Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 41-minute teaching, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen provides a systematic breakdown of the path of accumulation, the foundational first path in Mahāyāna Buddhism. He distinguishes three grades (small, medium, great) according to their primary practices—the four foundations of mindfulness, the four perfect abandonments, and the four legs of miracles—and explains the path’s definition: clear realization of Mahāyāna doctrine. He then walks through the concrete supports: the five trainings (faith, effort, mindfulness, concentration, wisdom), moral discipline, sense restraint, and wisdom developed through listening, reflection, and meditation. Central to the talk are questions about bodhicitta—the awakening mind—including the crucial difference between bodhicitta practiced with effort and effortless bodhicitta, and why this distinction matters for initiations. Suited to practitioners with basic Mahāyāna foundation.
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File: 20 P and G.mp3
UUID: 2893ce67-0425-4429-bf78-615c4278978b
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Paths and Grounds (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1995 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 41.6 minutes
Words: ~1,780
So the three classifications of the path of accumulation — that are the small, medium, and the big — today, it’s… So so the small path of accumulation mainly engages in the practice of the four foundations of mindfulness. And yeah. So mainly the first one, the small path of accumulation, which mainly engages in the practice of the four foundations of mindfulness, leads to the achievement of the path of preparation in their next life. And next, the medium being on the accumulation mainly engages in the practice of the four perfect abandonments, which leads them in their next life to the path of preparation.
So then the great beings on the path of accumulation, their main practice is the practice known as the four legs of miracles. And through that, they come to achieve the path of preparation in that very life. So so now the path of accumulation here is explained under four classification, which is first, the definition. Secondly, the division, and thirdly, the various terms which are used. And then fourthly, the mode of generation.
So so as a definition, the clear realisation of the Mahāyāna doctrine is the definition of the Mahāyāna path of accumulation. So the clear realisation of the Mahāyāna doctrine — the doctrine here is the teachings of the Buddha — that is, the words and the meaning of the teachings of the Buddha. So so the division — as always been explained to you — there are three: the small, medium, and the great. So like the different terms that are used for the path of accumulation: the Mahāyāna path of accumulation, the clear realisation of Mahāyāna doctrine. And the path known as the faith. And that which is conducive to Mahāyāna liberation. These are different.
These will each be explained — the different reasons why these terms are used. So it is used — the term ‘path of accumulation’ is used because it is the first path where one comes to accumulate the merit for the achievement of liberation, and full liberation, and the omniscient state. So as a result of the path of accumulation, the temporal results are the ten bhūmis and the ten grounds. And then the ultimate result is the enlightened state, the Buddha realm.
So it is the very first path, the very first path where one accumulates merit for the achievement of these two results. So so then next, Mahāyāna liberation. That is another term. And liberation here — the Mahāyāna liberation — is the cessation of the two obscurations. That is the delusions and the obstruction to omniscience.
So so on the path of seeing, one comes to abandon or remove the delusions — the cessation of delusions — which is similar to liberation. It’s not the actual liberation. So similarly, like, when one achieves the path of accumulation, the path of accumulation too is conducive to the path of seeing. Conducive to the path of seeing.
So so because of that, it is given this term — that it’s conducive to Mahāyāna liberation. Oh, yeah. So another term which is used is ‘the grounds of faith’. Yeah. The grounds of faith.
That term is used because during this stage — on the path of accumulation — they mainly train on five different objects. And they are like: the faith, the effort, the mindfulness, the concentration, and the wisdom.
Oh. So on the path of accumulation, beings mainly train on these five objects. And also the being on that path — that bodhisattva — keeps the morality of abandoning the ten non-virtues. And closing the door of the senses, or in other words, restraining the door of the senses. And right eating.
And engaging in the practice of yogas and not sleeping in the early morning and late night, but engaging in the yoga. And then all the rest, like, the wisdom that is accrued through listening, thinking, and meditating. These are all known as the supports. So so, like, morality here, which is restraining from the ten non-virtuous actions.
So closing the door of the six senses here — which means the six senses close their door to the six objects. So the reason why the six senses close their door to the six objects is to stop the attachment and so forth towards the objects. So closing the door of the six senses towards the six objects is pretty important. And because of not doing that, one gets in contact with the six objects, and out of that one generates attachment, hatred, ignorance, and so on.
And out of that, one accumulates these different karmas and then circles in the saṃsāra. And similarly, like, restraining the senses — restraining your body, speech, and mind from its objects of attachment and so on. And yeah. So so not sleeping in early morning and early night means engaging in the yoga — the yoga here means practising the ultimate view. So the yoga of realising emptiness, the yoga of realising the non-duality of subject and object, and the yoga of realising the selflessness of a person and so on.
And then in teachings that the yoga of realising the non-inherent existence of all phenomena. So so putting effort into realising these yogas and not sleeping in the early morning and late, like, I would say, early night. So so the wisdom accrued through hearing or listening is mainly the wisdom — those who are mainly the wisdom that is accrued through hearing the teachings, the scripture teachings. So then the next wisdom — the wisdom accrued through contemplating or thinking — is thinking over the meaning of those scripture teachings, and wisdom that comes through this. Yeah.
And then the wisdom that is accrued through meditation is mainly those wisdoms that one has accrued from the first concentration and so on. So so next, how does one generate this path of accumulation within oneself? So the generation of bodhicitta within one is done in two different ways. That is one — following the instructions of the seven causes and effects. And then second is exchanging and equalising oneself with others. And through these two ways, one generates the bodhicitta. So so then through the practice of compassion and the special insight, one generates what you call the mind generation that is like the skin of a sugarcane. Like the skin of the sugarcane, a mind generation. So in this stage, the experience that one has is experience with effort.
So when one has effortless experience of this mind generation, is where at that same time one enters the Mahāyāna path of accumulation. And you fall in the category of Mahāyāna. Yeah. And at the same time, you have also generated the bodhicitta. Oh, that is.
Yeah. All these happen at once. So, you know, we will live here like — we all fall in the category of Mahāyāna beings — as something very auspicious. Okay. As Tibetans like very much making something auspicious.
So maybe you also would like that. Yeah. We do some question and answer. So of these two, that which mainly obstructs liberation is known as the delusion obscuration. And that which mainly obstructs achieving the omniscient state is known as the obstruction to omniscience.
So to achieve liberation, one definitely needs to abandon delusions. So when the Hīnayāna followers come to achieve their liberation, they come to abandon the delusions. But they still have the fear of the obscurations, which are obstructions to omniscience. So so because of that, the hearers, the arhat — the hearer arhat — is known as one who is perfected in the purpose of self alone. So like on this stage where one puts effort and meditates on compassion or bodhicitta — and when one is able to meditate on that while putting effort — that is known as the generation of bodhicitta with effort. So like when we do this practice with effort and meditate on bodhicitta, that level is still, I want to say, the experience of bodhicitta with effort.
And, like, if one doesn’t even have the experience of bodhicitta with effort, then like receiving initiations and the permission initiations — if one doesn’t have this experience with effort, even if one doesn’t have that, then one doesn’t become a suitable candidate for receiving the initiations and the permission initiation. Yeah. Did you? So like the actual bodhicitta — the experience of bodhicitta — is like the actual experience of the inside part of the sugarcane.
And the experience of bodhicitta with effort is that of the experience of the skin of the sugarcane. So that which is aiming to achieve the full enlightened state for the sake of others — that mind is, what do you say, the mind generation that is like the skin of the sugarcane, the outer part of the sugarcane. So we haven’t yet entered the Mahāyāna path. And in order to actually enter the Mahāyāna path, one has to have the actual experience. Yeah.
Yeah. Forget the experience with effort. So it is like — like the training, the necessary training that you need in order to enter Mahāyāna, or to enter the Mahāyāna, is like a to enter university. University — like you need to do the prior, I would say, trainings and preparations. So so when you finish doing the preparations, then you enter.
Yep. Yep. I don’t mind doing it. It seems that the stuff of experience is in some sense — if all of your experience is delusion, then he can’t divide delusion from non-delusion. He can’t divide into two because all of the experiences are delusional.
But even so, it’s important to know that there is attribution. So in order to stop the delusions, first one needs to recognise them as being delusions. So as we say attachment is bad, but we do practise that. And we again see it being — how do you say — though it is bad, we take it as good. So the experience that you have — being all of them being delusions — that is important to know.
And then once you recognise, then you see whether it has — you analyse that, whether it is something, whether it has fault or whether there is no fault in it. So as an example, with attachment, for example, if it gives fault as ultimate result, then it shows it is not something good. And attachment not having happiness as its ultimate result — like, say, a hundred percent — we can prove you don’t have its ultimate result as happiness.
Yeah. Yeah. Come on up.