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 presents the Mahāyāna Path of Preparation, the second stage of the Buddhist path. He opens with why human birth is uniquely suited to generate bodhicitta — the aspiration to free all beings from suffering. The core is a systematic breakdown of the four levels of the Path of Preparation: heat, peak, tolerance, and supreme Dharma. For each level, Geshe-la explains what conception or obstruction it removes — whether deluded objects, purified objects, substantially existing things, or imputed phenomena — and what capacity the practitioner gains. He uses examples like recognizing Leslie or analyzing a vase to clarify how imputed objects work. Aimed at practitioners with prior training in Buddhist philosophy.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 21 P and G.mp3
UUID: d41b99f0-5cc3-4f6a-bcb7-a0718e93994d
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: ~1,958
So quoting from the teachings of Nāgārjuna, as Nāgārjuna explained in his teaching, saying the human beings of the southern continent — Jambudvipa — are the most suited human beings to generate the great mind, bodhicitta. And it also explains that they are the most suited ones who follow the path that leads to the enlightened state. So, if you compare with wealth and strength, then the wealth and the strength of the gods and the nagas are more than that of human beings. They are much richer and much stronger. But they are unable to generate the bodhicitta which human beings of the southern continent can.
So the reason why they can’t generate this bodhicitta, this mind, is because to generate this mind, one needs the thought of renunciation. That is the feeling of disgust towards the saṃsāra. So because of that, the nagas and gods, who are very wealthy, have no chance to generate renunciation for the saṃsāra. So Nāgārjuna explains that those gods, though they are richer than humans, are unable to generate the bodhicitta like human beings. So at present, we are born as human beings.
Not only that, we are born as human beings of the southern continent, that is Jambudvipa. And knowing that it is very meaningful to have this human body, one should not waste this meaningful human body. So if possible, then on the basis of this human body, one should try to generate effortless bodhicitta, a genuine bodhicitta within oneself. And if not, then put effort into generating this mind. Or at least one can keep imprints on this mind.
So so if one is able to keep good imprints in one’s mind, taking this human body which has these eighteen qualities has been meaningful. We have met with the teachings of the Buddha and also met with a genuine teacher. So with that, if one is able to keep imprints, good imprints, then taking this human body has been meaningful. So I will try — trying to make oneself able to generate this wish — which is wishing to bring happiness to all sentient beings and wishing to free all sentient beings from the state of suffering — trying to generate this mind. So these two wishes: the wish to bring happiness to all sentient beings — that is the love — and the wish to free all sentient beings from the state of suffering.
That is the compassion. And without these two wishes, if one is to talk about bodhicitta, there is no way one can generate it without these two wishes. So if one is able to collect these causes, these necessary causes, then if one has completed collecting these causes, even if one doesn’t wish the result, it would just happen. So so then we meditate on the bodhicitta, thinking over all the necessary causes, which is: first, recognising all sentient beings as one’s mother; and remembering their kindness; and repaying their kindness; and meditating on love towards all mother sentient beings, which is the wish to bring happiness to all of them; and then meditating on compassion, which is to free all of them from the state of suffering. And then generating this special insight — that I myself am taking the responsibility to lead all sentient beings to the enlightened state.
And on these different points, we should do short meditation. So, yeah, tonight, Geshe-la will be speaking on the Mahāyāna path of preparation. So the Mahāyāna path of preparation is explained under four headings, which are the definition, the division, and the different terms that are used, and then the mode of generation. So it is the path of preparation that is the result of the path of accumulation. And it is that which is similar to realising the true nature of phenomena, and the path of seeing, using a different term.
The path of preparation is also known as the ordinary path or the mundane path. So so then the division — there are four — which are known as the heat, the peak, the tolerance, and the supreme Dharma. So there are four of these. Four divisions. The heat.
The heat. True. And peak. Tolerance, and the supreme Dharma. And each of these four, again, classified into three.
That is big, medium, and small. So the differences among these four. So on these four stages of the path, they come to remove the obstruction to omniscience. They put effort to remove the obstructions to omniscience. So so, like, obstructions to omniscience — for example, those conceptions grasping at true existing.
Conceptions like grasping at truly existing — or true existing. So these conceptual obstructions are explained as two types. That is like the conceptual grasping of objects and conceptual grasping of the agent. So the conceptual grasping of the object first — the conceptual grasping of the object is known as the objective grasping.
So the objective grasping has, again, two types. That is two different types of objects. That is, the first one is the deluded objects. And second is the purified objects. So deluded objects are like attachment and the other types of delusions.
So purified — so the conception grasping at a purified object — purified objects are like love, the practice of interdependent links and so on. Grasping those purified objects as being truly existing. Like conceiving them to be truly existing. That is what one of the conceptions is.
So so then the next conceptual grasping of the agent again has two types of objects. So the object is again explained in two types. That is the imputed object and then the substantial object. Substantial. So so substantial existing means that quality of the objects, and to be able to recognise that doesn’t have to depend on other things, other phenomena.
For example, a functioning person is explained as substantially existing. So to be able to recognise that person as a functioning person, you don’t have to depend on other phenomena to recognise this. So then imputed objects, which here has a few examples like time. So it’s not the time. But the second example is like a being or a person, which is imputed onto the collection of the aggregates.
Such as a being is imputed or labelled to the collections of the five aggregates. So in order to recognise the being, you first have to see the aggregates. And then on the basis — in dependence upon seeing the aggregates — you impute the word ‘being’. So conceiving this imputed object as truly existing is one of the conceptions. So so then next is that a functioning person is explained as substantially existing, and conceiving that substantial person to be truly existing is another conception.
So did you understand how many conceptions I explained? So as an example, like Leslie is imputed upon the collections of your five aggregates. So in order to recognise you as a Leslie, first the person has to contact or see the aggregates — the collection of the aggregates of you. So it is an imputed object. And to be able to impute, you have to recognise or see the collections of the aggregates.
So, yeah, it is similar to that and which is — as a concept as you said that in dependence upon the collections of all the parts of the vase, you label or impute it as a vase. So in order to have the concept of the vase in your mind, you first have to see the collection of the vase like the top, the bottom, and so on. And that is what is meant by the imputed object. So if someone gives a description, then you have a generic image of a person. It’s like roughly this person might look like this.
Even if one gets in contact with the person, one still has a doubt whether that is actually the person or not. So if it’s someone that just passes the door, unless if we see clearly the person — as a known person — you won’t be able to tell it’s Leslie or say the name of the person. So so Leslie is labelled to the collections of the five aggregates. So there are four types of conceptions that are explained. So first, there are the object and the object-possessor or the agent.
So the conception grasping at the substantial entity and the conception grasping at the imputed entity — these two. So then there are two other conceptions, which are the two other objects — the purified objects. So and similarly, we have classified the path of preparation into four — the heat, the peak, the tolerance, and the supreme Dharma.
Mhmm. Oh, supreme, yes. So so the first of the four — the heat — is known as the very first level of the path of preparation. So what is it? The heat — that path, that level — is one where, being on that level, one can overcome or remove the conception grasping at — sorry — can remove or overcome the obstruction to omniscience, that is the conception grasping at deluded objects. Then the second one, the peak, is the second level of the path of preparation. And that is the path which overcomes or removes the obstruction to omniscience — that is the pure conception grasping at purified objects. And then the third one, that is the tolerance, which is the third level of the path of preparation.
Oh, yeah. And then that is the level where one can overcome the obstruction to omniscience that is grasping at substantially existing. Grasping at the substantially existing. Nice. And then the fourth one, the supreme Dharma, that is also the fourth level of the path of preparation.
And that level overcomes or removes the obstruction to omniscience that is the grasping at the imputed phenomena. That is one. So on this four levels of the path of preparation, one comes to overcome or remove these four — that are known as the manifest ones. The manifest of those, these four conceptions. The manifest, yeah, manifest conceptions of these four.
So so the first one, the first level, is where the term ‘heat’ is used. And the heat here — the path of seeing, the third path — is explained as like a fire. So when one reaches the third path, the path of seeing, that level is the actual fire that burns the firewood. And when one is reaching the first level of the path of preparation — the heat level — one has gained that heat. One has gained the heat of the fire.
So then the next is the peak level. And when you reach that level, then the root of your virtue cannot be moved or destroyed by delusions like anger and so on. And that is why it is given this term ‘peak’. So so then when you reach the third level, that is the tolerance, then you have achieved this — what is it? When you reach this state, then you are free from being reborn into the lower realms.
Being born into the lower realms. So so and at this stage, one has no fear of coming to realise emptiness, coming to realise the direct emptiness. And then the last one is known as the supreme Dharma. So then it is explained — why this term ‘supreme Dharma’ is used. That is because it is supreme of the mundane Dharma. It is supreme among all the Dharmas. So because of that, it is given this term. So the literal explanations of these different terms are similar to that of the hearer’s path.