Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 32-minute talk, Khensur Rinpoche opens with a seed metaphor that anchors the entire session: every sentient being carries an unextinguished potential for Buddhahood, like a good seed lying dormant in fertile soil, waiting only for the right conditions to germinate. From there he traces the inner logic that produces the “exalted thought” — the aspiration to take sole personal responsibility for liberating all beings — and then immediately tests it: does one actually have that capability? Walking step by step through hearers, individual liberation seekers, and bodhisattvas at every level, he concludes only a fully enlightened Buddha can deliver on that vow. The session closes by turning to ignorance as the root obstacle and explaining why wisdom realizing emptiness through dependent arising is the antidote that makes Buddhahood genuinely achievable. Suited to practitioners already familiar with Lamrim’s graduated path structure.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 15 GS 1994 Easter.mp3
UUID: f8b633b8-0072-41aa-ae06-eea6f1c365f9
Teacher: Khensur Rinpoche
Collection: The Great Scope (Khensur Rinpoche)
Date: 1994 (exact day not recorded)
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 32.5 minutes
Words: ~1,983
There is a capability, a potential in their mind stream. There is a lineage, a seed, a potential seed through which they eventually can attain enlightenment. It is like example of in a very good field, fertile field, if there is also very good seed, then there’s every potential to have a good harvest. It is possible in this way, in every being, in every living being, in every sentient being, is in their mind the potential to achieve Buddhahood, to achieve enlightenment. And because of that, in one’s present process of thinking, one has to be aware that such accomplishment is possible, that through such potential sentient beings eventually can achieve the state free of all faults and complete with all excellent qualities.
If there is a fertile land field in there, if there is a very good non defective seed, then that seed will remain potent unless it encounters potent to germinate at any time unless it encounters water or other factors of germination or unless it is eaten by pests and so forth. Therefore, without this, the seed can remain on a fertile land, a good non defective seed, it can have potency still there. Even if, let’s say, the seed remains in the field for one year or two years, it still has not lost the potency to germinate. After then, let’s say, a person comes to such a seed, pours the water; then there will be germination of a sprout. And later on, so it is possible.
And then later on, if the person continuously water the plant, then the sprout can become bigger. And eventually, result can be the sorry, harvest can be achieved. So it is possible. In the case of all sentient beings, everyone has the potential, the lineage, the nature in their mind to achieve the state free of all forms and complete with all excellent qualities. That very nature, that very lineage within the mind is like the seed.
Now onto that seed comes the watering by Bodhisattvas and Buddhas, the highly realized dedicated beings and enlightened beings who, like watering the seed, gives the correct instructions and teachings on meditative familiarization to transform and develop the mind. So the bodhisattvas and Buddhas are teaching the Dharma instructions like the watering through which they see the potential to become enlightened, free of all faults and complete with all excellent qualities, germinate. And gradually, it is possible that all sentient beings can become enlightened and achieve that state. It is like that. So in this way, all sentient beings have that our potential to achieve enlightenment, the state free of all faults and complete with all excellent qualities.
But presently they have not got the facility to germinate that potency, that seed. Therefore, from one side, one thinks that I, at this stage, when I have attained such rebirth and have such capability, I must, achieve enlightenment and give Dharma teachings the instructions through which they can make mental progress and achieve that state. So I myself alone will take the responsibility responsibility to accomplish that and to accomplish that I must achieve that state. One gradually thinks in that way but to come to that point, firstly one needs to develop the determination that I myself alone will take the responsibility to actually bring about such a state — the germination of their seed, their nature, their potency. And such a thought then is the next one in the line: the exalted thought, the special thought.
Even in worldly convention, a person who has the special thought of taking the responsibility to accomplish a common task by oneself alone is considered a remarkable person, and the term used is: “Oh, this person has a great deal of exalted thought.” Here, obviously, we are looking at classical period of Buddhist perspective, a way of describing people, which is retained in the Himalayan, what’s called attitude. And in there, that such a person having such qualities described as a person who is extreme who has high degree of exalted thought. The word dedication is not used because dedication can be self centered. Dedication to one’s work may not be the right word.
So instead, this person is very good, has high degree of exalted thought and so forth. One describes this person in such a way because such a person does not expect others to take the hardship and sacrifices instead voluntarily at first goes to the length that even if one alone has to do the task, one is willing to do that. So that’s how a person is like that with exalted thought. And in worldly convention too, such a person is considered as a person having exalted exalted thought. Exalted thought, how intense it is developed and in the first place for its growth depends on the power of loving kindness and compassion one has developed.
Because in the absence of loving kindness and compassion it is not possible to have this thought and less the intensity of loving kindness and compassion less the power of the exalted thought would be. Whereas as going back to the point when one has strong loving kindness and compassion, then equally one will have a strong exalted thought, strongly thinking that I myself alone will take responsibility of removing others’ sufferings and bringing them happiness. Well, one now has decided that I myself alone will take the responsibility to remove all others suffering, all sentient beings suffering, and bring them excellent happiness. Decision is made and it is the exalted thought. But now one has to think, do I have the capability to actually accomplish that?
In this way one does the checking of one’s capability and through this one finds that personally as an ordinary being I do not have the ability to bring happiness and remove suffering of all sentient beings, definitely. Because even at present, I don’t even have the capability to accomplish that in reference to one single sentient being, being, that I cannot even to one sentient being bring excellent happiness and remove all its problems and suffering, one then finds that presently one does not have that capability. Because one finds one does not have the capability at the moment to accomplish that, then one now looks around where then and who then has the capability to do that. One check one looks at the practitioners of the lower vehicle, the individual the hearers and the individual liberation seekers. One looks one looks at them.
Do they and in in achieving that state, is it possible to actually accomplish that? Here, to start looking from the lower vehicle practitioner is relevant because there is no need to look at any person who has not entered the path — anyone who has not entered the path certainly, like myself, lacks capability. Now I look whether someone who has entered the path, meaning someone who has developed spiritual realization, do such person have? For example, do the hearers and individual liberation seekers, do they have such capability? One finds they also don’t have.
Then do bodhisattvas have? Within bodhisattvas there are levels, such as bodhisattvas abiding on different ones of the five paths and then grounds of the meditative state and one finds that even they do not have the capability to accomplish that, it is only in the state of having accomplished enlightenment, in having achieved Buddhahood, that that is possible. So through this way of looking around and searching for the source of capability, one finds that it is only when one achieves enlightenment that it is possible to accomplish that welfare of others. The reason why others don’t have the capability to accomplish is because others are not freed of all faults, all mental faults, and have not acquired all excellent qualities. Whereas Buddhas, the enlightened beings have the capabilities because they have themselves are freed of all faults and acquired all excellent qualities.
So that that’s the reason behind. One then, by thinking in terms of oneself, decides that I must achieve that state of Buddhahood because when I can achieve that, then it is possible to accomplish that welfare because then I would be free of all faults and complete with all excellent qualities because Buddhas and enlightened beings, by virtue of having freed of all faults and acquire all excellent qualities, that capability. And in the absence of that, in other other’s cases, there isn’t the capability. Capability. Therefore, I must, like the Buddhas, I must attain that state to have the capability.
And to do that, I must make myself free of all faults and complete with all excellent qualities. The person who does this thinking is the person who has developed the special thought, the exalted thought, who thinks that I myself alone will take the responsibility to actually remove other’s suffering and bring excellent happiness to others. Such a person is here thinking that I need to achieve the state of Buddhahood, enlightenment, free of all faults, and complete with all excellent qualities. But at this stage, the person does the checking whether is it possible to overcome all faults and achieve all excellent qualities. Are there any obstacles on the way to do that?
So the person does the checking if it is possible. Is it possible to actually attain enlightenment? There are the others. The obstacles which hinders a person from attaining that state are the ignorance one and impure thoughts produced by such ignorance and the imprints of these the ignorance and impure thoughts. They are the obstacles.
So ignorance, the primary source of all obstacles need to be overcome. And one one examines whether that is possible. Is it possible to overcome ignorance? It is possible because ignorance is a mistaken thought. It is not a thought consistent with the fact of things.
Why that is so is because although things do not truly exist, ignorance perceives things as existing truly. Why thing why things although are not truly existent is because there is not any independently existing phenomena or thing which exist without dependent on name, parts, causes, conditions, and any other ways of dependence. There is not any. In brief, there is not any phenomena that is not dependent arising. All are dependent arising.
Due to that, all phenomena lack independent true existence. But ignorance ignorance perceives opposite to that. In that way it is a mistaken thought and it can be removed. And in trying to remove that one needs to develop the thought consistent with the fact, thought attaining to fact, which is the realization of emptiness through the reasoning such as by dependent arising. So to doing repeated meditative familiarization and analysis and so forth, one has to develop one has to generate within one’s mind the wisdom of realizing When one does the meditation on trying to achieve wisdom realizing emptiness through the reasoning of dependent arising, one gains the awareness that ignorance which perceives things as truly existing is distorted mind, mistaken mind.
So through that one comes to awareness of the deceptive state, the mistaken state of the mind of ignorance grasping onto true identity. When one realizes that ignorance, the self grasping mind is distorted, mistaken, then one would wish and attempt to get rid of it. If one gets rid of it, then all the other impure thoughts and imprints which are dependent on ignorance as well gets wiped out, gets rid of. It is like example when a person cuts off a tree from its root, then the stem, branch, leaves, everything also dries up because they’re all dependent on the roots. So one has to repeatedly on the wisdom realizing emptiness.
Through this way, repeatedly familiarizing meditatively, eventually one would definitely be able to overcome all faults of the mind and acquire all excellent qualities.