Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Geshe Pema Tsering opens this 46-minute commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra with a striking comparison: even someone who occasionally offers a little plain food to others is praised by the world — yet how much more praiseworthy is a bodhisattva who works to liberate every sentient being from suffering? Working through verses 32–36 of chapter one, he examines why anger toward bodhisattvas generates severe karmic consequences and why cultivating faith in them diminishes accumulated non-virtue, illustrating with the story of the King of Kalinga who severed a bodhisattva’s limbs only to receive Dharma teachings in return. The session then moves into chapter two on confessing negativities, detailing the structure of offering practice and developing the idea — with a karma-and-seeds analogy — that all virtue in the universe ultimately traces back to bodhicitta and the enlightened activity of the Buddhas.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 10 BD 2002 02 21.mp3
UUID: ec610b05-07fa-47f6-8379-9c6ddebcce61
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Bodhisattva Deeds (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2002-02-21
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 46.0 minutes
Words: ~2,617
So the second section here is being is praising or recognizing those who are worthy to praise, who in fact are generous or establish the benefit of sentient beings by offering them food and so forth. So here in verse thirty two, the world honors as virtuous a man who sometimes gives a little plain food disrespectfully to a few beings that satisfy them for only half a day. So therefore here, even those that in terms of the normal everyday food that a person eats, the daily food, if it’s offered by someone else or someone to another person, then it’s regarded as something praiseworthy. Even though they may only offer a little bit of food and only every now and again, not very good quality, and only sometimes and so forth, still, it’s regarded as something praiseworthy. But then when we think about the mind of bodhicitta and the person possessing that mind of bodhicitta, then they’re worthy of great praise of praise that’s almost immeasurable because they are developing a state of bodhicitta, which seeks to attain the highest state of enlightenment in order to enlighten, bring every sentient being to the highest state of enlightenment.
So Buddhas and bodhisattvas have this state of mind, which far excels those who offer little food on one occasion or another to other beings with doubtful motivation. So here it’s, again, indicating that the a being with bodhicitta is worthy of praise. So then also the the next verse, we’re continuing continuing from the previous. What need is there to say then of one who eternally bestows the purest bliss of the Tathagatas upon limitless numbers of beings, thereby fulfilling all their hopes? Then the next verse is verse thirty four, and this be is the third section in the commentary, which is a bodhisattva is worthy of praise because they are the supreme field.
And within that, there are three divisions. And the first division here is the reason why it’s inappropriate to criticize even for a moment our bodhisattva. So as it says in verse thirty four, the Buddha has said that whoever bears an evil thought against a benefactor such as that bodhisattva will remain in hell for as many eons as there were evil thoughts. So here, in this verse, it indicates the great danger of generating anger or developing negative thoughts towards another being who is a bodhisattva. And further, within a commentary, it gives a a sutric quotation to establish this.
So there is a particular sūtra, and in the sūtra, it states that Mañjuśrī, as it states, bodhisattvas who have bodhicitta are unsuitable to objects to generate anger towards. If one generates anger towards them, then for as many moments as one generates anger towards that bodhisattva, for for that many eons, one will be reborn in hell. So it’s very this would appear to be the quote from which the verse on the basis of which the verse is composed. So therefore, as it goes on to say, therefore, one develops patience. One doesn’t get angry.
One wears the patience, wears the armor of patience. Then the next section is the then the reason for why it is appropriate to meditate on faith in bodhisattvas. So this is verse thirty five. But if a virtuous attitude should arise in that regard, or to that being, its fruits will multiply far more than that. When a when bodhisattvas greatly suffer, they generate no negativity.
Instead, their virtues naturally increase. So here, in the commentary, it’s recommending that we should generate positive states of mind towards bodhisattvas who possess bodhicitta. And then the result of that type of faith faith here is specifically pointed out, having faith in bodhisattvas, then the previous non virtue and the results of that non virtue will not increase that we’ve accumulated from the past. And in fact, they will be diminished and severed and so forth. So there is an advantage for us to generate faith towards such beings as bodhisattvas.
Yeah. Then verse number thirty six. I bow down to the body of him in whom the sacred precious mind is born. I seek refuge in that source of joy who brings to happiness even those who harm him or her. So here, continuing from the previous verse, then bodhisattvas are those who generate great compassion and bodhicitta, and they seek always to benefit other beings.
And even those who generate the mind of harm towards such bodhisattvas to harm their body or mind, bodhisattvas themselves through the power of their bodhicitta only seek to benefit other beings. No matter whether they harm that bodhisattva or help that bodhisattva, it doesn’t change their attitude at all towards others. So here, it’s as it states, we bow down. I bow down to the body of him in whom the sacred precious mind is born. So here are some examples given in the text itself about how bodhisattvas help those who or engage in assisting those who even harm them.
So I take refuge in that source of joy who brings to happiness even those who harm him. So as the commentary says, the the king of Kalinga was one who severed the limbs of a bodhisattva or a rishi called the teacher of patience, a bodhisattva. And instead of that particular being getting angry at the king, instead, they taught the king Dharma. They taught Dharma to the king, and the king himself was able to realize the the truth of the path through their teachings. And, again, there’s another instance given of a particular king called Maitreya or a particular king, actually, it could be the same king, who also harmed another bodhisattva.
And yet that bodhisattva was also benefited oh, sorry. The king was benefited by that bodhisattva even though the bodhisattva was physically harmed. And so there are many instances like that that show how bodhisattvas react when they’re harmed by other beings. So now dealing with the second chapter, It’s on page seventeen. So here, this is the confession of negativities, the counter conditions of negativities.
So here, named the disclosure of evil. Here, referring to the confession of one’s negativities. And so there, it has various subdivisions. So that’s the explanation of the text itself and explanation of the name. And the first one, the explanation of the text itself, has five divisions.
And the first one is the limb of offering making offerings. The second is the limb of prostration. The third is the limb of going for refuge. And the fourth is the limb of of confessing negativities. Sorry.
There’s four of those. And then the one that is the first one itself, which is the limb of making offerings, has a fivefold division. That is the limb of offering. Sorry. Yeah.
So the first one has five. So the first one is the offering through direct preparation and then offering through mental emanation and then offering by the power of prayer and then offering the highest type of offering, and then offering with praise and melody or song. Then the first one again has three, which is the offering established by oneself. And then the next one is and the offering that’s not actually done by oneself. And then the third type of offering there is the offering made by one’s body.
No. That’s the first one has three. So the first one that is of that latest set of divisions is the purity of the mind of the mind making the offering. And the second one is the pure field, which is the object of offering. And then the the actual thing that’s offered, the causal offering.
So here the first verse is in which this offering is made. Now here we’re dealing with the first division here, which is the offering by the by the person seeking to attain bodhicitta. And there is an offering in relation to the the mind of the offerer into the field, which is the object which the offering is made, and then the offering itself, that substance, which is the actual offering. So in terms of those three, the purity of those three, the first of those states, in order to seize that precious mind, I offer now to the Tathagatas, to the secret Dharma, the stainless wheel, and to the sons of Buddha, the ocean of excellence. So here, firstly, the oneself in order to generate the state of bodhicitta, that precious mind, one is making this offering firstly to the jewel of Buddha, the foremost of the Tathagatas, which refers to the jewel of Buddha.
And the Buddha here is that being who has obtained the the one that’s the state of complete enlightenment. So they possess that state, that state of complete purity. And then, also, we make this offering to the sacred Dharma, the jewel of Dharma here referring to the truth of path and the truth of cessation, which is free of all impurity that is adventitious impurity and so forth. And then also to the Sangha, that is to the sons of the Buddha, the sons of the Buddhas, the oceans of excellence. So here we’re making this pure offering to the pure field in order to generate this pure mind within us.
So here we reflect that everything that is positive, everything that’s appropriate and virtuous within the universe is really sourced within bodhicitta. In fact, everything, all the appropriate positive outcomes that exist actually can be sourced back to the state of virtue, and the state of virtue itself can be sourced back to the mind of bodhicitta. This also reflects the actual enlightened activity of the Buddhas or the enlightened activity of the primordial awareness within the continuums of the Buddhas. In fact, all the virtue in the universe is sourced back to the enlightened activity, sourced in the primordial awareness of the Buddhas. That primordial awareness of the Buddhas itself is sourced in bodhicitta.
So in fact, one can reflect that everything within the universe that is virtuous is sourced in bodhicitta. In general, we don’t think along these lines. We tend to think that whatever positive arises in my life is coming through my own arrangements or the fact that I did this, I get that, and and so forth, that we are the causes for positive outcomes that manifest for us. In fact, this is not actually the case because underneath that, all of the positive outcomes that occur for us in any other beings are really coming from the enlightened activity of the Buddhas, and this is coming from the mind of bodhicitta and great compassion. It appears to us that the positive outcomes that we experience are through our own plans and actions and so forth.
But all our current thinking, our current thoughts and actions are are conditions for the arising or for the manifestation of virtue that’s really sourced within the enlightened activity of the Buddhas. In fact, when we look, we can see that what occurs in this lifetime in relation to positive outcomes that we experience, that is actually coming from past actions, the virtuous actions that we’ve committed in past lives. That virtue itself is conditioned. The virtue that we engage in in previous lifetimes is conditioned also by the enlightened activity of the Buddhas. So we should think more along those lines.
So, really, the function of our current experience or what we currently experience is really conditioned by what what we did in previous lives. So in fact, in previous lives, we’ve engaged in the practice of ethics. And really on the foundation of ethics, we’ve managed to attain a human rebirth in this lifetime. Further, we’ve also engaged in a practice of the six perfections and so on, or in aspiring the practice of six perfections. This also assists one in attaining a human rebirth at present.
So these virtuous actions of the past manifested in the present as results conforming to the cause. But those themselves are conditions which reflect the enlightened activities of the Buddha’s So, really, it’s a case of recognizing the causes and the conditions for results in the present. So, for instance, seeds were set down in past lifetimes for the results of this particular lifetime. So those seeds are really karmic actions that we engaged in in previous lifetimes. Now in this lifetime, the seeds have already been established.
What we’re doing is assembling the conditions such as the water, the earth, the sunshine, the fertilizer, and so forth that mature those previous seeds. So we’re not actually experiencing the results of current actions, but of past actions whose seasons are now present. That is generally the case. Although, there are some exceptions. There is a possibility of even in one lifetime laying down seeds and harvesting those seeds even in one lifetime.
And that type of karma is called the karma of immediate result or karma as a current event such that in this lifetime, very strong positive or negative actions can even achieve a result in this lifetime itself. But these are the exception. So in fact, here, therefore, we experience the laying down of karmic seeds and then the harvesting of karmic results. But this process, especially here, the manifestation of the positive results from positive karmic seeds, is reliant itself on the mind of bodhicitta. It’s reliant on the the enlightened activities of the Buddhas.
Is does everyone understand that point? This virtue sorry. That’s coming. Yep. Right.
It doesn’t necessarily mean that we need to needed to have met a Buddha in a previous life in order to, what, be affected by the enlightened activity of the Buddhas. In fact, all the virtue that exists in the universe is the enlightened activity of the Buddhas. There’s a and the enlightened activity of the Buddhas or more correctly, the Dharma body of the Buddhas is of two types. So that’s virtue in the continuum of the agent, which is the Buddha himself or virtue in the continuum of the student, which is like ourselves. So all the virtue in the universe is either one or the other.
All the virtue in the universe is the enlightened activity of the Buddhas. So therefore, the in the continuum in our continuum at present, if any virtue arises, that can be said to be the enlightened activity of the Buddhas because it’s resulting from, in a sense, the inspiration of the Buddhas in the past. Or if its continuum is taken back, if we look at the virtue in our continuum and follow it back to its root cause, then we come to the enlightened mind of a Buddha. It doesn’t mean to say we have to meet a Buddha in order to establish our the virtue in our continuum as the enlightened activity of a Buddha, but if we just trace it back, we find in that it does emerge from that source originally. Is there any other questions?
Hello. It’s not necessary when making offerings to actually offer make an offering the offering substance or whatever with one’s own hands. That’s not necessary. It’s more the the formulation of the offering internally that’s important, the motivation and so forth. And in fact, one can sit down and make offerings by simply visualizing objects or offering the external world and so on as it stands or any unowned objects and so on.
So this can be done as a mental process as well. So that’s that’s fine. So therefore, in making offerings, it’s not necessary to to