomplishing that. I Geshe-la was saying anyone has been to work at cultivating the mind of enlightenment and all the causes of it. And this one.
Geshe-la was going through the commentary which is saying again the source of of of every undesirable thing, which is that mind that how to say completely disregards others and cherishes oneself one’s own welfare, and if one is to pacify the suffering of others, and one has to give up to abandon that self-cherishing mind, and one has then to give oneself to the service to the work that accomplishes that is done for the purpose of accomplishing the welfare of others. Geshe-la was saying and then one then cherishes others as one would cherish oneself as much as one would cherish oneself. Still on the same topic, we read the next verse. It says, I am under the control of others. Quote unquote.
Right? I am under the control of others. Of this mind, you must be certain. Now, except for benefiting every creature, you must not think of anything else. And Geshe lah stopped and he was laughing and said that’s now that’s a difficult one, isn’t it?
And Christa, I was just going again for the verse, line by line. And then the first line was saying, I am under the control of others. And that is to say, Geshe-la was explaining, so then one is vowing them that from now on until until enlightenment, I will be working for the welfare of others. Will be working to accomplish the welfare of others. Mind, you mind, you have to understand that.
You have to know that. That this is my mission. This is what I’m I have to accomplish. And aside from benefiting every creature, and Christian was saying, every sentient being without exception whatsoever, not one single exception whatsoever, every single sentient being included, again, I should I should not think of anything else but accomplishing their welfare, their benefit. And and the commentary to that says basically basically the same thing.
Again, that oneself will be under the control of others, and that is to say one will be serving others. And mind, this is this you should know this, you mind, you should know this for certain. Then all the way until enlightenment, again, now now on, I should you should only be concerned at accomplishing the welfare of every sentient being without exception, and and you should you should not think of anything else but that. Oh, yeah. And then we approach the next topic, which is then arresting the misapplication of the principle once one has exchange.
So again, having exercises exchange, again, not engaging in any mistake, not incurring any mistakes. And then we read the next verse. Then we read in the verse a hundred thirty eight. For my own sake, I should not do anything with these eyes and so forth that I have left at the disposal of others. It is quite incorrect to do anything with them which is contrary to the benefit of others.
And Geshe-la was just explaining, again, oneself having then already given rise to the mind that has exchanged oneself for others, and again, if one has done that, then one should not act in a way that is concerned with one’s own welfare alone. That’s what is meant. So having then giving rise to the mind and essential for others, one should only work dedicate one’s body, speech, and mind to working for the welfare of others, and one should not use one’s body, speech, and mind to accomplish one’s own welfare alone. And because then it will one will be contradicting that mind. And again, the commentary to the verse is basically the same thing in a bit more of an extended way.
So again, one oneself having already placed oneself at the service of others, then again, whoever one might be serving, one should one should not use one’s eyes and so forth, eyes, etcetera. Geshe-la was saying, that makes reference to the three doors of body, speech, and mind. One should not use one’s body, speech, and mind to contradict that, to to to accomplish something which contradicts that, which opposes that. So having already placed oneself under the power, under the control, so to speak, of others, having placed one’s eyes and so forth, one’s body, speech and mind at the service of others. One, If one should not work to accomplish one’s own welfare alone, one must work to accomplish the welfare of others and serve them with one’s body, speech, and mind.
And if and it’s not it is not okay. It is not reasonable to to contradict one’s aspirations of serving and accomplishing the welfare of others by using one’s body, speech, and mind, which has already been given for the service of others to accomplish one’s own welfare. So again one should having seen this possible mistake, bearing in mind that this might happen in one’s practice, one should see again contemplate the shortcomings of acting in this way. Time and again develop a mind that restrains from doing that, from acting in this way. Is that clear?
Oh, yeah. And then we approach the next topic, which is practicing unnervingly. And then we read next verse, one hundred and thirty nine, which says, thus sentient beings should be my main concern. Whatever I behold upon my body, I should rob and use for the benefit of others. And Geshe-la was saying.
So again, it is that one is caring with oneself, one’s body, one’s possessions, one’s wealth, whatever it is that maybe, one should rob it from. Geshe-la was saying, rob it, one’s self-cherishing. And then give it for the service and the benefit of others. And then the commentary is in saying again, for those reasons which have been already stated in the previous verses. Again, bearing in mind mainly the welfare of sentient beings.
Again whatever food and clothing and possessions and so forth, the one is one is seen carrying onto one’s body, whatever that may be, one should steal that, rob it from oneself, and then dispelling the notion that holds onto those things as mine as as one’s possessions. And again, one should utilize them to accomplish the benefit of others. Just like a servant never forgets that his master’s possessions not, do not belong to the servant, are not his or hers. And again, Geshe-la was just explaining. So in the same way that when a master gives the servant some food or money or or or, you know, shares his house and possessions for the servant to utilize, the servant never forgets that those things are not are not his or hers.
They actually belong to the master. In the same way, we should remember that all our everything that is ours, that that is around us, that all the the enjoyments and possessions and so forth, they are actually to be utilized for the benefit of others. Is that okay? And, Geshe-la was saying, the same way that, for example, when we go to to our jobs and we have the our bosses, and we have the office where we work, and we have the the office has a car that belongs to to the company. And if we need to go somewhere, we use we use the the company’s car.
And when we’re doing that, when we utilizing that car, driving that car, we never forget that this is not actually our car. This car belongs to the company, belongs to the boss. And in this way, we are quite careful with it. And again, in the same way that this is so, again, we should remember that all the things that that the so called things that we possess, house, our bed, our food, our clothing, and so forth, again, they are all to be utilized for the sake of of benefiting, of helping us accomplish the benefit of others. They belong to the to to others.
That purpose is a goal. Also saying, for example, and that and not only the the office car, the company’s car, but once the the car that one has bought with one’s own money, the money that one has earned. Again, that car also, one should not only use it for the sake of accomplishment and benefit of others, but bear in mind that it actually belongs to others. We did not create that car, we did not fabricate that car, did not make that car, did not even know how to make the car. Others made it and was for the kinds of others that we acquired that car in the first place.
So that car actually, Geshe-la was gonna say, actually belongs to others. And because this is so, we should should be utilized to benefit others. And so then again again, we have we have to utilize those things, all these, how do say, enjoyments and possessions that we have to utilize it for the welfare of others because they belong to others, because we have already given rise to the notion, to the intention of benefiting others, and then we have to utilize them in this way. If you like, just ask if you have any questions. Yeah.
Do I? Do you have any questions? Yeah. Did you understand? So the whole point is that we should, at all points, contemplate the disadvantages of self-cherishing and contemplate the benefits of cherishing others, and then exercise, you know, the determination determination to give one up and adopt the other.
And and and understand that the result of doing that, as a result of doing that, we do not lose anything. We only profit by doing such. This is the whole point. I I I’m not sure if if we have benefited others, how can we not be creating good results? Benefit others?
Don’t know. So that according you know, is as you’re talking about Giving food to them? No. No. No.
No. Just that our action according to with our intention or result or our action. And Geshe-la was talking about benefiting others, there’s two ways of benefiting others. One is a temporal way of benefiting others, and temporarily, again, we can benefit others by giving them food, money, shelter, clothing, and so forth. And then there’s an ultimate way of benefiting others, and there is performing virtuous actions or virtuous activities with intention of establishing all sentient beings in enlightenment.
And there is every virtuous action such as meditating on compassion, cultivating compassion, cultivating bodhicitta, cultivating a realization of emptiness. All that done with the intention of motivation of establishing all sentient beings in enlightenment. That is the way to accomplish the ultimate welfare of others. Is that okay? Is that okay?
Yeah? And so with this attitude in mind of trying to benefit others in order to establish enlightenment. Nondharma people or and and dharma people sometimes actually prone to take advantage of one who is always trying to give, always trying to, you know, be of service in whatever way it is, whether it’s doing physical things or or support. And so sometimes one can be taken advantage of so much so that you one depletes one’s own energy. So is one supposed to just rejoice at that?
Oh god. I’m a you know, I’ve got nothing, you know, left to give, but I’m really happy about that because I’m being used. Irrespective of what the other person is doing or thinking or of irrespective of of the other person’s bad intentions, whatever their intentions might be. That is not our concern. Our concern is only with our own intentions and our own motivations.
What is important is that we keep our motivation to attain benefits, to attain enlightenment for the sake of enlightenment. And then if we do that, in all our actions, whatever it may be, and then we work, we serve them until we die. It doesn’t matter, Geshe-la wasn’t saying. If it causes us to die, then we do it. It doesn’t matter.
We have no regard for what’s happening to us. We have only regard for accumulating the causes of enlightenment. And if we do that, and we keep that in mind, again we keep this understanding in mind, we know that even though right now we might be suffering a little bit, or we might have no money, or whatever, in the future, we’re going to experience enlightenment. So anyone else can treat you like a doormat? I don’t know how to translate that, but You got the answer.
Right? Yeah. Don’t know how to say doormat. Anyone can wipe their feet on you and anyone can Excellent. I guess I was saying you can you can be you can one can be helping another or serving other, and still have as motivation, as an intention, one wants to accomplish that another may like oneself.
I’m gonna do that, and I’ll do that so that they may like me, and they think that I’m a good person, and so forth. Then in this situation when people take advantage of oneself, and use oneself, and then we become all upset and all that, and that is all the workings of one’s self-cherishing mind alone. If one’s motivation is the enlightenment of all of of all the sentient beings, and then there one will will have no trouble doing that or or going through that. Or one one’s motivation might be might still be still attaining a good rebirth in the future, or attaining liberation, and then one goes and works for others, serves others. If one’s concern is not pertaining to this life, then there’s no problem.
One will not find any problem. In a negative state, which is what this description is, isn’t it? Yes. Yes. How would you please just elaborate more on what you call a negative state?
If I’m understanding the the question that has been asked is if you are You are annoyed, you are upset, you are negative because of the self-cherishing mind. Doing all of those things. Yeah. Now if you if you stay there If you stay there? If you if you keep doing those things, then then what what would break your negative response?
How how would you look at yourself cherishing? And you can say, oh, I’m self-cherishing. I shouldn’t be doing it. But And Geshe-la was saying, one has to, first of all, recognize that one came under the power of the self-cherishing mind. And Geshe-la was then giving an illustration, for example, miserliness.
If one is working, serving another, or giving food or whatever, and again one falls under the spell of miserliness. And miserliness arises again due to self-cherishing. And one is afraid that one will not have enough for oneself. And one has to recognize that, again, I came under the spell of self-cherishing mind. And one has to contemplate, again, the disadvantages of the self-cherishing mind.
Again, the self-cherishing is going to harm me, is gonna harm others. And again, one has to contemplate the advantages, actually, of of performing the good deed that one is performing. The results, the good results, for example, in this case, in this example of giving, of practicing generosity and so forth. There’s nothing easy about it. How how would that rebalance?
How would that bring back into balance? How will No. Don’t What what do you do? Wasting a question to me, and I’m not I’m not here to answer these questions. How you’re saying this is difficult, and and the Geshe has already answered those things.
Again, it is a matter of habituation. We’re not habituated, and that’s because that’s why it is difficult. And, know, Geshe-la has a you know, I’m sorry to cut you short, but I cannot answer those questions for you. Right? I’m here to interpret for the Geshe.
And the Geshe has answered. He answered these questions every every night to us. He says it is it is difficult. It’s not easy. Of course, it’s not easy.
It takes a lot of familiarization. Takes a lot of habituation. Takes a lot of repetition. You gotta bring those things time and again to mind. You gotta contemplate the disadvantage this time and again, the advantage this time and again.
If it was easy, we would all be enlightened. Geshe-la was saying it is extremely difficult. That’s why this teaching is referred to as a secret teaching. One of the first verses of this chapter is saying that the teaching of exchanging yourself for others is a very secret teaching because people don’t understand it. People have a hard time understanding how it can benefit us and so forth.
It takes hard work. And Geshe-la was saying that it is not it is not easy again. With the way Geshe-la was saying right in the beginning of the teaching, Geshe lah was pointing out what he was saying that the way we think is, if I’m concerned and working for the welfare of others, for the benefit of others, I’m gonna lose. Everybody’s gonna walk all over me. That’s how we think.
We are convinced of that. We are absolutely certain that this is what’s going to happen. We think that we see no other possibility. We think I’m gonna lose. Everybody’s gonna look down on me.
Everybody’s gonna use me. Everybody’s gonna walk all over me. That’s that’s what we think. Exchange yourself for others. Crazy.
It’s nuts. I’m gonna work for my own self. And Geshe-la was saying that the whole point is that we’re not going to miss anything. We might lose a few of the pleasures and enjoyments of this life, but serving, by working for the welfare of others, we are accomplishing the causes of of everlasting happiness of liberation and enlightenment. We just don’t see those things.
And Geshe-la was saying, out of this concern that we are going to lose and we are gonna miss miss out and not have a good life and so forth. We have worked out of that concern since time immemorial. We have been working hard and hard, life and life, time and again, out of this concern, this fear that we are gonna miss out, we’re gonna lose, and so forth. And and look look at what what you have now. We have no lasting happiness in our hands.
And and and whatever and and we have done very little, almost no work whatsoever with the intention of benefiting others. And it is only due to the power of the very little work that we have done with the intention of benefiting others that we have attained this precious human rebirth here. This one. Yes. Oh, yeah.
This way. This is this is not easy. Not easy to understand and even less easy to practice. We have to apply many reasonings, many times, contemplate many times, why is it that cherishing oneself, this self obsession, self centeredness, this concern for one’s own interest with total disregard for whatever happens to others is bad. And again, we have to again, many different reasonings, many times we have to contemplate why cherishing others is so good.
I guess I wasn’t saying you have to and and in brief, the whole point is that that mind which completely disregards whatever is that happens to us is only concerned with one’s own profit and benefit alone. That very fearful mind. We have been working, powered by that mind since time immemorial. We do that even when we sleep. We’re overpowered by that mind.
And look now, we haven’t accomplished any lasting happiness. We we have no taste of liberation and enlightenment whatsoever. And then and all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas that that came about, they came about, and they tell us, and they told us time and again, they accomplished that enlightenment, that lasting happiness in bliss, that we have no clue how it looks like, and they accomplished that in dependence on cherishing others. Do do you understand? Oh yeah. Thank you..