Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A fourfold framework for classifying all human action opens this 48-minute commentary by Khensur Rinpoche. He sorts activities by whether they yield temporal happiness, ultimate happiness, both, or neither — illustrating each category with concrete examples, from cultivating loving-kindness to sexual misconduct to enduring surgery — to establish what should be practised and what abandoned. The commentary then turns to impermanence and death: without genuine death-awareness, Rinpoche argues, Dharma motivation remains impure, like a flawed product no one would buy. He outlines the benefits of keeping death in mind through the image of a traveller who, knowing they cannot stay in Australia indefinitely, begins preparing carefully for the journey ahead. Part of a running Lamrim series, suited to practitioners wanting a reasoned case for prioritising long-term spiritual welfare over the preoccupations of this life.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 15 3PA 1993 08 03.mp3
UUID: b450e34d-c8df-4331-beee-6c7bb02213c0
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: 3 Principal Aspects of the Path (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1993-08-03
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 48.8 minutes
Words: ~2,828
So quoting from a text, where he says, leisure and fortune are difficult to find and life has no duration. So we have previously explained, rather briefly, what is meant by leisure and fortune. And today, we’re going to proceed with a discussion of impermanence in terms of death. So with respect to impermanence, we’ll look at it from two points of view. In terms of whether it’s meditated on or not — in terms of looking at the faults or the detriments of not meditating on impermanence, the various undesirable results which accrue on the one hand; on the other, the benefits, the desirable results which accrue when we meditate on impermanence.
So when we see that through not meditating — what we want is happiness. And through meditating on impermanence, we can bring about a cessation of undesirable results. We can stop this procession of undesirable results on the one hand, and on the other, find that which we desire — that is to say happiness, well-being, and ultimately an unchanging complete happiness. And these results arise through the cultivation of impermanence. Our activities can be presented in terms of four types of activities.
The activities which are to be done and not done in terms of those which bring temporal happiness and those which bring about ultimate happiness. So in seeing this, we gain an understanding of what is definitely needed to be practiced in terms of what is to be done and what is not done in terms of temporal and ultimate happinesses. It is important to understand this presentation of four types of activities in terms of what we are to engage in, what we are not to engage in, and this in terms of temporal and ultimate happinesses. So the first type of this division of these four types of activities is those types of activities which bring temporal happiness and ultimate happiness. So activities which bring both temporal happiness and ultimate happiness.
So these are our actions, activities which we are definitely to engage in because they are bringing both temporal and ultimate happinesses. The second type of activity are those which, though they do not bring temporal happiness — by temporal, I mean immediate types of happinesses — but in fact they bring us ultimate types of happinesses. That is to say, unchanging happiness, the happiness of liberation.
So this second category of activities, though they don’t bring us temporal happiness, they do bring us ultimate happiness. So we should persevere in these types of activities. These are types of activities which should be engaged in. And we have to practice even though they may be difficult; we should tolerate them. In general, there are three types of tolerance or patience.
There’s the tolerance of non-retaliation, not returning harm for harm. There’s the tolerance of perseverance in the difficulties incurred in the practice of Dharma. And then there’s the third type of tolerance, which is voluntarily accepting suffering. And so though our practices may involve some difficulty, because they bring about our ultimate welfare, we should persevere and we should tolerate or be patient and engage in these types of activities. The third type of activity are those which bring neither temporal nor ultimate types of happinesses.
But not only do they not bring us happiness temporally or ultimately, but additionally they bring us harm, they act as causes for suffering. So these we should abandon. We should not engage in them at all. Abandon them from the root, from the very basis. That’s the third type.
And then the fourth type of activity is those types of activities which, though they bring us temporal happiness, ultimately they bring us harm. And this fourth type of activity should also be abandoned, should not be engaged in. So though we find some temporal pleasure, ultimately they bring us harm. These types of activity should also not be engaged in and they should be abandoned. So these four types of activities in terms of what is to be done and what is not to be done in terms of temporal and ultimate happinesses.
So just by way of example, if we were to meditate on love — to develop the thought, you know, may myself and all beings have happiness — then this practice would bring us some kind of temporal pleasure, a joy within our mind. But additionally, because of the creative potential which is accumulated through this practice, it would bring us some kind of ultimate happiness. So such a practice, such a type of activity, brings us both temporal and ultimate happiness or pleasure. Another example of these types of activities would be, on the other hand, sexual impropriety.
Sexual impropriety — through committing it, one could experience some temporary pleasure. But since this involves accumulation of negativity, one would experience an ultimate result of some great suffering. Therefore, though it brings temporal pleasure, ultimately it brings suffering, and therefore is to be abandoned. So this is the case with all types of negative actions — that they bring some slight experience of happiness temporarily, but ultimately they harm ourselves. And therefore, this is the reason that it is suggested that all types of negative, unskillful actions be abandoned.
Another illustration would be if we had some illness and had to undergo an operation to cure the illness. And though temporarily there is a great deal of pain involved in the course of the operation, still, because it gets at the deeper cause of our problem and brings about some kind of ultimate benefit, we should tolerate the temporal difficulty in bringing about some kind of ultimate gain for ourselves. And another example would be the meditation on such subjects as impermanence and compassion. These, in the temporal sense, are not pleasurable to meditate upon.
We don’t find temporal happiness in meditating on impermanence or compassion. But ultimately, all excellent qualities and our ultimate happiness will arise in dependence upon these cultivations, these meditations and teachings and teachings. Therefore, we should voluntarily take on these practices. We should tolerate them because of the great result, the great power which accrues from cultivating them — that in the future we will derive great benefit both for ourselves and others through such practices. Activities in terms of what is to be done and what is not to be done should be looked upon as to what will bring us benefit — if ultimately they harm ourselves, they bring us suffering, then we should abandon them.
So this is why it is useful to meditate on impermanence — in that it will bring about our ultimate welfare. And we’re going to look at the fact of the great faults if we do not meditate on impermanence and do not have a powerful awareness of death. You know, without cultivating this awareness of death, we will not develop the thought which thinks that I’m going to die. On the contrary, we will have in our mind the thought, I’m going to remain. I’m going to live a long time in the course of this life.
And through the power of this way of thinking, then we are going to be preoccupied with the concerns of this life, with the gathering together of food, materials, companions. All of our time will be expended in gathering together these various articles because our concern is totally involved, is preoccupied with this present life. Without this thought of impermanence arising within our mind, without the cultivation of impermanence, then though some will still be able to carry on their practice of Dharma, their Dharma practice will not be an authentic practice. It will not be a pure practice. They will not be able to practice in a pure manner.
There is no real practice. One will not be able to derive the ultimate results from their practice of Dharma. In the course of an authentic practice of Dharma, initially we have to have a proper motivation. Out of that arises — we engage in the actual practice itself. And then we bring our practice to a conclusion through prayers of dedication.
So a perfect practice has these three characteristics. Whatever it is that we might be doing, we adjust our motivation. Then there’s the actual act, and then there’s the conclusion of the act. Without this motivation, which has arisen out of an awareness of impermanence, then our motivation is not going to be pure. You know, it’s like entering through a doorway.
There’s a doorway — that is the motivation. Then we actually enter and we perform whatever we’re going to do once we’ve gotten inside. If our motivation is correct, then the action will be correct and the conclusion will be correct and it will be of great benefit. On the other hand, if there’s not this awareness of impermanence and the motivation is not pure, then it’s like some article which has some sort of defect. It’s really of not much use.
We can’t even sell it because there’s something wrong with it. It’s of no great value. And the same way with our practice — it’s not a real practice. If we practice in a real way, then we are going to have a future result that will be extremely stable, be extremely vast.
On the other hand, if we do not, then this type of result will not arise. The great meditators of the past would first meditate, understanding the importance of impermanence — would first meditate on impermanence as a means of developing motivation. Having developed this powerful awareness of impermanence, then they would actually begin their meditation practice. They would cease the emphasis on this life. They would try to develop a priority, an orientation of their priorities in terms of future lives and for the sake of sentient beings. Having done that as the development of their motivation, then their meditation would be authentic meditation. It would be a pure meditation. Then finally, they would complete their practice with prayers. And therefore, this act would be a perfect act.
It would really bring about some real results — both temporal and ultimate results, both results for oneself and others. Such a way of practicing is able to bring about the removal of one’s faults and the development of all of one’s excellent qualities. If we haven’t reflected upon the fact of our death, upon impermanence, then at the time of our death, we will see that in fact we haven’t really carried on a pure practice of Dharma. And we will see that, on the contrary, we have involved ourselves in a great deal of negativity and have accumulated a few skillful actions, and that the only way for us to proceed is in terms of a poor migration or a poor rebirth.
And all seeing this at the moment of our death, there will arise a sense of regret and a great deal of suffering. So this is where we’ve looked at the detriments of not being mindful of death or impermanence. But what are the benefits of being mindful of death and impermanence? When we’re talking about impermanence in terms of death — that whatsoever is born is bound to die.
Whosoever takes rebirth under the control of karma and afflictions, that individual must die. That there is no one who is born or has been born in such a way that they will not die. And therefore, it is important to be mindful of death. And this we — we begin to orientate our priorities away from only this life, but in terms of future lives. Because it’s like knowing that we have to die; it is as if we know that we’re going to have to go on a journey.
If we thought we were always going to stay in Australia, then we would make no preparations for going on a trip overseas. But on the other hand, if we knew that we were going to have to travel overseas, that we could not remain in Australia, then we would begin to make some sort of preparations for our journey. So in the remembrance of death, being mindful of death — knowing that we’re not going to be able to remain in this life indefinitely — then we know that we’re going to have to go on a journey. And therefore, there arise thoughts about how to go about making preparations for this journey to future lives. Whether the journey is to India or America, we will want to consider what types of preparations are necessary so that when we get there we won’t have problems.
And we’re going to make effort to ensure that when we get there we’re not going to have difficulties in our future destination. If someone who is rational, someone who thinks intelligently, would be willing to, in the course of making preparation, go to some trouble to ensure no difficulties in the future. So we could easily understand that if we made no plans whatsoever and we got there, then we would incur a great many unforeseen difficulties and we wouldn’t have any help in working out our problems. When we meditate on the impermanence of death, then our mind begins to orientate toward future states of existence, future lives.
And most particularly, we begin to seek the state of achieving in the future a human life. And in seeking to make preparations to achieve that human life, then we will begin to observe ethics as a means to achieve human life in the future. In order that we have all the various objects of enjoyment that we wish to have as a human being in the future, then we’re going to practice Chenrezig. And in order that we have a beautiful appearance and that we have harmonious relationships, then we are going to engage in the practice of tolerance, patience. So through practicing in this way and cultivating through meditation an awareness of death, then we will not expend great effort on the concerns of this life. Our emphasis of effort will not be for the sake of this life, but will be orientated more and more toward the future. If we practice various meditations and teachings and teachings and engage in the abandonment of the unskillful actions of body, speech, and mind and meditate on qualities such as love and compassion and emptiness, then we will achieve a better human embodiment than we now presently have. That we can have a human life where we have great deals of enjoyment, where we have a beautiful appearance, where we have wisdom and we can easily develop the understanding of emptiness, where we have great compassion. So it becomes extremely meaningful to meditate on impermanence because of the great benefits that we are going to derive in the future. So this is the benefits — or what is to be gained — through being mindful, cultivating an awareness of death.
So but when this is explained in this way, for some there arises the doubt, well, does future life exist or not? I mean, if it does, then this sounds right. This is the way to go. But I’m not sure whether future lives exist or not. Through the existence of future lives, we should try to establish it in terms of correct reasoning.
We should look at it as a scientist would and try to prove it by means of correct reasoning. So we have in our mind various afflictive emotions. Out of these afflictive emotions we engage in various types of activities producing various types of actions, but we also produce positive states and we also have negative states of mind. And so we have positive states of mind, negative states of mind. We engage in positive types of actions.
We engage in various negative types of action. From time to time, involved in these various types of actions. All of these actions are karma. So we have within our mind various types of karma. They’re like seeds.
When these seeds come in contact with the cooperative conditions, then some type of result will arise. When these two types of causes — the karma and the afflictive emotions — act as the cooperative condition: so there’s karma as the cause and the cooperative condition of the afflictive emotion. When these two are complete, when they come together, then no one can stop the arising of the result. The result will definitely arise when these two factors come together.
As an analogy, it would be that when a farmer plants crops in their field, and they have good seed, and the fields have been well prepared and the seeds are planted, they’re watered, they’re fertilized, therefore they have all of the complete causes and conditions present and complete. There’s nothing which can stop the arising of the result.