Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 49-minute talk, Kyabje Rinpoche explores how all spiritual transformation depends on the precious human embodiment — the body blessed with the eight leisures and ten fortunes. Working through the Compendium of Valid Cognition, he establishes the necessary conditions for practice: a qualified teacher to guide understanding, companions to practice alongside, and urgent use of our present circumstances since all conditions are impermanent. The core teaching addresses the limitless potential of the mind. He uses a jumping analogy to show how meditation differs from physical exertion: as practice accumulates, subsequent effort requires less strain to reach the same depths, enabling genuine development. He explores how qualities like compassion and bodhicitta eventually arise without effort. The final section examines minds and mental factors, addressing questions about bodhisattva grounds and the path of preparation. For serious Mahāyāna practitioners.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1993-09-10 – 17B – KR.mp3
UUID: 1c529901-c9c9-4680-b268-6c50f4275965
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Compendium of Valid Cognition
Date: 1993-09-10
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,182
So it is dependent upon this that we bring about the welfare of both ourselves and others in this manner. And this all is dependent upon this wonderful human embodiment that we all possess. This this is the basis of this transformation. We simply can’t bring this process, involve ourselves in this process in dependence upon any basis or any type of embodiment. It is specifically in terms of the embodiment, the type of embodiment which we all possess, the body which possesses the eight leisures and ten fortunes.
And the means that this is all brought about is through the method of the universal vehicle. So with respect to our practice, in order to bring about such far reaching result, it must if our result is to be flawless, it must it must arise and depend upon a flawless cause. Order that the cause be flawless, we must understand its nature of the cause. That must be an unerring cause. We must understand its, come to an understanding of the methods whereby we can implement this cause and this is dependent upon a teacher or the lama.
In order to implement the methods, it would be extremely difficult to do it by oneself alone that we need others to assist us, companions who are like-minded and we can act in harmony with. So if we reflect well on what has been said about all of these various factors that are needed to in our practice, we can see that we have them all. And therefore, having having all these factors complete, we should not allow our our life to proceed idly but should try to practice and meditate. But all of what we’ve described is in the nature of impermanence. It’s it will eventually all deteriorate and be lost when we’re not certain when.
If even to lose one of these factors, our our complete ability will in some way be impaired. So before we lose what we, in fact, we all have, we must make use of everything that we have as much as we’re able. We must try to understand as best we can. We must meditate, you know, as much as we can. That we should try to practice each day, spending some time each day in our practice.
And in this way, making use of our time in bringing about the welfare of both ourselves and others. So this reasoning with valid cognition is in accordance with the scientific method that we can proceed in a systematic fashion and understand what it is that we are about. And it’s definite that proceeding in this fashion we can gain can generate actual experience. So mainly we have been discussing the power of the mind. It’s extremely important that we appreciate the power of our own minds.
That if we have to understand it and understand the methods whereby we develop, we actualize that power of mind. That understanding that the necessity to develop the mind, to make this development in a consistent, uninterrupted manner. And that we can we should understand that in in cultivating the mind that that the difficulty which is which is necessary previously will not be the same as it will be subsequently. That each moment that we abide in meditation, the next moment will be less difficult to have the similar types of experiences we did previously, that there is a lessening in the difficulty of developing the same states, that that the mind is increases in its ability and its power. And if we appreciate all of these factors of the mind, then we will gain great enthusiasm for practice.
So it’s we should we’re trying to understand the limitless the limitless nature of the mind in terms of its ability to develop. That it’s not like we, you know, previously we used the the analogy of jumping. In order to to jump a a particular distance, a particular measure, in order to repeat that same distance, we have to make use we have to make use we have to exert the same effort each time to in order to jump the same distance, we have to exert the same effort to cover that same distance in our jump. And if this were the case in our meditation, that is to say, if I meditated today and I got so far in my meditation, then tomorrow I had to make the same effort to get that same same distance in my meditation, and then there would be no development of our ability. There would be no use in proceeding in this fashion because we would always have to be increasing our effort to be able to increase development of our mind if we had to make the same effort to get to the same place as we did previously.
But it’s not the same as in jumping. In fact, that that dependent upon our previous effort, the subsequent efforts to get to the same place are less. Therefore, we can develop the mind immeasurably because dependent upon previous efforts, we need to apply less efforts to get to the same place. So there is no limit to the to how far we can develop the mind. If understanding this limitless nature of the mind, that subsequent difficulties and effort is less than it was previously, and therefore the mind can be increased immeasurably. We will think how what reflecting upon this fact, we will think what a wonderful thing the mind is and develop a great deal of enthusiasm.
If in our meditation we had to moment by moment be making effort to generate these various states of mind. For example, compassion. If we had to exert the same effort moment by moment to generate that same level of compassion, then there would never we could never arrive at a point point where compassion arose effortlessly, spontaneously. And it is this which is the measure of great compassion, but also the awakening heart. That these when in terms great compassion, our compassion arises without any effort, that it arises automatically or effortlessly, spontaneously.
This is great compassion. Or further, it is the measure of the awakening heart when it is developed without any effort, when it rises spontaneously. And this can never arise if we had to consistently, moment by moment making effort to cultivate the same levels of of compassion or the awakening heart. So it is the measure of the attitudes such as great compassion that they arise without effort, and they arise in a limitless fashion. It is also true of the awakening heart that it arises without effort and arises in a limitless fashion.
When we generate renunciation, the determination to be free, such that it just spontaneously is generated within our mind without effort, then we have generated the path or that is to say renunciation. So this this reasoning as set out in the commentary to valid cognition is is really wonderful and profound. So it is through coming to understand the limitless nature of the mind that we can begin to comprehend that it is in fact that we can remove all the faults of the mind. That we can develop the mind completely in terms of its excellent qualities. And therefore we can achieve liberation, we can achieve omniscience in Buddhahood.
And we were going to, in the future, outline the various reasonings which established that liberation can be attained, that we can attain Buddhahood. So how can we attain these ends? Both it is the wisdom which realizes selflessness, which is the root of the foundation of both the individual vehicle and the universal vehicle. But if we combine that wisdom with compassion, then we can cultivate that and go on to achieve Buddhahood. Simply by means of the wisdom realizing selflessness, we can achieve liberation.
So we’re gonna stop there, but if you have some questions, you can ask questions. What was it recognized? So you can say that mental factors are part of the mind, but they aren’t the mind. In a distinguishing between minds and mental factors, we’ve talked about this before but to use an example is when the eye consciousness sees a flower, the eye consciousness roughly is able to discern a flower. The rough entity of the flower.
That’s the main mind. That is a main mind. But and mental factors, but as to the specifics of the flower, like it’s red or white, it has leaves, it’s a good flower, this is these are functions of mental factors. So there are many main minds, but each each main mind is accompanied by five mental factors. So these five are contact, feeling, perception, or sometimes this is translated as recognition or discrimination.
The fourth mental factor is intention. And the fifth is mental engagement. For example, the function of intention — this is sometimes translated also as attention — is that it directs attention. Intention accompanies the eye consciousness. It accompanies the eye consciousness. And it directs what is to be looked at.
So it determines what is going to be looked at. That is intention. So it’s analogous to if one person, someone comes in, arrives and another person takes them around, introduces, takes him to meet everyone. And then contact actually brings about the introduction. Meeting. Contact actually is the meeting, as the function of actually bringing the meeting about.
And then having met that person, there’s the thinking about that person, how they’re bald or they have a beard, and that is recognition or perception. And then considering whether that person with the beard is a good this person with the beard is a good person or a bad person. That would be the function of feeling. And the factor of mental engagement is that which holds the mind to the specific qualities. So the mind more or less holds, is able to hold the rough entity of the object.
And then these various, each of these various mental factors has a specific function with specific qualities of the object. Some of them in terms of some of them engage the object, some of them think in terms of hold the mind to the object, some of them think in terms of the whether it produces happiness or suffering or discriminating as to the nature of the object. So each of each of the mental factors is engaging in a specific quality specific qualities of the object and and each of them have a different function. Yes. So with respect to whether it’s a positive mind or a negative mind, , these factors all function.
On the other hand, are mental factors such as wisdom, meditative stabilization, and mindfulness, which usually accompany only positive minds. So this difference between minds and mental factors is difficult. It’s subtle and there are 51, mental factors. So last year we went through when we studied awareness and knowledge, these all the minds and mental factors. Okay.
Did you have a question, Diane? So the bodhisattva takes rebirth out of compassion but these hundreds So at the first ground, so there are 10 grounds. The bodhisattva on the first ground is able to take a 100 simultaneous re births, able to emanate a 100, radiate a 100 emanations, each of which emanation is able to teach a 100 living beings, is able to visit, these are all simultaneous, to visit a 100 Buddha fields. And each of these characteristics, these qualities, there’s a long list of these qualities. And that’s at the first ground.
And then it’s raised each ground by a power of 10. So at the second ground, it’s a thousand of each of these. And then the third, it’s a 10,000 of each of these, and so forth. So there’s two questions, right? And your second question.
I’ll answer it. Well, you’ve this answer will answer that question. So the second path is called the path of preparation. And there are four parts. There’s heat, peak, tolerance, and supreme mundane Dharma.
And when one when the bodhisattva reaches the tolerance, the from the tolerance level of the path of preparation upward, the bodhisattva does not have to take rebirth in bad migrations due to force of karma and afflicted emotions. There are some who go to they all don’t go to hell. He’s accumulating creative potential even in hell by the force of his awakening heart. So, I mean, if the bodhisattva has accumulated the karma to be reborn in hell, then it he will be reborn. He will experience the result of that karma.
But it’s like throwing a ball, a rubber ball for example, down on the ground. It’s immediate when it hits it bounces back up due to the force of his awakening heart. So he’s reborn in hell. So they have
So these five mental factors have five similarities. They are similar in terms of time, in terms of substance, observed object, aspect and base.