For the sake of all sentient beings who are as limitless as space, who have been one's mother, one should listen to the teaching this evening of the profound Mahayana path, of the vast path as taught by all the Buddhas, for the sake of all these sentient beings, in order to bring them to the stage of full and perfect enlightenment. So, beginning, first of all, with this thought of the enlightenment thought, that for the sake of all sentient beings who are as vast as space, I will listen to this profound teaching of the Mahayana in order to place them on the stage of highest, most excellent enlightenment. In order to listen to the teaching, one should purify one's vision of this world and those in the world, or the place where the teaching is being given, and those who are giving and listening to the teaching. And if one does not do this, then it is a great fault. So in order to purify this, one should think that the place where one is now, where one is receiving the teaching, is not ordinary, not an ordinary house or ordinary room, but is really the pure sphere or pure realm of the Buddha lands.

[01:09]

And that the one who's giving this teaching this evening is not just an ordinary person, but... one should visualize him to be seated in front of you upon a jeweled, adorned throne, multicolored lotus, moon disk, and he is seated there as the fully enlightened Buddha Shakyamuni, who has abandoned all that needs to be abandoned in this world, and who has attained all the realizations and attainments which are possible to be attained. And... from this fully enlightened Buddha who is going to give this teaching this evening, Buddha Shakyamuni, many light rays issue out to purify not only ourselves but all sentient beings of this world, to purify us especially of our sins, obscurations and defilements, and here especially to purify us of our ignorance, which blocks us from understanding the truth. And having been purified through the blessing of these light rays issuing forth, then our mind receives the blessings of the enlightened Buddha, and especially we receive the blessings of the realization of the wisdom of emptiness, of selflessness.

[02:23]

And through this, then, we should visualize that we ourselves are now transformed into the bodhisattva of great wisdom, the bodhisattva Manjushri, who is here now going to listen to the teaching. At this Dharma center, which was created or established through the compassionate blessings of the Lama of incomparable attainments, Lama Kalu Rinpoche, here the resident Lama, Lama Tashi, has requested Rinpoche to give a teaching on the three turnings of the wheel of Dharma, or in other words, the three aspects of the teachings which were bestowed by the Buddha Shakyamuni in India, And this teaching is very profound and it's very vast. And in order to explain it very properly, it would take many, many days and many hours of each of those days in order to explain this in full detail. So Ramuji will

[03:25]

teach this in a brief manner so that we are able to understand exactly what was taught and also to create an auspicious connection for all of us that we will be able to really study this in full when we have the opportunity. The Buddha Shakyamuni in many previous lives for incalculable eons had accumulated vast amounts of merit and wisdom in order to gain the stage of full and perfect enlightenment. And having worked in this way selflessly and diligently for countless eons, he attained the stage of full and perfect enlightenment. And at this time, or during our age or eon, the Buddha Shakyamuni manifested himself through an emanation body, or nirmanakaya form, into this world in India, where he showed the turning of the wheel of Dharma, he showed the gaining of this state of full and perfect Buddhahood, and then turned the wheel of the Dharma, or in other words, taught the Dharma for many years

[04:34]

The teaching of the Buddha is sometimes divided into three turnings or three aspects, three major divisions. The first of these, which was primarily to bring those into the path, which was primarily a means, what is called the indirect method leading to enlightenment. In other words, skillful means to bring those into the various levels of the path without showing the ultimate truth directly, which then especially is for those who follow the inferior paths, such as the Hinayana. the Buddha Shakyamuni taught the Four Noble Truths first. And later, in order to show the direct path leading to enlightenment, the direct understanding of enlightenment, the Buddha taught primarily for those who were followers of the Mahayana teaching, the teachings on emptiness or the teachings on what is called signlessness.

[05:42]

In other words, that the objects of this world, internal or external objects or phenomena of this world, do not truly exist in their own nature, that they are without a sign or characteristic truth or characteristic reality of their own. And then, finally, in order to benefit those who had fallen into various extremes, such as the nihilistic extreme of believing that nothing exists whatsoever, or those who fell into the extreme of believing that there is some ultimately existing entity, or ultimately existing soul, or some real thing upon which they could grasp. So, in order to benefit both of these extremes, those who had fallen into different wrong views or different wrong ways of thinking, he taught the final turning of the wheel, which is called the excellent or the good differentiation of dharmas, or how we should understand what the things mean, what the teaching is that he differentiated or defined, specified, clarified of the teachings into their proper categories.

[06:59]

And this was taught then for those who had fallen into a mistaken view or a wrong view. And it is said sometimes that this follows what is called the mind-only school or those who follow those teachings which were taught later by the great Indian scholars of Sangha and Vasubandhu. But Ramji said actually that there's much debate at that time in India and also later into that as to what school of thought these teachings of this third turning of the wheel of Dharma really belong to. But this we'll go into later. So in order to explain briefly the four truths, they said actually that Buddha Shakyamuni first came into this world having renounced the family life, having renounced the pleasures of this world, he went into the forest to meditate through practicing great asceticism for six years.

[08:03]

Having practiced asceticism for six years, then he went to Bodhgaya to sit beneath the Bodhi tree in Bodhgaya, and there, placing his mind and body in very strict meditation, placing it in meditative concentration so that the mind did not waver or become distracted for a moment, he entered into various different realizations or samadhis or states of mind by which he came to understand the nature of his own self, the nature of the world about him. And just before dawn of the seventh day of meditating in this way, he completely abandoned At that point, all the obscurations which prevented him from gaining liberation, as well as all the obscurations which prevented him from gaining the state of omniscience, or in other words, that the Buddha abandoned at that point all the afflictions of desire, hatred, ignorance, completely along with their residue or anything that would remain behind after one gets rid of those,

[09:16]

after getting rid of the grosser aspects, then also he was able to abandon all the subtle aspects of the afflictions. And then also, in addition to that, he abandoned all the ignorant concepts or conceptualizations which blocked him from understanding the truth as it really was, along with all its residues also, so that he had a complete realization of the nature of the mind, of his own self, of the self of the person, as well as a complete understanding of the truth of the world about him. Having gained this realization, and having gained this realization through the path he thought that it would be good then that he should teach it to others. And then through his own vision, or through his own omniscient vision, he saw that in this world, or in the world at that time, there were very few people who would be able to understand what he had understood, what he had realized, and thinking that it would be actually a waste of time to try to bring this truth to others, since there would be very few, if not any, who would be able to understand it,

[10:27]

he decided not to teach dharma whatsoever. And at that point he went off to various other spots near to Bodhgaya and continued to meditate for another seven weeks. At the conclusion of seven weeks, the Buddha, or the great god Brahma, from the gods' realms, descended from the heavens in order to request the Buddha at that time that he should please teach the Dharma for those who have less obscurations, who have the possibility of understanding the truth, and also that he should teach the Dharma for those, even if they are ignorant, even if they have no possibility of realizing the ultimate truth, at least to place them onto the path leading to the various realizations or the results of liberation. So arising from the Buddha's previous vows that he had made in his previous lifetimes when he was practicing to gain the stage of ultimate enlightenment, this event arose.

[11:27]

In other words, actually, the Buddha had already made prior prayers and dedications that when he gained enlightenment it would be for the sake of all sentient beings. So in order to bring this about in the proper way or to manifest the proper conditions, then Brahma came down, requested the Buddha, made offerings to him of a golden wheel, of a conch shell, the golden wheel representing the turning of the Dharma, the various aspects of the teachings of the Dharma, and the corn shell representing the great sound of the Dharma that would pervade the entire world. So making these offerings to the Buddha at that time, then he requested that for the sake of all living beings in this world, that the Buddha please teach the Dharma, go out and help all those who are possible to be helped. So with this in mind, accepting the request of Brahma, then the Buddha thought that as all the previous Buddhas of this aeon had done, this aeon which is to contain one thousand Buddhas, and four already had passed, just as those previous Buddhas had done, that when they taught the Dharma for the first time, also they had taught in the city of Varanasi.

[12:49]

So the Buddha thought also that it would only be proper that he should go walk to Varanasi to the deer park there in order to give the teachings of the Dharma. So from Bodh Gaya he walked to Varanasi and having gotten there there was a gathering when he arrived in order to give the teaching there was a gathering of 500 people as well as 8,000 gods and to them the Buddha taught for the first time the teaching of the Dharma and what he taught there became known as the Four Noble Truths So the Buddha said actually at that point, he said that this world, the world as we know it, of all the different spheres of existence, is only suffering. And he said this is the first noble truth. And then he said actually that the cause of this suffering, the reason for the suffering originating, or actually he said actually that there is a cause of this origination of the suffering.

[13:52]

He said this was the second noble truth. And not only is there the suffering, and there's a cause of suffering, but also there's a path which leads out of this suffering, which leads to freedom from this suffering. So he said this is the third truth of the path. And finally, he said that through this path, through practicing this path, then we can gain a stage which is completely free from all suffering, which is a stage which is of permanent happiness or liberation, freedom. And he said these actually are the four truths then, the truth of suffering, the truth of the origination of suffering, the truth of the path, and also the truth of the cessation of suffering. And the Buddha recited just these four lines of these four truths three times, just again stating that there is suffering, there is the cause of suffering, there is the path leading to freedom from the suffering, and then there is a state which is free from suffering.

[14:55]

So in this way he recited three times, and just by merely saying this to that collection of beings who were gathered there, that many at that point instantaneously were able to gain various stages of the path. Some were actually able to gain the stage of liberation at that very moment. Others were able to gain various stages of realization leading to complete liberation. So, this was the first time that the Buddha taught, and just through the blessings of his own realization, through the blessings of his compassion to help beings, he was able, just at that point, to help others through this teaching. Then, if we explain this teaching, they said actually that the first truth is that all this world is suffering. The suffering of the world can be divided into three aspects, what we call the three types of suffering. The suffering of suffering, the suffering of change, and the suffering of conditional things, or the conditional nature of all phenomena.

[16:01]

So the suffering of suffering, first of all, refers to the suffering of the three lower realms. the suffering of the hell realms, the suffering of the hungry ghost realms and also the suffering of the animal realms, that any being who is born in those realms of the hells, the hungry ghosts or animals, They always are met with conditions of bad conditions, evil conditions, unfortunate conditions, and are always constantly faced with physical suffering. So this suffering was so intense and so obvious, it was just called by itself the suffering of suffering. Secondly, he said actually that not only are the lower realms of this world of existence, which is divided into six realms of the hells, the hungry ghosts, animals, gods, demigods, and men. So he said not only are these three lower realms suffering, but also the higher realms, such as the heavenly realms where the gods, the various levels of gods live.

[17:04]

as well as the denigods. And he said the reason for the suffering of these heavenly realms, or the gods' realms, is that though they do have more happiness than ordinary people, or especially those of the lower realms, that by themselves the higher realms are not permanent. That though they possess happiness for a certain time, though they can enjoy certain manifestations of happiness, that eventually their merit which caused them to be born in those heavenly realms to gain that happiness will be used up will be exhausted and having been exhausted then they must come down and they must fall from the heavenly realms and having fallen from the heavenly realms if at that time they are devoid of merit or possess just a very small accumulation of merit the only place they can fall to is the lower realms where the face very great and very unfortunate suffering so because these realms are not permanent and because those who are living in those realms are grasping or holding on to them as if they were permanent and residing there as if they had nothing else to do except to enjoy that happiness as if it was going to be eternal or forever they fall into this trap of

[18:22]

looking at themselves in this way and then at the time when they have to depart from those heavenly realms they face very great suffering because they realize at that point at the point of death where they are going to fall into they can see where they will be reborn and seeing how they have to fall into this great suffering of the lower realms such as the hells or hungry ghosts or animal realms then they possess a very great and inconceivable mental suffering So this idea of being from one state of happiness and having to fall into the lower states is what we call here then, what the Buddha called the suffering of change or the suffering of transmigration or the suffering of falling. Then third is that human beings also may be thought to have happiness, that this is the great happiness that we can possess, but also this human happiness is only of a conditional nature. It's only due to certain causes and conditions that we have some type of happiness at this time.

[19:24]

And it's only due to certain causes and conditions that we have what are called the five aggregates. Or in other words, this body, along with its mental propensities or mental aspects, such as feeling and perceiving, the mental activity of being able to do things or maneuvering or motivation or motility, as well as the mental aspect of mind or consciousness itself. So these five aggregates, what are called the five aggregates of form, consciousness, perception, feelings and predispositions, they are themselves only conditional. I mean, they come together, they group together, but they have no real essence in themselves. They're only like parts, parts of a whole. But each one in itself is not real. And since each one in itself is not real, also the whole thing is also not real. But people here misunderstand that. They grasp these five things, this body, the mind, with all these different aspects of mind, to be true.

[20:29]

They grasp it to be the self, to be the I. And holding on to this I as if it were real, as if there were really something there that they could permanently hold on to forever, from now until eternity, misunderstanding that this is not so, then they fall into suffering. So they fall into the suffering due to this conditional nature of themselves or ourselves, or the conditional nature of the things about us. So this is what is called then, known as the suffering of the conditional nature of all phenomena. That no matter how much we do, we're not satisfied as human beings. No matter what works we undertake, we always seek to do more. No matter how much we have of one thing, we want more of it. So we're always conditioning, looking for various conditions to create this happiness. But because ourselves and the things about us are only of a conditional nature, not a true nature in themselves, then we fall into suffering due to lack of contentment, lack of happiness, lack of satisfaction.

[21:33]

So this is what is called or known here as the suffering of the conditional nature of all phenomena. So when we look then at the first truth of the truth of suffering, it means then that when the Buddha says that all this world is completely suffering, then from the very bottom to the very top, from the hells up to the heavens, there is not one place which does not possess the nature of suffering, whether it be the suffering of suffering, the suffering of change, or the suffering of the conditional nature of all things. So the Buddha said there's no place you can find within this realm of existence, no place you can find that you can truly say here in this world it's free from suffering. So for that reason the Buddha said that we here now are faced with this aspect or this truth that all of us are facing suffering. And this is the basic truth that the Buddha presented to the world. And he said, now we have to be aware of our own situation. No matter where we are here, no matter what our situation is, it is only suffering.

[22:35]

And the Buddha said then that this suffering doesn't come by itself. It's not an accident. It's not something that someone gave to us, that it has its own cause. So he went to the second truth to say actually then that there is a cause for this suffering. And the cause of suffering is the... what is called karma, or the accumulation of our previous deeds, as well as the afflictions of desire, hatred, ignorance, miserliness, jealousy, pride, like this. So that this is the cause, and the result of this cause, the cause of karma and the afflictions, the result of that is the suffering. So the First Truth shows the result, the result that we have, what we possess now at this time of suffering. And its cause is the accumulation of previous deeds that we have done in countless or lifetimes since beginningless time, which have no beginning. And not only the accumulation of deeds themselves, but also the accumulation of afflictions or defilements.

[23:39]

So, Our basic misunderstanding here is that we believe there is a self. We believe that within these five aggregates there is something which is real, which we grasp to be the truth, which we call I. And when we have a grasping for this thing which we call I, or a grasping for our own side, our own sake, then we produce desire because we want things for ourself, we desire things for our own benefit, we always look for our own benefit. And this arises, this desiring or attachment to things arises due to this misunderstanding that there is some kind of self. And when we have the belief in a self, then naturally there arises the concept that there's an other as opposed to the self. So when there's a concept of other as opposed to self, then we create this affliction of hatred or aversion, because we want things for our own self, we want our own benefit, and we don't want others to have what we want. We want the greatest benefit for ourself.

[24:43]

And if someone tries to take that benefit from us, their being an other, then we have hatred or aversion towards those others, which is a naturally arising phenomena. So, once we have this basic misunderstanding of self, then there naturally arises this understanding of other as opposed to this. And then when we have self and other, then we create desire and hatred and also its basic premise of the arising of desire and hatred is ignorance itself. So when we have ignorance, believing there is a self, and that causing us to believe the self is something we desire, we want, it creates various desires. And when we have desires, then this also creates hatred or aversion towards others. And then when we have this ignorance and desire and hatred, then we do perform various activities in order to benefit ourself, in order to go against others so we can protect our own self. And these types of activities is what is called karma then.

[25:45]

Karma arising from our ignorance, arising from our conflicting emotions or from our afflictions based on this ignorant view. So when we have desire, hatred and ignorance, then we create various activities or deeds, actions, in order to enhance ourselves or in order to put others down. And these afflictions and karma or deeds then cause us to be born in this world again and again. And having been born in this world again and again, we are naturally possessed of the various types of suffering, such as the suffering of suffering or the suffering of change or the suffering of conditional death. phenomena. So the basic thought lies with our own misunderstanding, our own ignorance of the truth of ourselves and the truth of the things about us. So through the power of ignorance arises this mind which falls into grasping and arising from this predisposition for desire for self, this predisposition for hatred towards others, then we have

[26:56]

the arising of this entire world, which is known as the arising of the twelve links of interdependent origination, or in other words, the arising of this world as we see it through misunderstanding, because the basis, the very basis or the root of this interdependent arising of all phenomena is our basic ignorance, our primordial ignorance. And Rinpoche gave the example that it's like the potter in the old days when the potter has the wheel which turns around and he places the clay on there and forms a pot. So this wheel which is turning about is like the wheel of samsara or the wheel of worldly existence that based on the power of the turning or here, based on the power of our ignorance, then we... start this wheel in motion. And when this wheel is in motion, then we start to create things like the pot or the shapes or whatever. So in the same way, we start to create this body or various other bodies or forms of existence which continue to keep this wheel turning or manifesting in this world, experiencing various aspects of suffering, no matter what realm we are in.

[28:12]

Or again, remember I gave the example like if you take a piece of wood which is burning and if you have a dark room you turn it around then it looks like there's a whole circle when actually in truth there is no circle I mean it just appears to be a circle so based on our own ignorance of what the truth is then we start the circle turning when in truth actually there is no circle to start with there is no world of existence but because of our own primordial ignorance of believing there's a self when there is no self then we create this cycle this turning, like the turning of this piece of wood, this burning piece of wood, as if there is a wheel or a circle of fire going on. So also we create, through our own primordial ignorance, the power of ignorance, we create the various levels or stages of interdependent origination, the twelve links of interdependent origination, Which in other words means we have this wheel of existence turning again and again and we fall or we are within this wheel of existence, this turning of the world of existence.

[29:16]

And then as long as we're within this wheel of existence, then we'll continue to experience various types of suffering. So we see then actually that the cause of all the various types of suffering that we have in this world then are really based on ignorance, the afflictions and karma or deeds. So this is what the second basic truth that the Buddha taught, was that this suffering that we have in this world is arising due to our own self. It's not given from somewhere else. We're not being punished by somewhere else. It arises from our own misunderstanding, our own basic ignorance of our own true nature, not from something else. And when we have this basic misunderstanding of our own true nature, then we have the afflictions, we have desire, hatred, ignorance, and so on. Then we have deeds, then we have this world of existence turning again and again, ceaselessly. So, the Buddha said, actually at this point, that's not the end of what we can do.

[30:23]

I mean, it's not that we're trapped here forever, but that there is a path which leads out of this circle of existence, out of this continuation of suffering, And he said that by practicing this path, we can gain various stages of liberation or enlightenment. And he said actually there's three different types of enlightenment. The enlightenment of the Sravaka, the enlightenment of the Pratyekabuddha, and the enlightenment of the Bodhisattva. Or there's various stages of liberation that one can gain in order to finally gain complete and perfect freedom from this wheel of existence. So, in order to enter into this path, the Buddha said that the basis of this is to listen to the Dharma, or to listen to find out what is the basic thought that we're involved in, what is the basic misunderstanding of our own situation. Having heard or listened to the basic thoughts we have, then we have to listen to the various teachings which will be able to allow us to gain freedom from

[31:25]

this world of existence. So, first of all, we must listen to the teaching. In order to listen to the teaching, we must have the proper motivation. And the proper motivation here means that we enter the path with proper faith, proper devotion. And this arises also through taking refuge in the Triple Gem of the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. Then through entering into the path through refuge of seeking the Buddha as our shelter, seeking the Buddha as the one who can guide us out of this darkness of ignorance, out of this world of suffering. We listen to his teaching. So he said this listening is the first basic step. And then based on listening means having heard what the teaching is from a proper source or an authoritative source, then we must contemplate about it, we must think about it. Is this so? Is this proper? Is this also what I can conclude to be the truth? And having contemplated on it, then we go to the third step of actually meditating, meditating on what we have thought to be the truth.

[32:34]

And this stage of meditation means then that we can actually realize within our own mental stream or within our own mind through experience, through feeling through realization that this is the truth and it arises so that we are able to overcome all of our misdeeds or misconceptions and our ignorance So in order to do this, the Buddha taught that there are three basic steps we should follow. He taught the basis of moral conduct, that it would lead us with moral conduct as the basis we would be able to leave distraction of mind in order to listen to the teaching properly, in order to contemplate the teachings properly, and then also in order to meditate upon them. So moral conduct is the basis of the entire path. And then based upon moral conduct, then we must meditate what the teaching is.

[33:39]

Having meditated on the teaching, then we must move to the third step of understanding the teaching, or in other words, gaining realization of the teaching. So the Buddha said actually that the path basically is contained in these three steps of moral conduct, meditation and wisdom. And through these three, the one would be able to gain the stages of enlightenment, the stages of liberation. So, based upon moral conduct then, we move into the stage of meditation, which means the concentration of the mind, concentration of the mind, which allows the mind to remain steady, fixed on whatever meditation one is going to undertake, here especially meaning that one can have the mind, cease the mind from being distracted towards other objects and place the mind just on wisdom itself, on the ideas of the true nature of the self, of the true nature of the mind. So based upon moral conduct, we practice meditation, or what is called samatha, or concentration meditation, in order to calm the mind and then bring the mind to one-pointedness.

[34:49]

Having brought the mind to one-pointedness, then based on that mind, which is non-distracted, which is settled, rooted in itself, then we meditate upon what is called vipassana, or the wisdom of the ultimate truth. So here, this means actually that we meditate upon our nature, our self, to find the self, to understand where the self exists or if the self exists. In other words, to look at the five aggregates as they really are, their true nature. And the Buddha said that if we meditate on this, then we will come to the realization of selflessness of the person, or in other words, that this individual person who we believe to have some truth, or we believe to be independently real, independently existing, actually has no true nature of its own, no true existence of its own, and we'll come to the realization of the selflessness of this person, that there is nothing, no soul, no I, no ego that we can grasp to say is real and permanent. And not only that, but also we meditate upon the phenomena about us, the outer world, and also on the physical body as opposed to being an I. When we see that there is no I in these five things, we can look at each one of these separately, like the body or other physical phenomena or even mental phenomena.

[36:10]

And when we meditate on each one of these individually, each of these phenomena, phenomenally existing things which we believe to be true, such as the body or the world or whatever, then we realize that each one of these things also is not truly existent. It has no true nature of its own. It has no substance or essence of its own that we can call a truly existing thing. And when we come to that realization, then we see not only is the self of the person not true, that there is... no self of the person, what we call the selflessness of the individual person, but also we come to realize that there is also no true nature of individual things. So this is what is called the realization of the selflessness of person and of things or phenomena. And when we're able to come to this realization, that there is no true nature of self and others or other phenomena, then we're able to cease grasping

[37:13]

Because if there is no self, then there is no one who can grasp. And when we cease this grasping at a self, then also we cease hatred towards others. Because if there's no self and there's no others also, and when there's no grasping at self, no grasping at others, then we destroy the basis for desire, we destroy the basis for hatred. So this basic realization of the selflessness of our own individual person, as well as phenomena, is then, in other words, the cessation of ignorance. And when we are able to cessate or destroy, check or stop ignorance, then we're able to destroy or stop self-grasping, or we're able to stop, in other words, desire. We're able to stop desire, we're also able to stop hatred. And when we are able to destroy then all these afflictions of desire, hatred, ignorance, and also we're able to destroy all deeds or actions which are based upon these false notions of desire, hatred and ignorance, then we've destroyed the world of existence as we now know it through our own impure vision.

[38:25]

And when we're able to destroy this world of existence, or in other words, when we're able to see the true nature of this world of existence, that it really isn't true, that there is nothing we can grasp, there is no one who can grasp upon this, then this has come to what is called then the fourth truth, or the truth of cessation, or in other words, the truth of liberation, freedom from all these sufferings. So the Buddha said then, not only do we have suffering in this world, not only is there a cause of suffering, but there's a path leading out of... this cause of suffering, there is a path leading out of the suffering and the path that leads out of the suffering arrives at this truth of cessation or truth of liberation from all sufferings, from all false clinging, from all false grasping at things to be true which are not true. And then in other words we come to the fourth truth or the truth of cessation, the truth of liberation, freedom and enlightenment. So this was the path actually, or this was the teaching that the Buddha presented at that time in Varanasi, in which actually it has been said by all the great saints and scholars who had followed the Buddha's teaching, who had followed the Buddha and commented on the teaching,

[39:51]

The descent was what is called the indirect path leading to enlightenment. Actually, all the teachings that the Buddha gave were divided into two types, what is called the indirect path leading to enlightenment and the direct path leading to enlightenment. So in other words, the indirect path means that if you go through stages in order to gain the final realization, and this is what this is talking about, that we go through ignorance, understanding suffering, the cause of suffering, and then meditating on the path or following the path and then gaining the result of cessation of suffering. And the direct path leading to realization or direct path leading to enlightenment means that the Buddha taught certain teachings which just by that teaching by itself we didn't have to, or one who heard that teaching or meditated just on that teaching didn't need to follow any other steps or levels to gain realization or to gain enlightenment. So, it was said, actually, then, that this teaching of the Four Noble Truths falls in the category of the indirect teaching leading to enlightenment, meaning that one has to go through these various stages.

[40:54]

Shemna taught by the Buddha at that first occasion, and then also it was expanded upon on many various occasions, and then its complete teaching was taught by the Buddha actually in 20 different volumes of what is now 20 different volumes of texts which are known as the Vinaya Sutras and also various other precepts given by the Buddha actually there's another eight volumes of actually what we mean by the Vinaya Sutras means actually the teachings on moral conduct as the basic precepts the Buddha taught what is written down in the Tripitaka now or the collection of the Buddha's teachings there's twenty volumes of books just dealing with the moral conduct and This actually deals a lot then with how to understand, meditate and realize these Four Noble Truths. In addition to the 20 volumes of the Moral Conduct Teachings, there are also other, there's eight other volumes of teachings dealing with the various aspects of the Moral Conduct.

[42:02]

And then also, especially the great... Indian saints of Vasubandhu and Asanga taught what are known as the Abhidharma Kosha, or the treasury of phenomena. This is written by Vasubandhu. And then Asanga, the great Indian saint Asanga wrote the Abhidharma Samucaya, which means the collection of phenomena. So in other words, actually, they wrote many books dealing also with the nature of these Four Noble Truths in their various aspects. And then in India and later on in Tibet, based on these books, actually many hundreds of commentaries were written just to understand this basic teaching of the Four Noble Truths. How are you?

[43:05]

How are you? Thank you. Rinpoche, it's oftentimes given as the third and fourth are reversed. But he's saying actually the first two refer to the arising of suffering or the view of the relative truth and the second two showing the view of the ultimate truth. So, like in the first time, like as Rinpoche explained tonight, like the first truth of suffering is the result and the second one is the cause. So also then... when it's given in many texts also it'll keep that same format, that the third one is the truth of cessation, which is the result, and the fourth one is the path, which is the cause.

[44:09]

But here Aum Che is explaining, he said, sometimes, I mean, it's given like that, sometimes it's given another way, that after the relative, the truth, the relative truths are explained as the suffering and the cause of suffering, then it naturally leads into the path leading out of that suffering and then to the result. So he said, I mean, just there's differences in the way it's presented, but there's no difference in the meaning or the truth that it's representing. How does the way of the Pratyekabuddha differ from the way of Sri Lanka? Right into the teachings it says that the difference is in the realization that they have. And the realization differs in realizing the nature of the subject and the realization of the nature of the object. Shravaka, they understand, or they have the realization of selflessness of the person, that these five aggregates are not real. There's no true self residing in them.

[45:13]

But they believe that all the outside things, the objective world, is still real. They don't realize the nature of the objective world. Whereas the Pratyekabuddha, who has both realizations, not only that the self is not true, there's no self of the person, of the five aggregates, but also the outer things, such as forms and sounds and smells or odors, these things also have no true nature or no self. They're selfless. So it's a distinction of realization. Why do they call him a solitary Realizer? It refers to that aloneness too, as well as the going off by themselves. Well, here Rinpoche is showing actually that by solitary Realizer, or what is called pratyekabuddha, the distinction is just in his level of realization. I was wondering if solitary referred to both things, that there was a play on that word solitary, and that there was the self-conceit of others that everybody was solitary.

[46:15]

You can't understand. Yeah, but you said that in Tibetan, actually, it's called Rang Sangha. Rang means self, and Sangha means Buddha. So... Rangsanga here, or the Pratyekabuddha then means one's own Buddha, one's own self Buddha, which means actually that in a previous life, at some time, he had relied upon various Buddhas or teachers, gotten a teaching, and then at that time he made a prayer. It was his wish that in the future, when he gained the realization of the truth, that he need not rely upon any other person at that time. So in this life, when he comes into the world at this time, or wherever he is at that time, through his own practice, through his own salutary practice, here it says, he goes out to the forest, he'll find a skeleton or a bone, meditate on the skeleton, where it came from, how it was born, go through the various levels of meditation to understand finally the nature of selflessness of the individual person as well as the thing in front of him. And at that point, gain realization of selflessness of self.

[47:18]

vow, or because of the conditions of that original vow that he must do it by himself, they're ripening at this time that this is going to happen. When I was a child, I used to go to school with my father and my mother. I used to go to school with my father and my mother. I used to go to school with my father and my mother. Due to this previous prayer, he should gain realization without depending on anyone other at that time. And he goes and he does have this realization through meditating like on a skeleton of a person or a deer or something in the forest.

[48:27]

And he comes to gain the realization of the selflessness of him, of the person and the things about him. And having gained that realization through the connection of his previous prayers, or due to the interdependence or the interdependent conditions of how he made his vows of gaining enlightenment in the future, which he's doing now then, he gains that realization by himself, thinking, I didn't rely on anyone else, and now I don't need to tell anyone else also what I have realized. And at that point, it is said actually that the Pratyekabuddha is the one from whom speech doesn't emanate, so it means no sound comes forth. He doesn't talk, he doesn't give teachings to anyone. So after gaining his realization, though he continues his life until he dies, but wearing the robes, going into the towns for begging, he never talks to anyone, or not talks, but he doesn't teach the Dharma to anyone, and he really doesn't have any grasping to other forms about him. Though he sees them, there's no grasping, there's an understanding of the nature of himself and those about him. And Rinpoche was saying, actually, that at this time these type of realized beings don't arise, actually.

[49:34]

They only come at the time after the completion of the Buddha Shakyamuni's teaching in this world, which hasn't arisen. I mean, there's still a continuity of the Buddha Shakyamuni's teaching here. So after this is finished, or been exhausted, and before the teaching of the next Buddha, the Buddha Maitreya, then these Pratyekabuddhas will arise. But there aren't any at this time. Or haven't been since. Yeah, I guess not. I mean, that's what it means. After his teaching finishes, then only they are right. Yeah. Can a lay person realize full Buddha consciousness? And if so, has there been lay people who have realized full Buddha consciousness? No, no, no. Rinpoche says that if one produces the thought of enlightenment, enters into the vajrayana path, practices the two levels of meditation of the process of creation and the process of completion,

[50:49]

if one maintains the basis of the vows, without breaking one's Vajrayana vows, especially, and other vows, one can gain enlightenment or Buddhahood in this lifetime. He said the basis for this, or actually the key for all this, is called diligence. He said you need a lot of diligence and effort to do that. But it's possible. He said in India, for example, the great Saint Chandragoman, he gained Buddhahood at that time. He was a layman. And he said there's countless others in India who have done. In Tibet, in various traditions, such as in the Kargyu tradition, the great translator Marpa, his disciple Milarepa, they had all, through the Vajrayana path, gained the stage of full Buddhahood. In the Sakya tradition, the founder of Sakya, Sachin Kumbhanyampo, his own guru, Shantan Chobar, they were all lay people. they took the vows of laymen and they kept their vows properly, but they were just lay people. They weren't monks or nuns or novice monks or nuns. And they all gained enlightenment or Buddhahood.

[51:52]

So I said it's possible. And there has been I'd like to ask a question. Going back to the previous answers and questions, even if one of those Buddhas who realised himself spoke, would anyone understand what he would say anyway? Would anybody understand what he had to say anyway, in the first place, after such a realisation? Well, the Buddha Shakyamuni spoke. But he was asked to. Yeah. But you see, like Buddha Rinpoche said earlier tonight, the Buddha Shakyamuni made previous vows that when he gained enlightenment he would teach throughout the world. And these pratyekabuddhas, they make a vow at a previous time that when they gain enlightenment they won't teach to anyone. So it's by the force, or by the power of their previous vows, which is the basic condition one of the basic conditions of what will arise at the time of ripening, it's based on the power of that previous vow or of that condition, what we call the tendril or the auspicious connection at that point.

[53:01]

It shows what the qualities of the result will be or the qualities of the result at that time or at the time of the result. So if he just has a vow, he's not going to talk. So because of that, he cannot, even if he wants to at that point. It's based on the power of his previous vows, what he's doing. Right? In the Vajrayana tradition they talk about the union of mind and appearance. And I'd like to know if that is another way of describing realizing the no-self of personality and the no-self of phenomena, or if it's more profound. Okay. So let me just say, actually, basically they're the same.

[54:25]

He said you can divide it into two parts, actually. We have the truth of the relative truth and the ultimate truth. And we can say actually that the appearance of all things is the relative truth. Knowing that they're empty of any nature whatsoever is the ultimate truth. So the appearance is okay. So that's dividing into two parts and like that, the relative truth and the ultimate truth. There is appearance and the appearance is empty. So in the same way, we can say the outer things and then the inner things, meaning self and other, and both of these also are devoid of any true nature of their own. So he said, actually, he said, the realization between the two becomes the same. When you understand all appearances, though they appear, have no true nature of their own, that they arise due to our own ignorance, that they have no independent truth, independently existing reality, then we can see its emptiness. And then when we see its emptiness, at the same time, there is a continuity of these things about us.

[55:29]

There is a continuity of appearances arising due to causes and conditions. So, though these causes and conditions make these things appear, at the same time they are empty. And being empty of any truth whatsoever, and being there, simultaneously, this is called the merging or the non-differentiation of appearance and emptiness. So he said it's the same thing, that when we understand that though we still have this person with us, but there is no true nature, there is no soul or self or I, then this is also rising to the same realization. I know he said actually that to understand this realization, He said, actually, it's when you go to, if you go into a shop to buy something, like in the old days in Tibet, they would use a scale to weigh the gold against the object or whatever. He said, when they're actually balanced exactly, then they can be bought. I mean, if there's some kind of difference between the two, then it's no good. I mean, the person won't sell it, the person won't buy it, etc. So actually, the realization is the same. It's just like that. He said in the The path then, actually, is first to hear the teaching.

[56:31]

You must hear what the teachings are, whatever they be. whether it be like Guruji is just giving the names of like whether Sakya, Kargyu, Nyingma or Vilupa teachings, whatever that view is, first we must hear that view, and then we contemplate about the view, we think about it, and then we start to meditate on it. And first, through contemplation, we gain what is called an experience of meditation or an experience of the path. It's not a realization, this is called an experience. And then through experiencing that, feeling it, contemplating on it, we... go deeper into the meditation, until finally, within the mind itself, there is a realization, which is called the next step. So there's hearing, experiencing, and then realizing. And at the time of actual realization of the nature of phenomena, of the nature of the path, or the nature of our own mind, then that stage of what is called realization is called the first booming. And he said, when you have the first booming, you don't have self, you don't have other, you don't have... you know, like this realization of selflessness for the person and selflessness for outside things, they're all destroyed at that one point.

[57:39]

They're all, I mean, they're overcome through the realization of that view or the realization of that attainment. And that attainment, which is called the non-differentiation of nirvana and samsara, or the non-differentiation or the merging together of appearance and emptiness, or the clear part of mind and the empty part of mind, or whatever you want to call it, he said they're all destroyed at that point. So he said, that's the realization. I mean, that is the same, I hope. How can one differentiate between insight, Latong, and imagination? What kind of imagination? I mean, just ordinary thoughts. Just an act of imagination. How can you know if what you're seeing is correct or not?

[58:45]

Sometimes you could be seeing just your fantasies. Other times you're seeing something as the truth. Fabrication. Rinpoche said actually, what he just said before, basically he said that what you really must do is to hear the teaching properly, all the teachings. Having heard the teaching properly, you must really contemplate, begin to meditate on it. And having an idea of what that teaching is through contemplation, then you must put that into strict meditation through first concentrating the mind into one-pointedness and then meditating on the true nature of the mind. He said, at that point when you meditate, if something arises, if you see that it has no origination, it came from nowhere, it has no place of residence, no place to reside at this point, and it goes nowhere, it disappears nowhere, it has no cessation, then you've got Mata, or Insight Wisdom. And he said, if you have those three, then you know it's Insight Wisdom. And if it's not, then it's a fabrication of your mind. So I guess even if you think, I've got it, then that I got it, find out where it came from and where it went.

[59:55]

The good seed for gaining realization of the true nature of all things, that at any time, at all times, once you think that whatever one sees or hears or feels, once you think that these things are only like an illusion, like their appearance in a dream, that they're like the water in the mirage, or the visions of a magical creation, that by themselves they have no true nature of their own. So whatever you see in this world, you apply that thought to it any time of the day, any time of the night, just that it has no true nature of its own. It's only like a magical creation, like a vision and a dream. He said by just thinking that on all the phenomena that you see, this will plant a very great seed for you to eventually gain the result of understanding that all things have no true nature of their own. Doesn't that create a danger of nihilism? What is nihilism? that nothing exists. Rinpoche said it won't be that, because to mean that it's nihilism, it means that nothing exists whatsoever.

[61:14]

Hell doesn't exist, heaven doesn't exist, realization doesn't exist, nothing exists. But here he said that this realization, he said when you see something, that appearance is empty. But also that emptiness is appearance. These two are completely merged together. So if you only had to lose empty without appearance, then that would be nihilism. But because that emptiness itself is appearance, it's not different from appearance, and appearance isn't different from emptiness, that they are merged together, it doesn't fall into the extreme of nihilism. So maybe we'll let Romaji rest now. I think it's a little bit weird. I don't know.

[61:57]

@Transcribed_UNK
@Text_v005
@Score_92.11