Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 48-minute commentary on Śāntideva’s wisdom chapter, Kyabje Rinpoche opens with a foundational question: what makes any teaching trustworthy and worth practicing? He answers by establishing three qualifications—taught by an enlightened being, surviving scrutiny from learned scholars, and producing genuine realization when applied. He illustrates this with a national constitution analogy. Rinpoche then shows how the five perfections (generosity, morality, patience, joyous effort, meditation) form the essential foundation for wisdom realizing emptiness. The core teaching unfolds through the two truths: conventional reality—the visible phenomena we perceive—and ultimate reality (emptiness, the non-inherent existence that is the actual nature of all things). Rinpoche stresses that ordinary mistaken awareness cannot directly perceive emptiness and that practitioners must cultivate this wisdom themselves through systematic practice. For students with prior Dharma study.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1994-03-15 – 1A – 9th Chapter – KR.mp3
UUID: 78938925-3e47-47ef-93c1-81c1ca05c5b0
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra
Date: 1994-03-15
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,932
# 9th Chapter B Deeds 1a 1994-03-15
**Collection:** Rinpoche Recordings — Bodhicaryāvatāra – 9th Chapter Wisdom (1994)
**Duration:** 48.0 minutes
**Words:** 2,931
**Model:** Deepgram Nova-3
**Corrections applied:** 1
**Transcribed:** 2026-02-28 00:01
—
To start with, the great Indian Buddhist teacher, Śāntideva, writes in his teaching on the wisdom chapter, all these branch practices are taught by the able one for the purpose of wisdom. The first verse on page two. Now, to start with, Śāntideva, during his time, was one of the most respected learned practitioners within the Buddhist circles. And he was especially regarded with respect as the practitioner who has specialized in the practice of kind thought based on the technique of exchanging self-cherishing with that of thought cherishing others through which generated the realization of bodhicitta. So he was a teacher who had generated the supreme kind heart.
With regards to Śāntideva’s understanding of emptiness, we would say that Śāntideva belonged to the Prāsaṇgika middle way tenet, the highest Buddhist tenet, and he also had realization of emptiness in accordance to the highest understanding of emptiness or reality as explained by the Prāsaṇgika school. So such a great teacher is the source of these teachings which were compiled into a text called engaging into bodhisattva’s conducts, into bodhisattva’s training. And this evening, we shall start from the ninth chapter, which deals with the perfection of wisdom. For us, if we do not want unpleasant outcomes then we have to avoid accumulating factors or causes which would bring about unpleasant outcome and if we do want pleasant outcome then we need to engage in accumulating causes and factors which would bring about such an outcome. Here in the teachings by this master the implied instruction or advice is that if that is the case then in order to have or acquire pleasant outcome we need to have the factors and causes which would bring such pleasant outcome.
As to the causes and factors, they should not be mistaken. Causes and factors, meaning they should not be the unsuitable causes and factors. And the causes and factors should as well be excellent. And if these are complete then the outcome which one wants to have will be automatically produced and it would be as well excellent outcome. Anyway, in brief, that’s the advice.
And we can relate it in terms of happiness and suffering. If the causes are bad and if they are mistaken, meaning they are the unsuitable causes, then the results will be bad and they can be damaging. Therefore, it would mean in such cases where the causes are bad and mistaken then one would definitely not receive benefit at all because the outcome is something bad and damaging. In our case, if we do want pleasant outcome for ourselves as well for others, then it would mean that we need to engage in accumulating excellent, unmistaken causes which would bring about such pleasant outcomes. Well, then we ask what’s meant by such unmistaken excellent causes.
Well, in terms of our happiness and suffering, this would mean that the unmistaken excellent causes would be a guideline of instructions or teachings which in the first place was taught by an enlightened being. And because it’s taught by an enlightened being, it is bound to be unmistaken and non-deceptive. And in that way, that becomes the first qualification of unmistaken and excellent causes. Secondly, on the basis of what has been taught by the Buddha, there needs to be thorough scrutiny by learned practitioners whether what the Buddha and enlightened being taught does actually stand the test of the fact are they really true or do they actually work. So the second qualification is the withstanding the scrutiny of learned practitioners such as in the classical periods what are called the panditas, the learned practitioners thoroughly mastered in the five fields of learnings. And the third qualification is although an instruction and teaching may be taught by an enlightened being and may on theoretical basis be found to be true when scrutinized by the learned practitioners but it needs still to be verified whether it really is true when a yogi when a true practitioner puts that instruction into practice and one then has to find out whether the instruction would, when meditated upon, produce realizations and experiences.
And if the instructions when meditated upon thus validly produces real experiences and realization then we can say such threefold qualifying instructions and teachings are excellent unmistaken causes which would bring about pleasant unmistaken outcomes. For example, in the case of a nation, we can say firstly, there will have to be some efficient and knowledgeable people who would work out a constitution for the nation and then the constitution after being drafted out may have to be put into public debate whether what part of it is workable beneficial or not and then for a provisional period of some time the constitution may be tested whether in actual implementation does the constitution work and is it helpful to the public or not and if it is found to be helpful to the public then the constitution would be admired by everyone and it would be passed as the guideline in future so it would be seen as similar example in that way. Anyway, here, Śāntideva, the great teacher, explains in his ninth chapter about wisdom. With the wisdom generally it is defined as a thought or a mind which is able to sort things out between what is good and bad, what is correct and what is incorrect that’s the general definition of wisdom and as covered by such definition wisdom can be of various types.
Here the wisdom being explained is the wisdom of the type which realizes emptiness, the actual way things are existing. And in that way, this chapter by Śāntideva explains about the wisdom realizing emptiness. Meaning explains that we all need to think that the wisdom realizing emptiness is something definitely we need to develop. The reason for that is we all do not want suffering and we don’t like suffering and we do want happiness, we like happiness and the only way in the ultimate means to accomplish that would be to generate the wisdom realizing emptiness. Wisdom realizing emptiness is a quality of mind which we ourselves need to generate, produce in our mind.
Because wisdom realizing emptiness if it is hanging around in the country or in the area that’s not going to help us as a practitioner. Therefore we ourselves need to generate it and if we generate it then we can be able to remove the unwanted outcome we do want to remove and accomplish the wanted outcome we need to accomplish. So here, as well, the instructions in the ninth chapter very strongly advises that practitioner itself needs to generate the wisdom realizing emptiness in its mind. If we need to generate wisdom realizing emptiness, then what are the means through which we can generate that wisdom? And to fulfill such inquiry, here the first chapter opens with the lines all these branch practices are taught by the able one for the purpose of wisdom.
Now by this the branch practices, by this it means the other five of the six perfections. The practice of generosity, practice of morality, practice of patience, practice of joyous effort, the practice of meditative concentration because the text refers that Buddha or the able one also in the teachings have as a means to produce wisdom realizing emptiness by the trainee has taught the perfections the other five. So if that’s the case then for us in order to develop wisdom realizing emptiness we need to practice generosity, we need to practice morality, we need to practice patience, joyous effort and meditative concentration the other five perfections. So the branch practices therefore would mean the five perfections, generosity, morality, patience, joyous effort, and meditative concentration. The reason why as ordinary beings we have not yet been able to generate the wisdom realizing emptiness is because our mind is unruly.
It is not tamed in the sense not made workable in the right direction. And the reason why our mind is unruly, not tamed, is because our mind, as ordinary being at the moment, has the defective weaknesses of the mind such as miserliness, defective ethics, anger, and laziness — these are the five defects. Therefore, in opposition against those five defects, major defects, if we are to practice the five perfections amongst the six, then we can produce the sixth perfection, the wisdom realizing emptiness. And that’s the exact implication behind the first two lines. In brief, why we need to generate that wisdom?
Well, it is because we need to remove our sufferings, we need to remove everything that is tormenting. And that in brief is the reason behind. And before approaching further into explaining about actual means to develop that wisdom, the text explains about the two truths. And the reason for that is because in the format — that’s because when a practitioner adopts practice and let alone make it up to entering the path meaning gaining realization then the whole process can be seen in the process of three ways. Firstly the field of trainings and within that covers the objects what to be known the objects to be known first these two are to be established and then one does the actual practice of the path which has the twofold aspect, the method and wisdom. Through that, the practitioner is able to accomplish the fruition of the two states of enlightenment, the visible form body and the invisible truth body aspect.
Therefore, even in the normal process of practitioner’s path, we have this format. Firstly, the two truths, the basis are established, then the path, the wisdom, and method are accomplished, are practiced, and then the two results are accomplished. And that’s the reason behind. And from the opposite way we can say if because of that if one as a practitioner has not established the basis the field of knowledge as a foundation for training, then the practitioner will not be able to do the practice of the path having the method and wisdom, therefore, the practitioner as well will not be able to accomplish the two Buddha bodies, the two results. And that’s the reason behind why in the next verse, there is the explanation about the two truths.
We can look at the example this way. Say in normal case, if a person is living somewhere in this area and somehow in the area there’s a lot of trouble and due to that if one does not wish to live in that area anymore then one would look for some suitable place to move to and if one happens to find that along this road, this side, there is a suitable place to move to then the person by finding that would then try to go about how to move from the first unwanted place to the wanted area the second. Now if we look in the classical period where there were no planes and so forth, so the only way in like an inland situation, then it would be only through road. So the person in order to go from unwanted place to the wanted place has to go by depending on the road. But if for the road to be there, if there wasn’t any ground the earth then it’s not possible for the road to be there. This then would mean the person needs a very good ground and then on the basis of good ground will have a road a good road and then the destination where one wants to move to will be possible. In the same way, here we can look at the whole thing as applicable to our talk about base, path, and result.
The base, the truths are like the ground and then the path is like the road and the fruits, the results to achieve are like the destination. So in that way, one can see how the example fits very well. Due to that, in order to establish the basis, Śāntideva writes: the deceptive and the actual, these two are accepted as the two truths. So it should be in the handout text. The actual is not object to experience by dualistic awareness.
Dualistic awareness is explained to be deceptive. So this is establishing the basis which is in the handout book, page two. The actual text of the ninth chapter. But when there is reference being made with the actual text, meaning when the actual text is being cited, it is possible that some people may not feel very comfortable, meaning in normal other public teachings there have been opinion in the path in normal Dharma centers that some people feel like they either need to have the text if they don’t have they feel uncomfortable. So on that basis it is possible that some people may feel a bit uncomfortable when the lines are being cited but the point is it is necessary to quote to cite lines because the oral commentary on a given text needs to be extremely lineage based on the lineage based and therefore it needs to be very accurate and has to be based on what the actual original teacher has taught. And this whole thing is further based on the premises of the understanding that whatever was taught in the actual text was a report of a yogi who has produced the realization and the realizations and experiences on the topic has put it into written form.
So therefore even in the lineage when it is maintained it is maintained on the basis that the sticking with the actual word would mean sticking with the actual experiences and realization which the words convey and illustrate. How one would have to rely on word in order to stick to the meaning is in this way, for example, there is a saying, the old meaning relies on the walking stick of the words. So this meaning means the walking stick is like the words written in text and the meaning which is conveyed by the text which is the walking stick is the aged, what’s called very long tradition, aged meaning. And if we look in the normal example for a person who is extremely feeble and old one needs a walking stick and if one has a walking stick one would then be able to stand firm and stable. So from that point, it is necessary that although it may feel uncomfortable, but still appreciate from that point of view. Here, there are the two truths being explained, the deceptive truth and the actual truth, which are as well popularly translated as the conventional truth and the ultimate truth same.
So in brief, these are the two truths. By deceptive truth, we mean things like room, table, and other things which we can visibly, as ordinary person can perceive and can understand and it can therefore include things such as mountain houses and any other things within the residential universe and the resident sentient beings are on the conventional on deceptive truth level. By actual truth, we mean the existent actual state of existence of these deceptive truths. So to repeat, by actual truth, we mean this actual state of existence of the deceptive truth such as the very nature of non-inherent existence of the things.
For example, on the table, on the room, or whatever phenomena or things it be. On it, there is a nature of it being not inherently existing. So that very non-inherent existing which means it lacks or it is empty of inherent existence is the emptiness. And in brief, the emptiness which is with the nature of any things is the actual truth. Because of that, actual truth and emptiness are the same thing.
There is not any phenomena or things which does not include within the two truths. Because if it is a phenomena or a thing, it is either a deceptive truth or it is actual truth. We can describe the difference between deceptive truth and actual truth in this way. Deceptive truth is something which when it appears to the mind directly perceiving it, it is perceiving it, that’s not how it is. And because of that, it is deceptive.
It is false. Whereas actual truth is what it appears is what it is to the or what it appears to the mind perceiving it, it as well is how or what it is. And therefore it is not deceptive as it appears that is the way it is. There is no deception. So in brief, we can say that’s the difference between the two.
Emptiness cannot be directly realized by a mistaken mind. Therefore we find the line, the actual is not object of experience by the dualistic awareness or the actual text would say just awareness. It’s not the object of experience by awareness, meaning ordinary mistaken awareness, because it is not possible for a mistaken awareness or mind to directly realize emptiness. And implicitly, there is a reverse understanding by this conclusion.