Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 45-minute commentary, Geshe Pema Tsering illustrates a fine doctrinal point with a Tibetan kitchen image: freshly made tsampa dough is fragile at first but hardens quickly, just as a beginner bodhisattva’s newly formed bodhicitta is initially unstable yet solidifies with only a little more meditation. The session works through the final several of fourteen excellent qualities of Bodhisattvas — authoritative teaching, impartial focus on all sentient beings, and the definite approach to Buddhahood — then covers faults of application and completion, explaining how the four Maras can disrupt practice up to the seventh Bodhisattva ground, along with their forty-six subdivisions. Geshe Tsering then outlines the four characteristics of application (knowledge, differentiating, functional, entity), described as path-level signs of qualities that will be complete only in a Buddha’s mind. A Q&A closes on what realizations mark entry onto the Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna paths of accumulation. Suited to students already familiar with Mahāyāna path-structure.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 02 ST9 2003 09 11.mp3
UUID: 012d0ee6-4ccf-4f28-ad14-6225100707ea
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Seventy Topics (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2003-09-11
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.0 minutes
Words: ~2,996
Bit of contaminated qualities or contaminated things and only having uncontaminated qualities. Okay. So the next one, the excellent quality of being one of the quality of being one who propounds. Now what that means is someone who teaches Dharma. So and we’re talking about people who have the ability to teach in an authoritative and profound way, for example, with the Dalai Lama.
Because when people listen to him, they can they get a lot from it. Okay. Now the next one where it says, it’s the excellent quality of being indivisible by adversaries. Now there’s two different ways we can say this. One of those actually relates to what what the way it’s translated and the other doesn’t.
So I’ll start with the one that actually relates to the way it’s translated. This means indivisible by adversaries means that nobody can stop their focus from pervading all sentient beings and say, okay, you only like those sentient beings but you can’t be working for the benefit of those sentient beings. Yeah. They can’t separate that out, hence, indivisible. Yeah?
The actual way that they’ve the word that they’ve chosen to translate in this case is indivisible by adversaries which accords with Geshe la’s second explanation actually means the concording side, right? So if if it’s a side, then they’re saying, okay, you like those people, don’t like the other people, right? But another way of translating it would be to say, they are nobody who seeks to stop them, who is from the nonconcordant side can stop them. Does that make sense? Okay.
It’s it’s it’s it’s it’s expression that means the wrong side here. So the wrong side can either mean they can say those people are on the wrong side or someone from the wrong side can help. It’s two different ways of looking or can harm. Sorry. From someone from the wrong side can harm.
Okay. The next one, the excellent quality of generating uncommon roots of virtue. Now what this is referring to is this, all beings have roots of virtue or beings have all different beings have many different types of roots of virtue, many different accumulations of virtue. Virtue. However, this is not referring to any any old type of root of virtue.
It’s referring to the roots of virtues of Bodhisattvas. And their roots of virtue are said to be uncommon in that they are conjoined with Bodhisattvas and hence nobody else has them. Okay, the next one is the excellent quality of accomplished aims exactly as promised. So what this means is that bodhisattvas do what they say they’re going to do. They have the ability to do everything that they’ve said they’re going to do.
I said, that sounds like a good thing. I guess they’ll say, well, if you like it, you better start imagining. The excellent qualities of accomplishing the welfare of sentient beings is pretty straightforward. Sorry? Oh, oh, oh, oh, hang on.
That’s my fault because it’s basically the same thing. Okay. So number twelve, the excellent quality of thoroughly holding vast fruit. That’s interesting. Okay.
Okay. Now so he thinks that the translation is a bit like a metaphor and that to say someone is holding diff all different types of fruit because it’s, like, results in Tibetan. But I they had to have the different fruits means that they have all these different I mean, it means it’s the same thing. It’s a bit different. They have they’re holding in their hands all the results of all the work they’ve put in in terms of the trees, and hence, they have these three great things which is the great abandonment, the great realizations and the great mind and that’s the three different types of vast fruit that they are holding.
And the next one, the excellent quality of accomplishing the welfare of sentient beings. Now, that could be something that is considered the same as the previous one. They’re not opposite because if you have the if you’re trying to accomplish the welfare of sentient beings then you have these vast fruits of or vast result great results of great mind, great realization, great abandonment. So they’re almost the same thing, they’re different ways of describing similar qualities. The last one, the excellent quality of definitely attaining the mother in this instance refers to a Buddhahood.
So that means that they’re not only are they close to attaining Buddhahood, but it’s it’s it’s definite. It’s definitely going to happen. Okay. The quote from the ornament of clear realization says overcoming the strength of maras and so forth there are fourteen types of excellent qualities and the boundary of this particular type of meditation practice is from the Mahāyāna path of accumulation through all the way to the Buddha ground Now, the reason that it’s on the Buddha ground is that all the qualities that are achieved on all the different grounds are still present on the Buddha ground. Because it’s talking about qualities, that means it goes all the way to the Buddha ground.
Okay. So the next one is faults of application. Goes, now this one’s actually in our minds. We actually have this one. All the rest of them, we did it, but we’re finally arrived at something that we have.
Okay. So, yeah, the the definition of faults of applications is from when a from when a practice arises while it is in existence until it is completed. Yeah? During that time, if any of the maras that we talked about before, the skandha, klesha, death and deva maras interfere or harm that practice, then that’s the definition of the fault of application. Geshe la says his main fault is that before something is produced or as in the production of bodhicitta, he encounters these four Mares, the Mara’s actions, and they stop him from producing bodhicitta.
So because he hasn’t developed it, he says the one that he has and perhaps he doesn’t know about us but perhaps we have is the production type of this one. In the production of bodhicitta, we’re stopped. Okay. Mara’s actions that interfere with diligence actually only happens to those bodhisattvas who are first time bodhisattvas or beginner bodhisattvas who are on the lowest part of the path of accumulation so the small part of the path of accumulation. Bodhisattvas in that stage can actually experience these attacks of the Maras in terms of their bodhicitta and it is actually possible for them to lose bodhicitta as a result of that for it to decrease.
Okay. The next bit where it says the faults of completion, right, in the definition. Faults of completion refer to those beings who are on the seventh no. Up until the seventh ground or before we get to the seventh ground of the path preparation or the seventh ground of a Bodhisattva that means that up until up on the in the path of preparation the path of seeing the path of meditation up to the seventh ground, there is this fault of application in terms of completion. After after achieving the eighth ground, so that is on the eighth, ninth and tenth ground, there is no fault of completion.
Okay. So then in the divisions of this, when divided there are forty six, that is going from what’s first called attaining with great difficulty, and then goes up to generating like an improper like generating liking for an improper object or generating liking for an object that is not ultimate. So as seeing something as being eternally existent or as inherently existent. Now, next year, we get to go from one all the way up to forty six, but we’re not doing it now. The divisions of this, these forty six we’re talking about, now there’s twenty of these of adverse conditions of application based on oneself, so based on self grasping and so forth.
There’s twenty-three incomplete conducive conditions based on either self or others, and there’s three adverse conditions based on others. So this is the division of the forty six we were talking about before. Okay. The the border for this I can’t find it. Oh, here we go.
For sorry. That’s not it. Where is it? Yeah. Was just trying okay.
The it’s boundaries that exist from prior to entering a path through the seventh ground. So that means that it exists from us up until the seventh ground of a Bodhisattva, but it’s not on the seventh, eighth, and ninth grounds. Yeah. Yes. Yes.
Oh, yeah. And this one. Okay, the next thing that we’re going on to, we just went through, or the next topic that we’re up to, is characteristics of application. Now, characteristics is a bit strange, but anyway, these the characteristics of application now, the definition that we’re working with within this so, okay, the topic is called characteristics of application but the definition we’re working with is actually called the definition of a yoga of a path perfection of wisdom. Now what a path perfection of wisdom means is a practice, a yoga or a practice that is engaged in order to achieve the perfection of wisdom so you don’t achieve the perfection of wisdom until you’re a Buddha so to say the definition of a yoga of a path perfection of wisdom is to say the definition of a practice that is engaging in the path which will lead to the perfection of wisdom.
Okay. The definition of this is a bodhisattva’s yoga. Alright? So, it’s Bodhisattva’s practice or Bodhisattva’s meditation practice, which is conjoined with or has or is based on the union of calm abiding and special insight. Now in this case, the union of calm abiding and special insight is in special reference to the contemplation of emptiness.
So, abiding is focusing on emptiness and the special insight is focusing on emptiness, realization of emptiness in this case because it’s going towards the perfection of wisdom. Now, this practice is the means of attaining a resultant perfection of wisdom, which is what it’s working towards. That’s why it says, which is the means of attaining a resultant perfection of wisdom, it’s object of attainment, which means this is how you get it and that’s why you’re doing it. Can I ask what Jampa and you translate it the next bit as? How is that gonna help me?
Okay. I was like, okay. I was just struggling to get my head around, and I had to try and think of how to put it into English. And she was going, if you don’t understand, throw it. And it’s like, no.
It’s not that I don’t understand. I just don’t know how to say it. Okay. Characteristic representations. Okay.
That’s where that’s what it is. Right. Now this Okay. So what this is talking about, this is divided into four and it says knowledge characteristics, differentiating characteristics, functional characteristics and entity characteristics. Yeah?
Now in the next bit down in Jampa Iané’s translation, it says, the purpose is to come to know the characteristics represented by any path perfection of wisdom. Yeah? So and Geshe-la said that these characteristics or these characteristic representations are like a sign for what can be achieved in a Buddhahood. Now, sign as in the sign that you have for an inferential cognizer, yeah? So because you know there’s smoke, know there’s fire.
So because you have these, you know there will be these qualities in the mind of a Buddha, right? But they’re not the actual qualities of the Buddha’s mind because they’re a path. Yeah? So part of the path perfection of wisdom is these characteristics or these representations of characteristics. Right?
But they’re not completed they’re not completed until they become a Buddha, so they’re they’re like the preparation for that, the the the sign or the sign for that. Yeah? Hence, they’re called yeah. Something that doesn’t make any sense. Anyway, there there’s this word that means the characteristic, but it can also mean the name.
So they have, the the the rep they’re like a representation or a sign of that, but they’re not the actual thing. Yeah? Because the outcome of the path of the perfection of wisdom is the perfection of wisdom and hence, perfection of wisdom is Buddhahood. So within that, there’s these different characteristics. The first one of these is knowledge characteristic because Buddhists know everything.
Yeah? So it’s this the base or the sign from which this understanding of knowledge characteristics comes about. The second one, differentiating characteristics is differentiating characteristics is the fact that you understand the Buddha’s mind is so far superior to even those of Aryas or people who have realized emptiness. The third one is functional characteristics, is the enlightened activities, the things that the Buddha does for other beings. And the last one, I’m going to ask about again because I didn’t get it quite clear.
Okay. So the next one, the entity characteristics of the Buddha is the characteristics of what exactly Buddhahood is. So that means for example if you have the Dharmakāya or the wisdom body then that characteristic is that it understands all that is knowable. Or if you have the characteristics of the others, then it’s the characteristics of the reason for them being that is the benefit of others and things they perform. So we can stop there.
Thank you, Norman. Yep. Maybe there’s questions. So if anyone has questions? Yeah.
Uh-huh. Does anyone else or maybe Geshe-la reckons it doesn’t make a difference. What order are they going? What makes you enter the path? What realization?
Okay. You enter the path sorry, of accumulation by developing uncontrived bodhicitta. So the first moment you have uncontrived bodhicitta, you enter the path of accumulation. No. Accumulation.
Oh. That is for the the Mahāyāna path of accumulation. Okay. So the first time that you actually enter a path of accumulation, however, is when you develop uncontrived renunciation or uncontrived definite emergence. So the uncontrived development of renunciation is the key to entering the Hīnayāna path.
So that is the solitary realizer’s path and the hearer’s path of accumulation. And then the very first moment you achieve that, then you’ve entered those paths. And then the very first moment that you achieve the realization of uncontrived bodhicitta, you enter the Mahāyāna path of accumulation. I thought it was something scary that I didn’t understand, but, no, I’ve said it anyway. There’s three different piles of preparation oh, piles of accumulation.
I don’t know why keep saying preparation. Yeah. Okay. So in Yeah. Off the path of accumulation.
Okay. So if somebody has is on the small part small section of the path of accumulation, yeah? And they’re on the Mahāyāna path, so they have bodhicitta, and then their realization of bodhicitta disintegrates or falls down, then they fall off the Mahāyāna path and into the Hīnayāna path. Yeah? Because they still have renunciation.
Just because they lose their bodhicitta doesn’t mean they lose their renunciation. If they if you have a being who’s on the path of accumulation of the Hīnayāna vehicle and they lose their renunciation, that means that they fall off the path completely, off the path completely and become an ordinary being again. Or they lose the paths completely and become an ordinary being. Okay. So Okay.
So I said, does that mean that these guys are still like lame donkeys trying to walk up hills? Yeah? Because they could have gotten the chance of falling down. And Geshe la said, yes, but they’re a lame donkey who’s going very near to the top right he said they only need to keep meditating for fifteen minutes and they can achieve the second part of the path of the path of accumulation So if they kept meditating for another fifteen minutes, they get onto the second part of the path of accumulation and hence their bodhicitta becomes stable enough not to disintegrate. So they only need to put in a little bit more work.
There’s three different sections of path accumulation. The first is the path of this is the small section and the middle and the larger section. And now between for them to go from the small to the middle isn’t that much of a a leap. Right? It’s possible not to do it, but they’re most but but it isn’t that difficult to get into the second phase.
Okay. So this is a Tibetan example. Right? If we have Okay. Yeah.
Very different example. Alright. Now, first of all, eat this stuff called tsampa, which is like flour, but it tastes a bit better. And then they carry it around by squishing it into little balls. Yeah?
Now these little balls are like a quarter brick, yeah, and they’re and they’re carried around and little bits of it are taken off at a time to eat. Right? But once the block has set, then it’s not easy to break. You have to work hard to get a little bit of it off, right? But when you first make a block, yeah, So when you first make it, it’s much easier to break because it’s still wet.
See, they make them when they’re wet, and then when they dry out, they become very solid, and then you have to work really hard to get a even a little bit off it. Yeah? So at the first, when you first made it, then you you just tap it a little bit, it falls apart. But after a few minutes, it’s dried out and it’s really solid and he says the same thing for these bodhisattvas minds. At the beginning, it’s still a bit fragile, but it doesn’t take very long for it to dry out and then it becomes very solid.
Yeah. Is that okay?