Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. From a single verse of praise to the Buddha, Geshe Pema Tsering draws out all sixteen aspects of the four noble truths — a sign of how densely the doctrinal ground is packed in this 91-minute opening session on Nāgārjuna’s Letter to a Friend. Geshe-la introduces the text itself: a verse epistle written for an Indian king that the tradition holds contains the complete path for beings of all three scopes. He traces the commentary lineage through Rendawa and Lama Tsongkhapa, explains why the dedication to Mañjuśrī signals that wisdom realizing emptiness is the text’s central theme, and outlines the four main structural divisions before arriving at the first verse. A Q&A closes the session, including Geshe-la’s memory of erasing an offending Tibetan letter from his board in childhood frustration.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 06 2008 09 21 GPT – Letter to a friend – 21 Sep 08.mp3
UUID: a30141bf-b239-4520-88ac-a82d41599604
Teacher: Geshe Pema Tsering
Collection: z Letter to Friend – mulitple years (Geshe Pema Tsering)
Date: 2008-09-21
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 91.6 minutes
Words: ~5,309
So Geshe-la is then asking us to give ourselves a good motivation and with the understanding that all our actions are the quality of our actions are determined by the quality of our motivation. So with this understanding in mind, realize that we have to give ourselves proper motivation for good the best motivation that we can. And today, we are going to start with this new teaching, this new text on the letter to a friend, Nāgārjuna’s letter to a friend. So with all this, we create this motivation that in order to establish all sentient beings in the state of enlightenment, we are going to study and contemplate and practice according to the teachings of the letter to a friend so that we can accomplish the enlightenment of all beings. And in this way, we give rise to good motivation.
Then on top of that, in order to the in in order that we get a a good omen for Buddha house, then we start with recitation of the Heart Sūtra. So Geshe-la isn’t just you know, this is the very title of of the text itself. Geshe-la is just looking at the at the title of the book, which it says the the letter to a friend, which was composed by Ārya Nāgārjuna. And Geshe-la is just explaining again. So Ārya Nāgārjuna, the great teacher Ārya Nāgārjuna, was was the one who composed this this text.
And he he wrote this text, this letter, this actual letter to his friend, which was the king, one of the kings at the time in India, in one of the regions of India. And, again, it was a letter. It probably they were probably at a distance. So probably, Nāgārjuna just wrote the letter and send it to the king, again this again this explained etymology of of the Tibetan so again, the friend and letter. So again, it was a letter that he wrote to his friend, the king.
And in this text, is in this in this small text, is explained that it is contained the whole meaning of the the paths of the three types of beings. The three scopes of beings. And because of that, because all the meaning of of the the paths of the three scopes of being is contained in the stanzas, again, we should listen well to the stanzas, and we should contemplate them. Having listened, having studied, we should contemplate, reflect upon them. Just explaining that the author of the commentary, this present commentary that we are making use of was this fully ordained monk, a scholar from Tibet, which is called Lobsang Jinpa.
So this present commentator, he based his commentary on on this text of of Rendawa. Rendawa was one of the teachers of Lama Tsongkhapa who has composed a a text on these topics. And and so he consulted in consult consulting this text of Rendawa, he based this present commentary on that on the letter to a friend and Rendawa’s text. So we start at the very first page of the text, which is praises and prostrations, to say, reverence and prostrations which are made traditionally made in the beginning of any composition. And this is what the commentator has made the praises reverence and the commentator has made.
So he’s saying, I prostrate with great respect at the feet of the glorious lama which is inseparable with Jampel, which is inseparable with Mañjuśrī. And how to say? And and who and I beseech him to to how to say? To look after and ultimate well-being of of of of all by the force of your great love. And Geshe-la is explaining the reason why this reverence and prostrations is made in this way, is composed in this way.
Geshe-la is explaining, so Mañjuśrī is a Buddha which embodies wisdom. And Geshe-la is explaining, so because this text is mainly talking about wisdom, it’s mainly talking about the wisdom realizes emptiness. Then again, in the beginning of this text, we would make a reverence or prostrations to Mañjuśrī. As we have the three baskets of teachings, the teachings on discipline of Vinaya, the teachings on concentration or the Sutras or the teaching on of wisdom, the Abhidharma teachings. And for each one of at the beginning of each one of these classes of teachings, you will make reverence or prostrations to a different deity.
And when when the text is associated with mainly with Prajñāpāramitā, with wisdom, then the tradition will make prostrations and reverence to Mañjuśrī. And that’s how we we know that the text is going to be approaching mainly this topic. Is that is that clear? And again, I just read the next sentence right now saying again, by the force of your great love, again, look after your followers, temporal and ultimate while being And then we have a brief, again, prostration and reverence, a verse a brief verse of prostration and reverence to to Śākyamūni Buddha and making reference, praising him for his great love and compassion and for that for for having accomplished so much benefit to all sentient beings and for having this great compassion. We we cannot bear to see the suffering sentient beings for having performed the twelve enlightened deeds of of a Buddha and so forth.
So again, and we have this this then for having accomplished then the the welfare of both oneself and others. Again, we we we prostrate. I prostrate. That’s the author saying. I prostrate to you at your feet And again, Geshe-la is explaining line by line, the same verse.
Again, making reference first line is making reference to all wandering, suffering human beings who have a very limited a very brief lifespan. And then, again, the second line is making reference to this compassion, this great compassion that Buddha had that could not that couldn’t bear to see suffering sentient beings. They cannot bear to to see suffering sentient beings. And and, again, because of that, he didn’t forget us, and he didn’t go to this to the pure lands. He stayed with us.
And then there’s, again, the third line, a reference to the Buddha’s twelve enlightened deeds, including his enlightenment and his turning the wheel of Dharma and so forth. And then lastly, for having a praise for him having accomplished the the two benefits, the two welfare of oneself and others, and that is to say for having accomplished full enlightenment. And then we have another verse again where this author is prostrating first of all to the great how to say to the accomplished to great accomplished yogi, a god, a god on earth, which is Nāgārjuna himself. Then he’s then the author’s then prostrating to this scholar of the scriptures. He’s a this master of the script master exponent of the the scriptures, which was.
Then he proceeds to the second, to the glorious, which is which is referred to as the second conqueror, the second Buddha. And to all these he prostrates with great respect and great reverence. And then again, Geshe-la is explaining line by line. The first line is making reference to this. So, again, the first line of verse making reference to Nāgārjuna’s qualities, his godly sort of celestial or enlightened qualities you could say.
This is eight godly or enlightened qualities, and again, Geshe-la is talking about his his enlightened qualities of his body, the enlightened qualities of his speech, the enlightened qualities of his mind, the enlightened qualities of his enlightened actions, his enlightened conduct, the enlightened quality of his miraculous displays, of his miraculous powers, the enlightened quality seventh was the enlightened quality of being the source of every good quality. And lastly the enlightened quality of being the source of benefit for all beings and I forgot which was the sixth one. And the sixth was that enlightened quality which is capable of fulfilling all sentient beings wishes, immediately fulfilling all their wishes. And again, the second line is making reference to Rendawa, which is Rendawa, which was this, you know, versed, this is called extremely versed in in scriptures and in in in in reasoning. So Geshe-la was just explaining he’s somebody who was versed in all the the sutras, the texts of the Buddha has all the the three baskets of scriptures of of the Buddha and all the commentaries on the sense of the Buddha and all the the Indian and all the Tibetan commentary.
So he was versed on all the treatises on on the discourses and all the the logical treatises and so forth. And then again the third line is making reference to the glorious Lama Tsongkhapa, the glorious Lama Tsongkhapa who is referred to who is praised as the second conqueror. So the first conqueror was Buddha Śākyamūni, and then when we have such a great teacher as Lama Tsongkhapa, we make reference to such great teachers. We make praises by referring to them as the second conqueror. So he was he was said to be just like just like the first conqueror, just like the Buddha.
And then the last line is making a reference that from amongst all beings in all worlds, in all three realms and so forth, those those three are the greatest of of all beings. And then we have the last of those introductory verses of the commentary, of the commentator, which is, how how how do you say that? I just forgot the word. Was just right there. He’s he’s urging us to listen to this teaching on by by this by by Ārya Nāgārjuna, which is this great master who So again making reference to the glorious to this great being who was Ārya Nāgārjuna, Ārya Nāgārjuna himself and then making making reference to his his great qualities of of of of his mind, of his, you know, bliss pervaded mind, and his his holy conduct.
Then then how to say? The third line is making reference to to this the meaning of this letter to a friend and this excellent explanation of the meaning of the letter to a friend and urging urging us to listen to this explanation which is neither brief nor extensive it’s a middle I guess I was just saying it’s a middle length explanation and so we should learn that it’s an imperative the last verb is saying listen listen carefully to this excellent explanation So then we the order then it starts with the with introducing this text, this letter to a friend which is this unmistaken exposition of the methods or of the ways of attaining both, how to say, future happy future lives as humans or gods or the definite certainty of liberation and enlightenment. This text has parts, four main divisions to it. So first is the meaning of the title itself. So we have a first one is is the meaning of the title then secondly we have a prostrations made by the how can I explain that?
Prostrations of the translator so to speak because this text was translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan, the Tibetan translators then they make prostrations so that the translations be unmistaken or as correct as possible and they make the request for forgiveness also for any mistakes but it might be later on in this case. So then we have the prostrations of the translator then thirdly, we have the meaning of the the text, the main body of the text. And lastly, we have the meaning of the conclusion. And again, Geshe-la is going back to that to the introductory sentence, which is making reference to higher rebirths or higher states as as human beings or gods, and to the definite certain goodness, which is liberation and enlightenment. And and the text is being referred to as an unmistaken method of attaining this.
So for those who wish to attain any of these goals then you have listened carefully to this teaching or study this teaching carefully and by studying and practicing this teaching you will attain either of these goals which you which you are aiming at. So the first topic was the meaning of the title, right? And then this topic has two parts again. The first part being the translation of the title. So again, the text was composed originally in Sanskrit, and it was translated into Tibetan.
So there’s a brief mention of the translation. And secondly, there is an explanation of that title. So as for the the translation of the text, we have in Sanskrit, the text is is is said, and in Tibetan, then the translation is, which in English is letter to a friend. And then the commentary again goes on to explain the meaning of this again in the the Aryan land of India or in India the land of the Aryas again there there were four main languages at the time. And from from these four, this text was composed in the Sanskrit, which is the one of the excellent languages, one of the noble languages, which all the enlightened beings use.
And in this language, in this in this Sanskrit language, then this this text was called. That was translated into Tibetan as. And then we explained that stands for, which is friend, and lekka stands for which is letter. And then we have this brief explanation of of the meaning of the title. Again, what is if if if one is to ask, what is the meaning of the title letter to a friend?
And we are told that, again, this the second Buddha, Aryanagarjuna, then wrote, composed this this text for his friend, the king, Dechen Sangpo. I do not know his name in in in Sanskrit. Dechosampo. He wrote this letter, the title comes from. Oh, yeah.
Is that okay? And then we have the second of those main topics, you recollect, is then the prostration of the translator, the reverence of the translator. And the translator then writes, homage to the gentle and glorious youth, or prostration. Prostrations to the great and glorious youth, And the meaning of that is explained that the the the which was a a great, a very great Tibetan translator. He in in writing this text, in translating this text from Sanskrit into Tibetan, at the beginning, he makes these prostrations, this reverence to Jampel, to the youthful Mañjuśrī.
He needs to make. He’s he recognizes a need to make so that his translation be perfect be complete and wholesome so he makes his prostrations so that he can attain that he can you know have enough merit to do that and then also he makes this prostrations to acknowledge the fact that of the three baskets of the three classes of knowledge of scriptures. Again, this text makes reference to is included or could be included in the collection of scriptures, which is which pertain to wisdom. So, again, because of that, he again, he makes reverence and prostrations to to Mañjuśrī, who is the Buddha or the bodhisattva that embodies all the wisdom of all the Buddhists. Then we have the the next topic, which is then the most extensive part of the whole of this whole commentary, which is then the actual meaning of the text.
As for the actual meaning of the text, have have three parts to it, which is first is is this exhortation to carefully listen and contemplate this text having having given rise, having produced great respect and reverence in your minds, again, to carefully listen and contemplate this this teaching. Then secondly, there is the actual instruction instruction itself, which is the actual teaching itself. And lastly, we have the the result the way to to actually manifest make the the result man the the results of of practicing practicing these teachings manifest. How to make manifest the result, the the effect of practicing these teachings. Is that okay?
Is that making sense? Giving rise to respect for the instruction so that we can exhorting us to listen by having given rise to respect and reverence for this instruction. Again this again has three parts. So the first one is the exhortation to listen itself and secondly is a there’s a little quote of of the verse itself then he’s saying that even though this text is not does not use fancy how can I say? Words.
I can say that. Even though this text does not use make use of any erudite fancy words, again, it is one shouldn’t overlook it or or look down it is still is still valuable and one still should pay attention to it and then again even though one might have already studied the text one has still to continue to familiarize oneself with the teachings, with the meaning of the teachings. So again, that’s the last the last of this topic. Again, study this text also, you know, so that you can keep on familiarizing yourself with the meaning of the teachings. And then to to the first one, which is the exhortation to listen, and we read the very first verse of of of the text.
And for those who have the book is verse number one saying, listen now to these few lines of noble song that I’ve composed for those with many virtues who are fit for good to help them yearn for merit springing from the sacred words of he who has gone to bliss. Okay? And then we have because I was going through the commentary to that verse, then explaining that the the the fully ordained monk, the gelong Nāgārjuna, he himself, for the sake of this composition,. Having being he himself being learned in the in the all the teachings of of the of the one who has gone to bliss of of Buddha of the Buddha himself and having and learning in the commentaries also to his teachings. Again, he he composed from that from that knowledge, he has extensive knowledge he has.
He composed this teaching that leads to a high rebirth or and also that leads to the attainment of certain goodness, liberation, and enlightenment. So in this little text for that that that is the method for accomplishing this, he composed for those people who have the merit, for those people who have the good qualities, who are engaged in virtue, such such as such as yourself, king, in the case because the was addressing the king such as yourself. And and to and to anyone else and to anyone else who might be like you king. And then And then, again, making reference to the this noble this noble song is is So, again, this noble song, again, which is very brief, has very few words, is still it is it is is extremely it’s going to be extremely beneficial for you. I can make a reference to the king, so listen carefully to that.
Other other beings, if you if you if you study this teaching, it will benefit your mind, all powerful one, or make make make reference to the king. Again, this unmistaken this unmistaken method for accomplishing higher rebirth higher states and certain goodness and definite definite goodness which is which is which is what the buddha has taught is not expounded by any other teachers, non-Buddhist teachers. So so again, sorry. So Such a teaching such a teaching as this one, which which is which leads to higher rebirth and a definite goodness, which is what the the Buddha has taught is not found in in the in the teachings of of any other non-Buddhist non-Buddhist teachers. So then we have a quote from one from one text of praises.
Text of praises to the to the Buddha, again, I guess I was explaining the meaning. The first line of that verse is making reference to the Buddha who taught what what actions are to be engaged in, what are those those virtues and beneficial beneficial actions which are for us to engage in, and what actions are to be averted, what actions are to be avoided. And through through his teaching, we can, how to say, arise or or emerge free from all the afflictive afflictive emotions and conceptions. Such teachings have been spoken, come have have sprung out of your holy mouth, making reference to the Buddha’s holy mouth, and no one else has spoken such proclaimed such teachings. And because of that that’s that’s the verse, and English was concluding.
So because of that, we follow you. We prostrate to you. We pay reverence to you, Buddha. And Geshe-la was just making reference that this little verse alone has has a lot of depth to it. It has a lot of meaning to it.
Geshe-la was explaining that this this little verse can be making reference to the four noble truths. So Geshe-la was explaining the details. And Geshe-la was explaining that in the very first line, we have the two verbs or two words. One is which is to engage, those actions which are to be engaged. And Geshe-la was making reference explaining that this makes makes reference to the truth of cessation, the and the true cessation and true paths.
And do dopa, which is that which is to be averted, which is to be avoided. Again, the true sufferings and the true origins of suffering. Can each one of them is further divided into four parts, into four four they have four aspects, each one of them. So they can we have the sixteen aspects of the four noble truths. And Geshe-la was then saying one of those those aspects.
So I asked him to say it slowly so I can so I can translate it. So then as for the truth of suffering. There’s four aspects. There is impermanence, there is suffering, there is emptiness, and there is selflessness. And then as for the true true origins, we have the causes.
We have the the actual origins. We have the the conditions, and we have the forceful arising. So we have the the cause of suffering, the actual origins of the suffering that which or from which suffering originates, then we have the the conditions which, how to say, help suffering the suffering to occur, to arise. And then we have the forceful forceful coming into being of suffering. I forgot the actual the the standard, so so to speak translation in English, but it’s a forceful arrival of this of the suffering.
Sort of coming about of suffering. Yeah. Yeah. It’s it’s forceful, and it’s strong, and it’s an intense coming about of suffering. So and then as for the the true paths, we have the the the knowledge or the knower.
The knowledge. Which is how can I say that the practice so the the practice, and then definite emergence or or also renunciation? And then as for the true cessation, we have the cessation themselves, which is the the cessation of of sufferings. Then we have gopa. Shiva.
Shiva. And then we have the cessation. Then we have peace. And for the cessation, there is there is peace. Then we have Gobashiva.
Which is which is goodness or the the or is lasting goodness. Then lastly. Then we have this unchanging, which Geshe-la was explaining. So having having this I maintain this this state which is free of of the arise of any suffering and remains unchanged unchangingly good, unchangingly happy. So then such teachings came out of your mouth, the mouth of the Buddha Śākyamūni.
And because no one else has expounded such teachings, had given such teachings, pay respect to you, Buddha Śākyamūni, we follow you, Buddha Śākyamūni. And, Geshe laz, just the the text goes on to explain explain one little choice of of print. This one of the one of the texts makes reference to this on one of the lines they worshiped this the sacred words of he who has gone to bliss. And here was translated as sacred in English, but in Tibetan because the print wasn’t clear, different commentators would choose a different letter in one of the syllables that makes this of the word that was here translated as sacred. But one is would be would be making reference to its eloquence, to its beauty, pleasant words.
And the other one, So one one would make would be making reference to is to the pleasant words, to this eloquent pleasant words, the other one to this beneficial words. And and and this this second version, this other version was what which is the one that we have here was essentially the sacred words. And the order is explaining that he chose to use this spelling based again based on the commentaries in in on the teachings of Rendawa, the teacher Rendawa. And so he picked up this this choice of of spelling because of that. And so this is the very beginning.
We just did the very first verse of this text. We’re still in introduction. The next two verses are still the introduction. Oh, yeah. And, Geshe-la, I was wondering if you have if you have any questions, if you would like to ask some questions.
Yes. When you were talking about the the the aspects of which Yes. The path, there was no practice in the No. No. No.
The path was the first one is path itself, then the other three that you just mentioned. The origins. For the true origins. For the the true origins, you have the causes. You have the the actual origins.
Then you have the conditions. And then you had which is I was having trouble to translate, which is the Forceful arising. Forceful arising. It’s not the best translation. I just forgot what is the the best translation, but it’s something like that.
It’s it’s the the aspect of arising. There’s one verb which refers to its coming into being, and the other one which is refers to its coming into being forcefully or strongly. And but I forgot how to properly translate that. Would you ask us to explain the difference between the causes of suffering and the origins of suffering? Yeah.
Absolutely. Geshe-la, this was from the true origins. Right? And Geshe-la was saying, there is there is not much difference to there’s not much difference between these two. It’s just sort of a different way of looking at them.
So cause is just making reference to those afflictions, to that which is the cause of the afflictions, which causes the afflictions. And origins again is making reference to that which is the origins of the afflictions so there’s a you see we use different verbs here and to explain it in different ways that’s that’s all that is making reference to. So Geshe-la is saying for example take attachment, the afflictive emotion or the afflictive conception which is attachment Attachment is a cause of suffering Attachment is a origin of suffering So it causes suffering, it is an origin of suffering, it is a condition for suffering and it is also that last term which is the forceful arising or I forgot of suffering so it is all the four of them they the aspects they make reference to aspects this okay Any more questions? This is the general one, and and I’m not interested there, but what was what created the cause for Nāgārjuna to write this letter to his friend? Was there there was there something that happened that caused it, or is it is it was the sort of correspondence that went on between Nāgārjuna and his friend?
And this is just one of those things. You know? It’s a You want to go through a? Yeah. Did he why did he write this?
What happened? So Ārya Nāgārjuna, and so being an Ārya being as he was, you know, he he knew that if he composed such a text, it would be beneficial to his friend, the king. And that’s and that’s why he he composed it because he knew. He’s not I guess I was making reference to the fact that he’s not like us. He know he he could know what would be of benefit to people.
So, knowing that if he composed such a letter in this in a in a simple accessible text, again, the king would benefit from it. And that’s why this is the cause. This is the reason why he composed the text. So Geshe-la is then explaining that there is a some sort of instructions that that come in the Vinaya, in the teachings of the Vinaya on discipline which say that if you are not asked to teach then you shouldn’t teach. But if you know that it is going to be beneficial to give a teaching, then you should teach.
You must teach. So you could you can see that Nāgārjuna knew it was going to be beneficial. So, again, in this context, to to for all that we know, the king has not requested for that. But still, Nāgārjuna has given the teaching. So we can conclude from what we know that Nāgārjuna knew it was going to be beneficial.
So can we assume that the king would have understood without the commentaries that we need to understand? Possibly. I hope so. Yeah. That’s yeah.
He would under he would have understood. I mean, he was friends of Nāgārjuna, for Christ’s You know, he was he was he was probably someone who had already very big and strong imprints from previous times, you know, to have this very good fortune of meeting somebody like Ārya Nāgārjuna, you know. So, you know, wouldn’t be it would be a walk in the park for him. I was just saying, for those beings who who have strong imprints, this is how this is how it goes. It’s very very easy for them to understand the meaning.
I was then giving another illustration of the five first disciples of the Buddha. And the Buddha gave when he just proclaimed the four noble truths themselves, you know, four of them already attained liberation, you know, on the spot. And then he explained this a little bit further, and the fifth one liberation. It’s because they had this strong imprints already. Happens with us, we can see that when we are studying and we see some words or some expressions and we easily understand some of them and there are other words and expressions which we have a hard time understanding the meaning.
The same happens with us too. Is is saying that when he was a kid and he was starting to learn Tibetan alphabet which has thirty letters or thirty consonants. Geshe-la was saying when he came to the letter pa, it’s one of the letters, is pa, you know, he had a hard time getting around this one. Even though pa is the word the sound that is used to to say father, you know, say dad in Tibetan. Still, when he was studying it, he couldn’t get around to associating the letter and the sound and all that.
So he because he couldn’t he couldn’t get around it, you know, he got really angry with it, and he just erased it like this. The letter from from his little board. That’s what he remembers from that time. It was long time ago, but he still remembers it. Someone is saying in the same way the same happens has happened and happens to all of us.
Okay. Is that it? Finish? Yeah.