Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Using two paired slogans from the Seven Point Mind Training — “gather all the blame onto one” and “meditate on the kindness of all” — Khensur Rinpoche builds, over 100 minutes, a sustained argument for replacing self-cherishing with other-cherishing. He draws a precise distinction between harmful self-centeredness, driven by self-grasping and seeking one’s welfare at others’ expense, and the bodhisattva’s healthy self-regard, which includes love and compassion directed at oneself. The bulk of the session traces how every attainment — a good human rebirth, liberation, and Buddhahood itself — depends on the kindness of sentient beings, citing Śāntideva’s image of them as the field from which Buddhahood grows and Langri Thangpa’s verse comparing them to wish-fulfilling gems. The session closes with a Q&A on whether to euthanise a suffering animal, sacrifice one’s life for a stranger, or fight for one’s country — each answered from a Dharma standpoint.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 09 LMT 1997 07 01.mp3
UUID: d855687c-039a-4385-ac74-2f1900f14b20
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Lojong Mind Training (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1997-07-01
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 100.1 minutes
Words: ~5,570
So, we’ll begin by cultivating as our motivation the awakened heart. We have attained a precious human life which is extremely meaningful. We have to assure that we make use of its great meaning. How are we to ensure that we make use of this precious meaningfulness of our human life. That it is by means of the Dharma as the supreme method whereby to achieve the meaningfulness of this human life both in terms of its temporal and ultimate benefits.
There are a variety of types of dharmas or spiritual practices, but the essence of them all is none other than the awakened heart. How are we to proceed in reflecting upon the awakened heart? It is necessary that it is prior to its development that we meditate on loving compassion, Beginning with great compassion expressed in the thoughts, It would be wonderful if all sentient beings were free of suffering and the causes of suffering. May all sentient beings be free of suffering and the causes of suffering. I myself will free them from suffering and the causes of suffering.
And then the second of the prerequisites to the awakened heart, that of love, especially a great love expressed in the thoughts. It would be wonderful if myself and all sentient beings had happiness in the causes of happiness. May myself and all sentient beings have happiness in the causes of happiness. I myself will bring that happiness and the causes of happiness to myself and all sentient beings. Then as an intermediary step to the actual development of the awakened heart, we’re going to develop exceptional resolve, which is the resolve to bring about this end of suffering and the achievement of happiness for all sentient beings by oneself alone, not relying upon others.
But at present we simply do not have the ability whereby to lead all sentient beings to a state of freedom of suffering and where they have complete happiness. In questioning, well, who does have such an ability? Is necessary that we appreciate the fact that it is only an individual who has eliminated all their various faults and has brought to consummation all their excellent qualities, that is to say, a Buddha who in fact possesses such an ability, and therefore determining that if I were to achieve such a state, likened to a Buddha having eliminated my various faults and brought to consummation my excellent qualities, then I would in fact, by myself, be able to liberate all sentient beings from suffering and to bring them to complete happiness. Having reflected well upon this, when we generate within our mind stream the aspiration which determines that I myself must eliminate my various faults and bring to consummation all my excellent qualities. That is to say, I must achieve Buddhahood for the sake of all living beings.
When that attitude of mind arises in an uncontrived fashion in a very powerful way, then we have generated the awakened heart. We have become a being of the universal vehicle. And the attainment of such a state is hindered by factors within our own mind. The afflictive emotions along with their latencies, these prevent us from actually generating this aspiration toward awakening. So determining that to abandon these factors which act as an obstacle to the development of the awakened heart.
And the way that we’re going to do that at present is by listening to this teaching on the essence of the universal vehicle, the methods of cultivating the awakened heart, the methods of overcoming these obstacles to its development. By quoting from the root text of the Training of the Mind in seven points, the sevenfold training of the mind, where we have looked at the fact that we are to place all the blame onto one. Here it says gather all the blame onto one. And then the second line following that is meditate on the great kindness of all. So the blame where we are to place all of our difficulties both ultimate and temporal and both all of our the undesired results that we are continually experiencing over the course of our life is that one is self centeredness.
It is the source of all our suffering. And on the other hand, as the text says, to meditate on the kindness of all, it is by appreciating the kindness of all that we, in terms of bringing about the welfare of all, that we attain all that is of value in our lives. That we attain both our temporal attainments, for example, our human life, but the ultimate attainments of liberation and omniscience. And therefore we are to see self centeredness as a twofold obstacle. It brings us all unwanted suffering and prevents our finding all the happiness that we in fact desire.
We have to understand well this twofold reasoning of why we are to bring an end to our own self centeredness. If we don’t appreciate it, we won’t in fact implement the methods to bring our self centeredness to an end. By seeing these two great faults of our own self centeredness, we will make the effort in terms of the methods for ending self centeredness. If we don’t, we won’t. So we’re trying to emphasize the detrimental effects of self centeredness, but there are in fact many types of self centeredness or it might be better to translate it here in our present context of discussion as self-cherishing or holding self dear.
Why is that? Because if we were to question, well, does a bodhisattva hold themselves dear? Do they cherish themselves? In fact, they do. A bodhisattva observes themselves or takes them they take themselves as their own object of love and compassion.
They have a love and compassion for themselves. They do care and cherish themselves. But it doesn’t stop there. It also includes others in observing others as objects of their love and compassion. And moreover, they do not set aside others in bringing about their own welfare.
They do not cast others aside. It is only when self centeredness is induced by the force of self grasping that it becomes a detrimental in terms of that we set aside we only consider our own welfare alone at the expense of others. In fact, the bodhisattva has both their self interests and other interests in mind. Their self interest is expressed in their seeking to achieve a truth body or the Dharmakāya which brings about their own welfare. So, in fact, the bodhisattva does strive for the attainment of the truth body, the Dharmakāya, which brings about their own welfare.
And the truth body is space like. It knows all phenomena in terms of its omniscience. It also possesses so it has a quality of wisdom, but it also has an ultimate compassion. It is necessary to attain such an embodiment in order to bring about the vast welfare of others. In order to be able to be of maximum optimum benefit to others, in teaching others, it’s necessary to be able to know precisely the dispositions, the attitudes, the capacities of others in order to tailor the teachings specifically to benefit them.
Therefore, the bodhisattva seeks to attain the truth body which brings about their own welfare as a means of simultaneously attaining the form body to be of maximum benefit to others. So the self centeredness or the self-cherishing that we are specifically singling out here that is to be brought to an end is the self centeredness which has been induced by the force of self grasping, a self centeredness which is characterized with an attitude of seeking to bring about one’s own welfare alone at the expense of others. And this, it is this self centeredness which we are to bring a stop to. It is this self centeredness which is the root of all negativity. So, this is the one upon which we are to place our blame.
And the root text goes on to say that we are to reflect upon the kindness of all. And this is to help us to gain an appreciation To appreciate the value of other centeredness, that and when it says to reflect upon the kindness of all, all here means all sentient beings, whosoever, from the greatest to the most insignificant, even insects, all six types of migrators within the universe. Whosoever that we are to appreciate their great kindness and how they have benefited ourselves. They have benefited ourselves in the past, they are presently benefiting ourselves, and they will benefit ourselves in the future all the way up to Buddhahood. Everything that we are able to enjoy, our journey on the path, even the attainment of Buddhahood, is reliant upon the kindness of sentient beings.
So how is it that sentient beings have benefited in the past? We should understand that in terms of our present minds, that they are in continuity with the mind proceeding back to that mind which was present in our mother’s womb when we were within our mother’s womb. And that mind of ourselves when we were in our mother’s womb, can trace back to the mind of the intermediate state being we were previous to having taken birth in this life. And that mind within the mind of the intermediate state being, the Bardo being of our previous state can be traced back to the mind of the being of the previous of the life previous to our present life. And then that mind within the being of the previous mind’s life can be traced back to the life of the mind within the life of that mind previous to that life.
And we can go back to the life previous to that and previous to that, going back and back. This tracing back is a beginningless process that this mind has existed without beginning. So, our mind streams can be traced infinitely back without beginning. And over the course of this infinite process, we have taken rebirths numberless times. And in the course of taking numberless rebirths, most of those times we have taken rebirth to a mother.
And therefore there is no being who we can point to and in fact say this is not my mother. In fact every being has literally been our mother, has been our parent. There is no being who we can find who has not in fact been our parent and remembering all the great benefits that they have bestowed upon ourselves when they were our parents. But even those times when these beings weren’t our parents in the past, still they were expressing kindness to ourselves and supplying it with food and clothing and shelter and companionship. And at present, there are they are parents, but but the vast majority of beings are are not our parents, but still they are benefiting ourselves in terms of we rely upon them for our food, for our clothing, for our shelter, for transport, for providing us a place for the teachings to take place, for providing us with work.
Are able to take advantage of all these material our material prosperity comes about through relying upon others. And in terms of our practice of Dharma, that we rely upon the great kindness of others to provide us with all the means and facilities whereby we can carry on our practice, The fact that we’re able to come together as we do and that we are supplied by that a venue is supplied, that the teachings are given, that there is a place to that all the necessary preparations have been made, that we are able to put them into practice and to meditate and to cultivate the Dharma in this way is dependent upon the kindness of a great number of people bringing all of these conducive conditions together and providing them for us. We can look at all the good times that we can have while living in Adelaide. Can go out to restaurants, we can go to movies, we can go here and there quite easily and enjoy ourselves. What would happen if we were here by ourselves?
What kind of a time would we be having? And then in the future, we will go on to take rebirths. And over the course of these future rebirths that these beings about us will again be our mothers and that they will again be our companions in various ways. Until we bring it to an end, cyclic existence we will always be dependent upon the kindness of sentient beings. And in terms of our practice of Dharma, we’ve spoken of the two types of attainments those of high status and those of definite goodness.
In terms of high status, we attain, for example, that of a human life. And a human life where we have all the material necessities, where we have a beautiful embodiment, where we have harmonious companions. And these are brought about through such practices as generosity and ethics and tolerance. And in order to attain all of these ends, it’s necessary to practice these methods. And these methods of generosity, etc, can only be practiced in terms of sentient beings.
If there are no sentient beings, then we cannot practice generosity and we cannot achieve the results of generosity. If there are no sentient beings, we cannot practice ethics with regard to them and therefore there is no attainment with regard to the practice of ethics. And likewise, the practice of tolerance, we need sentient beings in order to implement the practice, and therefore any result is dependent upon those sentient beings. So that is only taking into consideration the temporal attainment of high status, in this case that of a human embodiment. But there is also the attainment of definite goodness, which is composed of liberation and omniscience.
Order achieve, for example, liberation, it’s necessary that we observe ethics. Order to observe ethics, it’s necessary that there be sentient beings toward whom we are able to practice ethics and thereby observe our ethical attitudes towards others. It depends upon our practice of ethics. We then go on to cultivate higher training of meditative concentration and in dependence upon that, the higher training in wisdom whereby we are able to abandon the particular emotions and achieve liberation. Going on from that attainment to that of omniscience and ultimate Buddhahood, here sentient beings are even more important in our practice.
As was explained before, that in the attainment of Buddhahood it’s necessary that we cultivate love and compassion. In order to develop love, need to rely upon sentient beings as objects of our observation to develop the attitude of love towards sentient beings. The same holds true of compassion. And also the quality of exceptional resolve is developed in reliance upon other sentient beings. The awakened heart is developed in dependence upon sentient beings.
The attitude of wishing to attain Buddhad whereby to lead all sentient beings to a state free of suffering and where they have complete happiness. This commitment is a commitment developed in terms of sentient beings, in our practice of the six perfections. The six perfections, the practice of generosity, ethics, tolerance, effort, meditative concentration and wisdom are developed in dependence upon sentient beings. And finally, all of the excellent qualities whatsoever which are which are a part of the universal vehicle are all developed dependence upon sentient beings. Therefore, ultimately, we cannot leave aside sentient beings if we are to achieve anything in our life If we leave aside sentient beings, then we become only beggars.
For example, when we go on to meditate on love and compassion and finally seeking to develop the awakened heart. It is absolutely necessary that we develop it in terms of all living beings whosoever, that we are not to set aside even one sentient being. If we were to see a small insect, we are to cultivate the attitude that I must achieve Buddhahood for the sake of even that insect. That if we do not, if we set aside even one sentient being, we will never be able to develop great compassion. Great compassion, as was mentioned, is founded upon an even minded attitude toward all sentient beings.
And if there is not this even minded attitude, there is no Buddhahood. There is no development of great compassion. So in the cultivation of the awakened heart, we cannot set aside even one sentient being in its development. So though we’d like to, we cannot set aside our enemies. We even have to go on to develop great compassion for them.
We cannot set aside even one sentient being. There cannot be one sentient being who is not included within the boundaries of our compassion. Each and every living being must be encompassed by the bounds of our compassion or it’s not great compassion. And as was mentioned, we cannot develop great compassion without developing equanimity, this even minded attitude directed toward all living beings. If we cannot develop this even minded attitude, we will not develop great compassion.
If we do not develop great compassion, we cannot develop the awakened heart. If we cannot develop the awakened heart, we will never be able to achieve Buddhahood. So, quoting a verse by Śāntideva where he says, Therefore the mighty ones, referring to the Buddhas or the conquerors, have stated that the field of sentient beings and the field of Buddhas — for many who have pleased them have thereby reached perfection. It is said that the Buddha, the subduers have said that the of sentient beings are the fields of Buddhahood. That all of greatest prosperity arises like a harvest from the field of these sentient beings.
So that is to say, all of the almost unimaginable qualities of Buddhahood are like crops arising out of a field, and this field is the field of sentient beings. So again, according to a verse by Śāntideva, when he points out the fact that our Buddhahood is dependent upon two. These two being the Buddhas, but also sentient beings. That all of the wonders of Buddhahood and the benefits to be derived from it for ourselves arise from these true sources: the Buddhas and sentient beings. Then he goes on to the question: Why is it, if this is in fact the case, that we only show respect to the Buddhas, that we make offerings and prostrations only to the Buddhas, and we leave aside sentient beings.
So we our Buddhahood, the attainment of our Buddha is half reliant upon the Buddhas, half reliant upon sentient beings. It’s reliant upon sentient beings in terms of our development of love and compassion, the development of the awakened heart, the practices of generosity and the observance of ethics, etc. All of these qualities that is necessary for us to develop are developed in reliance upon sentient beings. The other half is that our achievement is dependent upon Buddhahood, upon Buddhas. That we, in our journey to Buddhahood, need those who guide us along the path, those who teach us the methods that now you are to practice this, now you are to practice this, now you are to abandon this, now you are to cultivate this.
That in an unerring, unmistaken method, a complete final path, it is necessary that we be shown the path along which we’re going to journey. And there is no other guide that can do this other than the Buddhas. So our final achievement of Buddhahood is dependent upon both sentient beings and upon who we develop these qualities and upon the unerring guidance of Buddha. So, then Nāgārjuna puts a question to ourselves. He says that how is it that our future rebirths whether in unfortunate realms or fortunate realms will come about?
Or to put it more simply, how is it that we will come to experience either suffering or happiness in the future? He goes on to answer, It is in dependence upon sentient beings. And how is that? Because all unfortunate reverse and the suffering experienced therein results from harming sentient beings. On the other hand, all fortunate rebirths and the happiness experienced therein arises in dependence upon benefiting sentient beings.
So it all comes down in terms of our treatment of sentient beings. That is to say, it all comes down to other sentient beings. So the unfortunate rebirths and their suffering arise from unskillful actions. And how is it that unskillful actions arise? Most basically it is in terms of harming of others, whether it be in terms of physical, verbal or in terms of our mental attitudes.
And by the physical unskillful actions such as killing, stealing and various sexual improprieties and the various types of verbal unskillful actions and three mental unskillful actions. These all involve harming others. On the other hand, if we were to abandon these activities of harming others and we would in their place benefit others, then we would experience skill we would create skillful actions and as a result achieve fortunate rebirths through the skillful actions that we accumulate and thereby experience happiness. There is a practice that we can follow of training which leads to the level of what is called a foe destroyer, and the types of foe destroyers such as hearer foe destroyer and solitary realizing foe destroyer. But these are not ultimate ends in themselves.
They have not brought to fulfillment their potential. Moreover, they have fallen into the extreme of passive peace whereby they seek their own welfare alone at the exclusion of others. And this comes about, this falling into a lesser vehicle in the course of their spiritual journey, arises because of their having a greater love and compassion for themselves than they do for others, that they cherish themselves more than others. They develop a fear of the sufferings of cyclic existence and they see only themselves their focus is only upon themselves and their own release from the suffering of cyclic existence. And thereby, terms of their accomplishment, they fall into the extreme of the individual vehicle and that of passive peace.
according to a verse by Langri Thangpa in his mind training text called The Thought Transformations in Eight Stanzas, where he says, Being determined to accomplish the highest welfare for all beings who excel a wish fulfilling gem, I shall constantly hold them dear. Shall constantly hold them dear. And Langri Thangpa speaks of sentient beings as if they were a wish fulfilling gem because it is dependent upon others and our holding them as dear in cultivating other centeredness with regard to them that we would derive all of the benefits of our own temporal and ultimate welfare will arise. Holding them like a wish fulfilling gem, since all our temporal and ultimate welfare will arise from them, I must go on to respect them, to cherish them and hold them dear. Maybe we really don’t maybe you really don’t know what a jewel is, in fact.
To get an idea of what a jewel is, we go back to an ancient story. In this, there was a time when no one needed money nor was it necessary to plant fields. There were jewels which were found in the ocean and people would fetch these jewels and they would clean them and apply incense and make offerings. And by the power of these jewels, any request would be fulfilled. If they wanted food, the food would rain down upon them, not only for themselves but for others.
That if they wanted clothes, anything that they so desired, they simply requested this jewel. I mean, such a jewel would be extremely precious, wouldn’t it? So but in those ancient times people had tremendous creative potential or merit. They also had tremendous faith. And it was by their merit and faith that these jewels could bring about their wishes and therefore they were tremendously precious.
Times have changed. People no longer have this tremendous creative potential nor do they have faith. Now we’ve lost the power of these jewels and instead we use money and we have to busy ourselves trying to gather these things together the hard way. But in fact, those jewels are present today. They are sentient beings.
So it’s necessary, you know, it’s as if you were going to carry on a debate and someone presented a thesis that other centeredness is beneficial and yet it’s necessary that we supply a reason. We should be proficient in our thinking in this way. Other centeredness is beneficial because in presenting reason, because in dependence upon other centeredness we will bring about our own temporal and ultimate welfare. For example, that of Śāntideva, or the ultimate attainment of Buddhahood. To be able to think in terms of this process of reasoning why other centeredness is so very beneficial.
So on the one hand, it’s necessary for us to think of all the many benefits of other cherishing. On the other hand, the drawbacks and faults of self centeredness. And then if we think of it in these terms, there’s not really much choice for us. If in thinking of these two alternatives, if we would to think, well, would come about if I were to stick with self centeredness? Well, fact, we’d probably become a cat or a dog.
Quoting again from Śāntideva, says there’s not really there’s no need to talk on and on about this if we were to put it succinctly that we have spent endless rebirths looking out for our own welfare alone. All our activities have been only self serving under the influence of our own self centeredness. And over the course of these rebirths, we’ve experienced nothing but suffering. On the other hand, the Buddhas have sought to serve others, have tried to cherish others more than themselves, and now they have achieved Buddhahood. Just look at the difference between us and them.
If we don’t awaken our hearts, will not enter the path to become bodhisattvas and buddhas. On the contrary, we will simply continue to circle endlessly with cyclic existence. So, through our self centeredness we continue to circle with encyclical assistance and we continue to circle. But on the other hand, it is in dependence upon other cherishing that the Buddhas have attained where they now abide. And it is that all of the Buddhas of the past have achieved Buddhahood in dependence upon other centeredness, as have those of the present and those in the future. So what are we to do?
Continue with holding on to our self centeredness or to begin to practice other centeredness? We haven’t known previously what are all the various faults of self centeredness and what are all the benefits of other centeredness. Previously we haven’t been able to identify and distinguish these characteristics, but now we have. We’ve attained a human life, we’ve met with the Dharma, we’ve had a teacher explain to ourselves all of the immense benefits of other centeredness and all of the various faults of self centeredness. In terms of our practice and adopting what is to be practiced and rejecting what is to be done away with, it’s one thing to not to implement it out of unknowing, terms of if we but now that we can understand that self centering is the root of all suffering, other centeredness is the root of all happiness.
If, now that we know, if we were not to implement this practice, there could be nothing worse. So, we should direct this, what is being said, at ourselves individually. It’s necessary that we ask ourselves, what is going to happen? What do I want in the future? Do I want to be happy or do I want suffering?
Out of this answer that you come up with will flow what needs to be done. If you want to be happy, then it’s necessary to adopt other senses. If you don’t want to suffer, then begin to avoid self centeredness. On the other hand, in answering this question for yourself in terms of what you want in future, if it doesn’t matter to you whether you’re happy or suffering, then stick with your self centeredness. So, it’s necessary that you check up on it in this way, and then you’ll know an unmistaken path for yourself to follow.
So looking at the benefits of other cherishing and all the various faults of self centeredness and coming to a firm conclusion within your mind what it is that you want. And not to set aside sentient beings, on the contrary, to begin to hold them dear, to hold them as precious. In terms of not wanting to continue to abide with your self centeredness, but to begin to put it to a stop. To not generate a new self centeredness, but when it does arise, to put an end to it, to commit yourself to putting an end to your own self centeredness. And then on the other hand, to thinking about the benefits of other centeredness, to determine committing yourself to generate other centeredness.
And when you have generated other centeredness, to maintain that other centeredness. And not just to maintain it, but to increase it higher and higher. This is where Je Tsongkhapa is admonishing us to commit ourselves to this practice each day in order to bring a stop and end to our self centeredness to develop other centeredness, to make that a daily practice. This is what is meant by exchanging self for others. It is exchanged in terms of changing our mind.
The change of mind is in holding others more dear than ourselves, the cherishing of others as opposed to our present extreme of holding, of cherishing ourselves alone. And this is the way our love and compassion is to be expressed in our present direction of observing only ourselves, but to change our mind so that our love and compassion is now directed toward all others. So other centeredness is the antidote for self centeredness. That these two attitudes are contradictory to one another. If self centeredness arise, we should try to cultivate other centeredness which removes the attitude of self centeredness.
So these two work together in this way, that one is the antidote for the other. Other centeredness is the antidote for self centeredness. So we’re going to stop there for this evening, we’ll take just a few minutes for questions if you have some questions. Yes? You mean to to kill the Yes.
Sentient being? So, we should try to, which is suggesting that we give the animal medicine, we not kill the animal because that pain that the animal is experiencing is a result of its previous karma that it accumulated, karma created previously. And that suffering is purifying that past negative karma created. So we are not to kill it but try to benefit it in some way, but not kill it. So there’s two questions.
The first one is, we give up our life for the sake of a stranger? You said someone that you weren’t close to. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So should you give up your life for another Okay.
And then the second one is should you fight for your country in the case of Australia? So, to answer your first question, first of all, it’s in the context of having compassion for that other person. But we have to question if the other person is of great value in bringing is of great benefit to the world. If that person is of benefit, could out of compassion it would be justified to give up your life for them and benefiting them. If that person was not of significant benefit, then it may not be justified to give up your life for them.
So it’s a question of the other person how much benefit they are, whether to give up your life for them or not. Then the second question, So you must examine the situation carefully to ensure that the other person is of great benefit and moreover that you’re doing it not out of attachment but out of compassion. It’s not that you’re going to give up your life for this person simply because you’re attached to them, but because you have compassion for them and that they are going to be a great benefit. If either of these weren’t the case, then it would be best not to give you your life. Perhaps you are in Australia, and there’s an Indonesia situation. And from a worldly point of view, a secular point of view, then it’s quite popular to protect your country in case of like an invasion from Indonesia.
But from a Dharma point of view, it’s not proper. It’s not proper. Yeah. Does a body suffer practice other sentient beings so that he or she can experience greater happiness, So the bodhisattva practices the motivation behind the practice of bodhisattva’s other centeredness includes bringing about their own welfare, which is the attainment of omniscience. They do have love and compassion for themselves, but they seeking happiness for themselves, but they are seeking omniscience for themselves.
So with regard to motivation, there are two types. There is the causal