Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 66-minute session, Geshe Pema Tsering opens by unpacking a verse on purifying anger and pride: cultivating genuine humility — regarding oneself as inferior to others in qualities and education — is the essential groundwork for developing bodhicitta and all other good qualities. He then moves into Chapter Five of Śāntideva’s text, covering three connected points: why practitioners who have already generated aspirational bodhicitta must also train wholeheartedly in the Bodhisattva vows and six perfections; why Buddhahood requires both method and wisdom together with all supporting causes and conditions, illustrated through an apple-seed analogy; and how constant familiarization with the wish for enlightenment gradually produces the drive to engage in formal practice. A car analogy — wanting the car so persistently that you start looking for ways to earn one — closes the session on a characteristically accessible note.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2006 02 14 Bodhisattvas Way of Life.mp3
UUID: f6eab977-793b-427a-a6e7-5800a68cac26
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Bodhisattva Way of Life 2005 Mar -2007 (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2006-02-14
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 66.0 minutes
Words: ~4,129
So can I quote in a two line verse? Can you hear me clear? Okay. So he’s quoting a two-line verse. Have we begun?
So then can now explain the meaning of each word of this Tibetan verse. So there is one syllable which refers to the word anger, which is translated as anger. And then another word that refers to pride. And the word purify, which you’re going to explain. So then to purify anger and pride means to get rid of them, to destroy these two.
So in order to do that, one endows oneself, one gives rise, one takes up a humble attitude, Geshe-la says, and if one can do that, then giving rise to the mind of enlightenment and how to say, how can I put it better? Then endowing oneself, being endowed with a humble mind, then practicing the mind of enlightenment and giving rise to all other qualities will be accomplished more easily. So then, can I say, so in relation to anger, if one has anger, then no matter what one is practicing, one will not attain the results one is aiming at because anger will be always in the way? Again, the same with pride, if one has is very proud and thinks very highly of oneself and thinks of oneself as having many good qualities, and then one is and then one looks down on other people and thinks that they are inferior to oneself, then one won’t be able to give rise to any other good qualities, whatever practice one is engaging in, one will not be able to accomplish them, one will not be able to give rise to the mind of enlightenment, to the intention of benefiting other beings.
So whatever practice one is engaging in will be obstructed by pride. So then and then I’ll explain. So what is meant with how to say, what is meant by humble mind. And then literally, word for that I’m translating as humble here means means lower, something which is not high. So how do you say?
Again, I say, so what is meant by by this humble mind? By humble is meant that one should look at oneself as as as being the poorest or the one with the poorest qualities, with the least qualities, the one with the least education, that one should think that others are better than oneself, and one is inferior to all others. That’s how one should look at oneself, think of oneself. And then thinking in this way, it will be very easy to, how do you say, not only one will be liked by others, but also it will be very easy. It will make it easier for one to to give rise to to all good qualities, including the mind of enlightenment, and Geshe-la says, with this attitude, this attitude benefits one’s practice, Dharma practice, it benefits one’s practice of giving rise to the mind of enlightenment and so forth.
So Geshe-la is explaining even further. Geshe-la says, we should think of ourselves as being the poorest, as being, how to say, the one of the least education or how to say intelligence of the least qualities or the most inferior qualities that everyone else is better than us, has more education than us, and so forth. One has, I think, has a lot of suffering and so forth. On the other hand, Geshe-la says, even though we do have clothes to wear, to protect us from the weather, and so forth, we have food to eat, we have a place to stay and sleep. Even though we have these things, even though we can think in this way, we also we also have to consider that all these things are in the nature of suffering. How to say they are not reliable because they are impermanent.
These conditions will change in the future. In in this way, we should think of ourselves and whatever is in relation to ourself. So then, so then thinking that one does not have even a trace of lasting happiness, then one understands, one realizes that one must pursue this happiness, this meaningful lasting happiness. And then thinking this way, one also understands that just as oneself does not have any happiness and have all this suffering. So all other sentient beings suffer and do not have any lasting happiness.
Not only that, but all other sentient beings, they were very kind to oneself when thinking of their kindness. And then thinking of their kindness, when one starts meditating on what is called the seven-point cause and effect meditation, which starts with recollecting all sentient beings as one’s mother and and things of repaying their kindness and so forth. And thinking in this way, one, how to say, reasons or meditates up to the point where one gives rise to the mind of enlightenment. And thinking this way, then going through this different way step by step, and one will benefit one’s practice of giving rise to the mind of enlightenment. And then thinking in this way, then one understands that no sentient being has lasting happiness, this reliable, unchanging happiness, and one understands that one must accomplish this for all sentient beings, including myself.
And one must accomplish this happiness, this lasting, unchanging happiness for all sentient beings. In order to do that, one understands that in order to be able to do that, to accomplish this great task, one must attain enlightenment oneself. And then understanding this, one one, let’s say, thinks then that may I attain enlightenment for the sake of benefiting sentient beings. Giving rise to this mind, then if one attains enlightenment, then one will be actually able to accomplish the happiness, the purpose of all of the sentient beings. So thinking in this way, as Geshe-la just explained, then we meditate now on the mind of enlightenment.
Oh, yeah. I got this up. Oh, So then we finished the last Tuesday. We finished with the fourth chapter of this commentary on the Bodhisattva Way of Life. The fourth chapter was a chapter on conscientiousness.
Then having been taught about conscientiousness, then one will now it will be explained. Now we get into the beginning of the fifth chapter, which is translated as guarding alertness. And then so the first we start with a very big we start with a very big introduction of the commentary with many divisions. It’s going to be a bit maybe not a very pleasant thing to hear, but there are many divisions and explanations here. So before we start to the actual commentaries on the versus the root versus themselves.
So we start the first topic, the first main topic is the second main division of this commentary, which starts to talk about ethics. So the way to train in ethics and specific explanation given with regards to mindfulness and alertness, the methods for purely guarding all virtuous dharmas. And then there is two main divisions to this main topic. And then so these two main divisions are a general presentation of these topics. And then the what was translated as the subject of the branches or could be translated also as the meaning of the branches.
So those are the main two divisions of this topic. Then the first one, which is the general explanation of the way to train in ethics by means of alertness and mindfulness has again has three parts to it. Okay. So the first one is the reasons it is necessary to train in the practices once bodhicitta has been developed, okay? The second one is teaching that Buddhahood will not be accomplished by practicing only method or only wisdom.
And the third is explaining the stages of training in the practices, okay, the practices of Bodhisattvas, the six practices, generosity and so forth. Okay? And so then the first one, which is the reasons it is necessary to train in the practices of Bodhisattvas once bodhicitta has been developed. So the reasons, the text, commentary goes on to explain them, even though, however, the text says, however, much benefit follows from the arising of the aspirational mind of enlightenment without wholeheartedly engaging the trainings of Bodhisattvas, which are in relation to the engaging mind of enlightenment, which involves taking the vows of Bodhisattvas and engaging in the practice of the six perfections. So if without wholeheartedly engaging, accomplishing these practices of Bodhisattvas, then Buddhahood is impossible.
That being so, then one must, how to say, train in the practices of bodhisattvas. And then we go now to a quote from the King of Concentration Sūtra says, states that if that being so, then we must, one must practice wholeheartedly. If one asks why, why is that so? It is said that ordinary beings by practicing wholeheartedly, how to say, For them, it will not be difficult to find or to attain that enlightenment, that complete perfect and unsurpassable enlightenment. That’s what it says.
That’s what it’s stated in the, let’s say, King of Concentration Sūtra. And then another text, which is the Stages of Meditation by Kamalaśīla, also states in the same way that the previous, how to say, previous, stays the same as the the king of concentration sūtra. It says that that if one practices wholeheartedly, the practice of bodhisattvas, then it won’t be difficult to attain complete perfect enlightenment. Geshe-la says it won’t be said difficult, so it will be easy. Then the text actually reads like this: those bodhisattvas who have given rise to the mind of enlightenment —
Must accomplish how to say must fully apply oneself to accomplishing generosity and so forth. So if one does not accomplish these practices, then one will not be able to attain enlightenment. That’s what is said in the stages of meditation by Kamalaśīla. So Gela explaining this, the first sentence of that was quoted from the text of Kamalaśīla’s stages of meditation. So he says, if one does not subdue oneself, then one will not be able to subdue others.
Right? So, Geshe-la explained what is meant by not subduing oneself, and made a specific mention of renunciation. And I asked him if he was actually talking about renunciation. He said, yes. If one I’m talking about renunciation.
He said Gela said, and if we if we do not generate the mind of renunciation by meditating on suffering and so forth, then we won’t we’ll not be able to to subdue one’s mind. It is by meditating on suffering and the faults of cyclic existence and so forth that one subdues one’s mind. Okay? And then the text goes on to say, so knowing that without subduing oneself, one won’t be able to subdue others, then knowing that one must practice must fully engage in the practices of generosity, patience and all the six perfections. And the answer is, so if one does fully engage oneself in these practices, then one will be able to attain enlightenment.
If one does not fully engage in this practice, then one will not attain enlightenment. So then the quotation is finished. So if one does not have these accomplishments, one won’t be able to attain enlightenment. And then these accomplishments refers, again, Geshe-la says, to renunciation, the mind of enlightenment and so forth. So however much one prays that may one be able to attain enlightenment for the sake of all, if one does not actually realize renunciation, the mind of enlightenment and so forth, then none of these the results of enlightenment will not come about.
So then that all that being said, and I say, so then we must we need to practice wholeheartedly. Now now now that one understands and one needs to practice wholeheartedly, then now one must understand what is meant by practicing wholeheartedly. Because without knowing what what exactly how one must how one practices wholeheartedly, then one will not be able to practice wholeheartedly. So So then it is very difficult to know what is meant by practicing wholeheartedly. So because in order to practice wholeheartedly, one must practice the six perfections, and one must know what is what are the six perfections.
Now in order to be able practice the six perfections, one must have given rise to the mind of enlightenment because without the mind of enlightenment, the six perfections are meaningless. So one must give rise to the mind of enlightenment. Now in order to be able to give rise to the mind of enlightenment, one must give rise, one must accomplish renunciation. In order to give rise to renunciation, one must think of all the faults of cyclic existence and so forth. So then I say, to accomplish this is definitely So then now the last sentence of the commentary on the reasons why one must practice engaging the trainings.
It says that protecting the vows — by that is the training to be done. And Geshe-la is saying, so the word that I’m translating here to accomplish is Geshe-la refers to the six perfections, to the practice of the six perfections, generosity, patience and so forth. And protecting the vows, Geshe-la explains, is protecting the Bodhisattva vows, is abandoning all the eighteen root downfalls and the forty six secondary downfalls of Bodhisattvas. So those are the vows. Okay?
This one? It’s okay. So then, Geshe-la — I say — now we go to the second of those topics, which is a teaching that Buddhahood will not be accomplished by practicing only method or only wisdom. So Geshe-la said — Geshe-la just said — that it was already taught in the text that if we do not practice wholeheartedly, then we will not attain enlightenment. We’ll not be able to accomplish enlightenment.
And, again, if we practice only method or only wisdom, we will not be able to accomplish enlightenment also. So if it is like this, then this is is very difficult indeed. So then the commentary goes on to explain now that if one even though one has one is engaging in the methods to accomplish enlightenment, to accomplish Buddhahood, one needs unmistaken methods. If one, how to say, however much effort puts in the path that is mistaken, one will not achieve the desired result. So then the text goes on to say that even though one has unmistaken, what is the unmistaken method, if one does not have all of them or all factors, if all the factors are not complete, then again, the results will not come about.
And so one must, how to say, train, one must train in the with the complete and unmistaken, what is referred to the complete and unmistaken. So then, again, I was briefly explaining that what is referred to as method can be understood as the causes of enlightenment. So not only one needs the unmistaken causes for enlightenment, but one needs all the causes to enlightenment. So then, Geshe-la is giving an analogy. So for example, if we talk about apples, so if we want to be able to get apples, then we must we need an apple seed.
So that is what is so the apple seed is the unmistaken main cause of the apple. Just like in the same way as enlightenment also needs an unmistaken cause. So it’s like the apple seed, but not only that, we need also a collection. We need all the causes and condition, all the causes and conditions to be complete in order for the apple to come about out of this, out of the seed. We must, we need water, we need sunlight, we need a good soil and fertilizers or whatever.
So we need a whole collection of many different causes and conditions in order to be able to to get an apple in the future. So in the same way, in order to be able to get Buddha hood, we not only need the seed, which is the unmistaken cause of Buddhahood, but we need all many other cause and conditions, which are the trainings and the vows and so forth, which are like the water, the sunlight, and the fertilizers and so forth. So then, for example, if one if one wants to someone is wishing to to get hold of an apple, to eat an apple, then if if this person who wants to have apples, if this person plants the seed of another fruit of of tangerines, let’s say, if someone plants the seed of tangerines, then he will not get apples. He will get tangerines. So in terms of fruits, that’s alright because he’s gonna get a tangerine.
But in terms of Buddhahood, then if one does does not have the direct cause of Buddhahood, then one let me if one plants, I say, the direct cause of something else, then one will not get Buddhahood. So then what is meant the text asks, what is meant with this unmistaken method and all this complete collection of factors. So then the text quotes, the Vairochanabhisambodhi Sūtra. And it says that the wisdom, the all knowing wisdom of Buddhahood, how to say, has as its roots arises from the root of compassion. Arises from the cause of the mind of enlightenment.
And from the methods, it is brought to perfection. So that is said in this text. So then, Geshe-la briefly explains that what is referred to as methods, again, refers to the practice of the six perfections and so forth. This one. And then just as it was stated in Vairochanabhisambodhi, so if out of so with both great compassion and the conventional ultimate mind of enlightenment and how do you say, plus the methods of generosity and so forth, then all the causes, the unmistaken causes and all the factors will then be present for the accomplishment of Buddhahood.
Okay? Okay. So he says that these practices are not easy. If it was easy, then we’ll have many Buddhas around. But then Geshe-la says, still it is very important.
We must train our minds in this way. We must plant these imprints and we must as much as we can actually get accustomed ourselves to these teachings, to these ideas. So and then if if we do like that, and then we get better and better. Oh, So then Geshe-la is saying, it’s just like when we were very young and we were just beginning to learn the a b c. And and then if we look now, we just without any thoughts, we can recognize and read and write and we can do so much, we have accomplished so much.
The same way we can we train ourselves in the mind of enlightenment, and then we get better and better. And one day, we just like the ABC again. Uh-huh. So then Geshe-la says that we must give rise to a strong mind, to a strong intent, thinking that already innumerable beings have attained enlightened, have attained Buddhahood. And just like them, I can also I am also able to attain Buddhahood.
And then endowed with attitude, one engages wholeheartedly in the study and practice. So then we go to the third topic, which is an explanation of the stages of training the practices. And The text reads, having given rise to the aspirational mind of enlightenment, then one must train in the wish to practice the trainings, to engage in the trainings of Bodhisattvas. So then, Geshe-la was briefly saying that even though we might have given rise to the aspirational mind of enlightenment, we usually do not want to engage in the practices.
We always think about this life and the the small purposes of this life, and we do not engage in the trainings of Bodhisattvas. So we have to generate this wish to engage in the trainings. So the aspirational mind of enlightenment is the mind that thinks: may I — a mind that understands that all sentient beings experience a lot of suffering, they are experiencing a lot of suffering, and one must bring all sentient beings free from suffering.
Then it is the mind that thinks: in order to be able to accomplish that, may I attain enlightenment. May oneself attain enlightenment. So that’s the aspirational mind of enlightenment. Now, what one must do then is train oneself constantly at all times, giving rise to this to this mind. Okay?
So then Geshe-la says, if one trains oneself at all times in this aspirational mind of enlightenment, then eventually, the wish to engage in the trainings will come about. Then one will start to look for the causes of enlightenment, okay? So Geshe-la has given another analogy. So if for example, we there is a car that we want to get hold of. We want to get we want to get a a car, and then we we think, oh, I must I must get that car for myself.
And one thinks all the time of of of that car, that one must get that car, one desires that car. So after some time, and then of of thinking this way, bringing this thought to one’s to one’s mind all the time, then eventually one will start to to think, to engaging in means to to get actually hold of the car, to buy the car. Okay. So it’s in the same way, you’re gonna say it’s in the same way this mind of enlightenment and the practices will come about. So then I say to you, so normally, the mind that thinks of what we need for ourselves comes very easily.
So the minds that thinks about the car that one wants to to buy or get hold of comes about very easily. Now the mind that thinks of freeing all sentient beings from suffering, that mind comes about with great difficulty. It’s very difficult to cultivate. So then, Geshe-la says, it’s very easy — the mind that thinks of the things that we need for ourselves comes about very easily. We can easily see and observe the things we want to get hold of, the results we want to obtain, right?
The car, for example — we can remind ourselves: the thought of obtaining a car comes about very easily and it’s very easy to see the result of our practices, of our efforts, of our activities, which is the car itself. Now the mind that thinks of accomplishing the purpose, the welfare of others comes about very difficult. First of all, because it is very difficult at first for ourselves to not think of our own happiness alone, of our own welfare alone, and to actually think of benefiting others, of accomplishing the welfare of others. So that mind that thinks of accomplishing the welfare of others is very difficult. Not only that, but it’s very difficult for us to see the result that we want to obtain by our efforts, which is enlightenment itself.
Does that make sense, okay? So then how is it that we see how is it that we can see the the result that we are aiming at, the result of Buddhahood? We can see it through through the the sutras, the the teachings of of Buddha Śākyamūni himself. So by by the teachings of the Buddha Śākyamūni himself, we can see that there was a Buddha, which was Buddha Śākyamūni himself. And and if we follow his teachings, it stated that we can attain the same result as he — as Buddha Śākyamūni has attained himself.
So we we must develop an understanding, a belief on this. Okay? So then the text says, the text said before, we must having given rise to the aspirational mind of enlightenment, we must develop, train ourselves in the wish to engage in the trainings. Then after that, one must take on the vows of bodhisattvas, okay? And then one must correctly train in the practices of bodhisattvas.
And then Geshe-la briefly says, so then having thought of acquiring a car, then one must engage in work — it’s just like protecting the vows. So when one engages in work, one looks for a job, one engages in working activity, one must accumulate money in order to be able to buy the car. So in the same way, one thinks of attaining enlightenment, then one must look for the means to accomplish that, one engages in the activity and accumulates all the causes and conditions in order to be able to obtain the result of Buddhahood. Okay. So we stop here today.
Okay. So then you finished buying, you bought already your cars.