Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A verse warning that anger toward a Bodhisattva for a single moment can generate karma for an eon in hell anchors this 79-minute session closing Chapter 1 of the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life — with Geshe Pema Tsering’s teacher adding, wryly, that the arithmetic of multiple eons is not as simple as it sounds. The session opens with groundwork: unlike animals, humans can investigate whether actions create happiness or suffering, making human rebirth precious. Geshe Pema Tsering then works through verses 34 to 36: the vast negative karma of malice toward Bodhisattvas, the even greater merit of revering them, and Śāntideva’s closing homage. It ends with a chapter summary and a practical roadmap for developing bodhicitta — the awakening mind — through karma, renunciation, and compassion.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2005 05 24 Bodhisattvas Way of Life.mp3
UUID: 1ee8217d-7ebe-418a-8d36-7d03e56f2f82
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Bodhisattva Way of Life 2005 Mar -2007 (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2005-05-24
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 79.5 minutes
Words: ~6,035
The Buddha said in one of his sutras that they control your mind. This is the teaching of the Buddha. So he’s talking about, himself and what he was referring to was that, you can encapsulate the Buddha’s teachings by learning how to control your mind. You can achieve results from the Buddha’s teachings by learning how to control your mind. So what he’s saying in essence there is this, this following the Buddha’s path means coming developing the ability to control your mind, to protect your mind from negative thoughts, from destructive thoughts, and to develop positive thoughts.
And what protecting the mind means is developing an understanding of what we usually do without, recognizing it. So if we really wanna protect our mind, what we’re protecting our mind from or what we are protecting our mind in order to achieve is the liberation from suffering or the the experience of of happiness. So we don’t want to experience suffering. We want to experience happiness. But not knowing how to create the true causes for happiness, we in following after happiness or trying to achieve happiness, we end up creating the causes for suffering.
So we want to be happy, but we don’t know how to be happy. So instead of making ourselves happy, we end up making ourselves miserable in the pursuit of happiness. So protecting the mind means creating the causes to for the mind not to experience suffering. It means protecting the mind from creating the causes for not hang on. I think I did double negative.
It’s for it means protecting the mind from creating the causes for the experience of suffering. Alright. So we know that we wanna we wanna be happy and if we, you know, watch the way that we think, if we start to notice the way we think, then we’ll come to understand that everything that we do, everything that we do all day, everything that we do all night, is focused on trying to make ourselves happy. Everything we do, we’re motivated by, the wish to be happy. So we put in a lot of effort to make ourselves happy and we try and achieve a lot of things to make ourselves happy or we try and get a lot of things to make ourselves happy.
So if we start watching the way that our mind works or the way that we think, then we’ll notice that everything that we do in a day is to make ourselves happy. We’re trying to work to get a car because we think getting a car will make us happy, to get a nice house, to get nice relationship, to get nice stuff, to get good food, to get a nice drink. We’re constantly motivated by getting things or doing things that we think will make us happy. To to go on a trip, we we might be motivated by going on a trip or or not going on a trip or watching a show or whatever it is. We’re constantly trying to figure out something that we can do to make ourselves happy.
And this happens as soon as we wake up. If we if we watch one, usually our first thoughts in the morning is how do I make myself happy? What am I gonna do to make myself feel better? Any and when we’re asleep in our dreams, we don’t we’re not chasing after experiences of suffering. In our dreams, we’re we’re usually they’re they’re a reflection of this attachment to happiness as well.
So this is our constant motivating force. We don’t have to work at it. We don’t have to work at thinking we wanna be happy. We don’t have to work at being motivated by wanting to be happy. And it’s not us.
It’s not just us as individuals that are motivated by this, this desperate need to be happy. If we watch other humans, then we’ll notice that that’s their motivating, thoughts that they they they seem to be constantly trying to make themselves happy in one way or another. And not only just humans, but, animals seem to be constantly striving to make themselves happy satisfy their wants in some way or another and thinking that if they have food, if they have shelter and so on that they’ll be happy. And in this way, there isn’t much difference between us and animals. We may have a greater capacity to come up with different ways of making ourselves happy than animals, but the basic, motivation of wanting to be happy and and doing what it takes to make ourselves happy is the same.
And so we may have more intelligence to figure out different ways that we can possibly bring about that happiness, but the basic motivation is the same. Mhmm. So all beings apart from Bodhisattvas and arhats, or those who’ve already developed or achieved nirvana, are motivated by this impulse. And that is humans, is animals, that is any other beings. The the distinction that we can make between humans and, animals is that, humans have capacity to investigate a situation and decide that sometimes it’s better not to do whatever it takes to make themselves happy.
Okay? Animals don’t have that capacity. If an animal thinks it will be happy by killing another animal, then it it won’t, it won’t hesitate and decide whether that’s a positive or negative action. Alright? It’s it’s just gonna act on that impulse.
humans have the capacity to investigate these situations and this is what makes being reborn as a human or having a human life such a precious opportunity. It’s this ability to, to investigate, to differentiate between something that will be beneficial and something that where it won’t be beneficial, something that may help others and something that may not help others. So if we invest in that capacity, if we, we develop this and if we focus on things in through that capacity, then we’re making the most of our human life. If we aren’t and we’re just constantly motivated by this urge to be happy, then our whole thought patterns are pretty much the same as animals. So what’s peculiar to humans, what is unique in the human experience is this capacity to investigate a situation and decide whether a certain action or a certain behavior is a certain way of behaving is appropriate or inappropriate.
And when we say appropriate or inappropriate, what we mean by that is whether it will create suffering or whether it will create happiness. We have the capacity to look at actions, to look at things that are done and decide whether that activity is worth doing is an appropriate action is going to create happiness or not. If we don’t employ that capacity, then we’re not making the most of our human birth. And this is the thing that makes human rebirth or human lifetimes very precious compared to being reborn as an animal in that you have this capacity. If you don’t use that, then you’re not really making the most of your human rebirth.
Okay. The problem with our our investigations is that we haven’t discovered yet, that samsaric happiness or the the good things that we can experience in saṃsāra aren’t really worth striving after, because they aren’t something that we can rely on and they’re not something that actually, will cause sustained happiness for us. We won’t continually be happy once we get, these things that we think cause happiness in Samsāra. So the reason that we won’t find happiness with the good bits of saṃsāra is because, they come about, as a result of afflicted karma and neurotic or destructive states of mind. So these are things like attachment and attachment desire and anger and ignorance.
So because they are the result of these continually changing karmic causes and conditions, then there’s not they’re not something that we can rely on. But we don’t see that. We are the only happiness that we experience without investigation, without looking at our our experience in more of a whole is this this temporary happiness of saṃsāra. We think that that’s the way to be happy by grasping over after and attaining these these fleeting moments of happiness or these things that can fleetingly give us happiness. And so because we are striving to achieve those, we’re actually developing or strengthening our grasping minds, our neurotic or destructive mental states.
And through them, we’re perpetuating saṃsāra. So we don’t that the things that we’re trying to make ourselves happy by achieving are actually creating the causes for us to experience more suffering. Mhmm. So because of this, we don’t give up those attachments. We don’t give up the things that we have desire for and and we don’t give up our our anger that comes up when we don’t get the things we want because we don’t recognize that these are actually the causes for suffering.
We think that they are the causes for happiness that how getting what we want and, defending ourselves against getting what we don’t want is gonna make us happy. When in fact, that’s what makes us miserable, and we we don’t recognize that. And because it’s harder to work towards attaining nirvana and getting rid of our, destructive emotions, our, afflicted states of mind than it is to feel good for a little while by taking on the things that we that we think can make us happy. It’s easier to give into, our attachments or, give into our anger than it is to to fight against them or to to work against them, then that’s what we tend to do. So these things that we, strive after and we think they’re gonna make us happy aren’t gonna make us happy.
And if they were going to make us happy, they would have made us happy already. And none of us experience happiness continuously. So they’re not worth chasing after. The happiness of nirvana, the happiness of Buddhahood isn’t something that changes. It’s something that is a perpetual state of happiness.
Considering that is true happiness and the instances of pleasure that we have in saṃsāra aren’t true happiness, they change into suffering, then we should start search we should start striving for that which is going to make us happy rather than striving for suffering, which is what we’re doing at the moment. Capacity to behave like a Milarepa. He was a Tibetan saint. Causal just one second. You know?
Okay. I said, I’m not sure who if everyone will know who Milarepa is. And Geshe-la said, well, just say Milarepa and the people who do can go, ah. So, yeah, it’s a the Tibetan Saint Mille who who left all his worldly possessions and went and lived by himself. We don’t have the the capacity to do that.
So but we probably don’t have the capacity to do that. So what we can do is try and use the things that we have, try and use the moments of happiness that we enjoy, the the the things, the the stuff that we have to benefit others and not just take it or try and attain it for selfish purposes. Uh-huh. Okay. So this opportunity that we have to come here and look at the text is is is a really good opportunity.
And so we should think, this being a moment that I can hopefully experience happiness, may this be a cause, also for, me to attain enlightenment and lead all other sentient beings, to to to true happiness and out of saṃsāra. And please, try and reflect on that thought for a couple of minutes. Mhmm. Mhmm. Okay.
So we just went through the last couple of weeks the positive qualities of Bodhisattvas. And tonight, the first session that we look at is a verse that deals or gives reasons why it’s not good to belittle a Bodhisattva or be rude to a Bodhisattva in even the slightest way. And the reverse, the verse, not the reverse, the verse, that discusses this is verse number thirty four from chapter one of the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, which says, and those who harbor evil in their minds against such lords generosity, the Buddha’s heirs, will stay in hell, the mighty one has said, for ages equal to the moments of their malice. So the bodhisattvas in this verse are described as being lords of generosity. They’re called lords of generosity because the they’re most generous beings towards us, because they show us how to get out of suffering, how to stop experiencing suffering.
And there’s not a greater gift that you can give to someone then to show them how to eliminate suffering. Okay. So someone who is is constantly working for other beings, is constantly, doing things, to lead sentient beings out of suffering to to to try and be kind to others is considered to be a a very precious or a very holy being. So to be angry at beings like this is said to be a very negative action. And in one of the Sutras, the Buddha said, that you the the karmic repercussions of being angry at a bodhisattva are that for every moment of anger, you the potential to spend an eon in hell is created.
So this is basically another way of saying it’s very important not to be angry at Bodhisattvas. So, that doesn’t mean though that if you have ever been angry at someone who might be a Bodhisattva that you’re definitely going to hell. That’s not the way that karma works. It means that there is potential, for that to happen if somebody. That’s the main attitude that somebody has in their life is to be angry at Bodhisattvas. If they have, if they have a sense of regret about any anger that they’ve experienced or that they do other positive actions that can cancel out that negative action, then they can even go on to become Bodhisattvas themselves. People who have been very angry at Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have even gone on to become Buddhas and Bodhisattvas themselves.
Alright. So this Oh, hang on. Okay. Because Bodhisattvas are said to be the most precious beings or the holiest beings around, in that they are, constantly working for the benefit of others and are said to be, as it says in this verse, lords of generosity in that they will undergo any hardship that it takes to bring sentient beings or beings out of suffering and show them how to develop themselves and become Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Because because of all these qualities.
It’s said that to get angry at a Bodhisattva is the worst thing that you can do. To get angry at a Bodhisattva or Buddha or to try and harm a Bodhisattva and a Buddha out of anger is is said to be the worst negative action that there is. More negative than any other bad karma that we could accumulate. So this is why the Buddha described it as being a cause for being reborn in hellish states. So he said this in a Sūtra that’s called the Sūtra of the Miracle of Definite Emergence.
Alright. And then in this, probably sounds better if you say it in Sanskrit. In this, in this Sūtra, the Buddha said, he was talking to Mañjuśrī, and he said Mañjuśrī, a being angry at a Bodhisattva, even for a moment, is an intense negative action whose consequences are inconceivable. Each moment of anger towards a Bodhisattva results in an eon in hell. So therefore, protect your mind from this.
Protect your mind from this kind of anger. Mhmm. Uh-huh. Alright. So Right.
Okay. So Geshe-la said, if you’re going to spend an eon in hell for being angry at a bodhisattva or Buddha for one moment, that means if for every moment, that means if, you are angry at a bodhisattva for two moments, you have to spend two eons in hell. And I said, Geshe-la, I think the maths for that is pretty easy. And he said, no, it’s not. And I was like, why?
And he goes, because if you think two eons, that’s a lot of time to spend in hell. And I was like, no. I’m not talking about thinking about spending two eons in hell. I’m not talking about one plus one equals two. And he goes, oh, it must be easy for you because you got a better education.
So but he said that that but he said it’s not the he said it’s not easy for him to think about because it’s not the one plus one that’s difficult. It’s the how long the results of such an action, can the repercussions can be felt for. How how long the results of such an action repercussions can be felt for. So, it’s a it’s a very kind it’s it’s a very, forceful action to be, negative or, hurtful or harmful, towards, such, good beings. It’s said to be, something that can be, can have such vastly negative consequences that we should, guard our minds and be aware of what we’re thinking and make sure that if we run into Bodhisattvas, that we are very aware of what we’re thinking about them.
Another of the Buddha’s sutras, the Sūtra of the Mudra that Shows the Power of Faith, the Buddha said, said, if you were to destroy as many stupas as there are as there are grains of sand under the river Ganga or the Ganges River, that the negative karma that you accumulated from those actions, wouldn’t be as much as if you had a negative thought towards the bodhisattva. Right? So if you destroy one that’s said to be a bad a very bad thing to do. A stupa is a representation of the enlightened mind, and these are an object that can of object for veneration and respect. So so to destroy stupa isn’t isn’t good.
But it said that there’s a lot of grains of sand under the Ganga and they’re probably it’d probably impossible to count them all. So if you were to destroy countless stupas, that would still not be as negative as being angry at a Bodhisattva. Mhmm. Mhmm. Mhmm.
Right. But then the other side of this is that, in the same way that a negative action or a malicious action towards a Bodhisattva or Buddha is said to have such vast negative consequences, a positive action towards a Bodhisattva or Buddha is said to have just as equally vast positive repercussions. So to show respect, to have faith in, to try and follow someone like this is, said to be enormously beneficial. Mhmm. Is said to be even more beneficial beneficial than the negative mind is harmful.
So the reason, that, harming or being, feeling malicious towards a Bodhisattva is said to be so negative, is that bodhisattvas give rise to Buddhas. So someone becomes a Buddha after they’ve become a bodhisattva and it’s by following the way of the bodhisattva that a being becomes a Buddha. So if you’re setting out to be malicious or you have malicious intentions towards the Bodhisattva, it means that you are having malicious thoughts or intentions towards a future Buddha or towards the being a being who is becoming a Buddha. And the Buddha’s qualities are said to be countless. So in the same way as the Buddha’s Buddha’s qualities no.
Because the Buddha’s qualities are said to be countless, then by being malicious or spiteful towards a Bodhisattva, you’re being spiteful and malicious towards all of those positive qualities and disrespectful of all those positive qualities. And therefore, the as as the as the potential of the thing that you’re being malicious towards is so vast, then the negative potential from that action is also vast. This one. Oh, yeah. Alright.
So, as was mentioned a little bit earlier, the, opposite of this is also true that if you have good, virtuous thoughts towards a Bodhisattva, that this has even greater positive repercussions than the negative repercussions of being, malicious towards them. So the next two verses Sorry, the next two lines, of the text, which is in verse thirty five, says, by contrast, good and virtuous thoughts will yield abundant fruits in greater measure. So the greater measure is greater, than the negative actions, the results of the negative actions. And no. It’s like make on that again like you’d already yeah.
This is because of the same reasons as the negative actions had such vast consequences in that you’re being respectful and you’re being, you’re doing something virtuous and good towards a being who has this this limitless potential or is developing this limitless potential to be a benefit to others. So by showing respect and being virtuous towards these these beings, then, you’re being respectful to each and one each and every single one of their positive qualities and their positive potential. Alright. So the Buddha’s the bodhisattvas are are not only potential Buddha’s, but they themselves have sorry. They’re not only future Buddha’s, but they themselves have amazing personal qualities.
So by having faith or liking for or respect towards the few these future Buddhas, then you’re creating enormously beneficial positive karma. And so in the same way that you can’t count the negative consequences that come about from being disrespectful to a you can’t really substantiate the positive outcome of being respectful to a Bodhisattva. Okay. So these these repercussions were explained by the Buddha in a sūtra of his that’s called the Sūtra of the Mudra that Shows What is Infallible and What is Not Infallible. That is to say, which karma’s results must be experienced and the way to purify the results of to purify a negative karma so you don’t have to experience its results.
Alright. So the next two lines of this first number thirty five look at the hang on. Because Alright. They, look at, the third section of the why the, Bodhisattvas are praiseworthy, which is it is the reasons why it’s befitting to pay homage to them and go to them. And this is described first of all in the last two lines of verse number thirty five, which says that even in adversity, the bodhisattvas never bring forth evil only an increasing stream of goodness.
Mhmm. Mhmm. Okay. So the bodhisattvas don’t do things that harm others. They have developed their mind to the extent that they are focused on trying to benefit others and to eliminate the sufferings of others.
So no matter what happens to them, they don’t respond with, anger and they don’t respond with an urge to, hurt others. And this is what it means when it says they never bring forth evil or they never do things that are going to harm others. That what they do do though is constantly, perform virtuous actions, positive actions, helpful actions, that are going to alleviate the suffering of other beings and lead, other beings out of suffering. Show them how and not to suffer. So because they don’t do anything that harms anyone and because they’re only trying to they’re constantly trying to help others, and they’re constantly performing virtuous act activities, then they’re said to be a beings worthy of veneration and beings worthy of homage.
This one? And and and refuge. Yeah. Just got a bit stuck because there’s this word that’s often translated into English as prostrate. No.
Which I’m pretty sure the English word means to be lying down on the ground. But it’s not what the Tibetan word means. It means to, show respect. And sometimes this respect is to can be shown physically by bowing, but it can actually mean a mental attitude of Alright. So, this is why, because of all these qualities we’ve been talking about, it’s why the last verse of this chapter, verse thirty six says, to them in whom this precious sacred mind is born, to them I bow.
So this is talking about bodhisattvas. Bodhisattvas being those who have developed the mind of enlightenment, those who have developed the uncontrived wish to attain enlightenment in order to lead all sentient beings out of suffering and are constantly motivated by a wish to help others or to truly benefit others and truly benefit others. So these beings, then Śāntideva goes on to speak about it in the next two lines by saying, I go for refuge in that source of happiness that brings its very enemies to perfect bliss. So the bodhisattvas and the mind of enlightenment itself are said to be sources of happiness in that they are working to eliminate suffering, from the experience of all beings and to show them how to, achieve nirvana, how to attain, true happiness. And, the the last line says that it brings even their enemies to great to perfect bliss.
So even those who would seek to harm bodhisattvas, now the bodhisattvas still work for their benefits in order to lead them out of suffering, in order to lead them to great happiness. Right. Okay. So because of all these reasons that we’ve talked about before, because of the preciousness of the the thoughts, the way of thinking that’s being developed here, and the beings that have managed to develop this way of thinking or this state of mind, then, Śāntideva in this verse says that he, prostrates with the he pays homage with body, speech, and mind, to towards these beings. And it says that, he doesn’t go into too much detail about this homage, in this verse or in this section because he talks about it more in the chapter on patience, which is chapter number four I think.
Right. And so it is said that Bodhisattvas have the capacity to do anything that’s going to be of benefit to other beings. And this was, graphically illustrated in a life story of a Bodhisattva called the King of Powerful Loving Kindness, who was attacked by, something like the titans from Greek mythology. Something being similar to that, who drank human blood and happily turned himself into the drink. So without without a thought to his own welfare, he was seeing himself as being something that his physical body is being something that would these blood drinking titans.
So he was able to extinguish any grasping to self grasping itself and holding on to him as being more important than others and even offered his own body to other beings. So this kind of kindness, this kind of love and compassion towards such afflicted beings that were trying to harm him is said to be a graphic manifestation of the ideas or the attitude of bodhicitta. So this kind of selflessness, this kind of respect for and devotion to others despite their harmful intentions is said to be something that’s worthy of of of refuge. This kind of devotion to others is said to be something that’s worthy of respect. So in general, this first chapter has talked about the, positive qualities of bodhicitta.
bodhicitta. And, in his commentary, it says that, what is to to give you a brief summary of what this chapter has said, is that all of the paths of the Mahāyāna, the paths of the perfections and Tantra are based on developing the mind of enlightenment. So without the mind of enlightenment, you can’t follow the path of the Bodhisattva and you can’t attain a complete Buddhahood. And so because of this reason alone, even if it was just for this reason, then it would be very important to put in a lot of effort to developing bodhicitta. In order to to develop, bodhicitta, then we should reflect on the positive qualities of bodhicitta that, Śāntideva described in this chapter.
And that if we keep doing that again and again, then from the bottom of our hearts, we will develop a strong, respect for and intention to develop bodhicitta. So, with this idea in mind then, when we say the, seven-limb prayer or when we say when we, think about refuge, and the rest of graduated path towards enlightenment, the the intention to put into practice these things to develop the develop an understanding of these stages of the path will be a lot stronger and will be something that becomes, more like a training than a intellectual understanding. Mhmm. Mhmm. In brief, the positive benefits of attaining, bodhicitta, of developing bodhicitta, can be divided into two different types.
There is the bodhicitta, the benefits, the temporary benefits and the, ultimate benefits. So the temporary benefits of developing bodhicitta is, that you are you only attain positive or, happy rebirths and you don’t end up in lower realms as animals or spirits or anything. Yeah. Mhmm. Mhmm.
Right. As the way that this works, the way that you end up in positive rebirths always in positive rebirths when you’re developing or have developed bodhicitta, and you don’t end up in lower realms is because, you the negative things that you’ve done in the past are purified, through your, positive actions, through your regret for your negative actions, and for your wish to by being motivated by the intention to benefit others. And so the negative actions in the past that you have accumulated, their potential to create suffering is limited and limited and eventually is completely eliminated. And or another way that you stop from being reborn in the lower realms is that by continuing on in this way, developing through the paths of the Bodhisattva, by developing the way of the Bodhisattva, then you eventually cease to create the causes for being reborn in Samsāra. You stop creating what’s called throwing karma which is the cause for being reborn in a new life.
And at the same time as you’re getting rid of all the potential for suffering that you have created through past negative actions, you’re not creating any new negative actions because your mind is focused on working for others. It’s not focused on selfish activities or, destructive activities. So you’re getting rid of your negative actions, slowly, slowly and then eventually, they’re cutting the the it says cutting the continuum of those, getting rid of them completely. And then at the same time, you’re creating a lot of positive action that will will lead you into positive rebirths. Mhmm.
And And that this mind that’s focusing on working for others and eliminating the suffering of all is the cause for being to attain Buddhahood. So because that is the ultimate aim that we can all have, then it said that the development, of bodhicitta in both the short term and the long term is something that has enormous benefit to us and something that we really should, put in a lot of effort to develop, first First of all, in a contrived way and eventually in an uncontrived spontaneous way. Oh, it is now. Mhmm. Alright.
So we can all kind of go and develop an understanding of that. We can, then if we keep thinking about this again and again, we can, come to some understanding of the benefits of bodhicitta. And we’re hardly likely to, disparage the idea of working for others or to be disrespectful to the idea of attaining enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. We we do a right developing an appreciation for bodhicitta. But it’s not just enough to have, the idea of how beneficial bodhicitta is.
We need to actually put in effort to develop it. We need to work at strengthening and stabilizing the this idea in our mind stream so that it becomes an uncontrived experience. Because just talking about it, just saying, oh, it’s a really good idea to work towards enlightenment for the benefit of others, I really appreciate it when people do that or saying the prayers of saying, I work towards enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. Just saying these things and just speaking the words, just mouthing the words isn’t really what we should be doing. We should be trying to actually develop this way of thinking.
So the way to do this, the way to put this into practice is to first of all start thinking about the, infallible law of cause and effect, and and how this means that if we want to attain a positive rebirth, we need to develop positive causes. We need to do we need to create good karma. And if we start thinking in this way, then this means that our our way of thinking is aligned with what are called the small and middling capacities of the three stages of the graduated path. Mhmm. And so so, we develop those ideas and then see how we want to get rid of suffering and then start thinking about not just ourselves but other beings, and in thinking about other beings develop loving kindness and compassion for other beings.
Then this becomes the cause for us, to develop bodhicitta. It’s the root of, it should be the root of our meditations and teachings on bodhicitta. So given that this is the way we progress through the path, developing an understanding of, karma, suffering, wanting to get out of saṃsāra, then looking at other beings and wishing I mean, wanting them to get out of suffering. And, there’s a hang on a second. I’ve gotta check something.
End of this chapter. And in the end of this chapter, there’s a couple of lines where the person who wrote this commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra is kind of speaking directly to us. So the way I was trying to figure out how to translate it would have sounded odd if I just started lecturing. It’s me lecturing you. It’s Gyaltsab Je, right, and coming through Geshe-la.
Okay. So it says, so those who have this opportunity, those who have it’s just that those who have the capacity to investigate, the capacity to distinguish what’s appropriate and what’s not. They they have this human rebirth and it says those beings need to meditate on bodhicitta. If you do that, if you work at developing this mind of enlightenment, then you’re taking the, the essence of from this, opportunity. You’re making the most of this opportunity in the best way.
So, because in this chapter, Śāntideva has given us all these reasons why bodhicitta is beneficial. If we reflect on these and if we motivate ourselves through reflecting on these, we’ll put in a lot of effort to make the most of the opportunity we have at the moment and develop bodhicitta. Okay. So then, at the end of all the chapters of the guide to the way of life in Tibetan, it says, this is the Bodhicaryāvatāra, and this has been the first chapter which talks about And this is a bit earlier this one. Oh, yes.
Okay. So, at the end of each chapter, says, this is the Bodhicaryāvatāra, and then it says, and this has been the chapter on the benefits of developing bodhicitta. It doesn’t say that yeah. It doesn’t say that at the end of each chapter. It says whatever the other chapters are.
But in this chapter, it says this is the Bodhicaryāvatāra. This has been the chapter on the benefits of developing bodhicitta. And then because we have the root text and a commentary here. In the commentary, it says, this has been the commentary to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, and this has been the commentary on the first chapter, which is the benefits of bodhicitta. And we went, like, about seven minutes earlier because we’re getting right to the end of the chapter.
I mean, seven minutes later. He said, okay. You guys ask questions. I drink tea.