Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen maps the five obstacles that derail single-pointed meditation—mental distraction, sleep, harmful intent, attachment, and doubt—and the specific antidote each requires. In this 46-minute session, he walks through where each obstacle comes from (distraction and regret arise from friends and environment; sleep from mental darkness; harmful intent from exaggerated anger; attachment from the five sense objects; doubt from unclear instruction) and how to counter it (meditating on ugliness, visualizing bright light, cultivating loving-kindness, strengthening focus on the meditation object, clarifying instruction). He frames this within the bodhisattva path and the perfection of concentration, moving from preparation and proper understanding, through the obstacles as they arise in practice, to the danger of mistaking meditative experience for attainment. Practical and systematic, aimed at practitioners already familiar with bodhisattva vows.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 11 FoP.mp3
UUID: 302d37ee-bbbc-4961-bde6-2b26be73fe14
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Foundation of Practice (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1996 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.6 minutes
Words: ~2,357
So according a line from the teachings of Pänchen Pänchen Chogyan which the text so called the Guru Puja text. India Pänchen Chogyan explains the explains the teachings on the bodhicitta, which is the moral precepts of the bodhisattvas. So in in in the group which it explains that the path which which is followed by all the all the Buddhas of the three time. That is that that the one the only path that is followed by all the Buddhas of the three times, which is referring to the to the bodhicitta to, yeah, to the bodhicitta or the precepts or precepts or the moral codes of the bodhisattvas. So the bodhisattva vows, which which are the precepts that you take or you let me say, determine to train yourself on those precepts.
So those Tathagatas or the Buddhas who who have come in the past have have trained on this path. And and those bodhisattvas who will come in the future will also practice or train on this path. And and those bodhisattvas who are training on this path presently. So like those Bodhisattvas who are training on this path, like I too follow the same path in order to achieve this fully enlightened state for the sake of of those sentient beings around one. So, like, setting up this mind and training on path is what is known as the the engaging bodhicitta.
So in short, if all the practice of the Bodhisattvas is to summarize, then it can be summarized into the three moralities. Setting up this motivation that to to lead all to the state of Buddhahood or or to lead all to Buddhahood. I will train as I will train in these three types of moralities. So setting up this mind and do short meditation. So the three, what is the aspect of the moralities are what we need to train.
And the vows of the bodhisattvas, which are the root vows and the the secondary vows, which the root vows are has been explained. And the the vows to that the secondary vows which falls in the category of one one of the moralities which is known as restraining from misbehaviors. And these are completed. And now coming to the next one, which is the morality of integrating virtue. So general, all the practices that that involves listening, contemplating, or meditating.
So all these practice includes in this first type of morality, which is morality of abstaining from misbehaviors. And now with when we talk according to the Sarta vows, then these moralities or the vows are explained the faults which are associated with with the six perfectionss. And of the of the six, three giving generosity, morality, patient, and effort, which have been explained. And now, Geshe-la will explain the rest three. So so there are also the third type of morality, which is morality of benefiting other sentient beings which there are twelve faults concerning twelve faults concerning morality of benefiting other sentient And this will be explained in the next next week.
And when that finishes, then that’s the end. So so then the faults associated with concentration. They are, like, classified into three. The falls associated with the preparation in the very beginning and the fault associated with the main part of the practice and the fall associated with the, what we call, the completion part of the practice here. So so the the preparation or or the in the beginning, one one need to know the nature of concentration, and one need to know also how it functions and what are the causes of concentration.
And, also, if one doesn’t know, then I want you to listen from others others instructions and should have what is it? Should have clear understanding of what was what concentration is. So if if one is not to search the meaning of concentrations or the single pointed concentration out of, like, pride or out of jealousy, then then it is regarded then it’s regarded as a fault and the fault which is known as deluded one. So in order to do the practice of single pointed concentration, one first need to understand how the practice is performed and that is to listen or to receive instructions from others. And in that way one should follow the practice but if one is to with the ill mind, if one is not to do that then one sees that downfalls which is the fault concerning the very beginning, which is the preparation part.
So so then there are some exceptions which even if you don’t search for the meaning of concentration, there’s no no fault such as if the person is sick and unable to listen to the instructions then there is no fault. And or if the person have a doubt in listening to the explanation of other person, which is having doubt in what he or she is explaining, then again one does not have downfalls. And thirdly, if the person have already understood or received the instructions and performed the practice already, then even if one not to listen to those instructions, then one doesn’t receive downfalls. So so now go to the next which is that the downfalls associated with the actual part of the practice which is a good index in this section number twenty five. So which in the actual part of the single pointed concentration, the five obstructions five obstructions which are explained.
And if one is in order to abandon those five obstructions while one is actually performing the practice, then one sees default. So so those five faults are known as the mental distraction and repressed as counted as one. And then sleep and the mental dullness. These two counted as one. That’s the second one.
And then next, the third one, which is known as the, you know, the harmful intent and and the desire or the attachment found as one. So that’s the third one. And then and then And then the fifth one is the doubt. So if you like, let’s say, separate all of these and then it comes out to be like nine faults but it is explained as a five fold here. And the fourth one is desire or attachment, and then the fifth one is the doubt.
So the mental distraction, the first one is a form of attachment. So that, what do you call, mental distraction which is which is when one is doing single point concentration, unable to keep the mind with the object and mind getting wandered out or distracted out to those object of attachment or object of hatred. So that is state of mind. It’s known as the logical mental distraction. So then the regret is that say if one had done some something and and later one found out there was what what one had done is something mistake and one feel regret over that.
So so that that feeling yeah. That feeling. So these two, like the mental distraction and the regret, what do say, comes, these two faults comes to us. We receive these two faults because in dependence upon our close friends and our our place where we live. So, and also, the state of mind that when we think that I will not die, I will not die because of that thought too draws these two these two faults.
So, and also, those actions that we perform like such as enjoying laughing or playing or such those actions which also draws those these two folds while one is doing single point concentration. So it’s first to the the mental distractions and the regret account as one because both of them are form of attachment. So, so then the next one, second one, which is the sleep and the mental dullness. These two are counted as one because it’s a form of ignorance. So when one is doing this meditations on single pointed concentration, that time these two at fault like the sleep and the mental sluggishness gathers our mind, like withdraws our mind from the objects.
So what what causes So what causes these two, the sleep and the mental dullness, which is caused, these two are caused by, what do say, darkness. Darkness, darkness, of mind causes, what do say, these two. So then next one is the third one which is the harmful intent. It’s harmful intent. Which is wanting to cause unhappiness for others.
So, what causes this harmful intent is that the anger which seeing the object being something ugly or so on, anger, and that causes this, let’s say, harmful intent. So, this harmful intent has the aspect, ugly aspect which is ugly nature which draws again like bad signs signs or bad omens appears, then this, what we call the harmful intent let’s say, arises. So those signs, the bad signs and bad omens that too which we create upon somebody, we feel angry towards. We exaggerate their bad qualities and out of that, out of these signs and omens that we harm them or we have this harmful intent towards. So then the next, which is desire or the attachment.
Which is getting, I would say, hoping the object of desirables or having attachment towards the object of desirables. So so the five objects of desire, which form the sound, the taste, mind, what do call, wanting or desiring these object of desirables and wishing to enjoy them is do you call, is known as the attachment towards the object of desire. So the object is object such as form or form appears to our eyes then one exaggerates whatever the quality of the form is and wishes or one wishes to have that object. So, first as an example, we did form. So, it’s a beautiful object.
And And getting contact with this beautiful object, then one exaggerates its quality. And out of that, one wish to have that. And one wishes to have that, and since one wishes to have that, then that is what induces all these, what is it, delusions such as attachment, hatred, and so on. So same with same with smell, like the smell of the food, like wanting to have that, and same with taste, and same with the tactile objects, such as the external one than that that of the internal one. So so so these five objects of desire is what we are we have enjoyed in the past.
So when one is doing single pointed concentration, if this object of desire appears to one, then it causes one to generate the wish to have those. So once, when I wanna have this wish or the desire or the attachment towards this object, then it it, what do say, disturb our disturbs our concentration. So now the next one, the fifth one, which is the doubt. And doubt is, I wanna say, two pointed mind. So so again, when one is doing the single pointed concentration, if one if one don’t have one one object of meditation and like what is no definite object of meditation, then and if one have doubt which one to use as a meditation object, then, again, that doubt which harms one’s concentration.
So so now we have to what kind of, what is it, antidotes that we should apply towards these faults such as the attachment towards the object of desire. One had to meditate on the ugliness. And the the how to say, antidote towards the harmful intent, which is to meditate on love. So which is meditating love is not a partial meditation of love, which is meditating love to some and not to others. But when we say meditating on love, which is meditating on love to those whom one brings harm to.
Like, one receive harm from to to that we should meditate on love. So so then the antidote towards the sleep and the mental dullness is to visualize or to imagine bright light or or or light. That is yeah. To to imagine or visualize a brighter light. Or clear clear.
So so when instead when one is feeling dull or tiredness during one’s meditation, then at that point to meditating on the qualities of objects or the qualities of one’s own guru or qualities of bodhicitta. If one is to think over these qualities, then again, that was the dullness or the tiredness will will disappear. So still by doing that, if if it’s still there is this slip and the mental dullness there or the dullness. Then one one stop the session and if it’s in the daytime going out and in a bright sunlight and like looking at the sunlight or in the if it’s in the nighttime then going out and looking in the bright moonlight or, like, flashing water, cold water towards the in one side facing. So so then the other two, which is the mental distraction and the regret, these two, the antidote to us, these two is that when we have these two faults then our mind wanders out with different objects.
For that as an antidote we should strengthen our, what is it, focus on the object, on the object which we are using for our meditation. Focusing our object or strength strengthening the focus on our object. So so with the antidote was the doubt, which is for that and like asking those point which one is not clear for one, asking others or reading books and so on. So so now we go to the third one, which is those faults concerning the conclusion of the of the practice here. So so the next one is that so if one had meditated on single pointed concentration and and and and and gain experience of that concentration.
So so out of out of the experience of or testing the experience of concentration where one experiences joy and bliss, we’re experiencing this. And if one sees that these two as this experience as a great quality, then