Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 47-minute opening session, Geshe Sopa introduces the precious value of human life through Nāgārjuna’s parable of a poor man who finds a jewelled vessel but mistakes it for a garbage can. He establishes the central theme: human life is the rarest vessel for spiritual transformation, equipped with intelligence and capacity that no other realm possesses. Geshe Sopa walks through why worldly pursuits—wealth, pleasure, material goods—cannot deliver lasting peace, showing how even sensory satisfaction inverts into suffering. He then pivots to the Buddhist path: transformation comes through inner mental training, developing wisdom and renunciation by recognizing the nature of saṃsāra and its causes. He contrasts the human realm (where pain and intelligence coexist, inspiring genuine renunciation) with higher realms (too peaceful to generate spiritual urgency) and animal realms (too limited). Throughout, he emphasises how negative mental attitudes—selfishness, anger, ignorance—create cascading harm starting within one’s own mind and radiating outward to family and society. This is foundational teaching suited to those new to Buddhist philosophy and serious practitioners alike.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 LP.mp3
UUID: de4597ee-2598-4b20-b95f-3203a8bc6576
Teacher: Geshe Sopa 1986
Collection: A lamp that illuminates the path (Geshe Sopa 1986)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 47.0 minutes
Words: ~4,489
Okay. Great saint Nāgārjuna says, the example of a poor man. What that means? One who somebody who is very, very poor. With a much poverty, and then they find garden or golden vessel or jar or some garden or vessel with which has many, many jewels, precious stones, jewels, decorated, many, many precious things.
Are they if of if that person finding such like that, and then but if person does not know what is the worth of that, how value of that vessel? Without knowing value or preciousness. And if that person uses that as for the like, garbage can or the if that person use like that as garbage can, then what what in the world will say or think that person how how stupid how or the how foolish and how stupid that or the because oneself is very, very poor and poverty, and there is a one find in the great in or almost a priceless kind of a jar or vessel find not knowing how to utilize and what is what it does and how what kind of valuable or like that way. Or if they use, like, just on for the garbage can, or then or the or That is most considered in the world probably or the stupid and dumb. Now That is in a maybe that is the dumb or stupid.
But the and the more stupid or more dumb is the who born as a human human being. A human being or the human being is the the no comparison with that kind of vessel. On that on that kind of vessel, you may the value is some kind of material worth or something, or may maybe you can get a lot of money or maybe wealth or something. Only or that it has properly if you develop and realize and then cure the poverty or poorness, maybe some aspect. But then there’s no more than that much can do by that.
But our life, like human life, human life, like our type of life, this kind of life is the most precious or most value. Its worth is almost immeasurable. If we realize the this human value, human life, The human life is the and human mind has the great, great intelligence, most powerful, and capacity, or great potential. human human mind and body combination can achieve not only ordinary odd objective goal, like, ordinary thing. The pleasure, enjoyment.
For those sensual pleasure, enjoyment would lead the goal, like a temporary pleasure, enjoyment, cause of those can human human mentality can be able to get those things accumulate or produce, accumulate, use, how to utilize, etcetera, or like those things of material good and of what they are, how they are, earning, how they use from using that some kind of enjoyment. Or even these enjoyment pleasure are not something real on a pure good thing, but kind of us or temporary, those pleasure even. All these things also are worldly, ordinary, common, or the objective goals can human has a special kind of mentality or capacity or intelligence or various kind of method you can do as human or as human can do, the other beings like animal, insect, etcetera, various kind of other beings or have or cannot do. And then more to this is the human life can also accomplish most highest objective goal. human can do highest objective goal to accomplish.
Highest objective goal is the not only temporary happiness, but everlasting happiness. Or not temporary kind of or some kind of peace, which means the some kind of suffering cold and hot, you know, hungry, etcetera. And then when you are a little bit eat or when you get cold and you go to the warm or there is some kind of little peace, but those peace or pleasure are not even lasting thing or they they switch round or the air. But everlasting peace means other. Complete complete freedom from all the source of the misery or suffering problem.
That which is the attainment of highest spiritual goal or freedom from all misery or suffering and obtaining the highest knowledge, wisdom. All that is the according to Buddhist teaching, the Buddhahood means like that way. Buddhahood, human human mind, body with this kind of very this same kind of body and mind, if one use or properly utilize, all this can be achieved. And this can be all the on a great, great vessel, a great, great vehicle to or to get enlightenment or freedom from all the misery or suffering. So therefore, this kind of life, if we utilize wrongly, when we use wrongly, this can have also so much power, ability, so much evil mind attitude.
Mind can also. Mind can develop or negative or wrong or evil activity. Evil goal evil goal or evil result. Our most powerful evil result can be human mind can produce. Or women can human can, in this life, can destroy all one’s own life and others and many, many effect to others or can be huge or destruction and injury and harm.
All those things can be human mind can do. human mind can those things, how to do or how you plan or method, or the human can do, or human know, or many of those, or especially wrongly trained, wrongly educated. They can be caught under the name of education. You can do evil things, how to do, how to destroy, how to suffer others, how to try to one self gain above or something like that way. All these huge all almost imaginable kind of all the things can be human human mind can do, human life can do.
So therefore, they should both the way human life has this kind of power. But then human human life in the in the world or the many, many religious spiritual goal or beings who achieved. And then according to, for example, Buddhism, Buddhahood. And then other religion, many, many, they own highest objective or goal and who achieved or great saintliness. And then finally, got the highest spiritual goal.
All those many many of those achieve. And the Buddha means also in according to Buddhism, Buddhahood means the one who or one who achieved a perfect enlightenment. A perfect enlightenment is whose mind is become omniscience, whose mind has no obstacle, any negative obstacles. Negative obstacles gradually level by level, step by step, removed, purified, completely become free of all the mental obstacles. So, therefore, once mental obstacles remove or gradually, one each of those are evil mental obstacle.
Like, all like other day, we were talking like same way. All these human mind have ignorance or from that desire, hatred, jealousy, proudness, etcetera. All of these various kind of man mental evilness, uh-huh, can be removed. When those things removed, mind is become saint or pure and then become more and more pure and perfect and perfect. And then action or karma cause, Buddhism, karma, life physical life structure are the directed or made or created by one’s own individual karma.
So therefore, karma means a action or action or the personal action. Personal action is the body, speech, and mind. Mind thinking some all positive or negative, whatever, or mind is mainly creator or dominate main domination dominating all element. And then from that, bodily, you can do whether beneficial to others or whether you most or the destructive or harmful or such kind of actions. Bodily, you can do.
Our speech also can do this speech almost beneficial or bringing to others happy, peace, or, like, all using wonderful words. Even words themselves are empty. Nothing it has directly doesn’t do, but it brings to the confused mind happy or unhappy or great anger or hatred. Word can use or something somebody say, you are the greatest or thief or something or evil or something, whatever. Worst can you try to say or through this, like an arrow, like a bullet or or throw some kind of word or that hit somebody’s mind and become beating, beaten, or hurt.
Although, it’s a there’s a that word doesn’t need to hurt in one’s own mind, pure and nothing understand certain reality truth. There’s nothing nothing hurting from this world. World is empty, but we have ignorance or or certain kind of or the these accustomed out of ignorance, so much things, even a word, something like that on here or sometimes even feels worse than somebody beating, almost something like that kind of situation. All of these are the therefore, word also created from that from evil mind to create to stop the word and then throw to others or mainly by body, speech, mind, whatever harmful, whatever hurt to others, or try to gain one’s own self in a certain kind of or I think Other these things, as long as doing in the life are going this way, they will have always called karma, negative karma. Whether it’s sometimes strong, sometimes intermediate, sometimes weaker, or sometimes long less, sometimes short or whatever, or sometimes in very, very subtle way, or they always inside impure mind, negative, or misunderstanding or misperception or misunderstanding or wrong view, other values of those things.
So therefore, those karma or action, whatever you call, all these actions coming from their mind. So therefore, once the mind purify or the the action will become all pure, there’s no no way or or this action means body body speech action. The body action is the if mind has a special kind of kind and loving in order to wanting to show or to make happy others or and this can or body can use or, like, gesture, make make happy or, like, doing like this or whatever the custom which makes happy, this body, bow down or whatever you do or or part body can be utilized for make happy in others like that way. But it is our functions and nothing like like tree itself. It’s nothing or movement, it has nothing meaning.
But the mind and a combination makes, and it is movement whether virtuous or non virtuous, evil, or wholesome action, or the like that way. Or the same there, well, our speech, you know, what coming here, some kind of sound or also mentally, our mind, mainly, most important. Our mind has wanting to help, like, for example, later on a teaching on a highest teaching goal of Mahāyāna practice. Is it a love universal, love to all all people or beings and compassion and love or wanting to all the time to bring peace or happiness, enjoyment to others. Seeing the problem, misery in the endless unceasing kind of problem, misery, suffering.
That not able to bear to one’s mind, like a dear mother not able to bear seeing one’s own only child when you are sick or caught into fire or something or create a great care or unbearable concerns. All like that your mind is only go toward to the others. This kind of attitude or mind when you have when you have like that, there is action. No impure, almost no impure action. The action becomes mostly beneficial the activity, body, speech, all of them powered by inner mind.
Also, mind which is the most kind, loving, or like this way. A mind has many, many stuff or Other this in this in a spread from one’s own true mind, and these these things can be slowly wiped out. All these things can be through or develop various kind of wholesome or the wisdom or the through that special kind of wholesome attitude. Many, many of those things can be developed through teaching or hearing and then examination or try to first understand when they become more understanding, more sound right to one’s own mind, one’s own wisdom. human wisdom has also capacity.
What is the good? What is the bad? What is it there? Most beneficial or not beneficial if one test it, one examined, one utilized this mind or open to those area. What is there?
What can I gain? What kind of things to do most beneficial, useful, or most wholesome things can be learned. All those things, if one utilize or open, all this wisdom will itself will kick up. All those things, finally, what is the not good things can be left out, know, get rid of what things are worth most valuable or the valuable things try to achieve again. Even for those purpose, when you understand sometime, wisdom understand what is the objective goal worth for then only once you understand firmly, therefore, that in order to achieve that, they can be hardship or even a difficulties.
Even temporarily, some kind of painful or physical or certain kind of situation hardship or able to able to bear, able to take those hardship because often we do hardship for little purpose, for little small purpose. Even sometimes a little small purpose, even one dies. Other like that way, a purpose which is not positive, purpose which is entirely something wrong, which purpose itself becomes source of a negative or miserable situation. Even those things we or you should sometimes spend so much energy or so much or the hardship we take or hot and cold or etcetera. If mind wants to see some whether it is actually good or bad.
If I think this is something great achievement, if you think, mind can all the direct body to do most hardship also. Hardship, difficult things. Let’s say, for example example, I like usually sometimes analogy like those people who are doing box boxing. Boxing. Boxing.
People who are doing boxing. I have used to watch those people. Other boxing. All that. What is the boxing can do?
What to achieve? Awesome. All you may achieve some name or some or money or something, especially empty name. Boxing will not get enlightenment. Boxing will never remove all the misery or suffering hardship in the forever.
If that that removes future all these kind of hardship, misery, hurting, injury, then worthwhile you could do that, but it doesn’t do. But still still small goal, all they do, and then they once the mind think this is something worthwhile or this is the or some great kind of one may think educational. One may think of me gaining somehow. You know? Whatever whatever think.
Or one positive attitude you have. Even then you can even falling many times, almost dying many times, still getting up again to do the same continuation. Other that is mind making. Body is almost there, completely exhausted. This is or sometimes not left anything there or energy or still want to, but you want to.
Other like those things. So that is the or or the mind, if you train, amazing thing can do. But how how our in the human mind, how intelligent, how much capacity, and instead of those things, if it hardship, even so much hardship, even you have to take joyfully, physically, even not pleasant, but mentally and joyfully to looking most worthy goal or in the goal which makes oneself to oneself bring everlasting peace or happiness. Goal which also brings to help to all others equally to beneficial or bring highest peace or happiness or other which is in the lasts for long, for even ever. If or some of some of those goals or even those goals first are those those goals exist.
Or and if they go go those goals are exist, then how these goals can achieve? Are their method exist? And human mind should be in intelligent enough to investigate those things. What is there? Or or there any kind of method?
Are they or special in it, those those goals, everybody wants the the goal, something much, much higher, happy, peace, enjoyment, freedom, or all kind of things. We use word. We think somewhere vaguely in peace or etcetera. But is what is the peace when? What kind of peace?
What in the everlasting peace is there. We know ordinary food, cloth, or or material, whatever we do, those doesn’t bring everlasting peace, happiness, enjoyment, etcetera. We know when we get cold, we go to sun. And if you stay there, it’s the sunbathing is the bring happiness or peace. If that is the absolute cause absolute cause of happiness, then you as long as you sunbath, it happiness will increase more and more.
Oh, finally. Oh, then finally, body is completely burned, and highest happiness will get like that way. Oh, because because these are those are not they are of course, according later, if we have time to do, then Buddhism, whole saṃsāra nature is the mystery or suffering, called suffering. Why? Even suffering of change, called later.
Suffering of change means all these what we consider cause of happiness. The they are change. They are nature of suffering because it is the, up and down and then goes different way or to to lead to the greater mystery or suffering. It is not cause of real peace or happiness. Like eating food, also, same way, we think it is the absolute cause of happiness, but you eat, you know, what it does, and more and more eat, Or it is the beginning little bit looks like pleasure arising, like or touching the honey in the tongue.
Uh-huh. But underneath, like, razor or knife sharp, do you leak more and more? You cut your tongue. Like that where these food is eating further and further, and then then on swinging swing, on some different way of changing further. And on finally, it will bring much more or misery or suffering.
Other like this kind of the or the whatever or or the wordly, we call it saṃsāra or the to what we are always body, speech, and mind put to action or great, great with effort. And then all of these are those what we were doing have no real cause of the peace or happiness. Other day change like that way. Uh-uh. So therefore, all the all can be, is there some other things, some other way to what want happy or peace or enjoyment.
Is there any other method other than looking that way? Other other method is spiritual practice or or realization or developing inner wisdom or developing inner mind changing mentality, attitude, and personality. Personality cannot change for personality. Or in the cloth, dress cannot change, or money cannot change personality, or personality evil personality like evil or become personality like great saint or noble or wholesome or person have only wholesome action coming all the time, wholesome action. Nothing harmful, enjoyable.
Personality, person itself also fully only wholesome or like that kind of thing. Or that can be this kind of changes by way of inner mental training. Mind itself have to change and change of mind. Or change of mind means mind full of ignorance and it is development or it is influence. Or the or that is the negative or mind or evil mentality.
Or that that can be changed by opposite mentality, which is the or new wisdom or the understanding or the special kind of realization or or any special or methods or those methods which leads to the or those object real object of goals. Although that is the so therefore, that whole the whole things who who other can do or any other life, like dogs or cats or wild animals or insects, can they do during that life? Once life taking like those lives, because naturally, it has big obstacle because born in this situation, there’s no way able to do. But the life which human life among the worldly life, impure life is human life is in the middle. Or that that human life is the or the for these goals, there’s no higher or better equipped equipped mind or the life.
There’s no any other life or the human is best on for that. There are there are some or according to on Buddhism or teaching, there are life many, many types of life. There are some lives higher life called the devas, or there are life which is the much, much pure, peaceful, long life, physically, not earthly, natural, like, gross like this, much, much subtle of of form and etcetera. Once you born there, during that life, until you finish the lifespan or whatever you have or until you finish that, there’s no mental misery or physical pain or suffering or whole life and spent completely peaceful way. But even those lives also some type of life, so therefore, they are still temporary or even they are not perfectly Buddha or or so, therefore, even born there also, they’re so peaceful or so, uh-uh, don’t see any fault.
So, therefore, there’s no no way of realization, no way of wanting to seeking for some kind of freedom or emancipation. Hard or strong, powerful renunciation or from mind which is re wanting to renounce in the world, etcetera. Those those do not have difficult to rise. But this human life this human life, mind, and in this life has physically it have experience what is the world like. You know?
Pain, suffering, or all kind of complicate or delicate likes. All in this body is like like like big wound, like big wound. If wound, you have big wound, then very, very sensitive. Any small thing can be painful like that. This body is looks like big wound.
So little small things can be hurt and harmed and misery or something like that. Therefore, body has an earthly impure body, which has a subject of many, many pain or suffering. So therefore, we know nature of ordinary suffering nature or body. But in in this, our special kind of mind or which is intelligent or naturally intelligent or intelligent or special kind of powerful capacity. If it is trained properly, if it’s utilized properly, it can be whole or become a perfect wisdom, And it can be completely all the able to stop on all this this kind of problem or misery by realizing or the method and realizing very source or very cause of this or like that.
Other that in a that kind of special capacity. So therefore, all this this human life is the most greatest vessel. Only the most precious vessel. Other many times in Buddha’s teaching or many, many saints, you know, when he wrote a special kind of instruction, teaching or pressed this human life or human life is the most or or the precious or wish wish granting jewel or sometimes we use like wish granting jewel. What is a wish grant jewel?
Supposed to be some kind of jewel which can be or special kind of method or effort. And if you or use in the prayer or ritual or something, whatever you do, and that that will bring one’s own wish. All those wish granting jewel also similar wish granting jewel cannot bring enlightenment, etcetera. Maybe lot of own wealth or maybe some special name or certain kind of things, you know, like that way. But anyway, in the in the world, there’s no other analogy.
Also, they wish granting jewel or you can use like that way. Or that this is placed like that way. That also we can use like this. So therefore, earlier we are quoting, or the only one who is born in such wonderful and precious life like this way, and in but this great vessel are not using for those precious thing. Instead of that, all using all dirty things like like garbage can or like for this egotistic view or based on or selfish and attitude.
And then create only interest oneself. So therefore, also one believing or thinking to oneself most important or center or like like center or the whole one’s own body and everything and service for that. Not only that far reaching everybody else or feels into or, you know, almost like serving to oneself or should be beneficial to oneself or if it’s the harmful to oneself. If anything opposite way, one feels, and then we think, or we always naturally act that is to oneself dangerous or harmful or like that way or animosity or attitude like that way, these kind of various kind of actions. Also, therefore, with that all the time, mindful of these various kind of negative things, let them rise, know and thought.
Or we oneself supporting support of those negatives. These negatives not knowing how evil, how dreaded, how they are harmful oneself, how making all trouble or misery, suffering within from one’s own, this mentality, or or that is what we usually do not realize. All of this mentality making all kind of mistaken action physically on speech and all kind of and throw word out out all the everywhere or between small small circle for a first to form conflict from oneself, then a conflict from one and the other, or friend or relatives, or then it goes between parents or children between or have any disagreement or or fighting each other or in a family or town or village or world or whatever you go, all of these, all these new problems rise from first or from within personal or some this impure mind. There is egotistical view on selfish, on that all creates anger, hatred, etcetera. So therefore, fire, whole fire caught from a little or a small center in within one’s individual or person have these.
This fire catch to first burn oneself or that means oneself become under completely under the power of attachment or under the power of anger or hatred or power of jealousy or all uncomfortable. Un peaceful. All this kind of situation, oneself or that is burning means like that. That is like oneself burns. Once your oneself burns and then tendency of that fire to give to somebody and others make anger or hatred or like that were catch to somebody else and that also circled.
And finally, it goes much more further or like that way. So there’s so therefore, this life for these, and these are much worse than garbage, which we think very ugly or dirty through far away or wanted to put away or throw on the ground or something on like that way. All those those those things are not too dirty. More garbage is like those things. So, therefore, other other this the decorative saint saying, oh, then this is the human life, wonderful life.
This using, like, other garbage pan. It’s like that. Not realizing worth of that. Oh, yeah. Also, so therefore,