Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Opening with Śāntideva’s verse on the difference between wanting to travel and actually setting out, Geshe Pema Tsering uses an extended analogy in this 45-minute session to unpack aspirational versus engaged bodhicitta: one person wishes to go to Sydney, another has the car, the ticket, and the fuel. A second scenario — a government offering $100,000 to anyone who reaches Sydney by month’s end — sharpens the question: why do we chase money without hesitation but drag our feet toward Buddhahood? His answer is that we cannot see Buddhahood’s qualities clearly, and that blindness produces what he calls afflicted doubts, a recognised form of negative emotion. The session then enumerates seven excellent qualities that arise from cultivating bodhicitta, including overcoming the four Maras, receiving direct instruction from Buddhas, and accumulating only uncontaminated qualities in one’s continuum.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 ST9 2003 09 11.mp3
UUID: 164a8254-989d-4e44-beb4-cf42cf2a7ff7
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Seventy Topics (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2003-09-11
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.0 minutes
Words: ~3,534
‘Bodhicaryāvatāra’, Śāntideva says: ‘As is understood by the distinction between aspiring to go and actually going, so the wise understand in turn the distinction between these two. Now, what this is referring to is the two different types of bodhicitta. Aspirational bodhicitta and engaged bodhicitta. So in order to understand the distinction between these two, then we have to take the example of someone making plans to go somewhere and someone who’s actually going. So, for example, if there was two people and one of those really wanted to go to Sydney but the other one actually was going, had the car, had the petrol, was gonna go, or had had the plane ticket, then that person would be the example of engaged bodhicitta and the person merely wishing to go would be the example of aspirational bodhicitta or wishing bodhicitta.
The thing to remember is that there is these two things. The distinction or the difference between these two things is about whether something is actually undertaken or whether there is a wish to undertake it. The main thing for us to remember is that there is two different types of bodhicitta. That’s the engaged one the aspirational or wishing bodhicitta. Okay, so in the example that we had where two people were wanting to go to Sydney, if we continue that example on, then we can understand that in that example, both those beings were trying to get Sydney but one of them actually had the means to get there and the other one didn’t and that’s a similar thing when we’re talking about these two different types of bodhicitta in this case the destination isn’t Sydney the destination is Buddhahood But the being that has engaged Buddhahood is like the being who has the means to get to Sydney, is actually, in the process of going or is is about to go.
And now this person has a car, has a plane, has a ticket, has the means to get there. It’s the same with the Bodhisattva who has engaged bodhicitta, they have the means to get to Buddhahood. This means that they have to get to Buddhahood is the practices of the six perfections, practice of generosity, the practice of patience, ethics and effort and meditation and wisdom they have that practice they have that practice they have the meditation on emptiness and they have meditation on bodhicitta this is their fuel this is the thing that they can use to take them to Buddhahood So, if they have the means being the engaged if they have the vehicle, sorry, being the engaged bodhicitta and they have the means being these practices they can do, then in just the same way as a person with a car or a plane ticket and the will to go to Sydney will get there, then they will achieve Buddhahood. So if someone has the wish to go to Sydney and they have the means to get to Sydney, then they will get to Sydney. But before they have the means to get to Sydney, they need to have the wish to go to Sydney.
If they have no wish to go to Sydney in any way, then they won’t end up in Sydney. They won’t be able to make the journey there because they have no desire or no energy to send them there. Now, it’s the same with bodhicitta. Before we can engage bodhicitta, then we need to have this motivation wishing to attain enlightenment before we start having engaged bodhicitta. Now, this wish to attain enlightenment is something that is very difficult for us to generate in our mind stream.
The main reason that it is very difficult for us to generate it in our mind stream is that we don’t have the imprints of wishing to achieve Buddhahood. We don’t understand the qualities of Buddhahood, don’t understand what it is that we are working for, we don’t have the imprints of that in our mind stream, so it is difficult for us to develop bodhicitta. What we are dealing with here is a similar thing if someone said, Okay, not only is your journey to Sydney going to be paid for, but when you get to Sydney, people will give you everything you wish. You’ll have a nice hotel to stay and you’ll be given all really yummy food, you can do whatever you want, it’s all paid for, don’t worry about the expenses and you’re guaranteed to have a fantastic time, then we go. We wouldn’t have any we wouldn’t have any doubts about it.
We just go, yeah, I’m going to Sydney. It’s gonna be fun. We wouldn’t, we wouldn’t be thinking, oh, I’m not quite sure, what’s gonna happen there. There’s there’s if someone if everything was to be provided for us, we wouldn’t have to worry about that. We don’t understand this about Buddhahood though.
We don’t see Buddhahood’s qualities. We don’t see the benefits and the qualities that Buddhahood has. Therefore, we don’t feel compelled to go there. We don’t feel the desire to go there in the same way as if someone explained to us all the good things that were going to happen to us in Sydney that we want to go. So we need to try and develop our understandings of Buddhahood and understandings of the qualities of Buddhahood so we will want to go there and we’ll have the aspiration to go there.
Okay. So now there’s different Okay. So now we’re having different Sydney Sydney situation. If people it’s okay. So it’s the eleventh of September right and the government’s put out an all points bulletin that if you manage to make it to Sydney on the thirtieth of September they will give each person who goes there a hundred thousand dollars right Now, if that was the case, every single person in Australia and I said including I don’t know about the really rich people — Geshe-la said, how do you think they got rich?, I said, how do you think they got rich?
Okay. So they all would want to go to Sydney and be there on the thirtieth of September to get their hundred thousand dollars. There wouldn’t be one person that was like, nah, you know, I don’t I don’t really want the money. I’m not gonna make the effort. Alright?
Every single person would do whatever it took to get to Sydney to get this hundred thousand dollars that the government was gonna give them all. There wouldn’t be anyone questioning They go who’s in the going? Everyone’s going. And not only that, but they’ll really enjoy going and they’re thinking, yes. I’m going to Sydney.
I’m gonna get the money. Okay. Now, that is because people can see the benefits of the dollar. People understand what they can do with the dollar with money. They understand which ways they use it and how it will benefit them.
So there’s no doubts that they have with regards to what they can do with that money. Most people in the world don’t have a doubt about what they can do with money. They understand it, they can see its qualities, therefore they want to work towards getting it. Nobody has this idea of I don’t know what money is going to do for me, therefore I’m not interested. That people can see the qualities of money so they don’t have any doubts about it.
We’re not the same with Buddhahood however because we have doubts about Buddhahood because we can’t see the qualities of Buddhahood because if we think about it, then all the money in the world isn’t going to be as important as it’s even Buddhahood but because we can’t see properly the qualities of Buddhahood, because we don’t see it directly, we have doubts about it and those doubts mean that we don’t put in the effort as much for that as we would for money. These doubts that we have about the qualities of Buddhahood or the qualities of liberation, they’re what’s called afflicted doubts. They’re a type of affliction, a type of negative emotion. So they’re what we need to get rid of. Now, the way that we need to get rid of these is by every time by starting to do practices and starting to try and concentrate or analyze the qualities of Buddhahood and the qualities of liberation.
And every time that we have one of these doubts come up, look at that and try and process through and understand that that doubt isn’t helping and try and see clearly the qualities of Buddhahood and liberation. It’s very difficult for us to understand or to see clearly the qualities of Buddhahood and liberation, however, because since beginning of this time, we have been familiarizing ourselves and our mind stream has been overwhelmed by negative emotions or delusion, all these negative thought patterns. Patterns. In order for us to turn our minds away from that and to develop an understanding of the qualities of liberation, the qualities of Buddhahood, then we need to put in a lot of effort. We need to work hard at it because we’ve trained ourselves so well since the beginning of this time in its opposite, that is the practice of well, not the practice, but trained ourselves in saṃsāra, trained ourselves in negative emotions.
So if we did manage to do this, if we had the ability through a lot of analysis and a lot of investigation to develop understanding of the Buddha’s qualities or to develop an understanding of the qualities of achieving liberation, then it would be like we would have been with the money in Sydney. There wouldn’t be any question. We’d be there, we’d be doing whatever it took to get there, and we would be really happy about it because we knew what was going to be at the end. So what we need to do then is we need to try to do these investigations, need to put in this effort to try and understand the qualities of Buddhahood and the qualities of liberation. In order for us to do that, then we need to use all these different methods of investigation and so forth.
If we do that, and we do understand the qualities of Buddhahood and we understand the qualities of liberation, we will work towards those without even being tired. We will be really happy about working towards those things. Okay. So do we see these qualities of Buddhahood and we see these qualities of liberation and we desire to work towards those because we understand just how important or how good these qualities are, then that mind that desires to work through them having seen the qualities clearly is aspirational bodhicitta. Now, after we’ve developed this aspirational bodhicitta, the next stage is engaging within the practices that we need to engage in, in order to achieve the goal that is the desired outcome of Aspirational bodhicitta that is Buddhahood and the thing is if we have this desire because we see clearly the qualities of Buddhahood, if we have the desire to achieve Buddhahood then any of the practices that we engage in will be very very easy for us.
We’ll be so happy to be doing them and we can see that Bodhisattvas will go anywhere and do anything in order to help and they’ll be really happy about it because they’re able to help and that’s something they can see what it is that they get at the end of that so that any of the practices whether it’s patience, it’s giving, whether it’s effort, any of these things they will do with lots of enjoyment and lots of happiness because they can see where it’s gonna take them. It’s the same thing as if if we knew that we were gonna get a hundred thousand dollars in Sydney, then not only will we go, but we’d be really happy about going. So the problem we have at the moment is that we can’t see clearly the qualities of liberation. We can’t see clearly the qualities of Buddhahood. So if we want to develop these minds, if we want to develop these two different types of bodhicitta, then we need to focus on trying to see the qualities of liberation and Buddhahood.
So this mind that seeks to achieve enlightenment is what’s called aspirational bodhicitta. And then after that the practices engaging in the practices that will actually take you to Buddhahood is what’s called engaged bodhicitta so once you develop the wish to achieve Buddhahood then developing engaged bodhicitta is very easy because you already focus and you already understand the qualities that will be the reward or result. So, because we don’t have this aspiration of bodhicitta or engaged bodhicitta, it means that everything we do is difficult. It’s very for us to try and push on with constantly doing practice, constantly working with our minds, constantly doing different types of meditation, constantly refraining from the ten non-virtues. All these things are really difficult for us because we don’t have this engaged oh sorry, aspirational bodhicitta.
We’re a bit like a lame donkey trying to climb up to a mountain pass. Yeah? Now a lame donkey may actually finally make it there, but it’s going to be incredibly difficult. It’s really hard going for this lame donkey trying to get up there and it really doesn’t wanna try. It would really rather sit somewhere and and not be struggling up towards the mountain pass.
And so that’s what we’re like. We’re like an invalid donkey trying to struggle towards Buddhahood because and everything’s really hard for us because we don’t have this motivational motivational or aspirational bodhicitta. He said, I can’t say actually that it’s it’s what’s happening with all of you guys, but I can definitely say it’s happening for me. So Geshe la says, for him anyway, that if he tries to do these practices, if he works doing these practices, it takes a lot of effort. And if he’s not putting the effort in, his mind just goes just stops doing it completely.
He goes back to just doing what he thinks is just relaxing, but isn’t in fact indulging in negativities. Right? He’s just but he’s very happy just to sit there and do nothing. And if he wants to keep doing the practices, it’s something that he has to keep working at. This means that we really need to focus on trying to develop this bodhicitta, the aspirational bodhicitta and the engaged bodhicitta.
If we have this aspirational engaged bodhicitta, if we focus on the qualities of Buddhahood, we focus on the qualities of liberation, we focus on the mind that seeks to attain liberation, the mind that seeks to attain Buddhahood, then that should really be our main focus because that’s what we need in order to make the journey to Buddhahood. If we focus on that and we develop that, then everything else becomes easy. So please try and think on this idea for the benefit of all sentient beings, then I need to attain the liberation of a Buddha or the state of liberation in order to be of benefit towards sentient beings. Try and meditate on that for a couple of minutes. We’re up to the we finished the definition of the excellent qualities of aspiration.
Yeah? Is that right? I hope so. The definition of the excellent qualities of the aspirations. Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. So the excellent qualities of this aspiration. Now what is meant by excellent qualities is the ways that it benefits, and what is meant by aspiration is the path or the practice of the bodhisattvas in this instance. Okay, so the first one is called the excellent quality of overcoming the strength of maras by the force of cultivating it in aspiration.
So this means that through doing this practice we have the ability to deal with Maras. Now what Maras are usually said to be four different types of Maras. There is the Skandha Mara or Skanda Mara which is referring to the aggregates, so the Mara of the aggregates. Okay. Okay.
So in Mara, another way of saying a Mara is a obstruction or an obscuration. Alright? So there’s four different types of Mara or maras which are forms of obscurations. First one is the skandha mara which is the mara or the obscurations of the aggregates. The second one is the klesha mara which is the obscurations of afflictive emotions, which is called klesha.
And the third one is the mrityu mara, which is the mara of death, the obscuration of death. And the last one is called the Devaputra Mara. Now, what that is referring to is the it means literally God Mara or the God obscuration, but we’re not actually talking about individual beings here. Geshe la said that this is usually referring to the manifestations of our self grasping that come about as if they are divine beings or powerful beings, but they’re not in actual fact divine beings or or gods. They’re in fact are of images of our own self grasping.
Okay, so the next one, it says in the translation, excellent quality of authorization and being known by the Buddhas. Now what that means is the excellent quality, which is pretty straightforward of the Buddha saying that what we’re doing is pretty good. Alright? So, Buddha understands when we develop these realizations, the Buddha understands when we’re doing these practices and it makes them very happy it makes them very happy to see us developing these realizations so Buddha’s may understand all things but they see this clearly and become very happy from that so because the Buddha’s can see us doing this and are happy about what we are doing that’s considered an excellent quality of these practices. Okay, so the next one, it says here, the excellent quality of being directly seen by Buddhas.
What this means is that if we develop these realizations, the Buddhas can direct us and instruct us directly. At the moment we may not necessarily have the merit that enables us to take direct instructions from the Buddha but if we develop these abilities or we develop this type of mind or this type of understanding then we will be able to take teachings from the Buddha. For example, if someone was on the Okay, the greatest section like there’s on the path of preparation, You’ve got three stages, you’ve got small, middle and great. Yeah? So if you’re in the great stage of the path of preparation, then you start being able to take teachings from thangkas and statues because you see them as emanations of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and they can instruct you directly so when these people start when people with those kind of realization start meditating they actually get instruction on meditating and instruction on their practices directly from Buddhas in Nirmānakāya form.
The next one is the excellent quality of near and complete enlightenment. If you’ve developed bodhicitta and you’ve engaged in the practice of bodhicitta, then you are not very far away from achieving enlightenment. So hence, that quality. The next excellent quality is excellent quality of great meaning, great result, great benefit, great fruition and great fruition and so forth. Now and the first one, great meaning, what that is is that the meaning or the purpose for doing this practice is for all sentient beings so that’s what’s considered the great meaning the great result is the achieving of Buddhahood the great benefit is that you have benefits to all sentient beings and the the great fruition is Okay.
Now the difference between these two, great result and great fruition is a great result of something is, for example, the the achieving of something, the the achieving Buddhahood or if we’re talking about it in terms of achieving a human or a god rebirth, it would actually be achieving that result. Now, the great fruition is the actual base. So, in the case of a human or a god rebirth, it’s the actual base of a human being on the base of a god. In the case of a Buddha, it is the four bodies. The next one is the excellent quality of making use of places, which means that wherever you are, then you can use that place to do practices, which is to make use to a place in the best way.
The next one, excellent qualities of fulfilling all uncontaminated qualities. Okay. So the fulfilling all uncontaminated qualities fulfilling all uncontaminated qualities means that whatever is in the continuum of a Bodhisattva is whatever is in the continuum of a Bodhisattva is a positive thing, is a positive quality, and there is nothing that has a they have no contaminants in their mind stream. Hence, it says that this this practice has a quality of