Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this nine-minute talk recorded in 1987, Lama Lhundup uses the example of Tsongkhapa to explore why spiritual practitioners sometimes benefit others more through private retreat than public teaching. He recounts how Mañjuśrī advised the great master to enter isolation to purify negative karma and develop merit, even though Tsongkhapa had thousands of students. Tsongkhapa obeyed immediately. Lama Lhundup then applies this principle to ordinary practitioners: our capacity to help others is severely limited if we have not personally eliminated our own afflictive emotions through practice. The real enemy, he argues, is not external but the mental poisons within. To teach others the methods for liberation, we must first taste them ourselves.
File metadata (for organising)
File: lama-lhundup-towards-kindness-and-insights-08-tk-and-i
Teacher: Lama Lhundup
Collection: Towards kindness and insights (Lama Lhundup)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Words: ~296
So even even the the great master, Tsongkhapa, who give he used to teach thousands of, great scholars. His, advised him to go into isolation in order to correct merit and purify his negative karmas. Advised, know, if you do this, then you’re going to be of great benefit to others. Omopah said to Mañjuśrī To Mañjuśrī. Yeah.
Said to Mañjuśrī, but, you know, if he goes off into isolation, you know, all he’s got thousands of students that if he could be benefiting rather than go off in isolation. And said, you know, you really don’t know what you’re talking about. And they do not. You don’t know. I know I know what is know what is really beneficial or not.
And and it would be more beneficial if Tsongkhapa went into isolation for a while, and Tsongkhapa immediately went into retreat. So, you know, as ordinary people, we we as as very limited how much we can benefit others. You know, the best way The real enemy is the afflictive emotions. In order to help others, we have to teach them the methods to eliminate the afflictive emotions in their mind. But if we haven’t ourselves eliminated the afflictive emotions, then we really haven’t experienced the methods.
Order to and therefore, our ability to help others is very limited.