Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 47-minute talk, Lama Lhundup emphasizes that everything we encounter — pleasure or pain — arises from our own actions and karma, not from external causes. He guides listeners through the core insight that lasting happiness cannot come from worldly desires, which inevitably shift from pleasure to pain like enjoying heat from a fire that eventually burns. The talk centers on cultivating renunciation — not world-rejection but clear-eyed recognition of how saṃsāra’s pleasures are temporary — and using that recognition to generate genuine compassion for all beings. He teaches that our human life, precious and rare, must be spent meaningfully: practicing Dharma and developing the motivation to free all sentient beings from suffering, beginning with those closest to us or in most need. The teaching is grounded in practical reflection: observing the mind’s constant mental chatter, recognizing impermanence moment by moment, and applying antidotes like visualizing the body’s decay to dissolve attachment.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 HY.mp3
UUID: 5e757328-8f5f-482c-8bc6-e4c4e5298e77
Teacher: Lama Lhundup
Collection: Helping yourself helping others (Lama Lhundup)
Date: 1987 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 46.8 minutes
Words: ~2,599
So first, we need purely have, we need purely motivation. Why why I’m listening? What purpose? You know? Without motivation, we don’t make sense.
So motivation is very important. There are many many kinds of different motivations. What is very important motivation is not just achieve happiness for this life or just temporary happiness. So what now what we need, what kind of motivation is we achieve receiving, you know, great enlightened mind or buddhahood. You know, we receive, cultivating the enlightened mind.
For that purpose, I’m, you know, listening, whatever. You know? We we need first this motivation. We need that kind of this this motivation. So the great yogi, Lama Tsongkhapa, said, you have purely motivation and good heart, and you have result good.
You have you have wrong motivation. Then you have bad result. By wrong wrong wrong wrong motivation, you just think, work, whatever. From that, the that action is negative. We’re calling negative karma.
So by negative karma, we we will get problem and suffering. So, therefore, we need purely motivation. So you see now question, why we have in this world, human being or being has so many problems and sufferings. Who made this suffering? We should need think.
This problem and suffering not comes from god. Something else. So all this human being has problem and suffering comes from comes from our own action, own karma. No no karma, no suffering, no problems. Now this time, degeneration.
So many beings each other killing, stealing. So many doing negative. Most time making negative karma. So, therefore, we have we have more trouble, more problems, so much fighting, and so many kinds also result, so many sickness, different kind. People now have people don’t have that kind sickness.
Now many new sickness. Why we have this time more new sickness, more new problems? Because more beings make more negative. So, therefore, all this comes from any suffering, any problem. All this comes from our own negative action, negative karma.
That we should need to realize, recognize. And you have suffering problem exist in your own. Just you should think, why am this sickness? Oh, this is my own my own karma. Comes from my negative action.
So you should learn your problem, sickness. You learn from your sickness and suffering. What this means, I don’t like this sickness and the problems, sufferings. So if I don’t like, then this comes from negative action. So most I need abandoning my negative action.
I need to abandon. I don’t make negative anymore. Otherwise, I will get more problems. This problem suffering so small, very little. I will get extremely worse problem, worse suffering.
So all this, our result, happy and suffering depend our own karma. Good karma, bad karma. So, therefore, from now, I never harm any beings. I don’t I never harm any beings. Most negative karma, how we make negative karma, harm to the others, disturbing to the others.
By from we have mind, body, speech, three doors. With thoughts, harm to the others. With talking, speech, harm to the others. With body use beat and something harm to others. So I must need stop all this, you know, I I must need keep purely my three doors of body, speech.
First, we need think how much we have suffering to contemplate. Should meditate with sufferings. You know? Just but we some people, they don’t like suffering, think suffering, meditate suffering. I don’t like suffering, why am I thinking about suffering.
If not think suffering, then we not realize. And not realizing suffering, then, really, we don’t want to purely practice Dharma. Strongly, we don’t want to practice Dharma. Then always going back. Just general.
You know? So then not coming renunciation, renounce. So first, realize, you know, our how much we have sufferings. Observe our mind changing. So so many kinds of different thoughts.
Not few minutes. We don’t have few minutes concentration strongly. Just so many different thoughts. Most delusions thoughts. Desire for saṃsāra, tied to saṃsāra.
In saṃsāra, all action is they’re making suffering. We have minutes, minutes suffering, suffering, changing suffering. What we have, just say, I’m very happy. But, really, we don’t have purely happiness. If we really have purely happiness, never changing.
No, on and on it goes. Just minutes, happy minutes. You know? Example, we are very cold, and we stay under something hot, with sun sun or something. So then with with fire or something, we stay with there.
Then stay beginning just first time very happy. So then more less happy. Less, less, less. Then more harder, harder, harder, harder. You don’t want to stay with that fire.
You want to move. Because the beginning happy, this because that is changing suffering. We thought not not realize that is suffering. So what whatever we get, just happy is really not happy. Changing changing suffering.
Just happy, we call, yes, happy. But that’s really not happy because changing. We just bring in coffee. We eating chocolate. First, happy.
So you have you eating more chocolate, more more, two, three, four, five, then you don’t eat more anymore chocolate. Somebody push, then you feel suffer, feel angry. So any of you have some sort of things, you know, used, they they don’t have really not bring happiness. So, also, our life is minutes, minutes changing, getting older, older, older. Beginning born, suffering.
Getting older, suffering. Many kinds of different sickness suffering. Getting old, dying suffering. We have this with this body, so much trouble, so much problems. But most time we work for this body, working so hard because this body need so many different kind cloth, food.
You know? Not enough ordinary food, special food, special cloth. So many most time spent for this body. If we we not use correctly, then this is useless, meaningless. All our time is useless.
So what need for this life, for this body, with this body, what do we need to? We make meaningful, useful. We we get good food. We get good cloth, but, also, we get good job. We need practice Dharma with this body.
We practice with this human body. Very useful. Very useful. If animal, you know, we get good food, good growth, they cannot practice Dharma. But we are human being.
We have wisdom. So if we can practice, only human being can do anything. So, therefore, we are very, this time, very, very lucky, very fortunate. We receive human life. We are human beings.
So you should recognize, should you realize I’m a human being. So now I need need work, think correctly, right way. I need better than animals. I work, think better than animals. Just eating, doing, just fighting, this animal, they can do.
Lying, stealing, lying, this kind, animal can do. Sexual misconduct, those animal can do. I’m a human being. I need to make much better actions than animals. Otherwise, I’m really meaningless my life.
We need to think like this. So, therefore, you know, you what is right? What’s wrong? What is negative? What is positive?
You learned from teaching with anger, jealousy, pride, with delusion, with negative motivation, negative action, then negative karma. With compassion motivation, virtuous motivation, love motivation to others. This is good karma. So so therefore, we need think. I’m doing negative karma.
I’m doing good karma. I’m making good karma. I’m making bad karma. Check. What you are doing action?
Work, take time. This this, I’m doing what this action is negative or positive. If negative, you realize the negative, then must stop. If I make negative action, then I will get deep suffering. I use anger, I will get deep suffering.
I harm to other, I will get suffering. So I most need to stop. I don’t do. And this kind thoughts, I will destroy. I can destroy.
When you see you’re looking to outside things and other beings, your strong desire comes, then you should check. This this strong desire is negative or not. Feel your that strong desire comes. You feel sick or not. You feel sick, horrible, feeling, then this is a negative.
Most need stop. Most time our problem comes from strong desire. Who have most strong desire, they need so much get himself problem. We don’t have each other desire, attachment. We don’t need fight.
We don’t need fight. Each other really pure. Each other pure love because no attachment. So each other lie, so no attachment, then pure luck. Never fighting.
Never problem. If you don’t want each other no problem, they must need stop strong desire. How you stop strong desire? When they come that object, he he as her or she as he or. Why am strong desire?
This object is impermanent. Moment by moment changing. Minutes, minutes, your object is minutes changing. No second is the same. Just think by heart.
Just impermanent. Moment. Just minute. No second second minute. First, second minute finish.
First, second minute finish. Just think then that strong desire is going less. Also, you think that objective is really true or not. They’re concepting beautiful. That only desire mind thoughts.
Really, it’s not like that. saṃsāra body is not beautiful. A beautiful means purely. saṃsāra body is not pure because comes from desire. So, therefore, just just think like this.
Then less desire, not coming strongly desire. You can you can see dirty body, ugly body. She may, you know, see not coming strong desire. Just always, you know, we see skin, then inside look whole body. Horrible.
So, therefore, we don’t need strong desire. But we just so many times, many years, since beginning as time. All the time, we’re keeping this desire. So we always deeply coming desire. Very difficult stuff.
But we can try minutes, two minutes. We can meditate. The time not coming. Also, think. Just visualize brother or mother visualize not coming desire.
Many can’t have their ideas, method, stopping for strong desire. Also, what you put in object, that desire object is not truly exist. Not there. Just desire’s projection, just thoughts. Really not truly exist there.
Not there. If if they’re beautiful there, no changing, the next you enter and beautiful is still there or not. No. Very ugly. First, strong strong desire, beautiful.
Next, strong anger, very ugly. So these two view, one comes from attachment. One comes from anger. So release ugly is and beautiful is not there. Therefore, we you see, all this most trouble, suffering, all comes from this desire attachment.
So, therefore, we need all we need practicing renunciation renunciation. We can use good whatever, but we can think impermanent, moment in changing, no essence. Just think. Think the not coming desire. Then you realize impermanent yourself, others.
Then no coming attachment. But now we’re concepting eternal. Just we say words impermanent, but really mind is still conceiving eternal, permanently. So now we need mental practice. Think impermanent, moment in changing.
Meditate, minutes, minutes changing. Think. That is very important. We now realize impermanent, then it is not difficult to strongly become practicing Dharma. No renounce, then no liberation from saṃsāra, no liberation.
Then we we not get freedom from saṃsāra. Freedom from saṃsāra. We never get out from saṃsāra. By renunciation strongly, then we will go out saṃsāra and suffering. So first, we try very important need, practice renunciation strongly.
How we renunciation how we get renunciation experience, then should think how much we have problem suffering. If somebody say, I give you hundred dollar. You permanently put your hands in the fire. Somebody say, nobody likes. You get one hundred dollar, but you don’t want to put your hands in the fire because you realize automatically this suffering.
So, therefore, we need what what just just we think, we look body and, you know, and so many problems. We think we can realize suffering. We’re not thinking, oh, I’m happy, satisfied. You know? We think so many suffering.
So now so you can practice renunciation. You can realize yourself so much suffering in the problem. Then you, I have so many problems. Like this, also, other sentient beings may have like this. More than So many beings has some human being, some no food, some no cloth, some very cold, some very hot, so many so many sufferings.
Without food, many beings die. So, therefore, then so so many being has so many suffering. So you you see you realize suffering, then you easily get compassion to others. And that compassion is very purely. So so, therefore, you see, all being has so much suffering.
Also, other being is you know, you should think. So much kindness. What what I what I have now, all these things from others. My body comes from others. I I have human life.
Also, this comes from others. What I have best things comes from others. So all beings have shown so much kindness to me. So now they have so much suffering. I am suffering one person.
Other being, countless. Not only our this world beings. So many world beings. So human being, countless human beings. Countless beings, also animal, all this is beings, sentient beings.
So different karma, different life, different beings. But same old sentient beings. So, therefore, now I’m a human being. So now I really I need work for all sentient beings. How I can stop other sentient beings suffering?
How I can make other sentient being happiness? We should think. If I not make this life, try to, then how I I get another time? Very difficult. So this life is very important.
This my human life is very important, very I can make useful for other sentient beings. So now they have, you know, you can think make strongly compassion to sentient beings. Just beginning how we start. Your compassion, start with those who are very sick or who have the most suffering. This kind being object.
Or you compassion your mother. My mother is so kind for me. How I like this human life? Special this life, how I get from my mother’s kindly. She taking care.
Otherwise, my life’s finish. So she did taking care. So I now I opportunity practicing Dharma. I care. So she’s so kind.
She’s so kind. Not only this life. Many, many lifetime, she she become my mother. Countless time, she’s so kind. So you remember, think strongly coming, kindness.
So like this, my mother, so kind like this. All same keeping, same like this. Kind. You see, our mind beginless. So our being is beginless because we have ignorance.
We not realize yet emptiness, true nature. We have true nature, but we not realize true nature. So if not realize true nature, always making karma. If if not realize true nature, also this life, again, we have next life.
Next, saṃsāra life. Never stopping. How is saṃsāra life stop? Then fully me we need to realize fully realization, emptiness. We fully realize emptiness, then we can stop.
No more make karma. You see, we’re beginning less our bone. Being born, dying, being born, dying — this cycle exist all the time like this. So we have so many born, so many lifetime, so many lives. So so many life, so many mothers.
So, therefore, all same thing being become my mother. Who’s not my mother? But we ignorant, we not realize another life. If our mind clear, very clear, we have clear, clear awareness, then we realize many lives.