Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 25-minute commentary, Geshe Pema Tsering argues that tantric practice without bodhicitta is not merely ineffective — it is dangerous. He opens by comparing such practice to browsing deity pictures in a temple, then moves through a series of cautionary cases drawn from masters and historical accounts: a Hevajra yogi who attained only a Hīnayāna stream-enterer result (Atisha called him lucky, noting others had fared far worse); practitioners of wrathful deities reborn as devils; a three-year retreat yogi reborn as a regional spirit; a Yamāntaka practitioner trapped as a hungry ghost awaiting smell-offerings from his former sponsors. He then draws the doctrinal thread together: bodhicitta converts every action — even sleep — into Mahāyāna practice, and is the “father” leading specifically to Buddhahood, whereas wisdom realizing emptiness is the “mother” cause available to all three vehicles. Suited to practitioners already engaged in Mahāyāna or tantric study.
File metadata (for organising)
File: Lam Rim Great Scope 23 -7- year unknown.mp3
UUID: 2af233ec-4f44-4c59-9712-69a2ce7835e4
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: 24.8 minutes
Words: ~1,560
Got it. So and if one practice at the highest the yeah. Practice or meditate in the the generation and the completion stage of the tantric practice without bodhicitta, then it is it becomes like just browsing the deities in the deity hall in the monastery or like a temple, just seeing the pictures, posters of the Buddha, not the deities. So we talked about how profound the tantric teaching is. One can achieve enlightenment within one life by training in the tantric by practicing tantra, but it entirely depends on bodhicitta.
Without bodhicitta, one will not be able to attain enlightenment within one lifetime no matter how profound the teaching is. Got it. Got it. Got it. Therefore, once there’s two masters, and the Tibetan masters, and one is called Puchungwa.
So when Puchungwa teach any, like, giving teachings or initiations so forth, he always talks about the Lamrim teachings and cultivation of bodhicitta all the time. And and many of the students, in reproach,, Jangchub Rinpoche Dorje was saying when Puchungwa teaches, any teachings always ended up talking about bodhicitta and so forth, it looks like he doesn’t know anything, you know, about the tantric teachings of generation and the completion stage and so forth. Yeah, Jangchub Rinpoche Dorje said to the disciples, this is not the case. He is very qualified teachers, he’s expert, has perfected all the teachings, but he is very skillful, he knows without having developed the bodhicitta or certain experience or attains the bodhicitta, no matter how profound the teaching he explains, it’s not going to help at all. Therefore, the teachings he has been giving to you are the very key, the basic, the important, the essence teachings which are to be practiced by the disciples first.
This is what he said. One should not say that he is not qualified. He’s a great master, but he understands. He’s very skillful. That’s why he’s showing the key practices for the very beginnings.
And is also another true practitioner, a true story. And once there was a practitioner in yeah. Practitioner who the tantric practitioner or the yogi who practices so called the Hevajra tantra. And Hevajra is a deity in fact. And practiced the Heivajra tantra without bodhicitta.
And to it was said, the practitioner has a very kind heartedness, kind heart, but practiced the Hevajra without the bodhicitta altruistic intention. And as a result of that he attained the so called the stream enterer which is one has attained the path of seeing of the Hīnayāna schools, the lower vehicles. And that message was heard by Atisha, the great master Atisha heard the story and he was curious and surprised and laughed actually because a person practiced the Mahāyāna, the highest yoga tantra, Hevajra, a practice which is supposed to result in enlightenment and becoming a deity. But he attained a lower vehicle’s attainment. But when he heard that news, the message, Atisha said, well it was good for you, lucky that you have attained that stream enterer.
There have been two stories in the past that the one who practiced the Hevajra tantra without bodhicitta and ended up in a hell realm. So it was lucky for you to attain the stream enterer. But so the Atisha was a bit shocked. So and now there are many other, yep, practitioners in the past have been who practice the wrathful deities the wrathful tantric deities without the bodhicitta. And and as a result, they ended up being in, you know, yeah, in the hell realms or becoming a devil or monsters.
You know? Devils or monsters. And once there was a true story that in the Tibet, there’s the region called Kham region. And one practitioner who did the three years long retreat, three years retreat could be Yamāntaka or Vajrayoginī or any three years retreat. And that retreat was performed without generating a bodhicitta.
And as a result, what happened when practitioner passed away, he was born as the spirit or so called the regional protectors of the particular land. And the earlier that Hevajra tantra practitioner, the yogi who practiced without the bodhicitta, he was a good practitioner and as a result with the kind hearted and he achieved that stream enterer, it was said that if he had practiced with the bodhicitta, he would have attained enlightenment. It was with a true story that Got it. And once, you know, the the Atisha was teaching in Tibet. During that time, there was a Yamāntaka yogi, a practitioner who practiced Yamāntaka tantra in India, which was practiced without a bodhicitta, and at the end he ended up being born as a devil or a spirit, as a spirit.
And it was set forth that he and he was traveling to Tibet and that the master Atisha through his clairvoyance knew that person was coming which is very harmful for the land, and he did the ritual practice of torma. Ritual practice torma is we call it spiritual cake or cakes, okay? And through his ritual practice, giving one to that spirit and let him return back. So not come to Tibet. And, yeah, And also, they set forth one practitioner of the Phenpo region in Tibet, who was set forth to be the Yamāntaka practitioner.
And and without the bodhicitta. And as a result, when he passed away, he was born in the hungry ghost. Within the hungry ghost, he has a shape like, you know, this body because he was a Yamāntaka practitioner, he exactly looks like Yamāntaka. But being in and he was born in the hungry ghost and always waiting for his sponsors do the burnt offerings. Because he’s in the hungry ghost, all they can consume is smell.
So they’re waiting for the smell offerings they were doing for him. So it’s many stories like that. So therefore, saying these days, you know, people tend to practice and and do meditation and so forth to attain, you know, like deity yoga or clairvoyant, some miraculous feats or a power so forth. But whatever meditation one person do and aiming to attain all this attainment, if one perform the meditation without the bodhicitta, no matter how good meditation one does, it won’t achieve all those. Instead, one ended up in a lower rebirth and and there’s a danger of being born low rebirth and the hell realms so forth.
If one has that both cultivate the bodhicitta and achieve the uncontrived bodhicitta and one fails to attain the deity yogas or clairvoyant and so forth, still okay. The good news is one has been able to build the foundation or the root of the Mahāyāna practice. So therefore so if the whatever the highest the the Mahāyāna teaching is, the the sūtra teachings or the tantric teachings, If one do not have the altruistic intention, then one’s practice won’t become a Mahāyāna practice even though it’s the Mahāyāna teachings. If one has the Mahāyāna, if one has the bodhicitta altruistic intention, then the teachings will become Mahāyāna teachings, and one’s practice will become Mahāyāna’s practice as well as even just giving a single fruit, yeah, to an animal, will become a Mahāyāna practice. And not only that, if one has the bodhicitta even in the neutral actions like one sleeps with the bodhicitta, then entire sleep will become a cause for the attainment of enlightenment. So therefore and the great bodhisattvas who have bodhicitta altruistic intention because of that having bodhicitta altruistic intention, they can convert the non virtuous actions into a positive actions. So therefore, the bodhicitta is very important. For example, the emptiness, wisdom realizing emptiness is very important and very in terms of attainment of Buddhahood, one has to have both the the method and the wisdom method is bodhicitta and wisdom is wisdom realizing emptiness.
So wisdom realizing emptiness is inevitable. So whatever either one wish to attain the liberation of the highest school or solitary realizer school or Buddhahood, the of the Mahāyāna school, school, wisdom realizing emptiness is important. Without wisdom realizing emptiness one can’t attain either of those: liberation of the lower two schools and the enlightenment of the Mahāyāna school. But but if if one has the wisdom realizing emptiness and does not have bodhicitta, then one’s practice will become the lower way called the Hīnayāna practice, and it won’t become a Mahāyāna practice. So therefore, this is the reason it’s called the wisdom realizing emptiness is called the mother, and and the the bodhicitta is called the father.
Because bodhicitta will the will will only result one to the enlightenment, buddhahood, whereas wisdom realizing emptiness will become a cause to any of those to the the enlightenment as well as to the solitary realizers’ liberation, and hearer’s liberation. That’s what it’s called. It is a cause for entire three attainments. So it’s called the mother and wisdom realizing emptiness. So the the bodhicitta is called the father because it only leads to the Buddha.
So if one do not wish enlightenment state or Buddhahood, then it’s a different case. If one one wishes the Buddhahood or yeah. Buddhahood, then should should should consider or consider the bodhicitta as the root or a key practice. Okay. Yep.
So, yeah, we’ll stop here. Yeah.