Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. The image of a fork in the road — choose self-cherishing or other-cherishing, and the wrong choice has been made every lifetime until now — opens this 50-minute commentary by Khensur Rinpoche, the second in his Easter Retreat series on the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation. He methodically catalogues the faults of self-centeredness: not just personal suffering through cycles of rebirth, but wars between nations, family conflict, lying, and harmful speech — all traced to a single root. He then argues, with brisk logic and vivid examples, that other-cherishing naturally produces one’s own happiness: giving juice to a thirsty stranger, buying a sheep from slaughter, smiling through someone’s anger — each act plants karma whose fruit returns to the actor alone. Suited to practitioners with some familiarity with Tibetan Buddhist ethical reasoning.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 02 8VTT 1992-Easter Retreat.mp3
UUID: 123b31fd-1e3a-4da1-8145-a5a834e8fac4
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: 8 Verses Thought Transformation (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1992 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 50.0 minutes
Words: ~3,189
Thought transformation in eight stanzas. We’re going to go through these various divisions, and we’ve we’ve discussed this first division of the equality of self and others and wanting happiness and not wanting to suffer. And, as we go through the second and third division, we’re going to be discussing the quality of self centeredness, which wishes to eliminate one’s own problems, which which which brings oneself happiness on the one hand. And then in terms of the third division, the attitude of other cherishing wishing to bring happiness to others and eliminate their suffering.
So we have to decide which of two roads to take. We’ve come to a fork in the road in terms of our practice. You know, on the one hand, there is the the road of other cherishing and the altruistic attitude which wish to benefit others where whereby there is the thought to eliminate the sufferings of others and to bring them happiness. On the other on the other hand, there is a road which leads due to the influence of self grasping and self centeredness to seeking happiness for oneself and to eliminate one’s own problems. So which which road are we to take?
We’ve we’ve come to a fork in the road and and right at the intersection of this fork is the understanding of the equality of self and others that all living beings whoever want happiness and don’t want to suffer. But now proceeding we have to make a choice understanding on the basis of the equality due to the influence of self centeredness and self grasping we are going to take the road which bringing our happiness, eliminating our own problems. Under the influence of a powerful altruism or other cherishing and and other cherishing, we’re going to take the road of seeking to eliminate the problems with others and bring them happiness. So we we would road we aren’t going to make a mistake. An unerring path.
An unerring road. Previously, we’ve always gone down the road due to the force of self grasping and self centeredness under their influence to bring about only our own happiness, to bring to eliminate only our own problem. We’ve always chosen that road in the past. I can hear that that. They don’t know what to know in fact, mistaken road.
And we went to we went to take the other road. Transform our thoughts that we have always taken the wrong road up to now. That this road is full of errors. It’s it’s we’ve always going always gone this road which has many fault. And we have to begin to recognize the fault of this road and and begin to recognize the qualities, the excellent qualities of the other possible road.
And in this way, begin to transform, to train our mind in in a way of thinking which we didn’t previously have. So we have to understand the various faults of taking the road of self centeredness. That if if if we understand the fault, then we simply won’t travel down that road. It’s because we haven’t understood up to now that we that we’ve traveled that road. Once one sees that it’s fault, when then that it’s not in one’s own self interest.
Who would travel such a road? If we were traveling down, we thought to travel down a road in, for example, in Australia. And we were informed informed that this road is full of thieves and bandits just laying in wait. And who who would travel down such a road? Hold on.
[inaudible] So but on the other hand, if you didn’t know that they’re waiting for you, then you might travel that path, and it’s possible that you would have everything stolen. So we have to understand the various faults of of the road that we’ve been traveling down to up to now. So amongst us, there are probably those who accept the notion of past lives and those who do not. And in terms of those who accept this notion of past lives, you know, we have been taking rebirth upon rebirth upon rebirth in the in the past.
And all of these past rebirths have been taken due to the force of our self grasping and self centeredness. Having taken rebirth in the past out of this out of self grasping and self centeredness and which which that is into the attitude of wanting happiness for ourselves and wanting to eliminate our own problem. What that is to say that we’ve taken that road. What has been result? We’ve tried to eliminate our suffering.
We’ve tried to bring our ourselves happiness. But what has what have we gotten out of it? We’ve been led into more suffering. So, you know, we out of having taken this road of self centeredness, out of seeking happiness for ourselves and eliminating our own problems that we have experienced previous experience in previous life suffering. But even even in the course of this life, we continue to suffer all the various types of suffering, birth, aging, diseases, and finally death.
And we all are various mental and physical problems arise through having taken this And likewise, taking the same road in the future, we will undergo the same suffering, the rebirth, aging, disease, and death, all the various the various sicknesses and difficulties that were the variety of sicknesses and difficulties that were continually experiencing. This is looking at some of the faults of having taken the the particular road that we have in the past. And in terms of of excellent quality, we haven’t, as of now, developed really great compassion. We haven’t developed love. We haven’t attained the awakening heart.
We haven’t attained liberation. Liberation. And why haven’t we attained this? Because taking this road has continued to block our access to these excellent qualities. Having it having continually taken this road of self centeredness, then we are continually experiencing everything that we don’t want.
And we’re never able to experience all that we want. And this is simply the result of having taken this path. We’re not able to experience the happiness that we all desire. We only experience the suffering that we don’t want, and this is due to taking this road. But even for those who don’t accept the notion of previous lives, and there are are many thoughts which we can set forth many thoughts of self centeredness in finding happiness and eliminating our problem.
Due to the the due to these two factors of self centeredness self centeredness and self grasping and and which induces the attitude of wanting happiness for oneself and wanting to eliminate mundane suffering. We, in pursuit of this, we bring harm to others. So in pursuit of our own end, seeking happiness for ourselves, making sure that things go well for us, that we are led to a variety of actions such as in order to to get things for ourselves, we will steal from others. In order to get pleasure for ourselves, we are led into sexual improprieties. We we we fight with others.
In order to gain profit for ourselves, many people engage in killing. All of these harmful actions toward others are are induced by one’s own self interest. So we can all see our see for ourselves in the world. All the killing that’s going on in the fighting within the nation, all the the civil wars and between nations. And this all arise arises out of individuals wanting happiness for themselves, wanting to eliminate their own suffering.
That all these the the destruction the use of the weapons of mass destruction arise out of self centeredness, wanting happiness for oneself, wanting to eliminate one’s own problems. I was the name of time we’re going to continue And one nation seeking to plunder the wealth of another nation. This too arises simply from from seeking happiness for oneself, seeking to eliminate one’s own suffering. And also tricking others, deceiving others, lying to others, done in order to bring about one’s own happiness. In order to achieve happiness for oneself, in order to eliminate some problem that one has, one will say something is when it, in fact, it is not or it is not when in fact it is.
Also, somebody obstructs us getting what we want, then we lash out with harmful words. We we we hurt them with our speech simply because they’re obstructing us from achieving what it is that we desire. And we desire that out of our self centeredness, wanting to find happiness for ourselves, wanting to eliminate our suffering. So out of this out of the influence of self centeredness in order to eliminate our suffering, in order to find happiness. We are we engage in actions which bring harm to others.
We hurt them physically. We hurt them mentally. We are we we destroy what they have. So all the various levels of disharmony harmony, disharmony, and conflict between nations, a family, between religious traditions, between between friends, a boyfriend, and a girlfriend. All of these conflicts and disharmony arise out of self centeredness.
So all of the fighting between ourselves and others arises due to self centeredness because of not seeing the other as some obstacle to achieving one’s own end. Out of our sense out of self centeredness, we try to bring ourselves happiness and eliminate our suffering. And when we can’t, when we aren’t able to bring ourselves happiness, then we worry about it. And when we can’t eliminate our suffering, then we worry about it. And so all of our various worries and trouble, all go back to self centeredness.
If if we didn’t have self centeredness, Then we would be happy. That minds would be happy. And because the mind is is the main factor between body and mind. If the mind is then this induces well-being of the body. And when both of these are experiencing well-being, you know, we are completely happy, and we have eliminated all our problems, all our suffering.
On the other hand, it is the reason we continue to suffer is because of our self centeredness. So the root of all our suffering comes down to self grasping and self centeredness, simply cherishing ourselves. And out of cherishing ourselves, we we cause others harm. We hurt others. And so all of our suffering arises under the influence of self centeredness.
Self centeredness is is the root of all our suffering, and this is its fault. And great masters such as through their own experience and gotten through their meditation have have come up with in within their own experience have understood this. And likewise, in all the the great masters of thought transformation, they all say exactly the same thing out of their own experience, that the root of all our suffering is self centeredness, and it this this road is full of faults. And so we we are trying to transform the road which we have previously taken to the road of other cherishing, which is said to be the root of all happiness. So we have discussed the faults of self centeredness, and we it’s necessary that we come to this understanding that we recognize the faults of self centeredness so we will no longer travel that road.
So what are we to do? We we are seeking to practice to cultivate as an attitude of other cherishing, an attitude of altruism, seeking to benefit others, seeking to bring happiness to others, eliminate the suffering of others. This is the work that we have to set out to do. And what is the reason that we’re to do this? We’re to practice in this way.
To seeking to bring about taking as one’s main practice, the bringing about of others happiness and elimination of others others suffering, then all our various faults will cease and all our excellent qualities will develop. What is it that we want? And if we were to say, ultimately, we want to eliminate all the various types of fault within it. And we want to develop all the types of excellent quality. Ultimately, this is what we want.
And if we if we engage in practice in this way, then these will all be accomplished. If take this road if we take this road, then this this we will achieve this result. But some doubt may arise in your mind at this point. And we’ve been if if I if in fact I were to to orientate myself to other cherishing and and try to bring about the happiness of others and to eliminate their suffering. Then what about my happiness and my my suffering?
I I my happiness would not be achieved. I wouldn’t be able to eliminate my own suffering. I’d really be in poor shape. So some kind of anxiety may arise in this way. But we we need not have an anxiety whatsoever.
There’s no there’s no need to worry. If we orient ourselves toward altruism, seeking to benefit others, seeking to bring about their happiness and eliminate their suffering, then our own happiness and elimination of our own suffering will come about of itself. It will it will come about indirectly through this method that we need we we need make no special effort to bring about our own happiness, our own eliminate our own suffering. Even if we were to say, I don’t want to be happy. I don’t need to have my problems eliminated.
Still, acting in this way, we’re going to be happy. Our our problems will be eliminated. Even if we try to stop our own happiness, we couldn’t stop it. If this isn’t isn’t some romantic notion, it’s based upon reason. There’s some logic involved.
If if we if there was an if there was someone that was suffering from the thirst from suffering from thirst and one developed a sense of compassion for that individual and had a sense to benefit that person and gave them a glass of orange juice. And this would be an act of generosity, which would eliminate their suffering and bring them happiness. So one has practiced generosity and has eliminated someone’s suffering and brought them happiness. And this this the results of that generosity are are in terms of oneself. That person’s suffering that’s been eliminated.
They have found happiness. But one has, within oneself, created a skillful action. That is that skillful action of generosity and is oneself which will reap the beneficial result of that action. This skillful action arising out of a beneficial intention to to help this person has one oneself has created this action in terms of one one’s own self. And one’s own self will experience the result of that action, and the the resultant experience is happiness.
No one else can experience the result of this action but yourself. You yourself created this skillful action, and you yourself will undergo the result of of this action that is the experience of happiness. No one else will undergo the result of this action that you’ve created for yourself. As a result of having given through the beneficial intention through one’s active generosity, a a glass of juice which brought another person happiness, then oneself will in the future have many occasions of being able to drink juice and experience the happiness of drinking. Another example, if you saw a a sheep that was about to be slaughtered and seeing it it it’s suffering that a compassion arose in your mind and with the beneficial a attitude of wishing to benefit that sheep and not have it killed.
One thought, you know, no. Don’t don’t kill it. Don’t kill it. I’ll buy it from you. And you you gave you bought the sheep and gave the money.
And then this sheep is able to experience the happiness of a long life. One self has created skillful action. As a result of that skillful action that one created in one in one self, one will experience in the future a long life. So having having created the skillful action which which brought a lot the happiness of a long life to the sheep. As a result of that skillful action, one will be able to, in the future, experience the happiness of a long life.
Another example, if someone were to give you a hard time, you know, the say harmful things, hurtful things, fighting with you. That one does not retaliate. One does not allow anger to rise. But on the contrary, practice is tolerant and doesn’t put on a, you know, a a scowl on one’s face, distorting one’s face, becoming but when instead, one smiles at the other person and and with a beneficial intention tries to work the situation out, giving wanting to benefit the person trying to explain the the resolve the problem. As as a result of practicing tolerance, of not retaliating with anger, and of not putting on a scowl on one’s face, you know, distorting one’s appearance.
One in the future will have a beautiful body. It’s such that someone someone really seeing you. It was all that well, they’re really beautiful. Really. Everyone that sees you really seem really, really beautiful and they’ll be very attracted to So some amongst us are quite beautiful.
And this is because in the past, in difficult situations, they didn’t become angry that they practice tolerance and in dependence upon their practice of tolerance. Now they have attained a beautiful appearance. On the other hand, there is some of us not so beautiful. And how did that arise? Is it because we didn’t cultivate tolerance in the past?
We all have good food to eat. We are able to wear good clothing. And this is the result of having practiced generosity toward others in the past. On the other hand, in the world, for example, in Africa, there are many who are starving. There are famines.
There are sicknesses. And this is something arises out of not having practiced generosity in the past. That that all of these experiences arise due to causes and conditions. Nothing arises haphazardly, only in dependence upon the variables of cause and condition. If if there a positive result arises, we can know that there this is acting preceded by a positive cause, that there had to be a positive cause as a forerunner to the arising of this positive result.
So the fact that that we have food is a result of that we have generosity in the past with respect by giving the food to others in the past. And those who presently do not have food, they not only do not practice generosity, but they they have sold other people’s food in the past and and this present situation is the result. So in general, the the attitude of benefiting to others will will bring about wanted happiness.