Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 45-minute teaching, Lama Lhundup begins with the foundational logic of mind training: self-cherishing is the root cause of suffering, while cherishing others is the source of happiness. Using vivid analogies—a doctor diagnosing and treating illness, a parent’s kindness—he walks students through the causal chain from afflicted emotions to samsaric pain, then outlines the practical antidote: cultivating vast compassion grounded in recognizing all sentient beings as former mothers and understanding their infinite past kindness toward us. He then introduces the two-part meditation of giving and taking, explaining how to begin with one’s own future suffering, progress to loved ones and enemies, and eventually embrace all beings throughout space. The instruction culminates in exchanging one’s merit and roots of virtue, offered as white light for others’ happiness, while absorbing their suffering as black light. Suited for practitioners ready to engage structured Mahāyāna practice and meditation techniques.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 05 7FMT.mp3
UUID: 8bae7681-143c-4150-a44b-8724885c2cdd
Teacher: Lama Lhundup
Collection: Seven-fold mind training (Lama Lhundup)
Date: 1987 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.2 minutes
Words: ~2,725
In the beginning we should adjust our motivation to develop the motivation of the great vehicle, the Mahāyāna, whereby we are going to listen to these teachings in order to establish all sentient beings in perfect complete enlightenment in Buddhahood. So, in the midst of our own and other suffering that we presently experience, what is the cause of this unwanted suffering? The cause of this suffering is self-cherishing. And what is the cause of the happiness that we desire? This is cherishing others.
By benefiting others through the attitude of altruism, we will find the happiness that we desire. So, our present minds, it’s just these thoughts of self-cherishing which express themselves and thinking, I’m good, I’m important, my happiness, I want happiness. So these are all these various thoughts that arise in our mind from, you know, wanting happiness, wanting, liking, infatuation with happiness arise from attachment. So in dependence upon being motivated by the power of attachment, we engage in various activities of body, speech, mind in doing so create negative actions, negative karma. So, in dependence upon those various negative actions that we create there arises all the varieties of suffering that we experience.
So but we don’t want suffering. We don’t want suffering, do we? So if we don’t want suffering then we have to get rid of its cause. We have to abandon the cause of suffering. So until we actually get rid of the cause, even though we don’t want to suffer, we’re going to continue to suffer.
So, it’s just like if we were sick, you know, and there’s not enough just simply not wanting to be sick. That’s not going to get rid of our sickness, just wanting not to be sick. We have to investigate what are the causes, what are the conditions which are bringing about this sickness. So perhaps we go to a doctor and he examines us and he determines exactly what is the cause of our illness. And he perhaps, he says, Well, you know, it’s your diet.
He says, You shouldn’t eat food that you eat. You should stop eating maybe, stop eating eggs and meat or something like this. And then when we understand the cause of illness, then of course we’re going to stop creating the cause. In this case we’ll stop eating eggs and meat because we don’t want to experience the suffering of the illness. Likewise, we have to come to an understanding of what are the causes of our suffering.
And once we understand what are the causes, then we will naturally cease creating the causes. So to continue with the sickness, you know, we want to know what the cause of our particular sickness is, and we learn that it’s some type of food that we’re eating. So if we simply stop eating the food and then stop for a while but then we begin to eat it again, then perhaps we’re going to get sick again and perhaps our sickness will actually become worse. So we have to know what are the causes and conditions and we have to perhaps even take medicine. Likewise, if we don’t take the medicine, then we’re not going to be cured.
So in order to get rid of our illness, have to take some kind of medicine. So, the cause of our suffering are the various afflicted emotions. And the root of our afflicted emotions is self-cherishing. By understanding this, by knowing this, we should practice a method to reverse this tendency, this attitude of self-cherishing. And this method is the practice of Dharma.
So in order to reverse this self-cherishing, to get rid of this self-cherishing, have to cultivate the mind of enlightenment. So, in order to generate this mind of enlightenment, develop the mind of enlightenment, it’s not going to come about by itself doing any old thing. We have to develop a compassion which is unable to bear the suffering of others. So we have to cultivate great compassion. Just this is we can experience for ourselves that these and what kind of suffering, how much pain there is when we have a stomachache or we have a headache.
All sentient beings are all sentient beings are likewise experienced, all types of various sufferings. Others are experiencing the same sufferings of sicknesses that we experience. The suffering, all the sufferings that we ourselves experience, all other sentient beings are also experiencing. We can see this for ourselves. We can hear about the sufferings of others.
So seeing this and hearing about this, have to from the depths of our heart seek to develop the aspiration to eliminate the sufferings of others and to seek to always try to develop the methods whereby we can eliminate the sufferings of others. So all the various sufferings that sentient beings are are tortured by, these are all unwanted suffering. No one wants to suffer. They don’t know the method whereby to get rid of, to destroy this unwanted suffering. But even though they don’t know the method to how whereby to eliminate their suffering, if they make effort, through effort they can cultivate the method to eliminate their suffering.
They don’t want suffering. They want happiness. So, in order to find that happiness that they want, they have to think about what are the causes of happiness. So, each of these people have their own ideas of how to bring about their happiness. Some of them have they think they can bring about their happiness by, for example, stealing.
So all these people are engaging in various methods to find happiness. You know, some of them might even be thieves. Some of them in their business transactions they lie and they have to lie in order to operate their business successfully. So they’re doing all this because they think these are methods to find happiness. So, you know, all the various nations that produce the weapons, that produce all the atomic bombs, they’re doing this out of profit in order to create happiness.
But are these really methods for finding happiness? Actuality, they aren’t methods for finding happiness. Why? Because these various methods bring harm to sentient beings. So in bringing harm to other sentient beings, there’s no way we’re going to bring happiness to ourselves.
So, even in one home within a family, someone were to harm the child, to hurt the child in some way, it creates a situation where oneself is temporarily or presently harmed and is not happy, but also the child is unhappy. So, not only in this world do sentient beings want happiness, but in all the various worlds of all the sentient beings throughout equal to space, sentient beings only want happiness. They only want happiness, but they don’t know what are the causes of happiness. Without knowing the causes of happiness, you know, even though we we go through a great deal of difficulty. So all these various works only become a cause for suffering.
So there are infinite there are infinite number infinite number of sentient beings who are experiencing endless suffering. So we have to think about what is the method whereby to eliminate the suffering that torture that tortures sentient beings. So, you know, we have to consider the fact that I don’t have the method. I the the the the suffering that we have to think that that all these sufferings of the sentient being, I must I must eliminate their suffering. No.
They don’t want suffering. They don’t they don’t know the method. They don’t understand the method for eliminating their suffering. We should think that, you know, I I understand a little bit even roughly some some some method for if I I can eliminate my own suffering. Right.
So through through our own practice, we we come to We know the way to eliminate suffering. So we have to definitely even though we only know a little, make use of the little that we know in order to assist and aid others to eliminate their suffering. We have to help others. We have to develop this this courage, this enthusiasm. So on one hand, all sentient beings have have been have shown us great kindness from beginning this time.
Sentient beings are are always only benefiting us. You know? We can’t there isn’t one sentient being who has not not benefited benefited us, who has not been greatly shown us great kindness. So the very fact that we have this human body is through the kindness of others. So the very the clothes that we wear, the delicious food that we eat is all through the kindness of sentient beings.
So the fact that we have this body, that we have this body through the kindness of sentient beings because this body arose through the creating merit. So this this merit takes the form of practicing ethics, and this ethics is the abandoning harming others. Mhmm. Therefore, if others didn’t exist, we couldn’t abandon hurting others and we couldn’t practice ethics. Likewise, the good food that we have arises through the generosity of giving to others.
If we didn’t have others, they wouldn’t be an object of our generosity. So all the happiness that arises comes about only through the kindness of others. So considering the the how kind all sentient beings are to us, and the fact is that that that they’re being continually tortured by suffering, if we do not help them, then we should be ashamed of ourselves. So, you know, in remembering the kindness of sentient beings, not only are they all sentient beings kind to us, but they have they have all They They have all been all sentient beings have been a mother. There’s not one sentient we cannot find one sentient being who has not been a mother.
We can just think about the fact of how great is the kindness of our mother of this life. And just as the in the same way that in the same kindness that our mother of this life has shown us, each and every sentient being has shown us that same kindness in the past. And not only, you know, each each every each and every sentient being has been as kind as our mother has shown us kindness in this life, but not only that, they have shown us the same kindness as our father, as our relatives. There’s no limit to the kindness that sentient beings have shown us in the past. So we can great the kindness of sentient beings is.
It’s really great kindness, isn’t it? So now we have this precious human body. And we know what is to practice and what is to be having through the Dharma. So we shouldn’t simply we have to make we have to try to make employ the methods of bringing happiness, eliminating the sufferings of others, not be attached to our own happiness, not to simply try to free ourselves from cyclic existence and not try to be concerned only with this life. So we have to make effort in the methods of eliminating the suffering of others.
So therefore we should cultivate the compassion which in seeing the great kindness of all sentient beings and seeing that they’re tortured by suffering and how they’ve been in the past having been kind to others and now they’re presently suffering, and we developed a mind which seeks to separate them from their suffering. So then likewise, the sentient beings are not only being tortured by suffering but they don’t have the happiness that they want. So seeing that they don’t have the happiness that they want, and thinks I will bring them the happiness that they want, I will join them in happiness and meditate on love. So it’s not really sufficient to simply wish, develop the wish that sentient beings that be be separated from their suffering or that I will separate them from their suffering or that they have happiness, that I will bring them happiness. We have to make efforts in actual methods, in methods to actually bring this about.
So it’s just merely thinking that, you know, I will bring I will happiness is not enough and not sufficient. So we have to make effort in methods where we can actually eliminate the suffering, separate them from the suffering. So, we’re motivated by the compassion which seeks to separate sentient beings from their suffering. So, you know, we should think- thinking about the suffering of all sentient beings, thinking about the suffering of our mother, our father, all our relatives, and not- Thinking about the suffering of our mother, our father, our relatives, but not only them, but also all sentient beings, even our enemies. We imagine them in front of us and we consider how they’re being tortured by suffering.
And we take on their suffering in the form of black light. All this suffering comes in the form of black light and dissolves into our body, in our heart. It dissolves into our heart. So as we’ve we’ve we’ve already explained this before. So there are two methods.
This is this practice called giving and taking. There are two methods there are two methods to to meditate giving and taking. So some people when they take on the sufferings of others they don’t like it, their mind becomes upset. So if this is the case where you become upset then you can begin by taking your own suffering on yourself. So, no matter you can employ both of these methods.
Whoever meditates can employ both of these methods. In this first case you begin by taking on your own sufferings in the sense that you imagine what kind of suffering could happen to you this afternoon. And you imagine that and take that suffering upon yourself now. And what types of suffering could happen to you this week, and you take that suffering upon yourself now, and then this month, and this year, taking on your own future suffering upon yourself now? And then having taken your own future sufferings upon yourself.
So when you’ve trained well in this practice of taking your own sufferings upon yourself, then you can begin to take on the sufferings of your mother. And then the sufferings of your father. And all your loved ones? And then strangers, neutral people? And then the people you dislike, your enemies?
Take on the suffering of the people in your country, and then finally, all the the suffering of of all sentient beings. This is a way of training the mind. You know, we don’t have to begin with our own suffering. You can begin with your mother suffering and father, whoever your father is suffering as it works for you. So, you know, we can take on the sufferings of of the various countries.
For example, take on the sufferings of all all the sentient beings in Australia and then go throughout the world taking on the sufferings of the various countries in the world, and then take on the sufferings of the entire world, and then take on the sufferings of the various four continents. And finally, all the sufferings throughout space. So it would be extremely good if whenever you see a person in trouble, the person is suffering, to develop a compassion for this person, taking care of this person as your mother, and practice taking on this suffering. Likewise, we practice giving in the sense that we give over all our roots of virtue throughout the three times. All our merit, we give these in the form of happiness, that we’re bringing happiness to all these sentient beings, a great happiness.
And so this goes out So it goes out in form of having aspect of this happiness, this great happiness that we’re giving away. It goes out in the form of white light and dissolves in all the sentient beings and we’re giving them great happiness. So then we think then we should think that now all sentient beings are separated from suffering and now they all have an ultimate happiness. Thinking in this way, we should cultivate great joy.