Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 49-minute talk, Khensur Rinpoche opens with Tsongkhapa’s two-line verse mapping the destination — complete Buddhahood — and the two roads to it: the perfection path and the secret mantra path. He lays out renunciation, bodhicitta, and correct view as the common foundation both require, then explains empowerment as the formal permission to enter tantric practice, illustrated through a memorable analogy of an elected prime minister bound by constitutional duties. The central focus is the pledges and vows that accompany initiation: Rinpoche cites the Vajra Net Tantra’s promise that pure observance alone can bring Buddhahood in sixteen lifetimes, enumerates the nineteen commitments tied to the five Buddha families, then walks through specific root downfalls — denigrating one’s vajra master, belittling precepts, abandoning bodhicitta, revealing tantric secrets to non-believers, and failing to meditate on emptiness daily. Intended for practitioners who have received tantric empowerment.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 12 1989 12 15 PT Advice for HYT 1a.mp3
UUID: 7e4e4979-5b83-4e64-8297-962677be4be9
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: Public Talks 1988-2003 (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1989-12-15
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 49.2 minutes
Words: ~3,129
No. At this point, think that I must attain the state where I will be free of all the faults and will be completely endowed with all the good qualities, in order because in that state there will be the possibility of doing the welfare of all other sentient beings, to remove their suffering and to place them in the ultimate excellent happiness by myself alone. And to attain that state, I will engage in the activity of listening to great vehicle teaching, in this context the teachings of the secret — or teachings of the profound secret mantra path. So in this way let’s try to listen with that motivation and trying to generate that motivation, let’s meditate for about three minutes. The great Lama Tsongkhapa has said in two lines, from here to go to the complete Buddhahood, they are the profound mantra path and the perfection path.
So this explains the destination to which we have to go is the state of complete Buddhahood, and the path through which we are able to reach that destination is of two: the perfection path, and the profound mantra path. And regarding the manner by which one goes on that path to that destination, it’s not like the normal way of going with two feet or two legs moving and going like that. It is instead the mind — through what we call development of the mind — through which one has to go to the destination on those two paths. And regarding the actual start through the mind by going on the path, how it has to start is one has to have a right motivation, right motivation and intention, thinking that all these kind mother sentient beings, they have been so kind to me. And at the moment, they are very much being tormented by all sort of suffering.
Therefore, in order to lead them to the complete Buddhahood, I must first attain the state of Buddhahood. So the starting of the mind development and through that going to the path will have to be by right motivation in that way. And that kind of motivation is called precious bodhicitta. And that motivation of bodhicitta by itself, one is not able to go to that destination. It is like the case of a lame person with only one foot who can’t, so to speak, arrive at any destination.
Therefore, the other of the two legs by which one has to go will have to be the correct view. So with the correct view and the bodhicitta — through these two, with a motivation and intention to help other beings — one has to go to the Buddhahood, the state of Buddhahood. And in order to have these two perfect, one has to precede one’s training by the definite renunciation mind, or normally called renunciation. And that renunciation is supposed to be a mind which wants to be which the person who has that renunciation mind it is a mind which the person with that mind wants to be free from the saṃsāra. And that feeling or that wanting to be free from saṃsāra has to be very well, meaning has to be very strong.
And in this way, these three — the total renunciation, bodhicitta, and correct view — these three comprise the principal practices in the great vehicle, in the context of the perfection vehicle. And in the perfection vehicle these three have to be the principal practice, and on top of these practices as being the base, on top of these then the practitioner has to practice the six perfections: starting from generosity, morality, patience, diligence, concentration, wisdom, and as well the four means to attract others. And in this way the practitioner has to, on top of those three, practice the six perfections as a means to ripen one’s continuum, and the four means of drawing disciples, which are means to ripen others’ continuum, others’ mind stream. And also for the practitioner of the secret mantra — “mantra” being the literal translation, we can alternatively use the more popular term “tantra.” So also for the practitioner of the secret tantra, these three will have to be the basic requirement, and these three also become like the foundation for the secret tantra practice. It is like a house construction where the foundation stone is the same wherever one is going to build the house.
When these three are very perfect in the practitioner’s training, then as Tsongkhapa in one of his texts goes on saying, when the common training has been preceded well, then the entrance for the fortunate one, the supreme among all paths, should be entered instantly or immediately. So this is meant as explaining that the person or fortunate person wanting to do the practice and enter into the secret mantra path should have those three which are called the common trainings. Once a person has those three common trainings perfected and thoroughly trained, then one can enter the secret mantra door. And regarding the secret mantra door, it is of the four tantra classes: action, performance, yoga — or unifying or integrating — and the highest yoga, the highest integrating or highest unifying tantra classes. And these four is up to the individual practitioner’s choice which he wants to enter.
If the practitioner wants to enter into the action tantra, then it’s up to his choice. Or if he wants to enter into the performance tantra, that’s up to the choice. And also the yoga and highest yoga tantra. So these four doors are just options, alternatives after that. So regarding the entry into these four doors, firstly the starting point where one has to go or enter is like in the case of one becoming to follow one becoming the follower of Buddha’s teaching, in there the door is to take the refuge.
And in the case of entering the path, in there one has to have renunciation. And in the case of becoming a great vehicle follower or great vehicle practitioner, in that case one will have to have bodhicitta as the entrance door. And here with the four doors of the four classes of tantra, the entrance door will have to be the respective empowerment of each of the deities. If one wants to enter the action tantra then one has to receive the specific action tantra empowerment, and in the case of performance tantra one will have to receive the empowerment of that tantra, and the same for the yoga tantra and highest yoga tantra, or their respective empowerments. Once a person has received the respective empowerment, then after that the practitioner can visualize himself in the aspect of the deity’s body and can also recite the respective mantra of whichever class of tantra empowerment the practitioner has received.
And in the case of the lower tantras, the practitioner will be allowed — or it becomes permissible — to do such practices as the yoga with sign and yoga without sign. And in the case of the highest tantra, the practitioner becomes permitted to do such practices as the generation or arising stage and the completion stage. And without empowerment, it is not our permission to do those practices. For example, in the case where there is a country and if one becomes elected as an administrator — let’s say in the case of a certain country one becomes elected as the prime minister — then from that time onward one becomes permitted to be able to execute plans regarding the country’s development and everything. And in the case before the election, the person, because of not having been elected, is not permitted to execute their respective plans and projects and everything.
And same here with the empowerment. Once the person receives the empowerment, then the person becomes permitted to do such practices of the respective tantra classes as generating oneself into the deity and reciting mantra. And in the lower tantra, the yoga with sign, yoga without sign, in the highest tantra, they are generation and completion stage. And in the case one hasn’t received the empowerment of the respective classes of tantra, then one is not permitted to do those practices. Therefore, it is called wang, literally meaning permission, and normally called empowerment or initiation.
So therefore, it is called permission or wang. In the case of a president or prime minister, even though having been elected, still the person will have to conform with what the constitution says, and the constitution can be analyzed into having two aspects: one from the standpoint of prescribing to the president or prime minister what things he is not allowed to do regarding the country’s management, and another aspect prescribing what the person is allowed to do and should be doing. So with that as basis, the permission to rule the country and manage the country is validated. And in the same case here, once a person has received wang, empowerment permission, then there will come along with that some prescriptions which are called commitments, and those commitments will have two aspects. One, prescribing what the practitioner should be doing, and one prescribing what he shouldn’t be doing.
So along with the respective tantra classes’ empowerment or permission, they also come with two aspects. And regarding the constitution in this context of tantric practices, it is of two kinds called samaya and domba, the pledge and vows. Regarding the pledge, what is a pledge? The pledge is that commitment which prescribes to the practitioner what is to be done, what is to be practiced, and placed. And the vow is like, in the case of a constitution, that part of the constitution which prescribes the person not to do that, not to transgress, not to do that. That part is the same here.
It is called the vow, which prescribes the person or the practitioner not to do such and such particular acts and so forth. So normally the pledge is samaya in Sanskrit and vow being samvara in Sanskrit. And if one is not able to observe these two — the pledge and the vow — then no matter even if one has received the permission, the empowerment, and also no matter even if one does meditation or visualizing oneself as the deity and recitation of the mantra, still they will all be meaningless. Whereas in the case if one observes these two well, then if one has the perfect practices of visualizing oneself as the deity and reciting the mantra, then it will be meaningful, will be good. In the case of a prime minister, if instead of abiding by what is prescribed not to do, he does something opposite to that, and also instead of the prescription of what he should be doing, if he does something contrary to that, then the Prime Minister will not last even for a duration of a couple of months.
A few years back, perhaps in seventy seven, in India, there were two major political parties, the Janata Party and the Congress Party — the People’s Party and the Congress Party. And they had an election, and the Janata Party won the election, and they appointed a prime minister from their party. But because the prime minister wasn’t very good, it didn’t last more than a week. So therefore, even if the person has authority or power or permission, but they still can’t work or function effectively. So same here in this context: even if one has received the empowerment, but if one is not able to abide by the required observations of the pledges and vows, then all practices would be meaningless.
Therefore, Rinpoche feels perhaps tonight it would be quite meaningful to explain principally a bit more on pledges and vows. In the tantra called the vajra Net Tantra, it has been said in two lines which go in meaning that even if a person may not meditate visualizing the practitioner himself as the deity, but still if the practitioner observes the pledges and vows very well, then in a matter of sixteen lifetimes the person will attain Buddhahood. Regarding what we call the victors, or a synonym for Buddhas — so regarding the victors or victorious ones, they are five families, normally called the five Dhyāni Buddhas. So they are the Akṣobhya, Vairochana, Amoghasiddhi, and so forth.
And with each of them, they have their respective pledges and vows to be observed, and altogether these comprise nineteen in number. And that starts with going for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. And then to practice the four kinds of generosity, of which the first three are the generosity of the Dharma, then the generosity of material things, and the third generosity of love, which means to have a loving mind and caring attitude for other sentient beings. And then there are the three kinds of morality, of which the first two are refraining or restraining one’s misdeeds — so this is to stop or to avoid harming other sentient beings — and the second one is to do the meditations on bodhicitta and thereby to do the welfare of other sentient beings.
And then the gestures of the vajra and bell, which are as prescribed in the six-session Guru Yoga practice. And also these are what are called the enumerations and explanations of pledges and vows. And also there is the practice of always having faith in one’s vajra master. And then to make offerings of incense, flower, and whatever offering substances one has to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and also to observe all the previous pledges very well. And also prescribed are the pledges of offering mandala three times.
So in this way, these are to be the objects of practice, and also the accompanying commitment not to harm other sentient beings and to have love for other sentient beings, to have compassion for other sentient beings. And from the standpoint of what is to be abandoned, in the highest yoga tantra there are the fourteen root downfalls and the eight gross transgressions. So in total, twenty-two. And then as in the six-session Guru Yoga, which Rinpoche presumes you all must be reciting every day — in there, the line starts with, and I’m not sure what the English translation is.
In Tibetan, to look down upon the vajra master and demean one’s vajra brothers and so forth. So the first one is to have no faith or to have lack of faith in one’s lama, one’s vajra master. And the second one is belittling or denigrating the precepts or things to train on. So it is possible to have an attitude: Oh, these prescriptions about what to practice, what to avoid — there’s just nothing to them.
There isn’t any meaning. So in this way, if one belittles and has a tendency to mock the Dharma, then that’s one transgression, and that’s to be avoided. And in the case of Dharma brothers and sisters who have received the empowerment from the same teacher at the same time, or who have received empowerment before — so those are the Dharma brothers. And toward those, if one fosters a sense of not respecting and not assisting each other, then that’s one transgression, and it becomes one fault, meaning it becomes one transgression.
And if one has received teaching from the same teacher, and also if the teaching has been received together at the same time or before, then one should regard those as if they were one’s own relatives. And in the case of any person who somehow inflicts harm on you — and during such a situation, if you think or if you wish something bad happens to that person, thinking: Oh, may he become sick, may he become terribly afflicted, meaning may he suffer terribly, and may everything become inauspicious, unsuccessful for him. So to hold such an attitude in retaliation for slight harm by another — in that case, one is losing one’s love.
And if one loses one’s love to other sentient being, then that becomes one transgression. And before one actually started entering the secret mantra practice, one had already adopted the bodhicitta motivation, thinking: For the sake of other sentient beings I must attain complete Buddhahood. But still, afterward in the course of practice, finding things like: Oh, I can’t work for this sentient being. I’m not able to work or help them. Or: It doesn’t matter very much. Let them — whatever happens to them is not my concern.
So to hold such an attitude in the course of practice, and thereby let loose the bodhicitta — that also becomes one transgression. And also the next one is the transgression called announcing the secret to the unripened. So this is in the case where one encounters a person who doesn’t believe in the Dharma, and still one exposes and announces the secret mantras and aspects of the secret practices to that person — like showing him: this is Dharma and it has such a function. And also showing that: this is a bell and it has this meaning and it is a secret tantra thing. And likewise all other things within the category of secret mantra practice, if one exposes and announces to a person who doesn’t believe in the Dharma, then that is one transgression, and it is called announcing the secret to the unripened. The next one is: once one has received the empowerment, from that moment onward one has already accepted to do the meditation of visualizing one’s body as the deity and to do the recitation of mantra.
Therefore, after one has received empowerment, one has to visualize one’s body in the form of a deity. And when one visualizes one’s body in the form of a deity, one’s body is very sacred. And because it is very sacred, and because it has to be a deity in actual fact — therefore, if on the other hand one does something to diminish one’s body, one’s power of the body, and to make it weak and so forth, then in that case one is denigrating it. So I’m not sure what the actual English translation would be.
The Tibetan word would be something like suppressing or denigrating. So in that case, you will be denigrating the body, your body, which is the deity. Therefore, it’s not allowed. And if one does, then that becomes one transgression.
And also, once one has entered into the secret mantra path, one has accepted to meditate and habituate oneself in meditative contemplation on emptiness. Therefore, every day, if one fails to meditate on emptiness, then that becomes one fault.