Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Opening with Nāgārjuna’s dedication verse on merit, wisdom, and the two Buddha bodies, Geshe Pema Tsering uses this 44-minute session to frame bodhicitta and emptiness-wisdom as paired foundations before turning to ethical discipline, the second of the six perfections. He distinguishes sharp-faculty practitioners (who develop emptiness first) from those who begin with bodhicitta, tracing the path from renunciation through compassion to altruistic intention. The bulk of the session unpacks three types of ethical discipline — restraint from faulty conduct (guarding individual liberation, bodhisattva, and tantric vows), accumulating virtue, and working for others — including a precise clarification that individual liberation vows, while an excellent basis, are not required before taking bodhisattva vows. He closes with the four means of ripening disciples: generosity, skillful speech, acting according to their needs, and consistency between teaching and conduct.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 05 LR 2002 08 27.mp3
UUID: f04d4175-f016-436d-a3d8-a00f1d3257e6
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Lam Rim 2002 Bodhisattva Deeds (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2002-08-27
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 44.7 minutes
Words: ~2,591
Great master Ārya Nāgārjuna, Ludrupba. Nāgārjuna, in his Middle Way text called the Fundamental Wisdom or Treatise, said that through the power of the merit, I gained from this, which is composing the text called the fundamental wisdom. May all the sentient beings accomplish both the collections of merit and wisdom and attained both the kayas, the bodies, which is the form body and the wisdom body of the Buddha. And likewise, whatever positive actions merit we have cultivated should always dedicate it and wish to attain the two kayas for the sake of entire sentient beings. So so in order to attain the two kayas, the two pure bodies of the Buddha, the wisdom body and the the form body of the Buddha, one need one one, yeah, one has to accomplish both the collections of wisdom and method, a combination of wisdom and the combination of merit.
In terms of accomplishing the collections of merit, the bodhicitta is the one which accomplished the first collections of the collections, which is collection of merit. And the wisdom, realizing emptiness, is the one which accomplished the accumulation of wisdoms. So as a result of perfecting or completing those two collections, one attains the two bodies. And so yes, so as to accomplish the combination of wisdom, one has to one needs to yep, realize, attain the wisdom realizing emptiness. In terms of realizing the emptiness or cultivating the wisdom realizing emptiness, there are two ways.
Those with sharp faculty will achieve the wisdom, realizing emptiness before and then cultivate the bodhicitta. But in terms of systems of person with lesser faculty or not a sharp faculty, then they first develop the bodhicitta, the altruistic intention, and then develop the wisdom realizing emptiness. So the difference of those two, one with the sharp the practitioners of the sharp faculty and the lesser faculty is it’s been set forth that the sharp faculties are the ones who are the followers of the wisdom or the Dharma, whereas the lesser ones are the followers of conviction. The meaning of those two is those with sharp faculties, they don’t just agree to the entire attainments of the two kayas of the Buddhas, for example. Because they never accept unless they established through their logical reasons that those two body can be obtained by reasoning, then they work for it and they engage in the practices. Whereas one with the lesser faculty, the they don’t analyze whether the two kayas, the enlightenment bodies of the Buddha, can be attained or not.
It’s too profound or too hard for them at their first stage, to analyze it. So therefore, because of the qualities of the Buddha so forth, through the convictions, they practice engage in the practices to attain those body. So the bodhicitta is the mind which wishes attain enlightenment for the sake of entire sentient beings. So in order to develop that bodhicitta, the practice of the the seven point cause and effect instruction is very important to to yeah. Prior to that or before that, which is recognized as sentient beings as one’s mother, remembering kindness and so forth.
And in order to do so, to complete those these seven point cause and effect instructions without having attained or trained in the renunciation, so called wish to free from cyclic existence, it is impossible for one to go through those, excuse me, the sevenfold cause and effect instructions and develop bodhicitta without renunciation. So therefore, seeing the the the suffering nature of cyclic existence is very important. And because by not by seeing the suffering nature of the cyclic existence and how one circles or take rebirth in a cyclic existence and being tortured by those sufferings in the cyclic existence, then one will by saying this, then one one will develop a mind to dislike to those sufferings and wanted to get, wanted to overcome those sufferings or be free from those suffering, which is the renunciation. And so therefore, it is it is important to to see the the disadvantages or the faults of the suffering existence and how one circles, how one is being tortured by the sufferings in suffering existence in order to develop a renunciation.
After having seen that the the the faults of the saṃsāra and the suffering, how one is one goes through the suffering, then one can one can understand, one can see how sentient beings are going through sufferings and and yeah. Going through the sufferings like oneself and come to know that they are same as oneself wishing happiness and do not want suffering. And due to this, then one can develop a wish to free free them from from from the sufferings, which is or wishing yeah, wish to free them from the sufferings, which is the compassion. So, yeah, so through great compassion, they wish wishing to free them free them from free sentient beings from the suffering. And in order to do so, then the bodhicitta, in order to do so, which is to free sentient beings from the suffering, one has to attain enlightenment or become Buddha.
Without reaching the Buddhahood, one can’t help sentient beings from the suffering. And then knowing this, then one wishes to attain enlightenment as soon as possible and which is in order to help sentient beings is called the bodhicitta. So you should develop that mind. And, yeah, and through this and through, yeah, and developing that bodhicitta. And then whenever one has developed a bodhicitta and have the the experience or, yep, on bodhicitta through meditation, then later on and then after having has had experience some yeah.
Experiences on the bodhicitta and then going to the emptiness, and which will become much more easier for one to develop a a wisdom realizing emptiness. And whenever one have achieved the wisdom realizing realizing emptiness and the bodhicitta, then having done those, then one can quickly accomplish those two collections of the two collections, which is of merit and the wisdom. And if whenever one has those two wisdom realizing emptiness and the bodhicitta, then one one can hope for those two bodies of the Buddha. So we shall here do some, yeah, short meditation on bodhicitta, which is which wishes enlightenment for the sake of entire sentient beings. Do you think you can develop bodhicitta?
Hope so. So should listen to the teaching with the intention of attaining, yeah, to develop the bodhicitta and attain enlightenment for the same purpose. So now last Tuesday, we finished the first part of six perfections, which is the giving or general yeah. Giving.
Now the second one is ethical discipline. And the the definition of the ethical discipline is it’s ethical discipline is the mental factor or a secondary mind, which wishes to abandon or eliminate. Here, the abandon or eliminate refers to the opposite sides, which is wishing to abandon all the negativities or the non-virtuous actions. So ethical discipline and the ethical the perfection of ethical discipline are the two different, which is that ethical discipline does not necessarily be the perfection of ethical discipline. So the both are the same, a mental factor which wish to abandon the negativities or non virtuous.
But practice of ethical discipline or a mental factor, which is uphold by the or encouraged or uphold by the bodhicitta is the practice of the perfection of ethical discipline. The maintaining or not abandoning the non-virtuous actions practices without the bodhicitta is a practice of ethical discipline but not a perfection. And in terms of the perfection of ethical discipline, there are different ways of asserting the ethical the perfection of ethical discipline. The schools below the Autonomy school — the perfection of ethical discipline is not during the training part, it is only in Buddhahood. And they said that the perfection of ethical discipline is not during the training part, but there is the practice of the perfection of ethical discipline.
Whereas the Consequentialist Middle Way school, which is the highest or the school of the Buddhist tenets said, no, the perfection of ethical discipline is in both in the trainees part as well as in the Buddhahood. And now as for the ethical discipline, there are three types of ethical discipline, so called ethical discipline of restraint from faulty conduct, ethical discipline of accumulating virtue, and ethical discipline of working for welfare of other living beings. So ethical discipline of restraining from the faulty conduct, which, yeah, which means they they is the one which, yeah, they are the mental factor which willingly wants to restrain from the four harms to others, which refers to body, speech and mind — those are three — and their virtues or their merit, which is number four. Yeah. And so so by training in those that training in the ethical discipline and refraining from those four harms to others, which others yeah.
Both as regards body, speech and mind and the virtuous or a merit. So through one’s practices, whenever one completely overcomes from those four faults or harms, then one whenever one fully overcomes, then one has attained perfect ethical discipline, and which means it has yeah. Attained Buddhahood. So for example, the practicing the ethical discipline of restraint from faulty conduct is like guarding the three types of vows. Could be any any of those vows which are the pratimoksha vows.
Within the pratimoksha vows, there comes the lay vows, the ordained monks, fully ordained, novice monks and nuns, so forth. And then the second one is the bodhisattva vows and then the tantric vows. So by being mindful and guarding those vows and one is not committing any negativities or any faulty conduct. And through this, and if those practice are done with the intention or with the motivation of altruistic intention, then one becomes that becomes the practices of perfections of ethical discipline. And whenever one perfects all those, you know, practices, then one perfects the the second perfection.
And so this yeah. That verse has come from the the the practice of ethical discipline is taking or maintaining both vows, vows, bodhisattva, and tantric vows. And then also set forth indirectly in that particular verse from Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, in order to take the bodhisattva vows, the person has to have any of the vows beforehand. And so that was set forth indirectly within that verse from Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, that the person needs to have any of those pratimoksha vows before taking the bodhisattva vows. But that passage is not the definitive passage.
It’s the interpretive passage, passage, which is because, because the reason why it is set forth is because, for example, if the taking the tantric vows, if a person is a fully ordained person and which takes the tantric vows, then that person is set forth to be the best basis to take the tantric vows. So likewise, if one takes the bodhisattva vow after having taken any of those pratimoksha vows, then one becomes a very good basis or an excellent basis to take the Bodhisattva vows, but it’s not compulsory that one has to have any of those pratimoksha vows to take Bodhisattva vows. But to become a most excellent basis to take Bodhisattva vows, then it’s good to take either of those pratimoksha vows. So the reason why it is not compulsory or does not need to have any of the pratimoksha vows in order to take bodhisattva vows is because there are many sentient beings who have not taken the pratimoksha vows and can still take the bodhisattva vows. For example, the beings, the gods and the nagas, they cannot have any of the pratimoksha vows.
They are not a suitable basis to take any of the pratimoksha vows, but they can still receive the bodhisattva vows. And even within the human realm, there are many lay practitioners and lay people who have not taken any of the pratimoksha vows but can still take the bodhisattva vows. So if one takes bodhisattva vows on top of the pratimoksha vows, then all the maintaining of one’s vows and so forth will become the practices of the perfection of ethical discipline of restraint or refrain from faulty conduct. And so all become a practice of ethical discipline of restraint from faulty conduct. And so in order to practice the ethical discipline of restraining restrain from the faulty conduct, one does not necessarily have to take any of those vows.
Even the practicing the ethical discipline of not committing the ten non virtuous is also the practice of the ethical discipline as well. Okay. And in terms of those vows, those vows can be taken, for example, like pratimoksha vows, yeah, pratimoksha vows, and the vow of maintaining not committing the ten non-virtuous, as well as bodhisattva vows of a particular bodhisattva, they can all be held on one basis, for one person. But even though the the vows are all within the one person, but they are still different entities.
And now to the second one, the ethical discipline of accumulating virtues. The second ethical discipline of accumulating virtues is any practices such as making offerings and prostrations to the merit fields, yeah, the merit fields, as well as one’s practices of listening, contemplation, meditation, or giving teachings, or practices of the six perfections. Those are the second ethical discipline practice, which is accumulating virtues. So in terms of the ethical disciplines, there for example, there are many practices of the bodhisattvas, bodhisattvas deeds, six perfections, and etcetera, so forth, as well as yeah.
So if and and not only the practices and deeds of the bodhisattvas, there are numbers of virtuous actions. They they merit, positive actions. And so many but if one were to subsume or make it yeah. Appropriate or, you know, subsume all those virtuous deeds of the bodhisattvas, they can be subsume under those three ethical disciplines. So therefore so because all the bodhisattvas yeah.
Yep. The all the virtuous actions or the bodhisattvas do can be subsumed under the three ethical discipline practice of three ethical disciplines. And therefore so whenever one practices the six perfect the bodhisattva’s six perfections as well as or or the three ethical the disciplines. So whenever one practices, one is actually practicing the both, they’re helping each other, increasing the practices of ethical disciplines, and along with that practice, one is also increasing the practices of Bodhisattvas as well. And so now to the third one, ethical discipline of working for the welfare of other living beings.
And the main practice for the third ethical discipline is the training in the practices of the four dharmas to ripen others’ mental continuum or mental continuum. It was set forth that the practices of the six perfections is to ripen one’s own mind, and the four dharmas, or four phenomena, are to ripen others’ continuum. And this is also called the four means of collecting the disciples. And that is to ripen others’ mind or mental continuum. The four are:
The first one is the giving or generosity. And second one is speaking eloquently or nicely. And the third one is acting in accordance with their needs.
And the fourth one is being consistent in conduct, which means that whatever is taught — the teacher’s practice and teachings are not contradictory. So these are the four.