Bodhisattvacaryavatara, 27 September 1998, part 1

So whatever action or job we perform and if we perform that particular job with a sincere motivation, then all our work will become very helpful and beneficial. And if the work is very helpful and beneficial, then we can get a good result at the end of our work. So in this world, all sentient beings innately have a mind or a wish to have happiness and do not want to have suffering. And so all all yes. All sentient beings, innately, they wish happiness and do not want suffering.

No. So and our thought, the thing that how wonderful thinking, how wonderful or how wonderful if all the sentient beings beings have a have the cause of cause and the suffering or cause for the happiness, and I wonder if they have this happiness. So arousing such thought is generating not compassion but generating a love. So to to generate compassion for all sentient beings is to have a wish to free all the sentient beings from the suffering suffering and and to have and having, and to have a thought that or or thinking that how wonderful all those sentient beings be free from the suffering is the generation of the compassion. So so we shall think that we shall wish to, I mean, happen that thing which we I mean, all sentient beings to have happiness for that, we should also to to happen that particular thing, we should meditate to we should med meditate for that particular thought to happen.

Yeah. So the Indian Indian scholar, Acharya Śāntideva, had said, there is no greater sin or negative than the anger, and there’s no greater virtue than patience. So so it means that there are many, disturbing emotions or negative negative or disturbing emotions and if one has that anger, if one has the anger then it’s one one will find oneself in great danger. So to stop that anger, one has to train in patience and patience is very important to practice and it’s the best method to overcome or to stop the anger? So the practice of patient here is when one should really implement that patient at the time one gets angry or the anger occurs.

The practice of our patient should be applied on the same time you raise or you generate the anger in yourself. If one practice use the uses practice the patient while and after after the anger has been generated or been arose within yourself, then that practice becomes to I mean, then then your practice become bit late. So here, one meeting, what what method or what are the methods to practice the patient is there are two kinds of methods or two ways that we can practice the patients, which is one, by seeing the faults or disadvantages of the anger, one can do the practice of patience. And the second way is, or by seeing the benefits or the qualities of practicing, qualities of the patient is also a good method to practice the patient. So the methods are one is to see the negative values or the disadvantages of the anger, and the second is to seeing the benefits or advantages of practicing the patients.

So the thinking about the disadvantages of the anger is there are two where we can So are the So there are two disadvantages are, one, we can see the disadvantages of the anger in this life and there are some disadvantages. There are also disadvantages of the anger which we cannot see in this life. So the disadvantages which we can see or experience in this life is, say, suppose one is in a very, very peace I’m staying very peacefully in one’s house or one’s room. And at the moment, at the same time, say that someone someone gets in and use I mean, use some harsh words on the harsh one harsh words on you or use some violence like beating something. At the moment, the the negative emotion or the anger arises within you and and the same time, the the the at the same time, you distort the peaceful or a peace which you you were in which you were before.

So that anger immediately overcomes or or to destroy destroy your peace. So so in general, we we call disturbing emotions or the afflicted emotions which are the bad state of mind or negative state of mind, and which are not which are very, very harm which we don’t need it. And also these negative emotions, in general, they distort the the peaceful state of mind, and it also disrupts the peace. When one’s developed with any kind of disturbing emotions, then the mind itself become uncontrolled or restless or or it destroy the peace of the mind, you know, peace state of mind. So so that was the I mean, disturbing emotion in general.

When when when when one generates the discount any kind of disturbing emotion, it just disturbs the peaceful state of mind or destroy one’s I mean, become uncontrolled, etcetera. But among this among the disturbing emotions, the anger is the worst worst worst one. And when one generates the anger, then it destroys from the very bottom of one’s heart or one’s mind and it destroys and it makes I mean, it makes lots of I mean, it’s the worst it’s the worst from the disturbing emotions and one once it’s it is generated, then, I mean, it makes huge problems. So when when when when once the anger is generated, then it it destroys all the happiness and the loving kindness of oneself, and and not only and then it it just I mean, it it destroyed the peaceful state of mind. And by destroying that, then it also affects or changes the feeling of, like the physical feeling that we can see physically by arousing the anger in oneself.

And then once when anger is generated, at that time, one’s body trembles or shakes and then say and it also changes the appearance of one’s face. Means, I mean, I mean, once from the beginning, one’s face looks very, very calm and nice, like, very white. And then and as soon as anger comes up, like, it it just blush or become very red. And then and even the people, your friends, they doesn’t want to see that kind of face to you when the anger is generated. So and then when when at that at that time, even even you eat something, but the food is not tasty and then not delicious, and then even one sleeps.

One cannot sleep, just the heart is like it’s your one’s heart is very, very restless, and one cannot sleep as well. What I can So so when when that anger is generated or once one get generate the anger in oneself, then it changes everything, your mind mental state or your physical appearance or your physical actions. For and if if one had arose or one gets very strong anger within oneself, then very strong anger, then I mean, at that moment, moment, one can see all the grounds or everything is red. And then and then thinking that all people are looking at oneself, and then even when one sees the one sees their dear friends at that time, they don’t I mean, even when when one feel very very angry on the friend and to the dear ones at that time. Excuse me.

So at that time, then the anger destroys all everything and destroys one’s peaceful state of mind and then one can also at that moment, one uses lots of harsh words to others and even if the anger is very strong, there is danger of losing one’s life or getting like ending up one’s own life and then and which which which also brings suffering or problem problem to to both both oneself oneself and and others. Others. So and and you know this. And then the day if the anger is anger is generated and there is no no peace or harmony in within the family and also it makes problems in the in the country itself. You can see in these days there are many killings of, like, war or, like killings between the people in this world.

And then you can see that many houses got bombed or blasted using bombs or the houses got fire. So all these are the root cause the root cause of these things is anger is the root cause for these things to happen. So so which also so anger is the one which hurts both for the not both for both for the oneself and for others as well. And by doing that, one is really generating or collecting lots of demeritorious actions or making committing lots of sins. So the saying is that the reason of having anger is like, in this life, we can see that when one gets angry, then his his or her faces would change into red and and we we found we we find it very dreadful or awful to see that anger with a face with a red everywhere.

And this is what is the reason of getting anger, getting which we can see in this itself. And also, the result We also say that, and also, the result Result in the next life is next life is is the person may be taking a rebirth as a snake or like scorpions or etcetera, everyone gets very frightened by seeing the particular I mean, you know that when one sees the snakes or snake or that scorpions, one just gets frightened. That so these these are the result of the generating anger or getting angry, you know. So which which we we didn’t see. These are the reasons which we didn’t see in this life.

So and also the getting generating anger or getting angry very often, it also hurts what hurts one’s, wisdom or intellectual that saying I’m gonna say that say, even if one develops lots of anger, and then and and that person said that and that person had been born as a in the next life, the person born as a a human being. But even that but due to the, reason of I’m sorry, effect from that anger in the past life, even he whether he I mean, even he born as human, but he becomes very weak and not not intelligent or become or cannot study much. So it’s something that it also even the person if the person born as a human in the next life, but he he or she will have very little knowledge or become unintelligent and and So so yeah. So even if you’re born as a human, in the next life that he’s I mean, the person will be no more different than than the animals like this. Mean, he or she cannot study much or become unintelligent or like so as you know, the animals, they cannot study much, so the person will be more or less no better than the animals.

And also, even when one gets angry very often, the result will be very bad in the next rebirth and then being born as we have described it before. And and it will also become worse and worse. And one will very hard to free oneself from the suffering. No. So there are numerous or numberless of the disadvantages or disadvantages or or the the faults of getting angry, but we cannot next I mean, tell everything or explain everything here today.

So in that case, we should meditate on patients by seeing the advantages of the patient. So if you meditate on impan sorry. Excuse me. If you meditate on meditate on patience, then one can, one the benefit is what what one mind one’s mind, one can get, feel feel happiness or one can get happy by doing get feel happiness, experience happiness, and one can get in a very peaceful state of like, mind once become very peaceful and happy, and by doing that and also, one’s become very, very nice and then people will I mean, due to our mind is very happy and in a very peaceful state, then once physical appearance or I could for example, the face becomes very, I mean, wonderful to see. I mean, to and the person the person who practice, who has a very peaceful state of mind and happiness within oneself, then everyone I mean, everyone would like to see that person.

And because he or she is very peaceful and happy all the time and his he or her, their face their face looks very beautiful all the time. So and so if one have this patience in oneself, and then one become very peaceful and very and looking happy, I mean, I mean, happy all the time, and everyone and by by having this and then excuse me. So I’m I’m a person who practice mean, who has the patience within one’s that person then, one has a very peaceful mind and very looking very I mean, good faces, looking good, and very peaceful, and happy all the time. But and and if one has those qualities or those things, then and one will become there is a happiness or, like, peace or harmony within one’s family. And not only that one can have one will be very, very good become very good good to all people.

And if one is very good to all people, then one can make many friends. And having many friends means by having many friends, one can get many help help I mean, get many helps from the friends. So so this so practicing patience is very important. Okay. Sorry.

All of not long. Sorry. Rinpoche says, even if one has if one is very peaceful or have and that patient in one self, then even no matter how I mean, we don’t have to be in a huge crowd. Even in two people, like say a couple, have very peaceful and very having happy I mean, get very happy life and and become very, very friendly to each other. And there is a feeling that one cannot stay without another one.

And if they eat something, I mean, what kind of food they eat, it’s become very, very delicious or taste tasty. And even and then if they give birth to a child, the child will become very beautiful or get beautiful child, something like that. So yeah. So these are the reasons or good reasons of the patient. So so the patience is very important.

And patience is also the main cause for have a harmony in a family or in a country. So and it’s also so the patient is very important. So if one have a patient, there is harmony in the family. And by having a harmony in the family or by within yourself, then one performs a good action. And the result of that good action is have a good rebirth in next life.

And a good I mean, good good good rebirth in next life is not only just taking a human rebirth, it’s also by the power of the practicing patience or having patience in the past life, one will become a very I mean, born as a very and human being, not only that we have very good physical appearance or we’re born very beautiful. And and and as we said before, we have then we’ve been able to keep many friends and get friends. And if there’s a couple can continue continue their relation relation until the end of their life or the whole life. And so this is the result or the benefits of the patient. And there is a disharmony, the disharmony and the problems in the community or with the couple or family comes from not having the patience or generating anger or having anger or getting angry.

So it’s getting ang so the anger or anger or the not having the patience within oneself is the cause of disharmony or problem. No? Difficulties. No? Yeah.

So patience is very, very important to have or generate in oneself. And if one practice the patients, then one can the result one’s result in the next life will be born as a human rebirth and not only by born and not only that one can have a very good proper knowledge or wisdom and and can become a great very famous in the next life as well. And the result or the disadvantage of the patient the anger is the opposite of this. So so if if if one has so you know the result of the patient has been born as a human, not only that have one have good knowledge or wisdom and a good become very intelligent in the next life. And having this wisdom or knowledge in the if one has this wisdom and knowledge, then one can be one can one can study very well about how this saṃsāra is formed and how to how this saṃsāra is formed and how and one can also know how to end up this saṃsāra.

By knowing that, one one can be able to distinguish what things to be done and what things to be abandoned. And by knowing that, then one one can be able to practice or can realize the selflessness of the person, and the one can also generate the wisdom realizing emptiness. And if one has if one and also and the one by by doing this practice, one can like, having the knowledge realizing all wisdom, realizing emptiness and the then one can gradually or gradually overcome all the disturbing emotions. And if one when one and one one will able to overcome all the disturbing emotions or negativities and then become the arhat, which is arhat, which means which is in Sanskrit, it’s arhat is liberated. It’s one being one can liberate oneself from this cyclic existence.

And if I meditate on love and compassion, compassion, including the meditation on a bodhisattva, then one can one will become a bodhisattva, and then and also there is one not one can become bodhisattva and then enlightened become enlightened or yeah. Enlightened or reach the buddhahood. So so it’s very important to have the patience in this practice. This practice is very important that one should really think about the disadvantages or the disadvantages of anger or yeah. Disadvantages of anger, which have been described before and just think about it.

If I get angry, then this this result will be this and that. But thinking that one should not generate the anger and think and and also meditate and then then meditate on the patience by seeing the advantages of having patience which we have described before. And so by knowing the so when one is able to do different if one is able to and then make sure that one is being able to differentiate between the advantages and disadvantages of having anger and advantages of having patience, then one should try one should not be distracted by the harms of others. No. So there is another great disadvantages of the anger other than those.

No. Okay. So do one great disadvantages of of having anger is