Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 50-minute talk, Lama Lhundup explores the foundational Lamrim instruction on mindfulness of death and refuge. He begins by establishing why examining the mind through Dharma is essential, then guides listeners through contemplation of their own mortality—imagining sickness, bodily deterioration, and the actual process of dying—to move beyond the common mistake of only thinking of others’ deaths. He explains that consciousness continues after death and that the body is merely a temporary vessel. From this recognition of mortality, Lama Lhundup develops the logical sequence: knowing death is certain, we must cultivate virtuous states of mind and create positive karma for a fortunate rebirth. He then addresses the three lower realms in detail, arguing that even if hell seems distant or unbelievable, the causes of such births—hatred, greed, and delusion—are present in our ordinary minds, and human suffering itself mirrors infernal torment. This fear naturally leads to the need for refuge, which only the Three Jewels can provide. He establishes the qualities required of a true refuge: freedom from their own suffering, skill in liberating others, and impartial compassion. The teaching closes with the story of Angulimala, showing how even the most negative karma can be transformed through meeting the Buddha and turning toward practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 04 LR.mp3
UUID: 4cb143dc-80b2-44df-8a18-42cbe6a6ad43
Teacher: Lama Lhundup
Collection: Lam Rim (Lama Lhundup)
Date: 1987 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 50.0 minutes
Words: ~2,798
A sense of happiness and the fact that now, you know, at last we’re actually doing something rather than having this process continue, that we’re actually going to stop this continuation of these various afflictive emotions. So just merely listening to the Dharma is of great benefit. And, you know, it’s extremely beneficial to look, you know, to analyze, look at your mind. So, you know, just like we would examine various things to see whether they are clean or dirty, and if they were dirty, then we would clean them. We would wash them.
Likewise, we should examine our mind and see what is the condition of our mind and whether and what is the if there’s any dirt any dirt within our mind. And we will know what to how to go about cleaning the mind. It’s said that the Dharma is like a mirror. It shows us the condition of our mind. So you should understand well the necessity for the mindfulness of death and the reasons supporting all the roots.
So it’s difficult to develop this thought of death. Generally, when we think about death, we always think about others dying. We never think about ourselves dying. So we can also imagine that we’re going through the process of death, that we get sick and we have to go to the hospital, and our body is deteriorating. We’re becoming very thin, and we’re slowly going through the process of death, actually trying to imagine that we’re dying.
And this will help make it easier to come to an actual understanding of the mindfulness of death. So we should think, if I die, am I going to become nonexistent or am I going to continue? And the fact is we’re going to continue. Our life The being is going to continue. So our body is like this house.
It’s like a guest house. We come there for a while and we stay there, and then we go on, we move on. While while we live in this house, we say, you know, this is my house. You you you may become the owner of the house, but actually, we’re just merely passing guests. So this body that we possess now was taken due to the throwing karma that we created in past lives, and then this karma will be exhausted.
It’s like our body and our mind are like a mother and child in the world. Our mind and body are like pulling a hair out of butter. So, once we think that I am going to die, then we have to question We have to think how can I develop virtuous states of mind? So knowing that we’re going to die, we want to do something. And so we can begin with trying to create the karma to be reborn as a human being, and collecting that type of karma and making prayers to be reborn as a human being.
But for someone who is not familiar with the Dharma, develop these thoughts would be extremely difficult. But such states of mind as desire and hatred manifest quite easily. Therefore, this type of person accumulates negative actions, which will bring him rebirth and bad migrations in the future. And when these accumulated karmas to be reborn in the negative states, that is bad migrations arise, ripen, then we take rebirth in bad migrations. So there’s no other place that we can take rebirth.
There’s only two possibilities. Either we take a happy migration or a bad migration. Thus we cannot take rebirth anywhere but within these two possibilities. And we shouldn’t think that it’s only possible to take rebirth in world around us. This is where we take rebirth is dependent only upon our karma.
So we want to take rebirth in a happy migration, and mainly we have to what are the causes? For example, ethics, morality, as a cause to practice, to take rebirth in a happy migration. But normally we always generate naturally desire, hatred, self-cherishing. And so we have to make a great deal of effort in order to cultivate virtuous states of mind whenever possible. We should try to even if we have a moment to practice, we should take advantage of that moment and listen to Dharma, for example, and other practices to develop positive karma.
If we die without having practice, we’re going to take rebirth in a bad migration. Within the bad migrations, for example, we can see the And we accumulate karmas, which will bring us rebirth as an animal. Now if we were to take rebirth as an animal, what kind of suffering would we have? And also, we are taking Also, the bad migrations, are the hungry ghosts and the hell beings. So because you cannot see with your eye the hell beings and the hungry ghosts, you probably don’t like to hear about such things.
Whether or not we know that these places exist, We do not know whether or not we know that these places exist or not. We do not know whether we are creating the causes to be reborn in these places. Just because we may think hell doesn’t exist doesn’t doesn’t destroy the existence of hell. So even as a person, we experience similar states of suffering as the hell beings and the hungry ghosts. So, we all know what is going on in the world.
You know, we read in the newspapers about all the problems and all the horrors that happen in the world to the people. Reading such things in the newspaper can benefit our mind with respect to our Dharma practice. Even Tibet we experienced similar states when the Chinese invaded Tibet. Much of the suffering that went on was like the sufferings in the hell, or the sufferings of the hungry ghosts, when people were actually starving and having to be forced labor in slave labor and such things. So that we actually experience such states even in Tibet.
And even having a human body, if I can go undergo such similar types of suffering, you know, with a human body, this human body is actually the result of virtuous actions, virtuous karma. And if this human body, which can experience similar suffering, is a product of virtuous actions, what to say of the sufferings that we could undergo due to anger, due to various other types of non virtuous karmas that we create, the body which is going to result from that, the suffering to which that type of body could undergo are unimaginable. Foreigners, they don’t like to hear about hell. Get some some fear arises in their mind. This is good.
Most people, when they hear about hell, no fear arises. So we should think we should think about the severe sufferings of hell and ask ourselves, could could I bear such sufferings? So we should actually you know, and many Tibetan lamas would meditate on all the various sufferings in hell in order to actually develop the try to experience what it must be like to undergo such sufferings. If someone in Australia was causing a lot of trouble, perhaps If one person caused an accident and and he was going to be taken to to the jail by the police for having caused this accident, and he had he, you know, he has naturally, he doesn’t want to go to go to jail. He has a great fear.
So he would try to get the help of maybe a big politician like a president. He would ask him to help him out in his difficulty. So he’s afraid that, you know, he’s afraid of going to prison, and he’s he looks around to who can help him out. He try does does he have know any big officials? Are there any friends that he has that can help him out in his situation?
So this this big official, he goes to this big official and explains the situation to him, what happened. And the big official says, don’t worry about it, I’ll take care of it. So likewise, we have collected the karma to take rebirth in hell. And we have a great By understanding the nature, the very sufferings that we’re going to experience in hell, develop a great deal of fear of taking rebirth in hell because we fear the sufferings that we are going to experience. Therefore we ask ourselves, Who can help me out with my situation?
Who can protect me? And must and we have to develop the firm conviction and faith that it’s only the Three Jewels which can protect us from this suffering that we’re going to experience. The the Buddha so the the Buddha, he he spoke about the the existence of hell and their nature and the various sufferings that that go on in hell. So we don’t even have to consider this type of suffering. We can just as a human beings, the sufferings that that we undergo presently.
For example, meeting with undesirable objects, being separated from objects that we desire, and not finding the happiness that we seek. Just in these types of sufferings we have to undergo. It’s a very painful experience. But if we consider, you know, what you know, we have the we’ve collected the karma to reborn as as a hell being a hungry ghost and as animal, and and we’re going to experience these various sufferings. Now who can protect us from these sufferings?
What is an infallible refuge, protection from these sufferings? It is the Three Jewels. So whatever suffering, whatever troubles we have, we have to become convinced, we have to cultivate the conviction and faith that it is the Three Jewels which can help us out in our difficulties. The Three Jewels of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, the spiritual community. So we want from the depths of our heart to go for refuge to the infallible Three Jewels.
Now we have to develop the what are the causes for going for refuge? The causes for going for refuge are fear of suffering and faith that the Three Jewels have the ability to protect us from suffering. In order to develop the mind which seeks, which goes for refuge, we meditate on the various sufferings of the bad migrations, the sufferings of hell beings, the sufferings of hungry ghosts, the sufferings of animals. In this way, we develop a fear of these sufferings, and the mind will seek a refuge. Now what are the causes, you know, the causes for taking rebirth in these various bad migrations?
For example, the cause of taking rebirth in the hell realms is hatred. The cause of taking rebirth as a hungry ghost is desire and miserliness. The cause for taking rebirth as an animal is delusion. So if we don’t have these causes in our mind, then we have no problems. But if you do have these causes in your own mind, then we can expect that we are eventually going to ripen, we are going to experience the results of these causes which are present in our mind.
Therefore, seeing that we have the causes in our mind, it serves as a base for developing fear of the eventual results. So if someone if a man murdered, he killed another man, and he was sent to prison, And in the prison, he was he was going to be executed. During this period, when he was waiting for his execution, it would be extremely difficult for him to enjoy anything. If they showed a movie in the prison or something like that, it would be extremely difficult for him to enjoy any of the pleasures around him while he’s awaiting results of his negative action. So the consequences of such things as anger, For example, killing a person or killing insects or stealing such things is being reborn in hell, and therefore the sufferings of hell.
So we have to it’s definite that if we don’t practice, that we have accumulated the negative actions for being reborn in a bad migration. And if we don’t practice, then it’s definite that we’re going to be born in a bad migration. But if even though we have the but if if we practice the Dharma and we practice it purely, then then there’s no way that we can be born in a bad migration. So there there is a story of of the Buddha in previous lives when he was born in hell. Though the the these great beings such as the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas have actually experienced hell, because they no longer have the karmas to be reborn there, they have no fear of the sufferings of hell.
So thinking of the bad migrations and considering the various sufferings that we’re going to experience there, we have to So we to develop the conviction that the Three Jewels are able to protect us from the various general sufferings and also the particular sufferings of the bad migrations. So if we were to think that, well, the Buddha can protect us from our suffering, why is there suffering in hell? Why am I experiencing suffering? The reason that the beings undergo suffering is because they haven’t taken from the depths of their heart refuge. If from the depths of your heart you go for refuge to the Three Jewels, you will not be reborn as a hell being or a hungry ghost or as an animal.
So we have to know the nature of the object of refuge. So in order to understand the nature of the object of refuge and understanding the nature of cyclic existence, we have to understand the suffering and cyclic existence, and we have to the refuge has to be able to liberate us, free us from all suffering. I made a mistake. The objects of refuge themselves must be free from fear. The objects of refuge themselves must be free of fear.
The. He must be able to he must be skilled in the in the means of freeing others from their fear. He brings about the purpose of others whether they benefit him or not. He does not hold some beings close and others far, and others distant. He has equanimity.
So the ultimate refuge should have all these must have all these qualities complete. Many people take refuge in worldly gods, but such worldly gods are not able to protect them from the sufferings of being reborn in hell. They are not free from being reborn in hell themselves. For example, if there were two people tied up in this room, couldn’t help each other, untie each other. We would have to if you were tied up, you would have to rely on someone who wasn’t tied up himself, who was untied.
Likewise, when we’re bound up in suffering, we have to rely on someone who is not bound up in suffering in order to free us from our suffering. We shouldn’t think that We shouldn’t think that because we that something is able to free us from small sufferings, it is worthy of being a refuge. For example, when we go outside and the sun is shining very brightly, we put up an umbrella, and the umbrella protects us from the heat of the sun. Even though it protects us, it’s not really an ultimate refuge. Ultimate refuge must be able to completely eliminate all fear of suffering.
So the Buddha is extremely skillful skilled in the methods for freeing all sentient beings from their fear of suffering. There are many examples. For example, Angulimala. Angulimala. He, because of his negative karma, was creating extremely negative karma, extremely negative karma.
But through his skillful means, the Buddha was actually able to benefit him and he attained he became a foe destroyer. What was the cause of Angulimala committing such negative actions? It’s because in the beginning, he met a teacher with a wrong view. A misguided teacher, a wrong wrong a bad teacher. Bad teacher.
So in the beginning, Angulimala was a Brahmin. He was not a Buddhist. And his teacher had five hundred students. Amongst these five hundred students, Angulimala was the best one. He was the brightest.
And he made great effort. He had great power. And the teacher, he had a wife. And his wife was very attracted to Angulimala and wanted to be with him. And one day, someone else told the teacher about what was going on.
And so the following day, they all went together on a picnic to a park. So the in this park, was the park attendant. I guess a quick story.