Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Khensur Rinpoche opens this 49-minute session with Śāntideva’s leather-and-thorns analogy: you cannot cover the whole ground with leather to protect your feet, but a small piece on the sole does the same job — subdue the inner enemy and all outer enemies vanish. He then works through the four separations from attachment drawn from Sakya teaching: attachment to happiness in this life alone; to cyclic existence; to self-purpose (which forecloses the awakening heart); and to the conception of true existence (which forecloses the view of emptiness). The mother’s kindness argument anchors the third separation in a felt example. The session closes by transitioning to the actual Mahāmudrā meditation method according to mantra, briefly situating it within pre-Tsongkhapa traditions and Gampopa’s framework. For practitioners already in a Mahāmudrā retreat.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 03 MR 1990 04 13.mp3
UUID: 2b1ecb2a-6b7e-486a-97f2-95e264c5b491
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Mahāmudrā Retreat (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1990-04-13
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 49.4 minutes
Words: ~2,204
Yes. So these three great purposes. The first of these was: may my mind go in the direction of Dharma. That is to say, may it not come under the influence of negativities, may it not come under the influence of the afflictive emotions. And this essentially means, may I generate the mind of renunciation, the first of the three principal paths.
The second of these three great purposes was, May my mind go in the direction of the path. And since we are trying to practice the great vehicle path, what we are requesting is, may I generate the awakening heart? Which is the second of the Three Principal Aspects. The third was, may I have no obstructions to practicing the path? You know in general, in talking about obstacles and obstructions, there are such types of external obstructions and hindrances as harmful beings, various types of enemies, etc.
But what we really mean is the inner obstructions. You know it’s only essentially the conception of the true existence of persons and the conception of the true existence of phenomena, that is to say ignorance, a distorted awareness. It is by means of these that the external enemies appear, external obstacles appear, that due to the force of afflictive emotions such as attachment, etcetera, inwardly we create enemies outwardly, that by subduing the inner enemy, there are no external enemies. So I forgot to mention that third great purpose would be the development of the realization of emptiness. Rinpoche was quoting from a verse by Śāntideva in which he says that there is no end to subduing the external enemy, that even if we were to kill our present enemy more enemies would rise up against us.
There would be no end to the process of having to subdue our external enemies. But it is if we can subdue the internal enemy, then it is as if we eliminate all our external enemies. And the analogy is made in which if there was an area in which there were many thorns and this would stick in your feet when you walked around, and you thought to cover this entire area with leather. Well, there’s simply not enough leather to cover the entire area. But if we take even a small piece of leather and cover sole of our foot, then it serves the same purpose as if we covered the entire area with leather.
Likewise, by simply subduing the inner enemy, it serves the same purpose as subduing the infinite outer enemies. By eliminating the inner enemy, there are no longer any outer enemies. By attaining Buddhahood, I will establish myself along with all sentient beings in happiness completely divorced of all suffering. In order to actually bring that about, I must practice well the essence of the great vehicle, the practice of the Mahāmudrā. And thus, in listening to this teaching, developing the motivation of the awakening heart and cultivating that in meditation for five minutes.
In order to carry on the successful practice, there must be four separations from attachment — separation from four attachments. The first of these four attachments from which one should be separated: if one is attached to the happiness of only this life, one is not a spiritual practitioner. That is to say, if one is completely concerned with happiness only this life, one is not carrying on spiritual practice. So what is the what is the function?
What is the use of Dharma? It is the Dharma is mainly concerned with the happiness of future existences in in the sense that it brings happiness in this life. It will help to eliminate the suffering in this life. But its main function is to eliminate the sufferings of birth, aging, disease, and death, which we are constantly experiencing again and again in future existences. This is the main purpose, the main use of dharma.
Therefore, the main emphasis of a spiritual practitioner is on the welfare of future existences. This isn’t but this is not to say that this is so that we will not need to undergo these perpetual cycles of suffering again and again in the future. But this is not to say that we should forego this life. This is not what it’s saying. It’s saying that the main emphasis is placed upon future lives as opposed to the happiness of only this life.
Therefore, we shouldn’t be giving up our work, our jobs, we we shouldn’t be running away to the mountains, we don’t have to give up our family, our children in order to practice the Dharma. That we have we should have all of these good things. We should have a harmonious, peaceful life in this life. We should have happiness. But if we are going to practice a spiritual path, the emphasis is mainly concerned with happiness in future life.
In dependence upon this present human life that we all now possess, we can achieve the happiness of this life, and we can also bring about the happiness of future lives. Appreciating the capacity, the power of human life that we have — a life possessed of leisure and fortune — that we have clear intelligence, that we have the same type of human existence as the great masters of the past who achieved enlightenment in one lifetime. There’s no difference between the type of life we possess and the type of life that they had. Having this precious human life, we have to bring about its great purpose very quickly, even though it may be difficult. Why?
Because of the impermanence in death that is not going to last forever. And before we lose this opportunity, we must make complete use of it before death arrives. So initially, what are we to do to begin our practice? As was explained previously, the first thing that we have to do is to take a direction: going for refuge to the Three Jewels and coming into the practice. Having taken refuge, is to begin to practice skillful actions of body and speech and begin to abandon unskillful actions of body and speech.
And then we are making full use of this human life that we now have by practicing Dharma. That we have all of these, the essentials necessary to carry on a practice, having met with the spiritual teacher, having companions to assist us in our practice, etcetera. The second of the four attachments from which we are to be separated is attachment to cyclic existence. Though we have a human life and we have the necessary conditions to carry on a practice, if we are still attached to cyclic existence we will not carry on a successful practice. We will have no renunciation.
Though we have this human life, we still abide within cyclic existence, under the power of karma and afflictive emotion. And if we persist in it remaining attached to cyclic existence, then we will never develop the renunciation foregoing the karma and afflictive emotions. So this second step is attachment to attachment to cyclic existence. What this embodies is attachment to our bodies, our the place, the various foods that we that we have, that we follow the various enjoy enjoyments, possessions, etcetera. And we have to we have to begin to see the faults of all of these objects which are bound by cyclic existence.
That whatever type of body that we take, that body is dissatisfactory. Whatever type of friend that we may have, that person, being in the world, is dissatisfactory. Whatever place that we may go to, that is a place of dissatisfaction. Within cyclic existence, it is in the nature of suffering, and we should develop a sense of renunciation from this. Why do we need renunciation?
That is to say, we seek liberation from the cyclic existence, and therefore, it is necessary to develop this renunciation in order to be liberated from it. And this is the second from which we are meant to be separated: attachment to cyclic existence. If we couple the our practice of renunciation with the correct view of emptiness, then by means of these two together that we can obtain liberation from cyclic existence. We can attain the happiness which is which is the abandonment of cyclic existence. The third attachment from which we are to be separated: it is stated, if we are attached to self-purpose, there is no awakening heart.
By means of coupling the mind of renunciation with the correct view of emptiness, we can achieve a liberation — that is to say, happiness which is the abandonment of our cyclic existence. But if this happiness is for oneself alone, then we will have not achieved the status of the awakening heart. Foregoing seeking happiness for ourselves only — that is, separating from the attachment to our own self-purposes — is the means of developing the awakening heart. So continuing with this third separation from attachment — separation from attachment to self-purposes.
If if we were to seek happiness only for ourselves, that is and the happiness which is the abandonment of cyclic existence. This would be very despicable. Why? Because all sentient beings have sometimes been our parents and have treated us with great kindness. And if we while our our parents, our mothers, and fathers, while they were while they were undergoing suffering, if we were to abide in in in a solitary happiness, then this would be a despicable way to repay their kindness.
But in fact, we should seek to act in the opposite way — the admirable quality of the awakening heart. Consider our mother, and from the time of our birth, the great troubles and the expenditure of energy and effort on our behalf — providing us with all the necessities: first giving us milk, giving us food, raising us with all the difficulties that entails, providing us with the best of education, providing us with all our physical necessities.
If, in view of all of this great kindness that our mother has shown us, when she reaches old age and she’s undergoing some great hardship and she’s deprived, she has no one else to take care of her — if we were simply to sit back in our own peace and not help, when in fact she is pinning all her hopes upon us, then we would be a despicable person, as if an outcast from human qualities and humanity. And that if one were to act in this way considering the good kindness that your mother has shown? The fourth of these four attachments from which we are to be separated: if there is attachment to the conception of true existence, there is no view. If there is attachment to the conception of true existence, there is no view.
And what we mean by true existence is grasping at inherent existence. I think we have to eliminate this by means of the view — the view of emptiness — by meditation on the view. And this is the practice of Mahāmudrā. So proceeding with the teaching. As was mentioned, within the explanation of Mahāmudrā, there are two types: according to mantra and according to sūtra.
And we have just completed the the explanation of the in in term of preparations in terms of mantra, and we’ve explained them we we have explained them rather tersely or abbreviatedly. They’re more extensively explained in sūtra. And now we come to the second of the three parts according to mantra — that is the actual way to meditate. So with respect to the mantra explanation of Mahāmudrā: previously in Tibet — I mean, before Tsongkhapa — there were many different methods of explanation of Mahāmudrā according to the various sects, such as Nyingma, Kagyu, and Sakya.
Of Mahāmudrā was given in accordance with the the individual understanding of the the understanding of the individual spiritual teachers, the the various lamas. According to their practice, they would gain a particular realization of Mahāmudrā, and then they would impart their realization to their disciple personally. This form of the form that this explanation took was in terms of their own realization. They used various words, their own particular words to give explanation, and they used various names in accordance with their with their explanation. So they developed these various words, various terminology, various names.
So though we don’t have time to go into explanation of all the various names which have been given and the terminology, the various types of terminology they developed, the essential point is that though they are different names and different terminologies, they all have the same meaning. So with respect to the meaning, the these and we will explain the essential meaning of these of all of these previous lamas that developed these various realizations, the the main or the essential meaning which they were explained. According to the meditation method of Gampopa Dakpo Rinpoche, he developed a method of explanation in which there were four sections according to each of the three vehicles. By three vehicles, here, it is meant the lesser vehicle, the bodhisattva or perfection vehicle, and the mantra vehicle.