Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 45-minute talk, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen explores the liberated path and how it progressively abandons delusions through eight distinct kinds of knowledge — four arising from abandoning the four Noble Truths in the desire realm, and four from the upper realms. He clarifies the relationship using a concrete metaphor: entering a house and closing the door represents the uninterrupted path; placing the door latch represents the liberated path and its complete sealing off of delusions. The teaching covers post-meditation practice and merit accumulation, then moves into Q&A about repeated hearing, the enduring value of good mental imprints even when teachings aren’t immediately grasped, and why the wish to abandon delusions must be continuously developed rather than abandoned. For practitioners already familiar with Lamrim and Buddhist technical terminology.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 15 P and G.mp3
UUID: e21a7381-37e9-481d-be49-548cee336d36
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: ~1,987
So the next one is the liberated path. The liberated path, single-pointedly, concentrates on its object — the selflessness of the person. So that is the practice of the person which induces the uninterrupted path. So the uninterrupted path has its specific delusions that it has to abandon. That is the intellectually acquired delusion.
So as soon as they come to abandon those intellectual delusions, they gain — at the same time — this wisdom. And that is known as the liberated path. And that liberated path is explained as four types, for four kinds of knowledge. So the eight — what is it — knowledge which I explained. There are eight different kinds of knowledge, which is four that have — the first four — the knowledge that one gains through abandoning: first, that is through abandoning true suffering. To abandon true suffering, you gain this knowledge. That is the first one.
So there is an uninterrupted path which acts as a cause. And that uninterrupted path comes to abandon true suffering. So when one becomes separate from true suffering, at the same time one gains the knowledge which is known as the liberated path — which is known as the dharmic knowledge of true suffering.
So then the second one is the liberated path that you achieve when one comes to abandon the true origin. True origin, yeah. So then the third one is the liberated path — the knowledge that is achieved when one comes to abandon the true cessation, and the true cessation that is abandoned on the path of seeing.
So and then, again, the liberated path that is achieved when the uninterrupted path comes to abandon the true path. So these are the four dharmic kinds of knowledge. So they are called the dharmic knowledge — dharmic means the realization of the absolute nature of the four noble truths. The four noble truths of the desire realm. And also it abandons the delusions that are abandoned on the path of seeing.
So there are, on the path of seeing, the other abandonments — which is the abandonment of the form and formless realms too. So on the path of seeing, they come to abandon these abandonments, or come to remove those abandonments. So when one comes to remove all these abandonments, then at that very time, you gain the wisdom, or the knowledge, that is known as the subsequent knowledge. So then there is the second four, which is known as the four subsequent knowledge.
The four subsequent knowledge also sees or realizes the absolute nature of the four noble truths. So on top of that, they also abandon the abandonments of the upper realms — the abandonments of the upper realms that are abandoned on the path of seeing. So when one comes to abandon the abandonments of the upper realms on the path of seeing, there you come to gain that wisdom, that knowledge that is known as the subsequent knowledge. So there are four of that.
And the first knowledge is the knowledge you gain out of abandoning the true suffering of the upper realms. And then another knowledge is that gained by abandoning the true origin and the abandonments of the upper realms. And then another knowledge that you gain is by abandoning true cessation of the upper realms. And then there is the knowledge that we gain by abandoning the true path on the path of seeing. So these four are known as the four subsequent knowledge.
And the reason why it is given this term as subsequent knowledge? So it has the same — having realization of the absolute nature of the four noble truths. So on the path of seeing, one comes to abandon the abandonments of the upper realms. So by abandoning that, you gain the knowledge, and that is known as the subsequent knowledge.
So as we divided — the path of seeing into three — there is the uninterrupted path, the liberated path, and the path of seeing that is in the middle of these two. So when one first comes to achieve the path of seeing, that is where one actually comes to achieve the uninterrupted path of seeing. That is how one first comes to achieve it. So the uninterrupted path is like — as example — you enter into your home, into your house, and you close the door. Yes. Then right the next moment, it is the liberated path. So the liberated path is — after closing the door, you put the door latch — and that is like the liberated path.
Which the liberated path here means that which has completely destroyed all the delusions, and there is no possibility for new delusions to arise. On this path, on the liberated path, after achieving all those states, the person still meditates on the suffering of the person, meditates on the non-duality of subject and object, and so on. So meditating on the selflessness of the person, meditating on emptiness, meditating on the non-duality of subject and object — all these they meditate on. But these meditations are not the form of either one — they are not the liberated path, and they are also not the uninterrupted path. And these meditations are known as those which are neither of these two.
So a person on the path of seeing meditating on emptiness — for example — wakes up from the meditation and comes to post-meditational — I would say — the wisdom of the post-meditational state. So while in the state of post-meditational wisdom, that person comes to accumulate all the merits that are needed for the achievement of the next path, that is the path of meditation. So after completing the collection of all the merits, then again that person meditates on the selflessness of the person. So again goes back and meditates on the selflessness of the person. And whenever that meditation on the selflessness of the person becomes a direct antidote to the innate self-grasping — whenever that meditation on the selflessness of the person becomes a better antidote for the innate self-grasping — that person achieves the path of meditation.
So we will stop here then. Yes. Meditation? When the meditation on the selflessness of the person becomes a direct antidote for the innate self-grasping, then that person achieves the path of meditation. Yeah. So one thing — to gain understanding of all these different things, one needs to know also all these different terms.
And for — as a Buddha himself accumulated merit for three great aeons — as example, if we go and join school. Going to school is also wonderful in this life, but how many years do you have to go? So when you are in school studying, you have to hear from the teacher. You have to do self-study and read books. You have to do many other kinds of work.
So if we do things the same way you get trained in school — as you yourself were trained in school — then it can be understood. Because there are many objects of knowledge, and all objects of knowledge are that which can be understood. So because it is an object of knowledge, there is a mind which knows that. And that mind, or that knowledge — is it possible to have within us, for ourselves? — and it is possible. So to gain that knowledge, or to have that knowledge for oneself, one needs to hear many times — it is not understood by hearing once. If it were understood by hearing once, then it would be very easy.
And then he gives another example. When you first went — when you first joined the class, there were like three hundred classmates. So these three hundred fellow students have studied for up to twenty to thirty years. So they have studied for twenty to thirty years, but among these three hundred classmates, not more than ten have achieved the highest degree. So not all of them have gained this high degree, but they have achieved knowledge according to their level of understanding.
So similarly, there are many things to be learned. Like, if there are a hundred, then knowing thirty out of a hundred is good. And to come to understand completely — all objects of knowledge — one example you can use is the Buddha. And yeah, listening to the teachings — if you understand, that is very good. Very good. And even if you don’t understand, if you listen to the teachings with good motivation, then you keep a good imprint in your mind.
So if one keeps a good imprint within one’s mind, then when this imprint meets with the conditions in our future, it can — I would say — bring about a good result. So if one had kept a bad imprint — for example, like killing, or taking the life of someone — like becoming a butcher — then even from childhood that tendency of killing would be there. So here, I have explained some teachings, and you hear the teachings. And for my explanation, I get some merit. And through your listening to the teachings, you also gain some merit, and we both accumulate some imprint. So if we had stayed in our own home, then we might have done something different. We might have been watching TV or eating something, and we might have wasted time. So coming here — and like when you came in — he said, when you are going out, if you can take one word with you, then it has been worthwhile being here. He said: if you understood.
So if one thinks in this way, you might feel good in your mind. And that too is always a virtue.
So like — the wish to abandon — that wish. For example, the wish to abandon delusions. Say that wish — you don’t have to abandon that wish. So if one were to abandon that wish to abandon, then one doesn’t come to abandon. So if one doesn’t have the wish to abandon the delusions, then one won’t have the wish for liberation. So when one first comes to have the wish to abandon, and when one comes to completely abandon all the delusions, then one comes to achieve the result — I don’t know if I understood your question correctly. So are you clear with that? My people — let them understand it.
So it is not like that. The wish to abandon is not something that has to be abandoned. The wish to abandon. So, you know, as this is saying: if one first had a wish to abandon the abandonments on the path of seeing, and then when one comes to abandon all the abandonments that have to be abandoned on the path of seeing, one still takes that wish to abandon and uses it for the abandonments on the path of meditation — like the abandonments on the path of meditation. So all the positive aspects of the mind — like the wish to always abandon the delusions and the wish for liberation — all this has to be improved or developed, which has to go all the way to the fully enlightened state. And then the continuity — so the continuity has to develop, increasing in level, and then you go up. It is not that you leave that mind there and then take a new mind. It is just that if we leave that wish — or that mind — there, then our mind will have reached a dead end. So just develop and process — more development. So as the nature of our mind is clear and knowing — I will say the same — so the mind is clouded by gross and subtle delusions.