Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A memorable image opens this 38.5-minute session: the bodhisattva on the eighth ground is like a householder who has driven out all insects and now simply watches to confirm none return — Geshe Pema Tsering’s metaphor for why the last three grounds involve no new abandonments, only familiarisation. The session then distinguishes serial application from peak application and complete aspects application: all three involve the same 173 aspects of the three exalted knowers, but serial application moves through them one by one to build stability while peak application meditates on all at once. Geshe Pema Tsering breaks serial application into thirteen parts — six perfections, six recollections, and emptiness — then Q&A covers the four levels of the path of preparation and concrete examples of abandonment on the paths of seeing and meditation. For students already engaged in this advanced series.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 02 ST2 2003 02 20.mp3
UUID: 57d1e2de-121f-4a31-b78c-e9095ea3d00c
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Seventy Topics (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2003-02-20
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 38.5 minutes
Words: ~2,467
Peak application is the last moment of a continuum of a sentient being. When we’re at the last moment of the continuum of sentient being, we’re abandoning the things that need to be abandoned on the path of seeing, and in fact, last things that need to be abandoned before you achieve Buddhahood. So it’s that moment of of getting rid of the the final the final obstructions to mind before you become a Buddha. He said it’s not scary because they’re almost Buddhas, and they’re really developed bodhisattvas. Right?
And so, therefore, it’s not scary for them at all because they’re really special and highly developed people. And it’s not possible for us to be able to understand that mind, so therefore, we can’t be afraid of it because we don’t even understand it. And if we could understand it, then we would be a bodhisattva on the ninth ground, and therefore, we wouldn’t be afraid. So perhaps if we were trying to understand it, it would be scary. But because we can’t understand it, it’s it’s oh, it it really isn’t that scary for us.
But for them, it’s fine because they’ve understood everything else. So it’s their last moment of their consciousness. Okay. The the they actually by they get to the the belo, lava. Okay so the bodhisattva is on when they’re moving through the ten grounds right by the time they’ve gotten to the eighth ground they’ve actually gotten rid of all of the things that are to be abandoned and what they’re doing on the last three grounds is trying is not trying is basically sitting there with nothing actually coming up.
Right? So if you get rid of all the insects in the house and you get them outside, then the these last three grounds would be like waiting and seeing that no insects come back. Alright? So so all the insects have gone, but you’re just making sure that they’re not gonna come back. Alright?
And then at the end of that process then becomes Buddha. It’s called the abandonments of the path of meditation, but, actually, after the eighth ground, there is nothing left to be abandoned. Just waiting for them not to come back. Yeah. Alright.
Okay. Because the path of meditation isn’t called the path of meditation for nothing. It’s all about familiarization. So once you’ve gotten rid of all the abandonments, then you have to familiarize yourself with the lack of abandonments. So therefore, it’s practice of getting familiar with this idea that there are no abandonments, and in that process, you become a Buddha at some stage.
Is it alright to wait for the questions until after those one? Because because they’re supposed to be so just for now, I’m just yeah. Because I think there are other people wanting to get through some bits so they have something to discuss. So there can be question time at the end. Alright.
Okay, so the next one is called serial application. Out of the four applications that we have, the first one was complete aspects application and peak application. The third one is serial application, and the one coming after this is momentary application. Now the definition of serial application is a bodhisattvas yoga conjoined with the wisdom that serially cultivates the aspects of the three exalted knowers for the sake of attaining steadiness with respect to the aspects of the three exalted knowers. Now the aspects of the three exalted knowers are the hundred and seventy three divisions that we talked about last week, which are between knower of paths, knower of bases, and the omniscient knower.
So those are one hundred and seventy three aspects. In this stage, they’ve gone through serially, whereas in the peak application, of these things, the peak application was to focus on all of these things at once. In the serial application, these one hundred and seventy three divisions are gone through serially in order to develop a steadfastness or a stability in the knowledge of these one hundred and seventy three divisions. Okay. So this dilemma that we’re talking about where things hundred and seventy three divisions are gone through serially in order to develop stability with those is different to the previous one, which was the peak application, where everything is meditated on collectively in order to have some understanding of that.
But both of these, this collective meditation on the compendium of the three exalted knowers, right? So the com the meditation on the compendium of the three exalted knowers and the meditation on the three exalted knowers, serially, by way of the hundred and seventy three divisions. I’m sorry. I don’t understand. It’s difficult.
So the yeah. So the peak app out of the three, right, there’s the there’s the complete aspects application, the peak application, and the serial application. The complete aspects application is the and they’re all the the combination of the three knowers that we talked about previously right but in the complete aspects application and the three knowers are contemplated on serially and in compendium serially and at the same time. Alright? In the peak application, they are meditated on in compendium, that is at the same time.
And in the serial application, they are meditated on one by one sequentially sequentially serially in order to develop stability. Alright? In in order to understand them more stably, in order to have a stability of knowledge. Right. He said, don’t worry.
I don’t understand either. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. The way that this serial application is divided is actually into thirteen, with the first six being the application of the six perfections, the second six being the serial application of the six recollections, and the last one is the serial application of the non-entity-ness.
So that’s the division of the different ways the serial application works. Okay. So if you don’t have these one hundred and seventy three different aspects and you haven’t understood them in terms of the aspect the complete aspects application, then then there is no way that you can achieve Buddhahood. So likewise, if you haven’t understood this section of it, the serial application, which is part of the complete aspect complete aspects application, then there’s no way to achieve Buddhahood. And the first section of this serial application that is necessary in order to achieve Buddhahood is the meditation on the six perfections.
So that’s, you know, six perfections of ethics and so forth up until wisdom. So if you haven’t done each of those individually, if you haven’t meditated and understood each of those individually, there’s no way to. Okay. So the next thing is the serial application of the six recollections, which comes after the six perfections. The six recollections are Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, ethics, generosity, and gods.
Okay. Sorry. Alright. Oh, come on. It’s.
Okay. So the the sixth one was Oh my god. So so the thirteenth one is emptiness. Right? So the out of the the six recollections, you have Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, morality, generosity, and gods.
Right? And the thirteenth out of the thirteen so this first six is the the first six is the perfections. Yes. Six perfections. And then the second six is the six recollections, and then the thirteenth is emptiness.
Okay. So the border of this one, the serial application, is from the path of accumulation until the moment before the last moment of the continuum of. Sorry. The moment before the last moment of a continuum of a sentient being because the last moment of a continuum of a sentient being is either is either the the peak application, which has all of the hundred and seventy three together. Right?
Or the it can either be the yeah. That or the complete aspects application, which is the hundred and seventy three together. Again, it’s just a different way of saying it. Okay. So the difference between the serial application and the peak application is that the peak application is when they’re meditating on the collection of all of these one hundred and seventy three aspects.
So it’s a meditative stage that can look directly at the one hundred and seventy three aspects together, all right? And because this is looking at them together, it only starts at the path of the path of preparation. Alright? But because the serial application is looking at all the hundred and seventy three separately like one by one it actually starts earlier at the path of accumulation and is worked through the whole way through the path up until the last the moment before the last moment of the continuum of a sentient being because the last moment of a sentient being’s continuum is actually the peak application or the complete aspects application, either one of those. So the the main difference is that one is like is is meditating on a collection of topics, and the other one is meditating on each topic individually through the whole path the whole of the five paths.
Okay. Yeah. We we we stopped there. We’re up to the momentary application. Alright.
Okay. Okay. What’s your questions? Yeah. This is the the hundred the the first one, the complete aspect, is just a hundred and seventy three topics, and you meditate them kinda on an ad hoc basis.
You know? Various hundred and seventy three. And then the peak application is where you meditate on them all together at the Right. Okay. So the complete aspects application isn’t just any of them.
It’s actually the combination of all of them. But because it goes from the path of accumulation up until the last moment of the continuum of sentient being, it makes it different from the peak application, which only goes from the path of a preparation up until the last moment of a sentient being. And both of those, you’re meditating on the hundred and seventy aspects in compendium or at the same time on combination. Then the serial application is one hundred and seventy three aspects one by one in order to attain some kind of stability stability and understanding of them, and that goes from the beginning of the path of the path of accumulation. Right?
So what’s the main difference between Okay. So the the complete aspects application is actually the wisdom that meditates on all of these things in conjunction or in compendium, and the serial application. They’re from this they have the same borders, but the serial application does them serially. And the complete aspects application is wisdom that meditates on them all at once or focuses on them all at and what’s by Applies them all at once. Okay.
What’s meant by the heat? The path of preparation has four sections in it. The first of those sections is the heat level. The second of those sections is the peak level. The third of those sections is the forbearance level or something like that.
I can’t remember. But forbearance, like that. And the fourth level is the supreme level or the most the highest level. Okay. So there’s these four different levels.
Right? And they all have different they all have different understandings or realizations associated with the four different levels, but I’ve tried three times to understand what you’re saying and I don’t. Okay. Alright. So there’s yeah.
So we have the the the four different levels of the path of the four different levels of the path of preparation. Right? The first of which is heat. Yeah? And then there’s so it goes heat, peak, and it’s something like Tolerance.
Tolerance. Thank you. Yeah. Peaks above and stuff. Yeah.
And then the fourth one is the supreme Dharma or the supreme. Yeah. The supreme Dharma is the highest. Thank you. I just want to just want to go to the.
Yeah. It’s the, yes, the lowest level of the path of preparation. But he was telling me the realizations, and I don’t understand well enough to understand. Okay. No.
It’s it’s a metaphor, and it’s supposed to be that the path of seeing is like the heat is like the fire. Right? And then once you get to the first stage of the path of preparation, you can feel the heat of the path of seeing. Yes. Yeah?
Yeah. But this is more more of a statement than anything. I just wanna say in twelve years of traveling the world, honestly, the world, listening to unbelievably great teachings, I have never heard a more articulate and precise translation of the Dharma or a more precise and joyful translation than you’ve been talking about. Thanks. I I I know.
I know. It’s just a Four words are just Yeah. I’m still trying to figure out, like, I’m past Please not the oh, yeah. Yeah. Past seeing.
Not past Okay. So an example of one of the things you have to get rid of on the path of seeing is, for example, the Cittamātrins or the mind only school, they present a presentation that says that even though there is no differentiation between subject and object, the mind that is seeing and the object themselves are actually truly existent. They just don’t have any separation. Therefore, the abandonment of that idea that they truly exist, right, is something that you’d have to get rid of on the path of seeing. Okay, so an example of something that someone would be abandoning on the path of meditation would be, for instance, they have realized emptiness directly on the path of seeing, they’ve also got these habits that they’ve formed since beginningless time of seeing things as being inherently existent.
So on the path of meditation, they will be going through the process saying, Oh, since beginningless time I have seen things as being inherently existent, but now I realize they’re not, So I have to get rid of the habits that I’ve formed over it since beginningless time in seeing things as being inherently existent. So that would be the sort of process on the path of meditation. But this only goes through up until the eighth ground. At the eighth ground, there is no more things to be abandoned. Oh.
Yeah. Okay. I think finished. Yeah. I’m making that decision.
I’m getting too tired for my own voice. Because he said you finished before, and I was like, no. No. There’s one more question. He said he said said he said, you’re tired, so therefore you’re allowed to say.
Sorry. I didn’t. Oh, and now I have to say if there’s any questions, please ask them. I made a mistake. Sorry.
I guess she’ll just put me back in my box.