Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. The image of purified gold — all dross removed, leaving only what is most precious — anchors Geshe Pema Tsering’s 45-minute opening commentary on the Essence of Refined Gold, a Lamrim text by the Third Dalai Lama. He devotes the first half to motivation, distinguishing three valid levels for Dharma study — securing a positive rebirth, seeking liberation, and developing bodhicitta — and urges students to cultivate the highest they can before any practice. He then traces the text’s lineage through Nāgārjuna, Asaṇga, and Atisha to establish its authority and completeness. He closes by outlining the text’s first two “great qualities”: that the Buddha’s teachings contain no internal contradictions, and that every teaching — however abstract — is intended as personal practice advice. Suited to those beginning a structured Lamrim study.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 2004 02 02 RG.mp3
UUID: 2285d99e-ef69-4da8-a4d5-118a63f31844
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Essence of Refined Gold (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2004-02-02
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 44.9 minutes
Words: ~3,793
Today we’re going to listen to a teaching or an explanation of the text, which is called the Essence of Refined Gold, which is what’s called a graduated path text that teaches the path to enlightenment. Now, before we listen to an explanation of this text or this teaching on the essence of refined gold, what we need is a good motivation. Now, the motivation we need for this text is that we need to have the motivation of either listening to the text or listening to the teaching in order to act as a reason for us to attain complete enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings, or we need to be listening to this text with the motivation that we’re doing so in order to attain liberation for ourselves, or we need to be listening to the text with the idea that we’re listening to the text in order to stop ourselves from having a negative rebirth or a rebirth in the lower realms in next life. Okay, so not just when we’re going to listen to a teaching about the essence of refined gold, which is description of the path to enlightenment, not only then should we have a good motivation.
We should try and engender a good motivation or encourage a good motivation with whatever we do, whether it’s a worldly activity or an activity that focuses on this life or an activity that focuses on our spiritual development and our future lives. So this means that if we’re going to work or doing something like work at home, then we should try and develop a good motivation for doing that. Now, most of the time we don’t have a good motivation for doing things. Most of the time our motivation for doing something or for performing an action is to get some benefit from this life or some benefit solely for ourselves. So most of the time, we don’t have a motivation that includes bodhicitta, which is the mind seeking to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.
We don’t have that wish. We don’t do things with the motivation of attaining liberation for ourselves, and we don’t do things with the motivation of securing a positive rebirth for ourselves in the next life. So this means that we should try and work on developing our motivation whenever we’re doing anything, but especially when we are listening to teachings, when we are meditating, when we’re doing any kind of Dharma practice. Now, the first or the best type of motivation for us to develop is the motivation of attaining enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. That is completely getting rid of negativities, completely developing positivities, and doing all this for all beings, not just for our own benefit.
That’s the best motivation. The next best motivation that we can have if we’re unable to develop that motivation is that we are doing whatever it is we’re doing or in order for the benefit of ourselves so that we can attain liberation. So we’re doing things in order for ourselves alone to attain liberation, that is complete liberation from suffering. The third best motivation that we can have is that we’re doing whatever it is we’re doing in order to attain a positive rebirth, a good rebirth in our future lives. Now, it’s difficult for us to develop different motivations, the motivation of bodhicitta or the motivation to achieve liberation.
But developing this motivation is quite easy because we have some things that we can look at that inspire us to develop that motivation. We can’t see beings in hell realms, or we can’t imagine what it’d be like to be in a living hell, but we can see animals, and we can focus on the lives of animals and see how much suffering there is in the life of an animal. How many times do ants get stood on, how many times do different insects have to do the things that we wouldn’t want to do. So by focusing on animals, can develop renunciation from the animal realm and we can expand that to the other rebirths that aren’t nice, the negative rebirth. And by developing renunciation or wishing not to be reborn in lower realms, we can then develop the motivation to want to be born as a human or in a more blissful state as a god.
But in actual fact, the motivation that we should be striving for, the motivation we should be trying to develop is what’s called the bodhicitta motivation, the motivation that’s the heart of enlightenment, the motivation seeking to attain a perfect state, the perfect state of a Buddha in order to be beneficial to all beings. So that’s the motivation we should be striving for. But in striving for this motivation that focuses on all beings, we don’t actually abandon our own benefit. We don’t actually abandon getting good things for ourselves. Because focusing on all beings, we develop an intense or a very powerful positive motivation, which gives rise to very powerful positive merit or good karma.
Just in the same way that all sentient all beings is a limitless concept, then the positive karma that we can generate from focusing with a compassionate view on all sentient beings is also a limitless concept or limitless idea. So that means by focusing on trying to develop bodhicitta or by developing bodhicitta, then we are doing something that’s enormously beneficial to ourselves as well. So we should have this motivation, and we should try and develop this motivation of bodhicitta in order to listen to the explanation of this text. Now, the text that we’re going to be going through is called The Essence of Refined Gold. Now, the reason that it’s called The Essence of Refined Gold is that if you take the what refined gold means is that all the impurities have been taken out taken out of of the gold.
And gold’s pretty good to start off with, but then if we take all of the impurities out of the gold, then what we’re left with is something very, very, precious. So when the meaning of the text being the reason that the text is called this, the essence of refined gold, is that it’s said to distill or to take the essence out of all of the conquerors’ soil or the Buddha’s teachings so that we can understand the most important aspects of the Buddha’s teachings. So the author of the text, which was the author of the text is the third Dalai Lama. He starts off the text by saying that he’s bowing or prostrating to the feet of his teacher. And his teacher he sees as being the embodiment of the Three Jewels the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha.
And he’s turning to the Three Jewels for inspiration, and he’s also asking to be blessed. So, first of all, he says he goes for refuge or for protection to this object, the teacher, which is the essence of the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, and then asked to be blessed by the teacher. Okay. The the Dalai Lama then goes on to say who he’s directing the teachings at. And he said, for those who have have attained precious human rebirth and wish to take the essence from that rebirth, that is, they wish to make the most of that rebirth, then he’s going to outline the ways that they should practice or what that they they should do in order to take the essence from their precious human rebirth.
Now, he’s talking about people like us who are born with the causes and conditions around them that would enable them to practice Dharma. Because taking the essence from a precious human rebirth, making the most of a precious human rebirth, we do this by practicing the Dharma, focusing on what will give us the most benefit, what we can get the most from in this precious human rebirth. So, he’s saying if people want to do that, then he’s going to explain what it is that they need to do. Okay. So what is it that we have to do in order to take the essence of this precious human rebirth to make the most of it?
Then the third Dalai Lama goes on to say that what we need to do is to practice the essence of the Buddha’s teachings. Now, what he’s talking about when he talks about the essence of the Buddha’s teachings is the path that’s explained in terms of the three different types of beings. The beings defined by the three different types of motivation that they develop. The progressive stages through these three different types of motivation is said to be the essence of all of the Buddha’s teachings. So this is what we need to practice in order to attain the final state of enlightenment.
And this path of the three beings is then said to be the same path that was traveled on by all of the enlightened beings of the past, all of the realized beings of the past are said to have followed the same path, the same graduated path towards enlightenment or to enlightenment. So how did we come about to how did us having these teachings, or how do we get these teachings, how did that come about? It says that these teachings were given to us or were shown to us by what are called the two charioteers, which means the two holders of the teachings, the two people who forged ahead and showed us the teachings. And they are said to be the two Indian masters, Nāgārjuna and Asaṇga. Because Nāgārjuna and Asaṇga showed us this path, then we were able to practice it in the most succinct manner possible, take the essence of the Buddha’s teachings and practice the path in the most succinct manner possible.
This path of the three different types of motivations of the three beings is said to be the supreme path that takes the essence of the Buddhist teachings and presents it in the clearest possible way. So these these teachings are said to encompass all of the Buddha’s teachings or to encompass all of the essential points of the Buddha’s teachings without leaving any out. So it’s not as if we miss out on some very important part of the Buddha’s teaching by only following the path of the three beings or the path of the three motivations towards enlightenment, because it says that all of the essential points of the Buddha’s teaching are included within this path of the three individuals or the three motivations. So in that way, it’s said to be succinct, but yet include all of the Buddhist teachings. Now, the person that showed us this teaching is called Atisha, and the text that he talked about this in was the Lamp for the Path, which is the Lamp of the Path.
So this is the Lamrim text that explains or the graduated path text that first set out the idea of the three different individuals and the path to follow towards enlightenment in that way? Okay. Now this teaching of this is the graduated path. The graduated path of the three motivations. This teaching didn’t come to us from any old source.
The source that we have for these teachings is said to be exemplary and without fault. To start off with these teachings were delivered by the Buddha Śākyamūni, the historical Buddha, And then they were codified in order to make it easier to follow as a practice by the people called the two charioteers or the two people that forged ahead, which was Nāgārjuna and Asaṇga. Then they were put into an even simpler form by the Pandit Atisha, who was another Indian saint or expert or scholar. Because of that, we have to realize that these teachings have a pure source or an honorable or venerable source for the teachings. Now, it’s not just that they have an honorable or venerable source, however, that means that we should try and follow them.
They also are said to be non biased in the way that they present things. It’s not that they focus on one aspect of the teachings and don’t focus on the other aspects of the teachings. So the fact that they’re non biased is another quality of the teachings. They also are said to include all of the past, so they don’t just focus on one aspect and they don’t leave any aspect of the teachings out. It’s also said that they include all the branches of the teachings as another analogy for not missing any important aspect of the teaching out.
The other thing that we need to realize with reference to these teachings is because of the way that they were passed down from through all these realized teachers means that they didn’t add anything that add anything to the teachings. They took the teachings as they were and may have codified or edited not not actually codified or collected them, but they didn’t add anything to the teachings and they didn’t make any mistakes about what the teachings were they had heard. So not only is the source pure, but the lineage that presented it to us is also pure, non mistaken, and not tainted. Okay. So these teachings, if we are able to practice them, then they will take us to a complete enlightenment.
They will lead us to complete all of the stages in enlightenment without leaving any out. And we know this because the people that gave us these teachings being the Buddha through Asaṇga and Nāgārjuna had these realizations and because this source is pure. But not only because the source is pure, but by practicing them then we ourselves can see that not only ourselves but all sentient beings, all the different classes of beings, if they’re able to practice these teachings, we’ll find that they will act on them in an easy way as if they were what’s called the king of jewels or wish fulfilling gem. That is, they make a wish and it comes through based on these teachings. There’s a how could Oh, yeah.
They’re they’re also said to be like an ocean, an ocean into which the teachings of all of the three vehicles, that is the Hīnayāna, the Mahāyāna, and the vajrayana, all of the three vehicles’ teachings are like rivers which flow into the ocean, which is like this text. Right? Because we know these because we know all rivers flow into the sea. So in the same way as all normal rivers flow into the normal sea, it said that the rivers of the three vehicles flow into the sea of these teachings. They also said to include all of the essential points of both the sūtra and the Tantra tradition, they’re they’re shown within these texts, which means that they didn’t omit anything when they put the text together.
So they’re also said to be the best thing that we can have the best thing that we can have for taming our mind because taming our mind is what we need to do, or controlling our mind, learning to be in charge of our mind is the thing that we need to concentrate on as ordinary beings who have no realizations. And what we really need to do is train our minds so that we have control over them and instead of it having control over us. So as this is where we’re at and this is what we need to do, then following these teachings is the best way for us to train train in being able to accomplish this. Okay. So you talked before about the what are called the two charioteers of the main different lineages in India, Nāgārjuna and Asaṇga.
Now, this teaching comes through Nāgārjuna, and it was passed down until it came to a teacher called Vidyakokila. Okay. Yeah. It’s the same word as the word that means magpies. I was like, what’s magpie doing?
Anyway, but it also means someone who has held the treasuries of all of the teachings. So, So this Vidyakokila was a holder of all of the different teachings of Nāgārjuna’s lineage. And then from the lineage of Asaṇga, this was passed down to a teacher called Serlingpa, or Dharmakīrti of Suvarnadvīpa, who was a sage or an expert from the Asaṇga School of Meditation and Practice. So the fact that these two different lineages have been included within this one text and that we are able to not only listen to teachings on this, but contemplate on them and eventually meditate on them, then we should think that we are very, very fortunate beings. We’ve accumulated a lot of good karma to be able to come across these teachings and to be able to put them into practice.
Now, as we go through this text, there’s quotes from one of Lama Tsongkhapa’s teachings on the graduated path, which is called Songs of the Stages of the Spiritual Path. And this is the essence, or it’s put in poetic form what was explained before this. Geshe-la has gone through up until this point is then succinctly put in poetic form by a quote from Lama Tsongkhapa, Songs of the Stages of the Spiritual Path. Okay, so the first quote from this text is it says and when I’m getting to this part in translation, I’m gonna read it from the book because translating poetry on spot is tricky. Okay?
Now, it says, From Nāgārjuna and Asaṇga, ornaments to all mankind. Now Geshe-la said that the reason that they’re called banners is because if we were going to put all beings together then they would stand out because of their qualities and their understandings. They would stand out from everybody else. It also says Nāgārjuna and Asaṇga were ornaments among the world’s great scholars. In terms of how it’s used in metaphor in Tibetan and Indian texts, it means that they are like the jewel of the pack, the best of the pack.
They make everybody else look good by being there. And it says, Then comes the sublime Lamrim lineage, fulfilling the hopes of all practitioners. Now the reason it fulfills the hopes of all practitioners is because people who practice it develop realizations according to the way they practice it. And again, it’s like a wish fulfilling gem combining the streams of a thousand teachings. It is an ocean of excellent guidance.
So this means that it combines all of the teachings in an ocean like form but is able to help us fairly simply. Yes. So the next thing that is explained in this text are what are called the four especially great facets or the four good things about this text. The first of these is said that these texts or these texts or these teachings reveal how the Buddha’s teachings aren’t contradictory. Now, says that in some texts, they explain the roots of teachings, and in other texts, they explain the branches of teachings or the fine details of teachings.
But in this text, it explains all of the different teachings so that we can get the whole of the path and how everything fits together. Okay, so not only would you be able to understand that there are roots and branches to the teachings, that there are things that are sources for all of the teachings and other things that are secondary or branch types of teachings. But also within the Buddha’s teachings there are what are called direct and indirect teachings or definitive interpretable and non interpretable teachings. And so we have to recognize which are interpretable and which are not interpretable. So these of the Lamrim, or the Graduated Path, enable us to not only understand what’s roots and what’s branches, but also what’s interpretable and what’s not interpretable from the Buddha’s teachings.
And by showing us all of this, then these teachings are said to contain the greatness, that they show that all of the Buddha’s teachings aren’t contradictory. That none of the Buddha’s well, hang on. But all of the Buddha’s teachings are not contradictory. Yeah. Yeah.
The next greatness of the teachings is it says that all it will show that all the various teachings should be taken as personal advice. Now the reason it’s put forward like this is that the Buddha taught many different teachings. Some of them were different sutras and tantras in many different ways and many different disciples. These have been interpreted and codified by many different experts in many different traditions. So these teachings will enable us to develop the understanding that the reason that the Buddha taught at all was out of great compassion for all sentient beings, not just ourselves but all sentient beings.
So he taught in order for us to be able to learn how to train our mind and not create the cause for suffering. So he did this out of great compassion and compassion for all sentient beings, including us. So that means that whatever he taught or whatever they teach or taught is something that we can take on as personal advice, not something that we just look at and think that’s interesting, but something we can take on as personal advice. Taking something on as personal advice means that we put it into practice And then that way it can help us along the path through different methods that involve placement meditation, analytical meditation, etc. So these teachings will show us how all of the Buddha’s explanations, because they were based on compassion and because we don’t know and he knew and he wanted to explain stuff to us, that we should all take them as personal advice.
Buddha taught many different teachings, there are many different explanations of these teachings, which are considered to be very holy and sacred. But the problem with this situation for us as beginners is that there are so many texts that are so complicated that we don’t understand what’s going on. And even we were to study them as much as we were able, for as long as we were able, we still wouldn’t understand what was going on because they’re way too complicated and there’s way too many of them. So what we need is something that some realized expert to take of the Buddhist teachings and present them to us in a way that’s easy for us to understand their meaning. Okay.
So the