Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. The water leak analogy frames this 34-minute talk by Khensur Rinpoche: wishing away suffering without addressing its root cause won’t help. He applies this image to samsaric suffering, starting with detailed contemplation of embodiment’s nature — impure origins, inevitable aging and decline. Recognizing this repeatedly generates genuine longing for freedom, not mere intellectual belief. That motivation leads to the practical method: understanding karma, ceasing harm, practicing benefit. These ethical acts generate meditative stability and wisdom that cuts self-grasping. A brief Q&A clarifies that praying for human rebirth without attachment is permissible, since human life provides dharma practice conditions.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1993-09-14 – Side 2 – KR.MP3
UUID: f4a4a468-426c-4311-9a52-49eec953c9e2
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Three Principal Aspects
Date: 1993-09-14
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~1,776
If we consider it from its causes, we can see that the causes, one being the sperm and ovum of our parents, are unclean and two, that the cause of our body is karma and afflictive emotions. The moment of our birth is a moment of suffering. Even and from the second moment on, the aging process begins, that is to say, the moment by moment deterioration of our body. And finally, when we are aged, there is tremendous suffering. When we’re old, it’s suffering to get up.
When we’re old, it’s suffering to sit down. Our eyes aren’t able to see well, we can’t hear things, our food no longer has delicious flavors. We are troubled each day with various illnesses and various fears and anxieties. It is because we have taken this embodiment that we have to undergo all of these various undesired experiences of suffering. So, because our embodiment is in the nature of suffering, we should make effort in avoiding in the future appropriating such an embodiment.
And we have taken a body in this life which is in the nature of suffering and we will take a body in the nature of suffering in the future unless we make effort to forego the taking of this body and to make effort to no longer take such an embodiment. So is there a way that we can forgo taking such a suffering embodiment? Is there a means by which we no longer have to take such an embodiment? So we have to make it and implement the methods whereby we do not have to take on a suffering embodiment. You know, that embodiment which we presently have which involves only suffering, we have to begin to consider the defects of such a suffering embodiment and that we are continually appropriating that we are always taking such an embodiment and the various we have to recognize the faults of such an embodiment.
If we if we recognize the faults of such an embodiment, we will long to be free from the process of having to take such a type of embodiment. So it is through again and again considering the suffering nature of this process of appropriating a suffering embodiment that we will develop a longing to be free from it. Developing a longing to be free, we will begin to search we will begin to question, What are the means by which I can be free? And we will begin to search out these methods of liberation. We will begin to make effort in implementing the methods of liberation and strive for liberation.
And what is the method? Is as we have been explaining in terms of understanding the nature of karma. If we begin to understand the nature of actions and their results, then we are going to begin to involve ourselves in the practice of adopting and avoiding. We are going to begin to cease creating negative actions and begin to practice positive actions. By a negative action, we mean those act those activities which are generated out of an attitude of out of a negative intention, that is, say, a harmful intention toward others.
Out of this harmful intention toward others, we involve ourselves in physical and verbal negative activities. On the other hand, if we develop attitudes attitudes of wishing to benefit others, a sense of altruism, then this will act to cease our harmful attitudes and it will act as a motivating force for us to practice beneficial activities. So cessation of harming of others and the practicing of benefiting others is what we mean by positive activities. This is really an excellent way to proceed. And this two pronged approach to our practice in terms of beginning to cease creating our negative actions negative activities.
But whether they’re great, that is of course to be tried to cease. But even insignificant negative activities on the one hand, on the other try to implement positive actions. And again, what to speak of great ones, even minor or insignificant positive actions. This is the way that we implement the practice of adopting and avoiding. By adopting, mean the cultivation or practicing positive activities on the one hand, and by avoiding, we mean abandoning negative activities on the other.
So as much as one can each day implementing this way of practice, It is the way that we can end our suffering, find liberation. Why? Because it’s through this practice that we that we it is this practice which constitutes a practice of ethics. Dependent upon ethics, we develop meditative stabilizations. Dependent upon meditative stabilizations, we develop wisdom, and most importantly the wisdom realizing selflessness.
That is to say, that which is able to overcome self-grasping. And this self-grasping is the bond which binds us. It’s by this wisdom that we are freed from our bonds that we achieve liberation from cyclic existence. It is by means of a coupling of these two practices together, That is to say, the contemplation of suffering and the adoption of the practice of karma as actions and their effects, that we can begin to reverse our priorities in terms of future lives.
And dependence upon that, we can ultimately bring about liberation from cyclic existence, the bliss of freedom. Isn’t there a tremendous benefit to be derived from the contemplation of suffering? That understanding that that all that everything within cyclic existence is in the nature of suffering, we will develop a longing to be free from it, from cyclic existence, and then ultimately we can gain freedom from cyclic existence, the happiness of liberation. And that’s the great benefit that we can gain through contemplation of suffering. It’s really excellent that we don’t like suffering.
That’s really a good thing. Because not liking suffering, then we’re going to implement methods whereby to eliminate it. But in order to implement those methods to eliminate, we have to recognize what suffering is. If we if we just simply don’t like suffering, that’s not enough. That that really doesn’t make much sense.
It’s never going to stop. It’s always going to be reoccurring again and again simply if we leave it at that. We have to go on in not liking to suffer to go on to begin to recognize it. Then we’re going to begin to eliminate the the we’re going to implement those methods which bring suffering to an end. We have to understand how to bring about a cessation of the undesirable result of suffering.
You know, there’s an undesired result. How to bring it to an end, that result? The way that we bring it to an end is by ceasing its cause. If we bring it to an end, its cause, then there’s no result. So it simply is not going to go away simply because we want it to go away.
We have to track it back down to its root. If we can cut the root of our suffering, then the suffering will stop. It’s not going to stop in any other way. If we don’t cut the root of our suffering, it’s going to continue ever onwards. So an analogy would you know, if we were laying down in a room and it was raining and there was a was a leak and water kept dripping into onto ourselves and we kept we kept getting wet and we’re getting very wet.
And it’s really a problem. It was really it’s really a hassle. And we thought, oh, I wish they’d go away. And we keep wishing it go away. But simply wanting it to go away is not going to make it go away.
But if we were to get up, considering what a problem it is, what a hassle it is, and we’re free to plug that hole up, then the trouble’s finished. So it was coming to recognize the troublesome and the suffering that one was experiencing from the drip that led one to plug it up. Okay? So we’ll stop there if you have some questions. If if we were to reverse the priorities of future lives by reducing our attachment to things like the type of environment, environment, and possessions on earth.
Is it wrong to pray for a human rebirth? So we talked previously about there are temporal attainments and ultimate attainments, and ultimate attainments such as liberation, cyclic, and freedom from cyclic existence. But in order to in dependence upon we we attain ultimate attainments in dependence upon temporal attainments. And temporal attainments, such factors as a human embodiment. It is dependence upon a human body that we’re able to human life that we’re able to carry on our practice of Dharma.
So it depends upon that temporal attainment of a human life by which we can practice the Dharma, and with that we can go on to achieve ultimate attainments such as liberation and we can generate ultimately buddhahood. So but so we can pray for to achieve a human life in the future as a method for achieving these ultimate ends, but we can pray for it without attachment. So a human life in the future, with all the various necessities, is extremely beneficial. And dependence upon it, we can carry on our practice of Dharma that we can, achieve liberation. But even though it is of that tremendous beneficial nature, it is still in the nature of suffering.
Even though it’s in the nature of suffering, in dependence upon it, we can still carry on our practice of Dharma. It’s all of the power and blessings that this entails. But even though it’s in the nature it’s not stable. Even though it’s in the nature of suffering, it still has this potential. In order to carry on a practice of Dharma, we have to have all the various conducive conditions.
For example, amongst these conducive conditions is money. It’s quite necessary, but money in itself cannot bring about a type of happiness, for it is the worst of all suffering. It is only by means of the money that we can about our temporal ness that we can achieve the temporal necessities of food, shelter and things like that. So we have to have money. But it can at best only bring temporal happiness.
It does not have the capacity to bring ultimate happiness. Yeah. That there is a lot of teachers. I think maybe some of you were happy with it, but now you’re not happy. So but still because it has the potential to bring great benefit, though we might not like it, it’s worthwhile to practice.
Okay.