Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 24-minute Q&A session, Geshe Pema Tsering opens with a striking instruction on dedicating virtue: every time a practitioner performs a good action, the resulting happiness should be mentally given entirely to all sentient beings, with zero held back for oneself. He explains why this matters — the habit of clinging to merit is rooted in self-cherishing, which is simply miserliness in another form. He then defines conscientiousness as the mind that weighs the advantages of generosity against the pull of miserliness, and briefly introduces the chapter’s upcoming focus on the dangers of abandoning bodhicitta. He closes with a vivid analogy: training bodhicitta is like knowing with certainty that going to work means receiving a salary — a confidence built through familiarity. Suited to practitioners following Śāntideva’s text in an ongoing class.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2005 11 01Q Bodhisattvas Way of Life.mp3
UUID: 3e29cfe9-8cd5-4e79-b8f3-0c8a276d4183
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Bodhisattva Way of Life 2005 Mar -2007 (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2005-11-01
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 24.2 minutes
Words: ~1,067
Listen, if you have any questions, this is. So then, guys, we should think that when we do something good, we do a virtuous action. And from this virtuous action, what is going to come a good result, a virtuous result, which is happiness and so forth, then we should say, this result, give away. You should just be thinking, just thinking this way: I give away to all sentient beings. I don’t want any of this happiness for myself. I give it all away to all sentient beings.
And this is the way you should think every time you engage in a virtuous deed. The good result that comes from it, I give away to all sentient beings. I don’t want any of it for myself. This is like a mind training thing. And then we should you should what the attitude that you’re trying to develop is of not wanting any happiness for yourself and giving it.
And you should even though you’re not going to it’s not like you’re not going to have any virtue anymore, and you’re actually gonna have virtue, going to make up virtue for yourself. But you should even though you this is going to happen, you’re gonna have virtue. You have to put effort in having an attitude of mind that does not wish anything for yourself. That’s the whole point of the practice. It’s just the point of the thing is to make effort in even though we’re going to have the virtue and the happiness and experience the results, you have to have the attitude of mind that does not wish any of it for yourself.
It still wants to give it all away to others. It’s like he says, you have to really, in your mind, you have to really mean it that you’re giving it all away. Totally. So he’s saying, we have we have, you know, very, very long time, like, beginning less time, from beginning less time, since we have been born again and again, and we have had this this miserly mind. Right?
And then so now we we are we are trying to train our mind in a different way. And then and but he says, when when you think of giving away your virtues, then he’s also saying, and Śāntideva is saying that you should not think then you should not you should not let the the thought occur in your mind that if if I give away all my virtues, then I won’t have any left for myself. Because if if if this kind of thought occurs, then you want to you you will think that you will need to keep some for yourself. And this, again, is misery miserliness again. Is that mind again, that miserly mind again.
So you should not let this this kind of thought occur. Yeah. So then can I explain that the the root of miserliness is, again, the self-cherishing attitude? Because we have that, then we are miserly. It depends on this one, right, this chapter?
Per year, yes. That’s a good question? Okay. So he says that conscientiousness is not is not one of them. It says later on, probably on this chapter, we’re going to get into So then this conscientiousness, Geshe-la is explaining that is the mind that, for example, in relation to generosity, is a mind that, how do you say, considers all the advantages of practicing generosity, all the disadvantages in relation to miserliness and then having considered that engages, let’s say, protects itself from miserliness and engages in generosity.
And this again, it’s the mind that does that with all this perfectionism and again, every other activity. So it’s protecting the practice itself and the mind of enlightenment. I don’t know. So, yeah, yes, this now we’re going to talk about the disadvantages. In this chapter, now we’re going to come into the disadvantages of abandoning the mind of enlightenment.
Yeah. It’s just saying that conscientiousness has in mind that consider the advantage of disadvantages of any practice, of every practice. Any more questions? I thought I read somewhere that has helped. He hopes that he develops bodhicitta in this lifetime.
Lewis. So that made me think, oh, there’s no way that I can develop it in this lifetime. Lewis. I guess maybe he would be modest. Just like you have the mind that is sure that if you go to work, you’re gonna get your salary, your money, and so forth.
Then just like you have this mind, and you know know this thing. Okay. I’m going to work in order to get the money. So then, if for same vein, you develop you give rise to a mind. Okay?
You train yourself to give rise to a mind, which wishes to free all sentient beings from suffering and place all the happiness. And then for that reason, I will engage in the six perfections. And no matter what hardships I may meet with, I will keep on practicing. So if you can I can ask you, first, you identify this mind? Okay.
What is the mind of enlightenment? It’s the mind that wishes to free all sentient beings from suffering, places them in happiness, and then for that reason, wants to attain enlightenment. Then you identify it, and then you give rise to this mind. You train yourself. And once once once you have attained it, then you will see that this mind is there, just as you see that the other mind that knows that if you go to work, you’re gonna get money.
So that that has the motivation. You’re gonna see that motivation. You can see the other the other one also. Okay? Yes.
It’s it’s afterwards. The ceremony is going to be on Wednesday. Right? Yeah. In the morning.
And the ceremony is going to be on a Friday after that. Yeah. Yeah. On the Friday after that or Wednesday. On on afternoon or evening?
I don’t remember the time. It’s Friday evening after the Bodhisattva vow. Yes. So shall we finish now? I just wanted to say that for those who are asking, Geshe-la is feeling much better, and he he’s not complaining about pains anymore.
He’s not taking as many painkillers as he was taking before. He’s feeling much better, he says. So for all who are asking. Okay.