Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 51-minute commentary on the Ornament of Clear Realization, Kyabje Rinpoche traces the bodhisattva path using a striking illustration: a Buddha understands all phenomena instantaneously—in just 1/64th of a finger snap—but reaching that omniscience requires progressively longer durations through the four trainings. He establishes the framework of three exalted knowledges, four trainings, and exalted truth body, then shows how each training builds on the last: the complete training familiarizes the meditator with all 173 aspects of the three exalted knowledges; power training develops calm abiding and special insight together; serial training moves through those aspects sequentially; and momentary training, at Buddhahood’s threshold, integrates them all at once. He closes by explaining why objective and subjective aspects—emptiness and the wisdom realizing it—cannot be separated in practice. For practitioners studying this classical text.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1990-03-01 – 33A – KR.mp3
UUID: ce0eaf2c-3174-4a66-8c6e-e2d8c54d4c53
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Ornament of Clear Realization
Date: 1990-03-01
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,704
For my for my sake for myself and all other sentient beings, I must completely eliminate all faults and attain all excellent qualities. That is, I must attain Buddhahood. By the attainment of Buddhahood, I will be able to eliminate all the suffering and to establish all sentient beings in complete happiness. And, therefore, in order to bring this about, I’m going to train well my mind in the perfection of wisdom as set forth in the discourses of the Buddha. And we meditate for five minutes adjusting our motivation in accordance with that.
So the the for clear realization sets forth the perfection of wisdom in terms of the eight categories and 70 topics. The main subjects which are covered in the ornament are the eight categories. These were as was explained previously, the three knowledge the three exalted knowledge is the four trainings and the exalted resultant truth body. So the eight categories are the the foundation of the practice of the bodhisattva. The bodhisattva is seeking to achieve Buddhahood.
That’s his ultimate goal. Resultant truth body is synonymous with Buddhahood. The means which he uses that is the methods for achieving his goal resultant truth body are the four trainings. That is to say these are the meditations. The objects of these meditations, the objects of his training are the three exalted knowledges.
So, by means of taking the three exalted knowledges as objects of the four trainings, he is able to achieve or she is able to achieve her ultimate goal of the exalted truth, resultant truth body. And therefore, these eight categories of the foundation of practice. So if we speak in general in terms of attainments within spiritual practice, there the we have a dread of suffering and and to relieve ourselves of that suffering, we strive, we have those those goals which are temporal achievements and those which are ultimate achievements in this in this course of seeking to relieve the dread of suffering. So upon our death, we do not become nonexistent. There is a continuity of our existence which goes on to future life.
And, the possibilities are definite as to two. We will either take a higher rebirth or we take a lower rebirth. And, the lower rebirth are the bad migrations which entail a great deal of suffering. And, it is to free ourselves from the dread of the possibility of the great sufferings of bad migrations in the future that we, we engage in skillful actions and abandon unskillful actions. And by this method, we are able to attain the highest status of either human or God.
But additionally, having attained this excellent human life, we can practice the Dharma and we can practice it proficiently. And therefore, this practice human life is extremely precious. By means of the practice of Dharma, we can not only having having achieved this temporal goal of the liberation from bad migrations, but we can achieve definite goodness and definite goodness is constituted of liberation in general and ultimately omniscience. So, by this means through the practice making use of our human life, we can abandon completely the suffering of cyclic existence and attain the bliss of liberation. But we can with this this precious human life that we now possess, we can not only achieve liberation from cyclic existence for ourselves alone, but by eliminating all the faults within our continuum and developing all the excellent qualities we can achieve the ultimate goal of Buddhahood.
So, on the basis of this present human life, we can establish the goal of Buddhahood. That is to say we can eliminate all faults and develop all the excellent excellent qualities. When we the Buddhahood is constituted of the abandonment of all these faults and the culmination, the optimization of all excellent qualities. What do we, you know, what are the faults that we’re trying to abandon, that we’re trying to get rid of? They are the afflictive obstructions and the knowledge obstructions.
By abandoning these, we attain Buddhahood. So the various faults within our continuum are the abandonments which hinder our ultimate attainment of Buddhahood and these are to be destroyed. These are, but what is the method for destroying these faults within our continuum. They are the four trainings. It is by means of meditating the four trainings that we abandon the afflicted obstructions and the knowledge obstructions.
Therefore, the method for the attainment of Buddhahood is the practice of the four trainings. So the the four the four trainings are the methods for the attainment of Buddhahood. Now to exemplify, to illustrate, we’re going to look at what is the shortest moment of activity, which constitutes an activity or action. And then we say that one hour is made of made up of sixty minutes. It has this many parts.
Well, if we take a the time of a finger snap, there are the smallest unit of activity is one sixty fourth of a finger snap. One. There’s 64 parts in the finger snap. One of those is the smallest unit of time of action. So it is it is this unit which is the smallest measurement of time in terms of an action that an activity can take place.
One sixty fifth, I think I said fourth. It’s one sixty-fourth of a finger snap in time. A Buddha is able to understand all phenomena whatsoever in that amount of time. One sixty-fourth of your finger snap. So if as a preliminary preliminary to being able to understand all phenomena in one sixty-fourth of a finger snap in time, it is necessary to understand all phenomena in a longer length of time.
If we can’t understand it in a longer, all phenomena in a longer length of time, then there’s no way that we can understand it in the smallest unit of time action. Therefore, we have to be able to understand all phenomena in a longer length of time and in an effortlessly and effortless manner with no difficulty. So as preliminary to understanding all phenomena in the smallest unit of of of time act in which an activity can take place. It’s necessary that that we understand all phenomena in a longer time, adversely and without difficulty. And the occasion when this occurs is during the last of the four trainings and we’re calling that momentary training.
So, if this is a longer unit of time in which an activity can is taking place and that activity is the understanding of all phenomena. So it is at this momentary training which is that the end of the continuum of being a sentient being that one is able to understand all phenomena. But at this point of training, training, one can understand all phenomena in the in one sixty-fourth of a unit of time unit. Only a Buddha can do that. So this in this unit of time, this training last one moment.
The second moment, one attains Buddhahood and is able to understand all phenomena one sixty fifth of a finger snap of time. Previous to this, one wasn’t able to do to do that. But this so this must this is preliminary to that. So we’re becoming more and more proficient as we approach Buddhahood, but there must be a a a those practices which are preliminary to each of these stages. So, at the at the stage of Buddhahood, we are able to understand all phenomena in the smallest unit of time action which is one sixty-fourth of a finger snap.
Preliminary to that, we must understand all phenomena within a length a longer length of time, one unit of time. This is the momentary training. And this is done in an effortless manner in which we meditate upon all phenomena. Preliminary to that, again, we have to understand all of the aspects of the phenomena and this is to say we take in a serial manner all of the aspects of the three exalted knowledges. All we take in a serial manner, one at a time, all of the aspects of the three exalted knowledges.
Without this practice, then there’s no way that we can understand all phenomena. So this must be a preliminary to this to the momentary training, and this preliminary training is called the serial So at the point we, in dependence upon the serial training, we take the 173 aspects of the three exalted knowers and we gradually meditate upon them in a serial manner. in dependence upon serially taking these 173 aspects of the three exalted knowers, realizing them, then we attain the momentary training. So in dependence upon serial training, we attain momentary training. And as a preliminary to the attainment of serial training in which we are taking the the 173 aspects in in gradual manner meditating on them, one hundred and seventy three aspects of the three exalted knowers.
We must attain the power of of of being able to meditate up upon these aspects. And this is the train this involves train this involves peak training. Yeah. Power of meditation. One must obtain the power of meditation.
The familiarization. So what we mean by gaining the power of the meditation. In the one one develops a a union of calm abiding and special insight and taking as the as one when one is when having developed this this union common and special insight using and taking as one’s object of meditation in the manner of taking out of the same in the taking as the object of meditation, the three exalted knowers in a manner of a union of calm abiding and special insight. This is to attain what is called the power of the exalted knower, the aspects of the exalted knowers. So, when we say what we mean by the power of having attained the power of the meditation on the exalted knowers, we mean having developed the union of special insight and calm abiding, which takes as its object the three exalted knowers, and this is attained at the peak train, during peak train.
So what we mean by power, would be, in which I gave the illustration of somebody who’s who can type and they don’t have to look at the keys. When somebody doesn’t have to look at the keys then they gain power with respect to typing. Maybe power is not the best word, but I don’t know an altered alternative translation at the moment. Proficiency, maybe. So, you know, previously to having gained proficiency in typing, that is to say one does not have one no longer has to look at the keyboard.
One had to look at the keyboard and type very slowly each letter one at a time, but through familiarization one gains proficiency. Meditation can also the same word as familiarization. So likewise, as a preliminary to the development of the serial training, one may one must gain proficiency in the three exalted knowers, and this is done by means of the peak training. So this so this is the the manner of the in which the is training his or her mind. They gradually work through the four trainings and removing abandoning the afflictive and the knowledge obstructions by means of the four trainings and achieve the resultant truth body.
By means of training well in these four trainings, the knowledge and afflictive obstructions are abandoned and one attains the resultant truth body or Buddhahood. Okay. So the definition of peak training as was explained before, it’s very slightly different than what’s presented here. Just a few words different. It’s a a bodhisattvas yoga which is conjoined with the wisdom.
So for those who haven’t made previously had made notes of this of these definitions, it would be good for you to write these down because it would be it would help it would aid in your understanding. Those who have notes of this, of course they don’t need to. So, the definition of the peak training is a bodhisattva’s Yoga held by, here it says held conjoined with the wisdom which meditates on the compendium of the three of the a compendium of the three knowers. A bodhisattva’s yoga conjoined with wisdom that meditates on a compendium of the three knowers. So I So I think I said peak training.
I should have said complete training. I think I’ve been I’ve made a mistake. The first of the four s four trainings is called complete training. Isn’t it? Okay.
Yeah, that’s good. The complete training. That’s a different translation for the same term. In Tibetan, Namzog Jorwa. Namzok Jorwa.
So there’s three there’s three there’s three words. Three syllables. The means it stands for the three the aspects of the three exalted knowers. So we’re gonna break down etymology of this word. The means the aspects of the three exalted knowers.
Means complete, all. That is to say all of the realizations. Jorwa, various translated to as here, we’re translating as training. It can it means to to attain the real to attain all of the excellent qualities. So all the aspects of the three exalted knowers, zulk, the all of them, all of the realizations, Jorwa to attain the the the these excellent qualities and translated as complete training.
That’s right. So this is complete training. Yeah. So it’s complete training. Now that’s first. Namzok Jorwa..
It’s first training. Complete training. Yeah. I’m right. Namzok Jorwa.
First training. Complete training. So, again, training, Namzok Jorwa. You know, we’re looking at this definition of this etymology of nam means aspect, literally means aspect, which means the aspects of the three exalted knowledges. And there are 173 aspects to the three knowledge.
There are 27 aspects with respect to the base knower. There are 36 aspects with respect to the path knower. And there are 110 aspects with respect to the knower of all aspects. So a total of 173 aspects. This is what we mean by aspect or nam.
Means complete, all of these, not just one, not two, all 173. To know complete. Complete and means to train and to have these qualities arise in one’s continuum is what we mean by complete training in the aspects. So in this definition of complete training it says a compendium of aspects and this compendium is the the 27 aspects of the base knower, the 36 aspects of the path knower, and a 110 aspects of the knower of all aspects. And they are they are lined lined up up one one by by one one in in a a compendium.
Compendium. So with respect to these, these, these three, with respect to the aspects of the three exalted knowers, there are two types. There is the subjective aspect and the objective aspect. The objective aspect is the object itself and the subjective aspect is the consciousness understanding those objects. So if we take an example in terms of meditating on emptiness, the emptiness is the object.
Wisdom which realizes that emptiness is the literally the object possessor or we say this of the subject. And in this case, we if we look at in terms of this definition that we were talking about, emptiness is the objective aspect, and the wisdom is the subjective aspect. Is emptiness. The subject is the wisdom realizing the emptiness. We cannot meditate the object emptiness without meditating the wisdom realizing that emptiness.
And likewise, we cannot meditate the wisdom realizing emptiness without meditating the object object emptiness. We cannot meditate one without meditating the other. We have to meditate both. Therefore, in meditation, we must become familiar with both objective aspect and the subjective aspect. So the the same would hold true for other objects of meditation and other types of consciousnesses such as meditation on impermanence.
The object of of the meditation on impermanence is is impermanence, and the consciousness realizing it is the subject. And in order to come to an understanding of emptiness, we must familiarize ourselves both. By meditation, I use the word familiarization. Familiarize ourselves both with the subjective aspect and the objective aspect.