Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this guided meditation session, Valham leads practitioners through contemplation of impermanence and death as an antidote to the eight worldly concerns — the fluctuating mind caught between hope and fear, gain and loss. He walks through three foundational reflections: that death is certain and inescapable; that the time of death is radically uncertain, possibly arriving at any moment; and that at death, only Dharma practice provides true refuge and support. Throughout, he emphasizes recognizing how much time is wasted on meaningless pursuits, offering concrete examples—wealth, friendship, bodily care—all useless in the face of mortality. The teaching concludes with classical verses from Śāntideva on the futility of actions performed for transient gains, framing death meditation as the catalyst for genuine spiritual urgency and purification. Suitable for practitioners with foundational Buddhist background.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 02 The eight worldly concerns.mp3
UUID: 474f29af-58e3-4bcc-9281-4759008c9129
Teacher: Valham
Collection: Guided LR Meditation (Valham)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Words: ~1,598
So let’s think as a dedication in conclusion. By meditating on the eight worldly concerns, by trying to analyze it, continuously analyze it in our daily life. Try to become aware of this fluctuation between hope and fear, between likes and dislikes. And in this way, experiment in your daily life how to maintain, you see, an equal mind, not to let your mind be drawn in to likes or dislikes. Just think it’s okay.
Even sometime, to expect problem, to expect loss, to expect hardship in life, rather than clinging to the hopes, you know, of comforts, pleasure, and gain. In that way, you won’t have bad surprises. So let’s think. May we be able to transform our mind into Dharma, into that calm and clear mind, that is not concerned with the fluctuations of experiences. And may that mind of Dharma become the true path.
And may we never have any hindrances on that path. And may we be able to achieve our goal, the universal peace and happiness of all living beings. Now think to yourself. As a brief motive, let’s think. That out of incredible great fortune, good fortune, We have received a precious human life with so many opportunities for Dharma practice.
Now if this was something that lasted for an incredible long time, Or if it was something that we could receive very easily again and again, you know, like buying an item from the supermarket, Then that would be something different. Then we could relax. Then we could feel there is time, you know, there is plenty of time. We can relax. But it’s not like that.
This precious human life that we have today, this time, is for just a short, brief lifetime. Difficult to receive again and again. So it becomes so very important to use the precious human life for inner development, for increasing our positive potential, or in other words for practicing Dharma. We need to practice Dharma because, you know, we all want happiness. We don’t want suffering.
And both happiness and suffering comes from the mind, from imprints on the mental consciousness, like having put seeds in the ground. And to become skillful and enthusiastic in our Dharma practice, that depends on recognizing and remembering the impermanent nature of life and our own death. When we keep the impermanent nature of life and death in mind, then we will remember to practice Dharma, because we realize time is short. And precious human life like this is something received one time only. Like the great Lama Tsongkhapa says, this precious human life is so rare, it is as if received one time only.
So it’s by forgetting, you know, forgetting the impermanent nature of life and death then we don’t remember to practice Dharma. With the worldly concerns, just the immediate concerns of this life. And time passes so that even a daily meditation becomes a problem. That’s because we don’t remember the impermanent nature of our life and death. Even if we do remember Dharma in general, we will postpone our practice if we don’t contemplate impermanence and death.
Or even our practice becomes impure, leading to negative actions, and, you know, regret at the time of death. So for this reason, let’s contemplate. In this meditation session, let’s focus and try to feel, you know, our own impermanence. Try to feel it on a very personal level, not about others’ impermanence and death, but your very own impermanence and death. The first point to contemplate is that our death is definite.
Not a single power in the universe can prevent our death. All of us here, we will die one by one until this room is empty. Because there is not a single person born that doesn’t have to die. Even the most wealthiest, even the most powerful, even the most clever, even Buddha himself. Everybody has to die.
So why not me? Contemplate this for a few minutes. Also think about the fact that Every moment, every moment in our life, we are getting closer to death. It’s like we are rushing, it’s like we are chasing death. In life, there is not a moment’s rest.
Time is running out. Continuously, day and night. And think like this, even with every step we take, we take a step closer to death. Even with every breath we take, it’s one breath closer to death. So like this, we are constantly approaching death.
You know, often we feel that we have a long life. There’s plenty of time to practice Dharma. But if we check into the activities in this life, how much time and energy we have spent already, you see, just growing up, studying, working, how much time and energy we spend on other things. Even such, know, more or less meaningless things like watching television and other meaningless activities. There’s very little time left, even in a long life, for Dharma practice, for serious Dharma practice.
So make a strong determination. Because my death is definite, you think, because my death is definite, there is no way to escape. I must renounce the meaningless activities of this life and practice Dharma. Then you continue thinking in a similar way. Not only is my death definite, I can’t escape.
I can’t bribe death. I can’t control death. In fact, I don’t even know when death will come. The time of our death is uncertain. It could come at any time, even while we eat or sleep or play or enjoy ourselves.
It can come in the middle of work. It can come on the road. It can come in the air. We can come when we feel the most safe. We can come when we are healthy.
We can come at any age, young, middle aged, anytime. Because this body is so fragile, And death doesn’t wait for us to finish our work. You know, even Dharma practice, it doesn’t wait for us to finish, to complete. Whenever it comes, most of the time it comes unexpected, unexpectedly. Remember all the people around you who have died unexpectedly.
And think to yourself, this could be me. Thinking in this way, you make yet another conclusion in your mind. Since my death is definite, I cannot stay in this life for very long. And the actual time of our death is so uncertain. Nobody can guarantee us a long life.
It can be snuffed out any moment, just breathing out and not breathing in. Death is just a breath away. Because the time of my death is uncertain, I must renounce the meaningless affairs of this life and practice Dharma from today. I must, since tomorrow may not come. Now maybe you think, why do we need so desperately to practice Dharma?
Because since all of us will have to experience death, it’s not a question of if, but just when it happens. That’s definite. That’s the only definite thing in life. After having been born, the only definite thing is that we’re going to die. And at the time of death, only Dharma helps.
Only Dharma, you know, can be of any kind of assistance, benefit, refuge, reliance. Nothing else, not a single thing else, not a single dollar can help us at the time of death. Even we spend our whole life amassing wealth, it will be of no use at the time of death. Even we’re always living to please our friends. They cannot help assist us even if they wish at the time of death.
You know, even our cherished body, that we pampered, looked after with so much care, with so much effort, that we served, you know, all our life single pointedly. Our our body will be of no help. The end result is it kicks us out into the cold. We go empty handed, you know, alone and empty handed into death. That time only dharma helps.
At that time, only our positive mind can support us. Whatever loving kindness, compassion we generated, whatever wisdom, understanding the reality we are experiencing can help us. Only all the positive actions we did will support, sustain us. So for this reason you make a third conclusion. I must practice Dharma, and I must practice Dharma from today, and I must make it pure Dharma as much as I can.
Because in the end, in the end of the day, like it says, the great Śāntideva says, Leaving all, I must depart alone. But through not having understood this, I committed various kinds of evil. For the sake of my friends and foes. My foes will become nothing. My friends will become nothing.
I too will become nothing. Likewise, all will become nothing. Just like a dream experience, whatever things I enjoy will become merely a memory. And whatever has passed will never be seen again. Even within this brief life, many friends and foes have passed.
But whatever unbearable negativities I committed for them remains ahead of me. So now as a conclusion, let’s think. That by meditating on our own impermanence and death, the greatest of friends, or one of the greatest of friends, may we become acutely aware of what we need to purify. And also what we need to develop, What we need to abandon, you know, as far as negativities goes, and what is truly meaningful in life. And may we develop a never ending energy in our Dharma practice, both for our own welfare and for the welfare and benefit of universal living beings.