Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Drawing on a striking image from Kamalaśīla — most people feel no fear of death now but will claw at their chests in panic when it arrives — Geshe Pema Tsering builds a systematic case for death-mindfulness as the backbone of practice in this nearly two-hour Lam Rim session. He argues that the thought “I am not going to die yet” is the door to all spiritual degeneration, and counters the objection that such meditation is only for beginners. The talk works through three roots (certainty of death, uncertainty of timing, only Dharma helps at death), three reasons for the certainty, and analogies drawn from the Udānavarga and Way of the Bodhisattva — weaver, cattle led to slaughter, lightning flash. A Q&A closes on formal meditation versus continual mindfulness and supporting the dying of different faiths.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 26 2008 07 31 BP.mp3
UUID: 06944f3d-2004-4b8b-8bbb-d33be0d8248a
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Lam Rim (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2008-07-31
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 111.8 minutes
Words: ~8,086
So Geshe-la asked us to give rise to a good motivation. Geshe-la was then quoting the first half of a verse that if if one’s intention is good, then the grounds and the paths will turn out well. And as for the one’s intention, one’s mind, the word is same, intention, mind. And Geshe-la was saying that is refer this refers to one’s motivation. If the motivation then good motivation is the motivation of the mind of enlightenment.
If we give rise to that, then our grounds and paths will turn out well. So in because of that, understanding that, then we give rise to the motivation of the mind of enlightenment and we study before we study this text. Yeah. And then we start with this bearing this in mind, we start with this with the preliminary prayers. We start with the Heart Sūtra.
Thus, here one time, the Bhagavam was dwelling in Vulture’s Peak Mountain in Rajagriha together. And we read the next prayer, extensive spanning of hindrances. I and all surrounding sentient beings go for refuge the Buddha, go for refuge the Dharma, go for refuge the Sangha. We prostrate to the great mother Prajñāpāramitā surrounded by all the children, by the assemblies of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the ten directions. By depending on my prostrations to all of you, may these words of truth be actualized.
In the past, the Devakin Indra dispelled the madras by reflecting on the profound meaning of the of the wisdom gone beyond and reciting the profound words in daily recitation. In that same way, I also reflect on the profound meaning of the great Prajñāpāramitā and recite the profound words in daily recitation. May all diseases, impure possessions, bad conditions, all the negative directions, that which happens due to past karma and mere conditions, may all these be dispelled, may become nonexistent, may be pacified. Alright. Fifty six already.
Alright. So the topic that we were approaching is the advantages of cultivating advantages of cultivating. The the advantage of cultivating mindfulness of death impermanence and death. We’re approaching this. First topic was the great value of it.
And secondly, it is he said that it is this cultivation is the door to all excellence. And Geshe-la was saying that the door to to every happiness. And Geshe-la was, first, just going through the text. So it was saying in brief, the time for achieving the goals of beings is only this time of having gained a special base, this special basis. We mostly remain in bad migrations.
And even if we make it to the happy migrations just once, they are predominantly places of unfreedom due to which we do not find the opportunity to accomplish the Dharma. If we gain a base suited to accomplish the teachings and still do not accomplish Dharma properly, it is due to this thought of I am not going to die yet. I’m not going to die today. And, Geshe-la, I was just brushing through the again, those same lines. And in the in the very beginning, the very first little clause of of of the Tibetan sentence saying in brief, this time of accomplishing the the purpose or the welfare of beings.
And so just making reference to this purpose, this welfare, is liberation. Is it a liberation and the state of omniscience? Wasn’t saying we all need lasting happiness as well. We all need real happiness. And the only real happiness there is is the happiness of liberation and omniscience.
So in order to accomplish that in this time, in order to accomplish that liberation and omniscience, we need this special basis. And Geshe-la was saying, so we have all here, we have have all attained this special basis, and the special basis is this precious human rebirth endowed with all the freedoms and opportunities. And then the text goes on to say that, again, we ourselves, most of the time, we are born in the lower realms of existence. And when we are born in in happy migrations, we are born in the states free that lack the freedom freedoms and opportunities. And even when we have that, we are we are we are stopped from practicing the Dharma, from accomplishing all these excellent things just due to the thought that I’m not going to die today.
I’m not going to die yet. And then the conclusion of of the the commentary is is telling us, therefore, this mind that holds to the position of not dying, the things that one is not gonna die is the door to all manner of degeneration. And the mindfulness of death is the door to all excellence. And Geshe-la was then concluding. Again, because of all these reasons, we understand how very important it is for us to contemplate, generate this mindfulness of of the impermanence and death.
And how how this the lack of this, how the thought, how our thinking that we are going to remain still longer. I’m going to remain. We are I’m not gonna die yet. Again, this is the door to all sorts of of misdeeds, of misconduct, and so forth. And Geshe-la was in the same, pointing out was how how this is actually so, how we we can see for ourselves if were somebody amongst us who who actually cultivated this awareness of of impending death.
Again, we we would understand we we we can gain an understanding how such a person will not be, be, how to say, involved in the accumulation of of of worldly enjoyments of money and and power, fame, and so forth. Aware of the imminence of death a person would wouldn’t see much value wouldn’t pursue those things and and will practice instead. And again again opposed to that, Geshe-la was saying how, pointing out to us and we can see for ourselves how we the way we think when we are not developing an awareness of death or not contemplating or impending death. Again, we we start we’re getting involved in all sorts of activities and plans and projects, we we have plans for tomorrow, for the next month, for the next year, for all the years ahead. We keep on involved in those sorts of activities that last for our whole lives.
And and we never stop never stopping to think about death. We keep on doing that. We keep on wasting our lives away. The meaning the the whole meaning of our lives, we waste it all away. If we were if we were to think of death, we wouldn’t we wouldn’t allow ourselves to be so involved in in all these plans and activities, and we would focus on the dharma more.
And Geshe-la is making reference to the word the word that was translated as degeneration or skyon pa. And Geshe-la also explained that as being fault. Geshe-la was explaining it as this lack of of mindfulness of death, this lack of this lack of awareness of our impending death, it’s not to say that because of it, we will we will have all sorts of, how do you say, pleasant experiences in the present life being taken away from us and all sorts of unpleasant suffering experiences occurring to us in this life. It is not what it is referring to. It’s not to say that we are going to it is it’s actually referring referring to the fact that it will hinder, it will degenerate all those causes that lead to liberation and enlightenment in the future.
That’s the fault and the degeneration that is being referred to. All those practices, all those causes of the need to liberation will degenerate. It’s not to say it is not saying again, Geshe-la, again, brought again, it’s not saying that because of this lack of mindfulness of death, we will experience all sorts of unpleasant things in this life, in the present life. And Geshe-la again explaining explaining again that this the lack of of this recollection of death or of our impending death does not damage our intentions or our purpose or our activities in order to accumulate or accomplish the happiness or the enjoyments of this life. One can still accomplish all the enjoyments of this life without one does not need any awareness of death.
Geshe-la was saying and actually developing an awareness of death can actually damage endeavors in order to accomplish the enjoyments of this life, the happiness of this life. And again, the last the last clause is saying that by recollecting death, by by developing this mindfulness of our impending death, all all excellence things or all excellences will be will be accomplished. This is the door to the accomplishment of all excellences. And and again, Geshe-la explains, all these excellent things, all these excellences are referring to all the the the excellent causes of liberation and enlightenment. It’s not referring to, you know, all the the enjoyments of this life, happiness, fame, power, and so forth.
It’s not to these things. It’s referring only to the all these excellent things which are the causes of liberation and omniscience. And Geshe-la is explaining to us, again, what we all need happiness. We all need real happiness. We all need lasting happiness.
The lasting happiness of liberation and enlightenment. In order to accomplish that, we have to let go. The word is is which is to abandon or also translate as to give up. And and I’m I’m choosing to translate as to let go, to let go of of all the the temporal happiness of the present life, of all this enjoyments of the present life, of all the the money, the power, the fame, all these pursuits. We have to let go of it.
Because Geshe-la explains, because they are actually all these things, they are actually in the nature of suffering. The very nature is suffering. And so because of that, we have to let go of these things in order to accomplish liberation and enlightenment. Is that okay? And then Geshe-la, sorry, Geshe-la added at at the very end.
Geshe-la was saying how and and that is very difficult to do. That alone is already very difficult. And Geshe-la wasn’t just saying again, it it is incredibly difficult, isn’t it? And but and Geshe-la says, on the other hand, if we if we are to recollect or remember our impending death, we have to develop this mindfulness of impermanence and death, again, then we will be able to do that. We’ll be able to give up those things.
Geshe-la says, we if we if even though they are difficult, if we are able to accomplish this this mindfulness of impermanence and death, we’ll be easily able to give up those those pursuits. And Geshe-la was saying, now there are there are many people who think who say that, again, if by by thinking of death, again, thinking of death is very fearful. They’re afraid of of thinking about death, or they say it is it is, something very sad. It’s not it’s not happy. It’s not nice.
It’s not pleasant. Many people think like that. So they they don’t so then they did not contemplate their own impending death. They did not meditate on this on this topics. And and Geshe-la says because of that, then they are unable to accomplish, to properly accomplish the causes of their liberation and enlightenment.
Giving us an analogy the analogy goes like this we think of Australia as being such a nice place to live, a happy place to live and then we think of India as being a poor place, a poor country. But those people who are living in India, who haven’t gone anywhere else, who have no knowledge of any other a better place, they think that they are okay. They are living in a nice place. Now once they develop an awareness a knowledge that there is a better place there is Australia which is a happier place to live and all that then they engage in all sorts of activities in order to to, you know, get the visa, get the passport, or, you know, and come here. And and and and, eventually, when if they are able to go through all that, they arrive here, and they accomplish their goal.
And Geshe-la was then saying, this is this is an analogy, just pointing out to the fact that, again, we are basically in the same in the same predicament. We we think that we are in a nice place here in Australia. But when we learn about liberation and enlightenment, then we eventually strive to accomplish these causes and and eventually, hopefully, we will all accomplish it. Is that okay? And then and then I guess I moved on to the next topic of the text, which is how it is necessary to give up misunderstandings and meditate on impermanence and death on the bottom of one’s heart.
And Geshe was in referring to misunderstandings as those those assumptions, those prejudices that we have against such contemplations that that meditate on impermanence and death is is no good and so forth. The English law went through the text itself. Therefore, you should not think this is a practice for those who do not have other profound Dharma on which to meditate. And you should meditate on on this object of meditation, but only a bit in the beginning. It is to practice it continually.
Rather, you should meditate upon it until you gain certainty from the bottom of your heart that it is necessary in the beginning, in the middle, and at the end. And again, visualizing just elaborating on on those on those misunderstandings is saying the first sentence is saying that this is a practice beginners, for people who do not have anything more profound to meditate on. And so again, Geshe-la says, was explained, so people think that this is this sort of meditation on impermanence and death are for only for for those beginners who do not know of of of bodhicitta or emptiness or anything like that. And Geshe-la was saying, I do I do not need to meditate on that. I know I I meditate on on bodhicitta, on emptiness.
I don’t need to meditate on that. This is only for beginners. And this sort of thinking is wrong. And again, one shouldn’t think that one shouldn’t practice it continually, again as the text is saying. We are told that in the end that we should actually contemplate it both in the beginning, the middle and in the end.
In the beginning, in the time of our motivation again we should develop an awareness of our impending death. In the middle when we are engaging our actual practices or activities of contemplation and so forth again we should do that also with an awareness of our impending death. And again at the end at the time of our dedications and our aspirations, again, we should do that with an awareness of our impending death. And if we if we do that, I guess, I was gonna say, if we keep on contemplating impermanence and death in this way, again, then it will eventually become more and more clear, more and more prominent in our thoughts. More it will come more often and more strongly in our minds.
And then we move on to the next topic. What what kind of mind that is mindful that’s mindful of death is generated? And Geshe-la was reading the first sentence. Are saying that the the fear born from worries about separation from relatives and loved ones and so forth is a kind of fear death of those who are not trained in the path. And Geshe-la was explaining again there are those people who meditate or contemplate one’s impending death and then this fear arises that they will be separated from their relatives and loved ones.
They will be separated from all their enjoyments and possessions and so forth. Again this sort of fear a type of fear that arises in a person who is not informed about the path, who does not have knowledge of the path. And that is one and and shall conclude that we should not give in to such thinking. And again, Geshe-la goes on through the the text. Again, so well, then what kind of fear is to be generated?
And the answer to that says all bodies that are taken under the power of karma and mental afflictions do not pass beyond death. Which is why even though this may give rise to fear, it cannot be prevented for for the time being. However, without blocking the causes for bad migrations, without accomplishing the cause of high status and certain goodness, you will fear death. So, again, by developing this this awareness that’s of one’s ‘s impending death and and and contemplating the fact that one might actually be born in the lower realms of existence, the hell realms and so forth, and the suffering realms of existence. And even if one is born in a in a in in a human realm or a higher status still, there’s nothing but suffering left.
And this this is the sort of of, how can I say that, healthy fear that is to be developed in this sense, and then one will strive to accomplish the causes of high higher rebirth? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. This one. And again, by thinking in this way, again, the the text goes on to say with respect to that, if you think about the resulting fear, then this can be accomplished, whereby you will not be afraid at the time of dying on the verge of death.
So, again, if if contemplating this possibility of bad migrations and so forth in the future, again, one will be able powered by the by the fear, one will be able to accomplish the causes of higher rebirths and and certain goodness. And and having accomplished that in at the time of death, the one who won’t be fearful of death anymore. Mhmm. And again, Geshe-la goes on for the rest of the text saying, again, if you do not achieve this objective through fear of not being liberated cyclic existence in general and of and and for the fear of falling into the bad migrations in particular, you will be tormented by remorse at the time of death. And, Geshe-la was just, again, just saying that in in more colloquial words, again, by not accomplishing the cause of high rebirth and so forth at the time of death, one will have this this immense regret.
And we think now that’s that didn’t turn out well. That’s not good. You know? One hasn’t worked out one’s future well. So then we approach the next topic, which is the actual cultivation of the mindfulness of death.
And for that topic has three major parts to it. First of all is the three roots. Secondly, the the the the nine reasons. And lastly, the three dissolutions. The first one, the the the the three roots, the goal is is certain that we will die, or it is certain that I will die.
It is uncertain when I will die. And at the time of death, nothing except for the dharma will be of benefit. And, Geshe-la Buzin, just briefly touching on each one of them. And the first one is contemplation of of the certainty of our death. We are we are certainly going to die.
And Geshe-la was saying, again, we can all see how we we are actually going to die. Even though we we we vaguely know that, we we never stop to actually think and develop a full awareness of that fact that we are actually going to die. If we think about it, we can understand. There’s no nobody who has not died. There’s no human being who has not died.
There’s no one who hasn’t gone through that. At least I wasn’t saying so. So we have to think, I am human. I’m a person. I am going to die.
I was born. Therefore, I’m gonna die. We have to contemplate it in this way. And then secondly, there is a it is uncertain when we are going to die. And, again, Geshe-la was gonna say there we have no way of telling when we are going to die.
We if we are going to die today, tomorrow, months from now, years from now, we have no way of telling that. And, again, was saying amongst us, there is no there is no way of telling if we if we are not going to die today or when we are going to die. Might it might be the case that one of us die today or tomorrow or or years from now or that we might all live for many years. There’s absolutely no way of telling. No one can tell when another is gonna die or when one is gonna die.
Again, the third the third one of those roots, again, is at the time of death, nothing but the dharma will will be of benefit. And, again, Geshe-la was pointing out to the fact that it is this is this is actually so. At the time of our death, there is nobody here who will be able to help anybody else. When when when one of us is dying, nobody else will be able to help that person, there is nothing that we possess or friends or relatives or money or power or whatever. Nothing can help us at the time of death.
There’s only the dharma that we have accomplished that will be able to protect us from a bad migration, bad rebirth in the future. So and it’s only the good Dharma that we have accomplished that will be able to propel us into a good rebirth, into a good human rebirth and so forth. So there’s there we have absolutely no refuge aside from from from the Dharma from the Dharma practice. This one. And then so with regards to the to the first topic, to the the certainty of one’s death, we have then the the actual reasons, the three actual reasons, and then the the dissolutions that comes out of that.
So for as for the three reasons for the the certainty of death, we have a, the lord of death will certainly come, and there are no conditions or no way for warding him off. Secondly, one’s lifespan cannot be increased and diminishes incessantly. And and lastly, you will die without having had time to practice Dharma while alive. So, again, as for the first one of those topics, the lord of death will certainly come, and there’s no way to ward him off. Again, if we think about it, we we can see how we can see how other people have died, a lot of that has come for others, and and will come will certainly come for ourselves.
And there’s nothing that we can do to to scare the lord of death away. There is no even though we we go to see doctors and we have medical checkups and exams and so forth, we take medicines and we exercise our bodies and so forth. None of that can stop the lord of death when he comes to take our lives away. And Geshe-la was saying again, when one’s lifespan cannot be increased and diminishes incessantly with regards to that Geshe-la was saying. We cannot increase our lifespan when when the the the force of the karma that we have created that leads us that determines this lifespan is exhausted.
And however long that might be a hundred years or a hundred and ten years when that time is then when the force of that karma is exhausted, then one will have to die. It doesn’t matter how long it may be, a hundred years, maybe six years, fifty, maybe, you know, five, four, three years. When the force of that karma of one’s lifespan is exhausted one’s life will end. So, again, there is no way we can increase that lifespan. If if if, say, for example, our lifespan were were to be fifty years, there’s no way we can take some more time from someone else or borrow some more time from someone else and increase our own lifespan.
There’s that that cannot be done. Again it diminishes incessantly and Geshe-la was explaining not only our lifespan is diminishing incessantly from the time we were born but many we have also to contemplate very many reasons there are very many causes of death you know the body is very fragile so forth there are very many causes of our for our for our death and we have to continue to contemplate those those facts. And, again, as for the last one, you will die without having had time to practice Dharma while alive and again and this is how we we live our lives we keep on busy with our with our jobs, works, activities and so forth without ever practicing the Dharma till the day we die. And again, is saying to that, we we are like this, aren’t we? We we think to ourselves, I don’t have time to practice.
I don’t want to practice. We keep on involved in our works, activities, or whatever it is that may be, you know, with our enjoyments and of free time and so forth, leisure leisure time and so forth. And just I was gonna say, the fact is that we in in in working to accomplish liberation and enlightenment, again, we we actually have no no time to spare. We shouldn’t spare any any moment. So as for the first one of those reasons, the lord of death will certainly come, and there are no conditions for warding him off.
And, because I was going through the text, in the Udānavarga, it says that whatever body you have taken, whatever country you reside in, whatever the time, you will be defeated by death. It will not come to pass it will not come to pass that way and cannot be turned back by fleeing swiftly away or by force, wealth, material substances, mantras, or medicines as it says in the Advice to King Sūtra Geshe-la, we’re going back to the beginning of of that, just saying whatever body one has taken, it doesn’t matter which body one has, the body of a hell being, of an animal, human, a god. It doesn’t matter which body one has. There is no one is free from from death. Then again, there’s no country where where which is, again, free from death.
There’s no it doesn’t matter where you were born, there’s no place which is free from death. And again, is no no time again where one is free from death. And then again, there is no way when there is no when when death comes, there is no there is no way that you can escape it by by running away, fleeing, quickly fleeing to somewhere else. There is no force, no measure of of force or power that can stop it. There is no wealth or material substance substance that can buy it away.
There is no mantra or spell that can stop it, that can avert it. There is no medicine that can stop death from coming. And then we have this quote from Kamalaśīla, which says, now some fear now some fear of death is necessary. At the moment of death, you must not be apprehensive, but we do it the other way around. Now we are not afraid, but in the moment of death, we dig our fingernails into our chests.
Then again, Geshe-la was just pointing out how how this is actually so this is how we actually live our lives. We ourselves. We have no fear of death right now, and we keep on busy pursuing all those things, happiness and enjoyments pertaining to this life. And and in this way, by acting this way, we we embody this this saying from Kamalaśīla, which says, again, by not having any fear right now at the time of death, we will end up, how to say, with our fingernails on our chest. And so then the whole point being that what we have to do, what we all of us we ought to do is to continually and at all times be it standing, sitting, lying down, we should always contemplate the fact that we are about to die, we are going to die.
If we act in this way, the time comes for us to die, we will have no regrets. We will think I have accomplished many virtues and and, you know, it’s alright. It’s okay for me to die now. So Geshe-la wasn’t saying previously, he just concluded by saying that again, if if we do act in this way, we will make our lives meaningful. And then Geshe-la wasn’t saying, but we we as it is, we we always think in the very short term.
We always think of of this immediate happiness or gratification and we never think in the long run and in this way we end up wasting our lives. And Geshe-la is going for the for the next reason, one’s lifespan cannot be increased and diminishes incessantly. In Geshe-la was going for the text as it says in the sūtra of entering the womb, attaining a lifespan of a hundred years seems to be the limit of what is possible. However, even if you reach that meanwhile, the years until then then waste away by the passage of of month after month, day after day, and day and night. And and day to waste away with the passage of morning and so on, it seems that lifespan in general has already degenerated from before and that the remainder also diminishes incessantly without anything being added to it.
So, again, Geshe-la just pointing out to the fact that, again, our lifespan cannot be increased. It only diminishes. And we have this quote from the way of the Bodhisattva. It says, again, this life decreases constantly, day and night without respite. If from nowhere there is any increase there is an increase either, how could I not die?
And goes for the text again. Furthermore, you should also consider this by way of the numerous analogies, such as the weaver weaving a cloth, animals to be slaughtered, approaching the slaughterhouse with each step, the cattle being led without any control to their place by a herdsman and so forth. And this is the way we have to think. We have to think by by by way of all these analogies, and we have to contemplate. And Geshe-la was taking himself as an example.
Say, for example, if I had Geshe-la was saying in the first person, if I had if I had then the causes that propel that caused my lifespan to be that of a hundred years, then by now, I would have of those hundred years, I would have sixty nine years gone already. And I’m left only with thirty years or thirty one years of that. And there is no guarantee also that there is no there is no way of telling if my lifespan is a hundred years. There is no way of telling that, that I’m going to actually to live that I’m gonna actually live, go through all these, thirty one years without, without dying because of of the various causes of death there are. And there is no way of telling that I might actually die tomorrow or tonight and if if that is my lifespan or or if if a certain cause arises.
And then again Geshe-la was going through the some a couple of the analogies here for of the weaver again when you are waving a cloth a tapestry or something like that so every every line that you weave approaches the the end, the conclusion of of of the cloth itself. And, again, if if you are an animal to be slaughtered, again, every step you take towards the slaughterhouse is a step closer to one’s own death. And in this, also, we have to contemplate our lives in this way. And again, Geshe-la is pointing out to the the third one of those analogies, the the analogy of the cattle, which is, again, it has cattles have no power over over their lives. They cannot govern their own lives.
They have no way of deciding where they want to go and so forth. They have to go wherever it is that the herdsmen lead them. And, again, we we are just like that. We have no power over over our lives. We cannot govern.
We can even though we do not want to die when the lord of death when the lord of death comes, we will have to die. There’s no way to stop that, and there’s no way to for us to choose the time or the place or anything like that. And we have another quote from the sūtra of the extensive display, again, which says the three existences are are impermanent like autumn clouds. The birth and death of migrating beings resemble a show, a magical display. The passage of life of migrating beings is like a flash of lightning in the sky.
It passes fast like a waterfall from a steep mountain. So Geshe-la was explaining those lines of those verses, the three existence, the three realms of existence of the desire, the form, and the formless realms of existence. They are all impermanent. They are like, again, like autumn clouds when autumn arises. And again, when when the the rain clouds of autumn, they when when the rain finishes, again, the rains the clouds dispel, they disappear in the same way.
Like a performance, again, one same actor alone can impersonate many different characters. And by by dressing differently and and acting differently, we give different names to that same actor. We ourselves also, again, by the birth our our various birth and deaths. Again, we we because we are born as humans, hells, and so forth, again, our our birth and death resembles a show of performance in this way. And again, the passage of life of migrating beings is like a flash of lightning.
I wasn’t saying a flash of lightning doesn’t last for even a moment. It’s extremely quick. And again, our our lives are just like that. Every every every one of our lives are just like that. It’s just as quick it passes away as quickly as a flash a flash of lightning.
Oh, yeah. Then this one. And again and again, with with the with the example the analogy of the waterfall, the water of a waterfall falling from a steep mountain just runs very fast, very quick, and, again, our lives are exhausted in the same way very fast, very quickly. So, again, calling us to to contemplate impermanence and death. We have to think about it even though it might not seem to be a happy or nice thing to do, we still we have to do it.
Because if we contemplate we properly contemplate impermanence and death again, we will be able to accomplish the dharma. We’ll be able to accomplish the cause of of lasting happiness of liberation and enlightenment. And and and if we can do that, then we will not have any regrets. And we have time for questions now? Besides asking if you have any questions?
If you if you are if you are saying that impermanence and death is is is is not nice, not happy. Say that again. If if you are you mean to say that Like, at the soft spot Should we sit down and meditate on one hour and so forth, or should we Or is it just Or is it enough to be mindful of it day to day? Are we expected to sit in meditation Okay. Mindful meditation Okay.
And actually meditate on it, or is it just enough to be mindful of it and understand that I will? So, Geshe-la was gonna say, it’s important to be continually mindful of it every day as as often as possible. If you can meditate on it, also, it’s very good. But the whole point is is to that it that it will propel you to accomplish the Dharma. So if it is if it is doing that, then it’s good.
So again, if if you You have to and meditate here means familiar familiarize yourself with these thoughts. So so if if you familiarize yourself a lot with it, Geshe-la was saying the the the the the the the the the the accomplishment of this of impermanence and death. Impermanence and death is the doorway to to the Dharma practice, to spiritual practice. So it is important that we familiarize ourselves intensely with impermanence and death. Yeah.
That we’re finished? Yeah. Just want to contemplate, you know, the the nuts and bolts of of of of the dying process. Nuts and bolts. You know?
Yeah. I know. I know. I know. Hard for me as a being to contemplate not being because I am.
You know? So then to contemplate not being is quite difficult because I’m not familiar with that. But it’s easy enough for me to contemplate that I will die and, you know, that I won’t, you know, not be buried in pain. Is it is it helpful to is it supposed be helpful to also contemplate, you know, the the the process that one will go through? See what I mean?
Like, the the actual process of dying? Yeah. Or or just or just the fact or just the notion that I won’t be here. Look. I No.
I do I do understand what you’re saying in English. Okay. I do understand that. Okay. Alright.
How can I refer to the process of of dying? What what we have to contemplate, what we have to bring to mind is that we are going to die and that we are going to die very quickly, very soon. That’s what we have to contemplate. And and and and by by by this, we have also to understand that now is the time for me to accomplish the causes of a better future. Now is the time for me to accomplish the Dharma.
So then, Geshe-la was saying, well, we have to again, we have to understand that this this life was not this present life will not last. I will die very soon, and I must practice the Dharma now. Now is the time that I must start accomplishing the Dharma for the future. And and there is a there is a a certain type of meditation is related to to tantric practices, which is a detail detailed meditation on all the stages of death and so forth, dissolution and so forth. And I guess I was saying this this is not the case here.
This is what we are doing here. Is that okay? Yeah. He’s already teaching it right now. That’s what it is.
As far as far the the stages of death as as was being If we if we have a text to work from them, maybe maybe we can do it. But it’s something that says he himself does not have much experience with with this sort of teaching. And this because it has to do more with tantra and stuff like that. But Yeah. We just started this topic on maybe two years ago.
Questions? Questions? No. You go ahead. The the the the the the the the and in that sense, the finite finiteness presumably of this particular life, how you balance that with that motivation of, in a sense, the hope of what lies beyond this life.
They just it seems to me terms of the developing the awareness of death and the fear of death and therefore the end of this life, but at the same time seeing something beyond it. Sorry. I’m not sure if I get it. Can what was the idea? I’m not sure.
Is it is it that that tension, this may be desirable? Yeah. I’m not I’m not I’m not quite certain what what is what is I’m not quite certain of what what is what is it your meaning with the tension thing. Yeah. That that that on the one hand, you fear dying, but on the other hand, on on the one hand, dying gives you you the opportunity for a better rebirth.
Mhmm. Mhmm. It’s not the fear of death. It’s the fear of what comes after death. Yeah.
Exactly. Because it’s an obsession. I’m not sure. I’m not quite sure if I get it because I don’t know. I’m trying to see tension or conflict of interest here.
Yeah. It’s If you are being of small scope. Right? Yeah. What is your goal?
A better rebirth. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And that Which is is consequential upon dying.
Comes after death? Yeah. Rebirth comes after death? Yeah. I’m I’m not quite sure if I So so to the extent that that’s the motivation or the motivation that you’ve had at the same time as you as at the same time as you you develop a a constant awareness of death as a as a as a well, I’ve obviously misunderstood this, but in the sense that you fear it in an appropriate way as a motivation for doing things in this life, thought then might lie beyond it.
I’m happy to leave it. It’s obviously something that I’m not quite picking up, and it’s not it’s not making sense to to It is it’s not making much sense. Because what’s So then first of all, Geshe-la first of all, you should start the whole thing. I was asking what is the relationship I was I was saying that you you you’re not seeing the relationship between the goal of of being of small scope and and meditation, impermanence, and death. How is it that they relate?
And if I wasn’t saying, well, they do have a relationship because so the goal of a being of small scope is attainment of a high rebirth as a human or a god. Right? And if one does does not contemplate one’s impending death, does not contemplate impermanence and death, then one will not think about the future lives. And if one does not contemplate impermanence and death, one is not thinking about future lives, one will not accomplish the causes of a better life in the future, those higher rebirths in the future. You’re seeing that?
But you’re talking about the fear. And then That’s actually my sense. Thank you. Yeah. Because what what you fear is is being born in the lower realms of existence.
That is the scary thing. It’s not death in and of itself alone. Yeah. Yeah. No.
That’s good. Yeah? Could you be then have a motivation of of wanting deaths to come quickly or early Mhmm. To become a god, to achieve something, to achieve a higher human rebirth, there must be I mean, I what is the argument? I I didn’t I didn’t quite get it.
You’re designing human rebirth, better rebirth Yeah. For god. Yeah. Therefore, might you not be seeking death early? Why?
I’m such a bad boy. Why would I do that? Yes. But that’s not. So you’re assuming that you, Angela, is a very good person.
You have accomplished very good actions in this life, and say, might as well just die now, but we’re born as a goddess. So so I won’t incur the danger of practicing negativity. What is it? Ah, so that’s the argument. It’s practicing.
No. No. I just don’t So, Geshe-la was saying, first of all, Geshe-la was saying, doesn’t that doesn’t that is not quite right. Because in order to be born, for example, as a as a god of of the desire realm, you need to accomplish you must accomplish great virtues, and you must accomplish proper aspirational prayers. And then and even though if you have accomplished that, still is not really worthwhile to be born as a god.
Because once you are born as a god, you will even though it is a very long life and filled with enjoyments, you will exhaust all your good karma of that, and you will leave it empty handed. You will leave that existence empty handed. Then also, we have, for example, places like Tuśita. What is the Sanskrit of Tuśita? Tuśita?
Tuśita? Tuśita. So we have places like Tuśita and other pure lands where one where one when sorry. Where one can be born. Where one can be born, but in order also, again, not to be born in this pure lands, again, one needs to accomplish even greater virtues and pure aspirational prayers than in order to be born as a god, as a mere god.
But once once one is born there, there again is you know, those are pure lands that have no afflictive emotional conceptions and and so forth. But which also makes it all the more difficult. One cannot be born one is not born there out of because propelled by contaminated actions and afflictive emotion conceptions, which makes it all the more difficult to be born there, but also all the more worthwhile to be born there, to to pursue that. Because I wasn’t saying one has to practice, for example, something like the the sadhana of Chenrezig in order to be born in such a place. So then if one if one, for example, were to practice properly practice the sadhana of Chenrezig and make the the proper pure aspiration of prayers and so forth, then then one has a chance has a good chance of being born there.
And then if one is born in such a place, and again, it’s not like being born in a god realm, so one one’s virtues will not be exhausted. Actually, you know, those are the abodes of Chenrezig and other and other great beings, and one obtains teachings and so forth in such places. Yeah. Does that answer your question? Sort of.
Not quite. Do you have any questions? So whatever their faith may be, then we we we just, you know, try to make them remember the object of their faith. If they are Christians, they they can think of Jesus or God or they are Buddhist, they can think of Buddha. And we try to talk about it and try to make them remind them of of that, inspire some faith in them and so forth.
So, again, if if if for example for if for example, someone were is a Buddhist, and, again, we, you know, we say the name of the Buddha, and we engage in ways to try to make them remember the Buddha. And if if they die whilst they are remembering the Buddha, then, you know, they won’t be born in the lower realms. They won’t have no fear and so forth. And in the same the same way for for Christians, you know, if they if they are Christian or I know. And then we we make them remember Jesus and and the same the same words.
The same reason applies for every religion. Oh, this one. Is that okay? So so if they were children So, you know, generally speaking, okay, children do not have any much understanding of the dharma or of religion in general. So there’s not much we can say in this in this terms to them, but we can, you know, help them to relax and to be less afraid, and we can maybe chant some mantras or some prayers and so forth that will help, you know, calm their minds, calm their beings.
Oh, yeah. Okay. Is that okay? Okay.