Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Śāntideva’s image of a boat crossing an ocean of suffering anchors this 72-minute Lamrim commentary, in which Khensur Rinpoche completes the three reflections on precious human rebirth by asking how rarely such a birth is found. He unpacks the boat analogy in full — the body as vessel, saṃsāra as the ocean, the eighteen characteristics that make the vessel seaworthy — then cites Buddha’s stark comparison: beings heading for a good rebirth are as scarce as earth on a fingertip, those headed for lower states as plentiful as the great earth itself. A packed football stadium, Rinpoche observes, holds almost no one who meditates. The session closes with practical instruction: purify accumulated negativities, cultivate the ten virtues, and heed Buddha’s reminder that you yourself — not any external protector — are your own teacher, guardian, and friend.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 02 LR 1999 02 16.mp3
UUID: e81976bc-711e-4abe-bb27-0432097f74fe
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Lam Rim (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1999-02-16
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 72.0 minutes
Words: ~4,404
So, now for the last few sessions we have been teaching about this human rebirth and recognizing this how precious human recognizing this precious human rebirth with the eight eight like, eight freedoms and ten endowments. And then we also did with the importance of thinking about its great importance, which is that through this precious human rebirth, through this birth, we can achieve through purposes, through importance, which is the ultimate and the ultimate happiness and the temporary happiness. We can also accomplish the ultimate achievement, which is Buddhahood. And also, can, through this physical, through this rebirth, we can achieve a better rebirth through practicing ethical disciplines and patience and so forth. It has, among the three categories, the encouragement to distill the essence of this precious human rebirth has three, which is recognizing the which is recognizing our life recognizing our life of freedoms and riches.
And second is second, thinking about its great importance. So we have finished that. Now, we’ll go with the third one, considering how difficult it is to find now. So if we or if we do a proper and very intensive practices, in this practices, we can achieve enlightenment or become liberated, reach the liberation stage in this life itself. But it is very hard for one to do this.
But even if one cannot liberate it, achieve liberation or Buddhahood in this lifetime, but it is very important for us to leave a predisposition on one’s mind stream of the Buddhahood or liberation. That in So through this At this stage, we have gained Through this physical or through this rebirth, we are able to do the practice. We are able to leave a seed or a predisposition of Buddhahood and liberation in one’s mind stream. And it is very important to do that. Even if one and because if one being able to put this seed or sow a seed in one’s mind stream of Buddhahood and liberation, and in future times, we can awaken this predisposition, those predispositions or those seeds, and being able to achieve either liberation or a Buddhahood.
So to sow the seed of Buddhahood, which is the free of all the negativities and acquire all the good qualities, and cultivate such or to sow such seeds, one has to listen to the or one has to generate an altruistic intention, bodhicitta, by listening and meditating. That through this bodhicitta, which works for the happiness for both oneself and others. And through this through this altruistic intention, one can cultivate or one can sow a seed on one’s mind stream. So to sow a seed on one’s mind stream, the Buddhahood seed, one has to train or listen and meditate upon the altruistic intention. Plus, also through the view of the realizing the emptiness.
So through bodhicitta and the understanding of emptiness, then we can sow a very proper seed of Buddhahood upon one’s mind stream. And the way of cultivating the seed of liberation in one’s stream is that one should see the disadvantages of saṃsāra, And through that, try to generate and see the advantages of abandoning this liberation through this saṃsāra. And by concentrating on that, and through the cultivation of renunciation, or the wish to free oneself from cyclic existence, then one can sow a seed of liberation on one’s mind stream. And also, the meditation upon the emptiness should be accompanied with that renunciation to sow a seed of liberation on one’s mind stream. So through these two practices, one accumulates the great store of merit and and one should dedicate the merit once again and for the attainment of liberation and the enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings now. And so, through this practice, if one being able to if one being able to do the meditation very often, then one’s life will become very meaningful.
So now about the considering how difficult it is to find this precious human rebirth, the great master Śāntideva has given an example, a boat example that this present human rebirth with those eight freedoms and ten endowments is taken as a boat. Yeah. The use of the boat is to travel or to carry one from one side to another bank, or one bank to another shore. And this is the only purpose of the boat, to carry people from one shore to the next shore. So the boat itself is taken as an example of this precious human body.
And then the boat, what does the boat do? The boat moves from one shore to the next shore. And then the third is that there should be a person who takes or who or captain who steers the boat from one place to the next. So, the example of the boat is that the the old boat I mean, we need a very good, I mean, a quality boat to take a person from one shore to another shore. Otherwise, it will break on the way, and one cannot reach the next shore.
Likewise, so the boat is taken as example of this body and this precious human body. And it doesn’t mean that all precious human body can take a place of that boat because it has to be a physical rebirth which has those eighteen characteristics, the ten riches and the eight freedoms. And the ocean or the river, the bay or ocean is used as an example of a great collections of sufferings. And the person itself is the one who travels inside the boat. Now, I want to clarify here is that the person’s body is not a person.
So we have replaced taken the body itself as a boat, but it’s and person itself is inside the inside one’s body who travels like a guy in a boat. So and this so that ship across the across the one shore to the next shore or across the ocean. The purpose of doing that is that one is crossing or overcoming all the sufferings which is taken as like the ocean. Examples been given that ocean is to overcome or abandon or to overcome the suffering for or to accomplish the purposes of both oneself and others. So the master is sitting here, there’s such a boat, which is one’s boat one’s human human body with the eighteen with the eight freedoms and ten endowments or riches, it is very difficult to attain, you know, attain.
And master also tells that that that to drive to to drive such a boat from one shore to next, though one has everyone cannot drive the ship from one shore to the next. One has to study how to ride a boat. So likewise, and to cross such an ocean of suffering and overcome to achieve the purposes of both oneself and others. At the time that we have gained such a precious human rebirth, at that stage, at the moment, we’re confused and through our ignorance, we’re confused.
They’ve been obscured that we have no knowledge about how to cross the ocean of suffering. For that purpose, the master says, at this stage, having gained this precious human rebirth, one should not sleep during that time of confusion, and one must try to study how to cross the ocean of suffering. So so, yeah, the master is implying or emphasizing us to study. We need to hear and study. And he said that he not we don’t have to mention about doing the negative negative actions.
Others, he also tells us not to sleep. I mean, we have to reduce our sleep as well. So he says to don’t sleep, means that one has to meditate. And about meditate, they want to do to do steady without sleeping here in the sense it means is that first, to cross the ocean of saṃsāra, one has to listen to a teaching or listen to a teaching that how one how one how one cross the ocean. And after hearing all after hearing all hearing about after hearing one through through one’s investigation about the meaning, about the teaching what one had heard, and by and by finding that that hearings or the teachings are are two, and about after finding it, it’s the true teaching, and one contemplate on it.
And through contemplate, one one and through and and then after contemplating on it, one should bring all everything into the meditation into then one should bring all those into meditation whole day and night. And we have to do all those practices because for as for that, Buddha Śākyamūni stated, as for the migrator or beings, there are two types of being. One migrates to happiness or to better to a to, yeah, happy migration and the bad migration. And so as for the So as for that, Buddha Śākyamūni, when he stated there are two types of migrators or two types of beings, that is the happy migrator and the bad migration or bad migrator. And about those two, and Buddha Śākyamūni has analyzed and made a question that how many beings are there in I mean, how many are there in those two migrators or two beings that went they traveled to they traveled to they’ve been good migration after the death, or how many are they that go through the bad migration after they are dead?
So the amount of the beings The amount of beings who go to the happy migration after death is just the amount like a little earth or a scent on the tip of one’s finger, means very few amount, very little amount. And the amount of bad migration after the death of those beings is like the substances of the great land or red earth.
So, in that case, it implies that there are very few who goes through the happy migration. And then And and many And there are many who go through the bad migration. So this is what Buddha said, and there should be a reason why Buddha stated that beings who migrate who undergo through bad migration is as much as like a as much as like substances in this earth. And the beings who go through the happy migration is as much as like a piece of earth on the tip of the finger. Is there should be a reason why he said that now?
And so as for that, the reason has been stated by the one of Nāgārjuna’s disciples, the famous Āryadeva, has stated in his Four Hundred Stanzas, that among the most of the beings, what they do is they always perform negative deeds. And for that, the the the result of the negativity is suffering or the bad migration.
So they said that to so the bad migration and both the good and bad migrations all depends depends upon their cause. And most of the ordinary beings, they always cultivate the cause for the bad migration. They always cultivate negativities. And through that, they travel straight to the bad migration. And so for that reason, the example is given about the substance as much as the earth and the fingertip.
For example, we can also analyze on this that for example, the animals, they just kill each other. Like, a bigger animal kills the smaller, and then the smaller to the smaller. Through their attachment, their attachment, and their hatred and anger, they kill. They eat each other. They kill respectively.
Due to the And they always Because of the negative or disturbing emotions, they always go through or cultivate the negativities all the time. We have never seen that the animals are doing or they’re they’re practicing Dharma. So, likewise, it’s not only animal realms. They are the hungry ghost realms and the hell realms. And they always undergo through the sufferings and have never had a chance of happiness.
And due to that, they have they they they they never find a time to practice the Dharma. And so among the among the among the beings, the the human beings are the best. And within you can see within human beings, how many are there who follow the teachings and who practices. And the majority, have no they have no Dharma. They have no understanding of Dharma.
And and among among Within the amount of beings, human beings who knows Dharma, they are Some, they don’t agree, or they don’t accept the religious religion. And then some, I mean, they know they know the dharmas, they know the teachings, but they don’t put them into practice. So by analyzing or through this investigation, we will came to know that there are only few. It’s very rare that the person who really does the practice. For example, if you take example in Australia, example in a stadium where they had a, like, footy for football match, and you will see many people in the stadium, and it’s a and huge rushes there.
You can hardly find a space to sit in the stadium, huge stadium. And how many are here to meditate? So the the the amount of med meditator is very, very small, the number. So you can see the differences in number. So how many what is the number of meditators or person who do who who does the meditation?
So a person who does the meditation or a group of people who do meditation will go through happy migration and a person group which do not do the meditation will go through the bad migration so you can see the differences in number. So, and due to the good karmic imprint or living, actually, positive action in the past life, at this stage, we got this very precious chance or very fortunate. We are very fortunate to get this opportunity to do these practices. And it is the result of the positive actions or the merit accumulated in the past. And one should do meditation and also feel rejoice to oneself having again such opportunity to practice teaching and meditate.
And so, so at this stage, we are very fortunate to have all those opportunities and to and and knowing that you have gained such opportunity. And if you don’t use those opportunities to practice the Dharma. And if you recognize that you are very fortunate to have this opportunity, and if you can use those opportunities to practice the Dharma, then we have made use of that and we have used it in the proper way. And if don’t use those opportunity, I mean, find, I mean, knowing, and we have came to know that this very lucky to, or very fortunate to have these opportunities and still does not, still don’t use those for the teachings then, I mean, you will have a great loss or you will have a great loss. So one should one should one should show love and compassion towards oneself and then ask question to oneself that what should I do to have a happiness in future lifetimes and overcome the negative we are suffering in future lifetimes as well.
After asking such a question to oneself to that what one has to do to achieve the achieve the ultimate happiness means the happiness or which is which is free from all the sufferings. And after asking such a question to oneself, one who came to know that doing a pure Dharma practice is the only way to achieve or to gain the ultimate happiness, which is free from suffering. And so, as we have taken on within ourselves at this stage, we have lots of negative residues, as we have taken lots of numbers of rebirths in the past. And because of that, at this stage, and this time, within months, months, months, we have we still have a lot of negativities which can lead us to the animal realm or to lower rebirths.
So at this stage, what we have to do is so by knowing that we still have lots of negative within oneself which can lead us to lower rebirth. By knowing this, should What one has to do is by showing the Or by applying the antidotes, one should confess or purify all the all those negativities or yeah. All those negativities which we have accumulated in the past. And so to do to do a pure dharma, in a sense here, means is to purify all the negativities through applying the antidotes. And if one is being able, one can do or get rid of or purify all the negativities, then it is So that one can If one can purify all the negativities, then one will not go to the lower realms.
So so on one side, what we need to do is we have to purify all the negativities and to purify all the sufferings. And then And on what On the other hand, one has to cultivate the causes or cultivate the causes which will or cultivate the causes of happiness. So to being a Buddhist, to overcome all these negative Buddhist and and to achieve or gain attain the ultimate happiness, which is free from suffering. So being a Buddhist, what we what one needs to do is to do that, one has to pay respect, go for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Because Buddhadharma, Sangha is the only one who can who can be a guide or who can be only guide or who can take oneself free from the suffering and lead to the state of happiness, which is free suffering.
So the way of practicing, if we just make it very simple or just summarize or just shorten up, what Buddha has stated is just one should cultivate all the, one should overcome all the ten non virtues and cultivate or the opposite of those tens, the ten virtues. So if if one can does the ethical discipline of abandoning all the ten negative karmas, if one can do this properly, it is sure that one will abandon all the negative karmas and, you know, or one will be born or one will go to good migration. So this the leading the or practicing the ethical discipline of abandoning ten negativities is not really hard. At this stage, we have a capability.
And if we if one wants if one does, one can do this. And it’s so it’s but we are not really doing it. So So so at this stage, we’re being as ordinary being. We can practice, we can do this practice, which is cultivating the ten virtues and abandoning the ten opposite of that ten non virtues, leading or we can practice the ethical discipline of abandoning the ten non virtues. So we have a capability of doing this.
If one really, if one does, then one can do this. But at this stage, we know that we can do it. We have capability of doing this, but we are not really doing it. So it is very important oneself to recognize that and one should put into practice. For example, the So it is good for one to do something one Which one can manage it at this stage.
Because some in like, ethical Sorry. Like, cultivating the perfect correct view which is like emptiness. And these are quite a bit higher level and it is very hard to cultivate those things, or realization of emptiness, and bodhicitta is very quite difficult for ordinary beings. And even if one attempts for those by not cultivating the lower practices like the ethical discipline of abandoning ten non virtues, then it is a bit difficult, one cannot do this. So it is good for oneself to practice the first one, which is the ethical discipline of abandoning the ten non virtues.
So for what here, Buddha Śākyamūni has stated that you yourself is the teacher. Means that you yourself is protector, that you can protect yourself. And no one others cannot, I mean, protect you or to lead you to the ultimate happiness, which is free ultimate happiness, which is free from suffering. So he and when when he also he means that to what what you yourself is the protector Means that and it means that one one one should one is the one who can protect oneself from the suffering. By saying that one should one should one should develop compassion or affection towards oneself that I can’t bear the suffering and I want happiness.
And by knowing that, and to have happiness or to have happiness for oneself, and one should cultivate the affection oh, sorry, cultivate the causes of happiness and the and cultivate the causes of happiness by practicing the ten virtues and the overcome the causes of suffering, which is abandoning the ten negative So, and he said that others cannot protect you from those other cannot other cannot protect you because instead because if if other can protect you from protect means protect from those sufferings and lead to the ultimate happiness, then then Buddha would have already Buddha himself have already protect us or took us to the ultimate happiness. And because he he always wished all the sentient beings to have the happiness and and and do not have the suffering. And so because of that because because the others cannot protect you from those, the Buddha cannot. Buddha I mean, Buddha himself cannot because of that, Buddha cannot himself Excuse me. Buddha Buddha himself cannot protect us from those sufferings and bring us to the ultimate happiness.
No. So if one try to protect oneself from protect oneself, then you one oneself or you yourself is the teacher, you yourself is the friend, and you yourself as the yep. Yep. Uh-huh. You yourself as a teacher, you yourself as a protector, and you yourself as a friend.
I think protector was the one. So if if one does that, like cultivate the cultivate the positive and abandon the negative with this, then one is indeed or one is really the friend of oneself and the protector and the teacher. And if one does not do this practice, but keeps cultivating the opposite thing, cultivating the negativities and not doing the positive things, then one becomes an enemy of oneself. So we consider enemy for someone who give hard time or hardship to oneself and who who brings or who cause suffering to to to oneself.
And so, you, yours you, I mean, you bring something to yourself is It’s in this way that by doing a negative action or cultivating a negative deed, one will take birth and one will go through the bad migration and then has to undergo through the huge sufferings. And this is how. And after leading oneself to the bad migration or lower rebirth, then one undergoes only through the suffering. And this is how one gives or brings suffering to oneself. So Buddha has stated that it is not that someone has thrown you to the lower realms or lower bad migration and and then you are undergoing through the those huge sufferings, no?
So the master Śāntideva has stated here that if one if one does not have a or haven’t cultivated the cause of going cause of bad migration, then no matter how much or, I mean, matter how much or, even, sorry, even the gods and demigods, altogether try to throw you to the badmigration or throw you to the lower realms. They cannot they cannot throw you. Even if they try to throw you down to lower realms or badmigrations, they cannot throw you to those stages because you because you you haven’t cultivated the the causes or the action which leads you to the bad migration. So so all the sufferings which we presently go in this this lifetime, unlike some some some has a problem with the poverty or that some they don’t have enough food to eat or some have some have no enough clothes and then go through difficulties in present life. Some And when we even we get our headaches and colds, etcetera, are the result of action which we have accumulated in the past, and this is the suffering, or the result itself. This suffering is the result of the action you have cultivated in the past.
And all those happiness which we have in this lifetime presently, like happiness, the harmony, and peacefuls, and etcetera, what we are going to I mean, is the the results. Also, are also the result of the good actions which we have accumulated in the past. Okay. So at this stage, it’s very important to know that to choose the proper path because there are two We’ve been stated that there are two types of paths, is the Or the white and the black paths. And we are at the edge or the beginning of the two Beginning of the intersection of those two parts.
And and so should understand to know that if one follows through the black black highway or a part then of sufferings will flow after that. And if if you travels through the white part, all those happiness will flow follows after you. So this is the right time to analyze, to investigate about those two parts, and then get into put into the practice and choose the right path. You get if you mistake if you mistake choosing the path at this moment, then and there will be a huge loss within yourself. Thank you.
So so we’ll stop here today. It’s nine o’clock. That and I don’t want to take any I’m not taking any questions here today because we need some volunteers at the back to to do the mailings for the newsletters. And so please, I mean, if you can just help for the house. Newsletter groups, Tony is the boss, I think, with the and to help them to post the for the mailing systems and have enjoy with the cup of tea there.
So if if one has really important question then You can put it. You can put that question in the next session. Okay. Thank you. Yeah.