Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 16-minute opening-ceremony address, Lama Zopa Rinpoche explains why Chamzai Ling retreat center, in Malaysia, is vital for the world. He begins with the purpose of retreat: discovering yourself in a space free from distraction. The root cause of all suffering — across all beings — is not external but internal: the mistaken mind, rooted in ignorance of our true nature, which generates karma, anger, and desire. Buddha’s teachings alone address this by removing the internal causes of suffering. Rinpoche then pivots to the world’s immediate crisis: wars and killing without end. The only lasting solution, he argues, is developing compassion and the thought of cherishing all sentient beings. He presents the retreat center as essential infrastructure for world peace.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 02 2005 04 08 JANGSEMLING RET.mp3
UUID: 5e739020-f3d6-4037-817f-6bca712dd4f3
Teacher: Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1
Collection: z Malaysia (Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1)
Date: 2005-04-08
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 16.3 minutes
Words: ~956
I would like to express that I’m extremely happy and welcome to honorable Deputy Minister of Home Affairs of Yang Berhormat Shuzheng Ho. While he’s extremely busy, but able to give his precious time to see this the Chamzai Ling, the retreat center. And to give talk. I would like to express thank for that. Then second Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Datuk, Doctor.
Tan Lai Kim, chairman of the Tan Lai Kim Group of Companies. So he’s extremely generous manufacturer from his kindness that this holy place, the place to actualize Buddha’s teachings, to experience Buddha’s teachings, the path that is revealed. So, all this to make available various facilities for that to cause happiness to others. So, he might be extremely busy but, say, because he’s the benefactor so he has to be here. So I would like, of course, to welcome a thank from the heart to Tan Sri.
And then next, young, members of local government from So I would like to welcome the guests and as well as the beloved sanghas, the members of the Losang Dragpa Buddhist Society, and brothers and sisters of the Dharma from various countries, friends from Penang and all other parts of Malaysia, members of the media, ladies and gentlemen, my brothers and sisters. So I would like to say welcome and thank you very much for attending the opening ceremony. So just to say a few words. So importance of building, say, temple objects and especially place to to retreat, which means to discover yourself. To discover yourself. Without a retreat, normally our life is distracted with other things.
So you don’t discover yourself. Kind of you’re lost at that. You see so when we do retreat, you see you see your so you see yourself as a you discover yourself. And The most important, the general reason that is there’s nothing there’s nothing other than the teaching of the omniscient one. That that which reveals the complete path to liberation, to full enlightenment, great liberation.
Why? Because the cause of the suffering is not outside. The cause of the suffering is within the sentient beings within us. It’s our mind. Not all the mind, but the mistaken mind, mistaken way of thinking.
The part of the mind which are, which does function obscuring disturbing thoughts. Obscuring, disturbing the ones on mental continuum. These negative thoughts. The root, the ignorance, not knowing what is I, nature of the self and nature of the you see the body and mind, the aggregates. Then the in order not knowing what is the right thing that’s a benefit to you to others in order to not knowing what is that is harmful to you and to others.
Is it what is the thing to be practiced? What is thing to be given up? So this ignorance in the karma, and then anger, desire, so forth. So and actions motivated by them is karma. So the older older human beings problems, the whole world entire problems, They’re experienced by poor, by rich people, by everyone, young and old.
So and the whole entire oceans of suffering or saṃsāra. Not only human being, other other beings. And the beings, hell beings, animals, so all this came from these, say, unpurified mind or the these negative thoughts. So therefore, there’s nothing else that that can liberate us completely forever from from a whole entire suffering including the suffering of rebirth. Because of that, then there’s there’s birth and there’s old age, there’s death, and all other all those many other suffering are unable to find satisfaction, so forth.
All the problems of life. So see, because because then there’s nothing other except the teaching of the Buddha, the omniscient one, that which ceases completely the cause of the sufferings. That is negative thoughts and these actual karma. So therefore it becomes so essential to have facilities for sentient beings to act as a path. So this is path revealed by the omniscient one.
So this is the main reason why this happened, this project happened. And then the next thing is that the world have been suffering so much. We can remember these recent years, the present situation in the world, how much suffering it is. Globally, how much suffering it is. And individually, how much suffering?
So therefore, therefore, the whole solution is to develop compassion, loving kindness towards others, towards all one’s own family members, towards all towards neighbors, towards all living beings. So therefore, here at this place, Chamzai Ling, this is a center that is especially to develop the compassion of the bodhicitta thought of cherishing all sentient beings. Here, therefore so as long as this doesn’t happen, actualize the compassion of the kindness towards others, And then the problem will be same on and on, no end. So the problem, the wars and so forth in the world, all these killing each other, there’s no end. So therefore, here we can see how this project or this I’m telling you this center becomes of utmost need for the world peace.
And not all the not only this world peace, but peace happiness of all sentient beings. So therefore, I would like to thank very, very much for the great benefactor benefactor who donated the land. And all our all the benefactors and all the student, anyone who helped to actualize this, worked so hard to actualize the project. From bottom of my heart, I would like to thank you very much on behalf of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and also on behalf of sentient beings, I would like I really represent and thank you very much to all of you. So I think that’s about it.