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 maps the 15 paths—the classical Lamrim structure organizing the spiritual journey across three vehicles (hearer, solitary realizer, and Mahāyāna). He opens with the essential motivation: generating bodhicitta, the compassionate wish to benefit others, presenting it as the antidote to self-grasping and self-cherishing. He then explains how the 15 paths divide into ordinary paths (accumulation and preparation, shared by all vehicles) and superior paths (seeing, meditation, and no more learning, where vehicles diverge). The focus narrows to the path of accumulation, called the ‘grounds of faith,’ where practitioners cultivate five practices: faith, aspiration, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom, each taking different forms by vehicle. Throughout, Geshe emphasizes that genuine faith arises through careful analysis of the teachings, not mere belief. For students beginning Lamrim study.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 07 P and G.mp3
UUID: 2ae20542-5889-41a1-b067-b2555b87445d
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Paths and Grounds (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1995 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 46.0 minutes
Words: ~2,239
So quoting from the teachings of Pänchen Rinpoche — that is in the Guru Puja text — he advises us to cherish others and put all your effort to bring happiness to the sentient beings. And the reason that he explained, or the reason for his advice for us, is that cherishing others is the doorway to all high achievements or happiness, and also it’s the base or the source of all happiness. So because of that, one should look for the faults of self-cherishing and find in many ways the benefits of cherishing others. So we, from the beginning of this time up to now, have been experiencing the suffering of saṃsāra because of self-cherishing thoughts.
So in short, the self-cherishing and the self-grasping — these two are the source of all faults. So one of these two thoughts becomes the cause of our many problems or the sufferings. One — like self-grasping — holds to the self and holds that it is existing truly from its own side. And another is self-cherishing. Because of these two thoughts, all this suffering arises.
So in the depth of our mind, what we wish most of the time is happiness for self. And because of that wish for self, happiness for the self, then that brings about all the other problems. So instead of this self-cherishing thought, if we have the thought of cherishing others, then that is what leads us to the enlightened state. For example, Buddha Śākyamūni also first generated this thought and practiced bodhicitta and gradually came to achieve the fully enlightened state. So as the Buddha — we should also generate a good heart, a good mind, that is bodhicitta.
And even at the very beginning, it might not be the genuine one — if one trains on this mind again and again continuously, then definitely one is going to achieve — there’s no doubt that one will achieve — the fully enlightened state. So to get accustomed with this mind, one should follow one of the instructions that is given in Lamrim teachings: that the seven instructions of cause and effect, or the exchanging and equalizing self with others. Training on these two gradually, one is able to generate this thought of cherishing others.
So if one is following the instructions of the seven cause and effect instructions, then as explained, as the instruction is given in the teachings, one should first meditate on equanimity and then recognizing all beings as mothers and so on. The meditation on love, compassion, and then the special insight. And then similarly, if one is following the other instructions — the exchanging and equalizing self with others — then same thing: once you contemplate on this point, one should equalize one’s thought towards all sentient beings and exchange this cherishing — exchange the thought of cherishing self for the thought of cherishing others. Keeping this in mind, we meditate shortly on bodhicitta.
So generally speaking, there are fifteen different paths explained: those paths of Hīnayāna and those paths of Mahāyāna. So these fifteen are known as: the five that of the hearers, and the five that of the solitary realizers, and then the five that of the Mahāyāna path. And those five are the path of accumulation, path of preparation, path of seeing, the path of meditation, and the path of no more learning. These are the five. So the first two of all these three, the first two paths of all these three — that is the path of accumulation and the path of preparation — these two are known as the ordinary path.
The ordinary path. Yeah. It’s the same for all three vehicles. So the total number — there are six — and then similarly, next, the latter three paths. They are known as the superior path, the superior path. And the total of them is nine. So among the nine, or among the three latter paths — that of the path of seeing and the path of meditation — these two paths are known as the path of the trainees. It’s also known as the path of the trainees.
And this is the same for the hearers, the solitary realizers, and the Mahāyāna. So then the last path of the five — the no more learning — there are three of that: that of the hearer, that of the solitary realizer, and that of the Mahāyānist. These are known as the path of the foe destroyers, or the arhats. So with the arhats, they are of two kinds, known as the Mahāyāna arhats and the Hīnayāna arhats. So with the Hīnayāna arhat, or Hīnayāna foe destroyer, what they come to destroy is that they destroy mainly the delusions together with their imprints. That is what they mainly destroy — the Hīnayāna arhat. And by destroying that or by abandoning that, they come to achieve the Hīnayāna liberation.
So then with the Mahāyāna arhat, that is achieved as soon as one comes to abandon the obscurations to omniscience together with their imprints, or the true grasping. If one comes to abandon that, then one comes to achieve the Mahāyāna — the Mahāyāna state. So now the meaning or definition of a path is: a knowledge that is conjoined with the thought of non-artificial renunciation. With the thought of renunciation that is non-artificial.
So with the path, it has also different terms. There are different terms which are used for paths. So the first one is path. And another term that is used is path to liberation. And then the third one — another term that is used — is knowledge.
And then the fourth one — another one — is used as exalted wisdom. And then another one is also known as clear realization. And then finally, another also known as vehicle. Vehicle, or yana. Yana.
Mahāyāna, or vehicle. Vehicle. So these different terms are used, but they all have the same meaning. They are synonyms. So this term — path — is used here.
The reason is that it is the path that leads to those individual liberations — that which leads to the liberation of those different vehicles. And because of that, it is given the name path. And also the second one — path to liberation — has the same meaning. So knowledge here — the meaning is realizing or understanding. So understanding or realization — that’s the meaning of knowledge. And then clear realization and exalted wisdom both have the same meaning.
So then the last one — vehicle. The reason this term is used is that it carries the burden of two. And because of that, it is given the name vehicle. So with the Mahāyāna vehicle, among the two burdens, they carry mainly the burden of others — which is working for the sake of others.
And then the Hīnayāna vehicle — they carry, among these two burdens, the burden of self liberation. Liberation for self, that burden they carry. So that which carries one of these two burdens is known as the vehicle. So these different terms — the path — there are generally five, and those five paths are the path of accumulation, preparation, seeing, meditation, and no more learning.
So then with the path of accumulation, there are also different terms used for that. And the first one is the path of accumulation. The second one is the grounds of faith. The grounds of faith. And then the next one is: which is conducive to achieve liberation.
And clear realizations of Dharma. So all these terms have the same meaning, but different terms are used. So the term — path of accumulation — is used here. The reason is because it is the very first path that accumulates merits for the achievement of one’s own enlightenment. So because of that, the hearer’s path of accumulation is the very first path of hearers where they accumulate merit for the achievement of their enlightenment.
And that is the same — it can be applied the same to both the solitary realizer’s and the Mahāyānist’s path of accumulation. Both are the same. So it is also known as the grounds of faith. And that is because on this stage, the followers are skilled in the practice of faith and so on. There are five different practices that they are mainly skilled in — skillful in the practice of five different subjects.
And the first one is faith. And then the second one is aspiration. And then the third one is mindfulness. And then the fourth one is concentration. And then the fifth one is wisdom.
So the followers — those on the path — are skillful mainly on these five subjects. So because of that, they are known as the grounds of faith. So faith here — the first one — is the faith towards one’s own individual enlightenment. For example, hearers — the follower here — their faith towards their enlightenment. That faith it’s referring to.
So with the solitary realizer, they also have the same faith, and that is also for their liberation. So then with the Mahāyānist also it is the same. The faith towards their enlightenment, and all the higher paths — the path before that, like the path of preparation, seeing, meditation, no more learning, and then the fully enlightened state — having faith in those.
And then the second one is aspiration. So if it’s a Hinayanist, then the aspiration is to self liberation. So then if it’s a Mahāyānist, then it’s aspiration to achieve enlightenment for the sake of others. So then the third — mindfulness — is being mindful with their main practice, ultimate views. With the hearers being mindful with the selflessness of a person. With the solitary realizers, also selflessness of a person plus the non-duality of subject and object. And then with the Mahayanists, like being mindful with emptiness.
So then concentration here — like having single-pointed concentration towards their main practices, to these main practices. So then wisdom also differs between different vehicles. How they discriminate? So similar with faith — for example, if it’s mostly the Mahāyānist’s faith, known as the irreversible faith. The irreversible faith is not just seeing and admiring faith — seeing the qualities — but through analysis and examining, when one comes to see the qualities of enlightenment, there one comes to generate faith. That type of faith is irreversible faith. So once it is valid — once one has perceived it, or once it is valid for one — then even if others tell something different, one’s own faith towards that enlightenment never, what is it, retreats back.
So same with us — not only, what do we say? The faith — not only believing in what others tell one, but try to generate a faith through one’s own analysis and through one’s own examination. Try to generate that type of faith within oneself. So not only because it is explained in the Buddhist teachings, but what is explained in the Buddhist teachings one should analyze, and out of one’s analysis one comes to a conclusion. And then when one comes to know that, then that is where one meditates. That is the point where one should meditate on.
So then the next one is which is conducive to the achievement of liberation — another term used for path of accumulation. So the cessation of delusion — that is liberation. So delusion is what obstructs liberation. And for delusions, there are two types of delusions: that is the intellectually obtained delusions and the innately obtained delusions. There are two types of delusions.
So the intellectually obtained delusions are only with those persons who are proponents of tenets. They have this type of delusion. So out of wrong view and wrong reasons — holding that the self exists truly — this holding that the self exists truly is known as the intellectually obtained delusion. So these intellectually obtained delusions are only within the proponents of tenets — only with those beings.
So this intellectually obtained delusion is abandoned on the path of seeing — the third path — the path of seeing. That is where this intellectually obtained delusion is abandoned. So then the next — the innately obtained delusions — that is within all sentient beings, and that delusion is there from beginningless time within sentient beings. And those are attachment and so on.
So those delusions come to be abandoned on the path of meditation. The path of meditation. So these innately obtained delusions divide into nine levels, nine different types. So this delusion — the innately arising delusions — is divided into nine, or nine levels.
And similar to that, the path of meditation is also divided into nine levels. So when a hearer comes to abandon the innately obtained delusions — that which is known as the smallest of the small, the smallest of the small — then they come to achieve their enlightenment. And the cessation of delusion is liberation. So cessation of delusion is liberation, and to achieve that liberation one must abandon the delusions. And the delusions are explained as two kinds: that of the intellectually obtained, and that of the innately obtained delusions.
The intellectually obtained delusions — this is known as that which is conducive to the achievement of liberation. The first one. Yeah.