Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 19-minute Q&A session, Geshe Pema Tsering addresses a striking case: can a sheep — an animal that accumulated no virtue in this life — still achieve human rebirth? He explains that virtuous imprints from past human lives can, at death, generate a virtuous mind and thus a higher rebirth, though such events are exceedingly rare. He then distinguishes two ways Buddhas help beings: temporally (food, shelter, water) and ultimately (planting Dharma imprints in the mindstream). The discussion moves to gods of the formless realm, described as existing like deep dreamless sleep — pure consciousness, no body, no active thought. It closes with a frank epistemological point: Geshe Pema Tsering can confirm Buddhas exist because the pure teachings prove it, but cannot personally verify gods.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2005 11 15Q Bodhisattvas Way of Life.mp3
UUID: 20cfec3c-214d-4c67-832c-ab611633b328
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Bodhisattva Way of Life 2005 Mar -2007 (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2005-11-15
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 19.4 minutes
Words: ~946
Well, he says it’s very difficult for them in the case of the sheep. Right? This is very difficult. The very few cases such as what he’s going to explain. It happens very very readily, but he says that it happens.
It does happen because the sheep before being born as a sheep was born innumerable times, was born also as a human being. And in all those times, it it never accumulated any virtues. Yet it has some virtuous imprints in its mind stream. And by the power of those imprints, but when the sheep dies, if eventually there comes a good mind, a virtuous mind at that moment, then it will obtain a human rebirth. Let’s say, I was referring to a human rebirth.
But this, again, Geshe-la says, this is very rare. There’s very few events such as this one. If become a Buddha, how can I have a sheep? If you become a Buddha, how can you help a sheep? The idea is to become a Buddha and help all sentient beings.
No. This is not right. Buddha Buddha will help the sheep in various ways. For example, if the sheep doesn’t have anything to eat, the Buddha will give grass for the sheep. If it doesn’t have water, it will give it will give water.
If it doesn’t have a place to stay, then the Buddha will provide a place for the sheep to stay. There are many ways to help the sheep. So this is the way to help the sheep in how do say? For how do how do you say that? To give a temporal happiness to the sheep.
If you want to help the sheep ultimately, then the Buddha will give teachings and will plant seeds, will put imprints, imprints of Dharma teachings in the mindstream of the sheep. So if one has the potential, which refers to one having a certain store of merit, then if one has a store of merit, then the Buddhas will be able to help in whatever way is necessary, whether temporal or ultimate help. Yes. The Buddhas will help in both ways. So, Geshe-la is saying that, now whatever happiness that we have, we experience, we all experience this contaminated happiness.
So then, you know, Geshe-la said that whatever contaminated happiness that we experience is is due to virtues. It’s due to comes out of virtue, right? Then say that So it says that the virtue that virtue is it’s the enlightened activity of the Buddhas. Yes. It’s like a blessing.
It’s like a blessing. Okay. Oh, yeah. One more question. Sorry.
What’s the second part? Yeah. That’s okay. How they see the How they see things? As being contaminated.
As being contaminated. Yeah. Isn’t that what you what you’re saying earlier? But even when we’re in the formless world, we still have some contaminated. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. We still have Okay. How can we the And then what was the second part again? There was a second part with.
Right? So how do how do they see? And then you said something after. What do they look like? Yeah.
First part was how yeah. What they look like. Second part, how do they see is the contaminated. So there’s like this, again, I think that the the formless the gods of the formless realms, well, they do not have a form, they do not have a body. So they don’t see and they they don’t they don’t even think.
They are just it’s just like deep sleep. Yeah. I was saying, it’s just like when we are in deep sleep. What what they do have is is consciousness. It’s the aggregate of consciousness, the only thing that they have.
And in the aggregate of consciousness, they have imprints, as a contaminated — they come out of contaminated karma and afflictive emotions. This this this consciousness is originated out of karma and afflictive emotions and conceptions. It’s there. They have the these imprints these are the seeds in this consciousness. But they don’t have they don’t have a body.
They don’t have a form. They do not see anything. It’s just like deep sleep. They don’t even think like we do. It’s just here, like, it’s an aggregate of consciousness.
Do you want to rest? He says that if he were a Buddha or an Ārya being, he would be able to know that, but he doesn’t know. So he cannot see them or anything. So one should not even ask the question if there is if there is a god or not because this is what’s the name of that mental factor?
It’s one of the main minds from minor mental factors. You know? Oh, god. Oh, is. Doubt.
Doubt. I’m I’m not I don’t remember the exact English technical translation, but it’s doubt. One thing is that is there or is there is not. So he says, if you ask Geshe-la, if there is a Buddha, there are Buddhas, he says he can say that there are. If you ask if there are gods, he cannot say.
No, he just want to explain why. He says that he knows that there are Buddhas because there is the, how to say, pure Buddhadharma, the pure teachings. They were they were given. So based based on the teachings on the on the as is proved, there are Buddhas. Yes.
So then yes, it’s right, but we cannot say. There are many gods, but we cannot distinguish, we cannot see them. But yes, it’s right. It says, the Buddha said, and yes, there is. Okay?
So we finish now. Okay. You want