Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this two-hour teaching, Ilia S. Durovic presents core Mahāyāna Buddhist foundations by introducing Nāgārjuna’s Bodhicitta Vivarana, a classical commentary on the two bodhicittas—conventional and ultimate. The session opens with how to generate authentic motivation before dharma study, then walks through the essential architecture of the Mahāyāna path: empathy and love as gateways to bodhicitta; bodhicitta as the heart of the great vehicle; the role of correct view (emptiness) in dismantling self-cherishing and true-existence apprehension; and the direct connection between virtuous action, motivation, and rebirth. Durovic uses concrete examples—a child neglecting his suffering mother, prayer alone without causal effort, climbing a mountain slowly rather than jumping—to illustrate why steady practice of ethics, generosity, and patience across many lifetimes, not dramatic transformation, is the realistic path. The teaching emphasises that belief in dharma arises only through analysis and faith in the Buddha’s clear teachings, and that anger and desire are overcome through bodhicitta and renunciation respectively.
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File: Line in 0222.mp3
UUID: 37e2feca-6324-41e8-b544-4893836110fd
Teacher: Ilia S. Durovic
Collection: Awakening Heart
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~4,212
Okay. Before listening to teachings or before teachings are explained, it is capital to generate a good mind, a good motivation. And what is meant by a good motivation is a motivation to benefit others. Such a motivation is virtuous. It leads to the enhancement of any deeds which are performed to it and to the accumulation of the collection of all excellences.
So with this as a motivation, we should listen to these teachings. And one should generate therefore both minds of empathy and of love for others as well as for oneself. If they are generated for both others and oneself, then we can say they are generated with respect to all beings. And this mind which strives to benefit others when led to its ultimate state is that very state of full enlightenment. So we should try to make each day meaningful and to have meaningful human lives for one, two, or three days.
And eventually, if we do this for every single day, we can say to have a completely meaningful human life. And then in turn, through trying to actualize the welfare of others, we will be able to actualize their contingent and ultimate welfare. And in dependence on this through practicing the welfare of others, we will actualize both our own and their benefit and eliminate completely from our mind the afflictions such as desire, envy, jealousy, and so forth. We will meditate on generating this wish to benefit others and compassion for one or two minutes because in dependence on this hearing and explaining are more beneficial. So we’re going to restart the preliminary prayers.
If you’re not familiar on a Tibetan phonetic, then look it on the page two, and we start from one b.
On page five, verse six, Mandala offering, we recite the first verse and the last verse. And therefore, as is said, the victorious ones are those who have abandoned all of the dualistic appearances. And in as much as they are abandoned have abandoned all dualistic appearances, they are said to be Buddhas, to be fully enlightened beings, those Buddhas of the past, of the future, and of the present of all three times, who have shown to us the path which we are to follow if we want ourselves to attain this state of full enlightenment. And this path which leads to full enlightenment is none other than the path of the perfection of wisdom, apart from which no path can be posited. This is a path which the elephants, the great beings which are compared to the elephants, the Buddhas have traveled in the past, as well as the Bodhisattvas.
And we ourselves must travel this path if we want to attain a state bereft of all faults and in which all qualities are established. So do you know? If we were to try to summarize this path of the Pāramitāyāna, the perfection vehicle, it can be summarized into conventional and ultimate bodhicitta. This is the principle as well as the essence of this this path. And Rinpoche will, at present, continue the teachings on Ārya Nāgārjuna’s Bodhicitta Vivarana, his commentary on the perfection of wisdom when Ārya Nāgārjuna composed this commentary on bodhicitta, he was composing a commentary on the two bodhicittas, which is both conventional and ultimate bodhicitta, which are the path leading to full enlightenment, can be compared to an elephant.
And this commentary on the profound view, Ārya Nāgārjuna, which was supreme among scholars composed for our sake based on experience. So we have at present obtained a precious human rebirth. We are able to attend Dharma teachings. Most of the interfering factors have been eliminated and the concordant or harmonious factors are present. We are most fortunate, therefore, and we we are most meritorious.
So we should generate a strong sense. I am very fortunate. I am very lucky. And in dependence on this allow both joy and happiness to arise in our mind, which will make for strong karmic imprints. So this teaching is a very essence of the Mahāyāna, in Tibetan.
It is the essence. It is also principal teachings of the Mahāyāna, and both he who explains and those who listen are most fortunate to receive them. She said And therefore, as Buddha Śākyamūni said, listen well and retain in your mind. This verse can be understood as follows. Well here refers to listening without desire or anger within the mind, which otherwise contaminates what the mind.
And listen actually refers to concentrating one’s mind single pointedly on what is being taught. It is in dependence on this that the teachings are of benefit. Otherwise, if the mind travels hither and thither, then one will not be able to understand the teachings. Retain in the mind refers to holding in the mind as Rinpoche expressed the teachings as with one’s hand. And then listening single pointedly
And holding the teachings in the mind, they will be of benefit because in dependence on this, one can in turn engage in meditation on them. Otherwise, this is not possible. So once you meditate on the meaning of the teachings and in dependence on this meditation, one’s minds will increase and develop. Otherwise, if one does not train in this manner, it will remain as previously afflicted by desire, anger, and ignorance, And it will not be able to develop in the slightest, and these are all non virtuous states of mind. So what do we mean by dharma?
Dharma means to put an end to desire, to hatred, and to ignorance. If we listen to the dharma as is taught here, then we can hope to obtain the results therefrom and to implant strong karmic imprints in our mind. So at first, we must generate this mind which aims to benefit others, which has two components, empathy and love. Empathy is first and foremost the wish not to harm others, and when empathy is generated within the mind, anger and wrath cannot arise. Love on the other hand is a wish to help others.
It is generated on top of empathy. And in dependence on the ever increasing generation of these two in turn, we can give rise to the mind of bodhicitta. This mind of bodhicitta itself will help the mind of wisdom, which gives rise to the correct or the authentic view. And then, thanks to this mind of bodhicitta, self-cherishing of which it is a foremost antidote will decrease, and the virtuous component of the mind will become as vast as space. So through training in bodhicitta, one gives rise to the correct view, and then in dependence on the correct view and on bodhicitta respectively, self the apprehension of the self as an inherently existing phenomena and self-cherishing will be destroyed.
Then obtaining Buddhahood is quite straightforward. And then once bodhicitta has been generated within the mind, not only will we purify all of the non virtues we have accumulated since beginningless time, but we will cease to accumulate non virtuous deeds in the future. In dependence on this, we will not be reborn in the lower realms. Actually, the door to the lower realms will be shut, will be closed. So one being who has generated within his mind stream bodhicitta accumulates virtue irrespective of what he does, whether he walks, eats, sleeps, he accumulates not just the virtue, he accumulates the inconceivable virtue which places one in the state of full enlightenment whatever he does.
So in dependence on bodhicitta, therefore, it is possible to attain swiftly and easily all of the paths, the grounds, the qualities of the great vehicle in the same way as in the summer, all crops grow swiftly. And one then progress progresses upward from bliss and happiness to bliss and happiness to ever greater bliss and happiness. And this very ignorance, which is that apprehension of true existence, apprehending all phenomena as truly existed is what is dispelled with the powerful mind of bodhicitta as its impelling factor. in dependence on this, it is possible to eliminate without exception all sufferings and to progress upwards on the grounds and paths of the great vehicle to that state where all faults are eliminated and all qualities are actualized. This is what is called the state of Buddhahood.
There is no other state of Buddhahood apart from that state of elimination of all thoughts and actualization of all qualities, and this is what is attained through what is known as ultimate bodhicitta. So through understanding in this way, the very essence of the mind, we are able to eliminate both self-cherishing and the apprehension of true existence, which otherwise deceive us and are the cause of suffering and of suffering alone. Suffering in particular is caused by self-cherishing, which impels us to the towards the lower realms and towards rebirth as animals or even among higher rebirth as human beings and as gods. So since our goal is to eliminate suffering without exception, we must then find a means to eliminate both self-cherishing and the apprehension of a truly existing self, which are the two causes of suffering. And while in general, we can say that the Arhats are most worthwhile and worthy beings in as much as they have abandoned all of the afflictions.
Nonetheless, they have self-cherishing. And therefore, even though they do not experience suffering, they do experience something which is akin to suffering in as much as they have neither accomplished their own welfare, their own well-being, nor have they accomplished the will or the well-being of others. They have not been able to abandon self-cherishing. So although there are such beings as lower vehicles such beings are still unable to abandon the karmic imprints of apprehending the self as truly existing. Therefore, the path which is open to us is through generating bodhicitta within our mind stream to actualize our own welfare and the welfare of others.
And therefore, is capital for us to enter into the path of the Mahāyāna, abandoning all thoughts and actualizing all qualities. For from their side they lack great love, The very essence of the Mahāyāna is the actualization of love in its fullest sense. And this search of the bodhisattva is the endless search for means leading to the happiness of beings.
Now you don’t So the gateway of the Mahāyāna is bodhicitta. The existence or nonexistence of bodhicitta determines whether or not a practice is Mahāyāna or not. If bodhicitta is there, it is Mahāyāna. If it is not there, the practice cannot be called, Mahāyāna. Then Mahāyāna in turn depends on, the generation of compassion.
Where there is compassion, there is a wish to establish the well-being of others. And there is also a wish to eliminate suffering in others as a result of this. Now compassion arises through contemplating the infinite sentient beings as vast as space and wishing to free them from all sufferings through reflecting on the reason that they are or have been at some point in our past lives are mothers and that they are countless in numbers. When we reflect on the sufferings of the lower realms, the sufferings of the animal realm, of the realms of the of the hell realms, these sufferings are almost inconceivable. The very breath of beings in these realms is of the nature of suffering, And the sufferings only cease when the karma which has impelled these sufferings itself ceases.
Until then, there is no end to the sufferings. Now these are actually sufferings of our own mother sentient beings, and this is something which we must eliminate. And for this, we must generate great compassion. So instead of reflecting only on one’s own self, we should think of others in the same way as in this very life, for instance. If a child thinks only of himself and does not think of his mother who is suffering because she is lacking food, what sort of a child can we say that he is?
Buddhas are similar. The Buddha’s sole preoccupation is the well-being of mother sentient beings. Unfortunately, beings from their own side lack compassion and they lack veneration for the Buddha’s, and then they cannot connect to the Buddha’s teachings or to the blessings of the Buddhas. The Buddhas themselves pour forth countless flows of nectar of amrita towards the beings. These are given to animals, to pretas, to hell beings, and yet they are not of the slightest benefit since the beings from their side lack the karma to receive this.
We ourselves do not understand what suffering means. We doubt the existence of the realms of the pretas and the hell realms. This is wrong view, Rinpoche says, it is wrong view. There is such a thing as a hell realms. There is such a thing as the realms of the pretas in which suffering is well nigh inconceivable.
Non virtue and virtue are mutually dependent. Without non virtue, there is no virtue. Without virtue, the name non virtue does not exist. The result of virtue is such states as liberation, full enlightenment, or the generation of bodhicitta. The results of non virtue would be the lower realms.
In the same way as, for instance, heat and cold are mutually dependent. It is because it is cold in the winter that we can say it is hot in the summer. Should heat not exist, cold would not exist. In the same way, the existence or nonexistence of virtues in turn impairs the existence or nonexistence of their results. And when virtue does not exist, non virtue does not exist, then the lower realms cannot be said to exist.
And in this case, nothing has any meaning anymore.
And generally speaking, the distinction between virtue and non virtue has been explicitly taught by the Buddha. He actually gave very clear teachings in his scriptures on the topic. Virtue is that whose effect is happiness, that which leads to a feeling of happiness. We ourselves do not understand the difference between virtue and non virtue. We refuse to acknowledge the distinction which is posited by the Buddha himself.
We are in this respect, Rinpoche says, profoundly stupid, like a piece of wood. We simply refuse to understand what was taught so clearly by the Buddha. The Buddha very clearly said and taught, this is the deed of killing. Killing is nonvirtue. This is the deed of theft, stealing.
Stealing is nonvirtuous. This is a deed of sexual misconduct. Sexual misconduct is non virtuous. And likewise, for lying, harsh words, divisive talk and slander, covetousness, ill will, and wrong views, the various non virtuous deeds. Every single time, the Buddha said, this is a non virtuous deed, it is a non virtuous deed because its result is suffering.
And then non virtuous deeds in general lead to rebirth in one of the three realms, the hell realms, the realm of the pretas or the animal realm in function of the severity of the deed. If it’s a heinous non virtuous deed, it leads to rebirth in the hell realms, middling to the preta realms and smaller to the animal realms. Likewise, for virtuous deeds, and this refers to the to contaminated virtuous deeds, the greater virtuous deeds lead to rebirth in the higher god realms, the form and formless realms. The middling virtuous leads the virtuous deeds lead to rebirth as gods of the desire realms and the lower virtuous deeds lead to rebirth as human beings. The term contaminated here refers to these which are committed in connection with the afflictions.
So in a nutshell, virtue and the intensity of virtue and the intensity of non virtue is directly connected with the power of the motivation. The greater middling or lesser power of the motivation. For instance, if we were to take the deed of sexual misconduct, if the motivation is a very powerful motivation and it is conjoined with great lust, then this leads to an extreme deed of non virtue. And this can be explained in much greater detail in terms of accumulating a deed from the standpoint of the basis, the object, and so forth. And we at present live in very fortunate times to have received the teachings of this nature.
So it is capital that we analyze carefully. Is it happiness we want and is it suffering we want to avoid? If it is happiness we want, then we must create the causes for happiness. If it is suffering we want to avoid, we must abandon the causes for suffering. And then once happiness arises, in terms joy and pleasure will result from this.
The cause of these states is virtue and virtue alone. If the cause is not established, we have no hope to experience the result. There is no such thing as obtaining happiness in future lives or in avoiding unhappiness through the power of prayer alone. This does not work. It does not exist.
We know very well for ourselves that all of us pray for money, and yet we don’t seem to get any. It is the clear indication that these prayers do not work. We have to work hard to get money. Likewise, even though we make strong prayers not to be reborn in the lower realms, if we have accumulated the karma to be reborn there, we will be born there. The prayers would make no difference whatsoever.
So we must abandon the causes for such rebirth. We must specifically abandon non virtue. And then if we abandon non virtue, even if we pray to be reborn in the lower realms, we will not be able to be born there. On the other hand, if we engage in the practice of non virtue, even if we pray not to be reborn in the lower realms, we will inexorably be reborn there. So what we need is a practice, a mode of life.
The same way as a sick person when he goes to the doctor has as his way of life or his practice to ask the doctor for advice. And then a sensible sick person takes a medicine and ingests it. He doesn’t take it and put it in a corner. In the same way, we have to practice these teachings. And therefore, we need to practice.
I would like to give the example of eating food. There is a manner of eating food in the same way as there is a manner of practice. Now with respect to Dharma, we must actually have faith in Dharma to wish to practice the Dharma. Otherwise, there will be no wish to practice the Dharma. We eat a meal with the conviction that it will fill fill our stomach and sate our hunger.
Otherwise, we wouldn’t bother. We would never bother to eat. In the same way, we ingest medicine because we are convinced it will help us and it will cure our disease. Otherwise, we wouldn’t bother. So in the same way, if we have faith in Dharma, we will practice.
Otherwise, we won’t. So we must have faith in the Dharma, and this faith in the Dharma arises through repeated analyses first, and secondly, through having faith in the Buddha who teaches the Dharma. The Buddha himself has taught clearly what is virtuous and what is non virtuous. And the Buddha was completely clear in what he taught. He taught what is as being so and what is not as not being so.
He was not like us who are always unclear and waffling. And because of this great love the Buddha had for beings, Buddha taught exactly the way things are. Otherwise, how could one say he had love for beings? We ourselves have no faith at all in the Buddha. The Buddha said to abstain from certain deeds, and yet we perform them every day.
The Buddha said to engage in certain types of behavior, and this is something we never do. So these two together clearly indicate we have no faith. We are faithless. So with a particularly naughty and unruly child, This child will do what the parents tell him not to do and will not do what the parents tell him to do. This is a sign of a wild or unruly child.
And the parents, out of love for the child, will tell the child what not to do and what to do, but the child would never listen to them. Such a child will turn into a wastrel and a scoundrel. They have no faith in their parents. And the situation with respect to the Buddha is the same. The Buddha out of love teaches clearly to the beings and he says to his disciples, do not do this and yet we do it.
And then he says to his disciples, engage in this practice, and we do not do it. So this is a clear sign of complete lack of faith in the Buddha. Then things are very difficult.
And therefore, we have to practice regularly. If we practice regularly, then most definitely, there will be change in a month, let alone in a year, let alone in a lifetime. If there is no such say such change, it is a sign of lack of practice. In the same way as someone who puts effort in accumulating money, If such a person accumulates money and doesn’t waste the money he accumulates, it can be taken for granted that the amount of money he has will increase over time. The same thing applies to us, and specifically, we have to struggle against the afflictions.
This is desire, anger, and more generally, ignorance. Anger is one of the greatest afflictions because it destroys all of the virtue we have accumulated, and the main antidote to anger is bodhicitta. And desire itself was said by Je Tsongkhapa to be that which binds us to the cycle of lives. Je Tsongkhapa specifically taught that without renunciation, which is a door to liberation, it is impossible to eliminate the attachment to cyclic existence. Therefore, Je Tsongkhapa, who is an emanation of Mañjuśrī, taught that renunciation itself is the antidote to desire.
And then the specific antidote to ignorance is the view of emptiness. So these must be generated. Someone spoke with Rinpoche some time ago and said to him, how can I hope to attain full enlightenment when I see desire, hatred, and ignorance within my mind? Rinpoche says, this is a correct assessment this person has of their condition. They were honest.
It is not possible to attain enlightenment with desire, hatred, and ignorance in the mind. It is only possible to do so very slowly. So how should we practice? We should protect ethics, practice generosity and train in patience. And in dependence on these three, in our next rebirth, we will obtain a precious human rebirth.
Then in the next rebirth, we practice again with effort and we will obtain in the following rebirth, a yet higher rebirth. Then after that an even higher rebirth. And then slowly, slowly, we will generate bodhicitta. Having generated bodhicitta, we will realize emptiness. We will then put an end to desire and move upwards towards full enlightenment.
The Buddha himself, our teacher, did not reach full enlightenment in the life which we know of as a life of Buddha Śākyamūni. He had actually practiced for 500 lifetimes before reaching that state, and he manifested that life in a human aspect for our benefit performing the 12 deeds. So this is how we should train. There is for us no such thing as attaining full enlightenment in one lifetime. It is not an easy matter.
It is not something which we can hope to do, but we can train quietly in abandoning the afflictions. The same thing, that which Rinpoche says, is when we are walking on a path, we rely on our two feet to progress quietly on the path and eventually reach our goal. There is no such thing as walk as progressing on the path without walking and the walking is our practice. In the same way in worldly matters when we want to scale a mountain cliff, there is no such thing as jumping from the base of the mountain to the top at once. We must quietly move upwards, and this moving upwards is the progressive practice we must engage in.
And for this walking, says we should first rely on training in empathy and love. Okay. Page nine, the eight, Verse eight b, Mandala offering. Verse nine.
Hi, Next, I think is there’s another couple more sessions. On a Wednesday night, Rinpoche is going to give teaching. We skip the discussion group because then after that, Rinpoche will go to Sydney and, come back again, start the same. Yeah. No discussion for for a while, I guess.
And, soon there will be a Christmas sale in a shop. If if you keep it your eye on there, there will be a sale, you know, and very goodies in there there lots of, interesting things come in. Thank you. Bye. Yeah.
Quite good discounts if you have member.