Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 130-minute session, Geshe Jampa Gyaltsen continues his systematic commentary on the grounds and paths of Buddhist practice, focusing on the path of meditation within the Mahāyāna framework. He opens with definitions and subdivisions of the uninterrupted and release paths for hearers and solitary realizers, then turns to the Mahāyāna path of meditation, explaining how nine successive stages of innate apprehension of true existence are abandoned in reverse order across the ten Bodhisattva grounds. Geshe-la addresses a key correspondence problem: reconciling nine innate apprehensions with ten grounds by subdividing the coarsest apprehension into two, abandoned at the first and second grounds respectively. He concludes with etymologies of the four paths (accumulation, preparation, seeing, meditation) and their alternative names, explaining why they are called grounds of faith, branches of definite discrimination, or states partially compatible with liberation. The final section consists of detailed Q&A clarifying the distinction between pure and impure grounds, the role of karmic imprints, the Prāsaṇgika versus Svatāntrika positions on true existence, and why tantric practice becomes necessary for Bodhisattvas on the eighth ground and beyond.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2008-05-18 – KR.mp3
UUID: 0559babb-6723-483c-9f64-0377bfa33178
Teacher: Geshe Jampa Gyaltsen
Collection: Grounds and Paths
Date: 2008-05-18
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~4,948
One, two. So as usual, we will generate the motivation to listen to these teachings on the grounds and paths reflecting that we should place all sentient beings in a state of unalloyed happiness in which all of their wishes are accomplished in keeping with their innermost desires. And we ourselves pledge ourselves to do this for the benefit of all. And with this as a motivation, we think that we will listen to these teachings on the grounds and paths and progress ourselves upwards through all the grounds and paths to the state of unalloyed full enlightenment. So we have finished the presentation of grounds from within the twofold division of grounds and paths.
And last time, Geshe-la started to present paths from within the twofold subdivision of grounds and paths. And we have completed the presentation of the path of accumulation, the path of present of preparation, and the path of seeing. Today, we will start the presentation of the path of meditation. And we are at the bottom of page 11 of your English translation, subdivision 46. The definition of a path of meditation is a subsequent clear realization.
Literally, in Tibetan, a clear realization which occurs after. It occurs after a path of seeing since the meaning of the path of meditation is that after the initial realization of whichever object is appropriate to the practitioner, whether it be the selflessness of persons or another object, then it is meditated upon again and again. And the fact that it is meditated upon again and again is what is meant by the term subsequent or after. And clear realization here refers to the initial realization And at present, moving downwards with the text, the definition of an exalted wisdom of meditative equipoise of a hearer’s path of meditation is the subsequent clear realization of a hearer in one point of meditative equipoise of the selflessness that is its object. So here this definition is to be understood as follows.
The selflessness which is its object can refer actually to any of these three selflessnesses. The selflessness of persons, non duality, or emptiness. And meditative equipoise refers to the fact that the mind is single pointedly placed upon this. In as much as this is a realization of a hearer, it is a realization of either of the three knowledges within the mental continuum of a hearer. And in turn, when this is divided, there are the three subdivisions, the uninterrupted path of the hearer’s path of meditation, the path of release of the hearer’s path of meditation, and an exalted wisdom of meditative equipoise of a hearer’s path of meditation reaching neither an extreme.
And at present, the definition on page 12 of an uninterrupted path, of the hearer’s path of meditation is that which is a subsequent clear realization of a hearer in one pointed meditative equipoise, not on selflessness, but on selflessness of persons here. In other words, the specific object of meditation of hearers, and which acts as the actual antidote to the afflictive obstructions abandoned on the path of meditation, which are its corresponding objects of abandonment. The term corresponding here indicates that it is not the case that one uninterrupted path of meditation of a hearer’s path of meditation eliminates all of the afflictive obstructions. Instead, each of the uninterrupted paths of a hearer path of meditation eliminates its corresponding afflictive obstructions, and they are progressively eliminated. And at present, the uninterrupted path of a hearer’s path of meditation is subdivided into nine subdivisions.
Broadly speaking, the uninterrupted path of a hearer’s path of meditation, excuse me, not seeing, is subdivided into three, the smaller, middling, and greater. And then each of these three in turn is subdivided into three. So the smaller of the small subdivision of the uninterrupted path of a hearer’s path of meditation. The middling of the small, the greater of the small, and the smaller of the middling, the middling of the middling, and the greater of the middling, and the smaller of the great, the middling of the great, and the greater of the great. In every single case, the object on which this uninterrupted path of a hearer’s path of meditation is focused is the self same selflessness.
And at present, section 50 on page 12 of your English translation, we move onwards to the definition of a path of release of a hearer’s path of meditation, which is a subsequent clear realization of a hearer’s in one pointed meditative equipoise on selflessness that has been released from the obstructions that correspond to the uninterrupted path of the hearers path of meditation, produced in the same session of meditative equipoise as it and which is its substantial cause. Now there are two parts of this definition which have to be explained. The first is that the term liberation here refers to the abandonment of specific obstructions. So when these obstructions are abandoned, they never arise again and one can say that the person is released from them. The second is that a path of release of a hearer’s path of meditation is actually the result of the uninterrupted path which is its cause.
And this uninterrupted path is actually the substantial cause. In other words, it becomes the path of release. The path of release of a hearer’s path of meditation is according to our text subdivided into nine. This Geshe-la says is a little bit awkward and he personally suspects that it is a printing mistake and that one should say that they are subdivided into eight. The reason for this is that every uninterrupted path of a hearer’s path of meditation is followed by a path of release of a hearer’s path of meditation, then an uninterrupted path followed by a path of release.
So if we have nine uninterrupted paths, then actually the state after the ninth uninterrupted path technically should be called a path of no more learning. And it is no longer or it no longer should be called at least a path of release. So for this reason, Geshe-la feels that it is better to say here, more congenial, that there are eight subdivisions of the a hearer’s path of release of the path of meditation in the same same way as for an uninterrupted path. In other words, we have the small, middling and great subdivisions of hearer’s path of release, of a hearer’s path of meditation. The smallest subdivided into three.
The small of the small, middling of the small and great of the small. The middling is subdivided into into three. The small of the middling, middling of the middling, and great of the middling, and the great is subdivided into two, the small of the great and the middling of the great. The final stage would be the path of no more learning. And then each of the uninterrupted paths, each of the nine uninterrupted paths gives rise to its corresponding path of release.
And self same reasoning can be applied to solitary realizers. In other words, the subdivision of a solitary realizer’s path of meditation, the uninterrupted paths and the paths of release is the same. Then moving onwards, outline 51, page 12, the definition of a Mahāyāna path of meditation is a subsequent clear realization of the greater vehicle. It is identical, the meaning of this definition of the terms is identical to that of the hearer’s path of meditation. If it is divided, there are three such as the exalted wisdom of meditative equipoise of the Mahāyāna path of meditation.
The definition of an exalted wisdom of meditative equipoise of a Mahāyāna path of meditation is that which is a subsequent clear realization of a Mahāyāna practitioner in one pointed meditative equipoise on the selflessness that is its object. Here Geshe-la says this covers all three selflessnesses. In other words, it covers the selflessnesses of persons, non-duality and also emptiness, and which has arisen to become manifest in the continuum of a person who possesses that in his continuum, his or her continuum. The meaning of the second part of the definition is that wisdoms, yogic wisdoms only arise within the continuum of beings in meditative equipoise. And then moving onwards, the middle of outline 52.
When that is divided, there are three such when that is divided, there are three such as the uninterrupted path of the Mahāyāna path of meditation. The definition of the first, the uninterrupted path of the Mahāyāna path of meditation, in other words, is that which is a subsequent clear realization of a Mahāyānist in one pointed meditative equipoise on suchness. Here, this refers to the emptiness which is the specific object of meditation of great vehicle practitioners, and which acts as the actual antidote to the innate apprehension of true existence, which corresponds to it. Generally speaking, there are nine subdivisions of the innate apprehension of true existence, which Geshe-la explained. The smaller, middling, and great innate apprehension of true existence, which themselves are subdivided each into three, which gives one the smaller of the small innate apprehension of great existence.
The middling of the small, the greater of the small, the smaller of the middling, the middling of the middling, and the greater of the middling, the smaller of the great, the middling of the great, and the greater of the great. And these are actually abandoned in the opposite order by their own uninterrupted paths. In other words, the first uninterrupted path of a path of meditation of the Mahāyāna abandons the greatest of the apprehensions of the innate existence of the of phenomena. Then the second such uninterrupted paths apprehends the second to the greatest and so forth. In other words, they are not abandoned simultaneously, but they are abandoned incrementally.
And moving onwards now with our text outline 53, the very end, the definition of the small of the small uninterrupted path of a Mahāyāna path of meditation is that which is an uninterrupted path of a Mahāyāna path of meditation and acts as the actual antidote to the greatest of the great apprehensions of true existence corresponding to it. Now here, if you remember in the broader presentation of the material, first, the 10 grounds were presented. And within context of the presentation of the 10 grounds, their meaning was elucidated, then the notion of path was introduced and the specific objects of abandonment of the paths were introduced. And we abut on a particular problem at present, which is that while there are nine subdivisions of the uninterrupted paths of a path of meditation of the great vehicle, there are actually 10 subdivisions of the innate apprehension of the true existence of phenomena. And it becomes a little bit awkward to see how they correspond to each other until one realizes that the greater of the great apprehensions of the innate conception of the true existence of phenomena can itself be subdivided into two, the coarse greater of the great apprehension and the subtle greater of the great apprehension, and that they are respectively abandoned by their own corresponding uninterrupted path.
So in the light of this subdivision of the innate apprehension of the true existence of phenomena into nine and the subdivision of the final part into two, we have a perfect correspondence between the 10 So forget everything I said. We’ll start again. So the problem in a nutshell is that we have 10 grounds and we have nine innate apprehensions of true existence. And we have to find a way to establish a correspondence between each of the innate apprehensions of true existence and one of the grounds. The way this is done is that the first two or the first innate apprehension of true existence which is the great of the great, which is the first to be abandoned is itself subdivided into two.
The coarse of the great of the great and the subtle of the great of the great. The coarse innate apprehension or the coarse great of the great innate apprehension of the true existence of phenomena is abandoned at the level of the first ground. The subtle great of the great innate apprehension of the true existence of phenomena is abandoned at the level of the second ground. And then after this, we move upwards to the middling of the great apprehension of the true existence of phenomena which is abandoned at the level of the third ground and from this point onwards you can see that the system works well and you move all the way up to the smallest of the small innate apprehension of the true existence of phenomena being abandoned at the level of the tenth ground. So it all sounds very complicated, but in a nutshell, what we have is two progressions in opposite directions where the coarser conceptions of true existence are abandoned first and the ever more subtle conceptions of true existence are abandoned as we’re moving upwards.
And as Geshe-la explained, the coarsest of or the greatest of the great conceptions of true existence is actually subdivided into two. The coarse of the great of the great conception of true existence and the subtle of the great of the great conception of true existence, which are abandoned by the two first grounds. And then the following of the nine subdivisions of the conceptions of true existence is abandoned by the third ground. And after this, the abandonments go hand in hand. And then, generally speaking, there are 10 uninterrupted paths, but only nine paths of release.
So one might wonder why precisely there are 10 uninterrupted paths and only nine paths of release. The reason for this is that the tenth path of release actually is not called a path of release. It is the state of full omniscience and this nine fold subdivision of the paths of release is connected with each of the grounds from the second ground to the tenth ground included. So we have a smaller of the small path of release connected with the second ground, a of the, a middling of the smaller path of release connected with the third ground, A greater of the small path of release connected with the fourth ground. Then we have a smaller of the middling path of release connected with the fifth ground, all the way up to a greater of the great path of release connected with the tenth ground, which makes nine paths of release connected with the nine grounds from the second to the tenth.
And we have finished now the presentation of the path of meditation. The definition of uninterrupted, excuse me, the definition of a path of no more learning is a wisdom which abandons the afflictive obstructions. And this abandonment of the afflictive obstructions for a great vehicle practitioner occurs through the abandonment of the conception of the true existence of phenomena. And then moving onwards to the section on synonyms at the bottom of page 12 of the English translation. Path of accumulation, ground of faith.
Path of accumulation translates as partially compatible with liberation and clear realization of doctrine are mutually inclusive. They are synonymous. This means that they have exactly the same meaning. In some texts, one speaks of a path of accumulation, in others of a ground of faith, in others of something which is partially compatible with liberation, and in some in others, again, a clear realization of doctrine. The same thing applies to the path of preparation, branch of definite discrimination, compatible with definitive discrimination and the clear realization of meaning.
The same thing applies to the path of seeing and so forth. And here, if one were to speak of the path of accumulation of a hearer, one would say a hearer’s path of accumulation is synonymous with a hearer’s ground of faith, is synonymous with that which for a hearer is partially compatible with liberation and with a hearer’s clear realization of doctrine. If we want to apply this to a solitary realizer, one would speak of a solitary realizer path of accumulation. A solitary realizer is ground of faith, that which for a solitary realizer is partially compatible with liberation, and a solitary realizer is clear realization of doctrine. Same thing for the great vehicle.
So this is quite elementary. And then moving onwards on page 13, the etymologies. There is a reason for calling the subject. In other words, refers to the first of the subdivisions which we were covering in the previous section. Here, a path of accumulation, path of accumulation.
The reason it is referred to in that way is because it is the first of the paths where one gathers accumulations for the sake of attaining liberation. There’s a reason for calling it a clear realization of doctrine because it is referred to in that way since it is a period in which one principally resolves the topics of the three doctrines through hearing and reflection. And then moving onwards in the etymologies, there is a reason for calling it a clear realization of doctrine. The reason it is referred to in that way is because it’s a period in which one principally resolves the topics of the three doctrines through hearing and reflection. There’s a reason for referring to it as a ground of faith because it is a path during which one becomes skilled primarily in the five faculties such as faith.
So skilled here indicates that this refers to a practitioner who is meditating on selflessness and the five faculties which are referred to here are the faculty of faith, the faculty of perseverance, the faculty of recollection, the faculty of concentration and the faculty of wisdom. There is a reason for referring to it as partially compatible with liberation. You see the partially is important here. It is referred to in that way because it is a path during which one acts in a way compatible with the attainment of the following paths. The liberation that is a true cessation in which one has abandoned the afflictive obscurations and the liberation which is a true cessation of having abandoned the acquired afflictive obscurations.
So it is partially compatible with liberation because it is not a state of liberation. It is merely a state which leans to the state of liberation. And we now pass onwards to the etymologies of a path of preparation in the middle of page 13 of your English translation. There is a reason for referring to the subject, the hearer’s path of preparation, as a path of preparation. The reason it is referred to in this way is because it’s a path during which one prepares for the perception realization of the four truths.
The four truths are not realized at the level of a hero’s path of preparation. However, one trains in an inseparable union of single pointed concentration, Shamatha, and of insight, vipassana, which is focused on the four noble truths and more specifically, which is focused, Geshe-la says, on selflessness, both the coarse and the subtle selflessness. Moving onwards with the English translation, there is a real reason for referring to it as a clear realization of meaning. The reason it is referred to in this way is because it’s a path during which draws forth experience of either level, coarse or subtle, of selflessness, which is the meaning of the excellent sayings. The excellent sayings here refer to Buddha’s teachings, the sutras, that arise through meditation.
And then moving onwards, in the middle of page 13, there is a reason to refer to it as the branch of definite discrimination. The reason it’s referred to in this way is because the nonconceptual exalted wisdom of meditative equipoise is called definite discrimination, and it, the path of preparation, is the substantial cause of the nonconceptual exalted wisdom of meditative equipoise that is its effect. So here, Geshe-la says, the path of seeing itself, which will be addressed later, is called the path of definite discrimination since that is the first time for which the during which the mind is inseparably blended with the antidotes to the objects of abandonment. And a preliminary to the path of seeing is the path of preparation, which acts as a substantial cause of the path of seeing. Since the path of seeing is called the path of definite discrimination, the path of preparation which acts as its substantial cause is called the branch of definite discrimination.
So, we will stop the formal teachings here. So the remainder of the presentation of the etymologies is very straightforward. Geshe therefore feels you can understand it by yourselves. And one hour has lapsed, so we will have as usual a session of question and answers. And then if you have questions, you can ask Geshe-la directly.
Alternatively, if you prefer, then we can have an uninterrupted block of Q&A. It is, Geshe-la says, up to you. Do you want Questions? To continue without any questions today. Finish is not possible.
Petrat, what do think? Questions? Or We’ll do as before. Yeah. Yeah.
Are there any questions from Mark’s group? Your group. So it is said in the text that the difference between the Bodhisattvas on the first seven grounds, the impure grounds, and those on the three pure grounds, the three higher grounds are similar to that between a young child who is still soiling himself and an adult who has learned not to soil himself. And for that reason, the first seven grounds are called impure by the standard of the three higher grounds. They are impure with respect to the three higher grounds, and the three higher grounds are said pure from the standpoint of the seven lower grounds.
Now regarding this, Bodhisattvas do not have self-cherishing. Nonetheless, probably one would say that the imprints of self-cherishing are present all the way up to the end of the seventh ground and they are abandoned from the eighth ground onwards. So for that reason, the eighth, ninth, and tenth ground are called the pure grounds. So all of these schools, Cittamātra, the Svatāntrika Mādhyamika and Prāsaṇgika consider the first seven grounds impure and the last three grounds to be pure grounds. However, they disagree on the reason.
Generally speaking, the schools presented here consider that both afflictive obstructions and the apprehension of true existence exist above the seventh ground. However, if we look at it from the actual reality of things, then, in other words from the Prāsaṇgika position, then at the level of the end of the seventh ground, when one enters the eighth ground, the apprehensions of true existence and the afflictive obstructions are abandoned. For that reason, from the Prāsaṇgika standpoint, the last three grounds, the eighth, ninth, and tenth ground are called pure grounds. And then the eighth ground Bodhisattva is said to be one who is pure and who has abandoned doubt. Pure and abandoned doubt of what?
He is pure of the temptation of dwelling in a state of peace for his own benefit because he has completely eliminated the karmic imprints of self-cherishing. Now it is not the case Geshe-la says that the Bodhisattvas have self-cherishing but they still have these karmic imprints within their mind which lead them to this temptation. An eighth grounder no longer has them. Yes. So the apprehension of true existence refers principally to the apprehension of one’s own self as being truly existing and not imputed on the basis of the aggregates and so forth.
And there is a difference in this matter between the presentation of the Svatāntrika and the Prāsaṇgika School. For the Svatāntrika School, phenomena do not appear as truly existing to the eye consciousness, for instance. For the Prāsaṇgika School, on the other hand, phenomena do appear as truly existing to the eye consciousness of an ordinary being. Is that good? Was answering your question?
Are there other questions? So even though the author of both the Tenet’s text and the grounds and path text is the same, Jetsün Chökyi Gyaltsen, nonetheless, the mode of presentation is different because the text on tenets presents all four schools, the Vaibhāṣika, Sautrāntika, Cittamātra, and Mādhyamika school, Then presents etymologies within each school for the terminology used within each school. The text on grounds and paths on the other hand is quite different in its outlook. It presents the three types of beings, five types of paths and so forth from the standpoint of only one school which is the Svatāntrika Mādhyamika School and then for that reason the etymologies are put at the end of the presentation of our own system. Does that answer partially your question?
So it’s a matter of ease of presentation. In the case of tenets, the etymologies are presented as the second outline simply because it is important to immediately clarify the meaning of the name of the school and the key concepts of the school, which are the key point to be explained. In the context of grounds and paths, the difficulty in grounds and paths comes from the divisions of the grounds and the paths. Therefore, the divisions are presented first with the definitions. And then the etymologies present no particular difficulty.
Therefore, they are presented at the end. Actually, the presentation in tenets is the uncommon one. It’s the exceptional one, whereas the presentation in grounds and paths is the ordinary one. The presentation in tenets, the outline in tenets is subdivided in terms of bases, path, and fruit with the bases presented per first, path presented after, and a fourfold outline which is included with the presented last, which includes the objects of abandonment, the selflessness to be meditated upon, and the fruits, the paths which are attained thereby. This is uncommon to tenets.
Other yes. Which non-Buddhist are you talking about? So Geshe-la says there is a bewildering amount of non-Buddhist teachers in India, and he has certainly not studied them all. The only ones he was interested in is those which taught a liberation. Having said that, he says, in his opinion, there is no presentation of grounds and paths in the non-Buddhist schools for the simple reason that the definition of a path is a mind which encompasses a quality in the light of renunciation.
And one cannot speak of the non-Buddhist schools having renunciation. Therefore, he thinks this presentation of grounds and paths is uncommon. The foremost practice of the non-Buddhist yogis of India is the development of śamatha. And some of the non-Buddhist scholars then taught their own uncommon path. But the foremost practice is training in single pointed concentration.
And then in dependence on śamatha, they developed the siddhis, the paranormal powers, specifically the capacity to see their own past and the future lives. And seeing the infinite number of past lives and the world remaining broadly unchanged, they fall into the error which sees themselves as impermanent but the world as permanent. And this is a mainstay of non-Buddhist Hindu philosophies. And some actually don’t accept the existence of past and future lives. Other others accept them but don’t accept the existence of karma, so there are many such varieties.
Are there other questions? Yes. No. No. So then he says so then he says for the from the Prasangika school standpoint, for the Bodhisattvas of the last three grounds, phenomena appear as truly established, but they are not apprehended as truly established.
The karmic imprints for that are eliminated. So here, Geshe-la says we’re never to present things the way they are, not the way things are taught in the context in keeping with the Svatāntrika Mādhyamika view. So he will be speaking from the standpoint of a Prāsaṇgika view and of tantra. Then from the standpoint of the Prāsaṇgika view, an eight ground bodhisattva will basically have abandoned the afflictive obstructions and will progress upwards to the tenth ground. For him, for a tenth ground Bodhisattva to attain full enlightenment in reliance on the perfection vehicle alone is impossible since there is nothing which can arise as Rūpakāya of a Buddha.
Therefore, at that level, at the very latest, the Bodhisattva must necessarily enter in the practice of tantra and the fundamental mind of clear light is actually of one nature but of different isolates with the subtle wind which carries it. That fundamental mind of clear light eventually when the bodhisattva reaches full enlightenment it becomes a truth body and that subtle wind itself becomes a pure illusory body and the. Are there other questions? Yes. Yes.
There is a separate set and they are different, slightly different. So they are slightly different and are presented differently. For instance, the completion stage has a fivefold subdivision. Yes. There are things which are translated.
I’ll show you later. Are there other questions? From his side would like to thank you, all eight of you, for having put such effort in his classes. From his standpoint, a good mind is a mind which puts effort at studies. That is the only criterion for him.
And he hopes in the future that we will be able to continue studying together. This is of uncommon benefit. Yeah. Yeah. Are happy?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Really. Yeah. And because every two star, yeah, you call me. Yeah. So that is good.
I think you all good with it. Yeah. Good with it. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Good. Yes. I thank you. Yeah.
Yeah. I hope you really like okay. Okay. Thank you.