Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A striking analogy opens this 45-minute session: Geshe Pema Tsering compares faith to liking money — not to equate them, but to show that genuine appreciation of an object follows the same mental process whether it leads toward liberation or toward suffering. He distinguishes faith from desirous attachment on exactly this basis: same process, different object. He adds that faith should extend to one’s root teacher, seen as inseparable from a Buddha. He then argues that studying the Seventy Topics is itself an act of faith-cultivation — each topic describes a quality of Buddhas or Bodhisattvas, and reading it as aspiration plants seeds for future realization. The second half covers the “momentary application” — the final instant of a bodhisattva’s continuum before Buddhahood — its four divisions (fully ripened, non-fully ripened, characterless, and non-dual), and a brief introduction to the four bodies of a Buddha. Suited to students already working through the Seventy Topics text.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 05 ST2 2003 02 21.mp3
UUID: f3a66dbc-2c57-437c-9cde-6ffd2b473e96
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Seventy Topics (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2003-02-21
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 45.0 minutes
Words: ~3,505
It says this is because the mother looks after her children in the same and the children look to the mother to be looked after and in the same way first we concentrate on developing faith then all the qualities that we may have will be enhanced, and then then we can also increase our our, qualities. So whatever kind of practice that we’re doing even if it’s a worldly practice we need to have faith before we do it otherwise we won’t see any purpose in doing it. If it’s a worldly practice then we need to see there will be a benefit in this life and if it’s a dharmic practice, then it has to be at least a benefit to our next life. And if if if it’s working in terms of faith, then that’s a good thing to to concentrate on our next life because if we don’t have faith in the next life, then there’s no point to doing dharma. So whatever it is that we want to whatever quality it is that we wanna generate or increase in ourselves, we need faith in order to do this.
And this works in the same way that if, most of us like money, for example, because we can see what money does. We can see that if we have money, we can do different things with it that, if we can we like it, we can see what we can do with it, so we have, this kind of appreciation for it. And the faith that we’re talking about here is kind of the same thing as that that liking because you can see what you can do with something, then you appreciate it. You you you consider it good, you consider it in a good way, because you can see what you can do with it. So faith is the same thing as that.
What they mean by faith here is the same thing as what we mean by liking something because we can see what we can do with it. So no. Hey. Sorry. Excuse me.
So the this this this mind that this this mind of faith is actually a mind of liking. If we like the three if we appreciate the Three Jewels, then we will we will look to them with a good mind. So usually, liking is a mental factor as opposed to a main mind. But when we talk about faith, it’s actually this the main mind of this the liking mental factor that it’s it comes in conjunction with. So it’s a main mind that appreciates an object.
If it’s faith in the Three Jewels, then it’s a main mind that appreciates the Three Jewels, that takes Three Jewels as its focus and appreciates that. That’s the definition of faith. So in the same way that if we take anything that we take as our object, if we have an appreciation for that object and we have this main mind focusing on this object that we’re appreciating, then that’s what they mean by faith. So if we’re taking if we’re taking liberation as our focus then and then we have this mind that’s liking and appreciating and understanding the benefits of liberation, then that becomes the faith in liberation. If we have a mind that’s concentrating and focusing on the benefits of of any of the five paths or any of the any of the three vehicles or of bodhicitta or refuge, any of these things, then we have developed faith in that object.
But we can’t say that liking something that we’re focusing on is our the objective in my mind is is always faith. Because a lot of time we spend if we spend a lot of time focusing on a lot of worldly things and a lot of samsaric pleasures, we focus on them and really appreciate them as well. So we can’t call those faiths. If we’re appreciating a new car or we’re appreciating money or appreciating a female or a male or if we’re appreciating some new clothes we wanna buy, any of these things, we can’t call that faith. We have to call that desire or desirous attachment.
So we have to make this distinction. We have to make this distinction in our minds between when we have when we’re appreciating when we’re appreciating non-worldly things or things that can lead us out of suffering like bodhicitta and liberation and the Three Jewels and when we’re appreciating things that are actually a cause for suffering in saṃsāra like cars and houses and clothes and boys or girls. But so a way of making the distinction in our mind is that, for example, our parents, our parents have usually shown us great kindness and, helped us a lot. So this this faith that we have in that, this this feeling that we have of appreciation for our parents, that is also considered faith, and not necessarily desirous attachment because it’s based on the great kindness that they have showed us. So, even though this this desirous attachment and faith can actually have the same mental process happening, it’s dependent on the object of that, of that mind as to whether it becomes faith or whether it becomes desirous attachment.
So if the object of the mind that we’re focusing on is a positive object and is an object that can do us good and will create happiness, then this becomes faith. If the object that we’re concentrating on is a samsaric object and will create suffering, then it becomes a desirous attachment. Once we’ve understood the difference between what was desirous attachment and what is faith, then we should be concentrating on the objects that we want to generate faith in. The way that we generate faith in these objects is by seeing their qualities and seeing clearly how good these qualities are. So for example, if we’re looking at the developing faith in the Three Jewels, once we understand the qualities of the Three Jewels, then this faith in the Three Jewels will arise.
And it’s the same when it’s the same as like to for an example, money. But this is an example, right? Because it’s not faith. It’s actually, desirous attachment. But the same way that we, see the qualities of money.
We see how if we have money, we can buy things, we can do things, we can we can use it in certain ways. The same way we can see clearly what benefit money can be to us if we have that mind but switch it over to the Three Jewels or something beneficial and see clearly what benefit that the Three Jewels or liberation or bodhicitta can be to us, then then we can generate clear then we can generate faith in those objects that are our focus. So, for example, if we take liberation, we all have this kind of belief in liberation because we’ve studied Buddhism and we accepted Buddhist tenets. And in many of the texts that we’ve done and things like that, we have this, we have this belief and we accept, the concept of liberation. But if we actually had clear faith in that, in liberation, if we could actually see liberation’s qualities clearly, then we wouldn’t it wouldn’t be so much of an effort to try and strive towards it because we would be able to see its qualities, see how those qualities could benefit us and we could work towards it easier.
But at the moment, we kind of get stuck in this idea that, oh, we believe it and we accept it, but we don’t understand its qualities properly, so we don’t, we haven’t developed faith in it. So the way that we develop our faith in, for instance, in liberation is to look at the, the shortcomings, the, the negative aspects of saṃsāra. Once we’ve we’ve understood and can see clearly the shortcomings and the negative aspects of saṃsāra, then our faith in the qualities of liberation will become stronger. Because you want to understand the one, you have to understand the other. Okay.
So for example, if we had we we we say, oh, I’m a Buddhist. I I know. I I know about liberation. I’m a Buddhist. I’ve studied the seventy topics.
I’ve studied the Heart Sūtra. I’ve said I’ve read other texts and I’ve I meditate and I do lots of practice and I think about things a lot. So I’m a Buddhist and I accept liberation. We say these things to ourselves but if we actually had faith in liberation, if we had faith in what it was we were going, if we could see the the shortcomings in Samsāra and we had a strong faith in what we were going for, then studying these things and doing these meditations and teachings and teachings and teachings and teachings and teachings and doing any of the practice wouldn’t be a problem. There wouldn’t it wouldn’t be a difficult thing to do because we could see so clearly what the benefits of our of our study and our and our through our study, our better practice because we understood the texts.
We could see clearly the benefits of these and we wouldn’t have to struggle in order to do it. So if we could see the if we could see the benefits oh, sorry. If we could see the qualities of liberation clearly and we had clear faith in in liberation, then whatever it was that we were studying, whatever it was that we were meditating on, whatever practices we were doing, we wouldn’t have to work hard at them. No. It would just naturally come about because we we would be so clear about what it was we were working towards achieving.
Okay. So, once we’ve understood how important faith is, the main things that we should be developing faith in is first of all, developing faith in the Three Jewels. Once we’ve understood their qualities, then we have faith in them.
The next most important thing to develop faith in is our is our teacher, our our lama, our root teacher or root lama. So and we should be able to see our root teacher as Buddha. And if we, you know, if we see them as Buddha, then we get the blessings of a Buddha and we get the knowledge of a Buddha, from them. So for example, if someone’s root teacher is, Lama Zopa or someone’s root teacher is the Dalai Lama or someone’s root teacher is Khensur Rinpoche, or any anyone’s individual root teacher, if we can see those people as our as being inseparable from the Buddha, then we can develop the wisdom of the Buddha and, get their get their blessings. And so so that means that whatever we’re studying or whatever we’re practicing, it shouldn’t just be a matter of, looking at it from, as being something separate.
Every time that we read something or every time we try and understand something, we should be trying to develop faith in that object and think, oh, may I quickly develop that state of mind? May I quickly develop, that clear understanding? So for example, if we’re studying the knower of paths, I’m sorry, the knower of bases, then we should think, may I develop a knower of bases in my mind stream and may I be able to have that, quickly? And if we’re studying the knower of of of, paths or if we’re studying, you know, bases, paths or a knower of all aspects, may I have that concept in my mind? May I have that thought in my mind, and in in that way develop faith in it.
So we see its qualities as well as studying it. Okay. So the main point of studying the seventy topics is because, we can see the qualities of the Buddhas and we can see the qualities of the Bodhisattvas. Everything that’s written in in the seventy topics is a different way of describing the qualities of bodhisattvas and buddhas. So when we’re reading it, we should be trying to develop faith in those in those qualities and think, may I achieve these qualities myself in order to help beings.
So we really, really need to look at seventy topics or things like it in order to understand the qualities of the Buddhas and the bodhisattvas. So if when we’re studying this, we think, may I achieve this? May I have these understandings? May I develop these these, minds in my mind stream? Then, this becomes like a powerful prayer in itself.
We can we can can pray again and again that we have these have these understandings in our mind. And then if we do that, then they will actually come about because we planted the seeds by studying them. So when the so we planted the seeds for the actual minds to come about in the future. So if we think, I am studying the seventy topics in order to understand the minds of the Buddhas and the Bodhisattvas, in order for me to generate the minds of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in order to achieve Buddhahood, in order to be of benefit to all sentient beings, have this thought in mind, then we should meditate. Oh, yeah.
Okay. So we’re up to a momentary application, which is the seventh in the overview. What we have here. So we’re looking at. Yeah.
Right. So the momentary application, which is the seventh in the overview. What momentary application is talking about is the last moment of the continuum of a sentient being, the last moment of a continuum of a bodhisattva. In the next moment, there will be a Buddha. Alright?
So somebody, how do you translate that? Somebody who is at that who has that mind stream, who is in the last moment of being a, a sentient being is called a a momentary application. I don’t know. In Tibetan, they say put a ba on everything that makes it a person. Like a Tibetan, there’s a and kamp ba, and they say it like a momentary applicator ba.
But I don’t know how to translate it. Yeah. So the person who is yeah. There’s a person who is a momentary applicator. There we go.
A momentary applicator. The moment is the last moment of a continuum of a bodhisattva, and it’s called, and the the application that’s used in his momentary application. Okay. So with respect to the with the in the last part of the definition of momentary application where it says with respect to the aspects of the three exalted knowers, we’ve already been through that in the previous three definitions. The three exalted knowers are the knower of bases, knower of paths, and exalted knower of all aspects.
Alright. That’s the three ones. Sorry. So then it says that the it’s the final yoga has attained steadiness with respect to these, which means that they’ve put in a lot of hard work and they’re in meditative equipoise and their understanding of the three exalted knowers is really steady and they don’t have to put in hard work anymore. It’s stable understanding and they’re in meditative equipoise.
What it means by saying a bodhisattva’s final yoga is that it’s the last moment of the continuum of a sentient being. It’s the last consciousness consciousness they have because just after this moment of consciousness, they’re going to be a Buddha. Okay. So these these are all mutually inclusive where there’s the the the exalted wisdom at the last moment of a continuum, the momentary application, and the final yoga of a bodhisattva. Yeah.
A bodhisattva’s final yoga. Those three are all mutually inclusive. Okay. So the four divisions of a momentary application, is a fully ripened momentary application, a non fully ripened momentary application, And according to this translation, a characterless momentary application and a non-dual momentary application. The reason it’s called a fully ripened momentary application is because in the next moment, it will be a Buddha.
So it’s the last moment before that continuum becomes a Buddha. So that’s why it’s called a fully ripened momentary application. Okay. The reason that it’s called a non fully ripened momentary application is because it’s not actually a Buddha yet. So because it’s not actually a Buddha yet, it’s called a non fully ripened momentary application.
The reason it’s called a characterless momentary application is because it is not established by way of its character or by its nature and is therefore empty. Okay. So the reason it’s called a non dual momentary application is because it it doesn’t it sees through existence and realizes that it’s not truly established, and it isn’t an obscured truth. It’s not established as an obscured truth or a relative truth. So this isn’t because this is one moment, it doesn’t mean that that moment is divided into four.
The the the different definitions, the different labels that are the different divisions, different labels that are put onto that one moment. So it’s one moment apart from one moment, it’s not a thing. So it doesn’t mean that there’s one moment that’s like this and one moment’s like that. It’s just different labels that are given to one moment. Okay.
So this one. Is that okay? Okay. So this moment is a a moment of a a mind that is in meditative equipoise focusing on emptiness. In the next moment, it will be, it will understand all phenomena, and it will be able to focus on all phenomena in meditative equipoise and in post meditative with with post meditative wisdom at the same time because it would be a Buddha.
So it’s the moment before, that understanding. So this mind of the Buddha is looking directly at the nature of all phenomena as being empty and at the same time as looking at the nature of all phenomena as being empty, it also has the post meditative wisdom of working for the benefit of all sentient beings and doing everything for the benefit of all sentient beings. So it has these two things that are working at once. Up until that point, then you can’t have those two things working at once in one instant. So this is the mind that we are actually trying to develop faith in, the mind that we’re trying to generate faith in as qualities in and then thinking that wouldn’t it be great if I could achieve that mind.
So the border of this is it’s only the last moment of the continuum of a sentient being apart from that one moment. There it it it doesn’t exist. So with the you guys have all got the translation. It says, with regard to the truth body, these are the eight. The eight is actually referring to the eight, the eight divisions.
I I have a mental blank on what they’re called in English, and it’s a really simple word. Eight categories? The eight categories. Yeah? So, the resultant truth body is the eighth of the eight categories.
So that’s what it was referring to in the quote that it’s taking from the Ornament of Clear Realizations. When it says attained by the power of cultivating the aspects of the three exalted knowers, which is the means of attaining it. What that means is that cultivating or meditating on the three exalted knowers is the means of attaining the final result which is the resultant truth body so it’s by the power of doing the meditations and teachings and teachings and teachings and teachings and teachings on these three knowers then the resultant truth body comes about And it’s the final result of the three exalted knowers. And it’s also and the resultant truth body is a synonym with Buddha.
Okay. So the divisions are, there’s the nature body or Nirmānakāya, exalted wisdom truth body. No. Sorry. Nature body is Svabhāvikakāya. Exalted wisdom truth body is Jnanakaya. Enjoyment body, which is Sambhogakāya, and emanation body, which is Nirmānakāya. Okay. So the nature body is the emptiness of the bodies of Buddha. Is that okay?
Yeah. Just one thing. How can it says that there are eight categories and that there are only four bodies? The first line is with regard to the truth body. There are eight.
Yeah. But we just said that that that’s the eight topics, the eight categories. The eight categories. This is That little bit there is actually a quote from the Clear Meaning. So they’re using a little quote from every part of the Ornament of Clear Realization to let you know what we’re up to from that text.
Yeah. So the eight that we’ve done up to now is when it says eight it’s regarding the eight topics. I mean, no. Not topics. Can’t say