Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 34-minute Q&A session, Geshe Pema Tsering opens with a pointed teaching on anger: stopping yourself from acting on it reduces karma accumulation and itself serves as an antidote — but smiling through suppressed anger is not enough, you must get angry at anger rather than at people or yourself. He then grounds the meaning of refuge in a striking analogy: Tibetan refugees in India gained only temporary shelter because India fears China, so genuine refuge requires someone truly fearless — which only Buddhas are. He walks through the two causes for taking refuge (recognizing saṃsāra’s suffering; trusting the Three Jewels) and clarifies that refuge means actively practicing the teachings, not passively delegating to the Buddha. He closes by explaining how visualized offerings generate real merit, with Milarepa’s account of living two months on food offered in visualization as illustration. The session is lively and accessible, shaped throughout by audience questions.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2005 07 19Q Bodhisattvas Way of Life.mp3
UUID: 3b1d98c7-8c99-43d0-b506-28f47e0898c2
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Bodhisattva Way of Life 2005 Mar -2007 (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2005-07-19
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 34.0 minutes
Words: ~2,844
Better than punching someone. Because it’s easier to control your actions. Sure. Sure. Yeah.
Okay. Okay. I guess I said, yeah, this is the idea. That’s the idea. Is that you start working with doing these things because if you stop yourself acting on those activities, you’re stopping yourself from accumulating more karma.
And also the positive action of stopping yourself getting angry acts as an antidote to the anger. So even though you’ve got turbulent thoughts going on in your head Uh-huh. We call that your face, wouldn’t we? What’s that? I really hate you, but I’m gonna smile at you.
Yeah. Know, you know might look extreme, but, you know So it’s not good enough just to be annoyed at someone and then smile at them and pretend you’re not. You have to try and stop being annoyed at them. Yeah. So you have to try and use antidotes to try and see why you are to to to get over being angry by them.
So if is someone If anyone is doing anything to you, it can’t actually be their fault that you’re angry. It’s your fault that you’re angry. So it’s a matter of dealing with your anger and mind training to, stop yourself being angry. So you have to think the problem isn’t them. The problem is their negative states of mind.
So if I wanna get angry at anything there, then I need here in this situation, I need to get angry at anger. Alright? And getting angry at anger means not being angry. Right? So if we can go through this process and recognize that it is there there is nothing for us to be angry at, then then we need to control our mind.
That then that’s the thing to do. So, Geshe said, if you wanna get angry at anyone, get angry at yourself because you’re the one who created the situation in the first place. And I said, oh, actually, Geshe-la, Westerners have a very good habit of getting angry at themselves. And he goes, what? And I said, they have very we have a very good habit of getting really annoyed at ourselves.
And he said, if you just get annoyed at yourself, then you’re just gonna get angry and angry and angrier. And I said, yes. And he said, that’s just stupid. He wants to know if they hit each other. Hit them.
Self harm. And he’s like and he said, they they harm their body. It’s not their body’s fault. It’s their fault. He said, if you wanna if they wanna get frustrated with anyone, they should stop doing it.
He said, if you they’re frustrated with themselves for doing something, then the idea is to stop doing it. That doesn’t make any sense. And he said, yeah. But they probably don’t know all that. Yeah.
Yeah. If I kill myself, I’ll feel better. He said that’s a bit stupid. Okay. Hero.
A few questions are so much fun. I was waiting for your question. You gotta come out with it. Yeah. As in the Buddha.
Yeah. I’m just I’m I’m gonna have to use an example to explain it there. That’s all. No. No.
You did fine. I’m just it’s just a matter of in Tibetan, it’s a bit trickier. Okay. Yeah. So for example, the Tibetans took refuge in India when all these things happened in their own country.
And in the same way, we need to take refuge in the Buddhas and the teachings and the the the spiritual community, when we realize how yucky saṃsāra is. The difference is that if we’re taking refuge like, Tibetans taking refuge in India was a temporary situation. It’s only a temporary respite, from their problems. It’s not an ultimate solution. And in fact, us taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and Sangha is is in a way temporary as well because the ultimate refuge is taking refuge in ourselves, in our future Buddha, in our cell in our future potential, you know, in our future Buddhahood.
Right? So we take refuge in the Dharma, and the Sangha until we become a Buddha. And our future Buddha the future Buddha that we will become is our ultimate refuge. So Geshe-la said he said, but from personal experience, if I’m gonna tell you, if you’ve got a choice between taking refuge in the Indians Indian country and Indian government and the Buddha, go for the Buddha. Right?
Because he said that we he said that the Tibetans, we went to India because we were scared. Right? And he said and in some ways, we did get we did get refuge for the Indian government and the Indian people and and the country, and they did help us out in a lot of ways. But we left India We left Tibet because we were scared of the Chinese and what they were doing in Tibet. But he said that he doesn’t know how good the Indians were at protecting them from the Chinese because he reckons the Indians are scared of the Chinese.
Right? And he said, if you wanna take refuge in someone, take refuge in someone who isn’t scared. And so he said that the the Indians, you know, he doesn’t the Indian government and the Indian people, he doesn’t wanna be mean about what they’ve done for the Tibetans because what they’ve done is great, but he doesn’t think it would be considered a real refuge, if you if that makes sense. Because if it was a real refuge, you’d be going for refuge to someone who wasn’t scared of the people you were running from. Alright?
George Bush George Bush He reckons George Bush is afraid of China. He keeps saying, you know, that the Chinese shouldn’t do this. The Chinese shouldn’t do that. But does he ever make them stop? No.
Right. So so Sageshla said, so it is a bit like the the Tibetans going for refuge in India, but, yeah, it’s if you really want a real refuge, you want a refuge of someone who has no fear. Yeah. And then and that has is is able to completely protect you. Yeah.
And then so the only thing the only people who can really not be afraid of anything and can be fearless in their protection of you are Buddhas because they have completely gotten rid of their fears and their negative emotions. So the only people that would actually really stand up for someone or who would actually try and protect them, not the Indian government. So you need these two causes for refuge. First of all, need to know what’s happening in Samsāra. You need to recognize what Samsāra is and how it’s not very nice.
How there’s a lot of it’s it’s it’s an experience of suffering no matter what happens. And so, then you because that’s recognizing something that you don’t want to experience. And then you need to have faith or belief that there is there is a something that can protect you from that. And that’s that that protection is it takes form of the Three Jewels, the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha. So you need to have this fear and revulsion for Samsāra, and you need to have belief that there is a that there is beings that or there is a there is a path and a teacher and a a companions that can help you get out of that situation.
So the main thing is to recognize your suffering because we don’t really recognize we’re suffering most of the time. We need to know. We don’t we don’t usually know that we’re suffering. Okay.
So the there’s this process of refuge. Right? So the first thing is really coming to an understanding that we are experiencing suffering. Right? That happiness doesn’t last that we experienced in Samsāra and this we we’re caught in this idea of we we’re caught in the idea of trying to make ourselves happy perpetuating suffering.
Right? So we need to really recognize that. Then we need to think, okay, is there something that can protect me from that suffering that can get me out of that such is there somewhere I can go to get out of that situation? Alright? But the and then the the idea of refuge is that you’re looking to the Buddha to get out of that situation.
But it’s not enough just to look to the Buddha and say, okay, you sort it out. Alright? I I I take refuge in the Buddha. I don’t have to do anything else. Because taking refuge in the Buddha actually means following what the Buddha said.
Following what the Buddha said. Yeah? And if we could then go on to think, alright, the Buddha’s Buddha said all sorts of things. It’s too hard for me to figure out. I can only understand a bit of what he said, so I’d like refuge, but only only to the only the bits I understand.
Alright? Then that isn’t actually refuge because then we’re not taking refuge in the Buddha. Okay? Because we’re not recognizing our own ability to become Buddhas. So not only do we need to recognize the Buddha’s ability to lead us out of Samsāra, we need to recognize our own ability to become a Buddha and start putting that into practice.
So by putting into practice the Buddha’s teachings, that’s how we that’s activity of taking refuge. The attitude of taking refuge is that we’re experiencing suffering. The Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha have the ability to lead us out of suffering. Right? But the actual action of refuge is putting the Buddha’s teachings into practice and knowing that we can attain Buddhahood through that.
Wow. Yeah. And Geshe-la said, no. Don’t be worried about happiness. You want happiness.
Happiness is good. And but you wanna create the causes for happiness. Yeah. Alright. The idea is not to say I have to be miserable.
It’s to not is to is it is to recognize that you’ve become happy through your mind and not through external situations or through external activities. Sorry. I didn’t mean to say No. No. No.
No. It wasn’t that so much. It was because it’s it’s a valid point. But yeah. It’s anyway, so Geshe-la said Better.
Better. Okay. For example, take sex, for example. Alright? And he said, I hear people really enjoy that.
He said and so I was just like, oh, no. He said that he’s he’s read it. Yeah. And and that that and people think that when they’re having sex that it’s fantastic fun. They’re really enjoying themselves.
Right? And they never think for a moment during that time that this may actually be a cause of suffering. Alright? They’re in involved in the action. They’re not actually thinking, well, you know, this could be a cause for suffering.
Alright? They’re completely involved in the moment. Yeah? And so it’s by being really caught up in the moment, you set up a pattern for perpetuating the desire for that action. Alright?
And you don’t don’t create the causes for happiness. So if you can go, even if you can go, oh, okay. This is fun, but it’s not the it’s not the be all and end all. It’s going to end. Yeah?
And if I’m attached to it, that’s the cause for suffering. Then that’s using a positive a very, very happy experience, but you’re still yeah. Yeah. Okay. He said he agrees.
He thinks it’s a messy and probably dirty business, but still people get married, still monks and nuns lose their vows. Yes. Uh-uh. Yeah. No.
I was he’s just saying I just put but he okay. Okay. Now I just pointed out to him that some people do. I wasn’t telling him everybody does that. Geshe-la said also he thinks that people who think about karma will get angry at themselves because they they’ve created the cause for all of this their situation.
So I guess to say that he thinks that probably the reason that people would get angry at themselves is because they’re not making themselves as happy as they think they should be. And then if that’s why people commit suicide, then it’s this idea of not being able to cope with suffering in some way and and looking for a way out. Thanks. Yes. But thanks for pointing that out, Joe.
That’s not everyone. Okay. Geshe said that he said in general, when they have images of the Buddha Śākyamūni, he’s he’s he’s depicted as being golden. But if you want to visualize him as being, he said, a very good human, if that makes sense, a good specimen of humanity, then that’s fine as well. That’s also yeah.
Alright. Yes? Yes. Would that be something that you do, like, meditation at a set time? Uh-huh.
Would it be just with your daydreaming? Okay. Sure. Whenever you can. However many times you can, as many times as your mind goes there, great.
Yeah. Yeah. He said you are offering them if you think about them. If you think about them and then you visualize yourself offering them, you have offered them. Oh, even if you have nothing to give, if you visualize yourself giving the world, then that’s a mental action that’s very positive.
Sue. I didn’t see you. Sure. Mhmm. Okay.
So Geshe-la said the thing is is if what if what you’re doing is a method for you to get rid of anger, then it’s a positive method. Alright? And you’re not hurting the other person by doing it. So you have to recognize that the problem isn’t the other person, the problem is the anger. So if what you’re doing is method for you to get rid of the anger, and you can talk to them in a clear, unagitated way, then and what you’re doing will stop them hurting themselves and stop you, then that’s fine.
But you have to do it with the with the idea that the problem isn’t their behavior, it’s your anger. I just thought that was funny from what Joe said before because I had a American person on there who told me that Australians were incredibly duplicitous because they don’t say everything they think. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
He thinks it’s probably best that you be patient and practice patience with yourself rather than say something that you know is gonna make the other person angry. You mean to be reborn somewhere? Right. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Sorry.
Or is it just creating conditions in our mind Mhmm. For positive actions like giving? You don’t create conditions. That’s why I’m gonna have trouble translating that. You create causes.
And conditions help the causes come into being. So can I say create causes? Yeah. Okay. Okay.
Okay. So anything that we visualize as an offering, even though we may not be able to see it as a physical offering, the Buddhas are able to accept it as a physical offering. There isn’t as much of a distinction in in their understanding between things that are physically created in terms of through complicated causes and conditions and through visually or or or through visualizations. Visualizations. So anything that we offer, the Buddhas can actually use if they wanted them and if they needed them.
Even though we may not be able to even see them because we’ve just visualized them. Right? So there there is that idea. And there’s in Milarepa’s life story, they said, what have you been eating for two months? And he said, the things people have been offering me in visualizations.
There’s also The the other thing is though too, the main reason that we’re doing it is to create the causes, to create merit so that we can attain Buddhahood, so that we can attain Buddha to help other beings. So it is possible that Buddhas can make use of the things that we’ve offered, but the main reason we’re doing it is to create merit. Yeah. Buddhas don’t need merit. They’ll be fine if we didn’t offer them anything.
Okay. So we make Buddhas happy by offering things, but we don’t make them happy by offering things that they want and they think, oh, great. They just gave me something. We make Buddhas happy offering things because they see us doing something positive, and seeing us doing something positive makes them happy. Did you get that?
Cool. So Buddhas and Bodhisattvas want beings to be free from suffering. That’s their main motivation for everything they do and every thought that they have. So if they’re doing some if they see us doing something that’s going to relieve our suffering, then that makes them very happy. He thinks probably.
Oh, yeah. That is well. Is that okay? Is everyone okay?