Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 23-minute session on the Graduated Path, Lama Lhundup introduces the practical framework of the ten virtuous and non-virtuous actions, using a vivid opening example of killing a mosquito in anger. He explains the four essential factors that must be present for any action—virtuous or not—to have full karmic weight: basis, intention, conduct, and completion. He clarifies that a genuine Dharma practitioner is not defined by robes or sitting posture, but by consciously recognising and abandoning negative actions while cultivating positive ones. He addresses how negative actions accumulate exponentially if unconfessed, doubling in potency each day, and fields a practical question about killing insects that enter the home, advising that intention to kill creates the cause for rebirth in difficult circumstances, whereas sparing a life creates the cause for a happy rebirth. The teaching closes with a rapid review of the foundational topics: precious human rebirth, impermanence and death, bad migrations, refuge, and karma.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 05 GP.mp3
UUID: 5fd9f760-e9e7-4750-958d-2fe4b966b4e8
Teacher: Lama Lhundup
Collection: The Graduated Path (Lama Lhundup)
Date: 1987 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 23.1 minutes
Words: ~980
If a mosquito bit us out of anger we go to hit it, to kill it, and then we should, through the force of awareness and mindfulness of this action, we can understand this action of killing has a result of being born in hell. Therefore, thinking and becoming aware of this, then we will abandon this action of killing. And this is a positive action of abandoning the ten non virtuous actions and practicing the ten virtuous actions. So, the various ten non virtuous actions that we’ve explained, the opposite, the reverse of those are the ten virtuous actions. In order to actually practice, in order to engage in either any of the ten virtuous actions or the ten non virtuous actions, there must be four factors.
There must be the basis, the intention, the conduct, and the completion. Since these factors must be present to practice any of these, For example, merely not engaging in a non virtuous action is not the practice of the virtuous action. There must be the motivation to engage in a particular non virtuous action, and abandoning that action is the practice of the virtuous action. So, for example, just sitting here, we aren’t practicing the abandonment of killing. There has to be these four factors, And then turning away from that, we abandon we abandon that.
And then we practice the virtue of non killing, abandoning killing. So we know what is a who is a Dharma practitioner? Who is actually practicing Dharma? It’s not somebody who just sits very straight sits around very straight. It’s somebody who’s practicing Dharma.
Even if someone wears monk’s robes, it’s not necessarily a Dharma practitioner. It’s someone who actually recognizing the ten virtuous actions, the ten non virtuous actions, and practices accordingly. Someone who recognizes the ten virtues from the ten non virtuous actions and engages in their practice and abandonment. So whoever engages in such a practice Whoever engages in such practice, whether they’re a layperson or whether they’re a monk, if they engage in such a practice, then they are Dharma practitioners. If they don’t engage in such a practice, then no matter whether they are monks, they have monks’ clothing or not, they are not Dharma practitioners.
So we should again and again think about these four factors of karma that we’ve spoken about again and again think about them. And if we think in this way, then we will there will arise the determination to that even the slightest we will abandon even the slightest negative action and try to engage in even insignificant, virtuous actions. So, why is it we don’t practice the Dharma? We don’t practice much. Because we aren’t mindful of two things.
One, we aren’t mindful of death, and we aren’t mindful of rebirth and a bad migration. If mindful of these two, mindful of death and mindful of bad migrations, then we’re going to be mindful of abandoning negative actions and cultivating positive actions. In dependence upon that, that we will develop faith in the Buddha. You have a question? You have questions?
You wanna know about this anger? If you create a positive action, the anger will destroy the effect of the positive action. And in the case of negative action, these are increasing or augmenting each day. For example, if you kill a mosquito and if you allow it to continue, then the next day it’s as if you kill two mosquitoes, the next day it’s as if you kill four mosquitoes, and it keeps the effect of the action. It keeps increasing the potential.
After fifteen days, it’s as if you killed ten million mosquitoes. Ten thousand. Ten thousand. Ten thousand mosquitoes. If you don’t confess your negative actions, then they’re they’re they’re going to keep on increasing.
Likewise, for positive actions that you’ve created, if you don’t generate anger or a wrong view, there also will increase in the same way. Regard to killing, this is one thing I’ve got problem with millipedes. I’ve got hundreds of millipedes that come into my house, and I wonder they’re all gonna die there anyway once they get inside out of the nature. I wonder if, you know, I go around with a vacuum cleaner or a broom or whatever, and I’m killing them. And I’m thinking while I’m doing that whether it’s you know?
So it’s a sentient being, so it’s not okay. What about when protecting your own life? What is that there there must be some method whereby you can get rid of this without killing it. But should also think, you know, if motivated to kill it, then this action will Then this is when you’re going to have a lot of so you’re going to have many this will create difficulty for you in future life. On the other hand, if we die from having Now, on the other hand, if we don’t kill this insect, thinking that if we kill the insect, it’s going to create the cause to be born in bad migration.
Allowing ourselves to be killed by this insect, we’re not going to create the cause to be born in bad migration. In fact, being aware of this, it will create the cause to be born in a happy migration, to abandon the thought of killing it. So are you going to later on, are you going to kill insects? Alright. So we should We’ve roughly gone through the precious human rebirth, possessing leisure and fortune, impermanence and death, bad migrations, refuge, and law of cause and effect.
So just go through these roughly and try to So, you know, whatever you have heard to go through very roughly, and whatever you can think about, what you have heard, and we’ll meditate on that. Are you remembering this? I did remember. Alright.