Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A parable about a criminal appealing to a powerful patron to avoid prison opens this 74-minute Lamrim commentary by Khensur Rinpoche — used to illustrate why practitioners in the small scope turn to the Three Jewels for protection as karma ripens. Rinpoche begins with a brief motivation on gratitude for assembled conditions, then introduces the graduated path’s three-scope structure (small, medium, and great capacity). He focuses most on the small scope: why future lives matter, what it means to take refuge, and how the four opponent powers work as the practical method for purifying negative karma. The session closes with the image of the Buddha as skilled physician and the Dharma as medicine. Suitable for those beginning a systematic study of Lamrim.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 LR 1991 02 09.mp3
UUID: 9ccb6847-e0d2-4752-85e5-87338cdb0e42
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Lam Rim (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1991-02-09
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 74.1 minutes
Words: ~1,315
We should appreciate and generate a sense of joy in the fact that we have all the conditions to carry on and practice, that each of us is well, healthy, that we have the teachings, the teachers, and that we have those who support us in our practice. And in this, it’s been the opportune occasion whereby we have gathered all together these various conducive conditions. What are we to do with it? We must somehow make it meaningful, and that is we must pursue those things that we desire. We are not going to have this opportunity for long.
And in the course of achieving our desired end, if we were to only bring about our own end, then this would be an extreme of small perspective. With a widening of our horizon, we seek to bring about the welfare not only of ourselves but of others. And how are we to achieve this widening of our horizon? What else what else do we do think? That we should we should develop the aspiration and that may myself and all sentient beings equal in wanting to be happy and not wanting to suffer.
May they all be free from suffering, and may they achieve a complete and stable happiness. But simply that wish to happen will not be happening. But we have to actually implement the method to bring about the end of that wish in fact. And therefore, So we are going to spend the next three minutes cultivating the healthy attitude of the awakening heart whereby that in order that I’m able to change my mind, to transform it, to bring this process to fulfillment, to bring to benefit and bring happiness, then I must I must listen to this teaching and be able to continue to practice. A text set out by a teacher in his graduated path, a technical map of the path for the practice of people.
The nature of the path of the three capacities is the capacity of small capacity, medium capacity, and great capacity. The Buddha set out many teachings. He set out teachings on the lesser vehicle, the greater vehicle, teachings on sūtra and teachings on tantra. In the text on the graduated path, the way of the manner of practice is initially set out. So he said that no matter who the person might be, that whether they are the monks or nuns, whether they’re layperson, that whoever whoever wants happiness and doesn’t want to suffer, this is the way to go about bringing this about.
And he said, those who have another period of the practice of Dharma are completely involved in just in thinking of only the happiness and purposes of this life. Why is that? Why why would we admonish not to think only that it happened if it’s not? If if there were no future existences, if there were only this life, then that would be fine. We could just see only the happiness of this life.
We could die, and then everything would change. But in fact, this is not the case that we have So those who do not think only of this life but consider the happiness of future lives and adjust their activities accordingly are classified as being of the scope of small capacity. And if we were to explain what are the methods for achieving happiness and not experiencing suffering, what is the method for seeking to experience happiness in future lives and to alleviate our suffering? We give ourselves a direction, and as a preliminary to the actual cultivation, in listening, in order that we create the necessary space for their development.
Just to say that we first contemplate the leisures and fortunes, which we have obtained. So we’ve already talked about freedom and the methods for achieving happiness in future lives and alleviating suffering. And as we mentioned, this is a combination of methods and wisdom. It is necessary that we look to something outside of ourselves, something to which we can pin our hopes on for some type of protection. But additionally, we implement the various methods within ourselves.
And maybe we’ll use an analogy for this to be more readily understood. So having committed a crime, there’s feeling that there’s a possibility of having to stay a long time in prison. What kind of methods could they use? So one of the methods would be for the person in the community to go to a powerful person for help. The second method would be to talk to the various officials within the prison or the jail itself. To, you know, to explain to them at length about how he recognizes what he did was wrong, that he and to express his intentions, his regret about what he did and that and that to commit himself to promise that, you know, I’m not going to do this again.
I acknowledge that I did something wrong. I was foolish, and I I will not do it again. And just as this individual, this person goes to this higher authority, and can always hope for help and assistance from this person. Likewise, we go to the Three Jewels, the Three Jewels of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, putting all our hope So the first of these two causes we are going to cultivate is becoming aware of the fact that we have created many negative actions in the past, that we have created negative karma, such as actions motivated by feelings of attachment, anger, and so forth.
But through this, having created these negative karmas, that in the future they will ripen. So we must understand well how it is that the Three Jewels are able to protect us. It is the negativity that we ourselves have created, our various negative actions and our negative karma, that we ourselves are the creators of our own situation, that it is not something else. So we have to eliminate the negative actions within our own mind. That is the means by which we are able to eliminate them within our own mind. And it is necessary that we seek the assistance of others in bringing about this elimination. We can eliminate the afflictive factors in our mind by applying the specific methods.
But how are we to think about this? How do we deal with it? In the Buddhist history of the Dharma, the very spiritual practice here. By means of firstly applying the four opponent powers, whereby we acknowledge the negativity we have created in the past.
And therefore, through applying the four opponent powers, we are able to eliminate the negative actions that we have created. And then further, the teaching sets out what are negative actions, what is to be adopted, what is to be rejected. And therefore, in conducting ourselves in accordance with these teachings, we no longer create negative actions in the future. So we have eliminated the negative actions; in putting these methods into practice, it’s necessary that we rely upon companions, that we need others, we need to see the example of others, how in fact they live it out. If we’re able to have these specific elements in our lives, then firstly, we can begin to destroy all the destructive factors in our mind, and thereby, through our very definite practices these will begin to clear. And through developing these positive factors within our mind and eliminating destructive factors, these will bring us benefit.
Just like a sick person, when they reflect upon how much suffering they have to endure, and this is the sick person who has a conviction. So this sick person, just as this sick person goes to a skilled physician. The Buddha is like the skilled physician. What the Buddha actually shows us is the medicine. The Dharma is the actual medicine.