Ornament of Cla Reiztion:
A ommenta on the Pajnapar amita o the Maira Budda
Thrang u Rinpoche
T Oamnt Cla Ralizatin
The Ornament of Clear Realization: eachings on the Prajnaparamita of the Nt Buddha, Maitreya ( SkI Abhisamayalankara-prajna aramita upadeshashastra)
A Commentary by
Thrangu Rnpoche Gsh Lhp Oal Tanslatn by Kn and Kata Hlmes
F D W-G
Copyright © 1 by Khenchen Thrangu Al rits reserved. No p of this book, either text or ar, may e reproduced in any form, electronic or otherwise, without writen permission om the Namo Buddha Seminr Published y the Namo Buddha Seminar 130 Kalmia Avenue Boulder, CO, 80304 USA Te (303) 44-08 Visit Rinpoches Web site: wrinpochecom
Ackowledgmets We woud ike Ken and Hoes for providing an ora trsation for to thisank teaching. WeKatia would aso like to thank Tomiko Yabumoto for her excellent work of transcriing ths ansation Finaly, we woud like to thank Dr. Coeia Weishr-Gnther for going over the tapes and rensating it
Notes We use the convention of B.CE (Before Current Era) for B C" and CE (Current Era) for A D." Technical words itaicized the rst tieGossary that they used to aer the reader thae t they may be foun d in e of e Terms Tibetan words (except for the outine) are given as they are pronounced, not speled in Tibetn. Their actua speing can e found in the Glossary of Tietan Terms
Su J Tpc w T N Tpc I. The Knowledge of All Phenomena 1( pa tham cad mkhyen pa) 2
A Bodhichita (sems bse [1 conditio] 1 Its Characteristics (mtsani 2 Its Categories (dbye ba) B Practice isctions (gdams ngag) [2 codition 1 . Practice (sub a) 2 The hs (bdan pa ams) 3 The ree jewels (dkon mcog gsum) The Three Tes of Diligence (brston 'us am pa gsum) 4. vercoming hl activities (ma zhen pa) 5 vercoming spirital fatigue ongs su mi ngal ba) 6. vercomig faiheedne ss (lam yongs su 'in pa) . The ve kinds of visions (syan lnga)
28 35
36
38 39
(mngon six cle coitions 8 The 9 (mtong lam) ses drug) The pah of insit 10 The pa of cutivation (sgom lam)
C. The for stages of separatio [3rd coitio (Pah of Junctio) nges 'byed yan lag am a bzhi) l Warmig (dro 2. Pe (rtse mo) 3. Forbere (bzod a) 4 iest worldly harma (ig rten chos mchog) D Buddha-aure, the asis for our practice [4 conditio] (sgrub ati rten rang bzhin gnas rigs) 16. The sx hras of realizatio (rtogs pati chos ug)
po'iba'i sub a)a) reedies en 8 Achievig (spong sgrub Achievig abndoning 9. Achievig coletions of o (bde sdug yongs su gtugs a' i sub a)
10 Achievng wisdo wi copassi on
(ses rab sing rtser bc pa'i sub pa)
11 Achieving exaordinary disciples
(slob ma thun mong min a'i srub a)
12. radall achievig benet of others
zhan don du rim pa byed a i sub pa)
13. Achievngja wiout eort
(e ses rtsol ba mi mngat ar jug ati sgrub pa)
1
41
44 45
Te Onaent ofClear Realzaton E. T ecs of Focs(dmgs a) 5 coniion] 49 1. Vire (dge a) 2 onvr e (m dge a) 3 eal acions (lung ma stan) 4 Worlly nersnding (g ten a tgs a) 50 5 Tanscenenal nersandng (gs ten las das a tgs a) (zag cas chs) 6 Taine enomena (zag a med a chs) 7 Unaine enomena 8 Creae enomena (dus yas chs) 9 Uncreae enomena (dus ma yas chs) 1 0 rinay enomena (thun mng a chs) 1. Uncomon enomena (thun mng ma n a chs) F Te Pose (che du ya a) [6 coniion] 1 Grea min (sems chen 2 Grea a anoning (sng a chen ) 3 Grea realizaion (tgs a chen ) G rmor-lie Pracice (g cha sgu a) 7 coniion] 1 Generosi (sn a)
51
52 53
55
(tshul Discilne(zd 3 Paience a)khms) 4 Diigence (tsn gus) 5 ediaion (sam gtan) 6 isom (shes a) H lie Pracice (ug a sgu ) 8 coniion] Formless meiaions (sam gtan gzugs me 2 Six Paia s ha n dug) 3 Pas (lam) 4 For liiless meiaions (tshad med zh) 5 Having no oec (dm gs a med a dang /dan a) 6 Pry o e ee circles (k/ sum)
56 58
(che du ya a 7 59 8 Proselness Six cler coiions 9 owlege of all enomena (am a thams cad mken a) Te Pracice of cclaion (tshgs sgu a) [9 coniion] 60 1 . Grea coa ssion (snyng e chen ) 2 Gi ving (syn a) 6 3 Disciline (tshul khms) 4. Paience (zd a) 62 5 Diligence tsn us) 6 Mediaion (sam gtan ) 7 isom (shes a) 8 Tranqilliy (zh gnas) 9 Insig (lhag mthng)
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Te utne of the opcs 10 The p ath of combining e two (ng d 'b e ba la) 1 Skilll mes (thabs as) 2 Jnana e shes) 3 Merit (bsod nas) 4 Paths (la) 5 Dhani (gngs)
63
6 (sa) Boisattv levelspo) 17 Remedies (gen
J The Practice of Ceain Release (nges pa 'byng ba) [l O cond] 63 1 Puposeness (ched d bya ba) 2 Seness (a pa 3 ccomplishing e benet of beings (ses can don sgb) 4 Eorless, spontneous ccomplisment ('bad ed lhn s b pa) 5 Trnscending etealishm and nnihilism (tag chad th a las ' das pa) 6 chieving meng of the ree vehicles (theg pa gs don thob pa) 7 (a cad ken pa) nowledge of all phenomen 8 Beg in possession of e ps (lapa thas yl can) I nowledge o the Path (la shes pa)
he Fondation of e Pa (la ten) 1 Removing pride (og og pa ed pa) 2 Cetainty of e bject (l nges pa) 3 Encompssing (sob pa) 4 atre (ang bhn) 5 The nctions (of the preceding) (de y las) B nowledge f e srava path (an thos la shes pa) C nowledge of the praekauddha path (bsepal sangs la D The th o ang f insig ht ofas e ma yanashes) (theg chen mthong lam) E Fnctions of e mhayna pa of cultivation
67 68
69 7751
(theg chen sgo la byed pa) 82 Complete pacication (lhn nas h' ba) 2 Respect for all beings (se bo thas cad la 'dd pa) 3 Victo over e delements (on o ngs pat l l al ba ) 4 ot being subdued by negative inuences nod p b ba ed pa)
F spiation of the mhayana path of cultivation (theg chen os pa sgo la) 1 ne's own benet (ang don) 2 The benet of oers s don)
3
83
he amen ofCear Realzaton 3 Te benei o oes(han don) G Tee inds pise on p o uivion (bstod bkur bsngags gsu gso la) H Dediion on e p o uivion (bsngo ba sgo la) 1. Spei dediion (bsngo ba khad par an) 2. ndowed wi e non-obeiing spe
84 8
( dgs aeisi pa an) 3. Hving epa uneing phn a l og pa tshan d an) 4 soed (dben pa) eing mind o nue o buddds (sang ras rang bhn dran pa) 6 ompnied by si mens (thabs khas dang bas pa) . o eis is (tshan a ed a) 8 esing o e buds (sangs ras es su rang ba) 9 o beonging o e ee ems (khas gsu du a gtogs pa) 0-12. Lesse, midde, ge dediion (bsngo a hung brng he gsu) (res su (gr rang sgo 88 . Rejoiing on e p o uivion J Te ievemen on e p o uivion ub paba sgo la)la) 89 K e puiion on te pt o utivion(a dag sgo la) 1 Cuses (ru) . Conduive uses (se ba ru) b bsuing uses ( se ba ru) 2. uiion ise (a dag dngos) III Knowledge of the Foundaion (gh shes pa)
o emining in sms beuse o wisdom
93
(she s rab s srd pa la gnas a)
o emining i pee beuse o mpssion (snng h baolano being gnas pa) C Remon esses beuse e si lll mens (thabs a n pas rng ba)
94
D. o being emoe beuse o being e sil mes (thabs s rng ba a n
E. Unvobe tings thun ogs ) 9 F Remedying es (gen po phogs) G ppliion (sbor ba) 1. Te bsis o eisis om nd so on(khad gh gugs sogs) 2. Te eisis su s impenene (khad hos rtag sogs)
3. Wee i is te suppo o quiies on tan rten du a rogs pa dang rab tu rogs pa)
--
Te tne /the opcs 4 ll on dos (spyod pa H Th qual o ths (de yi mam i I. Th pa o insght of hrs nd so on
96 97
(an thos la sogs mthong ati lam Th uth o surng (sdug sngal i den pa a. Impannc (mi rtag pa a pa b. Emptnss Sur ng (sdug c. (rangsngal hin stong d. Slssnss (dag med pa 2 Th uth o srcinaton (kun yung gi den pa a. Caus (ru b Th orgin of all (kunyung c. Thorough dvlopmnt (ra ras d. Condton (ren 3 Th ut of cssaton ( gog pa i d en pa a. Cssaton ( gog pa b. P ac (hi a c. Excllnc (a nom
d. Dnt mrgnc 4 Th uth (lam i(nges den yung pa o th pa a. Th pa (lam b. Int llgnc (rig pa c. ccompshmnt (su pa d Dntv mrgnc (nges yin I The Application of Realization of All Aspects A. spct (am pa B pplcato n of practc (syor a Th practtonr (sor a po i gang ag a Vssl for harng (an pa i sno pa ipa sno b adopton (len c. Vssl for ntaton (in sno 2 Th actal practc (syor a dngos C. Th qualts on tan D Th ults (son E. Th chactrstcs o Prajnapmta (mtshan i atr (ngo o i 2 Supriori (kad par 3 nowldg (shes pa 4 nction (yed las F In amnt w lbraton (thar pa cha mthun Essnc (ngo o 2 (dgos pa i yon tan
Qualtis ndd
5-
03 04
06 08 09
0
he Onaet oClear Realzaton Fit p) Dilignc btson us) c v bst ttitd bsm p phun sum tshogs p) d onconcptl sdi m p m tog p tng nge tn) Wisdom wic ows t nt of vting hos ms m p thms u shes p shes b) h mthun) G 1.nEqlity gmnt dnit mging in wit loving ttitd bymsnges semsbye mnym p) 2 Eqlity n wising to nt hn sems mm p) 3. Eqli of mn in ing no d
11
khong kho b me p sems mm p) 4. Eqlity in doing no mm p tshe b me p mnym p) . Eqlity in no s spc tshg tsub m sm b mnm p) 6. Rgding bings s fts nd mots h ng m sems) . Rgding bing s s bots nd sists spun ng sn mo s ems) 8. Rgding bngs s sons nd dgts bu ng bu mo sems) 9 Rgding bigs s ltivs nd inds bshes ng gogs sems) 10. Rgding bings s in en ng sng g sems) m og m) H.T vsibl ptsofhy ppliction qlity of xistnc n pc L s h mm sbyo b) J T ppliction of piingzhng g sbo b) K T ppliction of silll mns thbs mkhs sbyo b)
120 121 123 124
v Applcaton when reachn the pea tse mo n p sbyo b)
12 tse mo so b tgs) 126 B Incs in mit bso nms m pphe b) C Stbili btn p) D Pct biding of mnd sems kun tu gns p)
T pplicton of signs of t p
E. T ppliction of t p of t pt of insigt
mthong m tse sbyo) 1. Tt to movd spng by) Concpt of objct bung b m p tog p) c oncpt of pciv n p m p tog p) 2. ppliction of sit of pt of insigt mthong m tse sbyo nos) F T ppliction of sit of t pt of cltivton gsom m tse sbyo)
G. T ppliction o f p o f bsnc of ostcl s b h me p tse sbyo)
H. Mistn concpts wic movd bs by og tog)
127
130 131 132 133
Te utlne ofthe opcs
VI. Gradual Application of the Bodhisattva Path
(mthar is pai sbyor ba) G. e six p itas (har pi drug) H e recollecton of te Budda (sags ras res su dra pa) e recollection of te dna (cos es su dra pa)
137 138
(dgedu eskhrims su draes pa)su dra pa) 139 J e K (tshul erecollection recollectionofofe tesanga rit conduct L e recollection of giving (gtog ba res su dra pa) M e recollection of te divne state (lha es su dra pa) 140 . e ue nature of penomena (chos thams cad i gas lugs)
VL Instantaneous Appication (sad cig mati sbyor ba) . Sowing te accumulation of erit (bsod ams i tshogs bsta pa)
B Sowing te accumulation of wisdom
141 142
e shes i tshogs bsta pa)
C. Sowing te simultanei of e to accuulations zug ug tu of bsta D. (tshogs Sowinggis e siultaeity owpa) ngs are and ow tey appear 143 (gas tshul dag sag tshul zug ug tu bsta pa) VIII The dharmakaya (chos sku)
. Svabavikakaya (go bo id sku) B. Jnadaakaya (e shes chos sku) C. Sbogakaya (logs spyod rogs pai sku) Possessng t e ve ceranties (ges pa lga lda) 1. Ceranty of place (gas ges pa) 2 Cerain of form (sku ges pa) 3. Cerainty of teacings (chos ges pa)
4. (khor 5. Ceranty of entourage time (dus ges pa)ges pa) D. irmakaya (sprul sku)
e Glossa e Glossary of ibet erms e otes e Biblioapy
7-
145 146 147 150
152 157 165 167 171
he Onaent ofClear Realzaton
Table Th Fiv Works ofMaita 1 he ent of Mahana Dscourses Skt ahana-sutra lakara, ib heg pa chen po do sde ran) his work consists o twentone chapters and is written in verse covers a discssion o Bddhanatre, ege in the three jewels, the mahaana paths and the doctrine o emptiness 2 e aent o Clear RealzatonSk abhsaalara ib ngon rtogs ran)his work is a verse commenty on the Prajnaparamita liteatre which comes in the 100000 and in 2000 and in 8000 verses) and like that literatre is divided into eight vajra topics his text is studied in all or ibetan lineages and is sed in the stdy o the stra system 3 Dstngushng the Mddle o the Extrees Skt adhyantavbhaga, ib dbus tha a byed) his work is a commenta exponding primarily on the hitamatra schol o Bdhism especially the Sentong school he text explores etealism and nihiism and why these are not pa the middle wa 4 Dsngushng Dhara and Dharata Skt dhara-dhaata vbhaga, ib chos dang chos nyd a bye his is a commenta on the tathagatagarbha doctrine and the Chittamata school o thoght 5. Te Uttara antra Skt uttaratantra shastra, ib ru bla a). his wor is written in verse and has seven vajra oints It is mainly a commentary on the three jewels the seed o Bdha natre hich is inheren in all sentient beings and the attribtes and activities o the Bddha parilarly deals with the sbject o Bddhanatre and the development o the realization o the natre o penomena throgh the prication o the distrbing emotions
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Foreword Abot two tosand ve ndred years ago te Bdda attained enligtenment and began delivering a remarkable set of teaings at te age of tir-ve His rst teaing was at all beings seek appiness bt tat tey do not aieve a state of permanent appiness bease of teir atament to objets Tese are of orse te teaings of te or Noble trts wi was a fomal disorse to ve of is disiples wi laid down te ndamentals o te Bddist pat or te net fove years te Bdda tagt m differently; e wold sally meet in a large gaering and ten e wold aept qesions and answer tese qestions. His answers varied depending on e apai and nderstanding of wo asked te qestion and te answer was spei to tat partilar individals needs Wen te Bddist teaings were olleted togeter aer is passing away is stdents made a olletion of disorses wi were essentially qestion and answers to individals qestions and were not organied in any systemati way Tese teaings alled te stras ll over 30 volmes and it was dilt for te average Bddist to eat te essential meaning om tese disorses As a reslt of tis some enligtened individals in later entries stdied tese stas and meditated pon tem for a long time and ten wote ve arelly written ommentaries or sastras wi organied tese sas into basi temes Trang inpoe empasies tat te ators of te sastas did not epressed teir personal eoies and beliefs as niversi professors do today bt tey were eaordina individals wo reeived transmissions om spemndane sores. Tis may seem farfeted to te weste solar bt anyone wo as spent any time wit Bddist lamas knows tat tis ommniation goes on even today wit te most realied lamas In te fort entr CE tere were a pair of remarkable broters wo lived in ndia. Te yonger broter Vasband spent years sdying nder te eat gs in ndia and Kasmir and pon reaing enligtenment wrote an eaordinary sastra on te -
he Onaent of Clear Realzaton bhidhana called the Abhdharakosha The bhidhana, to eal simpli, is the Buddhist cosmolog and classicatin o knowledge which tries to sstematize the haa in a hihl structured set o concepts This book written in Sanskrit was almost lost with the Moslem invasion o ndia in the eleventh centur, but was copied and taken to epal unchanged and Tibet and into ortunatel Tibetan. There it remained essentiall omtranslated the ninth centur on to toa whee it is still studie b all Tibetan sects in their monastic colleges his work is classied as a major work o the hinaana school The older brother, sanga was even more remarkable sanga spent a period o twelve ears meditating on atrea who was an srcinal disciple o the Buddha who achieved such high spiritual acievement that Maiea dells in the sambhogakaa er these twelve ears, which involved man trials, sanga was able to meet" with Maitrea. o be able to contact the sambhogakaa requires was an extraordinaril realied being. Maitrea sanga able to receivepure the and transmisson o veFrom shastras These shastras were Te Utara antrwhich is a treatise on Bdha nature When hrangu Rinpoche rst came t the West he chose tis as his rst text to teach t Westeers This teachng is now available rom amo Buddha Pulications he second treatise is the Abhsaa-anra whch is this particular text on the ast Prajnaparamita teachings The third treatise is the Madhyantavbhaga or Dstngushng the Mddle o the Extees. Ths text describes expands on the tenets o the idlewa school This teaching o Maitrea as also taught b Thrangu Rinpoche and is available amo Buda Publications. The ourth reatise is the om Dharadharata-vbhaga or Dstngushng hara and Dharata Ts work also discusses Buddhanature and is available rom amo Buddha Publications Finall, there s the Mahanasutraankara or the aent ofthe
Mahana uras
Te Bddha taght three paths or tree vehicles The rst pat is the hinaana which stresses to generalize greatl the examination o min through meditation and the accumulation o merit. he accomplished practitioner o this path is calle an arhat The second vehicle is the mahaana path hich includes everthing in the -10
e Foreword hiayaa vehicle wih a pecial emphai n he ccep empine phenmea ad e empine el The accmlihed pe hi pah i called a dhiaa The cncep empine i he Pajapaamia eachig S we can ee ha hi cmmenay he Abisaalanra i ne he undai he mahayaa eaching why hi ex a and wellamg a he all he u ex Maieya ae Thi aughihughu Tie ec Tie Buddhim. The aent of Clear Realization ummaize he va Pajapaamia ex 00,000 vee Thi Pajapaamia ex alng wih i he vei 25000 and 8000 vee came m he gea aic paciine Nagajua wh lived in he cenuy u ea. The Onaent cmpie 80 diic pi and hee pin ae memized i Tiean maic cllege (heda) and ae a ineal pa a Buddhi educai F hi ea e have icluded each hee pin and hei Tiean name in he exeive ulie he hi w Uunaely ex he aent ha ee alaed ly a ew ime in nglih We ae w pepaig a ex hi cmmey wih a anlai he ex. The ex i he m pa imply lg li wd (vey imila he 80 pi) ad hi mae he ex wihu a cmmeay aily icmpehenile. We e epecially unae have he ea chl Thagu ipche cmmey hi impan w l Jh Ph D.
he Onaent of Clear Realzaton
Th Fiv Paths
(Sk panca argaTib la lnga)
Tese ve paths are referred to any tes n he naen oflear Realzaton
Path of accumulation (Skt sabharaarga,Tib chogs la) n this path h praitionr pratis th our ounations o indulnss and prais wha to adopt an what to rjt. 2.Path of Preparation (Sk proga-argaTib sbyor la)
On this path also alld th path o uniation h praitionr dvlops a proound insigh into h ur Nobl Truths and uts th roo to h dsir ral. Path of Insight (Skt darsanaarait thong la) On this path also ald path o sing th pratiionr ralizs h our Nol Truths an nrs into h rst bodhisattva lvl whih is ralizing h ptinss o phnona
Path of Cultivation (Sk bhavana-argaTib sgo la) On this path also alld th pah o diation baus h Tibtan word ans ditation nand thisbgins path th ontinus sgoo th ath o nsight o pratition nr th snd th insight hrough ninth bodhisattva vls
Path of No-more-earning (Skt. ashahaarga,Tib slob
pa la)
On his path also alld h pah o llnt (Sktnshtha-arga) th pratiionr atains oplt mdiation or saadhi and attains Buddhahood. 12 -
1
An Introduction to the Prajnaparamita The Buddha aught in three main hases hi we all he three 2 igs of the wheel ofdhara The rs tuing o te heel o dharma ook lae in Varanasi hi e no all Benares In tese rst eahigs the Buddha augh e four noble truths:the trth of suering, e trth of the srcinaio o suferig, te rh of he essation of suering, and te truh of the path wi leads to the essation of suerig By austomig ourseves to these truhs by meditaing upon tese four trhs, e a ahieve the sate of a or a are individuals who ahieve he shrava itio of hepraebuddha, hnana In the ho third uing of he wheel of dharma he Buddha aught on Buddhanatureor Buddhaessee hih is resent in al beigs These teaigs o the Prajaaramia, hoever, belong to he seond ing o the heel of dha. The rinial topi o this seond uig is the exloraio of voidess or empiness3 of phenomea d hese teahings ere mainly taught at Vure Peak mouain hih o his day a be visited at Rajagriha in India The Buddha taught the Prajnaparamia very exensively e taught i i deph in a ext alled te oe hudred thousand verses, in an intermediate tex alled e enve thousad verses, and i a oise text alled he eight thousand verses These teaings on he Prajaamia also exist in exemey oise and ithy form hih is aed the Te Heart Sutrahih is oe aned eah day i mahayana Buddhis enters. ially, hese eahings an be summed u in a eve sorer form by he mara of the Prajnaparamita hih is OM ATE ATE PAATE PARA AMATE OA and in is most oise form in e Tibetan leer A
3
he Onaent of Clear Realzaton Te Tw o Approache o he rajnaparamia There are tw man was aprachng the meanng the Prajnaparamta. The rst s a rect expstn the meanng emptness an secnd s the ndrect expstn reeang the hdden meanng emptness b dscussng the paths and the sprtua eves Wthn the drect expstn the nature emptness we are deang wth the understandng emptness whch s the prncpa cnce the practce a bdhsatvan a mre detaed methd we apprach t n an anaca wa ne can examne the sxteen aspects emptness whc are r exampe the emptness exteas the emptness nteas the emptness eteas and nteas tgether Anther drect apprach s t examne emptness n terms the relatve leveland m the ultate level. The ndrect expstn emtness s t apprach emptness b studng sprtua ress n the ve paths and the ten bodhsata levesThe ve paths are the path accumuatn the path junctn the path nsght the ath cutvatn and the path n mre eang B examnng these ve paths we can begn t understand emptness We as cntempate what takes pace n each these ve paths n terms a gadua ncrease n wsm ( prajna.We begn wth wsdm based n smp hearng the teachngs. Ths then eads t the wsdm whch cmes m cntempatn what we eaed thrugh stud Later we acta medtate n emptness t gan drect nsght nt emptness. The drect stud emptness cmes man b the great masters Nagaruna an harmakr wh descrbed emptness n terms gca easnng The ndrect meanng apprach t emptness as resented b the great aa Matrea n ths text the Prajnaparata caed the bhsaalankaran ths teachng he gves te ndrect meanng emtness b expanng the ve paths and the ten bdhsata eves
The ulivaion of rana T begn wth we are vng n sam sara and samsara cntans much suerng hardshs and dcutes A cser examnatn shws -
An Introduction to the Prajnapaita that these difculties ad suerig sprig fro ignorace No the ai way of reovig iorce which is the cause of all these probles is to cutivate isdo specically the isdo of eptiess We begi ith ust iited isdo ad evetually through our practice thistheatures ito a vast is our the jnanato hich isdo of Buddha he ost isdo effectiveoray reove egative states of id s through isdo he classical eape to illustrate this eiiatio of our suerig through developig isdo is the eple of the rope d the sake f there is a rope which is coiled up i a dark roo ad e look at the rope ot kowig it is a rope e ca istake it for a sake f we thik it is a se the we pic becoes ighteed ad this causes uch aguish his istake idea is the cause for our sufferig ad is caused siply by our igorace We are siply igorat of the true ature of the rope d beieve it is a sake he soutio for eiiatig our itaguish is to sipy kow that it is It realy a rope this ad our belief that as a se as ust a delusio is through isdo of seeg the ue ature of the rope that e ca eliiate our suerig i this situatio I a siilar aer the eat sufferig ad probles i our ife al sprig o ot koig the ature of the delusio hich is our perceptio of the orld We do't really eed to resort to aggressio or ager et we do it We do't reay eed to give rise to desire or tig ad yet we do it Our ager ad desire cause ay probles ad difculties No the very best ay to reove the probes d suerig of life is to attack the ve root of the probehaswhich is to the delusio iorace hich created theuderstad whoe situatio We caad seethe through this delusio by cutivatig wisdo shoig us ho iportt cultivatig isdo is for us Whe we talk of the Praaparamita e are talkig about this perfectio of isdo or the isdo that carries us to the other shore his is precisey because there is othig to equal this isdo of eptiess Cultivatig praa is the ve best aer to eliiate the suerig of asara ad o t e ca get a direct ad true isight ito the way thigs are 5
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he aent olear Reazaton Unounaely because we hae many obscuaions o mind, we cann suddenl swich o a sae o a vey bigh and vivid pana So we need o sdy he scipues o he Buddha he suras) ad e vaious Buddhis commenaies o he ea mases he shastas). Having sudied hese e can hen conemplae and eec ve deeply abou ha we have ead and ead I is hough his we can pogessively culivae pajna.
he Sudy of he Suas nd Shasra is vey uiul o sudy he discouses given by he Bddha which cove man aeas. One can sudy hose o he hnana syse and one can sudy hose wich have been adoped b he ahana sysem. oweve, in Tibe which was he land ih in vrana eachings, hee wasn' a gea emphasis placed on he eachings given by he Buddha himsel, bu ahe an emphasis was laced upon he Buddhis sudy o mases e geaiving discouses an cmmenies given by he gea ae he ime o e uddha Tee is a good eason o he sasas being sied so much in Tibe. When he Buddha was eachin, a disciple wold come and ask a paica quesion and he Buddha would give an aswe Then anohe disiple woud come wih ane quesion and he Bddha ould answe ha paicula quesion. Thoughou his lie ha is how he Buddha augh He didn' give lng an wel-sucued discouses on one paicula opic and en move on o he e opic in a logical seqence As a esul ae he Buddhas pnrvana, some o he ea Buddhis mases sysemaicaly ange he vaious ceainaugh opicsad Thei wee pesonal niely based neachings wha heino Buddha no woks ei on heoies, b ey oganied he Buddhis eachngs in a ssemaic way we wee o egin by eadings he vaious suas o he ddha we wud nd hee ae so many o he, and i would ake a vey long ime o build up an oganized picue o wha he ddha was eaching6 is much easie i we sa by eamining he shasas which pesen he e ih o he eachings summing up he eachings o he Buddha vey concisely. Once we have ha picue we can hen ead he acual suas o he Buddha and know ha a paicul one s wih a paicula opic and hus e can ndesand 1
An Introducton to the Prajnaparamta the teachigs o the Buddha much better This is why in Tibet much more emphasis was paced o the shastras We ca take the expe o the Prajapamita iterature which wee actuay teachigs give by he Buddha in 00,000 stazas comprisig tweve Tibetan voumes But there is aso the 25,000 staza Then there isPrajaparamita the 8000 stanzateaching teachingcomprising compisingthree ony voumes one voume So we ca study the tota o sixtee voumes on the Prajnaparamita taught by the Buddha or w can study the Onament of Clear Realzatonwhich sums up the whoe meaning o these teachigs in just a ew pages.
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Te aen of Clear Realzaton
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Introducto Verses of the Text Te Abhsaalanraws write by Miey d is very cocise ss deig with te Prjpmit I the tite it is c updesshstr" (Tiban ngag g bstan bos), wic i few words gives the pit isigt ito whoe topic I tis text Mitrey7 begis by describig tis work s oe wich touches te ve ere of te Prjprit d c covey of it i tese very precise tes. Te utor of tis text propery spekig is the gret protector of beigs e ve received tis text Asg teMitrey gret Buddist mster wo trough is throug ow spiritu reitio ws be to go to the pure rem of ushta, were e received te techigs om Miey. Acty of te ve mi works of Miey e Abhsaalanrais te rst of tese works e kow is is te rst of te ve becuse it begis with omge d te oter four dot ve omge
Homage8 Te itroductio to te text begis by pyig omge trough prostios to te (Skt moter of the Budds The higest moterwisdom of the Budds is wisdom prajna) becuse this very wi evetu give rise to Buddhood itout tis wisdom oe cot become Budd. Therefore tis wisdom is ike te moter wic gves bir to te Budds isdom so gives rise to higer states oter t Buddahood whic re so metioed i this omage Te omge prises te wisdom wich gives rise to the srvks i teir stte of pece d te wisdom wic gives rise to te gret bodistvs geer tere are tree sectios coceig te tree kids of prj Te rst prj is bsic owedge of peome te - 1
he aent of Clear Realization econd i he nowledge o he pah, and he hird i nowledge omnicience Thee hree ype o prajna give rie o all o he enlighened qualiie o he buda The shravakas and raebuddhasculivae praja o underand how muc uering here i in amara and he qualiie o peace which calm uering Their main one i ulivae e r o hee ind o prajna The qualiie o he bodhiava pring mainly om he prajna o he ah The main conce o he bodhiava i o help oher being develop and maure. The acual abiliy o help oher being maure come om heir exenive udy o he pah he hird prajna o omnicience i he complee owledge o all phenomena i he abili o he Budha o guide and lead being whic come om hi omniciee ha hey have I i he widom o he path and he qualiie o he Buddha, he goodne o he Buddha come om heir widom o omnicience Te ver eence o ee ree ereore i prn, and becaue i give rie all heir qualiie, o hi homage praie widm, he moher o he Budda, he bodhiava, he havaa, and praeabuddha
The Necesifor Copoing te Tt The r inoucory vere wa conceed wih he omage, praiing he moher in relaionhip o he hree ype o pajna Ti nex ecion deal wih he neceity or compoing hi ew ex In Buddhim, i omeone wan o compoe a new ex, he pero need o be qualied do o Generally peaing, here are hree ype o auhor The very be pe o auhor o a hara ha he realizaion o he harataor universal essence. The nex be ind o auhor i one who ha had a irec realizaion o the deiie, uch a Avaloiehvara, Manjuhri or Vajrapani By realizain we mean ha he auhor have e in heir mediaion wih one o hee deiie ace o ace wich gae rie o compoing a haa I' no quie o good a having he realizaion o dharmaa, bu i i econd be The minimum qualicaio o an auhor a hara i ha one 9 I one i vry ha a lea accomplihed he ve branches ofstudy erudie and undertand he impicaion o he erminolo and he ramicain o variu brache o udy, one can alo cmpoe 20-
IntroductoVerses ofthe ext meig aa, but witout a ver vat ad widepread breadt of eig oe i ot rea quaied to compoe atra e oud tud toe text wic were writte b autor wo ad ome or a of tee quaitie f a tree are preet it i, of coure, bet f ee quaitie are ot tere, we ma be coed ad be ed aa i our practice So we eed to ee out toe text wic are proper compoed Te Abhsaalanra i ve rewardig becaue it compoer, Marea, wa ot ut ver ed i te ve brace of eig, or omeoe wo ad a direct meetig wit a dei, but e beoged to te catego of toe wo ad a direct d ue reaizatio of te darmata Te reaizatio of darmata i preet i practitioer wo ave acieved te rt bodhsatva levelMaitrea did ot ut acieve te rt or ecod or tird bodiata eve, but reaced te tet ad at bodiatva eve He ad te ricet, mot puried experiece of te darmata. Amog a te bodiatva wo aeded te Budda we e wa aive, it wa Maitrea wo wa aed b te Budda to be i reget i i preet time; o Maitrea i te repreetative of te Budda imef d i caed te Protector Maitrea e we ow at it wa Maitrea wo compoed ti text, we ca ave eat codece i it f we put tee teacig ito practice, te uitio wi be t ric for u Ti text wa ot made up b Maiea, but wa baed etire o te Praaparamita teacig give b te Budda f we dot ave te e of te ve eece of tee profoud Praaparamita teacig, te it wi be ve dicut for u to grap teir meig So Maitrea wrote ti text to give u Praapamita ti e wic wi eabe u to ave acce to te meaig of the te preet we cot direct meet wit te Budda or ite to i teacig. But Maitrea wo wrote ti text received tee teacig direct m te Budda ad te were tramited to im i teir meig i becaue of ti tat Maitrea i abe to eai tee teacig o cear ad direct Te mai reao for i writig ti prticuar text i te wa e did wa to cear preet te meaig, te overa cotet te mai poit of te Praapramita He wrote ti ara o tat te Praapamita
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he Onaent of Clear Realzaton teachings could easily e understood and second wih this understanding it woud help individuas reac Buddhahood. Whn we study te larger Pajnaparamita in 100000 stanas, we n that tere are eigt main sections n the 2000 stana versio there are also eight main sections, and there are eight sections the 8,000 stana version. n this shastra there are also eight main sections or principa opics agauna also wrote on the Prajnaparamita, ut in his direct expositio he used logic to eplore, or example, what the Buddha meant when e said, orm is empty" y explaiing the inner, the outer, and the comied aspect o emptiness n the direct expositions o emptiness y Nagarjuna, we le ow various things are empty, how orm doesnt exist, how there is no ear acuty or hearing, and there is no arising o auditory consciousness Essentially it is an exposition o the emptiness o everything. But impicily, t is there also shown ho this emptiess can e realied, how the wisdom realiing emptiness is developed and what it is that tis wisdom overcoes his ien meaning o the Prajnaparamita sutras is what Maitreya is concenaing on when e explains the paths and odhisattva leves in eigt main sections. The eight main topics o the Abhsaalankaracan e divided into hree main sections The rt secion contains the rst three topics conceed with te ound or oundation o real (Ti as lug).10 Te second section contains our topics conceed with practice caled the our applications (Ti. sbyor ba bh) The tird section has only on topic descriing the ition o practice, realiing he dharmakaya
The Seven Tpic The rst toic deals with the very highest rm o knowledge or jnana whic is he knowledge o al phenomena hich is possessed y the buddas Th uddhas possess tw main es o jnana te nana of the nature of phenoena and the jnana of vae o phenoena Wit these two kinds o jnana, the uddhas have the most compete and deepest orm o prajna This is the igest orm
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Introducto Verses o/the ext of wsom an ts name s the wsom an knowlege of all phenomena he secon topc conces the knowlege of the path hs topc eals wh the mes of ow to obtn ts knowlege of the buhas wth te prajna wc emerges n ncreases more an more as one proesses along the bohsatva path an the wsom that make ths possble he tr topc conces basc prajna an t s from ths basc prajna tat the wsom of the bosatvas on the path an the wsom of the Buha eventuall emerges hs topc conces the stu of the wsom of ornar bengs shravakas an pratekabuhas wch s the cause for he other kns of wsom to emerge hese rst three topcs eal wth te founaton of prajna whch e the three pes of knowlege e fourh topc eals wt how to actuall apl these tpes of knowlege on the path step b step he four topc s calle he applcatons of the realzaton of howoftoatll knowlege of phenomena" s s a scusson howperfect to starthe one's practce at te benes of metaton. he h topc escrbes wat happens as a result of the prevous stages of practce s topc s calle the applcaton when reachng te peak" he sth topc s calle te applcaton of auall gong on" It shows us the rher step-bstep pess of ths path he seventh topc emonstrates ow because of te graual applcaton n the en ere s an nstantaneous applcaton of our practce n that one nstant there s te complete culmnaton of prajna en of prajna becomes present troug wtn the onevajra-lke phase Itsamah s calle theall applcaton of ll enlgtenment. " he rst seven topcs scuss the three kns of knowlege an the four applcatons an the egth topc scusses te haakaa tself As we go through tese topcs we wll n that each topc can be rher subve an ts actuall els seven sorer subtopcs n all
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Te Onaent of Clear Realzaton
Queton Quesion: s he Daond Sura part o the Prajnaparamta? Rinpocbe: The Daond Sutra does ndeed conce the Prajnaaramta Generay when we tak about the vaous texts
deang wth Prajnaparamta we ousua mean the 00,000, the 2,000 or thethe 8,000 stanza verson the Prajnaparamta teachng ut there are acuay seventeen prncpa works on the Prajnaparamta caed the sx mthers and eeven sons" and one o the eeven sons s the Daond Sutra Quesion: Do shravakas pratyekabuddhas the ony persns who have ths rst pe o prajna? Rinpocbe: Its not just the shravakas and the pratyekabuddhas who have ths basc prajna A prajna whch s not the deepes wsdom whch understands dharmata, s consere basc wsdom Every thng but ths deepest wsdom s cae asc prajna, so t covers much ore than that cutvated by te shravkas d prtyekabuddhas Quesion: hat s a shravaka? Rinpocbe: The term shravaka s a genera term or those who are oowng the hnayana teachngs The Buddha's taught the mahayana to those wth a greater capac and he taught the hnayana to those wth a esser aacty Genera a o those who entered the nayana teachngs we ca shravakas Quesion: Why s atreya he regent n Tushta? Rinpocbe: Beore the Buddha came to our word to teach dharma and enact he ast stage o hs enghtenment, he was dweng n a ery pure ream caed Tushta At that tme the uddhas name was Damatogdkar (sacred whte banner") and he had a dvne exstence and was teachng dvne bengs there hen he saw that the tme had come or hm to teach the harma n our word, he knew tat e had to eave that denson and predcted at that tme that the buddha who woud appear aer hm woud be areya S beore he e Tushta he aponted atreya to be hs representatve n Tushta to contnue the teachngs Ths s why we ca atreya the regent or representte o the Buddha. Quesion: What s te derence between prajna and jnana? 2
Introducto Verses ofthe ext npoce Tese two words are based upon te same root syllable
jna n te Sansrt Sometmes ter meang overlaps Te syllable jna n bot jnana and prajna means wsdom" Te syllable pra n prajna means te ve best" Tere are many deren nds o nowledge but prajna s te ges nowledge. From all tese deret o nowledge nowledge wc allows us and to realze tends unversal essence tote cultvate love and compasson to elp us to elp oers s te ges nowledge wc s called prajna t pra meanng te best and jna meanng wsdom" or nowledge" Prajna n Tbetan s sherab n wc te rst syllable she s euvalent to e jna n prna and e syllable rab s euvalent t pra n prajna meanng te ve best." Prajna covers ute a ve o tngs but prncpally t mes te nd o wsdom wc arses troug tnng wsdom obtaned troug conceptually reectng and contemplatng very deeply Wen te Tbetan anslators tanslated jnana te syllable jna was anslaed n Tbea ten tanslators she yeshe added ye to tssmply syllableasmae Tey d added te te syllable ye to denote wsdom wc ses om medtaton wc scends concept so tat as one cultvates medtaton tere s a very prooud understandng wc s nonconceptual wc s close to te wsdom o te buddas Because te wsdom o te buddas and te great bodsatvas as exsted orever te translators added ts syllable ye wc means orever" meanng ts wsdom as always been tere Actually n ts partcular tex somemes wen t says prajna t reall connoes jnana So tese words are used sometmes ntercangeably sowng tey are no sctly separae terms Quesn Wa s tesu meng o sutra? npocbe Te word s used n two ways Sometmes t s used to cove all o te teacngs gven by te Budda msel At oter tmes t s used more precsely meanng one o te tree sectons o te darma called e Trptaa or Tree Basets In te Trptaa tere ae te Sutras te naya d te Abdarma. Te sutras are manly conceed w medaton or sad te Abdarma s manly conceed wt e development o wsdom and undersndng and te naya s manly conceed wt dscplne and te rules o moral and conduct In te narrow sense sutra
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he aent oClea Realzaton eans one o three sections o the Bddhas teachings, and in its road sense it eas all o the teaching given by the Buddha In ietan we say ka eaning th srcinal cann, the words o te Buddh In Tibetan we say ten cho or shastra in Sansrit hic es an expanato text. We coud aply the word shastra to the Buddha's teaching because they expain the Buddhas teaching to us, but actually this wrd is used or the texts that are coentaries on the words o the Buddha that were coposed by Buddhist adepts These shastras elaborate and categorie the teachings o the Buddha, but te are not words o the Buddha hisel So the ain disinction is the sutras are the words o the Buddha and the shastras are aer coentaries on the words o the Buddha
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Bodhichia TOPIC T K PII A. F C: B The Pajnapaamita has eight main tpis d the st tpi deas ith the knedge phenmena Thee ae ten sutpis in this st tpi the auses nditins attaining Buddhahd T C B The st nditin needed t aain Buddhd is bodhcttaTe tpi dhihitta is diided int tw main sutpis: the hateistis dhihitta d the ategies dihit The haateistis dhiitta ae haing the hiest mtiatin This mtiatin has t aspets. The st aspet is e ish t hep a e eings. This desnt me eping just ne pesn a hunded a thusand ut it mes eing need i heping asutey a eings m e eginning time tughut time d spae Wat appiness d e ish t gie these
eings? We eaie n ne thataeeyne ants happiness uthat n ne has nts it t eue ish tnd gie sentient eings the e est happiness nd this is e state peet Buddhahd. S heping asutey a eings and heping them eah Buddhahd eates he hiest mtiatin i is a hateisti diitta We an as k at the haateistis dihitt in tems isdm nd mpassin i must e pesent thee t e ue dhihitta Cmpassin is eing need ith nt just nes iends eaties ut eing y need ith te happiness a sentient eings thughut spae and time Tue mpassin is 2
Te aent oClear Realzton ao eig aware that all etiet eig wat to e free from ufferig ad that the all are tig to acieve happie Compai itelf i t eough ecaue the kid of happie that eig eek ad the wa the chooe to eimiate their ufferig i oe ver imited t i through wiom that we ei to udertad that true ad etea hapi i o achieved reachig Budhahood With widom we reaize that without acievig Budhahood there i o permaet happie So widom i the ecd characteritic i the focu upo eightemet We ca o deitel help etiet eig whe we oureve achieve eightemet herefore we mut wih for elightemet aitrea i hi root text a that the uta explai i oth ve cocie ad ao i ve detailed wa how a etiet eig ca achieve uddhahood Whe the Buddha taught he ometime foud it wa ecea to eaorate o a uect ve exteie o that people udertood ad at other time he taught i a ver cocie wa he ctio o the Buddhit commetarie i to ow i a ver cocie wa thig which are ver vat ad profou Commetator ao ometime expaded ver cocie aig of he uddha o that we ca comprehe them eter That i wh it i ve ue to tud ot o what the Budha taugt ut ao the Buddhit commetarie 2. TE CEOE (S E) O BO
more detaied exlaatio of the variou of tpe of odhichita i made through twe-wo imile hee imie are arraged accordig to the gradua developmet of odhichita he rt imile i a examp of earh e we rt awake ur odhichita we eed a great logig ad wih to achieve uddhood Whe we dire to help other our odhichia wil ourih If that apiratio i ackig the it wi e extreme difcult for u to make piritua proge So apiratio i th rt ai of odicita Thi i compared t the earh ecaue uo the earh oe ca uid houe pat ca grow i it ad o If tere i o eah the there i o fouati for the thig to appear a e tae he odhichita i accompaied with ver goo apiratio he we ca thik of it a eig ike the oid earh -28-
Bodhchta The secod simie shows us how this iitia aspiratio to hep eigs achieve Buddhahood eeds to ecome rm ve sae ad prese a he time This staii is compared to god e eed to make our aspiraio ito somethig which wi ever chage om ow ui Buddhahood. e caot e ve coceed to hep everyoe e day d the ext day orget a aout this e caot eve pracice oe year ad the ext ye ot Istead we eed to have a ve ry good cotiuous moivaio which is much deeper than our iitia aspiratio. This motivatio is cmpared to god ecause god has a quai o immuaiiy o chgeessess. he god is sti i the ore it has a gode uster. he it is mied ad poished it sti has its gode uster. God is not ike rass or other metas which acke ad ish with exposre. Because god has this chageessess it is compared to his very stae heathy ctiuous aspiratio. The third simie coces this odhichia motvatio ecomig eve deeper But oe eeds o make it much deeper ricer more power Oe does this through ea diigece i our practice ad improvig the quai o our aspiratio ig this reeme ad improveme o odhichia is compared to the waxig moo The ve ew moo om the rst day has a very e crescet The each day it aduay grows ad ows uti it reaches a moo. This is simiar o our motivatio which c ecome eter and eer a the time he we remove osaces i particuar the negaivi o ad reatioships ad eeigs owards ohers peope y reducig our aggressio through practice the we c try progress This ourh simie compares remova o a re at cosumes evethig paced i it. e shoud use our odhichitta o work upo ourseves o remove a our ostaces. The rough eth simies are coceed with the six pramias. The rst our simies dea maiy wih what ispires us to practice he ispiraio o achievig the good o eigs using he exampes o earh god ad he moo Just removig our osaces is ot eough e eeds o ac ad pracice so hat the wish o hep a eigs ecome a reai through the deveopmet o he six perecios or paratasThe rst paramita is geerosi which is compared to he h simie o a very eat iexhaustie uried - 2-
he Onaent fClear Realzaton easue because when we pactce geneosty n the esent t wll cause nehaustble wealt and goodness that w bene othes n he tue The sth smle s fo the secnd paamta of dscplne o moaly he st paamta of geneosty when combned wth u bodhchtta elps us to gve to othes The second paamta f dscplne heps us to pu ouselves t s though ontollng and pung ouselves that all of the qualtes of ou own estence wl emege n the tue t s theefoe compaed to a mne of jewels om whch ll spng geat teasues The sventh smle elates to the paamta of atnce When atence ecomes a facto n ou bodhcha t s compae to a geat ocean atence s conceed wth not beng swaye by hadshps and aggesson aganst us whch we may epeence he ocean s cmpae to ths because the ocean s vey stable vey lage and unpetbed When we have atence we ae lke the eat ocean whch s unafected by nomally dstubng factos of aggesson and sueng The fouth aamta f dlgence s the vey joyous pesevance n ou culvaton of bodchtta Ths eseveance o dgence mes that we ae stvng to mpove ou bodhchtta all the tme Ts aamta s heefoe comped to a vajra(Tb doje)whch has the al of ndestuctbly The nnth smle conces the h aamta of medtaton When we have te powe of hs saadh medtaton ou ealzaton becomes ve stable unskable and theefoe s compaed to the ng of all mountans becase of ts geat sold The tent smle conces the sth paamta of wsdom whch s compaed to medcne hen we have wsdom we have the necessa toos to emve suffeng to emove the obscuatons blocng ou mnd and ou mental condtonng Ou blockages and ncoec thnkng ae lke an llness and wsdom s the medcne wch as the powe to competely emove hs lness he eleventh smle conces the esence of the sevent paamta of sll eans (kt upa).12 Thoug wsdom we deelop cean slll means whch enhances ou sptual pactce d ths benets self and othes Te smle fo these methods s a
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Bodhchtta our spiritua ind kt. lyanata)om wom w aso driv bnt. T dvopmnt of union of wisdom kt prjana) d ski mans k. upaya) producs ra powr in our practic and tis is acivd at t v of t igt paramita or bodisatva v in T of tat Wn powrw is actuay compardav to at wshng jewel tprsnc tw simi. abii to do wat w woud ik to o to p bings it is ik aving a wis ing gm wic maks our drams nd aspirations com tru. T tint simi concs t nint pamita of t powr of prayr. Tr ar two kinds of prayr Prayrs wic ar suitab bcaus ty da wit somting tat coud appn and unsuitab prayrs wic da wit somting tat coud nvr appn. For instanc if w wr to pray tat a owr woud sprout om a tab tn tat woud b a prayr tat was an unsuitab prayr bcaus is rsut is not possib. To mak a prayr to p many otrs is a suitabis prayr bcaus cn actay com T powr of prayr compard to itsun bcaus wn t tru. sun sins it aows owrs forsts t sts d so on to ouris. o wn w pray for t dvopmnt of our own viru nd wisdom it is ik sun wic maks tings ow and brings tm to tir maturation. tnt parita t comption of transfoming prajna into jna das wit t fournt simi Wn our bodicia is accompid by prsnc of is most xcnt wisdom Tib. ye shes phun su tshogs pa), it is compad to a vry bauti mody bcaus wn tr is a v bauti song von wo istns to it fs pasd. n our bodicita is combind wi tdigtd prsnc and of tis xcnt wisdom tn wovr w mt bcoms acd by our bodicita so our prsnc wi aways av a v bncia nd pasing ct o n tos ound us. T nt simi das wit combining our bodicita wit t v kinds of xaordin prcptions Tib. ngon shes lnga) d t v kinds of visions Tib. spyan lnga)Wn w possss ts supoma facutis w c ray accompis xacty wat w want to do. For tis rson is is compard to a at king bcaus a at king as t powr and staus is accompis watvr wants to do. 31-
Te Onaent of Clear ealzaton Th sixtth simil is cminig o our odhichita with th pwr traquilli ad isight mditatin. Wh shamata ad vipashaa accmp our odhichita it is cmpard to a kigs tras m hich all walth c distriutd. Th svtth simil is a at highwa Our odhicha llows th r. path that hasisn thos achivd raliati This th ollowd v-ld path o wh accumulati ucti isight cultivati and mditation gig alog this pa stp--stp th uddhas th past hav rachd nlightm ad th prst dhisatvas who ar cming uddhas ar also llwig this gat path In th tur othr igs will also d thir wa o this path t lightmnt caus it is th o highwa which lads to lightmnt Th ightnth simil is th cominig v powrl compassio with ur dhichit. Whn our ompassi is compltl ulimitd ad uiasd th it is cmpard t a std It is lik a strayig v powl carrisd us to our dstinati wiout m thast pathors i ththat slightst Wh w hav this uivrsal compassi it is th mout which taks us urigl to our goal lightnmt. Th itnth simil cocs comining ur dhicia with a xcllt mmo ad ig cndt Wh w al t alwas rmmr th tachings that w hav assimilatd compltl ad wh w hav th codc to pronuc ths tachigs at tim th our hichita is cmpard to a atural sprig atural sprig ca provid ourishing watr cotinuousl withut xhausti. Wh w hav pctd this m practic and this Th atlast codc w ca tach propl rvr thr ths t-two simils dal with th stat o uddhahood whras th prvious itth simils alt with dvlopmnt o a dhisava Th wtith simil rrs t th udhas spch ad is compar d to t music o a harp T spch th Buddha is ccd with hlpig stit igs to matur ad his spc is cntiuous 1 This is compar to a hap ich is a highl rspctd isumnt which rigs a autil mld t vro who lists t it. I a similar ashion th uddhas spch lps all who list h tw-rst simil rs t th uddhas d which is cmpard t th ow o a ivr Watr alwas ows -32-
Bodhcha atrally alog the lay o the lad doig this eorlessly ad automatially alog e otours o the lad The appearae o a uddha takes plae eorlessly ad his work lows eorlessly aordig to the eeds ad aspiratios o the disiple So that is why it is omped to the ow o a river. aleause simile reers to the Buddhas whih is ompared to aThe loud a loud reates rai mid ad this rai mes it possile or all thigs o ehthe owers trees ad oodto grow eause o the atral ativi o the loud The Buddhas mid wi its iheret spotaeous motivatio to help all eigs is the very soure om whih all o the eet whih omes om Buddhahood ows The idividual raidrops sigi the various maiestatios o a uddha's ativi to help other eigs We a see hat through these twetwo siiles we a progress om a egier i dhama pratie to eig a uddha with our odhihia eomig stroger ad stroger i this proess These also give us idea o what we ourselves eed to do as our emples odhihia ows.
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he Onaent of Clear Realzaton
Asog
3
4
Practice Instructions Te Abhsamalrais divided io ei mai secios Te rs mai secio discusses e owede of a peomea. Here is omisciece of e buddhas isef is o epaied bu raer we are ive wa we eed o kow o make Buddaood obaiabe Firs we eed bodicia ad is was e irs subsecio because bodicia is e mos impora quaio direc our mi owards supreme eiheme. Tis secod secio is abou e isucios we eed we we pracice B SEON CONON PE INON Oce bodhicia as become a iea par of ourseves we deveop e sro desire o acieve Buddaood i order o ep a beis Jus wisi for Buddaood owever is o eou because we do ave he kowede required o iberae ourseves om his vas oce of ssric eperiece a we d ourseves i. If we jus y o work ou ow we ca become a Budda by ourseves we wi ever mae i. Wa we eed o do is o reaize a ere ave bee ea beis i e pas wo ave aied iberaio d weJeel eed eir iscios o reac iberaio Gampopas ament of beraton ceary sows e eed for a spiriua ied rou ree eampes. Te rs empe is of someoe crossi a ea epse of waer wo eeds a ferma skied i crossi e waer d coroi e cra. Te secod empe is of a so bodyuard accompayi oe we ravei i a derous d Te ird eampe is of a uide we avei i a compeey forei area I a simiar way we eed a spiriua ied o ive us advice ad uidace o e dicu road o eieme
-3
he naent oClear Realzaton 1 PE We cannot just stdy and cntemplate the meaning of dharma, we hae o actally practice it. There's a e iid example of this gien by the great dharma teacher, Santidea. He compares spiritual practice actually taking medicine when one is sick. When one is to ill,the oneneed can of read all about medicine in the arious meical books and le eething about one's condition and what medicine one needs to take. But without actually taking the medicine, one cannot be cured. It is the same with dharm. There are so many texts that learly show us what we need to ie up and to aquire to gain realization. But ust reading the books is of litle benet ithout actally practicing what is indicated in the dharma exts 2. TE T Secondl, there is insuction on the ruths. nce we are detemined to pracice, we must be sure we don't practice something which has been created just to lease people, but something which is really true in the sense of being in accord ith reali. Terefore the Buddha gae instructions on the truths, on the four noble uthsand on the o uths. If we practice in accord with how reali is, we can be sure to hae a positie result, otherwise we will not. 3 TE TEE EE The thirdBudha. point conces the three jewels. he rst jewel is the precious Understding the truh of phenomena and how to actually ut things into practice depends upon the Buddha who is the teacher of the e best path e can follow to obtain lberation. nce our mind is set upon lieration, we need to nd a way to achiee this. This begins, rst of all, with the e best teacher of the most suree path and this is the Buddha If we ask what we should practice and ho we ca nd the truths, we get this insucin on the three jeels and le to see how te Buddha is the eacher, the Dhma is the pah, and the sangha is the iends on the path. his enables us to n an autentic path. -36-
Practce Instructons We rst t to the jewel of the Buddha and the way we relate to the Buddha is not the same as in many other religions. In some religions, for instce, we hae the idea of an allpower or all migh being to whom we can t, and if we place our trst in this being and gie ourseles completely to that allmigh being, then in retu he or sheifwill be pleased and or wilnoke liberate Under theistic concept we away om theus. wrath of this being, we will neer become ee So eeing depends upon the power of this being The Buddhist tadition it not really like this at all We take rege in the Buddha and t ourseles toward the Buddha, but it is not with the belief that the Buddha will be able to eliminate our suering throu the power of his blessing. o, the Buddha simply shows us what we need to do, what we need to gie up, and what we need to meditate on by giing us a whole range of practices, and tells us that if we can do these things, we will eentally reach the se state of liberation as he achieed This is howThe the Buddha th or the dharma, which are the second shows jewel uiss the thepapath teachings of the Buddha It is the Buddhas teaching which is most important The dhaa is his gi through which we can atain liberation We need to completely absorb these teachings and make them par of ourseles. The third jewel is e sgha who e our iends who are also on the path of the Buddhas. Because of our circumstance we cannot meet e Buddha personally and listen to his teachings or to ask him to clari our questions Because we really need a iend to help us on the path, we t to e sangha for help, who carry on the Buddhas teachings real meaning andtu experience those teachings The jand ewelhold of thethe sang ha to whom we e peopleof who hae understood and assimilated the teachings of The Buddha, who actally put em into practice d through their practice hae gained some result and realization en though the sangha hasnt achieed the ultimate achieement, they do possess some realization d experience om their practice. It s because of this that the sangha is so capable of helping us. They can show us how to deelop the skils e precisely and help us discoer what needs to be eliminated and just how to do it.
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he aent ofClear Realzaton - TE TEE E O EE
aving received ) te instructions on practice2) te trts 3) te tee jeels we are now ale to apply ourselves to a darma ee om faults wic will benet us But tis depends not only on te tree jewels outside us ut als on our own eort Terefore te instructions on diligence are important Tere are tree ain tpes of dilience to overcome are te ree inds of spirial lainess Te rst tpe of lainess is invlvement wit activities wic are negative and arml f we don do te tings wic are usel and elpl because tey are tings wi are negative and aful ten our pacice wnt proress e need to ave te diligence to eliminate our bad abits and preoccupation wit tigs wic we know are armful to us and oter people Tis can be any misconduct based on agession an eavior based upon desire So te rst kind of diligence is called te diligence of cultivating noninvolvement Te seond type of lainess is spiritual fatigue meaning tat we see te bents of doing practice but it seems to be too muc for us o face because we feel eausted mentally or spiritually s a result we dont do as muc as we could Te remey for tis is to cultivate e diligence of inefatigabili e tell ouselves "ow else am going to make progress if dont practice f do tis now muc goodness will accrue for myself and oters By tinking tis we can increase our inspiration to practice Tere is a ve wonderl eample for tis diligence of indeatigabili in te bioapy of Jetsun ilarepa er e ad been accepte as a disciple by is guru gave on ow to practice an ilarepa went arpa into retreat tis instructions retreat e im walled imself up and sat wit a butter lamp on is ead in te meditation posture e would meditate until s lamp went out doing mny many ous in ac session or eigteen monts e meditated wit incredible digence in tis manner er tis time arpa came and e said "ouve really practiced editation diigenly and no it wold be good for you to rela a little bit to come out and wal ound But ilarepa tougt ow wonderful it as to be able to meditate wat a joy it was and e really didn want a break Tis sort of attitude is a wonderful example for us 38
Practce Insructons Te tird pe of lainess is fainteedness Te remedy for tis is called e "diligence of orougy applying oneself to te pat of practice ne migt appreciate te eat qualities tat can come om te pat and at c come out of practice but one as tis feeling tat it is not really meant for one ne believes tat ote people canstuck acieve enligtenment butlike onetebelieves ill alays be and ont eventally be Buddatat Tisone beief olds us back, so to overcome tis lack of entusiasm for our on development e need to really beieve tat e c acieve Buddaoo Beieving e c acieve tis goal e ill apply oursef continuously tote pat 7-8 E FE KN O ON N SX CE PEEON
Te next points deal it spiritual accomplisments Wit practice e develop our meditation and toug te poer of samata special poers te ve kinds visions and te six kinds of clear cognitions illofise in us Weofill deveop tese ve kinds of vision nd il acquire tese special poers of seeing We ill also gain tese six supeormal abilities s e acquire tese tey ill make our practice advance ve siy because tese exceptional poers equip us muc beter to proess on te pa - 0 T P O IN N P O CON
ext ere are te insuctions on o one must adually enter on te path of nsght, en te meaning of damata can be directly seen Wetere are son at is to bebyabandoned andonat is toofbe realied Tis is folloed instrctions te path culvaton.l of tese ave to be practiced in time
Question Queson We ony ave to pray to some poerl being in some
sects of Buddism to acieve enligtenment ne may pray to mitaba and noting more is required tan fait in mitaba because of mitaba's voI ink its caled Pureland Buddism and tat seems to be dierent om at you ave been teacing - 3-
Te aent of Clea Realzaton npocbe: Tere is indeed some trt in at you say oever
en one prays to mitaba or ara to acieve iberation tere is a difference beteen tis and te ay one relates to a god in oter reigions Te dierence ies in te fact tat en one does tose prayers te empasis is more in at comes om urselves ne is not o mitaba to pease i tat because is allmig and just one praying is poerless t is simply not like t isetrue tat en one does practice to mitaba for instance one is suposed to pra it great ait and one does te prayer in a certain ay and generates over an over an over again tis onepointed is to acieve te state ofsukhavatTib deachen)Tis is done because tis produces te cause ic ill actually create te ture eperience of sukavati ven toug tis appears quite similar to praying to a god e must unerstand tat to obtain iberation is not pleasing or displeasing some iger poer but it is developing true onging and devotion to create te conditions necessary for iberation
0
5
The Pah of Juncion and Buddha-naure avng develped bdctta cndtn1 ) and avng practced te nstrctns cndtn2) we arrve at e secnd pat, te pat f junctn as a result f ur medtatn Te trd cndtn fr reacng enlgtenment s te fur stages f s pat f junctn
c OUR SAGE OF SEARON PAH OF JCON) Te acal nsgt nt e natre f penmena r we may say nt te unversal essence Skdharmata)takes place n te trd stage wc s called te pat f nsgt Wen we reac te pat f nsgt, we receve te drect, dentve realatn f data Te secnd pa fjunctn ten cnces leang abut te darmata d n s stage we prepe urselves and practce n suc a way tat we can btan te realatn f te pat f nsgt S t s as f we jn wt tat nsgt, wc s wy ts caled te "pat f junctn r "pat f preparatn . WAMNG
Te rst f te fur stages fte pat fjunctn s called wng t s pnt we begn t warm t te eperence f ts nsgt nt te unversal essence Te wsdm r jnana wc emerges n te pa f nsgt s lke a eat re and te anagy f ts s at as we apprac a eat re, we are wed Te nae n te tet wc s apped t e pat f junctn s "dente sepatn We aceve cmpete separatn r release n te pat f nsgt wen we receve te actal nsgt nt data Ts term "dente separatn s used ere because everyng tat takes pace n te pat f junctn s t gve us ts separatn, ts release --
he ament f Clear Realizatin
2 SUMM
Te second stage o te pat o junction is called te summit or te clima irst we warm to te eperience o emtiness; we dont actually aveeperience it but we o practice it troug We know tat tere is tis armta and weaspiration wis to gain it So st we warm to it an ten troug oming closer an loser to te real 14 eperience we reac tis summit stage 3 OEAANCE Wen ur meditation improves rter we reac te tird stage called orbearance wic means tat we are no longer arai tat our mind does no longer sink away rom te realiation o te damata GHE WDYD
Te ourt stage o te pat o junction is called te igest worldly darma because we are on te tresol o tis eperience o tre reali Wen we gain te understding o ue reali ten aa. om tat time onwds we become a realied indiviual Skt Tis is te point between being a ordinary erson on te tainted at and being a realied person on te untinted pat t tis stage we would never retu to wat is tainted and we ave reaced te igest realiation o all worldly penomena n te pat tere e obstacles to be remved. Te rootoojunction tese obstacles willour onlyprincipal be removed wen te stage o insigt and te stag o cultivatin is acieve But already one te pat o junction we are removing te acual maniestation tat would ome om tese dierent tings tat we need to eliminate in ouselves so tey no lnger maniest teir eects n general tere are two pes o obscurations tat need to be eliminated te obscuratins o te delements Tibnn si) cvering attacment aversion igrance jealous pride and so n d te obscurations o kowledge Tib.shes sri) wic impede te realiatin o emptiness suc as our concept o te subject -2
Te Path fJunctin and Buddha-nature ated by te object, and acton e four obsacles tat e to be elm pat of juncton are te obscuratons to nowlede Te rst obsacle s caled e "concept of objects Ts s belevn at wat s perceved such as vsua forms, sounds, odors, tastes or objects tat one can touc are etea objects outsde ourselves beleve te temse to beof sod and outsde of us n rst te pat ofWe juncton, warmn, we manae tote overcome ts concept ofan eteal real Te second obstacle s te "concept of a subject or percever Ts concept s te beef tat te percevn mnd tat eperences tese outer objects s sepate om tese outer objects Ts s removed on te second stae of summt Te rd obstacle s called "concept of substantal Weter t be te outer world wt all of tose tns wch seem so real and so sold, or weter t be e nner mnd, wc one takes to be a tn w dente ualtes; one manaes to break trou tese msuded testae real etealwc objects Ts takes placebelefs n e n trd of of emnd pa d of juncton s te sae of forbeance te Te four obsacle s te "concept of projected real rd stae we manae to elmnate our belef n te concrete realty of te outer world and te nner percever Ts oes furer because we develop an understandn of w tese apparent outer and nner penomena e ony dentons, labels, and projected realtes We undersand, for nstce, tat our body s just a projecton of our mnd so ts last ste elmnates te belef n e mnds formuatons of reaty nd e understandn of wat tese realy are Tstn obstacle s removed on te four stae of te est worldly Te pat ofte bodsaa s superior to te pat of juncton of te sravakas and te praekabuddas, wc are called "te rnoceroslke practtoners n te tet Te reason te pat of juncton for bodsavas s superor s tat n esser vecles te practtoners do not manae to et rd of tese four ncorrect belefs, wereas on te bodsatvas pat, the practtoner manaes to elmnate tese four ncorrect belefs
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Te Onament Clea Realizatin D BUDDHA-NAUE HE AF OUR RACE
ere are ten causal conditions for realiing daata e rst was boicia te secon te practice instructions te tird was te pat ofjunction wic eliminated te four incrrect concepts ow we will look at teinfourt te basis for wic our practice Te wor "basis Tibetancause isrtenwic meansisliteraly "tat one can rely on and can aso be translate as te "foundation of our practice Te foundation of our practice is Buddanature Skt a Ti ris) and tis Buddanature is te potential witin al beings tat allows tem to acieve Buddaood f te potential is tere ten its rtwile working on it but if teres no potentia ten no amount of effor will bring about any results Te great master aguna eplaine tis by saying if we take rock and we nw teres gol inside it ten by ming an effort we can mak te gold tat is conained in tatow ore appear But cours terenever is no obtain gold in te rck no matter d we willfwork weifwill gold or sentient beings if we idnt ave tis potential for Buddaood tere would be no way tat we coul make Buddaood manifes But because all beings are endowed wit Budda-nature ten te effor is wortile Te aainment f Buddaood comes about troug e work and meitation tat we do on te pat o cultivation Te ve profoun meditatin at tis stage is wat brings about Buddaood Tis is possible because of e preceding stage of insit nc we ave ad te lasting insigt into te universal essence we can work on te stage s f wete ave seen pat called of insigt depends uon of tecultivation four stage pat of e junctin te iges wldly ting is stage of igest worlly darma comes as a esult of te tird stage of forbearance wi in tu comes o te secon stage of te summit wic in tu comes om te rst stage of warming We begin tis wole cain of eents because of te presence of te Budda-natue witin us Troug te staes of te pat an Budda-nare we can make enligtenmen a reality By working on te stages of te pat of insigt we reac te pat of cultivation and eventually uddaood
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T Path fJunctin and Buddhanatue 1-6. THE SX HAMA OF EAAON
ere are tireen points discussed in tis section on Buddanature. We ave just discussed te rst si of tese caed "te si danas of realition wic are e four stages of te pat of junction te pat of insigt and te pat of cutivation Tey come about by eliminating te obstacles suc as te disturbing emotions wic block our realiation To eliminate tese delements we need to apply a remedy We need to directly realie te true nature of darmata To do tis we need to cultivate samadi and to cultivate sadi we need to control our life and practice discipline. ll of tose remedies spring om Buddanature te potential present in all beings Terefore Buddanature is called a remedy. s we cutivate te various remedies to our obstacles and put tem into action we wil eventually manage to give up te oscurations of te delements and e obscurations of knowledge f tese obscruationswere truly of our continuum we coud never abandon tem Butpa as tese canmental be overcome we conceive of tis potential in tens of te possibility of abandoning 71 THE SX CHEVEMEN OF THEE DHAMA
Tus our mind makes it possible for te application of remedies because tere is Buddanatre and essence Tib.snyin p) of mind f we retu to te eampe of a person going into a dark room and seeing a coiled rope and tinking it is a snake; if tere really were a snake it would be ve ard for us to get rid of our belief in te eistence snake it reallyofiste a coil is a rope it is in really possible for usoftoa give upBut teifconcept snake ikewise our analogy Buddanature not te obscuration is te real foundation of te mind and tis alows us to give up te obstacles d acieving te uition ow does wisdom and compassion relate to Buddanature? Wat realy enabes us to eliminate te tings we need to get rid of and develop te qualities of wisdom Tis wisdom enables us to remove bstacles and tis wisdom springs om compassion Because we realy want to ep all beings to acieve Buddaood we cutivate wisdom and ten use tat wisdom to work on --
Te nament fClear Realizatin ourselves But compassin aso automatically develops because f this wisdom The wiser we are, the more powerful our compassion Bot of these qualities of wisdom d compassion are also pat of e causal ground, Budha-natre. he next oint is that working directly on Buddhanature as the bodhisatva does on the mahayana path is far superior to working as a shravaka on the inayana path e folwing point is that in the mahayana path, when we practice the arious stages to the path of junction, we are able to help beings a little. s that matures, we reach the path of insight and hen we can help beings even more s that matures into the path of cultiation, we can elp beings in an even more profoun and ast way Finally hen our Budha-nature ly manifests an we becme a budda, we can benet sentient beings he most So we can see hat this seam of practice involving the mahayana path woring with Buddhanature is much superior to the methods of working Finally, on ourself when Budha n the hin natre ayanais path fully manifest at Budhahood, it creates the wisdm (Skt jnana) which is present compltely natrally and spontaneously without the slightest need of any effort on the part of a budha t Buhahoo, Budha-natre arises naturally as the highest wisom
umma n summary there are thireen points in the suy of Buddhanature he rs six conce what is to be realized and these are the four stages of the path of junction, the path insight, he path of accumulation n these six stages we of saw that and Budhanature aually manifests ore and more. The sevent poin cnceed applying he reeies The eighth point was about eliinating the ostacles The ninth point was about wisdom r prajna The ten point was about compassion The eleventh point as how the mayana is superior to the other paths. The telh pont was that one benets others gradually throug these various pats The thirteenth point is that at Buddhhood there is efforless jnana. hose familiar with the Uttara antramay tink there is some conaiction hee, because the Uttara antrastates there are -46
Te Path f Junctin and Buddhanature absout no divisions in Buddha-nat hs thin divisions h a sm to b contdicting this but th is no conadiction caus in th Uttara anaBuddha-natu s dscibd as it appas on th utiat o absout v t th absout v th a no diffncs o spaations of quaitis of Buddhanatu. w considing psnc of Buddhanatu at th ativ va wh th ath divisions So th is no contadiction
4
he ament flear Realizatin
he Te Coditios or Oisciece to Develo hrt toi oth Oant i th tn au or aal ondition or wido o th Buddha to dvlop.
WeBodhihia must st develop a dese to hep al setet begs each
elghteme. 2 Prati intrution We must e about he Buddhst path ad apply ousefto hese stuctos. hese stuctos ae foud he ve paths. 3 Thour tag odnit aration We must go o hugh the fou stages o the path ofjucto. Buddha-natur, th bi or our rati u whoe deveopmet of eazao eles o the fac tha we d all othe setet begs ossess Budha-aue.
Objt 5 WeTh must eazeoFou the emptess of heomea d we develop
udestadg ofhese ough udestadg kds f subj ecs such as udestadg ceaed ad uceaed oda ad extaoday postve ad egatve acos etc 6 Th urpo We eed to udesad the upose fo sdyg the Pajapata ad cultvatg hebodhsatva path. Arork Prati Fally thee ae fou dffee patces we eed to do to udesad. Ths pactce s pefectg the sx patas.
ratiapply the fou dhya medtaos to ou pactce 8 Weplid eed tothe 9 Th Prati oAuulation
e eed to pactce he accumulato ofmet ad the accumuato of wsom Th Prati o Crtain Rl We need to derstnd the insepability of sasa nd mrvna.
48
6
The Objects o Foc s for the Bodhisattva E HE FFH ONDO THE EC OF OCU
his h onition for realizing harmata enompasses the eeven ierent items e nee to fous on in our harma pratie. s e sty the Prajnaparita an ultivate our isom the fous of our atention is absolutely al phenomena hether they be goo an usel hngs or hether th be ba or useless hings o matter hat ey are e nee o apply the Prajnaparamita to hem So generally speaking our fous is on all phenomena 3 THREE TYE OF CON
en e onsier the various phenomena e must engage in three ations: e must aopt viruous aions e must abanon unvirous ations an neual aions he natre of virue is that it is e ausal oniion for forunate events to ise in us an virtue also benes others. he ve natre of vire is that it helps us an it helps others So virtue is to be aopte. Seon is unvirous behavior hih of ourse shoul be eliminae. he nare of unvirous behavior is that i hurts us beausei is the ause for tre suering Besies harming us it also harms other beings. hir are neua ations hih e neither posiive nor negative in terms o f vire neither use l nor harml hen e use these ors ey have a ertain feeling or avor o them; so hen e say "virue then i makes us think of hat is goo ha is holesome e get a feeling of happiness an gooness hen we think of unvirous ations ten it gives us the feeling of unholesomeness of not being goo of being harml here's goo reason for is hat e all vitous aivities e -49-
Te Onament fClear Realizatin actins wich prduce the mst frtunate resuts fr us and wi create a that is gd and a that is admirabe and benecia fr ther pepe niruus actins wi b ring ny suffering and harm S thse wrds are very justy use and en we can easiy see ursees what is virtuus and what is unvirtuus by natre The way the Buddha taught what is virtuus and what is unvirtuus was in terms f ng-term effects When we act n a way that creates psitive kma it wi prdue happiness and these are virtus actins which wi cause happiness and cause benet When we manipuate situatins and act in a way that causes harm t thers then this w eventuay create suffering and this is what we ca unvirtuus actins Tis is the way t understand this tpic 46. WORLDLY AND TRANCENDENAL NDERANDNG
We can as think f things in terms f the way f ur understanding whih may be either wrdy unerstanding r transcendent understanding f ur mind is embraced by the thuht f " and an eg ur thinking is embraced by vaius deements feeins desires attachments an s n This is wrdy r mundane understanding and wi ead ny ccasinay t virtue Fr instance when we have the crrect wrdy iew cndence in the aw f karma and s n Bt geneay this wrdy thught is t be abandned The transendent understanding that is the thinking which transcends the sef is und in the nbe beings d desnt ave thse deements embracing it Transcendenta understnding is cnducie t the path t en ighenment and t be adpted 6 CU ON HE TANED AND NANED
We can as examine phenmena in terms f tainted and unainted phenmena We use the term "tainted t mean that which eads t activities which wi cause us t take birh n ssa and th wer reams n ibetan the wrd fr "taintd is zache hese ainted activities are rted in the beief in a sef an eg rising m his beief in sef are tree ain disturbing emtins (desire aggressin an ignrance) and a f their subsidia ramicatins nce these deements are present then we wi aways cntinue n d n in -0
Te Path ofJunction and Buddha-nate samsa or the cycle of existece. So what is taited belogs to samsa The utaited actiities are hose actiities which are ot embaced by the idea of a self aited pheomea are those thigs which will help us achiee liberatio om the cycle of samsaa 89 CREAED AND NEAED PHENOMEA
We ca also examie pheomea i terms of created ad ucreated which e also sometimes called compouded ad the ucom pouded Created pheomea are eerythig which must be assembled be produced though cases ad coditios ce we hae thigs which are created or compouded they e always subject o impermaece ad chge which almost always leads to some sort of suerig ceaed pheomea or te opposite are ot due to he brigig ogether of other objects ceated pheomeaotae permaet ad o subject to imermece d therefore subject to suerig 0 RDINARY AN XRAINARY HENOMENA
e ca also examie pheomea i terms of odiary pheomea of the disciples or the exaordiary pheomea of the bodhisattvas The oriary pheomea of the disciples refers to he actiities commo wi e shraaas such as mediatig o the selessess of the pesoality meditatig o suerig o oe' s ow beet ad so o. The other aspect is the focus of atetio o the extraordiary pheomea the bodhisaa's wisdom jaa of of the the Buddha the of special powers d soeat o This is thethewisdom bodhisaas o the mayaa path summ there are elee thigs which the bodhisaa focuses upo i his or he stdy of the Pajaparamita The rst three were irtue uie ad eutral actios The fourth was worldly pheomea The h was rascedet pheomea The sixth was the taited pheomea the seeth was the utaited pheomea the eighh was compoued pheomea ad he ith was the ucompouded heomea The teth was the ordia pheomea d the eleeth was the exaordi pheomea
he Onamentf Clea Realizatin F THE PUROE OR SUDY HE PRAM The sixth condition or realizing dhnata deals with the pupose or studying the rajnaparamita, or cultivating he bodhisattva path, and or achieving the results o the path This section gives three major reasons or studying the Prajnaparamita 1 GREA ID Te rst reason is having the most nole atitude which is not just ting t achieve ones own happiness and eliminating nes own probems and suering, but eliminating all the problems or all sentient being s. course, it i s a very worthy thing t nd pea ce and happiness or onesel and to get rid o ones problems But this is a rather liited approach t is like a wealthy person with man relatives who are ve poor ad who keeps his riches for himsel. This is shamel notisthe thing to The natal thing or at person and to do to very thinkbest in terms odo helping more people around him When we tak about having tis most noble attitude, we mea thinking beyond oursel The way to do hat is to tink o oers as being like us, to think o giing them happiness ju st ike we wuld desire to give happiness to oursel and to think o remoing others prblems d suering, just as we wou like to remve these om oursel That is the noble state o mind. This mst noble atitude is without limit or scope To think o elping a hundred people to achieve happiness and elimiate teir suering is not enough, because aat rom those hudre there are 1,00 many more individuals whoenough need help. Towe think o helping or 100,000 people is stil not When develo ths most nble atitude, we think o absolutely every single sentient being hat as ever existed om the ve beginning, because all o the have alays wanted o ndhappiness ad to get rid otheir suering ur task is to think o ourselves as a iend and support them in their work o ning happiness This means not leaving out een one person because eres not even one ho doesnt want r need he support o our attiude
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e Path fJunctin and Buddha-nature 2 . A ANDONNG
We need to work n two res to ll our wsh of rell helpng sentent bengs Frst we need to elnte the proper tons of bod (phsl tons), of speeh (proper ounton), nd o nd (proper We l so need tottude el nd te ththoug e uhtse) o proper tons of bod, speeh, nd nd, whh re the dsturbng eotons (Skt klesh) The subtle root of these proper tons nd deleents s the nurte otve belef oneng the nture of phenoenon So we need to elnte both our eotonl d otve obsurtons 3. A AZON
ext we need to develop our relzton Bsl we wsh to go o our present stte of knowng ew thngs to stte of understndng bsolutel ll phenoen To develop we need to develop the sprton to begn the pththt Thsrezton, uses us to eventull develop oents o nsght Through the pth of nsght we wll then develop the relzton o the pth of edtton ventull, we wll hve the oplete relzton of Buddhood, whh nvolves nwledge f the nature (Tb ji ta ba) d the nwedge f the varie (Tb ji nye pa) of pheneoen whh re the two pes ofjnn
Questions Quesion: Could ou plese expln ltle bout the neutrl
tons
npocbe: s the ne ples there re those thngs tht re n eselves nether vruous nor unvrtuous suh s wlkng, stng, or lng down These tons n theselves do not hve n eet of hppness nor do the use us to ll nto the lower rels n prtul there e lssll four pes of neul ton () gong to ples suh s kng joues, (b) ovng round suh s wlkng wn one's town, () sttng, nd (d) restng Quesion: Could ou gve ore detled explnton on the sx seton lled purposelness
3 -
Te ament Clear ealizatin npbe n his section on the purpose fo studyin the
Prajnaparamita e e lookin at is to understd hy e are pacticin dhama hy e e deelopin this knolede of the rajnapaamita Fist f all mes e decide hat is the purpose the meanin of it all the objec of hat e are din That's hy there ere thee main subsections about ain a most noble atitude hain the ery best renunciation an hain the ery best realizaion When e thin abut hy e pactice dharma e can undestand the need fo not just bein conceed ith oursees or een ith ou on nation our ace our friends ut oin fo absolutely eerybod Because e kno Buddhahood is the best kind of permanent happiness then e can be certain that thee is reat alue in brinin eerybod to Buddhaood t ' s not as thouh enitenment is ood for just a fe So he st point is to deelop this most noble attitude of orki f absolutely eerone ext e must realize that e can neer really hel eeone eah a state of enlihtenment unless e emoe ou arious the obstacles blockaes and impurities This leads to the eat ish to et rid of eethin that limits us and makes our mind impue hat il et rid of the impurities is actual insiht s e contemplates that see that insit is bo in the isdom of the Prajnaparamita So throuh the study f tese thee thins e deelop an understandin of hat ou purpose fo acticin dharma That's hy this section is called puposelness
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7
The Meditaon Practices and The Practice ofAccumulation n the ast chater we ooke at the rose of or ractice this chater we wi examine the acta ractice itse he rst of these is e aor-ike ractice which eas with or motivation foowe b the ractice of aca entering the coesoning actions. so in this chater we ook at the ractice of gathering the accumations an e ractice of cerain reease which brings it a to erfection. G. T 7 CONDIION OR-LKE PE
rmor-ike ractice eas wi the eveoment of our motivation t invoves how we can our orin motivation into a vast motivation hro iigence. he eveoment of motivation is main one throgh the ractice of the six itas (generosi isciine atience iigence meitation rana). t is vast becase these are not st isoate amitas bt within eachof the amitas we nee the resence of a e oer amitas. So the ractice of the aramitas becomes ve extensive an interoven. he anskrit wor "aramita means "erfection anscening qai. he rst aramita of generosi imies theor highest kin of generosi. First we create a min which is oen an benevoent-- a generos min the thoght of wanting to give. ext the aramita o isciine mst aso be resent in at we make sre there is not e sitest sain of avarice or of other eement associate with it We aso nee to b naecte an harm that ma come om the ractice of giving. We nee to be abe tot with these averse circmsces b racticing the aramita of atience. When we give we o it with eat energ so we are wiing to work rough ict senos tasks that ma arise in this --
e Onament of Clear Realiation giving so e need the pamita of diligence also he act of giving c aso e a support for our medittion. When iving our mind sould be onepointed requiring the paramita of meditation lso everthing that takes place at the time of giving must be done y anscending the giver the gi and the receiver i e. the so called three circles (ib how sum) o do this one must apply the paramita f isdom. So ne can see ho ithin the perfection of generosi al ve o f the other paramitas need to e present. n a similar ay the paamita of skilll conduct also needs all si pamitas to be present ithin it his is e aso for the paramita o atience te paramita of diligence the paramita of meditatin d the paamita of praja. l paramitas nee to have the other si paramitas esent in them to really e perfect the intention to practice like this ith each of the paramitas ithin it is called t he anor-l ike practice H 8 CONIION: LIE PIE
he second step of pratie is caed e applied practice heras efore e ere coceed ith ou motivation or practice no e are actually engaging in it. he application of the practice is rst of al cnceed ith he development of meditation or samadhi in tes of cutivating e four dhyaas and formess meditations. f one ts to overcome samsa d gain the qualities of the Buddha then the most imprtant ing to do is to tame one's mind he mind is the ve root of phenomena ne really needs isdom and meditation to tame one's mind. hat isdom sprins from meitation so the development of meditation ill actuay ring aout hat e are seeking hat comes aout thrugh our tivating the dhyanas and the fomess contemlations. HE NA AN FOLE EIAION
he main conce of our tet is the deveopment of compete isdo the Prajnapamita hich is e compete understding o the e natre o henomena When e hae nderstood the tre eperience o that nature then our prajna ecomes carer d eaer unti it becomes jnana the highest isdom of the Buddha 56-
Te Fur Practices That prcess can nly take place if ur ind is very stable and very sure When the ind is stable and sure we can quickly achieve results that we chse t editate n. f the ind is unstable chaneable and unreliable then we will nt be able t achieve d results S we need t et the ind under cnl t ake it sethin which is very stable Therefre it is said here that we shuld rst f all apply urselves t editatin. n eneral there are dierent kinds f editatin tauht in varius Buddhist ansissins. The spread f Buddhis can be caterized int three ain veents The Buddha lived in the wrld and tauht the dhaa in ndia in the century BC. few hundred years later larely thruh the activity f the sn and dauhter f the eat ndian kin shka ne veent f Buddhis went t Sri anka (Ceyln) and then spread t Bura and Thailand This becae what we knw tday as the Theravada traditin Wihin the Theravadin traditin here is a cerain style and syste edidatin Thef secn evlutin f Buddhis was called the ahayana and ved ndia in the directin f China. This syste f dhara placed a eat ephasis n editatin The wrd fr editatin in Sanskrit is dhyanawhich becae chan when it was anslated int Chinese. These ahayana teachins spread even rher t apan where the nae dhyana was anslated t zen The third evlutin was called the vajrayana and went ndia t epal and epal t Tibet d Tibet rher nh t nlia d Siberia f curse all f thse aditins cae the teachins f the Buddha and dhey are all faircn representatins f his teachns but there is se ierence in the tent f hw editatin was tauht and presented. is just a difference in technique s whether it be in the Theravada r the Zen traditin ne beins directly with editatin withut y ter techniques n cnast it is a pariculari f the va rayana at ere are extreely wide rane f techniques Seties ne ay editate n nes yidam seties ne ay recitemantr seties ne ay cultivate e visualitin stae f practice seties ne siply des straihtfrward ne-pinted cncenratin What aes the vajrayana syste a very d way t pratice is that there e such a - 57 -
he Onament fClear Realizatin wid rang of tchniqus making it asir to tam th mind n can appl th various tchniqus rathr than striving v, vry hard with st on tchniqu To th nwcomr to th dharma, this vast rang of mditations and visualizations may sm a littl strangsmtims on dity and somtis quit complx dtis with many arms and many facs, somtims pacful or wrathful itis t sms lik suh a vast panora tat on may wondr why Th rason fr this vast choic is simply tat all of ths practics ar various skill mans suitabl for taming th mind So w many somtims mditat on on di, somtims on anothr, but as thy ar al mans to tam th mind, th mind can dnitly b tamd tis way 2 THE PAAMA PAH AD MLE EDAO
his txt shows man tchniqus that w can us to train ur min or th can four mditat limitlss on thmdiations six paramitas, of orlov, th v cmpassion, stags of joy, th path, and impartiali Ths ar all som of th vrious mans for aming ourslvs 6. AV O E AD PUR O THREE RE
h mditation on h Prajnaparamita concs undrstding mptinss To d his w somtims choos objcts on th rlativ lvl such as lov or th paramitas t or tims, w concntrat on th absolut lvl wr thr no objcts, ust as th mpty nat w am also mditat thby"purity o th all hr circlsitsl (ibSomtims abandoning hr gsum ar dagonpa), clinging to th notins f prcivr, prcivd, and th at of prcption Somtims w mditt wih an objct, somtims w itat iout on Somtims w ditat with a prcpt in our mitatio, somtims without a rcpt To tam our mind, nd somtims t contmplat th maning of objctiv rality, to think abou th paramitas, th various stags of th pah, and th four immasurabls But if w r to do that all th tim, thn its quit possibl w could bcom involvd with th ida of ding sothing 58-
Te Fur Practices n order to acheve a certan result whch becomes too sold and causes us to become too preoccuped wth what we are dong. Becase we may blame too nvolved t s sometmes very healthy to medtate wthot an object, medtatng on the emptness tself. So there e medtatons wth an object and medtatons wthout an object, whch we should alteate 7-9 PUOEULNE SX CLEAR CONIION
AN NOLEE ALL HENOMENA
The whole purpose of our practce as bodhsattvas s to be able to benet others and to benet them n a really vast way So we should not be satsed wth dong these practces for our own benet alone. To help others extensvely we adually also develop the sx clear cotons and nally the owledge of all phenomena the state of Buddhahood nd even now, as we have not proessed at f we can to them sakelsten of oers, we'llbengs developexplaned them and cultvate the dea for the
Smma
ths second secton whch we suded today whch dealt wth the (1) the actal applcaton of pctce whch conssts of nne topcs (4) the four dhyanas, (2) the paramtas 3) the stages of the path lmtless contemplatons, 5) the absence of object n medtaton, (6) the absence of he threefold aspect of percever, precept, d act of percepton, 7) the prose of the path,(8) the clear cogntons
d (9) wsdomwll of really all phenomena If we actually practce these faccumulatin orthe practce evolve om thestage en to the stage f junctin to the stage f insight to the stage f meditatin and eventually to the stage of complete d perfect Buddhood I THE 9 CONIION THE PRAIE O UMULAION We have dscussed armor-lke practce conceng motvaton, appled practce conceng the bodhsattva actons and now we wll
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ament f Clear ealizatin discuss th ninth conition for achiing nlihtnmntth accumulationof mrit Thr to th accumulations th accumulation of virtu ad th accumulation of wisdom W know of cours how to dvlop our virtu but th ida hr is to show us how to dvlop a v vast ount of virtu W also know how to accumulat wisdom but w want to cultivat th v dpst most profound wisdom So this sction focuss on ho to achiv th highst ir and wisdom 1 GA CMAO
nbiasd compassion is th rot for th vast accumulatin of mrit But compassion cannot ourish in th prsnc of advrs factors such as angr and agrssion or h wish to harm othrs So if w bli that somon is an nmy thn that ida will gradually produc thoughts o ang and hostility This will thn produc an cumulativ t bcaus angr crats a th situation that rsults in ngativ raions om othr popl W can s in a vry obvious wa that thr is absolutl no bnt in bng an or hostil s long as w hostil it will lad to harming othrs and tis harm will rtu t harm for us also h bst way to ovrcom angr and hostili is to mply compassion which is th rdy for agssion Th rason compassion is t antidot o hostility is that our lif is actually lik a mior Whn w look into th mirror making a imacing an fac hn in th mirror w s a hostil imacing rction I w mak a v smilingsmiling fac thn wthat look in lif th mirror s bautil a v bautil fac hn t is lik wit If gnrat hostility d agssion hn lif will b v hstil d agssiv twards us n th othr hand if w lo othr popl and ar concd for thir wllbing trat thm with rspct d apprciation w will nd at lov and indship d cmfort in our lif c this happns it is a procss which accumulats Th mor w lov th mor w can la how to lov d th mr honius our lif will b T v root of having this good rlationship with th rction of lif is th cultivation of
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Te Fur Practices compasson Is om havn compasson ha all of he ood quales of relaonshps emere 2 GIVIN avn culvaed we hese need are o ve enae n hen our sx paramas We have compasson, seen before how mporan pracce When we are praccng he paramas, such as generosty, we can see ha hey tae place n relaon o he exeal word. Bu s no so much wha es place on he ousde ha s mporan, bu he nner way n whch we reae o he suaon or exple, Shandeva n heBdhisattvas f Le says he parameer of generos s no so much ng o remove all pover n he world, because ha s mpossble. aher he paramta of eneros conces he nner aspec of our movaon, he mnd When we hn, "Throuh hs ac o I wll remove pover or "I wl remove he and famne, s s realy mpor s he esre o helphunger Wheher wors or wha doesn no realy he mporan hn, bu he sae of mnd whch deermnes wheher we have he acual perfecon of generos s compasson ha s he ey facor for deveopng he acual perfecon, because s compasson whch ves us he properly movaed mnd
3 IIIE Is he se wh he second pama, slll conduc or moral dscplne oral dscplne s conceed wh rh acon of body, speech, and When cuvaes wh he parama of lln slll conduc, smnd no ha oneone s conceed elmnan hroughou he unverse or ha we could sop all he anmals om devourn each oher The perfecon of sll conduc means deveopn whn oneself he mpossbly of ever hang and llng ohers. I means becomng someone who never es, seals, or does any unvruous hng wh ones body, speech, or mnd. I one has masered hs n onesel no n he exeal world, hen one has masere he paraa of sll conduc
61
Te Onament Clear Realizatin 47. THE HER PARMIA f core he ame wh he parma of paence The perfecon of paence doen mean removng a he oer dfc ageve crcance b maerng he mnd o ha we w never ge re o negave reacon ch a anger Smary wh he oher hree arama of dgence medaon and rajna we can ndernd ha he deveopmen of her perfecon come from he maery of ore he perfecon of or own mnd The gea maer Shdeva gve a ve vvd exame for he ay To avod pan o or bare fee we can eher cover he enre rad of ho and one wh eaher or we can cover he oe of or fee wh eaher To cover he whoe exea word wh eaher of core mobe, however we j ake a ver ma pece of eaher and make oe o cer or fee en wherever we go coveed wh eaher Th how ve ceary how we reae he arama We do no engage n he arama by anformng he objecve word b we maer or own mnd avng mered or mnd wherever we go here w be he pefecon he moohne ha w eek 8-10 TRANQILLY AND NIH AD THER COMINAION
The nex pon conce anq (Sksamtha, Tb shin) and ngh (Skvipasana,Tb lhatn)medaon Tranqy medaon he vaon of peace or camne ad he ab of mnd eyng on a peace mnd we' appy ngh medaon o acuayheexperence he wordofame reay (Sk To damata) gaer wo accmaon and wdom he bodhava need o medae begnner o medaon e varo echnqe for camng he mnd whh are he echnqe for hamaha We e he vo echnqe for cvang or penerang ngh or vpahyana h meaon progree hamaha and vpahyana become more ned o ha r ngh mprove r anq and or ranqy mprove or ngh So here r hamah hen vpahyana and hen he non of hee wo form of meaon -62
Te F Practices 1 1 SFU EAN The ext pot deals w all e vaos eas that oe wold eploy to gaer e acclato of e sx p tas, copasso, ad shaaa d vpashya, d er o e ca se all of these o the path to elghteet 121 7 S OE PON The ext thee pots ths secto suarze the practce aspect d revew what has already bee sad st, we st practce jaa o the expeece ofthe dhata Secod, we st practce e acclato of et by es of e sx paatas ad so o Thrd, the ve paths aeto be aversed poessvely ode The thee e thee pots whch belog to e wsdo aspect The foh pot s calleddhanithat s the developet of cea dha wll eable s to have total ecall, ad to be able to bg vete clearly to md levels what we have stdedaverse The The potsxth coces te bodhsatva well adally pot deals wth the vaos eedes we st apply to rst sbde ad the elate the vaos obstacles we have ecoteed cosstetly, e, the obscatos of deleets ad owledge
J lr ONDON THE PACCE OF ERAN EAE The teth codto fo reachg elghteet s e pactce of cea elease whch s explaed et deet topcs oveg ese brey The st pot s that the ppose of cea elease s the se as thead pactce acclato, eat d, eat abadog, eat of cltvato Wth amely, these d we c acheve ths pactce The secod pot s that samsaa ad a ae detcal elato to e e atre of pheoea The thd pot s by elyg o ce release, the helpg of oters becoes copletely eoless The h pot s eedo o e lted deas becase the reslt acheved s absoltely easeless s ot soeg whch ca be coceved of coceptally The sxth pot deals w how all the bddha qaltes ae aleady peset whe oe atas the actal state of ddhahood Sevet, po eachg ddhahood oe does really have oscece, the -63
he Onament oClear Realization totl nowledge of absolutly evethng. nally, the reason for attanng the state of omnscence s the proess along the ve paths t ths pont we are at the end of the rst prncpal sectons of the tet, the nowledge of all phenomena gvng the ten causal condton for attanng Buddhahood
Qstons Qustion:
whch paths do the ve knds of vsons and the s
clear cotons emerge Rinpob: any, they emerge wth the path o nsght and the path
of medtaton, but the can also emerge n the path of uncton, because the path ofuncton s peparaton for those hgher paths. The clear cognons and te dffrent vsons are a supportng or helng factor ntoones They begn to practce. emerge on the path of uncton somedevelopment deee and renforce ones The more they develop, the more the enhance the practce But they dnt emege totally on the stage of uncton. Qustion: npoche, c you eplan a lle more about the thrd and fourth stages of the path of uncton, the stages of courage or forbearance and the ghes worldly thng Rinpob: n the thrd sage of uncton, ones courage really means never letng any sor of doubt about emptness to develp In the whole path of uncton one s comng close to understandng the true nature of phenomena. s courage means that one follows up what onethat nows to be rht about , and one doesnt let Itany develop would delay ones realzaton of emptness s doubts ve etene, e courageous n ones development of undersandng of ths true nature, whc s emptness t s through ths determnaton, that one realzes he genune eperence of emptness. The vey rst nstant of truly realzng the nature of henomea s the last stage of the path o unctn, the hghest orldly dharma he succedng nsant s what we call the ne stage wch s nsght propely speng The hghest worldly dharma because t s the last moment, the en of ones worldlness and one can never ever retu to worldlness, whch s wh ts called the "hghest worlly dharma.
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Te Fur Practices Quesio Is amig he mid he mos impora hig i he develpme f he paramias, ad he how des ha i wih he acivi f he bodhisava which is ve much coceed wih helping oher people i he ouer world Ripoche: There is, of course, a dierece bewee he way i
which he mind fr he hiayaa praciiner ad heaig way he mid wrs forwors he mahayana praciier ve hough he mid is he mos impora hig, if oe does o have he bdhsava moivaio o develp he paramias, oe will no have he wish o really help hers d do bodhisava acivi If one is only coceed wih oes mind, he oe does have he moivaio o develop he paias ve hough here is such a vas aray f hings i he ouer wrld, ier mid is very ipor i relai o ay picular acio, d o he ouer wrld ne vivid exmple comes om he life of he h yal Karmapa who we hia where he was e of he spiriual eachers of he emperr of hia emperor had ea faih devoi owards him nd made veryThe lavish oerigs f gold adad silver ad rcade his way bac o Tibe, he Krmapa received some erigs om a ld lady who gave him a ga wih a bre leg he h yalwa Kaapa said ha he had never received such a ea oerng as ha meaig ha all f he mvelous oerigs he had received m he emperor did o equal he oerigs given by his ld lady f curse, peple fud his amig because everyoe was so impressed by all he vas riches give The poi is ha he emperor gave so may higs, u he did give everyhig ha he had. The ld lady, however, had oly his goa wih a broen leg, so her geerosi cmplee Because of her hough, her gi exceeded ha fwas he emperor Quesio: relai o he higs which oe gives up o he four pars of he pah ofjuci, could you explain he fourh sage, which is belief i appare reali Ripoche: he hird sage we give up a belief in a cocree reali rdinary persos believe ha he uer, appare world is very real ad solid ad has is ow exisence iewise, hey hi ha he mid als has sme subsial exisence ad is a hig The hird sage e is vercoming he belief i e ouer world ad iner mid beig solid hings. - 65
Te nment of Clear Realization
the fourth stage its more suble beause one an realize that evething that mifests either without or within oneself is ust a fabriated reali. We realize that we have reated it by our onsious labeling d a denition of reali he fourth stage is the proess of undoing these labels this proeting whih is the main one here rather than the atal belief in reali Its working on eliminating the onsious press that we use to reate the outer and inner ideas. Quesion: ould you say more about the path o untion and the four stages? Rinpoe: We should understand that on the path of untion we dont aually realize emptiness We are woring towards the realization ofemptiness or the tre nature. In the path ofuntion we are ing to ultivae ertain within ourself about emtiness to beome more and more enite and onined d appreiative of what emptiness means. o do that we need to get rid of the things within us whih are ontradito to this tru of emptiness. he four kinds of hought that we wor with are nepts within us whih blok that realization beause hey are ntaditory to the whih enables us to atally realize the empiness on he pa of insight What we do in hese four stages is to work with and redue hose four inds of thoughts. We make them diminish and diminish d not manifest in an obvious way. But the seed o those thoughts the subtle root of hose thoughts an only be removed later throuh insit and the development of that insight. So on the path of untion we e ing away the bloages to emptiness in partiula the absolute ondene in emptiness.
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8
The Hinayana Paths TOC II KNOEDGE OF HE PAH
ths chapter we ove on to the second an topc of the eght topcs of the tet whch deals wth the knowledge that the bodhsavas have of the path We wll stud the path through eleven subtopcs T OUNDAON OF HE PAH nderstdng of e path s understandng the essence of the path at te bodhsattva aves and the wa n wch ths path can be accopshed s the foundaton of the path tself The bass or foundaton o whch e path ses, s the rst topc 1 EMOVNG PDE
The Buddha taught the dha to an derent knds of bengs Wen he taught the Prajnaparata, there were an, an gods ta and to see the Buddha who cae to he about e Pjnap These gods had ost acent and resplendent bodes, radant w ght, ve beautl and ve subtle When the cae to hear the teachngs w ther radant d beautl bodes the were copletel outshone b the splendor of the Buddha The agncence of e Buddha's phscal radance put the radance of the detes to shae reducng e prde of those gods. The reason at e Buddha had such a acent bod was that before he was e Buddha he had studed the teachngs and put the nto practce wth absence of prde s a resut of that he was b f e ost resplendent beng causng the gods to respecth.
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he Onament fClear Realizatin When e practice there e some tings that we must eiminate: desire or attachment aggression stupidi jeaous and prie. Because these are the root o negative actions the are aso the root of suffering. In particuar when we std and practice the dharma it is most import to eiminate pride. s ong as we have pride it is ver hard for good uaities to emerge.possessions ur pride means we our are conceed withtheour extea appearance and aso inne mind s ong as pride is present the rea quaities canno ow In the sutras there is an expe o pride having pride is ie an overtued pot. If a po is he right wa up whatever is poured ino it is reained but if a pot is ued upside don then whatever is poured into it just rns o. o when we stud if we have pride hen we never rea receive the essence of the teachings. 2. EAN O HE E (PCCE) er removing the rootIffor we must eveop certaint about pride the object. weproper ar apractice casua practitioner then sometimes e don' foow the pa and sometimes we intend to practice and rejoice in the practice and sometimes we just e it drop for awhie. Ifwe are this ind of casua practitioner then we never rea carr our practice throu to te end. f course anthing that e do that is good wi have favorabe resuts. But it a casua attitude we can never achieve uition. Therefore we need compee cnviction aboutthe goodness of hat we are doing. 3 NCOMANG LL PACCE)
Besides having a certain commitment to what one is doingwe need a compete commient b rea apping oursef to the totai of the practice. ather tan being seective we practice a of the paraitas not just a few of the paramitas. AE AND HE CON
The fourth point is to wor upon deveoping the reaiation of te e nature of phenomena. The ue nature is a vita topic in our meditatio. he remova of pride the denite commitment to ones 68-
Te Fundatin f the Path: Te Hinana Paths practce, the totalt of the coent and the stud of the tre nature need to be put nto acton The ang of these st fou ponts real n ters of our pactce s the h pont. These ve topcs e the foundaton for the path The reanng ten subtopcs conce the path tself Tb lam dns)In ths secton we wll std the an was shown b the uddha We path wll see thebodhsattas, path of the shravaas, the praeabuddhas, and great of the well loo at the path of nsght, the path of cultvaton and so on. B. KNOEDGE OF H SHAVAA PAH The onl wa to uddhahood s the ahaa path. There ae soe people who e capable of pactcng that waand the ahaana and soe people who ae not et capable. ather than leavng out ose who c't practce e bodhsatva path, the udha taught the hnana path The wll be able to practce, and t wll brng about ver good results or ther sae, theacheve uddhaenlghtenent taught the hnaa for those who wll be able to ultatel the hnaana path, the students le about the four oble ruths of the uddha and edtate upon the eanng of these four trths. The goal of the practce s to eventuall gan an actual drect realzaton of the eanng of these fou trths There s a ver good exple to help us understd the four oble Trts When we are sc, we rst need to understand just what the llness s or whch par of the bod that s sc nd we need to ake a good daoss to understand the llness To effectvel cure the llness, we need secondl understand the cause of the llness Then thrd we need to thn good tWe s toneed be health, how reallofneed to recover o of thathow sckness to now thewevalue health. Then fourth we need to nowwhat edcne to tae to bng bac the state of health f we understand these four steps n edcne, t s eas to understand the fou uths n relaton to a sptual alad When e ae lvng n ssara, we need to now the ver nature of our exstence We need to now that t s peranent and there s alwas sufferng n ssara Suerng s a ver nherent part of ssara s we std, ths becoes ve clea and we becoe awae of the trth of that nature of suerng, whch belongs to ou pesent condton The rst oble Trth s t s the nowledge of the th of 69
he Onament Clear Realizatin sufering. Tis corresponds to diagnosing wat te illness is But to ow aout suffering is not enoug we need to get rid of it e cannot just immediately anniilate suffering ut must remove te causes of suffering and te causes of tre suffering Teefore we need to ow wat tose causes are wic is arma e need to now tatand arma om te emotions St. leshas), tesestems elements aredisturing te very cause of suffering Te so ma nowledge tat arma an te delements must e eliminated is te second ole Trt of te srcination of suffering. is corresponds to nowing te cause of te illness in te previous example ext we need to now ow elimination sufferin tat leads t lasing appiness Knowledge of te vlue of cessatin is te tird ole Trut of te cessation of suffering Tis corresponds to wanting to ecome wel in te previous example In order to get rid of te cause of suering one needs to practice t a of darma wi is te our ole Trut te tt of te pat is ten corresponds to aing in te Truts prviouswere example Temedicine four ole augt y e Buda t e followers of te inayana pat Te folloers leaed aout te four uts and ten contmplated teir meaning and tey meditated on tese four truts wic lead tem to te results of te pat of te sravaas But te four ole Trus were also te principal topic for tose following te maayana as well ecause tis pat leads to lieration and te nowledge of all penomena Buddaood). erefre masteing te four ole Truts is suitale for tose of te inaya and te maayana But even toug e oject is te In te inayana te four same tere's a ifference in eir approac ole rtstoare te trut ofiewise reality sotesufering unerstod e vey vey real realeing and sustantial. cause ofis suffering arma d te deleents are seen as trul existing tings essation is seen as someting tat really exists Te pat is seen as a truly existing penmenon to In contrast t odisaas approac te four ole rus om emptiness and are in temselves not solid independently existing tings. f cours tey now tat in te relatie world sufring is real ut te also realize tat wen we loo at te vey essence te vey natre of wat is taing place tere is nting ut empiness It is te same wen tey stuy te causes of suffering
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Te Foundatono/the Path: he Hinana Paths ey uderstd how these auses have eir relative reali but they also uderstand how these auses e in themselves o more tha emptiess So their approah to the four oble Truths is differet When we ompare the two main approahes of the lesser ad the eater vehile we either say that they e ompletely the same or that they are ompletely as though is oty that oes those two pathsdieret. is dieret fatorsevethig about those two approahes are the same both of these paths we are tryig to d out the real nature of phenomea Whoever applies the teahigs of either path properly a ahieve the al result of liberation whih is their great similari the other had they are ot exatly the se beause i the lesser vehile the teahigs are quite limited hey are very skilll teahings given by the Buddha for people of a ertai apai These teahigs are easier to pratie d their result is easier to ahieve In the mahayaa as we have already disussed the four oble Truths are see i the otext of profoud emptiess is ad allembraig all aspets ofpath the bodhisatva path the are iluded By pratiig we a ahieve ultimate goal of Buddhood So we ould say that om a prelimi poit of view the paths of the lower d eater vehile have a dieret ature whereas om the ultimate poit of view their essee is the same Therefore the bodhisattva eeds to kow the shravakas pa as wel KNOEDE O HE PAYEUDDHA PAH I the last setion we exied the shravaka path ow we are oneed with the a higher path of the pratyekabuddhas whokowledge are alledoeig i the text "solitary buddhas beause they realize e truth by themselves In former lives they studied with a buddha or other teahers ad leed how to pratie the dharma The later i order to brig this to fruitio they are bo i a world where the dhma teahigs are not kow Beause of the power of their foer ka they have a iquisitive mid that wts to kow what life is about where they oe om d what will happe to them i the ture. They d themselves propelled by this power of karma to go to plaes suh as neral ouds d there they see the boes ad rottig esh ad they st 71
he ament fCler Ralizatin to thnk Wat does all ths mean hey thnk those bones are a token of death and that death wth ts sfferng comes abot becase of brh When they thnk abot where brh comes om they reale that brth tself comes abt becase of karma s they contemplate ths they reale karma comes om the delements Then they look even ntobelef hs nderstandng and n eale thoseofdelements come rher om the n the self or ego the lght what they nderstand they decde they mst practce and so hey go and do ther pactce They go to medtate and they feel very comfrtale by themselves and dont feel the need to reso to a teacher or companons They nderstan thngs all y themselves and go and medtate all by themselves Theyre lovers of soltde and becase of ths they are compared to a rhnoceros ecase t has ths ver bg sngle ho on ts nose Ths snglarty ths soltde s a key factor conceng them Praekabddhas don't partclarly wt to teach the dharma or what nderstood to others Bt f qaltes someoned happens along theyve and reales the pratyekabddhas wantstotocome le how to do that for hmsel then the pratyekabddha wll help hm Bt they dont teach n terms of words and deas Praekabddhas dont oally accept stdents (Tbes su in pa) gve spoken teacngs ather wold lea the other person what the actually do They se ther very sbtle bodes that they gan om ther practce to demonstrate mracles By seeng these extraordnary thngs te other person wll gan some nderstandng The praekabdha practtoner n ther renncaton manage to reale te nonexstence or emptness of exteal phenmena and of the self n the path ncton wee for thngs whch were to be elmnated theofdea of thethere precept the percee oectve Of hese realty and te belef n the realty of mental forlatons the praekabddhas manage t rd themselves om the rst dea and hey really ndrstand the tre nonexstence of exteal bects So the acheve hs and they also nderstand of corse the nonexstnce of personal sel he praekabddhas nderstand the nonexstence of the exteal obects bt the stll dont reale that the mnd whch s the percever has no tre exstence They stll feel the tre xstence of the experencng mnd hs path of the praeabddhas s a ver worhy obect o knwledge or the
2
Te Fundatin fthe Path: Te Hinana Paths bodhisavas because i is a genuine pah leading o liberaion rom samsaa or his reason, he bodhisava needs knowledge o he shravaka pah, he paekabuddha pah d he bodhisava pah They e al genuine pahs
Summa In our sudy o he knowledge o he pah, we rs examined he oundaion o he pah, which enables us o ener upon he pah Second, we examined he shravaka's pah d we saw wha consiues heir approach nd heir pracice, and also wha sor o esuls wil emerge om ha Third, we examined he more exraordina pah o he praekabuddhas We saw again wha hey pracice and e esus which sping om hei pacice o only ha bu we also saw how he bodhisaas are no igno o his pa They undersand he pah o he shavakas o only do hey undersa nd ha undesd how ha emp o any ue naue in pah, iselhey They undersand i is pah no issomehing ha is solidly exising ou he bodhisavas undesand he pah o he praekabuddhas They know i, hey undesd i, and also hey undersand how i is no uly exisen
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Te Onament f Clear Realizatin
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9
he Bdhsatta Path fInsght We have studes the path f the shravaka, the path f te praekabuddha and nw ce t he bdhsata path Ts s dvded nt knwledge gans n the thrd path f nsght and knwledge ganed n he furh pah f medtatn D T AH OF INGH OF HE AHAYANA
The rst aspect deals wth the knwledge f wsdm f the path f nsght Presently, we d st the bengs have lst ur clar f perceptn f he e naure f phenena Wh ur rance, we have prjected ur present real, whch we call sasara. Te prble wth hs s that as lng as we e lvng n rce prducd by ths delusn, there wll always be suerng, hardshp, fear and s n fr us bvusly, we need t be able t reve ths ce ur beng T elnate rance we need, rst f all, t perceve clearly the true naure f phenena nce we have ths cle vsn f t we cn edtate n t agan and agan untl te realy f he dhaata anfests n e path f nsght hs rst vsn f the ue nature ccurs The nsght nt e true naure begns n the path f nsgt and beces clearer whle prceedng n he path f junctn T btan a clearer dea f what s akng place, we can reu t he eaple f the rpe, whch s mstaken fr the snake When we see a rpe and stake t fr a snake then we ave a deluded perceptn f curse, as far as he rpe tself s cnceed, t has nthng at all t d w a perceptn f a snake Its just a rpe. But because f ur deluded perceptn we develp fear d gush and suerng w t remve that angush and pc, we culd ake snake ven t wrk ecept antdte r make a snake ap ll these reedes w t realze that the rpe s just a rpe and seeng t as a snake was a delusn S the path f nsght where ne gets the e vsn f
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Te Onament f Clear Realizatin what is really taing place. ne sees the tre nature te previous path of unction we gradually come close and closer to this realiation of what is really there b thining an reecting on the nature of reali an again an again an ing to meditate on it. n the ath of insight, this meditation results in actually seeing reality as it is When we realie that the rope is ust a rope, then that is enough to eliminate the illusion of a snae. We ont have to do anything her because this removes the elusion In that respect, its the same when we have reached the path of insight. The insight into the true nature of phenomena is enough to remove he various mental delements and we particularly need to wor on these isturing emotions because the vision of the truth automatically dispels them, ust as the true percetion of the rpe ispels the idea of the snae. There is a difference, howeer, between the eample o a rope and insight into things as the e. The roe is very tempora and the delusion of sasa goes bac to beginningless tie Because ssa is such an inained habit, even though one has seen the true nature, ashes and icers of this deluded samsa wil come bac again and again So we need to cultivate the true insight again and again ntil the realiation is completely erfect ne does this on the net path, the path of meditation or cultivation. We saw that the shravaas and pratyeabuddas had the four noble trths as teir main obect of sty and contemplation ere on the bohisattva path, the insight is into the four oble Truths The four oble Truts deal with to main areas the deluded state of samsara eedom m the delusion. There is the cause and eecthis relationship between samsara its delusion om delusion of samsara In the with rst ble Truthand e liberation study the way that the deluded mind produces all of the suering and the manifestation of te samsaric world as an eect. The secon oble uth loos at the vey root or cause of that suering The third oble Trut studies the effect of liberation from elusion, tat is the stte of cessation of perfect Buddhaood In the fouth oble Truth we understand the causes which will liberate us om delusion. So we can see a cause and effect beteen the effect o delue samsara and the cause of deluded samsara. There is the eect of liberation,
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Te Bdhisattva Path f Insight and thee is the cause of liberation Ths cause and eect is the pincipal topic of the path of insight In moe detal: ist of all smsaa s suffeing Someties we are suering d having dcultes then sometimes we feel happiness and oy and at othe ties there is a neutral aspect to sasara when we are neither suering norto picularly at rst it be ather exaggerated consder theoyl whole So of sasaa to would be sueing ut when we look om an absolute point of view, which s much oe subtle and moe pofound we realize how the whole of samsara is iddled with suering and is ll of sueing We see that even if there is se happiness it is always ve tepo aybe it will last fo ten or ten yers but the person who expeiences that happiness ust inevtably be subect to the conditions of aging sickness and dea or that eason alone we c see that living in samsaa is not the vey best happiness It is not lasting but so agle and so supercal The uddha has taugt that all tings and people ust end oneatday veing ll coposite obectstogether must end n dsinteation the o endanother tat is gathered ust be dispesed verything that is bo must die So when we know that, we c understand how it really is ue that sasaa is sueng The understanding of the uth of sueing means that we appreciate how e whole of samsaa is intiately inseparably bound up with suering The second oble Tuth deals with the srcination of that sueing by undestding that sueing is a product which comes as a esult of karma of one's actions We see that kama (literally "action) s in itself poduced by our ental delements They nduce us toare act themain actions poduce So theTruth delements and ka thed to topics of thesamsaa second oble or the tuth of srcination nder the sway of ou mental delements, we sometimes act viuously sometmes we act unviruously d soeties we act neually ll of these actions ceate othe causes for a late nteroven manfestation of smsa. n the relative level the bodhisaa undestands the st to uths what sueing is and its causes ut ore than this the bodhisata understands these two tuths in their uliate sense too The bodhsata understands how sueing has no true independent natue of its own e o she undestands also that the causes of suerng have no ue
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he nament fClear Realizatin ndpdnt ral of thr own Th bodhsata gos far byond th apparancs of thngs to th ultmat truth, nd so th bodhsatva dlops jnana or th dpst wsdom n rspct to thos two trths Th scond st o caus and ffct concs th cssaton of suffrng and what t about If w rally about whatSom gos n samsara, bngs s my dffrnt ndsthn of surng. on popl hav dffrnt nds of physcal suffrng, som popl hav no or that causs angush, and so on. What mas t vn mor coml s hat t s no jus on prsons problm bcaus w lv n t at ocan of surng of ssara So w ar par of a whol wb of human and ohr bngs suffrng. Th way to gt out of ts s not to wor drctly ach nvdual suffrng, but to gan dnt lbraton om th whol systm of sam sara So w n to lmnat th vry causs of th surng whch s arma W nd to lmnat any caus of arma an th caus of aa s th dlmnts. WhnWhn w wt to stop surng, w nd to lmnat th dlmnts w manag to compltly lmnat ths dlmnts, w gan a ral cssaton of surng Th way can actualy lmnat th dlmnts s through th varous slll ms of th path. ow to g about blocng off all th surng wn us s dalt wth n th four ruth of th path Th caus nd rsult f cssaton thn s l wth th rst to, th bodhsata not only ss how th odhsata tas plac n a rlatv way, but also as ths profound undrstandng that cssaon s tslf mp and that h pah tslf s mp. Ths s a v dp nsght and tas plac on th path of nsght. h bodhsatva gans nsght n a way hat has n th four obl Truths, surng, ts caus, cssat, andscrb ts caus. as Thrfor th path of nsght s calld th a of sng th four tuths (Tb. bden pa zhi mthn bati
thn lam)
Whn rach th path of nsght, w achv th rst ohsatva lvl (St bhumi) call, "ovrhlmng joy Th rason that t s call ovrhlmng joy s bcaus whn w ralz th truh of mptnss, tr s such joy of ralzng that at las w hav rally achvd what w hav bn hopng r so long to bnt ourslvs and othrs or so long w hav bn worng towards achvng som dntv ralton hopng d hopng for
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Te Bdhisattva Path fInsiht real insight into the true nature of phenomena Suddenly it is there, in the ve palm of our hand It is something very real that we wont lose has been so long awaited that one is overhelmed withjoy It brings eat joy for oneself because before when we had not reached this level of realization, one wished very, very much to help other beings, When but one not have veryofmuch power ability one to help others onedid reaches this level insight, then or suddenly has the power to help others. ne has the abili, the vastness, the wisdom to really do a vast wave of activity to liberate other beings Because one can at last do what one has wished to do for so long to help them, one is again lled with spontaneous joy So that is why it is called the stage of overhelming joy
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ament f Clear Reazatin
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10
The Bohisaa Path of Meditation or Cultiation
We are n e secon secton of the text that s knowledge of the path. So far we have stue the rst four suvson the rst of whch was showng the founaton of the path whch was for nstce concee wth gng up pre. hen we saw somethng aout the shravaka's pa the pratyekauha's path an the path of ohsata here s a goo reason for callng ths fouh path the path of cultvaton rather than the path of metaton he etan wor that s anslated as "cultvaton sgom whch also means metaton hspath worofhas the sense of gettng used toBut somethng encontere on s the nsght namely hata experencng harmata not enou ecause theres stll somethng that needs to e worke on to make that experence more more flar so that t ecomes more an more perfect So ths s why ths path s calle the path of cultvaton ecause one cultvates the realzaton that stars w nst an one metates on t more d more untl realzaton s complete eng to the example of the snake an rope all the y smply fear an xety of thnkng t s a snake are remove knowng t s a rope. stakng a rope for a snake s a temporary msconcepton wth lttle contonng nvolve owever the eluson at we have hat covers our percepton of haata s much more cult to remove ecause we have held t snce egnnngless tme ven when we see the ue nature on the path of nsght through the tremenous power of hat the eluson wll retu hs s why n the path of cultvaton one needs to cultvate the pure experence untl t s all-emracng here are two man aspects to the path of cultvaton: the untante an tante aspect he untanted aspect conces actual meaton when one s asore n the realzaton of he haata hs s the ve pure complete asorpton nto e ue nature n the path of nsght we were only conceed wth ths untanted -81
he ament fClea Realizati n dmenson o seeng absolute real But on the path o cultvaton, we als have a tanted dmenson whch conces post-medtaton when one s not completely absorbed n that experence post medtton we work on the development o the power o the roots o our own vrue, on the benetng o other bengs, on the removal o lusory stans. Because we are workng on theseon the relatve level, ts called the tanted dmenson We wll now look at varous aspects o the path o cultvaton, the rst beng the nctons, what can be acheved by the path o cultvaton. E UNCON OF HE PAH OF ULVAON
The rst pont s complete paccaton By medtatng on the path o cultvaton one wll, rst o all, deveop eors n pacng ones own elements, egoclngng, obscuraton o knowledge an whatever else needs to e abandoned. The second pont s respect or all bengs. ne wll have lost ones aogance and not engage n x entcng) evebody but natrally eel respect towds others Te thrd pont s vcto n the batle over the delements. By the power o pacng ones mnd and beng respectl to everyone one wll be able to suppress and eventually completly elmnatng one's deements The our pont s not beng subdued by negatve nuences. Besdes deeatng the mas and kleshas wthn ones mnd and se o exsence, one also gans vctory over the outer mnestatons o the maras whch are the varous negatve orces and eventhe demons appear There s aontmate relaton between nner seem maras,toand the appearane seemngly uter, negave nuences. nce one has crushed the power o the maras wthn, then automatcall the negatve nuences on the outse are crushed and are no longer eectve. So the next par o ths secton on the pa o cultvaton says that one overcomes harml nuences. ll o these qualtes arse adually by the Bohsatva's practce o the path o cultvaton hereore the subsecton we are n s called the nctons or actons related to the path o cultvaton (Tb byedpa sm lam). -82-
Te Bdhisatta Path f Cultivatin
F AON OF AYANA PA OF VAON The odhisatas ho e aesing the stage of cltiation hae ey eat diligence andae aspiation is the of thei actal poess They inspied hich st y theey mostoot pofond ealization of the nate of phenomena they hope to achiee f themseles te ey highest goal possile fo a eing Second they are inspied to achiee the e eatest enet fo othes Third ey hae ery eat determination to achiee the simltaneos enet of self and othes It's that detemination at sps them on n the path of cltiation one is continally deeloping one's leing on the peios path of insight ne is oking on emoing all of the lockages and ickes of peios conditioning hich are le ne is also ing to deelop all the good qalities hich enhance insightof Theone's key diligence to all this hich is eallyill to hae diligence and it isone's e deee deteine e emegence of the eslt So jst to est in that leel of ealizatin in itself is not enogh geneal ee are to pes of diligence The st is the diligence of continos application hee one makes eos fo say a mon o a yea and then contines and contines ith the deelopment of one's spirital ealition The second is called the diligence of inspiation meaning not eing half-heed in hat one is doing ae one has ll of inspiation fo hat one is doing d one ill jst o at ealization ith loe as mch as one can Thee is a ey good example fo this late sor of diligence in the life of Jetsn ilepa. can om his iogaphy that his appeciation and espect fo We hat canseeemege thogh pactice made him ok so hard on his on deelopment example of the st continos diligence is sga ho fo three yes meditated on aieya e didn't get mch tgile eslts so he meditated fo anothe thee years d then anothe ee years and anothe three yeas the end om the time he staed his eteat ntil the time he actally had the ision of aieya he had meditated incesstly fo twele yeas These two sos of diligence then help s sily aese the stages of cltiation
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e Onament fClear Realiatin o uarize our diligence i focued on beneing ourelve, upon beneing oher, and beneing iulaneouly ouelve d oher So hi conce wih our own achieveen and helping oher i he whole reaon for applying diligence Wheher we will acually achieve ea or lile bene for ourelve d oher i iniaely ependen upon he kind of piriual inpiraion ha we have o help oher I' for hi reaon ha hee hree opic on apiraion are a ndenal apec ofhe pah of culivaion We begin dhara pracice wih only a all apiraion o help oher ha can be deeloped unil one ha a ediu deee o apiraion In he ex, i enion hree level of apiraion of all, larger, and ea When one applie hee o he hree area of one' work, i ae nine kind of apiraion or one' own bene, one c eiher work on enlighenen wih a leer apirain, a iddling apiraion, or very ea apiraion Wrking on he iulaneo bene of oneelf and oer i conee can be done wi a leer apiraion, a iddling apiraion, or a greaer apiraion Woring pecically for he bene of oer, one can go abou i wi a eer, iddling, or eaer apirain hi ke nine poibiiie hee e ve iporan in ve pracical er in bringing abou he dieren realizaion and geing rid of he obacle and kaic ace which are ill le hi once again ee he ipornce of apiraion in he acal work ha one doe in i pah of culivaion
G THEE KN OF PE ON HE PAH OF ULVAON already dicued on he pah of culivaion here i a ained apec and an unind apec o he age of culivaion of he ah he aine apec cover ve poin ncion apiion, paie, dediaion, d reoicing we have een, apiraion i an iporan facor for proe hrough he age of culivain becaue wih i e ill be ve diligen and appl ourelf o he developen of hi viion of he ue nare a we have had I i hrough hi diligence ha we will acually e proe and achiee he reul Wih hi apiraion we have uch an appeciaive in o praie he hree ewel
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Te Bdhisaa Pah Cu!ivain The prase bodhsavas make because of ther eat aspraton, s a key factor n ther deveopment These e not just bnd euloges addressed to just anythng They e ve meng prayers, expressons of the joy the bodhsata on the path of cultvaton The object of the prayers of these odhsatvas s to the most perfect Buddha, the most perfect state of Buddhahood, and to other eat bodhsavas They engage n prase to be abe to generate more sprtual ener to help others What they prase and the way n whch they mke ther aspraton s most sklll and most approprate because ths really deveops a eat benet to themseves nd to others rdny people when ey prase somethng or are prased tend to develop more prde and ths gves rse to more probems owever, these bodhsattvas are so pure that the gvng nd recevng prase does nothng but enhance ther wsdom and ther understandng It's very wonderl Just as e had three derent levels of aspratonlesser, mddng, and eater we have three deees of prase prasng (Tbbsd pa) more respect prase (Tb b ba) nd ve profound prase (Tb
bsnas pa)
DAON O HE PAH OF ULVAON n the tanted path of cultvaton, there e ve ponts: nctons, aspratons, prase, dedcaton, and rejocng The three key ponts e aspraton, dedcaton, d rejocng s we have seen, aspraton s the nspraton om whch eveng tes pace Through aspraton, we make proess and generate a eat deal of ener edcaton channels the ener we compare developeds through aspraton nto the bodhsattva paths We cn to god Through aspraton we are on the path of cultvaton, and ths s lke the god beng worked nto the beautl oament one wshes to have When we study ths aspect of dedcaton on the path of cultvaton n more deta, we wll nd that t has tweve pcul atbutes n the path of cutvaton, the actv of dedcatng, the power of one's practce, s ve specal and qute sngu It s caled the supreme acton ormally f we do somethng good then we create somethng vrtuous If we just leave t at that, then the power of that vrtue c rapdly be coupted because mmedately
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h Onamnt f Clar Ralizatin awads w spoil it wth pid and all of th nomal ngativ flings w might simply do somthing som mino bnt an thy th positiv n xhausts itslf making th viu oly tmpo nally spking w nd to ddicat o chnl that viu immdiatly towads most fct nlightnmnt In that way not a dop of t is lost and it is tud into a caus fo th vy bst of all things o this ddication maks th maximum us of vthing tat w do his ddication to Buddhahood fo th s of oths is th supm activi baus it is ndowd with a spcial nd and a spcial sult h scond aibut is that th ddication of th oots of iu of th bdhisattvas on th path of cutivation is ma ich bcaus it is don without any objctiing of what tas plac It tanscnds th th cicls that which is to b ddicatd (th oots of viu) th on who ddicats (th bodhisatvas) and th on to whom thy dicat (all sntint bings hos th things a not mistakn fo l ntitis bcaus th bodhisatvas knw ll wll that ths things a mp of a natu f thi own h thid atibut of this ddication is that it is compltly uning hn on gaths som pow though pactic on coul chnl that pow into somthin haml fo oth bings by us that pow to incas th dlmnts which would b haml to oths h ddication mad by th bodhisatvas on th path of cultiation is uning bcaus what thy achiv is alwas ddicatd to th good of all bings hy a ddicatd so that dhma pactic may b achivd in th most pfct way so th is nv anyhing but th vy bst wish of ddication h fouh atibut is tat th ddication is isolatd his mans it hs nothing to d with slshnss h dication is only fo th good of all oth sntint bings without th slightst tac of wishing that th poducts of ons pactic in som way bnts onslf It tnscnds an ac of slshnss h atubut point is that thi ddication follows th xaml ofth Buddha th past th buddhas and bodisatvas hav catd oots of viu and hav ddicatd ths to t good of all bings In th psnt buddhas and bodisatas doing this and in th tu thy wil do tis too hs bodhisatvas wo a on this path
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e Bdhisattva Path f Cultivatin of cultvaton dedcate n just the same way as all the Buddhas of the past present nd ture The atrute pont s that a Bodhsata's dedcaton s accompaned y sklll mes Ther dedcaton of vrue s not an empty wsh They dedcate the actual powe they have acqured throuh ther practce of the sx so what ther eneros sklll conduct foreance andpaamtas so on are s actually dedcated So the dedcaton s assocated wth er sklll mes The seventh atute s that the dedcaton has no characterstcs Ths means the dedcaton s made n the lht of understdn emptness If the person who s dedcatn clns to the dea that there s somethn to e dedcated someone who s dedcatn and someone the dedcaton s for the dedcaton s mpure Instead odhsatas on the path of cultvaton make ther dedcaton n the ue knowlede of emptness so they do fall nto e trap of ntellectual soldcaton The ehth s qual that eand dedcaton s Therefore pleasn tot sthe uddhas Ths s aute a s of ts eat pur pleasn to all of the uddhas and enerates eat joy and rejocn n those who have acheved the ll enlhtenment The nnth atute s at the dedcaton s not n nsument of the ree realms ne could channel the power of ones practce to otan some so of samsarc rewd n whch case t would fall somewhere wthn thedesire realm,the frm realm,or the frmless realm. Ths dedcaton however chnels the power of practce towards leraton and enlhtenment The tenth eleven d telh atutes are called e lesser the d ntheeeat The tenth s that the rstmddln three stes padedcaton o cultvaton whchpont are the second thrd nd four odhsata levels s a dedcaton of a lesser power The eleventh pont s that ecause of the hher realzaton d pur of the odhsata on the sxth and seven odhsata levels e dedcaton has a mddln power Then on the ehth nnth nd tenth odhsatva levels whch are also called the very pure odhsaa levels there s the most superor form of dedcaton That s the telh pont Wth these telve atutes we can understand the pcular of dedcaton of odhsatas on ths path of cultvaton -87-
Te nament olea Realization
I OCNG ON PA O ULVAON Th nxt caractrstc of th pat of cultvaton concs ths rjong n our vrtu and atunng to rs vrtu W hav sn that th fact of ddcatng our vrtu changs t nto th bodhsatta path jocng ncrass that powr and maks t somthng vr vast d ncompassng. rst of all th atunmnt s assocatd wth skllful mans n bodhsattvas crat sprtual dvlomnt not onl do th ddca thr own sprtual ralzaton and powr d rjoc n t but th attun to vrthng accomplshd b othr grat odhsatas and buddhas. Bcaus of th atunmnt th powr automatcall ncrass T rjocng n vru or atunmnt taks lac bond an objccaton . t s bond th thr crcls of thr s somon dong t somthng that s do and somon s rcvng th act hs s not objctvl soldd so thr rjocng s vr pur Th attunmnt of our vru s usuall th rmd for alous should undrstd what a ngatv and dstructv poson alous s Jalous has n t all th othr psons and promots thm Jalous s assocatd wth dsr for at prsonal qults d s ntmatl lnkd to avrson to th qualts n othrs It s also ntmatl connctd to prd bcaus w fl w dsr what othrs ha So w can s that jalous cntans all th othr dsturbng motons and rnforcs thm nc w fall vctm to jalous t s vr dstructv bcaus t causs us to do harm to ors and causs harm to our own dvlopmnt It causs all t goodnss that w hav accumulatd to bcoms dsprsd. n th otr hd f w do ths atunnt w ar ovrcomng an tndnc wll hav for jalous Bcaus jalous s so nnatl rlatd to th othr dstubng motons or klshas w ar lmnatn ths klshas om our xstnc Just b dong that w ar dong somthng vr mport and usl n our task to hlp otrs. That s wh attunmnt s so tal for s
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Te Bdhisata ath /Cultivatin We have jst dscssed the three aspects of the tanted dimenson of e pa of cltvation aspiraton d dedcaton d attunement. enerally speakng, on the path of cltivation n the postmedtation stage, the bodhisata is practicing the sx paramitas nd throgh ths, we e accmlatng a eat deal of virtue and wsdom. These two accmlatons are done primarly throgh these three practces of aspraton, dedication, d atnement. verthing they do in the posedtaton stage becomes the case for a ve vast and powerl practice that s benecial for self and others. J THE CHEVEN OF HE PAH OF LVAON We now come to the ponts covered by the ntanted aspect of the path of cltvaton. The rst aspect of the ntainted aspec s the achevement of the path of cltivaton. general, on the path of cltvaton we are cltvatng the nsght that one has ganed on e precedng path and one s tng to perfect at nsght. Becase ths achevement s workng on the case of Bddhhood, s key nst of the true nature of phenomena s called "the most spreme thng. The achevement of the path of cltvation s ve mengl, becase t s jst by resting n ths realization of the nversal nature, that all the stages of accomplshment will emerge on ther own accord ne does not need to focs the mnd on one pailar aspect or another. It s restng n the emptiness which is the nature of phenomena and that atomatcally evethng will emerge. So one c see the eat mpotance ofthat medtaton K THE PRFCAON ON HE PAH OF LVAON The second point of e ntanted aspect of e prcation on pa of cltivaton s ths closely linked to the aspect ofachevement we talked abot n the prevos secton, t s like lookng at the other sde of the con. We wll study the things that wll prodce e prcaton and also e thngs that will hamper pricaton. There e thee postve cases for the prication on the path. The rst key case is to reso to the spreme teacher. The eat -89
e nament of Clea Realization odhisatvas tu to te very best teaher for gudae Whe they do this they fee a eat ispiratio t otiue ad deveop their meditatio ad pratie rom that ispiratio wi ome iigee rom diigee wi ome the ata resut of beig abe t hep others ad oe's sef. So the root of this is to tu to the ery best teaher The seod ause is to utivate the si paramitas ad the third is to deveop eat si meas. These three brig abut puratio at the path of utivatio If we reay wt to ahiee ute pri thee are four obsutig auses whi bo us om ahievig uter purity he rst obstae is to be subjet to the iuees (St maras) that wi ot aow our mid to tu to the dharma The seod obstae arises whe we ave bee abe to eter the dharma but as the pariuar iterest i goig ve deepy ito uderstdig the ature of pheomea. It is ot watig to d the deepest uth he third obstae is havig a sog atahmet to our sadhas our bo ad so forh. he fourh obstae is to eter it a ose reatioship with persos wh ad us to do uviruous ativities Whe we atuay ahieve uter puri, we must osider what it is we are tig away it is the obsuratios of deemets the osuatios of wedge ad the obsuratios of the ower paths whih are oeed with oe's beet aoe ad whih are reset i the shravaas ad praeabuddhas r a bodhisatva these three pes of osuratios must be removed progressivey as he or she moves o om the seod up to the teth bohisatva eve
Questns Quso oud you ta a itte bit o the roe of the ieage gurus poch: It was metied previousy that we pay homage to the
root guru ad to the ieage gurus he ieage gurus are the gurus of the ie of asmissio of what we study. These trasmissios dae om the teahigs of he Budha himsef, but they do't go ba beyod that ve though the Buddha had prevous ives ad eve though he may have hd teahes the ur trasmissi o te eage gurus ow ome om the time that he taught the dharma i 90
Te Bdhisattva ath f Cultivatin our word onwrds nd the were unnterrupted transmed to our das We are famar wth the uddha as a teacher om hs teachng at nas Ths s what we ca the hghest nranakaa of the uddha The nrmanakaa s one of severa aspects of the uddha once he mfests enghtenment, the aspect n the word, the hstorca aspect If we consder our own Karma Kau neage, we see that t goes back to the eat master Topa e dd not meet uddha n hs nrmanakaa form, but he had contact wth another aspect of uddha, the dharmakaa ajradhara, whch s nseparabe om the essence of uddha's mnd So he aso receved teachngs drect om the uddha, but om the dharmakaa aspect esde ths drect trsmsson o uddha's dhmakaa, opa aso receved the smar teachngs ndrect through a neage tha ame om the uddha aso, through the eat masters, Saraha and agarjuna and so on e assembed andrect of ese teachngs, The etherwere through drect ansmsson or through ansmsson hded b hm to hs student aropa Topa and aropa were both eat Indan masters Then t went to Tbet wth the great master arpa and then to arepa and ampopa, and en hnded down successve to the rst awa Kmapa, and through the neage of the Karmapas and ther gurus up unt the present da ow a of the ne of gurus n that ansmsson om e uddha who rst gave the teachngs, up unt the present tme consttute what we ca the neage amas When we take rege and pa our respect, t s towards them that we address our praers Queson: understnd f one has theone textcan n ont and begn one s to studng tI da aer da care, dgestoftone, I cn't
dgest t and the eect t has on me s conson npoce: There s a ve eat benet for us studng the wa that we are dong, even though t seems too much, doesn't t? ecause t's too much, we don't fee that we get an thng n the end, but that snt qute e case In Tbet one's sprtua evouton came about through a mxture of derent thngs ne coud just specaze n Prajnaparamta and sud t n ver horogh dea and hen medate on t and acheve resuts that wa r one coud specaze n somethng ese whch s
9 1
Te ament ofClear Realzation just ajrayana practice But what was fund to be most benecia was to ma the sua eve of practice with the tantra eve of pactie It was discvered that there was reay a eat benet to tis so that as we get an inroduction to the Prajnaparamita as we are doing in this text) we get some idea of what Prajnaparamita means rather than just having some vague idea With study at he sutra eve we now just what the Prajnaparamita impies ven a itte nwedge reay enhces ur tantric practice because it throws the ight f wisdm nto evething the tantric practice symboizes and why we are actuay wring with the tantric practice of the vajrayana aso wi shed ight on understanding the Prajnaparamita So that when we stdy we wi say es Its indeed true its just ie tat ven though we dnt go to the ery bttm f evething this introductin to various tics the bare nes f the sutras is ve use
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11
Knowledge o the Fondation TO KNOEDGE OF HE B (OR ONDAON)
The rt main topic o thi text dealt with the knowledge o omnicience The econ mai n topic ealt with the nowledge o the path Thi third main topic eal with the knowlege o the ondation o bai (Tib bzh20 d thi cover knowlege and ndertaning not covered in the rt to ection. We e ealing here wi the widom o thoe who have not et realized the path knowledge nowledge the bohiava Some o o al thiphenomena knowlegeori the to be accepteoand ome i to be rejected epending on whether thi widom i helpl to the bohiatva pa or in conaiction to it ven thogh ome o thi knowedge o e onation ha to be rejecte b a bohiatva it eence i till widom (Tib sherab) t i till wiom even o it i not the wiom concee with the path and it relt Thereore it beong to the knowege o the onation O MNNG N SAM BEE OF DOM
The caal condition which make remain in amara i iorce or conion The bohiatva realize the parita (perection o wiom) and thi enabe them to ndertan the natre o all phenomena th overcoming iorance an it relt ama n e ame wa the hravka nd e praekabddha becae o eir wiom are abe to eave ara behin
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he Onament of Clear Realization B O EMANG EACE BECAE OF OMAON Shravaas d praeabuddhas ahieve heir goal of individual liberaion and are onen be arhas I is only he bodhisaas who are driven by heir ompassion no o remain in he peael sae bu o help all beings he bodhisaa is no absorbed in samsara or absorbed in he peae of nirana beausein he aumulain of wisdom of he pah he or she see he equali of samsara and nirvana The bodhisaas go beyond hese eremes of worldliness and ansenden peae beause he realize ha hey are boh equally emp This is ve suble and beause i ransends boh samsara and peae we all his "he supreme perfeio o isdom EMOENE AND SLF EA OF BOAVA eneally all he levels of dharma praie help us develop wisdom This undersding is good bu here are many ins of unersding ha we mus develop Some of ese pahs lead us quily Budhood (he ne pah) and sme pahslead us more pariular he wisdom slowly whih we all he remoe pah oming om he shravaa and prayeabuddhas is alled he more "reme wisdom The isdm of he bodhisattas however is he mos effeive and is alled he "dire wisdom beause i arries us more rapidly o Buddhahoo The bodhisata unies wisdom and ompassion wisdom and silll means and i is hrough his ha hey an averse he pah rapidly or bodhisaas he remoe wisdom is no adoped beause i aes so muh ime o go along he pah E NFAVOAE TNGACLE
here are a number of unfavorable hings in our praie pariularly he ve sdhas of form feeling ona formain and onsiousness If we have aahmen o hem and solidi hese as inelleual realiies we have ebraed somehing whih is unfavorable o our spiriual developmen ne we solidi empiness ino a onep we slow down our developmen Similarly
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owledge ofthe Foundation i we e he hree imes o pas, presen, d ure and solidi hem i also becomes unavorable. This is rue or all he realiaions ha we have he pracice o he six p ias and he mediaion ha we engage in Iwe solidi hese and are aached o hem, hey will become obsacles o our pracice EMEDYNG ORCE (EMEDE FOR E ACLE) er ideniing he obsacles we mus ideni he remedy or hese obsacles When we pracice he paramias, we pracice hem wih he ligh o grea wisdom so we don all prey o his solidicaion and his involvemen in inellecualiaion When we pracice moral conduc, we don become involved wih he idea o someone who is eeping he discipline When we pracice paience, we don become involved wih e idea, "I pracicing paience So enlighened wisdom ha realies he acual naure o reali eeps us om alling ino ese aps. When helping ohers, we mus also develop his imparial aiude We mus pracice generosi wihou idea o a giver, someing o give, and someone receivin he gi We mus also help ohers o culivae heir on generosi and help hem o pracice beyond hese hree aspecs o ivin by realiing heir empiness When we each ohers moral conduc o he pamias, we mus each hem no o become involved wih "I s soon as here is aachmen or a crysalliaion o an idea, we e aced wih an obsacle o our pracice and his obsacle mus be removed or us o proess This applies o all ideas including e idea o perec uddhahood, ha is, o become ooremedy aachedoove his idea This aachmen us be removed wih he proound wisdom d undersanding ven i our pracice is very well esablished and we are in a ve good place o pracice, we don need o capialie on he idea o "I am puriing his TE LCAON OF MNE ow how do we apply ourselves o empiess and o he mahaya pah? has our poins he basis o characerisics, characeisics 9
Te ament ofClear Realization such as impeaece whether it is the suppor o qualities or ot, ad all oe does he rst is how we are to apply ourselves to emptiess We do this by ot ocusig o o ad so o oally i the haa e dee o as te obect to be perceived by our various cosciousesses o is the obec o visual cosciousess souds e obects o our hearig cosciousess oors the obect o ou olacto cosciousess ad so o We really eed to relate properly t them to be able to itegrate ourselves with emptiess he propr relatio is that we dot cosider them as truly eistet that is e see theyre emp eco but we also dot thik hat is suerig or that has impeae ature or that is selless ad emp We ust realize the empty atre withut ay cligig whatsoever hird to itegrate oursel with ue emtiess is a uesio o restig i the essece o heomea caled dharadhat t does ot matter i the obec is kow as empty or o kow ts tre ature is chgeless ad uaected by iterrelatioships oe has with it It is b iteatig oursel with that emp essece tha we achieve the realizatio ourth what we eed is complete lack o attachmet hether thee is realitio or o realizatio whether the obect is empty or ot emp we should let go o all attachmet which will pervert our applicatio H THE QUALY OF MNE AND ORM
he ext aspect is the equality oo ad emptiess We realize the emp ature o o ad other sesory experieces so that they are o loger crystallized ito somethig substatial with a idepedet ature ce we go beod that we realize the empty atre o the o which maiests o o is emptiess his emptiess is ot oly the emptiess o o but it is the emptiess o the ature that maiests as o We eed to kow that the emptiess is ot a thig that exists by itsel ecod there is o o that oest have this emp atre here is o emptiess which aiests as o ll these poits ca be summaized i our simple statemets: o is emptiess; mptiess is o; here is
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owledge of the Foundation o othr for tha ptiss hr is o ptiss apart o for. h w raiz this sass of for w ca s that is aifsts i a of th v sadhas of for, fig, discriiatio, ta arisigs, d cosciousss. W s this sass i a aras of aifstatio. I. H PAH OF INGH OF SVAA h xt poit cocs th path of isighti trs of th sadhas. his is th third ti w hav ood at th path of isight. I th rst topic of this boo th path of isight was discussd aiy as a causa coditios for oiscic to rg. I th scod topic w ood at it as th path of isight as owdg of th path. I this ird topic th path of isight is discussd i ratio o th shravaa v of isight which is th foudatio. hruths. shravaas hav ito of atttio which ar th four ob Whr is focus path of accuuatio, juctio, isight, cutivatio, or th a path of o or ig, ach is ratd to four ob ruths for shravaas. h isit of shravaa is vry gui isit ito th ig of th our ob ths. Wh w oo i or dtai ito th path of isight w s that it has sixt stags which cad ots.' hs sixt ar dividd ito four isights ito ach of four ob uths.
1 T UH OF SUFFG h rst ob ruth is th uth of of surig. h rst isight to udrstd iprt atur coditiod thigs. W iss how vrythig is i a stat of u how othig asts how othig is stab, how v surig is iprat. h scod isight is focusd o th actua surig which has thr ids of surig: th surig of surig, th surig of chag, ad ihrt surig. h third isight is ito th p atur of phoa. h shravaas udrstadig of ptiss is ot th sa as th ptiss o th viwpoit of th ahayaa path, but it is autic udrstdig bcaus shravas s how vthig is coposit ad thrfor has o ssc. h udrstad that thigs 9
Te Onament ofClear Realization that we perceve are but a conglomeration of maller thing. So a hd for example i nothing other than a collection of nger kin eh etc. So everthing i made up of maller component and therefore doent have an independent exitence The four night into the rt oble Truth i impermanence ufferng emptine and nonelf ophenomen 2 TH TRU OF GO The econd oble Truth i the srcination of uffering whch ha four main inight: caue srcination thorough development and conditon The rt inight i to undertand the main tpe of caue The prma caue i the direct caue uch a the primar caue of a owe i a eed more ubtle caue i that a roe can produce the enation of happine becaue f it beautil oer) or the enation of pain (becaue of it tho) v iuation in our lfe ha caue an our projection of the world and the relationhp we have wth thi wold i caued b karma of our own activtie. We al know that the caue of the negative karma i ue to the varou diurbng emotion we poe So the rt inight int te econd oble Truh i to ee the caue for wat i preentl taking place in our life The econd inight of he econd uth i called unveral oigin of all phenmena Thi realiation i rthered until we ee the entire manifetation of the univere that evething that we ee n the univere i geneated b karma and the kleha We do not jut ee that thing are a product of karma and kleha but we can ee tat the inner caue within ourelve ha created the eed for the whole ofthe univere The tird inght of the econd truth conce the generating force meaning that the variou manifetation that we experience do not emerge ve lowl e ee the tremenou power of karma an we ee ow it work impl and powerll. nce he karma i there we ee how i it able to produce mmediate reult and product The fourh init that one undertand the acual preent condton which will caue he karmic poer to manifet So one ee how a preent circumtance wll brng out the kamic conequence and bring out the ll development of uffering inherent n that 98
owledge ofthe Foundation
3 T TRUH OF EAON In e thrd oble Truth of cessaton also contan fur nsghts The rst nsght s nto cessaton tself meng that cessaton means stoppng the dsurbng emotons forever When al he processes of causalty have been elmnated, then there wll cease to be sufferng The second nsght s to now that as soon as the mpurtes have ceased, through the absence of the deleents, there s eendous peace and calm The thrd nsght s that t s not just another state, but t s e most supreme state The four nsght s that when one really manages to put a stop to the kleshas and acheve that peace one uly emerges om the ocean of sasara It gves one dente lberaton o e four nsts were cessaton, peace, excelence, nd dente emergence 4 E TRUH OF HPAH There re also four nsts nto e four oble Truth of the path: the path, ntellgence, accomplshment, and dente release he rst nsght s to understd hat e path s e way to lberaton The second nsght s ntelgence, to understand what s the correct way and what snt, what s sutable and a good path d what snt It conrms at t s the perfect path The thrd nsght, accoplshment, means that ths power to manfest all the quates The fourh nst s caled dente emergng because one can see that the path does allow one to be released o everythng that s negatve orone sasarc and that release s a lastng release, not a tepor These are the four nsghts of the fourth oble Truth d these then me up the seen nsghts whch make up the shravakas accomplshment of the pa of nsght hese sxteen moments as they are called ake up the foundaton for the Bodhsavas nst But the bodhsattva goes ket ese beyond what e shravakas do because the shravakas thngs as too real d tke the for havng too much substanta or ea he bodhsatvas avods both erors of asserng too songly or denyng to songly -99-
he ament oClear Realization If we te the rst nsht of he truth of suerng as an example the shrava understands the mpermanence of phenomena whch contasts wth ordnay bengs wo beleve that thngs ae real sld d permanent What the bodhsata oes s tanscend the dea of permanence an mpermanence f we take the second nsght whereas te shravaka sees he sufferng of samsara ordnay bengs do not see ths sufferng but beleve happness can be ullled wth samsaa The bodhsata however nether cstallzes sufferng too much nor does he or she crystallze hapness too much n the worldly sense We can apply ths logc to the sxteen ponts and we can apprecate that the bodhsatva because of not dotng to much on real wth tese sxteen ponts and the sxteen ponts of remedy to these ponts has an atttude whch transcends the thrty to possble areas of thouht
Quetion Qeston: ow can we practce thout developng ths
nvolvement that as been dscussed? Rnpocbe: The key to not gettng nvolved s to t to cutvate our understandng the three crcles of the doer somethng done and a recever o the acton rdnary bengs cannot do tat totly but at the same tme f we to understand three crcles trough logc and to go deeper nto t we wll be able to unerstand t and then we wll be able to practce transcendng ths very strong dea o soldcaton hat we have t rst t ay appea contradcto that we want to develop aspraton to practce d that we aso want to t to reduce our dea of practce as beng somethng real and sold But when we examne t closely rather than beng any contradton we nd that these o thngs work very ncely together The whole problem s one of sufferng nd we are suerng because we are delude That deluson comes about because we are gnorant When we want to understd what s takng place d we want he deluson and consequent sfferng to nsh that s the aspraton to practce s we begn to understand that deluson we see that t s due to gnorance that s ntmatey nked wth the soldcaton of the dea of our delusons We c see our efforts are to remove that 1 00
owledge /the Foundation slidicain and we don wan mae ha solidicaion o reali een songer We can see also ha ur sriing can wr hd-in hd wih ying undersd wha is ing place Queson I dn see how we c deelp such a pure moiain when ur mind has y impure ideas npocbe
When eine our moiaion especialy he is beginning, we ndwe ms e ime we are uninspired andahere n much o rejoice abou en hough ha is ue, i is exremely usel exine oursel and hen o change ur way hining or he beer Iwe dn' examine ur mind and le how i wors and discoer wha is drawing us do negaie hings, we will neer change I is hereore imporan see i our miain is god or bad and hin and change ur moiain I we do his wihu geing ls in a cnsan analysis sel hen we will proess om one leel o he nex unil our useless habis c be le behind he same ime we receie adice m iends, adice om ur lama, and mediaes n arma d resuls The adice hese people gie us should help ha rs process o loing a our mind lso examining our sel helps us undersand hw we can help thers Queson ow des his wih woring wih ne's children? npocbe When we are ying culiae ur undersding and also o bring up our children, hen we are rying reduce our aachmen u we hae me a judgemen inlemen and le and compassion When we ge rid o our inolemen, i doesn mean we ge rid ur le and compassion In pracical es we are hae loe and sympahy r heno children and when we are ing ea reduce inlemen we nw solidi ha real Because o our ea le and compassion, we each e children whaeer dharma we can and by seing an example o loe and cmpassion in he conex n being er inled
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e ament oflear Realization
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The Ali atioA n soe fRealization ofcA cts TPI N THE LCAON OF ALZAON OF L EC The rst three topics conceed wisdom nd we hve seen tht the rst topic hd 1 0 ke points, the second topic hd 1 1 , nd the third topic hd 9 mking 30 ke points in ll The next four topics will del with ppliction This chpter is how we ppl ourselves to the pth. . EC The rst topic of this section is cled the spects nd covers ll the points of the rst three mjor sections, but om uition stndpoint. The rst mjor topic, the knowledge of omniscience, is 34 lzed in three ps ming up 3 topics for the rst prt, topics for the second p nd 39 topics for the third prt. The second mjor topic, the knowledge of e pth ws mde up of36 topics. the third topic, e knowledge of the foundtion, there re topics 27 to the four oble Trths. dding these together we hve ttl of 1 3 topics d these re ctull isted under this section clled "spects. conceing the uition of Buddhhood nd putting these ll together there re 1 3 topics. These 13 spects e listen under the rst point ced "spects. B LCAON OF PCCE ext is the ctul ppliction of prctice nd it lists twen dierent pproches to prctice. But before we look t these ctul modes of 103 -
he Onament f Clear Realizatin practice, we must consier the person who is able to rstly listen to the Prajnaparamita teachings, seconly aopt them and thirly maintain them.
1 T SUL L H ACON) suitable vessel for listening to the Prajnaparamita must have three characteistics irstly, this person must have strong faith a evotion to the Buha an really rely on him. This conction in the Buha wil mae ones min receptive to the Prajnaparamita teachings The secon point is one will accumulate virtue an gather gooness about oneself because of the inspiration. The thir point is that aer the Buhas passing away, one cant meet the Buha personaly an so one receives the practice avise om a spiitual ien So resoing to the Budda, accumulating virue, tuing to a spiritual ien are the three things necessary for us to become a .
suitable for istening teachigs extvessel e have to adopt to theevessel for the teachings by placing our ust in the Buha er placing our trust in the Budha, we nee to thin about the teachings an uestion them an resolve our doubts so that we can evelop an unambiguous result. Then we nee to integrate these teachings by maing the six pitas a living par of our life an puting those paramitas ino practice So we have three vessels the essel of listening to te teachings the vessel of aoption, and the vessel o inteation. In the vessel of the person listening there are three oints, the vessel of aoption two points, the vessel of integration one point maing a total f sixthepoints is hrough six him subtopics thattowe unerstand actual tperson who is these applying or herself he pctice. 2 T CUAL ACC There ae ten things we need to o in our practice irst, we have to apply ourself to emptiness by understaning that form an al the other aspects of appent existent o not ave a true an stable reality of their own n the rst mode of application we come to unestand their emptiness. 1 04
Te ath ofJuntin I the secod ode of applcato we coe to uderstad that eptess whch s the ue atre of thgs s ute profoud Soetes e have to medtate o somethg, soetmes we have to edtate wthout somethg Sometmes we cosder that they are there, sometmes that ey are ot there It s ot sraghtforwd where we tca say that the true ature s ths ths ather we approach ay deret ways whch oead seem coadctory but actualy there s o problem because there s a cera aout of wor o the relatve evel ad at s why we do all these odes of practce whe o the ultmate evel there s othg to acheve Whe we uderstad we have these to levels of reatve ad utate worg together there s o problem Thr, we ust uderstad that eptess s eve ore profoud tha t seeed at rst ourt, eptess s that t s eve ore subtle so the secod, thrd, d fourth pots are that we go to a more a more profoud uderstadg The pot of e twe appcato that order to h ga actual sght to atodes whchof s so profoud soe eeds to practce for a log tme and to practce etesvely Sth, whe oe has practced log ad etesvey, oe develops such a profoud state at oe sees the Buddha d the Buddha predcts how at wll be The seveth applcato s that havg receved the predctos of the Buddha, oe s placed o a path that oe cot slp bac o Ths s the oretg aspect ofhe practce ghth, trou etesve eorts of the rst seve pots, we wll obta release om ssara th, because of the certa reease thehave e there w loger be ay obstacesofthat the applcato, power to terfere wtho oes proess The teth applcato s called "closg because whe oe reaches ths level of applcato, oe s closg o Buddhahood The eeveth applcato s "swly obtag the ed result eag that at s pot Buddhood coes aboutucly The twelh appcao s perfectg our beecal actvtes for other begs The thrteeth applcato s "there s o crease eag tat tere s o ncrease te good ualtes d abltes of n elghteed perso bvously, o the relatve level of real there s a eedous crease ofgood ualtes ad powers at these hgh
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Te ament ofClear Realization levels nd et dmnshng f the negtve qules t ths level f prte. wever n the ultmte level there s nt nrese n these qultes tkng ple The furteen ppltn s tht ere s n derese menng there s n derese n the gd qultes nd bltes nd ths pllels the thrteen ppltn. eenth s · n lnger seeng dhrm r nndhrm Ths mens ht t ts leve we n lnger see thngs n term f tht whh s mst desrble r exellent (dhm) nd tht whh s nferr (nndhrm) The nsght we hve nt the true nture whh trnsends these des f dhrm nd nnhrm nes vsn n lnger rstlles des n tht w The sxteenth ppltn s understndng hw nnevble frm nd the ther skndhs (feelng dsrmntn frmtn nd nsusness) e In the lght f the true nure we experene the mnfesttn fm nd s nneble beuse n the nsrmnte there re dsrmnte thngs whh pper. he seventeenth ppltn dels wth hw we n lnger ntelletull pereve n hrtersts fr frm d the ther skdhs s we n lner srbes ntelletul lbels t the er skndhs beng ths nd tt qul Beuse f the prevs sventeen ppltns we ttn the mst preus result nd reh the end f ur evlutn n the eghteenth ppltn The nneteenth ppltn shws hw pure ht we re hevng ull s n terms beng ee f mentl r emtnl lls tht uld be splng t. The twenteth ppltn shws hw thngs g m better t even beter rulrl thrugh the prfund bdhsttv levels we btn ths mng purt gng m exellent t mre exellent t even mre eellent.
c THE (PE) UAE When we reet n the qultes, t s f vtl mprne s t pen neself t the blessng f the Buddh The Buddh nd hs et lve nd re s unversl embrng ll bengs. It s nt s thugh the mnd f the uddh ws ust dreted twrds few f hs stdents nd he red nl fr them nd tht the were the nl nes pble f fllwng hm But s e knw he Buddhs lve ne nd 1 06
Te ath ofJtion care spreas ot to toch all bengs, who are enless becase ey go to the ve ens o space So om the Bha, there s the ever present raaton o hs blessng, an to open onesel to t epens not on what the Bha can o, bt what we can o So even thogh the Bha's blessng toches t oesn't n tsel the wsh powert toormare them, jst lkeeveryone, at, to help bengshave whether the not. Whether one gets the benet o Bha's blessng or not, epens on one's own openness n receptv Ths openness epens ve mch on e amont o aspraton ath at one has, the amont o conence that one places n the Bha an hs teachngs I one places eat conence n the Bha an hs teachngs aspres to be lke hm, hen ths wll case one to become more an more open an receptve Ths receptvty wll then enable the wonerl meanng o e Bha's teachng to become pt o one, an t's thro hat nspraton that one wll practce he s paramas so orh llsratng ths on openness s an the sn When the sn shnes, lght alls evewhere the eh on the planets tseple I yo have a cave that has an enance whch aces soth, t wll receve the llness o the sn's heat, lght an wh Bt the moth o the cave aces nor, hen even thogh the sn s shnng all he tme, t wll always be n e shaow Smlrly, even thogh the snlght o he Bha's blessng s always there, whether they benet s or not epens on how receptve we are That sme process becomes even more powerl, aer the rst thng o openng onesel to the Bha's blessng, here comes an acal peneraton, so that one s actally embrace by the Bha's altes,nlet say, son thaths what akes place s hat one nees conence hesBha teachngs, an hrogh that one wll practce s a reslt o the practce an cltvaton o the paramtas, one wll receve an acal conact wth the powerl altes o the Bha hs teachngs Those hngs wll become a mnest p o one's own practce eperence ne has a mch eepe contact wth he power o the Bha to teach an the altes Ths s a mch eeper level o al th, rst o all, openng onesel to e ahentc o the Bha's teachng logh, there s a lst o oreen erent altes o the applcaton mentone here, sch as that one gts close to 1 0
Te Onament oClear ealization Buddhood, that there are untaintd quaities and so on, we wi not discuss them individua
TH AU THE PROEM PRAE) In ones practice are aconceed inds of here probems deend ver much on thethere inividua are and somethese peope who are ver sow and du-witted, and the have a particuar ind of probem t overcome in their practice. ome peope are sharp witted, mabe even too sharpwitted, and the have a probem to overcome Some have a phsica difuties d some have menta probems whch the ned to conquer of these dierent stes need to be sorted out or instance, the duwitted wi tae a ong time to asp the point and mature and proess The on wa the can manage to progress is a tremendous amount of iigence and to app themseves again and again and go through even greater hadsips in their practice theintense do that, the i ore achieve the resut So what the need isIfver appication sharp wite eope ma have eat understanding and genera speaing e can proess ve quic, but sometimes at sot of person wi become proud d a, because the undestand things uite easi. he wi sow down and the get ve proud, thining "I have this quait and that quai hese things aso constitute a probem that needs to be overcome b woring ver diigent on onesef Sometimes one fees quite i at ease or has a phsica probem Because of that one fees no incination to pracice and doesn't ractice These probems obstace t ment one's deveopment and needs to beconstitute vercome. anhere are aso obstaces which can arise which stops one om penetrating to a ve cear editation, ve cear state of understanding and reaiation Sometimes this omes throgh agitation or through topor or throu disaction, but ones min is not vr exibe and peace, just not as worabe as it shoud be hese phsica or menta conditions are obstaces, inasmuch as the stop one apping onesef to an understding of Prajnaparamita in the twent was that we saw in te ast section. Because the tae us awa om it, the are futs which eed to be removed 08 -
he ath ofJuntion hese various probes, whether they be enta or physica need to b emnated he rst step is to be ve cear-mnded about what does actay constitutes a probem to one's practice, so that one kows what has to be gotten rid of So when this physica uneasness or enta disaction or ethar coes about, then it is very vita notnvoved to assocate as being a good thing Soetimes can becoe wth tthose states, and t sees ke it's one the right thing his is a ve big iske of interpreting what is reay a faut to be a positive quai So one needs to recognize a faut as a faut, know that t's a probe to be eiinated and then to strive to eminate t he se appies to the positive quaities So if we are n a wrong state of nd, we can mstake good quaites for negatve ones ne needs to be ve ce about a qua and then to work ve hard to ncrease ose quaties When they nay do emerge one needs to fee ve joy E HE HCERC OF P hs topic is caed sipy "chacteristics meanng the characterstc of the Prajnapta tsef The Prajnapamta is the object of our study and ths needs to be ntegrated nto one's own exstence d made p of ones reazaton ctuay, the Prajnaparta has reay ony one characteristic, it has one nature But because Prajnapata s of such imporance in our deveopent, it is eated here throu four principa characteristcs nce we know e chacteristcs, these key features of Prajnaparata, we' be abe to get a ve proper baanced pcture
of Prajnaparamta to integrate nto ourseves deas with the very The rst characterstc of Prajnaparata essence We nd that e Prajnapita is conceed with the ve essence of phenomena We know that a of the suerng, the proes, hdships, d the conson of sasara can be aced to the root, orce Because of orce, there is deusion nce there s deusion, then the whoe copex of samsc probems st to happen When we to understand what is happening, understand how the iusion c happen, what e usion s ore than that to nd what s t that is not deuded, what s t which s cear and proper withn onesef It s the Prajnaparamita which heps us to - 109 -
he ament oClear Realization dscover that In partcular, t helps us to nd the very essence, the very heart nature hch s ree om the deluson So the rst pont s that t s ntmately conceed th ths e essence o thngs he secon characterstc o Prajnaparamta shos us the superor o the Prajnaparamta When one acts n ths orld o objects and deas,then ch are already te product deluson and and thngs ones orance, hatever one acheves oneo doesnt looks n a ver global ay, s not really that orhhle have any essence to t, t has not much meanng oever, hen e cultvate Prajnaparamta, e are gong beyon the deluson and orance and are cong to terms th the tuth hs trth has a lastng, usel resul, ecause the Prajnaparamta s such an excellent and superor teachng I the prajnaparmta s present n hat e do, then the rsult s really orthhle I ts not there, then ts arly orthless he thrd charactestc o the Prajnaparamta s knoledge he Prajnaparama not hrough dull or unclear, but rather t s seeng clely the ay thngs sare the poer o Prajnaparamta ne actually understds thngs, t has the qual o realaton he ourth chacterstc o the Prajnaparamta s that most complete ncton It s through the Prajnaparamta that e can acheve our on benet, that e c understand and get rd o the suern, the kleshas, and so on and develop the derent qualtes rajnaparamta sdom ll also enable us to acheve the benet o others, to help and gude them It s manly through sdom, through understandng ho thngs e, that e develop the motvaon, to help ters So at the e root all these, e can say te Prajnaparamta has he very best ncton IN GEEMEN WH EON he sxth tpc deals th the rst ath o accumulaton e stage o accumlaton s sometmes called the stage that leads to r s leads to or s n harmony th leraton hs s lberaton om samsara, lberaton om ones delements nal lberaton, o course, can only happen at Buddhoo rom the vepont o the shravakas an praekabudhas, lberaton s hen one becomes an arhat But on the second path o juncton, one has already attaned -10
Te ath ofJuntion obtaned some prelmn lberaton. elements wll have lost er power and one wll be ee om the sufferngs f the lower realms. What maes t happen s the rst stage of aumulaton. Its what one does on that level that really sets the wheels n moton for one overome ones negatv, ones gnrane, ones delements, to out of the s very tght"nmesh of samsa. that s why the path of get aumulaton alled aeement wth So lberaton.
1 ENCE OF HE PA OF CCUMUAON n ths rst path we are tryng to understand the emptness of phenomena n order to ee urself. So n the begnnng we are very nvolved wth thngs, we are very aahed to our deas f real and to the apparent realtes themselves. To brea through that three irles(Tb. x) of atahment, we need to understd the subjet, objet, and er relatonshp. n the path of aumulaton we what that famla the dea,already and westuded ontemplate qutemes, deeplywe thebeome meanng of thswth absene of the three rles. Through that we beome able t understand absene of haratersts and see of the hear of that s wsdom. s we beome more famlar wth ths way of atng beyond subjet, objet and ter relatonshp, we aheve the sx pamtas. When we have e understdng of the three rles, then n the lght of that understandng, we wll prate generos, slll ondut, forbene, dlgene, medtaton, and ultvate our wsdom Beause we no longer beleve thngs to be sold, we an prate the pamtas ve muh beter than before Beause of ths understandng, we at prate muh mre and muh more eetvely Through understndng, wevastly gan realaton of all 13 prnpal aspets of the Prajnaparmta. It's beause of our ve slll prate that we ome to ps wth all of those varous aspets. They begn to beome flar 2 UAE EEDED FOR ERAON The rst qual s to have fath n e three jewels ondene n the Buddha, beause we appreate just what a rae and eellent state Buddhahood s. We ome to understand the magnene of that
11 1
Te Onament o/Cle Realization sta, w lng t achv t and w ga th whol o our xsnc twds lbratng oursl kws w tu t th dhama, whch ar h tachngs o th Bddha, and to th sangha, who ar th nds on th path I w rally dont hav ths at n Bddhahod, w wll not hav ch lng r th dhma that th Buddha gav kws, w dont hav vry much cndnc n th dhma, w won hav much cndnc n th tachrs ho hold ths tachngs or nds h show us th path owvr, w do hav vy strong ath n h Buddha, thn w wll ralz th gat valu o h achngs d assmlat thm Thn w wll tu t ths v rar nds, ho nabl s to undrstand th tachngs and opn th manng h tachngs to s Ths ath s nt blnd at, bt a ath basd on undrstandng d apprcaon So ath n th thr jwls s h sd om whch wll sprot all o th th quals h scon ual s dlgnc h txt says hat w nd o hav dlgnc n th objct, manng that rathr than jst ractcng h most xcllnt path o th dharma om m t t w nd t apply orsl wholhdly t th practc dhma cous, smon dos bts o practc hr and r, hr wll b som rsult m t, and thr may vn b som tangbl rslt that w can s n hs vry l Bt practcally w ar stuck th th backlog o karma and mntal cndtnng that w hav cratd or my, many lvs Thr s a lot o work o do, a lt o obstacls to rmv so w nd to apply urslvs lly to t xcllnt path o h dhama Trd, w nd h bst atttud, hch ans our mtvatn shold b at th v hghst, most nobl qaly That mans that th motvaton bhnd what w do nds to b vy bncal It should als b a vr larg vw naturally on a vy vast and grand scal cours, w cannot cang or condtnng vght and all o our motvatn Bt as mch as w can, w can bar n mnd th obl sch an at and motvatn, and through mndlnss, y to ntgrat ths d ak that par o s Th ort qual s nonconcpual samadh W all l that w hav conol ovr r own mnd, bt rally whn w look a th saton, w dont rally ha control ovr ur own mnd Iw had, w wntd to practc what s good and achv h uals, thn 12
Te ath of Juntion w could smply do t Ifw wantd to gt rd of all of th ad thngs ad th ostacls f w had control or our mnd thn w could sply do so f cours th ral stuatn s not l that caus w don't hav control or our mnd If w want to rst n mdtaton thn w don't a nough conol to smply do t So w rally nd to gtwhch to th hlps hartto ofdo ththat prolm to n control of our mnd Thor thng s to rst n nonconcptual mdtaton samadh Th h qualty w nd s omnscnc W ar stll talng aout th path of accumulaton ad t s on that path that w gn to acqur such wsdom and w acqur that wsdom of harng of (or stdy) th contmplaton d of mdtaton rst w har tachngs of th suas and shastras and w com famlar wth th das of th dharma Ths rst stag s calld th stag of lstnng In th nt stag w thn dply aout th manng of what w'r studyng tng to com to a much dpr undrstandng. Ths s calld th contmplaton stag of wsdom s w famlar oursls wth th tru manng and partcularly through mdtaton w com to th mdtaton stag of wsdom Th r stps of lstnng contmplaton and mdtaton gv rs to th wsdom of th tru natur of phnomna Thos support th Bodhsata's progrss through th stag of accumulaton: condnc n th thr jwls dlgnc mndlnss or th v st atttud samadh and wsdom or somon who has ths v qualts t s rlatvly asy to gan ralaton of th Buddha's tachng Somon for whom ths qualts ha not yt manfstd wll rqur much mor wor n ordrSoto pross andw gansh ralafacults ton popl nd t rlatvly asy to achv ralaton d thos wth th lunt facults nd t much mor dcult ut sharp or lunt facults shouldn't tan too asolutly W may amn oursls closly and nd that our mnd and nd that w hav a good fath and condnc n th Buddha's tachng w ar dlgnt w ar mndl of what s a nol atttud w ar to a larg tnt a mastr of our mnd and can ntr nto mdtaton and cultat wsdom Ths s a prson dscrd on wth sharp facults n th othr hand f our mnd and stnc and nd that w'v lttl condnc n th - 113 -
Te Onament ofClear Realization three jewes with onl a satering of diligence with not ve uch nbilit of ind not uch poer to editate and not uch isdo. owever we are suc with bunt faculties forever and tis wil aways be lie that Is not so solid a situation because we can transfor ourself o a blunt person to a sharpwitted person. We can transfor oursef o being quite a dull and blunt person into a very shp and worable person. This chapter has covered the ath of accuulation which in the text is called the path well in accord with liberation.
Questions Quesion: ant this detailed analysis suffoate any insight we
iht have on the path? Rinpocbe: ater on in the path hen we reach rofound reaization then things will happen on their own accord and there will be a natura evolution in our practice To get to this ig leve however we need to understand the Prnapaita very el To understd the Prajnaparaita the best thing we can do is to understand the path exeey clearly which is what we e doing her If we editate and study tese points then adually there wil arise cari about the rajnaparaita d our uderstanding wil increase Tis in tm will help our editation and realization to eveop nauray But if we just wait for te o the ve beginning o ise on their own accord they will never retu Quesion: ow was the Prajnaparaita taut in Tibet? Rinpocbe: In Tibet there was a union of the vast tradition o the
sutras and the profound tradition of the tantras These two wored hadin-hd and reinforced each other Tese days peope associate Tibet ore than anything with the varayana just as they associate eylon with he Theravada tradition ven though ibet was such a perfect oe where the varaya was p intact and pure we should now that in Tibet there was a joint practice of the tantras d suas. he tanas contain ve profound techniques so the tantras are usually caled the profound aproach to dhara The suas contained all of the possie -114-
Te ath ofJunton ifoio d discourses, d hey re ve vst d comprehesive, so they re clled he vst pproch e should ever uderesimte how much these two ditios c bee ech other It is through h oe uderstds of e vst su rditio tht oes vjry prctice relly becomes meig, through the vjry echiues d skill mes d oeit isc ctully rverse ll these sges of udersdigof the ph tht we red bou i he Prjprmi Wht we re doig here is goig through he whole Prjpmi ve uickly The c Prjprmit is i 1 00,000 verses d if we were to work our wy through it ve thoroughly i tes of cdemic uderstdig d deepeig tht to cul reliztio through prctice, it would tke yers So wht we rher do is o ge some ide of the Prjprmit through this exemely codesed fo of the Prprmi We cover he vrious poits of the developme of this wisdom re d e whe we prctice vjry, those very wil eble to develop uickly This techig is toskill give usmes the mes to giusthe reliio, gi the udersdig, rther h just doig the echiue i he drk ot kowig why were doig it or uie wht resuls will be This sudy helps our ic prcice, becuse we kow there is very et meig behid it Is o just somehig we do becuse is here to be doe I is very good o sp the essece of Prjprmit hrough this sort study, eve though it is so cocise Queson: Why is he vrjy so clled the "secret mtry ph? npocbe: wordnga. i Tibet we sle ito glish "vjryThe issang The rsttht sylble is sled by my
scholrs s beig "secre The secod syllblenga mes "mr so people slte it s the "secret mtry rdiio for "he vjry I believe is word "secret does relly give heg ri impressio, becuse it gives he impressio of somethig which is very esoteric, t cnot be pssed o o others Ths ot relly the poi The toe of he syllble sang implies much more, somehig which is vil, is key fctor rther th somethig which is secre
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he ament ofClear Realization youve got a c or istace the the vital poit i te car is the motor because its the eie which determies how quickly you et to the place youre goig ith the vajrayaa the what were doig is to develop d awe the most vital actors or a quick progress so we develop i the most eective way the ve essece the developmet ad the perectio stage oo meditio ad we stage lea howmeditatio to wor with thigs i the ver best way. Its this eeli o getig to the very pith o thigs eeratig the very best o all this touchi the very erve o sang covys what is most useul to our practice that this rst word much more tha some sor o esoteric sese
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The Path o f Junction IN AGEEN H EFNE MERGNG In our eorts to help all bengs, we are studyng n ptcular the Prajnaparamta. Because the Prajnaparamta can s the wsdom that gves rse to the Buddhas rse to enlghtenment, t s called the mother of all the Buddhas or the reat other rst the Prajnapramta se all e good qualtes of the shravaas and the praeabuddhas as well, so t s the reat oer gves brh to the entre path To We do study so dea that of we the c acheveuddhst Buddhahood ths,the wePjnapta need to get some scnce of the Pjnaparamta whch we c do rough contemplaton ta s the most The whole foundaton of the Prajnap mmaculate teachng of the Buddha But because the Buddhas teachngs e so vast and comprehensve, we are studyng here a ve concse form of the Prajnaparamta, namely, the Abhisama [a of aeya It gves us pont by pont noducton, so that we can have a clear pctre of e overall menng of Abhisama Prajnaparta So we should thn that by study the are here studyng the Prajnaparamta as a vtl p of [ana our own we progress toward ddhood In the last chapter we covered the path of accumulaton In ths chapter loo at the path of juncton We have already studed the path o juncton n each of the rst three chapters We may wonder why we are repeatng ourseles, but n fact t s not the same as before. the rst topc, the nowledge of omnscence, the path of juncton was eated manly as a cause, a foundaton. In the second topc owledge of the path we looed at the path of juncton apples to practce In the thrd topc, nowledge of the foundaton, we also studed the path of juncton, but n terms of the shravaas
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he Onament of Clear Realization path of unction n this fourth topic, whn w study th path of unction, w will loo mor comprhnsivly at th way th odisattvas approach an wor on th path of unction hil th bodhisatta ar prossing through ths stags, thy ar not ust concd with thos who ar vry clos to thm, ons own family, ons brothrs, sistrs, lovd on, and inds in th sam town or in th sam country, or th sam rac or vn th sam spcis as thmslvs Bodhisattvas rathr ar concd with hlping all of ths sntint bings W may thin that a bodhisava sould hlp vryon thy mt, for instanc, but that would still only covr a fw bings that that thy xprinc witin thir own subctiv rality hr will b many shs undr th watr, many birds and animals in rmot placs that on would nvr mt Bsid that thr ar many bings byond our ralms of prcption (such as hun ghosts and hll bings h bodhisattas so dvotd to th practic bcaus thy ar concd for asolutly v sntint bing hy wr for all of thos sntint bings bcaus thy lov thm and thy hav at compassion for hm Bsids havig lov and compassin for vry sntint bng and ing concd for thm, that th lov and compassion is qual for all sntint bings h bodhisattvas s all the bings as qal or that ason thy ar worin for all of thm hn th bdhisatta lovs thm qually onslf So thy do not giv thir lov and compassion mor to som and lss to otrs, but giv th mimum of thir lov and compassion to absolutly all sntint bings hat is th main obct of thir attntion as thy go through this stag ofunction his n and impial attitd twards all bings will b xaind through tn aspcts h rst aspct ofthis stag ofunction ofth odhisattvas lo is th samnss or qualiib nyam pa5 of th lo h bodhisattva hlps bings as much as possibl to hlp tm achiv e suring his h happinss and hlp thm to bcom om is th sam towards ach and vry bing h sond spct is th quality in thir dsir to bnt othrs h way th bodhisattvas hlp othrs is to protct thm from harm, om far, and to giv thm shltr and ositiv aid hy do tis v vnl with th sam attitud towards vron, not favoring
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Te Path ofJunction some not excudng others om the wa that the benet and protect The thrd aspect s that a bodhsata has no agesson or haed whether someone s end or whether someone trng to hur them bvousl the would eel hatred or those who are smpathetc but even though someone s ve dcut the stl have ths same even mnd n whch hatred doesn't arse atred shng to harm others and thoughts o revenge would onl produce more suerng whch s thereore pontess It onl gves rse to probems Thereore the bodhsatas do not develop haed towards anone Because the have no hatred the do not ha bengs b ether phscal or verbal actons and s s shown n the next to aspects The ourh aspect s ther equal o nonvolence not harmng so ths s a phscal aspect o not dong harm to anone ether or sesh reasons or n retalaton Theorh pont s notbad sang anhng damagng wth at ether ve harsh speech speech o an sor amed hurng others The nether speaknast nor wsh to speak nast So those are the rst ve o the ten was n whch the are ve even or mpara towards other bengs The olowng ve aspects show how the bodhsatas on the path o juncton relate to bengs Sxth the consder them as ve knd ke ther own mother and ather Seventh the thnk o them wth ve eat aecton lke one thnks o one's brothers and ssters so one eels there's some brotherl bond wth bengs ghth through deveopng ther ove e consder bengs to be ke ther chldren socultvates n the same wa that ornth chdren bodhsaa ove to care orone othercares bengs the the love other bengs lke cose ends d am have the eelngs o sameness ths sor o aml lnk ths gene oneness Tenth the have a constant unreentng ce or everone just lke one has or one's kn In the se wa that one never ets one's kn drop one has ths eeng o obgaton eelng o wantng to help no mater what Then the also ths eeng or sentent bengs th those ve pes o deas then the have ths equa o love These ast ve thoughts showed the equal o thnkng or bengs ltogether we had ten was n whch we consder the -119-
Te ament f Cear Reaizatin sameness o the Bodsata's love and approach on the level o the ath ojuncton H. IVL PA
The eghth opc deals wth the wa n whch the bodhsattvas are nonretuers, meanng the do not all back hs apples to the path ojuncon, te path o nsght, and the path o cultaton When ne reaches hs path o juncton, one wll never all through the pwe o karma nto the loer realms, so thee alread a entve stage o progress hrough ones own karmc pwer, one has gone beond the pssbl o beng bo nto he lower realms It's soethng hats qute automac, ecause to reach that level o juncton, one nees to remove he results n terms o karma, whch would nomal cause ne to be reo n te lower realms. lso on that leel, one has removed the worst o the klesha the mental elements, whchSoare n themseles beng n the lower realms n terms o causethe ancause eect,or then one rebo has gone eon the possblt rebrh n the lower reals and through karma, through great love and compasson n order to hel other bengs, those bodhsattvas mght opt to take bh n a lower state n order to be o benet, but t's not just through the uncntrollable power o kaa When one reaches te stage o nsght, then at that level, one gans the real understanng nto the true nature o phenomena Because o that, automatcall, one jons the ks o those called the realzed bengs or ve noble bengs, who have ths undestandng the can uenever nature.all Because that s lastng and awakenngoone bac to heeperence state o an ordnar beng hs ord "ordna beng apples to al those who have not ha the realzaton o the true nature So we have the state o nonretung, wth ths path o nsght Then w the path o cultvatn one culvates ths nsght, one medtates on t to make t allembrang, and one averses he bodhsattva leves Wth each progress throug he levels, one gets rd o an even more subtle level o blockage, and one obtans more qualtes s one rogesses, each step s a nonretung step, so one eeps the qualtes ne never
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Te Path ofunction falls back to that grosser level of thngs to be gotten rd o So we can see how the bodhsattas n those three stages are nonretuers I. TH CAON OF H QUA OF SAMAR AND RVANA The next topc conces the equal of exstence and peace, whch are wo epets for ssara and nrana When we are proessng through the eversble paths, ere wll be certan sgns ne of these s that we wll understd the equal, the saeness, of sasra and nrana. Ths saeness eans that the have the sae nature. Before the path of juncton t was ve porant to work wthn the relatve level of sasara and nrana. s long as one s under e power of deluson and experencng that deluson, then t s of pre porance to want to becoe ee of sa sara, whch has e ve nature of suerng It s ve portt to aspre and work for s eedo o thethen suerng. Bt to when onethat has gonenrana, beond whch the p of the deluson, one needs know there s a saeness of the anfestaton of ssara, whch s the suerng aspect of nd nd the anfestaton of nrna, whch s the peacel We should not project on sasa too sold and mutable a sufferng of real nd dote on nra as a thng n tself. s to understand how e e both equal n tes of ther actual nature We can go back to the exaple of stakng the rope for a snake hen we stke the rope for a snake, we re under the p of the deluson, and panc and suer. Its ver porant to get out of thatIt's panc ndport to reach to a state of sant realeofwhat s under reall there reall apprecate te and suerng beng e deluson and the release of seeng the trth But as far as what s reall ere d what's been there all the te, the rope tself, s conceed, then the projecton of the deluson and ts suerng and the later release of understdng reall are soethng qute supercal The are not reall a par ofwhat s the te nature there. The are both conceed wth deluson and release fro deluson. So cong back to these bengs on the superor levels, these ones who are nonretuers, then the reale the sameness n ters of the qual of experence of sasara and nrana n realng ths 121 -
he Oament ofClear Realzaion qualty of ssara and nrvaa on thn ss how all phnomna ar draml Th txt now dals wth a doubt on mght hav about th undffrtaton of ssara and nrvana. n mght b ld to thn "h wll f thy ar asally th sam thng thn what s th pont of strvng lbraton to gt n rd ofnd suffrng to worsuh on arma andtotoobtan ultvat mdtaton? not ntran doubts f on undrstands th trrlatonshp btwn th rlatv and th ultmat truth. Whn w tal about th samnss of natur w a loong om a vry absolu pont o vw. r gong to t vry dpst natur of phnoma. Thr w ar long at what has alwas bn and what has vr rally vr n sng th xpl of th rop w now that t has always ust bn a rop. n th rlatv lvl w ar loong at what tas pla rough dluson and how to gt rd o t. Wr sng h rlatv truth and th truth of what tas pla o th rlatv lvl o dluso: what ndsand to b andwhow dothat t fvry w wl loo at th xaml th rop thdon sna antos Thr has oly o bn th rop thr and th whol pross of dluson ad th lbraton om dluso tas pla on th rlatv lvl n tms of a rlatv subt rlatng to that rop. W a lmnat our far baus hr was nvr a ral sna thr (on th ultmat lvl). ts only baus t s a dluson on th rlatv lvl of tnng ts a sa that w an lmat our fa lusons a b rmovd and that rsults n susqut lbraon. If thr wr a ral sna thr thn ts a vry dffrn story. ts th s whn w osdr our wor n th rlatv a o xst Samsara s th dluson that an wv xprnd for soand long. f samsa had authnt xstn ndpndnt stn was not ust rlaton to ourslvs th t would b vry dfult mayb mpossbl o wor th. n would hav to physally hang th whol world odr to rm surng But samsara s rlatd to ons dludd approah that mas t s a v worabl stuaton. Th rlav truth mans worng t trth o what as pla on that rlatv lvl th dluson th produts of dlusn. Wthn th rlatv world t s most mangl to wor on t puraton of arma whh s rlat to that pross of dluson by dvlopng maton whh has th powr of 1 22 -
Te Pat ofJuncton eliminating that delusion But at the same time, if one thoroughly understds the absolute leve and understands what has really always been the backdrop for this relative process, then one will see the euai o samsara and niana, in terms of the uali of their manifestation being products othe mind So these to t together. The whole point not doubtthis or absolute debate the validi of our reative work, because we isunderstd relationship J TH CAO OF PUFYG OF H WOD The tenth point in this overall section deals with the purication of the worlds ormally ordiny beings are much more subect to that which is negative and unwholesome than to the good ualities, so there is predominance of desire, aversion, jealousy, pride, stupidi, and so on. sually there is only a few of the good uaities, suc as love and compassion, aspiration, diligence and s on When the inner mind is mainly with a few ualities, thenThe this causes the outer wordpoisoned, to be experienced as agood very impure place way the outer world appes is intimately reated to the way the inner mind is conditioned So according to beings' conditioning and their karma, they perceive the world, the environment in a cerain way The bodhisavas are dierent, because through their work o cultivating all the good ualities of the love, compassion, diligence, d so on, they are removing more and more all o the poisons When their inner mind is pure, then the outer environment manifests as e pure This is where we have the pure dimensions o experience, pure lands d so on. We appreciate how through their practice bodhisaas to puri the world bviouslythese it's not a uestionare of helping environmental changing, but a uestion o training the mind of their own and other being's mind and en through their activi helping others to puri their mind epending upon the state of the mind of the beings, the worlds will apper in a different way So generally speaking, the bodhisatas e puriing the worlds
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he Oamet of Clea Realizatio K T LCAON O LLUL AN kifu means in tis contet is understanding the kinds of activi in whih one needs to egage ones mind and pactice t deas with the work of understanding the nature of things ki means invoveski conquering obstaces negative forces. meansthe arevarious deveoped in orderbockages to increaseand ones own positive quaities of practice ki eans are cutivated to hep one quicky achieve the goa ski means are cutivated in order that we can reay be of use to others and bring them to maturaio Through the eeven points we have now come to the end of the fourh main section of he book which is caed the actua reaizatin of a aspects
124
14
The Acation when Reaching te Peak TOC . LCAON HEN EACHNG E PEA Th h mai topic of th boo is calld th climax pa or th smmit (Tib. sbyor) which is part of th scod rop of topics calld th for appicatios s w apply orslvs to th path d practic w will travrs crtai stas of improvmt. ach of ths stas has its hihst poit or pa. So what w s is that th path ofjctio coms to a pa iwis ach path has its pa or itio Ths ar iht topics of ths pas at ach of th stas SGN OF HE LCAON OF HE PEA Th rst sbtopic is th sis of rachi th pa i th path of jctio irst w xpric th this of lif to b li a daydram This way of rlati to this is th si that or actal mditatio o mptiss i combiatio with a drstadi of th tlv lis of itrpdc has matrd to a crtai poit W rally wil drstd all maifstatio to b li a dram. othr si of rachi th pa particlarly o th path of jctio is that w hav a disli for th slfctrdss of th hiayaa ad o icliatio for a stat of pac ad bliss fo oslf bcas w itrstd i hlpi othr popl othr si of rachi th smmit o th sta of th path ofjctio is that w wil actay hav visios of th Bddha si th ddha fac-to fac Thr ar actally tlv paiclar sins of attaii th p of th path ofjctio
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he Onment oClear Realaton B INCA O The ign of reaching the pek i that the poitive qualitie will emerge in a ver trong wa. Thi i particularl a reult of a ve powerl accumulation of virtue in our exitence. ne example o thi i to imagine thatbeeverone in the wold were making to Buda. Thi will a ver vat offering, but thi i teoering cope of irue that we can think of when we think of a bodiaa having a ver eat deal of viue. o be able to generate uch qualitie i a i of having reaced the climax of the path of unction But we have to be a little carel, becaue in the path of junction there are four tage warming, the peak, forbearance, and hihet worldl attainment Thi i the ign f attaining the end of the path of junction, the tage f the highet world aainment
c SALY The third topic deal with tabilit or rmne or olidi he rt tree chapter of thi work dealt with the widm o omnicence, the widom of the path, and he widm of the foundation he bodhiava who are on thi path of junction, gained to a large extent thoe three area of widom. The undertand the qualitie of the reult, of the path, an of the foundation Becaue of that deeper and vat undertanding of thee, the will help other being. The help other being uninchingl, becaue the realize the ualit of te reult the ath, and the baic qualitie and teacing which are there The never drop thi helping of other being, through hat widom. in a wa that their i not mixedi up anthing The that ihelp verbeing bad Becaue of that, activit vewith rm and table, rooted in knowledge, and uninching. D PC DNG O ND
The fourth topic i called perfect reting of mind or perfect ental abiing hi i paiularl related to having a remarkable ower of amadhi n that tage the ort of virtue tat one i generating i again comared to the amount of virtue tha could be generated uing an illutration of the como irt we imagine all the virue 126 -
he Appcaton Wen Reachng the Peak in the coo de up of the four continent nd ub-continent ext we igine tht e virtue in the coo h been increed thound fod The we igine the virue in thi kio-coo being expnded nother thound fod Then we igine the virue of thi eg-coo being expnded thound-fod to ke gg coo. When thentht think bout vt by ige of te coo ndin the ount of we virue coud be uch generted of being the, it give u oe ide of the vire which the bodhit in tht tge re generting. The reon tht they re cpbe of producing uch goodne i becue of their power of dhi Thi dhi i uite rerkbe nd uite tbe It i very ry rooted in wht i ue With tht foundtion in the ctivity of virue it cn be power h jut been decribed. So in the it oftopc, the topic i ced proper ent biding, nd the key to tht i the rerkbe mdhi tht they hve E. THE CAON O PEA O HE PA O INGH ow we wnt to ook t e pek uitie of the pth of inight. We cn ook t thi o ever nge
1 WHA O E MOED The rt nge i to conier wht we get rid of in tht pth of inight It' prticuy conceed with the coitive obcurtion. ctuy though e pth of inight d the pth of cutivtion, one i continuy working on n ever ore ubte reov of the the cotve n the pth emotonal obscuatons obscuatons of cutivtion we re nd conceed with the concoitnt bockge eing thoe which ie with one iutneouy Thi iutneouy iing en thtthey re iutneouy there with u nd not rey dependent on n exte inuence or conditioning When we ook t the vriou bockge, we cn ee tht rt tht we hve the eotion obcurtion uch our deire verion, pride, nd doubt We o hve the cognitive obcurtion, which i to think of thing re nd truy exitent. Thee concoitnt bockge, don't coe o the outide or o the environent They re conditioning o beginninge tie or o ong we hve
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e ament of Clear Realization ecome accustomed to these ad habts o thnkng and eeng en we are o and ew u they are a par o our maeup and they are the man thng the practce s ocused on n the ath o cutvaton In contrast the man thng whch s gven up on ths path o nsght are enta aracts that are the products o our condtonng parcuary those that have n root n acta reaty In othe words the e the deas and eengs that we've created because o the way we hought beore because o the way we've aned and then abeed reaty and dened t n a certan way so that we created a certn arcaty Ths arca covers many thngs covers menta aracts that are naturay shed by ganng the nsght o the path o nsght It covers the emotona deements that we created by the way we thought prevousy and but up our emotons and the way we ee and the wa we dene ouseves n the ord It covers the cotve bscuraton hat are these arta deas and ay o reatng to thngs to the trth to te dea o the se and so on arge body o ve subte thougt processes are removed by the stage o nsght When we have a regon or a posophy that s a abrcated thng then we condton ourse to beeve n ceran deas hese deas become a par o our reaty It's the undong o these arca and ncorrect deas n parcuar our dubts about thngs whch are actua trths It's those thngs that get shed at ths path o nsght ne shoud aso understand that on the path o nsght there s a mutua reatonshp between the auts that one casts asde and the reaaton whch one gans e have ust been ookng at s hw the arca constructs and how these concomtant condtonngs these condtonngs whh are bo as p o us are cast asde n the postve what we ga wch s the wsdom aspect the jnana aspect s reaaton These to depend on each other hrugh gettng rd o those ageod bocages the wsdo emerges Through the emergence o wsdom we can actuay get rd o the menta aracts on the path o nsgt The wsdom o the path o nsght emerges through overcomng the concomtant bockages that the wsdom o the path o medtaton arses ever more ceay So they rey ver muh upon each other
2 8
T Appicain Wn Raching h Pak t the peak of the path of nsght, one parcularly becomes ee om any wrong atttude or understandng conceng the four oble Truths t the stage of nsght, we no longer have storted ves of the meanng of the four oble Truths, we no longer have doubts or hestatons, we understand hem clearly rom the pont of ve of the cotve obscuratons, we get rd of the three crcles at the path of nsght t the peak of the path of nsght, we also elmnate the four topcs already dscussed (4) of the concept of the precept, the concept of the percever, the belef n concrete realty, and the belef n the appent real Before ths stage of concept of the precept, we beleved that the outer world was real and exsted on t own accord Then we entered the path of nsght and adually elmnated 8 the false concept that e are separate om that exteal real The next concept of percever s adually elmnaed by realng that nner mnd whch perceves that world, the experencer, s also not exstent as a hng t that pont of nsght, we actually break throu, and he deep-rootedfeelng of a percever s shatered The rst concept of a precept has o dvsons ne s called the enterng aspect and the other the reversng aspect The enterng aspect s that one cn approach the outer world as beng that hch makes us enter nto samsa The reverse aspect s that the exteal world s assocated wh what gets out of samsara So there e to ways of relatng to the outer world n terms of samsara, one n terms of how t gets nto t and one n terms of how t gets out of t These to deas are p of he path of nsght assocated th the concept of the precept (the outer world) There areThen also to ngs rstdea of all he precept, whch s the outer orld as far as the of for a percever s conceed, then there e two areas of that whch are removed ne s the belef n a concrete realty, so ths s a derent om ust the dea of someone who perceves or a mnd whch perceves as a thng ere e are talkng about puttng onto that dea of a mnd th exstence n any sense, wth any sold, any ndependent real, any subsantaly, hat s removed Then even more subtly than that, n one way, one removes he belef n appent realty, here even the dea of mnd or percever just as an dea s also cast away or nstance when one s watchng the cnema or televson, one may see an elephant ne 129 -
he Onament ofClear ealization ca st of al ovrcom th da tha th lphat s ral, but v mor subt s ust th mta mag a coct of lhat aa, v ust a tlvso lphat, ust a appart lphat So It's thos aras that dal wth a prcvr, th soldcato of a prcvr, ad v th b th appart ral ol of a prcvr. ll o ts thgs ar go bod at th path of sght. 2 THE CAL LCAON O H PEA I th last captr w lood at t varous stags rachd o t path of ucto I ths chaptr w lood at mal h thgs that on has to lmat o th pat of sght Thr ar tw aspcts of th path of sght what o lmat ad what to ral ow w wll bg to loo at what actall tas pac o th path of sht tms of acvmt ad ralao Th rst qual of th pa of th path of sght s t wa whch th sx paramtas ar compltl tractv ad mutuall supporg Ths s a topc that w av alrad touchd o ad t dals wh th wa that wh o practcs, for stac gros, wh o s slld, automatcall that ros s suppord b corrct moral coduct, t has th powr of frbarac, th powr of dgc, mdtato, ad wsdom v mor tha tat, t's that t grost dos't ust xst b tslf bcaus ach paramta thmslvs has th quats of th ohr paramtas I ach o th sx pamtas, th powr of th othr sx s also prst so thr ar trsx was of tractg (sx ms sx) I fact wat happs ths path of sght, s that th slll acto of th bodhsata, thr s smultaous th prsc of ts thrsx catgors of th partas Thr ar o drt was tat hnaa ad mahaaa practors go thogh th v pats I th path of st of h th sght has haaa, what happs qut ucl s soo mrgd, h haaa practtor movs mmdatl oto to th path of cultvat th path of sgh cossts of th mdtato phas onl, thr s o postmdtato. Wh th bodhsattvas dvlop sght o th path of sght, t's logr astg ahr tha movg statl to th path of cultvato, th bodhsatvas gag two tps of absorpto: absorpto ad postdtato of that 30
Te Applicaion Wen Reaching he Peak absorpon The actual absorpon s caled the lon-lke majes absorpon because when one has ns no the true naure one en feels a emendous condence Ths condence s copared to ha of a lon who s not scared of any other beng and erefore s sure of sef and s abl and majes of ts suaton Because the bodsattva gans thasver dete unmstakable nsg the truth hen he or she no longer shaken by he power f nto doubt wo abou samsar, or abou orance conceng the tre naure I s a ve powerl condence that automatcally comes wth he realaon Tha s he chef chracersc of te samadh he aer eec of a sadh deas wth relave rut. ne reales the way n whch orgnaton takes place n ptcular te elve lin of inerdependence ne undersands ver clerly te twelvefold process of e karmc formatons hat make e dfferent levels of conscousness ne reales he way hat suaton eolves and how to reverse ha suaton By takng away y one of hese weve nksuproot automatcally sops the begnnng arsng of the one can gnorance a he thensucceedng here cn lnk be noIf more kc foaons and none of he res of the lnks. So one sees he process o samsarc development and sees the process of nrana whch s made by reversng te samsarc process or takng t apar sep-by-sep n reverse order Besde understandng hat as an auomatc aer-eect of hs samadh one also can apprecae he naure of te samsara whch s produced and he nranawhch s he reease om that samsara ne s a oneway process te oher s he reverse order process That becomes ve clear how those wo sdes of he con as t were are no thngs realy exsent n hemselves but how they ewe mutally dependen howrelease realy te reversng of he deluson whch call nran and the depends on he fact hat here was a deluson n the rs place ne sees the relatve nterdependence of samsa and nrvana THE PEA OF P OF UVON ow we move on o look a he path of cultvaton stll n hs man topc of he summ hs chacer tha s deang wth the sgns of achevemen of the pa of cultvaton eneraly speakng what we are dong hroughouthe pah of cultvaon s o work on what we - 3 -
he rnamen ofClear ealizaion have gaed o te path of sght We ae cultvat t and bgg t to ts llest possb That taes place mal though deveopmet metato paculal oe focuses o the dhyana) poesson though the vaous stages of medtato St the fom dhaa the fomlss metatons ad the the medtato wthout medtato o-medtato) e eeds st to pefect te st a dhaa the move o to the second dhaa whch oe pefects ad goes o to the thd dhaa ad fouh dhaa The st fou dhaas ae degees of absopton wth fom The ae the fouh dhaa oe moves o to the st fomless absoto Whe hats pefected to the second fomless absopto the thd ad the fouh all oe moves o to what s called the od medtato avg pactced b gog to the ed of the st a the to the benng of the secod oe ca the ga the exbl f md to be abe to leap though the st oe o two the to zoom though the st fou ve sx ad st a the wa up to ube eght Besdes the powe of beng absobed nto oe the oe a ve gag eat woablt wth oes medtaton so ae oe ca ve apdl move though all of those states th ease
G E PEA OF E ENCE O ACE The ext top mentos the absece of ostacles ad ths coces also what s aled vajrlike samadhiThe vaja-le samadh s ve specal ad ve powel It s gve ths epthet because t eall cleas awa a emag obstacle to elghtemet hs samah s so powel that thee s othng whch ca bea t o dstub ethe theae obvous the the vevaja-e subtle emooal o cotvetobscuatos able tooshae samadh B estng e vajae sadh oe smases the powe of tose obstacles ad oe beas though even those ve ve had to emove oglastng exemel subte metal habts tat oe has B estg vajale samadh these ae automatcall dsspated Ths samadh o deep medtaton s compaed to a vaja because a vaja s sad to be ubeaable ad able to pece a othe substace It s vajale samadh whch eables the al ealzaton t come sml because t wll emove a ema obstales
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Te pplication Wen Reaching the Peak H EN ONCE WHC A EMOVED
rom the summit of the path of unction all the way throuh to the varalike samadhi, which is the threshold of actual liberation, we have extreme condence because we see the true nature of phenomena ecause of that condence, we are completely unshakabe by anythin which is contrary to the truth ecause we have constant perception of this uth, we have eat condence in i makin i unshable in e face of any obstacle, in those tes, any bstacle or ohers' doubts This unshakable condence creates peace rooted in the true view ecause of tha, one has the natural pacication of anythin which is apparent, anhin which is heretical throuh which other beins or dierent siuations mih to throw one om one's path
Questions uestin: hat is he dierence etween a shravaka and a
praekabuddha? Rinoce: The word shrava means "a hearer That ives us a ood idea of what they e They are those who lisen to the teachins of a spiritua iend and who realize the value of those teachins and work ve hard to understand them, deveop them, and put them into practice The shravakas are dependent on ivin at a time when the uddha eaches or his teachin is iven The praekabuddha or solit buddha is one who awakens or who develops all by himself It doesn't mean a class of buddha, as such Throu the power of foer karma and foer study and understandin, they take birth usually in worlds where here is no spread of the uddha's teachin at that time ll by themselves, throuh the power of their kana and foner understandin, they start to understand the nature of the four oble Truths, they understand the world is suerin, they understand the causes of those suerins by their own observation, they understand the twelve links of interdependence and how to meditae, all throuh the power oftheir foner conditioninecause of tha the o to places of solitude d they proess even rher So tha is he main dierence really
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he ment o Cler Reliztion Questio: hat is th dirnc btwn ths tns noncon cptual samadhi and mditation on mptinss and rsting or mditating yond triplici? poce: Thr ar som dirncs bwn ths thr. Whn w tal o nonconceptul smdhir mainly rrring to shatha mditation whn th mind rsts in a stat o grat pac and quali In that stat thoughts dont aris vry much so th mind is a pac without thoughts. Wr rally not concd whthr thr is awarnss o th tru natur or not whthr on has actually undrstood mptinss or not. Wr just taling about pac or dom om th troubling owr o concp. Whn w us th tn mditation on mptinss w ar taling aout th raliation o th tru natur o phnomna. That mans through analysis and dirct pnration on gts to th natur o things prciing how things rally ar rath than how things sm to Whn w tal about mditating on mptinss w rall man to mditat on h tinss or absnc o th onrly projctd charactristics. Wn tal about mditating bond triplici or th thr crcls o acting byond th dor th doing and somthing on (ojct subjct an action). his tn rrs mainly to th post mditation whrin on cultivats th paramitas So in postmditation whn on practics gnrosity on dos it without this ida o a givr sombody rciving and what is givn. Whn on practics silll cnduct on dos it ithout th solidication o somod eping a conduct a conduct to b pt and th act o pin it d so on In act whn w tal about mditating on
mpinss that is morinto concd th actual mditation pas itsl th pntration th uwith natur and th rsting byon triplici with th postmitation. Questio: s thr a orrspondc btwn th our stags mntiond in th mahamudra systm stags o onpointdnss dom om concpt on-tast d no mditation an this classical systm o th v paths thatw nd in th mahayana Ripoce: Tr is indd a corrspondnc. Whn anal th our stags o mahamudra w nd thr sbstags in ach on so hat in t rst on which is onpointdnss thr is th lssr th iddling and th atr stag. In h nxt on is om om 1 3
Te Applicaion Wen Reachinge Peak cncept then thee s lesse lng ete stge n s n We hve these twelve spects setes clle the twelve ygs f hu The st stge f nepnteness efes nly t ne pnte tnqull ettn. The lesse n lng stges f nepnteness wul be e ess sscte wth the pth f ccuultn The gete stge f nepnteness wul be e sscte wth the pth f junctn becuse ne s jne t the tue eng The secn hu stge f ee f nsght s sscte wth the pth f nsght Ths stge f beyn cncept enng tht st f ll ne hs evelpe the pwe f shth n then thugh tht tnullty ettn ne eveps vpshy Becuse f tht nsght f vpshyn ne elzes the tue ntue whch cespns t the pth f nsght The th au stge f netste cespns t the pth f cultvtn the fu mu stges nnettn cespns t the th pth f ne stuy The netste stage cespns t thelevel secn t the seventh bhsttv levels The eghth bhsttv cespns t the lesse spect f the nn etatn The nnth the tenth bhsttv levels cespn t the lng spect f the beyn ettn level Then the stte f Buhh wul be the hghest f the twelve sub-sectns the hghest pnt f the n-ettn level When ne eches the twelh stge the hghest stge f n ettn thugh hud pctce then the qultes f n tht ne cheves e the se f thse f Buhh cheve thugh the clssc lng hyn pth But the speech n the physcl qultes e nt ute the se Ths s becuse when ne veses the ny hyn pth f y enless klps ne s takng bth gn n gn then genetng ve Ths s n eeely pwel thng even thugh t s uch lnge pcess In tht lng pcess ne ccuultes such vst vtue tht ths wll le t the en f the n hyn t the teenus physcl tw n egh an speech qultes tht we sscte wth the y ks f the Buh When ne ges thugh the ve pfun n p pth f hy ne wn't necessly get thse If ne lks t the lfe f Jetsun lep the lfe f mpp they n't nfest the thtw ss an the egh ks ke the Shun Buh Ths s becuse they f nstnce lep 35
he ament o/lea Realization as bo nto an orna by an he so qucky pefecte the mahamura s that the mn qua of reaaton s eacty the same, but the boy an speech quates that manfest for others are not the same.
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Gradual Applicat i n f the Stages f the Bdhisattva Path TPI I ADA CAON O HE SAGE O E BODHAVA PA In or study of the Pranaparam we move on to sxth man topc of the boo s yo remember the forh throgh eghth man topcs of the boo are for topcs o appcaton Ths sxth topc conces the ada appcaton to the bodhsata practce and contans threen stages We saw n the precedng to topcs conceed the appcaton to acta reaton and the u s t of each of the paths conceed the way a Bodhsata actay goes throgh the deveopment and hs or her practce Ths sxth topc w show s how they graday appy themseves Bascay we e thnng of two sors of practtoners There are the practtoners who have d factes and they need to wor ther way step-bystep throgh these threen stages Then there are those who have the sharp factes caed onenstant eers who w be dscssed n the next chapter We w see how those steps throgh whch they deveop can be aped to one nstant THE SX PAAMA The rst sx stages n the chapter dea wth the sx pamtas of generos s condct forbearce dgence medtaton and prajna hey consttute the rst sx sbtopcs They have aready been extensvey dscssed
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Te ment of Clear Realzation . TE ECOLLECON OF E BUDDHA ext are the recoections o mindness (Tib. enpa)9 especia of the three ewes. The rst recoection is the recoection of the Buddha. We shoud awas ca the most perfect being who is he Bddha to mind so that when we are practicing then we thin that whatever e do then the Buddha who is omniscient is aware of hat we are doing. So we shoud therefore awas practice what is er good an feeing that the Buddha is aware of that ur practice of the paramitas becomes an oering that we mae to the omniscient and perfect Buddha. If e mae mistaes and become or heedess we aso needs to be mind of the Buddha and his omniscience and to fee a sense of reet. Ten we shoud app our effort to reove such action om our being. So this point rea mes to eep the omniscience of the Buddha awas in our heart and ie H TE ECOLLCON OF E AA
he next recoection is the recoection of the dharma The recection of the dharma means to awas have in one's mind an awareness of te vaue of the dharma. To thin that those teachngs iven b the Buddha are the teachings which enabe us to reach the state of compete iberation and omniscience and to now that tese teachings wi enabe us to get out of the suffering of samsara. The dhma wi give us he rea means to hep a other beings. o we eep hat awas in mind and the dharma aso points out to us those things that are good for us to do and those things that are useess an harm So having a constant recoection of dharma wi et us now that I shoud eveop this thing et us get rid o something of no use. I. THE ECOLLECON OF E SANGA The third recoection is the recoection of the sangha. his means being aware o the great vaue of the ara sangha in one's own existence. This ara or nbe sangha are our iends and our guides who wi hep us to enter into the perfect paths d to proess om 138-
GradualApplcaon ofhe Bodhsata Pah the sge of accumuation to the stages of junction, insight, cutivation, d eventuay to the compete iberation of our whoe being They can do this because the aa sana has wisdom and e my uaities of abandoning and reaization These recoections of the ree jewes were om the pointof view of resut Then there e three recoections om the point of view of cause J THE ECLLECN OF GH ONDC he next recoection is the recoection of right conduct It is by constanty bearing in mind the need nd vaue of right conduct that principay one wi get rid of the things which need to be removed om our consed existence By being awe of the en rues and ten non-virues that must be given up that one wi act in a proper way, physicay d verbay ne aso knows tt one wi not create more bad karma d thereby one wi reach the ve hihest resuts ts something which vita of to right our practice, nd one shoud keep this aweness of istheuite meaning conduct present, ve aive a the time L THE ECOLLECON OF NG
he next recoection is e recoection of giving This means to keep in mind, a the time, the wefare of others Tere are dierent es of giving to hep others one can give materia things dharma teachings, or give protection to those in fear Wishing beings to be ee om suering, one keeps in mind to aways strive for the benet of others in this way T ECLLECON OF HE NE SAE The sixth recoection is caed the recoection of the divini f course, the utimate ition that we wi get om our practice is to achieve Buddhahood and to attain the three jewes Those were the subject of e rst three recoections But om now unti our na atainment of iberation, because we are acting in a good way d we are aways ting to be better and more subte, then there wi be ve good resuts which wi come om it, and ife aer ife, we wi 139
he ament ofClear Realization gain ve good rebirs either in a human form or a divine form and that is a ve usefu ad a benecia thing so this recoecton of ivini is to e aware o the good temporary state which exists as a product of our practie between now and our na iberation. H U AR O PHNOMNA We have had the stages o the six paramitas and the six recoections now the ast stage conces reaiation of the true nature With that and the other twee then we see the teve main things to contempate in this chapter which deas with the gradua appication.
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The Intantaneou Practitioner TPI INNNEOU CON The seventh man topc of theAbhsamlanraconces the forth applcaton called the nstantaneos applcaton In the prevos chapter we saw that those ndvdals wth less abltes can graday proess throgh generosty sklll condct forbearance d so on to reach realzaton owever f we can practce n a completey ntante way practcng what e called the ntanted sx paramtas then wthn one nstant we can realze t all nce they've been mastered adally by somebody who s very spreme then n one nstant they are all present ne exple of the nstantaneos realzaton s that of a water wheel o can have a ve bg wheel wth ots of bckets arond t By the smpe movement of the one wheel al of the other pars of the wheel e set n moton d pefo the actv of lng water Ths s to show that becase of pshng that one p eveythng else also moves atomatcaly and llls ts ncton so that by nctonng on one pclar area of goodness all of the oer paramtas d other good qaltes wll manfest and wl be developng and proessng We can nderstnd what tes place n terms of the wo accmlatons When one reaches e state of sch clarty of acton then when one st does one vros acton one does somethng that wl gather the accmlaton of vre then throgh the power of that there are so many other ves whch atomatcally come along In partcar when one deveops nderstandng then throgh proess n one area of ndersdng there wl be so many other wsdoms whch wll emerge at the same tme When we open p or awareness and nteate the Pranaprta nto or mnd then we are tochng the centra nere of or exstence becase the Prajnaparamta works on the ve root of all the problems The root - 41
he rnment ofCler Relition of th poblm i igoac, a igoac cau th lmt, a ll a th vaiou cogitiv obcuatio i tm of potulatio of a objct, th flig of a ubjct, th oliicatio of ality a t blif i appat ality By woig o th Pajapaamita, ig out th oot of all otho poblm By iggig out th oot of tho poblm, th automatically th may qualiti of iom wil mg So by woig o th Pajapaamita to limiat th v obtacl, w will automatically maift th ve wisdomsbcau wiom a alay withi u With hap faculti w ca wo o ou iac a th may wiom ill mg automatically f w apply oulv to vitu th jut by oig thi o thig, a tmou outlow of viu will happ hi all ta lac iultaouly It all vy atually will b pt i actio HE CCUMUN F ER h t y poit i coctat o th ittaou pouctio of viu, that i, how o viu pouc my viu imultaouly h co poit i how i th accumuatio of wiom, th vlopmt of wiom ca big about a opig o may oth i o wiom I th thi poit i th imltaou a itataou pouctio of viu a wiom W ut how o actio ca fot a vy vat way both of th accumulatio o itac, if w a pacticig goityvy wll, it cotai all of th oth v paamita So goi wh it i pactic cctly, i hac by pop couct fbaac o o B HE CCUMULN F WDM t t am tim a pacticig th imultai of th ix paamita o v th thi-ix ubiviio, w alo o that i th light of wio, which ma that w ow what i tag pac i by tiplicity W ow that ou pactic of tho paita ta plac li a am What i happig i ot omthig which ha tu xitc ultimatly
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Instantaneos Application
c SMLANEYF HE TO ACCMLAON Because of at, in one action, say generosity, e perfected in the six paraitas d at the sae tie, the six paraitas eing ainly associated with the developent of virue, nd at the sae tie, in that se instant, onesIts wisdo, accuulation wisdo through thatone sorisofiproving understding that siultanei ty that of the two accuulations which is the third key topic HE SMLANEY F O THNG RE AND OHEY EAR Through wisdo one understds how the practice or the way things anifest is ike a drea But actually taking this exaple, there is a denite stage of dreing and a denite state of eing awake, and here is soe dierence eteen the to What the odhisaas realize is hat the wayso things and e wayinings reallyinstant are not to sepate ings, thatapper hey experience a single without any dierentiation te way tings re te anifestations of the relative world, like a dream, and the way ings realy are, which is e ue nature But e odhisatvas ake no distinction eeen those to Th see the coplete oneness of those o, ut at the sae tie hey are not consed They know hat the relative world anifests as the relative world and the asolute anifests as he aslute Its a very sutle point to know these to for what they re and to know the as copletely inseprale That takes us to the end of the seventh chapter Weve looked at e applicationapplication which takes place gradually towards the goal and the instneous
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he nament of lear Realization
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Th e Dharmakaya TPI . THE HAAKAYA The nal eect of practicing the correct paths and the Prajnaparamta s to atan the dhakaa Wthin the dhanakaa we actua look at the four kaas: the svahavikakaa the jna dharmkaa the samhogkaa and the ninnkaa Its ose four aspects of the man result that e stud aong wth the ve profound wsdoms ve the uddhas which asokaas the result whch fon or prt ofjnn those of which are inherent to are those The ve sdoms are the dhaadhat wsdom e mor-like wsdom the wsdom of sameness the dscrmnative wisdom and the wsdom of accompshment The rst three wsdoms--the dhadhatu the mrror-ke and itis. The fourh the wsdom of smeness fon the wisdom of how dscrimnatve sdom and the h wisdom of accomplshment are manl conceed ith the wisdom of varie The wsdom of seeing ust as t s e ve nature of evehng and the wsdom of seeng thngs the wa the manfest Throu the kaas and the sdoms then ll isvalue for that oneself and achieve ll vaue others This meansthere that s ere noing one cn thatfor would e etter for onesef ere s nothing that one could achieve at would hep others more The svahavikaa d the jnana-dharmakaa are related to ones own enet and the samhogakaa and the ninanakaa are reated to the enet for others
The K This word lteral means "odes ut t reall mes more dmensons of Buddhahood The rst kaa the essence kaa or
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he ament oClear Realization svabhavikakaya Svabhaikakaya mans vy ssnc that is pointing us to Buddhahood Th svabhavikakya brings us to libration which is th intation with th vy ssnc of ving th tru natur of vyhing in th univrs Tha intatin is not lik som big voidnss dvoid of any knowing uali ts ndowd with incrdibl clariy and wisdom and as wv sn it has th v wisdoms t is somthing vry aliv hat is wha w ar talking about in ts of th Budha himslf whn w us th trm nanadharmakaya f cours "harma in nglish is clos to t word maning th vry pith or co ssnc of ything which is his wisdom Whn w say ssnc kaya wr talking about rsting in th vry ssnc. Whn wr talking about dhaakaya wr looking at th natur ofthat ssnc in trms of its wisdom hs two kayas constiut th highs thing that on could v achi for onslf thr bings ho hav not rachd that stat cant apprciat that ts byond th scop of thir own awarnss hy nd somthing in ts of form with which to rlat in ordr to apprciat th ming of Buddhahod So w hav th othr two kayas which ar th way that h actual stat of Buddhahood manifsts to minds which hav not rachd that d of puri. So thn w hav th sbhogakaya which mans th aspct of prfct njoymnt That noymnt dosn't m th njoymnt in th vday sns t ms njoymnt in th mological sns of having th us of or accss to somting on could sa th aspct of prfct xprssion of Buddahood That is what is xprincd by th v pur bings th at bodhisatas Thn thr is th nirmanakaya th manatin aspct and this is hat is xprinc by lss pur bings So thos last wo constitt th vrbst thing to hlp othrs ECE YA
Th ssnc kaya th svabhaikakaya is th aspct which is th ry ssnc of vthing vry natur of vthing This natur is is compltly indivisil which has always bn thr it is somthing which in itslf immutabl and vrprsnt rywhr. But whn w talk abut th ssnc kaya as par of Buddhahod thn hat w ar undrstanding is that whn on rachs Buddhahood on rtus 16 -
Te rm Kas to an nteaton w that sate because one has become unaware of t through the proucton of once an eluson an because one retus to t then t s mentone as an aspect of Buhoo even though t has aways been there What happenss that one rst of all ores that essence whch has aways been there one generates e whoe of eluson ts mesh of ssa so on venay rou theproucts practcean onethew remove all of an he eluson n orance. then one sees the essence ust as t s ust as It's always been Ths s what we are talng about when we say the essence aspect or e essence aya ofe Buha We can agan retu to e example of the rope an the snae In fact n the exampe of the rope always was ust a rope but because there was ths eluson an at euson causes the panc fear an suerng hen one wors through the euson an one comes to an unersanng that t s ust a rope Then t s worof menton that one has retue to he unerstanng of what was always there n the rst place B T JNANA-DAAYA The wsom aspect of the hmaya s the nanaharmaaya or wsom haaya) n e te The hmaaya can be expane n many erent ways Some expanatons are ve enghy some are more concse the Utta anathere s a farly eale explanaton of e hmaaya whch ponts to just some of the qualtes for nstance the ten powers the four feessnesses the eghteen stnctve qualtes mang hry-two qualtes In the Prajnaparamt s an even more The extensve explanaton of hrmaaya wththere twenone qualtes. ten powers of the Buha for nstnce woul fo one pont The four feessnesses woul mae one pont The eteen stnctve qualtes another pont an there are anoher eghteen fferent ponts to help us unerstn e haaaya ts qualtes te twenone of the wsomharmaaya we see the qualtes of e Buha an we see the wsom These twenty-one areas of nowege c be summe up n two man areas the wsom nherent to Buhoo tself an the most ovng compasson whch s nherent to Buhahoo Through the wsom 147
he Onamen oflear Realzaon of Buddhaood an the temenous developent o the love whih has tken place befoe on the path, thee ae so many skill ways of elping beings This gives us two main aeas though which we analze what takes place in the hamakaya at Budhahood. The activi of the buddhs is completely spontaneous and completely without effo example popagate hilosophy of Comunism took the Fo taining o tomillions of the soldies and huneds of millions of dollas was spent on ams and weapons in ode to spead the idea of ommunism Soldies wee engaged in attle wih a blooy conict fo yeas and yeas, all with the idea of implting that ideal in the minds of othe people F all of those millions of ollas training of so many people, and so much efo, hey wee unable to cnque the whole wold Howeve, the Buddha neve even spent one olla on ams in oe o spead his philosophy He caied just a begging bowl and taugt the tut. It was a e spontaneous ad natal spea, because of the ve natue Buddha and2500 his teachings ideas spead though millionsofofthe people fo ove yeas, anThse the Budha's eachings went om India to Tibet, China, Jap Ceylon, Buma, and hailan. These days the teachings ae touching many people in the este wol It gies us some iea o this effotless d spontaneity that takes place though the vey natue of the way the Budha an his teachings ae f couse om time to time the dhma in a ceain coun does ecline. Fo example the spead of Islam caused Buddhism in India to almost completely disappea But if one looks vey caelly, one can see hat wheneve thee is eadiness and acceptance the place hama vey natual spea of vey the dhama to oftat andoneis sees goth It is something spontaneous You may doubt this, ut if you think about it you may see that's ust how it happens The Budha activit is vey sontaeous an natual As soon as thee's a benet that can sping om it ad a eceptivity, then autoaticall it will ouish and mnifest The ddha activi is cntinuously available, but it doesn't men that al of the time eveone is eneting om it Reeiving benet om the Buddha activi deends upon one's openness, one's kmic situation The Buddha's activi is like the ain hich
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Te Form Kas fll m vt ud the the ridrp i vibe If there i eed f plt i the ud the e the ri fl tht eed w d devep t me t it uiti But if the eed i rk with i it wil ever w he ri my f fr hundred f ye but ti thig wil me f it S e hud kw tht the Buddh' tivity i t intermitet but tht wht mke it mre r e eetive i e' redie t reeive it.
The Form K he fur ky re the vbhviky the jdhrmky the mbhgky d the nirmky he rt vbhvikky i the pet f the very eee f the dhy d the ed i the widm dhmky w we wi k t the ther t ky r pet f Buddhhd hee t f it the grup we the f ky beue they mifet themeve i f S we hve the dhky d the frm ky he frm ky re the mbhgky d the irmk hey re led the frm ky beue they tke eri mifetti they ppe in eri wy i rder t help er beig hey n be ee be hed be udertd they re methig whih mmunite the quitie f Buddhhd he buddh mifet in the frm relm t mmuite the dhrm t ther beig f ll eve f udertdig ht prper f being ble t mifet thi Buddh tivi i pr f Buddhhd e f the quitie f Buddhhd i t be ble t mifet l f the frm qulitie f the Buddh A Buddhhd mifet tivi tht m Buddhhd there i the mifetti i the reltive level f the mid f beig t t i wy whih wi ipire them t reh the highet reizti he f mifettin f the Buddh tht te pe i determined by the nture f the pepe wh experiee the Buddh Firt whe the bdhittv hve rehed the evel f very rfud reizti the we the mhbdhi wh hve puried the gr evel f k d beue f tht their perepti i very pure nd hey pereive the Buddh i ve pure wy i the mbhgky r the pet f ve perfet exprei Sed eve impure beig the we rdi beig wh hve t yet
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he ament ofClea Realiation eached the path of insigt can epeience he Buddha if thei kama is good enough They see he Buddha in fom that appeas in thei eality That is emanate om the samhogakaya so we call it the ematin aspect o nimanaa in Sanskit ven faily impue eings an meet the Buddha if thei fotune i s good enough and the can eceive the teachings ofdha om that aspect So we have to main eas of fom manifestations te samhogakaya fo highly ealized odhisatvas and the nimanakya in paticula the upeme nimanakafo socalled oina beings. C SAMBHOGAKAYA The samogakaya fom which manifests fo the odhisattvas is the esult of all of the Buddha's fome wok while he was on the path to Buddhahood n that long evolution efoe eahing Buddhahood hen fo so many ages he eing who was to ecome a Buddha developed a ve pue d nole motivation e pefomed so much viue and so muc pofound and vast activi in pevious lives that he can manifest the magnicent fom of the samhogakaya The samhogakaya has thito very special chacteistis called thethi-two mao ma, such as the mound on the head the dhamachaas on the soles of he feet and so on. ll of thse ae the symbols of the pefection f ualities that the uddha eached on the path The nal physical maniesttion of e Buddha, at will e the ve secial smols of what happened efoe Beside e thitwo mao maks thee e eigh mino a. ese ae me detailed special chaacteistics only found on te Budha which e e esult of his fome pactice and fome goodness The samhogakaya fom is the ost excellent ut one should also now that what we call the supeme nimaay also mifest these thiwo and eigh maks ne should also ealize that ecause of what takes place on tha level the epeience of the samogakaa is the most excellent and hats the noally associated with the thiy-two and eighy maks he shoakaya in Tietan is longch6oeku3 By anlyzing the meaning o the wods then one can unestad moe aut the samhogakaya itself The st sllale longch6, is means the wealt" wealth of expeience theok mes pefection"
50
T Form Kas and the mens the ky or body or embodiment" So one cn sy the spect the perfection of the welth of expeience Its rther long-winded, bt the mening of tht is tht the wish of beings, who spire to ddhood, is to be ble to in the end, help everyone else to chieve the libertion of perfection of Bddhhood themselves When one reches ddhood, then one hs the llest biliy to help others d gide hem on the pth nd so on So it mens tt ones welth, in those terms, is the et welth of being ble to give he techings d to give help to other beings It is the vios stdents nd disciples who form the object of this gi of welth tht one gives, the welth of experience ht welth of experience is terly complete and perfect It is not reltive or limited bili to help, bt ll of the qlities e ere most perfectly ne who chieves ddhhood will t ll times nd in every circmstnce be ble to help beings in whichever wy is necessry cording to heir own openness his is why we sy not jst the welth of experience bt Bddh the terly of the experience, nd itsbecse tht spect of the Weperfect se thiswelth term for smbhogky its on tht level tht the welth of ddhhood cn be mifested to the ve pre beings who experience it ht is the mening of the smbhogy or ngchzokpeku Wht hppens is tht in piclr throgh this et welth nd perfection of experience, then the ddh c the wheel of dhm for beings nd in tht wy give them e techings most perfectly We look t the er perfection of welth tht these smbhogy bddhs hve in terms of wht we cll the ve ceinties he rst of these is clled denite plce mening tht on the Bddhs smbhogky leve eyof only mnifor estreltive the vrios prelnds of Its not llevel impre mnifesttion, bt the prelds he second cein is the denite form tht they take hese re thirtwo mrks nd the eighty minor mrks; these completely exceptionl qlities tht only the ddh possesses in his fo hts how they ppe to the beings on tht level he third cein is the dhrm tht they tech o those bodhistvs, e smbhogy form of ddh only teches the mhyn dhm ht is tght most complete d theres no teching of the hinyn nd there is noprovisional truthemployed So only the denitive th of the mhyn is tght he forh cerin
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Te Onamen oflea Reazaon conces the entorage of the Bddha n the sambogkaya leel his adience is only bodhisatvas in he ten deep bodhisata levels The Bddha teaches these bodhisatas in order that they proess om the rs to the second to the tird level and so on The h cerain is the Bddha on that level is constantly teaching ts not like where we level can listen in theteaching dayime o btthe wewheel sleep of at night n that theretois eachings the continos dharma These ve ceaities show the er peection of wealth this splendid way of manifesting that there is on the sambhogakaya hrogh the state throgh the form it takes thogh the dharma taht hrogh those who listen and throgh the time in which it takes place n the text the sambhogakaa is treated mainly b fosing on these thito and eigh signs
NIAKY The for kaya is thelevel nirmanakaya to beings on te impre whereverThe heynirmanakaya may be All manifests of the time the Bdda is manifesting in the nirmanakaya With each of the kayas there is a dierent sor of constancy The dharmakaa is the aspect of resting in the ve essence ofthings which is the Bd ha s own eerience Tis is completely hageless so e say the harmakaya is changeless he sambhogakaya isnt changeless becase it manifests dierent forms to the dierent beings accoding to what is appropriate What we can say is that it is consanty manifesting those forms as we have seen trogh the ve cerainties here is always the ting of the wheel of dharma taking place sonirmanakaya we say then doesnt that hehave sambhogakaya has contini permanent conini The this permanent ecase sometimes the nirankaya appears in one world and then that teaching aer ahile declines and hen it will appea again in another world Bt one shold know a ll of the tie in one place or another the nimanakaya is manifesting Then we say there is an nbrken activi so we talk aot the constancy of th three kaas The sabhogakaya has permanent contini The nirmanakaya has nbroken coninity The nirmanakaya form ill maniest in hichever way it is necessa to hel beings gain nderstading and proess n that
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Te Form Kas sense t s not lke the sambhogakaya, whch always manfests the teachng te mahayana n a vey ceran way, becase bengs on that mpre level have such erences of unerstng, aspraton. To tose who are reay for the mahayana teacngs an who can most benet, then there wll be the teachng of te mahayana To those who are psychologcally not prepae to accept te mahayana, then there s the teachng of the hnayana. Fo tose wo can unerstan there s the teachng of what we call te entve trth, an for ose who coul never asp that entve trt, there s the teachng of the provsonal trth whch wll eventally brng them a state of eater certan. So f someboy aspres to the lesser vehcle teachngs, then the Buha wll take on fom that woul teach the hnayana. There are some nvals who can only conceve of themselves an exteal real as beng a sol real an for ese nvals the Buha wll teac the hnayana teachngs. For those who can unerstan te absence of ego, the Buha can teach them egolessness. For those who cannot comprehen the meanng of emptness straght-away, the Buha teaches n terms of the way thngs are on the relatve level that person experences. hen they e reay for emptness unerstanng, then he shows how those thngs are not uly exstent So n many erent ways, the nrmanakaya teaces the varos vehcles, te varos ts, an so on. There are n fact many erent forms of nanakaya The chef one tat we focus on s calle the supreme nrmanaa The way the nrmanakaya chey helps bengs s by teachng the harma, by presentng the skll means for attanng enlghtenment We can see ths n te way n whch the Buha of the past, the present, an the tre have manfeste. Te former Bha, Kashyapa, came to our worl, the Brahmn caste n Ina was vewe wt the very eatest respect So he took brh as a Brahmn an so people ha the respect tat woul gve eat power t hs teachng when he te the wheel of hama In the tme of Shamun Buha the royal caste ha the most sway, so Shaamun was bo as a prnce n a royal famly. That way people ha a ve eat respect for hs teachng It's a ve sklll wa of beng bo e tme of the ture Bua, Matreya, t w ll be a tme of more emocracy, so Maeya, wll be bo n a way more
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Te nament ofClear Realization suitale to emoatic civilization Te eason the buhas take these ihs is because te see which so of existence will be able to convey to othe beings e teachings in the vey best way.
uestions uesion: We always have this example ofa ope one mistakes fo a snake But what happens i f the opposite is tue i.e at we mistae a eal snake fo a oe Rinpocbe: f couse its a vey iffeent situation ifthees eally a snake thee hen we use the example wee using the example of the situation hee thee is a ope thee an what happens when one mistkes a ope fo a snke he eason that example is use is to show us the natue of elsin ne we unestan that so of setup whee the is soething eally taking lace that wee not
awae o a thee is a elusion which is causing a lot of touble then at makes it a ve wokable poosiion to get i of the elusion go back to wats eally thee As eve seen many times in the exales we ont ealize the tue natue of eeything an we make the elusion of samsaa The buhas an the teachings show us that this is wha has happene an how to get out of the elusion an each Bhaoo It's th fact that it is a elusion wich mes the whole pocess of achieving Bhahoo possile If it wasn't just a question of emoving a elusion but of changing he way things ae it woul be impossible to achieve Buhahoo ts only the fact that we have an inaccuate peception that we can wok on the situatio So if a snake wee eally thee hen it woul be a e ieent setup. Thee woul be a ve soli tuly existent exteal wol in samsa a n in oe to get ee of it it woul be a almost impossible task Wha we hae is the guiance an the inications gien by the eachings to show us that it is a situation that we ae subject to a elusion. We alea hae the initial avice in poining out that it is a ope thee e ve mistaken a snake an once we know that s so we can wok on it e on't nee to so o test it i that way Quesion: Is Buha moe like a go something outsie o oes he have to o with ou own inne being o min?
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Te Form Kas Rinpocbe: bst wa to undrsand t Budda is in ts of t tacr Wn w ta about Budda w taing about t prsonag wo in t past acivd raization and n taugt t daa W foow wat says so is vry uc i a tacr for us But of cours troug astring tos tacings oursvs
in t Budda at tat u c atur par ofw uswi so ibcom t s i ant im w go is tosoting a tacr Fi rst is ofvry a w rat to tat tacr as a tacr but wn wv d vting w oursvs bco a tacr so wat was outsid us as bcom insid and part of us in t nd procss In tat way wn w thin of Budda or Buddaood tn w can gt t bst apprciation First w oo to Budda as a tacr and vntuay w oursvs wi bco Budda Quesion: Wat is t incption of tis word in wic w iv? Rinpocbe: T xpanations tat w s in t sutras ar not t sam s tat w av in od scinc As far as t scintic conctur about risingWofsay tso pysica univrs oris concd w ar t quitactua accurat any tousands iions of yars ago tis ust av appnd and bfor tat tis ust av appnd and w'v buit up on sor of pictur of ow tis word as a pant c into xistnc In t sutras w s a sigty dirnt pictur First of a in gnra t word of uman xprinc cos into bing Tn w s ow t dmnts rg and incras Tn bcaus of t nd to p bings t buddas appar in tat word of xistnc In tis picuar on wic is cad good apa" is a priod of tim covring t duration of our paricuar univrs xt dscribd is t gradua soidication ofrai th univrs ts bcoing a mor or soidi d W sin appof araitnc of ust ovr 1000d Buddas Fo r instanc t Saauni Budda wo was t ast on to co to our word was t four in tat sris of a thousd Buddas n Maiya wi b t tur Budda In tat way thr wi b a tousand Buddas wo co as t word vovs d progrsss somtis dtriorats vntuay ar t tousand Buddas is pysica univrs tat w now and t bings in it wi a disintat for a ong tim T outr nvironnt of t univrs wi b dispd Its in tos sor of
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h Oamt of Cla Ralizatio s h sutras xplan th unvrs, much mor than n gophyscal tns of ow ths plant cam aout
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Glossa of erms Ahidharma (Tib eM ngn pa) Te Buddist teacigs ae oe divided ito te Tipitaka: te suas (teacigs of te Budda) the Viaya (teachigs o coduct) ad te Abidama wich ae te aayses of pheomea tat exist pimaiy as a commetaia taditio to te Buddist teacigs Thee is ot i fact Abidama sectio withi te Tibeta colectio of the Buddist teacigs. Amiaha e of te ve budda famiy deities kow as budda of boudless ligt" Usuay depicted as ed arha (Tib dra chom pa) Accompised hiaya pactitioes wo ave elimiated e kesa obscuatios Tey ae te y
izedphag sava kas pae kabuddas (ib A ad peso wo as achieved diect ealizatio of aryaea a) te ue atue of eai This peso has acieved te thid (pa of isigt) of te ve pats Asaga (Tib thok me A fouth ceu Idia piosope wo fouded e Citamaa o Y ogaca scoo ad wote te ve woks of Maiteya wich ae impotat mahayaa woks Also bote of Vasubhadu. Avalokieshvara (ib henrezg)Dei of compassio Kow as pao dei of Tibet ad is ma is M MAI PADM UM odhichia (Tib chg te mid of chkids sem) Liteay eightemet Tee chu ae o of bodicia absoute bodhichia which is competey awakeed mid tat sees te emptiess of peomea ad elative bodhicita wic is te aspiatio to pactice the six paamitas ad ee al beigs om te sueig of sam saa odhisaa (Tb chang chup sem pa)Liteay oe wo exibits te mid of eightemet Aso a idividua who as committed im o esef to te maayaa pat of compassio ad he actice of te six paamitas to acieve Buddhaood to ee a beigs om samsaa
1-
he ament of Clea Realzation odisattva levels (Sk. bhumi Tib. sa) The leve o tage a bohiatva goe though to each enlightenment. Thee conit of ten level in e uta aitio an thieen in the tanta taition convention wisdom (Tib kun sop) Thee ae wo tuth eative an abolute. Reative uth i the peception of oinay (unenlightene) peon who ee the wol with all hi o he poection ae on the fale belief in ego dharani A ho ua cnaining mytical fomula of knowlege that ae ymboic . The ae uually longe than mana darma (Tib M Thi ha two main meaning: Any th uch a the i blue an ecnly a ue in thi text the teaching of the Buha alo calle buhahama dharmachakra Skt. fo wheel of hama," Ti.ch chi ho 10 The Buha teaching coepon to thee level the hinaana he mahaana an te ajayana with each e being
one tuing thenyi) wheel of haa (Tiof ch Dhamata i oen talate a uchne" dharmata o e tue natue of hing" o thing a the ae" It i phenomena a it ealy i a een b a cmpletely enlightene being without any itoion o obcuation o one can ay it i eali " dharmakaya (Ti ch ) ne o h thee boie of Buahoo. It i enlighteent itel that i wio beyon efeence point See kaya thee hyana meditation (Tib. sam ten) The Sankit efe to meitation" but in thi context it efe to menta ability" in elation(Skt to hamatha. empiness shnata Tib. ong pa nyi) Alo tanlate voine Te Buha taught in the econ tuing of he wheel of hama that exteal phenomena the inteal penomena o concept of elf o I" have no eal exitence an theefe e empty" Gampopa (09-3 C.E.) ne of the m ai n lineage hole of e Kau lineage in Tibet. Known alo fo witing theJewel
nament oLiation geshe (Tib.) A chol who ha attaine a octoate i Buhit tuie. Thi uual take ten to een yea t atin
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T Glossa hinayana (b. k pa chg wa)Ltall th lss vcl." Th t s t th st tachgs t Budda whch mpaszd t cal xamat md and ts cs Als kw as t avad path jnana (b y sh) lghtd wsdm whch s bd dualstc
thugt. (b. l pa Skt. yuga) whch lasts t d kalpa m ll s as . karma (b. Ltall act." Kama s a uvsal law that wh ds a whlsm act 's ccumstacs wll mpv ad w ds a uwhlsm act gatv sults wll vtuall ccu m th act. Karmapa ttl 17 succssv cats Dusum Kpa w has add t Kama Kagu schl bta Buddsm. ashyapa Buddha budda w lvd b pst shaamu su) h th bds th uddha: th kayas, hree (b.Budda. aakaa sambgakaa d damakaa. daakaa als calld t ut bd" s th cmplt lgtmt t cmplt wsdm Budda wch s ugatd wsdm bd and masts t sambgaa ad t akaa. sambhgakaa als calld th jmt bd" msts l t bdsattvas. h aakaa als calld th maat bd" msts th wld ad ts ctxt masts as th saamu Buddha klha (b nyn mong)T mtal bscuats ( cast t tll ctual ma bscuklshas ats whc a alsasla tdasattachmt pss" h th (pass ds (agss ag ad (ac dlus avs v klshas t abv plus pd ad (v jalus. mahamudra (b chaja chn po) Ltall mas at sal." As all phma sald b th pmdal pct u atu Lag bg b Saaha (0th ctu s a mtd xamg md dctl mahayana (b. kpa chn po)Ltall th at vcl " hs a th tachgs t scd tug t wl d a 15 9
Te nament of lear Realzaton which emphasize shunyata, compassion the conduct of a odhisata Maitreya (Tib Jampa) In this wok efes to the Bodhisata Maiteya who lived at the time of the Buddha anjushri Tib ampalyang)A meditationa deity epesenting disciminative awaeness (pana foin knowledge and eing. Usualy depicted as holdingknown a swod the ight hand an sciptue in the le mantraana Anothe tem fo the vaayana mara (Tib u) iculties encounteed by the pactitione Thee ae fo kindskandha-maa which is incoect view of sel kesha-maa which is eing ovepoweed by negatve emotions muma which is death d inteupts spiitua pactice, and devapuamaa which is becoming stuck in the bliss that comes om meditation arpa 1 01 197 C) Mapa was non fo being a ibetan who made thee tooga Inia many tntic texts incuding etips Si x Y s fand abought opa, the back Guhyasama d the hakasamvaa pactices. His teache was Tilopa and he founded the Kagyu lineage in Tbet. ilarepa 1 041 1 3 C) Milaepa was a student of Mapa who ataine enightenment in one ifetime. His student Gamopa founed e (Dagpo Kagyu lineage. Nagarjuna (Tib. ludrupAn Indian schola in the second centu who founded the Madhyama philosohica school which emphasized emptine ss Naropa (9564 C) An Indian maste who is best known fo tansmitting vaayana teachings to of Maa bak to Tibemany efoe the moslem invasion Indiawho tok these nrmanakaa (Tib u) Thee ae thee bodies o te Budha and the nianakaya o manation body" manifests in the wod and in this context manifests as the Shauni Buddha See kayas, thee. nana (i nyangenledep)Litealy extinguished" in anit d scendence of suffeing" in Tibetan Individuals live n samsa and with spiitual actice can atin a stte o enligenment in hich a false ideas d conicting emotions have been extinguised This is cald niana 1 6
T Gloss paramitas, six (ib parol tu chinpa)Sskrit r erectins" d the Tibetan literally mens gne t the ther side" hese are the six practices e mahayna pat rscendent genersi (dana) transcendent discipline (shia) transcendent patience (kshanti) scendent exerin (virya) transcendent meditatin
(dhya) andthese transcendent knwedge (prajna) ten paramitas are plus aspiratinal prayer pwer andThe prajna pariniana hen the Buddha died he did nt die an rdin death t be llwed by rebirth s his death is the parinirana because it was then end al rebirhs because he had achieved cmplete enlightenmen prajna (Tib sh rab) n Sanskrit it means perect knwledge" and can mean wisdm understanding r discriinatin Usually it means the wisdm seeing things m a high (eg nn dualistic) pint view Prajnaparamita (Tib shrab chi parol tu chin paThe Buddhist literaure utlining the mahaya mstly arund e secnd centu path and emptiness written pratykaddha (Tib rang sang ) iterally slity realizer A realized hinayana practitiner wh has achieved the knwledge hw it is and varie but wh has nt cmmited him r hersel t the bdhisata path helping all thers rinpch Literally very precius" and is used a term respect r a Tibetng Shaamni Bddha (Tib shaa tubpa) he shakyuni Buddha en called e autama Buddha reers t the latest Buddha wh lived beteen 563 nd 483 B samadhi (ib called meditative absrptin r ne tin tin n zin) pinted medita thisAls is the highest meditatin shamatha r anuili meditatin (ib shinhis is basic sitting ws the breath while meditatin in which ne usually l bsering e wrkings the mind while siing in the crss legged psture samhgakaya ( long ) There are three bdies the Buddha and the sbhgakaya als called the enjyment bdy" is a realm the hmakaya which nly maniests t bdhisatas See the three kayas
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he aent of lear ealiation smsr (Ti kor wa) Conditioned exitence o odn life in wich uffeing occu becue one till poee tchment, geio, n ionce i contted to nin snh (i gen dun) Thee e the compnion on the pth They my be l the peon on te pth o the noble ngh, which
e the elized one (6 75 725 C ) A get bodhit who lied in th Shntiev nd 8t centuy in Indi nown fo hi two wok on the conduct o odhit Srh ne of the eightyfou mhiddh of Indi who w own f hi piitul ong bout mamud shst (Tib tan h) The uddhit teching e diied into wod of the Buddh (the ut) nd the commentie f othe on hi ok (the h) shrvk (Ti nen th) Litelly tho ho he" mening diciple A e of elized hinyn pctitine (t who h chieed the elizion the nonexitence eonl elf skillful mens (Skt upa Tibofthab) The illofme ued by enlitened being o peent the dhm tking the peon cpbilitie nd popenitie into cout shunyt (Tib tong pa ni)Uuly tnlted idne o emptine he Bddh tught in the econd tuing o the wheel of dh tht extel phenomen nd intel phenomen o he concept of elf o I" he no el exitence nd theefoe e emp" sutr (Tib d) hee e the hinyn nd mhyn text hich e the wod o the Budh Thee e oen contted with the tnt the Buddh on jyan teching nd the twhich which e e commentie the wod of the Budh sutrn The u ppoch to chieing enlightenment wich inlue te hinyn nd the mhyn svhvikky (ib ngo wo ni ku)The eence body nd efe to the dhmky of the Budd tnt (T The text of the n pctice Thervin ib neten depa) Speciclly followe of the hed hool of the hinyn Hee efe to the t teching f the Buddh, which emphized the cael exmintion of mind nd it conion 1 62
Te Glossa Tilopa (9281009 C.) ne of the 84 mahasddhas who beame the guu of aopa who tansmed hs teahngs to te Kau lneage n Tbet Tripiaka (Tb de n sum) Lteally the thee baskets Thee ae th sutas (the naatve teahngs of the Buddha) the Vnaya
(a ode fod monks dma). nuns) and the Abhdhama (phlosophal bakoun of the dha Tushia paradise (T gan dan)Ths s one of the heaven lds of the Buddha. Tushta s n the sambhogakaya and theefoe s not loated n any plae o tme vaj (T dorje)sually tnslated damond lke" Ths may be an mplement held n e hd dung ean vajayana eemones o t an efe to a qual whh s so pue and so endung that t s lke a damond Vajrapani (Tb. Channa Doe)A majo bodhsat sad to be lod of the mana and a maj o poteto of Tben Buddhsm vajrayana (Tb do tek pa) Thee e thee mo tadtons of uddhsm (hnayana mahayana vajayana) The vajayana s ased on e tanas d emphaszes the la aspet of phenomena nd s manly pated n Tbet. Vasuandhu (b y nyen) A eat fouh entuy Indan shola who was bothe of Asanga and wote the hnayana wok the Abhdharmakoshaexplanng the Ahdhama Vinaya (Tb dul wa) These ae the teahngs y the uddha oneng pope ondut Thee ae seven man peepts that may be obseved y lay pesons and 1 25 o 3 2 0 to be obseed by monks d nuns . vipashyana ediaion (Tb lha tong) Sanskt fo nsght medtaton" Ths medtaton develops nsght nto the natue of mnd The oe man medtaton s samatha medtaton. wheel of dhara (S dharmachaa)The uddha's teahngs oespond to thee levels: the hnayana the mahayana d the vaj ayana w eah set beng one tung of the wheel yida (Tb) A t de that embodes qualtes of Buddhood and s pated n the vajayana. Also alled a tutelay dety.
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he ament ofClear Realzaton
Paperback Bks by Thrangu Rnche he Tree Vehcles o Buddhst Pactce.Ths book gves an ovevew of the Hnayana Mahayana and Vajaana as t was pactced n bet Boule amo Budha Publcatons 1998
he pen oor to Emptness Ths ook goes though n a easytoundestand way the aguments mae to establsh hat all henomena ae ndeed empty Vancouve: Kame Thekchen Cholng 1997
he Practce of ranqu an Insght Ths ook s a pactcal gude to the two tpes of medtatn at fom the coe of Buddhst sptual pactc e Ithaca Snow Lon Publcatons 1993
Buddha Nature.hs book s an ovevew of the wole concept of Budhanate as t s pesented n Maeyas ttara antra.Kathamandu: Ranung eshe Publcatons 193
he n oSamadh Ths book s a commentay n the only suta of the Buha whch dscusses mahuda medtaton It s also the suta whch edted the comng f Gpopa Kathmandu Raung eshe Publcatons 199
e Songs of Naropa Ths book tells he stoy of the lfe o aopa and analyzes n detal hs famous Summay of Mahuda whch lays out the path of mahamuda medtaton by the guu whose successon of students went on to found the Kagu lneage atmanu: Rung eshe Publcatons 1 99 7
16
Glossa of Tibetan Terms Pronouned
Transliterated
ha j a hen po hang hup hi sem hang hup sem pa Chna Dorj e Chenrezig h hi khor1 h ho ku ho ngon pa ho nyi
phyag ra hen po byg hub i sems hang hup sems pa phyag n a rdo e spyan ras gzigs hos i khor hos hos sku hos mngon pa hos nyid
mahamudra bodhihitta bodhisattva Vajrapani Avalokiteshvara dharmaakra dhma dhmakaya Ahidhma dhmata
de no sum do doe dorj e tek pa dra hom pa d dul wa g dan gen dun geshe gom
de snod gsum mdo rdo e rdo rj e eg pa da bom pa bdud dul ba dga ld gen dun dge bshes sgom
ipita sua vajra vajraya arhat mara Vinaya Tushita sgha shol meditation
gy Jamapalyg Jampa kal pa kor wa ku sum kun sop lay hag tong long ku ludrp
rd jam dpal dbyangs bys pa bskal pa khor ba sku gsum kun rdzob las hag mthong longs sku klu sb
tantra Manjushri Maitreya kalpa samsara kayas three relative wisdom karma vipashya sambhogakaya agarjuna
16 5
he ament oClear ealization gas bta pa sde pa ? Theavada ete dea go o y ky ku go bo yd sku svabhavakaya yageledep mya ga las as pa aa shavaka ye tho y thos klesha yo mog yo mogs ol tu chpa t pha olpa phy pa paamtas sx phag pa phags aa patyekabuddha ag sags gyas ag sag gye pecous oe" po che poche Bodhs levels sa sa secet mata gsag sgags sag ga shaka tubpa shaa thub pa Shaamu paja shes a sheab sheab ch paolt ch pa sh es ab ph a ol tu phy pa Pajapaa. shamatha h as say ta cho bsta bcos shasta che poa tek pa chug thab thok me t e tog pa y tulku yeshe ydam
pa chug che po theg pa ba thabs thogs med tg ge d stog pa d spul sku ye shes y dam
1 66
mahayaa hayaa sklll meas saga samadh emptess maakaya jaa ydam
Edotes y Clar Johnson h D. unless otherise noted)
Ths s actually thet fzed o Bu od to ale the eade that 21 . Techncal wodsanaep e talc thddhaho e st tme they may be found n the Glossay 3 Ths s shunyata whch we pef e to ansate as emptness because t s not completely od because t also contans lumnos (Tb salwa) e eseve odness fo somethng that s completely emp The sxteen aspects of emp ae exlaned n the Mamaataraand ae the emptness of nne oute nne and oute the eat e ultmate e poduced te unpoduced beyond exemes the begnnngless endless te no ejected natue all phenomena dentons the unobsevable and the emptness of eptness 5 In Buddhst phlosophy thee s the w thngs appear whch s the way odnay (that s unenlghtened) bengs pecee phenomena and the w thngs arewhch s a nondeluded enlghtened ew of phenomena 6 The Pal Text Socety has publshed many of these teachngs of the Buddha and these un well oe 0 olumes 7 Thee s a long debate about who wote the Fe oks of Maeya este scholas who do not belee nhdden treure o terma smssons tend to say that Asanga wote the e woks of Mateya d that he had a teache called Maeyanatha Howee n ou pesent day Tungp Rnpoche eceed the Shbhala teachngs dectly om Padmasb haa n a matte of a few hous and Dujom Rnpoche eceed numeous teachngs om e s that s the sbhogakaya So f these ansmssons could occu n mode tmes why could they not hae occued n the th cent? Thangu Rnpoche who has studed and contemplated these teachngs fo half a centu has sad that these teachngs dentely came om Maeya not Asanga Asanga j u st wote the tansmssons down
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Te ament of Clear Realiation 8 The Homage aears in the Tibetan text, but not in the Sanskrit version This is one of the few divergences beteen the ibetan version whic aears in the Tengyur and the existent Sansrit versions we have of this text. 9 The ve main branches of leaing are the ve eas to be studied to develo our nwledge as inner Buddhists. he rst(Tib branch the most imortant and is called knowledge" nangisgir rig pa) deals with how to meditate and ractice so one can realize the universal essence This branch is the study of the meaning contained in all of the three collections of e Buddha' s orks which will bring us to that realization The second branch is mainly conceed with the terminology which is used in these three collections of the udda wors is the study of terms and the use of language in order to convey these ideas The third branch is e sudy of logic and shows us what is valid cgnition d what isnt shows us what is a valid way of thinking and what is illogical. he lastothers to brches are mainly ith leing how to hel he fuh branch conceed is the study of s and cras so one is caale and skilll in doing things to hel others he h branch is mainly conceed with the ar of ealing the hysical il ls of others Thrangu Rinoche 10. uddhism, unlike coventional or scientic thought, believes that the exteal world that we eceive as solid objects isan illusi on 1 . W e have used small cas to show the reader where the comentay is in relation to the outline A fe searate sections which ae not ar o the outline areclearer, headings not in small cas In order to mae the text wethat havearechged some of h heading to reect the mateial tey cover, not the literal headings in ibetan Their literal headings are given in the Summ of Tois at the beginning of this book 12. sualy, we al about he six aramitas, but the mahayana (such in the Madamaavatara teaches ten aamitas 13 Seech here means more than talking obviously, because what the Buddha sad has been reserved in writing and s it continues on to this resent day 1 See suggested footnote at botom of age 30. - 1 68
T Gossa 15 Fo eple, a e tue of a buha o a ice houe o ome maicet ee outie oe houe, o eve a lovig elatiohip will evetuall be a isiteate a that lo will caue much uhappies o what i kow as the uhappie of chge" 1 6 Thi ueogivig i which the thee is o o pe givig,mea othig give,i oe eceivig gi oeogivig" the peo givig oe't epect aythig i etu The gi give mea to e omethig that tuly beets e eceive a peo give meax. 1 7 The lat itt of highet woll hama a the t istat of the path of iight happe i oe meitatio esio 1 8 I fact thee wee he lat wo of the Buha. 19 Losag P. Lhalugpa Te e ofMarpa Loo: Palai, 1979 20 1 The ee ki ofisu eig aebut : ,y,z 22 The th liteal wo liteig, Ripoche has ai that i thi a a age, thi mea uig" ice much of the hama i wite ow 2 3 Fo epe, the Kng of Saadh Suta peicte the appeace of Gampopa (see Thagu Ripoche, The Kig of Sahi, Raug Yehe Pes) 24 The litea alatio of hat ipoche sai i heaig" which i taitioal time meat siig a isteig to the lama talk about e uject, ut i moe times tuig i poabl moe appopiate ecaue we oe it ow with a ook a to ueta 25 The Tietitwo fo thi teatig eveoe equally o i the ame mae i na pa which has the meaig like, alike, same, equal" a we ue equai" which seem to e the closet to what i meat aetha equai" o ameess." 26 I ome tet thi paicul poit, if oue followig the Tibet tet, is miakel witebstan pameaig teachig Thi i wog, it mut e btan pa that which i m stable Thagu Ripohe 27 This i the taitioal comoogy of Iia a Tiet i which the cete of the wol i Mt Meu a it i uoue by fou 16 9
he amnt of Clear ealization coninens (eas sou wes and no) of wic ou wold is acually e wese coninen Tis is acually visualied in e mdala offeing pacice of ngndo pacice 2 . Fo ooe on ouside eali ec 29. Te Tiben wod used is trenpa wic can mean memoy" ecollecion" o mindlness" is oen as minlness because mindlness isbeing awaeanslaed of someing all e ime wiou becoming isaed Acually e wod in Tibean is moe an ecollecion 'se u dran pawic mes o ecall bu also o ecall in suc a way a one fo llows up on wa one ecalls " Tangu Rinpoce 3 0 Te Sansi i s sambogaaa and is lieally eans enj ymen body" wic is e mos common anslaion of is wod Howeve enjoymen body doesn eally convey and emanain of e Budda in e pues ealms so angu Rinpoce as cosen o explain is wod using e ibean wic seems close o is acual meng
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Bibograhy The Sutras
This is a suta Budha whichaily is a conen The Hea ura sation f e Pajnapamita any thise suta is chante in almost all mayana centes
Peection of Wdo Lieraure Thee is a Pajnapaamita text of 00000 veses, a text of 25000 veses, a text of 8000 veses, the Hea suta of only a few veses ight on own to a single seed syllale AH The Peecton o sdom in 8000 veses (St ashtasahasrprajnaparamtasura, Ti hag pa shes rab pha rol tu pn pa brad sron pa mdo) has een anslate y wad Conze Te Large Sua on Perect
sdom.Bekeley Univesi of Califoia Pess, 975 Diaond ur Other Works aitreya and anga Te Uttara ana (St Mahanasuhasra, Ti thegpa chen po rud bla ma ' bstan bcos, Pon Gyu Lama) A tslation of e ot text and a commentay y Thangu Rinpoche can e foun Te in Boulde amo Uttara anra A reatse on Buddhanature Buddha Pulications, 1999
Derentato n othe Ti Mddle om the bye Extremes(Skt Mdhyantavbhanga, dbu mtha am Onamentor the Mahana Suas (St Mahanasuralamra) (Ti theg pa chen po mdo sde ' ran) ament oClear Realzaton (S Ahisamayalankaa) (Ti mnog ogs ) Gampopa
Te Jewel Onament oLberaton (Ti tharpa ran) A anslaion y Hee Guenthe asTe Jewel amen o Lberaton Bekeley Shamhala, 1971 in a ve dicult tanslatin n a nslation y Ken an Katia Holmes in calledJewels o 171
Te ament f Cear Realizatin i a vey looe tanlation London harma: Jewels f Feedm Altea Publication, 1 99 5 n excelent anlation by enpo onchog Gyaten Rinpoche ihe Jewel Onament f iberatin Ithaca, ew Yok Snow Lion Pubication, 1998 asuandhu (ib mngn pa m bhidharmaksha
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T Onament o lea Reazation (Te Aisamyalama . Maiteya, the next Buddha, asited ve get woks to Aanga in e 4t centuy o ou ea These book bece the oundation o the ind-only o Chittata chool Because ese ve woks o aiteya ae o ioant in undestanding the hayna ath, angu Rinpoche ha given a coentay o· o o thee ve geat woks he Ornament of Clea Realization o Abhisamayalamkra, it is kow in Sskit, is studied extenivey in Kagyu colleges bause it gves a coent on the ast Pajnaaai teatue e Pajnaaita is the oundation o the ahana te�chin d the tudy o eptine Rathe han discusing etines iectly, the Clear Omenttkes what hu npe alls "the indiect apoach i contst o Naguna's "diect apoach to teaching eptines b engaging in n extensive exlation o the e path hs ve paths e actually stae o enlihenent and they o a a o what e s Buddit actitione need to ae to achieve eization Descibed in this text, st o all, e the ten causa conditions neceay o achieving enlighteent Next the ve paths beginng with the path o accuuatio o he Hinana and ging touh to te path o nooeIeing o an enightened Budha e escibe in detail givg thei qualitie, onditions, d outcoes n his coent hg Rinoche i able to explin the ignicance o each o h ous 70 toic o the Abiamayalamra.
Nam Buddha Plicatins
