Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 46-minute teaching, Kyabje Rinpoche analyzes the awakening heart (bodhicitta), the central motivation in Mahāyāna Buddhism. He defines bodhicitta as a consciousness with two objects: the welfare of all sentient beings and Buddhahood. Compassion and love are its roots. He then contrasts two paths: practitioners of mediocre intelligence develop bodhicitta by recognizing their incapacity and relying on the Buddha’s power, while practitioners of high intelligence examine ignorance as the obstruction to Buddhahood, gain insight into emptiness that reveals their capacity to attain it, and generate stable commitment to enlightenment. He stresses that commitment alone is insufficient — the bodhisattva must receive teachings and practice the methods that transform that commitment into liberation for others. For those with prior Buddhist study and serious interest in the Mahāyāna path.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1989-08-31 – Side 1 – KR.MP3
UUID: 95f18b03-d8fd-466f-aa22-e972afa4e7b1
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Ornament of Clear Realization
Date: 1989-08-31
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,787
So we should adjust our motivation such that we’re going to listen to this profound teaching on the great vehicle with the attitude of the awakening heart. I must attain perfect complete unsurpassable Buddhahood in order to establish all sentient beings equal to space and complete happiness and bliss. So the mind generation, that is the awakening heart, is within the context of awareness and knowledge where the explanation is given on minds and mental factors. Between these two, the minds and mental factors, it is categorized as a mind. So the awakening heart is a mind, is it a consciousness?
It has an object. It is a subject having an object, just like the eye consciousness which observes the flower. The eye consciousness is a subject, a consciousness, and it must have an object. And the object of the eye consciousness observing the flower is the flower. And likewise, the awakening heart is a consciousness.
It is a mind. And it has an object of observation. The objects of observation of the awakening heart are that which will be attained in the future, the object which is to be attained in the future, that is to say enlightenment or Buddhahood. So the object of observation is enlightenment or Buddhahood. And the welfare of others.
So the object of observation of an awakening heart is enlightenment and the welfare of others. So when we talk about the welfare of others, what is the welfare of others? That is, it is the blissful state, that is the nirvana, of others. This is the abandonment of suffering or the freedom from suffering, that is to say liberation. This is the welfare of others.
So, also, the object of observation was enlightenment. And by enlightenment, we mean here that our future attainment of Buddhahood. This is what we mean by enlightenment. What is the way it is observing? What is the manner of observing these two objects?
And we said that one of the objects was the welfare of others. That is to say, the abandonment of the suffering of cyclic existence of all sentient beings or that is to say liberation. This is the welfare of others. And the other object was enlightenment. Now what is the manner of observing these?
The awakening heart is observing that in order to bring about this welfare of others, in order to bring about the abandonment which is the abandonment of suffering of all sentient beings, in order to establish all sentient beings in this abandonment then he commits himself to the attainment of enlightenment. There’s a promise or a commitment to the attainment of enlightenment. The main cause of the awakening heart is compassion or compassion and love. Now, this is to say, in general there are many causes to develop the awakening heart. But these are called the type of causes where if they’re not present, result cannot arise.
They are a necessary cause, prerequisite. What do we mean by compassion? This is the wish to separate all sentient beings from suffering. Compassion is the cause for the development of the awakening heart. That is, the wish that all sentient beings be separated from their suffering.
Additionally, it is the happiness which knows no suffering. This is the welfare which the awakening heart is seeking to bring about. The happiness which is the separation from suffering. And in order to actually develop the awakening heart, must generate this wish of compassion and love. But then we must go further than that We begin to look around.
We examine our situation. Can I actually establish all sentient beings in the happiness which knows no suffering? And if I can’t, then who can? And we see that it’s only a Buddha who has this capacity. Therefore we determine that because I want to establish all sentient beings in happiness which knows no suffering, then I myself must attain Buddhahood.
I must attain, that is to say, the state of enlightenment. If I become enlightened then I can emanate hundreds and thousands of emanations, each one bringing about the benefit of sentient beings, numberless sentient beings. And in this way I can actually bring about the goal which I am seeking to establish all sentient beings in this happiness which knows no suffering. Therefore, for the sake of establishing all sentient beings in the happiness which knows no suffering, I myself will attain enlightenment. When such a mind arises non artificially, spontaneously, then this is the awakening heart.
In order to actually attain enlightenment, have to set about collecting the two accumulations. So we’re trying to bring about the welfare of others by the force of this compassion of the awakening heart. By the attainment of enlightenment we can send out numberless emanations which can benefit sentient beings, mainly by teaching them the Dharma. It is by this means that the student can attain, for example, a human life, that they can attain the status of a god, that they can finally abandon cyclic existence and achieve liberation. When a student has achieved the liberation from cyclic existence, then the welfare of that student has been achieved.
Therefore, this is what we’re seeking to bring about for all sentient beings, the abandonment of cyclic existence, their liberation. This is the welfare which we’re trying to enact. So the awakening heart has two objects of observation: the welfare of all other sentient beings and enlightenment. In order to bring about the happiness which knows no suffering of all sentient beings, one strives for enlightenment. So the awakening heart is a commitment.
One commits oneself to the attainment of enlightenment for the sake of sentient beings. Or we can say, one promises, commits. One commits oneself to attain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. With respect to mind generation, the awakening heart, there’s the mind generation of the two different capacities of intelligence. There’s the the very intelligent and then the mediocre.
So the methods by which we bring we can generate the awakening heart is first by the seven cause and effect instructions. This is the sequence of meditations which begins with equanimity and then recognizing all sentient beings as one’s mother, remembering their kindness, developing a gratitude seeking to repay their kindness, pleasant love, great compassion, and then exceptional resolve, and finally the awakening heart. So it’s necessary to develop great compassion. And this was the wish to separate all sentient beings from their suffering. This is what we mean by great compassion.
But we go on from there and we think that in order to bring this about I’m not going to depend upon anyone else. We develop the courageous mind which thinks, I myself will separate all sentient beings from their suffering. And this is termed the exceptional resolve of compassion, the compassion of exceptional resolve. So having developed this compassion of exceptional resolve, there is the difference in the way of thinking between the practitioner of high intelligence and mediocre intelligence. With respect to those of mediocre intelligence, arrived at the thought that I myself take the responsibility to place all sentient beings in a happiness which knows no suffering.
Upon developing that exceptional resolve, the practitioner looks about, begins to examine, Can I actually do this in fact? Do I have this capacity? And seeing that he doesn’t, then he asks the question, Well then who does have this ability? And he sees only that except for Buddha that no one has this capacity. And therefore he develops the awakening heart, is the commitment that I myself, for the sake of establishing all sentient beings in happiness which knows no suffering, will attain Buddhahood.
And he develops the actual awakening heart. He then goes on to enter the path and begin the abandonment of the two obscurations which prevent his Buddhahood, that is to say the obstruction from liberation and the obstruction from omniscience. And this necessitates the meditation on emptiness, developing the wisdom, realizing emptiness, developing the two aspects of method and wisdom in order to complete his training. Then on the other hand, with respect to the practitioner of high intelligence, he or she would also go on to develop exceptional resolve. First, with great compassion, looking upon all sentient beings and developing the wish to separate all sentient beings from their suffering, to establish them in happiness which knows no suffering.
And again, looking about, looking at oneself, seeing if one has that actual capacity, that ability, and understanding that one presently doesn’t have the capacity to establish one sentient being in Buddhahood, let alone all sentient beings, asking, Well then, who does? And seeing that the person who has the maximum capacity is the Buddha and therefore developing that developing the no, that’s not quite right. So the practitioner of highest intelligence has developed great compassion, developing a desire to establish all sentient beings and happiness which knows no suffering, and develops the courageous mind which takes responsibility to establish all sentient beings in the happiness which knows no suffering. That is to say, he develops exceptional resolve, this courageous mind which takes sole responsibility to establish all sentient beings in happiness, to separate them from their suffering. So now he has attained exceptional resolve.
But at this point there is a difference in the way he now thinks. He begins to question, he examines, Can I actually attain Buddhahood? Is it possible? He’s thinking that only a Buddha can attain, can bring about the welfare of all sentient beings. But he has not generated the awakening heart as of yet.
He has not committed himself to Buddhahood as of yet. He has only taken his sole responsibility to bring about the welfare of others. And he sees that only a Buddha can establish this and now he’s wondering, Can I attain Buddhahood? What are the obstacles to the attainment of Buddhahood? Can I eliminate those obstacles to the attainment of Buddhahood?
So he begins to examine. He sees that the obstacles to Buddhahood are the two obstructions, the afflictive obstruction and the knowledge obstruction. And he understands that mainly we’re talking about the abandonment of ignorance. Can I get rid of ignorance? If I can get rid of ignorance, if I can get rid of the knowledge of obstruction, the obstruction to omniscience, then I can become a Buddha.
I can attain Buddhahood. He understands that ignorance can be overcome by the wisdom of understanding emptiness. And so he begins to examine emptiness to see if he actually can develop an understanding of emptiness. And he actually gains a realization of emptiness, a wisdom understanding emptiness. And then he understands that there’s no reason why I can’t attain Buddhahood because the obstructions to the attainment of Buddhahood is ignorance and I can generate an antidote, is, that is to say, the wisdom which understands emptiness.
So then he says, Therefore there’s no permanent obstruction to my attaining Buddhahood. So he goes on to make a commitment. Why? Because he sees a need to attain Buddhahood and he sees that he’s able to attain Buddhahood. There’s a need, he must attain Buddhahood, there’s a need, but he also sees very clearly for himself that he has the ability to attain it.
And therefore, he then goes on to make the commitment for the sake of all sentient beings to establish them in complete happiness and bliss, then I myself must attain Buddhahood, enlightenment, because I need to and I have the ability to. Such a type, that is to say, he generates an awakening heart. And this type of awakening heart is unmoving, very stable. It will never degenerate. So do you understand that well?
If you have had some doubts, then you can ask questions. So as it is explained in accordance with the text Engaging in the Middle Way, first one generates the great compassion, then one generates the non dual wisdom, and then proceeds to generate the awakening heart. And this procedure of generating the awakening heart is according to the practitioner of high intelligence. So this is the cause for the development of the awakening heart. Recognizing all sentient beings as one’s mother, remembering their kindness, developing the gratitude, seeking to repay their kindness, pleasant love, great compassion, exceptional resolve, finally the awakening heart.
This is the nature. The nature or the entity of the awakening heart is this special wish, which is the commitment to the attainment of enlightenment for the welfare of all sentient beings. So this is the type of motivation, the type of thought that we we generate before the the each each teaching. The special wish in which one commits oneself that in order to separate all sentient beings from their suffering and to bring them, to establish them in unsurpassable happiness. Unsurpassable happiness or unsurpassable bliss is Buddhahood.
In order to establish all sentient beings in this unsurpassable happiness that I must attain myself the enlightenment. And therefore I’m going to listen to this profound teaching on great vehicle. For this purpose, this is the reason I’m listening to this teaching. This is the motivation of the awakening heart. So the awakening heart is the wish seeking to establish all sentient beings in unsurpassable happiness.
And it is seeking the object of attainment, is enlightenment, in order to bring this about. And one commits oneself to bring this about. Now simply making a commitment in itself does not bring about the results. Simply thinking, I’m going to eat, does not put food in your mouth. For example, if someone is the Australian Prime Minister makes many promises to the people to bring about their welfare, simply making these promises in a speech, for example, does not bring about their welfare.
He has to actually engage in the various activities, in the various negotiations, in various transactions, work for the sake of the people in order to bring about to fulfill his promise to the people. And likewise, the bodhisattva, having made this commitment, actually has to begin to engage in the practices of the great vehicle. Merely thinking about establishing all sentient beings in unsurpassable happiness is not going to bring it about. In order to actually begin to engage in the practices of the great vehicle, he must know the practices of the great vehicle. And this he does by first listening, receiving the precepts or the instructions from a spiritual master, listening to the teachings: what is to be adopted, what is to be rejected, the way of practicing generosity, way of practicing patience, all of these various bodhisattva practices.
So therefore, in order for him to fulfill his commitment, he must receive instructions. So therefore, the second topic, which was now going to be discussed is instructions. So the second topic that’s going to be taken up now is called instructions, sometimes called precepts. And there’s both the lesser vehicle instructions and the greater vehicle instructions. The definition of instructions in general is the speech which teaches for the sake of either happiness or benefit.
Teaching with respect to either happiness or benefit is the definition of instruction. A teaching with respect to either happiness or benefit is the definition of instruction. So there are the two the two levels of instruction, the lesser vehicle instruction and the great vehicle instruction. So the definition of great vehicle instruction is great vehicle speech, which teaches the method. It’s the great vehicle of speech which teaches the method for the attainment of the object of endeavor of the great vehicle mind generation.
The great vehicle speech which teaches the method for the attainment of the object of endeavor of the great vehicle mind generation. Here’s the definition of great vehicle instruction. So what is that object of endeavor? It is the welfare of all sentient beings and enlightenment. That is the object which is the endeavor of the great vehicle mind generation.
So the method for attaining the object of endeavor of the great vehicle mind generationthe object of the great vehicle mind generation is the welfare of all sentient beings and enlightenment. Therefore, that is the object of attainment. And then this is that which teaches the method for that attainment, the various types of methods whereby we can bring about that attainment, such as the teachings on emptiness, teachings on the awakening heart, teachings on generosity, ethics, six perfections. All these various explanations are methods for attaining the object of endeavor of the awakening heart. To attain the goal of the awakening heart, of the great vehicle, the awakening heart.
These are the methods, the means, these are the instructions.