Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 49-minute talk, Khensur Rinpoche opens with a striking premise: the mind outranks the body — a happy mind dissolves physical discomfort, while a suffering mind drags the body down. He defines the awakening heart not by robes or meditation rooms but as a quality of mind accessible to anyone, even animals. A quicksand metaphor anchors the key point: you cannot free others while sinking yourself, so eliminating one’s own faults must come first. He then walks through the proportional logic of merit — wishing to relieve one being creates one skillful action; wishing to relieve numberless beings creates merit equal to space — illustrated with giving food to a dog with bodhichitta motivation. He closes by introducing two classical methods for generating this attitude: the seven cause-and-effect instruction for moderate-capacity practitioners, and equalizing and exchanging self for others for those of sharper faculty.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 TAH 1993 08 14.mp3
UUID: d2d3af9e-df05-4944-88eb-afe1b90133ad
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: The Awakening Heart (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1993-08-14
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 48.8 minutes
Words: ~2,973
Today we’re gonna be discussing the kind hearted attitude of the awakened heart and using as a basis, according to a verse by Śāntideva. So we are constituted of a complex of body and mind. And of these two, it is the mind which is has the greater power, the most the greater ability and strength. So what is an indication that leads us to to assert that the mind is the more powerful of these two. Within our own experience, we can see that when our mind is happy, even if our body is undergoing some kind of discomfort, the very happiness of the mind can serve to eliminate our physical ills.
On the other hand, though our body might be physically comfortable undergoing some kind of physical pleasure, suffering state, then this will ultimately and uncontrollably bring about a loss of physical well-being that we will undergo undergo physical discomfort as well. So if we have a kind hearted attitude of mind, a sense of altruism wishing to benefit others, then this will lead to very positive activities, physical, verbal, and mental activities. On the other hand, if our attitude to the mind is negative, have a hurtful attitude toward others, then this will lead to physical, verbal, and mental negative activities. So it is the mind which is the determinant. And the kind this kind hearted attitude is extremely important.
And of the various healthy attitudes of mind, there is none greater or more healthy than that of the awakening heart. So not having as yet generated the awakening heart, this kind hearted attitude, once it is generated, then that person is, no matter who they may be, becomes their practitioner, the universal vehicle, the Mahāyāna. On the other hand, if the individual has not generated the awakening heart, no matter what types of activities that that person may involve themselves in, they are not the practitioners of the universal vehicle. So in determining the universal vehicle, we have to look to the mind, not something outside of the mind itself. That the universal vehicle or the is not determined by the room that we might be occupying or the clothes that we might be wearing, whether they’re maroon clothes or yellow clothes, whether we have long hair or we have shaved heads, whether we have a gompa, a meditation room, that country we might reside in, that nothing that we can see with the eye is the determinant of the universal vehicle.
It is something within the mind. And it it is possessed whether such an attitude of mind can be possessed by anyone whether it be a monk or nun, layperson, male or female. So what do we mean by this kind hearted attitude of the awakening heart? It is an attitude of the mind which longs to lead or to establish all living beings both oneself and all others to a state where they have eliminated their suffering from the root, and they have find a final happiness. So it is this longing or aspiration to to lead all other beings to this state which is the awakening heart.
So this attitude is necessary to generate this attitude in our own individual minds, this attitude which aspires to to lead both oneself and all other living beings to a state of happiness bereft of suffering. But we have to consider that and reflect that having developed this attitude that wishes to lead all living beings to a state where all of their suffering is eliminated, they have complete happiness. We understand that in order to do that, that I myself must first eliminate all my various faults and bring to consummation all of my acts and qualities in order to achieve that end. So if we were explaining this in terms of a metaphor that if if both ourselves and others were stuck in the mud, and in order to free others from, say, quicksand, it wouldn’t necessarily for us to be on a firm ground ourselves. Otherwise, ourselves being sinking in the quicksand, there would be no way to free another person.
So in order to free another, it’s necessary that first we get ourselves straight. Relating this metaphor to our present context, just as in order to extricate others from the quicksand, it is necessary that initially we ourselves free ourselves, extricate ourselves. Likewise, it is necessary in order to be able to lead others to a state of having eliminated all their faults and where they have brought to consummation all their excellent qualities, that we at first eliminate all our various faults. If we have not abandoned our own faults, then there is no way that we have the ability to lead others to be able to do the same, and therefore to find happiness. So first, it is necessary that we eliminate all our various faults.
And having done that, will then have the ability to be able to lead others to the same. Without having done that, then there’s no way that we can have that ability, and there’s no way that we can lead others out of their suffering to find complete happiness. So the awakening heart is is consistent of the attitude which understands that in order to free others from their suffering and to lead them to happiness, that I myself must first eliminate all my various faults and bring to consummation all my excellent qualities. If merely upon seeing a living being, we generate such an attitude, then we have generated the awakening heart. So once having generated this kind hearted attitude, the that very quality itself, by its own power, makes the individual who possesses that attitude within their minds a practitioner of the universal vehicle, no matter who they may be, whether they’re lay person or a monk or nun, whether they’re male or a female, whether even if they’re a cat or a dog, having developed that attitude of the mind, they are have entered into the universal vehicle.
This attitude of the awakening heart is can be is generated in various types of beings, not just human beings, but additionally, animals and celestial beings, hungry ghosts, and even hell beings. And anyone who has developed this attitude of the awakening heart is worthy of our homage, is worthy of an object of respect, is worthy of our generosity, worthy of reverence and making offerings to, that this single tremendous quality is empowering and strengthened to the extent that they are worthy of having all excellent qualities, of being seen as having all excellent qualities. And by means of this kind hearted attitude, through the power of this kind attitude, the awakening heart, we can eliminate all our various negativities within our minds and we can accumulate a vast collection of creative potential. The creative potential, the merit that we accumulate through the cultivation and the generation of the awakened heart is said to be equal to space. Space.
And why is that? Because this attitude of the awakening heart is directed toward all living beings. This attitude which wishes to free them from their suffering and to lead them to happiness. And If we can calculate that, if we directed the attitude of wishing to free from suffering and to lead to happiness toward one person, then we would, as it were, create a potential of one or a skillful act. We would commit one skillful action if this attitude was observing one person.
If this attitude of wishing to free from suffering, to lead happiness, observe two people, then we would, as it were, develop two skillful actions, a greater potential equal to proportionate two. If it was to ten, then it would be proportionately ten or a hundred to a hundred. Here, we are observing numberless living beings and wishing to free them from suffering and lead them to happiness. And proportionately, the creative potential which is accumulated is immeasurable, innumerable, is equal to space, is equal respect to each sentient being, we accumulate the skillful action. And therefore, since the sentient beings are numberless, their creative potential is innumerable.
Analogy would be through a kind hearted attitude, wishing to alleviate the sickness of a person who is ill, we gave them medicine as a means to cure them. Then we would be bringing alleviating ills of one person, and we would be creating a single skillful action with respect to them. So we can extend this. What we mean in in this context is that if we were if, for example, we were to give food to somebody and they enjoyed it, we we would we would make them happy. In making others happy, we we ourselves accumulate that creative potential potential or some merit, a skillful action.
So this analogy, if there were two people who, out of our kind heart attitude, we want to cure from their illness, this would alleviate their suffering, that would make them happy. Therefore, we we would, as it were, create two skillful actions. Again, proportionally, if there were a hundred people, it would be a hundred skillful actions. Likewise, all the way up to seeking to alleviate the the ills of of numberless people. The skillful actions would be innumerable.
So if we take another analogy, but in opposite vein, if we were to kill one person, then we would create a single negative action. If we were to kill two people, there would be two negative actions. If it were ten, proportionally ten, a hundred or a thousand. So this is in this opposite case. The degree of skillfulness is in proportion to the number of people that we are relating with.
Likewise, in this case, where we are creating skillful actions. So we can understand in scientific manner using this process of reasoning that because in developing this altruistic intention to benefit all living beings who are equal to space, then the accumulated skillful actions will be likewise equal to space. And also, by the power of the awakening heart, that is, if we were to give even a morsel of food to, say, a dog with the attitude of awakened heart. That is to say, for the sake of all living beings, in order to free them from their suffering, in order to lead them to happiness, even this simple act of generosity, giving a morsel of food to a dog, the creative potential or the merit of skillful actions that would be generated would would again be equal to space. And likewise, if we if we out of the attitude wish to free all living beings from suffering in order to lead them to happiness.
Out of that attitude that we engage in for that purpose, we recite even once, or or, then simply from a single repetition, the the creative potential is again equal to space. So this collection of creative potential or skillful actions that we accumulate can only bring happiness. The result actions is happiness. And likewise, through the power of the awakened heart, not only have we accumulated skillful actions, But we also will decrease the previously created negative actions. That these negative actions, the force of them, will decrease more and more until they are eliminated.
Or purify all of the various negativities that we have previously created, then we will experience no suffering. Suffering arises in dependence upon negativities that we have created or unskillful actions. If we eliminate eliminate the negative actions, then we will experience as a result no suffering. The cause of suffering are unskillful actions. And if there are no causes, that is to say if there are no unskillful actions within our mind, then there will arise no resultant suffering.
If through this process, we can eliminate all undesirable results. What is it that we want? We want to be happy. We don’t want to suffer. And it is through the power of the awakening heart, this kind heart attitude, that we can achieve that happiness that we can limit our suffering.
So the kind hearted attitude of the awakening heart is extremely vast in its qualities and its power, its potencies and great blessings. So the this kind hearted attitude, the awakening heart is a quality of the mind. And it is through this quality of the mind that we will begin to we will begin to bring to an end our physical negativities that we create, such as killing, stealing, very sexual improprieties. And additionally, through the power of the awakening heart, we bring to an end the negativities that we create verbally, verbal types of unscathed reactions such as lying, hurtful speech, and divisive speech, and gossip. And likewise with respect to various mental states through the kind hearted attitude of the awakening heart, we can bring an end to such attitudes as attachment and hatred and pride and ignorance.
All these dysfunctional and negative states of mind are brought to an end through the power of the awakening heart. So through this process that we bring about elimination of all the negative functions of our body, speech, mind on one hand, and we begin to more and more function in terms of healthy states of body, speech, and mind until we bring to consummation all of its excellent qualities, and we bring to consummation our own happiness. And through our through each of us ourselves eliminating our various faults and bringing in consummation all our excellent qualities, we can become just like Śākyamūni Buddha himself was and be a vast benefit to innermobile living beings. How are we to bring about such vast benefit to living beings? Having attained this state, then we were able to emanate or radiate out emanations of ourselves in order to benefit, bring about the welfare of living beings.
We can emanate, we can radiate out hundreds and thousands and tens of thousands of emanations of ourselves. And each of these emanations of ourselves can bring about the welfare of living beings. Thereby we can lead others to a state of eliminating their suffering and where they can find happiness. And therefore, such a state is extremely powerful. It has tremendous potential and ability.
If if we if we reflect upon what we have, which is expressed in in the thought that, you know, seeking this longing to eliminate the sufferings of all living beings and to lead them to happiness. And therefore, in order to achieve that end, I myself must remove all my various faults and bring my accent qualities. If we reflect upon the meaning of what is intended, we will be able to actually develop that ability. So this is an extremely wonderful quality to be able to develop that this this attitude of wishing to remove one’s faults and bring the consummation one’s excellent qualities in order to free others from suffering and to bring them happiness. So it is this kind attitude which constitutes the universal vehicle, this quality.
There is no other characteristic which is the determinant of the universal vehicle. Is not a matter of clothes, is not a matter of the room or the building or the type of body that one might have, but a characteristic of our own mind. So this kind hearted attitude is the universal vehicle. There are many methods whereby to generate this kind hearted attitude. We should first seek to develop it, to newly generate it, and then increase it, expand it, and then having expanded it to actually bring about the establishing the welfare of others.
And this is the course of the universal vehicle. awakening heart, this kind heart attitude, is a result. Therefore it has its causes. That is to say, it relies upon its development upon various methods and means. Just as by way of analogy, in the growing of a crop, achieving that result relies upon many causes and conditions.
We need to have seed, we need to have cultivated the earth, water, soil, and it depends upon these causes and conditions, a crop grows. So likewise, it’s necessary that we we create the causes for the development of this kind hearted attitude. So there are two ways to generate this kindhearted attitude. Two methods. The first is the method of the seven cause and effect instruction.
And the second is the method of equalizing, exchange itself for others. Amongst the practitioners who are striving to implement these methods for the generation of the awakening hearts, there are two types. There are those who are extremely intelligent and those of moderate intelligence. So accordingly, there are different methods for these two levels of intelligence. For those of the highest intelligence, the method of equalizing and exchange of self for others is most appropriate.
On the other hand, for those who aren’t up to that standard, who are moderately intelligent, it is that it’s much more easily generated for them. The awakening heart is much more easily generated for them by making use of this seven-fold cause and effect instruction. So I’m going to initially present the the method for generating the awakened heart in terms of the method of for those of moderate intelligence of the seven cause and effect instruction. So how are we to proceed initially? We’re understanding the extreme preciousness of the awakening heart and that it is generated in dependence upon causes.
So as a prerequisite to the development of the awakening heart itself, it’s necessary that we develop exceptional resolve. Exceptional resolve is embodied in the thought that I myself will eliminate the suffering of all living beings and lead them to happiness. So this exceptional resolve responsibility to bring about this in is a prerequisite or precedes the generation of the awakening heart.