Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 47-minute session, Kyabje Rinpoche establishes bodhicitta—the awakening heart—as the sole determinant of Great Vehicle practice: the commitment to attain Buddhahood specifically in order to free all sentient beings from suffering and bring them happiness. This is mind transformation, not external action. He then maps the Ornament of Clear Realization framework, focusing on the serial training and its thirteen topics: the six perfections, mindfulness of the three jewels, and mindfulness of ethics, generosity, and deity. He explains mindfulness of deity as taking the Buddha or one’s teacher as a witness to whether one’s practice is genuinely honest or self-deceiving. Using concrete metaphors—like tying a string around one’s finger—he shows how constant mindfulness of what to abandon and cultivate sustains genuine development.
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File: 1990-06-21 – 46A – KR.mp3
UUID: 326a2e93-75f1-4b5d-8b3e-bd7363028e86
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Ornament of Clear Realization
Date: 1990-06-21
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,672
If simply considering happiness for oneself only and to free oneself only from suffering does not qualify one as having the attitude of the great vehicle. In order to do that one must take into consideration all beings and develop a sense of wishing to free them from suffering and to bring them happiness. In the within the lesser vehicle, there is the thought may may sentient beings be free of suffering where they have happiness. But here in the greater vehicle, we’re seeking to develop the attitude which holds others more dear than oneself and not only to wish them to be free from suffering and to bring them happiness, but I I myself will free them from suffering and I myself will bring them happiness. But it’s simply the qualities of love and compassion do not, are not enough to qualify oneself as a practitioner of the great vehicle.
That one has to go beyond this and develop the awakening heart. That upon even though one has determined that I myself will free sentient beings from suffering. That I myself will bring them happiness. If we have to see that in fact we cannot and we we look to who has such an ability. It is only such a a being who it is only a Buddha.
That is to say a being who has freed themselves of all their various faults and brought the consummation to all their excellent qualities and therefore developing the aspiration in order to free all sentient beings from their suffering and to bring them happiness that I myself must attain the state of a Buddha. This is the development of the awakening heart. The precious kind hearted attitude. So whether it is of the great vehicle or not is solely dependent upon the determining factor of the awakening heart. If it possesses the awakening heart then it is of the great vehicle.
If not, then it is not of the great vehicle. When we speak of the great vehicle, we don’t it’s something not which exists in abstraction. It’s not something which exists. We’re not talking about the great vehicle which exists in in the minds of others. It’s not something which exists in a far different place.
We are talking about it in terms of oneself developing the awakening heart, and therefore oneself becoming a practitioner of the great vehicle that we have to think of the great vehicle as being a quality that we possess within ourselves. In developing the qualities of the the great vehicle, it’s not necessary to change our our bodily appearance or change our bodily positions in any particular way. That is not a matter of the body. It’s the matter of the mind, transforming the mind into the awakening heart. However much we may talk about the bodhisattvas and the awakening heart, if we ourselves do not meditate meditate the awakening heart, meditate love and compassion, if we then we will never become bodhisattvas.
If we if we meditate on love and compassion, meditate the awakening heart, then each of us individually will become bodhisattvas. So we must seek to arouse the awakening heart which has not been developed previously. And then upon developing the awakening heart not to allow it to degenerate, but to increase it higher and higher. What are we to contemplate in developing the awakening heart? That we are are to develop the aspiration to to place to lead all sentient beings into to a happiness completely divorced of suffering. In order to do that we must follow the path of the Buddha that we must ourselves become Buddha.
That in order to that we ourselves become a Buddha we must practice the great vehicle. The the various practices of the Dharma of the great vehicle. In order to do that we must understand these various practices, and in order to that we must listen in order to be able to understand, and thereby put into practice. So therefore for the next five minutes cultivating the awakening heart which motivation for listening to this present teaching as a means of understanding and putting into practice the great vehicle Dharma. So we have been discussing the fact that we’re seeking Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings and what do we mean by Buddha?
That is the the elimination of all the various faults and to bring the consummation all the excellent qualities. So in order to eliminate our various faults and to bring the consummation all our excellent qualities what is it that we have to do? What practices do we have to follow? These are the practices of the of the great vehicle which are the combined practices of method and wisdom. And then what is what are the essences of these two method and wisdom?
Method is the essence of method is the the graduated path which is represents the vast deeds. And the wisdom is the graduated path leading to the profound view. The the graduated path in terms of the vast deeds is as we’ve been discussing thus far in in the ornament the the eight categories and the seven topics. So the in terms of the ornament, the foundation explanation is that of the eight categories. And the this is in order to understand that it is presented in more detailed fashion in sense in terms of the 70 topics.
What are the eight categories? What are the eight categories? So So so and he’s asking me these questions. He’s asking each of you individually to to answer. The eight categories.
What are the three exalted knowers? You always look at your Before trainings. I’m not allowed to Altogether. So altogether, the four trainings.
What’s the what’s we’ve we’ve we’ve mentioned seven categories. What’s the final one? Oh. Oh, yeah. Good.
So that’s why we’ve explained the three We’ve explained the the complete training in the aspects and the peak training. And now we’re going to explain the two final trainings, serial training, momentary training. How many topics are included in the serial training? How many topics are included in serial training? So the complete aspects of training, there were there had 11 topics.
Big training had eight topics. And peak training has 13 topics. So first, beginning with the six perfections in accordance with the this explanation which is being given is in accordance with the Svatāntrika Madhyamaka. And the actual perfections only exist at the level of Buddhahood. But the practice of the six perfections exists prior to that.
And so there are the practice of the perfection of generosity which is the serial training. There’s a practice of the perfection of ethics which is the serial training. So the practice of the perfection of ethics, practice of patience, effort, meditative stabilization and wisdom, which is a serial training, which are serial trainings. So there’s a so there are the the the six the practices of the six perfections, which are the first six topics of the serial training. So it would be for each of each of the six perfection, the the perfection of generosity, which is a serial training, perfection of ethics, which is a serial training, perfection of patience, which is a serial training, perfection of of effort, meditative stabilization, and wisdom, which are serial trainings.
That’s six. Within Buddhism, there are the categories of the of the Buddha Dharma and spiritual community, the Sangha. So here these are the the seventh through the ninth topics. The the mindfulness of the Buddha, which is a serial training. The mindfulness of Dharma, which is a serial training.
The mindfulness of Sangha, which is a serial training. So we’ve got nine so far. Remaining four of the 13 are the mindfulness of ethics, is a serial training, mindfulness of generosity, which is a serial training, the mindfulness of deity, of divinity, mindfulness of deity, which is a serial training, and the mindfulness of divinity, which is a serial training, making 13. So these are the 13 topics of this of serial training. So what is the definition of serial training?
Oh, yeah. Mean, it was taught previously. The definition of serial training. Page three. The definition of serial training is a bodhisattva’s yoga held by wisdom that meditates gradually on the aspects of the three gradually on the aspects of the three knowers.
And that’s all that’s given up to the aspects of three knowers with 173 aspects of the three exalted knowers. a bodhisattva’s yoga held by the wisdom that meditates gradually on the aspects of the three knowers. Did you write it down? So and then the boundary of serial training was from the path of accumulation to just prior to the end of the continuum. From the path of accumulation to just prior to the end of the continuum.
So, what the serial training is doing is meditating on these 173 aspects. The aspects of omniscience. The aspects of exalted knowers. So the manner of meditation is that these 173 aspects are being, are integrated integrated with the cultivation of the six perfections. And, these these perfections, for example, generosity, being, are coupled with the wisdom, understanding the non inherent existence of, in the case of generosity, of the giver, the given to, and the action of giving. The non inherent existence of these three spheres.
These are all integrated with the meditation on the 173 aspects. So the meditation on the 173 aspects is coupled with these perfections. The perfections of generosity, ethics, patience, etcetera. It acts as they mutually enhance one another. And then the the again, the 173 aspects of the three exalted knowers are being being meditated on in a serial manner.
And here, in terms, this meditation is in terms of bringing to mind again and again the Three Jewels. For example, being mindful or recollecting the the Buddha in terms of his teachings. The Buddha as being the teacher of the Dharma. Then in mindful of that, one goes on to, in a serial manner, meditate on the 173 aspects. Then being mindful of the Dharma, holding that in mind, one goes on to meditate again the 173 aspects.
And then in terms of the Sangha, those who have gained irreversibility, who are superiors,, mindful of them, while mindful of them meditating the 173 aspects. So the and the tenth topic was that of mindfulness of ethics. Generally, ethics is the, the observance of ethics involves the abandonment of that which is incompatible with ethics. Or that is to say, refraining from that which is to be abandoned. For example, if we take the twenty four hour precepts, then there are four root and four auxiliary abandonments.
And to observe those ethics would be to be mindful of refraining from engaging in those which are incompatible with one’s ethics. That is to be mindful of what you’re trying to abandon. Mindfulness of that would be observing your ethics. This is what we mean by mindfulness of ethics. Being mindful of that which you which is to be abandoned.
Of that which is to be abandoned. In this eleventh topic, that of mindfulness of generosity, we are now thinking in terms of that which is to be practiced. And what is to be practiced practiced is generosity. And this generosity consists in the giving of one’s body, one’s skillful actions, one’s wealth. And to be mindful of practice is to be mindful of generosity.
So, consider again and again that which is to be abandoned and that which is to be cultivated. What is is to be abandoned? The mindfulness of that which is to be abandoned constitutes the observance of ethics. The mindfulness of that which is to be cultivated, which is our practice, that is to say what that which is to be practiced is mindfulness of generosity. Therefore to be mindful of generosity is to be mindful of that which is to be cultivated.
So this is what is the sense of what is being spoken here and being mindfulness of what is to be abandoned and what is to be cultivated is in this is in a case of when we have some important work to do. Some kind of job that we want to we don’t want to forget that we have to do it. So we tie a string around our finger. And this acts to remind us to not to not to allow us to forget what it is that we want to do. So some people, if they have something very important to do, they they tie the string around the finger.
So what is the important work of the bodhisattva that that is the this is in this in terms of that which is to be abandoned and and that which is to be practiced. And so he’s trying to be constant mindful of that which is to be abandoned and that which is to be practiced. The reason that our practice doesn’t go well is because we simply aren’t bringing to mind again that we what is to be practiced and what is to be abandoned. We are what is to be cultivated and what is to be abandoned that we aren’t mindful of it or we don’t we don’t keep bringing it to mind. Then the the the next topic is that of mindfulness of deity.
And this is the remembrance of one’s meditation deity,, one’s spiritual teacher, one’s lama, or the Buddha. And this simply is accorded to whichever one has the most faith in that to take either of these according to one’s faith and to recall them again and again. So why are we to be mindful of these three? One’s meditation or deity, one’s lama or the Buddha, depending upon one’s faith. What is the purpose of such types of mindfulness?
We said that in terms of mindfulness of ethics, observing ethics we are to be try we are to seek to remember what is to be abandoned. In terms of mindfulness of generosity, we are seeking to remember what is to be practiced. Here, we are looking as to how our practice is actually going. And, you know, are we actually carrying out these abandonments, and what is to be cultivated? How is our practice going?
And we take as our judge either the one’s meditational deity, one’s lama, or the Buddha. And, you know we want to see what am I being honest in my practice? Or am I deceiving myself? Am I actually abandoning that which is to be abandoned? Am I actually cultivating that which is to be cultivated?
And what we say is we make requests: please be my judge and watch to see if I’m actually being honest or am I being deceptive in a way I’m mindful I’m of my ethics and being mindful of my generosity that it is my practice. When this is when we talked about mind training we talked about that we are to take a witness, that we are to be the witness of our practice. Here when when two people are in dispute there’s and there’s a litigation that there is a judge who who looks into the matter listens to say this is this person speaking honestly, is this person not speaking honestly,, and comes to a decision on what is the actual case. And the same is true with as to our practice to see if in fact we are cultivating what which is to be cultivated. If we are abandoning that which is to be abandoned.
That we should be mindful of these three as to serve as a judge in guiding our practice.