Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 36-minute teaching, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen presents a systematic breakdown of Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna paths through seven great qualities that distinguish them: object, practice, wisdom, effort, skill, achievement, and activities. He contrasts hearers and solitary realizers, who seek personal liberation, with Mahāyāna practitioners who intentionally take rebirth in saṃsāra to benefit others. He then defines grounds as clear realizations that act as a basis for spiritual development, and walks through their hierarchical structure—from the path of accumulation and preparation up through seeing, meditation, and no more learning. A substantial Q&A follows, discussing practitioners of varying intelligence levels, path entry, and what defines a true Mahāyānist. Suitable for those studying Buddhist philosophical frameworks.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 06 P and G.mp3
UUID: 08eb3bbd-a7fe-4427-9610-ab6fe82954d9
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Paths and Grounds (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1995 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 35.6 minutes
Words: ~1,686
So the greatness of object is that they observe all phenomena — like all sutras and so on. Like, they observe all phenomena. And then the second is the greatness of practice. So the greatness of practice is that the practice is done for both self and others. And the third one is the greatness of wisdom or exalted wisdom.
And that exalted wisdom comes to realize both — the selflessness of the person and phenomena. And then the fourth one — that is the greatness of effort. So the greatness of effort is that that effort is known as one who accumulates merit for a very long time. So then — how do you say — the greatness of skill, the greatest skill.
So with the hearers and solitary realizers, their final aim or their final goal is to achieve liberation. And because of that, the main practice is to remove the delusions. So then for the Mahāyāna practitioners, for the sake of others, they purposefully take rebirth in saṃsāra for the purpose of others. So they take rebirth in saṃsāra for the sake of others, and while they are in saṃsāra, they go through different delusions — they encounter different delusions like attachment and so on — but then they don’t take those delusions as their main object of abandonment.
So then the next greatness is perfect achievement. So perfect achievement is that they come to achieve many qualities of the Buddhas — the different powers and so on. So because of that, they are known as the perfect achievements. So then the last one is that of the great activities. The great activities.
So known as the great activities is that one, because one comes to achieve Buddhahood, which is perfected in performing two duties. And by achieving that state and working completely for the benefit of all sentient beings. So all those paths — those paths that have all these seven qualities, the seven qualities of greatness — the seven great qualities are known as the Mahāyāna path. And those without these qualities are known as the Hīnayāna path. So the Hinayanists — like that of the hearers and the solitary realizers — they principally engage in the practice that is explained in the Vinaya teachings.
So if you look at the Mahāyāna, then the Vinaya practice is not the only one that is the principal practice. So the seven vows that which we just went through before are known as the individual liberation vows. So here, the individual liberation vows means that by taking those vows, one leads oneself to liberation. So up to here is the explanation of what are the doorways to these different vehicles, and the specialties of those different vehicles. They have been like briefly mentioned here.
So now the path and the ground — which is the presentation of paths and grounds — you have the first two points: first comes the grounds, and then comes the paths. So now the definition or the meaning of the ground — the ground that is explained under this Paths and Grounds — is that the clear realizations of a person who has entered the path, and which act or which supports or which acts as a basis for many qualities, which acts as a basis for many qualities. And which also acts as a basis for many qualities which are its result. So the basis of many, many good qualities.
The basis of many qualities. So because the ground acts as a basis for many qualities — for many qualities of its own — what is the ground? That which acts as a basis of good qualities is the clear realizations of the person who has entered the path, or the clear realizations of a path-enterer when one enters on the path.
Yeah. And that is what is known as the ground, which is explained from Paths and Grounds. So then that type of ground — which is of two types — that of the Mahāyāna ground and the Hīnayāna ground, like dividing into one being inferior and one being superior. So then the definition of the Hīnayāna ground is similar to that of the ground as we went through. And the only change that we need is: the clear realizations of the person who has entered on a Hīnayāna path. And that is the only change we need. And then the rest are the same.
So then that is the definition of the Hīnayāna ground, and it again divides into two: that of the hearers and the solitary realizers. So then with the hearer ground, again you divide that into two: that is the ordinary hearer path and the superior hearer’s path, or the ārya hearer’s path.
So the definition applies almost the same again — for the ordinary hearers. The definition of the ordinary hearer is that the clear realizations of the person on the ordinary part — on the ordinary path of hearer — and that which acts as a basis for many qualities of its own. So then with the ordinary hearer’s path, you have two: the path of accumulation and the path of preparation. These two paths — the path of accumulation and preparation — are known as the ordinary path of hearers.
So then the superior hearers, or the ārya hearers — their definition is also similar to the former one. And what we change is that the clear realizations of the person on the superior path of hearers. And then the rest stays the same. So then for the hearer ārya path, or the hearer superior path, there are three: that of the path of seeing, the path of meditation, and the path of no more learning.
The first one is path of seeing, second one is path of meditation, and the third one is path of no more learning. So for the hearers — going again — that is for the hearers the five paths are divided into two. The first two are the ordinary paths and then the last three are the ārya paths. So we stop here today. Time for questions.
Questions. I — so the difference there was the one, which the difference that we made there was: one was more intelligent than another, one less intelligent. That’s the difference. I don’t think we said it’s superior and inferior?
I think — I’m not sure, I don’t remember — it is the distinction with these two: one with high intelligence and one with dull. So with the high-intelligence one — because of their intelligence, they go to isolated places where there are no Buddhas or no other hearers. And then they stay there and do their practice. And without depending on others, they can achieve their liberation or their goal. So then the other one — the less intelligent one — has to depend on and rely on a friend, and it’s not possible to achieve that state without a friend.
So generally, the general divisions — how they explain it — is that the inferior and superior is just with Mahayanists and Hinayanists. And if it’s a Mahāyānist, then it’s regarded as one with high intelligence. But then there can also be a Mahāyānist who is sharper than another one. So, first we say we are called Mahayanists, but a Mahāyānist is one who has possessed — we have the Mahāyāna path within their continuum. So what do you call it? As a Mahāyānist, one who is called a Mahāyānist should be one who is on one of the five Mahāyāna paths.
So we train on the Mahāyāna path. We’re training on the Mahāyāna path, but it’s not so clear that we are Mahayanists or not, because whether we fall in one of these five paths or not. It’s like — you have to train on Hīnayāna teachings, but that doesn’t mean that one has to enter or become a Hīnayāna practitioner. So like this is that — for example — when we talk about the three scopes, like the shared practice, which is shared by like the small scope and medium scope, and the practice which is shared by medium scope and the great scope — those are the practices. Yeah.
So for example, one has to train — like as a Mahāyānist — those common paths. That is the common path of medium scope. Medium scope — all those practices which are conjoined with the thought of renunciation. Out of that, on the basis of that, the practice of impermanence, or the meditation practice on impermanence, or the realization of precious human rebirth, and the realizations or understanding of the twelve interdependent links — all these are also what is needed to become a Mahāyānist.
So when we say the sharp intelligent ones — one who at the very beginning enters into the Mahāyāna path — they are known as the sharp intelligent ones. So then there are two other kinds. Like, one in the very beginning follows the Hīnayāna path, but before achieving Hīnayāna liberation they sort of change into the Mahāyāna path and then train on that. And there’s another being who trains on the Hīnayāna path, achieves the Hīnayāna liberation, and then enters into the Mahāyāna path. The great activity. Yeah.
Yeah. So which has perfected the two duties — which is the duty of oneself and the duty of others — and achieved the fully enlightened state. So perfecting these two duties means achieving the fully enlightened state, and then when one has achieved the fully enlightened state, working for the sake of sentient beings. That is known as the great activity. Yeah.
So all the virtue that we have, all the virtue that we come to accumulate, is a result of Buddha’s activity. So we come to collect virtues by listening to the teachings of the Buddha. And Buddha gives teachings according to the needs and the interest of those sentient beings. So that is performing that action — that is the great activity of Buddha. Some more questions?