Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 46-minute session, Khensur Rinpoche directly addresses why emptiness—the third principal aspect of the path—cannot be grasped intuitively but must be established through logical reasoning. He opens with a guided twenty-minute meditation on the breath, anchored in positive motivation and visualization (releasing suffering as black smoke, drawing in peace as white light), then teaches renunciation, bodhicitta (the awakening heart), and the view realizing emptiness. While the first two are vital, he stresses, they cannot uproot suffering without the third. Using plant and cooking analogies, he shows how intention determines results, then explains that understanding emptiness requires gathering logical proofs and reasoning—dependent arising foremost among them. He illustrates with concrete examples: a sprout depends on seed, water, soil; a being exists through body and mind interdepending on causes. For practitioners with foundational Buddhist learning.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1992-08-16 – Side 1 – Meditation – KR.MP3
UUID: ef480b7f-0fcc-482c-b592-6fdbf8f8b697
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Emptiness
Date: 1992-08-16
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,163
We’re going to meditate mindfulness of breathing for twenty minutes. Results of our our various activity are determined by the motivation which precipitates them. Depending upon the motivation, we will achieve it in a cordon type of result. If our motivation is a kind hearted attitude, that is to say a positive attitude, then out of that will arise a positive result. On the other hand, if our motivation is negative for whatever activity it might be, then as a result, the resultant experience will be negative.
If, on the third hand, if the motivation is neither negative nor positive, that is neutral, then the result will be neutral. By way of analogy, if the variety, if the roots roots of of a a plant plant are are of of a a medicinal variety, then that which comes from those roots, the leaves and the stems, etc, will have medicinal properties. On the other hand, if the roots of the plant are of a poisonous variety, then all of that which arises from the roots, again, the leaves and the stems, will have poisonous properties. And then on the third possibility, if the roots of the plant are of a neutral, neither poisonous nor medicinal, then that which arises will be of a neutral quality. So this extends to external phenomena.
But in terms of our internal world, the root of the quality of our experience is the mind itself out of our way of thinking. If it is positive or negative, then it will have just as in the case of medicinal and poisonous plants, the leaves and stems were of the same nature. Actions of our body and speech will be of the same nature. So we have to consider the necessity to maintain our mind in a healthy state, a positive state. And what do we mean by a healthy state of mind, a positive state?
Such types of mind’s attitudes as altruism, love, compassion, and the awakening heart. On the other hand, various negative activities, negative states would be, for example, anger, pride, wrong knowledge or ignorance, jealousy, miserliness. So we will meditate mindfulness and breathing but in a manner of a healthy state of mind. So we should seek to develop as a motivation in the context of meditating on mindfulness of breathing, the attitude of wishing to bring happiness to both ourselves and all sentient beings and thinking how wonderful it would be if all sentient beings had happiness on the one hand and thinking how wonderful if ourselves and all sentient beings, living beings, were free from their suffering on the other and developing this as the motivation for your meditation. And then within the context of your motivation, imagining that all of your difficulties, all of your problems, your sufferings, dissatisfactions, diseases, problems go out in the form of black smoke disappearing in the distance.
And on the inhalation, imagining that sense of well-being, that peace and bliss come in the form of a white light coming into yourself and developing a sense of well-being within your mind. And from that will arise a sense of physical well-being and thereby a positive result. So please meditate in that manner. Verse number three. Would you like to stand up and stretch?
Okay. Verse number five. Quoting from a verse by Śāntideva where he points out that whosoever the living being might be, none want to experience the results of suffering. In fact, they all want happiness.
It’s the same for whoever it might be. And there are a variety of causes for bringing about the desired happiness that we’re seeking. And additionally, are a variety of causes whereby to eliminate the suffering that we do not wish. But if we were to abbreviate those causes, the medicine which alleviates the afflictions of all the various types of suffering and that which brings about all happiness, that is to say, a complete, unchanging, stable happiness can be condensed into three causes. So, these three main causes are the three fundamentals of the path, or three principal aspects of the path,.
And these are the determination to be free or that is to say renunciation, the awakening heart, bodhicitta, and the correct view of emptiness.. And what do we mean by renunciation? We mean a non attachment to externals such as food, clothing, but also non attachment to internal factors such as one’s own body. So, there are many objects of our attachments. There is our own body and speech.
There are the bodies and speech of others. There are the various possessions external to ourselves. And under their influence, we experience many types of suffering due to the force of our attachment. Therefore, a renunciation consists of the decreasing of our attachment. And then the second fundamental was that of the awakening heart.
And this is on the minimal basis of non harming others. We additionally seek to bring about the happiness of others, that we seek to benefit them. We seek to eliminate their suffering and to bring them happiness. And it is on the basis of altruism that the awakening heart has developed. Though these two are extremely important, they must be assisted by the view realizing emptiness.
If we only have these two, these previous two, that is the renunciation and the awakening heart, they are by themselves unable to eliminate from its very root our suffering. So it’s very necessary if we’re going to eliminate suffering from its very foundation to develop the wisdom realizing emptiness. How are we going to realize It is by means of establishing emptiness through lines of reasoning that we have to actually contemplate and consider that which we are trying to establish, that is emptiness, and we establish it through the method of making use of many types of reasoning. This is the way that we can come to an understanding of emptiness. Without understanding the proofs establishing emptiness, there’s no way to understand that which is seeking to be proven.
That is the emptiness itself. So, without understanding the proofs, we cannot understand that which is to be proven. You know, if we were building a house, it’s necessary to bring together all the various causes and conditions, all the various materials necessary to bring that house into existence. And likewise, if we want to realize emptiness, we have to bring together all the various causes and conditions to come which bring about the understanding of emptiness. And these are the various reasons, the various proofs which establish emptiness.
So, an analogy would be in the case if we want to prepare some delicious food. It’s necessary to have all the various causes and conditions, all the necessary ingredients. Additionally, one must be an expert cook, have a good recipe to follow. If one doesn’t have the proper ingredients, proper causes and conditions or one doesn’t know the recipe, then you’re not going to end up with delicious food. So just as in the case, if we’re preparing some delicious food by having all the various proper ingredients, that is to say the necessary cause and conditions, and being an expert in the way of cooking, then you can prepare an excellent meal.
Likewise, with coming to an understanding of emptiness, it’s necessary that we have all the Emptiness is extremely profound and it’s not easily understood. So, we have to bring together all the necessary ingredients and be able to think and consider it in a conducive manner, understanding how to consider once the ingredients are brought together, being able to reflect upon them well and then we’re going to be able to get the result. So the ingredients that we’re gathering together to bring about this delicious meal, the realization of emptiness, is dependent arising. The Buddha said, and along with Lama Tsongkhapa, that the reasoning of dependent arising is supreme proof for bringing about an understanding of emptiness, for establishing the existence and understanding of emptiness. So we use dependent arising or let us say relativity in order to as the main method for establishing that which is to be proven, that is say emptiness.
So, we can understand by understanding the by analogy, the relativity of external phenomena, we can understand the relativity of internal phenomena. So, we can by understanding certain external relativities, we can come to a which are more easily understood, we can come to an understanding of the more difficult internal relativities. And by relativities, mean dependently related events such as from fire, smoke arises. From a seed, a sprout grows. So all the external phenomena require that they depend upon a cause to bring themselves into existence.
in dependence upon a cause, they come into existence. So they are all related to their causes. They exist relatively. And if we take these easy examples as a means of understanding, this can serve as a method for understanding more difficult examples of relativity. For example, a sprout grows in dependence upon a seed.
So everything depends upon something. It exists relative to something else. And what does the sprout depend upon? It depends upon the seed. What does the seed depend upon for its sprouting?
It depends upon the coming together of various conditions such as water, soil, etc. So the seed, the sprout depends upon the seed. It depends upon the water, the soil. If these aren’t there, then no sprout can grow. But once all these various causes and conditions come together, then the sprout grows.
That the entity of the sprout depends for its existence on its various causes. So, these are quite easily understood. They’re quite evident. We can see these easily with our own eyes that they say we can directly understand. We don’t have to think a great deal using various reasons to understand these.
But we can extend this same process to all phenomena whatsoever. That just as in the case of the sprout, the existence of all phenomena necessarily depends upon the causes and conditions. So, now, if we turn to the inner phenomena of the living being itself, the living being is dependent upon the two factors of body and mind. And in turn, these two individually, for example, the body is dependent upon the aggregation of various causes and conditions. And likewise, the mind is dependent upon the coming together of various causes and conditions.
Like So, these the living being arises and in dependence upon body and mind which in turn arises and dependent upon various causes and conditions just like the sprout grows from the seed likewise and coming together of various causes and conditions, the living being comes into existence. So initially when the Buddha began his teachings in India, he taught the truths of true sufferings and true sources. And in teaching these, he pointed to the body and mind as being the body as being the true suffering and the mind being true sources of suffering. And this was in abbreviated fashion, trying to show where our suffering comes from, that it comes from cause and condition. And he went on to expand the nature of our situation in terms of the twelve links of dependent origination.
So these two represent the mechanism due to which we continually circle within cyclic existence on the one hand. But then he went on to explain the means by which liberation is attained. That is to say, we are able to extricate ourselves from this process of cyclic existence. And this was the latter of the Four Noble Truths, the true cessation and true paths. Such paths as and he went on to expand upon this, teaching the 37 factors of enlightenment, the 10 grounds and the five paths.
If we would just briefly state all of this in condensed form, whatsoever the phenomena might be, whether it’s external in terms of various external material phenomena or internally, that is the living being themselves. Whatsoever it may be, they all arise in dependence upon aggregation of causes and conditions. That is, their existence relies upon causes and conditions. Whatsoever phenomena is dependently related to others. Its existence depends upon being related to other phenomena.
That it depends upon its relationship to parts, causes and conditions, and terms and concepts. That no phenomena exist independently, that is in a self contained way. And if this is understood, then, you know, if we understand that everything exists relative to something else, we understand it does not exist in a non relative fashion. Nothing exists independently or truly exists.. When we understand everything depends upon something else for its existence, then this will serve to gain to understanding that nothing exists independently, that everything depends upon parts, upon causes and conditions, upon names and concepts, that understanding this, then the thought will arise very forcefully.
Nothing exists independently in and of itself. Nothing truly exists.