Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 44-minute talk recorded in Adelaide in 1988, HH Sakya Trizin, head of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism, opens by establishing why understanding suffering is essential to Buddhist practice. He uses the medical analogy repeatedly: just as one must diagnose an illness before treating it, one must first know suffering to overcome it. He then systematically walks through the Four Noble Truths taught by the Buddha at Sarnath. Sakya Trizin distinguishes three types of suffering: gross suffering (obvious pain and hardship), the suffering of change (everything is impermanent, even happiness is uncertain), and the subtle suffering of conditioned existence itself (all phenomena within saṃsāra are inherently unsatisfactory). He explains that karma—non-virtuous actions rooted in desire, hatred, and ignorance—is the cause of suffering. The path to freedom requires discarding the ten non-virtuous deeds, understanding that we have the capacity to achieve liberation, and following the Buddha’s teachings through our own effort. He concludes by arguing that past and future lives are real based on the nature of consciousness, and urges practitioners to begin purifying the mind now while they have this human opportunity.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 1988 05 26 FfK.mp3
UUID: 16b75dc6-2741-495c-acc4-ae48169d0afd
Teacher: HH Sakya Trizin
Collection: Freedom from the Known (HH Sakya Trizin)
Date: 1988-05-26
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 44.7 minutes
Words: ~4,073
Yes. On behalf of Buddha House and Buddhist Education Foundation, we’d like to welcome your holiness here to Adelaide tonight and to welcome you all here for this talk. As you as has been mentioned a little bit earlier for those who perhaps weren’t here, His Holiness is protocol in protocol terms, second to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. So we’re especially fortunate to have him in Australia and in Adelaide in particular. His Holiness, Sakya Trizin, is the head of the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.
And the title, the title Sakya Trizin, means holder of the throne of Sakya. In Tibetan Buddhism, there are four major schools, and the Sakya is one of those schools. His Holiness is the forty first in the line in an unbroken lineage of of of Sakya Trizins, which date the lineage itself dates back to ten seventy three AD. Trizin himself was born in Tibet in nineteen forty five and from the age of seven became the head of the Sakya school. From his earliest years, His Holiness received intensive teachings in philosophy and spiritual practices from all schools of Tibetan Buddhism.
Since nineteen seventy four, His Holiness has travelled pretty extensively throughout the world Europe, America, South East Asia giving countless teachings. And this is the first time that he’s actually made it to Australia. Because of his holiness, his excellent command of English, and his profound wisdom and compassion, he’s helped large numbers of people and students to achieve a greater insight into the nature of reality and the nature of their minds. And for that reason, we very warmly greet you and extend to you our gratitude for coming to Australia. To begin the talk, Sakya Trizin, His Holiness will his holiness will will say some prayers in Tibetan.
Thank you. So now after paying homage to lord Buddha, First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to express my warm greetings and best wishes to all the people who have gathered here tonight. And, also, I would like to take this opportunity, to thank Buddha House and the Buddhist Education Foundation who have arranged my trip here in Adelaide and creating the opportunity to share the teachings, whatever little that I know, with you. As we all know that we are in this universe that they are animate and inanimate. In other words, the things and beings.
Things like, for example, like the rocks and mountains, etcetera, that who do not have a feeling, do not have a mind. And then on the other side, we have living beings who have a feeling, who have a sense. So we are, of course, living beings. Within living beings, we are the human beings that has very high potential and very high intelligence that we can if we make enough efforts that to become very intelligent, very to obtain a great wisdom. So when we have all this opportunity that it is very important to obtain the best result out of this life.
To be born as a human being and then to just to pass your life, even the animals also can pass their lives. But we are unlike animal that we have intelligence. We have a great potency. We have can develop in a very high stage. So, therefore, we must obtain the the best out of this.
And therefore, to obtain this, of course, is to to free permanently to to get free from the sufferings. In this world, the every sentient being, the every living being, tiny from insects, most intelligent human being that everyone wish to be free from sufferings, and everybody wish to have happiness. For this, whether one is in the west or in the east or in any culture, in any tradition, whether one is following in any religious practice or even not following any religious practice. Whatever one may be, whatever society, whatever tradition, whatever philosophy that one may be following, whatever idea that one may have. But the one common thing that everyone have is to free from suffering and to have happiness.
That is to common to all. Now to free from the suffering of many of the times that we just ignore, we just pretend not to see the suffering. We just hide many of the times that there are great sufferings, but then we just pretend not to see, not to look after out of fear, out of hesitation, etcetera, that we just hide everything behind. And but that is the not the way to solve the sufferings. In order to overcome the suffering, that one must know the suffering.
One must study suffering. One must investigate the suffering. And so through this way, then we can overcome the the real suffering. Just by hiding, just by escaping, the one will not be free from the sufferings. So for this, the great lord Buddha who possessed the infinite wisdom, compassion, and power has bestowed enormous amount of teachings for the benefit of all living beings.
And although he has done so many activities, the physical activities and wisdom activities, etcetera, there’s so many activities for the sake of living beings, but the greatest activity that he has performed is by giving the teachings which are like nectar, which are like a medicine to cure our sufferings, to cure our disease. And so after the attaining the ultimate enlightenment under the bodhi tree at bodhigaya in central India, And then coming to the sarnath that the first teaching, the first when he turned the wheel of Dharma, the first teaching that he given was known as the Four Noble Truths. And these noble truth, the first truth is the truth of suffering. And second is the truth of cause, and third is the truth of cessation, and the fourth is the truth of path. And he said that one must know the suffering and one must avoid and must discard the cause and one must obtain this the cessation and one must practice the path.
So this is very important as this is the very basic thing that everyone every Buddhist tradition follows. And so the first thing that one one one must know the suffering as it is explained by the by his great religion and also his disciple other disciples also explained that, for example, when we are sick, the first thing is we must know what is the sickness? What kind of sickness? Without knowing the sickness, the type of sickness, that one will not be able to take any treatments. So therefore, for example, when you have a certain sickness, certain illness, then it is very important for us to investigate, to go through the test and to find out what is the actual disease.
If you do not know the disease, then we cannot take any further steps. We cannot take any treatment. So similarly here, the one must know the suffering. We want we want just hide the suffering. We will try to escape from the suffering.
It is a wrong thing. One must know what is the suffering. After the for an example, that after knowing the illness then not just taking the treatment but main thing is to avoid the cause. If you do not discard the the cause of illness, even you take treatment, it will come back again. It will continue to cause the sufferings.
It it will continue to cause the illness. So therefore, one must discard, avoid the cause of the suffering. And then the third thing, after getting the treatment, the thing that which we want is to be free from the disease. To wish to obtain the health healthy body, to be free from the disease is the the thing, the goal that which we have. The goal that we wish we set after the illness to be free and to get to be a healthy person.
So in order to death do that, all then we must take the treatment. The fourth one is the path. And we must take the treatment. In order to cure from the disease, one must take treatment like medicine and the right food and the right behavior, the right things to do, etcetera. So similarly, the in order to be free from the suffering, that first that we want one must all knew the suffering.
What is the suffering? The lord Buddha said that actually the whole saṃsāra or the the realm of existence is all suffering. Generally speaking, in according to the teachings that there are three types of sufferings. First one is called the suffering suffering, which means the sufferings that we normally think, the sufferings that we normally recognize as a suffering such as like physical pains and the mental pains, and the experience, the terrible experience to go through, etcetera, that people are suffering all the time. And this type of suffering is actually mainly in the lower realms.
But we also have, of course, so much different sufferings. There are so many different kinds of disease, so many different kinds of poverty, and etc. That there’s tremendous amount of sufferings, visible sufferings that we experience, that we experience today, that there are so many different types of physical and the mental and the anguish that we go through. These are called the suffering of sufferings. And the second type of suffering is called the suffering of change.
As the lord Buddha said, anything, everything that is actually created with the cause and the condition is suffering. And so everything is changing. Everything is moving. Every moment is changing. For example, in outside the sceneries due to the season, the summer, winter, spring, autumn, etc, that everything is changing.
It’s not remaining at one time. It’s different. Color is changing, that everything is changing. Inwardly all the living beings are changing from baby to children to teenagers, and then grown up and adult, and then to old age, etc. That everything is changing.
Similarly, our mind is also that every moment that every moment that we pass, that it is changing. So everything is changing. So similarly, that everything is changed. Since everything is changing, there is no certainty. Even though one may be healthy, one may be wealthy, and one has has no severe suffering as we have today.
But since everything is changing there’s no certainty. One may be very healthy but something something suddenly can happen. And one may be very prosperous but something suddenly can change and fall into suffering. So the second type is called the suffering of change. That even one is as high as the the universal emperor or the gods in the heavenly realms, but can fall down and the the suffering.
So this is the the suffering of change. And the third type of suffering is called the suffering of conditional nature of all things, which means that our actual existing itself, Although, since we have many other visible sufferings that we do not even see this as a suffering, but actually our existing itself in reality is suffering. So the whole universe is actually nothing but the sufferings. The nature of the fire is hot whether it is a small fire or it is a big fire. So similarly, the nature of the the realm of existence is suffering.
So we must know this. We must know. We must study. You must study. Of course, the other realms, the Buddhist one view, there are hell realms and hungry ghosts and other realms, the devas realms, etcetera.
That one can learn from authentic teachings and from authentic scriptures that one can learn about these things, which we do not see our physical eyes that we do not see, we cannot hear, we cannot hear their sound right now, but one can learn from the authentic scriptures and from the authentic sermons. But from our own life, we can learn a lot when we investigate our own life, how type of life that we are going through, the type of life that other people, surrounding people that are going through. When you investigate the things that there is no real happiness as such, it is all suffering. Even the things that we normally consider as happiness is only in comparison. For example, when you are having problems like due to the lack of facilities in underdeveloped country, etcetera.
Then when when you come to a developed country and in better facilities, that of course, in the beginning it looks as a comfort and looks as happiness. But then again, when you are already in this stage, if you stayed all the time in the same same environment, same facilities, you wish to do something else. So that proves things that which we think, such as the comfortable place and the luxury life that which we normal people or the ordinary people think gives happiness, do not proves that do not give the happiness. Because if it gives the happiness, the more you stay. The more you stay in such a place, the the more happiness that it should produce, but it isn’t.
After a while, do you wish to do something else? And all the time is is changing. So therefore, that the nature of the realm of existence, whether it is in lower realm or in higher realm or within any society, within every community, in any part of the world, it is the sufferings. Example, whether if the poison is mixed with the food, whether it is a good food or bad food, once it is mixed with the poison, then it is not worthy of eating. So similarly, the realm of existence is also whether it’s in the lower realm or in the higher realm, as long as it’s in within the realm of existence, it is suffering.
So that we must know this. Without knowing this, and we just try to hide and to escape the the list the sufferings that which we see in our life will not overcome. So first we must know the sufferings. After knowing the sufferings, then knowing the sufferings and contemplating and meditating on the suffering, then one will need the need to take the need to take the treatment will rise. And so that to seek a method to remove the suffering.
And to remove the suffering is then the second truth is to remove the causes, the causes of the sufferings. What causes us? Why did we are today here born in this world? And why we have to go through all these lives, all these different types of experience? Who makes us to go through this life?
Who makes us the different types of the lives that we have to go through? And the lord Buddha said that everything is actually created by our own karma, which means actually our own actions, our own deeds. Each and everything must have its own cause. And all the sufferings that we go through, all the sufferings that we have is actually the product of our own actions. Actions that are coming from the defilements, like desire and hatred, desire for one’s own side, hatred for others, and ignorant in general.
So this type of defilements, any action that are created by these kind of defilements are called non virtues. And the non virtues is the the cause of all the sufferings. So in order to cure your disease, the very important thing one very important thing to do is to discard, to remove the cause of your illness. So similarly, in order to to be free from the suffering, that it is very important to discard the cause of the sufferings. So the cause of the sufferings are the the non virtuous deeds which rising from these defilements.
And out of this that out of these, like killing and taking the life and stealing and sexual misconduct. The three non virtuous deeds that are committed through physically and the four non virtuous deeds that are committed through speech such as like lying and the words that creates disharmony between groups of individuals and the harsh words, words that create pain just by even just by hearing it and the idle talks, the talks that creates more defilements, the useless talks, the talks that creates more defilements. So these four non virtuous deeds committed through speech. And then the three non virtuous deeds committed through mind like coveting, wishing to have other people’s nice things, and hatred, wish to harm other people, wish to disasters to other people. And to the third one is the wrong view.
Not following the right view. Not for example, not believing in the the cause and the effect of the law of karma. So they are all together. There are ten non virtuous deeds. Which is the main cause of all the sufferings in this life and all the sufferings that continue to come in our future lives also.
So therefore, these ten virtuous deeds that one must try to avoid even if it is a very tiny one as the tiny fire can burn the whole mountain. So similarly, a tiny non virtuous deeds can harm you greatly. So therefore, one must try everywhere, try to avoid, try to discard the non virtuous deeds. So that’s why the the second truth is the truth of cause that one must discard, one must avoid. And then then the third one is the the what we want, the truth of cessation.
Cessation of all the sufferings, free from all sufferings. In other words, that we can we have the potency to be free from all sufferings. As I said in the beginning that we are living beings among the living beings that we are human beings, that we have the highest, the mental potency. And so that we try our best. We try the right path.
We try the the right way that we have the the every possibility. We have the possibility to be free from permanently free from the all sufferings. Even the fully enlightened Buddhas are in the beginning, they were human beings. But ordinary human beings following the path and then after discarding all the faults and obscurations that they become enlightened. So we also if we have try if we try, we have the methods, we have the teachings, the unbroken lineage of teachings that that is the same type of methods that earlier bodhisattvas or earlier practitioners have used that we also have.
So there’s no reason that why we cannot succeed today if we approach the same pattern, same methods. Because basically it is still the same living beings, the same human beings even though the conditions of the lives may be changing, many different changing, but basically it is all same. So therefore that we must aim, we must aim for the highest goal and that is the goal is the sick person’s goal is to be healthy, to be free from this illness. Similarly that we also our goal should be permanently free from the sufferings. By trying to remove the the minor sufferings, one will not be free from the real sufferings.
And by aiming to the highest then all the minor sufferings will automatically be able to overcome. So it is important to set a biggest goal. And then the fourth is the path of truth. A path of the the truth of the path. So in the in order to cure your illness that one needs to take the treatment.
By taking treatment, that one will be able to cure. So so therefore that we as ordinary human beings with the full of defilements, full of faults, and full of sufferings that we must follow the path in order to overcome our suffering. The path that Buddha has shown us. And the Buddha’s Lord Buddha said that the buddhas do not wash your sins with the water. Buddhas do not remove your sufferings by his hands.
Buddhas do not transfer the realization that they obtained to you, his qualities. He does not transfer the qualities to you. But the greatest help the greatest help that he has given is that he has shown us the path path to follow. And so so it is actually our own side that we we must go to this path. We must follow this path.
For example, in order to cure one’s disease it is very important to have good doctor and good medicine and good treatment. But the real treatment, the real treatment have to come from one’s own side and one must take the medicines, one must follow the doctor’s advice, one must do the right things, one must avoid the wrong things. Even though you have the best doctor, the best medicines, that if you do not take the medicines, you do not follow the advice of the doctors then one will not be able to cure. So the main thing have to do from our own side. So that is why the lord buddha said that the you yourself is the savior of you.
Nobody else, nobody can save you. The only that you can save, the yourself. And so for this, the main suffering that why we have here is that because that we have so much it is not just through this life that we are going through. We must have the previous life and also we must have the future lives because, for example, that that our consciousness, our mind is not something like outside matter things, not something that is that has a form, not just something that one can touch or feel, that it has its own continuity. As I said in the beginning that there are matters and the mind.
And two things are completely separate. The mind cannot become the matters. Matter cannot become the mind. So if we do not have a previous life, our mind has to come either from matters or something rising from somewhere else. And since mind cannot come from outside things like this, that it must have its own origin, its own same continuity that in the past.
And when at the time of death, although our body that we are leaving this body behind, but our mind cannot leave behind. Our mind cannot burn with the fire. Although our body will be burned either burned in the fire or thrown in the water or buried underground underground or something will happen, but the mind is some the mind is such that since it cannot hold or since it does not have any forms of the any kind that it have to continue. You can’t say that the one’s mind is stopped here, one mind is one’s mind is vanish here. The one’s mind must continue.
So, therefore, through this way that we can prove that there’s a past life and that there’s a future life. So from the beginning and since there’s a the past life, there’s no such time as the beginning of one’s mind. It’s from the beginning less time. There’s no such thing as the beginning of one’s mind. So from the beginning less time until now that we are caught in this realm of existence.
And so, therefore, we must so until now, such as from the beginningless time until now that we are caught our mind with the defilements, so it is a difficult thing. It is difficult to to do straight away, but it is very important to step to take the right steps at this moment when we have all the opportunities and to to make our mind pure, make our mind to to discard the the faults of the mind such as lust or desire and hatred and ignorance, etcetera, that creates suffering for oneself, that creates suffering for others. And we must develop our mind, the qualities of the mind such as like the loving kindness and the compassion. As oneself wish to be free from suffering, the every sentient being, the every living being wish to be free from suffering. As oneself wish to have happiness, that every sentient being wish to have a wish to have the happiness.
So it is a it is wrong to think only of oneself.