Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 125-minute talk, Kyabje Rinpoche teaches the foundational conditions for calm abiding meditation, drawing from Je Tsongkhapa’s Middling Stages of the Path. Without a stable, concentrated mind, higher Buddhist practices cannot succeed, he explains, then details both external requirements—a quiet place with accessible food and reliable companions, free from dangerous animals—and internal qualities: few desires, contentment with simple robes, stepping back from worldly business and socializing, maintaining pure ethics, and releasing attachment to sensory experiences by reflecting on their impermanence. The practical section covers the eightfold meditation posture—spine erect, eyes soft, tongue on palate, breath smooth and imperceptible—and addresses the primary obstacle: laziness, with enthusiasm as its antidote. For anyone beginning serious meditation practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2011-04-22 – KR.mp3
UUID: 3bb94092-c8d9-4b2d-a92f-92dc09ae7934
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Karma
Date: 2011-04-22
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~4,790
Okay. So, at present, we will meditate on a couple of minutes, for a couple of minutes to generate the motivation to listen to these teachings. Generally speaking, the motivation defines whether listening to the teachings act as a virtuous deed or a non virtuous deed, with the motivation of benefiting others, reflecting on the fact that we ourselves are single and others are numerous, and specifically with the motivation of placing all mother sentient beings without exception in a state of unalloyed happiness. We should ourselves take the resolve to become able to do so, and to ourselves attain the state of full enlightenment, and with this as a motivation we should listen to these teachings. If we do in this way, then the listening to the teachings becomes a virtuous deed, and the teacher from his side with his motivation through explaining the teachings also accumulates virtue.
As is said in a text of Lojong, at the beginning, set forth what is necessary and at the end dedicate. The meaning of this verse is that initially when one listens to Dharma, one must set forth a good motivation. In dependence on this good motivation, it is possible for that to become virtuous, otherwise it is difficult. Likewise, after finishing listening to the teachings, one must dedicate the teachings and specifically the virtue accrued. This is a pair of dedication.
in dependence on this, the virtue does not go to waste. Regarding the motivation, which Rinpoche explained, there are three different types of motivations for the being of small, middling and great scope. The being of small scope is a being who initially takes refuge in the triple gem and then engages in protecting ethics, practicing generosity and training in forbearance. The being of middling scope is a being who reflecting on the suffering nature of cyclic existence strives for liberation therefrom and in dependence on that listens to the teachings. Or the being of great scope is a being who understanding that others are infinitely superior to himself generates the wish to free all Mother sentient beings without exception from suffering and place them in a state of unalloyed happiness and understanding that he at present is unable to do so, strives for the state of full enlightenment to be able to do so, and with this as a motivation, listens to the teachings.
The Dharma which will be explained today is the foundation of the practice of all three vehicles. It is the teachings on calm abiding and insight, śamatha and vipassana, which is the foundation of all of the qualities of the grounds and paths. If this is not obtained, it is not possible to obtain the qualities of the grounds and paths, to obtain renunciation, bodhicitta and so forth. Shine is none other than a stable mind. Calm abiding is a stable mind which actually is maintained continuously.
The benefits will be explained later. Do listen carefully to them when they are explained. And Rinpoche will rely for this on the middling stages of the path of Je Tsongkhapa, which is your handout. The middling stages of the path is said to encapsulate the totality of the teachings of the Buddha, whereas the greater stages of the path, Lamrim Chenmo, has many quotes and words, Je Tsongkhapa took the very essence thereof to compose the middling stages of the path. And on page one of your handout, the first topic has three subdivisions.
There are three subdivisions with this general presentation indicating the collection of preconditions for calm abiding. These are the conditions which are necessary before one engages in calm abiding to achieve the goal. Secondly, how to meditate on calm abiding in dependence on that. In other words, having obtained the conditions, how to practice. And thirdly, the criterion for attaining calm abiding through having meditated.
In other words, the measure of attainment of calm abiding. Moving onwards, the first topic has six subdivisions. The first topic here is the collection of conditions for calm abiding, and warrant is subdivided in three, there’s a broader subdivision into two. The first is the place in which one engages in training and calm abiding, and the second is the qualities of the being to who engages in calm abiding. And then, moving to the bottom of page one of your handout, you have the root quote of Maitreya’s ornament of the Mahāyāna sūtra, the Mahāyāna sūtra Alamkara, which gives these qualities the place in which those with the mind practice has easily obtained a sound area, a worthy area and worthy friends, and has the requisites to make a yogi happy.
This terse quote is developed in outline 1.1 in the middle of the page. It means that one must dwell in a harmonious place. A harmonious place is a place without hardship. This is explained as a place which has the five qualities. The first is easily obtained food and clothing, obtainable without difficulty.
In other words, a place where one’s livelihood is easily obtainable. And the second outline which I forgot in the translation is, it must be a worthy area in which there are no enemies and in which one’s life is not threatened by carnivorous animals. This refers to animals such as tigers, lions and so forth. This is between one point one point one and one point one point two. And then the following two characteristics, are numbers three and four under the numeration is a sound area through being free of diseases.
In other words, an area in which one is not harmed by diseases. And number four is worthy friends. Having friends who have compatible view and ethics. In other words, having friends who have ethics and whose views are compatible with one’s own. And the fifth characteristic, which is numbered one one four here, is having the excellence of landing, lacking many people by day and little noise by night.
This means there must not be large crowds by day and people must not make a lot of noise by night which disturbs one’s concentration. So these five characteristics are the characteristics of a place in which a yogi meditates. Secondly, the features of the being who meditates start with outline 1.2 at the bottom of the page. Such a being has few desires, I. E.
He has no special desires for fine or numerous monastic robes. In other words, fine or luxurious vestments. The third character, the second characteristic of such a being is at outline 1.3, it is contentment or satisfaction. In other words, to always be content through getting only the worst of robes. This means that such a being does not strive for luxurious clothing, and even if he gets and is not attached to them, since desire is the main obstacle to training and concentration.
And then the third of the six characteristics of such a being are given in outline 1.4. They are giving up being busy, in other words giving up many activities. This means totally abandoning the bad activities of business, literally buying and selling in Tibetan, as well as intensively befriending or becoming familiar with householders and monastics. In addition, you want to add practicing medicine, divination, astrology, and so forth. And on page two, the fourth characteristic of a practitioner of meditation is pure ethics.
This refers to preserving the various foundations of the trainings regarding natural and artificial transgressions concerning the vows of individual liberation and Bodhisattva vows. Now here, one must distinguish between natural and artificial thoughts. Generally speaking, while the pratimoksha or the vows of individual liberation and the bodhisattva vows are similar in as much as they are vows, their object of abandonment are different, and these objects of abandonment in turn must be distinguished between natural and artificial ones. Natural ones are ones which are fought both for lay people and for Sangha, irrespective of whether vows are taken or not. An instance would be killing, which is a fault, a non virtuous deed, irrespective of whether one has vows or not.
Artificial faults on the other hand, are faults which have been indicated as faults by the Buddha, and certain vows are taken to abstain from them. An instance would be for a member of Sangha not eating after the sun has reached the zenith. This is a fault if one has taken such a vow. It is not a fault for a lay person who has not taken a vow. So these faults are called in Tibetan tomwa.
Tomwa means to fall, to fall where? To fall into the lower realms. Should one unfortunately commit these faults, whether they are breaches of the four root vows of individual liberation, and the thirteen which must be confessed, or of the 18 root bodhisattva vows, which include both natural and artificial abstention from transgressions, then one must confess these by the appropriate system of confession. This entails the application of the four forces. First, the force of the basis, which is taking refuge or generating bodhicitta.
Then the force of the application of the antidote, which is a strong resolution no longer to engage in these deeds, then the force of strong repentance, and finally, whichever precise remedy one chooses to apply, in the case of the Bodhisattva vows, it would be the Confession Sūtra, whereas in the case of, for instance, which is in the Prātimokṣa vows, it is confession in front of the whole Sangha. And the following quality of one who practices meditation is totally abandoning fancies, sometimes translated in English wrongly as conceptions, such as desire and so forth. I. E. One must abandon all fancies of desire and so forth through either.
Now here, the fancies which are referred to are conceptions or fancies regarding the qualities or defects of objects of desire. The five objects of desire of the five sense consciousnesses, such as saying in general of a person, he is a good person, he is a bad person, this food tastes good, this food tastes bad, this seat is soft, that seat isn’t soft, and so forth. All of these fancies must be abandoned. And specifically, through the second reason which is given, 1.6.II, alternatively reflecting that all pleasant and unpleasant things of cyclic existence are disintegrating subjects which are impermanent. Most definitely if I am to become greatly separated from all of them and unable to carry them with me, why be greatly attached to them?
So here one reflects on the fact that all of the so called qualities of cyclic existence are not suitable to be seen as qualities, since they are of the nature of disintegration, they are transitory, they disappear instant by instant and are therefore said to be impermanent. As their nature is impermanent, all things, all phenomena of cyclic existence will eventually be left behind, be abandoned, there is no benefit to them, since whatever benefit they may have in the short term will have to be abandoned as well. Moving onwards in the middle of page two, since it is said in Atisha’s lamp for the path, even should one have meditated with intense effort for thousands of years, when the branches of calm abiding have decayed, there will be no attainment of Samādhi. So generally speaking, Rinpoche says, for a practitioner which has the branches of calm abiding, in other words, the characteristics of the place and of the being which have been explained, the attainment of calm abiding is possible. On the other hand, if one of the branches is missing, or many of them are missing, then as Atisha says, even if one meditates with intense effort for thousands of years, it will be impossible to attain, in other words to generate Shine.
The reason for this is that Shine is a result, and a result can only arise when the collection of causes necessary for its arising has been created. If the cause’s collection is not created, there is no attainment of the result. Therefore, initially, one must gather the conditions. Therefore here, in keeping with the example of a fertile field in which a faultless seed has been sown and has been fertilized with manure, water and in addition upon which the sun has shown, there can be no doubt that a crop will arise. In the self same way, if all of the causes and conditions are accumulated, the result necessarily arises.
Otherwise if the causes and conditions are not present, there can be no result. In our case, we meditate endlessly on bodhicitta, on Deity Yoga or on emptiness, yet we gain absolutely no result, no realization, because the causes for these realizations are absent. If the causal collection is established, there is to be no doubt regarding the realization of the result. Otherwise it is impossible for the result to arise however much we meditate. In our case, if we had attained all of the causes and conditions for giving rise to renunciation, to definite emergence, definite emergence would necessarily arise.
So we’re all the same in this matter, students and teachers. We meditate and gain no results because we have not accumulated the causes for these results. For instance, we meditate on bodhicitta, but who has generated bodhicitta? This does not happen because we have not generated the causes for this. We are fascinated by higher practices which we cannot achieve, and because we have not set out the foundation, we get nowhere.
Not only don’t we get the foundation, in addition, we don’t get the higher practices either. So the Tibetans were very credulous and there is a story about the famous uncle Tempa, Aku Tempa, who was a great fraud in Tibet, a scoundrel, and he made believe that he was an emanation of Avalokiteśvara and would wander around Tibet and the Tibetans believed him. And he had this bag he carried upon him, and Tibetans asked him, well Akutempa, what is in the bag? And when they looked behind, he said, that is empty. And when they looked in front, he said, that is empty too.
And on the bottom of page two, at present, we pass through the following outline, how to meditate on calm abiding, in dependence on that, in other words, in dependence on the previously explained preconditions. This has two subdivisions on page three, preparation and the actual practice. So the preparation here is having meditated long on the previously explained six preliminary practices, which Rinpoche just explained, as well as bodhicitta, one will train as well in the natures of the objects of meditation shared with the beings of the small and middling scope as their branches. Here, the practice of the being of small and middling scope is a branch, or a subsidiary practice of training in bodhicitta. We ourselves meditate for long on bodhicitta, but are unable to generate it, because we have not put effort in the preliminary practices or the foundations, which are the practice of the being of small and middling scope.
Without experience indeed it is not possible to give rise to bodhicitta. So bodhicitta is the actual topic of the practice of the being of middling scope. All the paths of the being, or the paths shared with the being of small and middling scope are the preliminaries, and trainings in giving ethics forbearance and so forth, are actually advice connected with practice of the bodhisattva path. Then one can see in this context the practice of secret mantra as being part of the advice for training on the bodhisattva path. So, Rinpoche has finished explaining the preliminaries to practice of calm abiding and one actually has to engage at present in the practice, which is training in abandoning the five faults through the eight antidotes, or the eight applications.
So this does not entail merely listening about the teachings, it actually entails engaging in practice, and as such bodily postures are necessary. And at present, moving onwards to outline 2.2 on page three, the actual practice, we will address the bodily postures by which one meditates, outline 2.2.1. So in keeping with the explanation in Kamalaśīla’s Stages of Meditation. Kamalaśīla was a very great Indian scholar who traveled to Tibet and who composed his stages of meditation or Bhavanakama for the sake of the Tibetans. So in keeping with this text, adopt the Vairochana posture, which has the eight features on an extremely soft and comfortable cushion. This cushion or this seat must be extremely soft and comfortable because one will be dwelling for long on it, and if it is comfortable, then pain and disease will not arise.
And here, in the middle of page three, regarding that place the legs either in complete Vajrasanā or alternatively in half Vajrasanā. So, the posture which is described here is actually different. The eight features of the posture are different from those explained by the first Pänchen Lama, Pänchen Losang Chökyi Gyaltsen. However, since this is the text of Je Tsongkhapa, this is what we will follow, and complete Vajrasanā is a Buddhist posture, Half Vajrasanā is a posture of It is said that the eyes should be focused on the tip of the nose with one’s body straight. The eyes should neither be wide open nor should they be completely shut and one should neither be staring up in space nor staring down at the floor.
Regarding bodily posture, the body should not be inclined backwards nor should it be curved forwards. Instead, one’s spine should be erect and the reason for this is that when the body posture is erect, in turn the channels within the body are straightened out. When the channels are straightened out, the winds can flow freely within the channel, and when these winds or energies can flow freely, the minds which ride on the wind circulate with no difficulty, and in turn the meditation will go well. Likewise, when one engages in this practice, recollection or memory should not be focused outside towards the objects of the senses, but should be focused inwards on its object of observation. Likewise, the shoulders must be set at equal height without leaning to the left or to the right.
They must be straight, in other words. As to the head, the head should neither lean to the left nor to the right. It should be straight, and the eyes, as we said, should be focused on the tip of the nose. Therefore, in addition to the bodies being straight, the head must be straight, neither staring upwards nor staring downwards. As for the mouth, the teeth and the lips specifically, the mouth should neither be wide open nor clenched shut.
It should instead be left in its natural, normal, easy position. As for the tongue, the tongue should neither be leaning out of the mouth nor to the right or to the left. Instead, this tongue should be placed on the palate directly behind the front teeth, and the benefits of this are twofold. First, during long meditations one will not drool, and secondly, during long meditation one’s mouth will not become dry. And finally, regarding breath, one should not breathe in a huffing or panting way and lose control of over one’s breath.
Instead, the outwards and inwards flow of breath must be very smooth and actually should be almost imperceptible. It should be so smooth, so soft, and so easy that one barely feels it going in and out. So the eightfold posture has been explained and at the towards the bottom of page three, it is said that one must specifically control the breath. Controlling the breath here refers, in which he says, to this smooth, easy, and gradual outwards and inwards flow of the breath. So here it is important to understand that when one meditates, it is not the body which meditates.
The body remains at ease, it is the mind which meditates. And at the bottom of page three, although most stages of the path explain the practices of calm abiding by means of the eight applications, which abandon the five faults, this is a procedure of most of the Lam Rim texts such as the greater Lam Rim or the middling Lam Rim. So this is the procedure of most of the Lamrim text which explain abandoning the five faults through the eight applications. And moving onwards with the blue text, the instructions from the lineages of Geshe Losawa explain that one must practice in addition to these the six forces, the four attentions, and the nine means of abiding of the mind explained in Asaṇga’s grounds of the hearers. So generally speaking the presentation in Maitreya’s Madhyāntavibhanga, the separation of the middle from the extremes is the Mahāyāna presentation.
The lineage from Geshe Losawa, which is a lineage from Asaṇga’s grounds of hearers or Śrāvakabhūmi, is a Hīnayāna presentation. Asaṇga who was one of the two founders with Nāgārjuna, Asaṇga mainly focused on the method aspect of the path, while Nāgārjuna mainly focused on the wisdom aspect of the path. Asaṇga composed both a shravakabhumi, grounds of the hearers, for Hīnayāna practitioners, and a bodhisattva bhūmi, grounds of the bodhisattvas, for a bodhisattva practitioner. This explanation comes from his grounds of the hearers. And here, the six forces, which include the force of hearing, the force of thinking, the force of recollection, the force of enthusiasm, and so forth, will be explained later, as well as the four attentions, which include the interrupted attention, the uninterrupted attention, and so forth.
They will be explained at the end of the chapter. And on page four, Maitreya explained also in the ornaments of the Mahāyāna sūtra, Mahāyāna Sutralankara, as well as in the separation of the middle from the extremes, the Madhyāntavibhanga, the nine means of abiding of the mind and the eight abandoning applications, and Indian scholars following him, such as the masters Haribhādra, Kamalaśīla, Shantipa and so forth, worked extensively on the stages of concentration. Rinpoche would like to point out that there is no uncommon tantric presentation of the practice of Shine. And at present the actual topic in the middle of page four is subdivided into two, the criterion for having generated concentration faultlessly. Concentration here refers to calm abiding and dependence on that the generation of mental stages.
The first topic is subdivided into three, how to proceed before focusing the mind on the object of observation, before and after. Here generally speaking, meditation entails focusing the mind on an object of observation, and there are many such objects. It’s not the case that one can say this is a possible object of observation and this is not. For instance, a non-Buddhist will generate calm abiding on the basis of pebbles or twigs. But in the Buddhist tradition one can generate calm abiding on the basis of an object of observation such as a syllable a, or light, or for that matter emptiness, or a deity’s body.
These are various objects of observation to give rise to calm abiding. And then in turn, one must understand the thoughts to eliminate before engaging in meditation, so before focusing on the object. While one focuses on the object, and during the focus this includes thoughts such as sinking and agitation, which are obstacles which interfere with a generation of calm abiding, and after focusing them. Now at the beginning, before focusing the mind on the object of observation, and this is pointed out in the middle of page four, if one does not enjoy meditating on concentration and is unable to put an end to the laziness which delights in what is at odds with it, will not be granted entry from the very beginning into concentration. So, laziness is the first obstacle to one’s training in calm abiding.
It is the first obstacle to be eliminated, and it is subdivided into three: the laziness of bad behavior, laziness of low self worth, and laziness of discouragement. Laziness of bad behavior is the laziness which refuses to focus one’s mind on the object of observation and instead wants to play, to go out for walks, and so forth. This is a form of laziness. The laziness of low self worth is the laziness which thinks of any way I’m not worth anything, I’m no good, I can never achieve this, I won’t even try. It is also a form of laziness, and the laziness of discouragement is a laziness which after trying a little bit without getting the results one desires, gives everything up and doesn’t continue?
So, to attain concentration, one must have the force or the energy to do so, and not reflect and think this is unattainable for me. Thinking that if one has concentration, one is able to practice virtue, one is able to engage in the practice of secret mantra, one attains both physical and mental happiness. The first and foremost of the antidotes to laziness is enthusiasm. Once one has enthusiasm, laziness cannot arise, and enthusiasm arises through recollecting the qualities of concentration. Through recollecting their qualities, the wish to attain concentration arises, and from this wish enthusiasm grows.
Reflecting on the fact that through concentration we can obtain both bodily and mental pliancy, and that in turn thanks to these, the practice of virtue is extremely easy. The wish to attain this concentration is enhanced, and in turn our enthusiasm rises. This enthusiasm acts as the foremost obstacle or the foremost antidote to laziness. It is said that without enthusiasm nothing can ever be accomplished, for with enthusiasm there is nothing which cannot be accomplished. So this will be explained in greater detail tomorrow in Kamala Śīla’s stages of meditation, where the qualities of concentration are explained and in turn how it generates faith and conviction, aspiration on that basis and eventually enthusiasm.
And now moving onwards to page five, Rinpoche will present the qualities of concentration. The qualities of concentration which has been meditated upon are as follows: If calm abiding is attained it is evident, and as what is obvious in this very life, that one will dwell in bliss through the increase of mental happiness and bodily bliss. Moreover, through finding bodily and mental pliancy, in other words the happiness of bodily and mental pliancy, it is possible to set the mind on whichever virtuous object one wishes, so whichever object of observation one wishes to focus the mind upon, one can focus it upon without any difficulty. The mind has become completely serviceable, whereas in our case neither body nor mind are serviceable. If one has pliancy, then there is no difficulty in the slightest in focusing one’s body and mind on virtue.
In our case, we mistakenly consider the attraction towards women to be a case of happiness. This is not happiness, it is actually suffering, since in dependence on this one is reborn in the lower realms. Moving onwards, the third quality is through involuntarily pacifying distraction, in other words, the pacification of distraction occurs naturally towards wrong objects, in other words, towards objects of desire. Numerous wrong behaviors will not arise, and whatever virtue engages in will be stronger. Jumping to the fifth quality, and if one thinks specifically of being able to sever swiftly the root of cyclic existence, becoming thereby an Arhat through the realization of insight into emptiness and in dependence upon that, one will have meditated on an understanding of the increase in the powerful delights of concentration and meditation.
And then moving onwards, Rinpoche points out that it is through repeated engagement in meditation that the decline of meditation becomes difficult. So 12:00 is past, Rinpoche has explained today the place in which one should engage in meditation and the qualities of the being engaging in meditation, as well as the seven or eight fold features of the body, When one engages in meditation and how to control the flow of breath. Moreover, Rinpoche explained the force which occur in the beginning and the middle and the end of the practice, In the beginning, before practicing calm abiding, main fault is laziness and the main antidote is enthusiasm. In the middle, the main fault is both sinking, or the main faults are both sinking and agitation, and these must be eliminated. Finally, after the practice, if one is unable to abide in continuity in Shine, then there are numerous faults.
Okay, Good? Very good? We will stop here for today. And this afternoon, your translator Tenzin Tempa will answer the questions. If you have any doubts, please raise them with him.
Okay.