Puja — 2012-06-06

Puja (Khensur Rinpoche)

Puja — 2012-06-06

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Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.

About this talk. In this two-hour teaching, Kyabje Rinpoche opens with Śāntideva’s urgent exhortation—do not waste the precious human rebirth through sleep and worldly distraction. This foundation launches into the core teaching: how to recognize, examine, and rely on a spiritual teacher. He details the essential qualities to assess: truthful speech, high-mindedness, love for disciples, and authentic experience of the path. Vivid examples abound—Atisha’s thirteen-month journey followed by thirteen days of examination before accepting his guru; the practical analogy of a business partnership requiring mutual faith. The emphasis is clear: when a worthy student meets a qualified teacher, realization comes swiftly. The final section, presented through Q&A, addresses practical obstacles: the role of shame, the nature of faith, when abandonment is appropriate. For practitioners already grounded in Lamrim.

As Śāntideva says in his bodhisattvacharyavatara, dependence on this vessel of a human body, it is possible to cross the ocean of suffering in one lifetime, therefore sleep not. The advice which Śāntideva gives in this stanza refers to a very specific human rebirth and not a mere human rebirth. Depending on such a very specific human rebirth, has all of the interior and exterior conditions, including receiving the teachings of the Mahāyāna, one should then put effort. With such a basis, it is possible, such a vessel, it is possible to cross the ocean of suffering. As you remember, Geshe-la explained the three categories of suffering.

What is referred to here is the third category of suffering or all pervasive suffering, which is none other than our contaminated aggregates. It would be difficult to enter an explanation of the contaminated aggregates in this context. Suffice it to say that they are none other than cyclic existence. Then, in addition to being able to cross the ocean of cyclic existence, such a vessel of a special physical basis, a special physical base of a human rebirth is difficult to obtain in the future. For those of us who believe in past lives, we can see that obtaining such a precious human rebirth at present is the result of causes and conditions.

Not merely one cause and condition, but numerous causes and conditions which must constellate to give rise to a precious human rebirth. Likewise, to obtain such a rebirth in the future, such causes and conditions must constellate again, which is difficult. And Śāntideva adds, having obtained such a rebirth, ignorant one do not sleep. Having obtained therefore such a precious human rebirth, such a special physical basis, ignorant one refers to us, One should abstain from sleeping. And therefore, Śāntideva says, ignorant one, on this do not sleep.

On this refers to the vessel of the human rebirth which we have obtained, and not sleeping here does not refer to abstaining from sleep to engage effort into effort in worldly affairs. We have been doing this from beginningless time. If we accept the existence of past and future lives, we have been doing this infinitely. It refers instead to abstaining from sleep to engage in the practice of Dharma. And this is profound advice indeed, oh ignorant one, on this basis, do not sleep, do not tarry.

The meanings of this final verse are numerous. Refers not only to abstaining from the ordinary sleep with which we are accustomed, it refers to taking the very essence of this human rebirth and not wasting it on the pleasures of this life. Here, studying Buddhist text does not in and of that itself becomes a become a practice of Buddhism. Studying Buddhist text becomes Buddhist when that study is used to tame the mind. It is in the taming of the mind that one enters through the gateway of Buddhism.

There are numerous shared outlooks between the Buddhist and the worldly viewpoint. For instance, both worldly beings and Buddhist practitioners consider that anger is evil and destructive. However, it is probably impossible for a worldly being to fully understand the antidotes to anger. All of us understand the nature of anger. We can all see that under the influence of anger, we say things which we would not say otherwise, leaving them to regret them.

And as Buddhist practitioners, we full well understand that under the influence of anger we commit non virtues such as for instance striking others out of anger which lead directly to rebirth in the lower realms. There is anger in the minds of every single one of us. Every single one of us bears in his minds the potentialities, the seeds for anger. And if we were to view the process of arising of anger metaphorically, we could say that our contaminated aggregates are the basis on which anger arises. They are the field.

Within that field, the seeds, of anger generated in past lives are like the seeds sown in the field, and the sprout with which they give rise to in this life is none other than anger in this life. The necessary cooperative condition for the arising of anger is none other than self-cherishing. Therefore, three factors are necessary to give rise to anger. A basis, the contaminated aggregates, a substantial cause, the potentialities from past lives, and a cooperative condition, self-cherishing. One can extend these metaphors to all of the other delusions such as avarice, envy, competitiveness and so forth.

And this is why Śāntideva says, thereby one can cross the ocean of suffering. Here, the ocean of suffering refers to cyclic existence. And if we analyze precisely what is meant by cyclic existence, taking the example of anger which was given previously. Probably, the foundation of the contaminated aggregates, with in addition the substantial causes of the potentialities of anger or any delusion from past lives. And in addition, the cooperative condition of self-cherishing altogether probably constitute a good approximation of cyclic existence.

Alternatively, one could also see cyclic existence as self-cherishing or for that matter, the foundation of self-cherishing, the ignorance which apprehends the inherent existence of phenomena. Then taking the resolve to cross the ocean of suffering, the ocean of all pervasive suffering, one should generate the motivation to study. And therefore, the verse of Śāntideva, the verses which read depending on this vessel of a human rebirth. It is possible to cross the ocean of suffering. Do not refer to physical sufferings or bodily sufferings such as headaches or stomachaches.

This is an important point which creates numerous misunderstandings. Dharma is not for physical healing. And Geshe-la himself feels that it is a sensitive issue and therefore he would like to emphasize it. Dharma is for practice for future lives. Otherwise, if you think that through praying to the triple gem and the Buddha, your headaches will dwindle, then after addressing these prayers, should your headaches increase, there’s a very great risk that you will stop practicing altogether.

Geshe-la is sharing his own experience with you. But how you precisely feel about this, he does not know. What is the suffering which we can eliminate? We cannot eliminate past suffering, This is behind us. We cannot through Dharma eliminate present suffering.

We are experiencing this at present. However, we can eliminate future suffering. There is a path to liberation from that. And therefore, should we at present be sick or ill and experiencing great physical suffering, the Dharma practice we should engage in is summarized in the verse of Lama Chöpa which says, blessed Guru, cause the sufferings of all beings as well as their sins and non virtuous deeds to mature on me at present. And in the sense of Śāntideva, reference is made to this human physical basis which is hard to obtain.

You might wonder why precisely this is said. After all, there are some six or 7,000,000,000 human beings on this planet. It does not seem particularly difficult to be reborn as a human being. It is not this rebirth we are referring to. It is not a mere human rebirth, which is a meaningless rebirth.

It is a specific human rebirth, a rebirth which enables one to practice Dharma. Otherwise, most human beings have no interest whatsoever in any type of Dharma practice and such lives are, broadly speaking, meaningless. And therefore within our lives we have to differentiate between two types of behavior. Behavior which is to be engaged in and which is to be engaged in through understanding its advantages. Behavior which is to be abstained from or abandoned and which is to be abstained from or abandoned through understanding its disadvantages.

Clearly the fault of anger and through reflecting over again on these faults, when anger threatens to dawn within our minds, we will be able to oppose strenuous resistance to it. And therefore our goal must be a stable state, a stable or invariable happiness. What is none other than liberation, whether we are speaking of a nirvana with a remainder or without a remainder. In either case, these are both stable forms of happiness. To, be able to attain such a stable form of happiness, one must study and to study, one must have a teacher.

In your cases, you have heard numerous discourses or teachings on the graduated stages of the path on Lamrim and have heard many times that the foundation of the stages of the path is reliance on the spiritual friend. If you listen to teachings on such topics with the feeling, this is something I have heard many times in the past, you will eventually become dizzy with the topic and there will be no benefit whatsoever. Instead, you should concentrate on the meaning of what is being taught. This is a clear sign of not mixing the teachings with the mind. When the teachings remain purely verbal, when the teachings remain mere talk.

Then the student comes for intellectual excitement and thinks, I have already heard these teachings on Guru Yoga, here we go again, it’s the Four Noble Truths all over again. Oh my goodness. It’s renunciation all over again. This time it’s impermanence. The student risks to fall asleep and there is no benefit whatsoever.

Therefore, in the context of liberation in the palm of your hand, we have reached the actual body of the text, which is dedicated to the practice of Guru Yoga, in keeping with the line in Jetsün Lobsang Chökyi Gyaltsen’s Lamrim Chenmo, in which he says, dependence on the foundation of the path relying on the spiritual friend. The term dependence clearly refers to the fact that the totality of practice hinges on that foundation of the path, which is relying on the spiritual friend. As Dharmakīrti says in his Pramānavārttika, one must rely on a spiritual teacher who can instruct one in the Four Noble Truths. The meaning of these verses is that one should not rely on a spiritual teacher who has other qualities, who might be physically attractive, who might come from afar, who might speak eloquently and well.

What one needs is a spiritual teacher who can teach one the four noble truths. If we take the case of the noble lord Atisha, Atisha traveled for thirteen months by sea from India to Indonesia to meet his root teacher, Guru Suvarnadvipi, and upon meeting his root teacher, he examined him for thirteen days relentlessly before accepting him as his teacher. In your cases, you must examine very carefully those whom you plan on taking as your spiritual teachers or your gurus before entering in that relationship. If you are foolhardy, which we hope you are not, and rush into such a relationship, then later on, if difficulties arise, you will simply have to handle them. Now regarding the qualities of the spiritual teacher, which we have to adopt within the three sets of qualities of the body, the speech, and the mind, it is the qualities of body and speech which matter.

And within these, it is mainly the qualities of the speech of the spiritual teacher. The qualities of the mind of the spiritual teacher, we have no way of assessing. Therefore, it is the qualities of the speech of the spiritual teacher which are the most important. Generally speaking, one should examine one’s spiritual teacher, one’s future spiritual teacher for years before taking the decision. However, in our cases, we lack time.

Therefore, one should examine first and foremost the speech of the spiritual teacher to assess whether it is truthful or not. And depending on the truthfulness or not of the speech, infer the truthfulness or not of the being. For this reason, Dharmakīrti says that Buddha Śākyamūni’s status as a being which is a valid cognizer, a Pramāna being, derives from his teaching the four noble truths in an incontrovertible fashion. We can see for ourselves in mundane matters, let us say for instance, if we wish to train in computer science, just how much care we give to choosing a correct instructor. We will check his qualifications, ask just for how long he studied, what sort of professional experience he has, how he expresses himself, if there are unfavorable rumors concerning him.

We will put tremendous attention in matters which are fundamentally totally insignificant. It is all the more necessary to pay great attention at the qualifications of a being who will teach us how to attain the state of unvarying happiness. Reflect therefore carefully on the qualities you would require from a teacher who has to teach you the totality of the path from how to rely on the spiritual teacher at the beginning all the way up to the attainment of the state of union of a normal learner. Us Tibetans do not rely easily on a spiritual teacher and do not entrust ourselves lightly to a spiritual teacher because this is a dangerous relationship. There is no rush for you in this matter since you must meet a teacher who is not only of high mind, but well trained and filled with love for his disciples.

Once you have met such a teacher, if in addition from your side as students, as disciples, you have the qualities, then it is said that progressing all the way upwards to the state of non-learner is not terribly difficult. Such a meeting is that of the great Milarepa and his guru Marpa Lotsawa. The meeting of a disciple who could give everything to his teacher, including his body and his wealth, with a teacher who needed nothing of what the disciple could give. Then it is as in the movie. There are extensive explanations of the advantages of relying on a spiritual teacher within liberation in the palm of your hand.

However, in a nutshell, the depth and the swiftness of the tantric path, which Jetsu Milarepa epitomizes, is rooted in the fact that it takes Guru Yoga as the very lifeblood of the path. As is said through your benevolence, you can impart a state of union within one mere instant. One mere instant here refers to one human life of this degenerate age. And therefore, if one meets a spiritual teacher who is of a high state of mind, who has love for his disciples, and who has gained experience in the stages, the grounds and stages of the path, then from one’s own side, if the effort is put, attainment is swift. This is not only the case for tantric practice, this is also the case for the non tantric vehicle.

For instance, in the 8,000 verse Perfection of Wisdom sūtra, it is taught that the great being Sadāprarudita searched for many years for a guru, meeting numerous Buddhas, but remaining unsatisfied until he met his teacher, his Kalyānamitra, Dharmodgata. Upon meeting Dharmodgata, he dedicated himself single-mindedly to Dharmodgata and attained the eighth ground in that very life. And therefore success or failure in one’s Dharma practice rests exclusively on the relationship with the spiritual teacher. If that relationship is strong and sound, attainment is swift and easy as making something with your hands, in the palm of your hand. Buddhahood in the palm of your hand is basically just an example.

And therefore, as the great Yogi, Padampa Sangye, said, people of Dingri, through relying on the spiritual teacher, you will be carried wherever you wish to go. Therefore, pay him the fee for the journey. Likewise, Ārya Nāgārjuna, understanding full well our spiritual laziness, and the fact that even though we talk of liberation and full enlightenment, deep down we do not believe that it is something which we can attain, points out that if we conjoin faith on the one hand and not just faith but study and practice as well, inseparably it is certain that we will gain these states. Did not utter such things lightly. It is actually mainly Ārya Nāgārjuna who through meticulous examination differentiated between what is interpretable and definitive within the Buddha’s teachings.

Nāgārjuna taught clearly that such a spiritual teacher must first and foremost be one who is of high thought. Secondly, he must be a being who has love for his disciples. And thirdly, he must not only have studied the paths and the grounds leading to full enlightenment, he must have gained experience in them. When such a being encounters a worthy disciple, in other words, a disciple of the caliber of the Milarepa who is able to put tremendous effort, then the results are guaranteed. In the context of relying on the spiritual teacher, one speaks of faith.

Faith in this context is probably of the nature of conviction. Almost all forms of faith are convictions, not all forms of convictions can be subsumed within faith. Now to give a mundane or a secular example of what is mean or what is meant by faith here, imagine two people creating a company or a business together. These two partners will actually increase dramatically their chances of success if they trust each other. If they really have faith in each other, if they trust each other mutually, and on top of that, conditions, exterior conditions are favorable, then it is almost certain they will be successful.

Isn’t that the case? On the other hand, take a partnership in which one of the partners has tremendous trust in the second party and the second partner on the other hand has no faith or confidence at all in the first. What will be the future in your opinion of such a partnership? It will not develop. And therefore, if from the side of the student, not only faith but enthusiasm and perseverance are present, Then from the side of the teacher, without entering in the detail of the 10 qualities of the spiritual teacher from the standpoint of, it is certain that the teacher from his side will endeavor to benefit the students through his experience of the grounds and the paths.

Then through such an encounter with from the student’s side effort and study, as well as faith. And from the side of the teacher imparting teachings, it is definite that the student will progress upwards. Faith is taught as the foundation of practice in all of the components of the Buddhist teachings. Even if we have a student who is destitute, if the student from his own side is putting effort and hard work, it is 100% certain that the teacher from his side will try to see what he can teach to benefit the student. There are numerous benefits to the practice of Guru Yoga.

Geshe-la will not explain them in detail, but we’ll focus on the essence. The essence is that the spiritual teacher helps us when all the Buddhas have not been able to help us. It is not that the Buddhas from their side did not endeavor to help us. It is that from our side, we lack the good fortune to be the recipient of their help. As is said in the Abhisamayālamkāra, grain cast on a hard soil does not germinate.

And for this reason, it is said that one should see one’s spiritual teacher as the embodiment of all of the Buddhas of the 10 direction. One spiritual teacher who can bestow on oneself the state of the four bodies in one instant. Why is it possible for him to bestow on us the state of the four bodies of a fully enlightened being in one instant? It is possible through his teaching us how to train in the grounds and paths based on his own attainment and experience of these. In other words, to use a metaphor or an example from the essence of nectar, graduated stages of the path.

Just like a father giving medicine to his only child, The spiritual teacher is just like a father constantly trying to find what the best medication is to heal his sick child. And therefore, irrespective of whether or not our spiritual teacher has himself attained the state of the four bodies, If we make offerings to him without conviction, we accrue the merit obtained to making offerings to a being which has attained the four bodies. For this reason, it is said, all victors of the 10 directions or conquerors of the 10 directions abide within the spiritual teacher. And therefore, it is said through veneration for even one bodily hair of the spiritual teacher, all of the afflictions can be eliminated. It is through realizing that the totality of the conquerors of the 10 directions exist within the spiritual teacher that we can use the spiritual teacher to accumulate the same amount of merit as if we made offerings to the conquerors of the 10 directions.

And therefore, it is vital that the spiritual teacher have love for the disciples from within the 10 qualities listed in the Mahāyāna Sutralankara, pacified, thoroughly pacified, completely pacified, love is listed as well. This love from the side of the spiritual teacher on the one hand is indispensable and from the side of the student is required not only faith, but also effort and study. It is through the combination of faith, effort and study, as well as the blessings of the spiritual teacher that it is possible to progress very rapidly to the state of union. Otherwise, if the student finds it difficult to study what he is taught and finds it even more difficult to put in practice what he studies and lacks faith, then there will be no realizations. Geshe-la does not have a lot to add on this topic.

It is important to reflect on these points. If you have questions, Geshe-la will take your questions at present. Could you precise your doubt? Could you be more precise in your question? Well, Geshe-la was speaking of the dangers or the difficulties if one does not choose a spiritual teacher carefully, he is not referring to diseases or worldly problems such as that one.

Instead, one should reflect on why one selects a spiritual teacher. One puts oneself under the guidance of a spiritual teacher to attain the state of liberation and a state of immutable happiness. Then if one has not well chosen one spiritual teacher, one ends up with a teacher who is unable to guide one to this state and one turns away from him. One will not have accomplished one’s goals. Understand?

You know? Yeah. Good. And so so come. Come.

Come. Come. Lojong. Today? And you want to get rid of that shame, which is a virtuous state of mind.

If you’re ashamed. There are two types of shame. There is shame at having done something which one shouldn’t do, which is a virtuous state of mind which you should increase. And there is shame at having not done something which one should do, which is a non virtuous state of mind. So this virtuous shame is actually one of the four forces.

It is the force of repentance or of guilt. To give an example of how one should practice, one should reflect on all of the deeds one has done since beginningless lives, specifically the non virtuous deeds, and try to bring to mind all those one may have committed and give rise at this point to a tremendous sense of shame and of guilt regarding what one has done. This sense of shame and of guilt is none other than the second of the four opponent forces, the force of repentance. What Geshe-la meant was that once suffering has arisen, it is difficult to counter it through Dharma practice. Now for instance, it is clear that when one engages in practices such as training for śamatha, eventually upon the attainment of śamatha or single pointed concentration, one attains primarily mental pliancy and as a result of mental pliancy, bodily or physical pliancy.

This physical or bodily pliancy enables one to remain for hours, days, weeks or months in meditation without any physical discomfort whatsoever. For instance, it is possible even for a to experience physical suffering. This physical suffering arises from unpurified past non virtuous karma, which is known technically as the assumption of bad bodily states. This causes no mental suffering within the mind of the Arhat, which remains constantly peaceful and happy. And there is one — one does not remember if it’s one Arhat or another — who experienced this through eating bad food.

I don’t know. Michel is not quite sure what the relation is between meditation and taking medicine. Generally speaking, there are two types of forms of bodily suffering. There is suffering which arises from past non virtuous karma. Once that suffering is maturing, one is experiencing the suffering, it cannot be eliminated.

And there is suffering which arises from a temporary disturbance of the bodily elements in this life. That can be affected by meditation. Yeah. Yeah. Come on.

Oh, yes, please. Yeah. So they have abandoned the teacher or the teacher abandoned them? It is said in the essence of eloquence, one who has abandoned his teacher in this life will gain no realization. Therefore, the abandonment of the teacher precludes attaining realizations in this life such as renunciation.

It’s probably you should think about this connected with karma and causality and the way karma and causality work. There’s no benefit whatsoever in envy of the qualities of a realized being. Lily, listen to me. Geshe-la is delighted that you are feeling better and are able to attend the teachings again. You are young, you are bright and therefore you can benefit from coming to the teachings and he hope you will continue to come regularly.

That is the first point. The second point is you asked Geshe-la a question about envy or jealousy a couple teachings ago. Geshe-la reflected on the topic. The definition of envy is envy is that mental factor whose function is to make it impossible to support the perfections of another. Now regarding competitiveness, there are two types of competitiveness.

There is afflicted or non virtuous competitiveness, which is the wish to abase someone who is our competitor and who is competing with us. This is a non virtuous state of mind. And there is a better form of competitiveness, which is that competitiveness which arises towards an equal whom we see excelling and which is a thought, why can’t I excel like him? And which leads us to put effort. Do you understand?

You need. Without competitiveness, probably we will be unable to increase our good qualities. Therefore, we need competitiveness, but we need a good sort of competitiveness, not the competitiveness which wishes to abase someone else and elevate ourselves. And? This is why there are examinations, tests and quizzes in schools because competitiveness regarding the grades leads to the general increase of the standard of all the students in the class.

This is good competitiveness. Likewise, in the great monasteries, the great seats, there is a tremendous amount of examinations. This leads to the general increase in qualities and knowledge of all of the participants. It’s good to think that there are two types of competitiveness, different competitiveness. Afflicted competitiveness harms oneself.

Perhaps there are no other questions.