Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 43-minute teaching, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen establishes bodhicitta — the mind of enlightenment — as the fertile field in which all other spiritual realizations must grow. He emphasizes repeatedly generating genuine bodhicitta through effort, then carefully dedicating merit so anger cannot destroy it. He walks through the five Mahāyāna paths and grounds, explaining how two types of obscurations to omniscience are progressively abandoned. He stresses that meditation must combine analysis (examining the object) with stabilization (single-pointed focus), and that the meditation object matters — using a holy image like Buddha yields benefits beyond a neutral object like a flower. He compares how different Buddhist philosophical schools (Cittamātra, Sautrāntika, Madhyamaka, Prāsaṇgika) understand emptiness with increasing subtlety, like ascending stairs. A closing Q&A addresses how bodhicitta differs from ordinary attachment.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 02 P and G.mp3
UUID: 17019409-2c10-4824-90cb-34882294569e
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Paths and Grounds (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1995 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 43.5 minutes
Words: ~2,189
Obscuration to Omniscience also has two which is intellectually acquired one and which is the innately born one. So with the Mahāyāna, unlike the five paths, and the first two paths are known as the ordinary paths of Mahāyāna. So the first two paths are known as the ordinary path, and sorry, their realizations of emptiness is, they don’t have a direct realization of emptiness and their realization is known as the general image of the emptiness. For? The generic image.
Generic image. Generic Yeah. Generic image, yeah. Yeah. So when the mind when that training that path, the ordinary path, when they come to achieve the union of calm abiding and special insight.
The first path, among the five, the first ordinary Mahāyāna ordinary path, that is the path of accumulation. At that path, one achieves that path, path of accumulation. When one when one comes to generate a genuine bodhicitta within one. That is where one comes to achieve the path of accumulation, path of mind is path of accumulation. So the general image of emptiness is also on the same level, the first path.
That is the path of accumulation. So then next step is that when they come to achieve the union, when the follower comes to achieve the union state of calm abiding and special insight, that which is directed towards the realization of emptiness. Then that person achieves the next path. At that point, that follower achieves the next path which is the path of preparation. So then through that, on the basis of that, when the follower comes to have a direct realization of emptiness, then at that time the follower achieves the third path, the path of seeing.
The third path. So on this stage, when they have So on this third level, when they achieve the third path, the path of seeing, there the follower comes to abandon the intellectually acquired obstruction to omniscience. So then the next path is the fourth path, that is the path of meditation. And on that path, follower, the trainee or the follower comes to abandon innately born obstruction to omniscience. And as soon as one comes to abandon that obstruction, the being then achieves the enlightened state.
So that we put lots of effort in order to generate bodhicitta, the genuine bodhicitta within one. One trains oneself in many, with lots of effort. And the reason for that is the reason is that to be able to travel along the Mahāyāna’s path. That is like being able once to make oneself to follow the Mahāyāna’s path. So that generation of that genuine bodhicitta within one, bodhicitta, that generation of that bodhicitta is generation of a bodhicitta like sort of like earth, earth like bodhicitta.
So generating bodhicitta like earth or I think like a field, generating bodhicitta like a field which is that on the basis of that you come to generate the rest of the realizations like the field, like the earth or the field where you have, where all the things grow. So So seeking the fully enlightened state, one should put effort in generating the bodhicitta within one. So not only one time but again and again one should meditate on bodhicitta to be able to generate within one. And even if one is unable to generate the bodhicitta within this life, by doing that practice, one keeps a good imprint in one’s mind for one’s future. So the imprints, keeping imprints is very important because when you have the imprints, then as soon as you meet with the conditions, it gives the fruit or it ripens like a seed meeting with its condition for its fruit.
So if one is able to do this, then taking this precious human body, taking or having this precious human body or taking this precious human body becomes meaningful. So if one is unable to keep even the imprints of bodhicitta or imprints of emptiness within one, then that is great loss. So whatever practice you do, whether just reciting a line of mantras or mani, it is good if that practice is conjoined with the thought of bodhicitta. So same thing like giving a handful of food to a beggar. If that action of giving is conjoined with the thought of bodhicitta, then the merit that they accumulate out of that becomes a cause for the fully enlightened state.
So so then on top of that, if you if you that merit, if you can dedicate that merit for whatever purpose that you have dedicated for the achievement of liberation or the fully enlightened state. If you have dedicated the merit, then that merit will never disappear. It will stay there till you come to achieve that result, whatever you dedicated for. So so the merit should be dedicated, whatever merit you want to accumulate. And if left without dedicating, then it can be destroyed by anger.
It can be destroyed by anger or it can be weakened by anger, the power of merit. So whatever merit one accumulates should dedicate. So just thinking over these points that what is the main meditations of Mahāyānist. Thinking over that and what is the main abandonment and thinking over the reasons, how those different reasons is also a meditation. Our best one, one of the best forms of meditation.
So so for example, just just concentrating on the word emptiness without knowing the meaning of emptiness, just concentrating or meditating on the word of emptiness, that is not a good meditation. So good meditation should be that first you analyze or examine the first analytical meditation. And then with that, then you do the stabilizing meditations. And like the combination of these two becomes the best form of meditations. So, another form of meditation for example, how you can do is this body that we have, the contaminated body that we have, whether that is permanent or impermanent, analyzing that and whether it changes or not, analyzing on that.
And then what causes this body, analyzing that. Then when you analyze the cause of this body then it is the delusions. Finally it comes to the delusions. And the delusions, those delusions are only avoided or abandoned through training oneself on these different paths, the Mahāyāna and the Hīnayāna. So it’s also like, for example, that thinking over what you will do tomorrow, that I’ll get up at such and such time, take a shower and drink my tea and then go to work. Thinking over that also is a form of meditation. So that also is a form of meditations and that helps.
They have some temporary benefits which is maybe it’s beneficial for your work, what you can do tomorrow. But ultimately it doesn’t have much benefit. It doesn’t become a cause or bring one to the final state of Hīnayāna or Mahāyāna. It doesn’t bring one to that state. So so that whatever one meditates on, the the the object of meditation is also very important.
And like for example, there are people who meditate on calm abiding using an object, for example, a beautiful flower or some other objects. Through that, using through those objects that it’s possible that one can achieve this state of calm abiding. But it will be better if one uses more like a holy object, for example, the the image of Buddha. Then because the object itself is holy that the practice is more powerful then. So, we stop here today and if you have any questions.
Question? Yeah? Yeah? So, with the example like with attachment, for example, we have this for attachment we don’t need any effort to generate within oneself, the attachment. So just meeting with the object of attachment.
Pure attachment arises in one’s mind. So when this, that’s like, then because of that, I mean, reasons that this attachment, what to say, like brings many other problems, which one even cannot sleep and so on. So one is then with bodhicitta, like putting lots of effort, trying to generate bodhicitta within one. That is like generating bodhicitta with effort. So when one, for example, when one meditates on bodhicitta, need lots of effort and we face a lot of difficulties like we fall asleep or have pain on back and so on.
So it’s a whenever you want to have a contact with that bodhicitta, for example, just without any effort, bodhicitta, as soon as one has contact with bodhicitta, it just arises within one’s mind. Yeah. meditations, again, there are many different types of meditations and different according to its different result. And the best or the better meditations are known as meditation which can enjoy the result in your future or meditating for the achievement of those two liberations, Mahāyānist liberation or Hinayanist liberation. So like for example with bodhicitta, like analyzing what is the nature of bodhicitta and how it is generated within one’s mental continuum and analyzing this is what do call the analytical meditation.
So then when one comes to become certain with what bodhicitta is, then like a single point of concentrating on that is the stabilizing meditations. So there are some explanations saying that the analytical meditation is not real meditations. But then explains the analytical meditation is the best form of meditation. So the reason is that with examining object or whatever meditation you’re doing. Examining or analyzing the object of your meditation and by analyzing it.
Then if you meditate or if you do this stabilizing meditation on that then it becomes a good meditation. Without this analytical meditations, like just doing stabilizing meditation. It’s more like trying to climb, what is it, a wall with your hands tied. Yeah. Yeah.
So all the general explanations like all those comes before the special insight. So like that is according to Mahāyānist path of accumulation. All the explanations before the special insight. That is like, and then with the Hīnayāna or the hearer part, like seeking for liberation and the practice on impermanence and so on. Yeah.
Maybe it’s holy. So, for example, just meditating on the flower, things that are they’re saying that probably there is no good result. So for example, using the flower as object of your meditation and trying to achieve calm abiding meditation with using the object of flower. One can achieve that state. But from the object side, from the flower itself, I mean, using the object, no, I mean, one doesn’t gain any other benefits besides this achievement. So if one is to use the image of Buddha, then there’s also benefits that you receive from the object side.
Yeah. Sorry? Among the, what do call it, schools, different schools, the Cittamātra, they they explained that. And then Sautrāntika Madhyamaka, they explained that. So this in the middle view that is the subtlest view.
There is no, they don’t, that’s the subtlest, the subtlest essence of phenomena, the subtlest one. So so then with the Sautrāntika Sautrāntika Madhyamaka, their explanations of it’s a little more subtle than this, the Cittamātra explanations. So then with the Prāsaṇgika Madhyamaka, their explanation is the most subtle response, and it’s more subtle than the explanation of Sautrāntika Madhyamaka. And for all these different, I would say, the later are more subtle. The view of emptiness is more subtle.
And it’s like the steps or the stair which is leading to the next step. Yeah? They’re all three except this point, but then, again, explanation on this point, is more like a the depth of explanations are deeper, I said, more deeper. So especially on this, it will come later also. So today, let us explain and give a brief explanation of sort of the the whole text just to give you an idea.
So we started with the bodhicitta, with generating a bodhicitta. And all you here have generated this mind. And the same thing with Geshe-la said himself that generated that mind. And on the basis of that mind, we heard about all the explanations of these different paths. What is their main practice and what is their main abandonment.
So we all have kept like, good imprints in our mind. So, like, you won’t fill everything today. You have to pile up slowly little by little, and then one day you will fill up everything. So you go to work every day? Then you save your money in the bank.
So in the same it’s the same way that you hear a little bit and you come to understand a little bit and then gradually come to understand the meaning. So when you first came to this room today and spending here more than an hour, if you happen to understand some, like, one new word or something new, then being here for one hour has become it’s it’s been meaningful. Then if it’s if it’s if you’re going back empty, for example, going to a market to buy something and you don’t buy anything, coming back empty, then that is not worth it. Yeah. So we stop.