Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Atisha’s arrogance — convinced he was the greatest scholar in the land, until lineage masters appeared and showed him texts he had never seen — opens the doctrinal content of this nearly two-hour Lamrim session. Geshe Pema Tsering works through Atisha’s accomplishment in the three trainings: ethics (three classes of vows, illustrated by a yak risking its life to save a single strand of its coat), concentration (calm abiding and three to six years of solitary retreat), and wisdom. The session then covers Atisha’s deeds in Tibet — reconciling practitioners who had split into pro-sūtra and pro-tantra camps, and composing the Lamp on the Path. A Q&A closes on the three scopes of practitioners and what “giving up this life” actually means: not abandoning one’s possessions, but releasing attachment to them. Suited to practitioners already following the Lamrim series.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 03 2008 03 13 BP.mp3
UUID: b1851718-e147-4fc6-9ea5-3d44110579d9
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Lam Rim (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2008-03-13
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 117.9 minutes
Words: ~6,796
Yes, Yes, Yes, sir. And then the start says, and then we need then to to give rise to a a very vast, a great motivation. And and and in terms of of being a vast motivation in the mind of enlightenment, which is the intention of establishing all sentient beings in the state of enlightenment, is the most vast motivation there is because the state of enlightenment itself is a state which is free of every shortcoming and endowed with every quality. It’s an unsurpassable state. And not only that, but also all sentient beings is a is a motivation which is in relation to all sentient beings, which are innumerable.
And because of that, the mind of enlightenment is truly is truly vast. There’s no motivation greater than it, loss. Oh, yeah. And with this, we start with the preliminary prayers, loss. So we start with the.
So then we we were approaching last last Thursday the the topic the first topic of the, which is the qualities of the teacher, the qualities of the author of this text. And we were approaching specifically the topic, which is how he attained the positive qualities of comprehensive scriptural knowledge. This topic had two divisions. One of them was how he learned the areas of general knowledge and how he learned mantra, had three divisions, sorry, how he learned mantra, and how he was ordained and learned the collections of inner knowledge. So we we already approached the first one of those, is how Atisha learned the areas of general knowledge, and we are going to we just started with how he how Atisha learned mantra, a tantra.
And Geshe-la was going through the text and explaining some of of the words in Tibetan, making clear what they mean, but in English, they don’t need any explanation. Then he requested complete empowerment from the master yogi of the main temple on black mountain, which which was the the the glorious Rahulagupta who who had received direct visions of Heruka and a prophecy from Vajra Dakini receiving the secret name, And then in English, Allah was going on for the text. And, again, in in in up to the age of twenty nine, he studied the vajrayana and the numerous highly realized gurus due to which he became knowledgeable in all texts and instructions. And then the thought occurred to him that I am very knowledgeable in the secret tantra. And Geshe-la stopped right there and said, you know, so at this point, because he he he had so much knowledge about the scriptures, the tantras, the mantras, and so forth, that the this arrogant thought occurred to him.
I amongst amongst in the whole of this land, I I know more. I I I’m the best and and so forth. And then because because of that thought, then the men of the lineage, the lineage masters, appear to him, and they showed him many texts, pointed out many many texts that he he had never seen before. And that’s as as we’ve seen this translation, that abated his pride. And he realized that there there’s much more that he doesn’t know, So then we read the third of those topics, how Atisha was ordained and learned the collections of inner knowledge.
And Geshe-la was going through the text saying both in his dreams and directly, the gurus and protectors then made known to him that vast benefit would accrue from the teachings in many migrating beings, many saṃsāra beings, if he took monastic vows as was appropriate. Upon the encouragement, he had himself ordained the great upholder of monastic discipline, Śīla Rakshita, and the other from the Mulasarvastivada tradition who had attained the concentration in which you single pointedly entered also attained the heat on the path of preparation, officiated his ceremony, his ordination ceremony as his preceptor, Geshe-la. Loss. Oh, yeah. And then then his name was still Chandragarbha, and he received this ordination name of Sri Dipankara Jñāna. Afterwards, up to age of thirty one, he studied the upper and lower divisions of inner philosophical knowledge, and in particular, for twelve years, the great Vinayasūtra Vritti, the great detailed exposition under under his lama, Do do you know the the English translation or the Sanskrit translation of this?
Then of all the the the reading for the for the text is saying that he he was well versed in the scriptures of the four original traditions. And was saying these four original traditions encompass all the eighteen schools, he was versed then in all these traditions. And and in this way, then he he had this a very incisive knowledge of all the details of the modes of conduct that should be cultivated, adopted, and that should be abandoned according to all the various philosophical schools. Like, as we have here, like, for instance, how to accept offerings. And then we approach the second of the second major division of this first part of the text with the root about the the root and the and the actual author of this text.
We we learned what is it? The root order how Atisha attained the realization of qualities in its great accomplishment. And this topic has two parts to it. The first part is how all the realization of qualities are contained in the three trainings, which Generally speaking, think Geshe-la was reading through the text again saying, as generally speaking, all the scriptural teachings by the conqueror are contained in the three precious collections. The realization of teachings are also contained in the three precious trainings.
The three the three baskets, Vinaya, and the other two is Discourses and Abhidharma. Abhidharma. Okay. So Geshe-la was explaining.
So the three precious collections, these three baskets of knowledge, the the basket of of Vinaya, of ethical conduct, then the the basket of sutras, the discourses of the Buddha, and the basket of Abhidharma of you could say how can I translate Abhidhamma? Higher knowledge. Higher knowledge. Yes. That of the teachings of the Buddha, there are generally a major division of the scriptural teachings and the realizational teachings.
And the scriptural teachings are usually in these three baskets of ethical of the basket of ethics, the basket of higher knowledge, and the basket of the sutras, the discourses. Now as for the the the realization of teachings, they are contained in the three trainings. And these these three three trainings, the trainings on ethical conduct, the trainings on concentration, and the trainings on wisdom. Sorry? Lost wisdom.
This one. Lost. The instructions of this training, the teachings of this training are contained in the scripture, the Vinaya, the basket of Vinaya, the basket of teachings on ethics. Then as for the training concentration, the bulk of this training is contained in the basket, in the collection of teachings which are referred to as the discourses, the sutras. And for the the training in wisdom, the bulk of these teachings are contained in the basket of Abhidharma, the basket of higher knowledge.
And then we approach the next topic, which is saying how was actually accomplished, how he was he possessed these three trainings, how he was accomplished in the three trainings. And this topic has three parts to it. The first each each referring to which of the three trainings. So the first one is ethical discipline, then we have concentration and wisdom. So as the first one of those, which is a training on ethical discipline, this alone has, again, three parts, the transition or how he made contact with ethical discipline, how he was actually accomplished in ethical discipline, and the proper protection of ethical discipline.
And of the first one of those, which is the one we are we are going to approach now, which is how he made contact with ethical discipline. So then as as for how as for this transition to ethical discipline, as for how I made contact with ethical discipline we have, you can follow-up in the English translation in this regard. Well, as Geshe-la was reading, the training and ethical discipline is often praised by in the in the excellent teachings of of the conquerors and in the commentaries of the foundation of all good qualities, such as the trainings in concentration and wisdom. And was saying. So then this training in ethical discipline is like the field, and we are going to plant something.
This is like the soil, the preparation of the soil, the preparation of the field. That’s the training in ethical discipline. And then, again, therefore, it is necessary, first of all, to have realization of qualities in terms of ethical disciplines. English law was essential then it is important important that we cultivate a proper ethical conduct, proper moral conduct, because if we do not have a proper ethical conduct, we will not be able to develop in the training, and concentration and wisdom. We will not be able to develop attainments in terms of concentration and wisdom loss.
So then we we approached the second topic, which is how he he was actually accomplished in ethical discipline. And this topic has three parts. The first one referring to the vows of individual liberation. Of the three trainings in ethical discipline, three different divisions of of ethical discipline, the first one is the training in the vows of individual liberation. And, again, Geshe-la was going through the text.
Again, in this regard, how he received the first one of those the vows of individual liberation. Having received the the the vows of a gelong, of a bhikṣu, as we have here, as a fully ordained monk, he protected them the way that a yak protects his own coat. A yak is so attached to its coat that it risks his own life in order to save one strand of hair that has got caught up on a tree on a branch, even if it is being threatened by a hunter. And this is how La MAtisha protected every detail of the foundation of the trainings, not to speak of the major rules of the foundation of trainings which he had undertaken so that, therefore, he was known as the elder who was a great upholder of discipline. And then and then secondly, as for again, still regards to his accomplishment of the trainings and discipline, the trainings trainings on bodhisattva vows.
So how Atisha possesses bodhisattva vows. With this regard, again, we were told that he practiced from the numerous instructions and the more different different instructions for training the mind of enlightenment, for training bodhicitta, which is rooted in love and compassion. And in particular, in attendance upon his lama, Serlingpa, he trained for a long time in the highest instructions passed passed on by the great Maitreya and himself through Asaṇga. Thereby, the mind of enlightenment that cherishes others more than oneself arose in his heart. This aspirational mind gave rise to the mind of this aspirational mind of enlightenment, gave mind to the engaging mind of enlightenment.
Due to the good conduct, the proper conduct of training in the trainings that follow the promise to train in the vast to train in the in the the way of the. He never transgressed the rules of the Buddha’s children. And as for, again, the last division on the on the ethical trainings, how Atisha possessed the vajrayana vows. And, again, owing to the fact that he had meditative stabilizations on the of the generation stage in which, and Geshe-la briefly explains, in in vajrayana, in tantra, we have two major divisions of the practice. One is the generation stage, and the other one is the completion stage.
And in the generation stage, the aim is to visualize oneself, clearly visualize oneself as the deity. And again, because he had developed this, he had attained this concentration in which he sees his own body as that of the deity, and he also had the meditative stabilization, the meditative accomplishment of the completion stage, of the completion stage, which is called the vajra mind. Because of that, he became chief among the yogis. In particular, he protected his tantric samayas, his tantric commitments, properly by not transgressing the prescribed rules. And, again, how he proper how he protected how he properly protected his vows on the three divisions of ethical discipline.
Not only did he courageously undertake the trainings in ethical discipline of the three vows, he also upheld them as he had promised. He kept the vows without transgressing the rules associated with them. And even if he transgressed them ever so slightly, we told him he very quickly purified this by means of a suitable ritual for restoring the given, the particular vow that that was transgressed. And says, and then this we should emulate Atisha and that we should guard the vows that we have taken just as a Atisha has has guard his vows has guarded his vows. And if we if there is if there is anyone amongst us who have taken the three different types of vows, the three different classes of vows, then you should protect all of the three class of vows.
But most importantly for us, if we have taken the lay vows, of which there are five vows to be protected against, five prescriptions, then these are the ones that we protect. But generally speaking, we should all guard against the ten non virtuous laws. And then Geshe-la says, so then, ideally, you know, it’s best if if nothing that contradicts the that that that goes against the vows arises. That will be ideal. That will be the best situation if if if the vows are never broken in the first place.
But if they are, then we should we should immediately practice the practice of confession, which is a purifying the the damaged vows. And we should do that three times three times a day. And, you know, three times a day, we should generate regret, which and we should generate the determination not to commit the transgression again, not to engage in in whatever mistaken activity we have engaged. And even even if if even if there are those amongst us who do not have vows, again, would be best to guard against the ten non-virtues. And again, ideally, if none of them occur, that’s best.
That’s the best situation possible. It’s the best case scenario. But if it ever happens that we engage in any of the ten non virtues, we should also practice confession. We should also purify them. And in this way, we will restore our practice loss.
So then we’ll go to the next training, which is the how he accomplished how he developed accomplishments, how a teacher developed accomplishments in the training of concentration. And this we have two parts, the the common training concentration and the uncommon training in concentration. As for the common one, he had achieved serviceability of of the mind by attaining calm abiding. And as for the the uncommon training concentration, he had the extreme ability the stream stability of the generation stage. And furthermore, he completed either three or six years of what is written here as a conduct of yogic realization discipline, which is three to six years of solitary retreat, of solitary meditation meditation retreat.
And then, again, as for of the trainings, the training in wisdom, he again, in regards to the common training in wisdom, he had a a special concentration, which is a union of calm abiding and special insight. And the uncommon training, he had attained a special concentration of the fulfillment stage of of the completion completion stage of of tantra So then having having then attained all these positive qualities, what were the deeds that he performed in order to for the sake of benefiting the teachings? And then we have a division of this topic. So then the deeds that he performed in India and the deeds that he performed in Tibet. This one.
So then first, at the place of the great enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, he defeated three times the proponents of non-Buddhist doctrines by means of the Dharma, thus safeguarding the Buddha’s teachings. And then also eliminating all the taint of ignorance, all the misconceptions, and all the doubts, also in regard to the teachings of his own upper and lower systems, the Buddhist attended schools, the lower and the higher attended schools, and so forth. He spread the teachings so that he was regarded as the crown jewel beyond partiality by proponents of all of all lineages, of all traditions, of all Buddhist traditions. And then so then as for the deeds that he performed in Tibet, and we have four divisions. And and the first one is clearing up misconceptions and restoring the tradition.
As for this as for clearing up the misconceptions on this tradition, first of all, we told we are told the story where Lhalama and his nephew sent two of the great translators, Gyatson Sengge and Nagtso Lotsawa, to India one after the other. But with great effort, they they they they made great effort at inviting Atishah, Lama Atishah, to come to Tibet. Finally, Lama Atisha gave in and came to the region of Upper Ngari during the reign of Changchub’u, then he was requested to purify to to clear the Buddhist teachings. So then Geshe-la was briefly explaining. So the first king, which was Lhalama and his nephew, they send the translators.
Then that king, Lhalama, isn’t it? He died in prison, isn’t it? And then and and Lama Atisha arrived in in the reign of the the following king of Tibet, which was. And and then Geshe-la is explaining. So then then when he arrived in in Nari, he was requested to to clear away the misconceptions with regards with regards to the teachings.
Then, generally speaking, Geshe-la says, during that time, it’s not that there were no Buddhist teachings in Tibet. The Buddhist teachings were present in Tibet. Generally speaking, there were those who regarded the tantric teachings as good and the sūtra teachings as not good, as not worthwhile. And there were those who regarded the sūtra teachings as worthwhile and the tantra teachings as not worthy. And so he he that’s a general explanation of what was going on.
And then the teacher went there and cleared away all the misconceptions with regards to the to these classes of teachings. And then just just as we have here, then there upon him, he spread the teachings by composing the on the path to enlightenment at the Lamp on the Path to Enlightenment, such a text which brings together all the points of sūtra and tantra and condense them into applicable stages as well as composing all the texts. So so then dispelled all the misconceptions with regards to the and brought them into harmony with each other. And in this way, then he spent three years in, nine years in, five years elsewhere in and center of Tibet, teaching the fortunate all the scriptures and instructions of sūtra and tantra without exception. Thus, he restored the tradition of teachings that had declined, made those that remained flourish, corrected those that had been soiled by the errors of misconception, ensuring that the precious teachings were freed from all flaws.
This one? This one. Oh, yeah. So then the next of those these that he performed is the best of first was clearing away misconceptions about the Dharma and restoring the tradition. And secondly, identifying the three causes of excellence in the composition of commentaries.
And Geshe-la was explaining, Lama Atisha composed the text, which is the Lamp on the Path to Enlightenment. And Geshe-la was explaining, then Lama then taught what are the three foundations or the three causes that make such texts valuable, make them excellent. Then again, there are three causes of excellence in a composition of a text clarifying the Muni’s teachings. And Geshe-la was saying also the Muni’s teachings, the teachings of the Buddha. And and and if one is following the intention of the Buddha when one is writing a text, then in order for this text to turn out well, to be good, it needs these three excellent causes.
So then what are these three these three causes of excellence? The first one being learning the five areas of knowledge. Two, having received instructions for the application of their meaning, which transmit instructions of the perfect complete Buddha in an unbroken line of exalted masters. And three, having received the permission to teach through the vision of a protector personal deity. And Geshe-la was saying, if one has these three qualities, then one is fully able to compose text on the on the meaning of the teachings of the Buddha.
So then if if by merely having one only one of those causes of excellence, one’s composition will be already very good, by having all the three of them once composition will be truly great. And and our teacher here, Lama teacher, he was such a being who had these three excellent qualities. And then, again, as for the deeds that he performed in Tibet, first of all, we had clearing up misconceptions and restoring the tradition. And secondly, identifying the three causes of excellence in the composition of commentaries. And third, now that the one that we approach is the ability to ascertain the conqueror’s intentions due to these three causes of excellence.
And first of all, topic has three parts. So the first of them is the care of protector deities, of the meditational deities. And to that, we read a verse composed about Lama Atisha, Of the glorious of the king of array of Samayas, of the heroic, noble, so forth, you had visions and permissions. Therefore, in dreams and directly, you perpetually heard teachings, both the ones profound and the ones vast. Then second so then the first one was the care of the meditational deities.
Then secondly, how Atisha’s lineage is uninterrupted. And we are told that Atisha held numerous lineages of masters, such as the two lineages of the shared vehicle, the sūtra vehicle, and of the great vehicle. With regards to which there are two divisions, two lineages, the perfection of the great vehicle. We have the lineage of the perfection vehicle and of the secret mantra vehicles. In the perfection vehicle, he held three lineages, the lineages of the view and the lineages of conduct.
As for the lineages of conduct, the within it, there are the lineages of Maitreya and the lineages of Mañjuśrī, which were passed down by Asaṇga. Asaṇga and what’s it? Nāgārjuna? Nāgārjuna. Yes.
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Of course.
This one. What’s what’s the name of a sangha? I forgot. Sanskrit. Oh, yeah.
Yes. I’m I’m thinking of sending his brother. So those those divisions with regards those lineages with regards to the perfection with regards to the lineage of and the lineage of and so forth. Those are the the sūtra, the the the perfection vehicles. Now even even within the lineage of the secret mantra of the tantra the tantra, he received the five types of transmissions as well as numerous lineages, as the lineage of the teaching systems, the lineage of blessings, the lineage of the various instructions, and so forth.
Then, also, we are told that he he received directly received instructions from from many gurus, from many lamas, and the lamas from which he received instructions are mentioned in the praise the praise of Lama which read the gurus, you always relied on worship, many with high accomplishments. In particular, you held the profound and vast instructions that were passed on from one another from Nāgārjuna, So then we are told that he it is well known that he had twelve gurus who had attained high accomplishments as as well as many others. As for the fact that Lama Atisha was learning the five areas of knowledge, we are told that this has already been explained, and points out that we just covered today the the teachings with regards to his accomplishments in the three trainings and then and his knowledge. So that that has already been stated. He has he was proficient in this all these areas of knowledge.
And then we are told in the very last line, the conclusion is that for all these reasons, we we understand that Lama Atisha is someone was someone who is who is fully able to compose text or give teachings on pertaining the the intentions of the Buddha. And then as for the special qualities of of Atish’s disciples, then as for his disciples in in India, in Nadi, and in Tibet. We have the master who was like this. This master, Lama Atisha himself, had an incredible number of disciples in India, Kashmir, Oddiyana, Nepal, and Tibet. However, However, the main ones were four great scholars in India who matched the master himself in their knowledge.
They were Mitopa, Dharmarakshita, Akaramati, Mahajana, and Kṣitigarbha. And then so then also there are people who say that there was a fifth Indian student, And in Nadi, there were the great translators, Nagtso and Naktso, as well as the king. In the province of Tang, there were Ngagpa and Gyupa Lase. In Lodrak, there were Kharpa Chuk and Gwawa Kyung. In Kham, there were Naljorpa Chenpo, Gompawa, Seradoje, and Chayulwa.
And in in central Tibet, were the three, Ku, Ngo, and Drom. Lastly, as for his foremost disciple, among amongst all of those disciples, the the great lineage holder who was prophesied by Tārā and further further spread the the the teachings of Lama Atisha was This is then the summary description of the author’s greatness. And if you want to learn more about it, you should come to understand it by reading more extensive texts, biographical texts. And then and then so then this is then the conclusion of this first chapter of the of the text with which shows the greatness of the teaching of the teacher. And then the the next topic that we will approach is then showing the greatness of the teachings for the sake of generating respect for the instructions.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Now if Krishna, I was wondering if you understood what was going on, and he must know if you have any questions. And, Krishna, I was gonna say, look, what what what is important is is that you keep in mind this teaching about the three trainings. Training in ethics, the training in concentration, the training in wisdom.
This This at at any chance we have, we should be practicing these three trainings. Yeah. Absolutely. Yes. So there was a question that you apparently all came about with regards to the beings of the three different scopes and what is the measure of a being of small scope.
Is that is that is that that the question? Yeah? No. It’s not the same, but I I can ask that too. So then so then first, makes a distinction, and here you have to forgive my pronunciation.
These are words I will never get right in English. There is a division of spiritual practitioners, dharma practitioners, and world beings. Geshe-la Baba, in a sense, a being, a person who aims, who is intent on attaining benefits or the pleasures or the happinesses concerning this life alone, such a being is what is called a worldly being. Now so then so then that being which is aiming only at this present life, such a being is a worldly being. Now a being, a person who is not thinking about this life, who is not concerned about this life, realizes that this life is very brief, all too brief and short, and aims instead aspires.
Instead, it gives gives gives rise within his mind to aspiration that may I attain a higher rebirth as either a human or god and has a longer goal. I mean, future lives are are a long way away and has this longer, more vast goal in mind. And then with this intention in mind, such a being then engages in virtuous deeds, virtuous actions, and abandon whatever actions are to be abandoned, then such a being who works in this way with the mainly with this attitude, such a being is called a being of small scope. Then now as for being of of middling scope, I guess that was just saying, being a person of middling scope is a person who, you know, again has no regard for this life. It’s an expression of you know it’s just too much suffering.
There’s no good to it. It’s a very short life. It’s a very brief amount of time. And, also, such a being does not give regard or importance, not even to future lives. Even though it might be pleasurable states, they are not lasting, and they end up in suffering.
Such a being then understands how all of cyclic existence, lower rounds or higher rounds of existence, they are all every everything. All these experiences are in the nature of suffering. You solve suffering. And this being then understands that aims then aspires then at attaining a lasting, stable, unchanging happiness. And with this aspiration in mind, he understands I cannot attain that without liberation, and then he aims at attaining liberation.
And then so then we’ve been we covered the beings of small scope, medium scope, and now as for the beings of great scope, those beings which have the most vast intentions and motivations, wider the widest widest perspective. Being then realizes that attaining liberation is not enough because attaining liberation will be for himself alone, and there are all all other beings who have been so kind to oneself are going to be left behind, and that it’s truly shameful to leave them behind. So one aspires then one aims then at attaining, accomplishing the and changing happiness for all for all sentient beings. And in this way, one aims at attaining enlightenment. And this then is the motivation or the being of of great scope..
So then in the in the in the Lamrim text, this is what we are we are taught, the practices of the paths of the three types of beings, the beings of small, middling, and great scope. As for worldly beings, the practices and activities of worldly beings, this is not taught here. This is what these beings of small, medium, and great scope are trying to give up. And then, we if we think about it, we can see it for ourselves. We can see that there are those beings who are intent in the happiness of this life alone, the things and the pleasures and so forth of this life alone.
There are those beings who are intent in the attaining the happiness of future lives, the happiness of high rebirths as humans and gods. There are those beings who are intent on liberation, and there are those beings who are intent in the enlightenment of all beings. So then the three types of of beings come from these three different intentions, these three different motivations. The beings of small scope are those who are intent in future higher rebirth as as humans or gods. The beings of are those who are intent on liberation, and the lasting happiness of liberation, and and and beings of are those who are intent on the lasting happiness of enlightenment, loss.
As for these three trainings, these three paths of these three types of beings, this is what we should train ourselves in. We should give up all concern for this life, for the things of this life, and engage in the path of the beings of small scope, in training the path of the beings of small scope aiming at a higher rebirth. And if we do not develop a good understanding of the develop a good understanding of the common path of the beings of small scope, we will not be able to realize properly realize the path of being of middle scope, we will not be able to properly realize liberation. And if we cannot properly understand the path of the being of middle scope, we will not be able to realize the path of the beings of the greater scope. I guess I was gonna say now if we want to start our practice, our spiritual practice, a good the the the the a good place to start, the best place to start will be by giving up concern for this life.
Then giving up concern for this life and then aiming at attaining the happiness of future lives. If we do not cannot develop a proper aspiration for the happiness of future lives, we will not be able to develop proper aspiration for the happiness for for liberation itself. And if we cannot develop a strong aspiration for liberation, we’ll not be able to develop an aspiration for enlightenment, Geshe-la was saying. And so we have to start by giving up concern for this life. We we cannot even do that, much less the rest, Geshe-la says.
So this is where we have to start. Give up aspiration for the things of this life. We keep on wishing to obtain the the the the good things, the happinesses, and so forth. When we when we can when we are able then to give up this concern for the things of this life, then we we enter then the path being of small scope plus. And says of of of the many people who call themselves practitioners or says, amongst all those people, there are many people.
Amongst all those people, are maybe two or three people who are aiming at liberation or who have attained liberation. And then most of us Most of us. And that is and that is because, Geshe-la says, we are unable to give up this life. And Geshe-la says, you know, by by giving up this life, it doesn’t mean that you have to become a beggar. Giving up this life is is something that you do in your mind, in your heart, in your heart mind.
So then giving up this life is not that you have to give away your all your money, all your possessions, all the things of this life. It’s not that you have to get completely rid of all those things. So I guess the law says, by giving up this life, does not have to get rid of one’s possessions and of all one’s objects or material possessions and so forth. What is meant by it is that one should not give into attachment towards those things. The whole point is that one should realize how those possessions are all unreliable.
They are not really good. They are not giving real happiness or anything like that. That one then not being attached to those things then aims at future lives. The main point is that one shouldn’t be greatly attached to things. And this is what it means to give up this life.
And then Geshe says give you an illustration. For example, we we we put a hundred dollars in the bank, and we think, okay. That’s nice. I have a hundred dollars. This is so good.
I’m good. I’m well. I’m safe and so forth. And Geshe-la says, and and this is what exactly what we shouldn’t do. We should actually understand how it is not good, how it is unreliable, how it is not going to give us any real happiness.
And by giving it up, by disregarding it in this way, we’re not going to lose the one hundred dollars It is not going to diminish in value. In the same way that by praising it and so forth, it is not going to increase in value. It’s just but by by not being attached to it, that’s how we give up this life. Says, then by by holding it as highly important and precious, it doesn’t make it any better. It doesn’t it doesn’t get better by by by, how do you say, its faults and shortcomings, it doesn’t become any worse.
You still have the hundred dollars. You you can still benefit from it. You can still make use of it. The whole thing is give up this life, to give it up, it’s it’s something that you do in your heart mind. Saying, but we we are not like this.
We, you know, we hold on to our possessions. We are attached to them, and we we don’t we don’t stop ourselves from relating to the sway of loss. Is that okay? I don’t. On page four.
Yes. Yes. Can you look at this book? I’ve got old books. Yes.
But I have to find it in in Tibetan. Tibetan. Yeah. The text is so he’s so attached to it. Yes.
So then Geshe-la is explaining, no. Lama Atisha was not attached to his vows or to the teachings. That was an illustration to to tell just how how he protected, how well he guarded his vows, how well he protected his vows because the vows are really precious, because the vows are really important. Then because they are so precious and so important, so beneficial, then one has faith towards in relation to these vows and protects them well. Lama Atisha did not have attachment for the vows themselves.
And if you if you think about money, money is something which is not really valuable, which is not really important, which is is not precious, even though we think of it as precious, important, valuable, and so forth. And we have attachment to it. The vows, they are really valuable. They are really important. They are really, really precious.
And, yeah, one is as as attachment to the money is the cause of more suffering and saṃsāra, and this faith towards one’s vows is the cause of liberation. Loss. Is that okay? So then even though the these two minds may seem alike, seem seem to have some similarities, Geshe-la says, one is a mind which is intent on liberation and enlightenment. It’s holding on to something which is real and true.
And the other one is something is a mind which is intent on the happiness of this life and is holding on to something which is not real or true. Okay? Okay. You okay? Sir?
I just had a question. In in relation to the example of the hundred dollars Yes. If if you’re you’re being a high scope and your motivation was to do things to the benefit of other beings, in which you used the example of the hundred dollars was different if you were being of different scope, likewise, in the way in which you used that or responded to that or acted on your circumstances. So instead of depositing the hundred dollars in your own bank account, giving it away. Is that what you mean?
So how it is going to translate into action is up to you. What is important is that you do not have attachment towards it, that you see the faults that are inherent in it, and the money do not have attachment, realize that it does not give you any real happiness. It is a cause of suffering and so forth. The main point is is death. It’s it’s what you do in your heart mind.
How we translate into action is really up to each one of us. Yes, sir. So just like Geshe-la just said, he says, if if if you hold on to it as precious and important, then many faults will follow it. If you if you If you see it as being faulty, then not only no problem will come out of it, you will benefits will actually develop out of it come out of it. So Geshe-la is saying, and this is something that we can see for ourselves.
If if we think about it, we we will be able to understand it. Now if you hold on to it as being important, then attachment will develop out of it. And we know already how attachment is bad. On the other hand, you meditate or you cultivate an understanding of its faults, and then by doing this, you can rid yourself of attachment, and good qualities