Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A monk who thoughtlessly called a bodhisattva “a monkey” was reborn as one — that cautionary story opens this 44-minute session with Geshe Pema Tsering on the ethics of sustaining the bodhichitta vow. He covers the actions that erode it across lifetimes — deceiving teachers, envying others’ virtue, insulting bodhisattvas, concealing one’s own faults behind pretense — then turns to their positive counterparts: honest intention, treating all beings respectfully, and genuinely guiding those in one’s care. The second half introduces the eighteen root precepts of the engaged bodhisattva vow, with emphasis on the most demanding: mentally excluding even one person from your wish to help breaks the vow entirely. A lively Q&A follows on retaking broken vows, sustaining them despite near-certain failure, and how to cultivate compassion for someone you genuinely dislike.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 22 D BC 2004 08 03.mp3
UUID: 4369854a-bc80-4056-adc0-8b99f3c045bf
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: DB How to Develop Bodhichitta (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2004-08-03
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 44.8 minutes
Words: ~3,514
It it says deception. So to to try and lie to you or or or trick your lama or teacher, your abbot or And also all the people who the person who gave you vows and also your parents to to to lie to these people or or trick them is the first negative very negative karmic action. Karmic action. Very negative action. Another way that we can harm our ability to keep a connection with bodhicitta in our future lifetimes is to feel distress when others do something virtuous.
So if we see someone doing something positive or helpful or good, then we should be try and be happy about that. We shouldn’t be jealous or feel negative or about their action. We should be try and be happy about that. Right. The next thing to do is to make sure that we don’t say unpleasant things to bodhisattvas out of hostility.
So we shouldn’t be this is like so it’s not necessary to say also Buddhas because, of course, anything that goes for bodhisattvas goes double for Buddhas. Right? So we should try not to say anything negative about Buddhas and bodhisattvas. For example, not saying that they don’t know how to teach, that they don’t perform well, that their actions aren’t good, or that they look like a monkey. And I was like, what?
And Geshe-la said, yeah. You know, there’s a story from the time of the Buddha where there’s a a man who saw someone who is Okay. He hit this one one bodhisattva jumped across some water instead of, like, walking through or going on a boat, and then and this other the other another monk let slip from his mouth. He’s just like a monkey. Yeah?
Because he jumped across instead of going like a normal person. And he actually that created the cause for him to be reborn as a monkey. So this this man didn’t actually feel any hostility towards the bodhisattva that jumped across the water. He set it as just like a throwaway line and he ended up being reborn as a monkey, right? So, if you actually set it with hostility towards the bodhisattva, then that the intensity of that action would be manifold.
He would have created much more negative karma. So we should be really careful about the names that we give people. We got in trouble for using So we don’t have the ability to see into other people’s minds. So we don’t know if the people we’re calling names to are actually bodhisattvas or not. Right?
If we had ability to read minds, then we could perhaps call people names and know that they weren’t a Bodhisattva. But because we can’t read other people’s mind streams, then it’s best not to call anyone a name because if they’re a Bodhisattva, then we’re creating very negative karma, it’s still not very nice. So, in the same way that we can’t see in different people’s minds, if there was like a pit with fire in it and you put sand over the top or dirt over the top, then you wouldn’t be able to see the fire if you’re just looking at it. But if your foot went through the sand, you definitely know about it. And it’s the same thing if we don’t know what’s going on in people’s minds, we don’t know what realizations we have and we start calling them names or whatever.
If they are a Bodhisattva and we’ve called them a name, then it’s the same as like sticking our foot into a pit of fire without realizing it’s there. The next negative seriously negative action that we need to refrain from is the combination of pretense and disingenuity no, being disingenuous. I don’t know if it turns into a noun. Being disingenuous is for not recognising our faults, trying to cover up our faults, trying to put our faults onto other people. I’m sorry, Hira.
Saying, that’s not my fault, that’s someone else’s fault. And so not taking responsibility for negative parts of our character, negative parts of our the way that we do things and trying to ignore them, which is very easy for us to do. We tend to not want to deal with the negative parts of our being and not want to look at them. It’s very easy for us to be not truthful with ourselves or with our faults. The other part is pretense.
Thinking, trying to convince ourselves that we have qualities that we don’t trying to convince others that we have qualities that we don’t. So, we tend to think that we have qualities that we don’t. So, it’s very easy for us to engage in this in pretense as well. So we just need to be very mindful about what we’re doing and make sure that we’re not trying to pretend we’re something we’re not or trying to hide something we are. All right.
Then there’s positive things that we can do. That was refraining from negative actions. Then we can also do positive actions that will enable us to keep our connection with bodhicitta and the bodhicitta vows in future lifetimes. So the first thing is to be vigilant about not lying and not deliberately deceiving people to try and get advantage from them for not telling them the truth. This is the first thing that we should be vigilant about.
The second thing is to have the right motivation, not pretending to be something we’re not. So being honest with instead of the negative aspect of this is pretending to be something we’re not and not recognizing our faults, but trying to if we keep an honest intention towards sentient beings, if we have this idea of I’m behaving as honestly as I can with these beings, then this is a positive action we can do, which cuts pretension and deceit. The third thing that we can do is to treat all bodhisattvas with respect, to prostrate to them, to make offerings to them, to try and do things for them. And because we don’t know who’s a bodhisattva, then it’s best if we can do this to as many people as possible. So even if we don’t know who’s got qualities, who is a bodhisattva and who’s not a bodhisattva, if we continually try and treat all beings with respect, say positive things about them, try and reflect positive qualities, try and help them and give them things, then this is the best thing we can do.
And the other thing that we can do that helps to keep a connection with bodhicitta in the future for the bodhicitta vows in future lives is to to help those beings who are training under our care. So, it’s actually referring to people who are training in the dharma under our instruction, but it can be with any kind of activity, any time we try to instruct people that we do it with the right motivation, with the right care, that they will develop these understanding through our instruction. If we can do that, if we can try and help people develop bodhicitta and them in their training with the right motivation, then this is another way to keep our connection with bodhicitta in future lives bodhicitta for vows in future lives. So that was, like, the instructions for how to develop, develop, how to encourage the vow of aspiration, aspirational bodhicitta. And then there is instructions for how to keep the Vow of Engaged bodhisattva.
So the Vow of Engaged bodhisattva was this idea that in the same way as past Bodhisattvas of the past engaged in virtuous activities in order to attain Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings, I m going to engage in virtuous activities. So this concept is the vow of engaging bodhisattva. This actually has what are called eighteen root vows and forty six branch vows that are associated with it. So if you break one of the eighteen root vows, it means that you lose the bodhisattva vows that you’ve taken. If you break one of the branch vows, it means that your vows are harmed, but they’re not broken.
The reason that the branch vows are there are to stop you from breaking the eighteen root vows. So the first of the eighteen root vows is praising yourself and belittling others out of attachment to offerings or admiration. So in order to get something off someone, putting yourself up and putting others down is the first root Okay. So the first of the eighteen root vows is praising yourself and belittling others. So, we all have this tendency that we really like it if someone says really nice things about us and preferably in front of other people.
And we don’t really like it if someone criticizes us. And again, it’s worse if people know about it. So, this tendency that we have towards one and away from another is something that if we do that, if praise ourselves and belittle others in order to get something, we lose the bodhisattva vow, right? So, it’s very easy to lose a Bodhisattva vow. But the thing is the Bodhisattva vows are not the same as what are called Prātimokṣa vows as individual liberation vows in that you lose them and that’s it.
Can’t like if you lose your vows of a monk or a nun, then you can’t take them again in this lifetime. The bodhisattva vows are vows that you can take again and again and again and again until you get it right. So they’re not the same as the ordination vows and things like that. Vow number two is not giving material aid even though you’re able out of miserliness not teaching the Dharma to those who are suffering and without a protector because you want to amass knowledge just for yourself. So if you’re not teaching because you’re not giving information to people because you’re more interested in knowing stuff yourself or you don’t help when you can, it’s another way to lose a bodhisattva.
Sorry. I’ve got this one set of vows, and Geshe-la’s set of vows don’t match up. So I’m going, what? That doesn’t fit with this, and I was a bit confused. Okay.
So, yeah. So there’s also a vow that if someone gives you instructions from the Buddha and you don’t follow it, you lose a vow. Then you lose a Bodhisattva vow. So, for example, if Geshe said, if someone says, drink and then he starts drinking the tea, he loses the bodhisattva. Another vow is to abandon the Mahāyāna teachings.
So the Mahāyāna teachings are part of the Buddha’s teachings and also to make up your own doctrine. Okay. So that was the first four of the eighteen root vows. But the main one, the one that’s like the basis for all of them is the last one, which is thinking: Abandoning bodhicitta by thinking I cannot help sentient beings or thinking, I do not want to help that sentient being.
Okay. So as I said, it doesn’t seem strange thinking, I don’t wanna help that person become a Buddha. And Geshe-la said, yeah. But it’s the idea if you don’t if you even have one being that you think, I’m not gonna help that person, then you lose a bodhisattva vow it’s not about all sentient beings. It’s about think if you think I don’t wanna help that one person, then you’re not helping all sentient beings, so you lose a vow.
So that that means that the vow that you took before is gone if you’re thinking I’m not gonna help that person. Oh, Sorry. I got lost. Okay. So he said, if you have questions I said, and should they ask questions?
And Geshe-la said, if you have questions, ask questions, and I’ll drink my tea. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So maybe the he said maybe the tea example wasn’t a good example.
But if the Buddha said don’t drink beer or don’t drink alcohol, which he did actually say to monks and nuns, yeah, or to ordained people, don’t drink alcohol. And someone says Buddha says, drink alcohol, then you drink it. Yeah. Then that’s losing the vow. Yeah.
Yeah. So because I so I said, for example, when I lived in India, this our landlady said to us that the Dalai Lama had said that all campers, which is this area in Tibet are bad. And we’re like, oh, how? You know? And instantly didn’t believe and guess what they say, yeah.
Someone says something like that, and you know it’s not true, then you don’t have to listen. But if it’s in for what they say actually occurs with what the Buddha said, then you have to listen. Yeah. I just had to clarify this again because it makes me feel better, and hopefully, it will make you feel better, that both types of bodhicitta vows can be taken again and again and again. It’s not like an an ordained person’s vows that if you lose them, you’ve lost them for that lifetime, but you can take them again and again.
Sure. With a vow where you have to achieve enlightenment for certain things? You can’t exclude anyone. What if there was so, you know, hypothetically, there was someone that treated you really, really badly? Yep.
And you just can’t accept them. You know? It. You know? So you don’t wanna achieve enlightenment for their benefit?
No. Just hypothetically, if you have someone, you know, that sort of treat you really badly, then and you can’t sort of You don’t like them? So if you can’t help someone because they’ve hurt you, that means that you don’t have bodhicitta, so you can’t have those type of vows. It’s a difficult thing to do have both of those. It’s a really, really difficult to work at it.
They’ve helped me on the sick time. Said, He said, it it is he the the thing is, if you’re able keep the bodhisattva vows like you’re sitting there taking them, and you’re able to keep them for a second, or less than a second a moment, all right, then that’s enormously beneficial, right? And you’ve been concentrating on bodhisattva for a moment, and you’ve had those vows for a moment, that’s enormously beneficial. If you’re thinking about each sentient being or every sentient being and you’re focused on that for even a moment, that’s fantastically beneficial, right? But actually keeping them as you get up and walk out of the door from the room is difficult.
Yeah. So you don’t have to do anything particularly special in order to take the vows. You just have to ask for them. And also, you’re taking them from a teacher where you’re getting the lineage, then you make offerings before you take the vows. And so so there’s nothing particularly special about it, but you do make offerings in that before you take vows from some.
The second time that you after you’ve broken them, need to keep going back to your teachers to take them again and again. Yeah. Yeah. You also can take a Bodhisattva-type vows, which are the precepts for a day. They’re not like the Bodhisattva vows, but they’re a form of bodhicitta vows because they’re Mahāyāna vows, and you take them for a day.
And the first after having taken them for a teacher the first time, you actually can take them in front of an image again. But it’s not these bodhisattva vows. They’re Mahāyāna precepts, which are a form of bodhisattva vow, but you take them for a day, can be taken by yourself after you’ve taken the Yes, then you take you can take them they’re important and powerful, but actually to take the engaged bodhicitta vows, again, you need to take them from a teacher. Yeah? One person.
In the whole of universes and everything, there’s only one person you don’t like. Right? And you wanna take the bodhisattva vows. But you don’t like it. But you don’t like them.
How can you, like, forgive that person? Okay. No matter whether you like it’s the same way as you just The the way that you develop compassion for them is the same way you develop compassion for all sentient beings. Any experience that you have of not liking at the moment is temporary. At some stage in the past, they’ve been your mother.
At some stage in the past, they’ve shown you great kindness. In the same way that other people who you do feel closer now, at some stage, been an enemy. So, by developing the process of equanimity and thinking about the kindness of all sentient beings, that includes that one person. Yeah. Previous lifetimes, and you haven’t broken them.
Okay, so to actually keep the bodhisattva vows and not be a bodhisattva is very difficult probably not possible so Geshe-la said if you’re someone like him and have taken the vows before but haven’t managed keep them properly then you’re not going to remember that you had them but if there’s many beings that are Ārya Bodhisattvas or just Bodhisattvas who have taken the vows before and they can actually remember it or they haven’t and they understand they’ve taken them because they haven’t disintegrated or they haven’t down what’s the word I’m looking for? Degraded. Yeah, there’s another one. But like that, they haven’t degraded. So they because they haven’t degraded, they have the ability to remember that and know that.
But if they’re degraded and with delusions and everything’s difficult. Last one? I think I know that so if someone else got on, Chris, it’s not you. I’m picking on you. Unless you’re sorry.
I sounded really bitchy now. I didn’t mean to. Go on. Stacy asked one. So He’s oh, sorry.
It’s just that it was he hadn’t asked one. Peter? That was your name, wasn’t it? Calling an animal person a monkey and calling a bodhisattva a monkey is both bad. But calling a bodhisattva a monkey is much more full on, much more powerful than calling an ordinary person a monkey or any other animal name.
But they’re both bad. It’s just that one’s more negative than the other. Yeah. Yeah. Bad, negative.
It’s a I don’t know. It’s not good. This word means. Okay. Anything that’s bad by definition or negative by definition, anything creates suffering.
So it creates suffering for you for you. That’s the definition of something being bad. Yeah? So by calling a bodhisattva a name, you are not acknowledging the vast array of positive qualities that they have in their continuum. So, therefore, it’s a negative action very negative action.
You’re being dismissive and disrespectful to that. Also, if you call an ordinary being a name, you’re being dismissive of their positive qualities and the things that they do that help beings and so forth, right? So, in both cases, you’re being dismissive. But because a bodhisattva has many more qualities and a much vaster positive collection of karma, then you’re being dismissive to a lot more things and a lot more quality. So, that’s why it’s a stronger negative action.
So if you do have that doubt in your mind that you’re able to keep them, then you need to get rid of that doubt when you’re going through the process of the vow ceremony and thinking, whatever it takes, I’m gonna keep these vows. And you should make try and make that motivation as strong as you can when you take those. So if you actually have the doubt and you don’t take the vows, right? So if you’re sitting there thinking I’m taking these vows, but I’m probably gonna lose them, you’re not actually taking the vows. Right?
So, then you need to have the belief that you have the ability to keep the vows. And that is possible. It is possible for you to keep the vows. It’s difficult, but it is possible. But countless numbers of Bodhisattvas have kept the vows before, so it is possible.
Okay. So you can’t actually keep the vows until you’re a Bodhisattva, all right? This is the point. But we’re training to become Bodhisattvas. So keeping them for as long as we can, training and keeping them, trying to refresh our memories of them and going through the helps us to become.
So it’s the same thing as, like, we need to eat right but we can think I’m not going to eat for the rest of my life right and we can actually keep that vows for a day right so it’s a similar process we can we can be very determined about doing it and keep it as long as we possibly can and keep on remembering to do this. Yeah. I’ll throw things at you. Yeah. Go on.
Let’s let’s say