Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A story about a Buddha who kept playing a sitar after every string snapped — thereby breaking an arrogant musician’s ego and drawing him to Dharma — anchors the doctrinal heart of this 45-minute session. Geshe Pema Tsering completes his overview of the eight major topics by examining the four bodies of a Buddha: the nature body (the emptiness of the Buddha’s mind), the exalted wisdom truth body (all of a Buddha’s awareness), and two form bodies — enjoyment body and the three types of emanation body, culminating in the supreme emanation body of Śākyamūni. He then opens the first of the seventy individual topics: the technical definition of Mahāyāna conventional bodhicitta, carefully unpacking each clause to show why even a Buddha’s eye-consciousness falls outside it. A Q&A clarifies that thangka images of Chenrezig and Mañjuśrī depict enjoyment bodies and distinguishes faith from joyous effort. Suited to students following a structured Mahāyāna curriculum.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 06 ST2 2003 02 21.mp3
UUID: 431ebe54-30ee-4be8-94b9-59e250780491
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Seventy Topics (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2003-02-21
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 44.9 minutes
Words: ~2,410
Yes. So so the the nature body actually has two aspects to it. The the emptiness that we just talked about, and also because the Buddha has gotten rid of the things to be abandoned, the two obscurations, the obscurations of afflictive emotions and the obscurations to omniscience. Because we’ve gotten rid of those, the nature body also contains the truth of cessation within it. So this body and the nature body of a Buddha, we can’t say that it’s a Buddha superior because Okay.
Okay. So Okay. So this nature body is actually the emptiness of the exalted wisdom truth body, which is the mind of the Buddha. The emptiness of this, we can say that it is Buddha, but we can’t say that it’s a Buddha superior because a Buddha superior is a person or being, but the emptiness of the Buddha’s mind isn’t a being, but it’s still Buddha, if that makes sense. So the exalted wisdom truth body is all the minds of a all the consciousnesses of a Buddha, or the aware or or the awareness of a Buddha.
So the enjoyment body isn’t wisdom, isn’t mind or isn’t emptiness. It’s actually form, but it’s not a form that we can see or we can experience. You have to be at the level of the first ground in order to be able to see the enjoyment body directly. Okay. So the the next one, the emanation body, actually has three different types of emanation body.
The first one is something like a an artisan Buddha is the only way I can think of to describe it, someone who makes stuff, who does things. So for example an example of that is there’s a story where Buddha manifested as a guitar player or a sitar player, and this was just in order to relieve the suffering of beings. And the reason that they found out that it was Buddha was because he started playing with all the different strings on the sitar, and then one of the sitar strings snapped, and the sound was the same. And in the end, all the sitar strings kept snapping. And at the end, there were no strings, and he was still playing the sitar, and that’s how they knew that it was a Buddha.
So that’s an example of the first type of, I don’t know, artisan Buddha. Okay. So the next one is the the person who’s the king of Gandharvas or the king of Tuśita. So before Śākyamūni Buddha came to Earth, he was this, and now it’s Maitreya, this emanation of Buddha and other emanations of Buddha like Maitreya. Okay.
And then the third one is a supreme emanation body, and that’s, for example, Śākyamūni Buddha. It’s someone who is born on earth who performs the twelve deeds and and who turns the wheels of Dharma. So this supreme emanation body is someone that has all the marks and all the qualities of a Buddha that are recorded in texts. Like, for example, they have Dharma wheels on their hands and their feet, and there are thirty two major marks on their bodies that are explained in texts. That’s what we mean by supreme emanation body.
So so when you have someone who’s come who has come to Earth, performed the twelve deeds, turned the wheel wheels of dharma and has the thirty two major and eighty minor marks. And this is someone who has a supreme emanation body. So this supreme emanation body isn’t someone that is seen by all beings. You have to have have a very good karma and have got done a lot of praying in order to be seen by and in order to experience seeing this supreme emanation body. It’s not like us because we obviously didn’t have the karma to have that have be able to see Buddha directly.
Yeah. So you have to have a very clear karma. So it’s someone who has gotten rid of a good deal of their obscurations and at the same time as getting rid of a good deal of their obscurations has created a lot of merit. And in by doing those two actions, they become a, but I don’t know how to translate that. And, able to see emanation bodies, but it’s like a good person, I guess.
So just ordinary people like us don’t get to see emanation bodies or supreme emanation bodies. We have good karma, but not that good karma. So to summarize, there is four different bodies to the resultant truth four different divisions to the resultant truth body. They are the nature body, the exalted wisdom truth body, enjoyment body, and emanation body. Okay.
So the border of the resultant truth body is the Buddha ground. There this is we’re only talking about Buddhas here, and the mind the emptiness of the mind of a Buddha is the nature body. The emptiness of the sorry. The the mind of a Buddha is the exalted wisdom truth body, and the enjoyment body and the emanation body are are both the form of a Buddha. But every single part of the Buddha is incredibly powerful and incredibly hang on.
I’m sure I heard that wrong because he was talking to hang on. Okay. Okay. I couldn’t figure out if our hairs were supposed to be standing up or the Buddha’s hairs were standing up. Alright.
So the the Buddha’s every single hair on the Buddha’s body is working for the benefit of all sentient beings. So it’s only the resultant truth body is only the ground is only on the ground of the Buddha. Nowhere else. So oh. Okay.
So that is the end of the the eight categories, the overview of the eight categories. Now move on to this seventy topics individually. So we have said in going over the eight categories, we have talked about from the very first moments that you start doing Buddhist practice up until the final moment that you’re a sentient being and then into becoming a Buddha. So we’ve gone and talked about all that time. Yeah.
So we finished all of that. Do you feel like we’re tired? And did you understand it all? Okay. So the three minds that we talked about in the beginning, the knower of paths and the knower of bases, those two minds have as their goal achieving Buddhahood.
And then the four applications that we talked about, those are the things that you put in practice in order to achieve Buddhahood. Sorry. They use those two minds as a meditating focus in order to achieve Buddhahood. Okay. So the exalted wisdom and truth body of a Buddha is the result.
The exalted wisdom truth body is the thing that is to be achieved when we’re talking about the eight topics. So what we start off with is the knower of paths and the knower of — hang on. I’ve got to get them around the right way. Sorry. The knower of paths is a mind that concentrates on the selflessness of the person, and the knower of bases is a mind that is concentrating on the emptiness of phenomena in bodhicitta.
So in using these two minds as a basis, we we then practice the three applications. And by using those minds as basis, practicing the three applications, then you achieve the final result, which is Buddhahood. This all starts off at the path the first section of the path of accumulation, which is the small section of the path of accumulation, and you enter that path once you have developed bodhicitta. So you start there, and then you have this that’s also the start of the knower of — hang on. It’s a bit too much movement.
Did sorry? No. Here. And I made a chart. Now, yeah, I put pretty colors on it and everything so I wouldn’t forget.
Okay. So we have the knower of paths and the knower of bases. One of them starting off with the concept of the selflessness of the person. The other one is starting off with the concept of bodhicitta and seeing the emptiness of phenomena. And those two work together in order to achieve this this knowable aspect at the end.
And the way that that is done is by using the complete aspects application, the peak application, and the serial application, and the momentary application. By using those practices, then you get the resultant truth body. Okay. So the the next bit that we’re moving on to is mind generation of bodhicitta. It’s the first of the ten topics of the exalted knowers.
The definition of Mahāyāna conventional mind generation or ma Mahāyāna conventional bodhicitta is a Mahāyāna special or superior main mental knower distinguished by abiding in a type of path that serves as the door of entry into the Mahāyāna and that arises concomitant with an accompanying aspiration observing complete enlightenment for the welfare of others. So what we have to realize is that this is it it’s only a Mahāyāna only a Mahāyāna mind generation, and then it is also the conventional as opposed to the ultimate mind generation. Okay. So the way that we recognize this Mahāyāna conventional mind generation is that it arises. It’s a main mind that arises in conjunction with a mental factor, the mental factor of aspiration that has as its this mental factor has as its focus the achievement of the complete enlightenment for the benefit of others.
So the main mind that accompanies this thought. That’s the first thing that defines Mahāyāna conventional mind generation. Okay. There’s this expression in the definition that they’ve translated here as distinguished by abiding in a type of path. It’s actually a turn of phrase used in Tibetan mean things of a similar type.
So it the door to it serves as a door of entry into the Mahāyāna. It’s not just the mind that serves as a door of entry into the Mahāyāna. It’s a similar type of mind. The door the mind that serves as an entry into the Mahāyāna plus all minds of a similar type. Right?
Because the first moment of bodhicitta is the door to the Mahāyāna, but subsequent subsequent moments of bodhicitta or mind generation are also mind generation but aren’t necessarily the door to the Mahāyāna Yeah. Okay. Got it.
So the next bit where it says, but is only, that’s another type of phrase that’s used in does it say that? There’s one thing that includes all other things, and it should be saying, but is only a Mahāyāna superior special main mental knower. Right? They haven’t actually put it in the translation. It should be is Mahāyāna, but is only a Mahāyāna special main mental knower because why they have said that is that they want to let you know that the that mind generation is only a mental a mental a mental mind or a mental knower.
It’s not for example, the in the Buddha’s continuum, if the Buddha sees a lamp, then the Buddha seeing that lamp isn’t mind generation. It’s not even though that it’s in the mind of a Buddha because it’s not a mental knower. It’s not a mental consciousness. It’s it’s only it’s only a eye consciousness, so, therefore, it it has to be separated from the definition of a Mahāyāna conventional mind generation. Because even though it’s in the mind stream of a Buddha, it doesn’t fit in here.
So they’re trying to separate all the all minds that aren’t mental minds or aren’t mental consciousnesses out of this. Yeah. Yeah. That’s the extent. So we leave this and come back to the definition.
Oh, yeah. So he thinks you might have questions. Okay. So they’re in their bookshop. In the bookshop, they have lots of different cards and different calendars and everything and all the things that are on there usually and most of them are actually mandalas and enjoyment bodies or pictures of enjoyment bodies.
In the thangkas. Yes. So Chenrezig and Mañjuśrī and All of these ones are enjoyment bodies. Yeah. Joyous effort, she’s a liking for virtue, isn’t it?
So is faith and joyous effort very closely related? Uh-huh. What is it liking for virtue? So not really because faith is developing a liking and appreciation for an object of meditation, and the perfection perfection of effort or joyous effort is actually developing Okay. So from Yeah.
And so So the perfection of effort is something that we engage in order to achieve Buddhahood. So the way that faith would work in terms of connecting it to connecting it to joyous effort is that first, we will develop faith in the Buddha and think of the good qualities of a Buddha and how we want to achieve Buddhahood. And then from there, desire to achieve Buddhahood, then we would practice joyous effort. Did you understand? He said, did you understand?
Is that okay? Yes. Yes. I did. Yeah.
Yeah. We’ve just started the first of the ten topics of the exalted knower of paths. Okay. So even though they say there are ten topics of the knowable aspects, it doesn’t actually mean that there are divisions of the exalted knowable aspects. There are ten things that need to be achieved in order to achieve the ten things that need to be done in order to achieve the exalted, knowable aspects.
And then, dear. Okay. So the sitar-playing Buddha was actually an emanation of Śākyamūni Buddha. And the reason that he was playing the sitar is because he met a man who thought he was the best sitar player in the world, and he had an incredibly large ego because he was the best sitar player in the world. And so then when this emanation of Śākyamūni Buddha started playing the sitar, and he showed him that he could play even without strings, he broke the guy’s ego.
It’s like there was sort of a literal of what Geshe was saying, broke the guy’s ego, and then he developed faith in Buddha and started practicing Dharma. So these people that these Buddhists that manifest in order to show a great skill or great talent in something in order to teach in that way, and these ones are called the, like, artisan Buddhas.