Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. The milk-and-water analogy from Atisha — a goose or turtle that extracts milk and leaves water behind — opens Khensur Rinpoche’s argument for taking the essence of this brief human life through Dharma practice. In this 99-minute session, the fifth of his 1997 Lojong Mind Training series, Rinpoche covers two of the four preliminary practices: karma and the drawbacks of cyclic existence. He unpacks karma’s four characteristics — results are definite, results increase, uncommitted actions bear no fruit, and committed actions never dissipate — using concrete examples: woodchopper, note-taker, thief, mantra reciter. A cosmology interlude comparing human lifespan to the six desire-realm celestial levels reinforces Atisha’s point on brevity. Rinpoche then walks through three drawbacks of saṃsāra: the uncertainty of relationships across lives, perpetual dissatisfaction, and the endless cycle of embodiment. A brief closing Q&A addresses whether karma qualifies as a compounded phenomenon.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 05 LMT 1997 06 03.mp3
UUID: 87aa8e5d-a618-45be-9fdd-9d45f3e75883
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Lojong Mind Training (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1997-06-03
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 99.4 minutes
Words: ~5,608
So we’ll begin by motivation, developing as our motivation the awakened heart, and we’ll meditate on that for a few minutes. The awakened heart bodhicitta is the aspiration to achieve a state whereby one has removed all of one’s various faults and brought to consummation all acts and qualities. And this in order to lead all sentient beings to a level where they no longer experience any suffering, where they have complete happiness. So develop as your motivation if you’re listening to this teaching that I’m going to listen to this essence of the universal vehicle and those methods of practice of cultivating the awakened heart. First by understanding just what the awakened heart is, and then understanding the way it is to be cultivated, and then finally that having understood that, that I will put these teachings into practice for the welfare of both myself and all others.
So the root text that was following initially said that first the preliminaries already practiced. And those preliminaries were set out in four parts. The first two being those which are in the path common to the path of the being of small capacity, those being the reflecting upon leisures and fortunes, and coming to an understanding of the impermanence in terms of death. Then the third and fourth parts of the preliminary practices were in common with the path of the being of middling capacity, and these we will begin in the first of, the third or the first of these two, which is karma or the let’s say actions and the results. And the fourth being the drawbacks of cyclic existence.
So, remember Rinpoche was quoting a verse by Atisha where he admonishes us that our human life is short and there are many things to be known and it’s difficult to know them all. Therefore we should seek to take the essence of what is to be known and therefore that we are to practice the essence which is the Dharma and thereby take the essence of this life. The one analogy which is made in this connection in the Tibetan tradition is that, is that of water mixed with milk. And a it is said within the Tibetan tradition that a goose is able to extract the milk and leave the water is to take the essence. There’s some thought also that a turtle is able to do this, but whichever.
We likewise in order to since we cannot do everything in the course of this life there are too many things to do and too many things to know that we should try likewise to take the essence and leave the rest aside. And the essence is the practice of Dharma. In the Tibetan tradition, it’s not sure which of these animals are actually able to take the essence of the milk, take the milk and leave the water. Some people think it’s a goose. Some people think it’s a turtle.
Do you have any ideas on that? According to Tibetan customs, some people say, well, a duck or a goose is able to strain the milk out, take the essence, and leave the water behind. Some people say, well, you put a turtle in milk. They will extract the milk and leave the water behind. Have you ever seen this?
Do you know anything about this? As was mentioned in this verse that this human life of ours is very short. We might look at a hundred years as being an extremely long life, but in comparison to other types of beings, a hundred years is extremely short. So, which is giving something of a cosmology lesson here. So we are in the desire realm as human beings and also within desire realm are the desire realm gods or the desire realm celestial beings.
And so there is the human realm and above this there are desire realm celestial beings. And there there are six levels to these celestial beings. And Rinpoche went through their names. I don’t really, I just I would just have to guess it then. Well the first, I’ll just get the Tibetan.
The first one is called and that’s the first level and then the How much? That’s the lowest level. That’s the shortest number of years. We’re going to talk about the number of years how long these these beings live. So the the lowest level is the shortest number of years lifespan.
And then the next level is the heavens, generally called the heaven of thirty three. Then the the third level is called Yama. And then fourth level is Ganden or in Sanskrit Tuśita. Then the fifth level is Tukden? Tuken.
Tuken. And then finally at the topmost level is. So this to give you those names of the six celestial levels. Now what the point that’s being made here is in terms of lifespan. The beings of this lowest level who have the shortest lifespan, one of their days is equal to fifty human years.
So that is that well one and then we went on to say, when I say well one of their months would be equal to fifteen hundred human years. And then you know one of their years would be would be equal to One hundred, one thousand eight hundred, eighteen, eighteen hundred, eighteen, eighteen hundred years, human years. So the point is that these beings live five hundred years in terms of their time. And and this this doubles as it moves up through these six realms, the length of the lifespan. So, this is what Atisha is trying to emphasize that our life is indeed quite short and that we should seek while we have the opportunity to take its essence and that is to say to practice the Dharma well.
No matter what ever our practice might be, whether we are meditating on emptiness or cultivating the awakened heart or meditating on impermanence or we’re practicing the path of the being of small scope capacity or the being of middling capacity, whatever our practice might be to practice it well and take the essence. So now we come to the this third of the four preliminary practices that of actions and their results and actions in the, is the Sanskrit term karma. And the, the Buddha said that there were in his teachings on karma or actions said that there were four divisions which we could cultivate its understanding. And these firstly is that karma or actions are definite. The results of actions are definite.
The results of actions are definite. That the results of actions are increasing, that the nature, the increasing, then the second category is, is that actions, increasing nature of actions. Thirdly, the results of uncommitted actions are not experienced. The results of uncommitted actions are not experienced. And then fourthly, actions once committed do not dissipate.
Actions once committed do not dissipate. So with respect to this first category division of the explanation of actions and their results, is say actions are definite, or the results of actions are definite. With regard to actions, there are generally three types. There’s skillful actions, unskillful actions, and neutral, or more literally translated as unspecified, but we can just simply say a neutral. The first of these two, skillful and unskillful actions, are extremely powerful in terms of result they’re able to bring about.
The third, neutral actions, are, have little, have very limited capacity or minor small capacity to bring about, in terms of the quality of the result that they bring about. So they aren’t able to bring about any significant results. So actions in Sanskrit it’s it’s karma. In the Tibetan language, it’s So what do we mean by action? It is an an the activity of an agent engaging in an activity with regard to an object.
Activity of an agent engaging in an activity with regard to an object is action. So let’s take an example and look at it in terms of these three factors that we’ve that we’ve mentioned in defining what we mean by actions. If we take a wood chopper, the wood chopper is the agent, is to say the person who’s actually doing the chopping. The object which he is engaged, the activity is being engaged in with the object of the activity, the object of the activity is the tree, and the activity itself is the chopping. So we have an agent who’s involved in an activity.
We have an agent, the woodchopper, who’s involved in an activity of chopping with regards to an object, the tree. So there is the agent, the object, and the activity. The agent who’s committing the act who’s involved in the activity, the activity itself, and the object of that activity. karma or action is that activity. So let’s take a readily available example.
Some people are taking notes. So using using them as as to exemplify these three parts. The note taker is the agent of the activity. The action of, the activity of writing in your book is the, is the activity or the action is the action, the activity of writing your book is the action and the object of the activity is the notebook on which you’re writing in. So it is this activity of writing your book, which is the action or karma.
So take another example, in the case of fishing, that the fisherman is agent, object or we can say the basis of the action is the fish swimming in the water, and then the withdrawing of the fish from the water such that it, it dies is the activity of fishing and this is the action. So the withdrawing of the fish from the water is the act, is the, is the action. So by withdrawing the fish from the water, the life force of the fish is is is is stopped. And this action of stopping that life force is an activity of or an action. So taking another example that of stealing.
So the agent of the action is the thief. Then the object of that activity might be the valuables of another person, and the thief comes in looks around and takes the takes the article, puts it in his or her bag and thinks now I’ve got it. So the this placing in the bag and thinking I’ve got now I’ve got it is the activity of stealing. So this activity of this particular example, in this particular example, this activity of stealing is an action and moreover it is an unskillful action. Unskillful action.
Activity is not so good, is it? Therefore, we categorize such an activity as unskillful activity or action. So another example would be the recitation of the mantra Om Mani Padme hum. So the reciter of the mantra is the agent of the activity, the object of the activity is the mantra Om Mani Padme hum and the actual verbal recitation of the mantra is the activity and in this being being an action, and in this case, a skillful action. Another example that of meditating on emptiness.
So the meditator him or herself is the agent of the activity. The object of the activity is emptiness and the activity of thinking about the meaning of emptiness is the action, and in this case, a skillful action. Again, another example would be meditating on the Lamrim or that is to say the graduated path, the stages of the path. So the agent of the activity is the meditator, the object of the activity is the stages of the path, the Lam Rim, and then the mental activity of thinking about the stages of the path in terms of thinking about leisures and fortunes or impermanence. If one was doing, that is to say, an analytic meditation, that activity of analytically meditating on these subjects, thinking about these subjects is the activity, Therefore, it is the action, and it is a skillful action.
Another example, taking myself in giving a teaching on the Dharma. So the agent of this activity of teaching the Dharma is myself Khensur Rinpoche, the object of my activity, this activity of teaching is the mind training text which I am teaching on, and the activity is the actual communicating verbally to you the meaning of this teaching, the communicating to you verbally communicating verbally to you is the activity. So in in an analysis of actions, it’s necessary to be able to analyze in terms of these components. And these components of being the agent of the activity, the activity, and the object of the activity. So, we can so the the karma or action is is applicable to us all.
We’re all involving ourselves in activities and therefore creating actions. For example, perhaps tomorrow morning you may be off to work and that getting to when you arrive at work you are the worker, that is say the agent of an activity. The various work that you do is an activity, therefore it is an action, it is karma. So, all of this has been going through in detail and what was just said to emphasize the fact that that actions are karma and the results, and this area of cultivation and understanding is not a Tibetan invention. That some people think that the idea of karma was simply invented in Tibet, that it doesn’t apply to the rest of the world.
But we all are agents of activities, aren’t we? And therefore we’re all involved in ourselves in actions and actions are what we mean by karma. Therefore, there is karma, isn’t there? There are actions, aren’t there? So if these actions act as causes, and if there’s a cause, there will be a result.
There isn’t there is such a thing as cause and result, aren’t there? Therefore, their actions and their results, aren’t So what we are saying essentially is that positive activities are positive actions. Negative activities are negative actions. And moreover, positive actions will bring about positive results. Negative actions will bring about negative results.
So this is what the Buddha meant when he taught that actions, the results of actions are definite. What he was saying is that from a positive action only a positive result will arise. Negative results never arise from positive actions. On the other hand, from negative actions only negative results will arise. Positive results never arise, only a negative result.
So I mean this is, for example, if you were if you were cooking something and you used a, if you use a very hot, a hot tasting ingredient, then the the what the the cooked food would come out with a hot very hot flavor. Likewise, if you use ingredients were very sweet of nature, the hot food would come out with this is tasting sweet. So that is that the results of that’s the first of the this these four categories or divisions of an explanation of actions and the results that actions are the results of actions are definite. Then the second is that the results of actions are highly increasing. And this is, this is to explain that the results of even an insignificant action can be highly magnified, that even an insignificant action can bring about a greatly increased skillful or unskillful result.
So, by way of exemplifying the, that the the results of actions can be highly increasing, which has given an example where there were monks who were out on their alms round. And as they’re walking, they came to a small stream. And the first monk who was quite agile, leapt over the stream and came down the other side. And the monk behind him said, well you can jump just like a monkey. And that action, as a result of that action, this this monk, the monk who spoke in that way, took rebirth for five hundred lives as a monkey.
So so this is trying to get across the idea that even from insignificant actions, highly increased results can arise. And, you know, one analogy would be that even, you know, a great tree like from an acorn, a huge oak tree can grow, or that from one fruit seed, a tree can grow and give off fruit for, for a number of years in vast quantities. So even from the smallest of causes, a great result can arise. So results of actions are increasing is meant to convey the understanding that even from small causes, great results can arise. So then the third category or division in this explanation is that the results of uncommitted actions are not experienced.
The results of uncommitted actions are not experienced. And this is a, that, that the, the results of causes, causes here are actions that are, whether the result of, there is no cause, then there’s no result. And here cause means action. So if there is no action, there is no result. Whatever the, whatever it may result, the nature of it, of the result might be, whether it’s a positive or a negative result, it will not arise if there isn’t, if there has to been no action acting as a cause to bring it about.
So we can really understand this by if, as an example, if a farmer does not cultivate, does not plant the seeds, then he does not harvest a crop. If we do not plant the seeds of a human life, then we will not take rebirth as a human. If we do not bring about the the causes for liberation, we will not attain liberation. If we do not create the causes for a future life, we will not be reborn in a future life. Then the fourth of these categories or divisions of explanation is that the results of the not the results.
The is that actions are not dissipated, that actions once committed are not dissipated, actions once committed are not dissipated. And this is to say that if we commit an action, a result will definitely arise. That, for example, if we were to commit a skillful action, and given that we, it is not destroyed in the interval through the force of anger, that even if hundreds of years were to elapse from the time of committing that action, a result will still arise. We will experience the result of that previously created action. So, this would, this applies to unskillful actions.
If having, upon having committed an unskillful action, if we were not to apply the four opponent powers, then at some time in the future, the results of that action would definitely be experienced. Another word for dissipated here is to say that the action simply does not go to waste, that there will definitely arise a result. When we say that actions once committed are not dissipated is to say that actions simply do not go out of existence upon their completion of their commission. Once the action is committed, that there is no longer any thing to go forward. That there’s that there is a the action has simply come to an end.
But in fact, there’s that there will be a continuity of the action and a result will definitely be So if we reflect well upon these four categories or divisions of explanation of actions, we will come to a determination in terms of our practice. We will determine firstly to create skillful actions, and not to allow those skillful actions to be destroyed by anger. And moreover, that we will apply the, the, we will apply the four powers or a disclosure of previously committed negative actions. Previously committed negative actions. So this brings us down to the criteria of what we mean by a Dharma practitioner, just this, whether or not there is an observance of actions and the results.
That is to say, whether an individual is is in practice trying to commit skillful actions and to abandon unskillful actions. This is the criteria by which we determine a practitioner of Dharma. So this is, we can look to ourselves and investigate in terms of what we do and don’t do to determine whether we are actually practicing the Dharma. If looking to our, within our own minds and examining as to whether we are actually implementing actions and their results in our daily practice. If we are doing that, then we are practicing Dharma.
If we are not, then we are not practicing. So that’s the the third of these preliminaries that of the the result, actions and the result. And then the fourth is the drawbacks of cyclic existence. So in talking about the drawbacks of cyclic existence, the first of which is the disadvantage of uncertainty, and most particularly in talking about the uncertainty is that with regard to our relationships and classified in terms of friends and enemies that there is no certainty as to how we will continue to relate with the people about us. Some from time to time a person may be our friend and then at another time turn into our enemy.
At sometimes this another person may be an enemy and turn into our friends. Sometimes friends separate to the extent where they just to, just to see that person, somebody who was very dear to you at one point, just to see them provoke evokes anger in you. At another time, there’s an enemy. There may come a time with relationship to them that you can’t stand to be without them. So there’s simply no certainty as to the the way we relate with others.
This is the drawback of cyclic existence. So, and we see this for ourselves all the time, you know, one day or one month or one year later, that two people who are extremely fond of each other at one time will at a later time be enemies. They won’t be able to stand each other. This is not the fault of ourselves as the people, but the drawback of cyclic existence. And this is only with regard to the indefinite nature of our relationships over the course of this life, but we can continue in terms of the indefinite nature of our relationships in future lives.
Upon death, our mother may in a future life become our wife. Our father can become our child. Our enemy of this life can become our child of a future life. Our sister and brother of this life can become an enemy of a future life. So in in the know, that there may be barriers between the borders of countries such that people cannot cross those physical borders, but there’s nothing that can stop them from taking rebirth in your For example, myself, if I were now presently, I I I as a Tibetan say China is no good.
Upon my death, I might take rebirth in China and say, Tibetans are no good. So this is the this is exemplifies disadvantages of the uncertainty within cyclic existence in terms of our relationships. Another drawback of cyclic existence, which is a a fault or disadvantage of cyclic existence is the disadvantage of dissatisfaction. But maybe just dissatisfaction, it also has a sense of a lack of contentment that never satisfied. If we have five dollars we want ten dollars If we have ten dollars we want a hundred.
We have a hundred, we want a thousand. If we have a thousand, we want a hundred thousand, if we have, and so forth. There’s never a time when we’re satisfied or content with what we have. So this is a fault of cyclic existence in terms of this the lack of contentment with what it is, satisfaction with what it is we have. We we struggle so hard to get what it is we want and even when we get it, we die.
In the course of, you know, gathering together all that we wanted, we’ve created a great many negative actions and all that we’ve gathered together is left behind and all we carry forth into future lives, there are negative actions. And it is we ourselves who have to experience results of those previously created negative actions. No one else will experience them for us. So this is a drawback of cyclic existence. Then the third drawback of cyclic existence is the disadvantage of having to discard our bodies again and again.
If we’ve we have taken rebirth again and again and again, previously up to now taken rebirth again and again and again and in the future we will continue to take rebirth again and again and again. If all our skulls were stacked up, that we’ve that we’ve we’ve had over the course of this these rebirths, they would form a great mountain. So this is this process has been going on endlessly. And over the course of this this process of endlessly taking rebirth, we have going through suffering over and over again. So the reason that we investigate the nature of cyclic existence and reflect upon its drawbacks is in order to develop a despair of cyclic existence and this in order to develop a yearning for to be liberated from cyclic existence.
It’s very much like prisoner in their prison reflects upon all the faults, all the difficulties and drawbacks of existing within that prison. Would existing within that prison they would develop a yearning for freedom to be free from their prison and likewise ourselves by again and again reflecting upon the disadvantages and drawbacks of such a state of existence, we will develop we will develop a yearning which strives to be liberated from cyclic existence. So, it would be at this point important to ask, is there in fact an end to cyclic existence? The main cause of cyclic existence is the afflictive emotions. afflictive emotions are characterized by being mistaken or false.
Therefore, there is an antidote to them that if we can purify these, these mistaken conceptions by correct conceptions, then we can eliminate the mistaken conceptions. We eliminate the afflictive emotions. If we, if we abandon the afflictive emotions, we abandon cyclic existence. We achieve liberation. We no longer suffer.
There is no suffering because the afflictive emotions, which are the cause of suffering, have been completely removed. Therefore there is only happiness. Therefore there is an end to cyclic existence. But if we do not abandon the afflictive emotions then there is no end to cyclic existence. So the point is that the main cause of cyclic existence with all of the drawbacks that we’ve described are the afflictive emotions.
The afflictive emotions are mistaken conceptions. They are false. We can apply correct conceptions, unmistaken conceptions as antidote to these mistaken conceptions. Therefore they can be eliminated and one achieves liberation. If there is no cause, that is, say, the afflictive emotions, then there will, we will not experience the result, that is there will be no suffering.
Previously we talked about the two types of attainments. In terms of the attainment as being definite goodness. And with regards to definite goodness, there was the attainment of higher status and liberation. So it is higher status which acts as the platform from which we can go on to achieve liberation. If we have all achieved higher status as a human being, and this is the basis from which we can work from in order to achieve liberation in the future.
We, but moreover, we have to ensure that we again achieve higher status in the future life, because that acts as a platform by means from where we can work, we can strive to achieve liberation. Without this platform of high status, there is no achievement of liberation. We have no basis from which to work from to achieve it. So we have to make effort to achieve high status again in the future too, so that we can work we can go on to work for liberation. So, we have at present an embodiment, the embodiment as a human being which can act as the basis from which we can achieve liberation.
This is such an embodiment by means of which we can achieve liberation is very particular to ourselves as human beings. It’s an animal or a hell being or a hungry ghost is not able to achieve liberation from that basis. But even above that, even even the celestial beings, unless they have cultivated during a previous human life, the path, then they, that they as celestial beings cannot newly generate a path as celestial beings. Unless they prepared in terms of in the course of a human life as celestial beings, they cannot go on to achieve liberation. So it is only ourselves as human beings who have the necessary basis from which to achieve liberation.
So it is in terms of this of our present human life of high status that we have the necessary basis to go on to achieve liberation by means of cultivating a path. But how do we actually cultivate a path? This is done by engaging in the three higher trainings. We talked about these before. First, as the higher training ethics, and this involves the abandonment of the unskillful action and the various trainings higher training ethics going on to practice the higher training in meditative stabilization and then the higher training in wisdom.
So we’re going to stop there for this evening. We’ve completed the first of the seven fold division of the text, the seven point training of the mind. The first point being to initially are to practice the preliminaries. Then subsequently we will begin the second of the points which is the actual cultivation of the awakened heart. So, you.
We’ll stop there. So if you have some questions, we’ll take a few minutes. Why would that make it not be a compounded phenomenon? Okay. So I’m sorry.
So the question is that in according to the explanation of actions or karma, it does not appear to be a compounded phenomena because it does not arise, abide, and then disintegrate as is the nature of compounded phenomena. It appears that on the contrary that it does not dissipate, it was said that karma does not dissipate, and moreover that it also increases. So it does not behave as if with this nature that we usually associate with compounded phenomena that they arise and abide and disintegrate. Okay. So And then the So the the the potency of So when it talks about the that actions committed are not dissipated, it’s saying that the potency of the action So the action itself did not does not remain, but the potency or the pre or the late the latency the potency or the latency of the action remains.
And it and it is it is just like all compounded phenomena momentarily undergoing disintegration. Just as we ourselves, as persons are undergoing momentarily disintegration. Like this morning the person who existed at one o’clock does not exist at two o’clock. It’s a different person than existed at one. At the next hour at three o’clock the person who existed two o’clock no longer exists.
The third person who existed three o’clock is a different person than the person who existed at two o’clock. But there is a continuity even though they’re of the person over time, even though the person is momentarily disintegrating. Likewise, with these, the potency or the latencies of these actions, that that they are have a continuity which is continually momentarily disintegrating. So there is a there is a continuum of the potency or latency of the action. So it is not uncompounded, it is a compounded phenomenon.
And when we say it doesn’t dissipate, it means that this continuity doesn’t stop. It just simply doesn’t fade away. The continuity of the action does not fade away. So we we used the previously the example of the mind being likened to a piece of paper and actions leave an impression upon that piece of paper, just like stamping the paper, perhaps printing on the paper. As long as that paper remains, the printing on the paper will remain.
But, but still though there’s, though there is a remaining of the stamp in the paper, there is the paper and the printing on it are both momentarily disintegrating, that they, by moment to moment they are disintegrating, giving rise to another similar type, and that abides, and that again disintegrates giving rise to another similar type. So there’s a continuity with of the paper and the stamp upon it, and they remain. So the there is a continuity of mind, and therefore, there there is a continuity of the latencies which are implanted upon that mind. The example we gave in terms of increasing effect increasing results of karma was the that of the monk who called the other monk monkey and the reason in this case that it was so that the result was so vastly increased was because of the excellent qualities of the first monk that in fact he was a foe destroyer or an arhat. Therefore the increase was of a great was great.
So that monk was an arhat or foe destroyer. Yeah. Right. How about if I ask his question and then we’ll come to your question. Is that okay?
That way. The young man of