Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. The doctor-and-medicine metaphor drives this 42-minute session as Geshe Pema Tsering works through six mental attitudes to cultivate while listening to teachings. The most demanding — seeing oneself as genuinely ill — gets the longest treatment: the three poisons of attachment, hatred, and ignorance are the real disease, illustrated by Geshe-la’s personal example of agitation as he angles a radio to catch news from Tibet. He then steps through the remaining five: teacher as doctor, Dharma as medicine that must be taken not merely received, Buddhas as trustworthy sources, and aspiring for the teachings to endure. A Q&A closes with guidance on purification through the Vajrasattva mantra, the story of a monk who cleared karmic obstructions by sweeping, and direct advice on obstacles: most are attachment to laziness.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 06 PP 2004 07 29.mp3
UUID: 0b6cfeaa-f6c1-4931-8963-02b9fcbf74c0
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: DB Presenting the path (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2004-07-29
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 41.8 minutes
Words: ~3,948
Didn’t like that bit because that sounds too much like suffering. So I don’t accept that. And, and if we think, well, that bit suits what the way I think, but that bit didn’t sound that good because, that sounds too much like hard work. And if we go in there with that idea, then the dharma isn’t gonna benefit us very much. The it that we’re gonna be like this cup with this with these stains in it because we’re not listening with the the right motivation.
We’re listening to we’re listening from our own narrow point of view. So the that’s that’s what the the metaphor of the stained cup is supposed to represent. So these are the three types of minds or three types of ways of thinking, or they’re metaphors for three types of ways of thinking that we need to abandon, that we need to get rid of from our mind. If we can get rid of these different ways of thinking from our mind before we start listening to the teachings, then the teachings will be of enormous benefit to us. So so these are the three things that we need to get rid of.
And then there is also, three ways of thinking we need to get rid of. There’s also six, ideas that we should try and cultivate when we’re listening to the teachings. The first one we should try and cultivate is the idea that we are ill that we are a sick person who is coming for help and that the person who is actually giving the instructions is like our doctor the instructions they’re giving are like our medicine and then for the fourth one we should think that by practicing as per the instructions that were given that we will recover from our illness that we will get better that that will act as a cure to our disease or our problem We should also think of the Tathagatas or the Buddhas as excellent beings That’s the fifth idea And the sixth idea is we should listen to the teachings with a wish or a thought in our mind that the teachings will last a long time. So so for the first one, the idea of thinking of ourself as a sick person, this one can be difficult for us to try and generate the idea of because we think, wait a minute, I’m not sick.
There’s nothing wrong with me. I’m fine. I don’t need a doctor. I’m not sick. Everything’s fine.
What do you mean I’m sick? Who why are you telling me I’m sick? So that’s the idea that we may have in our head. But in actual fact, we just don’t understand how it is that we are sick. If we wanna know how we’re sick, then we don’t look at it in terms of whether we’re physically ill or not.
What we should be looking at is if we have negative, emotions or negative ways of thinking in our mind stream, whether we have the three poisons in our mind stream, the three poisons being attachment, aversion, and ignorance, or attachment, hatred, and ignorance. If we have these three things in our mind stream and if we have negative, thoughts and thought patterns in our mind stream, then we’re ill, and then we need someone to help us get over our illness. So just like a sick person, it’s just like if we were actually physically sick now, we would go to a doctor because we could rely on a doctor to show us how to get better, especially if we went to a really skilled doctor that actually knew the correct cure for our illness. That’s the way we should think about what it is that we’re doing. The other thing we should remember is that if we went to a really skilled doctor and this really skilled doctor gave us that medicine was going to cure our illness then we would want to go away and actually take the medicine We wouldn’t want to go away and put the medicine to the side and not actually use the medicine or take the medicine We would be taking the medicine just as the doctor prescribed because we want to get better.
So it’s not good enough just to think of it as medicine, but you have to think of it as medicine that is to be eaten, medicine that is to be taken because if you’re not taking the medicine, you don’t get any better. So so we’re in a similar situation because we’re sick, because we have these deluded thoughts and because we have these negative thought patterns, then we need to go to a doctor for help. We need to be able to rely on a doctor for help. The doctor in this case, or the person that can show us the instructions in order to get rid of our illness of negative emotions and these three poisons is a Lama that we can rely on, a teacher that we can rely on So the teacher or the lama is acting as the doctor, the person who can prescribe the exact medicine for our illness. Now, the medicine is like the Dharma.
They’re teaching us. That’s like the Dharma itself. But we can’t just go away and not practice this Dharma. So that is the same thing as we can’t just take the medicine from the doctor and then go away and not take the medicine. So hearing the Dharma is like getting the medicine.
Going away and practicing earnestly is like taking the medicine that they’ve given us. The cure, the way that we get cured is by achieving liberation, by achieving Buddhahood, by getting completely rid of our negative thoughts and these three poisons of hatred, attachment and ignorance. Getting rid of those completely is how we cure ourselves. If we listen to the teachings and then we don’t go away and practice the teachings, we don’t take the medicine that’s been given to us, then there’s no way that we can get better. You can have a very sick person sitting next to a whole bunch of medicine, but if they’re not going to take the medicine, they’re not going to get better.
That’s the way that it works. We need to keep all of these things in mind when we’re listening to the teachings. We need to think that we need these teachings, that we can rely on the person giving them, that we will go away and put them into practice, and that we will achieve the cure. The cure is liberation or Buddhahood, because if we don’t have that as our outcome, then all the medicine that they’ve given us is a bit pointless. All the teachings that they’ve given us, has been pointless because if there’s no outcome, then there was no purpose to the teachings or the medicine.
So out of these, well, the thing that we should try and focus on the most is the thing that’s most difficult to understand is this idea that we are sick, that we are sick people who need help from a qualified professional, qualified doctor. Generating the idea that we’re sick is the most difficult thing for us to do because we don’t understand how it is that we are actually ill. We think, well, I’m not aching. I can’t feel any aches and pains. There’s no problem there’s nothing that I need to fix there’s nothing wrong with me I’m not sick but the truth is that we don’t see the way that we’re sick we may say I’m not sick I’m not aching I’m not throbbing nothing swollen but in actual fact, we are aching from desires and we are sick from our anger and we are sick from our ignorance and we are swollen from our pride.
We do have all of these illnesses, it’s just that we have trouble understanding them, understanding that we have them. So they are the things that we need to focus on, is understanding how ill we are. So once we understand how ill we are, then we will feel the need to go and ask for help from someone who’s qualified. So one way we can look at how ill we are with these three poisons is if we think about it, if we really want something, if we have this strong desire for something, then we are so sick we can’t even sit still. We have this, for example, if we really want a car, and we’re so focused on getting the car, we’re focusing on that so strongly.
Then if we’re sitting down, we’re not comfortable because we’re just thinking car, car, car. And then what can I do to get the car? I’ve got to do this. I’ve got to do that because I need to get the car. And we can’t really focus on on where on where we are.
We’re so sick. We can’t even sit still. So so this unless we’re focusing to unless we’re doing something towards getting the car, then we we really have this ache within us that because of this desire that we have, we have this ache within us. So we can understand the the the ache or the illness from desire if we look at it in this way. Geshe-la says he has his problem because he he he finds himself feeling really agitated or really swollen with this grasping because he can’t hear the news on the radio from Tibet properly.
So he spends a lot of time holding the radio up, to get it at the right angle so he can hear the news clear. He thinks, man, I heard it probably a few days ago. Why isn’t it clear now? And he gets really upset that he can’t hear what’s happening in Tibet or what’s happening with the Tibetan people. He says just because he has his grasping and knowing what’s going on, he has his grasping to hear it and hear the hear the reception clearer, that that he it makes him agitated, and he keeps trying to think of different ways that he can hear more clearly.
And he’s not comfortable just if it’s coming and going. So he said that because he has that grasping at the radio, that that he can see that he has, like, an illness from that. So so it’s not just a it’s not just a desire that can that can make us sick in this way. Also, if we have anger or jealousy or any of these negative emotions or thoughts, then they can all make us uncomfortable and feeling ill in one way or another. So all of these negative things, actually are are an illness, but we don’t see them as being an illness because we don’t see them clearly.
So we don’t realize how how much of an effect they have on us. But, actually, if we didn’t have them, then we would be a lot weller or weller. That would yeah. We’d be better. So so we need to see more clearly what it is that is actually wrong with us so we know how to cure it.
So this is how we’re sick, but we don’t know that we’re sick like this. And so how do we understand what it actually is that is our illness is by listening to the dharma. If we listen to the dharma, then we can recognize what is desire and attachment, what is negativity, what is hatred, what is pride, what is, all these negative types of ways of thinking. We can recognize them, and once we’ve recognized them, if we keep listening, then we can figure out ways to get rid of them and figure out the things that we need to get rid of, the things we need to abandon. And we can also take the medicine from teachers and figure out what it is that we need to practice.
So by doing this, by practicing what we need to practice, abandoning what we need to abandon in accordance with what we’re taught in terms of the medicine that we’ve been given, then we can find the cure to these these illnesses. So this is like the third and the fourth of the different ideas that we should rely on, the third being that the instructor’s explanation is like medicine and the fourth being that if we earnestly practice these instructions, then we can cure our disease. So we need to understand that the diseases we have, namely, these negative emotions and negative ways of thinking, can be cured by practicing, can be cured by doing the things that we should be doing. But if we don’t practice them, then no matter how much we listen, then they’re not going to be of benefit to us. So listening may be of enormous benefit to us, but if we don’t put into practice the things that we’ve heard, then there’s no point, to our our listening.
That listening isn’t gonna help us very much. Now the fifth of the six ideas is, the thought that the Tathagatas or the Buddhas are excellent beings. That we should this when we’re we’re listening to the teachings. Now the reason for this is that, the Buddha, having realized everything, realized the true nature of reality, then taught us the teachings. Now because they understand everything, because the Buddhas understand everything, then the teachings that they teach are the exact medicine that we need.
The teachings they teach are aren’t contaminated and give us the direct instructions that we need. And so because they are able to give us these instructions, no, sorry, we need to develop faith or belief that they are able to give us these instructions. Because if we have faith and belief in the instructions, then we will, have have a stronger idea that they will be able to to cure us properly, and then we’ll develop we’ll put more weight into what it was the Buddhas were saying. So that that’s what comes along with this idea of, thinking of the Tathagatas or the Buddhas as excellent beings. Because if we do this, then that makes our focus on the teachings more important and more concentrated.
The sixth idea is wishing that the teachings will endure for a long time. That means that when we’re listening to the teachings, we shouldn’t just have the idea that it’s good for us to hear them now, but we imagine that these teachings are of enormous benefit to everybody who listens to them, so we should pray, have an aspiration aspirational prayer that the teachings will last a long time. And then once you’ve listened to the teachings, you should dedicate the merit that we have from listening to the teachings towards the teachings lasting for a long time. So that’s the sixth of these. We’ll stop here for tonight.
I said, so if they have questions, can I ask them? And he said, absolutely. If they don’t have questions, then how are they gonna learn? So the best type of practice that you can do to get rid of negative or wipe out negativities is the Vajrasattva practice, so reciting the Vajrasattva mantra. But if you don’t know or understand this mantra properly, anything that you do, if you do it with the intention that you’re doing it in order to confess negativities or to cleanse negativities, then that becomes a cause for cleansing negativity.
So if you don’t understand the Vajrasattva mantra or you don’t know it properly then if you say ‘om mani padme hum’ thinking I’m saying this in order to purify my negativities then that becomes a good purification practice as well. But if you can do it along with the Vajrasattva mantra, then it’s the best. But the and the main thing that you should be doing when you’re trying to purify negativities is, it’s not necessarily what you’re doing, but it’s the idea that I regret what I did, and I’m going to try and I’m going to stop doing it in the future. So these two thoughts of regret and abstention — these are the main two ideas
Abstention are the main two ideas that you should have in your head when you’re doing whatever practice it is you’re doing. I said, so who’s Dragpa Gyaltsen? He goes, oh, Dragpa Gyaltsen is Dragpa Gyaltsen. And I said, okay. So who’s Dragpa Gyaltsen?
And he said he was one of the students of Lama Tsongkhapa. He was around at the same time as Khedrupje and the other one, Gyaltsab Rinpoche. And and he wrote a lot of books. And if you wanna know more about him, read books. Yeah.
Or read text. That that was the other thing. He wrote a lot. So if you wanna know more about him, read the text. So any more questions?
Nope. Go, Marty. Okay. Yes? It appears as though it’s really important for all students to understand what capacity they’ve got to Uh-huh.
Take on. Uh-huh. So, you know, when it’s all very well to have a sort of three three things going when you’re listening, but how do you listen in a way that’s sort of skillful with your own capacity? Okay. Okay.
Did everybody hear that? Yes? Okay. So the the guy that was sweeping the floor, his name was Ārya Kopa or something like that. In Tibetan, that’s mixing two things.
But anyway and the reason that he didn’t that’s mixing two languages. But anyway, the reason that he didn’t understand was because he had very thick obscurations to to his understanding. He because of his negative karma, he had thick obstructions to his understanding. So he got to know little bits of what the different people what the different Aryas around him were saying. And by sweeping, he was getting rid of his obstructions.
And then eventually, when he had swept away all his obstructions mentally that he’d been doing physically, then he was able to see everything clearly and he became a became an arhat. So he was getting rid of the obstructions. And it’s similar for we can’t know what other people know and how how well they understand something, but we can know how well we understand something. And so if we can understand what we’re hearing clearly, then we should, we should, convince ourselves or we make a pledge that we will practice whatever it is that we’re hearing. Whatever it is that we understand, then we have to pledge to to actually put that into practice and not just listen to it.
And if there’s something that we don’t understand, then at that stage, we should try and have an aspiration that in the future we pray to be able to understand it. That we hope that in the future we will understand it and that we should rejoice in the fact that even hearing things we don’t understand is creating good imprints on our mind So the next time that we hear them, they’ll become clearer and clearer and clearer. So we should check on ourselves when we do understand, we should resolve to practice whatever it is we understand in the future. And when we don’t understand, we should aspire to be able to understand better in the future. So Geshe-la says it’s really difficult to understand Dharma, so we should be easy on ourselves when we are trying to understand it.
He said even from his side, he’s someone who studied a fair bit. He understands Tibetan. He understands actually what the words mean, and he’s done a fair bit of study. Even so, when he goes to hear teachings from the Dalai Lama or from Geshe Lhundrup Sopa from other teachers, when he goes to hear their teachings, sometimes he understands, sometimes he doesn’t understand. Sometimes he gets what they’re saying and other times he he says he struggles, but he doesn’t understand what they’re saying.
So but he sits there thinking, I wonder what that means. And and and and is listening as intently as he can. And then when he goes away, he goes back and looks at the texts that they were using, and he rereads everything that they that he didn’t understand. And he tries to get some understanding. And he said lots of times when he’s gone away and or or relooked at whatever it was that these great teachers were saying that he suddenly thought that’s what they were talking about because he’s he’s relooked at it all.
But he said that that’s coming from his point of view and he can understand what they’re saying, like, in terms of the words. So it must be very difficult for people when they’re trying to study to or trying to understand the dharma. He said it’s hard. It’s hard. What about if you think you’ve got a really, really nasty obstruction between understanding and putting in Frank?
I was gonna yeah. Because because It’s It’s a really nasty karmic block. Yeah. Karmic block. Okay.
The obstructing it can’t be an obstructing. It has to be a what do you call it? Obstacle. Okay? Okay.
They have this expression in on telly. Sometimes it says, you just have to deal. Basically he said you just have to deal with it. Right. He said that if you don’t there’s no practicing Dharma if there’s no forbearance.
There’s no practicing Dharma if there’s no patience. If you don’t have patience to to work through the the the obstacles, then you’re not going to get anywhere. So yeah. Okay. So actual fact, most of the time when we think we’ve got an obstacle to doing practice is because doing practice is too hard.
And therefore, we’ve got like attachment to being lazy. It’s more like what’s going on. So usually obstacles are our way of being lazy. So you can’t think that practicing Dharma is gonna be easy. It’s hard work.
So we think, it’s too hard. I’ve got an obstacle. So the idea is that to keep working through the obstacles because if you don’t have the patience and the forbearance to get through the obstacles, then there is no practicing Dharma. Yeah. Yeah.
That will probably happen. What if if you’re doing something in order to be of benefit to yourself in order to achieve calm a calm mind for yourself or achieve happiness for yourself or ultimate happiness for yourself, it’s still practicing Dharma, but it’s not Mahāyāna Dharma. It’s not the Dharma with the highest intention. It’s the lowest scope. Yeah?
But it’s still Dharma. It’s still something. So the the idea is then if you have that idea and then you try and expand it out to other people. Alright? So it’s not just about yourself being happy.
It’s not just about working for peace of mind for yourself, but you want other people to have peace of mind as well. And if you expand it out in that way, then it becomes a Mahāyāna path, becomes this much more powerful potential. The other thing to remember is if you’re doing everything for something for everybody else’s benefit, then you get the profit. So so you can think if I’m doing this for all other beings benefit, then I’m the one who gets the the kickback or the profit. Yeah.
Yeah. Looks like.