Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Barley will never grow from a wheat seed — this image anchors Khensur Rinpoche’s explanation of why results arise only from accordant causes. In this 95-minute Lamrim session, he first distinguishes conventional bodhicitta (cultivated through the seven-limb method) from ultimate bodhicitta, which arises effortlessly once familiarization deepens, stressing that understanding must enter meditation to produce real realizations rather than remain mere knowledge. He then covers the twelve limbs of interdependence, contrasting Sautrāntika and Chittamatrin interpretations of coarse dependent arising, and explains why causes must themselves be impermanent to produce results. A survey of how virtuous, non-virtuous, and neutral karma generate the higher and lower realms — including vivid descriptions of the hot and cold hells — follows. The session closes with the practical ethical implication of interdependence and a brief appeal for sponsors to support newly arrived monks from Tibet at Sera monastery.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 33 LR 1999 11 09.mp3
UUID: bf5a000e-97b7-471f-a31a-0b0795927742
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Lam Rim (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1999-11-09
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 95.5 minutes
Words: ~4,236
So We’ll be doing a practice of listening and giving teachings along with the motivation of bodhicitta, the altruistic intention. Of compassion, which is wishing that how wonderful sentient beings, motherly sentient beings be free from the suffering and their causes as well as not just wishing, but also have intention that our will free all those sentient beings from the suffering and their causes. And developed and should develop a intention special insight with love that that all sentient beings have the inestimable happiness and their causes. I will let them have the ultimate happiness and their causes. So you can attain and accumulate merit just by doing meditation briefly, say about five minutes, on the generation of those two intentions of compassion and love.
And then the generation of mind, the altruistic intention according to Mahāyāna teaching, in order to develop that special altruistic intention, those two, the generation of love and compassion has to be preceded before the generation of mind. The bodhicitta or altruistic intention here means that intention which is focused on the sentient beings to be free from all the sufferings and their causes and have all the ultimate happiness and their causes. In order to accomplish such wishes, first one cannot accomplish or attain those wishes without abandoning all the negativities of oneself and acquiring all the good qualities. By abandoning all the negativities and attaining all the good qualities for the sake of attaining To attain the enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings is called the bodhicitta or altruistic intention.
For that generation of mind, the bodhicitta has two types. It’s called the conventional and the ultimate bodhicitta. The conventional and the ultimate bodhicittas are different in the way how they are developed. The bodhicitta which you develop through meditating beginning from love and compassion and in the seven limbs of causes and instructions, By doing meditation on those, one develops a bodhicitta and that bodhicitta is called the conventional bodhicitta. The ultimate bodhicitta is developed after developing a conventional bodhicitta.
After having developed the conventional bodhicitta, one trains in it and through meditation, gradually one becomes familiarized or experienced had lots of experience on this conventional bodhicitta. As a result of that, whenever one sees a sentient just a being, automatically without any effort, one develops wishes to free the sentient beings from sufferings and it causes and wanted to let that sentient beings have ultimate happiness. When one has such a mind, the generation of mind without any effort, that kind of bodhicitta is called the ultimate bodhicitta. That generation of mind, the ultimate bodhicitta that just without any effort, one develops a mind to free the person or these beings from the suffering. One can develop that mind with familiarizing through meditation and it is possible to happen, for example, days, For example, we are very used with those attachments, so those desire attachments, we are so familiarized with those and we can easily develop those desiring attachments without any effort.
As we are so used to it, just by seeing a desirous object, beautiful object or a being or a person, we can automatically develop a very nice or good looking person or object or anything. Just by seeing it, we automatically develop the attachment. Also, get very much used to the anger that we easily, without any effort, develop the anger by seeing something unappealing or someone you dislikes. So anyone who developed such a mind, the ultimate bodhicitta, that person is called a bodhisattva. So that mind, the bodhicitta, comes in the Mahāyāna teaching, the great vehicle teaching.
That mind becomes or acts as motivation, which act as becomes motivation in one’s practice. That motivation wishes to free all the sentient beings from suffering and bring them to the state of ultimate happiness. In order to accomplish such wishes, one will know that one can’t accomplish them unless one attains oneself the enlightened state, which is free from all negativities and self-grasping and also acquired all the good qualities. So in order to accomplish such wish and attaining that enlightened state for the sake of all bodily sentient beings. Through this motivation, one trains in the practice of giving ethical discipline, concentrations, and also engages in the practice of listening, contemplation, and meditation.
Here we should develop such motivation of altruistic intention to overcome all the negativities and accord good qualities to attain the enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. In order to accomplish this, one should engage in the practice of listening, contemplation, and meditation. What we need to do is we need to bring all these practices into meditation so that one becomes familiarized with practices, and through this one attains the realizations of paths and grounds. Just by mere understanding is not enough because we enter the teaching hall and see all those thangkas, representations of the Buddhist artworks, we can see we know that that is the picture of Yamāntaka or some deity and that’s the gesture of Buddha and so forth. But just by knowing is not enough.
What we need to do is everything which we know, all the meanings we realize or we know, should bring all those into meditation and then familiarize with the teachings through this. By doing this, one attains the paths and grounds. Just by mere understanding and not putting into the meditation and familiarizing with it, then one cannot enjoy the results of the studies which you have learned. Okay. So we’ll do a short few a short meditation here.
We have been dealing in the practice of the middling scope. As for the middling scope, there are practices of the Four Noble Truths and twelve limbs of interdependence. How one develops a wish to free from cyclic existence by practicing or training in the Four Noble Truths, and through this how one abandons all the negativities, falls, and attains all and acquired good qualities, which has been taught. Also practices of the teaching set for the twelve limbs of interdependent set forth in two versions, the twelve limbs of interdependent through the right order and it’s also that twelve limbs of interdependent taught through the reverse order. We have briefly been through the twelve limbs of interdependence in the last teaching.
The teachings of interdependence in the Buddhist schools is very, very considered to be one of the important or main teachings because through training in the interdependence, the training in the teachings of interdependence, one can understand the way of how one circles in the cyclic existence as well as how one frees oneself or attains the nirvana or free from the cyclic existence. Existence. Also, by studying the interdependence, one understands the view of emptiness and also one can abandon all the negativities, faults, and attain the good qualities. In the Buddhist teachings, all the Buddhist teachings are included in the views and the characteristics. As there are two special features, among those, the main thing, all those teachings comes through the view of interdependence and also that everything has been set forth: attaining or circling and overcoming the root of cyclic existence or how one circles in the cyclic existence.
All those have been set forth or comes through dependent arisings. Dependent and rising is very, very profound and vast teachings, and within these teachings there are these subtle and coarse teachings of interdependent. There are two types of phenomena set forth in the Buddhist teachings that are called the compositional factors and the non compositional factors. Non compositional factors are like the phenomena which are not dependent or which are not very substantial or not produced through the causes and conditions. It’s like the space itself.
The space is called a non compositional or non substantial phenomena, which is not produced from the causes and conditions. The phenomena which are produced of causes and conditions are called the compositional phenomena or substantial phenomena. Or we can say the compounded phenomena and uncompounded phenomena. In the Buddhist teachings, there are four schools of tenets, and among those there are the schools like the Sautrāntika and the Chittamatrin school. Establishes the teaching of dependent arising or interdependent for the compounded phenomenas, but they do not set forth the teaching of dependent arising on the uncompounded phenomena.
So those schools, the Sautrāntika and the Chittamatrin schools, as we said, they can’t establish the teaching or establish the dependent arising for the uncompounded phenomena because their understanding of interdependence, the Tibetan word is called ten del and ten jung, which are two types called the dependent relation and dependent arising. So so so by so they interpret this by the dependent arising, which means that the the the things which which which by depending on or produces from others or by depending on others, so due to that, as they are the products, because of that interdependent arising, establishes the dependent arising for those products, the impermanent things or the phenomenons, and not for the uncompounded phenomenons because interdependent arising for them should be the impermanent object or the compounded phenomena. Their way of interpreting the word ten jung, dependent arising: word to word, ten here means dependent and jung actually means comes or like offspring. Jung means comes. Their interpretation is that ten means depend, their understanding being depends on the causes and conditions from where it comes from. And jung, depending on those, in the future the result is being produced. In this way, as they interpret this word in this way, they set forth the or the view of interdependent only for the compounded phenomena, not for the uncompounded phenomena.
If you summarize, briefly speaking, what they mean is that something which is dependent arising is the offspring or is the product of the causes and conditions. For that reason, anything interdependent should be or have to be a product which comes from the causes, depending on causes and conditions, which should be the compounded phenomena. So having the knowledge or understanding this much of dependent arising is set forth. One has the understanding of the course dependent arising. So at this stage, it’s very good to go through the teaching of twelve limbs of interdependence through this understanding, which is the understanding of the coarse dependent arising.
So here is to investigate. Now, have to investigate all phenomena, all the products are interdependent and they are produced by form by depending on the causes and conditions. Here, one is to investigate or examine how the products are produced and how they depend on the causes and conditions. Through this investigation or examination, one comes to know that the products come from their causes and conditions. And they come from the causes and conditions which accord with the result. Through this, they come, by depending on the causes which accords to it, without having any relation or any if the result will never come from a course which does not accord to it. Here, the results are being produced from a cause and condition which accords with it. Here means that, for example, barley comes from the causes which accord with it. The barley comes from the seed of barley; barley and wheat and beans all come from the seed of barley, wheat, and beans respectively, and it will never be otherwise.
For example, the barley will not grow from the seed of wheat. The results or the products should be produced from the causes which accords with it. If the results are produced from the causes which they don’t accord with, for example, if the barley comes out from the wheat seed, then one could also say that from darkness comes the light and from light comes the dark, which are not true because actually light comes from light. If one agrees with that products comes from the causes which it does not accord with, then one should say that from the blazing fire comes the darkness.
Actually, from the blazing fire comes the light. If that is true, then it becomes huge problems because then one has to say that from the virtuous actions comes the suffering, which is really, very opposite and also huge problems. And then one can possibly say that from non virtuous action attains happiness and it is very good, then we always keep we shall keep accumulating non virtuous actions. So what it said for is that all the products, any kind of products, they are produced from the causes which accords with it. By knowing this, it abandons or eliminates the view that products can be produced from a cause which they don’t accord with.
So as the The second point is that as the products are produced from the causes which accord with them, through this one understands that not only the products but also the causes of the products have to be impermanent phenomena. The permanent phenomena cannot be causes because they can’t produce any result. So here, not only the products, but the causes of the products has to be product or impermanent so that it has they should have a potential to produce its result. All those results are also and the results are temporary and also they are temporal or temporary and also they are not produced all the time. The results comes from time to time.
Say that whenever all the causes and conditions are fully gathered or fully presented and from this having collected or gathered all the causes and conditions, the result comes and for the time being it stays and as its impermanence, it diminishes. Again, causes and conditions, then one collects the causes and conditions, and then comes as a result. Through this, entire all this the coming of results and diminishing and coming entirely depends on or depends upon the causes. Everything is being produced and produced by depending on the causes. For example, in Australia, for the time being we have those wonderful days with beautiful flowers everywhere, and those flowers are produced from their courses.
Then time passes and later on we have days without any flowers, and that also comes by its causes because the causes are coming into the end. So For a time being, there are lots of flowers everywhere, and that time one has problem with hay fever, or nausea or whatever. The permanent phenomenon cannot produce its result. If one said that the permanent phenomena can produce the result, then the mistake would be that if permanent phenomena produce the result, then one has to say that result should be permanent and will last forever.
The result has to be inexhaustible and will never cease. So if the permanent phenomenon produces its result, then that result has to be not temporal the result has to be permanent and which is inexhaustible and which never ceases. And then if there is a result, a person who is the result of permanent phenomena, then that person has to be permanent: one who never dies, can’t get sick, and cannot age. The result of the permanent phenomena has to be permanent because that results are produced without depending on the conditions. Whereas, all the phenomenas or the products are dependent or produces from the causes and conditions They are not produced just by mere cause or conditions.
Just mere cause and condition cannot produce its result. To produce a result, has to be the gathering or it has to be both the causes and conditions. As for the causes and conditions, results are produced from the collection of causes and conditions. As for the causes and conditions, there are three types of causes. Virtuous, non virtuous, and neutral.
The distinction of the virtuous, non-virtuous, and the neutral cause, or the good, bad, and the neutral cause. It’s been made through the things, the causes which produce results, which give us a happy feeling and which gives very pleasant results are called the good or positive action and positive causes. The causes which produce us very ill feeling or unhappy feeling and unpleasant results are called the bad cause. The causes which produce the result which do not give us neither the happy nor the unhappy feeling is called a neutral cause. So the good causes are the causes which produces or which give us this very good physical body and which gives us good shelters, which gives us good conducive conditions, and the causes which produce these results are called the virtues or good cause.
So which entails where those good results comes from. They all come from the good causes of, say, the good karma or good action. Mainly from the good action. Where does good action comes from? It comes from the good motivation and also from the positive action.
Positive motivation or good motivation. At this stage we have all these good results, we have good rebirth with a good body and are financially okay and have a good place to stay and good company or good friends. All these which we have come from our previous rebirth, a person that he or she created lots of good karma through good motivation. The human beings are produced from the good cause or good action and karma, and on top of it, a start superior to it is called beings in the demigods. Then superior to it is called the gods, the beings in the god realms, And that realm is the best place in the cyclic existence and the beings in the god realms have the better figure, better looking, better shelter and better enjoyments and so forth.
So those three are being produced from a karma and they have a difference in those karma, the small, middling, the greatest, or the supreme karma. From the small, karma produces results, the smaller results and the middling results. But as they are produced it depends on the greatness of karma, they have a difference in their happiness. The bad actions, the bad causes, those bad karma are collected through the bad motivation through bad motivation with attachment hatred. And as a result of those karma, one has bad body or bad physical features and bad livings, bad pleasures and have great sufferings.
And also for the bad actions, it has the greatness in their actions, the small, middling and the great. The smallest bad actions will produce the results in taking birth in the animal realms. Then the middling will produce one to take birth in the hungry ghost’s realms where there’s no clothes, no shelter, no food or no water to drink and goes through huge sufferings. And then the greater will take you to rebirth in the hell realms in the hot and cold hells. And if one were to take a birth in the hot hells, then it’s like one is being born in very hot weather inside an iron room or house where there is full of fires and one undergoes those sufferings.
If one were to take birth in the cold rooms, is like being born in the very open, very cold area where all with the snowy mountains with no clothes and have lots of breeze or very windy and undergoes to the suffering of cold. As you know that we’re dealing with the good, bad, and middling actions, the karma. As for the good, has been classified into three and for the bad, is classified into three. Now for the neutral causes, the neutral one hasn’t got any feelings. The water, stones or the mountains, and so forth.
These are the results of the costs and conditions, and they all come from the neutral costs, which because the stones, water, they don’t have any feelings at all. So we summarize or briefly speaking, then all those the good results comes from the good cause or good actions and good cause and the bad results comes from the bad causes. What Buddhist teaching set forth is that the view the Buddhist teaching is the they set forth is the view of interdependent and the action or or the behavior is that one should not bring harm to other sentient beings. And one should one should bring help and help and bring help towards others even if one fails to bring help towards others but should not at least bring harm towards others. This is what Buddhist teachings set forth.
So it’s been said for the Buddhist teaching set forth of the view of interdependent and the behavior is not behaving. That one should bring help towards others even if one fails to bring help, one at least not harm others. That teaching has come from the knowledge of interdependence and of dependent arising because if one harms others, as a result, as everything is interdependent or produced from the causes and conditions, by harming others, as a result of performing such actions, one will receive suffering. By helping others, one receives the happiness. Due to that, the teaching set forth is that one should not harm, one should try to help others and even if one does not help but should not at least harm or bring harm to others.
The teaching said first is that one should not bring harm towards others. The view of Buddhist aggregates is that the view of dependent arising, which means that everything, all the external and internal products are produced by depending on others and which induces that understanding, which induces the understanding of not a single phenomenon exists self sufficiently or are not produced without depending on others, which induces that not a single phenomenon inherently exists by its own accord. So we’ll finish our class today. Here. Now these days, we have many new arrivals.
The monks arriving for escaping from Tibet recently, and there are many monks who have been arriving Sehra. We do have people here who works with the monk sponsorship fund here. I’ve approached by those staffs who works for the monk sponsorship and has said that there are numbers of new monks just away from Tibet that’s been on the waiting list. I should first thank here that in many past years that the people from the Buddha house as well as from Tengresik Institute helped the hundreds of monks sponsoring them with their studies. I’ve been very grateful to those people and your support or contribution has been very helpful.
Among those monks in the sponsorship list, many of them have already qualified and finished their graduations and been very helpful to the community. Some are very, very close to finish their graduations. Also, Lama Zopa Rinpoche has made a food fund for the university in Sera, the monastery, which is also very grateful and helpful. Okay.
Yeah. And so these days, with there are many yes. I’ve been reported that many monks have been on the waiting list. So I heard about the touching details. We do try to find the help or sponsors for both the new and the old monks, but we are focusing mainly for those who have just newly arrived in Sera because they travel from very far distance and also they come from the very cold atmosphere, very cold weather.
So when they arrive, firstly the teacher faced problem with looking after their needs, like their clothes, their robes, and their beds, and so forth. Another point is, on the other hand, not only that, as they just resent their arrival, they are in the new atmosphere with very it’s got the different weather and so forth, so they had a problem adjusting with the climate. Some, they easily get sick or so forth, it’s very important. So your help has your contribution have been very helpful for their basic needs as well as for their the medical expenses. And so if anyone can could help, I’ve been it’s very helpful and been very been very helpful or beneficial.
The monks in the monastery these days, they are doing very good studies. I’m very sure that in the future they will finish their graduation and serve the community or people of the world. They will be very helpful towards the world in helping and giving teachings and so forth in the way they presently call the lamas to teachers who are all over the world giving teachings. They will be helpful like those monks. Also, they will help because the lamas and the great teachers who are in the west these days, one day sooner or later they will all pass and then the next generation needs to take over their places.
Okay, thank you very much. Anybody who is interested in helping, please contact Tendon and Carol. Sorry for that. One who are doing the Vajrayoginī commentary and who wants the precious pills, remember that we were talking about precious pills, Rinpoche has it with him here. Those from the Vajrayoginī commentary who needs the precious pill to come over.
He has it with him, so you can take it from him. Okay. Take your vitamins. I have a good problem with that. Thank you.
We’re doing the dedication prayers, page five verses eight and nine, then the Long Life Prayers at page ten, and then the page thirty three, the final Lamrim dedication prayers. I am thinking thinking about.