Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 45-minute talk, Kyabje Rinpoche teaches the exchange-of-self practice, the heart of bodhicitta development in the Guru Puja. He establishes the core insight—that self-cherishing roots all suffering while cherishing others builds all good—then guides practitioners through the method: recognizing the equality of all beings, cultivating affectionate love, and practicing tonglen (taking others’ suffering, giving your happiness). He reframes every difficulty—sickness, conflict, harm—as material for genuine practice: karmic ripening that purifies. Using a city-and-inhabitant analogy, he shows how a settled mind settles the body. Finally, the five powers—intention, meditation, white seeds, reproach, and aspiration—provide the practical technique for mind training across a lifetime. For practitioners with foundation in Buddhist ethics and bodhicitta.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1992-11-06 – 18A – KR.mp3
UUID: fa57e6b9-02c6-482a-a7f7-f17128b36227
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Guru Puja – Lama Chopa
Date: 1992-11-06
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,468
# Lama Chöpa 18a 1992-11-06
**Collection:** Rinpoche Recordings — Lama Chöpa and Guru Yoga
**Duration:** 45.9 minutes
**Words:** 2,480
**Model:** Deepgram Nova-3
**Corrections applied:** 4
**Transcribed:** 2026-02-28 19:22
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I must in order to free all living beings equal to space from all of their suffering and to lead them to fearless happiness. Remove all of my various faults and bring the consummation of all my excellent qualities, I must attain the state of Vajradhāra. Having actualized that state, I would then lead all living beings to a state of perfect, fearless, complete awakening. In order to actualize that state, I am going to listen to, practice and meditate on the essence of the universal vehicle Dharma, the practice of Guru Yoga. So there are two meditative traditions for the development of the awakening heart or bodhicitta.
There is the sevenfold cause and effect precepts or instructions and the tradition of equalizing and exchanging self for others. These are often practiced in combination. Here I will not explain the sevenfold cause and effect precepts or the meditative tradition, but in terms of the equalizing and exchange of self for others. As it is set out in the text, first it’s necessary to develop a sense of equality between self and others and this from the point of view that all living beings just like ourselves want happiness, all living beings just like ourselves do not want to suffer and so therefore see an equality of self and others. Then secondly, to see all the various faults of self-cherishing, and this is set out in verse number 94 where it says, Since cherishing ourselves is the source of all torment while cherishing our mothers is the foundation of all good.
We seek your blessings to make our core practice the yoga of exchange of self for others. So looking at the faults of self-cherishing, the excellent qualities of other-cherishing, then one goes on to develop affectionate love or pleasant love. This is even more powerful in the equalizing and exchange of self and others, the affectionate love which is generated here than it is in the sevenfold cause and effect precept. So I read the wrong verse previously when I said I’m talking about the advantages and disadvantages of self-cherishing. The mind that cherishes all other beings and would secure them in bliss is a wellspring of infinite virtue.
This chronic disease of cherishing ourselves is the cause giving rise to all our unwished-for sufferings. Perceiving this, we seek your blessings to blame, begrudge and destroy this monstrous self-cherishing selfishness. That’s the first thing I meant to read. So having developed an extremely powerful affectionate love, a pleasant love, we then go on to have a sense that I must exchange myself for others. But the question arises, can I do it?
Am I able to actually exchange self-cherishing for other-cherishing? And we look to the Buddha, that the Buddha at one time was exactly the same as ourselves and through his practice of the exchange of self for others, he became a Buddha. Therefore, if we were not able to, then the Buddha would not have been able to, but in fact he was able to and there’s no reason that we cannot. So not only are we able to exchange self-cherishing for other-cherishing and coming to that understanding, it’s necessary that we come to a firm conclusion. Having seen that we’re able, to determine that I must exchange my self-cherishing for other-cherishing.
And the reason which is given for the development of this determination is that self-cherishing is the root of all suffering while other-cherishing is the foundation of all excellent qualities. Based upon this reason, one comes to the definite determination that I must in fact exchange self-cherishing for other-cherishing. So having decided to exchange self-cherishing for other-cherishing, how does one go about it? And this involves the practice of taking and giving. In the context of a very forceful compassion, observing the suffering of other sentient beings, one takes on that suffering upon oneself.
And in the context of a very strong love, observing sentient beings without happiness, one gives away one’s own happiness to them. So this is the practice of taking and giving. Initially, when the Lama Chöpa was first composed by Jetsün Chökyi Gyaltsen, verse number 95 part of the text, initially verse number 95 which was the verse setting out the exchange of self for others, this verse was present but it only contained four lines. There was a fifth line added to emphasize the importance, it is the line which is describing the actual exchange of self for others.
Verse 95 as follows: And thus, O venerable compassionate gurus, we seek your blessings that all karmic debts, obstacles and sufferings of mother beings may without exception ripen upon us right now, that we may give our happiness and virtue to others and thereby invest all beings in bliss. The line where it asks for the blessings of the venerable lamas, compassionate venerable lamas was added subsequent to the initial composition to emphasize its importance. So the very first line, and thus O venerable compassionate gurus, we seek your blessings was added subsequently. It was added later on. So the process of exchanging self for other involves the exchange of emphasis of our concern.
Presently our main concern is with ourselves, bringing ourselves happiness, limiting our suffering. This emphasis shifts so that we are mainly concerned with the welfare of others. Presently due to our cherishing of ourselves, we are mainly concerned with ourselves. Now we begin to cherish others, and this is in terms of our compassion for them which wishes to eliminate their suffering and our love which wishes to bring them happiness. This emphasis is directed now toward others.
This is the exchange. So we are seeking to train in the practice of thought transformation or that is mind training. In order to do this, it’s necessary to reframe our attitudes with respect to the various inhibitory conditions that arise in the course of our practice of the Dharma. For example, we are to look at conflicts as a conducive situation in which to practice. And we are to look at obstacles which confront us as assisting in our practice.
And any harms which come to us are to be looked on as our spiritual friends, as our spiritual teachers. So whatever occasions may arise, they are all used to bring our practice to consummation, to bring it to fulfillment. They’re all adapted to our practice. So we are seeking to transform conflicting conditions into conducive conditions, obstacles into aids, and harms into spiritual teachers. This is done through the means of the conventional awakening heart and the ultimate awakening mind.
In verse 96, it says, should even the environment and the beings therein be filled with fruits of their karmic debt and unwished-for sufferings pour down like rain, we seek your blessings to take these miserable conditions as the path by seeing them as causes and results of our negative karma. The way we can begin to see all of the various undesired sufferings and afflictions that we experience as conducive conditions, as aids, and as spiritual teachers, is by understanding that all of these various physical sicknesses, mental problems, the various conflicts that we have with others, whatever may arise is a result of the karma which we have created in previous rebirths. And this in dependence upon self-cherishing and self-grasping. It is due to these two factors that we are experiencing all of these various types of unwanted sufferings, not due to something external to ourselves, but the fact that the cause of our suffering is contained within ourselves. So the agent of all our unwanted suffering is ultimately our own self-grasping and self-cherishing.
In dependence upon self-grasping, we develop self-cherishing. In dependence upon self-cherishing we engage in various actions that is creating karma, and the results of which are the various experiences of suffering. The fact that now we are experiencing this suffering is really wonderful because by experiencing this slight physical or mental suffering presently, we will not have to take rebirth in, for example, a hell realm or undergo some tremendous suffering in the future. That in fact, despite experiencing this small suffering, we can exhaust that karma which would have ripened into a great experience of suffering in the future had it not ripened in this particular way. So this is really wonderful and it was this other person who acted as the condition for helping me to ripen this negative karma within me which would have caused me great suffering in the future.
But now all I have to do is undergo a very slight suffering and then it’s finished. This is the way we can begin to see, transform conflicting conditions into conducive conditions because we are ridding ourselves of all that negative karma but additionally reflecting the cause of this karma is ultimately our own self-cherishing. We will see its faults and we will be motivated to apply an antidote to it. So even these conflicting conditions act as a conducive condition for our practice. And also having involved ourselves in the practice of taking and giving, where we were imagining ourselves seeking to take upon ourselves the suffering of others.
When we do in fact experience suffering, then we can think, oh this is really wonderful. The purpose of my meditation is actually being fulfilled. It’s actually working. I have been able to actually take upon myself the suffering of others and this is really beneficial that others have no suffering. May in fact this suffering which I am undergoing, may it be the suffering of everyone in the world who is experiencing like suffering.
May this suffering serve as the suffering for all of them, those beings in the world who would normally be undergoing a like suffering. In this way, such that our own suffering becomes a part of our practice and becomes a practice whereby we can develop the awakening heart. Previously, we asked for the blessings of the venerable compassionate lamas in the exchange of self for others and now this suffering is the way we’re experiencing their blessings. So we should not think that now my practice isn’t going very well. So we should reflect in this way.
Whenever we experience some type of suffering, in thinking this way, all the various obstacles become, if we think in this way, aids to develop the awakening heart. Moreover, by thinking in this way, we accumulate a tremendous amount of creative potential and this becomes a means of a practice of developing the awakening heart. So through this practice of mind training, the body can be thought of like a city and our mind is the inhabitant, like the city of Adelaide, and the mind the inhabitant of that city. So just as in the case when this isn’t the case where we live in a city where there’s no problems, there’s no difficulties.
It’s a very pleasant place to live. There’s plenty of all the good things of life available quite readily and people enjoy living in such a city. Extending the analogy in terms of mind training, that the body is analogous to the city. The mind is like the inhabitant of that city. And when the mind is happy and things are going well for it, then it has a sense that where it dwells, that is within the city of the body, then that is also a very pleasant place.
So one has no physical problems because one’s mind is happy. And there’s the transformation by means of the view. The view is that all phenomena are merely imputed by terms and concepts, that nothing is established from its own side, whatever it may be. Harms and the obstacles, the enemies which seem to be bringing these harms and obstacles, they do not exist from their own side. They are like mirages or illusions.
They are merely imputed by the mind. Therefore, it is not them from their own side which are causing us these harms and difficulties, but it is our self-grasping and self-cherishing within our own mind which is the root of our problem. So up to this point, practice has been set out in terms of the conducive view, and here at this point it is set up in terms of the five powers. That is to say the way in which to practice in the course of one lifetime. So we’re looking at verse number 97 where it says, In short, no matter what appearances may arise, be they good or bad, we seek your blessings to transform them into the path ever enhancing the two bodhicittas through the practice of the five forces, the quintessential entire Dharma and thus to attune ourselves solely to the bliss of mind.
Briefly, without going into any great length, whatever appears, whether it’s good or bad, whether it’s harm or benefit, whatever it may be, we can transform it by means of this practice which is in fact the essence of the Dharma in life. The method of practice for this life is the five powers. So the first of the five powers is the beneficial intention. The beneficial intention, the first of the five powers, that is to say our motivation. We are trying to develop a very powerful motivation which intends that from now until the achievement of Buddhahood, whether it be a month, year, whatever, but beginning today, that I will take as the essence of my practice the development of the awakening heart and that I will not allow my mind to go under the influence of self-cherishing.
The first thing when one wakes in the morning, determining, setting one’s motivation to use this day to develop the awakening heart, conventional, and the awakening mind, the ultimate, and not to allow one’s self to go under the influence of self-cherishing and self-grasping. This intention. And there’s the power of meditation or habituation, that the awakening heart is the cause of all happiness, both for oneself and others. It is a tremendous blessing. It has tremendous power.
Seeing this, to again and again and again continually cultivate the awakening heart, the power of cultivation or meditation. Then the third is the power of white seeds. This is the practice whereby the awakening heart which has not been developed is developed and that which has been developed is increased higher and higher, even more so. This is done by means of the practices of generosity, ethics, tolerance and joyous effort.