Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 45-minute teaching on the Ornament of Clear Realization, Kyabje Rinpoche explains why receiving authentic instructions is central to attaining enlightenment and benefiting all beings. He outlines two main categories of great vehicle instructions: methods for acquiring new knowledge and preserving acquired knowledge. He then describes the five paths and three levels of the path of accumulation, showing how practitioners develop the meditative stabilization of ‘continuous Dharma,’ a state in which teachings remain constantly accessible. Rinpoche addresses how advanced practitioners receive teachings directly from images of deities and Buddhas, citing Tsongkhapa, Atisha, and other historical masters. The final section explores how practitioners with strong intelligence realize their capacity to achieve Buddhahood by understanding emptiness and abandoning the obstacles to omniscience.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1989-08-31 – Side 2 – KR.MP3
UUID: a4907915-01f0-428c-b8b3-99978fd6bbf8
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Ornament of Clear Realization
Date: 1989-08-31
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~1,946
So just as in the case of seeking to improve the lot of the Australian people, It would be necessary to refer to the books which were written by experienced individuals who know how to go about bringing about raising the lives of the people, the welfare of the people, improving the situation in Australia. Therefore you would study these books and then you would learn the methods to improve the situation. Likewise, in order to attain the object of endeavor of the great vehicle mind generation, that is to say, in order to bring about the welfare of all sentient beings and to attain enlightenment, It would be necessary to listen to the instructions, that is to say the teachings of the Dharma which Buddha taught. The teachings of the Dharma would be the instructions whereby you could bring about the object of your endeavor, enlightenment, the welfare of all sentient beings. So the great vehicle instructions, they set forth all the various practices, both the profound and the vast.
Set forth what is to be abandoned, what are the antidotes to bring about these abandonments, what are the methods, what is the first, what is second, what is third, what is last. So all the various instructions which set forth the practices to attain the objective endeavor of the great vehicle mind generation are called great vehicle instructions. So in general there are 10 great vehicle instructions, but mainly two. So there are two main great vehicle instructions. The first is the instructions on knowledge already acquired.
This is To attain knowledge which has not been to newly attain knowledge which has not previously been generated, which has not been previously acquired, to newly attain knowledge which is the method for newly attaining knowledge which has not been previously acquired. And the second is instruction for not allowing knowledge already acquired to degenerate. For The method for newly attaining knowledge not previously acquired. And then the second was the method for not allowing previously acquired knowledge to degenerate. So by instruction, we mean the words of the Buddha, the the teachings which are the teachings of the Dharma which are taught by the lama, the spiritual masters such as what is to be adopted, what is to be rejected, the various ways to benefit and to find happiness.
All of these are instruction. With respect to the instructions, that is to say the various teachings on the Dharma, it is In general there are five paths: the path of accumulation, preparation, seeing, meditation, and no more learning. On the very first of these paths, the path of accumulation, there are three levels: There is the small, middling, and great. Just like in a flower growing up, and at first it’s very small and then gradually it increases in size and finally it becomes a full grown flower. Likewise with the path of accumulation, as one progresses one moves through these three levels and attains the great level of the path of accumulation.
At that point one attains the meditative stabilization called stream of Dharma. Stream of Dharma or continuous Dharma. One is constantly listening to instructions on the Dharma. It’s just like a tape recorder. The tape recorder which there’s an instruction at the cassette with instructions in that tape recorder.
It’s all ready to play. It’s just ready to play. All you have to do is push a button and you can listen to the teaching. It’s always there, just waiting for you to make use of it. Whenever you want to listen, you just push the button and you can listen to the teaching.
Likewise, having attained this great path of accumulation, the greater the path of accumulation, then you achieve this meditative stabilization called the continuous Dharma. Can receive any time that you want to listen, receive teachings from images, which are actually the supreme emanations of the Buddha. Any time that you want to listen to the Dharma, you turn your mind toward these images, you can receive teachings, instructions. On the other hand, so these are from the supreme emanations. Once one attains the first ground, that is the path of seeing, one can have teachings directly from enjoyment body.
The reason that we don’t hear these teachings being emanated is because we don’t have the karma. We haven’t created the actions. We have negative karma which acts as an obstruction. Once we attain these paths, then we can attain continual instruction. So there are many instances of this in Tibet where images.
These images are called Tsungma, which for example there’s Drolma Tsungma, Tongwa Tsungma, Jowo Tsungma, all these various actual accounts of where Lamas would go to images and they would actually receive teachings from these images, instructions. Likewise, we were to achieve the great level of the path of accumulation, then we would attain this meditative stabilization of continuous Dharma and be able to listen to instructions continuously. Past great masters such as Atisha was always in contact receiving instructions from Tārā, Tsongkhapa was continually receiving instructions from Mañjuśrī, Sangye Gompa was always receiving instructions from Chenrezig due to their high attainment. So the boundary the boundary of instruction is before the attainment of the path, before, prior to the attainment of the path up to the level of Buddhahood, up to the level of Buddhahood. Prior to attainment of a path, Before entering the path?
Yeah, before entering the path. Up to and including the level of Buddhahood. Before one attains the path, up to the attainment of Buddhahood. So we’ll stop there and we have about fifteen more minutes. If you have any questions, any doubts, you can ask your questions.
So the instruction is verbal. Verbal sound. Just like a teacher giving verbal instruction. Yeah. So if there’s no image in front of you, then there’s no image to teach you.
Yeah. I guess So on the other hand, make requests to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and then they will come and give instruction. So one doesn’t necessarily have to have an image in order to receive instructions. If it’s there, then you can receive instructions from it. If it’s not there, you can go to a Lama, for example, to receive instructions.
Because the image has been consecrated, it is a site in which the wisdom truth body abides. And therefore if you have the personal power, then it will teach you. It will give you instruction if you have the positive potential. So the bodhisattva acts in order to benefit sentient beings. Any action which is motivated by the awakening heart, such as the recitation of saying prayers, reciting mantras, teaching the Dharma, is definitely beneficial.
We develop the great compassion, which seeks to establish all sentient beings in happiness which knows no suffering. We commit ourselves to the attainment and enlightenment to actually bring that about. We accumulate a great deal of personal power. We travel the path, and then we actually attain Buddhahood. But other sentient beings have not necessarily been practicing the Dharma.
And if they don’t practice, then there’s no way that they’re going to attain Buddhahood. But ourselves having attained Buddhahood, having attained enlightenment, due to the force of our compassion, we teach them the Dharma. Sentient beings in general, they don’t know the path to Buddhahood. So we teach them the path, we teach them what is to be adopted, what is to be abandoned. And in this way, by teaching them the Dharma in order that they practice that they themselves attain Buddhahood.
And this is the way we establish all sentient beings in happiness. So it doesn’t have to be a long time to we can do it very quickly by the power of tantra. That’s difficult. Mean most people, they don’t know how to practice. They don’t know the practices and therefore in order to help them to improve themselves it’s very difficult.
So suffering only arises as a result of unskillful actions, and the Buddha has no unskillful actions, therefore he experiences no suffering. So our Buddha has compassion which wishes to separate beings from suffering, which loves sentient beings, but the Buddha him or herself only experiences bliss. So the Buddha is beyond sadness, beyond sorrow. He doesn’t have any afflictions which could bring about sadness and therefore he doesn’t experience it. According to the great exposition school, the Buddha has the case where there is a Buddha with suffering.
According to this explanation of the Great Exposition School, the Buddha has the body of an ordinary being. Though internally he has actualized Buddhahood, he has a body of an ordinary being. So according to the Great Exposition School then there are cases where the Buddha does suffer. In the case where there was When the Buddha was a member of the Sakya clan, there was a battle proceeding against many of his members of the Sakya clan were being killed. Due to the force of his collective karma that he had created with the rest of his Sakya clan, it said that he did experience some pain during this battle.
But this is only according to the great exposition school, according to the great vehicle, the Buddha does not suffer. Yeah. Go ahead. Let me ask you a question. Before he generates a bodhicitta.
Yeah. A practitioner of high intelligence having generated exceptional resolve, begins to examine whether he can actually attain the state of Buddhahood. Upon examining he understands that in order to attain Buddhahood he must abandon the knowledge obstruction, that is to say the obstruction to omniscience. In order to do that he sees that he must generate the wisdom understanding emptiness. So he sets about meditating on emptiness and he realizes emptiness.
And then having realized emptiness he thinks, Ah, I can abandon the knowledge obstruction. I have that ability. With that, it’s not that he has abandoned the knowledge of obstruction, he knows that he has the ability to abandon the knowledge obstruction because he can develop the wisdom, understanding, and emptiness because he has realized emptiness. So he has the ability. Hasn’t done it yet.
He knows he has the ability. Which, both way? When, at this point? In general? When he enters the path?
bodhisattva makes effort to abandon both obstructions but his main abandonment is the knowledge obstruction as opposed to the afflictive obstruction. You mean why is the knowledge obstruction his main abandonment? Because the knowledge obstruction is the main obstacle to achievement of Buddhahood. So because he has a valid cognition of his ability to achieve Buddhahood. Therefore, there’s no backsliding.
He has realized his ability to achieve Buddhahood, whereas the other one hasn’t realized that he has this ability. And this is in the case of when you actually see the flower, you have a valid cognition of the flower. And you go out of the room and somebody says, oh, there’s no flower in that room. And you say, No, I saw the flower. I have valid cognition of that flower.
There’s no reason there’s no because you saw that flower for yourself that you won’t reverse from that understanding that there is a flower in that room. But if you didn’t see that flower, someone said, There’s no flower in that room, you simply would not know. You wouldn’t come into that firmness. Therefore, in this case, there’s a non reversal from the commitment to Buddhahood because you have seen for yourself that you have the ability to achieve Buddhahood. You never reverse from that.
The other one has not seen that.