Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Geshe Pema Tsering uses the image of two fighters sizing up to a bout — one standing on solid ground, one on shifting sand — to explain why virtue will inevitably overcome non-virtue. In this 25-minute session from the Lamrim Bodhisattva Deeds series, he first covers rejoicing in merit: by delighting in the virtue of all beings, from ordinary people through to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, a practitioner accumulates vast merit and purifies past negativity. He then makes the case that non-virtue, rooted in ignorance, is inherently unstable — attachment to a new car fades when one reflects on its faults; hatred dissolves under love — while those antidotes belong to the Buddha lineage and rest on a firm foundation. A Q&A rounds out the session, covering Avalokiteśvara visualization for purification and the ordering of tantric deities on a shrine, from action tantra through to highest yoga tantra.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 07 LR 2002 02 05.mp3
UUID: db2158cc-4fda-4a32-8dac-82af00ffc5b1
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Lam Rim 2002 Bodhisattva Deeds (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2002-02-05
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 24.7 minutes
Words: ~1,410
Virtuous or not or whether we can rejoice in their actions and so on. So for that reason, we rejoice in the virtuous actions of all sentient beings, who whoever they are, one’s father and mother, friends, or whoever, one practices to rejoice in all, the merit accumulated by others. So then one, also rejoices in merit of beings, who have obviously attained pure states, such as the Buddhas, the Bodhisattvas, the Arhats, and so forth. And by rejoicing in the merit that such beings have accumulated, then one also accumulates a vast store of merit. So by rejoicing in that way in a virtue and the merit accumulated by all beings, then one one oneself also accumulates a vast store of merit and also purifies much past negativities that we have accumulated.
So then one combines the practice of of rejoicing in the merit of both oneself and all other sentient beings. By doing that, then one, combines this capacity for accumulating merit for oneself, by rejoicing in especially in the vast actions of pure beings such as Buddha, Bodhisattvas, and so forth, who have already, overcome the enemies of the afflictions, and they themselves accumulated an absolutely incalculable, store of merit. By rejoicing in that, also, we accumulate a vast accumulation of merit. So one also reflects that, the afflictions and non virtue and so forth are very strong, and their strength is evidenced by the number of sentient beings that are fully immersed in affliction, and engaged in the practice of non virtue. However, also virtue is equally strong, and this is evident by the outcomes of beings who, practice virtue.
Equally, both are free of being truly established. They’re both empty of true existence. In thinking in this way, one develops confidence in the strength of virtue to overcome completely all affliction and all non virtue. So then even though we’ve accumulated negative, actions and, so forth from beginningless time and we have a vast immeasurable store of nonvirtue, still, it is possible that we accumulate a store of merit equal and even greater than that, a store of merit that will even counter all the, vast accumulation of non virtue that we’ve established to date. So in fact, it’s it’s a little bit as if virtue and nonvirtue are vie amongst each other.
They’re enemies, and they vie, amongst each other. They war amongst each other. However, in a way, they’re not completely equal because non virtue is an unstable basis, whereas virtue is really a stable basis. By developing virtue and enhancing and increasing virtue, the nonvirtue itself can be completely overcome. In fact, the afflictions themselves, which support nonvirtue, appear to be very strong.
However, they are really supported by the conditions of ignorance and so on, which are not very stable. They can be overcome and undermined. So for instance, attachment can be overcome, simply by meditating on the ugly aspect of things that first appear to be attractive. So for that reason, the attachment itself is not a very stable. It’s not a stable basis.
Also, hatred and so on can be overcome by meditating on love. So for that reason, hatred is not really a very stable basis, whereas love is completely stable and is able to overturn and completely undermine and eliminate hatred just as those who accumulate the strength of love are complete able to completely eradicate hatred. So in fact, here, the, those antidotes, the antidotes of meditating on ugliness for attachment and, love in order to overcome hatred and so forth are of the lineage of the Buddhas themselves. Those practices are within the Buddha lineage, whereas, the other practices, the other states such as attachment and hatred and so forth are of the lineage of ignorance. But ignorance itself is unstable and not a valid type of awareness.
So when we look at the these two opponents of those in the lineage of the Buddhas and those in the lineage of ignorance, those in the lineage of ignorance are not really stable, whereas those in the lineage of the Buddhas are really stable and able eventually to overcome their opponents. So in fact, here, it’s almost as if if one has two vying opponents. And if one were to see two people sizing up to a fight and one could see that one was had the the qualities of stability and so forth. So it’s really if, say, two opponents were to fight and one were really someone who was brave and possessed of all manner of qualities, and their qualities were well developed and established on a proper basis. And they were sitting opposite someone who’s, who didn’t have those qualities and didn’t have the training and so forth.
Their qualities were not established on a stable basis or a proper basis, then we would be we would see that the the first would be able to overcome the second, that they’d have the basis, the ground in which to overcome their opponent. So for instance, it’s like, say, attachments that may arise for an attractive object like a new car. So that attachment may be very strong and seem very stable. But still, when we begin to reflect on the faults of the car, the disadvantages of the car, and so forth, then the attachment directed at that new car will eventually subside, which illustrates the fact that the attachment is ready to be overcome. It’s on one can overcome it by applying the correct antidotes.
So there’s a little bit of time for questions if anyone has any questions on the material. Does everyone, understand the, the subject matter so far? Yeah. Yeah. So is there any questions?
Yes. It is. One can visualize, Avalokiteśvara, say, front of one or in the crown of one’s head, and recite the mantra to Avalokiteśvara, the mantra of Avalokiteśvara, and then visualize that nectar descends from the seed syllable, for instance, at the heart of Avalokiteśvara, and that is absorbed into oneself in the through the crown of one’s head and purifies one’s negative collection of actions. That’s an excellent So in fact, here, if one is seeks to place those meditational deities on one’s altar, for instance, as representing, say, the jewel-like Buddha, then their individual characteristics and so forth are set out in various texts. The those meditational deities or tantric deities of the four different divisions of tantra are set out very extensively in various texts, how you visualize them, what implements they carry, and so forth.
And also, they exist in a certain order. The highest is highest of a tantra, then yoga tantra, then action tantra, so on. So all of this is set out in in various commentaries. In fact, these meditation of deities are in fact ordered in accordance with the type of awareness that they represent or the attainment that they represent. For instance, the lower tantric deities represent, for instance, yoga with signs.
Higher higher meditational deities represent yoga without signs and so forth. There are those that also represent the union of different states, like the union of bliss and emptiness and so on. And these particular states are ordered, in progressively higher levels. And also they’re ordered in accordance with the level of practice by which one undertakes in order to practice them. In fact, so therefore we have action tantra at the lowest level, then performance tantra, then yoga, then highest yoga tantra.
And these represent different levels of blessing, different levels of attainment, different levels of union of the highest of the two truths and so on. So, therefore, there is an order that exists in the way that one would place them on an altar. It’s possible that if one were to have such meditational deities on one’s altar and made offerings, that one would accumulate merit in relation to that. But to really accumulate great merit, then it’s it’s necessary to recognize the nature, and the qualities and the characteristics of what they represent and so on. But even without understanding all of that, it’s still possible to accumulate some merit.
But it’s not really satisfactory just to place different deities on one’s altar, make offerings without the intention to develop understanding, of their characteristics, their identity, the mode of their practice, and so on. One should definitely have that aspiration if one places them on one’s altar. [End of recording.]