ACI 2 «Буддийское Прибежище», занятие 4

The Asian Classics Institute

Course II: Buddhist Refuge
Class Four: Classifications of Bodhichitta

Geshe Michael Roach

Transcribed by Angie Overy




 I asked him, but I, I think you [unclear] and the second question was, I wasn’t
sure it was correct to say you couldn’t have those two desires in your heart at
the same time, same thought. And he said, not correct to say that. You can have
them both in your mind at the same moment because they are [unclear] the
word in Tibetan is [unclear], means, complementary.
You can’t have a smell consciousness and an eye consciousness at the same
moment but you can have the wish to help others at the same moment. You can
have the [unclear][student]
Well, any, anytime that they are complimentary.         And then, like, I would
probably say anger and [unclear], [laughs] you know what I mean. Something
like that.
And then, what’s the last one? I asked him about whether the Buddha can have
bodhichitta [unclear]. I mean, when [unclear].
And I re-read the text. There’s a quotation that says that he [unclear], twenty-
thousand [unclear]
[student]
For him.
[student]
No, no. I mean you can’t have a thought [unclear] eye consciousness [unclear]
[student]
Oh, yeah. [student] yeah, yeah [student]
Anyway, it’s in the definition. And when, when the opponent tries to slip in ,like,
eye consciousness, he leaves out the word mental consciousness, then they say
no, the Buddha’s eye consciousness could be bodhichitta, could have bodhichitta.
And then they say that’s impossible. And then the proof for it is a quotation
from the [unclear].
So,in Buddhism you can prove things either by logic or by [unclear] scripture.
I’ll work on it. [laughter]
[student]
[unclear]
We’re going to do that tonight. [student] Correct. [student] We’re going to do
that tonight.
[student]
No, no, we’re going to talk about it tonight.
Okay. We’re going to discuss four different ways to divide bodhichitta, the wish
for enlightenment.
And the first way is by level. This is by level. [cut]
[student]
Uh huh, classified.
This is how it’s going to be for the next four years. You learn the definition of
something and then the divisions of something.
You learn the details of something that you already learned about in the first
course.
[unclear] that’s what knowledge is. [unclear]
[student] Yeah. [laughter] [students]
Let’s say bodhisattva’s thoughts.
[student]
No, [unclear] have to write it down [unclear] [laughs] [unclear]
Here we have to talk about the five paths. The five levels in Buddhism.
The first one is called [cut] accumulation. [cut]
Second one is called [student] path of preparation. You will study the [unclear]
what do you call it? [unclear]
I don’t like the word ‘insight’. It is not insight. Insight means that you get some
kind of, you know, in depth understanding or something. Not that. It is a raw
direct seeing of emptiness.
[student]
This we call, I call it [unclear] [cut] [laughter]
Those are the five paths.
[student]
It’s one time in all your trillions of lives you change permanently, completely.
You’ll never come back. You’ll never be the same again.
Somebody asked me about what happens when you die and you’ve seen the
path of seeing. You know, do you take birth in [unclear] [laughs] [unclear] see
emptiness right away?
No.
I asked my lama. He said, we call {backchak sepa}. You know and in your
childhood you don’t remember what happened. But as soon as you are a certain
age that seed again ripens quickly and we call it, like, it reasserts itself.
Je Tsongkapa’s life story is like that. {backchak sepa} around seven years old,
you know, studying tantra, you know. [laughs]
So we don’t claim that the first five, six years you can remember all those things.
We never say that.
[student]
Yeah. Direct perception of emptiness. [student]
[phone! /student]
Oh, sure. We’ll talk about it. [student on phone] [laughter]
[student]
[unclear] What do you guess is at the path of preparation?
It’s an understanding of emptiness. Intellectual understanding of emptiness,
okay.
[cut]
What do you guess we have to have to even get on the first path?
[student]
Yeah, in the form of what? [students] Yeah, [unclear], true disgust with this
world.
It’s called, don’t be fooled by the name of the path, okay. They sometimes don’t
have much to do with, you know.
You reach the first path the moment you have true renunciation. Thatisi the {..},
that is the measure of reaching the first path. That’s the definition of the first
path.
[student]
Oh, yeah. [unclear] accumulate enough merit to see emptiness intellectually or
something like that.
[student]
First path.
[student]
[unclear] the five paths.
[student]
Actually, they’re the same for every track but the requirements to reach them is
slightly different for each track. We’re only talking bodhisattva track.
You don’t have to worry about those details.
Habituation: getting used to what you saw at the path of seeing. The Tibetan
word for ‘getting used to’ is the same as the Tibetan word for meditation, but
some people translate it as meditation
[student]
What you saw at the time of emptiness directly but the definition of them have
nothing to do with [unclear]
They’re not necessary, they’re not descriptive words. [unclear] is [laughs] and no
more learning is.
[student]
We’re going to talk about it. [student]
Well we call them paths but there’s another [unclear] called levels. [unclear]
[student]
But you [unclear] the three to get in there, right. [unclear]
The purpose of this period, which is very long. This takes a few minutes. This
takes, maybe, half an hour. But this one takes a long time.
And it’s getting rid of your habit of seeing things as self-existent. [student]
It’s what some people have called [unclear] they have translated as ‘meditation’
because the word is the same in Tibetan.
[student]
In the path of habituation [student] you get rid of your inborn habit of seeing
things as self-existent; your inborn habits of seeing things as self-existent.
You’re going to study this whole subject later but you need to know it for me to
tell you the four kinds of bodhichitta.
[student]
This is the path of seeing where you have your first direct perception of
emptiness. After that time you can never again believe that things are the way
we think they are, okay. [laughs]
And at that moment you lose the intellectual grasping to self-existence.
You can never again [student] yeah, for good. If anyone ever says to you, hey
things are self-existent.
You say, I know I still see them that way, but I know I’m wrong. Okay.
At the end of the path of habituation you stop seeing them that way. That takes
a long time. That takes practising what you saw.
[student]
It depends on, no [student] Oh, yeah, normally, like, seven more lives.
[student]
I mean, compared to the path of seeing, [unclear]
[student]
Yeah, yeah. I’ve got to teach you the levels before I can explain to you where
these bodhichittas are on this chart, okay. [laughs] That’s why I’m doing that.
I don’t really want to get into it too deeply. And I’m not going to.
‘No more learning’ is the same as nirvana.
[student]
Get rid of all your bad thoughts. If you are on the bodhisattva track, I’ll talk
about it.
Student]
When you reach the path of no more learning [student] it’s, the first moment on
ending all your bad thoughts permanently [student]
The first moment of the path of learning come together, no more learning, occur
at the same instant. [student]
Right. [student] Yeah.
There’s a big bitter debate about it in the monastery. You have a good [unclear]
[student] [laughter] [laughs]
Okay, no more learning.
If you’re on the bodhisattva track, two things you have to add here. With true
renunciation you get bodhichitta, the wish for enlightenment.
[student]
Yeah, you have reached the first path. That’s the, that’s the measure, that’s the
requirement for having reached the first path.
When you get real bodhichitta in your mind you’ve reached path number one
on the bodhisattva track.
[student]
Of course, we know that from the first course. [student]
If you reach true renunciation you have reached the path of accumulation. It’s
simultaneous.
[student]
No.
[student]
You could say that their wish for enlightenment perhaps occurs but they don’t,
it’s not [unclear]
Okay, number five. If you achieve nirvana or no more learning, which are the
same thing, under the influence of bodhichitta, what happens?
Buddhahood. Okay.
If you achieve path number five with bodhichitta in your mind, in your heart,
you become a Buddha.
[student]
We’re going to talk about it. And I’ll talk about it tonight.
Okay, so those five. Those are the five paths.
Now, I can teach you the four kinds of bodhichitta [laughs] according to level.
Any questions about those five paths?
[student]
He has, his mind we will study at the end of the perfection of wisdom. It’s the
subject of the eighth chapter. We’re in the first chapter. The monks normally
spend about four years, five years on the first chapter.
We’ll get there. It’s very, very active of course. It’s omniscience.
And to learn about it is very exciting. We’ll talk about it.
[student]
No. No. [student] he knows all things past, present and future, in all places, in
all universes [student] at one moment. [student]
Yeah. He no longer is enquiring. He just knows everything. [students]
Automatically. Spontaneously. He sees all objects in the universe at one
moment. Everything that ever was, everything that ever will be, everything
that is now, everywhere. At every level of knowledge from atoms to he sees it
all.
He sees what we are thinking constantly. That’s sometimes helpful when you’re
trying to be moral. To be aware that he is totally conscious of your mind at this
moment.
And he’s in this room. Once you do a {sange chudang tsok kyi choknam la} he’s
in the room. [laughs] Okay.
Not boring and very dynamic, you’ll see.
[student]
Oh, we’re talking about the five paths because we want to talk about these four
kinds of bodhichitta; four kinds of wanting to be a Buddha.
Wanting to be a Buddha you can divide into four different kinds. And now I’m
going to start, okay.
[student]
If you reach nirvana under the influence of bodhichitta you become a Buddha.
[student]
because I’m talking about bodhisattva track. Remember last time I had three
arrows? I’m only talking about the top arrow, the top track.
We’re not talking about the two bottom tracks [unclear]
So, really, how many paths are there [unclear]?
Fifteen.
‘Cos you’ve got five for each for the three paths, but you don’t have to worry
about it. You’re going to learn that in great detail later. In this scope which we
say [unclear]
{..} is wanting to help a living being and when you look at a living being you
think this is not, the way I see him is not the way he really is.
[student]
Yeah. The person with this level of bodhichitta, he, from having heard in class,
he’s been in class, he’s heard, he understands that he’s seeing something wrong.
He’s grasping something wrong.
He has not understood it directly yet. But he, from his class time, you know, his
lama said look something’s going on. You are grasping this a self-existent. You
are grasping to something which doesn’t even exist. When you are angry at
your boss, the boss which you are angry at does not exist. And that’s the key.
That’s why you can get out of samsara. That’s why you can stop suffering
because the thing you’re mad at, the object that you believe in it at that moment
because you’re mad at it, doesn’t even exist.
If you understood his nature you could not be angry at him, okay.
So, he understands that. He knows that but he’s still doing it. He can’t help it.
He doesn’t really grasp what that means.
[student]
Intellectually.
So, where do you guess, in these five paths, this kind of bodhichitta is found?
Yeah. The first two, yeah. Okay.
So, bodhichitta number one relates to these two paths because you have to have
bodhichitta starting here. This is the first time you get bodhichitta. And up to
and this is the point at which you’re understanding emptiness intellectually
which you started tonight. But this refers to a very high understanding of
emptiness.
[student]
Yeah. A person who is acting out of belief, belief meaning okay I believe what
my lama said. I’m grasping to something.
When I get mad at my boss I’m grasping to something that’s not there but I
don’t quite, you know, I don’t clearly understand it yet but I believe that I’m
wrong.
I believe that something’s going on. It sounds pretty good to me what he said.
I have not understood it directly. I haven’t seen my boss’s emptiness directly but
everything that person says about he’s blank, my boss is blank because his wife
loves him and I don’t like him so he can’t have both qualities. He doesn’t have
either qualities. I believe that so I won’t get angry. But I don’t quite understand,
I haven’t seen it directly.
[student]
Yeah. Yeah. He’s believing in the emptiness of what he’s grasping but he can’t
stop it.
[student]
Oh, he’s looking at his boss and wishing he could become a Buddha to help his
boss. [student] Okay. [laughs] But as he looks at his boss he still sees him as self-
existent and he but he understands that he’s doing something wrong because he
believes in what his lama said. He believes that the thing I’m grasping to I must
be messed up here somewhere. I must be doing something wrong. I don’t
understand it, you know.
I haven’t perceived his emptiness directly. [student]
So, five levels. Anybody who has the real wish for enlightenment but who
hasn’t seen emptiness yet is on this first level of bodhichitta.
[student]
Remember, what are we studying?
Prajnaparamita.
What are we studying?
Perfection of wisdom.
You can’t be satisfied with plain old bodhichitta anymore. There’s got to be
what?
There’s got to be a deep understanding of emptiness going on at the same time
otherwise it’s not the perfection of wisdom.
It’s not, it’s not, it doesn’t even get into the four categories of bodhichitta.
[student]
They already want to become a Buddha to help all sentient beings but when they
look at those sentient beings, where are those sentient beings by the way?
They’re in your office at work. I mean, don’t think it’s, like, somewhere out in
the universe. The ones that are going to, they call it the ticket to Buddhahoood.
There’s a word in Tibetan that means ticket to Buddhahood. It’s not all those
sentient beings out there, you know, Honk Kong, where ever, mars. The people
who will sharpen you, the people who will act as your foil, the people who will
spark your enlightenment are the people that you know around you, you know.
It’s not, it’s not like, you have to have the motivation to help all sentient beings,
but the ones who you can get angry at, the ones who you have jealousy
towards, the ones that you feel desire for, those are the ones that at your job, in
your home, in you class. [laughs]
So you look at those beings, you look at, you know, Laura, and, and you say
okay I would like to wish that I become a Buddha for her sake. And then you
look at her, who is she? You know, is she empty or not?
And at this point, you’re understanding, I’m holding something about her.
There’s some way I that I grasp to Laura which is mistaken. My lama told me
and I believe it but I don’t quite, I haven’t perceived it directly yet.
I can understand it intellectually but I have not seen it directly yet.
[student]
Yeah. [student] Yeah. [student]
Well don’t forget that the main object of your emptiness meditation, of course,
when you talk about love it’s other people. So, in that time you’re right. You’re
meditating on the emptiness of the sentient beings that you’re supposed to be
trying to work for that’s true.
But, I should say that, when you perceive emptiness for the first time, yours will
be Arial’s emptiness. The one that you perceive at that moment will be your
own emptiness. And it always is [unclear] Yeah.
[student]
We’re getting there. Oh, level means spiritual level, spiritual, how far you’ve
gotten, okay.
When you have this kind of bodhuchitta is reserved for these two baby paths.
We would be very happy to get to the first path. [laughs] We don’t have
bodhichitta and we haven’t reached the first path. [laughs]
[student]
Of bodhichitta, yeah. These four are four different kinds of bodhichitta which
occur on different occasions on these five paths.
[student]
What separate them are what separates the five paths. And that’s the point I’m
trying to make. Okay.
So, number two. Say {hlaksam}[repeat]. The word for the capital of Tibet should
have been {Hlasa}. It’s just that some body misspelled it the first time, been that
way ever since.
{hlaksam}[repeat] [unclear] with me {takpay}[repeat] {semkye}[repeat]. By the
way, {hlasa} means Los Angeles. I like to point that out. {hlaksam takpay
semkye}. Where do you guess that {hlaksam tapay semkye} occurs?
Yeah, it’s the next one up. It’s the next one up. [student] Yeah. Okay. It
[unclear] level three. [students]
It’s the bodhichitta in the mind of a person who has experienced emptiness
directly. [students]
This person [student] this oh, I’m sorry, yeah [unclear]. You know {hlaksam …}
{hlaksam} is step number six in generating bodhichitta. Now, you know
[unclear] [laughter]
Come on, you had that on your final. You [unclear] [student] Yeah, personal
responsibility. {hlaksam} means to take absolutely personal responsible. I don’t
care if every one, I don’t care if nobody helps me. I don’t even care if every one
attacks me. I don’t care what people think about me. And I don’t care if nobody
helps me. I don’t care if nobody else is doing it. I will take responsibility to help
other people. That’s {hlaksam..}.
[student]
You can say, {hlak} means, special; {sam} means, thought; {tapay} means, pure,
pure special thought; {semkye} means, bodhichitta. But now you know what
[unclear] is. It’s the bodhichitta in the mind of a person who no longer has any
belief in self-existence because you lose that the moment you see emptiness
directly for the first time. And if anyone in your life ever asks you again are
things the way they seem?
You’ll say, no way.
[student] Yeah. It’s the path of seeing. It’s the bodhichitta in the mind of a
person who is on path number three.
[student]
Yeah. [student] It’s a big, all beings are divided into two. You’re either a virgin
or non-virgin [laughs] those are, it’s a totally straight, pure line. After that you
are not the same any more. You’re a different kind of being.
[student]
Oh, yeah. Okay, bad news, path of seeing has ten levels. [laughter]
I should say, I shouldn’t say that. I should say that the next three paths. These
are divided into ten levels.
[student]
Yeah, all together they have ten levels.
[student] Ah hah [student] No, it’s not. [student] No, it’s called that but of
course that comes before bodhichitta, right. That’s one of the causes for
bodhichitta so it’s a miss-noma in a way.
[student]
A person who has permanently lost belief in self-existence [student] because
they’ve seen it directly. Have they lost their habit of seeing things as self-
existent, their inborn?
No.
[student] When he looks at beings he is trying to help he doesn’t believe in their
self-existence anymore. He knows he’s wrong. He knows he is perceiving them
wrong. But now, he understands what, he is perceiving wrong. Before he
didn’t.
[student]
Because we are dividing bodhichitta by levels. [laughs]
[student]
Yeah. It’s a bodhichitta which, it’s the bodhichitta of a person who has reached
this path.
[student]
It’s the bodhichitta, which looks at its victims, [laughs] all sentient beings, and
says, and says, oh I used to think they were self-existent. Then I had that half
hour, that incredible half hour. Now I understand that they are not the way I
thought at all. [student]
No it doesn’t change the ‘taste’ we call it in Tibetan, [unclear]
bodhichitta, but its bodhichitta is more intelligent. [laughs]        Its bodhichitta
understands the sentient beings what’s going on with them.
Okay, there are ten bodhisattva levels. You’ve heard them. They’re called
bhumi. I like to call them ‘levels’. They’re called ‘grounds’ because {sa} means
ground, bhumi means, ground, om vajra bhumi … mandala. That’s the bhumi is
the ground.
[student]
Yeah, [unclear] [laughs]
Don’t worry. Don’t worry. [student]
I’m going to tell you right now. This number two bodhichitta stops at level
number seven. [student] [laughs]
This is where it stops. [student]
You have this on eight to ten, you can say ground, I like level. [student] Yeah.
Yeah.
This is at bodhisattva level one through seven. This is at bodhisattva level eight
to ten. [laughs]
[student] Right. [student] I should say this is bodhichitta number two.
[student]
Yeah. Yeah. [student] Because this [laughter] [students]
I’m saying that ten, after you perceive emptiness directly, the moment that you
see emptiness directly you reach the first bodhisattva level.
So the ten start, path number three starts [student] bhumi number one starts,
okay. And the bhumis last all the way up to number five.
[student]
Number two is bodhichitta number two. I’m talking about what is bodhichitta
number two [student] Yes, yes, half of four. [student] half of four, [laughs]
three and a half.
This person has reached [students] bodhichitta number one. [laughter]
It’s okay. It’s okay. If it were easy you wouldn’t be here. Bodhichitta number
one [laughter]. I’ll use different colours, okay.
Bodhichitta number one happens at path number one. [student] path one to
[unclear]
And at which bodhisattva level?
Trick question. [laughter] Not there. Zero. No. Why?
You haven’t seen emptiness directly yet. You don’t reach the first bodhisattva
level until you see emptiness directly.
You are a bodhisattva, okay. [student] Okay. Alright. You are a bodhisattva
but you haven’t reached the first bodhisattva bhumi. [unclear] bodhisattva starts
down here but not bodhisattva levels, alright.
Any questions?
[student] [laughter] Yeah [unclear] [laughter]
What path? What path is bodhichitta number two on?
[student] And?
You can say three to four and a half. [student] Why? Because he had,
bodhisattva levels one through seven include all the paths and part of path four.
Now I’m about to tell you why there’s a difference between this guy and this
guy. What [unclear]? We’re talking this guy on number two. What path is he
on? [student]
Yeah. Four and a half. What do you want me to call it? [students]
Yeah. Now I’ll talk about [unclear]. You’ll understand it by the time [unclear].
[laughter] Don’t worry. Unless you die first.
Okay {nampa …} means, ripening, ripening. {nampa ..}means, ripening. {..}
means, bodhichitta.
You know you’re the guinea pig class ‘cos you’re the first one that I teach all
these things. [unclear] I don’t say half the things [laughter]
[students]
What did this person give up? What did this second guy give up? What
happened? What’s the difference between him and this guy? What, what
happened?
[student]
Directly. Directly. Okay. So he doesn’t have one of the two kinds of grasping to
self-existence. Which was [unclear] intellectual one or the one that’s inside
everybody down to bugs?
[student]
Yeah. He gave up the intellectual version of belief in self-existence. If you ask
him are things self-existence, he’ll say, self- existent he’ll say, no.
But if you say, do you see it that way?
Yes. I can’t stop it. I know my eyes are screwed up. I can’t [unclear] there,
okay.
But he knows intellectually. He saw emptiness directly. When he comes out of it
he sees things as self-existent. [student] he knows he’s wrong. But he knows
he’s wrong.
People before that don’t know they’re wrong, [laughs] okay, or they believe
they’re wrong. That’s why [unclear] [student] [laughter]. Okay.
But what do you guess, this one, you can all guess that number four’s going to
be bodhichitta of Buddha, right. Path number five. That’s easy.
But what do you think differentiates this path and this path? They’ve all seen
emptiness directly. They’ve both given up the intellectual belief in self-existence.
[student]
No, good guess. There’s a level inside of giving up the habit of seeing things as
self-existent, the one that even bugs have. The inborn, the one that you’re born
with, the habit which you’ve had since beginning less time.
The innate habit of seeing things as self-existent has two parts in it. [students]
Okay, I got it. I got it. One goes from level one to level seven and the other
goes eight to ten. And that’s why [unclear] And what is the difference?
[student]
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can take all kinds of ignorance, right, and divide it into
two types: people who believe in self-existence and people who don’t believe in
self-existence.
[student]
They think that what they’re seeing is right. The way things really are.
I ask [unclear] come from? Where did your boss come from, particularly, I ask
[unclear] also. [laughs] You know, when you’re angry at some one you’re
almost, you can’t understand where they came from. I mean, if you do
understand where they come from you can’t get [unclear].
Those two states of mind are contradictory. Anyway, this person hasn’t proved
emptiness directly. This person has seen emptiness directly and has given up the
intellectual belief in self-existence.
Now, here’s something cool. Number three gave up the inborn habit of seeing
things as self-existent.
[cut] [student] Number three. Third kind of bodhichitta, this, what makes it
different from the last one, this person gave up intellectual belief in self-existence.
You alright? No [student]
Number three doesn’t see it any more. I’m sorry. Yeah, you can say that. He’s
given up the habit of seeing things as self-existent. The habit that even bugs
have, that even amoebas have it. When an amoeba feels something they
[unclear] self-existence. That’s an inborn part of your mind [unclear]. [student]
Well, no, never go back. Right. [student]
He has a very holy twenty, thirty seconds, maybe a couple of minutes direct
experience of emptiness. He comes out of it [student] at the path of seeing.
[student] He’s asking what’s the nature of the path of seeing/.
At the path of seeing you have a direct perception of emptiness then you come
out of it and again you’re back in ignorance.
You still see things as self-existent but you don’t believe yourself. You know
you’re faking. [laughs]
[student]
Yeah, but you can’t help yourself. You come out of that meditation you see
everything as self-existent again but you know you’re wrong. You know your
eyes are fooling you. You know your mind is fooling you but you can’t stop.
This guy can.
[student]
Different thing. Different tradition. [student] Yeah [laughter] [students]
Now this person, what makes number three what he is? Why is he different
from number two? You tell me.
[student]
What has he lost?
He’s lost his inborn habit of seeing things as self-existent. [students] he’s lost the
inborn habit which every being has for all time up to now. Non-Buddhas, right.
[unclear] to see things as self-existent. He doesn’t think things are self-existent
because he got over that but he still sees it. His eyes are still lying to him and he
understands that. [student]
But this person, this person has gotten rid of this habit. He no longer has the
habit. [student] This is the true nature of it. [students]
Let me ask you [students] Oh, gotten rid of. Gotten rid of, abandoned, lost,
eliminated [student]. Use eliminated. I like it. Lost it permanently. [student]
I love this question. Go ahead. [student] [laughter]
I’ve been waiting. I hope it’s the right one. [laughter] [laughs]
Oh, because you have [student] habituation is getting rid of the habit.
Habituation is thinking over and over again what you saw and getting rid of that
inborn habit of seeing it that way. It’s an inborn reflex that you’ve had for
trillions of years and it takes a lot of [student] [laughter]
I was hoping she would say, if this guy has seen [unclear] empty and if he has
gotten rid of what?
The habit of seeing things as self-existent well why isn’t he a Buddha? What’s the
difference between him and a Buddha?
At this level, eight through ten, that number three guy, [unclear] in the sense
that he has given up the habit of seeing things as self-existent. He can never
have that occur in his mind directly again. But, he still has the potential for it to
happen.
He still has the mental seeds, the karma from past lives for him to see things as
self-existent again. [student]
He never will but he still has those seeds, yeah. Could he drop down? We’ll
have to talk about that.
But the question at this point [student] The person at this point does not see
things as self-existent any more but he still has those mental seeds in his mind
that may make it happen, that could make it happen. But they don’t for him at
that point.
If he happens to digress from there he would again see things as self-existent.
[student]
No, they also stop omniscience. [students] Sure. It’s [unclear] is karma. [student]
That’s a very difficult question. I won’t get into it. It’s a kind of karma that can
still have those [unclear].
[students]
You mean bodhichitta number three and not bodhichitta number four?
[student] Right, right, right. According to the Hinayana a lot of these occurred
in his mind in his life, in the last, in his life [unclear] ago.
According to the Mahayana he was born a Buddha. He decided to take birth in
this world. According to Hinanyana he was a non-Buddha [unclear]
Okay, that’s clear, right?
[student]
well let’s call this bodhichitta number three. How about that?
I’m going to call these the paths. I’m going to call these the levels. And let’s call
these the four bodhichitta [unclear]. [student]
It’s a person, you try [unclear]. If you don’t give me all the elements of the
definition of bodhichitta [unclear] Give me those elements and add something
[unclear].
[student] Good, good, good. [student]
Maybe you better not say lost their tendency. Maybe you better think they no
longer see things as self-existent, okay.
You’re looking at sentient beings. You want to achieve Buddhahood for their
sake but when he looks at those sentient beings who are who?
The guys at work.
He does not see them as self-existent. [student] he still has the seeds in his mind
to do that but they’re not active, not seeing them as self-existent. [student]
You could say that. I never heard that. [unclear] [student]
He sees things as self-existent and he sees things as self-existent but he thinks he
might be wrong.
He sees things as self-existent but he doesn’t think they’re self-existent.
He doesn’t see things as self-existent but he still has a seed to see them as self-
existent.
He doesn’t see them as self-existent, he doesn’t think they’re self-existent and he
doesn’t have any seeds left to see them as self-existent. [students] [laughter]
I’m willing to, okay, let’s say it again. [students] [laughter]
I don’t mind if you describe it this way on your homework. And this is the
question.
Number one [students] bodhichitta number one thinks things are self-existent
but believes [student] his lama when his lama says it’s wrong to think they have
self-existence. You’re doing something wrong. [student] [unclear]
Alright, it’s almost too simple, but okay.
Person number two can never again think things are self-existent. [student] Ever
think again that things are self-existent but he is forced to see them as self-
existent despite himself.
Number three doesn’t think they’re self-existent and doesn’t see them as self-
existent but he still has the seeds in his mind to see them as self-existent.
Number four doesn’t see them as self-existent, doesn’t think they’re self-existent
and what? Has gotten rid of the seeds.
And that’s why he’s called the bodhichitta which has eliminated obscurations.
[student]
Wait, wait, are we talking level? [laughs] [students]
No, not saying that. Very good question. Only the Buddha can do that.
[student]
What are the antidotes that destroy the seeds?
That’s a good question. I’ve never [unclear] [laughs]
I’m sure it has something to do with going into more direct emptiness
perception, you see. What we call the destroyer is called {parchin …}, direct
perception of emptiness.
What is destroying those seeds, what is destroying mental habits at that point is
almost always the direct perception of emptiness. [students]
[unclear] [students] You must be in an extremely deep state of meditation which
means if you never allow yourself during the healthy middle age or youth to get
into a deep state of meditation you can never perceive emptiness.              It’s
impossible.
[student]
Doesn’t mean that. What I mean is that you have to be in very good physical
condition and you have to be {…}. {…} means you have to be very, very agile in
your meditation.
You have to be like someone who’s jogging every day. That’s a prerequisite. If
your body, if everything is not [unclear], you know, from doing it every day for
a long time, forget seeing emptiness directly. You cannot.
And you cannot move through these paths.
Each moving up in the path occurs during a state of deep meditation. [student] In
fact, when you perceive emptiness directly, you’re in another realm. You’re in
the form realm. Your mind is in the form realm. You’re not even in this realm.
[students]
How much would it take to lift two hundred pounds? I mean it takes, I don’t
know. I’d say you probably need to give it forty-five minutes or an hour a day
minimum.
[student] But I’d say for a normal person [unclear] [students] [laughter]
But see before you go into that meditation what must you have?
Deep intellectual understanding and you cannot get that without many hours of
class. Period. [student]
{..} means, {…}[unclear]
 Okay, have a snack and we’ll come back and do an easier one.
[student] Basically they are varying degrees of the perfection of the perfections,
six plus four.     [student] There are four on top of the six in another system.
[laughter] [laughs] I’m not going to teach you that.
So basically during the first bodhi, basically, this is just a question. You will study
it in the Madhyamikavatara which we’ll be studying a year from now.
But basically, the first bodhisattva level is the period when you’re learning to
practice generosity but now you understand it correctly. So instead of giving
something, it’s one thing to give something, to John a hundred dollars with
ignorance and it’s a wholly another thing if I give it to you with knowledge, you
know.
Then I’m, that is an act of, that’s an act of enlightenment. That’s going to get me
enlightenment. Every other act of giving that I did was a cause for samsara, was
a cause for my own suffering. [student] First bhumi. The first bhumi is the
perfection of the perfection of giving. [laughs]
The second bhumi?
Yeah. Morality. And then like that. It’s called {…}. It’s getting very special now
because of course you’ve had it before. [student]
[unclear] [student]
You just [unclear] for something we will study a year or two from now. You
don’t, but I couldn’t have explained it. I could have explained it [unclear] [laughs]
but [unclear] [student] [laughter] [students]
The first one is called {gyalpa}. Anyone know what that one is? King. [students]
That’s how we’re dividing bodhichitta.
What was the first division we had? Division into four by what? [students] By
level, spiritual levels. By level of what, mainly?
Emptiness.
Now we’re doing it, now we’re dividing bodhichitta into three kinds. How? By
way you think. By what kind of thought comes up in your mind as you feel
bodhichitta?
In the first one is called King’s wish, king’s wish for enlightenment.
Why is it called king’s wish for enlightenment?
He says, {…..}, first I will achieve enlightenment and then I will lead all other
beings to full enlightenment. That’s called king’s wish.
First I’ll achieve it and then I’ll lead all other beings. That’s one way of thinking.
[student] Yeah, ‘e’ stands for enlightenment. [student] Like, similar to. Because
the king in the tradition in India is always standing, is walking in front of
[unclear] [cut]
In front of the big, his subjects. He always walks in front. He’s going to get
across the finish line first and then he’ll turn around and help other people.
The second one, {dzebu}. {dzebu} means the, what do you call it? {dze} means a
keeper of any kind of animal. {lukdze} is a shepherd, {badze} is a cowherd, you
know, {tadze} is a horse herder. What do you want to call it? A {budze} is a
babysitter. [laughter] {dze} means, like a {dze}is a person who is I charge of
those things, you know.
Let’s call that shepherd. How’s that. But now you know what it really means.
How do you spell shepherd? [student]
Oh, {lukdze} means a sheep herder, shepherd. So when we add the {dze} it
means person who is in charge of watching over those things. So {bu dze} is a
babysitter.
Shepherd-like means, shepherd-like means the shepherd goes behind them. If
you’ve ever been in a traffic jam in India when there’s about a thousand sheep
crossing the road, [laughs] you know.
The guys stand behind and beat them and throw rocks. And dogs bark. They’re
pushing the beings in front of them so it says here, {…}, first I will make sure that
other people reach enlightenment, total Buddhahood, and then {…} I’ll achieve it.
[student]
It’s a good question.         It’s not discussed in this text directly but in my
understanding of it that’s always the first [cut]
[end side A]
[side B]
[student]
Okay, what do you guess {nyempa} is? What’s the only other possibility?
[student]
No, this one went, yeah, goes together. And {nyenpa} is a, what do you call that
thing? A ferryman. And in Tibet that’s very important. Why?
There’s no bridges and there’s a lot of rivers. [laughs] I mean, you get to the side
of the Hudson River and you gonna wait for a yak skin round thing that can
hold, like, three horses, you know. And everyone gets in and the guy takes you
across. That’s the bridge. There’s no bridges and there’s water everywhere. I
mean, all the [unclear] come out of Tibet.
And he’s hoping that, let me read it to you directly, {…}. I and all other sentient
beings may we reach Buddhahood at the same time, simultaneously. Okay,
we’ve got five minutes and then I can finish on time. You’re alright, everybody
happy? [student]
Yeah. Yeah. [students] Those would probably fit [unclear]. They would not be
contradictory. [students]
It doesn’t say anything about that. In my understanding of it as I say it’s really
the first one. It’s really you must achieve it first. That’s {…}
[student]
Yeah.
I think, I think there’s a very holy way of interpreting that. I don’t know, I
mean, maybe having something to do with the secret teachings. I’ll leave it at
that.
Okay [unclear] [students] [laughter] better to do the hard ones first. [student]
In India in the clothes shop they show you the lousy ones first, they pull out the
[unclear]
This is by basic nature. [student] There’s only two. Get used to it. [cut]
[student]
By the bodhichitta’s basic nature.
And I’m going to give you the technical definition which might come in handy.
[cut] [unclear] It’s the wish for enlightenment [student] this by the way, okay,
we’re going to talk about it.
There’s two elements here. One is taking a vow and one is actually engaging in
bodhisattva deeds, okay. And taking a vow if we had time it would be very
nice. The whole ceremony and part of the ceremony is discussed by Kedrup
Tenpa Dargye. He explains what’s going on and what you’re supposed to think
and what’s supposed to be in the room and who’s supposed to sit where. And
the whole thing is very beautiful
But basically this refers to the formal taking of the vow before your lama. You
go to him. He prepares everything in the room. He gets everything ready. You
say certain things. He says certain things and you vow, swear to become a
Buddha for all beings.
That’s a formal ceremony that you go through, okay. [student]
Yeah. These are, the top two sets of vows are independent of the bottom set of
vows which is freedom vows. These are lifetime vows of morality, some of
them are, vows of morality of body and speech incidentally. Not even of mind.
A monk’s vows are all mental, I’m sorry, physical and verbal. And then these
are mostly mental actually, okay.
The bodhisattva and tantric vows are more mental, more difficult to keep. So
{drupay semkye} it does depend on, to have this which is called the wish of
engagement, this {drupa} means to engage, to actually get into something. One
of the scriptures says, {.. semkye} is thinking about taking a trip. {drupay
semkye} is when your foot moves, okay. [laughs]
It depends on taking a vow and it depends on actually engaging in bodhisattva
deeds. And then Khedrup Tenpa Dargye says, what do I mean, what does the
books mean when they say, what do they mean when they say actually
engaging in bodhisattva deeds? He says, for example, in the action of giving
something to someone, which is the first perfection, you know, as you give it to
them you are thinking I, you know, I want to become a Buddha. By this action
my I become a Buddha to really help. It must be under that influence. And even
thinking directly at that moment, you know, as you give something to
somebody, you know, I’m giving this so I can become a Buddha in the future
and really help this person as the Buddha did when he gave his body to the tiger.
Or when you keep your morality, I’ll not lie today. And the reason I’m not lying
is I want to become a Buddha so I can really help people. Like that.
Or patience. I’m not going to get angry at him because I’d like to become a
Buddha and be able to help people out.
[student]
That’s what they call it, yeah. Some people call it, there are many translations of
this. Some people say ‘aspiring’. Some people call this ‘the wish’. I like wish for
this because it’s defined as the wish. I call this the ‘prayer’, the prayer for
bodhichitta. That’s where you’re just praying I wish, {monpa} means pray.
{monlam} festival is that same word. It’s the great prayer festival. It’s where
you’re, you know, I hope I can become like Buddha to help people.
You’re sitting in your room. You haven’t taken any vow yet. You’re not in the
action of giving or keeping your morality or not getting angry with the
conscious intention of becoming a Buddha to help other people. That does not
depend on that. {drupay semkye} does depend on that. So the second, this is
really the most important division of the bodhichittas.
This is the classical one that you see.
[student]
It does depend on these two elements. He has taken a vow and when he does
his perfections, when he gives something to somebody, when he catches himself
getting angry it’s not that he’s thinking oh I shouldn’t get angry. It’s a bad thing.
He’s not even thinking I shouldn’t get angry it will make me see this angry man
again. He’s thinking I’m not going to get angry because then I won’t be able to
become a buddha to help other people.
[student]
Yeah and that’s {monpa}. But when you’re actually going out and, you know,
when, yeah, you can start tonight. [student] Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can have, no
but if you take the vow. [student]
What is a vow? I mean I’ll give you just a few and then we’ll stop. {……..}
Those are the root vows, okay. {dak ..}, to talk good about yourself and say bad
things about other people. First bodhisattva vow, {…}.
{…} not to provide Dharma or money or whatever else to some one who needs
it if you can. {…} not to accept criticism well. [student] [laughs] Those are the
vows, you vow not to do those things.
{…} is to tell people, oh come on this Mahayana stuff is difficult, you know, can
never [unclear] {..} To in any way misuse the funds of a Dharma organisation,
you know. {…}, to say that Hinayana is worthless is breaking your bodhisattva
vows. And things like that. I mean those are very [student]
Yes and you have to realise that. It’s an important point. When you vow to
something, when you swear to something, something changes in you.
Everything you do then, if you don’t lie before you take a vow and if you don’t
lie after you take a vow, the second action is infinitely more powerful. And you
have to know that. You have to realise that. The vows have this function. Big
difference. There is a big difference and you have to be aware of that. [student]
And if you break them [laughs] it’s worse. You know, if you lie, you know
before you took a vow not to lie and then you lie after taking a vow, it’s much
more serious.
[student]
To, yeah, yeah. And then maybe if we do well we could arrange some
ceremony where we all, it would be nice, I think it would be nice if we asked
Rinpoche to give us the vows again. Why not, you know.
I’d like that. It’d be nice. [student] Yeah, or else we go there.
He has offered by the way to come here in the spring and teach {ganden
hlagyama} which is the subject of this thangka but we won’t get into that.
Okay. [student] Oh, which leads me to another point. [laughs] there’s also a
division into twenty something, {……} It’s from the Abhisamayalamkara.
There’s also a division into two others: ultimate bodhichitta and apparent
bodhichitta. I’m not going to [student] yeah. So I’ve given you four, three and
now two.
I’ve given you the division into four. [laughter] I’ve given you a division into
three. I’ve given you the division into four by what?
By spiritual level.
I’ve given you a division into four different kinds of bodhichitta by levels. That
was the first thing we talked about before our break.
The I gave you a division into three by how you’re thinking when you get it.
And now I gave you a division into two by the very essence of that state. One is
that you thinking, the other is where you’re thinking while you do it.
Yeah. [student] No, I didn’t say, I didn’t touch the fourth kind of way of dividing
it. And I’m not going to. [student] But if you’re interested I’ll tell you. And it’s
not on your homework and it’s not on your quiz.
But there is a division into two. One is called ultimate and one is called apparent,
okay. Ultimate means the direct perception of emptiness.
I mean, you can divide, this is a new way of dividing, which you’re not required
to know. I’m just mentioning it for people who read the material. [student] It is
a fourth division. [student]
And the ultimate refers to the perception of emptiness. [student] Yeah, nothing
to do with bodhichitta. Nothing to do with the wish for others blah, blah, blah.
It’s a direct perception of emptiness. [student]         Yeah. [student] What we
normally think of it as. [student] Yeah, become a Buddha to help others. But
I’m not, you don’t have to know that. I didn’t talk about it, you know. It’s in
the book. It’s just for people who are reading the material and wondered what it
was.
[student]
By the way, we have it in our {dakye, ….}
[student] {….} No, it’s in the {dakye}
No, but I mean ultimate bodhichitta is mentioned in the {dakye}.
[student]
Yeah, yeah, that’s true. [student]
When you’re in a debate and your partner is a picky guy you always mention it.
[student]
I won’t mark anyone down for [unclear] [students]
Here’s your homework. I apologise I did it on the, I had to do a few things for
my lama. I couldn’t do it on the other printer. That’s life. [student]
And I see you on [students] Thursday. [ thanksgiving announcement]
[students]
[prayer: short mandala] [prayer: dedication]
931118-1.aaa