Chapter 4: Verses 90–100
Geshe Yeshe Thabkhe 
Aryadeva's 400 Stanzas 
Jul 15, 2013 Part of a series of teachings on Aryadeva's 400 Stanzas on the Middle Way given on an annual basis by Geshe Yeshe Thabkhe from 2013-2017.
Motivation for listening to the teachings
- Understanding the compatibility of method and wisdom and cultivating them as a path to attain buddhahood
- Bodhisattvas combine the virtues of reality and conventionality to attain buddhahood
- Definition of conventionality and reality
- How ultimate truth and conventional truth are compatible
- How establishing the two truths as compatible overcomes all the afflictions
- How practicing the path based on both method and wisdom helps us attain Form and Wisdom bodies of a Buddha
Verses 90–100
- Refuting that following social treatises makes the people happy
- Violence towards enemies is not a Dharma practice
- Refuting that dying in battle is a cause for good rebirth
- Why a king should not be proud as a guardian of his people
- Refuting appropriateness of harsh punishment
- Refuting arrogance because of being a king’s son
- Lack of innate division between people
- Refuting the inherent existence of social classes
- Refuting the appropriateness of pride because of power and possessions
Geshe Yeshe Thabkhe
Geshe Yeshe Thabkhe was born in 1930 in Lhokha, Central Tibet and became a monk at the age of 13. After completing his studies at Drepung Loseling Monastery in 1969, he was awarded Geshe Lharampa, the highest degree in the Geluk School of Tibetan Buddhism. He is an emeritus professor at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies and an eminent scholar of both Madhyamaka and Indian Buddhist studies. His works include Hindi translations of The Essence of Good Explanation of Definitive and Interpretable Meanings by Lama Tsongkhapa and Kamalasila's commentary on the Rice Seedling Sutra. His own commentary, The Rice Seedling Sutra: Buddha’s Teachings on Dependent Arising, was translated into English by Joshua and Diana Cutler and published by Wisdom Publications. Geshela has facilitated many research works, such as a complete translation of Tsongkhapa’s The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, a major project undertaken by the Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center in New Jersey where he teaches regularly.
