Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 46-minute teaching, Kyabje Rinpoche leads practitioners through transforming adverse circumstances into the path of awakening. Drawing from the Seven Points of Mind Training, he explores how obstacles—illness, hardship, difficult people—become spiritual teachers when met with the right attitude. He illustrates how our environment reflects the collective state of sentient beings’ minds, showing through examples how the world once lush became barren as minds degenerated. The core practice unfolds in two approaches: shifting our attitude through the awakening heart (bodhicitta), the commitment to liberate all beings, and engaging in collecting merit while purifying negativities. He concludes with the essential instruction to “immediately join whatever you meet with meditation”—responding to any circumstance with awareness, connecting our suffering to the suffering of countless others. For serious practitioners of bodhicitta.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1990-02-20 – 3A – KR.mp3
UUID: 3c390d62-0a70-4d1d-bea7-843581c12cfe
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Sun Radiance – Thought Transformation
Date: 1990-02-20
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,306
So will lead us through in the development of the motivation for listening to the teaching. We want we wish ourselves happiness and wish not to suffer. And likewise, all sentient beings wish the same to have happiness and not to suffer, but they don’t have happiness. They’re all troubled by Therefore, for the sake of all beings, I must equal to space, I must in order to establish them in complete happiness and separate them from all suffering, I must attain Buddhahood.
And therefore, in order to bring this about, I must train myself in the great vehicle in order to develop the awakening heart. And we will cultivate the awakening heart for five minutes. So most of you have the English translation to the to the re the root text of seven points of mind training and beginning with the where we left off with when the evil fills the world and its inhabitants change adverse conditions into the path of awakening. Previously in the development of the awakening heart, there was an extensive explanation in the method of mind training of exchanging equalizing self with others. Now as a secondary precepts, in order to enhance the practice of developing the awakening heart, The text goes into five secondary precepts or so there will be five categories of precepts in order to enhance the development of the awakening heart.
The first being the transformation of adverse circumstances into the path of awakening. So these five are listed in your translation. The transformation of adverse conditions into the path of awakening. Then showing the utilization of the practice in one one’s whole life. Utilization of the practice in one’s whole life.
Then the extent of proficiency in mind training. Third precept, extent of proficiency in mind training. The fourth is commitments of mind training. The fifth precept is guidelines for mind training. So I’m going rather fast.
Think you have this the the guidelines for mind training. So we’re now going to proceed through these five categorizations or precepts in order to enhance the development of the awakening heart. So we explained the the importance of the practice of exchanging and equalizing oneself in the development of the awakening heart, in the development of in the context of the great vehicle. But in course of this training in the development of the awakening heart, it’s sure that we’re going to meet with many adverse circumstances, conditions. And so in order to carry on our practice for awakening, towards awakening, we must be able to ensure that these adverse circumstances do not act as contradict act to impede our progress in practice.
So to explain the first precept, and as we mentioned from the root text, when evil fills the world and its inhabitants change adverse conditions into the path of awakening. Actually, what is the literal translation of world is the container. And by container we mean the place, our environment, country that we live in. This is what we mean by the container. Here it’s translated as world.
Then the actual literal translation of what is translated here as inhabitants is that which is contained, or the essence. And here that means the human beings, animals, sentient beings, anything which has life. So this is what it means by the contained in the container. So we’re speaking of these two, the world and the beings existing within that world, or the container and the contained. The world is dependent upon the sentient beings, or more specifically the inner quality of the mind of sentient beings.
And as a consequence, if the mind of the beings is negative, then this will have the effect of transforming their environment into a negative quality. They would be a very poor type of environment. Poor. Literally poor. Can you hear me?
Can you hear well? Okay? So, it is said that previously the world was very flat and smooth like a flat Tibetan bread. It’s very flat and smooth. So but nowadays, due to the quality of the degeneration of the minds of sentient beings, there has risen a very rough type of environment with high mountains and deep abysses and barren lands with huge rocks.
So it’s a very uneven, rough texture about it. And this is a result of the quality of the minds of sentient beings in their becoming more and more rough in the internal quality of their mind. So I think most of you could understand the evolution of the earth in terms of the development of the displacement of water by land. Initially originally the entire earth was covered by a great ocean by water. And as the water lessened then dry areas began to appear and even these areas the dry lands began to rise up.
And this created a division between earth dry dry lands and water areas. And then upon the lands, forests began to grow. So this this can be seen in Australia, for example, with the trees on top of the mountains. But in the case of, for example, Tibet and India, due to even though there are these dry areas, there are vast areas of barren. They’re vast barren lands with no trees whatsoever.
No completely without any vegetation. So now, originally, the oceans parted and the land arose, it was forested by trees and was very lush and green. And then after some time due to the degeneration of the minds of sentient beings who inhabited the world, then the vegetation began to die off. And there began to appear vast barren stretches of land. And so the quality of the environment as it exists today, in which there now exists very vast in Australia, Tibet, India, very vast areas of barren land arose in dependence upon the quality of the sentient beings and their continually degenerating quality of mind.
The environment is dependent upon the mind of sentient beings. So we can see for ourselves the poor the environment in which a great deal of the world exists under. That there are areas which are extremely barren, which are of very poor quality, which have great, literally stones and things like this where you couldn’t carry on any kind of agriculture, for example. This is due to the sentient beings, their inner attitudes, and especially their afflictive emotions, their unskillful qualities of mind, which influence their actions of body and speech. And due to this, there occurs a degeneration of the environment and bringing about all that is undesirable in the external environment.
So just as in the case with human beings with respect to an overall are overall there are two types of sentient beings of human beings. There are those who are inclined toward Dharma and those who are inclined toward negative activities. Likewise, in the same way there are the two types of celestial beings. Those who have an inclination for Dharma and those who have an inclination for negative types of activities. And due to the due to the degeneration of the time, the the the those who are the category of those who are inclined toward negative types of activities are on increase.
So the situation in which we find ourselves in present days is that there is an increase with respect to the side of those who are involved in negative activities. Those who are involved in afflictive emotions and unskillful actions. And this is on increase, this is dominant. And therefore, those who are seeking to to put into practice a spiritual path have great harms and have and are few in number. And just that’s in respect to Dharma, those who practice in Dharma, but especially with respect to those who are seeking to practice the great vehicle.
Since it’s almost as if there is proportionate to the preciousness and the importance of our spiritual practice, we are going to meet with that many much more harm and adverse circumstances. So this is true of the great vehicle because of its great importance and preciousness that those who seek to practice it have even greater obstacles and harms. So the the essence of the great vehicle is the awakening heart. And we are involved in the practice of the equalizing exchange of self for others. And the course of trying to pursue such a type of practice, we are going to meet with many obstacles and harms.
Now, we have to be able to transform adverse circumstances into practices conducive to our practice. We also have to be able to see we also have to be able to have obstacles to be skillful in making it such that obstacles actually assist us in our practice, and that harms are seen as spiritual teachers. If we are able to do this in our through our method of mind training, thought transformation, then there are no obstacles to practicing the great vehicle and we will be happy both in mind and body. So for those who we are engaged in the practice of the great vehicle Dharma, seeking to develop the awakening heart through the practice and meditation of exchanging and equalizing self for others. If we aren’t able to transform adverse conditions into conducive conditions, then we are going to lose our practice of Dharma.
If we aren’t able to transform obstacles into means of assisting us in our practice, we’re going to lose our practice of Dharma. If we are not able to see the harms brought to us as our spiritual friends, then we’re going to lose our practice. So this as the root text mentioned, that we are trying to when the when evil fills the world and its inhabitants, we must be able to change this condition to a path of awakening. And it’s as if those times when evil is almost raining down, the results of them are raining down upon us. That what we mean by changing, transforming adverse circumstances into we must be able to transform them into conditions which are conducive to our practice, in which we see obstacles as a means of assisting us, raising our practice, us in developing our practice, and harms as actually teaching us the way to practice.
This is the way that we can begin to transform adverse circumstances into the path. You know, is such a way of practice possible in transforming adverse conditions into those which are conducive to to achieving awakening. And there is a quotation in the text. The person who is asking this question is Geshe Chengawa. And he says he’s speaking to another Geshe Chekawa, in which in which he says, you know I find it really amazing that you are able to have negativities assist you in your practice through through your mind training and that that you you experience suffering as happiness.
Then, you know, we we can ask the question, you know, how can we transform negative conditions such that they assist us in our Dharma practice. And so there are two methods of transforming negative conditions. Or not two methods, we speak about it from two points of view. Taking the adverse circumstances, a path, in dependence upon the exceptional attitude of the awakening heart, in dependence upon the awakening heart. And secondly, taking adverse circumstances as a path in dependence upon the exceptional conduct of collecting and purifying.
The conduct of collecting and purifying. So there are two, we’re going look at it from two points of view. Taking adverse circumstances as a path in dependence upon the exceptional attitudes, the attitude of the awakening heart and the exceptional, again, taking the adverse circumstances of the path in dependence upon the exceptional conduct of collecting and purifying. So the attitude of the awakening heart and the conduct of collecting and purifying. So the with respect to the first of these two, that is the exceptional attitude of the awakening heart.
We have in the root text, there is the, oh here, it’s on the right hand side, it’s one, three, the seventh line down on the right hand side. It says The root text says, Immediately join whatever you meet with meditation. Immediately join whatever you meet with meditation. And this is going to be explained. So whatever we may meet harmful someone else who harms us and adverse circumstances immediately upon meeting with such a situation we are to transform it through our practice of meditation.
Here perhaps better than meditation, our familiarization or habituation might be better, but this is the literal meaning of meditation. But immediately transform it through meditation. So the the so what whatever and explaining whatever we happen to meet, it it could be in a whether it’s a time according to time, whether we’re happy, we’re rich, poor, suffering, happy, suffering happy, whether place as according to place, whether it’s one’s own country, for example, in Australia or another country, whether whoever we may be in a company in company of, whether it’s a human or nonhuman. Also, in continuing explanation of whatever, of what we mean by whatever, the adverse conditions of say sickness, whether it’s a mild illness, a middling type of illness, or a very serious illness. Whether we’re suffering, whether we’re just slightly having some suffering, whether it’s a middling suffering or extreme suffering.
All of these various varieties. So at such a time when we’re suffering, we’re not happy. We should think that, you know, I’m just this one person. And there are numberless sentient beings similar to myself right now who are undergoing the same type of suffering that I’m experiencing. I’m just one person who’s suffering, but because there are numberless sentient beings who are experiencing the same suffering, there is numberless suffering in the world, innumerable suffering.