Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Khensur Rinpoche opens this 31-minute Lamrim talk by introducing a precise Sanskrit term — Puruka, “the potential one” — to frame the three levels of practitioner. The small practitioner seeks a good rebirth, the intermediate seeks personal liberation from saṃsāra, and the great, who generates the mind of enlightenment for all beings, is “the great potential one.” The reasoning moves from self to other: first recognizing one’s own suffering — birth, aging, sickness, unwanted encounters, forced separations — then extending that recognition outward to countless others, and concluding that working for the many is “like a great wave,” incomparably larger than working for oneself alone. Compassion is unpacked in three ascending stages: aspiration, prayer, and the personal resolve to take responsibility for removing all beings’ suffering. The session closes on a precise doctrinal threshold: generating great compassion places a practitioner in the lineage of the great vehicle, even before formally entering it.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 01 GS 1994 Easter.mp3
UUID: b872598c-69fd-401b-b9b1-08d299f7af88
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: The Great Scope (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1994 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 31.3 minutes
Words: ~2,153
That that involves the method, how the work should be done, and the best way how it can be accomplished. It it involves that part. Similarly here, one then has to work out what is the best means and how about can I actually accomplish others welfare? In that part, when one does that, one finds that presently one does not have the ability to accomplish others’ welfare. And due to that in one’s investigation in this part, one searches for what are the ways and the means through which I can actually accomplish bringing happiness, causes of happiness to other removing suffering and causes of suffering of others.
And one finds that it is only that if I make myself free of all mental faults and complete with all excellent qualities of mind, the state of Buddhahood, if I achieve that, then it is possible possible to actually accomplish others welfare. Coming to that conclusion, one then one then strongly wishes to achieve Buddhahood thinking I must attain that, I must achieve that in order to benefit others. And that is what is called the precious mind of enlightenment. Here, one is trying to develop. Here in the beginning then please think that in order to achieve such state of enlightenment to benefit other, here I will very well up to my best engage in the engage in a series of learning, reflection, and meditative familiarization on the practices of the great vehicle path which becomes in the context of stages of path enlightenment, the practice of the great person or what is interpreted as the practice of the great practitioner.
Therefore, please let’s then meditate on those points briefly at this point. All others suffering. Krishna attempts to escape, in the sense, liberate liberate oneself from the cycle. In this way, in those two practitioners’ cases, there is wishing to be free from sufferings of those two kinds. As a great practitioner, there is sufferings of oneself.
One realizes that how there are sufferings with oneself while within the cycle in saṃsāra, firstly, there is as a human, let’s say in our case, there is the suffering suffering at the time of birth. So suffering of birth throughout the conception, development, delivery, forth. And then there is suffering of aging, and then suffering of sicknesses, suffering from all sorts of diseases, both physical and mental. And then there is the suffering of death. On top of these sufferings, there are as well suffering of not not having not having things we wish to have, and encountering things which we do not wish to encounter, of which there are so many kinds as if it is like constant outpour of rain.
So many unwanted things we wish which we wish not to encounter, we experience we encounter. In this way, again, they are all these types of so many sufferings. In the same way, friends, relatives, brothers, sisters, one’s partners, and so forth, people we wish to be in constant companion, we choicelessly have to separate. Separate. And people whom we do not wish to meet, encounter constantly, we have to face.
They come about on our way. We have to encounter them. These are things which actually happen if we think that there are such unhappiness in way of these encounters every day happening so constantly. Now realizing how in one’s own case there are all these numerous sufferings so tormenting one thinks then about others that others too, being sentient beings, those having mind and the mind as ordinary state, that they also equally have all these problems, sufferings, unhappy experiences. And in this way, one really sympathize and generates the awareness, like in my own cases, others do have similar problems, sufferings, and so forth.
And the reason why the others as well have such similar sufferings and problem is my reasoning that I have these problems and sufferings because I have the causes to receive these sufferings such as the causes such as impure thoughts and actions done through those impure thoughts. Now if in my case that there are causes of suffering through which I experience suffering, similarly, the others too have sufferings, long bound to be because they also have the causes of suffering. They also have ordinary beings, sentient beings, they also have impure thoughts, and they engage in activities motivated by those impure thoughts. On the other hand, one thinks I am just one person, whereas others are countless. Because of that, if I only think of removing my own problems and my own sufferings only, and not do anything about removing others problems and suffering, then it is not right, especially also from the point of the point of achieving results, from the point of accomplishment.
In the case because in the case if I only think about removing my sufferings only, it is of very minor significance of accomplishment, whereas in doing something to accomplish others, it is of it is of enormous results and accomplishment. And the analogy used is it is like a big wave of accomplishment, as if a great wave can carry so many things along with it. In that way, the accomplishment of others’ welfare and to, in that way, remove others’ suffering is much more of accomplishment, achievement in terms of benefit. So realizing in this way, one then generates compassion to others, thinking of removing others’ sufferings and causes of suffering. In the in the in the producing of compassion, there are three aspects with it.
First is the aspiration that may all sentient beings be without suffering and causes of suffering. Second part is one makes that aspiration more strong by praying that may they actually be without suffering and causes of suffering. The third part is the exalted thought goes with compassion thinking, me myself alone take the responsibility to remove all sentient beings’ sufferings and causes of suffering. In this way, one develops a complete compassion. So in this way, you can see that it is very democratic idea where one where one does not mind about one’s welfare because other, the majority is more important.
And in this way, one is not preoccupied with one’s welfare only and removing one’s suffering and problem on the instead at the negligence in the sense not clinging to death only one whole day and night engages in removing others’ problems and suffering. And that in brief is the practice of the great practitioner or the practitioner of the great school. Now in this way you can see how democratic the Mahāyāna system is. Oh, who ever acts in such a way is called a great practitioner and is given such Here, the term for practitioner or the person as an outline more literal person is in old Sanskrit original language called Puruka, which means the potential one. And this then is meant as a practitioner who really accomplishes things the potentially, one who has the real power by virtue of one’s practice merits.
So that is the meaning behind. Course, generally speaking, all sentient beings can be called as the potential one because they do have the potential to be free of suffering and be with happiness happiness and so forth. And now here in the case of the great practitioner, such a practitioner deserves to be called as the potential one because such practitioner has the capability by virtue of correct method of practice to remove all other beings’ sufferings and bring them happiness. And it is appropriate then to call them the potential one, the practitioners. Now there’s other reference of the term the potential one which is referred to human rebirth and especially it is referred to humans of this South Continent in the classical Buddhist cosmology, this world.
Because humans born in this world, so called South Continent, this world have special capability capability by virtue of their right rebirth and mental capacity to be in the correct spiritual practice. So they are sometimes also referred as the potential one. Small practitioner is always aware of impermanence and certain to die nature of oneself. Due to that, the person, the small practitioner is not attached to these lives, pleasures, comfort, so forth. And due to realization and awareness awareness of impermanence transitory nature of things and one’s non durability in this life, the person is interested, the practitioner is interested in having happiness happiness and one’s welfare accomplished in future rebirth.
So the person thinks about future real happinesses. And in trying to ir place, practices the ten place practices the ten virtuous actions actions which principally not hurt other and make oneself in the correct spiritual frame of mind. And through such practice of ten abandonment and ten perfect practice, this practitioner of the small scope assures oneself of appropriate rebirth, appropriate Dharma facility in future, and so forth. And because of that, we can say the practitioner of such kind is the potential person in the sense the practitioner has capability to do things in right way, meaningful accomplishment. So in this way, the small practitioner in the original language is called the small person, the person having the connotation, meaning the potential one, the small potential one.
And that’s one potential one, the small potential practitioner. The intermediate practitioner has intermediate state of mind and thoughts because intermediate person does not trust just the welfare or just the prosperity in next lives or an immediate life after that. And in its place, the intermediate practitioner, by realizing the unreliability even of a transitory happiness and welfare in future rebirth once and all be liberated and be escaped completely from the entire cycle as choiceless rebirth in some entire cycle saṃsāra. To be able to do that, the intermediate practitioner generates the thought of definitely wanting to come out of suffering, so called renunciation, the definite exit thought. And based on that requirement, the practitioner practices the three trainings, pure ethics, meditative concentration, and wisdom realizing selflessness.
And through that way, the practitioner can attain liberation and is also attempting to attain liberation, attain freedom from all sufferings and causes of suffering. Due to this very reason, the intermediate practitioner as well as called potential one because it has the potential to be liberated from the cycle of suffering. The great practitioner is not attached to the bliss of having attained liberation of for oneself only. Or other words, the great practitioner is not attached to the concept and the aspiration to achieve happiness of liberation for oneself alone. Instead, the great practitioner wishes to others to be free of all sufferings and be with happiness and in trying to achieve that generates the mind mind of enlightenment, enlightenment mind, and practices the six perfections along with special emphasis on wisdom, the realization of emptiness.
And through this way, the practitioner attains state of Buddhahood, the enlightenment, omniscient state and becomes possible to bring becomes possible to accomplish others welfare. In in this way, in brief, the practitioner has the potential to attain enlightenment and to and to bring happiness to others. It is called the great potential one. The great practitioner is the state of one’s training after having done practices on the small and intermediate practitioners part. So it is it is an outcome of having trained on the first two levels as a prerequisite.
We can look at look at it in this way, for example, whenever an intermediate practitioner after having trained on the small practices generates generates the thought wishing all sentient beings to be free of suffering and causes of suffering through that way when generates compassion the person then has become a great practitioner, a great potential one. In this way whenever compassion is generated the practitioner becomes one who is of great potential, the great practitioner. Also here, it needs to be specified that compassion being referred is the great compassion. And whenever that is generated, a person becomes a great practitioner. But strictly speaking, such person has not become one who is in the great vehicle and has not entered the great vehicle but there is a phrase used to designate such person, and the qualification used is such person is called one in the lineage of the great vehicle.
So whoever has generated great compassion becomes practitioner in the lineage destined to be in the great vehicle. So that’s the our meaning behind. So it is like if we are going on a new path, there are different stages of this different stages of stop close to the destination. So this person is like who has come quite close on levels of stops of closeness to destination in actually arriving in the great vehicle, in the great mental state of spiritual accomplishment. So it is almost like to the accomplishment stage.