Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Geshe Pema Tsering opens this 34-minute Seventy Topics session by resolving a brief classification error, then maps out the 173 aspects distributed across the three exalted knowers — 27 for the knower of bases, 36 for the knower of paths, 110 for the exalted knower of all — explaining how complete aspects application serves as the direct cause for Buddhahood, and peak application describes the bodhisattva’s ongoing meditative progress toward omniscience along the five Mahāyāna paths. A department-store analogy captures the system’s layered, hard-to-navigate complexity. A student question then draws out the Autonomy school’s account of what each vehicle must realize to reach liberation, and why solitary realizers — drawing entirely on their own insight — fall outside all four tenet schools. Pitched at practitioners already working through the Ornament of Clear Realization curriculum.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 08 ST 2003 02 13.mp3
UUID: f55000c1-e1b9-4169-9435-50e351da6971
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Seventy Topics (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2003-02-13
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 34.3 minutes
Words: ~2,342
knower of basis of the antidote class is because the antidote is actually seeing emptiness directly, and that’s why it’s called the antidote class. Okay. I’ve got it mixed up. Which one is our Which one is which one is Okay. First and third.
Ah, second. No. No. First and oh did I say oh it was me okay no first and third second and fourth oh right Oh, yeah. Okay.
No. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. No. It’s written different. Okay.
First and fourth. Yeah. And second and third. Sorry about that. So first and fourth?
Okay. So, yeah, first and fourth. So the antidote isn’t seeing anything as directly said, and, the resultant mother being close to is being close to Buddhahood. K. So we sorted?
Sorry about that. Okay. Okay, so right, sorry I got a bit thrown by that. The next bit that we’re up to is the border of this knower of bases. The border of knower of bases is all ārya beings, all superior beings of all three vehicles.
That basically means that anyone who has a realisation of impermanence and the other sixteen objects of the four truths that are seen on the path of seeing of three vehicles, Any of those minds or anyone who has those minds is what we’re talking about here by the knower of basis. So I have a list of the sixteen objects of the four truths if you guys need it. So for so yeah. So people can do this by seeing the selflessness of the person or by seeing the non separation of object and subject and or seeing emptiness directly on any of yeah. Depending which path they’re on.
They can have these sixteen objects from sixteen objects of meditation from the four truths as their focus point. Okay. So we’re now on to the next bit, the next category, which is called the complete aspects application. And then I’m gonna just put an interpreter’s note on that, that what they’re calling application is actually the word that actually means yoga as well. [Translator’s note] So just in case that helps anyone out.
So, the complete aspects application, its definition is bodhisattva’s yoga conjoined with the wisdom cultivating a compendium of the aspects of the three exalted knowers. Okay. So what that means is that, the three exalted knowers being the knowers of bases, knowers of, paths and knowing everything. What’s it called? Thank you.
Yeah, the all knowing thing. All right. So that’s the three knowers that they’re talking about here, the three exalted knowers. And what has actually happened from having meditation, using them as the wisdom that comes about from the compendium, like the coming together of all of those three, all their aspects and meditating on them. The wisdom that comes about from that meditation, once that’s in a continuum, that wisdom helps the other minds in that continuum, and that’s what becomes the complete aspects application.
And there’s two different types of aspects to each of the There’s one hundred and seventy three different aspects included within these three topics. When it says compendium of the aspects, it’s not just the three exalted knowers themselves, but within the three exalted knowers, there is altogether one hundred and seventy three aspects. And each of those separate aspects has two different bits to its aspect. One of them is the aspect aspect as an object, and the other one is the aspect of consciousness.
So that’s like the object and the subject aspect of the different aspects. So, then when we’re if we’re actually looking at the the word, the the thing that’s defining the complete aspect’s application, this application or, you know, yoga or joining or whatever you want to call it is actually the cause for Buddhahood. All right. So any application is like a cause for the completion. The what was it called?
The resultant perfection of wisdom. So that’s what they mean by application. It’s the cause as well. And the reason it’s called the complete aspect is because it includes the whole hundred and seventy three aspects that are included within the three knowers. Okay, so this complete aspects application is actually mutually inclusive with the knower of a bodhisattva path.
So it’s all knowers of bodhisattvas. What it includes in its division is one hundred and seventy three different aspects of the three knowers that we talked about before the knower of bases and so forth. That means that there’s twenty seven aspects to the knower of bases thirty six aspects to the knower of paths, and one hundred and ten aspects to the exalted knower of all. Then within each of these aspects you also have to take into account the consciousness aspect and the object aspect. Did I do it something?
No. I just don’t use that. Oh, because that’s possible. Yeah. Yeah.
So there’s twenty seven for bases, thirty six for paths, a hundred and ten for exalted knower of all. Alright. Now Okay. So how the twenty seven aspects of the bases are divided is that after the four noble truths, the truth of suffering, the truth of the origin of suffering, the truth of the path, the truth of cessation Sorry. The truth of cessation and the truth of the path.
The the truth of suffering and the truth of the origin of suffering both have four different aspects to them. The truth of the path has has fifteen aspects to it, and then the truth of cessation has four. I did the the path and the and the cessation ran the wrong way, but, you know, they’re still the four noble truths. Alright. Yeah.
So there’s the truth of suffering four, the truth of the origin of suffering four, the truth of cessation four, and the truth of the path fifteen aspects. Okay. So for the thirty six aspects of the path, the first truth being the truth of suffering has eight aspects. Second truth being the truth of the origin of suffering has seven aspects. The third truth being the truth of cessation has five, and the truth of the path being the last one has sixteen.
This one. This one. Oh, yeah. And we won’t worry about the hundred and ten. Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It’s really not easy to get, he said. Is are you a little bit tired?
It’s got, like, like, the five aggregates and the five and the five sources and things like that. And there’s twenty five different things that have are then divided into the hundred and ten. Don’t ask, please. No. It’s fine if you want to.
Oh, yes. He said you have to study this really slowly. This is the introduction. And then it goes into your head. If you just yeah.
So I have to Oh, yeah. Chill. Yeah. So the borders of this one is the Mahāyāna path of accumulation through to the end of the continuum of sentient being. And so that’s we have to make note that that’s only the Mahāyāna path.
Okay. So there’s fifteen different parts that we’re talking about here. Each vehicle has five paths. So we’re only talking about the five paths of the the Mahāyāna path Mahāyāna vehicle, which is, the path of accumulation, path of preparation, path of seeing, the path of meditation, and the path of no more learning. So this goes from the first level of the first path of the Bodhisattva vehicle, which is the path of accumulation, and its first section, which is called the small section as a path of the of accumulation, which is caused by developing bodhicitta up to the last moment of the continuum of the sentient being just before they become a Buddha.
Oh, yeah. Is that okay? Do you guys get the, or do you understand the application? What’s it called? No.
I can’t. I’m sorry. I’m having trouble with your English for this, which isn’t helpful. Yeah. The application of all knowing.
Complete aspects application. Oh, this one? Yeah. Yeah. It’s easy in Tibetan, but in English, there’s all these big words you have to Okay.
Alright. So the next one is peak application. The definition of peak application is a bodhisattva yoga conjoined with the wisdom highly transformed from the Mahāyāna path of accumulation that cultivates a compendium of the three exalted knowers. And what that means is, the mind of a a bodhisattva, once they have, meditated on the, all the aspects of the of the three the three knowers. Then from the path of accumulation up, so that’s not including the path of accumulation, The wisdom that is accrued after that, once that’s in a continuum, then the bodhisattva yogas or the bodhisattva applications that are conjoined with that or that are helped along by that understanding are all called peak applications.
Okay. So peak application is also mutually inclusive with engagement through engaging, which is I asked what that was, and he said it’s it’s the same as peak application. So he said this is difficult because what we’re talking about with the complete aspects application, the complete aspects application is what is actually the direct cause for Buddha, is is the cause for becoming a Buddha, right, for the mind of Buddha. It’s not gonna be easy. Right?
And then for the the three knowers that we’re talking about, the the complete knower, the exalted all knowing thing, that’s the mind of a Buddha. So that’s not gonna be easier. Then you have the knower of paths is the mind of a bodhisattva is the mind of a bodhisattva, the knower of basis is a mind of a superior of any of the three vehicles. This is just an overview. You don’t have to write it.
It’s in there. Okay. And then and then the the application is what they actually do in order to achieve that. So the complete aspects application is what they actually do in order to achieve its result, which is the all knowing. Man, I gotta get that one.
The all knowing one, the first one. What was that? Omniscience, yeah. Exalted knower of aspects. Omniscience would be easy, wouldn’t it?
Omniscience, yeah. So the complete aspects application is the cause for the exalted knower of aspects, Right? And the peak application is is what, like, the bodhisattvas are doing in their mind when they’re going along, on the way to becoming, an exalted knower of aspects or omniscient being or a Buddha. So this is difficult. And there’s all this within this within this.
And then Geshe-la said it’s like they have big shops in the middle of Adelaide. Right? And then you think, wow, a big shop, but then it gets really complicated because there’s something in one of the sections of the big shop within that, and and he doesn’t know any of it, and he doesn’t understand where any of the stuff is. And then it’s kind of the same with this because there’s, like, a one big shop, and then within the shop, there’s different sections. And then with the each section, there’s even smaller sections.
And then there’s finally when you’re trying to get something from the shop and you don’t know you can’t find it because it’s too complicated. And he said it’s the same sort of thing. That’s why I’m asking. And if you have any questions, that would be good. Go.
He’ll answer them. Yeah. I’m gonna speak. Could he repeat that? Could he repeat what?
Everything. Subject and object. Yeah? Uh-huh. Okay.
I was like, now I have to say no. Please repeat that. Okay. Okay. So this text is coming from the point of view of Autonomy school.
Right? So that’s the first thing we have to say. And in the autonomous school for for the solitary realizers to achieve arhatship or become foe destroyers, they don’t actually have to get rid of their their finer obscurations to omniscience. They only have to get rid of the rough obscurations to omniscience. This is according to the autonomous school, and they can do so by achieving an understanding of the non separation of subject and object.
Alright? Now wait one second. Okay. So so it’s in so this is still coming from the Autonomy school point of view. Therefore, the each of these different vehicles have something that they have to get rid of in order to achieve their own individual arhatship.
So for the hearer’s vehicle has to get rid of the concept of a self of persons, and they have to understand the selflessness of persons. The solitary realisers have to get rid of the idea that subject and object are separate and the Mahāyāna vehicle has to get rid of the idea of inherent existence. That’s what their objects of focus are in the in these different vehicles. Okay. But to answer your question, the there’s out of the four the the three vehicles in the four schools don’t necessarily link up together.
The solitary realizers don’t fit into any of the four different the four different schools. So there’s three vehicles and four schools, but you don’t necessarily find a link between them all of the time. And so if someone asks which school does the solitary realizers, which school do the solitary realizers belong to, you have to say they don’t belong to any. Yeah. Joe just made a comment that’s why they’re by themselves.
As Geshe-la was saying, he’s like, they’re not tenant holders because tenet holders are people who belong to a group. And solitary realizers are people who are by themselves, and then all their realizations come from themselves. So none of their tenets are defined by others. Okay. That’s it.
That seems alright. Did you get it? He wants to he’s like, I gotta stop saying, did you get it? But it’s like the. Do you understand?