Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 83-minute commentary, Geshe Pema Tsering focuses on why self-cherishing — defined precisely as indifference toward others rather than mere self-care — is the root of all troubles, and why cherishing others is the foundation of every Mahāyāna quality. He works through the distinction carefully: a mosquito-on-the-arm example draws the line between “vulgar” self-regard and a genuinely compassionate response; a poison-pizza analogy explains why self-cherishing is mistaken without being a technically wrong awareness. He also distinguishes two types of self-cherishing to clarify the difference between Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna paths. The session closes with the ninth verse of the root text, which introduces the correct view — wisdom realizing dependent origination — as the subject for the following week. Suited to students following a structured Lamrim curriculum with exams.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 08 The Three Principle Aspects .mp3
UUID: f8573a4d-7761-4982-9a64-a52d07945607
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: The three principal aspects of the Path (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2002 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 83.5 minutes
Words: ~7,397
Of the three topics which Geshe-la has been teaching on renunciation, bodhicitta, and the correct view then Geshe-la is in the process of speaking about bodhicitta. Now, for the exam then, there are thirteen questions distributed, nine of which have probably been answered to satisfaction or been at least answered by Geshe-la to satisfaction. He thinks that you’re probably clear about these. So that means that four remain to be addressed. Yeah.
According to Buddhism, cherishing oneself is the primary is the thing which stands in primary opposition to generating bodhicitta. That is to say, if there is one thing which is the prime which is not concordant with bodhicitta or the development thereof, is cherishing oneself. And thus, furthermore, the statement is made within Buddhism that cherishing oneself is the doorway to all troubles, whereas cherishing others is the doorway to all qualities. And thus, Geshe-la will be speaking about the way in which cherishing oneself acts as a gateway or the entrance way to troubles, and cherishing one cherishing others leads to as a gateway or entrance to qualities. In fact, before understanding the way in which cherishing oneself functions as the door to all troubles and cherishing others acts acts as the door to all qualities, you first have to know how one can identify what self-cherishing is.
You have to know how to identify what cherishing others is. How when Geshe-la was making the exam then, he he first wrote the questions, identify the way in which self-cherishing acts as the door to all troubles. And and then the second question was identify the way in which cherishing others acts as the door to all qualities. After having thought about it for a moment, then he thought, oh, yeah. Well, actually, in order to answer this question, you first have to be able to identify them.
Because if you do not identify these two correctly, then you can’t answer the question properly. So the following two questions then were, what how do how does one identify self-cherishing or recognize what self-cherishing is, and how does one cherishing others. So rather than answer the questions on the exam as they appear eleven, twelve, or ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, Geshe-la would suggest that you reverse the order and answer questions twelve and thirteen, and then answer questions ten and eleven, because the answers to ten and eleven depend in large part, as Geshe-la is saying, upon your answers to twelve and thirteen. So then, Geshe-la this evening, Geshe-la will be explaining these topics in reverse order. And we’ll just assume that the that we’re working off a question sheet, which is in the correct order.
Yeah. A one which was not actually distributed to you guys. Now and this we can probably say that self the cherishing the self stands in direct opposition to the generation of bodhicitta, but in making this statement then one has to look at it more closely because in fact we can identify two types of self-cherishing. We can identify a type of self-cherishing which is supported by or backed up by the tendency to grasp at the self and a self-cherishing which is not supported by or backed up by a tendency to grasp at the self. It is that type of self-cherishing which is supported by the tendency to grasp at the self, which stands in direct opposition to the generation of bodhicitta.
This is a type of self-cherishing in which one is neglectful or indifferent to others. Okay. So we should in in this So to be clear about the terms we’re using here then, when we speak about self-cherishing in this context, we’re speaking about this latter type of self-cherishing, the type of self-cherishing which in which one is indifferent to or neglectful of others. This is the self-cherishing which is supported by, which is backed up by the tendency to grasp at the self. Now how about cherishing others?
What does that mean? Cherishing others is an attitude in which one regards others as more important than oneself. So then if we turn our attention to the next point which was covered, and that is how is it that self-cherishing acts as the gateway to all troubles? Well, once it can be it is said that all the problems and difficulties and sufferings, be they problems and difficulties of a body or of mind, come about in dependence upon self-cherishing. And thus, whether they be physical illnesses or problems which one is facing on a mental level, these are these are identified as coming about in dependence upon self-cherishing.
The reason this statement is made is that because all suffering of body and mind which we experience is the result of non virtuous karma, non virtuous actions. Non virtuous actions are things such as killing, stealing, committing sexual misconduct, speaking harshly to others, so or speaking falsely to others, and so on and so forth. If you think about it, think about an act of killing. When one kills another person, attachment or whether one does it out of anger. First, there must be a sense of being indifferent to or neglectful of the person whose life you’re going to take, and thus having generated a mind in which one is indifferent to another, one performs that action.
And so it is because such acts as killing come about in dependence upon a sense of indifference towards others. It is said that and and excuse me. And those acts themselves ripen as results of suffering, be they of body and mind, it is for that reason that one states that all that the that self-cherishing acts as the gateway for all troubles. Do we all accept here that that all such problems come about in dependence upon being indifferent towards others? Excuse me.
All such negative actions? Uh-huh. Do we can we all accept that all all such negative actions come about in dependence upon a sense of being indifferent towards others? Yeah. Is that something that you could you could say, yes, I accept?
So what’s being said is that that all problems come about in dependence upon self-cherishing because all problems come about in dependence upon being indifferent towards others. In this case, yeah, indifference towards others and self-cherishing are equated. They are the same thing. So we need to generate this type of understanding that, ah, when they we talk about self-cherishing, really what we’re talking about is being indifferent towards others or neglectful of others. Unless we are able to gain a comprehension of this term in this way, then we’re going to have problems and difficulties anytime the topic of self-cherishing comes up.
If we start thinking of such activities such as looking after our health and ensuring that we don’t get injured or contract a disease as being self-cherishing, that we’re going to have problems with this topic. Every time we speak about self-cherishing you think, Oh, there’s this sense of unease about it. So that’s not the case. Looking after one’s health and ensuring that one does not come down with diseases and so forth is not self-cherishing as used in this context. When we speak about self-cherishing, you should understand that to be same as being indifferent to or neglectful of others.
What underlies this such assertion assertions is another statement made in Buddhism, particularly in connection with the practice of of bod of cultivating bodhicitta, and that is is that both self and others are equal. What does that mean? It means that just as we are constantly engaging in different methods which will ensure our happiness and prevent, the experience of suffering, and others are likewise engaged in these types of endeavors. So for that reason, that’s because just as we do not desire suffering and we desire happiness, others also feel the same way. And so we, because of this fundamental equality between ourselves and others, we must be working for for others to help them accomplish that happiness and to help them avoid that suffering.
See, when you take into consideration this teaching that that that both self and others are fundamentally equal in this regard, then you come to see how it is that we say that self-cherishing means to neglect others. We can see the validity of this in our own experience. Think about it, everyone here is at least twenty years old, yeah. So we have some experience to draw upon and reflect, is this the case? Although, it’s probably the case that we don’t really know what the cause is for our mental and physical illnesses which we suffer from in this lifetime, we can at least identify that the problems and difficulties we face come about in dependence upon sense of being indifferent towards others.
Think about it. Pretty is it not the case that pretty much all of our problems and difficulties come about through being indifferent or neglectful to others? Perhaps it’s because you were indifferent or neglectful to another. Perhaps it be it’s because someone else in their mental continuum may have a strong sense of cherishing themselves, and thus they are indifferent or neglectful to Whatever the case may be, whether the indifference and neglect comes from your own side or from the other side, do you see that most of the problems we face come about due to that attitude? So it’s probably it’s fact impossible for any of us to to look back on on the the years of our life and not have have something to relate in regards to this this point.
None of us there’s not not one any single one of us that could say, oh, no. I’ve never had an experience in which being indifferent towards others led to different led to difficulties. Difficulties. For that reason then, as a practitioner of bodhicitta then, it’s very important to apply the antidote to being to attitudes of indifference towards others, to apply the antidote towards a sense of neglect towards others. It is after all the root of all troubles.
If we turn our attention then to how it is that cherishing others acts as the gateway for all qualities then, perhaps we can think about it in terms of virtue and non virtue. If one has a well developed sense of cherishing others, or if one has a real sense, a real solid sense of the basic or fundamental equality between self and others, it becomes almost impossible for such a person to commit any of the non virtuous deeds with a negative intention or without having a specific purpose. Yeah? The ten negative or non virtuous actions, I should call them, are divided into those actions of body, speech, mind. There are three negative actions of body with four negative actions of speech, and three non virtuous actions of mind.
So once again, if one has a real sense of the fundamental equality of self and others in one’s mind, or has a highly developed sense of cherishing others, it’s pretty much impossible for such a person to commit any of these acts as excuse me, commit any of these acts with such a negative motivation without a specific purpose. And not not engaging in any of these acts is, of course, a virtuous thing to do. To refrain from killing is virtuous. To refrain from law from from stealing is virtuous. To refrain from from sexual misconduct is virtuous.
And thus, one says that cherishing others is the door gateway to all qualities. And so if one has has a well developed sense of cherishing others, then one finds that one naturally abandons or refrains from killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct and so forth. Now, the word qualities in the statement, cherishing others is the gateway to all qualities, is a reference to the qualities of the Mahāyāna vehicle. In fact, cherishing others is identified as the very basis or the very foundation upon which all Mahāyāna qualities come about. In order to develop Mahāyāna qualities, it’s necessary that one have a very positive mind, a very good mind.
The best type best mind the best example of such a positive or good mind is, of course, a mind which cherishes others. The reason Geshe-la made its distinction between both a positive and a negative type of cherishing self-cherishing has to do with the difference between bay two basic schools of Buddhism. That is a hinnyana vehicle and a mahayana vehicle. First of all, we we recognize that there’s a difference between not harming others and accomplishing the welfare of others. Correct?
These are two different yeah. I mean, they’re not the same thing. Right? Not harming others is the very root of the Hīnayāna Dharma, the Hīnayāna teachings. Whereas accomplishing the welfare of others or working to benefit others is the very root of the Mahāyāna vehicle.
One does not actually need to work for the benefit of the others to bring forth the results of the Hīnayāna vehicle. In fact, by practicing the Hīnayāna Dharma, by coming to realize the emptiness, one can abandon all of the afflictions. Just as one can abandon all the afflictions through practicing the Hīnayāna Dharma and realizing emptiness, but Hīnayāna practitioner can also abandon the tendency to to grasp at the self. And thus, although they might have abandoned the tendency to grasp at the self, they have not necessarily abandoned this tendency to cherish oneself. Yet that cherishing the sense of cherishing oneself in the continuum of a Hīnayāna being who has yeah.
In In in such a Hīnayāna being is not supported by by grasping at the self. So there’s a basic difference. They although they might generate self-cherishing, they do not ever having a excuse me. Having abandoned the afflictions and the tendency to to grasp at the self, although such a being might generate self-cherishing, they never generate the tendency to grasp at the self. Mhmm.
Okay. Is this clear? Yeah. It’s certainly possible. If I can try again.
Yeah. What is being said is essentially that we have the Hīnayāna Dharma, the root of which is to not harm others. A practitioner, the subtext is that a Hīnayāna practitioner is not necessarily engaging in a practice which is focused primarily upon accomplishing the welfare of others. Yet, and thus, they might still have a sense of cherishing oneself. Their practice is focused, yeah, more on not harming one another and abandoning the afflictions.
And through the practice of their Dharma, they can indeed abandon the afflictions, realize emptiness, and abandon the tendency to grasp at the self. So having reached that point where they have abandoned grasping at the self and all afflictions, such a practitioner will never again generate that that grasping at the self. Yet because they have not necessarily eliminated the tendency to cherish the self, they might very well give rise to that type of attitude. So although they have a sense of cherishing oneself, they do not have the grasping of the self which supports that and which makes that a negative type of self-cherishing. Okay?
Perhaps you think, wait. self-cherishing is isn’t self-cherishing an affliction? Maybe you think. Isn’t self-cherishing an affliction? Mhmm.
Said, yeah, even after one has already abandoned the afflictions, one still might have a sense of self. So, basically, guess what I was saying that it’s not an affliction, isn’t it? I mean, it’s not an accept acceptable or yeah. It’s not an acceptable thought in in the sense that one is indifferent or neglectful to others, but it’s not an example of a wrong awareness, is it? I mean, it’s not necessarily mistaken.
Yeah. Can cherishing yourself be taken to this as sort of self respect? The question is is can self-cherishing be taken as also a sort of sense of self respect? Well, I mean, in a sense, yes, one can say that that that that self respect is involved in self-cherishing. Or that yeah.
The anyway, so having said that, Geshe-la mentions that in very fundamental teachings of Buddhism, in the very beginning of the stages of the path, then one is encouraged to develop a sense of self respect in appreciating the fact of this precious opportunity we have. We have obtained this rebirth in which we possess the leisures and endowments, and as such, we ought to have respect for this, and that’s a sense of self respect. But then if to take it another another way, for instance, a cockroach come walks into your kitchen. Yeah? And you think, oh, I gotta kill that cockroach.
Yeah? Why? Because it’s gonna cause some harm to me or in some way. And that yeah. Is there self respect in that regard?
I mean, could it be said to be self respect because you’re thinking, yeah. It’s it’s gonna cause harm to me. Yeah. This cockroach is gonna cause harm to me, and thus I have some is there self respect involved in that in that act? No?
No or yes? So so, no, you say that there’s there’s no there’s no self respect involved in that. I mean, why are you killing it, though? I mean, to for the pleasure to see it? Well, it’s not gonna harm you.
Why you kill it then? I harm you. To kill someone just for the sake of killing this. So this is an instance in which Geshe-la has put forth this this hypothetical situation. Yeah?
Maybe one thinks cockroaches are dirty. It’s gonna climb on my plate. I’m gonna eat off that plate, and it’s gonna harm me in that way. So assuming that that’s that’s the way, and that that that’s that’s the situation. Is there self is self respect involved then?
No. Think it’s taking it too far. Taking what too far? He questioned self respect when he started to go outside and he was so killed something just because you fear it that it might it might do something to you. Perhaps you could you could you could clarify your question.
Are you asking that are we being encouraged to abandon self respect? No. I’m I’m being caught with this. There seems to be in the word of self As was saying earlier, yeah, here when we use the word self-cherishing, we’re speaking about being indifferent to or neglectful of others. Yeah?
So so, yeah, the what although it’s not stated, implicit recognition is is that this word in English has different connotations as well. Here, when we use self-cherishing, we’re referring to being indifferent to or neglectful for others. So a hypothetical situation which might illustrate this point is when a mosquito lands on your arm and you think, oh, I ought to kill it. You think I ought to kill it because you think I might contract some disease from this, or it’s come to suck my blood, or it’s gonna make me itch or something and thus you kill it without even giving any thought to the problems or suffering which this mosquito might be undergoing and what led him to come to do this. So that’s an instance, you’re not considering at all, giving any consideration to the this mosquito situation.
Only thinking that it’s going to cause harm to me is an instance in which one is indifferent to that being, and hence, it is self-cherishing. Oh. Mhmm. There’s one has there’s respect for oneself and involved in that, isn’t there? So, yeah, there isn’t there is an element of or excuse me, to say it more literally that, yeah, self self self-cherishing becomes becomes something like self respect.
Yet in this type of instance, it’s more it’s a vulgar vulgar type of self respect. Yeah. So a vulgar type of self respect in the sense that it it’s indifferent to this plight of others. So we need self respect, but we don’t need this vulgar type of self respect. We need self respect of a more positive type.
So how can we apply this positive type of self respect in the situation Geshe-la has just illustrated? Well, yeah, of course, there is the recognition that it is it’s not good if this if this mosquito draws blood from us and cause us to contract a disease or makes us unpleasant in some way. I mean, of course, that’s not desirable. But while that is not desirable and one recognizes that, you need to still take into consideration this mosquito’s plight. You need to take into consideration the situation of the mosquito.
And so if you don’t want him to bite you and expose you to the danger of contracting an illness, then you have to take make an effort to shoo the fly the mosquito away without causing harm to him. And that’s a type of, yeah, positive self respect which one can have. The mosquito wants happiness and doesn’t want suffering. Just as we want happiness, we don’t want suffering. In this regard, we’re we’re the same.
We’re equal. Yeah? Both ourselves and mosquito is equal. And as that’s the case, it’s not appropriate to cause cause to take away his happiness and and give him suffering. And just as it’s inappropriate for for that to happen for us.
So with the sense of compassion, if you take into consideration this mosquito and where and and its situation, and you were to take take care and shooing them it away without causing any harm, then that would be a virtuous thing to do, wouldn’t it? Yeah. You give rise to a positive motivation and took took care and did something and and did something virtuous. Thus, at certain to to give rise to a result of happiness, isn’t it? Why would why would such an act why would acting with such a positive motivation in this way lead to happiness?
Because it’s a virtuous activity. It’s a it’s a positive cause, and the positive cause ripens as the positive result of happiness. So you see, where alternatively, if you were not to take into consideration this mosquito at all, if you were not to give rise to any particular type of positive motivation, but just were to rather just straight away slap it and kill the mosquito, that would be a non virtuous action which leads to a negative result, a result of suffering. So the point which is trying to be illustrated is illustrated quite well even with, excuse me, the point which is trying to be illustrated that is that self-cherishing is the gateway to qualities and happiness excuse me, is the gateway to all troubles and cherishing others is the gateway to qualities and happiness is illustrated even with the analogy of a mosquito. Okay?
So do you understand self-cherishing well? Okay. And you understand cherishing others well as well. Correct? Just about this self-cherishing in terms of being indifferent towards others or neglectful of others.
I’m just I I just wonder why doesn’t it also involve not well, not loving others or being hateful towards others. So the question is is self-cherishing has been identified as being neglectful to or indifferent of others. Why do we not include a lack of love and a sense of hatred within self-cherishing? Is that that’s the question? Yeah.
Loving kindness for others. Due to the fact that one lacks the sense of cherishing others, one might think of causing harm to others or feeling hatred towards others. Yeah? They so lacking this lacking a sense of cherishing others acts as a cause for those two things, but those two things would not be identified as self-cherishing. Actions.
Excuse me. Yes. I I apologize. self-cherishing, yeah, act can act as a cause for lack for lacking love and for feeling hatred towards or causing harm to others. Yeah?
So it is due to the sense of self-cherishing that these things come about, but those things are not themselves self-cherishing. One becomes angry due to a sense of self-cherishing. In other words, due to the power of self-cherishing in one’s mind, one becomes angry or feels hatred towards another. Yeah? But anger or hatred itself is not self-cherishing.
self-cherishing itself is not anger. Understand? So there’s a difference, isn’t there? Anger, pride, attachment, jealousy, These all come about in dependence upon self-cherishing. Yeah?
But there furthermore, they are all wrong awarenesses, but cherishing oneself is not a wrong awareness. Yeah. self-cherishing is, you know, is is a sense in which one one just cannot bear any harm being being caused to oneself, in which one is thinking so one is always thinking solely of one or, excuse me, self-cherishing being, a sense in which one cannot bear any harm being brought upon oneself, and which one is thinking solely about about Yeah. Avoiding about avoiding negative things happening to oneself. So there’s an element to this, of course, in which one thinks that whatever happens to others, you know, let it happen.
You know? As long as just just don’t let that happen to me. Yeah? That’s not a wrong awareness per se. I mean, it’s negative, but it’s not a wrong awareness in the same way that anger, pride, attachment, and jealousy are.
Looking out at the audience and thinks that that you you probably think, yep. But it’s cherishing oneself is is a wrong mind. It is a mistake. Yeah. But Perhaps to clarify this then we have to look into what it actually means to be a wrong mind or a wrong awareness.
A wrong awareness is an awareness for an awareness whose object does not exist. There’s this term in Buddhism which which is the the mode of apprehension. Now the object of the mode of apprehension for a wrong awareness does not exist, and it is on the basis of the fact that the object which one is apprehending does not exist that a particular awareness is said to be wrong. Wrong being distinguished from mistaken. So what object is a mind of self-cherishing apprehending?
The object is the the desire of for oneself to not experience happiness. What is self to suffering. Excuse me. What is self here, involved in a mind of self-cherishing is the thought that I don’t wanna experience any happiness. Whatever or any suffering.
Excuse me. I don’t wanna experience any suffering. Whatever may happen to others, let it happen, but I don’t I don’t want to experience suffering. I can’t bear to experience suffering. And indeed, in our continuum, there is even at a very subtle excuse me.
Even in our continuum, there is the desire not to experience suffering even of a very subtle type. Or perhaps I should say that the other way the other way around is that we do not want to experience suffering even of a very subtle type in our continuum. And thus the object which which self-cherishing apprehends does indeed exist. Mhmm. That is to say a lot of technical terms.
That is to say basically that we in self-cherishing, we don’t want to experience suffering. That indeed does exist, and thus it’s not a wrong awareness. It may be mistaken, but it’s not wrong because in order to be classified as a wrong awareness according to this system, the object which one is which that mind is apprehending must be a nonexistent, and that’s not the case. That’s why Geshe-la says it’s not a wrong awareness in the same way that anger, pride, attachment, and jealousy are. It can it can be considered mistaken just as the rest just as you probably suspect.
Why? Because there is an element of ignorance. There is an element element of a lack of understanding involved in in being indifferent to others and cherishing oneself. Yeah? What is what is it in this case that one is ignorant of or what is it that one doesn’t understand, one doesn’t know?
Here, one doesn’t know that being indifferent towards another, another, thinking, I I do not want to experience suffering and let whatever happens happen to the others. This element of indifference to others is in fact going to bring suffering for oneself. Oh. Not understanding that is indeed a mistake, and thus self-cherishing is a mistaken mind, but it’s not a wrong mind. Yeah.
Think about it. Yeah. You have a really delicious pizza sitting in front of you. Yeah? But there is poison that’s been added.
And you you look at it without knowing that the poison’s been added, and you think, you know, like, oh, it looks like a really delicious pizza. Yeah? The thought that’s a delicious pizza is not wrong, is it? I mean, if you were to taste it, it probably would be delicious. But after having eaten it and fallen sick or even died, yeah, then you’d realize that that was a mistake.
So, I mean, this is this is the difference. Right? I mean, there is an element of ignorance of not knowing involved in in that thought. Yeah. That’s a delicious pizza because what what don’t you know?
What are you ignorant of? The fact that poison has been in there. And if you were to ingest this, that would lead to suffering of some type, be it the illness or death. So something can be, yeah, mistaken yet not wrong. It’s a bit problematic.
But if you look at it, you see that the sense of cherishing oneself is alright. It’s the element of being indifferent towards others which leads to suffering. And for that and it is that reason it is on it is based on that reason that Geshe-la has identified self-cherishing in this the negative type of self-cherishing in this context as being indifference or neglect for others. Okay. Not clear?
What? I thought happiness was cultivated through cherishing others. So Hīnayāna practitioners who subdue the afflictions and cut off self grasping, does that promote happiness? Excuse me. The the question was is, Tamar was under the assumption that cultivating happiness was done through cherishing others.
Yet, we have the Hīnayāna practitioner to take into consideration. Here, it says that the Hīnayāna practitioner abandons the afflictions. I’m sorry. I don’t remember exactly what you said, but it ban abandons the the the grasping self grasping, yeah, thereby abandons the afflictions. So does that lead to happiness?
I mean, one could probably say that the that it’s that’s not an exclusive statement. Yeah. I mean, yes, happiness comes about due to that, but not exclusively due to that. Because certainly there is happiness to be experienced by someone who abandon who abandons the self self grasping and the afflictions. Because they’ve abandoned the causes for suffering, haven’t they?
So there’s the bliss or the pleasure or the happiness of having abandoned abandoned the causes of suffering. Furthermore, there might indeed be problems and suffering involved in cherishing others. For instance, if you’re seeking to accomplish the benefit of others, if you’re seeking to cherish others, and you might have to do something which is which provide which which leads to hardships for yourself on behalf of another being. So there might be a sense of there might be hardships or suffering involved, but that act is a cause for happiness. Geshe-la has said that cherishing others is the very root of all Mahāyāna qualities.
In fact, exactly what he said was that self that excuse me, that cherishing others is the gateway for for all Mahāyāna qualities. And explaining what that meant, he said that in order to develop the Mahāyāna qualities, is necessary that one has a sense of cherishing others without which one can these these qualities will not be developed. This is primarily what should be understood. Furthermore, Geshe-la went on to mention that with a sense of cherishing others and the performance of actions, are motivated by negative thoughts will not come about. Negative non virtuous actions in this case referring to killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, speaking harshly, speaking falsely, and so on and so forth.
If one has a true sense of cherishing others in the in one’s mind, then one will not give rise to negative motivation one will not give rise to a negative motivation and engage in any of these actions. And thus, cherishing others is identified as the very root basis or gateway to all Mahāyāna qualities. Okay. So that’s probably sufficient for the an for that’s probably sufficient material for you guys to answer the last four questions. Correct?
And the last four questions being, how is it that self-cherishing is the gateway to all troubles? How is it that cherishing others is the gateway to all qualities? How does one identify or what is per perhaps? What is the meaning of self-cherishing? What is the meaning of cherishing others?
That’s enough. Correct? Okay. It’s clear? So in addition to the answers which Geshe-la has provided for those last quest those last questions, then there is a great deal which we can think about when we reflect upon these issues in the context of our own experience.
So please try and yeah. Try and do this. Try and apply what you have heard to your own experiences. Now having completed then all of the questions in relation to bodhicitta, and we move on to the next subject which is the correct view. But Geshe would say, please try and complete the exams to be turned in next week or whenever Miffy and Eddy have organized for you to hand them in.
Please try and complete them. We’ll take them back and correct them. And while we’re correcting them, then Geshe-la will make an answer key. Or Geshe-la will make an answer key, and then we’ll correct them. And and the answer key will be held handed out to you guys next week.
So then also having received the answer key in your your exam in return, then please try and compare the two and see whether you were able to answer the questions as Geshe-la as Geshe-la did or not. We’ve already done this once, haven’t we? You guys wrote answers, Geshe-la wrote answers, and then we had the two to compare. And so you know that that the answers which you write do not have to be in exact accordance with the way that Geshe-la has his Geshe-la gives his answers. In other words, you don’t have to have it exactly as Geshe-la has Yeah?
I mean, if you want you’re striving to get the same meaning, of course, but the way in which you phrase it, the words the, you know, the the way in which you communicate that meaning can certainly be different. After all, Geshe-la is a Tibetan. We’re westerners. The way we express these things is is bound to be different. So for that reason then, we should be aiming to, you know, to kind of come down to the same point, to express the same meaning even if the expression of it is in different ways.
Yes. Like, quite a few people have handed in their exams tonight already. So maybe can can we just give them to you and maybe hand in the next four questions next week? Sure. Yeah.
Uh-huh. Yeah. Just be sure that that that everyone that have their name on both sheets so that we’re able to, you know, keep the the second set with the first set. Okay. Yep.
Yep. Everyone hear that? Yep. Yep. Thank you.
The reason why Geshe-la has instituted these exams and so forth is to give us something to rejoice about, something which we can look at and strive for, to give us this is primarily a means for inspiring us to test our knowledge and to learn and to improve our knowledge. So, yeah, there perhaps by giving these exams and and having you answer them and giving the answer keys and so forth, yeah, we might be able to return to them in the future in the future and look back and say, Oh, yeah, this turned out really well, or This was understood well, this was good, and so on and so forth. And thus, we rejoice in having answered properly or having understood properly. Perhaps even, as Geshe-la was suggesting last week, we could compile them all together and keep them in a file which is which others can look at, and and then you can rejoice in the in the good answers of other people as well. So this will give us something we can look an example to look look towards, something to strive for, and it’s a good way to test and improve our knowledge.
It’s also giving you a little bit more to do at home. Otherwise, yeah, you just come on Friday evenings, and we you know, gets the speaks at you and you kind of go home. And then and and and the and the time between the two Fridays, all the more important work comes up and you set everything else aside. But if you have an exam to return to, then then definitely the that time to sit down and actually address these questions and think about them is more likely to be to come about. Yeah.
So once again, then having completed the commentary on bodhicitta, then we move on to the to Geshe-la’s explanation of the correct view. In the root text then, this is the ninth verse, which reads, you may master renunciation and the wish and the wish, which is the wish to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, otherwise bodhicitta. But unless you have the wisdom perceiving reality, you cannot cut the root of cyclic cyclic life. Make effort in ways then to perceive interdependence. What is being so the the verse basically reads that without the wisdom which realizes the nature of things, even if you have familiarity with renunciation and bodhicitta, those alone do not have the capacity to cut the root of conditioned existence.
Therefore, strive strive in the methods by which one can realize the dependent origination or, dependent arising. What is being communicated by this verse is the need or the reasons why one must have the correct view. It states quite clearly that with renunciation in bodhicitta, with those alone, one cannot one cannot eliminate the root of saṃsāra, and thus, one needs something in addition to those two. Even if one possesses those, one still needs wisdom in order to bring these goals about. Mhmm.
I did So, yeah, this is this is just to read then the verse and introduce you to what we’ll be speaking about next week because Geshe-la will explain this next Friday. The most essential point for us is for us to train or practice with the mind because it is through practicing or training the mind that we are able to really give give ourselves a sense of mental happiness. And after some time, it seems certain that such happiness will come about. In fact, it seems certain that at by training the mind, eventually, we will reach a point in which we do not need to we do not need external substances and material goods in order to experience happiness. In fact, this relying upon external goods and substances for our happiness can really deceive us a great deal.
Not only does it deceive us a great deal, but also it leads to great great problems and deficiencies in the long run. So training our mind so that we may experience mental happiness without the reliance upon external goods is very important. We exert exert excuse me. We put enormous amounts of effort into training our bodies. And yeah.
So to and as a result, we certainly experience some physical physical pleasure, some physical happiness. So just just as we exert an enormous amount of effort in, yeah, in training our bodies to feel good physically and so forth, yeah, we ought to exert effort into training our minds, and it’s certain that this type of mental happiness will result. In Buddhist terms, then the best training one can give the mind is the training in renunciation, bodhicitta, and the correct view. Okay? So please Mhmm.
So please do this, and if there’s no questions, then perhaps we ought to leave it here for dinner. Question? What president president Bush should do? The the question is is could Geshe-la say something about what president Bush should do? Says he’s not gonna say because yeah.
Because before you know it, then they’re gonna be putting him in the position of the American president. Everybody’s George Bush is gonna get wind of it and no. And, well, he’s got a lot of advisers, obviously. And so together with these advisers, then he needs to be first be very clear about what his objectives are. What is he trying to accomplish?
You know, what is it that he wants that he wants to see happen? And then having determined the objectives, then he ought to proceed very carefully so as to avoid having to I apologize. I mean, yeah, retaliate in an overly strong way. Yeah. And perhaps we can say in a disproportionate way.
So he needs to be very careful. It’s certainly possible that he might need to you know, show put on a show, though, that he’s ready to use great military force, and he’s ready to really, you know, come down hard on them. But really, although that but make just a a show of that, but really be working to very carefully accomplish the objective which they set out to do. Yeah. Geshe-la says it’s it’s really quite tricky.
If although if he were in he were in George Bush’s position, then this is what he’d be focusing on. Determining the objective and working carefully to accomplish that objective without having to act in it, you know, to retaliate in a disproportionate manner. So, yeah, this is as Geshe-la says, and that might and and then he goes on to say in a very humorous way. Yeah. You know, that might involve putting on a great show, you know, really, you know, rearing up and sucking in your chest and saying, like, look look at all these things I have to throw at you.
You know, I can really I I’ve got a lot of military power behind me as a way of, you know, of instilling fear whatever. I know in order to accomplish that objective. Because his opponent is crazy. His opponent is really crazy. So, yeah.
I mean, it’s it’s like if you were dealing one on one with a person who is crazy. Yeah. Then you need to be careful, don’t you? Because they’re crazy. I mean, of course, you need to do something you might need to do something which instills fear in them, which scares them in some way, but you still have to be very careful about the response which you give because you don’t know how they’re gonna react.
They have their own way of thinking, their own their own perspective, and, therefore, you have to take great care. Be careful because he’s dealing with a crazy opponent. There are some that say say that. Matthew’s response is that there are some that should be careful because he’s dealing with a crazy opponent. Jetson Milarepa, the great yogi, went around naked, living in caves and lived a very ascetic life.
And, you know, and people people would call and said that he was crazy, but in fact, he said, yeah, you sentient beings call me crazy, but in fact, you’re the ones that are crazy. Yeah. The ones who are truly crazy are the sentient beings. But the the had acted that way against America. Is it not is it not crazy to not know how to to shy away from losing one’s own life?
I don’t know. Whatever. I’m not must be we can pray. Okay. Yes.
Yeah. Whatever the case may be, Geshe-la says. I don’t know. It’s at least we can pray.