Audio recorded at Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. In this 92-minute teaching, Kyabje Rinpoche introduces Nāgārjuna’s three principal aspects of the path through three classical similes. He begins with the essential motivation: developing compassion and bodhicitta—the determination to free all sentient beings from suffering and establish them in enlightenment. Using Mount Meru as a metaphor, he explains bodhicitta as the supreme precious jewel and royal road to full enlightenment. He then teaches great compassion—the impartial mind that embraces all beings without discrimination—as the foundation on which bodhicitta arises. Finally, he explores the correct view of emptiness, which avoids the two extremes of eternalism (inherent existence) and nihilism (denying karma and causality), explaining why understanding emptiness is indispensable for liberation. Throughout, he emphasizes treating all sentient beings as parents and mothers deserving our dedication.
File metadata (for organising)
File: Line in 0087.mp3
UUID: bd7d4640-a93f-447d-a9d8-395805ad5ca5
Teacher: Kyabje Rinpoche
Collection: Three Principal Aspects
Recorded at: Tibetan Buddhist Institute, Adelaide
Words: ~3,078
So to listen and to explain dharma, it is important to generate a powerful motivation to benefit others. And it depends on this motivation. Not only will we benefit others, but we’ll benefit ourselves and we will accumulate a vast accumulation of merit and attain great results, great effects in the future. So reflecting on the vast infinite number of mother sentient beings ever so vast in ourselves, we must generate the strong motivation to free them from all sufferings and to place them in a state of unalloyed bliss and happiness. And this is only possible if we eliminate all faults within our own mind stream and generate all qualities.
If we do not eliminate all faults, we will not be able to place all mother sentient beings in the state of unalloyed happiness. And with such a motivation, we we should then listen to this teaching of the three principal aspects of the path, which is a very essence of the Buddha Dharma. Page one and English version on page two. We’re starting refuge in bodhicitta for teachings. Page five.
We’ll do the first and last. So as Nāgārjuna said in a famous quote, which Rinpoche will explicate, with respect to those beings who are lords of the three realms and so forth. And this quote refers to the various categories of beings, whether they be ordained or non ordained lay people, married or children, who are aspiring to the state of full enlightenment. And within this broad category of beings who are progressing on the path, there are three subcategories of beings.
So these are similes in the of the examples. The first example is that of Mount Meru, which traditionally is considered to have four sides constituted of the four, of four different precious substances such as ruby, gold, and so forth, and a square base. Now in the same way as Mount Meru is the supreme mountain in the ancient cosmology and is gigantic and constituted of precious substances and very stable, in the same way, the mind of bodhicitta is that supreme attainment. As a matter of fact, it is the royal road which leads to the state of full enlightenment, and there is no attainment of the state of full enlightenment without entering onto or into this road. And because it is of the nature of the four precious substances which constitute the four sides of Mount Meru, then whatever one wishes for, one can obtain it through it.
And it is therefore bodhicitta is therefore the supreme jewel, precious and stable, and it is in dependence on this supreme jewel that the faithful ones, those endowed with faith, can
Achieve both their own welfare and that of others, both their contingent welfare and their ultimate welfare. And then the second simile is that impartial mind which observes all directions at once, and this refers to great compassion. Great compassion is referred to by the simile because great compassion has as its object not one, two, or three beings, but the infinite range of beings, every single one of which is the object of this mind of great compassion, which does not merely think may these beings be free of suffering and the cause of sufferings. The cause of suffering in this context being the 10 non virtuous deeds and so forth. But much more so, this mind thinks, I myself will free beings from suffering and the causes of suffering.
And that mind which thinks, I myself will free beings from suffering and the causes of suffering is the peerless mind of great compassion without which the mind of bodhicitta cannot arise. This is what is referred to in the second simile as that mind which observes impartially in all directions. And to generate this mind of great compassion, it is indispensable first to generate renunciation. It is impossible to generate great compassion without first having generated renunciation. And then in dependence on renunciation, which is a mind which discards the sufferings of cyclic existence.
One can then empathize with the sufferings of infinite beings and wish to free infinite beings themselves from the sufferings of cyclic existence and their causes. Without renunciation, there can be no great compassion. And without great compassion itself as a cause, there can be no bodhicitta. And then the third, simile, which Nāgārjuna refers to in his quote, is that view which does not rely on the two. The two here refer to the two extremes, the extremes of eternalism and nihilism or the view of permanence and the view of annihilation.
These are two wrong views, two misapprehensions of phenomena, and they are what impel cyclic existence. With respect to the view of eternalism or permanence, it is as that misapprehension that phenomena are truly established, that phenomena are established by their own nature, or that phenomena are established by their own characteristics, which is called the view of eternalism or the view of permanence. And this is something we all suffer from quite easily which is the motor of cyclic existence. It in turn gives rise to that ignorance which apprehends phenomena as truly existent existed. And this ignorance itself propels us into saṃsāra.
So this is what we have to strive to dispel because in dependence on this, the this ignorance, the afflictions arise and in dependence on the mental afflictions, we create non virtuous karma which then propels us from life to life. And then with respect to the second of these views, which is the view of annihilation. The view of annihilation is a view which asserts that an existent, something which exists in it, in actuality, is a nonexistent. In other words, it’s it’s a view of deprecation. Such a view of deprecation, the view of annihilation, is a view which says, for instance, that karma and causality do not exist, that past and future lives do not exist, that the triple gem does not exist, or for that matter, that the four noble truths do not exist and are true.
Now since all of these four are existence, then a view which asserts that they are nonexistence is a view of annihilation. And in dependence on such a view of annihilation which negates an exist ent, then we can only fall in the lower realms. So that ignorance which misapprehends an existent such as karma and causality or past and future lives as a nonexistent can only lead us to a lower rebirth. There is here an asymmetry between the view of annihilation and the view of permanence because that ignorance which misapprehends phenomena as truly existent can be the cause for both virtuous and non virtuous karma. in dependence on the view which apprehend misapprehends phenomena as truly existent, as inherently existent, we create the virtuous karma which can in turn lead us to rebirth rebirth in the higher realms as a human being, as a demigod, or as a god.
We can also naturally be led through this view to accumulating non virtuous karma and being reborn in the lower realms. But it is important to understand that the rebirth we have at present, the precious human rebirth we have at present is a result of virtuous karma accumulated in dependence on this view of eternalism, on the view of phenomena being inherently existent from their own side. And this, is why the rebirth we have now, the human rebirth, and this is also true for rebirth as demigods or as gods, more than it is a virtuous and and happy rebirth is nonetheless laced with much suffering. We can think just merely in this life of how much suffering is associated with the human rebirth. And therefore, Rinpoche says, one can compare, such rebirths in the higher realms to food laced with poison.
Food laced with poison is food. It is nutritious, but it is laced with poison. In other words, deep down, it will cause suffering.
When the Buddha was ailing and before he departed his this world, his disciples asked him, Lord, after you depart from suffering, in other words, after you pass onwards, after you die, who will uphold your teachings? And the Buddha prophesied four four hundred years after my passing in the southern land known as Vidarbha, a monk by the name of Gelong Pelzangpo will appear. He will also bear the name Naga Arjuna, and he will uphold my teachings. He will restore the teachings on emptiness, and he will clearly differentiate the views of eternalism and nihilism, which Rinpoche talked about previously using countless reasonings. He eventually will attend the monastery of Nālānda.
And then Rinpoche said, it is said that Nāgārjuna retrieved many of the baskets of the Mahāyāna scriptures scriptures from the land of the Nagas. The Nagas had a lot of faith in the Buddhist scriptures and held them and actually hid them for many centuries. And Nāgārjuna went to the land of the Nagas and retrieved the, scriptures which were related to emptiness, the Prajñāpāramitā Sutras, the, extensive or the elaborate middling and shorter Prajñāpāramitā Sutras.
Nāgārjuna received these sutras, the Prajñāpāramitā Sutras, from the Nagas, by accessing the world of the Nagas, through a small hut, which had an opening into this world. And generally speaking, there are two categories of Nagas. The Nagas from the white side and the Nagas from the black side. Now obviously here this refers to the Nagas from the white side, which despite the fact that they are Nagas have faith in, the practice. And then Nāgārjuna himself, after receiving the Prajñāpāramitā Sutras, composed many, treatises on them and imparted their meanings to his disciples.
First to Āryadeva, who was probably Rinpoche says, a non-Buddhist at the beginning, and then onwards from Āryadeva through the great masters and lineage holders of the Madhyamaka tradition in India, Bhāvaviveka, Buddhapālita, Śāntideva, Candrakīrti, and then later on in Tibet, our teacher, Lama Tsongkhapa. So we have received the Madhyamaka teachings through this lineage, and they have been transmitted in a pure and stainless way, to us to this day. It is extremely important for us to understand that it is only through this pure transmission of the view of emptiness that it is possible to put an end to the two extremes, the extremes of eternalism and nihilism. The correct view, the view of emptiness puts, an end to both of these. It puts an end to the view of the inherent existence of phenomena as well as putting an end to the view of the nonexistence of phenomena.
We tend naturally to apprehend all phenomena as existing inherently, existing truly, or existing by their own characteristics. And it is precisely because the view of emptiness puts an end to these two extremes that this view is said to lie in the middle. In other words, to be the middle middle way. This is the meaning of Madhyamaka. Now generally speaking, as Rinpoche explained previously, these two views, these two extreme views of eternalism and nihilism are asymmetrical in terms of their result.
And, unfortunately, nowadays, many, as we know, subscribe to the view of nihilism. In other words, they believe that there are no past and future lives, that there is no karma, no triple gem. And then, obviously, such extreme wrong views can only lead to the lower realms. Now if we analyze carefully how we apprehend various phenomena such as the glass in which he was pointing at or the table or for that matter, the house which surrounds us, we will find that they appear to our minds or to the visual consciousness perceiving them as existing from their own side independently of any mental, nominal or conceptual imputation. They appear as, in other words, inherently existent.
And one could say to make things simple that they seem to us to exist in the way they appear. Whereas in fact, this is it is exactly the opposite. They do not exist in the way they appear. Now this wrong view which apprehends phenomena as existing in the way they appear is the apprehension of true existence. And this is as Rinpoche explained, what impels us through life after life through generating the afflictions and eventually non virtuous karma.
It is therefore critical for us to understand emptiness. However, Rinpoche says, without studying, this is not possible. And therefore, it is very important for us to study because if we do not understand emptiness, then there will only be suffering. And indeed, we accumulate without the understanding of emptiness creates suffering. If on the other hand, we understand emptiness, then we can eliminate suffering.
And since the mind itself can be developed limitlessly, and specifically when we say the mind, we speak of wisdom, then this is what we should be striving for. Okay? So Ārya Nāgārjuna pioneered the great restoration of the Mahāyāna teachings in India, which had greatly degenerated. And he taught explicitly the, lack of inherent existence of all phenomena. As you know, the lower vehicle schools accept the inherent existence of, all phenomena.
Nāgārjuna explicitly taught that all phenomena are inherently nonexistent, are not true existence, are not defined by their own characteristics. And he did so in a very savant’s language using profound and skillful terms to restore the Buddha’s teachings. In addition to this, he very clearly exposed the importance of the generation of bodhicitta as the gateway to, the Mahāyāna and the means to generate bodhicitta through the generation of great compassion. Fundamentally, the exist
Or nonexistence of bodhicitta defines whether or not one has entered the Mahāyāna, the great vehicle. bodhicitta is generally said to refer to the method aspect of the path just as the wisdom which understands emptiness refers to the, wisdom aspect of the path. And these two should be indissociable. Both are necessary in our practice. Why is this the case?
This is the case because without that wisdom which understands the selflessness of phenomena, the non inherent existence of phenomena, there is no liberation from cyclic existence. And if there is no liberation from cyclic existence, all the less is there a state of full enlightenment. So to attain a cessation for the cycle of lives, it is necessary to put an end to the ignorance which apprehends the true or inherent existence of phenomena. Generally speaking, there are two categories of obstructions or avaranas. The first is kleshavarana, which are those obstructions to liberation.
These are the afflictions and the karma generated through them. And the second is jneyavarana, the obstructions to full enlightenment. Through dispelling kleshavarana by means of the direct realization of emptiness, one can attain the state of and be freed from the cycle of lives. But this in and of itself is not sufficient. It is only by means of practicing repeatedly that one is eventually able to eliminate the obstructions to full omniscience and attain the state of full enlightenment.
This state of full enlightenment is critical because it is only in the state of full enlightenment that one reaches the level of omniscience which knows all phenomena as they are. And it is only by means of knowing all phenomena as they are that the Buddha can actually teach Dharma skillfully through understanding clearly the wishes and the desires of all beings. Otherwise, it is not possible to teach appropriately Dharma for the beings. And therefore, it is critical to attain this state of full enlightenment through dispelling jneyavarana. And these jneyavarana here refer to those karmic imprints which lead us to a predisposition which is inclined to see phenomena as truly existent.
Continuing in this vein, Rinpoche said that it is therefore critical to practice on the Mahāyāna path through uniting indissociably the view which realizes the emptiness of inherent existence of all phenomena and that mind of bodhicitta which is striving for full enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. All sentient beings are indeed our fathers and mothers, and we must wish to place them in a state of ultimate happiness. To do so is to be a noble and worthy person. Not to wish to help all sentient beings who have been our fathers and mothers is to be a worthless person, a degenerate person. It is the same thing as in ordinary life.
When we think of the kindness our parents, our father, and mother have shown to us in this life, A child who does not repay this kindness, who does not take care of his parents when they are elderly, is despised by society. He is a worthless person. On the other hand, a child who is a worthy person who takes care of his parents when they’re they’re elderly is praised. And therefore, the same type of love which we should have with respect to our parents is the love we should have with respect to all sentient beings. Okay.
So said, this today was something like an introduction or preliminary practices to cover briefly the material we will cover next week in greater detail, specifically the generation of bodhicitta. It’s a little bit to get the lay of the land, if you want. Page nine. Oh, yeah. I think.
Thank you very much. I have a few announcement first before we start a farewell party for Geshe-la. Actually, I was very surprised. You know? I had a doctor for Rinpoche last night.
He’s he wasn’t that well. And I thought, you know, it might be cancelled today, but he didn’t say, you know, he was reading a book this morning. And, you know, it’s very lucky, and he I think it’s so good that he finished a bit early, you know, a request from Richey. And there is a brochure flies around in the table out there, and there’s a lot of happening here, Tibetan New Year, Compassion Day, and the Phowa retreat. I mean, the Phowa weekend course and the October weekend October long retreat.
And Rinpoche’s long life Puja will be in March 15. And there’s a lot of things maybe I wanna go, you know, and you can pick it up. And, yeah, please grab that. And if you’re going to attend, please make sure registered first. Alright?
That’s all just this moment. When Geshe-la come back, then I have to say more things. Thank you. We we we can wait. Just no.
I have.