Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 47-minute introduction, Kyabje Rinpoche sets up the framework for studying Candrakīrti’s Entering into the Middle Way. He starts with the bodhisattva commitment—the resolve to achieve enlightenment in order to free all beings from suffering—then explains why this text surpasses Nāgārjuna’s Fundamental Wisdom by weaving two paths together: the profound (emptiness) and the vast (compassion, the six perfections). Using the image of a meal made from lentils alone, he shows why both are essential—emptiness without compassion and the perfections cannot lead to Buddhahood. He then begins the actual text commentary, distinguishing the lesser vehicle’s two types: hearers, who hear the Dharma from a teacher and practice to free themselves, and solitary realizers, who realize emptiness alone. For practitioners beginning formal study.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1991-02-07 – 1A – KR.mp3
UUID: 3b0c3f75-4399-4142-b793-feb7673b38ac
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Entering the Middle Way
Date: 1991-02-07
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,425
# Entering The Middle Way 1a 1991-02-07
**Collection:** Rinpoche Recordings — Entering the Middle Way (1991)
**Duration:** 47.0 minutes
**Words:** 2,440
**Model:** Deepgram Nova-3
**Corrections applied:** 11
**Transcribed:** 2026-02-28 23:54
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To developing the awakening heart attitude of wishing to free others from their suffering and to bring them happiness, I must take upon myself the responsibility and therefore develop in me the great resolve to practice in order to achieve this ability to bring this about. But we have to ask ourselves: can I actually free others of their suffering and bring them happiness? In fact, we simply don’t have that ability at present. Who in fact does? It would be a person who has eliminated all their various faults and brought to consummation all their excellent qualities—that is to say, a Buddha. Therefore, in order to eliminate the suffering of others, I myself must become a Buddha. And in order to actually achieve that, in order to bring the culmination of all my excellent qualities, I will train and practice in the great vehicle, thereby be able to relieve the suffering of that number of sentient beings. Cultivate this attitude of mind, this healthy attitude of the awakening heart.
And he said that he received the actual direct teaching on the view of emptiness from Mañjuśrī himself. So we should try to study as well as we can this text, and for those who really work hard, can gain direct realization of emptiness. For those who don’t quite live up to that level, rather than direct realization, we can have a realization through inference. And even if we aren’t able to do that, at least we can understand it well. In explaining Entering into the Middle Way, we will be following a commentary written entitled— So the Madhyamakavatara. It is not as large a text as Ornament for Clear Realization, but still it is just as profound. It has ten chapters, and these chapters are called mind generations. We said there were eight chapters to Ornament for Clear Realization. Here, there are ten chapters. These chapters are mind generations, each taking up a particular perfection. The first mind generation takes up that of the perfection of giving, the second ethics, the third patience, the fourth effort, the fifth meditative stabilization, and the sixth mind generation takes up the perfection of wisdom.
So it is the sixth chapter which is the most extensive, because it takes up the perfection of wisdom. And then the seventh mind generation takes up the perfection of method, the seventh. And the eighth, prayer; the ninth, power; and the tenth, exalted wisdom. Candrakīrti lived in the land of India, and he lived in the language of India, which in this case was Sanskrit. So Entering into the Middle Way in the Sanskrit language is Madhyamakāvatāra. This was translated into Tibetan as Uma la Juk pa. So in the title, Entering into the Middle Way, the Middle Way is referring back to the text written by Nāgārjuna, which— He wrote a series of six texts called the six collections of reasoning, and amongst these is Fundamental Wisdom on the Middle Way.
So when it’s in the title of Entering into the Middle Way, the Middle Way is referring back to Fundamental Wisdom on the Middle Way, referring back to that text. Therefore, the meaning which is being gotten at in the title of this text, Entering into the Middle Way, means that we are seeking to enter into the text Fundamental Wisdom. The text by Nāgārjuna was trying to— We are trying to enter into that text, entering into the Middle Way. The Middle Way. So we are entering into the Middle Way. The object which we are entering into is the text Fundamental Wisdom on the Middle Way.
What is entering into it? The text Entering into the Middle Way. How are we going to enter into it? The subject matter which is being taught is emptiness, and therefore we are going to clearly explain by means of commentating on the thought of Fundamental Wisdom as a means of entering into it. So we’re going to enter into it by commentating on the thought, and the thought remains the subject. Candrakīrti’s text, Entering into the Middle Way, is a means for entering into Fundamental Wisdom on the Middle Way.
That is to say, he commentated on Fundamental Wisdom to help us enter into that text. And there are two ways in which we can enter Fundamental Wisdom. One enters by means of the profound, and the other is by means of the vast activity. So how are we going to enter? How does entering help us to enter by the profound method into Fundamental Wisdom? We said that Fundamental Wisdom sets forth emptiness.
We’re going to try to enter it by means in a profound manner. Therefore, the presentation of emptiness in entering is not explained in terms of the emptiness of the Mind-Only school, nor in terms of the Middle Way school, but by the uncommon explanation of the Consequentialist Middle Way school. So we enter into Fundamental Wisdom by the uncommon profound manner of the Consequentialist Middle Way school. So this is the means of entering in the manner of the profound. So then there is the second manner of entering into Fundamental Wisdom, and this is in the manner of vast activity.
As we talked about in Ornament for Clear Realization, by vast activity we mean the various subjects such as compassion, the awakening heart, the various grounds, and these are not— Since the main subject presented in Fundamental Wisdom is emptiness, these are not explained extensively in Fundamental Wisdom, but Nāgārjuna explained them extensively in the text that we’re studying on Tuesday night, that is, Precious Garland. So taking the subject matter of the vast activity, going from that as a source from Precious Garland, we’re then going to also enter into the abbreviated explanation of the fundamental in terms of that activity as an additional method to help us into Fundamental Wisdom. So if you don’t understand everything— To understand this easily makes it more readily understood. Rinpoche said that Fundamental Wisdom only presents the profound, the graduated path of the profound.
Profound—that is to say, it only sets forth emptiness. It does not set forth the vast activities such as compassion, the awakening heart, etc. But it is Entering into the Middle Way which not only sets forth the profound—that is, emptiness—but additionally sets forth the graduated path, the vast activities of the graduated path, such as compassion, the awakening heart, setting out each of the grounds, one through ten, in an extended manner. Most simply, there is this difference between Fundamental Wisdom and Entering into the Middle Way. Fundamental Wisdom only sets forth the profound graduated path.
So the trainee intent on entering would seek to practice the profound as presented in Fundamental Wisdom. Therefore, they would seek to realize the thought of emptiness as set forth in Fundamental Wisdom. Intent on entering— Would it be though they make use of Fundamental Wisdom, it wouldn’t be proper simply to meditate on emptiness as set forth there, that in the practice— This will be a practice not proper to the great vehicle, since the meditation on emptiness is found in the lesser vehicle, and the trainee of the entering is training to be a bodhisattva.
Therefore, he cannot only make use of the subject matter as set forth by Fundamental Wisdom on emptiness. He cannot go to that text only. Since Fundamental Wisdom only sets forth emptiness, and in practice of the great vehicle it’s necessary also to practice the vast activity— Nāgārjuna set forth the vast activities in his Precious Garland. So the vast— The text Entering supplements the commentary on Fundamental Wisdom by drawing from the vast activity as explained in Precious Garland, and therefore Entering is a combination of both the profound and vast activity. If we were to take a simple analogy: if we were to simply eat lentils, it wouldn’t be a very appetizing meal.
So, the lentils are quite nourishing; we want to supplement with some other types of food in order to have— want to get more appetite. Likewise with the practice of the trainee intent on entering: if they were to only meditate on Fundamental Wisdom—that is to say, the emptiness which is set forth there—there would be no way that they could achieve Buddhahood. Therefore, they have to extend their practice and supplement it with the vast—the meditations on the vast activities, which are, for example, compassion, the awakening heart, the various perfections of giving, the perfection of ethics, and the various grounds, one through ten. Taking these, the profound, and supplementing and combining it with the vast activity, then they can quickly attain Buddhahood. Depending solely on the profound, one cannot attain Buddhahood. So Entering into the Middle Way represents the combination of the profound and the vast.
It commentates on the thought of emptiness, taking as its source Fundamental Wisdom. It also commentates, explains the vast activity, taking as its source Precious Garland. So it represents a combination of both method and wisdom. And then next comes a homage. When the text was translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan, the translator, in order that his translation went well, paid homage to Mañjuśrī.
So at this point there is a line saying, “I pay homage to Mañjuśrī.” Amongst the three types of collections of the teachings of Buddha, this text is included—since its main subject is wisdom—it is included in the knowledge collection, or the knowledge basket. And when that is done, homage is paid to the deity associated with wisdom and knowledge. It was set forth by— There were many Dharma kings within Tibet who had great faith and appreciation for the Dharma, and particularly one of the profound edicts was that whenever translations were made into Tibetan language, depending upon which of the three baskets or collections— In particular, homage would be paid. If it was in the knowledge collection—that is, a subject matter of wisdom—then homage would be paid to Mañjuśrī. If it was from the collection on discipline—that is, ethics—then homage would be paid to all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. And if it were from the collection of meditative stabilization—for example, calm abiding—as we mentioned in the teaching on Ornament for Clear Realization, homage is paid to the Buddha and bodhisattvas. So this is very good reason for the particular object of homage. In the first—that is, the collection of discipline, where ethics is being set forth—this mainly takes up the subject matter of karma and its results, and it is only an omniscient mind which is able to know all of the subtleties of karma and their results. So therefore, in the discipline collection, homage is paid to omniscient mind.
With respect to the second category of meditative stabilization, these are the main practices—these are the main practices of both the Buddha and the bodhisattva of the great vehicle. Therefore, in harmony, homage is paid to both the Buddha and bodhisattvas. Entering into the Middle Way, as has been explained, is setting forth mainly the wisdom of emptiness, and the deity associated with wisdom is Mañjuśrī. We begin with an expression of worship.
The very first— We’ve actually begun the text itself. So if we were to condense the Buddha Dharma, the teachings of the Buddha, we could condense them into two: the Dharma of the lesser vehicle and the Dharma of the greater vehicle. So in this first line, it’s referring to the practitioners of the lesser vehicle, and there are two types within the lesser vehicle. They are the hearers and solitary realizers, or more literally we could say the middling Buddha. So, what do we mean by hearer?
In Tibetan, the Tibetan word for hearer is made up of two syllables, nyen tö. Nyen means to listen or to hear, and this means oneself hears the teaching of the Dharma from one’s teacher and puts them into practice in order to abandon the afflicted emotions, and then causes others to hear in accordance with how one has practiced. So you listen and hear, and it is translated as hearer. So this is what we mean by hearer: someone who, having listened to the teaching from a teacher, putting such teachings as, for example, the twelve links of dependent origination, the sixteen aspects of the four noble truths, would then meditate on these, gain realization, and cause others to hear in accordance with the path of realization by which you gained realization, and cause others to hear the path of liberation. One hears and then causes others to hear.
And then the second type of practitioner is the solitary realizer vehicle. That’s called the solitary realizer. This can also, as I mentioned, be more literally translated as a middling Buddha, also as a self-realizer. But in terms of— If we were to translate it more literally as middling Buddha, what we mean by Buddha is one who has evolved in terms of wisdom, and specifically in terms of suchness or emptiness. The hearer is only slightly evolved with respect to wisdom.
The solitary realizer has gone beyond the hearer but has not achieved the fully evolved wisdom of a Buddha. So therefore, they’re above the hearers but they’re less than an actual Buddha. Therefore, they’re called middling Buddha, because they are middling evolved with respect to wisdom. So this line continues, and here the hearers and solitary realizers are born from the subduer king. The text actually points an indication that all—or it could be just a plural—are born from the subduer king, king of subduers. Here, king of subduers refers to the Buddha, superior. And in what way are the hearers and solitary realizers born from the king of subduers? Because in dependence upon the king of subduers—that is to say, Buddha Śākyamūni’s teaching the Dharma—for example, the four noble truths, the twelve links of interdependent origination, etc., the hearers and the solitary realizers meditate and then gain realization, and finally they are free. They free themselves from cyclic existence. Therefore, they are born from the teaching of the king of subduers.