Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. The image of a monk abandoning deep meditation to pull a drowning stranger from a river captures the central lesson Geshe Pema Tsering develops across this 44-minute session. He begins with Nāgārjuna’s three-stage framework — study, actualize, then practice around the clock — and explains why all four Buddhist schools of philosophy must be studied in sequence despite their apparent contradictions. He then argues that renunciation is logically prior to bodhicitta: one cannot wish freedom from suffering for others without first wishing it for oneself. A treatment of the fields of merit — the Triple Gem, one’s parents, and the sick — leads into the session’s main focus: a bodhisattva must never sacrifice great generosity to guard a minor ethical precept, a principle illustrated with three concrete monastic examples.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 47 BD 2002 07 31.mp3
UUID: 124055c3-e2c2-4ed6-9930-d7553744551e
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Bodhisattva Deeds (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2002-07-31
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 44.8 minutes
Words: ~2,579
The great master Nāgārjuna has stated that first, in all the time, day and night should have should listen to the teachings, have intense listening and then in the middling, make all the teachings, available within oneself or actualize all the teachings and in the end all the time practice days and night. What it means is that there are those who who wishes liberation or arhathood and enlightenment for those from the very beginning first one needs to one needs to study the text. Yeah. Study the philosophy or a text. They should have read and have the have should have intense listening or hearing of the teachings.
After having done so, then make all the teachings available within oneself which means one should realize all the teachings by knowing that all the teachings been given by the great masters are actually given to you or to the one. And after having studied on actualize all the teachings, then at the end one should bring all this understanding of the teaching one has into practices which the practice should be done in in all twenty four hours. So therefore we need to practice the way the great master has stated that from the very beginning should study and listening listen to the teachings of the various masters and also of the teachings of the sutras of the the Lord Buddha Śākyamūni. And in terms of his teachings, there are different types of teachings. Some teachings, the teachings are the we have yeah.
The teaching called the definitive and the interpretive teachings. So because of these numbers of teachings given by the Lord Buddha Śākyamūni and this is the reason and why there there are four schools, four four four schools of tenets of the Buddhist schools. And they are the the all the four schools, they contradict each other with in terms of theories but and and and the the school which we take as the ultimate or the valid school is called the Prāsaṇgika Middle Way School, the consequentialist Middle Way School. Even though we practice with even though that is the ultimate theory or the valid schools of tenets we study, but that doesn’t mean that the rest of the schools are not to be studied. It is not the case.
Even though they are contradictory to each other, but still one we need to they are like stairs that have to study step by step and without studying or knowing the theories of the school below the consequentialist middle way school, one will not be able to qualify fully on the studies of consequentialist school. So therefore, just because they are contradictory, one should not take it as a reason not to study. One should still need to practice or study in all the Buddhist schools of tenets. And as we said, there are some contradictory in terms of theory among or within the four Buddhist schools of tenets. But in terms of bodhicitta, the conventional in terms of bodhicitta, there is no contradictory at all except for the one group of Vaibhāṣika, the schools, one group of solitary realized schools except for them except for that, the rest of the schools in terms of bodhicitta, there is no contradiction.
The reason why that group of Vaibhāṣika system school was excluded is because from the very beginning, they don’t accept the Mahāyāna school. So this is the case So we so called the person of first activity or the ordinary being, we should practice to try to generate the renunciation renunciation we should free from samsaric existence, the bodhicitta, cultivate those. In terms of bodhicitta and renunciation, there is no contradictory at all within the Buddhist school’s tenets. So when one practice, should practice systematically or step by step by studying from the small scope and then upgrading one’s practices to the middling scope, the goal is to free oneself from the cyclic existence or from the suffering and then to the great scope that is to develop a bodhicitta. So therefore in order to develop the bodhicitta one has to have renunciation.
Without renunciation bodhicitta can’t be achieved. So therefore and in order to develop the bodhicitta, needs to develop a renunciation which to free from cyclic existence. One has to see. One should know the sufferings of the cyclic existence or see some saṃsāra as a suffering. So therefore, through many ways, seeing the disadvantages of the cyclic existence, we should try to attain or develop a renunciation.
So we are the practitioner of Mahāyāna wishing to attain enlightenment for the sake of motherly sentient beings. One of our main goal is develop the bodhicitta altruistic intention. But in order to do so, to develop such bodhicitta, one needs to have a renunciation, wish to free from cyclic existence. Because without renunciation there is no way one can develop a bodhicitta. It is because the renunciation is the one wishing to free oneself from the suffering.
So without having a wish to free oneself from the suffering, then there is no way that one would think of freeing others from the suffering. So this is how the renunciation is also required. So therefore whenever one meditates or cultivate a bodhicitta, it is good to cultivate bodhicitta along with the renunciation. So we shall here do a short meditation on the bodhicitta altruistic intention that in wishing to attain enlightenment for the sake of motherly sentient beings. Last week we stopped here at the identifying the object or the field of merit or virtuous.
As for the fields, they are as stated in Nāgārjuna’s letter to a friend that that the the Buddha, etcetera, which means the to those who are the qualified teachers that the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, the refuge, are the field of merit as well as one’s the kindness shown to you by one’s parents. So therefore one’s parents as well as the patients, the sick people, those are the object of merit by serving them without the attachment or by knowing them with understanding of the lack of inherent nature, sorry, the not true existence. And yeah, so by serving them, the helping ones, serving the Triple Gem, one’s parents, as well as patients, nursing the sick people. Doing so will cultivate numbers of virtues or merit and vice versa by disrespecting one’s parents, the Buddhas and ignoring patients will cultivate a huge non virtues as well. And out of those, the Triple Gems are not much danger there because they are the object of refuge.
One really disrespects them but one needs to be very careful for one’s parents as well as the patients or sick people because there might be danger of cultivating lots of non-virtues from those fields, like with parents. So one should always be careful, try to help one’s parent and the sick people as much as we can. And are and should not disrespect them or disobey them because by doing so, it will cultivate numbers of non-virtues. And in terms of the sick people or a patience, one should take even more importance on them. Even the Buddha Śākyamūni, he himself has stated that if if it is for those patients, is even yeah.
It is even okay to it is even okay to sell one’s robe like a monk or a nun’s robe in order to help the sick people in terms of financial thing, you know. And one wants to help the patient because of the financial thing and it is okay to sell the one’s robe as well. So in all the time should always cultivate the positive actions and by knowing the practices of what is to be taken or practiced and what is to be abandoned. So performing a virtuous action is not dependent. One does not need a company.
It entirely depends on oneself in terms through guiding one’s mind and making sure that in all the time one’s mind is on a positive thought or positive action. So in order to attain enlightenment or become Buddha, one needs to train in the activities or the deeds of the conqueror’s son, Bodhisattvas. And therefore, the activities of the Bodhisattvas are training or practicing the six perfections starting from generosity. And as in order, going to the next, the practice becomes greater and greater. The practices of example like generosity, patience, the patience is harder than the generosity. So one should understand it’s not the greater, it’s harder in terms of practice.
The practices of patience is harder than the generosity and then the ethical discipline is harder still. So because in terms of difficulty that the practices of generosity is easier than the patience and patience is easier than the ethical discipline due to this there is a greatness cultivating the virtues through progressing in the six perfections. And so by saying that six perfection as we said the practices of those six perfections get harder and harder generosity, ethical discipline, patience, so forth. And so practices of ethical discipline has more virtuous or more merit than the practice of generosity. But speaking of that, by saying this, one should not neglect the practice of generosity.
For example, in order to, because there is a huge benefit by thinking of this and there is a danger of ignoring a great practice of generosity in order to maintain a tiny or some part of ethical discipline. So should not do this. So for example, when we say there are two purposes, one’s own purpose and others. So what we need to do here is should consider others more important than oneself. So by speaking of this, just earlier we said should not avoid the big practices of the generosity in order to maintain a tiny bit or some part of ethical discipline.
For example, to demonstrate an example, for example, because we have to cherish others more important than oneself, so in order to do so, there are certain things — in terms of monks and nuns, the fully ordained monk and nun, there are some ethical disciplines prescribed, they’re not allowed to touch a fire, for example. But by touching the fire, it does not mean that they will completely transgress or the entire ethical discipline. They make a little bit of damage but not completely. So therefore, so in order to avoid oneself having a little distractions in one’s ethical discipline by touching the fire in order to save the, and avoid the huge practice of generosity which benefit numbers of people. So in such situation one should ignore that guarding that ethical discipline like touching a fire and to touch it and benefit the more people through practice of generosity.
Thank you. So speaking of the great generosity and the small generosity, Another example is, for example, that there is a very precious gem or jewel, very expensive, very, very precious. And it happened for the person, a monk or a nun, who according to the fully ordained vows or the precepts, they are not allowed to touch the valuable precious or very expensive objects, but the person happened to touch and give it to the person. So in such situation should not neglect that practice of generosity handing that precious object to be available to the person in order to protect one’s vow or the ethical discipline which is not allowed to touch for such situation. We should not get worried after that protecting that part of the ethical discipline.
We should practice that great generosity because it’s a very valuable object so it will benefit the people heaps. So this is how it works. For example, like one is another example is one is meditating on the riverbank and doing a really good positive action or positive job and doing a great meditation and it turns out somebody comes along and drowned in the water and they’re dying down there and they’re drowning. So one should not still sit and meditate but think I’m doing a positive job or cultivating virtue and ignore the person. So if that’s such situation what one has to do is no matter how profound or deep a meditation one is in, give up that meditation and help the person and by doing so that’s become the practice of generosity so called giving protection from the fear.
And now to the third one, which is the ethical discipline of benefiting others, which has two subdivisions, which is fulfilling others purposes or taking on others’ work or purpose. And the second one is And subduing them through So subduing with the teachings and enjoyments or objects. The first one is accepting or undertaking others purposes, has been explained in the next single verse. I don’t know where we start. Sorry about it because I don’t I stick with the Tibetans, so don’t follow the English.
I think it’s seventy four, isn’t it? Yeah. Yeah. It’s seventy four. Seventy four?
No. We went beyond that. Which one do you reckon? Eighty-four? Eighty-four.
What happens is, you know, that it doesn’t stay as Tibetan in English, know, they just play around with the words. Yep. Yep. It’s eighty four. Got it.
Got it. And so as we have understood the practices of the six perfections comes in the earlier part, by knowing this, now one should cultivate the practices of the six perfections and those are the practices, The the practices, very importantly, practiced by the great bodhisattvas who works for others. So by knowing this, excuse me, so should practice in those in the activities of the bodhisattvas and those bodhisattvas. From the very bodhisattvas has has for a very after a great hard work, he finally realized all the profound objects and and prescribed numbers of teachings. And and for those who only cherish oneself or engage in self-purposes, he has instructed them not to cultivate the ten non-virtuous actions of the body and the speech.
Even though he has prescribed or taught not to cultivate those ten non virtues of the body and the speech. But those for bodhisattvas are exception. So in order to benefit those who have bodhisattva developed a bodhicitta or altruistic intention and and yeah bodhicitta bodhisattvas, for them it’s the exception that they, in order to benefit sentient beings, if they have to cultivate any of the non virtues of the body and the speech, it won’t become a non virtuous action. Instead, it become a virtuous practice for them. And so and and for for for the ordinary person, the cultivating that any of the ten non virtuous actions will become an obstruction to that to to, you know, to liberation and enlightenment.
But for those bodhisattvas, it won’t become a the hindrances. So for example, there is a story that one of Buddha Śākyamūni’s previous lives before enlightenment was as a merchant. Yeah. Merchant, you know, who they were in a great boat to the in in Good old days. And in a in a big boat big ship, you know, on the voyage and to retrieve a gem from the other side of the ocean. And during that time, there are said to be over five hundred people or merchants who were after the wish-fulfilling gem or precious jewel. And it turned out they and our