Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Midway through this 98-minute commentary on Nāgārjuna’s Precious Garland, Khensur Rinpoche pauses the doctrinal exposition to ask his audience directly: should he continue in the traditional Tibetan lecture style, or shift to a three-part format of teaching, open questions, and group clarification better suited to Western students? The class votes, and the new approach is adopted on the spot. Before that pivot, Rinpoche traces the path’s two goals — high status (a rebirth with the conditions to practice) and liberation — showing how faith, ethics, and wisdom form a progressive causal chain. He examines four obstacles to faith (attachment, hatred, fear, and obscuring ignorance) with concrete examples drawn from the text’s original audience, a king, and redefines “wisdom” as skill in adopting positive actions rather than scholarly expertise. A short Q&A closes on whether high-status karma can ripen within a single lifetime.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 PG 1990 10 09.mp3
UUID: a50d0cf2-0fa2-46b3-939a-8c2b3b7db6af
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Precious Garland 1990-1991 (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1990-10-09
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 98.0 minutes
Words: ~3,637
So, we’ll begin by adjusting our motivation. We’re trying to develop the motivation of the altruism, or a kind heart, the awakening heart. So how do we begin such a contemplation? Initially, considering oneself as an individual, one’s own wants and needs, that one wants to be happy, one doesn’t want to suffer, and then extending this to all the various varieties of sentient beings, that they’re all exactly the same in wanting happiness and not wanting to suffer. Though most want, though most of these beings, though wanting happiness, do not know the causes of bringing themselves happiness, and though most want to get rid of their suffering, they do not, aren’t able to abandon the causes of their suffering.
We should try to generate the kind hearted attitude which aspires to, may I be able to bring happiness to all sentient beings. May I be able to eliminate the suffering of all sentient beings. We, for ourselves, understand the causes of happiness, and we know how to abandon the causes of suffering, and this is an extreme, this is a golden opportunity for us. Develop the determination that I must practice, that I must create the causes of happiness, that I must eliminate the causes of suffering in order that I can lead all sentient beings to freedom from their suffering. So develop the meditation in the context of the kind hearted attitude, which thinks if I were empowered to do this, if I were able to do this, in fact, this would be of enormous benefit to sentient beings.
And therefore, I have to put into practice the various methods of the great vehicle. And therefore, with such a motivation, I’m going to listen to the present teaching. We’ll cultivate such an attitude for the next five minutes. Number three. Verse number two.
Verse number five. Last week we were discussing the potential, the capacity of a human being and the fact that they have a very sharp intellect, they’re able to develop wisdom, that they’re able to strive toward a goal. And we can understand how to bring about happiness. We can understand how to get rid of our suffering, that we have this intellectual capacity, have this ability, this potential. So we are able to understand how to bring about happiness, how to abandon our suffering.
There are many objects which we could seek to attain, many goals that we could achieve through our intellect. But in this context, the objects that we’re seeking to attain are one, the temporal achievement of high status and the ultimate achievement of definite goodness, which is a liberation where there is no suffering. Our ultimate attainment is that of definite goodness, which is the liberation completely from suffering where there is only bliss. It is necessary that we be preceded by the temporal attainment of high status. And therefore, ultimate liberation is dependent upon the achievement of high status.
Previously we discussed what high status consisted of. That is, life as either a celestial being or a human being possessed the necessary possessions, material necessities, and having a companion necessary whereby one can carry on a complete practice of Dharma. So a body of possessions and a retinue, or a circle of companions. These are all necessary in order, as a basis for the ultimate achievement of liberation. Without these requisites, there’s no way that we can attain liberation.
Therefore, it’s necessary to achieve these constituents of high status. So initially, in order to attain liberation, it’s necessary that we attain high status. Now how do we achieve high status? As it is said that the cause of high status is ethics. And it goes on to say that the prerequisite to ethics is faith, that the root of ethics is faith.
Therefore, faith is a prerequisite to high status. So it’s said that there is this progressive order of attainment, that if one possesses faith, one will observe ethics well. in dependence upon observing ethics well, one will achieve high status. in dependence upon achieving high status, one can develop wisdom. Having developed this wisdom, one can develop the wisdom which understands and is by means of the wisdom understanding emptiness by which we achieve liberation.
The ultimate achievement of the root of the ultimate achievement of liberation is the wisdom understanding emptiness. And therefore, in order to achieve liberation we must develop the wisdom, understanding emptiness. Therefore, these two factors are spoken of as extremely important: the root of liberation being wisdom and the root of high status being faith. So there are these causes and results. The causes of high status being faith, the cause of definite goodness being wisdom, giving the results of high status and liberation.
But if we were to question amongst these two, which is most important? Between these two, faith and wisdom, which of the two is most important? So it’s said that of these two mainly, the chief of these two is wisdom in general. Because it is by means of wisdom as the foundation that we are able to eliminate all our various faults. And therefore we are able to eliminate all our suffering, eliminate all our troubles, and achieve the bliss of liberation.
And this is our ultimate goal. And this is achieved through wisdom. Therefore, it is said among these, between these two, wisdom is chief. Because the most important attainment is that of liberation, and the method for its attainment is wisdom. Of these two, wisdom is of prime importance.
But in order to achieve high status, it is most important that we have faith. Quoting from the text in which it said, Through faith one relies on the practices. Through wisdom one truly knows. Due to the power of our faith that we will carry out our practice of Dharma. That is to say, our practice of adopting and rejecting will go well.
And by means of that, we will achieve high status. Dependence upon the development of wisdom, then we truly know. That is to say, we will be able to understand emptiness and thereby achieve definite goodness. Then, quoting from the text: He who does not neglect the practices through desire, hatred, fear, or ignorance is known as one of faith. And therefore, this is we’re going to explain, since faith is the necessary foundation for the development of high status, what are the conditions necessary for the development of faith?
So, firstly, the condition of the which prevents the development of faith is spoken of as desire or attachment. By way of example, if we were to, if we were very attached to eating meat, and therefore we killed animals in order to have meat, and we did not engage in the skillful practices of Dharma, then there’s no way that we can develop faith. This attachment would be an obstacle for the development of faith. Again, one who, out of a harmful intention, out of hatred, anger, kills other sentient beings and does not engage in the practice of Dharma, is one without faith. Also out of fear, one can lack faith.
For example, if if I were in a country in which there was sort of religious repression and the authorities in that country did not like the teaching of the Dharma, for example, and out of a fear of suffering, out of a fear of being harmed, I forewent teaching the Dharma, this would be one who lacks faith in the Dharma out of fear. Then there is faith through the lack, faith through the presence of obscuration. For example, if someone, if one’s, if someone’s parents died, and out of a wrong view, they offered animal sacrifices to, in order to benefit their departed parents. Then this would be one who lacks faith in the Dharma out of obscuration of ignorance. So, these four factors of attachment, hatred, fear, and obscuring ignorance prevent one from the practice of Dharma.
And by these, one lacks faith. The presence of these, there is a lack of faith in the Dharma. The opposite of these, one who engages in the opposite, possesses the opposite of these, is one who has faith in the dharma. We probably all have faith. Why can we say that?
Because the first of these factors that we probably do not kill animals out of the influence of attachment to their meat, and therefore we would be prone to practice Dharma. We would have this faith. Additionally, the second factor, probably do not kill sentient beings out of anger, which would be the non practice of Dharma. And therefore, we lack this anger and have faith in the Dharma. Additionally, we have no fear of being harmed by officials in our practice of Dharma.
Therefore, we have the faith in the Dharma through this lack of fear. And lastly, we do not not practice due to the obscuration of ignorance in which we might kill animals for the benefit of departed parents. Therefore we have that faith. Because there is the complete lack of these four factors within us, and that we can understand that through skillful actions we will experience happiness. Through unskillful actions we will experience future sufferings.
And motivated by that understanding, we seek to abandon unskillful actions and to cultivate skillful actions. This would constitute, this would demonstrate that we are, we possess faith. Because we have faith and we practice the Dharma, then we are able to generate the wisdom by which means we can eventually attain liberation. So this is the qualities of a person who has faith. What is a person who has wisdom?
In terms of our physical and verbal actions, that we examine our daily activities in terms of their skillfulness and unskillfulness. And those where we see unskillful actions, we, as best as we are able, try to abandon them. And on the other hand, as best as we are able, try to practice skillful actions. So abandoning various unskillful actions and practicing skillful actions and dedicating the skillfulness of these actions in common with both oneself and to all sentient beings. That one who is able to, who is skilled, who sees the benefit in such dedication, and is skilled in the means of such way of dedicating skillful actions for both oneself and the others for the ultimate attainment of Buddhahood is said to be one who is skilled, is wise and skillful in the way, in means.
Wise and skilled in means. And therefore, and is said to be one who possesses wisdom. So, quoting from the text it says, Having thoroughly analyzed all deeds of body, speech and mind, he who realizes what benefits self and others and who also practices it is wise. So, do you understand? Do you understand what is the meaning well?
Examining all our various actions of body, speech, and mind as to the quality of being positive or negative. And as much as we are able abandoning negative types of actions as much as we are able practicing positive types of actions, and sharing this with all sentient beings through dedicating these skillful actions to Buddhahood. This benefits not only oneself, but all sentient beings. And this is really a wonderful way of, a wonderful activity to engage in. One who engages in such an activity every day in their practice is termed expert who is wise.
One who carries on a practice such as this is said to be an expert in wisdom. That is to say, he or she is wise. And we probably all act in this way, don’t we? So, we probably all possess faith and possess wisdom in the way in which Nāgārjuna is speaking of it here. So it’s said that when we speak of the wise, we speak of these terms of one who is wise in the ways of practices.
It in no way is referring to someone who is an expert in all the various sciences and fields of knowledge, ones who understands everything. If they don’t seek to abandon unskillful actions and cultivate skillful actions, they are not wise. So, though one may be an expert in the five sciences, the sciences of crafts and medicine, of poetics, of logic, of theology, religion, and rhetoric, if one does not engage in the practice of adopting and rejecting, then one is not wise. One is not really an expert. So in this context, when we speak to the wise, we are talking of those who are wise in the ways of practice.
And this involves the cultivation of positive actions and the abandonment of negative actions and dedicating the skillfulness of these actions to Buddhahood. And this benefits both oneself and others, and therefore is said to be wise. Wisdom in practice, one can easily attain high status. Having attained high status, additionally, that we can develop the wisdom emptiness. By means of the wisdom, understanding, emptiness eliminate all the various faults of the afflictive emotions and thereby achieve definite goodness of liberation.
So, you know, I’m always in my teachings of the Dharma, I’m always teaching in the way we, the way Tibetans teach it. And the way of teaching the Tibetan way of teaching comes in a continuation of the way in which the Indian masters taught the Dharma. So, what was the manner in which the, how did the manner of teaching for the great Indian masters come about? That they had a great yearning to practice the Dharma initially. And as a consequence to that yearning, they listened to the teachings of various spiritual masters.
And it depends upon having received these teachings, they practice various meditational deities, for example, Mañjuśrī, Tārā, etcetera. And practicing the having listened to the teachings, practicing these various deities, they then went ahead and meditated and developed realizations. Out of these realizations comes experience. And out of these experiences, they would then teach the Dharma out of their own experience. So just as in this example, I explained out of my experience which has risen through meditation.
Previously in Tibet, some of the students would meditate in accordance with the teachings of their spiritual masters. Others would meditate in accordance with the practice of particular deity in order to gain realization. So they then went on to teach the Dharma directly out of their experience. Others did not teach out of their own experience, but having studied extensively the Dharma, then they would teach on the basis of what they understood using various reasonings, etc. And teach from that basis.
So today, presently, the mode of teaching will be like that of the previous masters who taught out of their experience. That is to say, it would be an experiential teaching. Previously, in both India and Tibet, the teacher and the student, through their training of the mind had come to concordant view, similar view. And therefore, on the part of the student, was a trust with respect to the teacher. So I’m wondering, is this okay in terms of teaching Westerners?
Why do I have this question? Some of you have your view is harmonious with my view that we have similar views. Some of you have view which is very different to mine. Some of you have faith in the dharma. Some of you are still examining the Dharma and have not yet developed faith.
So, out of all this, I cannot say everything that I understand. I don’t think it would be appropriate. So, my way of teaching would be such that I’ll explain the meaning, the nature of what is being spoken of in one or two different ways. And then we should question what it is that’s being taught. Know, that you have a Western view, I have another view.
And we can exchange views. And, you know, we should try to create some doubts, some qualms. And I think this would be beneficial for everyone concerned. So, which way of teaching do you think would be best? The way I have been previously teaching or this new way of teaching?
You know that previously the way I was teaching was such that the older students probably understood a little of what I was saying. But the new students, if explained a lot, they probably didn’t understand. I don’t think they understood very much. What’s your opinion? What what do you think is better?
So, what does everybody think? Do you think, you know, we can have an exchange of views and we can see which one is better? We can talk things over? Do you think that would be the best way? So, know, if we up to now we haven’t had much question time and we could increase our question times and I would be explaining less but we would have more of a discussion if we were to increase our question time.
If you were asked questions. You don’t have to be afraid. Yeah. So, I think that, you know, in just simply explaining the Dharma, those who have faith will put into practice what is being explained, but So they will practice what is being explained. But it’s questionable whether they will actually ascertain what is being said.
If there’s a questioning, there’s not only a practice, but there’s some certainty that one can develop conviction in what is said through actually ascertaining for oneself what is being taught. So in the future, I think we’ll we’ll, you know, will teach the the Buddha Dharma explaining here this is this, this is that, explaining all the various details for half the time. And then the other half, in accordance with what has been taught, then you can tell, you can say, Well, what is your understanding? How do you see what has just been taught? What questions, how does it does it fit in with your ideas of what has just been taught?
And I will look at the benefit how what comes out of that. So, maybe we could divide this. And we could divide the session into three parts, one in which I will give an explanation, a teaching. Then you give back to me in turn all your various doubts and questions. And then the third section, will seek to clarify and eliminate your doubts.
What do you think of that? Those who think it’s it’s good raise your hand so in the future we’ll try it this way and we’ll check up to see how it’s working Maybe we’ll all get bored and we’ll have to change. So if you have some questions you can ask them now. I just want to say I don’t understand that. So, yeah, because we haven’t had this interaction where I’m asking you questions and you’re answering that there’s a, you you have some difficulty in answering freely.
But through practice, in this way of interacting, then you’ll, you’ll, it will come much more easily. It is exchange. Yes. So there’s no reason to be afraid. If you’re afraid, then you won’t answer well.
Just relax. You know, you’re afraid, your mind has difficulties and you’re not able to think well. So, yeah, this was, this explanation is in accordance with the Indian master Nāgārjuna. So that’s right. We put it, maybe can work on it in terms of Westerners.
Maybe in terms of Westerners, a conviction, one who has faith would be one who has a conviction that out of skillful actions happiness arises out of unskillful actions suffering arises. By the power of that, that cultivates skillful actions and abandons unskillful actions. This would be probably a person who has faith in Western terms. So, Rinpoche thinks that this, you know, presentation is given was given because this text was advice for a an Indian king. Nāgārjuna was saying that if you have a lot of attachment for meat and you kill out of this attachment, then you lack faith in the dharma.
Or if out of anger you harm others, then you lack faith in the dharma. He was addressing this text as advice for this king. Yes. So can can you achieve high status in one lifetime? What does that mean?
You can you create the complete causes for high status in one lifetime and and have it right So the first answer to your first part of your question was that the causes created in order to achieve high status wouldn’t ripen in this life that we already have a life of high status. We’re creating the causes for high status for a future for a future life. And the second part of your whether whether one just changed one’s attitude towards these factors of possessions and retinue or whether they actually changed in fact. So wow. You can use them.
Yeah. I can use them. Through the practice of ethics, the practice of ethics is cause for attainment of a human life. That is to say by ethics, abandoning unskillful actions, cultivating skillful actions. This is the cause we create in this life to develop the result of a human life in the future.
By cultivating generosity, we will have extensive possessions. We will have material necessities in our future life. By cultivating patience, then we will be surrounded by kind hearted companions harmonious retinue of people. You know, we’re talking about simply creating the causes, which are these various types of actions whereby to achieve these three ends in the future by planting the seed, then we will the sprout will rise. So in in dependence upon the karma that you create in this life, there are various types of results which will arise in the future lives.