Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A verse from the Buddha — “the end of all birth is death, the end of all meeting is separation” — anchors the heart of this 51-minute commentary by Khensur Rinpoche on the second grouping of the fifty-one secondary mental factors, the five determining factors. He works through aspiration in detail, distinguishing three types: the desire to meet, the wish not to be separated, and the drive to strive toward an object such as liberation. He then treats belief as holding firm to what one has personally verified through valid cognition, unshaken by external objections. The session closes with Maitreya’s image of Buddha nature as a barley seed latent in every being, requiring conditions — refuge, positive action, a kind heart — to sprout into Buddhahood.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 23 AK 1988-12-08.mp3
UUID: 3d77ded9-cfa1-4fd9-b96b-bf170a77a776
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Awareness and Knowledge 1988-1989 (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1988-12-08
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 50.8 minutes
Words: ~2,783
So please adjust your motivation such that you’re going to listen to this teaching in order to attain highest, purest, complete enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. So we’re discussing the fifty-one secondary mental factors. And the first grouping is the grouping of the five omnipresent factors. That is feeling, discrimination, intention, mental engagement, and contact. And we’ll begin, we finished that discussion, and we’ll begin the discussion of the second grouping, which is the five determining factors.
The five determining factors. So the the five determining factors are aspiration, second is belief, Third is mindfulness. Fourth is stabilization. And fifth is wisdom. So that’s aspiration, belief, mindfulness, stabilization, and wisdom.
So the definition of aspiration is a mental factor which takes a strong interest. This guy says A a mental factor, having focused upon an intended object takes a strong interest in it. A a mental factor, having focused upon an intended object, takes a strong interest in it, is the definition of aspiration. If we take an example of, say, taking an object such as meditation, and thinking, how, you know, excellent it is to meditate. And therefore, having taken this as our intended object, focusing upon the fact of motivating, taking a strong interest in meditation.
Focusing, thinking how well, how good meditation is, taking, focusing on upon meditation, then, actually taking a strong interest in it. Aspiring to meditate is the def would be an example of what we mean by aspiration. So likewise, it could be the object that we focus upon could be such such objects as liberation, thinking the the excellent qualities of liberation, the happiness of liberation. Or it could be compassion, could be love, and thinking what an excellent object it is. And thinking in this way, taking a strong interest in it, striving in that direction of the object would be as would be, examples of aspiration.
So the the there are three types of aspiration. The first is the aspiration to meet. And this would be, for example, not having seen your parents for a long time, focusing upon them and taking, endeavoring, taking a strong interest, in this case to meet them. Or if you had not having your senior spiritual teacher for a long time, taking thinking about him or her and developing the desire, the interest in meeting with your teacher. This would be an example of meeting aspiration of meeting.
And the second type of aspiration would be the aspiration of, not to separate or not depart. This would be, for example, having this the the aspiration to meet your teacher or your parents or relative or friend, and then you having met them, there arises the mental factor wishing I wish we didn’t have to separate. You know, it’s taking a strong liking and being together and thinking, I I wish we didn’t have to separate. This this mental factor thinking, wishing not to be separated is the asp the aspiration of nonparting. Non separation.
So the Buddha said that that the end of all birth is death. The end of all meeting is separation. The end of all coming together is dispersion, and the end of all worldly heights gaining worldly heights is falling. So this is the nature of the transitory basis of the mundane existence. That, for example, having taken birth, it’s the nature of things that they will die.
So since this is the nature of our our mundane existence that the end of life must naturally end in death, all life must end in death. Therefore, that to if we understanding this, are going to practice the Dharma. That by understanding that that we are going to be separated from this body eventually, that this is the nature of things, And that depending upon the various negative and positive actions that we create during this existence is going to determine what type of future rebirth we’re going to experience. That whether it’s a good there’s only two possibilities. Either we’re going to take a good rebirth or a bad rebirth.
And understanding that not wishing to take a bad rebirth, then we’re going to abandon those types of causes which bring about a bad rebirth. And again, the the end of all meeting is parting. It’s separation of coming together as separation. That’s the, you know, the nature of our mundane existence. Whether this coming together is of relatives, whether it’s a man and a wife, whether it’s a student and his teacher, they all come together due to the force of karma.
When that karma, karmic energy is exhausted, then there naturally will occur dispersion. This is whoever or whatever coming together, it will naturally end in dispersion in in separation. And no matter how many things we may collect together, how much money, how many precious objects, how rich we may become, that we can only abide in those riches for a limited amount of time. That it’s in the nature of collection that they will eventually disperse. That they will exhaust themselves.
That soon they will, we cannot remain with them forever, no matter what efforts we might make to hold on to them. So if we can understand this, that that no matter what we do, then that our collection, and no matter what it may be, for example, wealth, it will eventually disperse. It’s in its nature. That, and understanding that, that the fact that we have, we may be rich in this lifetime is in dependence upon having been generous in the past lifetimes. Again, by practicing generosity to sentient beings, to making offerings to the Three Jewels, then we can assure ourselves rather of again having wealth in the future, rather than trying to hold onto it where in fact we cannot.
Will eventually have to be dispersed and be separated from anyway. So this is the aspiration of non parting. You know, it can be this thinking, this thought not to part. It can be from not wishing to part from a friend. It can from various things, property.
Or it can be even not wishing to part from the dharma, be separated from the dharma. So then the third type of aspiration would be the aspiration of striving or perhaps intent, interest, intent. So this could be directed toward any type of anything, you know, whatever it is. Thinking to want to get this particular object. Strive for this particular object, be intent on this object.
It can be directed toward anything, and it could be directed, for example, toward liberation, taking enthusiasm, thinking about the happiness liberation, taking a strong interest, intent upon, liberation would be as it would be the aspiration of striving or intent. So the the function of aspiration, this this aspiration of striving, brings about effort, is to make effort. That’s the function of the aspiration of striving. For example, thinking about the good qualities of the Dharma, or thinking about, liberation or eliminating one’s suffering, Buddhahood, this thought will function to, you know, the intent upon this object, striving for this object has the function of bringing about making effort towards this object. So it this aspiration brings about has the function of causing one to make effort in the direction of the object.
So Candrakīrti has said that through effort, that any act, through effort, we brings about, we can bring about any type of, we can gain any type of object that we’re intent upon. Whether it’s a object is included within dharma, or whether it’s an worldly object, we can attain anything through making effort. But on the other hand, if we don’t make effort, then no matter how much wisdom, how intelligent we may be, then it’s as if we’re a corpse, that we’re not actually a a human being. We can’t do anything no matter how intelligent we may be. Then the next determining factor is belief.
And this is the mental factor, which which apprehends an object, which was previously ascertained by its own valid cognition. A a mental factor which apprehends an object which was previously ascertained by its own valid cognition. So I think in that in my in my definition, rather than apprehend, say say to hold. That has maybe it’s a little better translation of the word to hold. To hold something, told an object which was previously ascertained by one’s own prime cognition.
For ex to hold onto. Like hold onto. So for example, understanding through one’s own prime cognition. We talked about valid cognition before. You know, we said that valid cognition is a new incontrovertible knower.
That is, it realizes its object. It understands its object essentially. Having understood, for example, that through positive causes we experience happiness, through negative causes we experience suffering. One ascertains that for oneself. One comes to an understanding of that for oneself.
Having understood that, and one holds onto that, that understanding, that no matter what anybody might say, you say, No, this is right. I’ve ascertained this for myself. I’ve understood this for myself. And therefore, in the face of objections from others, holding on to your your previous understanding since you’ve you generate this understanding for yourself. So, another example, having, you know, come to an understanding for yourself that it’s of the usefulness, the the benefit of cultivating love, that it’s quite an excellent thing to do.
Where on the other hand, it’s good to, as best one can, abandon anger and hatred, and then coming to an understanding for oneself of that fact. One develops a very stable ability to hold onto that understanding. And no matter what someone else might say, they say, Oh, you’re just wasting your time. That what you’re doing is of no benefit to anybody. You say, No, I know this is not true, that, this is, useful and beneficial, and holding on to this firm apprehension of its usefulness, of its benefit, is what we mean by belief.
So the belief is extremely important. Coming to a belief in the, the, all the excellent qualities of Dharma and in our practice, that in the face of any type of obstructions or others trying to overcome our practice, in some way trying to avert us from our practice by saying, Oh, there’s no such thing as past and future lives. There’s no such thing as the law of cause and effect. There’s no such thing as the Three Jewels. That in the face of someone trying to avert us from our practice, that because we have a belief, that is we hold onto something that we previously ascertained, the benefit of practicing Dharma, having the stableness of mind, of this belief, then we will always maintain excellent qualities of our mind.
So we’ll always be practicing. So in this respect, belief is extremely important. So, Maitreya, in his text, the Ornament for the Mahāyāna Sutras says that there are various realms of sentient beings. What he means by realms of sentient beings is that he’s speaking of the the Buddha nature of sentient beings. And within the various Buddha natures, that the Buddha nature is like the seed of our Buddhahood.
That there are various lineages or families. Some people have the lineage of a hearer, some solitary realizer, some the lineage of the bodhisattva. And due to the various power of the of taking various due to the power of this seed, the the lineage that of our Buddha nature, we will take various objects as our as our which we will seek to attain. Some seek to attain the liberation of a hearer. Some, this liberation of a solitary realizer, and others the the complete Buddhahood of a bodhisattva.
And then in in accordance with this, then the Buddha explained various paths in accordance with the various lineages of these beings since they were each seeking a different goal. So in in dependence upon the various aspirations, the various lineages, the various goals, the Buddha explained the various paths. And thereby, bringing about the various results. That is the the result of the enlightenment of a hearer, of a solitary realizer, and of Buddhahood. So, you know, all the various beings of the world, of of the universe.
We all have as or we exist element. Yeah. We all possess the all sentient beings possess the element. This is usually translated as element. I I I said realm before, I think.
Element. Due to this is a particular lineage, a a particular disposition due to which determines what type of our goal. By the power of our of our goal, There some some beings, have have a natural inclination to for study, for language. Some have, are are an inclination for the dharma for various activities. Some people have an inclination for good types of actions, some for bad types of action.
So these are those types of actions that we strive for are all determined by what type of goal we we have. The in Alright. Due to due to the due to the factor of the element or the this this to this nature, this determines our goal. By determining the goal, the various activities Our goal determines what type of activities that we engage in. So due to this, you know, we talked about this, element as being like Buddha as being Buddha nature.
But there’s various types of natures. Due to this nature, the power of this nature, this determines our goal. Due to the power of of our goal, this will determine the what type of activities that we will engage in. Nice. So our activities are determined by our goals.
By goal, our object that we’re trying to achieve. So our work that we do is determined by our goal. Even in the case of eating food, some people, you know, eat, might eat meat, some would eat rice, some would eat vegetables. What these particular, all these different types of activities would be determined by the object that we’re intent upon, that our goal. So this let me correct the translation.
Rather than goal, it’s the the the intent the intention. So what we’re intent upon. Yeah. It’s it’s because it’s you know, the word is is a consciousness. So it’s not what we’re it’s not the object of an intent, but the intention itself.
So what we’re in so due to our element, our our nature, this determines our intent, and our intention determines our activities. So if we’re intent due to our various intentions, we we perform various activities. We may be intent on eating on rice or meat or vegetables, and therefore, this determines what type of food we will eat. So the intent, our intentions are determined by this element or lineage. Our everyone has Buddha nature or Buddha lineage.
This is the cause of Buddhahood. So, we can we use as a basis for establishing the fact that we will all attain Buddhahood from the point of view that we all have the causes of Buddhahood within us. That we simply have to develop to to cultivate this cause, and that we will definitely attain Buddhahood. In the same way that a seed has the creative potential of a sprout within it. It’s simply by adding water and fertilizer to the seed as a condition, we can we we can bring about the result of sprout since the seed itself contains the creative potential of a sprout.
So we all contain we all possess Buddha lineage, the seed of the seed of Buddhahood. It is just like as in the case if we had a barley seed. If if we simply have a barley seed by itself, that in itself is not enough to produce a sprout. We have to provide other conditions whereby the creative potential can be realized of this barley seed. But by planting it in a field, adding water, then this adds this are the conditions necessary whereby we can it will realize its creative potential and will grow a a barley sprout.
Likewise, we have this seed of Buddhahood within us, but that in itself is not enough. We have to provide the necessary conditions to realize this creative potential. And we can provide these conditions by, for example, the creative conditions would be, for example, going for refuge, adopting various positive types of actions, rejecting negative types of actions, developing a kind heart, cultivating all the excellent qualities of the path. These would act as conditions whereby the we would giving rise to the sprout of Buddhahood.