Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 100-minute afternoon session from a bodhicitta meditation day, Ven Thubten Dondrub guides practitioners through two sequential practices designed to uproot self-cherishing and cultivate genuine compassion. The first half centers on Tonglen—the breathing practice of taking in suffering and sending out happiness—beginning with one’s own future self trapped by self-grasping, then extending to a close person, and gradually outward. He establishes the groundwork carefully: why self-cherishing keeps us trapped in saṃsāra, why confronting it directly is liberation, and how to visualize Buddha on the crown of the head as a protective witness. The second session focuses on the causes of bodhicitta itself, particularly love and compassion developed through contemplating how all beings lack genuine lasting happiness and are unknowingly creating causes of more suffering. Throughout, he emphasizes not singling out the poor or sick, but recognizing that every being in saṃsāra—rich, successful, beautiful—is suffering due to ignorance and impermanence. Suited for practitioners already familiar with Buddhist refuge and meditation structure.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 – DB Bodhicitta Meditation Day PM.mp3
UUID: 71fba01e-064c-4dc5-a788-4c0eab2f8489
Teacher: Ven Thubten Dondrub
Collection: DB Bodhicitta (Ven Thubten Dondrub)
Date: 2014 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 100.3 minutes
Words: ~3,153
So for this session, we’ll, oh, do some Tonglen. Tonglen. Then we will take a ten minute break and then do another session. Then we’ll take a twenty minute break and then do another session and that’s it. Apart from the grand certificate ceremony.
Is Cathy coming? That’s working. Actually, it’s a very loud ticker. Not good evil evil I think we’ll start okay So we’ll do the refuge prayer again to start this afternoon session or section. So remember it’s the meditation version of the refuge prayer we do not the teaching version.
But I don’t have it so you you have to say the words loudly for the third line. What does it say? By the merits of or by the Sorry don’t put the book on the ground please. Sorry that’s what the mats are for. What does it say?
Yeah, no but that’s the list teaching one, the other one, the other version which is on the back page. Yeah. That’s yeah. The one you said, that’s the one we want to do. Which is yeah.
Because one is for teaching and one is for everything else. So it says by them what does it say? Other perfections. Right. May I become a Buddha in order to benefit all beings, all sentient beings.
Right? By my practice, right? Yeah that’s what I said actually, isn’t it, this morning? Yeah, giving another perfection, right. So of course one of the perfections is meditative concentration so that’s why we say it here.
Have you realized by now and because there’s notes on it anyway in the in the little text we used during the oh no, you don’t use this. And it’s also in there should be that for the teaching bit, the the teacher says something slightly different, know, because he the teacher says by the merit of teaching the Dharma and the student says by the merit of listening to the Dharma. Okay. Right. So do a little Tonglen meditation.
So I feel so I’ve explained it all to everyone, so everyone knows I won’t won’t go into any details of explaining it during the thing we’ll just do it more or less. So we’ll take as our object ourself mainly and but then towards the latter part of the session extend it to others. We begin by sitting comfortably in the correct posture as much as possible. Then just briefly doing the nine round breathing exercise to help develop a calm neutral mind. Then generating as strongly as possible a strong refuge which involves committing oneself to taking care of one’s mind, relying completely on the Buddha’s methods to do so, having determined that the Buddha is the perfect refuge.
And so we to help develop that mind we visualize Śākyamūni Buddha in front of us. Seated on the lion throne Lotus Sun and Moon. At the same time making our refuge a Mahāyāna refuge by generating the bodhicitta thought wishing to achieve enlightenment in order to be in the perfect position to perfectly repay the kindness of all suffering mother sentient beings. So imagining that all those beings surrounding you, starting with those that you are most connected to in this life, and then as much as possible thinking of the beings of all the different realms of saṃsāra. Thinking how they’re only kind but only suffering.
So to achieve enlightenment that depends on generating bodhicitta and that depends on generating this very strong determination to give up the self-cherishing thought in all its aspects, recognizing how harmful it is and being determined to train in all ways of cherishing others. And so a very powerful way to help this whole process is to do the Tonglen meditation which is a direct way of confronting our self-cherishing thought doing the very opposite to what the self-cherishing thought wishes enabling us to develop, train in developing love and compassion the very basis of bodhicitta. So think for the sake of all kind mother sentient beings I will train in this practice. I go for refuge until I’m enlightened to the Buddha, Dharma, and the supreme assembly. By my practice of giving and other perfections, may I become a Buddha in order to benefit all sentient beings.
Thinking the Buddha is pleased with our motivation, we imagine the Buddha seated now just on the lotus sun and moon, approaching the crown of our head. When directly above our crown the Buddha turns to face the same direction as our self and remains there for the rest of the session creating a protective environment in which we can meditate and continuously blessing our mind. Then we make a strong determination to really be mindful for the rest of the meditation so that we can detect any of the obstacles such as the mind becoming dull or distracted in any way. So be determined to let go of those obstacles as soon as you detect them. And bring the mind back to thinking of engaging wholeheartedly in the Tonglen practice.
So again just briefly begin by briefly reflecting how the self-cherishing thought, especially the gross self-cherishing thought is so incredibly harmful to ourselves and others. Kept me in saṃsāra during beginningless time. So it’s only when I, reduce that self-cherishing that real happiness can begin, that I can begin to experience some real freedom. And by eliminating that self-cherishing, then I can free my mind to awaken all positive qualities for the benefit of self and others. So then before we begin, it’s important to reflect that although my mind is or comes under the control of self-cherishing, that self-cherishing is not me.
It is not a true nature of my mind. It is an aberration which, is different from the true nature of my mind. It’s something that can be removed. So in trying to harm so it’s important that I understand that in trying to harm the self-cherishing thought, I’m not trying to harm myself. But the very opposite, harming the self-cherishing thought is the greatest benefit I can give myself.
So then reflect that if I’m not able to control and reduce my self-cherishing thought now. Especially now that I have the dharma and all the freedom to work with my mind. If I don’t try to subdue my self-cherishing thought now, It will take over my mind again and again and again throughout this life, causing me to engage in all sorts of negative actions that will lead to suffering. And when that suffering comes, what will make it worse is my self-cherishing reaction to it. And by following the self-cherishing thought in this life, those actions will never become the cause of a good rebirth.
They prevent me creating the causes of a good rebirth. So try to imagine, just get some general sense of oneself some years in the future, still under the control of the self-cherishing thought. So try and feel that suffering, Identify it in very specific ways due to very specific negative habits one may have. Try and feel that suffering. Generate compassion for that future me.
And then as you breathe in, imagine breathing in that suffering and its causes, the self-cherishing thought. And take it on. You breathe it in in the form of this very thick horrible black smoke. You imagine that chokes your self-cherishing, completely suffocates it, shatters it, destroys it. Liberating the true nature of your mind.
And then from that really joyful clear state of liberated mind, you imagine as you breathe out, breathing out all happiness, good qualities, merits, and so on, in the form of white light, which you imagine going into that future self, bringing every kind of happiness. So spend some time just doing that as carefully and as strongly as you can. So starting with taking some suffering in its causes, imagining the mind being liberated from some of one’s self-cherishing, breathing out one’s good qualities, taking on more suffering, destroying more self-cherishing, giving more happiness and good qualities. So for the last section of the meditation, if one can extend the practice now to at least one other person, taking someone close to you who’s been very kind. So there again you think of their suffering now or later in this life.
You take that on and its causes in the form of this overwhelming thick black smoke. You give all your good qualities, happiness, dharma understanding, merits in the form of white light as you breathe out. Seeing that person becoming free and free of all sorts of suffering and confusion, more and more happy, at peace as the white light fills them. So one could gradually extend that to more and more people. So now we bring the meditation to a conclusion, making strong determination to be more and more mindful in daily life, to practice Tonglen in all situations.
In order to be able to transform negative situations into positive ones. So then we then recall the Buddha on the crown of our head, imagining the Buddha now dissolving into blissful light and that blissful golden light pouring into us through the crown of our head, blessing our mind to be able to perfect the practice of giving and taking. And then we dedicate the merit. Through the merits of these virtuous actions may I quickly attain the state of a Guru Buddha and lead all living beings without exception into that enlightened state. May the precious body mind not yet born arise and grow.
May that born have no decline but increase forevermore. Five minute silent break. And to conclude, we’ll we’ll finish with a meditation on remember, the next cause of generating virtues, wanting to repay their kindness. I mentioned that briefly, and that leads into the next two causes, which we’ll meditate on, which is generating. So just do a brief meditation on that to conclude Right.
Okay. So we could begin by sitting comfortably in the correct posture. And then just briefly calming the mind with the the nine round breathing exercise. Then as we visualize the Buddha on our crown, generate that mind of refuge in the triple gem and that commitment to continuously take care of one’s mind, relying on the Buddha’s methods to do so. And then combine that with the thought that I will follow the full extent of the Buddha’s teachings and practices in order to achieve enlightenment, to be able to perfectly repay the kindness of mother sentient beings.
So think of all sentient beings surrounding you, starting with those you’re most connected to in this life, starting with one’s parents on either side. Then extending that awareness as much as one can to include all the beings of the different realms of cyclic existence, trying to have that sense of their living presence around you, one’s interconnection with all of them, how they’re all immensely kind but only suffering trapped in the saṃsāra. So think no matter what, I must achieve enlightenment for their sake. And that depend depends on generating bodhicitta. And at the very heart of bodhicitta is developing great love and great compassion for all beings.
So I’ll dedicate this this practice to achieving that goal. So as you think of, or visualize all sentient beings around you, really focus on trying to be aware as strongly as you can that and starting with those closest to you, that no matter how much success, good health, good fortune, and so on that one’s family and friends have, At the most, they’re experiencing just short lived worldly happiness. That that in reality, they’re not experiencing pure happiness, genuine happiness, lasting happiness. And in many cases, even for those closest to us, they are not creating they’re not using their life to create the causes, the actual causes of genuine happiness. And this is certainly true of all other sentient beings, all other human beings, the beings definitely all the beings trapped in the lower realms.
And even the bliss of the gods, which is something inconceivable compared to the the so called pleasures of the human realm, Even this bliss of the gods that goes on for such enormously long periods of time is is over in a flash. It doesn’t last. It doesn’t bring lasting satisfaction. It it it itself is just the illusion of happiness. Try to get some strong sense that oneself, all beings who are trapped in saṃsāra, have never experienced, even for a moment, real happiness.
We are completely bereft of it, and we are not creating the causes for it. Try to let that awareness penetrate into your mind and heart so that the thought of love really arises, wanting oneself and others to have genuine, lasting happiness. Think how wonderful that would be. Think how wonderful it would be if oneself, family, friends, helpers, strangers, all human beings, all sentient beings, only created the causes for genuine, lasting happiness. Just reflect how we human beings spend so much of our life chasing after so many different things which we think are happiness, which we think if I have this, if I do this, if I’m in this kind of relationship, if I live here, if I go there, I will be happy.
And we we spend so much time thinking about these things, chasing after them. But these things are not happiness. They’re not lasting. Think how wonderful it would be if my family, friends, helpers, harmers, strangers, all human beings, all sentient beings really understood what happiness actually is, really understood its causes, really dedicated themselves to creating those causes. Try and generate that mind as strongly and sincerely as possible thinking that I have to help all sentient beings understand the real source of happiness, what its causes are.
I have to help them this way. And I have to do everything, and I will do everything possible purifying my mind, cultivating my mind, that I can be successful in this practice of helping all sentient beings create the causes for peerless everlasting happiness. So then reflect that not only do sentient beings lack genuine happiness and are not creating the causes for it. The reality is that sentient beings are suffering in so many different ways. And what is worse, what is sadder, is that in their suffering, trying to be free of suffering, sentient beings are creating the cause for more suffering.
In their ignorance and blinded by self-cherishing, mother sentient beings, again and again, are creating the cause to perpetuate their own saṃsāra. So try and feel how terrible that situation is. Try and feel how wonderful it would be if all sentient beings could be free of every kind of suffering: physical suffering, mental suffering, gross suffering, obvious suffering, the subtle suffering which we deluded sentient beings think of as happiness, and the very subtle suffering which is having this a body and mind controlled, produced and controlled by delusion and karma. Think how wonderful it would be if my mother of this life, the rest of my family, friends, every sentient being could be free of all of that suffering. And especially how wonderful if they stopped creating the causes of suffering.
Especially don’t confine one’s practice of developing compassion just to those who have obvious suffering, the poor and the downtrodden and the sick and homeless, etcetera. Of course, they are experiencing obvious suffering. But to develop great compassion, we have to open our minds to the awareness that everyone, every being in saṃsāra is suffering. The richest, the most powerful, the most successful, the most beautiful. Everyone is suffering in one way or another.
Everyone has the potential for suffering. No matter how rich and powerful, successful anyone in saṃsāra is there because of ignorance, delusion, and karma, and that is suffering. Sentient beings, no matter what their position, high or low, are subject to old age, sickness, and death, and that is suffering. Because of ignorance and self-cherishing, people grasp that what is impermanent is permanent, and that itself is suffering. People are suffering, and they deny they are suffering, And that is suffering.
So on the basis of trying to feel more deeply, more sincerely, how wonderful it would be if every sentient being could be free of suffering, free of all the causes of suffering, try and generate as strongly as possible that special thought, that special degree of compassion. Try and cultivate that mind of great compassion that thinks that I will help all sentient beings without exception. Friend, stranger, enemy, human, nonhuman, I will help all sentient beings to become free of suffering, to especially help them stop creating the causes of suffering. And I will do everything necessary, purifying my mind, accumulating merit to help me be able to help all sentient beings. So we can bring this meditation to a conclusion by making strong determination to be more and more mindful in daily life, to be aware how sentient beings are really lacking genuine happiness.
And despite appearances, all sentient beings are suffering and creating the causes of more suffering. Would that awareness be determined not to harm sentient beings, but to dedicate one’s life more and more to being able to benefit them in whatever way one can. But especially dedicating oneself to working on one’s mind, freeing it from all negative tendencies, awakening awakening all positive potentials because this is ultimately the very best thing we can do to benefit sentient beings. So then recall the Buddha on one’s crown, imagining the Buddha being extremely pleased with one’s practice today. And the Buddha shows this by now dissolving into blissful golden light so that that light can pour down into us, blessing our mind to be able to generate an authentic, undeclining, increasing realization not only of great love and great compassion, but the very mind of bodhicitta itself.
So then we dedicate the merit. We can finish doing it in Tibetan this time. The bodhicitta prayer will do in English. May the precious bodhicitta mind, not yet born, arise and grow. May that born have no decline, but increase forevermore.
Okay. Thank you very much. That was it. I just remember that after great bodhicitta, great compassion comes the great wish that I alone, you know, the great compassion and great love is I will help all sentient beings. Right?
But the great wish is I alone will do this. And from that comes the thought, how am I how in the world am I alone going to enlighten all sentient beings? And then what comes the realization the only way is to become a Buddha. So that leads to the thought, I will become a Buddha. And that thought, I will become a Buddha to benefit all sentient beings, is bodhicitta.
Okay, so the amazing ceremony for