Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 48-minute teaching on the ninth chapter of the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra, Kyabje Rinpoche establishes the philosophical foundation for understanding emptiness. He opens with meditation on bodhicitta, then explains how Śāntideva uses logic to demonstrate that phenomena lack inherent existence. The main focus falls on the first of three major reasonings—the “diamond pieces reasoning”—which proves that all functioning things depend on causes and conditions. Rinpoche refutes the “Rejecting the Distant” school’s claim that some phenomena arise without cause, using practical examples: why thorns are sharp, how crops grow, what gives peacock feathers their color. He shows that even simple farmers implicitly understand that production requires causes—and if it didn’t, farming would require no work and moral accountability would collapse. Pitched at practitioners already familiar with Buddhist philosophy.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1994-11-08 – 14A – 9th Chapter – KR.mp3
UUID: bb93fcd3-fd58-4c55-b04a-8e8f459d8003
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra
Date: 1994-11-08
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~3,076
Firstly, let’s do brief few minutes meditation. A few minutes meditation on kind thought where we meditate meditate on what is called the precious mind of enlightenment. Like myself who do want happiness, all sentient beings equally do want happiness. Like myself who do not want sufferings or problems, all other beings equally do not want sufferings. Now if that’s the case then from one side if one still continues to work only for one’s own success success and happiness then it is very self centered approach and such approach would be called a self-cherishing motivated perspective.
Who ever with such self-centered motive does anything will do actions which are not of significant impact because the motive through which one does it is very small, very low significant motive. Therefore any results which are to come about from such actions equally will be small and of low impact. If one has very altruistic thought or wishing to benefit others, then out of such altruistic thought there will come about meaningful actions bringing enormous benefit and happiness to others. Such motive would be called a broad motive and the actions done through that would be called great actions. Therefore we in our selection of the way to think and approach our activities meaningfully we then need to be more concerned about others benefit and happiness and through such way of thinking if we wish all beings to be free of sufferings and causes sources of suffering that becomes meditation upon compassion.
And if we wish all beings to be with happiness and the sources of happiness, well, that becomes meditation on loving kindness. To remove others’ sufferings and to bring unchanging ultimate happiness to others there is no other means except for from one side to be firstly oneself to get rid of all shortcomings of the mind and to attain all excellent qualities of the mind in other words to attain Buddhahood or enlightenment. If that’s the fact then here in our meditation we need to make the determination that in order to help all beings to bring them happiness to remove their suffering at any rate I must attain enlightenment. If we are able to think in that line then we are actually practicing and meditating on what is so greatly admired as the precious mind of enlightenment. To attain to attain enlightenment where there is ultimate happiness one needs to train on the path.
To be able to train on the path one first needs to understand the path very well and here the path is the Mahāyāna or the great vehicle path towards achieving enlightenment. In our setting the right motive here at the beginning we then think that we will take active interest in learning the aspects of the great vehicle path where particularly between the method and wisdom of parts of the path we will take interest in the present topic of the Tuesday evenings which is the wisdom aspect of the path dealing with reality called emptiness. Before we start the evening session. This then will be followed by saying of certain prayers which concerns firstly going for refuge to the Three Jewels and then reaffirming our determination to attain enlightenment to benefit others. Those parts will then be followed with the prayers where we mentally offer seven types of practices concerning purification and revering ourselves with potentials of realization of the mind.
All those second part which are the prayers to be chanted afterwards are what would become the preparatory part before going into the actual sessions of learning and taking interest in the topic. The actual part of the evening will be to discuss and analyze the reality emptiness nature of everything. And then after the discourse at the end we conclude in perfect fashion where whatever our merits we gain we dedicate them in a format of prayer which goes with the tune, Ge wa di yi, etc. Followed by another set of prayers reaffirming our dedication towards others where the lines go with Jang chub sem chok and so forth. Here at this point in the ninth chapter, the Śāntideva the teacher says even with manifest phenomena only beings see that they do have causes.
Now this is the part where in the text about the wisdom the phenomena being not truly existent or not existing inherently is being proven through applying reasonings and this then is followed by actual instruction about how to meditate on emptiness itself. Itself. The which is the ultimate nature how everything exists can be established through many different reasonings some with the detailed multiple reasonings and some in very brief for those who cannot apply many reasonings but it would still be a point that if one can it would be good to think about emptiness through as many reasonings as one can. Of course there are many different reasonings through which one can establish the reality yet all those many varieties of reasonings if we summarize they can be summarized into what is called the five major, the five major reasonings. Yet even those five major reasonings can still be summarized further into three major reasonings which are the reasonings are presented currently in accordance presented currently in this present teachings by the author of the ninth chapter and we shall go through that.
And then generally speaking as regards emptiness itself can emptiness itself well that can us will have as many classification as into 20 emptinesses and further when they are summarized they can be inclusive to 18 and they themselves into sixteen and four and in essence all varieties emptiness can be included into two emptinesses called the two selflessnesses the selflessness of person and selflessness of phenomena. There is a famous line from the teachings where it goes in order for the migrating beings to be liberated there are two selflessnesses explained from the point of the two reference of emptiness. In accordance with such lines we can say that although emptiness itself is of one nature it is indivisible but with reference to what one establishes it there can be two major types of emptinesses which are the selflessness of person and selflessness of phenomena. The realization of these two brings about to a person the escape or liberation from all sufferings and its cause. Why there is two types?
Why there are two types of selflessness? The two types of emptiness. Well, the reason is firstly phenomena can be seen as being group able into two first type is person so called I I the ego the identity. So that is one and it is the person and anything apart anything other than person comes to be classified as phenomena. So basically speaking all things can be grouped into these two person and phenomena, the phenomena being anything other than person.
Now the two selflessness means the person being devoid or emptiness of existing from its own characteristic is the selflessness of person and then on the other hand phenomena being devoid or being emptiness of existing by their own characteristic becomes the second type of selflessness or second type of emptiness the selflessness of phenomena. Here in the presentations, there are three major reasonings to establish reality and these three reasonings can be applied to either of the two selflessnesses and can be applied to either of the two selflessnesses yet here specifically according to the flow of the text these three reasonings are specifically applied in order to establish the selflessness of phenomena. The three major reasonings to establish selflessness of phenomena come about in this way. Firstly, as regards the first type of reasoning to establish selflessness of phenomena phenomena that reasoning come about because to start with anything that is functioning and therefore so called as functioning phenomena is necessarily result. If it is a result then it is definite that it must have its cause and conditions because it is due to the gathering of causes and conditions something is produced, product or result are produced by gathering of causes and conditions.
So if we have regards functioning phenomena that they are product and then this first part of reasoning is the reasoning investigating manner how functioning phenomena are produced by their causes and conditions in that way it is a reasoning establishing emptiness of functioning phenomena by looking at the manner of their production by causes and conditions. Reasoning is given the name diamond-pieces reasoning analyzing the cause what it means is by applying this reasoning one firstly analyzes the cause, producer of the phenomena and in that way through this reasoning one comes to establish how the phenomena under investigation does not have true existence or it is devoid or emptiness of existence existence by by its its own characteristics. So in brief the name of this reasoning is called the diamond pieces reasoning analyzing the cause. So the latter part was the diamond bit. The word dorje for diamond is in Tibetan and when given the original Sanskrit word for it it is the Vajra.
In brief if we are to give more relatable illustration of what dorje or Vajra diamond in its classical usage means firstly in the practices in the advanced Tantric path we use the Vajra and Bell and Vajra is that thunderbolt representation indestructibility thing and if you look at it it has in major major in system it has four points meaning four sides being on each side so it symbolizes in respectable strength where each side or corner of the thing can be means to overcome all adversaries like so that is the metaphor used here like that this reasoning establishing emptiness is a reasoning where each piece of the reasoning is so effective towards disproving the inherent existence or the true existence of the phenomena and in that way bringing the assertion that the phenomena does not truly exist. In the classical period, the non-Buddhist schools of thinkers come up with assertion about products in different ways. Some explained a product is produced without any cause or conditions producing it so it just come out of blue so in that way they say a product is produced not produced without cause and condition that is one assertion and one other assertion is where a product is explained to be produced by dissimilar cause, a cause or condition not corresponding to the product itself, and the third assertion is where is where the product is explained to have been produced by itself so it is called self production and the other assertion is where the product is supposed to be produced by itself as well by others so it is produced by oneself and others both.
So in this way broadly speaking the major views, major misunderstood views regarding the manner of product produced come into those four types produced without cause and conditions produced by dissimilar cause produced by self produced by self and others. Now through the reasoning of diamond piece, diamond pieces are one with just one same reasoning one disproves all four major misunderstood standpoint in that way like a Vajra or diamond being the means to destroy all other opponents or the obstructions this very reasoning is the way through which those major four major misunderstandings are disproved and through way of disproving those major misunderstanding the phenomena are explained to be not existing from their own characteristics. The first first misunderstood assertion is where a functioning thing which is synonymous with product a functioning thing or a product comes about without any cause and condition producing it so that is one major assertion and classically speaking it was assertion held by at that time the non-Buddhist thinker of school called rejecting the distant. So that school of thinking which rejects the distant is called by such term because they don’t accept distant reality such as rebirth, past life and next rebirth as well they don’t accept the infallibility of cause and effect and they don’t believe or accept the fact that the Three Jewels or the three most capable sources of our refuge are actual sources of refuge so they don’t accept these basic realities in fact.
So in that way we can say that they do deserve the name rejecting the distance but not only that not only that they themselves by holding such misunderstood view they themselves have made themselves distant from attaining liberation. This tenet rejecting the distant hold on to their viewpoint that product are not produced by causes and conditions and the reason for that is they look at certain cases where it seems there perhaps wasn’t causes such as they say sunshine in the morning is a phenomena which has no cause, water falling down in the case of waterfall, water falling downwards down the slope has no cause that very product resultant phenomena has no cause and the very roundness of pea has no cause and the extreme sharp pointed sharp pointedness of thorn has no cause, and the very sharp pointedness of similarly the different motley color of the feather of a peacock also, the peacock, don’t have any causes so in that way they do by looking at these seemingly causeless what’s called design of some things or reason that phenomena which is which our product are produced without any cause.
But there are very background reason for thinking that product are not produced by causes are because they are under the assumption that if something is produced by cause it has to have an agent of being such as human actually doing the craft part of the design and production of things and that’s their background. For example, they could very easily relate the desk as a product cause thinking that there is a human hand designing and making it. Similarly, the house where there is obvious work by human agent through construction of scaffolding and other building works which goes on with that like that the book and similarly cup where there is obvious handwork and so being going on. Whereas in those seemingly without human agent, they’d seem to relate that there was no cause. In that way there is a flaw in that thinking because to start with we don’t have to accept a product to necessarily have been produced through effort by human agent behind because there are so many whole the whole host of things which are product and which don’t have any human manual input into being produced such as hills, mountains, the trees, ground, the earth, water, meaning the rivers, and so forth.
They are all that list of things where they are products, but they not produced with human hands. But other things where apparently there don’t seem to be any agent behind and therefore seemingly no cause are not like that that they equally do have their own causes and conditions producing them their own causes and condition producing them for example in the case of a sharpness of the thorn It is firstly produced with dependence on its stem which itself comes out of its its seed and so forth. Similarly with the pea it comes out from its seed and then meeting with moist heat and manure and so forth for its germination likewise with the peahens motley colored feather the peahen itself herself had through karmic deeds received the feather color and so forth so in that way yeah even in their cases they are undeniably produced by their own causes and conditions. And therefore it is there is no ground with which one can still remain steadfast to say things are products are not produced by their causes and conditions as far as that part goes even the simpleton even the simpleton only ones do easily accept that things products are produced by causes and conditions in the case of simple village person doing their farm work knowing that causes produce products and products are produced by causes very actively engaged in the farm work planting the seed and watering the field and manuring it and so forth with the belief and the understanding that the products are produced by causes so this very point about how even simple worldly beings can relate to the fact that products are produced by cause.
The author of the present teachings Śāntideva explains to the rejecting the distant tenet that your point have no validity. When a seed of grain is sown onto the field and when it’s watered and properly provided the manure and so forth then the seed does germinate into rich plant and later on even at the harvest time becomes a very rich crop and with each stalk of a grain we can see at the top a very big bunch where in one stalk of a crop there would be so many grains with it and then this as far as the shape of the grains go at the top they seem to be pointed and around the middle they seem to a bit bulging and towards the end again it is also pointed down but that does not mean that there has to be a human agent or a person’s handiwork to go into and making each shape of the stalk of the grain. That part is not necessary because that itself was included in the seed feature of that crop that it’s through its own causes and condition the crop does take that shape or is no need for any handiwork to do that.
Another great master agrees with the point that there is need for cause and condition to produce the result or product and he reasons that if the case is that the products are not produced by causes condition, then it’s very easy life for farmers. The all the all they need is they just sleep, and crop will crop will just grow like that. Now if there is a product without a product not produced by cause, then there is a danger of things to be happening or considered as happening randomly. In such case, it would be in such case, there would be danger of someone who has not stolen others thing would be branded as a thief. Similarly, someone who has not murdered other would be branded as a murderer.
That would be the case.