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 introduces the foundational framework of Buddhist practice: examining how suffering arises from our minds, our afflictive emotions, and negative actions accumulated over beginningless time. He asks listeners to reflect on how often destructive states like desire, hatred, and delusion drive their behaviour, and to consider whether they can bear the consequences their actions are creating. He then turns to the concept of refuge, explaining why the Three Jewels—Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha—are the only infallible sources of protection. The Buddha’s worthiness as a refuge is established through four qualities: freedom from all fear, skill in liberating others, universal compassion, and tireless work for all beings’ benefit. Lama Lhundup illustrates these with stories of Devadatta and Angulimala, then elaborates on the Buddha’s enlightened qualities—the thirty-two major and eighty minor marks of the body, the sixty aspects of perfect speech, and the mind possessing exalted knowledge, love, and power. Suited to newcomers beginning a study of the Lamrim path.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 GP.mp3
UUID: 64448289-a0ad-4320-ad01-574174b70818
Teacher: Lama Lhundup
Collection: The Graduated Path (Lama Lhundup)
Date: 1987 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.5 minutes
Words: ~2,511
So now we are trying to engage and trying to understand how to practice. Every day we experience a variety of different types of suffering. And what do these various sufferings that we experience and how do they arise and what do they depend? They arise in dependence upon our way of thinking, our outlook or attitudes. Therefore, the happiness that we’re seeking and the suffering that we we wish to avoid all arise dependent upon our own minds.
Therefore, in order to find the happiness that we want and to avoid the suffering that we don’t want, we have to subdue our mind. We have to gain control over our minds. In order to do that, we engage in practicing, putting into practice positive actions. As our positive actions increase, then the happiness that we want will increase. And likewise, in order to avoid the suffering that we don’t want, then we have to begin to abandon negative actions.
As we decrease the number of our negative actions, our suffering will decrease until ultimately we will find ultimate happiness. So we should consider from where our negative actions are coming from, What is the source of our negative actions? The negative actions have been arising from the beginning of beginningless time. Not only now, but from the beginning of beginningless time we have collected negative actions through the power of the afflictive emotions such as desire, hatred, and delusion. If we look at our mind each day, every day, how often do such negative states of mind arise, and therefore, to what extent do we engage in negative action under their influence?
So every day we’re collecting these negative actions through the influence of the desire, hatred, and delusion. And we’re going to die. Upon our death, One day we’re going to die. At that time, these negative actions that we have built up are going to cause us problems. So now we experience unwanted sufferings.
These sufferings arise the word is just coming, they’re adventitious. They’re just arising when certain conditions come together, they arise, as if just coming adventitiously, spontaneously. We can’t even bear minor sufferings. How can we bear the unimaginable sufferings that we are creating the causes for? So, we can’t even we can’t bear even small sufferings.
How can we bear any type of greater suffering than the minor sufferings that we experience now? For example, you know, we get a little cold weather and we have to have the heater on. We can’t What would we do if we had to experience even colder weather than what’s going on now? And likewise, when a little bit of hot weather comes, we immediately have to turn on the fans. What are we going to do when we experience hotter weather than we experience now?
Now we have this human body, is a product or the fruit of positive actions that we’ve created. Due to having taken such a type of body, we can experience most of our experiences on the pleasurable side. But what are we going to do when all these negative actions that we’ve been accumulating act as a fruit, where we take a type of body where we will only experience suffering as that type of body which acts as a base for only the predominantly suffering experiences. So we should think within our own minds, try to examine what type of actions do I usually engage in, what actions are motivated by such afflictive emotions, such as desire or hatred. In this way, thinking this way, examining what type of actions that we are engaging in, then think, you know, Will I be able to bear the effects?
Will I be able to bear the experience of the effects of such types of negative actions? We are very much like a small child who goes out into a crowded place without his parents, and he experiences a great deal of fear, and he’s alone and he’s afraid, and he needs someone to help him, someone to assist him, like his parents, for example. Likewise, in the future, we experience we have the same fear that is and we experience a fear of future sufferings, and therefore we have to look to see if there is anyone who has the power to eliminate this fear. So when we consider the possibility of our future for suffering, then there should arise some type of fear of this possibility, and therefore we should seek some kind of protection or some refuge against this fear. We shouldn’t just take anyone as a source of refuge, but we should take an infallible type of refuge.
So therefore, if we don’t mind suffering, if it doesn’t matter whether we suffer or not, then of course we don’t have any problems. But if we don’t want to suffer, then we should take refuge from the depths of our hearts to the Three Jewels. So therefore, if we go for refuge to the Three Jewels from the depths of our heart, then it’s definite that they will be able to eliminate this fear of our future suffering. That is, the Buddha has the ability to eliminate any fear of our future sufferings. It has that power.
So the object of our refuge, there are three. There’s the Three Jewels, the Buddha jewel, the Dharma jewel, and the jewel of the spiritual community. We want to be completely free from all our fears and our sufferings, and such objects of refuge as worldly gods, even the hearers, solitary realizers, do not have the power to completely eliminate our fears and suffering. But it is the Three Jewels which have such an ability or power. So the Buddha is a is a worthy for So the Three Jewels are infallible and ultimate refuges, and therefore are worthy of going for refuge too, are reliable sources of refuge.
So, order to be liberated from the cyclic existence, we have to rely on a fully qualified source of refuge. Just any type of refuge will not be of benefit to us. So why the Sangha, the Könchog? So what is the worthy or reliable source of refuge? What do we mean by fully qualified source of refuge?
With respect to the Buddha, they said that he is a worthy source of refuge because he has four qualities. The first quality is that he himself is free from all fears. The second is that he is skilled in the means whereby he can free others from their fears. The third is that he has compassion for all, a type of compassion which does not hold some close and others distant. And then the fourth quality is that he seeks to He works for the benefit of all, whether they, from their side, benefit him or not.
So the first of these four qualities which make the Buddha jewel a worthy source of refuge was that he himself is free of all fears. Someone who is not free of all fears cannot help us to be free of our fears. It’s like if two people are drowning in a river, Since they are both drowning, they really can’t save each other from drowning. They are both in the same situation. So the Buddha is free from all types of fears.
There’s many cases where in the past where he showed his fearlessness in the case of Devadhatta, where Devadhatta was constantly trying to cause him harm, he was unable to. And the Buddha never showed any fear in relationship with Devadhatta. Now, is the basis for this? What is the cause whereby no one was able to harm him? It’s in fact that once one has destroyed the inner enemy within oneself, that is the afflictive emotions, then nothing outside of yourself can harm you.
So there were they said there are accounts when the Buddha actually when he was given food in which there had been poison put in the food, and he said that, you know, this poison can’t hurt me because since I have abandoned the inner poisons, the three poisons of desire, hatred, and ignorance, then the external poisons there’s no condition whereby these external poisons can harm me. So, the second quality was that in order to be a fully qualified source of refuge, one must be skilled in the means whereby you can free others from you must be skilled in means to be able to free others from their fears. So, there’s an account where the Buddha was able to pacify, to bring under the control one person named Angulimala. There’s this account. So he was able to subdue him.
So the third quality that’s necessary was having compassion which seeks to benefit all without holding some near and others distant. It is said that the Buddha not only helps those who does not make a distinction between those who are close and those who are distant, but But in fact, even helps those who hurt him, he would even try seeks to benefit his enemies. So there’s an account where There was a person named Devadatta who was constantly trying to harm the Buddha. He was always trying to hurt the Buddha. And one day Devadatta became ill and was sick.
The Buddha came to him and he was just And Devadatta was just about to die, and the Buddha gave him some medicine, and he said, So, Devadatta was always competing with the Buddha, and he said that there was this very powerful medicine. He said, I can take as much medicine as much as the Buddha can. And so he took thirty two pills of his medicine, and he was almost about to die. So, Buddha came to know that Devadatta was on the threshold of his death through the power of his clairvoyance, and he came to Devadatta and said, he laid his hand on Devadatta’s head and he said, If there is no difference in how I feel towards you as compared to my own son, may you become well. And through the power of that Devadatta became well.
So, you know, the Buddha said to be not like us, who we only help, you know, people who help us, we only help important people. He said that, you know, whether a person benefits him or not, whoever the person is, that he works for the benefit of all. So, there’s also accounts where the Buddha actually, he would wash the bodies of sick monks. So, whoever needed benefit, he was quite Whoever didn’t have any helper, he would help them. So, this ability all came through the development of his great compassion, which he developed over three countless eons.
So, considering the great love and the great compassion of the Buddha, from our side that we should have no doubts and that we should develop faith in the Buddha that he has this ability to act as a source of refuge. Through the power of this faith in the Buddha, we can eliminate all our fears. So these are the reasons why the Buddha is a worthy source of refuge. So these are the four reasons why the Buddha is a worthy source of refuge. So except for the Buddha, there are no types of, for example, worldly gods who are worthy of refuge.
They are not worthy of refuge, not reliable refuges. So, what is the way we actually develop faith in the objects of refuge? It’s by considering the excellent qualities of the objects of refuge. So we consider the excellent qualities of the Buddha’s body, speech, mind, and enlightened actions. So the excellent qualities of the Buddha’s body, he has the complete set of the thirty two major and eighty minor marks.
So they said that the Buddha has thirty two major and eighty minor marks. These thirty two, what are called the major marks are the qualities of fully possessed by a holy being, holy person, Könchog, a holy being. Whereas the eighty minor marks are the signs which express that this person possesses these major marks. There’s the outward signs. They’re called the minor marks.
There’s eighty of these outward signs which express these thirty two qualities of a holy being. So, the Buddha’s body has the quality. Whoever sees it always has a pleasing appearance. No one who can look at it and think that it’s any way displeasing. All the parts of the body, the flesh and the skin and the bones are all pure.
There’s no impurity whatsoever. So, his various parts of his body, his hands, his head, etc, are all able to radiate emanations which work for the benefit of sentient beings. So the Buddhist speech is said to have sixty limbs or sixty parts. So, it has many great qualities. His speech, the Buddha’s speech is said to be pleasing, beautiful to listen to.
So, it induces as a quality of inducing faith as inspiration, in other words. Charisma. So even one word of the Buddha can satisfy tens of thousands of students in whatever language they may speak. So, it’s able to satisfy any needs, any wants that they may have in their mind, his words can satisfy each of their particular needs in the way of teaching. So even if a countless number of students were to ask him questions at the same time, then his answer would eliminate all their doubts and answer all their questions.
Even one word. This is the power of the Buddha’s speech. Our speech doesn’t have this power or ability. So, the Buddha’s mind has said to have three qualities. It has the exalted knowledge, love, and power.
So, in general, the exalted knowledge of the Buddha is innumerable, cannot be enumerated. So, His exalted knowledge has such qualities as the ten powers, etcetera, but we cannot enumerate the qualities of his exalted knowledge. So, he is able to, at the same moment, have a direct perception of both the conventional truth and ultimate truth. So with one mind, with one consciousness, perceiving both the conventional truth and ultimate truth simultaneously. Having this direct perception.
So any being, any non-Buddha, any sentient being, cannot perceive directly both the conventional truth and the ultimate truth with only one consciousness is at the same time. Cannot realize these two truths simultaneously.
So, we have a great deal of love for ourselves. So, the greatest love that we have is love we have for ourselves. But the Buddha’s love for each of us, hundreds of thousands of times greater than the love that we have for our own self. The love we have for ourselves is not even a part of the love which the Buddha has for us. So, we couldn’t even be included in even a part of the great love that the Buddha has for each of us.
So even though we have great love for ourselves, sometimes we