Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 92-minute teaching, Kyabje Rinpoche uses a central metaphor—Dharma as medicine for mental disease—to explain why we practice. He distinguishes bodily ailments, which doctors can treat, from mental afflictions like anger, desire, and ignorance, which can only heal through their opposite virtues. He shows how love counters anger, wisdom of emptiness counters ignorance, and bodhicitta opposes self-cherishing. The teaching then moves to a practical focus: using eating—a daily activity—as a training ground. Rinpoche teaches how practitioners can eat with the motivation to maintain their body for Dharma practice, gradually reducing attachment. A closing Q&A addresses how to maintain right motivation when cooking for others.
File metadata (for organising)
File: WSW 24 Nov 2010 – KR.mp3
UUID: 3edc2a39-7593-4282-b600-bc64614463a9
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Mind Training
Date: 2010 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~3,126
And therefore, before listening and explaining teachings, one should generate a good mind. And with such a good mind, if one listens to teachings, one is in the situation of someone who is focused on the essence or on the key points. In the same same way as someone wanted to see a mountain in the distance will focus on that mountain. Focused on the key points, then one will only gain benefit from such activities. And specifically the results which one will experience will be much vaster results.
So what is the motivation one should train in? One should train in a motivation which wishes to eliminate eliminate all thoughts from our own side, and to purify, and to endow us with all qualities, to attain a state of unalloyed bliss so as to lead all sentient beings to that state, understanding clearly that in the same same way as we have suffered through countless lives because of our untamed mind. Likewise, sentient beings which are countless in numbers have also suffered because of their own untamed mind. And therefore, both our own and others’ untamed mind must be subdued. We ourselves are one.
Sentient beings are infinite in number. In India, Rinpoche says, for instance, in just a small plot of land, the insects are almost uncountable. And this is the case in every single country in the world. Therefore, this is the motivation we should generate to try to attain a state of full enlightenment and to lead all sentient beings to that state. And therefore, it will be good before engaging in these teachings for us to meditate on a good intention, a good motivation for a couple minutes.
And as Ārya Śāntideva said, we wish to eliminate suffering and to actualize happiness. Why is it that we listen to the teachings and that Dharma is explained? It is because first we come here experiencing suffering, great suffering, and secondly, because we wish to dispel the suffering. So wishing to dispel the suffering is the first reason for which one attends Dharma teachings, and the second reason is that one wishes to be happy. To be happy, one must create the causes for happiness.
And these entail practice. Dharma alone is that whereby this happiness arises. It has the capacity, the potency to do this. It is the means to lead us to this state. And one must, therefore, eliminate suffering and disease.
And here, the means to eliminate the suffering and the numerous diseases which we experience is dharma. Dharma is compared to medicine. In the same way is as when we have an ailment of the nervous system, the channels in the winds, we take medicine for this. In the same way also as in worldly matters, when we are sick, when our body is sick, we go to a doctor. In the same way, we need a dharma.
So there are two places in which we can experience suffering and disease. The first is the body and the second is mind. So, when bodily suffering and disease is experienced, we consult and rely upon a physician who will prescribe the appropriate medication to clear this disease. For instance, when we have specific disease which call for moxibustion or whatever. But when mental diseases occur, one needs another approach.
Therefore, it is possible to eliminate bodily diseases through operations or through the application of medicine. Dharma itself is of limited benefit for bodily diseases. It is difficult to say it is of benefit. And when Śāntideva says that dharma is the sole source of all happiness, he refers to the elimination of mental diseases and the creation of mental happiness. Mental diseases are by far the harsher and the harder diseases, and they can only be eliminated through the application of dharma.
And therefore, we have to apply the appropriate remedies to both bodily and mental ailments. Now all bodily ailments can be cured contingently or in the short term through an operation, requisite drugs prescriptions and so forth. This is only in the short term. Since if we ask what the actual cause of bodily suffering is, it can ultimately be traced back to the mind. And until one has cut the root of the cause, which is mental suffering at its root, then it is impossible to eliminate durably bodily suffering.
So we have to investigate what this mental suffering is. The mental illness one is dealing with illnesses illnesses such as the afflictions, desire, anger, ignorance, competitiveness, envy, jealousy, and so forth. These are mental diseases. In the same same way as bodily diseases, which are physical, must be treated by physical drugs or by physical means such as operations, injections, antibiotics and what so what not. In the self same way, mental diseases must be treated by non physical means, by mental means.
So the mental antidote to the respective mental affliction must be applied. Now if we take for instance the case of anger, Rinpoche says, anger is a disease, it is a mental disease, it is a mind, in the same way as desire is a mind, ignorance, competitiveness, and so forth. And anger can be eliminated if the antidote to anger is applied. The antidote to anger is forbearance, it is also love and and compassion. These are directly opposite.
They are contradictory. If you want forbearance, love or compassion, target anger. They are contradictory in the same way as hot and cold are contradictory. So as one generates love, forbearance, and compassion, anger abates. The antidote to ignorance, which is also one of the root afflictions, is the wisdom which realizes emptiness.
Likewise, the antidote to self-cherishing, which has accompanied us from beginningless time, is bodhicitta. So this does not mean that when we are sick, we should not take medicine. If we are physically, we should take medicine because we need a sound body to practice the Dharma. Otherwise, if our body is unsound, it’s impossible to practice the Dharma. And then once we have returned to health, we return to our practice.
Now, here we are addressing the issue of how to obstruct, how to eliminate mental diseases. And mental diseases are eliminated through their respective antidotes. For instance, if we were to take anger, as Rinpoche mentioned, the antidote to anger is the practice of love and forbearance, specifically love. Now at present, because of long habituation, the force of anger is tremendous within our mind stream. Anger may be compared to an adult, and whatever love we have within our mind can be compared to a little child.
Then when a little child tries to struggle with an adult, he is bound to lose. However, over time, if we train every day in love, then the little child, which is love, increases in potency and power and eventually becomes able to overcome anger. Through daily practice, daily habituation to love, we can overcome anger. Like wise, if we were to take desire, at present, most of us do not practice Dharma sincerely, so we do not put any particular effort in eliminating desire. But if we were to do so, then through meditating on ugliness or through on this meditation on the skeleton, which Rinpoche explained last time, then progressively the force of the antidote becomes greater and greater.
And whereas until now desire has led us by the nose, it’s because of long habituation. When the antidote becomes powerful enough, we can overcome it. And what is meant by the Tibetan term mind training, lojong, or for that matter, study? Lojong means to purify the mind. What is this what is purified within the mind?
What is purified are the mental diseases, the states of mind. And what exactly is meant by purification or the process of dispelling? What is meant is that the opposite of these states of mind is generated. And as the opposite of these states of mind is generated, and as the opposite of these non virtuous states of mind increases in force, the non virtuous state of mind, the diseased state of mind decreases in strength and eventually disappears. So this is what is meant by mind training.
Nothing else else but this. If we were to take for instance the case of anger at present through habituation, anger is very powerful within our mind stream. However, if we apply the antidote to anger, which is both love and forbearance, then if we apply them every day and our mind becomes accustomed every day to love and forbearance, every day love and forbearance become more powerful within our mind stream, and anger becomes weaker until it is completely eliminated. This is what is meant by the purification of anger. Likewise, with desire, if we were to meditate and reflect every day on ugliness, then eventually, since ugliness is opposite of desire, we would purify and eliminate desire.
Likewise, for ignorance, the antidote to that ignorance which apprehends self as truly existing is the wisdom which realizes the selflessness of phenomena. Through meditating on this every day, progressively this ignorance disappears. Likewise, for self-cherishing, the antidote to self-cherishing, the opposite of self-cherishing is bodhicitta. Through habituating our mind daily through to bodhicitta, the power of self-cherishing will disappear. And how do the bodhisattvas train?
Then initially, they generate love and compassion within their mind streams, and in dependence on this give rise to bodhicitta. Then, through the combined forces of bodhicitta and of the view, as they progress upwards on the path, the power of the afflictions within their mind stream is progressively dispelled and eliminated. bodhicitta and the view act as the opposite or the antidote to the afflictions. In this context, bodhicitta and the view actually subsume the afflictions, since the main focus of the Bodhisattvas is the branch of benefiting others or helping others, then even when afflictions arise within the mind of a Bodhisattva, they are subsumed by the bodhicitta of the Bodhisattva, and themselves become of benefit. For instance, Bodhisattvas who are married and who in dependence on desire eventually have children, actually perform activities which are of tremendous benefit to others, since their children are born within Bodhisattva families and do not cause the slightest harm to their parents or the slightest interference far from there are of benefit to them.
This is a classic case of how desire would be taken on the path by a bodhisattva, and how the bodhisattva peacock-like would flourish in the jungle of samsaric existence. We, however, not having developed the qualities of bodhisattvas such as bodhicitta and the view, are incapable of doing this, and are akin to the crow in the verse on page 10 of your text, should one use the other afflictions as well in this way, like crows, the life of their liberation will be extinguished. Like crows, in this case, if we allow desire to arise within our mind stream, it destroys the collection of ethics, ethics. And without the collection of ethics, there is nothing else but rebirth in the lower realms. And the Bodhisattvas who have generated within their mind stream, bodhicitta and the view which realizes emptiness, in addition, are attracted to beings who suffer greatly from the afflictions in the same way as a peacock is attracted to a garden infested with poisonous plants.
Because the bodhisattva from his side has the capacity to benefit them, he is attracted to these beings beings and tries to dispel he or she tries to dispel their suffering, the desire, the anger, the ignorance within their mind streams. Let alone the fact that these afflictions within the mind streams of the sentient beings do not harm the bodhisattva. In addition, because the bodhisattva himself has generated bodhicitta and the view, this process of eliminating them within the mind stream of others is something which he not only is capable of, but which benefits him. However, in our case, we are not at that level of practice, and if we allow the afflictions to arise within our mind stream, then they will only cause harm to us and suffering. Therefore, we have to be careful, specifically if we have vows.
It is said one should protect one’s vows at the cost of one’s life, and vows are compared to the life force of a person. So clearly, if the afflictions become powerful within our mind, then they can cause us to break these vows, which we should be protecting at the cost of of our life. And once our practice is bereft of its life, then we can be said to be dead indeed, and this is the death to which the text alludes to. In this case, rebirth in the lower realms is the only eventuality we can face. And in the lower realms, suffering is not counted in years, tens, hundreds, or thousands of years, but in tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions of years.
So Rinpoche would like to insist that we be careful, and until we have reached a point in our practice where it is possible, having developed the qualities of bodhicitta and the view, for the afflictions to be both of benefit to ourselves and others, we should curtail them and eliminate them. So in our case, this would have been the final part of the presentation of the advice, and Rinpoche passes on to Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche’s text. In our case, we eat three meals a day, and during each meal, a strong desire arise for food. In dependence on the strong desire for food, rebirth in the lower realms is a very high, a very high probability. So although we ourselves are unable to practice at the level of the Bodhisattva practice, nonetheless, Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche is proposing means for us to practice in a similar way and to reduce the desire associated with food.
And one of these is when we eat, to think, I need to practice pure Dharma, and to practice pure Dharma, I need a sound and hale body. Therefore, I will I will eat to keep my body sound and hale. And if we eat with this motivation, then the desire for food will be reduced. How do the Bodhisattvas practice in this respect? The Bodhisattvas eat meals, but they eat with the sole intention of benefiting countless mother sentient beings and placing them in a state of full enlightenment.
We are unable to practice at that level at present, completely unable, but we can try to practice in a way which is partially commensurate with this, which leads us to that. How should we do this? We should think, I must practice pure Dharma. And to practice pure Dharma, I will eat this food to be hale and hearty. And then, if in future lives I practice pure Dharma, then that pure Dharma I practice will be of benefit to myself, but it will also be of benefit to others.
Because it will also be of benefit to others, there is a component of this motivation which is commensurate, which is connected to practicing for the sake of others. It is not practicing for the sake of others, but it is connected, and it can lead to that. And in the same way, for instance, when we practice generosity or giving for the sake of ourselves, attaining wealth and prosperity in future lives, the wealth and prosperity we attain in future lives will actually be a shared wealth and prosperity. Our friends, our relatives, fathers and mothers will actually share in our prosperity. So actually, there is a partial benefit for others.
In the same way here, when one eats food for the sake of practicing pure Dharma and having a hale and hearty body so as to do so, then this pure Dharma which will enable us to get a human rebirth in future lives and to practice pure Dharma ourselves in future lives is also of benefit to others. So there is a component which is commensurate with practicing for the sake of others. Ārya Nāgārjuna, somewhat further down in the commentary, says food should be eaten just as medicine. In other words, it should be eaten within a state of complete indifference. It is only when you are very sick that you take medicine and Rinpoche doubts in the light of its awful taste that you have great desire for it. Likewise, few of you get angry when you take medicine.
You take stuff because you have to. So this is the motivation we should have to take food. And therefore, we should although we cannot practice completely like bodhisattvas, we should practice partially like Bodhisattvas with on the one hand, the training which has only benefits, and on the other hand, a training which has no attachment. And with the case of food, this would mean that we would eat food with the motivation of having a hale and sound body to practice pure Dharma. So here there is only benefit.
And from the standpoint of having no attachment, we would eat eat food for viewing it as medicine without desire or hatred towards it. But you think, see, from now on, from today onwards, you could practice like this with respect to food, with only benefit and no attachment. This would be very good. So, we’ll make time for one question today. Yes.
So, from their standpoint, which I suspect say rather enjoy your food. And then he says, from your standpoint, what you should do is create the motivation to help others, to benefit others when you cook. So if you have this motivation and everybody suspects your food must be very tasty, then from your standpoint, there will certainly be no fault. And from their standpoint, perhaps not. If on the other hand, from their side, they have great attachment to food, then unfortunately, they will probably accumulate non virtue with respect to the act of eating.
But from your side, if the motivation is to help others, you will accumulate no fault. However, if as a cook, you have to kill living beings, kill insects, kill mollusks, kill animals, then you will accumulate non virtue. And whether you kill them by cutting off their head or by throwing them in boiling water or in the fire, the suffering is horrific each time. So you should find means to abstain from any act of killing. And it is said that there is certainly benefit in reciting Om Mani Padme Hum, the Vajrasattva mantra and so forth in the ear of sentient beings before they have to die.
Okay?