Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 47-minute teaching, Kyabje Rinpoche explains why emptiness is not taught to everyone, and how to recognize a proper student. He uses the image of nutritious food that becomes poison if consumed wrongly — misunderstood emptiness similarly leads to nihilism and harm. The right student shows specific signs when hearing these teachings: spontaneous joy, tears, a sense of recognition from past familiarity with emptiness in previous lives. Rinpoche then addresses a practical question: once emptiness realization is gained, how is it protected from deteriorating? He outlines supporting practices — ethics, generosity, compassion, patience, and dedication — that create the conditions for stable, expanding realization. The talk ends with student questions on the relationship between understanding emptiness and observing ethical discipline.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1991-05-09 – 9B – KR.mp3
UUID: 520b747a-c506-4a1d-a62c-c16ba0957f96
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Entering the Middle Way
Date: 1991-05-09
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,599
For that reason, due to the various possible outcomes of the study of emptiness, emptiness is not explained to everyone. And why is that? For a few, they will not understand it correctly and they will fall to the position of nihilism where they will deprecate the view of emptiness and out of this deprecation and this nihilism then they will engage in various great negative actions and thereby be reborn in hell. So it is very much like the case as we explained in the teaching on precious garland. And we were talking about that you have some nutritious food.
And on the one hand, this food has the potency or the capacity to bring us great health, great physical health to help us to have a long life. But there may be some who do not know, understand the proper way of eating this food, And though it is nutritious and has this capacity to bring help, in fact for those who eat it wrongly, it is as if medicine turns into poison and hurts them. So the same holds true with respect to emptiness. If it’s understood correctly, its nature, then it can help us to achieve all our desired ends. It can eliminate all our sufferings.
On the other hand, if the way in which we are understanding emptiness is incorrect, then there’s a great danger and it will not only be of no benefit, but it can be of harm. Therefore, emptiness is not taught to everyone. So if we were to question, well, to whom is emptiness to be explained? So, how are we to recognize an individual who is a proper someone who is a proper object to be explained the profound emptiness? The text goes on to say, Should an ordinary person hear about voidness and immediately experience the surging of great joy that his eyes become moist with tears and the hair on his body stands on end, such a person has the seed of the mind of complete Buddhahood.
Therefore, such a person as described is one who is suitable to be taught emptiness. That these various indications are indicative indicative that this person has previously listened to the teachings on emptiness again and again, has become accustomed to them, has cultivated them in meditation, and has latencies of this understanding emptiness within their mind. So an individual has in previous lives listened to the teachings on emptiness again and again and has cultivated them in meditation and then has implanted latencies within their mind. And then when such individual hears the teaching on emptiness, it is like water, it is like the watering of a seed of a flower. It begins to mature.
That the seed of these latencies of listening and accustoming oneself to the teachings on emptiness are activated, and there arises an experience of great joy in such a student. By the influence of this great joy, tears begin to flow from their eyes, or as Rinpoche says, rain falls from his eyes, and the hairs on his body stand on end. These bodily signs are that this student is proper to be taught emptiness. So if these various bodily signs arise, then if emptiness is taught to such a person, there will be great benefit that this person is a suitable vessel to be taught, and can arise no fault. So, these physical indications are signs that this person has the seed of the realization of emptiness within them, the seed of complete Buddhahood.
Listening to these teachings on emptiness is like the watering of the seed. And upon hearing these teachings one, two, or three times, then spontaneously the seeds erupt into realization. So it said that the suitable vessel, or that is to say a suitable student who is to be taught the doctrine of emptiness is such a one as was described. So I’ve been using the term emptiness and emptiness again and again. How many of you have been crying?
Well, okay. If he didn’t have any tears, did anybody become happy? But if if, you know, if there’s some kind of happiness about hearing these teachings on emptiness that you think you have a conviction that these teachings are very important then that’s sufficient. So, you know, we have to generate a liking for emptiness. On the other hand we think, well, emptiness doesn’t exist, then there’s this thinking would involve the danger of a great fall.
So, one has these physical indications as was previously described, then upon an explanation of emptiness, the excellent qualities will quickly develop. Such a one has listened to teachings again and again in the past, and just like the watering of a seed, their seed of their previous listenings will be activated and they will quickly gain realization. So I appreciate the great importance of the wisdom of realizing emptiness that though one not generated and gained that great joy, at least one will be happy to hear about it. So why is emptiness so very important in its realization? By means of the wisdom realizing emptiness we can eliminate from its very root the ignorance which brings about rebirth within cyclic existence.
Out of this, by eliminating through the process of eliminating the fundamental basic ignorance, then all of the afflictive emotions which arise dependent upon ignorance are eliminated. And if we do that, then we’ve eliminated the various negative consequences of birth, aging, disease, and death. And thereby we achieve liberation, and eventually Buddhahood, and thereby we can bring about the ultimate welfare of both oneself and others. Therefore, it is for these reasons that the wisdom of realizing emptiness is considered of such great importance. So if if, you know, to a beggar a thousand dollars would be extremely precious.
And if they were to be given a thousand dollars this would bring them great joy. They would be able to buy all their various material necessities, food, clothing, etc. But though they got great joy in receiving this thousand dollars, once they got it, then they might become worried about losing it. So this is maybe comparable to respect to emptiness in terms of we find a great joy in generating the wisdom emptiness, but once we develop it then there may become some worry within our mind that we may allow it to deteriorate, that we can lose our realization of So though we may generate the realization of emptiness, we have to ensure that we engage in a method whereby it will not deteriorate. And the method is made use of is the observance of ethics.
For example, if we were to gain a realization of emptiness, and upon that realization die. Then, if we have not observed ethics, then we will be reborn in a bad migration. So, if we were to do that, then we would our realization of emptiness would deteriorate. It would be lost. So we have to ensure that once having generated the realization of emptiness that we employ methods whereby not to allow the opportunity for it to degenerate, that we have to achieve a happy migration in the future.
And the method for achieving happy migration is the observance of ethics. So the first method that we must employ in ensuring that our realization of emptiness is not lost, does not degenerate in the future, is the practice of ethics whereby we will achieve a happy migration. But we must go on from there. If we were, though achieving a happy migration, if we were to be born as a human, say as a beggar, then we would not have the necessary supportive conditions by which to carry on a practice of Dharma. And therefore our realization of emptiness would eventually deteriorate and be lost.
Therefore, as a second method to ensure that we have the necessary supportive conditions in order to practice the Dharma, to ensure that our realization does not deteriorate, it’s necessary to practice generosity. So in order that our realization of emptiness does not deteriorate in the course of future rebirths, it’s necessary that we employ the methods of observing ethics in the practice of generosity and thereby achieve in the future a human rebirth with a livelihood easily, providing the support of the conditions to carry on our practice of Dharma. But simply doing that there is the danger if we were not to cultivate compassion that we fall to the lesser vehicle. So it is necessary to additionally cultivate compassion and love as a means to ensure that we will again enter into the great vehicle. So, ethics achieving a human rebirth, through generosity, the necessary support of the conditions whereby to carry on their practice of Dharma, the cultivation of compassion and love, ensuring that one engages in the practices of the great vehicle.
But to go on from there, we should ensure that we have a beautiful body, a type of body that others have a liking for, that we have helpful companions, that we have exist in a harmonious social atmosphere. And this is done by the practice of patience. So, in order that our realization of emptiness does not deteriorate in the future, we are observing all these various practices, the practices of ethics, generosity, the cultivation of love and compassion, the practice of patience. And out of this we create a great deal of skillful actions. And to ensure that these skillful actions are never exhausted, that we can enjoy their fruits unremittingly, we should then proceed to engage in the practice of dedication.
Dedicating all the skillful actions arising from all these practices for the attainment of Buddhahood for the sake of others and oneself. So then in the quoting from the actual text itself where it sets forth the various practices in order to ensure the forcefulness of one’s realization, of emptiness once it’s generated will not deteriorate. The text states as follows: In order to liberate he will completely dedicate his wholesome deeds to awakening and respects to complete bodhisattvas. Such a person who is skilled in the ways of the profound and the vast will progressively achieve let me go back. In such a person the virtues that follow upon hearing about voidness will arise.
He will always adopt a perfect moral discipline and adhere to it, bestow gifts, devote himself to compassion, and cultivate patience. In order to liberate beings he will completely dedicate his wholesome deeds to awakening and pay respect to complete bodhisattvas. So, you know, what has been shown is the importance of gaining the realization of emptiness, and then the practices which to ensure that once the realization is gained that it’s not deteriorated, and thereby the means to develop all excellent qualities. So through these through the methods of generosity, ethics, love, compassion, tolerance, and dedication, the foundation of one’s realization of emptiness will not deteriorate, but on the contrary, will increase in its capacity higher and higher. It will be very stable and powerful realization.
So, though we may not presently have the realization of emptiness, but still we can proceed to again and again listen to teachings on emptiness, reflect on its meaning and cultivate that meaning in meditation and thereby implant the latencies whereby in the future upon being taught the doctrine of emptiness by spiritual master, a Lama, all of these various signs will then appear and we can proceed just as in our practices just as this bodhisattva is proceeding in hers. So even in the case of the bodhisattva being described here, there was a time when she had not heard about emptiness and therefore there was no doubt, was no realization. But again upon hearing about emptiness again and then proceeding and reflecting and meditating upon it and gaining the realization of it, then we can act in like manner. That it is difficult to understand emptiness. We will not understand it quickly, but we can by again and again proceeding proceeding this fashion by again and again listening, reflecting, and cultivating its meaning in meditation implant latencies, dispositions such that in the future realization will arise without any difficulty.
So, you know, we should try to set far reaching goals for ourselves. Out of this will come great results. So you should reflect again and again upon the importance of realizing emptiness and again and be mindful of trying to gain its understanding. We’re going to stop there but if you have some questions. Yes?
Wouldn’t somebody having realized emptiness have a natural inclination towards being ethical and patient. It’s it’s though having realization of emptiness, it is still necessary to make effort in these practices of ethics and patience. Number. So, in one context we can say that someone who has achieved special insight that is, has gained realization of emptiness, in dependence upon calm abiding, their realization will not deteriorate. But in this context that we were just discussing, it is this person who has displayed these various physical indications.
That person’s realization of emptiness will not deteriorate. That in general, we can say that those who have achieved a union of calm abiding and special insight, their realization and emptiness will not deteriorate. Yeah. So it seems like to me that the reason why we engage the reason why we become impatient and engage in nonethical activities and things like that is because we have some kind of wrong idea. And so if we have you know, if we no longer have that mistaken understanding.
What mistaken understanding? In your grasping at I. So If grasping at we don’t have okay. So, could you rephrase your question? If you don’t Ignorance.
If you don’t have have ignorance, then why then you wouldn’t want to then you wouldn’t be engaging in any ignorant actions. You wouldn’t then you wouldn’t have to observe ethics. You would naturally observe you wouldn’t have to make effort in ethics. So, in order to if one abandons ignorance one is a foe destroyer, or has achieved at least the eighth ground. Just because one realizes emptiness doesn’t mean one has abandoned ignorance.
Yes? So one achieves enlightenment in dependence upon realization of emptiness. But realization enlightenment is quite a ways down the line. There are people who realize emptiness before they actually enter into the path. But once they’ve entered in the path then they have to proceed and eventually achieve enlightenment.
But there are those who achieve realization of emptiness even before they enter into the path. Between what? So, what we mean by the experience of emptiness is simply the realization of emptiness. An understanding of emptiness is the experience of emptiness.
On the other hand, when we talk about the experience of enlightenment, are two modes of experiencing something. We can experience it through reasoned analysis. That is to say, we can examine what it would be like to be enlightened. We can come to a vivid understanding, but that’s not to say that we have achieved it. But we experience it through a reasoned analysis.
But this is not the actual generation of this state. We just simply experience it through reasoned analysis. Then the actual experiencing, the development of that state within one’s own mind is enlightenment, and this is the same as Buddhahood. So the experience of enlightenment, the actual experience is Buddhahood, and the understanding of emptiness is the experience of emptiness. So it’s quite late and you have a long way to go home.