Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. The “thousand cows” analogy — where potency distills from a thousand cows down to one, mirroring how Atisha’s Lamp of the Path condenses into Lamrim and then into the three principal aspects — opens this 96-minute session. Khensur Rinpoche argues that renunciation, bodhicitta, and correct view are structurally necessary: without them, even sincere virtuous practice only binds a practitioner more firmly within saṃsāra rather than leading toward liberation. The session’s longest section examines the teacher-disciple relationship — how to vet a prospective lama carefully before committing, the formal steps required to establish a genuine relationship, and the eight benefits of proper reliance versus the faults of improper reliance. Rinpoche closes by announcing that sessions will move to twice weekly before his trip to Sera Je for the Dalai Lama’s Lamrim teachings. A Q&A explores how the mind can perceive a deity without relying on the senses, illustrated through the calm-abiding technique of mentally recreating the Buddha’s image.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 03 3PA 2001 06 20.mp3
UUID: 83e04a49-6466-45a7-ab0b-fbe2c643d4cb
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: 3 Principle Aspects of the Path (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 2001-06-20
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 96.0 minutes
Words: ~6,590
We’ll start again with Rinpoche reciting, giving the transmission of the text and then we will go into explanation. Now, we finished off last time by discussing this advice that Mañjuśrī gave to the great Lama Tsongkhapa where he said to him, Forget all these profound practices, the profound teachings. They are not suitable for the beginners. For the time being you have to put all that aside and just focus on trying to generate renunciation and bodhicitta. Unless your practices are influenced by renunciation and bodhicitta, whatever virtue you engage in will never be the cause for you to reach liberation, will never become the cause for you to reach omniscience.
It will just become another cause, another thing that binds you within cyclic existence. So we finish at this point where we said that in order to make sure that our practices become a cause for liberation we definitely have to generate the mind of renunciation. And further on we need to progress our practice with bodhicitta. Now, Rinpoche is saying, if we really look at the advice and analyze the words, what does it mean when Mañjuśrī said put all that aside, you know, push it to one side? Rinpoche was saying, When you look at the practices of the Great Vehicle, really we are talking about Sūtra and Tantra.
And if you compare those two, you can see, of course, that Tantra is more complicated, right? More deep and difficult. Rinpoche says, I think, that the meaning of the advice is if you are to engage in these practices, make sure that in the beginning you focus on Sūtra and for the time being put aside the Tantra. But of course if you have a disciple who is capable of training their mind through a sūtra then is capable of generating the experience of renunciation and bodhicitta, if they have all this in place and then they enter tantra then they will be very successful. That will be the best way to do it.
Now, also if you have somebody who is capable of generating the experience of all the three principal aspects of the path and if that person decides at one stage that tantra is very precious because tantra is very rare and from now on I want to put my energy towards practicing tantra, well there is nothing to stop such a practitioner who has a very good basis on the three principal aspects of the path. There is nothing to stop them. They are going to be very successful and this is the best way to engage in tantric practices. Now, point is that some practitioners may actually have already requested and received tantric commitments without having generated the genuine experience of renunciation, bodhicitta correctly and so forth. So, of course, since they have asked the commitments, they have received the commitments, the best way to go about it is to practice as best as they can.
They might not have the proper preparation but they need to continue with their commitments. So as we say, one needs to continue with whatever commitments one has. But if you are aware that you are lacking in generating the genuine experience of renunciation and bodhicitta, you have to understand that you have to put all the effort you can into meditating and trying to generate that experience. Now, it is said that Buddha Śākyamūni taught Sūtra and Tantra in order to classify the different types of afflictions that exist within the minds of disciples and in total we have eighty four thousand types of afflictions. It is said that there is a particular teaching addressing each one of those afflictions so in this way we end up with a bundle of eighty four thousand types of teachings.
Now, how is it that we actually say that we address all eighty four thousand types of afflictions? It is said that these eighty four thousand types are further classified into four groups. The first group of twenty one thousand types of afflictions are afflictions that are related to attachment. The second group of twenty one thousand afflictions is the one related to strong aversion and the third group of twenty one thousand types of afflictions is the one related to confusion or ignorance. Rinpoche was saying that this is similar to the following example.
Imagine that you have a thousand cows, right? And you are going to milk those thousand cows. So you get together, you collect the milk from thousand different cows and then you feed that milk of cows to a hundred cows. And then you milk the hundred cows, right, and you collect that milk and you feed it to ten cows. And then you milk those ten cows and you feed it to one single cow.
Finally, when you milk that single cow, in a sense you can say that you have milk that came down from the original thousand cows unless I’m completely wrong. Actually, what we see is that the milk that we get from this one, the last cow, is a very potent milk because in a sense it has the potency of the milk of thousand cows. Now, we can see with this, according to this analogy, we can examine the teachings that we have and we can say that actually the great Lord Atisha initially composed a Lamrim text which was the Lamp of the Path, right? And then the essence of the Lamp of the Path was taken by Lama Tsongkhapa when he composed his Lamrim text. And then the essence of Lamrim text is condensed and found in the three principal aspects of the path.
So within the three principal aspects of the path, we have the great potency of all the previous texts. It is like the very potent milk of the last cow. Now, if you have such potent milk, is you understand that even if you were to drink one drop of that milk, there will be great benefit for your body. Your strength, your physical well-being will be greatly enhanced from one single drop of such high density and quality milk. Now, we actually look at the three principal aspects of the path: renunciation, bodhicitta, and correct view, and we see how important they are.
They are so important because in a sense, the practice of all the Buddhas are condensed in each one of them and each one of them in a sense represents a drop. So you have a drop of renunciation and you can see all the practices of the Buddha, all the potency of their teachings and their practices being condensed in there. The same thing with all the teachings and the practice of the Buddha, they come and they are condensed in bodhicitta and the same thing happens with correct view. So if you understand actually that whatever you practice you can extract the essence of all the practices if you have renunciation, bodhicitta and correct view in place then you realize that there is a great blessing in studying such a text, and it’s a great blessing in understanding the meaning of these three. And for that reason, it is in a sense our responsibility to study and understand them as much as we can and try as much as we can to generate these experiences.
Now, we go into the actual explanation now and we start with the line where it says that initially, in order for the mind to go into dharma, to enter into dharma, one needs to have renunciation. Now we talked about the different types of afflictions and we see that usually our mind is under the influence of afflictions. Usually we have an afflicted mind. The mind gets associated with afflictions and therefore goes towards that particular direction and unless we have renunciation the mind will not go towards the Dharma. Now we talked about an afflicted mind, a mind that can go under influence of afflictions but the good thing about the mind is that in essence the mind is in a sense neutral, it is pure and what that means is that we can separate the afflictions from the mind and once afflictions are taken out of the mind, the mind can be influenced by other things.
So if the time where the mind is in that state of clarity or purity, if you want, if at that time you allow your mind to be influenced by renunciation, then the mind is going to be turned towards the area of renunciation. And it is said that at that time one can practice what is called the most pure Dharma. Pure Dharma is only practiced when your mind is influenced by renunciation. Now, we talk about this pure, this perfect Dharma, the perfect practice of Dharma. Now we say that the mind needs to be influenced by certain things in order for it to be practiced.
When we say that we’re practicing this pure Dharma, now there are two different goals that we set. And the two different goals is liberation or omniscience. These are two distinct goals, right, and they are going to be established by different substantial causes. Now the cause that is going to establish liberation is different from the cause that is going to establish omniscience. So in a sense, there is a choice by setting your goals.
You will either go towards liberation, attaining liberation, or you will go towards attaining omniscience. And they say that if renunciation is the one who is influencing your mind, then the pure Dharma that you practice is going to bring about the result of liberation. And if you’re influenced by bodhicitta, the pure Dharma that you’re practicing is great vehicle Dharma that would bring about the state of enlightenment. Now, when we talk about virtue, there are different types of virtue that we could possibly engage. There are things such as recitations, there are prostrations, taking vows and so forth.
And it is quite often that we can engage in virtuous activities but without having renunciation. So then we are in a situation where we create virtue and on the basis of that Dharma that we practice and the virtue that we generate, we create the causes for attaining another human rebirth. Another human rebirth though means that we are still within saṃsāra, we haven’t reached liberation. The Dharma that we practice becomes a cause for us to attain just another body that remains the cycles within saṃsāra. It is not a liberating Dharma because it’s not a pure Dharma.
Now the thing is that with renunciation and bodhicitta alone, we cannot reach our ultimate goals because what binds us with the cyclic existence is the fundamental ignorance that we have. And unless we generate the correct view that is the direct antidote to this ignorance we cannot cut, we cannot eliminate this ignorance. So although we could be practicing Dharma, unless we had the correct view, we cannot generate the direct antidotes. We cannot cut these links we have with saṃsāra. Now, if we can actually generate renunciation, even if we were to recite Om Mani Padme Hum once, that will become a cause for our liberation.
If we were to generate bodhicitta, again, if we were to recite that mantra once, that could become a cause towards our enlightenment. Now, we look at cyclic existence and we say there’s a lot of suffering there and because there is suffering we need to be liberated, we need to get out of this situation. But the thing is that without renunciation, there is no attainment of such a state. The thing is that we aspire and we say I will become enlightened, will reach the state of Buddhahood. But the thing is that without bodhicitta, no matter what you do, no matter what you practice, you will never reach that result.
And also don’t forget that you need to generate the correct view. And once those things are in place, the results will almost come automatically. If you have genuine renunciation, even if you say, I don’t want to be liberated from saṃsāra, don’t worry, liberation will happen. If you have generated bodhicitta and you say, I don’t want to reach enlightenment, there’s no choice. Enlightenment will be achieved.
It is similar to a situation where you have a field, you prepared it, you have sown the best seeds and then there were plentiful rains and all the proper conditions and then you stand in front of the field and you say, hope you’re not going to grow anything and I’m going to pray nothing grows in my field. Now, there’s no hope for such a thing, right? Now, if you do the opposite thing as well, you have a very bad field that you haven’t prepared and you haven’t even bothered to throw any seeds in there and you stand and you think there about your great field, right? And you make prayers if you want, you can make prayers for hundred years. May I have great crops?
Nothing would grow that. Okay. Now the text continues with a quotation from Lama Tsongkhapa’s Lam Rim Chenmo, the extensive Lam Rim, where he says you could analyze the faults of cyclic existence for a long time and use different arguments but if you don’t actually see fault in that then you haven’t got renunciation. You could also be in a situation where you’re not generating the wisdom of individual examination looking at the meaning of selflessness and in that case you’re not going to generate the correct view. You could also be in a situation where you separate — in that sense you separate the two types of bodhicitta — and if you do something like that it is very difficult to reach liberation.
It is very difficult to go beyond cyclic existence. Why? Because whatever virtue you do will become another cause for you to remain within cyclic existence. There is one exception to that and it says that virtue that you generate due to the power of the field. And when we talk about due to the power of the field, this is generally talking about things such as generating faith towards the Buddha or your lama, your teachers and so forth.
He says apart from that exception every other virtue that you do will become another cause for you to remain within cyclic existence. And when it says cyclic existence it doesn’t imply that you’re going to fall into lower realms. It more indicates that you’re going to be in a situation where you are reborn again and again as a human and a god and again human and god and keep remaining within cyclic existence. Existence. Without renunciation, bodhicitta and correct view, you will never go beyond saṃsāra.
That’s what he says. Now we can see actually how Lama Tsongkhapa was influenced from advice that Mañjuśrī gave to him. Because Mañjuśrī said, Just focus on meditating on renunciation, bodhicitta and correct view. And this is actually what Lama Tsongkhapa did. And having spent all his time in bringing about realizations of that, then he’s in a position to write things like this, like you need renunciation, need bodhicitta, you need correct view.
Now, it is said that Lamrim Chenmo, the great the extensive Lamrim was composed by Lama Tsongkhapa after very strong request from many many disciples who were needing the material. So this is how it came about. Kapha Kapha and said, Didn’t I tell you just to concentrate and meditate night and day on renunciation of bodhicitta and correct view? Now, what is the purpose of engaging a composition of Lamrim Chenmo? And they said that Lama Tsongkhapa did reply that actually I never forgot the three principal aspects of the path.
They are there, they’re like the mother, they’re like the root of my text. But then I thought to elaborate a little bit on that and include the advice that the great lord Atisha gave us when he composed The Lamp of the Path and, you know, connect the material in one word brought to the other. So we ended up with a slightly bigger volume. But the three are the root. So it’s very important to keep that in mind that even if we talk about something like Lamrim Chenmo, which is very extensive text, the basis, the foundation of that is the three principal aspects of the path and then incorporated within that is the advice from the lamp of the path from Atisha and so forth.
So now we are actually examining the text from the point of view of its outlines and you see that there are three major outlines. The first one is the branch of entering into a composition of the treatise. The second one is the main body of the treaties, and the third one is, let’s say, completion of the explanation. If we look at the first one, which is the branch of entering into the composition, we see that that one again has three parts. The first one is the expression of reverence, the second one is the pledge of composition, and the third one is urging or inspiring those who listen.
So you have received a translation of the three principal aspects of the path, right? And it was translated actually by Champa Nge. So, if you can look now at the because we are about to enter the body, the lines of the text. Now we look at the first line where it says, I pay homage to my Lord Venerable Gurus. This first line is the first outline we were talking about which is the expression of reverence.
Now, is the one line where we express our respect for the qualities of our teachers, we pay homage to them and yeah, in a sense, we just express this reverence for their qualities. Now, they say that if you undertake a big task, it is very good in the beginning to prostrate and offer homage to your lamas because that thing guarantees that the activity will be completed and also that there will be no obstacles towards the completion of that. And taking on the task of composing a text like that of course, falls in the category of such an important activity. So for that reason, it’s important in the beginning to pay homage to one’s personal deity or one’s school and so forth. Now, there is another master, the master Dantri, actually, which gives another quotation and says that if you see such a line, this is the beginning of the text and what will follow after that usually is the pledge of the composition.
There will be some promise as to what will be explained following that. Now we examine these words and we see the last word is gurus. Plural, right? Because we will remember or we will address a number of lamas, a number of gurus. Especially when we look at the Lamrim tradition, we know there are gurus, there are lamas from different lineages.
We have the lamas of the lineages of the extensive deeds. We have the lamas of the lineage of the profound view, we have the lamas of the direct lineage of practice, we have one’s own personal lamas, the ones that are very close to one’s heart. So there a great number of those and this is the need for using the word in the plural. Now, there are some the the first two words, the lord and venerable that we find, they are particular words. They’re not very common.
They are exceptional. Now, we see that initially, we say that Lama Tsongkhapa received instruction from Mañjuśrī but we have to understand that initially Lama Tsongkhapa was not in position to directly perceive the image of Mañjuśrī and to directly hear Mañjuśrī himself. So in the beginning at least there seemed to be a third person who was almost like an interpreter between Mañjuśrī and Lama Tsongkhapa. And that person was Palden Dorje. Palden Dorje was somebody who already could — had this direct access to Mañjuśrī and therefore he was the one who was perceiving the voice and the image of Mañjuśrī and passing on the information to Lama Tsongkhapa. Now, if we actually see the lineage, how the instruction came down, the text says that from Dorje Chang, which is vajradhara, it came down to Mañjuśrī, and from Mañjuśrī, it came down to Palden Dorje.
Palden Dorje was this this medium. Right? And then from Palden Dorje, it came down to Lama Tsongkhapa. So because there is this lineage, if you want, or this process of how the information came down, for that reason, it’s important to have all these words, the Lord Venerable Gurus. Now, Lama Tsongkhapa made many prayers and many requests so that he would be capable himself to meet with Mañjuśrī and after a while he was capable of directly perceiving him.
Now when we say that somebody perceives a deity, right, they see the deity, there are three different ways of seeing a deity. One of them is to see them in your sleep. The second one is not to actually see them but to feel their presence, to think that they are there, to feel them. Right? And the third one is to directly perceive them.
Now when we look at the third type of, as we said, the direct perception, there are two types. There is sense direct perception, which means that you can see them with your own eyes, the same way you would see a like a student can see their lama in front of and you can perceive them with your eyes, there is a possibility that you see your deity like this. And the other case is that you don’t see them with your eyes, but you see them in your mind. They appear in your mind. Right?
So there are two cases of direct perception. Now they said that when Lama Tsongkhapa was capable of perceiving Mañjuśrī directly, he was capable of seeing him with his own eyes. And it was very similar to a situation of an ordinary student in the presence of their guru. And the student had the opportunity, therefore, to ask his questions directly to Mañjuśrī and receive the answers. And they say that most of the instruction, the majority of the instruction that Lama Tsongkhapa heard from Mañjuśrī, he wrote it down in in an accurate way.
And, of course, this is how the different texts were composed. Now, we actually see that according to the type of the different texts there are different homages or homages paid to different things. So, for example, in the text which is called Entering the Middle Way we see that one pays reverence to great compassion. If we look at the beginning of the ornament of realization, again, there is a different homage. And here, we see that in this particular text, we pay homage to the Lord Venerable Gurus.
Different homage according to the type of the text. Now, this particular text as we know, deals with the three principal aspects of the path and in order to generate those three aspects, one has to rely on one’s spiritual friend, on one’s guru. And for that reason, in order to stress that from the very beginning, pay homage to the Lord Venerable Gurus. Now, we have a quote here from Geshe Potowa and Geshe Potowa was one of the foremost scholars in the area of Lamrim and what it says here is that if, you know, if you wish to attain liberation, there is nothing that is more important than your lama. And it is impossible to reach different stages unless you are guarded by your lama.
Now if you want to attain liberation or if you want to attain the state of omniscience, it is very difficult, and it’s actually stated here it’s impossible to attain those things unless you have your teacher to rely upon. The reason for that is because, for example, let’s say that you want to accomplish something mundane, right? And you look around too, there are many different articles, are many different occupations. And even for those things that can see examples so you can see them already made, if you were to try to do them yourself, you would need to rely on the advice of somebody else. You would need somebody to explain you how to do them.
And if this is true for external, ordinary, mundane things and activities, it is even more true for the path. Because when we talk about grounds and paths, these things are not obvious. They are not external. And you can only attain those things if you have a deep understanding from within your mind. So how are you going to generate this understanding unless you have a teacher who will explain the points to you?
The grounds and the path, they’re very subtle things, right, and they’re mental states that cannot be pointed out externally. Now, the thing is that we do not really have great familiarity with listening and contemplating on the Dharma. We haven’t heard too much of it. The reason for that is because of us are coming from lower migrations. And if you are in a lower migration, there are not many possibilities or occasions for you where you would sit down and listen to the Dharma and try to practice it.
So we come and we are new. We don’t have much experience. And what we’re trying to do in this occasion is to follow a path that we have no familiarity, we have never heard about it, we have never walked across this path, and we have expectation to reach the end. So unless we have somebody to guide us and unless our guide is somebody who knows the complete path and knows how to guide us in a very skillful way without any mistake at all, unless we have such a guide, we will never make it across this path. Now, it is similar to an ordinary mundane example.
Suppose you want to go to a place where you have never been before and you start from your place and the road is a very long and windy road. It is narrow, it goes through a difficult terrain, it is not posted, you never know where to go right or where to go left, You have no experience. You have no map. So how would you expect to reach the end? How do you expect to have a smooth travel?
The thing is that what we need is to have a guide who is very experienced and is experienced in the whole path, right, the whole length of the path. Unless we have that, we will not arrive. Now, if we look at our situation, as I say, we’re coming from the lower migrations. Now, we find ourselves in this new body, the new human body. We’re in a fortunate migration.
What we say is that we want to reach liberation suddenly on the base of this body and we want to go along the great vehicle and reach omniscience. So how are we going to get there? Definitely need to rely on a spiritual guide, a friend who has total experience of the path. And we need to rely with a lot of faith. In accordance to our faith, this teacher is going to pass on instruction on us.
And on the basis of all these conditions coming together, eventually we will generate some understanding of where we are and where we want to go. And it takes a lot of familiarity, a lot of meditation in order to generate some understanding of where we are. Because here, when we talk about the paths that lead to liberation and the paths that lead to omniscience, these are not things that can be seen externally. These are things that happen all in the mind. So there is this internal familiarity that needs to be developed.
And you have your guide to guide you. Now the thing is that unless your guide has gone all the way to the end of the path, would not know how to get you there. And if there was not, if the Buddha did not exist, you could not reach at such a state. It is very important to see your teacher as being the Buddha because that means that you have the faith that they can take you all the way to the end of the path. And that’s why it is very important to see, to have the recognition of one’s teacher as being a Buddha.
Now, there is this saying that say if you associate yourself with somebody who’s lesser than you, you’re going to become lesser. Somebody who’s equal with you, you will more or less remain at the same level. But if you associate with somebody who’s supreme than yourself, then there is a possibility for you to develop. And that, of course, applies to your spiritual teacher. If you choose somebody who is lesser than yourself, then, of course, you’re not going to develop.
On the contrary, it says that you might go backwards. Now, if you associate yourself with a teacher who has more or less the same qualities with yourself, you don’t do much progress, right? You stay at the same level, you’re flat, that’s where you are. And finally, of course, if you choose somebody who has more qualities than yourself, then such a person can pull you up. This is how you can develop in the sense of Dharma.
So it becomes very important actually to recognize the role of one’s teacher, one’s lama in that way and to rely in the proper way to the lama. And of course the different qualities, the desired qualities of a teacher are described in different texts and in the Linoja we have, let’s say, a general description of what’s of the qualities of the teacher. And what they say is that the teacher should be thoroughly trained or pacified, tamed, through the three trainings. And therefore, the teacher should be somebody who is stable and somebody who is very well learned. Then we have an explanation of qualities of the proper teacher if you’re practicing within the great vehicle.
And within that, if it is sūtra, we have a list of ten qualities that the teacher should have and we have another list of qualities if your teacher is going to lead you through tantra. Especially if we talk about tantra, are qualities such as the teacher being capable of explaining the meaning of mantras, of engaging in the different rituals and things like that. So there are different lists of qualities that a teacher according to their role must have. Now they say that if you have guru, the right lama who let’s say if you want to practice the lesser vehicle, if you are capable of meeting with a lama who has all the qualities of the teacher of the lesser vehicle, then there is very little doubt that you will be successful practitioner. If are somebody who wants to practice sūtra within the great vehicle, if you find a teacher who has the qualities of a sutric great vehicle teacher, then you will be successful again.
And if you are somebody who wants to practice tantra and you find the properly qualified tantric teacher, again it is said that you will you can progress very smoothly along the path. So there is great benefit associating with the right teacher. Now, we talk about finding and associating oneself with the correct teacher, but it’s very important to initially examine your teacher to make sure that the person has the right qualities. And they say that you shouldn’t just throw yourself, let’s say, at the feet of the first person that you meet. They have a common analogy here and say, Don’t do like the dog who would just double eat everything.
They say if you throw a piece of meat to the dog, the dog would just eat it without examining, in an instant. So they say don’t do like that with your teacher, the person who’s going to be your lama. Ask questions around and examine yourself to make sure that that person has the qualities that are needed. And once you are absolutely sure that this person fulfills the definition of what you’re looking for, then it is proper to rely on a teacher. And if you decide that this person is suitable to be your teacher, then you have to treat them with a lot of respect and a lot of faith.
And once you have made the decision to rely on that person, then it is completely unacceptable to start criticizing the teacher, spreading different rumors, saying that you’re not satisfied with them. There could be no bigger negativity than that. Now, It’s very important to be clear and be very careful in this area. It doesn’t mean that every person that you meet and every person who gives a teaching, just because you might be present in their teaching, doesn’t mean that you have made the decision to rely on them as being your teacher. So what happens is quite often you hear that such a lama has come into town and they’re going to give a teaching.
Now, you might have the curiosity to go and check out this person and it is proper to do so. So you go there and just because you are listening to their teachings, it doesn’t mean that you have established a teacher disciple relationship. You’re there and you’re checking. Right? And if you see that their style, teaching, how they’re behaving is something that you find is suitable and it’s promising, you might eventually generate the thought, Oh yes, I want to rely upon this teacher.
Now, you have generated the thought, you decide this is what you have to do. You also have to formally request the teacher and say, would you please be my lama? And the teacher from their own side also have to give you an answer saying, yes, I will act as your teacher. And only after all these steps are in place, only then you can say that you have established a teacher disciple relationship. Otherwise, is no obligation just because you’re listening to some teachings or just because you happen to be in the same town with a particular teacher.
There’s no obligation to take the person as your lama. You have to be very careful, right? Once you make the decision and when you make the steps, there is a definite relationship and for that reason, first you have to examine and then you have to be very careful in this relationship. What follows here in the text is actually mentioned on the what is called here the eight benefits that result from properly relying on the teacher and the eight faults that result from the opposite of that, which is not relying properly into the teacher. And these are actually quite important points to be aware of.
Now there is a bit of news to announce. Rinpoche was saying that he received a number of phone calls from Sera from Sera Je India with the news that His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be going to Sera to give a number of teachings. There will be teachings on Lamrim and then further on teachings on Tantra. Rinpoche received a number of phone calls from Sera Je from his khangtsen, their internal khangtsen, they’re really insisting and requesting Rinpoche to please go to Sera for this particular occasion. And Rinpoche actually thinks that it will be inappropriate not to go.
It’s a very special occasion. His Holiness is expected to arrive in Sera around the twenty fourth of July. So as you realize there’s not enough time from now until Rinpoche visits Sera again. Rinpoche’s intention was that we would try to finish the text. Now, in order to finish the text means that we need to double our efforts.
And having seen that Friday is a free day, Rinpoche decided that from now until Rinpoche goes away, it will be very beneficial to have the three principal aspects of the path twice a week: Wednesday and Friday. So those of you who are free on Friday, please make an effort to come. Oh, yes. Rinpoche is hoping we we finish the text with this effort. Okay.
If anybody has a burning question just a minute or two. Right. No, I lost it. The last twenty one is combined for all three. Thank you.
Yeah. Rinpoche was saying that there were two different ways there could be direct perception of a deity: one through the senses and one through the mind. What is the nature of mind such that one mind could know another without the medium of sense perception. So your question is actually how can one mind be aware of another mind without having the aid of the sense perception? Speech, whatever.
Now, Rinpoche is saying that it is possible actually for the mind first of all, we’re establishing possibility, right? That it is possible for the mind without relying on the senses. You don’t see another being, but it it appears in your mind, right? And you’re capable to almost hear the voice of that being, right? You’re not relying on the senses.
It’s the mind, but such a thing probably, it happens like this. Now, it all relies on this capacity, the mind that the mind has to have certain things dawning or appearing in the mind. Right? For example, you could be looking at a picture with your eyes, and in a sense you become so familiar with that picture that then you can close your eyes, which means you’re not relying on the senses, and then the picture appears in your mind. Okay?
Similar thing happens with your object of attachment. Your object of attachment can appear in your mind when physically it’s not there. So do rely on this capacity of the mind to have things appearing in it. Now we have another example of that which happens in the preparation, in the training for establishing calm abiding. Prior to actually trying to focus on anything, what you do is you familiarize yourself, let’s say, with an image of the Buddha, and you pay attention to every detail.
And after you become visually very familiar with the body and all the characteristics of the Buddha, you close your eyes and you try to bring up the image mentally. So you have the image of the Buddha appearing in your mind without relying on your eyes. And then on the basis of that appearance you try to generate your calm abiding and how you do that is by trying to single pointedly concentrate on that image that arises. This is another case of something appearing in the mind without relying anymore on the eye consciousness and so forth. Okay.
Yeah. Maybe we stop here. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Think it.
You gotta better watch. Yeah.