Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 48-minute talk, Kyabje Rinpoche addresses a central challenge in tantric practice: knowing teachings versus actually doing them. He opens with tantric vows—avoiding harmful associations and respecting all women as potential divine emanations—then explains why tantra is called the swift path. He covers the two-stage approach of generation and completion, with enlightenment timelines ranging from three years and three fortnights for the most capable to many lifetimes for others. Throughout, he returns to Śāntideva’s teaching: knowledge without practice is like a doctor who prescribes but never gives medicine. The talk then addresses technical completion-stage practices—drawing winds into the central channel, progressing through impure illusory body, clear light, and pure illusory body. Student questions follow. For practitioners with prior tantric initiation.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 1989-12-15 – 1B – Advice HYT – KR.mp3
UUID: f6731936-2865-4163-b5ff-f1a58616abca
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Tantra General
Date: 1989-12-15
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~3,352
And in the case of a very, very what I call a person with very much negativities who has lost or who is in contradiction regarding sincerity to lama so the actual word is who is in contradiction of pledges with lama. So meaning who has broken the lama’s advices. So in such case and also a person who is with so many or caused so much negativities in the sense who doesn’t accept the dharma and so forth. To such person one should not be too close and one shouldn’t keep too constant and close companionship because in that case it normally happens that because of such person being very much with negativities, one, when coming in contact with such person, one somehow receives pollution. And pollution in Tibetan we have a sickness called grib (drib), which best is pollution.
So this is how normally happens is when a person with a lot of pollution comes close to you, you somehow get fraction of his pollution because of your intelligence and your clarity of the mind is clouded and becomes unclear. So in this case, when such person because of you keeping in contact with such person so much, you will receive what I call pollution because why? Because of which, you will not be able to or because of which, it will stop for you to have realizations born. Therefore, Therefore, this is not to be done. Do not to keep our, what I call, companionship with such person.
The next one is not to defame and look down upon the look down upon any kinds of female or any kind of ladies because it’s possible any lady out there could be Tārā, could be Vajravārāhī, and so many other Dakinis. And there are so many Dakinis and what call exalted female enlightened beings. Therefore, it could be possible you could be, what call, defaming and looking down upon others. Therefore, it’s possible some people, just taking it on a typical assumption basis, might defame like saying, oh, these ladies have a lot of ideas, too many ideas, and so forth. So not to defame in such way, and this has been explained not to do.
So in this way, one should work on one should abandon the things which are prescribed or required to be abandoned and should adopt the practices which are required to be adopted in terms of the pledges and the vows. And in each day, try to abandon as many as one can and adopt as many one one can. And perhaps occasionally it might happen one transgress some parts of the pledges and vows. In that case, there are purification methods to recite Vajrasattva’s hundred syllable mantra 21 times complete or 21 times having the four antidote powers complete. And in this way, that is the basis.
And on top of that, then if it’s a lower tantra classes then one can do the actual practices of the yoga with sign and yoga without sign and in the case of higher tantra classes then one can do practices of the what I call generation stage and completion stage. And that is how the sacred mantra has been called the very swift path. And in this way if the practitioner does the practice accordingly then the very name of the swift path in meaning will go in parallel. And in this way, if one does the practice as well, then if it is the practice of the lower tantra, then one can attain Buddhahood within one lifetime. And if it is the highest tantra, then one can attain Buddhahood within one body within one body.
And also more quicker than that, one can attain Buddhahood in twelve years duration time. And especially in the in the what called instruction of Lama Tsongkhapa, it is possible to attain Buddhahood even in what are called three years and three fortnights. Three years and three fortnights. So each direction direction is just a little word. So each fortnight comprising fifteen days.
So about a month and a half, three years, one month and half, one can attain Buddhahood. And for the practitioner of the medium caliber or medium faculty intelligence, then in that case, even if the practitioner may not be able to attain Buddhahood in this lifetime, the practitioner will definitely attain Buddhahood in the bardo or intermediate state. And for the, what I call, blunt faculty or the lowest intelligence for those, the Buddhahood can be attained in next life, two lifetime, four lifetime, and maximum within 16 lifetimes. It all depends on the practitioner itself, how fast and how swiftly the practitioner reaches destination. Lama or the teachers can do is just what called teach the Dharma, show the path instructions.
But the real work means the practitioner has to reach to destination will have to be the Dharma. But still, Dharma itself, by itself, is not enough. Therefore, it all comes down to the practitioner being the most responsible and how it is responsible for the practitioner or, in other words how it comes down to the practitioner is it depends on the practitioner putting the instruction into practice or not which determines the practitioner arriving at the destination sooner or later. In the case we say, in example, the road is very good. It all depends on the pedestrian or the person going.
Like, the road is very good, but if he just goes here, swings here, go over there, there, then maybe all day and night are maybe not possible to reach the destination. So same here. It all depends down to the practitioner himself how he practices strongly, effortfully, and so forth. In the past so regarding this point about it all is on the practitioners’ practice, which depends everything. Regarding this, in the path, Tibetan lamas have a saying, oh, everybody has a deity to visualize on and a mantra to recite.
But because of not having a Dharma to think on that implying all are remaining in this state of not being enlightened. Yes. Everybody has a deity to visualize on, and everybody has a mantra to recite like Om Mani Padme and so forth. But still, because of the whole practice from the mind lacking, and from the mind there’s no realizations being born because of why everybody is now in the same, what I call, state of not being enlightened. And that saying, feels very true.
Feels that that saying is really very true. On the great bodhisattva Śāntideva says in verse, these are to be practiced by body. What will be the use of mere saying or expression through mouth? Will the mere recitation of the diagnosis help the patient? So this is to be explained as meaning if a person may know the whole instructions of the practices and also through verbally may say, oh, I’m going to do the practices.
But the person, if he doesn’t do the practices, then what I call, there is no meaning meaning at at all. All. It will not make any progress at all. And in the case, let’s say, a doctor who has underwent so many thorough training and has become an expert doctor and has diagnosed the patient and has even recorded and told the patient what to take and what not to take. But if the doctor fails to prescribe the medicine and leaves the patient without medicine to take, then in that case the whole exercise is wasted.
There’s no meaning in that. Therefore the whole Dharma depending or coming down to the practitioner putting into practice rather than verbally making promises that I’m going to work or do this, do this, is not work or is meaningless, not helpful. Therefore, the great master Śāntideva brings the two into meaning and example. The example being the sick person not having the not taking the medicine and left like that, and the practitioner lacking practice. And here in the mantra practice or tantra practice, what principally are to be abandoned are the ordinary appearance, ordinary vision and ordinary what we call apprehension or ordinary clinging, ordinary appearance and ordinary apprehension.
Why that is so is in the sūtra system or sūtra explanation it is said that the very root of circling in the cyclic existence is the self-grasping of the person. And whereas in mantra, it is explained that the very root of circling in the very root for the sentient beings to circling the saṃsāra is because of the working of the wind mind. So there’s no end. Wind mind. The wind itself too. The bad wind wind causes to circle in the saṃsāra cyclic existence, and the good wind, what I call, is the cause to become enlightened, become Buddha.
So with the good wind, it becomes or it transforms into the body of a Buddha and the mind which is along with the good wind becomes the mind of the Buddha. And whereas with the bad wind, it is the one which leaves the sentient beings in the cyclic existence and the mind which goes with that bad wind is the one which is in the aspect of the afflictions or deluded mind, delusions. And in this way remains, what I call, circling in this cyclic existence. And now what is to be done is eliminate the bad wind and bad mind and to accomplish the good wind and good mind. So once the bad wind and bad mind are I’m not sure if or are.
So once the bad wind and bad mind is work eliminated and the good wind and good mind is accomplished, within that instant, one becomes Buddha. So how one has to accomplish the so accomplish is the literal word, perhaps acquire and are called accomplish. So how one is to accomplish the good wind and mind is only that how it is to be done is it is only possible only if one has cessation the bad wind and bad mind, because it is the bad wind and bad mind which causes the person to circle in cyclic existence. And how one has to cease the bad wind and bad wind mind. Bad wind and bad mind is one has to absorb the bad wind mind into oneself — into inside, literally into inside. So when is it possible to draw all the bad wind mind in inside? It is on the time when they are drawn.
It’s only in the completion stage of the higher tantras. It’s not possible to draw in the lower tantras. Of course, lower tantras by their part may not be it’s not possible by their part to attain Buddhahood and to be able to draw, but still in addition to the in addition on top of that of the higher tantra that one attains, what called Buddhahood. And lower tantra may have to be explained as being a practices for those of the blunt faculty. Anyway, when it comes to the completion stage in the higher tantra, it comes in the completion stage which has within that it has two stages called the clear light and the illusory body.
And clear light itself is of two example clear light and meaning clear light. And it is during the example clear light that one is able to draw all the bad wind mind inside into the central channel. And one is able to draw it to such a, what I call, to such a measure like the prisoner being jailed into prison that the bad wind mind, that bad wind mind are drawn to such an extent that they are drawn not to be released and not to flow back, flow out. And after that, one, what I call, one arises into Buddhahood, one becomes Buddha. As with the tummo, the first one tummo, has been explained by Rinpoche before, so that tummo practice is mainly a practice of the completion stage and it is a practice by which one draws all the coarse bad wind mind into the central channel and into the central channel.
And in order to have the drawing of all the bad wind mind through the completion stage into the central channel very well, in order to have that very well, one will have to do the preceding required practice that is of the generation stage. And to practice the generation stage and to practice a valid or a qualified generation stage which is qualified in the sense of being a cause cause to become a ripener of the completion stage. So in order to do the practice of qualified generation stage, which is to become ripener of the completion stage, one has to do the practice of the taking of the three bodies as the part where death is taken as the dharmakaya, the intermediate state as the Sambhogakāya or the enjoyment body, and rebirth as the emanation body or nirmanakaya. And regarding the generation stage, generally, it is of a coarse generation stage and subtle generation stage. Anyway, there is not much time to go into detail of that.
So generation stage, the subtle one will have to be perfected and through which one enters or do the practice of the completion stage. And completion stage itself is of the five stages, the body isolation, speech isolation, and mind isolation. And regarding the what called illusory body, it is of two, the pure impure illusory body and pure illusory body. And clear light is of two, example clear light and meaning clear light. And during that time one understands emptiness in the form of imaginative conception normally called or sometimes translated as intellectual comprehension of emptiness.
And whereas with meaning clear light one understands or one realizes emptiness directly and with the after that one attains the illusory body. So the clear light being joined or conjoined or union with the illusory body through this one, firstly, one remains or one does the practices as a learner union or learner conjoining. And after some days, then one becomes a non learner or non training union. And after that one becomes enlightened and one becomes or one attains the state of Vajradhāra. So we all became enlightened.
Buddhist. So if you have any questions, there are about ten minutes. And then first, arise in the impure illusory body. Right? Mhmm.
And then from that, they dissolve again. Mhmm. The winds go back in again, and then comes the meaning clear light I mean, the example clear light. And they come out again, you know? And from that example clear light arises the pure illusory body.
And then from the pure illusory body comes the emptiness, and they have the real clear light at that point. Is that the right order? So first you have the what we call example clear light and What thought first came that’s what my question is. Don’t you first arise in the impure, illusory body before you have the Example clear light? I guess that’s the question.
No, it is not through what I call example clear light. You have to attain impure illusory body. So the clear light one comes first and then comes Yeah. What I call example clear light first comes And that’s from dissolving the winds completely inside the self drop of the heart. Example All the bad all the bad wind mind will have to be drawn into the channel.
So having drawn all the, what we call, bad wind mind, through having drawn that, then one, what we call, understands emptiness, but still that understanding of emptiness is in imaginative comprehension. So being in imaginative comprehension it’s not direct. Therefore that mind which we call comprehends emptiness imaginatively along with that there is wind. And these two together arises into what’s called an impure illusory body. So at this point when one realizes emptiness through imaginative comprehension, along with that mind there is the mount wind, which is the mount of that mind, and that wind arises in the form of the deity, and that’s the impure, illusory body.
And why it is called impure is because it is still the person has not abandoned all the, what are called, delusions, afflictions. And I asked what would be the mind. So that mind is still in the aspect or is still in the state of realizing or comprehending emptiness. Therefore, it is in the state of pure wisdom. And that wind which arises into impure what we call illusory body, that is the first time the good wind has arisen.
That is the starting of the good wind in other words. From that, you continue to meditate on emptiness, in that form, when the impure illusory body, when you keep meditating on emptiness and that’s it. Realize directly and So yes, in that state with repeated familiarization meditation on emptiness, there comes a time that emptiness is realized directly and at that point the mind which comprehends emptiness immediately is cessation stops and it becomes or it transforms into mind realizing emptiness directly. And at that the wind which was in the form of impure illusory body also stopped and these two what call arises in the form of meaning clear light. And that meaning clear light will have to explain itself in the state of what call equipoise, deep meditation.
And after deep meditation, the period called post meditation or technically called post equipoise. So during the post equipoise, that wind arises in the form of deity, and that’s the pure, illusory body. No. It is not constant. There are still subtle obscurations of knowledge to be abandoned.
And still after that, there is a stage further which is called the learner’s conjoining or learner’s union, and after that, non learners. So stages stages after after that. That. Is it true that complete enlightenment is impossible unless using a consort? The so-called action consort, like a karma mudra. Right. Yeah. The karma mudra.
No. Not not necessarily have to rely on action consort. So technically called action mudra, so that’s a action mudra. And normally the scene is of a consort, technically called mudra, is of two, the pure wisdom, which is yogi’s own emanated or deity or lady, and the other is this one, the action one. So we’ll have to depend on any of two, not necessarily our karma mudra lady.
I read that achieved enlightenment in the intermediate state because of not using it. Because he didn’t want to renounce his vows for Mhmm. The same with his disciples. Mhmm. Mhmm.
You were red or you heard? I heard. You you read it. Mhmm. I read it.
I have to see the source. Yes. So had a very special responsibility of being the head of the Gelug sect, and he is like an example to which everybody looks at as an example. Therefore, with great reasons or purpose of seeing a kind of possible excuses by future followers to transgress that of vow, especially Lama Tsongkhapa being not only that, also being a gelong, a full ordained monk. Therefore, there are two occasions.
One occasion during which the consort so let’s say a consort during which the consort is allowed to attend to, and there’s another occasion when the consort is not allowed to attend to. And case in future, when the time is with the when it’s a time the people are not or practitioner are not allowed to attend to consort, in that case, some may perhaps find excuse saying, during his lifetime had consort, attended consort. Therefore, we also win. So didn’t attend to any consort. So Also, I read Śākyamūni Buddha used a consort in his previous lifetime.
Mhmm. And yeah. So it just seems Rinpoche just said that that it’s not necessary, but I just thought it seems almost if, like, the established Yeah. You know, the main people working for enlightenment ordained monks and nuns. And so it’s almost seems like a