Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 31-minute teaching, Lama Ribur Rinpoche establishes guru devotion as the foundation of all spiritual practice on the Buddhist path. He begins by explaining why Dharma practice matters: everyone seeks peace of mind, yet three mental poisons—attachment, hatred, and ignorance—obstruct it. While material progress has advanced remarkably in the West, it cannot subdue these inner delusions; only spiritual practice can. Rinpoche then introduces the Lamrim, the graduated path to enlightenment, whose three principal methods (renunciation, altruistic intention, and wisdom realizing emptiness) directly counter mental afflictions. He emphasizes that guru devotion is the stable root from which all practice grows: without proper relationship to a spiritual guide, no technique succeeds. The talk concludes with an invitation to contemplate the eight benefits of correct devotion—the real beginning of the path.
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File: 12 GD.mp3
UUID: ca0965ef-49ef-4140-aeec-b2ab8cc3dcf7
Teacher: Lama Ribur Rinpoche
Collection: Guru Devotion (Lama Ribur Rinpoche)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 31.5 minutes
Words: ~1,695
So as the famous Śāntideva wrote, having, obtaining this precious human rebirth, we should, strive for the, for the benefit of future lives. So in order to take the essence of the of this life and in order to create the cause for the happiness of the future life, we should strive for the practice of Dharma. And the practice of Dharma aiming for the future happiness in the future lives indirectly brings you the happiness and joy in this life. In which way, while you’re practicing Dharma, your mind gets pacified and controlled and subdued, and all this is what is going to bring you happiness. If you look at if you on the opposite side, you look to a person who doesn’t practice Dharma, you will see that apart from not creating any cause for the future life’s happiness, but he will he will face a lot of trouble, a lot of physical and mental trouble in this life.
And at the end of this life, when he’s dying, he will have a lot of regret and a lot of unhappiness due to the fact that his mind is not pacified. And the peace of mind is something that everybody, everyone, requires or every everyone wanted. There’s no discrimination in that. Old people want, pacify mind, as well as young people requires peace of mind as well as male and female and rich and poor. There’s no there’s no there’s not even a single human being who doesn’t want to reach peace of mind or peace of mind.
And if you ask to yourself which is the main cause and condition that doesn’t allow yourself to obtain or to achieve peace of mind. The main cause are three: attachment, hatred and ignorance. These are the three main mental poisons which are not allowing you to reach the peace of mind. So the practice of Dharma is an antidote for this three mental poison in order to reach stabilization or peace of mind. So the main cause and condition that doesn’t allow you to have peace of mind and subdue mind or control mind and main cause which makes you to be uptight and so forth.
This is if you check well, you will see that either directly or indirectly the three mental poison. Sometimes you sometimes you are completely uncontrolled due to having attachment. Sometimes you are completely unpacified due to hatred and sometimes due to ignorance. So either they are themselves directly or there are some other mental poison, but created from these three main ones that are not allowing you to dwell in peaceful state of mind. So if you’re looking for an antidote for those mental delusion which are creating this unpacified state of mind, then in every every religious tradition, there are methods for that.
I’m not I’m not saying that it’s only Buddhism which has these methods or these techniques, but all of the religious tradition have basically the method in order to improve yourself to, get better. But, so in the such in the tale and, in such an extraordinary explanation like it is in Buddhism is difficult to find in some other tradition. So why I’m saying this is because we are Buddhist, and the founder of Buddhism Buddha Śākyamūni two thousand five hundred years ago taught the eighty four thousand subjects which are only techniques or method in order to overcome or yeah. Overcome or completely subdue the three mental poison. So if you if you want to if you want to, like, for in in other words, to be more clear, this eighty four thousand subject can be divided in, twenty one thousand subject for, as a method for attachment and, twenty one thousand subjects as techniques against the hatred, and twenty one thousand subjects in order to overcome ignorance, and at last, twenty one thousand subject in order to overcome all the three of them simultaneously, attachment, hatred, and ignorance in a simultaneous way.
And the fact is that if you don’t overcome those three mental delusion, you’re not going to reach any peace of mind, any state of control mind. If you look at the Western history, what happened is that it might be only twenty years that the people understood the importance of the science of the mind or psychology or psychiatry or whatever. Up to twenty years ago, I think the majority of Western people thought that in order to achieve the peace or in the joy, happiness, of body and mind, the main, like the main method that the people should follow is the progress, is the materialistic the material progress. And they were, like, basing their, their method on the, on what the scientists were telling them. So up to twenty years ago maybe, materialistic progress in the West and really advanced till reaching reaching other planet and visiting other visiting other place on the planet and in on the earth, like, advancing to a really great to a great limit, to a great extent.
But what happened is that they actually reached the moon, they reached some other planets, but the main problem that is the presence of three mental poisons in the mental continuum of the human being are still there. And this, the people understood being the main cause of the unhappiness and the uncontrolled state of the mind. And because of this, now they are turning their attention towards what is the inner science. So some time ago when the progress was really the main key or the main point of everybody, so whatever was the old tradition, like the old religious tradition or the and the old inner inner tradition of the West and the East has been sort of leave aside, left aside. But right now, understanding that only with the materialist progress is not, with the materialistic progress is not possible to reach the, total happiness of mind and body.
So the people are starting to turn their attention to the religious tradition again. Extent, and the progress is really admirable. But it didn’t succeed in bringing the complete or the total physical and mental happiness. So because the human being is is constituted or is formed by body and mind, we should, give the attention in an equal way. So, so now there’s no, there’s no a path there’s no other techniques or method to in order to bring happiness, in order to bring the mental happiness than to overcome the three mental delusion.
So, obviously, the mental the materialistic progress can’t overcome those obstacles, those mental delusion. Otherwise, it would have been done already. So it’s not still, even if we are so much advanced, but we are not able to control our hatred, our competition and envy and so forth. So because of this, still we are in in an unhappy in unhappy state of mind. So, honestly, I see that the progress can bring a lot of happiness, but also a lot of troubles.
If if the progress is not guided by a virtuous mind, then it creates more trouble than happiness. You can see like the progress brought the atomic bomb as well as many other dangerous weapon and pollution and so forth. So it actually brings benefit. It has a lot of benefit. It brings a lot of happiness, but it has the the potential of bringing a lot of unhappiness too.
So honestly honestly, it’s like that. And on the other hand, the dharma is something that can bring happiness and joy for this life as well as for the future future lives. So, and what is the essence? If you’re looking for the essence of all dharmas, this is the, lamrim or the gradual path to enlightenment. And if the source of or the first well, the first of the lamrim or the source of the lamrim is the Lamp that Illuminates the Path to enlightenment.
And what is in there, what’s the main, let’s say, root or what’s the main track of that Lamrim, it’s the three principal paths. Renunciation, altruistic mind of enlightenment and superior view or wisdom that realize emptiness. So these three are the three main point of the path to enlightenment. And these are the three methods, are the three main methods in order to overcome the mental delusion. If you can’t overcome the mental delusion with these three, then overcome the mental delusion is difficult.
So in order to practice Dharma, the practice of the Dharma must be preceded by contemplation, and the contemplation should be preceded by listening. So what we have done yesterday is that we’ve talked about the root of the practice of Dharma, which is the correct relation towards your spiritual guide. And I told you that it’s just like you see a tree. In order to have flowers and leaves and fruits and so forth, you must have a very stable root. If you have the stable roots, then for many years, the tree can develop himself.
And in the same way, if you have a very stable base of guru devotion then whichever practice, whichever techniques you apply, those are going to be successful and you’re going to improve. So on the base of guru devotion then you start the actual lamrim which is the which start with the topics of precious human rebirth and then from that on from that on where you can you can advance towards the enlightenment on the basis of the on the base of this guru devotion. So, again, I want to emphasize that everything depends on this. Everything is depend upon your guru devotion, upon the way how you relate with your spiritual guide. So the way how you meditate on guru devotion, it’s you contemplate the eight benefits of having proper relation towards your spiritual guide, and then you develop the attitude in order to devote yourself in order first to first contemplate the reason why you should devote to your to your guru and contemplating or analyzing all those topics