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 traces the Mahāyāna path through its root — great compassion. He guides practitioners through the foundational sequence: recognizing all sentient beings as one’s mother, remembering their kindness, repaying it, and cultivating heartfelt love—not wishing for others’ happiness, but personally taking responsibility to free them from suffering. He carefully distinguishes this Mahāyāna compassion from that of hearers and Pratyekabuddhas through vivid examples, such as a mother throwing herself into fire to save her child. This developed compassion naturally awakens bodhicitta—the determination to achieve Buddhahood for the sake of all beings’ liberation. The closing discussion addresses how these stages relate to the four immeasurables and the three scopes of the graduated path.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 36 GP 1996 07 14.mp3
UUID: cf873df7-ae97-4a3c-95f4-782cefbc320f
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Graduated Path (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1996-07-14
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.8 minutes
Words: ~2,747
And then sinking, well, I myself will, like, lead them to this state of happiness. Like, generating these different levels of mind or meditating on this level different states is how you meditate or practice loving thoughts. So this the, what do call, the loving thought or the heartwarming love and and just normal, when you say love, they are two different. So the general love, which is the wish what do call it? The wish how much the false sense in being have happiness.
That that is, what I say, the general love. And that is also within that that kind of love is also within those beings such as the hearers and Pratyekabuddha have too. So so this the second one, like, the the heartfelt love that that is what they call wishing happiness for all sentient beings, and I will I myself will bring them all this happiness. So that that kind of, what do say, heartwarming love that we similar to that one have towards one to one child is is not within all the beings. It’s, what do say, not with those being too like that of hearers and Pratyekabuddha.
And so then the fifth one, which is the great compassion. So so this great compassion is one of the, I wanna say, one of the cause one of the one of the the one of the cause of, I wanna say, Buddhahood, which is, yeah, one of one of those six causes. And it also says that the compassion the great compassion is the root of mind is how do say? Mind is path. So in the teaching, it explains that compassion this great compassion being the root of Mahāyāna’s path and also explaining that these certain instructions, like, some of them are the cause of compassions, and some of them are the result of compassion.
So as it’s explained in the in the in the earlier where compassion as the as the main or the principle where it has four causes. That is first four of that seven causes and effect instructions. That is recognizing being one’s mother and remembering their kindness, repaying their kindness and meditating on this love which is the heartfelt love. That are the cause of compassion and then the result is that of the special say, intention, bodhicitta and the enlightenment. So so because it’s the the great compassion is the root of Mahāyāna’s path, all the causes and the result of my that is explained in Mahāyāna’s teachings completely on compassion.
So so because of this reason that, you know, the great compassion being the most important that the master Candrakīrti when he composed the text, first made a homage to the great compassion like explaining how important the great compassion is at the very beginning, in the meantime, and at the at the very end. So so other times, like other masters, when they they compose texts, they pay homage to all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas. But master Candrakīrti paid homage to the great compassion. So I like paying homage to this great compassion, saying that it is it compassion great compassion is very important at the very beginning. It’s it’s like the because it’s like the seed of bodhicitta.
And and then it is also still important in the meantime, which is like it is like the conditions such as water and fertilizer and so on which makes the seed grow. So then finally even at the very end when one is experiencing the result, it’s in order to experience a fully ripened result. Again, the compassion is still very important, the great compassion. So so because of this reason that master Candrakīrti paid homage to compassion in the very beginning. So so now So how like, the yeah.
The the measure how how let’s say, or the level or measure how one come to generate this compassion, this great compassion. So so like a measure of gaining experience into great compassion. For example, how can like telling that one has generated this great compassion. For example, if the very dear child that one has, if he or she goes through great sufferings, then the mother felt scared feeling for the child to free that child from that state of suffering. So similar type of mind that if we have towards all other sentient beings to free them from that state of suffering like we have towards that dear child, one is able to generate that type of mind towards all sentient being, then that’s the what we call measure or the sign that one have generated this great compassion.
And Sorry. That kind of mind to not only having just few hours, but, like, having that mind continuously within one. If one have that, then it’s sign of that one has generated this great compassion. So so in some text, it says that the hearers and Pratyekabuddha, they don’t have great compassion. But in some text, they say they they do have great compassion.
So so so you will explain on this. So so that wish that how nice if all sentient being be free from all type of sufferings. That mind is a is a common common mind of of compassion, which is common to both, what do say, hearers and my so then what the hearers or the buddhas like is that compassion which to, like saving others from that state of suffering or protecting them from that state of suffering is what what which is the uncommon practice of compassion of the Mahāyānist. And that that type of compassion is what the hearers and Pratyekabuddha don’t have. So what hearers have is that wish how nice is all sentient beings to become free from all type of sufferings, but they don’t have this wish to free or like like, to protect them from that state of suffering.
So so with example, these two different differences is that, say, there’s a mother and a child and another relative around, which and there’s a big fire, which is a big hole of fire. And suddenly if the child somehow accidentally falls down into the fire, then the relative too had this great wish to free that child from from the fire, save their child from the fire. But then the mother like, had the the the wish that mother have is as mother just gives her life and jumps in, like, saves the child from the fire. So that’s, like, the the differences with this this compassion. So so the the degree or level of compassion is is different, which is the mother has a greater level or degree of compassion to to save the child and the the relative what we have around have to have this wish, but lesser degree.
Oh, So so so the little one, the little or the the compassion that the mother one mother mother has towards the baby is is is harder for us to generate, and and that is one which we need. That is that is the type of compassion that we should try to generate. So so so if one have experience into this this level of compassion, which is just to to protect or to save the child or the being from from that state of suffering. So when when I have this when I wanna have experience of this compassion, then the next step, which is the special insight, is drawn by the force of that compassion. So with the special insight as taking example as one’s mother, how mother have taken care the child, like from the conception of the womb to like, grown up, everything is taken care of the child versus great kindness from the mother.
And So so as when the child have received great from the mother, that the child it’s a it’s a time for that child to repay the to the mother. So so so similar similar to the child, it’s a responsibility on the child to help repay the kindness of the mother. Similar to that, on oneself do have this responsibility to repay the kindness of all sentient beings, which is to remove all the sufferings of the sentient beings and to place them into a state of happiness. So that full responsibility is upon one. And taking that full responsibility upon oneself and and now entering into the practice during the practice for for that purpose is like generating this special insight.
So so this special insight or can be said as high intention, which is more special than the intention of the hearers. So it’s regarded as special insight. So it’s a thing special is that, with example, say if there’s someone fallen into a sheer cliff and already down there on the bottom of that cliff. And for some there are some people around who wish there’s someone who can help and say that person. And they’re around there can also be other person who I himself or herself goes down and says that person.
So so that’s the difference of this special insight. So, like, totally, like, working or working for that for the sake of that person, like, for the cost of one’s own life, just going into that going down and then saving that person from from who is falling down at the bottom of the cliff. So like going there and saving, that that is the the the special insight, and that is what is what the hearers don’t have. So so then whether one is able to do that or not, to be able to do that act which is saving that sentient beings from that state of suffering or not, Whether one is able to do that or not, one should analyze first. And if one comes out that one is unable to do that and then checking that who can do that and in what state it is possible to do that.
And then coming up that only the state of Buddhahood or Buddhists are only one who can perform that. Not not even Brahmas and Hindus are able to perform that kind of act. So Buddhas are the only one who can perform those acts. Now then setting up this mind now that in order to save all those sentient beings and lead them to that set of Buddhahood. Like one’s up setting, one’s up down and engaging in the practice to to be able to do that for other sake.
And when one do that, when one set that mind, then that is what is the bodhicitta is. So so so this mind or the bodhicitta can be what is that? We can, yeah, let’s say, have this point we can have two different experience of this bodhicitta which is known as the experience that we get with effort, with putting effort to generate this mind, which is like like a the experience that we So it’s like testing the skin of sugarcane and that kind of experience one have towards bodhicitta. And then the second one is like a The second level of experience that we have is known as the experience known as the experience of great great scope, which is known as the conventional experience of So so if those the first four recognizing all things in being one’s mother, remembering their kindness, repaying their kindness, and and the meditations on their love, one is the heartfelt love. These are conditions to build the foundation, to build the foundation to work for the sake of others.
So then the idea second, heartfelt love, the compassion, the special insight are the, I wanna say, the actual actual actual practice, which is known as benefiting others, actual part of, like, benefiting others. So so depending on that, which is this work for working for the sake of others. Depending on that, then we come to generate this mind, the bodhicitta which is the actual bodhicitta which is explained by. So mister Wasser, we’ll stop here because it’s a, let’s say, nice nice board generating with the. So we stop here.
Yeah. Yeah. So if you have any questions, So for example, when you when you just, like, eat the skin of the sugarcane, You have the experience of sweetness, not the one hundred percent what is inside, inside part, but similar to the to the to the inside part of the sickness, you one will have experience. So you don’t have the direct experience of the inner part. So similar to that, one have generated that type of mind which is similar to the real one, known as the conventional bodhicitta, which is real one.
But it’s similar to that kind of mind we have generated which is same in aspect and it’s object of observation and so so on. It has it’s all all same. So because of that area. So the three scopes. So three scope here refers to the beings of the the beings who performs the practice, three levels of beings.
And three behavior is the the path like, what do you call, which is followed by by the three beings or the scopes. So when when we talk about the small scope, even within the small scope, there are beings known as the ordinary one and the special one. So so the ordinary one is that one who only concentrates on the path of a small scope. And the special one is one who is known as who’s aiming for the greatest scope, the greatest scope, and and going through, like, from the from the first scope, like, doing all those training in order to get to the greatest scope. And with the small medium scope too that have two.
And then with the the great scope, there is a there there is no like, they don’t differentiate in that way like ordinary and special one, but more like, let’s say, differentiate with level of intelligence, sharper ones, and that’s not not sharp one. So the differences of being like, say, sharp sharp intelligent ones and the lesser intelligent ones of the minds which the sharp intelligent ones before like gaining the realization of compassion, they they can go and, what is it, in the realization of emptiness and then do so. These are the differences. Yeah. Okay.
Okay. Any other questions? Any other questions? So with this one, it’s, like, saying it’s not that of the like, when we talk about when we chant the prayers, may they be free from suffering and so on. There’s three lines.
It’s not differentiated from there. Just saying the wish, the differentiator with discretive compassion is may they be free from all type of sufferings and once I’m getting involved in that to free others. So, like, I myself was free from the state of suffering. That one is especially of my interest, and that one, they don’t have. So so that comp I would say that line of press coming from the four immeasurables which is the the great compassion on this to protect, protecting compassion or compassion to protect and that, yeah, that So that type of compassion, the hearers don’t have.
The the hearers, but they do have the four immeasurables. Yeah. So they do have the measure for immeasurables, but, again, with the love, for example, the the Mahāyāna immeasurable love is that the the heartfelt love. And that’s what Mahāyāna have and not the the Mahāyāna immeasurable love is not that one. Yeah.
So the compassion is the root of the mind’s part. It’s it is explaining the sūtra ornament. So the method or the cause to to generate this compassion, this great compassion, the four the former four of the seven sections of cause and effect, that is the recognizing all sentient beings as one’s mother, remembering their kindness, repaying their kindness, and this love, their heartfelt love. So so to generate this great compassion, the wish to free all from the state of suffering, one need prior to that, one have to generate this loving thought which is the heartfelt love. And prior to that, it’s like repaying the kindness and remembering them.
Before that is remembering the kindness and then before that is recognizing being one’s mother. And depending on each other, that one come to generate the letter ones. So so what I call