Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 54-minute introduction to the Wheel of Sharp Weapons, Kyabje Rinpoche establishes that the Mahāyāna practitioner is defined by the awakening heart—an intentional commitment to lead all beings to lasting happiness—rather than status, location, or texts. He reveals the text’s central paradox: we misidentify our real enemy. Drawing on the tragic example of Yugoslavia, Rinpoche shows how we war against neighbors while overlooking the true adversaries: internal afflictive emotions like anger, attachment, and self-cherishing. Through thought transformation, we reframe difficulties and recognize that mental cultivation eliminates both physical and mental pain. The teaching opens with verses invoking Yamāntaka, overcomer of death, and Mañjuśrī, wisdom realizing emptiness, and introduces the vivid first metaphor of peacocks thriving on poisonous plants rather than medicine gardens, their bodies brightening and voices strengthening on toxins.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1992-10-19 – 1A – Wheel of Sharp Weapons – KR.mp3
UUID: 130a36e6-232d-49bd-8dad-d77a8365c94b
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Mind Training
Date: 1992-10-19
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,616
Today, as I have been requested, I am going to begin the teaching on the universal vehicle teaching of this Wheel of Sharp Weapons. So if we were to question, well, who is the author of the the text Wheel of Sharp Weapons? It was the great master of India, the practitioner of the universal vehicle, who actually had vast experience of the universal vehicle, Lama Dharma Rakshita. The text that we’re going to study, the wheel Wheel of Sharp Weapons is included within the universal vehicle, and how we do determine what is the universal vehicle. It is as Śāntideva said, when a practitioner generates or develops within their mind the awakening heart, the bodhicitta, then that is a practitioner of the universal vehicle.
If a person does not have the awakening heart within their mind, they are not a practitioner of the universal vehicle. So the universal vehicle is not posited in terms of the person, that is to say, if the person is a monk or a lay person, that is not the determining factor, nor the place, whether it is a holy place, no matter what it might be, that is not the determining factor, no matter whether it is the type of book, that is not the determining factor. The determining factor as to the universal vehicle is a quality of mind. So whoever the being may be, the determining factor in terms of the practitioner of the universal vehicle is the development of the awakening heart. If the being has generated the awakening heart within their mind, then whosoever they may be, whether they be monks or nuns or women or men, whether they be even animals, they become a bodhisattva.
They have generated the awakening heart. So in between that which constitutes our being, the body and mind, it is a quality of mind. But not all minds are the awakening heart. As we cultivate it within our meditation, it is an intentional quality of the mind. It is a commitment to lead all living beings to a state where they have experienced only happiness without any suffering.
And it is this which is cultivated through meditation and finally once we gain a real experience of this commitment, this becomes a quality of mind, the awakening heart. So it is a quality which we are seeking to generate within our mind. It is a longing in terms generated which arises out of love and compassion. We look upon all living beings as if our loved ones and we want to lead them to a state where they have removed all their various faults and brought to consummation all their excellent qualities. This state is concomitant with the elimination of all their suffering and the realization of a final happiness.
If we really want to lead all living beings to a state where they experience only happiness, where there is no suffering, then it is necessary that we ourselves, in order to bring that about, remove all our various faults and bring to consummation all our excellent qualities. If we each of us for ourselves do not achieve this end, then how can we lead others to that same state where they have removed their various faults and brought the consummation all of their excellent qualities? We cannot. If we ourselves individually remove our various faults and bring to consummation our excellent qualities, then we have the capacity whereby we can facilitate the elimination of all living beings’ fault and the removal and bring into consummation of all living beings’ excellent qualities. So this kind hearted attitude of the awakening heart is the determining factor as to the universal vehicle, the Mahāyāna.
What do we mean by thought transformation? Or a more literal translation would be something like training of awareness. There are many types of thought transformations. There are the trainings in, for example, the various activities of medicine, astrology, etc. These are all mental trainings.
In this case, we’re specifically training in the thought transformation of the universal vehicle. Within the context of the thought transformation of the universal vehicle, we are seeking to develop the awakening heart, the precious awakening heart, the awakening heart that we have as yet not generated or developed. And in the development of the awakening heart, there are many obstacles, and interferences. So thought transformation acts as a means whereby to remove the various conflicting conditions, obstructive conditions, eliminate the various faults which prevent the development of the awakened heart, and on the one hand, and on the other, to bring together, to cultivate the conducive conditions whereby through our practice whereby to develop the excellent qualities until we actually generate the awakening heart. The text is entitled The Wheel of Sharp Weapons.
What do we mean by weapons? In general we look up on weapons in terms of the military aspect of weapons, terms of those instruments of war which are brought against our enemies, those individuals, others that we don’t like, the means whereby we can eliminate the enemy, that we can bring harm to them, that we can subdue them, that we can oppress them, that we can disable them, that we can cut them down. These are all uses that we make of weapons. These types of weapons that we use in bringing about these ends are all external, are designed to bring about and overcome an external enemy. But here, and when talking about weapons, we’re not seeking to overcome an external enemy, but an internal one.
And the internal enemy are the karma or actions and the afflictive emotions. So in the in the course of of using external weapons against the enemy, against others in order to rid ourselves of the enemy. And there’s always the great danger that they may retaliate. And the same holds true of trying to subdue the inner enemy of karma and the afflictive emotions. There is danger that they are going to retaliate also.
This training, if we were to implement it well and transform our mind, would be of tremendous benefit. We all are quite aware of the many various physical difficulties that we are undergoing, but also all the various mental difficulties and problems that beset us continually. Through the process of thought transformation, this will assist in alleviating these difficulties. And why is this? How does our thought transformation bring about and assist us in alleviating our problems.
Because it is the way that we can begin to reframe various situations, but it also in terms of that many of our problems come through dysfunctional ways of thinking, let us say unskillful ways of thinking. And through transforming the ways of our thinking, we can develop more functional, more skillful ways of thinking and alleviate many of our problems. All the various difficulties, the pains that we experience physically have as the root cause, our various unskillful acts, negative acts of physical, verbal and mental. They come about, our physical difficulties and problems come about through unskillful acts of body, speech, mind. And the various disturbances, the various distresses of the mind are come about through the way in which our thinking process is working, the way our mind is operating, mistaken notions that we possess.
If we can correct the way in which our thought process are working, if we can begin to think more skillfully, if we can remove the various mistaken notions from our mind, then our mind will begin to experience less dissatisfaction. It will be able to function much more skillfully. And out of this, we will begin to lessen and finally eliminate our physical problems and sufferings. The actual text of the Wheel of Sharp Weapons begins with the line, Homage to the Three Jewels, or the Supreme Rarities. And these, that is to say, the Buddha Dharma and the Sangha, or the Supreme Community.
Paying homage to these three, and development of faith and trust. The reason that this is done initially is that because these objects are of such immeasurable quality and have such tremendous ability, that by paying homage with heartfelt respect, one accumulates a great deal of creative potential. And by means of this creative potential, the author is able to eliminate any obstacles which may arise in the course of the composition of the text. Will be able to bring his aim of composing the text to fulfillment. So in general, within Buddhism we pay homage to the Dharma, this is even more emphasized within the context of universal vehicle Buddhism, we are seeking to develop a sense of respect and reverence and trust toward these three of Buddha, Dharma and the spiritual community of the Sangha.
The text, the next line of the text, it actually gives the title of the text where it says, The name of this work is the Wheel of Sharp Weapons, effectively striking the heart of the foe, or that is to say the enemy. When we say an enemy, what do we mean by an enemy? Generally, an enemy is someone or something which harms us physically or mentally, which brings harm to us either physically or mentally. The problem is, with respect to enemies, is that we don’t recognize what our true enemy is. We hold that what is in fact not the enemy as the enemy.
We don’t understand what the real enemy is. In the world today, there are many people who are fighting the wrong enemy. All the various wars, all the various negative acts, the atrocities which are being committed, are in fact being committed against individuals who are not in any way their enemy. For the last many months in there’s been continual fighting in Yugoslavia. And the the fighting goes on because each side sees the other as the enemy.
They mutually make war on enemy on who they consider the enemy to be, killing one another, laying to ruin their country. But in fact, they do not understand who their enemy is. The other side is not the enemy. All of these all of these beings, all of these people are not their enemies. They are in fact their loved ones, their parents, their relatives, their children, that over the course of lifetimes we have had all these very infinitely close relationships with all of these people who they now consider their enemies, but in fact they are not, they are their closest loved ones.
The real enemy is the enemy inside ourselves. The the enemies of the various afflictive emotions such as anger and hatred attachment, misknowledge and ignorance. The real enemy is inside of ourselves, the various afflictive emotions of attachment and aversion of misknowledge and pride. That these sentient beings, all of them are in fact our loved ones, that they’re our friends, they’re our beloved parents. The bodhisattva recognizes the real enemy.
The real enemy is our self centeredness and our self grasping. All the various afflictive emotions such as attachment and hatred, these are the real enemy. And cherishing of our self is our real enemy. It is why? Because all of these self-cherishing, self centeredness, self grasping, aversion, attachment, they are that which brings us harm.
They harm us physically, they harm our life, they bring us suffering. On the other hand, what is necessary to recognize the enemy, who is in fact our real enemy? On the other hand, who is the beloved? The beloved are the qualities inside of ourselves, such as love and compassion, the awakening heart. Why?
Because these qualities are the bringers of happiness. Altruism, the beneficial intention, is that which will give us happiness, therefore is the beloved. So it is the qualities of love and compassion, the awakened heart, are the givers of happiness. And these are extremely precious, but further more, these qualities developed in dependence upon living beings, upon sentient beings. If there were no sentient beings, then we could not develop these precious qualities, we could not find happiness.
Therefore living beings are extremely precious because out of what we do to them, by means of them, we are able to develop these qualities and therefore they are a tremendous benefit to us. They are bringers of happiness. On the other hand, all of all of these givers of suffering, the very afflictive emotions which cause us to harm others, to kill others, to hurt others through abusive language, etc. These all act, not only do they harm others, but they act to destroy our givers of happiness. That is to say, they destroy within us our love, our compassion, and our awakening heart.
And they are the deliverers of suffering to ourselves. So the the text continues, I I pay heartfelt homage to Yamāntaka, your wrath is opposed to the great lord of death. So there are two types of harmers. There is those which bring harm to us physically, and those which bring harm to us mentally. This It’s generally translated as Yamāntaka.
There is said to be two types in terms of we said there were two harmers which there are two ways in which we are brought brought harm, in terms of that which harms us physically and that which harms us mentally. In the course of first of our life, we are born and we have a generally healthy body, but as we age, our body deteriorates until finally there is the harmer of death. This process of deterioration and then death is great harm to us physically. But in terms of that which harms us mentally, it is the afflictive emotions themselves. The afflictive emotions act to obscure, to obstruct us from knowing the way things actually are, from us coming to understand emptiness.
And it is this quality of misknowledge or ignorance which is the great harm to us mentally. So that which overcomes this first great harmer, that is to say the the lord of death, is is termed the the the aspect of Yamāntaka. Yamāntaka. And then the And that which is able to remove the internal harmer, which is able to remove misknowledge or ignorance from our mind, is the wisdom realizing emptiness.
And in this wisdom realizing emptiness, when it appears in a personification, it is manjushri. So manjushri is the inner eliminator of mental harm. So therefore, the author pays heartfelt homage to Yamāntaka. So now we’re going to begin the actual text itself. And the first verse reads as follows.
In jungles of poisonous plants struts the peacocks, though medicine gardens of beauty lie near. The masses of peacocks do not find gardens pleasant, but thrive on the essence of poisonous plants. So here they are presenting an analogy, a simile, and then the the the the meaning of the simile is explained. As the verse says, there are there is a forest or a jungle which is overgrown with poisonous plants, various varieties of poisonous plants. On the one hand, nearby there is an extremely beautiful garden full of medicinal plants.
But the peacock, he likes very much the poisonous plants and does not like at all the medicinal beautiful plant. So not liking the medicinal plants of the garden, the peacock does not stay there. But on the other hand, liking poisonous plants stays within the jungle of poisonous plants and there eats the various fruits. And from from as a result of eating these poisonous fruits, the peacock’s color becomes extremely vivid. It becomes very strong in its body, and it has a very beautiful call sound, makes a very beautiful sound.