Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 45-minute commentary, Geshe Pema Tsering opens with a striking image: when a mother drinks hot tea, the baby in the womb experiences it like being plunged into boiling water; when she moves, it feels like a cyclone; when she rests a hand on her belly, the weight lands like a boulder. This vividly physical account of the suffering of birth anchors the session’s central Lamrim topic — the sufferings of fortunate rebirths, often underestimated because we forget them. Before reaching that material, Geshe Pema Tsering reviews the three principal aspects of the path — renunciation, bodhicitta, and the wisdom realizing emptiness — including a warm Tibetan analogy comparing emptiness to butter added to fatty meat, and warns against practice sliding into self-serving dedication. Suitable for students already familiar with basic Lamrim structure.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 06 LR 2002 06 18.mp3
UUID: 5cb87894-f939-4afe-9b26-0c48dcc9369e
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Lam Rim 2002 Bodhisattva Deeds (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2002-06-18
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 44.8 minutes
Words: ~2,849
Oh, yeah. His Kālacakra teaching or Kālacakra Tantra has stated that he dedicate all his merit attained or virtues obtained in all three times which are the present, past and future. And without having a single stain of the self-cherishing attitude: I shall here dedicate all the merit of the old and present, past and future in order to free you, those motherly sentient beings for the sentient beings to free from suffering or cyclic existence.
So the great master here is saying that not acting with the self-cherishing attitude or self-purpose, which means that those virtues he collected are not for the individual liberation or freeing oneself from the cyclic existence. And those are performed in order to benefit sentient beings, entire sentient beings without remaining a single. So for that purpose, because it’s been cultivated in those purposes, he shall here dedicate all his virtues for the betterment of entire sentient beings. So likewise, we, any virtuous or positive actions one cultivates should not be stained with the self-cherishing attitude or self-purpose. It should not be cultivated for the individual benefits.
And without having a stain of individual benefits should cultivate the virtues for the betterment. Should cultivate it for the others and dedicate it for the others to be free from the miseries. So therefore yep, it’s okay. So therefore, you know, it is very important to be very careful here because most of our practices, you know, we mainly becomes the individual practice for the individual benefits that are not only for the self-purpose, mainly towards the happiness of this present life like achieving a fame or becoming rich and etcetera. And so and so there is huge danger.
Most of our prayers mainly converted into individual benefits especially for this lifetime. So it is very important for one to be very careful that making sure that whatever positive actions or virtues one collected should should do it for the betterment of sentient beings and dedicate it dedicate those virtues for the attainment of enlightenment in order to help the sentient beings. And, therefore, you know, one should always dedicate it in a proper way and one should not dedicate all the virtues for the individual liberation or attainment of arhathood. Because by doing so, then one’s dedication has been stained with the stains of self benefit or self purposes. So because we are here, the practitioner of Mahāyāna and being Mahayanists, our practice should always be upheld by the bodhicitta or altruistic intention.
And along with that, if one has the wisdom of wisdom realizing emptiness and using them both and by having both of them, the bodhicitta as a method and wisdom realizing emptiness as a wisdom. Combining those two, then one attains or work one works to attain enlightenment for the sake of entire sentient beings. So the bodhicitta is very important here. And in addition to this, if one has the wisdom or cultivates the wisdom realizing emptiness, then it becomes like a Tibetan saying that getting extra drops of butter on the top of meat. But don’t worry about it.
What it means is, you know, we like fat stuff. So mainly in order to Yeah. To become one become one’s practice, the Mahāyāna practice, it should be the One’s practice should consist of three principal aspects of the path which is the renunciation, bodhicitta and wisdom realizing emptiness. So we are back to that — the meat and the butter stuff. You know, the Tibetans usually in up in the Himalayas eat a lot of meat and we actually like lots of fat.
In terms of myself, I really like it. So the meat itself is a very fatty stuff and if you give butter on the top, it becomes really, really good. So that’s how it happens, like, wisdom realizing emptiness. If you have everything, then it becomes like a butter on the meat. So, yeah, so in order to cultivate those three principal aspects of the path, renunciation or wish to free from cyclic existence, bodhicitta, the altruistic intention and the emptiness, wisdom realizing emptiness. So in yeah.
First, one should one should develop the renunciation by thinking through the many aspects or many faults, knowing that there is no happiness at all in the cyclic existence and knowing how one undergoes through the suffering and develop a wish to free from cyclic existence. And by knowing this, yeah, wanting to wanting to wanting to liberate or or achieve arhathood, by knowing this, then convert one’s thought from oneself. And converting thought towards the motherly sentient beings thinking that they are same as oneself wishing happiness and do not want suffering. And and and and and and through this, endeavor of a wish that wanting those motherly sentient beings to free from you know, wishing yeah, wishing to free those motherly sentient beings from the suffering of cyclic existence and let them have the ultimate happiness. And through this, one cultivates the the the wanting a wish to attain enlightenment or Buddha, become Buddha, in order to help sentient beings and that is so called the bodhicitta.
And upon those, by doing on those, then think that the sentient beings were once yep, for which purpose one is doing the practice and the practice itself, renunciation, bodhicitta are all, briefly speaking, then entire phenomena, yeah, phenomena are are free of inherent existence and they don’t exist the way it appears to us or to oneself. And knowing that seeing and see those the phenomena that they exist merely through the mental elaboration or or or or yeah, fabrication. And and by doing such meditation, then those or such meditation is consists of the meditation or cultivating the three principal aspects of the path. So we shall do a short meditation here by thinking: for the purpose of all these sentient beings who do not inherently exist or inherently the way they appear as well as and For their purpose, I shall here practise to attain enlightenment, which also does not exist inherently.
And and on the basis of that, oneself is also not inherently exist. And by focusing on those, so but the main the the renunciation, sentient beings, bodhicitta, as well as enlightenment, yeah, with the the mind of altruistic intention and what and seeing along with the mind of yeah, altruistic intention, seeing that all the phenomena are free of inherent existence. And on such basis of meditation, we shall do a short, you know, meditation. Now, last week we stopped at the topic here, the second subdivision, which is thinking about the suffering of cyclic existence in particular. So for which it has two subdivisions, which are the thinking about the suffering of the lower realms and the thinking about the sufferings of the good rebirth.
And as for the first one, we have explained the sufferings of the lower realms during the first scope, the small scope, which the previous or last term. And now and by knowing the sufferings of the lower realms when yep, during the study of the small scope, now one should see one should get sick of these sufferings by knowing them like the person who can’t stand even a word of the wine or alcohol that who got sick of, you know, by using excess of alcohol or intoxicants and finally got sick. When the person recovers and you tell, mention alcohol or have a drink, and they just get sick of the name. So likewise, you should see and get sick of the sufferings of the lower rebirths. And now on to the second part, which is thinking about the sufferings of the good rebirth has three divisions as well, which is the sufferings of the human, the suffering the sufferings of the demigods, and finally, the sufferings of the gods.
And now thinking about the suffering of the human rebirth has seven, the first one is suffering of birth. So after having after having studied about sufferings of the lower rebirths in the first scope or a small scope, now one may think that that there can’t be much sufferings in the good rebirths. And it is possible of thinking. It is possible for one to think in such way, but that thought is also mistaken because as far as one is in the cyclic existence, one’s always been tortured by the sufferings of saṃsāra. And and and sufferings yeah.
So so it’s it’s just a matter of whether or not. It’s just a matter of recognizing the sufferings. And if one understands the sufferings, then one can see that as far as one’s in cyclic existence, one always goes through the sufferings. So whenever one attains nirvana or the liberation state, or leaves cyclic existence, then one is free from sufferings. In terms of practicing, then then the the precious human rebirth is is is a perfect rebirth to practice the the yeah.
Yeah. For practicing for practice. But speaking of the term, speaking of sufferings, then there is huge lots of sufferings as well. And for example, like, terms of suffering of the birth, we go through huge suffering during the time of delivery or during the time of birth. But at this stage, we don’t think or we don’t we don’t think because we have forgot all the sufferings at the time of delivery.
For example, like, because of our one’s practices of this present life of cultivating lots of virtuous actions, and one is supposed to take a human rebirth in in the next life. But even though one received one received the the good rebirth because of the as a result of the practicing, but but that but during that life, one one one is not still not free of the suffering. Yeah. Free from suffering of birth, matter of fact. For example, like in terms of the suffering of the birth, there are the ten states during the time of pregnancy within the months at the time one conceived and before the delivery at the five stages.
And then after that is the five stages after the delivery. And in terms of the moments, they are The nominal terms. It’s not really clear here, if that’s alright. In terms of them talking about the can’t remember the exact words that saying, you know, something like the sperm then comes the meat and the fluffy stuff and so forth in, like, five stages of the embryo’s development. Yeah.
Never mind this way. Like If you really want to know the words the words. Can you in the library, there’s a dictionary. The one, the Buddhist terminology. I think there is yeah.
So the first one is called it’s in Tibetan word, it’s kind of like not really fully formed, but it’s like yogurt. First one. No. And then the second stage, this one’s become a completely meat. Alright.
We’ll find these two words. And the second third one is so called no. It’s it’s the very second moment. It’s very easy to come glimpse out from that meat. Fetus.
Yep. Alright. I’ll just wait for the dictionary. And the fifth one fourth one is called now all the limbs are out. So and then, yeah, started to give some motions.
And the fifth one is now at the very moment one’s about to come out. They’re saying, oh, maybe today, tomorrow. The first one is the five duration during the pregnancy. It’s like up to twenty weeks. And then the five durations after the birth. One is the first one is called the little baby, babyhood, and then the the Yeah, until the first of the ten years are called yeah.
And so we can call it baby, aren’t we? And then the forties. Yep. And then call the twenty-five to forty-five. It’s middle aged?
Yeah. Mhmm. No. And between forty five to where is he? Between fifty five to to sixty is called well, between middle age and old age.
And then after sixty years, it’s called the old old age. So these are the ten moment, ten durations from the mothers conceived till the death. Alright. Right. So so during the five durations time of the in the pregnancy, the first one, you know, at the the moment one conceives, one has a huge it’s it’s like one has at the first moment the one’s body is like a yogurt.
It’s, yeah, a little bit firm, guess. And and and the conceived time, actually, the consciousness entered the mother during the time of the parents’ union. And the consciousness was in the intermediate state and is unstoppable. It only stopped at where it was going to take rebirth. So and at the moment, when one’s consciousness has been conceived, one has a huge amount of heat at that time.
And then the second moment during the in in and one has the the limbs are starting to expand or come out. And at that moment, one has the the huge sufferings, not feeling like, you know, it’s been stressed. You know? It’s okay. Come on.
Come on. It’s almost done. I don’t know about it. It is in the new edition, but anyway, I’ll give it to you later. So we forgot all these sufferings after our birth.
We can’t we don’t remember how the sufferings how many sufferings we have suffered during the time inside the mother’s womb. And for example, like the moments the the the one that the parents, like some mother had a cup of tea, like a very hot cup of tea, and inside the baby feels like it’s been boiled in hot water. It’s very hot and warm. And then when the mother makes movements, it feels like being blown by a wind or cyclone.
And then when sometimes, you know, the the mothers, they play, you know, like, put their hands on the tummy. And and it feels like, you know, they’ve been, you know, been like a huge rock on the top of them, very heavy. So one has almost the same suffering which is in the hell realms. For example, like, during in a mother’s womb, there’s no light at all. It’s always dark.
And as well, it’s not just dark, and the ones left in the dark like blood and so forth. Example, like, you know, there’s a huge dam, huge dam or a filled up with the dirt, and then you were put inside the vase and closed the door, and how much suffering you go through, you can’t even stand for one day. So it’s it’s almost even a worse feeling or a suffering one has in a mother’s womb, being darkness and so forth. So and so in death sufferings, one one stays there for nine months and ten days in a mother’s womb. Yeah?
And then, yeah, and then during the at the very last moment of the pregnancy or inside mother’s womb, then once one gets sick of being in and wants to leave the place, and And that is the moment it comes, the the time to of the delivery. And at the time of delivery, then one comes out. And in the moment, one still has huge go through the suffering because during the time of delivery, one has been squeezed and and and very badly. I don’t think you wanna know about this. And so the suffering goes.
And then and then no matter how smooth and soft the one is being placed on after the delivery, and one still feels like, you know, there is suffering of being as if a lot of needles are placed in one’s body because inside the mother’s womb it is very soft and smooth. And and when it comes out on the very nice soft and smooth material, one still feels one’s body has been like needles everywhere. And then additionally, that one has great fear. With that. No.
Feels like one’s spinning, one’s skin has been taken off. And then in the moment after the you lift up in the mother’s hand, for example, and one has one feels huge fear, you know, because of not recognizing one’s parent or a mother, and one has a huge fear. And all the qualities and all the qualities or the education, the knowledge you have from the previous life has been forgotten and and not don’t even know how to walk. So one has to to learn from the very beginning how to eat, walk. Got it.
It. Nice. So so these are the sufferings one undergoes through. And as far as one is not free from cyclic existence, one still goes through this in each and every rebirth. For example, in a human rebirth one still does.
One should not neglect it by thinking