Definitive and Provisional Teachings

A teaching given by Drupon Rinpoche at Sekar Retreat Centre, 27th of July 2015.

When listening to dharma teachings, in what way should we be thinking?

There are two aspects to this: first the text itself, and second the manner in which the Lama is explaining the text.

For the first, what is the intention/motivation of the author, what view are they presenting. Then secondly, how is the Lama explaining the view that is presented in the text? If it is being presented in a very direct way, this is a definitive teaching, or it can be given as a provisional teaching, if the Lama is teaching in a less direct manner. To be able to differentiate between the two we need intelligence, and the correct way of seeing things.There is also a third consideration, whether the teaching is at our level or not? If not, then it is not directly relevant to us, we are unable to put it into practice directly. So then the next consideration is, what do I need to do to get to this level? How does the view that is being taught trouble my view, where to I have disbelief in this view. Because if we are just holding to our view and the teacher teaches their view, we cannot connect, we can’t communicate.

So a teacher needs to teach in two different ways. They need to do their best to totally discard the worldly view and present the true dharma view. So disregarding the students view and to be just telling it how it is, they have to remain true to the genuine dharma view. Secondly, they need to be able to teach in a manner so as to bring the students view to the true and authentic dharma view, to lead them to the dharma view. This becomes a provisional meaning teaching, and the first is a definitive meaning teaching.

So when listening to the teaching we need to consider whether it is a direct teaching of a particular view, or a provisional, less direct teaching, to bring our view to the view of the text. If we become skilled in this all teachings become very sweet on the ear and opens the door of intelligence. Our mind will become more expansive.

So when listening to the dharma we need to keep these things in mind.

Transcribed by Samten Drime.