Uh-huh. So the Buddha in one of his sūtra said something like, For Dharma we need refuge. The meaning of this is specifically referring to our motivation. If we don’t have the motivation of refuge, when we do anything, that action is very difficult for that action to become a Buddhist practice. So we really need to focus on refuge before we perform any action, to make sure that we actually get the most out of what we’re doing.
So what this this going for refuge means is that we’re looking towards the liberation from Samsāra. In this way, going for refuge, the motivation that we need to develop is this idea that we’re focusing on at least our next rebirth because we’re looking to work towards the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha for a way out of Samsāra, for liberation from Samsāra, and in order to do this we need to focus on at least our next rebirth we need to take refuge in order to do this because we don’t know how to do it by ourselves and the things that we don’t know how to do by ourselves start with the next lifetime we know how to get the most out of this lifetime we know what we can do in this lifetime to improve our situation and to make ourselves happy in the short term but we don’t know how to make ourselves happy in the long term to achieve a good rebirth to achieve liberation, to achieve Buddhahood. So we ask for help or we ask for refuge in order to bring those about. So this actual process of going for refuge isn’t something that we should take lightly or something that we should think that we understand, that we’ve got down.
It’s something that we need to keep working on because we can sit there and say, I go for refuge to the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, but actually going for refuge to the Buddha and the Sangha, Dhamma and the Sangha means relying on them and taking their help in order to work towards goals that we may not necessarily understand properly. S difficult for us to take refuge properly because we don t really understand what we re doing. We don t have a clear enough understanding of what the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha are in terms of being able to understand their qualities and so forth. Because of this, we develop doubts about what a Buddha is, what the Sangha is, what the Dharma is and we develop doubts about whether the Buddha s words, the Dharma is actually what we need to practice. Taking refuge means believing that the Buddha, the Dharma, Sangha means for us to be happy.
So, doing what it says, the Buddha says, doing what the Dharma explains, practicing in that way. And we have doubts about that. If we didn’t have doubts about it, wouldn’t do anything wrong. If we didn’t have any doubts about what the Buddha said, then we wouldn’t do anything but what he said. So we have doubts about it thinking, well, if I do something in the short term, that’ll make me happy.
So taking refuge is something we really need to work on and to develop as opposed to just saying. It’s something that we really need to keep working at. Refuge is something that we really need to keep working at because it’s something that’s very difficult. We have this idea that refuge is a beginner’s practice, but it’s incredibly difficult. In fact, until we’ve gotten rid of what’s called afflicted doubt or neurotic doubt that is any lingering idea that the the Dhamma and the Sangha aren’t what they say they are or aren’t the way that we may believe they are, that neurotic doubt we get rid of when we perceive the true nature of reality directly, when we become Aryas, when we achieve the path of seeing.
It’s something that we get rid of there. Then even after that, when people are Ārya Bodhisattvas, that is they perceive the true nature of reality and they have bodhicitta, they’re still dealing with what are called the inherent imprints of that neurosis. They get rid of the actual neurosis when they perceive reality directly and then they’re still dealing with the smell of the neurosis as they move through what’s called the path of meditation. Until then, we can’t really have true refuge. Up until that point, we need to keep working at refuge.
Something we need to keep thinking about. So what we need to do is to develop an understanding in ourselves so that our doubts about refuge, our doubts about this process that we’re undertaking become less and less and less and less. First of all, have this idea of we’ve got to look at what we want and we want to be happy. If we look at what we want, we find we want to be happy. Then we need to look at what is true happiness and then develop an understanding that the only true happiness is liberation and Buddhahood.
Once we develop that idea and we really understand that there is no happiness in Samsāra, we also need to have belief in the Buddha, the Dhamma and Sangha, belief that the way that the Buddha sets things out is the path we need to follow in order to get out of Samsāra. So we need to develop these two things. We need to have the persistence to keep at the path as was explained until it becomes clearer to us and we also need to have a belief in the way the Buddha said to practice is the right way to practice. It’s not as if someone can come along and hand it to us and say here you go, here’s liberation. It’s not like the Buddha’s can do that.
They can’t say here’s your liberation. We actually have to work at it ourselves. So, we have to have belief and then we have to have persistence. The thing is though, once we start practicing this, once we start developing our beliefs, clearly looking at our beliefs and keep practicing, then it becomes more refined and more refined and more refined, our belief and our diligence. As they become more refined, they become easier.
Our belief becomes easier and our diligence becomes easier and eventually it becomes completely free of doubt once we develop this realization of the true nature of reality. So, at the beginning when we start doing this, s really difficult because it comes down to beliefs. It doesn come down to what we can perceive directly. It comes down to what we believe. So, it’s much more difficult to deal with a belief than it is to deal with a perception.
So, we have to keep working at our beliefs, and the way that we keep working at our beliefs is by looking at the arguments that are set forth in the Buddhist scriptures and the way that we perceive people to be, and we keep looking at them and looking at things again and again and again until we’re convinced. So, it’s a matter of using logic, using our reasoning, using our understanding and putting the Buddha’s words to the test until we develop our beliefs. Our beliefs become stronger and stronger and stronger. It’s not a matter of just having an idea of something. We have to keep developing our own understanding because ultimately, what we’re taking refuge in isn’t something that’s external.
We’re taking refuge in the fact that we can become a Buddha. We’re taking refuge in the idea that this process is able to happen. We’re taking refuge in the idea that the Buddhas were once like us and they got rid of all of their neurosis. They got rid of all of their hang ups, passed through different levels of meditation and understanding and when they went through what’s called the path of seeing where they saw how reality is and then they went through the path of meditation where they acclimatized themselves to that understanding and they eventually became Buddhas. So we re working with the idea that Buddhas used to be beings who experienced suffering, who didn t experience suffering and who were exactly like us.
Before they developed any of these understandings, were exactly like us. But they worked at it and worked at it and they eventually became realized Buddhas. Ultimately, what we re taking refuge in is the fact that we can do that. That s what our refuge is in. So then we have to keep working at that to develop our beliefs in that and also to make that come back.
Then, we need to start thinking about other people as well. It’s not just about our taking refuge and becoming a Buddha, it’s about all other beings. All other beings have this potential as well and they need to be shown the way not to experience suffering. So, if we have this idea of, Okay, I’m taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and the Sangha, I am going to develop my beliefs and work towards becoming Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings, for the sake of all other beings that are suffering and not just because of my own interests, then that means that whatever we’re doing becomes something that’s motivated by bodhicitta. That idea or that motivation is the bodhicitta motivation.
Then if we can have the idea that in order to become a Buddha to benefit all beings, I’m going to work towards becoming a Buddha to benefit all sentient beings, and then we have the idea that all of the positive things that we’ve ever done are mixed with all the positive things that any of the other types of beings have ever done. And then by rejoicing in that collection of good karma or good positive qualities that we can become a Buddha. We will become a Buddha, so we should meditate on that for a few minutes. Okay, so, we were up to the last bit of the first perfection from the six perfections to be practiced by Bodhisattvas. We’re up to a quote from Lama Tsongkhapa’s Song of Experience that describes the practice of generosity.
The first line of this says, The perfection of generosity is the magic gem to fulfill the hopes of the world. The perfection of generosity, the practice of giving is a magic gem. Magic gem’s an interesting translation of this thing that always comes up, the wish fulfilling gem or literally from Tibetan it says, The jewel that is like the mind. So, it’s a jewel that gives you anything your mind desires, right? So, this giving, this practice of generosity is supposed to be able to give you anything that you want.
It says to fulfill the hopes of sentient beings or anything they want can come about through practicing generosity. Now, what it’s talking about there when it says to fulfill the hopes of beings or to fill the hopes of the world is that what beings really want, even though they may think they want everything else, what they really want is to be happy. So through practicing generosity, you can make yourself happy. So this is what it’s talking about here. The next line says, The best tool with which to cut the knot of miserliness constricting the heart.
So what this means is that if we have like a knot in our mind that is this sense of miserliness that we don’t want to give, that we don’t want to part with anything and hold onto things, the best tool that we can have for chopping away at that is by practicing generosity. It’s the direct antidote to this knot of miserliness. The next line says, The Bodhisattva practice giving birth to the unfailing powers of the spirit. What this is referring to is that if we are able to practice generosity then it stops the mind s tendency to deflate and gives you mental strength in practicing the practices of a bodhisattva or son or daughter of a Buddha. So it gives us mental strength, is the main essence from that line.
This idea that if we keep practicing generosity, we’re able to do the other practices of the Bodhisattva which are the six perfections and we have the mental strength to do that. The next line says it’s the foundation of beneficial reputation. So this means that you become renowned for your positive conduct and that can help give strength to your practice. Then it also says, Knowing this, the wise rely upon the practice of dedicating their body, possessions and merits. It s saying that you understand the benefits of practicing generosity and you understand that properly, then you are someone who is either an expert or a wise person who is going to do that, who s going to give away physical things, who s going to behave very well and could even give away their body.
Okay, so the second of the perfections that are practiced as the Bodhisattvas is the perfection of ethical discipline. Now, it said that the practice of ethical discipline is based on two things, on the practice of mindfulness and introspection, and this comes about through two things, which is usually translated as shame and embarrassment. Now, the first of these, shame, is this idea that I m not going to do something because if I do that, then other people will think, hang on, which one s that shame or embarrassment? This is what it does my head in. Every time I have to translate it, it like they’re the same word in English.
Let’s see, embarrassment would probably be the best one. The first one embarrassment, it’s this sense that whatever we do, if we are conscious that other people are watching what we do and we want whatever we do to reflect our ethics, alright? So, if we think other people will say, oh they say one thing and do another or that behavior was incorrect, like friends that are on the same path as us or whatever, then we have this idea that we don’t want to do that. The other sense is the idea of shame is like something that doesn’t rely on other people. It’s our personal sense of shame whether there’s people there or not.
When we do something negative, if we have a sense of that’s wrong, then that’s shame. So we have these two guards for our ethics that is the idea of what other people will think, which is an idea of embarrassment, and then this personal idea of shame that isn’t dependent on what other people think. Now, we put these into practice through introspection, watching what we’re doing and remembering what we should be doing. Then, this combined with the idea that whatever it is we’re doing in order to become a border to benefit all sentient beings becomes the practice of the perfection of ethics. This is the way that we do this, but what we need to do, and what we actually are looking at, what we’re being introspective about, what we’re being embarrassed or ashamed of and what we’re trying to remember to do is the practice of the ten virtuous actions that is not stealing, not killing and so forth.
We are trying to practice the ten virtuous actions, abandon the ten non virtuous actions and practice restraint with regards to those. On the basis of ethics, then the other perfections, our practice of the other perfections, generosity, enthusiasm and all the way up to wisdom are expanded, are able keep getting better and stronger and bigger. Okay. If we’re able to use the basis of these two things, that is this idea of embarrassment and shame, to make sure as like a guide for us to stop us from doing negative things. Yeah, we use them as a guide for us not to do negative things even at the risk of our lives, then we’ll be able to engage in the practice of the Bodhisattvas with a firm base.
in dependence on these things, if we have the idea that we’re doing that in order to benefit sentient beings, whatever it is, we’re doing it in order to benefit sentient beings, then we will be able to achieve what are called the three aspects of ethics. Now, what it’s referring to here, it says that we’re able to achieve the ethics which are called natural ethics. So, there’s two different types of ethics. You can have ethics from vows and ethics that are natural, which is, for example, the ten non virtuous actions, which are unethical whether you’ve got vows or not if you perform the ten non virtuous actions. Talking about these ones that are just wrong by their nature as opposed to wrong by whether there is a vow involved or not.
Through the basis of the shame and embarrassment, we’re able to abandon the ten non virtuous actions, practice the ten virtuous actions with the motivation that we’re doing it in order to benefit sentient beings. If we do this, then we achieve what are called the three different types of ethics. The first ethic is to engage in positive actions, and the second type of ethics is to abandon negative actions. And the third type is to do things that benefit sentient beings. So, there’s these three different ways to look at ethics.
Two of them are based on personal motivation and the other is based on the focusing on other beings. So the way that Lama Tsongkhapa explains this in his Song of Experience is, first of all, he says that ethical discipline is water to clean away the stains of negativity or the stains of this neurosis. So the same way that we have a shower when we smell, right, and then we cease to smell, we basically stink of neurosis and we stink of bad karma. By practicing ethics, we’re able to clean away those smells. We’re able to get rid of our neurosis and get rid of our negative karma.
It acts like a water to clean away our mental stains. The next thing he says, It s like his moonlight to cool the heat of delusion. Now, what this is talking about is that if we are bounced around by our neuroses and our negative ways of thinking, then we tend to behave in ways that cause a lot of pain and tension to ourselves and then that’s likened to heat. The same way that if we’ve been really hot then nighttime with the light of the moon refreshes us and it s very cooling and there s a word which is like, I don know, like it sparks you up as well as cooling you off. Doesn t translate properly but anyway, it probably does, just can t think of the word.
So ethics is said to be like that. It’s supposed to be a cooling breeze for us or a cooling light for us. It’s also said to be a radiant tower radiance towering like a mountain in the midst of sentient beings. Now, the way that they’ve described sentient beings here is all the different types of beings. So it’s like saying all sentient beings who have at one stage been our mothers, all of these types of beings, in the middle of those, if you were trying to physically manifest ethics, it would be like a huge mountain.
Okay. So what is this? Alright. So it says, its radiance towering like a mountain in the midst of sentient beings. What this means is that in the same way a mountain is very steady and stays in it.
It can stays where it is. A mountain doesn’t start moving around and it’s just said to be one of most stable things on the planet is a mountain. So, in the same way as that, if we have ethics, then we’re not blown around by the forces of karma as much. We have a very stable base. We don’t get thrown into the lower realms, thrown into the higher realms, thrown all over the place.
We stay like a mountain in the center, which is a way of saying we stay like a mountain in the human realm, able to practice Dharma. This is what that means. And then the next line says, the force peacefully uniting humanity. Sorry, it s very hard to translate a poem on the spot and I m looking at this guy s translation going, What? Yeah, so he’s translated as force peacefully to unite humanity.
But what it kind of means is that means that ethics gets rid of all of the causes that we may have for strife. So by practicing ethics, we stop experiencing strife. We create the causes for stopping experiencing strife. We don’t have any fears if we practice ethics. In this way, it’s things that of subdues all beings.
Effects is the way to subdue all beings. Says, Knowing that spiritual practitioners regard it as if they were their very eyes. So, we consider our eyes to be very precious and we automatically try to protect our eyes when they’re in danger. In the same way, we should do that with our ethics because our ethics are more important than our eyes. So we naturally look after our eyes.
We naturally have this idea that if even one thing gets in our eyes, we’re instantly trying to get it out and if something’s going to hurt our eyes, we try and protect it. It’s something that we’re always aware of. It’s not something that we have to generate the idea of. We don’t have to remember to look after our eyes. It’s something that we’re constantly aware of.
In fact, we need to start thinking about ethics in this way, so if anything’s going to damage our ethics or anything’s going to make us transgress our ethics, then we have to be very careful not to let that happen. I wasn’t playing at you. I playing at. So, the next thing that we’re up to is the practice of patience, which is the third of the perfections that we need to train in. The perfection of patience is said to, first of all, refer to the way that it is not appropriate for us to react with anger when someone harms us.
Now, the reason that it is not appropriate for us or beneficial for us to react with anger when someone harms us is that the real reasons for ourselves being harmed is not an external person. It is, first of all, that we are receiving retribution from some negative action that we have performed in the past. So we don’t get harmed by other people. We get harmed by the causes that we have created to experience the results of harm. That’s the first thing.
The second thing is that if we wanted to actually find the person responsible for the harm that is being inflicted on us, it wouldn’t be the person doing the harm, but the fact the anger that has arisen in them, the neurosis that has come about in their mind, which caused them to do something negative towards us. So if we wanna blame anything for the harm that was inflicted on us, then we have to look to, first of all, our own negative actions in the past, and second of all, to the actual neurosis itself, the actual conflicted mind itself, as opposed to the person. So this is where we need to look to if we want to point fault when we are harmed in any way. The second thing is that anger doesn’t help us in any way. If we are angry for just one moment, it’s said that that can be responsible for us wiping out positive karma that we have accumulated over eons.
Now it especially refers to the positive karma that’s accumulated through the practices of what’s called the three bases. Now the three bases refers to four bases. Oh, no. No. No.
No. Three bases. Sorry. I was yeah. Three bases.
No. And the three bases are the practice of Sojong, which is a it’s it’s actually referring to practices that fully ordained monks and nuns do. Alright? The first of which is the practice of Sojong, which is a meeting twice a month to purify shortcomings in their vows. So they meet every couple of months to it’s a way of a like a confession, except it’s a group confession.
So that’s the first way of collect these are three bases that collect lots of merit. The second one is what’s called the the rains retreat. In the Vinaya, the monks are asked to spend the rain season in a retreat situation and focusing intensely on practice. And at the end of the rains retreat, then they take other vows or they have a release from that rains retreat, and they take and do another confessional ceremony. So the basis of these three practices of fully ordained monks creates a lot of merit, of positive karma, because of the vows that they’re done within, and the practices themselves.
So the accumulation of these three different types the merit from these three different types of practices over eons is wiped out once you get angry. So you have to be really careful about anger really try and recognize when we’re getting anger angry and try and stop it. We should think, hang on. I’m getting angry here, and that’s not gonna help, and then try and do anything we can to stop ourselves from being angry. So, therefore, anger is said to be pointless and pointless and destructive.
The other thing is that if other beings harm us and we experience great suffering from the harm that others inflicted on us, we can also look at that as a way to get rid of our arrogance and pride. So we can if we don’t react, if we don’t get angry, if we don’t try and seek revenge in some way, then we can actually use that situation as a way to get rid of arrogance and pride. So it can be beneficial for us if if other beings harm us. So
That will. And guess your thing, you probably have questions? If does anyone have a question? Sure. Because I’ve got a question too for you guys.
It’s a test. No, it’s not a test. Yes. I remember Geshe-la doing that to me once, and I got wrong, and he hit me with Yeah.
It didn’t hurt. Sorry. Go Okay. So nothing happens that isn’t the result of karma. So you can’t have a re a result without a cause.
If you have a result, then there needs to be a cause for that. So there needs to have been something that caused that to come around. So the cause for that had to have been the negative action in the past by the person experiencing it. But then causes don’t turn into results without conditions. So there needs to be the conditions of the negative factors of the other people are doing these things for that cause to bring a bitter result.
He said no. He would think that that would be a result of something negative happening as opposed to a reason for something negative to happen. But what it does do is give what it would do would be give the person, whether it’s a child or an adult, an opportunity to do whatever they could not to be in that situation. So, it could give them a way to get out of it, but it’s definitely not a cause for it to happen. Yeah.
No. It it to to his the the words he used I’m trying to be more I was trying to be as specific as possible. The words he uses to find a way out of it, like, to to it’s not a, like, a dharma way. The way that the the word is like this word that’s, is like they use it for I don’t know. This word, he was saying is like, they use it for find a way to make the Indian government help you.
You know what I mean? It’s like it’s not like a a cosmic way to find a way out of it. It’s like do what you can to not be in that Very practically, not a yeah. Not like not not sit there yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. That’s yeah. So Yeah. Yeah. It’s it’s like it’s a worldly thing.
Yeah. It’s a worldly way out as well. That is. Okay. Geshe-la said that doesn’t make any sense.
And I and and I said, yeah. But they could he no. Hang on. He said, doesn’t make any sense for them to be in that situation, but they have to look to see if the situation will get worse if they leave or better if they leave. And so is it to yeah.
Sorry. No. Because I just said in Tibet, they don’t always leave if they’re getting hit. And he said, yeah. But sometimes they do.
Yeah. If he said, you have saṃsāra, you have everything happened. So he said that so it’s not a matter of thinking that this is just my karma. I should stay here and cop the beatings. It’s a matter of trying to look at the situation with as much objectivity as you can and see which is going to be the most beneficial for everyone involved.
If staying and making the situation better practicing patience is beneficial for everyone involved and is going to help everyone, then do that. If it’s not going to work, if it’s not going to help anyone, then leave. So, it’s not a matter of saying this is my karma or this isn’t my karma. It’s looking at the situation to see which is the most beneficial. He said, yeah, probably not.
But what they need to do is to analyze and look at the situation as much as possible. Yes. Hills. That’s actually just a word in Tibetan. I’m thinking, man, how do I translate that word?
Yes. They’re not natural vows. Naturally not natural virtues and and virtues from vows and virtues that are Yeah. Yeah. I’m not even ready for that concept.
No. I’ve heard something at you. We didn’t so the. So Mhmm. Mhmm.
And then the talking about the vows. Mhmm. He said, yeah. The reason that you take vows is to take them because they’re beneficial to your practice of ethics, and they they don’t just mean that you’re practicing ethics in any given situation, but it means that you’re carrying around the the practice of ethics at all times. So, for example, if we take the example of killing.
Now killing is a non virtuous action whether you have vows or not. Right? It’s a it’s a non virtuous action if you kill without vows, it’s a non virtuous action if you kill with vows. If you refrain from killing in a given instance, that is practicing ethics. If you take a vow not to kill, you’re practicing that ethical situation for your whole life.
Yeah. So, you have a vow not to kill all the time. So, you’re continually being ethical. Yeah. You’re continually restricted from that unethical behavior.
Whereas, if you don’t have that vow, you are only practicing that ethics in in in certain given situations. Does that mean? If you have the vow, you’re continually practicing the ethics of not killing because you have a vow restricting you from killing, from when you take the vow until you die. Yeah? But if you only decide I’m not going to kill, yeah, when the situation comes up, You’re only practicing not killing in that situation, yeah, as opposed to continually practicing it all the time.
So, having something that you’re continually practicing all the time is more beneficial for your practice of ethics and more solid and helps you to be able to practice other parts of the Buddhist path more with a more solid base. I had a bug fly in my mouth when I was translating once. Communist was like, So the idea of killing something being putting it out of their misery doesn’t really fit into Buddhism because of the concept of reincarnation. So if you you’re not putting something out of its misery by killing it, you could be sending it to a place where it’s experiencing more misery. Yeah?
Just because it’s not in front of your face doesn’t mean that it’s not experiencing misery. Alright? The cause for its misery is not that you bonked it on the head. The cause for its misery is that it has self grasping and it’s created the causes for that. So, you want what you want for this animal is not to be put out of it to be killed.
It’s to become a Buddha because that’s the only way it’s gonna stop suffering, not by killing it. Yeah. So, what you’re trying to do here for that animal is to do as much as you can to make that come about, to pray for the animal, to try and help it as much as you can. But to think that I’m killing it to put it out of his misery doesn’t make sense if there’s a continuation of life. Yeah.
That’s that’s the same thing. About boy. Yeah. But it you don’t know if you kill it, then it’s gonna go to hell. That’s the question we’re saying.
If if it’s it’s suffering, kill it. You don’t that suffering could actually, like Purify the results of going through a a worse place afterwards. I’ve gotta check that because I just said that myself, and I know shit all. Oh. I’m sorry.
First day back. I’m allowed to make mistakes on the last day on first day. You don’t get rid of suffering by killing an animal. You get rid of suffering by getting rid of self grasping. So, you want that animal to stop suffering, you have to get rid of it self grasping.
Right so you can’t get rid of the animal suffering by killing it you don’t that doesn’t do anything for it so you even if you’re trying to get the animal even into a situation where it can regret and purify things that it has done in order to purify its karma and not have to experience suffering. So what you need to do is to look at the animal suffering and pray really hard that you’re able to develop yourself enough or do and to become a Buddha so that you can help the animal get rid of suffering. That’s the way you can help the animal. Can’t help the animal by killing it. Said it’s a similar situation to this idea that we can stop suffering in the world or we can stop bombs going off all around the world by killing terrorists.
Right? We have this idea that, okay, they’re the problem, we kill the problem, that goes away. Yeah it’s the same with when we see a bug the bug suffering kill the bug the suffering goes away it’s not the way it works by killing you create more suffering you don’t ever create the end of suffering by more killing alright it doesn’t ever work so it’s the same idea as people have this idea they keep killing terrorists, then there will be no terrorists left and they’ve won. It’s not gonna work. The more people you kill, the more terrorists you create.
The more suffering you create, the more anger you create, the more problems you create. So therefore, the more terrorists you create. So you’re never going to be able to get rid of suffering by killing no matter who or what it is. Better be quick. He doesn’t think that the He doesn’t think that spiders’ natural inhabitant is a house.
So he said that he thinks it’s best to put the spiders outside because they’re outside animals and he doesn’t know how much they’re going to actually be able to eat inside as well and so if their natural habitat is outside then putting them outside doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to die they come from outside He said, If there is such a thing as an inside spider, then leave the spider inside. Now, I have a question for you guys, which Geshe la which I’m asking now because so I can tell them, but we don’t have that much left to this text, and this class is actually Geshe la’s choice for teaching, and we were trying to figure out a text. And then he said to ask you guys if you have anything that you particularly wanna study. I know that’s, like, very unusual for yeah. Yeah.
Oh. Have you guys heard of that? It’s a text called Nāgārjuna’s letter to a friend, and it’s about it’s about like it and get I said to study and engage Buddhism. It’s about like how to behave in society and about say it’s Nāgārjuna teaching a king about how to run the country and like an ethics for society and how to behave. Yeah.
Does does that sound cool? Now I have to go and search for the text, but that’s alright. Yeah. Okay. It’s good.
Yeah. Can I ask you my question? You’re pushing it. Okay. So anything that we can experience has to have a cause.
Right? And that’s why Samsāra is so bad. Is that all of the Samsāra is about is at one stage doing something negative towards someone and then another side experiencing negativity back at you. You know? It’s like that’s why Samsāra sucks.
That’s why it’s so bad. It’s because it’s about in one lifetime hurting someone, the next time experiencing the results of that suffering and then going back through it and again and then thinking, they hurt me, I’m gonna hurt them, or they hurt me. That’s what Samsāra is. It’s experiencing the results of doing bad things in the past and then keeping on repeating that cycle and experiencing suffering. You can’t have a result without a cause, and you usually don’t have a result without a, similar cause.
You do something bad to someone in one life, you experience bad, something bad in the next life, or in a future life. I said, How do you deal with that? Help the question, Geshe said, If you grow up, then you have to say, Okay, this person caused me suffering. I don’t want anyone else to suffer. I’m not going to do this.
I regret everything that I’ve done that’s negative. I have compassion for anyone who s done anything negative, and you cut the cycle. And until you get rid of self grasping, there is going to be no cessation of suffering. In the world at the moment. These people don’t know ethics.
They don’t have an idea of what’s gonna make them happy and what’s not gonna make them happy and then they are focused all continually on themselves as opposed to anyone else so if someone’s mired in that kind of neurosis and destruction they’re going to keep behaving in negative ways until they develop understanding but the thing is they don’t have dharma in their lives they don’t have an understanding of ethics so in this way they’re very sad people it’s very sad for them to be in this situation Yeah. I think I know what you mean that Listen. Different from you. Yeah. Yeah.
Sorry. No. It’s okay. But we have to cut we really do have to, like, chop it off at some stage. Because This is possible and it’s there’s lots of stories about it in text.
Like, there was a lady who had the hots for the Buddha. There was another person who tried to seduce Langri Thangpa. This guy so there’s there’s always this and there’s a lot of times that happens with monks and nuns that they have people very attracted to them, so they ve like very virtuous people. So, what the thing is though is that that person who is practicing virtue has to realize and has to realize that there may be lust arising in this other person or attachment rising in this other person but if they actually leave their place of virtue and go and and and become attached to this person thinking they can help, they’re not gonna be there’s more as much benefit as if they continue to be virtuous. So they have to keep working for the benefit of other people and trying to purify other people, and that that depends on the what they’re going to do in that situation depends on the way they perceive the situation.
And so from the point of view of the person that is attracted to the virtue, there’s two ways they can go about it as well. They can look at it and say, Alright, I like this person. If I try and seduce them and take their vows away from them, I’m hurting them and I’m hurting me. If I try and help them to protect their vows and help them to protect the way of life they’re living, they’re benefiting themselves and they’re benefiting me. So you can either look from that perspective as well, you can look at two different ways.
Yeah. Sorry. Sorry. You’re gonna have to apologize to everyone else. Okay?
Say sorry. I’m keeping you in here, and I’m sorry.