Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 60-minute talk, Lama Zopa Rinpoche teaches foundational Buddhist principles to a general audience, beginning with the futility of material seeking and the nature of endless desire. He contrasts the Buddha’s renunciation of palace life with contentment in simple circumstances—eating when hungry, wearing adequate clothing, having shelter—without constant craving for more. He then develops compassion and loving-kindness as the antidote to self-centered suffering, defining great compassion as unconditional responsibility to liberate all beings from any form of suffering, without seeking gratitude or return. Finally, he introduces dependent arising and emptiness—the understanding that all phenomena exist through interconnected causes and conditions—showing how this knowledge counters despair and suicide by revealing that karma creates possibility for change. Woven throughout are practical applications: how these teachings transform relationships with parents, teachers, and society; how they balance material and spiritual life; and how practices like taking-and-giving meditation reduce physical and mental pain. The talk aims at both newcomers and serious practitioners seeking to integrate Buddhist ethics into daily life.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 02 UTAR Sg Long Dharma Talk.mp3
UUID: 092737bd-f205-4f20-8b14-d619289ada51
Teacher: Lama Zopa Rinpoche 3
Collection: Outrench (Lama Zopa Rinpoche 3)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 60.0 minutes
Words: ~7,852
You know, don’t seek happiness from the material kind of material life. Don’t seek happiness from the wearing a nice cloth. Don’t seek happiness, How to detach that? Understand the nature of impermanent. Understand the nature of impermanent and understand the nature of dissatisfaction in us.
If you have one friend, we are not satisfied. We want two friend. If we have a one dinner party, we are not satisfied. We want to have a two dinner party. If we have a one dress, we are not satisfied.
Satisfied. We wanna have a two dress. We have a one dollar. We wanna have a ten dollar. Once we have a ten dollar, we wanna have a hundred thousand dollar.
Once we have a hundred thousand dollar, we want one million. One million also not enough. One million. One million also not enough. You know?
So it’s like like chasing for that and and, like, unexhaustible kind of, like, energy you put. You know? Like, unlimited not not an limitless effort that that you put for for for to for the fulfillment of that desire. And then at the end, the result is is a is a the result only you experience is on suffering of not satisfying. You know, that your urge will be never satisfied.
The moment you have this, you want that. You want that? You have it. You you go for that. That’s So so so by understanding this impermanent nature of us and nature of the existing the the environment around us and try to learn to detach.
So Buddha show an example of living in his palace. Even though it’s the most luxurious, most comfortable place, but that is in the nature impermanent. And that is in the nature of they only bring the extra desire. You know? And that is not the permanent solution to bring everlasting happiness.
You know? As long as you don’t detach desire or the object of desire, you will never reach or receive called everlasting happiness, which is called liberation. You know? So that reason, he he did the the most shocking thing, the unbelievable thing, that he is a prince. He have his father want him to be the greatest king in the world.
You know? But he said, I don’t want this is not the right thing. I live. Rather, I stay under the tree. Rather, I stay in the cave.
Rather, I be with the the the the the animals like deer, a peacock, deer. You know? So so this is just one example that that we have to be brave enough to learn about what exactly the nature of the the desire and what how the the the desire will lead into a disaster or suffering. Detachment, how it leads to the everlasting happiness. So Buddha showed that, you know, his different things of Buddha’s life based on detachment and inspire to be liberated yourself from the trap of our ignorant desire mind or our ignorant desire interest.
You know? So from there, by understanding this, he he he he he accomplished the the practice of renunciation. He achieved the goal of renunciation. So once you achieve the goal of renunciation, you know, there is a possibility of a liberation. So in order to gain the liberation, the renunciation itself is the fundamental thing.
Even for us, if we want to be happy, we have to renounce the material world. But but that doesn’t mean we give up our job. We give up our food. We give up our shelter. We must stay in a very comfortable place.
We must wear something which is presentable to anybody. You know? We must eat good food, proper food. You know? But the thing is, even in case, like today, the world market went down, so don’t make yourself so difficult of not enough money to go to shopping.
Just it’s okay. It’s okay. You know? I don’t mind. As long as I have a cloth to wear, it’s enough.
You know? It’s enough. As long as I can, you know, feel my stomach, it’s enough. It’s okay. It’s okay.
Not necessary enough, but you should tell yourself it’s okay. I’m fine. So that when the when the when the, you know, the when the market goes up, when the when the, you know, the families, the wealth, you know, prosperous increase. Okay. If you have more money, then you you go and buy more.
You know? And you can go to eat in rest, you know, hotels, you know, whatever. You you you can enjoy it. So so you have to, like, you have to be contented based on the situation in every single present moments in that particular gifted situation. It can be poor.
It can be rich, but you have to be contented by without any disturbance of the environmental kind of influence. You know? Otherwise, it’s so suffering. It’s just because of your desire. You know?
You still have the cloth, but because of your desire, you know, not enough. You see? So so then now so from there, in order to actualize, giving greater benefit, not just for yourself. Now you want to influence this this teaching to your family, this teaching to your friends, just renouncing oneself and try to, you know, follow the path of the Buddha. You are contented.
You’re you’re you’re well managed. You’re very happy. You’re okay. You know? As long as you have food to eat, as long as it’s close to where, as long as place to live, maybe you’re alright.
You know? Maybe tomorrow you might have a better place, but you don’t have to worry so much. Maybe maybe don’t know whether there’s a still chance for me to still be alive tomorrow morning or not. Maybe something happened later than how? It’s impermanent nature.
You see? So appreciate this very moment. Be positive about coming days, and forgive and purify and forget about the mistake in the past, and live a life with a healthy, positive attitude. So with that, you are most happy. You are in you you are most happy, and you are doing all the good things, the creation of virtue.
And then you can call yourself all the time practicing Dharma, whatever you want to say. So now this kind of environment, you want to influence into your family, your society. Then we have to learn about compassion. You know, we have to learn about the power of compassion. We have to learn about power of called.
They also use a word on call, altruistic mind. They also use a word called great heart. You know, like, great, wise, and open heart called bodhicitta. You understand your situation very well. But when you look at when you look outside, look at your parents, look look at your parents, your friends, including all people outside, including the ants and mosquitoes.
Their situation is no different than me. Exactly hundred percent same situation. So, therefore, you you understand the liberation. You renounce. You know what is the exact path, but you see that many beings are still kind of, like, not out of of the end.
Okay. Now you take a responsibility by yourself saying that I will take the responsibility to also enlighten us. That can happen only if you have compassion. So you don’t have compassion, it’s it’s a very self sent it might be a very self centered for your own happiness as well. You know?
So you have to have compassion. So so now here, what is the definition of compassion? You know, we have to know that that compassion should be certain you know, qualified with certain qualities, isn’t it? So what means by compassion? So compassion is the the attitude or the mind which always wish, you know, other beings to be free from any form of suffering.
You know, the the attitude that always wished the beings to be free from suffering. Always wish like like, the compassion to yourself, I always may I be always free from suffering. That’s compassion because may you be free from suffering. May all my family members be free from suffering. That is compassion to each other.
So this Mahāyāna Buddhism, not just a compassion, but it talks about the value of great compassion. They end up with great. Great compassion. So the great compassion is unconditional, whether it’s my enemy, whether it’s my friend, or whether it could be, you know, a stranger, as long as they are being, they have the same nature of wanting happiness, I do not discriminate. If that is the nature, I want to take the responsibility to liberate every single living being from entire aspect of suffering.
And that is called great compassion. Great compassion. Great compassion. You know? Unconditional.
You you you never hope for a return of doing this job for others. You never hope for even a slight kind of a, like, appreciation from others saying that, oh, you come to rescue me. No. You will not even hope. Even they hate you, even they throw a stone towards you by you coming you going to rescue them.
Some people, when you show compassion, they instead of they appreciate, they will get angry towards you. Try to smile, but sometimes people will say, why do you smile at me? Mhmm. You know, you’re so rude. You’re so rude of smiling at me.
People are like that. You see? Smile has always brighter picture, you know, brighter side than not smiling. Whatever it is. The smile, it it has a it has positive message, then not smile.
It’s something is good. Smile. Smile. Then very crazy. Yeah.
So so is it so so so is it so unconditional kind of taking responsibility and responsibility of liberating others from any form of suffering. It can be very slight, little, like headache or mental agitation, little mental agitation, or very chronic pain, physical pain, or chronic mental agitations, you know, including the pain and the suffering of ignorance and delusion. Your your wish your wish of freeing others is not just small pain, but including the pain caused by past karma and ignorant or the delusion, you know, to freedom. So having this attitude is called you having great compassion. Having this attitude.
You have this attitude, somehow, the the person who has this attitude, somehow, people can feel it when you come to help them, when you come to talk to them. You feel it that something is very special. It it is it’s so powerful that, you know, the compassion is like, you know, people can start to feel the vibration that your dedication is is is something is, like, influencing me in the right way, something positive way. Like, people can feel it. You see?
So that could be the great compassion. If you if you if you elaborate slightly more about this great compassion, then we call the the great compassion, you know, which taking responsibility by myself alone. Say, by myself alone will liberate every single living being from every single suffering. So make taking this courage in your within yourself alone. You know?
Doesn’t matter whether my friends support me or not. Doesn’t matter whether Buddha’s blessing is there or not. Doesn’t matter people will appreciate or not. But my life, I want to dedicate thinking that. I want to dedicate that.
I’m you know, I want to dedicate my whole life, entire aspect of life, you know, even course of my life. You know, whatever matter it happens, I myself alone. Even I happen to be alone in my my journey, myself alone will liberate every single living being from the entire sphere of suffering. So that’s called the most inspiring altruistic mind. You know?
Like like that. So then that compassionate attitude is always overwhelmed, Always introduce always overwhelmed with the true love. You know, the compassion and the the and great what’s it? Compassion and the true love always go together. True love is the heart or the attitude always, you know, wishing to to to to to bring the being in to bring to bring the being in the state of happiness.
It’s called love. Compassion is to bring the beings from liberate from the suffering. It’s just like a like a different, you know, different different angle. One is that always wanting every single living being to be recited happiness, this thing, or we achieve happiness. And one aspect of thought is always wanting to liberate from the entire suffering.
So true love and true compassion go together. So this practice can apply in your ordinary related relationship. Then your relationship is going to be fantastic. It’s it’s the most stable, most dedicating, unbelievable loving relationship. And this practice you apply with your parents and yourself, the respect that from the children if if this is practicing by children, you know, the respect that from you to your parents will be amazing.
You know? It’s it’s it will be it will the most amazing way of, like, repaying the kindness, you know, showing respect to your parents, you know, comforting them. And at the end of their end at the end of their life, like, sending them off with such a blissful experience, the comfort, the confidence that you receive from your child. And if this practice you apply with the teacher and this and the students is one of the most, you know, amazing that the the education that you can provide and learn from each other within the teacher and the student relationship. And this practice, we will apply in the society.
You know? It always, like how to say, that can bring a great contribution of to fulfill the to fulfill the purpose of establishing the community. You know, to to create a community like this, to create a community is to bring some benefit to the community. You know? We don’t get that together here to bring most problem.
We get together here to find some solution to to make human society better. So if we have this compassion and this love together, this is the principle base, then we we put all our different inputs, different thoughts. Then if we work based on the the the the the of compassion and love, Amazing contribution that you can provide from even from one from one person. And if you are working for world peace, world peace have to start from your side, from from your individual. You know, world peace cannot establish just by announcing in the newspaper or showing in the TV saying that world peace is necessary and must start on tomorrow morning.
It doesn’t happen. It would never happen. World peace will never happen that way. World peace have to start from individual. How can you establish?
The practice of love and compassion. Because when you have the practice of love and compassion, there will be a respect to each other. There will be a ethic in each other each other. There there will be a concern for each other’s benefit. You know?
So if six, seven of us start to practice this, at least, you know, within our world, there will be peace and harmony, and that’s called our world peace. If this happen to start establish in a bigger community, then already provided the world peace. And this is started in in every single country, then world peace is possible. Otherwise, you know, hold the mic and go everywhere and the stuff, you know, put it in newspaper. It doesn’t happen.
You have to start from individual with these two foundation. You see? So now here, and this is the one of the principle teaching of Buddha. The second principle teaching of Buddha. First one, I said renunciation.
Second one is you can call it compassion or bodhicitta or loving kindness, the second phase. Now there’s a third one. It’s called dependent arising. The understanding the nature of cause and effect. You know, cause and effect.
We must appreciate our parent because without parent, I won’t be in this world now. I won’t be in this this stage. Without parents’ care, even happen to come into this world, maybe I won’t be alive today. Then think deeper, nine months in their womb. Unbelievable hardship for us just to, you know, carry one small belly.
You know, today, you look at the world. People that have a little bit so much suffering. Some fat here, some fat. Put put in so much money, put so much energy, you know, so much money and so much energy just to reduce that small small belly. Mhmm.
Small. You know? Not a big, you know, small. And I said, so much money. Worry, you know, every time, you know, one day, three, four time, you you step on the the machine.
And if one one degree go up, so much pain. One degree go down, there’s some happiness, but not satisfied. You know? This is a reality. It’s happening, especially in today’s world.
You know? So, mother, for nine months for nine months, for us, we cannot take it, the the the suffering that you know, like, just little fat for for for one day or whatever. You know? For one week that you have to go to whatever the exercise place, you know, for how many times, you know, with so much worry. You know?
Think every single shop, you know, to find a solution to reduce. And you can see in most of the shopping centers out there, the slimy kind of machines, all sort of machines. You know? It’s all money. I said, well, how much effect do you receive, but there’s there’s so much.
human’s greed on that. Suffering, there’s so much there. I said, saw the mother for nine months. Big. Big.
And not just for one week, for nine months. Even the how fast it come out, maybe, let’s say, eight months. Definitely. Quite unusual, but at this eight months. It’s big.
Okay. The pain. It’s like a heaviness. Unbelievable painful. You look at the movies.
Unbelievable painful. Unbelievable painful. Say say that? And come up. Okay.
Start to cry. At least age one, two, three. Let’s say age one or two, three. One. The moment the moment, you know, the parent want to sleep, the baby wake up.
Then no more time to rest. So even how many meds you have, but still, you know, the the the concern from the parents of the baby is still the tremendous, you know, like, death. Whether you go to work, whether whatever, it’s so much concern, so much energy provided us. Age of four, five, six, one. Notice we have been no.
Break whatever we like to. You know, break, jump anywhere we like to jump, scream, whatever we like to scream, and all of sudden okay. Then after that, see, until today, when we think carefully, we really give such a hard time to our parents. You see? You see?
So now even even now about the graduate, you know, whatever education we receive, due to their hard work. They earn money. Not easy. You know? They earn money.
You know? Whatever food that we have is all that kindness. Most of the time, we we we forget about like, we forget them. We scream at them. You know?
We say, you you you have not done enough for me, or you discriminate with my brother, my sister. You know? Also, they have so much problems, but we we give them extra problems. But still, you feel you are you are you are somebody who’s very special. You’re good.
We we always think we are the most the the the the you call coalescence or cooperation of the cause and effect of who we are, who parents, is one example. And like that, all all of us, including the rice, you know, one piece of rice, one grain of rice that we we we don’t eat. If the rice is from Thailand, well, this one piece of rice is not just because you have a cash in your pocket. That one piece of rice is the, you know, actually, like, in front of your in front you know, in the bowl in front of you is Africa. Tremendous people and hundreds and hundreds and thousands of beings.
You need so many bacteria, wet bacteria to in order to rise to actually grow. Not only that, to to to keep it, you know, like like, edible that so many beans sacrifice their life. Just spray one one one chemical to make the rice to, you know, dip this and so many beans died just for one that grain rice that we are going to put in our mouth. And most likely, if we get grain of rice, we don’t put in our mouth, maybe we might not live alive. Maybe we might die.
Maybe that one grain of rice, maybe, you know, one bowl of rice, let’s say. Maybe that is our life. You know? If we if if we don’t have that, maybe we might die. Okay.
You know? So let’s say bring from air by airplane or ship or whatever from all the way from Thailand to Malaysia, then to the shopping center. If there’s no shopping center, not possible. If there’s no sea, if there’s no and, okay, inquiry environment. If there’s no sea, how to have a boat to bring ship to bring all those.
Right? If there’s no airplane, how? So is it like this? We are connected to every single places the mid the every single environment, every single you know? Then you can you you can go up to a extent that without this war, you know, whatever that the enjoyment that we have, you won’t won’t have enough.
So so these are this is the Buddhist concept. The Buddhist Buddhist the third important concept called the dependent arising. We have to understand the the the the nature of dependent arising, And they can even label as emptiness. You know? The word they label as emptiness, which is very famous word, but very difficult to understand.
Yes. You know, you go to the piece to pieces, you know, to to understand how that it works. It’s like a science. It’s like a science. You put a part and particle together then, you know, see how it works, see how can peel each other here and there.
You know? I heard in the school that for the science students, like, they bring a probe in the in the cart and let’s see what inside how it works. So so the emptiness theory is something like that. Very interesting. You start to, you know, one small thing, it has zillions of reasons.
Very interesting. Once you have a, like, rough idea of how emptiness works, what your your life become, like, what? So much information that you’re already inside there. Now you want to, like, fix up one puzzle, isn’t it? Feed up here.
Fit there. Very interesting subject. So, anyway, the meaning of emptiness is one single word, dependent arising, dependent existing. How much is the same concept as the nonself? Nonself.
Yeah. Yes. Nonself is talking about the you. The non nonself means selflessness of I. You.
This is this this is the this is the starting point where to understand emptiness. It’s one of the most important teaching. So now here, non-self of phenomena and non-self of I is categorized as true. So non-self of I, you. Non-self of phenomena is your aggregates, your table, your chair, house.
And that’s like the rice. Rice, you know, where they come from. You know? All those the the nature of existing, which is about the correlation of cause and conditions. There’s nothing exist without cause and condition.
Once we understand the nature of how the things exist, how things come into your life with the help of cause and condition, we start to appreciate yourself. We start to appreciate our aggregates. We start to appreciate our world. We start to appreciate the rice. We start to appreciate those whoever contributed to the actualizing of their rice.
And we become such a wise person. We become such a understanding person. We become such a respectful person, and that’s the benefit of Because of understanding emptiness, it’s so easy to kind of detach, so easy to think like go, so easy to for us to be not too much grasping because that bring us sense of confident that if we create a right course, even though today that you are at total loss, but if you create a right course, tomorrow there’s a brighter day because it’s dependent arising and dependent on cause and condition is it. There’s a tomorrow. Tomorrow can be even better than the best time in my past.
So you see? So you become very. You become very encouraging, and you start to you you learn to move on with some kind of confident in yourself. If we don’t understand that, why? These things are so easy to give up.
In the worst case, society. Suicide. People give up, suicide. Because of lost money, suicide. Deal their life.
Because of religion problem, suicide. Because of some small problem, drug. Take drug, and that is the process of destroying. That’s process of society also. It’s like torturing yourself to finish your life, you know, such a such a disrespectful way to ourself.
You see? So it’s because of we don’t of not understanding the the how the nature exists in the condition of cause and condition. So this is so important that it is really, like, a a saver of our life. And if you can console people, those who are so down, those who are, like, lost their their their their hope, based on the understanding, selfless understanding, you can really rescue them from inside, not just, like, giving them one bowl of rice and and and you go away. Not like that.
You give them this information. Let them understand. Maybe take maybe take one hour time to sit together or maybe three hours time. Never mind. But you really will save the person for him to, like, move on his life, not to give up.
It’s it’s it’s one of the most powerful tool. So that so these three teaching okay. Renunciation, Bodhicitta or compassion, loving kindness, compassion, Bodhicitta, all in one category. Like good heart, good personality, all in one category. Then emptiness or the dependent arising, cause and effect, you know, one category.
So this one we call the three principal aspect of the path. Three principal aspect of the Buddha’s path or the of Buddha’s And in in in Tibetan kind of the the language, they also call or they also call as graduate graduated path to liberation. Step by step.
Step by step. Yeah? Graduated path to enlightenment or graduated path to liberation. So the subject you wanna spend, it is about it comes about three ones, big one. If you want to, like, discuss, you know, emptiness, we can discuss so many so many aspects.
So once we have once we have these three kind of, like, this much understanding, now we are ready to explore. We will understand so easily whenever there’s a teaching on because all Buddha’s teaching touch on these three principle. Without these three principle, there’s no Buddhist teaching. So once you have these three principle in your mind, your understanding, whatever teaching you read, you know, it it sounds the taste of this three thing. Once you you taste the teaching of this three thing, it sounds like Buddha’s teaching.
It really feel this is this is this is who Buddha is, and this is who Buddha’s teaching is, you know, what Buddha’s teaching is. You know? But, otherwise, like like, it become a temporary comfort. Or one smart guy, you know, very poetry guy, you know, write very beautiful point and, like, make you want to think, woah. Woah.
Woah. You know, flying in the sky. But deep down in in your heart, it’s kind of, like, still empty. So once whenever you read Buddhist teaching, whenever you want to learn about Buddhadharma, with the three principle in your in your in your understanding, then explore the books. And when you go to listen lectures, based on these three thing, okay, you you will start to see all the teachers who are qualified, whatever angle they try to move, actually, they want to reach this three point into.
They want to send the message of the three point to this other this three is the three principle. And this three teaching is the foundation. And this three teaching is the the the body part, the the main body of of your echo benefit yourself and others. And these three teaching is the one that even after you become Buddha, you only can perform based on these three teaching. If no compassion, how Buddha going to benefit other?
If no understanding and cause an effect, how yourself yourself first place that will convince to create a good causes for other? If yourself is not renounced, how are you going to teach others to renounce? You see? So then this three teaching and so Buddha’s life also comes in this three teaching. And and you become such a happy person.
The first thing, you know, you think of renunciation, you think of emptiness, and you think of Buddhism, compassion. Wherever you go, wherever you meet, even the whole world around you is collapsed, but you are still a survivor. You’re still out. Wait. Okay.
Wake up. You’re still out. Like, oh, wait. Survival is sometimes also also a good word, isn’t it? Survival is like survival.
It’s like survival is like survive from the very painful situation there. Do I still kind of no. I don’t have a right word. You can say that you still yeah. I think maybe you better say you are still a survivor.
Because entire aspect is all gone. You know? And you are still surviving. You know? You at least survive, you see?
Well, you can say it’s. You see? So so this this this is the okay. Now here, if we have this teaching, this understanding in our in our mind, then our material world our material world is is like our material world our material world will never condemn us. Our material world never condemn or influence us or or subdue by material world for us to suffer.
You know? Let’s say, if you understand emptiness, if you understand the renunciation, if you understand, you know, oh, be be satisfied with what you have. Know? There’s so many poor people. They don’t even have a one single cloth to wear.
And you go in front of the shopping center and look at the the new fashion, and you suffer. You say, I must buy. I must buy. You know? Yeah.
Then then look at the pocket, you know, all quite thin. Then then then you start to, like, blame parent, blame the the boss, or blame your company or, you know, start to, like, you know, criticize to the people who were nicer. The problem will come. This problem will come. So that means the material will condemn us.
The material the material will actually subdue us, and we are under the control of those. So we constantly suffer. Understand your renunciation. Oh, beautiful. Om ah home.
There’s one powerful mantra for om ah hum, symbolizing Buddha’s body, speech, and mind. The mantra is Sanskrit, original mantra from Buddha. This mantra has a power just by reciting om ah hum, whatever you see, beauty, whatever you hear before the sound, whatever you taste. Mantra is the this mantra has the power of transforming itself, offering to the all the Buddhas, all the Sangha, and naturally will become charity to others. Let’s say you don’t effort to buy that.
Somebody behind you can effort to buy that. Because of you saw the beautiful dress, you say, The person who buy, you you you yourself create the cause that you are actually making charity donation to the person who buy. So that much power into this mantra. Om Ah Hum. Because of you, you have you make generosity to this person, making offering to the Buddhas by the power of the mantra.
Even you don’t have any motivation. You create the right cause. Don’t know. Go back home suddenly. Father say, oh, today, you know, the the business today, I got a bonus from my office.
You know? Okay. One thousand go and go shopping. This can definitely happen either from your parents, either from your friends. Awesome.
Oh, next month, I’m traveling to overseas, and I won’t be available for your birthday. I’m giving you my birthday present now. Could be something more valuable. And that whole result of good karma, a result of merit, and result of dream offering and charity. Just because what you happen to be safe, and you are you are safe that you are safe that disturbance it didn’t disturb you.
Like, feel so hard, hard pain that I’m not I cannot afford to buy. And you you you you kind of secure that not blaming your parents, not giving enough money. They didn’t score your your your company not paying enough or not paying in time or whatever. You see? Wow.
So much security. At the center, they accumulate merit. And like that, you see? So can apply in your You can apply relationship. You can apply in your relation with parents.
You know? Because we always compete. Our sufferings from suffering comes from competition. Or somebody else having a boyfriend or girlfriend relationship. Oh, I also should have.
If not, I don’t know. So much problem. Oh, then you then you go into a you go into you go into unclear judgment of relationship. At the end, disappointment. Or the disappointment is much more painful than the happiness that you what you have, you know, received from the relationship is is much more heavier.
We are just following our gross kind of sensor, temporary pleasure and interest. And that is through competition, the desire in your heart. That based on material world. Material world not necessarily have to be clothed. The material concept.
You see? So so so constant suffering, you see? So now so now this three teaching is so important to us, so important in our life. You become whatever situation comes to you, you are the most happy person. When you are sicker, you are the happiest.
Oh, suddenly somebody come into your life, you are the most happiest. Or somebody suddenly come and left you, also don’t mind. Doesn’t know. If you’re a boy, there’s a hundreds of girls in the girls in the world. Doesn’t matter.
Dharma helps, you know, this circle. So important. So this is how the material and this is how that the materials, you know, like, is so dangerous. If we don’t have dharma, you know, we are the worst slave in our life for our material interest. Whole life become their interest.
They’re their slave. And at the end of the day, no hope for happiness. Your life is already empty. Go to next time. Don’t know where we go again.
It’s not easy. So so this is it. So now, yeah, balance is spiritual life and material life. Whatever we discuss now, that’s how to balance. That’s the way to balance.
It’s no it’s not something that, okay, fifty percent from here, please from here. No such thing. The way how we use contentment, you know, the understanding of the understanding or dependent arising cause and effect or appreciation of every single present moment, what do you have. You know? And always be compassionate.
When you be a when you are compassionate, you start to see the world is like bigger picture. You know? If you are suffering when you generate compassion, you won’t feel that you are the only one who’s suffering. There’s so many beings that are suffering. In fact, there are so many things.
Even though they look like wealthy, but they are most suffering. You know? Now if you practice emptiness, you start to feel that your life is, like, just in the aspect of creation of good causes, bring happiness in you, bring happiness in other. And renunciation, you feel everything is alright. Everything alright.
And that bring a lot of courage also. You know? Then your life become, like, more and more kind of kind of like a more energy, brighter, and you become more beneficial to the world and yourself. So that’s how to balance the material life and as well as the spiritual life. And in that, if you want to become mom, welcome.
If you don’t want, you want to stay as a very energetic young boy, remain in this city. If you want to be a just free thinker, let it be. If don’t want to become a Christian, let it be. Just live a life in that principle. And that Buddhist advice is not because you are Buddhist and practice.
If you want happiness, you practice that. If you don’t have happiness, okay. Put aside. Buddha given a choice. You say, oh, if you are Buddhist, then only you practice it.
If you are not Buddhist, don’t care. Not like that. Buddha said, if you want happiness, practice this. If you don’t want happiness, you practice. So we want happiness.
So if you want happiness, practice this. Know? So so you see so that’s how that’s how it works. So then so so this is I think, roughly, we cover our subject. The second one is what what’s that?
The second tips, what is it? Oh, yeah. Then if we don’t have a compassion or, again, if we don’t have renunciation, if we don’t have compassion, if we don’t have emptiness understanding, you know, it’s it’s, again, the the self selfishness, the self centered mind is always overwhelmed there. So you are born to be somebody who is, like, rich or who is who has so much wisdom, so much ideas, smart, or you have so many friends, but always about you. Self centered.
Because of compassion, because of renunciation, okay, now you start to value dharma in action. Whether you wanna call dharma in action or whether you wanna call my good person. My my I’m being a I’m being a person. I’m being a human being. I’m being a a son of a good family or daughter of a good family, kind family, I should do something for the world.
I should do something. I shouldn’t be just think about myself. My life is, like, so narrow. I shouldn’t be that. I should do something for others.
No. Others. So then okay. Whether you want to call Dharma in action or whether you want to call that you wanna do something brighter, something greater, then you do, like, a hospice works, You know, with with understanding of these three teachings, you become a best hospice service. When somebody dying, this is the best way to comfort them.
And at the time of dying, the peace of the mind is so necessary. Otherwise, it’s so much illusion, so much fear. Dying people have so much suffering. So you can you can subside their their suffering with this knowledge. If you’re sick people, you will comfort them.
You know, never give up. Think positive because, again, cause and condition. You know? The mind influence our physical body in in in most powerful way. You know?
Like, you know, our mind, like like, just has has a greater great greatest power to influence our entire other systems. Somebody having a physical cancer, if their mind always think negative, say, oh, I’m the only one who, like when people are sick, they start thinking that I’m the only one in the whole world suffering. You know? I’m the only one who’s a cancer patient. They started even they see so many cancer patient, but they only think themselves.
They are the most suffering. So you can teach them. You can at least comfort them. You know? Everybody is born in the nature you know, birth, suffering, aging, sickness, death.
It’s not a shocking thing. Everybody has experienced it. But if your heart, your mind at least think positive that no you are not alone. And especially by understanding cause and effect, this is a result of my karma. It’s the process of purification.
People start to feel lifted. When their heart is more lifted, their their pain in the body also subsides. And there’s there’s even chance of even recovering. And many people does recover by think by doing meditation on emptiness. Many cancer patience as I recall, many cancer patients recover by meditating on emptiness understanding or by meditating on the compassionate practice.
There’s one practice within the bodhicitta or compassion practice. There’s one practice called take and give. Practice. Practice of taking and giving. So how that works?
Please stop me whenever whenever your time is taking and giving. When you when you when you experience a tremendous, let’s say, stomach pain, you just you just simply meditate or you just simply think. You know? Simply think. Just simply say and simply think.
At least simply at least just say and think that these numberless beings are experiencing tremendous sufferings suffering from cancer, suffering from all sorts of pains Now I am experiencing stomach ache. May this stomach ache be of experiencing entire number of these pains, etc. This one is like a second stage. If you are even more knowledgeable, then we have to say, May every single living beings suffer and it is causes causes of the suffering ripen upon my stomach pain. This is it is it is very powerful.
My stomach pain. May may whatever happiness or merits or good causes for happiness may be in me. Maybe maybe maybe may I whatever causes of happiness and and happiness that which I have, may all those happiness and causes ripen upon all other living beings. So you give entire your goodness to all and take entire disaster on you and others. And this is is even, like, practicing many, many years in the in the in the Dharma also very difficult to able to handle this because you feel like, you know, like, the all other’s pains are ripening up on you.
You know? So so what I discover you know, normally, how I try to meditate, you know, for for this ordinary person, I just it is sufficient. It’s easier. But it but it it is a cover of the practice. I I used to think whenever I have a gastric pain or headache, every single pain suffering So it’s bit lighter than the the previous one.
It’s lighter. So that’s called. So now here in Buddha’s teaching, Buddha and the omniscient one has spoken that if you if you are not a great Bodhisattva, even you pray and pray in twenty four hours to ripen your suffering on me will never ripen. Because this is your own karma, and that is my own karma. Even how much you pray also, it won’t ripen.
But if you are a Bodhisattva, if you are a real Bodhisattva, then when you pray, the other suffering will ripen on you, and that actually ripens. So we, as ordinary, no need to worry at all about other suffering ripening upon you, your your pain. There’s no extra burden that will ripen on your stomach pain. You know? But because of the power of the mind of the we power the positive mind, power of the compassion, in fact, the benefit, it reduce your pain and recover your pain faster.
So this is like a psychological. You know? It’s it’s like a psychological, but this is we call the practice of taking giving, one of the most powerful practice. So that when you go deeper study in bodhicitta, then bodhicitta practice comes into two phase. One is practice of taking and giving, and another phase of practice is called the six causes and one result.
Bodhicitta itself is the result. And in order to actualize that Bodhicitta, you need to cover six causes. So the first cause, the first cause is remember every single living as your mother. Like, how your present mother been so kind to you, how how much you appreciate the present mother. Whatever you do, how how cruel that your mother may be, but you always actually find a way to please her or find something to pay repay the kindness.
You know? So the only the matter is the rest of the other beings, you they have been your mother, but you don’t see them as your mother and you don’t understand because of barrier of the life. We have many, many lives. We have many, many lives. You know, the millions of the noblest lives.
So every single living being has been our mother. So the thought of remembering, thought of understanding every single living being your mother, once you once you have this this heart, then you start to feel their kindness. Remember how kind they are. Because of remembering that, you restrict yourself not to harm them. Because of understanding them, you start to find a way to repay their kindness.
So remembering mother, remembering the kindness of them, and learn to repay the kindness. You know? Then since every single living being has been your mother, you start to create the inspiration of, like, taking some responsibility. Since everyone has been my mother, I have to work hard to pay the the their kindness by myself. You know?
So take the responsibility. And after that, is it a good compassion? My my my my only task in my life is to liberate every single living being from the entire suffering. The compassion comes. So while the compassion is established in your heart, then only bodhicitta comes.
So then bodhicitta is, like, may all living beings be free from all the suffering and lead them up to the Buddhahood. Make everybody become Buddha by your guidance. So they’re called bodhicitta. So this the bodhicitta practice has a two phase. So one is called the six causes and one result, and another one is called the taking and giving practice, called Tonglen.
So like that. Okay. Thank you very much. We have a small present for you all from our teacher. So let me let us Okay?
And yeah.