Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Lama Lhundup opens this foundational Emptiness teaching with a systematic build-up through the graduated path, starting with the precious human birth and working methodically through renunciation of cyclic existence before arriving at the meditation on emptiness itself. He emphasizes that without proper motivation—both the mind of renunciation and the mind of enlightenment—meditation on emptiness cannot serve as a cause for liberation or Buddhahood. He guides practitioners to reflect repeatedly on impermanence and suffering, to develop conviction in karma and the Three Jewels, and crucially, to reverse attachment to the contaminated aggregates that bind us to suffering. He then extends this renunciation beyond personal liberation to encompass all sentient beings, developing equanimity and recognizing all beings as mothers in previous lives—the foundation for the compassion that must accompany wisdom. Suited for those with some familiarity with the graduated path structure.
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File: lama-lhundup-emptiness-01-e
Teacher: Lama Lhundup
Collection: Emptiness (Lama Lhundup)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Words: ~2,816
In the beginning we should adjust to our motivation. Now that we have found this precious human body which is of great meaning and difficult to find, that we should not make use of it only for the purposes of this life, the activities of this life, but we should make the ultimate use of it, that is to bring not only ourselves but all sentient beings to establish them in a state of Buddhahood. And therefore, in order to bring this about we have to practice the Dharma. In order to practice the Dharma we have to understand the Dharma. In order to understand the Dharma we must listen to the teachings of the Dharma.
And therefore, with such a motivation that in order to establish all sentient beings and myself in Buddhahood, I am going to listen to these teachings on the Dharma. So, today we’re going to listen to teachings on emptiness. But, what is of greatest importance what is of great importance is also the mind of renunciation and the mind of enlightenment. And what is of greatest importance is the mind of renunciation. So without the mind of renunciation, even though we meditate on emptiness our meditation does not serve as a cause for liberation.
And likewise, if we don’t have the mind of enlightenment, then our meditation does not become the cause for an attainment of Buddhahood. So in accordance it is laid out in the graduated path, before we arrive at the meditation on emptiness, we have to understand dependent arising. So, prior to that we will give a rough explanation of the three capacities of beings. So, we’re going to try to understand the three levels of capacity of beings and their various paths in connection with dependent arising. So, of you I understand have had some experience with the graduated path of the three levels of capacities.
Therefore, we aren’t going to give it an extensive we’re not going to speak on it extensively. So, it’s not enough merely that we hear these teachings with our ear. We have to take these teachings into our mind and consider them and reflect upon them again and again. So we should train the mind. So we should contemplate, we should think, the fact that we have found this body of leisures and fortune, this precious human body.
It’s a very special type of body. It’s the basis of our practice of Dharma and that we are free from the situations of non leisure, that we have the freedom to practice Dharma. And how wonderful this opportunity is and we should develop a sense of great joy that we have this chance to practice. So, we should think that, you know, to find such a body, to create the causes, and because of the nature of this body, it’s going to be extremely difficult to find again. And we should think having found this body that any type of happiness that we wish, any type of happiness that we want to attain, in dependence upon this body, we can gain that happiness.
But this body is unstable. It’s not dependable. It’s not going to last for long. It’s definite that we’re going to die, but we don’t know. It’s uncertain when we’re going to die.
And at the time of our death, the only thing which is going to be a benefit to us is the Dharma. So, in thinking in this way, we should come to the decision, the determination to practice the Dharma, to practice it purely. And at the time of our death, the only thing which can benefit us is the Dharma. And that which is going to bring us harm at that moment are the negative actions that we possess. So understanding that it is the negative actions which bring us suffering and it’s the Dharma which bring us happiness, then we should make a determination to practice Dharma.
So at the moment due to the afflictive emotions, we have created negative actions. If we do not purify these negative actions that we have created, when we take rebirth, we could take rebirth to the lower realms, to hell and bad migrations. So considering the fact that we have these negative actions within us, the latencies of the negative actions and when we take rebirth, through the force of these negative actions, could take rebirth in a bad migration. We develop fear of this possibility of taking bad migrations and we seek some protection from this fear. And so, we have to think who or what can protect us from this fear of future sufferings, and we see that as the Three Jewels which can protect us.
So therefore, we go for refuge to the Three Jewels. We don’t go for refuge to the Three Jewels only to alleviate our temporal problems, our present problems. But ultimately, we go for refuge from the depths of our heart to the Three Jewels in order that we realize or that we actualize the Three Jewels within own self. So, in order to realize that state within ourselves we go for refuge. We go for refuge.
So, having gone through a refuge, we must develop a conviction in the law of cause and effect. And this involves the practice of abandonment understanding what is to be cultivated and what is to be abandoned. The practice of Dharma this is the practice of Dharma. Abandoning that which is to be abandoned and cultivating that which is to be cultivated are the practices. So the measure or the factor which decides whether we’re practicing Dharma or not is simply this: If we abandon negative actions and cultivate positive actions, then we’re practicing Dharma.
If we don’t do this, then we’re not practicing Dharma. So, you know, every day we should think whenever we experience some type of happiness. And we should remember that this happiness that I’m experiencing is the fruit of some positive action that I’ve created in the past. And this should help us to develop the determination to cultivate positive actions so that we can experience like happiness in the future. And likewise, when we experience some difficulty, suffering, then we can understand that this is the fruit of some negative action that we created in the past.
And this should help us to develop determination to abandon creating further negative actions so we won’t have to experience this suffering again. So, whatever all the happiness and desire, all the great wonders of the world, they do not arise independently of ourselves. They arise if we create the causes and conditions for happiness, we’re going to experience happiness. If we create the causes and conditions for suffering, we’re going to experience suffering. So, we simply have to understand that if we commit good actions, that only happiness will arise from these.
If we commit bad actions, only suffering can arise from these. We must recognize this fact. Therefore, in realizing this, then we begin to whatever actions of body, speech and mind, we tend to only create actions of body, speech and mind as positive actions and our negative actions of body, speech, and mind become less and less and less. So we have to think about these factors of karma, our actions, that karma is definite, karma is increasing or augmentative. Actions are not committed.
The effects of actions not committed are not experienced. And the effects of karma are not wasted or dissipated. So having de-emphasized that working for only this life alone, having gone for refuge to the Three Jewels and developed the conviction in the law of cause and effect, we should have no doubt about the possibility of taking a bad rebirth in the future in a bad migration. We may not take a rebirth in a bad migration. But is this sufficient, really, to not take a rebirth in a bad migration?
This in itself is not enough. But we have to seek liberation from cyclic existence altogether. But even with this human body we have to experience countless sufferings. We don’t find the happiness that we seek. We meet undesirable objects.
We have to experience the three types of suffering. The suffering of pain, the suffering of change, and compositional pervasive suffering. We are still experiencing suffering even as humans. Where does all this suffering arise from? It arises in dependence upon the contaminated aggregates.
When we well, when we use the word renunciation, what are we renouncing? This word also can be translated as definite emerging. Definite to be emerging. What are we trying to emerge from? What are we renouncing?
We’re not trying to announce anything outside of ourselves. It’s these contaminated aggregates that we’re renouncing, that we’re trying to emerge from. So we’re extremely attached to this body. Cherish this body. So we have to reverse this attachment to the body.
If we don’t reverse this attachment to the body, again we’re going to take this body of suffering aggregates. You know, if someone were in prison, if he were attached to his prison, if he didn’t think about the disadvantages of being in prison, if he didn’t become disillusioned about his prison, he would never seek to be free of his prison. Likewise, if we don’t think again and again suffering of being imprisoned in the contaminated aggregates if we don’t see the disadvantages. But, on the contrary, if we’re attached to them, we’re never going to seek liberation. We’re never really going to practice Dharma.
Our practice will have no strength, no power. Therefore, we have to think again and again of the nature of the suffering of these contaminated aggregates. So, it’s like even when we have some temporary suffering like we have a headache or a stomachache, we immediately think that we don’t like it. We immediately think, I want to get well. I want to get better.
I want to cure this. We have the belief that we see this contaminated body as a source of suffering, but we conceive of it as a source of happiness. But this type of happiness that we conceive of is not actually happiness. It’s just another type of suffering. This happiness is changing from moment to moment.
It’s constantly disappearing. So this So we can we experience this ourselves, this what we think of as happiness, is constantly changing. Nature is always, this type of happiness, its nature is always being transformed into suffering. So this body of contaminated aggregates, the suffering aggregates, not only are they the basis of present suffering and they also serve to induce future sufferings. So, in order that we have to reverse, eliminate our attachment to these aggregates, so we have to again and again think about the disadvantages of such a type of aggregates.
So, again and again we have to think of the disadvantages of cyclic existence in general. You know, we have to get to the point of what any marvel that we see, we have to think of it considered from the point of view that it’s impermanent, that it’s unstable, that in fact it’s not to be trusted, it’s untrustworthy. Anywhere we go, any type of rebirth we take with these contaminated aggregates. These contaminated aggregates, whether even if we’re born as a god, there’s nothing but suffering. There’s no happiness.
But if we don’t have contaminated aggregates, then we only experience happiness. There’s no suffering. Even if we were born in hell, then we only experience happiness. We don’t experience suffering. So when we say liberation from cyclic existence, what we’re saying is liberation from these contaminated aggregates.
So thinking in this way that we develop a dislike with contaminated aggregates that we have no desire to suffer, that we develop a dislike of our aggregates. But this in itself, merely this feeling of dislike is not enough, is not sufficient. We have to think about well, what is the cause of these contaminated aggregates? From where do they come? And then, so we have to go on to understand that the contaminated aggregates arise in dependence upon karma, that is, actions and the afflicted emotions.
And all karma arises from the afflicted emotions. We have to understand the afflictive emotions. Simply not liking suffering in itself is, you know, we experience suffering, we don’t like the suffering. This dislike of suffering in itself is of no benefit. We have to try to understand.
This should lead us to seek to understand what is the cause of my suffering. So the cause of our suffering is karma and afflictive emotions. And all the various karmas arise from the afflicted emotions. And specifically, we can say the three poisons. Whatever action is due to our actions being motivated by the three poisons that we have been experiencing suffering from beginningless time up to the present.
So we have to develop the mind of renunciation, thinking to definitely emerge or renounce these suffering aggregates and thinking about to develop the thought to quickly be liberated from these suffering aggregates. So, in this way we developed a very powerful type of very powerful mind renunciation, thinking I must be liberated from cyclic existence. But this in itself, we have to consider this. So, in thinking this way, don’t consider the welfare of others. So we should think that I’m just one person, and sentient beings are infinite.
And they’re just like me. They’re equal because they don’t want to suffer just like myself. They want happiness just like myself. And since I’m only one and they’re infinite number, then to think that only about my own liberation is an extremely inferior way of thinking. It’s a very wrong way of thinking and they’re thinking in this way.
So also merely attaining liberation we haven’t abandoned all that is to be abandoned or realized all that is to be realized nor have we brought about the welfare of others. So, we should think that all sentient beings are just like myself, that we’re equal, that no one wants suffering, that we’re equal because we’ve all want suffering. We all want happiness equally. We’re all equal and therefore we should determine that there’s no difference between us. That we begin to develop a sense of to exchange of self for others.
And in order to do that we have to develop the thought of equanimity, a feeling of equality. If we don’t have in order to bring about the welfare of others, working for the benefit of others, unless we have this we cannot really work for the benefit of others unless we have this mind of equanimity, this feeling of equality. This is when we’re building a house, a building, we need a level flat foundation in order to build a house. Likewise, if the ground isn’t flat, isn’t even, then the building is not going to be stable. Likewise, when we’re developing initially we have to develop an equanimity, a flat foundation, a smooth foundation, which is divorced from either the feelings of hatred or attachment.
So, we have to develop the equanimity which is cessation of hatred and attachment. So, order then we consider that all sentient beings we seek to recognize all sentient beings as our mothers. So we have a mother in this life. And this is we have a mother in this life and previous lives we’ve had mothers. So, whatever sentient being is born from the womb, that being must have had a mother.
We’ve taken rebirths from the womb. Therefore, our mothers are countless. So if we were to list all the sentient beings, we can never count one who wasn’t our mother our previous life. So we have to come to the understanding that in fact all sentient beings have been our mother in previous lives. So?
Because the mother of this life sought to bring us happiness and eliminate our suffering. We have a great liking for her. Likewise, there’s no difference between all sentient beings and our mother that they have in fact sought to eliminate our suffering and tried to bring us happiness in the past. So we have to remember our mother’s kindness. We begin by remembering the kindness of our mother of this life, the immeasurable kindness that she has shown us.
But she has not only shown us this kindness in this life, in fact she has shown us the same kindness in innumerable past lives, the same kindness that she has shown us in this life. And likewise, there’s no difference at all from all sentient beings and a mother of this life. And in fact, all sentient beings have been our mother. They have shown us exactly