Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 46-minute talk, Lama Zopa Rinpoche argues that compassion, not wisdom, is the essential foundation for enlightenment. All buddhas arise from compassion, which he calls the heart—the most precious possession one can cherish. He contrasts arhats with bodhisattvas: both wish others free from suffering, but only bodhisattvas take personal responsibility, willingly enduring the heaviest samsaric realms for countless eons to liberate each being. He illustrates through two vivid stories—Buddha’s past life killing a merchant to spare him overwhelming negative karma, and Asaṇga’s twelve-year effort culminating in spontaneous compassion for a diseased dog, finally manifesting Maitreya Buddha—showing how compassion purifies obscuration. Central to the teaching: bodhisattvas transform their sacrifice and hardship into joy, sustained by unwavering compassion for all beings.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 21 WWNN.mp3
UUID: d163f2ad-d874-4093-9fbf-6588c990ba7d
Teacher: Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1
Collection: y What the World Needs Now 1987 Audios (Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1)
Date: 1987 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.8 minutes
Words: ~2,692
Then you see, from bodhicitta, bodhisattva, from bodhisattva to buddha. Like this. So all the three time buddhas, from where they came originally, is born. From where they were born originally is from the root of compassion. So by that, give me the name mother, and the name is given to the compassion here in this case.
The mother who gives birth to all the conquerors. Then the essential wealth of the conquerors’ sons. The compassion is the mother who gives birth to all conquerors. The compassion is the essential wealth of the conqueror’s son. I think I think not not con here’s here’s a comma in the conqueror’s sons, but I think it should be both.
It’s essential wealth of the conquerors and sons. Conquerors and sons. I think it’s related to both. The conquerors and sons. Not only the sons.
bodhicitta is the essential wealth of the conquerors and sons. That’s correct. But maybe perhaps more, I don’t know, more things from the Tibetan. Just think they need, you know, make you know, and the compassion is the heart. You know?
Heart, you know, most most precious like heart, like a heart. You know? That person cherishes most among all the world. Heart, heart well, heart, you know, position. Whether it’s a broken antique, whether it’s a broken antique or broken statue or statues brought from Tibet.
You know, whatever. What is gold or diamond or the common, you know, precious or broken antiques, you know, antique things, you know. Bones or rocks or whatever it is. So what the person cherishes the most among all the possessions. And that’s something that we should always remember.
Takes the best care. Always takes the best care to not lose. So like that, you see, there are compassion for the conquerors, the Buddhists, which means the Buddha and the sons, the bodhisattvas. Now, on? What makes?
You see? To finish all the mental stains, obscurations, see, what makes to finish this? And to have to have all the qualities, all the realizations. What allows us to have this, to have this, is not principally by the wisdom. It’s not by the wisdom.
Principally not by the wisdom. To realize emptiness is principally by the compassion. Principally, you see. By the compassion, the great compassion. If the great compassion is missing, you see, then if you have all the wisdom, you see what happens is that all the disturbing thought obscurations, only that can be ceased.
Only that can be ceased, not the subtle obscuration, the subtle imprint left by the ignorance of true existence. Therefore, all the mental stains don’t get ceased, So, therefore, all the qualities, all the realizations having all the if it doesn’t happen, having all the realizations. So one cannot complete both. The works for self, perfect cessation and works for others, the perfect, complete realization. Complete compassion is missing.
Except only when it’s able to achieve, you see, the Hīnayāna stage or the lesser vehicle. Lesser vehicle cannot achieve faultless happiness, having finished all the stains and having all the qualities. So therefore, this is so so important. Essential, how it becomes. Heart, the heart possession.
You see? What do you call? My heart, son, my heart. Favorite? That is best.
You a mother who has only one child, you know how Only one child in that. K. Mhmm. How you know, how child means so important like her heart, you know, So precious. You know?
Dear. Deers. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Deers. Yes. Yes. Yeah.
Anyway, Also, because of the great compassion towards every sentient beings, So what makes Buddha, what makes the Yeah. Yeah. But that explain later. So now what makes What causes the bodhisattvas to have to have bodhisattvas? See, that is by the great compassion.
So on the basis of Once on saṃsāra, completely like being in the center of the fire, not having the slightest attraction, having the fully renouncing mind. Unbearable, you see, oneself being saṃsāra. With this realization, Bodhisattva looks at other sentient beings, Feels so unbearable. Like having an arrow going inside the heart, right in the heart. That’s so unbearable.
Other sentient beings are suffering. They are being obscured and experiencing saṃsāra sufferings. But certainly in the saṃsāra, and experiences without even a second breath, experiencing suffering of suffering, suffering of changes, pervasive compounding, and suffering. One of them. However, even the times when they do not experience suffering of changes, but not even a one second break continuously.
And the continuous experiences solve pervasive compounding suffering. Okay. And then not only is it having strong wish and not only having a strong wish and deemed to be free from the sufferings, all the obscurations, then by oneself. The arhats, they are the counterpart. Even they have this compassion, others wishing to be free from their sufferings.
But that compassion, why it doesn’t become great compassion? Not having thought of taking the responsibility upon oneself. And to cause the same thing means to be free from the suffering by oneself. As Bodhisattvas have, you see, the brave attitude. For Bodhisattva himself, you see, Bodhisattva himself, then the experiencing, the experiencing suffering saṃsāra is so unbearable, even more.
The renunciation is stronger than even the followers of the lesser developed path. But to experience suffering for other sentient beings, To experience suffering for other sentient beings, for other sentient beings, happiness, like entering in a beautiful park, being in the Narak. Even one has to be in Narak, the hot and cold Narak, the heaviest of suffering of Narak, even one has to be there. Although, like entering the beautiful park, like jumping in the beach, jumping into water, beach. However, then extremely joyful, unbelievably joyful to even one has to experience about many aeons in the heaviest, suffering realm, narak.
As it’s mentioned in Lama Chopa, Mhmm. For the sake of each sentient being, even one has to abide in the fire of the nara. Oceans oceans of urns means, I think means, you see, then first, think the verse. Even one has to suffer for that much longer time. One has to abide in fire of the nara.
Even that is the unbearable suffering state, the greatest among the hot and narak realms, the unbearable samsaric state, which lasts for which the duration of their life duration, the length of their life, that they experience suffering is for eons, one eons. But it’s not human beings eons, it is daily eons, which is unbelievable long. human beings for them, it’s like one day, one week or something like that. Very short. But their number, their time, is unimaginably long So even one spark, how?
Even one spark fire of the nara, how heavy it is, how powerful it is, and all the human beings on this earth, and all the fires are put together. And if you compare all that power and then one small fire spark, power, how hot it is. No comparison. There’s no comparison. Thousand, hundred thousand times much brighter, the small the fire spark.
Much hotter. That’s much hotter. The small fire spark from the nara. Like this. So the then you see, for each sentient being, experience, you see, by abiding, you know, by abiding this unbearable suffering state, which is greatest of the narak suffering.
As experiencing this, the duration is aeons aeons, equaling the number of the drops of the oceans. Eons, you know, equalling the number of drops of the ocean. For, you see, for for each sentient being. I see. The bodhisattva, you know, doesn’t get discouraged.
Mhmm. Okay. Mhmm. You see? Mhmm.
To achieve enlightenment, to generate a path to achieve enlightenment for sentient beings, even one has to suffer. That much the length of time, the hardest, and in nara, the unbearable suffering state of narak. For each sentient being, doesn’t get upset, doesn’t get discouraged. You see, in the if but the bodhisattva sees the benefit, you know, see sees the benefit, you see. And then in you see.
I don’t like entering a beautiful park or a beautiful apartment. You know? Oh, like living living enjoying a beautiful apartment or something like that. with much joyfulness. At times, they stop nothing for sentient beings.
So all this is vital. Compassion. You know? Power of compassion. The negative karmas, the negative karmas for one’s sake is so like poison, so unbearable. But the similar, you see.
So unbearable, for oneself, but, you see, say, for happiness, benefit for other sentient beings, you see. You see, one joyfully, one sacrifice oneself to do these actions. I don’t like One Buddha is one of the life. One of the life, you see, when there was traveling in the ship, over the five hundred merchants, maybe coming to collect jewels from the ocean, I think. So the Guru Śākyamūni Buddha’s, you see, the past level was bodhisattvahood.
Knew that one person was going to kill all these five hundred people, traders. The five hundred traders. Then the bodhisattva told him, If he is going to kill these five hundred people, he is going to accumulate so much negative karma, and he’s going to experience the suffering of those negative karmas for so many eons, for a considerable number of times. So it felt so unbearable. You see?
So then accordingly generated unbearable compassion. So unbearable compassion. And then completely decided what you know? But, you know, I’m going to kill in order to protect him from creating all these new karmas, and to save those sentient beings, I’m going to kill him. And whatever suffering result, whatever result, suffering, the experiencing experiencing the nara suffering.
Most unbearable, the narak itself, matter how long I have to experience, I’m going to experience all this by myself in order to protect him creating all these negative karmas. Whether you see, did not kill would occur this brave attitude, Compassion, and therefore compassion, then think I killed this person. But but instead, see, to be born nara to be born nara, you know, by killing him. And then It caused the action of killing him out of this unbearable compassion. It, you know, it purified it purified, you know, so much obscuration.
Instead of creating this karma, you know, you see, obscuring the mind, you know, instead instead of that, it become great purification. You see? That killing himself become great purification. Purified so many purified, you see, so many aeons, hundred thousands, one hundred thousand aeons, you see, need karma, it’s purified. And so by having done that action out of the unbearable great compassion, that bodhisattva, you see, become become become shorter.
One hundred thousand ayons become shorter to be in the saṃsāra. That caused you to be shorter to one hundred thousand eons shorter, that much time shorter to be in the saṃsāra. So so you see so incredible, say, sacrifice. No? One’self, others in importance.
To to do these actions, the to experience this to experience the heaviest, hardest, longest, heaviest state. Then happy, you know, to do. And then, you see, by having done the action, that becomes a great purification. Instead of obscure mind, it becomes a great purification. You see, we can see, it’s all power, it’s from it’s the power of the great compassion.
Okay. Also, you see now. Asaṇga, you know. Asaṇga, twelve years, he tried to achieve Maitreya Buddha and didn’t, you know, didn’t didn’t spend three years and then come out and didn’t and didn’t didn’t eat anything. He can come back, return as a went away from the cave.
You know? And so like this, so after twelve years, then repeated it like this, you know, come back. Think he went back by some conditions, inspired him to go back, and then I can try to achieve Maitreya Buddha in the cave. And then and did not achieve, came out, you know, discouraged, and then I will come out, then by some other some other condition. So in the way, then that inspired him to go back, you see.
Then one day, twelve years, then when he come out, So in the in the village, I saw in the road a wounded it was a wounded dog. A stray dog, you know, filled — the lower part of the body filled with worms. And then felt unbearable compassion, so much compassion. Then, know, can’t stand. And then he cut yeah.
If if he takes the worms out if if he takes the worms the worms out of, you know, the dog’s body, then, you see, if you put anywhere on the ground, they will die. They need something to live on. So then, you see, he cut his own flesh from the thigh. What’s called this side? What’s called this one?
He stretched there, you know, stretched his flesh there, and then he picked up, you know, to pick up the worms with his fingers. Then it was so fragile that he tended to crush them, so then to not hurt them, you see, then decide to pick up with the tip of the tongue the worms from that very smelly, very filthy. They wound the lower part of the dog’s body, you see, to put it on his flesh. So as soon as he went to as soon as he so by complete sacrificing for himself for the dog, to put the worms, you know, then he went to pick up by a closed eye, he went to pick up the worms. Then he could not touch.
When he went to pick up the worms, he with the tongue, he cannot touch. So when you open the eye, then it you see, it’s Maitreya Buddha. Then he grabbed, then he grabbed, you know, Maitreya Buddha. And then then what do you call, you know, asking, Maitreya Buddha, I’ve been meditating on you for twelve years. Why why too long time?
Why why, you know, why I didn’t I didn’t see you earlier? Then Maitreya Buddha proved that he was, you know, that Maitreya Buddha said, I was in the cave all the time. Then Maitreya Buddha has shown the marks, you know, marks on his robe where Asaṇga spat, you know, he threw his spit in the cave, you see. But Asaṇga, you see didn’t see Maitreya Buddha there in in his cave. So Maitreya Buddha proved that he was there because he spat, you see, on my robe.
So Maitreya has shown the marks. Then Maitreya asked what he wants, and Asaṇga asked about teachings. But now he took to Tuśita, he took Asaṇga to Tuśita and then gave the pure land of Tuśita and then gave in one month of the Tuśita time the Abhisamayālamkāra teachings. So however, Abhisamayālamkāra teachings? Then you see so by studying this scripture, this is one of the basic scripture which talks about base in a path and the to truth and the path in the method of wisdom, the path of you see.
And then you know, rupakaya and dharmakaya, the enlightenment, all the qualities very extensively, extensively on base, path and result, you know, apart and result. So but this is this has been a one man’s scripture that’s extensively studied in the monasteries, especially in these three large monasteries, Sera and Drepung. So so by uncountable beings with so many, by studying this scripture and practicing, it even brings liberation. It’s even enlightenment. So all this was teaching what Asaṇga received from Maitreya Buddha.
However, for all this now, even in the West, you know, even, say, as a Western people, it also have great opportunity to receive to study these teachings. However, all this came from all these all these incredible advantage benefits came from, you see, Asaṇga’s big great compassion. So, see, before so, yeah, so before, there was obscuration. So, you see, did not see Mitya Buddha. Now this unbearable great compassion that Asaṇga generated, you know, sacrificed himself completely for this wounded dog.
So and this and then so much so much obscuration were purified.