Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 47-minute opening session, Khensur Rinpoche begins with the Buddha’s striking image of emptiness as nectar — a wisdom that eradicates the afflictive emotions at their root and makes liberation possible. He traces the origins of the Heart Sūtra: after enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, the Buddha first taught the Four Noble Truths at Varanasi, then fifteen years later gave his first discourse on emptiness at Vulture’s Peak. Rinpoche describes the marks of a student ready for these teachings — repeated joy, tears flowing, hair standing on end — and explains that only the Consequentialist Middle Way school fully penetrates the sūtra’s meaning. He closes with encouragement: even those who do not yet realize emptiness benefit, as each session of listening plants powerful seeds for future understanding. Suited to practitioners with some Mahāyāna background.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 HS 1992 05 19.mp3
UUID: c2d56ed5-a86a-454c-bf80-f1c7fb035dfc
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Heart Sūtra (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1992-05-19
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 47.3 minutes
Words: ~2,219
So the teaching that will be given is on the view. As a preliminary to that, we should try to develop the motivation of the awakening heart. So we are all exactly the same. Just as we ourselves want happiness and do not want to suffer, likewise all sentient beings want happiness and do not want to suffer. Simply to seek a happiness which is the worst of any suffering only for ourselves is an extremely narrow motivation, extremely small minded.
Can only at best bring about minor acts which will result in minor effects. But considering the fact that all sentient beings are just like ourselves, and considering their happiness and wishing to bring them a happiness bereft of any suffering will bring about a skillful action and will accumulate a creative potential equal to space. In order to lead myself and all living beings into a complete happiness divorced of any suffering? I myself must remove all my various faults and bring to consummation all my excellent qualities. Having achieved such a state, then I will lead all sentient beings into a complete happiness, divorced of any suffering.
In order to achieve that end, I am going to engage in the practice and listen to the essence of the universal vehicle Dharma, the meaning of the perfection of wisdom, that is to say emptiness. So we should proceed in our meditation in this order of development of motivation. According to a verse by Śākyamūni Buddha when he first taught. So explaining a verse setting forth emptiness by Śākyamūni Buddha where he said that emptiness is extremely profound. And why is it extremely profound? Because it is so very difficult to understand.
Can you hear me okay? That it is the negation of true existence that things are non self defining. That this negation is the negation of inherent existence, which is the meaning of emptiness. And that this emptiness does not arise through causes and conditions, but is a non product. The Buddha went on to say that emptiness is like nectar, or in Sanskrit, Amrita, or in Tibetan, dhütsi.
And I have realized, I have come to understand, I know emptiness. So nectar, there are various types of nectar. There is the nectar of deathlessness or the nectar of immortality. And then there is the nectar of uncontaminated wisdom. And if one were to partake of the nectar of immortality, nothing is able to harm you, that you can live for innumerable years.
And this nectar, there is also the capacity of medicinal nectar. That is to say, with this nectar, there is no sickness which can befall you. Then there is also the nectar of the wisdom of uncontaminated wisdom. And here, if it were to be contaminated, it would be by the afflictive emotions. So this is the wisdom which eradicates the afflictive emotions.
And this is the wisdom of the direct realization of emptiness, whereby by means of this nectar, the various afflictive emotions can be removed from their very root and one can attain a complete cessation of all suffering and fears. So it is this nectar, the nectar of the wisdom of directly realizing emptiness that the Buddha has realized. Having said that, he said, I have realized the profound, and I don’t think anyone else can understand. And so for the time being, I’m going to remain silent. This he spoke immediately subsequent to his attainment of Buddhahood at Bodh Gaya.
We’re going to be discussing the Heart Sūtra, which is a very few words, but its subject is extremely profound. It’s very vast and very deep. So today, I’m going to speak roughly about how the Heart of Wisdom sūtra arose, how did it come about in teaching on emptiness, how did the Buddha’s realization, how did his teaching of the Dharma on emptiness come about, and how long will it remain. So these days in Europe, there are many scholars who are beginning to question, asking questions about how the Buddhadharma came about and beginning to question how the lamas were trained, when the Dharma came about, and what is it constituted of, and how long will it last. These accounts are extremely important.
Buddha was born twenty six hundred and fifty two years ago. And he remained in his palace until the age of twenty nine? And then at the age of twenty nine, he became a renunciate. And he proceeded to Nālānda, where he carried on meditation practices for six years. And at the age of thirty five, he achieved Buddhahood at Bodh Gaya.
And having attained Buddhahood, he then spoke the words which we just mentioned about the Dharma which he had realized was profound. Then he proceeded to give his first teaching of the Dharma at Varanasi, and this was the first turning of the wheel. It was the turning of the wheel of the Four Noble Truths. At this time, he did not teach emptiness. Fifteen years subsequent to his attainment of Buddhahood, he then gave his first teaching on emptiness at a place called Rajgir, the mass of Vulture’s Peak.
In giving and teaching on emptiness, because it’s difficult to understand, it’s necessary that we identify to whom, what type of student it is able to be taught. Because emptiness is extremely profound and subtle, many students are not able to understand it. And out of this, there is a danger that some will develop a wrong view saying that, in fact, emptiness does not exist at all. Candrakīrti sets forth the characteristics of the student who is suitable to listen to teachings on Dharma. And these characteristics are the So in describing the characteristics of a suitable student to whom emptiness can be taught, it is said that this student should be one who has listened to teachings in the past and has predispositions to understanding of emptiness.
When listening to the teachings of emptiness, there arises a great joy in the mind again and again and again. And due to the force of this joy arising in the mind, the tears begin to flow uncontrollably. And the hair rises on one’s skin, stands on end. To such a person is suitable to be taught the profound teachings on emptiness. So such a one has great faith in emptiness.
And these outward physical manifestations are an indication of the internal quality of that student’s mind. And for such a person, the teachings on emptiness are like medicine. And this individual will quickly generate the wisdom of emptiness, like a sprout rising. And for such a student, these teachings are of great benefit. There’s no fault, but only benefit.
I think many of I think in So I think during the course of these teachings, of you will show these qualities of the tears flowing from your eyes and the hairs standing on your skin. So I think you’re suitable students. From listening to these teachings on emptiness, though you may not cry and hairs may not stand on end, if you simply have a great liking, you think, this emptiness is really something wonderful. That’s sufficient. So for some, because the emptiness is so subtle, they may say, in fact, it doesn’t exist.
And this leads to a deprecation. Or on the other hand, they may superimpose their own ideals upon emptiness. In either of these two cases, then there’s no benefit, there’s only fault in receiving the teachings. So the the view which is set forth, the view of emptiness set forth in the Heart of Wisdom Sūtra cannot be understood by the various lower tenet systems. The tenet systems of the great exposition, the sūtra school, the mind only school.
And even within the middle way school, it cannot be understood by the autonomy middle way. But it is only understood by the Consequentialist Middle Way school because what is presented here is the ultimate view of reality. And the students for whom this sūtra was spoken, are those intent on the universal vehicle. This sūtra is an uncommon sūtra spoken only for those who are training within the universal vehicle, or the Mahāyāna. Whether one is a practitioner of the universal vehicle or not is dependent upon the existence within one’s mind of the awakening heart.
If one possesses the awakening heart, then one is a practitioner of the universal vehicle. If not, one is not. So what are the practices of the individual of the universal vehicle? The practice constituted the awakening heart. In our meditation, we sought to develop the motivation of the awakening heart, but additionally the practices of the six perfections the perfections of generosity, ethics, tolerance, joyous effort, meditative concentration, and wisdom.
Of these six perfection, it is the last, the perfection of wisdom, which represents the realization of emptiness. The former four, that is the perfections of generosity, ethics, tolerance, and joyous effort, cannot realize emptiness. But in combination of the meditative stabilizations, the fifth and the sixth, the perfection of wisdom. And mainly, the perfection of wisdom is that which actually realizes emptiness. Because of the wisdom realizing emptiness, it’s of such great importance that it’s so beneficial, that it’s such a great blessing, that in comparison to the former five perfections, it is analogous to a person having eyes, whereas the former five perfections are like a blind person.
We’ve described the fact that the wisdom realizing emptiness is of such great benefit, importance, and of such a great blessing. And we’re going to discuss why it is so beneficial. So using this analogy of the blind person and those who are able to see, if there were one hundred blind people and they desired to go to a particular destination, they wouldn’t be able to get to where they want to go. But if one person who had eyes was to guide them in a system, they would be able to arrive at their destination, their desired destination. So we who are the various practices of generosity, ethics, etcetera, by themselves are not able to achieve Buddhahood.
That we who are seeking to practice in dependence upon these cannot achieve our desired destination of Buddhahood. But if these practices are assisted or accompanied with the wisdom realizing emptiness, then this wisdom acts as a guide leading ourselves to the destination, the desired destination of Buddhahood. It is only wisdom which has this capacity. If we possess the wisdom realizing emptiness, then we can completely sever the roots of cyclic existence because we are able to overcome its basis, that is, misknowledge or ignorance. We can overcome all our sufferings, sufferings such as birth, old age, disease, and death.
And we can achieve liberation. Additionally, if this wisdom, realizing emptiness, is combined with great compassion, then we can bring about the complete eradication of all our various faults and bringing to fulfillment all of our excellent qualities, that it is wisdom which possesses such a capacity. So these are the qualities which will arise within our mind if we, and the benefits if we were to realize emptiness. So these teachings that are going to be given on emptiness, for those of you who are the most intelligent, they will be able to realize emptiness. For those who possess middling intelligence, they will be able to have an idea, some ascertainment about the nature of emptiness.
They will be able to understand that emptiness is like this and is like that. For those who have limited intelligence, still you will be able to implant stable and powerful latencies or predispositions to its eventual understanding. And either way, one’s life has been meaningful. So we’ve explained some of the benefits if one were to realize emptiness. But even if we weren’t to realize emptiness, as Nāgārjuna has said, that up to now, that simply to be able to listen and reflect, due to our lack of creative potential in the past, we have not had the opportunity to listen and reflect upon emptiness.
But if we get that opportunity, then out of that opportunity we can accumulate a great mass of creative potential. And additionally, we will implant the predispositions and the capacity such that we will eventually be able to sever the root of cyclic existence, that is, misknowledge or ignorance. So if we again and again listen to and contemplate and meditate, listen to, contemplate and meditate on emptiness, we will be implanting the powerful seeds in predispositions such that in the future we will be able to quickly realize emptiness. And this is the great benefit of what we are doing. So if if one should gain some understanding of the wonderful benefits to be gained through gaining the realization of emptiness and generate a sense of joy in these teachings on emptiness.
Now with respect to the actual discourse itself, Heart of Wisdom, there has two titles. One is given in the Sanskrit and the other in the Tibetan. And now it’s going to also be given to English. It was originally taught by the Buddha in the Sanskrit language. And the Sanskrit title of the discourse is Bhagavati Prajñāpāramitā Hridaya.
And in Tibetan, And in English, the heart of the perfection of wisdom, the blessed mother.