Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 91-minute commentary on the Wheel of Sharp Weapons, Venerable Jampa Ignyen catalogs the myriad ways self-cherishing and self-grasping operate as the root cause of all suffering. Opening with the principle that all virtue originates from enlightened beings, he then dissects how self-centeredness distorts every aspect of life: being deceived by others, failing to repay kindness to sentient beings (our former mothers), generating hatred and attachment in all interactions, breaking spiritual vows, and betraying ordination commitments. Each failure is depicted as a weapon we forged through negative actions, now returning to strike us. He invokes Yamāntaka, wisdom’s wrathful aspect, as the fierce clarity needed to overcome these internal enemies, and teaches analytical meditation and the four opponent powers as practical tools. For practitioners already familiar with lojong (mind-training) practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 03 WSW 2001 09 30.mp3
UUID: a6716113-19e4-400f-b11a-55344ea5c17c
Teacher: Ven Jampa Ignyen
Collection: y Wheel of Sharp Weapons 2011 Month 09-10 (Ven Jampa Ignyen)
Date: 2001-09-30
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 91.1 minutes
Words: ~9,807
In a way, from a Buddhist point of view, Bodhisattvas, for instance, take rebirth in all religions and really being made, you know, the religions that are founded on this earth are generally founded by, beings with great insight. And from a Buddhist point of view, these can be bodhisattvas founded by bodhisattvas. From a Buddhist point of view, yes, he would be regarded as a bodhisattva. And that’s evident by his teachings. He may have been a Buddha.
It’s hard to discern, but as the Dalai Lama once mentioned that all of world’s religions are really established by awakened beings for the benefit of sentient beings, whether it’s Buddhism or whether it’s Hinduism, Christianity, or Islam. And this also comes about from the perspective of the enlightened activity of the primordial awareness body of a Buddha. This comes about through a particular set of teachings in what’s called the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra, in which it is said that a fully awakened mind is the source of all virtue in the universe. In a way, there’s only two types of virtue: Virtue in the continuum of an ordinary being or a sentient being and virtue in the continuum of a Buddha. Whatever virtue it is, if one takes it to its original source, the original source is always a fully awakened mind, perfectly compassionate, awakened mind.
So even a virtue in our continuum, whatever virtue arises at any point, if we trace back this source to the source where that virtue came from in our past lives and so forth, then we would be able to trace it back to a pure source. Doesn’t mean to say we’re pure. It’s just that virtue is traced back to a pure source, no matter what virtue one one takes anywhere in the universe. And so for that reason, it can be asserted that all religions, all paths that are set forth for the benefit of beings so that they may progress is really coming from a fully awakened being. Of course, we have virtue, you know, some virtue from time to time in our continuum.
We claim that very strongly as something that we’ve generated ourselves. But actually, can be said that the inspiration for that virtue is coming from outside of ourselves, it’s coming from a fully awakened being. Anyway, this is This is part of the definition of this particular thing called the enlightened activity of the primordial awareness Dharma body. In a way also it reflects that we’re dependent on other beings, that we’re dependent arising ourselves. Also it reflects the other teachings on bodhicitta, which states that everything good is coming from outside.
All that’s negative is coming from ourselves. In other words, all our happiness comes from cherishing others. All our unhappiness comes from cherishing ourselves, which comes in the Guru Puja, the offering to the teacher. Anyway, we might just read a bit further. We’ll go down to verse forty six, and then we might Right.
So dealing with friends of high status and so forth. Now I should be careful in the way I make friends with anyone. Here we’re careful because we want to protect the virtue that we generate that’s inspired by fully awakened beings. We want to protect that. We need to make friends with others, but we need to protect our virtue at all costs.
Then forty three, when we are deceived by the deceit and pretense of others, it is through pride and having excessive desire. So often we’re deceived by others. They tell us something and we believe it. And through that, then we get ourselves into trouble or we get tangled up in a situation that is really of no benefit to ourselves or others and so on. So this occurs from time to time.
So being deceived by the words of others. Here we have to be careful that we’re not using that, the fact that we’re deceived by others to dislike or hate others. Because being deceived by the deceit and pretense of others is because we ourselves have pride and excessive desire for various things. Because we have so much desire and attachment and so much pride, we’re easily deceived by others. The fault there is our own pride and excessive desire.
So this is the weapon of negative actions returning. Now I shall lessen my desire for everything. Oh, absolutely. Our pride and so forth is very much there. And our attachment.
Yep. We’ve got so much attachment, fair amount of pride, and through that we’re deceived. So really we need to lessen our attachment, lessen our desire for everything. That will lessen our expectations and also our pride. By lessening our pride, that will help to overcome our susceptibility to being deceived.
Then forty four, when attachment hatred accompanies what we hear or say, it is through not contemplating in our heart the errors of demons. This is the weapon of negative action returning. Now I shall abandon counter conditions through analysis. So, often attachment and hatred is there in our mental continuum no matter what we’re doing. Is attachment there.
And hatred as well. And these are really poisons that exist in our mental continuum. And these poisonous states are are really influenced by the actions of demonic beings. Here, the main demonic being is our self-cherishing. And then in dependence on that cherishing the self, also very closely related with self grasping.
And of the four types of Mara, the four types of demon that exist, grasping the self is one of them. The Lord of Death is another. And so on, the five aggregates. So here it’s basically not contemplating our heart the faults and the errors of this demonic attitude of cherishing ourselves to the exclusion of others. That in dependence on that, not contemplating the faults of that, then we tend to entertain attachment and hatred.
Or attachment and hatred is just there mixed with whatever we’re doing. Whatever we hear, whatever we say. We listen to someone and there we have hatred and attachment already mixed in. The person saying something, there’s things that we hate about the person, or there’s things that we hate about that are just there, residually, in our mental continuum in relation to other beings. The reason that it’s there is that right at the very center of our heart is this self-cherishing attitude.
And that we simply haven’t contemplated the faults of this self-cherishing, which is, of course, too, the second point of the five point meditation on exchanging self for others. Contemplating the disadvantages of self-cherishing, the errors of self-cherishing. So this is the weapon of negative action returning. Now I shall abandon counter conditions through analysis. So now I shall abandon all these these negative conditions that give rise to hatred and and attachment through analysis.
I’ll now examine the self-cherishing attitude with a very fine-toothed sieve. I’ll examine it very carefully. I’ll check on it. I’ll see what it’s this self-cherishing attitude, whether it exists or not, and if it’s influencing my current thoughts and so on. By investigating the mental continuum in this way, it’s possible to understand self-cherishing and then begin to counter self-cherishing.
I think that’s the only way we can do it. We have to become more and more aware of our self-cherishing attitude. And that comes about through checking up. Do I have some at present? Do I have any cherishing of others at present?
Where do I stand? So this we need to check on. This really this type of analysis is meditation. It’s analytical meditation. There’s only two types of meditation, placement meditation and analytical meditation.
So here it’s analytical meditation. That’s observing the mental continuum, observing our mind as our thoughts evolve and develop. And then seeing whether self-cherishing is there or not. Then the next verse. When all our good actions go wrong, it is through wrongly dealing with all repayment of kindness.
This is the weapon of negative action returning. Now I shall treat with great respect the repayment of kindness. So often our good actions don’t achieve the end that we seek for them to achieve. This is coming about because we haven’t repaid the kindness of others in a proper way. So now our kindness is not repaid in a proper way.
In the past, when others have acted in a kind way, especially our teachers, they’ve acted in one way towards us, then we’ve acted in another way in return. We’ve simply haven’t repaid kindness with kindness. So now we should value repaying kindness in a proper way and respect that proper repayment of kindness. So in fact this can be extended to all beings because all sentient beings have been our mothers in the past, in past lifetimes, and we all owe them an immeasurable debt. We need to repay their kindness.
Like there’s no being in the universe who we do not owe a debt of kindness to. Instead, we’re always developing attachment towards them, hatred and anger to other beings. From morning till night, night till morning, we’re generating thoughts of dislike, resentment, hatred, getting angry at them. When in fact all of these beings we should be repaying with kindness because they’ve treated us with kindness in the past, given up their lives many times for our sake. And yet in the present we’re always thinking negatively about them, hating them, despising them.
So for that reason, it’s difficult that our virtuous actions come to a good end, for our virtuous actions to produce the results that we hope they have. So here we should treat with respect the repayment of kindness. And then in brief. Now, this is the final verse in this current section, where it’s been dealing with the disadvantages of self-cherishing. So in brief, when undesired events suddenly occur, it is like a blacksmith killed by his own sword.
So really our situation is just like that. This is the weapon of negative action returning. Now I shall delight in avoiding negative action. All these negative actions have returned, are returning, and will return to me. And they’re the full expression of my current problematic state.
Everything that’s problematic in my current existence, in all of my experience is just the swords that I’ve fashioned in the past returning to me in the present moment. So now I shall be diligent. I will be careful in avoiding negative action. So whenever I have a thought of hatred towards another being, I’ll be careful and apply the opponent to it. Resentment, impatience, and so on.
As much as I can, I will avoid maintaining those thoughts and instead apply the antidotes to them as much as I can? Anyway, we’ll just stop there. This short mandala offering is a common way of starting a session. It’s offering the symbolic universe or galaxy. Probably corresponds more to the galaxy, to one’s teacher and so forth.
The reason for doing this is to generate merit. Even on a visualized level because it’s on the basis of merit that we’re able to establish our what we want to accomplish. Right. So we finished up the verse number forty six. I thought that was the end, but actually it’s verse verse forty eight, which is the end of this section.
Were there any points related to those verses we read through this morning? And the lord of death? Chi. The lord of death. Yeah.
Grasping at an I. I think those are the five aggregates. Look, I’ll I’ll double check on that. It’s again, it’s the internal negative mental states which are the actual enemy. And as such, really, there’s no external enemy.
There’s only the internal enemies of our negative thoughts, which out of you overcome. But one of the four Maras, if we see in the wheel of life, we have a it’s up in the back there. Yes. That’s the lord of death who’s holding all of existence within his claws, within his grasp. That’s the lord of death.
There. On the outside. Yep. Alright. So then verse number forty seven.
When we experience suffering in evil migrations, it is like an archer killed by his own arrows. So evil migrations refers to rebirth in the hells, rebirth as a hungry ghost, rebirth as an animal. So when we experience rebirth there, it is like an archer killed by his own arrows. This is the weapon of negative action returning. Now I shall be diligent in avoiding negative action.
And then verse number forty eight. When the sufferings of home life suddenly befall one, it is like a cherished son killing his mother and father. This is the weapon of negative action returning. Now it is appropriate that I always seek ordination. So really, if possible, ordination is the best way to to live.
And the fact that in our lives, we often experience situations, unsatisfactory situations, is a little bit like a cherished son killing his mother and father. It’s like that which we hold dear in home life acting as a condition for our unhappiness. So here the author recommends we take ordination when possible, because in ordination one limits the conditions which afflict one, which can potentially afflict one. Of course, it’s understood that it’s not possible that everyone in society takes ordination. But in general, all other things being equal, it is easier for a being when they’re ordained as to when they’re living in a lay lay existence.
Although these days, often it doesn’t make a huge it may not make a huge amount of difference. Here. That’s right. In more traditional societies it was more Although even then there were often lay practitioners who studied and practiced. Like Milarepa.
Milarepa was a practitioner on the highest level, but he was a lay person. Generally, yes. Yeah. It’s a little bit easier if one is ordained because you limit the number of things you need to really be concerned about. Minimizing that just makes it a little easier for one.
The less concerns one one has, the easier it is in general. Technically, an ordained person should only have three possessions. The robes the three robes and a bowl, really, maybe four positions. So you don’t you have a mat to sleep on. You have three robes.
You have lower robe and two upper robe. Technically, that’s all a person really possesses. No cooking utensils and so on. You beg for your food. You just have a bowl and you go out and beg.
And whatever is given, you eat that and you spend your time meditating. And it’s not of course, it’s that has its problems as well. But you still these days you find people that live like that in Thailand, for instance. People that live they just have their robes and a bowl and they beg for food in the morning. And they live in a cootie, in a grass hut, and that’s it.
So they cut down many of the concerns that lay people have, and they can focus completely on training the mind, getting rid of negative mental states. Being for food might be a problem. It’s but actually, the Yeah. That’s right. Turn up every morning with a bowl to the to the Salvation Army or Then again, are western monks living in England that beg in certain areas and they get once people in an area get used to what’s happening and they understand they’re not these people are not just, you know, trying to live off society.
They’re engaged in a in a practice. Then it’s possible. Although in Western society it probably won’t catch on. It didn’t in China. When Buddhism spread to China, the monks didn’t generally go around begging.
There were some who were able to survive begging, but in general they survived by grants of land being made to the monks or the nuns, and then they cultivate the land and so forth. And that’s what will happen in the West. Bold blooded. A bold blooded. There’s a danger.
That’s right. Sorry? Well, it’s interesting. It’s not really part of Western culture. If you go to India, see it’s part of Indian culture, and you really see a difference there.
There’s sadhus everywhere, and they they’re supported by a population. You see someone on the street, it’s not if we see people begging on the street, it’s generally looked down upon. But in India initially it was also a highly regarded activity that renunciates, mendicants would give up everything and just beg on the streets, live in forests or whatever, and that was highly regarded. Not so easy in the West. There’s a different attitude.
Also in Tibet, not many people were able to survive by begging, but there it was the weather and the climate in that really prevented that becoming a widespread activity. Very sparsely populated. You couldn’t just simply there weren’t many forests, especially in central Tibet. But in general, the fewer the responsibilities one has, the happier one becomes, the more time one can devote to religious practices. Since we all have a lot of work to do, it’s other things being equal, it’s probably better we’re ordained than not ordained.
So for that reason, here the author mentions that it is appropriate that I always seek ordination. And then in verse forty nine, in that way I shall I shall seize my enemy with my hands. I shall seize this deceptive thief in ambush. I shall seize this deceiver disguised as me. Oh, self-grasping, sever this knot.
So having gone through all the disadvantages of self-cherishing mixed with self grasping, in verse forty nine, we make the determination to seize this enemy, this enemy of self-cherishing with my hands, and seize this deceptive thief in ambush. Deceptive because our self-cherishing attitude appears to work or be directed to our own interests, but it’s not. And it’s a thief because it steals our happiness. So we’ve played fair with this thief from beginningless time, given this thief the benefit of the doubt and regarded others as the enemy and not this attitude of self-cherishing. So now we’re gonna use any means whatsoever to get rid of it.
We’re gonna seize this thief in ambush. We’ll wait. And when we see self-cherishing arising in our mental continuum, we’ll ambush it. Seize it by the throat. I shall seize this deceiver disguised as me or disguised as one who acts in my best interests, as being very near to me and acting to help me and so on.
Because appears that way, but it doesn’t actually exist in that way. It’s a deceiver. So here we make the strong determination I’m going to seize this self-cherishing attitude. self-cherishing, self grasping is this severed knot. And also self grasping. Here we have these two attitudes, self-cherishing and self grasping.
And they’re the twin enemy that we face. One prevents us from generating great compassion. The other prevents us from generating wisdom. So there are these two obstacles that we need to overcome. And we need to sever all doubt on these issues that they’re the enemy.
There is no external enemy, but these two are the enemy. Now, Yamāntaka, turn the wheel of action above. Wrothfully turn it three times above. Your legs parted are the two truths. Your eyes open are method and wisdom.
Here, Yamāntaka. Yamāntaka is a term which means the enemy of the Lord of death. Yamāntaka is has a wrathful appearance. It’s the wrathful appearance of wisdom. If wisdom has a wrathful countenance, then it’s Yamāntaka.
Yama refers to the Lord of death. Yamāntaka refers to the enemy of the Lord of death. The lord of death is really talking about our uncontrolled death. The fact that we die beyond our control. The fact that we experience all manner of unpleasant experience beyond our control and so forth.
That we need to overcome. What is gonna overcome that enemy, our uncontrolled death and our uncontrolled negative experience in the present, what is gonna overcome that is the enemy of that, the destroyer of the lord of death, and that is wisdom. So here we’re saying, now, Yama Taker, turn the wheel of action above. In other words, now I am gonna put into action wisdom, which comprehends things just as they are. And wrathfully turn it three times above.
So in turning the wheel of action is this, in a way we’re saying, take this weapon of wisdom. And in fact, when we see the Bodhisattva of wisdom depicted, we see that he has a sword, the sword of wisdom above his head. There’s one out here. Oh, just in there. Okay.
That’s Mañjuśrī, the bodhisattva of wisdom. Sorry? Oh, yes. Right in the corner there. Oh, we probably can’t see it very well there.
But there he’s holding a sword of wisdom. The sword of wisdom which cuts, severs ignorance at its root. So here we’re asking Yamāntaka to turn the wheel of action above. We’re asking Mañjuśrī, Jampalyang. Jampalyang, Mañjuśrī means the soft spoken one because that being teaches the nature of reality with all sixty qualities of speech present.
Sixty qualities of speech, there are different. In the Indian tradition, there are enumerations of everything. And even when they talk about someone who is teaching a particular tradition, then there are even such things as the enumeration of the different styles of speech that can be employed to talk about something. So here, Mañjuśrī or the soft spoken one or the one who Jampel. Jam means smooth.
Pell is glorious. Young is voice. The smooth, glorious, voiced one who teaches in sixty ways. It’s in the prayer that we have. Does anyone remember that?
It teaches in sixty ways of a father for his loving son. It’s in the prayer book. Maybe on page The Preethu Mañjuśrī. Prayer to Mañjuśrī on page number eight. Homage to my guru and protector Mañjuśrī who holds in his heart a scriptural text, symbolically seeing all things as they are.
Whose intelligence shines forth as the sun, unclouded by delusions or traces of ignorance, who teaches in sixty ways. That sixty ways there are the sixty aspects of speech that are mastered by this particular hisattva. And further down, who wields the sword of wisdom, hewing down suffering wherever it sprouts. So similar to that, here we have, we’re requesting Yamāntaka to turn the wheel of action above. Here, the wheel of action that destroys ignorance and wrathfully turn it three times above.
A degree of wrath is needed there because our self-cherishing attitude is not easily dislodged. We may need wrathful means to help us overcome our self-cherishing. Turn it three times above also means first turning is we’re using relative bodhicitta, second turning is ultimate bodhicitta, and the third turning is the union of both relative and ultimate bodhicitta. No. That’s Sanskrit.
Sanskrit. Shinje Yama. Shinje is like the lord of death. Shinje, the one who destroys the lord of death. Yamāntaka.
In Sanskrit, it may be a bit easier. Yama. Has anyone heard of the term yama? Yama means the lord of death. Yamāntaka is the one that is opposed to the lord of death.
Chidag also is the Tibetan a Tibetan form of Yama. Chi Dag really means lord of death. Chi is death in Tibetan. Dag is the lord lord of death. Oh, it’s it’s yama.
There’s two sections there. I think it’s yama plus antaka. Yama and antaka. Now because you have what’s what’s called a sandhi, between those two Sanskrit words, when you join them together, the vowels also are combined. They are combined.
They become one, but they strengthen one another. So that second technical point there, the second vowel is a long vowel, so it really should be pronounced Yamāntaka. But in a way, it doesn’t matter. The Tibetans the Tibetans have the same problem as Westerners when dealing with Sanskrit. And they used to, of course, Tibetans were very strict in translating everything from Sanskrit into Tibetan and doing it as accurately as they could, and often copying down great lengths of Sanskrit and even including it in the Tibetan texts as part of the process of translating it.
And then of course with mantra, with the interest in the practice of mantra in Tibet, of course they simply took the Sanskrit words themselves and transliterated them into Tibetan. And like the mantras that we have, like Om Mani Padme Hum, which is the mantra of compassion, which means om jewel in the lotus hum. The lotus meaning the heart. So we have a We have a lotus there with eight petals that refers to our heart, which has the eight major channels emerging from the central wheel. In the center of that we have a jewel.
That’s what is meant by that mantra Om Mani Padme Hum. In sense it means the compassion in the center of our heart. Om compassion in the center of our heart hum. Om compassion in the center of our heart hum. We recite this and we should then reflect on generating compassion and stabilizing it so that it’s beyond hatred and anger and so forth.
But these mantras, when they were translated or transliterated into Tibetan, they’d often get changed a bit. So instead of the Tibetan saying om mani pad me hum, they’d say om mani peme hum, and so on. There’s many examples of this. In a way, it’s not necessarily the literal correctness of of these practices. It’s the motivation that goes behind them.
There’s a story of in a drought in India at one stage, a monk visited his mother who was in a drought region, famine region, and he gave her this mantra in order to convert this mantra was said to be able to convert stones into food. And he told her the mantra and then he left. And the mother then applied the mantra and managed to survive during the drought. The son came back later and said, you been saying the mantra? And she said, oh yes.
And she recited the mantra too and she said, no, no, no, that’s not what you say. You say it like this. And so she relearned the mantra and then it didn’t make it wasn’t that useful to her. He came back later and she found that she really starving and asked what happened. She was saying that the first time said it in this way and it worked, later it didn’t the way you said for me to say it.
The point being is that it’s really the motivation by which one says the mantra and the faith that one has that the mantra is gonna work more necessarily than the literal meaning of the mantra. The mantras themselves are simply Very condensed. They’re very condensed presentations of the teachings. Just summarize down into very the simplest or the the bare minimum that they can be summarized down to. Such as om mani padme hum, om jewel in the lotus hum, which is referring to referring to compassion.
So here we’re entreating Yamāntaka to to wield the sword of wisdom, turn it three times above his head. And also Yamāntaka, his two legs symbolized of two truths. He stands on these two legs, supported by these two legs, which are the two truths, the relative truth and the ultimate truth. So the right leg bent relative bodhicitta, and the left leg outstretched is ultimate bodhicitta. And the two eyes of Yamāntaka, your eyes open are method and wisdom.
So the two eyes of Yamāntaka refer to method and wisdom or compassion and wisdom. So here we’re entreating Yamāntaka to destroy our self-cherishing and self grasping. Bare your fangs. Bare your fangs of the four strengths. Really what we’re telling ourselves is, may I generate compassion and wisdom to overcome self-cherishing?
The way I’m gonna do this is by applying the four strengths or the four four opponent powers. The four opponent powers are firstly the strength of the support, which is taking refuge. Then it’s the strength of repudiating our past negative actions. And then it’s the strength of committing ourselves never to commit those actions again in future. And the fourth strength or opponent power is engaging in actions, positive actions, to to generate merit to overcome our past non virtuous actions.
So bear your fangs are the four strengths. So, again, within the wrathful aspect the Bodhisattva of wisdom, said to have four fangs, and those four fangs represent the four opponent powers which are taking refuge, generating regret, making a firm commitment not to commit any negative actions again in future, and then practicing virtue in order to atone for those past non virtuous actions. And this is symbolized in that way. Bear your fangs of the four strengths and strike this enemy of self-cherishing. You are also the king of mantra who oppresses the enemy.
Also, you, Yamāntaka, are the king of mantra or the king of skillful methods of overcoming this negative mental attitude of self-cherishing. Then in verse fifty two, we are out of control in the forest of Samsāra, pursued by the weapons of our negative actions. So really, that’s our situation in a nutshell. We are out of control in the forest of Samsāra, pursued by the weapons of our negative actions. We live in a jungle, the jungle of saṃsāra itself.
Samsāra is our current mind body. Within our mind body, all manner of experience arises. All number of weapons of our past that we’ve fashioned from our past actions return to us. And this is all, this process is beyond our control. Even when we sit and wish that it didn’t occur, I wish it would all just go away.
All this negative experience may just fade away in the present moment. Of course, just wishing in that way doesn’t mean that it goes away. So therefore we see it’s beyond our control. And so this is our current situation. This current situation is totally unsatisfactory.
It’s unsatisfactory for us and every other being that exists. We have to get beyond this situation where we suffer uncontrolled death and all manner of negative states arise within us. This we cannot tolerate any longer. We have to root out the cause of this. So therefore it says, subdue this brutal one called the evil demon of self grasping.
So all our experience, the limitations that we suffer from are coming from self grasping. And self grasping associated with self-cherishing. This one we have to subdue, this internal enemy, this brutal one. This self-cherishing is absolutely brutal because from beginning of time it has destroyed our happiness. Called the evil demon of self grasping.
In fact, it’s worse than any external enemy. Because external enemies, at least one has a chance of doing something, minimizing their negative effect on us. But this enemy is an internal enemy that we still have not fully identified. And this enemy degenerates what is holy, destroys what is holy, and ruins ourselves and others. So there’s no greater enemy than self grasping and self-cherishing.
So subdue him, subdue him, wrathful enemy of the Lord of death. So now again, make a request to the enemy of the Lord of death, Wisdom itself. And wisdom there’s two types of wisdom that I talked about here in a sense. There’s wisdom associated with relative bodhicitta and ultimate bodhicitta. In other words, there’s wisdom, the wisdom comprehending the ultimate state of existence and the compassion that takes into account the situation of all sentient beings.
So those two things are able to destroy this self-cherishing and self grasping. So therefore we say, subdue him, subdue him, wrathful, enemy of the Lord of death. Beat him, beat him, strike the heart of the enemy self. Dance on the head of this ruinous conception, slay the heart of this slaughtering enemy self. So figuratively speaking, we’re asking wisdom to destroy the self-cherishing within.
So dance on the head of this ruinous conception. This ruinous conception referring to self grasping. Slay. Here slay meaning absolutely and completely destroy the heart of the slaughtering enemy self. Here slaughtering refers to self-cherishing.
Enemy self to self grasping. The heart of this slaughtering enemy self, the heart there referring to the union of self grasping and self-cherishing. So we’re employing imploring Yamāntaka to wield the sword of wisdom, wield that weapon so that we destroy these internal enemies. Then further, great deity, produce miraculous powers. Bind fast this enemy.
Great lord over death, please liberate us. Destroy, destroy. Sever the knot of grasping. Sever this knot of self grasping. It was quite wrathful, the means employed here to overcome self-cherishing.
So really fifty four is just repeating the theme of verse fifty three. It’s continuing on. Yes. From fifty three. Yep.
And then fifty five, come forth great deity, wrathful enemy of the Lord of death. This sack of five poisons of karma and affliction is stuck in the mire of samsaric action. So again, we implore Yamāntaka to come forth. This sack of five poisons of karma and affliction is our current mind and body. It’s a bit like a sac.
I guess mainly because our body is a bit like a sac. Sack of five poisons. Five poisons are ignorance, attachment, anger, pride, and jealousy. So our current mind body is a sack that’s holding these five things, ignorance, attachment, anger, jealousy, and pride. A sack full of the five poisons.
And being so, then it’s It is also under the sway of karma and affliction itself. karma and affliction karma here refers to our intention, and intention moment by moment. And affliction refers to all the other unsuitable negative, unsuitable states that we experience. The five poisons there are all types of affliction. This sac of five poisons of karma and affliction, our current mind and body, is stuck in the mire of samsaric action.
It’s this bag is it’s a little bit like a Pilgrim’s Progress. On that first plane, the Pilgrim is wandering along and he comes to the Slough of Despond and he gets stuck in the mud. In a way, that’s where we are. We’re stuck in a mire of samsaric action. We’re stuck in worldly actions, actions that are contaminated, selfish, and so forth.
And this is like a mire, like a bog or a quicksand. And it’s very difficult for us to extract ourselves from it. Our habits are so strong, even when we see the danger, we try and get out. We’re very hard to pull our feet out one after the other. One, we get one foot out, the other one gets in deeper.
We get the other foot out, and other one gets in deeper. It’s like that. Our situation is something like that. The only way in a sense we can extract ourselves is by finding someone that’s outside of the mire. And that’s what refuge is.
Refuge is finding someone that’s not stuck in the mire of Samsāra. So here then we make further entreaties to the lord of the enemy of the lord of death, to Yamāntaka. Cut it loose. Cut it loose. Separate me from it right now.
Get rid of this sack of karma and affliction, completely permeated by the five poisons, which is my current state. Cut it. Use that sword of wisdom to release me from that in the present moment. Then in verse number fifty six, though we are carried to suffering in the three bad migrations, not knowing the terror, we pursue its cause. So even so at present, we’re carried along to suffering within the different abodes in which we can be reborn, not really understanding the terror of these negative migrations being reborn in hell and so forth, we pursue the cause of going going to hell.
Therefore, we should dance on the head of this ruinous conception, slay the heart of this slaughtering enemy self. And then fifty seven, we have little effort for for establishing our highest expectations. We have many activities we never carry to their end. So in terms of even though we have high expectations, expectations, even though we hope to attain liberation and so on, actually, we don’t put much effort into establishing those goals. Our effort is pretty small.
Our expectations are great. And even then, we have many activities. We’re engaged in many activities, but we don’t carry them through to their end. The reason for this is because of our self-cherishing and our self grasping. So therefore, dance on the head of this ruinous conception.
Slay the heart of this slaughtering enemy self. In fact, rip out the heart of this slaughtering enemy self of this self-cherishing. We have great desire for happiness, but do not accumulate its causes. We have little desire for hardship, but ferociously pursue our evil desires. In all of that, we really do seek happiness.
But even though we seek happiness, we’re not engaged in generating the cause of happiness. Our normal state is just that we always want happiness, but we’re lazy in putting into practice what we should practice. And therefore, we don’t accumulate the causes for our future happiness. In the past, we haven’t accumulated the causes for happiness, so we are not experiencing happiness at present. And yet even though at present we have a great desire for happiness, we’re still not accumulating its causes in the present.
Even though we understand the causes for happiness to be love and compassion, we don’t practice love and compassion sufficiently in the present moment. We have little desire for hardship, but ferociously pursue our evil desires. Hardship we veer away from. And instead instead of actually engaging in in hardship, here hardship meaning the practices that begin to overcome our self-cherishing. On the other hand, we ferociously pursue our self-cherishing and all the evil desires that are based on it.
So dance on the head of this ruinous conception, slay the heart of this slaughtering enemy self. We have great desire for new friends. We get bored with our old friends. We’re always looking for new friends. And once they we’ve had them for a while, we get a bit bored and we again seek new friends again.
We have great desire for new friends, but lacking consideration, friendship does not endure. Our old friends we don’t have enough consideration for, so even our old friendships tend to die away. And then with out of desire, we’re looking for new friends. We have great desire for food, but frantically seek these through stealing. Also, we use the wrong methods to cater for our desires.
This also occurs actually, in our situation where food is plentiful, we this might not be so noticeable, but in other places where food is hard to come by and one has a minimum amount to go to to live on, but is often hungry, then that desire for food can lead one to stealing it and seeking various ways of attaining food and so on. This is another instance of our attachment. In the west, there’s probably attachment more for other things, that if we want them when they’re not there, we frantically seek to gain these through stealing. So dance on the head of this ruinous conception, slay the heart of this slaughtering enemy self. We are expert in flattery and innuendo, but suffer great despair.
Though cautious with our hoard of money, we are bound by avarice. So we become expert in knowing what to say to others in order to win their friendship, and what to imply and how to imply it in order to please others, and so forth. But in the end, we suffer from great despair from our superficial behavior, because there’s nothing really much behind it, only our self-cherishing. If in fact we’re motivated to help others through cherishing them, then that would never end in great despair. But our self-cherishing necessarily means that our actions are not going to bring the result that we desire.
So then also cautious with our hoard of money, we are bound by avarice. So we’re what money we do have, we don’t like to share it. And we are bound by our greed and miserliness to it. So so we should dance on the head of this ruinous conception and slay the heart of this slaughtering enemy self. We have done little for others, but we greatly brag.
This is also internal as well as external. We often think that to ourselves, I’ve helped this person in so many ways. I’ve done this and I’ve done that. Even if it’s a type of bragging to ourselves. But actually, we’ve done very little, but we greatly brag.
At times, it it’s we say it to others just how much we’ve done for someone else. We exaggerate and so forth. But, actually, we’ve done not a great deal, and we have no accomplishments. Yet we have great conceit of what we think we’ve attained. Actually, we’ve attained very little, but we have great pride and thinking that we’ve achieved a great amount.
Where this is coming from, again, is from this self-cherishing attitude. So we dance on the head of this ruin of conception and slay the heart of this slaughtering enemy self. We have many masters, but take little responsibility for our words of commitment. We have many students, but do little for their benefit or care. So again, we have many who we’ve sought instruction on this and that in the past.
And then, in dependence on that, we’ve said made many commitments that we would do this and do that, but we take little responsibility for whatever we’ve said. And similarly, we have many students. Also, have students, and we don’t think about their benefit or care, what would be useful to them and so forth. So again, that is coming about through this self-cherishing attitude, just being concerned with our own situation. So this, we should destroy.
So we dance on the head of this ruinous conception, slay the heart of this slaughtering enemy self. This could almost be made into a sort of a an opera. And in fact, the Tibetans do do this. They have many different types of opera where they have people dancing out these types of art. Dance of victory over self-cherishing.
So that would truly be a great dance to engage in. So sixty three, we have many commitments, but little practice of benefit to others. We have great fame, yet when examined, even spirits and the divine are embarrassed. So we have many commitments. We’ve in the past, we’ve taken all number of practices, and so we’re loaded down with commitments.
But having pledged practice all these different things, there’s very little that we do to benefit others. In fact, everything we should do, everything we do should be done to benefit others. But when we look at our practice, it’s basically most, if not all, is there to benefit ourselves. And then the danger arises of having great fame, that having a name and so forth. But when we examine, even the spirits themselves are embarrassed at the fame that we may have and their lack of practice, let alone the divine beings.
So again, this is coming from self-cherishing. So dance on the head of this ruinous conception, slay the heart of this slaughtering enemy self. We have heard few teachings, but greatly boast of our description of emptiness. We have little knowledge of scripture, but apply that to everything. So we haven’t really studied a great deal in general.
But when it comes to these subtle important matters like emptiness, we’re we’re there first in the queue to explain what emptiness is and to boast of our of our clarity and so forth in these issues. We have little knowledge of scripture, but what little we have, we we apply it to everything in the sense that we quote. The few quotes that we may have, we try and apply them to everything because of our self-cherishing, because we want that type of recognition and so on. So in other words, our practice is pretty miserable, but we’re through our self-cherishing, We really want recognition even though it’s not due. So dance on the head of this ruinous conception, slay the heart of this slaughtering enemy self.
We have many attendants, but but no one takes responsibility. We have many masters, but lack support or protection. So even though this may not occur in the present, it’s occurred in the past, it occurs in future. We have many attendants or those that are helping us, those who are officially helping us. But when it comes down to it, no one’s taking responsibility to do anything, so nothing gets done.
Also, have many masters. And although we have many teachers, those in high positions and so forth, when in need, we really find ourselves lacking in support or protection, that they’re unable to help us or even unwilling to help us. The reason why this comes about is again from self-cherishing, because we’re so focused on just our own situation. Even our teachers are unable to help us. So dance on the head of this ruinous conception, slay the heart of this slaughtering enemy self.
We have high status, but our qualities are less than a spirit. We are great gurus, but our attachment and hatred are coarser than than a demon. So similarly, even though we may from time to time have high status. Actually, when we look inside and see what the state of our mind is, our qualities are less than an than an evil spirit. And even at times if we were regarded as being great teachers, actually, our attachment and hatred, our inner state is so rough and coarse that it’s even coarser than the mental the mind stream of a demon.
So dance on the head of this ruinous conception. Slay the heart of this slaughtering enemy self. And we have high views, but our behavior is worse than a dog’s. We have many qualities, but cast to the wind their foundation. So even though we pronounce many high views, philosophies, and so forth, and practices, when we look at our own behavior, especially our inner behavior, what’s manifesting moment to moment in our mind stream, it’s worse than a dog.
It is just hatred, animosity, resentment, jealousy, deceit, pretension, and so forth, one after the other. And even though we develop certain good qualities, we’ve developed them in the past and they manifest now in the present. When we ask are we gonna maintain these qualities, actually, we’re casting to the wind their foundation. They won’t occur again according to the state of our mind at present. So we should dance on the head of this ruinous conception, slay the heart of this slaughtering enemy self.
Every hatred and desire enters our inner being. Everything crooked and deceitful, we meaning meaninglessly attribute to others. So from our side, we have the full catastrophe. All the negative states are there manifest or unmanifest within our mental continuum. On the other hand, everything crooked, negative, deceitful, and so forth, we blame or we accuse others of having.
We blame on others. The reason we do that is because of our self-cherishing. Without self-cherishing, we would not do it. We would be able to get on with other beings and see their good qualities because every being has good qualities. No matter how where they exist in the universe, every other being has good qualities.
The fact that we impute this on others, everything crooked and deceitful we impute to exist for other beings, is really done through our own preconceptions, our own self-cherishing attitude. Without that, then we begin to see the good qualities of others and rejoice in them and try and help others and so on. We wear saffron robes, but make request to guardian spirit protectors. We make vows, but our behavior conforms with the actions of demons. Even those who are ordained and wear saffron robes even use methods such as making requests to guardian spirit protectors.
Here within Buddhism, guardian protect the spirits are accepted to exist. They live in different places, and they have a certain capacity to help humans and so forth if if they’re made offerings to and so on. So as the author is saying, even the ordained, after having taken refuge in a fully awakened being, the Buddha, even after having done that, taking refuge in an ultimate refuge, then seek out spirits that maybe abide in the world in order to get their help for various ends, which really goes against their fundamental practice. And that is done through self-cherishing. And we take that vows.
Not only do we take ordained vows, but we take the vows of a bodhisattva and so on. But even though we have vows, we commit ourselves like in a bodhisattva vows, one of the vows is that we never lose love for any being. Yet in the minute of taking that, we start developing negative thoughts towards others, thoughts of hate and resentment towards other beings. So therefore we take vows, a behavior conforms with the actions of demons. From a Buddhist point of view, the demons are simply being to take a certain rebirth at a particular time.
They’re not, of course, in that state permanently because this is the nature of saṃsāra. But the way that we behave is even worse in the way that we take vows and do not we take vows to benefit other beings, but actually, internally, we we cultivate negative thoughts of other beings. The dance on the head of this ruinous conception, slay the heart of this slaughtering enemy self. Our bliss and happiness is bestowed by the divine, but we make offerings to ferocious spirits. Our guide bestows dharma on us, but we deceive the Three Jewels.
So continuing from the previous verse. Actually, our bliss and happiness is bestowed by the divine. In other words, through source of all virtue are the fully awakened beings. And it’s through virtue, their example of virtue, which we seek to emulate, that our happiness arises. But even though we accept that superficially, on the other hand, there are those who go and make offerings to ferocious spirits to achieve their desired end.
And our guide, the Buddha bestows Dharma on us or teaches us Dharma, teaches us the way of virtue. But even though we accept the teachings on how to practice virtue, we go off and practice non virtue continuously. And in that way, we deceive the Three Jewels. So again, dance on the head of this ruinous conception, slay the heart of this slaughtering enemy self. And though we always live in monasteries, we are carried away by distraction.
This advice here is particularly directed, of course, to the ordained. Even when we live in monasteries, we’re distracted. There’s a story of a Zen monk once who had to go and ring the bell at noon, and he was there. And as he was about to ring the bell, he looked over the fence, and there was this very attractive young woman walked by. And he missed ringing the bell, and his teacher came up behind him and hit him with a stick.
He got such a shock that he died of fright. After that, that teacher gained quite a reputation for his wrathful methods and was able to tame many people. Oh, I think So even living in monasteries, it’s possible to to be carried away by distraction, little on living outside of monasteries. In fact, we just take out this current mind. We take it if we go to a monastery and live.
It’s our current mind that’s there. And pretty much the way it is now is the way it is in a monastery as well. Why one is living in a in a monastery is to train the mind to gradually overcome these negative these faults of the mind. We request holy Dharma in temples, but instead practice the art of divination. So even living in monasteries and so forth, we request teachings on the Dharma on on the path.
But then having those teachings, instead we practice the art of divination, like mo and so forth, which is using dice and their various texts, and you can practice that. To some degree, there is benefit. One can help others. There’s a story of a few years ago in in Nepal, there was this this climber who was lost for about three weeks. Remember that story?
They went wandering. It was somewhere near the Annapurna and the chocolate bar. Yeah. And I think it his sister that came from Brisbane, went to Kathmandu, and on the way from the airport, she was with this other westerner, and she was heard of the story. And so this other person suggested, well, look, why don’t you go to this Tibetan lama?
He does mo. He might be able to help you. A mow here is, again, done there’s various ways that it can be done. And so she thought about it for a while, and I don’t think she went there straight away. They tried with helicopters and so forth.
They were searching in different areas with no luck. And then she thought of this Lama, and as a last resort, she decided to go there. And she requested, and he he then checked on a map, and he’s saying, oh, yes. You should look right there. And so then they said, oh, well, we’ll send a helicopter there.
And they sent a helicopter helicopter there, and they flew up and down a few times. And they I think they saw him. He was at a cave, and he was standing at the entrance of a cave waving. And so they were able to find him, and he hadn’t eaten he was eating chocolate for three weeks, wasn’t it, Laurie? He had one yeah.
He made it stretch for three weeks. He was just skin and bone when they found him, and he was very lucky to survive. But that was in a way, it was lucky she went to him And through the art of divination, she was able to save her brother. A little bit like I Ching. Yeah.
They’re different methods. Some use dice, other use a rosary. Some use mirrors, that is brass mirrors, which are set in like that, but they’re polished quite a lot. In fact, I used to visit this woman in South India called Amitābha. Little old woman, she would have been in her mid seventies.
She used to do this practice. She had a table in front of her and she had these merits. They were about this size. She put them into the bowls of rice, and you’d go and make a khatag offering, she’d sit there and she’d do a practice and say some mantras. And then she’d ask you, okay.
What’s your what’s your question? They could ask her, and she would look into these brass mirrors and she would see things. And, basically, what she would see were mountains, trees, clouds, whether there was wind there or not, like this, these were her main main topics of vision. And then she would say what she’d say. If you asked about, you know, how would that project go, you know, might be something like, oh, I see you walking up the side of a mountain, but you stopped, and you’re sitting under a tree.
It’s a mosambi tree. Mosambi are these orange trees, sort of related to oranges. Oh, and it’s windy. And he said, oh, not so good. You’re only getting halfway up the mountain.
You’re not gonna, you know, complete that particular project and so on. But she was great. I used to very much enjoy going and visiting and just talking with her. Oh, it was just an an offering. Yeah.
I offer twenty rupees. It was about a dollar. What? Well, often I would go there actually for other people. They want someone to interpret, so I used to find out all these interesting things.
In your will, the body’s good. Oh, they weren’t that interesting. Oh, if it’s mixed with, you know Food and vegetables. You’re right. Cherishing others, it really helps a little bit.
But in general, just being involved in the art of divination, it’s qualified by self-cherishing, and it’s not much use to us. So then we should dance on the head of this ruinous conception, slay the heart of this slaughtering enemy self. We forsake ethics and liberation and hold to the life of a householder. We pour away the water of bliss and happiness and pursue further suffering. So even at times, we take up ordination and then give back our vows and forsake ethics and liberation to hold to the life of a householder.
That’s not a very auspicious thing to do. We pour away the water of bliss and happiness and pursue further suffering. So we must be careful that what we’re doing in our existence is moving closer to liberation, and we should establish ethics and practice ethics no matter we’re whether we’re ordained or lay, because this will be the foundation of our eventual attainment of liberation. But within that, the main thing is changing our mind. What we do need to do above all is to change our current mind.
Then we forsake the ford of liberation and roam to the ends of the earth. We have found this precious human body, but instead establish hellish realm. So the ford of liberation is really this path, the pure mind that acts as the inner path to the state of perfect happiness. So instead of developing the inner path, we turn to the external world and roam to the ends of the earth traveling here and there on business and pleasure, still in a state where we have not found the path as yet. So in a sense there, we were we’re forsaking the ford or the entry to liberation.
And the entry to liberation is the development.