Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 45-minute session, Geshe Pema Tsering opens the Lam Rim’s highest scope with Śāntideva’s vow — “For as long as space endures, may I live dispelling the miseries of the world” — and draws out a striking point: Śāntideva is not seeking his own enlightenment but committing to remain in saṃsāra indefinitely, forsaking buddhahood entirely for the sake of beings. After briefly covering the six perfections, the four ways of relating to students, and why Tantra is the only path to buddhahood in a single lifetime, the bulk of the session examines generosity. A four-person dollar illustration shows how identical giving carries radically different karmic power depending on motivation, and Geshe Pema explains why ordinary generosity without bodhicitta cannot constitute the perfection of generosity — and what practitioners can do in the meantime. The session closes by applying the same motivation-based analysis to the perfection of ethics.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 LR.mp3
UUID: c802c97a-6d7a-4b28-a6cf-e13d7cbfdd81
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Lam Rim 2002 Bodhisattva Deeds (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2002 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.0 minutes
Words: ~3,578
Okay, so tonight we are going to be speaking about the scope or the type of person of the highest type, the highest scope or the highest being. Now, there is a prayer or aspiration in the Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life that Śāntideva wrote or spoke, which says, For as long as space endures and for as long as the world lasts, may I live dispelling the miseries of the world. So this is the aspiration that he had, and this prayer is the essence of the great scope. So the reason that he starts by saying for as long as space endures is because space doesn’t ever end. Space has existed, is a permanent, has existed up until now, since beginningless time, and will never end.
This is why he starts by making his prayer that he will work as long as space endures. Other thing is that sentient beings will always endure. There will always be sentient beings to work for the benefit of. So he is making this prayer that as long as there are sentient beings who are experiencing suffering, will work, that Śāntideva says he will work for their benefit in order to dispel the misery from their lives, in order to establish them in a pleasant environment, in order to show them how not to suffer. He will continually work in order to achieve this.
So just in the same way that that that space will never cease to exist, in the same way sentient beings will will there will always be more sentient beings for us to help. Sentient beings are countless. We can’t even conceive of how many they are. If we are continually working to help sentient beings, then that will go on forever. Now, lot of the time, even when we make prayers before we do the teachings or whatever, the prayer is that we will achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings and in fact most bodhisattvas have this idea that I will work towards enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings that I will achieve enlightenment for their benefit In this case, Śāntideva isn’t making this prayer.
He’s not making the prayer to achieve enlightenment in order to benefit sentient beings. He’s making a commitment to stay in Samsāra as long as he can be a benefit to any sentient being, as long as he is helping sentient beings. So he not even looking for own Buddhahood. Is not looking for his own enlightenment. He is looking towards the enlightenment of all sentient beings.
So doesn’t he’s he’s forsaken his own enlightenment in order to be a benefit to all sentient beings. Okay. So there isn’t this idea of getting out of saṃsāra in the end. There’s a this idea of working to be a benefit to all sentient beings, taking on whatever suffering it is that you can take on in order to be of benefit to sentient beings, giving up your body in order to be of benefit to sentient beings, taking rebirth, experiencing suffering in order to be of benefit to sentient beings. It’s this constant working for others’ benefit and not considering their own benefit.
There are two different ways that people can try and develop bodhicitta. One of them is what’s called the seven-point cause and effect instruction and this one is the other one which is exchanging self for others so the aspirational prayer of the practice of exchanging self to others can be contained within this verse. So not working for own benefit but continually working so others can be established in happiness. So this is what the practice of exchanging yourself for others is, is giving away all of our happiness to others and taking on the sufferings of others, exchanging the way we usually work for our own benefit to working for the benefit of others completely giving up our ideas of self that we usually work so hard to help. So this prayer This prayer encapsulates this practice of exchanging yourself for others.
So so this this is something that may be difficult for us to try and do at the start. It’s something that we need to practice. It’s something that we need to take on as a as a practice, something that we need to train our minds in, this idea of giving up for others instead of doing things for others instead of doing it for ourselves. What this practice means is that every time that we do a prostration, every time that we say prayers, every time that we try and study Dharma, then we should dedicate that towards all other sentient beings attaining Buddhahood, not towards ourselves attaining Buddhahood, but towards all other beings attaining Buddhahood. It’s a very demanding practice to do.
It’s something that takes a lot of training in order to do. So now if we can So if if now if we can have this idea, okay, whatever I do, whatever Dharma I practice, whatever virtue I accumulate, may that be dedicated towards all other sentient beings attaining enlightenment. And so if we can do like this if we can take on this responsibility in the same way that Śāntideva has taken responsibility on like this. So we should try and focus on that thought and meditate on it for a couple of minutes. Okay.
So today, we’re going to focus on the scope of the higher being or the higher scope within the Lam Rim, the three sections within the Lam Rim. Now, the practices of the greater scope or the greater being are supposed to be undertaken after achieving the practices of the lower and middle scopes. Geshe-la says so because most of us haven t achieved the smaller and the middle scopes that we should perhaps be focusing on then more in our personal practice. So but anyway, even though we may not be able to practice this all at the moment, then it’s really good for us to get the the concepts into a mind stream to create, in principle, create a habit of understanding it so the main practices of the bodhisattvas — the main practices of the beings of the highest scope — are what’s called the six perfections and the four ways of relating to students Okay so the six perfections would be generosity, ethics, effort, patience, meditation and wisdom. The four ways of relating to students is that you should give students gifts and give them the gift of Dharma being the most important one that you should speak softly and pleasantly so the students would enjoy your teachings that you should give clear explanations and not only should you give these teachings but you should walk the walk not just talk the talk, should behave yourself in accordance with those teachings they’re considered to be the practices of beings of the higher scope but there’s all different ways of explaining the path to Buddhahood because that’s the end result of the higher scope that’s the end result of the beings who have the highest motivation.
But there’s all different ways of explaining this path. There’s this one that we’ve explained. There’s also the sūtra explanation of the higher beings or the greater beings path. The greater beings with higher sharp capacity and the greater beings with dull capacity. Both of those have an individual path and an individual explanation.
Also within Tantra, so there you have Tantra and Sūtra, so within Tantra there’s four different levels of Tantric practice that you can do. So there’s all these different ways of explaining the path to Buddhahood as it applies to the higher scope. So there’s all these different ways but if we’re going to talk about what’s the best way or what’s the fastest way to achieve Buddhahood and the fastest way to achieve Buddhahood is through Tantric practice Tantric practice is the only way that we can achieve Buddhahood in one lifetime in one body It’s the only way to do it. With the other ways of achieving Buddhahood, it’s much more gradual and takes a lot longer. So Tantra is the only way we can do it in one body, in one life.
And if we have the opportunity to practice that, if we have all the conditions that come together in order to practice Tantra, then we should definitely do it. But it’s difficult to get all those conditions to come together. Tantra is also called the path of the teacher. If you don’t have the teacher, if you don’t have the person who can show you that path, then you can’t do that practice. So it relies on the guidance and the generosity of a teacher in order for people to be able to practice it.
Okay. So but because because Buddhahood is our focus, because it is what we want to actually achieve, then even though we may not be able to do all these practices at that at at the start, then we should make it the effort to try. And the main ones that we should try and practice the main focus for the higher scope are these things called the six perfections of generosity and so forth When we speak about the six perfections, they are explained in order the first of these being the perfection of generosity There are many different types of generosity that we can have We can be giving all different types of things. When the Buddha taught, he usually said that for were monks and nuns who left the householder’s life, then the main thing that they should try and be generous with was the Dharma. For those who weren’t spending all their time meditating and studying and doing Dharma, then the thing that they should be more generous with was material things.
So so we may be able to do these things. We may be able to practice generosity, but that doesn’t make what we’re doing the practice practicing the perfection of generosity. It’s very difficult to practice the perfection of generosity. In order to practice perfections or any of the six perfections, you need to have bodhicitta in your mind stream If you don’t have bodhicitta, then you may be practicing generosity, but you’re not practicing the perfection of generosity It doesn’t happen unless there’s bodhicitta there. So Geshe-la says if you’re someone like him, then you try and give things as much as you can, but it’s still not the perfection of generosity.
So because we don’t have bodhicitta in our mind stream, that doesn’t mean we can’t try and practice as if we do have. Because we don’t have bodhicitta and we can’t practice the six perfections as such doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t practice generosity and doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t practice generosity in the closest way possible to practicing the perfection of generosity. What we need to do in this case is, first of all, we need to develop a sense of ethical conduct. We need to establish ourselves in a place where we are behaving ethically. We have done that, make sure that everything is ethical about what we are doing.
Once we have done that, then we should have the idea of a refuge in our mind. Think about refuge, think about renunciation, and try and generate some understanding of bodhicitta, try and develop an idea of bodhicitta in our mind if we have those things in our if we think of those things and then start practicing generosity, then it becomes something like the practice of the perfection of generosity, becomes the practice that with the way that we should be trying to practice the perfections even though we can’t practice the perfections themselves. Okay. So if we have this idea, if we try and meditate or we try and familiarize ourselves with the ideas of of ethics and refuge and renunciation and bodhicitta, and we keep trying to familiar ourselves familiarize ourselves with those things, or we do that before we go to give something, before we give something, then what we’re doing becomes a similitude of the practice of the perfection of generosity, becomes the preparation for the practice of generosity so that means that if we have those ideas in our head and then with those ideas in our head we start teaching Dharma, or we give people who need it money, or we give people who need it food, or we give people who need it a hand, if we help them, then that becomes the preliminary for practicing the perfection of generosity.
It becomes a similitude of practicing the perfection of generosity. But we have to remember that we can’t practice the perfection of generosity itself until we’ve developed bodhicitta. So if we don’t have the time to do that, if we’re just walking along and wanna give something to someone or we wanna do like, we wanna help someone in some way, and we don’t have the time to sit there and go, okay. First of all, I need to develop ethics and so forth. If we don’t have the time to do that, then if we can quickly think by giving this person whatever it is that we’re giving them, may that be a cause for us to achieve enlightenment to be a benefit to all sentient beings.
So if if we don’t develop this idea before we do something, if we even that means that even if we are teaching Dharma, even if we are practicing generosity through Dharma, then that act of trying to teach Dharma whatever it is we are doing doesn’t become an actual Dharma practice. It only becomes something that will result in a worldly cause or in a samsaric result. It won’t result in a cause it will result in a result. Before we start to do anything, then we have to establish in our mind that we are doing this for some purpose. If we are doing it in order to attain a good life in the next life, then anywhere from that thought upwards becomes a Dharma practice.
We need to establish that we are doing it in order to get a good rebirth, to achieve liberation, or to achieve Buddhahood, one of these things. If we don’t have that as a motivation, then whatever we are doing isn’t practicing Dharma. It doesn’t become something that’s a cause for getting out of our situation. It becomes a cause for generating a similar situation to the one that we are in. Need to establish that idea before we do anything, so especially with regards to giving things.
And the other thing is with the, when we’re giving things, even if we don’t have the time to work through everything, if we, I give with the idea of this being a cause may this giving be a cause for us to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings, then that giving becomes a very powerful thing, even if it doesn’t have the closeness to the practice of the perfections as the other process may. So we need to understand the the difference that the motivation of giving can be, it can make to what, an action’s results will be. So for example, if we have four people, right, and four people are each going to give someone a dollar. Yeah? It’s it’s the same amount.
Each each person has a dollar out of these four. Now one of these beings that’s about to give someone a dollar has bodhicitta in their mind stream. So they’re giving that dollar, in order to achieve Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings in an uncontrived manner. That giving of a dollar becomes an incredibly powerful thing. Likewise, if someone who doesn’t have bodhicitta in their mind stream but tries to generate a similitude of bodhicitta and then gives that dollar, that also becomes an incredibly powerful thing.
It becomes a cause for them to achieve buddhahood. So it’s a very, very powerful act. And then the second person’s doing it in order to achieve liberation. Now that may not be as powerful an act as the person who’s giving it to achieve buddhahood. But if that person has renunciation, then it’s still an amazingly powerful act.
And even if they they don’t have renunciation, but they are trying to develop something like renunciation, it’s a very powerful act. And it’s something that continues to to to cause positive outcomes to come about. And the third person is doing it in order to achieve is giving the dollar in order to achieve a good rebirth as a a human or or a god. Now, that is something that will keep because of the result of that, it’s something that will last for at least a lifetime as well. So they’re all in different degrees of how powerful the giving is, but all bringing about a positive outcome.
Now the fourth person is giving the dollar for some something that will benefit him in his life. He’s giving the dollar now because he wants to get a dollar back later. He’s giving the he or she is giving the dollar now because they want people to think that they’re really good for giving the dollar away. And so any of these reasons, as soon as they do it, then the results come and gone. Alright?
They they they they give the dollar in order to get a dollar back. They get a dollar back, and that’s not as that is not as powerful as any of the results that the other people were working for. Or they give the dollar, someone thinks that they’re good, they get that result, and and and it’s gone. It’s completely finished. So it’s the same dollar.
It’s the same physical amount. It’s the same amount of money that they’re giving, but each action has a very, very different outcome. Each action’s power has a very, very different level, has a different expanse. So, these people give money for all sorts of reasons in this life, and if that’s the reason they’re giving it, then the results won’t be very powerful. But if they’re giving it with one of the other three reasons, for one of the other three reasons, then it can become a very powerful cause.
So so this is this is what we mean when we talk about the perfection of generosity. Now practicing the perfection of generosity is very, very difficult. In fact, if you haven’t developed bodhicitta, then you can’t do it. We can all give things. We can all practice generosity, but that doesn’t make it the perfection of generosity or, indeed, practicing the perfection.
It doesn’t make it the practice of the perfection of generosity. So even though we can’t do that right now, we need to try and practice generosity, but we also need to understand the difference between our idea of of generosity and what the perfection of generosity is. So we should try and practice we should try and So we should try and practice the perfection of generosity or as close as we can to it. But it’s not easy. It’s pretty difficult.
We have to think a lot just to give one thing. So it’s very difficult for us to try and practice in this way. So the next the next of the six perfections is ethics. Now in general, when we talk about ethics, we’re talking about the abandoning of the ten non virtues and the practising of the ten virtues. When we’re talking about this practice, this is something that acts as a cause for people to be reborn as a god or a human, the practice of ethics.
Now, that’s a very different result than, doing something in order to achieve Buddhahood. So if someone practices ethics with the just by practicing ethics, it may be a cause for them to achieve a good rebirth, but in order for it to become a perfection or practicing the perfection of ethics then it has to be conjoined with bodhicitta someone has to have bodhicitta in their mind stream and then start practicing ethics then it becomes a cause for achieving Buddhahood so we can see that ethics may be difficult to practice, but ethics conjoined with bodhicitta or ethics, as for the reason of attaining Buddhahood, is even more difficult. Ethics works in a similar way to generosity. Whether something becomes the perfection of ethics or is just plain ethics depends on the motivation behind it. In a similar way to generosity as well, the motivation determines how powerful the action of ethical conduct is. If someone is doing ethical conduct with the idea of attaining a good rebirth, then it becomes the motivation of the lower scope. If someone’s doing it in order to attain nirvana or liberation, then it becomes a motivation of the middling scope.
And if they’re doing it in order to be to achieve Buddhahood and it’s conjoined with this that means that it’s mixed up with this idea of bodhicitta, and then it becomes the practice of the perfection of ethics. We need to know the difference again and the different ways or the different scopes that ethics can be practiced in.