Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 83-minute teaching, Lama Ribur Rinpoche introduces the profound practice of equalizing and exchanging self with others, the cornerstone of bodhicitta (awakening mind) drawn from the lineage of Mañjuśrī through Śāntideva. He begins with Atisha’s foundational insight: life is short, what must be learned is vast, so practitioners must extract the essence of all teachings—which distills to bodhicitta practice alone. Rinpoche then outlines the nine-step meditation approach to equalizing self and others, opening with analytical techniques: recognizing that like you, all beings refuse suffering and seek happiness equally; that you are one while others are countless, making their welfare quantitatively weightier; that all beings share identical impermanent, suffering natures regardless of whether you label them friend, enemy, or stranger. He walks through practical preparation—the merit field visualization, guru devotion, the nectar-rain blessing—before settling into the meditation itself. He emphasizes the mind’s difficulty in grasping this equality and prescribes repeated analytical approaches from different angles until genuine transformation occurs. Aimed at serious practitioners ready to work with the deepest layers of self-deception.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01Exchanging Self (1).mp3
UUID: 6c753855-b94b-4639-86ca-4445390b5785
Teacher: Lama Ribur Rinpoche
Collection: Exchanging for others (Lama Ribur Rinpoche)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 83.1 minutes
Words: ~5,796
Yeah. Not getting. So the occasion of today has been initiated by the request of the most venerable fully ordained nun from New Mexico. Sorry. I forgot your name.
Chuy. Chuy. Chuy. Chuy. Chuy.
And she requested initially the teachings on the instructions of equalizing and exchanging oneself with others. I thought maybe it would be nice to give a general talk on how to meditate on these instructions. Can you all hear well? Yes. Yeah.
Okay. Long. And the the Chinese prince as well? Yes. Okay.
So we begin with quoting the most precious one the most precious one, the great pundit of Nālānda Atisha. And the great pundit once said, our life is so short, and what we need to learn is so vast. In general, the object of knowledge, the knowledge that needs to be acquired is so vast, but particularly the knowledge concerning the teachings given by the founder, by our teacher, Buddha Śākyamūni, eighty four thousand they’re called the eighty four thousand heaps of Dharma are so vast. And comparing although theoretically we should be able to learn them all, practically speaking, if we compare the amount of knowledge that we need to acquire with the lifespan that we have that is so short, it is impossible. Therefore, the question arise, what should I really learn?
What should I really get into my knowledge? So this is actually a very crucial question that we should pose to ourself because our life is really short. It’s really short. Why the whatever needs to be learned and practiced, it appears to be so vast, as vast as the the sky, the space. Therefore, we should on the basis of questioning questioning ourself, what should I learn?
What should I practice? We get down to the point that we should learn something that amounts to the very essence of all the object of knowledge that we need to learn and practice, particularly of the teachings of Buddha, in short. We need to practice the very essence of the teachings. And and the very No. No.
So therefore therefore, the very we need to understand what is the very essence of all the teachings given by Buddha Śākyamūni. Something that is in common is the essential points of practice, in common with sutras and the tantras. So that by just practicing that, by the way, we will get them all. The great, precious, the most precious one, Atisha, said, therefore, with the with the teachings of Buddha Śākyamūni, you should you should practice in a way like churning the milk to get butter in the same way you should churn the teachings of Buddha Śākyamūni in order to get its very essence. And therefore, even the great bodhisattva, Śāntideva, quote the same verse of the similarity of churning the milk to extract this very essence that is the butter.
So in the same way, by churning the teachings, the entire corpus of the teachings of Buddha Śākyamūni, the eighty four thousand heaps of teachings of Buddha Śākyamūni, what what we come up with, the very essential, like the butter for milk, butter for milk, the very essence of all these teachings is the practice of bodhicitta. There is not any other essential point but this. And as well as the very essential the very essential thought of the mighty one, the teacher, Buddha Śākyamūni, what what lies within the depth of the mind, of the mighty, exalted mind, of the mighty one to benefit all sentient beings. What is the very point that is beneficial for all sentient beings is just this. It’s bodhicitta.
And as for every teachings that you set forth to practice, you should you should be able to identify as the original source Buddha Śākyamūni itself, the mighty one, the teacher. So therefore, these teachings as well, the teachings regarding the profound instructions on the practice of bodhicitta were given first by Buddha Śākyamūni to its two closest spiritual sons, Mañjuśrī and Maitreya. And from these two two lineages two lineages of instructions stand forth, the the one that we call equalizing and exchanging oneself with others, and the seven techniques of cause and effect. And in in particularly, these these two instructions, the two lineages were passed through various great realized beings from the seven techniques of cause and effect. They stand for Buddha Śākyamūni, Maitreya, Asaṇga, and so forth, Candrakīrti, and and Sharawa and etcetera up to now.
And for equalizing and exchanging oneself with other from Mañjuśrī to Śāntideva and so forth up to now. So today, we are probably going to concentrate more on this set of instructions of equalizing and exchanging oneself with others. The point is whether you choose one particular set of instructions or the other, if you really meditate, whether you meditate on the seven techniques of cause and effect or equalizing and exchanging oneself with others, the bottom line is eventually, you will realize. And, traditionally, these two set of instructions are given separately. Like, traditionally, the seven techniques of cause and effect are explained and also exchanging oneself with others as two separate and equalizing oneself with others as two different sets of instructions and lineages, although there is a lineage that combines them both together in a single practice of eleven steps.
Originally, these instructions were being collected. Both of them were being collected again by the most precious one, the great pandit Atisha, who went on a very difficult journey from India on a boat to the land of gold, to the golden land, Serlimpa, that is actually Indonesia. I don’t know if you are familiar with the place in Indonesia that’s called Burubudur. There is a very ancient huge stupa there. So from Burubudur, it is probably well, for some some people identify place as the island of Java.
But, anyway, from Burubudur is a short trip nowadays. You can fly very easily there where Lama Serlimpa was. Well, for Atisha, it took it took him several long months on a very difficult journey. And once he arrived there, he received the instructions by from this lama who was their great realized, Bodhisattva, Lama Serlimpa. And he lived close by this lama receiving the instructions meditating probably for for twelve years some.
And until he actually realized bodhicitta on on the basis of both lineages. Later on, then he brought the both lineages back to India. In short, the great the most precious one, Atisha, saw the indispensable need of relying on these two lineages in order to generate bodhicitta. So that’s why it went so far as spending so much time in Indonesia with so many hard ships to get there to receive the instructions that we are going to receive today. Once Atisha, the most precious one, Atisha went back to India, then later went back to Tibet, he spread the practices of the practice of bodhicitta mostly on the basis of the seven techniques of cause and effect.
Later on, actually not almost right away, went to Tibet and he spent the rest of his life in Tibet spreading the teachings. He mostly taught for bodhicitta the seven techniques of cause and effect, in public. These were the only instructions he gave to for the generation of bodhicitta. While exchanging and equalizing oneself with others, he kept it very secret. And in fact, he gave it to only one of his of his so many disciples through he gave it only to Dromtönpa, Drom Rinpoche.
So one day, Drom Rinpoche inquired with the most precious one, Atisha, why the most precious one gives so publicly the seven techniques of cause and effect, while the instructions of exchanging and equalizing oneself with others. He’s giving it only to me. He was wondering why Atisha adopted this behavior. And Lama Atisha very simply replied, because I haven’t found anyone else but you who’s fit who’s fit to receive these instructions. This means that, I wouldn’t go as far as saying that it’s because are more profound, the instructions.
But for some reason, because it contains the particular technique of equalizing and exchanging oneself with others, that particular train of thought, that particular training requires a fit vessel. Otherwise otherwise, for the for the person who is not a fit vessel, whose mind isn’t fitted to receive the instructions, they might not be beneficial. So at that time, Atisha found only one that was his own closest disciple, Dromtön Rinpoche. So this was at the time of what we call the time of the Kadampa. At the time of the Kadampa, the instructions of equalizing and exchanging oneself with others were kept very secret.
And there is also there is actually an original reference in the Bodhisattvacharyavatara composed by Śāntideva who is the first to receive the instructions from Mañjuśrī of equalizing and exchanging oneself with others which advises on he advised on on practicing exchange, equalizing, and exchanging oneself with others in secret. And later on so that until the Kadampa Kadampa’s time, the instructions were kept very secret. Later on, due to the kindness of our gentle protector, Lama Tsongkhapa, then he combined he combined both instructions, the seven techniques and equalizing and exchanging oneself with others in one single in one single one of which comprises is comprised of eleven steps. So therefore, it looks like right now, we have we have if we want to generate, if we want to realize bodhicitta, you can rely on three methods. The seven techniques of cause and effect, equalizing, exchanging oneself with others, and the combined eleven steps.
So it looks like we have three sets of methods. So and today, as per the wish of the most venerable one from New Mexico, the instructions will be on equalizing and exchanging oneself with others. How fortunate we are how fortunate we are to be able to, just even for one day, to listen and to think about, the special instructions of bodhicitta of equalizing oneself, with others. When this request was offered to me, I I was it made me really happy. I was really pleased.
And thinking in this way, I think you yourself should be also very pleased and very happy to be able to receive this today. So now to the very extensive way of of the very extensive layout of the of the instructions of equalizing and exchanging oneself with others, it goes through nine steps that is good to have in mind once you actually sit and practice. So the first one is the first is equalizing oneself with others. So the second is reflecting on the disadvantages of self-cherishing thought. The third is reflecting on the advantages of cherishing others.
The fourth is the actual thought of exchanging oneself with other. The fifth is combine this with the practice of Tonglen, that is giving and taking. The sixth is in order to energize this practice, combine it with some special verses to recite. The seventh is combining the practice of Tonglen or taking and giving and taking by riding your breath. The seventh The eighth is the actual generation of the universal responsibility or what is called lhaksam that is sometimes also translated as special intention.
And as a result of this, the ninth is the actual mind of bodhicitta. Hope I didn’t mix it up. So now for the actual I I assume you are all interested into actually meditate. These are instructions for meditation. Therefore, I’m going to explain how you’re going to meditate on these instructions.
So first of all, when you meditate, when you have a particular subject and you engage into meditation, you have to understand there are two periods of your daily life for your meditation. That is the actual meditation session and the post meditation period. So now for that actual meditation session there are preparations and there is the actual meditation session. Preparation that you have to engage before you actually go into the very meditation. Now the best would be if you could go through the extensive six preparations of the meditation that is, first of all, cleaning with a particular set of mind, cleaning your meditation room and arranging arranging the representations of the exalted body, speech, and mind.
Then after that, arranging offerings up to your capacity, to your capability, offerings that are not stained with the two types of wrong ways of procuring offerings or making of wrong offer. So correct offerings. Then you sit on your meditation cushion and you adopt the correct meditation posture. The best would be that is called the seven point of Vairochana. Then on that basis, you generate the perfect motivation.
And within the correct frame motivation, frame of mind, you visualize the extensive or the way, the merit field. And on the merit field, you offer you take refuge, you generate bodhicitta, you offer the six you offer the seven limb prayers. And at the end of the seven limb, you engage in what is called the the special instructions the the requesting prayer, that is the special instructions for mixing the blessings of the lineage with one’s own continuum. Then at that point you are ready to enter into the meditation of the specific subject that you undertake. In this case, it’s bodhicitta.
So . Therefore, the ideally, you engage in the very extensive preparations. But if that is not possible, then what to do? Do it in this way. You just visualize all your kind gurus, the essence of all your kind gurus, in the aspect of Buddha Śākyamūni sitting on a lotus and a sun disk on the top of your crown, thinking that that is the very essence, the very nature of all your kind gurus and is the embodiment of all the object of refuge.
That means you have you have the type of attitude which identify whatever is Buddha is you, whatever is Dharma is you, whatever is Sangha is you. You are encompassing all the object of refuge. With this type of devotion, with this type of recognition that Buddha Śākyamūni, your guru Buddha Śākyamūni encompasses all the object of refuge, then you engage in a very abbreviated form of seven-limb offerings, the prayer the seven-limb prayers, such as prostration offering, confession, rejoice, requesting to give teachings, and requesting not to pass into Parinirvana and dedicating all the merits you have accumulated since beginning this time to enlightenment. And then at that point, you also offer a very short mandala offering like we normally do, and so forth, like Rinpoche just recited. Then at that point you set your mind really with intense yearning and devotion on on guru Buddha, guru Śākyamūni Buddha, the mighty one, on your crown.
Then at that point, again, ideally, even if you have even if you are doing short the very short way of preparation, then there is a set of very, very short request prayers that is found in the Lama Chöpa that is available both at Vajrapāni and the Land of Medicine Buddha, many of you are familiar with, in which you do that set of request requesting prayers on the guru on the top of your crown, first recognizing him as embodiment of the four exalted body, and so forth down to you are the very embodiment of all the object of refuge to you, my guru, I make request. So then, basically, you have to in this in at this moment, you have to, with with deep yearning and devotion, you have to make a request in this way, considering yourself and all sent and all the kind mothers, sentient beings. All the sentient beings who’ve been your kind mothers since beginning this time. So right now, may the precious the precious bodhicitta particularly particularly the the very thought of equalizing oneself with others and recognizing the disadvantages, the shortcomings of self-cherishing mind and the advantages, the qualities of cherishing others altruism made this very thought may develop right now in my mind and in the mind of all my mother sentient beings.
So in order for this for this to happen, please grant me all your blessings. So now when you as soon as you make you make this this intense request, now you should meditate in this way that from the exalted body of the mighty one, Guru Śākyamūni Buddha, on the top of your crown, an inconceivable stream of nectar and light of five color comes forth, pours in in your body, completely pervading your mind and all and the mind of all sentient beings, purifying all the negativities that you have accumulated since beginningless time with body, speech, and mind, particularly the type of wrong views, wrong conceptions that constitute an obstacle for you to equalize yourself with others, to recognize the faults of self-cherishing thought and the advantages of cherishing others. And you also think that by way of this purification, your body and the body of all sentient beings has become clean, clear, like a crystal, sparkling with light. And your whole system is filled up with this light and nectar of five color. And that as well, you think, now totally filled with the blessings, with the powers of developing bodhicitta.
And you fix your attention on it for a while. This is called the rain of nectar. This is a particular meditation that is done over and over for each of the subject you meditate, and it’s called the rain of nectar. So at this point, you at this point, your mind is ready to engage in the first meditation topic that is equalizing oneself with others. So this meditation, it means the subject of this meditation is yourself and others for others here is intended, including all sentient beings without exception.
And, yeah, at this point Oh, yeah. And it what So now first, like in the in the practice of express this very point of meditation in one verse. Just like me, they don’t want to suffer even the slightest. And not even and and they want to experience all the happiness. Happiness is never enough.
Therefore, myself and others are just the same. So this indicates that the actual situation, what we think of ourself and what we think of others right now, it is quite different. For instance, we think of ourselves individually. Each of us thinks of himself or herself as extremely important. And the indication is that, for instance, we are constantly concerned about us.
Constantly. We are the very object, the very main focal object of our concerns. For instance, oh, well, I’m hot, I’m cold. I’m not very comfortable. I need this.
I don’t need that. I wish this. I wish that. My health and this and that. We are the main focus of our mind.
Our mind revolves around the thought of oneself, whether we are well or not, whether we are happy or not. But in terms of others, if we compare the strength of the thought that we have for oneself, if we have that for others, others, they’ll just fall in a category of dismissible in a dismissible category sort of. Yeah. They are there. You know?
But yet, you know, I myself, this is very important. I need to get this and that. You know? Others are there, are dismissible. We’re not very concentrated.
Is it true or not? We’re not very concentrated to others. Right? We are the main focus of our life. This is a clear indication that we don’t have the thought that equalize oneself with others.
So that’s the difference of equalizing, being equal with oneself and others, and not being equal. So that is the very main focus of the meditation. And what so the the very reason why we are so obsessed obsessed with with with ourself in our life, where the main obsession of our life is because we have not equalized oneself with others. And reality is we are all the same. There is not the difference that we hold on in our mind is not there in reality.
Everybody else is exactly like us. And the the very point of this is that everybody else as well wants to be happy and doesn’t want to suffer exactly as much as you do. Yet everybody else we keep everybody else in a nonreferential sort of no need to inquire about state while we keep being obsessed with ourself. We need to do well, but I need to to do this. I need to do that.
I need to be happy. I need to get rid of this problem and to that problem. And others, they’re just totally non incidental in this in this situation. This is the this is the mistake of this is the mistaken perception of the obsession that we have with oneself by not having realized the equality that is the actual reality of oneself and others, that we are all the same. I know this is not a subject that is easy to get into the mind.
It’s not easy at all to even to grasp it. Yet, this is where we need to work on and we need to work on it really hard. So this is the thought processing of analysis that you apply while you’re actually meditating. This is the actual meditation session. So now, analyze why do I always want to be free from suffering?
Why do I always try to to avoid suffering? Down the bottom line, the basic reason why we don’t want to suffer is just that, because we don’t like to suffer. It’s just that. We don’t like suffering, therefore we pursue not to suffer. But as much as we do, that goes for everyone else as well.
If you check everyone else, it’s just the same as you. They don’t want to suffer. And the reason why it is just that they don’t need to suffer is because they don’t like it, because nobody likes to suffer. So exactly as you don’t like to suffer, everybody else as well don’t like to suffer. There’s not a farther inquiry in reasoning on that.
Bottom line, you elaborate it as much as you want. Bottom lying is that you don’t like to suffer. Let’s say like that. I don’t like to suffer. Therefore, I should not suffer.
In the same way, everybody else should not suffer. Why? Because they don’t like it. Do you So, therefore, what why should you feel that you are more important? Why should you keep the focus on just yourself like you are more important in a situation where we all, everybody else as well, are just the same, and this is the reality.
But not only that. What is the difference? What is the difference between oneself and others? There is a difference between oneself and others. Oneself is just one.
Others are so many. Others are so many. If we just calculate the human beings on this planet, we’re talking about six billion. Right? But we’re not talking just about human beings.
All other sentient beings are all the same. Even the bugs, birds, animals in the forest. Whoever is dead that is a sentient being is exactly the same. They don’t like to suffer like you don’t like to suffer, and they want to be happy like you want to be happy, just in the same way. Therefore, there is a big difference in between oneself and others.
That others, from the point of view of the number, are much more important because there are so many. Therefore, the quantity, the quantity, the amount, the weight of the suffering is much bigger than the weight of the suffering that lies on yourself alone because you are one and others are limitless. Therefore, this is again and yet another reason why it’s totally meaningless to be constantly obsessed with oneself as being the most important of all, while we’re actually not. So this is one way of thinking, of meditating in order to equalize oneself with others. Now, there is also another way.
On the top of this, on the top of this, this is supported also by the very nature. If you consider yourself and others from the nature point of view, we are all the same. There’s no difference. We’re all beings. We’re all sentient beings in the nature of suffering, in the nature of impermanence.
We all are born. We’re all gonna die. We all go through struggles and sufferings. Actually, instead of if you really consider deeply, even from the nature and for the natural point of view of the entity, the natural entity point of view, that we are so equal, there is absolutely not the slightest reason of considering oneself more important than others, but we should actually consider all, each other, objects of compassion, objects of love, because we are all the same. We are all the same impermanent nature.
We are all the same suffering nature. Our minds are all contaminated, deluded with ignorance and delusions and so forth without the slightest difference. And then this also brings us to no. And this also brings us to consider how partisans are our views in general. Having so considering some people, some us some people our close friends, and some other people we consider enemies, some other people we don’t even consider about it while actually they’re all the same while actually they’re all the same.
Even if we come up with thinking, well, you know, this is my friend. You know? This is my this is my my closest friend, or that’s my enemy. You know? That’s the one who damages me.
You know? Then the other people, I don’t know. Even if from their side from their side, from the natural point of view, even if they were always like this, the reason would would be really, really very small to have this partisanship, to have this biased biased view towards other sentient beings who are exactly the same as you are. But even from the conventional point of view, they don’t stay as they are. Because sometime, whatever you consider your closest friend, it turns out to be your worst enemy.
You know? And after a while, it becomes again your close friend. Sometime your worst enemy, all of a sudden, becomes your closest friend and later on changes again. And the people who don’t know, then later on, you come to know. So there’s absolutely no reason to have all these biased partisan views towards other sentient beings.
Bottom line, from from your own perspective, from the others’ perspective, from their nature point of view, from the need point of view, they’re all the same. Okay. So when you are meditating, doing this analytical meditation on this point, again, you go through all these various reasonings and debate within yourself within yourself again and again over and over until your mind your mind gets grasps the situation. Oh, well. Like something like suddenly you see, well, I’ve been I’ve been considering myself more important than others up to now.
It’s totally baseless. It’s totally meaningless for all this and this and this and reason. Your mind comes to finally grasp that. So when you grasp that, then you concentrate on that. You concentrate on that understanding.
And then you bring after a while, bring about again and again. So you have to go through this process not just once, not just once, even if you understand it seems that you understand it right away. Again and again, until your mind really this understanding weighs that weighs down in your mind. Your mind is imbued with this understanding. There is a trans what is called a transformation.
So this is for the first topic, equalizing oneself with others. You see, this point, actually, even if they seem if if they seem of an easy direct understanding are actually quite difficult to grasp. Yeah. Are not that easy. Therefore, if you want to if you set yourself for an actual transformation of attitude in your mind with this meditation, you should approach it from many different perspectives and many different point of views.
Therefore, that’s why all these point of views are taught and it is on this that you have to meditate and analyze to push and change your mind from many from many perspective because, actually, it’s not that easy. So before, actually, before reaching the point of exchanging oneself with others. So you see first, first you seek to equalize yourself with others. Then the next step is to consider and understand the disadvantages of self-cherishing thought. That is egoism.
Right? And after that, the advantages of altruism or cherishing others. Then with that step forward transformation, you get to the point of exchanging, being able to actually exchange yourself with others. So again, this is the next topic is yet another meditation session. So at this point, this meditation session session as before the preliminaries we just explained, now you have you have the embodiment of all your gurus in the aspect of Buddha Śākyamūni on the top of your crown.
Again, you are at the point of making the request, having made all the other requests before. Before. Now of the point of making the particular request in connection with this meditation that is recognizing the disadvantages of cherishing oneself. And you consider in this way of myself and all sentient beings since beginningless time, in a way or another, we’ve been revolving throughout cyclic existence, experiencing the three types of suffering, the suffering of pain, the suffering of change, the suffering of the contaminated aggregates, only disadvantages, only sufferings, only pains. So and who’s the door?
Why am I being bound to this situation since beginning this time up to now is due to having following constantly the lead of such cherishing myself of egoism. Therefore, now, from now on, I must cast away, I must destroy this this enemy mind, the real enemy, egoism, cherishing myself, and I must develop the mind of cherishing others more than oneself. Therefore, in order to be able to do so, please, precious guru, grant me all your blessings, and you do you do the rain of of nectar as before. So in the in the in the actual practice of of the bodhisattva way of life, Cherishing oneself cherishing oneself, that particular thought, that particular attitude, it’s identified as as a demon as a demon, like like an evil spirit who’s always who’s who’s taken possession of one’s mind and is there since beginningless time. And it’s due to following this this evil spirit, this demon of cherishing oneself, that all the shortcomings in cyclic existence in general, in the world in particular, all the types of sufferings, all the types of all the wars, conflicts, disagreements up to up to worldwide level down to your own personal experience in your family of yourself, even the consequences experienced from damages deriving from the from the elements such as earthquakes, flood, droughts, and so on and so forth.
Each and every single suffering, it it is caused originally the bottom line is because this demon is because we follow the demon mind, the demon who’s who’s taken possession of our mind, that is the self-cherishing thought. So when you actually meditate in your practice, you should try to identify this mind, this egoism, as a demon, like someone who’s taking possession, who’s taking possession of your mind and you need to get rid of it, like very strongly. So you make determination, very strong mindfulness of I’m gonna get rid of it very strongly. And with this attitude, you seek the blessing from the lama and you make request to get rid of this demon who’s the causes of all the sufferings, general and particular of yourself and all sentient beings, conflicts, so on and so forth. Whatever doesn’t work in the world, it is caused by the demon mind, by egoism, by cherishing oneself.
Again, who’s been leading me into trouble since beginningless time? Whatever trouble, whatever suffering I never want to experience in yet, well, there it is, exactly it. The self-cherishing mind, the self-cherishing thought who’s taking possession of my mind. So in brief, bottom line, what is this self-cherishing mind? What is this self-cherishing thought?
What kind of attitude it is? Is the very attitude of considering yourself so important, so better than everybody else, or a need to achieve so better than everybody else, whether it be possessions, whether it be happiness, whether it be in getting rid of sufferings, whether it be in career or whatever, whatever is that kind of attitude that leads you that leads you, that is self-cherishing thought. That is the very cause of all your problems. So even if consider the conflicts, the conflicts in the world, the conflicts between nations, conflicts where so many people, so many innocent people suffer get to suffer meaningless. They’re all originated by self-cherishing thought.
The thought of I’m better than anybody else. I’m better than the other country. I’m better than these other people. The thought of pursuing one’s one’s happiness above everybody everybody else. So bottom line bottom line of the sufferings arise from self-cherishing thought.
So when I consider around along these lines and I look at the situation in the world, when we when we we we talk about world peace, when we talk about world peace, having peace in the world, bringing an end of conflict, how can that ever come about without the very people having a change in their attitude, decreasing the force of self-cherishing thought and increasing the strength of cherishing others. Now can world peace ever come about? This is a big problem. This is something that needs to be analyzed. We talk about having peace in the world.
That is very difficult. That’s very difficult to come about. Why? Because the very peace, the very peace arises from cherishing others, while the conflict arises from cherishing oneself. And this is in our mind.
This is the mental attitude. It’s in our mind. So this requires inner transformation. This requires an inner transformation, decreasing one’s own self-cherishing thought and increasing one’s own cherishing others and altruism. Otherwise, how can ever world peace can ever come about.
This is a problem, isn’t it? So we take ten minutes break now for the restrooms that are outside, and we exit this way, and we come back. So