Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 95-minute teaching, Khensur Rinpoche explains how to recognize whether your mind training is working. He establishes that all Buddhist teachings aim at eliminating self-grasping and self-centeredness. The practical measure of progress is simple: are afflictive emotions like pride and anger decreasing? Two witnesses judge practice — others around you, and yourself (yourself being principal). Rinpoche covers the five signs of a trained mind, the principle of relying on a happy mind even in difficulty, and then shifts to specific precepts: three general commitments that must undergird practice, and five categories of relationships deserving special attention — from spiritual teachers and parents to rivals and those you inexplicably dislike. Throughout, every activity — eating, dressing, sleeping — should serve the cultivation of compassion for all beings.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1997-08-26 – Precepts for, and criteria of having trained the mind – KR.mp3
UUID: 88fdaacb-4428-46e7-ba34-0b99a7b9ec47
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Mind Training
Date: 1997-08-26
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~5,324
We’ll begin by adjusting our motivation, cultivating bodhicitta. Our human life affords us with a wonderful opportunity. A life possessing intelligence and abilities whereby we can eliminate all our suffering and achieve complete happiness. With our human intelligence, we’re able to discriminate what is of use to ourselves, what is beneficial, and what harms ourselves, what does ourselves damage. And able to understand this difference, we can begin to cease eliminating those factors which harm ourselves.
We can begin to cultivate, practice those factors which benefit ourselves. So ultimately, we can bring about happiness and well-being. We can eliminate our problems. So as the method whereby to eliminate all our undesired suffering and to achieve the happiness that we all want, the root is the Dharma. And amongst the various spiritual practices of Dharma, that which is most supreme is the universal vehicle.
And within the various practices subsumed within the universal vehicle Dharma, those practices which are supreme are the practices of bodhicitta and the awakened mind. And this is what we’re going to be listening to in terms of our discussion in this evening’s teaching, the means of developing just this awakened heart. So as our motivation, try to develop that attitude of mind which aspires to eliminate the suffering of all sentient beings, both oneself and others, and wishes to lead them to complete happiness, and understands that in order to achieve this end that each of ourselves must eliminate all our various faults and bring to consummation all our excellent qualities. Therefore, the aspiration to achieve such state when it’s experienced in the course of meditation is bodhicitta. We need to develop the motivation of bodhicitta for listening to this teaching on the universal vehicle bodhicitta.
And the way that this motivation is expressed in practice is through our involving ourselves in the six perfections. The perfections of ethics, generosity, tolerance, joyous effort, meditative concentration and wisdom. It is by these six perfections that we bring about our own ultimate welfare. And then to go on to bring about the welfare of others, we employ the four means of cultivating the minds of disciples, such as providing for their material necessities and etcetera. It is by these means of practicing the six perfections and the four means of cultivating the minds of disciples that we actually lead all living beings to the state of awakening.
In order that I, these practices go well, I am going to listen to this present teaching. Having listened to it, I will reflect upon it. Having reflected upon it, I will meditate it and put it into practice for the benefit of vast sentient beings. So within the overall seven divisions of the text on mind training, we have thus far looked at four. The preliminary practices of training the mind, training in the conventional bodhicitta, bodhicitta, the transforming adverse circumstances into the path to awakening, how to integrate all our daily practices into one, the whole of our practices, the practices into the whole of our life.
And then today we’ll look at the fifth of these seven divisions, the criteria, proficiency, or that is to say the measure of having trained one’s mind? So, with the root text which begins this section, it states that all dharmas have a single purpose. So, what is the meaning of this line where it says all dharmas have a single purpose? That all the various teachings of the Buddha, the books and the commentaries by the past great masters, all have one end and that is the abandonment, the elimination of self grasping. So in addition to this single end, there is the end of self centeredness.
So all practices have as their ultimate purpose the elimination of self grasping and self centeredness. So in the course of mind training, we have to look to see whether our practice is actually performing that function. We have to reflect and see is my practice of mind training lessening my self grasp ing and self centeredness or on the contrary, is my self centeredness and self grasping increasing? So, if that’s the way we reflect and that we actually analyze whether our practice in terms of mind training is fulfilling these intended ends. If we look, are our afflictive emotions lessening or increasing?
This is the measure as to whether our practice is actually going well. Is our pride and our various afflictive emotions, are they increasing or are they lessening? If they’re lessening, then we should rejoice that our mind training is in fact working. If on the other hand, afflictive emotions are increasing, then we have to recommit ourselves to practice in a more proper manner. There are two witnesses who are to observe our practice, who we are to take as judges of our practice.
On the one hand, there are those about us. If they were to comment to ourselves that you seem to be developing, you seem to have a better mind, you seem to be developing in your qualities as compared to previously, then we can regard this at this individual, as a witness that in fact our practice is going well, it’s progressing. On the other hand, there’s a second witness, and that witness is ourselves, and of the two, the main witness is our own selves, that we are the principal judge of whether our practice is going well or not. Looking within ourselves and determining whether our practice of Dharma is going well or not. Are we in fact, are our afflictive emotions lessening or not?
Do we have less or greater pride? Do we have less or greater anger? We can look to see within our own mind, taking ourselves the principal witness to see whether our practice is indeed working or not. Translation of the root text and we’re going to go quite rapidly through a number of headings within that, so you might want to look at that as we go through. It’s not necessarily in the same order that we’re going to it’s toward the back.
So we’re going to The next line of the root text is always rely on a happy mind. Always rely on a happy mind. So in the course of our practice of the Dharma, especially in mind training, when we experience difficulties, when we experience suffering, sickness, when things are going badly for ourselves, we should reflect at such a time that previously I was intensely cultivating the practice of taking and giving where I took upon myself the difficulties and sufferings of others and I gave away my happiness and now with that intention of taking upon the suffering of others, my practice has succeeded. I actually am experiencing the suffering of others and to rejoice that your practice is going well. Very good.
Then the next line is, The indication of having trained the mind is reversal. So here what it means by the indication of having training the mind is reversal. What is reversed is the attitude which is completely caught up in the affairs of this life. As was explained previously in the practice of mind training in terms of the preliminary practices, cultivate an understanding of, for example, our human life possessed of leisures and fortunes and that this life is impermanent in terms of death and the various disadvantages of cyclic existence. And through these various ordered stages of contemplations, we develop an understanding and out of this understanding there is a reversal of our usual attitude, that is to the attitude which is completely caught up with the affairs of this life, that this begins to decrease and we begin to concern more ourselves, more and more of ourselves with future lives.
Then the root text goes on to say, The signs of having trained the mind is possessing five greatnesses. The signs of having trained the mind is possessing five greatnesses. So mind training is just that, a training of the mind and there are certain signs which appear upon gaining proficiency in our training. This is in the case if we were learning how to do word processing type, that eventually we get to a place where we can look about, we don’t have to particularly concentrate on what we’re doing, and we can type in a very proficient manner. This is a sign that you’ve trained well.
Likewise, there are five signs of having trained well in terms of mind training. So these five signs, the five marks of having the great marks of having trained one’s mind. The first of these five is that in all of the teachings of the Buddha, all the various texts and all the various commentaries, all that constitutes the universe of the universal vehicle has as its essence the development of bodhicitta. And it is if in the course of our daily life we are continually cultivating bodhicitta, it begins to affect both ourselves temporally and in terms of our ultimate well-being. Whether we’re going, we’re cultivating bodhicitta.
If we’re staying, we’re cultivating bodhicitta. If we’re sick, we’re cultivating bodhicitta. If we’re well, we’re cultivating bodhicitta. That is to say, the cultivation of bodhicitta permeates our everyday life. Then this is the sign, the first of these signs, this is the sign which is termed the great heroic minded one.
So when we were reading the Heart Sūtra, it says bodhisattva and it goes on to say mahasattva. So the mahasattva is the heroic minded one. So that’s the first of these five signs. Then the second of the five great signs of having trained the mind is that through our contemplation of karma, that is the actions as causes and their effects, we begin to understand that from skillful actions happiness, well-being arises. From unskillful actions, suffering arises and gaining a real conviction in this relationship between the type of action and the type of the experience result.
And out of this will come a determination to involve ourselves in the cultivation of even minor skillful actions, what to say of great skillful actions, and to avoid even minor or insignificant unskillful actions. One has, out of one’s conviction in terms of this relationship between actions and their results is such that one continually involves oneself in skillful actions, avoiding unskillful actions, then one is termed the great disciplinarian and this is the second great mark or sign of a trained mind, a great disciplinarian. So that’s the second sign. Then the third sign is, in order to eliminate from our minds the root cause of our various afflictive emotions and thereby all that is the undesired experiences in our life, that we are willing to go through hardships in the course of meditation as a means, as the method whereby to uproot the afflictive emotions, that we’re willing to work hard and even if it’s difficult to persist. This attitude is the attitude of the great ascetic, the willingness to persist through hardship in order to uproot the afflictive emotions, the great ascetic.
The fourth sign is that one is never separated from the 10 conducts of the universal vehicle in terms of the activities of body and mind. There are all the various deeds which are expressions of the conduct of the bodhisattva are subsumed within the 10 categories. These are the six perfections, the perfections of generosity, ethics, tolerance, joyous effort, meditative concentration, and wisdom. And the four means of cultivating the minds of disciples such as providing for their material welfare, speaking in such ways as to cultivate their minds, bestowing of vows and precepts and the granting of transmissions. All of these 10 methods are the means of the activities of practicing, the conduct of practicing the universal vehicle Dharma and a mind which never allows themselves to be separated from these is termed the great practitioner of virtue, such as Buddha Śākyamūni. Then the fifth sign is that individual who constantly practices calm abiding and special insight, cultivating these until gaining a union of calm abiding and special insight. Such an individual who is continually pursuing such a practice is called the great yogi and this is the fifth sign of a trained mind. Then the next line from the root text states that you are proficient if you can practice even when distracted. You are proficient if you can practice even when distracted.
The analogy which is used to explain this line is that if someone is a proficient horse person, that when they’re riding a horse, that even if along the path and the horse suddenly bolts, that they aren’t paying careful attention to their riding, and even if the horse were to bolt, they don’t fall off. So likewise, in the cultivation of our awakened heart, if we are caught unaware that someone criticizes us without reason, speaks badly of us, that we don’t become upset, that we, on the contrary, we are able to think well of them, that we can even go on to wish them, may this person have happiness, may they ultimately awaken, that we aren’t lost, taken suddenly and lost even when we’re distracted. We aren’t lost in our efforts to cultivate bodhicitta. This is a sign of a trained mind. So that’s the major or the criteria proficiency of training of the mind.
Next comes the section which is an explanation on the commitments of training of the mind, that these commitments which we are to uphold and not to transgress in the training of our mind. So in the root text, with regard to this states, always practice the three general points, always practice the three general points. So what are these three general points which we are to practice? The first of them is that we are to practice our mind training which does not conflict with our commitments. So, the course of our conduct, if we are in fact training our mind, our conduct should not conflict the commitments which we are to observe.
So, a mind training which does not conflict with our commitments. That’s the first general principle, general point. The second is that we should practice a mind training which is not unjustifiable, a type of conduct which we cannot really justify in terms of mind training. And then thirdly, a mind training which is impartial, so our mind training should be equally applied to all. So, the first of these three general points is that mind training which does not conflict with our commitments.
So there are various commitments which we are to observe in the course of mind training, and as a general point, we should not think I’m a fantastic practitioner of the Dharma, the universal vehicle, and therefore these minor trifling points I don’t have to bother with. They don’t really apply to me, and therefore I can act in any way I want even if the way I act is in contradiction to them, but on the contrary, our mind training should observe even the insignificant and minor points of mind training, all the various commitments. So one might think that in the practice of mind training involves a moral discipline. That is to say we must act in ethical manners. But one might think, well in order to achieve Buddhahood you have to practice secret mantra, and therefore I am practicing the highest of secret mantras such as Guhyasamāja, a meditational deity of Guhyasamāja, and therefore I don’t have to bother with ethics or these minor points of Dharma.
And the second general point was that of our mind training should not be unjustifiable. That is to say that to think that one is a great practitioner and that one can, you can do anything that you wish and somehow that you can justify it. On the contrary, for example, that it doesn’t matter, acting with reckless regard toward the life about you in terms of that you think, oh it doesn’t matter, I can cut down this tree, or I dig in the earth, or I can splash it in the water. And just because I’m a great practitioner, I can do all of these things without regard to the harm that I’m in fact bringing. There are living beings that we can harm by cutting down trees, by digging in the soil, by splashing in the water, and we have to be mindful of that and not act with reckless regard, even though we may be practicing mind training.
If you act in this way, would be very difficult to act, to in fact gain realizations. I don’t know if these, for example, if these trees exist in Australia, but they exist in Tibet and India. We have very large trees with very large leaves and within the leaves many insects live. If you were to, with reckless regard, cut down the tree, then you would harm these sentient beings that also with the example of splashing in water, again, may not exist within Australia, but in Tibet there are springs and these springs are the place where nagas exist. And if you were to disturb that water then these nagas can cause you sickness.
One has to be mindful of the environment and not causing harm to others. And the third of these general points was to practice our mind training in an impartial manner. That there are varieties of types of beings, various categories. There are humans and non humans, and with regard to ourselves, there are those who are close to ourselves, strangers, and those who are enemies, there are those who are inferior and superior to ourselves. So there’s a vast variety of categories of sentient beings and we are to practice in an unbiased manner with regard to all of them.
That toward all, we are to develop the same qualities of love and compassion in bodhicitta. If on the contrary, you know, we treat those we like well, we treat those we don’t like in a hurtful way, we get angry at them, then we aren’t in fact practicing the mind training. If we like our friends a great deal, We should extend that great liking to all sentient beings. It’s in the same way, if it’s partial that we only train our minds towards some and not others, then this is not a practice of training of the mind. Next line from the text states that we are to engage vigorously in intense cultivation and abandonment.
We are to engage vigorously in intense cultivation and abandonment. Again, with regard to all the, you know, those varieties of beings who are in some way weak and forlorn that undergoing difficulty, that we are not to seek to subjugate them, seek to take advantage of their present difficulty, to seek to gain control while they’re down. If we do this, then eventually this is going to return to ourselves that we we will will not only not be training our mind, but we ourselves will reap the suffering result. So, what’s being gotten at here is not to maltreat those who are in a lesser position than ourselves. You know, like in a one down position.
For example, if someone were your servant, to that even though they are your servant, we should not treat them badly or wrongly. In fact, if you were, if you were to do that, they’d probably get angry at you and quit. The next line in the root text is always train in regard to those to whom you have a special connection. Always train in regard to those who you have a special connection. So there are said to be five categories of individuals toward whom we have special connections and this we are to be mindful of these categories and make special effort in training our minds toward them.
For example, these five categories are the categories of the Three Jewels that is said the Buddha Dharma and the spiritual community, the Sangha. And those toward whom we have a connection include our abbot, those who have bestowed vows to ourselves, our spiritual masters, our lamas, our teachers, our parents. Father Mother. Father, mother. So, these individuals whom we have a close connection with, a special connection, even small harms directed toward them will bring great suffering results for ourselves because of the nature of this special connection we have.
So these individuals are looked upon as a tremendously powerful field, a field of accumulation, but it can work both ways. It can be, we can accumulate through this field tremendous blessings, tremendous amount of the collection of creative potentials. On the other hand, we can also accumulate a great deal of negativity with regard to that same field. So, that was the first category of individuals with whom we have special connection. The second category are those who we usually abide with together with.
And for example, this would include our family, the people we normally live with. But it also is the people that we are continually coming in contact with. Like for example, we come together to listen to these teachings of Dharma on a regular basis and these people who come together are Dharma brothers and sisters. And these, out of these continual coming together in this way, we have special connections with these people. And it’s extremely important that we, it requires a special training with regard to them, emphasizing our mind training with regard to them, such that we develop caring for one another, create harmonious relationships with them, we don’t allow the afflictive emotions to be directed toward them.
So it’s extremely important because of your close connection with them that you’re always coming in contact with these same people, that you are especially mindful of not allowing the afflictive emotions to arise, but, and to make this, and it requires special effort in mind training with this category of related people. And the third category are whoever the person might be, this would be laypeople, laywomen, laymen, monks or nuns, that whoever might in some way appear to you as a rival. And that when we hear of that something’s going well for them, we develop anger. We develop an envy toward them, the good that’s befallen them. And so, these particular, who they might be, that we feel a sense of competitiveness or rivalry, we have to make special effort in the training of the mind toward this category due to this type of connection.
And the fourth category of individuals who we are to make special emphasis in our training, our mind training practice are those for no apparent reason we get, we have a dislike for. That, you know, sometimes someone has done nothing to us, they’ve not harmed us in any way, but just seeing them, we get, we get, we feel anger or a dislike toward them. That, that this type of connection, it’s important that we emphasize our mind training, that on the contrary, to get angry. If we do that, then we’ve lost our practice of mind training. But we are to make special effort in trying to cultivate love and compassion for this category of individuals.
And we should not look for the faults for faults in others. If you look for faults, you’ll find them. If we look hard enough, we could find faults in the Buddha. So but it does us no good. So we are to forego looking for the faults of others.
Also, should, you know, we should forego thinking that when somebody harms us, we hope that things go badly for them. We’re going that way of thinking toward them. Then the next line in the root text is don’t, literally it says, don’t put the load of a dzo on an ox. Don’t put the load of a dzo on an ox. It could be said to don’t put the horse’s load on a pony, something like that.
That when two people are involved in, means to pass the buck, you know, that in fact that you’ve both been involved in some activity and that things haven’t gone well, but you simply blame it on the other person. It’s their fault. So you’re placing the load on them. Also this works in the reverse. When two people have worked equally in some activity and it has gone well to take all the credit for yourself saying, wasn’t it I? Jampa didn’t do it.
I did it. Now we’re going to look at the line where it says, all activity every yoga should be performed as one. Every yoga should be performed as one. So what this means, this means the yoga which is being spoken of here is that which we’re seeking to cultivate, that is to say bodhicitta. And everything that we do should be related to bodhicitta, should not somehow be separated out from the development of our awakening heart.
When we eat food, it should be somehow related to the awakening of our heart. When we put on clothes, when we stay in a room, when we go to sleep. Involving all of these varieties of activities in the cultivation of our awakening heart, they should all be related to the development of our awakened heart. Our activities should not be separated out from the cultivation of bodhicitta. For example, how can we do that in practice?
When we eat food, for example, when we’re going to eat lunch, you know, that thinking that developing the motivation that I must free all living beings from suffering and lead them to purest happiness. That is, they develop bodhicitta and then going on. But in order to actually do that, I have to take care of this body. And as a means of taking this body, I’m going to eat this food. So likewise, when we put on our clothes, the same can apply that with the motivation of bodhicitta that I must free all living beings from suffering, I have to lead them to flawless, perfect happiness.
And if I am to do that, I must take care of this body and therefore I’m going to make use of these clothes in taking care of my body. And the same can apply when we go to sleep. We can develop that same motivation for and the meaning of why we’re going to sleep, to take care of ourselves. So all of our various actions should be conjoined with the development of bodhicitta, this single yoga. So, you know, when we go to sleep thinking that for the sake of all sentient beings I must achieve Buddhahood.
In order to do that I must rest and therefore for the benefit of all other sentient beings, I’m going to go to sleep. And you’ll get a good night’s sleep that way. I’m going to sleep. So, the universal vehicle is a practice primarily of the mind in terms of our thinking. If our mind is blended, if it’s imbued with bodhicitta, then whatever activity is an activity of bodhicitta, it becomes an extremely skillful activity because it is a practice of the awakened of the universal vehicle.
Then the next line from root text is, at the beginning and at the end, two things are to be done. At the beginning and at the end, two things are to be done. So the beginning, it refers here to the beginning of our day, that is to say, when awake in the morning, and the end is when we go to sleep at night. When we get up in the morning, we should adjust our motivation. This is the thing that’s to be done, that in order to ensure that our life is meaningful, that I want to attain Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings, I want to practice the universal vehicle, developing that as an attitude which is going to carry out through our day, that throughout this day I’m not going to harm others, on the contrary, I’m determined to benefit others.
And then in having that as our initial motivation, beginning at the beginning of our day, then at when we at the end and at night when we are going to sleep, reviewing the course of our day and asking ourselves, did it go as I had anticipated? Did my day go as I had directed it that it might go in terms of my thinking? If it did, if things went well, you think that’s very good and to rejoice in what you’ve done and to make prayers dedicating these skillful actions and that you might be able to carry on such a type of practice again the next day. But on the other hand, if you didn’t act in accordance with your intentions that you established in the morning, that you acted in contradiction, that you harmed others in some way. Then developing a, disclosing whatever negativities that you accumulated, developing a sincere regret toward those actions and determining that tomorrow will be different, that I’m going to ensure tomorrow that my life is meaningful.
So, if we can act in this way, then we can feel assured that our life will be meaningful. So we’re going to take a long time for questions. We’ll just take five minutes. Yes. Yes.
The The first of these, what are called the four means of cultivating the minds of disciples. So these represent the activities whereby we bring about the welfare of others. The first of these four is that of generosity. That is providing for the material welfare of others, providing them with food, with clothing. There is a pleasing them, bringing happiness to them.
And in that way, they will be inclined to, they will be attracted to you. They will gather around you having pleased them in that way. Then through generosity, pleasing the people, They develop a liking towards you. They begin to be attracted to you, to gather about you. Then you go on to the second of these activities, speaking sweetly in accordance with their dispositions of mind.
Ways, speaking to them in ways which are pleasing to their mind, which brings pleasure to their mind. And then in the interval, to teach them Dharma. But talking to them in a way which them, which pleases their mind. And the third activity is the actual teaching of the Dharma to them. And beginning to explain all of the benefits of practice and the disadvantages of not practicing.
That through their practice that they can free themselves from suffering, they can achieve both temporal and ultimate happiness. Helping them to develop an appreciation for the practice of Dharma and then giving them the actual means and teaching them about the four noble truths, about emptiness and bodhicitta. And then fourthly, in terms of activities, one’s conduct should reflect what it is that you’re teaching. That if what you do and what you say are in contradiction, then people will not trust you. That whatever it is that you teach, you must act in accordance with those teachings.
No matter how eloquent you may be, people will not trust you if they see a contradiction. So it is in this way that the minds of the disciples are pleased and they will be able to practice well. So this is the method of bringing about the welfare of others. So this is this is what you’re going to have to do. Okay.