Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Using the image of an Australian emigrating permanently — someone who stops making plans for a country they’re about to leave — Khensur Rinpoche illustrates why genuine death-awareness transforms Dharma practice. In this 78-minute Lamrim commentary, he covers the small-scope path, starting with the disadvantages of procrastinating on death: indefinite deferral (“not today, not tomorrow”) feeds worldly preoccupation, accumulates non-virtue, and ends in fear at the moment of dying. He then unpacks Nāgārjuna’s eight worldly concerns (gain/loss, praise/blame, comfort/discomfort, fame/disgrace) and clarifies that “forsaking this life” means cultivating equanimity toward all eight — not abandoning possessions like Milarepa. The session closes with three practical guidelines: restraining the five sense faculties, eating moderately, and scheduling meditation in the early morning and late evening.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 06 LR 1999 03 30.mp3
UUID: 67da3556-bdfa-463f-bb13-e0906cc836a3
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Lam Rim (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1999-03-30
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 78.3 minutes
Words: ~4,483
So, in the earlier we were dealing with the sublime headings called the way of extracting the essence from this precious human life which has to develop understanding in all parts and the actual way of extracting essence from this precious human life. And now it has the second one, it has three parts. The training in the stages of the in common with the person of initial capacity, and then the training in the stages of the part in common with person of intermediate capacity. And the last one is training in the stages of the path in common with sorry, training in the stages of the path of great capacity. Person of great capacity.
And for the first one, the stages of the part in common with person of initial capacity has three subheadings, subdivisions, which are the actual way of training mind in small scope and the criterion of having generated the mind of small scope and clarifying the misconception of small scope. So the actual way of training in the mind of small scope means the mind, which is the way of thinking. What sort of mind that the person of the small capacity has is that they have the that’s two subtitles, remembering that the fact remembering that in fact that it will not remain long in this world and the and the thinking about what will happen in future lives and about sufferings and happiness of two kinds of rebirths. And for the remembering that in fact that you will of this life will not remain long in this world And to arouse such that one has to reminds the that to arouse such mind one has to see the disadvantages of not remembering death and the benefit of remembering death and the actual way of remembering death. And so how want to cultivate such such a thought remembering death through meditation.
Know? Mhmm. So, to train in the stages of part in common with the middle, a person of small capacity, one has to remember the benefits of remembering death. And one has to understand the benefits or advantages of remembering death and disadvantages of not remembering death. It is like if one suppose one was going to do something and if the person knows the benefits and disadvantages of that particular task he or she is going to do, then he will develop great enthusiasm and very keen engage in that particular task.
If one hasn’t had any understanding of benefits and the disadvantages of performing such action, then he or she will hardly have any enthusiasm or not interest in engaging in such actions. So, we are going to deal with the disadvantages of not remembering death. And here as all it doesn’t imply to the one who is not a practitioner, who does not practice. Here it shows it’s I’m a disadvantage of not remembering death to someone who is a practitioner. So some people, they don’t have any understanding of death and they don’t recall or they don’t remember the death.
And such persons they don’t have those kind of person have no understanding of Dharma at all. And there’s another kind of person who thinks that one day the death will approach, death will come. But but but they procrastinate that today, I I I won’t I would I would not die today and not tomorrow and that not this not not this year and not next year as well. So no, no. There is a this this kind of beings is exist as well.
So those person who think that one day the day will come to die or the death will approach and but they are not sure when it it comes and they’re just saying not today not tomorrow and so on and but they actually remember the death or recall or they remember that it will come one day. No. No. So actually they do recall, they do remember that one day they will die, but such a remembering of death is not what we discuss here. So, such kind of remembering that is not useful because they think that I will not die today, not tomorrow, and then this year and next year, they just procrastinate.
Due to that they start to develop a mind to stay in this life, stay long long or it works for the benefits of this life? So as by procrastinating their death, not tomorrow, not today, and then they start thinking about the mind of living in this world. And as they have thought of living in this world, then they start to have more demands about they need and they start because they need a food, they need a cloth, and then they perform or they start striving to earn a living of this life and they never think about achieving liberation and the enlightened Buddhahood in next lives. So such person will hardly do any practice even if they do. Their practice is mainly concerned for the happiness of this life and overcome suffering of this life only.
And and their practice won’t be won’t be not so powerful and not much beneficial. Practice won’t become more powerful or more beneficial because because their practice is more over connected or or focused on on the on the happiness of this life itself now? So, if someone performs a develop a mind to practice the Dharma for the benefits or benefits in someone if someone recalls or remember the death and does the practice for the benefits to gain certain benefits in the future lives. But if that person didn’t remember deaths very often, then it also becomes one obstacle to not maintaining practice very firmly or cannot maintain that practice forever to continuously allow This becomes one obstacle. So one has to remember that very often.
And if one concerns about about the wealth and and wealth wealth, so and then due to that one start very hard to very hard to cultivate huge amount of wealth. And so as one has to cultivate the work I mean, to earn such a wealth. And then due to that one has to then one generates attachment towards the wealth and by having that greed one also accumulates the and then one feels pride or hatred towards others being so wealthy. And if one cannot accomplish one’s wish to cultivating such a wealth, then one generates jealousy towards others’ wealth. And so by working for the benefits of cultivating such wealth, also one engage or one accumulates gets kind of unwholesome deeds and accumulates great afflictions or disturbing emotions.
And one always involved or engaged in doing the non virtuous things now. So if one engaged or involved in such activities, then all these actions becomes the obstacles towards attaining the higher rebirths in next lives. And it also becomes a struggle to achieve liberation and enlightenment in next life as well. And so if one leads a life with performing such unwholesome deeds, then finally when a time or one time approach or come to die, and then at that last moment then one feels very afraid of dying and suffer, suffer tremendously because of thinking that at the time they remember that I haven’t done any done any wholesome deeds which can give me a better rebirth in my life and remember the bad actions they have performed at the time of death and by remembering this one feel great fear at the time of death. And and then finally one dies and then because due to the result of performing the unwholesome deeds, one will born in the better migration or bad migration and and or lower realms and undergoes through huge sufferings and and so all these undergoes through sufferings and all these are the the disadvantages of not recalling or remembering the death.
So to generate or to remember a death correctly or if one generates a mind which correctly remembers the death or properly remembers the death and to have to generate such mind one has to forsake this worldly concerns or forsake this life. So forsake this life, it means that one should forsake eight worldly concerns. And so if one can forsake those eight worldly concerns, then one can remind the proper death. And by remembering the proper death, one can do a proper or pure one can do the pure practice or pure Dharma. If one cannot forsake those eight worldly concerns then one cannot remember the proper death and cannot perform a pure practice.
So the eight worldly concerns are here stated by the great master Nāgārjuna. And out of eight, the first two are one is happy is happy if one receives the gift and not happy if one does not receive the gift. And the third and the fourth is the eight concerns or say, one is happy when one’s when one is being praised or others say good things upon you, and one is unhappy when others criticize or complain complain towards oneself. And, yeah, these are being praised and criticized, third and fourth. And the fifth and the sixth one is comfortable and uncomfortable.
If one is happy, if one has comfortable or happiness in this life and one is unhappy if one hasn’t got the one is not comfortable or not happy in this life. And the seventh and eighth one is so one is happy when someone may comment on saying he’s like if one is happy being very famous and one is unhappy if not become famous or people’s like if one has a fame, seventh one, and become famous and people say good things on you and one happy and one is not unhappy when people say, mean, they put oneself in disgrace. So these eight are called eight worldly concerns. So here it’s worldly refers to this life. And so if one concern or struggle hard to attain this works for this eight percent of this eight worldly concerns and being happy if one receives the four positive ones and if one is unhappy if one receives the negative ones.
And a one who strives for the concern of this eight worldly concerns, then this such person is called the worldly being. So, and such person who strive hard for this worldly concerns is mainly he mainly works for this present lifetime and his practice would not become a practice, pure practice. And one who forsakes this life means if one who forsakes these eight worldly concerns and performs and does the practice without the eight worldly concerns, the such practice becomes pure practice and also performing a practicing with forsaking this life. So to forsake this life refers to forsake those eight worldly concerns. So, if on us Dharma, the practice and the worldly this worldly concern is if I ask the question whether this whether the practice and the eight worldly concern contradict each other or not.
And answer for that is that all the Kadampa masters has stated that the practice, the teaching, or the Dharma and the worldly concerns are do contradict each other. And so if they contradict, one may ask, how they contradict each other? So if one asks how they contradict each other means to one who leads the pure pure practice or just the pure Dharma then that person this world, this life, the worldly concerns. The worldly concern means one does not forsake the worldly concerns and whatever practices they perform will not become a pure practice or pure Dharma. This is how they contradict each other.
But hearing this, you can see they do contradict each other. So when the teaching says forsake one’s life, it does not refer to the give up everything that one has, one possession, one’s home or one house, one’s body and one’s friends, relatives, etcetera. What it means is one to give up this love is it means to give up the give up the eight worldly concerns. So some people, when they heard the one to do a pure practice, one has to give up this life. And they misinterpret or misunderstand this giving up this life.
And then they think that they have to give up everything, one’s possessions and everything, and has to go and do like Milarepa, the great master in Milarepa, but it doesn’t mean one needs to give up everything. Give up everything. And all those great Tibetan masters like Pänchen Lobsang Chökyi and the seventh Dalai Lama has stated that to And the fifth Lama, seventh Dalai Lama, it wasn’t sixth. It was seventh Dalai Lama called Kelsang Gyatso. Kelsang Gyatso and the Pänchen Lobsang Chökyi has stated that to give up this life, one does not need to give up everything what one has.
And forsaking this worldly concern is, or the way of forsaking this worldly concern is equalizing the levels of the worldly concern. So equalizing the levels of worldly concern means forsaking these eight worldly concerns. So equalizing the level of those eight worldly concern and the way of equalizing is that the first two, one being happy when one receives the gift and one is unhappy when one does not receive the gift. Means, so when one is so one generates the attachment, when feeling of attachment or attachment when one feels happy when one is happy at the time when we receive the gift and one is becoming unhappy when one doesn’t receive the gift means it generates the anger. So the first two is the happy and happiness, getting gift or not.
Gift is the generates the attachment and one generates the anger. So one has to equalize or maintain one’s mind that as one feels happy with receiving gift and develops the attachment, one feels happy and then attachment as well which happy refers to attachment and then the one feels unhappy of not receiving and which is the anger, developing anger. So if one generates an equal mind or feel equanimity towards those two levels and so not not getting not becoming happy when one receive receives the gift which is which happy refers to attachment attachment. And by not developing that happiness which is attachment then one cultivates a by abandoning one one one abandons the attachment and one and then by abandoning that one creates or cultivates the virtues and not getting and or and not getting angry when one does not not doesn’t and not getting unhappy when one does not receive the gift, then that unhappy refers to anger. And by not developing such unhappiness, one abandons the anger.
And by abandoning that anger, one also achieves the virtues of merit as well. So likewise to the next two as well, and if one’s been pleased by seeing on hearing good things upon oneself and that happiness, by feeling happy on that is the attachment and not generating that attachment. And one also accumulates the merit as before and by not getting unhappy by when people say bad things or harsh words towards oneself and and that unhappy refers to hatred and so by abandoning that unhappiness one abandons the hatred and also accumulates merits. No. And also the third one, being uncomfortable, happy with comfortable and not.
And unhappy if one is not comfortable. And those two happy and unhappiness unhappy and happy refers to the attachment and the anger or hatred. So if one equalize those, the level of those, one means one abandons those two hatred, attachment and hatred or anger and And it’s saying to the next two as well that the one being happy with praise and one’s not happy when being criticized. And and usually what that happy and unhappiness refers to hatred, attachment and hatred and usually one may normally we hardly recognize or realize that we are we generate attachment when one feels happy And so when one feels happy there is attachment but we hardly recognize or realize that we are generating or we have attachment for that happiness. But in fact, it’s that there is happiness.
So there is attachment behind when one generates happiness or one feels happy. And as well as when one feels hatred, there is an anger behind it. So by not getting happy when one’s been when one is being praised and not getting unhappy when one is criticized. By doing this, one abandons both the attachment and the anger or the hatred and accumulates the merit. So this is the way how one should equalize the level of the eight worldly concern.
So it said if one equalized the level of those eight worldly concerns, means equalized, not generating both the attachment and the happiness and unhappiness, which is hatred and attachment and hatred or anger. So when one when one is able to do this, then one abandons the eight worldly concern or forsakes this life. And one becomes pure practitioner. So this is the way of abandoning the eight worldly concerns and giving up this life. And so here you came to know that giving up this life over eight worldly concerns doesn’t mean give everything one has.
But in these days, in West, there we have lots of television television and by watching television we create both lots of both the attachment and the hatred or the anger that’s saying and because there comes lots of program shows all the advertisements and etcetera, and by saying, oh, that one is good and that one is not good. So by differentiating good and bad, and then one accumulates both the merit and the demerit or the hatred attachment and hatred angers. No? We always say that it is the main three points to lead a proper practice that from the beginning of performing any practices and if one maintains those three which is one closing the doors of the sense or means the of all the five faculties means controlling all the doors of the five sense faculties and eating a suitable amount. So I find I find these three points are very important to lead a readable practice like, for example, like closing the doors of five faculties, closing those of faculties or sense organs, which means, for example, if one does not, like, if one closed the doors of eye organs or eye faculty, say one meditates or one does the practice without not looking anywhere and by that one avoids many attachment and anger or hatred because by seeing many different sorts of things by eye, through eye, then one then develops the attachments towards something which seems beautiful and which seems very nice and by seeing some bad things one develops anger or hatred.
Closing the door of eye faculty or eye sense organ then one it’s like that. So one avoids the attachment and the hatred or anger. And likewise towards the ear faculty or ear sense organ by hearing in the good and bad words or harsh words one cultivates both attachment and the the hatred or anger and as for the the nose by because of good fragrance or and and the bad fragrance one develops attachment and anger as well as for those the tactile sensation by touching by touching like body, sorry, by contact with the very smooth fabrics and, yeah, one feels and with very rough or yeah, rough fabric, etcetera. And it’s just one feels attachment and anger and as well as for the taste, by tasting good and bad taste, one creates both. So no.
So when one doesn’t give up concern for this life, then one always always works for the happiness and benefit of in this lifetime and whatever actions that they perform will link with the eight worldly concerns and their practice of Dharma will not become pure Dharma. Because because the even if they perform such perform any type of perform any practice without giving this life life, then their practice is not become a pure practice because it has connect connection or it connection with the eight worldly concern. And so to lead a pure Dharma and then one has to one mind has to mainly focus towards the Dharma and by doing that one so to lead a pure Dharma one has to wholeheartedly focus one’s mind towards the Dharma. And so briefly speaking that to mainly to to forsake this life and the works for the benefits in future life is mainly the main main main practice of generating such like giving up this life and the cultivating happiness in the future life is mainly comes by meditating on impermanence. So so all those masters, Buddha Śākyamūni, has done the pure Dharma by or engaged in the practice by seeing the death of many beings and like and also and likewise the great yogi Milarepa by seeing many of his friends die he then writes the he remembers, recalls the death and and he enters or reads the pure pure Dharma.
So so likewise, our great masters had done the same thing like those masters by seeing the death and remembering impermanence they they engage in the pure practice and pure Dharma and and so to become pure Dharma or practice entirely depends on remembering death or impermanence, thinking about impermanence. It’s it’s like, say, if an Australian in an Australian is is moving forever from Australia to other country, and he is leaving in a couple of days time and such a person will never make never made any plan or work to staying or arrangement to staying in Australia because he is definite and moving forever from Australia. So like that Australian, if one if one generates impermanence, then let’s say that one is definite to part definite to separate from this life, and by by knowing this, remembering that death, one will impermanence our death, and one will never think of arranging living in this life. So when one remembers that, then one is to be sure that one has to leave everything one has, even one’s body. And then by thinking that one is definite to go somewhere by leaving this life behind, and by knowing this, one as one knowing that one will definitely go.
And by knowing this, arrange for the journey towards the other places now. So if one has the proper understanding of this, that one has to leave this behind, this cloak behind, and note that when one does, it doesn’t mean that one just simply dissipates. It is definite for one to be born in such states, any of the states next in next lives, and by knowing this, one will it is to be sure that one will definitely make arrangements towards the next life. So one has to undergo through great sufferings. If one does not arrange for the future lives or an expert, and at the time one dies without any arrangements for the future life, yeah, it’s sure that one will have one will suffer undergo through great sufferings in the next birth, you know.
So the great master Tsongkhapa has stated that if one remembers death, then one will definite arrange for the next life, one start making arrangements for future lives. So meditating meditation on the death is very beneficial to lead a pure practice. Also meditating on impermanence or death is very helpful to develop a great effort or enthusiasm to work for the cultivation of happiness in the next life and getting rid of the sufferings in next life as well. So the next life, one meeting next life is very far distance, but it is not. In fact, it is not because so the next life is like when one exhales and one cannot inhale, at that time, the next life is already approaching.
So it’s not far. So in that case, the next life is not far. So it is certain that that such time will come, that time that one one exhale, that respiration one exhale and then cannot inhale, so such a moment or such a time is definite to come, but we are not sure that when it will come. So, such moment may occur in a year time or in a month time or even a day time, and even a one day. So we should make preparation or arrangement beforehand, before these things such moment occurs.
If and and in beforehand. Because when it comes, then we don’t have. We we can’t make arrangement at the time it came, so we have to make arrangement before that such such moment occurs. So, one has to do meditation on impermanence by knowing that one has to separate from one’s possessions and as well as one’s body itself. By knowing that the separation, one has to meditate on So we’ll stop here today.
Just one or two questions, if you want. I know you were going to say this. Where’s my short notes? So the first of the three headings, and one is controlling the doors of five faculties, means we have said that the different sort of attachment in anger arises from the five faculties for the eye, for example, for the eye organs by seeing so many things. So same for the other organs.
And so the controlling over the five sense organs means it’s not letting it spreading, sending it away, just controlling over there, focusing it inwards, is called controlling the doors of the five organs, tensile. So it is very helpful if one can do this, the controlling over the closing the doors of the five sense organs and very helpful to do a pure practice now. And the second is eating a reasonable amount of food, which means not just feeding oneself too much in the morning and as well as not both three times. And if one feeds oneself too much, one grows oneself, if one feels whole belly, then one becomes very dull and lazy and cannot do proper meditation. It’s good to eat a reasonable amount of food, which means feel, say, two thirds of one’s stomach and one third for the digestion.
So then one feels comfortable and needs to go to a perfect meditation. And the third one is performing the practice at the right time. I may have to say something wrong before, anyway. It’s the right time, which means they get up early in the morning and go to bed late night and not letting one’s mental wondering, just wandering. With full concentration one meditates on one does one’s meditation and practice by on the right time, means at early morning and late night, and staying late night.
Yep. Three points. Okay.