Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Here is the paragraph:
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Why the wise generate renunciation by examining even fortunate human rebirth — not just the terror of the lower realms — is the thread running through this 98-minute session by Khensur Rinpoche on the first of the three principal aspects of the path. He opens with karma: how field, motivation, basis, and continuity determine the intensity of an action, and why pledging to abandon the ten non-virtuous actions establishes the mundane correct view. The core traces renunciation step by step: suffering in the lower and higher migrations, and the three types of suffering — suffering of suffering, suffering of change, and all-pervasive derived-aggregate suffering. Genuine renunciation is illustrated by the image of a child dreading a parent’s imminent death, unable to stop worrying night and day. Bodhicitta and emptiness are deferred to a future session.
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128 words. The opening foregrounds the doctrinal distinction that makes this session stand out (the “wise” line from the text), topics follow in the order they appear, and the closing sentence signals series context without padding.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 10 3PA 2001 07 11.mp3
UUID: 7f637511-fca9-4996-8096-3277e841d6df
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: 3 Principle Aspects of the Path (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 2001-07-11
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 98.2 minutes
Words: ~7,738
Now, we talked last time about actions and about karma and we were talking about the different the strength or the power of the karma and the results that come from that. Now since we’re talking about the strength of karma, it is important to consider that the strength of karma can be determined in accordance with different factors. So we talk about karma that can be strong in terms of the field, in terms of the intention, in terms of the motivation, in terms of the basis, in terms of the continuity and so forth. So all these factors can actually contribute towards the intensity of the actions, the karma that we create. Let’s take the first one for example.
We talk about karma which is strong due to the field. Now when we talk about a strong field, we’re talking about the field of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Now these beings, they have such great qualities that whatever you do towards them is going to be multiplied. If you do something also your own lama falls into that category. If you do something beneficial towards them, even if the action is not so big, it becomes intensified, it becomes bigger due to the power of the basis.
Again the negativity seems to increase dramatically because of the power of the field. Then we can look at the other case which is the intention or the motivation. Now, for example, let’s say that you engage in a certain virtuous activity and you do it with a very strong motivation, very strong faith, very strong love, very strong compassion, things like that. The more intense the motivation is, the more intense the result will be or the action will be. And therefore we definitely have to take motivation into consideration when we try to estimate how grave, how how big the karma and its consequences are going to be.
Now the same thing, of course, applies to the negative things. If you do something motivated through very strong anger, very strong attachment, very strong jealousy and so forth, of course these things are going to intensify the actions that you’re doing. Again, if the intensity of the motivation is not so strong, it’s not particularly If it is a medium sized motivation or even if it is a small sized motivation, then again this is going to change the intensity of the karma that is created. Another important factor to consider is the basis. When we talk about basis, we talk about individuals who hold vows.
As long as you hold vows, the ordinary basis you have is transformed, it becomes sort of like an exalted basis, right? So people who are ordained, because of course they hold the vows of ordination, but also lay people who can at any time hold the lay vows, bodhisattva vows, tantric vows, whoever is holding vows, The way you behave towards those beings has to be very carefully considered because again, due to the fact that they are a special basis because they hold vows, that can intensify the actions whether they are positive or whether they are negative. The last one we mentioned was continuity. Now of course you realize that if it is an action that you have great familiarity and you keep repeating it, doing it over and over again, eventually this action that is repeatedly and continuously done becomes something which is pretty big. Now if it is something that is done occasionally, sometimes, you know, intermediately, then the strength of the action is not so strong.
So all these factors can change, as we say, the intensity, the strength of the karma that we create. Now, in brief, when we talk about really karma, we talk about good or bad karma, positive and negative, really comes down to the ten non virtuous actions. Are you going to engage in those, which means you’re going to be engaging in negative actions, or you’re going to abandon those. If you abandon the ten non virtuous actions, what you establish, in a sense, is the opposite of that, which is called the ten virtuous actions. Now, when we talk about abandoning the ten non virtuous actions, the thinking behind it is because we see that somebody is harmed.
Every time that non virtuous actions are done, somebody out there is harmed. So we really need to sit there and consider and see all the harm that is induced and say, Well, I don’t want to be part of this harm, I don’t want to harm anybody. Therefore, what I can do is that I will abandon these ten non virtuous actions. It is very important to be specific on that level and when you say I don’t want to engage in these actions anymore, it’s important to generate a mind that in a sense makes a pledge. You need to have vows, you need to make the promise that you will never do that thing again.
Otherwise, if, let’s say accidentally, you don’t engage in the ten non virtuous actions, this is not necessarily the practice of virtue. You’re not practicing morality. You haven’t promised to abandon them, just happen not to engage in them for the time being. It is important to consider that negativity is done, when non virtuous actions are done, everybody is harmed. It’s not just that the other person is harmed but eventually you yourself, you will have to experience the result of this negative action in the future.
So in the long term, not only the other person in front of you but also yourself, you are harmed from non virtuous actions and for that reason it is very important to be determined and turn this determination into the form of a vow and say, I will never do it. In this life I will never engage again in the ten non virtuous actions. If there is too much then you say for one year, if you cannot do it for a year, you say for a month, at least for one day I will not do any of those. This is how virtue is generated. You promise never to do it.
Abandonment comes from promising never to do it. It’s very important to actually abandon the ten non virtuous actions because this is how you establish virtue. If you abandon non virtue, you establish eventually virtue. And this particular intention and this particular promise is actually what is called the mundane correct view. Now, if we examine sentient beings, we usually categorize them into groups.
We have the ordinary beings and we have the aryas. When we talk about ordinary beings, we talk about beings who do not have comprehension of emptiness. Now those who have this perceptual comprehension of emptiness and have that type of correct view, they’re called the ārya beings, the supreme beings. They are above everybody else. Now, once we you can still be an ordinary being, you can still have this determination towards establishing virtue and if you do have that and if you do abandon the ten non virtuous actions then you have what is called the mundane correct view.
You’re still an ordinary person but you have the best possible view within this mundane world and within your limitations of the view of emptiness. Alright? So it is said that this mundane correct view actually becomes the base for any other practice. Whether you practice small vehicle, whether lesser vehicle or whether you practice great vehicle, it’s going to be practiced on the basis of this view. Whether you take ordination, the first steps of ordination or full ordination, they all depend on that.
All practices we do and all attainments we have, they depend, they rely upon this correct view, the mundane correct view. It’s very important for us to generate it. Now, when we look at the text of the Lam Rim, we look at the first syllable of the Lam. Lam means the path, the road that leads somewhere and of course here we indicate that we are talking about the path that leads to perfect and complete enlightenment. And if we look at the Lamrim, if we look at the stages of the path, it says that the beginning of this path is to correctly devote yourself to your guru, to your spiritual master.
And why is that so? Because by relying on the teacher, the teacher has the capacity to introduce to yourself which are the faults and which are the good qualities. They make this basic distinction and they pick up the faults and they also show you the good qualities. Qualities. So only if you can understand those and start differentiating those, can say that you started, you entered the path that can take you to enlightenment.
As we say, in the long run, the beginning of the path starts with relying on the guru, but actually, we can also say that the beginning can start from the point where we introduce the leisures and endowments. And then the question is that by relying on that we start our meditation, we engage in the path. But where does meditation begin? Well, meditation starts with setting the motivation. Motivation is said to be the beginning of meditation.
And again with motivation we say that it is very important to start all activities and especially meditation with a positive motivation. That means that we have to make sure that we adjust the state of our mind to make sure it’s a positive one. It is quite often that we are not in a very neutral state of mind. We are in a quite opposite state of mind, even negative state of mind. And this is why there are certain techniques which sometimes are conjoined with breathing that they are designed in order for us to help us go through this process of expelling all negativity out of our minds, out of our bodies and then in that way neutralizing the mind.
And on the basis of the neutral mind then we can develop a very positive motivation, then we can develop bodhicitta and so forth. Motivation is the beginning of meditation. But what is the beginning of actual practice? Well, we mentioned that yesterday when we said that understanding of cause and effect is the one that is an indication of whether a person is practicing or not. Having understood that one needs to completely abandon the ten non virtuous actions and embrace the virtue that is established by abandoning those, then you can say that you have Now, there’s a story again from an anecdote from Je Rinpoche when he was in Tibet where, you know, in Tibet, the practice of meditation was a very common practice.
Of course, there was at some point where Lama Tsongkhapa thought he would stir a little bit of the waters and he thought, Well, I think it’s about time to ask all these meditators and get an opinion. Where does your meditation begin? All of you engage in meditation but what is it that you call the beginning of your meditation? Eventually, of course, there was discussion about that and we have the correct answer that passed down to us probably from the Pänchen Lama’s and he says that he put it in a verse form which says that, As the Sanskrit in the beginning of the text, saw the motivation in the beginning of meditation. Now why did he say that?
If you have ever looked at any text, any word by word translation of a text, always see that in the beginning we have the title of the text which is written in Sanskrit. Although the text might be Tibetan, the body of the text is Tibetan. You find the title of the text appearing in Sanskrit. Now, reason for that was to indicate that these teachings were authoritative teachings, were teachings that came originally from India. They were teachings that came down straight from the Lord Buddha himself and therefore were authentic teaching and they were teachings to be relied upon.
So if you had a good text, you would know if the text was authentic or not by simply looking at the title and if you could see Sanskrit you would say, Okay, I can go ahead with the text. So the advice is, with your meditation you have to make sure you set the motivation at the beginning. If you set that in the beginning, then everything will follow in the correct way. The similar as it happens with the text that follows after the Sanskrit title. So as for the Sanskrit in the beginning of the text, similarly with a meditation, you have to make sure motivation is in place and is correct.
Now, we need to be clear here, Tibetans are quite careful when it comes to relying on different sources, right? So they wouldn’t necessarily accept any text just because there is a rumor or it is presented as a Buddhist text. They would like to check and make sure that indeed this is an authentic Tibetan text, and only then they would generate this faith and trust necessary to rely upon this text. Now, we talked about the law of cause and effect and all that is presented in this text within the, let’s say, the broader outline of renunciation We talk a lot about the results of karma, the results of positive karma and the results of negative karma. Now, it is important to understand the law of cause and effect because if you don’t understand it or if you ignore it, then the result that comes from that is that a lot of negativity is accumulated and then you end up in a lower migration.
Now, it is only after you start abandoning negativity and only after you start practicing pure virtue that you have chances to get a fortunate migration. From within the fortunate migrations, we are especially seeking the migrations of a human and we try to bring about one migration of the human after the other in order to be capable of continuing our practices. The fact is that if we fall into a lower migration we will have very few opportunities to listen to the Dharma. And even if we do happen to listen to any Dharma, we will not have the space to practice because the suffering is so intense that it does not allow us any mental space to engage in any practices. So falling into a law of migrations in a sense puts an end to our chances for reaching liberation.
It’s finished once you fall in there and have very little chances for any escape. For that reason it is very important to make sure that we establish fortunate migrations and that means either humans or divines and then try to get that one time after the other again and again. Now, within the realms of the humans, then we can say that we have a very good opportunity for attaining liberation. If we can become very clear on what is to be abandoned and what is to be practiced, then in a sense the practice is very easy. What we do is we purify thoroughly all negativity and we try to practice as much virtue as possible.
As Ārya Nāgārjuna has said, now there are two things to be attained. First, you attain a high rebirth and then you attain a higher goal, which means that first of all we need to make sure we have a proper life, right? A life either as a human or as a god, a high rebirth. Because if you are in a high rebirth, then you can start saying, you know, my next goal is liberation, my next goal is enlightenment. You cannot have the high goals unless you have a high birth.
We talk about renunciation and we say that in order to generate renunciation, first of all, you have to really examine the situation within cyclic existence and see all the faults that are associated with cyclic existence. If you start seeing faults everywhere and if you can generate this mind that wishes to escape from this situation, then you can say that you have generated renunciation. When we say to look at all the faults of cyclic existence, you really have to look at it and identify the elements that make it impermanent, that make it impure, that make it associated with suffering and so forth. How we do that is we do it in a very systematic way. First we start by concentrating on the suffering of the three lower migrations and then we concentrate on the suffering of the three higher migrations, right?
First of all we start with the hells and with the hells, as we know, we have the eight hot hells and then we have the eight cold hells. So we start with the first of the hot hells and we start imagining the suffering that is described to be experienced there until we generate a very strong aversion towards this situation. And then we continue with the second, the third, up to the eighth hot hell. And then we go through the eight cold hells. And when we finish with the hells, and we are definite that we don’t want to experience that type of suffering, then we start contemplating how life would be if we were to be born as a hungry ghost and then as an animal.
When we finish with those three main categories of lower migrations, then we have to be absolutely sure that we don’t want to experience any of these types of suffering and that it’s imperative that we attain liberation, that we definitely escape all this situation. They say that the beginning of renunciation starts with the point where you are completely disgusted with the suffering of the three lower migrations. But your job hasn’t finished there, it has just started. So what you need to do after that is to actually examine everything that takes place within the higher migrations as well because there is suffering that is associated with higher migrations as well. So once you complete all that and once you have also developed this sense of very strong aversion towards the experiences of higher migrations, then you can say that you have a fully qualified renunciation.
This is how you can say you started it and then you completed the whole development of renunciation. Now, we all know that the great sufferings in the hells, in the hungry ghosts, realms, and in the animals, It doesn’t take much to generate aversion. We hear about the great suffering and we say, Oh yeah, for sure I don’t want to be there, I know that. It’s easy to generate, in a sense, pretty quickly because we are afraid so much about this suffering that straight away we generate this thought that I need to be free from that type of suffering, I need my liberation from that sort of situation. You know how if you read the Lamrim, how this part of the text that talks about the suffering, I mean, it can be presented in a very elaborated way.
They say that Lama Soferme, initially when he started teaching, like he would spend days and days over the suffering and eventually that gave him title of the Lama of Suffering. Told him nothing but suffering of the It’s very easy in a sense to generate this sense of urgency to avoid all the suffering in the three lower migrations. The bigger the suffering, the bigger the aversion. The bigger the suffering, the easier to generate this sense of urgency for liberation and renunciation for that particular suffering. But the thing is that we have to generate that feeling not only for the lower migration but for the fortunate ones.
We have to start identifying the faults that exist within the so called fortunate migration. Now, is another line actually that is a line that talks about how you can differentiate those who are really learned, those who are wise men, wise people and it says the wise are the ones who can develop renunciation by focusing on the fortunate migration. Now what is implied by that is that we all have fear, we all have apprehensions and we all have heard about the suffering of the lower migration. It’s not so difficult to generate your renunciation on the basis of the lower migration but if you are somebody who really knows the situation of things then you would definitely have to look and examine and find faults in the so called fortunate as well. We all know about the suffering, as we say in the lower migrations, we all have heard about the suffering of extreme heat, of freezing cold in the hells, of the animals eating each other alive and so forth.
And as we say, it’s easy to generate renunciation for that. But if we stop and really think about the human realm, why is the human realm free from any suffering? Don’t we experience the suffering of heat and cold? Rinpoche was saying, maybe I’ve forgotten how hot it was this summer in Adelaide, really hot. As you’re considering the heat by a few months ago, now you just have to walk out these days where it’s getting really cold, right?
These are not very pleasant experiences. We all suffer from heat and cold. And then you see how things turn out always with our wishes, with the things that we would like to get or experience. You run after something because you really want to have it and you never get to get it. There is this disappointment of never getting what you want to get.
Then if you find something or someone that you really like, it’s almost for sure you’re going to experience the suffering of being separated. And as for the things that you meet or the people that you meet or things that come your way, this is always trouble, right? You don’t wish to meet them, you’re going to meet them. You wish to stay with them, you’re going to be separated. There is a large number, a great variety of suffering and then as all this is happening in the background, of course, we have the usual suffering of birth and aging and sickness and death and so forth.
So there is all this there are all these layers of suffering, all these experiences, unpleasant experiences at the end. And this is why it is said. They don’t need to look at the lower migrations. They can look with wisdom at the higher migrations and they can see all the suffering that is in there and they generate this very strong sense, this urge for reaching a state of freedom, of liberation from this situation. And make very strong, sincere prayers and wishes.
May I reach liberation as quick as possible. May I get out of this fortunate rebirth as well? May I completely escape? We have all this development in the field of technology, right? You have the cars and they have all these factories that produce these wonderful things that you can buy and use and so forth and then after some years you realise that you have started changing the climate.
So you have this global warming and the whole climate has changed, has come upside down and everyone says, I bet this island is going to become the hottest place. The great suffering of intense heat is coming to Ireland. Unless you have an air condition, It is very important to think about those things again and again until you generate this very strong wish, this urge and you say, There is no other way. I have to reach liberation. It’s indispensable.
I can’t be without it. I need to be liberated from all these situations. But what is it that really makes us generate this strong wish, this strong aversion? Well, it is suffering, so suffering serves us in that way. Now you know how the Pope, seven years ago, he published a book.
He was talking about Buddhism and described it as the the most pessimistic view because it always talks about suffering, right? Now you might get some criticism from the Pope, but as a matter of fact, there is some reason why there is such a detailed presentation of suffering. The Buddha himself had some reason for saying, No, that there is suffering, and going through this very detailed presentation of suffering. The thing is that we don’t even know that the situation we experience should be classified as unpleasant, should be classified as suffering. We go through different experiences and we say this is acceptable, this is okay, or this is is even happiness.
So we hold that which is suffering as happiness. And only after we hear it again and again and only after we meditate on it for a very long time, only then we start looking at things with a different eye, with a different idea and then we are surprised and we say, Oh, all those things that I thought were pleasant and acceptable and happy situations, now I see them as suffering. And if this is the case, then there is no place for me within cyclic cyclic existence. Wherever I look it’s full of suffering, therefore I need to get out of it. Unless you really think like that, unless you really concentrate on suffering, you’re never going to generate that thought.
So there is benefit in talking about suffering. In the long run actually we have different ways of talking about the suffering. We have the list of eight sufferings. Initially you are presented with four sufferings, then they become eight. Then there is another presentation of six.
We also have a presentation of three types of suffering. So there is a variety of presentations. And all the suffering is to be understood to be experienced not just by those of the lower migrations, not just by humans, by divine beings as well. So as we say, initially we start with the four fundamental types of suffering: the birth, ageing, sickness and death. And then we add another four types of suffering which is the suffering of being separated from nice people or nice things, the suffering of meeting with that which is unpleasant, the suffering of searching for that that you would like to have and never been capable of attaining it.
The last one is the individual types of suffering that is associated with the particular sets of aggregates that we have. So this make up a list of eight different types of suffering that is experienced by everybody. Beremsa started with the presentation of the group of six types of suffering and he started enumerating them and he finished by saying, There are so many of them, right? You can keep adding up in the list different types of suffering. For example, we look at this situation of our friends and our enemies and we know that there is no certainty what so ever that the roles will remain stable and as they are.
There’s nothing that remains static. People who are your friends at the beginning of your life later on turn to be enemies. People who start like us enemies, later on they turn to be somebody who really supports and benefits you. So there is no certainty, you never know how long one person would remain your friend or your enemy. Then there is this other situation that we keep having to die and then being reborn again, being conceived over and over again.
And through this process we have to discard the old body with however difficult this process is and then get a new set of aggregates and then again discard it and then again get another one. And then, of course, there’s this suffering of changing position ourselves. We struggle so much to get up at the top to improve our situation and as soon as we establish that, then something happens and we fall down again. Or if we are down and for some reason the conditions change again and then we start moving up again. So there is this continuous change, there’s no certainty in any position.
And then at other times we find ourselves that we go through this suffering of loneliness. Loneliness in the sense that there is no one there who could share the experience with us. For example, when we are born and even more important, when we die, there is no one who could share this experience with us. We go through these very important times completely alone. So there are different types of suffering.
Now, if we are to look at the suffering that is presented as a group of three, we start with the first one which is the suffering suffering. When we talk about the suffering of suffering, say that if you want to look at suffering you have to look at the five aggregates. The five aggregates are the suffering itself. What we mean about that is we are actually talking about the feeling of suffering, And this feeling of suffering is experienced because we have the five aggregates. Now any sensation, any ache you have, any pain you have, all this is a very good example of the suffering of suffering.
So a headache, a toothache, a stomachache, these are examples of the suffering of suffering. Now, another type of suffering that we have to undergo is what is called the suffering of change. We’re going to give us an example of the situation of a person who is very hungry. So you have an empty stomach and you’re hungry. You’re experiencing this suffering of hunger.
And then what you do is you get some food and as you get food and your hunger subsides you have this sense of contentment, of satisfaction. So you say, Oh, I’m right now. This is an experience of happiness. I’m happy because my stomach is full. You keep eating, you continue consuming and you end up completely sick.
So you go from this feeling of feeling content and with a nice full stomach feeling quite happy about it, you feel sick at the end which means that this original experience of happiness did not remain as happiness but instead it changed, it turned into suffering and this is the suffering of change. The same thing happens when we look at situation. Sit somewhere in the shade and you say, Oh, it’s very nice and cool here in the shade. You stay there long enough and you start getting the chills and you say, Oh, I might step outside in the sun. You step out in the sun and in the first five-ten minutes it’s very nice and comfortable as you warm up.
But the longer you remain there, the more uncomfortable you think. At the end you end up sick with a sun stroke or something, yeah? The suffering of change. We talk about this reaching liberation. In order to reach liberation you must have a very strong wish to attain such a state.
You must have a very strong recognition of the fact that everything around you is very unsatisfactory. You have to look at the whole of cyclic existence and say, This is not good enough. As a matter of fact, it’s so bad that I really want to get out of here. I can’t wait to get out of here. I want to reach a state of liberation.
Now, what is it that you’re trying to escape from? What is it that you want to be liberated from? Well, it’s exactly this set of derived aggregates. We talk about the aggregates being derived because they come as a result of something. As long as you engage in contaminated actions and afflictions, you’re going to have to take another set of aggregates.
They are derived because they come from these actions and afflictions. And when we talk about liberation, talk about a situation where we no longer have to take another set of these types of aggregates which means you have to stop creating these causes of contaminated actions and afflictions. Unless they stop, we have to go to get another set of aggregates and with this set of aggregates experience suffering in all different types of levels and types and intensity. And when we finish with this particular set of suffering, we discard this set of aggregates and then due to our karma we get another set of aggregates and again we go through the same experience again. Now, when we talked about the first type of suffering, the suffering of suffering, we said it is the feeling of suffering.
Now, it doesn’t take much to generate aversion towards that, it doesn’t take much to say I want to avoid it, I want to be free from that. Even the animals have that as an instinct. You see one animal trying to bite the other animal and the other one is trying to avoid it, right? It doesn’t want to be bitten. It knows about the feeling of suffering.
Even animals have this urge to be liberated from the first step of suffering. As for the second one, which is the suffering of change, now you don’t even need to be a Buddhist to aspire for something like that. non-Buddhist, ordinary beings, everybody, wants to experience this change all over again. So what we’re really concentrating on is the last type of suffering, is the one that eventually is telling us that what we try to be liberated from is this set of derived aggregates. How can you put an end to that?
If you can stop that thing, if you can say that I don’t have to take another body like that anymore, then you can say that’s fine, I’ve got my liberation. This is when you attain liberation, when you don’t have to take it anymore. As long as you take that body, then suffering comes together with that. Your experiences will be experiences of suffering. This is what the point is, this is the most important point to understand.
There is a verse that actually puts the whole thing into two lines, but it says, Unless you can see fault in the set of derived aggregates, you will never attain liberation. It’s very clear, unless you can see all the faults and all the mistakes and all the suffering comes from the set of derived aggregates, you will never generate the wish to attain liberation. What is very important is to generate the mind that is seeking for liberation. This mind that is actively seeking for liberation is no other than renunciation. It’s a mind that is completely disappointed at the aggregates, at the situation within cyclic existence.
So unless you can see fault in the situation, you’re not going to aspire to be free from that. This is what it’s actually saying. And when we talk about generating the mind that is seeking for liberation, in order to seek for something you have to consider that thing to be important. You’re not going to have any faith, any respect for the state of liberation unless you’re capable of seeing the faults of this set of aggregates. So unless you can see all the faults that come together with this set of aggregates, you’re never going to generate the thought that says, Now wouldn’t it be nice if I wouldn’t have to take another body like that?
Wouldn’t it be nice if I didn’t have to take another set of derived aggregates? This very thought is the actual mind that is seeking liberation. As we say, there is one particular way that this mind is generated. You have to see the fault in what you want to be liberated from. Now you might be wondering, we talk about reaching the state of liberation, so the question is how are we going to get there eventually?
As we say, first of all, we have to deal with this life, the allure to this life. We have to stop that thing. And how do we stop that? We stop it by practicing ethics. The training in ethics, the training in morality becomes the basis of that.
By practicing ethics and generosity and patience, we are capable of attaining a higher rebirth. Once you attain a higher rebirth and you have that status, then you can start thinking about liberation, right? Now, in order to start wishing for liberation, you have to start looking at the that exist within the set of aggregates that you have even in this higher region. So looking at the faults you generate the wish to reach liberation. And what falls after that is you engage in the training of concentration and after the training of concentration you engage in the training of wisdom.
If you can combine these three types of trainings training in ethics, in concentration and in wisdom what you do is that you actually eliminate the root of cyclic existence. The root of cyclic existence is the fundamental ignorance that is grasping at the self. And if you can completely eradicate the root of cyclic existence, there’s no reason, there’s no cause for you to remain anymore in cyclic existence. So this is how liberation is attained. So we can actually see how the six perfections act as causes for the two main goals that we have.
The first three which is ethics, generosity and patience become the cause for us to establish a higher rebirth. And then concentration and wisdom become the causes for us to attain liberation. As for enthusiastic effort, it is needed at all times for everything. So enthusiastic effort is related both to attaining higher rebirth and to attaining liberation because you’re going to need all the enthusiasm and the effort the effort that you do in practicing generosity and ethics and patience. And also you’re going to need a lot of enthusiasm and effort when you’re practicing concentration and wisdom.
So we see how the six Perfections actually work towards the attainment of our two main goals. When we talked about renunciation, we said that the presentation comes under three headings. The first one is the reason why we need to generate it. The second one is the method or the way in which we generate it. And finally, the measure of having generated.
Now we are ready to start with this third outline which is the measure of having generated and that appears in verse five where it says, Through such familiarity we do not generate even a moment of mental longing for the magnificence of saṃsāra and when the discernment, always seeking emancipation, occurs night and day, at that time renunciation is generated. So we look at the first line where it says, through such familiarity. And what is the familiarity? Familiarity is derived through having thought again and again of four main subjects. The first one is impermanence, the second one is suffering that occurs in migration, the third one is the law of cause and effect and the fourth one is the suffering that is experienced in fortunate migrations.
As we say, by familiarising our minds with that we reverse or we stop, allure both to this life and to future lives. So having done that it says that not even for one minute we do not generate a mental longing for the magnificence of saṃsāra. Not only for saṃsāra but also for the things that are described as pleasures of saṃsāra. Not even for one moment we should not have a longing for those things. Then it says if night and day continuously we have this urging thought that we need to be liberated, we need to reach the state of liberation, We want to avoid saṃsāra.
We need to abandon it completely, leave it behind. If we are at that state, then we can say we have generated. Now, especially these words that say night and day I should seek for this mind that is looking for liberation. They are quite important. Rinpoche was saying, Imagine a situation where you’re still young, you’re still a child, and somebody who’s very close to you, somebody who takes care of you, most probably one of your two parents, maybe your mother, right, is very sick and is about to die.
Now imagine how worried you would be just thinking night and day that any minute my mother could pass away and I’ll be left on my own, right? And who’s going to take care of me? What’s going to become of me? Imagine how you would the whole day will pass on and the whole day you’re worried like that, dreading for the moment and then just before you go to sleep again you entertain these thoughts and again, you go over and over again these scenarios, you know, What if my mother dies? What will happen to me?
Eventually you fall asleep but even during your sleep you wouldn’t be capable of relaxing. So even in your dreams, in a sense you would be quite upset. And then as soon as you wake up and you’re conscious again the next day, again the first thing that would come into your mind was, What happened? Did my mother pass away? What is my situation?
So imagine the agony and the anxiety of a person in that situation. So when it says here night and day, it’s actually we should be in a similar situation. You should spend the whole day thinking that how can I get out of here? How can I attain my liberation? Just before you go to sleep you just fall to sleep sort of exhausted from thinking how can I get out of it?
During your sleep you don’t even relax, during your dreams you even plot different ways of reaching liberation and when you wake up first thing in the morning you say, I’m still here, how can I get out? This is the type of mind. If we are at this stage, if we are alert all the time, then that is a measure, that is a sign of having generated renunciation. There should be no doubt whatsoever. If you are at this state, if you’re so much concerned, if you have that measure of having generated such a strong wish, liberation is very close.
I’m sure we’re saying that as you can see, tonight is the last teaching before Rinpoche goes away. The aim was to complete all three renunciation, bodhicitta and emptiness. As you can see, we just managed to complete renunciation. So the other two remain and we are left to see when the teachings will continue and when the subjects will be completed. Rinpoche was commenting that you have to realize and we all have to realize how precious these teachings are and how precious in a sense is this opportunity.
Rinpoche was saying it’s great from the side of the students that there is this interest and enthusiasm and that they have this opportunity to come and listen to such precious teachings. And for Rinpoche as well, it’s a great opportunity with this great intention of benefiting and teaching those precious teachings. Of course one would have to take it a step further and engage do some practice on those things, that would also be great. There is a great benefit with renunciation because if you can generate renunciation then it says that whatever virtue you do, no matter how big, no matter how small it is, it becomes a cause for your own liberation. So renunciation is something very important, very beneficial.
Rinpoche was saying, I think that if you can get renunciation right, I think the other ones would follow relatively easy. Why? There is a certain way of thinking about that. If you cannot tolerate, even for one minute, suffering for yourself, which is this sense of renunciation, then it is not very difficult to turn those things and apply them to others as well. And as you start applying them initially from those who are very close to you, such as your parents and your friends, and eventually you apply to every sentient being, you see that you come to generate great compassion if you’re concerned with of everybody else.
And once you have generated great compassion, it is relatively easy. It’s just one step away from generating bodhicitta. So it’s not very difficult if you have renunciation. She’s saying I’m going away for a while and when I come back I want to see you all with pure renunciation. Generate the right thing.
Rinpoche was actually quoting Lama Tsongkhapa to establish the point. It’s Lama Tsongkhapa actually who was very meticulous in explaining the reason why we need to do everything, right? So he asked the question, Why is it that we need to hear to the teachings? Why we need to expose ourselves to the teachings? Well, we need to listen to the teachings in order to understand them.
Rinpoche was saying from my side I explained those teachings and you all came here and you listened quite a few hours of these teachings. So the first one, the hearing, is established but you have to wonder, you know, why do we need to listen? We need to listen in order to understand. Now there shouldn’t be any point that has not been made clear. You all understood, you all have an idea and now I should say, Okay, I know what renunciation is all about.
Now what is the purpose of understanding? Well, purpose of understanding is so that you can practice and meditate so that eventually you can generate these experiences within your own continuum, alright? So for sure, I’m sure we have established hearing, we have established the course for hearing, we have established understanding. It is understood that it is