Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Khensur Rinpoche opens this 80-minute Lamrim commentary by grounding the session in bodhicitta — practice aimed at all sentient beings is vastly more powerful than practice for oneself alone — then turns to the main focus: genuinely knowing the nature of suffering. Using a gold-versus-clay Buddha statue analogy, he illustrates how the quality of any rebirth depends entirely on its causes. He walks through the eight sufferings systematically — birth (with a vivid comparison of the womb to being tied inside a sack), aging, sickness, and death — identifying disturbing emotions as the root of all karma and the engine of cyclic existence. The session closes with encouragement to use precious human rebirth well, and a pointed reminder that no teacher or deity can carry a practitioner to liberation: that journey depends entirely on one’s own effort.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 30 LR 1999 10 12.mp3
UUID: 50765c44-d035-4b90-ac7b-d004d329a452
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Lam Rim (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1999-10-12
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 79.9 minutes
Words: ~4,024
The motivation of the enlightened mind or altruistic intention, bodhicitta, because if we, because our actions are practicing Dharma, our actions are practiced will become very effective and will become very effective if it is performed along with the motivation of bodhicitta. So for that, so that, yeah, it will become more effective. If one does the meditation just for the goodness of oneself, one’s action will not be only helpful for one person. So as both oneself and others are saying, wishing happiness and do not want suffering, so if one does perform, does practice to alleviate or eliminate the sufferings of both oneself and others and bring happiness towards the both, then once the practice will become very helpful, is because that the others, by focusing on others, the other sentient beings are as vast as like a space. Due to that, one’s practice becomes very powerful.
In other hand, the other sentient beings are very, have been very kind have been very kind to us. And yeah, they have been very kind to us because we have taken a again and again in the cyclic existence, Samsāra And while we take a rebirth in saṃsāra, we have all those, the sheltered food, so forth, and everything we have comes or produced by others. And also our body itself is gained by depending on others. And also, when one practices the Dharma teachings and to have great results and to lead a very effective practice, it entirely comes by depending on others. Without depending on others, one will not able to have very will not have huge result.
So even the happiness of this present life also comes by depending on others. So due to that, everything comes by depending on others or comes from others, the other motherly sentient beings are very kind. And even if one look at this present time that you are in here in a spiritual community or along with spiritual friends and you have by the kindness of your, spiritual friends, you are being able to receive these teachings. Without having the spiritual friends here, it is very hard for one to have teachings and have this opportunity to listen to teaching by oneself. So, in all the time, sentient beings are very kind to oneself, so due to that, to bring in order to bring in order to bring both overcome sufferings of both oneself and others and bring them into the state of ultimate happiness, I shall here perform this practice and for that purpose I shall abandon all the negative deeds and attained all the good qualities that will attain the Buddhahood for the sake of all, for the sake of both oneself and others.
So for that purpose, I shall hear or listen to this, the Lamrim teaching, the graduated path, which is Mahāyāna teachings. So we listen to this teaching, contemplate and meditate on this teaching and through this I will bring great help towards both oneself and others. So we shall do a short meditation here, by meditation here focusing on the meanings of what we have just said. So we have we’ve dealt with the Four Noble Truths in the last teachings and the four noble truths are the noble set forth by the Buddha Śākyamūni by condensing or including all the teachings into or within these four, that is the true sufferings of the superior beings and then to origin, to cessation and the true path. So the first two:
First two truths, the true suffering and the origin of the sufferings are the one set of practice, they are the object of abandonment that its result to suffering and its causes which is the origin of the suffering. And then the next two, the true cessation and the true path are the object to be taken, means object to be abandoned or object to be practiced, to be taken that that the true cessation is the result and the true path is the causes to attain this true cessation. So the way So, see yeah. So the teaching set for the four noble truths and the sequence of the understanding of these four truths: the person wishing liberation first understands the negation part, which is the true suffering and the origin of the suffering. And by knowing the true origin and the true sufferings and they are object to be abandoned, for the method of abandoning those two truths, one understands the next two truths, the true cessation and the true path.
And then within those two, the true suffering and the origin of the suffering, the way of knowing or the way of generating the understanding of those two first: one understands the true suffering and then follows the true origin of the suffering. So the first is to fully understand the true suffering. First, one needs to know the nature of the suffering. So so we have we yeah.
One needs to understand the suffering. And these days, one has a mind which does not wish suffering, but that unwishing of suffering is not very firmly or strongly in our mind. So in order to develop such a strong wish, a strong mind which develops a very strong unwillingness toward suffering, first, for the method to develop such a mind. First one needs to understand the mode of existence or the nature of the suffering.
So, for example, it is like a person who has performed a very bad bad things in in this world that he has done the crime of killing people. He caused the combat or the fight and so forth. And he that person has been considered as a bad person by everyone. And and and everyone there some people, they just say by other people they just listen to other people, they just say that he is a bad person. But but that kind of mind within that person seeing that calling or seeing that person as a bad person is not really from unless he knows the the the the the actual quality of that bad person.
If the person knows that what that that person has done and investigate through the person’s action and by knowing that he has come with killings and so on and so forth, by knowing such then that person one will develop a very on the mind which which calls that person as the bad person and and that and that and that mind is a very strong and very firm within oneself because one knows the knows the person correctly or, you know, one one fully knows that what what the kind what the person is. So for that, the the Buddha Śākyamūni has set forth for the two set forth the two two suffering and it has been classified in as for the suffering, they are categorized into eight sufferings, six sufferings as well as also categorized into three sufferings. The purpose of Buddha Śākyamūni in giving and having set forth the teaching on suffering is that one needs to know the reason of teaching the suffering. It is for one to develop a very strong intention to free oneself from the cyclic existence. And as for the suffering, the core sufferings which we always, which can be seen by our naked eye that the sufferings like the suffering of birth, aging, illness and the suffering of death.
But in general, as for the birth, it’s been considered to be good, that everyone is happy with the new, like the blossoms of the flower newly come out, and the baby born is something which here, birth means something comes newly. So in general sense, it has been considered as a not a suffering. It’s yeah. No. But to to to be born, it is the result of the collections of causes and conditions and if that result is produced by the good causes and condition, then it is to be sure that the result is good and one can be happy or one can consider that result as good.
So even for the births of the human as well as the animals, they are produced by its results and if they’re produced by their causes, so if their causes are good, then whatever the birth it is, whether it’s a human or animals, we can consider that result as a good result. What it means is So it is like the statue of the Buddha. If the statue of the Buddha is being made out of the gold, then then that statue will consider very, very precious in this world. It is because because considered very valuable because of its cost which is the gold. And if the Buddha statue has been made out of clay, then the people do have respect, but they hardly have a same respect to the the clay have the same respect the way they give to the Buddha statue which is made out of So the difference is not made by Buddha itself.
Buddha in they are seeing they are seeing the Buddha, but people have the different but but the what why the difference happens is it’s because of the because of the quality or substance it they’re made of. So the rebirth of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas is a good rebirth. It is because they have taken a birth with the intention of helping through the power of love and compassion as well as wisdom. And through this, they take a birth for the purpose of sentient beings. So for a being or human who is a Buddha, normally he takes a birth and he or she doesn’t have any suffering of birth, because as it is a Buddha, they only have happiness.
And if it’s not a Buddha, then we take a birth in samsaric existence and it is a suffering. So the Buddha taking a birth, they are produced only by good causes. And whereas for one who is taking a that’s a yeah. Whereas for one who takes rebirth in saṃsāra, in their causes they have both the mixture of the positive and the negative causes. And due to that, by having the negative side of the courses, one undergoes through suffering.
So we take a rebirth in the cyclic we take a birth in the cyclic existence and through the both collection of positive and the negative actions. And and we have a good karma or good action that that that a part of our causes our cause is a good a good cause that because we have a good karma, because the through the power of the good karma, we take a birth as a human. And but that karma has been accompanied by disturbing emotion and due to this, we face difficulty. So as for the migration, there are set forth to the two migrations, the good and the bad migration. And for the good migration, there are three types of beings, like God, human and the demigods.
And they are called the good migration because it is by the good karma that they have taken higher rebirth, but due to the karma mixed with the disturbing emotion, they undergo suffering. So taking a birth is being influenced by the disturbing emotion and action. So for and for the bad migration, there are three types of bad migration: the beings in the hell realms, animals, and the hungry ghosts. And for them, both the actions and the disturbing emotions are negative. The actions are negative actions, non-virtuous, conjoined with the disturbing emotion.
And due to this, they have a greater suffering and also have a worse place. And still have less happiness and more suffering. So so it is entirely depends on the cause. If the cause is only positive or good, then the result will be good. And if the the causes is the mixture of the positive and the negative, then the the result will be result will accord to its causes.
And if the cause is negative, then the result will be negative and also have more sufferings. So the root of the suffering is entirely the disturbing emotion, and the causes are accompanied by the disturbing emotion. No matter where we go, whether one goes through a good migration or a bad migration, as there is a disturbing emotion along with it, we we face difficulty and undergoes through the suffering. So so we so we should see so once you try once you see the see the disturbing emotion as a real enemy and and should try to abandon it from its root. So the actions and the disturbing emotions are the second noble truth, the two origins.
It is because because from those disturbing emotion, all the suffering or all the suffering is being originated now. So, yes, The knowing and realizing of true suffering and the origin of the suffering: the first comes the true sufferings and then the origin of the suffering. So by knowing the true nature of the suffering, yeah, it’s true suffering, then one will develop a very one will start disliking the suffering and by having that the unwishing or, yeah, unlikeness towards the suffering, then one will try to look for the origin of the suffering from where it comes. And and and and and one will come to know that the true origin is the causes of the suffering, and and one will try to abandon it. So for the suffering of birth, there are many. Speaking of birth, one undergoes suffering during nine months in the mother’s womb.
And then and the sufferings they have at the time of the delivery. And and then the and the suffering they face after being delivered, that everything they touches is the any material where they were put on will have, yeah, been very rough and also they face from the suffering of heat and cold. So for example, like, if at this stage, if one were put into the sack and then they tied up inside the sack for sack, how how how difficulty or how one suffers, one can one cannot be able to stay inside that So so we have he’s suffering while we are in the mother’s womb, but at the time of the delivery, once we were born, we had faced difficulties. We experience all these sufferings: the mother drinks a very hot tea and we face the suffering of heat, and when the mother moves up and down, it is like falling from a great height, and so forth. And so yeah. And then at the time of delivery, once the child has been born, then he or she will forget all the suffering that they have undergone inside the mother’s womb.
And at the very first moment of birth, we are the same as animals in that we don’t understand anything. And in the very second moment of birth, the suffering of aging starts, it’s to that it will not And then a week, month, and year passes and the signs of change keep happening and finally, one will come to the edge of having lots of wrinkles in the forehead and and having facing difficult sitting and standing. So we go through the suffering of age, suffering of old age and then on top of it, one will face the suffering of sickness and also the suffering life suffering of meeting with the unwanted objects and suffering of not getting what what one wish what one wishes. So it seems all the unwanted sufferings keep falling upon oneself and and and not able to not able to attain the mission or accomplish what one wishes, you know, even as working even with working so hard for it. And then gradually, the the suffering of the death comes and and at and when whenever it occurs, then at that stage, it is only one yeah, it is the only one that one goes to the suffering and no one can nothing can help at the time of the the the death that one cannot take one’s parents, one’s relatives, one’s friends with one’s as well as one’s wealth.
So if one performs a good practice and does a good meditation while one is alive, and if there is a very good meditation when death approaches, one will feel very happy with the death. And if one has performed a medium meditation, so if one is the practitioner of the Tārā and by being able to perform very vast or intense practices of Tārā, and when death comes to that person, the person is very happy with the death because it’s quite difficult to stay alive with old age because there is suffering within old age. And it is also better for him or her to die because they have performed intense practices of Tārā and they are sure that after they’re dead, they will be born in the land of Tārā in the aspect of a sixteen-year-old and be in the community of many Taras and can receive teachings from Tārā, and through this one attains enlightenment.
So likewise, if one has been able to properly practice particular deities like Heruka and Vajrayoginī, then one can one will will be born or one can reach the land of the particular deities. So and if and this is a good perform, then that’s done a very good practice. Then at the time of death, there will be many dakinis who will come to welcome you towards the land of that particular deity, you know. Very very good. So so so if one does a good meditation in this present life, then one will have a better and happier rebirth.
And if on if on fail to do a meditation, then one may one will have one one one will travel travel down towards a lower lower rebirth than the present the present rebirth. So so if if one wish to have happiness and better better status in the in the future, it is important for one to one to do the the the one to perform one to one to do the meditation. And also the meditation that meditation meditation should be done wishing happiness and not wishing happiness just for oneself. It should also be done with the bodhicitta or altruistic intention that that altruistic intention that to have to to to have to do this meditation, to have happiness for both oneself and other sentient beings. So as for us, our previous life has done a good job, in that he or she has performed a good meditation.
And as a result of doing good meditation, our previous life has been able to give us a good rebirth at this time, along with having all the necessities presented. Right? We are financially okay and have a good figure and good rebirth. So they are so our previous life has done a good job. So at this stage, we have we have yeah.
We have all the conducive conditions to to to practice. And and if if one make use of those because those conducive conditions, then then by and using those conducive conditions to practice. And through this, one will be able to go towards Tārā’s land within this lifetime. And if one is able to do that, then it’s been it’s been the belief it’s been by the kindness or the hard the hard work of both this life and the previous life. So at this stage, we have gained this human rebirth and which is the which has a capability to attain a happiness in future and, yeah, to attain a happiness in future.
If one fails to make use of this precious human rebirth, and instead of using it for the attainment of happiness, if one uses it for causing or having sufferings in the future, then all the hard work, all the hard work of the previous life, will become like a waste. So if one misuses this precious human rebirth and keeps cultivating negative actions, then then one will be one one will travel towards the bad migrations. And by having and and so yeah. Now one will travel travel towards towards the bad migration and having taken that that lower rebirth.
And once, yeah, once one once one’s been born in the lower rebirth, then it’s very hard to attain even this present a rebirth like this present rebirth. So so yes. Now we wish happiness and that happiness is not just a temporary happiness. We are that the the happiness we wish is the happiness without without suffering. And if one may use of this this present human rebirth for the cultivation of the method and wisdom to attain such a happiness without without without suffering, then one yeah, once once once life has become become meaningful.
So one should question oneself whether one wants to have happiness or or or suffering in the future, and it is be sure that one will not choose a suffering. And so so by wishing happiness in one one wish one one wishes happiness in the future and should should work to and to to attain that happiness in the future, one, you know, one, yeah, one should one should practice. One one should yeah. One should practice and and practice for for the attainment of happiness in future. So so for that reason, one should ask question oneself and then and as one wishes to one one will one wishes happiness in the future and and should try to practice as much as one can and and strike in the method of yeah.
Yes. Strike for the in the method and wisdom of attainment attaining the happiness in the future. And there are there are teachers available. There are books here which which yeah. There are books which are clearly written and you can understand through the books through and yeah.
And should develop a love and compassion towards oneself and and work for the and work to attain happiness in the future. And that happiness is happiness without suffering. And so it is one that who takes oneself towards the the the the state without suffering. And and so one has to take oneself towards the state without without suffering, and no one can lead you to no one can take you towards the state where there is no suffering. And the others can help by showing you the path towards that land without suffering.
And you have teachers who show you the path, you have the teachings, the text through this one can understand the way or how to travel towards the land without suffering. But they walk you towards the land without suffering. So it is entirely depends on one whether one wishes to go towards the land, attain that happiness without suffering. One should understand that it’s only you that who can you should understand that no one can take you towards no one can let you attain that unless it is only entirely dependent on oneself to attain that happiness without suffering. So traveling or attainment of that happiness is depend entirely depends on upon the practice done by oneself.
And all those Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Arhats have attained such a state. They have attained Buddhahood, arhathood. And they have attained because of their own work and no one had dragged them or placed them in such states. If one wants to attain that happiness without suffering. One has to make step and no one can bring you towards that towards will will yeah.
It can take you to to to that land, you know. Okay. That is the day. So we’ll stop here and take few few questions if you have. So yeah, we’ll stop here and and to hear the if you have answered any questions here means if there anything you want to clarify, but it’s not compulsory to ask questions.