Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 83-minute commentary on the Precious Garland, Khensur Rinpoche combines teaching on the awakening heart with urgent instruction on impermanence. He opens by showing how to cultivate compassion and love, then explains why both the awakening heart and wisdom realizing emptiness are necessary for genuine progress. He illustrates with contrasting examples: Mao Zedong’s lack of Dharma practice brought suffering to China, while the Dalai Lama’s practice radiates benefit. The core teaching addresses how ethical actions and generosity shape future lives and present happiness, but crucially shows how five minutes of love meditation accumulates more positive potential than vast material giving. He lists eight concrete benefits of cultivating love, stresses the irreplaceable value of listening, and concludes with guided meditation on loving-kindness directed toward all sentient beings.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1991-08-20 – KR.mp3
UUID: 05565f3b-51f4-4ffc-866e-fc4e5316995f
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Precious Garland
Date: 1991-08-20
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~3,763
In order to have a productive result, it’s necessary that the cause be productive. So the result that we wish is a productive result that being a happiness bereft of suffering and therefore what cause will bring about that productive result and that cause is the altruistic attitude of wishing to benefit oneself and others. And in terms of the beneficial intention, is none higher than that of the awakening heart. If we engage in the various activities motivated by the awakening heart, whatever the activity might be, whether it’s listening, explaining or whatever meditation it might be, even if we were only able to meditate for five minutes, the results would be extremely vast. The benefits would be extremely great.
We would accumulate tremendous amount of creative potential by that means. So, you know we don’t have much time. If we make best use of that time, the short time that we do have, there’s no better way than to create positive potential and to create skillful action than by the means of motivating oneself by the awakening heart. Then how are we to proceed in cultivating the awakening heart? We begin by developing a sense of caring, compassion which is reflected in the thought, may both myself and others be separated from the suffering and the causes of suffering.
Then with respect to the development of love, initially reflected in the thought, may it be wonderful if myself and others had happiness and the causes of happiness, may others and myself have happiness and the causes of happiness, I will bring about the happiness and the causes of happiness for both myself and others. In the context of having developed this caring compassion and love, one goes on to develop the kind hearted attitude of determining that I myself in order to bring them happiness, in order to free them from their suffering must eliminate all my various faults and cultivate, bring to consummation all my excellent qualities. So in order to achieve that in eliminating my various faults and bringing to consummation my excellent qualities, I must cultivate the understanding of the nature of reality in all its form. Therefore, for the next three minutes we’re going to cultivate such a beneficial intention to listen to this present teaching. Beginning where we left off in the present text of Precious Garland with the next verse in which it states, Through these practices your kingdom will be happy, a broad canopy of fame will rise in all directions and your ministers will revere you completely.
In order to eliminate all our various faults and bring the consummation of all excellent qualities it is necessary that we generate both the awakening heart and the wisdom realizing emptiness. With respect to generating the wisdom realizing emptiness it’s not going to arise haphazardly. It needs a context in which to be developed and this context is generated by means of a collection of creative potential. All our various healthy states act as a context in which the wisdom realizing emptiness can arise. Our minds are very much like a field and in order to develop the wisdom realizing emptiness it’s necessary to provide the conducive conditions or the context in which this effect can arise.
In order that our mind be able to develop this wisdom, it’s necessary that we accumulate a collection of skillful actions. At present our minds are a bundle or a mass of unskillful actions and therefore we are unable to generate the wisdom realizing emptiness. So, it’s necessary for us to develop a healthy context as a conducive condition and this healthy context is collection of skillful action. The present text precious garland was written as an advice to the king in which the king is being admonished to accumulate the necessary collections and as the ultimate benefit of accumulating the collection is the wisdom realizing emptiness but even as a temporal benefit there is the benefit to both oneself and others temporarily. So, is said that with respect to the accumulation of the collection there are two types.
There is the accumulation of collections which are common to oneself and others and accumulation of a collection which is particular to oneself only. The first of these two types of the collection, the accumulation of the collection which brings about benefits for both oneself and others is expressed in the first line of this first verse that we’re we’re discussing where it says, through these practices your kingdom will be happy in the sense that if the king to which this text is being addressed were to practice, then he himself through his practice of Dharma will be made happy but out of his practice will arise love and compassion for his subjects and his subjects will be made happy through King’s practice and will be benefited. So we used to use an analogy, could make use of the leader of modern day China, Mao Tse-tung, the path leader who was not a practitioner of Dharma and out of this lack of practice and had no compassion and out of this created great deals of difficulties for his people. Therefore, through not practicing Dharma there was both suffering for Mao Tse-tung himself but also for the Chinese people. But on the other hand we take the case of the Dalai Lama who is the ruler of Tibet and he is a practitioner of the Dharma and out of this practice arises a great deal of love and compassion for his people and through this practice and his various teachings the Tibetan people are able to experience well-being and happiness.
Through the leader practicing Dharma, and his subjects will be benefited in common but additionally through his practicing well and through his continuous seeking to implement methods whereby to benefit his subjects. Because the leader is through the force of his practice continually seeking to implement methods of benefiting his people or her people, then the people will have a great liking for the leader. He will be thought of very highly. He will be looked up to, will be famed for being beneficial to the people. Just to hear of this person, the people will have a liking.
Through implementing beneficial means seeking to benefit one’s subjects then that person will be looked up to by his subjects, by his people. She will be respected and her wishes will be fulfilled by her subjects. These are the benefits of the accumulation of the collection held in common between oneself and others. The practice of Dharma is to benefit ourselves and if we are to practice it, we have to practice it now. The benefit is in practicing, it’s not something that we can put off until tomorrow or next month or next year.
We have to begin to immediately put it into practice. Why is it that we are to implement our practice of the Dharma immediately and not to put it off. As it says in the next verse, the causes of death are many, those of staying alive are few. These too can become the causes of death, therefore always perform the practices. It is because of the impermanence in the context of death that it is necessary to implement our practice immediately.
That not only are there many causes for death, but even those few causes for life can transform into causes for death and therefore we don’t know when we’re going to die and there are many more causes for our death and for our continuance of our life therefore we should begin to practice immediately. Why are there more conditions for our death? Why are there so many conditions for our death? Even those individuals who are our friends at present can become the causes of our death by killing us. A house could fall down upon us.
We could have a motor accident. We could experience many types of illnesses through heat and cold. We simply don’t know what are going to be the conditions necessary for our death and because there are many then we don’t know when we’re going to die and therefore it’s necessary that we begin our practice immediately. Someone who understands the Dharma, an individual who understands the Dharma has a happy mind, they have a healthy mind and whether they’re asleep or whether they’re awake their mind is happy. It’s daytime or nighttime their mind is happy.
On the other hand, one who does not know the Dharma, one who does not understand the Dharma, then because of the great harm that they bring to others, even during their sleep their minds are disturbed and when they’re awake they are beset by various fears and anxieties. There’s benefit to our practice and understanding of the Dharma even through the course of this life, even while we’re asleep and also while we’re awake. So the question may arise as to dependent upon this skillful practice, what type of happy results will be achieved and being able to distinguish or to discriminate that there are various types of skillful practices which will bring about various types of happy results. This president’s advice is being addressed to the king and the king is of a royal lineage, he’s of a great family and such a type of family generally has wealth. The king has a healthy handsome body, is able to benefit others, has great power, has great ability and how do such results arise?
The text sets out the various causes, the skillful causes which act to bring about such beneficial results. These are that showing respect towards one’s parents and one’s spiritual teacher, one’s lama. Our parents are they who have given us birth and it is by means of this human body which they have given us that we are able to carry on our practice of Dharma and this too with respect to our lama having been able to carry on a practice in dependence upon them. Therefore, these are objects which demand great respect because of the great benefit that they have shown us. Additionally, in addition to these causes of showing respect to these precious objects, the giving of healthy food, the cultivation of tolerance, the practice of generosity, speaking kindly, that is to say types of speech which do not cause divisiveness, speaking honestly.
It is by means of such practices that one will achieve all of the wonderful qualities embodied in the king. All of the king’s power, his excellent qualities, his wealth, are always dependent upon the practice of these causes and if he were to continue to practice these causes then he would even have more magnificent results in future life. If, you know, we can look at the king and say well, I understand that by practicing generosity now I will have great wealth in the future, but I’m not a king, I don’t have anything to give and some people thinking in this way become depressed. So one may say, well, I have no wealth. Cannot create a vast accumulation of the collection, I cannot accumulate the collection extensively.
But in fact there is a way, even if, to make a comparison, if we were to take, you know, after a meal and this meal consists of rice and this rice were of 10 large measures. One measure of rice being 20 handfuls of rice making up a measure and 20 of these measures, if we were to offer this 20 of these measures 300 times to 300 individuals along with 60 varieties of various vegetables and we were to do this 300, three times each day in the morning, in the afternoon and evening. So, we’ve got this vast quantity of rice with various vegetables. We’re going to offer it 300 times in the morning and evening and night. Then this would be a very extremely vast practice of generosity but we don’t have that resources.
But even if there’s a way, even in one moment, we can create a greater collection than even this. How are we going to go about creating an even vaster collection over and above something which is more vast than giving the portions of meals three times a day. This is dependent upon the power of the mind itself. Simply by if we were to cultivate for five minutes love and compassion then it would be numberless, numberlessly greater accumulation of the collection than to carry on this practice of generosity. Just five minutes of cultivating love and compassion.
We can cultivate love at any time and in doing so it accumulates this vast creative potential that we have this freedom to practice in this way. And not only will we create this vast collection of creative potential through the cultivation of love but there are eight additional benefits. Through cultivating love for others, let others, be they humans or gods, will love you in return. Because others like to be loved, by your loving them, they will return your love by means of protecting you from harm. And in cultivating love toward others our own minds are made happy.
By means of the mind being happy, the body is made, has a sense of well-being. By the power of one’s love one is not able to be harmed by poisons and weapons. To exemplify this quality of one not being able to be harmed by weapons or poison, the Buddha himself, attaining enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, abided in a meditative concentration on love and by the source of this even the various malignant beings were seeking to bring him harm by shooting various weapons and arrows at him. All of these weapons transformed into flowers. And by the force of our cultivation of love, all our wishes will be fulfilled.
The greatest result of the culmination of love is liberation. But in terms of minor results is that one would be reborn in the world of Brahma. In India, there are many who seek refuge in the worldly god of Brahma, that they take refuge in the sun and the moon and by the minor result of cultivation of love would be to be reborn in the world of Brahma. It’s because we do not understand the benefits to be derived out of cultivating love and compassion that we find it so difficult to meditate on them, to cultivate them. But once we understand the great benefits to be derived, then we will joyfully cultivate and meditate on love and compassion.
It’s extremely important that we understand the benefits of the various practices of Dharma. If we know that if I do this in my practice, then I’m going to achieve this, then we will make effort. We won’t be lazy in our practice. We will practice continuously and with joy. It’s because we don’t see the benefits that after one or two days we drop our various practices.
And the same holds true for the others in terms of understanding the great harmful results arising from our unskillful actions. We understand the various faults of our unskilled actions in terms of their harmful results, then we will be able to cease them. It’s because we don’t understand the negative results arising from our unskilled actions that we’re only able to abstain from committing negativity for only a few days and then we can’t stop ourselves after that. This is why listening is so very important. It’s because in the practice of listening we are able to come to understand what is harmful and what is beneficial and therefore we are able to carry on a practice of being able to cultivate that which is to be adopted and to set aside that which is to be rejected.
Through listening though we will come to understand what is negative and what is positive, what is beneficial, what is harmful, what causes are to be practiced, what are to be abandoned, what are the various results of these causes. We will be able to carry on a successful practice of adopting and rejecting because we will understand the type and the nature and degree of the benefit and harm of each of our causes of each of our various actions. in dependence upon hearing, we will come to abandon those types of actions which bring harm. Because we will come to understand the nature of our actions as to what is negative and positive and understand the consequences of these and we will abandon all of our various negative actions. So those who have vast listening are done with their destructive action.
And in listening, through this listening, on the one hand will bring about the abandonment of destructive action On the other, the positive counterpart will be that we will achieve the various practices of ethics, for example, practicing the ten skillful actions. We will achieve meditative concentrations, for example calm abiding and achieve the wisdom realizing emptiness, special insight. By this means we will eliminate all our various faults and bring to consummation our excellent qualities and attain liberation. Through the cultivation, we just discussed what are the benefits to be derived out of cultivating love and compassion. Within terms of one’s own mind, one out of cultivating love and compassion will generate the awakening heart within one’s own mind.
By means of having generated the awakening heart in one’s own mind, one can subsequently be able to show others the method whereby they too can generate the awakened heart in their mind. It’s extremely important that we gain a sense of conviction, a liking and faith with respect to our practice of Dharma. Through generating a conviction, faith and liking for the Dharma in our present life, then in the future, in our future life, we will be born having a basis, a type of life by which we will be able to carry on a practice of Dharma. That is to say we will have a type of life which will be inclined toward the practice and we will have the opportunity to practice. It’s important that we reconsider our future life in terms of our practice of Dharma.
If we, though we might practice as much as we are able during the course of this life, we may not achieve liberation. But we can, in our future lives continue our practice and there in that life hope to attain liberation, we can expect to attain liberation. Therefore, we have to be able to achieve a type of life in which we can continue our practice of Dharma and therefore what is the cause for such a type of life which we can carry on our practice of Dharma and the causes are conviction, faith and an inclination or a liking for the Dharma in this life. Again, have handsome bodies, beautiful bodies and if we want to achieve such a type of re-embodiment again in a healthy, handsome body, it’s necessary that we create its cause and its cause is the practice of ethics. We also need to eliminate all the various types of faults within us and what is the cause by which we can bring about this elimination process.
This is through cultivating emptiness and cultivating emptiness in terms of listening to teachings on emptiness, reflecting upon them and then meditating on emptiness. By this means we will be able to eliminate all the various types of thoughts. Presently our minds are quite unstable. We lack the factor of mindfulness. We quickly forget whatever it is we hear.
It’s not able to remain within our mind. And what is the cause necessary to be practiced in order to develop mindfulness is that we should listen to the Dharma with an undistracted mind. In addition, we need intelligence, but we have to, we should have the wisdom which understands the nature of our world And how do we create such a type of intelligence? It is by reflecting upon the meaning of what one has heard upon the teaching again and again and again. Upon listening to a teaching, reflect upon its meaning and in this way one will develop the wisdom, understanding its nature.
It’s necessary for us to realize well the meaning of the Dharma and how are we to generate this realization. This arises through practicing the cause of respecting the sacred Dharma along with those who teach it. What is being taught here is that in the future we want to have, it’s necessary that we have specific excellent qualities and what is being explained are the causes of these qualities. Therefore, it is saying that it is necessary to practice this, it is necessary to practice this, it is necessary to practice this so that we have these necessary excellent qualities in the future. Once we determine that a specific result is desirable to be achieved in the future, it’s necessary to create its cause.
The result will arise dependent upon creating the cause. It’s just like it’s necessary to plant a field if we desire crops. Without having created the causes, there’s no way that we will experience the result. As it is said, it is in the very nature of things that the result arises from a cause. Without creating the cause, there will be no result.
We’re going to stop there for today, but if you have questions, you can ask them. If you don’t have any questions, we’ll meditate. For the next ten minutes we’re going to, having explained the benefits of a cultivation of love, we’re going to cultivate love and we should proceed in the following manner. Beginning with the thought wouldn’t it be wonderful if all sentient beings had happiness and not just happiness but also the unchanging happiness of liberation which they don’t presently have. And not only wouldn’t it be wonderful if they had happiness but the causes of happiness, that is to say skillful action.
So, it begins reflecting, wouldn’t it be wonderful if all sentient beings had happiness and the causes of happiness? And then, May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness. And then finally, I will take responsibility to bring to all sentient beings happiness and the causes of happiness. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they had happiness and the causes of happiness? May all sentient beings have happiness and the causes of happiness.
I myself will bring them happiness and the causes of that.