Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 110-minute afternoon session, Venerable Thubten Dondrub leads three guided meditations on core Lamrim themes for practitioners in a retreat setting. The first develops the wish to renounce cyclic existence by reflecting on the pervasive suffering of saṃsāra—birth and death, aging, sickness, separation from loved ones, unmet desires, and the false promise of conditioned happiness. The second identifies the root causes of that suffering: negative karma ripening from disturbing thoughts like anger and attachment, which themselves arise from ignorance—the mistaken belief in an independently existing self and independently existent objects. The third applies Asaṇga’s method of generating authentic bodhicitta: recognizing all beings as one’s mothers, remembering their kindness, wishing them genuine happiness, developing compassion for their suffering, and finally taking universal responsibility to guide them all to enlightenment by becoming a Buddha. Each meditation includes visualization of the Buddha above the crown of the head for blessings and protection. Suitable for practitioners with basic familiarity with Buddhist path structure.
File metadata (for organising)
File: Presenting the Path Retreat Day PM.mp3
UUID: ccab4f8d-ab32-472b-a942-e7e8a034c25f
Teacher: Ven Thubten Dondrub
Collection: DB Presenting the Path (Ven Thubten Dondrub)
Date: 2018 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 110.0 minutes
Words: ~5,548
So now we’ll do a little meditation on suffering, which is the main thing to reflect on in order to develop the mind renouncing cyclic existence altogether. And of course that leads to the mind renouncing saṃsāra, that leads us to develop the wish to be free of cyclic existence, and recognising the only way to do that is to develop the wisdom that is going to eliminate ignorance. So So we’ll just do a little simple meditation on suffering, on some of the different points. So we begin by sitting comfortably in the correct posture as much as possible, and then visualising the Buddha in front of us as our source of refuge, inspiration and guidance. Think of all the kind suffering mother sentient beings surrounding us.
And then generate the bodhicitta motivation, being determined to generate that determination to use this in all future lives to practice the Dharma until enlightenment is achieved, seeing that this is the most beneficial thing to do, that sentient beings have been so kind to me, I need to repay that kindness, and the best way is to help them all without exception, to be free of all suffering and more than that to help them achieve peerless everlasting happiness. So to do that I have to achieve enlightenment. To achieve enlightenment I first have to not only renounce obsessions with this life but completely renounce attachment to all the experiences of cyclic existence, seeing them in the nature of suffering. So for this reason I’ll meditate on suffering for the sake of all mother sentient beings. I go for refuge until I’m enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly.
By my practice of giving and other perfections, may I become a Buddha to benefit all sentient beings. So think that the Buddha’s pleased with one’s motivation, and the Buddha shows this by now coming to the crown of one’s head. First the lion throne dissolves into light, absorbing up into the lotus sun and moon. And the Buddha seated on these comes to the crown of one’s head, turning to face the same direction as oneself and remains there for the rest of the session to create a protective environment to meditate and continuously blessing our mind. So we can reflect that while we remain in cyclic existence, which means while we allow our mind to continue to be controlled by delusion and karma, then we will only experience suffering with no real happiness.
And while we are suffering, we will cause others to suffer as well, all those beings who have been so immensely kind to me. And the reason I remain in cyclic existence and continue to suffer is because due to my ignorance, due to the obscurations in my mind, I fail to see, to acknowledge the suffering nature. Especially as a human being, I focus on the apparent pleasures and beauties of this life. And they blind me to the fact that all of these things last for such a short time, they don’t bring real happiness. And all the while, there is the potential existing within my mind to experience every kind of suffering.
So this is what I need to realise, to focus on. Not to depress myself about my own suffering, but to give me the courage and the reason to become free of it, to stop creating the causes of it. So then consider that if I allow myself to remain in cyclic existence, because I don’t have to remain in cyclic existence. But if I continue to remain in cyclic existence, I will continue to take rebirth over and over again. Not just one time, not just a hundred times, not a thousand, not a million, not a billion, a trillion, but an inconceivable number of times I will have to be born and experience the sufferings of birth again and again.
There’s the suffering of the pain of birth itself, the suffering of being born into a suffering environment and the suffering of taking another set of suffering aggregates. And in addition to that, if remain in saṃsāra, then which means my disturbing thoughts will continue and I’ll create negative actions and as a karmic consequence I will experience sickness over and over again. In fact, if I remain in saṃsāra, saṃsāra will go on forever, there will be time for me to experience every conceivable sickness, including the most horrendous kinds of disease, physical and mental, over and over again. And in addition to all of that suffering, if I remain in saṃsāra, then I will have to experience all the sufferings that go with growing old, getting older and older. So there’s the suffering of loss of health and strength, the suffering of losing whatever pleasant appearance one may have.
There’s the suffering that goes with the decline in the power of one’s senses, the sense of taste gets weaker, one’s eyesight, hearing can fade as one gets older and older, one’s mental powers can decline, and so much suffering as a result. So there’s because of this, there’s a loss of enjoyments, And the longer one lives, this means there’s the suffering of outliving one’s family and friends. And with that also goes the suffering of loneliness. And as we get older and older and our physical and mental powers decline, we find ourselves alone in a world that has changed so much that we don’t understand and can’t relate to. And we become dependent on strangers.
So there’s the suffering of loneliness and the suffering as we lose our independence and our control over our life. So then the suffering of a great deal of fear. So of course in any particular life as we grow old, some or all of these particular sufferings may not occur, but if we remain in saṃsāra, there will be time for us to experience all of these sufferings very intensely over and over and over again. And then we have to experience the suffering of dying over and over again. So, again, of course, sometimes our death may be quite peaceful, but if we remain in saṃsāra, endless saṃsāra, there will be time to experience every kind of fearful and suffering death over and over again.
And in addition to all those basic sufferings, it’s inescapable that we will also have to undergo the suffering that comes from being separated from all the people and things that we don’t want to be separated from, that we’re attached to. Our attachment keeps us in and while we’re in saṃsāra, our attachments bring so much suffering. Due to our attachments there are so many things we crave and desire, and yet, having not created the karmic cause to experience them, we suffer. saṃsāra depends on ignorance, and because of ignorance we have attachment, because of attachment we have aversion and anger. Because of our anger and hatred, we create the cause to have enemies and meet with all sorts of things we don’t want to meet with, and so we suffer.
And this will happen over and over and over and over again. And then we can consider that in addition to all those sufferings, one can think of the suffering of uncertainty, that in saṃsāra everything changes, nothing is really sure, nothing is definite, everything is uncertain. Friends become enemies. Our beliefs change. What is said to be true one day somehow is not true the next.
This leads to so much confusion and suffering. Due to our attachment, we’re constantly craving for things, new experiences, better experiences, not realising that actually everything that we crave for believing this will bring me happiness. We’ve experienced all of it countless times before. We’ve been reborn in the highest God realms, countless experiencing unbelievable bliss, countless times. And yet still, there’s no satisfaction.
Mind is always discontent. The only things we have not experienced is liberation and enlightenment. Remaining in saṃsāra, we have to experience the suffering of being born over and over again. And we become attached to each body that we take rebirth in. And then we have to experience the suffering of leaving that body that we’ve become attached to over and over and over again.
Then there is what is said to be the suffering of rising and falling, that in saṃsāra what appears to be happiness is followed by suffering, success by failure, meetings end in partings, we go from high rebirth to low rebirth over and over again. Whatever we manage to collect, whether it’s possessions or money or whatever, is dispersed sooner or later. And in saṃsāra there’s also the suffering of being alone. Although we may crave friendships and relationships and so on, because of ego grasping, there’s always some barrier between ourself and others. And we are so we are born alone, we die alone, and between we’re also alone.
At a deeper level, the meaning of the suffering of being alone is that while we remain in saṃsāra, we will take many rebirths where we never ever meet the Dharma at all. We have, and therefore we have no real refuge. So in that case, one is completely alone without the slightest protection from suffering. And in fact that is the more definite reality of saṃsāra, that the vast majority of time that we experience in saṃsāra, we have no dharma protection. It is so unbelievably rare in saṃsāra to meet the dharma and have faith in it.
And what we really need to realize is that in saṃsāra, not only is there all this obvious suffering, but even what we think of as happiness is just the suffering of change. It’s just the illusion of happiness. It isn’t the real thing. It doesn’t last. It’s not fulfilling.
It only appears to be happiness to our obscured mind in comparison to some more obvious suffering. So now we can bring this meditation to a conclusion by making a strong determination to be more and more mindful in daily life, not to be cheated by the illusory appearances that we grasp at, wanting to believe that there is happiness in this world, that we can find lasting happiness in this world. But to be more mindful that while delusion and karma control my mind. I’m always subject to suffering. And being mindful of that, one can generate that wish to use this precious human rebirth to create the causes to be completely free of suffering.
So then recall the Buddha on one’s crown, imagining the Buddha very pleased with oneself. And as a result, the Buddha dissolves into blissful golden light, so that that light can then pour down into us, blessing our mind to gain a deep realisation of the suffering nature of saṃsāra. A realisation that enables us to develop that complete determination to be free of cyclic existence. 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.
So we’ll take a five minute break, just a five minute break, and then we’re gonna have a look at our delusions. So again sitting in the comfortable position, generating the bodhicitta thought as much as possible, visualising the Buddha in front of us, all sentient beings surrounding us. Again, generating that thought that no matter what, I I must use this in all future lives to achieve enlightenment for the sake of mother sentient beings. So to achieve enlightenment in order to achieve enlightenment I first have to become free of cyclic existence and and become be completely free of all suffering. And the only way to do this is to correctly identify the causes of cyclic existence and all my suffering, which is, as the Buddha identified, my own disturbing thoughts and ignorance.
So, for the sake of all Mother sentient beings, I will do this meditation on recognising my own delusions and ignorance as the cause of all my suffering, of my saṃsāra. Shog. I go for refuge until I’m enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Supreme Assembly. By my practice of giving and other perfections, may I become a Buddha to benefit all sentient beings. So now the Buddha comes to the crown of our head, turning to face the same direction as ourself, remaining there for the rest of the session.
So we can begin by reflecting that what we believe to be the causes of our suffering, the Buddha taught, because this is what the Buddha perceived, is that these are just simply the conditions for our suffering. But we can reflect that even when those conditions for suffering exist, such as people who dislike us wish to harm us, some difficult environment and so on, even if there are these conditions of suffering existing, if we didn’t have the potential within us to suffer, then how could those external conditions generate suffering within us? So then one can consider what are those inner potentials that we possess that give rise to our suffering, that enable those external conditions to manifest as suffering. And the Buddha discovered and taught that the direct cause of our suffering arises because of the ripening of our negative karmic imprints. And then we can ask ourselves, what is the cause for those negative imprints to exist in our mind?
And then the Buddha perceived and taught that those negative imprints arise as the result of our disturbing thoughts, in particular afflicted desire and attachment and anger. So then spend just a bit of time just checking up, reflecting back on your own experiences of getting angry, of possibly experiencing hatred and bitterness towards someone or something, even to oneself. And just objectively check how painful that experience is. That it is quite literally a disturbing thought. It’s a way of thinking about someone or something that disturbs the mind, that is suffering.
It is painful. So just check how when anger arises, whatever peace or contentment or happiness seem to be existing in the mind at the time is immediately eliminated. And instead, with anger, there is painful feeling, suffering feeling. And then ask yourself, how is it possible, how could it be possible that this suffering experience could act as a cause, this present suffering experience? How could it possibly act as a cause to bring happiness in the future.
And in fact, of course, the Buddha taught that a suffering cause can only bring a suffering result. In our confusion, we judge everything by what happens in this life. And of course, sometimes by getting angry and acting on that anger, we seem to temporarily get some benefit, some worldly benefit. But the real result is that we’ve created these negative imprints that can only ripen as more suffering. And to experience more suffering in the future means that we have to meet unpleasant situations, unwanted objects, unpleasant people.
So the karmic result of anger is to come in contact with unpleasant environments, unpleasant people, and then suffering arises. But also consider that in addition, that every time we get angry, we’re creating the habit to get angry again, to be upset by someone else, by some other thing. And also to get upset more and more quickly, more easily. And then considers that underlying our anger is some attachment and desire. Desiring something, we’re always desiring something, some experience, someone, some object.
And we have attachment and dependence on things and people and expecting things to go our way, we’re so attached to that. And when things don’t go our way, when we don’t get what we desire, when things interfere with our what we’re attached to, with what we desire, anger arises. So then check, spend some time just trying to objectively experience the nature of your own desire and attachment. We’ve come to believe that having desire is vital for living and happiness. That by following desire we will be happy.
But just consider that even when we meet the object of desire, that happiness we experience is just the suffering of change. And the real nature of desire and attachment reveals itself when we don’t meet the object of our desire. Then we can experience how disturbed our mind becomes, how discontent, dissatisfied. How upset we can become and depressed and frustrated and resentful. And these are all very obvious kinds of suffering.
But then consider that a very subtle kind of suffering is occurring as well, because afflicted desire and attachment are always are always leading our mind into the external world, telling us that happiness and beauty and goodness is out there. I will find it out there. And it’s secretly telling me that you I cannot find happiness and goodness and beauty within myself. So that is the perfect recipe for discontent and unhappiness. And then we can ask ourselves, why?
What is the cause for anger and attachment to exist in my mind? And the Buddha says they exist because ignorance exists. That ignorance obscures our mind in such a way that the mind creates the illusion that everything, oneself and everything exists out there from its own side, under its own power, with its own qualities, as though everything existed independently. It appears as though things don’t actually depend on causes and conditions. It appears as though things don’t depend on parts.
And they certainly don’t appear to depend on my mind. They’re just there from their own side. It appears as though things are beautiful, not depending on my mind, but from their own side. And that’s why we desire them. Things appear ugly and negative and threatening, not depending on my mind, but they really like that from their own side, under their own power.
And so we develop aversion. And just check how there appears to be this I, me, that is really there from its own side. It doesn’t really depend on anything. Doesn’t depend on the body, doesn’t depend on the mind. It’s just really there from its own side.
Just check how for most of our life and even now, we live under the illusion that I, I can be happy even though we don’t take care of our mind, that we continue to engage in negative actions and don’t create the real causes of happiness. And yet we still think, I can be happy. So grasping at that independently existing I is the very source of all our suffering. That I doesn’t seem to depend on the I, on the mind. And so we don’t really have to take care of our mind.
So while we grasp at that wrong view of an independent I, we don’t take care of our mind, the disturbing thoughts remain powerful, We engage in negative actions, create negative imprints, which ripen the suffering, and saṃsāra goes on and on. So we can bring the meditation to a conclusion by making a strong determination to be more and more mindful in daily life, that all of my suffering originates from my own mind, from the ripening of negative imprints. So I need to use this precious human rebirth to purify those negative imprints, but also to stop creating more negative imprints. So I need to be mindful to at first subdue my disturbing thoughts, but ultimately I need to eliminate them. The only way to do that is to eliminate ignorance, so I need to use this precious human rebirth to train my mind in the wisdom teachings of the Buddha as much as I can, and really make this life meaningful for myself and others.
So then we can recall the Buddha on our crown, thinking the Buddha’s very pleased with our practice, and shows this by now dissolving into blissful golden light, which pours down into us, blessing our mind to be able to gain a realization of how it is my own obscured mind that is the source of suffering. A realization that gives us the courage to be determined, to purify our mind completely of all negative imprints, delusions and ignorance. 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.
May the precious right view not yet born arise and grow. May that born have no decline, but increase forevermore. Sorry, that got a bit long. We’ll just go briefly through Asaṇga’s method of generating bodhicitta, the six causes and one effect technique. So again, we can begin by sitting comfortably in the correct posture as much as possible.
Then as we visualize the Buddha in front of ourself, all kind suffering mother sentient beings around us, which generate the mind of refuge in the triple gem and the bodhicitta motivation, thinking that no matter what I must use this in all future lives to work on my mind, freeing it from all limitations and negativities, awakening all the positive potentials of my mind until enlightenment is achieved, so that I can perfectly repay the kindness of mother sentient beings. So to achieve enlightenment I need to develop that mind determined to do so. I need to generate the authentic spontaneous mind of bodhicitta. So for this reason I’ll, for the sake of Mother sentient beings, I’ll meditate on Asaṇga’s method of generating the mind of bodhicitta. I go for refuge until I’m enlightened to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Supreme Assembly.
By my practice of giving and other perfections, may I become a Buddha to benefit all sentient beings. So now the Buddha comes to the crown of our head facing the same direction as ourself. So the first step in generating bodhicitta is, according to Asaṇga’s method, is developing that awareness, that realization that every sentient being without exception has been one’s mother. So the basic way to develop that mind is is to reflect on how our our mind is beginningless, a beginningless stream of consciousness. Going back and back, each moment of consciousness relying on a previous moment, going back and back without any beginning.
And just like my consciousness now is related to this body, the previous consciousness has always been associated with a body and these bodies have been produced by one’s mother. So beginningless time, beginningless rebirths, endless beginningless numbers of mothers. It follows that every sentient being has been my mother, at least once, but in fact many, many times. So on the basis of developing that understanding, the actual first cause of generating bodhicitta is using that understanding to practice mindfulness that whenever we think of another being, whenever we hear another sentient being, whenever we see another sentient being, we recognise that that being is my mother, has been my mother and therefore is my mother. So try and generate that determination in my daily life as much as I can, to be mindful that when I see another person, another sentient being, rather than thinking of them as human or animal, friend, enemy and stranger, to try to have the thought, the sincere thought that this is my mother, this being has been my mother and therefore is my mother.
And the reason to focus on sentient beings as my mother rather than as father or best friend, which they’ve also been, is because in general, mothers give us unconditional love. So the second cause of generating bodhicitta is to reflect on how incredibly kind mother sentient beings are, as when they are one’s mother. And we take our own mother as the example, remembering all her kindness, starting with incredible kindness of bearing us in her womb and giving birth to us. And then thinking how when we were a helpless tiny baby, it was our mother who cared for us. We wouldn’t have survived without her care.
And from that time our mother took care of us in every way, helping us to be able to survive in the world by such very basic but vital things as teaching us how to walk, to talk, to be polite, to be able to care for ourselves. Because of these things we’ve been able to function and survive in the world. And try and recall how the many ways our our one’s mother tried to protect us from suffering. And that all the time my mother was caring for me, This entailed a lot of sacrifice and suffering, starting with giving birth to me. And then it’s important to reflect that every every possible kindness and act of affection and love that one can think of, that the mother of this life gave me.
It’s definite that every other sentient being in the universe did the same thing for me in past lives. And not just one time, but many times. So then as you think of the kindness of your mother of this life and try to realise that every sentient being has been kind in exactly the same way over and over again. Allow the mind wanting to repay that kindness to arise very strongly. And then to think, how could I possibly repay that kindness?
And particularly to come to the conclusion that no ordinary thing I could say or do or give would repay that kindness. Because whatever ordinary thing I could say or do or give to my mother wouldn’t stop her from growing old, getting sick, dying or suffering. But think how wonderful it would be if my mother, all my mothers, could experience real happiness, peerless everlasting happiness. Think how wonderful that would be. Recognize that the mother of this life and all my mothers, whatever appearance of happiness they may have right now is just that, is not real happiness.
But how wonderful if they could have genuine, peerless, everlasting happiness. And also recognize that this is not just an idle wish because the mother of this life, all my mothers, have within them the potential to experience peerless everlasting happiness. So may they have it, may they experience it. So as you think those words, try to make that as genuine as possible, as real as possible, trying to imagine the human beings of this world, the animals of this world, but trying to extend to the thought of all those mothers trapped in the hungry ghost realm, in the hell realms, in the god realms. Try to extend that thought not just to good people, good sentient beings, not just to strangers, but even to the most negative beings, the most harmful beings.
Think how wonderful if all of them, every sentient being, could begin to experience peerless, everlasting happiness. I also reflect that I cannot just somehow make my mother of this life or my other mothers happy, just like that. Actually, mother sentient beings have to create the causes themselves. But I will help them create those causes. I will help them to understand that they need to create the causes.
I will help them to understand what the causes are. I will help them to create those causes. No matter how long it takes, how difficult, that’s what I will do to repay their kindness. And reflect that as I am, I’m not capable of doing that. I need to purify my mind, accumulate merit, follow the path to enlightenment.
So thinking of the Guru Buddha above the crown of one’s head, make a heartfelt request to the Guru Buddha to bless your mind to be able to benefit other sentient beings, to help bless your mind to be able to help them create the causes for Peerless Everlasting Happiness. So then reflect that Mother sentient beings can’t experience peerless everlasting happiness while they’re suffering and creating the causes of suffering. So generate great compassion to all sentient beings being aware that they are suffering, that every sentient being in cyclic existence is suffering and most are creating the causes of suffering over and over again, completely unaware of what they’re doing, completely helpless. Try to be aware that all the beings in cyclic existence are either undergoing the obvious suffering of pain, the subtle suffering of change, but always underlying is that all beings are experiencing is compounded pervasive suffering. The mere fact that one has a body and mind, the five aggregates, produced and controlled by delusion and karma.
That is suffering. And it means there’s always the potential for suffering. So think how wonderful it would be if all the kind Mother sentient beings were free from all suffering and all its causes. Try to extend that thought to encompass every sentient being, human, non human, friend, enemy, stranger. Try and make that wish stronger by thinking that this must happen because it can happen, because every sentient being has the potential within them to be free of all suffering, to be free of all the causes of suffering.
So it can happen, it’s got to happen, it must happen. And then think that I myself will make it happen. I will help every sentient being to understand the causes of suffering. And I will help them to stop creating those causes. And I will do that no matter how long it takes, no matter how difficult.
Because this is the best way to repay Mother sentient beings. So then reflect that as I am, I’m not capable of doing that. I need to purify my mind of all faults, awaken all positive qualities. So make a heartfelt request to the Guru Buddha to bless one’s mind to be able to do that. So the final step in generating bodhicitta is to come to the realisation that it’s not enough for me just to help sentient beings to be free of suffering and achieve peerless everlasting happiness, just to be part of the process with many other people doing it.
Since every sentient being has been kind to me, only I can repay the kindness I have received from each sentient being. So even though many Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are working for the sake of Mother sentient beings. I will take on the universal responsibility to enlighten all sentient beings by myself alone. So then finally reflect that, again realising that as I am by now, there’s no way I can possibly do that. To be actually able to lead every sentient being to enlightenment.
This is going to require incredible patience and perseverance, incredible skill and wisdom. In fact, the only way I can do this is to free my mind of all limitations, awaken all positive qualities completely and become a Buddha. So since this is what’s necessary to repay the kindness of Mother sentient beings, then this is what I will do. I will become a Buddha no matter how long it takes, how difficult it is, how many obstacles there are. I will become a Buddha in order to repay the kindness of mother sentient beings.
So then we can bring the meditation to a conclusion by making a strong determination to be more and more mindful in daily life of how every sentient being has been one’s mother and has been immensely kind. And to be mindful to generate that wish to repay that kindness by at least not causing harm to sentient beings, but as much as possible trying to benefit them in whatever way one can. You know, in various obvious ordinary ways, but also realising that the very best way to benefit sentient beings is to work on one’s mind, trying to purify the mind of all negativities, awaken all positive qualities, so that eventually one can be a vast, lasting benefit to all suffering beings. So then we recall the Buddha on the crown of our head, thinking the Buddha is very pleased with this meditation, but all the practice we’ve done today and also doing the whole course. So in response, the Buddha dissolves into blissful golden light which pours down into us, blessing our mind to be able to generate the realization of bodhicitta.
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. May the precious right view not yet born arise and grow.
May that born have no decline but increase forevermore. Now I have to confess that I, in some brilliant way, have messed up the schedule. Cause I thought that would end at four o’clock, but we’ve it’s a bit early. But I think everyone’s a bit dopey. So maybe including myself.
Yeah. So maybe we can is that okay? We finish a little bit early? Yeah. Because the