Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 95-minute commentary, Khensur Rinpoche opens by likening three types of inattentive listeners to an upturned pot, a leaky vessel, and a poisoned cup — concrete images that set the tone for how Dharma should be received. He follows with six recognitions for proper listening, the most important being to see oneself as a patient, the teachings as medicine, and the teacher as a skilled physician. The doctrinal core maps each of the three principal aspects — renunciation, bodhicitta, and correct view — directly onto the three root afflictions: attachment, anger, and ignorance. A Q&A closes with Rinpoche’s chainsaw image: once the antidote to self-grasping is developed, it cuts the root of ignorance and the entire tree of mental afflictions falls.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 3PA 2001 05 30.mp3
UUID: bc4955d1-f399-4ff4-853c-ff6ebc6a6c45
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: 3 Principle Aspects of the Path (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 2001-05-30
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 95.4 minutes
Words: ~6,664
Rinpoche was actually giving the order of the prayers and he was suggesting that of course in the beginning we need to adjust our motivation and we do that on the basis of generating bodhicitta. After that, we have to recite the formula for going for refuge and proceed with the seven limb prayers. Ordinarily we will go ahead with offering the mandala, but since this is the first day, it is very good to recite the Heart Sūtra in order to dispel any obstacles. So first the Heart Sūtra will be recited and then it will be followed by the offering of the mandala. What Rinpoche was explaining was actually a little bit about the qualities of the Three Jewels in which we go for refuge.
Initially he was explaining the supreme qualities of Buddha Śākyamūni who is our teacher. The teacher who is passed down to us unfailing teachings, teachings without even a trace of mistakes. And it is also to those unfailing teachings, complete and pure teachings that we will go for refuge as well. It is very important to consider that at present we are enjoying what is called the precious human rebirth, this basis of the human body. Body.
It is important to understand how rare such a thing is. We might have it right now but there is no guarantee that we will achieve again in the future this precious basis, this precious human body. For that reason, we have to now from the present make whatever it is possible to make sure that in the future again we will attain such a precious basis. This precious basis is the one that can allow us to abandon all suffering, reach a state of liberation, and also to generate love and compassion, to engage in the practices of the great vehicle. So it is for all these reasons we have to consider this opportunity that we have now to be in this human form as being very precious.
So actually this basis that we have already established, this human body is something which is very precious to all of us. And having understood the preciousness of that, we have to understand how fortunate we are, how good it is that we have it. Now having understood the preciousness of the situation that we find ourselves in, then we have to generate this extreme sense of joy. And from within this state of joy, we have to understand that there is no time to be lost now that we are so fortunate. Fortunate.
So with this sense of joy and this sense of urgency, we should engage in these practices. Now it’s important to understand that when we talk about this basis of the precious human rebirth, this is a result that is a very precious result. When we say it’s a very precious result, what we mean by that is that it’s something that comes as a fruit, it’s a situation of coming as a fruit, which is very difficult to find. We have to understand that a lot of conditions have to come together. The mere fact that at the present we enjoy this precious result is because in the past we must have done a lot of prayers and we must have accumulated the causes of that.
Now that we have it, we also have to generate to make all these prayers to say that in the future as well, we need to establish such a precious result. So it’s very difficult to find the situation, this basis that we have right now. The thing is that, as we say, we have this opportunity now, but what we have to keep remembering ourselves is that this is the time to practice because if we do not practice now, there is no guarantee that we will get in the future such an opportunity. By remembering death and impermanence, we remind ourselves that there is no guarantee of the time of the death and there is no guarantee that after death we will experience such an opportunity again. Now, when we reflect in that way, in order to set our motivation, we can think of all that in a restricted, in a limited way and just reflect about myself, my limitations, my possibilities and my hopes for the future.
But also, there is another way of thinking and saying that I want to practice now so that eventually there will be benefit for all sentient beings. When we use this phrase, when we use this convention, when we talk about all sentient beings, because sentient beings are limitless, then we understand that the virtue that we will create is also limitless virtue. And that means that the result and the benefits that will come out of that also will be limitless. So this is a much better way of thinking including all sentient beings. So really what we should be thinking is that may myself and all other other sentient beings be completely free from all suffering.
This thought actually is we call among the four immeasurables is immeasurable compassion. Later on we should generate the thought that may all sentient beings, myself and all sentient beings experience happiness. Why should we not experience happiness? We should all experience happiness. And this is the thought of immeasurable love.
So in order to bring about this liberation from suffering, in order to establish this unlimited happiness for that reason, I myself need to attain a state of complete, of perfect enlightenment, for that reason I will practice, for that reason I have such a goal and aim. Thinking like that we set our motivation through generating the mind of bodhicitta. So think like that, that by generating the mind of bodhicitta, actually you are entering what is called the practices of the great vehicle. And in a sense you enter the heart or the essence of all the practices of the great vehicle. So as you generate this motivation, also generate the thought that I am here to listen to these teachings on the three principal aspects of the path, may great benefit come out of this activity for myself and all others.
So we will spend a couple of minutes just meditating to bring forward this type of motivation. Yeah. That’s it. Now, we might be aware of this particular relationship that existed between Mañjuśrī and Je Tsongkhapa. Je Tsongkhapa was somebody who was capable of having this direct communication with Mañjuśrī and received a whole lineage of teachings from him.
Based on the explanation and the teachings that received from Mañjuśrī, Lama Tsongkhapa, Je Tsongkhapa composed a number of commentaries. Based on Lama Tsongkhapa’s commentaries, then Pänchen Ngawang Chokdrup came later on and composed better commentaries on this text that we’re studying. So we are going to base the teachings and the explanation that were given in this commentary. I’m just thinking of actually reading out that commentary and in that way it will serve as a way for you receiving the lung, receiving the transmission of commentary. Then when it is appropriate, Rinpoche will stop and explain the relevant words, of course.
So in that way, we will have the transmission of the commentary and of course, we will enter into the meaning of the commentary. Now, first of all, is explained that when we look at these texts, the three principal aspects of the path, it is explained that this is the essence, this is the heart of all the practices. And of course this needs to be explained. Why is it that we need to practice? Why is it that we need to rely on the practice of these three principal aspects?
Because it is said that if we want to practice Dharma well, if we want our practices to become Dharma, then we definitely need to practice these three aspects who are the essence of the teachings. Now this explanation of the need to practice, the need to rely on this, in a sense you can say it’s a preliminary to the actual text. Having covered the preliminary stages of the text, is more than that, as we see then we will enter to the actual body, let’s say, of the root text. Now, we start with the commentary. In the commentary, of course, the first line that we see is the title.
This says that here lies the notes on the subtle guidance that was given on the three principal aspects of the path through the great protector, vajradhara Pänchen Ngawang Chokdrup. The text actually starts with saying that text was composed by a lama whose kindness is great and cannot be compared with others. This text is going to be dealing and explaining the three principal aspects of the path. Now, the commentary continues by saying that what you found here is actually a condensed presentation of the very extensive teachings that were given by Tsongkhapa. When Lama Tsongkhapa gave teachings on the three principal aspects of the path, he gave it in a very detailed way.
Later on, Pänchen Ngawang Chokdrup came and took the most important parts and in a way condensed the teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa. Somebody who was present at those teachings thought that it would be very useful to present this concise teaching that was given by Pänchen Ngawang Chokdrup based on Lama Tsongkhapa’s extensive teachings because it was condensed and it would it have a great purpose to say. Now, we have one line here that says that is quoting something that Lama Tsongkhapa has said. That quote is that this basis of leisure even excels the preciousness of a wish fulfilling jewel. This line was given at that time in order to adjust, to set the motivation the same way, in a very similar way that Rinpoche set the motivation tonight.
What goes after that is an explanation of the proper way to listen to the Dharma and when we talk about listening, the proper way of listening to the Dharma, a very common analogy comes up. We are presented, the students are presented as a vessel, as a vehicle. Now, what is a vessel? A vessel is something that is going to be filled with some other substance. If you, for example, you have tea and you want to pour tea in your cup, your cup becomes the vessel of tea.
Now what we are going to receive is dharma and in that sense we become vessels for receiving the dharma. So the way to listen to the dharma has to be a proper way. It says here that the students have to be free from the three faults of the vessel. If we have any of those three faults, then we are not suitable vessels. We are not listening in the proper way.
Now when we talk about the three faults of the vessel, these are presented in the form of three metaphors. So the first one is like a vessel that is turned upside down. Rinpoche actually picked up that little metal ball and he turned it upside down in the little table in front of him. He was actually indicating what we mean when we talk about the first fault, which is the fault of being like a vessel or a pot that is turned upside down. If you have something which is turned upside down, it means that no matter what you pour, no matter what you let fell into it, it cannot actually get inside the vessel because the vessel is turned upside down.
Now what that actually means when it comes to listening to the dharma? It means that we don’t lend an ear. We don’t really listen properly. If you don’t listen properly, the words of dharma will never reach down, will never come down into your mind, into your heart. So if you don’t listen properly, if you don’t pay attention, you’re like a vase, like a pod, like a vessel which is turned upside down.
Now, the second fault of the vessel is that that is shown with the analogy of a vessel that actually has a punctured bottom. It’s a leaky vessel, in other words. That indicates the case where we actually listen pretty well, we pay attention, but we cannot retain what we hear or have no recollection. When we are paying attention at the time where the teachings are given, if later on we try to remember, we try to recall what was it that we were listening to, we find that there is nothing there, nothing was retained. Now if you have a vessel like that, no matter how much you pour into it, it will never get full because it would always be losing by leaking.
So it’s the same thing with us. If we don’t have recollection, if we cannot remember, if we cannot retain, then we lose whatever we hear. If we were talking about having a glass within which a liquid drink was poured in, eventually the reason why we poured the drink into the glass is because we want to drink from the glass. Now, if you have a glass which is broken in the bottom, that means that at the end everything that you pour into that goes to waste. You end up with having no drink to drink.
It is similar to this case. If we cannot remember what the discourse was about, when we come to the time of meditation, we will have nothing to meditate upon. So everything that was poured into us went into waste. Well, third fault of the vessel is that which is presented to us in a different situation. Suppose you have a vessel who is standing upright, you have a vessel which is intact, but somebody has smeared poison, a substance like poison in it.
Now imagine that you want to use this vessel to eat or to drink from. No matter what sort of substance you drink into there, you realize that if you consume that, you’re going to be in great danger. You can be since the substance will come in contact with the poison, you can easily get sick yourself. Definitely there will be no benefit from consuming that substance and you would even be in danger of dying. Now we give the analogy of the third fault, which was like a vessel which was poisoned.
We come to explaining the actual meaning, the situation that it relates to. That relates to actually having the wrong motivation or when we come to actually use the Dharma to put it into practice, to do that in a faulty way, in a mistaken way. So we have listened carefully and also we have retained the instruction. But when we come to put everything that we have learned into action, when we try to implement all that due to some fault of our motivation, then in a sense we spoil everything. What we do ends up being something that cannot bring benefit.
Now, how can you spoil things? What is the poison in this occasion? Well, first of all, you could be thinking only of yourself. You could be having this thought that, By this practice may I achieve my liberation alone, myself alone. Not including others is a fault.
Now remember that these practices are practices of the great vehicle and what will determine whether or not the practice is the practice of the great vehicle is the motivation itself. So having a fault in the motivation is definitely very similar to having this poison that will spoil whatever good substance comes in contact with it. Another type of fault is actually developing some sort of dislike for the teacher, for the lama who passes on the teachings. You could be in this discourse and actually sitting there and although you say, I really like the subject, that subject matter really suits me, I’m here for it. But this lama, I really have a problem with this lama.
As a matter of fact, I think a couple of times he made a few mistakes. There’s a number of things I don’t like about him. If you generate thoughts like that, then for sure you have this There is a mistake in the way that you take in the information that you try to apply yourself in a dumb situation. Now remember that these things are practices of the great vehicle and therefore the motivation is very important. And the way you should think is that I’m here on this occasion to listen to this teaching so that in the future I can also reflect and I can meditate on these teachings.
I do that so that myself and all sentient beings will be completely free from all the suffering, we experience happiness, which is unsurpassable. So if you set your motivation like that, you will also ensure that the future use of these teachings will be a good one. So in the future when you want to reflect on the teachings, when you want to meditate on them, things will go accordingly to your motivation, accordingly to your So it is stated here that in the beginning it is very important to make sure that those who listen definitely abandon these three faults of the vessel. And it’s very important to make sure that you check your mind and make sure you’re free of these three faults. Now, as we said, it’s very important in the beginning to make sure you are free, you have completely abandoned the three faults.
But on top of that, it says that a proper listener should also have what is called the six recognitions. We’ll start by presenting the first three of them. It says that the first one is to recognize yourself, the listener, as being like a sick person. You are actually a sick person and we’re not referring here to actual physical sicknesses. It’s all a metaphor.
You have to see yourself as like a sick person. Then the second recognition is that of recognizing the Dharma as being like the medicine and recognizing the lama, recognizing the teacher as being a very skilled doctor, very skilled physician. So these are the first three of the six recognitions. They they say that what if the listener has these three recognitions, there’s great benefit for them. When we look at the first one, why do we say they are very beneficial to have these recognitions?
The first one is to see myself or to see any listener as being like a sick person. We’re not talking about ordinary, we’re not talking about mundane physical diseases. We’re taking the whole thing within the context of dharma. If we talk about the context of dharma, what is that makes you sick is suffering. So in that sense you’re like a sick person, you’re a patient because you’re suffering.
Now when we talk about sickness, in a sense you can talk about physical sickness or sickness of the body and sickness of the mind, mental sickness. Sickness. When we look at the physical sickness, usually what falls in that category is, for example, a headache or any aches that you could have in any part of your body, in your hands, in your legs, anywhere in the body. Now when we talk about that sort of physical sickness, we are talking about the sensation of physical suffering. Where does this physical sickness, this physical suffering comes from?
Usually it originates from mental suffering. Sickness. Now here, when we talk about the first recognition of seeing oneself as being a patient, a sick person, we are specifically talking about this mental suffering. Really when we talk about the mental suffering, what we have to look at is that which afflicts the mind and that which afflicts the mind is what’s called the mental afflictions And if we look at the different categories of them, if I got the number correct, it’s forty six. Now, as you said, we could say that we have a large number of mental afflictions but they can all be condensed into three main ones which is attachment, hatred and ignorance, the three main ones.
So really what we do is asking ourselves, examining in a sense, do we have attachment within our minds? Do we have hatred within our minds? Do we have confusion in our minds or not? When we look at these main afflictions, what we have to understand is that they aren’t together with us. Us.
They have been with us since beginningless time, since the beginning of saṃsāra which cannot be posited within the frame of time. Those three have been together with us and those are the three that have been continuously afflicting our minds. Now, let’s look for example to the presence of attachment within our minds. It afflicts us and when we come under the influence of attachment what happens is that we lose our own self control. It’s very similar to a situation of being intoxicated, of being drunk.
So once you’re drunk with your attachment, then you can see how easily you can end up, for example, stealing or engaging in sexual misconduct and so forth. There’s something common in a situation where you are drunk and you have lost control of your actions. In a situation where you are afflicted you are under the power, under the influence of strong desire attachment. Now let’s look at some physical manifestations of anger. Once you become, let’s say, intoxicated, once you become under the influence of anger, you can see how, for example, your face can turn red, how your whole body starts shaking and how you can actually physically harm, attack other people, hit other people.
All these are results of being under the influence of anger. Now we come to the third one which is confusion. Confusion is the stage where no matter how much others try to explain something to you, try to make something clear to you, you still remain ignorant about that situation. It seems that you’re not capable of understanding what is involved in the situation. You might have plans about things you want to do and you find yourself in a situation where you just don’t know how to do it.
So this sense of confusion, this ignorance, this darkness of the mind is the third of those three main ones. We have come to a point to say that we are actually sick and we have this sickness where we are suffering under the influence of strong attachment, of hatred, of confusion and many other mental afflictions. If you see yourself as a sick person, then of course you have to generate this wish to say, Yes, I am sick right now, but I want to recover, I want to get better. How am I going to get better? How can I possibly abandon all these mental afflictions that exist within my mind?
Well then definitely I need to rely on some sort of medicine. When we talk about medicine we have to see the dharma as playing the act of the medicine. The best medicine, of course, comes in the form of those three principal aspects. The best medicine is this combination of renunciation of bodhicitta and correct view. What Rinpoche was saying was that in a sense you have to understand that without those three principal aspects of the path there will be no recovering.
So in a sense you have to hammer those things into your mind. You definitely have to get those three things right. Renunciation, bodhicitta and emptiness. There’s no recovery from that. So in that sense, this is how we have to definitely see ourselves as a sick person because unless you realize you are sick, there would be no intention for any recovery.
Now, what we actually see though, when we talk about the great number of mental afflictions that exist, as we say, we can summarize all those into the three main afflictions of our attachment, of our anger and of our ignorance. So in a sense, we have three root afflictions. In that way you can see why we need to have three principal aspects of the path. These three correlate because the three principal aspects of the path, each one acts as a very strong exterminator, you can say, of each one of the three root afflictions. We have renunciation and this is the one that is going to deal with attachment.
We have bodhicitta which is the one who is going to deal with anger and eventually we have the correct view which is the one that we have to put up the front, so to say, with ignorance or confusion. Once again, we explained that amongst these six recognitions, the first one, the most important is to start seeing yourself as being the sick person. Then you have to recognize Dharma as being the medicine. And then you have to have a particular recognition for the person who is teaching you the Dharma, for the lama. So the lama is to be recognized as a very skillful ful doctor.
So having explained the first three of the special recognitions, we are continuing with the remaining three. The fourth one is to see the Tathagatas, so all the Buddhas, to be as beings who are supreme, who are immaculate beings. Then we need to generate the recognition or the thought that the Buddhist teachings are to remain in this world for a very long time. Because realizing that if the teachings remain for a very long time, a great number of sentient beings is going to be benefited, then we should develop this sort of thinking for the Buddhist teachings, that they should remain for long. Eventually, the last one is a particular recognition that if we keep relying on the Dharma, if we keep doing the practices in the correct way, then definitely our condition will improve.
We will overcome our afflictions, we will abandon those afflictions that will be eliminated and therefore our condition will improve. From this state of sickness we will move in a healthier state. I may actually say that if one is to engage in any type of practice, whether one listening, one is reflecting, meditating or whatever one does in terms of Dharma, is very important to have these six recognitions. Now, the commentary continues now by saying that this instruction that you find here is actually instruction on the graduated path to enlightenment. And when we talk about the graduated path to enlightenment, this is the one and only path that has been followed by the Buddhas of the past, is being followed by the present Buddhas, and will be followed by the future Buddhas.
There is no other path through which enlightenment is achieved. One should not entertain the thoughts that maybe some Buddhas of the past or some of the present or some of the future, they will bypass this path, will find another alternative way. There is no other way than this main path, the graduated path to enlightenment. Also they say that this instruction is like the heart, like the essence of all the teachings. It is the life of the teachings.
It is the main thing that runs across the teachings. Now, we talk about the heart or the essence. For example, Rinpoche was saying when we talk about milk and you try to find the essence, the condensed essence of milk, then it comes down to butter. So these teachings are like, how should I say, the heart, the essence of the whole graduated path. In a similar way they say that it is the life of the path, the life force of the path.
Now we look at ourselves at living sentient beings. If you take away the life, sentient being is finished, is dead. So in a similar way, we have this instruction that is the very life, it is the very root of the whole path. Now, when we talk about the great vehicle, it’s important to know what is the goal of all these practices of the great vehicle. As practitioners of the great vehicle, we say that what we aspire is to reach the state of Buddhahood, the state of enlightenment.
Why is it that we aspire to reach this state? It’s because we say that we want to liberate all sentient beings from suffering, and by liberating them from suffering we want to place them into a state of complete bliss. But how is it that we’ll be capable of liberating all sentient beings from suffering and placing them in such a state of bliss? Unless we reach enlightenment we won’t be able to achieve this target, this goal. So in a sense, it is very important to know that the goal of the great vehicle is to attain perfect enlightenment.
Having understood that the goal of the great vehicle is to attain the state of Buddhahood, then it is very important for us to establish that, to actualize that goal. We have to reach that goal. In order to reach that goal, one needs to have some understanding of how to get there, how to establish that. Because we don’t know it, we don’t know the method, and we don’t know how to achieve that, it is very important for us to listen. It is important for us to hear to the teachings.
It is similar to any situation where you are ignorant about something and somebody else has the know how. Somebody will come and explain it to you. You should be receptive to all this information that explains to you how you will attain it. Also it is very important to understand that if we are to establish this goal, if we are to achieve this state of Buddhahood, then we must achieve this through certain means. The means that are establishing that is particular practices, particular Dharma practices.
So we should be relying on the correct practices that have the potency to establish that result. If you want to establish the goal, you have to rely on the proper methods. As we say, in order to reach our goal, need to rely on Dharma that is establishing that particular goal. That Dharma that we need to rely on is exactly this advice, these teachings that came down to us from Lama Tsongkhapa. Lama Tsongkhapa was the one who initially composed the text and gave teachings on this text that is called the three principal aspects of the path.
Now these teachings were given on a special occasion. Lama Tsongkhapa had a particular student who seemed to be a very special student who was the one who requested these teachings. His name was Ngawang Dragpa and he seemed to be he had a special position in a particular area, the Tsako area. He was a minister there. What they said is that the how shall we say the intention or the thought of Lama Tsongkhapa was passed into this particular student.
And for that reason, the text is a very important text. Alright, so actually we’ve almost reached nine o’clock and Rinpoche was thinking maybe we should stop here with the presentation of the text and allow some time for questions. I have something to say. I was talking about the number of afflictions before and I said, I think I said sixty four, it’s eighty four thousand of them. Eighty four thousand.
Yeah. Oh, well. I other eighty four thousand or eight thousand four hundred. That’s a lot. It’s When we practice, we practice on the basis of thought, but thought doesn’t have, from its own side, any stable quality.
Rinpoche also said that we’ve had these three poisons with us Okay, I am going to repeat the question for the people who are sitting in the back. Say that when we are practising, we are practising on the basis of thought. It seems that thought does not have much stability. Yet what we have to deal with is the three poisons and all these afflictions that have been with us since the beginning of this time. So how could it be possible that something which is not very concrete, like a thought not very stable, how could thought counteract such strong afflictions?
Is this what you are asking? Alright, now what do you mean that I just need to clarify with you that we practice on the basis of thought. You mean it’s all the mental process or? Example, when you are with your teacher, you’re inspired. You’re not.
So actually, you’re talking about the intention to practice, not the actual practice or the wish to practice? I guess what I’m saying is that the when you engage in practice you’re doing it on the basis of thinking you’re developing your bodhicitta, you’re thinking about the nature of reality, your ideas, you’re thinking about the nature of saṃsāra and therefore trying to get a feeling for that situation. So on the basis of thinking, you are trying to create a practice. Okay. So it is all on the basis of thinking, we try to create a practice and how could that be strong enough to counter?
Don’t why you said that question. Okay. What I’m saying is that actually quite a lot is happening, let’s say, on a conceptual level, on a level of thought. Now initially you don’t really understand the situation you are in very well. This is why it is very important to listen very carefully, to accumulate as much information as possible to understand, to assess the situation you are, to understand that you have afflictions, to understand that there is a method of eliminating these afflictions and so forth.
First of all, you need to assess your situation. You need to understand your situation very well. Once you understand the situation you are in, then you generate this thought which is called the thought of renunciation. Now this is the initial one. Then further on, you employ different means, you promote different methods such as the seven fold cause and effect method in order to generate your bodhicitta.
Then following that, you have to proceed into the third level where you have to generate the correct view into your mind. Now, if we look at what is happening at the time where you are generating or you’re striving to generate the correct view, what you are trying to do is you’re trying to oppose a mistaken idea, a mistaken conception that already exists in your mind. So we are talking about initially working at a conceptual level, at the level of ideas, as you put it. What happens is that we have a very strong grasping of true existence. This is a completely mistaken thought.
What we need to generate is an understanding of the lack of inherent existence. That thing becomes the most potent, direct antidote to the main mistake that exists within our own minds. What we try to do is we try to generate that antidote, that correct understanding of the mode of existence of things. Now once you generate that correct antidote into your mind, that seems to be cutting through the roots of those three main afflictions. The same way you can have a tree, a well developed tree, that relies on its roots in order to have a big trunk, to have branches, to have fruit, to have leaves and so forth.
If you were to have a very sharp axe and if you were to hit at the proper point several times, you could destroy, you could cut off the trunk from the roots. Now, if you destroy the roots, this whole tree, this collection of all these parts of the tree, would be eliminated once and for all. So it’s a very similar thing that we do once we generate this direct antidote to self grasping. This is the one that will cut through the root of ignorance. Once you cut through that, all the proliferation of mental afflictions will automatically cease by stopping that one.
Rinpoche was saying that if you generate that antidote, it’s as if you actually have a chainsaw that does the job very quickly and very efficiently. You cut through that. You can see it’s a process that starts from, as we said, assessing your situation, generating your renunciation with bodhicitta and eventually working towards developing this correct view. Okay? If we don’t have an understanding of emptiness, then in a sense we have no chance of defeating this self grasping and that’s why it’s very important to generate that understanding.
So in order to do that, actually you have to rely on your bodhicitta. And how are you going to rely on your bodhicitta unless you have compassion? And how are you going to have compassion unless you have renunciation? One relies on the previous one. And that’s why it’s very important to start from the beginning, to meditate from the first one.
You meditate on renunciation. Because if you do have renunciation, no matter what you practice, no matter what you engage to becomes a cause towards liberation from cyclic existence. Because they say that if we lack renunciation, no matter what practice we do, no matter what virtue we engage in, it just becomes another cause for remaining and rotating within cyclic existence. When we talk about cyclic existence we can present it from the point of view of fortunate and unfortunate migration. We would know in general that if we can accumulate virtue then this will end up as a this will result as ourselves rotating within cyclic existence but within the fortunate migrations.
If we accumulate non virtue, we continue to rotate within cyclic existence but this time we are in the unfortunate migrations. Now when we talk about karma, when we talk about our actions, we can look at them from the point of view of having virtuous karma or having non virtuous karma. And of course when we talk about non virtuous karma, this would consist of actions that are done under the influence of afflictions. But the point is that even when we engage in virtuous actions, these virtuous actions, this virtuous karma is always going to be influenced by our ignorance. So because ignorance is going to be mixed with this virtuous karma, we will continue to remain within cyclic existence.
Now they say that once we come to the point of having a perceptual realization of emptiness, then it is not possible for this ignorance to influence our virtuous karma. We come eventually, we start a situation where we only accumulate pure virtue and they say that this is the time where we put an end to saṃsāra. Now remember what we said that the afflictions are like a poison and whatever you mix with poison is definitely going to go to waste even if you have the best food, the best substance, you mix it with poison, it becomes poison as well. If you have a bad substance and you mix it with poison, again it remains a bad substance, becomes a poisonous bad substance. So this is what happens with afflictions.
Whatever comes in contact with affliction, whatever is afflicted by them becomes polluted in that way. And exactly because we say afflictions are like a poison, we need to be very careful. And is actually a rather frightening thing that makes you see actually that you have to be quite brave. Right? Okay.
Hope everybody is very brave here. Yeah. I want you to bash those afflictions. Okay. Yeah.
Maybe we stop here. Yeah.