Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 39-minute teaching, Lama Zopa Rinpoche uses a striking metaphor of sun and stars to illuminate the difference between how phenomena actually exist and how they appear to ordinary minds. When the sun rises, stars vanish — just as wisdom realizing emptiness dissolves the appearance of all things as independently, truly existent. He traces this principle through the five aggregates, six senses, sense objects, and all phenomena from hell to enlightenment, each appearing as real and solid when the mind is obscured by ignorance. He reinforces the teaching with examples of hallucination: perceiving hairs falling down when you aren’t eating, or seeing through blurry vision — both appearing as truly existent when they have no reality. The core vision is complete hallucination created by ignorance, directly contrasted with how wisdom sees reality.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 19 2005 04 10 JANGSEMLING RET.mp3
UUID: 0b13d4e3-c0f0-48de-ba5e-18b4166c1e66
Teacher: Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1
Collection: z Malaysia (Lama Zopa Rinpoche 1)
Date: 2005-04-10
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 39.1 minutes
Words: ~1,879
Exchange opens. Not done. Not done. Hasn’t been done, Rajeev. We’ve been doing doing it in the afternoon.
Mhmm. But then the idea was to request room to to lead it. And then we did don’t know. Should be lit. Oh, I thought Oh, okay.
I thought should I thought we should that’s the beginning. Okay. We Beyond. Because the isn’t the motivation meant to be done? And then the and then the salute.
Oh, I see. Kimberly to tell. Maybe Maybe. Maybe maybe just to maybe yeah. I’m taking taking a look at taking it.
This verse is very important in meditation. That’s exactly what we need to look at the phenomena, look at the causative phenomena’s lifestyle. The first one is style. You don’t see star in the daytime, on the one that walk there, while there’s sun rising. Only night time is here.
So what they’re saying is that, in the view of the wisdom direct to seeing emptiness, you see, the phenomenas do not exist from their own side. The phenomenas are empty. I They sell, you know, so you see, yourself, you know, oneself and actions, objects, all the rest of the phenomena from hell up to enlightenment, everything empty. As we mentioned in the as we mentioned in the Heart Sūtra, heart of wisdom. The I guess the form ideas form, aggregates of feeling, aggregates of discrimination, compounding aggregates, aggregates of consciousness.
So, this, See, the nature the nature is totally empty of existing on their own side. See. So that is the view of the Ārya being’s wisdom, wisdom realizing emptiness. So in that view, you see, in that view, which is the reality, see very nature of this, is it emptiness, the very nature of this phenomena is emptiness. So, without sun, nighttime, see, like nighttime.
To mention stop, but see what that’s what that’s what that’s that’s So it’s it’s it’s it’s darkness, you know, without sun. So in the view of in the view of this hallucinatory mind, you see. Ignorance concept of true existence. So, in the view of that, you see, the eye, the self appears the self appears as true existent. The form, sound, so there’s a I guess a form, feeling, condition, and aggregates of I’d the compounding aggregates, and aggregates of consciousness, and all these, you see, appear truly existent.
Darkness could not see the very nature of those phenomena, which is emptiness, see. So, appear truly existent, truly existent, all this, and appeared and believed that they’re true. So These five skandhas. The six senses. Six senses, the six sense basis, the, you know, objects, the six objects, the object of the sense of eye, ears, so forth, see, sense of mind, all these their their reality or their nature is empty, all existing from their own side, totally empty.
And existing meaning between the mind, this is how the wisdom see, you see, like the sun, you see. But you see, in the the in the view of the ignorance concept, truly, see, appeared as truly existent and believed, apprehended as true. So, darkness is equal. Couldn’t see the reality, you know? So same, the true suffering, true causal suffering, cessation, true path, in the view of the wisdom, they’re totally empty.
Existing merely by name, but in the view of the ignorance concept of true existence, they appear to see something real, the suffering is real, cause of the suffering is real. Not merely real in the sense, not merely labeled by the mind. See, it has some existence from its own side. There’s something there’s something, you know, existing from its own side. So I feel like that so not merely labeled by the mind.
So apprehended that it’s true. What the suffering that appear real and apprehended is good, is true. As well as causal suffering, this is the cause of the suffering, true origin. But in the view of the but in the view of the wisdom, they like like the sun, they are, they’re totally empty. So, Look at the phenomena of the lifestyle.
That that that is the, say, meaning is like the sun, you see, can see everything what how the phenomena, you know, the how to say, You know, mountains, trees, whatever, all those things can see. But without sun, the star can’t see, you see. More, say, that general meaning. More even more clarification than, say, if I see, say, more more clear impression, then I’ll mention that part. Then, next one.
Look at the look at the So, see, karma, look at the look at the causal phenomena like a star. So that that kind of documentation is you see, in the in the view in the view, one’s own concept of the true existence, ignorance. So how so how how the eye appears to oneself, You know? So all the so and the say, I get the form and so forth all that, you see. And all the and the form sounds smell taste tangible object.
Form sounds smell taste tangible object. The object of mind, the phenomena of the object of mind, the existence. So, however so, You see, relate to not just talking somewhere, you see, to you, the whole phenomena, you see, appear as truly existent. Do not see do not see that they’re empty. Everything is truly existent.
Everything is real. In the sense, existing from its own side. Total total hallucination, you know. So, see. See.
Any phenomena, what is hell, what is enlightenment, everything is here, appeared to see a real, in a sense, existing from its own side, and believed in that way. True. Everything is true. So, the total total say, one is one’s mind, you see, due to ignorance, created the whole hallucination, whole world if you create the whole world, you see say, there’s a world of hallucination, including the self, action, object, everything appeared, I say, appeared in false view, you know, existing from its own side, the real one. I like that.
And believed that all these are true. And then, see, in the view of the wisdom, Like, it’s the sun. You see when sunrise, everything will be very clear. So I interview to wisdom, then I’ll see that what it realizes is is total opposite. This I, so so you yourself empty.
So all those aggregates and all those senses and basically all the you see all the sense objects. So whole the whole the whole entire every single existence, whole phenomena is totally empty. Empty of it. Empty of the real one and existing from its own side. That’s how in in the in view of wisdom, how wisdom see that.
How to wisdom see? Realize, wisdom realizing this. Directly perceive emptiness. Buddhist mind, the wisdom, you know, seeing the natural phenomena as it is, reality of phenomena as it is exactly. So, I think maybe more effective first to think how to wisdom see.
Wisdom realizing is how to how to how to realize this, see. I, you know, I guess, action object, the rest of phenomena, think that, then see, think again. Then, after that, this that so that that’s the reality, you see. Then how that how you see how how the phenomena appear to you in your cell. How you see.
I see the concept of true existence, you know, concept is you know, believed, apprehended or believed everything is true. So so So by using the example star look at the phenomenon. So, yeah, I think think made a mistake. I think first, how you see the phenomenon. It’s basically one’s own mind, the concept concept of true existence is, you know, how the phenomena appear in the, you know, hallucination, then completely holding on to that’s obviously true.
Then So, in the view of the wisdom, there’s a vast difference. Know? Wisdom, wisdom, wisdom, see everything empty. All the causative phenomena are totally empty. These causative phenomena are totally empty.
Then, let’s see. Then next one. Look at the look at the phenomena. Look at the causal phenomena. Second one is about.
One of the examples that’s used is I’ve forgotten the English words. There were some suggestions that I’ve forgotten. The the see, to the to the the you see defect to the eye. See you know, seeing perceiving the hairs falling down, you know, not eating food but seeing hairs falling down. Have this in a hallucination.
That so that example is used. That’s one example that’s used. So in reality, there’s no first thing, hair falling down. But this to do a hallucinative the hallucinative sense of the eye, then you see hairs falling down like that. What’s the other word?
There’s some other word. Not blood, not blood, eye. Not blood, eye. Some other word. Blurred.
Blurred. Blurred eye. Not blurred eye. Blurred. Blurred.
You know, when you put eye drops. When you went to the eye for The You know? The What? What? Not at all.
The red eyes are when you get angry. When you have high blood pressure, angry, angry. No, I would say some such as blurred eye and blood. You know, the after eye after the eye drop, then, you know, the in the hospital, you see, after the hospital, you went to to check the eye, you see, then you put that eye drop, you know. You don’t want say clear.
Blurry. Blurry. Blurry. Blurry. Blurry.
Anyway. There’s one English word I forgotten. Fuzzy. Fuzzy. Fuzzy is one word, I’m not sure that exact So, example is like this.
This one example used in the text. However, vision, anyway, I think it’s having, you know, having wrong vision, clear. Wrong vision, which is not there, see. Okay. So, this is another example.
You see, look at the nature, look at the nature of phenomena. So, here’s what he’s saying. I think here what the way to understood is it. The reality is empty, oh, you see. It’s not existing from its own side.
You see, that as appeared existing from their own side, I see, do not exist. They do not exist as they as they appear existing from their own side. They do not exist. They do not exist in that way. They do not exist in the way that appear existing from their own side, you see.
So again here, fuzzy or blurry, you see, they use an example. All those things, those wrong visions, actually there’s no such thing there, but you have appearance. So, using that as an example to realize, to recognize how the phenomena appear to you, truly existent, but there’s no such thing. Not slightly, not an atom of that in reality. So, you see, we look at the causal phenomena and, you know, if you use the example, then then think look at then then you see, look at your view, your view of the cause of the phenomena.
So like that, you see, truly existent. Totally wrong because reality is empty. It’s empty. You see. So the light here, look at the characteristics of phenomena, like a butter lamp flame.
Butter lamp flame. It’s the same, you know, candle candle flame. Basically basically,