Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A man eats his father reborn as a fish, beats his mother reborn as a dog, and cradles his enemy reborn as a baby: Khensur Rinpoche uses this story — attributed to the disciple Śāriputra — to anchor his point that saṃsāra’s shifting relationships leave no permanent friend or foe. In this 102-minute Lam Rim session, he concludes the section on immeasurable equanimity, directly answering a student’s concern that equal regard breeds passivity, then moves into appealing love as the second prerequisite for bodhicitta. He develops the mother analogy in depth: tracing the logic of beginningless rebirths and consciousness to show every being has been one’s mother, and why that recognition seeds great compassion. He also covers the four types of birth, including how spontaneous hell-realm birth works. For practitioners following a structured Lam Rim course.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 08 LR 2000 03 07.mp3
UUID: 7e13a56e-eb71-402a-b542-cbd8acadac0e
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Lam Rim (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 2000-03-07
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 102.5 minutes
Words: ~6,040
So, today we’ll be going, we’ll be teaching about how to meditate and cultivate the measurable equanimity or balanced mind. In nature both oneself and others are wishing happiness or wanting happiness and do not want suffering. But in our normal activities what we do is separate oneself and others, develop attachment towards one’s dear ones and cultivate hatred towards the enemies. Because of this one becomes under the influence of attachment and anger. Due to this, one cultivates lots of bad actions and as a result, one do not attain any happiness.
Instead, one receives suffering or undergoes true suffering. So what we need to do here is one, we need to cultivate a very altruistic mind or intention which is to serve the entire sentient beings, including oneself. And that intention should be without any should be free from attachment and anger that one has no there is no determination within oneself of feeling closeness and the distance among sentient beings. So cultivating that intention is called a saying sentient beings without any discriminations. It’s been called the immeasurable equanimity.
So for that immeasurable equanimity, one can develop that equanimity along with the four aspects which means that the wishing that one can cease or one can see entire sentient beings equally without any discrimination is the first one. And the second one is making aspirational prayers, that wanting that aspirational prayer that may they remain equally within oneself. And the third one is cultivating a special insight or making resolution that I will bring all these sentient beings into yeah, making resolution within oneself that bringing all this sentient that one takes responsibility of taking all sentient beings into, sentient beings in balance or without any discriminations? And the fourth aspect is making requests towards the guru that asking you to bless you, that bless you to be able to to bring all those sentient beings into yeah. So yeah, it’s making request towards the guru which is immeasurable request or immeasurable supplication which is to seeking help from one’s guru to be to one’s guru asking oneself to be blessed, oneself being blessed so that one can have the capability of bringing all the sentient beings equally within oneself.
And then along with it, one should one develops a bodhicitta or altruistic intention, the wishing to attain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. So, in order to attain enlightenment by the for the sake of all sentient beings, I should I shall hear, I shall hear, to receive the teachings, the graduated teachings, and contemplate, bring all the teachings into contemplation and into meditation. Along with this motivation, we shall do here a short meditation. So, we have been dealing about the importance of cultivating altruistic intention bodhicitta and in order to there are the prerequisites or we’ve been doing being we went through the details of how to cultivate a bodhicitta. So as we said that in the previous classes we said before one cultivates the bodhicitta, there are two.
Just before the bodhicitta there are two. One developed the two way of, two kinds of intentions which are the intention of, intention to perfect others purposes and the second one is to perfect one’s own purposes. So as for, and for the first one, to intention of fulfilling others purposes, it has two. It has two subdivisions which are the actual and the basis of the actual and the basis. And for the basis, we have set for the two, which, yeah, so it’s a bit quite hard to say, you know.
So that the basis has another two subdivisions, I mean, has its own two subdivisions. The first one is called equanimity, cultivating equanimity and second one is the appealing love. And about cultivating the equanimity, we have went very detailed through, detailed about the equanimity and we shall here go briefly again and then conclude that session of cultivating the equanimity. So about the techniques of or the process of cultivating developing equanimity has been set forth in the last few teachings by placing three types of person in front of oneself during the meditation, that placing the neutral being in the center and left and right, one’s dear ones and the right one dear ones friend or one’s relative and the left is one’s, say, the enemy. And during that time, while one focusing or focusing at those three types of beings in front of you, one develops the three different types of mind at that time.
That the mind which sees the center, the neutral being at the center, one has no, one does not develop any attachment or hatred towards the person and towards at the right when one develops a attachment of, attachment, one develops attachment by feeling closeness towards that relatives or the ones, dear ones, or to the dear ones and at the left cultivates a, develop an anger or hatred by seeing that unpleasing the enemy or one whom one you dislikes. So now we have set forth that the way of how one should see those sentience while one is focusing or look staring at that three types of person and should one transform one’s of thinking that while focusing at the right one for the dear ones and when one develops attachment, one should one should should one way of thinking by saying that that I shouldn’t be it is not appropriate or I shouldn’t be developing any attachment towards that persons are derived and through investigation one will come to know that it is only because of their help, slight help in this present life and due to this one have a feeling of closeness and attachment towards the person.
But, but, so that is the only reason. So but, so when one transforms or changes the way of thinking by saying that I shouldn’t be developing that just because of help in this life because in previous life those persons might have caused me a huge harm in my previous lives. Due to that, there is no particular reason of feeling or developing attachment towards those beings and can change the way of thinking towards the person at the left who are said to be enemy, they are thinking that I shouldn’t develop any anger towards those beings just because of their harm to this present life but the person, those persons have helped me many times in my previous lives. So by thinking in that way, should see all those three types of beings in front of you without any yeah, without any discriminations or feeling of closeness and the distance. Yeah.
About by, through transformation, one try not to develop any attachment and anger because attachment and anger are the root of the disturbing emotions and through this by cultivating those two one undergoes under influence or one becomes controlled. Yeah, one is being under the influence of disturbing emotions and face lots of sufferings. And I hope you remember that those teachings of our last teachings during the second chapter, Medium Scope, in the last, later last year, that the uncertainty nature of cyclic existence or Samsāra, Samsāra because it s unreliable to any anything in this cyclic existence. We can easily understand, we can be sure that there is an uncertainty of the being being one’s friend in this life and enemies in previous lives. And is very simple that one can easily understand even in this present life itself that the enemies becomes friend and becomes the enemy.
So, I will here tell you a short true story during the Buddhist, last Buddhist time. So during his time, he has very two close disciples called the Śāriputra and Maudgalyayāna, and who have been set forth. Those two disciples had attained a clairvoyance. So one day the Śāriputra was one day Śāriputra went out to with his begging bowl for alms. So, on that day, the great master Śāriputra has seen a couple with a little baby in their laps, a mother’s lap and having lunch.
And what they were eating is they were eating fish which was caught from that lake behind their up somewhere in the distance or the back of their house. While during their lunch, there was a dog which coming and standing next to their door. The mother holds the baby dearly in her arm or on her lap. So as the great master Śāriputra has achieved clairvoyance, and when he looked on that couple and eating the fish, and he came to know that the fish was actually that couple’s father, and who died and born, reborn as a fish. And then that dog was the rebirth of the, yeah, rebirth of his mother.
So the dog is the rebirth of that the couple, the male, you know, the father’s mother. That’s bit of clarification here. And the mother was not holding a baby, the father was holding the baby. So, and that baby yeah, was the rebirth of his enemy that whom he killed him because that the enemy has commit sexual misconduct with his wife due to that he killed him and then the enemy born as his baby. So, when the great master Śāriputra has seen that and he said for they were eating their father’s meat and beating their mother and holding the enemy dearly in their laps.
And said, what was the last word? Yeah. So, okay. Saying that holding, I’m dearly holding the enemy in your laps, and what a joke this saṃsāra is. So, this is how it shows the uncertainty nature of cyclic existence, that one take rebirth again and again and so the father becomes a son or a daughter and daughter becomes mother.
So it’s just alternating changing all the time. So due to this, it shows the uncertainty how some cyclic existence is unreliable. And due to this, one should see that all those three types of beings sensing are the neutral being, enemy and the dear ones equal by seeing that they are same, that they have become my enemy, friend and neutral beings and they never remain wanted all the time. So due to this, I should not develop any attachment and hatred by discriminating the people and see them equally and by doing this, by seeing them equally one cultivates or one is trying to cultivate the equanimity immeasurable equanimity. So, Joe has asked this question last week saying that if one really cultivates the equanimity and not seeing enemy as enemy and then the dear ones and dear ones, that that will really putting all in entire beings as a neutral being equally, and that will that might force him or people to feel very dull that they won’t do any work because they’re just the neutral, just the same.
But which is not true that that what you what what you’re doing here is you’re not cultivating when when you do this practice or the process of practice, you are stopping hatred towards the enemy and attachment towards the dear ones. But it doesn’t mean that by stopping the hatred or anger towards enemy doesn’t mean that angry becomes your friend. The angry sorry, the enemy remains enemy and the the dear ones remain dear ones at that time, but what you are doing is you are trying to stop the attachment and the anger. So when you do this meditation, what you are actually when we say that they are same or seeing them equally, which means it doesn’t mean that enemy, neutral being, and the dear ones are same. What you’re saying is they are same in becoming your friend, enemy and neutral being in the the numbers during the changes of the lives.
So they they are saying that they have become, but not saying they are or those three are same at one time. So here the great master Tsongkhapa has stated that take those dear ones, neutral being and the enemy as a basis or the focal object of the meditation. But by doing this, it doesn’t mean that one should change one should change the enemy and enemy, the three types of being enemy neutral and dear ones. What one needs to do is one need to stop cultivating hatred and attachment by looking at the dear ones and the enemy. So now we conclude the part of equanimity here.
So previously we said that there are two kinds of intention, the intention to fulfill others’ purposes and oneself. And for the others, the intention of fulfilling others, has to cultivate that first one need to cultivate the actual and the basis on a basis where one cultivates the intention of serving others. And for that basis, we said, to cultivate the basis there are two, the equanimity and the appealing love. So now we reach the appealing, to cultivate appealing love. And also, in order to cultivate a great compassion, one has to have a appealing love.
He has to cultivate appealing love. Appealing, The appealing love is one of the main causes to generate a great compassion. So, what about cultivating the appealing love, if I speak through my own personal, through my experiences, it might be easier for you to understand it. So if we speak through our own experiences in this life itself, can we can, it might be easier for us to understand or and yeah, understand about the appealing love. For example, say the, mother at the hospital during her delivery and at the time of delivery, we can see that how much pain she has and how difficulty she goes through during that that period.
And one just after the delivery or the baby was being born and she for that moment she forgets all the hardships or the pain she had at that time. And she suddenly has very good appearances or good gesture or behavior within herself. We can see her that how happy she is and how she showed up all the things, and she was so happy at that time. Why it is? It is because of seeing that the kid, little baby is very appealing to her, because of that seeing him very appealing or appealing love, she forgets all the pains and hardships and she remains still very happy or cool.
And because of that, I mean seeing the baby is very appealing, she has huge attachment towards him. And then at that moment if someone just hit the baby slightly with one finger, she just screams at that time. And that is the sign of her strong compassion or affection to the baby. So likewise, if we can cultivate or see those entire sentient beings as a very appealing love like the way that mother see to her son or a baby, or rather say baby, baby, then we cultivate whenever one able to see all the entire sentient beings as a very appealing love, then we can cultivate or one can cultivate a great compassion within oneself. So now here what we need to do is we need to go through or go through the method to see all these sentient beings as very appealing love.
So, yeah, in order to cultivate that seed, that appealing love, ah, first one needs to, first one need to, one need to understand within oneself that for example, back to that example, so one should, so taking oneself as example and should see that, should recognize that particular mother is the one whom has given you given you the birth. And then and and how how she helped during that time. And recognize that mother as the real mother. And then and then recall how she has helped you, while you were in the mother’s womb or or during the pregnancy. Pregnancy.
She how she cares about you that stopping not, the looking after her health and and and bearing lots of hardships|hard work and not eating something which, may likely to cause a harm to the baby and so forth. And during that time, you should think how she has gone gone through all this difficulty and bear all the hardships for you. And then, also remember that and how and the and and how she helped you during the time of delivery and and hardships she has gone through. So by knowing all this help she has done and and and all these great jobs she has done for you and recognizing her kindness and the help, one should and then one cultivates a intention to repaying, to repay, repay her kindness. And whenever one has this, seeing all these above mentioned things and plus developing her intention of repaying her kindness, whenever one had, one had this, then one can easily develop a appealing love or see that mother see one’s mother as a very appealing love like the way that mother seen seen to her child.
So it is quite hard to to teach about the the remembering beings, sentient beings as one’s own mother and repaying their their kindness or her kindness or mother’s kindness. It’s quite hard in the West because some people have difficulties mentioning and telling about how difficult or she or he has with with his mother and so forth. But whatever it is, it has been clearly and very intensively explained and broadly explained about the importance of cultivating seeing beings as essential beings and remembering their kindness by recalling their their, help, by recalling their helps in in the Lamrim teachings. And I I I have to and I need to go through this because without explaining this, then it is really and because without those techniques or cultivating all those, intentions or thought, it is quite hard to develop compassion. So, you should listen to this teaching with a great with a huge patience.
So in this at this stage, when we talk about the help or kindness, there are two types of kindness we are speaking. The kindness or help worldly and then and the kindness and the help all the help you get in spiritual practice. So about the the the greatest kindness you’ve shown spiritually in your practice has been the the great masters or the practitioners of the Indian and Tibetan practitioners, they always consider that that the one’s own root guru is the most has has shown you the most help in spiritually. So the root guru has been considered as the the great considered as the great the utmost person who has shown you the great help or kindness spiritually because it is because because because of, because of him giving you all the instructions, you know, on about the teachings and paths and grounds, And by training, by practicing his instructions, finally, you attain the the the state of, you state of Buddhahood, which is free from all the sufferings and negativities. And in the help worldly then, one’s parents has been considered as the most utmost person who has shown you the great help.
And within the parents, the mother has been considered even more important. And why? It is because the mother has been considered to be the greatest person who has within the worldly help. Because it is because whatever you have at this stage good looking, good body, and you are quite well enough to compete with other people and so and so. And all these things where it comes from, it is it comes from your mother’s help or due to the kindness of your mother.
So all this, what you have at this stage, the perfect physical appearances, good body, also and so and so, are being are the result of of your mother’s hard works. Say how how I mean, to yeah. So in order to in order to look after you, help to or in order to help you, she has gone through all these difficulties during the during the nine months of pregnancy. Plus, and at that time, she has avoid many things which she like. For example like especially her favorite foods but they may likely to cause a problem to her baby.
So she want to but because of you being in her womb she stopped. She she didn’t eat all those bad foods and so forth. So so likewise, there are there there there are many, many things and and she has done to you during your during her pregnancy, and at the time of death, time of birth, at the time of birth or delivery, she has undergone through huge or in, yeah, huge sufferings and so forth. So due to this and we consider her as the most important or the one who has shown the greatest kindness worldly to you. Plus, and also, you can see it because, for example during the time of delivery you were just born and if she doesn’t take care of you, you are more or less like an insect or a worm at that time, you know.
If you’ve been, if you are left there, been not protected for five minutes, you were gone or you were dead at that time. So, so just after born you are unconscious so forth but the mother had take care of care of you and that because of that you are still alive at this time. So so likewise there are many many helps or kindness that’s shown to you by your mother. So for that reason, so, yeah, for that that that reasons, she has been considered to be the greatest person who has I mean, or the person who has shown you shown the greatest kindness to you. And due to this, the mother has been considered as the most in the system, the mother has been considered as the most closest or dearest person in this life.
So in order to have intention to cultivate the intention of paying your once paying repaying the mother’s kindness, For example, like this present present mother, what what one has to do is one first very important things one has to know that mother recognize that that that your mother was the mother, is the mother during the time of delivery and recognize that that person as your mother. So likewise, in order to have to repay the kindness towards the sentient beings, the most important part is that from the beginning one has to realize or understand and see the sentient realize all the sentient beings as one’s own mother. So, so, we we we need to to we we need to recognize sentient beings. You need to see or recognize sentient beings as your mother. And that means that to recognize sentient beings as one’s mother, what it means is that one should understand that sentient beings, that all those sentient beings have been your mother.
And to to to and now we have to investigate through this that how they have become one’s mother. Investigate one or one it’s it’s important, it’s good to for one to go through this sort of anna, like the investigation that, for example, at this stage, one has a body and the consciousness or mind. And that consciousness, today’s consciousness is the continuation of yesterday’s consciousness. And we can prove this very easily because we we can say that today’s conscious right now, this consciousness is the continuation of yesterday’s. It is because at the this consciousness presently at this time can think, can remember the the remember what one has done yesterday.
So by by by knowing, by recalling that this that this consciousness recalling the activities done yesterday. Due to this, one can easily see it is the continuation of yesterday’s. And then yesterday’s consciousness is the continuation of the mind or consciousness of the time of the baby during when when when you were baby. Because yesterday consciousness at at at yesterday point, the time of yesterday, then that consciousness can recall all the activities that that consciousness or the that one has done during the childhood. So due to so by remembering this, it proves that yesterday consciousness is the continuation of the the the the childhood’s consciousness.
And then and then that that that consciousness of the playing child, little little playing child is the continuation of the consciousness at the time that the consciousness which which which absorbs within into mother’s or enters mother’s womb during the time of intercourse. And then that consciousness which enters the mother’s womb is the continuation of the consciousness of that being of that intermediate state. And that the consciousness of that intermediate being is the continuation of the consciousness that belongs to that old man who was nearly to die. And then if we still go on, then then that consciousness of the old man is the continuation of the baby during the baby during the old man was baby. And then because the old man can remember all his memories or what he has done during his childhood.
And then and that little baby’s consciousness goes on. So if one continues with searching for that, then it’s been said for that the beginning of it is, the beginning of the consciousness is unfindable. So as through this investigation one came to understand that the that consciousness, the the beginning the the beginningless be beginninglessness of the consciousness. Due to this, one can easily say that the beginninglessness of saṃsāra or cyclic existence. So due to this, as the saṃsāra is the beginninglessness, then it’s proof that the rebirth is also beginninglessness because one cannot recognize the beginning of one’s rebirth or pinpoint the beginning of one’s rebirth.
So about the way of taking birth, there’s been set for the three, four types of births. The birth from the egg, birth from the womb, and then the yeah. And the birth from heat or moisture, and then the birth from say the miracles, which means is the heat is that in because of the moisture or heat, some sentient beings or some beings being born from the heat, And for example, like bacteria, I guess. And then and then for the miracle here means is for the beings of, like, the hell realms. They don’t have their particular parents, but because of their karmic actions, they just take a birth.
So this has been called like miracle birds. So so those two types of being are of bird the birth from the|birth from the womb|birth from the egg and the mother’s womb, like the the humans, animals of animals like horse, dog, and cow. And then the egg-born like a bird, and I hope this is what birds need. So anyway, so those type of the bird needs to needs a mother to to to take a birth. So which means if one has taken a birth from the egg hundred times, then that means that shows that one has a mother for hundred times.
And if it’s a million, goes million mothers. We have taken beyond the numberless of rebirths in the cyclic existence, so it shows that one has taken a numberless of mothers. One can’t easily say that any one person can’t be a mother for during all those beginningless or numberless time. Excuse me. So so we have taken a different types of rebirths during during during the birth or during the rebirth.
For example, at this stage, we have we have taken a human rebirth. And this is not the first and first ever human human rebirth has taken. One has taken numberless of human rebirth as well as animals like dogs and so forth. And due to this, one has so as one’s rebirth is numberless, we will that that the the sentient beings, entire sentient beings is numb has has has has become one’s mother. There is not a single sentient being who has never been one’s mother.
It is not only the sentient beings have won your mother, even one sentient being has, even a single being has become your mother for many times because of, because of, because, because of your numberless rebirths in the cyclic existence. So the mother of this present life is not is not the the it’s not that she has been only your mother in this present life. She has become your mother for many, many times in many lives. So the Buddha Śākyamūni, he himself has set forth that that his mother, the Maya Devi, has become his mother in many of his of his rebirths. So likewise, we within ourself here, we have changed all the time into being mother to him or her, and she has become mother to you and you and your sisters, brothers goes on.
So it is the if we it did I mean, the being of brother brother, sister, and mother has been numberless. No. So due to this, now what it here the point is, he comes that this present mother is your mother, and then the previous mother, the mother of previous life is also your mother. So they are same in being your mother. So, yeah, the yeah, so here comes it is because of our lack of intellectual or lack of wisdom that we don’t understand, realize that being as your mother or one’s sister or whatever.
Because for example, at this stage you say, we die and one dies and at the time of death, that’s it. One loses this present body. And then there is a possibility of being born as your mother’s sister or a brother or a relative in the next life. But during that time you don’t recognize or realize that mother, that friend or a sister or a brother has been your mother in the earlier life. For example, it is long that that that that story of Śāriputra that he has caught that fish and eaten it for lunch.
Because he doesn’t realize, because he didn’t he doesn’t realize that the fish was his father. And if he understands that the fish was his previous his I mean, his father in previous life, then he will not definitely not catch the fish. Because of that, he he had it for lunch. Likewise, if he realized the dog was his mother, then he will never ever beat or shout to the dog and chase the dog. And if he realized that the little child was his enemy in the previous life, we can pretty sure that he won’t be like patting or caring to that baby instead of that he might likely to hold the baby from the feet and just try.
So it is because the person lose the the one loses one’s body at the time of death and then due to that, the the new new body, one does not recognize what the person has been to you or your sister or brother, parents, so and so forth. So likewise, we have become within ourselves sisters, brothers, mother, father many times, but only the thing is because of not recognizing the body, we don’t know that. So so so as one has taken a number list of rebirths to which shows that there is not a single sentient beings who has never been your mother. So as they’ve been your mother either in this life or in future previous lives. So due to this, you should see same, all the other beings and one’s present mother as the same, seeing them as a mother because it is same that both have been your mother.
The only difference is in this life and the previous lives. So, it is both the mother of this present life and the mother of previous lives has shown a same amount of kindness and help to you. The only difference is at the time of just the or because of the rebirth or because of the time, like, the person the this present mother has become had I mean, become your mother in this life. And the previous one is previous, but it they are in the same being your mother. It is like like like like someone the the somebody has helped you or by giving you a hundred dollars in a previous life and someone who gave hundred dollars in this life.
But the help you have got from those two beings are same. The only difference is in the previous. But they are the same in that they have given the hundred dollars. As there’s not a single sentient being who has never been your one’s mother, so we showed that all all the entire all entire sentient beings are your mothers. And and and due to this it shows that they are your closest one, your dear ones and by proving this you can say that you can easily say that one you or one hasn’t got any enemies because all sentient beings are your mother.
So we’ll take one or two questions See if you have. Yeah. Yeah. I just got to ask Rinpoche to clarify again that statement that these beings in hell realms. Being born in hell realms?
Did I get that right? I thought that these came from three different Four different types of birds. And you want to know about what? Yeah. Yeah.
I thought that these are born spontaneously. Oh. How can we be born spontaneously? Did I say?
Yeah. Did I say spontaneous? I don’t So you’re a miracle. I said miracles. That like, I said So we were talking about four types of birds, like the birth from the|birth from the womb|birth from the egg moisture or heat, and the birth from the|birth from the womb|birth from the egg egg and from mother’s womb, and the last one is called the miracle, which I said, the miracle birds.
So the the the the birth from the|birth from the womb|birth from the egg heat, which means there are certain type of for example, in India or in Tibet, especially in India, we have during hot summer and during the very, very hot days, and we have certain type of insect or little, little, little organisms. Some are very, very hard to see. And those are just comes up or they come or they’re born due to the heat or the moisture at that time. So, and the second one is called the miracles.
As I said, miracle births, which means that, for example, like, this some someone at the time of his or her death, and they feel very, very hot at the time of the death. And to say, develop a kind of like a wish or intention, like, like, or just wanting to have very, very cold or something like that because of that heat. And due as a result, the person died or have strong attachment of wanting that coldness or the cold. So due to this, the person says, one has cultivated an action or a karma of being born in the cold, something in the cold. So due to this, they will suddenly take a birth in the hell realms with the gigantic body.
And so that that that that person did take a birth in the hell realm in that cold cold cold hell. And that he has taken a bird, that bird is called the miracle bird, which just come out of the karmic action without any father or mother. They just spawned. That is called the miracle birth. And then the birth of humans and the other animals like cat, dog, and cow, horse, so forth are called the birth from the womb because they come through the womb. And then all the the majority types of births are being called the birth from the eggs because they come from they do have a parent which lays the egg, but eventually they born out from the egg by hatching the egg.
Distinguishing the feeling love from attachment.