Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Opening with Nāgārjuna’s verse that a Buddha’s form body arises from collected merit and his truth body from collected wisdom, Khensur Rinpoche uses this 94-minute commentary to explain what each collection contains and why the awakening heart must undergird every action for it to become a cause of Buddhahood. He then addresses the anxiety many practitioners feel about ever accumulating enough merit, presenting Nāgārjuna’s four-infinities argument: because sentient beings are limitless, each moment of genuine bodhicitta generates limitless creative potential. The story of Geshe Sharawa — who prayed continually to be born in hell yet arrived only in a pure land due to his accumulated merit — illustrates why a sense of insufficiency is misplaced. The Q&A covers laziness and self-doubt, eclipse-day practices, and a student’s belief that reciting Om Mani Padme Hum was making them ill.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 16 PG 1991 06 18.mp3
UUID: 80911c30-597d-4e75-bb3a-9ec2a54afcbf
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Precious Garland 1990-1991 (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1991-06-18
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 94.9 minutes
Words: ~4,754
So we should begin by developing a sense of rejoicing in the fact that we have achieved this human life in this world by means of which we can eliminate our suffering and achieve happiness. This human life which we possess has complete capacities whereby to bring about a happiness and an unchanging happiness both for ourselves and others. Is that sufficient simply to try to achieve happiness for ourselves alone, but developing the attitude of seeking to achieve happiness and the causes of happiness for all sentient beings, that is the development of love, and developing the attitude of eliminating the sufferings and the causes of sufferings of others, of our sentient beings, that is developing compassion. But if we that we have the intention to eliminate the sufferings of ourselves and others, to bring ourselves and others happiness, if we don’t act upon this, then nothing will happen. We cannot simply say, please may my suffering go away or please may I have happiness, but we have to act.
So what are we to do? How are we to act in order to eliminate the suffering of all sentient beings and to bring them happiness? But we must understand extremely well what is to be adopted and what is to be rejected. And out of this great understanding, begin to implement these as a means to lead others to happiness and to lead them out of their suffering. So in order to actually implement the acts of adoption and rejection, we must understand what is exactly to be adopted and what is to be rejected.
And we can look to such great vehicle texts as Precious Garland, which outline what is to be adopted and what is to be rejected. And upon understanding these, then we can put them into practice and thereby be of vast benefit to all sentient beings. So for the next three minutes develop the kind hearted attitude as one’s motivation for listening to this present teaching. Beginning with the verse from Precious Garland by Nāgārjuna, in which it says, The form body of a Buddha arises from collected merit. The body of truth, in brief, O king, arises from collected wisdom.
So previously, we were discussing the signs and marks upon a Buddha’s body, and these were brought about through a creation of vast collections. Briefly, just as we ourselves have a body, speech, mind, likewise, the Buddha has a body, speech, and mind. And the body and speech taken together are referred to as the form body. The mind of the Buddha is referred to as the truth body. So the cause for achieving the form body of a Buddha is the collection of creative potential or merit.
Because for the achievement of the truth body, that is the wisdom of the Buddha, the mind of the Buddha, is the collection of wisdom. Therefore, in dependence upon the two collections of creative potential and wisdom, a Buddha arises. In order to achieve Buddhahood, it’s necessary to accumulate the two collections. By accumulate, gradual increase in increments. Like if we have five dollars and we get five more dollars, we have ten dollars and we get five more dollars, fifteen dollars, twenty dollars, the adding on the increments and the accumulation of these two collections is the way in which to bring about Buddhahood.
So it’s simply not enough to have created a single collection at one time, but it’s necessary to accumulate over and above that, more and more adding on to one’s previous accumulation to create these necessary collections. So what do we mean by the in terms of the great vehicle by these two collections? What do we mean by, firstly, the collection of creative potential. This is explained by Candrakīrti in his Entering into the Middle Way, in which he says that the skillful actions which mainly bring about the achievement of the Buddha body, the form body of a Buddha. The skillful actions which mainly bring about the achievement of a form body of a Buddha is the collection of creative potential of these two, wisdom collection and the collection of creative potential.
It is which the skillful action which mainly bring about the achievement of the form body is the collection of creative potential. And it goes on. And between these two, the collection of creative potential and the collection of wisdom, it is the collection of wisdom which is the main cause bringing about the truth body of a Buddha, or that is to say the mind of the Buddha. The main cause for bringing about the truth body of a Buddha is the collection of wisdom. Within the Great Vehicle, the wisdom collection is comprised of the awareness realizing emptiness.
So the wisdom body is, or the truth body is constituted of the wisdom realizing emptiness. The collection of creative potential, I should have said the wisdom collection. The collection of wisdom is considered the wisdom realizing emptiness. The collection of creative potential is not the wisdom realizing emptiness, but it is the various factors such as love, compassion, awakening heart, generosity, ethics, tolerance, joyous effort, the skillful actions created out of, for example, prostrations, making offerings, all of our the roots of our skillful actions constitute the collection of creative potential. But whichever of these two collections it may be within the context of the great vehicle, it necessarily must be conjoined with the awakening heart.
That the wisdom, which realizing emptiness conjoined with the awakening heart brings about the wisdom collection. The various skillful actions conjoined with the awakening heart bring about the collection of creative potential. Without this being conjoined with the awakening heart, it does not constitute either of the collections of the great vehicle. And so if in order for a skillful action to be the cause of Buddhahood, it must be conjoined with the awakening heart. In order for an action to become a cause for liberation, it must be conjoined with the mind of renunciation.
Additionally, if one does not have the realization of emptiness, then the action cannot act as an antidote to the grasping at self. Without the wisdom realizing emptiness, there is no antidote to self-grasping. So these three, the mind of renunciation, the awakening heart, the correct view of emptiness, constitute the three principal aspects of the path. And these are extremely important. Without our actions being conjoined with the mind of renunciation, then those actions do not become a cause for liberation.
Without our actions being conjoined with the awakening heart, those actions do not become a cause for the attainment of Buddhahood. And without the correct view of emptiness, then there is no direct way to eliminate self-grasping. So it’s important that we understand these three, and we take them as the main objects of our meditation. In general, the Buddha taught varied teachings. And all of these vast and varied teachings were condensed into the Lam Rim, the graduated path.
And the essence of the graduated path are these three principal aspects of the path, this mind of renunciation, the awakening heart, and the correct view of emptiness. So the Lam Rim, the graduated path, is extremely important. If we are cultivating the practices of the being of narrow and limited perspective, it’s necessary that we generate the mind of renunciation. If we’re seeking to cultivate the perspective of the great being, then it’s necessary that we cultivate the awakening heart. And additionally, it’s necessary that we cultivate the wisdom, understanding emptiness if we are to understand the view.
So we’re seeking to practice the Dharma well and therefore we must reflect upon what our motivation is in our various practices. If, for example, meditation is conjoined with the mind of renunciation, then the skillful action created out of that meditation will become a cause for liberation. On the other hand, if our practice is conjoined with the awakening heart, then all the very skillful actions created out of that motivation, actions propelled by that motivation act as it will become a cause for the attainment of Buddhahood. If our actions are not conjoined with the awakening heart, then they will not become a cause for Buddhahood. And so we reflect well upon our motivation.
If our motivation is not either of these two, then we should seek to alter it, to change it, such that it becomes a skillful motivation and therefore creating skillful actions which will become causes for liberation and enlightenment. And there’s great profit out of this, from adjusting our motivation in this way. By means of the great vehicle collection of creative potential, we create our own Buddha field. The birth within this Buddha field as a Buddha, having created the environment of that Buddha field in which our students as our retinue will reside and we go on to teach the Dharma to these retinue students. This all comes about through the great vehicle collection of creative potential.
So as was explained during the course of the last retreat that in terms of the Buddha field of Amitābha Buddha, that the Amitābha Buddha at one previous time created, accumulated a vast collection of creative potential whereby to create his own Buddha field, to take birth within that Buddha field, and to have a retinue of students and to be able to teach them the Dharma. And just as he accumulated this collection, that we as individuals must also accumulate our own creative potential collection. So we as ordinary individuals are acting in an analogous manner. In our case, we are creating actions, let us say karma, under the influence of afflictive emotions. Out of this, we have created a field of activity.
Due to the force of our karma, of our shared karma, we create a shared field of activity to which we have been born. We have various places of residence, shelters, abodes. We have a particular type of environment which we have created. We have a particular retinue or companions of circle of friends, enemies, people we like, people we don’t like. This in the same way the Buddhas are operating.
Out of their various actions, and this is the scope of actions which constitute the collection of creative potential, they are creating a field of activity. And this is their Buddha field. They are born into this Buddha field with a particular type of environment, with a particular retinue of companions, and there they teach the Dharma. Thereby they are creating a Buddha field, which is completely bereft of any suffering. So this field of activity, just as we are creating, the Buddhas are creating, and of these two collections, it is the collection of creative potential which is about this.
So, whatever our environmental field may be, it has been constituted out of karma by various actions. And this extends from the Buddhas who from their auspicious from their Buddha activities create their Buddha fields and within that they are born and they are surrounded by a particular retinue of students and they go on to teach. Likewise, we have out of a common karma, our common commonalities of shared actions have created a particular type of universe and this is our field in which we are born and we have a particular retinue of companions and we go through various experiences of happiness and suffering. But this extends even to those who are born into the field of the hell realms. That is to say out of their particular type of karma that they created, that they have created this realm, that they are born into it, they have a particular retinue of companions, they have particular torturers who force suffering upon them, and all of this, whether it’s a Buddha field or the hell realms, are arising out of karma.
A verse by where he asked the question, who created the iron floors, the molten hot iron floors, the iron hot floors within the burning houses? Who created the fires of hell? Who created the torturers who reside there? The Buddha taught that these were all created out of destructive actions. As we have explained previously, the beautiful form of the Buddha, his body, is created out of the creative potential, the collection of creative potential.
When you say, we went through the various signs and marks, and we said this particular sign is created out of this particular potential, this skillful action, this one is created out of this specific skillful action. The crown protuberance on the Buddha’s head is created from this particular skillful action. That all of these auspicious marks were created in this way. And so, it is such that out of the skillful actions that the Buddha creates, that accumulates, it creates a field and is born into that place. These various Buddha fields are being each created by different Buddhas.
There is the fields of, for example, the Buddha fields of Amitābha, the Buddha field of Mañjuśrī, of Tārā. Each of them, through their own creation of karma, have created their own Buddha fields in which they are born into. And they are such that because they are constituted only of skillful actions and there is no unskillful actions which brings them into existence, that one experiences only happiness there. So, if we were to condense down to essentially what we are saying, it is that everything whatsoever is a product of karma and the various qualities of that karma. That all that is happiness, all that is beautiful, all that is good arises in dependence upon skillful karma.
All that is suffering, all that is repulsive, all that is fraught with trouble arises through unskillful karma. Whatever it might be, whether it’s good or bad, is dependent upon the goodness or badness of the karma which caused it. We want happiness. We don’t want suffering, and happiness is something which is very positive and therefore its causes are the various types of positive actions, skillful actions, and this is the reason that we practice skillful actions. On the other hand, we don’t want even the slightest of suffering and the suffering is negative and therefore its cause is correspondingly negative.
Therefore, this is the reason that we abandon unskillful actions. So they said that Buddhahood was constituted out of the two collections by means of accumulating the collection of wisdom and creative potential, we achieve Buddhahood. And if one longs to achieve the state of Buddhahood for the benefit of oneself and all sentient beings, then it’s to create these two collections. If we create the causes, we should have no doubt that the result will arise. As was said by Dharmakīrti, he said that if the necessary causes aggregate, there is no way to prevent the rise of the result, that no one can stop it once the causes have aggregated.
On the other hand, if we have not brought together the necessary causes, collected the necessary causes together, though we plead, may the result come, please may the result come, it will not arise. That in dependence upon the coming together of the necessary causes and conditions, then the result will definitely arise. No one and no thing can prevent it or stop it. If we take an example of, say, a flower, if we make some effort to we want to grow a beautiful flower. So we need make some effort to find a proper seed.
And when we go on, we find good earth and water and all the necessary conditions and then pliancy that seed. And we water it in good earth, we water. Once we have all of the complete causes and conditions, then even if we were to pray, may no flower grow, may no flower grow, it will grow. There is no power which can prevent its growth once the causes and conditions have come together in a complete form. And the same holds true with respect to the attainment of Buddhahood. If we create the necessary causes for the attainment of Buddhahood, which are the two collections, the collections of wisdom and creative potential, and through our practice.
And having done that, even if we were to pray, may I not become a Buddha, still we will become a Buddha. So there was an account of Geshe Sharawa. And he out of his practice of exchanging self. And mindful of the great suffering which the beings in the hell realm experience, prayed continually, May I be born in hell. May I experience all of the suffering of the hell realm in place of all those beings in hell.
He prayed to be born in hell again and again continually and at the time of his death a vision arose to him of a pure land. And he thought, oh my gosh, I have not accomplished my purpose, my goal, wanting to be born in hell. And he said to his students quickly, offer a ritual cake so that I’ll be sure to be born in hell. So this practice, out of this practice of exchanging self for others, though praying to be born in hell, due to the force of the collection created, one can only be born in a pure land. So in order to attain Buddhahood it is necessary to accumulate the two collections which entails mainly the cultivation of the awakening heart and the understanding of emptiness.
The two collections are constituted out of mainly the cultivation of the awakening heart and the realization of emptiness. Therefore it’s necessary to accumulate these two collections. But we may, some hesitation may arise in our mind that thinking well you know it takes, when we looked at what it took, the necessary accumulations that was required to develop the signs and marks, Each of the signs and each of the marks required a vast amount of skillful actions in order to create them. I don’t think I can do this. And one becomes rather anxious and not, one becomes a sense of insufficiency develops.
But Nāgārjuna said that all of the bodhisattvas proceeded in this way and out of their accumulated necessary collections they achieved Buddhahood. There’s no reason that we cannot accumulate the necessary collections. There’s no one who is not able to accumulate the necessary collections, so there’s no reason to be anxious and feel insufficient. That we are able to accumulate these two vast collections can be established on the basis of reasoning and scripture, scriptural authority. Quoting first the quoting from the text in which it says, Do not be lazy about this amassing of merit to achieve enlightenment, since reasoning and scripture can restore one’s spirit.
That as far as reasoning is able to establish our capacity to accumulate the necessary collection, that by means of the cultivation of the awakening heart one is empowered to collect. One is empowered by the vastness of the awakening heart to accumulate the necessary collection. And just as there are infinite number of elements such as earth, water, fire and wind energies in each of these directions. Likewise, there are numberless and infinite suffering sentient beings in each of these directions. The bodhisattva observes all of these sentient beings and even merely taking one direction of these ten, observing the infinite, innumerable sentient beings develops the attitude of the awakening heart which seeks to free all of these infinite sentient beings and lead them to Buddhahood.
Having generated the awakening heart, then as long as the bodhisattva abides in that commitment to free all of these sentient beings, then no matter what this bodhisattva may be doing, whether they’re going, whether they’re sleeping, they are continuously without pause creating skillful actions equal to space. So just as the various elements in the various directions of space are infinite and without measure. Likewise, sentient beings in those directions are infinite and without measure. So just as elements are, just as space is limitless, therefore sentient beings are limitless and therefore the creative potential created out of observing these sentient beings is limitless. So what is spoken of here are four limitlessnesses, four infinities.
First, sentient beings are without limit, are limitless. In dependence upon limitless sentient beings, limitless creative potential is created. And this limitless creative potential is created unlimitedly through the continual creation without pause as long as the bodhisattva abides in his commitment. So the limitless creating of this limitless creative potential brings about limitless Buddhahood. So an analogy would be that if someone, upon seeing ten individuals who are hungry and mindful of their suffering, out of a kind hearted attitude, out of their compassion, gave these ten people food.
And then this would be a skillful action and the skillful action would be created in relationship to each one of them that he had given food to. So it is as if having created ten skillful actions. Likewise, if would have been if he would have given food to a hundred hungry people, he would have created a hundred skillful actions. If he’d given a thousand hungry people, he would have created a thousand skillful actions. A hundred thousand individuals, a hundred thousand skillful actions.
Is that the way that this would operate? Would you obtain that number of skillful action? So if if the bodhisattva if the bodhisattva observing even one direction of space and directing himself to the sentient beings even in one direction of space and observing those sentient beings who are numberless in number, who are infinite and develops the kind hearted attitude of wishing to free them and lead them to Buddhahood, then this is a skillful action and because there are numberless sentient beings being observed who are acted upon in this way, then the skillful action is correspondingly numberless. So in dependence upon observing an infinite number of sentient beings, infinite numbers of skillful actions are created and as long as the bodhisattva abides in his commitment to free these sentient beings and to lead them to Buddhahood, then he is unlimitedly over a numberless moments of time creating such numberless skillful actions. And because he has committed to leading to Buddhahood, and Buddhahood is limitless.
It is in itself infinite. Then out of all of this, he is creating infinite collection of creative potential. Because these actions involve four infinite infinities, then the collection which is being accumulated is infinitely vast. So in cultivating this attitude that over, for example, a twenty four hour period, that in one hour one would have created the collection possessing these infinities and then in the second hour one creates the collection possessing these four infinities. In fact, each moment that one is cultivating these four infinities, one is implementing these four infinities each moment.
It’s because of this that the Buddha said in one of his discourses that if the creative potential accumulated out of cultivating the awakening heart had form, all of space would not be able to hold it. So you can begin to imagine the vastness of the collections created if we were to cultivate this each day and over the number of months and years. And all of that collection that we created would become a cause for the attainment of Buddhahood. So we should have no anxiety that we are not able to create the necessary collections, that this is the reasoning set forth by Nāgārjuna established in that we have the ability to accumulate the collections. But we we we don’t we don’t accumulate the collections, but when we if we were to, then we would collect accumulate it in this way.
So once all the Buddhas got together and had a meeting, and they discussed what is the most effective, the finest cause for the attainment of Buddhahood. And they came to the unanimous conclusion that it was nothing other, there was nothing higher than the awakening heart. So we should not think that we cannot accumulate the necessary collections. We can accumulate the necessary collections. We should cultivate the awakening heart.
By cultivating the awakening heart, we accumulate the collections, but simultaneously we also purify our negative actions. Through the accumulation of the collections, all of these previous destructive actions created are purified and out of this, whatever that we wish, we can achieve. If we want liberation, if we want omniscience, then Buddhahood. But once every activity that we engage in will be successful, that all is accomplished through our collections of creative potential. According to a discourse of the Buddha in which it said that through the accumulation of creative potential, then though you may have created vast negativities in the past, simply by experiencing a little of the result in this life, for example, simply the experience of a slight suffering of a toothache or a headache, all of that negative potential can be completely purified due to the force of the collection of creative potential. But whatever we seek, we will be able to achieve.
We can achieve the levels of liberation and finally omniscience. Whatever it is that we desire can be brought about by the power of the collection of creative potential. Therefore, there is nothing more effective than to cultivate the awakening heart. Previously that there were some some people were complaining that they weren’t able to recite the the mantra of Om Mani Padme hum because they were getting sick and they had to give up. During the course of reciting the mantra, they became sick, so they thought, well, it’s best to give up and put it aside.
But this would be a mistake. It shows that they didn’t understand what they were doing, that simply by experiencing a slight suffering in this way, one can eliminate, one can purify vast amounts of negativity and that simply out of this accumulation of the creative potential, this little bit of suffering will eliminate the potential for vast sufferings. There’s no there’s no disadvantages to this suffering. It is only beneficial. This occurred, there was occasion where I was staying in Bangkok in India and one of the herders, herders, said that I don’t recite manis, Om Mani Padme hum, because it makes me sick.
So this is a misconception. Yeah. I’m not good at that. So we’ll stop there if you have questions. Sometimes I’m sure you talk about self doubt or insufficiency links it with laziness.
I wonder if you could just say a little more about that because that’s And they might say, So the laziness of non effort can come about through doubt in which for example, not having conviction in the benefit of Dharma, one simply wonders, well I’m not sure if this is a beneficial, Dharma’s beneficial or not, and not this conviction. Then the laziness of not making effort in practice can come about. Additionally, out of experience of self insufficiency, then the self the the laziness of self defeatism arises. So the methods for overcoming laziness are as set forth in the teachings on calm abiding, the attainment of calm abiding. There are the four of I can’t read the person.
So the four antidotes to laziness are effort, faith, aspiration, and plant. And main amongst these four is effort. One out of reflection upon the wonderful qualities of a Buddha, having faith in these, then one develops aspiration. I have to achieve these same qualities myself. Out of aspiration arises effort to achieve those qualities.
So in general, the the skillful actions are not particularly greater on that day, on eclipse day. But what has been referred to is that the Tibetan the Buddhist explanation for what is happening during the eclipse is a little bit different than perhaps generally understood. The sun is being consumed by a sentient being and this would bring great harm to people on earth because the sun is extremely important. So, order to eliminate this great harm befalling earth, one creates, goes out and does special and skillful actions and dedicates that the sun will not be consumed by this sentient being and this is very powerful actions that are created in this way because it’s of such immense benefit. So that’s what is being referred to here.
Not that in general that your actions are created. What behind my question actually is that surely any time is a good time to develop the awakening heart,