Class 5 - Generating the Mahayana Path of Preparation

The 5th class of Spring 2014 term was held on Wednesday, the 16th day of April. The Mahayana Path of Preparation is the topic of the first half of the term.

Download the Spring 2014 Course Text-PDF, prepared by Geshe Kelsang Wangmo.

Please NOTE: Geshe Wangmo presented an overview of the Mahayana Path of Preparation in the 7th Class of the Spring 2013 Term. You can download the Recorded MP3 tracks of that class, together with a transcript of NOTES from the class, and the Handouts Geshe Wangmo prepared as the text for that class at this blog's April 24, 2013 POST.

DOWNLOAD Recorded MP3 Tracks of Class 5:

Track 1 - 4. Mode of Generating (the Mahayana Path of Preparation).

[Handout pp. 32 - continuing Six Topics that introduce this Path [Handout p. 27] in Panchen Sonam Drakpa's General Meaning (phar phyin spyi don - ཕར་ཕྱིན་སྤྱི་དོན་).

Discussion / Q & A  re:  Mental Support Required to Generate the First Moment of the Mahayana Path of Preparation:

• Concentrations, 
• Union Calm Abiding & Special Insight, 
• Mind & Mental Factors 

Track 2 - Mental Function:  Main Minds & Mental Factors

• Illustration
• A person (Adele) & her various functions (Adele the Student, Adele the Woman, Adele the cook, Adele the Buddhist) - a Main Mind & its Mental Factors - different isolates of one entity.


• Three Types of Awareness [see Class 2 & 3] - [Handout p. 32]
•  Awareness arisen from Hearing (thos byung gi blo - ཐོས་བྱུང་གི་བློ་) - a correctly assuming consciousness
•  Awareness arisen from Contemplation (bsam byung gi blo - བསམ་བྱུང་གི་བློ་) - inferential cognizer
• Awareness arisen from Meditation (bsgoms byung gi blo - བསྒོམས་བྱུང་གི་བློ་) - mental factor of calm abiding or an awareness that is concomitant with the mental factor of calm abiding


• Three Types of Wisdom *
• Wisdom arisen from Hearing (thos byung gi shes rab - ཐོས་བྱུང་གི་ཤེས་རབ་) - mental factor of wisdom that is a correctly assuming consciousness
• Wisdom arisen from Contemplation (bsam byung gi shes rab - བསམ་བྱུང་གི་ཤེས་རབ་) - mental factor of wisdom that is an inferential cognizer
• Wisdom arisen from  Meditation (bsgoms byung gi shes rab - བསྒོམས་བྱུང་གི་ཤེས་རབ་) - mental factor of wisdom that is concomitant with the mental factor of calm abiding.

* Note: Any mental consciousness that realizes its object is a wisdom.


• Classifications of Mind & Mental Factors & Seven Types of Minds (Lo-rig)


• Distinguishing:  
• a Mental Factor (Wisdom arisen from Hearing) from 
• a Main Mind (an Awareness arisen from Hearing)  

• Possibilities of Relationship (Analytical Tool of Philosophy/Debate):
• Contradictory
• Equivalent
• Three Possibilities
• Four Possibilities

• Relationship between Wisdom and Awareness here :
• Whatever is a Wisdom is necessarily is an Awareness.  
• Whatever is an Awareness is not necessarily a Wisdom.  
• There’s something that is both, a Wisdom Awareness

• Relationship between a Wisdom arisen from Hearing and an Awareness arisen from Hearing here :
• Whatever is a Wisdom arisen from Hearing is necessarily is an Awareness arisen from Hearing.  
• Whatever is an Awareness arisen from Hearing is not necessarily a Wisdom arisen from Hearing (e.g., a feeling, aspiration).  

4th Type of Awareness & Wisdom [Handout p. 32-3]:

• Awareness Mainly arisen from Meditation - awareness that is a union of calm abiding & special insight

• Wisdom Mainly arisen from Meditation - the mental factor of wisdom that is a union of calm abiding & special insight

Q & A

Track 3 - Wisdom Focusing on Emptiness [Handout 34-5]

• Developing Calm Abiding

•  Developing the Union of Calm Abiding & Special Insight 
• Analysis of Mental Factors that are Different but of One Entity.  
• Concomitant Mental Factors - Mental Factors that Work Together.

If any of the LINKS don't work, please leave a COMMENT or notify us by E-Mail.

This is the 5th class of the Spring 2014 term of

the Perfection of Wisdom course
which addresses 3rd Topic - Mahayana Path of Preparation
of Chapter 1 of Maitreya's
Ornament for Clear Realizations - Abhisamayalamkara.