Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Sense pleasures are like salty water — the more you drink, the more you crave: this image marks the transition in Geshe Pema Tsering’s 69-minute Sunday commentary on the Thirty-Seven Practices of the Bodhisattva. He first closes the chapter on anger, citing Lama Atisha’s maxim that taming the inner mind removes the threat of outer enemies, and explains why genuine bodhicitta requires the full preparatory sequence — renunciation, recognising all beings as former parents, counteracting self-cherishing — not aspiration alone. A student who did nothing but weep by a river illustrates the depth of compassion being described. Geshe-la then turns to attachment: a king who conquered even the heavens and was still unsatisfied shows why contentment is the antidote to craving. A brief Q&A addresses gauging progress against self-cherishing and whether pure land aspiration and the bodhicitta path are essentially the same.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 15 2007 09 23 Geshe Pema Tsering – Sunday23rd Sept2007.mp3
UUID: 63b853d7-17e2-46b7-acbc-d93bde9898f9
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Sunday Geshela Teaching (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2007-09-23
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 69.5 minutes
Words: ~4,565
To accomplish that. And then we start with the preliminary prayers. Page twenty four. So then we we continue with the commentary on on the thirty seven practices of the bodhisattva which is then on how to bring anger onto the path of enlightenment this topic and then we have a quote from Lama Atisha where Lama Atisha says that if the inner mind is tamed then an outer enemy cannot cause harm. I guess that wasn’t saying if we can then subdue these inner enemies that we have such as anger and all the other afflictive emotions, then we won’t experience any harm coming from outside.
And also, Lama Atisha also said that if one lacks lacks love and compassion, then one is not a bodhisattva. Geshe-la then explains. So then if one does not have love and compassion, one has does not have the mind of enlightenment, one does not have bodhisattva. And without bodhisattva, one cannot be a bodhisattva. And then there’s also another saying from Lama Atisha.
Lama Atisha is then saying that he’s he’s talking to to Tibetan community so he’s talking to the tibetans you tibetans you might know some bodhisattvas who have no idea on how to train on love and compassion in love and compassion well what should they do? And Lama Atisha says, and he answers it himself. They should train gradually from the very beginning. And Geshe-la is explaining it with regards to this last quote that both loving kindness and compassion they do not just arise out of nowhere as soon as we start to meditate on it it just doesn’t come about out of nowhere it takes a lot of preliminary practices Geshe-la was saying so in the case of the mind of enlightenment for example one needs to go through the whole six causes of the mind of enlightenment which is recollecting that all sentient beings were once mother and then acknowledging their great kindness and then repaying their kindness and so forth and so then one has to go through all these steps all of the stages and then not only that but even before one starts to go through these specific steps to develop the mind of enlightenment, one has to meditate and accomplish meditations and teachings and teachings and teachings and teachings and teachings such meditations and teachings and teachings and teachings and teachings and teachings as reflecting on the faults of cyclic existence that is to say Geshe-la explains one has to accomplish a renunciation before one can even start accomplishing all the steps that lead to the mind of enlightenment.
And then So Geshe-la, so then from one perspective, then one has to accomplish all this meditation, all these stages. And then still in another, from another point of view, one also has to reflect on the shortcomings of self-cherishing of the mind that is self centered mind and then one has to reflect on the benefits of cherishing others more than oneself. And Geshe lah is explaining now if we do all these, if we go through all these meditations and teachings and teachings and teachings and teachings and teachings all these preliminary meditations and teachings and teachings and teachings and teachings and teachings and then we contemplate the shortcomings of self-cherishing contemplate the benefits of cherishing others more than oneself if we go through all these steps then we’ll be able to produce what Geshe lah was saying a very good real mind of enlightenment real bodhicitta, technically speaking a fully characterized bodhicitta. Without going through these preliminary scenarios, do not have the real bodhicitta. When we meditate on bodhicitta when we are developing generating those thoughts in our minds may attain enlightenment for the sake of accomplishing enlightenment of all sentient beings, Geshe-la explains though there is there’s definitely a lot of benefit in doing so but still that is not the actual thing itself the actual bodhicitta itself because it is lacking all the preliminary steps all the causes of bodhicitta which are all those steps of meditation that Geshe-la was explaining okay And then so then Geshe-la briefly read again the last sentence of that quote from Lama Atisha, which says that they should train gradually from the beginning, and then went on to the next quote which is from a a Dromtönpa is then saying that if one does not separate oneself from loving kindness and compassion and in the mind of enlightenment if one never separates oneself from this tree then it is impossible for one to be born in the lower realms by doing so and then because of that such a person is said to be a non returner and Geshe-la wasn’t saying just saying if one is constantly meditating cultivating the mind loving kindness and compassion and so forth then one does not have to worry about being ever being born in the lower realms of existence And then so Geshe-la was again making reference to the same verse, the same quote and saying again that if one has a mind of enlightenment, kindness and compassion, one will not be born ever again in the lower realms of existence.
And Geshe-la was, on top of that, explaining giving a quote from Lama Tsongkhapa. Well, Lama Tsongkhapa is then saying, if one accomplishes accomplishes the welfare and the benefit of others, then by doing so, one automatically accomplishes one’s own welfare and benefit. If one strives only for one’s own welfare, does not only does not accomplish all these benefits in welfare, one does not even accomplish one’s own. And then there’s another quote from Geshe Potowawa where Geshe Potowa has been saying that since we will not become enlightened through apprehending, to say, dear ones who are close to us, dear ones those being close to us and enemies as those being distant to ourselves, then we should give rise, we should produce mind of loving kindness which is vast and equal, equanimous towards all sentient beings. Towards all sentient beings without exception.
Loving kindness and compassion, let me say, a mind of loving kindness and compassion, which is vast and equanimous towards all sentient beings without exception. And then there is another verse from Geshe Karak Gomchung where Geshe Karak Gomchung is giving instructions on how to meditate on loving kindness and compassion. In english it comes out of the order so I read it in tibetan it will sound a bit truncated but because just because in tibetan comes in the right sequence so for the first verse is then telling us in the past previous in the past all beings have been our parents and also all beings of the three realms of existence have been greatly kind to us so then with this understanding in mind and one should abandon all harmful thoughts towards sentient beings and instead meditate on loving kindness and compassion And Geshe wasn’t saying so with regards to this to this teaching, that’s something which is for us, is very difficult to accomplish now isn’t it because Geshe-la is saying to have this to be completely unbiased and impartial without any conception of somebody being close to us or distant to us in relation to us is something which is really far away ahead in our future, isn’t it?
This equanimity this impartiality is so far away and so distant from us because of our self-cherishing mind. And Geshe-la is saying: But if we were to meditate, if we were to contemplate the fact that all sentient beings without exception have been our mothers and our parents and they have been just as kind to us as our parents in this life have been and then we generate then the intention to repay their kindness and so forth. If we if we if we were to contemplate it, we would be able to produce these these thoughts. And again Geshe-la says, even though we can produce those thoughts, we can never actually come to a wholehearted to the whole wholehearted conclusion that all all beings have been my parents. All beings have been greatly kind to me and we can never get to that final clear vision of this of this understanding and Geshe-la was then saying that again and that is because of our self-cherishing mind that we have that the self self-cherishing is a distorted and erroneous mind and that it originates from ignorance.
And Geshe-la was saying because it is a mind that originates out of ignorance it perceives and apprehends phenomena erroneously erroneously and then it thinks of all these meditations and teachings and teachings and teachings and teachings and teachings of all these steps of meditation to develop compassion and bodhicitta it thinks such things as don’t all sentient beings how to say how can I actually believe that all sentient beings have been my parents in the past I cannot remember anything and then have doubts about it or you know these beings who will be my parents in the future you know they haven’t been my parents yet so what do I care and keeps on thinking in this way and never actually comes to whenever actually be able such a mind whenever actually be able to come and generate that determination that resolution that may I then free all sentient beings from suffering? And so then we we do not understand all these things about sentient beings have been our mothers and they’re very kind to us and so forth we cannot understand that and and but we do not have any correct reason to support our known understanding of these facts And Geshe-la was then saying, so even though we do not know, we do not understand right now or we do not have it clear light now to ourselves that all beings have been kind to us still irrespective of our knowledge in that or not they have been kind to us and then Geshe-la says you know we might not even remember the kindness that we have experienced in the beginning of this life and still our parents have been kind to us, beings have been kind to us and today and tomorrow and in the future again we will experience the kindness of other sentient beings And Geshe-la again says not only not only other sentient beings, but if if we take from our once individual perspective alone again and and and now and the next year and the years following that, we will all be needing happiness and looking for happiness.
And even even even that, we do not fully understand right now, isn’t it? And Geshe-la says, again, it’s because of this distorted, erroneous mind that originates out of ignorance that we have, Geshe-la. And guess what I was gonna say, even even within one one lifetime, the the young young children do not understand how how is it that they will become old. And the old do not understand how is it that they were once young and and depending on the kindness of others and so forth. And then again because of of of all this lack of understanding and then one is is unable because of the power of this mind of ignorance one is then unable to develop a mind that wishes to see and free all sentient beings from suffering And yes I was saying so then because of all these reasons Geshe-la explained that we can see how important is to abandon ignorance how ignorance is actually one of the most important objects of abandonment and in order to be able to abandon to get rid of of ignorance, then we have to realize and Geshe-la was gonna say now if one does not have a realization of emptiness and then only only cultivate some compassion and loving kindness and bodhicitta and so forth then one’s mind will never be able to be how to say completely clear in that sorry in that ignorance will always be lingering and the afflictions will always be the imprints of the affliction will always be there.
And then there’s Geshe-la was then saying briefly saying, so then we can see how important it is then for us to meditate on emptiness. And then Geshe-la went on to read the next following quote, which is stating that when Gengha, Geshe Dromtönpa, when he explained how important it was, taught the many reasons why loving kindness and compassion are so important. When he taught that, then one of his students, Lhantampa, frustrated and then said that he himself from that moment onwards will be only meditating on loving kindness and compassion. And to that, Dromtönpa answered again with, like you saw, with folded hands on crown of his head saying that’s truly excellent that you are going to do so. Another quote, and there’s another story where the three brothers Geshe Poto and our other two brothers and a student from Geshe Khampalungpa, they met Dromtönpa and then so then the brothers and the students of Geshe Khampalungpa then were inquiring about Dromtönpa’s doings and so forth and then Dromtönpa then asked about each one of them or how they have been doing what they have been doing and then in the end he asked about Khampalungpa himself what has Khampalungpa been doing and then Potowa was answering saying that Khampalungpa now he stays in his hut by the river and all that he does is sit there with his hands covering his face and crying all the time and doesn’t do anything else.
Dromtönpa then when he heard that again he folded his hands and he was praising him saying this is truly wondrous and praised Geshe Khampalungpa’s meditation on compassion saying that if And then and then he was praising his meditation of compassion saying that if if if all of us could give rise to we’re able to produce such an uncontrived minds of loving kindness and compassion then we would all able to easily exchange our happiness for other beings suffering. And and and we wouldn’t without any any regard for our our our bodies and life, we would we would be able to accomplish the welfare of others. And, Geshe-la wasn’t saying now that with respect to one exchanging one’s happiness for for for being suffering beings other beings sufferings, Geshe-la wasn’t saying that’s something which is really special because I wasn’t saying that if one can do that if one is able to do that and also disregard one’s body and life whilst for the service of the welfare of other beings because I was saying that is is the sign that one has attained bodhicitta, has accomplished bodhicitta. Loose. And then finally from Gyalsay Tokmey himself, the author of the thirty seven practices of the bodhisattvas, we have a verse where he’s saying one must get rid of this mind of hatred which is our real enemy because if one does not subdue one’s own anger then there will be no end to it will be impossible to eliminate all the external enemies.
On the other hand, if we can subdue our own anger then there will be no need to fight to destroy anyone outside. And then there’s another verse from himself, Gyalsay Tokmey himself, which is saying that If one does not have this mind that wishes to free all sentient beings equal to space, then one won’t be able to accomplish perfect enlightenment. That being so, meditate, cultivate great loving kindness and great compassion. I guess that wasn’t saying with regards to this last last verse all of us here we are all people who are striving to attain enlightenment and that and that being so again we all we all want want happiness we do not want any suffering we want to accomplish that for all beings And so then if that is what we want, then we need to meditate on loving kindness and compassion in this way. So our main practice should always be loving kindness compassion and the mind of enlightenment that’s what we should be cultivating at all times I guess I was saying if we if we meditate in this way, then we’ll be able to, how do you say?
I guess I wasn’t saying if we if we and also in order to accomplish this meditation on loving kindness compassion bodhicitta what we need to do is is you know to close the door or to oppress not oppress but to subdue this self-cherishing mind. And if because if we are not able to to hold it back, to hold the self-cherishing mind back, then it will be very difficult to produce genuine authentic loving kindness and compassion and so forth. And Geshe-la was just saying, so there are many things that we have to reflect about, that we have to contemplate. So all all this talk about the spiritual path, and and it’s not easy. It takes a lot of mental labor so to speak and Geshe-la was saying we still we think we all think to ourselves that it is easy it doesn’t take much but that’s not the case it takes a lot of reasoning a lot of a lot of thinking, a lot of contemplation.
Guess I was gonna say if it was easy then everybody would have accomplished it already and it’s not the case people grow as old as one hundred years old and they haven’t been able to do that I mean it was a accomplishment it takes time it takes effort And guess what I wasn’t saying now, even though it is difficult, we shouldn’t we shouldn’t give it up. We should keep on practicing because if we do not practice now then we will never be able to attain anything in the future and again in the future when we meet it we will give it up again so we shouldn’t give it up we should practice every opportunity we have, every time we have, we should keep on practicing, and that will make it possible for us to attain, to achieve results in the future. I guess I guess the very least at the very least we should whilst we are going about our daily lives at the very least we should be cultivating such thoughts as you know may all sentient beings the wish that all sentient beings be free from suffering the the wish that all sentient beings be endowed with happiness and then and to accomplish that the wish that oneself attain enlightenment and Geselas says you know it takes no effort to do that so easy so the value is that’s what we should be doing And guess what I was saying, if we can do if we can act in this way then we will make this human birth and this human body meaningful greatly meaningful if Jesus says because by doing by acting this way by cultivating these thoughts while we are going about our daily lives, then all of all our thoughts and all our actions will become virtue.
And not just any virtue, but the great virtue of the Mahāyāna, which is as vast as as as the the Mahāyāna So then and then, Geshe-la so we finished that first that that chapter on bringing anger onto the path. And Geshe-la started then with the next chapter, which is then bringing the object of attachment onto the path to enlightenment. And we read the next verse from Gyelsay Tokmey, which says that sense pleasures are like salty water. However much one partakes of them, craving will only increase. Hence, it is the practice of bodhisattvas to abandon immediately immediately all objects that generate attachment.
And then Geshe-la is in making reference to the first line with the verse, which is then the the is the qualities of the desire realm which is the first expression literally translates as the qualities of the desire realm and Geshe-la was saying so then now we all know what this makes reference to it makes reference to all the sense pleasures that that we experience through the five senses and just for the sake of illustration but as I’m saying for you know if we have a visual form a form that we perceive of our eyes, we will always be wanting to perceive something which is greater and better or more beautiful or more pleasant to the eyes than what we have right now. It’s always going to be like that. The same goes with all the other senses. And then it is to say that all of them are like salty water, and and, again, we are all familiar with that. I mean, if you drink salty water, Geshe-la says, you will want to drink even more and more.
The more you drink it, the more you want to the more you want to drink again. I guess I wasn’t giving an illustration. Take for example, take money for example. I guess I was saying when we get hold of a hundred dollars, then we think, oh, that’s not enough. Now I want two hundred dollars.
Then we start to work to attain this two hundred dollars and so it goes until we we think now I want five hundred dollars and then until one point we have a hundred thousand dollars and that’s not enough you still want more and then our our as our craving increases our our self grasping increases and then we we keep on striving for more and more money and the and the craving then the self grasping are just like the salt in the water wasn’t and guess I wasn’t saying now the antidote to that is is the thought that that’s not not the thought, but the whole attitude that thinks that’s okay. That’s enough. If one gets one one gets one hundred dollars, when things are that’s enough. That’s okay. That’s good.
And one has this develops this contentment, which is called contentment. That’s the antidote to that. No. And Geshe Geshe-la was then was then saying, so then we must rely on contentment. Because if we do not have contentment there will be no end to our craving the whole world won’t be enough and if I was then recollecting another classical story in the from the buddhist teachings of a king of old.
I forgot his name in in Sanskrit or in English, but there’s there was a king that he he started as a poor person and became a king and started conquering all the all the kingdoms, and that wasn’t enough for him. He conquered the whole the whole world, and then that wasn’t enough. He went to conquer the realms of the gods, and he conquered all the realms of the gods up to the to the highest of all gods the heavens of the thirty three and he sat side by side with the king of all gods the ruler of all gods had to share his throne with him with this human king and but his ambition was was so his craving his ambition was so out of control that even even then he wasn’t satisfied he wanted to get everything for himself but then his karma expired and he fell down again back to earth And so then, Geshe lah, again, reiterates that if one does not have contentment, then there will be no end to this craving and attachment. And, again, I’ve read again the last two lines of the verse, which are saying, hence, it is the practice of bodhisattvas to abandon immediately all objects that generate attachment.
So I was just it’s just that again bodhisattvas will then not hold on to any of these objects of attachment they will immediately give them up. Explains, it is not to say that one has has to get rid of the object itself. And Geshe-la was making reference to one word in the Tibetan verse, which is attachment. What one has to get rid of is that attachment. That’s what is important to get rid of.
Geshe-la was saying. So then this attachment is is that mind that does not wish to be separated from from from the object, whatever the object is. So then, in the in again, this has to do with craving also, And this is the mind that we have to to get rid of. This is the mind that we are being told we have to separate ourselves from. I wasn’t saying we have to we have to cultivate an attitude that that things are if if if it comes my way, it’s okay.
If it doesn’t, it’s okay. It doesn’t matter. We have time for questions now? Just to twenty three. Yes?
With the self-cherishing mind, how can we check if we’re making any progress in the in our battle to And guess that wasn’t saying, look, it’s up to oneself to to look into one’s own mind and and see if what is happening there with the self-cherishing mind if I wasn’t saying first of all one has to understand what is the self-cherishing mind the self-cherishing mind is a mind that thinks of oneself as very important, more important than than others and that and then wishes then to to have happiness for oneself alone and and so forth. So one has to understand first of all what is the self-cherishing mind and then one has to watch out to see what is happening, but only oneself can determine what is happening there. One has to investigate ones oneself to to be able to determine that. And the guest says, if one if one does investigate, then one will know. Yes.
Yes. Yes? If someone’s been offered a chance to choose from two alternatives, the first is to have next reverse. And Geshe-la would say both. It means both.
There’s no difference. Geshe-la says it because, basically, there’s no difference. When meditations and teachings and teachings and teachings and teachings and teachings on the mind of enlightenment and by realizing the mind of enlightenment, one ends up being born in pure lands. By merely praying to be born in a pure land one will not be born by just saying may I be born in the pure land one will not be born. One has to cultivate the causes to be born in the pure land, and this is renunciation, the mind of enlightenment, realization of emptiness.
One has to cultivate love and kindness and compassion. And then when one cultivates all of this, practices all of this, and on top of that, pray to be born in Pure Land, then yes, one will be born in Pure Land. One does not one does not think, oh, the pure land is is a very nice place to be, and I want to go there. I should be born there. One does not think such such thoughts.
If one wants to be born in a pure land, one has to accomplish virtue. And the best and most powerful virtue are the virtues that accomplish enlightenment. And in this way, one one can accomplish that quickly. Okay.