Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 31-minute talk, the Dalai Lama walks through Rinpoche’s monastic educational curriculum spanning roughly two and a half decades of intensive study. He details the major subjects of philosophical training at Sera monastery: the Abhisamayālamkāra and the Perfection of Wisdom texts, studied over two and a half years with commentaries by Tsongkhapa and Gyaltsab Je; four years of Middle Way philosophy based on Candrakīrti’s Supplement to the Middle Way; studies in Vinaya or monastic discipline using Vasubandhu’s foundational texts; and four years of Abhidharma or Buddhist metaphysics and psychology. Throughout this entire period, students also studied Dharmakīrti’s Commentary on Prime Cognition each year for a month and a half, using commentaries by the chief disciples Gyaltsab Je and Khedrup. The teaching maps the architecture of traditional Gelug monastic learning, naming key texts, commentarial traditions, and their authors.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1989-03-28 – 18B – 's Story – KR.mp3
UUID: 32474df5-5647-42b2-bda8-f149afbfd165
Teacher: HH Dalai Lama
Collection: Rinpoche's Story
Date: 1989-03-28
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~1,423
What is one of the subjects? Oh. Okay. Oh. The section name is is omniscient mind.
Injection one is But, anyway, we’ll get to we can straighten this out easily later. Mind. And this and to study this one subject of Abhisamayālamkāra took one and a half years. Oh. And then the rest of these took another year.
So altogether it’s two and a half years on the first chapter, on the first section. One and a half years for form body. And then one year for the rest of these. And then one year for the rest. And then a maybe a little little over a year for the rest of all the subjects.
Oh, well, I might have to sort of get that straight. I’ll type it up when we get there. It’ll be no problem. Yep. Okay.
Fine. Good. So this is the this is the study of transcendental transcendental wisdom. When you say this, do you mean all of it? So this is this ornament realization is in the class of literature called Prajñāpāramitā or transcendental wisdom.
Oh, this is where we had a lot of trouble with tendon because we couldn’t get the exact words. We’re just saying that again. Is kind of the condensation of a class of literature called Prajñāpāramitā or the perfection of wisdom. And then, so this, the root text is, okay, so the root text is Ornament for Clear Realization. That’s the root text that they study.
Then they study commentaries in addition to which are based upon Ornament for Clear Realization. And so now Rinpoche is giving some of the commentaries that he studied. And the first commentary is a text by Tsongkhapa called the Golden Garland. Golden Garland.
Garment. Garment. Golden Garland. Garment. 13.
I think it’s called the eloquent. So the name of the text is called, I think it’s called The Golden Garland of Elegant Exposition. Golden Garland of Elegant Exposition. Perhaps something like that.
Golden garland. Oh golden garland. Of elegant exposition. Anyway I can get that. That’s no problem.
And then the second is Then the second commentary is by Gyaltsab Je, G Y A L T S A B J E, Gyaltsab Rinpoche, and it’s called The Essence of Eloquence on Ornament for Knowledge. I’m just guessing it’s title. I’m sure there’s some nice names for And then another text would be Yeah, reasoning. So the author of the textbooks at Sera Je, Jetsün Chökyi Gyaltsen, Jetsün, J E T S U N, Chökyi, C H O K Y I, c h o, Umat, okay, there’s Umat over there. What was that?
K Yeah, Y I, Gyaltsan, G Y A L T S A N. Is he wrote two commentaries on the complete eight chapters, on the complete section. One of them is an explanatory commentary and the second is what it’s called, I don’t know, it’s Annotations? Analysis. Analysis.
It’s a form of debate text. It’s all set off in debate. It’s not a commentary. It’s a debate analysis. It’s a debate text.
So now we’re going to move into another area of literature called middle way philosophy. Middle way philosophy. So so we we finished the we finished the wisdom. The This is number six. If We we finished this we finished the perfection of wisdom literature.
Yeah. And then we’re gonna move into the middle way philosophy. I’m not quite sure where yeah. And the main text to be studied is called Supplement to the Middle Way by Candrakīrti.
Yeah, these are all Indian texts. Candrakīrti, C H A N D R A K I R T I, it’s one word. Candrakīrti. That’s the root text.
So then the commentary which he studied by Tsongkhapa called Illuminating the Thought of the Middle Way. And then then the the annotated this is also by Tsongkhapa, the annotated commentary to root wisdom. Annotations to the root wisdom. Annotations to root wisdom. And then another text by Tsongkhapa, essential ornament, a good explanation of the definitive interpretive sutras.
Essential ornament? The essential ornament. Okay. Actually, I have good excellent explanation or eloquent explanation. The essential ornament, an eloquent explanation of the definitive?
Then If you could write these words down, because I can’t translate it now. Pah, yeah. C H E P. C H E P. That’s good for now.
So opening the eye of Togme. I don’t know what it is. Don’t worry. I’ll just These can all be found in What you do? And then again by Jetsün Chökyi Gyaltsen, as was up here, the textbook writer for Sera Je.
General text, the General Meaning, the text called General Meaning, which he did, the Middle Way, General Meaning? General Meaning, along with one of these analytic texts, debate texts. So you studied Middle Way philosophy for four years. This this subject took four years. Then the then the area of text called Vinaya, moral This is another division.
Vinaya, or moral discipline. So there’s one text called by Gunaprabha. The main text that they study is by Vasubandhu. Gunaprabha.
And it’s This is the name of an author. Kunsang, k u n s a n g. Vinaya Sūtra. Vinaya Sūtra. Yeah.
That looks good. And it’s called? Root text. Annotations of the root. Something like that.
So in two volumes. Gendundrub. Gendundruba. Precious Garland Discipline? Precious Garland of of Moral Discipline.
This is all in I am. Yeah, this is, I’d say, Dulwa Zhenpen Nyingpo. Gyaltsen, the textbook author. The commentary to on a commentary on moral discipline. D E L E G, Nyma, N Y I M A.
Commentary on Vinaya. We’d have to check on the And now the the the next overall subject that’s taken up is called Abhidharma or you can call it Buddhist psychology and cosmology, whatever. This is our next subject and it’s based on the text. By Vasubandhu. It’s Abhidharmakośa of Vasubandhu.
Abhidharmakośa of Vasubandhu. Kosha? And it’s a treasury of knowledge. Treasury of knowledge. Jam Pal, J A M P A L, Yang, Y A N G.
Is this the author? So the abbreviated name is the the the treasury of knowledge. Gendundrub’s illuminating the path to liberation of the treasury. I have to check on that. It’s called Selchit Zutik Or maybe it’s something like maybe Clearing the Path.
Clearing the Path. Clearing the Path. Yeah. These are all written And then again, Jetsün Chökyi Gyaltsen, the textbook author. So his his his commentary to the treasury.
Jetsün Chökyi Gyaltsen. Commentary to to the treasury. Was he was he living at that time at the monastery, and was he their writer, or had he Jetsün Chökyi Gyaltsen. And so on. Ah.
It’s giving me the according to the the birth date, to The birthplace of Jetsün Chökyi Gyaltsen is Yeah. The trunda? We can find out. Yep. So he knows the according to the the Tibetan astrological sign.
About the same time as Gendun Drub. About the same time as Gendun Drub, the First Dalai Lama. Right. So we’re talking about quite a long time ago.
That’s fine. I think I thought was about that About that time. Yeah. Yeah. That’s sort of good.
I mean, I didn’t know whether it was a person living there who just I knew I knew that, but I wasn’t quite sure when. Fine. Fine. Four years to study, Abhidharma. Oh, then they also study.
So during this period, this entire study period, one during this period of study, every year they would study a text called a long name. It’s called, it’s by Dharmakīrti. The author is Dharmakīrti and the text name is Dharmakīrti’s Commentary to to Dignāgā’s Compendium of Prime Cognition. Dignāgā, D I G N A G A. Dignāgā’s Compendium of Prime Cognition.
Have prime cognition. And so or Pramānavārttika. Pramānavārttika. Oh, god. And they V A R T I K A.
So they would study this for one and a half months every year throughout all this period of time. So then they would say the commentaries that they would use would be the first commentary would be the first one is by Gyaltsab Je. Gyaltsab J, G Y A L T S A B J E.
Yeah. Anyway we’ll check on this one. It’s called yeah, just like it was clearing the clearing the path of liberation clearing the path of liberation of this. And then a text by Khedrup, Khedrup Rinpoche, we mentioned. These are the two chief disciples of Tsongkhapa.