Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A verse from the Vinaya quoted by Geshe Pema Tsering — a man unknowingly eating his reincarnated father, beating his reincarnated mother, and loving his reincarnated enemy — gives this 106-minute Lamrim session its most striking image. Working through the first two of the seven causes of bodhicitta, Geshe Tsering traces consciousness back through beginningless time to establish that innumerable past births make every sentient being a former mother, then fields audience objections about human births and time before clarifying the gross versus subtle transmigrating I. The second cause — recollecting maternal kindness — closes with a direct response to a newspaper account of a neglectful mother: one life of failure cannot cancel the kindness shown across countless prior lifetimes.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 10 2009 03 26 BP.mp3
UUID: 23671318-e3c1-4290-bcdb-0ca25c1f404a
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Middle Lam Rim (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2009-03-26
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 105.9 minutes
Words: ~6,768
Last Tuesday, Geshe-la approached very briefly and broadly all the preliminary meditations that lead then to the actual teaching on the seven points of cause and effect, the first one of those seven points, which is recollecting one’s mothers. So that’s what we’re going to start approaching today. So last Tuesday, one of the main preliminaries to engaging the seven point cause and effect is the development of the mind of equanimity. So again, developing an equanimous attitude towards all sentient beings, friends or loved ones, strangers and enemies. So again, regarding all sentient beings, all friends in the same light, all enemies in the same light, all strangers in the same light.
So again, stopping any aversion or anger towards enemies, any attachment or desire towards friends, and any indifference towards strangers. Again, cultivating this understanding that these distinctions that we make between friends and enemies and strangers have really no reasonable foundation. They are really unfounded. So in cultivating also the further understanding that not only do we do not have any reasonable foundation for making a distinction between friends and enemies, in actuality, all sentient beings are our friends. So we we’ve been through all that very quickly last Tuesday.
And Geshe-la was saying the importance of this mind of equanimity, this attitude of equanimity in relation to this seven points of cause and effect, the mind training of seven points cause and effect, is like the importance of a good, well stretched canvas that we use to paint a thangka or a painting. So if the canvas that you are using is not properly treated and very well stretched without foldings, and so on, then by the time you go to actually paint the thangka, it won’t turn out well. The result won’t be very good. And in the same way, this mind of equanimity is the very foundation upon which we build these seven points cause and effect, starting with recollecting one’s mothers. So again, if the canvas, which is the mind of equanimity, is not very well prepared, very well set, then again our painting, which is then the seven points of cause and effect, will turn out will not turn out very well.
And Geshe-la is noticing, since this mind of equanimity equanimity is of utmost importance in order to develop the seven points of cause and effect, in order to develop with the first one of them, again, recollecting one’s mothers and every other point that follows from that. Again, is important that we engage in those meditations on equanimity, as Geshe-la has explained, as we have gone through last Tuesday. So all those things that Geshe-la has said about equanimity and everything else, those are all actual meditations. So we have to really go through all of that time and again for many months, a year, or many years, however long it takes in order to develop a very good solid foundation, so that we have a very beautiful canvas. And so again, we need them to prepare this canvas of equanimity.
Having done so, then we can start approaching the first one of the seven points of cause and effect, the first one of the six causes, which is then recollecting one’s mothers. In order to be able to fully develop, fully give rise to this recollection of all sentient beings as one’s mothers, we need to engage in this one reasoning that establishes our awareness, which establishes the beginninglessness of our consciousness, which then goes on to investigate from whence did this present moment of consciousness, arose, and we see that it arose from the previous moment of consciousness, and the previous one arose from the one that preceded that. And if you bring this investigation to as far back as you can, then we go so far in time. It is a time so distant that it is named beginningless time.
So it is important to ascertain that. So, if we can, if we are able to understand the sort of beginninglessness of consciousness, then we’ll be able to ascertain the beginninglessness of saṃsāra, of cyclic existence, the beginninglessness of our births in cyclic existence. That we will be able to ascertain that all of these, in words, started in beginningless time, in a point in time which is so far behind, it’s called beginningless time. And so this approach to understanding the beginninglessness of consciousness is very straightforward. We have to really start with the present moment of consciousness.
Today’s consciousness arose from, it was caused from, it arose from yesterday’s consciousness. And yesterday is from the day before, and so on. And every moment from its preceding moment, all the way until we first, how to say, entered the womb of our mothers in this present life. So the birth, the consciousness at the time of conception. And then, and that consciousness at the time of conception was preceded by the last moment of the consciousness in the state between death and rebirth.
And that last moment of consciousness of the state between death and rebirth were preceded by the previous moments of consciousness within that state, that intermediate state between death and rebirth. And the very first moment of consciousness in the state in between death and rebirth, the Bardo, was preceded by the very last moment of consciousness of the former life, which is the consciousness at the time, at the moment of death, that moment of consciousness at the moment of death, of previous life, was preceded by former moments of consciousness during that life. And so it goes. And if you go as far as you can go, as far as you can consider to go, you keep on going, you will come to a point where you just cannot find a beginning. And because it is so far behind, because it’s such a long period of time, we cannot find a beginning.
And as such, we say it is beginningless time. It has existed since beginningless time. It has been around since beginningless time. And if we could find a beginning, then we couldn’t posit it as beginningless. But we cannot.
The fact is, if you bring this investigation as far back as you can, you will not be able to find a beginning. As such, then we posit as beginningless, beginningless time. And then so we can see then, we can go for this reason, we can bring the understanding that we also have had been taking births in cyclic existence since beginningless time. In Buddhist cosmology, we refer to four types of birth. So you have birth, and this is a traditional terminology.
We have miraculous birth, birth through moisture. We have a birth from an egg and birth from the womb. And of these latter two, the birth from an egg and the birth from the womb, they are births that need a mother. Geshe-la is saying, so since we have been taking births in cyclic existence since beginningless time, really, we have been taking births innumerable times. Then again, we have been taking births from the womb innumerable times equally.
We have been taking births from eggs, from eggs, again innumerable times, and the same for the miraculous births and the births from so called births from moisture. We’ve been taking all these types of births innumerable times. Sorry? Moisture. Moisture.
Yes. Moisture. Yes. And Geshe-la is then saying, so we need so there were we had many mothers. Usually, the way we think is that there are so very many sentient beings, Geshe-la says.
There are so very many sentient beings, are innumerable. It is not possible that all of them have been my mother. That’s how we think. And Geshe says, and even though that’s what we think, nonetheless, all of them, all sentient beings, have been our mothers. And furthermore, I shall explain this.
Every single sentient being has been our mother countless times. Even one being alone has been our mother countless times. And then Geshe-la was putting it in a bit of perspective, when we’re talking about sentient beings, there is a point in time where sentient beings do cease to be sentient beings. Because all sentient beings have Buddha nature. All sentient beings have the potential to become enlightened.
And so eventually, is a point in time where sentient beings cease to be sentient beings, they become fully enlightened Buddhas. And Geshe was explaining, so if from this moment backwards all sentient beings have been our mothers countless times, there is a point in time in the future where that will stop taking place, which is the point where either ourselves or other beings will become enlightened. So, but from now, backwards, innumerable times, each one of them. And if one engages with this line of thought for long enough and intently enough, then one will come to start to really see all sentient beings as one’s mothers. One thinks, really, they have been they all have been my mothers.
So we all need to engage in this investigation for ourselves. As it is, right now, we don’t really believe that all sentient beings have been our mothers. We don’t really believe in that. So we need to engage in this reasoning in order to produce this understanding, really, in our hearts, heart mind understanding that all beings have been our mothers. And what we have to see for ourselves, really, where we are at, if we have produced that or not.
We have to really look at our minds and inquire to ourselves, Geshe-la was saying. If you think that are not accepting that all sentient beings have been our mothers, you have to really ask yourself, have not all sentient beings been my mother? Is that impossible? Have some sentient beings been my mother or not? Is that possible?
And so one really has to ask these questions and really look into it for oneself. And if one is inquiring to oneself, is asking these questions to oneself, Geshe-la was saying. So we have to ourselves answer those questions. And just like I said, that’s where it starts to become uncomfortable. That’s what we don’t want to do.
But you have to think, and you start, the answer comes. Well, I have a mother in this present lifetime. I do have a mother. And it follows then, if do have a mother in this lifetime, then I must have had a mother in the previous lifetime, the lifetime before this one. So so I have a mother in the present lifetime.
So it is likely that I I have had a mother in the life before this one. And and yet we we still resist. We still say, but I haven’t had many mothers too long away, far back in time. Geshe-la was saying, it is hard to deny the fact that we have had mothers, but still we resist the idea that it has been we have had mothers, so very many mothers for such a very long time. And then on top of that, Geshe-la says, we think, okay, I have a mother now in this life, and I might have had many mothers during many lifetimes in the past.
Nonetheless, again, are so far behind in the past. They have gone such a very long time ago that they bear no relevance. Their kindness is irrelevant. Their significance is irrelevant to me right now. And that’s how we think.
And then again, you start giving into such thoughts, then one has to inquire. By the time when one was within the womb, the womb of one’s present mother, or by the time when one was newly born, again, that was such a long time ago. And has she stopped being my mother? Has she ceased to be my mother just because it was so very many years ago? Has the significance of her birthing me ceased to have all that ceased to be meaningful and valuable.
It’s because it was such a long time ago. So we might think that again those mothers, those beings who were our mothers such a very, very long time, again, they cannot be our mothers because it was such a very long time. But this reason doesn’t apply, because we see if our mother in this present lifetime again has given birth to us a very long time ago, and she’s still our mother. So time is not, how to say, a reason. The length of time is not reason to sort of disown our mothers.
And then And then, so what might come next, next resistance that might come, is that, okay, I know my present mother. I know her. Nonetheless, I do not know my previous mothers from previous lifetimes. One might start approaching it that way. And Geshe lah is saying now, if you start doubting it in this way, then again one has to bring develop the understanding that it is not necessary that you know that you have had mothers, in the same way that you know your present mother.
As there are, as we know, as we have seen, and we do see here in this world, in this present lifetime, of people who were born whose mothers have died at birth, or people who were born and then were brought up by their father instead. These people have never met we know of many people who have never met their mothers, and yet they are absolutely certain that they do have a mother, that they have had a mother who gave them birth. So knowing one’s mother is not a prerequisite also to understanding that all sentient beings have been, mothers. And so, again, so then one comes to, by inquiring in this way within oneself, one will come to start to develop this understanding. Okay, it’s very likely that all sentient beings have actually been my mothers.
And we also can rely also on the word of the Buddha. The Buddha has also said that, Jim Young, if you can help me. I’m not sure if I know all the words of the story. But Geshe-la is then giving a was quoting a verse from the from the Vinaya, from the Vinaya scriptures, the scriptures on ethical conduct, in which the Buddha is saying there’s a little verse in which the Buddha is saying he’s killing his father, beating his mother, and loving his worst enemy. And this makes reference to a story of these two families.
Two of the young men, one man from each family, they were enemies, and they were fighting. And one of them killed the other. And the father and the mother of the one who killed, eventually they died. And as Geshe was recounting the tale, after everyone has died, and they were born again in the next life, so the one who has killed the other man, again, was born again as a man. His son was reincarnation of the man of his enemy in that previous life.
His father was reincarnated as a fish in the lake next to where he was living. And his mother was born as a bitch, again, in the property that he was living. And the tale goes, this one venerable monk who had clairvoyance could see that. So this man was eating the fish, which was the reincarnation of his previous father. He was beating the bitch, which was the reincarnation of his previous mother, and he was cherishing wholeheartedly his child, which was the reincarnation of his arch enemy.
So then this tale is recounted in that verse. Again, he’s killing his father, beating his mother, and loving his arch enemy, or his greatest enemy. That’s more or less is, isn’t it? And that’s where all this idea of reincarnation, reincarnation, recollecting all sentient beings as one’s mother and all that. That’s that’s this the word of the Buddha that we use to back up our our development of this idea of this of this recollection of all mothers as of all beings as our mothers.
So again, one has to really engage in this line of thought for oneself. One really has to do that for oneself. Think in those lines, an attempt to develop this understanding, to really see if that is the case or not, have all really been my mother or not. And the other hand, one has to to investigate also every reason that we give against it. Every reason that says, Okay, all sentient beings have not been my mother.
We have to investigate all these reasons, because if we look carefully to each and every one of these reasonings that go against it, we will see that they are not really correct reasonings. They’re not really solid, they’re not really coherent, they don’t really have much substance. So again, one has to investigate those reasonings because they are really incorrect. So one has to, first of all, understand that, again, cyclic existence, saṃsāra, has been around since beginning this time. And so if that is the case, then again, we have every reason to believe that, again, beings have been around since the beginningless time.
We have been around since beginningless time. If we could find a point in time where cyclic existence began, then we could say, Okay, it’s not the case that all sentient beings have been my mother. But we cannot. Now, since cyclic existence has been around since beginningless time, then it likely that we have taken births since beginningless time. We have taken innumerable births.
Again, since that is the case, it is very likely that all innumerable sentient beings, all beings, have been our mothers in these innumerable births. If we could pick up a point in time in which that was our first birth, and if we could say that point out to a point where this is my first birth, then okay, we could say, no, it’s not the case that all beings have been my mother. But we cannot. We cannot find that point. And Geshe lah is then asking.
He’s telling all of us, you think. Think of yourselves of reasons why all beings will not be our mothers. Is there a reason? Can you find a reason? Do do do does anything come to mind?
You think of anything? Pardon me? I wasn’t saying, look, we haven’t been around for a very long time as humans. In this present lifetime, if we can find a point in time where this life, this human life, began. But that’s that’s not the I that we are that’s not the being or the consciousness that we are referring to.
Geshe-la was saying, when we when we’re talking about that which transmigrates from lifetime to lifetime, and has been around from beginningless time, we talk about that as the I. Literally, the Tibetan word is na, which literally is I, first person pronoun, I. When we talk about that I, we have a general division of two distinct types of I. One, which is a coarse or gross type of eye that is acquired in the present lifetime. As an eye that has been a personality, an eye that has been developed and has been acquired within this present lifetime.
Now there is another type of consciousness, another type of I, which is a very subtle I, which is the one I that transmigrates from lifetime to lifetime. Whilst this type of I has a beginning and an ending in one lifetime, this other subtle type of I transmigrates and has been around, taking lives, births and deaths and so on, since time immemorial. So, Geshe-la is then saying, Okay, even though you had a human mother here in this lifetime, and yet, even if we might not have had a human mother in the previous lifetime, you might have been born as a dog, and you also needed a mother then. In the next lifetime, you might be born as a goddess, let me put it that way, and you still need a mother then. So you can still see how you have had mothers.
Necessarily human mothers, but mothers nonetheless. If you think about it, there is really no sentient being, that includes all types of sentient beings, not only humans, who have not had mothers. Right? And Geshe-la was then just praising your question. I said, question is very good, because it shows that you are thinking about it.
And that’s very good. If are thinking about it, then yes, those questions will come about. If you’re not thinking about it, then you won’t have questions. So we can see then how, not only in this life, but in all previous lifetimes, we have had innumerable births from eggs and from wombs. And so we have had innumerable mothers.
And Geshe-la is saying, and also on top of all that, Geshe-la is explaining so, if you take the number of sentient beings and the number of births that we have taken in cyclic existence, again, the number of births far surpasses number of sentient beings. So the number of sentient beings is truly innumerable, and the number of births is twice as innumerable. By engaging in this line of thought, develop this understanding, this conviction in our hearts. Again, really all sentient beings have been my mothers innumerable times. And even even a tiny little insect, Geshe-la was saying, one has to then contemplate, okay, even even that insect has been my mother and has been all of them have been exceedingly kind to me as mothers they have been, even that insect has been exceedingly kind to me as a mother has been.
So this is the purpose of this meditation. The first of the six causes that lead to bodhicitta. So again, recollecting one’s mother, knowing sentient beings as one’s mother. So again, if we really do not reason about it, if we do not really engage this intently, then it becomes very hard to develop this understanding, to gain this understanding. So again, have been I was pointing out to Jorgensen, again, have been engaging in it.
So these questions came about. Again, is it human mothers? Is it the mothers of this lifetime only? And you came to understand that that reason doesn’t apply. So do you have any other reasons for all beings not being one’s mother?
Can you think of anything else? So, we have heard, we just told that story, yes. Nonetheless, there are, again, the types of birth and the way they occur, they are innumerable. And again, even though in that store, in that tail, for example, they were born like that, in those conditions, that is not always the case that is like that. karma is so subtle, and the actions, and the cause, and the results are so various.
There is no telling where, how, when. You know, people are born, some relatives after they die, they were in one side of the planet, whilst other relatives are born in another continent. There is no telling. We cannot tell. It’s just so complex that we cannot tell.
And if start to look into that possibility that you were suggesting, and I was in order to explain your question, had to give an illustration. I said, Okay, my family, we have only five, right? So my father, my mother, my two brothers, and myself. So we are five. And so we are saying, like in that story, if we have this karmic relationship that goes along from lifetime to lifetime, and we’re born together, then it becomes very complicated because then, you know, my brother dies at one time, then he has to be born again in the family.
You know, I don’t have a wife. I don’t have kids. And my mom just died, and and she has to be born again in the family, and that becomes very complicated. That doesn’t it’s not really feasible. Alright.
Is saying of something that he heard that some Chinese traditions, they say again that if you are born as a human, then you will always be born as a human. And then you die from your life and you’re born again as a human. If you’re born as a horse, again, you are always born as a horse. And the reason, sort of the reason that they give is that, again, if you plant a grain of rice, what you get is rice. If you plant a grain of barley, what you get is barley.
And that sort of the reasoning. We can also look into that and see how not very consistent there is. If there was a case what they are saying then is that we, as humans, do not need to worry about engaging in any spiritual practice for the sake of attaining a better rebirth or anything like that. If that was the case, if their reasoning was really true, then again, we didn’t really need to practice in the Dharma. We didn’t really need to worry about engaging in virtuous actions, to accumulate virtuous causes, to attain good rebirths, to avoid negativities, and so on.
So it would completely defeat those teachings on actions and the results, karma, on the laws of karma, and so on. So it completely defeats the purpose of engaging spiritual practice, and so on. So again, and this is how we have to approach this topic of knowing beings as one’s mothers. We think about it very carefully. We think about it very intently.
We think about it for a very long time until the point the goal that we are aiming at is the point that we are actually thinking of even the insects that we meet on our ways as our mothers, that we recollect, we remember that even they were our mothers. And when we can have this recollection as a sort of a second nature to us, it is second nature. We naturally start thinking about all beings as our mothers. Then we have developed what is referred to as the uncontrived mind of recollection of one’s mothers. And this is our goal.
Then we have accomplished the first step of this seven point cause and effect. So then, okay, eventually, suppose we have then developed that uncontrived mind that recollects, that sees, understands all beings as one’s mother. Having then understood that, then we move on to the second point, then recollecting their great kindness, the great kindness of our mothers. Now the question is first the first question arises then, the first thought arises then. Okay.
Even though my present mother have been very greatly kind to me, and it is certainly not the case that all my mothers have been immensely kind to myself. That’s the first doubt that arises. So again, we have then to start engaging in developing this understanding of the great kindness of all our mother’s as sentient beings. And when we’re talking about when we are discussing this topic, there’s a general division of three different points in time in which they have been kind to us. They have been kind in the beginning, they have been kind in the middle, and they have been kind at the end.
So then we start investigating this present lifetime, which I was saying. And we see that at beginning of this life, when we were fetus inside our mother’s womb, again our mothers were demonstrating great kindness, in that while carrying us around in their womb, being careful, they were being caring, they were cherishing ourselves as a fetus, and the world, you know, completely changing their lifestyle for our sakes. And again, then we investigate in the middle then. Again, the mothers have been greatly kind in the middle. So after we have been born, after we have come out of the womb, again, until the day we reach our independence in this lifetime, then our mothers have looked after us, have cared for us, have educated us.
They have when we were little babies, they were protecting us and feeding us and whatnot. Engaged in, we can see from our own experience or from the experience of close ones how, for example, we regard our own children or our own child, amongst a group of children that is around us, we regard our own children as better. We cherish our own children more than the other children. Or we can we have seen that with someone else. Can so we can see that ourselves.
So we can see then again with regards to nurturing us and feeding us or caring for protecting us with clothing and good housing and whatnot. If all those conditions are not met, we can see how our mothers have been concerned and worried, and other mothers we have seen who are mothers concerned and worried when these necessities are not met with. And Geshe-la was saying, if you are a mother yourself, then you will certainly understand that, you will certainly understand how that feels, how that works. And it easier for you then to understand how your mother or your mothers have done the same to you. And all along our growing up years, they were sending us to school, and again, working hard to have money to pay for all sorts of bills and expenses with regard to our education, our health, and whatnot.
So they were engaged in a lot of hard work also. Now, don’t really have much understanding of that. I mean, we were from our side, we were thinking, Okay, we were being forced to study, and the studies were hard, or they were unpleasant, or whatnot. So we, not rarely, have a hard time appreciating the good things that have been done to us by our parents. We have, again, many times neglected.
We’re advised their instructions and done just as we please anyway. And we have and then contradicting their intentions, their wills, again, have upset their minds. And we we have and unpleasant circumstances might have arisen out of that. And some might have, you know, in rebelling against our parents, we might have just completely disregarded whatever it is that they were saying, not listen to them at all, just run away with our girlfriends or boyfriends. And also there are instances of people who complain again that, okay, my parents have given me a car, they haven’t given me a house, they haven’t given me this or that.
I guess I was saying that’s truly shameless. Nonetheless, there those amongst us that have thought like that or do things like that. And now, and this is a result, it’s only a result of us not having really thought about it. It’s a fault of our lack of engaging with these reasoning, with this line of thought of recollecting the kindness of our mothers. And again, again, Geshe-la was saying this type of wrong thinking, faulty thinking, is again as a result of not having engaged in these meditations on recollecting one’s mothers, and recollecting their kindness, and so on.
Again, because there is really nothing that we have nowadays that hasn’t been made possible because of our parents, because of our primary carers. You know, we wouldn’t have a penny as it is if it wasn’t for the help of our parents or our primary carers. And Geshe-la is saying, again, it is the nature of our parents’ care. It is such that if we were to follow their advice and do everything as we were told, then we would get everything that anything that we asked for, the car, the house, and whatnot. And we didn’t get it because we weren’t following their instructions.
And we can see that happening. We can see how there are those who have acted according to their parents’ will and instructions. They have gotten all sorts of help from their parents. And we can see also, on the other hand, those who haven’t and haven’t got much help from their parents as a consequence of that. English language is saying, generally speaking, there is no mother who doesn’t greatly cherish her children.
On the other hand, there are many children who do not appreciate their mothers, their mother. And so again, Geshe-la is saying, so this is basically how it goes in our relationships with our parents. Again, we can see if we had followed our parents’ and our mother’s instructions, their directions, and so forth. There’s nothing that they wouldn’t have done for us. But most people do not appreciate what our parents have done for us because we lack this reasoning.
We haven’t exercised these lines of thought on the recollection of our mothers and the recollection of their great kindness. So we have these distorted ideas, these misconceptions about what they have done or what they have not done to us. So, we can see that in same way that we have contemplated the recollection of all beings as our mothers, can see then in this we can posit the kindness of our all our mothers in the same way. So if the present if the mother of this present lifetime has been greatly kind to us, then we can see how also our mothers in previous lifetimes have also been greatly kind to us. And then Geshe-la is quoting a verse from another mind training text, another version of the mind training text, says, put all blame upon the one, and understand or realize the great kindness of all other beings.
So I think it’s all about the same, put all blame within one’s self centered attitude, self-cherishing attitude, oneself, and recognize the great kindness of all other beings. But then again, this is something which is very hard to accept because usually the way we usually think is that, you know, I have no fault. I have only required this. And this then is this teaching is on recollecting the kindness of beings. And not only as humans, but as birds, as horses, as feline beings, as whatever other beings would have been born.
There is no mother of whatever kind that has not cherished, that does not cherish its children or its babies. So again, kindness, this great kindness, is of all sentient beings. All sentient beings been our mothers, and all sentient beings have been greatly kind to us. And so all along, while Geshe-la was teaching that, I was thinking about this story that I read recently on the newspaper of this one mother. I think she’s probably drug addict or something who got pregnant, you know, was drinking and whatnot.
And the baby was born, and she neglected the baby to such a point that the baby died of starvation. And that was just like a few weeks ago. I read this in the newspaper. I said, so okay. So Geshe-la was then saying, look, that lady did that not of her own will.
She didn’t do that on purpose. She didn’t do that because she was an evil person. She did that because she was sick in her heart. She was sick in her mind. She was severely afflicted.
And so the question comes from that, okay, if your mother, possible to have a mother such as this, which is very hard to say, for us to say, Okay, she has been kind, greatly kind, what do we make of this recollection? Geshe-la was saying, look, even though this might have happened, okay? I don’t want to put the blame on her, but she was sick, and this happened in this life. Even though that happened, that being, that mother, has has been our mother, again, as Geshe says, innumerable times, in previous lifetimes. And there is no doubt that she has been greatly kind to us at one point or another, or many points.
Is that right? The being has been our mother in previous lives, and it has been kind. It’s impossible that it has not been greatly kind to us in previous lives. It’s impossible that the same has occurred all the time. Is that Okay?
And I’m sure you have other questions. And Geshe-la was saying, with regards to this understanding of this topic that we are approaching now, which is knowing all sentient beings as one’s mother, and recollecting their great kindness, this is very particular, specific to the not only to just any Buddhist tradition, but even more so to the Mahāyāna tradition, for the tradition of those who are seeking full enlightenment. Because in order to attain full enlightenment, those are necessary steps to develop the bodhicitta. That is one of the main causes of enlightenment. So one needs to recollect one’s mothers, all beings as one’s mothers.
One needs to recollect their great kindness, and so on. So it’s very special feature also of the Mahāyāna, also. Can think that way. Then this one. And the idea is to extrapolate that not only to mothers or female beings, but the idea is to bring this recognition of the great kindness of all sentient beings.
Since all sentient beings have been my mothers, and all sentient beings have been equally greatly kind to us, all sentient beings are very precious. So, Geshe-la was saying, as we have gone through those teachings on equanimity, again, equanimity is the mind that we have to develop that is unbiased towards friends, enemies, or strangers, has no bias towards anybody. It sees everybody in the same light as friends, as very precious, as very kind, all beings equally. So the reason we use the analogy with the mother is because for the vast majority of us, the mother is the one being who is the best representation of that love and affection. Loving affection.
And it is the best reference that we have. But if we use that as a means to bring to a developing understanding that all sentient beings are just as kind as our mothers. They all are equally kind as our mothers. And therefore, again, is no being there is to be an object of harm or hurt by us. And every single sentient being, everyone, is to be an object of our benefit, of our help.
And if we help them and benefit them, then this is our surest way to profit, to obtain real profit for ourselves, real benefit for ourselves, real happiness. And Geshe-la is saying, so again, like ourselves right now, everybody else has this bias. We like some people, we just dislike others, and are indifferent yet to others. And this is all based on a lack of understanding, on an incorrect understanding, on distorted mind. And in order to correct this distortion, and bring an understanding of the equally great kindness of all beings without any difference, then we use this best of analogies, this best approach, which is to think about our mothers.
So again, based on these sort of reasoning, from this point in time all the way until we attain enlightenment, we carry with us the ideas that we carry with us this understanding, this realization. And again, all sentient beings are our friends. All sentient beings are very beneficial to us. And all sentient beings are not to be harmed. All sentient beings are equally to be helped and benefited.
And by benefiting beings, we benefit ourselves. And again, so all these teachings on recollecting one’s mothers, recollecting all beings as one’s mothers, and the teachings that have been given before on developing equanimity, the equanimity of all sentient beings, regards to all sentient beings, enemies, friends, strangers, friends, enemies, and strangers alike. And all these also depend very much on an understanding of past and future lives, very much a Buddhist conception, Buddhist understanding. So again, in closing, I was just pointing out that in some other traditions where there is the the idea of a creator or a source of everything, again, a god creator of all things, good and bad and so forth. And again, it becomes very hard to them to develop this understanding of understanding of equanimity or the recollection of all beings as one’s mothers and their great kindness and so forth.
So shall we put an end to it for today?