Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. A deceptively simple translation question anchors this nine-minute excerpt from Khensur Rinpoche’s 1994 Great Scope series: why did older Tibetan translators say “meditate emptiness” rather than “meditate on emptiness”? Rinpoche explains that “on” implies a subject-object gap the practice is meant to dissolve — the mind and its topic become unified in the meditation state. He then turns to the mechanics of structured Lamrim practice: one must first identify clearly what mental quality is to be developed, then return to each stage day after day without skipping ahead or abandoning earlier topics. Jumping between subjects or letting sessions lapse breaks the continuity that allows familiarization to build genuine potency. Suited to students already working through a Lamrim curriculum.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 04 GS 1994 Easter.mp3
UUID: 5103338b-b79f-4b3d-928a-c946ddb3f574
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: The Great Scope (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1994 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 9.1 minutes
Words: ~513
Itself is transformed into it. And because, and that’s the reason for meditation for, familiarization. And on this point, might make a short interpretive note. In the past we didn’t use to translate meditate on emptiness, meditate on impermanence. Instead, the Tibetan translators in English used to awkwardly translate meditate emptiness, meditate compassion because we didn’t use the on which seemed to indicate this subject as somewhere here and the object over there.
The mind itself is in the meditation state with the topic. First one needs to establish ascertain what one needs to acquire as the quality of one’s mind through meditation. Once that part is done, then one has to repeatedly familiarize with it day after day, day after day in a consistent way. And when one does that, it needs to be done on a structured basis through which the actual improvement of the mind and acquiring of quality can be possible. Emphasis is on consistency and on going through the stages one after another in the right way.
Otherwise what would happen is to start with firstly one may not familiarize, sorry to start with one may familiarize for certain days but may drop out for other days and in that way the familiarization continuity is broken. Secondly, one may one day meditate or for a couple of days meditate on the first topic but then drop it out and fourth or fifth day meditate on the second topic without thinking or going through at all on the first. And then after novelty time on the second topic, one may drop that one as well and go on with the third and then after a while drop that and not do meditation at all on those and go on to the fourth similarly to the fifth dropping the one below that at all or completely. If one does that, then our meditation would not, the familiarization would not produce any potency, would not produce any effect at all. When oh, actually, I’ll be leaving to Perth.
Yeah. So, I mean, unless you have a chance later. Or maybe so. Yeah. Yeah.
It should be okay. Don’t have any any what’s called prior arrangements. I’m not sure. Mhmm. So then David, which time?
Bit? I mean, there’s one already. Yeah. So it can skip the one I’m supposed to take. No.
When No. Two thirty Shiboku because otherwise I mean, sorry to say I have to prepare and leave. I mean, I have to go in Interesting. Yep. So it’s done.
When you go? When you go? Oh, possibly going on Sunday afternoon. Monday actually, according to plan, Monday morning wasn’t supposed to be according to original plan. I mean, whoever put that.
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, wait. No. I won’t.
Sunday morning, it will be. But there’s also on Monday. No. That’s not right. Okay.
Yeah. So we have room which is tomorrow at two thirty, yeah, afternoon instead of me. Now if you don’t mind, I I got a commitment to go this afternoon. Yeah. Sorry about that.