Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 44-minute teaching, Kyabje Rinpoche addresses a fundamental problem: our compassion remains selective. We care passionately for those we like, wish more suffering on enemies, and feel indifference toward strangers. He traces this pattern to how people appear to us—pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral—and shows it blocks development of the awakening heart. The solution, he explains, requires equalizing attachment and aversion through understanding closeness. He uses the mother as the worldly model and the spiritual master as the ultimate dharmic model for developing affectionate love toward all beings. He then presents Śāntideva’s method of exchanging self for others as a more powerful technique for this equalization. The final section addresses whether animals can develop bodhichitta, whether Buddhist training is required, and when awakening heart can degenerate. Pitched at practitioners already familiar with bodhisattva principles and practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1989-08-15 – 5B – Sun's Radiance of – KR.mp3
UUID: eeb21fff-232b-44c1-b0da-602a90e15232
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Sun Radiance – Thought Transformation
Date: 1989-08-15
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,294
And it depends upon this, we develop a special equanimity. So these are the two different methods which are the means for developing affectionate or pleasant love. If we don’t develop a pleasant love, then the great compassion will not come. We won’t be able to develop it. We have different ways of reacting to the various types of people that we meet, that we come in contact, that we have relationship with.
For example, those who we’re very close to, those we love, those we like, they appear very pleasant to us. Due to this pleasant appearance, we develop a caring for them. And to the degree that we care for them, to that same degree we’re going to have affectionate love for them, that we’re going to develop this pleasant love for them. But on the other hand, those people who we don’t like, our enemies, for example, they they appear unpleasant to us. And when we see them undergoing some difficulty, some suffering, not only do we not develop any compassion that we think, May they not suffer, but we even go to the extreme of thinking, Oh, may they suffer even more than they’re suffering now.
On the other hand, a third possibility of a stranger or a neutral person, they also do not appear pleasant to us. And so when they have some problem, then we can’t develop a caring. We simply have an indifference to their problem. We don’t like them, we don’t like them, so we remain indifferent. So, you know, if we think about this we can begin to identify with what is being explained.
We all have the people we like, and the people who we experience as very pleasant. When they’re sick we react with sometimes that we can’t even eat, we can’t sleep. This is a result of caring for them. On the other hand, those who are enemies, those we don’t like, when they’re undergoing some difficulty, some pain, then we think, Oh, maybe they even have more pain than that. On the other hand, those who are a stranger, a neutral person, someone we neither like nor dislike, when they’re undergoing some pain, some difficulty, we would say, that’s too bad, and then we don’t seek to benefit them at all, just leave them, we have indifference.
This is our experience. We all know about this, the various different ways we have in relating to people. Toward one, that who we care about when they’re sick, we can’t even sleep, can’t eat, we go through a lot of pain. To those who are our enemy, then we even, when they’re undergoing some suffering, some difficulty, we wish them, may they even have greater pain, more difficulty. And toward the stranger, that is to say a neutral person, we simply say, Oh, that’s too bad.
And we feel an indifference toward them. So what is the how does this different way of reacting come about? There’s different degrees of involvement. It’s all due to if we examine, it comes about due to the quality of pleasant love, how they appear to us, due to the degree of caring that we have. If we’re going to develop great compassion, we have to develop the mind seek, the mind which which desires to separate from suffering all beings.
Therefore we have to equal out this aversion and attachment that we have. If we don’t equalize, separate ourselves from aversion and attachment, there’s no way that we’re going to develop the equanimity necessary to develop an awakening heart. We have these different ways of relating with these three types of people, Those who we like, this liking comes about because they appear pleasant to us, the quality. Therefore, in liking, we care. Those who do not appear pleasant to us, do who appear unpleasant to us, we have a dislike.
Not only do we not care that we wish them even more difficulties. So there’s this discriminative quality. The way we can recognize the difference is to the degree that beings appear pleasant to us. in dependence upon appearing pleasant, we feel a closeness, a closeness. It is due to the force of this closeness that when someone is happy that we feel a sympathetic joy in what they’re experiencing.
On the other hand, it’s due to this closeness that when they’re undergoing difficulty we feel a sympathetic suffering with what they’re undergoing. So we’re talking about the quality of closeness. The ultimate closeness is the ultimate model for closeness is the relationship with our mother. We this is why in the tradition of Atisha and Lama Tsongkhapa that the mother is used as the basis for the eventual development of pleasant love, because it is the mother to whom we have the closest relationship. It is used as the model.
If we proceed through the tradition of Atisha and Lama Tsongkhapa recognizing all sentient beings as our mother, remembering their kindness, wishing to repay their kindness, we will as if by themselves, by itself, automatically by its own power we will develop affectionate love by developing this feeling of closeness using the model of a mother. It’s due to this reason of the closeness of the relationship as a mother that the mother is seen as the source, this model of relationship for affectionate love or a pleasant love. So in Tibet the mother was held in great reverence. She was very important. From the point, you know, if we take it from the context of Dharma, it is the lama, the spiritual master, who we have the ultimate closeness to.
Within the world in general it is the mother who is who we have the ultimate closeness to, we take as the model. Therefore, in the various texts explaining the methods of generating the pleasant love, it is first we make use of the mother as the basis, recognizing that all sentient beings are a mother, remembering the great kindness of our mothers, and developing a wish to repay them their kindness. So the meaning of closeness, it’s very important. It comes about through what brings us the most benefit within the spiritual practice, within the Dharma. The lama, the spiritual master is held most close, is held most precious.
And why is that? Because of the benefit within the Dharma practice that is the spiritual master who shows you the path, and thereby by showing you the path, initially we’re almost, as far as the Dharma is concerned, we’re very stupid, we’re like sheep, and without having one show us the path, there’s no way to achieve Buddhahood. So the Lama is held most precious within the context of Dharma because he shows us the way to attain Buddhahood. But in the world it is the mother who is the held most precious. When we’re born, teachers even say, Ah, ah, we’re very stupid again.
We’re like a calf, a newborn calf. You know, we have to be cared for. The mother extends, goes through a great deal of trouble for our benefit. It is through all the difficulties that she endures and all the kindness that she shows us, that she extends to us, that we now are the adults who we presently are. It is from this point of view that it is the mother who is of the greatest kindness from the point of view of the world that we take her as being the most close.
So mainly we’re going to discuss the method of exchange of self for other as set forth by Śāntideva in initially developing the equality of self and other from the point of view that everyone wants to be happy, that no one wants to suffer. This is going to be our main discussion. What we have explained briefly just now is the method of developing pleasant love according to great Atisha. So we have about ten or fifteen minutes left, and we’ll use the remaining time to answer questions. So there is a difference in the degree of power by making use of these two methods in the development of pleasant love.
We actually develop a more powerful pleasant love by using the latter, that is equalizing and exchange of self for others rather than the method that has been explained recognizing all sentient beings as mother, remembering their kindness and wishing to repay their kindness. So if you would like, we’ll spend maybe fifteen minutes, 09:00 or fifteen minutes answering questions. Could you say, could you translate that it is possible for migrating beings including animals, hell realm, to develop an awakening heart and therefore to become a bodhisattva. How can an animal how can can how is this possible? So it’s difficult to yeah.
Animals can generate the awakening heart. They can develop an awakening heart. It’s difficult to establish by reasoning, but it is that there is scriptural authority within the sutras where the Buddha said that nagas or dragon beings have developed the awakening heart. And this is used as the source for saying that animals can develop an awakening heart. So these beings who were eventually born as nagas, they had a lot of predispositions to having cultivated methods for the awakening heart in the path.
And so when Nāgārjuna, he went to visit the nagas and he gave them many teachings on Dharma and many of them attained the awakening heart. And you notice in pictures of Nāgārjuna there are umbrellas by nagas. So you’re saying that couldn’t it what does it refer to? Mean? So it refers to both the ability is there, for example in the case of an insect to develop an awakening heart, there’s a potency, but also that if there were great predispositions, latencies implanted, then if someone were to teach, explain to that insect, it could develop an awakening heart just like adding water to a seed, it germinates.
Does that mean that it would be kinder to other insects? I mean it would be able to it would know about things like the Dharma. Would Display those characteristics. Like a dog would be a kind dog that helps other beings.
So, if a being can develop an awakening heart, they must have previous to that kindness, caring, love. So the dog would have all of these qualities. But it would know that it had these qualities. Would it know? So he would know that he had awakening heart.
Yeah, he would know the difference of having awakening heart and not having awakening heart. So I mean he has developed the fruit. He has developed the crop. So even though externally it may appear to be a dog, internally he realizes the qualities of an awakening heart, that he understands that he has these qualities. Saving their owners and doing heroic things and saving children and that sort thing.
So by being born as a dog would they be more able to embrace that? That’s compared to what? Compared to a mosquito. So between a mosquito and a dog, the one who has the most ability to generate an awakening heart would be the the clever of the two. When Rinpoche was talking before about whether or not a person is a great great vehicle practitioner in respect to the awakening heart?
Was he talking about the spontaneous wish, spontaneous awakening heart or the one that’s possibly generated in session time? So he was referring to spontaneous, non artificial, that is the effortless awakening heart. The artificial awakening heart exists before one attains, enters into the great vehicle. For example, between the stages of developing great compassion, exceptional resolve, and up to the actual entrance where has an artificial awakening heart, but through habituating oneself to that artificial it becomes spontaneous or effortless, and then it becomes actual and one enters into the great vehicle. Can be reversed, I mean, can you personally lose that?
The awakening heart. Yes, they can degenerate. So in the case of those of lesser intelligence through having met with a spiritual master, having received the explanation on the development and seeing the benefits of an awakening heart and cultivating it, they develop an awakening heart. But they are not able to engage in the vast activities of the offspring of the conqueror, that is to say of bodhisattva. And because through the feelings of frustration which arise, Oh, I can’t do this.
I can’t free all sentient beings. I better just get out for myself. I’m going to free myself from cyclic existence. Their awakening heart degenerates. Dolphins.
I don’t know the word for dolphins. I can say fish if you like. I have my dictionary. I yeah. If picture.
You have I find I understand. You asked the question, do dolphins have? Okay, and then what is the question? I describe that, what is the question? Can they have an awakening heart?
Technically that’s not a correct question. Which one? Okay. Dolphin. So just because a being is clever, intelligent, doesn’t mean it has awakening heart.
If they have a kind heart, then it’s possible that they could have an awakening heart. Can you attain Buddha without being a Buddhist? Is that the question? So we have to actually train in the awakening heart. If we don’t train in the awakening heart, we will not develop an awakening heart.
But one does not necessarily have to be a Buddhist to train in developing an awakening heart. But one has to train it to develop it. But to train it we don’t have to be a Buddhist. So on the back of page two on right side, the bottom. So we’ll continue that question in the future.