Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A story about a monk at Boudha stupa in Kathmandu — meditating on patience yet visibly irritated each time someone interrupts to ask about it — opens this 45-minute commentary. Geshe Pema Tsering uses the anecdote to introduce the last four of the six bodhisattva perfections: patience, joyous effort, meditative concentration, and wisdom. He explains why patience practiced for worldly gain actually deepens self-grasping, and distinguishes three types — bearing harm, forbearance under hardship, and accepting suffering. He then examines why even highly refined non-Buddhist śamatha does not constitute liberation, and how bodhicitta is what transforms each quality into a true perfection. Q&A covers who genuinely qualifies to practice tantra and how inferential reasoning can develop certainty about emptiness.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 02 LR.mp3
UUID: 5e30f41b-0d1a-44b0-bfea-e3b55def8589
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: ~3,490
So when we’re talking about the practice of ordinary ethics or ethics that aren’t the perfection of ethics then we’re usually talking about the abandoning of the ten non virtues and the practicing of the ten virtues but this isn’t the main aspect of ethical practice for Bodhisattvas, the main aspect of ethical practice for Bodhisattvas is working on the premise of not harming beings and trying to help beings, so this obviously includes the ten non-virtues but the ten non-virtues aren’t the main focus for their practice of ethics they are constantly trying to stop themselves in any way being something negative towards all sentient beings and then constantly trying to work to be of benefit to all sentient beings. Okay. So we have to try and practice these things. We practice abandoning the ten non virtues from ours at our stage with this idea of doing it in order to be a benefit to all sentient beings in order to achieve enlightenment to be a benefit to all sentient beings then this practice of ethics that we have becomes something like the perfection of ethics that Bodhisattva practice. So this is the thing that we need to focus on in terms of our practice, our personal practice of ethics.
We can’t develop uncontrived bodhicitta otherwise we can develop but we can’t we don’t have uncontrived bodhicitta so we can’t practice the perfection of ethics but we can develop contrived bodhicitta in our mind stream when we are on a fairly constant basis, fairly constantly, so that every time that we do something ethical, that then that can be joined with the idea of contrived bodhicitta. Okay, so the third of the perfection that we need to practice is the perfection of patience. Perfection of patience is a very strange thing, says Geshe-la. Even trying to practice patience in our daily life can be very difficult and he says he remembers being at this place called Boudha in Kathmandu where there’s a really big stupa The people do circumambulations or walk around the stupa.
And he said that there was a monk sitting there who was meditating and this guy walked around the stupa once and he said to him, what are you meditating on? He goes, I’m meditating on patience. And so he goes, how long you’ve been doing this? And he goes, ages. This is my main practice.
And then the guy walks around the stupa once and he comes back to him and goes, what are you meditating on now? And he’s like, I’m meditating on patience. And he went, okay. So he walks around and comes back and he goes, and now what are you meditating on? And he goes, I said I’m meditating on — and the third time he came around, the fourth time sorry, and he comes around and goes what are you meditating on now?
And goes I told you I’m meditating on patience. He said we can’t meditate on patience like that. We can’t practice patience like practice patience like that. We have to be a bit more patient with it. You said so when you first start then that’s about as patient as you’re gonna get.
So yes and patience works in the same way as the other practices of perfection is in that if we don’t have bodhicitta in our mind stream then we may be practicing patience but we’re not practicing the perfection of patience and likewise depending on the motivation practicing patience can have a different result so if we’re practicing patience with the idea of doing it in order to attain Buddhahood then that will be the result if we’re doing it in order to attain liberation that will be the result and if we’re practicing patience in order to attain a good rebirth then that will be the result and Geshe-la said if you’re practicing patience in order to get something out of this life then that can be incredibly dangerous because usually what happens is if people are practicing patience to get something in this life all that does is strengthen their self grasping because they think I’m practicing patience and that makes their grasping itself get stronger and stronger because they think they’re a very patient person So patience isn’t just stopping us for stopping ourselves from getting angry either it’s that’s not the only type of patience that we have to practice there’s many different types of patience that we can have we have to practice another main one is the patience when we get tired or when something gets difficult that we have to practice patience in terms of keeping at it like if we’re doing a lot of meditation or we’re trying to do a lot of some kind of visualization or we’re trying to study texts or we’re trying to familiarize ourselves with something then we can get really tired and disheartened and patience the practice of patience is also keeping at it not giving up when things get difficult so in that case it would probably better translate it as forbearance yeah what we’re talking about here isn’t just the practice of patience but it’s the practice of forbearance as well So the other type other thing that we need to practice patience or forbearance with is when we experience different types of suffering we need to be able to bear that as well when we’re experiencing all different types of suffering then we should think well this is going to happen I’ve been creating negative karma since beginningless time so if suffering is going to come I might as well just accept it and having patience with our experience being able to bear the suffering that we experience is also another type of suffering of sorry of patience or forbearance So so someone if if someone’s if we’re trying to practice patience and someone comes and asks us what we’re doing, then getting annoyed at them isn’t practicing patience.
Okay, so the next of the perfections is the perfection of effort but perhaps given, I guess you’ll say the definition of practicing effort or the definition of effort is liking to do something positive so enjoying doing positive things enjoying doing virtuous things so sometimes it’s translated as joyous effort but sounds like it could mean more like liking things so so if it has the same ratings as the other ones do in that if we are enjoying doing something virtuous and at the same time have a bodhicitta in our mind stream then that becomes the perfection of joyous effort. If we don’t have that in our mind stream then it becomes joyous effort but it’s not perfection it’s not practicing the perfection of joyous effort. So that means that if and then he said, and if we get really tired and don’t really want to be doing whatever it is that’s virtuous that we’re doing, then that’s not even any type of joyous effort. So the next perfection is the perfection of meditative concentration Usually we say meditative concentration is what’s called calm abiding or having the ability to be able to place the mind single pointedly on an object without wavering from that object so this meditative concentration has two different types there’s calm abiding that we’re talking about śamatha it also has the vipaśyanā aspect or the special insight the ability to see into the thing that is being focused on single pointedly So this single-pointed concentration is something that isn’t unique to Buddhists.
Being able to concentrate single pointedly on an object, that ability can be found amongst those who are Buddhists and those who aren’t Buddhists. But the thing about this concentration this ability to concentrate is that in order for us to achieve liberation or to achieve Buddhahood then we absolutely definitely need this ability to be able to concentrate single pointedly on something that doesn’t mean that all beings who are able to concentrate single pointedly on something are bodhisattvas or are working towards renunciation because beings in different traditions or non Buddhists are also able to develop this mental state so we need it in order to attain Buddhahood we need it in order to attain liberation we don’t need it in order to become a human so in terms of the three different motivations we don’t need it for the lowest motivation You do need the ability to meditate single pointedly on on something in order to attain rebirth in some of the god realms. There are said to be different types of of of god realms. Some are included within the form and formless realms, which aren’t part of the desire realm. To attain rebirth in one of those realms, then you need this ability to concentrate single pointedly on something.
But in general, you don’t need it to attain a human or a god rebirth. Okay. Okay. So if we may wonder why it is that the beings who aren’t trying to achieve liberation or enlightenment would try and develop calm abiding or śamatha meditation. The ability to be able to focus single pointedly on one thing.
The main reason they do this is in order to achieve a certain sense of pleasure or happiness because what we’re usually dealing with what stops us from being able to focus single pointedly on one thing is our grosser or rougher types of mind that we have like the thick emotions that we have like anger and desire and things like that right so they actually say that this development of calm abiding according to the people who are practicing it in other traditions and other religions they say that that achievement of calm abiding is actually liberation because of the because the rougher emotions have all been temporarily subdued so what they keep doing is they’re doing this concentration practice concentration practice and once they have completely gotten rid of their gross emotional disturbances then they are left with this this pliancy of mind and body that is extremely blissful and that they see as being liberation now this mind that is developed at this stage this concentration that’s developed at this stage isn’t what’s called a desire realm or isn’t a mind that is influenced by desire. So it’s not held within the desire realm. It’s said to be a higher realm state of mind.
So hence, it leads to rebirth in in these realms when people who have this state of of mind die. But the the difference is they’re not doing it in they’re not developing this mind in order to achieve liberation or Buddhahood. They’re doing it in in order to achieve this this bliss state of the higher realms. So the beings in this state may have gotten rid of the gross forms of negative emotions or pleasures, but they haven’t gotten rid of the subtle forms of these negative emotions or pleasures so have then because of that when the karma runs out then they will take rebirth in other realms now for this development this mental development that they have is called a meditative concentration but it’s not called the perfection of meditation or the perfection of meditative concentration in order for something to be the perfection of meditative concentration it has to be conjoined with or come along with bodhicitta the wish to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings so once a being has both bodhicitta and this calm abiding or śamatha have both of those types of minds or both of those types of thoughts in their mind stream then they can work towards achieving enlightenment.
Now Bodhisattva who developed this type of meditative concentration will use it in order to meditate on selflessness of the person in order to meditate on the emptiness of inherent existence or meditate just plainly on emptiness of so hang on, could do it to you to meditate on emptiness of object and subject and on just emptiness of inherent existence they can focus on all these things and by focusing on these understand these things and then achieve are able to achieve Buddhahood because of it. Okay. So the last of the of the six perfections is the perfection of wisdom. Now, the perfection of wisdom comes about when this being who has developed the ability to focus single pointedly on one object then starts analyzing that object and sees the emptiness or the selflessness of that object. Now the wisdom that they have that understands the selflessness or the emptiness of that object is the perfection of wisdom.
There is no wisdom until there is that understanding. The perfection of wisdom is also called vipaśyanā, is the direct seeing based on the development of calm abiding or Shamatha meditative practices that is the wisdom that sees the nature of reality in that meditative state. So once you have that, then you have the perfection and when it’s conjoined with bodhicitta, then you have the perfection of wisdom. So then the so after practicing all of these different perfections, along with practicing all these different perfections, then the bodhisattva also should practice the three ways of dealing with students that is to give them the teachings of the Dharma to speak gently and explain well and to practice the way that they’re teaching so these practices related to the students come along with the six practices of the six perfections and together make up the practice of Bodhisattvas or the practice of the greater being or the practice involved in the greater sphere. So we can stop there.
And if anyone has questions. Okay. The reason is reason is because if you practice the clear light nature of mind as is presented in the Gelugpa tradition or the Dzogchen or Great Completion meditations and teachings and teachings and teachings and teachings as they’re presented then by practicing those you achieve Buddhahood in one life because those specific practices enable what someone to go to accomplish their whole path in one lifetime But when they say that it means that people are able to achieve enlightenment in one lifetime, it doesn’t mean any old person. It means someone who’s already seen emptiness directly. So usually it takes of lifetimes to go from achieving and seeing emptiness directly to achieving Buddhahood.
So the practices of tantra it means that you can go from realizing emptiness to achieving Buddhahood in one lifetime. So these practices for beings who have already done a lot of hard work and set themselves up into a situation where they’re able to practice Tantra properly right so there’s all different thoughts they talk about different types of beings and there’s one being that’s called a lotus type and then there’s the white lotus type and then there’s the Utpala type and then there’s the precious type yeah and so there has to be someone who has all the conditions of being the precious type in order for them to practice Tantra properly so we’re talking about beings like Milarepa and people like that not just someone who wants to achieve enlightenment in one lifetime. Okay. So the So they talk about four different types of tantric practitioners. That’s what the lotus, the white lotus and the Utpala and the precious.
They’re talking about different capacities of tantric practitioners so it’s only the people with this very very precious capacity that can actually do the tantric practices and achieve the Buddhahood in one lifetime Yep. Did you guys hear that? First off, before I so when we’re talking about special insight or the development of the perfection of wisdom, are you talking about selflessness of the person, selflessness of phenomena or does it matter? Okay. So, broadly.
So usually when this the practice of the perfection of wisdom is talked about, they’re actually referring to the practice of vipaśyanā or your special insight because wisdom can exist in all beings. We have some types of wisdom. Yeah? And perfection of wisdom comes about when it’s joined with bodhicitta now how the special insight comes about is on the base of having this meditative equipoise on the base of having the concentration that doesn’t that can focus on something for as long as it wants without any break yeah then this insight is used is applied this the vipaśyanā insight is applied that can be with regards to anything it can be with regards to selflessness of the person it can be with regards to selflessness of phenomena, it can be with regards to gross selflessness, it can be subtle selflessness, it’s a selflessness of both phenomena and beings and directly on the non establishment of all phenomena it can be on any of those things the important thing is that it’s about that insight when it’s used on the base of the meditation then it becomes special insight if it’s just thinking about it then it’s not special insight and it’s not something that is the main practice of bodhisattva but you can do this you can have special insight and not have bodhicitta you can have you just need calm abiding and then to do these insight practices and you can have special insight and still not be practicing the perfection of wisdom because you don’t have bodhicitta Okay.
Anyway. Okay. He’s worried because I said I asked him earlier if we had wisdom, and he said no because he was talking about the perfection of wisdom. And I said, so we don’t have wisdom at all. And he goes, no.
And then I said, but you just said we didn’t have wisdom? He goes, I did not say that, and it was regards to something else. Then he’s like, Why did you think we don’t have wisdom? He’s like, Möntu has wisdom. But it depends on what the wisdom is with regards to, and we don’t have, we don’t have special insight with what he’s talking about.
So, yeah. So don’t worry. We have wisdom at least. Yeah. Okay.
So if someone has the motivation to whatever they’re doing is to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings, then that is someone of the greatest scope, right? But so that’s the border is if someone has that as their motivation but this this so this is basically we’re talking about bodhicitta and there’s two different types of bodhicitta there’s contrived bodhicitta and uncontrived bodhicitta so you could say that if someone is doesn’t have bodhicitta then they may not have the actual they haven’t got they haven’t generated the greater capacity within their mind stream completely but they have the seeds of it. So hence they’re included within that but they are not the actual thing itself. So so if someone’s saying, I’m doing this in order to achieve Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings, they’re being of the greatest scope. If they’re doing if they’re saying, I’m doing this in order to achieve liberation, then they’re being of the middle scope.
And if they’re doing something in order to achieve a good rebirth, then they’re being of the smaller scope. So he said when you think that, then that’s the that’s the mind training of the high scope. Yeah. Inferential cognizers? Yeah. That’s it. Yeah. There are two different types of pramāna, but that’s one of them. Uh-huh.
Okay. Okay. So in order we we don’t see emptiness directly at the moment right and because we can’t see emptiness directly like we can’t see emptiness in the same way that we can see that there’s a table here yeah then because we can’t see emptiness directly then the way that we develop an understanding of emptiness is based on logic and reason right so based and basing on a different logical different logical analysis then we can develop a an inferential cognizer recognizing and I’ll get to it. Inferential cognizer that comprehends emptiness. Now what an inferential cognizer is a mind that develops certainty about something or sees something in dependence upon a sign or in dependence upon a reason so when we use the many different reasons that are given in order to establish the concept of emptiness right then based on those reasons then we get an inferential cognizer with relation to emptiness Okay, so the example that’s usually given with regards to inferential cognizers is that if we see smoke then we know that there’s fire.
Yeah, so I guess they said okay if we’re standing on a big plain like a not an airplane but like a plain yeah and we see smoke on the other side of the plain then we can say okay if there’s smoke there there must be fire. So based on the sign or the reason of the smoke