Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 46-minute session, Geshe Pema Tsering addresses a practical question from the Seven Points of Mind Training: how do you know whether what you are doing is actually mind training? He works through four signs of genuine practice — whether you see all Dharma as aimed at reducing self-cherishing; whether you rely on your own inner witness rather than others’ judgement; whether you maintain a happy mind through illness or harm; and whether mind training arises naturally even when distracted. A story about Tsongkhapa feeling saddened rather than pleased by praise and offerings illustrates the renunciation behind these standards. Geshe Pema then explains the three objects and three poisons framework, showing how tonglen practice and four transformative actions turn any experience — attachment, aversion, or harm from others — into an opportunity to deepen compassion.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 05 SoP 2004 09 19.mp3
UUID: 69f9ea35-1cc2-4d09-b101-8c0a09349344
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Stages of the Path (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2004-09-19
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.9 minutes
Words: ~3,860
All sentient beings want to experience happiness and don’t want to experience suffering. And in this way, they’re exactly the same as us. So because of this, then we should think that the reason we are going to listen to these teachings this morning is to be able to develop an understanding of the mind training practice, which is what I was talking about. Through developing this understanding, be able to put this into practice and finally attain the precious state of Buddhahood in order to be of utmost benefit to all sentient beings to be able to lead them also to Buddhahood So this is the motivation with which we should try and listen to the teachings. Ami So today, we’re up to the section of the mind training from this text, which is looking at the limits or the tests for mind training. What this means is to make sure that what we are doing is mind training to say, Okay, this is mind training and this isn’t.
To make us aware of what the boundaries from mind training are, what the measures from mind training are. So So point five of this mind training, as we said, is the measure of how to measure whether what we’re doing is mind training or not and how to measure how well we’re doing. So there’s a quote from the root text of the Seven Points of Mind Training, which says in order to multiply or in order to strengthen the two minds of bodhicitta, we should turn whatever we meet into the path. We should always have and please bless us to always have a happy mind when we’re doing this. So what this is referring to is the way that we can turn any experience into the any experience into a way to develop bodhicitta, the two minds of bodhicitta.
And we’re asking for to be able to do this with a happy happy and not a mind that is not getting depressed by what happened. So the mind training goes on to say that we should that sorry that all dharmas agree on one point And when it says all dharmas, it’s referring to all of the teachings that the Buddha gave all of the Dharma that the Buddha gave and it means that all of these, whether it’s about whether it’s instructions on how to meditate on a deity or how to practice refuge or how to develop bodhicitta any of these things they all have one basic point they all agree at one on one point and this one point is that they they were instigated that they were taught by the Buddha in order for us to get rid of self-cherishing and to get rid of self grasping so if any practice that we’re doing whether it be refuge or whether it be developing bodhicitta whether be meditating on a deity whatever it is if it’s getting at our self-cherishing if it’s getting at our self grasping then it’s Dharma and if it’s not then it’s not So all of these all of the things that the Buddha taught, even though there was all these different ways that he expressed the Dharma, the the the reason behind all of them is to to get rid of our self-grasping and self-cherishing.
So the next thing that the mind training says is the mind training text says is out of the two witnesses rely on the main one. And what this refers to is that there’s two ways that we’re two types of people or two things that can be witnessed to our actions, ourselves or other people. If we’re witness to our own actions that’s what we call shame we can be ashamed of what we’re doing we can be happy about what we’re doing and the other one is that we’re relying on other people a sense of embarrassment that other people may not like what we’re doing because it doesn’t accord with the way speak or whatever so out of these two out of relying on other people’s ideas of what we do and relying on our own ideas of what we do the main thing we need rely on the main witness is ourselves so this means that if we can watch what we’re doing and think well I’m doing an alright job I’m doing okay I can tell that I’m not doing any very negative things and if we’re not getting depressed by looking at the things that we’ve done and think, oh, that’s that was a really bad thing I did.
And if we’re not overwhelmed with regret, then this means that our our mind training is going well. If the primary witness being ourselves is happy with what we’re doing, and then we’re going well. So the next thing is to always have a happy mind. Now what this means is that if we are able to maintain a happy mind no matter what happens to us, then we’re also obviously practicing mind training very well. So this means that if we may experience suffering we may experience illness and the like but if we’re practicing mind training well then we can see that this is a result of our negative actions and we’re able to incorporate it into the path So even though we may be experiencing suffering, then we don’t necessarily have to be unhappy about it.
So from time to time, things are going to happen to us that are experiencing experiences of suffering, whether it’s an illness, whether it’s someone harming us, it may be any manner of different things. If, when these things happen, we’re able to practice patience with them, practice forbearance with them and be able to utilise those experiences. In doing so, if we’re able to instantly or immediately practice patience with those experiences and not get upset by them and therefore maintain a happy mind, then this is another sign that mind training is working well, that we are that what we’re doing is actually mind training. The another the next line from the mind training root text then says, if you can train when distracted, you’re oh, no. If you can if you are practicing mind training when distracted, you are well trained.
Now this means that when our mind runs off after something, when our mind becomes distracted, and this happens, we aren’t focusing on mind training. We aren’t focusing on compassion. We are concentrated on something else. If, when we’re in state, we automatically apply antidotes to self-cherishing and we automatically try and practice mind training without having to necessarily be concentrating on it, then this is a sign that we have trained ourselves well. This is a sign that the mind training is working in mind stream.
Without having to put a lot of emphasis on it, if we naturally, while distracted, practice mind training, this is a sign of a good sign. It’s a good sign, but it doesn’t mean it’s the end. And it doesn’t mean that we can go, okay, that’s it. I’ve mind trained. I’m finished.
It’s something that it shows that we’re on the right track, but we need to keep working at it and keep working at it and keep working at until we develop bodhicitta. So it’s a good sign, but it doesn’t mean we can finish there. So in brief, what this description of mind training, way to measure whether we can do mind training or not and how the mind training works is that it turns every experience we have, whether good or bad, into a way to practice So Mahāyāna mind training the way that we can train our mind in developing bodhicitta, means that any experience we have is not a negative experience. Any experience we have is an opportunity to develop bodhicitta. Any kind of suffering that we experience, whether it be illness or whatever it is, gives us an opportunity to develop patience and develop compassion for others.
So in this instance, we could practice saying may all suffering of others or acting on me in the form of this suffering and the other thing is it also gives us the opportunity to turn any of our negative emotions into a way to practice mind training sorry practicing mind training gives a way to transform all of our negative emotions into a way to develop bodhicitta. This means for example if we are attached to something and we do get attached to things even if we are very good at practicing mind training we’re still going to be attached to but if this desire or this hankering comes up in our mind if we’re practicing mind training we can transform that we can think this attachment to things this desire for things is our cause for suffering through my attachment through my desires I have experienced suffering in the past and will continue to experience suffering in the future and not only myself but all other beings are experiencing this kind of suffering so may the suffering of other beings that comes about through desire and may their desires ripen on me in the form of this desire I’m experiencing and may they be spared from that suffering so even in the experience of an intense negative emotion whether it’s anger whether it’s desire or it’s hatred whatever it is we can transform that experience even into a way to develop bodhicitta, into a way to develop compassion for others.
So because of this, this is why in Tsongkhapa’s biography that he describes his experience of experience of other beings relying on him and making offerings to him in this day says that in trying to prepare himself for being a good base that is a good support for others that others have come along and given him respect or gifts or however much that they could, whether it be through listening, whether it be through offerings or whatever it was. They gave him all these things. But no matter how big the gifts were, no matter how much adulation and respect was endowed on him, he wasn’t very happy about it. It didn’t make him happy. This kind of respect, this kind of offerings didn’t make him happy.
The reason they didn’t make him happy is because they’re not solid. They’re not permanent. So no matter how much people were giving him, he could see that this wasn’t anything that could truly bring happiness. And in fact, that these offerings and this respect and all these things were illusions. They were kind of like a lie because they presented themselves to be one thing and weren’t actually that thing.
They were illusory like and fallible as opposed to infallible. So because they were like this, they weren’t an opportunity to they shouldn’t be an opportunity to become incredibly happy and excited about the gifts that have been given. So because all of these things were illusory like and fallible, then they in actual fact, getting all of these things made Je Tsongkhapa quite sad because he could recognize that his mind had become so stirred up by the path in that he took these things to be inherently existent and through taking them to be inherently existent that they were actually cause for suffering. Being given all these things didn’t come to him as a way of being something to feel very happy about. It came to him as something the experience came to him as something to feel sad about because it was these attachment to these objects that were given to him, attach attachment to the praise and attachment to the the objects of offering that had made him com had made him stuck in saṃsāra since time immemorial.
So being seeing them and being offered them made him, from the depths of his heart or the depths of his mind, I feel quite sad. So what this is talking about is the process of renunciation, the process of recognizing that all of the things that we experience that we may take to be a that gives us happiness are actually a cause for us to experience our suffering. So when we do experience them, then we should probably try that they can be a cause for us to develop renunciation. We can try for that instead of being attached to them. So if able to do this, if we’re able to look at all experiences as a way to develop bodhicitta and not be attached or have aversion to any experience that we have if all of them manifest to us as a way that we can develop our bodhicitta that we can train in order to expand our understanding and our focus understanding of bodhicitta and our focus on others no matter what happens then the mind training practice becomes like a friend a constant companion to us and if this is happening, then we can see that what we’re doing is actually mind training.
So this is the mark of the sign of mind training, the sign that we’re actually getting somewhere in mind training when this happens. It’s not the result of mind training because the result of mind training is bodhicitta, but it’s a sign that we’re going in the right direction. It’s a sign that what we’re doing is actually bearing fruits. So the next line of the viewing of the stages of the path from the Guru Puja that we’re up to is the first line of Verse ninety eight, which says whatever we occasion to meet we seek your blessings that we may adapt it to our meditation so this is this it’s just got the first the very first part of this is whatever we occasion to meet may rejoin it to meditation so this is related to or it accords with the next section of the the mind training which is the the things to remember in the mind training the slogans to remember in mind training, the first of which is that there are three objects, three poisons and three objects of virtue or three roots of virtue. And then the next line says whatever you always train in slogans so which is the way to always train always remind yourself of practice through remembering lines like quotes, basically.
And then the next line says, whatever whatever you meet with joint whatever you meet, join it with meditation. So these the line from these slogans is the one that says there are three objects, three poisons and three roots of virtue. So the three objects are said to be the things that we are attached to, the things that we dislike and the things that we are neutral about. So the objects, the things that appear to us as being attractive is the first group. The things that appear to us as being disgusting or we don’t like them is the second group.
And the third group is the things that appear to us as being neither attractive or disgusting so we have a neutral feeling towards them Now the three poisons is the way that our mind reacts to these three objects so the poison of attachment or desire becomes attached to the first objects the ones that we find appealing the next poison is the poison of aversion or hatred that decides to retreat from the objects that we find unattractive or even disgusting. And the third poison is the poison of ignorance, which is a way that we react to things that we don’t feel either way about. So if we are training in bodhicitta when this happens if we have practiced tonglen practice in the training of bodhicitta when any of these experiences happen it means that these objects, these negative emotions actually become roots for virtue. Give us the ability these experiences give us the ability to develop bodhicitta. It also says always training quotes or training slogans was a way for us to remember all of these things.
The next line is to anything that we experience to join that with the meditation. Anything that we experience, try to join it with our training of bodhicitta. Is giving me a quiz. So the the so the the way that we put these into practice, the way that we conjoin things with meditation the way that we try and remember what it is we’re doing and we transform these negative experiences is mainly through the practice of what were the six sorry the four practices that transform a negative experience into the path. These are the ones we did before that is the creation of merit seeing as opportunity to create merit and the second one is seeing as an opportunity to purify negative actions that we’ve done in the past and the third one is to make offerings to the dharma protectors or the things that have stirred this up, whether it’s humans or non humans, and say thank you for this opportunity to develop patience. The fourth one is to make offerings to the protectors.
So there’s a the greatest protector is bodhicitta. So to have this idea of this experience being a way that we can develop bodhicitta. Bloody. So through practicing in accordance with these four practices, and then we get the meaning or the essence of the mind training text, its instructions and also the instructions of the stages of the path. Through practising both of these, we turn every internal experience like attachment, desire, obsession, these kind of things into a way to practice or develop bodhicitta.
And we turn every external experience that is, if we are harmed by humans or non humans they can also be turned into an opportunity to practice in bodhicitta or practicing the development of bodhicitta. So what this means is that any experience that we have in the moment we have it, then we should try and practice should try and practice giving away any positive experience that we have to others So if we experience something happy, we think I send this out to others may this be a cause for them to experience happiness. Also particularly if we may they develop the precious bodhicitta. May this may they be able to experience bodhicitta and may their bodhicitta increase and grow. So if we this is the first way that we can always practice transforming negativities into the path.
So if we’re able to do this, it means that every moment of our lives becomes if we’re able to do this thoroughly, if we’re able to do this mind training, means thoroughly, then every moment of our lives becomes a cause for us to develop and become a Buddha. Every moment of our lives becomes a reason for us to develop bodhicitta and therefore to go on and become a Buddha. And if we’re able to do it properly if we work hard enough that it comes to us naturally it’s not hard it just happens if this is the way that we’ve trained ourselves we just naturally focus on these things if we haven’t trained we haven’t we don’t we can’t do it properly, then it’s hard. We have to constantly work to see sure that this is what we’re thinking. The other thing is if we are trained in order to work in this way, then all our experiences become always happy.
We’re always working for others, and we’re always happy. If we’re not trained in this way, then we’re gonna experience suffering of all different kinds and not be able to and be unhappy about that experience. And so so from beginning this time up until now, we have been doing things to make sure that we stay in saṃsāra. We’ve been creating the causes for ourselves to experience saṃsāra to be reborn again and again and again and again. So this is the way that we’ve spent however long that is now what we need to do is to train our minds so that we are not thinking in this way and we’re focusing on others so the way that we do this is to think all of the suffering that I have experienced has also been experienced by other sentient beings all of the causes for me to experience suffering have also been created by other sentient beings so if I want to get out of saṃsāra I need to stop focusing on myself and focus on others so none of the things that I think have been making me happy have been making me happy and the same for other sentient beings so if we can think may all of the suffering that other beings experience and may all of the causes for suffering that they have created may they ripen on me, ripen on me now may I experience them and may all other sentient beings be free from all types of suffering and causes of suffering.
If we can truly think that from the bottom of our hearts, then we’re practicing mind training properly. And the reason that we need to think in this way, the reason that it’s beneficial to think in this way is because the reason we have experienced suffering, the reason that we have experienced it for for all this time, and the reason that we continue to create the causes for suffering is our self-cherishing is our sense of I want to be happy I don’t I need to be happy and not focusing on others so by focusing on others in this way we’re setting up a method for destroying that self-cherishing and it’s actually that self-cherishing and that self grasping that idea of that selfishness that has created all of our suffering so if we want to get rid of suffering we have to get rid of self-cherishing we have to get rid of self grasping and selfishness. So in order to do that, this is why we develop this training of taking on other suffering. So so we need to rely on the antidote to self-cherishing. So you guys have said that this may not necessarily be making it past your ears or going straight in because we can listen to this, but at the same time, we’re going, but I wanna be happy Because we have this very strong self-cherishing and self-grasping.
So if you have any questions, Yeah. I don’t I don’t. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Preserve yourself a little bit? … With, like? No? No? I’ll look after yourself. Yeah.
Uh-huh. Sure. Because, you know, society like Yeah. [inaudible]. Sure.
Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Sure. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Sure.
Yeah. And I’m walking in that section. Don’t do it. You said this is fast. Uh-huh.
Sure. Sure. We have to protect ourselves a little. Is that what you’re saying? We need to protect yeah.
Yeah. It’s scary. Yeah. Let’s go. Yeah.
And you think it’s useless. What’s the point?