Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Kyabje Rinpoche closes his Ornament of Clear Realization commentary with momentary training—the final transformation to enlightenment. In this 48-minute session, he examines the four aspects of momentary training (distinguished only by their accompanying wisdom factors) and how they converge at the end of the continuum: a finger snap of time in which the mind becomes omniscient. He traces the three trainings—complete, peak, and serial—showing how practitioners gradually meditate the 173 aspects of the three exalted knowers before unifying them in one instant. Through dialogue, he addresses which specific conceptions of true existence are abandoned at each of the ten grounds, moving from the coarse to the subtle. For serious practitioners with grounding in Buddhist path theory.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1990-06-21 – 46B – KR.mp3
UUID: 4e776513-9893-48b0-b494-0261632805eb
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Ornament of Clear Realization
Date: 1990-06-21
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~2,807
We are to trust in these, to judge, to see if in fact our individual practices of abandonment and cultivating are going well. That in fact are we are we making some kind of mistake? Are we are is our practice in some kind of error? So these are the these two in combination to be the judge of our practice. That is to say, on on the one hand, one’s one’s individual meditation or deity or one’s Lama, the Buddha.
And also from one’s own side, one can be one’s own judge. And then in this combination of the two, in looking in terms of our practice as to its mistaken or non mistaken quality as far as abandonment and cultivation, then we can trust that we are carrying on the correct practice if they’re in agreement that we are practicing correctly. So this judge is the the mindfulness of reality. And then, so we’ve covered 12 topics thus far. And the thirteenth topic was that of the mindfulness of non — or that is to say the mindfulness of non-natural existence.
And this is that we this is the wisdom realizing non-true existence, the non-true existence conjoined with these previous 12 practices. We conjoined the wisdom realizing non true existence in the practice, conjunction, we conjoined it with these previous 12 practices. We remember non true existence in terms of these 12 previous 12 practices. What is the and so that’s serial training. Then the next training is momentary training.
What is the definition of momentary training? Gyaltsab je says. So a bodhisattva’s final yoga. A bodhisattva’s final yoga. Cultivating the attainment of the three knowers.
Cultivating the attainment of the three knowers. A bodhisattva’s final knower conjoined with the meditation of the three knowers. bodhisattva’s final yoga conjoined with the meditation of the three knowers. So, it’s a bodhisattva’s exalted wisdom. Here yoga means path.
And by final it means, it’s the exalted wisdom at the end of the continuum. At the tenth ground, one is just about to attain Buddhahood. And it’s this final exalted wisdom just before Buddhahood. Exalted wisdom at the end of the continuum is by the end of the continuum, it means that is the end of the continuum of being a sentient being. This is using the word term technically.
Sentient being is a non Buddha. There are were 13 aspects to serial training, and there are only four topics with respect to momentary training. And these four are, as mentioned here, non fully ripened momentary training, fully ripened momentary training, characterless momentary training, nondual momentary training. So so these four are mutually inclusive. They’re they’re just different terms for the same object.
They’re same. Just as when we say in English we say water, in Hindi we say pani, in Tibetan we say choo. Same different terms for the same thing. So, these four are simply different terms for the same object. But they only being distinguished in terms of accompanying factors.
From one viewpoint, one has one accompanying factor from another viewpoint it has another accompanying factor from another viewpoint. It’s looked at from terms of another accompanying factor. So, in terms of four different accompanying factors but in fact the object itself is the same. And when it says, you know, just like in the case of the first two, there’s when fruit is ripe or non ripe. If this is, we say it’s ripe or non ripe, this is in terms of an accompanying factor.
Character less momentary training. This refers to the factor of the wisdom being conjoined, the factor which is being conjoined with, which is accompanying it, is the wisdom realizing the non true existence of all phenomena. This is the factor which this is being conjoined with. So it’s looked at from that point of view. And the fourth non dual momentary training, the factor which is being conjoined with is the wisdom realizing, and this is from the point of view of the mind only school.
The wisdom realizing the emptiness of difference of substantial difference between subject and object. The emptiness of the substantial difference of subject and object that wisdom realizing that. That’s the factor it’s conjoined to. The factor which is it’s the this is being joined with is the wisdom realizing the emptiness of substantial difference of subject and object. So, this is referred to as momentary training.
And here we’re talking about one moment. And the measurement of this moment is finger snap. This is said to be the shortest duration of an activity. An activity can occur the shortest duration in which an activity takes place in is one finger snap. Activities can take much longer, of course, they can take months or years.
But the shortest act is done in one instance of a finger snap. And it is in this, this is the reason it’s giving this term momentary training because in this one instant, this active one finger snap duration of time, that one’s mind will be transformed from that of a sentient being into that of a Buddha in this duration of time. Once having attained momentary training, one finger finger snap of time, one will attain Buddhahood. So, this is the end of the continuum of the sentient being. That having attained this in the second moment, the being is transformed into a Buddha.
That is the reason this is taking place is that the mind of that being in the second instance will be transformed into omniscient consciousness and knower of all aspects. And therefore the possessor of such a mind is a Buddha. And amongst the five paths of the great vehicle, one has attained the path of no more learning. So the attainment of this last the last of the five paths of the great vehicle and the attainment of Buddhahood are simultaneous. So, it is at this point, at the momentary training at the end of the continuum of sentient being that one brings to consummation one’s meditation on the exalted the aspects of the exalted knower.
The three exalted knowers. In the next moment, one will one will be transformed into a Buddha. So previously we said that there were 10 uninterrupted paths on the path of meditation. And for example, there was the great the great of the small the great of the big the great of the great in the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth uninterrupted path. So here we’re talking about the great of the great uninterrupted path.
And this is the the end of the continuum. The exalted wisdom at the end of the continuum is the great of the great uninterrupted path. In the next moment one will obtain a path of release, which is simultaneous with the attainment of the path of no more learning and omniscience. The boundary of the momentary training is that it’s found only at the end of the continuum. So, we’ve completed the teachings on the three exalted knowers and the four trainings.
So, the only thing remaining is the resultant truth body. Oh, and we just have remaining to attain Buddhahood. So we’ll stop there. But if you have some questions, we’ll answer that. I just want the training aspects. So it’s like practice first and then the training mix.
And then but then there’s the serial trainings that sort of happening So we as as was previously explained that there were two serial trainings. The serial training which is mainly taught here and the serial training which is not mainly taught here. The serial training which is mainly not taught here, is practiced simultaneously with complete training in aspects. The serial training, which is taught here in that is in the case of the seventh chapter is taught is is practiced after peak training. So in in in terms of the the serial training, is mainly taught here.
First one would meditate to the complete training in aspects. One having gained power with respect to the three exalted knowers, one would meditate the peak training. And subsequent to that, one would meditate the serial training. And having gained power with respect to serial training, one would then meditate momentary training. So the serial training which is mainly taught here is it it was meditated it meditates on the three exalted knowers in an in an gradual orderly manner as was explained.
We are going through serially the in the order of the 173 aspects of the three exalted knowers. And we do this over a long extended period of time in order to finally, at momentary training, to be able to meditate all 173 aspects in a finger snap of time. We meditated them all simultaneously in a finger snap of time. And this is this this this this is gained through the ordered gradual meditation through by means of the serial training. So it’s just like learning how to type.
First you have to work out, take each letter individually and poke out each letter one at a time. Then one gains facility with respect to typing that a sign of having cultivated ability with respect to typing is that one can type very naturally without even having to look at the keys. And likewise here at serial training we’re poking out each of the 173 aspects in a very ordered one at a time fashion. And then the sign of having cultivated that is that at the peak at momentary training, one is able to take them all to mind simultaneously in a finger snap of time. So a sentient being is is not able to to directly realize simultaneously all phenomena.
So even in this finger snap there are 65 mind moments. And even that one sixty-fifth of moment before Buddhahood, one is still a sentient being when it cannot realize all phenomena. But one, but the one sixty fifth of a mind moment later, one realizes, is able to simultaneously realize all phenomena. It seems like they both practiced at the same time. That that peak training and serial training?
The the continuum? Yeah. Peak training was at the moment was just before the end of the continuum. The boundaries of serial training is from the past accumulation. True.
Not through the body. That’s right. Up to — up to the final. Okay.
I can’t see how the the one can be practiced after the other. Which one after another? Well, how how the serial training is practiced after the peak training. Complete training and peak training are attained simultaneously, but the Peak training and serial training are attained simultaneously, but the but the peak training extends from the from the path of preparation up to and including the final moment, the end of the continuum. Serial training is just before the end of the continuum.
Continuum. Complete training is from accumulation to the end of the continuum. And and and general, serial training is from the path of accumulation up to just before the end of the continuum. And momentary training is only that moment at the end of the continuum. I understand that.
Yeah. But I’m I’m just wondering. You you talk about attaining. You go through the path, accumulation of the path of of path of seeing, like that. And these trainings will take you through those paths.
Right? So the path the peak training takes you through the path or it takes you at least from the path of from path of preparation past. Both Both of of them them take take you you through through the the parts. Past. But what I’m saying is that one is practiced after the other.
The remember So what is mainly taught That’s that there’s this order of practice. What is mainly taught here? So that which is mainly taught here in the seventh chapter is that is One the the the the main serial training which is mainly taught here the seventh chapter, one attains that after peak training. In general, it’s said that it’s attained at the path of accumulation, but that is in terms of what is not mainly taught. It’s directly taught that.
But what is directly taught here is that it’s attained at the path of seeing. So for example, at the path For example, at the path of seeing, there are present the first three trainings. Complete training, the aspects, peak training, and serial training. All three of these are present and one is meditating them. All three of them.
But what is being said out here is in terms of the initial manner of meditation on each of these trainings. The initial manner of meditation. For example at the path of seeing one is one is meditating all all three complete training, peak training, serial training. But, so what the way in which these are being explained is in terms of the initial manner of meditating these three. The relationship amongst these four is in terms of the degree of pervasion.
Just by way of example that we all here people peoples of the of the world. But the peoples of the world are not all here. We are all people. We are all we are all peoples of the world. But we are not all the peoples of the world.
So that is to say that we are pervaded by being people of the world but we are not the peoples. We are pervaded by people of the world but the peoples of the world are not pervaded by us. There’s a element, a set element and a set. We are members of a set. We are not the set.
We are elements of that set. Part of that set. We’re not the whole. So, serial training is subsumed within complete training. Peak training is subsumed within complete training.
Momentary training is subsumed within complete training. So they all go, they all subsumed within these larger categories. But complete training is not momentary training. Complete training is not serial training. Complete training is not peak training.
Even though all the people in the world are not us, even though we are part of all the people in the world. So, it’s the difference in sizes and degrees of pervasion. What is being abandoned? What about the uninterrupted paths of of the the first ground is the first ground, the uninterrupted path of the first ground of the path of seeing, uninterrupted path of the first ground of the path of meditation.
That which is being abandoned by the uninterrupted path of the first ground or the path of seeing is the acquired conception of true existence. We said there were two types of conceptions of true existence, acquired and innate. So what is at the path of seeing, The uninterrupted path of the first ground is abandoning the acquired conception of true existence, not innate. And with respect to the path of meditation, There were the nine levels of conceptions of true existence which are to be abandoned over these 10 grounds. You know, in terms of the three great, three middling, and three small.
And what we said that the great so each of those having three. Great, great, great. And the conception of true existence, the great of the great, had two levels, coarse and subtle. So, the uninterrupted path of the first ground of the path of meditation acts as an antidote or abandons the coarse, great, great conception of true existence. The uninterrupted path of the first ground of the path of meditation cannot act as an antidote to the subtle great, great conception of true existence.
It can only act as an antidote to the coarse great great. It doesn’t have that power. Therefore, the actual antidote is the uninterrupted path of the second ground which has the power to overcome even the subtle. Therefore, is the actual antidote to the great great conception of true existence. Antidote to the great great conception of true existence is the the uninterrupted path of the second ground uninterrupted path is the antidote to only the coarse aspect of the great great.
And the second uninterrupted path of the second ground is an antidote to the subtle great great. Therefore it is the actual antidote to the great great. If we go there, third ground is the antidote to the to the great middling conception of true existence. The the fourth ground is is a antidote to the great small. Fifth fifth fifth to the middling great, sixth ground to the middling middling, seventh ground to middling small, eighth ground small great, ninth ground small middling, and tenth ground, small small, antidote to that conception of true existence.