Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 45-minute session, Geshe Pema Tsering uses a striking story about the Fifth Dalai Lama — who, while in retreat, watched a mouse chew through his window curtain and drifted into mentally planning a trip to the market for replacement cloth — to show how effortlessly worldly thoughts displace Dharma motivation. He first clarifies the three scopes of motivation and why actions aimed solely at this life fall outside genuine practice. The session then moves into Śāntideva’s Bodhicharyavatara, verses 26–31, unpacking why even a single moment of bodhicitta exceeds offerings to countless Buddhas, why beings locked in ignorance run toward misery while seeking happiness, and why the bodhisattva who acts for others without being asked is supremely worthy of praise.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 09 Guide.mp3
UUID: fd699d2f-f6d4-477a-89c9-7047cefe2340
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Bodhisattva Way of Life 2002 Month 01-03 (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2002 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.4 minutes
Words: ~2,459
So in accordance with the words of Śāntideva, we should comprehend that we have obtained a precious human rebirth at present. And the precious human rebirth that we have is obtained through past actions, what we’ve done in the past. So at present, we have this opportunity. It’s a basis that we can employ to a good end. So in fact, we must use it to its best advantage.
This is the most practical thing to do. Otherwise, if we don’t employ it to our advantage in a practical way, then we lose this current opportunity and it’s not sure when we will find such an opportunity again. So therefore we need to practice Dharma at present. We need to put effort into the practice of Dharma. So therefore the advice from Śāntideva is that we shouldn’t sleep.
We don’t go to sleep. But of course it’s not meant the ordinary sleep that we engage in. That’s not, of course, what is meant. What is meant that we don’t, through being distracted, miss the current opportunity that we have. So in other words, that we should practice.
We should engage in practice now while we have the opportunity. And so at present, we recognize that we exist within saṃsāra. And in fact, saṃsāra is likened to an ocean, So like existing within an ocean of Samsāra. And we need a vehicle to cross that ocean. We need a practice that will enable us to cross that ocean, a ship, a vehicle to cross that ocean.
So this is our practice. So this is what we need to develop at present. So so the practice of Dharma basically depends on motivation. In fact, we need to understand what is correct, what is incorrect, what is the proper practice, what is not proper practice, and so on. In general, we understand that proper practice is engaging in actions, the actions of listening, contemplating and meditating, and the three higher trainings and so forth.
But here, in general, what governs whether something is a proper practice or not is the motivation that we have. So in fact, those actions that we engage in are simply for benefit in this life, the various actions that we engage in to create a good situation, overcome problems, and so on, merely for the sake of this life, don’t qualify as being a proper practice or a dharmic action. So here the practice of Dharma really begins with motivation directed towards our next life and the actions of our next life. So here it’s dharmic actions therefore mean doing in practices now that will generate a human rebirth in future or engaging in actions now that will enable us to engage in dharmic practice in future, the establishment of Dharma, even teaching Dharma and so on, and then beyond that, attaining liberation and Buddhahood and so However, when we investigate our actions, at present, we see that most of them are directed towards the end of this life or the purpose of this life. So most of our actions at present are directed towards avoiding sickness, attaining happiness, and so on, seeking praise from others, avoiding criticism and so forth, or trying to subdue one’s enemies and so on.
So most of our actions tend to be taken up in these types of activity. So much of the actions that we engage in at present are really directed towards the end of this life, such as achieving a good position, being praised by others and so forth, avoiding criticism, establishing ourselves, establishing our status and so on, providing ourselves with food and drink and shelter and so on, most of our actions are directed at at these ends. And much of what we become familiar with or meditate on, in fact, is the method by which we maintain what we have at present so that we don’t lose it in future. So we spend a lot of time and effort on this. So there’s a story about meditating and in our meditation just thinking about contemplating worldly activities when we should be contemplating dharmic activities.
And this particular story is about the fifth Dalai Lama who was in retreat at one time. And while he was in retreat, he happened to look up and he saw that there was a mouse eating through the curtain on the window. And as he watched the mouse eat was eating its way through and finally it ate through the curtain and the curtain fell. And His Holiness was sitting there thinking, oh, when the retreat’s over, I should go down to the market and get some more cloth and I should, you know, have a new curtain made up. And at this time, there was a particular Geshe who was in the potala, in the palace, named Geshe Chakdor Gopa.
And he had clairvoyance or he had this type of higher perception that could comprehend the minds of others. And here he saw what the fifth Dalai Lama was thinking. So then he decided he’d go and see the fifth Dalai Lama. And anyway, he went up to the entrance and of course there are many guards guarding the entrance and they said to him firstly, oh well you can’t go and he’s in retreat. And and the Geshe was saying, no, no, he’s not in retreat.
He’s thinking about going down to the market to get some cloth. And of course they didn’t let him in But the story came about that he did visit at one time. And when the Dalai Lama came out of retreat, said, oh, it’s true. At one time I was thinking to go down and so on. So in fact, even in retreat, worldly thoughts arise.
So we need to keep our mind on this and check up to see just in fact where our mind is traveling to, where it’s wandering to, so that we can call it back from worldly pursuits. So therefore we need to check on our motivation and if the motivation for what we’re doing at present is for our future lives, then it qualifies to be the motivation of the least scope. If in fact our motivation is directed towards attaining a state of liberation, then it’s an intermediate scope motivation. And then if it’s directed towards attaining the state of Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings, then our motivation at that point is great scope motivation. So we need to check on this to see whether in fact bodhicitta is present or not.
Otherwise, our motivation tends to be absorbed into activities of this life and so they don’t become our actions are not dharmic actions. So now we’re just gonna do a little meditation on generating this motivation. So now for the sake of all sentient beings for their sake, we develop the aspiration, a strong aspiration to attain the state of Buddhahood in order to enlighten all sentient beings. So where we ended up from last week? Verse sixteen.
Twenty six. Twenty six. Yeah. Yeah. So what where did we finish?
Twenty six, was it? Twenty six to thirty, we’re up to. So Geshe was wondering whether it’s best to continue now because according to the schedule, we should be starting from the second chapter today. So would it be best to continue now and just quickly go through these verses and then start? Yeah.
So then dealing with verse twenty six, which is the section on establishing through reasoning the benefits of engaging bodhicitta. So as it says, now how can I fathom the depths of the goodness of this jewel of the mind and the panacea that relieves the world of pain and is the source of all its joy? Yeah. So here it’s dealing with all the migrating all migrating beings, which are the cause of one’s own happiness. And in fact, when we calculate the suffering of all sentient beings, it’s really unfathomable.
But this mind of bodhicitta is the panacea, as it says, it’s the panacea which destroys all the suffering. So therefore, it’s a source of great joy. So therefore, here in this first verse of this section, it teaches the benefit, this great joy that arises through engaging bodhicitta. So also it is stated in Sūtra that if the benefits of engaging bodhicitta were to have physical form, it would exceed the entire universe. So in fact, here it’s an example of just how beneficial the state of engaging bodhicitta is.
And then in verse twenty seven, if merely a benevolent intention excels venerating the Buddhas, then what need to mention striving to make all beings without exception happy? So here in the commentary, it gives a quotation from Sūtra that is the source for this particular verse, where it states that even if one were to venerate and make offerings to the Buddha’s bodhisattvas, arhats, etcetera, who abide in the various Buddha fields throughout the universe, are countless in number for a vast period of time, generating the mind of bodhicitta would have greater benefit. So then why is there such a benefit in generating engaging bodhicitta? So even one moment, generating bodhicitta for one moment excels making offerings to all the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, arhats, and so forth that exist in the Buddha fields which are countless in numbers throughout the universe. Why it excels that is because sentient beings themselves are countless in number.
They abide in the three realms, the desire form and formless realm, seen and unseen, countless in number. It’s not possible to measure or to count the full number, full measure of sentient beings. And here, the aspiration of bodhicitta is focusing on all these sentient beings without exception and developing the aspiration to free these sentient beings from all types of suffering. That is the three types of suffering, suffering of suffering, suffering of change, pervasive suffering completely. Also it’s aspiring that they attain happiness and not simply ordinary happiness of a human, not simply ordinary divine happiness or the divine happiness of the higher realms.
And not even the happiness of liberation itself, but the happiness of perfect Buddhahood. So there’s no greater mind than this in terms of profundity or extent or pervasion. So generating that type of mind even for one moment excels the virtue of making offerings to the Buddhas of the three times. So then the doubt might arise. Well, all sentient beings in general, they aspire to happiness and they don’t want suffering.
So isn’t it sufficient that their own aspiration is enough for them to achieve happiness? Why should I intervene? So then Śāntideva then states the next verse, verse twenty eight. Although wishing to be rid of misery, they run towards misery itself. Although wishing to have happiness, like an enemy, they ignorantly destroy it.
So in general, although there are some sentient beings who understand the causes for happiness and engage in practice, still for the most part, sentient beings are ignorant of its causes. And instead of cultivating the causes for happiness, they while wanting to be happy, they cultivate the causes for unhappiness and misery. They run towards misery itself. So therefore, in order to assist such beings who are unable to discern the cause of happiness, we should assist them. We should, in fact, help them in this goal.
So in general, beings aspire to have happiness, and their aspiration for happiness is really coming from their attachment to that type of feeling. So in order really to establish ultimate happiness, they need to actually destroy their attachment to happiness itself. And, also, they need to destroy the ignorance, which is the source of all unhappiness that is generated. So then even though sentient beings wish happiness, they destroy their own happiness through the ignorance which arises or the delusion which arises inside, not comprehending the causes of happiness. So in essence, one develops compassion for beings in this state.
And then in verse twenty nine, for those who are deprived of happiness and burdened with many sorrows, it satisfies them with all joys, dispels all suffering. So you can hear this development of bodhicitta directed towards those who are engaged in the process of seeking happiness but not able to attain happiness, then it satisfies them with all joys and so forth. In fact, sentient beings can be placated or we can offer sentient beings various things, gifts, and so forth through generosity. And this gives a certain degree of happiness, but generating the mind of bodhicitta is something that satisfies them with all joys and dispels all sufferings. Yep.
So then as the in verse thirty, it clears away confusion.. Where is there a comparable friend? Where is there even such a comparable virtue? Where is there even such a friend? Where is there merit similar to this?
So here in generating the mind of bodhicitta, it is something that dispels confusion. It dispels ignorance and so on. And in fact, it’s a virtue which is incomparable to any other virtue. It is pervasive and profound. Also, it’s a great friend for it.
It is a companion. Some it is a state of mind which establishes joy joy for oneself and others. And so as the text says, where is there a merit similar to this? So then we move on to the third section, which is explaining the greatness of the being who possesses in the continuum of mind of bodhicitta. And so this is in three sections.
And the first one is the fact that a being like that who generates bodhicitta is worthy of praise. So then in verse thirty one, it says, if whoever repays a kind deed is worthy of some praise, then what need to mention the bodhisattva who does good without its being asked of him? So as a commentary goes on to explain that, here in the world, if, someone does a particular kind deed to oneself, then it’s appropriate that, we repay the kindness, we thank them, or, that we somehow recognize, that kind deed. And the person that repays a kind deed is therefore worthy of praise as well. Now here, for a bodhisattva who takes on, the burden of all sentient beings to enlighten all sentient beings, not even asked and not recognized in their endeavor or in their action, then such a being, of course, is also worthy of praise.
And in a sense, they’re much more worthy of of praise because they engage in these actions to benefit others without speaking about it or advertising to others. They simply act in this way through the strength of their own bodhicitta.