Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Starting from Lama Tsongkhapa’s verse on renunciation, Geshe Pema Tsering uses this 45-minute session to explain why ordinary practitioners struggle to turn away from saṃsāra. He traces how desire is never satisfied — even world domination leaves us wanting more — and shows why fully qualified bodhicitta depends on renunciation as its foundation, then presents the Six Perfections as practical antidotes to attachment, anger, and craving. The second half covers altar arrangement, part of a series on six preparatory practices for daily Lamrim meditation: why Śākyamūni Buddha sits at the centre, how to place teachers and meditation deities such as Chenrezig and Tārā around him, which figures do not belong on a Buddhist altar, and why a statue’s material — gold versus wood — says nothing about its sacred value.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 05 DP 2004 02 03.mp3
UUID: 5c5fd89d-09e1-46e6-b3b2-c3de65e9ac71
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: DB Establishing a Daily Practice (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2004-02-03
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 44.9 minutes
Words: ~4,119
So in the three principal aspects of the path, Lama Tsongkapo said, Through such familiarity, we do not generate even a moment of mental longing for the magnificence of Samsāra. And when this discernment always seeking emancipation occurs night and day, at that time renunciation is generated. Now, this familiarity means that we familiarize ourselves with the idea that there is nothing good in saṃsāra constantly. So by familiarizing ourselves with that idea, it means that we train our mind in this way. And when we talk about mental longing for saṃsāra or the excellent things in saṃsāra, the things that we view as excellent in saṃsāra, we’re talking about the longing and the desire we have for such things as the objects that we accrue, our money, our savings and money, our wealth that we have in forms of objects and houses and that kind of thing.
Also our personal qualities that we may have developed in terms of learning about different things, about developing skills in certain areas and all of the attachments that we have to people and friends and so forth. The attachments that are of a negative form, all of these things are contaminated because they’re in Samsāra. When we have longing for those kind of things then we don’t have a mind of renunciation. So we need to see the shortcomings of these things of Samsāra that we have longing for. Then after we understand the shortcomings of these things, then we will develop this idea of trying to get out of saṃsāra.
When we have a mind that’s constantly striving to get out of saṃsāra or striving to achieve liberation both night and day we have this sense of striving for liberation and not being attached to saṃsāra, then that mind or that being’s mental continuum that is constantly striving for liberation and has turned away from saṃsāra is called renunciation. That idea of constantly striving striving to get out of saṃsāra is renunciation. From this that developing renunciation isn’t an easy thing to do because it means a mind that’s constantly striving towards liberation or nirvana and is not distracted or not allured by things of saṃsāra. So it’s very difficult to do. Once we’ve developed renunciation, we become what’s called a path-enterer or someone who’s entered the path in terms of the paths of the three vehicles, the three types of beings.
Now, in order for us to develop bodhicitta, we also need to develop renunciation because if we don’t have renunciation, we don’t have bodhicitta. bodhicitta is developed or fully qualified bodhicitta is developed in dependence upon our renunciation. So if we have the idea that we want to get out of saṃsāra for ourselves, then we can develop the idea that we want all beings to be freed from the sufferings of saṃsāra. But if we don’t have renunciation, we may have aspirational bodhicitta, but we don’t have fully qualified bodhicitta. So we may have the idea that we want to develop bodhicitta, but we can’t develop it until we’ve first developed renunciation.
Okay, so if we develop renunciation, then everything that we do, as someone who has this mind of constant renunciation, everything we do becomes not only a dharmic action or an action along with renunciation or after we develop renunciation we have fully qualified bodhicitta, then everything we do at that stage becomes a cause for us to achieve full enlightenment. But if you are someone like us who doesn’t have renunciation, who hasn’t developed full renunciation, then in order for us to create a cause to achieve Buddhahood or a cause for us to achieve personal liberation, we need to work fairly hard at it. We need to concentrate, develop a good motivation, think of the reasons for us developing a good motivation, and work hard at developing a good motivation to do something. Then that action that we’ve done with a good motivation becomes a cause for us to achieve liberation or full enlightenment. But it’s a lot more difficult for us as ordinary beings to develop that motivation and therefore to establish a cause for having these outcomes?
It’s very difficult for us to develop this idea of renunciation, however, because as ordinary beings, we tend to spend most of our time concentrating on things that will bring us happiness in this lifetime. So that means spend most of our time looking for things that will bring us some kind of temporary satisfaction in this lifetime as opposed to striving towards something that will develop the realizations in our mind stream and lead us towards constant happiness. So because our mind is constantly striving for happiness in this lifetime, we have to do a lot of hard work in order to develop renunciation. Now the only way that we’re going to develop renunciation then is by seeing the shortcomings of saṃsāra. Seeing that saṃsāra isn’t actually a good place or isn’t actually situation to be in and that we need to develop a mind seeking to get out of saṃsāra.
So we need to focus on ways that we can develop an understanding of the faults of saṃsāra, the shortcomings of saṃsāra, instead of looking at saṃsāra the way that we usually look at it now, which is to only see the good bits of saṃsāra, only to see the positive things in saṃsāra that we think that we can help us. But that’s our mistaken view because there isn’t any positive aspects in them, sir. So being unable to truly see the shortcomings of saṃsāra, we tend to strive for samsaric happiness and see that as being a positive thing, seeing saṃsāra happiness as being a positive thing. But in actual fact, samsaric happinesses aren’t actually true happiness. Happinesses of this life, all the good things that can happen to us in this life that we spend a lot of time working towards aren’t really true happiness.
They have their nature. They’re in the nature of suffering. Their nature is suffering. They can’t bring us anything but dissatisfaction and suffering. So if we keep striving for them, if we keep working towards these things that we see as happiness but as actually suffering, then we’re just creating the causes to experience experience more suffering in the future.
So striving towards things of this life, striving towards worldly things that will only benefit us in the short term is actually doing us harm even though we perceive that it’s doing us good, that it’s helping us, that it’ll make us happy. Most people are like this. Most people don’t see the shortcomings of saṃsāra. Most people see saṃsāra as being full of good qualities that we need to work towards, but it’s not the case. Samsāra is by its nature suffering and we don’t want to strive experience suffering.
So, we need to work to understand the shortcomings of Samsāra. Okay. So, what we find ourselves doing, instead of seeing the shortcomings of Samsāra, we tend to spend all our time trying to make ourselves happy in Samsāra. So we are constantly striving after things that we think are going to make us happy, things of this lifetime, things that we feel will give us happiness because we don’t see their temporary nature. So this means that we keep trying to figure out ways to get things that we think we need.
We keep trying to get objects that we think will make us happy. We think okay if I just have that and that and that then I’ll be happy. So then when we’ve got objects we can look around and we see people that are really rich with big houses and big cars and always see them in the media and we think okay I want to be like them so I’ve got to try and figure out how to be like those rich people over there and then we work really hard to try and get to be like the rich people. So either that or if we’ve got wealth and we’ve got things, then we start trying to find a partner that will make us happy. So we start trying to find a girlfriend or a boyfriend or a wife or a husband that’s going to make us happy.
So we’re constantly looking for things that can try and make us happy, and we think, okay, if I just have that, then I’m going to be happy. So we keep thinking that if we get these things, all these things that we’re striving after, we think, Okay, if I just have that, then I’ll be fine. So we have this mind that’s striving after all of these things. We have this mind that’s desirous and attached to having all of these things. So because we want all of these things, then we spend a lot of time working towards it.
We are striving towards these goals, striving towards getting these things that we think we need. And all of the things that we do in order to get these things are actually negative, are actually those actions and negative karma. Whether we’re thinking about ways to get them, whether we’re doing things trying to get them, or whether we actually achieve them and then try and figure out or we actually get these things and then try and figure out ways to hold on to them. All of those actions that we do are negative actions. They’re non virtuous actions.
Now the reason that they’re non virtuous actions is because they’re starting from two incorrect premises. The first one is this desire, like thinking that these things are going to make us happy and therefore we’re working from an incorrect premise of desire. And there’s also the idea of self grasping thinking, I need these things. And there’s this idea of I there that really needs these things. There’s two ways that our thought patterns in that way are incorrect and therefore are non virtuous.
And because they’re non virtuous actions, they’re actually just going to lead us to experience more suffering. And they’re not actually a cause that we’re not actually striving towards making ourselves happy in this instance even though we think we are. We’re actually striving for saṃsāra in this instance because we’re just creating causes for us to experience more saṃsāra because the actions that we’re doing are actually negative actions that lead to suffering. So what we need to do is to establish a way that we won’t be slaves or servants to our self grasping and our desires and slaves to our negative minds in this way. We need to find out how we can stop ourselves being slaves to these different emotions or these different thoughts.
So what we need to do in that case is to concentrate or train our mind in seeing the shortcomings of saṃsāra, seeing the faults of saṃsāra so that our mind isn’t striving for things that it thinks is good and instead it understands that saṃsāra is actually suffering. By striving towards the good qualities of saṃsāra, we’re striving towards suffering. So we can kind of see that there there are good things in saṃsāra. We think that we can see there are good things in saṃsāra because of the limited happiness that can come about in saṃsāra and that we don’t see the true nature of this limited happiness which is actually suffering. So what we need to do is not focus on that limited happiness that we perceive to be happiness but is actually suffering and we need to start striving for true happiness which is liberation.
And once we’ve done this, once we start training our mind in this way, once we start focusing on the faults of saṃsāra instead of the way our mind usually focuses on the perceived qualities of saṃsāra, then we develop renunciation, a mind that’s striving towards happiness, towards liberation. And any of the results of the actions that we engage in with the mind that is striving towards liberation are positive. Any of the actions that we engage in with renunciation, in other words, are positive. Any of the results there are going to be happiness and not suffering as it would be if we were striving towards samsaric happiness. Because the problem with desire is we need to get rid of desire because the problem with desire is it’s never satisfied.
We can keep striving after our desires again and again and again, and we never get anywhere. We never get to a sense of satisfaction. Someone could give us the whole world, and then we’d look for something more. We could try and have power over the whole world and then we try and seek other ways to other things that we needed. So there’s no extinguishing of desires by indulging in it.
The more we seek for, the more that we feel like we need. So in this way we can see that desire really isn’t very good. It really doesn’t help us very much because it just creates a situation where we’re being more desirous. So what we need to do is recognize the faults of desire and recognize the faults of the things that we are desirous after in order to develop a mind seeking for true happiness. So, for example, we could see Australia’s Prime Minister Johnny Howard, or the Chinese government or indeed America’s government.
They don’t have an understanding of the shortcomings of Samsāra so they’re constantly striving to accrue more power or more influence or more wealth in different areas of the world. They don’t have any idea of either the shortcomings of Samsāra or the concept of contentment. So they don’t even know how to work with either of those things. Because these people don’t understand the shortcomings of saṃsāra, because they don’t have a concept of contentment, they could take control of the whole world, but they still wouldn’t be satisfied. They take control of the whole world and then they start looking at the sun and the moon and all the planets and try and figure out how they can start controlling them.
So the the reason they’re doing this is because they don’t see the shortcomings of. Samsāra. They don’t see the faults of Sensara. They only see what they perceive to be positive things in Sensara. So they think the more they strive for this, the more happy they’re going to be.
But in actual fact, the more they strive for this, they’re going to experience suffering. So if we’re in order for us to to get rid of desire, to get rid of anger, to get rid of all the negative emotions, then we need to develop an understanding of shortcomings of saṃsāra. If we see the shortcomings of saṃsāra, then we’re going to have an antidote to our desires, to our anger that comes about when we don’t get what we desire or where we’re attached to. So the direct antidote to dealing with our negative emotions is actually to develop this mind of renunciation that’s turning away from saṃsāra and not grasping at things as if they can make us happy, not grasping at the shortcomings of saṃsāra as if they can make us happy. So, the things that we’re striving after in Samsāra are actually the shortcomings of Samsāra because we don’t understand that they’re shortcomings of Samsāra.
So, it’s our desire to think is a shortcoming of Samsāra. Desire is a shortcoming of Samsāra. And we need to understand that in order to not have desires, order to get past that. And Geshe-la said, if you’re anything like him, then you’ve done a lot of things or created a lot of negative karma in order to try and get things in saṃsāra that you think are gonna make you happy. You’ve done a we’ve done a lot of negative actions in order to get things that we thought were gonna make us happy but haven’t.
Because what we don’t realize is that any of the happiness of saṃsāra, any of the so called happiness of saṃsāra are actually very fleeting. They’re impermanent. They’re constantly changing. They’re not going to stay stable for very long. So even if we worked very hard in order to get them, they’re not going to stay that way.
You may work very hard to make ourselves happy, but then it’s not we’re just not going to stay happy because we haven’t created the causes for that. So what we need to do is to create the causes for true happiness. Now, fully qualified happiness or real happiness is actually the happiness of liberation, the happiness of liberation from desire, the happiness of liberation from needing. So therefore, it’s the liberation from saṃsāra. So we need to develop the mind striving for that kind of happiness because it’s the only happiness that we can rely on.
So we need to understand the shortcomings of saṃsāra, and therefore, need to train our minds in order to not be attached to saṃsāra. And the way that we can train our minds in order to be striving for liberation and not being attached to saṃsāra is by applying antidotes to the causes of saṃsāra. For example, if we want to apply an antidote to the causes for desire or hoarding physical objects or thinking that we need to create lots of wealth, then we can try to give away to our practice generosity with our time and money and so forth. That acts as an antidote to us wanting hold onto things physically. And then if we want to deal with our desires then we can use ethics.
We can try and be very ethical and that gives an antidote to being controlled by our desires. And if we want to get rid of anger then we practice patience and so forth. No. Okay. If we want to get rid of Okay, so if we want to get rid of anger, have to practice patience and so forth.
The other the six what are called the six perfections or the trainings, the six trainings that we need to do. And if we practice these, whether we’re practicing generosity, whether we’re practicing ethics or patience or effort, meditation or wisdom, then by doing this then we create the causes for us to develop renunciation and eventually to get out of saṃsāra. So by doing this, then we’re actually doing things that will truly make us happy as opposed to things we think will make us happy. So by doing this, then we can see that the faults of saṃsāra have no true essence that will make us happy. And we’ll see that liberation that through liberation we will develop true happiness, fully qualified happiness that is stable.
And so by doing these things, by focusing on these things, seeing the faults of saṃsāra and the qualities of liberation, then we will be able to develop renunciation from saṃsāra and a mind striving towards liberation. So by concentrating on this, then we need to develop a mind that’s striving towards liberation for ourselves because developing liberation is something that we need to do in order to achieve the release from suffering. So this is a motivation that we should try and develop when we are doing any kind of listening to teachings, studying, meditating or contemplating teachings, any action that we’re doing, should try and develop this kind of motivation for it. But not only should we be striving for liberation for ourselves, but the same way that we want to be free from suffering, so do all other beings. And therefore, by helping these beings through striving towards Buddhahood, then we develop an even higher motivation.
So we should try and develop a good motivation for whatever it is that we’re doing. So we should be thinking that we need to do it to develop an understanding of the shortcomings of saṃsāra and that we need to develop an understanding of the positive aspects or the true happiness of liberation. And by focusing on this, may be a cause for us to develop the mind as bodhicitta that strives towards enlightenment and that anything that we do, whether it’s listening or practicing or trying to focus on the shortcomings of sara, the qualities of liberation. Anything that we do, may that be a cause for us to attain Buddhahood in order to establish all sentient beings in a state beyond sorrow. So in order to achieve this, we’re going to listen to some teachings.
So we should have this motivation that we’re doing this in order to achieve liberation for the sake of all sentient beings, and that may the virtuous actions of all of the six different types of beings by rejoicing in the their positive actions, may that combined with our positive actions to be a cause for us to achieve this goal. And we should meditate on that. The six preparatory practices or rites that we need to do to establish a practice on a daily basis. So we do what we need to set up in order to do a daily practice to In specific to meditate on the Lamrim or the graduated path. Now the first one we did yesterday, sorry last week, to clean up the room and to make the place straight in order for us to put down images of the Buddha, the Dharma, Sangha and so forth.
Last week we talked about the story of Lam Chung pa whose name I didn’t look up and how he developed the realization of an arhat through sweeping. Today we’re going to talk about for starters how to arrange images of the body, speech and mind of the Three Jewels on an altar in order for us to have a focus point for our meditations and for our Dharma practice. Now if we’re going to set up an altar for a Buddhist practice in order to focus our mind for a Buddhist practice then the central figure on this altar as a Buddhist altar should probably be Buddha Śākyamūni because Buddha Śākyamūni was the first being to give us the teachings in this age to show us the path and in this way we refer to him as the original teacher or just simply the teacher. And so because he is the main teacher or the illuminator of the Buddha’s path, then it would seem that we should have an image of Śākyamūni Buddha as a central figure on this altar or our focus point for our meditations and teachings. Now first of all before we put this image, if even if we it means we only have a photo.
Yeah? A photo of a statue, then that’s fine as long as there is an image of Śākyamūni Buddha. Before we put that down, however, we should try and make the place clean and nice so it looks good. Yeah? For because we’re we’re putting the Buddha down there, an image of the Buddha there.
And so that’s the central image. Now apart from the central image of Buddha Śākyamūni, then we can also add picture of our own teacher or teachers in an ordered manner around the statue of the Buddha, and also Yidams or meditation deities that we may have faith in. So whether that’s Mañjuśrī or Chenrezig or Tārā or whoever the meditation or deities we have faith in are, if we can arrange them in a kind of good looking way. So it’s also not a very good idea to put what are called worldly gods or deities that may be able to give us a worldly favor, you know, like help us out in a short term basis to put them on the altar or the sacred space that we’re using along with that. Feel like that’s a really new age.
Okay. The the focus for the meditation is not good to put the worldly deities up with the Buddhas. And so some people also have this idea that if a statue is made from gold or silver, then that’s an important statue. And if a statue is made from wood or or earth, then that’s not an important statue. So they put the gold and the silver statues in a higher place and put earth or wooden statues on the ground or something because they don’t think it’s worth very much because it’s not made from gold.