Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Geshe Pema Tsering opens this 45-minute session by asking why, despite cycling through god realms across countless lifetimes, we still chase samsaric happiness — because we simply cannot imagine what liberation feels like. From that diagnosis he turns to a practical remedy: set bodhichitta motivation before every virtuous act, sustain it during, dedicate it afterward, so ordinary good deeds become causes for Buddhahood. He then draws a sharp line between generosity and the perfection of generosity — only bodhichitta motivation makes the difference — and works through all three types: material gifts, Dharma instruction (even one word to a child qualifies), and protection from fear, illustrated with earthworms rescued from summer heat. The session closes by introducing the perfection of ethics and its three vow categories, stressing that ethics underlies every realization.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 15 D BC 2004 06 29.mp3
UUID: 8ec366df-5d76-4e02-961d-3e3b1e226bb5
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: DB How to Develop Bodhichitta (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2004-06-29
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.5 minutes
Words: ~4,147
Yep. Somewhere in the Three Principal Aspects of the path, Lama Tsongkhapa said something like, which I can’t find in this translation, if you If you’re able to develop a mind that turns away from saṃsāra and focuses on the attainment of liberation, then you’re actually taking the essence from this precious human rebirth. At the moment we have this rebirth that has leisure and opportunity. Have time to do things and we have the access to the things that we can do in order to take essence from this life. So if we are able to focus on even for a short time developing the mind striving for liberation or the mind striving for Buddhahood, then that means that we’ve managed to achieve the goal of giving this life meaning.
So what stops us from being able to understand this is that we can’t see or we can’t have a personal experience of the happiness that we get from liberation and the happiness that we get from becoming a Buddha, developing the Buddha mind. So, because we can’t see these and we can actually experience the happiness of saṃsāra, then we take the happiness of saṃsāra to be actual happiness and don’t try and strive for true happiness of liberation or enlightenment. So if we understood what true happiness was, we wouldn’t be attached to the samsaric happiness that we experience in this lifetime. So we can because we understand what the this kind of happiness, then it means that most of our positive actions are motivated by achieving this kind of happiness. So we actually manage to perform quite a few positive actions by abandoning the ten non virtuous actions and practicing the ten virtuous actions.
We actually can perform positive actions, but these positive actions are tainted with the idea that the reason for our our actions is to achieve a kind of temporary happiness as a god or a human. So we’ve already experienced this kind of happiness over again and again and again over and over again and again. We’ve had all these different lifetimes. We’ve experienced the intense blissed out states of the God realms, whether it be as a desire realm God or a God that is reborn into the subtle existence of the form realm. So we’ve experienced this before.
We’ve had lifetimes that are in which we experience amazing experiences of happiness, and especially if we were born into the form realms, then we are in a blissed out state for a very, very long time. And we’ve done this before. We’ve done it again and again and again in different lifetimes, but it hasn’t got us anywhere. We haven’t achieved anything from that. We’ve just been going around in the circles of saṃsāra.
So, it seems to be pointless to strive towards happiness if it isn’t getting us anywhere. So we’ve already had these experiences before, and they haven’t helped us. We’ve been reborn into an incredibly blissful state state of a God or a desire realm God or a form realm God. And then we’ve had to experience death in those realms and being reborn in a lower state maybe even in the hell realms. So striving for samsaric happiness hasn’t helped us in the past and even though we may continue to create the causes for samsaric happiness, it’s not going to help us ultimately in the future.
If we are to be reborn as a god or a human in our next lifetimes, that’s not going to put an end to our suffering. The only way we can do this is through liberation and achieving Buddhahood. So, in this way, striving after samsaric happiness or happiness that we can actually see or experience, happiness that we know about from our perspective, This isn’t actually helping us very much. It doesn’t get us anywhere. So we’ve already created experiences for experiencing happiness.
We’ve already created the causes for experiencing suffering. We’ve already created the causes for experiencing equanimity. We all experience these three states in sequential order. We experience one, then the other, then one, then the other. We don’t usually experience them at once, but we have a sense of happiness and then we may have a sense of pain and so forth.
So, no matter how much samsaric happiness we can work towards or create the merit in order to experience as a result we want to experience samsaric happiness as a result of contaminated virtue. No matter how much of this type of virtue that we accumulate, we’re never going to be able to stop ourselves experiencing suffering. We can’t stop ourselves experiencing suffering until we create the causes for liberation. And if we continually create the causes for happiness in saṃsāra, then there is no escape from saṃsāra. There’s no end to saṃsāra.
So every time that we’re born in saṃsāra through karma and delusions through creating a negative karma through our delusions or contaminated karma through our delusions, then we are going to experience all three of these things. We are going to experience happiness, we are going to experience suffering, we going to experience equanimity. And in this way we can’t rely on any of the happiness that we experience in saṃsāra. Any of the happiness in saṃsāra is samsaric happiness which is suffering of change that is, we can’t rely on it or it contaminated by its nature in that it is a version of all pervasive suffering because of its base being an unstable base. So, what we need to do is to create the causes for us to experience true happiness, to experience happiness we can rely on happiness that we can actually continue to abide in and don’t have to experience suffering as a result.
So this means that every time we do something virtuous, we should really try to make our motivation for doing this virtuous action to be that we attain liberation or we attain Buddhahood, preferably that we attain Buddhahood, if we can’t concentrate on that, then that we attain personal liberation. If we do this, then we’re creating the causes for ourselves to experience true happiness to be of benefit to other beings, as opposed to creating the causes for more of the same experiences we have always had. So the problem that we’re up against and why it’s difficult for us to develop this type of way of thinking, this mind that’s concentrated on achieving Buddhahood or liberation. The problem is that we haven’t experienced Buddhahood or liberation. We don’t know what it’s like to experience the calm happiness that beings who have gotten rid of self grasping have achieved nirvana, have achieved Buddhahood.
We don’t know what it’s like for it to experience what they experience. And because we have no experience of it ourselves and we don’t understand the true happiness that is involved, then we don’t have belief in it or faith in it that we’re able to achieve that and that we can work towards it. Because if we don’t have an experience or an understanding of something ourselves, then it’s very difficult for us to work towards that. It’s very difficult for us to believe in that. Even beyond that, it’s not as if there is only one end goal that we are working towards.
The Buddhas and the teachers described many different paths that we need to accomplish, different practices or practices, many different states of being that we need to develop in order get to that state and we need to have faith in the entire path not just the end result. And so it’s difficult for us to develop faith in that and because we don’t have faith in that, because we have doubts about it, because we haven’t experienced it ourselves, then we don’t want to necessarily strive towards it and we can see samsaric happiness so we spend all our time working towards that. So because of this, then we need to work really hard at developing the right motivation for doing something virtuous. We need to try and develop the idea that we’re doing this in order for us to become a Buddha to benefit sentient beings. Then while we’re doing the action, we should try and remember that that’s the reason we’re doing it.
Then after we have done it, we should dedicate the action that we performed towards that end. So if we do this, if we have the right motivation, if we remind ourselves why we’re doing it, why we’re doing it and then we dedicate it afterwards, it means that the action becomes a cause for us to achieve Buddhahood. It doesn’t end until it doesn’t ripen until we achieve Buddhahood. And in order for us to achieve Buddhahood, we need the right conditions to come about. So, it helps to create the conditions for us to progress along the path and eventually achieve Buddhahood.
The force of that karma doesn’t extinguish until we have reached the end of the path, until we become a Buddha. In this way, there are enormous benefits from dedicating in this way, from developing this motivation. So the in this way, then we should think that in order to lead all sentient beings out of suffering, I myself am going to become a Buddha, and may this positive action that I’m about to do be a cause for me to attain Buddhahood. And may that virtuous cause and all of the other virtuous things I’ve ever done, all of the other good things I’ve ever done, be combined along with my rejoicing in all the positive actions of all beings, all of the five classes of beings. It may be a cause for me to attain Buddhahood.
And then after we’ve done that, after we’ve meditated on that for a while, we should also remember at the end of these teachings to dedicate properly what all the positive things we’ve done. So for now, should meditate on the development of bodhicitta. Mhmm. For a few more. Okay.
So we talked about in the last few weeks the development of and the two different ways of developing bodhicitta, either through the seven point cause and effect instruction or the exchange of self and others. Once we have developed bodhicitta, then there are actual actions that there are actually actions that the bodhisattva should engage in. So these are called the six perfections. The first of the perfections is called the training and the perfection of giving. In this text that Geshe is referring to, when it’s talking about the six perfections, it says that they should be divided into three subheadings when we’re talking about the six perfections.
The first is the general way to train in the deeds of the child of the victors, which is the general way to train in Bodhisattva’s deeds. In particular, the way to train in the last two perfections being meditation and wisdom. Then the third one is the way to train in the vajrayana. So with regards to the first one then there are six headings. There are six perfections.
Is generosity, ethics, patience, perseverance, concentration, and wisdom. Okay. So in most of it in text, they have this what’s outline of the text. So that’s what Yoshua was just reading. It’s like what comes in this section of the text and it goes like a skeleton that they read out at the beginning of the text.
That’s what that was. And so within those and the first of these the first of the six perfections that need to be trained in by Bodhisattvas is generosity. And then within generosity there’s said to be three different types of generosity that need to be trained in. The first is the generosity of giving dharma, the second is the generosity of giving protection from fear, and the third is the generosity of giving material things. So the first one that’s dealt with is actually being generous with material things or giving physical things.
So this type of generosity includes everything from giving away a spoonful of barley flour up until giving away your body. In general, means anything that you can give that can help people physically can help to support their life or help people or animals to support their existence. This is the actual act of giving away physical things. What this is referring to here is what it’s technically called. Mhmm.
Okay. And so if we give something away, whatever it is that we give away, then the actual act of giving someone something is what we call generosity. So, may call it generosity or we may call it giving, but we can’t call it the perfection of generosity and we can’t call it the perfection of giving because the result of that action isn’t achieving Buddhahood. Just by giving someone something, don’t create the cause for achieving Buddhahood. So this is a distinction between general generosity and the perfection of generosity.
If on the other hand, we are to give something away with the motivation that action is going to be may this action be a cause for me to attain Buddhahood in order to establish all sentient beings in Buddhahood or in a state beyond sorrow, then the action that we are performing creates a cause for us to achieve Buddhahood. And not only for us to achieve Buddhahood, but for us to achieve the perfection of generosity that is a quality of a fully enlightened Buddha. So, if we do something with this motivation, then a normal act of generosity becomes a perfection of generosity becomes a practice of the perfection of generosity. So, is the same with any of the six perfections. If we do them by themselves, if we practice generosity, ethics, patience, perseverance, concentration or wisdom by themselves, then they don’t necessarily become a perfection of generosity, ethics, etc.
They become a virtuous action, but not a perfection. If they are mingled or if they are motivated by this idea of bodhicitta, then they become a perfection. So this means that we’re not giving with the idea that the person we’re giving to will give us more back in the future. Now we’re not giving with the idea that we will be praised for giving. We’re not giving with the idea that by giving in this lifetime we’re going to end up very rich and powerful in future lifetimes.
It means that we’re giving with the idea that we’re creating the causes for us to achieve complete Buddhahood and therefore be able to lead all sentient beings out of suffering. So this means that the force of this action action doesn’t come down to whatever the material substance is that we’re giving, whether we’re giving ten dollars or one hundred dollars or we’re giving something that’s worth a lot of money or something that’s very small. It isn’t that actual point. The point is we need to have the right motivation for giving. If we’re giving in order to attain some kind of superficial or temporary result, then it isn’t the perfection of generosity and it’s not a very powerful positive force.
If we’re doing something with the idea that this be a cause for us to achieve Buddhahood, then no matter what we’re giving, that action actually becomes cause for us to achieve Buddhahood. We have to make sure that this is our motivation for doing it. This is even a way for ordinary beings to practice the perfection of generosity if they strongly develop the idea or this motivation before they perform an act of generosity generosity and then afterwards dedicate that action and make an aspirational prayer that this action they’ve done become a cause for them to achieve Buddhahood, then it is in itself the perfection of generosity even though the beings don’t necessarily have spontaneous bodhicitta in their continuum. The other thing that we need to remember when we’re acting and when we’re being generous in this way, when we’re performing the perfection of generosity is this idea that the three spheres are empty. Now what this refers to is that the being who is actually doing the giving, the thing that is being given, and the recipient are all empty of inherent existence.
So, you think, I am not an inherently existent thing. The thing that I’m giving is not an inherently existent thing, and the person receiving this gift is isn’t inherently existent thing either. So that’s the explanation of being generous with material things or practicing generosity with physical objects. Now the next type of giving that we can practice is giving the Dharma, being generous with the Dharma. Now this being generous with the Dharma doesn’t mean that you have to talk a lot.
Being generous with the Dharma isn’t necessarily explaining the Dharma a lot to everybody you meet. It can even be done with one word. You can explain the dharma or be generous with the dharma with only one word. If you are actually, for example, explaining to a child that something that they are about to do which would have negative consequences will have negative consequences and explaining to them that they shouldn’t do it, then this is actually being generous with the dharma. Because if telling a child not to do something, it will have negative effects on it on her him or her, then that is actually being generous with the dharma. So anytime that you can benefit people by explaining something of the dharma to them, that is what is going to create happiness for them and what is going to create suffering for them.
Then if you’re able to benefit them, then this is being generous with the Dharma. It doesn’t have to be about being a teacher and sitting on a throne. If you’re just explaining to someone something about the Dharma or something very practical, this is practicing the perfection of generosity of the Dharma. A good one for this is parents with children because children apparently listen to everything their parents say. Anyway Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. So because kids listen to their parents. I’m like, Tibetan kids don’t even listen to their parents. Oh.
Yeah. Okay. I guess he said he thinks that little kids listen to their parents, and he thinks that perhaps children up to the age of fifteen listen to their parents. And then after that, they start thinking, for themselves, and you can’t say they start thinking too much, they start thinking about things themselves and stop listening to their parents as much. But when they’re very young, they listen to their parents then, and then that gives you the opportunity, it gives parents a lot of time, the opportunity to instruct them on what’s going to be beneficial to them and what’s going to harm them.
And in this way, parents are in a very good position to practice their generosity with the Dharma. The third type of generosity is the perfection of the generosity of giving protection or in other words, giving fearlessness, saving from fear. Now, this can be done in many different ways. One thing that’s described here is liberating people from prison. If people are in prison then they’re experiencing all kinds of suffering and if you are able to get someone out of a prison situation or out of being in prison then you have saved them from one form of suffering that they may have intense fear of.
Also rescuing beings from being drowned, whether it’s humans or animals, then that’s another way that you can rescue them from fear. Another way is even earthworms in summer or winter seem to have a hard time. In the summer they get very, very hot and have to experience that kind of suffering. And in the winter they can get very cold and then experience another type of suffering. So if you’re able to in some way or other liberate even earthworms from the heat of summer and the cold of winter then you are practicing generosity of bestowing fearlessness or protecting people from fear, the generosity of giving protection from fear.
And this can be done in very little ways and very big ways. Another way that we can actually practice the perfection of generosity is by practicing the meditation of Tonglen because in that practice you’re giving out all your happiness and all pleasant experiences to other beings and then you’re taking in all the suffering. So this is another way for us to practice generosity. It becomes a perfection of generosity if we combine that meditation with both the idea of the emptiness of the three spheres, which is emptiness of the person giving, the emptiness of the thing that you’re giving towards, and the emptiness of the object being given. The fact that none of these things are inherently existent objects, that they’re all merely labeled.
If we have that idea while we’re doing it and also the motivation of bodhicitta, if we’re doing whatever it is that we’re doing in order to attain Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings, then Oh, yeah. Then that becomes a a a perfection of a practice of the perfection of generosity. Now the next perfection that we need to work on is what’s called the perfection of ethics. There is also three different sections or three different types of ethics that we need to perfect. Now the first type of ethics that we need to perfect is to restrain ourselves from misdeeds.
The second is to perform virtuous deeds. And the third thing is to work for the sake of sentient beings. So the mind of ethics, what we’re talking about with ethics, is a definition or it’s a characteristic, is it’s a way of thinking that protects us from performing negative actions. When we talk about the ethics of the ten non virtues, talk about refraining from killing, refraining from stealing, refraining from sexual misconduct and so on. So there’s this mind of protection, a mind that is a mind or a way of thinking that controls the way we do things.
It controls the way we behaving. So it’s a mind of it’s called mind of protection. The characteristic of the perfection of generosity and the characteristic of generosity actually is that it is a mind of giving. So it’s this idea of sending, pushing something away from you, of directing something away from you, yeah, is characteristic of giving. So there’s in the one you’re giving away from you, you’re pushing away from you, directing away from you is the best way to say it, directing away from you.
And this one is protecting from performing a negative action. It’s a different characteristic. So when we talk about the first one, which is the ethic of restraint from misdeeds, This is basically talking about protecting the three types of vows. The three types of vows are the vows of individual liberation or pratimoksha, and then there’s also the vows of a bodhisattva and the vows that are associated with Tantra. Now, when we talk about vows, it means binding your mind literally keeping your mind away from doing negative actions is what vows mean in Tibetan.
So, this is why they have this characteristic of protection. You protect yourself from behaving in certain ways and you maintain or uphold the vows that you have. The vows actually act also as a safeguard to our ethics because if we have a vow not to do something, then that is a way that we can stop ourselves or protect ourselves from acting in a certain way. Now although there are these three different types of vows, as beginners, the main one that we need to focus on is the practice of the ten virtuous actions and trying to refrain from the ten non virtuous actions. Ethics are incredibly important in many different ways.
One of the main ways that ethics is important is that any realization we want want to develop actually depends on ethics. If we don’t have ethics and there’s no way that we can develop any of the different types of realization whether it be meditative realization or realizations through learning, they’re just not possible without ethics. The other thing is that if we if we don’t have ethics in any of the other vows that we may want to keep or any of the other things that we may want to do are not possible. So they act as a base for our qualities and also for our realizations. Without without ethics, then we can’t