Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 13.7-minute public talk, Kyabje Rinpoche explores how intention—not compassion—determines karma using a striking example: a monk killed his suffering mother, and the Buddha declared it wrong. He distinguishes intentional killing from accidental harm: hitting an animal with no intention to kill creates no negative karma, but claiming compassion to justify killing suffering beings is mistaken compassion. He guides listeners to treat injured animals skillfully and speak carefully to those committing harm, explaining the negativity they create. Through a medicine analogy, Rinpoche shows that intention alone determines karma: giving medicine to relieve pain carries no fault, even if the patient dies.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1989-03-19 – 2A – Public Talk Compassion in Everyday Life – KR.mp3
UUID: b7057901-d33c-423c-b584-8a9d0ab97b60
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Public Talks
Date: 1989-03-19
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~377
This transcript was generated using AI speech recognition and has been reviewed for Buddhist terminology accuracy. Some inaccuracies may remain. Please refer to the original audio recording as the authoritative source.
# Public Talk-Compassion in Everyday Life-2a 1989-03-19 **Collection:** Rinpoche Recordings — Public Talks and Events **Duration:** 13.7 minutes **Words:** 384 **Model:** Deepgram Nova-3 **Corrections applied:** 0 **Transcribed:** 2026-02-27 19:33 — K. So it said that in the case of humans it’s not acceptable. According to, you know we were talking about the great vehicle and the lesser vehicle. And when…
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# Public Talk-Compassion in Everyday Life-2a 1989-03-19
**Collection:** Rinpoche Recordings — Public Talks and Events
**Duration:** 13.7 minutes
**Words:** 384
**Model:** Deepgram Nova-3
**Corrections applied:** 0
**Transcribed:** 2026-02-27 19:33
—
K. So it said that in the case of humans it’s not acceptable. According to, you know we were talking about the great vehicle and the lesser vehicle. And when the lesser vehicle tradition, there is a story in which a monk actually killed his mother who was in great deal suffering. And the Buddha said that this was an extremely negative action to have done.
It was unacceptable. So, because through this even though that person’s undergoing suffering, that’s by that by undergoing that suffering, they’re exhausting the negative karma that they’ve created in the past. So remember, the teaching says you shouldn’t kill it. So, now, driving along and you hit an animal, since there was no intention of, there was no negative intention, then there’s no negative karma created. Having to hit the animal, wanting to kill it, then of course there’s a negative intention involved in killing, and this you create negative karma.
And also the thought that it’s compassionate to kill this animal because it’s suffering is mistaken compassion. So, you you should, as best you can, take care of that animal. You know, give it whatever treatment you can, and without leaving it, simply just leaving it there. You know, set it aside and treat it as best you can.
Should try to speak to them in a very skillful way. Explaining to them that they’re creating a lot of negativity by killing this animal, and that this isn’t an expression of love and compassion for that animal. At the same time. I mean, you don’t you don’t know? I mean, it may Would you prescribe a medicine medicine that you didn’t know whether it’s gonna kill a person or not?
So that’s all you’re talking about. Whether you prescribe medicine that would relieve their pain. I don’t know if I’m gonna come to you for treatment. So if you’re giving this medicine with a beneficial intention to relieve their pain, and then there’s no intention that it’s going to kill them, then it’s quite acceptable to give them medicine and there’s no fault on your side if it eventuates that they die, yeah? But on the other hand, if you have the intention to kill them, then it’s not acceptable.