Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 112-minute teaching on Je Tsongkhapa’s Three Principal Aspects of the Path, the teacher provides detailed doctrinal instruction on bodhicitta, the altruistic intention to achieve enlightenment for all beings. Beginning with the foundation of renunciation—the determination to abandon saṃsāra—the teacher explains why renunciation alone cannot lead to full enlightenment and why bodhicitta is essential. He explores the reasons for generating bodhicitta by contrasting the limited aspiration of the lesser vehicle with the vast, inclusive mind of the Mahāyāna practitioner. The teaching covers the means of generating bodhicitta through compassion for all sentient beings, drawing on classical analogies: just as a skilled doctor tailors treatment to each patient, the Buddha’s teachings are precisely adapted to individual beings’ needs and capacities. The teacher emphasizes that all three principles—renunciation, bodhicitta, and the view of emptiness—are necessary for enlightenment, working together like a bird’s two wings. Practical reflections on karma, merit accumulation, purification, and the sequential stages of Lamrim training are woven throughout. The session includes a brief Q&A addressing karmic harm and Buddha-nature.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 2005-11-08 – Teaching.mp3
UUID: d4b6c35f-451c-4f52-979c-d7c5d95acb74
Teacher: the teacher
Collection: Three Principal Aspects
Date: 2005-11-08
Words: ~4,748
There you go. Amanda? So, but he says, it is good to create a vast motivation when hearing teachings of this nature, which not merely seeks to listen, but also to understand the teachings and dependence on this to accumulate a vast collection of merit. And please generate the motivation of listening to these teachings and the three principles of the path, which are the very essence of the teachings of, the Buddha with the motivation of attaining a state of parinirvāṇa, a state of full enlightenment, not merely for one’s own benefit, but for the benefit of all sentient beings, and thereby generating this powerful motivation of bodhicitta, which will lead us to that state. And therefore, we will meditate for one or two minutes to try to generate that motivation within our mind stream.
The preliminary prayer prayers here on page one on this. The one being refuge and bodhicitta for teachings. So the text of Je Tsongkhapa we are studying, the three principles of the path, covers the following three principles of the path, renunciation, bodhicitta, and the view of emptiness. Of these, Rinpoche has finished the explanation of renunciation, and today, he will start to explain bodhicitta. And then with respect to the generation of bodhicitta, we have the reasons for which bodhicitta has to be generated, the means whereby bodhicitta is generated, and the measure of the generation of bodhicitta.
And with respect to the first, the reasons for which one should generate a bodhicitta, as is said in our text, the three principles of the path, renunciation without pure bodhi mind does not bring forth the perfect bliss of unsurpassed enlightenment. Therefore, bodhisattvas generate excellent bodhi mind. Rinpoche says, after generating renunciation, we are able in an uncontrived spontaneous fashion to abandon all the marvels of samsaric existence. And once this has been generated, then this mind which is striving for liberation from suffering is a mind which has to be turned to the higher goal of full enlightenment. So renunciation is absolutely fundamental in which he says.
Without renunciation, the mind striving for liberation, whatever virtue whatever virtuous karma we accumulate will merely act as the cause for cyclic existence, for cycling again and again in the cycle of lives. However, once we have generated renunciation, the slightest virtue such as merely reciting is enough to act as a cause for liberation. So while this mind of renunciation is absolutely fundamental. It cannot act as a cause for full enlightenment in and of itself. The reason for this is that while renunciation is strongly, very strongly developed in the Hīnayāna.
It is merely a cause for liberation from the cycle of lives. It is not oriented to the state of full enlightenment, of omniscience. And as our text says, renunciation without pure bodhi mind does not bring forth the perfect bliss. Perfect here refers to full enlightenment of unsurpassed enlightenment. Therefore, Bodhisattvas generate excellent bodhi mind.
And which he says because renunciation alone does not lead to full enlightenment, the wise have to generate bodhicitta within their mind stream. As it is said in Abhisamayālamkāra, the generation of the mind is for the state of others to strive for full enlightenment. And Rinpoche says this definition of bodhicitta is absolutely fundamental because once we have been able to generate within our mind stream bodhicitta, once we hold bodhicitta as it were, then everything we do acts as a cause for full enlightenment. Until we have generated bodhicitta within our mind stream, not
Thing we do can act as a cause for full enlightenment. So this generation of bodhicitta is extraordinarily important. So because once we have generated bodhicitta within our mind stream, even the smallest root of virtue, such as offering a little bit of tsampa to insects or reciting or taking refuge or prostrating, any small such deed of virtue because of the power of the mind, the force of the mind of bodhicitta will become a cause for full enlightenment. Therefore, this mind of bodhicitta, the generation of this mind of bodhicitta is absolutely fundamental. So when we speak of generating the mind in Tibetan, the root to generate is glossed as to make the mind vast.
And the meaning here of the generation of bodhicitta is to make the mind infinitely vast, a mind which strives for the benefit of all beings as vast as space. The mind of the practitioner of the lower vehicle is a very narrow self absorbed mind. It is a mind which is only focused on freeing himself and herself alone from the suffering of cyclic existence, and there is no thought whatsoever of the welfare of others. But the mind of the Mahāyāna practitioner is a mind which discards himself. He completely disregards his own interest, and he focuses he or she focuses himself exclusively on the welfare of others as vast as space and strives to place others as vast as space in a state of perfect happiness and a state devoid of all suffering.
And this is the mind of bodhicitta. And then this passage from Abhisamayālamkāra written by Ārya Maitreya, generating the mind, in other words, bodhicitta, is for the sake of others to to strive for full enlightenment is to be understood as follows. Generating the mind, Rinpoche has explained. Now when we say for the sake of others, generally speaking, we can generate two types of motivations, motivations for our own benefit and motivations for the benefit of others. In this context, the motivation we generate is a motivation for the benefit of others, and this specific motivation is an aspiration, an aspiration which has two aims.
It’s an aspiration which strives to free others from suffering and the causes of suffering, and it is also an aspiration which strives to place others in a state of non-abiding nirvana, a state of full enlightenment. Now, generally speaking, the lower vehicle also has an aspiration which strives to free others from suffering and the causes of suffering and to place them in bliss and to endow them with the causes of bliss. The difference here is that this is an uncommon wish of the Mahāyāna characterized by the fact that we ourselves take the resolution to do this. So we ourselves take the resolution to free others from suffering and the causes of suffering, we ourselves take the resolution to place others in supreme happiness and to endow them with the causes of supreme happiness. Basically, we are striving, to place beings in a state which is, bereft of suffering and the causes of suffering and which is endowed with ultimate happiness and the causes of ultimate happiness.
But if we examine ourselves at present, we will find that we are completely unable of doing this. This is something we aspire to do, but we simply do not have the capacity to place beings in this state. So irrespective of the strength of our determination, because we lack the capacity to do this, we can be of no benefit to beings in our present state. We therefore have to strive to attain a state where we can actually place beings in a condition which is free of suffering and the causes of suffering and endowed with bliss, happiness, and the causes of happiness. And what state is this?
This is a state where we actually understand exactly the situation of every single individual being, and we actually understand every single phenomenon. It’s a state of omniscience. Because if we, from our own side, irrespective of how good our motivation is, teach some Dharma to beings, it may or may not be helpful because we do not understand where beings stand, what their individual need is. We have to understand exactly what is the wish of this person, what is the capacity. Is it the person of low, middling, or greater capacity?
What is their aim? What is their goal? And then we have to custom tailor the teaching to this individual being. To do this, we need to attain a state of full enlightenment, which knows exactly what is of benefit to every single being, what type of teaching is of benefit to one individual being and not to another, and custom tailor these teachings. If we do not do this, there is a very real risk of harming beings by giving just teachings a bit at random thinking, oh, this will be of benefit.
It is exactly the same thing as, for instance, if you take a doctor. A doctor, before treating a patient, will examine the patient’s pulse and carefully and establish a diagnosis. To do this, the doctor must study extensively and become very skilled and knowledgeable. And if he is not able to do this correctly and, he prescribes at random medicines, then there is a very real risk the patient will die. So Rinpoche says, this is why doctors have such high fees because they just might kill you if they weren’t very careful.
And this is also why a doctor has to have a degree. You don’t just go to anybody and have him mix medicines and give them to you. And if you did and you died, the police would just take the doctor away saying he’s no good. So as a skillful doctor cures the patient, likewise, the Buddha helps sentient beings through teachings. And the says, it’s absolutely critical that in the same way as a skillful doctor who has studied well, who understands the disease, and is knowledgeable in the drugs which are to be used, is able to cure any disease because for every single disease, he has a medicine, which is of benefit, likewise, the Buddha.
However, a doctor who is not skilled and who prescribes a bit at random medicine, is not gonna be able to cure the disease because the medicine will not be the requisite medicine for the disease.
And actually may kill the patient. So it is said in Pramāna Vartika, there is no disease which cannot be cured, and what is referred to here are the mental afflictions. There is no mental affliction which cannot be eliminated through the requisite antidote. But for this, one needs to have a skillful teacher. Otherwise, there is a very real risk that the patient will die in the process.
So take a deep breath. So as Ārya Maitreya says, the truthless, the mistaken truth, and the truly stated. This quote from Ārya Maitreya, who was definitely a fully enlightened being, refers to the three types of teachings which can be imparted for the benefit of beings. When ordinary beings teach other ordinary beings, they teach that which is truthless, which has no truth, and which will almost always not lead to full enlightenment because they do not understand the condition of other beings. And therefore, their teachings cannot impact other beings in a meaningful way.
On the other hand, when beings such as Ārya Bodhisattvas teach other beings, then they teach the wrong truths. What they teach itself is true because have realizations, but they do not understand the actual condition of other beings. Because they do not understand the actual condition of other beings, then they will be teaching to the right or to the left of what is of benefit to other beings. And then some of the beings who receive these teachings will attain the goal, which is the state of full enlightenment, but many, if not most, will not because the truth is not appropriate for that being. Finally, there are those who teach merely the truth, and this is a case of fully enlightened beings whose teachings are exclusively the truth.
Buddhists teach only the truth. All those who receive these teachings from the Buddha because they will have received teachings which are directly beneficial, which are commensurate with their abilities, which are commensurate with their goals, which are commensurate with their outlook. All these beings will gain benefits. So since this is the case, it is absolutely fundamental for us in our practice that we should strive for a state of full enlightenment. We are striving for a state of full enlightenment to teach.
To teach what? To teach that Dharma which is of benefit to others because the only thing which is of benefit is Dharma. And it’s only when we attain the state of full enlightenment that we will fulfill the third part of Ārya Maitreya’s verse. We will teach the truth, we will lead beings to this goal, which is the goal of full enlightenment. Now we have to reflect again and again on the condition of beings.
There is not a single sentient being which has not been our father or mother. The only difference at present is that we are unaware of the fact that they are our fathers and mothers. And because of this, we behave as if they were not relevant to us. Without exception, they have been our fathers and mothers. And if we reflect and put ourselves in the situation of someone whose very dear mother was being burned alive, was actually burning in a fire in such a way that her very body was indissociable from fire and uttering pitiful wails?
Which one of us would not be tormented by the wish to free her from her sufferings? Now this is exactly the situation which all mother sentient beings are in. We should reflect on the fact that in this very life of ours, our mother has been infinitely beneficial to us. How many insects, for instance, has she not killed to protect us from them? In so doing, creating the karmic imprints for being reborn herself in the hell realms.
We ourselves will not be reborn in that state, but she will for our benefit. And the only difference there is between other sentient beings and our dear mother of this life is merely the fact that we don’t recollect, we don’t remember that other sentient beings were our mother. Otherwise, they have been equally kind to us. So if we reflect about things in this way, we will understand that broadly speaking, what it is said that there are three types of renunciation for the three types of vehicle. One can actually say that as far as ultimate renunciation is concerned, there is only one type of renunciation.
Indeed, there are three types of renunciations which commensurate with the practice of the Sravakas, Pratyekabuddhas, and Bodhisattvas. But that ultimate renunciation is a renunciation which is a foundation for bodhicitta striving for full enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings, and this actually is one. So there is really, if we want to put it in these terms, only one ultimate renunciation. Mhmm. Ultimate
Now generally speaking, all three principles of the path are necessary to attain full enlightenment. Why is this the case? As far as the goal for enlightenment is concerned, state the of full enlightenment is one in which the Buddha has two bodies, the dharmakaya and the rupakaya. The dharmakaya and the rupakaya arise in dependence on their respective causes. The cause of the dharmakaya is the correct view, the view of emptiness.
The cause of the rupakaya is bodhicitta. If either of these is absent, it is not possible to attain a state of full enlightenment. So both are necessary. And then So in dependence on a practice of wisdom, which is, separate or not connected with method, there is no full enlightenment. There are merely causes for cyclic existence.
in dependence on a practice of method, which is, in other words, which is separate from wisdom, there is no full enlightenment. There will again be the causes of the cycle of lives. It is only when method and wisdom are practiced in conjunction with each other that the causes of full enlightenment are both generated. As Candrakīrti said in his Madhyamakāvatāra, in dependence on method and wisdom, a bodhisattva can cross the ocean of existence just as a duck can cross the ocean of existence with its two wings. So Rinpoche says this is an example of the practice of the bodhisattva in the same way as a duck uses both wings to cross the ocean.
Likewise, the bodhisattva needs the two wings of method and wisdom, which are practiced inseparably to attain the state of full enlightenment, which is beyond the ocean of lives. And, therefore, it is absolutely crucial that we generate, bodhicitta. And the root of bodhicitta is that great compassion. As is asserted in the famous quote, I assert that the root thereof is compassion. Without compassion, it will be impossible for us to generate bodhicitta.
And this must be a compassion which extends to all sentient beings as vast as space. It will, however, be impossible to generate a compassion for the suffering of all sentient beings and the wish to place them in a state of full enlightenment if we don’t initially have compassion on ourselves. And to do this, we must gain an understanding of understand our own suffering, we will not be able to project it on others to understand the suffering of others and to wish to free them. So to understand our own suffering, we must reflect on the general sufferings of cyclic existence, such as the suffering of birth, death, disease, and aging, and we must also reflect on the specific sufferings of cyclic existence, such as the sufferings of the lower realms. Now with respect to the suffering of the lower realms, there is in actuality no difference between us and beings who are already born in the lower realms.
We already have accumulated in our mind all of the karmic imprints to be reborn in the lower realms. The only difference between us and them is that though those karmic imprints have already matured, and they are already born in the lower realms. Whereas for us, the karmic imprints will mature in the next life, and we will be reborn in the lower lower realms. That is the only difference between us and them. And therefore, we must meditate again and again on the horrific sufferings of the lower realms and understand that all that separates us from that condition is the passing of this life.
And then in dependence on meditating on that, we move back upwards and meditate on the general sufferings of cyclic existence. And in dependence on this, we are able to generate renunciation and move upwards to generate compassion and, ultimately, bodhicitta. So there is no training in the path of the great vehicle without preliminary training in the path of the being of the middle scope. And there is no training in the path of the being of the middle scope without preliminary training in the path of the being of small scope. We must train incrementally upwards in the path of Lam Rim from the practice of the being of small scope who is afraid of the suffering of the lower realms and dependence on this takes refuge into the training of the path of the being of middling scope who reflects on the general sufferings of cyclic existence and trains himself through the three trainings of ethics, concentration, and wisdom, into the training of the being of great scope, reflecting that through merely training in the practice of the being of middling scope, we ourselves may strive and attain liberation, but we will leave all mother sentient beings in suffering and in the lower realms.
And then in dependence on this, after generating renunciation at the level of the being of middling scope, we then generate great compassion. in dependence on this, we generate bodhicitta. And in dependence on this, we enter in the practice of the tantric vehicle. There is no full enlightenment without bodhicitta. And a practice of tantra or of mantra from which bodhicitta is absent is a practice which cannot lead to full enlightenment.
So moving backwards then, this practice of bodhicitta itself is only possible when the mind of renunciation has been created within our mind stream. Without renunciation, there can be no bodhicitta, and the mind of renunciation can only be created in our mind stream through the reflections of the being of small scope on the specific sufferings of the lower realm and so forth.
So if we reflect at our present condition, we are in the situation of beings who enjoy good food, a good life, comfort in the West. And for that reason, we are lazy. We lack enthusiasm. As is said in the scriptural quote, with enthusiasm, the very name of ignorance would not exist. With enthusiasm, with effort, determination, perseverance in our practice, then we could attain everything.
But we lack enthusiasm. We lack effort. We lack determination. We are very busy with our lives, running left and right, and we put no effort in our practice. There is no such thing as, an effect which arises without its cause being generated.
Since we ourselves do not generate the cause, it is very difficult to see how the effect realizations could arise. So in this life, attaining full enlightenment seems impossible. For that matter, attaining realization seems very difficult because we don’t meditate. We don’t put any effort. However, we are very lucky.
We are very lucky because we actually are able to hear this profound Dharma and put in our mind the karmic imprints of hearing. We are perhaps able to reflect on it and implant in our mind the karmic imprints of reflecting on it. Maybe we will be able to meditate a bit on it and implant in our mind the karmic imprints of meditating. Now these karmic imprints are causes. They will definitely give rise to their effects.
And in future lives, the realizations will be easier, in dependence on this. So in that respect, things are very good. So without bodhicitta, we can forget about any hope of attaining full enlightenment. We just drop full enlightenment. And, then what is left?
Well, the arhats of the lesser vehicle, they have direct realization of emptiness, and yet they do not attain full enlightenment because they don’t have bodhicitta. So for us to generate this mind of bodhicitta within our mind stream at present is very difficult. But at least we have received the instructions, and it is very important that we make strong prayers to, generate this mind of bodhicitta, and that we make strong prayers to meet a teacher, that we try to meditate on it. And through the combination of training in meditation and making strong prayers, there is hope that in the next life, in the future, we will again meet a Mahāyāna guru who will impart us the, instructions on how to generate bodhicitta. And like this, from life to life, there is hope that eventually we can generate bodhicitta.
We must reflect that the present conditions we have obtained are the result of effort we have put into in past lives. Had we not created the karma in past lives, we would not have met a Mahāyāna teacher in this life. You would not receive these teachings. However, those karmic fruits are coming to their end. So we have to put training in this life.
We have to create the karmic imprints in this life. But in the next life, we can continue to receive these teachings. And like this, from life to life, we can hope to move upwards. Otherwise, there is no hope for It is to be extraordinarily fortunate to hear the very names, the very terms, bodhicitta, and the correct view of emptiness. In the past, probably, we didn’t hear these terms.
So we must reflect on how fortunate we are to hear them now. So forget full enlightenment. Just hearing the mere name, buddhahood or Buddha, requires an extraordinary amount of merit. So few have heard this. So we are very fortunate to have heard this term buddhahood or buddha.
And, actually, to have heard about bodhicitta is to be extremely fortunate. Now to generate bodhicitta, the very essence is to generate a mind which is striving to benefit others, a mind of love and compassion. But the foundation of such a mind of love and compassion is a mind which renounces, which gives up harming others. So this is absolutely fundamental. Without this mind which gives up harming others, there is no possibility of generating a mind which wishes to benefit others.
So, the time is over. And if you have questions, we have five minutes. So the question was, when we think of the huge amounts of non virtue we accumulate every day, for instance, And and but she says, as a matter of fact, those who are ordained take the sangha takes precautions against this. They will filter very carefully the water using all the means at their disposal to make sure that there are no beings or insects inside and will discard the beings or insects inside. So there are already technological means which enable us to reduce the amount of nonvirtue we accumulate in this way.
But more importantly, he says, in addition to teaching what these nonvirtuous deeds are, the Buddha taught very clearly how to purify them. It is through the practice of confession, the practice of disclosure of non virtuous deeds that we can purify them and then apply the requisite antidote. Every single one of us has the possibility, the capacity of attaining full enlightenment. This is what is called the Buddha nature, that clear nature of the mind within us, which can be led to full enlightenment. So there is a possibility of perfection even if we are in the situation where we commit many non virtues.
The aspiration, for instance, of Avalokiteśvara was a shepherd like aspiration. In the king like aspiration, which is the one Buddha Śākyamūni had, first one self attains full enlightenment, and then one strives to lead all beings to full enlightenment, and this is a realistic aspiration. On the other hand, in the shepherd like aspiration, which was that of, Ārya Avalokiteśvara, one leads all beings in front of oneself to full enlightenment, and only after they have all reached full enlightenment does oneself attain full enlightenment. Now because this is something which actually is not possible in practice, but is manifests the very powerful will and determination of the great bodhisattva to attain full enlightenment, it actually led to great despair in the mind of Ārya Avalokiteśvara, and it is stated as a result of this, his head fractured into one thousand pieces and was brought back together by Buddha Amitābha. And this is why Buddha Amitābha crowns Avalokiteśvara.
Finally, there is an aspiration for bodhicitta where one aspires to attain bodhicitta like a ferryman who is crossing, a river with all his passengers. One would attain full enlightenment together with all beings. Again, this is given as an example of the power of the motivation of the great bodhisattvas. There is, however, no way to attain full enlightenment in this way. So the type of aspiration which was taught by Buddha Śākyamūni, which is one where after meditating on the suffering of all beings, oneself decides to attain the state where all faults are eliminated or and all perfections are accomplished, the state of full enlightenment through accumulating a vast amount of merit and then in dependence on this leading all beings to this state, this aspiration is very good indeed.
So we should therefore train in this aspiration akin to that of Buddha Śākyamūni, all practicing the interchange of self and others and the sevenfold practice of cause and effect to give rise to bodhicitta within our mind streams. For generating bodhicitta, the lineage which seems to have been transmitted from Mañjuśrī via Nāgārjuna, Śāntideva, and Atisha probably himself, and later on in Tibet through Geshe Sharawa, Geshe Chengawa, and the great practitioners of the Kadam lineage was a lineage of interchange of self and others. This was a secret lineage. And the, other lineage which was transmitted was the oral instructions of the sevenfold cause and effect to generate bodhicitta. Okay.
Thank you. You said page nine? The verse nine. Oh, sorry. Mandala offering.
Okay. Thank you very much. Yeah.