Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Using the image of a blind beggar stumbling on a wish-fulfilling gem in the rubbish, Geshe Pema Tsering opens this 45-minute session with the pledge to act henceforth like the buddhas and bodhisattvas. He then works through Śāntideva’s sustained chain of analogies for bodhicitta: undying nectar, inexhaustible treasure, medicine for illness, shade tree for weary samsaric travelers, bridge from lower to higher rebirth, cool moon soothing disturbing emotions, and — most memorably — the butter churned from all the teachings. This closes Chapter 3 of the Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life. A Q&A covers the state of mind at death for people with dementia, the two wings of enlightenment (bodhicitta and wisdom realizing emptiness), and how bodhicitta develops from deliberate cultivation to spontaneous arising — like attachment, which needs no effort to arise.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 06 Guide 2002 04 11.mp3
UUID: 9dce8aab-a263-4850-84aa-e15e8c65af3a
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Bodhisattva Way of Life (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2002-04-11
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.1 minutes
Words: ~2,864
So you should feel very happy and rejoice here to have such chances or opportunity that to to develop those mind and rejoice here that all this the mind, the mind of generation, bodhicitta which one have been hearing again and again and again and again today, I’ve been I have this opportunity to develop and I develop those two types of bodhicitta and become have become the family of the Buddha and now making so feel rejoice and wish and think that now I have become a family of Buddha but entered the Buddha’s family, but now when when shall I become when shall I become son of Buddhist? So making pledge here again that now today onwards, since one one has developed those bodhicitta and and and been born in the Buddha’s family and wishing one one shall become the son of Buddha now, and but now today onwards, now that I have developed this this noble pledge and promise to develop those bodhicitta and now today onwards, likewise my father, the Buddha’s Buddha’s has done and I should may I shall I shall do the same activities which I I shall do the activities of the bodhisattvas and buddhas and never perform any actions which which contradicts the the bodhisattva’s deeds.
Right. So making pledge that today onward I shall do according to the activities of the buddhas and bodhisattvas and will never perform any actions that contradicts and also never commit any of the eighteen root downfalls that bodhisattvas are bound. So making pledge here again, along with the example saying a poor the blind blind poor guy who found wish-fulfilling gem in the dust or in the rubbish and but and how how happy he feel, you know, he or she feels. So likewise, feeling the same way. Now today through the power of one’s gurus and the Buddhas and so forth, you one has developed the precious, wish-fulfilling gem like like bodhicitta or ama, the altruistic intentions.
And so I will practice those bodhicitta and preserve them or keep them, keep those bodhicitta alike, the wish-fulfilling gem kept by the the the blind poor guy. And demonstrating that should preserve this bodhicitta because bodhicitta this bodhicitta is like is is is like the the the nectar how how should I put it in English? Not undying nectar. If there is a nectar, there’s type of nectar, if one consume or take that nectar, one will never die. So bodhicitta, the altruistic intention is that nectar and because through this bodhicitta, by attaining bodhicitta, through bodhicitta one can one that helps bodhicitta helps one to attain enlightenment and and in Buddhahood in Buddhahood there is no death.
So therefore this is how it resembles the analogy works. And and so so therefore, I shall maintain this bodhicitta. So and bodhisattva bodhicitta is like like the treasure that that which gives. It won’t by having bodhisattva, one will not be poor because So by having bodhicitta, one will not it’s like a great treasure because one will not have any difficulties or poor or poverty because by having bodhicitta, one will one will have a satisfaction with with one with and with one what one has. So therefore, because of this satisfaction, one will never feel of poverty as well as will never be shortage of any teachings.
And bodhicitta is also the also is also the also a medicine to cure all the illness or diseases of sentient beings. So when we say it’s the best medicine to cure the diseases or illness, when we say it doesn’t mean that it actually cures one disease. The reason why it’s saying here is because if one has the bodhisattvas who have bodhicitta, and bodhisattvas, they wish when they get sick, for example, when they have a sick, they get sick, and because of this Buddhist altruistic intention, they don’t suffer. They actually feel more happy because they’re happy to undergo through suffering, you know, for the sake of motherly sentient beings. So because even so when they receive an illness or diseases, instead of getting instead of suffering, they feel they rejoice it.
They feel happy. So this is how it says that this this is what it meant. It is the best medicine to cure disease. And and bodhicitta, the altruistic intention, bodhicitta is like a tree for those beings in saṃsāra, tree for those being in saṃsāra to have a rest or take yeah. Take a break.
It’s it’s like like when very sunny day, very hot day, and it’s so hot to go out, and for somebody who’s in the journey walking in the, yep, journey, traveling and because of the heat they wish to be under the tree just have a nice breath under the shade of the tree. So likewise the bodhicitta is, so sentient beings bodhicitta is like a tree where sentient all sentient beings in the saṃsāra, they’ve been tortured by suffering and it’s and the bodhicitta is the place where they have a nice rest or a break. And bodhicitta is also a bridge of for sentient beings to travel from lower migration to the higher higher so lower rebirth the yep. Higher to to higher rebirth. And bodhicitta is also bodhicitta also So it comes with lots of analogies.
You know? The bodhicitta is like a moon. It’s like a moon to cure the heat of the disturbing emotions. Right? And bodhicitta is also the one to to remove or abandon the the obscurations of the omniscient?
So bodhicitta is very important and it like the essence of the entire teaching. Is the bodhicitta is the essence of entire teachings like a butter of the milk. The milk shakes in big trunk shakes and the entire the main the purpose of doing so is to churn the milk, isn’t it? Is to get the butter, that is the essence of the entire milk. So like the bodhicitta is like a butter of the the entire teachings.
And the bodhicitta is is the best offering to please the Buddhas and bodhisattvas and and of hearers and solitary realizers. It’s like the greatest of offerings. The best the best offering of the offerings.
Among the offerings. And the bodhicitta having bodhicitta, then bodhicitta develops a great compassion to to help the beings of six realms, the the hell realms, hungry ghosts, animal, human, god and demigods beings in those six realms. So bodhicitta with bodhicitta one can develop a good compassion towards the beings of the six realms and bring them and and can can bring those sentient beings out, yeah, from the sufferings. So the bodhicitta is very, very important here. This is how it speaks again and again about bodhicitta.
So true bodhicitta, bodhicitta is the main yep, bodhicitta is can give happiness to a sentient beings and can bring out of and relieve sentient beings from the suffering And it is the and it is the bodhicitta which gives both the temporary and ultimate happiness. So there are numbers of benefits advantages of developing bodhicitta. So far, one, have heard all those, the advantages of developing bodhicitta. So therefore, if one hasn’t developed a bodhicitta should try to generate a bodhicitta. Those who have tried to increase and expand or develop and increase the bodhicitta.
And now the second subdivision is letting others to rejoice. So encouraging encouraging other to rejoice and be happy here, saying that I have invited all the entire sentient beings as a guest that that today that I’m taking this Bodhisattva vow, made all these wishful prayers and make and made pledge or promise in front of Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions to develop those altruistic intentions. And so therefore, you entire sentient being should should should reach must or should rejoice here that for what the great master Śāntideva has done. The master here is saying that I have all this opportunity today. I’ve invited all these sentient the sentient beings as a guest that I’m taking, I’ve developed this bodhicitta in front of Buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions and will maintain it until I, the great master, attain enlightenment.
And therefore I’m rejoicing here and then to send all the entire sentient beings to try to develop the bodhicitta and rejoice along with me as well. So here concludes the third chapter of the, yep, the guide to the bodhisattva way of life, which is the full acceptance of the awakening mind. So here, as we conclude the full accept the chapter of so called the full acceptance of the awakening mind, when we hear said the full acceptance, which means taking Buddha developing bodhicitta and yep. So and practicing the activities of the bodhisattvas or yep. Or of the bodhisattva.
Therefore, in a nutshell, develop the bodhicitta here. So here in the text, full acceptance of the awakening mind where Geshe-la was saying a Tibetan word, actually comes in Tibetan word so called which means hold the Buddhist altruistic intention. So when we say hold the bodhi, altruistic intention doesn’t mean, Geshe-la was saying, doesn’t mean like hold a cat or something. Now what it means is one should develop the bodhicitta within one’s mind and so today onward by developing that altruistic intention will now train in the the trainings or the activities of the bodhisattvas like activities like training in the six perfections and so forth. So these are the all the there are numbers of the advantages of developing bodhicitta set in this text, but it’s not just a just a bit of the advantages of bodhicitta.
If one is to describe all the benefits, all the benefits of developing bodhicitta, it takes ages and ages. And for example, like, developing a moment of developing a bodhicitta for a moment and benefit of doing so is is huge. So it has a huge benefit. And so I request everyone here to try to develop bodhicitta as much as one can. So here concludes the third chapter, and and also the time is up as well.
So take a couple of questions if you have. The job so today is the last of the the first term, isn’t it? Yes. So Geshe-la was asking that where where should he start from the next In the next the next term. So he best to continue with it or or particular topic?
Yeah. What? He said the swapping or jumping is not that good. You know? You’re talking the the particular the dying person Yeah.
Yeah. Itself. Yeah. It depends on the person, you know, like, if the person’s motivation before when one person the person is able to do things, like if say one is on drugs or something before taking the drugs, if a person has a very good motivation so forth and because of the drugs, now he’s drug he or she is dying and and can’t think of anything just an ecstasy and and and so whatever the person is suffering or so forth, can’t think of anything, so it depends on the previous motivation, a moment motivation, a moment before into the deep deep meditation, you know. So the dependent person motivation prior to, you know, the disabled thing.
So it depends on the person’s mind at the time of death because the way that the person the person is a dementia, but the dementia person still has you know, still have a positive, negative, or so called a neutral, you know, motivation or a or thinking and and they can feel happy, they can be attached to it or they can remember something. So their mind is still working. It doesn’t work the way we want to work or normal person does, but they’re still doing something that depends on their mind. So sometimes the dementia or dementia people are actually even better than the normal people, you know. But they if they do something, really do it big, like, they’re angry, and they’re worse than us.
Yes. Yeah. The bodhicitta is needed to attain enlightenment. And so it is like two wings. In order to become enlightenment, one needs to have the both both wings, the the wing of bodhicitta and the wisdom realizing emptiness.
Without wisdom realizing emptiness and bodhicitta, one can’t attain enlightenment. So so if one does not have in those two, the bodhicitta and wisdom realizing emptiness, then one cannot attain enlightenment. Yeah. And with it’s very wisdom realizing emptiness is very hard to develop or realize that. And so in order to develop a wisdom realizing emptiness, one needs cultivate a numbers of merit, accumulations of merit.
So therefore, the bodhicitta is needed because with bodhicitta, one can attain or cultivate numbers of virtues or merits because the bodhicitta works for the entire sentient beings. But because sentient beings are numberless, according to the sentient beings, numbers of sentient beings, one cultivates numbers of virtues or merit. So therefore, how it connected to each other. So but through bodhicitta, one cultivates numbers of virtues or merit and through the power of that, one can develop wisdom realizing emptiness. So there are in terms of Mahāyāna practitioner, they develop two types of practitioner with the sharp faculty and with the lesser faculty.
So and there are some practitioner who realize with developed a wisdom realizing emptiness before developing the bodhicitta, but those are the the person with the sharp faculty. And those with those without the sharp faculty first need to develop the wisdom sorry, the bodhicitta. Okay. First and the last. Yeah.
She raised her hand. When you develop developing bodhicitta, is it sort of a level? Like, when you first start, is it just a little bit and by practicing you get sort of a more more? Or is it that you develop a little flash of it and then you sort of sustain the bodhicitta. Do you see what I mean?
The difference between sort of an amount, is this sort of a low level and you get more progressively more, or is it sort of or do you when you first start, do you just get it for a short period of time and and by practicing, you sort of can have it for a longer period of time? You know, is there and is it just in that case, is it just sort of a long thing? Is it a definite thing? Or is it sort of a grades So when we say about bodhicitta, bodhicitta actually is the mind, which is the mind that in order to for the sake of motherly sentient beings, wishing to attain enlightenment for the sake of sentient beings. That is is the bodhicitta we’re So so one needs to get more when we say develop bodhicitta means one needs to get used to it, accustomed with it, because that means one has to increase it.
So that’s the actual mind, the mind which is bodhisattva. And at this stage, you know, we try to cultivate it, you know, we have to remind ourselves to develop the bodhicitta, the mind of bodhisattva. And so every teaching and so forth, one dev try to develop it. So later on, one one can remember or develop the bodhicitta mind more often, more often. And in the long run, then when whenever it comes without any forces or or, yep, remembrance just naturally comes within oneself, and that is that is the sign of one that’s developed bodhicitta.
At this stage, we have to do it, think again and again. So whenever the bodhicitta comes forcefully by itself or naturally, then that is the sign of developing a bodhicitta. It is like example like attachment so forth, we don’t need to need to put pressure or work hard to develop attachment. Just just the moment you see something beautiful, just attachment comes, like that. So this is like a bodhicitta should be like that.
So this is how one should cultivate the bodhicitta. So so this is how one meditate again and again. So the word meditate is the common Tibetan, which is to be familiarized with. Because in the previous life, from beginningless time, you know, we’re so used accustomed with the attachment and anger. So this is how it comes for us at the moment.
You know? You don’t need much and it just comes. Yes. And what’s due to what? Yes, ma’am.
What was that? So when one talks about taking a bodhisattva vow, it actually means the engagement bodhisattva. And to do so, one need to take it from the formally taken from the masters or gurus. And and it’s not that easy. Once one have taken the bodhisattva vows, then there are numbers to be, you know, maintained, you know, like bodhisattva vows and they’re eighteen downfall, root downfalls, and so forth.
And but if one can’t do that, one can still maintain the bodhisattva within oneself, not really formally, but that one can practice, try to, and then do one’s best within oneself, not being so formal.