Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A close reading of a single technical term anchors this 46-minute commentary by Geshe Pema Tsering on the Ornament for Clear Realisations. He opens with a diagnostic sign of the Mahāyāna path of accumulation: a practitioner meeting emptiness conceptually shows no fear, despondency, or lingering agitation — explaining why this is a subsequent cognition developed through hearing and contemplation rather than direct inference. He then unpacks the Tibetan etymology of “partial concordance with liberation,” showing why it can equally be read as “that which leads to liberation.” The session turns to the five faculties of a sharp-capacity Bodhisattva — faith, joyous effort, bodhicitta-mindfulness, non-conceptual meditative stabilization, and wisdom — with extended attention to why Mahāyāna faith differs from mere belief, and how Mahāyāna refuge, unlike personal refuge, extends to all sentient beings. Suited to students engaging this treatise systematically.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 05 OCR 2005 02 17.mp3
UUID: 22721c65-3461-4318-83da-392a4aaba551
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Ornament for Clear Realisations (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2005-02-17
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.8 minutes
Words: ~3,433
Did you just turn the tape on? It’s not not said anything useful anyway. Okay. So the the other thing that’s good to note at this stage is that when it’s what we talked about last week, to remember what we talked about last week, that when it says that it’s specifically indicated in this case, the definition of the thing we’re talking about, Mahāyāna partial concordance of liberation is the Mahāyāna partial concordance of liberation specifically indicated in this case in terms of the fourth chapter of the Clear Ornament of Realization. Now the this path of accumulation that’s indicated in Clear Ornament of Realization’s fourth chapter is not all of the paths of accumulation, the different levels of path of accumulation that someone can develop.
And because there is what’s called the path of accumulation of those who have sharp faculties and the path of accumulation of those with dull faculties. Now the beings with the sharp faculties are the ones that are practicing the clear ornament of realization, right? So because they’re the ones practicing the Clear Ornament of Realization, they are ones that have talked about, right? There are beings who have got dull faculties who can develop the clear they can develop their past accumulation, but it’s not this one. Okay?
So because of that then, the next description or the next sign of someone who has developed the path of accumulation is one who, when seeing emptiness, is not afraid or agitated or tending towards fright. Alright. So they don’t develop fear at that stage. They don’t develop agitation at that stage, and they don’t develop fear after that stage. Right?
So they don’t what their understanding doesn’t lead them towards fear. So this is another sign, a particular sign of the Mahāyāna path of accumulation that’s indicated on this occasion is indicated in the Clear Ornament of Realization. So if you’re talking about those who are practicing the the path of the Clear Ornament of Realization and they have developed the path of accumulation, then those of sharp faculties and they don’t experience fear when they first perceive emptiness. So another way to look at these different earlier states that another way to hang on, we’re looking for signs of being who has developed the Mahāyāna partial concordance with liberation or the path of accumulation that’s described in the Clear Ornament of Realization, sorry, the clear ornament of realization. So another way of looking at that is to see how beings you can’t look for the lack of something, can you?
I don’t think that’s very good English. But, anyway, if you don’t if that being doesn’t experience, first of all, any agitation or agitation coming from a despondency. That means that they don’t experience any sense of not being able to accomplish the path of accumulation before they accomplish the path of accumulation or before they develop a understanding of emptiness. And if they don’t experience any fear when they are realizing emptiness or realizing a conceptual understanding of emptiness and they don’t develop and that doesn’t lead them to experience any fear in the future, then this is another way to describe someone who has achieved the path of accumulation that’s explicitly indicated on this occasion. So that means that they don’t feel despondent before they develop it.
This is specifically talking about the understanding of emptiness. They don’t feel fear or agitation when they have realised it. And that doesn’t lead to any after effect, any fear as an after effect of the realization, conceptual realization of emptiness. So this is a this realization of emptiness that we’re talking about here is a direct realisation of emptiness. It is not an inferential cognition of emptiness.
It is what is called a subsequent cognition. So it’s a conceptual way of understanding of emptiness that’s developed through hearing and contemplating. So the reason that this stage of the path is called the Mahāyāna partial concordance with liberation, is that because It’s it’s etymology of the word in Tibetan, and I just went, it’s because anyway, it splits the word into parts but aren’t there in English? Okay. So it says, in order for someone to attain liberation, they need to first of all start with the path of accumulation, right, and the rest of them and the path of preparation and so on.
So because the path of accumulation is something that leads to the see, it doesn’t work. Something that leads to the path of the final path of realization of Buddhahood, Right? So that’s one part. And then that’s one way of looking at it. Then it can be called the Mahāyāna partial concordance with the liberation.
Another way to look at it is that it is something that isn’t liberation, so it can’t be called the path of liberation. So in this way, it’s because it’s beneficial to the development of liberation, but only beneficial in a partial sense to the development of liberation because it’s not the complete development of liberation, then it is said to be only the partial concordance of liberation. See, but there’s this thing. Right? This is why I’m, like, sounding even more incoherent than usual.
Is this the word that is leads to in Tibetan is, like, the same as concordance. Alright? It’s the same it’s got the same syllables in it as a concordance. So something that leads to to something else is the same as something that can concord with something else. But the difference being that it has this other syllable in there that means it’s something that happens afterwards as opposed to happening at the same time.
So, yeah, so in Tibetan, you can have something that’s like anything, and then you put this other syllable before it, and it means something coming from something else. Right? So it can be, you know, yeah, anything. Like this person there’s a person going. Right?
And if you put this in front of it, it means you’re following them. It turns into some going to following. Does that make sense? And so this word that means concordance, the ones that have translated as concordance, if you put a this this syllable in front of it, it changes from being concordance into being that which leads to or that which encourages. Yeah?
So this is why it’s called concordance. It’s that which leads to or that which develops into liberation. So as well as translating it from this etymological description, as well as translating it as a partial concordance for liberation, you could also translate it as that which leads to liberation. And this line. K?
No. It’s just the structure of the language. The structure of the language our language is dependent on roots that come from Latin usually, and then we change the roots depending on which way we’re using it. And Tibetan is a syllabic language, so they they make all their words by adding two syllables together. Alright?
So everything’s like one syllable has a meaning, you add it to another syllable, and it just changes the meaning slightly, which means that you can be awfully more specific in Tibetan than you can in English. Okay. So describe the nature of the partial components of liberation or the path of accumulation. It’s said to be it’s it’s put forward in debate form. Right?
So bear with me. It says take, for example, the lower in the continuum of a sharp capacity being who is a Bodhisattva from the path of accumulation, right? This is Mahāyāna partial concordance with liberation specifically indicated on this in this occasion. The reason it is called this is because this clear knower or this path, which is the Dharma of this clear knower, which is the clear knower Dharma of a Bodhisattva is the expert mind that has the ability to establish the realization of Buddhahood in the continuum of the aforementioned Bodhisattva. This one.
We just started to Does that make sense? Focusing on taking as an example is the Bodhisattvas of Sharp Capacities who are on the path of accumulation. And it said that they are called Bodhisattvas with Sharp Capacities because they are experts in practicing the five factors, right, which is on the next page, five factors, including faith and so on. So as they’re experts practicing these five factors, then they are Bodhisattvas of sharp capacity. Mhmm.
So these five different faculties are, first of all, there is the faith that focuses on the pure Dharma. Then there is the effort that practices all of their virtuous dharmas. And then the third one is the development of bodhicitta, which isn’t what it says in the notes. Okay. So there’s this the it says having excellent thoughts about the greater vehicle’s mental generation.
Now what that means is in the mental generation or mind generation is another way of saying bodhicitta. It means generated mind. So the mind of the Mahāyāna is another way of saying bodhicitta. The generative mind of the Mahāyāna. So they have excellent thoughts of excellent thought of the generative mind of Mahāyāna.
So it’s another way to say that they are constantly aware of bodhicitta. That bodhicitta doesn’t diminish. They don’t forget bodhicitta. They don’t lose bodhicitta. So this word that’s translated as mindfulness is also the word that means to remember.
It’s the same word. And so it means there’s this constant awareness of bodhicitta in their mental continuum. There’s no sense of them either not being mindful of their motivation or they’re forgetting their motivation. It might translate either way. And so the next one is that they have a non conceptual meditative stabilization.
That is meditative stabilization that isn’t doesn’t involve any discursive thought. And then the last thing is that they are have the wisdom that perceives both ultimate and relative phenomena. So ultimate phenomena is described as that which is the ultimate that is perceived, and the relative phenomena is that which can be found. Okay. So when we talk about faith in this instance, faith in this instance refers to refuge or going for refuge or going to refuge.
And in specific in particular, the refuge of the Mahāyāna. Now the difference between, as Geshe-la said, any old refuge and and the refuge of the Mahāyāna is that the Mahāyāna refuge includes all sentient beings. So personal refuge is defined as having two aspects. So in Tibetan, the word the way that it’s translated the the word. Right?
They have two syllables, and they take one syllable from going and the other one from refuge and stick them together. Alright? So you have two syllables. Yeah? Now in English, that’s sometimes translated as to go for refuge.
Alright? But sometimes we drop off the to go because it’s like a lot of words, and we’re Australians. Alright? So so say to to have refuge or to yeah? But in Tibetan, he’s always still saying I I’m still going for refuge.
Alright? Now, Geshe said the go the the refuge aspect in in refuge, alright, is protection from suffering. Alright? And the going aspect is going to happiness. Okay?
So you’re looking for it’s got two different elements in it. Refuge has two different elements. That which is going to give protection from suffering and that which is going to lead to happiness. That’s the whole process of refugees. Ordinary, any old refuge, you are doing that on behalf of yourself.
You are going towards that which will make you happy and protect you from suffering. Alright? So refuge is this idea of going relying on something that can protect you from suffering and lead you to happiness. Yeah? In the Mahāyāna refuge, you are looking towards or you are working towards that which will liberate all sentient beings from suffering, which is the refuge part of it, and establish all sentient beings in happiness, which is the going part of it.
You are working towards something that dispels the suffering of all beings in terms of refuge and develops happiness in their continuum, and that’s the going bit. Now this means that refuge isn’t completely developed until we become Buddhas. Mahāyāna refuge isn’t developed until we become Buddhas. Buddhas still have refuge in their continuum. They still have this idea of relieving the suffering of sentient beings, protecting beings from suffering, and leading them to happiness.
Those two aspects are still very much there in the continuum of Buddha, the Mahāyāna refuge. Our understanding of the other forms of refuge, of personal refuge, is there in order to lead some beings of lower vehicle capacity. So in this instance then, when it talks about faith, it’s talking about the uncommon refuge of the Mahāyāna. It’s talking about the the idea of believing or knowing that going towards going for refuge in the Three Jewels on behalf of all sentient beings will relieve their suffering and will lead them to a state of happiness. So in this way then, here the relationship between faith and refuge is said to be one of The this the the do you guys remember the hang on.
Think of a better way to describe it. Okay. So faith in this instance is described as being from the Mahāyāna point of view, we are talking about the Mahāyāna path of accumulation. Faith is a path which works towards the benefit of self and others. A path that inspires to work for the benefit of self and others or motivates to work for the benefit of self and others.
In this way, a faith isn’t something that ordinary beings have. They have belief, but they don’t have faith. Faith is defined as being path, therefore it’s not something that we have. We have Mahāyāna refuge either because it’s very difficult. It’s what we’re training in.
It’s what we’re trying to develop. But we don’t actually develop Mahianna refuge and therefore we don’t develop Mahāyāna faith or Hīnayāna faith until we develop a path. When you have renunciation you have faith, when you have bodhicitta you have faith, but until that state you don’t have it. You do have refuge. You can have refuge refuge has many different types of refuge.
There is refuge that we can seek refuge from the suffering of saṃsāra and we can seek refuge from instances of suffering in saṃsāra. We can seek refuge from saṃsāra suffering in general, or we can have an idea of refuge as being that there is something in saṃsāra that we don’t like and that we want refuge from. There are many different types of refuge. We can develop refuge and we have refuge because we have belief in the Buddha, belief in the Buddha’s teachings. Have that in our continuum.
But this idea of faith is something that is a clear knower. And as it’s a clear knower, that’s a synonym of a path. And as it’s a synonym of a path, it’s not something you develop until you enter the path of accumulation. So then the next one, which is called joyous effort, is defined as having the ability or the skill of being diligent with regards to the general practices or trainings of a Bodhisattva. That means there are six perfections.
So the general practice has been six perfections as opposed to the ten. So it means being skilled in being skilled in diligence. We’re skilled in having the skill of diligence with regards to the six perfections. Finally, set about. Now, the base for that behavior is said to be bodhicitta.
And so the next thing which is mindfulness of the perfect thought or mindfulness of bodhicitta is said to be this constant awareness or constant having the ability to have constant awareness of bodhicitta which acts as a basis or the reason from which we perform the six or the bodhicitta perform the six perfections. So the last two, which is nonanalytical meditative stabilization and wisdom, refers to the last two perfections, perfection of meditation and the perfection of wisdom. And as the Bodhisattvas who are of sharp capacity need to be experts in these two different things apart from meditation and wisdom. And then they’re the last two of the five factors which determine skill and means, or which measure skills. Okay.
So then we need to look at those who are trained by the ornament. This is identifying the trainees of ornament who are skilled in the five factors. Now in general, it is said that those who train in ornament are skilled in the five factors and therefore of sharp faculties. Although from amongst those who train in ornament, there are those with dull faculties as well. It’s just more difficult for them to develop realisation based on the teachings of the ornament of clear realisation.
So in general it’s said to be those with sharp faculties who train on it, although there are a few who have dull faculties who train in this way. Okay. But even though that there is said to be these two different types of trainees in the ornament the teachings of the ornament of clear realization, Because it says complete enlightenment is asserted to be easily realized by the sharp, difficult to be realized by the dull, but the word that they’ve used for the sharp and the dull indicates that they are sharp and dull Bodhisattvas. So that means that those who train in the ornament, those who develop realisations through the path of accumulation in this way and have these five faculties, they may be they’re most likely to be sharp faculties, They may occasionally be dull faculties, but they’re always Bodhisattvas. Alright.
Okay. So we’re identifying the trainees of ornament who are skilled in the five factors. Right? Now the identifying well, while we’re doing this, we not only identify that they are mainly sharp faculty beings, but there are a few dull faculty beings in this state. But we also say and, you know, their idea of dull is pretty sharp.
But anyway, The dull faculty beings who have developed this realization. Then there are also no aryas. Anyone who has a realization of emptiness isn’t considered a trainee. They’re certainly considered someone has subdued their mind and is getting rid of the obscurations. So therefore, there are no aryas, no path of seeing beings who are identified as trainees of ornament.
Because the reason that the reason that they’re not they’re said not to be no. No. The reason that they’re said not to be those who have attained realization is because it says it is something that is easily realized by complete enlightenment. And there’s another section in the text where it says the realization of dharmadhata or dharmadhatu or the sphere of reality is realized is something that will be realized by these beings. And if it’s something that will be realized by these beings, it’s not something that has been realized by these beings, so therefore they can’t be passed being on the path.
So it’s the realization that will happen. Because it says there’s this one word in Sanskrit that says will happen, then you can’t say it is. So there’s, like, five lines on that. Anyway and then the last thing is yeah. No.
Yeah. That’s that’s the last five lines on that. So the also the other part of beings who aren’t included in this in this state of being trainees of the ornament are Buddhas. Alright? And so you are if if you’re on the path of realization no.
Path of accumulation and the path of preparation, then you are what’s called a trainee of ornament. So in this instance where it’s identifying what is a trainee of ornament, it’s not saying what is a Mahāyāna partial concordance with liberation. It’s not the same thing. Right? So it’s one section, the third section within the topic that’s called the Mahāyāna partial concordance with liberation.
Right? But it’s not the same thing. Because you’re just identifying those who can train in ornament, and they can either be path of accumulation beings or path of preparation beings. Yeah? So next week, we’re on to topic number two.
Okay. So we had to have this discussion today about when we were gonna finish this, and Geshe-la thinks we’ll be finished it in what’s the fourth month? That would be April, wouldn’t it? The end of April. So we have seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven.