Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Geshe Pema Tsering uses the image of DNA to clarify one of the trickiest translation problems in the Sublime Continuum: the Tibetan word rik, meaning source and type combined, which underlies every English rendering of “lineage” and “Buddha nature.” In this 67-minute commentary he walks through the threefold division of the naturally abiding lineage across the three vehicles, the four faults that obstruct its activation, and six synonyms of lineage — including teacher (understood as illuminator rather than authority) and assistant. He then unpacks thirteen sub-divisions spanning the path of preparation to the path of seeing. The session closes with a candid student exchange: Geshe’s practical conclusion is that recognising you have Buddha nature motivates all practice, and that any ordinary activity becomes merit-creation simply by shifting one’s intention toward Buddhahood. Suited to students already following this series.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 27 2005 09 08 SC.mp3
UUID: c7d71848-8599-41ed-b794-8a9476a2dcb0
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: Sublime Continuum (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2005-09-08
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 67.3 minutes
Words: ~5,481
So please take a moment to look at your motivation and try and think that you are listening to a teaching describing the Buddha nature in order to awaken the Buddha nature. And through awakening the Buddha nature, progress along the paths and grounds and become a fully enlightened Buddha who can lead other sentient beings out of Samsāra by awakening their Buddha nature. Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah.
Yeah. I have to get away from my jewelry because it was going and has to turn his on. Is that what you’re saying here? We’re sorted. Mhmm.
Alright. So what we were talking about last week was oh, hang on one second. Okay. Alright. So we’re talking about the different divisions of Buddha nature.
So generally, you’re saying that Buddha nature, by way of its nature can’t be divided, but then there are certain divisions that we can look at by way of characteristics. And, the first thing that we looked about looked at was, the difference between the naturally abiding lineage and the developmental lineage. And we looked at the definitions of these, and then we looked at, the way of dividing the naturally abiding lineage. And the way that we’ve divided the naturally abiding lineage was, into a the naturally abiding lineage that is specifically indicated in this context and that which isn’t in this context. An example of the first was given the mind of the reality or the dharmata of the mind of a continuum of a person who has not entered the path.
Alright. The emptiness of the of that which can go on to become a Buddha in the mind of a person who hasn’t entered the path is an example of the naturally abiding Buddha nature that isn’t indicated on this occasion. Then we’re looking at the types of Buddha nature that are indicated on this this on this occasion. That is that this text deals with. And there’s said to be three different types, then of, Buddha nature, or rather there is said to be three different naturally abiding lineages that are determined by they’re divided by the basis for the divide for the about naturally abiding lineage.
So you have the naturally abiding lineage that is in the continuum. Right. I’ll try and say this more clearly. The naturally abiding lineage that is the of the positive qualities of a hearer. And then you have the naturally abiding lineage that is the positive qualities of a solitary realizer, and the naturally abiding lineage or the naturally abiding Buddha nature that is the dharmata of, the positive qualities of a bodhisattva.
So basically dividing them by way of the three vehicles. But the essence, that is the fact that they’re talking about the emptiness of the the emptiness of that which can go on to become a Buddha is the same in all three. Right? But they’re divided by the basis. So last week, we were talking about how, you have two different types of Buddha nature.
You have hang on. This is the other point that I was just asking Gesha about. In general, you can say that these things are the Buddha nature. What we’re talking about here is Buddha nature, or the Buddha potential, and they’ve translated here as the the the lineage. Now the reason they’ve translated here as the lineage, I’m guessing, is because, yeah, although in general, you’d say that all the positive qualities, that are and the emptiness of the positive qualities in the continuums of of solitary realizers and, hearers is the Buddha nature in that it is positive qualities.
It’s not something that they want to eliminate. It’s something that they’re using and they’re developing and it it has the it fit fits the definition that’s described here in that it is able to be transformed into the Buddha body. Right? It’s not something that needs to be abandoned. It’s something that can be transformed into the Buddha body.
Because we’re talking about the emptiness and the positive qualities that are associated with vehicles that aren’t the Mahāyāna, then you don’t say specifically that they are the Buddha nature. Does that make sense? So in they fit the definition of the Buddha nature, but we’re talking about them because of by way of their outcome, which is the realization of an arhat or the realization of a solitary realizer. So your they fit the general definition of Buddha nature, but they’re here they’re translating it, I’m guessing as lineage because they’re trying to differentiate between the lineage or the potential of a being on the three different paths. Right?
So they fit the general definition but they’re making a distinction here. So last week we were talking about the difference between the naturally abiding and the, developmental lineage. So the naturally abiding lineage is the emptiness whose base or the emptiness or the dharmata whose base is the positive qualities in the continuum of a sentient being that can be transformed into the body of a Buddha. Into their to their or wisdom body of a Buddha. The nature body of a Buddha.
Sorry. The nature body of a Buddha. And then you had the minds themselves or the qualities themselves, which go on to become the form bodies of a Buddha. Alright? And that’s called the developmental lineage.
So here, we’re talking about the emptiness of the qualities or the achievements of the three different the beings on the three different vehicles. Yeah. So it’s saying that you can divide the the lineage or you can divide the the if I leave the Buddha nature, it doesn’t make much sense, does it? You can divide the potential into three or the the lineage or the potential into three. There is a lineage or the potential of becoming a Buddha.
There’s a lineage or the potential of becoming a solitary realizer or a hearer or an arhat. So that which is motivated by the desire to become an arahat and is the emptiness of the positive qualities that it takes to attain that state is said to be the, the lineage of an arhat or the arhat nature. That which has potential to transform into the, the, emptiness of a solitary realizer’s mind and, is is the positive qualities in that mind is the naturally abiding lineage, of a solitary realizer. And that which is the positive quality that which can be transformed into the nature body of a Buddha and is the is the emptiness of the positive qualities of a Bodhisattva is the Mahāyāna lineage. Is the, sorry, is the naturally abiding lineage of the Mahāyāna.
Right. So we have those three things, and we have examples of those three things. So for example, the emptiness or the dharmata or the reality, any of those three words you can use, of a learner hearer is said to be an example of the first. The emptiness in the continuum of a the emptiness of the positive qualities of the continuum of a solitary realizer hearer is an example of the second. And, for the third, which is the emptiness of a positive qualities that lead to become a Buddha of a Bodhisattva’s continuum.
They’re said to be two different categories again. That which is explicitly indicated in this context and that which is not specifically indicated in this context. So the example of the first no sorry, the example of the second, I got them running the wrong way, that which is not indicated in this example is the emptiness of the positive qualities of a continuum of a bodhisattva from the path of accumulation and the an example of the second is anyone who’s on any of the other four paths. The emptiness of any of the Bodhisattva’s positive qualities who is on any of the other four paths. Did any of that make sense?
I was thinking I was saying this. I’m not sure it makes sense to me. It was like going back to studying clear ornament or something. Uh-huh. Alright.
So then be be in the category of the things that it’s been talking about in this text. So it says abiding lineage that has been explicitly indicated on this in this context. It says there’s some things that are very explicitly indicated, and there is others that are kind of explicitly indicated. What what has he translated this? That mainly explicitly indicated and mainly not not mainly explicitly indicated.
I’m not sure that’s English, but anyway. It’s an English. Yeah. It’s very precise. It’s a direct translation from Tibetan, but I’m not sure it’s English.
Yeah. It’s Tinglish or something. So but it makes it easier to follow in Tibetan so I’m not dissing it. So you have the the main focus for the for the for the description of the naturally abiding lineage that we’ve gone through, and you have a subsidiary focus for the naturally abiding lineage that we’ve been discussing. So the main focus is talking about people who are from the beginning focused on attaining Buddhahood through the path of the Mahāyāna.
Because you can also have people who have attained the state of an arhat and then are led onto the Mahāyāna path and go back and go through the paths again. But in this case, though, the beings that we’re mainly are talking about are those that started off on the Mahāyāna path and continued on it on the Mahāyāna path. And those that didn’t start off on the Mahāyāna path but came on to it later are kind of talked about, but not directly directly, only half explicitly. This one? Yes.
So I asked Geshe-la, because it’s it’s direct translation from Tibetan. So I said, how is it possible to explicitly indicate something on this occasion and then not do it very, you know, very explicitly. Yeah? And he said, what? That makes perfect sense.
And I was like, right. And then and then he said, the the point is that when they’re describing the people in these these texts, yeah, they’re saying they’re doing it from the point of view of the beings who are from the beginning have a dis I keep going to say dispensation. That’s right, isn’t it? Yes. What does dispensation mean?
Well, it’s like a you’re from something wrong. You let off because of something. Alright. Disposition. Yeah.
Disposition is the word I was for, and I thought dispensation sounded wrong, and I couldn’t figure out why. Alright. Thanks for clearing that up. Anyway, they have a from the beginning, they have a disposition towards the Mahāyāna. Alright?
So that’s the kind of person that’s being described in the text. Talking about the Buddha nature of people who have this kind of disposition from the beginning tendency. Yeah. But it’s more than a tendency. It’s like that’s where they’re going.
This position from the beginning. Yeah. And and then if you’re talking about those kind of people and you’re talking about the different types of mind that they have, then the beings who have already completed the Hīnayāna path and come back to enter the Mahāyāna are going to have similar ways of thinking. Right? So, their the description of their Buddha nature, the description of the the way that their Buddha nature is awakened, is can be subsumed within the description of the other person, the other types of people, but it’s not explicitly indicated.
Well, it is explicitly indicated, but not really. It’s subsumed within the explicit implicitly indication. Yes? Is that alright? Subsumed within the explicit indication.
Mhmm. Okay. So this means that if we talk about the boundaries of the naturally abiding lineage, then in general, the naturally abiding lineage exists from before entering into the path into an into any path, to the end of the continuum of a sentient being. So from all all beings have the naturally abiding lineage. Now the boundaries of the naturally abiding lineage that is the basis for Mahāyāna achievements exists from the path of the first moment of the path of accumulation through to the end of the continuum.
But the naturally abiding lineage that is specifically or explicitly indicated on this occasion only refers to the Mahāyāna lineage that is the basis for achievements from the path of preparation to the ends of the continuum of sentient being. And I forgot one thing that I forgot from before because I was getting confused with, dispensations and dispositions, was that, from the point of view of the basis of achieving, which is the the realisations, there are thirteen different types of this explicitly very explicitly indicated on this, occasions, Buddha nature, Mahāyāna Buddha nature. Alright. Okay. And there’s a four faults obstructing the activation of the lineage as before.
So we went into detail of these weeks and weeks and weeks ago. But to give you an overview to remind you, Geshe-la said that, the first of these was not having faith in the benefit of attaining liberation or Buddhahood. The second one was not recognizing the faults of Samsāra. The third was having negative friends that will lead you away from practicing. And the fourth was having wrong views that would obstruct you developing the Buddha Nita.
Okay. Yeah. The next thing is the synonyms of there’s synonyms. I’m having a good night tonight with words. Synonyms of lineage.
Yes. So a lineage is known as a gotra is first of all, according to the Bodhisattva Grounds, by Asaṇga. And the lineage is also known as a base. Okay.
The reason it’s known as a base is because, it acts as a basis for all positive, accomplishments. Yeah? It’s also known as a teacher. So, I asked why it was called a teacher, and he said, I’m stupid because I didn’t know the other meanings of this word. And I asked him what they were, and he said, you know the other meanings.
And and then so I’m giving a word by word translation. And then he said, you know, like, it can mean to show or to illuminate. And I said, so how does the Buddha nature illuminate? And he said, by showing. So we weren’t getting very far.
And he said, look, it’s simple. The Buddha nature gives you the capability to, to understand things. Alright? And to be shown things. And in this way, it acts like a teacher or something that shows.
But he doesn’t think that it is a classic meaning of the word teacher because there is also an element to this word that’s translated as teacher, which is to illuminate, to show, to bring to light. So the word that they often translate as teacher, and it’s definitely a name for the Buddha, is this one word that means the illuminator, the person who brings things to light. Alright. It’s also known as the cause because it acts as a cause for developing positive qualities, a base for positive qualities. And then there’s this word that’s translated here as attendant.
And I say, guess I translated attendant into into Tibetan and said, this is this what this word means? And he said, yes, generally, but you should be careful because, an attendant implies that someone is like a servant or or someone is in a lower position than the person they are attending on. And in this case, the Buddha nature, you shouldn’t be seeing it as being something that’s lower. Alright? In fact, it is something that helps you, but is more like an assistant.
Yeah. But not attendant as in Servant. Servant. Yeah. As in something that assists you.
Yeah. Attending to your needs. Like an assist assistant’s good. Assistance good. And then it’s also said to be an intro an introduction and a source.
Source or a place in terms of it being like a basis. Source or place, you can translate either way. Okay. The reason why it said introduction or preliminary is because it’s a cause. Mhmm.
Okay. So and it’s also called source or place because it which is probably why they translated source because it acts like a cause. Right. So the next thing then is the etymology of the word. And it says, because of being the source of superior’s qualities, it is known as the lineage of superiors.
Does that make sense? No. No. Don’t think so either. He said, I don’t understand what you don’t understand about that.
That’s very clear. And I said, yes. In Tibetan, it’s very clear. When I try and say it in in English, it just comes as. And he laughed.
So on the last on the last line of the text that we’re doing about Buddha nature, still struggling to find a way to translate it. There’s this word in Tibetan that I was asking I said to Geshe-la, he well, I don’t understand why you can’t translate that. That’s very straightforward. And I said, yes, it is in Tibetan. And when you try and translate it in English, it becomes very complicated because you have a whole bundle of words that are used sometimes to translate this word.
And, they can give different meanings and different taints on it, so usually you use the most appropriate one for the situation. Geshe-la said, well, try and get across the idea that what we’re talking about here is something like a type and something like a source, and it’s the thing that makes things what they are. Right? So you could talk about it’s the same it it there’s sometimes you would translate this word if you’re talking about the the human human human race, you would tie you would, the word that you translate as race is this word rik. Yeah?
And then there’s also the the rik is you’d say that the substance of water and the thing that makes it water. So the thing that makes it what it is or is x is like in some ways the cause for all the source of it being. It’s a common combination of the word source and the word type. Alright. So it’s almost like the DNA.
Yeah? The it’s a combination of the word source and type. Does that make sense? But it gets translated in all of these different ways. So, And because it’s like the source and the type of where all of the aryas qualities come from, that’s why it’s called the Buddha nature or the Buddha type or the Buddha source.
This one. This one. Then Mhmm. Okay. Alright.
So, basically, it says that what we’re talking about here, in terms of the, the naturally abiding Buddha nature that is explicitly indicated very explicitly indicated on this occasion. And we’re talking about the emptiness of that which acts as the basis for Mahāyāna achievings. This has thirteen different qualities depending or thirteen different instances depending on what is being developed or what stage of development is. And each of these thirteen different instances or these thirteen different the thirteen different emptinesses, but they’re not emptiness divided by they’re not divided by their nature, but they’re divided by what they are the emptiness of, are the different types of the naturally abiding Buddha nature Alright. So the thirteen that we’re talking about here, the thirteen different divisions, which is included within the translation you have, is the ten different paths and the three different stages of the path of preparation.
The three the the path of preparation is divided into three. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. So in general, Geshe-la said that actually the thirteen take you from the beginning of the path of preparation to the to the path of seeing. And so within that, you have twelve and then the path of from the realization of emptiness up until the end is described as one type of these thirteen.
And there’s different divisions within the, the four levels of the path of preparation. There’s twelve different divisions within the four levels of the path of preparation. So most of those eleven of those are on the level of the heat, of the path of preparation. So it talks about things that need to be abandoned, things that need to be practiced. It’s divided into the four things that need to be abandoned, the four things that need to be practiced, and then you have the different levels of the path of preparation, and then the the all of the all of the are included in one.
Okay. So the reason that it says it explicitly very explicitly indicated on this occasion and and the other one it says it’s subsumed within the commentary, it’s not explicitly not very explicitly indicated is that if you remember from the beginning of this text, it started talking about the parts of the Bodhisattva and specifically, Maitreya is addressing this text to those who have entered the path of preparation and those on the other levels. He’s not talking he’s not teaching it specifically to other beings. But as the experiences he’s describing of this those on the path of preparation and those on the, Ārya paths would experience would be the same as those or similar to those who have already attained arhathood and then gone back to the Mahāyāna, then their experiences are also indicated on this occasion, but they’re not the main focus. They’re not who Maitreya was teaching specifically to.
Then that’s the end. Typical answer. Do you want a cup tea? If they wanna make it, okay. If they don’t wanna make it, okay.
He just read the first part of the text, but now I can’t find it so I can say what it meant. It’s just like it’s like sort of the. You’re right. He said, it’s a good it’s a good link. You weren’t right about the other one, but you’re right about that.
You know what? This gives you dispensation. This gives you dispensation for the other for being getting disposition wrong. I did. I was really confused, but you didn’t help.
He’s so Geshe-la wants to know if you understand the basic concept of Buddha nature and the idea of lineage or lineage and source combined together. So do you all think that you have the Mahāyāna potential? I think I I get the basic concept, but it in case you don’t want to debate or something, I think I get it all. Okay. He said, as long as you’ve got the idea, I have Buddha nature, then he’s he’s happy.
Mhmm. And so is because if you have the idea that you have Buddha nature, then you’re going to want to go about all of the methods for awakening the Buddha nature, like having practicing refuge, thinking about bodhicitta, and meditating on bodhicitta, accumulating merit. All of these things are ways to awaken the bodhicitta. But if you don’t think you have the Buddha nature, you’re not gonna do that. So that’s the main thing he said he wanted to get across.
Just on the eventually, cause and condition. What? Cause and condition. What’s that? What?
Eventually. Eventually? The awakening of the Buddha nature. Ah. Even so even though, you know.
Yeah. So that’s why we have to create the causes and conditions by focusing on attaining Buddhahood and personal liberation and take going for refuge. That creates the causes and conditions. Mhmm. So I guess just that the idea is that you that you focus on the negative aspects of saṃsāra.
Right? That you recognize the faults of saṃsāra, and you look to the positive qualities of liberation. And then you would try and find all the methods, all the ways to get out of saṃsāra so that you could attain nirvana and you could attain attain Buddhahood. But to make yourself do that, you have to be sure that you’re gonna have an outcome. Yeah.
That you’re gonna get out of saṃsāra. And so the way that you make yourself convinced of that is by understanding you have a Buddha nature. It’s it it it by having Buddha nature, by having the Buddha lineage. Yeah. It means that you have the capacity to become a Buddha.
The Tibetan word for Buddha? Alright. The Tibetan word for Buddha is Yeah? So and so Geshe-la said if you can just think then you sort it, but you need to know what mean. So it says means like sangs means to have purified.
So sang means to have gotten rid of all possible negative things. And rgyas means to have accumulated all positive things. So even if you have this rough idea that a Buddha is someone who has gotten rid of everything negative and accumulated everything positive, then that’s fine. Don’t he said, you try and get into too much detail, you’re going to get confused. Yeah.
There are four more things. When I was a young boy, I thought it was that you could drink. Yeah. Going you’re very, very, very realized I gave up drinking. Go on.
Yeah. Anyway, I will. When I was child, you know, be an adult, I was just this is my imagination when, you know Mhmm. Imagining. Mhmm.
To be an adult is just Guess he thinks that there would be more combinations or more different ways of thinking than you could imagine, what people would think growing up meant or, what they had to do with themselves. Because, you know, some people would be thinking, when I grow up, wanna make lots of money. Other people would think I wanna get lots of stuff. Other people would think that they wanted to get married. Other people would think that that they had to get a position in society so that they would get respect.
And so he said you would get all sorts of combinations of different ideas about what it meant to grow up or what it meant, you know, what you should be working on. Because some people’s idea of what’s a quality is things that they can grasp onto. Other people’s idea of what a quality is is something that’s a position or something. But from perspective of, the Dharma, from the perspective of Buddhism, then the idea is to constantly improve yourself until you can become a Buddha, to work towards becoming a Buddha. And so the idea that you had is more in line with that, he said.
And that you that’s what you’re trying to train yourself to think. Yeah? Is that I wanna get better and better and better. But it’s not what you’re gonna find in most in a lot of people’s minds. You find all different things.
But he would think that he said he would think that the most that this is one of the most difficult ways to think because it’s much too easy to get distracted by the things of his lifetime. So to actually find people who are concentrated on on just self improvement, on just working towards or individual liberation, would be very hard. That’d be very rare. You’d find you wouldn’t find many people working on that because the, habit of focusing on this lifetime is strong in most people. So So you’re probably rare.
I I or unique. Huge, huge friction between the society and the what I think right, you know. You mean Japanese culture? Said probably. I said, he you should move to Tibet, and Geshe-la said, Tibet’s the same.
Uh-uh. I guess they said even in Tibet to find people on travel and trying to improve themselves is very difficult task. That this they’re very rare. Yeah. I I actually I didn’t know.
He wants to know what you think now. He want he wants to know what you think now. What I think about what? About this same thing. What do you know, when you’re a kid, you thought this what grown ups do is improve themselves?
Mhmm. He wants to know what you think now. Now about That’s what am I going about. You should do. What right now is.
What growing up is. Yes. You know, for for me, I He Basically, Geshe said, I’ll put it another way. Uh-huh. He said I guess, he said, I’ll put it to him another way.
What are you gonna do up until the time you die? He said and he had finished. He said, are you going to work towards enlightenment, work towards individual liberation, or waste your time? This is I had a quick, here, big question. At moment, I cannot see the end.
Uh-huh. What’s Enlightenment. Yeah. So endless, endless Mhmm. For me, huge, huge, endless.
Mhmm. I I can learn so many things, but you know, I don’t know so many things. Know, this is a fact. And I just want So Geshe-la said he thinks that you should still focus on the things that of this lifetime, but you should change the reason you’re doing that. Alright?
She said you need to have a a healthy body. You need to have a comfortable place to stay. You need to have an environment that’s conducive to happiness. Yeah? He said you should do that, but you should if you can have the idea that the reason you’re doing that is so that you can practice Dharma.
Right? So every time you do that, that you think I’m doing this so I can practice Dharma. And then you should get on with it. You should practice Dharma as much as you can and always with this attitude of, I’m doing this to get enlightened to help all sentient beings. Do that as much as you can, but you don’t need to separate yourself from the ordinary things of life to do that.
You just need to change your attitude to the ordinary things of life to do that. So he said to to do it as much as you can with this idea and keep focusing on attaining Buddhahood to help sentient beings. But then you don’t necessarily have to change everything that you’re doing, but you’re changing your attitude to everything you’re doing. So the main the focus is this idea of attaining enlightenment. But if you’re focused on attaining enlightenment to benefit all beings, then you can do all sorts of things.
Yeah. You can, you can, you have to put in a lot of work to get to become a Buddha. Alright? You have to put in a lot of hard work to get to be a Buddha. And the main focus for that is meditation, learning that leads to meditation, learning that leads to meditation, and, creating merit.
Now in the creation of merit, can do a whole lot of things. Alright? So if you have to do work, if you have to set up a situation for you to live in and so on, you can subsume all of that under the category of creating merit. Alright? You’re doing this in order to bring something about, in order to be able to practice, in order to be able to do that.
So, if, if you’re doing that, that means that you’re not separating yourself from Dharma practice. Yeah. If you’re doing everything that you do with the attitude that this will enable you to practice, this will enable you to be generous, this will enable you to sustain your body so that you can practice Dharma, then that all becomes action of creating merit. Alright? And so that means that in whatever you’re doing, then you are able to be creating the causes for becoming a Buddha, if that’s your attitude.
So. So Geshe said a lot from a lot of perspectives in Buddhist Buddhism is not easy to know. You know? It’s not easy to get your head around. So if you enjoy getting your head around it, then that’s fantastic.
And if you understand sorry. You didn’t answer what you said at all. But you said, if you understand Dharma well, everything becomes easy. Oh, like bodhisattvas, they get happy no matter what hap they’re happy no matter what suffering they endure because they understand dharma properly. So he said, we gotta do that.
We gotta become like that. So that means training your mind. Anyone else? Yes. Joe was saying that I never say you don’t want me asking you want you want me to ask what’s the really deep meaning of this?
Yeah. Anyway, Joey said I never say, you really want me to ask Geshe-la that? So I just had to really wanted to ask. Again,