Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 108-minute session, Ven Jamyang explores emptiness and bodhicitta—the final two principal aspects of the path. Using multiple analogies, he demonstrates how phenomena lack inherent existence: the chariot (existing only by imputation), a pizza on television (appearing unreal), and spatial concepts like here/there. For beginners, he stresses analytical meditation using Candrakīrti’s chariot reasoning rather than resting meditation. He then develops bodhicitta, emphasizing that all sentient beings have shown us unconditional kindness and that every happiness—from food to enlightenment—depends entirely on others. He contrasts this with our habitual self-centeredness and distinguishes arhats (who achieve personal liberation) from Buddhas (awakened by the wish to free all beings). Student questions on emptiness and the arhat-Buddha distinction close the session.
File metadata (for organising)
File: session 6 GPT three principle aspects of the path 2.mp3
UUID: b1850b43-1904-43f3-b0d2-c4b8de091342
Teacher: Ven Jamyang
Collection: Presenting the Path (Ven Jamyang)
Date: 2009 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 107.8 minutes
Words: ~8,611
So again, Geshe is instructing us to give us a good motivation. Geshe, again, explains to us that the quality of our actions, they’re being or not depends on our motivation. And in the same way, again, the quality of our actions, of our spiritual actions and activities, they’re being Mahāyāna activities or not, again, depends again on quality of our motivation. So in order to make them Mahāyāna, then we give rise to the right motivation, the Mahāyāna motivation itself. So again, we give rise to that intention of accomplishing the welfare of all beings.
And in order to be able to accomplish that, to that one oneself may attain enlightenment. And in this way, we give ourselves good motivation. So and so so yesterday, the Geshe was was teaching mainly about the the principal practice of of of the beings of smaller scope. So the what what is their object of attainment? What is their goal?
What is the the what is the object their object of abandonment? Whatever it is that they have to get rid of, and and what is their practice. And in order to attain to attain, you know, definite goodness, you know, real real goodness. So today, Geshe will then go on to talk about the path of the beings of middle scope and greater scope, and in this way, approaching the the next two main topics of the Three Principal Aspects of the Path, which is then emptiness and bodhicitta. So again, Geshe la is then saying the path the beings of smaller scope who who aim at attaining a high rebirth in the future life, they have to do so by engaging in such practices as the the ethical conduct, which is the abandonment of the ten non virtues.
And in order to be able to accomplish that, it is essential that one has developed an awareness, a mindfulness of death, impermanence and death. So I guess I was gonna say it’s important that we that we know that. It’s important that we understand that. And and and having studied this and understood it, we practice accordingly, then this this practices that Geshe-la has been teaching us yesterday, again, they will lead us to the development of renunciation. Again, without renunciation, without having renunciation, again, one will not have that genuine wish to be free, to be liberated from the entirety of cyclic existence.
Okay. So Geshe la was quoting was quoting a verse and explaining in more simple language the the meaning of the verse. The verse is telling us there’s a couple of verses that are telling us that one has to contemplate all the freedoms and opportunities of this precious human rebirth that we have, all the very the great advantages that we have, one has to contemplate how rare and difficult it is to find such a precious rebirth as this one we have. And one has to strive then not to waste this precious opportunity, to make it meaningful, to make the best out of it. In order to do so, one also has to contemplate that one will not remain long in this life.
It will not last. And on top of that, one also contemplates and these are instructions that we must reflect on this topic. Time and again, we also must contemplate the infallibility of actions and the results, the law of karma. We must contemplate the the fact that from negative actions, what ensues is suffering. From positive actions, happiness only.
And we must gain an understanding, we must develop this knowledge, we must reflect, contemplate these topics again and again. And by contemplating these topics in this manner, what we what the the next few lines of the verse are telling us is that one will eventually generate a a dislike for the entirety of cyclic existence. One will one will one’s attachment to cyclic existence, to saṃsāra, will diminish, and will eventually generate a dislike for cyclic existence. And eventually, one one generates the full wish to be free from cyclic existence. And one and when one has that wish to be free from the entirety of cyclic existence, and when one is wishing that both day and night at all times, then that is the mark of having developed renunciation.
So Geshe la was saying, it is very important to contemplate the to understand the the the the great value and importance of this precious human rebirth that we have with all the the freedoms and the opportunities. And so I was gonna say this is a very rare attainment, and not every human being not being has has a a precious human rebirth, a a human rebirth which is endowed with all the freedoms and opportunities. And Geshe la is in saying so it is it is it is important because it is on the basis of this human rebirth and that we have the freedoms and opportunities, on this human body and the other of the humans the freedoms and opportunities that one can practice the Dharma. It is on the basis of this human rebirth with all the freedoms and opportunities that one then engages in any of the parts of the three types of beings of small, middling, and greater scope. So again, Geshe lah is explaining in order to attain a precious human rebirth, one needs to guard the one’s ethical conduct purely.
So one needs to engage in the ethical conduct, which is the abandon of the ten non virtues. One on top of that, one needs one needs to engage in such actions as generosity and so forth, generosity, charity, and so on, and one needs to make pure spiritual prayers. Those are said to be the causes, the main causes that lead to the attainment of a precious human rebirth. So again, a a person human rebirth like the one like this one doesn’t come by merely praying for it, asking for it, wishful thinking. One has to engage in the practice of morality.
One has to engage in in in acts of generosity and so forth, and one has to engage in in in pure aspirational prayers. We can see how the causes, these causes that lead to a human rebirth, they are very difficult to gather. And so we can also understand how very rare such a precious human rebirth is because the causes that deal with are rare, are difficult, or are difficult to accomplish. We can see how rare it is. And also also then the next the next clause of of of this verse Geshe-la is working with again is saying is telling us that there is not there is not much time.
So, again, even if we manage to attain another human rebirth in the future, again, it won’t last more than a hundred years or so. So, again, it it won’t last. And then again, the last two topics of those verses are saying again, the infallibility of actions and the results, of cause and effect, and the sufferings of cyclic existence. So one needs to again to contemplate that all the experiences of saṃsāra, be they happy or be they painful, they are all the result of karma, the result of actions. Again, from virtuous actions, what the result that follows are happy experiences, happiness.
And from non virtuous actions, from negative actions, the result that follows are suffering, painful experiences. Also needs to understand that. So contemplating these these different topics time and again, eventually we will come to understand the importance of making this life meaningful, of taking advantage of the time we have. Because so far, we haven’t accomplished any lasting happiness, any stable lasting happiness. Even though we might have accomplished some causes that lead to a happy rebirth in the future, we haven’t accomplished yet any lasting happiness at all.
So because we do not have attained or developed any lasting happiness, any stable lasting happiness, then what it means is that we are still completely immersed in the three types of suffering. We are enveloped by the three types of suffering. We experience all sorts of undesirable experiences. We meet with all sorts of undesirable experiences. We do not get what we want, we meet instead with what we do not want, and we experience all sorts of pains and sufferings.
We experience the so called suffering of suffering, and on top of that we experience the all-pervasive component of suffering and the suffering of change. We hold on to those things which are all pervasive compounded suffering and the suffering of change. We hold to those things, we call them happiness, and in actuality, are in the very nature of suffering. And and yet, we we live on striving to obtain those things as if they were happiness. And then if one contemplates in these lines, deeply enough and long enough, then eventually one will develop that dislike for One will stop being attached to psychoanalysis.
And one will come to realize that it doesn’t matter if one attains a human body, or a godly body, a heavenly body, or if one is born as a hungry ghost, an animal, in the hell realm. Again, all all six types of migrating beings are completely immersed in the three types of suffering. There is nothing but suffering in the entirety of cyclic existence. So again, by contemplating these lines, one comes to realize, comes to develop this understanding that again Samsāra is not good. There’s only suffering here.
There’s nothing good here in Samsāra. And I must must I must free myself from it. So, again, comes to see the entirety of cyclic existence and regarded as if it was poison itself, and one will see that there is no way to attain happiness whilst caught up in cyclic existence. So one and then one starts to wonder, one starts to to seek for a way out. And and there is a way out.
One one has to start to seek for the way out. And the way out of cyclic existence is the realization of emptiness. Realizing emptiness, emptiness is realizing the lack of inherent existence of phenomena, the lack of of phenomena existing in the way that it appears to exist, whatever it may be. Realizing the lack of inherent existence of oneself. When we were talking about the precious human rebirth, it’s realizing that that precious human rebirth itself, that precious human body itself, again, does not exist in the way that it appears to exist.
There’s nothing in the entirety of cyclic existence that exists in the way it appears to exist. Everything lacks inherent existence. Everything lacks existing existence in the way it appears to existing in the way that appears to exist. Things only exist as as merely imputed. And guess I wasn’t just saying how difficult it is.
We can see how difficult it is to realize that. And we don’t we we we find it hard to to to even start thinking about to to start to accept it. We think, how how could I possibly realize that things do not exist in the way they appear to exist. I’m seeing those. I’m looking at them right now.
They do exist. I exist. These things exist. I’m looking at them. I’m seeing they’re right in front of me.
How can they say that they do not exist in the way they appear to exist? So again, we we feel we feel we we fall sick. We feel pain. We feel hunger. We feel pleasure.
And so one how can you say that that that do not exist, I do exist? So we can see how how difficult it is to realize, to understand what this whole thing about emptiness is all about. So again, one needs to engage in a lot of meditation about it. One needs to engage engage in a lot of accumulation of merit and and and in order to be able to fully realize it. It is and it is realizable.
One can, we we can, we are all able to realize it, as she says. And then Geshe again, teaching about emptiness just a few days ago, he used an analogy, he was giving us an analogy, was talking about the pizza. And we see we see the pizza on the television screen. And and when we look at it, even though it is appearing, we yet we and we see it, yet we know it is not real. That is not a real pizza.
So we see we see the pizza on the television screen. It appears to us. And yet, we know that that is not a real pizza. If it was a real pizza, we would just pick up a slice and eat it. But that’s not the case.
We know it is not a real pizza. And and and and so we we know that that pizza on the television screen does not exist in the way that appears to exist. And it’s the same thing that we’re trying to understand here when we’re talking about oneself. You know? How how does oneself exist?
And we oneself appears. We appear to ourselves, and we appear to exist in in a way. And yet, we haven’t realized we cannot realize that we do not exist the way that we appear to exist because we we feel pain, we feel pleasure, we suffer, we fall sick and so forth, we fall ill and so forth, and we think I I do exist. And what’s and what stops us from realizing that we do not exist in the way that we appear to exist is ignorance. Is the mind of ignorance is the one thing that stops us from from seeing that things do not exist in the way they appear to exist.
That things do not have any existence from their own side. That things do not exist inherently. That the only existence that anything has is merely labeled existence. It’s a mere imputation. So one has one has to investigate.
One has to seek for that thing which is appealing to oneself. And seek. Seek for it. Look for it, search for it, and then one will find that it doesn’t it doesn’t exist. There’s nothing there but the imputation.
And when one comes to realize that, when one comes to realize that that’s the realization of emptiness. When one comes to realize, when one comes to understand that things do lack existence from their own side, that they lack existence from their own side, that they lack existing the way that they appear to exist. This lack of existing in the way they appear to exist is what we call the the emptiness. This is this is what we refer to as the emptiness. They are empty of existing from their own side.
They are empty of inherent existence. They are empty phenomena, empty of existing the way that they they appear to exist. And so this is then this is then the realization of emptiness itself. This is and we’ve come to realize that every other phenomenon within psych in entirety of cyclic existence, they all they are all in the nature of emptiness. And when fully really realizes that, then again, attachment and aversion, they just they simply stop.
They cease to come around anymore. They don’t come around anymore. And in this way, we also cease to accumulate the causes, more causes of saṃsāra. Again, so it is there’s a lot that can be said about emptiness. We we just don’t have too much time to go too deep into it today.
But Geshe lah, was gonna say, so the main thing is that we need to study. We need to if there is no way to attain liberation cyclic existence but through realizing emptiness. So we need to we need to realize it. We need to study hard, and we need to meditate on it a lot. And again, when Geshe is talking about meditation, Geshe la is saying for us beginners, meditation here on emptiness means analytical meditation.
We need to engage in analytical meditation because we do not fully understand yet what what you emptiness is. So we need really to engage in a lot a lot of analytical meditation about emptiness. That’s that’s the most important thing, really. And and guess I was saying so. And then one engage in in there are many different lines of reasoning for for practicing this analytical meditation.
Is the the diamond slivers, the the the one and the many. There is the dependent origination and and so on. There are quite a few different lines of reasoning that one utilizes to to to practice analytical meditation. So again, and and and and this all these reasonings, again, they do not they will they will not be able to engage in these reasons properly without having studied a lot of the scriptures, of the texts about about them. So having studied deeply those texts, the scriptures, and so on, then one will be able to eventually to really properly engage with these reasons.
But without that foundation, they just won’t bear much fruit. So, again, this reason is they are very difficult to understand themselves, and they are also very difficult to to to realize. So one needs to a lot of foundational studies in order to understand the reasons themselves. And then Geshe-la was saying one needs to engage in the reasons themselves for very, very many months. So in in Sera, Geshe-la was saying the monks debate and and using this the reasonings themselves themselves for very many months, for a very long time in order to be able to start to understand what it is all about.
Now for us beginners, Geshe-la was gonna say, one of the main reasons that we that we use is the is is Candrakīrti. Candrakīrti. It’s one of the reasons that was given by Candrakīrti. And I forgot the proper name, the proper translation of of the name of the reasoning in English, but it’s it’s the seven I’m just gonna call it the chariot reasoning because it’s a reasoning that utilizes, the analogy of the chariot, a chariot.
Utilizes the analogy of the chariot, a chariot, and and and to to prove to demonstrate that the existence the existence of the chariot is merely imputed. So, again, if if you search for the chariot Geshe-la was explaining it. If you search for the chariot in its parts, and you find no chariot. And then you might come come at the end to think that chariot is the collection of the parts, the agglomeration of the parts. But again, if you put all the parts together in a bundle, that doesn’t make up a chariot also.
So this is the this is the one of the main reasons that we as beginners would be utilizing. And then and then one applies this this principle that one has this this this way of analysis, way that one has analyzed the chariot, one applies that to oneself. Again, just for for practical reasons, we’re just picking up my name and say again, if you think of of Rodrigo or you can think of yourselves, and then you you you apply the same way of analysis, and you seek for Rodrigo. You seek for Rodrigo in in I guess I wasn’t saying you you when I say Rodrigo, you think of your own names. Alright?
You you and then you think you think of Rodrigo, and then you you search for it on its parts. And where is it? Where where does Rodrigo exist? And and you search for it, and you don’t find anything. So again, if one if one if one is seeking, searching for oneself for oneself, again, one does not find anything.
There’s nothing to be found. There is only there is only the name. There’s only the imputation. And, again, the same principle, the same way of thinking applies we apply again to to everything else. We apply to months and days.
We apply to here and there, big and small, short and tall. It’s the same principle we apply the same type of reasoning to all those things, and we come to realize that none of it has any existence from its own side. All of it only exist as mere imputations, merely labeled. And Geshe-la was going to say again using another analogy that Geshe lah uses very often or from here and there. And Geshe-la then says, oh, I can see there, there exists, I can see there and the same way here also here is exists here I can see it I’m here there.
Now if if one if I go there, then here it stops being here. It becomes there. And what was there becomes here. So we can see we can see how there is there is no over there. There’s no over there that exists from its own side.
So again, we can see how is only its only existence that it has is as a name, as an imputation, as a label. That’s the only that that it has here and there. And the same with with a month. Again, if you search for the month, and and, you know, a month, which something that has from goes from day one to day thirty, you know, something that has thirty days, and you and you think so again, is is the month in one day? No.
It is not. Because if the month was one day, then we would have thirty months in one month, and that cannot be Is is is the whole thirty days one month? No. They are thirty days. They cannot be one thing.
They are not one month. So, again, they do not have any existence from their own from their own side. None of it. So again it’s all merely labeled, it’s only mere name and again the same with the seat. If I was talking about his seat, you know, and compared to my seat.
So his seat is high, and my seat is low. And yet compared to that other seat over there, his seat is low, and that seat is high. So again, low and high do not have any existence on the wrong side. Again, it’s only a name. It’s only a label.
It’s only a conventionality. And again the same with long distances and short distances and so on. Again everything will come about in dependence on other things and every other phenomena, every phenomena there is exists in the same way as these things that we have been using as illustrations. So again, right hand, the left hand, one’s self, all of it has no existence from its own side, only as merely label. And again, has to seek, one has to search for the self.
It’s important that one realize the lack of a self of the person, the lack of an inherent self of the person. One search for the self, and when one comes to realize that the self does not exist in the way that appears to exist, that oneself does not exist inherently in any way. When one realizes that, then one will cease to have all the attachments and all the desires that One will cease to think that I need or everything that is good and so forth. Because that I won’t come to realize that that I doesn’t exist in the way that it appears to exist. Mhmm.
It doesn’t exist in here. There’s no why there is this inherent in those So again so again, every phenomenon lacks every phenomenon is in the nature of emptiness like this. Every phenomenon lacks inherent exists like this. And one needs then to realize that realize emptiness, realize the lack of inherent existence of phenomena, realizing the lack of inherent existence of the self and so on, subtle emptiness of of the self. And by realizing emptiness, the realization of emptiness works as a direct antidote to ignorance.
So the realization of emptiness then eradicates ignorance. The realization of emptiness, again, because one has realized the lack of inherent existence of oneself and of everything else. So the attachment that one would feel towards the things of saṃsāra, again, there’s no more place for it to arise. And there is no there is there is there is not even one’s self anymore that is attached as it used to be. And again, I I was just noting here, when we say that oneself does not exist in the way they appear to exist, that things do not exist in the way they appear to exist.
We’re not saying that they do not exist at all. They do exist. They have existence. They just don’t exist inherently. And again, Geshe la proceeded from here.
Again, so when realizing emptiness, realizing the lack of inherent existence lack of of the self and so on. So, again, there’s no more way. There’s no more place for attachment to arise, for anger to arise. One has completely averted ignorance. One has, in this way, realized how ignorance is wrong, distorted, and one has completely rectified one’s mind, one’s awareness.
And this way getting rid of the three poisons of ignorance, attachment and and anger, then one ceases to engage in actions that are powered by these three poisons. And one ceases to accumulate in this manner, then one ceases to accumulate to create the causes of saṃsāra. And one does not need and one one one will not need to be born in saṃsāra, in exactly this anymore. Then one attains to the state of an arhat, a foe destroyer. In Geshe-la is saying, so in an arhat, the state of an arhat, the attainment of the state of an arhat is a state in in which there is no no suffering.
There’s no more suffering. There’s only only happiness. Then one has attained to stable lasting happiness. That is a happiness that doesn’t diminish. It doesn’t deteriorate.
It doesn’t matter what one does. One one remains experiencing. It’s a very nice it’s a very nice idea, isn’t it? There are some who do, and there are others who don’t. There are some solitary realizer, full destroyers who are are working really in complete isolation only for for themselves alone.
And there are others who are working amidst, you know, the crowds and helping many people. So Oh, yeah. It varies. Now, so again, Geshe la moves on then to the next part, to next topic. Saying for for a bodhisattva, then the attainment of is is not good enough.
For a a practitioner of the Mahāyāna, it is not enough to attain liberation for oneself alone. One has to work to accomplish the welfare, the well-being, to accomplish the lasting welfare of all sentient beings. What time is it? Half eleven. Sorry? Half eleven.
Half eleven? So one needs, as a as a Mahāyāna practitioner, one endeavors to accomplish the perfect well-being to lasting happiness for all sentient beings. So again, Geshe-la is saying for someone someone who is endeavoring in the in the bodhisattva path, again, it is not that person does not endeavor for his or her own liberation alone. That’s not good enough. One needs one’s one from the start needs to start cultivating bodhicitta, to start cultivating the mind of enlightenment.
One is to to go through the proper steps of cultivation of the mind of enlightenment. One is to engage in the seven point cause and effect instruction when where one goes on to develop an awareness of all beings as one’s mother, acknowledge the the immense kindness that they have shown to us, the wish to repay their kindness, love, compassion, and so on. And then one also engages in the other major way to produce bodhicitta which is equalizing and exchanging self for others. So one engages in these two main traditions traditions of of meditation to develop bodhicitta. And and bodhicitta itself is the wish to free all sentient beings without exception from every single suffering there is and endow them, all of them without exception, with every happiness, every good quality there is.
That is to say, to to to place all sentient beings in the state of of full enlightenment of of a Buddha. And, again, in order to be able to do that, I myself must attain that state of full enlightenment. I myself must free myself from every suffering and endow myself from with every good quality there is. And and this then is this then is the the mind of enlightenment, bodhicitta. And then, Geshe la was gonna say, again, we need to attain enlightenment.
It’s not our right to to attain liberation because all sentient beings are immensely kind to us. They worry, they are immensely kind to us. And it is is important, this is one of the key factors that Geshe la is pointing out. We need, in order to be able to develop the mind of enlightenment, to work for their for their perfect welfare, we need to recognize the immense kindness of all sentient beings, that all sentient beings have shown us. But we don’t usually think in those lives, we don’t really think about that.
Maybe we can see the great kindness that there are parents, the parents that we have in this present lifetime that they have shown us. But we have a hard time seeing, extrapolating that to all other things. So, again, Geshe-la is saying is that we need to recognize their immense kindness, the the the very great kindness of all beings. It’s very important that we that we develop this understanding. We usually we don’t we don’t think about it at all.
We usually don’t think about all the sentient beings or their welfare at all. We just go along with whatever habitual thought patterns we have. What we need is important that we deliberately engage in these meditations, in this in developing and cultivating these understandings. We need to develop a a very vast perspective, a very profound and vast perspective attitude. Geshe la was saying we ourselves as we are, we have a very narrow mind.
We think our our our thoughts, the scope of our thoughts is very small. You could see the guy doing it himself. We are thinking only of ourselves alone. We’re thinking only of one person, one being, and that is ourselves alone. And so we need we need to make it vast.
We need to include all beings. So, again, we need to start contemplating by first understanding that between oneself alone and all other sentient beings, all other sentient beings are infinitely more important than oneself alone, infinitely more precious than oneself alone. And one of the reasons that that one of the very many reasons that all sentient beings are more important than oneself, more precious than oneself, is that every happiness there is, every happiness that we have ever experienced, every happiness that we experience, every happiness that we will ever experience comes comes in dependence on all other sentient beings. The happiness, the temporal, whatever temporal happiness we experience in this present lifetime comes in dependence on all other sentient beings. The happiness of future lives, high rebirth and so forth comes in dependence on all other sentient beings.
Happiness of liberation comes in dependence on all other sentient beings. Happiness, even the happiness of full enlightenment itself comes in dependence on all all other sentient beings. We never think in those lines, do we? What we think is whatever happiness I have, whatever good things I have, I have accomplished it for myself. I have worked for it.
I have and I have acquired it by by my own means. That’s and that’s how we think. I have done it. I have accomplished it to myself. I have I have created this for myself, and we never acknowledge all the sentient beings.
And again, if one thinks if one is have if one has gives a a a serious and straightforward look into it, one will see that there is no way that one could have accomplished anything in one’s life without the participation, the help of other beings. Whatever it is that might be talking about in English language and say so whatever knowledge one has acquired, whatever education one has acquired, again came in dependence on other beings, came in dependence on the teachers and other people who were working at this place of study and so on. The place where we studied itself, again, came in dependence on other sentient beings, came about independent in dependence on other sentient beings. So, again, there is nothing really that we could have accomplished without the help of innumerable sentient beings, without the help of very many sentient beings. Again, one one can start thinking again if when one was born, if it wasn’t for the help of our mother, we wouldn’t have survived.
We wouldn’t have lives. Again, so it’s again, it’s because of the help of our mother, because of the help of our father, of our relatives, of the doctors, of nurses, and of friends, because of the help of other beings. We are alive. We we were made to live. And even in in other areas, even the that we eat, every meal, every single meal that we have, each one of them comes in dependence on so very many sentient beings.
The work and the lives of so very many sentient beings. And that has been very much the case. So again, and that that has been very much the case when we were kids, but once we were being brought up. Right? We depend a lot on very many other sentient beings or many other people.
And we might come to think that now I’m grown up, and I do things for myself, and I accomplish things for myself. But if, you know, I have an education, I have skills, and all that, and I don’t depend on anybody else. We might think like that. Geshe-la wants to say, now imagine this. If you were to be, you know, on a helicopter or on an airplane and you were to be dropped on a place where there is no other living being around.
What good is all your learning? What good is all your skills? How long would you last? What would you be able to accomplish? What would you be able to do?
Think about it. You wouldn’t be able to do anything. You’d hardly be able to live for very long. And and and so again, if we think carefully, we will see those those those realities. And yet, we we remain living our lives believing that, you know, I have done this for myself.
You know, I deserve this, and I have done I have accomplished these things for myself without anybody else’s help, and we keep on being averse to other people, to other sentient beings. We keep on averse to other people and so on. And this is how we live our lives. Geshe-la was saying one has to look, we have to see for ourselves, and we see how how what is our attitude? What is our fundamental attitude?
We think I need everything good for myself. I think I need all good things for myself. And if if if you could take all all the good things from the entire world, again, there wouldn’t be enough. I need everything that is good. I need everyone to like me.
You know? However many friends you might have, however many people you might have, I I I need to be famous. I need to have everyone to like me. I need to have every wealth, every fortune there is. There is I need everything that is good for myself.
There’s not ever an ounce ounce of satisfaction. It’s never enough. So again, so we have this fundamental attitude that wants everything that is good for oneself, which is which is basically attachment. This is very much so attachment. Desire and and and attachment is is basically what it is.
And when we do not get what we want, when we do not get those things that we want, then we get angry. We get And then and that’s that’s hatred. And then we we start blaming and complaining about other people. And then and and then these two minds, these two fundamental attitudes that we have, attachment and anger, they are so called afflictions. They are distorted states of mind.
And from them, what ensues is suffering. So can start to glimpse then how is it that the source of every suffering lies with oneself. Oneself is actually the suffering, the the the source of every suffering. We we by holding ourselves as the most precious and important thing there is. And then again, we we we act out of attachment and aversion, desiring all good things for oneself and and and so on.
And then that that makes us engage in in actions and activities that are powered by attachment and anger, and we create causes of suffering. And so this is very important to to realize that, to understand that. And then on the other hand, it’s very important to understand that every every happiness comes from all other beings. So every suffering comes. It’s sourced in oneself, and every happiness is sourced in all other beings.
And this is how bodhisattva understands the world. Geshe-la is quoting a verse of mind training that says put all the blame on the self. So the the source of of every suffering is the self, and and and all of the sentient beings are the source of every good quality, of every benefit, everything that is good. Oh, that way. And then in English, let’s open it for questions because sure if we don’t have don’t have much time.
K. Can I ask another one about the? Yes. You can. Can.
Okay. Geshe la, you said some of the ahads are not working for the For for others. Yes. Relieving the suffering of all sentient beings. I wanna know if they’re so So the first part of the question regarding the the arhats.
Yeah, there there are those arhats for destroyers, yes, who do not work for the benefit of others at all. They are only solitary realizers. They they they they were striving for their own liberation in in complete isolation, just completely by themselves. And what what comes what what what I did, it was I was asking, based on what you said, and I just made an assumption, and I had to ask, so what is the difference between an arhat and a fully enlightened Buddha? Say again?
What is the difference between is this working? Mhmm. What is the difference between a Narahat and a fully enlightened Buddha? They’re not the same thing. They’re very different things.
Okay. So an arhat is someone who from the very beginning has been working. His motivation, his or her motivation, has been only his or her own liberation alone. That’s the motivation. I want to be free from this entirety of the suffering of saṃsāra.
That’s the motivation of an arhat, and I’m going to attain that freedom for myself. And that’s why the the some arhats do not work for to alleviate the sufferings of others. Whilst as a fully enlightened Buddha is there’s a huge difference between the arhat and the fully enlightened Buddha. It’s it’s it’s huge. It’s very huge.
When we’re talking about we need to talk about the two obscurations. We have the afflictive obscurations and the obscurations to omniscience, the obscurations to knowledge. And an arhat has only rid him or herself of the afflictive obscurations. A fully enlightened Buddha has not only rid himself of the afflictive obscurations, and in a sense, we say, has not only read him or herself of every fault and shortcoming there is, but has rid himself or herself of the knowledge obscurations. And another way to put it is he has he or she has developed, fully developed, every good quality there is.
So it is huge and has done that from the very beginning. He or she, that Buddha, has done that, has started this whole endeavor towards enlightenment motivated by bodhicitta, intent on accomplishing enlightenment, intent on accomplishing enlightenment of all beings, for all beings, not for him or herself. Thank you. Yeah. Sorry?
There was another question. Oh, what was the last part was yeah. Do do the karma comes and So this this is also a classic thing. The arhats, they they they sort of they’re not allowed to to remain for too long in their in their nirvana. There’s always there’s a time there’s a point in time when a Buddha comes and and sort of awakens them from their from their bliss and says, have to come back and and help all these other people here.
You have to come back and and and do the Mahāyāna thing. Everybody everybody has to attain enlightenment. Buddha comes and says, you have to attain enlightenment. So, ultimately, everyone has to attain enlightenment. Everyone goes to enlightenment.
Ultimately. Is that alright? Did that help? Yeah. That’s fine.
Yes? Yeah. Yeah. Any any other question? Still have difficulty with the emptiness.
Emptiness. The emptiness. Yes. Everything lacks inherent. Existence.
Yes. Okay. And they are it’s by imputation, but something is there. That something is imputed. Mhmm.
What is behind the imputation? Emptiness. So you you it’s a good question, and there’s there’s there’s two things that come through it. The first thing that I’m I’m going to say from all that Geshe has just said is that there isn’t from the side of the phenomenon in question, whatever that may be, and I was I was using the flower. Okay?
From the side of the flower itself, there is nothing that exists from its own side. There’s nothing there. Okay? And then and then you said that there is the imputation. Okay?
There’s the flower is this as as merely imputed, as a mere imputation flower. Now there is something here that that there’s something else that comes into play. In order to impute flower I need a proper basis for the imputation flower. I need something that performs, as we say in technical terms, performs the function of flower, which is then a suitable basis for the label flower. So in the case of the flower, for example, Geshe la was saying, this flower came about, not this one because this one is fake, but this this flower came about in dependence on very many causes and conditions.
So you had the seed and it had water and the sun and the nutrients and the soil and all sorts of very innumerable innumerable cause and conditions. Right? And and and and yet, you know, the seed is not the flower. The water is not the flower. The sun is not the flower.
The nutrients are not the flower. So there are many things that were not flower. They came together, and and at the end, we got flower, something that performs the function of flower. So again, the the flower has no existence from its own side whatsoever. It came entirely in dependence upon many other things.
Other things. And so it is it is a dependent origination. It is a dependent arising, or people also translate it as an interdependent origination, an interdependent arising. There’s there’s no flower here that is from its own side. So to be able to do realize that I have to look at it and come from the sea.
There has to be all sorts of conditions. I have to look at that thing rather than the flower itself. So in order to be able to realize the emptiness of the flower. Develop the understanding that it it it came about in dependence on many causes many other causes and conditions, on the aggregation of many other causes and conditions. That’s how it came about.
And and, again, and also realize that in and of itself, the flower doesn’t exist. There’s there’s no flower that exists in and of itself. There’s nothing there aside from all these many causes and conditions which are not flower. So again, but we we we we don’t really see that. We we we think that that the flower exists from its own side, you know, that that is there.
And we don’t we don’t never stop to think that of all the very many causes and conditions on which it is dependent for it to come about. It comes in it depends on innumerable causes and conditions again. So we we we haven’t developed we haven’t thought about it or studied it long enough to be able to see through this appearance that it has of existing from its own side independent of anything else, flower. Yes? I just had a thought on that.
All those non flower courses and conditions are themselves empty. So then, you know, they’ve also got a whole lot of causes and conditions themselves. That’s right. So then you kind of look at the world in a whole different way. It’s everything is, you know, all that interconnectedness.
So again, so absolutely every phenomenon there is exists in this manner. It comes in dependence on very many other causes and conditions and all the very many causes and conditions each one of them comes in dependence on very many other causes and conditions. Every phenomenon exists in this manner and lacks any existence, any independent existence from its own side. Completely. Absolutely.
Every phenomenon is like this. Everything. So would that be is there the meaning then everything and nothing? Sorry? The there’s a wonderful book I’ve read.
Wasn’t the everything and the nothing. Is that the same? Like, okay. The flower is there, but it’s an allusion in Buddhist terms. I mean, I’m not sure.
It’s like everything, and then it’s nothing really unless we take some importance on it. So so and so No. It’s not correct. It’s not right. So if if you’re saying you said something, you know, I’m not sure if I understood what’s being said anyway but if you say that you know something is everything and it is nothing you cannot say that logically it makes no sense whatsoever.
And in Tibetan Buddhism logic rules. You cannot say that a flower is everything. A flower is not everything. A flower is a flower. If a flower was everything, there will be many things.
Flower is one thing. The flower is everything from the sea, from the water, from the vase, then the flower comes, but it’s basically an illusion. I think that’s what I’m trying to understand about illusion, and it doesn’t really exist in in the terms that we know. Is that right? That’s where the everything and the nothing comes into mind.
I don’t know about everything and nothing. Okay. The everything and nothing, if you use those words, you you come into logical logical problems. Yeah. Yeah.
Alright? Now I can what I can talk about what I can ask Geshe-la about is things existing like illusion. We we we train. This is one way to train ourselves. I wanna wanna talk about it.
I’m gonna ask that of Geshe-la. Okay? Yeah. Yeah. Uh-huh.
And then and then and then I’m gonna I’m gonna I’m gonna finish. Is that alright? Because it’s twelve o’clock already. Mhmm. Is that alright?
Yes. So So you see the these illusions, dreams, apparitions or what’s the thing that we see in the desert? Mirage. Mirages, images on the television and so on. Those are all used as analogies.
We use them. We say phenomena are like illusions. Phenomena, whatever they may be, are like dreams. They appear appear to us, and yet they do not have any real existence from their own side. So you can have the illusion.
What’s that? That’s that famous magician that produces airplanes and elephants and makes them disappear and whatnot. Have that have Geshe la talks about horses. You have the illusion of a horse fabricated in front of you. You know it is an illusion.
You know that that is not a real horse. It’s appearing to you. You’re seeing it, and yet you know it’s not a real horse. And that is given to us as a way to train ourselves so that we can start to to train our minds to see everything in this light as light. Everything exists, and yet it doesn’t exist in the way that appear to exist.
Everything appears, we say, everything appears, and yet it doesn’t exist in the way that it appears. That’s what I’m trying to say very well. Yeah. That’s what we say. Yes.
That’s what I say. So Yep. That really is. Does that help? Mhmm.
Very deep. I’m new to this. It’s interesting. We’re all new to this. Illusions and dreams, they appear they appear to us.
We see them, and yet we know that they do not exist for real. And the same for for every other phenomenon there is. Like, is this, like, in like, the example of the pizza, Geshe lah, is anything. You know? If we see the pizza on the television, we know it’s not a real pizza.
You cannot eat that pizza. Yeah. Not the. Is that alright? Is that alright?
Do you have a pressing question to ask? I will ask Geshe-la after lunch. Cool. Yeah. Yes.
Please. Yeah. Can I make a quick announcement before Lizzie? As you maybe have understood that today there is a course happening, meditation day. So the people who are doing today are in silence and having lunch in silence.
So I want to ask everybody who is not doing the course to respect that and support that as as much as you can by following the same rule. Thank you. I want to just remind people, if you haven’t heard already, that there is a a community meeting next Sunday afternoon in which we’re looking at how we might meet some of the challenges that Buddha House has. The newsletter and a letter that’s been sent out and also an email letter tells you a little bit about that. But if you’d like to know more information, well then email or or just come to the meeting, and we’d be really important to have you there.
There’s a shared lunch then. So There’s a shared lunch on on no. Afternoon tea is what we’re we’re going to do. It’s not shared lunch. Yeah.
Yeah. No. So we’re saying, just bring something for to share for afternoon tea would be great. Two Two o’clock. Yeah.
So thank you very much. Albert would be interested in coming with me to the meeting next week. Is that okay? Members, students, friends. I saw that on the letter.
I thought it would be okay. Just check it. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you.
It’d be great to see him. Yes.