Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 84-minute teaching on the foundational Lamrim (stages of the path) practicum, Khensur Rinpoche emphasizes that a teaching’s profundity depends entirely on the practitioner’s mind rather than the text itself. He argues that understanding impermanence is the essential threshold to all Dharma practice—without it, even recitation of mantras and sadhanas remains superficial. He then works methodically through the meditation on death and impermanence: the certainty of death, the uncertainty of when it will come, and that only Dharma can help at that moment. He details the four types of birth across saṃsāra, explains why no being escapes death regardless of physical strength or location, and walks through how karma projects our lifespan—using the metaphor of a full water tank to show how mindful practice extends the duration we’re allotted rather than defying death itself. He concludes by comparing lifespan-lengthening methods across vehicle systems, from tantric empowerments and compassionate action in Mahāyāna to the Hīnayāna arhats’ recollection of past lifespans. Suitable for serious practitioners with some background in Buddhist philosophy.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 08 LR 1999 04 27.mp3
UUID: a91b60c1-3cbe-4a49-abd0-497666554c4e
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Lam Rim (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1999-04-27
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 84.5 minutes
Words: ~4,624
So, it is here stated that tantric teaching called the Guhyasamāja is said to be very profound and extensive teachings. But in the sense, I said it depends on the individual, though, whether it is the profound and the extensive teaching to you or not. If one has developed an understanding of impermanence within one’s mind stream, then as it’s said, tantric teaching, the text called Guhyasamāja, is actually a very profound and extensive teaching within you. If one hasn’t developed an understanding of impermanence with one’s mind stream, then even the tantric teaching, Guhyasamāja, is not.
No matter how extensive and profound teaching it is, but it is not extensive and profound teaching for you or within you. So the assertions of profound and extensive, profound entirely depends on one’s mind stream, whether one has developed an understanding of impermanence or not. So, instead, if one has a proper understanding or one has developed an understanding of impermanence within one’s mind stream, then even the three refuge prayers, even the three refuge, the refuge to Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, is a very profound and extensive teaching. So, the classification of profound and extensive teachings entirely depends upon how that particular teaching benefits you. If that particular teaching brings huge or great benefits to you, then the teaching itself, whatever practice you do, it’s very extensive and profound.
And so if a teaching, no matter how the teaching in general is very profound and extensive, but if it doesn’t benefit you, then it’s not for you, it’s not extensive and a profound teaching. So, the profound and extensive teaching for particular so individually, it entirely depends on one’s it depends on one’s one could be distinguished through one’s experiences or through one’s practice. So, to develop or to have a good experience on one’s practices, first, to have that, first one has to listen, have, one has to receive a good, extensive listening. And listening is not just enough by listening once. And it’s not also enough by listening.
And if one listens and then stops not doing, contemplating on it, then whatever one one have heard will forget in within couple of days. So so one have to bring all those listenings towards contemplation and through extensive contemplations, and through contemplations one develops an understanding on the teachings and then bring all those understanding or the contemplation towards the meditation. And through this process, one can have a proper experience of the practices. So, if one has good experiences or good understanding, then whatever meditation or practices one does, all those practices becomes very essential, very helpful, very beneficial because the root of the practice, which is the experiences or proper understanding is there. Likewise, if a tree has a good root, very strong root, then it can give good branches, so forth.
Likewise, so if one has the good root to practice, like understanding experiences, so whatever practices, meditation, any kind of practice one does, will become very good practice and become very beneficial and will give birth to a good result. So, developing a good experience, a proper understanding through meditation is very important. If not, if so or if one does not do such things, have gained experience or understanding through meditation, by listening lots of teachings, and then later on, one knows what teacher is going to say. For example, when teacher teaches something, they start the main start the topic. And then as he has been listening to a teaching a lot, but not bringing into meditation, then one starts thinking, Oh, after this it will come this and this and so forth.
And through this, there is no benefit at all because they understand, I mean, they have listened a lot but they never bring into the practice or into meditation. So their mind is more likely becomes like spoilt with the Dharma, which is the worst thing to happen. So the work that one’s mind which is spoilt with the Dharma cannot be cured with Dharma. No matter how much extensive teaching or, like, teaching or receive very profound instructions of sutras and the treatises and the trainings of the Buddhas, it cannot cure that mind. So it is it is very bad for one to have to be spoiling spoiling one’s mind with the Dharma.
How can I put this down? The Tibetan saying, in general, let’s say, which I use the word here, mind which is spoilt with the Dharma. That mind cannot be cured by Dharma. Like Marpa in Tibetan called this the leather container for a butter, which itself is very stiff or hot and very oily. So it means that particular container cannot subdue or make it softened by a butter.
Does it make sense? So, for here, the great master, great master Tsongkhapa, has stated that one should bring all into contemplation and meditation, bring all those hearing into meditation and practice according to one’s capability. So, now about for the practices of the Dharma or teaching, the very outset or the like entrance to enter the practice of Dharma is the practices of impermanence, recalling the impermanence. So impermanence is like an entrance, like a door to enter the room. So if one does not cultivate or practice impermanence, or we call impermanence from the very outset of one’s practices, then one is more likely like left behind or left outside of the door, like the door is not opened.
Which means that one is stuck outside the door. One never, no matter how much practice one do, but it’s, one is more likely stuck, kept outside all the time. So the recalling or cultivating impermanence from the very outset of practice is, impermanence is the right entrance to enter the Dharma or enter the practice as well. So, the meditation on impermanence is very important. And it is very important from the beginning to end to the And in the middle it is very important for one to practice very often.
And at the end it is very and it’s important to accomplish one’s practices. So, meditating on impermanence is very, very important. So, the beginning of the pure, pure practices, which starts from the impermanence or meditation on impermanence, And without this, even one does the recite one’s daily commitments like sadhanas, reading books and doing prostrations, reciting some mantras, and doing meditation time to time without recalling impermanence, then this is not called the pure practice. And so, the way of cultivating our meditation impermanence, about impermanence, We have been dealing with the disadvantages of not remembering death. If you just roughly say here that the faults or disadvantages of not remembering death is due to that, one gets all the unwanted sufferings and cannot accomplish one’s wishes.
And benefits remembering death or impermanence is that through this, recalling our meditation on impermanence or death, then one can accomplish one’s both the temporal and the ultimate wishes. The way and so, if I’m asked how, so what, how one can, how to meditate upon, meditate upon impermanence, for that great master Tsongkhapa has stated that to meditate on impermanence, he has classified the two points, saying that meditating impermanence through ninefold way of thinking about death, and then meditating on aspects of the death. And about this, the ninefold way of thinking about death, it has been classified as three roots. Three roots, that three roots has been classed, and each root has three points, and then at the end there is one which is called the conclusion meditation, gone through meditation on this ninefold, or through investigation on these ninefolds, one makes a conclusion. If you give an example here, it’s like what people in this lifestyle, the main what they try to achieve in this life or for this worldly thing is that there are three main objects or three main points.
They strive very hard to attain a good food and then good clothes or shelter, and then the good reputation or fame. So these are the three main achievements for this present lifetime. Are three routes: food, clothes, shelter, or the rep and reputation. And likewise, likewise for death, there are three, it’s been said, three roots, which are the thinking about the The first one is thinking about the certainty of death, and the second is thinking about uncertainty of the time of death, which means we know that one will definitely die sooner or later, one cannot identify, one cannot know when one will die. And then third point is thinking that but the teaching or Dharma can help you at the time of death.
It is stated that only Dharma which can help you at the time of death. And, if I ask then, there are about the birth, there are four types of births, both from the womb, from the egg, from the heat or moisture, and from the miracles. And the womb birth here are described for the humans, humans and animals like cat, dog, and so forth. Those are called the womb birth. They have been formed by the father and mother’s sperms and then been first grown up or been formed in the mother’s womb or embryo and then later comes through the mother later give birth by a ma, from the womb.
So, this is Such animals are human, and those animals are called the womb birth. No, womb birth. Oh, yeah. And the egg birth is called those animals born from the egg being hatched by the they lay the egg first, their parent, and then hatch, and later comes out. So these are animals like birds, and we can say the snakes are called the egg births.
And then the birth from the heat or the moisture are those animals like the little insects who just comes in, formed in the root of the tree roots. Sometimes, you know, there are some little creatures in the folded up cloths, so forth. So, those creatures are called from the birth from the moisture or heat. And those birth from miracles are called those beings who are upon us like god beings in the god realms, and then like in the cold and hot hell realms and the intermediate states, beings in intermediate states, these beings are called the miracle births. They just come from the heat or moisture.
So about the birth of animals, are four ways of taking births. And here, if I’m asked the question that all those beings who are born, who take birth through the influence of the karma and the disturbing emotions will die or not, then as for here, we have been granted permission to say, to give the answer, yes, the beings who are being born or through the influence of karma and the disturbing emotions, they are definite to die. They will definitely die. So no matter how precious or good of physical body one has, one has, but one has to die. But one has to leave such physical body, or one has to die.
And so here, in this time, there have been Buddhas and Buddhist arhats, liberated beings or arhats have taken birth in this, has taken birth and they have very good or beautiful physical appearance, and have strong body and so forth, but none of them none of them has stayed able to maintain their so all have all of them has undergone true death. So it stated that whatever physical body one has, but one has to die. One has to leave or one has to die. Is also there’s no such place, no matter what what where one goes, but there’s not such a place that one can escape from the death. So, there’s no such places that one cannot die.
Even those Gods. Anyway, so, there is no such places that one can escape from death. And, for example, beings in the sky, in space, as Rinpoche said, like, for example, like sun and gods, and they also have to degenerate or have to face death. And then beings or little worms or creatures in the Rocky Mountains or like great mountains, they also undergo through death as well as the beings in the depth of the ocean or sea, like fish and so forth, also undergoes through the depths. So, there is no such place that one can escape from it.
And even for the time when our even for the time, the time means present, past, and future. And everyone has to undergo through death. Like the beings, you these days we can’t see any of the beings who were exist or alive in the past times, like like animals, humans, so forth. They they all had they they all died. And even in this present even in this present times, some people, they have already died and some are on the way to on the way to on the way to the death or on the way to die, and some are actually processing or going or nearly to die.
Even if you check in this particular world itself, you have heard of great famous people who are very who has good reputation, have good fame, and some who are very brave, so forth. Those, we just heard about them, but they all have died. So for for this, Śākyamūni Buddha has stated that there are four fears, and when those four fierceness or those four fears approaches, then one cannot they approaches, then one at the time they approaches, one cannot escape from them by running or by and they cannot escape through bravery. And no matter how or what kind of method one tries to escape from them, one can never resist or or escape from those four fears? If I’m asked, what are those four fears?
Gawa, chuba, gupa. And the four fears are the phase of illness or disease. Illness in the phase of old age, in the phase of decay, the phase of death. And so, how that fears of illness destroys one means that while one is in the health, state of good health or happy state, and that disease or the sickness eventually or gradually approaches and starts harming one’s healthy state of health gradually and gradually, and then it finally brings towards death. And, you can see this, at the time when you were just born and during your childhood or four tenets, you were very healthy and then had very good health and seems to be very strong.
Gradually, when one becomes older and older and then it starts having more and more illness or disease, catching more and more disease, and then later on it becomes old, and that sickness brings you to the final state, which is the death. You say saying that one cannot avoid always. And old age will approach us and will eventually come to you, and it is inevitable to avoid that. And for example, at the time when one was just born and gradually one starts growing up time to time then comes to four tenets and during like a very like a four tenets time and one is that that while during that time one is one has good appearances, very one’s body is very pliant and one can run very run very fast and then even one can about sitting, one can sit easily and stand easily and one can play very well, so forth. And then by gradually one start growing older and older and then time comes, like, and then time comes, then one has started losing one’s sight and hearing and then one’s hearing and so forth.
And then even, and then one has started facing problem to hear other people talking, to hear other people and find it hard to talk to others face difficulty to eat. And then when and also of have difficulty to stand up by using forearms on the ground and standing up. And then when one sits, just leave it like a sack, just one go down. It means not just one drop in one’s body or fall down. And then the phase of, say, decay or decay, and which eventually which slowly approaches like others, and then it destroys one’s beauty and one’s physical one is very fragile or pliant or is very is very pliant or flexible body.
And then when the decay approaches, it destroys everything and then starts destroying one’s wishes and then bringing all those unwanted sufferings, suffering to its, bringing all one’s unwanted sufferings. So, now we come to the fourth phase, is called the phase of death. And about the death, we normally have mind or consciousness or a mind, and the physical body aggregates a body, and they are together. The producer of those two, body and the mind, to stay together is called action or karma. karma is the one who conjoins this body and the mind to stay together for a certain time.
As for those beings in the bad migration, those beings and their mind has been created, been together by a karma which are their combination or duration. The combination was made up, a project by a karma called the bad karma, and then the beings in the good migration and their mind and their body are being gathered by a karma which is called a good karma. This karma has been cultivated by that particular being in the past lives, and that karma has a certain They have cultivated in the past, and that karma has also created a certain time for those consciousness or a mind and the body to stay together. And for the longest time they can project is the hundred years’ time. So, the example, we say the karma which projects or the mind consciousness and a physical form to stay together for lifespan of hundred years.
And at the time of that particular being is born, just after a moment of that born, a minute passes, it has hundred, and its lifespan is hundred years down. And from the moment of birth, it never stops going. And the time of one’s lifespan from will never rest and it passes by minutes and will never rest to will never rest like the like a time alarm clock, one set to the twelve o’clock and one just turn on the switch, and then clock start going, and then it will and one cannot add because it that is the one, like, the alarm clock is alarm clock, which one set, and one is one cannot add on it. Likewise So the the the karma has projected the lifespan of hundred years, and from the moment of it dead, it starts approaching to it, it’s dead, or it never it start minusing one’s life span and will never rest for a moment to decrease one’s life span. Nor that one can lengthen or lengthens one’s life span because it is the karma that karma has already projected one hundred percent life span.
So, and that life span has been, that life span has been diminished by the years and that year has been diminished by the months and months has been by days and days has been diminished by morning and the evening. So likewise, through this process, through this approaches, this approach, the death eventually comes to you. So that the death, the fear of death will destroy or diminish continuously minusing one’s lifespan, and day by day one’s lifespan gradually, and then a day will come. One and the time will come that, oh, now this is the time or today is the time to die. So here the great master Vasubandhu has stated that life actually is meant, is called to the consciousness, and which act as a condition to survive this physical body.
Whether it’s a life or so you can the life is you can call either life or consciousness. It’s life here, which helps the physical body to survive. So, life of our consciousness is also called wind. Oh, windy. And the wind or a breath or a respiration, and here it’s called the and it’s been stated that in twenty four hours or within one day, one does the respiration or, like, in exhalation in an exhale or inhale, the breathing is one breathes the time of twenty one thousand six hundred times once breaths.
But for those those the footballers and the rugby people, you know, they just do lots of respiration in a day. So, it was also said that it’s good to, so the limit of the respiration or breath in twenty four hours is said to be twenty one thousand six hundred times. And so it is said that it’s good to have or to do a very limited or slow respiration or breathing in the daytime to have longer life span. And he also said, if one can the limit of, limit respiration is twenty one thousand six hundred, so if one can, if one try to save one’s breathing, say use twenty thousand in twenty four hours and save one six hundred. And Yeah.
I have to do it in the. To And through this skillful means, it was said to be there’s a chance of lengthening slightly one’s lifespan. So, in the sense, he has said that by not exceeding the breathing of twenty one thousand six hundred and trying to save, to use the limited, like, we said before, thousand and save sixteen hundred to lengthen one’s life. And here, in the sense it means lengthening one’s life means what here is the karma has already projects certain time to get together with the consciousness and the body together. And so here, the lengthening one’s life doesn’t mean that one can lengthen that karma, the time duration which is projected by karma.
So it is like the karma has made certain time. So here lengthened one’s life means it depends on how one is skillful or clever to use that karma for how long duration. Like the full tank of water. So you’ve got a full access of water, the full tank of water. And if one just leaves the tap twenty four hours on, then that water taps, the water will I mean, the tank will be empty very soon.
So if one is very clever to use that water, it can last for a long time. So lengthening saving is like that. But you can’t stop the breathing like you stop the water in the tank. So, if you if you stop like that, then one will die. So it means try to, like, use as little as one can, but one has to use it continuously.
So, this process, there is one depends on how one uses that kind of duration of one’s lifespan. But it is definite that one will not avoid or one will not avoid the death or one cannot avoid the death. It is definite. And if there is a possibility or chances to overcome overcome the death, or one can escape the death, then these days, these scientists, they invent many new things, and they’re also trying to research on how to stop, avoid death, but they can’t because it is definite that that one has to undergo through death. So, through all these investigations, one should understand that one cannot escape from the death and it is definite for one to approach the death.
Through this, one should cultivate a good understanding on the death or impermanence. So, through this understanding, then one should cultivate to bring some benefits beforehand or before one dies, and to overcome one or all the sufferings and cultivate good ultimate happiness. So it is good to do or premeditate or do beforehand before death comes. Because one actually dies, but it doesn’t mean that after one’s dead, one is not disappearing somewhere, one still exists. But after that, is very, very rare or difficult to get an opportunity to cultivate some benefits.
Such understanding one should it’s very important to cultivate beforehand. Yeah. Think that’s really So So We’ll stop here and save a question for five minutes. So, this sort of the process or practices of White Tārā and Yamataka, so forth, of lengthening the lifespan is being told through the practice according to the viewpoint or through the practice of Tantrayāna or Tantra. And according to the Sūtrayāna or lower vehicles like the Vaibhāṣikas and the Pratyekabuddha solitary realizers.
Through this system they don’t agree with these concepts and also they don’t agree in the context of the practice of Tantrayāna or Tantric practice. So, there are many systems or many classification of lengthening one’s lifespan through the tantric practice. And some say that by receiving special blessings and taking blessings through one’s practices, and those blessings act as a conducive condition to survive one’s body, means creating a new condition to survive the body. And some, they say they are meant to be ten initiations or ten empowerments, and like the empowering life, like both initiations and life initiations. And these are through according to the Mahāyāna Tantric vehicles and through having a good understanding or the realizations in the path and grounds of the practices of the Tantrayanas.
And through this, through such realizations in the path and grounds, attains certain powers over a life span, how one can survive or how one wants to stay. Empowers on one’s spirit means one can take a birth of what one wishes or one wants to take a birth. And also, there are some, lengthening one’s lifespan through developing a special, through altruism or through the bodhicitta, and cultivates very, very special or strong compassion and love towards sentient beings, especially to those beings who are nearly to slaughter at the butchers and like so forth. By seeing those, they underwent nearly slaughter. And by seeing those and developing special compassion and love, and then freeing them from this slaughter slaughtering or from the butcher’s hand.
And by buying them and putting, you know, like liberate them or put them in a sanctuary. And so by doing this, one has helped to lengthen particular lifespan of particular animal. So likewise, and through such great compassion and love, and through this one cultivates very strong virtues or merit. And then through this indeed also there is possibility of cultivating or lengthening one’s life as well because of lengthening others’ lifespan. So, in the system, in the schools of Mahāyāna vehicles, are many skillful means, the method to use.
Skillful means like the compassion, love, bodhicitta or altruistic intention and through this wisdom, through special wisdoms, by using those as a method, can there are so many skillful means of lengthening. And through the realization of powers gained through training in the tantric practices. According to the Hīnayāna or lower vehicles, the assertions like some beings in the past, they go through untimely death, which means they have a life span, a certain time left over from their past lives. And those beings from and the arhats, like those liberated beings, according to the Hīnayāna school, Hīnayāna schools, And if they find themselves very beneficial to stay, benefits of the sentient beings by staying longer, then through their meditative stabilizations they recollect all their leftover lifespans from the past and then lengthen their present lifespans because they they benefit sentient beings by staying longer.
And this kind of system is being stated according or stated in the Hīnayāna vehicles. Okay.