Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 78-minute teaching, Ven Jampa Ignyen uses the Dharma wheel to explore direct perception of the four noble truths, situated within the Buddha’s twelve deeds as a cosmic frame for practice. He explains what makes perception uncontaminated—a transcendent state beyond afflictive emotions. His main focus is becoming a bodhisattva: developing uncontrived compassion and equanimity for every being, which for most of us means working directly with hatred and aversion. Rather than suppressing dislike, he teaches how to examine the mind of hatred itself—recognizing it as one-sided and invalid—progressively weakening it through doubt. He frames this inner work within the Buddha’s twelve deeds, emphasizing deed eleven—turning the wheel of Dharma—and connects it to Maitreya, the future Buddha, as an anchor for long-term practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 03 8 FT 2012 10 21.mp3
UUID: 6518d958-e565-4483-92c7-efc630709eb5
Teacher: Ven Jampa Ignyen
Collection: y 8 Fold Truths (Ven Jampa Ignyen)
Date: 2012-10-21
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 78.1 minutes
Words: ~7,151
Right. So so far we’ve looked at the Dharma the Dharma wheel and the Dharma wheel really summarizes the path of seeing. So the path of seeing is really the direct perception of the four truths. So in a sense this is representing the direct perception of the four truths as well. So that direct perception of the four truths has these eight aspects: right view, right investigation, right speech.
So why are we always aware of what the four truths are? So the direct perception of the four noble truths is a transcendent state. It’s a pure transcendent state. It’s transcendent because it goes beyond the the ordinary world. Transcends the ordinary world.
How does it transcend? It transcends because it’s not mixed, contaminated affected associated with all the contaminated states of the afflicted emotions. That for us is almost inconceivable because everything that we do experience really from beginning of time has been associated with contaminated impure afflictive emotions. So it’s hard for us to perceive what might be beyond our normal experience. So this dharma wheel is just that it’s this wisdom understanding what is actually pure, uncontaminated.
So that understanding which is uncontaminated is focusing on four things: that is the truth of suffering, the truth of origin, truth of path, the truth of cessation. Now of those four truths, two are uncontaminated. So by that wisdom just focusing on the two uncontaminated truths it becomes uncontaminated. So what are the two uncontaminated truths? That’s the truth of path and the truth of cessation.
So the path itself is focusing on the path. That’s okay. But of those four truths one is emptiness. Which is the one that’s emptiness? Yes, that’s a question.
So which of the four truths because this is an uncontaminated path that’s focusing on the four truths, four noble truths. One of the four noble truths is emptiness itself. Cessation. Yep. So that emptiness which is the cessation of suffering is completely pure.
Okay it’s a cessation. Why? Because within the state of emptiness which is really Any emptiness understanding any emptiness will have the capacity or the ability to purify the mind. But the wisdom itself, the emptiness of the wisdom itself, the emptiness of suffering, the emptiness of the cause of suffering, and so on. So this the Dharma wheel which is the path of seeing is really it’s directly perceiving emptiness through directly perceiving the four truths.
So therefore it itself becomes pure. Right. Now So we get on to a little bit more of the philosophy of these. We’re really going into the philosophy because we especially when we go into the higher training of wisdom, we go into right view. Right view is, in a way, it’s giving us a map.
It gives us, like, the geography of the mind. The inner inner geography, inner map to the mind explaining how we need to progress internally, what we need to develop in order to generate this transcendent wisdom. The process of developing that map in a map takes a long time because we have to add bits and pieces. A bit like putting up a tent. We add a little bit here, little bit over there, a little bit in the middle, a little bit behind and gradually we build up a conceptual idea of where we are.
Where the path is. Where we are in relation to the path. Where the entrance to the path is. Have we entered the path? Sorry?
Entering the path is very difficult. We have to become a bodhisattva. To enter the great vehicle path To enter. Yep. To enter the great vehicle path we must become a bodhisattva.
Becoming a bodhisattva not easy. We have no choice. We have to become bodhisattva. A bodhisattva is someone who has the uncontrived aspiration night and day to attain enlightenment for the sake of all beings. Now present we have difficulty even contriving that aspiration.
We still have lots of doubts about: Is it possible? Is it in my best interest? Does that mean I have to include everyone including all the people I dislike? Is it possible to train the mind to that level? Can I I have enough trouble generating compassion for a few people?
I can’t generate compassion for my enemies very easily. Strangers well, you know, what have they done for me? Why should I generate compassion for them? We have a lot of resistance internally to generating compassion. So that resistance is there really out of our ignorance.
Generating compassion takes a lot of effort Because we can see it even with one other person. We can have a of difficulty in generating compassion. Anyone that we can think of that we dislike at present, that we may have some resentment towards That we can all think of someone. Now we have to generate compassion for that being that is uncontrived. Now at present we have a lot of trouble even getting to the contrived compassion level.
True? We look at that person and we think: Okay, okay. I’ll try to like them a little bit. Hard even to like that person. But we grit our teeth and we must put effort into it.
Well that’s true. That’s true. But in a sense on the other side of compassion is love. Both compassion and love really tend to imply not disliking as a minimum. And that we have oh there’s a type of love that comes up, this appealing love which is prior to generating great compassion.
We get to the point where just thinking about anyone we sort of lean a bit towards them. We sort of are drawn a little bit towards them. We want to be a bit closer to them. So that the being is appealing to us. We don’t have to like, you know, what they do or certain elements of their character.
But probably the basic person we need some sort of affinity with. We have a lot of resistance to that especially with you know those we dislike. Bottom lying is that we have we need to begin to generate love and compassion towards them. But all of these are impermanent states. They’re all utterly impermanent.
All our dislikes and resentments and anger and impatience and so forth with others are completely impermanent and they’re constructed by ourselves and that we’re often constructed with reasoning. We think about these people and we develop all sorts of strategies and justifications: I don’t like that person because And in spite of ourselves when we start to resent someone we think about them quite a lot and we think about their negative qualities there. And as soon as we think about them we start thinking about their negative Oh they said this and they did this and so and so also said that about them and that’s true. They really didn’t like that. I really don’t like them.
And we think around and around and around until becomes almost like rock hard. Oh this person is someone to be avoided. Keep your distance. So that sort of attitude is not very constructive. It actually is false.
It’s not a valid assessment of that person from the beginning. So anyway, in order to enter the great vehicle path we have to generate uncontrived compassion for every being without exception. But at present we harbor dislike and resentment towards a whole host of beings. So becoming a bodhisattva is not easy. Even prior to becoming a bodhisattva one has got to generate great compassion towards everyone and great love.
They go hand inherently. Equanimity. We have to generate equanimity to every every being. Equanimity meaning that we’re not we’re even minded towards them. We haven’t made a negative assessment.
We treat everyone equally like ourselves so our mind becomes even. Does everyone think this is necessary or is it just taking a long way around? Maybe we could skip all of that and just go to becoming a bodhisattva and into the great vehicle path and It is. Can we train the mind in that? Is there a dislike for others based on a valid assessment?
This is why right view is so important because if we have the sort of a right overview we realize that actually I’ve got eventually to get to the point where I stop disliking that person or I stop hating that person. There’s no other if I’m serious about enlightenment I have to stop hating. Even though we know at present we can’t do it at least we have the overview that that’s basically where I’m headed so that’s good and that’s pretty much where we are. Yes. That’s right.
We have to go through equanimity in the beginning. Hard to go from hate directly to love. It’s a bit like transforming our mind from a non virtuous state into a virtuous state. We have to go through neutral in the middle. When we realize our mind is non virtuous we can’t instantly stop it and reverse it.
It says like the mind is like a an ocean liner or something and it sort of heads off in one direction like the direction of hating someone. And to stop that it can’t be stopped on a you know instantly. We’re sort of victims of the momentum of that attitude. It’s very strong and hard and unyielding. But if we can understand the fault of it then eventually understanding the fault will undermine it.
If it doesn’t have legs to hold it up eventually it’s going to fall over. So that’s where also applying reasoning to a mind of hatred to see whether it’s valid or not. Extremely important. So in that also with that what one is looking at is: I remember that the face of that person when I remember resentment arises. Okay, now I take that person.
What is that resentment focusing on? So it’s focusing on that person and it’s only holding to their negative qualities, their bad qualities, their faults, their errors. So focusing on that person as the central object and looking at the attributes of that person which are that person’s faults. Right? This is what resentment is doing hatred, anger.
Isn’t it? So it’s a one-sided view of that person a one-sided assessment. Isn’t it? So like that when we realize it’s one-sided that it’s not a valid assessment because that person has good qualities. Might be hard to find but they’ve got to be there.
A mind of hate says no there’s nothing there. There’s no good qualities. Don’t waste your time. Know this person is beyond you know what Any sort of sympathetic view. That’s the mind of hatred just pushes and pushes in that direction.
But what it’s doing is just latching onto the negative on the faults. The faults are there but the person has positive qualities. Just like ourselves you know like times we’re in the wrong and other people we become the object of other people’s the criticism. But from our side, we we think, okay. I made a mistake, but I’ve got good qualities as well.
Don’t think you know, don’t just hate me. You know I’ve got a few redeeming features. Think well of me. That’s how we want to be treated. Well this is how of course we have to turn that on its end and look at our mind of hate when we’re hating someone or resenting someone and start debating that mind of hatred.
Okay mind of hatred you generated towards that person. Are you a valid assessment of that person? Are you fair to that person? Is your take on that person actually correct? Or is it one-sided?
Is it biased? We can debate with our own mind. Actually as soon as we start this process it weakens that mind of hatred because the mind of hatred if it were valid it would endure criticism of it. It would stand up to you know, analysis. So almost we have to do that.
Don’t hate the person which is the object of that mind but look at the mind itself, that mind of hatred. Analyze whether it’s valid or invalid. In a way all we want to do is even just sow a seed of doubt in our own mind that that might be an invalid mind. As soon as we sow a seed of doubt in our own mind that’s enough to begin the process of undermining the hatred. And if we do that then the mind relaxes a little bit.
Because otherwise we’re just left thinking around and around and around about situations and people all negative, all completely negative. Really drain us of energy. Don’t come up with anything positive. That’s not the fault of the other person at all and we blame all this on the other person. They’ve got nothing to do with it.
It’s such a time wasting negative detrimental to our physical well-being attitude that we should rip it out from the roots in the first moment. But true we can only overcome these types of mind just bit by bit a little bit here little bit little bit. Even getting to the point we have just a little bit of doubt about whether our hate is valid or not. Good. We can relax with that because that doubt has the capacity to rip the mind of hatred to shreds gradually.
If we want to become a bodhisattva then we have to take on this sort of a practice. If we want to generate great love, great compassion. And that’s where our welfare really lies in that sort of an attitude. Right. So we’re dealing here with the path of seeing also in the great vehicle and which is represented by this wheel.
Now the actual wheel, Dharma wheel, is the path of seeing but these attitudes correct view, speech, right view, right speech, right livelihood are things that we’re starting to put in place now. They’re not the actual right view but they’re like the you know a copy. A sort of a rough thing that we add to our mind at present as a point to think about. Point of contemplation. And so then we investigate over a long period whether we actually are developing Right View.
What is Right View? And so on. What is Right Action? Right Livelihood? So we just have a sort of a rough approximation of that.
Very extremely rough imperfect sort of right even our actions our right actions at present our actions they’re not too bad and we’ve probably overcome a lot of negative actions. We don’t kill human beings, we don’t steal and so forth. And we overcome the more easily overcome negative actions. But there’s lots of harder more subtle stains that we have to overcome in our actions. It’s a bit like washing washing a piece of cloth.
It’s not hard even with a bit of water to get rid of the really hard stains but the subtle ones they need enzymes and all sorts of other things to get them out. It’s a little bit like that for us at present. Still have a lot of residual residual negative action that we’re dealing with. So this takes time to actually overcome this and we understand this. Therefore we need patience.
We need a long term view of the practice of ethics. And then with correct speech and so on. When we look at concentration is something that maybe in this life we won’t develop our concentration to a high degree. We have a certain amount of concentration at present but we haven’t developed Samādhi. Very hard to develop Samādhi or single pointed concentration, calm abiding.
And we probably won’t have the opportunity in this life to generate that. But that’s okay. If we understand the purpose of concentration and the eventual need to develop concentration then it becomes part of the larger picture. So that’s good. Mindfulness we need at all times.
Right. How’s it going so far? Are there any issues about this sort of a presentation? Anyway the three higher trainings is what we’re dealing with here. Now it takes a while to assimilate this sort of overview.
How long do you think it would take to assimilate it? Maybe both. How long to understand? How long to assimilate? That’s right and there’s also different levels of understanding it as well.
You know we get a we get a sort of an appreciation of it quite quickly and we can see that superficially it seems to hold together without really penetrating very far into the underlying meaning. And then there’s different levels of understanding the underlying meaning as well. This initial level is more like getting the words straight. I just you know that there’s no obvious contradiction in in the present in how it’s presented or there may be but it doesn’t appear at least in the beginning. So we often we get to that sort of level.
That’s extremely important. It’s like in any when we’re learning any topic, any subject first we have to get the words straight. Then sit with that for a while and then gradually patterns begin to emerge. Yes. Yeah.
Ethics can be described in a sense in a negative way or in a positive way. So it’s often easy to describe it, you know, as a list of don’t dos. Like not killing. Right? Not stealing.
Not engaging in sexual misconduct. Not lying. Not engaging in slander, not engaging in harsh words and not engaging in idle speech or gossip. And then the opposite of those is opposite is a little bit is understood. Protect life.
We protect the property of others or we just don’t interfere with the property of others. We don’t interfere with the lives of others. Still we’re using don’ts there. It’s hard not to describe them, the ethics, in negative using negative terms. That’s alright.
But the that ethics there is really engaging in the seven virtuous actions and overcoming the seven non virtuous actions. So really the Buddha taught this When after he attained enlightenment himself, after he progressed through the path of seeing, path of meditation. And the Buddha himself spent three countless eons developing these parts. Two countless eons. First countless eons on a generation of the path of accumulation, the path of preparation.
Second countless eon, path of seeing up to the and path of meditation up to the eighth level. And the final countless eon on the three pure paths of the path of meditation that is the eighth ground, ninth ground and tenth ground. It does take a long long period to do unless one enters the tantric vehicle where it can be condensed down into a much more brief period. But the Buddha himself engaged in twelve virtuous deeds. There are twelve deeds of a Buddha.
So I thought I’d just mention these twelve deeds because this deed of turning the wheel of Dharma, this wheel, occurs as number eleven of the twelve deeds of a Buddha. So I thought I’d mention the other deeds of a Buddha. Because in future when when we become Buddhas we will engage in twelve deeds. All the supreme Narmanakaya Buddhas engage in twelve deeds. It is set.
And the first one is the deed of leaving Tuśita. The Buddhas abide in the heaven of Tuśita prior to taking rebirth on earth. Ganden Nampar Dagpa as it’s said in Tibetan. From the joyful land of Tuśita they descend to the earth. Sometimes it’s said in the form of a six tusked elephant.
An elephant with six tusks as an intermediate or a Bardo being. So this is said to have happened at that point was the Śākyamūni Buddha was living in Tuśita, the heaven of Tuśita and his name was Dampa Togkarpo. The ornament of purity. His name was like the white ornament of purity. And when he saw the time was right to take rebirth on earth rebirth on earth, he gave his crown to Maitreya.
We might have some. His main student, Maitreya. Oh we got a statue! Oh yeah! It’s like here that’s the Buddha’s Śākyamūni Buddha, the historic Buddha’s main student, was Maitreya.
You see he’s depicted there as sitting with his legs down like he’s sitting on a chair. Then he gave his crown to Maitreya where Maitreya currently resides in Tuśita as the regent there. Then he left Śākyamūni in his previous life of Śākyamūni as Dampa Togkarpo he left Tuśita and traveled to earth where he entered the womb of his mother called Mahamaya or the great illusion on the waxing of the fifteenth of the second month. Then that was the second act: entering the womb of his mother. Third deed was taking birth.
So ten months later he was born from the right side of his mother. And there were divine beings who were present that assisted with that process of birth. So he was born with the various marks of the thirty two major and the eighty minor marks of a Buddha such as the crown protrusion. So on all of these you the marks he possessed from birth. All of these marks are to do with the virtue accumulated over three countless eons of that being.
So all the virtue which illustrates the virtue that we generate manifests physically. The crown protrusion, the long ears, the chest like a lion the Buddha possesses, Dharma wheels on his hands and feet, copper colored nails, twenty upper teeth, twenty lower teeth, a very long tongue tongue that can cover his face. All the hairs on his body circle clockwise almost also on the Buddha’s head. He has blue eyes which is unusual for India but blue eyes is a sign of a supreme emanation body. Quite tall.
His arms are quite long and his hands reach down to about his knees and so on. All of these marks are to do with the virtue accumulated by the Buddha over a period of three countless eons. Some of them seem a little bit odd. There’s thirty two major and eighty minor marks. Doesn’t matter.
So then okay. Taking birth is the third deed of a Buddha. The fourth is the deed of engaging in a play of youth. The fourth deed of a supreme emanation body. Studying language, mathematics, all the subjects of the Vedas at that time, the philosophic treatises that existed in India, studying the language, becoming adept at all of these areas of study.
Also sport, archery, swimming, taming elephants and so on. So the fourth deed was to study all of these areas. And his studies progressed well. The fifth act is the act of abiding with the retinue of princesses. So having so he had many young friends of the opposite sex and so forth.
Then he also married. He married one of them called Yashodra. So this illustrates that a Buddha understands worldly attachment, worldly desire, understands sexual attraction and so on. And they are sexually potent. They, you know, they’re a normal adolescent youth and so forth.
And then as he took his pride. Now the sixth act is the act of teaching and also he had a son. He had a son called Rahula. Then the sixth act is the act of teaching the method of renunciation how to renounce the world. So at the age of twenty nine he was motivated to renounce the kingdom.
He was born as a prince in a royal family in Kapilavastu, northern India on the border between Nepal and India. Yep. Twelve deeds of any Buddha, any Nirmānakāya, any Supreme Emanation Body Buddha. This particular Buddha all go through yep. They all there’s the twelve deeds are the marks of of what’s called a supreme emanation body.
I mean it’s not exactly the same for everyone but they will go through these twelve stages. So they do get married. They do have a child. And so on. And then they act and they renounce.
Now at the age of twenty nine, they renounce. Now they don’t all renounce at the age of twenty nine because the lifespan on on the planet varies. When the Buddha was alive, the lifespan was around a hundred years for humans. So at the age of twenty nine, he renounced the kingdom and he left Kapilavastu. Otherwise he would have become a king of that region.
So he left And there’s a whole story about that how he went out at different times and he saw suffering and he saw sickness, old age and death and a renunciate on different excursions from the palace. And he was shocked by what he saw. He was shocked by illness, death, old age. And he decided that he had to achieve the deathless state. So the state beyond those conditions.
So the seventh deed was practicing austerities. So he went from one extreme to the other. He indulged in the senses in the earlier part. He lived in a he lived with many female companions. He got married, had a son.
So really indulging his senses in the early part of his life. Then at the age of twenty nine he renounced the kingdom and he spent six years practicing austerity. So that he did near Bodh Gaya. When you’re in Bodh Gaya, you go to Sujatha’s temple. Anyway, you can see the region where he lived for six years.
It’s not far from the Bodhi Tree. The good thing is that those places still exist and they’re and they’ve been marked by these columns that were put in place by this Indian king called Ashoka in the third century BC. So it’s just they’re useful today without them it’d be hard to pinpoint. Hard to maybe even know much about, you know, with anything with certainty about these stages of his life. And then the eighth deed was the act of after engaging in austerities he realized that austerity is just in and of itself is not the way.
Indulging the senses is not the way. Completely depriving the senses is not the way. So then he decided that he had to eat again after six years get his strength back and at that point he remembered that when he was young one day he went out to the field and when he was in the field he was watching the in the palace grounds the farmer there was workers there that were plowing the fields and he was watching this And he watched the way the plows would upend the soil, overturn the soil and the insects would be exposed and the crows would come down and eat the insects. And while he was contemplating this he naturally entered these form realm meditations. And he realized that in that state the mind becomes very clear, pliable, conducive to wisdom.
So after six years of austerity he remembered that and he thought that is the way. The mind must be clear like that to develop wisdom. So he then thought I will go I will find a place now to meditate. I will eat. I’ll find a place to meditate.
So the eighth act of the Buddha was proceeding to the tree of enlightenment. So each Buddha has a tree under which they attain enlightenment. So this particular Śākyamūni had a fig tree under which he attained enlightenment. So it’s now called Ficus religiosa. The Bodhi tree.
Śākyamūni. Yep. Siddhartha Śākyamūni the same. Yep. Bodhi tree is fig tree.
Yeah. Fig tree with a certain these shape of the leaf is a bit like a heart with a tail. So then he proceeded to this fig tree and he sat underneath that facing east and with the determination I will sit here until I you know I break through to enlightenment. Whether the you know my sinews crumble, my bones crumble, my body dries up, I will not move from this position until I break through to enlightenment. And so he remained there and that night he was actually enlightened before he started doing that but here he was showing the method by which someone should approach enlightenment.
From the great vehicle point of view he was enlightened previously. From the small vehicle point of view at that stage he was still on the path of preparation. From the tantric vehicle point of view there’s another explanation. So there that was the eighth act going to that point and sitting down. And the ninth act of a Buddha is overcoming the act of taming the Maras, taming the demons, taming the negative disruptive influences.
And then the act of the tenth act is the act of attainment the actual attainment of enlightenment which was when he was thirty five years old. And then often the statues that we have the Buddha depicted that point at which he attained enlightenment and what he said is that Mara appeared to him and said: You haven’t actually attained enlightenment. You may think you have but you’re not actually enlightened. Śākyamūni then touched the ground with his right hand. You see it in meditation he touches Do we have any?
We can see it in the statues generally. The right hand is yep. Oh that’s different. That is in the gesture of giving. One right.
Okay. Yep. So what he’s doing is he’s calling the goddess of the earth Tenma to witness his enlightenment. And when he touched the earth the goddess of the earth called Tenma, this guardian deity of the earth appeared and and said, your words are true. You’re a valid being.
Whatever you say is is true. And if you say you’re enlightened, you’re enlightened. And then left. But that hand gesture is that. It’s indicating that he’s calling to witness the earth goddess.
And then the eleventh act of a Buddha is turning the wheel of Dharma which is this one. And so then he taught from that point on. As they say in the Zen tradition: He taught for thirty five years but didn’t say a word. No truly existent word left his mouth. Oh yeah, they yeah.
It just means that what he said, what he did, didn’t truly exist. That’s all. Yeah. It’s about emptiness. Well fixed is the operative word there.
We tend to think that things are fixed in and of themselves but they don’t actually exist that way. So saying this is just to illustrate that point of the illusory nature of things. So ah, okay. The actual enlightenment is ten. The act of turning the wheel of Dharma is eleven.
So that was like in Varanasi. He went to Varanasi and he started teaching. And he turned the wheel of Dharma three times. First turning of the wheel in Sarnath where he taught the four noble truths. Second turning of the wheel in Rajgir on Vulture’s Peak he taught the perfection of wisdom.
Third turning of the wheel in Vaishali where he taught the how to interpret the first two wheels where he taught the mind only view. Anyway Then he taught for thirty five years from the age of thirty five up until the age of eighty. And then at that point he taught everyone that he could teach. And the remainder he passed on to his student Maitreya who currently abides in Tuśita for Maitreya to tame. And then he went he proceeded to Lumbini, not Lumbini, Kushinagar which in northern India and then practiced or engaged in the twelfth deed which which was passing away.
So the twelve deeds. So they’re common to any Buddha, any being attains the state of a Buddha. They engage in these sorts of deeds. So at present we’re looking at the number eleven: Turning the wheel of Dharma which is really the eightfold noble path. And that wheel is like a wheel that’s set in motion by Śākyamūni.
That wheel then passes from him to his direct students and from them to their direct students. From them to their direct students. What it means is that when the wheel turns in a sense in one’s own mindstream one generates the path of seeing. Generates the transcendent perfect wisdom. And then the Buddha continues to exist.
Śākyamūni Buddha still continues to exist but not on generally in a higher level. Buddhas continued to have a vast amount of work to do. And if it wasn’t for their kindness in teaching it’d be very difficult for us. I mean it’s difficult for us but it’d be more difficult. If these issues weren’t illuminated the possibility of enlightenment was not set forth hard for us to even develop the idea of enlightenment.
Right. All supreme emanation buddhas. Yep. Yep. Chenrezig. Mani.
Yeah. Oh, there are many well, these ones here like Avalokiteśvara. And is that Tārā? What in the middle there? White Tārā?
These are bodhisattvas. Like Avalokiteśvara, the first one, is one of the eight near sons of the Buddha. Although Avalokiteśvara in China is regarded as a female deity. Guanyin. That’s okay.
Tārā is regarded as a really born from a tear of Avalokiteśvara. So really a student of Avalokiteśvara. White Tārā same. They’re just different aspects. These sorry?
Chenrezig is Avalokiteśvara. Yep. Chenrezig is the Tibetan. Avalokiteśvara. Yeah they do.
Yes. Some time off yet. Many many thousands of years. Yes. Oh well after.
We’re about halfway through the dispensation of Śākyamūni Buddha where two and a half thousand years has gone since he taught. There’s another two and a half thousand years. Then the teaching is finished until Maitreya comes. Yeah. Currently we’re in a cycle a downward cycle of the twenty intermediate eons where the lifespan begins at eighty thousand for a human and declines down to ten years and it declines one year every hundred years.
Yeah. So Śākyamūni Buddha came when the lifespan was a hundred. And so it’s about so roughly that means that the lifespan on the planet now is about seventy five on average. Although it goes up and down in different parts of the world all the time. But it continues to decrease.
We’re in a decreasing phase and it will get down to ten years for a human being. And then from ten years it will increase. Then the cycle of virtue will kick in and the virtue of beings will increase steadily until the lifespan of human beings is eighty thousand years. It seems impossible. A hundred years is a long time.
Still as geneticists are beginning to find out that there’s, you know, there are causes for aging and so on. The process of aging at present is very controlled by the virtue of beings or you know the whole group of beings together. So then when the lifespan reaches eighty thousand years Maitreya will take birth on the planet. Only when it reaches eighty because in the upward increase of virtue period Buddhas will not take rebirth because people are too satisfied too happy with it. It needs to be done either at the eighty thousand when it begins to decline again or you know in the decline phase itself.
So it increases one year every hundred years so you could work it out. So it’s a long period it’s a long time. So he’ll be the fifth Buddha of this fortunate eon. And there are a thousand Buddhas in this particular eon fortunate eon. And we’re at Śākyamūni was four.
There was Krakucchanda, Kanakamuni, Kāśyapa, and then Śākyamūni. I think Kāśyapa, who was the previous Buddha, when the lifespan was about I think ten thousand years for a human is said to have manifested. The previous at twenty thousand the previous at thirty. There’s some debate about this. So anyway whether that’s true or not we have to examine.
So we have to have to have a critical view on all of these things. But anyway it’s said that Maitreya will come. He will. So it’s good that we generate a connection with Maitreya even now so that we meet Maitreya in the future. Vast knowledge holder.
Oh he is already a Buddha. Yep. Oh he’s the Mañjuśrī is the source of the profound lineage and Maitreya the source of the practice lineage. Yep. A method.
Yes. Method lineage. Yep. True. But in future he will teach and teach for a long period And he won’t he will complete these deeds more quickly than Śākyamūni.
But it depends on the twelve deeds will be completed more quickly for him because of the virtue of beings at that time in future. That’s right. We’re going to have many thousands of rebirths before that and we can see just how easy it is in any one rebirth that we get so absorbed in what’s happening in our current life that you know we forget about these more important longer term issues. So therefore it’s said that as many imprints we can generate to meeting Maitreya in future the better. Because really that’s when we look at significant beings who will be reborn in future Maitreya on this planet is the next awakened being.
So he’s one that we should meet because it’s possible when you meet an enlightened being like that one will get the advice one needs instruction one needs in order to attain enlightenment. To bring it all together. So very important too. That’s why like my name is Jampa. When I took ordination I was given the name Jampa.
Jampa is the Tibetan for Maitreya. And many monks are given the name Jampa or Maitreya to try and create some sort of link with Maitreya in future. Yeah. It does. Yeah.
Jampa Maitreya or loving-kindness that yeah. It was. Yep. Geshe Ngawang Drakpa gave me the name. Yeah.
Jampa yeah. Geshe Ngawang Drakpa. Geshe Rapten also gave Jampa. Yeah. Different teachers.
Gives Jampa yeah. So he was ordained by Geshe Jampa Khedrup in Tibet. So he got the initial ordination name of Jampa. But he’s not known by his ordination name. Many are not known by their ordination name.
Khensur is ex-abbot. Rinpoche is precious ex-abbot. No. It doesn’t. No.
Otherwise we call him Genlak-la. Genlak-la meaning lak is short for Losang Tenzin and ka is just a word that’s applied in his region of Tibet as sort of like a term of abbreviation or an endearment sort of thing. Genlok-a. Anyway That’s right. This yeah.
We’re We’re potentially can be reborn anywhere. In the hells, animals, hungry ghosts. Yes. So we have to practice virtue as strongly as we can and try and if we can maintain a human rebirth are associated with people that are trying to practice. So that’s important for us.
For us at present our next life is more important than this one. So we need to put in place all the causes for a good human rebirth in future so we can continue, you know, the studying and contemplating and meditating. Training the mind, purifying the mind at present. Right. Okay well everyone’s been very patient.
We’ve gotten through a fair amount of material which is good. So we might just then we’ll finish the course here. So it’s about four just before four o’clock. I think we’ve completed enough material. I just want to thank everyone for coming and wish you the best of luck with your practice and contemplation of these issues.
Issues. So just in the end very good that we dedicate the merit that we generate. Merit generated just means any virtuous state of mind that we generate lays down karmic imprints. Now we want to protect those from anger and hatred and so on which can destroy them because they’re impermanent. They can be destroyed.
And the way we do that is dedicate our merit so that we attain enlightenment to enlighten every being in the universe and beyond. So because the field is infinite we dedicate our merit to an infinite field that virtue will remain until the entire as long as the field remains. So in other words it cannot be destroyed by anger. So what we’re doing now is just a brief dedication. So we start on page number number four no.
Sorry. Number six. And we’ll just read through, the dedication and the long life prayer for his holiness and the long life prayer for Lama Zopa. In fact, we can do right from the top of page six, the prayers at the end of the teachings from Śāntideva’s Bodhicharyavatara. That also is useful to do.
So just reading down the left column and the right column and then the one below that. So may all beings everywhere plagued by sufferings of body and mind obtain an ocean of happiness and joy by virtue of my merits. May no living creature suffer, commit evil, or ever fall ill. May no one be afraid or belittled with a mind weighed down by depression. May the blind see forms and the deaf hear sounds, and those whose bodies are worn with toil be restored on finding repose.
May the naked find clothing, the hungry find food. May the thirsty find water and delicious drinks. May the poor find wealth. Those weak with sorrow find joy. May the forlorn find hope, constant happiness, and prosperity.
May there be timely rains and bountiful harvests. May all medicines be effective and wholesome prayers bear fruit. May all who are sick and ill quickly be freed from their ailments. Whatever diseases there are in the world, may they never occur again. May the frightened cease to be afraid, and those bound be freed.
May the powerless find power. May people think of benefiting each other. For as long as space remains, for as long as sentient beings remain, until then may I too remain to dispel the miseries of the world. Due to the merits of these virtuous actions, attain the state of Guru Buddha and lead all living beings without exception into that enlightened state. May the supreme dual bodhicitta that has not arisen arise and grow, and may that which has arisen not diminish, but increase more and more.
In the land encircled by snow mountains, you are the source of all happiness and good. All powerful Chenrezig Tenzin Gyatso, please remain until Samsāra ends. You who uphold the Subduer’s moral way, who serve as the bountiful bearer of all, sustaining, preserving, and spreading Mañjuśrī’s victorious doctrine, who masterfully accomplish prayers honoring the Three Jewels. Protector of myself and others, your disciples, please, please live long. Oh.
Oops.