Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A mosquito bite, Khensur Rinpoche proposes in this 107-minute Lamrim session, is itself a product of self-cherishing — and that claim anchors the whole commentary. Working through Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra and verses from the Guru Puja, Rinpoche traces how self-cherishing generates the three types of suffering, explains the Tibetan term jikten (saṃsāra as “basis of destruction”), and argues that you are simultaneously your own worst enemy and your own protector. A doctor-and-medicine analogy makes the point vivid: faith and offerings can secure a good rebirth, but without practice, even the Buddha’s teaching is medicine left untaken. The session closes with the exchange of self and others, taking Śākyamūni Buddha as the living proof that the practice works.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 16 LR 2000 04 04.mp3
UUID: c68179af-22d2-4459-bf11-2175caab899b
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Lam Rim (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 2000-04-04
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 107.3 minutes
Words: ~4,603
No. Come here. We’ll first have the bodhicitta set up for motivation of altruistic intention and do a short meditation for a few minutes So currently we are onto the subject of developing equanimity and also equalizing self in others. So the equanimity which means that both no matter what kind of sentient beings they are, all they are, but all are in one. They’re wanting happiness and do not wish suffering.
We do have happiness, but that happiness is the contaminated happiness. What we lack here is the ultimate happiness, which is the happiness without suffering. And now, as those entire sentient beings like the ultimate happiness or happiness without sufferings, so shall he develop special insight of compassion that wishing all those both oneself and others to have that unchangeable happiness and wishing them to be free from the unchangeable sufferings and its causes. And then at this stage those sentient beings are tortured by three types of sufferings: the suffering of suffering, suffering of change, and suffering of pervasive conditioning. So, as they are tortured by all these sorts of sufferings, so in order to free them from all these sufferings should here develop a special insight of compassion that wanting all the sentient beings be free from all the sufferings and their causes.
During meditation, if one meditates upon those two, the special insight of love and compassion, it is very, very beneficial and one can cultivate a lot great deal of merit. So, in all the time, we always lack and can’t attain to that wishing happiness and being under the torture of one’s sufferings. So in order to free, so during their meditation should do this, perform one’s meditation with wishing that in order to free both oneself and others from others from that unwanted sufferings and let them have the wishing happiness which is unchangeable happiness, I shall engage in the practices to overcome all the negativities and attain entire good qualities. By doing this, one cultivates bodhicitta or altruistic intention. So, at this stage, we are not fully familiarized or acquainted with those special insight, love, compassion, and the bodhicitta, but by doing it often, very often, and even if one fails to fail, one fails, even if all those love, compassion, and bodhicitta fails to occur within one, or occurred effortlessly within oneself, but if it comes, if all those comes with the effort, that’s still okay and which implies that one has achieved not the actual bodhicitta but the type of bodhicitta has been generated.
So, doing a meditation on this about five minutes is very, very helpful and cultivates lots of merit even for five minutes. And then, by maintaining that meditation and familiarizing one’s mind with it, familiarizing one’s mind with that meditation very often and for a time being, in a certain time one will be able to have that mind of altruism, able to develop that mind of altruism within oneself without any effort. It just comes by, yeah, without any effort, just by seeing a being one can develop that altruistic intention easily. Whenever that happens, then one has attained an actual bodhicitta. So whenever one develops that kind of mind, one becomes a bodhisattva.
So, if one attains that mind, the altruistic intention, any action one performs, Walking, sleeping, eating, whatever one does, one still cultivates a, yeah, one’s actions becomes positive and cultivate a huge amount of virtues. And by developing that altruistic intention, then one will bring all this unwanted suffering, unwanted sufferings into end or to cease and can easily obtain the wishing happiness. So, should develop the motivation that in order to accomplish such I shall hear, listen to this listen, contemplate and meditate on this Lamrim teaching. So, as we are onto the topic of how to train one’s mind by equalizing and exchanging self from others, and as everyone, we all practice the Guru Puja and there are the practice in Guru Puja practices, the practice of changing, equalizing and exchanging self and others who have been set forth in the Guru Puja. So I thought it is good to go through, go briefly through the Guru Puja about the topic of maintaining the cultivating the equanimity and the the higher equanimity refers to equalizing and exchanging self from others, which is even more intense than the equanimity which we dealt in the previous classes.
So, in Guru Puja set forth that both oneself and others are same that do not bear or want a slight, do not wish or do not take even the slightest or very tiny little sufferings and never been satisfied with the happiness. So in that case, may as they are same wanting happiness and do not wish sufferings, even the slightest suffering, I shall may others have all the happiness. So, which shows that as by seeing both oneself and others as same, this is the reason that one does not feel happy when receiving happiness for oneself. One should offer happiness for others all the time and feel and rejoice and get, feel happy by having, by offering happiness to others. It is because others are the source of all the good qualities and should not feel happy for one’s own happiness because oneself is the source of all miserables.
So, It says that should not feel happy for one’s own happiness because if one rejoice, not rejoice, if one feels happy feel happy for one’s own happiness, and that helps to develop a self-cherishing attitude. And by developing that self-cherishing attitude, that self-cherishing attitude will then look for a method to attain happiness with itself. And by having this then it wants to involve or produce many non virtues or negative actions to have happiness for the self. By performing all those bad actions, which will, by performing the bad actions which will cause one to open the door, cause one to open a door to all the sufferings, which also becomes the source of all or the foundation or base for the happiness, unhappiness to grow. And in order to prove this, the hero, the great master, Śāntideva, had set forth in his text, engaging in the bodhisattva way of life, saying that all the sufferings of cyclic existence comes from wishing happiness for self, which means here the cyclic existence or saṃsāra, they are, it’s been said for the two types of, two types, the external and the internal saṃsāra, which means the external samsaras are all these shelters, buildings, water, trees and so forth.
Internal cyclic existence are the beings who live, the inhabitants like any kinds of sentient beings, fish, animals, human beings, humans and so forth. So, yes, humans and so forth. And the inhabitants have been called the saṃsāra or cyclic existence. In Tibetan word is called jikten. So I better, I think it’s good to say this first.
The jikten means the basis of destructions which means that they are not the permanent. There always changes rapidly or it’s a momentary. The changes never stays one. So both the external cyclic existence and the internal comes out of the collections of substances, elements and so forth for that reason, and so forth. They are not permanent, in the nature of momentary, the rapid change.
Due to this they are called the Samsāra or jikten, which is the basis of destruction. So, they are being called the basis of destruction because both the internal and the external, the cyclic existence are based on the destructions, rely on something which is not stable for the external objects, the trees and so forth are, or depends on the substances element and so forth. And as they are, the substances elements are used as a base for those, the external, the subtle existence to maintain. Due to this they are not reliable and also momentary and as well as the internal cyclic existence which is sentient beings. So any kind of sentient beings whether it’s a form or the formless sentient beings, are also based on the changeable or destructive nature in the destructive, excuse me, destructive nature.
For example, for instance, we take the sentient beings with the formed sentient beings who and sentient beings who has the form and they are based or depend on the five aggregates and all those five aggregates are not the reliable base which are in the nature of the change as well. So due to this, they are both, they both depend on the destructive nature of base. Yeah. So here, as we explained about the internal and external, the saṃsāra or cyclic existence, so when the great masters says, The suffering the cyclic existence, that the cyclic existence does not refer to as the external one because the external cyclic existence do not have any feelings. So, which refers to as the sentient beings inside the internal saṃsāra or sentient beings.
So, all the sufferings of this where does or where do all the sufferings of sentient beings come from? So which and they said that it’s been clearly stated that the sufferings of the sentient beings comes from the wishing, wanting happiness for self. So this is the reason that one should not wish for self happiness. Because all the suffering comes from that wishing, wanting self happiness. Or wishing, yeah.
And it should work for others happiness. And then also, the Geshe Langri Thangpa in his Eight Point Thought Transformation or mind training, he said that if others abuse, exaggerate or blame me out of jealousy, I shall still offer the victory I shall still offer victory towards them and should take the loss. So, if us, why we need to offer victory to others and take a loss for oneself, it is because oneself is one’s enemy and others are one’s dear ones, or the friends, or the relative. For that reason, as to self oneself is one’s enemy, one should always offer a loss towards the enemy and give the victory to the dear ones or close one. So how one becomes one’s own enemy?
Becomes one’s enemy because of that self-cherishing attitude. By cherishing oneself and through this one cultivates all those because of holding oneself very dear and cherishing oneself very strongly and due to this one performs ten non virtuous actions which which will give the result of the sufferings. So as it gives the suffering and because of this, it produces suffering to oneself, and one do not sufferings, and one which offers self, unwanted suffering to oneself is the enemy, this is how one becomes one’s enemy. So, that’s how one becomes one’s own enemy. And, for example, we set forth those, the self grasping attitude, disturbing emotions are our enemy because they give us the suffering.
And even for general speaking, in our normal life, we always consider someone who, someone as one’s enemy when the person gives, let you undergo through the sufferings or who brings suffering to you. And so likewise, the spiritual, even in spiritual, we do have enemies. Consider that one which produce suffering to us is our enemy. And this is how we have labeled for the arhat, the liberated beings. And in Tibetan words, it’s called the dachamba for the arhat, and dachamba which means the destroyer of enemy.
So, they’ve been called the destroyer of enemy and the enemy refers to the disturbing emotions. So, both the master Geshe Langri Thangpa and Śāntideva has stated that one’s self is one’s enemy. They said that one is one’s enemy because they said it by taking Buddha Śākyamūni as account because the Buddha Śākyamūni has set forth that one is one’s own enemy and who else can become one’s enemy? One is one’s own dear ones, and who else can become one’s dear ones? What it means is that if you know how to direct your way of thinking and know how to perform the action, then one becomes one’s own friend or dear ones.
And if one do not, if you do not know how to direct your mind and perform the actions, then you become your enemy. So, the lord Buddha Śākyamūni has said that one is one’s own enemy and there’s no other enemies than oneself. It is because of having that self grasping attitude and the self-cherishing attitude, and these two, the self grasping attitude influence the self-cherishing attitude to produce or perform the actions, And that self-cherishing attitude cultivates those ten non virtuous actions and causes harm to others. And through this, one accumulates the lots of non virtuous actions and the negativities and as a result one faced the sufferings through taking birth in the lower realms like hungry ghosts, animals and so forth. And during that period of the life of that period in those realms one goes through the huge sufferings.
And, yeah, one goes through the sufferings. So, there is no such an enemy except, there is no such external enemies because the other sentient beings are ones dear ones and ones relative and ones friends and ones friends can’t be ones. So your friends cannot be your enemy. And, so we do have, we do go through the sufferings of heed and so forth and that is more likely from the actual thing of the changes of the season or elements, but the originally it is also cultivated by oneself that internally one establishes or one cultivates the karma, and that karma encountered with the conditions, and because of that karma and conditions collected, or meeting of this karma and the conditions one goes through the suffering of heat and cold and so forth. Basically, you yourself are the main source of all the suffering because internally you cultivate all the actions.
I’m I’m lost with my short note now. Yeah. Okay.
So, as we said, Buddha Śākyamūni has set forth that you yourself is your master or your friend or your protector and who else can become your friend, master and protector. So it is, yeah, it is set forth because in order to free oneself from the lower rebirths, if one wants to free from the suffering of lower rebirths, one has to work for it. Nobody can free you from all those except oneself. If you want to free yourself from all those sufferings of the lower rebirth, you should not cultivate or abandon those ten non virtuous actions. And one will have one can free can free sorry, excuse me, just keep messing up with oneself and yourself.
So, you can free yourself from the sufferings of lower rebirth and you did it and no one else did it no one else did it for you. And also, if you want to go to the better, like a happy rebirth migration, sorry, happy migrations, you should practice ethical discipline, perfections, and patience. By practicing all these, you will let yourself into the good migrations and so others cannot put you into the good migration unless you you do it for your own, for yourself. So, you want to become a Buddha, practice love and compassion, six perfections and so forth, and by practicing this, you will attain to Buddhahood and become Buddha. And if, so if you do not practice, this is what it says, that no one can be your protector because if, because, because, because, if you do not practice, then you will not be able to free yourself from the sufferings of all the sufferings and cannot attain the higher rebirths and the higher rebirths.
And the Buddhadharmasanga has a great deal of power and they can help you. But if you do not practice, then the power of Buddhadharma and Sangha are in no use unless you practice. Unless, yeah, unless you practice. And so by so you are the one who can bring free yourself from all those sufferings and take you to the good migration, attained higher rebirths, becomes Buddha and so forth. And if you do not, then the, the, if you do not practice, then the Buddha, Dharma, or sorry Buddha, bodhisattva, all these things are no, are no, no, no.
And, Sure, let me see. Let me see. Okay. Yeah. So, the Buddha, Buddha, Buddha, Buddha, Buddha, do help you and Buddha are the conditions to help you.
And they will show, he shows the teachings and teach you the methods of freeing yourself, freeing yourself away from, freeing yourself from the sufferings and the lower rebirths. But if you do not put all the teachings into the practice, then they can do nothing. Their powers are in no, are of no use. It’s like, it’s the main thing is, it’s entirely up to you. If you work, you will.
For example, like, there is no car and you want to climb that mountain or travel towards a distance. And if you do not walk, then you can’t reach there. And even if you’re supposed to have a car and if you do not drive, can’t be there. Nowhere around you to drive you. And likewise, the doctors, the good doctor prescribed you, consult the|consult that doctor and the doctor is a very good doctor prescribed you a very good medicines.
And if you do not take the medicines, then the doctors can do nothing. So, so, so, this proves that it’s entirely up to you and you yourself, You are your own master friends and this refuge or protector. Yeah. So the doctoral medicine, Sangha, are taken as an example of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. Sorry.
The doctor medicine and the sister or nurse are taken as an example of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. So the doctors are like Buddha. So what doctors do is they see the patient and examine the patient and figure out the main problem, what disease the patient has. And then by recognizing the problem or the disease of the patient, the doctor will prescribe the medicine. And likewise, the Buddha are the one who teaches you, who teaches you what are the causes of all the sufferings and the causes of the liberations and the happiness.
So, the Buddha gave the teachings and so the teaching, the medicine is like a teaching. So, by eating that medicine, then the, which will relieve the patient from the illness or the diseases and likewise putting all the advice, the teachings of Buddhas into practice then that helps one to cut the doors of the disturbing emotions and all the sufferings. And how, and then the sisters help the patient to eat medicines on right time and likewise the Sangha helps the disciple to help in disciple in his or her practice that and also by when you can copy or take the spiritual community as a role model and whom you pay, sorry, whom you watch and how to practice and so forth and keeping you company in your practice through this, the sistra or the spiritual community, the Sangha helps. And so, it helps. Even though the doctoral medicines and the scissors help the patient to relieve from his or illness, but the medicine is the one which actually relieves the patient from the disease.
So likewise, the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha all helps one to free from, you to free from the sufferings and attain enlightenment liberation. The actual one is the Dharma which actually prevents all the sufferings, disturbing emotions and so forth and lets you attain to liberation. So even though the dharma is the main, but it also entirely depends on yourself. Like if the patient didn’t take a medicine, no matter how powerful, how good doctor or how good nurses and how powerful the medicine is, the patient can never be free from this, from illness. So likewise, if you do not put all the teachings into practice or if you do not practice, then the powers or the potentiality of all those Buddha, Dharma and Sanghas are of no use and one can never be free from the sufferings.
So one becomes one’s own master. If one practice, one can bring one into liberation. If one do not, then one will not be free from the sufferings. So, the doctors are taking as an example or analogy for Buddhist, but there are huge difference between doctor and the Buddhist. The Buddhists the Buddhists are a very special object that they have great knowledge, omniscience, and so forth.
And just by having a strong devotions and faith in Buddhas will help ones to attain the good rebirth, good rebirth or higher rebirth for once or twice. But just the mere fate is not good enough to attain the ultimate or or or the ultimate liberation or ultimate happiness. So it’s been said for that making prostrations, developing faith and making offerings towards the Buddhas will cultivate huge amount of merit and that can help ones to attain good rebirths. But, but without doing it, without performing, doing, just by that one will not, yeah, one cannot, yeah, so one can attain the good rebirths of just by doing a good prostrations, developing faith and offerings, but to, in order to gain a special insight, realizations in path and grounds, attain liberation or arhathood as well as Buddhahood, one needs to practice. Well, you need to practice and just by a strong faith in Buddhas, one will not be able to generate or develop the realization in the paths and grounds, liberation, and attain Buddhahood.
Yeah, so, yeah, in the Guru Puja has also stated, in Guru Puja, it’s been said in Guru Puja that one should see this chronic disease of self-cherishing attitude is the main cause, main source, or main source or main source of unwanted sufferings. And any sufferings one face sees them, one should understand all the sufferings one encounter are from, comes from the self-cherishing attitude. Therefore I shall abandon that self-cherishing attitude. Which means that the self-cherishing attitude is like a chronic disease or a very, very severe disease that which can’t be cured. So as that self-cherishing attitude and see that as the main source for all the entire, which produces or gives you all the unwanted sufferings.
So any sufferings you face, physical, any difficulties, any sufferings you face, even from a bite from the mosquito or midges or little insects. Even the small, the sufferings of just the bite of the insects, see that and take that suffering as the result of the self-cherishing attitude. Because of self-cherishing attitude, you have committed the actions that we have committed or cultivated action that you will face a problem, a suffering from the bite of the insects. So in any kind of sufferings, just think that which are the result of self-cherishing attitude and by seeing the disadvantaged of all these sufferings because of the self-cherishing attitude should here abandon the self-cherishing attitude from its root. It’s root.
So, and also, when Guru Puja has said that, So, in Guru Puja, it also said that So, as we said in the early, the Guru Puja verses that one should feel happy for others happiness. And also the great master, Śāntideva, in his, The Engaging in the bodhisattva Sphere of Life said that the happiness of cyclic existence which we have explained of sentient beings, all the happiness of the sentient beings comes from wishing happiness for others. So, long, long. And also in Guru Puja, he stated that one should develop the mind which cherishes the entire sentient beings as one’s mother and by seeing all those sentient beings, one should develop a mind which sees that the cherishing of other sentient beings as one’s mother is a source to cultivate or cultivate the numberless or immeasurable good qualities and hold any sentient beings and behold the sentient beings, as dear or as ones, even more dear than one’s own life. Yeah, so which implies that the self-cherishing attitude is the main source of all the sufferings and cherishing others are the source of all the good, all the happiness.
And by seeing the disadvantages of the self-cherishing attitude and the advantages of cherishing others, One should exchange self and others. And all those, the translation of the verses from the Guru Puja text which I recite is just a brief one quickly. You can go through the text. So, and then, so we need to exchange self and others. And so one should see, check within oneself, can we, can one or, yeah, can one exchange self in others or not?
Then should, the point comes towards that, the point comes here that the happiness comes from the cherishing others, and the sufferings comes from the self-cherishing attitude. So, have One needs to think about it. So if one tries to exchange self and others, one exchange self and others. One can do this practice because all the, yeah, because in the Guru Puja text set forth that in brief, his own purpose and the Buddha worked for others. Examine this.
What happened to the child working for his own purpose, self-cherishing attitude? And what happened to Buddha by working or cherishing others? And by knowing this, one should. And because of self-cherishing attitude the child or infantile goes through all these sufferings and ways Buddha by cherishing, practicing, changing self and others and cherishing others more important than himself, he, as a result, the benefit of doing so, does not need to come back circles in cyclic existence. He does not need to go through any sufferings and live and have happiness forever.
These are benefits of cherishing others and if one tries, one can practice, one can exchange self from others and we can easily see the example or a role model for these practices, example as a Buddha Śākyamūni or a Buddhist. So here we demonstrate the Buddha Śākyamūni, but there have been billions of numberless Buddhas and all these Buddhas have abandoned the self-cherishing attitude. They cherished others more important than themselves, and as a result, they’ve attained all the happiness, and they’re free from samsaric existence. And also the great master Śāntideva has stated that in the numbers, in the billions and billions of eons, in the billions and billions of eons, the billions of Buddhas there have been billions of, sorry, there have been numberless Buddhas, but none of them have been able to teach me. And the result are still, none of them were being able to teach me because of the downfalls or the negativities which obscured me to receive the teachings, which means that the Buddha has no distinctions, has no closeness or never distinguishes the people from the closeness and the distance.
They are willingly to teach anyone, but because your own negativity and obscurations, you’re being not able to, because of one’s obscurations of the negativity, self-cherishing attitudes and so forth, One has never received the teachings from the Buddhists. Yeah. I’m thinking very much. Yeah. So it’s gonna be here or there.
Anyway. So, we’ll start our class here and also take in fifteen minutes extra. And so, we’re not doing a long Lam Rim, we’re just doing a short dedication please. And Jerry has brought the cake and we have chai so Rinpoche said if you prefer to have a chai here, just have a chai here and if you want to go in the lounge room you’re most welcome to go.