Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. What does it mean to feel compassion for the wrong person? In this 45-minute Lamrim commentary, Geshe Pema Tsering works through a sequence of numbered mind-training advice, distinguishing samaya — commitments to act positively — from vows to abstain, then outlining three conditions for genuine practice: seeing one’s teacher as Buddha, freeing the mind from attachment and aversion so it becomes pliable, and securing basic material needs. He covers three things not to let deteriorate — respect for teachers, continuity of mind training especially in difficult moments, and vow integrity — before arriving at the six mistaken behaviors. These include misplaced patience (tolerating worldly hardship but not the demands of practice), mistaken compassion (pitying austere practitioners while ignoring powerful wrongdoers), aspiring toward possessions rather than realization, and two forms of mistaken rejoicing. A student’s new car becomes an impromptu illustration of aspiration gone wrong.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 11 SoP 2004 10 31.mp3
UUID: 8afdf35c-3ea7-4e91-bb5f-81117b4b76a9
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Stages of the Path (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2004-10-31
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.6 minutes
Words: ~4,149
Oh, just cool. So please develop the right motivation for listening to the teachings, and then please think that you are listening to the teachings in order to develop understanding, in order to develop the ability to put the teachings into practice and reach the state of Buddhahood in order to benefit all sentient beings. So the text that we are going through today is the Lamrim section of the Guru Puja. So this shows the whole path to enlightenment, so please think that by listening to these teachings that you are creating the causes for becoming fully enlightened Buddha by following the complete path and therefore being able to help sentient beings. Okay.
So we last week, we went through some of the slogans that are used to remind us how to do mind training and also some of the Okay. So we went through all of the slogans, there was eighteen of them, that help to remind us to practice mind training. And then there’s twenty two pieces of advice, or twenty two things that we can train in, in order to develop mind training. Now, from amongst these twenty two things to train in, or twenty two pieces of advice, we’re up to number five. Now, number five says, this is why we’re getting confused, number five says, in general, when you have Samaya or words that bind, then all of these should be trained in and you should try and protect all of the slogans or you should try and encourage familiarity or protect and dedicate all of the slogans in accordance with what you have been instructed to do.
So what comes to light here then is that we have these three things. We have this word that is usually translated as Samaya, but literally means words that bind or words that regulate from Sanskrit. So that’s one way of looking at it. Samaya is this idea that we take things on. So anytime that we take something on, we agree to do something, then that’s one way of looking at ethics.
Another way of looking at ethics is that we agree to abandon to do something. So that’s what’s usually translated as vows. Alright, so on one side of it we have I promise to do this. On the other side of it we have I promise not to do that. So one side, the promising to do something is called Samaya, a Sanskrit word meaning regulation, and the vows to stop from doing something are what are usually translated as vows.
Okay, so the two sides of the same thing. Then we have this other bit that’s called advice or things to put into practice. Alright? Now, these three things can be you can have big descriptions of how to implement these three different things, but actually they’re referring to very similar things, if not the same in many cases. And so there are three different ways of looking at the same thing.
Okay, so this is saying always, in general, always keep all of the things that you have agreed to do, always keep all of the vows that you have agreed to take and always listen to the advice and trying to put into practice the instructions you have for mind training. So the next piece of advice is to train in immediately cutting or stopping any negative or destructive emotions that come to light in our minds by using antidotes. So, the ones we were previously talking about is very similar to this because vows protect us from doing anything negative because we have afflictive emotions. Now this one is saying it’s not enough just not to act out on the afflictive emotions. We also need to be aware of them mentally.
So we have, there’s an expression in Tibetan as well, watch us, actually I don’t know if it’s in English now, is watch your mouth, or we kind of have it, it’s like watch your mouth or stop your mouth, yeah? Geshe la said it’s not enough just to stop your mouth, you have to stop your mind, alright, before you get to the stage of using your mouth. So, we have to be very careful about what’s coming up in our mind, very mindful of what’s coming up in our mind, and instantly apply antidotes to stop any destructive emotions that are coming up, which then will help us to protect any of the vows or any of the samaya that we’ve agreed to take on. Okay, so the next piece of advice refers to what are called the three main causes. The main in order to accomplish or to be able to practice Dharma correctly.
The first of these is to rely on a teacher. The second is to make our minds suited to the practices, to have control over our minds. And the third one is to have all of the things, all the conditions or the helpful conditions that we need in order to be able to practice Dharma. So the first of these, being able to rely on the teacher properly, very Now, the reason it’s very difficult is because as ordinary beings, we don’t have the ability to interact directly with the Buddhas. So the way that we train ourselves in order to interact directly with the Buddhas, to develop the perception, to be able to see the Buddhas, is by working with our teachers.
Now the way that we work with our teachers has two aspects. The first one is to train in seeing and the second one is to train in actions. Now the way we train in seeing is to work very hard to see our teachers as a Buddha and then the way we train in actions is to work very hard to watch the way that we behave with our teachers. So by working with these two aspects then we develop the ability to be able to see the Buddhas directly. So The next thing that we need to develop, the next of the three main causes for being able to accomplish or practice Dharma properly is that our mind becomes pliable.
Now the main way that our mind becomes pliable is when it is free from attachment and aversion. If our mind is free from attachment and aversion then we’re not under the sway of attachment and aversion so we can do what we want with our mind instead of doing what attachment and aversion want us to do. So if we are able to stop our mind or control our mind so it doesn’t run after things that it finds attractive and doesn’t recoil from things that it has an aversion to, that means that we are in control of our mind and in this way then we say that it is the mind that is suitable for practice or we’ve developed suitability of our mind. So if we have that state, if we’ve developed that state, then it means that we can practice Dharma in whichever way we want to, as opposed to only when we are not attracted to something or have aversion to something else. Okay, so the third main cause for being able to practice Dharma properly is that we have all of the things that we need in order to practice.
So, for starters we need food, if we’re not eating we can’t practice, if we don’t have any food we are going to be too hungry to practice, if we don’t have any clothes to wear we may be too cold to practice, and if we don’t have somewhere to rest or sleep, then we are going to be too fatigued to practice. So we need the very basic amenities in order to be able to practice Dharma. So the next piece of advice is that if we try and stop what are called the three things decreasing and we try to stop the three things deteriorating. Now the first of these three things that we should stop from deteriorating is our respect and veneration for teachers. Now this is something that is especially very difficult for us because we don’t have a clear view of our teachers.
We have this idea that some people are alright, some teachers are alright, but other aren’t alright. So if someone, we think a teacher can speak very well or if a teacher can put things across so they make sense to us or because they are well known or because they have a certain respect in certain areas we have this idea that means they’re okay and it’s easier for us to have this respect and veneration towards them. But if there’s other teachers that do just like one little thing wrong, then we think, oh, they did something wrong and our respect for them goes down somewhat. So the practice of working with teachers is to see all teachers as being representatives at least of the Buddha, so to have respect for all teachers. So this is, Geshe-la said, if there is anything like me, is very difficult to keep up that level of respect for all teachers.
Our mind looks for faults, our mind constantly tries to find faults instead of focusing on positives. The next one is that we shouldn’t let our mind be separated from mind training. Now this is also something that we need to work at because it’s very difficult. It’s often the case that when mind training makes us feel good, when we feel good about helping others, when we feel happier about working for others, that we are really good at training our mind. But when things become difficult, when our mind sinks down a little bit, or when we feel unhappy, then our mind training goes out the window, we forget about it completely, and we focus on trying to make ourselves happy.
So this is something else that we need to work on, is to make sure we are training our mind even when we are not always happy. The third one is that we make sure that our vows don’t deteriorate. Specifically, are three different types of vows. That is the vows of a monk or a nun or a lay person, that is the individual liberation vows and also the vows of the bodhisattva and if we have tantric initiations the tantric vows. And so we need to work very hard to make sure that don’t get degraded either.
And it’s Okay. So the next the next piece of advice is to continually not separate our three doors from practicing positive actions. Now the three doors are the door of the body, the door of the mind, the door of the speech. They mean the three doors with which we can perform positive or negative actions. So, it means that we need to be very careful about what we physically do, what we say and what we think.
Specifically with what we physically do, need to make sure that we’re doing physically isn’t a negative action and that is actually a lot easier than to work with speech or mind because actions. Now speech, we need to be very careful of because from the point of view of mind training, it’s not enough just not to say harsh things, it’s not enough just not to lie and it’s not enough just to not to be divisive and so on. From the point of view of mind training, it’s also not very good to spend your whole day chatting and not get anything done. So the point of mind training is that we’re constantly reminding ourselves to do positive actions, constantly reminding ourselves that we need to we are being constantly mindful that we need to be training our minds. So if we spend our whole time chattering about all sorts and any old stuff, then we can waste our time and that’s time when we couldn’t be practicing mind training.
So in terms of practicing mind training in a complete or full on way, then we’re supposed to be doing it twelve hours a day. Every time we’re awake we’re supposed to be concentrating on trying to train our mind. From this point of view, if we’re doing it in this concentrated capacity, then sitting around chatting isn’t helpful. Okay, so the next piece of advice is to train in not being biased or not being Yeah. Okay.
The yeah. Not to be biased or not to come down on one side. So this can be we can do this in two different ways. The first way that we need to do this is to not be biased towards some sentient beings and not consider others. So, for example, if we think of, Okay, I’m going work for the benefit of all humans, or I’m going work for the benefit of all animals, and we don’t think about the other sentient beings, then we’re being biased or this is what I’m struggling with because the word that they’ve got here is usually translated as non sectarian and I don’t know if that works in terms of animals and humans, but anyway, it’s non biased or non partisan.
So we should be non partisan towards all sentient beings. It’s not as if we’re working towards enlightenment for some sentient beings and forgetting about others. It’s not as if some sentient beings are more important than others. So we should really try and work in a non partisan manner to benefit all sentient beings without exception, without making distinctions between those that we particularly feel like working for and those that we don’t. That’s the first way we can look at this piece of advice.
The second way we can look at this piece of advice to train in non partisanship or to train in not being biased is that we should make very sure that we are not being biased with regards to the Dharma, to either the Buddhist Dharma or to worldly dharmas. So that means that we shouldn’t think, for example, that one of the three vehicles is more important. So we may be trying to follow the Mahāyāna vehicle but we shouldn’t be disrespectful or dismissive of beings who follow following the hearer’s or the solitary realizer’s path, because by following all of these three paths you ultimately end up at Buddhahood even if it is by different routes. So for us to think I don’t need to practice the hearer’s path or I don’t need to practice the parts of the Dharma that relate to Hīnayāna or the Bodhisattva path because I’m practicing Tantra and Tantra is the best so I don’t need to focus on the rest. That’s being partisan and we need to try and stop ourselves from thinking in this way.
We need to try and train not to think in this way. So, of this training in non-partisanship or training in not being biased has different angles that we can approach it from. We can talk about it from the point of view of all sentient beings or from the point of view of all dharmas, and you could also apply it to other situations as well. The next piece of advice says, whatever happens, always train. Always whatever happens, pervade all your actions with mind training.
I don’t know if that’s like English, but anyway. So what it means is that whatever happens to us, whatever we experience, whether it be happiness or whether it be suffering, whether it be something we wanted to happen or whether it be something we don’t want to happen. Then if we are working with mind training, we should be trying to use every opportunity that we have for two purposes, for working towards Buddhahood and for alleviating the suffering of beings. Then we should also train in meditating on compassion, bodhicitta and loving kindness, especially to things that we find it difficult to do this with. So these mean people are things that we consider to be everything from our enemies to people that annoy us, or people or situations or things that all annoy us.
So we should think that in order to practice mind training then we need to focus on these situations because if we don’t focus on these situations or these beings or these afflictive emotions that we have, then we don’t actually practice mind training well. If we just practice on things that it’s easy to practice mind training with, then we’re not going to get anywhere. We need to be focusing on what provokes us in order to be able to train properly. Okay. So the next one is to train always in meditating on the teachings and training the mind and not give up on it when it becomes too difficult.
So to take negative situations into a mind training practice and not think, Oh, that’s a bit difficult. I’m going to forget mind training for today and go to a show or go dancing or anything like this. So it was like a show or dancing or sitting back and enjoying yourself. So so the way that we usually try and do it is if we’re we’re alright at thinking of others and practicing compassion and doing these things when we feel good. But as soon as we find ourselves in any difficult situation, then our natural tendency is to try and distract ourselves from our actual experience of suffering and try and immerse ourselves in that distraction.
In this way we’re not actually dealing with any of those negative things that are happening and we’ve forgotten to be focusing on others, we’ve forgotten to be training our minds. This is difficult for us, very difficult for us because that’s our natural tendency to try and distract ourselves. This doesn’t mean that we can’t relax. Geshe la said, this is so difficult, isn’t it? It’s difficult to do mind training in different situations.
And I said, Can you do mind training? Because he asked me what was the most difficult one. I said, Can you do mind training when you’re watching TV? And he said, he thinks that if you are well trained, you could do mind training watching TV. The next piece of advice is that we train in the essentials.
We continually train in the essentials. Now the essentials of the path are said to be, especially in this instance with regards to mind training, emptiness and bodhicitta. So that means we should just focus in the main on the development of the idea of working towards enlightenment in order to benefit all sentient beings. But also we need to remind ourselves that the sentient beings that we are working towards enlightenment for aren’t inherently existent. The person working towards enlightenment isn’t inherently existent and the whole process, including enlightenment itself, isn’t inherently existent?
Okay, so the next piece of advice is that we refrain from making the six mistakes or behaving in the six mistaken manners. So, it means we should abandon those because by these six mistaken behaviours, they were unable to train in the mind and make the most of this lifetime. Now the six things that are called mistaken behaviors is mistaken patience, I’ve got to remember them now, mistaken patience, mistaken compassion, mistaken aspiration, mistaken rejoicing, mistaken rejoicing. So the first one, mistaken patience. Now mistaken patience refers to the fact that although we may feel we may not be able to practice patience when or forbearance. When it comes to practicing Dharma, when it comes to meditating, when it comes to working for others.
We may be very good at practicing patience when it comes to how hard we will work to get money, how hard we will work to get any kind of worldly benefit, so we can be very patient and have a lot of forbearance when it comes to things that aren’t necessarily helpful for us and we may be not patient and not have a lot of forbearance when it comes to things that will be ultimately beneficial for us. Okay. So it’s I’m trying I think wrong knowledge perhaps. The translation I remember looking at was different to what Geshe was saying so I’m trying to think of how to translate it. So I think probably wrong knowledge or incorrect knowledge, chasing after incorrect knowledge.
This means that for example there is a lot we can learn about dharma. Is many different approaches to the dharma, is much in it, there is many things that we can focus on developing understanding of within it that can help us to alleviate suffering in ourselves and others, but we have to apply ourselves to developing that understanding. But we may be able to get more short term, what seems like benefits, by focusing on studying or developing an understanding of worldly things that are oftentimes easier to understand as well. If we are focusing on those and developing an understanding of those, that can it’s like developing wrong understanding. Okay, so the next thing is wrong or mistaken aspiration.
Now mistaken compassion comes about when we see people doing very negative things in a large scale capacity and we don’t feel compassion for them because we think that they’re fine, because they may have worldly power and so on. So we don’t have compassion for them, but we do feel compassion for beings who are practicing Dharma and going without things that we may consider make our lives comfortable in order to practice that Dharma. So if they are practicing austerities, if they are practicing without many worldly comforts, then we have a tendency to feel compassion for them and compassion for them is inappropriate because are getting a lot from that situation. So that’s the third one: inappropriate or mistaking compassion. So the next one is a mistaken aspiration.
Now mistaken aspiration doesn’t work is the aspiration not looking towards Buddhahood or liberation or development of realization or the development of bodhicitta, instead of aspiring towards those things, it’s aspiring towards getting a plane ticket, buying a plane ticket or buying a car or buying any of the things that we may want to buy or we could work towards in a more worldly sense. And so if we’re aspiring to stuff as opposed to realisations or development, then that’s the mistaken aspiration. Okay. So the next one is a mistake with regards to people that are close to us, mistaken rejoicing. This means that we want to practice kindness, we want to practice compassion, we want to practice development of bodhicitta no, that doesn’t work.
Development of altruistic intention, but in a very limited way where we’re thinking about only those people that have beneficial to us. Only those people that our present happiness is linked with. So that means our relatives, people that we care about, people that have been kind to us that we can remember. So if we are developing an idea that they are the reason that we are practising Dharma, we are practising for our friends, we are practising for our family, we are practising for those that we feel close to, then that’s a wrong perception of relationships. So the last of them is the is the mistaken rejoicing for others.
So this means that instead of being happy when other people are practicing Dharma or working towards or doing virtuous actions, if we are happy when they get stuff or when they perform worldly deeds that make people respect them in a worldly way or if we if they if they achieve kind of fame or something like that. If we’re happy for people or when they do things that are negative, then that’s a mistake and that is mistaken rejoicing. We should try and develop a sense of happiness when we see people performing virtuous actions and practicing Dharma. Sorry. He thinks that Geshe thinks that we probably make all six mistakes a lot.
Yes. Yes. He wants to know how much you get. Did you say you got a new car? God.
No. I translated it. But he wants to know how much you pay. Yeah. No.
And I had to tell you I had a new car. Yeah. Yeah. Because we don’t have satisfaction. We don’t have contentment.
So if you don’t have contentment, then you do that. Said, is this the he’s because I have said it’s like, it’s not real milk. Right? And he said, so is this the real milk, the not the fake milk that they put out in China that killed lots of children and made them shut down the factory? You want some of it?
That kind of thing.