Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 45-minute final session on the Heart Sūtra, Geshe Pema Tsering opens by dedicating the merit of the entire course of study and grounding practitioners in bodhicitta — the aspiration for enlightenment on behalf of all beings. He then works through the twelve links of dependent origination in close detail, distinguishing the three projecting causes (ignorance, compositional action, consciousness) from the three establishing causes (craving, grasping, existence), and tracing how saṃsāra runs forward into rebirth and reverses toward liberation. The Heart Sūtra’s compressed treatment of the Four Noble Truths and primordial awareness follows. The session closes with a sustained analysis of self-grasping, contrasting Buddhist and non-Buddhist positions on whether a substantially existent self can be found within the aggregates — illustrated with the classic reductio: the horns of a rabbit. Suited to practitioners with some grounding in Madhyamaka analysis.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 09 2001 12 13 HS.mp3
UUID: a4aec5c0-75e0-4b06-982a-29711947f0f7
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Heart Sūtra (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2001-12-13
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.1 minutes
Words: ~2,741
So here, initially, in terms of developing motivation so firstly, Je Rinpoche has mentioned, that one requires the three principles of the path. That is renunciation, bodhicitta, and the correct view of emptiness. One needs to establish these. Otherwise, one cannot produce the cause for the state of enlightenment. One cannot achieve the result of enlightenment itself.
So central here for us is this the development of bodhicitta or the mind of enlightenment. So this, especially, we need to cultivate. So here we need the motivation that aspires to achieve the state of enlightenment. We ourselves achieve the state of enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. So here, this is what initially we need to meditate on to develop this motivation.
If one already has established this motivation, then now we can meditate on improving or increasing that motivation. And if one is yet to develop that motivation, then one needs to, initially establish it. So, now we’re going to spend a little time, a few minutes meditating on generating this motivation. And, also, one recalls that tonight we finished the Heart Sūtra and in reflecting on this also one thinks about the root of merit that one establishes through the study of this this particular text. And then with the motivation to, increase and enhance that root of merit, so that it becomes, a cause for the state of enlightenment, a cause for ourselves attaining the state of enlightenment that we need to achieve in developing bodhicitta.
And also that we need in order to fulfill the wishes of not only ourselves, but all sentient beings and also of other great beings such as the Dalai Lama and so forth, then we should bring together all of this this positive potential and dedicate it to our own enlightenment and also the fulfilling of the wishes of other great beings. So here, we dedicate this root of merit, from the study and contemplation of this text, also to the long life of, Kansar Rinpoche and so on, as well as to becoming causes, for our own enlightenment. So now we should meditate well on these points. So here we’re in the section of the text teaching the twelve twelve links of dependent arising, which state there is no ignorance or exhaustion of ignorance up to no aging and death and no exhaustion of aging and death. So here it talks initially about the twelve links of dependent origination from ignorance, composition, consciousness, and so forth.
And those those twelve are actually contaminated. It contaminated twelve twelve links. And the opposite of those twelve, which are the uncontaminated twelve links, which is the exhaustion of ignorance, the exhaustion of composition, exhaustion of consciousness, and and so forth all the way up to the exhaustion of aging and death. And they refer to the the pure truths, which counter the two contaminated truths. So they’re stated here and therefore also the emptiness of those states is practiced.
So firstly stated there is no ignorance and expressed in the sūtra itself is only the word ignorance. So that’s explicit. But of course, what follows is the other twelve other eleven links such as composition, consciousness, name and form, and so on. And these then relate to the the contaminated process. Ignorance itself is basically divided in two types.
Here, ignorance in relation to the nature of entities such as ignorance of the empty nature of all entities or ignorance of the law cause and effect and so on. So in general, the definition of ignorance is the mental factor which is confused to its object or mental the mental factor which does not comprehend or doesn’t know its object. So this is a very general presentation of what ignorance is. So then there are different types of ignorance. Firstly, there is ignorance in relation to thatness or suchness, And that is that is ignorance which counters, in fact, the understanding of or simply does not understand the meaning of suchness.
Also, in general, there’s ignorance, which is grasping at a self of person and ignorance, which is grasping at a self of dharma. And here, this particular ignorance is the initial link of the twelve links. And as the initial link of the twelve links, it is the ignorance in relation to thatness itself. So this initial type of ignorance, which is the first link, oh sorry, is the first of the twelve links, Is ignorance which grasps at a self of person. From among the two types of ignorance which grasps at a self of person, self of dharma.
So this is the first ignorance which grasps at a self of person. Moreover, it’s an innate type of ignorance as between the imputed and innate forms of ignorance. It is an innate form of ignorance. Also, it is ignorance which grasps itself as being self arisen and substantially existent. So this is the form of ignorance that is asserted to be the first of the twelve links.
So the presentation that the ignorance here is this innate grasping at a self as being self arisen and substantially existent is a presentation of the lower schools. The presentation of this school is that it is grasping at the at the inherent or the true existence of objects. In in this particular system, unlike the lower schools which hold this ignorance to be grasping at a self of person, they hold it to be grasping at a self of dharma. So then based on this type of ignorance, that is this innate ignorance which grasps at the self of dharma, then action is engaged in various types of action are engaged in. And by engaging an intentional action or activating intention, then the consciousness is imprinted with seeds and so forth.
And these seeds are various types, black and white, and so on. So the process of evolving existence is maintained. So this first type of ignorance is regarded as really the motivation or the initiator of karma. So its function here is the initiation of karma. So this the karma or this composite karma which arises is in fact motivated by the ignorance.
That karma itself forms the second link of the twelve links of dependent arising. So in the second moment, it is asserted that this type of karma or intention subsides, but it does actually lay an imprint, which is retained within the continuum of a being. In the lower schools, it’s regarded that the imprint is laid upon the consciousness. But in this school, they regard the imprint as being laid on the person. On the other hand, the mind only school holds that the karma itself imprints the foundation consciousness, not the mental consciousness, but the foundation consciousness.
That’s in this one. So these three, that is the ignorance composition, which is the second link of karma, and consciousness, they form the the three links of three projecting causes. So these these three together, the first, second and third links form what are called the three projecting causes. And so they project a being into their rebirth and so forth. And so these three together form the cause of projecting of being into a future rebirth.
On the other hand, there are three establishing causes amongst the twelve links, which are craving, grasping, and existence. Craving, grasping, and existence, therefore, also form three causes, but they’re not projecting causes. They’re establishing causes. So, really, these three that is the three establishing causes that is craving, grasping, and existence. The first two are really forms of attachment.
So for instance, we establish the projecting causes initially that is through ignorance and then through composition and consciousness, then karma is activated and it imprints the mental consciousness with karmic seeds. Those seeds abide until they’re awakened by craving and grasping. And craving itself acts like water to a seed. It initially awakens a seed. So here, talking about seeds within the mental continuum, by generating, manifesting craving, the seeds are awakened.
By generating grasping, then those seeds are brought near to actually or are strengthened. Their potential to generate a result is strengthened by grasping. So craving and grasping here are subsumed by attachment. So then the the next link, which is that of existence, that is of the three establishing causes. Existence itself is what brings into existence one’s future rebirth initially through creating and grasping, but the link of existence itself establishes one’s future existence.
So it’s the link of existence then acts to establish our future rebirth. And when that future rebirth is established, then the fourth link that is the link of name and form is established. So this is the the link which occurs with the union of the egg and the sperm of the parents. And when the gross physical body of that rebirth is established, is the establishment of the link of name and form. So then after establishing the link of name and form, which is the fourth link, then the fifth link is established.
And the fifth link is called the six sense spaces. So when the six sense spaces are established within the embryo, then this the fifth link, the link of the six spaces is established. Then after establishing the six sense spaces, which is the fifth link, then the sixth link, the link of contact is established. And through the establishment of the link of contact, then the seventh link, the link of feeling, is able to be generated. And the link of feeling here therefore refers to the three different types of feeling, etcetera, such as positive, negative, and neutral feelings.
And and then the tenth link, the link of birth is established at the time of conception within the womb of the mother. And then in the second moment, then the link of old age and death is established. So in the second moment of the eleventh link, the twelfth link is established. That is the link of aging and death.
In the second moment of the link of birth. And in this way, the process of Samsāra is established, cycling through these twelve links. So here in the Heart Sūtra then here the forward process and the reverse process both are mentioned. That is the no ignorance, no exhaustion of ignorance. So ignorance itself refers to the forward process, and exhaustion of ignorance refers to the reverse process of the twelve links.
So here, when one one examines a text, it’s teaching secondly there the reverse process. So the reverse process is starts starts with the words, the exhaustion of ignorance. And through the exhaustion of ignorance, therefore, there is exhaustion of composition. Through exhaustion of composition, there is exhaustion of consciousness. With consciousness being exhausted, then also name and form, then also the six spaces, then also contact, also feeling, then also craving and grasping and existence and birth and old age and death and so forth.
So teaching it in that way teaches the the reverse process, the pure reverse process. So here in stating this, what the Heart Sūtra is actually teaching is the lack of inherent existence of these states. Indirectly, it’s teaching twelve links of the forward process and the exhaustion of ignorance and so forth. Exhaustion of the twelve links in terms of the reverse process. So here, in fact, it’s it’s taught briefly here, but there is a huge amount of information that can be added to the the the various limited description that’s given here, but there is no time actually to go into this in a brief presentation of the sūtra.
So then the text also continues. Similarly, there is nothing associated with suffering origin, cessation, and path. So as it states, similarly, also, this is applied to the four four truths. And there is no primordial awareness, no attainment, or even non attainment. So here it’s it’s basically saying that there is no observer, no object to be observed.
When one actually focuses on these different topics, on these different objects, there’s really nothing there to be observed at all. So then it also says there’s no primordial awareness. There’s no. So what it’s saying is that there is no primordial awareness which exists truly or inherently. So then the text also says there’s no obtainment or even non obtainment.
So he was stating that even these states of obtaining the result or the nonobtainment of the result also are not observed by primordial awareness. In other words, they’re they’re not truly existent. So there is a need here to teach the the twelve bases and the eighteen realms and so forth because it’s stated that there are outside of schools such as the Samkhya who hold various positions in relation to these these objects. And in order to overcome their specific views, which don’t conform with the view of the Buddha, then Kedrup Je has mentioned that particular presentation is given in the sūtra here in order to overcome the views of the the outsider schools such as the Samkhya. So, also, it’s stated that there is a a conception of a self asserted by non Buddhists is a really fabricated or an artificial conception of a self.
And the innate is the conception of a substantially existing person in a sense of self sufficient or a self arisen self that is asserted by the Svatāntrika-Madhyamikas and below. These are refuted anyway in this section of the text. So in fact, here in stating basically that there’s no primordial awareness, there’s no attainment, non attainment, and so forth, here these words and the words preceding those refute the existence of a self. So here is the type of self that’s not reliant on the aggregates or a type of self that’s independent of the aggregates. So what is being refuted here is a self which is self arisen and substantially existent.
That that type of self which acts as a controller or as a an enjoyer or a utilizer of the five aggregates. So that type of self and the innate form, or or the mind or the type of conception that holds that in an innate sense, is refuted, is established as being a a wrong type of conception. So this is established in this part of the text. So also in this section, it’s it’s also stated that there are various proponents of outsider views who hold to the substantial existence of self, that there is a substantially existent self within the aggregates as a controller and so forth. And in order to establish the existence of a substantially existent self, then they say that we should take the the discernment thinking I or the the thought of I itself.
That that particular thought of I does actually engage the self just as it is or or the object just as it is. Because without previously engaging or establishing that type of thought, it is a type of discernment which engages by its by its engages the self by its own strength in simply seeing the five aggregates. So they use this type of reasoning, this type of logic to establish that there is a substantially existent self. And then they yeah. Then they also formulate an instance for that, which is that take for example, it is like how one formerly holds oneself to be.
Now there are outsiders that assert that there is a substantial existent self on the basis of that type of reasoning, because there is a sense of I that occurs. On the other hand, the Buddhists assert that there is no substantially existent self, and they formulate reason, various reasons to refute the existence of a substantially existent self. And that reasoning is as follows. They say that take a subject, a self arisen person, which is not imputed on the continuum of the collection of the five aggregates, not imputed on the collection of the five aggregates or its continuum. That type of self, that self arisen self, does not exist by its nature or exist by through its essence or inherently because it is is neither one with or distinct from the aggregates.
And then they give an example. It’s a little bit like the horns of a rabbit.