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 outlines the meditation sequence for generating bodhicitta — the wish to achieve enlightenment for all beings. He walks through the foundational practices in order: meditating on equanimity, recognizing all sentient beings as one’s mother, remembering and repaying their kindness, cultivating love and great compassion. A key distinction runs throughout: great compassion extends equally to all beings, whereas ordinary compassion is limited to family and benefactors. He then introduces the special intent (taking responsibility to lead others to enlightenment) and explains why merit accumulation and purification practices are essential alongside meditation. The teaching closes with visualization of offerings to the merit field, showing how the meditative practice itself becomes an offering. For those engaged with Lam Rim study.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 07 LR 1995 07 30.mp3
UUID: eede5e45-ea7b-45e5-8820-d3adc7b4fd34
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Lam Rim 1995 Jan-Dec (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1995-07-30
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.8 minutes
Words: ~2,129
So in the teachings of Buddha in the sūtra, where he explains that once you’re trained in the perfection of wisdom sūtra, So there are many different kinds of beings who wishes to achieve different levels through their practice. Some who wants to know the individual aspect of the things or phenomena. Some they wish for the ultimate aspect of the phenomena. And some the wishes for the fully enlightened state. So those who wish this, all these different states should train the perfection of wisdom sūtra.
So the perfection of wisdom sūtra that in this context, doesn’t mean the emptiness, but it’s meaning to the practice of bodhicitta. So one has to practice conventional bodhicitta which is method also to, method that, which is conjoined with a skillful means. So bodhicitta is a wish to achieve fully enlightened state for the sake of other sentient beings. So to work for others, which here working for others, one should first recognize the others, who are those others. So, others here means sentient beings, those which are other than oneself.
So, to those other sentient beings, which is the other sentient beings who have benefited one, to whom one work for and the purpose of work is to lead them to the fully enlightened state or to the nirvana without remainder? That fully enlightened state or Buddhahood is not wished for self? So it’s wished for the others, wish to lead others to the fully enlightened state. So we wish to lead others to the fully enlightened state. So that when one is meditating, one should think I will lead those other sentient beings to the fully enlightened state?
So, in the beginning to lead others to the fully enlightened state, oneself has to achieve the fully enlightened state first and to do that action. So then one seeking for this fully enlightened state. So, like seeking the fully enlightened state for self, here the purpose of that is to lead others to that state. So one should know or recognize who are those others working like when we generate the motivations working for the others, should know who are the others and should know what one is doing or what practice one is doing for. So one is like meditating or working for the purpose of others and so establishing the base for working to work for others.
So, working for others, what you do there is practicing the engage in the meditation practice of equanimity. And on recognizing all sentient beings being one’s mother, and meditations on remembering their kindness and repaying their kindness. So then after meditating on these different points, now on top of that you you set up the base which is meditations on love, meditations on compassion, special insight. The special intent. The special intent.
So, one of these are missing, then the bodhicitta, one won’t generate the bodhicitta within one. Like the special intent, that is one which is needed for the generation of bodhicitta. So the special intent is that taking the full responsibility to lead all sentient beings to the enlightened state. Taking the full responsibility of the place you live in and you actually engage working for that. It’s like the special insight.
So So this, when one generate the special insight, then at that point, one is not only mentally thinking of those practice, but actually engage in the practice. So before that, before you generate this special insight, you need So you need to generate the great compassion. Too shouldn’t be ordinary compassion, but compassion which you’re able to generate towards any sentient beings who are going to So the the compassion within the practitioners like hearers and Pratyekabuddha. They do have compassions, but not this great compassion. So, for example, I myself, what type of compassion I may have is the compassion, that type of compassion which is if I see my relatives or close ones getting suffering, then at that period of time I feel compassion towards them.
And that compassion, that type of compassion is not worth it. So it’s not worth to, I would say, to achieve or to generate bodhicitta within one. So for example, we don’t we are unable to be if our close one or mother who if if she goes through a severe pain. So so only that, but if we see others, those who are those other people who don’t like like enemies, we if if they suffer, we we don’t have this same type of compassion. So so the great compassion here is compassion towards towards all sentient beings, whether they have they are close one or not, whether they have benefited one or not.
So, to generate that kind of great compassion within one, one need to generate the love, the heart the heartfelt love. The heartfelt love is that also towards towards all sentient beings, which is whatever sentient being you see, you see them in the beautiful having a beautiful the quality of beauty. So before that, like meditating on love towards all sentient beings, one need to meditate repaying their kindness and also remembering their kindness. So then before that, one also need to recognize all sentient beings being once one’s mother. Sentient beings are very kind to one, and once you remember their kindness and should repay their kindness.
So, we should know how or the reason how they are very kind to one. How they are very kind to one. For example, at this very time, I’m here explaining about bodhicitta and you are here listening the teachings on bodhicitta. And this like where you come to understand some of the teachings, and the understanding of the teachings also is through the kindness of sentient beings. So, in short, like highest achievement or the ultimate achievement and very temporal achievements.
All are gained through the benefit of sentient beings, through the kindness of sentient beings. So whatever we do, whatever practice we do, whether a reciting of a line of mantras or or any other other practice should make prayers or dedicate should dedicate that merit towards sentient beings. So one may think also, a question may arise in one that if one to dedicate all one’s merit and virtue towards others, what benefit is there for one? So, if one is to dedicate one’s merit and prayer or virtue towards to other sentient beings, then automatically fulfills one’s wishes. So, same thing like, for example, the ministers, like the internal minister or the external ministers, they work properly for the like for the people, when they when they they work for the people, then their their job, I would say, their their aims also get fulfilled.
Their their wishes can also be becomes fulfilled. So as I’ve explained here, how you meditate on bodhicitta, first meditating shortly on or thinking over the equanimity, recognizing your also living mother, remembering their kindness, repaying their kindness and meditate on love and compassion and so on with the rest we do short meditation here now. So when we start any practice, any meditation practice, like meditation practice on emptiness, meditation practice on bodhicitta, or meditations on calm abiding, the śamatha meditations. So any practice one do, any practice one engaging as necessary conditions that one needs along with the practice is the practice which is known as the purification and the accumulation practice. It’s very necessary.
Which is like which stops all the obstacles or hindrances along the practice. And this practice which stops all the hindrances and obstacles to the practice. So so that is the practice of accumulations and purification, which are the seven limb practice. And first one, which is prostrations, and that is been explained in our last teachings. So, for example, if we want to enjoy fruit of our work, for say, if you work on the field, like sowing the seed and with that if you have all the right conditions, the heat, water and so on the rest.
And if you work hard there, then you will be able to enjoy the good result. So so the accumulating merit, The best way of accumulating merit is visualizing the merit field. Visualizing the merit field as it is explained before that in this space before you. And making offering to them, making prostrations is how you come to accumulate the accumulation of merit. So if you happen to miss this practice, the accumulation of merit, accumulating the merits, then it’s a great loss.
For example, if you happen to keep empty the field which gives good crops for one year, then you may think it’s a great loss. So it’s much more big loss than than that. So so any any virtuous action you perform as a backup, you need these two practices, the practice of accumulations and purification. So, at present, we’re having all the necessary conditions and we enjoy what we have, able to enjoy what we have as a result of our past actions. So so all the thing that we enjoy at present is not only because of this present life that we have, not not only because of that, it is mainly because of our past lives.
We have we have we have worked for this, and that is what the result of that that past lives action is what we are experiencing now. So so for example, like, there are there are people who who work very hard and who try to do many different sort of type of business and never never become successful. And that is because the lack of merit. So so so so to to become successful in this practice one one need the accumulations of merit and and then the purification. So like how one come to accumulate merit and do the purification practice is like to this supreme field, this merit field, towards that making prostrations and offerings has how we come to accumulate merits and do the purification practice.
So, like with offerings, like supreme offerings. And then and then next, like, the the offering of your practice. So so the supreme offerings, like the offerings of Samantabhādra. Like, there are, like, seven offerings which are which are made. And then, and similar to that, there’s another sūtra where it explains ten types of offerings. So the seven offerings that is explained in the by Samantabhādra is that the first one is the holy Or the holy flowers or the offering of flowers?
And the offering of flower garland, second. And then and then music music, which is like like cymbals and so And then scented water. And then So umbrellas. And light offerings. And incense offerings.
So, these are the seven, got seven, yeah. The seven offerings which I explained from this Buddha called Samantabhādra, noble deeds. So, in the sūtra, there are ten types of offerings I explained or mentioned. So the offering of the practice, The offering of practice that is explained from Sūtra, explained under two. One is, like upholding the teachings, And second is generating the bodhicitta.
And then and then another explanations is that what you hear, teaching that you hear putting it in practice. So, these are like three types of like offering your practice. So so then next next type of offering, you can also offer all your virtue, transforming them in the form of offerings and making offerings. Making offerings. Mhmm.
And so they are, like, they are full full of these different types of offerings, which are known as the the supreme offerings. So when when you are making these seven types of offerings, the flowers and so on, how you should do that is at one’s heart at one’s heart you visualize a moon, and then on top of that moon, you visualize a hum syllable. So so so then from this hum syllable at heart, various light radiates out and tip of all the lights, you visualize the offering goddesses which in this case, all of those goddesses you visualize carrying a flower and making that flower offering to the merit field. So so, like the flowers, the actual, what do say, the actual flowers, the actual arranged flowers that you have, like even a stick, one flower, you can visualize. At the same time you can visualize like flower flower space that you mentally visualize. And then make that offering, make that offerings.
And when you do that, that is by doing that you also accumulate great amount of merit. So the flowers that you you you make offerings, you make the you visualize, like the flowers, flower of like umbrella, umbrella made out of the flowers and sending the umbrella victory.