Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. When illness strikes and we instinctively recoil — “I don’t want this” — that reflex is the self-cherishing mind in action. In this 79-minute Lamrim commentary, Geshe Pema Tsering uses that moment to show why countless eons of striving for our own welfare have yielded only suffering. He covers three connected topics in sequence: recognizing self-cherishing as the root enemy and learning to oppose it; generating genuine care for others through gradual familiarization rather than words alone; and, citing Atisha and Dromtönpa, why this development must proceed in ordered stages from equanimity through to bodhicitta. The final portion introduces the ritual for taking the bodhicitta vow — qualifications for giver and receiver, and the preparatory steps of special refuge, merit accumulation, and mind training. For practitioners already engaged in Lamrim or Lojong study.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2009 08 14 lam rim.mp3
UUID: ddbaad93-6733-48ca-835b-5d7ecc036051
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: z Unallocated multiple years (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2009-08-14
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 79.1 minutes
Words: ~6,344
Oh, yeah. So page one fifty six. The actual way to meditate and in thinking about the disadvantages of cherishing oneself and the advantages of cherishing others. So, Geshe-la started going through the text, which he then is reading again. By the power of attachment, self-cherishing has produced much that is undesirable since beginningless time up until now.
Then despite the fact that you wanted to create excellence for yourself through considering your own welfare paramount, you engage in unsuitable means. Due to this, neither your own welfare nor that of others was accomplished, although a great number of eons has passed. And, Geshe-la, I just went through the text briefly again, saying, again, we by the force of this self cherish, by the force of this attachment that we have to ourselves, ourselves being the only person, the only being that we have no way to dislike whatsoever. Ourselves. We are only attached to ourselves.
We only cherish ourselves. By the force of that, we have desired everything that is good, everything that is excellent for ourselves alone regardless of whatever happens to anybody else or or anything else. And we wanted to avoid every type of suffering. And in order to accomplish that, we engaged we engaged in in we started to strive in order to accomplish those all those desire things, all those excellent things. But the methods that we employed in order to accomplish that, instead of instead of accomplishing desirable things, this method was accomplishing only the cause of suffering.
And that’s what how it has been since beginningless time. Again, Geshe-la goes on through the one of the sentences that is saying, that the amount of time that has passed that we have been doing this is is what we said, what we refer to as, countless eons. So again, innumerable eons, countless eons have passed. And and we haven’t in this time, we haven’t been able to accomplish our own welfare nor the welfare of others. And because completely obsessed, completely focused on our own interests alone and obtaining everything that is good for ourselves alone.
And when we when we start to work with that motivation, with that focus, with that frame of mind, then what we are creating, is attachment. What we create is is hatred. What we create is is arrogance. What and and and and we create then all these afflictions and all these cause of of sufferings. And that’s, again, goes back to the sentence, and we have been doing that since beginningless time, since, for countless eons, we have been doing that.
And that’s why, this self-cherishing mind, this self-cherishing attitude is really evil. It’s really bad. So, again, not only it hasn’t accomplished our our welfare and our and not the welfare of others since from countless eons. It has been the way, but also not only has not done that, it has accomplished instead, it has accomplished only suffering. Again, it has tormented us with suffering.
And and Geshe-la was saying the suffering is of saṃsāra, the the sufferings of cyclic existence that is it has tormented us, with the suffering the all-pervasive suffering, with the suffering of change and the suffering of suffering. So, again, as all that has done us is afflict us, torment us with this suffering. And it goes on again. If you had shifted the concern for your own welfare to that of others, you would have become a Buddha a long time ago. And both your own and others’ welfare would have, without a doubt, become excellent.
But as you did not do that, the time has been spent in meaningless exertion. So Geshe-la was saying that what we are meant to do then, what we’re being told that we we have to do then is to start cherishing others in the same way that we presently cherish our own selves and start forsaking our own interests and concerns for ourselves in the same way that we presently forsake the well-being of others, the welfare of others right now. So that’s that’s the exchange. That’s the change that we have to to create. I guess I would say that’s a very difficult thing to accomplish indeed.
Nonetheless, it is if we train, if we habituate ourselves with that sort of thinking, then we will be able to do so. And as a proof of that, we have the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas who are beings who actually live up live that up. They they don’t they have they have completed the training. They are living that. They they are solely concerned with the welfare of others, and they have no regard for whatever it is that happens to to themselves.
And then going for refuge at the very last sentence, is saying again, if we cannot act in that way, then all our efforts, all our hardships will be meaningless, will be a waste of time. So Geshe-la was saying, we cannot perform this exchange, it will all all our efforts, all our work, all our all our all our exertions will be all fruitless, meaningless, and that they will not accomplish anything of the welfare of oneself and others. Moving on to the next topic, they need to put an end to self-cherishing by regarding it as an enemy. We have seen how how the the self-cherishing mind is particularly evil. It’s particularly bad and harmful.
So so and then we we bearing this in mind, we have to really understand that it to be the enemy. And so Geshe was going through the text again. Thinking, now that I have understood this, again Geshe-la was going back to the previous text, that I understood that the self-cherishing mind is a cause of so much suffering and it can accomplish no good whatsoever, then through relying on the mindfulness and alertness or introspection that my self-cherishing is my worst enemy. I will make much effort so that the self-cherishing that has not arisen does not arise and that which has arisen does not last long. Having made this certainty stable, stable, then you should familiarize with it many times or time and again.
So, again, Geshe-la was going through through through the text and telling us this is then how we have to meditate. This is what we have to think about. And we have to realize that this self-cherishing mind, it is occurring in our minds. It’s emerging in our minds all the time. At all times, it is it is arising.
The self-cherishing attitude is there. And we have to recognize it. We have to recognize that as being the self-cherishing mind. What is the self-cherishing mind? And then we have to understand that that is my enemy.
And then cultivate this understanding time and again so that we can start to avert, to create a distance, so to speak, to to start to oppose it. That’s the way we speak in Tibetan. We start to oppose that. And then we can start cultivating, giving this making space for the cherishing for the mind that cherishes others instead. It’s like just noting how difficult it is because anytime something good or something pleasurable, when we have a happy experience, whenever happy experience arise, comes our way, then we we immediately we are happy with it.
We are involved with it. And when an unpleasurable experience, an unpleasant experience arises, then we are immediately averse to it. And that is that attachment to that to the good experience, and aversion to the bad experience. There is the self-cherishing mind itself. There’s a self-cherishing mind that is that is reacting in that way.
And and we we are never able to stop and say, okay. This is the self-cherishing mind. This is the actual cause of of harm and suffering to my life. I must oppose that. We can we can never do that.
We can never stop in those situations and think in that manner, in this manner that we are being instructed to think. It’s a very it’s a very difficult task to accomplish. Geshe-la was saying when we get when we get sick, when we fall ill, when we have a very uncomfortable and unpleasant experience happening to us, we immediately we react. Okay. This is not good.
This is so painful. This is so uncomfortable. I don’t want that. And that’s, again, that’s the that’s the self-cherishing mind, the self that is talking in that manner. And what we again, what we are being told to think, to act, that to think on it.
That’s okay. That is alright. You know, let’s let this self-cherishing mind be be stopped, be averted, be be arrested. And instead, one should think, okay. Yes.
This is is good that this has happened. Let it happen to me instead of happening to others. You know, let other sufferings ripen in me, and let others be endowed with every happiness. And this is how we should this is the the this is the instruction that we are being given. This is how we have to reverse reverse our our way of thinking.
Geshe-la was saying, well, we have to have to think that that is that is that is good. That is all alright. That that that the self-cherishing mind is experiencing suffering is good because the self-cherishing mind is my enemy. The self-cherishing mind only has only accomplished suffering. Has has accomplished no good.
So let it suffer. Let the self-cherishing mind suffer. So that that is good. Let it be averted in this way. And and let others and let others be free from the suffering and let others be endowed with happiness instead.
And, again, it’s very difficult for us to to be able to think in this way when we are experiencing such difficult experiences. And Geshe-la is going on to the next topic, generating the mind cherishing others. Again, thinking about the advantages of cherishing others again and again in this way, and you will generate strong enthusiasm to do these from the bottom of your heart. Then the mind that neglects others will not arise and that which has arisen will not last long. By means of generating the thought that others are dear, attractive and pleasant, you should generate the mind cherishing others.
This is you previously cherished yourself. I guess, I’m just saying again how how how difficult it is, how how against the grain that is to think to cherish others in this way that we that we can feel from the very bottom of our hearts such great compassion and care and concern for suffering of others. Geshe-la was going to say it’s very easy to speak of compassion, to talk of compassion, and say, oh, what a pity. How poor poor them, you know, they’re suffering and all. That’s very easy to talk in that way, but it’s very hard to really bring that and bring that feeling with one’s whole entire heart in it, to really cherish others in the same way that we right now cherish our own selves, to really cherish and care care for others and wish really wish that they be free from every suffering, that they be really endowed with every happiness.
And then in the process of caring for others in this manner, not caring for ourselves, not caring for whatever is happening to ourselves, not caring for how much suffering we are experiencing, and just wishing that they be free from every suffering. That let me take onto myself all their suffering, and then let them be free from every suffering, and let them be endowed with every happiness. That’s a very hard thing to do. It is it is very hard for us. We we are not able to think in a way that that that says to oneself or, you know, that that I am experiencing suffering.
That’s alright. It’s alright that I am experiencing suffering. It’s okay that I’m experiencing suffering. We cannot think in this way that that accepts whatever suffering that we are experiencing as being the the merely the result of our own actions, the actions that we have performed, our own past karma and so on, and then take it to in this manner and say it’s it’s okay. It’s alright.
It is not easy, it is the same, but if we if we habituate ourselves, if we familiarize ourselves with this way of thinking, with this way of feeling, then we will be able to develop that. So right now, we are not able to do so. Not right now, we’re not able to think that way. We can hardly hear those things being being told to what’s being said to us. We right now, we can only think and be concerned with our own well-being and have no concern for whatever happens to others.
But through familiarization, we can change that situation, at least like the the the the Bodhisattvas, Bodhisattvas of the past have done and of the present also have done, and the future will do. They they have completely reversed the situation. They they are only concerned with the well-being of others, and they have no concern for whatever is that happens to them. So so we can do that too. We can also accomplish this exchange.
In English, I was just just going through. If you if you think in the in the about the advantage of cherishing others in this way, again, you’ll be able to generate strong enthusiasm, strong enthusiasm for accomplishing the welfare of others, for benefiting others, to be able to be be really happy and joyful and glad about about accomplishing cherishing others and accomplishing the welfare of others. We should continually cultivate this attitude that cherishes others, exert ourselves in producing the mind that cherishes others where it has not risen yet and that which has a reason we should make sure that it remains stable and stronger and stronger. And Geshe-la is going on to the next part of the text. How to meditate through remembering the teachings of earlier holy beings.
And then Jowo Atisha, we are told Jowo Atisha said, the Tibetans do not know how to train in love and compassion, do not know Bodhisattvas. Well, then how is that done? It should be done through training sequentially from the beginning. And then just saying how Atisha was actually mocking, sort of pointing out to this fault, and that that cannot be done. That we cannot train in that that cannot be a bodhisattva who has not not trained in love and compassion.
English, was going through the text again. Well then, how is that done? It is done through training sequentially, progressively in stages. And again, so in stages from from developing equanimity all the way to knowing beings as one’s mothers, recollecting their kindness repaying their kindness then developing love and compassion then the superior resolution and then creating then producing the the mind of enlightenment itself. That’s how it’s done.
Through stages in in this in this in this sequence, one produce, one trains, and one produces compassion Without doing this training, doesn’t matter how skilled, how learned you are, without going through this training, you cannot attain enlightenment, you cannot be able to sustain. So Geshe-la is going on to the next quote. Again, Lama Dromtönpa said, Chekawa and I have eighteen human methods and one horse method, nineteen altogether. And then the method of humans is having generated the mind of supreme enlightenment to train in doing whatever it is that one is doing, whatever activity one engages in, doing them for the welfare of sentient beings. And so again, Geshe-la was saying again how difficult it is because what we have been told to do here is to first generate the mind of enlightenment.
Generate develop this this goal in our minds. We have the goal of attaining enlightenment for the sake of accomplishing the perfect well-being of all sentient beings. And in order to accomplish this goal, then whatever it is that one does, again, eating, walking, coming, going, lying down, sitting, working, whatever activity one engages in, one does for the sake of accomplishing this goal, for the purpose of accomplishing this goal. Oh, yeah. Then this one.
And then the method of horse is the self-cherishing that prevents the mind of enlightenment that has not been generated from arising and that which has arisen from remaining and increase. Therefore having taught it in passing, train in whatever harms it. That self-cherishing mind. Having taught it as the fundamental point, train in whatever benefits sentient beings. Geshe-la is saying, again, all this pointing out to what the Geshe has already been been telling us, what the text has already been telling us, what we’re being told to do here is that whenever we fall ill or whenever we experiencing pain or discomfort or an unpleasant experience, we should think that’s okay.
That’s alright. That is good. It’s good. You know, that that fall all on top of the self-cherishing head. Let it let it suffer with with let it let it suffer with all this let it have all these sufferings on its head.
And then and let and at the same time, wish that all sentient beings in this manner may I have may I take onto myself, may I free all beings from all these sufferings, and may I then endow may all beings be able to be endowed with may all beings be endowed with with happiness instead. And, again, we are told to to be thinking in this manner time and again to be continually familiarizing ourselves with this way of thinking. And and we have this last quote from a quote that says, due to our acting deviously towards noble sentient beings, sentient beings will also do the same towards us. And again, Geshe-la is pointing out how that is the case. If when we are acting out of concern for the welfare of sentient beings and we we and we then benefit them, then what we get in return is benefit ourselves.
Others will benefit us too. Others will help us too. And when we are acting of our own self interest and end up harming others, then that’s what we get. We’re going to end up being harmed by others too. So again, if you if you do good to others, you get good to yourself.
You receive good. If you give harm to waters, you receive harm from others. Was going for the next part of the text. The appropriateness of putting effort by many approaches into the methods for generating the mind of enlightenment. So again, it is is good it is good if one checks to what extent this mind has been generated since everything stems from it.
Whether or not the root of the Mahāyāna has been planted and whether or not one is included among Mahayanists. Even if it has not been generated, do not leave it at that, but through relying on a virtuous spiritual friend who teaches it, always be accompanied by the companion that is mind training. And so again, Geshe-la, briefly goes back a little bit and saying again so again, one should check oneself if that mind is is present in any degree in one’s continuum or not. If it is not, again, one shouldn’t one shouldn’t give up on it. One should seek the instructions or the teachings of a virtuous spiritual friend, and then study, study those instructions and again one should read the scriptures of the teacher and their commentaries as its cause one should accumulate the collections of the purified obscurations since it is certain that if you train your mind in this way, the seed will be fully planted.
These actions are of no little importance and a reason for great joy. So one should accumulate merit and purify the obscurations. So in accumulation of merit, one does as we have been instructed so far, if one cultivates these meditations and teachings that take on to oneself the sufferings of all sentient beings and gives every happiness away to all other sentient beings, then by meditating this way, then one quickly accumulates huge amounts of of merit. Very quickly, one accumulates one completes this accumulation of merit. And then on top of that, one has also to engage in purifying the obscurations.
So, again, Geshe-la was saying, if we if we train in this manner, I guess I was going through the text. If we train in this manner, and even though even though we might not be able even if it is the case that we are not able to actually produce that mind, we will have certainly planted the seeds that will give rise to it in the future. And in this and this is no again, this is this this is of no little importance. This is actually greatly beneficial, greatly important, and we have great reason to rejoice. We have great reason to be happy about it.
And, Geshe-la, just reiterating to us that even though it is very difficult to actually produce the mind of enlightenment, to actually accomplish the mind of enlightenment. We shouldn’t leave it at that. We should train in every way we can. We should keep on familiarizing ourselves, studying and familiarizing ourselves, and training our minds as much as we can because this now is the time for us to plant the seed. We plant the seed and by training, by studying, by listening to the teachings again and again we are planting the seed as many seeds as many causes and conditions as we can so that in the future in the next life in the life of the next or in the future life all the causes and conditions will be there now is the time for us to plant the seed and what we’re being told here Geshe-la is pointing out to the text we plant the seed and then we are certainly in this way we are making this life meaningful.
We have made this life meaningful by planting this seed and we have great reason to rejoice and be happy about what we have done. This And then we have this quote from Jowo Atisha. It says, the arising of the mind of enlightenment, which like the sun eliminates darkness and pacifies the scorching heat, is worth even an eon of effort by those who wish to enter the gateway to the Mahāyāna dharma. And so again we are told that the mind of enlightenment is the doorway to the Mahāyāna Dharma. It dispels the darkness and pacifies the suffering.
Again it is this the mind of enlightenment is the sun and the moon that dispel the darkness of the obscurations and of ignorance and so on and and pacifies all the sufferings there are and and this and this such mind of enlightenment is worth striving for for eons, we are told. For very many eons. So Geshe-la was saying even though we might not have Geshe-la was just pointing to himself and saying even though we might not have realized the mind of enlightenment, fully produced the mind of enlightenment yet, We can see right now how we we know more we are more familiar with it than we were before we have ever heard about it. You know, before we have ever heard about, you know, knowing sentient beings as one’s mothers, recollecting their kindness, so on. There are beings who who know nothing about it.
And and Geshe-la was just pointing to himself, saying the first person. So now we can see we can see how we have more than than we had than we had then when we didn’t know anything about it. So we’re more familiar than when we than we were back then, and we can we can make it increase. We can make it stronger and more stable if we keep on training. How we have this we have this one prayer that is is then where one is taking onto oneself all the sufferings of all sentient beings, and then one is giving away every happiness and every roots of virtue to all to all other sentient beings.
And then he’s saying how at first, at the very beginning when when when he first when you first hear such a prayer, you think, oh, how how could I possibly do that? That’s impossible. I’ll never do something like that. I could never allow myself to do something like that. And now and now we keep on we have, you know, for for the years, we have been keep on studying this and reciting this prayer, and you don’t think like that anymore.
You don’t have that reaction anymore. You think, oh, if I habituate, I’ll I’ll be able to to actually think. If I keep on habituating, I’ll be able to actually think that way, to actually be that way. So so there is familiarization is already happening. So we have to familiarize, we have to keep on familiarizing ourselves with these.
And the main way that we have to the main thing that we have to do really in order to familiarize ourselves is to study the texts. These teachings, these scriptures, these texts, so on. And then at the end of the day when we are going to meditate, we meditate on these things that we have studied. And in this manner, we’ll be planting the seeds, will make all the best preparations. And we’ll have we’ll have we’ll have heaps of reason to rejoice, to be joyful about what we have done.
Because then we we’re setting up we’re setting up a good stage for the next future lives. This one. In visualizing, just going through the next topic, in the second, they should understood from that from what has already been explained above. So explanation of how to assume the mind generation by means of ritual. The way in which to assume to assume it by means of ritual.
So receiving that which has not yet been received, guarding that which has been received without degenerating it, and the method for restoring it if it has been degenerated, This one. And then if receiving that which has not yet been received or attaining that which has not been attained. So there’s three parts to it. So from whom, the object from whom it is taken, by whom the basis takes it, and how, the ritual by which it is taken. So from whom the object from whom it is taken, again the assertions of the early masters accord with master Jetari that it is not enough for the person from whom the vow was taken to possess the aspiring mind and to be abiding in the trainings rather that person must possess the engaging vows.
And and so again again, that that person, the preceptor, must not only have the the aspiring mind of enlightenment that that this is is the aspiring enlightenment in order to accomplish the perfect well-being of all sentient he must not only be that person must not only be abiding by the trainings of the six perfections and so on, that person must also have the engaging mind of enlightenment and have the and have uptaking the vows that come with with the engaging mind of enlightenment. Again, one makes the determination, the resolution that I am going to attain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings and I’m going to uphold these vows and these trainings. So by whom the basis that takes it, again, all gods, nagas, and so forth, who are physically and mentally suitable to generate the aspiring mind are also a suitable basis for it. In the commentary on the lamp on the path says, repulsed by cyclic existence, mindful of death, with wisdom and great compassion. Thus, it should be some someone who has gained a little experience of transforming his or her mind into the mind of enlightenment due to having trained the mind in the stages of the path as explained previously, as explained in the Lamrim teachings, Lojong.
And then Geshe is going on and says, again, so do we have we have gods, we have nagas, we have hell beings and animals who who are suitable basis for developing the aspiring mind of enlightenment? And then and then we have we have elsewhere. Geshe-la is saying we have elsewhere. It said that, you know, long lived gods are suitable basis for developing the the aspiring mind of enlightenment, and that’s and that’s then Geshe wasn’t saying how how that might sound strange with what we are seeing right now. And is in quoting, telling one of the stories of the previous lives of of the Buddha while he was still a Bodhisattva.
At first, when the Buddha was this previous incarnation of the Buddha was born in in the hell rounds. And he was this this is a classic story tells that the Buddha was then pushing a very heavy load in a cart, and he had one another being, another person by his side, and and he was seeing how the both of them together couldn’t couldn’t move the cart at all. And then how he saw how this other person, this other being who was with him was suffering so much, and this denizens of of of the the hells, they they came and they they beat this other guy that was with with the Buddha then this previous incarnation. So the Buddha then beat him, and and this guy was suffering immensely. And and at that moment, that previous incarnation of the Buddha felt this this incredible compassion for that person and wished that he would take all this suffering onto himself alone, and that the person will be free from from all this torment.
And immediately then so then that’s that’s the the great compassion. That’s the mind of enlightenment that that’s been generated then. And so he generated then, and immediately he he was he was out of there. Immediately he he was born somewhere else out of hell realms. So again, that that explains then how what was saying, what the text is saying that, again, there are hell beings who are then suitable basis for that.
And then and then goes on for the text again, for this commentary on on the lamp on the path, lamp illuminating the path. Again, this has repulsed by cyclic existence. Again, so one has to have repulsion for cyclic existence, something which is very difficult to generate. One must be mindful of death, again, something very difficult to generate. Again, one must have wisdom, and one must have great compassion.
So again, all all those are prerequisites. Again, not to be able to generate the mind of enlightenment. Thus, it should be someone who has gained at least a little experience of transforming his or her mind into the mind of enlightenment due to having trained the mind in in the stages of the path as explained previously. And just last thing, how how how difficult it is to have this repulsion for cyclic existence because if we we have repulsion for a part of cyclic existence only. We have repulsion for the first type of suffering, the suffering of suffering, and yet for the suffering of change and the all-pervasive compounded suffering, we do not have any repulsion for.
So that’s very difficult than to have repulsion for cyclic existence. It’s something which is very difficult to accomplish. And again, being mindful of death, again, something difficult to accomplish because it’s not merely knowing that one is gonna die and saying that one is gonna die. Everybody knows that one is gonna die. Everybody know everybody can say that.
When we’re talking about being mindful of death, we’re talking about an awareness that imbues one’s heart with a fear for death. So one is living one’s life with constant awareness of one’s imminent death, and one is one becomes has this this fear imbued in one’s heart. And then, again, we have wisdom. Again wisdom here again very difficult. Again no need to mention how difficult it is to realize the wisdom that to develop the wisdom that realizes emptiness but also there is all the wisdom.
Is wisdom that realizes impermanence, the wisdom that realizes the sufferings and so on. So with wisdom here also very difficult to accomplish. And so and yet, again, though those all those things are are difficult, know, repulsion for cyclic existence, mindfulness of death, wisdom, great compassion, and so on. All all even though those things are very difficult to fully accomplish, we’re being told here as we we have studied those things. We have some measure of familiarization with it, little or bit little or great, however, than that maybe we have some familiarity with it.
We have the seeds in our minds. We have planted the seeds and we are still planting the seeds of these realizations in our minds. So as Atisha says, it must be someone who has gained at least a little bit of experience into transforming one’s mind into the mind of the into the mind of enlightenment. So so we have that. We have we have we have been training.
We have been studying. We have been planting the seeds, and we are still doing so. So we are suitable basis to for taking these vows, taking the mind of enlightenment. So then how the ritual by which it is taken? So again we have the preparatory ritual, the actual ritual and the concluding ritual.
So we have again, as for the preparatory ritual, we have the special going for refuge, the accumulation of merit, or the accumulating the collection, and then training the mind. So this preparatory rituals then pertain to preparing the mental continuum of the person in question who was wanting to receive the vows so that it’d be a suitable receptor for those vows. So again, one and one prepares that by taking refuge, by accumulating merit, and by training the mind, by by developing a benevolent attitude. And then so we have this special going for refuge, the special refuge. Again, so the special refuge is Mahāyāna refuge.
We have all different types of refuge. And in this instance, we’re talking about the Mahāyāna refuge, refuge of the great vehicles. It’s taking refuge for the sake of freeing all sentient beings from suffering, for the sake of accomplishing the happiness of all sentient beings. So one takes refuge with that intention in mind, and one says, you know, the Three Jewels of refuge, the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha, are the ones who are able to free all sentient beings from suffering and endow all sentient beings with happiness. In order to accomplish that, I’m going to go for refuge in the Buddhadharma and the Sangha.
So this is the Mahāyāna refuge, the special refuge that’s being referred to here. So, again, pointing out to the the the prayer of refuge that we read every day before the teachings. This is this is a prayer of refuge in which, again, before reciting it, we have to bear in mind that we are reciting it. We are going for refuge, again, for the sake of accomplishing enlightenment of all beings. And then we recite that prayer.
We’ll go for refuge with the Buddha, Dharma, the Supreme Assembly, until until enlightenment, you know, by the practice of giving and the other perfections may attain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. This is this is the prayer. This is a special refuge prayer, and we have to take with with that motivation in mind. Even before we restart the prayer, we have to generate that intention in our hearts. And then one does the the the accumulation of merit by by means of the seven-limb prayer.
And one does the the training. One trains one’s mind, train train one’s thinking again by continually cultivating the thought, you know, that I’m I’m I’m going to attain enlightenment for the sake of all beings. You know, I’m trains one’s mind and concern for for others and so on and so on. So Oh, this one. So the first one, the special going for refuge again has three parts to it.
So decorating the place, displaying representations, and setting up offering substances. Then making a request and going for refuge and then stating the trainings of having gone for refuge, the trainings of refuge. So so again, we have we have the first one, the the decorated place and displaying the representations, setting up offering substances. We have that. We have a decorated place with displaying representation of the Buddhas and offerings, taking refuge, then again the preceptor explains what are the trainings to those who have received the the refuge of preceptor.
The preceptor then explains the trainings of refuge. So this is the three three steps of So we have the the first one, decorating the place, displaying representations, setting up offerings. And Geshe-la just wants to stop here, and we will pick up next Thursday from here. Yeah. Any questions?
Is it the fault of karma? Can you repeat that, please? And if we I I it’s not that I don’t understand your question. I just cannot think of so many examples of great masters who who, you know, like Marpa, for example, and all all the way, know, Milarepa and Marpa together. I just got the the right wording here.
Just a minute.