Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Using the analogy of why people work hard for money — they believe they will get it — Geshe Pema Tsering argues that directing the same focused belief toward liberation is precisely what faith means: the mental mechanism is identical, only the object differs. In this 43-minute talk, he works through five of the Seven Jewels of Aryas — faith, ethics, study, giving, and the paired qualities of shame and embarrassment — showing why each is foundational to Dharma practice. A sustained Q&A explores how faith grows through study and reflection rather than arising spontaneously, and distinguishes sharp faith, grounded in valid cognition that leaves no room for doubt, from the dull or blind faith that is easily swayed by criticism of the Three Jewels.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 10 PP 2004 08 12.mp3
UUID: 18850b9c-3aba-4a7c-b834-eed55b40f064
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: DB Presenting the path (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2004-08-12
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 43.6 minutes
Words: ~3,751
Most of the time, we don’t really have this, strong, stable faith in cause and effect. We don’t really focus on it very much. If we do focus it on all the time then, we wouldn’t have any thoughts of desire. We wouldn’t have any thoughts of anger. We wouldn’t have any thoughts of hatred because we’d realized that all of these things were negative and we had to get rid of them.
But we tend to have faith sometimes and we can sometimes when we’re concentrating on cause and effect then we have faith in it and its workings, but it’s not stable enough to sustain us all the time so we end up having negative thoughts and negative emotions whereas if we had really strong clear faith in cause and effect then we could clearly see that something negative was gonna have a negative result, and we wouldn’t do it. So if if we also need to develop this strong faith in the in the Three Jewels. If we have strong faith in the Three Jewels, then we would, and understood their qualities properly, then we’d wish to give them offerings and and do practice all the time. If we and also if we had strong faith in the Three Jewels, then we wouldn’t do anything negative because we’d be embarrassed about what they would think of us doing something negative or what what what our negativity would look like in relation to them, then so we wouldn’t do it because we’d be too embarrassed. The other thing is if we don’t believe in the Three Jewels, then we don’t believe in anything they say, and we can do we do whatever we wanted, and that would be, like, all over the place.
Okay. So we have to understand how important faith can be in stopping us from doing negative things and encouraging us to do positive things. It says that faith is like the foundation for all positive things that we can do. All accumulation of merit is based on faith. If we don’t have any faith in cause and effect, or if we don’t have any faith in the Three Jewels, then we’re not going to do anything positive.
So we need this faith in order to do anything positive. Faith is said to be synonymous with two other things. Faith no, hang on. That’s the wrong way of saying. Faith is said to have these three different parts.
There’s the faith, which is the mind itself. There’s the object of that faith as in the Three Jewels, cause and effect, etc. And there’s the aspiration that comes along with that. So, for example, if we have faith in the Three Jewels that we take them as our object and then we have the aspiration to achieve enlightenment to be a benefit to sentient beings. So these three things come together as the three different aspects of faith.
So there’s all these things that we can that we need to develop faith in. We need to develop faith in compassion. We need to develop faith in liberation, in Buddhahood, in the Three Jewels, in karma, in the paths, all of these different things we need to develop faith in. If we take, for example, we actually do have and it’s not We need we have a liking for something and we know we get results with regards to money, alright? So we were talking about three things before the focus, the, aspiration and the, the faith, right?
But we have this sense from outside that we wanna get money. Right? We have this desire for money. And so we we work hard really hard to get money. And we get the money, and then we’re happy with the money.
And we know that if we work hard So we spend a lot of time working towards getting money because we believe that we will get money. So having that belief in getting money is a similar thing in terms of the way our minds work. We usually have a lot of belief and we spend a lot of time trying to get money in some way or another in order to feed ourselves or anything else. And likewise with anything else, if we wanna get a or we want to get we want to buy something then we we believe that if we go out there and and work for it then we’re going to get it. And once we or if we pay for it then we’re going to get it.
So we have this belief in it and we have we strive in order to get it and we focus on it in terms of making it our object. Now if we did that if we had that kind of motivation but directed it towards liberation or directed it towards achieving renunciation or achieving Buddhahood, then then we would we would have those as our result instead of just buying a car or getting some money. If we kept striving towards those, then then that would that we we would need that kind of clear belief in the fact that we would get them in order to work hard enough to get them. Alright. This isn’t coming out clear enough.
But anyway, we we work to get money because we know we’re gonna get it. Alright. So we have to have that clear belief that if we work to get liberation, that we will get liberation. We need that kind of clear belief. The difference is if we’re working towards getting a car or we’re working towards getting money it’s called desire and attachment and if we’re working towards liberation or Buddhahood it’s called faith.
Yeah? So that’s the the difference between the two things, but it’s the same process that’s going on. There has to be this absolute belief in order to convince us ourselves to work towards it. So therefore, we see that faith is really important. Okay.
So because of desire, we go to work because we believe we’re gonna get money. So we put in a lot of work and we put in a lot of effort and we focus a lot of our energies on getting this money by doing this work. Likewise if we were to focus on achieving a path, achieving a realization, achieving renunciation, developing bodhicitta, and if we work towards that then we would achieve that. So one’s coming from desire the other one has to come from faith because we have to have belief in what we’re doing. But if we do have faith and then we work towards it, then we will achieve those things and having faith gives us the impetus to do it.
Okay. So we need to have the faith and the belief and the and the working towards all the striving for something in order to get it. If we don’t want money, then we’re not going to work for money to get it, therefore we won’t get it. Geshe-la says, if you don’t particularly want an aeroplane or a car, so you’re not gonna put the effort in to get the aeroplane or the car so you won’t get the aeroplane or the car because you haven’t put the effort in. So we’re like that with renunciation.
We think renunciation is maybe a good idea, but we don’t necessarily want it so we don’t work towards it, therefore we don’t get it. So you need to have the striving and the faith that it will come to pass in in order to in order to make it happen. Okay. So you understand what faith is now, you said. And do you understand how important it is?
So the next one is ethics. Right. So faith is really important. Also, ethics are really important. Now how ethics are really important is that if we don’t have ethics, then we don’t get a higher rebirth which will enable us to practice Dharma.
If there’s no ethics, then there’s no base for us to do Mahāyāna practice, for us to work towards Buddhahood, for us to try and achieve liberation. None of these things are possible if we don’t have a precious human rebirth or a human rebirth, which isn’t possible if we don’t have ethics. So in this way ethics is also said to be the root of all positive qualities because there’s no base to work from to achieve all the positive qualities if we don’t have ethics. So it’s also considered to be incredibly important. So there’s different types of of ethics.
Usually, when we talk about ethics, we refer to the different types of vows that people can hold because vows are the most powerful way to practice ethics. So we can have individual liberation vows which include things like lay vows, monks vows, novice monks vows, completely ordained vows, all of these. Then there’s also bodhicitta vows and there’s tantric vows, all these different vows that we can hold for which the most powerful way to do the practice of ethics. So all these different vows are considered to be ethical practice. So even people without vows, if they stop if they stop doing the ten non virtuous actions and try and practice the ten virtuous actions then that’s ethical conduct and is also very beneficial and the things and abandoning the ten non virtuous actions and trying to practice the ten virtuous actions is also something that we should really focus on more than anything else now.
Okay. So the next one of these seven Okay, so the next one is study. All of these things, ethics is really important because if we have ethics, we have a base to work from, hence it’s very important. The next one, study is also incredibly important because study is the way that we understand what it is that we have to do and what it is that we don’t have to do. What what it is that we have to abandon.
The Buddha said that study was like a a lamp lighting up a dark dark room in order for us to find our way. So this shows you how important study is in us finding our way along the path. So every time that we study one thing, then we extinguish the darkness of ignorance with regards to that one thing. And this works even in terms of the alphabet, like the Tibet the first letter of the Tibetan alphabet is ka. So now you know that, then you don’t have ignorance about what the first letter of Tibetan alphabet is. And the similar is the first four letters is ka kha ga nga.
And so once you know the first letter is ka, then you extinguish the ignorance of not knowing ka. And then if you know the second letter is ka, then you extinguish the ignorance of not knowing kha. And and same with a b c d. So if you knew the first letter of the English alphabet is a, then you have extinguished the ignorance of not knowing the first letter of the English alphabet. So however much you listen, that much you learn and that many qualities you get in terms of your knowledge.
So if you only listen a little bit, if you only study a little bit, then you’ll only have a little small amount of qualities of knowledge, the quality of knowledge. And if you study a lot, then you’ll have see qualities of knowledge is a word that actually works in Tibetan but sounds odd in English. So you’ll know a lot, right? He’s like, that’s so weird. What do you mean?
Qualities of knowledge doesn’t work. Okay. So yeah. So but we can see from this how very important studying and listening are. Okay, so the other four are pretty easy.
There’s this the idea of giving. We need to see because giving is important. Embarrassment and shame can also be important. And the final one of these, wisdom. There are many different things that we need wisdom with regards to, but the most important type of wisdom that we can have is a wisdom that understands emptiness directly.
So with giving, there’s many things that we can give. That was the fourth of the seven, the idea of giving. We can give things, we can give Dharma, we can teach people, we can show things to people. And the reason that giving is so important is because of the infallibility of karma, which means that whatever we give out, then we get back. So if we need to learn and we need to be in a situation in order to practice, then we need to give out in order to get that back.
Okay, so if we think about the idea of giving in terms of our Bodhisattvas, now however much they teach the Dharma or give the Dharma to people, then that much that they get back and that will improve their their qualities of understanding. And so they’re able to do this on exponential scale. Now in terms of giving things as well however much you can give things whether it’s money or whether it’s objects or whatever how much you give out then it’ll come back to you as well and with Bodhisattvas you can see this happening on these huge scales. Now for us it’s the same whatever we give out then we get back. It may not necessarily be in this life but we will get back.
Now if we want to know why we don’t have things or we see people without things now then that’s because there was no giving in the past and they’re reaping the results of not giving. Okay. So these two, embarrassment and shame. Now the first one, being embarrassment no. Hang on.
The first one being shame. Well, shame is is this idea that we have within ourselves that by doing something negative because of the infallibility of karma means we’re gonna have a negative result. So it’s best for us not to do it. It’s that thought process within ourselves that’s called shame. Now embarrassment, the idea of embarrassment is, oh, if someone someone I respect, someone that I have faith in sees me or thinks of me doing these things, then that’s not going to be very good, so I’ll stop myself doing it now.
So those two things is how the the last one being embarrassment and the first one being shame. So those are called the seven jewels of Aryas, and the last one being wisdom, which we’ve already talked about, and that’s what we need to practice in order to attain liberation. Oh, yeah. So we can stop there. So if anyone has any questions yeah.
Basic just what I’m in those days is what I’m doing now, learning from here, is starting me on a path which will if I continue to study down and practice in the next life, I’ll have a greater chance of studying more and being born into a life where I’ve got a chance to even, you know, to get compounds upon myself until I’ve got a life where I can realize liberation. Because in this life, I’ve got things like family holding me back like, oh, you’re not going there again. You’re not becoming your mother. All that sort of stuff going on. Yeah.
So I haven’t got the opportune life this time to have it. Mhmm. But later on, I will if I keep on going with this. Okay. Think sort of mean by quality of knowledge is is like if you’re baking a cake, if you use bad ingredients, you you don’t get a good cake.
But if you use quality, it’s been then then it turns out best. You you end up the same product. Yeah. One’s better than the other. You had me until the cakes.
Okay. Right. Okay. So did everyone at the back hear that? Yeah.
Okay. And you said just like that happened just like that. So, yeah, if if you can’t do all these practices now, then make prayers that you’ll be able to do them in the future. And if you do that and create good karma, like do good actions that will cause good results to come about, then in your next life, then when those ripen, you’ll be in a better position to practice more Dharma. So if you can’t do something, then have the aspiration to be able to do it in the future.
Yeah. Yeah. It’s this. Yeah. We do it twice a month.
First one hundred and eight. Yes. To you, Mara. Please. Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. There’s I’m afraid I’m down. Okay. The question is that if you.
Uh-huh. So where does that come from? Okay. So, faith comes from our own study and reflection. If we don’t know what it is we have faith in or the qualities of the thing that we have faith in, then there’s no way we can develop faith.
Whereas if we understand completely the qualities of something, then we’ll have faith in that. For example, with karma, if we understand how karma works and we start to see how karma works and we think about it and study how karma works, then we’ll develop faith in karma. The same with the Three Jewels. If we start seeing the qualities of the Three Jewels and start familiarising ourselves with those and understanding how they come about and why they’re there and so forth, then we develop faith in the Three Jewels. So faith comes about through our understanding and our study and our familiarization.
And then once we have that, then we have to keep reminding ourselves of that and training our minds to develop that firmly. And once we have that, then we’ll stop doing negative things. Yeah. So it’s the same sort of thing as money. Right?
We like money because we know what money can do for us. We know that we have money. It’s it’s not something that it’s something we’re very sure about. It’s not something that we have to question very much. If we have money, we can do certain things.
So we work towards money because we understand its qualities. We understand how much it can benefit us, in what ways it can benefit us. So it’s the same thing if we understand properly the qualities of the Three Jewels or how karma works, then we’ll work towards that without any doubt as well. Yeah. Them dull beings.
Yep. Those keep coming up, and I think it’s got a different resonance for us than for the Tibetans. Okay. Just to clarify the difference between those two, right? Of course, I didn’t actually get the question out.
But anyway, the sharp faculty of faith here is seeing directly and validly here this thing called valid cognition or pramāna which is seeing without any question, right? The same way as we see a table here. Okay, so seeing the qualities of these things or the characteristics of these things that clearly means that you don’t have any doubts about it because it’s very clear. Now this other type of doubt, the dull, sorry not the other type of doubt, the other type of faith, the dull faith is not based on this. It’s based on more of a yearning, yeah.
So this is when people say I go for refuge, I go for refuge. But then if someone comes up to them and starts dissing the Three Jewels and they’ll believe them. being disrespectful or slagging them off, then people will believe them because they don’t have that clear understanding of the actual qualities of the Three Jewels. So then their minds will be easily swayed the other way. So if you can see the qualities, then that’s the sharp type of faith.
And if you just have some kind of belief that isn’t through seeing the qualities, it’s a dull kind of faith and it’s more easily swayed. Yeah. It is blind faith, he said. Yeah. Blind faith.
Yeah. The faculty one. Okay. So the the doubts that you’re getting rid of are the doubts with regards to that object. But doubt isn’t something that you actually get rid of completely until after you’ve understood emptiness directly.
So doubts with regard to say the Three Jewels or doubts with regard to karma are the antithesis of faith. But doubt in general isn’t, something that’s very it’s it’s one of the last things that’s gotten rid of, on the path of meditation. Okay so it’s not very easy to develop this clear or not clear faith, it’s a faith of the sharp faculties because it actually has a connection to being able to develop a mind that understands emptiness. Not necessarily perceives emptiness directly but understands that emptiness exists. So there’s like no doubt with regards to that object.
There’s this this concept that I just said before of pramāna or valid cognition of like directly perceiving something without any doubts about it in the same way that we usually perceive the table. So in order to have a mind realizing emptiness although not directly you need to have this valid cognition of the concept of emptiness which is in reliance on a inferential cognizer. Yeah? Like smoke on a pass. Okay.
I said so yes. In order to explain what you’re saying, can’t translate pramāna properly or valid cognition. It’s okay. Valid cognition is two different types. When you realize something directly or where you have what’s called an inferential cognizer which is because there’s smoke you know there’s fire.
An inferential cognizer is so you can realize emptiness by way of an inferential cognizer without realizing it directly. And then once you’ve developed that kind of understanding, it’s at that stage where you develop faith in the Buddha that is this clear faith or the faith of sharp faculty, right because there’s absolutely no doubt you’ve used inferential cognizers or pramāna or this valid cognition to establish beyond doubt that Buddhas have these qualities and because you’ve established that then you can develop then you have this this faith, this clear faith without doubt in them. Yeah.
So is that okay? Sorry. Yeah. Please.