Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 24-minute talk, Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen unpacks the sixteen moments of the path of seeing — eight dharmic forbearances and eight knowledges — explaining how each pair works through the four noble truths in the desire realm and upper realms. He then shifts to a broader meditation on spiritual progress: how past and future Buddhas travel the same essential path, using vivid metaphors (a map to Sydney, climbing a hundred stairs) to encourage those feeling daunted by the distance ahead. The talk concludes with a philosophical examination of how different Buddhist tenets — Vaibhāṣika, Sautrāntika, Cittamātra, and Madhyamaka — each understand delusion and inherent existence differently. Pitched at practitioners with some background in Buddhist philosophy.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 26 P and G.mp3
UUID: 490f46c3-6ad7-45e9-b1de-ebdbd9c2edec
Teacher: Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen
Collection: Paths and Grounds (Geshe Dhawa Gyaltsen)
Date: 1995 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 24.3 minutes
Words: ~1,048
And those will be explained or possibly counted in the next period, next week. Yeah. I’ve been — Yeah. So these are the eight — the sixteen moments — honestly, the eight dharmic forbearances and the eight dharmic knowledges.
Yeah. All total of sixteen. So the eight dharmic knowledges — so these eight knowledges are related to the four noble truths. That is the true suffering that is abandoned on the path of seeing, the true origin that is abandoned on the path of seeing, the true cessation that is abandoned on the path of seeing, and the true path that is abandoned on the path of seeing. So the cessation that is abandoned on the path of seeing, and the path that is abandoned on the path of seeing — these cessation and path are explained as related to the wrong views, and out of attachment that leads towards wrong views and so on. So this also will be explained in the next teachings. These will be explained in the next teachings.
So there are these four abandonments. And each one has its antidote. And the antidotes are known as the dharmic forbearances, which are the uninterrupted paths. So these eight are divided into four each — that is the four related to the desire realm. And to abandon these four of the desire realm, one applies the four dharmic forbearances. These are the four uninterrupted paths. So the four dharmic forbearances, or the four uninterrupted paths, which are applied before the abandonment of the desire realm.
So then by abandoning these four, one reaches four knowledges — that is the four dharmic knowledges. These four are known as the four liberated paths. And similarly, there are also the four which are abandoned because of the upper realms. So similar to the desire realm, there are also four subsequent dharmic forbearances, which are the uninterrupted paths, the four uninterrupted paths. So then, by attaining these four abandonments of the upper realms, one attains four wisdoms. And that is four knowledges — that is the four subsequent dharmic knowledges. And that is also known as the four liberated paths. Yeah.
So the total is eight — the eight uninterrupted paths. And out of that one reaches the eight — what do you call — the eight knowledges. Four — like each one. Each of those four abandons, and each one has each — each one reaches each corresponding one. It’s a yeah.
It is the path that is traveled by past beings, past enlightened beings. And it is also those paths and grounds that explain the path of grounds which future beings will travel on those paths. So like Buddha Śākyamūni and many other Buddhas who had reached enlightenment traveled on the same path. So we too are following that path.
From the beginning of time where we had been someone who had never heard a word of Dharma. And at present now, we have developed — we have now discussed the refuge and also the bodhicitta. Yeah. We discussed and practiced this bodhicitta. So in other words, we are given the map, or the road, showing how we travel to Sydney from here. And we are given the explanations now of how to reach Sydney, which way to take. And one should now just try to get there — whichever route one takes and whatever effort one needs to put.
It’s like if there are a hundred stairs to climb, and if one wants to reach the top, then one should climb the steps. And even if one is not able to climb the first step — if you just lift your feet and try to reach the first step — so it is like trying to follow this path. It is very fortunate, those who do that — it is very fortunate. And instead of ignoring everything and sitting in the park and enjoying your time — if you compare these two — then the one who is following the path, it is very fortunate.
So yeah, in the world, ninety-five percent of the population may say that you can follow the path and we don’t want to go there. So we here, who are following the path, should also rejoice in our action. So as we have received the same teachings from Rinpoche — and this is precious, though the explicator himself is not precious, the teaching is precious — so it is very good to listen.
Conception — conception grasping at true existence. So these are the intellectually acquired delusions — that is both the intellectually acquired delusion grasping at true existence, and the intellectually acquired delusion which is grasping at non-inherent existence. Both of these are known as the gross obscuration to omniscience.
So if you look at these different tenets, like the Vaibhāṣika, Sautrāntika, Cittamātra, and the Madhyamaka — each of them, each of these tenets, explains their own view of inherent existence of a person or phenomena. And for the lower tenets, the view of inherent existence is explained — and the conception of grasping at true existence is explained from the view of the latter tenets or higher tenets. So similarly, depending upon what tenets one follows —
Like there are beings who say there is no refuge object, there are no past and future lives, and there is no karma, and such. And the people who say that are those who follow those tenets, and use the reasons of their own tenets. And those who don’t follow tenets don’t have a reason. They don’t have any reason. And they don’t hold any of those wrong views.
And these things — these wrong views and so on — come into existence because of depending on following these different tenets. So for some tenets, like sacrificing animals is a pure practice. And that is explained by the reason of their own view, their tenets, their own view, yeah. So this intellectually acquired delusion is only with those beings who follow tenets, and not all beings have these delusions. Yeah.
That is the innate delusion. So the innate delusion which has stayed from the beginning of time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
So, all. So time is just over. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Thank you.