Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 49-minute session, Khensur Rinpoche opens with a seed-to-harvest metaphor: compassion is the fertile seed of altruistic intention, the water that sustains effort through practice, and the final harvest that brings all qualities to completion. After a brief guided meditation extending compassion to enemies, strangers, and insects alike, he works through verses five and six of the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation. Verse five — accepting abuse from jealous critics without retaliation — is grounded in classical Buddhist analysis of self-grasping: because all welfare arises in dependence on others, we give them the victory and take defeat upon our own self-cherishing. Verse six is illustrated through a story of a generous benefactor coldly rebuffed when their own fortunes decline, and why such betrayal should be seen as a supreme spiritual gift.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 07 8VTT 1992-Easter Retreat.mp3
UUID: 229b860b-13f5-4bf3-a027-20f7b6ec96d1
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: 8 Verses Thought Transformation (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1992 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 48.6 minutes
Words: ~2,340
We’re going to meditate on caring and compassion. It is said that within the universal vehicle, compassion is important in the beginning, in the middle, and the end. It’s of paramount importance throughout our practice of Dharma because it is the way that we are going to eliminate all our various faults and bring to consummation our excellent qualities. So in accordance with our practice, it must be made use of in the beginning, in the middle, and the end. If we use a simile with respect to illustrating the importance of compassion in all three of the beginning, middle, and end.
We can compare it to the growing of a rich harvest. Initially, compassion is analogous to a seed, a faultless seed which is fertile and has the potentiality of growing a rich crop. So in the beginning, we need the seed of compassion. And then in the middle, when the sprout begins to grow, then compassion is compared to water with which we again and again nourish the now growing sprout. So compassion is essential in the middle.
And then finally, in the end, it is comparable to a bountiful harvest by which we can make use of to benefit not only ourselves but others. We can make use of it directly by by eating the harvest, but we can we can make use of the harvest and getting all the various enjoyments of life that we wish. In order that we develop an altruistic intention and engage in various altruistic activities, it’s necessary that initially there be the germ, or the seed of compassion. Without compassion there’s no way that an altruistic intention will arise in the mind, and there will be no altruistic activities.
So initially, it’s necessary that we have the seed of compassion within our mind. But no matter how wonderful this altruistic intention may be that we have initially developed out of compassion, really that is not sufficient. We have to actually go beyond our mere intention and engage in various altruistic activities and benefiting others. We have to carry on the work that our intention entails. And this involves again and again making effort to benefit others, bringing our altruistic intention to actualization in our altruistic activities.
And what is it that again and again brings us to make effort? It is compassion. So in the middle, having once developed the intention, that which brings us to again and again make effort in our activities is, in fact, compassion. Without that compassion in the middle, though we may have initially developed compassion and an altruistic intention to benefit others, without the secondary development of compassion, we will simply leave the actualization of our intention aside. We won’t engage in actual altruistic activities.
And by means of again and again cultivating altruism, we will carry on these vast altruistic activities by means of compassion in the end, which will help us to bring to fulfillment these activities and bringing about the elimination of all various faults and the consummation of all excellent qualities. So it is compassion which brings to fulfillment our altruistic activities. In the middle of our practice, we engage in various altruistic activities. And what results are we seeking out of these activities? Ultimately, we’re seeking to free all other sentient beings from suffering and to lead them to a final happiness.
And it is in this that we bring about the welfare of both ourselves and others. And the way that we act to bring this about is through our teachings of the Dharma in order to help others to understand what is to be adopted and what is to be rejected. And without the motivation of compassion in the end, we will not be motivated to go ahead and teach the Dharma, to help others to understand what is to be adopted and rejected. So it is to bring about the ultimate welfare of others and to bring about the final end that compassion is of paramount importance.
If, you know, if we talk about the way in terms of the ways of the world, one engages in various work and works well in order to achieve some wealth, some compensation for oneself. And then once one’s own interests have been served, then simply one make enjoys having achieved their end. And at this in such a state, there’s no there’s no there’s no thought to go ahead beyond this and begin to serve others. Simply, one dwells in one’s own achievement. So it is compassion which is the extraordinary main cause for bringing about the welfare of other.
We’re going to proceed in our meditation on compassion just as we did yesterday when we meditated on love. And we’re going to extend this compassion to both ourselves and all living beings. And as we mentioned yesterday, not simply those we like, not simply our friends, but all living beings, whether it be our enemies, strangers, even insects. We’re trying to include all living beings. And we’re going to develop the wish that they be separated from, that they be free from their suffering.
And we should try to understand suffering in our own terms, all the various physical and mental suffering that we experience, our sicknesses, the various varieties of bodily pain, and the difficulties of the mind and troubles that we have. And even our happinesses are very minor. And even those minor happinesses are transitory. And even the fact that we have an embodiment which is a product of karma and afflictive emotion represents the dissatisfactory quality of our life. So all of these various troubles, these difficulties and suffering, extending to all sentient beings, these are the sufferings that we wish all sentient beings to be free of.
But also not just the sufferings themselves, but the causes of those sufferings: unskillful actions, particularly afflictive emotions such as attachment, hatred, and pride. We wish them to be free of these causes of suffering as well. It would be wonderful if myself and all living beings were free of suffering and the causes of suffering. May myself and all living beings be free of suffering and the causes of suffering. I myself will free from suffering and the causes of suffering all sentient beings.
So we’re going to begin today with the fifth stanza, the fifth verse, which reads: when others out of jealousy treat me badly with abuse, insults, and the like, I shall accept their hard words and offer the other the victory. So we have been discussing the necessity and the way of developing love and compassion and altruism. And we make this an essential part of our practice and we cultivate these qualities. And through the cultivation of these qualities we ourselves develop some excellent qualities and are able to benefit others in this way. And in response to this, others may react, seeing our excellent qualities and ability to benefit others, with a sense of jealousy.
And out of their jealousy, they may seek to bring us harm. This applies both to the worldly area and the spiritual area. We all know that there may have been times when we had a very harmonious relationship when we’re young with others, boyfriends and girlfriends. But as we grew older and became engaged in various activities and work in our life and gained more education, etcetera, then there arose various jealousies and conflicts, others developed a sense of jealousy, and motivated by this jealousy they begin to look for our various faults. They begin to criticize us.
They even say that we did things that we didn’t do, or we didn’t do the things that we did do. And they use many harsh words directed at us. If we were to question, well, if someone were to treat me in this way, what am I to do in light of how I’m being treated? So in response to these criticisms and these harsh words directed at us by others, we should not retaliate in kind. We should practice tolerance and not allow our positive state of mind to degenerate, but simply say that you’re right and accept whatever defeat they may be offering to us and give them the victory.
Obviously this is not the way of the world. It is the way of thought transformation, or the way of our spiritual practice. In the world, out of a sense of self-centeredness, we are trying to gain the victory for ourselves and trying to give the defeat to others. But here it’s completely reversed in the process of thought transformation, and we’re trying to become other-centered in that we accept the defeat upon ourselves and give others the victory. So there are two ways in which we can proceed and explain what we mean here. In terms of quoting the verse by the Indian master Dharmakīrti, from a text called the Pramānavārttika.
The Commentary on Valid Cognition. Normally we want all profits for ourselves. How does this arise? It’s because out of a strong sense of an “I,” we have self-grasping, or we grasp at an “I.” And out of this comes self-centeredness, or centeredness around “I.”
So there’s a very strong sense of “I.” Out of this, in dependence upon the strong sense of “I,” we develop a strong sense of “other,” that which is not “I.” So we now have set up two opposing camps. The strong “I” on the one hand and the strong “other” which has arisen in dependence upon that. So in dependence upon self, other arises.
We have attachment towards self. We have aversion towards other. We seek only the welfare of the self and this at the expense of other. And therefore, all of our various negative activities and intentions arise out of this strong sense of “I.” And out of these negative activities and intentions arise all our various suffering, or unwanted results.
So what is the reason that we are to give others the victory and take defeat upon ourselves? It is because it is in dependence upon others that we will eliminate our suffering, that we will find happiness, that this is all achieved in dependence upon sentient beings. Therefore, since all our welfare arises in dependence upon them, we give them the victory and take the defeat upon ourselves. We give the victory to others because it is in dependence upon them that we will realize our ultimate welfare.
We take upon ourselves the defeat because it is our own self-cherishing that causes all unwanted results, all our suffering. So we are taking that defeat upon our own self-cherishing. And we’re going to look at the sixth stanza, where it reads: when someone whom I’ve assisted and in whom I have placed great hope inflicts me with extreme harm, I shall view him as my supreme spiritual friend. And taking as an illustration, there are two people. One is well off and the other is very poor.
And out of beneficial intention, the wealthy of the two financially helps out the person who’s in difficulty. And as time goes by, things now go well for the previously poor person. And as time goes by, because the wealthier person is totally engaged in their Dharma practice, they haven’t been making much effort to increase their wealth and their wealth is decreasing more and more. And they themselves are beginning to have some difficulty financially. This is in the world.
One’s financial well-being is always fluctuating. Sometimes we have lots of money. Sometimes we have little money. And then we have to begin to concern ourselves with our health.
Our health slowly begins to have problems. We begin, our body begins to deteriorate. We have to concern ourselves with making a living and keeping our material world together. And so we have many more concerns than we did when we were young. But in terms of Dharma, our spiritual practice, the reverse is true. Initially, it’s quite difficult in terms of both bodily and mental effort. Even initially, the Dharma is difficult in terms of physical difficulties, mental difficulties, getting together all the conducive circumstances to carry on our practice.
As we as we progress, than in as opposed to the worldly situation where things eventually become more and more difficult. As we as we progress in our practice and gain more and more understanding and realization and excellent quality, then in fact, things become much, much easier. We experience less suffering. We experience more and more happiness until we and we extreme we experience this an extreme stability of peace of mind and body. So this is the difference between the the results of the secular and spiritual.
So getting back to our example of these two these two friends. One was in a difficult financial position and the other was well off and and with beneficial intention, the person was well off, helped out the poor person, and things went well for that poor person. But over time, because this person didn’t pay attention to their their financial matters, they began to have financial difficulties. And they they they thought, well, you know, I I maybe I can call upon my my old friend to help me out. And they begin to pin all their hopes financial hopes on their old friend whom they helped in the past.
But having gone to this old friend who’s now well off and asking them for their help in return for one’s previous generosity, they simply criticize you for not having taken care of yourself. And they find, you know, they just simply say they want to hold on to everything that they have. They say, just, you know, get away. I don’t want to see you, let alone help you.
And they just point out all your various faults and why you haven’t been taking care of yourself. And even in worldly terms, this would be a rather inappropriate response to past generosity.