Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. The paragraph is ready in my previous response. Let me know if you’d like any adjustments to tone, length, or emphasis.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 04 WBS 2005 02 08.mp3
UUID: a68c585c-3a41-43b9-a435-09e321c58bec
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Bodhisattva Way of Life 2005 Feb-Mar (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2005-02-08
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 41.0 minutes
Words: ~3,446
Of the stages of the path of the Mahāyāna, and the second part is an actual explanation of these stages. So the first one is an overview of the stages of the Mahāyāna path, and the second one is a detailed description of the actual stages of the path. Mhmm. Okay. So within that, the so we’ve done the Okay, so in case you’re a little confused, which thinking, if I were you I would be, the idea of using Tibetan texts is to get them stuck in your head, right?
And to get them stuck in your head, the way they do it is by dividing things up right so you start with a big chunk of a text and then you go okay within this text there’s three sections the first section has three sections the first of those sections has three sections alright so you have things like in the first in the text you go to the first part of the first section You can even have the third part of the first section, second section, and then it starts talking. Alright? So the idea is to get outlines in your head so you know what’s in a text so you’re not just remembering bits of it, you’re remembering the whole thing. Right? So we’re up to so it’s like a big huge table of contents, yeah, which you’re supposed to memorize.
And so in this section, in the main part, the main chunk of it, the body of the text description, there’s two sections. First of all, what is basically comes as like an overview of what’s gonna happen in the text. And the second section is the actual guts of it, the guts within the guts, the description in more detail. So within this this first section, which is an overview of the the overview of the text, that has different sections. Now the first one of these is a homage again.
So this time, it’s instead of being Gyatsov Jay’s homage and instead of being the translator’s homage, it’s Śāntideva himself’s homage. So it’s our third homage. Alright? And then there’s also a oath to compose. So Śāntideva makes an oath that he’s going to takes an oath that he’s going to finish composing this text no matter what happens.
The second thing is what’s basically called kenyung. Kenyung. Putting yourself down. And then the foot yeah. Well, it’s a a deflating pride.
It literally means deflate blowed upness. Yeah? So popping the balloon. Yeah. So this is the part of the teachings which you probably have heard before where the person says, I Geshe-la said he may be an expert, he’s going say he’s not.
Alright? Very tradition. Then there is the reason for why he’s composing the texts. Alright? So we have another homage, this time, Śāntideva’s homage, then the promise that he’s gonna finish to finish writing the text once he started starts it.
And the third section is I’m really not saying he’s not very good. And the the fourth section is why he’s composing a text. Okay. So with regards to these things, with regards to the homage to to to to starting the text, why he would start the text with a homage, why he was promised to complete the text no matter what, why he would deflate his own pride, and why he would compose the text in describe why why he would he’s composing the text. So then it says the first thing is the reason that he would have a homage at the beginning of the text, the reason why Buddhist text should start with a homage is because it shows that they are continuing on a tradition.
It shows that they are presenting the words or the teachings of the Buddha in a different in a in a in their own way as opposed to making something up themselves. So starting with this idea of either refuge or showing respect to the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas means that they are identifying their text as a something that should be taken within the realms of Buddhism and not starting their own religion. Right? So this is the first thing. The second thing is this promise to complete the text.
Now the reason why someone would promise to complete a text is in order to stop obstacles. So if you try and do something virtuous, many different problems can come up. In order to stop them and to not be overcome by them, they make a promise to complete the text once they’ve started it no matter what happens. And the third section is the deflating the deflating pride. Now the reason that they would deflate pride is to stop themselves from making up their own texts and to make sure make making making up their own teachings and to make that their text is going to be an accurate reflection of the Buddhist teachings.
And the fourth section, the reason why they were the reason for composing this text, why Śāntideva is composing this text is first of all to develop true realizations, to develop true Buddhahood in his own mental continuum, and also to benefit other beings. So he’s doing it for his own benefit and for the benefit of others. This is the reason why he composed the text. The first two lines of the text says, to those who go in bliss, the dharma they have mastered, to all their heirs, to all whom merit veneration, I bow down. And so this is the the start of Śāntideva’s own homage.
So the what these two sentences mean to those who go in bliss — this is the way that you’d say that in Sanskrit, which you may have heard is the and it means the Buddhas. Alright? So the to those who go in bliss is the Buddhas, the Dharma is their teachings. And all of their heirs is another way of saying the Sangha. So basically, it’s saying, I for refuge, or I bow down to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.
So the Dharma is the Dharma. Dharma they have mastered and to all their heirs. The heirs is the Sangha, the Dharma is the Dharma, and those who have gone to bliss is the Buddhas. So it says, To all who merit veneration, I bow down. So in this case, it doesn’t just mean the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas that he’s bowing down to.
He’s bowing down to the Three Jewels. And when we include the Sangha jewel within these Three Jewels I’m sorry. I’ll try and put that another way. He’s also has a very broad definition of what the Sanga jewel is here. Oftentimes, Sangha jewel is defined as the aryas, those who have realized the true nature of reality.
But here, he’s talking about all those who merit veneration. This can be all of those on the hearers’ path, those on the solitary realizers path, anyone who has developed realizations of the Buddhist path, he’s bowing down to. So his definition of the Sangha is very broad here. Okay. So Buddha and then he says he’s bowing down to the Buddha or the Sugata.
Now this is a very it’s not just a vague idea. It’s just it’s defined as being the abandonments and qualities of a truly enlightened being who has finished the two accumulations. So the abandonments of a truly enlightened being is the I can’t remember what it’s called. The truth essence body, perhaps? Anyway, so there’s like a when you talk about the Buddha, there’s one section of the Buddha, which is the Buddha’s mind, is called the dharmakaya.
Right? And the dharmakaya has two different sections to it. It has the emptiness of the Dharmakāya and the qualities of the Dharmakāya, right? So the qualities of a Buddha’s mind and the emptiness of the Buddha’s mind. So the truth nature body, I think it’s translated as, or the Svabhāvikakāya, right?
Yeah. So that’s what’s been abandoned in a Buddha’s mind, is the emptiness of a Buddha’s mind. Then the qualities of a Buddha’s mind, the realizations of a Buddha’s mind is the luminous part of the Buddha’s mind. So there’s the emptiness and the clarity of a Buddha’s mind that sees all. So these two different parts of the Buddha’s mind and the two parts of the dharmakaya, and they are what has been abandoned and what is realized.
Right? So this collection of excellences, this quality of excellence that is the Buddha’s mind, the dharmakaya, and from which the other kayas of a Buddha, the other bodies of a Buddha rise, is what Śāntideva is bowing down to when he says, I bow down to those who go in bliss. Alright. So if we’re trying to understand the first of these, that is the aspect of this Buddha’s mind, which is the emptiness of the Buddha’s mind. Now, another way of thinking about this emptiness of this Buddha mind or the truth and nature body of the Buddha’s mind is to think of it as truth of cessation.
The truth of cessation in the Buddha’s mind is the lack of their grasping at inherent existence. So their realization of emptiness, the complete understanding of the lack of inherent existence means that they don’t experience any sense of suffering and any negative states of mind at all because they perceive reality the way it is rather than grasping at reality as being inherently existent and therefore developing desires and aversions and so on. So the way that the Buddha’s mind is is symbolized by a completely clean bowl. Uh-huh. Okay.
So if a if a bowl has been dirty and is completely cleaned, so there is no not even the smell of what it was that was in the bowl in the first place, then that lack of smell in the bowl is said to be like true cessations in the mind of a Buddha, the lack of any grasping or lack of any neurosis. We’re talking defining something by what has been abandoned, it is in this sense a negation or a sense it is empty of something. The thing that it’s empty of is in fact the quality of the Buddha’s mind because it’s empty of that which causes suffering, empty of that which causes obscurations to knowledge. So there’s these two different aspects to a Buddha’s mind.
So when they get rid of all of the negative states, when they get rid of even stain or the smell that’s left behind grasping at true existence, then they’re left with something. And what they’re left with is this abiding in bliss, or this Sugata, those who’ve gone to bliss. So, there’s no more experiences of negative states or anything, so that’s what they’ve abandoned. And what they’re left with when they have abandoned all these states is a state of bliss, a Sugata. So, is the part of the Buddha’s mind that is the realization of the Buddha’s mind.
So that which is gone was the grasping and the negative states, and that which is left is a state of great bliss and all knowing. So these are two aspects of the dharmakaya. Mhmm. And that was the first word of the text. So we can stop there and if anyone has questions.
Yes, Pamela. So in Tibetan, Śāntideva is usually called Gyelsey Shiwala. Right? Now the word Gyelsey is literally the sons of the victors or the sons of those who are victorious. Now, those who are victorious are Buddhas, and the son it doesn’t say sons, it says offspring.
Sons or daughters of the Buddhas are those who have entered the path of the Bodhisattva. Right? So the first the first name that he’s given means Bodhisattva is another way of saying Bodhisattva. Now his name, Shiva is the same as Shanti in Sanskrit, and it means peace in general. But specifically, it often refers to cessation, liberation, nirvana.
So the attainment of nirvana or the attainment of or the abandoning of negative emotions, that’s what the Shiwa or the Shanti refers to. And deva is a word meaning or deva or in Tibetan is a word meaning God or deity. So Geshe-la thinks that he was called this because this is referring to the best type of being. Right? So the best the highest rebirth that you can attain is a rebirth of a god or a goddess.
So he thinks that he was given this name because it showed that he had the highest kind of realizations, the highest kind of rebirth that you can attain. He said, absolutely, most certainly. Right? And then they said he thinks there’s probably there’s probably one in the transcript library in Varanasi. There he goes.
Absolutely, most certainly. No. No. Sorry. Absolutely, probably.
That was what I absolutely, probably. Yeah. Think three things. Yeah. Uh-huh.
Okay. Okay. Geshe-la said he thinks that grasping or attachment, yeah, is when you don’t want to be separated from the object that you’re focusing on. Alright? So if you’re grasping on an object, it’s because you don’t want to be separated from it.
If you’re not grasping something, you’re not going to care if you’re separated from that object or not. When the process is finished, you’re not going to mind it finishing. But if you’re grasping, you don’t want to let go of it. Okay. And the the other thing to remember is this, grasping is bad.
Grasping is a different word in Tibetan. When what we’re grasping at causes suffering, what we’re grasping at causes happiness. Guess one is called something like grasping, and the other one’s called something like wishing, it’s a positive thing, or striving, or positively doing something. If what we are grasping at causes suffering, then it’s something that we need to abandon. If what we are grasping at causes happiness, then it’s not something we need to abandon.
If we are grasping at developing understanding, if we’re grasping at developing compassion, if we’re grasping at attaining nirvana, then that isn’t something we want to abandon. It’s something that we need to encourage. Grasping is positive or negative depending on what it is that we’re grasping at, not just the act of grasping. Because if we’re grasping at something thinking it’s going to bring happiness when it’s going to bring suffering, then that’s something we need to abandon. If you’re grasping at something thinking it will bring happiness and it will bring happiness, that’s not that’s not something we need to talk about.
Okay. Okay. So so the the process that the mind is going through is the same. It’s this idea of I need or I want that. I want this situation to come about.
I want this to happen. I want this object. It can either be for it to to put to it, you know, in terms of processing something or in terms of obtaining something. Right? So the what the mind’s doing is the same thing.
It’s saying, I want that. Alright? I need that. Yeah? But where depending on what the object that is needed or wanted is, it either becomes attachment and a cause for saṃsāra or faith and a cause for liberation.
The way that the mind’s working is the same. The mind is going, I need this. I like that. Yes? I need this because I like it.
If the object that the mind likes and needs is a samsaric object, then getting that object may cause a little bit of happiness in the short term, but in the long term, it’s just going to cause more suffering because it sets it creates the habit for grasping, for wanting, and it doesn’t actually abide forever, so the cycle of wanting and needing and not having is perpetuated. If the object that the mind is grasping towards and likes is liberation, is Buddhahood, is the Three Jewels, suffering, then the result of that grasping is actually permanent happiness, and that’s something that we want. That’s something that we need to encourage. The way the mind works with these two different types of objects is the same, when it’s grasping onto them, But depending on what the object is, it either becomes attachment or it becomes faith. So Geshe-la said, if there’s no motivation, there would be neither.
Right? So the motivation is I want, I would need, that is the motivation. The desire is a motivation. Alright? And I have faith is a motivation.
So I will do this because I have faith that so it’s not depending on what their motivation is. Desire is a motivation, faith is a motivation. So you can’t say, does that depend on their motivation? Because they’re both motivations. Okay.
Yes. You can categorize motivations into those which are helpful and those which aren’t. You can categorize the motivations into those which are going to motivate you into doing something that will keep you in saṃsāra, and those that will motivate you to get out of saṃsāra. So the ones that are gonna keep you in saṃsāra are the ones you wanna abandon, and the ones that are gonna get you out of saṃsāra are the ones you wanna encourage. Yeah?
That why Perspective is not object. Yeah. The object of grasping. He didn’t say his perspective. Yeah.
Yeah. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on.
Because that’s it’s not working. What you’re saying isn’t working. So I have to translate it to me. Okay? Okay, so the perspective, the subject is the same.
This is I want, right? I want or I need. Whether something becomes faith or whether it becomes attachment or not actually depends on the object. So it’s not the perspective that’s the problem, it’s what is actually being looked at. But if there is a realization of emptiness in the part of the subject, then there’s no grasp of the drawing.
There is of emptiness, when the mind is focused on emptiness, there is no good or bad because it’s focused on ultimate truth, and the ultimate truth has no good or bad. But in the continuum of the being who is meditating on emptiness, there is still an understanding of good or bad. Because when they come out of their meditation on emptiness and relate to things in terms of relative truth, there is still the distinction between good and bad. Uh-huh. Yes.
Does that tie up with grasping at dishes? Say, I’m and then you just say, do the dishes and should be fine. Doing the dishes. Yeah. Sure.
Is that a matter of how much concentration is that you’re stopping you with grasping? Because I mean, I could be doing this just something about You know? Compassion. Mhmm. Yeah.
I have to do a little bit of an explanation here because I’m not sure Geshe-la has read any Thich Nhat Hanh books. Okay. Geshe-la said that he thinks that what he said sounds very good because mindfulness is incredibly important. Without mindfulness, we don’t have meditation. Without mindfulness, we don’t have concentration.
And without meditation and concentration, we have no understandings. We don’t develop true understandings of things. We only have very limited, fleeting understandings of things. By trying to remind ourselves to be present, to be in the moment, is a way of trying to remind ourselves to be mindful. It’s not the only way thing we can be mindful about, however.
We can also be mindful of suffering. We can also be mindful of what we’re experiencing at the moment, so we can be aware of what we’re thinking and doing and can stop ourselves from doing anything negative. There’s different things that we can be mindful of, but it’s a very important practice to try and be mindful whenever you can. It’s very important. Specifically, it’s important in terms of developing stability.
So what was your question? Does that stop desires and stuff? The same. Getting away from grasping. You need mindfulness to get rid of grasping.
You have to know when you have it. Uh-uh. So I guess they said you’d need mindfulness in order to get rid of grasping because you’d have to recognize that you’re experiencing attachment or grasping, and then say, Okay, this is attachment and grasping. It’s not helpful because of this and this reason, and therefore not get caught up in it. So you need to be mindful in order to recognize when you are experiencing Yes?