Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 26-minute commentary, Geshe Pema Tsering unpacks a single verse from the Letter to a Friend — “strive in earnest after faith, vigor, recollection, samadhi, and wisdom” — explaining how these five qualities form the core practice of the Path of Preparation, the second bodhisattva path. He takes each in turn: faith as working with the two truths before direct realization, vigor as joyful rather than dutiful effort, mindfulness as simply not forgetting, samadhi as single-pointed focus, and wisdom as familiarity with how things ultimately do not inherently exist. He then traces how all five deepen across the path’s four sub-stages — heat, peak, forbearance, and Supreme Dharma — building toward the direct perception of emptiness. A short Q&A closes with an unexpected discussion on whether copying paid-for tapes constitutes stealing under Buddhist vows.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 20 LF 2004 11 16.mp3
UUID: 10813f46-3cfe-4518-b164-6834db137455
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Letter to a Friend (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2004-11-16
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 25.9 minutes
Words: ~2,161
Okay. So the things that we’ve just been through here are described as being practices that particularly one engages on on the path of accumulation. Accumulation. On the path there, first of the bodhisattva Paths, the bodhisattva is focused very specifically on getting rid of these obstacles to their practice. Now, on the next stage of the bodhisattva Paths, the Path of Preparation, they focus on the positive things that they need to develop.
Within this text, the section on the Path of Preparation talks about the Path of Preparation itself through a description of the five powers and the five strengths. And then, it has a verse that generally talks about all of the five powers of the Bodhisattva. So, to start off with, the verse that describes the practice of a Bodhisattva on the path of preparation. It says, one should strive in earnest after faith, vigor, recollection, Samādhi, and wisdom. The five Supreme Dharmas also known as the Strengths, the Powers, and the Summits.
Again. So, yes, the way that they’ve translated it, the way that I just read it out, seems a bit different or shall we say creative. Because the way that it’s put in Tibetan is more like the strength and the powers lead us to developing the summit or the peak of those the peak of the the last of the four different stages of the path of preparation is called Supreme Dharma, and it means the final I’m sorry. So, yeah, so it’s it’s just different because it’s saying the strength and the powers lead to something. And in this translation, it says they practice the strengths, the powers, and the summits.
Does that make sense? And in Tibetan, it’s more like the strengths and the powers, which are these two practices. The Buddha is like two different types of practices, five strengths and five powers. No. Ten.
Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. Okay. So it’s like having brain lag when you’re watching a computer and it’s two seconds behind.
So my brain’s working at the moment, sorry. So there’s these practices that Bodhisattvas engage in called the strength and the powers that lead to them developing a specific quality of the Buddha s called the ten powers and the ten strengths. On the path of preparation, these lead to what s called the Supreme Dharma, which is the highest level of path of preparation before you perceive emptiness. So it s saying that by practicing these strengths and powers, the Bodhisattvas are able to move towards the perception of emptiness on the path of seeing. Okay.
So the first thing that we should strive for, as it describes here, is faith. Now, faith is Two truths are the relative truth and ultimate truth. Now, ultimate truth is Buddhahood, and relative truth is conventional truth, the way that things exist convention. Did I just say ultimate truth was Buddhahood? Sorry.
It’s nearly a holiday, isn’t it? Okay. Ultimate truth is emptiness, and relative truth is the way that we perceive things. Can have a general idea of these, and we can establish our understanding of the way that things exist on a relative and ultimate level through logic and through meditation. But until we can perceive them directly when we realize directly, what we experience of these things is said to be faith.
When we perceive it directly, then our faith becomes looking at actual reality. But until that point, then we need to cultivate faith that this is the way that things actually exist. The way we cultivate faith is by logic and by analysis and through meditation. Okay. So the next strength.
Okay. Okay. Now the second of the five supreme dharmas or powers or strengths is that of vigor or diligence. Diligence in Ye Olde English or whatever language it came from used to have this sense of enthusiastic effort in wasn’t just like earnest or any of those words that imply accountants. And this is the word we kind of need in order to get the sense of what we’re talking about here across.
It’s being really happy about doing something, and not being dour, dour, is that how you say it? Because dour, like someone’s very dour, I have to practice Dharma. It’s not that. Okay. So there’s this sense of this word that’s usually translated as it’s translated here as vigor, also sometimes diligence, has this idea of enthusiasm, happiness about doing it because you understand that by doing these practices, you’re making yourself happier and happier and happier.
You’re making yourself calmer and more open to other people and so on. So all of these qualities are developed. So to be happy about doing the practices that directly lead to an understanding of the two truths is next power or the next strength, supreme Dharma, whatever it is, all of them. Now, the next one after that is then to remember. So, what remembering is basically or recollection is or mindfulness is not forgetting.
So, we need to develop the strength of not forgetting, not forgetting practice, forgetting what it is that we’re supposed to be focusing on and be through becoming distracted by external objects and so on. So being able to focus on what we’re doing without forgetting is mindfulness or recollection. That’s the next power or next quality. Then we have the ability to single pointedly concentrate on an object. And this is the power of Samādhi or the power of meditation.
So this enables us to be able to focus on the two truths, focus on emptiness and the objects that are empty in order to progress to the realization of emptiness, which is the next stage after the path of preparation. Then, after that, we also need the power or the ability to wisdom, again, wisdom that refers to the two truths, the way things relatively are and the way they ultimately do not inherently exist. If we are able to put in effort to familiarize ourselves with these five qualities, then this is a practice that is like the practice that is performed on the path of preparation. In order for a being to develop what’s called the direct realization of an Ārya path, which is another way to say, a way for them to realize a direct perception of emptiness, then they need to work on these five things, on faith, vigor, recollection, mindfulness, meditation, and wisdom. Through familiarizing themselves with these, they develop the final stage of the path of preparation, which is called the Supreme Dharma, which is what I think the last bit of this verse is talking about, because it’s the same translation.
Sorry, the translation is a bit strange. And so that’s what I think that they’re talking about in the translation because it’s what Geshe-la is saying, right? So then so they work towards that last stage. But before they get to that last stage, they have to get to the stage before that, which is called forbearance and now what it’s talking about here is having the ability to stay in that state without distraction without doubts and so on so this is why we need to develop these five qualities again. And then before that state, you even there is the idea of the peak, which is something that man beings need to develop to withstand the clarity of their perception.
And then before that, again, they need to go through the heat stage, which is the first Okay. Sorry, I thought I misheard him, but I hadn’t. So, yeah, then before forbearance, which they again need to be able to make sure that the negative influences don’t draw them away from their practice. So this is another reason why they have to develop these qualities. They have to go through what s called the peak experience.
Peak experience, again, they need in order to have the courage and the strength to keep going with that practice, need the development of faith, vigor, recollection, meditation and wisdom. And then even before that, when they develop what’s called the heat stage of the path of preparation, they need to be able to see the truth of understand the two truths without having any doubt about that and be able to develop what’s called higher perception or higher ability through these powers in order to focus on those. So in general, this means that the last stage, the stage of the highest dharma or the supreme Dharma is related to what they’ve translated here as summits, when it says the five Supreme Dharma is also known as the strengths, the powers and the summits. So the final stage of the path of preparation is related to this idea of what they’ve translated as summits. And then the next stage, the stage of forbearance is said to relate to these five things when they are in their strength stage.
So they have the strength to forbear through this experience. And then, no. This keeps going I’m getting my brain’s not working and it’s the opposite of English, so I’m getting confused. Sorry. So the this stage is actually the power stage.
I’m working backwards, and it’s weird because they the translation, which you guys don’t even have, do you? I’m trying to work it make it so it works out with the translation, and then it’s like going, this isn’t working, and then you guys don’t even have the translation. But anyway, because the way they’ve done it here is the normal way they translate it, right? So you’re working downwards from the path of seeing through the path of preparation, right? And these five things have different ways of manifesting, different ways of being.
In one way, at the last level of this path of preparation, they are what they’ve translated as a summit, but it’s usually referred to as a piercingness. They have this very clear direct ability. And then the next stage below that, which is the forbearance stage, then they manifest as what’s usually translated as a power, which means that s a steady kind of power involved. These five things, this faith, vigor, recollection, meditation, and wisdom, have this sustaining ability that’s very calmed. Then before that, the path of preparations, what’s called its peak stage, they are as a strength.
So they’re not as stable as when they develop into a power, right? Guess like think superheroes, but they’re still there. They’re still strong. They can still use them. And then before that, on the lowest level of the path preparation, which is called the heat level because it’s warming up to the realization of emptiness, they are just called the five Supreme Dharmas.
So they’re present there, but they haven’t manifested in their full form. So these five things, this faith, this vigor, this recollection, this Samādhi and wisdom, get stronger and manifest in different ways as we go through the levels of the path of preparation before the realization of emptiness. Okay. So I guess I could go to sleep So, yeah, sorry about that. I was trying to squish it all into the translation, I look up and no one had it.
Usually, one or two people have it. Today, no one had it. So I was like, okay. Now so now that I finished blithering you, Geshe-la said you can ask questions. But he also said I did go to sleep, so I don’t know how that’s gonna work.
No. You can ask questions. It’s fine. I’ve got a tea now. Yep.
From here? From From our own library. And they copy it themselves. You wanna explain corporate laws again now before we do this? Sure.
Sure. Sure. Sure. Okay. That’s a good way to put it.
Geshe-la doesn’t think it’s stealing because the person that who bought the tape in the first place that you are making a copy of paid for the video. If they have stolen it, then that’s a different issue, but if they paid for it in the first place, then he doesn’t see how making a copy of something that was rightfully paid for could be stealing. Then I explained to him that they could actually be breaking copyright laws because that means that these people don’t get an extra sale. He said it may be breaking the law, but he doesn’t know if it comes under the definition of stealing in terms of vows and things like that, because you’re not taking anything from them. In terms of taking something that was not given, you’re making a copy of something, so that’s a different action that’s involved.
You’re not getting the same thing as if you bought it. He doesn’t think it’s stealing, but you should be careful not to break laws as well. Okay? Okay? I keep feeling, like, dizzy.
And then I say, yes. I feel really