Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 109-minute teaching, Kyabje Rinpoche systematically examines the 18 root downfalls of the Bodhisattva vows, drawing on Asaṇga’s Bodhisattva Bhumi, Chandragomin, and Śāntideva. He grounds ethics as the foundation of all good qualities, then walks through violations including praising oneself while debasing others, withholding dharma or aid from the poor, refusing to accept genuine confession, abandoning Mahāyāna teachings, and teaching emptiness to unsuitable practitioners. Central to his analysis is the four binding factors—wrong view, persistence in harmful intent, delight, and absence of shame—which distinguish full root downfalls from lesser transgressions. He illustrates through concrete examples: a student offending a teacher and later confessing, situations involving anger and violence, and the risks of causing fear through prematurely teaching emptiness. Aimed at practitioners who have received Bodhisattva vows.
File metadata (for organising)
File: SSGY 110920 000 – KR.mp3
UUID: a5d4a5fa-40af-4a48-974a-a5b41b11ee66
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Guru Puja – Lama Chopa
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~3,786
Okay. Okay. So we will now meditate for one or or two minutes on generating the motivation to listen to these teachings. And this motivation should be the motivation of bodhicitta. Since bodhicitta is such a powerful state of mind, whatever is done with it accrues tremendous virtues.
The cause or the root of bodhicitta is great compassion, which is aware of the fact that while we ourselves are one, sentient beings are infinite in number, and that they all, like ourselves, wish to be free from suffering, but do not know how. Wish to be happy but do not know how. And understanding their plight, we generate the motivation to attain the state of full enlightenment and to lead them to a state of unalloyed happiness. This is a motivation. We should listen to these teachings.
So, as Nāgārjuna said, ethics is the foundation of all good qualities. And here, ethics is compared to the earth, which is the foundation of both movable entities, are sentient beings, and immovable entities such as mountains, rocks, and so forth. In other words, everything which exists. If one has ethics, then definitely one will attain either a higher rebirth or definite excellence. And this is the case both from the standpoint of sūtra and of tantra.
All qualities are said to arise from ethics in the same way as a mother gives rise to her children. On the other other hand, if one does not have ethics, one will face rebirth in the lower realms. If one has ethics, then death is merely the matter of changing bodies, changing aggregates, and moving onwards without any difficulty. For this reason, the Buddha said, he who protects ethics has happiness. He who does not protect ethics has suffering.
Last time, Geshe-la explained the uncommon tantric pledges, and these are the six pledges of Vairochana, the four pledges of Ratnasambhava, the four pledges of Akṣobhya, the three pledges of Amitābha, and the two pledges of Amoghasiddhi. The six pledges of Vairochana are taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, as well as engaging in the enhancement of virtue, abandoning non virtue, and so forth. The four pledges of Ratnasambhava are practicing the generosity of giving material objects, Dharma, fearlessness, and love. The four pledges of Akṣobhya are practicing the Vajra mind, the bell speech, the the Vajra body, the Buddha mind, and the Vajra Acharya pledge. And the three pledges of Amitābha are engaging in the practices of the three vehicles, the vehicle of the Śrāvaka, Pratyekabuddha, and Bodhisattva.
So for the Śrāvaka, this includes the practice of the Four Noble Truths, for the Pratyekabuddha of the 12 links of dependent origination, and for the Bodhisattva vehicle, the sevenfold cause and effect generation of bodhicitta, and the interchange of self and other generation of bodhicitta, as well as two additional vows, practicing the two lower classes of tantra, which are charya and kriyā tantra, and practicing the two higher classes of tantra, which are yoga and anuttara yoga tantra. Then in addition to this, one must engage in the protection of the pledge of Amoghasiddhi, the foremost of which is protecting all the previously taken pledges. We ourselves have chosen to receive initiation, therefore we must protect these vows, and the key point of the six-session guru yoga in the elaborate form is protecting these vows. So if we enter in the detail of how they are protected, the verse in the six-session guru yoga, which reads through both scriptural realization and actual realization, enables one to protect one of the vows of Vairochana, or the verse which reads, I arise as Vajrasattva with Vajra, bell, and in Mudra enables one to protect the vows of Akṣobhya.
The verse which reads held by myself and not held by myself, this refers to riches, enables one to protect the pledges of Ratnasambhava, of giving material objects and Dharma. The verse which reads the the vows of individual liberation and so forth, enables one to protect the vows of, ethics, and the verses which read, I will practice the three vehicles in the four classes of tantra, enables one to protect the vows of Amitabha. Finally, the prayer of dedication, may I be reborn in Shambhala, enables one on the basis of the virtue accumulated in this way to be reborn in the land in which the Dharma can be practiced and the teachings will expand. So, there are several sources for the Bodhisattva Vows, Geshe-la will explain today. The fundamental source is Asaṇga’s Bodhisattva Bhumi, which was summarized by Chandragomin in his 20 verses on the bodhisattva vow. The second main source is Śāntideva’s Siksha Samucchaya, which presents 18 vows extracted from the Ākāśagarbha sūtra.
The presentation of the four vows in Asaṇga’s Bodhisattva Bhumi is to be added to the presentation of 13 vows in the Ākāśagarbha sūtra, and the presentation of one vow in the Sūtra of Skill in Means, which makes 18 vows. These 18 vows were presented by Asaṇga in a summarized fashion in the bodhisattva bhūmi. Actually, the four vows Asaṇga presents in the bodhisattva bhūmi includes all 18 vows apart from the vow regarding the abandonment of bodhicitta. Nāgārjuna also presents a summary of these 18 vows in two stanzas. And we have reached six-session Guru Yoga on page nine of the root text of the six-session Guru Yoga Yoga, the presentation of the 18 root downfall forms of the Bodhisattva vows.
This is not very clear in the six-session Guru Yoga. Therefore, could rely on a presentation of these vows by a scholar, which was translated, and you have it as an explanation of the three precepts based on sūtra alone. And now we will read on the basis of an explanation of the three precepts based on sūtra alone, page one, and your six-session guru yoga, page nine. So the explanation of Bodhisattva precepts, the two discordant factor with those, 2.1.1 are the section of defeats, and 2.1.2, which appears much later in the text, are the section section of branch vows. The first root downfall of a bodhisattva, praising oneself for debasing others, is not present in the text.
This actually is a downfall which is listed in Asaṇga’s bodhisattva bhūmi. Should a bodhisattva vow holder, other words, someone who has Bodhisattva vows in his mind stream for his own sake through desiring specifically a donation, in other words, through desiring money or wealth, have knowingly uttered any words praising himself and uttered any words debasing another endowed with qualities. In other words, another who is a good person, in which he says, who is a locus of respect to a being who is of a similar type with himself, and who understands the meaning. Then, after the other party has understood the meaning, that downfall which is the actual base having fulfilled the great binding factors is the root downfall of either praising oneself or debasing others. Here, this downfall occurs when out of desire or any affliction for one’s own sake, one says that one has qualities which one does not have, and that another who has qualities lacks qualities which he has.
When the other party understands this, the root downfall has occurred. For the root downfall to occur, the four binding factors must be present. These four binding factors are listed on page nine of your six-session Guru Yoga. They are in the middle of the text, number one, not viewing as a fault. Number two, not turning away from the desire to behave like that.
Number three, delight. And number four, the absence of shame and embarrassment. Not viewing them as a fault means the attitude that this is not wrong. Not turning away from the desire to behave like that is, even though one has behaved like this in the past, to think at present, I will continue to do this. Delight is to enjoy doing this, and the absence of shame and embarrassment is self evident.
When all of these are present, all four are present, then a full root downfall occurs. Of the 18, listed on pages eight and nine of your six-session Guru Yoga, 16 to be broken necessarily need presence of the great binding factor. In other words, all four factors which Rinpoche explained. Two, however, because of their extreme severity, do not need the presence of all four binding factors. These are the ninth bodhisattva vow regarding wrong views, such as rejecting the existence of karma and causality, and the eighteenth, root bodhisattva vows relinquishing or abandoning bodhicitta.
In the case of the ninth vow, the foundation of practice is destroyed. In the case of the eighteenth vow, if one relinquishes bodhicitta, one has given up the practice of a bodhisattva. If all four of the binding factors are present, then this is a great downfall and one refers specifically to the binding factors. On the other hand, if two or three of the binding factors are present, but all four listed on page nine are not present, then these are not called or this is not called a great binding factor, but a great contamination. Generally speaking, as is mentioned on page 10 of your handout, an explanation of the precepts based on sūtra alone, if viewing as a fault is present, in other words, the first binding factor, even should all the others be complete, it is said to be a small binding factor.
If viewing as a fault is not present, even should all the other binding factors be present, is said to be a middling binding factor. The second root downfall is listed on page two. Should a bodhisattvas, who are being oppressed with miserliness, not give either dharma or wealth to dispel the indigence in either dharma or wealth of a beggar, in other words, who’s destitute, lacking what he at present has, who is seeking for either of these and who has come correctly in front of oneself, while he is present in front of oneself, then upon having taken that decision, that downfall, which is the actual base, having fulfilled the great binding factors, is the root downfall of not giving either dharma or wealth out of miserliness. This is on page eight of your six-session Guru Yoga, the second root Bodhisattva downfall. So this refers to a situation where a sentient being who is poor either in wealth or in dharma and who needs help comes in front of oneself and asks either for dharma or for money, saying, in the case of money, I have nothing to eat.
If at this point money or dharma would be of benefit to him and we do not give them out of avarice, at that point when we have taken the decision not to give them, we incur the second root downfall. The third root downfall of a bodhisattva is not heeding despite confession on page two. The Tibetan text is a bit corrupt, so has corrected it. You have to correct the English as well. After another has become angry with a being of similar type to oneself or to himself, uttering harsh words, and let alone this without giving up one’s anger causing it to increase and being overwhelmed by it, beating, casting in jail, and so forth, as well as humbling another through violence, striking him with iron rods, and putting him in chains.
This refers to the harm which is inflicted. Or under the power of a vindictiveness which clings to a deep and broad sense of anger about former harm, not relinquishing anger, thinking that one will not listen to words of apology and will not accept to be forbearing towards one who conveys an entreaty for for forbearance at the right time and in accordance with dharma, while thinking at present with heartfelt regret about previously inflicted harm, is the actual base which having fulfilled the great binding factors is the root downfall of beating another out of anger and not accepting another’s regrets. So, Rinpoches, this is a very long presentation of what amounts to not accepting the confession of another, which is sincerely made for faults he or she has accumulated. To give an example, if one of Rinpoche’s students were to offend Rinpoche, and to use harsh harsh words towards Rinpoche angrily, and misbehave, and then after this, be afflicted by remorse, and come to Rinpoche, and confess to Rinpoche, I am terribly sorry for what I said. I would like to confess this.
Please be forbearing towards me, and forgive me. And if Rinpoche from his side then said, I have no time for you, I will not forgive you, without wishing to forgive him, and all other four binding factors were present, then the third root downfall of a bodhisattva would have occurred. And therefore, one must practice patience and when a fault has been confessed, one must forgive it. And on page three of the presentation of the three vows, the fourth root downfall of a bodhisattva, which is page eight of your six-session Guru Yoga, abandoning the great vehicle. The root downfall, is the actual base, having fulfilled the great binding factors who either vilify, this is kha na ma tho ba in Tibetan, means to say that something which exists does not exist, who’s saying the basket of the Bodhisattvas, which teaches the collection of the vast, such as bodhicitta, and the profound, such as emptiness, is not meaningful, in other words, not true, says Rinpoche, or is not Dharma.
Or secondly, teaching others evil teachings, such as teaching teachings which are false, which one oneself enjoys, telling others that these are true, these are worthy, and they ought to study them, or teaching spurious treatises which agree with those which one enjoys oneself, or introducing others to these view is the fourth root downfall of either abandoning the vehicle or teaching spurious holy Dharma. So this downfall could be given the following example. If someone were to say the graduated path is not Dharma, it is not beneficial, and instead of that, enjoy the teachers of wrong views, and read their treatises, and introduce others to them. Then, when all of the four binding factors are complete, the root downfall of abandoning the great vehicle has occurred. So these are the four root downfalls explained by Asaṇga’s Bodhisattva Bhumi on page nine of your six-session Guru Yoga, praising oneself and debasing others, not giving dharma or wealth, not heeding despite confession, and abandoning the great vehicle.
So regarding the first root downfall, praising oneself and debasing others, all from the stand of the deed, it can be said that there are two deeds. There is a deed of praising oneself and there is a deed of debasing others. And these could be seen as two root downfalls. Nonetheless, from the standpoint of the intention or the thought, since the intention or the thought is the same, they are fused, are subsumed as one. If we take the second root, Bodhisattva downfall, not giving dharma or wealth, from the standpoint of the thought or the intention, it is one since it is through the power of the affliction of avarice, or stinginess, that one gives neither dharma nor wealth.
However, from the standpoint of the deed performed, they can be seen as two, not giving dharma on the one side, and not giving wealth on the other Regarding the third bodhisattva vow, not heeding what was confessed, it was explained in the commentary that it can be seen as twofold, not heeding when confession occurs, or reacting with violence, beating, and hitting another person person when they confess or do not confess. So, these are similar in that they are all rooted in not accepting another’s confession or contrition. Regarding the fourth root downfall on page three of your commentary on the three vows, this can be subdivided into two. The first is deprecating or vilifying through saying that teachings which are profound or vast of the Mahāyāna are not true. The second subsumes these three other headings, and it amounts to teaching wrong views through relying on treatises which one enjoys and so forth.
If we now look at the root downfalls explained in Asaṇga’s Bodhisattva Bhumi from the standpoint of the intention, then there are four such root downfalls. If we classify them from the standpoint of the deed, there are eight. Since from the standpoint of the Bodhisattva Bhumi, the deeds are foremost, it will be said that there are eight from that standpoint. The fifth root downfall of a bodhisattva, which is the first downfall explained in the Ākāśagarbha sūtra, is on page three of your commentary on the three vows, appropriating donations through the triple gem. The root downfall, which is the actual base, having fulfilled the great binding factors upon generating a mind of ownership through stealing or causing the theft of substances which are owned by any of the three conventional or ultimate gems.
So here, the three conventional gems, or the three conventional triple gem, is the conventional Buddha gem, and this would, for instance, be represented as a supreme emanation body, since this is manifested for the sake of ordinary beings. The conventional Dharma gem would be simply a book teaching, the Buddha’s teachings, or any teachings of the accumulation and preparation stages, which is not of the level of the path of seeing. And conventional would be, for instance, ordinary beings, ordinary beings who are ordained. Another instance of the conventional Dharma would be the abandonments within the mind stream of an ordinary being. Regarding the ultimate triple gem, this is quite easy to formulate.
The ultimate Buddha is simply the ultimate Buddha. The ultimate Dharma are the realizations of the truth of cessation and of the path within the continuum of an ārya being, and the ultimate Sangha are simply ārya beings. And fore, this root downfall, which is the actual base having fulfilled the great binding factors upon generating a mind of ownership, it is when the mind of ownership, I own this arises, that the root downfall occurs through stealing or causing the theft of substances which are owned by any of the three conventional ultimate gems for one’s own sake or in connection with the afflictions is the downfall of stealing donations to the triple gem. And the sixth root downfall on page three of your commentary on the three vows is abandoning dharma. In a similar fashion for the remainder, this means applying the same two first lines of the previous This is abandoning the holy dharma.
In a similar fashion for the remainder, that downfall which occurs upon having deprecated the collection of which explain the definite emergence. There was a renunciation of either Hearers, Solitary Realizers or Bodhisattvas as perfect by saying this is not these are not the utterances of the Buddha is abandoning Dharma. This would be for instance to say that the four noble truths are not the teachings of the Buddha. The 12 links of dependent origination are not the teachings of the Buddha. The Hīnayāna Sutras are not the teachings of the Buddha, and abandon either the vast or the profound, abandoning the teachings of the great or the lesser vehicle.
And on page four of the commentary, the seventh root downfall of a bodhisattva depriving of the saffron robes. Having either deprived of the saffron robes, in other words, having stolen the robes of a person who had been ordained following the Buddha, this refers to a novice or to fully ordained monk, or caused to fall from ordination, in other words, forcefully disrobed, is depriving of the saffron robes, or thrashing or beating those who are ordained is thought to be included within the fifth downfall of the Bodhisattva Bhumi. And the eighth downfall of a bodhisattva is engaging in the five uninterrupted crimes. These five uninterrupted crimes are listed in footnote 19. These are great sins.
It’s killing one’s father, one’s mother, killing an arhat, shedding the blood of a Buddha, or causing a schism, a break in the Sangha. Returning to the text, engaging in the uninterrupted crimes is having engaged in any of the five uninterrupted crimes. Here, in addition, it is taught that the four uninterrupted crimes, excluding schism in the Sangha, are included within the fifth downfall of the bodhisattva bhūmi. In the ninth, at the bottom of page four, wrong views, to deprecate by saying past and future life do not exist, or in the Tibetan it’s white and black, in other words, virtuous and non virtuous karma and effect do not exist is holding wrong views. In the tenth downfall of destroying cities, destroying places to destroy either cities, villages, countries, or lands with a mindset beset by the afflictions.
The eleventh root downfall of the Bodhisattva, teaching emptiness to the untrained on page five of your commentary. When after teaching emptiness, which is bereft of all elaborations to an unexamined vessel, this means an unsuitable student, an unsuitable vessel, a person who has generated a mind wishing for perfect enlightenment, and should emptiness be taught to him will be afraid. In other words, someone who has entered the great vehicle, and when emptiness is taught to him out of fear, abandons the great vehicle and falls back into the lesser vehicle. Fear arises, and because of that, he turns away from the mind wishing for perfect enlightenment, generating instead the mind wishing for the enlightenment of the lower vehicle, that downfall is explained profound to those who are not suitable vessels. So we will stop here because the time is over.
This eleventh downfall amounts to explaining emptiness to an unsuitable vessel who out of a fear for emptiness in turn falls from the great vehicle into the lesser vehicle. So we will stop here for today. There is no time for questions today. And since it is difficult to understand, I would like to suggest that you read the English translation which has been handed out. So it will not be possible to understand this if we read it just once and put it aside.
We must read it two, three, four times, and when we have understood it, then keep it within our minds. So these root downfalls are not clearly explained in commentary where they’re covered in a cursory fashion. If you can put effort in studying Pelden Sangpo’s commentary and keep this in your mind, then you will benefit from them. I know. Thank you.