Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 45-minute session on the Lama Chöpa, Kyabje Rinpoche focuses on practical methods for developing the awakening heart: the final two of the five powers (destruction of self-centeredness through antidotes, and prayer through positive motivation and dedication); the four acts of use for transforming obstacles (accumulating virtue, purifying negativities, offering to harmful beings, requesting Dharma protectors’ aid). A distinctive teaching is how to view difficulties and harm from others not as problems but as spiritual reminders, turning obstacles into practice. Rinpoche then clarifies the two types of bodhicitta: the aspiring mind (wishing for enlightenment) and the engaging mind (committing to the six perfections and three levels of ethics). He uses the metaphor of practices as seeds from which the awakening heart grows.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1992-11-06 – 18B – KR.mp3
UUID: b49624f5-4e4c-43d9-baf5-6f5f817e9780
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Guru Puja – Lama Chopa
Date: 1992-11-06
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,327
Then the fourth power is the power of destruction (Tib. སྡིག་པ་སྤོང་བའི་སྟོབས།), which is that seeing that the two attitudes of self centeredness and self grasping are whatever conflicted conditions arise overcoming these. And the two conflicted conditions, the root of all conflicting conditions are self centeredness and self grasping and continue applying antidote to destroying self centeredness and self grasping. So it is the continual application of antidote in order to overcome these two conflicting conditions. The opposite side of what we are seeking is self centeredness and self grasping, continually trying to eliminate them. The power of prayer, the fifth power, the power of prayer, that upon rising in the morning, one determines to benefit oneself and others, that is to say one develops a very positive motivation.
The way in which we can always benefit ourselves is through the development of the awakening heart. In order to develop the awakening heart, we engage in various activities such as generosity, ethics, etcetera. These are all skillful actions. Then having created or involved oneself with such a motivation for the benefit of oneself and others, created these activities, in these activities, engaged created these skillful actions, one then goes on to dedicate these skillful actions that in this life and all my future lives, may I never be separated from the precious awakening heart and dedicating, making prayers of dedication in that manner. This is the power of prayer.
So a continuous practice applying these five powers that today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, trying to put into practice these two attitudes of the awakening heart and the awakening mind by means of the five powers. Whatever these two attitudes I have not developed, to develop it. However much one has developed them, to increase them higher and higher by these five powers. So these two final lines of this verse 97 outlines the measure of having trained one’s mind where it says through the practice of the five forces the essence of the entire Dharma and thus to attune ourselves solely to the peaceful mind. That through this training of the mind, that whatever one may arise for us, whatever situations we may find ourselves in, whether good or bad, our mind is continually experiencing happiness.
And this is the measure of having trained one’s mind. We have discussed it by means of transforming difficult situations into conducive situations by attitude of mind. Verse number 98, lists the way we can transform the situations by actual conduct to turn negative situations into positive ones where it says, Whatever we meet, whatever we occasion to meet, we seek your best and feel we may adopt it through our meditation by the skillful means of the four acts of use (Tib. gcod pa bzhi). May we render this life of liberties and endowments and to make meaningful by putting in practice the advice and commitments of the training of the mind. So the four acts of use, it’s simply just four conducts activities and these four activities are by means of the accumulation of the collection, the purification of negativities, the offering of ritual cakes or tormas to harmful beings, and the requesting the assistance of Dharma protectors.
So whatever harmful So when any types of harms arise, various obstacles, hindrances, whatsoever the negative situation might be, we should reflect on it. This is arising because up to now I haven’t really practiced the Dharma. If I continue in this way, this life is simply going to to waste. It’s going to be meaningless. These harms that I’m experiencing are a way of reminding me of the necessity to begin to practice and haven’t, I’m not happy because I haven’t accumulated the necessary collection of creative potential which brings happiness, all the various skillful actions.
I’m undergoing all this very unskillful suffering because of all the various unskillful actions that I’ve created. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be experiencing this negative situation. Therefore, this acts as a motivating force to begin to accumulate the collections of creative potential and skillful actions and to apply the four counteracting agents to all the various negativities within your mind to purify them. Likewise, if things are bringing us harms, whatever agents of harm, all the difficulties that we experience, whatever harms others may bring us, they help us not to waste our life. It is our complacency which like a thief which steals our practice of Dharma.
It is all of these various obstacles and harms that we experience which wake us up to the fact that our life is going to waste, that our Dharma practice is being stolen from us without our knowing. So when someone brings you harm, they are actually doing you a great favor because this harm you are forced to understand is a consequence of all the various negativities that you’ve created and it’s because you haven’t accumulated the collection of skillful actions. So you’re actually thankful to those who harm us because they are reminding you that you aren’t practicing, that Dharma practice is being stolen away from you without you knowing it. Out of a sense of gratitude for helping you to appreciate the necessity of the practice, you offer them a ritual cake, a a torma and you say, you know, thank you, thank you for helping me to carry on my practice and please bring me more harms in the future. Then the fourth act of conduct which we can engage in is to make requests to the Dharma protectors asking them to enact various benevolent activities as means to rid ourselves of any obstacles that our practice of Dharma may go well, that interferes with our practice going well to help us in that way, whatever access and obstacle to our practice.
So then the latter part of that verse, go on to make requests to the lama. May we render this life of liberties and endowments infinitely meaningful that may our life be meaningful through our practice of Dharma by putting into practice the advice and commitments of the training of the mind. There are 16 commitments and 22 advices contained within the training of the mind, but we won’t go into those today. Looking at verse 99 where it says, In order to rescue all beings from the vast sea of existence, seek your blessing to become adept in bodhicitta through the pure selfless wish and by love and compassion, conjoined with the skillful technique of mounting giving and taking upon the breath. So having seen the faults of self-cherishing and the benefits of other-cherishing, we generate what is called affectionate love or pleasant love.
To the same proportion to the power of our attractive love, we would develop a strong compassion. Correspond, proportionate to the strength of our compassion, we would develop exceptional resolve. Likewise, with proportion to the exceptional resolve, we would develop the awakening heart. Where we, but we have to ask ourselves, you know, can I actually, in terms of exceptional resolve, we accept sole responsibility for the liberation of all living beings? But having considered ramifications of accepting sole responsibility that we ask ourselves, well can I actually liberate all the living beings?
But in fact, I can’t. I don’t have the ability. Well, who does? It is only a Buddha has the ability to liberate all living beings. Therefore, develops the resolve and the intention that in order to liberate all living beings, I must attain quickly, quickly attain the state of Buddhahood and this is the awakening heart.
So in order to facilitate this process of the actual development of the awakening heart, we in context of the development of compassion and love, we mount the practice of taking and giving upon the breath and develop an exceptional resolve where we develop the attitude of willingness to take sole responsibility to liberate all living beings. So with respect to the awakening heart, here it’s referred to as mind generation synonymous with the awakening heart. There are two levels. There is the aspiring mind generation or the wishing, sometimes called wishing, and then there is practical or sometimes called engaging mind generation. The level of the aspiring is simply that, wishes.
It is an intentional quality of the mind. In order to stabilize that intentional quality of the mind, in order to make it powerful, we involve ourselves in a ritual whereby we can recite for example the ritual of the generation of aspiring mind generation where it says, I go for refuge to the Three Jewels. Declare all my negativities. I rejoice in the the skillful actions of all sentient beings. I take hold of mind of enlightenment.
There’s a verse which can be read six times a day. This is what is meant by involving oneself in the ritual, again and again trying to generate this aspiration by means of again and again reciting this verse and developing the aspiring mind generation. Simply this wish or the aspiration to achieve Buddhahood will get you there. That in itself is not enough. One has to actually engage in the practical means to achieve that end.
The practical means are the methods of the six perfections. Takes the vows of committing oneself to actually engaging in the six perfections in order to achieve Buddhahood, and this is the practical mind of enlightenment. The actual taking of vows, committing oneself is the practical mind of enlightenment and this is, as it mentioned, there’s a verse within the aspiration yoga in which it mentions the commitment of the practical mind generation. In verse number 100, we seek your blessings that we may eagerly endeavor to put into practice the three moral codes and restrain our mind streams with pure bodhisattva vows, the single path cherished by all the victorious ones up to three times. So whoever the Buddha may be, there is a past, the present and the future.
The only path which leads to the state at which they have achieved is the path of the generation of taking of the bodhisattva vows and enacting the three levels of ethics. The three levels of ethics are the first ethic is that of refraining from the harming of others, the creation of negativities through our body, speech and mind. The second is enacting skillful actions such as these six perfections in order to develop one’s own mind and creating skillful actions in order to develop these excellent qualities. The third is to work for the welfare of others, eliminating their sufferings and bringing about their happiness. So aspiring mind generation or wishing mind generation is the attitude which aspires to attain Buddhahood with the thought I will attain Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings, this aspiring mind.
The aspiring mind generation is the thought that I will attain Buddhahood for the sake of all living beings. As this increases in force, one develops the practical mind generation or engaging mind generation which is not only this attitude of mind, but it’s also that in order to bring this about, one actually engages in the conduct of the three ethics. Committing oneself and actually practicing the three ethics. The difference would be, for example, thinking today I’m going to do such and such work. On the one hand, that is one wishes, has an intention to involve oneself in work, as opposed to when this is intensified, one actually goes to work and actually begins to do the work.
The actual practical application of the intention is what is meant by the practical mind generation of engaging. One actually engages in the three ethics, in fact, as it means to bring about this end. So analogy would be that you’re sitting in your room and you think, oh, and you decide I’m going to go to Melbourne today. This would be analogous to wishing or aspiring mind generation whereas as this forcefulness of this of intention increased, one would then actually get up and pack and set off on the road. That would be the actual practical application of the intention, practical mind generation engaging in the act itself.
So we’re going to stop there, but if you have some questions you can ask questions or if you feel that you have to go then we don’t have time for questions. If you don’t have to go then we can have questions. We talk about auspicious places, auspicious time for those individuals who are not able to transform places and times into the path. For those who are able to have the skill and ability to transform, any place is an auspicious place. Anytime is an auspicious time, but it’s for those who are not able that there are certain places to practice that are more useful for When Khensur Rinpoche was staying in Buxa Duar, he sent a letter to Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche saying that there are many difficulties in Buxa Duar, and he wanted to go to meditate with a great meditator by the name of Drejor Chöpen who lived in Dalhousie.
This would be a very auspicious place and a great opportunity to meditate and to practice. Because his life was very short and he had all of these various troubles in Buxar. Trijang Rinpoche wrote back and said that one knows how to practice, one can practice sitting in a railway station. You don’t need to go to auspicious places and meet with great meditators if one knows how to practice. Various practices of generosity, ethics, tolerance, etcetera. From a seed arises the sprout, and from the practices in order to develop the awakening heart which has not yet grown, engaging in these various practices of generosity, ethics, that is creating, accumulating a collection.
It is out of this accumulation of collection that the awakening heart will grow. So these practices are like the seed out of which the awakening heart grows.