Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 91-minute teaching, Ven Jampa Ignyen begins a commentary on the Wheel of Sharp Weapons, a classical Tibetan text on transforming the mind. He opens with a striking metaphor: peacocks thrive in poisonous forests through their nature, and bodhisattvas with compassion can similarly transform destructive emotions into spiritual practice. He then systematically explains verses 7–15, connecting each type of suffering—physical pain, mental anguish, hunger, powerlessness, harsh words—to its karmic cause (harming others’ bodies, agitating minds, greed, contempt, divisive speech) and its antidote: taking on that suffering of others. Throughout, he emphasizes that self-cherishing—not external enemies—is the true obstacle, and that recognizing this is essential to Buddhist practice. Intended for those with some familiarity with karma and compassion.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 WSW 2001 09 29.mp3
UUID: 6c20eb7d-2887-44f6-95c7-caa95be5686e
Teacher: Ven Jampa Ignyen
Collection: y Wheel of Sharp Weapons 2011 Month 09-10 (Ven Jampa Ignyen)
Date: 2001-09-29
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 90.8 minutes
Words: ~9,853
Bodhisattvas are like peacocks. Then in the third verse, because we long for bliss and happiness, we are led to suffering by the power of cowardice. We ourselves are not like Bodhisattvas. We long instead for bliss and happiness. We long to get into divine realms with not even the word suffering exists, where where there are trees and fragrant flowers, jewel encrusted meadows and so forth, oceans with divine waters, so on, mansions, divine mansions, and so on.
We would are attracted to taking rebirth there. We long for bliss and happiness. We long to be free of the conditions that we experience. And in longing for that type of happiness, even in the present, even in our current life, in longing to be happy, in longing to be separated from unhappiness, we are led to suffering by the power of cowardice. In a sense, we don’t have sufficient courage to face the negative conditions that exist in our own situation.
Because of that, because we tend to shrink from what’s negative in our own situation, we are led to suffering. Bodhisattvas who take on suffering are always blissful through the strength of bravery. On the other hand, bodhisattvas, because they seek out what’s negative, because they’ve overcome self-cherishing, they seek out and because they have this great compassion directed towards other sentient beings, seek out negative situations because they’re brave, and they’re always blissful because of that bravery. Therefore, Bodhisattva is practiced by taking on the sufferings of others. So then it goes on to state, for that bodhisattva and this tantric,, attachment is like a forest of deadly poison in which the brave like peacocks thrive.
It would be death to cowardice like crows. Oh, sorry. Death to cowards like crows. So from among bodhisattvas, bodhisattvas therefore live in this forest of deadly poison in which the three poisons thrive: attachment, anger, delusion, and so forth. All of these manifest.
And in fact, there’s different means by which bodhisattvas abide in this in these conditions. Firstly, talks about bodhisattvas and then about tantrics. These both bodhisattvas and tantrics refer to bodhisattvas who are on the path of perfection or the path of mantra. And both are engaged in attaining the state of a Buddha through either of those two parts. And both of them abide in this deadly forest of poisonous attitudes.
But in abiding in this deadly forest, they thrive like peacocks. They thrive because they’re able to transform those poisons, the poisons of attachment and so forth into the path itself. If the Bodhisattvas hadn’t overcome self-cherishing and generated cherishing for others, they would not be able to thrive on these poisons, these poisonous states such as attachment and so on. But they would be harmed by those states. As it says, it would be death to cowards like crows.
For those that are consumed by self-cherishing, then one is by having self-cherishing, one is not really able to engage in transforming attachment and so forth into the path. And one tends to be, on the other hand, consumed by attachment. And one through attachment and anger and hatred and so forth, through ignorance, one faces death. One one dies and continues within saṃsāra. So in other in other words here, the the author is saying we should be like peacocks who thrive on the who develop bodhicitta and are able to thrive on negative conditions.
We shouldn’t be like crows who make a lot of noise and are actually unable to transform the negative conditions in our existence into positive ones and make them the very path itself. So here, there’s a these examples are quite quite important to think through. So the author again is Dharmarakshita is urging us to be like, be brave, become bodhisattvas, and utilize the negative conditions as and transform them into the path itself. In the fifth verse it says, how can those who are selfish thrive on this poison? When afflictions and other similar states combine, that would sever the possibility of emancipation for those like crows.
So again, in further explanation, those who are selfish, those who have self-cherishing cannot really thrive on the poison of the negative conditions that we encounter, nor on even the negative internal states that arise for us. In fact, these negative internal states are poison, but through selfishness, we cannot convert them into something that’s positive. Because when afflictions and other similar states combine, they sever the possibility of emancipation for those of us who are like crows. In other words, for those of us who are yet haven’t developed the courage of the mind of bodhicitta. Therefore bodhisattvas who are like peacocks enter the forest of saṃsāra and transform into nutrients, afflictions which are like a forest of poison.
In taking on afflictions, destroy their poison. So bodhisattvas enter the forest of Samsāra and transform into nutrients these states. They’re able to thrive on these negative states, negative conditions, transforming them from poison into nutrients. And in taking on those afflictions, they destroy their poison. So here, in the commentary it talks about how these nutrients are transformed.
So here transformed really also in a sense can be said to be mixing. And that means that even though one there’s an example given in the text. For instance, that we may live in a particular place or a particular house, and we like the house. It’s pleasant. It’s got a nice garden.
It’s got a nice front door. It’s got a garage that we like. Kitchen looks good. It’s got a nice view outside. Good resale value.
Prices going up all the time, not a noisy neighborhood. There’s speed bumps all the way down the road, so no one speeds down there. There’s a park over the road with all all manner of nice trees in it, and neighbors are all very friendly. You know, they’re always coming by and saying hello and so forth. And we like the house.
Just the sort of house we want, you know, and so forth. Suits us down to the ground. And we grow attached to it. That type of attachment, of course, is a poison. Soon as the attachment arises, firstly, we develop a liking.
Firstly, we have a positive feeling towards the house. Through that, we like the house. Then we draw attached to the house. That attachment is poison. Up until now, we have allowed that attachment just to arise as if it’s something beneficial to us.
We simply become attached and we even reinforce it. We go and we repaint the house. The little bits we don’t like, we, you know, sort those out and we make them better and our attachment grows, you know, as we modify the house to suit us even more and so forth. All of that attachment is like poison. It’s the worst thing that we can be generating.
Also, the attachment is mixed with self-cherishing, because it’s in our own particular interest that we, we live in this house and so forth. What we do in relation to the house, we tend to do mixed with self-cherishing, with a view of our own needs to the exclusion of others. But what the author suggesting is that we should mix this now with the thought of cherishing others. That okay, this house, it’s a nice house, I live in now, but I’m going to live in it in order to benefit all sentient beings, not just to benefit me. That we extend our thought, our motivation for being there to include other beings.
Not just for me. In fact, I’m doing this not for me, but for all other beings. Now this this has to be applied steadily over a long period because our self-cherishing still is very strong. But by mixing it with cherishing others, then even the attachment one has in relation to the house can be transformed into something beneficial, through the intervention of the thought of cherishing others. So in that way, even afflictive states such as attachment can be transformed into something which is good for us.
It’s a nutrient. It’s like you know, a vitamin pill, or it’s a dose of minerals, or it’s having an apple, or whatever, having a good steak, if that’s what we need. It’s something that’s nutritious and beneficial. And by doing that, therefore being motivated by the thought of cherishing others, the poison of the afflictions can be overcome. They no longer retain their poisonous aspect.
Right. Now, these first six verses have been really just a general explanation of the practices of bodhisattvas, what bodhisattvas engage in. Your bodhisattvas being like peacocks who brave and are able to take on the poisons within the environment and convert them into something positive, something nutritious, something that’s that gives them a radiance and so forth. Similarly, bodhisattvas are able to live in the world and even take on the poisons within the world, but thrive and and increase in radiance and luster because of that. And so for therefore, they’re able to destroy their poison.
Okay, we might just have a bit of a break there. Oh, it’s there. Yep. The connection. So the first six verses give a general introduction to the text, and then from then on, from verse seven on, we have really an in-depth explanation of this initial section.
So then starting from the seventh verse, have now. In fact, word now in the commentary is there just to indicate that we’re starting with the actual body of the text. Now we wander without control in Samsāra. Through this demonic messenger of self grasping, we should put aside the corpse of self-cherishing and the desire for happiness and take on the difficult practice of others purpose. So at present we wander without control in Samsāra.
Samsāra itself is our current mind body. We wander without control in saṃsāra means that we take on, we exchange one mind body for another in a cyclic process. And this process continues without control. The present mind body that we have, we’ve taken on at the beginning of this life beyond our control, and then we’ll put it down at the end of this life and take on a new one beyond our control. So in this way said that we wander without controlling saṃsāra.
And we do this through the demonic messenger of self grasping. So this whole process is based upon this thought of I, this holding to an I, this sense of I that we have. That sense of I, which is like a demonic messenger, It’s like something that sends us again and again into different rebirths, really without end, without any respite. And this demonic messenger is self grasping itself. Self grasping is the type of awareness we have in the present which holds to the I, which holds to a self.
The sense of self that we have, sense of I. We should therefore put aside the corpse of selfishness and the desire for happiness and take on a difficult practice of others purpose. This in fact we should put aside. As it said that in general, in terms of saṃsāra, there is the saṃsāra and the root of saṃsāra itself. Samsāra is our mind body continuum, and the root of saṃsāra is this self-grasping I.
This self grasping which grasps at an I. These are overcome. Self grasping itself is overcome by beings who attain liberation, by beings who attain the wisdom, perceptually comprehending selflessness. But even in doing so, self-cherishing is still not overcome. We wander within Samsāra at present through self grasping.
And there are those beings who through the developing the wisdom comprehending selflessness, overcome this self grasping. But even then, there’s no it’s not definite that we overcome self-cherishing, because there are liberated beings who have no self grasping, but still have self-cherishing. We should instead overcome both self grasping and self-cherishing, and therefore put aside the corpse of self selfishness. Here, really referring to self-cherishing. And this desire for happiness for ourselves alone and take on the difficult practice, of others purpose.
And then we suffer through being driven by karma and through familiarity with affliction. So our present level of our present experience is coming being driven by karma and through familiarity with affliction is being is really through self grasping. And self grasping then associated with self-cherishing. We should strive to overcome both of these attitudes, and we should gather to ourselves the sufferings and desire for happiness of diverse beings of similar type to ourselves. So in effect, this verse here is talking about the way in which we generate the great vehicle.
That initially we understand the process by which karma and the afflictions generate our current situation. In fact, everything that’s unsatisfactory in the present, in relation to ourselves, is coming about through our past actions, our karma, and those actions being determined by ignorance and the other afflictions. And this is how it is for me, and this is how it is for other beings. When we understand this, that ourselves and other beings have achieved our current status through karma and affliction. Just as we’d wish to overcome our own suffering and achieve happiness for ourselves, we should also extend that aspiration to all other beings who are really of a similar type to myself, no different than myself.
I should seek to eliminate all of the sufferings of both myself and all other beings. And in fact, in order to do that, to do that, I take on the sufferings. I gather to myself the sufferings and desire for happiness of diverse beings of similar type. This text is very, very condensed, and it rests on the on Lamrim itself. And really to in order to understand this text, we need to have some understanding or gradually, we need to develop some understanding of of Lamrim.
Why do we do that? Because we need to understand the mind in the present moment about how the mind has arisen, how the mind has come to its present situation. When we understand that, we can actually develop sympathy for ourselves. And also, we can locate the enemy of karma and delusion within us, and the enemy of self-cherishing. We see that other beings also are in a similar state to ourselves, and we can generate the aspiration to help them as we would seek to help ourselves, because we’re of similar type.
This last bit of similar type is really talking about develop equanimity and also exchanging self for others. Seeing that other beings are really equal to myself, No different to myself. The eye that they grasp is similar to the eye that I grasp. The I that they grasp is very similar. That I shouldn’t be biased towards myself, that in fact, in this larger field of beings, I should be democratic and take onto myself aspirations that also other beings have.
And then whenever we enter this tangle of selfishness, we should reverse it and have my great bliss and give my great bliss as our bliss and happiness. Continuously we tend to enter this tangle of selfishness. We’re enmeshed in it in this very moment. It’s a poison. It is something that just is going to create a future heritage of unhappiness for us.
When we see that it is a tangle of selfishness, that it’s only gonna bring out a negative outcome, bring about something which we don’t want, we should stop it, reverse it, and give our happiness and bliss to other beings. In that way, should near ones act against us, our hearts are uplifted reflecting, this is due to my past actions. So, also, as we live in a world, then various things that happen to us on a day to day basis. And even those who are near to us at times rise up against us and criticize us or and so forth. This is always happening.
Whether it’s direct or indirect, much of what we have contend with in our day to day lives is just the way that other people relate to us and how we deal with that. So here, in that way, if in fact we’re able to reverse this tangle of selfishness that we find ourselves in the center of, even when other beings rise up against us or act against us, our hearts are uplifted because we can reflect that this is due to my past actions. That in fact, everything that occurs is due to my being distracted in a selfish way, being distracted by self-cherishing, being distracted by grasping at a self and so on. So, therefore, even in this present moment when beings appear to be acting against me, this is just due to my past selfishness that it’s arising. And in thinking that we can be our hearts can be uplifted, We can be contented and even rejoice that this is happening, because we see that it’s simply the product of past actions maturing upon us in the present.
And then when my body aches and I cannot bear it, it is through delivering harm to the bodies of migrators. Here, migrators refers, of course, to the six types of migrating being in the universe. So here, hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, human beings, demigods, and the gods themselves. Called migrators because we’re all migrating in this vast ocean of of existence. Sometimes migrating upwards, for the most part migrating downwards.
So this we should reflect. When my own body aches and I cannot bear bear it, I have a toothache or a headache or something else, it aches because I’ve delivered harm to the bodies of other migrating beings. I’ve harmed other beings. And this is the weapon of negative action returning. Now I shall take on this sickness without exemption, without exception.
So this again takes a lot of a lot of thought because, again, in a way, this instruction, we can understand the words and we can get some idea of the meaning. But at that level by itself, it’s not that much benefit to us. The benefit comes when we’re actually able to change the heart itself, change our current heart. It’s our heart at present which is sort of very much confined to prejudices and opinions and past habits, and it’s very difficult to change. Even though we think through that the line in adverse and think, yeah, that that could be true.
Still our heart, internally, we’re thinking that when I experience physical pain, physical harm, it’s for no reason, or it’s something that I ate, or oh, it’s because, you know, that person kicked me in the leg, or stood on my foot, and so on. We blame others, We blame the external situation. That’s how it appears to us and that’s how we tend to react. Instead here we should reflect that this is the weapon of my own negative actions returning. These are the messengers of my past actions, the postman of my past, the letters that I wrote in the past, they’re delivering them back to me.
Return to sender. In other words, they’re like boomerangs. All of this experience that we this physical harm that we experience here in this particular verse, the body aches, the physical aches and pains that we experience are really the negative actions that I’ve committed in relation to other beings. In the past, I’ve hit them and beaten them and stuck them with this and that. I’ve poisoned them.
I’ve murdered them, I’ve gone out and stood on them on the path, I’ve killed all those ants, I’ve in past lives I’ve killed human beings, I’ve killed thousands of human beings, countless human beings. In the present I experience physical harm because of that. I experience aches and pains and so forth, and various types of physical sickness because I’ve harmed other beings. This we need to reflect on when it’s actually happening. Instead of thinking why is it happening to me or why am I sick and the other person there is not sick and and in a way, we tend to grope for answers.
Why is it happening to me? Really, we can reflect on this verse that it’s, of course, coming from the my own actions in relation to other beings. It’s the law of cause and effect. Now the remedy for this is that I take on their sickness. Now in order to act, to apply the antidote to this, I’m gonna take on the sickness of all other sentient beings.
Without exception, it’s very important they’re without exception. We can’t exclude anyone, a next door neighbor or the boss at work or that person who bullied us just last week. In fact, all the bull bullies need to be there in the front row. We take on especially all of their sickness. Then verse eleven, when suffering occurs within my mind, it is definitely definitely through agitating the mental continuums of others.
So here the author goes from physical suffering to mental suffering. Physical suffering is quite easy to recognize. It’s it’s a negative physical feeling, body feeling, and then it comes headache, toothache, bone ache, joint ache, the muscles are aching, and so on. My tongue is aching, Heartache. Heart attack.
Lungs are not good. So forth. Whatever. All of these types of physical negative physical feeling are caused by injuring physical bodies of others in the past. Now he’s talking the author is talking about suffering occurring within my mind.
Again, is another type of feeling. When suffering occurs within my mind, in other words, whenever I have a negative mental feeling presence at the present. If I have negative mental feeling at present, which is different than physical negative feeling, we need to be able to differentiate these out. They tend to merge together for us. We have a negative physical feeling and sort of well, we have a negative mental feeling.
They’re both there together, but it just seems all sort of negative. We need to separate these two out. Whenever suffering occurs within my mind, that negative feeling, it is definitely through agitating the mental continuums of others. So here the author is saying, it definitely through disturbing others’ mind. This is where our negative mental feeling is coming from, through disturbing the minds of others in the past.
There’s no other cause. There’s no other blame. Although it appears to be and a negative mental feeling appears to be coming from other beings, it’s really definitely coming from my own actions in the past, which have upset the minds of others. It is in fact the weapon of negative action returning: Now I shall take on their suffering without exception. So similar to the previous remedy, the antidote is that I take on their suffering without exception.
And then again, verse twelve, when we are strongly oppressed by hunger and thirst, it is through acting with avarice, committing fraud and theft. So at times we’re afflicted by hunger and thirst. Generally in the West it’s not such a problem. But of course, in other countries, there is great oppression by hunger and thirst. But whenever we are hungry and thirsty, it is through acting with avarice, being greedy, committing fraud, actually finding ways and means to take the things, take possessions from other beings by really low down means, and through outright theft.
So really, there’s an increasing scale of actions there. Avarice, just acting with avarice is acting in a greedy way, of course. And committing fraud is getting goods of others through deceit and then actually just plundering the property of others. hunger and thirst is really coming from those causes. When we experience that, that experience is the weapon of negative action returning.
I shall take on all hunger and thirst of other beings without exception. So, again, here we focus then on other beings instead of plundering their their possessions. We now begin to take on we imagine that we’re taking on hunger and thirst of other beings without exception. Then thirteen, when powerless and used by others and tormented, it is through hating those who are inferior and using them as slaves. So similarly, in this life we often feel powerless, and in fact we’re used by others and tormented by them.
Not only do they use us in a way that may be suitable for them, but they even laugh at us in the process or torment us and so on. All of this is coming about, and this is of course very un unpleasant, but this is coming about through hating those who are inferior, through looking down on other beings, and using them as slaves, employing other beings to our own ends, our own negative ends. So this is the weapon of negative actions returning. Now I shall use my body and life for the purpose of others. So again, this weapon of our own negative actions, we fashioned a weapon in the past.
When we looked down on other beings in the past, it was like fashioning a weapon, like they’re grinding a knife on a grindstone, getting it nice and sharp. We’ve looked down on other beings. We’ve hated those who are inferior to us, who who don’t have qualities that we like ourselves and so on, and we use them as slaves. By doing this, it appears to us at the time that it’s not gonna have any effect, but in fact, it’s creating a weapon of negative actions that return to us at some point in future when the conditions assemble. So now I should use my body and life for the purpose of others.
So I’m not gonna do this again. I realize that I’m only creating weapons that end up harming me. I harm other beings when I do that, and then in future, I harm myself. So now I should use my body in life, my body in this lifetime and my life itself for the purpose of others. And then whenever I hear unpleasant words, it is through the fault of speech such as slander.
So again, when other people speak unpleasant words to me, it is through the faults of speech such as slander. So his slander is twofold. Slander is either speaking the truth about someone else or speaking a lie about someone else, but with the intention of separating someone from their friends. So if in fact we utter words, whether they’re true or whether they’re false, it doesn’t matter, but with the intention to divide others. This is also called divisive speech, slander.
Then it creates this weapon that eventually returns to us. And this is the weapon of then hearing unpleasant words again in future for ourselves. And this is always happening to us. We’re always not always, but at times we hear them externally, at other times we remember them internally. In a fact, they’re always there, these negative words.
But they come about through our own slander. In the past, we’ve we’ve disliked others, and then when we’ve had the opportunity, we know what to say and how to say it in order to separate others who are friends. So these weapons we have within our mental continuum at present, and it just takes the, of course, the conditions to arise for us to hear unpleasant words. So this is the weapon of negative action returning. Now I shall condemn my errors.
Now I shall condemn slander. All these negative actions of speech, for instance, that harm others, such as slander. Now I myself will condemn them. I’ll repudiate them. I won’t commit them again in future, and I’ll regret the ones that I’ve committed in the past.
And then also, when we are born in an impure land, it is through continuously meditating on impure appearance. We ourselves are not born in a in a pure land where that would actually conform to our innermost aspiration. We’re not actually born there, and we’re not shocked by the fact that we’re not born there. As the Buddha when the Buddha first, when he was a Prince Siddhartha, and he decided to leave the palace, and on exiting the palace with his charioteer, he initially saw sickness and then age, and then death. When he saw these things he was entirely shocked.
He was very shocked that seeing a sick person covered in whatever. And then when he saw an aged person, the wrinkles and so forth, he was very shocked to see this. This is a sign of being in an impure land. We ourselves are not shocked by these conditions that we live within. We’re not shocked in a way because we’re continuously meditating on what is impure, what is contaminated, what is defiled, what is stained, and so on.
We’re always thinking about these things. Our mind is completely absorbed in what is in pure. So no wonder we’re born in impure states because of what we’re familiar with, what we’re thinking about in the present moment. Yeah. Oh, sure.
Who’s taking precepts today? This text in to be called or The weapon wheel. That’s quite a rusty name. And it’s a text on mind training. So it’s a text on how we develop the mind in the present.
Firstly, in recognizing how our current mind exists, and then comprehending the faults of our current state of mind, then applying methods to eliminate these faults. So in fact, it also can be considered a text on Lamrim. And in fact, in a way all Lamrim is mind training, all mind training is Lamrim. But in particular, this text is highly regarded in Tibet as teaching a method of how to actually engage in practice. How we can actually, in this present moment, apply what we need to apply and eliminate what we need to eliminate.
And in fact this is the basic teaching of the Buddha himself. Whereas the Buddha said: What I teach is suffering and the cessation of suffering. And in a way this is what mind training is dealing with. Firstly it’s dealing with the faults of the mind and then it’s dealing with the way those faults are ended. And in fact our entire practice is condensed into that.
It’s subsumed within this very simple simple practice. So initially, when dealing with this text, note the name itself and it’s called the Wheel of Sharp Weapons. And it was given by Dharmarakshita to Atisha. In fact, Dharmarakshita who lived in far off distant land from India to which Atisha traveled, which was in Indonesia, current Indonesia. And Atisha was born in the latter half of the tenth century in India and became a Buddhist monk and studied for some time before he embarked on a journey to Indonesia in order to uncover the inner teachings on mind training.
Really to uncover the tradition on how to generate the great vehicle, how to generate bodhicitta. And there he found his teacher, Dharmarakshita. And Dharmarakshita gave him this particular teaching. And this is sure if you’re a different person. And in fact, because they are different beings with different predispositions, different attitudes, different likes and dislikes, differently developed capacities and so forth, then a variety of teachings is needed to suit a variety of people.
In fact there’s innumerable teachings that are simply trying to put this point of how to generate bodhicitta, how to overcome this entire array of afflictive mental states, how we apply methods to overcome these afflictive states. So there’s an entire there’s many, many different means, many different instructions given on how to do this. What we individually need is something that’s effective for us in the present moment. Something that appeals to us, something that we can put into practice because it’s not easy for us at present to see exactly what we need to do. It’s not easy for us to see what we need to apply in the present.
Our mind itself, although we’ve we should be very familiar with our mind and how it works, we’ve been with it from the beginning of this life, of course, and all previous lifetimes. And even now in the present moment, we understand a certain amount, but there’s a great thing we don’t understand about awareness and about how we experience the world around us, how we react to external objects, how we react to our own feelings in relation to those objects that we experience and so on. In a way, all we need to do is eliminate the problematic states of awareness that we have. But in order to eliminate those, need to recognize them first. And at present, we’re a bit of a mixture of we recognize some of the types of mind we need to eliminate.
We we don’t recognize others, we hold others to be of benefit to ourselves, and in fact the very means by which we should live and so on. So mind training and all the different teachings on mind training to suit the various types of person, various types of individual that exist, are really aimed at helping us in the present moment to eliminate those types of mind that should be eliminated, and to reinforce those ones that should be reinforced and developed. And if they’re not yet developed, to develop them. If they’re already developed, then we should strengthen them, and the means by which they should be strengthened. In a way, our practice comes down to what I call the four abandoners.
And that is the practice of eliminating non-virtue already generated and protecting ourselves against producing future non-virtue and then generating new virtue, and strengthening past virtue that’s already generated. In a way our entire practice is summarized there. And that also outlines what our mind training is. Now this particular text is a very in a way it’s a very forceful expression of mind training. And as such it’s very beneficial because in a way at times we need to generate forceful means to tame our mind.
Because our mind, left up to its own devices, tends to generate many states that are not beneficial to our happiness, that harm our happiness, destroy our happiness and so on. And soon as we’re able, we should start to apply antidotes to all of those states of mind that we have, that are not conducive to our happiness. And to even have rougher means by which this can be done is also a very good thing. And this particular text, the Wheel of Sharp Weapons, really introduces a full array of methods by which we can train our mind in the present. Wrathful and peaceful both.
And in a way, because it’s introducing some wrathful methods of training our mind, it’s given this somewhat fearsome title of the Wheel of Sharp Weapons. But it’s as if when a mother is teaching her child, she teaches using both passive methods and wrathful methods. Similarly with ourselves, we require both methods in order to tame our mind. So this particular text is therefore using both methods, and it’s a type of text that we can refer back to over and over again because the instruction given in this text is not only directed at a superficial level. It’s also directed at deeper and deeper levels of awareness that we possess.
So it’s a type of text that one can return to again and again and gain deeper and deeper understanding of the meaning. Many of the books that we read are only written on a shallower level. They’re entertainment and so forth. These particular types of texts are directed at ourselves understanding the nature of our mind. And because our mind itself is very extensive and very deep, instruction that really benefits the mind on a deep level is something that is going to take time to absorb, time to assimilate.
And so therefore also we need patience in this process. So firstly, we have the title of the text. Again, called the Wheel of Sharp Weapons given by Dharmarakshita to Atisha. And initially in the text, firstly it states I pay homage to the Three Jewels. And in some of the versions, another thing with this particular text is that it has various versions and some of the versions have things that other versions don’t.
Paying homage to the Three Jewels here, the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha, is setting our direction initially. And this we often this we need to do as often as we can, because we understand that our mind in its ordinary state probably tends to nonvirtue. I think this can be we can understand this without too much difficulty. If we just let our mind drift and wander, it does tend to think in non virtuous ways. Doesn’t naturally tend to virtue.
If it did, we’d have no problem. In fact, we could just sit back and relax, and what our mind would think about would be virtuous, and therefore it’d be beneficial to ourselves, it’d be beneficial to other beings. But if we sit back and relax or simply if we just take note of where our mind is at present, it’s often preoccupied with various non virtuous states. Becoming aware of these also takes time because even though we’re aware of some of our thoughts when they manifest, certainly they’re much more difficult to ascertain when they’re not manifest, and so on. But in its ordinary state, our mind does tend to non virtue.
It’s often likened to the practice of the path is like pushing boulder up a mountain. It takes effort to push the boulder up. It doesn’t take much effort to stand to one side and let the boulder roll down. If we just step step back and just let the mind think as it likes, then we would tend to just accumulate a great deal of negative potential, like letting the boulder roll down a mountain. On the other hand, it takes effort to practice virtue or positive state.
And in a way, ask why is this so? Why should it be like that? Or is this in fact an accurate description of our state as human beings? And this we really need to investigate. At times, it appears that maybe these types of instruction are just set forth to make things more difficult than they actually are.
But in all of this, it’s really our own experience which is the most important. If we examine these types of instruction and see that there may be truth in them, then we should investigate more closely. But if it doesn’t conform with our experience then we don’t need to hold to that at all. Really, have to test all the time. So in in the beginning, we pay homage to the Three Jewels, and paying homage to the Three Jewels is really in essence paying homage to the Dharma, which is really paying homage to the instructions on how to practice virtue, which are all antidotes to afflictive states of mind.
What Dharma is is the eighty four thousand instruction instructions overcoming the eighty four thousand afflictive states. Here, afflictive states means states which are problematic and tend to give rise to unsuitable internal states of mind. All these instructions, all these dharma instructions are set forth in order to pacify the mind, subdue the mind, tame the mind, so the mind becomes calmer, clearer, wiser, and so forth. So in the end that we attain the object that we have as our inner aspiration. And again, what our inner aspiration is, we should check up on.
This we should be very clear on, because we have the time at present to establish or begin to establish what our inner aspiration is. If we don’t know what our inner aspiration is, then we even though we have time at present, won’t establish that we can’t because we don’t know what we’re trying to achieve. So it’s also very useful to contemplate these issues deeply and over a long period so that we understand clearly clearly what we do seek. And once we understand these things, then we can put effort and energy into really establishing them. What stops us from progressing is the doubts that we have.
When we have a doubt about something, then we don’t move forward on that issue. Overcoming doubts will take a long time, but doubts are only dealt with when we investigate them. We investigate them when we understand, we appreciate the importance of the issues, and that we only have a limited amount of time in which to deal with them. We don’t know how long we will continue to survive in this present life. So this we need to think about a great deal.
And since our life is impermanent and may end at any point, we should therefore engage in what is most important, the essential element of our existence. That’s what we should take as the most important, our prime goal. And as it said, if we take that as our prime goal, then all our other secondary goals will be established in turn. Trying to all our secondary goals has really led us to the present state we’re in, where we don’t establish our secondary goals and we’re quite distant from our primary goal. Here it’s said that our, of course, our primary goal is the establishment of uncontaminated happiness.
Happiness present that is not contaminated by any of the afflictions, anything that’s unsuitable whatsoever. And every other being has this type of goal, no matter how they pursue it. With that goal in mind we pursue, or with that goal that’s either recognized or unrecognized, we pursue various courses of action trying to achieve lesser secondary goals. And in general, we end up establishing neither. So from the beginning, should investigate this inner goal and how it can be established.
So from a Buddhist perspective, this goal is really to attain the state of nirvana or the cessation of all suffering whatsoever. And that is achieved through the practice of Dharma. So therefore in the beginning we pay homage to the Three Jewels, and that in a sense it sets our direction towards the Three Jewels. But in a very important way, when we take refuge in the Three Jewels, we’re taking refuge in the Buddha that we will become, in the Dharma that we will establish in our own mental continuum, and so on. There’s an external refuge, which is something that, you know, we don’t encounter very often.
But also we have an internal refuge and the internal refuge is really the future Buddha that we become and also the Dharma, the developing states of realization that we generate internally within us. These are our real refuge. These are refuge that protect us from all unsatisfactory states. So in a sense this text is dealing with why we take refuge and how we take refuge and how we actually establish this internal refuge. In a relative sense this internal refuge is just the virtue that we practice in the present moment.
And it’s this virtue that we practice in the present that over a period, through developing it and enhancing it, becomes the virtue within the continuum of a Buddha. Right. So initially, we pay pay homage to the Three Jewels. So then it said, this text is called the Wheel of Sharp Weapons, striking at the very core of the enemy. I pay homage to the great, wrathful one, the enemy of the lord of death.
So the text itself is called a Wheel of Sharp Weapons, and this Wheel of Sharp Weapons strikes at the very core of the enemy. So here there are different types of enemies that are possible, like external enemies and internal enemies. So in the world we have, for instance, physical enemies or external enemies. And these can be, like for instance, other beings and so on, who oppose us, who stand against us. And these external enemies can be overcome through external methods such as, for instance, if we’re in a war situation and one is a soldier, then one overcomes one’s external physical enemies through weapons, through using guns or hand grenades and so forth, whatever external weapons one has, one is able to overcome an external enemy if they’re applied in a correct way.
And in fact, when one looks at a soldier, one sees that they have a very they have various weapons such as knives, bayonets, handguns and rifles, grenades, and so forth. They have communication devices. They have communication devices. They have a various array of weapons to overcome the enemy. Then the other type of enemy is the internal enemy that we face.
And the internal enemy is the one that’s much more difficult to overcome. And here the internal enemy is said to be Although it’s said to be of two types, that is self grasping and self-cherishing, here it’s mainly talking about the mind of self-cherishing. So here, the enemy that’s meant in the second line is the internal enemy or the non physical enemy, which in a sense are the internal impediments that prevent us from developing as individuals. And the text goes on in the commentary to explain that this internal enemy is basically self-cherishing. And it’s this text, this text called the Wheel of Sharp Weapons that’s striking at the very core of the enemy.
If in fact one has an external enemy, if one were to try and overcome them, then if one were to like wound them in the hand or hit them in the foot and so forth, this would not necessarily overcome the enemy. In fact, in order to really overcome the enemy, we have to strike at the very core, the very heart, the very pith, the very essence, the very central point of that being in order to overcome them, in order to kill the enemy. Similarly here, in order to overcome the very core of the inner enemy, then one must strike at the very heart of self-cherishing itself. This mind of self-cherishing that we’ve possessed from beginning this time, the very heart, the very core of that, we must find a method of dealing with, of striking at. Also in the text, in the commentary, it talks about how there are different types of means by which one strikes at the very core.
For instance, for those who are skilled in finding the core or the very vulnerable spot in cutting down particular types of tree, they’re able to actually eliminate that type of tree or sever the tree or cut the tree down because they’re skilled in being able to cut down that particular type of tree. For instance, there’s a tree called the Thala that grows in India. And in order to cut down that particular type of tree, you’ve got to try and stop water getting to the tree initially. And then by cutting the flow of water to the tree, it’s possible that one can then, as the tree dries out, to actually know where to sever the roots and so forth, and therefore kill the tree so it doesn’t grow back again. So there are those types of woodcutter or those types of tree workers in India.
Similarly here, in overcoming self-cherishing, we need to find what supports self-cherishing and what gives rise to self-cherishing and to be able, and through developing a skill in understanding this, then to apply methods to root out self-cherishing from within our mental continuum. Also, for instance, there are those who such as butchers. And a butcher is one that recognize the very core, the very central element of the life force of a being, such as a goat or a sheep and so forth. And they’re able to, by just using a knife, can cut the right artery. And so the animal is killed very quickly because they know how to, for instance, kill an animal.
They’re very skilled at that. Similarly here, we’re seeking to overcome this self-cherishing attitude. So we need in a sense to become like a butcher skilled in killing animals so that we can apply the direct methods, very effective methods to overcoming our self-cherishing. So this text uses quite wrathful means to teach the point. And this this is very, very useful because the internal enemy of self-cherishing is far worse than the enemy of a sheep such as a butcher or the enemy of the Thala tree such as the woodcutter.
In an external sense, external enemies can only harm one in this life, but not over not into one’s next life and so forth. But this enemy of self-cherishing has harmed us from beginning this time. It’s something that we’ve actually lived with, accepted, been a companion of from beginning this time, and never really understood to be our enemy. And because of that, we’ve never been able to apply methods to overcome it. So now it’s the time that we recognize this self-cherishing attitude to be our enemy.
That in fact our self-cherishing is the worst possible enemy, far worse than any external enemy that might lock us up or starve us or wound us and so forth, or even kill us. Those types of enemy are nothing in comparison to self-cherishing. Still, we’ve made all these preparations in our past life and in this life to protect ourselves against external enemies. We take a lot of time and trouble in this, but virtually no time and trouble in investigating the internal enemies that we have. And the chief of all the internal enemies is our self-cherishing.
And that self-cherishing, we need to come to recognize as our enemy, and then to locate the very core of that enemy and destroy that enemy from its very core, at its very deepest level. So again, what is self-cherishing? Unless we know what self-cherishing is, then it becomes just an academic exercise. What we need to be able to do is locate self-cherishing in our present mental continuum. If we don’t locate it, if we don’t understand what it is, if we don’t understand if it has spots or stripes, or if it’s, you know, it looks like this or looks like that, or it has this particular feature, then it’s as if we live in a den of tigers and we don’t understand the danger that we’re in.
Some say that ignorance is bliss, but here, ignorance of this matter has been the foundation, the very source of all our unhappiness from beginningless time. It almost seems impossible that that can be the case, though. But how could one thing like self-cherishing be the cause of all of our unhappiness? And in fact, even when we think about it, oh, it’s possible. In the next moment, we act as if it weren’t the case.
And we look for it, subduing external enemies or we spend we go back to spending all our time trying to subdue external enemies. In fact, if the one this one internal enemy can be subdued, subdued, then all external enemies are subdued. If we can overcome our self-cherishing, then that will take care of every one of them, all external and internal enemies. So what is self-cherishing? self-cherishing here is the sense of self importance that we place so central to our being.
This sense of self importance that excludes other beings. It almost seems how could that be the cause of all our problems? It really doesn’t seem that that’s possible. So this we need to investigate because in all of this, it’s only when we begin to see this that we will begin to act. Until we see this, until the doubts arise, we have a doubt tending in the right direction, doubt tending to the fact that self-cherishing really is at the root of all our current problems, then it doesn’t matter what happens, we will not act.
We will not act on that. It will be just an academic exercise. From time to time we may say to ourselves, self-cherishing I have to overcome, but even that thought is mixed with self-cherishing. So self-cherishing is not harmed. What we need here, as it says in the text, we need something that strikes at the very core of the enemy.
And of course, that is exactly what we’re doing day to day. We’re really trying to subdue the enemy. But up until now, we’ve sought to subdue our external enemies. But all external enemies pale to absolute insignificance in comparison to self-cherishing. Osama bin Laden is nothing in comparison to self-cherishing.
In fact, all the misery in the world at present doesn’t come about through external at all. It comes about through self-cherishing. So here we need to examine this attitude of self-cherishing. Attitude of self-cherishing. This attitude is holding ourselves to be more important than other beings.
So here we need to strike at the very core. And in order to do this, then firstly, the author pays homage to the great wrathful one, the enemy of the lord of death. So the great wrathful one here is talking about firstly, wrathful one. The wrathful one is in general talking about bodhisattvas. Bodhisattvas who are wrathful in relation to self-cherishing, who use various means and methods to overcome self-cherishing.
And in fact, in order to become bodhisattvas, they have to overcome self-cherishing. And for all of us here, we all need to become Bodhisattvas. There’s really no choice in the matter. In order to become a Bodhisattva, one has to overcome self-cherishing. There’s no other way.
So the great, so the wrathful ones are those that overcome self-cherishing, the inner enemy. The great wrathful one is from among all the great bodhisattvas, all the bodhisattvas, the greatest in opposing self-cherishing. The inner enemy is Yamāntaka or the enemy of the lord of death, Shinje She in Tibetan. The enemy of the lord of death is also called Yamāntaka. Yamāntaka is the wrathful manifestation of the Bodhisattva of wisdom, Mañjuśrī.
So in order to strike at the very core of the enemy, here the author is paying homage, really to wisdom, which and it’s wisdom that is able to overcome the lord of death. And, really, when we look at death, death itself really emerges from, self-cherishing. Through having a self-cherishing attitude, then all the sufferings occur such as death. Samsāra continues to function and so forth. Now here we’re paying homage to the enemy of the lord of death, the wrathful aspect of the bodhisattva of wisdom.
Then in the first verse, peacocks roam in forests of deadly poison, even when beautiful gardens of medicinal plants exist. The flocks of peacocks take no joy in such gardens, for thriving on deadly poison is the way of peacocks. So in India, there are wild peacocks, and they roam around in the forest. And one of the aspects or one of the features of a peacock is that it lives on poisonous plants, on the berries and the leaves and the flowers of what is poisonous. And by eating those plants, it develops this incredible or this luster and this color and its plumage is enhanced.
And in fact, as the text said, the flocks of peacocks take no joy in gardens of medicinal plants. And in fact, even though the peacock has the choice of whether it lives on sweet fruits and so forth, the peacock tends to prefer what is poisonous, what is bitter and so forth, because that’s the very wave of the peacock. Peacocks themselves thrive on poison. Even though they do eat I mean, you see peacocks around, of course, do eat other things as well, But they enjoy, they thrive on poisonous plants. So this here is an example of what a bodhisattva or how a bodhisattva acts.
Similarly, the brave enter the forest of Samsāra. Though beautiful gardens of bliss and happiness exist, the brave do not become attached to such gardens for abiding in forest of suffering is the way of bodhisattvas. So using that as an example, the brave, brave beings enter the forest of Samsāra, though beautiful gardens of bliss and happiness Though in fact, those bodhisattvas could take rebirth elsewhere, remain in pure realms or stay in realms where not even the word suffering is mentioned. But they do not become attached to such gardens. Bodhisattvas are not attached to pleasant conditions because abiding in forests of suffering is what a Bodhisattva does, is the way of a Bodhisattva.
So Bodhisattvas, yeah. Sure. Go ahead. Yeah. Just oh, no.
So Bodhisattvas, those that have overcome self-cherishing are brave beings who live in Samsāra. And in fact, are attracted to living in conditions which are very difficult because of their compassion for other beings. They’re not attached being brave. They’re not attached to the pleasures of existence, but they abide instead in the forest of Samsāra. Now what the forest of Samsāra here refers to is, in fact, this realm where beings, untamed beings exist.
And it’s a bit like a jungle. We call it a a jungle, the jungle of existence and so forth. Beings as they develop realization have the capacity to live in conditions which are calm and peaceful, live in divine realms where all their wants, all their wishes are met effortlessly, where they can sit back and relax, you know, in forest forests of flowers flowers and, you know, where the wind wind gently moves the leaves and the trees and they produce music, divine music, and the aromas are divine and so forth. And these jewels are, you know, exist everywhere and so forth. The realms are far superior, unimaginably superior to those that we exist in here.
And in fact, beings as Bodhisattvas who have realization are capable of living in such realms. But because of their compassion for sentient beings, because they’re overwhelmed by compassion for sentient beings, instead they choose to live in, difficult conditions, because by doing that they can help others. Not only that, they’re incredibly brave because they seek out the worst of conditions because it’s there that they can really flourish in their goal to help other beings. So in that sense, they’re a little bit like peacocks who wander around the jungle just picking on poisonous things. Bodhisattvas tend to live in the world and are attracted to the most difficult situations, which they seek to transform into situations which are full of hope and full of potential potential benefit for other beings.