Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 48-minute commentary on the Eight Verses of Thought Transformation, Khensur Rinpoche opens with a striking claim: whoever harms or criticizes us deserves the same gratitude as our spiritual teacher, because they provide the rare chance to practice patience and thereby purify past negativity. He illustrates this with the story of Atisha, who brought a notoriously ill-tempered companion from India to Tibet purely as an object for patience practice, adding with gentle humor that such opportunities are growing easier to find. Rinpoche explains why patience outranks even generosity among the six perfections, then turns to the seventh verse — offering bliss to all beings while secretly taking on their suffering — and introduces tonglen, the visualization of breathing out darkness and breathing in white light. The session closes by framing other-centeredness as the only reliable antidote to the self-created suffering that cyclic existence perpetuates.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 08 8VTT 1992-Easter Retreat.mp3
UUID: 90455153-dc9b-4c17-b90e-413e60e9d598
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: ~3,223
So then But in in from the context of one’s Dharma practice, one should look upon such an individual as one’s spiritual friend, that is to say one’s lama, one’s spiritual teacher, and think of their great kindness and thank them for what they’re they’re what they’re giving you. This is what This is what a a really great practitioner how a great practitioner would respond. Here, we are going to look upon this individual as one’s spiritual teacher, one’s lama. It is, you know, the out of like, if we were to grade grade the kindness of others and those who are the most beneficial to ourselves, it is said that the individual who is most beneficial to us is one’s lama. They are they are that show us the greatest kindness.
Second to them would be our parents, our mother and father. Third would be perhaps our brothers and sisters. Individuals, but the kindness of all is one’s spiritual teacher, one. The reason that the the one’s lama is picked upon as the the kindness is because it is the lama who are most beneficial to us in terms of ultimately eliminating our suffering and finding happiness that they bestow the various methods whereby we can achieve this upon upon us. They give us they are able to give us various levels of vows, beginning with the the vows of a lay practitioner, vows of a renunciate, the vows of secret mantra.
And then taking these various the basis of one’s practice. They give us the various teachings of Dharma that make the methods of transforming the mind. What is explaining what is to be adopted, what is to be rejected, helping us develop the wisdom of what is to be practiced and how to abandon what is to what is at fault. They show us the path of happiness and how to go about cultivating that through our meditation. And finally, as a as a as a product of this process, we are able to eliminate all our various faults and achieve all the excellent qualities.
And this is what all brought about through the teachings of the lama and this is an expression of their kindness. At the end, I know It is the spiritual teacher, the that helps us to accumulate the collection of positive potential and to purify our previous destructive action that we keep we have developed. And this is the way in which we are benefiting with through through the accumulation of positive potential. We remove various obstacles from our mind. We are able to purify various negativities and thereby eliminate our suffering and develop higher qualities.
And this all arises in dependence upon the spiritual teacher. And likewise, this individual who returns kindness, returns our past harm by by bringing his harm is serves the same is of the same benefit as the as the lama, the spiritual teacher. Because in dependence upon that individual, we can purify our past destructive action of negativity, and we can accumulate a vast collection of positive, greater potential. So this individual who who who speaks the hurtful words to us, who criticizes it and discourages us represents the opportunity for us to accumulate a collection of greater potential and purify our negativity. And how is this?
But but in the face of such response to this person, if we if we cultivate tolerance. And it’s by through tolerance that we will accumulate a collection of positive potential. And then but additionally, by by by bringing this by directing harmful words to us, we purify all of the destructive actions in the past that we have directed toward others by hurting them with our words, by criticizing others. So all of these past destructive actions, these negativities are purified by accepting the the words which are directed by us at us. So they help us to purify our past negativity to to practice and cultivate help us to cultivate tolerance and thereby accumulate the collection of greater potential.
And therefore, we have to look upon them as our. So there is a a in the with with respect to the six perfections, there is an increasing benefit as we move through them. Initially, the the initial perfection is that of generosity. And through by means of generosity, we accumulate a great deal of of of of of of even more beneficial to practice than generosity. And over and above that is the third perfection, and this is tolerance.
So, in fact, the cultivation of tolerance is even more beneficial than the prior two perfections. Pardon And why is it more beneficial to to cultivate tolerance than, for example, to that of generosity. There are many objects towards whom we can practice generosity there. We can practice generosity to the Buddhas, the bodhisattvas, and those individuals who are lower to them, just sentient beings in general, people in poor positions. There are multitudes of objects towards which we can practice generosity.
But there are those who we can with are are very rare. And therefore, it’s it’s even more beneficial. The practice of tolerance is even more beneficial. The only time that we can practice tolerance or patience is when someone brings us harm. There’s no other time that we can practice tolerance and patience other than when someone is harming us.
I mean, never think of that. I I think and I think perhaps previously, there there were, you know, there were great number of people we could practice generosity with, and there weren’t that many that we could practice tolerance with. But I think the number of people we can practice tolerance with is increasing all the time. Perhaps, you know, the the number of people the number of angry, violent people in the world is increasing. And with are more people we can practice tolerance with.
It is in response to their harm that we are able to act as tolerance and thereby and thereby increase the the power of our our talent in our patience. And this is the kindness that they’re showing. So there there was a great master, a great practitioner of thought transformation by the name of Atisha in earlier times in Tibet in India. And he he was invited to Tibet to teach the Dharma. He was extremely influential in propagating the Dharma in Tibet.
And he took along with him an Indian companion by the name of saṃsāra. saṃsāra and the sole reason that he took saṃsāra with him was that saṃsāra was extremely disagreeable person. He was extremely he was extremely angry, you know, and was always causing trouble. And so he he he brought him along just as a as an object to which he could practice tolerance. So, you know, if we if we think well about this, then those individuals around us who are quite angry and cause trouble can be really useful in our practice of.
So a a child, whether young or old, should treat their their parents with kindness and respect. That our life goes well for us is very much dependent upon the benefit our parents have shown. And why is this? Because even from the time of our birth, parents are seeking to benefit us. You know, having been born and then taking care of us, all our physical needs, and then eventually taking care of our training, helping us to learn the that our parents engage in many difficulties in order to bring this benefit in this way.
So out of this benefit which has been directed towards by parents, we develop a we have a very strong relationship with them. So then as we grow old and we have many all our various qualities that we become important people. We have we have affluence, and this has all arisen who who are now in dependence upon the benefits of our parents in the past. This is the kindness that they they have shown us, a result of the kindness that they have shown us, and we, in return, must return this benefit. And and in response if in response if we respond in this way with the caring attitude toward our parents, then we ourselves are accumulating a great deal of creative potential.
Out of this responding to one’s own care of them, our parents’ minds are made happy. And in response and on their side, in response, they make various heartfelt wishes that that things go well for us. And out of this this fortuitous fortuitous relationship, this fortunate relationship, causing the condition and even our life will be happy. What I’ve been describing parents and look upon them.
There are there are few instances where I do to negative action created in previous life that they might not act in this way. But the vast majority of children would treat their parents in this respectful and returning kindness for kindness with kindness and caring manner. This is simply an expression of the actions as causes and the result. The law of cause and effect. But, you know, simply in the world, we say that from a positive cause comes a positive result.
This is the nature of things that we all can understand this. If if we know how to cook well and we we provide the right ingredients, then we would have delicious food. If we know how to sew well and we we have the right materials, we can create beautiful clothing. And the same applies to building a house. If if in accordance with the cause, we we will there will arrive a a a concordant concordant result.
Then on the other hand, if we don’t know how to to go about this thing, we don’t know how to treat this causes, then perhaps we’ll achieve those results. So the Buddha said that that there would arise a result in accordance with the cause. That whatever and to and the cause will be of the lifetime and to the same degree. If speaking of positive types of causes, if the positive cause is extremely great, then we can expect a vast result. If it’s middling, a middling result.
If it’s insignificant positive cause, we’re an insignificant result. So whatever we we do unto others is going to be done unto us. And this also extends to negative action as causes. If we if we cause a harm to others, we ourselves will be harmed and various degrees of harm. If we harm others very strongly, then we ourselves will be harmed strongly.
If we’re if it’s a medium harmful action, then we ourselves will be harmed in a medium sort of way. And if it’s a minor harm, then we are ourselves, we will be experiencing a minor harm in return. In accordance with this, then the foundation of our practice should be twofold. On the one hand, we don’t on the one hand, we want happiness. And wanting happiness, then should seek to benefit others because we will be benefited in return.
On the other hand, we don’t want to suffer. And if we don’t want to suffer, then we have to abandon harming others, which is the root of suffering. So the if we do not harm others, we will not experience harm. If we benefit others, we will experience happiness. The the Buddhadharma consists of two levels of that is the narrow vehicle or the lesser vehicle and the universal vehicle or the great vehicle.
In in the in the narrow vehicle, there is there is not the best minded intention to be a great benefit to others, but there is the intention to abandon harm to others. And and you can’t just find this as the foundation of the practice they go on to achieve liberation from cyclic existence. But within the universal vehicle, not only do they practice in this way of abandon harming others, but additionally, they seek to help others. They seek to cherish others and bring be a vast benefit to them. And it depends upon this as foundation of the practice.
They are able to abandon eliminate all the fault, all their various faults, and bring the consummation, all their excellent qualities. Yeah. Then the seventh seventh verse reads, in short, I shall I shall offer benefit and bliss to all my mothers in this actual life and in the future continuum. And secretly, I shall take upon myself all the harms and suffering of my mothers. So we have we have discussed at length the benefit, the the ways of benefiting others, and the ways of receiving their harm, how to to practice in this way.
And now if we simply take the essence, you guys think very briefly, all of it what we have stated above, it is in terms of these two, the way in which we are to as foundation of our practice to benefit others and to the way in which we are to take toward their harm. Out of out of our our other-centeredness, other-centeredness were seeking to benefit others. And we can there’s the the direct benefiting of others in terms of, for example, helping them materially. Those who are without clothes, giving them clothes. Those who are hungry, giving them food.
Those who are sick, giving them medicine and taking care of them, abandoning harming others, not hurting them. So all of these are very direct methods that we can that we may be able to do. If we if we cannot act in this this in in this direct method, we if we don’t have the resources, then we we can simply seek have the intention to benefit them within our mind that we not may may not be able to benefit others directly. We can have the intention to wish that they’d be benefited. So we can we should practice on these two levels.
If if one is able, and then we can aid others in physical fact. We can those we can give them material things. We can we can care for them, treat them, supplying them with medicine for the sick, etcetera. If one simply is not able to act in at this overt manner, what would you say? External manner, then one can practice internally in terms of one can have the intention to benefit them.
And then, you know, we can practice in secret that is in hidden manner. The the method of taking on our mother’s problems and suffering. But by mother here, it means not not just the mother of this life, but this refers to all sentient beings, all living beings that we all of their physical and mental difficulties, all of the various sufferings, their afflictive emotions, we are going to seek to take upon ourselves. You know, when we when if we when we think about this, we think about, well, giving away my happiness to others and taking it upon the difficulties sufferings of and their their difficulty and sufferings upon ourself. Doesn’t that make you fearful?
No. No. No. No. No.
No. So, you know, the the practice of the universal vehicle is for those of of high intelligence who are willing to put forth great effort and our extremely vast mind has been great. And those who those who who are smaller, who are who are lesser, who don’t have a narrow vision will will find this rather difficult in these practices and will be very fearful. But as I mentioned yesterday, I think they’re all very vast minded people. So this this this this two lines about taking upon the suffering of others, it is denotes the practice, the meditational practice of taking and giving.
And this, I think, will make you even more fearful. And this even more you find it might might find it even more difficult. We’re we’re we have been You can combine this practice with the visualization that when you’re when you’re breathing out, you’re breathing out a black light. And this black light is all that is unwanted. All your very suffering and difficulties are being breathed out in the form of black light.
And then breathing in, we breathe in a white light. And this is all that all that is desirable, the happiness. And one experience with great joy and breathing in this white light. But that’ll make you happy. Happy.
Not about the this is the the daughter. My daughter. But we’re going to reverse that. So we’ve explained and if we just state briefly that self-centeredness is the root of all our various fault, all of our very unwanted experiences, the the other hand, other-centeredness is the root of all excellent quality is the foundation of our happiness and benefit. So so we have to reflect in the way that we have been acting in terms of how we’re acting in the past, how we’re acting present, and how will we continue to act in the future.
We have we should examine to rationally examine our past activities and see if they involve various types of difficulties and whether anything good came out of all those difficulties. So what kind of results have do we are we now experiencing from all those difficulties that we’ve incurred in the past? And if we continue in the present to act in the same way, what can we expect in the future? The the practitioners of the universal vehicle, how did they look upon their activity? They look upon the the difficulties which have which they’ve gone through, which have borne no one that result has been activities which involve with with a great mistake in acting in this way.
How do they look upon these previous activities as being a great mistake? Because they look at the present results of those past activities. And what are those results that all we are experiencing now are various degrees of dissatisfactory states of mental and physical states that we experience anxiety, fear that we have to go through the sufferings of birth, aging, disease, and death that we that each day we, you know, we’re afflicted with some type of illness. And these are all the these are all results our previous ways in which we acted. And the the cause which motivated us to act in these in these all these varieties of ways which have brought these present difficulties upon us is self-centeredness.
And and that’s why self-centeredness is seen as a mistake in these ways of acting are seen as mistaken. So if we want to reverse that, what is it that we want? We want to be happy. We don’t want to suffer. So we’re going to have to act in a completely reverse manner of how we previously acted if we hope to have positive results in the future, and this entails developing the motivation of other-centeredness. So by means of other-centeredness, we will be able to eliminate the root of our suffering.
We’ll be able to eliminate all our various fault and be able to develop all excellent qualities and as a result, to achieve the happiness that we do want. And so this involves a a trans a trans