Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 131-minute commentary on the Three Principal Aspects of the Path, Ilia S. Durovic opens with the proper motivational foundation for receiving teachings—generating bodhicitta, the commitment to free all sentient beings from suffering. He then establishes compassion as the root cause of enlightenment through citations from Ārya Maitreya, Nāgārjuna, and Buddha, explaining that without this seed, bodhicitta cannot arise. Using three interlocking farming metaphors—planting the seed of compassion, watering it through repeated practice, and harvesting the ripened crop of bodhicitta—he walks through how consistent training in reflecting on beings’ suffering strengthens this mind. He illustrates the Buddha’s extraordinary compassion through biographical accounts, including his willingness to give his entire body to a starving tigress, and concludes that without cultivating great compassion repeatedly, practitioners risk discouragement and will make no progress toward enlightenment, regardless of mantric or deity yoga practice.
File metadata (for organising)
File: Line in 0089.mp3
UUID: 96bc6b2b-dc4b-46b7-b2ae-86e96c4af99c
Teacher: Ilia S. Durovic
Collection: Three Principal Aspects
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~3,579
So to listen to dharma or to explain dharma, it is necessary to generate a good, a beneficial motivation and dependent on this good motivation. We will then be able to accumulate a vast collection of merit through the activity of listening to dharma and through this to, be of benefit to ourselves and others. Therefore, let us generate such a motivation. And then from all the beneficial motivations we can generate to listen and explain the dharma, it is said that the supreme motivation is the motivation of bodhicitta. What do we mean by this?
We must reflect on the fact that we have a profound responsibility responsibility towards the infinite number of sentient beings which surround us. A responsibility to free them not only from suffering and the causes of suffering, but to place them in a state of happiness. And not just any state of happiness, but a state of perfect happiness. And then after reflecting on this responsibility we have, we should take the decision to do so. And upon taking this decision, we should examine ourselves and ask ourselves whether at present we have the capacity to free all sentient beings of suffering and the causes of suffering and to place them in a state of ultimate happiness, perfect happiness.
At present, we do not have the capacity to do so. So we must take the resolve to attain a condition where we have the capacity to do so through eliminating all faults from our mind and achieving all qualities. And once we have eliminated all faults from our mind and achieved all qualities, in other words, once we have attained the state of full enlightenment, then we will indeed have the capacity most definitely of placing all beings in a state of ultimate happiness. And with this as a motivation, we must engage in the three activities of hearing, thinking, meditating. First, hearing the teachings, and then after hearing them carefully, thinking carefully and precisely about their meaning.
And once we have ascertained their meaning, meditating on them appropriately. And we should apply this specifically to these teachings we shall be receiving on the three principles of the path, the like of which there is nothing superior to. These are the supreme teachings. We must engage in these three activities of listening, thinking, and meditating with this motivation of bodhicitta. They will meditate for one or two minutes to generate this motivation.
Page one, refuge in bodhicitta for teaching. Page five.
So as said, that supreme of all crops, that supreme of all qualities which gives rise to all qualities, he has great compassion. For this reason, I praise first and foremost great compassion. Khensur Rinpoche says that the criterion for the Mahāyāna and for being a Mahāyānist is the presence or the absence of the mind of bodhicitta. If the mind of bodhicitta is present, then one is a Mahāyāna practitioner, a Mahāyāna. If it is not present, one is not a Mahāyāna practitioner and not a Mahāyāna.
And therefore, it is critical for us to study the generation of the mind of bodhicitta to understand how it is generated and then not merely to study it, but to generate this mind within our mind stream. And then we will be qualified. We will fulfill the criterion to be called a Mahāyāna practitioner. And then it is extremely important for us who wish to generate this mind of bodhicitta within our mind stream to understand clearly what the cause of this mind is, what the principal cause is. If we understand what the principal cause is, then dependent on training in this principal cause, this mind of bodhicitta will eventually naturally arise.
And Ārya Maitreya said, the root of this — the root of this I assert to be compassion. Now this famous quote of Maitreya clearly indicates that the principal cause for generating the mind of bodhicitta is great compassion. And in the quote, when Maitreya says, the root of this, the term this, the pronoun this indicates actually the mind of bodhicitta, which is the result one is training to generate in. So we must therefore train and practice great compassion. And in dependence on training in this, we can move upwards and eventually gain full enlightenment.
Generally speaking, two broad paths have been taught by the two great founders of the Lineage and Ancient India. Ārya Maitreya taught mainly the vast path, the path of training in method, and Ārya Nāgārjuna taught mainly the profound path of training in the understanding of emptiness. In this context, we will be explaining the vast path of training in method, dependent on the quote Rinpoche gave, and this quote is corroborated by a series of other quotes by teachers such as Nāgārjuna who said that attainment of Buddhahood is contingent on compassion or Buddha himself who said the root of Buddhahood is compassion. So all of these quotes as well as Candrakīrti’s quote from Madhyamakāvatāra all indicate that all the great teachers are in agreement on what the cause for the generation of bodhicitta and full enlightenment is. And this is what we have to train our minds in over time so that eventually we can attain full enlightenment.
And therefore, it is critical for us to develop this quality, which in Tibetan is called nyingje, which can be translated as compassion or as love. This quality once developed in our mind enables us eventually to enter fully the Mahāyāna and to become as it is said when we develop bodhicitta, sons of the jinas, sons of the victorious ones. The victorious ones, the fully enlightened Buddhas have completed both their own welfare and the welfare of others. And they have done this through training in this way, as through actualizing all qualities and eliminating all defects. Specifically, as Ārya Candrakīrti says in his quote, the perfect crop of the victorious ones is generated through great compassion.
This shows clearly that it is only through the generation of great compassion within the mind stream it is eventually possible to enter the great vehicle and attain full enlightenment. And one can give an example
For this in the worldly activity of farmers. Farmers will plant a seed and in dependence on that seed naturally expect a crop to arise. Now if they plant a good seed, which is sound, which is not damaged, which has full capacity to give rise to a crop, then most naturally the crop will arise. It will be a crop of wheat or rice or lentils, in dependence on the seed which is planted. Now this is exactly simile for or an example for the generation of bodhicitta within the mind stream.
The seed which has to be implanted here within the mind stream is that mind of great compassion. And the stronger that mind of great compassion is, then the greater the crop, the generation of bodhicitta will be. So initially, we must train in this mind of great compassion. And then just as a farmer who waters his crops, expects the crops to give rise eventually, expect waters the seeds, expects the seeds to give rise eventually to a crop. Likewise, through practicing in this way, from the seed of great compassion, we will expect the fruit of bodhicitta to arise.
So as Rinpoche explained, first, we need a sound seed, but it is not sufficient to just plant a sound seed in the earth and expect it to grow. This seed must be watered in into the intermediate period between the planting of seed and the crop again and again. This process of watering is a simile for the process of training in great compassion. It is not sufficient just to generate great compassion and to expect its result, bodhicitta to arise in the mind. Instead, one must train again and again in great compassion, watering the seed as it were, and making it increase uninterruptedly so that eventually, the mind of bodhicitta can arise in the stream in the mind stream.
And the way this process of training in great compassion is engaged in is through reflecting again and again on the suffering of beings. It is reflecting on the suffering of beings that one’s own compassion will increase. And then in dependence on this, eventually, bodhicitta, the wish to attain full enlightenment for the benefit of all beings will arise within the mind stream. Otherwise, if the mind of bodhicitta is not created within the mind stream, then it will not be possible to engage in those practices of the sons of the victorious ones, such as the practices leading to the five paths and the attainment of the 10 grounds, the various mantric practices of mantra recitation and so forth. And without this, in turn, it will not be possible to attain full enlightenment.
Therefore, again and again, we must engage in practices to strengthen one’s innate compassion in the same way as a farmer waters his field again and again. And only dependent on this will one be able to attain the generation of the mind of bodhicitta, then the training in the six perfections, and eventually, full enlightenment. Khensur Rinpoche. And therefore, in this process of training in the mind of bodhicitta, three examples are given which represent the three stages of the process. The first is the seed without which which the crop cannot arise.
Therefore, the seed must be planted. The second simile which is given is that of water, the process of watering of the seed, the constant training, if you want, of the mind. Otherwise, the seed cannot grow. And finally, the third example which is given is that or the third simile is that of the perfect crop, which is the result of the two initial activities. So it is only dependent on these three similes.
In other words, planting the grain, watering the grain, and eventually the crops being generated that one can hope to attain a ripened crop. And the goal of this practice, just as the goal of a farmer, is to obtain a ripened crop. This is what is of benefit. In the same way as for instance, only ripe fruits are beneficial and are edible. In the same way, our goal in this practice is a fully ripened crop in our process of mental training.
And it is for this reason that Vasubandhu said metaphorically, beings are entities which abide in a place where there is food; where there is no food, where there are no nutrients, beings cannot live. Therefore, our goal in this practice is very much to give rise to this perfect crop of mental training that Vasubandhu was talking about.
And therefore, as Rinpoche was explaining, we have three similes or three examples. The example of the grain, the process of watering the grain, and the fruition of the crop. And as usual, when we give examples or metaphors, they must refer to something. The referent object of all three examples is actually one and the same. The referent object of the grain here is great compassion.
The referent object of the process of watering is also great compassion, increase of great compassion. And as a result, the crop, the perfect crop we are trying to obtain is also great compassion. So this threefold similes goal is to foster the generation of great compassion within our mind stream. And then from great compassion, likewise, bodhicitta arises. And then the grain is bodhicitta.
The process of watering is the ever increasing strengthening of bodhicitta, and the result obtained is the complete generation of bodhicitta. And dependent on this, we then engage through the power of great compassion and bodhicitta in the activities of the buddhas, the activities, excuse me, of the bodhisattvas. So it is extremely important for us here to allow the mind to become familiarized again and again with bodhicitta. If this does not happen and if the mind is not again and again familiarized with bodhicitta and its cause great compassion, then there is a very real risk that we will fall into the practice of the beings of lower scope. And this is a risk for three main reasons.
The first reason is because we will be discouraged by the gigantic number of sentient beings, which is so vast. There are so many beings to be helped. Our mind will be overpowered by this. The second cause for discouragement will be the feeling that of any way most beings basically don’t understand anything. Most sentient beings are ignorant, you know.
And it’s tremendous effort for us to do to do this to try to help them. And the third cause for discouragement will be that the activities of the sons of the victorious ones, the trainings of the Bodhisattva are so elaborate and so extensive. They have to train both at the level of Sūtra and at the level of Mantra. So dependent on this, it will be very easy for our mind to be discouraged. All the more so, if we reflect on the huge duration of this process of training.
It is not just years or lives, but eons one has to train in these trainings. So if we do not generate very powerful great compassion with our within our mind stream, We will simply not have the strength to last and to put this effort in training. And we will not be able then to perform our own welfare or to perform that of other beings. We must therefore generate such a mind of great compassion that we take the resolution that irrespective of what it takes to benefit others, I will do it. And I will completely abandon my own welfare.
Forget thinking about myself, forget thinking about my own happiness, forget getting rid of my own suffering, and totally dedicate myself to the welfare and the benefit of others. This is only possible when the mind of great compassion is powerfully generated because that is what gives us the strength to do this. And our teacher, the Buddha, in past lives when he still was a sentient being underwent tremendous hardship to receive the teachings. He gave up a child, wife, husband when he was a woman, chariots, possessions. And it is said that once to obtain four stanzas, four shlokas of teachings, the Buddha begged a Brahmin.
And this Brahmin said, I will give you these four stanza of teachings if you allow me to drive 1,000 iron nails in your body. We would die of this. But the Buddha underwent this just for one stanza of teaching. Another time to receive teachings, the Buddha used his own skin as parchment and his own blood as ink to write the teachings down. These were the hardships Buddha underwent.
So the Buddha did not offer his head or his his arm once to obtain teachings, but many thousands of times did the Buddha offer his limbs to obtain the teachings. And this was the result of his practice of great compassion. As is said in the Guru Puja, in the Lama Chopa, bless me to obtain the perfection of enthusiasm or perseverance so that I have the energy or the will to abide for countless eons in the fire of the hell realms for the benefit of one single being. So Rinpoche says, it is only through the power of great compassion that we have the enthusiasm to stay not for one eon, but for countless eons enduring the sufferings of the hell realms for just one being. So it is recounted that in one of the past lives of the Buddha, when he was a Bodhisattva practicing on the path, He and Ārya Maitreya, who was also a bodhisattva, came upon a tigress, a she tiger, with four cubs who was famished and who also, because of the drought, was extremely thirsty.
And Ārya Maitreya seeing her trying to suckle her cubs but having no milk to give them said to the Buddha, what a tragedy. I will offer a piece of my own flesh to the tigress. But she actually didn’t have the strength to eat the flesh which was proffered to her. And then Buddha himself took all his clothes off. He divested himself of his garments.
And he said, I will give my entire body to this tigress. But she did not have the strength to eat.
The body of the Buddha which was offered to her. So he opened his own veins and made her drink, some of his blood. And after she had regained some of her strength, he then cut off his own flesh and fed it to her until she was strong enough to devour him completely. She was then able to succor her cubs and to leave with them. And when Ārya Maitreya returned to the site where this had happened, there was no trace of the Buddha.
There were only the garments of the Buddha, and Maitreya understood the great deed the Buddha had performed. So what Maitreya says, this is a sign of the vast compassion of the Buddha, which must have been quite extraordinary. Perhaps Maitreya didn’t have quite that much compassion at the period. For that reason, Buddha has already attained full enlightenment. Maitreya is still in the process of doing this.
And therefore, compassion is necessary not merely at the beginning of the path and during the process of training in the path. It is also necessary at the level of fruition or completion. Buddhas themselves also need compassion. It is not the case that they would attain full enlightenment and somehow their compassion would disappear. If this were the case, they would be akin to the Shravakas, the hearers, who upon attaining the state of of liberation, which is a state bereft of suffering, remain, as Rinpoche says, having a great holiday in the sky and enjoying themselves.
So this is not at all how a fully enlightened being would behave. Instead, it is through the impetus of great compassion that Buddha himself then after attaining full enlightenment manifested in this world as Buddha Śākyamūni and showed all of the elements of the path with his 12 deeds, elements of the path which we should practice. For among the 1,000 Buddhas of our age, only one Buddha Śākyamūni volunteered to manifest in this age of particular degeneration. None of the others wanted to manifest, but the compassion of the Buddha was so great that when he saw the suffering of beings in this particularly degenerate age, he said, I myself will manifest for the benefit of beings. And this is why he under under underwent the hardship he underwent for our benefit.
And therefore, of the 1,000 Buddhas of our age, we owe a particular debt of gratitude to Buddha Śākyamūni who took 500 times the pledge or the vow to manifest for the benefit of the poor beings of this degenerate age. And the other Buddhas, the other thousand Buddhas of this age, when they heard this commitment of the Buddha to manifest for the beings of this age, praised him saying, you are supreme from among us just like the white lotus is supreme from among all flowers. So all the other Buddhas of this age could be compared to flowers, but the Buddha, because of the extent of his compassion, was compared to a white lotus. And Je Tsongkhapa praises the Buddha in these terms saying, out of respect for you who are compared to a white lotus, alluding to the exceptional compassion the Buddha had for us. So then what he says, therefore, this mind of great compassion is exceptionally precious because if it is present, then bodhicitta and buddhahood will arise.
Otherwise, no. And therefore, because great compassion is so important, we must meditate on it repeatedly to generate it. And therefore, without great compassion, there is no progression towards full enlightenment. And as said, it is totally meaningless for you then to engage in deity yoga or to recite a lot of powerful mantras. It will lead nowhere.
And then we will now recite some mantras for the victims of the tragedy in Victoria State. They say maybe 180 or more people who were killed by the fires. There is, in this world of ours, great suffering, both in Tibet and in Australia, and with the goal of, wishing the best for these people as well as accumulating merit for ourselves through the recitation of mantras and hearing the teachings, we will therefore recite And Rinpoche and the Dharma Center have also made a donation of $600 for the benefit of these poor people. This is a great tragedy. Therefore, please recite mantras and make strong prayers for these poor people.
Okay. Page nine. Mandala offering. Verse nine. Okay.
I’ll take care of that. Easter weekend. It’s on the Easter weekend. Tārā Institute foundation day, annual foundation day, and the October retreat. There’s these flowers out front there or out the back here, and there’s a lot of grapes.
If anybody would like a grape or 20, there’s, plastic bags, and they’re just out here on the table. And the char is about to happen. Oh, and the grapes were all home blessed homegrown grapes. Please help yourself. Thank you.
Yeah. It’s on it’s already on the neck. Yeah. And it’s