Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 46-minute commentary on verses 103–108 of the Lama Chöpa, Kyabje Rinpoche develops a progression of spiritual practices: patience, joyous effort, meditative concentration, and wisdom. He begins with three types of patience—refusing to retaliate when harmed, voluntarily accepting suffering, and maintaining steadfast Dharma practice. He then explores joyous effort, using the image of spiritual armor: the willingness to remain in hell for a single suffering being. For meditation, he emphasizes emptiness as the sole focus, distinguishing three types of concentration. He contrasts two wisdoms—the space-like equipoise directly cognizing emptiness and the subsequent attainment in which all phenomena appear as dream, illusion, and reflection. The teaching culminates in reconciling two essential views: that all phenomena lack inherent existence and that cause and effect operate unfailingly. For practitioners with some philosophical foundation in Buddhist theory.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1992-11-13 – 19B – KR.mp3
UUID: 82d5c3c0-8103-4e92-bd2f-11676ac21fee
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Guru Puja – Lama Chopa
Date: 1992-11-13
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,412
Looking at verse 103, it mentions realms. Three realms are the desire realm, the form realm and the formless realm, which include all of the psycho-physical existence. If all of the all all of the sentient beings, living beings within these three realms, if they were to rise up as my enemy, if they were to get angry at me, humiliate me, criticize me, call me a thief, tell me I did this, speak very negatively toward me, very harshly toward me, threaten me. Even if they were to cut my body into little bits of pieces of flesh that I would, in fact, not get angry in response to this great harm. That my mind would remain undistressed.
I would not return for their harm. But out of a motivation of love and compassion, I would instead bring about their welfare, bring about their benefit. Even if they were to beat me, say terrible words to me, even if they were to kill me, I would not allow my mind to become distressed. But I would think it doesn’t matter. It’s okay.
I voluntarily take upon myself the harsh treatment. In this way, this first sets out explicitly the first two types of tolerance, the tolerance of not returning harm for harm and voluntarily accepting suffering. Implicitly, the third type of tolerance, the tolerance with respect to training in the Dharma. With respect to this third type of tolerance, I’m probably not translating it very well. The tolerance with respect to raising the level one’s practice of Dharma.
Means that to observing the excellent qualities of the Buddha, Dharma and the spiritual community and developing and praising their qualities, qualities, gaining confidence and conviction in the law, cause and effect, karma, in trusting oneself in the positive results of skillful actions, developing a tremendous admiration and respect for the great powers and abilities of the Buddhist and Bodhisattvas. So this is what they practice in terms of the Dharma, this tolerance, abiding in those practices in order to raise these levels of qualities. So in our practice of exchange of self for others, when we gain a conviction in the various faults of self-centeredness in terms of it acting as a cause for various detrimental types of results and the various benefits of other centeredness and gain conviction in acting as cause for various types of positive type of results and use this in our practice of taking and giving, this understanding and this conviction and this trust, then this would constitute the tolerance of abiding in our practice of Dharma and seeing these qualities. Then with the motivation for the sake of all living beings in order to free them from all suffering and to quickly, quickly bring them to a complete state of happiness.
May I bring to consummation the perfection of joyous effort. Verse number 104 is being looked at. Here there are three types of joyous efforts. Joyous effort of armor, effort of the skillful of actions Dharma joyous effort with respect to bringing about the welfare of living beings. Joy’s effort is a mental factor and it has the nature of a liking or taking joy in skillful actions as opposed to, you know, we may have a liking for various types of activities in general, but this would not constitute joyous effort even though we might like to engage in various types of activities and we make effort in them.
It is necessary that it be sense of joy in bringing about skillful actions. Verse 104, Even if we must remain for an ocean of eons in the fiery hell of the Avīci, even for the sake of one sentient being, seek your blessedness to complete the perfection of joyous effort to strive with compassion for supreme enlightenment and not to be discouraged. The first is, as we mentioned, the first of the three types of joyous effort of armor, joyous effort of armor, and it’s saying that what to say of many living beings, but just even for one living being, that I will for the sake of that living being abide for the sake of bringing about the welfare that living being. I will abide for eons in the hell of greatest suffering. That is, here it’s called the Avici, is the hell of unending sufferings just for the sake of one sentient being and I will joyfully remain in that hell for the sake of that one living being.
This powerful attitude of mine is like armor. When people, when there is a battle, in order to protect oneself, one puts on a suit of armor and iron to protect oneself from weapons. It is this joyous effort here allows, this armor of joyous effort which allows oneself to remain in the middle of flames even for the sake of one living being. And there’s the joyous effort with respect to the skillful actions of Dharma would be that in order to attain awakening or Buddhahood, taking joy in bringing about, accumulating the causes. The joyous effort of skillful action of the Dharma is the joy ous attitude of bringing about and bringing about the causes accumulating the causes whereby to achieve awakening of Buddha.
And the The attitude of mind which is willing to abide in even the sufferings of hell, to bring about the welfare of living beings, that is to say in order to free living beings from their suffering, in order to bring about their welfare is the joyous effort to bring about the welfare of living beings. Then again, generating the motivation that in order to liberate all living beings from their suffering and to bring their complete happiness, I will engage in the perfection of meditative stabilization. Here, this is mainly talking about developing a perfection of meditative stabilization. We’re speaking about development of calm abiding. We’ve already received teachings on the means of developing calm abiding and as was mentioned there, that we can take any object of observation upon which in order to develop calm abiding.
Here specifically, it’s the object of observation in terms of which we’re developing calm is emptiness. Doctor. So if we would discuss this in detail, then we would talk about the nine mental abidings and the six obstacles that were to be overcome by means of the various antidotes, but there’s no time to go into detail. Looking at verse 105, having abandoned the thoughts of dullness, agitation and mental wandering, we seek your blessings to complete the perfection and meditative concentration through this samadhi of single-pointed placement upon the nature of reality which is that all things are void of true existence. So in overcoming, abandoning the two faults of dullness or that is laxity which is in the category of delusion and the excitement which is in the category associated with attachment by means of abandoning the five obstructions through the nine stages and using as an object of observation, as was mentioned, emptiness of true existence of all phenomena, one attains the perfection of meditative stabilization, that is meditative concentration which is placed single pointedly on the emptiness of true existence of all phenomena.
Making such a type, may I able be to achieve such a state and they can request to the lama visualize before you and in response to that request nectar flows down into one purifying all of the various inhibitory conditions, all of the obstacles to that attainment, and one actually attains that state. So there there are There are three types of meditative stabilizations. There are meditative stabilizations which act as a basis for the development of physical and mental bliss, but this is a common type of meditative stabilization. That is to say it’s also attained and practiced by non Buddhists whereby one achieves physical and mental bliss which only brings about beneficial results for this life itself. It is in and in itself.
Whereas the second type of meditative stabilization is that which acts as the basis for the development of excellent qualities and developing a calm abiding. Out of this calm abiding one goes on to develop special insight, that is to say, gain a insight, a realization of emptiness and selflessness and this acts as a means to abandon the various afflictive emotions and therefore this meditative stabilization is said to be a basis for the development of special excellent qualities. Then there’s the meditative stabilization which acts as a basis for performing miraculous activities, various types of activities, being able to perform various miraculous feats. Another way of dividing meditative stabilization into three types. One way, a division of meditative stabilization would be mundane and transmundane.
The mundane would be those meditative stabilizations attained by ordinary individuals. Transmundane would be those attained by superiors or aryas. So then looking at verse 106, which is setting up the perfection of wisdom. We seek your blessings to complete the perfection of wisdom through the space like yoga of single-minded placement upon ultimate truth conjoining with the ecstasy and great bliss induced by discriminating wisdom suchness. In general, there are two types of wisdom.
There is the wisdom of space like equipoise and the illusionary like subsequent attainment, the wisdom of illusionary subsequent attainment. The first of these is having once developed calm abiding, one takes as the object of that calm abiding emptiness and analyzing and investigating the nature of that emptiness, one develops the wisdom of individual analysis. By means of this, one induces a physical and mental pliancy associated with bliss. When a special physical and mental pliancy is attained, one has attained the meditative equipoise of the space like yoga of finger pointed placement space like. So the way of the space like meditative equipoise.
The reason it’s called space like is because space is given as an example. Space is a non affirming negation. It is an absence of obstruction and it pervades everywhere. In this state there is only this non affirming negation appearing and likewise there is only emptiness appearing. There is nothing, there is no other, there is no thing appearing to the mind other than this emptiness which appears as a non affirming negation just like space.
That’s the way it is like space. Therefore, this meditative equipoise is termed space like meditative equipoise. So the verse 106 is describing the first type of wisdom, the wisdom of the space like meditative equipoise, and then verse 107, the second type of wisdom, the wisdom of illusory subsequent attainment where it says in verse 107, We seek your blessings to perfect Samādhi on illusion by realizing how our external and internal phenomena lack true existence yet still appears like a mirage of dream or an image in a still lake. In the course of developing the perfection of wisdom, we are abiding in meditative equipoise, a space like meditative equipoise. Then we rise up from that meditative equipoise.
This rising from meditative equipoise is called subsequent attainment. At this time, now all the various phenomena appear to us. All the various things about us appear, houses, people, things external to our continuum, internal to our continuum. Whatever they might appear, they are to be looked upon as says here, as illusions, as dreams and reflections. For example, when we see when a magic show, there is an illusion of a horse and an elephant, it is merely an illusion.
It’s not really a horse and an elephant. Again, when we’re dreaming, maybe we dream about money but it’s not really money. We can’t spend that money. It’s not real money. Likewise with reflection of our face in a mirror.
Though it appears to be a face, in fact there’s not a real face. So everything that we see is to be looked upon in the same way just as the reflection of moon in a container of water, it appears to be a moon but it’s in fact not a moon. Though things appear to truly exist, they are in fact not truly existent. They are to be looked on as merely illusions, as dreams and reflections and as not real. Taking that wisdom understanding this is the wisdom of illusory subsequent attainment.
Okay. So I’m just quoting a verse. I remember to begin by quoting the verse from Candrakīrti’s Entering the Middle Way, the Madhyamakāvatāra, where he says. According to this verse by Candrakīrti in which he says, Those who stray outside of the path set down by Nāgārjuna lose the chance for liberation. Nāgārjuna taught the view and the view of the middle way, and this view is in complete conformity with the view as set down by the Buddha as the ultimate nature of reality.
If one does not follow that view, if one strays then that one will not only not be able to attain liberation but one will degenerate the two levels of reality, the conventional and ultimate levels of reality. We’re looking at verse number 108 where it says, saṃsāra and nirvana lack even an atom of true existence while cause and effect and dependent arising are unfailing. We seek your blessings to discern the import of Nāgārjuna’s thought which is that these two are complementary and not contradictory. It’s a saṃsāra, that is a cyclic existence, and whatever is arisen under the influence of karma and afflictive emotions is included within cyclic existence of saṃsāra and that which arises dependent upon abandoning cyclic existence is liberation or beyond sorrow, that is nirvana. So that is to say, this is the way that we can simply include all phenomena because there’s no phenomena which is not included either within cyclic existence or beyond sorrow.
All phenomena whatsoever lack even an atom of inherent existence. This constitutes the view of emptiness. So that view of emptiness and its complementary view that is of the arising, that is to the unfailing relationship between causes and effects. That is to say, from positive causes comes positive effects. From neutral comes neutral effects.
From negative causes comes negative effects. This relationship between cause and effect is unfailing, is inevitable. These two views, the view of cause and effect on the one hand and the view of emptiness on the other are not to be seen contradictory and that they somehow are mutually exclusive but in fact they assist one another. They are mutually enhancing. These views enhance one another.