Audio recorded at Buddha House Adelaide. Transcript auto-generated and AI-corrected; may contain errors.
About this talk. Opening with Śāntideva’s pointed question — if you have not wished to liberate yourself, how could you genuinely wish to liberate others? — this 23-minute session with Ven Jampa Gendun argues that the three Lamrim scopes cannot be skipped. It distinguishes two levels of compassion: a biologically-rooted attachment that varies depending on how others treat us, versus a mentally cultivated concern that remains constant regardless. The essential practices of each scope are then mapped out: abandoning the ten non-virtues for the small scope; the three higher trainings for the middling scope; and bodhicitta combined with the six perfections for the great scope. A sustained Q&A closes the session on the difference between liberation and Buddhahood, examining the two obstructions — to liberation and to omniscience — and the Bodhisattva grounds on which each is abandoned. Suited to students already working through a Lamrim curriculum.
File metadata (for organising)
File: 05 LR 2008 07 03.mp3
UUID: 50807f57-b32f-45b7-8230-2533bdca304b
Teacher: Ven Jampa Gendun
Collection: Lam Rim (Ven Jampa Gendun)
Date: 2008-07-03
Recorded at: Buddha House Adelaide
Duration: 22.7 minutes
Words: ~2,145
It’s a verse from Śāntideva where he says in the Buddhist way of life where he says if you have not dreamed of this attitude even for yourself how will you ever develop for others? You know so if you have not wished to liberate your yourself, how could you ever genuinely develop the intention to liberate others? So he’s saying that first, you know, in terms of, you know, being a middle scope who wants to achieve liberation from cyclic existence, you have to, you have to go through that understanding. Have to get to the middling scope. Have to get to the middling scope if you ever hope to get to the great scope.
That’s right. I think many people would like to make this jump but it doesn’t seem like that’s a very stable, genuine motivation. It’ll be, you know, like His Holiness was in, in, in Sydney was talking about he talked about these, it was quite interesting, these two levels of compassion. One was biologically orientated in the sense that there’s a certain attachment to it, like it’s like a it’s like a compassion toward your offspring for example or you know or your or your immediate family or your those about you and this attachment this this compassion is is dependent upon the actions of its object of your compassion, how they act. It’s if they act well then you’re willing to concern yourself with their welfare.
If they act against you in some way, they do something wrong and you’re willing to withdraw that attachment. So for most of us, think that’s the attachment that we’re feeling. You know, we all develop some level of sincere compassion, some sincere attachment, compassion but it seems that it’s very much dependent upon how the object of our compassion is acting toward us. But he said, so that’s the the the level of biological compassion, but he said now we should begin to develop, consciously develop, not in terms of a biology, in terms of our mind. A compassion which is not concerned with the object, but in terms of the subject.
And that is to say, our compassion is developed and is not dependent upon what the object does. It’s simply, you know, whether they help me, whether they hurt me, it doesn’t matter. It’s, it’s, you develop this level of mental compassion which simply is consistently wanting to benefit others, and in this case to liberate them from cyclic existence. So I think that you know, I think that level of compassion is, would require that we first, if we’re ever going to develop that, we have to see ourselves in that way also. Have to wish to liberate ourselves from cyclic existence.
If you haven’t done that, how could you develop that genuine stable attitude wishing to liberate others? It’s always going to be our our compassion is always going to be dependent upon what people do, what they don’t do for us. It really hasn’t we haven’t developed the the sincere attitude of wishing to liberate from cyclic existence. And it just whatever happens, whatever yeah. We’d like to make that jump, I think.
But it might be of a romantic sentimental kind of it is probably not it doesn’t have a solid basis. There’s a lot of work to be done in a way. No, but fact is you won’t you probably won’t complete the path in this lifetime. So you have to ensure that you have the platform from which you can carry on your practice in the future. That’s minimally.
So you want to go from life to life to life to life to life. So minimally you want to ensure that you’ve got all you’ve a precious human rebirth in the future. Then you can build on that and then you achieve another precious and you can build on that. On and on like that. So that’s, you know, yeah.
Well, someone would say, well, some people would say, well, that’s enough. That’s all I want to do. I just want a better rebirth in the future. It’s it’s not for it’s an end in itself. It’s just going to be like that.
Yeah? But the person who’s going to go on says, well, I want I need that to achieve that person’s human rebirth, but it’s not an end in itself. It is a means to something over and above that to get to the goal, finally the goal Yeah, but they have to pass through the same stage. They have to go on the same train. You got yeah.
You have to share even even those are gonna drop out when they’re in a you have to you share the same classroom with them for a while, but your intention is to keep on going. You have to know what they knew. You have to develop that same yeah. So in order to achieve this, this small being of, of, the small being small scope, what is the essential practice? So what so are you we’re making this are you distinguishing between a precious what what’s what is the aspiration of a being of small scope?
Okay. You, does it require those three causes to achieve a higher rebirth? Yeah. So that’s the main practice. Now then that’s the practice for attaining a precious human rebirth.
Okay? So just somebody wants to somebody wants to achieve a higher status, let’s say human or a God in the future, abandons the ten non virtues. But somebody who wants to attain a precious human rebirth within that high status has to go on and also practice the six perfections and make stainless prayers. Abandon the ten non virtues. So ethics in general is the way that we attain a human life.
Within that human life, there are people in Calcutta, on the streets of Calcutta. There are people in wars. There are people who are starving in Africa. They don’t have a human. They don’t have a precious human rebirth.
They have a human life, but not a precious human rebirth. So it’s something more is needed. That’s something Yeah. Yeah, that’s right. Yeah.
Yeah. Precious. Precious human rebirth. Accomplish a pure kind of body. No, no, no.
Stainless Stainless prayers. Yeah. And then, Yeah. Everything that we’ve talked about thus far is in terms of small, being a small scope. Both, so both common and uncommon.
Uncommon. Okay. So what is the aspiration in the being of Middling scope? What are they, what are they, pardon? All of those things just mentioned, plus the realization of emptiness.
Now what are they, what are they seeking to achieve? Oh, liberate them from all, yeah, liberation from cyclic existence for themselves. Okay, okay. So how do they achieve that? What’s the means?
All those plus the three higher trainings. So the main means to what was it? Was that? What did you say?
Ethics is for the lesser scope. So can divide the being in small scope is trying to practice the higher training training in ethics. Ethics. The being of middle scope is practicing the three higher trainings. The three higher trainings.
Okay. Those are those are the main factors of being a middling scope. By means of those three he he or she can attain liberation from cyclic existence. So what is what is the wisdom here? What do we mean by?
That’s right. How does how does the wisdom of realizing emptiness liberate you from cyclic existence? How does that liberate you from cyclic existence? What is the main what is the root of cyclic existence? What is the main cause of cyclic ignorance?
So the wisdom realizing emptiness removes the root of cyclic existence because it destroys ignorance conceiving of a true existence, which is the root of cyclic existence. So that’s, so, but that wisdom has to be founded or based in meditative stabilization, concentrated penetrating focus of mind. And that requires that a basis of ethics in order to develop meditative stabilization. So the being of the middling scope practices the three higher trainings. So what what is the being of the Hīnayāna path?
They they are, they are aspiring to achieve liberation. Yeah. Maybe I, that would be the being of common, they would be common to the being of small scope I don’t, I don’t know. So the only ones that’s I don’t know, patience, I don’t know.
Don’t know. Patience. I can’t answer. It’s usually not mentioned. So that’s the common path. So we’re talking about there’s the shared path and then there’s the uncommon path.
For the six perfections, I thought it was uncommon for the Mahāyāna path. No, no, no, no, no, no. They, they, they practice. No, that’s right. Yeah.
The being of in the Hīnayāna, they practice, they practice generosity, ethics, ethics, generosity, ethics, patience, joyous effort, meditative concentration, wisdom. They practice those six. They’re not the perfections, but they practice those. They have their six practices, but they’re not the perfections of generosity. That’s right.
They’re not perfections, but they practice they do have their six practices. But they’re not the perfections because they’re not conjoined with the wisdom, understanding what is it? Wisdom, understanding, emptiness. Yeah. The perfection of wisdom, perfection of ethics, perfection of generosity and so forth.
Yeah. They they practice generosity and so forth. So maybe that’s maybe anyway, anyway. Yeah. So what is the asper what’s the the goal of the being of great scope?
That’s right. And how does he what is the main practice of the Being a Great Scope? Pardon? Yeah. When you when when yeah.
Generating the awakened heart, bodhicitta. And then this in combination with the three higher trainings, the six perfections and Achieve Buddhahood. So what’s the difference between abandoning cyclic existence and achieving Buddhahood? What’s the difference? So we’re If you just abandon abandoning yourself.
Abandoning what? cyclic existence for yourself as opposed to So you can you abandon cyclic existence for the sake of others? What’s what’s the difference between liberation from cyclic existence and enlightenment? So a person who abandoned cyclic existence must realize emptiness. Yes.
So what’s the different? What what how does what’s the difference between abandoning cyclic existence and becoming a foe destroyer, arahat, and becoming a Buddha? Buddha? What’s the difference? Isn’t it?
A Buddha a Buddha is a free from cyclic existence, isn’t it? No. No? Buddha is still within cyclic existence. Oh, well, yeah.
Yeah. Well, yes. But with the motivation, it frees anything from suffering. It frees himself from cyclic existence for the sake of others. What does the Buddha attain?
Does the Buddha attain anything? Well, okay. What is enlightenment? The wisdom realizing emptiness. The wisdom realizing emptiness.
Don’t you attain that before you achieve enlightenment? Yes. Don’t you attain both of those before you achieve enlightenment? And Bodhisattva on the path of seeing has direct realization of emptiness and he has bodhicitta. That’s your homework.
What is it? No, no, no, no, no. Otherwise it, you know, why did, why did Śākyamūni Buddha why did he spend three countless eons creating merit and so forth to become a Buddha when why did he go through all that trouble when he could have been? You can So so there’s there’s two there’s two obstructions. One is the obstruction to liberation and the other is obstruction to omniscience.
So being of middling scope abandons the obstruction to liberation. Being a great great scope is seeking to abandon the obstruction to omniscience. Why? In order to be of maximum benefit to others. So there’s but he the being of being of great scope abandons both obstructions.
He not only or she not only achieves liberation, but achieves omniscience as well. So what’s the difference between omniscience and enlightenment? Omniscience is a, I mean it’s technical. I mean it’s techni- Omniscience is a consciousness. Enlightenment is a state, a being.
Omniscience means all knowing consciousness. So he achieves, yeah, the state of enlightenment and omniscience yeah yeah yeah yeah but liberation and omniscience according to the highest school they’re not simultaneous. According to the lowest school, are simultaneous. In the highest school, first you achieve the Bodhisattva, achieves liberation. There is ten grounds which we will study eventually.
On the when the Bodhisattva achieves the eighth ground, he achieves liberation. But he still hasn’t he’s removed the obstruction to liberation, but he still hasn’t removed the obstruction to omniscience. He has to keep, traveling the path. And then finally, he achieves the tenth ground. And abandons the obstruction to, omniscience and achieves Buddhahood.
Omniscience, enlightenment, omniscience, awakening, all knowing. Yeah. Anyway, the these are we’ll we’ll be studying these when we eventually. So there is a difference. There is a difference.
Okay, you guys. Why is that?