Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 45-minute commentary on the Wheel of Sharp Weapons, Geshe Pema Tsering traces nearly every practical failure in Buddhist practice back to a single source: the self-cherishing mind. A striking story anchors the session — a yogi who has practiced Lamrim for years without gaining realization is told by his teacher that the most important figure in his merit-field visualization should be his aunt, a disrobed nun who first taught him the alphabet. Around this pivot, Geshe Pema Tsering examines why practices stall despite great effort (short-term motivation; self-cherishing concealed inside acts of giving and retreat), the karmic cost of abandoning or criticizing earlier teachers, and how attachment and aversion corrupt both the receiving and giving of teachings.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 09 w of sw 2002 03 31.mp3
UUID: 9de9ce7d-016b-4ed5-80be-b8b9811ca25f
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Wheel of Sharp Weapons (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2002-03-31
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.3 minutes
Words: ~3,023
And so on. I will stop doing those actions. And now on the other hand, if you were to build an image of Buddha or a statue of a Buddha or print Buddhadharma, the teachings of the Buddha, as many as possible, printing them or building Buddhist statues regarded if you are accumulating a great amount of merit. So so when we say build statues and print Dharma books, doesn’t mean that you should you should do it and make a perfect one. Not just not just anything you go and print it out and the printing’s cannot come clear or the statue is not looking beautiful, to be perfect, make perfect as possible.
So if one is to perform those action then in one’s future life one will have a perfect body. So and then going to the next point which is we have this liking to oneself and disliking others. And there is that that door of liking one and disliking other is always open. We do that often. And we can’t we try to stop that.
So and we we can’t control ourselves. We we always engage in that kind of actions, liking one and disliking others. And and out of that action, create many negative karmas. And that that is because, again, letting ourselves under the control of the self-cherishing mind. So so that we have led ourselves under the influence of the self-cherishing mind and and cause cause the self-cherishing mind causes us to create all this different karmas.
From now on, I don’t want to let my mind under the influence of self-cherishing mind and control myself and perform the good actions or the virtuous actions. So the self-cherishing mind is what ruins one. And and and now what we need is we need to get rid of the self-cherishing mind. So if possible, then we should uproot this self-cherishing mind? So do you understand what self-cherishing mind is?
Yeah. We’ve gone through quite a few times yesterday. And Oh. We making seeing import yourself being the most important. So like ignoring others.
You don’t care about others, but but make one the most important one. That type of mind we all have. So that is the self-cherishing mind and that is regarded, what do you call, very bad type of mind. Going to the next point which is, for example, if we if we do meditations and teachings, we’re not being successful. If we read some books, we’re not, though we put up great effort, we don’t understand the meanings.
So you put great effort into different practices but not meeting the result if we it happens like that. So if that happen, those things happens to us because we have let ourselves under the control of self-cherishing mind all the time. And that’s why we we face those these type of state of sufferings. So so from now on, whatever act I perform, I will do it for the benefit of others. In that way, like, you again visualize the your guru or the deity in the space before and ask him to bless you to be able to perform that.
So whatever act we perform, we should always have the motivation that we’re doing for the sake of others. Don’t think that I’m doing this for the sake of myself. So if one had that motivation saying that for the sake of others, I’m doing this acting in this kind of, I’m doing this certain such. Oh. Then that very thought motivation that you have for the sake of others, I’m doing this has a great benefit and that that that really helps one.
So so instead and then instead of doing that, if you think of yourself, let under the influence of self-cherishing mind, then then there’s no benefit. So that’s why it is very important for us to have the motivation for thinking of others. And even if you dedicate merit dedicating merit to others, these are very important. So such now moving to next point which is whatever effort you put in doing virtuous things and do a lot of practices, it seems that it’s not benefiting you or oneself. It happens that like that sometime to us.
Don’t improve even though we put a great effort in practicing these different things is because we think we think solely for this very life this very life that I’d be I’d be famous, I’d be I’d be well known among others. And that that thinking mainly thinking mainly for this very life, life’s purpose. That’s why we are not improving. So so any practice that you perform like the practice of giving or giving something to others, you should it doesn’t mean if you think for this life, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have a benefit. You do have a benefit but most cases, the benefit, the result that you experience is in your next life.
And and another thing that we don’t succeed in our practices is that though we we chant or we say doing this for the sake of others, but but inside, if you look inside, if it’s doing you’re working again for the sake of the self-cherishing mind, then that’s what it prevents us from improving. So so for example, what you perform if you’re giving things, you have to give it from within. Like, you have to really give it. Yeah. So for example, making offering to the Three Jewels, you make one offering such as whatever, butter lamp or whatever.
You do it not to impress others or for your own benefit. How you do it, you do it, make this offering for the sake of others. May may the virtue that accumulate by offering this offering bring benefit to all other sentient beings and that way you should offer. And also you should have the dedicate or the merit in order for all sentient beings to achieve the liberation or the Buddhahood. So say, we do perform different types of retreats and say, when you are in retreat, if you look into your mind So and and if while you are performing there, the retreat that you’re doing, if it’s not helping your mind, And if you analyze yourself in the within your mind and if it’s not benefiting, if you see no benefit in there, then you shouldn’t just leave it.
You shouldn’t you shouldn’t you shouldn’t just walk out or you should you should again encourage yourself. If you might feel that this is no point in me doing this. It’s not benefiting me and you get disappointed and then you get disappointed too? So so that type of like the experience of suffering that we go through in that way is again result of our past sorry past karmic actions. And what type of action is that say in one of our previous lives, we if we have received teachings from one guru on impermanence and death and so on And and on that very life and later on you see some other more well known famous lama around being around and and giving like you see him giving great teachings such as on emptiness and so on or a tantra and so on.
And at that time if you like ignore the first lama and and instead instead of following his advice, you didn’t listen to him, leave him and go to another master and criticize the former master like that that type of action, that type of negative karma have that we have created is the is is the is the cause for these these results that we experience now. So so gurus the first gurus are very important. One shouldn’t one shouldn’t do that kind of like the karma, avoiding him or her. For example, in the schools at the very beginning who teach us alphabets. Our teachers who teach us alphabet, they are very important.
So because they are the the the first schools are the, our teachers are the best or most kind ones. As regard, the one who taught you the alphabet or making, taught you the alphabet. By knowing the alphabet, then you can to know how to read and so on. So the the first gurus are regarded the most great ones, great kind ones to all. So there’s one history in the past that one of the great yogi, was doing retreat and and have have have been doing retreat for long and never gained any realizations.
And as he was doing putting all his like, the efforts that he can get to doing his practice according to Lamrim teachings and doing his meditation and so on, but he never gained any realization. And one day he went to his master and his guru and asked, I’ve done all this practice, did all this meditation, and I’m still not gaining any realization. Why is that? He wanted to ask the teacher. So so then the guru, Jangchup Nangwa, asked him, what type of Lamrim meditation do you do?
And then he said, okay. Such and such? So so then that Yogi explained to his teacher saying, I do this such and such Lamrim teachings according to how it is written, how it is explained. He went thoroughly like like giving exam in a way. So so then when when he went through every every step of his practice and the teacher said, who who is the center of your merit field, the visualization that you do?
And and he said, you the teacher, what is your my teacher and I take him as the the the center of my refuge prayer. And he said, that’s that’s the that’s what you are you are going wrong with. So and he said, you should put at the center the one who is most kind to you, and that is the one who taught you the alphabet. So so when he looked at who taught him the alphabet is one of his aunties. And she she used to be first nun and then she was disrobed and now she was married and she has two kids.
Yeah. And because of that, he he hadn’t it’s not very comfortable for him to visualize that. He said that. So so then, anyway, he he followed Guru’s advice and he took the nun or auntie as the the central figure of his merit, the central figure of his refuge object. And and then he meditated and did his practice.
And later life he later on he actually gained all the realization through his practices. So so the the gurus, the first gurus that one need like such as giving giving teaching you the alphabet. Mhmm. They are they should be regarded most important or most most grateful ones. And we said that like there are many other gurus we receive teachings from, we we receive different initiation and so on.
All those gurus, you should keep them there too in the form of gurus, but shouldn’t like forget them or or or criticize them. You should leave them in a neutral sense if you around the other gurus. Never look with never see them or criticize never criticize them. Sorry. If you if you look in this view of having having faults, then there’s nothing which doesn’t have a fault.
Mhmm. So if we if we see them default, then even the enlightened beings such as Buddha, many people have seen his his brothers and uncles have seen him having lots of mistake faults. But in reality, there’s no fault in Buddha. So so when we talk about according to the view of that that the final view, then everything is just labeled. Nothing appears to from its own side.
So that all phenomena are just mere labeling labeled. So all the faults that we we see and others are also mere labeling. So there’s nothing that fault or nothing that exists inherently from its own side such as a fault, existing inherently from its own side. As a practitioner, you should you should be careful with yourself how you look towards others. So never criticize others and because all what you see out there is your own creation.
Going to the next point which is if the guru tells one to do practice on impermanence, practice on karma and so on, then that is what suited to one one should do that. Instead instead of doing that, if you if you are requesting them to give explanation on emptiness or bodhicitta and so on, then that’s not the right way of approaching. You should you should you should follow what the guru advises. So you should be honest with with your teacher or guru. If you are if you are told if you are told to meditate on a refuge, you do refuge meditation or follow the practice.
Not that because you don’t like doing that practice, you think, oh, I’m instead of refuge, I’ll do a little bit and then I’ll do bodhicitta meditation. If you think like that way, then then again you’re going against the guru’s advice. So once you do like, honestly what guru explains or want to do. Going to the next point, the the say, one get cheated by others. Say, like, get cheated by others saying tell something and then one one loses one’s wealth to others and so on.
Others cheating you and that type of suffering if you lose these things to others by others cheating you and if you if you lose your things and you experience that type of sufferings? So that type of suffering that you experience, one get cheated by others and so on. That because there is the cause for that want to experience that have result is that in one of our past lives one have done one one have been very once You’re proud in one, like being being very self centered that I’m I’m big and I can do this. I can like that that kind of the proudness or what do you call yeah. The the proud that you have and the sense that you are big and the self centered mind which you look others down and that type of that type of karma that you created in your past life, harming others and putting down others is a that is the cause for this type of similar result here.
So being very full of pride, saying in the sense that being being very egoistic, in other words, you’re being, you are the best of others among all of us, I’m the best and then controlling others and taking others wealth and others belongings. In that way if you do it, then you experience that type of result. So so that too, again, we we have acted in that way because we have followed this self-cherishing mind. And that’s why we we have performed that that kind of action, negative actions. So from now on, I won’t let myself under the influence of that self-cherishing mind.
And I will be like a have less desire and more more contentment. So like a though one have being dishonest in the sense that you you do have faults, but you’re hiding your faults and pretending that you don’t have any faults among others. And and then also another faults that we have is that though we don’t have we are not that learned learned or mastered in something, we pretend to be we are mastered on something and tell others I did this, I’m I’m such and such like what do you call, telling which you are not also another thing? So And and such things can happen to us such as that we we we engage in these activities out of our attachment and hatred also. Such as we go and listen to teachings from the teachers which which we like in the in the form that we have attached we desire the person.
And we we then receive teachings from some because we we don’t we dislike the person. In that way, we we we we have these kind of things happen to us. And same with the with the person who is teaching the the giving the teachings, like giving, like, precisely to to those whom he or she likes and not not explaining properly to those who whom or her she don’t like. So if these things happens to us, then why it happens is because we don’t contemplate the faults of the two demons which we went through yesterday, that is the self cherished mind and the self grasping mind. Not seeing the faults of those that we engage in these activities.
So so on the self grasping and self-cherishing mind, what what they want is what they work for is working only for self but hate the others. That’s how our self-cherishing or the self grasping mind works. So so if this situation, in the certain situation like you you go to one whom you like and receive teachings from, you’re not not going to the one who you don’t you hate the person. It shouldn’t be doing like that. It should shouldn’t be done shouldn’t shouldn’t be done like that because it should it should be it should done.
As long as if if it’s helpful, you should receive teaching from anywhere and analyze it and and apply it to yourself and and similar when you are giving teachings, give teachings for the benefit of others, not whether you like the person or not. So so whatever you do, whether you are listening to the teachings or whether you’re giving teachings to others, you shouldn’t let your mind under the control of love and hate. So do it with a pure motivation and to benefit the others and that way again, you request the guru or deity that you are visualizing in front to bless you to be able to perform that.