Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 38-minute public talk, Kyabje Rinpoche opens with meditation on love and compassion, showing how practice starting with one person generates vast positive potential. He emphasizes correct motivation—practicing to attain enlightenment for all beings—and explains how practice itself becomes an offering to the Buddhas, creating twofold merit. The bulk is Q&A where Western listeners voice direct skepticism: Are Buddhas watching us? How do we trust teachings about the unseen? Can enlightenment happen in the West? Rinpoche addresses each head-on, recounting the historical Buddha’s legacy, distinguishing love from compassion, outlining the five paths to awakening, and expressing confidence that Westerners will become realized—a parallel to Dharma’s spread from India to Tibet.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1988-11-06 – 1B – Public Talk The Way of the Buddha – KR.mp3
UUID: 5a92fb4e-60a3-404f-90d7-1b631ab92e10
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Public Talks
Date: 1988-11-06
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,279
Must be proportionally infinite. So we may we might think it’s it would be extremely difficult to be able to take all sentient beings as our object and generate love for them. But no matter, we know, just by simply whatever we do in developing ourselves in this ability, we have to begin, we can begin with one sentient being with one person and begin to work our way up from there. But the Buddha has said that merely however much we might meditate, for example, if we meditate five minutes or ten minutes or fifteen minutes upon love in itself, no matter how many beings we’re able to take. If this, this, positive potential or the merit created by such an action in itself, if it could have form such as if it were in the shape of flowers, the entire world would not be able to hold this form, these flowers.
Likewise, in meditating compassion, the same holds true, that initially we can begin with a single person and develop the benefit of having developed compassion with respect to a single person and through the process of development moving up to more and more people as our object until likewise we can develop the infinite benefit through developing compassion towards an infinite number of sentient beings. And not only that, you know, we can adjust the motivation even before we are going to meditate such that as we did initially in this talk, that seeking to develop the intention that I’m going to meditate now in order to attain enlightenment so that I might be able to place all sentient beings in equal to space in complete peace and happiness. If with with such a motivation, then when we go proceed on to meditation itself, the benefit will be even greater. So, meditating in this way, now that we are actually able to create positive potential in a twofold way. We’re creating potential, as we have said, through the development of love and compassion.
But not only that, but it is said that the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas, upon seeing this, acting in this way, meditating and generating love and compassion, rejoice, find great joy in our practice. And this is said to be of the various types of offerings that we can make to the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas. This is the offering of practice. And this in itself is in turn creates more positive energy, more positive potential. So we’re creating positive potential through the generation of love and compassion itself, and through offering our practice of generating love and compassion.
It’s a twofold accumulation of positive potential. So it’s very much like a child who pleases his parents. Because the parents love the child, then when they see the child, for example, if he’s studying well or if he acts in some way which they like, then this brings them great happiness to see their child acting in this way due to the force of their love. Likewise, it is said that the Buddhas love us even more than our parents would love their children. And when they see us meditating in this way, practicing in this way, it brings them great joy, brings them great happiness.
And this happiness creating this joy through our practice is the offering of the practice, is the offering of practice. So, you know, such a type of practice is extremely beneficial. It is It makes our attainment of a precious human rebirth fulfilled. You know, the fact that hearing the great benefits that we can derive from meditating on love and compassion and practicing in such a way that we can begin to and for those who have conviction in the teachings of Buddha, they would be able to generate the feeling of great happiness in persevering in their practice, understanding that it’s not only going to bring them happiness now, but it’s also going to bring them happiness in the future. So this is a great blessing.
This is great benefit. You know, the dependence upon creating this positive energy through these types of practices, This is like the doorway which will lead to the eventual development of the awakening heart and understanding the view and ultimately to Buddhahood. So, any questions? Is it is actually saying that they’re they’re beings of some kind watching. You mean Buddhas?
Yeah. Are the Buddhas watching you? It seems seems strange. So the the the only reason that the Buddhists exist is for the benefit of sentient beings. They’re They’re constantly trying to figure out how they can bring happiness to sentient beings, and they’re constantly on the watch.
So initially the Buddhas generate the mind of enlightenment, the awakening heart, and then in the intermediate they amass the accumulations of the two accumulations and finally they attain Buddhahood. And this whole process is done only for the sake of others, the sake of sentient beings. And they don’t simply hang out once they’ve done this. By the force their great love for sentient beings they are moved to engage in whatever actions, whatever deeds are going to benefit others such as, for example, teaching the Dharma to them, trying to show them methods to become happy. This concept is very difficult for the western mind to grab hold of.
Which concept? Well, the the whole idea that there’s anything there beyond our senses. Well, the whole of, you know, society kind of is based on if it’s there, I’ll have it. If it’s I can’t see it, I don’t want it. That’s a a that’s Yeah.
Merely not seen, we say something doesn’t exist and many things which exist, many things which in fact exist, we would say they don’t exist, if that’s the reason we give not seen. There are many, many people that I see. So in India previously many people saw Buddha Śākyamūni for example. So in India, for example, many people saw Śākyamūni Buddha. He spoke many teachings.
They have all the various discourses of the Buddha and all the various commentaries. in dependence upon those, many, many individuals have attained the state of foe destroyer, that is to say, arhat. If someone has never seen a dog, then they can say that dog doesn’t exist. I’m saying good point. But what I’m saying is in South Australia, they went, you know, people this concept isn’t really accepted.
Which concept? A lot. The concept of the there being, you know, actual Buddhist around. It’s it’s kind of alien to our culture. South Australian It becomes very strange if one were to say It becomes very strange if one were to say that was a Buddhist but they weren’t sure if the Buddhists existed.
What? It would be strange if one were to say that one was a Buddhist but had doubts as to whether Buddhists existed or not. Actually what you’re saying is quite easy to understand because most people nowadays, unless they see something directly, then they say it doesn’t exist. So, you know, even if we can’t really directly see the, for example, the present Buddhists, can understand that there did exist the Buddha, historical Buddha, that is to say Śākyamūni Buddha. He came to India.
He taught the Dharma. There are many of his teachings still recorded. And dependent upon practicing these teachings, many people have been able to achieve happiness and complete happiness, dependent upon those. So in this way we can derive, develop some conviction in their existence. So the first path is a path of preparation where we collect the two accumulations of positive potential, merit, and the accumulation of wisdom.
Having done that, we pass on to the second path of the path of preparation. And here we’re preparing ourselves for the direct insight into the four noble truths, the directly perceiving the four noble truths. Therefore this is called the path of preparation where when we actually do obtain direct perception of the four noble truths, then we pass on to the path of seeing. We accustom ourselves to this realization of the Four Noble Truths again and again. This is referred to as the path the fourth path, the path of meditation.
And when this accustoming familiarization is taken to its ultimate end, then this becomes the path, the fifth path, the path of no more learning. So compassion is upon viewing a suffering sentient being, suffering person for example, the wish, may that person be separated from that suffering. Whereas love on the other hand is viewing a person who has no happiness, developing the wish, may that person be joined with happiness. So that’s the difference between love and compassion. By Dharma, you mean the Buddha Dharma?
Rinpoche says that he thinks it would be difficult for there to be a bodhisattva who has not practiced the teachings, the Dharma, the buddhadharma, Since, you know, in order to become a bodhisattva we have to generate the awakening heart. And we have to meditate, have to accustom ourselves to a gradual unfolding process. And this requires specific method. If we don’t have the causes, then we can’t expect a result. And he, outside of the teachings of Buddha, he doesn’t know of any methods whereby, for example, the process whereby these seven causes and effect practice whereby we meditate on all sentient beings, our mother, remembering their kindness, repaying their kindness, development of affectionate love, great compassion, exceptional resolve, leads to the awakening heart.
Other methods to generate the awakening heart or bodhicitta and therefore he thinks it’s only that if we haven’t studied the Buddha Dharma then we wouldn’t be able to generate become a bodhis bodhisattva. So he would say, there any other equivalent teaching there’s no equivalent teaching to attaining bodhisattva from any other If there’s no Buddhas, then there’s no awakening heart. So, you know, if there weren’t when we talk about the awakening heart, the mind of enlightenment, bodhicitta, we’re talking about the aspiration to achieve enlightenment in order to separate all sentient beings from all their suffering and to bring them complete happiness. And in order to do this we aspire to Buddhahood. Now if Buddhahood didn’t exist then there would be nothing for us to aspire to in order to bring this about in fact.
Therefore, if there is no Buddha, there is no Buddhahood, and if there is no Buddhahood, there is no mind of enlightenment or the awakening heart. Is Jesus Christ achieved Buddhahood? Yeah. From within the context of the teachings of the Buddha, it would be difficult to say that he had. But it’s not to say that within the context of the Christian doctrine that he has not attained an equivalent state.
Yes. Enlightened western people. So, you know, from the point of view of the country that we live in, there is a difference, isn’t there, between it was previously in Tibet and how the situation which presently exists in the West. That we don’t have in the West there aren’t the conducive conditions which existed in Tibet. There isn’t the leisure, there isn’t the general liking of engaging in various practices of Dharma.
So therefore there’s going to be a difference from the point of view of the country or the place that you live in, the difficulty in practicing. But from the actual point of view of practice for oneself internally, there’s no difference. You know, if we don’t try to engage in practices, if we don’t make effort no matter where we may live, nothing’s going to happen. But if we make effort and we, reflect and go through the processes of the methods, make use of the methods, then we’re going to develop, we’re going to attain the fruits of Dharma whether we are living in the West or whether we are living in Tibet or in the East. As far as the existence of a Western Buddha then there is no reason why there shouldn’t be one.
Is no reason why Westerners can’t become enlightened and therefore we cannot say that there is not a Western Buddha or a Westerner who is a Buddha. So there is a difference, you know, from the situation at present existing in the West and what it was in Tibet. In Tibet there were many great spiritual masters who were giving many teachings. Teachings were readily available and there were many patrons who were willing to support those who wanted to give themselves over completely to their various practices. And so was quite easy in that respect to practice.
So, Rinpoche has great hopes that, you know, just as the Dharma spread from India to Tibet, the Dharma will begin to spread from the East to the West. And there was a gradual unfoldment of the Dharma in Tibet. The great pandits, the great translators, such as Atisha. They all went to Tibet. They translated the various works.
There was the transmission of the Dharma from India to Tibet. And then people went through a process of practice, meditating, attaining higher realizations. And now, this transmission is now occurring from the East to the West. And so, now people will begin to practice and meditate and will gain the same realizations. Has great hopes, great expectations that you know, that these transmissions will gradually take place, that, you know, the Dalai Lama has visited the West, that there will eventually be there are eventually there are now Westerners becoming monks, are Westerners becoming Geshes, are, you know, Westerners are becoming highly realized and this process will continue further and further.