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 opens with Candrakīrti’s instruction on compassion and bodhicitta as the root of all virtue, then unfolds the framework of Paths and Grounds — how different Buddhist vehicles (Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna) function as supportive grounds toward liberation. He explains the doorway to Mahāyāna: the generation of conventional bodhicitta. For Hīnayāna, he details two paths — the hearers’ vehicle, grounded in individual liberation vows and meditation on the four noble truths; and the solitary realizers’ vehicle, which includes both the rhinoceros-like superior solitary realizers (who practice alone in remote places, meditating on corpses and the twelve interdependent links) and the parrot-like inferior solitary realizers (who practice in groups). The teaching concludes by introducing seven key distinctions between the two vehicles.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 05 P and G.mp3
UUID: caea0dc2-e372-4ffc-b44e-abfc2f962133
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Paths and Grounds (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1995 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.8 minutes
Words: ~2,136
Quoting from the text of master Candrakīrti — the Madhyamakāvatāra text — that master Candrakīrti advises, giving advice saying that the root of all virtue and happiness, and the deeds of the bodhisattvas or the practice of bodhisattvas, is the great compassion. So this mind of compassion or the special mind of bodhicitta is also what makes the tantric practice powerful. So because of this reason that master Candrakīrti, in the very beginning, paid homage to the great compassion, the bodhicitta, and the right view, the emptiness. To these three in the very beginning he paid homage. So among these three principal points, in the very beginning he made prayer to the great compassion.
So he paid homage at the very beginning to the great compassion and also to bodhicitta. And the reason is because bodhicitta or the great compassion is the cause of all the happiness of the world, and also those high realizations — that of the states of solitary realizers — also are achieved, or are possible, through this practice of compassion, of bodhicitta. So in the line, it also says that the hearers are born out of Buddhas — which here means that the Buddhas, by giving teachings to their followers, and those followers training in or practicing the teachings, come to achieve these states like those of hearers and Pratyekabuddha. So because of this reason it is said that the Pratyekabuddha and hearers are born out of Buddhas.
So then that state — that fully enlightened state — it exists only because of its cause and conditions, and the cause and conditions for the fully enlightened state is the teachings we hear from the teachers, and the practice of bodhicitta. Putting that into practice leads us to the enlightened state. So then the generation of bodhicitta has to have also different causes for its generation — to generate that bodhicitta within oneself. And those causes are: the special insight, and the great compassion, love, and recognizing all sentient beings as one’s mother, and remembering their kindness — these are the causes for that bodhicitta. So in short, what bodhicitta means is a noble mind that is conjoined with the thought of compassion, or with the thought of great compassion. So whatever we do, even listening to the teachings, if our motivation is conjoined with the thought of bodhicitta, then all that we do after that becomes powerful, or even the virtuous actions become very powerful.
So we will have a short meditation on bodhicitta. So the topics that we will be discussing are the paths and the grounds. And the ground — or the earth — like, the ground or the earth, that is one of the four elements. So the paths that are explained in different vehicles are all known as grounds also, or known as grounds. And the reason is because it functions — the path also functions like the ordinary ground. So what are the functions of the ordinary ground? It supports all beings and the whole world — like things which are in the world: trees, grasses, and all this. That is what is supported by the ground, which supports it. So the ground that is explained in this text, Paths and Grounds, also supports the qualities of those different vehicles. So because of that reason, it is given the name as ground.
So it is given this name, ground, but it’s not the ordinary ground. So as one example, bodhicitta — for example — is the Mahāyāna’s path or the Mahāyāna’s crown. And through practicing bodhicitta, one comes to achieve or one gains all those different levels of realizations — those different levels of realizations of the Mahāyāna path. And that is the same with the other vehicles, that of the hearers and the Pratyekabuddha or the solitary realizers — that training on those paths one comes to achieve the ultimate goal, which are liberations. And the rest also — which are those of the ārya paths or the superior paths and the ordinary paths — are also achieved through training on those paths.
So through training on those grounds. So the ground can be used in many, how shall I say, in many different ways. So, for example, the ground is used in all different vehicles — grounds of those different vehicles. And also another way is yogic ground — which is that which comes to realize the selflessness of the person. And also a yogic ground that which comes to realize the non-duality of subject and object.
And also the yogic ground that comes to realize emptiness. And there are many others too. So again, there are another division, which is the inferior and superior. There are two different grounds which I have to explain: the inferior and superior. So the superior is the Mahāyāna ground and the inferior one is the Hīnayāna ground.
And similar to the Hīnayāna — the Mahāyāna paths and grounds, the Hīnayāna paths and grounds — which are hearers and solitary realizers. These two are what is known as the Hīnayāna paths and grounds. So, the Mahāyāna paths are also known as the Mahāyāna vehicle. Similar to that, the Hīnayāna paths are also known as the Hīnayāna vehicle. So, whoever has generated the hearer’s vehicle within their continuum, they are known as hearers.
And similar to that, those who have generated the Mahāyāna path — or those who have, within their continuum, the Mahāyāna path — they are known as Mahayanists. So the greater vehicle and the lesser vehicle — these two are divided. The distinction is made through their motivations and through their result — what they will come to achieve, their achievements. So a doorway to all these vehicles:
For example, if you look at the Mahāyāna, it is the conventional bodhicitta. As soon as one generates conventional bodhicitta in one’s continuum, that is like the doorway through which one enters the Mahāyāna. And similarly, as soon as one generates bodhicitta, that is where one enters into the Mahāyāna. And the two — like the conventional bodhicitta — which is the doorway to the Mahāyāna. So, like the doorway — for example, to enter into this hall, we have to come through the door. So that door is like the gateway to it.
So for the Hīnayāna vehicle, there are two: that of the hearer’s vehicle and that of the solitary realizer’s vehicle. So the doorway to the hearer’s vehicle is that one who takes one of those vows for individual liberation. So the seven individual liberation vows are known as: the two — that of the fully ordained vows of fully ordained monks and fully ordained nuns. And then the second two — the vows of novice monk and novice nun. And then the pervasionary nun’s vow. And then the last two — the layman’s vow and laywoman’s vow. So one of these seven vows are the principal objects of training for the hearers.
So then the ultimate view is to realize the selflessness of the person. The selflessness of the person. And then on the basis of this, they meditate on calm abiding and special insight. And also, they also meditate on the sixteen attributes of the four noble truths. And they also train in twelve practices, twelve different practices. So training on all these: the four noble truths and the sixteen attributes of the four noble truths — and as a result, one comes to achieve eight different states.
And whoever engages on these paths and wishes to achieve that final goal — which is the eight different states of hearers — that very time the person enters into the hearer’s vehicle. So when one comes to generate this effortless wish to achieve this state — when one comes to generate this effortless wish to achieve the result of hearers — how one comes about this is by hearing teachings. So the hearer’s path is that which comes to realize the sixteen attributes of the four noble truths, plus that which acts as an antidote towards the delusions. And all these are possible by listening to the teachings of one’s own spiritual master.
So, yes. So similar to this, the doorway to the solitary realizers is also the same as that of the hearers. So then the solitary realizer’s view, or the ultimate view, is to realize the selflessness of a person — that is, to realize the selflessness of a person plus the non-duality of subject and object. Another term that is used is: coming to realize the coarse obscuration to omniscience. And the practice or the behavior of the solitary realizers is similar to that of the hearers. So then what the solitary realizers meditate on is similar to that of the hearers, but what is special about solitary realizers is that they meditate on the twelve interdependent links — on the twelve interdependent links — in serial numerical order or in reverse. Also back and forth, both.
So for the solitary realizers, there are two types — two kinds — one of the high intelligence, and one known as the dull one. So the sharp, or high-intelligence one, is known as the solitary realizer like the rhinoceros. Rhinoceros, the animal. Rhinoceros. Yeah.
So then the dull one, the solitary realizer which is known as the dull one or the inferior one, is known as the solitary realizer like the parrot. So the reason the superior ones, or the high-intelligence ones, are set as like a rhinoceros is because the rhinoceros is used as an example because rhinoceroses are able to stay in the woods or in their places without companions, without friends, and live there without friends. They can live there without friends. So those solitary realizers — the superior ones — they make prayers to be born in a place where there are no Buddhas and no other solitary realizers. And then they are born there.
And then on that life, they come to realize — they come to achieve their realizations — living alone. So then how they do this practice is that they go to very isolated places, like into a cemetery. And then whatever they encounter — like for example the bones of a dead one or a corpse — they use that as an object of their meditation practice, and analyze, giving all those reasons how it came into existence out of ignorance, and then creates karma, and so on. They meditate using that object. So they meditate on the twelve interdependent links with regard to that particular object — to whoever that belonged to in the very beginning, how they came to create karma to be reborn as that being.
And then they use all those reasons, and similarly, they also come to meditate in reverse — from the last of the twelve interdependent links, like aging and death, and then coming back to the top, which is ignorance. And meditating on this continuously, they come to generate the thought of renunciation. And then out of that thought, they travel on the path and achieve their final goal, or their liberation.
So then the dull one — the solitary realizer that is known as the dull one — known as like the parrot — which needs a companion, which needs company. It has to be in a group. So as the parrot lives its life in groups, they live their life in groups. So with the dull solitary realizers — those like the parrots — they make prayers to be born where there are Buddhas, or in a place where there are many other hearers. And then when they are born there, then similarly, they also — with a friend, with those others — meditate on the twelve interdependent links, the same way — top to bottom, bottom to top. And then they come, out of those meditations, to generate renunciation. And then on the basis of renunciation, they practice their path and come to achieve their liberation.
So all the practices that those hearers and solitary realizers do, which lead to their enlightenment, their liberation — those practices are known as the hearer and solitary realizer path. And all that too is known as the solitary realizer’s vehicle. The vehicle of solitary realizers. And that is the same with Mahāyāna — all the practices that lead to achieving the enlightened state, that lead to achieving the enlightened state — all those practices are known as the Mahāyāna path, or the vehicle of Mahāyāna, the Mahāyāna vehicle. So the Mahāyāna vehicle and the Hīnayāna vehicle — the differences between these two — they are like seven differences.
So the seven differences — or seven greatnesses. That is, the first one is the greatness of objects.