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 identifies compassion as the antidote to self-cherishing—the root habit that turns us into enemies of all beings. He explores how genuine compassion means remaining a friend to others even when harmed, offering only benefit in return, and contrasts this with the inevitable suffering when self-interest governs relationships. He then explains why bodhicitta, the commitment to achieve enlightenment for all sentient beings’ sake, is essential: even arhats lack the subtle understanding to guide beings perfectly, leaving that responsibility to Buddhas alone. The practical heart applies this reasoning to daily life—just as we naturally seek the best for ourselves, we should extend that same energy toward the ultimate happiness of all beings. Pitched at practitioners working with the Lamrim foundational teachings.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 23 WWNN.mp3
UUID: 35761fc7-d744-4b8a-811f-66db9853f18b
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: 45.6 minutes
Words: ~1,716
Now, yeah, that’s easy. Now, one has great compassion, you doesn’t You become you become friend. You know, you become friend. It does great compassion within oneself. Then in the action is one stops harm and helps all other beings, you know, or every other sentient beings.
So, you see, whether whether they whether they know your name or not, you see, whether they recognize you or not, that that is a great compassion. You see, you become you become best friend of you become best friend. Well, most reliable most reliable best friend, you see, friend of all other beings. If there’s selfish mind, if there’s no greater compassion, selfish mind, then you become enemy of all other sentient beings. Enemy in the family, of all the family, or is other people, you see?
Enemy of all the beings, you know? A life to life, and then one becomes enemy. You see, all all the beings all the beings, one can think, one can Some ways, one can think even now. One can even think life to life. Know?
Life to life, you see? But think this way, you know? You see? Enemy. You wanna become enemy for others.
You know, one become other, see, other beings, other enemies, you know? Now, let’s think this way. If there’s compassion, get compassion with one’s mind. You see, even, you see, Like the says, the Guru Puja says, even the real beings are angry, insult, invokes — no, not invokes — provokes, insult and provoke, and beat and kills one’s life. One doesn’t get angry back, return to the harm, one of our benefit.
One offers, in return to the harm, only benefit. So like this, so it does, yeah, so it does great compassion with no one’s mind. You see, now this is what happens, what one does to us all sentient beings. And even the sentient beings, what they do to you is harm, you know, with the body, speech, mind. Even one sentient being or even all even all all sentient being, this is what they do.
Even the husband, you see, one sentient being, does this work. What he does is this. You see? All sentient beings harms with body, speech, mind. So this is what would this is what comes.
You see, only benefit from you, you know, only benefit. Now, if you don’t have this great compassion there in the mind, you see? And on self-cherishing thought, see? Then what happened? You see?
Then what happens? Even the parents who are so kind to you, you know, who never who don’t give who who who don’t give harm to you, who don’t give harm to you, so kind, you see, unbelievable, you know, suffered so much, you know. So anyway, to bring up, to take care of oneself, see, four ways unbelievably kind, likewise, unbelievable kind from beginningless rebirth, from beginningless time. Even such a kind sentient being, one would give harm. And and you see, hence, the benefiting, you see action what comes.
You see? The one doesn’t have compassion, then we’ll give one would harm to them. Similar is yeah. Like this. You see?
Order? Yeah. You know? No matter how much the other person can happen, how much kind he help you, you see, he or she, then one you would give harm to them. You see?
If there’s no compassion. You know, and only following the selfish mind, you see. Then, you see, like this one, you see, even yeah, I think that can even lead, that can lead, you know, even in relation to the most kind virtuous teacher. It’s even even so, you see, can harm, you know, can can relate to many objects.
So may I be protected by the compassion? So I leave that. To recall what I have heard one time. In the teaching, well, by generating at least the altruistic bodhicitta, thinking and generate I must achieve the state of omniscient mind for the sake of all the mother sentient beings who are equally in the infinite space, who have been kind in numberless times. Therefore, I’m going to listen the Lamrim teaching.
And then also clarifying the virtuous conduct of listening the teaching according to the traditional practice of the earlier lamas. The language expression. After explaining, talking about the object. By having some idea of how everything is labeled or how the I exists merely in name, by having some feeling that is the reality, how that is the reality, how the eye is existing. So then one gets some idea of how the normal perception, how normal the I appears and how one perceives the how we believe the way the earth appears.
So you see some idea how this appearance is a hallucination, is mistaken. And then then from that, you see, this then recognizing that this is the ignorance, and this ignorance is the root of the whole saṃsāra, you know, the root of the whole one’s own, you see, what causes one to circle in the saṃsāra, you know, by experiencing all the problems. Like oceans, you see, problems. So I think that’s to lead to that, to have clear, you see. Understanding the strong feeling from the heart you know, of the saṃsāra and how this is the nature of suffering and how this came from the karma and the disturbing thoughts formed by karma and the disturbing thoughts.
However, I thought to mention tonight, leave that tonight then. The bodhicitta, you know, how to develop the mind in bodhicitta through the technique, the seven techniques of cause and effect. And then, oh, then what we can do, what we can do now, and what we should do. Not just a feeling. So we start this attitude and also what we should do according to what we can now to benefit others and beings.
So as I mentioned yesterday, Even one who is liberated, that is, freed from the gross and the subtle disturbing thoughts. One achieves this entity. The, you know, blissful state of peace, you know, the nirvana, the sorrowless state. Still, has one hasn’t abandoned their cause, you know, the very subtle unknowing. By the vastness, by incredible vastness, the, you see, length of time, then it is such subtle subtle karmas, you know?
They’re still unknowingly subtle karmas. And then, these subtle actions, the secret actions, you know, Buddha’s holy body, holy spiritual mind. So, you see, even one becomes an arhat. If you achieve the arhat state, you know, cannot see the secret actions of the Buddha, you know, of Buddhas. So this subtle imprint, left by the ignorance and the disturbing thoughts, which projects the dual view, the true existent appearance, you see, this which are, you see, this as the subtle obscuration.
So this, you see, haven’t removed. So the works for self is not completed. Works for self, the perfect cessation is not completed. And because of that, works for others are not completed. One hasn’t attained the perfect real complete realization.
So cannot cannot guide, you know, so therefore cannot perfectly guide sentient beings. Still, you see, there’s danger of making mistakes in guiding sentient beings. The means, not knowing exactly every single means, the karma, the characteristic of the sentient beings, the karma sentient beings, those subtle ones. Then the means, the what sort of means in various means to fit which fits to those things, you see? If you know those stories from the refuge, you know, or or teaching on on the refuge, you know, there’s, like, lots of stories in those who heard, as you remember.
So now Well, so to so enough. Why we need to help others? And then what’s the what is this? What is, you know, what is the most beneficial path for sentient beings? You know?
Then, for that reason, oneself is completely responsible, that oneself is completely responsible for the happiness of all sentient beings. Then we need, for that reason, we need to develop our mind the best way to benefit others. So starting from the first day, you know, Different ways of different, I say, different ways of thinking, you see? The reasons for them. Mhmm.
Mhmm. Mhmm. Mhmm. Mhmm. Like oneself.
Example, when we go for shopping, you see, even we what even one cannot afford. Even one cannot everyone doesn’t have enough money to buy the best quality material in the shop, but the wish is to buy the to buy the best. To to buy the best, you know, best quality. Even for the even for the happiness of this life, you know, the best, that which can last long that which can last I say, which can last as long as that it can last. So with every means, we try.
Food, clothing, conditions, health, so forth, you see. Whatever we can think of of the means for that. So similar now as one’s regard to one’s own wishes like this and attend for that. So now similar, all other sentient beings, you see, same. And what they want is happiness.
What they do not want is sufferings. Happiness, you see, what they want is the highest happiness, highest what that’s that exist that that can be experienced. This is what I want. Not just the nirvana, the sorrowless state of the lesser vehicle, lesser vehicle, not just this. You see?
Even beyond that. And according to their wish is this. So so that is the state of supreme happiness, the enlightenment. So now, with all those reasons, there was an expanded part, you see, that oneself is responsible to eliminate sufferings of other sentient beings, to obtain happiness for other sentient beings. You see?
So therefore, the highest happiness with the with the, you see, This is what is needed. What are what are they what are they know dharma? whether they accept what rank and what are they accept past whether they accept past future life or not? And what are they what are they whether they or okay. You know, even they don’t accept past, future lives.
You see? I said, you see, that is lack of understanding. So just like like mhmm. Yeah.