Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A counter-intuitive instruction on altar arrangement anchors the practical heart of this 45-minute session: texts representing the Buddha’s speech belong above statues, not below them, because the path is traveled through the teacher’s words. Geshe Pema Tsering opens with a verse from Candrakīrti pressing the urgency of this human rebirth, illustrated by a frank look at the animal realm — including the cat at the teaching center — to show why ethics is the gateway to higher rebirth. He then sets out the three levels of Lamrim motivation (higher rebirth, liberation, Buddhahood), introduces reliance on the spiritual guide as the root of the entire path, and walks through the first two of six preparatory practices for formal meditation sessions: cleaning and arranging the shrine room correctly, and obtaining offerings honestly.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 05 LR 2002 02 05.mp3
UUID: 31cd22ff-8955-44df-b28c-c6f57364d060
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Lam Rim 2002 Bodhisattva Deeds (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2002-02-05
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.1 minutes
Words: ~2,777
So as Candrakīrti has mentioned in the Madhyamakāvatāra, Now that you have freedom and now that your state is favorable, if you do not take the advantage and you do not take the advantage and lose your freedom by falling to the lower realms, who will then raise you up again? So these words of advice are very important. At present, we have the leisure to practice, and the conditions are favorable. So we should now take these conditions, favorable conditions, and use them properly in order to practice. Otherwise, it’s uncertain when we will know when we will gain such an opportunity again.
In particular, if we don’t use the current opportunity that we have, and in fact fall into the three lower realms, then we will tend to take rebirth in the three lower realms again and again, in the hells and so forth. And in such a state, we’re really not fully aware of where we are and what we should practice and so on. So this would be a situation of great decline and disadvantage to us, so we should avoid this at all costs. So in fact, when we think about the three lower realms, we have hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals. And the better off of those three is really the animals.
And the animals are beings which we have direct contact with, so we can understand their conditions. So we have animals that we have direct experience with, and the best situation of animals is probably that of pets. For instance, we look around and we see dogs and cats, and in fact we have a cat here at the center, and we also see other animals such as sheep and so on. These animals are in a very good position in regards to many other animals still. However, they lack, discrimination.
So because they have many misconceptions or wrong conceptions, it’s difficult for them to conceive of virtue and how to practice virtue. And in fact, if they are unable to ascertain virtue and how to practice virtue, then it’s very difficult for them to establish the causes for taking a rebirth in the higher realms. So that indicates that it is the practice of ethics which is central to the evolution of a being that, in fact, dependent on ethics, a being takes rebirth in the higher realms. So because they don’t ascertain ethics and the means to protect the mind against non virtues and so on, then it becomes very, very difficult for animals lacking that type of discrimination to progress to the higher realms. So for that reason, there are only a very few animals that, in fact, are able to take rebirth as a human being.
And just as that is the case for animals, it’s even more the case for hell beings and hungry ghosts to experience even more intense types of suffering and having even greater difficulty in assembling or collecting virtue in order to take higher rebirth. So when we look at our own situation, at present, we’re human. So that means that in past lifetimes, we’ve collected virtue. So really it means that in the past, by the kindness of our past, lives in which we’ve generated virtue, we now, have established a human rebirth. So in fact, now we have this situation of having rebirth and the fortune to practice.
So what we need to establish is effort because, it’s through the application of effort that we’re able to establish, all positive and wished for states. So for that reason, the Buddha has said that we shouldn’t waste the current opportunity that we have, but we should make effort to make proper use of it. So in fact, for that reason, in order to give beings the instructions on how to practice, how to make proper use of this opportunity, then the Buddha has stated eighty-four thousand bundles of teachings. So these eighty four thousand teachings are enunciated from the experience of the Buddha, whereby in many specific cases, Buddha has mentioned that this is beneficial to do, that is beneficial to do in this case, and so on. So for us beginners, much has been stated in terms of the most appropriate practice for us, which is the practice of refuge and the practice of the ten virtuous actions.
So in that respect, refuge has been very clearly set set out and then the ten virtuous actions. And these is the main practices for a beginner in order to establish the final result of Buddhahood. So in fact, therefore we take to heart the instruction given by the Buddha and seek to determine the practices laid out in order to achieve this result. So therefore we enter practice on this instruction in order to accumulate a vast amount of virtue in order to accomplish the purpose of all sentient beings. Although, it may be difficult, of course, to establish this motivation in relation to all sentient beings.
And in this regard, the Buddha has set forth a path that enables even one being to attain a state of liberation. And then for those who are unable to establish that, the motivation of liberation even for oneself, then there are many instructions on how we should practice in order to attain a future rebirth in the higher realms. So, in fact, by establishing either of those three motivations, then one should engage in virtue, and that virtue therefore will be a correct and adequate practice. On other hand, if we engage in practice outside of those three motivations, in fact we engage in a practice of virtue for the benefit of this life, to overcome sickness, gain in wealth and so forth, then all of that all of those practices of virtue are not even dharmic practices. So in fact, all practices such as meditation, recitation, study, and so forth, that one enters for the sake of this life alone are not dharmic practices.
And so the virtue that’s entered with the mundane motivation for establishing the purpose of this life alone will tend to generate results in this life, results to be experienced in this life and not tend to generate the results that would be experienced later. So therefore, when we engage in any positive action, we should be motivated by those three motivations. That is the motivation to attain, to engage in virtuous action in order to attain a future higher rebirth, or the state of liberation or the state of a Buddha. So here, we’re dealing with the practices set out in the great vehicle. And within the great vehicle, the main goal is the state of Buddhahood.
And the means for attaining Buddhahood is to initially establish the state of bodhicitta. And in order to attain the state of bodhicitta, one needs to formulate the aspiration to attain the state of a Buddha for the sake of all sentient beings. So one needs to be conjoined to those two aspirations. And by doing that, then one can establish bodhicitta. So one needs to reflect on the kindness of all beings.
And in establishing the kindness of all beings, then the aspiration to attain the state of a Buddha oneself to liberate all all sentient beings is possible. So here, our main, work therefore is, in relation to all sentient beings. So here we strive to attain the aspiration which seeks Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings. And this aspiration, the mind of bodhicitta, we maintain throughout this life until death. We have the motivation to dedicate all the virtue that we acquire in this life for that very aim, for attaining the state of Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings.
So we should, therefore put great effort into establishing this type of, mind, the mind that aspires for the state of the Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings, and in fact develop it beyond the aspiration we’ve previously had, and make this, more stable, stronger, and so forth, as our basis. So then, now we should meditate for a few minutes on, this state of awareness, this mind of bodhicitta, which aspires to the state of Buddhahood in order to enlighten all sentient beings. And we should examine just where we are, in relation to developing such a mind. So we investigate internally how close or distant we are from generating such a mind. So now we’re starting from the root text really on the fourth day of the teachings by Pabongka Rinpoche.
And here there are two headings that are given. And the first is the root of the path, which is devotion to a spiritual guide. And the second is the proper graduated training that we should undertake after we’ve begun to rely on such a guide as a spiritual friend. And in fact, these headings, as Pabongka Rinpoche says, these headings were drawn from the great Tsongkhapa himself, and they teach the points which are crucial to our practice. So here it’s stated that it’s the spiritual friend is the root of the path. So what is the root?
So here, Pabongka Rinpoche mentions that all of a tree’s leaves, fruits, and so on are the outcome of its roots. So similarly, all the insights and realizations in the past from the difficulty of gaining this precious human rebirth to the unification, the stage of no more learning, similarly are derived from one’s devotion to a spiritual guide. So all of these stages from the very beginning of the path right up to the very end, all of these without exception are derived from one’s spiritual guide. So again, in fact, all of these practices that one engages in are in fact a product of properly relying on the root of the path, which is the spiritual friend that one establishes in the beginning. So therefore, reliance on the spiritual friend is regarded as the root.
So then this again has two sections. What we do in meditation sessions and what we do between meditation sessions. In fact, our entire life can be divided into these two sessions. In fact, what we’re doing in our meditation sessions and what we’re doing outside of our meditation session. So here session is the period in which one is engaged in formal practice.
So here one is engaging in meditation and so on — the means by which one accumulates virtue for the path. Mhmm. So all of all of those occasions are regarded to as sessions. So what then is the identity of a session? So a session here is the time in which one formally meditates or contemplates the nature of bodhicitta or the nature of emptiness or the nature of impermanence and death or the nature of refuge or the identity of ethics and so on.
However, before one actually enters the session, to meditate on emptiness and bodhicitta and so forth, one needs to engage in preparation. So there are in fact six preparatory stages or practices that one should engage in. So if one is able to properly establish the preparation, the actual practice and the conclusion, then one is able to properly establish virtue itself. So in fact, without achieving a proper preparation, then it’s difficult for the following practices to be developed as they should. So with a proper preparation, then the actual practice also is established, and then the conclusion of the practice also is properly established.
Without that, the later stages can’t be properly established. So in order to properly establish the preparatory states, then the six types of preparatory practice are set out. So firstly, one engages in cleaning one’s room and arranging the symbols that one should arrange. So the first stage of the practice here is cleaning one’s room and arranging symbols of the body, speech, and mind of a Buddha. So whatever purpose one is going to engage in in the actual practice, at the time of the preparation, one properly cleans one’s room and then finds suitable symbols to represent the Three Jewels, such as a painting or a thangka or in fact a photograph or a statue itself and so forth, and properly arranges this in front of oneself.
So here, in establishing the the basis of the body, speech, mind of a Buddha, one needs to have unmistaken symbols to represent the body, speech, and mind. And here, one is seeking to represent the Muni or the Buddha himself. So then one can have an image of the Buddha or in fact one’s own root lama. Either of those is suitable. So because this section here is dealing with the root of the path, which is reliance on a spiritual friend, then at that stage, that spiritual friend who is one’s root lama is suitable to place or a symbol of them and so forth is suitable to place on the altar in the beginning of one’s preparatory states.
So this image of one’s spiritual friend or this image of the teacher in whom one takes refuge can either be take many types. Of course, it could be of the Buddha himself, also of, for instance, Jetsün Milarepa and Kadampa, and those two really go without saying. But beyond that, also the an image of one’s root lama, one’s actual spiritual friend is suitable to place. Also, in terms of the Buddha, there are many types of Buddha as well. So one can place there an image of the medicine Buddha and so on.
And also, meditational deities are suitable to place as well. At the highest point, one can place meditational deities of the highest yoga tantras such as Guhyasamāja, Heruka, Yamāntaka, and so forth. And then below that, one can have images of the deities of yoga tantra, of performance tantra, and action tantra, and so forth. So these levels of tantra can be personified by the level that they placed even on one’s altar. And then in terms of the jewel of Dharma, one can place a text sūtra and so forth on the altar, but that should be placed higher than the statue.
On the other hand, Geshe says, you’ve seen many times that for one reason or another, the statue people place the statue as the center, and under the statue, they put texts and so forth. In fact, the image or the symbols of the speech of the Buddha, such as texts, should be placed higher than the statue statue because it is in dependence on the speech of the Buddha that one is able to practice and establish the path. So its speech is regarded with great veneration, and and that is symbolized by placing the speech above the actual physical image. And so here, in fact, in the process of learning Dharma, one relies on the teacher. Therefore, one is relying on speech.
So therefore, one needs to take great care of speech and therefore the teacher. So therefore, one should pay great respect to those symbols of the speech, such as books and so forth, and not stand on them or put them below oneself or put one’s feet on them and so on. So because of the importance of the speech, one needs to pay a great respect to the symbols of speech. So it’s easy for us to overlook the importance of speech. And then books and so forth, we tend to leave on cushions and step on them, step over them, and so on.
As much as possible, we should take great care not to step ever step on a book or step over them and so on because of the the need to show respect to these So in future, if possible, one should never place a book on a cushion or under a cushion and so forth where it can be stepped on. So here the normal way of ordering the symbols of the body, speech, and mind is above to have a symbol of speech, which is the text and so forth. Below that, the symbols of the actual body, such as statues and so on. And then below that, the symbol of the mind, which is, like, personified by stupas and shrines and so on. So then the next point in the preparatory practices is obtaining offerings and arranging them.
So the offerings themselves should be honestly obtained, and one should not generate covetousness or avarice in relation to those offerings, one should not covet them or have greed towards them oneself.