Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 37-minute teaching on the Heart Sūtra, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen outlines the essential groundwork for meditating on emptiness. He begins by identifying the self that must be refuted—teaching its two defining features—then guides students through recognizing the “space-like emptiness” that arises when this false self is negated. He distinguishes three types of “I”: the self as understood by realized practitioners, the ordinary self, and the self held as inherently existent (the one to refute). The teaching covers necessary conditions for realizing emptiness—maintaining ethical discipline, practicing generosity and compassion, and dedicating merit—and explains how practitioners at different levels relate to emptiness meditation. He concludes with practical observation: how the self appears solid and real when challenged, revealing the object meditation must negate.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 11 HS.mp3
UUID: c959b856-9f0f-481c-913c-0e197cf8fa4f
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Heart Sūtra (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1996 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 37.7 minutes
Words: ~1,807
Near something like near convention. Sorry. I didn’t get clear clearly, but it was mere So, the self said that because that place, the master who came from is a place called Nyethang in Tibet and Lama Tsongkhapa knew that the person understood the view and made like a joke or said, made a sort of a joke saying that he, the person from your town, his I would say, the mere I, or placed his mere I on his shoulder or on his back. Okay. So when ascertaining the object of negation, the person should have two features, two qualities whoever has a definite object which is to be refuted.
So which the two features says that the self so the self which is to be refuted should be understood that it doesn’t inherently its own, that self doesn’t exist from from its own So, on the this object or the self that is to be refuted on that basis one also should understand that self is, That’s a that self doesn’t exist inherently or from its own nature. Mhmm. So Nice. And and in in in that person’s appearance, what that person have the appearance is that it should it should negate. It should have the appearance of empty or clear empty which is the result of negating negating that object of refuted.
So, this understanding, if anyone experience this understanding or if one ever have that certainty of these two features then one should keep that in mind and continue to meditate on that or meditate on emptiness. So so then like and and and then continually meditating on that that that emptiness is known as the the emptiness which is known as the the emptiness which is known as the space like concentration. So, negating the object that is to be negated, One has, what is it, this clear empty appearance and that is the space like emptiness. Emptiness emptiness like the space or space like the emptiness. So space which is free of obstruction Free of obstruction, free of any obstructions.
And similar to that, like, this is, this, that meditation is known as the space like meditation because meditation on emptiness. Space like meditation on emptiness because through one has that appearance of clear empty through the mere negation of mere negating the object to be negated. So so then for some, like, doing doing meditations, like breathing meditations and keeping one’s mind empty, like bringing into a state of empty state of mind. Some things that is like meditating on emptiness. So, that is like a meditation on emptiness.
So if it’s meditation on emptiness, then it should be something that you have negated and then you experience that clear and empty. In other words, this is like meditation on clear clear mind is, what do say, not emptiness. So so we’ll stop here for today and do some question and answer. And Geshe-la said that you explained the rest of the Heart Sūtra tomorrow. And that he won’t give you detail, just explain give a brief explanation according to the text.
Yeah. And So that which, what do say, migrates or goes to next life is one thing. One is the mind and the self or the eye. That is one which goes to the next life. So, the body or the aggregate that doesn’t go to next life.
The aggregates, the body doesn’t goes to next life. So, of the five aggregates, the the mental consciousness, the aggregate or mental aggregate that divide into two, the gross and the subtle one. And gross one again doesn’t go to the next life and the subtle one is the one which goes to the next life. So so when at the very time of death, all these the four four elements dissolves or come into cease and like the all these come into cease. So, when these come to cease, these elements come into cease that the person we have is dying will will experience these different signs that is the internal signs and the external signs.
So then finally, except the subtle consciousness, come to cease. That subtle mind or consciousness and eye is one of which goes to the next life. So, the aggregate, when you say that doesn’t go to next life, is this body, is that which goes to next life. And, the collections of these aggregates, example, to the collection of these aggregates, we label the person or the eye. Oh, yeah.
I didn’t know that’s. Okay. So the third one is like a person who especially holds self to be truly existent. That is the last one. So the question is?
Yeah. So so the second I I is that the I without having any understanding of, like, So anyway, Mr. Sridhar will explain again to you all these three. So, first one is the person who have realized the people, the way they grasp hold to it, the self. So this is what we also need but we don’t have this.
So being who have realized the view, they grasped the self which is not being inherently existing or not being truly existing. So, then the second one is that grasping ordinary, like grasping yourself by the ordinary which is not making any distinction between like an inherently existing or not inherently existing. So that that I that that that is is known as the the I which which is the valid one that which exist. So so then the third eye is third where third level part is like holding that self is inherently existent and that is which is known as the I which is to be refuted. That is this second type of cell is the self or eye that which we all have.
That like even the Buddha there’s a certain called eye, you mean eye or something. That eye. Yeah. It’s the one which is that that is the that that’s the second saphtha way of grasp. Okay.
So with the person who have realized the emptiness, to them, they still do appear the self, but that they also know at the same time that the self is not inherently existing. That self is not inherently existing. That because himself don’t have that experience of emptiness, like explaining what kind of experience they have with those realized being becomes, let’s say, strange. So those who have realized emptiness, it’s not like us who always faces problem and experiences suffering. Thank you.
And and who for all whole day and night, if they haven’t if they haven’t achieved the, what is it, the liberation, then they they put effort into it for achieving that. And also, the beings are like who sleeps early and who goes to sleep early and sleeps late in the morning. So I would say emptiness is not that I would say. It’s not that anybody can realize to me. We need to balance.
The two. Because to realize emptiness, you need to you need many necessary causes. So like those are necessary conditions or causes are having all internal and external having all internal and external necessary conditions which always remaining purely in the practice of morality. And practicing giving and and having compassion. Practicing well sorry, practicing tolerance.
And any virtue that you actually accumulate out of those practices which has been dedicated to the achievement of full enlightenment state. So so then also, generally speaking, the person should be who who respects everyone and especially who respects all the bodhisattvas. So these are all the necessary, let’s say, conditions or causes for realizing emptiness. So so then once being whoever it may be, if they have realized emptiness then they don’t waste their time. They even if they even if their hairs catch fire, they don’t have time to stop the flame.
They always work completely or entirely for the sake of other sentient beings in order to achieve liberation. So so then if it’s if the follower is a Hīnayāna and his follower who has realized emptiness, then Then he or she stays in meditation on emptiness for that state for many years. And then if it’s a Mahāyāna followers, then he or she make make certain time that for this period, I’ll meditate on emptiness, and then it doesn’t stay there for for many years because if they do continue sitting on meditation then move on to benefiting other sentient beings. So must remain on a meditation on that for a certain period of time. So so we as we have realized also emptiness which for five days we go and do our job for work and for the weekends, two days we go into garden and enjoy.
So even if one doesn’t have direct realization of emptiness, just having this doubt in emptiness, That’s the doubt known as that change towards the fact. If you don’t have that doubt then that’s good enough. So so even if one doesn’t have a direct realization of emptiness, aspiring that emptiness is something very good and engaging or studying the teachings which teaches on emptiness, one receives great benefit. And even if one have a very little amount of merit dedicating it towards that. So so if one is to dedicate in that way, then in in one’s future life, one will what do say?
One will be reborn as a being who can hear the teachings of emptiness. Okay. So, that is as it is explained the necessary causes for realizing emptiness similar to that just for like for the first point one to contemplate how this self appears to one and which part of the body appears to all these different analysis that one need. So like that that first self which is to be negated. Like if someone who is studying on the subject of emptiness, then even if the person when he or she is in a relaxed state where being relaxing in some way, even at that time when they’re not thinking, they still have this understanding that that self is not truly existent.
So so but then when the person is relaxed and it doesn’t appear like knows that that the the self is in our existence, but then when the person again, someone tells or accuses the person being a T Force or says something bad, at that time the person won’t think that self doesn’t exist. But at that time, the self appears, what is it, something clear and solid within the body. So so that that time when the self appears solid and which you cannot be what the others told you. And that is the self which which is to be refuted there. Okay.
Yeah.