Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Why are the four stages of the path of preparation named “heat,” “peak,” “tolerance,” and “supreme mundane quality”? In this 45-minute session, Geshe Pema Tsering answers that question as part of his Seventy Topics series. He opens with a concise teaching on renunciation — showing how clinging to pleasures of both this life and future rebirths keeps practitioners bound in saṃsāra, and why Mahāyāna motivation must aim at Buddhahood for all beings rather than personal liberation alone. He then works through the path of preparation in detail: the definition and rationale for each of the four levels, the physical and mental prerequisites (including the need for calm abiding), and five distinctions between the Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna versions of this path. Suited to students engaged in systematic study of the Buddhist paths and grounds.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 06 ST4 2003 05 22.mp3
UUID: 9dc52a69-7f32-4d39-83c4-bad8df5e164b
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Seventy Topics (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2003-05-22
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 44.9 minutes
Words: ~3,005
Okay. So in the Three Principles of the Path, Lama Tsongkhapa said, if you think again and again about deeds and their inevitable effects and the sufferings of cyclic existence, the emphasis on the appearances of future lives will be reversed. So if we think again and again about karma and how that will affect us or deeds and their inevitable effects and how that will affect us at death, then that will stop us getting attached to the pleasures of this life. And if we think again and again on the sufferings of cyclic existence, then we will stop being attached to future lives as well, and therefore develop a mind of renunciation. So in order for us to develop this mind seeking for liberation, in order for us to do that, we need to get rid of our minds that cling towards pleasures of this life and the pleasures of the next life.
So in terms of this life we have to realize that the pleasures that we get in this life are actually forms of suffering and therefore will not bring us true happiness and therefore are things that we need to abandon clinging to and also being reborn as a god human in the next life is also a continuing form of suffering and there’s no point clinging to that idea either. So if we wanted to develop renunciation we need to get rid of clinging to both this life and future lives and if we have managed to do that then the mind of renunciation will occur. So the two things can’t happen at the same time. We can’t have clinging to the pleasures of this and future lives and renunciation. So this isn’t something that we find that easy to do because most of the time our mind sees most of the pleasures of this life as being pleasures instead of seeing them in their true nature which is the suffering of change and different types of suffering and because we don’t see their true nature then we spend a lot of our life striving after the pleasures of this life.
We do a lot of work and put a lot of effort in to get the pleasures of this life and don’t concentrate on true happiness or true release from suffering as we will attain it liberation. So because but in order for us to actually develop this mind striving for liberation, what we need to do is to turn our mind away from the things that we usually strive after, to turn our mind from all the excellent things in this life, all the things that give us pleasure and happiness, and then focus it on on liberation. Now, the way that we do this is by remembering and going over and over again in our head that they are actually just other forms of suffering, that they don’t bring true happiness and they only bring us more suffering in the future. So if we look at the way that our mind works, most of the time what we’re doing is striving for pleasures of this life. If we want to turn this around, we have to do these meditations and teachings and teachings and teachings and teachings and teachings, just seeing that all things that we’re striving after are suffering.
If we manage to do this and develop the, the mind towards renunciation or the mind of renunciation, and the mind that turns away from saṃsāra, then that that would be that would make things easier for us because in that case we will be looking towards the ultimate happiness instead of looking towards a temporal happiness that isn’t really isn’t something that we can depend upon. Now once we’ve done that for the pleasures of this life, then we have to extend it out into the into the other lives that we may experience. So most of the time we think that it would be good to come back in a human rebirth, but even that, a human rebirth is still in Samsāra. So even that’s still a cause for being in Samsāra, if you want to come back in a human rebirth. So this idea that we want to come back to as a human in our next life is implanting the seeds for continuing in Samsāra.
And so if we look at that then can get if we look at clearly then we can get some understanding that that’s just encouraging more suffering for ourselves because if we can look at this life and see that it is actually different types of suffering even the things we consider happiness are actually different types of suffering If we sit down and think about that then we can get a the kind of idea about it. We can get a fairly substantial understanding of how that works. So if you apply that to future lives as well we can see that the same thing can be applied there. Any future life, any rebirth in Samsāra is a rebirth in suffering. So any more future lives that we may experience are also going to be full of suffering again.
There’s not something that we should really be yearning for even though we do. So we should be thinking that whatever good things we get in this life, that they are actually not going to cause us real happiness, they just cause us suffering. The only true happiness we can have is from liberation. So when we get something that we want, instead of thinking, oh, I’m very that’s very good that I have this, whether it’s it’s our objects or our partners or whatever it is then instead of thinking wow this is good that I have this we should be thinking that this is actually just another manifestation of samsaric suffering and Not only is this going to happen in this life, but in future lives as well. So because of this, then we should practice Dharma.
And when we practice Dharma, how we know whether something becomes Dharma or not depends on the motivation that we do it with. So if we’re if we practice Dharma with the motivation, that this be a cause for me to attain ultimate happiness and be free from suffering and attain liberation and as well as attain the state of a Buddha, then this becomes a good Dharma practice for us to do. And on top of that, it becomes a cause for us to achieve liberation and achieve Buddhahood. So before we do something, we should make sure that we have this as our motivation and then after we’ve done it, then we should dedicate the thing that we’ve done, dedicate that towards our liberation and our attainment of Buddhahood. So if we go through that process before we do anything, then the whole process becomes a cause for us to achieve liberation or Buddhahood.
But even this idea of attaining liberation just in itself isn’t even this idea of attaining liberation just in itself isn’t really good enough if we are trying to consider ourselves to be Mahāyāna practitioners. Because if we’re just if we achieve liberation and the cessation of suffering just for ourselves, we’re not thinking about others. And If we want to achieve bodhicitta, then we have to start thinking about others completely because developing bodhicitta depends on depends on doing things for other people’s benefit. So if we want to develop bodhicitta and therefore become a Buddha, then we can’t think of getting liberation just for ourselves, but we have to think of attaining Buddhahood for the benefit of all beings. So before we do something, we should try and develop this thought in our mind that this will become a cause for us to achieve the ground or achieve the the the state of a Buddha as quickly as possible to be of the best benefit or the most benefit to all sentient beings.
And what the cause for this will be will be our stores of merit that we have accumulated and and including doing this action that we’re about to do, and also by rejoicing in all the merit or all the good virtuous things that have been done by all beings. And if we think about it, the Buddhas have done a a lot of good things. So we should get an idea in our head that does, like, how vast and how wonderful the good things they’ve done are, and then get a sense of happiness about that. So that in conjunction with the good things that we’re going to try and do, may that be a cause for us to achieve Buddhahood as quickly as possible, to be of the most benefit to the sentient beings. And with that thought in our mind, we should meditate.
May I quickly achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings is the thing we should be meditating on and praying about. Oh, Uh-huh. Right. Alright. So so we’re up to the path of of preparation, and we’ve gone through the definition of the the path of preparation, which is the whatever they call it.
The defining What branch? Four branches of definite discrimination. It’s just just yeah. So it’s the path of preparation. It’s not the four branches of definite discrimination.
Okay. Now, we’ve gone through the definition of this, and then we were up to Okay. So, yes, part of preparation. Okay. And now, then the next bit after definition, which we’d also done, was that it was the mutually inclusive with a partial concordance with definite discrimination.
Definite discrimination is the path of seeing, and the path of preparation is said to be, partially concordant with that. Now, the the the divisions of the path of preparation are the heat, peak, tolerance, and supreme mundane quality. Now, the the reason that the first one is called heat is because realizing emptiness directly as you do on the path of seeing is said to be like the fire and once you achieve the path of preparation because you’re drawing nearer to that fire then it says that your experience is heat, it’s called heat. The reason that the next one is called the peak level is because that at that stage you do not have any wrong views coming up in your mind again. So that’s why it’s called peak.
You’ve reached, the the pinnacle of the view and you don’t have any more wrong views coming up in your mind. The next one, or the reason it’s called forbearance, tolerance or forbearance, is because at that stage, you have developed enough not to fall down into the lower realms ever again. So you have the tolerance forbearance to stop from doing anything karmically that will send you there. Yeah? And what supreme mundane quality level means is that this is the highest moment of a worldly existence that is the highest moment of a non Ārya realization.
Yeah. So that’s why it’s called supreme mundane quality level. Another way that you could translate supreme mundane quality level would be the supreme worldly Dharma. Okay. Okay.
So just to give you an idea, the definition of the heat level of the path of preparation is the the insight of forbearance, which completely gets rid of views ascribing true existence to objects, which are the obscurations to omniscience. Okay, so when we’re going through the path of I’m just giving you a general idea before I get back to the definition. When we’re going through the path of preparation, we’re getting rid of the aspects of self grasping.
There’s four different aspects of self grasping and they’re related to the things, the thoroughly afflicted obscurations to omniscience. So that’s the the ones that we think up ourselves rather than the innate ones. They’re called acquired afflictive obscurations. We’re getting rid of those on the path of preparation. So on the first level of the path of preparation, we get rid of the grossest of these four different types of grasping at true existence, which is one of the acquired knowledge obscurations.
Okay. The first one is He’s going, This is hard. Was like, Yeah, no. Okay, so there’s on each level, you’re getting rid of different of these afflicted knowledge obscurations. But the first one is actually what’s called a thoroughly afflictive obstruction, acquired a thoroughly afflictive obstruction.
Alright? So in general, they are knowledge obstructions, but the first one that’s associated with the heat level is when you’re getting rid of the, you know, obscurations to liberation instead of obscurations to omniscience. Right. And so once you develop the wisdom that gets rid of that, then that that that’s the definition of the first section. Oh, yeah.
The heat section. Okay. So I can’t come up I couldn’t I cannot do a running definition translation, but that what you actually I can do the the description of what happens on this on the peak level. At this stage, you’re getting rid of the the, like, the the acquired knowledge obscurations. Right?
So on the first one excuse me. You’re getting rid of the acquired afflictive obscurations. And on this one, you’re getting rid of the acquired knowledge obscurations. But you’re it you’re you’re you’re in the process of getting rid of them, and you don’t actually get rid of them completely until the path of seeing. So okay.
I’m getting confused, so if you want to backtrack on the others, right? It’s when you develop the antidote to it. It’s it’s when you’re working on it, it’s when you’ve developed the antidote to whatever the affliction is that you’re getting rid of, And then you start getting rid of the affliction. The previous ones were, the previous two of heat and peak referred to, substantial objects, things that were made up as substantive material things. Yeah?
And getting rid of the, idea that they are inherently existent. Yeah? Now this one is referring to, the, getting rid of acquired, afflictive obstructions to liberation that are non substantial. So it’s when you develop the antidote that gets rid of acquired afflictive obstructions to the non substantial things. Okay.
So, yeah, and I’ve gotten the first part of the definition now as well. It’s something that is part of the path of preparation. But for the exception, so on the fourth level, what you develop is the antidote that stops any of these concepts of truly existent coming back. So it’s the tolerance, the ability to stop any of these ideas of true existence coming back into the mind stream. That’s what you achieve.
The antidote to that sorry, the antidote that does that on the supreme Dharma level. Okay. So when we talk about the path of preparation, then we refer to it as having two bases: the physical body base and the mental base. Now in order for something to be a physical base of the in order for something to be a physical base of, the path of preparation, we need to be a person, a male or a female, born in one of the four continents, which is all in Sanskrit, Videha, Jambudvipa, Godaniya, and Kuru. You have to be born on one of those continents, be a male or a female.
You can’t be an animal. You can’t be someone who’s born in any of the formal formless realms. Okay. So Kuru is said that people there have very tall bodies and live for a long time. But people in the animal realms, because they have too much suffering and too much distraction, cannot do not get the chance to develop the path of preparation in their mind stream.
And because the cause for developing the path preparation is renunciation, then those beings in the higher realms, the form realm and the formless realm, they can’t develop the path of preparation either. Okay. So the the mental basis for developing the path of preparation is only the highest level achieved by Buddhists after attaining calm abiding. So once people attain calm abiding, there’s different levels of concentration, but Buddhists only go up to a certain level. Otherwise, they get stuck in the form or formless realms.
So once people have achieved calm abiding and developed I don’t know the literal translation, I think it’s something like second level of concentration in the form realm, then that’s the mental basis for developing the path preparation. So unless we have this level of concentration and we can use our mind to concentrate on the meditations that are undertaken in the path of preparation, then we can’t achieve the different levels of the path of preparation. So we need this mind that’s really clear and stable in order to be able to achieve the path of preparation and its stages. Okay, there is also said to be five or six different things that are different between the Mahāyāna path of preparation and the Hīnayāna path of preparation. Now the, Mahāyāna path of preparation is said to be different from the Hīnayāna path of preparation in that their object of meditation aspect is different, that the things that they, achieve are different, that their cause is different, and that the Mahāyāna path of preparation, each of the four different sections also has a large, small, and medium size, and that doesn’t occur on the Hīnayāna path.
Okay, so the difference in the object of meditation between the two is that Mahāyāna path of preparation takes as its object of meditation the limitless aspect of the emptiness of the four truths. Now Hīnayāna path takes the four truths as this object and their lack of self, but it doesn’t have the ability people on the path of the Hīnayāna path of preparation do not have the ability to see the limitless aspect of the four noble truths as part of their object of meditation