[The Key that Unlocks the Door to the Noble Path (Lam bzang sgo ...

[14.] all three realms: Meaning all the world. Buddhism teaches that there are three
realms of existence. We live in the "desire" realm, so called because our principal
interests are food and sex. Higher up is the "form" realm, where beings live in a
state of meditation and have beautiful forms. Even higher is the "formless" realm,
where beings are free of gross suffering and have only mental bodies.
[15.] More than a wishing jewel... From the very brief version of Lord Tsongkapa's
Steps on the Path to Buddhahood (f. 56a, bibliography entry 63). The entire context
appears below in the discussion of renunciation.
[16.] three "problems of the pot": How not to listen to a teaching—like a pot with
the lid closed (not paying attention to what is going on), a pot full of grime
(listening with ignoble motivations, such as the desire for a big reputation), and a
pot with the bottom fallen out (not retaining what was heard—one is advised to
review daily with one's fellow students). See Lord Tsongkapa's greater Steps on
the Path, entry 61, f. 16; as well as Pabongka Rinpoche's famed Liberation in Our
Hands, entry 47, ff. 54-5.
[17.] six images for the instruction: How one should listen to a teaching—
a) Think of yourself as a patient, for your mental afflictions (desire
and the rest) make you sick.
b) Think of the dharma as medicine.
c) Think of your teacher as a master physician.
d) Think of following his teachings exactly, and as long as needed,
as following the doctor's orders to get better.
e) Think of the Buddhas as infallible, or of the Infallible One (your
teacher) as a Buddha.
f) Pray that this great cure, the teachings of the Buddhas, may long
remain in the world.
See Lord Tsongkapa, entry 61, ff. 16-19, and Pabongka Rinpoche, entry 47, ff. 55-
61.