Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 45-minute teaching, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen clarifies Mahāyāna compassion through vivid imagery: a mother jumping into fire to save her child, or oneself descending a ravine to rescue another at any cost. The crucial distinction is taking personal responsibility for liberating all beings, not merely wishing them free from suffering. He presents a systematic path through seven practices: recognizing sentient beings as one’s mother, remembering their kindness, repaying it, developing heartfelt love, generating great compassion, and finally bodhicitta — the commitment to attain Buddhahood to free all beings. Each step builds naturally on the previous, and he shows how this aspiration fundamentally differs from Hīnayāna schools’ limited compassion. The teaching emphasizes that compassion is the root of the entire Mahāyāna path. A Q&A segment addresses practitioners’ questions about these foundational Buddhist practices.
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File: 48 GP 1996 09 01.mp3
UUID: ba5b8bf2-81db-4734-b566-ae3bbedeabf6
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Graduated Path (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1996-09-01
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.8 minutes
Words: ~2,497
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 it? 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 you call it, the wish how nice if all things have happiness. 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, yeah, the the heartfelt love that that is, what do you wishing happiness for all sentient beings. And myself will bring them all this happiness.
So that kind of love, what do say, heartwarming love similar to that one have towards one’s own child, 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 cause of, I wanna say, Buddhahood, which is, yeah, one of one of those six causes. And it also that the compassion the great compassion is the root of mind is I wanna say, mind is path.
So, in the Guru Lamrim teaching, it explains that this great compassion being the root of Mahāyāna’s path, and also explaining that these seven cause and effect instructions, like some of them are the cause of compassion, and some of them are the result of compassion. So, as I explained earlier, compassion has the main principle where it has four causes. That is the first four of that seven causes and effective 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 insight, bodhicitta and enlightenment.
So so because it’s the the great compassion is the root of Mahāyāna’s path, All the causes and the result of Mahāyāna’s teachings completely depends on compassion. So, because of this reason that the great compassion being the most important, that the master Candrakīrti, when he composed the text, he first made homage to the great compassion, like explaining how important the great compassion is at the very beginning, in the meantime, and at the very end. So other times, like other masters, they they compose texts, they pay homage to all the Buddhists and bodhisattvas. But master Candrakīrti paid homage to the great compassion. So, paying homage to this great compassion, saying that is, great compassion is very important at the very beginning.
Because it’s like the seed for the bodhicitta. And then it is also still important in the meantime, which 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, in order to experience a fully ripened result, again the compassion is still very important, the great compassion. So because of this reason that master Candrakīrti paid homage to compassion in the very beginning. So, how like the measure how how what was it, or the level or measure how one come to generate this compassion, it’s great compassion.
So, measure of gaining experience into great compassion. For example, can 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 a 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. If one is able to generate that type of mind towards all sentient beings then that’s the, what they call, measure or the sign that one has generated this great compassion.
That kind of mind too, not only having just few hours, but like having that mind continuously within one. If one has that, then it’s a sign that one has generated this great compassion. So, in some texts it says that the hearers and Pratyekabuddha, they don’t have great compassion. But in some text, they say they had they do have great compassion. So so I said, you will explain on this.
So so that that wish how nice if all sentient beings be free from all type of sufferings. That mind is common mind of compassion which is common to both, what hearers and Mayanists. So then what the hearers or the Buddha’s like is that compassion which to like saving others from that state of suffering or protecting them from that state of suffering is what the uncommon practice of compassion of the Mahāyānist. And that type of compassion is what the hearers or Pratyekabuddhas don’t have. So, what hearers have is that which harness evolved 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, with example, these two differences is that, say, there’s a mother and a child and another relative around, which enters a big fire, which is a big hole of fire. Suddenly if the child somehow accidentally falls down into the fire, then the relative to had this great wish to free that child from the fire, save that child from the fire. But then the mother, like the wish that mother have is mother just gives her life and jumps and like saves the child from the fire. So that’s like the differences with this compassion. So the degree or level of compassion is different, is the mother has a greater level or degree of compassion to save the child and the relative to have this wish, but lesser degree.
So, the little one, the compassion that the mother has towards the baby is harder for us to generate. And that is one which we need. That is the type of compassion that we should try to generate. So, if one have experience into this level of compassion, is to protect or to save the child or being from that state of suffering, So, when I want have an experience of this compassion, then the next step, is the special insight, drawn by the force of that compassion. So, with the special insight, taking example as one’s mother, how mother have taken care of the child from the conception in the womb to grown up, everything is taken care of.
The child receives great kindness from the mother. So, as the child has received great from the mother, it’s time for that child to repay the kindness to the mother. So so so similar similar to the child, responsibility on the child to help repay the kindness of the mother. Similar to that, 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 now into the practice, doing the practice for that purpose is like generating this special insight. So, this special insight can be said as high intention, which is more special than than the intention of the hearers. So so it’s it’s regarded as special insight. So, 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 save that person.
And around there can also be other person who himself or herself goes down and says that person. So that’s the difference of this special insight. So, totally working for the sake of that person, Like even for the cost of one’s own life, just going down and then saving that person which is falling down at the bottom of the cliff. So, like, once of going there and saving, that is known as the special insight. And that is what the hearers don’t have.
Whether one is able to do that or not, to be able to do that act which is said that sentient beings from that state of suffering or not. Whether one is able to do that or not, one should analyze first. If one comes out that one is unable to do that and then checking who can do that, in what state it is possible to do that. And then coming up that only state of Buddhahood. Buddhists are only one who can perform that.
Not even Brahmas and Hindus are able to perform that kind of act. So, Buddhists are the only one who can perform those acts. Setting up this mind now that in order to save all those sentient beings and lead them to that state of Buddhahood. Once up sitting, once up down and engaging in the practice to be able to do that for others sake. When one do that, when one set that mind, then that is what bodhicitta is.
So So, this mind or the bodhicitta can be, what do say, we can have, at 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 a Promotional Promotional Like the experience that we get. So, it’s like testing the skin of sugarcane and that kind of experience one has towards bodhicitta. And the second level of experience that we have is known as The experience of great scope, which is known as the conventional experience of conventional bodhicitta. So, those first four recognizing also being one’s mother, remembering their kindness, repaying their kindness, and meditations on their love, known as the heartfelt love. These are conditions to build the foundation to build the foundation to work for the sake of others.
So then, the heartfelt love, the compassion, special insight are the how to say? The actual actual actual actual practice, which is known as benefiting others. Actual part of benefiting others. So, depending on that, which is working for the sake of others, Depending on that, we come to generate this mind, the bodhicitta, which is the actual bodhicitta, which is explained by So, we’ll stop here because it’s a nice nice word generating bodhicitta within one. So we stop here.
Yeah. So if you have any questions, you can ask me. Mhmm. Mhmm. So for example, when when you just like eat the skin of the sugarcane, You have the experience of sweetness, not the one hundred percent what is inside, the inside part, but similar to the inside part of the sweetness, one will have experience.
So, you don’t have the direct experience of the inner part. So, similar to that, one has generated a type of mind which is similar to the real one known as the conventional bodhicitta, which is real one, but is similar to that kind of mind we have generated which is same in aspect in its object of observation, and so on. It’s all the same because of that. So the three scopes. So, three scope here refers to the beings, the beings who perform the practice, three levels of beings.
And three vehicles is the path, like, what do call, which is followed by the three beings, or the scopes. So when when we talk about the small scope, within the small scope there are beings known as The ordinary one and the special one. So, ordinary one is that one who only concentrates on the path of small scope. And the special one is one who is aiming for the greater scope, and going through from the first scope, like doing all this training in order to get to the greatest scope. And with the small medium scope too, that I have two.
And then with the great scope, there is no, like, they don’t differentiate in that way like ordinary and special one, but more like, let’s say, differentiate level of intelligence, sharper ones and not sharp So the differences of being like, say, sharp sharp intelligent ones and the lesser intelligent ones of the minds. The sharp intelligent ones before getting the realization of compassion, they can go 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 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 this great compassion is may they be free from all type of sufferings. One self getting involved in that to free others. So, like, I myself was free from the state of suffering. That one is especially of Mahāyānist, and that one they don’t have.
So, line of prayers coming from the four immeasurables, which is the compassion, the great compassion on us to protect. Protecting compassion or compassion to protect. So that type of compassion, the hearers don’t have. The hearers, but they do have the four immeasurables. Yeah.
So, they do have the immeasurables, but again, with the love, for example, the Mahāyāna’s immeasurable love, is that the heartfelt love. And that’s what mind is have and not the Mahāyāna’s immeasurable love is not that one. Yeah. So, the compassion is the root of the mind’s part. It is explaining the sūtra ornament.
So the method or the cause to to generate this compassion, this great compassion, the four the form of four of the seven sections of cause and effect. That is the recognizing all sentient beings as one’s mother, remembering their kindness, reaping their kindness, and this love, their heartfelt love. So so to generate this great compassion, the wish to free all sentient from the state of suffering, prior to that one have to generate this loving thought which is the heartfelt love. And prior to that, it’s like repaying the and remembering them. Before that is remembering the kindness and then before that is recognizing also being one’s mother.
And depending on each other, that one come to generate the letter ones. So so what I call half.