Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 95-minute teaching on the Abhisamayālamkāra (Ornament of Clear Realization), Kyabje Rinpoche systematically explains the 39 uncommon qualities of Buddhahood and their relevance to bodhisattva practice. He covers the 10 powers, four fearlessnesses, four individual correct knowledges, and the 18 unshared attributes of body, speech, and mind. A story about Devadatta releasing a crazed elephant illustrates Buddha’s fearlessness in action. Rinpoche explains how practitioners meditate on these 173 aspects of three exalted knowers. He concludes with Buddha’s supreme distinctive quality: remaining simultaneously in meditative equipoise on emptiness while teaching and benefiting others, a capacity bodhisattvas cannot achieve. For practitioners already familiar with Lamrim teachings.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1990-10-11 – KR.mp3
UUID: ee8d8330-7945-4038-a8c8-5764ebd612a2
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Ornament of Clear Realization
Date: 1990-10-11
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~3,800
So we’re going to cultivate the awakening heart for the next five minutes as a motivation for listening to this present teaching on the essence of the great vehicle, the perfection of wisdom, as a means of putting into practice the three activities of listening, reflecting, and meditating in order that we may achieve Buddhahood for the sake of all sentient beings equal to space. So there are 39 uncommon aspects with respect to the Buddha, the knower of all aspects. And of those 39, we have completed an explanation of the first category of the 10 powers. So I think explaining some of these 39 unshared aspects of the Buddha will help you understand the qualities of the Buddha and thereby help in generating faith. So the second category is the four fearlessnesses.
So, the first is fearlessness with respect to asserting that oneself has perfect abandonment. So the word Buddha is a Sanskrit word. In Tibetan, it is two syllable words. First, sang means to clear away, it means clear or literally means clear or to have eliminated. That is to say the elimination of all faults or the clearing away of all faults.
So, for the benefit of, for the purpose of who is this abandonment taking place? That is, it brings about one’s own purpose in that one develops all of one’s own qualities having eliminated all faults. So, in teaching the Dharma, the Buddha teaches all the various levels of students. The various categories such as the hearers, solitary realizers, the bodhisattvas. The extremely the great masters, the extremely accomplished hundreds of thousands of various students.
And that he is able to, without any fear, assert in front of all of these varied, vast and varied types and dispositions of disciples that I have abandoned completely all faults. I have abandoned the afflictive obstructions and the obstructions to knowledge. I have no faults whatsoever. And this ability to pronounce this in front of these vast and varied students with fearlessness is the assertion of oneself having perfect abandonments is the first of the fearlessness. So the assertion that one has oneself abandon all faults.
The second fearlessness is the fearlessness with respect to asserting that one has perfect realization. And this is, we said that sang means to be clear away of faults and gye means to develop or to evolve. And here what has been evolved or developed are all realizations whatsoever. That the various profound and vast realizations that the consummation of having listening, reflecting, and meditating, all the paths and grounds have been realized. There is no Dharma which the Buddha does not know.
That he has a direct final realization of all dharmas whatsoever. And there is no one who can say to him that you don’t have this realization or you don’t understand this. And he makes, he pronounces this assertion that I have realized perfectly all dharmas and this with it in pronouncing in this way with fearlessness. And this is the second of these four fearlessnesses. So these first two fearlessnesses were the types of fearlessness for bringing about one’s own welfare that is the Buddha’s own welfare the fearlessnesses of abandonment and realization.
The latter two are fearlessness with respect to others other than oneself. So there are various obstructions, various types of obstructions, various faults. There are said to be 84,000 afflictive emotions and various levels of afflictive emotions. Both the obstructions to liberation and the obstructions to knowledge, or the obstructions to an omniscience knowledge obstructions. And that the Buddha is able to say, to assert with fearlessness what are the exact obstructions for the attainment of various goals.
The goals of, for example, the goals of liberation from cyclic existence, that of a foe destroyer, that of a Buddha, outlining, In order to achieve this, then you must abandon this. In order to achieve this, then you must abandon this afflictive emotion, this fault. And knowing and being able to assert every afflictive emotion which is necessary to be abandoned, what are the obstructions? And this ability to make this pronouncement asserting what are the obstructions to the various goals, the various dispositions of students is the fearlessness with respect to asserting oneself of obstructive phenomena. The fourth fearlessness is, as was mentioned, these latter two fearlessnesses are for the fearlessness with respect to the welfare of others.
And this is the fearlessness which is a non fear with respect to asserting what are the antidotes to bring about the abandonments of the various obstructions such as the afflictive obstructions and knowledge obstructions. That is to say, asserting what is the way in which they are abandoned by which antidote, such as the various paths, whether it is the basic paths, the paths of the hearers, the paths of solitary realizers, or the various antidotes which are included within the knower of all aspects, or whether it’s the mind of renunciation. Being able to assert what is an antidote and what is not an antidote to each of the various afflictive obstructions and knowledge obstructions. This fearlessness with assertiveness is the fourth of these fearlessness. With respect to asserting paths which act as antidotes.
So, these four fearlessness are unique to a Buddha that are unshared or uncommon qualities not found in non Buddhists. That because the Buddha has abandoned all faults and has abandoned unknowing. There is no error whatsoever in that which he asserts. What he sees that which is, is and that which is not, is not. And so there is no one who can point out an error in his abandonment or in his assertion of what is an antidote.
And therefore, since it is only a Buddha, therefore a Buddha is the only person who can make these assertions without error. And therefore, these four fearlessness are unique to a Buddha since only a Buddha can fearlessly make these pronouncements. So, all the various types of other practitioners and of hearers, solitary realizers and bodhisattvas, none of them have abandoned the various obscurations. For example, the obscuring ignorance or the obscurations of unknowing or they all are subject to error and they have not abandoned all the possibilities of making mistakes. That if someone could possibly set forth before them a Clear Realization, a clear type of reasoning which would contradict their assertions because they are prone to error.
But this is not the case with the Buddha. The next category are the four individual correct knowledges. So, the first of these four individual correct knowledge is the individual correct knowledge of doctrines or the Dharma. And this is there in general there are three categorizations of dharmas. Those into skillful, unskillful, and unspecified.
And there are many types of skillful, many types of unskillful, and numberless types of unspecified. And the Buddha understands the has a complete correct knowledge of the natures of all of these dharmas. That is to all these various categorizations of dharmas without in any way mixing them up. So mainly this would entail correct knowledge with respect to what is to be abandoned and what is to be practiced, understanding the nature of these two categorizations. And to and for example, in terms of what is to be abandoned, understanding the various types of faults, the various types of afflictive emotions and being an expert with respect to these.
The second is the correct knowledge individual correct knowledge of the meanings. And this here refers to the various natures of phenomena. As was explained when we talked about the four close establishments of mindfulness, this covers all phenomena and in terms of their general characteristics and specific characteristics and to be able to know the natures of all of these unmixed is the correct knowledge of all meanings. So the first was the individual with respect to the correct knowledge with respect to doctrines and then with respect to meanings. So the third is correct knowledge individual correct knowledge of terminologies.
And in the world there are are very there are numerous countries and each has their own specific language. So this knowledge is with respect to the knowing all knowing the knowing of all the various language families whether however many there are with unerringly without mixing them up is the third correct knowledge. So, the fourth is correct the correct knowledge, individual correct knowledge, of etymologies. And this is, as was mentioned, third knowledge was that of the various language families. It was the and the third it was the it was understanding the various entities of the language families.
Here it is understanding without error and in an unmixed way the various divisions of the language families. Next follows the category of the 18 Unshared Attributes of a Buddha. 18 Unshared Attributes of a Buddha and these are constituted of the six unshared behaviors. And what here it means by unshared is not shared with others that is sentient beings or non Buddhas. So, six unshared behaviors, six unshared realizations, three unshared activities, and three unshared exalted wisdoms.
So it’s six unshared behaviors, six unshared realizations, three unshared activities, and three unshared exalted wisdoms. So, first there are six unshared behaviors and the first three of these are in terms of the body, then the speech, and then the mind. So, the unshared the first that if a Buddha was walking down a path, a road, know doing this would be doing this for the benefit of others, for the welfare of others, and if there were a 100,000 crazed elephants coming running up the road toward him and that he would not waver in his physical posture in walking as a result of fear of these elephants. So, this would be what we say. Without, so the first would be called the physical behavior without error in physical behavior, Without, or we say error, or without error, literally without error with respect to physical behavior.
So, this is an actual account that was being told here. So, tell the story about the Buddha’s life, during his Buddhist life, there was one king by the name of Ajatashatru. So, this king had killed his father and and he had collusion with one of Buddha’s relatives by the name of Devadatta. So, two, and Devadatta, were talking about all their problem. The king by the name of Ajatashatru and Devadatu were talking together and they were talking about all their problems and Devadatu said, you know, the Buddha was teaching the Dharma and out of his teachings many people had developed a great faith in him and had a great liking to him.
And Devadatta had no, was losing all his students, his disciples and he therefore, he thought of, he looked upon the Buddha as an enemy of his of his. So, he, Ajatashatru wasn’t a king yet. His father was king. His name was Bimbisāra. Bimbisāra.
His the king had a great liking for the Buddha and his this king had extensive power but his son Ajatashatru, had nothing to do and had great yearning to become powerful like his father. So they thought of this plan whereby if Ajatashatru killed his father, then he could take over being king. And if Devadatu were to kill the Buddha, then he could take over the Buddha’s position. And Maheshita had his had the the king placed in a prison and starved him. And Devadatu said when the Buddha was walking down a road, he’s, Devadatta set loose the crazed elephant, armed with various weapons, covered with weapons, running after the Buddha, running toward the Buddha.
Ajatashatru’s father died. And so the Buddha was out walking for the benefit of sentient beings and Devadatta set this crazed elephant running toward him. So, having set the crazed elephant toward the Buddha, the Buddha was surrounded by a vast retinue. And upon the approach of this mad elephant, his retinue ran away. And when the when when the crazed elephant arrived before the Buddha, the Buddha the the the elephant did a full prostration to the Buddha.
And the Buddha emanated five lions. I think. And the elephant became very afraid and ran away? And the the Buddha created a ring of fire around the elephant so he couldn’t run away. Elephant came back and and sub submitted showed great reverence toward the Buddha.
Subjugated him. So And you didn’t kill the Buddha? Then another time, Buddha was walking, and he hurled a huge boulder down upon the Buddha and it grazed his foot. But the Buddha was unmoved? So, the the Buddha was out without fear and therefore there was no error in his physical behavior.
There was there was no there was no error. There was no error in his physical behavior. So, the second of these is unerring verbal behavior and this would be, you know, by way of example, that if some people when they if they were walking through a deep forest which a winding along a winding path through a deep forest, they would become very frightened and they would utter cries uncontrollably from time to time. But so the Buddha doesn’t, then this would be a unerring verbal behavior. So, then the third is the unerring mental behavior.
So, there four of these. And the first of these is non-forgetfulness with respect to complete mindfulness. That is, with undertaking any type of activity. The activity is not abandoned, lost as a result of forgetting. But it would be the Buddha gives a stable mindfulness of what he has begun, his intent, intention was that is not lost.
The intention is not lost due to forgetfulness. Therefore the stability of mindfulness. The second of these four unerring mental behaviors is that the Buddha is never outside of meditative equipoise on emptiness. Matter what whatever activities involved in going, sleeping, staying, he is always there is never a time when he is not involved in meditative equipoise on emptiness. The third is the discrimination of non difference.
Discrimination of non difference. And what this refers to is that the two cyclic existence and liberation are understood to be the same are both empty. They are not different from the respective both being empty. Therefore, this discrimination of non difference with respect to the emptiness of both cyclic existence and liberation. And fourth is the unwavering unwavering with respect to out of a caring motivation, the Dharma at all times.
Unwavering, whatever the occasion, unwavering teaching the Dharma out of compassion. So these are the six unshared behaviors. So the six unshared realizations. And these are the exalted wisdoms of the various paths and grounds. And the first of these is aspiration.
And this represents a non degeneration from aspiration that there is not even a moment where there is a degeneration from aspiration. For ordinary people, sometimes they have great aspiration other times they don’t. But here they are not even a momentary degeneration from aspiration. The second is effort. Again, there’s never a moment in which there is a decrease of effort.
The third is, and these all hold true for all six, the non degeneration and the non decrease. With respect to the third would be mindfulness. The fourth is meditative stabilization. And the fifth is wisdom. And the sixth is liberation.
And this means, to say, the abandonment of the afflictive emotions, the non degeneration from the path of liberation. These are the unshared, the six unshared realizations. Three unshared activities. So, these three are the activities of body, speech, mind. The first of these, the physical activities, are the all four physical activities being only beneficial to sentient beings.
None of the four activities of going, lying down, rising up, or lowering oneself down, the opposite of rising up is what? Lowering oneself down are only for the benefit are done only for the benefit of sentient beings. There is not even the slightest action activity which is not for the benefit of sentient beings. So these these four activities being only being done only for the benefit of others. And the verbal activity that whatever the Buddha says is a teaching of Dharma and is a benefit to others in bringing them happiness.
None of his speech is meaningless like our speech which has no meaning. Whatsoever he says is a teaching of Dharma benefiting others, bringing happiness. And the third activity, the mental activity, is that whatever a Buddha engages in is always engaged in, is always engaged in with compassion and love. There is never a time when the Buddha is separated from compassion and love. So there’s three non separation from exalted wisdom.
So the three unshared exalted wisdoms are in terms of the three times of past, present, and future that whatever a Buddha turns his mind to, whether it be of the past, present, and future, he is able to understand it. So, are the 18 unshared attributes of a Buddha. So, the aspect of suchness, in in that that the Buddha’s mind is never separated from an ultimate meditative equipoise on the final meaning of suchness. His mind is never separated from an ultimate meditative equipoise on the final meaning of suchness. The self arisen aspect.
This is having understood all phenomena, it is an ultimate exalted wisdom which has dominance over phenomena since having understood them. That the Buddha has completed the collection of the two accumulations of positive potential and wisdom and therefore has attained dominance over phenomena. Rather than phenomena, has gained dominance over all dharmas. And then the last is the mental aspect of Buddhahood. And this is that from within a meditative equipoise on emptiness, the exalted wisdom which acts to bring about the welfare of others, such as by teaching the Dharma.
And this is that a Buddha can for the welfare of others without ever moving from a meditative equipoise on emptiness. Non Buddhists must, while they are in meditative equipoise and emptiness, cannot bring about the welfare of sentient beings. They cannot involve themselves in both activities simultaneously. So these are the 39 uncommon aspects of a Buddha or the exalted knower of all aspects. So this is an unshared or an uncommon quality attribute of the Buddha that he is able to, while remaining in meditative equipoise on emptiness, teach the Dharma and bring about the welfare of sentient beings.
Other beings, such as an example, bodhisattvas, while they are in meditative equipoise on emptiness, cannot bring about the welfare of others. They must arise from their meditation, their meditative equipoise and emptiness in order to teach the Dharma to benefit sentient beings. And then having done that they can return to their meditative equipoise and emptiness. They cannot do both at the same time. So we completed the explanation of the fourth chapter of the ornament in which takes up the explanation of the complete training in all the aspects.
And there were one one hundred and seventy three aspects in terms exalted knower of bases having 27, exalted knower of paths having 36, and the exalted knower of all aspects 110 making a total of 173. So, these three exalted knowers, these 173 aspects of the three exalted knowers are the objects of meditation of the bodhisattva. So the chapter on the complete training in the aspects takes up 11 subjects. And the first of these 11 was the aspects. The second of these is the preparation.
So this second subject of these 11 is the preparation. And this is, there are 20 divisions to this. The training is the actual awareness which is doing the meditating. The meditator is the bodhisattva. For example, if one can meditate on emptiness, which is the object of meditation, would be emptiness.
There is the mind which takes emptiness as its object, and the being who possesses that mind. So here we’re discussing the mind which takes these objects of mind as its object of meditation. For example, with respect to meditating on the aspects of the three exalted knowers, the objects of meditation would be the 173 aspects. Now there is the being which is doing this meditation, that is the meditator. But the actual meditator, there is the meditator who is the being.
But the actual factor which is doing the meditating are these trainings. So, for example, when we’re meditating, we sit with the body straight, but the body is not the actual thing which is doing the meditating. It is the mind which is doing the meditating. So, the meditator is the mind. It is considering, examining the nature of the object.
The body just simply remains there. It is not the meditator. So when the bodhisattva is sitting, his body simply remains in an upright position. But it is his mind which is doing the meditating and actually taking the objects for consideration, examining them. The object which is being examined are the aspects of the three exalted knowers.
That which is doing the exact the actual examining is his mind, and these are called trainings. These minds are called trainings. This is what is doing actual meditating. So when we say a being is meditating, a person is meditating, what we’re saying is that that person’s mind is taking into consideration some particular object, reflecting upon it, making some sort of analysis as to whether it is or is not some quality of its nature and abiding on it in some sort of single-minded placement. And this is the actual meditator.
Isn’t that right or not? So the training in the continuum of a bodhisattva and exalted knower and path are synonyms. So a training is a method for the attainment of Buddhahood. So what word initially I translated it as preparation then I changed it to training. Maybe preparation is a better translation.
These preparations that there is you know Because if you contrast it with the actual, that would be the actual is the final outcome of the training or preparation. So there’s the preparation and the actualization, which is Buddhahood. So in order to arrive at the actual, you must make use of the preparations. And these are the preparations of the meditations on the aspects of the three exalted knowers. And through this meditation, all of one’s various faults are eliminated and one’s qualities are brought to fulfillment.
So there are the preparation and then the actual actual actualities. So maybe preparation. I’m sorry. In this handout it says 19 divisions of training or preparation, which is that the main preparation has 20. That preparation which is not the main preparation has 19.
Anyway.