Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Using the image of water nurturing a harvest at planting, growth, and ripening, Geshe Pema Tsering argues in this 45-minute commentary that great compassion is indispensable at the beginning, middle, and end of the entire Buddhist path. He distinguishes three types of compassion — focused on sentient beings, on impermanence, and on emptiness — and explains how sharp-faculty and dull-faculty practitioners reach them by different routes. The session then turns to the Heart Sūtra’s title, unpacking the Sanskrit and Tibetan terms word by word to show why wisdom is called the “mother” of all Buddhas while method is the “father.” Geshe Tsering closes with a treatment of Buddha nature and a technical note on how ancient editors counted verse-sections to detect textual corruption. Suited to practitioners with some grounding in Buddhist philosophy.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 2001 11 01 HS.mp3
UUID: 87563222-5e30-4b85-a97d-0ee3094e2c3a
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Heart Sūtra (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2001-11-01
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.2 minutes
Words: ~3,169
With what is said in Madhyamakāvatāra, one pays homage to great compassion. And the reason why great compassion is paid homage to is that bodhisattvas are generated from great compassion. They’re generated also from bodhicitta, the view of emptiness, and so forth. So therefore, then goes on to state state that compassion itself is beneficial in the beginning, in the middle, and in the end of any practice, just like water is a benefit in the beginning. And this is because, for instance, compassion is like water, and water is very beneficial in the production of a harvest.
Water is needed in the beginning, when it’s planted, needed in the middle, and it’s needed towards the end in order to even ripen the harvest as well. So, just like that, compassion is needed, in the three stages of one’s practice. So in the beginning of one’s practice, great compassion is necessary because it’s through great compassion that bodhicitta is developed. And then all the practices that one needs to undertake while on the path are really a product or a condition and developed through bodhicitta and through great compassion. And then also, at the end, at the time of the result, which is, say, the time of the becoming a Buddha, also great compassion is necessary, in order to motivate Buddhas to teach sentient beings, to care for sentient beings, and so on.
So this compassion that’s required at the beginning, middle, and end of of our practice, in general, is what is termed great compassion. So then that great compassion, that’s beneficial in the beginning, middle, and end, it also has three types. So there’s, compassion focused on sentient beings, on dharma, and non observed. So this compassion focused on these three separate things. So therefore, there’s three parts of compassion.
So in fact, even though these three are all compassion, they they are types of compassion. Still, their their objects, their focal objects are different. So initially, for the first type, it’s the what one mainly focuses on is sentient beings, and the second one is dharma, and the third one is the non observed. So because the focal objects are different than the three types of compassion. So initially, the the first type of compassion, that’s talked about is this, compassion focused on sentient beings.
And in a way, it’s like a basis for the other two types, such as a second type compassion focused on dharma, the second type, and the non-observed third type. So initially, one, through focusing on the conditions of sentient beings, the state of sentient beings, then one generates compassion. Then on the basis of developing, compassion focused on sentient beings, then if one also possesses in the continuum or in one’s continuum wisdom comprehending impermanence. One is able to mix these two types of awareness, bring them together and develop compassion focused on dharma, the second type. So here, dharma refers to impermanence, and that in a way is a mixture of those two types of awareness.
Then also if a being develops great compassion focused on sentient beings and that’s manifest within their continuum, also that great compassion is qualified by wisdom comprehending emptiness, is the third type of compassion. That is compassion focused on the non-observed. So here, for those, of sharp faculty, those beings that have sharp intellectual faculty, it’s possible for them to comprehend emptiness even before they generate bodhicitta. So they since they’ve already comprehended emptiness initially, when they do generate bodhicitta or great compassion, that great compassion can be qualified, can be mixed, therefore, with wisdom comprehending emptiness. And so they have they generate in their continuum, compassion focused on the non observed.
Those of lesser faculty or duller faculty initially generate bodhicitta and then great compassion in bodhicitta. And then on the basis of that, then later they establish, the wisdom comprehending emptiness. So they do it in that fashion. So first, they tend to generate, the other types of compassion. So in fact, we’re the ones of sharp faculty or dull faculty.
One needs to generate both states. That is great compassion and wisdom comprehending emptiness. So if one’s of sharp faculty, prior to generating great compassion, one generates the wisdom comprehending emptiness. And then later when great compassion and bodhicitta are developed, then, this third type of compassion is generated in their continuum. For the other type of the dull duller faculty, then first, they generate great compassion through contemplating, equalizing and exchanging self and others, and so forth.
And then later, they generate the wisdom comprehending emptiness. So they tend to generate the the other types of compassion first. So for ourselves, since we’re engaged in generating or seeking to generate, bodhicitta and its root, great compassion. And initially, we generate equanimity. So here equanimity is a type of mind that is observing sentient beings, but is not being influenced or is, separating oneself from hatred and attachment to those beings and establishing equanimity, towards other beings.
So for those of us, who are seeking to enter the path, to establish the path in great compassion and so forth, then this initial reasoning that of equanimity, that other beings are equal, and that we should treat them equally, is a supreme type of reasoning that we should employ, and it’s beneficial for us. So in fact, here we develop equanimity of viewing other sentient beings, and we’re actively trying to eliminate, hatred and attachment to those sentient beings. And we reflect that just as like ourselves, those beings seek happiness. They don’t seek suffering. They actively try to avoid suffering, actively try to establish happiness.
They’re just like ourselves, and we should contemplate this at length and develop the aspiration, extend the aspiration that we have ourselves to include other beings and to the point of eventually attaining a superior intention of seeking the state of enlightenment, in order to establish the happiness of other beings. So here we reflect a little bit of meditation on superior intention, which is the, the sixth of the seven causes producing bodhicitta. So that strong aspiration to attain a state of enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings, I myself will do that, we should meditate on that firmly. Yeah. So we’re reading from page one forty seven.
So here, we’re starting with the second division of the text where it says with regard to the second, the meaning of the parts of the Heart Sūtra, there are two sections, the preliminary stanzas and the actual sūtra itself. And now we’re of that one, we’re gonna go to the second part. And that’s about halfway down that page with respect to the second. Has everyone found that one? With respect to the second, the actual explanation, there are also two parts, the meaning of the title and the meaning of the text.
So firstly, we’re dealing with the meaning of the title. So here, initially, it states states that in Sanskrit or in Indian language, it’s called the Bhagavati Prajñāpāramitā Hridaya. And then in Tibetan, it is called mother heart of the perfection of wisdom or here as it stated, the heart of the transcendent and victorious perfection of wisdom. So it it’s stated there in the title. It’s actually stated ‘destroys’.
Actually, the the word in Tibetan, destroy, it actually doesn’t occur in this particular translation. So here, destroy, it’s from the Tibetan word, it comes from the Tibetan explanation of the term or. And this term destroy means to destroy the inner latencies that exist within the continuum that one needs to overcome in order to progress on a path. Now again, in the Tibetan term here, the word in Tibetan for Bhagavan is So it’s necessary to understand the Tibetan meaning or the Tibetan way that this word is explained. So the second part means to possess, and therefore, it means to also possess all the qualities, the qualities of cessation of comprehension and so forth.
All of these are possessed by, the Bhagavan. Then again in the Tibetan, we have. There’s another particle third particle there, and that really refers to the transcendent mother. And so that’s really the mother of the Buddha’s and so on it refers to referring to wisdom. So in fact, here in terms of method and wisdom, method is usually regarded as male and wisdom is female.
So here it’s termed the mother transcendent subdurer for this term in Tibetan. Then also in the title, we have this term Prajñāpāramitā. So that, of course, is the perfection of wisdom itself. Wisdom gone beyond, it means. Now, still, we’re dealing with the title here.
First, we had Bhagavadhi in Sanskrit, then Prajñāpāramitā and then Hridaya. Hridaya means heart, means the essence. And so the essence of all perfection of wisdom, of all wisdoms is the wisdom that exists in the continuum of a Buddha. So that’s what it is referring to. So here, this is a title.
One way we can construe that is the mother heart of the perfection of wisdom. And that’s the actual title of this sūtra. So the reason why the the title is first stated is in order to give an indication of what the sūtra is about. So for that reason, the sūtra title is stated and it therefore indicates that it’s about the wisdom. So here it’s a it’s a case of the subject matter itself giving its name to the the text.
So the subject matter of the text is the perfection of wisdom. So, therefore, that particular subject matter is listed essential in the title itself. So here, subject matter is the perfection of wisdom, and the Buddha taught the perfection of wisdom on various occasions, in various lengths. But the essence, the heart of all those teachings of the perfection of wisdom is included here. So therefore, So therefore, because it’s this particular sūtra combines these different meanings, it’s the subject matter is about, the perfection of wisdom.
It’s teaching the means of attaining the perfection of wisdom. And it’s, accumulating essential advice, the heart advice on this topic is therefore called the sūtra on the perfection, on the heart of the perfection of wisdom. So Je Tsongkhapa himself has praised the teaching of of the perfection of wisdom in his text called the Lekshe Nyingpo. And where he said, whatever you have spoken begins from dependent arising and is for the purpose of passing beyond sorrow. You have no activities that do not bring peace.
So in fact, here the essential the essence the essential teaching of the Buddha are designed for that purpose to, benefit beings and take them to the state beyond all sorrow through the protection of wisdom. So here the the Buddha himself, only contemplates methods by which beings can get beyond sorrow, progress beyond, the state of saṃsāra and so forth. And this, the method by which they actually do pass beyond sorrow is through the wisdom realizing emptiness. So therefore, the heart method, the essential method of getting beyond sorrow, beyond saṃsāra and so on, is really this developing this wisdom that comprehends So, also, what is being referred to here is this fact of we seek to attain a state beyond sorrow through the the perfection of wisdom. And what we attain in the end is the omniscient state of a Buddha, and also that that emptiness which the empty state, which is the emptiness of that omniscient mind of a Buddha.
Both of those exist in a in a sense in a causal forms at present. And the wisdom that we have at present, the mind that we have at present, has the potential to become the wisdom of a Buddha. And the emptiness of our defiled mind or stained mind has the potential to eventually, become the, emptiness of an omniscient mind. In fact, what is referred to here is, Buddha nature. In fact, we possess Buddha nature in the present or the potential to actualize both of these Buddha bodies.
So the potential to attain state of a Buddha, that nature exists in all sentient beings. And in fact, Śākyamūni Buddha himself was at one point similar to ourselves. And the difference there is that, Śākyamūni has awakened that potential and brought that potential to perfection. We ourselves possess a similar potential as with all other sentient beings like animals, like, ants and so forth. And if we are able to awaken that potential, we can perfect it.
We can bring it to a point, where it manifests as the two Buddha bodies, the, the Dharma body and the Form body of a Buddha. So the the two types of lineage that we possess are the natural abiding lineage, which is the emptiness of our current stained mind. And the current stained mind itself is really the evolving lineage, an impermanent state, which is an evolving lineage or an evolving nature. So in fact, all sentient beings have both of these types of lineage. That is the natural abiding Buddha nature and the evolving Buddha nature, the developing Buddha nature because they have the potential to become a Buddha.
And it’s those two types of nature that become the two Buddha bodies. So here the definition of the natural abiding Buddha nature is the emptiness of the stained mind. Yeah. So for the the Madhyamaka or for the middle way school, also the definition of the evolving Buddha lineage is that compounded or that which is suitable to be a cause for the compounded Dharma body of a Buddha. So in terms of the both of these types of Buddha nature, whether it’s the evolving or the natural abiding, they are they refer to the mind or the emptiness of the mind.
That mind is a stained mind, and the stains of that mind are suitable to be eliminated. So therefore, it stated that the mind itself in essence is pure or clear light. And the second part of that is that, all stains are adventitious or adventitious. Meaning that all the stains that exist within the mind are impermanent, can be eliminated. So because the stains in the mind are in fact, adventitious, they can be removed.
One can free the mind of them. And, therefore, there there is a method by which the stains can be removed, and this method is wisdom, which comprehends emptiness. So he Buddha has made effort to therefore explain exactly this perfection of wisdom because the Buddha is inspired to free sentient beings of the afflictions, the afflictive states, and so on so they may pass beyond sorrow. And in order to do that, they need to free the mind of the stains that they possess through comprehending the wisdom or developing wisdom comprehending emptiness. So if we understand here the the purpose for stating this particular treatise, then we understand that the it’s not a treatise that is stated without a purpose.
It is, something that is stated for a particular goal, a particular end in mind. And so it’s very beneficial for us to understand here the purpose of the sūtra. So also with the in the title of the sūtra, it’s stated mother, ma. There’s a in fact, if we look at it in Tibetan, it’s Bhagavati, which refers to the female. And in Tibetan, it’s referring to the female.
So therefore, the reason for stating that in the title is to indicate the central importance of wisdom, which has a female aspect. And because it’s that wisdom comprehending emptiness, which is the mother of all Buddhas. So in fact, here in in order for us to establish the state of complete enlightenment, we need both wisdom and method. Here, wisdom is like one’s mother. Method is like one’s father.
For ourselves, even to attain rebirth as a human being, wisdom and method, that is wisdom comprehending emptiness,. Those two together are able to produce the result. You know, in Spanish words. Yeah. In this particular sūtra, the Heart Sūtra, explicitly it talks about wisdom and it talks about the mother, the wisdom aspect itself.
So directly taught is the mother aspect, indirectly taught or implicitly, the father or method aspect or bodhicitta aspect is taught. And this also This also is the case for the other Prajñāpāramitā treatises or sutras, the extensive, the middle, and the brief, for those three, then wisdom is directly taught and method is indirectly taught. In other commentaries such as the treatises by Maitreya, such as the ornament of realization, Abhisamayālamkāra, and so forth. In those treatises, bodhicitta and so forth are directly taught. So there, their purpose is more to explicitly state the meaning of what bodhicitta is.
Although, of course, they also teach emptiness as well. So also then, in the actual text of, the Heart Sūtra, does anyone have a text of the Heart Sūtra itself? It exists in there. Oh. Yeah.
That should be. I’m not sure if it’s existing here. In the in the actual Tibetan, we have a statement here saying, the first volume. Does it exist in this one? No.
It doesn’t. In the actual text itself, it has, the first volume. So volume here refers to, here in the Tibetan tradition, it’s referring to a a Tibetan volume, like This occurs also in the commentary that we have on page one forty eight in the second paragraph down where it says one section. This refers to one volume. And what it means is that’s often occurs in in the text themselves, which indicates that a particular number of verses have been, stated or, written.
And so it’s a way of checking keeping a check on whether there are corruptions entering the text themselves if things are being added and so forth. Because here, one volume. So as it says a little bit further down in the commentary, there are different ways of assessing or estimating what a section or a bumpo actually is. And so from a particular text called Haribhādra’s Sphuṭārtha, which is the clear word explanation of the ornament realization, In that, it says that one section is comes to three hundred shlokas or three hundred verses. Then in another text called the Mañjuśrī Pariprecha, that states that ninety slokas or ninety verses constitute one section or one volume.
Then another text called the, Tathāgata, Tathagatasamgiti Sūtra. It states that seventy five slokas or verses constitute three sections. So therefore one section must be twenty five verses. And in accordance with, the latter, since there are twenty five Shlokas within the Heart Sūtra, then it’s regarded as making up one section. So here, there is a a way of assessing what a shloka is, and that is like, one line of a verse is made up of seven syllables.
Four lines of seven syllables making twenty eight syllables makes one Śloka or one, four-line verse.