Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 52-minute final session of the term on the Ornament of Clear Realization, Kyabje Rinpoche begins with technical instruction for advanced meditators: how to meditate on the emptiness of phenomena’s divisions, definitions, and the subject-object relationship of all experience. He addresses an organisational confusion from prior teachings, then devotes roughly half the session to student questions on practical matters—whether to follow one’s birthplace Buddhist tradition and how karma and prayer determine rebirth circumstances. Rinpoche stresses the power of accumulated study imprints, illustrated by the story of a pigeon who overheard Acharya Vasubandhu’s scripture recitations and, reborn as a human student, became a renowned master. Suited to practitioners with existing grounding in Buddhist epistemology and metaphysics.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1989-11-30 – 27B – KR.mp3
UUID: 70e2ae0a-8722-4fa3-af65-193d01a87f61
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Ornament of Clear Realization
Date: 1989-11-30
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,334
# Ornament 27b 1989-11-30
**Collection:** Rinpoche Recordings — Ornament of Clear Realisation (1989-90)
**Duration:** 51.7 minutes
**Words:** 2,344
**Model:** Deepgram Nova-3
**Corrections applied:** 8
**Transcribed:** 2026-02-28 23:25
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Regarding ranging borders, it ranges from great vehicle’s path of accumulation up till last continuity. So regarding the definition, it basically explains in meaning clear terms and meaning when a bodhisattva at this point in a spiritual level, what he does is he mainly meditates on emptiness and in trying to meditate on emptiness he meditates on the truthlessness, the nature of having no truth or existence in the divisions, different variety, different divisions of the phenomena like with the whole of phenomena it has the divisions of the conventional truth, ultimate truth and regarding the mind it has the divisions of the valid cognitive mind and non valid cognitive mind and regarding the omniscience mind it has the whole set of three divisions. So regarding the phenomenon, there are a whole lot of divisions, varieties and at this point the bodhisattva meditates on the lack of true existence in each of the different divisions or varieties of phenomena and that’s what basically it is talking about and continues. So that’s about the first divisions. So at that point, bodhisattva is meditating on the emptiness of the divisions of phenomena, and then he also meditates on the emptiness of the definitions and definiendum of phenomena like normally mind is also called by the synonym word called lo and translated as awareness and the definition in traditional dialectical definition of awareness is defined as knowing.
Knowing is the so it goes like knowing is the definition of awareness and same applies with the valid cognitive mind. A valid cognition regarding its definition, a new infallible mind is the infallible mind is the definition of valid cognition and same here in this context the what we call equality of the base knower’s application it has a definition which goes like the mental yoga held by the wisdom which is to succeed the truth clinging or what we call truth-clinging to the divisions, definition, definiendum and so forth. So that is the what we call definition and the thing covered is the eighth of the nine series, based on the equality of the base knower application. So that’s the definiendum and the definition covers the definiendum. So bodhisattva at that point of the practice also does meditation on the emptiness of whole definitions and definienda of all phenomena.
And also in the definition words says the object and subject. So when a mind looks at the flower, the flower is the object and the looker, onlooker mind is the subject and same when the mind looks at the text then the text is the object and the mind looking is the subject. So like that all phenomena can have an occasion of being subject and object and on being subject and object they have also the attributes or feature of being empty so bodhisattva at this point also meditates on the emptiness nature of all phenomena which are subject and objects. So the ninth one in the ninth series is the great vehicle’s path of seeing shown in this context and regarding its definition there was a bit of mess up in the last, I will call, quite long couple of sessions ahead there has been bit of mess up and in the path lower where we had one definition of the path of seeing shown explicitly in this context that should have been here. So already the definition has been written in the teachings before and regarding the path of seeing which is great regarding the great vehicle’s path of seeing which is the ninth in this one and its definition it will be explained by Rinpoche sometime in future.
So there has been a bit of mess of the this context path of seeing should have been the one which already has been explained before during the path of — not part nor of the path and that can be shifted to this one and the one which should have been at that context during the path of seeing shown explicitly. Also that path of seeing, it will be quite a short one and will be explained sometime in future. So tonight we leave most of the time for question and answer. There are about half an hour remaining and would be good if there are question and answer because the teaching on this subject for this term is the last one tonight. Anyone among you have answers for Darrell’s question?
Anyone else? You want to ask the question again? Oh yes, that’s right generally they are what I call a lesser vehicle or inferior vehicle and the great vehicle. And that’s because there are sentient beings whose mental capacity cannot comprehend the great vehicle’s profound teachings and for time being it is more beneficial if they are shown the inferior vehicle’s path and afterward when they come or when they develop to the level where they are able to comprehend and practice the great vehicle then they would be shown great vehicle paths and teaching. So that’s true through that way and because of that reason somehow the ultimate intention is to lead to the great vehicle and here in this context why there are whole lot of different presentation of the practices, different presentation of the progress in the spiritual practice is because bodhisattva is of immense, what we call immense determination and willpower that he wants to attain Buddhahood as quick as possible and his mind attitude is focused on all infinite beings and because of that, because of his immense willpower of wanting to attain Buddhahood quickly because of being focused on so many that his practice also has to be powerful and to be able to have powerful practice he has to practice whole lot of what is explained in this one.
So what not necessarily. You have to listen to the teaching whatever is dominant in your birthplace. You really from depth of heart if you really want then whatever teaching if it’s not in that place you can go to other place or you can invite lamas or teachers of that lineage which you want to hear or group. What do you what do the others think about that? Is it like what Rinpoche said?
Next time, we will have a mic for everybody. So maybe I will ask a case work or more like in discussion maybe Rinpoche’s advice is that the translator should announce or repeat the question back to the students. And normally, unlike some other work or some other well known translators like Alex Berzin in America, whenever there’s a public talks or the questions, he would say to the audience. But that’s only in the case of a special public address. So maybe you can repeat your question.
Yes. Normally, also, there is a case whatever the child’s parents practice that religion the child somehow in most countries the child has to practice but anyway even in that case we can see when the child is grown up and bit matured and can decide what things are good for the child then the child can or swap on the religious practice to whichever the child likes to be. Yes, yeah mainly it is karma and for Buddhist karma has to be considered the most important factor. So karma can be understood in the terms of whatever virtuous actions one has done in the past life along with the prayers one has done like our prayers may I be born in a place where great vehicle teaching is prevalent or our prayer that may I be born in a place where inferior vehicle’s teachings are prevalent. So whatever prayers along with the karma one has done that determines where you are going to be born.
So as a Buddhist definitely we have to be counting mainly on karma. So if you all have no questions, remember you will start asking. Yeah that’s quite true in your case of course to be able to work or stick to your mind or have it comprehended especially on this subject and in any other, basically you need a lot of factors like the principal among those would be to have imprint deposit of connection, connection deposit from past lives in the form of having studied on this part, having practiced repeatedly again and again if you have heard it then that becomes the basis imprint and in this life you may have familiarity with it, connection with it and also a lot of other repeated studies practice. So it is quite natural at the first few times. Our Rinpoche is fully aware that Murray you have what is called strong perseverance and strong work ethic on all these subjects of Dharma but maybe at the moment if you feel difficult but still doesn’t matter what it requires you have to do repeated study and try to get used to it and this will be like the imprint, the seed you plant now and afterward if you happen to receive more teachings on it from anybody in that time because of this imprint at that time you may be able to have illumination of understanding.
In the past or in the historical past there was Indian master called Acharya Vasubandhu who wrote, who is famous, very well known for his present work in English called Treasury of Knowledge on which whole subject of mind and secondary mind is a part of that and Buddhist cosmology covers about nine and a half, eight and a half chapters. So during the time of Acharya Vasubandhu, the master, he used to recite every day and night Buddhist texts out of his memory and the time he used to recite these texts, he used to remain seated in a long pipe, sort of a tunnel, sort of an iron bucket completely filled with oil up to the neck and then he would recite. So you can ask questions about that afterwards, what’s the reason. So he used to recite it all the time he used to recite and nearby there used to be a pigeon who every day because of having a nest nearby used to hear what the master was reciting every day. And afterward the pigeon died and it was reborn as a child somehow in the locality of that master and was afterward brought up as a monk and became a disciple of the same master.
And even as a child, this newborn babe who was previously pigeon, he could still recite so many texts out of memory which were already being recited by the master. So in that case, the pigeon had just happened to hear and the pigeon didn’t have any good faith or interest but if that is the case with the pigeon of having an imprint of past listening in that form then what not to talk about one with the imprint of having interest and in your case in future you may be able to recite the whole text of clear realization out of memory. And that’s why the master Acharya Vasubandhu in the traditional prayers is also praised. He’s also praised with the lion whose neck is adorned by a thousand texts. So that means every day the master used to recite nine bulky scriptures and they were called the pigeon having died afterward became the disciple of the master and afterward that newborn pigeon-as-a-disciple was famous as a master, and in Tibetan called Lobpön Lhündrub.
And this newborn master was especially renowned for his, what I call, theory about mind only school. So at present, if you go on studying and, you know, laying imprint, then it’s possible you can become expert on this text of clear realization. Now Rinpoche wants to ask question what would be the difference between the three, knower of all aspects, omniscient mind first, path knower and base knower, what would be the difference between these three? So still, would you be able to explain the difference what is meant by knower of all aspects of omniscient mind and what is meant by path knower, what is meant by base knower. No.
Couldn’t. You can think about it. And as my personal opinion, I think as Westerners, you are extremely lucky to have a language which is colloquial and same applies only for technical terms here and there. Whereas in Tibetan, all the philosophy and religious terms are completely away from colloquial Tibetan. So before with such text when they study, they spend maybe couple of years trying to master the technical definitions of each term, how precisely every term should mean.
So just the work of reading straight away wouldn’t even understand. Yeah. So the same applies to any other, you know, thing that’s extremely lucky even if it’s a vague. So, well, anyway, that’s the question. What would be the difference between the three?
So anyway, in which type of different persons are these three. Meaning in whose continuum, in whose mind stream omniscient mind should be, or in whose mind the path knower is, and in whose mind the base knower is. So when you talk or walk on it, when you have to answer about who’s continuum these three are, then you have to stop. You have to answer it from the border. So where the border is ranging, where the ranging border stays, that indicates in which type of person this is. And regarding the nature of these three that can be discussed.