Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. The self-cherishing mind as an arrogant, strutting brat bluffing us since beginningless time is the vivid image Geshe Pema Tsering deploys in this 69-minute commentary on Śāntideva’s Bodhisattva Way of Life. He traces a graded analysis of motivation — from chasing this-life happiness, to seeking a good rebirth, to renunciation itself — showing that even aspiring for nirvana is stained by selfishness because it pits one person’s liberation against the welfare of countless beings. The antidote is other-cherishing, the foundation of bodhicitta. The second half shifts to mental offering practice, working through a detailed list of unowned substances — flowers, jewels, mountain ranges, wish-granting trees, spontaneous harvests — and explaining why visualizing vast offerings to Buddhas builds merit even when we have nothing material to give.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2005 06 07 Bodhisattvas Way of Life.mp3
UUID: 6205e5ec-6523-4fc6-ad4e-f9450a0d5df4
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Bodhisattva Way of Life 2005 Mar -2007 (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2005-06-07
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 69.1 minutes
Words: ~5,496
I — you bought the wrong glasses. He’s got the wrong glasses, and he left his keys inside his room. The Indian pandit Shri Jñāna said that: dedicate your own virtue or your own positive accumulations and the positive accumulations of others — stainless — lead to the benefit of others without becoming in stain — sorry, stainless — to the benefit of others in the three realms without concern for your own achievements. So the three realms it’s talking about here is a or the three worlds is the world of the heavens, the world of earth, and the world below the earth. So the different ways that and the different ways that beings can live.
He’s talking about the different ways that beings could live. So, he’s saying that we need to develop bodhicitta and the way we do this is by not having the stains or not having the contaminated way of thinking that focuses on self and focusing on others or all other beings in all of these different realms. In this verse then, he says that grasping onto a sense of self or doing something for our own benefit, for our own advantage, is a stain. And what he means by stain is something that can obstruct our development. And if we think about this, this is the case and not even just in terms of developing bodhicitta, but it’s also very hard for us to develop renunciation from Samsāra and the causes to attain nirvana by focusing on ourselves.
Focusing on ourselves is the antithesis of focusing on others, and they can’t exist at the same time. If we’re focusing on ourselves, we’re not focusing on others. If we’re doing things for our own benefit, we’re not doing things for the benefit of others. Of course, this is essential for developing bodhicitta, the mind of enlightenment, and to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. But it’s also very difficult to attain nirvana with this motivation.
One of the causes for attaining nirvana is immeasurable compassion. There’s also accumulating virtue. It’s very hard for us to do that if we’re focused on ourselves. We need to be focused on others in order to develop that kind of virtue. And if we’re focused on ourselves and we’re focused on ourselves in this life, then what we’re doing isn’t even Dharma.
So if we want to practice practice any of the three scopes, if we want to attain a good rebirth, if we want to attain liberation, or we want to attain, the omniscient mind of a Buddha, then all of these come to us through focusing on others, and in doing so, by abandoning our our selfishness, our focus on self. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. So this way of thinking in which we think of others and we don’t focus on ourselves is difficult for us to develop. So because it’s difficult for us to develop, it’s something that we need to focus on.
It’s something that we need to pay a lot of attention to. And the way that we develop the ability to focus on others, is through a process. Geshe-la said it’s difficult for us to focus on because if you’re anything like him, even when you practice do try and practice Dharma or when you read a text or when you meditate on what you’re you’re looking at or try and do prostrations or whatever it is. Even though what you’re doing looks ostensibly like Dharma practice, it’s hard not to focus on how it’s gonna help you out in this lifetime. It’s hard not to focus on how it’s going to make you feel better or how you’re going to feel a sense of achievement.
So this means that because of our habits, it’s difficult for us to actually get our motivation right. And because it’s difficult for us, it’s something that we need to pay a lot of attention to and not something that we should brush over. So the way that we do this is we first of all focus on what it is that we we we need to look at in a sequential way. If we focus on it in a sequential way, then we develop our ability, to develop a good motivation. We develop our ability to have a good motivation.
The first thing that we need to look at then is what it is that we would naturally be striving for that that that is the things of this lifetime that will give us happiness in the short term. And if we keep focusing on them, we’ll begin to see that they don’t have any substance. They don’t have any essence that can actually make us happy. There’s nothing that we can take for them, to develop our inner happiness. And then so once we’ve once we’ve figured this out, then we’ll start start thinking about, okay, maybe I should be focusing on my next lifetime.
At least then I’ll be practicing Dharma. So we may do some things with the motivation of attaining a good rebirth, and we may think I’m doing this in order to get a good rebirth. And we this is better than not having with having a motivation that’s focused on this life. But even, if we do something with the motivation of having a good rebirth, it’s not really helping us out this much that much because being reborn in Samsāra means again being reborn into suffering. And we will continue to experience suffering as long as we’re reborn into Samsāra.
So what we need to do is then to recognize not just how pointless chasing after the things of this lifetime are, but also how how pointless or essenceless the things of our next lifetime will also be if they continue to be reborn in Samsāra. And once we’ve figured that out, once we’ve familiarized ourselves with that so thoroughly that, that’s our motivation, then we’re doing okay. So we’re doing pretty good if we’ve got this motivation to get out of saṃsāra to attain nirvana. This is called renunciation or definite emergence, and it’s a very very attained state of being or it’s a very realized state of being, to be striving for liberation from Samsāra and, the state of nirvana. It’s it’s it is very exalted and it’s very, a very positive thing to have developed.
But as, the pandit says in this quote, it’s still stained. Now the way it’s still stained is that it is not completely free from self, cherishing from self, and doing things for our own benefit. It’s not completely free from these things because there is this still this notion. Although we may be focused on compassion for others, there is still this notion of liberating only ourselves from saṃsāra. We need to develop the merit to do that, but we still our motivation, even though it’s very good, the motivation of renunciation or the motivation of trying to definitely emerge from saṃsāra.
Even though it’s very good, it’s still stained or, tainted by a certain amount of selfishness, a certain amount of self consideration at the expense of others. So if we want to develop a stainless motivation, a motivation that will lead us into the Mahāyāna, the greater vehicle, then we need to completely turn around our selfish attitude and focus on the welfare of others and not not just our own welfare. This mind then, the mind of liberation or definite emergence seeking to get out of saṃsāra is very good, and it’s very beneficial, but it’s stained or it has this fault, in that it is not free completely free of selfishness, of doing things, for our own benefits. And the reason that it’s a fault or it’s a miss mistaken idea or a it’s not quite good enough. No.
Hang on. How I put inappropriate. There we go. It’s inappropriate for us to think like this is because what we’re doing then is dividing existence or beings into ourselves and others. We’ve divided thing beings into us and or ourselves and other, and we’re considering the ourselves bit or the selves bit to be more important than the other bit.
Alright? But if we’re dividing things into our personal selves and all other beings, then we are stacking one person’s welfare against the welfare of countless beings. And for us to think that one person’s welfare is more important than the welfare of countless other beings doesn’t doesn’t make much sense. Especially when we consider that in order for us to attain nirvana, all of the qualities that we would need to develop come about because of other beings. All of the merit, all of the positive potential that we can accumulate comes about because of other beings.
All of the understandings that we can develop come about because of other beings. In fact, any of the majorly positive developments in our mental continuum that we may develop come about because of other beings. So it’s it seems highly inappropriate to consider ourselves, to be more important than other all other beings, and especially when we consider that it’s because of them that we’re able to develop any of these qualities that may get us out of saṃsāra in the first place. In this way, what we need to do is to develop the ability to focus on others and stop focusing on on just us ourselves. And even if we just if we don’t consider the realizations of liberation and Buddhahood, even if we just think of things in terms of our pleasant experiences in Samsāra, then all of the pleasant things that we experience in Samsāra, all of the good things that we own, all of the things that we consider as precious and important are dependent on other beings.
All of the things that we get, come from other beings. All of the and the qualities, the other the saṃsāra qualities that we develop depend on other beings. Our very existence depends on the kindness of other beings. So, for us to even think this and that our own we make our own hang on. I’ve got that wrong.
For for us to think then that there’s some way that we can forget about them, that they’re they’re not worth, working for is inappropriate. Of them go to school. I’m having a mental blank because the only thing that I can think of to say is rude. In this way then, our self-cherishing, our self grasping mind is an arrogant little upstart. Right?
Yeah. It’s an annoying brat. And that it’s it not only does it conceive of itself as being incredibly important, it doesn’t recognize that it’s completely at fault. It doesn’t even exist. Yeah?
And so there’s this incorrect perception. It has this It’s made a big mistake. It’s it’s it’s full of it. And then and then it has this idea that it doesn’t recognize it as full of it and it keeps saying, well, I’m the most important person around. Alright?
So this is if we watch the way our mind works, this is what happens. We and we from this mistake, from this misperception that doesn’t know it’s a misperception, we spend all that time going, I need this, I have this, it’s important that I do that. Right? All of these thoughts, all of these ideas that we have about I come from a mistake, but they don’t present ourselves to us as a mistake. It’s not as if they’re grasping itself or the self-cherishing mind that we have presents itself by saying, uh-huh, I’m afraid I’m faulty and mistaken, but I need things anyway.
So it doesn’t it doesn’t present itself like this. It presents itself to us as being a demanding brat. Yes. There’s this word in Tibetan. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. If if someone’s walking down the street, then, you know, thinking they’re really it, yeah, the Tibetans will point at them go like that. And so it means like, you know, yeah, but it’s more like a strut. It’s strutting, you know.
It’s it’s yeah. So it’s hard to get the I mean, hear the word across, but, that that’ll do our self-cherishing struts. And it doesn’t and it so it’s not it doesn’t present itself in a humble way and say, I’m afraid I’m mistaken, but I really need this, and I really need that, or I really need this. It presents itself by saying, I’m it and I deserve everything that I need, so you know, you’ve got to make, do everything you can for me. Right?
And not only is it mistaken and doesn’t admit that it’s mistaken, but it’s the source of all of our faults. Right? So it’s incredibly presumptuous and arrogant and yes. This is Sorry. It’s very in the way that it presents itself because it presents itself as being it, you know, it’s like it’s got everything going on.
But in fact, not only is it has it got nothing going on, but it’s also the problem. It’s what causes all our problems. I just sort of had what how you the best way to translate this word is it’s it’s got a cheek. So it’s been kidding us with its bluff since beginningless time. Since beginningless time it’s saying, if you just, you know, make me feel good, then you’re not gonna experience suffering, you’re gonna feel great.
It keeps telling us this again and again and again. It’s been telling us this for lifetimes, and we’ve been believing it. We’ve been buying into the lie. We’ve been buying into this idea that if we make ourselves feel good, if we give in to our self-cherishing attitude, our sense of self importance, then we’re gonna feel alright. But when we have to ask ourselves, has it worked?
Has has believing in this misperception that we have about self and the importance of self and self-cherishing work for us, has it made us continually happy? Has it has it has it come through on its promises? It hasn’t shown us anything really. We had we it has been telling us that it can that if we give in we’ve been convincing ourselves that if we follow selfish patterns, if we do things for ourselves that we’re gonna be, happy. But we haven’t actually experienced your happiness since beginning last time.
So we’ve, we’ve been, we’ve let ourselves be conned by this pretense and, we’re under the control, of this idea of self, this self-cherishing attitude. And that hasn’t brought us anything but suffering even though it’s presented itself as being a cause for us to experience happiness. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Alright.
Sorry. I just had a mental blank. So we need to get rid of this We need to get rid of this mind that’s been tricking us and deceiving us and creating our suffering, but while pretending to be the cause for our happiness. And the way that we get rid of this mind, the way that we the antidote that we have to the self-cherishing mind is the mind that cherishes others. If we’re focused on cherishing others, there’s no way that the mind cherishing self can present itself.
Alright. So this idea of, developing, the love and compassion for others is the way that we get rid of our self-cherishing attitude, our self-cherishing mind. And the problem with it though is that it’s not as easy for us to cherish others as it is for us to cherish ourselves because we haven’t got the habit of cherishing others. We have a very, very strong, habit or addiction, to cherishing ourselves, but we don’t have a very strong habit, to cherish others. We we must have done some cherishing of others in the past to have the pleasant circumstances that we have in this lifetime.
All of the positive situations in Samsāra, being reborn as a god or a human, having pleasant experiences, all of these things come about through creating, good causes in the past by doing something that’s focused on others. So we have something of a habit, in terms of cherishing others, but nowhere yeah. This habit is nowhere near as strong as our habit of self-cherishing of of focusing on ourselves. So because of this, it means that we have to work hard, harder to break this self self-cherishing attitude and to work hard to develop the habit of other cherishing because it’s not the way that we would exist without putting an effort. We need to train ourselves in doing this.
We need to keep reminding ourselves what we should be focused on, how we should be focusing on what will help other beings and how to relieve their suffering. And if there’s some way that we can relieve their we can actually relieve the suffering of other beings then that’s a really good thing. We should try and do whatever we can to relieve the suffering of others. But if there’s no way that we can, relieve the suffering of others, it’s also very important to develop the, attitude of wanting to relieve the suffering of others, through our meditation practice, through, the way we think, by checking checking the way we think and making sure that our attitude is one of service and seeking this and the mind and that we have the attitude of wanting to help or benefit other beings. So even if we can’t do something directly, we can work at developing the attitude where we want to help others, where we want others to be happy.
And in considering all of these things then, it’s very important. Idea of cherishing others is very important. And the idea of cherishing others forms the basis for the mind of enlightenment, the bodhicitta. So please think on how important it is to cherish others and make the develop the attitude that, that that you’re listening to the teachings and the Bodhicaryāvatāra in order to be a benefit to others. And focus on that idea.
And please focus on that idea well, for a couple of minutes. Yeah. I just said we’re at the top of page thirty six, and I guess I’ll decide to skip that. Okay. Not quite sure why, but anyway.
Alright. So we have a whole list of things that are good to offer Buddhas. Geshe-la said, do I need to explain any of them? I think you can read out the list. And I said, okay.
I’ll start Geshe-la, and if I get stuck, I’ll ask you. So the first thing that’s good to offer Buddhas is things that aren’t owned. Right? This is the list of things, unowned. We’re offering things that, offering unowned substances.
So if we’re offering unowned unowned we’re offering things that we’re not stealing, but they’re more than we could probably give. Alright. So the idea is that you’re giving magnificently and the the first line says we’re giving magnificently and wonderfully, but we’re not owning any of it. Right? So you’re able to do that with unowned substances.
So the first thing that’s good to make to offer to Buddhas is flowers. And, it says here, lotuses and so on. Right? So lotus flowers and so on. They’re good to it’s always good to offer to if you’re visualizing something to offer flowers.
And there’s another, flower that’s also said to be good to offer, which in Tibetan is called the aru, and I looked it up in the dictionary, and it’s called the Terminalia chebula. Yeah? And so if anyone’s here is a knows that, can offer that one because I don’t have a clue. They didn’t give me a, like, a normal word for it. So the aaru flower, which has it’s said to have really nice fruit.
Alright? So you’re not just offering flowers, but you can also offer whole plants that not only just have flowers, but also have good fruit. There’s also here a camphor here. That’s a plant. Put it?
Wood. Wood. Yeah. So yeah. So it says it’s all it’s it has it listed here as medicine.
So things that can be beneficial to the body like camphor, etcetera. Right? And then it says, whatever whatever you can fig whatever you can sum up in your mind of all the different types of medicine that you could like healing healing palms and so on. Okay. Okay.
So so it says medicine, but it doesn’t like I said, guess that you don’t they’re not just talking about Panadol’s and headache tablets. He’s like, no. It means anything that’s beneficial to the body. Anything that can make the that you feel good. Alright?
So that’s also things you’re offering. So this is why camphor is something, because it’s something that uplifts the smell that’s supposed to uplift you. And the next thing that you visualize yourself offering is all of the precious jewels, all in gold and silver that the world contains. Then all of the beautiful lakes and ponds in the world in the world, all the and all of the clear water in the world. Then also, Alright.
So there’s also, this idea of eight mountains historically that are all made from different precious substances. There’s seven mountains that circle the middle mountain which is Mount Meru. And so they’re all said to be made from gold silver and lapis is that lazuli or lazuli? Lazuli. Lazuli.
Lazuli. And all sorts of other precious substances. And then they’re said to be uncultivated areas, uncultivated remote areas, that are stunning in their beauty are also said to be things that are good to offer. And then we have the beautiful trees with, various flowers that ornament them. Right?
And Okay. It says, trees that are ornamented ornamented by beautiful jewel like flowers. Right? This is another thing good thing to make an offering off. And then we’re offering nice trees that have good sturdy trunks and equally equally growing.
Symmetrical. That’s the word I’m looking for, isn’t it? Symmetrical branches that bear heavy ripening fruit. So it is like a big fruit that people that that that can be enjoyed. And then we go into all of the beautiful things that are contained within the heavens and the realms of the Nagas.
And so you imagine them manifesting spontaneously. And when you are imagining all of these things being manifest spontaneously, you can imagine with them comes beautiful smells. I like the most precious incenses. And they said that these precious the smell of precious incense comes from trees like what’s called the wish granting tree. The tree that is literally you know how they have the wish fulfilling jewel?
Right? And here you have a wish fulfilling tree. Right? A wish fulfilling jewel is said to be the jewel that takes on the shape of the mind or is like the mind. And the wish wish granting tree, to to translate it more precisely, the tree that grants the limits of the wishes of the mind.
Right? So one takes on the shape of the mind and the other one’s anything that even the most extraordinary thing that you can imagine, this tree said to be able to grant that wish. And we got lotuses again. The lotuses are it says the lotuses are ornamenting the wish wish granting tree. And we have ducks or swans maybe that sounds nicer, with with very mellifluous voices.
This mellifluous voices that lift up the spirits of who encounter them. Then we have unplowed fields. I think it was at this point that Geshe-la said, oh, this sounds like a really good garden. At some point he goes, oh, this sounds really good. Yeah.
So unplowed fields in which the harvester grows spontaneously, so no one has to do any work for them, but is able reap the rewards of harvest. So it says that the Three Jewels, the Buddha jewel, the Dharma jewel, and the Sangha jewel are worthy of all of these beautiful offerings that we could possibly offer to them. So Okay. And then the Uh-huh. And the last line of this says, if any of these things sound confusing to you, you will find texts that explain them in great detail in other places.
Alright. So that was what you offer. And then the next thing that we do, the next section of the text is how to make those offerings, how to offer those things. And the first line of the section that looks at how to make those offerings, looks like it’s actually the last line of verse number five. So it says, stretching to the boundless limits of the sky.
And then it says, I hold them all before my mind and to the supreme Buddhas and their heirs will make a perfect gift of them. Oh, think of me with love, compassionate lords, sacred objects of my prayers except these offerings. Visualizing, we can visualize these offerings. So when we see something that inspires us to make an offering, we we we hold those objects before our eyes. We but we shouldn’t just think of things as being in a small way.
Something’s we should try and expand expand the offering out and help hold it as as vast as the skies. And then the beings that who were making these Yeah. Greatly merciful ones. Yeah. So yeah.
Yeah. Or the protectors and Okay. No. It really shouldn’t make that much difference, does it? Does it make any difference to you whether it says supreme Buddhas or sages?
They’re both pretty good. But, anyway, the word usually is is is a is a Tibetan translation of mooni, which is usually translated as sages, but here they try decided to translate it as Buddha. That’s what I was so I was a confused. So it says supreme sages or supreme Buddhas and they’re heirs. Now, they’re heirs are the the bodhisattvas.
So it’s saying that you’ll make a that you’ll try and make this perfect gift or this offer this gift well to them. And so, it says having done that, then may you please bless me with your great compassion and accept these offerings. I don’t know where the sacred objects of my prayers bit’s coming from because it says and then there’s also got this bit in here in Tibetan that I can’t see in English, it’s probably because I’m not looking at it right, which is it says something like, please think of me lovingly now that I’ve when I when I make these offerings. Alright? So please think of me lovingly.
So we’re we’re saying we’re making these offerings and in doing so, please think think lovingly of this offering that I’m making, of the mental act of making this offering that I’m doing. So we’re imagining things. We’re we’re visualizing things that stretch to the uttermost limits of this the immense sky. So there there is this idea of there being limitless to things that we’re offering. So if we if we think about offering one thing, then it’s good to keep thinking of other things and other things that we’re offering so until it becomes this what we’re offering becomes enormous.
So we offer these things, it says, without attachment, without holding on to them. And we visualize all of these things in our mind. And the the beings that we visualize ourselves offering this to is the moonis or the buddhas, their children, which is the bodhisattvas, and we offer them respectfully. And having offered them where having made this offering or having this Okay. So I was just thinking, I bet the word offering is confusing someone.
In Tibetan, they have three different levels of giving because Tibetan is saturated by an honorific system. So you give if you give up, there’s one word for giving up, like giving to people who you consider higher than yourself. Yeah? And if you’re giving to someone equal than you, then you give a there’s another word for giving to people who are equal than to you. And then if you’re giving to people lower than you, there’s another word for giving lower than you.
Right? So basically, the word offering means to give to those who you consider to have more qualities than you. Okay? That’s that’s just what it means. There’s no — I don’t know if what other connotations people might have, but yeah.
I just thought that’s worth clarifying. It’s just giving to people you think have more qualities than you. Okay? So when it’s then it says, you say, by giving you these things, may you look kindly on me. May you have may your your minds look kindly towards me.
So you’re saying the Buddha’s minds are kind, and compassionate anyway, and so what you’re asking to for is for that to be reflected on you through this act of seeking to give these things to them, or visualizing that you’re giving these things to them. And then you say, accept this offering. Okay. So in case I didn’t say that clearly, the idea is you think here is this amazing offerings that I’ve tried to conjure up with my mind or I’ve been inspired to create, by something I’ve encountered. I I give these, or offer to offer these to the Buddhas and and Bodhisattvas in receiving them.
May they look kindly on me and inspire me. Alright. So the next thing that we look at, which is the next verse, verse number seven, is the the reasons one offers unowned substances. So we’ve been talking about the things that we’re offering and how they’re not anything that someone particularly has. Now the reason that we offer unknown substances is described in this verse, which says, for I am empty handed.
So this empty handed is the other word that I found that the other word that sometimes used to translate it is destitute. So it means we don’t have anything. We’re like beggars. Oh, that’s why they didn’t put it twice for I am destitute of merit. Alright.
Without without any merit, without any without any positive qualities. We don’t have anything that we can really give to Buddha or Bodhisattva that would be able to really help them out. Alright. We really don’t have anything that they could really need. Yeah.
And it says, have no other wealth, but you protectors, you whose thoughts are for the good of others in your great power accept this for my sake. So what you’re basically saying is, I know you don’t need it, but to help me out, please take them. Alright. So the commentary says, so now we need to look at what’s the point of giving things that don’t really exist to people who don’t really need them. And so it says that the the and then the next line says there’s logic behind it.
Alright? And it is that because we haven’t been able to so it says because we haven’t accumulated vast stores of positive potential or merit in our previous existences, we don’t have a lot to give. Right? If we think about the the kindness of the Buddhas, the work that they’ve done in order to liberate sentient beings from suffering, and anything that we can give is just is very paltry compared to the work that they’ve done and the and the the respect that they deserve. So because we can’t do that, because we don’t have much to give, because it’s not supposed to be about possessions and holding on to things anyway, then this idea of mentally giving things, that is like giving that which isn’t owned, giving things that we can create, giving and visualizing visualizing things and then offering, those things in our mind.
In this way, we’re thinking, we’re showing respect. We’re showing this intention of giving. We’re developing the attitude, in which we give. So we are developing merit. We’re developing the intention that we have to give to make offerings to the Buddhas, and we’re trying to repay their kindness in a in a in a skilled way by visualizing things that we could give them.
And so then we say, so please considering this is what I’m trying to do, please show me kindness by accepting the offerings. So the Buddhas don’t need to take them. But if we ask them to please take them so that they can help us, So we think this is what I’m offering as a mental offering, but please take this mental offering, so that, I can be helped out by you receiving my offering. Mhmm. It is on.
Oh. I did