Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Using the image of Vaishravana — a deity so wealthy even his sandals were beyond price — Geshe Pema Tsering unpacks what the 37 Bodhisattva Practices mean by “bringing prosperity onto the path.” In this 77-minute session, he works through a root verse urging practitioners not to grow arrogant over wealth, beauty, or fame, illustrating with vivid similes: samsaric riches are as fleeting as a lightning flash, as fragile as a dewdrop on a blade of grass, as hollow as a water bubble. He contrasts these with the lasting reliability of liberation, cites Nāgārjuna’s Precious Garland to identify pride — not wealth itself — as the true enemy, and warns that conceit leads to lower rebirths. The Q&A covers two faces of doubt as a mental factor and a question about the eight precepts for one-day fasting practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 13 2007 08 26 Geshela – Sun26Aug07.mp3
UUID: 9cb6a97e-8387-4d54-8aeb-43314d9ed220
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Sunday Geshela Teaching (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2007-08-26
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 76.6 minutes
Words: ~4,891
So, Geshe-la was telling us that we should now we must give rise to a good motivation in whatever activity. The quality of whatever activity we are doing depends on entirely on our motivation. So then we ought to give rise rise to the motivation of the mind of enlightenment and that is then to wish to establish all sentient beings in the state of enlightenment and not accomplish that oneself must attain enlightenment and then in order to accomplish that enlightenment we are going to today we’re going to study and gain the knowledge of the practice of the bodhisattvas and then we’re going to put this knowledge into practice in order to attain that goal So then if we if we do if we give rise to such a motivation today, then this this activity that we are engaging in today is going to become the cause for enlightenment itself, and it’s going to become the cause of, you know, future liberation and and the future the happiness of future lives and also of our attainment of human rebirth and everything. So then also with regards to to the need for us to to to give us a good motivation because the dharma that we’re going to study today is the Mahāyāna is the dharma of the Mahāyāna.
So then it’s a dharma of the great vehicle. So then also due to that, we we give rise to the the motivation, which is the mind of enlightenment. So then so then bearing this in mind, we we start today with the preliminary prayers, refuge and the four measureables and the seven-limb prayer and the mandalas. And we do all that again that that they that it all might become may become a cause of the enlightenment of all sentient beings. So then we we proceed with the thirty-seven parts of the path to enlightenment.
We we approached it last last Sunday. We approached a topic which had two parts to it. So bringing both decline and prosperity onto the path to enlightenment. And we went through the whole topic of bringing decline onto the path to enlightenment. And then today, we approach the next topic which is bringing prosperity.
Prosperity but when we talk about prosperity then Geshe-la explains is is not only only being wealthy with a lot of money and riches but also having a beautiful complexion and a healthy body and all the good excellent things of cyclic existence and that’s what is meant by prosperity and Geshe-la was in a sense so you know when when we meet with these good circumstances then what we are asked to do is not to waste these things meaninglessly, but to to, how do say, use all of them for the benefit of sentient beings. But Geshe-la says that you know for us is difficult because I mean these are the practice of bodhisattvas and then when we hear of these practices for us ordinary people when we hear of such practices then we think oh you know I’m not able to do that I cannot do like they do or something like that. But but, in fact, if we are to attain this goal of enlightenment, then this is the way that we have to to go through. This is the path that we have to walk. So then I guess I was reading and explaining the the root text, the first verse of the Bodhisattva which says, though I may be, how to say, very famous and revered by many people and possess how to say a fortune resembling the the fortune of the god Vaishravana.
It is the practice of Bodhisattvas to remain without arrogance having seen how the the glories and the riches of this existence are senseless, are meaningless. And then Geshe-la was saying so then Geshe-la was explaining the Tibetan version which is then making reference to oneself so then if one finds oneself in a situation where oneself is famous and and and one is known in all directions by many people, and Geshe-la was giving the example of George Bush and John Howard. And then I said, well, not everybody likes them, but he says, I know most a lot of people like them. And then if one has all these these things of cyclic existence all these wealth and possessions and and everything else that comes with it and then we are told this is these are these are merely how to say the things, the phenomena of this life, and they of themselves, they are really senseless. They’re really pointless and meaningless.
And so then seeing and understanding this, one shouldn’t allow oneself to be considered and arrogant about it. And Geshe-la says that, again, going back to the second half of the verse making reference to this riches being the riches of cyclic existence, so if they are from cyclic existence, Geshe-la explains there is nothing whatsoever which does not come from actions, karma and afflictive emotions and conceptions and as such there is nothing which is beyond cyclic existence itself. Geshe-la was saying so then in the second half of that line which states that they are only the riches of cyclic existence, stated that they are also senseless or that they are meaningless. Geshe-la says well they are meaningless because they will not last any more than one’s lifespan so then whatever however long one may live one hundred years or however long that may be then when one dies one will have to be separated from all these things and one will not be able to take anything with oneself. Furthermore, whilst one is grasping at those things there is the danger that one might be reborn in the in the miserable realm of existence explaining so then as an illustration, if we if we were to have like this building, like Buddha house, Geshe-la was saying, all made of gold, the whole thing made of gold.
If if we were to possess that, Geshe-la was saying, I mean, from one side, what’s the use of it? I mean, you you wouldn’t be able to eat it. So it wouldn’t be you wouldn’t be able to use it to to nurture yourself or anything like that, to to clothe you or anything like that. On the other hand, what we are being told also is that we shouldn’t allow ourselves to come under the power of pride so then when we have this all this gold Geshe-la was illustrating giving as an illustration and then you know out of attachment you know the self grasping gets attached to it the self-grasping, this erroneous mind it holds on to it and then Geshe-la told us, and that’s what that’s what we are being told here that we shouldn’t we shouldn’t allow ourselves to be proud and arrogant about it out of this of this attachment that comes from the self grasping itself, the this this erroneous mind. Geshe-la was saying it’s not to say that we shouldn’t get rid of it.
It’s only to say that we shouldn’t we shouldn’t allow ourselves to be and arrogant about it. And Geshe-la was going on to say, so then we shouldn’t get rid of it. We should instead, we should make use of it as much as we can to practice Dharma for the sake of Dharma. Geshe-la says, but that’s that’s something which is very difficult. I mean, we have all this we all know of of of people who then give money, make offerings, offerings, and and and practice generosity and so forth.
But when when they do that, the motivation in their mind is that, you know, it’s it’s their own happiness, their own enlightenment alone or their own happiness. And they never they never actually think of the enlightenment of all sentient beings or benefiting of sentient beings. They’re thinking of being famous and being highly regarded by others as a good person and as a generous person, as a benefactor or something like that. Geshe-la was saying, you know, but if you do like that, that’s an inferior motivation. So what we have to do is is you know even if we were to give just one dollar just one coin or one silver coin and if we if we do that wishing wishing it to become the cause of enlightenment that’s far more Geshe-la was then going through and explaining this verse if one is if one were to be of high status in in the case here of high caste, but in high status and and with a you know, a a beautiful complexion, physiognomy, and and of with power and and with a lot of wealth and so forth.
And all all this all this if one were to have all these excellent things, all this great collection of excellent things then and were widely known in in in all directions as as famous and and and so forth by many people and being shown respect. And there is a reference here of being spoken to with honorific terms which is a very language specific but, you know, with very respectful words and and so forth. And how to say? So if one was highly regarded in this way by and and had all these. And if one had this this all these fortunes and this wealth and and this this fame as as the king Vaishravana had it himself.
But I was gonna say, like, the king Vaishravana, everything, even his his his flip flops or his slippers were, you know, super valuable. Like, you couldn’t you couldn’t calculate the value of his flip flops and and all that, one should see that they are all merely samsaric phenomena. This phenomena cyclic existence. They are like, how to say, this this flickering not not flickering, but how to say that, but just like a lightning.
How do you call that? What’s it? Lightning flash. Like a like, lightning flash. Exactly.
And then just like very as unreliable as a dewdrop at the tip of a blade of grass and then as as senseless as a as a water bubble and so forth. And also And then also also regarding all of it, so regarding it all in this way as as a as a flash of lightning, dewdrop on the tip of a blade of grass and a water bubble. And also as something that you have to do to as a phenomenon that you have that you you you discard. You have to discard just like the the skin of a snake. So seeing perceiving all these things to be just like like these, then one shouldn’t allow oneself to become haughty and and and and considered and arrogant.
And then and this is the way we are told that the bodhisattvas take our wealth and prosperity onto the path of enlightenment. So we are taught that all these these samsaric things, they are all meaningless, senseless. It’s the same word that can be translated in these two ways, meaningless and senseless. Geshe-la wasn’t saying, look. These these things are not going to last.
They’re not reliable. And, what is really meaningful what has a real essence in there is liberation and enlightenment because when you attain liberation you will have lasting happiness, it’s reliable, it is lasting and also when you attain enlightenment again, you attain lasting reliable happiness that will not degenerate or deteriorate in any way at any time, and that’s really meaningful. And Geshe-la was saying, you see, we hear these these things being said that samsaric phenomena are senseless meaningless and that dharma which is in the liberation enlightenment they are actually meaningful. We hear this being said but it never gets through to our hearts. Geshe-la says it’s very difficult for that to happen because Geshe-la was saying we actually these senseless things and meaningless things that are being talked about those are the things that we actually see and handle every day we can see all the samsaric riches that are being talked about liberation enlightenment, it’s invisible.
We cannot see it actually. So it’s very hard for us to get rid of the doubts that we have had about liberation enlightenment. The doubts that we have about liberation and enlightenment. And and and in the future, if we don’t work these doubts away, then in the future, again, we will still remain with doubts about it. That wondering if we if we are able to attain this enlightenment that has been talked about or not.
And we we remain in doubt, and we are never able to we never actually give rise to the mind that is determined and convinced that, okay. I I will attain enlightenment. I can and I will attain enlightenment. Isn’t it, Geshe-la was asking? Yes.
I guess Geshe-la was saying so. But but in fact so we have all these doubts, but in fact, we do not need to have any any doubt about it. I mean, the Buddha, Śākyamūni himself has has attained enlightenment. And after after the Buddha, many people who have followed his teachings and practice his teachings have attained enlightenment. And we we we see the Dalai Lama who who we regard nowadays as an enlightened being, and all of them have have come from the same place where we are coming from, and then they have attained enlightenment.
But in order to attain the higher paths then we have to go through the path of preparation accumulation and so forth and yes Geshe-la was saying that takes a lot of hard hard work and then we we know nobody wants nobody wishes to actually go do the hard work, engage in the hard work. And then Geshe-la was saying, then, again, we all we need to do is is to practice the teachings. These teachings that we are studying today, they all trace back to the buddha himself they are the teachings of the buddha himself and all we have to do is is practice these teachings and Geshe-la was saying and we can we can trust that these teachings are are right also because the buddha how to say could only speak the truth he didn’t have any need to lie or say anything that is untrue and Geshe-la was explaining only ordinary beings misconception then believe that engaging, lying, and telling what is not true, saying what is not true because they believe that they are going to profit in some way out of that. And the Buddha did not need to do that at all.
The Buddha would only speak what was right, what was correct, and what was true. And Geshe-la was saying. So then still and then again, we are told we are told that the Buddha does not lie. He only speaks the true the truth. And and still, we we have doubts about it.
We still we cannot allow ourselves to engage in the practice or in the teachings because simply because we cannot see it we cannot see those things that are being talked about so we have doubts about it. Is is it so? Is it not so? And we keep on holding to our own how to say? How how do you say how to say that in English?
We keep our holding to our own self fabricated truth. Is it? It’s not an issue, but we the truth that we have created, our own distorted truths, our own conception of of what is true. Geshe-la was gonna say, we hold on to that, and we keep on questioning. Is is the teaching right?
Is it so is this enlightenment right? Is this really there? Is there an enlightenment or something like that? And and we never actually get to engage. These doubts hold us back from engaging in in the teachings, in the practice.
So then in English, I wasn’t saying we we we remain we remain thinking. Again, holding on to our own preconceptions, so to speak. I guess that’s the right word. We’re holding on to to our own preconceptions and believing that holding on to the the notion that things do exist the way that they appear to exist. And then we think and and believing that we are free of any faults and and we are, how to say, stainless.
That’s the word that Geshe-la was using. We are absolutely stainless. And then in this way, we think, we keep on thinking. If if if something makes us happy, then we think that that is good. If something is not something makes us unhappy, we we think that is bad.
If somebody likes us then they are our friends if somebody dislikes us and they are our enemies and we kept on thinking in this very distorted Geshe-la was listing this very deluded way. We are very this is all quite deluded, Geshe-la said. And Geshe-la was Geshe-la was saying, and that’s because we do not investigate or we do not analyze these these topics. And we have, we have to engage in a lot of a lot of different reasonings in order to be able to to to understand to come to an understanding of this of these topics of this truth and Geshe-la was saying it’s not going to come about how to say easily we have to study we have to develop the whole line of arguments within our minds and in order to be able to develop these arguments that establish these truths then we have to read and study a lot of texts and scriptures. And in this way, if we if we do the work, if we do this homework, then eventually, we will come to understand that, okay.
What the Buddha said is true. There is an enlightenment. There is this this way to enlightenment and so forth. And then Geshe-la was reading a quote from one of the sutras, which says that one should not allow such thoughts as thinking I am especially noble, and and I am supremely important.
One should not allow such such thoughts to come about in one’s mind. And then in Geshe-la was reading the second half of the verse which is saying that these such such thoughts are the very root of carelessness and then Geshe-la was making reference to carelessness if one then is careless then one cannot which is a specific mental factor one one will not be due to carelessness one will not be able to avoid non virtuous minds and one will not be able then to engage in Dharma practice one will not be able to prevent oneself from being attached developing attachment and pride and so forth. And then and one then instead of being generous is going to end up being miserly sad. And Geshe-la says, again with regards to all these these things, all these these material things and wealth and possession being meaningless and being merely samsaric samsaric phenomena. Geshe-la says, look.
They they are meaningless. Again, another way to to say that they are meaningless is that because of our attachment and aversion to these things we keep on being partial holding those people who please us as our friends and those people who displeased us as our enemies and we keep on acting again out of attachment and aversion and engaging all sorts of misdeeds and misconduct and then in this way we keep on caught up in this in this vicious circle of cyclic existence. And Geshe-la was saying we we could we could well make offerings and practice generosity and so forth, but that is very, very difficult to accomplish. What usually happens is that people get caught up in this vicious circle of attachment and aversion to it. And then and then the next verse from the the Precious Garland of Nāgārjuna is saying that arrogance, which is based on prestige, beauty, learning, youth, and and and authority, we should behold it as your enemy as one’s enemy.
And then Geshe-la was saying, so then again, we have been told that to regard this pride as as our enemy, not necessarily the wealth or or or the material things and so forth, but the pride that that might come out of it as our enemies and then this the real enemy is that mind that is holding on oh this is my wealth this is my money this is my knowledge and so forth and that’s that’s the real enemy not the the things themselves. And then the next verse from the Wheel of Life is telling us that if one is full of this negative emotion, which is pride, then we will be brought down to the lower rounds of existence. Geshe-la was explaining. So then pride, generally speaking, is the notion of having more qualities than what we actually have or that we have qualities that we actually do not have and so forth and thinking that we are more than we actually are and due to this sort of afflictive emotion, conceit, we we might just as well end up being being dragged down by it to the lower realms of existence.. So then and then as a commentary to that to those quotes, we are told that if it happens that we have perfect health and we have this great accumulation of material possessions and wealth and so forth and we have high status and we have a beautiful complexion very learned and we are very righteous and so forth all this this this collection of good qualities and we have this vast this great amount of physical and mental happiness.
That’s what? Loss. This is one. Loss. Loss.
Loss. And if if due to that then we come we become proud and conceited and arrogant and we start looking down on others and we we wish then we have this desire then to engage in all sorts of non dharmic non spiritual activities and if we come under the power of all these then in this life we’ll become careless and so forth and then this fault and suffering will will come about because of that and in future lives and again we will be born in the in the lower realms of of existence or we will were born in a in a how to say, in a low caste or in a low status. And then so then both this life and the future lives, they will entirely degenerate because of that. So then this these are all the things that we have to avoid. We we have been instructed here on on on what we have to avoid with respect with respect to these favorable circumstances.
And then what we have to do instead? What is it we have to do is then then we have to practice Dharma in order for in order to accomplish the happiness of future lives and and to accomplish the causes of liberation and enlightenment. So what we have to do is engage in virtuous activities and not waste our time in meaningless activity not waste our resources in in meaningless activities. And so now we have time for questions and answers. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. What is it? Yeah. Describe it, maybe.
Because it seems to affect different parts of your life. What is in doubt? So many things. Yes. Geshe-la says, yes.
Doubt. If one has doubts, then what whatever whatever the the activity is that one is trying to considering, then one will not be able to engage it or or or complete it. And then, usually, doubt is explained in the context of of of the Buddhist in the Buddhist teachings, in the context of attaining liberation and enlightenment or accomplishing virtue. So then doubt, in the Buddhist teachings will be any mind that is doubting that that is hindering the accomplishment of virtue or the accomplishment of the paths that lead to liberation and enlightenment is thinking, you know, either doubting if there there is any such thing as an enlightenment or liberation or virtue or one’s own abilities to attain them and so forth. But, speaking, Geshe-la says, you know, whatever activity it is, if one has doubts, if one has this this mind of doubt, then one will not be able to complete it.
We always wish for liberation and enlightenment and all that, but we are never able to engage in working for it as we work and engage in our ordinary jobs in our ordinary work, because we cannot see those things; on the other hand, we see money, we can see the money, so we can engage for it but we do not see all these other things So you mean to say it is not is not all bad? So So then it’s like like this. I was trying to to bring forth to the geisha that this trying to remember the on another topic of studies that we have, which is, which is I wouldn’t know how to translate that in environmental factors, but it’s not that. So then there is there is two contexts where where doubt is is taught. And one is what is called mental factors, the other one was called.
So then I was saying that if we do not think about and analyze whatever is that that is at hand, then we will not have doubts. Right? And that is bad. Because then I guess I was saying yes. And then we we don’t practice the Dharma.
We don’t know what is the what is to practice, what is to attain, and so forth, what is to discard, and so forth. But then we then investigate start investigating analyzing studying eventually we will reach a stage of doubt and then eventually if we keep on investigating analyzing we will go beyond that doubt and that’s in this context this is a good sign. But then there is another context which is the teaching of doubt as as a non virtuous mental factor, which is a hindrance, which is seen in this other context. It is merely seen as a hindrance to accomplishing virtue, whatever virtue it is. So there is this yeah.
And the two two different words that you’re making for that? No. It’s the same word, and it’s the same thing actually, but it’s it’s there’s two different context of of of teaching it where where it comes about. Oh, no. No.
What what I was saying is that what I was saying is that if if if you’re not questioning anything, if you’re not investigating or studying anything, then you will remain without doubt. Yeah. That’s a state of, let’s say, ignorance is bliss. Yeah. Mhmm.
Right? Now if you start questioning things and investigate, analyzing, and, like I said, studying, then eventually, you reach a stage where you do have doubts. And then later, when you keep on studying and analyzing, you clear away those doubts to another state to another stage, which is which is called correct assumption right So so yes. And then I guess that is explained. So then there is So then Geshe-la was saying with regards to doubt itself, there are different degrees of doubt, so to speak.
So then there is first sort of doubt which which equally doubts that whatever the possibilities, the two possibilities at hand. So then the existence or the nonexistence of liberation, let’s say. And then and then there is the doubt which will then when you keep on working with it, this doubt that will be considering, oh, maybe, you know, maybe there is probably there is this liberation or probably the liberation exists. And then later on, there will come this correct assumption, belief that, okay, there is it’s not a realization yet, but there is a belief that there is liberation with a correct assumption. Yeah.
Is that is that making sense? And then in this context Yes. It’s a brain. Yeah. Yes.
Regarding the morning prayers, it says here, I shall avoid singing, dancing, and playing music. Does this apply to the sound, or is it generally non music and Where where which page is that? Sorry. Page twenty one. Page twenty one.
This is this is in the precepts. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I think I think yes.
So so then look this this that you that you were reading is part of of a one day, how to say, a one day fasting, semi fasting practice where you take for for twenty four hours period. For one twenty four hours period, you take eight vows, and that is that applies to anybody, ordained or non ordained, lay people or or ordained people alike. And, yeah, where you take you take these eight vows and you abstain from this this all the things that are listed here for one day. Okay. That’s right.
For twenty four hours. Yeah. It okay? Anything else? Okay.
Okay. Is that okay? Is that is asking if it is okay? Okay.