Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Khensur Rinpoche opens with a vivid local image: the giant wheel at the Royal Adelaide Show is exactly how we circle in saṃsāra through the twelve limbs of dependent arising. In this 32-minute session, he explains that ignorance drives the wheel, and that realizing emptiness is like finding the main power switch and cutting the wire. He then examines a key philosophical question — what is the “I” that actually circles? Lower Buddhist schools say consciousness alone is the traveler; the Prāsaṇgika view holds that all five aggregates form the basis, and the imputed I — like a snake mistakenly seen in a coiled rope — is what circles. He closes with a brief treatment of the Four Noble Truths within this same liberation framework. Assumes some prior grounding in Buddhist philosophy.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 11 HS 2000 12 05.mp3
UUID: bb8c95be-79a6-425d-82e6-deb60cbbc827
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Heart Sūtra (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 2000-12-05
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 31.7 minutes
Words: ~1,609
Hi. So the consciousness is the one which takes the rebirth and the rest of the forms and the first four aggregates and the other twelve sources like eye, ear, and so forth are the objects where one takes the rebirth, where consciousness takes the rebirth. So, and now the question is how one takes circles in the cyclic existence. Through the twelve limbs of interdependence one circles in the cyclic existence. And this is the indirect implication or the teaching of the text which is not clearly written.
But through the twelve limbs of interdependent, six of them are the causes and the six are the results. By cultivating six causes of the twelve limbs of interdependent, one receives the six results and through cultivating all these twelve limbs of dependent arising, one, you know, circles in saṃsāra. Yeah, so by cultivating the twelve limbs of dependent arising, one circles in the cyclic existence or some sort of like a wheel. And it is like the Royal Adelaide show, and the kids go there in like a huge gigantic wheel, I don’t know, so it’s like we circle like that. So, we circle in the cyclic existence like that wheel in the Royal Adelaide Show.
And so, in order to stop the wheel to circle, one needs to look for the source, where is the main switch, which lets the or the main connection, the wire connection. And by knowing that and cut the wire, you know, cut the connection or the wall of that wire, the wheel suddenly stops. So likewise one needs to abandon the root of the cyclic existence which is the ignorance. One needs to abandon the ignorance, the root of the cyclic existence in order to stop circling in the saṃsāra. So which abandons the root of the cyclic existence, ignorance?
And that is the first limbs of the purified, the twelve limbs of interdependent, which is the extinction of ignorance, is the one which abandons the ignorance. So the great master Tsongkhapa has stated that all the sufferings of the saṃsāra, both the internal suffering of the body and the external sufferings called the container and what is contained, all the sufferings of the saṃsāra come out of the root which is ignorance. So, in order to abandon that or eliminate the root of cyclic existence, the ignorance, Okay. No, the battery is okay. So, by seeing, one abandons the root of cyclic existence, the ignorance.
By seeing, which means this by realizing or seeing emptiness directly, one abandons the root of the cyclic existence, ignorance. So the emptiness is is the one. The wisdom realizing emptiness is the one which abandons the root of the samsaric existence, the ignorance. So how to, how one can see or how one can realize the emptiness? For that purpose, the Buddha Śākyamūni has set forth the teachings of dependent arising or dependent origination, which is the purpose to see or realize the emptiness.
And it also the Buddha Śākyamūni said, one who sees the dependent arising will see the Dharma or doctrine. One who sees the doctrine or Dharma will see the Buddha. What it means is whoever understands or realizes the dependent arising, one sees the Dharma, which is one sees the emptiness or realized emptiness. By realizing emptiness, one achieves Buddha, or Buddhahood, or one sees the Buddha.
What it is, So, the teaching of dependent arising and emptiness are set are are set forth to as a method to to free all the sentient beings, free sentient beings from the cyclic existence or saṃsāra. So, and also, and this is how the, those emptiness are also set forth in the three ever liberated doors which we have explained in the earlier classes. And so therefore, to develop a good wisdom and also develop a pure renunciation or a mind wish to free from cyclic existence. And along with that pure renunciation or with the wish of wish to free from cyclic existence, one should cultivate or train in the dependent arising dependent arising and through the power of training in that, and one will and or one should cultivate to one should try to realize the emptiness. And by realizing emptiness, one can attain the ultimate or the peace of all lives.
So, and in the earlier classes, I have set forth the logic proving how the imputed I towards the five aggregates is free of inherent existence, which was that the imputed I towards the five aggregates is free of or empty of inherent existence because it is dependent origination or it’s dependent arising. So through the power of the logic of dependent arising, one attains the one realizes the emptiness. And the example was given as the mistaken wisdom, which sees snake for the coil of the rope, the rounded rope. So and so should try to cultivate train in or one should try to cultivate train in the dependent logic of dependent arising and and to realize the emptiness. And so the the saṃsāra is not is not a permanent thing.
It can be abandoned, or it can be diminished, it can be minimized, it can be minimized, it can be, you know, say, reduced. And also the root of the cyclic existence, ignorance must also be abandoned, weaker, can make weaker, so forth. And if, for the best, if one realizes emptiness, one can abandon all this, all the saṃsāra, root of the saṃsāra, so forth. But even if one fails to realize the emptiness, but by training in activating the wisdom realizing emptiness, just by trying, knowing the, knowing that what does emptiness means, and how it’s how, by knowing how one can establish the logical proof of a logical statement to prove something is free of inherent existence. Just by knowing that helps one to to just by knowing that harms the saṃsāra or ignorance very strongly.
So all this previous explanation of five aggregates, twelve limbs, eighteen elements of perception, and so forth are set forth as the detailed explanation. And after that set forth the four noble truths, the no true suffering, no true origins, are in terms of brief explanation or briefly speaking. Example, what it means is no suffering, which is true suffering. True suffering is the cyclic existence or the basis where one circles and the true origin which are action and the disturbing emotions are the one which lets one to circle in the Samsāra. So, which shows the causes and the result.
And the next two, which are the true path and the true cessation, the true path is the one which is the method which frees one from the cyclic existence, which is called the true path is the wisdom realizing emptiness, the path or true path. And by training, by cultivating in the method of freeing from cyclic existence, which is the true path, then one attains the true cessation, which is free from cyclic existence. One has attained liberation and had achieved the happiness, which the happiness free from sufferings, ultimate happiness. No. So the way of circling in the cyclic existence, which we have set just before, are from according to the law, the schools below the Prāsaṇgika, the consequential school, which we have said before, the first four aggregates are how their assert their assertion is the first four aggregates are the basis of the samsarcic existence, where one circles.
And the fifth aggregate, the consciousness, is the one, the circular, or one circles. So, now, likewise for the twelve limbs and eighteen constituents, the consciousness is the one which circles in the twelve sources and eighteen constituents. But, here now, middle, the utmost class, the consequentialist schools, the school of middle way, which is called the Prāsaṇgika, set forth different. The Prāsaṇgika says all the five aggregates, twelve sources, eighteen constituents are the basis of basis of circling. And the I which is labeled to it, which is called the nominal I which is imputed to the five aggregates, is the one which circles in twelve limbs, which circles in the cyclic existence of five aggregates, twelve sources, eighteen constituents.
So you can see that the imputed I, which always exists, or which is always there within us, not just within us, it’s very taut and solid, stays very firmly inside us. So the consequentialists said the consciousness is not the I. So so they consequentialists don’t assert that the the consciousness is the traveler or circular. They said that all the five aggregates are the basis of circling and the imputed I towards the five aggregates is the one or is the I which circles in the cyclic existence. And, and, and yeah, so it is, which is the one, the imputed I is the one which circles in the cyclic existence.
And for example like when the mistaken consciousness mistakenly perceives the snake on the rope, the rounded, whatever, they say the rope as a snake, and at that time the consciousness projected the snake to the rope. So likewise the projected I towards the five aggregates is the I, is the one which circles in the cyclic existence. So, okay, we’ll stop here today and it’s been very long, twenty-two ten, and so we won’t take any questions today. If you have questions you can ask in the next class next week. So therefore, as the Westerners like to meditate a lot, and if you want to meditate, then meditate what we have said just before.
I request you to meditate on what we have said for you.