Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. The bulk of this 29-minute Lamrim session by Geshe Pema Tsering is given over to an extended Q&A on guru devotion — specifically when and how a student should begin to regard their teacher as a Buddha. After briefly outlining the lower-scope motivation (meditating on precious human rebirth and impermanence to reorient from worldly aims toward a good rebirth) and naming the three principal aspects of the path — renunciation, Bodhicitta, and the Mādhyamika view of emptiness — the session opens into audience questions. Geshe Tsering explains that genuinely seeing one’s teacher as a Buddha requires years of careful investigation, followed by Guru Yoga practice, and ultimately depends on having developed Bodhicitta, calm abiding, and some understanding of emptiness. A side question about Śākyamūni’s teachers prompts a clear explanation of why a supreme Nirmānakāya performs the twelve deeds without needing instruction. Suited to practitioners already familiar with Lamrim basics.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 04 SoP 2004 02 08.mp3
UUID: a2f349fe-38ef-4691-8af3-85cf23495cf9
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Stages of the Path (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2004-02-08
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 28.8 minutes
Words: ~2,433
There’s two different ways. Oh, hang on. Okay. Right. Okay, now, when we’re talking about the lowest motivation, the lowest scope, the first motivation that we need to develop, when we’re talking about this, there’s two different ways that we can approach this process of developing the motivation of the lower scope.
That is developing the motivation that seeks to attain a good rebirth in the next life instead of focusing on this life. We can do this by focusing on how to not strive for suffering and how to strive for happiness. So that’s focusing on what causes suffering and what type of suffering there is, and then focusing on what actual happiness we can strive for. Okay. So, first thing that we need to do then is to meditate on two different ways to develop different ways to develop an understanding of what kind of suffering that we need to get rid of and happiness that we need to develop.
This is done by meditating, focusing on two different aspects, two different things we need to analyze. That is precious human rebirth. That is a rebirth that is endowed with opportunity and leisure. And we also need to focus on impermanence that nothing lasts forever, that everything is in a constant state of flux. Now, two are what are called cycles of focus or cycles of meditative concentration.
No. Cycles of things we need to meditate on, not meditative concentration. Okay. So then by meditating on these two different cycles of things that are to meditate on, then we can think that this is a blessed way of doing things because it was described or explained by a being which is Lama Tsongkhapa and Mañjuśrī inseparable. So the inseparable mind of Lama Tsongkhapa and Mañjuśrī explained this teaching, and therefore, we can have faith in it and follow it in the same way that they explained it.
Okay. So the reason that this accords with the teaching of Mañjuśrī who is on the Sabbath who is Mañjuśrī is that it is accords with what’s called the three principal aspects of the path. That is the three things that we need to focus on in order to progress along the path. These three principal aspects of the path are said to be renunciation, turning away from saṃsāra, then developing the mind of bodhicitta, and the final one is understanding the sublime or the fantastic or really good view of the Madhyamaka understanding or the middle way understanding of emptiness. So these teachings condense all the teachings of the great teachings of the Buddha.
And we can stop here. And so because Tyre’s run out. Yeah. Yeah. And if Tyre shoots.
And if anyone has any questions. Yeah. I don’t know if it’s really relevant to the class, but I’ll be wondering who the teacher was for. Mhmm. Oh, there’s a the third Buddha.
I don’t know how to say his name. It sounds good. I’m trying to remember. I used to know it. There’s a Buddha before Buddha.
Yeah? So before Śākyamūni Buddha, there’s supposed to be four Buddhas of this eon. And the the Buddha before Śākyamūni Buddha is said to have been Śākyamūni Buddha’s teacher. Also, there’s emanation of wisdom, which is have existed since beginningless time, which is like Mañjuśrī. Mañjuśrī is supposed to be the emanation of wisdom or the energy of wisdom that has existed since beginningless time.
And so, this energy was also supposed to be that took the form of beings was supposed to be a teacher of Śākyamūni Buddha as well. So, Mañjuśrī and — I don’t know — as far as I know, because it means lamp. Yeah. I’ll have to look it up for you.
I should know it, which I’m just showing my ignorance. Yeah. It’s just that in That’s okay. In the history of Śākyamūni, what do you not specifically hear about his teachers? You know, that he sort of did it himself under the Bodhi tree.
And and Uh-huh. I’m just wondering, the importance of teacher for us is very important. Yeah. But for Śākyamūni, what do you not really hear about? Okay.
So according to the Mahāyāna Sutras, yeah, the Buddha was already a Buddha when he came down to Earth to perform the twelve deeds. So a supreme emanation body, which is what he was a Śākyamūni Buddha, performs the twelve deeds but doesn’t have a teacher because they’re already a Buddha. So once you’re a Buddha, don’t need a teacher. Yeah? So because so therefore, when he came down to earth, he was already a Buddha who came down to show the way to achieve enlightenment.
So his whole life was a teaching. It wasn’t supposed to be a realization in that lifetime. But if you look in the other sutras and Buddha’s the Śākyamūni Buddha speaks many times about his teachers in previous lifetimes before he developed understanding before he became a Buddha, he talks about his teachers in many different sutras. So when Śākyamūni Buddha came and was born as the son of Mahamaya — I’m having a bad day with Sanskrit names — Mahamaya’s husband. Then when he came down to be born in that lifetime, he didn’t come down to achieve realizations.
He came down to perform the twelve deeds of what’s called a supreme emanation or supreme Nirmānakāya. So, he didn’t need a teacher at that stage because he was already a Buddha. So, he just came down to show how to achieve realization. So, he didn’t need a teacher at that stage. He’s going to love this question, not.
Okay. Okay. Right. Now, so the whole process of taking of seeing someone as a teacher, yeah, what you first of all, I’m trying because it was going backwards and forwards, I’m trying to get the whole thing together so it doesn’t get confusing. If you first of all, you need to investigate someone.
Right? And now I was trying to establish how much investigating you do. Right? And then and then the engager sort of saying that if you work really, really, really, really hard at it. Yeah?
Yeah? Then you could watch what someone does until you get to the stage where you think, okay, if I take this person as a teacher by relying on what they say, following their instructions, then I’m going to, that’s gonna be beneficial to me, yeah? That I don’t, that you are convinced that it’s gonna be beneficial to you. Right? Then you have this idea in your head.
I’m gonna take this person as a teacher. And Geshe la, I said, how long does that take? You don’t do it any old how. And Geshe la said, well, it doesn’t matter. I can’t say how long it takes because some, it may take ages for some people and not very long for other people because it comes down to whether you’re sure about something or not, yeah?
All right, so it comes down and he said, so if you worked really hard at it and did it every day and was concentrating on someone’s teachings and focusing on it and developing understanding of them and so forth, it could take a couple of years, Yeah. But if you don’t do that, it could take years and years and years and years. If you come and go and have an idea about it, then you don’t see them and then you’re not concentrating on it and so forth. So it’s developing that surety in your mind. Then once you’ve developed the surety in your mind that this relying on this person’s instructions will be beneficial to you, then you start doing the Guru Puja in order to see them as a Buddha.
You can’t actually see someone completely as a Buddha until you’re a Buddha. Yeah. Right? So the whole process of putting in the hard work of doing the Guru Puja is to be able to see them as Buddha. Does that make sense?
So you’ve you’ve established that so you’ve established that that relying on them is beneficial to you. Following their instructions will benefit your And then you establish the fact that by seeing them as a Buddha Buddha that will be beneficial to you. In order to see them as a Buddha, you start doing Guru Yoga. It’s not like you see them as a Buddha then start doing Guru Yoga. You do Guru Yoga in order to see them as a Buddha.
So once you’ve just taken them as a teacher and thinking that that relying on them will be beneficial, you stop investigating and start practicing. Start praying and focusing on developing blessings and understanding in order to be able to see them as Buddha. But he said, but it’s not easy. It’s not something that happens instantly. It’s not something that you develop an understanding of instantly.
It’s something you have to work very, very, very hard at. Okay. Okay. So what’s he said the mind that sees the teacher as Buddha is actually a very difficult mind to that that concept is very difficult to generate in a kind uncontrived naturally occurring way. In order for you to do that, he thinks that you would be able to develop that kind of understanding.
Once you have developed bodhicitta, entered the path of accumulation, you’re accumulating merit, and you’ve developed a certain level of concentration called Okay. The king of Dharma meditation, Right? Which is a type of which is a type of meditative concentration you develop on the path of accumulation, which is once you’ve developed bodhicitta. He said he thinks that in dependence on that level of meditative concentration in conjunction with bodhicitta that you can maybe see your teacher as a Buddha. Okay?
He said you need sorry. In order to be able to see your teacher as a Buddha, you’re needing bodhicitta. You need calm abiding, and you need to have a a relative understanding of emptiness. Okay. So Geshe la says, so for him, for example, he has faith in the teachings and he has faith enough in the teachings to understand that he must develop this idea of the teacher as the Buddha.
He does the practice of trying to see the teacher as the Buddha. Okay. So first of all, before you start seeing someone as your teacher, then you have to investigate them as well. And then you have to investigate in order to establish faith in the teachings and to develop that understanding. I said it’s difficult.
And he goes, as you’re talking about developing complete faith that your teacher is a Buddha. Did you expect it to be easy? Of course, it’s difficult. And he also said sorry. I left that one thing being from before because we’re going back.
So he said that we’ve had this idea of self grasping since we’ve had since beginningless time, since time immemorial. So I should try and do something that’s gonna threaten that, like, see our teacher as a Buddha and think that we can rely on instructions in order to get out of that is is something that we have to really work at. And I forgot what the other thing that I forgot was. Is there any other questions? Uh-huh.
Sure. Got the name of the Buddha’s father. Yeah. Yeah. Right.
Now there’s two different ways to look at this. Yeah? The first one is that we’ll because we don’t have this because we don’t have the motivation of bodhicitta, and we haven’t gotten rid of the idea of looking after ourselves because we’re just starting off. Throwing our body away in order to benefit beings isn’t something that we’re up to. Yeah?
And so at this stage, we have to look after ourselves in order to try and develop that kind of motivation. Yeah? So we should there’s things that we need. We need to look after our health. We need to look after our situation.
We need to establish a situation from which we can keep trying to benefit others. If we don’t have that situation, then we can’t help. So we need to establish that as beginners. Yeah. The other thing to remember is that there’s this idea of both, Bodhisattvas being able to have the mind that they’re able to give their body away, yeah, in order to benefit beings, right?
And they’re happy about that. It’s not that it’s difficult for them. It’s that they understand because of their understanding and their realization. It’s easy for them. It’s something they enjoy doing.
Yeah, they don’t it’s not difficult for them to do that. So they have developed that type of mind. And if we have the right conditions, we can develop that kind of mind. It’s not like it’s hard for them. It’s easy for them.
The other thing is they don’t do it in any old way. They do it because of a purpose. It’s not just without a purpose that they’re doing this, that they’re able to work for all sentient beings. And the thing is, once they have developed that understanding, every action that they do is exponential because they’re doing everything they do for limitless sentient beings. So every action that they do has this motivation of limitless sentient beings, which means that it’s positive outcome, it’s positive result is limitless.
So it’s exponential. It keeps expanding and expanding and expanding. Every action they do is positive. In this way, that Bodhisattva is able to attain a fully realized state where they have gotten rid of all negativities and fully ripened all positivities. And that’s their own that helps them.
So in actual fact, focusing on others helps yourself more than it than it can possibly help others. Right? Because you’re developing this positive understanding. So it’s not as if you say, I’m focusing on all sentient beings and nothing positive is gonna happen to me because you’re going to achieve Buddhahood by that focus, and that’s the ultimate positive that could happen to Is that okay? Okay.
Now the Buddha’s father’s name was Suddhodana. Sudhodana? Sudhodana. Yeah? Yeah.
Yes. So I remembered his wife’s name because it means great deception. Oh, goddess of deception. Oh, yeah. So but, yeah, it’s Suddhodana.
Yeah. Is it did I but how do you pronounce it, though? Suddhodana. Suddhodana. Suddhodana.
Oh, okay. Sudarana. Sudarana. Yeah. No.
No. I it’s just keep getting mental blanks, especially when it’s hot. Okay.