Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 46-minute teaching, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen guides practitioners through the foundational technique of calm abiding meditation, a key practice for developing stable mental focus. He explains how to select a meditation object such as a Buddha image and maintain unwavering concentration on it, covering the three essential qualities of an effective object: familiarity, retention without forgetting, and the capacity for complete concentration. The core of the instruction addresses five faults that arise during practice—lack of clear visualization, forgetting the object, laxity, failing to apply antidotes, and over-applying antidotes when obstacles have already dissolved. Geshe Dhawa details how to recognize and counter two primary obstacles: mental dullness and distraction through the method of introspection. He emphasizes why a Buddha image serves dual purposes: building calm abiding while accumulating merit. The teaching is pitched at practitioners beginning a formal retreat.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 04 CAR.mp3
UUID: 3d8b1ca2-ae1f-427b-8c09-fd3f926b1d14
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Calm Abiding Retreat (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1995 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 46.2 minutes
Words: ~2,361
So any object of knowledge can be explained as the object of the wise one. So object that purifies delusions is the object which, if you use, you can come to abandon the delusions of the desire realm and also object which, if you use, can abandon the delusions of the upper realms. So then the object purifying behavior—that is like if one has a strong attachment, then using as an object, like meditation on the object of ugliness, using the object of ugliness. That is one of the examples.
So this has given a few different objects of meditation. So one can choose one of those objects and concentrate on that. And concentrating single-pointedly on that object and sitting in that meditation as long as one can—and gradually which leads one to the achievement of śamatha meditation. So, well, let’s say, once you didn’t, like, try to observe all the objects of meditation. So one chooses one of the objects of meditation and then not changing it, but just using that single object as your meditation object.
So, as an example, like when you are making a fire, if there’s a fire already, one fire would reach out of fire, and then if you take that out and put a new one, and then if you do that, then you will find it difficult for the fire to keep on going. So like, if we keep the firewood in the fire, then it’s easier for the fire to catch. And if we change, then it’s not easy. So similarly, if we concentrate single-pointedly on one object, then it’s easier to achieve the calm abiding meditation. And like concentrating single-pointedly on that object all the time except when you are going to the toilet or sleeping or while you’re eating. So if one is using the object of the image of the Buddha, then first one visualizes each different part of the Buddha’s, like the face, the hands, the feet, all.
And then when one visualizes all this and roughly one visualizes all together, and then and then progresses on that. So when visualizing that as the image of a Buddha, and if one doesn’t get a clear visualization of the image of the Buddha, then that is the second fault, which is forgetting the instruction. So which is like if one is holding a pen or a rosary, like, just holding there but almost falling, but not holding in full concentration. Like, you’re holding it, but not fully holding it, like, falling. That’s also a fault in that category, which is forgetting the instruction. So as for that, like, to hold it firmly, you need to use the mindfulness. So which is the antidote for forgetting the instruction is to apply the mindfulness. So the mindfulness should firmly hold the object and then continuously concentrate on that. So these objects of meditation should have three qualities.
So the object should have this quality which you have already seen before. And you have seen the object before, your object of meditation, and you are familiar with that object. And then, so the object should be that which you are familiar with or that which you have seen before. And then second, retaining that object in your mind without forgetting. So able to retain that object in one’s mind. Like when one gets hungry, one suddenly remembers food. So in the same manner, able to retain that object in one’s mind. So then the third quality or third specialty is that you should, as an action, you should completely concentrate on that and nothing else. So when while one is concentrating on the object, at that point, if the dullness and the excitement arises, then you should apply the antidotes.
So the dullness is that, like, one is single-pointedly concentrating on the object of meditation; at that time, the mind becoming more, I would say, foggy, mental sort of foggy mind. That is what is the dullness. So then the excitement is that mind getting distracted towards external objects. So as an antidote for these two, one needs what is called the introspection. Which you inspect whether these two arise or not. So but then if you continuously apply or inspect, then, again, there is a fault. So this inspection or the introspection is just possible to ask—it is a form of wisdom. So the fourth fault is that when when there is the dullness and excitement, not applying the antidotes.
So through the introspection, when one sees that there is the dullness and excitement there in your meditation, then applying the antidotes. Applying the antidotes is the antidote for that, not applying antidotes. So there are subtle and gross levels of dullness and similarly subtle and gross levels of excitement. So both the gross and the subtle of these two, dullness and excitement, one can only notice when one is concentrating on the object. So to notice that, to recognize that, once you do the meditation. So you do meditation today and tomorrow. And then day after tomorrow, we shall explain, or you can ask questions if you have these instructions in your meditation. So the fifth fault is that when you see the fault that there is the dullness and the excitement, and you apply antidote for that. And then when once you remove these two, like, if you continuously keep on applying the antidotes, then that’s a fault. So as soon as one gets rid of these two, the dullness and the excitement, by applying the antidotes, once you then stop there and then come in the state of equanimity. So when when one goes through the nine mental abidings or the nine mental settings, when it comes to the eighth one, the eighth mental setting, then from the eighth, you have these two obstructions, that of the dullness and the excitement. So till the eighth, one has to apply the antidotes, that is the introspection. So this is brief or the rough explanation of how one should meditate on calm abiding. So we stop here for today.
And then tomorrow, Geshe-la will be explaining the, Tsangpa-la? The nine mental settings. And the six powers. Yeah. And then, what do you call, the four mental engagements. It’s the four mental engagements. That definition will be explained tomorrow. So in between here, you have to ask questions. So any questions? Any questions is accepted.
The first one is the quality of the object. And second one is the specialty of retaining the object. And then the third one is like action or the function. So the quality of the object or the specialty of the object, which is like able to have a complete, I would say, complete object and visualizing, like, which is like all detail in all parts of the object. So then the second is retaining that object that you visualized, like, without forgetting, like, clearly retaining it. Which is retaining in your mind without forgetting continuously. So the third one is that whatever object you want to use, single-pointedly concentrating on that object and able to, through that concentrating, able to achieve that state.
So you want antidotes for both? When you have, when you don’t have a clear, what do you say? When you don’t have a clearly visualized object. And when you have—you want antidotes for both or one to one? So as it is explained, there are five faults. Yeah. And the five—what’s that? Yes. The eight antidotes which I explained for the five. So it’s like saying you’re putting your meditation here and putting the antidotes here, so then it doesn’t work. So you should, I’ll say, try apply these two together.
So in order to generate this wishful meditation, like, you need to, as you explain, the faith. The whatever object of meditation you are doing for. So if you have the faith in it, then that induces the aspiration. So which is the wish to do the meditation. So if you have the wish for the meditation, then the effort comes along. So which is the effort that you put to do the meditation. Oh, yes. Yes. So when then when we start our meditation, doesn’t mean the object of our meditation will be clearly appearing into one. If that is the case, then meditation is easy. So to make to have a clear visualization of the object, so we have to train. So one can use the object as a breath, but not as a breathing meditation. So when, like, when one is doing the breathing meditation, then one is like breathing in and out where you send your mind in and out together with the breath. So when when you do this, then again, that is not the right way of doing the visualization, the right way of concentrating on the object. So with the object like as sentient beings, it’s also all right to do that. But just concentrating on one sentient being, one being, instead of, like, trying to concentrate on all sentient beings because it will be, again, difficult to want to have a whole picture of sentient beings. So but then if one wants to use these two objects, then it’s like, if one wants to shave all heads and beards, we are only shaving the heads, not the hair. So which is like you should use the object that which serves two purposes, in other words. Two purposes. Like, able to shave both at once. So the reason that Lama Tsongkhapa is explaining to use the object of the image of Buddha is that it serves two purposes. One is that you can achieve the state of meditation, the calm abiding. And the second is that you accumulate merit by using that object.
Yep. So as in the case of the, what do you call it? For example, choosing an object, you might choose Śākyamūni Buddha, or—All the five? Four. Four. Pervasive object. Pervasive object. There are four. The first one is pervasive object. Second one is object which purifies behaviors. And third one is object that purifies delusions. And then the object of the wise one. And he—yeah. There are four. Yeah. That. But then, like, the deities with some of the deities with many faces and many feet and hands would be, I would say, again, hard to visualize. But one can choose any object; even one can use the object as an apple too. Yeah. Yeah. That’s cool. Very cool.
So in the beginning when one is starting to do this meditation, one first sees the picture of Buddha in the thangka and then looks carefully at all the parts. So then when you have a rough picture of all parts, then once you don’t look at the picture. So the rough visualization that you want to have—the full image of Buddha. Just concentrate on that. So then when you want to concentrate on that, then there is this nature. There is this, I would say, degree of getting it more clear, clarity, and then the stability of the object. And there will be more explanation on this. So the white one is, let’s say, Buddha Vairocana. So that is the crown which is the om as a seed syllable, white om as a seed syllable of Buddha Vairocana. From that, the white light. And the third, the ah syllable, which is the seed syllable of Amitābha. It’s Amitābha. And then the syllable at the heart. That is the seed syllable of Akṣobhya. And which is which is blue-colored body. And from that, the blue light. So which these three lights, white, red, and blue, come down and then purify the negativities of our body, speech, and mind. So then one can also visualize that when one is doing this purification, thinking that the om syllable dissolves into one and stays at one’s crown, which is white om. And then the ah dissolves into one also and then at the throat. And you visualize the ah syllable and then hum at the heart. Got it. Yep. So giving a choice of these different objects is because, as I hear, there are many different groups or many different beliefs. And as a Buddhist, the best is to choose the image of Buddha. Yeah. That’s the best. So which is like I mean, like, other followers of religions. Whatever their object may be, refuge object may be, using that refuge object as one’s meditation object. And choosing those objects because one has more connection to that practice. And instead of using an object as a stone or piece of wood, if one needs to use an object of objects, then that’s much better. Oh, yeah. Yes. That’s it. Yeah.