Projeto Roda de Oração – Em Memória de Israel “Tchushin” Felix
Projeto Roda de Oração – Em Memória de Israel “Tchushin” Felix
O Projeto foi idealizado segundo a aspiração de um praticante da Sangha de Florianópolis, Sr. Israel Felix, que o Dawa o apelidou de Israel Tchushin, por causa do cajado que ele usa o qual tem um Tchushin (Dragão da Água) esculpido.
Ele tem dificuldades para se mover e gostaria de ter uma roda de oração em casa para praticar em sua sala.
A encomenda foi de uma roda de oração cuja a base fosse 50cm (quadrada).
A partir dessa medida estabelecemos o tamanho da roda que giraria em cima desta base.
Com isso podemos diagramar o tamanho das fontes do mantra que cobre todo o perímetro da roda, as pemas (flores) e timbas (núvens).
A Roda foi feita em madeira maciça de canela com o firo no centro. O rolo foi torneado e os encraves feitos deixando a parte onde será esculpida o mantra e pintados as pemas e timbas.
Os mantras foram feitos conforme o desejo do Sr. Israel Tchuchin:
Vajra Guru, Buda da Medicina, Vajrakilaya, Cherenzig e Tara, totalizando 200.000 mantras mais as dedicações adequadas. Todo o processo de impressão e enrolar dos mantras foram feitos conforme a tradição e sob a orientação de Lama Rigdzin Sandup e com a ajuda de Mauriã.
Os mantras são alinhados e colados folha a folha em linha, isto é, em cada folha há um pouco de cada mantra como se eles fosse recitados todos um de cada vez e no final de cada linha há a dedicação e preces adequados.
Com o rolo pronto e bem alinhado, as bordas são pintadas e o rolo é colocado no eixo da roda.
O Telhado tem várias linhas que precisam ser feitas, não fazê-las é como não virtude.
• Timba
• Pema
• Gud-ga
• Tchutcha
• Pema
Com a parte em madeira pronta, podemos começar a pintura: as bases são pintadas. Neste ponto ficou tudo muito extranho, pois perdeu a forma lisa da madeira e parecia mesmo uma bagunça.
Fizemos Stencil para acelerar o processo das pinturas que não tem shadow.
Neste ponto a coisa começo a tomar forma e já dava par vislumbrar algo “tibetano” na pintura.
A Lachimi estava adorando toda aquela bagunça na varanda e estava difícil manter ela longe das tintas.
As tardes estavam tão lindas naquela época que dava gosto de ajudar… era um clima meio nostálgico que parecia somar com a delicadeza dos cuidados com os traços. Foram horas que valiam a pena.
Logo esfriou e o trabalho ficou mais difícil, pois as partes superiores, e o teto também tem o mesmo desenho das partes da frente. As vezes tínhamos que deitar mesmo a roda para que fosse possível pintar.
E foi tomando forma…
Mais uns dias e muitas mão de tinta e estava uma gracinha:
Quanto ficou pronta a pintura da Rin-ha, nem dava para acreditar que aquilo tinha sido feito aqui, estava perfeito, exatamente como tinha que ser.
Com a pintura da “casinha” pronta, podemos fixar a roda nos rolamentos.
Daí a coisa complicada foi ensinar a Lachimi para que lado a roda tem que girar… também aproveitamos para ensiná-la a recitar o mantra… que acabou ficando “mani mani mani”…. mas a intenção é que vale.
Agora o Telhado foiçou dourado e os ornamentos fixados:
• Sertok, que representa implementos budistas: jóia, vaso de longa vida, sino e pema.
• Pema e Timba
• Patha
Quando achamos que a roda estava pronta, Dawa passou algumas horas tentando fazer a Lachimi girar a roda para o lado certo e recitar mantras.
Quando a Roda estava pronta para embarcar na transportadora, Sr. Israel Tchuchin esteve no interior do templo e começo a ter idéias:
Viu vários ornamentos e pediu para adicionar na pintura da casinha, no ornamento do entorno do teto e nos pilares. Realmente eles somaram, mas já se foram mais 3 mêses de um total de 8 meses.
O resultado foi inesperado.
Eu não sabia que o Dawa sabia pintar tão bem!
A parte em madeira eu tinha completa certeza do conhecimento e capacidade do Dawa, mas o que foi feito na pintura me surpreendeu.
No final a roda ficou com 72cm de lado pois o Dawa imaginou que o Sr. Israel soubesse da necessidade do telhado.
Sr. Israel também se assustou um pouco com o tamanho, mas gostou tanto do trabalho que colocou no centro de sua sala. Já me disseram que o apartamento dele é um pouco pequeno… acho que ele deve ficar longas horas girando os mantras.
Além da sensação de dever cumprido ficou aquele gostinho de trabalho bem feito, de superação.
Que os méritos gerados possam beneficiar a muitos seres.
Em memória de nosso amigo e incentivador, Israel “Tchushin”
Que, devido a nossa aspiração de beneficiar a muitos seres, possamos nos reencontrar em muitos renascimentos.
Dechen
Dzi
To Tibetans and other Himalayan people, the dZi is a “precious jewel of supernatural orign” with great power to protect its wearer from disaster. The Tibetan people believe dZi beads are spiritual stones fallen from Heaven which bring good karma to those who own them. The ancient Dzi absorbs cosmic energy from the universe. Tibetans generally believe that dZi beads are of divine origin and therefore not created by human hands. Some say they are dropped by the Gods to benefit those who have the good fortune to find them. Since they are believed to have a divine source, they are considered to be a very precious and powerful amulet. Beads can often be seen in Tibetan temples adorning the most revered statues and sacred relics. They are thought to bring good fortune, ward off evil, and protect the wearer from physical harm and illness. It has even been claimed by Tibetan refugees, that they protect the wearer from knife and bullet attacks!
Dzi (pronounced Zee) is a Tibetan word used to describe a patterned, usually agate, of mainly oblong, round, cylindrical or tabular shape pierced lengthwise called Heaven’s Bead (tian zhu) in Chinese. The meaning of the Tibetan word “Dzi” translates to “shine, brightness, clearness, splendour”. The beads originate in the Tibetan cultural sphere and can command high prices and are difficult to come by. It’s said to possess mysterious powers and bring good fortune to the wearer. Ancient and pure dZi beads of Tibet are extremely precious and rare. No matter how many or how few eyes they bear, all dZi beads possess the mystic power of bringing luck, warding off evil, stabilizing blood pressure, guarding against apoplexy and enhancing body strength. Owners and wearers of these beads are blessed with unexpected credit, luck and perfection They are found primarily in Tibet, but also in neighbouring Bhutan, Ladakh and Sikkim. Shepherds and farmers pick them up in the grasslands or while cultivating fields. Because dZi are found in the earth, Tibetans cannot conceive of them as man-made. Since knowledge of the bead is derived from oral traditions, few beads have provoked more controversy concerning their source, method of manufacture and even precise definition. This all contributes to making them the most sought after and collectable beads on earth. The most prized pure dZi, are generally beads with eyes or unusual decorations. A pure dZi may or may not have eyes. It can be opaque or partially translucent (In Tibet, translucent beads are usually valued lower). The most sought after base colour is an opaque dark brown to black.
About three to four thousand years ago, a meteor from Mars crashed into the Himalayas. This led to the 14 different types of Mars elements in Dzi beads, with the element ytterbium possessing the strongest magnetic field. This is what gave rise to the mystic power of Dzi beads. Wearing Dzi beads in the long run can enhance our blood circulation and metabolism. It also improves our quality of sleep, revitalizes our body and balances foreign magnetic fields which may be harmful to us.
Patterns on Dzi beads reflect Brahmanic teaching of ancient India, and are symbolic of the “wulunfajieta” beliefs. Each pattern bears a different meaning. Yet they are somewhat similar to the Taoist beliefs of Yin & Yang and the 5 elements as the fundamentals of life. Hence from the geomancy point of view, Dzi beads can improve one’s luck and help to ease problems and worries. The five-element system views the human body as a microcosm of the universe with the tides of energy and emotions waxing and waning. These energies and emotions are stored in the visceral organs and move through specific pathways or meridians in the body in a regular and cyclical fashion.
When these energies or emotions become blocked, or deficient or excessive through stress, trauma or disease, the five-element practitioner may use carefully controlled pressure on certain meridian points to help move the energy or emotions. This restores the natural cycle of energy and emotional movement, thus helping the person’s natural ability to heal.
There are five elements that operate to provide balance and structure to not only the world, but also our lives and bodies. These five elements are water, fire, metal, earth and wood. The philosophy behind the five elements and their use for healing purposes is that everything in the world is made up of a combination of them. Due to this interconnectivity, each and everything has certain characteristics that are linked to the elements. We can look at the body and how it ties into the elements and the way it works. The liver and the gall bladder are linked to the wood element, small intestines and the heart are connected to the fire element, spleen and the stomach to the earth, lungs and large intestine to metal and finally kidneys and bladder to the water element.
When a large portion of the bead breaks off the Dzi stone bead is seen as being finished with its work. It is time for the bead to be retired and allowed to rest as its reward for all of the work it has done. To tell whether the bead qualifies to be considered broken, check to see if any portion of the bead’s symbols, lines, eyes, etc. have been broken into. If the bead’s symbols have been broken it is considered broken. If the symbols are in tact it is considered still viable. The same applies for any crystal or gem stone. Usually the ‘broken’ stone is returned to the earth. Be grateful and give thanks for the work it has done.
Supply and demand
Due to the unknown origin and high demand of the beads, there has been unquestionable counterfeiting in Asia. Some are replicas created for decorative purposes, and accepted by the general public. In Chinese culture, a necklace is believed to be genuine if it was obtained without monetary exchange, for example from a temple. The other cultural requirement is that one should not request or bribe for it.
The pattern on the Dzi bead may not look exactly the same as in the pictures but will retain its main symbol and representation.
The Tibetan Dzi has been cleansed of negative energy, however it is suggested that
Mala Budista
“…mantras for ”Increasing” should be recited using malas of Bodhi seeds, gold or amber. The mantras counted on these can “serve to increase the fortune of life” such like mantra of Yellow Jambhala.(the god of wealth)…”
A mala is a set of beads used for counting “mantras” which are the expression of a Buddha-aspect on the level of sound. The number of mantras gets counted to ensure certain meditation results will occur.
In Tibetan Buddhism, traditionally malas of 108 beads are used. Doing one 108-bead mala counts as 100 mantra recitations; the extra repetitions are done to amend any mistakes. The materials used to make the beads can be different according to the purpose of the mantras beening used. These beads can be made from Bodhi seeds, Rudraksha seeds, lotus seeds( called ‘Moon and Stars’ by Tibetan) , sandalwood, abelia, gold, silver, copper, iron, crystal, coral, ivory, amber, coloured glaze, turquoise, giant clam, pearls and so forth, and even bones of a holy monk or revered lama.
Holy bone malas are made from the bones of mahasiddhas or lamas and hand made by highly skilled lamas, therefore, they are extremely precious. The lama who makes the holy bone mala, will chant mantras while shaping the bones into beads and polishing them. The whole process of making a holy bone mala may take over one decade, hence there goes a saying in Buddhism: holy bone malas can bring peace to the dead and safety to the living. What the holy bone mala represents, in mundane words, is that life is ever-changing and death may knock at your doors in anytime, therefore, one should be diligent in his or her practice; in Dharmata chos nyid, is the emptiness.
Some beads, such as the ones made of lotus seeds, can be used for all purposes and all kinds of mantras. However, in Tibetan Buddhism, beads are recited for four different purposes:
1: Pacifying mantras should be recited using white colored malas such as crystal. These can serve to purify mind and clear away obstacles in one’s life, like illness, bad karma and mental disturbances.
2: Increasing mantras should be recited using malas of Bodhi seeds, gold or amber. The mantras counted on these kinds of mantras, for instance, mantra of Yellow Jambhala, can “serve to increase life span, knowledge and merits”.
3: Mantras for magnetizing are meant to tame others, but the motivation for doing so should be a pure wish to help other sentient beings and not to benefit oneself. To do mantra of Amitayus and Kurukulle, malas made of coral should be used.
4: Mantras to tame by force should be recited using malas made of bones of mahasiddhas. Reciting this kind of mantras with mala serves to tame others, but with the motivation to unselfishly help other sentient beings. To tame by force means to subdue harmful energies, such as “extremely malicious spirits, or general afflictions”. Only a person such like Dakini that is motivated by great compassion for all beings, including those they try to tame, can do this.
Beads made of lotus seeds can be used for many purposes and for counting all kinds of mantras.
Que todos possam se beneficiar!
84 Mahasiddhas
Mahasiddhas – Who Has Attained Highest Level Accomplishment
The Mahasiddhas, literally the ‘Greatly Attained Ones’, lived in India between the 8th and 12th centuries and were the instigators of the highly esoteric Yoga Tantra systems that were finally transmitted into Tibet. The Mahasiddhas came from all walks of life, and the diversity of their often-outlandish legends reveals much about the different approaches to enlightenment.
A practitioner who has attained the high level of realization of an Arhat is said to acquire at least six siddhis or powers. These powers include such seemingly miraculous abilities as the power to fly, to levitate, to make oneself invisible, to possess another person’s body, to decrease or increase one’s size at will, and to assume other forms at will. There are said to be 84 siddhis that one can attain through the ultimate realization of emptiness and the attainment of enlightenment. These 84 siddhis are exemplified in the popular stories of the 84 Mahasiddhas, each of whom represents one of the siddhis. These stories are very popular and well-known throughout Tibet and India as well as the other Buddhist countries of Asia.
One thing that stands out when reading the stories of the 84 Mahasiddhas is how different each of them are from the others. Some were kings, some monks, some itinerant ascetics, some fishermen and butchers. The one common thread throughout all the stories, however, is that these individuals all broke free of the limits and boundaries imposed on them by their circumstances and livelihoods. Monks, kings, householders, having accomplished the subtle practices of the highest tantric yogas, all abandoned their robes or their crowns or their families and wandered the mountains and charnel grounds free of attachment to anyone or anything. They often appeared as crazy hermits, unbound by any rules and living seemingly as they chose. Yet all remained true to their realization and their wish to liberate all beings from suffering.
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Dharma terms collection
DEDICATION
To the long life of the infinitely kind and precious teachers, loving guides, Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche, and Khenpo Tulku Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche; to the Buddha’s Teachings, the Unsurpassable Dharma, the Clear-Light of Spiritual Intelligence, the Great Perfection of Wisdom. These pages have been gathered, edited, pinched and pasted by the slothful and, bumbling dharma child, Pema Kundal Da’ser, further complicated by the random offerings and eccentricities of the archaic upasaka Drakpakarpo, now an ongoing project freely shared with the sangha, loving friends, precious companions and anyone else out there who happens to click in… may this be of benefit to all, may the maha-siddhi pervade the realm of sentient life, may positive potential go forth through each one of us, unto all sentient beings everywhere.
This document is free for download and personal use. They are not to be published commercially. All rights reserved.
A
Abhidharma (S): Tibetan: Chö-ngön-pa. One of the three baskets (tripitaka) of the Buddhist canon, the others being the Vinaya and the Sutra; the systematized philosophical and psychological analysis of existence that is the basis of the Buddhist systems of tenets and mind training. The scholastic system of metaphysics that originated in Buddha’s discourses regarding mental states and phenomena. Originally taking form at the first Buddhist Council, the final modifications took place between 400 and 450 ce.
abhisheka (S): Tibetan: wang. See: Empowerment.
accumulation of merit: Sanskrit: punysambhãra; Tibetan: sonam shok. Accomplishment of virtuous activities accompanied by correct motivation, which is a “reserve of energy” for spiritual evolution. This accumulation is done by very varied means: gifts, offerings, recitation of mantras and prayers, visualizations of divinities, constructions of temples or stupas, prostrations, circumambulations, appreciation of the accomplishments of others, etc. One of the “two accumulations,” necessary for enlightenment, the other being the accumulation of wisdom.
accumulation of wisdom: Sanskrit: jñãnasambhãra; Tibetan: yeshe shok. Development of knowledge of the nature of the emptiness of all things; obtained by contemplating the profound truth of emptiness. One of the “two accumulations,” the other being the accumulation of merit.
acharya (S): Teacher or spiritual guide. An honorific title denoting great spiritual attainment.
action seal: Sanskrit: karma-mudra. Tibetan: le kyi chag gya. A tantric consort in the sexual practices of highest tantric yoga.
action tantra: Kriya Tantra. First of the four classes of tantra. It emphasizes external ritual, purity in behavior, vegetarianism and cleanliness. The meditation deity is separate and other than onself. See Dzogchen; Atiyoga
Adibuddha (S): The original Buddha, eternal with no beginning and with no end. In Mahayana Buddhism, the idea evolved, probably inspired by the monotheism of Islam, that ultimately there is only one absolute power that creates itself. He is infinite, self-created and originally revealed himself in the form of a blue flame coming out of a lotus. Over time this symbol was also personified in the form of the Adibuddha. There are various forms and manifestations in which this supreme essence of Buddhahood becomes manifest.
advaita (S): Nondual; not two. Nonduality or monism. The Hindu philosophical doctrine that Ultimate Reality consists of one principle substance, Absolute Being or God. Opposite of dvaita, dualism. Advaita is the primary philosophical stance of the Vedic Upanishads, and of Hinduism, interpreted differently by the many rishis, gurus, panditas and philosophers. See: Vedanta.
affliction: Sanskrit: klesha; Tibetan: nyon mong. Any emotion or conception that disturbs and distorts consciousness. The six root afflictions are attachment, anger, self-importance, ignorance, wrong views and emotional doubt.
aggregates: Sanskrit: skandha. Tibetan: phung po. The components of the psycho-social personality by which beings impute the false notion of self; the five components of the individual existence:
1. Form (matter): (S. rupa, T. zug) The physical body, mind and of sense organs. The body is thus analyzed in terms of the five elements: space, solidity, fluidity, motion, and heat.
2. Sensation: (S. vedana, T. tsor wa) Analyzed in terms of the sense organs, feelings are of three distinct kinds: pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. The mind is considered a sense organ.
3. Perception: The relationship between outer forms presented by the five sense organs and the inner mind through the process of naming and categorization; the interaction between mind, sense organs and their objects gives rise to feelings which are further qualified by perception.
4. Mental Formation: This includes all of the willed actions of the mind. This is the skandha associated with volition and the formation of new karmas.
5. Consciousness: (S. vijnana, T. nam par she pa)The resultant moment of conditional awareness which arises when suitable conditions conspire. When the mind makes contact with an object simple read-out awareness arises as a result of the contact. The Buddha taught that consciousness does not arise without conditions. These conditions are brought into the present through the mechanism of the first four skandhas.
agura (S): Sitting cross-legged, where neither foot is placed firmly on the opposite thigh. This is neither the half or full lotus position. It is the common cross-legged position used to sit on the floor in the West.
AH (S): Mantra seed syllable (bija) symbolizing great emptiness from which all forms arise, the speech of all the buddhas, or the “Vajra Speech of the Buddhas.” Associated with the Sambhogakaya (Beatific Body or Body of Bliss, Rapture, Perfect Enjoyment), the color ruby and the throat chakra.
ahamkara (S): “I-maker.” Personal ego. The mental faculty of individuation; sense of duality and separateness from others. Sense of I-ness, “me” and “mine.” Ahamkara is characterized by the sense of I-ness (abhimana), sense of mine-ness, identifying with the body (madiyam), planning for one’s own happiness (mamasukha), brooding over sorrow (mamaduhkha), and possessiveness (mama idam). See anava mala, ego
ahimsa (S): Harmlessness. Action that is non-injuring; non-violence.
Ajatasatru (S): Tibetan: Ma-kye-dra. Ajatasatrua was Prince of Magadha who plotted with Buddha’s manipulative cousin Devadatta, imprisoned and killed his father, King Bimbisara. Realizing the enormity of his sin he sought refuge in the Buddha, he made efforts to purify this negativity and some believe he became an arhat. King Ajatasatru sponsored the first Buddhist council. King Bimbisara of Magadha was imprisoned by his ambitious son and either starved to death or committed suicide. Ajatasatru ascended to the throne and expanded his territory by conquests. Ajatasatru also waged war with King Prasenajit of Kosala but was defeated. He married Prasenajit’s daughter. Ajatasatru patiently schemed for 16 years to break the unity and strength of Vajjis. He quarreled with this strong confederacy led by Cetaka for reasons which are differently given by Buddhists and Jains. However it was not easy to break the solidarity of the Licchavis and other members of the confederacy. Ajatasatru resorted to foul methods, sowing seeds of discord among different classes of the confederacy through one of his ministers who settled amongst the Vajjis and became adept in destroying the social unity of the people. Ajatasatru eventually executed King Cetaka, (Mahavira’s uncle) and took over the area which had been held by the Vajji confederacy.
Akashagarba (S): Tibetan: Namkhai Nyingpo, “Matrix of the Sky.” Akashagarba is the principle Bodhisattva of the Jewel Family. He is associated with the Eastern wisdom through the dawning of light from that direction. He wears a white robe and holds a lotus with a large sword shedding that light in his left hand. He is known for his generosity and meritorious acts.
Akshobhya (S): Tibetan: Mi-kyö-pa. “Unshakeable One.” Lord of the Vajra Family, one of the five dhyani buddhas, or heads of the five buddha families, representing the fully purified skandha, or aggregates of form. In the Natural Liberation, he represents the wisdom-mirror and the transmutation of the poison of aggression and hatred. Akshobhya is blue, and is associated with the east and the ground – Abhirati Buddha. He originates from the blue seed syllable HUM and represents the vajra family; immutable and imperturbable. The path to enlightenment through the Vajra family is one of breaking free of constraints and obstacles, transmuting negativity, and is generally more dynamic and proactive. He makes the earth touching mudra (S. bhumisparsa) with the tip of the middle finger touching the earth with palm drawn inwardly, while his left hand rests on his lap face . He faces the East and, is often depicted with his consort Lochana, She of the Buddha Eye, who expresses the mirror-like primordial wisdom.
alaya (S): Abbreviation of Alaya-vijanana. A division of the mind into eight consciousness was introduced by the Yogacara schools. Alaya is considered the eighth, a sort of ground or eternal matrix, a storehouse of creativity containing all karmic traces and phenomenal possibilities; ultimately, it is transpersonal and is the receptacle or totality of consciousness both absolute and relative. In the Yogacara school it is described as the fundamental mind or ground consciousness of sentient beings, which underlies the experience of individual life, and which stores the germs of all future affairs. It is the eighth consciousness which transforms into Mirror-like wisdom.
Amdo (T): Region of northeastern Tibet. Today, it includes the bulk of Qinghai Province as well as the Kanlho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu Province. Along with Kham and U-Tsang, it is one of Tibet’s three historic regions. Each of these regions speaks its own distinctive dialect of Tibetan. Amdo is also known in Tibetan as Dotoh province.
Amitabha (S): Tibetan: Opame. “Boundless Light.” The Buddha of Limitless Light, Lord of the Lotus Family (Padma); one of the Five Dhyani Buddhas, the fourth and most ancient of the five Transcendental Buddhas that embody the five primordial wisdoms. He presides over the Western Buddha realm Sukhavati (Tibetan: Dewachen, “Pure Ground of Great Bliss”), which is the expression of his own field of compassionate wishes, pure heart and nothing else. Having manifest a place of awakening accessible to all beings, it is the special vow of Amitabha that in order to benefit beings who are caught in the realm of their own confusion and suffering, one must only remember his name with faith at the time of their death to take rebirth in Dewachen. Through this birth they will easily achieve enlightenment and not again fall into a realm of suffering. This is due to the merit-power of Buddha Amitaba’s virtuous activities accumulated throughout countless lives as a bodhisattva.
Amitabha is the pure expression of the wisdom of discriminating awareness, which transmutes the poison of attachment and desire. He and the other Lotus family members support the gradual unfolding of one’s spiritual petals into enlightenment. The embodiment of compassion and wisdom, he is depicted as sitting in the lotus posture upon a great lotus blossom throne (symbolizing primordial purity), his body radiating the color of the ruby and clothed in monastic attire. His hands are in the Meditation Mudra, (the right hand rests on the left hand above the lap with the tips of the thumbs touching), and holding an alms bowl. Embodying the Wisdom of Discriminating Vision, he transmutes mundane perception into inner vision. In some mandalas, Amitabha is depicted in union with his Wisdom Consort Gokarmo, who embodies the pure element of fire. The eminent bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Chenrezig) the Bodhisattva of Compassion is an emanation of Amitabha.
In China, Amitabha and his Buddha land are described in the Smaller Pure Land Sutra and the Greater Sukhavati Sutra. A third Sutra was written in China, entitled the Visualizations of the Buddha of Infinite Life Sutra. This pertains to another reflex of Amitabha known as Amitayus. These Sutras, as well as others such as the Aksobhya Buddha Sutra, served as the central scriptures for a populist practice intended for lay Indian Buddhists incapable or uninterested in delving into the intricate philosophies and meditations of monastic Buddhism. Although there is no evidence that they were the center of any organized sect of Indian Buddhism, when these Sutras were translated into Chinese, a cult soon developed around them which would blossom during the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD) into a full fledged sect of Chinese Buddhism, called the Pure Land. This sect has continued to influence Chinese Buddhism to this day, as it has been absorbed into the Ch’an schools. In Japan Pure Land adherents would remain independent from other traditions, competing with populist sects such as that of Nichiren, and splintering into several sub-sects.
Amitabha Sutra: One of the main sutras in the Chinese Pure Land sect. It is said to be the only sutra Shakyamuni preached without being asked, and one of the most popular sutras in China.
Amitayus (S): Tibetan: tse pa me, “Boundless Life.” Particular or reflexive form of Buddha Amitabha, to which is attached the idea of longevity. The embodiment of infinite life and therefore the focus of the life practices that remove the possibility of untimely or premature death. He brings about a healing of sicknesses, degeneration and imbalances in the five elements of the body due to karma, excess and unclean living. He is often depicted as ruby red, less frequently depicted as white. His two hands rest in his lap in the mudra of equanimity with the palms facing each other holding the Vase of Life, that is filled with the nectar of immortality. It is only in the Tantric Buddhism of Tibet and Japan that Amitayus and Amitaba are considered different deities.
Amoghasiddhi (S): Tibetan: Donyo Drupa. Buddha of Unfailing Accomplishment; Lord of the Karma Family, the fifth of the Dhyani or Transcendental Buddhas that embody the five primordial wisdoms. Lord of the Karma Buddha family, he is seated upon a lotus supported by shang-shang birds (S. garuda). Associated with the wisdom that achieves all, the transmutation of the poison jealousy, the color green, and the aggregate of volition, Amoghasiddhi is associated with the north of the ground of Prakuta Buddha, or Karmasampat, (T. la rab zog pa) “success in evolution.” His recognition symbol is the double dorje (visvavajra), representing the wisdom of all-accomplishing activity. His power and energy are both subtle, their dynamics often hidden from conscious awareness. Amoghasiddhi is Lord of the Supreme Siddhi — the magic power of enlightenment which flowers in Buddha Activity. In this way the inner and outer world, the visible and invisible are united as body is inspired and thegreat spirit of bodhicitta spontaneously embodies. Amoghasiddhi is depicted with emerald-green skin, his left hand resting in his lap in the mudra of equipoise and his right hand at chest level facing outwards in the fearless (S. abhya) mudra of granting protection. He is often depicted in union with his wisdom consort Damtsig Drolma — Green Tara, who embodies the pure element of air.
amrita (S): Tibetan: dud’tsi. Nectar of Immortality. The visualized flow of divine bliss which streams down from the sahasrara chakra when one enters very deep states of meditation.
Angulimala (S): ‘Rosary of Fingers’ An incredible Dharma story illustrating – on the down side the danger of having great devotion to the wrong guru and on the up side the possibility of transformation for anyone. To fulfill his commitments under a perverse teacher, Angulimala murdered those unlucky enough to wander into his corner of the jungle on the outskirts of Sravasti. He killed 999 people and made a rosary out of their finger bones. He was prevented by the Buddha from killing his thousandth victim, which he believed would lead him to liberation. After his encounter with the Buddha, Angulimala was eventually able to purify his mind and become an arhat.
animal realm: One of the six realms of conditional existence, where consciousness is consumed by brute ignorance and the struggle for survival.
annuttara samyak sambodhi (S): Perfection of complete enlightment — an attribute of every Buddha. In the Kagyu, Sakya and Gelug schools, this the highest, correct and complete or universal knowledge or awareness, the perfect wisdom of a Buddha.
anuttarayoga (S): Tibetan: la me gyu. This term refers to the higher tantras of the Kagyu, Sakya and Gelug schools. Practiced as the Mahayoga in the Nyingma school. The highest of the four levels of Vajrayana teachings. The three lower tantra classifications are Kriya, Carya and Yoga (the three Outer Tantras of the Nyingma school.) There are three divisions:
1. Pitriyoga or Father (Method) tantra.
2. Matriyoga or Mother (Wisdom) tantra.
3. Advityayoga or non-dual tantra.
anuyoga (S): Tibetan: je su naljor. ‘further union’ Second of the Nyingma three inner tantras and eighth of the Nine Yanas (vehicles). Emphasis is placed on the Perfection Phase, especially practice on the channels and winds. Based in tantras associated with Vajrasattva, Vimalakirti and King Dza. These teachings also involve visualizations wherein the deity is generated instantly (as compared to gradually as is done in the lower tantras).
appearances: T. nang wa. Literally, ‘lighting up’ Phenomena. Every thing we perceive in the world, beings, situations – are projections of the mind and in essence no other than the expanse of pure awareness. All appearances (mental and sensory phenomena) arise from a single source clear of the mind – its dynamic power. Manifestation derives from the same root as mani. Ignorance and attachment of the real situation support the foment of dualistic views, the intertia of karmic obscurations and negative habit patterns; appearances, including the perceiver are viewed dualistically and not recognized for what they are. Pure appearances are an expression of the dynamics of primordial wisdom: undisturbed by the obscuring operations of duality and world-forming karmas.
Arhat (S): Tibetan: dra bcom pa. “Foe destroyer.” A person who has destroyed his or her delusions and attained liberation from cyclic existence. The Arhat represents the Theravada ideal, one who has experienced the cessation of suffering by extinguishing all passions and desires and is thus free of the cycle of rebirth. According to Mahayana Buddhism, the arhat still has yet to achieve the ultimate goal; he has realized the emptiness of self, but has not yet refined this understanding to the point where he also realizes the emptiness of phenomena. By emphasizing his own salvation, the arhat has yet to attain full Buddhahood, as he has not yet awakened his compassion by working for the salvation of all beings. Stream-enterer, once-returner, and never returner are the first three stages on the path which lead to the realization of the arhat, which is considered the final goal of Sravakayana.
Aryadeva (S) noble shining one c. 375, Born spontaenously of a lotus (as was Padmasambhava) in Sri Lanka. Met Nagarjuna on pilgrimage and became his devotee. Matrceta, the poet, was a Brahman convert after debating Aryadeva at Nalanda. His student was Rahulamitra who taught Nagamitra who taught Samgharaksita who passed these teachings to Buddhapalita and Bhaviviveka.
Asanga: (S): Tibetan: Thok-me. “Without Attachment.” Fifth century Indian pandit abbot of Nalanda who met Buddha Maitreya after twelve years of seemingly fruitless practice in a cave around Vulture Peak. Receiving the Method lineage teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha directly from the future Buddha, Maitreya, he re-transcribed them in the form of five works known as the “Five Treatises of Maitreya” Founder of the Cittamatra, or the “Mind Only School” of Buddhist tenets.
ashok: Rose.
Ashoka: Buddhist monarch, c. 300 BCE, the third emperor of the Mauryan Dynasty, who unified most of India under his rule and fostered the dissemination of Buddhism. It is said that the Third Council was held during his reign. Ashoka set the model for many other rulers who sought to govern in accordance with Buddhist philosophy.
asura (S): Evil spirit; demon. Tibetan: lha ma yin. Opposite of sura: “deva; god.” Demi-gods. who do battle with the gods for the fruits of the wish-fulfilling tree. They do have access to the roots, from which they derive medicines to heal their wounds and continue fighting their lost cause. Also called the titans, these powerful beings embody the effects of prolonged envy. Non-physical being of the lower astral plane, Naraka. Asuras can and do interact with the human realm, causing major and minor problems in people’s lives. Like sentient beings in the other five realms, asuras are not permanently in this state.
Atisha (T): [982-1054] Sanskrit: Dipamkara. Also, Jowo Atisha. Indian Buddhist Master and scholar who spent 12 years in Sumatra and in 1042 went to Nepal and Tibet, where he exerted enormous influence. A main teacher at the university of Vikramasila who after traveling to Indonesia, received bodhicitta teachings from Dharmakirti (Lord of Suvarnadvipa). He spent his last years in Tibet as a teacher and translator. His disciples founded the Kadampa school. Also known as Dipamkara (S) or Jowo Atisha (T).
Atiyoga (S): Tibetan: shin tu naljor. The highest of the Nyingma three inner tantras, the culmination of the Nine Yanas (Vehicles). Atiyoga corresponds directly to the Great Perfection. Atiyoga is said to be an expression of perfect harmony between appearance and openness (sunyata), the non-duality of space and awareness; it is about the direct realization of the intrinsic nature ofmind… pure and free from beginningless time. (Tarthang Tulku) Through Atiyoga, enlightenment can be achieved in a single lifetime by an ardent practitioner and results in a self-existent pristine awareness which recognizes the utter perfection of all experience. See Dzogchen
atman (S): In Hinduism, atman is the soul; the breath; the principle of life and sensation. The soul in its entirety as the soul body (anandamaya kosha) and its essence (Parashakti and Parashiva). One of Hinduism’s most fundamental tenets is that we are the atman, not the physical body, emotions, external mind or personality.
Auspicious symbols (Eight Auspicious Symbols): In Tibetan Buddhism, a series of symbols associated with the Buddhas: a gold fish; a parasol; a conch shell; the Knot of Eternity; the Banner of Victory; a vase; a lotus; the wheel with eight spokes.
Avalokitesvara (S): Tibetan: Chenrezi. “The Lord Who Looks Upon All Suffering” The Buddha of Compassion. Avalokitesvara is the embodiment of the compassion of all the Buddhas and is regarded by the Tibetan people as the progenitor of the race and guardian of the country. As a monkey, he mated with a rock ogress and gave birth to the Tibetan people. He is one of the two chief Bodhisattva emanations of Amitabha. As a sambhogakaya emanation of the Lotus (Padma) Family, he is one of the Three Protectors of the Tantra; the other two being Manjusri and Vajrapani. Through his sharing of mankind’s misery, he positions himself to help those in distress and is considered a savior. Chenrezi is usually depicted with white wisdom-light skin; either two or four arms, sometimes in his 1,000-armed form. In his four-armed form, he sits in the lotus posture, with hands clasped in prayer over his heart; his other right hand holds a crystal mala upon which he counts mantras, and his other left hand holds an open lotus flower that radiates blessings to all beings. He rescues all beings by hearing their suffering and cries for help.
His thousand-armed form is depicted standing and has eleven heads with three levels diminishing in size as they face outward and to either side, representing his all-penetrating gaze. Upon these nine heads is the wrathful head of the Bodhisattva of Indestructible Power, dark blue Vajrapani, whose unfailing dynamic strength and power assist Avalokitesvara in the benefit of beings. Vajrapani’s head is crowned with that of Buddha Amitabha, the Lord of the Lotus Family of whom Avalokitesvara is an emanation. The 1,000 arms represent the appearance of 1,000 Buddhas during this Eon of Light, whose compassion will guide beings from the darkness of ignorance and delusion into the light of Great Awakening. The eyes on his 1,000 hands symbolize his all-seeing compassionate gaze upon every being in existence throughout the past, present and future. He symbolizes infinite compassion (Karuna) for his refusal of accepting nirvana, which he considers limited and beside the point and instead chooses to reincarnate so he can help mankind. He has appeared in this world numerous times (in both male and female forms) and therefore plays many roles depending on which strand of Buddhism one follows. The Dalai Lama is a manifestation of Chenrezi.
In China, Avalokitesvara was originally depicted in male form, later as a female in the graceful form of Kuan Yin, the Goddess of Compassion or Goddess of Mercy. In folk belief, she keeps people safe from natural catastrophe and in various forms traverses the realms of existence to aid all beings.
Avatamsaka Sutra: Flower Adornment, Flower Garland, Flower Ornament (Cleary) Sutra, a teaching of the tathagatabarbha class given by Buddha Shakyamuni soon after his attainment of Buddhahood. The sutra has been described as a link between Yogacara and Tantra (Conze), evoking a universe where everything freely interprets everything else. With such images as the Jewel Net of Indra, like a vast web of gems each of us, each thing reflects all other things. This was the principal text of the Chinese Hua-Yen Flower Adornement School. These teachings grew from a system of commentaries and were transmitted to Japan as Kegon.
Ayodhya: Situated on the south bank of the river Ghagra or Saryu, Just 6 km from Faizabad, Ayodhya is a popular place of pilgrimage and temple cities long standing. This town is closely associated with Lord Rama, the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu. One of the seven most sacred cities of India, the ancient city of Ayodhya, according to the Ramayana, was founded by Manu, the law-giver of the Hindus. King Dasaratha ruled there peacefully for ten thousand years, and still had no son to succeed him. After performing an elaborate puja and fire offering to the Gods, his wife Kausalya gave birth to Lord Sri Rama, who the Lord Brahma had sent to earth as a human incarnation of the god Vishnu. In contemporary Hinduism, Rama, who is also called Ram, is often worshipped as God. For centuries, Ayodhya was the pride of the kings of the Surya or Ikshavaka dynasty, also known as the Raghuvansh, of which Lord Rama was the most celebrated king. With the death of the last king of the Raghuvanshis, Ayodhya fell into decadence. Today, Ayodhya has many beautiful temples, although practically nothing of that age remains in the city, and none of the ancient structures survive. Of the present temples, 35 are dedicated to Lord Shiva and 63 to Lord Vishnu.The place where Lord Rama was born is marked by a small temple. The site where, according to legend, Lord Rama was cremated, Lakshman Ghat and Sita Ghat is still visible, and there are also ancient earth mounds, Mani Parbat, identified with a stupa built by Emperor Ashok and Sugriv Parbat, identified with an ancien monastery. Remnants of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Islam can still be found in Ayodhya. According to Jain tradition, five Tirthankaras were born at Ayodhya, including Adinath (Rishabhadeva) the 1st Tirthankar.
B
Bamboo Grove: Pali: Veluvana; Sanskrit: Venuvana, The first monastery (Bodhi-mandala) in Buddhism located in Rajagaha. It was donated by the elder Kalanda and built by King Bimbisara of Magadha.
bardo (T): Sanskrit: Antarabhava, “between two.” In general, any interval. The Intermediate state, as between death and rebirth, as well as the space between thoughts or dream sequences. Bardo is usually used to indicate the transitions one has to pass through in approaching death and rebirth. A period of visions and dream-like experiences conditioned by non-physical resonances resulting from an intimate association with organic existence is part of the normal sequence of events preceding rebirth. However, bardo also stands for other special states of mind, not all of which are connected with death. In the west “bardo” is usually referred to only the first three of these, that is, the states between death and rebirth, during which an individual is believed wander for a period that lasts an average of – according to the Tibetan teachings – 49 days. These states are differentiated as follows:
1. Chikai bardo, intermediate state of dying, the dissolution of the elemental body and the moment of death; the death process; the interval from the moment when the individual begins to die until the moment when the separation of the mind and body takes place.
2. Chonyi bardo, intermediate state of reality; the interval of the ultimate nature of phenomena (Dharmata), when the mind is plunged into the naked revelation of its own nature. If unrecognized, this degenerates into peaceful and wrathful visions. This is the first phase of after-death experience.
3. Sipai bardo, becoming; intermediate state; the interval in which the mind moves towards rebirth.
These last three listed states are no more and no less illusory than dreams and ordinary waking consciousness.
4. Samten bardo , intermediate state of meditation; samadhi, deep concentration; state of meditative stability.
5. Milam bardo, intermediate state of dreaming; the dream state experienced in sleep and daydreams.
6. Kyene bardo, the interval between birth and death; intermediate state of ordinary consciousness; the waking state during the present lifetime.
bardo thödol (T): A text based on oral teachings by Padmasambhava and recorded in written form circa 760. After having been hidden as terma, the text was rediscovered (and extended) by the Terton Karma Lingpa in the 14th century. The text is part of the Kargling Zhi-khro collection of the Dzogchen tradition and shows traces of earlier and originally pre-buddhist Tibetan thought; indicated by symbolism and divinities that are part of the shamanic Bön religion. By way of misrepresentation of the text by Evans-Wentz (1878-1957), the Western reader has come to know this text as “The Tibetan Book of the Dead,” a translation that has misguided many readers. A much better translation by Trungpa and Fremantle is entitled”Liberation by Hearing During One’s Existence in the Bardo.” The text is read aloud (i.e. “liberation by hearing”) to someone in bardo, sometimes as pure instruction for meditation and, at the time of death, to guide the mind through the labyrinth of adventures ahead.
being: Sanskrit: bhava, lifer, becoming. Tibetan: srid pa; existence
believing faith: Sanskrit: abhisampratyaya.
bell: Sanskrit: ghanta. Tibetan: drilbu. Vajra handbell used in tantric practices symbolizing the all pervading wisdom-realizing emptiness. The bell is the female part of the Tantric polarity, symbolizing emptiness – boundless openness, the space of pure wisdom and the liberating sound of the Dharma. It is accompanied by another handheld object, a brass wand or dorje (Tibetan: diamond) – vajra in Sanskrit. The vajra scepter is the male part of the Tantric polarity, symbolizing effective means and Buddha’s active compassion. Originally it was associated with divine authority and power as the thunderbolt weapon of the King of the gods and Lord of Storms, Indra. In Tibet it came to represent the indestructible nature of diamond.
Bhadanta (S): “Most virtuous.” Honorific title apllied to a Buddha.
Bhadrayaniyah (S): A branch of the Hinayana sect Sthavirandin, developed from Vatsiputriyah.
bhaga (S): Luck, wealth, secret place, yoni.
Bhagavan (S): Tibetan: Chom Den De. An epithet frequently applied to the Buddha. It designates he who has vanquished the four demons, who possesses all the qualities and who is beyond the two extremes of existence and nihilism. This word designates then a perfectly accomplished Buddha.
Bhagavat (S): “World-Honored One.” Also, “Lord,” “Blessed One.” Honorific names of the Buddha.
Bhaisajyaguru (S): Tibetan: Sangye Menla. Healing Buddha, Medicine Buddha, who quells disease and lengthens life. His realm is the Eastern Paradise or Pure Land of Lapis Lazuli Light.
bhakti (S): Devotion. Surrender. Bhakti extends from the simplest expression of devotion to the ego-decimating principle of prapatti, which is total surrender. Emphasizes emotional control; the way to the divine through love.
bhakti yoga (S): “Union through devotion.” Bhakti yoga is the practice of devotional disciplines, worship, prayer, chanting and singing with the aim of awakening love in the heart and opening oneself to divine grace. From the beginning practice of bhakti to advanced devotion, called prapatti, self-effacement is an intricate part of Hindu, even all Indian, culture.
Bhante (P): Venerable Sir. A term of respectful address to an elder bhikkhu, used extensively in Theravadist communities.
bhava (P): State of existence of becoming, life.
bhavana (P): Cultivation.
bhavatanha (P): Craving, desire, thirst for being
bhiksu (S): Pali: Bhikku. Religious mendicant or monk of the order founded by Gotama Buddha. One of the four primary classes of Buddhist disciples, the male who has taken the monastic precepts. The other three are, bhiksuni (Pali: bhikkhuni), the monastic female; upasaka, the male who has taken the lay precepts; and upasika, the lay female. A ordained monastic who depends on alms for a living.
Bhrikuti (S): Tibetan: Jomo Khro Nye kan. A form of Tara, “she who has a wrathful frown.”
bhumi (S): Tibetan: Jyang-sa. “Ground.” One of the ten stages of realization and activity through which a Bodhisattva progresses towards Enlightenment. The ten bhumis are levels of awakening subsequent to the realization of emptiness: The Supremely Joyful; The Stainless; The Illuminating; The Radiant; The Difficult to Train For; The Manifesting; The Far Going; The Unwavering; The Excellent Intelligence; The Cloud of Dharma. Of the five paths, the first bhumi is identical with the path of seeing. Bhumis 2-9 are on the path of meditation. There are 10 bhumi levels which are distinguished in the Mahayana and 13 in the Mantrayana (Vajrayana) which represent the quintessence of buddhist teachings.
bija (S): Seed syllable. Mantra syllables, sounds that are symbols that enlightened beings use to communicate to Dharma practitioners, who also visualize them.
blessing: Sanskrit: adhisthana. Tibetan: Jin lap. Good wishes; benediction. Seeking and giving blessings. A more technical definition refers to a supplementary initiation into a specific deity practice based on having already received a major empowerment, e.g., the Vajrayogini initiation is a “blessing” based on the Chakrasamvara or Hevajra empowerments. An individual must receive the empowerment first before receiving the blessing initiation.
bliss: Tibetan: de nyam. In Vajrayana, there are four types of bliss:
1. blissful feeling – to be free from adverse conditions of disharmony.
2. conceptual bliss – to be free from the pain of concepts.
3. non-dual bliss – to be free from clinging to dualistic fixations.
4. unconditioned bliss – to be free from causes and conditions.
When the experiences of clarity, non-thought and bliss appear, a practitioner can become attached to these, thus giving rise to a hindrance called the “defect of meditation.” One who does not detach, strays into three states of existence (the realms of desire, form, and formlessness).
Blissful Pure Land: Sanskrit: Sukhavati. Tibetan: Dewachen.
Bod (T): The Ancient Tibetan word for Tibet, pronounced “Bo,” or “Po.” The word Bod may be derived from Bon.
Bodhgaya home of the (S): vajrasana (diamond seat) Tibetan: Dorje dan. Small town in northeast India where Shakyamuni Buddha’s six years of ascetic wandering culminated in full enlightenment. Present day site of the Mahabodhi Stupa. Formerly in the province of Magadha, today in the state of Bihar. The first Buddhas of each Dharma period manifest full enlightenment in Bodhgaya.
bodhi (S): Awakening. (T) Chang-chub. Traditionally translated as “enlightenment,” Bodhi is the opposite of ignorance. A consummate insight into reality which destroys mental afflictions and brings peace. As such, it is the goal of personal practice for the Buddhist, and the nurturing of bodhi in society in general his foremost interest.
Bodhicaryavatara (S.) Tibetan: Jang-chub sem pai spyod pa la jug pa. Written by the Mahayana poet and scholar Santideva in the 7th century AD. Shantideva was an Indian Buddhist monk. According to legend he was born a crown prince and left his royal life to adopt the spiritual path. He received visions and teachings from Manjusri in person before studying at Nalanda where he was viewed as a lazy monk until he was called before an assembly where he spontaneously delivered the Bodhicaryavatara and disappeared into the sky during what has become the Ninth Chapter. The Bodhicaryavatara is one of the world’s great masterpieces of religious literature. The work details the moral and spiritual discipline of one who wishes to become a bodhisattva. The Bodhicaryavatara contemplates the profound desire to become a Buddha in order to save all beings from suffering. In ancient times there were at least a hundred commentaries on the Bodhicaryavatara and its popularity has continued down to the present in Sri Lanka, India and in Tibet, where it is still widely read and studied. Santideva sets out what the Bodhisattva must do and become, what must be embraced and what is to be rejected; he also invokes the intense feelings of aspiration which underlie such a commitment, using language which has inspired Buddhists in their religious life from his time to the present.
Bodhicitta (S): Tibetan: Jang-chub sem. Also “bodhi mind.” Awakened heart, awakened mind, enlightened thought. The mind or spirit of enlightenment. It is with this initiative that a Buddhist begins his path to complete, perfect enlightenment. There are various kinds of bodhicitta: 1) At the sutra level, Relative Bodhicitta is the aspiration to practice the six paramitas and free all beings from the sufferings of samsara. It involves two parallel aspects, aspiration and action: first comes the aspiration or determination to achieve Buddhahood. According to Longchenpa, the aspiration to awaken corresponds to contemplating the four immeasurables; desiring that all beings be sustained by awakening to boundless love, compassion, joy and equanimity. The second type of bodhicitta is called actualizing and consists of the practice of the six paramitas. The difference between the first and second kinds has been compared to the enthusiasm and preparation made before a journey and then the actual voyage, the action of putting this quality of compassion into practice. 2) Absolute Bodhicitta is an awakened mind that sees the uncompounded emptiness of phenomena. In Dzogchen terminlogy Bodhicitta is the original state, our True Nature. “Jang” implies purified, purity, clear and limpid since the beginning, meaning that nothing needs to be purified or altered. “Chub” means perfected or expanded and implies there is no need for further improvement. “Sem,” or “mind,” is the state of consciousness of which is the agency for the manifestation of this bodhi in the world. Thus bodhcitta is the original state, the true condition of which is immutable. The precepts associated with bodhicitta consist of three main points: 1) the ten non-virtues must be abandoned, 2) the ten virtuous actions that are antidotes must be applied, and 3) the ten paramitas are to be engaged.
Bodhidharma (S) [470-543 c.e.] Indian monk and 28th Patriarch who left India for China in about 520 c.e. and became the First Patriarch of Ch’an (Zen) Buddhism.
bodhi nana (P): Also “sabbannuta nana.” Supreme Enlightenment; the all comprehending wisdom. Corresponds to bodhicitta.
bodhisattva (S): Tibetan: Jang-chub sempa. Awakened Being. Shakyamuni Buddha used this term to describe himself when he was seeking enlightenment. Bodhi means “Enlightenment” and sattva means “sentient” or “conscious. Thus “bodhisattva” refers to a “sentient being of great wisdom and enlightenment.” The bodhisattva’s goal is the pursuit of Buddhahood and the salvation of all. The bodhisattva cycles through rebirths to help liberate beings from suffering and further establish the Dharma in the world. The bodhisattva path and discipline, generally accepted by Mahayana practitioners, is based in the aspiration, generation and application of the bodhicitta. Bodhisattvas are awakening beings whose realization is not yet that of the Buddhas. The bodhisattvas develop the intention to reach the state of Buddha, in order to release all sentient beings from the suffering of the cycle of existence. They work with this intention while developing compassion and renouncing the stain of any personal interest. Accompanied by Joyful effort and the other paramitas, this altruistic attitude permits one to slice through the thick inertia of egocentric habit energy and constitutes the energy of awakening. The bodhisattva works for the good of beings until the end of samsara through the practice of the ten perfections – or paramitas. There are ten stages in the Bodhisattva process. A Mahasattva is one who has reached the tenth stage but delays entering complete Enlightenment so as to help others. See bhumi; Four Great Vows.
Bodhi tree: Also, Bo Tree. Tree beneath which the meditating Gautama sat before he achieved enlightenment. According to tradition this was an Asvattha tree, though there is no historical evidence to support this belief. It is widely believed to have been a Pipal tree, ficus religiosa, a large deciduous tree found in uplands and plains of India and Southeast Asia. To this day, Buddhists make rosaries (malas) from the seed and plant the tree outside of temples. Even the leaf is revered and sometimes carried as a charm. The fruit contains serotonin and may have been used as an entheogen, although it is currently revered but rarely consumed. Although a tropical tree, it can thrive as a houseplant, and is easy to grow as other ficus species. This fast growing tree usually begins as an epiphyte (air plant, grows on trees) but develops roots to support its height of 90-plus feet. Has purple figs, red flowers, and is different from other species, because of its slender, long leaf tip. See Pipal.
Bodpa (T): Tibetan word for “Tibetan,” both as a noun and as an adjective.
body energy: In the Tibetan view, there are six types and are referred to as winds (T. rlung): All-pervading (kyab-yed); Ascending (gyen-gyen); Evacuating (tur-sel); Fiery (me-nyam); Life-supporting (rok-zin); body-speech-mind (go-sum).
Bon / Bonpo (T): invocation – recitation. Tibet’s pre-Buddhist, animist religion. a general heading for various religious currents in Tibet before the introduction of Buddhism by Guru Padmasambhava in the 8th century. The word Bonpo originally referred to shamanic priests who performed certain rites such as burial and divination. In the 11th century Bonpo became a name for an independent school that distinguished itself from Buddhism in claiming to preserve the continuity of the old Bön tradition. Tibetan history states that in pre-Buddhist times the kings were protected by three kinds of practitoners, the shamanic Bonpo’s, the bards, and the riddle game pratictitoners. The Bonpo were responsible for the exorcism of hostile forces. Their roles grew and expanded over the years until three different aspects of their duties were distinguished.
Revealed Bon represents the first stage. Practitioners of the Bön tradition employ various means to “tame demons below, offer to gods above and purify the firehearths in the middle” using methods of divination to make the will of the gods known. With the murder of an important king named Trigum the stage called Irregular Bon came about. At this time the main duty of the Bon was to bury kings. This time also brought an elaboration of the philosophical system because of contact with non-Tibetan Bonpos from the west. In the phase known as Transformed Bon major portions of Buddhist teachings were taken into this system, still without giving up the elements of the folk religion. This took place between the 8th and the 10th centuries.
bumpa (T): Ewer or ritual vase used during special ceremonies, in particular during tantric empowerments.
Buton (T): [1290-1364]. Sakya scholar-historian and yogi who finalized the compilation of the Tibetan Buddhist canon. One of the lineage lamas of the Six Yogas of Naropa. Author of “The History of Buddhism in India.”
Brahma (S): The creator god. One of the three major deities of Hinduism, along with Visnu (Vishnu) and Siva (Shiva). Adopted as one of the protective deities of Buddhism.
Brahma Net Sutra (Brahmajala Sutra): Sutra of major significance in Mahayana Buddhism. In addition to containing the ten major precepts of Mahayana (not to kill, steal, lie, etc.) the Sutra also contains 48 minor injunctions. The major and minor precepts constitute the Bodhisattva Precepts, taken by most Mahayana monks and nuns and certain advanced lay practitioners (upasakas).
Brahmin (S): The highest of the four Indian castes at the time of Shakyamuni. This priestly class served the original creator god Brahma through regular offerings and observances as the keepers of the Vedas.
Buddha (S): Awakened One. Title applied to the prince of the Sakya clan, Siddharta Gautama upon reaching perfect enlightenment. In everyday talk it is used as the name of the founder of Buddhism. ‘Buddha’ is the primary title of those who have entirely awakened to the Dharma, and especially those who awaken to it during an era when the Dharma is not presently manifest, and so function as the means for the introduction of the blessings of the Dharma into the world. In the cosmic vision of millions of world systems to be found in Mahayana scriptures, ‘buddhas’ refer to other buddhas who exist simultaneously throughout the universe, as well as the past and future buddhas of this world.
Buddha of Limitless Light: Sanskrit: Amitabha. Tibetan: Öpame. His western paradise is Dewachen (S. Sukhavati), the pure land of highest bliss where the faithful are reborn in conditions extremely conducive to accomplish their spiritiual aspirations. See Amitabha
Buddhadharma (S): “Teaching of Enlightenment.” Originally apllied to designate the teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha. Over time, this has been replaced by the term “Buddhism.”
Buddhaghosa (P): A famous buddhist writer who visited Ceylon and wrote the famous Visuddimagga / (Path of Purification).
Buddha-ksetra (S): Buddhaland. In Mahayana, the realm acquired by one who reaches perfect enlightenment, where he instructs all beings born there, preparing them for enlightenment, e.g. Amitabha in Sukhavati-Dewachen (Western Paradise); Bhaisajyaguru (Medicine Master Buddha) in Pure Land of Lapus Lazuli Light (Eastern Paradise).
Buddha Nature: Sanskrit: tathagatagarbha. Tibetan: sangye kyi nyingpo. The potential every sentient being has to realize Buddhahood. The Buddha essence within each being which is uncovered through enlightenment. The mind’s innate potential to achieve enlightenment; the clear, originally pure basis for attaining enlightenment that exists in all living beings. The following (and many more) are synonomous: True Nature, Original Nature, Natural State, Dharma Nature, True Mark, True Mind, True Emptiness, True Thusness, Dharma Body, Original Face. The Shambhala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen: According to the Mahayana view, [buddha-nature] is the true, immutable, and eternal nature of all beings. Since all beings possess buddha-nature, it is possible for them to attain enlightenment and become a buddha, regardless of what level of existence they occupy. The answer to the question whether buddha-nature is immanent in beings is an essential determining factor for the association of a given school with Theravada or Mahayana, the two great currents within Buddhism. In Theravada this notion is unknown; here the potential to become a buddha is not ascribed to every being. Having already been visited by a Buddha, they are of the opinion that the highest attainment possible is the mind of the arhat. By contrast the Mahayana sees the attainment of buddhahood as the highest goal; it can be realized through intense cultivation of the bodhicitta revealing the inherent buddha-nature of every being.
Buddhas of Confession: Or, the 35 Buddhas of Confession. Each of the 35 Buddhas has at the same time the capacity to eliminate negative actions and obstacles to the practice of Dharma. The recitation of the Sutra of Three Accumulations, the prayer of confession in front of 35 Buddhas is a particularly effective method to purify of any failures. This is usually accompanied by prostrations.
Buddhist cosmology: Original (Hinayana/Theravada) cosmology, there is only one world, in the center of which lies mount Meru with mountain ranges and four main continents. The southern continent, Jambu (India or Earth) is the place where we all live. The other continents are inhabited, but beings can mature best only in Jambudvipa. All world systems have a beginning and an end, and while beings’ good karma can fill the world with good impressions, their karma creates the specific phenomena and ultimately destoys it. Mahayana cosmology also employs the model of Mount Meru surrounded by four major continents and eight lesser ones, but there are an infinite number of worlds, which are arranged in a hierarchical manner. These worlds are created by karma as well as by the compassion of the buddhas and the vows of the bodhisattvas. Worlds are created and destroyed until all beings are liberated from the sufferings of cyclic existence. Vajrayana offers two versions: The Kalachakra integrates macrocosm and microcosm into a coherent whole and includes an astrological system. Mahamudra and Dzogchen teachings dismiss cosmology with “Non-Cosmology” and define the universe as primordial mind. All phenomena and experience are expressions of this.
buji (J): “No matter.” Zen term describing an attitude acquired toward the Dharma, when a practitioner mistakenly believes that practice is not necessary since all sentient beings are originally buddhas. See eternalism
Bulug (T): Sub-school maintaining the tradition of Buton Thamche Khyenpa, more commonly known as the Zhalupa (no longer extant).
Buton (T): [1290-1364]. Sakya scholar-historian and yogi who finalized the compilation of the Tibetan Buddhist canon. One of the lineage lamas of the Six Yogas of Naropa. Author of “The History of Buddhism in India.”
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Caturmukha (S): Tibetan: Shalshipa. “Four-Faced-One.” The form of Mahakala related to the Guhyasamaja Tantra and a principal protector of the Sakya School. Usually depicted as Brahmarupa (Dram ze) Mahakala.
chakra (S): Tibetan: Khorlo. “Wheel.” Any of the nerve plexes or centers of force and consciousness located in the energy body of man. These are junctures of force where the three primary meridians tie into the secondary network of channels. In the physical body there are corresponding nerve plexuses, ganglia and glands which are dynamically related to the condition of these chakras. As per Hinduism, there are seven principal chakras which appear psychically as colorful, multi-petalled wheels or lotuses. In the Tibetan tradition, only five chakras are recognized as they consider the lower two (muladhara and svadhisthana) as well as the upper two (ajna and sahasrara) to be fused into one chakra apiece. They are situated along the spinal cord from the base to the cranial chamber. As seats of instinctive consciousness, they are the physical origin of emotions and states of meditation, etc. The seven upper chakras, from lowest to highest, are:
1. muladhara (base of spine): memory, time and space
2. svadhishthana (below navel): reason
3. manipura (solar plexus): willpower
4. anahata (heart center): direct cognition
5. vishuddha (throat): divine love
6. ajna (third eye): divine sight
7. sahasrara (crown of head): illumination, divinity
In Tibetan Buddhism there are usually five such chakras named, located at the top of the head, the throat, the heart, the navel and the secret center. They constitute the locations where the channels juncture as that the three principal channels are found to be in contact at each of these centers. Certain meditations utilizing seed syllables aim at provoking bliss fused with emptiness (i.e. the four joys) in these centers.
Chakrasamvara (S): Tibetan: Khorlo Demchog. Principal meditation deity of the Chakrasamvara cycle of tantras. He is a heruka, a wrathful yidam of the Lotus family and an important Buddha in the six yogas of Naropa. Chakrasamvara is the primary Yidam of the Kagyu tradition that finds its origin in the meditation of the 84 Mahasiddhis of India. It passed to Tibet from the great siddha Naropa, to his disciple Marpa, to Milarepa and spread throughout the various meditative traditions of the Gelug and Sakya. A tantric form of Avalokitesvara, his body is blue in color with four faces, each looking in one of the four cardinal directions and sporting 12 arms. He is often depicted in his more simple one-faced, two-armed form. He is in union with his wisdom consort Vajravarahi (Diamond Sow). She is as simple as he is complex. She holds a skullcap in her left hand and a vajra chopper (drigung) in her right, both behind his back. Their embrace symbolizes the union of wisdom and skillful means. They symbolize the sameness in the distinctions of relative truth and the non-distinctions of absolute truth.
Chakrasamvara Tantra: Tibetan: Khorlo Dompagyu. Principal anuttarayoga tantra of the wisdom (mother) classification.
Ch’an (C): Chinese development of Indian Mahayana Buddhism; deriving from the word dhyana or meditation, the Chinese abbreviated it to ch’an-na, “meditation.” This became Zen when it was imported to Japan, and in Korea, Son. The Ch’an School was established in China by Bodhidharma, the 28th Patriarch who brought a Mahayana tradition of the Buddha-mind from India. Disregarding ritual and sutras, this school professes sudden enlightenment which is beyond any mark, including speech and writing. Probably the most common form of Buddhism in the West, Zen practitioners usually devote themselves to monastic life, as accomplishment requires extensive periods of meditation. It concentrates on making clear that reality transcends words and language and is beyond rational analysis and logic. To accomplish this, this tradition makes use of the koan, zazen and sanzen. This school is said to be for those of superior roots. See Zen
Chandrakirti (S): Tibetan: Lawarepa. Sixth century Indian pandit and disciple of Nagarjuna, who presented Nagarjuna’s exposition of Madyamika (Middle Way) in the Prasangika-Madyamika form which is still studied in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries today. When asked about present and future lives and the workings of karma. He replied, “Watch how you breathe.”
ch’an-na (C): meditation
chang (T): Beer brewed from rice, millet or corn.
Changchub Dorje (T): [1703-1732] The twelfth Karmapa.
channel: Sanskrit: nãdi. Tibetan: tsa. A constituent of the vajra body through which subtle energy winds (lung) and drops (tigle) flow. The central, right, and left are the major channels. The central channel (Sanskrit: avadhuti. Tibetan: tsa dhuma) is the most important of the thousands of channels of the subtle body. During inner-fire meditation (tummo) it is visualized as blue, running just in front of the spine, starting at the brow chakra and ending four finger-widths below the navel. Various syllables are visualized, both seated at the chakras and travelling within the channel system Such practices should only be attempted after proper transmission and teaching, after completing preliminary practices and achieving stability in generation-phase practice.
Channels, Winds, and drops: Sanskrit: Nadi,(channel) Prana, (vital energy) bindu (or essence elements) // Tibetan: rTsa, (roots/channels) rLung (winds), tig-le (drops, essence elements). Also known as winds, drops and channels. The three principal channels of the body are known in Tibetan as Roma, Uma and Kyang-ma, and in (S. Lalana, Avadhuti and Rasana). The entire body is filled with a network of canals (72,000 by tradition) in which subtle winds circulate, that is to say the energy of solar and lunar forces, emotions, and mind. There are three principal pathways, the primary meridians which run the length of the torso and culminate in the crown chakra. Like branches off the main trunk, the other channels develop from these during the time of the formation of the fetus; these dynamics are reabsorbed into the primary meridians at the time of death. One of the goals of tantric meditation is the concentration of the winds and the fluids in the central canal (Tibetan: Uma), thus provoking the experience of the fusion of bliss with emptiness, which is the natural state of the mind of the Buddhas.
charity: Transcendent generosity, the first Paramita. There are three kinds of charity in terms of goods, doctrines (Dharma) and courage (fearlessness). Out of the three, the merits and virtues of Dharma charity is the most surpassing. Charity done for no reward here and hereafter is called pure or unsullied, while the sullied charity is done for the purpose of personal benefits. In Buddhism, the merits and virtues of pure charity is considered the best. See Paramita, Dana
Chenrezi (T): Also Chenresig, Chenrezig; and Avalokitesvara (Sanskrit). The Buddha or Bodhisattva of Compassion. The embodiment of the infinite compassion of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is recognized as the human incarnation of Chenresig. See Avalokitesvara
chi (Chinese, “breath or energy”): Sanskrit: prana. Tibetan: lung. Subtle energy or life force. In Taoism, chi is the cosmic energy that permeates all things. Within the human body, chi is seen as the vital force closely associated with the breath. During the act of breathing, in addition to oxygenating the blood with the outer breath (wai chi), one breathes in with the inner breath (nei chi) the surrounding cosmic energy to resupply the inner chi or life force of the body. Chi, Ching and Shen are the three life energies that make up the human being. Ching is the reproductive energy, chi is the vital energy of the body, and the shen is the spirit or soul. Taoist practices seek to transform the ching to chi, and the chi into shen. See prana, lung, channel
Chinese Buddhism: Comes in ten flavors — schools, traditions or sects. They are: 1. Kosa; 2. Satyasiddhi; 3. Madhyamika; 4. Tien Tai; 5. Hua Yen; 6. Dharmalaksana; 7. Vinaya; 8. Cha’an; 9. Esoteric; 10. Pure Land.
Chöd (T): “Cutting, Severance.” The charnal ground practice in which the practitioners severs attachment to his or her corporeal form This practice originated in the eleventh century with the Indian adept, Padampa Sangye, and his heart student, the Tibetan woman Macig Labdron. a great Tibetan yogini, c. 1100. The teaching spread widely in India and is now practiced, to a greater or lesser degree by all schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Chöd practice always begins with Phowa in which the consciousness of the practitioner is visualized as leaving the body through the crown chakra and taking the form of the female deity Vajrayogini. In the form of Vajrayogini, the practitioner then visualizes the ritual purification offering of his/her own body to the Four Guests (the Three Jewels, Dakinis and Dharmapalas, beings of the six realms, and the ever present miscellaneous local spirits and demons). The ceremony can be long, involving separate offerings to each group or abbreviated; many variations exist. It is a very powerful practice when done correctly. Spirits are summoned by the blowing of the kha-ling, or thigh-bone trumpet, and beating of the damaru (two headed drum). The complete practice of Chöd is very difficult, demanding a high degree of equanimity, compassion and renunciation.. Lineages: Shijed, or Zibyed, Zhi-je (zhi-byed-pa) “Pacifying Pain.”
Chö-nyi (T): Dharmata, the Space of reality.
chorten: (T): Sanskrit: stupa. Symbolic representation of the Buddha’s mind. Originally derived from cairns and burial mounds for great beings in ancient Asia, it became formalized during the Buddha’s time and is now a very common monument to the sacred seen throughout the Buddhist world, chortens often have a wide, square base, rounded mid-section, and a tall conical upper section topped by a moon and sun. They usually hold relics of enlightened beings and may vary in size from small clay models to vast, multi-storied structures which contain a temple. See stupa
Chö-ying (T): Spatial dimension, universal realm of phenomena or dharmadhatu. This term signifies the unobstructed play of Wisdom Mind in the limitlessness of Wisdom Space.
chu-len (T): Literally, “taking the essence.” Chu-len pills are made of essential ingredients; taking but a few each day, accomplished meditators can remain secluded in retreat for months or years without having to depend upon normal food.
citta (S): (C. Hsin) Heart and mind, the terms being synonymous in Asian religious philosophy. 1) The Conditioned (compounded) mind describes all the various phenomena in the world, made up of separate, discrete elements, “with outflows,” karmically interdpendent, with no intrinsic nature of their own. Conditioned merits and virtues lead to rebirth within samsara, whereas unconditioned merits and virtues are the causes of liberation from the round of unconscious birth and death. On the personal level, citta is that in which mental impressions and experiences are recorded. 2) Seat of all conscious, subconscious and superconscious states, and of the three-fold mental faculty, (Sanskrit: antahkarana) consisting of buddhi, manas and ahamkara. Also: thought, thoughtfulness, active thoughts, mind, state of consciousness. See Unconditioned Mind; consciousness
Cittamani Tara (S): The highest yoga tantra aspect of the female deity Tara.
circumambulations: A walking meditation in which the practitioner reapeatedly circles a sacred site while practicing a sadhana or mantra meditation. One might circumambulate a monastery or a temple, a sacred lake like Pema Tso in northern India, or even a sacred mountain like Kailash, in Tibet or Turtle Hill in southern middle Tennessee. Thouands of people make an annual pilgrimage to the holy shrine of Kailasha, some of them taking several days to circumambulate the mountain once.
clarity: The unobstructed, naked radiance of awareness. There are three types: Spontaneous Clarity, the state being free from an object; Original Clarity does not appear for a temporary duration; Natural Clarity, not made, unfabricated. Along with these three experiences of clarity, Non-thought and Bliss may naturally appear, although attachment to which these is considered a hindrance counted among the “Defects of Meditation” Leading one into the three states of existences (Realm of Desire, Form, Formlessness).
clear light: Sanskrit: prachãsvara. Tibetan: ‘od-sal. The mind’s intrinsic nature. The subtlest level of that which is fully revealed at the time of death but is usually not recognized unless the person has engaged in the practice of meditation and tantra. This primordial light illuminates the Universe at its deepest level. Perceiving the Clear Light is the most fundamental level of consciousness. Arriving at this level, one can view all phenomena as a manifestation of this pure energy. This clearness or luminosity is one of the two essential characteristics of the unborn, uncreated nature of the mind, with a quality of natural irradiation which projects and simultaneously knows the constantly arising energy display we call mind. The other characteristic is emptiness of anything that could be said to exist. Clariy and emptiness are indissociable in the ultimate nature of the mind.
Clear Light Meditation: One of the Six Teachings of Naropa.
cognitive base: Sanskrit: ayatana. Tibetan: kye-che. The six senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, mental consciousness) and the six objects of the senses (forms, sounds, odors, sensations, thoughts) that act as the bases for consciousness. KPSR has described the dynamic nature of the ayatanas as being like an eruption or a bursting forth. See Six Consciousnesses
compassion: Sanskrit: karuna. Tibetan: nying je. The wish that all beings be released of their physical and mental sufferings and afflictions. Preliminary to the development of non-dual bodhicitta, it is symbolized by Avalokiteshvara, who embodies the infinite compassion of a buddha. Counted among the Four Immeasurables.
completion stage: Also Perfection Phase. Sanskrit: sampanna krama. Tibetan: dzog rim. The second of the two stages of highest yoga tantra, during which, control is gained over the vajra body through such practices as inner heat (tumo) and disciplines involving the winds, drops and channels (T. tsa-lung).
concentration: Sanskrit: dhyana. Tibetan: sam tan. A state of mind without distraction. Capacity to fix and maintain one’s mind on the object of meditation of its choice. Although vital to all meditative practices, it is morally neutral and not sufficiently effective by itself without the correct motivation and view as defined by bodhicitta. See Four Concentrations
conceptual thought: Tibetan: mig-pa, tog-pa. Any notion involving a subject, an object, or an action. Carelessly dwelling in these thoughts foments conceptual obscurations which prevent one from realizing one’s true nature.
conditioned dharma: Refers to all phenomena and law in the world. The worldly dharma is governed by the Law of Cause and Effect and the Law of Dependent Origination (S. pratitya samutpada, T. Ten-drel).
Confucius: Romanized name of K’ung Fu Tse. His teachings set the social framework for Chinese society. This framework was copied by other countries in East and Southeast Asia.
conscience: The inner sense of right and wrong, sometimes called “the knowing voice of the soul.” However, conscience is affected by the individual’s training and belief patterns, and is therefore not necessarily a perfect reflection of dharma.
conscious mind: The external, everyday state of mundane consciousness. The sixth consciosness. See: mind.
consciousness: See Six Consciousnesses, citta.
contemplation: Sanskrit: cinta. Tibetan: sam-pa. Reflection upon what has been learned which precedes single-pointed concentration. The first of four levels through which the mind frees itself from all subjects and objective hindrances and reaches a state of singularity and spontaneous annihilation of irrelevant thought, perception, and will. Not synonomous with meditation insofar as it entertains thought.
Cunda (P): Blacksmith who gave a meal of mushrooms to the aging Buddha, causing him to become terminally ill.
cyclic existence: Sanskrit: samsãra. Tibetan: khor-wa. Lit; going round in circles. The six realms of conditioned existence. It is the beginningless, recurring cycle of death and rebirth under the control of delusion and karma and fraught with suffering. Also refers to the contaminated aggregates of a sentient being. See karma, cause and effect
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Daka / Dakini (S): “Sky-Dancer.” In Tibetan, “pawo // khadro.” kha: sky and dro: to go. Daka is male. pawo in Tibetan.; dakini, is female. Dakinis are female beings that travel in space, and are linked with giving birth to the full range of expansive potentialities. In Vajrayana Buddhism, the inspiring power of awakening consciousness; female wisdom holder. These are accomplished female spirits who have attained the Clear Light and assist practitioners in removing physical hindrances and spiritual obstacles. They are companions of Buddhas and meditators who can transmit special understanding when the recipient is properly prepared. Usually depicted in the iconography as a wrathful naked female. As a semi-wrathful or wrathful “yidam,” the dakini has the task of integrating the powers liberated by the practitioner in the process of visualization (sadhana) and in response, grants the four enlightened dakini actions of pacifying, enriching, magnetizing and subjugating. In Tibetan, “Kha” means “celestial space” or “emptiness” (sunyata becoming an image). “Dro” indicates a sentient being moving about or dancing. “Ma” indicates the feminine gender in substantive form. Thus the “khadroma” is a female figure that moves on the highest level of reality; her nakedness symbolizing knowledge of truth unveiled. The homeland of the dakinis is said to be the mystic realm of Orgyen. There are many different types of dakini: wisdom dakinis, activity dakinis, and mundane dakinis, unenlightened and enlightened dakinis. An example of a worldly unenlightened dakini is a human practitioner that has accomplished some insight but who is not yet released from her suffering.
Enlightened dakinis are Wisdom Dakinis, and have passed beyond sorrow into liberation such as Yeshe Tsogyal, Madarava or any of the consorts of the five Dhyani Buddhas such as Mamaki or Tara. The absolute wisdom dakini is the empty quality of luminous wakefulness. On the relative level, the five aggregates of perception (S. skandhas/T. Phung-po nga) are the male aspect, while the elements of earth, water, fire, air and space are the female qualities. On the absolute level, the males are the subjective end of skiffull means and compassionate activity while the females are the wisdom realizing emptiness, the timeless, serene expanse of objective suchness. Thus the great mother of dharmakaya, Prajnaparamita, is the source of all buddhas and dakinis. Dakinis are born in three manners, spontaneously, in heaven realms, or through the power of mantra. They are a guiding light along the path removing physical and spiritual hindrances, awakening dormant spiritual impulses. Embodying the inseperability of bliss/emptiness and ego-annihilating wisdom, dakinis can appear in many different ways and forms, some of them quite outrageous or extremely repulsive in order to arrest conceptual thinking and wrong perception.
Dakini Teachings: A collection of teachings by Guru Rinpoche, oral instructions on Dharma practice given during his stay in Tibet in the eighth century. The advice was recorded by his main disciple, wisdom dakini Yeshe Tsogyal, Princess of Kharchen. She was Guru Rinpoche’s consort during his stay in Tibet and wrote these oral instructions down in a secret code language called ‘dakini script’ before concealing them as terma treasures to be revealed in future ages. These precious teachings were instructions in general Dharma practice, relating to the three levels of Buddhist doctrine, with detailed commentaries on how to personalize and actualize bodhicitta. Terma teachings include instructions regarding the means to ascend with the conduct while descending with the view. Guru Rinpoche taught his disciples with the power of truth and encouraged them to give up all non-virtue and misdeeds, to apply the great remedy that works against the pollution of disturbing emotions, and put manly effort into the performance of meritorious actions. He also made many predictions and with the help of Yeshe Tsogyal, buried many of his teachings to be revealed to generations in the future. He blessed his close disciples so that they would be inseparable from himself. In future rebirths these beings would reveal the Master’s hidden teachings to benefit practitioners of future generations.
Dalai Lama (T): “Ocean of Wisdom.” Dalai is a Mongolian word, conferred on this lineage when after the days of Genghis Khan, the Mongols and the Tibetans enjoyed a patron/priest relationship. The political and spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, HHDL is also considered an emanation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, Avalokitesvara (T: Chenresig). The present Dalai Lama is the 14th incarnation. The Dalai Lama has always been a combination of spiritual leader and political chieftan of Tibet. Since 1959 he has lived in exile in Dharmasala, India and remains spiritual leader of his people, even under their oppression by the Chinese government. The Dalai Lamas of Tibet:
1. Gedun Truppa (1391-1475)
2. Gedun Gyatso (1475-1542)
3. Sonam Gyatso (1543-1588)
4. Yonten Gyatso (1589-1617)
5. Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (1617-1682)
6. Tsangyang Gyatso (1683-1706)
7. Kesang Gyatso (1708-1575)
8. Jampel Gyatso (1758-1804)
9. Luntok Gyatso (1806-1815)
10. Tsultrim Gyatso (1816-1837)
11. Khendrup Gyatso (1838-1856)
12. Trinley Gyatso (1856-1875)
13. Thupten Gyatso (1876-1933)
14. Tenzin Gyatso (1935- )
damaru (S): A double-headed hand drum traditionally made from the joined backs of two skulls, the juncture symbolizing the joining of samsara (cyclic existence) and nirvana (emptiness). The point where the skulls connect is hollow – samsara and nirvana are of the same nature. Two ball-on-string strikers beat the leather drum skins as the damaru is “played” by twisting it back and forth in the right hand. The strikers symbolize the compassionate aspirations of those who have not yet directly realized
damtsig: See samaya
Damzigpa, damtsigpa (T): Protector, one who upholds and re-strengthens the bond of samaya.
dana (S): The practice of generosity or charity; one of the Paramitas, implying Giving, alms-giving, benevolence, and liberality. As well as one of the All-Embracing Virtues, dana is the act of giving others what they want just to lead them towards the truth.
darshana: (S) “Vision, sight.” Seeing the Divine. Beholding, with inner or outer vision, a temple image, Deity, holy person or place, with the desire to inwardly contact and receive the grace and blessings of the venerated being or beings. Also: “point of view,” doctrine or philosophy.
Dasabhumi (S): The ten stages of Bodhisattva realization. See Bhumi
death: A rich concept for which there are many Sanskrit words such as mahaprasthana, “great departure;” samadhimarana, “dying consciously while in meditation”; mahasamadhi, “great merger or absorption,” in reference to the departure of an enlightened soul. Hindus see death as the soul’s detaching itself from the physical body and continuing on in the subtle body (sukshma, sharira) with the same desires, aspirations and occupations as when it lived in a physical body. Buddhists? See:bardo, reincarnation, suicide.
Dechen Gyalmo (T): “Queen of Great Bliss.” The principal dakini, she is an expression or manifestation of compassion and wisdom. Her human incarnation is Yeshe Tsogyal. Thus, she embodies primordial purity and emptiness-awareness. The Nyingma root text or liturgy (Yumka Dechen Gyalmo, The Queen of Great Bliss of the Longchen Nyingthig) is a terma (treasure) discovered by 18th century terton Jigme. It is the essential teaching of the Dzogchen Anuyoga and Atiyoga. She is described as naked (having overcome obscurations to liberation), red-skinned (passionate dedication to training disciples), has one face and two arms; three eyes; feet are evenly on the ground, one foot facing forward, ready to act for others; her face bears an expression of great passion; she is desirous and cheerful. In her right hand she upholds a damaru (a small double-headed drum). In her left, she holds the handle of a curved ritual chopping knife, which rests at her left side. The Great Bliss Queen ritual is a guru yoga, i.e., the practitioner merges with the “deity,” an expression of enlightenment or true nature. The purpose of the sadhana is to enhance mindfulness, compassion and wisdom that prepare one to become the Great Bliss Queen, that is to directly realize the true-nature state, compassion and wisdom unified. Traditionally, the sadhana (or another dakini liturgy) is performed on dakini days (25th day of the lunar month) as the liturgy for Tsog, or offering practice and meditation. In the Dzogchen practices, the Great Bliss Queen sadhana enhances the likelihood of discovering and enhancing one’s experience of innate awareness – discovering that one is (we are) Dechen Gyalmo. See Dzogchen, Padmasambhava, Vajravahari, Yeshe Tsogyal
dedication: Dedication of Merit: The Mahayana practice of devoting time and energy to a precise goal and accumulating the merit produced by our positive acts. One can thus work toward the quality of merit which enables us to reach temporal or timeless objectives in this or future. By the power of our merit we can obtain worldly pleasures or obtain the from samsara; of course, the highest form of dedication will garner merit for use in catalyzing the awakening and ultimate benefit of all beings.
deity: (S) deva, lit. shining one, Tibetan: Yidam yid/mind dam, derived from Damtsig, vow or commitment. Meditational deities, male or female, representing a particular means of illumination widely visualized in Tantra to assist in the development of concentration and samadhi.
demi-god: Sanskrit: asura, titan Tibetan: lha ma yin. See Asura
demons: Sanskrit: mara. Tibetan: dud. Negative influences that hinder spiritual cultivation. These can take an infinite number of forms, including evil beings or hallucinations. Disease and death, as well as the three poisons of greed, anger and delusion are also equated to demons, as they disturb the mind. The Nirvana Sutra lists four types of demons: i) negative emotions such as greed, anger and delusion; ii) the five skandhas, of our physical and mental functions; iii) death; iv) the demon of the Sixth Heaven (Realm of Desire) also known as the Golden Child Complex. Our True Nature has been described in Mahayana sutras as a house full of gold and jewelry. To preserve the riches, i.e., to keep the mind calm, empty and still, we should shut the doors to the three thieves of greed, anger and delusion. Letting the mind wander or carelessly shop, opens the house to demons, that is, hallucinations and harm. Thus, Zen practitioners are taught that, while in meditation, “Encountering demons, kill the demons, encountering Buddhas, kill the Buddhas.” Both demons and Buddhas being relative illusions of the mind. See Yogacara, or Mind-Only.
dependent origination, (S: Pratitya samutpada/T: Tendrel) Interdependent origination: the crown jewel of the Buddha’s doctrine, a deep understanding of this concept is no different than the realization of nirvana. See Twelve Links of Dependent Origination.
Deshin Shegpa (1384 – 1415): The fifth Karmapa.
desire: Sanskrit: raga. Tibetan: do chak. See attachment
desire realm: Sanskrit: kamadhatu. Tibetan: do kham.
Devadatta (S): Adopted son of Dandapani, father of Yasodhara. Cousin and boyhood rival of the Buddha. Devadatta was ordained as a follower of Shakyamuni Buddha, but later left him and repeatedly attempted to kill him.
devas (S): “Shining ones.” Beings living in the higher astral plane, in a subtle, nonphysical body. Deva is also used in scripture to mean “god or deity” in the class of the least painful existence of samsara. The gods are alotted a very long happy life as reward for good deeds performed in the past; however this happiness is often a hindrance on the path since it obscures recognition of the first noble truth. A deva’s life is completed in great sufferings because the gods have the capacity to clearly see their inevitable future rebirth in one of the lower realms. In Buddhist tradition, existence in in any dimension is understood to be impermanent. See: Mahadeva
development stage: The creation or development stage practices (T. kye rim) in Vajrayana meditation which involves the visualization of a deity and the repetition of mantra as one concentrates on a clear and detailed vision of the deity from whom one receives blessings. After developing stage practice is accomplished, it is complemented by completion or perfection stage practices (T. dzog rim) involving subtler yogas which relate directly to the channels, winds, and drops. (T. tsa, lung, tig-le)
devotion: An essential quality for all Vajrayana practitioners. As realization of the true nature of mind will not occur without receiving the grace of the Master, one must respond to the presence of this opportunity with great energy, humor and intelligence.. If the source of blessings is always active, it is up to the disciple to open their heart and mind in true devotion, which involves qualities such as respect, confidence, humility, love, enthusiasm and perseverance.
Dewachen (T): “Land of Bliss.” Sanskrit: Sukhavati. “Pure Ground of Great Happiness.” The pure realm of Buddha Amitabha. This is the world of utmost joy without suffering where beings may practice under conditions which are extremely conducive to great realization.
dharani (S): A chanted incantation held to bring spiritual benefit or serve as an aid to furthering one’s progress towards awakening; short sutras of symbolic syllables. The earliest documented emergence of Vajrayana found in Mahayana sutras are those chapters devoted to dharani, long sequences of symbolic syllables to which are attributed various powers. These are clearly related to both the Mahayana mantras and to the paritta – texts, such as the Metta Sutta, recited for protection by non-Mahayana Buddhists. The earliest tantras, from the kriya tantra class or “action tantras,” center around the visualization of one of the many buddhas and bodhisattvas. The kriya tantras for a large category of texts which appeared between the 2nd and 6th centuries CE. See kriya, tantra.
dharma (S): “That which subsists or supports.” Tibetan: Chö. 1. The teachings of the Buddha (buddhadharma) and the underlying meaning of the teachings. That truth upon which all Buddhist practices, scriptures, and philosophy have a foundation. The Buddhas’ appear to establish the manifestations of the Dharma in the world. 2. Any object, idea, or phenomena which can be defined as an entity of some sort. In this usage within Buddhist texts, dharma resembles the English word “thing” while having a wider and more inclusive meaning than physical objects. 3. The object of the sixth sense faculty: the conceptual mind. In this specific use, dharma represents any mental object (thought, image, memory, sensation) which is recognized by the conscious mind.
dharmadhatu (S): Tibetan: Chö kyi ying. The realm of all pheneomena; the space in which all transpires; the container and its contents, everything that is and is not; all phenomena, all noumena and their underlying nature; everywhere and everything; the existence of the animate and the inanimate, all things material and immaterial, all physical and mental events..
dharmakaya (S): “Truth body.” Tibetan: Chö-ku. The open essence of the mind. The formless source condition, the unborn wisdom body of all beings, realized most directly by a Buddha. The primordial core of a fully enlightened one, which, free of all conceptual coverings, remains meditatively absorbed in the co-emergent perception of emptiness while simultaneously cognizing all phenomena. One of the three bodies of a buddha (see also nirmanakaya and sambhogakaya).
Dharma Kings: The three great Tibetan Dharma Kings: Srongsen Gampo, Trisrong Detsen, and Ralpachen. Seventh-century Tibetan King Srongsen Gampo, believed to be an incarnation of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, created the Tibetan script. Trisong Detsen, an incarnation of Bodhisattva Manjushri, is the eighth-century king who invited Guru Padmasambhava and Abbot Shantarakshita to bring the Dharma to Tibet. Vajrapani, appearing as the ninth-century King Ralpachen, summoned Indian and Tibetan scholars to translate the Tripitaka, the Commentaries, and the Ancient Tantras into the Tibetan language.
dharmapala (S) Tib. “chö kyong” Protector of the Dharma. Special buddha aspect, both male and female, usually fierce in appearance, purposed to assist practitioners in overcoming obstacles encountered along the way to enlightenment. Ekajati is considered. the main protectress in the Nyingma lineage.
Dharmata (S): The fundamental nature of all phenomena, the essence of reality. Inscrutable fusion of form and emptiness.. At the sutra level, dharmata implies external or observable phenomena. At the tantric level, it denotes the primordial condition of consciousness where there is no separation of inner and outer dimensions.
Dharma Wheel: T. chö-khor. The ‘Dharma Wheel’ is a metaphor for the unfolding and maturation of the Dharma in the world, once it has been revealed by a Buddha. “Setting the Dharma Wheel in motion” is another way of saying ‘revealing and propagating the teaching of the truth underlying all phenomena’. The eight spokes are a symbol of the Eightfold Path, leading to perfection. See: Eightfold Path.
dhyana (S): Meditation. Also, more specifically, the four concentrations in the realm of form beginning with the level where investigation and ananlysis are present, up through the four formless concentrations culminating in the level called neither perception nor non-perception. As fifth among the six Paramitas, it is associated with the accumulation of wisdom. .
Dhyani Buddha (S): The five Dhyani Buddhas are: Amitabha, Akshobya, Amoghasiddhi, Ratnasambhava, and Vairocana. On the relative level, this pentad represents the skandhas, while on the absolute level, they represent the five wisdom families. See Five Buddhas.
divinity: pathways of the non-mundane, transcendent purity which pervades all things. Expression of the awakening and support of meditation by which this awakening is approximate. In Buddhism, the essence of the divinity is identical to the unobscured mind of the practitioner, i.e. non-existing and non-separate; the presence or reflection of primordial awareness in the world.
Drolma (T): She who liberates. Tibetan for Tara. see Tara
dorje (T): Do. means stone, rJe means lord or king. Sanskrit: Vajra. Adamantine, impenetrable, invisible, unbreakable reality which can cut through anything else. Literal translations of vajra (a word cognate with English “vigor”) are “thunderbolt” and “diamond”. The dorje or vajra is a highly stylized Vajrayana ritual implement symbolizing the supreme method which is boundless compassion..In Vajrayana teachings, the dorje expresses and symbolizes the perfect purity, hardness and clarity of a diamond, conjuring notions of indestructibility, brilliant clarity, striking beauty and the incorruptible truth. As a ritual object, a dorje has five or nine spokes (symbolizing the nirmanakaya), attached to a lotus (sambhogakaya) which emerges from a central sphere (dharmakaya). It also appears also as a part,usually the handle, of many other Tibetan ritual instruments. A synonym for both vajra and dorje is mani (Skt., “jewel”), and these terms are often used as a code for the lingam, still carrying the associations of fertility, power, hardness, and great worth. Mani therefore appears with Padma (Skt. “lotus”; i.e. yoni) in the famous chant “Om Mani Padme Hum”, a celebration of the primordial union of form and emptiness. The corresponding female equivalent to the male dorje-mani-vajra is ghanta (Tib. “drilbu), the bell. Images of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Vajrayana dignitaries often show them with one or both of these implements in their hands. Dorje/Vajra is the primary symbol of the Buddha Family in the eastern direction. Each detail of the Dorje represents a Bodhisattva. It represents the immutable and the indestructible power of Buddha Nature to overcome all obstacles.
Dorje Chang (T): Sanskrit: Vajra Dhara. “One who holds the Dorje.” The first movement of Buddha Kuntuzangpo towards the world; Vajrasattva at midnight. The form in which the Buddha or the Lama manifests when giving Vajrayana Teachings. The golden ornaments of Dorje Chang attract the eye into a profound depth; it is in this form that we encounter the ultimate source of all Buddhist and tantric teachings. The primordial Buddha which is the source of all the tantras; the expression of ultimate buddhahood. Vajradhara personifies the awakening of the thirteenth bhumi, the highest in Vajrayana. He is the symbol of the Buddha nature inherent in every living being, the sign of indestructible mind because he is beyond all dualistic bias. Dorje Chang is the essence of the perfect Guru, the reflection of the spiritual completeness within the reach of everyone. He is generally represented as being dark blue, with or without a consort, holding in his two crossed hands the dorje and the bell, representing the union of method and wisdom.
Dorje Drolo (T): “Crazy Wisdom Vajra.” A wrathful manifestation of Padmasambava and a subduer of demons. Guru Padma arose in the wrathful form of Dorje Drolo in the famous Tagstang or Tiger’s Nest Cave in Bhutan to subdue the negative and demonic forces of these degenerate times. Ferocious in expression, amidst a mass of primordial wisdom fire, he stands upon the back of a pregnant tigress who is the wrathful form of his Wisdom Consort of enlightened activity, Tashi Kye Dren, whose ferocity is unpredictable and wild. Dressed in a robe of brocade, his hair is red and curly, he has an overbite and fangs and wears a garland of severed heads representing the cutting of the 52 levels of dualistic mental-events. In his right hand he holds aloft a vajra emitting lightning bolts, and in his left a kila-phurba, a three-sided ritual dagger which severs the three poisons that are the source of all suffering. The ferocious expression he wears while riding a pregnant tigress who is munching on a corpse makes for a menacing figure. His body is dark brown and surrounded by a halo of flames.
Dorje Khandro (T): Sanskrit: Vajradaka. A deity who functions to purify negativities through his specific fire puja (jin-sek). See also ngondro.
Dorje Phagmo (T): Diamond Sow. Sanskrit: Vajravarahi. The main Yidam of the Kagyu tradition. She is the embodiment of Wisdom. Also known as Dorje Naljorma.
Dorje Sempa (T): Sanskrit: Vajrasattva. “One whose being is of the nature of the Vajra.” Lord of all Buddha families, Vajrasattva is the Buddha of purification. Dorje Sempa meditation, one of the four preliminary practices, involves acknowledging all one’s unskillful negative actions and attitudes, vowing not to repeat these things and through adopting the appropriate remdies, aims to eradicate the habitual tendencies from which they arise. See Vajrasattva
dosha (S): “Bodily humor; individual constitution.” Refers to three bodily humors, which according to ayurveda regulate the body, govern its proper functioning and determine its unique constitution. These are vata, the air humor; pitta, the fire humor; and kapha, the water humor. Vata has its seat in the intestinal area, pitta in the stomach, and kapha in the lung area. They govern the creation, preservation and dissolution of bodily tissue. Vata humor is metabolic, nerve energy. Pitta is the catabolic, fire energy. Kapha is the anabolic, nutritive energy. The three doshas (tridosha) also give rise to the various emotions and correspond to the three gunas, “qualities:” sattva (quiescenceÑvata), rajas (activity Ñpitta) and tamas (inertia Ñkapha). See: ayurveda.
Drukpa Kagyü: The Kagyü Lineage was founded in India by the wild yogi Tilopa (988-1069) and was brought to Tibet by Marpa (1012-1096), the great translator and principle disciple of Naropa (1016-1100). Marpa translated many important works of both Sutra and Tantra. The principle disciple of Marpa was Milarepa (1052-1135), who attained Enlightenment in one lifetime and became a key inspiration for genertations of Dharma practitioners. Milarepa’s chief disciple was Gampopa (1079-1153) whose coming was prophesied clearly by the Buddha. Gampopa composed the “Jewel Ornament of Liberation,” “The Precious Garland of the Excellent Path” and other works. Gampopa gathered an extraordinary number of disciples and through them the Buddha’s teachings flourished like the rising sun. From Gampopa there came the four elder lineages which are: Barom Kagyü, Tshalpa Kagyü, Kamtshang or Karma Kagyü, and Phagdru Kagyü. His principle disciple was Phagdru Dorje Gyalpo (1110-1170) who gathered together 80,000 disciples and thus benefited many sentient beings. From Phagdru Dorje Gyalpo came the eight younger Kagyüpa schools which are: Drikung Kagyü, Taklung Kagyü, Trophu Kagyü, Yelpa Kagyü, Martsang Kagyü, Yasang Kagyü, and Drukpa Kagyü. Drukpa Kagyü was the founder of the Drukpa Kagyü lineage, 1128-1188/9. He was a disciple of Phagmo Drubpa, master of Tsangpa Gyare. The Kagyü teachings were transmitted from Gampopa through Phagmo Drubpa to Lingje Repa. Jigten Sumgon (1143-1217) was the successor of Phagdru Dorje Gyalpo and because of this the Drikung Kagyü school is considered both an elder and a younger school.
dualism: Opposite of monism. Any doctrine which holds that there are two eternal and distinct realities in the universe, e.g., god-world, good-evil, self-other. A confused representation of reality, resulting from the ordinary mind which separates the subject from its experience. Partial or contextual knowledge founded on the concept of a subject and an object, which are innately assumed to be truly existent.
Dudjom Lineage Practices: Practices declared by 20th century Nyingma Terton Dudjom Rinpoche to be uniquely suited to practitioners in this age. These are the Dudjom Tersar Ngondro; Vajrakilaya, his own treasure revelation; and T’hröma Nagmo, the revelation of his previous incarnation, Dudjom Lingpa. See Dudjom Tersar Ngondro, Vajrakilaya Sadhana, Throma Nagmo
Dudjom Tersar Ngondro (T): Treasure (terma) revealed by Dudjom Lingpa, a previous incarnation of Dudjom Rinpoche. A concise but powerful set of preliminary practices for turning the mind to dharma, purifying obscurations, accumulating merit, and opening the door to mind’s true nature through guru yoga. This is the preferred method to prepare Nyingma students to receive Dzogchen teachings. See Dudjom Rinpoche; Ngondro, Dzogchen
Dukkha (S): Stress; suffering, impermanence. one of the Four Noble Truths). Misery, woe, pain, ill, sorrow, trouble, discomfort, difficulty, unsatisfactoriness.
Dzogchen / Dzogpa Chenpo (T): Sanskrit: Mahashandi. Also, Atiyoga. Great Perfection or Great Completion. The highest teaching of the Tibetan Nyingma sect; the innermost teaching that transcends tantra, ritual and symbol. This is a means to liberate the meaning of primordial buddhahood into its own state, and it is the nature of freedom from abandonments and acceptances; expectations and fears. Through this accomplishment, one recognizes the purity of mind that is always present and realizes the union of emptiness and wisdom. Dzogchen is not merely another practice or technique; it is the mind’s original and fundamental state. In this approach, all the phenomena are regarded as being originally pure. Thus any distinction between Samsara and Nirvana is an illusory contrivance constructed by the obscured mind. 2) The view of non-duality practiced by followers of the Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism; 3) The practice of spontaneous insight meditation.
Dzogchen is sometimes translated as ‘Great Fulfillment,’ and is said to utilize Ch’an like teachings of the ‘sudden school’ which were rejected in Tibet during the Samye debates of the 8th century in favor of a more graduated path of Indian Buddhism represented by Kamalasila (a great Indian master) and Hwa Shang Mahayana (who stood for sudden enlightenment that comes of immediately and directly cutting through all mental discrimination). According to tradition, Trisong Deutsen made his decision with an eye as to what would work best for the majority of people, over what was intrinsically valid as a path. In any case, the Nyingmapa, never being much persuaded or involved in politics, incorporated this ‘sudden school’ approach into its highest yana, that of ati-yoga or Dzogchen.
At the heart of the Nyingma tradition, Dzogchen is held to be the most ancient and direct stream of wisdom within the teachings of Buddhism. Mipham Rinpoche (1846-1912), one of Tibet’s greatest scholars and masters, wrote: “Crowning the banner of the complete teaching of the Buddha, is the beautiful ornament of the clear light teachings of Dzogpa Chenpo.” Accomplished masters of Dzogchen are reported to attain, upon their death, the ‘rainbow body’ leaving behind nails and some hair as the only evidence of their corporeal life, while their elemental body is completely transmuted into spiritual energy and light.
Dzogchen (Atiyoga) Categories of Transmission: The 6,400,000 verses of Dzogchen/Atiyoga scriptures are divided into three categories by Manjushrimitra (Jampal Shenyen). The first two were introduced into Tibet by Vairochana; the third by Vimalamitra. Associated with the primordial Buddha Samantabhadra (S) or Kuntuzangpo (T.) who is depicted as naked, midnight blue, unadorned, representing the dharmakaya, or truth body which is beyond the dualism of space and time. Dzogchen teachings originally transmitted by Padmasambhava and hidden for later discovery as terma, or “treasures,” began to be discovered from the 13th century onwards. Dzogchen teachings originally came down from Samantabhadra to Vajrasattva (a sambhogakaya buddha) and then to the nirmanakaya Garab Dorje (a prodigy born of a virgin shortly after the time of Christ) who dictated these instructions to dakinis who wrote them all down in over six million verses. Texts which have been orally transmitted from the time of Garab Dorje are known as kama, or “oral tradition.” The three major categories are:
1) Sem-de (T): Nature of the Mind series.
2) Long-dé (T): “Primordial Space” or “Vast Expanse” series. These deal with subtle-sensation as the focus of meditative absorption, and employ a great variety of yogic postures and corresponding physical pressure-points to stimulate flow of wisdom winds in the vajra-body. Details of such practices are kept highly secret and can only be received through transmission from a qualified Lama.
3) Men-ngak-de (T): Innermost Oral Instructions or Direct Transmission series. For those who can make use of a more direct approach. There are two major categories of Men-gag-de training: Trekchod, or “Cutting Through” – emphasizes the clear-light aspect of primordial knowledge, empty of any concept or image.. Thogal, or “Direct Approach” also know as Leaping Over, a more advanced practice which requires prior mastery of trekchod techniques and goes on to the practice of working with the vibrations of sound and light in sparking both recognition and liberation while directly seeing through the samsaric cycle and intimately knowing the “naked” mind of the Buddhas or True Nature.
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eight Sufferings: Birth; aging; illness; separation from loved ones; being with the despised; not getting what one wants; the flourishing of the Five Skandhas.
Eight Worldly Dharmas, the Winds of Eight Directions. Most people are regularly moved by the worldly winds of the eight directions: Praise; Ridicule; Suffering; Happiness; Benefit; Destruction; Gain; Loss.
Eightfold Path: Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path prescribed eight steps by which a person can achieve liberation from suffering. This is the path by which one ceases to desire happiness through experieince and thereby ceases to suffer. The eight stages are:
1. Right View
2. Right Intention (Resolve)
3. Right Speech
4. Right Action (Conduct)
5. Right Livelihood
6. Right Effort
7. Right Mindfulness
8. Right Concentration
ego: The external personality or sense of “I” and “mine.” Broadly, individual identity.
Ekajati (S): Tibetan: Tse-chik-ma or Ral-chik-ma. “Single-plaited Mother.” Also known as Ngag Sung-ma, Mother Protectress of Mantra. Ekajati is the supreme protectress of the Dzogchen Atiyoga teaching, and a guardian of the tantric path, protecting it from the unworthy. She removes obstacles to the life and accomplishment of those who do practice on the Secret Mantra path. She is a guardian of mantras who keeps them from those who are unworthy of using them and ensures those who have been empowered to use them, do so for appropriate purposes. She is wrathful and can assume a number of different forms and colors and the personal protector of the Dalai Lama. She is wrathful and can assume a number of different forms and colors. She can hold various implements and weapons. She wears a wreath of severed heads, usually has one eye in the middle of her forehead, one fang and one breast. She is nearly naked and menacing as she stands amidst a mass of wisdom fire. Ekajti is the highest of protectors. She guides those whom she protects upon the single path of unity of the innate Buddha nature. This is symbolized by the single open eye of wisdom upon her forehead, while her two eyes are sunken and dried, symbolizing the exhaustion of dualistic perception; by the single plait of hair that flows straight upward, symbolizing the single unified path of the Ati Great Perfection; by her single tooth of the realization of the single nature of all that pierces the aorta of dualistic demonic forces; and by her single breast that nutures the pure practioner upon the spiritual attainments of the single essence of ultimate truth.
elemental: Of or like a force of nature in power or effect. An intelligent being of the antarloka connected with the basic elements of nature: rocks, the soil, plants, wind, etc. In the Tibetan tradition, these beings are classified with the gods and propitiated through fire offerings and torma.
empowerment: Tibetan: Wang kur. Tibetan ritual wherein the guru transmits to a student the energy of a particular deity or practice so that the student’s efforts may quickly bear fruit. Ritual initiation into a particular practice of meditation, conferred by a Lama who is part of a lineage, and thus himself a recipient and practitioner of such transmissions. Authorization to engage in the meditative practice is not complete without the formal instruction and textual transmission. This opens a particular spiritual path wherein one takes a specific tantric deity as support. The ritual plants the seed of realization in the disciple and provokes spiritual maturity. Tantric initiation is the actual moment and basis for the unbreakable bond which unites master and student from that time forward. In addition, both master and disciple should possess certain prequisite qualifications. For the disciple, the principles and qualities are faith, compassion and aspiration for liberation for the benefit of others. As for the master, he should have united a great number qualities: faith, compassion, one who has engaged the three disciplines of study, contemplation and meditation to the degree where they hold the lineage of transmission for the teachings, accomplished in the necessary practices, having been trained in the performance of the rituals, etc. In every initiation, there is a committment of obedience (S. Samaya/T. Damtsig) and of faith on the part of the disciple towards the Lama as well as towards the Dharma of the Great Vehicle. Initiations called “great” with the support of a Mandala all prescribe the keeping of fourteen tantric root vows. Simply keeping these committments with faith will steer one towards the obtaining of buddhahood within 16 successive births. If, in addition, one puts the path of meditation in practice, the results can be obtained much more quickly. The more expanded rituals comprise four successive consecrations giving the power on the particular paths of meditation while each produces a respective purification and fruit, the entirety bringing the realization of ultimate buddahood.
emptiness: Tibetan: Tong pa nyi; Sanskrit: Sunyata. A word signifying that nothing exists in itself or by itself. Obvious enough at some levels. Whatever appears, is interdependent with everything else, ultimately inseparable from the infinite field of relations within which all events and entities occur/transpire. Everything arises in an ocean of prior causes and conditions. One of the key concepts in Buddhism. emptiness is not an entity or a space, but a useful abstraction representing the truth of no-self, impermanence, the principles of unreality, instability, transience and relativity which pervade the nature of all existence. The doctrine states that phenomena and self have no absolute reality, but are compounded, composed of the skandhas or psycho-physical elements, which when conditions ripen, will aggregate for a time and then disintegrate. Everything is in flow and only relatively invariable. All is unstable in this way, possessing no eternal self-essence or permanent self-nature, i.e. the reality of any apparent self existence is dependent or causally inseparable from roots and supportive conditions which are themselves compounded and impermanent. Emptiness is not nothing or a lack of anything, but indicates the true mode of existence for all and everything. As such, it permeates phenomena. Emptiness is the central theme of Prajnaparamita texts and Madhyamaka philosophy, commonly associated with descriptions of Enlightenment. To the western mind, this is often difficult to understand, leading to the idea that emptiness is a big intellectual “nothing,” and therefore quite unattractive and pointless. Two ideas may help correct this view. First, “emptiness” can be understood as the Buddhist way of saying that Ultimate Reality is incapable of being indicated through symbols such as words, much the way that many Christian theologians view the Christian God as infinitely beyond human attempts at description. Second, “emptiness” should not be thought of as another place. Instead, what is being referred to as empty of inherent existence is identical to the world or universe which humans and other sentient beings experience in this very life. In this way, it has something in common with the Hindu notion that this world is simply maya (illusion), the veil of appearances which prevents humans from seeing the true unity of the cosmos (which in Hinduism means the identity of Atman and Brahman). Thus emptiness and the true nature of all interdependent phenomena of this world are the same thing, or as the Heart Sutra says, “Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.”
enlightenment: Complete enlightenment is a state of realization in which the most subtle traces of ignorance about the nature of reality are eliminated; sometimes called “the embodiment of the “Three Kayas”. There are degrees or stages of enlightenment. See Bhumi.
É-yül (Tib.): Land of primordial awareness.
EVAM (S): Sanskrit bija, or seed syllable. Adverb, lit., “thus,” or “so.” It is said that all true tantric texts contain this syllable.
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First Council: Also known as the Council of 500, Theravada Council, and The First Compilation. After the death of the Buddha, when literally thousands of arhats were inspired to enter nirvana, Mahakasyapa was moved to do something to preserve the Buddhadharma. An assembly of 500 leading Bhikhus gathered for 3 months after the Buddha’s death to compile the Buddhist Tripitaka. It was held at Cave of the Seven Leaves near Rajagaha. In the assembly, Ananda recited the Sutra-pitaka, Upali recited the Rules of Disciplines of the Order (Vinaya-pitaka) and Kassapa recited the Abhidharma. Thus, the Tripitaka was adopted as a unity of doctrines and opinions within the religious order, and also an orthodox teaching for the Buddhists to follow.
Five Great Treasures of Jamgon Kongtrul: Predicted by the Buddha, Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye was a brilliant master of the Rimé (non-sectarian) movement of Buddhism in Tibet. Born December 14, 1813, to Sonamphel and Tashitso in front of Mount Pema Lhatse, one of the eight sacred places in Kham (eastern Tibet), in a place called Kongpo. That is how he got his name: Kong as in Kongpo and trul from trulku, for he was recognized as the Tulku of Kongpo. Lodro Thaye became learned in the ten ordinary and extraordinary branches of knowledge, and it became his responsibility to explain and compose texts, which incorporated a great number of teachings from both the old and new traditions, including the lineages of oral teachings, hidden treasures (terma), and teachings of pure vision. These were all brought together in Lodro Thaye’s compilation of the most important teachings of the Buddha common to all the lineages of Tibetan Buddhism; these teachings are called “Five Great Treasures (mDzod-lnga) of Jamgon Kongtrul the Great.” They include: Rinchen Terzo in 60 volumes plus Gyachen Kardzo of 5 volumes, Ngadzo Dam Ngadzo Sheja Dzo of 3 volumes. In these Five Great Treasures Kongtrul has provided very clear and complete commentaries. He also went through the painstaking task of making sure that all these teachings maintained an unbroken line of empowerment, instructions and other forms required in a continuous lineage of transmissions. During his lifetime he maintained an immensely important role in the preservation of the Kagyu Lineage and became teacher to His Holiness the Sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa.
Five Ornamental Causes: Space, air, fire, water and earth. These are associated with the qualities of energy in the state of pure awareness.
Five Paths: Tibetan: Lam-nga. The five paths on the way to full enlightenment are:
1. Accumulation: The practitioner here focuses on purification of obscurations and the accumulation of merit.
2. Application: The teachings of the Dharma are applied here where the focus is cutting desire at its root through a growing insight into emptiness.
3. Seeing: Here one has understood emptiness directly through deep insight and gone beyond the cycle of existence. This is the first bhumi, The Joyous
4. Meditation: The phase between the second and ninth bhumi.
5. No More Learning: Full enlightenment. Cloud of Dharma, the tenth bhumi.
Five Precepts: Praktimosha, or Five Commandments for layman, essential for rebirth as a human. Based on the concept of ahimsa (harmlessness), they are: no killing; no stealing; no sexual misconduct, no lying; no use of intoxicants.
Five Skandhas (or Five Aggregates): Tibetan: Phung-po-nga. The five aggregates that comprise the constitution of sentient beings. They are: Form; Feeling; Perception; Conception; Consciousness.
Five Works of Maitreya: According to Tibetan, Chinese and Japanese Buddhists, Maitreya authored five great treatises, using Asanga as a scribe. These Tathagatagarba Scriptures serve as the basis for the idealistic school of Mahayana philosophy, the Yogacara or Vijnana-vada school. According to tradition, Buddha Maitreya is also the author of some commentarial work, known as the Five Books of Maitreya. These include Abhisamaylankara, a brilliant summary of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutra in 25,000 lines. Modern scholars attribute these five works to Asanga or another master, Maitreya-natha, however, there ís no reason why the writer should not have been directly inspired by Buddha Maitreya to compose these. Tradition has it that through deep meditation Asanga had a pure vision of Tushita devaloka during which he received from Maitreya the teachings contained in the Five Books. Asanga had been experiencing difficulty in gaining an unmistaken understanding of the Prajnaparamita sutras and felt that only from Maitreya himself could he receive the instructions he needed. So he entered into intensive retreat, occupying a cave on the outskirts of Rajgrha in hopes of gaining a direct vision of Buddha Maitreya. After three years with no success he quit this retreat. On his way back home he saw an old man trying to remove a huge stone which threw a shadow on his house by gently brushing it with a feather. Asanga took this as a sign that with enthusiastic perseverance, anything could be accomplished, so he reentered the retreat. More time passed, without results. After 12 years, Asanga was prepared to give up his practice for good. This time on his way home, he saw a starving dog on the ground, its wounds being eaten by maggots. Moved by compassion for both dog and maggots, he cut off a piece of his own flesh and bent down to transfer the worms to the meat with his tongue so he would not hurt them. He closed his eyes, but although he leaned over very far, almost to the ground, he felt nothing. When he opened his eyes to see what was wrong, the dog had disappeared and in its place stood Maitreya in all his glory. Asanga was shocked and even a little pissed when he asked: “Where were you all those years I was meditating in the cave?” Maitreya replied that he had been there next to him all that time and only delusions had prevented Asanga from seeing him. Maitreya took Asanga and transported him to Tushita. They spent the morning there, during which Asanga received detailed instructions from Maitreya on the Perfection of Wisdom sutras in the form of five texts. These are: Ornament of Realizations, Ornament of Universal Vehicle Scriptures, Analysis of the Jewel Matrix, or Peerless Continuum (Uttaratantra), Discrimination between Center and Extremes, & Discrimination between Phenomenon and Noumenon
Flower Adornment Sutra: A Mahayana sutra that describes the entire Buddha Realm. See Avatamsaka Sutra.
forbearance: Self-control; responding with patience and compassion, especially under provocation. Endurance; tolerance. See yama-niyama.
Four All-Embracing Virtues:
1. Dana: giving to others what they want in order to lead them to become receptive and to be draw toward the truth.
2. Priyavacana: affectionate and beautiful speech employed for the same reasons. 3. Arthakrtya: conduct profitable to others which is used in the same way.
4. Smanarthata: cooperation with and adaptation to the patterning of others for the sake of leading them to the truth.
Four Awarenesses, Four Thoughts Which Turn the Mind Towards the Dharma:
1. Meaningful appreciation of the importance of this human birth: The freedoms and advantages of a well-endowed human existence
2. Impermanence
3. Inviolable nature of karma; and
4. Samsara and the truth of Suffering.
Four Buddha Activities: Tibetan: “Trin Le Zhi” The four enlightened activities that embody the active compassion of buddhas. Also known as the Dakini Actions, they are:
Pacifying;
Enriching;
Magnetizing;
Subjugating
Four Great Vows: The four vows held by all Bodhisattvas. These vows are called great because of the wondrous and inconceivable compassion involved in fulfilling them. They are as follows:
1. We vow to enlighten all sentient beings.
2. We vow to eradicate all vexations.
3. We vow to master all approaches to Dharma.
4. We vow to achieve supreme awakening.
Four Immeasurables: Means to achieving our own happiness and that of others. Called “immeasurable” because cultivating these qualities brings an infinite amount of merit, and because each is to practiced without bias or limit. They are:
1. Loving-kindness;
2. Compassion;
3. Joy
4. Equanimity.
Four Laws of the Dharma: The condensed essence of the Buddha’s teaching – All compounded things are impermanent; all that is corrupt is suffering; all conditioned things are without self; nirvana is peace
Four Noble Truths: Four fundamental principles of conscious existence emerging from the Buddha’s penetrating assessment of the human condition which serve to define the entire scope of Buddhist practice. These Truths are not fixed dogmatic principles but deep insights into the nature of existence which are to be repeatedly studied, contemplated and discussed, but above all, their meaning must be explored individually in the heart and mind-stream of the sincere spiritual seeker:
1. The Noble Truth of dukkha (T. dug-ngal, stress, suffering, unsatisfactoriness): life is fundamentally fraught with unsatisfactoriness, corruption and disappointment of every description;
2. The Noble Truth of the cause (S. hetu) of dukkha: the cause of this dissatisfaction is tanha (craving) in all its forms;
3. The Noble Truth of the cessation (S. nirodha) of dukkha: an end to all that unsatisfactoriness can be found through the relinquishment and abandonment of craving;
4. The Noble Truth of the path (S. marga) leading to the cessation of dukkha: there is a method of achieving the end of all unsatisfactoriness, namely the Noble Eightfold Path.
The Four Truths are arranged in the style of ayurvedic analysis so that the effect of the disease is stated and then a consideration cause, followed by a description of the state of health and the means of its realization. The first two truths describe samsara and its cause; the second two refer to liberation and its cause. Each of these Noble Truths implies a specific task which the practitioner is to carry out: the first Noble Truth is to be comprehended; the second is to be renounced; the third is to be directly realized which is only possible on the basis of the cultivating the truth of the path. The fullness of the third Noble Truth is the realization of peace, the transcendent freedom of nirvana that is the final goal of all the Buddha’s teachings. The last of the Noble Truths — the Noble Eightfold Path — contains a detailed prescription for the relief of our unhappiness and for eventual release, once and for all, from the painful and wearisome cycle of birth and death (samsara) to which — through our own ignorance (S. avidya/T. Ma-rigpa) of the Four Noble Truths — we have been bound for countless aeons. The Noble Eightfold Path offers a comprehensive practical guide to the development of those wholesome qualities and skills in the human heart that must be cultivated in order to bring the practitioner to the final goal, the supreme freedom and happiness of Nirvana. See Eightfold Path.
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Gampopa (1079-1153): Heart son (main disciple) of Milarepa and root guru of the first Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa. He was prophesized by the Buddha to spread the Dharma widely in Tibet and is the source of the monastic Kagyu transmissions. Gampopa was trained as a physician who devoted himself to the Dharma after the death of his wife and children. It is his synthesis of the traditions of Dharma teachings (the Kadampa lineage of Atisha) melded with the experiential meditative teaching (Mahamudra) of Milarepa that formed the Kagyu tradition, as we know it today. At Taklha Gampo he founded the first Kagyu Monastery in Tibet. Gampopa is the source of the four great and eight lesser lineages (schools) of the Kagyu lineage. He is also known as Takpo Lharja, the physician from Takpo. He wrote the “Jewel Ornament of Liberation” and is usually depicted wearing robes and a red hat, which has become synonymous with the Kagyu School.
Garab Dorje (T): Sanskrit: Pramodavajra, Prahevajra, Surati Vajra. Indian yogin and tantric adept who lived somewhere between 184 BCE and 57 CE. His life story is full of miraculous events and powers, yet Tibetans regard him as an historical figure, who like Padmasambhava, was born in Oddiyana from the virgin womb of a royal nun. He is generally regarded as the first human teacher of Dzogchen. As a nirmanakaya-emanation of the Buddha Vajrasattva, Garab Dorje received all the 6.4 million tantras and oral instructions of Dzogchen directly from the heavenly realm and thus became the first human vidyadhara (Skt., Knowledge Holder/T. rig-dzin) in the Dzogchen lineage. Having reached the state of complete enlightenment, he then transmitted these teachings to a retinue of exceptional beings, among who was Master Manjushrimitra, one of the greatest debaters of his day, who is regarded as the chief student of Garab Dorje who in turn passed them on to Sri Singha. Centuries later, Padmasambhava and Vairocana received the transmission of the Dzogchen tantras through Garab Dorje’s wisdom form; i.e. through a pure vision on Lake Dhanakosa in Oddiyana. Garab Dorje composed the “Natural Freedom of Ordinary Characteristics” and the “three words that strike the essence” his last testament in the form of three essential points given to Manjushrimitra; summing up the teachings of Dzogchen: a direct introduction to one’s own nature, deciding that there is nothing other than this and the capacity to abide in this unique state with confidence in liberation.
garuda (S): (T. shang-shang) An ancient Indian mythological bird, large and powerful, that hatches full-grown from the egg and thus symbolizes the awakened state of mind. Natural enemy of nagas.
gau (T): An amulet box, sacred reliquary, some of which are small enough to be worn around the neck.
Gelong (T): An ordained monk.
Gelugpa (T): The yellow hat sect, last to form of the four major Tibetan Buddhist Schools. A reformed order stressing scholarship and the monastic code, founded by the intellectual visionary Je Tsongkhapa in the 14th century. Je Tsongkhapa also tutored Gendun Drub who later became the first Dalai Lama. The current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is also the current head of the Gelugpa order.
Gesar of Ling (T) Mythical Tibetan messianic hero whose cult was encouraged in Mongolia by the Manchu. Gesar seems to manifest in various traditions, for some as an emissary of the Rigden Kings of Shambhala, In the Buddhist tradition Gesar is an emanation of Padma Sambhava, while in the case of the Tibetan Bön tradition, Gesar is sent by Shen Lha Okar. He is believed to have incarnated from Guru Rinpoche to protect and propagate the dharma during the dark times after the persecution of the dharma by King Langdarma, and before the reviving of the dharma once again in Tibet which formed the scholastic and meditative traditions of the Sarma or new schools, as opposed to the original influx of teachings during the time the Great Three (T. Khen Lob Chö Sum), of Khenpo Shantirakshita, Guru Rinpoche (Lobpon Padmasambava), and King Trisong Deutsun, which became known as the Nyingma tradition. Amidst a mass of wisdom light, Gesar is depicted wearing the armor of a warrior of that period, riding a horse, holding a spear aloft in his right hand and a lasso in his left. He is most often propitiated as a protector of the dharma, but is also meditated upon as Guru. The epic tales of his heroic deeds are very popular and he is a national hero whose battles against enemies of Tibet and Mongolia have become synonymous with the defending and spreading of the Dharma itself. In this way, he is similar to the western legends of King Arthur. He is said to have ruled the kingdom of Ling, also known as Phrom. ” The country of Phrom, where King Gesar ruled over the Turks (eastern Turkestan).” etymological connections: Gesar, Kesar, Caesar, Kaiser, Tsar, Shah, etc. … ancient Persian word for sovereignity is “Sahr.” See Shambhala.
Geshe (T): Sanskrit: Kalyanamitra. “Virtuous friend.” Academic title given to accomplished Gelugpa scholars; similar to a Western doctoral (Ph.D.) degree.
Ghandharvas (S): “Odor Eaters.” Celestial musicians who are nourished by odors. The name which designates a category of gods in the sphere of desire.
ghee: Hindi for clarified butter; ghrita in Sanskrit. Butter that has been boiled and strained. An important sacred substance used in temple lamps and offered in fire ceremony, yajna. It is also used as a food with many ayurvedic virtues.
Golok (T): Northern Kham, a very wild area of eastern Tibetan which is notorious for brigandry. There are many nomads in this area, and yogic encampments as well as tent monasteries.
Gomchenma (T): Greatly accomplished female meditator.
gomden (T): A meditation cushion.
gompa (T): Literally “to meditate.” 1. Phase of practice which follows upon receipt of teachings and instruction and effort made to comprehend them. Gompa is the actual pursuit of meditational practice. 2. Buddhist monastery, temple, or dharma hall.
Gonpo (T): A protector.
Green Tara: The gentle and heartfelt Bodhisattva Tara, born from the tears of Avalokitesvara, the Bodhisattva of compassion. She offers us a hand to lift us up to a mountain of enlightenment qualities. Tara belongs to the Karma family of unobstructed compassionate activity, symbolized by her green color. She is the Wisdom Consort of the Dhyani Buddha Amogasiddhi. In a previous eon, in the presence of the Buddha Nga Dra, the Beat of the Drum, she took the vow to only incarnate in a female form to ceaselessly protect beings from the fears of samsaric life and to guide them upon the path of enlightenment. She is known as the Swift One, due to her immediate response to those who request her aid. She is none other than the mother of the Buddhas of the past, present and future; the Great Mother, Prajnaparamita, the matrix of ultimate truth itself, Shunyata. Appearing to be about sixteen years old, she sits on a lotus flower with her left leg drawn in as her right leg steps down gracefully out in front of her. Her left hand is held in front of her heart with palm outward, thumb and ring finger touching so the other three fingers point upwards in the mudra of granting refuge. Her right hand rests on her right knee with the palm facing upward in the mudra of generosity.
Guhyagarbha: One of the old tantras coming from the period of early translations. It has been looked upon (by some early Tibetan monks and scholars) as being inauthentic. When Sakya Pandita discovered a Sanskrit manuscript of this work at Samye Monastery and compared it with the existing Tibetan translations, it was determined that indeed, this was authentic. This Sanskrit version of The Guhyagarbha Tantra is the original and contains the principle Mahayoga scripture, involving sexual practice with a consort and the ‘liberation’ of evil-doers through magical rites without incurring any negative karma.
‘The thoughts of believing in a self-entity persistently tie knots in the sky. Beyond bondage and beyond liberation — These are the primordial attributes of the spontaneously perfect buddha.’ – from the Guhyagarbha Tantra
guru (S): “heavy or weighty one,” indicating a being of full of good qualities, great knowledge and skill. In Tibetan, the word for “guru” is “lama.”
Guru Mantra: In Tibetan Nyingma practice, “guru mantra” refers to the Vajra Guru Mantra of Padmasambhava, Guru Rinpoche, the Twelve Syllable Mantra: Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hum.
guru-shishya system: Hindu master-disciple system. An important education system of Hinduism whereby the teacher conveys his knowledge and tradition to a student. The principle of this system is that knowledge, especially subtle or advanced knowledge, is best conveyed through a strong human relationship based on ideals of the student’s respect, commitment, devotion and obedience, and on personal instruction by which the student eventually masters the knowledge the guru embodies.
Guru Yoga (S): Tibetan: Lamai Naljor. One of the Four Preliminary Practices in Tibetan Buddhism. A meditation in which the meditator receives the blessing of the Lama and the lineage. Unification with the state of the teacher, the natural condition of the dharmakaya where its quality naturally manifests for the sake of those who require training. The Buddha taught on many occasions, that in the future time period called “degenerate,” he would take the form of the Lama (Skt. Guru). One should therefore perceive the Lama with this view. This is the way Guru Yoga is to be understood most effectively: to realize the Great Perfection (T. Dzogchen), one must arrive at the union of one’s own mind with that of one’s root Lama, that one who is the essence concentrating all the Great Lamas of the lineage and the Yidam deity in a form which has compassionately manifested in this place for your liberation. Where the tantric process is alive, cultivating devotion to the Lama is a natural response to the blessings of initiation: gratitude for the opportunity manifesting through one’s thoughts, words and actions; the most important point is to develop the firm conviction that the Lama is the Buddha Dorje Chang himself. To see only these qualties in ones Lama is the best way to obtain them oneself. On the contrary, if one focuses on insufficiencies or faults, no realization can be obtained.
Gyalwa (T): Victorious One. The honorific name of the Karmapa, one of the most respected of the Tibetan tulkus, or reincarnated lamas.
Gyalwa Gyamtso (T): A red, four-armed form of Chenrezi. See Avalokitesvara
Gyüd (T):continuity/S. Tantra, associated with the art of weaving; the shuttle thread. Tantrayana, Vajrayana or Secret Mantra. The vehicle which derives from Long-ku (Samboghakaya) Visionary transmission. The path of transformation – in distinction to the Sutric path of renunciation.
H
Hatha Yoga (S): Forceful Practice. Hatha yoga is a system of physical and mental exercise developed in ancient times as a means of preparing the body and mind for meditation. See: kundalini, nadi, yoga.
Hayagriva (S): Tibetan: rta mgrin One of the Great Protectors, and one of the most popular yidams among the Gelug sect. A manifestation of Avalokiteshvara, his imagery combines the Hindu god Visnu and the savior horse Balaha Hayagriva. Practicing on Hayagriva is one of the five Classes of Means for Attainment of Pristine Cognition. One of four gate keepers, Hayagriva is a Tantric deity always depicted with a horse’s head within his flaming hair. There are Three Neighs of Hayagriva (rta mgrin gyi rta skad thengs gsum): [the continuum of ground, path and result ] or alternatively 1) the neigh which arouses the world to the unborn identity of samsara and nirvana 2) the neigh which offers animate and inanimate worlds as a feast offering to repay karmic debts {gsod} and 3) the neigh which then enlists the support of beings and binds them under an oath of allegiance. Black Hayagriva is an extremely wrathful aspect of Buddha Amitabha and Red Hayagriva is Avalokiteshvara in wrathful form.
Heart Sutra: Sanskrit: Prajnaparamita Sutra. The Teaching on the Heart of the Perfection of Wisdom. This short sutra is the extremely concise statement of the doctrine of Emptiness, regarded as the heart or essence of the vast Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom) Literature. Associated with the Second Turning of the Wheel, this sutra is primarily delivered by the Bodhisattva-Mahasattva Avalokitesvara and occurs in the presence of the Buddha on Vulture Peak. In many Buddhist traditions, the sutra is chanted regularly.
Heruka: Buddha Heruka is a manifestation of Buddhas enlightened compassion, and thus represents our ultimate nature. A heruka is a male deity of meditation in higher tantra yoga. By relying upon heruka, beings can swiftly attain a pure selfless joy and bring true happiness and peace to others. To practice the sublime visualizations of the Heruka body mandala will gradually transform our ordinary world and experiences into the transcendental reality of a fully enlightened Buddha. The completion stage practices of Heruka lead to the supreme bliss of full enlightenment in this lifetime.
Hevajra (S): A yidam of lightning (vajra) considered to represent the eternal. In Tantric Buddhism, the fearful aspect of Vajrasattva. Favored by the Tibetan Sakya school.
Hell: ….BUDDHIST HELLS COMING SOON
Hinduism: India’s indigenous religious and cultural system, followed today by nearly a billion adherents, mostly in India, but with large populations in many other countries. Also called Sanatana Dharma, “eternal religion” and Vaidika Dharma, “religion of the Vedas.” Hinduism is the world’s oldest religion and encompasses philosophies ranging from pluralistic theism to absolute monism. It is a family of myriad faiths with four main denominations: Saivism, Vaishnavism, Shaktism and Smartism. These four hold such divergent beliefs that each is a complete and independent religion. Yet they share a vast heritage of culture and belief in karma, dharma, reincarnation, all-pervasive Divinity, temple worship, sacraments, manifold Deities, the guru-shishya tradition and a reliance on the Vedas as scriptural authority.
Hinayana (S): The little vehicle. One of the three “vehicles” of Buddhism; the vehicle, or way of the Arhat. In Tibetan tradition, the name identifies an incomplete quest for a purely personal liberation from samsara. Vajrayana practitioners study the entire Hinayana teachings, while simulataneously learning Mahayana and tantric practices.
HUM (S): Tibetan: Hung (pronounced as in hoong). Mantric syllable (S. bija, or seed syllable) known as the seal of the “vajra mind” of all buddhas, symbolizing the integration of the universal, absolute and divine within the particular individual, the timeless in the manifest moment. This one syllable mantra is regarded as the quintessence of all Buddhas. It symbolizes integration of the individual with the universal, absolute.
Hundred Syllable Mantra: Sanskrit mantra of Vajrasattva to remove klesas and karmic hindrances. Recitation of this mantra 100,000 times is one of the four preliminary practices, or Ngondro in all Vajrayana lineages.
Hwa-shang: Buddhist influences in Tibet came from India but also from other places, like China. By the time of King Trisong Deutsen, it is said that the discussion between ‘gradual’ and ‘sudden’ approaches to awakening came to a head in a famous debate held at Samye Monastery. The Indian viewpoint was expressed by Kamalasila who held a gradualist approach to Enlightenment; whereas the Chinese tradition was presented by a monk called Hwa Shang Mahayana who put forth a view from the Ch’an teachings pointing to a more sudden form of enlightenment. Whether on the basis of the merits of their arguments or because of underlying social and political considerations, Kamalasila was declared the victor and Hwa-shang was banished. This did not end these kinds of teachings; in fact similar ideas occur among the Nyingmapa in their Dzogchen teachings. The Ancient Ones may never have dismissed the views of the Chinese sage. These teachings flourished among the Ch’an schools during China’s T’ang dynasty.
I
ignorance: Sanskrit: avidya. T. Ma-rigpa
initiation: The formalized permission and introduction to the practice of deity yoga. There are three main types: Empowerment (Tib., Wang-kur); Blessing (Tib., Jin-lob); Permission (Tib. Je-nang). When pertaining to empowerment, initiation means one must enter directly into the knowledge, the immediate experience. This can be either a direct, oral or symbolic tranmission or a combination. Initiation can also refer to an intellectual introduction to a meaningful field of study.
insight meditation: Sanskrit: Vipashyana. T: lha-tong. Meditation that develops insight into the nature of mind. The other main type of meditation is shamatha (T. zhi-ne) meditation.
J
Jai (S): Victory; T. gyal: as in Lha Gyal Lo! -victory to the gods! a phrase typically shouted by KPSR at the end of fire pujas.
Ja lu (T): Rainbow body. Dzogchen practitioners who have mastered the Trekchod phase of Dzogchen in which pure and total presence is stabilized are able to practice Tho-gal. Tho-gal is the final practice of Dzogchen, which enables the yogi to dissolve his or her physical body into the essence of the elements at the time of death. The yogi then disappears into a body of light, leaving only hair toe & finger nails, and nasal septum behind.
Jambhala (S): Tibetan: Dzambhala. Buddhist deity and member of the Jewel family who bestows wealth and personifies abundance. His fat belly shows his prosperity and he holds a mongoose on his left thigh that vomits jewels as he squeezes it. In his right hand he holds a flaming wish-fulfilling jewel which is symbolic for the riches one attains with the wealth of spirituality. He is primarily black in color and has the stunted, thick form of a dwarf with a potbelly. He is seated sideways on a dragon with his right foot down and his knee up. In his white form, he is holding a trident and a scepter. He is related to a number of Indian deities signifying prosperity, the best known being Kubera. In Tibetan art, Jambhala is often the peaceful, wealth-bestowing aspect of Vaishravana, protector of the north.
japa (S): Recitation. Practice of concentratedly repeating a mantra, often while counting the repetitions on a mala or strand of beads. It is recommended as a cure for pride and arrogance, anger and jealousy, fear and confusion. It fills the mind with divine syllables, awakening the divine essence of spiritual energies. The same practice in Buddhism would is called “Mantrayoga.”
Jataka (Jataka Tales): Sutras narrating the birth stories of Shakyamuni in past lives, and effects related to the past and the present lives.
Je Tsongkhapa: is the founder of the Gelug-pa school and is the central figure in their Refuge Tree. He is dressed as a monk and wears the yellow pandita hat this lineage has become associated with. After studying with a reported 45 masters, he founded the Gelukpa school in 1409 which emphasized monastic discipline. One of his students, Gedundrup, was retrospectively recognized as the first Dalai Lama, an emanation of Avalokitesvara. He is an emanation of Manjusri and is often depicted with Shakyamuni Buddha in his heart. The Gelukpa order has the largest and most politically influential school of Tibetan Buddhism.
Jetsunma (T): Reverend Mother. Tibetan honorific title.
Jewel Family: The family headed by Ratnasambhava.
jhana (P): Sanskrit: dhyana. Mental absorption. A state of strong concentration focused on a single physical sensation (resulting in rupa jhana) or mental notion (resulting in arupa jhana). Development of jhana arises from the temporary suspension of the five hindrances (see nivarana) through the development of five mental factors: vitakka (directed thought), vicara (evaluation), piti (rapture), sukha (pleasure), and ekaggatarammana (singleness of preoccupation). See dhyana.
Jigme Lingpa (1729—1798): Jigme Lingpa is one of the greatest and, even today, one of the most important teachers of the Dzogchen lineage. He received three visionary transmissions from Longchen Rabjam and realized his teachings, which were to become famous throughout Tibet under the name of Longchen Nyingthig. He kept them secret for about seven years, until the time had come to teach them since it is very important that a terton practises the teachings himself, before passing them on to others. Jigme Lingpa had many excellent students. The first Dodrupchen Rinpoche, Jigme Trinle, became his main lineage-holder. Among Jigme Lingpa’s reincarnations are many famous lamas such as Do Khyentse Yeshe Dorje (his mind-emanation), Patrul Rinpoche (his speech-emanation) and Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (his body-emanation, Phowa Lineage).
K
Kadampa (T): lit. ‘the school of oral instruction’, ‘Bound by command” school of Tibetan Buddhism. Tradition transmitted by Atisha’s students, c. 1050. Among its most important teachings were the lo-jong, a course in mind training which continues strong to this day. While this school no longer exists, its wisdom and transmissions were absorbed by other schools especially the Gelugpas. Among two of the best known texts associated with the Kadampa masters are “Eight Verses on Training the Mind” and “Seven Points of Mind Training” (Geshe Langri Thangpa). The Kadampa lineages: Lamrim; Menga; Shung; and Gelug, the “Virtuous Doctrine, from about 1409.
Kagyu (T): Kagyü-pa. Oral Transmission Lineage. One of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, headed by His Holiness Karmapa. One of the three Sarma, or New Translation Schools, that is closest in practice to the Nyingma School The pinnacle teachings of this order is the Mahamudra (S. ‘great seal’ T. Chagya Chenpo) transmission in the same way that the Dzogchen teachings are at the peak of the Nyingmapa transmissions. The teachings came to Tibet around 1050 and were in the following century organized into the Kagyu Sect. It descended from Vajradhara Buddha through the Indian Masters Tilopa and Naropa, who passed it on to Marpa, Milarepa, and Gampopa. After Gampopa, the Kagyuü lineage was also called Takpo Kagyu and divided into the so-called four great and eight lesser lineages. The four great lineages date back to Gampopa’s main students:
Kalu Rinpoche was an eminent spiritual leader of the Kagyu sect in the late 20th Century. He was an incarnation of the famous Tibetan scholar, Jamgon Kongtrul.
The Kagyu lineages:
A. Shangpa – c. 1050
B. Dagpo (the “Four Golden Lineages”) – 1125
1. Barom; or Baram
2. Karma Kamtsang, or Karmapa – 1147 – founded by the first Karmapa
Surmang
3. Pagtru, founded by Phagmo Drupa, c. 1158
Drikung; Drugpa; Martsang; Shungseb; Taglung; Tropu; Yamsang; Yelpa
4. Tsalpa – 1175 founded by Ongom Tsultrim Nyingpo and his student Zhang Darma Drak
Orgyanpa, or Ugyen Nyendrup – 14th/15th century
Rimay, i.e. non-sectarian – 19th century
Kailash Mt. Kailas (lit. ‘silver mountain’) is a the sacred mountain venerated by half a billion people in India, Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. It is variously considered as the abode of a deity, the source of great rivers, a cosmic axis and a planetary temple. To the Hindus it has long been held to be a dwelling place of Lord Shiva. Standing 22,028 feet near the source of four major rivers (including the Indus, Brahmaputra.) To Tibetan Buddhists, it stands at the center of a huge mandala and is regarded as the most sacred mountain on Earth. It is the scene for Milarepa’s climbing contest with Naro the Bön priest. Tibetans regard it as a place of deities or saints, and modern pilgrims circumambulate the mountain clockwise, taking three days to walk completely around it, making offerings at the many shrines along the way.
Kalachakra (S): Wheel of Time. Both the name of a deity (Tibetan: Du-kyi Khorlo or Dukhor) and the name of one of the four Highest Tantra Yoga practices. Among the most complex practices of the Buddhist Tantra, it contains a complex cosmology, including an apocalyptic theory of social reality involving a great war at the end of history, and triumph in the mythical Kingdom of Shambhala. The deity Kalachakra is a yidam of the Highest Tantra. In the hidden Land of Shambhala, it is said the inhabitants practice Tantric Buddhism based on the Kalachakra system. He fuses time and timelessness into a non-dualistic view of absolute reality. This Tantric practice is most important to the Gelukpa sect with whom it is most closely associated. He embraces his consort Visvamata who is yellow in color with four faces and eight arms.
Kali Yuga (S): Dark Age. The Kali Yuga is the last age in the repetitive cycle of four phases of time the universe passes through. It is comparable to the darkest part of the night, as the forces of ignorance are in full power and many of the subtle faculties of the mind are obscured.
Kalinga: The name of the people that King Asoka conquered just before he became a Buddhist. In 260 BC King Asoka’s armies attacked Kalinga (modern Orissa) in an attempt to expand the already huge Mauryan empire. It was the brutality and extreme violence of this campaign that turned the King’s mind toward the Dharma.
kalpa (S): An aeon, world cycle, vast stretch of time.
Kanjur (T): The major section of the Tibetan Buddhist canon containing the words of the Buddha Shakyamuni. The 108 volumes were translated from Sanskrit. The Kanjur contains nine sections of 1,115 teachings by Buddha. These sections are:
Vinaya – Cause and effect (karma), guidelines for action.
Prajnaparamita – Perfection of Wisdom
Avatamsaka – Resplendent Fields of Buddha Realms
Ratnakuta – Wondrous Jeweled Spheres of the Buddha
Sutra – The Collection of Brief Essential Teachings
Tantra – Mantrayana Teachings
Pratantras – Ancient Nyingma Tantras
Kalacakra – Wheel of Time
Dharani – Sacred Healing Syllables
karma: (S): Tibetan: ley. Action, or deed. One of the most important principles in Hindu and Buddhist thought, 1. any act or deed; 2) the law of cause and effect; 3) consequence or “fruit of action” (karmaphala) or “after effect” (uttaraphala), which sooner or later returns upon the doer. Selfish, hateful acts will bring suffering. Benevolent actions will bring loving reactions. Karma is a neutral, self-sustaining law of the inner cosmos, much as gravity is an impersonal law of the outer cosmos. Karma is threefold: accumulated actions (sum of all karmas of this life and past lives); actions begun; in motion or ‘thrown karma’ (karma bearing fruit and shaping the events and conditions of the current life, including the nature of one’s bodies, personal tendencies and associations); and karma being made added in this life by thoughts, words and actions, or in the inner worlds between lives. Some of this bears fruit in the current life, others are stored for future births.
Karmamudra: This has been concisely defined as “the practice performed with a maiden possessing the physical attributes of a woman, such as beautiful hair and so forth, with whom one has a strong karmic link” – written by Gendun Drub, the First Dalai Lama (one of Tsongkhapa’s direct disciples). Je Tsongkhapa says that both oneself and the yogic “partner” must have received initiation, keep all the vows and pledges, and have mastery of all the 64 arts described in the Indian Kamasutra. As well, Tsongkhapa says: “All the authoritative tantric scriptures and treatises point out that the practice of Karmamudra is only to be performed by those who are qualified. To engage in it on any other basis only opens the door to the lower realms. The practice itself should be learned from a qualified master holding the authentic oral tradition.” The physical application of sexual practice was largely internalized in adapting to the primarily monastic traditions of Tibet.
Karmapa (S): Literally, “Buddha-Activity Man.” The spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu branch of the Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Also known as the Black Hat lama. The first Karmapa was born in 1110, making this the longest lived line of Tibetan Tulkus. The Karmapas’ traditional residence is at Tsurphu Monastery near Lhasa. Presently, he is in his 17th incarnation. The 16th Karmapa died in a Chicago hospital in 1981. A successor was enthroned at Tsurphu in 1993, although some Karma Kagyupa members still support a rival candidate. The Karmapas embody all buddha activity. This is expressed in the name itself, since karma means “activity.” The first Karmapa, Tsum Khyepa (1110-1193) was Gampopa’s main disciple. Before his death, he left behind a letter explaining the precise circumstances of his next rebirth. In accordance with his description, the second Karmapa, Karma Pakshi (1206-1283) was born deliberately as an incarnation of the first. He was the first incarnation to be recognized in Tibetan history. Since that time, the Kagyu lineage has been transmitted by the Karmapas, with each successive Karmapa leaving behind specific instructions concerning his next incarnation.
Still central to the transmission of the Kagyu lineage,the present Karmapa Ugyen Trinley Dorje is the 17th incarnation of the Karmapa. This was the first time the Communist government allowed the recognition of any reincarnate lama. On January 1, 2000, as the Western calendar marked a new millennium, His Holiness had begun a new journey. Just a few days earlier, on December 28, the fourteen year old Ugyen Trinley Dorje, left Tolung Tsurphu Monastery with a handful of attendants, and traveling on foot escaped from Tibet. On January 5, 2000, he arrived safely in Dharamsala, India where he was met by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. In February 2001, he was granted refugee status by the government of India.
karma yoga (S): Union through action. The path of selfless service. One who does such acts of service while seeking no rewards, following the Hindu karma yoga path is a karma yogi.
karmic pattern: One’s individual pattern of living based on all experiences from this and previous lives, the culmination of which is the shape of present and future circumsatnces.
karuna (S): Compassion. T: thug-je. The will to free others from suffering, based on an empathetic sensitivity to that suffering.
kata (T): Long white honorific silk scarf which one offers to ones teacher, or on great occasions.
kayas (S) Tibetan: Ku The three bodies of the Buddha: the nirmanakaya, sambhogakaya and dharmakaya. The dharmakaya (Tibetan: chö ku) also called the “truth body,” or “enlightenment body” is complete wisdom of the Buddha which is unoriginated wisdom beyond form; it is the nature of mind, or emptiness, and is meaningful for oneself. Form manifests in the sambhogakaya (Tibetan: long ku) and the nirmanakaya (Tibetan: trul- ku) . The sambhogakaya, also called the “enjoyment body,” is a realm in which the Buddha manifests only to bodhisattvas. The Buddha manifests in the world as a seemingly ordinary being who became known as the historical Buddha. These buddhas manifest out of compassion for the benefit of beings and are meaningful for the liberation of others. Sambhogakaya buddhas such as Vajrasattva can only be experienced directly by realized bodhisattvas, whereas nirmanakayas such as Shakyamuni Buddha manifest as human and can be perceived by beings with no particular realization. The unity of the three kayas is called the svabhavikakaya (Tibetan: Ngo wo nyi-kyi ku).
Khadroma (T): Sanskrit: Dakini. Sky-dancer.
Kham (T): Region of eastern Tibet. Also known to Tibetans as the province of Domae. Western Kham is now in the Tibetan Autonomous Republic, while eastern Kham is in China’s Sichuan (Szechwan) province.
Khandro Nyingtig (T): Heart Essence of the Dakinis. A Nyingma transmission lineage of Dzogchen teachings that goes back to Padmasambhava who passed these teachings to princess Pema Sal and to his consort Yeshe Tsogyal. Also known as Heart-Drop of the Dakinis, the Khandro Nyingtig constitutes a terma revealed by Pema Ledrel Tsal which was later included in the famous Nyingtig Yabshi by Longchenpa. These Nyingtig teachings based on Padmasambhava are sometimes called Padma Nyingtig. The expression “Mother and Son Khandro Nyingtig” refers to the combination of the Khandro Nyingtig text (the mother) and the commentary (the son) known as Khandro Yangtig, the latter of which is by Longchenpa and part of the Nyingtig Yabshi.
Khenpo (T): Title of the chief instructor or spiritual authority in a monastery. Though the word is often translated as “abbot,” the khenpo is not usually the administrator of the monastery. The title is also accorded to Lamas of great learning. A khenpo in charge of more than one monastery is referred to in the plural-indicative form, “Khenchen.”
khorde rushan (T): “Khor,” transmigration; “de,” beyond, which is understood as nirvana; “rushan” means to separate or distinguish. In this context it means to go beyond the relative condition, i.e., the mind (transmigration) and its fundamental nature (nirvana). There are specific practices of khorde rushan.
Khyungpo Naljor (978-1127): Mastered both Ancient Tibetan lineages and had more than 150 teachers. He founded the Shangpa lineage.
koan (J): A riddle, tale, or short statement, often intellectually confounding, used by Zen masters to bring insight to their students. According to one old master, this practice leads to a condition which is somewhat like a mosquitoe attempting to bite an iron bull.
kriya (S): Action. In a general sense, kriya can refer to doing of any kind. Specifically, it names religious action, especially rites or ceremonies. In yoga terminology, kriya refers to involuntary physical movements caused by the arousal of the kundalini.
Kusinagara: After teaching for forty-five years, at the age of eighty, in the year 543 B.C. the Buddha fell ill while on his way to Kusinagara, capital of the Malla State. Even in the face of death his mind moved towards others. He told Ananda, his faithful attendant, to console Cunda, the poor blacksmith from whose house the Buddha ate his last meal of indigestible pork, (some accounts say it was not pork, but poisonous mushrooms), that his food-offering was of great merit and that he should not blame himself for the Buddha’s indigestion. On his deathbed under two Sala trees in the Grove of the Mallas, he explained to his disciples that they would not be left without the Teacher for “The Doctrine and Discipline I have taught you, that shall be your Teacher, when I am gone.” His last words were; “Behold now, monks, I exhort you. Subject to decay are all component things. Work out your salvation with diligence.”
Under the oversight of Ananda, the Buddha’s favorite disciple, the body was cremated by his friends in Kusinagara castle. Seven of the neighboring rulers under the lead of King Ajatasatru demanded that the ashes be divided among them. The King of the Kusinagara castle at first refused and the dispute even threatened to end in war, but by the advice of a wise man named Dona, the crises passed and the ashes were divided and buried under eight great monuments. Even the embers of the fire and the earthen jar that had held the ashes were divided and given to two others to be likewise honored. The Buddha mentioned that those who shall die with a believing heart, in the course of their pilgrimage to this, one of four sacred places, will be reborn in a heavenly state on the dissolution of their body after death.
ksanti (S): Patience or forbearance, one of the six Paramitas.
Ksitigarbha (S): Earth-Store Bodhisattva and guardian of the earth. Depicted with the alarum staff with its six rings, he is accredited with power over the hells and is devoted to the saving of all creatures between the Nirvana of Shakyamuni and the advent of Maitreya. He vows that while the hell is not empty, he will not attain Buddhahood. As his vow is the greatest, he is also known as The Great Vow Bodhisattva.
Kuan Yin (C): “She Who Hears the Cries of the World.” Derived from Avalokitesvara, the Indian Bodhisattva of Compassion (Tibetan: Chenrezi) depicted as a young male, and emanation of Amitabha Buddha. In Chinese Buddhism, Kuan Yin (an Amitabha emanation and the Bodhisattva of Compassion) is among the most important Bodhisattvas.. Kuan Yin is usually depicted as female in China and Japan, and as male in other parts of Asia. In Southeast Asia, she is QuanAm; in Japan, Kannon.
Kum Nye (T): “Mind-Body-Emotions Balancing.” A holistic healing system discovered in 8th century Tibet which vitalizes body, mind and senses by means of breathing exercises, massage and movement. Derived from Indian hatha yoga, Kum Nye originated in the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism.
kundalini (S): “She who is coiled; serpent power.” In Hinduism, the primordial cosmic energy in every individual which, at first, lies coiled like a serpent at the base of the spine and eventually, through the practice of yoga, rises up the sushumna nadi. As it rises, the kundalini awakens each successive chakra. Nirvikalpa samadhi, enlightenment beyond forms, occurs as the force pierces through the door of Brahman at the core of the sahasrara and enters.
Kurukulla (S): Tibetan: Rikjema. An aspect of Tara who represents the perception of enlightened power overwhelming and overpowering all dualistic perception. This binds and resolves mind and mental events into the unity of pure enlightened perception and experience. She causes negative action to become powerless and repatterned into wholesome, virtuous activity. She is bright red in color and like a tantric Cupid, her primary symbol is a drawn bow and flowery arrow which causes ordinary perception to be concentrated, piercing the experiential unity of the primordially pure nature. In the Mahakala teaching, Kurukulla is one of the Three Great Red Deities central to the lineage of the Sakya tradition.
L
Lama (T): Literally, “superior one.” Teacher. Title for experienced and learned religious teachers, often casually used for members of the clergy in general. Tibetans take the word as “la na me pa” (insurpassable), plus “ma,” (mother), alluding to the compassion a mother has for her only child. A person who, by virtue of entensive practice, study and devotion to accomplished teachers, is able to teach and transmit the Dharma. The word Lama pertains not only to the external teacher, but to the inner teacher or enlightened nature. The Lama, therefore, is one who reflects the beginingless enlightened nature of their students.
Langdarma: In its first diffusion in Tibet during the time of Trisong Deutsen, the Buddhadharma was supported by the royal court. His descendant, King Ralpacan, was a tantric practitioner who was assassinated in 838 ce and replaced by his brother, Langdarma who nearly destroyed the first wave of dharma transmission in Tibet. He vigorously persecuted Buddhist monasteries throughout his realm. Monks fled and had to go underground to persist. He was finally assassinated by the arrow of a Buddhist monk named Palgyi Dorje during a Black Hat dance performance. He concealed his bow in the dance costume until the moment that he let the arrow fly, after which he escaped into the hills on a horse. After Langdarma’s death, the ‘second diffusion’ or a re-spreading of the Dharma in Tibet was spearheaded by teachers like Atisha and the translations referred to as gSarma.
Law of Cause and Effect: Also expressed as the “Law of Causality” This is a fundamental doctrine of Buddhism: That all phenomena in the universe are produced by causation. Since all phenomena result from the complicated causes and effects, all existing things in the universe are interdependent, i.e., all self-natures or seeming independent entities are merely relative and impermanent. Moreover, all phenomena and nominal things are impermanent (i.e. constantly changing). When Shakyamuni awakened he had a great insight into the workings of karma. The law of Karma, is the doctrine which explains how cause and effect creates all phenomena in the universe.
Law of Dependent Organization: S. pratityasamutpada/T. Tendrel States that all phenomena arise depending upon a number of casual factors. Ilustrated on the outer rim of the Wheel of Life, (S. bhavachakra) There are 12 links (S. nidanas) in the chain:
1. Ignorance (S. avidya, T. ma-rig-pa) is the condition for karmic formations;
2. Karmic formations (S. samskara, T. du je) are the condition for consciousness;
3. Consciousness (S. vijnana, T. nam par she pa) is the condition for name and form;
4. Name and form (S. nama-rupa, T. ming dang zug) are the condition for the six sense organs;
5. Six sense organs (S. sadayatana, T. kyem che drug) are the condition for contact;
6. Contact (S. sparsa, T. reg pa) is the condition for feeling;
7. Feeling (S. vedana, T. tsor wa) is the condition for craving;
8. Craving (S.trsna, T. se-pa) is the condition for grasping;
9. Grasping (S. upadana, T. len pa is the condition for existinence in a realm;
10. Existing (S. bhava, T. si-pa) in a realm is the condition for rebirth;
11. Rebirth (S. jati, T. kye-wa)is the condition for old age and death;
12. Old age and death (S.jara-marana, T. ga-shi) is the condition for ignorance; and so on.
Lhasa (T): Capital and largest city in Tibet, pop. 170,000. Lhasa is a shortened form of “lha sacha,” which means “gods’ place.”
Lha tong (T): Sanskrit: Vipashyana. Pali: Vipassana. Tibetan: lhag thong. Meditation that develops insight into the nature of mind and mental events. It is sometimes described as analytical meditation. One of the two types of meditation found in all Buddhist traditions, the other being tranquility meditation (Skt., Samatha, Tib., Shinay).
liberation: Sanskrit: moksha, abhimukti/ T. tharpa. In Vajrayana Buddhism, liberation from the involuntary cycle of existence occurs when one recognizes the emptiness of mind and is liberated from all perturbing thoughts and feelings. However, it is also considered a state where you have not reached complete Enlightenment and have not gained complete understanding of “the way things are.”
liberation of thoughts: see self-liberation
lineage: Line of succession of preceptors, each one initiating the next.
Lingam (S): Also, linga. Phallus. A Sanskrit term of reverence for the statues and images of the god Shiva’s genital organ, lingam is also used as a technical term for the male phallus. The thousands of lingas one finds throughout India and Nepal, on almost every street corner and in every village square, are worshipped even today as sacred symbols of Shiva (the “Destroyer” aspect in the all-male Vedic trinity); most especially the twelve sacred jyotirlinga. People kiss and touch the statues, which are generally sculpted from stone; they offer rice, flowers, or fruit to them and will often color them with red ocher. The Gupta-sadhana Tantra states that “infinite result is obtained by worship of a Sivalinga that should be made of crystal etc., but never of clay”. Sometimes a lingam is represented together with its female equivalent, the yoni, and such an image then is called yonilinga.
Lojong (T): Mind training. The mental discipline of the 59 proverbs associated with tonglen (taking and sending) practice and help to keep the practice on track and in balance. A particular way of looking at the world with total acceptance and joy.
Long-chen Nying-thig: The Longchen Nyingthig cycle of teachings translates as “The essence of the heart” and they became very popular in Tibet, being widely studied among the Nyingmapa. Teachings of Vimalamitra and Guru Rinpoche were brought together by the great master Longchenpa. They were later revealed (as hidden teachings, termas) and elaborated on by Jigme Lingpa who carried the Longchen Nyingthig teachings to their highest level and popularity. Containing the essence of previous Nyingthig teachings, this lineage traces back to Kuntuzangpo, the primordial or ‘All-good Buddha’, down through great masters like Garab Dorje, Manjushrimitra, Shrisinga, Vimalamitra, Longchenpa, and into our modern age, through Jigme Lingpa to last century’s Tibetan Buddhist masters such as Dudjom Rinpoche and Dilgo Khyentse. Longchen Nyingthig includes sadhanas, commentaries, roots texts and tantras. The scope, power and clarity of this round of teachings made them easy to comprehend and powerful to practice and thus they have become a mainstay among Nyingmapa practitioners.
Longchenpa: Longchen Rabjam, 1308-1363. The most eminent 14th-century Nyingma master of special importance in the transmission and development of Dzogchen. He combined the teachings of the Vima Nyingtig lineage with those of the Khandro Nyingtig, making way for the fully unified system of teachings that became known as the Longchen Nyingtig (by Jigme Lingpa). Longchenpa, credited with more than 250 written Dzogchen teachings, among them the famous Seven Treasures (Dzo-dun), the Trilogy of Natural Freedom (Rangol Korsum) and his compilation of the Nyingtig Yabshi. He also wrote a commentary to the Kunje Gyalpo Tantra, “The King Who Creates Everything,” a text belonging to the Mind Class (Tibetan: Semde) of the Ati Yoga Inner Tantras. Seven Treasures is a reformulation of Dzogchen and an encyclopedia of inspiring thought and practice. These seven texts teach about each of The Treasures: Philosophy; The Sublime Vehicle; Wish fulfillment; Secret Instructions; The Dharmadatu; The Natural State; Word and Meaning. Excerpts have been translated in “Buddha Mind: An Anthology of Longchen Rabjam’s Writings on Dzogpa Chenpo” by Tulku Thondup Rinpoche. Publication of the complete seven-volume text began in 1998. The first volume to have appeared is entitled “The Precious Treasury of the Way of Abiding.” (Padma Publishing)
Apart from Longchenpa’s names given below, he is sometimes refered to by the honorary title Second Buddha (Tibetan: Gyalwa Nyi) a term usually reserved for Padmasambhava, showing the high regard for his work has received. A reincarnation of Pema Ledrel Tsal, Longchenpa is also regarded as an indirect incarnation of the princess Pema Sal. During a stay in Bhutan (Tibetan: Mon), Longchenpa fathered a daughter and a son, of which the latter, Trugpa Odzer (b. 1356), also became a holder of the Nyingtig lineage. A detailed account of the life and teachings of Longchenpa is found in Buddha Mind by Tulku Thondup Rinpoche. Various forms and spellings of Longchenpa’s full names, in which “Longchen” means Great Expanse, Vast Space or Immense Knowledge: Longchen Rabjam (realization of vast knowledge); Longchen Rabjampa; Longchenpa Drimey Özer; Künkhyen Longchenpa (The Omniscient Longchenpa) ; Künkhyen Longchen Rabjam; Künkhyen Chenpo (Omniscient Great One) ; Künkhyen Chenpo Drimey Özer; Künkhyen Chökyi (All-knowing Dharma King) ; Gyalwa Longchen Rabjam; Gyalwa Longchen Rabjam Drimey Özer.
Losar (T): Tibetan New Year. In February.
lotus: Sanskrit: Padma. The sacred lotus (nelumbo nucifera) is the Indian or Oriental lotus. Native to southern Asia, it is found at altitudes of up to 1,600 metres. The lotus is a perennial plant growing from a thick rhizome, usually sprouted in the silt bottom of a still pond. The first few leaves that appear are flat and float on the surface, followed by thicker leaves that stand above the water. The flower stalk rises above the leaves, ending in large, sweet-smelling, white or pink blooms which appear one at a time. Each flower lasts from 2-5 days. After blooming, the petals fall, leaving a cone-shaped seed head that resembles the rose of a watering can. Each of its 15 to 20 openings contains a fruit.
Iconographic Types: White, pink or blue lotuses can represent three types of humans since they either stand on the surface, slightly above, or up and out of the water. Emerging from slime and decay, they grow up through progressively clearer water to emerge in the sunlight, where they are seen in all their glory. This habit of growth has led to the lotus becoming a common metaphor for the development of individuals towards enlightenment. The flower stands for renunciation of the entanglements of samsara, the pure aspiration that is the desire for enlightenment for the sake of all beings. Thus the stylized lotus seat of buddhas and bodhisattvas is an indicator of their dharmakaya origins. It shows that the figure is not being presented as an ordinary person, but as a timeless manifestation of that ultimate reality. The style and color of the petals of this lotus corresponds to certain characteristics of the depicted being. One of the best-known figures in Tibetan Buddhism associated with the lotus flower is Padmasambhava. The biographies of Guru Rinpoche tells how he manifested in this world, in the midst of a lake in Oddiyana, as an 8-year old boy sitting on the pollen bed of a great lotus. It is for this reason he is called Padmasambhava (S. lotus born). Another famous figure associated with the lotus is Chenrezi, the bodhisattva of compassion, whose epithet is Padmapani or, lotus-bearer and whose mantra (in rough translation) refers to the jewel of primordial awareness contained within the lotus of space. Green Tara is so eager to help in any situation that she is depicted on a lotus seat with her right foot on a small lotus cushion, as if she were in the process of standing up. In the Pure Land of Amitabha, pratyekabuddhas are reborn in lotus buds which open after a certain time measured in ages, depending on the individual’s karma. The lotus is one of the eight auspicious symbols not only to Tibetans, but also to the Chinese where they are called “pa hsi-hsiang.”
The lotus in sadhana/practice: The chakras (wheels) or energy vortices of the body are depicted as various lotuses. Their petals range in number from two to a thousand at the crown of the head. The number of these chakras varies according to the tantric/yogic system; five are referred to in Tibetan Buddhism but there are said to be seven in the Hindu version. On a torma, a ritual offering cake, we often see only two wheels represented. The seated meditation posture [asana] in which the legs are crossed and feet placed on the thighs is called padmasana, or lotus seat or posture (also called Vajrasana or diamond seat Lotus (Padma) Family: This Buddha Family symbolizes the Speech of the Buddhas and the development of spiritual potentials, the evolution from the ground of confusion to full awakening in the light of discriminating wisdom, gradually unfolding one’s spiritual petals in the process of revealing the Buddha Nature. Associations include the western direction, evening twilight, springtime, the color red, the element fire, all of which communicate the warmth of passion, the play of light, feeling and other qualities of the heart. The spontaneous perfection of all things is discovered through recognition of the Original Purity. This is the path of discriminating wisdom, love and compassion. Members include Shakyamuni, Avalokitesvara, Amitaba, Padmasambava, White Tara, Hayagriva and Padmanarteshvara.
Lotus Sutra: Sanskrit: Saddharma Pundarika Sutra. Short name of the “Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law,” a Mahayana sutra c. 1st century CE. It consists of a series of sermons delivered by Shakyamuni towards the end of his life. The Lotus Sutra became exceedingly popular in 6th century China among the Tien Tai sect, becoming that sect’s primary teaching. This was maintained by Tien Tai’s Japanese counterpart, the Tendai. According to the Tien Tai/Tendai traditions, the Lotus Sutra encapsulates all the Buddha’s teachings and that no other teachings are needed. The Sokka Gakai movement of contemporary Japan is centred on this teaching, partly for that reason. Recitation of Om Namu-myoho-renge-kyo, the Lotus Sutra mantra, is alone considered a complete form of Buddhist practice by followers of Nichiren (13th century Japanese teacher).
rLung T. -rlung – air; wind (element); breeze; breath; psychic energy; vital current of energy or air; In the terminology of Vajrayana ‘rLung’ refers to specific energy currents that regulate bodily function.
M
Ma (T): The country of Ma in Kham, eastern Tibet. Also: “Ma-yang Chugmo,” the Land of Ling; and “Ma Thama,” Happy Valley. One ancient reference reads, “In the great land of Ma is the snowy mountain Mar-yal-pom-ra.”
Machig Labdron (T): Considered to be an incarnation of Yeshe Tsogyal, the Wisdom Consort and primary disciple of Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambava). She was a learned Tibetan who was known for the clarity and beauty by which she read scriptures aloud to patrons. Through her experience she gained merit and insight into the Prajnaparamita, the teachings upon the Perfection of Wisdom, Shunyata. In a Pure Vision of Tara, she was bestowed the teachings of the Chöd rite, a practice which cuts or severs the ego at the root. She became so famous due to the profundity of her realization and teachings, her tradition of practice spread throughout all of Tibet and the lineages of Tibetan Buddhism, Nepal and India. She is the only Tibetan teacher whose teachings were spread back into India, the motherland of the Dharma. She is white in color, depicted in the dancing posture on her left foot, with her right foot raised and the ball of her right foot suppressing the corpse of ego. She holds a chöd drum (damaru) in her right hand and rings a bell in her left.
Madhyamika (S): Tibetan: Uma. Middle Way. A philosophical school based on the Prajnaparamita Sutras and their doctrine of Emptiness; the Middle Way philosophy expounded by Nagarjuna. The Madhyamika is concerned both with the transcendence of logical affirmation and negation, and stresses the dependent origination of all things and the limitations of rational constructs. It represents a great philosophical tradition of Mahayana buddhism, which was expounded in detail by the great Master Nagarjuna, which adopts a middle position between two extreme views of eternalism and nihilism. Madhyamika is a response to essential questions concerning the existence or the nonexistence of things (phenomena) as well as beings. Nagarjuna states that in the final analysis of any conventionally established object, it is an error either to affirm or deny its existence, nonexistence, to say it possess attributes of the two at the same time, or neither, are all insufficient to describe its true nature. To claim otherwise is an extreme view which is a symptom of ego-clinging to the assumption of inherent existence. Since the Buddha taught the emptiness of appearance, nowhere will one find substance, essence or ontological foundation; with proper analysis, the problem disappears on its own since there is no further referenceto an ego or real things. Nagarjuna equated emptiness with interdependent origination, thecausally-conditioned, relative nature of all compounded phenomena. He posited two levels of truth, the absolute and the conventional. His immediate disciple Aryadeva carried on his teaching. About A.D. 500 Bhavaviveka, heading the Svatantrika school of the Madhyamika, held that the Buddhist position can be put forward by positive argument. The Prasanga school, championed by Chandrakirti, opposed him and reaffirmed the simple refutation of opponents by reductio ad absurdum as the true Madhyamika position.
Magadha (S): One of the four great kingdoms (i.e. Magadha, Kosala, Vansa, and Avanti) in ancient India, ruled from its capital Rajagaha. The king of Magadha, Bimbisara, became a follower of Shakyamuni.
maha (S): “Great.” A prefix in terms such as mahatma, mahasiddha, mahayana.
Mahakala (S): One of the most prominent guardians or protector deities in Tibetan Buddhism; especially idenitified with the Sakya Order, but common to all orders. An emanation of Chenrezi (Skt., Avalokitesvara), Mahakala is the wrathful deity that destroys mind chatter and brings our minds back into attentive focus. There are many different colors and forms of Mahakala, but he is recognized universally as one of the great protectors of the Dharma. According to the Vajrakilaya teachings, a powerful demon named Rudra, Black Liberation (T. tharpa nagpo) was transformed by Vajrikilaya into the protector of the teachings of the 1002 Buddhas of this Fortunate Aeon, Mahakala. There is a prophecy that in the future, Mahakala will become a Buddha in the subterranean world system.
Mahakaruna (S): Great compassion.
Mahamaya (S) The mother of Prince Gautama who became Shakaymuni Buddha. A Koliyan Princess married to King Suddhodana, Chieftan of the Sakyan Clan. Together they resided in the city of Kapilavastu.
Mahamudra (S): Tibetan: Chag gya Chenpo. Great Seal or Symbol. The highest meditative transmission/teaching in the Tibetan Kagyu school as is “Dzogchen” or Great Perfection in the Nyingma school. Lineages proceed through Tilopa, Naropa and Marpa, Milarepa and Gampopa. The Mahamudra Sutra emphasizes dwelling in tranquility and insight, and progressing along the Five Paths (which starts with the beginning of Dharma practice and the accumulation of merit and ends with complete Enlightenment).
Mahasamadhi (S): Great Meditative Equanimity. The death, or dropping off of the physical body, of a great soul, an event occasioned by tremendous blessings. Also names the shrine in which the remains of a great soul are entombed. Mahasamadhi day names the anniversary of a great soul’s transition.
Mahasiddhas (S): Great Accomplished One. Tibetan: Drub-chen. A practitioner who has achieved great realization. Forerunners of the tantric lineage in Tibet, the 84 Indian tantric masters were largely non-monastic and renowned for effecting miraculous changes in both themselves and the phenomenal world through spiritual power. They came from all walks of life, and developed the means by which the Dharma could be effectively practiced by people of widely varying capacities and inclinations.
Mahayana (S): The Big Vehicle. A main limb of Buddhism that spreads into many different branches. What all have in common is that they accept the authority of texts that the Shravaka branch explicitly rejected as being the teachings of the historical Buddha, now the tradition of Theravda Buddhism. Mahayana emphasizes working, studying and practicing meditation for the benefit of all sentient beings. A universal love leads to freedom from the sufferings of the world. The Buddhist begins to arouse the wish in herself to release all beings from suffering. The number of Mahayana texts is so large that no one can hope to read them all within a single lifetime, so usually Mahayana Buddhists specialize by focusing on just a few texts or sometimes only one text. Mahayana Buddhism was basis of the Buddhism practiced in pre-Islamic Northern India; Tibet, China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam.
The Zen school finds its origins based on the transmission of one text, the Lankavatara Sutra (the full title of which, “Introduction of True Dharma into Sri Lanka,” a country that had both Theravada and Mahayana branches of Buddhism. The Chinese Pure Land schools were based on texts describing beautiful realms into which one could be reborn to more easily pursue dharma than is possible in this lifetime. Another Chinese school, “Lotus,” is entirely based on the “White Lotus of the True Dharma Sutra,” which tries to reconcile all the branches of Buddhism into one; this tradition gave rise to the Japanese Nichiren school, which begat Saka Gakkai, known for its energetic proselytizing. Mahayana Buddhism once thrived in China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam and Indonesia. Also called the Northern Buddhism, it is now weak in China and has been for most of this century. It has completely disappeared from Indonesia, now a Muslim country. Only about one-third of the population of Korea is still Buddhist; the majority of Koreans are now Christians. In Vietnam, there is now one single form of Buddhism, which resulted from combining Theravada and Mahayana into a single school. It has been considerably weakened by all the wars and revolutions in that country, and by the recent passion for modernization, but it survives in the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh. In Japan, interest in Buddhism is rapidly declining in most sectors of the population and is being displaced by hundreds of so-called New Religions (some of which pay at least a token respect to something vaguely Buddhist in character).
Mahayoga: A division of the Doctrine of Result or phalayana, another epithet of the tantra. The first of three vehicles of inner tantra, predominantly centering on the generative, creative or developing phase. There are two sections of mahayoga: tantra and sadhana. The sadhana section is divided into two sections as well; kama (the Buddha’s word) and terma (or treasure). The basic mahayoga view is to realize the “inseparability of phenomena, or appearance, and great emptiness”. This is the absolute truth. The skillful means to attain this realization is to meditate on everything as the pure appearance of the mandala of deities. This is the relative truth. The activity involves acceptance of the ‘Five meats’, the ‘Five nectars’ as well as the non-differentiation between impure and pure. The result is the attainment of the transcendent integration of the mandala in this life or in the bardo.
Mahottama (S): The Greatest, The Best. Nyingma tutelary deity, a Heruka (Dharma Protectors or Vajra Protectors, S., ishta-devata; T. yidam). Heruka deities are enlightened beings that adopt fierce forms to express their liberation from the world of ignorance. The central paired-deity, Mahottama and his prajna consort, are a peaceful/wrathful manifestation of enlightenment and a form of the Adi Buddha Samantabhadra. Mahottama Heruka may also serve as a personal protective deity. Despite the fierce appearance, the practitioner recognizes that it is the peaceful nature of Mahottama Heruka that serves as a guide and protector.
maithuna (S): Sexual union in a ritual context, as is practiced in vamacara. In dakshinacara, the term is mostly used for the mere visualization of such.
Maitreya (S): from maitri, loving-kindness. Tibetan: Jampa. The Buddha To Come, prophesied to be the Teacher of the next age, and one of the most popular bodhisattvas. He resides in Ganden (S. Tushita) a heavenly paradise until his incarnation. Especially popular in Mongolia and worhsipped in major annual festivals. He is often a seated Bodhisattva whose devotion spans both Theravedic (Hinayana) and Mahayana countries. He is supposed to reappear on earth in human form, for the deliverance of all sentient beings to enlightenment by revealing that which time and ignorance have covered. He will be the last of the five Buddhas to gain supreme enlightenment in this aeon. He holds a lotus stalk in his right hand and may be represented either standing or sitting.
mala (S): T. treng-wa. A string of beads for counting prayers and other spiritual practices. The ideal number of beads is said to be 108.
mandala (S): Circle; sacred space. Tibetan: Khyil-Khor. Lit. circle-surround. A support for a meditating person, a mystical diagram of energy within which deities or their emblems are portrayed in a symmetrically arrange diagram arranged in a basically circular pattern. It represents symbolically the diverse stages that the disciple should go through to arrive at the realization of ultimate buddhood. One uses the Mandala in the transmission of iniations and the practice of tantric rituals. They can also act as an offering in which the disciple offers to the Lama and to the Buddhas, an idealized universe. The mandala is often illustrated as a palace with four gates, facing the four corners of the Earth. A mandala is a representation or symbol for various energies or particular enlightened states of mind. A mandala may be in two dimensions, as in a painting, in three dimensions, such as in the placement of sacred objects, or symbolized by a mudra. The body, a conscious gathering of initiates or even the world at large may be interpreted as a mandala, as they symbolize various aspects of universal energies. A mandala may also be the throne of a particular deity.
mandorla (S): Halo behind an auspicious figure that conveys an added spiritual aura.
mani stone: stone inscribed with the Chenrezi mantra (Om mani padme hum) in Tibetan script and built into walls or cairns on paths in the Himalayan countries.
Manjusri (S): “He who is noble and gentle.” The Bodhisattva of Transcendent Wisdom, typically depicted with the Prajnaparamita Sutra, the book of transcendent wisdom, and a sword which cuts through the clouds of ignorance. He is the Prince of Wisdom who confers mastery of the Dharma–retentive memory, mental perfection and eloquence. With Avalokitesvara and Vajrapani, he is one of the three primary protectors, hailing from Variochana’s Tathagata family.
Manjushrimitra (S): Tibetan: Jampa Shenyen. Buddhist scholar, and possibly a king of Singhala (now Sri Lanka), who is said to have been a student of Garab Dorje, and who was given the Nyingtig teachings both in personal contact and during visionary appearance after his teachers passing. Manjusrimitra classified the teachings he received and transmitted this Dzogchen material to Sri Singha. The problem with this story is that it covers a few centuries in time. If Manjushrimitra knew Garab Dorje, he must have lived in the 2nd or 1st century BCE; placing his disciple Sri Singha not much later. But Sri Singha is also supposed to have had personal contact with Padmasambhava and Vimalamitra (as is also reported in the mid-8th century.
mantra (S): thinking tool. Tibetan: nyak. “Mind protector.” Sanskrit words signifying a sacred word, verse or syllable which embodies in sound the energy of some specific deity or primordial power. Sound tools that guard the mind, protecting it from all intrusion of perturbing thoughts or emotions which dilute meditation. A series of syllables invoking a spiritual power or blessing; a creative sound expressing the innermost essence of understandings. A mantra may be directly meaningful, expressing a wish or affirmation (“Lama, please think of me”) or quite abstract (om mani padme hum). Some are a single or couple of syllables (bija, or seed) containing the germ of a deity or exalted consciousness. Each deity has one or several mentras which corresponds to him/her. Some reflect words spoken by the Buddhas which hold great blessings. The Vajrayana is frequently called Mantrayana or “Vehicle of secret Mantras.”
Mantrayana: S. Vehicle of Awareness Spells. also known as Vajrayana or ‘Diamond Vehicle’, symbolizing indestructibility. The Mantrayana had its origin in small groups of practitioners gathered around an accomplished master or guru. The path based on teachings of the Tantras, known as the Mantrayana, emphasizes the practice of sadhana, the development and completion stages of meditation, and the skillful use of a great many transformational techniques. It is elaborately structured in stages: preliminary practices, study of commentaries, formal initations, and receiving profound oral instructions. The skillful means are taught to fulfill the vision of the Bodhisattva and accelerate the process of awakening. Because of the use of certain sacred syllables or mantras it is referred to as the Mantrayana. From the perspective of the Mantrayana, fully awakened reality abides primordially and intrinsically. This is nature of the ground, our spiritual potential, as pervasive as the sky. It is also the path that brings about recognition and removal of the clouds of emotions and ignorance. It is necessary to receive an empowerment from a lineage holder to practice the secret Mantrayana. There are numerous mantras and skillful means available which have been empowered by the lineage gurus’ wisdom to enable practitioners to move beyond emotional reactivity and be released into the all-encompassing primordial awareness. Vajradhara is the super-human Teacher of the Secret Doctrine upon which the Vajrayana and Mantrayana are based. Asanga founded the Yogacara or contemplative School which developed into the Mantrayana or ‘Path of the Mantra’ about A.D. 700.
Mara (S): Literally, “murderer”. The Evil One who “takes” away the wisdom-life of all living beings.
marga (S): Way or path.
Marpa (1012-97): The “Great Translator” of Tibet, Marpa traveled from Tibet to India three times to bring back various Tantric Buddhist teachings, especially those of his main teacher, Naropa. As a farmer, he lived an ordinary householder’s life, yet was a very accomplished yogi. His most famous student was Jetsun Milarepa. Among the most renowned Tibetan masters and one of the main gurus of the Kagyu lineage.
Mayadevi (S): The mother of Siddhartha Gautama who became the Buddha, and the wife of King Suddhohana. Eldest daughter of the Sakyan King Suprabuddha, she dreamed of a white elephant as she conceived, gave birth while holding on to the branch of a plaksa tree in the garden of Lumbini. She died seven days after giving birth to Gautama. The prince was raised by Mayadevi’s sister, Prajapati who was among the first women to be accepted into the order. Buddha’s cousin Ananda was the son of the youngest of Suprabuddha’s daughters.
Medicine Buddha: the Healing Buddha. Traditionally, there are eight medicine buddhas with their chief portrayed as a powerfully built, dark-blue being, who has promised to help all those who are sick and dying. Bhaisajya-guru is depicted holding a bowl continuing the five kinds of medicines. The puja, performed monthly, helps to clear and avert obstacles due to sickness and diseases. The blessings from Medicine Buddha prevents one from falling into the lower states of rebirth. Those already in a lower state of rebirth will be quickly liberated and will take rebirth in a precious human body. The Healing Buddha mantra is “Om Bhekandze Bekanzhe Maha Bhekandzhe Randza Samungaté soha.” See Myrobalan
Milarepa (1025-1135): The most beloved yogi of Tibet. After killing his abusive relatives through black magic, Milarepa performed hard labor for his teacher, Marpa, to remove the negative karma of murder. After receiving instruction from Marpa, Milarepa diligently performed meditation in the icy caves of the Himalayas. His disciple, Gampopa, founded the Kagyu School. Although Milarepa is considered a forefather of the Kagyü, he was a holder of Nyingma lineage who counted numerous ‘ngakpas’ among his disciples — great Lamas such as Réchungpa. He was a disciple of Marpa the translator and his sangyum, Dagmèma. Milarépa was a ngakpa, who specialised in the practices of the Tummo and Dzogchen Long-dé. In art, Milarepa may be seen wearing the white shawl, representing his practice of Dzogchen Long-dé. He wears the yogi’s earrings and the uncut hair of the gö-kar chang-lo’i dé.
mind: In Buddhism, the mind in its profound nature is clarity-emptiness, bliss-emptiness, that is to say the very essence of buddhahood. For beings who are not liberated, this nature is obscured by conditional veils which have been there from beginningless time; the veils of negative impulses and deluded consciousness. Through the pursuit of an authentic spiritual quest, these veils can be purified and the true nature of the mind, will then reveal itself in Buddhahood.
Mindroling: Mindroling Monastery was founded in the 17th century by Orgyen Terdag Lingpa, who made a great collection of ancient Nyingma Kama texts. It was originally a branch of the monastery founded by the father of gTerdag Lingpa, Sang-dag Thrin-le Lhundrup. Over the years the Mindroling grew to have approximately 111 branch gompas in Tibet.
Mongols: “Kublai Khan told Marco Polo: ‘The Christians worship Jesus, the Saracens worship Mohamed, the Jews worship Moses and the idolaters worship Sakyamuni Burkhan (Buddha).” (Marco Polo in Waugh: 1984…pg 69)
monk: The masters of Buddhism can be separated into several categories according to the vows that they have taken. The lay practicioners (Tibetan: Ge Nyen. Sanskrit: Upasaka) have at least the vow of refuge and perhaps one or several of five precepts which forbid murder, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying and indulging in intoxicants. Novices (Tibetan: Getsul) have taken vows of celibacy and chastity by maintaining ten vows. Fully ordained monks (Tibetan: Gelong. Sanskrit: Bhiksu) are subject also to chastity, and respect a code of discipline explained in the Vinaya by the Buddha himself and which is comprised of 253 diverse vows regulating in the smallest details, the attitude, the behavior, the clothing, the walk, nourishment, etc. of the monks.
moksha (S): Liberation, Release. T. tharpa. Release from transmigration, samsara, the round of births and deaths, which occurs after karma has been resolved and samadhi, or realization of the Self, is attained. Originally developed from Upanishadic teachers. By leading a highly spiritual life (or several lives), a soul could be reunited with Brahman, the Ultimate Reality. Same as mukti.
mudra (S): Seal, attitude. Esoteric hand gestures which express specific energies or powers. Usually accompanied by precise visualizations, mudras are a vital element of ritual worship (puja), dance and yoga. Among the best-known mudras are:
1) abhaya mudra (gesture of fearlessness), in which the fingers are extended, palm facing forward;
2) anjali mudra (palms brought together before the heart, gesture of reverence);
3) jnana mudra (also known as chin mudra and yoga mudra), in which the thumb and index finger touch, forming a circle, with the other fingers extended;
4) dhyana mudra (seal of meditation), in which the two hands are open and relaxed with the palms up, resting on the folded legs, the right hand atop the left with the tips of the thumbs gently touching.
Mudra also designates the spiritual spouse which serves as support in the practice of realization in the Tantras. The “Flaming Mudra” is the gesture which commands the deity being invoked to remember the sacred bond which unites him with the initiated practioner and, in respect of this bond, to come and manifest himself to the practioner.
mukhya (S): Head; foremost. From mukha, “face, countenance.” Leader, guide; such as the family head, kutumba mukhya (or pramukha).
mula (S): Root. The root, base or bottom or basis of anything, as in muladhara chakra. Foundational, original or causal, as in mulagrantha, “original text.”
muladhara chakra (S): Root-support wheel. Four-petaled psychic center at the base of the spine; said to govern memory.
myrobalan (S): Tibetan: men chog gyal po (King of Medicines). The Medicine Buddha, Sangye Menla [Bhaisajyaguru], is usually depicted holding a sprig of the arura or myrobalan plant (terminalia chebula), which bears the nectar of immortality that fills the Medicine Buddha’s bowl. In the Ayurvedic tradition, myrobalan is believed to be a panacea; in Tibetan medicine, the most supreme of drugs.
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Nada (S): Sound; tone, vibration. Metaphysically, the mystic sounds of the Eternal, of which the highest is the transcendent or Soundless Sound, Paranada, the first vibration from which creation emanates. From Paranada comes Pranava, Aum, and further evolutes of nada. These are experienced by the meditator as the nadanadi shakti, “the energy current of sound,” heard pulsing through the nerve system as a constant high-pitched hum, much like a tambura, an electrical transformer, a swarm of bees or a shruti box. Most commonly, nada refers to ordinary sound. See Shabda.
nadi (S): Conduit, or channel. Nerve fiber or energy channel of the subtle (inner) bodies of man. It is said there are 72,000 in a human being. . See channels, winds and drops; chakra, kundalini, raja yoga
Nagarjuna (S): Traditional founder of the Great Vehicle (Mahayana) of Buddhism. According to Buddhist literature, Nagarjuna traveled to the undersea palace of the Dragon Kings (Nagas) where he discovered important documents left there by Shakyamuni Buddha, notably, the Prajnaparamita literature.
nagas (S): Naga goddesses and gods are a mystical, primeval race of divine serpent people that play an important role in religion, mythology, and fairy tales worldwide. They live in oceans, lakes, rivers, springs or wells. Considered as protectors and keepers of the treasures of the water element (magical gems and precious stones) they are often portrayed holding a gem in their hands, being adorned with jewels, or wearing a gem in their crown. Possessing these magical gems (crystallized wisdom-power) exposes them to many enemies, who would like to steal this huge source of power. An arch-rival, the mythological birds called Garudas (T. Shang-shang) fight the Nagas. This fight is the essential force or polarity which creates the worlds of existence. Half-human and half-snake they are associated with having strong magical powers (siddhis), vast esoteric knowledge, and a capricious character which can quickly change from friendly and helpful to angry and malicious. Worshipped in southern India as bringers of fertility and rain, they are also thought to bring disasters such as floods, diseases and drought. In Buddhism Nagas and Naga kings (Nagarajas) play a very important part. Beside the folkloristic beliefs, often mixed with superstition and being more down to earth (Naga offerings are left near lakes, wells, trees etc. for rain, fertility, etc.) there are the higher esoteric levels of meaning for the advanced tantrika. It is said that before the final enlightenment can take place, bodhisattvas of the 9th and 10th level take rebirth in the mystical Naga worlds to get all final necessary empowerments and hidden teachings. It is also stated that the historical Buddha Shakyamuni took rebirth in the Naga realm just before his last incarnation on earth. In the weeks following his enlightenment , Shakyamuni was magically protected by a Naga from the seasonal rains. Rebirth in a Naga realm is auspicious in that one has great potential to reach buddhahood in a very short time without needing further rebirth. These so-called Naga-Buddhas are often invoked to grant special insights and siddhis for the Buddhist practitioner.
Nalanda: Nalanda Monastic University was a center of higher buddhist studies located in north-eastern India. It was founded around the second century by King Shakraditya of Magadha and quickly became a renowned university with a vast library. It is estimated that some ten thousand monks studied there at a time, not just Buddhist teachings of the Hinayana and Mahayana, but also medicine, math, logic and other religions as well. For centuries this was one of the best known places in the world for higher learning; among its notable abbots were Saraha, Nagarjuna, Asanga, Vasubandhu, Naropa, Dharmapala, Dignaga and others. The great middle way philosophy (Madhayamaka) was honed to its highest form here and close connections were developed between Nalanda and Tibet where a center of learning with the same name was started in 1351. Nalanda was said to have been destroyed, it’s library sacked and burned by Muslim raiders, somewhere between the 12th and 13th century.
naljor (T): Yogi; naljorma: yogini.
namah / namo (S): Lit., “Adoration (or homage) to.”
namaste (H): “Reverent salutations to you.” Traditional Indian greeting.
Naropa (1016-1100): A scholar at the famous Nalanda University who left to follow the noted yogi, Tilopa. After undergoing severe hardships under Tilopa, Naropa received teachings and became a renowned yogi. Later some of these teachings became known as the Six Yogas of Naropa and formed a major part of the practices of the Tibetan Kagyu School.
negative attachment: Fear, worry or doubt of the future or a lingering regret about the past that keeps one from flowing with the river of life and living fully in the moment as a compassionate and impartial, spiritual being, facing each experience in the light of understanding.
ngakpas: Tibetan term referring to one who works with mantra. The present day ngakpa tradition consists of ordained, robe wearing members who are neither ‘lay’, nor ‘monastic’, but represent a parallel stream of practice to the better known monastic sangha, and represent an opportunity for western people to establish the highest possible commitment to the Buddhist path without having to become celibate.
ngöndro (T): The preliminary or foundational practices of Tibetan Buddhism, or Vajrayana. Four are general and four are special. First comes a thorough self-motivation through the understanding of four basic facts about life: 1) The rarity and preciousness of our present existence, which can be utilized to reach liberation and enlightenment; 2) Impermanence, that one should use it now as the time of death is uncertain; 3) Karma – cause and effect – that we create our own lives on the basis of our actions; 4) the fact that enlightenment is the only lasting joy. Meditation on the latter in the form of a set of four repetitive but intensely rewarding phrases helps create masses of good imprints in one’s subconscious. These work deeply in the mind, giving increasing joy, and removing the causes of future suffering. Ngondro is the basis for purifying mental habits and recognizing mind both through its nature as energy and as awareness. There are four other distinct practices involved, each a step that leads to specific results. The performance of each phase is to be engaged 100,000 times: Prostrations and Refuge practice; Vajrasattva Mantra Meditation; Mandala Offering Meditations; and Guru Yoga (Meditation on merging with the Teacher).
nilopala: Multi-bloomed flower found in Buddhist iconography, much like the anemone.
Nirmanakaya (S): The Creation Body, the worldly form of a Buddha or other enlightened being.
Nirodha (S): Cessation of suffering, one of the Four Noble Truths.
Nirvana (S): Transcendence of suffering; cessation of birth in Samsara.
Nyingma / Nyingmapa (T): “School of the Ancients” or “Early School,” the Buddhism brought to Tibet by great Indian teachers and translators, also the “Early Translation School.” Founded by Padmasambhava, this is the oldest and second largest of the four Tibetan Buddhist Schools. “The early translation school of the King of the Victorious Ones, Padmasambhava; the Conquerer’s Doctrine; The Sole Swift Path of All the Buddhas; The Supreme Vehicle, The Great Perfection … The Great Tradition of Khenpo Shantarakshita, Lobpon Padmasambhava; and Dharma King Trison Detsen.” It maintains a sophisticated system of study and practice, and its special tantric training is Dzogchen. The Nyingma teachings are uniquely categorized in nine yanas, or vehicles. The main practices are emphasized in the three inner tantras of Maha Yoga, Anu Yoga, and Ati Yoga. Ati Yoga is also known as the Great Perfection (Dzogpa Chenpo or Dzogchen). This is the heart of the Nyingma tradition and is the most ancient and direct stream of wisdom within the Buddhist teachings. Dzogchen incorporates Ch’an-like teachings from Chinese and Central Asian sources of a type rejected after the Samye debates of the 8th century. Nyingma teachings also preserve many tantras derived from India during the first transmission but thought to be apochryphal (and thus non-canonical) by second-transmission schools. The order also gave to Tibetan Buddhism a wealth of terma (treasure texts) hidden by Padmasambhava and discovered by later generations.Nyingma lamas and yogins are not usually required to be celibate. The order’s rituals include many elements that were derived from Tibet’s pre-Buddhist Bon religion.
Nyingthig (T): Heart Essence. A category or class of teachings and its related texts that form the essential part of what is better known as Dzogchen, the “Great Perfection” lineage of teachings at the apex of Vajrayana (also known as ‘Esoteric Tibetan Buddhism’ or ‘Tibetan Tantra’). All Nyingtig teachings are traced to Indian teachers and adepts — Garab Dorje, Manjushrimitra, Sri Singha, Padmasambhava and Vimalamitra; with the latter two actually passing the tradition into Tibet.
The term Nyingthig actually pertains solely to the Mengak-De (pith instructions) group of Dzogchen teachings. Moreover, it often refers in particular to the innermost or most profound and secret core of those pith-instructions, known as Yangsang Lame. They were brought to Tibet separately by both Padmasambhava and Vimalamitra in the 9th century. Padmasambhava, though miraculously born from the compassion of Amitabha and self-realized, received these teachings from Garab Dorje, the first human Dzogchen master. Garab Dorje also taught them to Sri Singha, who passed them on to Manjusrimitra, at least in some versions. The latter’s disciple, Vimalamitra, was later invited to Tibet and also gave transmission there. The form transmitted from Vimalamitra is call the Vima Nyingthig.
Padmasambhava transmitted the Nyingthig teachings to several of his heart students and then had them buried for future discovery. Around the end of the 13th century, Pema Le Drel Sal, an incarnation of Dharma King Trisong Deutsen’s daughter, discovered terma. Because it was transmitted through a female teacher, or khandro, this lineage is called the Khandro Nyingthig. In the early 14th century, the scholar, Kun Khyen Longchen Rabjam (1308-1363) wrote commentaries on each version. In the mid 18th c., after a period of decline, the Nyingtig tradition was once more revitalized by the visionary Jigme Lingpa, who received the wisdom mind of Lonchenpa while meditating in a cave. He combined the two sets of Nyingthig teachings into what is now called the Longchen Nyingthig, or Heart-essence of the Vast Expanse.
Since then, these teachings have continuously grown in importance; especially through the efforts of the 19th century, non-sectarian Rimé movement. The various collections of texts, transmission lineages and teaching cycles are known as: Vima Nyingtig: lineage of Vimalamitra; Khandro Nyingtig: lineage of Padmasambhava; Nyingtig Yabshi: 14th century compilation and commentaries mainly by Longchenpa; Longchen Nyingtig: 18th century terma revealed by Jigme Lingpa. Practitioners of the Nyingtig teachings are variously known as independent, shamanic yogis (Tibetan: Naljor-pa) and yoginis (Naljor-ma) of the Nyingma (“Old School”), rather than the domesticated nuns or monks of most later New School monasteries. These extraordinarily profound teachings explain various essential methods for directly actualizing the innermost teachings of Ati Dzogpa Chenpo, the Great Perfection, which is the direct method for swiftly realizing the ultimate nature of mind and attaining Buddhahood in the Rainbow Body. The Longchen Nyingthig is the main practice at the center of all Dzogchen teachings and pith-instructions.
Nyung-ne (T): Ritual which consists of prayers, recitations of mantras, prostrations and which is accompanied by fast. It is related in general to the practice of Chenrezi with thousand arms, a powerful practice to purify negative karma.
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Obaku (J): The smallest and least known of the three remaining schools of Zen in Japan.
Oddiyana (S): Also, Uddiyana. Tibetan: Orgyen. A kingdom northwest of India to which tradition ascribes the origin of the Dzogchen teachings of the Buddhist tradition. For a long time, Oddiyana was regarded as a legendary and mythical place, a symbolical realm of the dakinis; divine/demonic “sky dancing women” of the Hindu and Tibetan pantheon. But as with the Greek city of Troy, Oddiyana has been located. This ancient kingdom was in the Swat Valley, west of Kashmir and now part of Northern Pakistan. In contemporary maps and non-Buddhist publications, the name is often written as Udyana. The mountainous kingdom may have also bordered on Turkestan and may have extended from Western Tibet to Afghanistan. It is widely believed that in the country of Oddiyana there was a great lake named Danakosha. Eight years after the death of Shakyamuni, an extraordinarily large lotus flower appeared in this lake, upon which the great Lotus born Guru, Padmasambhava, appeared in this world in the form of an eight year old boy. Uddiyana was the homeland of Tibet’s most beloved teachers (Garab Dorje, Padmasambhava, King Indrabhuti , Luipa, Tilopa) and the Vajrayana Buddhism’s most influential teachings, including Dzogchen. Before the Muslim invasion in the 12th century, Oddiyana seems to have been a center of tantric theory and practice that attracted adepts and masters from different backgrounds; and from here they also went forth to teach their newly found insights elsewhere. Oddiyana’s close proximity to the famous Silk Road, then the most important trade route between China, Afghanistan, the Near East and Europe, aided this constant traffic in ideas, and it also helps explain the traces of Chinese influence often said to be present in Dzogchen. The language of Uddiyana was different from Tibetan and many of the originating texts were translated, passing into the tradition of the early Nyingma school during the “first dispersion” (c.600-836). This was a period during which many Buddhist scriptures were translated into the then newly improved Tibetan alphabet and grammar; a language strongly influenced by Sanskrit and more or less designed in c. 645 by Thonmi Sambhota. Note: One of the lesser known schools of Vajrayana is known as Orgyenpa.
(courtesy of Rupert C. Camphausen)
Om (S): Sanskrit bija, or seed syllable, “the Vajra body of all Buddhas.” Alternate transliteration: Aum (the sounds A and U blend to become O). It invokes the power of universal creativity and resonates with current of the all-pervading divine energy of being, thus is used at the beginning of many mantras.
Om Mani Padme Hum (S); Om Mani Peme Hung (T): Famous Six-syllable Mantra used most often by practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism, invoking the wisdom and power of the Buddha of compassion, Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara). This is the mantra typically found in prayer wheels. Literally translated: “OM – the jewel in the lotus – HUM,” the jewel being the primordial reality of awareness and the lotus being organic existence.
Opame (T): Amitabha, the Buddha of Limitless Light.
Orissa: A state on the eastern coast of India which flourished as a center of Buddhism from the 3rd century b.c.e. to the 12th or 13th century c.e. In the 3rd century b.c.e., Orissa was considered within or adjoining the Mauryan Empire and was known in part as Kalinga. The third king of the Maurya Empire, Asoka, undertook to conquer Kalinga and succeeded at the cost of much bloodshed. Seeing the horrors of war, Asoka repented and decided to devote his life to spiritual achievement. He seriously embraced the study and practice of Buddhism and began to incorporate the Dharma into his reign. Reflecting this change throughout his kingdom, Asoka had stone monuments inscribed with edicts covering law and administration, morality, and tolerance for religious practice that were the result of his newfound spirituality. Two such monuments were inscribed with edicts specifically written for the people of Kalinga. The following centuries saw the creation of Buddhist monasteries, stupas, shrines and statues in various locations throughout Orissa. Around the 8th-9th centuries Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism developed in the area as indicated by the sculptures of the time.
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padma (S): lotus
Padmapani Avalokitesvara: the Bodhisattva of Great Compassion. The supreme emanation of Amitabha Buddha who took the vow to save all human beings from inconceivable suffering. A Bodhisattva is one whose essence is perfect knowledge, who works for the sake of liberating others. The name Padmapani means “the bearer of the lotus of compassion”, and Avalokitesvara “he who gazes over all the realms”.Avalokitesvara is the patron deity of Tibet, known as Chenrezig in Tibetan, emanating through the incarnations of the Dalai Lama. His pure land is known as Potala. From his tears of compassion were born the two goddesses of compassion and mercy, Green and White Tara. With the spread of Buddhism into Central Asia and China the forms of Padmapani and Tara were often united into the form of Kuan-yin, merging both male and female aspects of compassion. Avalokitesvara is invoked by his six syllable mantra, Om Mani Padme Hum.
Padmasambhava (S): “Lotus Born.” Tibetan: Guru Rinpoche. Precious Guide., ca. 730 – ca. 805. One of the Mahasiddhas, commonly referred to as the “Second Buddha,” Padmasambhava was among the great Indian Tantric masters renowned for effecting changes in the phenomenal world through spiritual power. He is regarded as an incarnation of three holy personalities: Gautama Buddha was his body, Amitabha Buddha his speech, and the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara his mind. Padmasambhava is described as a tantric adept, an enlightened yogi, meditation master and healer who established the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition in Tibet and founded it’s first monastery. Padmasambhava was supremely accomplished in the esoteric arts and used his powers to defeat many demons and black magic practitioners in Tibet in the 8th century. He is the principal founder of the first school of Tibetan Buddhism, the Nyingma. He was invited by the Tibetan King Trisong Detsen to bring his knowledge to Tibet and he stayed 50 years, founding monasteries and teaching tantric doctrine. According to tradition, Guru Rinpoche flew to the Og-Min Heaven and met the Adi Buddha, from whom he received the main doctrine of the Nyingmapa School, the Great Perfection or Dzogpa Chenpo. He was received by a dakini who gave him a Body Initiation, proving that his body was the result of three holy incarnations: Buddha Gautama (Shakyamuni), Buddha Amitabha, and the great Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. Further, he obtained the fourth initiation of Great Perfection from Sri Singha, the true Manjusri. Sri Singha pointed up to the sky and said, “I have accomplished Buddhahood without any other teaching but only this sky. Since then my mind has never been disturbed.” After saying this, Sri Singha flew to the Five-Peaked Mountain in China where, as foretold by Buddha, was the holy place of Manjusri. Guru Rinpoche also obtained blessings and teachings from Bhaisajyaguru (Medicine Buddha) and learned astrology from Manjusri. All of these teachings have been preserved in the Nyingma teachings and doctrines, handed down through several lineages of teachers and yogis, all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
He has many forms including an important set of eight that are depicted in Tantric art. He is seated on a lotus with a red cap, the legs crossed, the right hand holding a dorje (vajra) and the left resting in his lap. He is said to be the son of Indrabhuti, another famous sage involved with the spreading of Tantra and the establishment of Vajrayana in Tibet. When battling demons of the then-prevalent shamanic Bön religion, Guru Pema — as he came to be called — sometimes resorted to female “manifestations” of himself, for example as the lion-headed Simhamukha. At other times, the hero himself felt that he needed certain initiations and knowledge that was possessed by Tibet’s female adepts, and he did not shrink from actually begging for it, as he does in the fascinating story of Surya Chandrasiddhi. As a true Tantric, the master initiated, made love to, and in turn was initiated by a number of ladies; and he took care that all the countries he wanted to enlighten (i.e. turn to Buddhism) were represented in his choice of women. These five partners or consorts, each of whom is regarded as an emanation/incarnation of Vajravarahi, were the following:
Belmo Sakya Devi of Nepal; the emanation of Vajravarahi’s Mind
Belwong Kalasiddhi of India; the emanation of Vajravarahi’s Quality
Mandarava of Zahor; the Dakini of Knowledge; the emanation of Vajravarahi’s Body
Mangala (Monmo Tashi Khye’u-‘dren) of the Himalayas; emanation of Vajravarahi’s Activity
Yeshe Tsogyal of Tibet; the emanation of Vajravarahi’s Speech
The year of his birth is not on record but must have been quite some time before 757, the year of his arrival in Tibet (after his departure from India’s famous Nalanda University). Of course, it is said that he was born eight years after the Buddha, which would put it somewhere around 477 bc. He left Tibet in 804, after having founded the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery at Samye. His biography, written by Yeshe Tsogyal, is known as Padma Kathang and has been published as The Lotus Born in English.
Padma Kathang (T): A collective name for several (slightly different) versions of the biography of Padmasambhava (c.730-c.805), a work that was originally written by his consort and student, Yeshe Tsogyal (757-817). It is a beautiful and poetic work that allows the reader to form a rather detailed picture of the main characters, Guru Rinpoche and his intimate students, and of life in Tibet during the coming of Buddhism and its initial struggle with the indigenous Bön religion. The texts are especially valued among members of the Nyingmapa school and the practitioners of Dzogchen. The Kathang literature consists of several terma, each of which was revealed by a different terton at a different time. One of these is generally known as the Sheldrakma, a text discovered by terton Urgyan Lingpa (b.1323). Another version, a terma revealed about 200 years earlier by terton Nyang Ral Nyima Öser (1124-1192), is the Sanglingma.
Palden Lhamo (T): Sanskrit: Shridevi. The female companion of Mahakala and his equal in power. She is depicted in a peaceful form as Machig Palden Lhamo, sitting on a lotus, wearing a crown of jewels, holding a bowl of jewels in her left hand and holding a standard of rainbow colors in her right. In her wrathful form, she rides a mule, has flaming red hair, three red eyes and sharp fangs.
Pali: The canon of texts preserved by the Theravada school and, by extension, the language in which those texts are composed.
Palyul: The Palyul lineage began in 1665 when the Vidyadhara Kunzang Sherab (1636-1699) assumed the position of head of the newly built Palyul Monastery. His root guru, the hidden treasure revealer Min-gyur Dorje had instructed Kunzang Sherab to take charge of the monastery and work for the welfare of sentient beings. Under his guidance, the monastery grew and over one thousand branch monasteries were founded in China and Tibet by adepts of the Palyul Lineage. A strong focus on discipline and meditation has led to its fame as the tradition of accomplishment.
Panchen Lama (T): “Guru who is a great scholar”, an honorific title conferred by the Great 5th Dalai Lama on his master, the abbot of Tashi Lhumpo Monastery. The title of successive incarnations of Sakya Pandita who reside in Tashilunpo. The Dalai Lamas are believed to be incarnations of Avalokiteshvara, but the 5th Dalai Lama declared his teacher was on an even higher level, a manifest incarnation of the Dharmakaya Buddha Amitabha. The Panchen Lamas were the teachers of the Dalai Lamas, and were considered to be incarnations of Amitabha. His spiritual authority is second only to that of the Dalai Lama within the Gelugpa sect. The Panchen Lama reincarnates again and again, but, unlike the Dalai Lama he has no political responsibilities. In case of the death of the Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama holds the position of HHDL’s spiritual representative. As a result of the socio-political machinations of the Chinese in the mid-twentieth century the Panchen Lama did begin to hold political office. The Panchen Lama is now a title like Vice President or Prime Minister that Tibetans identify with the second greatest leader of Tibet. The current Panchen Lama was 6 years old when he and his parents were kidnapped from their home in Tibet by the Chinese government. He is the world’s youngest political prisoner and has been missing for over four years. Visit this site to find out more about the Panchen Lama:
http://www.tibet.ca/panchenlama/
pandit / pandita (S): Master of the Buddhist arts and sciences. Specifically, the pandit masters the five principal and secondary categories of traditional indian knowledge. Medicine; sound and psychoacoustics; the Dharma (interior knowledge); reasoning; religious art; astrology; poetry; periphrasis or circumlocution; harmonious composition; the applied arts.
Pang Mipham Gonpo: Disciple of the great translator Vairocana. Although in his 80s when he met his teacher, Pang Mipham Gonpo was able to manifests the rainbow body.
paramita (S): Lit. gone-beyond, ie, Perfection. The paramitas are the framework of the bodhisattva’s religious practice, usually consisting of six categories, sometimes ten. The six are:
1. the perfection of charity (dana)
2. virtue (sila)
3. perseverance (kshanti)
4. vigor (virya)
5. meditation (dhyana)
6. wisdom (prajna).
The 10 paramitas feature the same six with the additional being phases in the maturation of prajna. These are the perfection of skillful means (upaya), vows, powers, and transcendent wisdom (S. jnana, T. ye-she). This tenth paramita is also referred to as Cloud of Dharma.
Patanjali (S): A Saivite Natha siddha (c. 200 bce) who codified the ancient yoga philosophy which outlines the path to enlightenment through purification, control and transcendence of the mind. One of the six classical philosophical systems (darshanas) of Hinduism, known as Yoga Darshana. His great work, the Yoga Sutras, See: raja yoga, yoga.
Pemako (Padma Ko) (T): A “beyul” or “hidden land” located on the border between Kham and northeastern India, one of the 108 beyul scattered throughout the Himalayan region. These remote areas were empowered by Padmasambhava as sacred environments where the outer elements are in harmony and blessings are ever present. Spiritual realization is easily attained in such places and, in some cases, the beyul also act as sanctuaries providing protection in times of war or famine. Guidebooks on how to get to the hidden lands were written by Padmasambhava and concealed as terma to be revealed when the appropriate conditions arose. In the case of Pemako, the terma regarding its location was first revealed by Rigdzin Jetsun Nyingpo (1585-1656). Another guidebook was later discovered by Rigdzin Dudu1 Dorje (1615-1672) who then opened up the area although it was not until the late 18th century that it became a place of pilgrimage.
Phowa (T): “Transference of Consciousness.” A meditation practice based on transferring one’s consciousness out of the body. This practice enables one to have confidence in reaching liberation at the time of death, even if one has not had the opportunity to devote large amounts of time and energy to the practice of meditation beforehand.
Phrom: The country of Phrom, where King Gesar ruled over the Turks (Eastern Turkestan). King Gesar ruled from Rum (Byzantium or Anatolia), the ancient Rome of the Near East. Known as Gesar of Ling, note that “Ling” is a Tibetan abbreviation of the term denoting the whole world, (as in ‘Dzam-ling, Skt., Jambudvipa). Gesar conquered most of western-central Asia in the 7th Century CE, probably ruling Anatolia from Byzantium.
Phurba (T): Nail or wedge. A magical tent-stake or dagger derived from Bön for ritually subduing demons. Originally associated with necromancy, the use of the phurba was introduced into the practice of Tibetan Buddhism by Padmasambhava. As a system for the direct transmutaton of negative forces, it plays a central role in a system of meditative practice that was also transmitted by Yeshe Tsogyel. The actual phurba is a three-edged knife with a handle often in the shape of half of a dorje or bearing the images of the countenance of a wrathful deity. They are usually made of either made of wood, iron, bronze or brass. Phurbas are used in tantric ceremonies to exorcise demons (physical and psychological obstacles) or as a spiritual nail to pin down the distractions of greed, desire and envy. The origin of the phurba is associated with a long Tantra presented by Padmasambhava at the beginning of his journey to Tibet. Vajrakilaya, a deity sometimes personified as a winged phurba plays an important role as a yidam in both the Sakya and Nyingma schools.
Pipal: The pipal is a fig tree (Ficus religiosa) of India, also know as a Bo tree. The Latin name reflects the story that Gautama Buddha received enlightenment under a Bo tree at Bodh Gaya. A slip of this very tree was planted at Anuradhapura in present day Sri Lanka by Sanghamitta, the founder of an order of Buddhist nuns in the 3rd centuryb.c.e. It is now considered one of the oldest living trees on the earth. The pipal tree can grow very large, up to 100 feet high. The fallen leaves are often decorated with drawings and prayers and sold to pilgrims.
pitta (S): Hot bile. In Ayurvedic medicine, pitta is bodily heat-energy that governs nutritional absorption, body temperature, and intelligence. It is one of three bodily humors (doshas); the fire humor.
practices of liberation: The main practice is to continue in the state of naked awareness, or rigpa. Its secondary practices can be varied and act as a support if one understands and applies the significance of Bodhicitta . The key function is to overcome self-impossed limitations and dualistic conceptualization.
prajna (S): discriminating wisdom, T. she-rab. Fundamental wisdom or insight; the sixth Paramita.
Prajnaparamita (S): Literally, ‘wisdom gone beyond’ also called Mahaprajnaparamitra, and the name given to one of the most important collection of texts in Mahayana Buddhism. Know as the Great Sutra of Perfect Wisdom That Reaches the Other Shore, it refers to a series of about 40 Mahayana sutras which all deal with the realization of Prajna or Transcendent Wisdom and the Doctrine of Emptiness. They are part of the Vaiputiya-sutra of the Mahayana and are said to have been composed around the beginning of the common era. Some of vthese works were written in Sanskrit and then translated into both Tibetan and Chinese before the originals went up in flames, torched by Islamic fanatics near the end of the 13th century. The sutras in this collection that are best known in the west are The Diamond Sutra (Vajrachechedika) and the Heart Sutra (Mahaprajnamitra-hridya-sutra). Their most important interpreter was Master Nagarjuna. Most of these sutras are dedicated to the Arhat Subhuti and are said to have been delivered on Vulture Peak . The oldest part is probably the Ashtasahasrika. It contains 8,000 verses and is composed of discussions the Buddha had with several of his students and constitutes the basis of all the other Prajnaparamitra sutras.. *** Also, Prajnaparamita is the name of the four-armed female Buddha who represents perfect wisdom. Her mantra, TADYATHA OM GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA is part of the Heart Sutra.
praktimosha (S): The code of five ethical precepts taken for either a specified length of time or permanently, by both layman and monks. These consist of vows not to kill, lie, steal, engage in sexual misconduct or intoxicants.
Pramana: In the tradition of buddhist logic, pramana is concerned with sources of knowledge, the means of valid cognition and how we know what we know. Masters Dignaga (5th-6th c.) and Dharmakirti (6th-7th c.) elaborated a system of pramanas which taught that there are two sources of knowledge; inference and direct perception. What is valid knowledge of perception is commonly established by the 3 analyses 1) investigating perception. e.g.; by looking we can see that there is a tree. But not all knowledge is perceptual; one may employ valid inference using reliable signs- e.g.; you hear a bird outside, and by that you infer that a bird is there. This is not just unsupported opinion. 2) Inferential investigation shows that we have a justification for our conclusion although it is not the highest certainty either. Wisdom could have direct perception of the bird, just as when we directly see a sparrow in front of us. It sees the nature of things as they are, e.g.; emptiness, impermanence etc. Things that are very hidden and hard to discover and cannot even be known by reasons can still be known by 3) investigation of true words. For example the Buddha predicted certain events that later actually occurred. He predicted that various good things would happen if certain practices were followed. Those who believed him eventually verified this. Such teachings are beyond ordinary thought. They cannot be immediately verified by normal mental processes, but later can be by wisdom. For example, in the beginning we cannot verify that all beings have Buddha nature. We must take it on trust. But if we become enlightened, we can see the truth of this for ourselves. It becomes direct perception. Therefore, through these three investigations, we can eventually verify for ourselves with certainty that the Buddha’s teaching is reliable. Pramana, tshad ma, means perfect, reliable, valid, authentic, and non-erroneous. It can be applied to perfect persons, correct perception, valid logical inference, trustworthy scripture, and so forth. Of course we must give reasons why this is so, since no one thinks their own doctrine is invalid.
“Attaining pramana is not simply that one has true ideas or perceptions, but that one becomes a genuine being as a whole.”
-the above comments on Pramana are based on the teachings and words of KPSR
Pramodavajra (S) Tibetan: Garab Dorje. Indestructible Joy. Also called Prahevajra, and Surati Vajra. Early yogin and tantric adept who apparently lived in the century when BCE turned into CE; with dates ranging from 184 BCE – 57 CE. His life story, according to the tradition, is full of miraculous events and powers, yet Tibetans regard him nevertheless as a historical figure as well. Born in Oddiyana from the womb of a royal nun, Garab Dorje is generally regarded as the actual originator of Dzogchen. Regarded as a nirmanakaya-emanation (see Trikaya) of the Buddha Vajrasattva, Garab Dorje received all the 6.4 million tantras and oral instructions of Dzogchen directly from the heavenly realm and thus became the first human vidyadhara (Skt., knowledge holder, T. rig-dzin) in the Dzogchen lineage. Having reached the state of complete enlightenment, he then transmitted these teachings to his retinue of exceptional beings, among whom Manjushrimitra is regarded as the chief who in turn passed them on to Sri Singha. Centuries later, also Vairocana and Padmasambhava are known to have received the transmission of the Dzogchen tantras from Garab Dorje’s wisdom form; i.e. through a direct vision on Lake Dhanakosa in Oddiyana. Garab Dorje composed a text known as “The Natural Freedom of Ordinary Characteristics,” yet is especially famous for his “three incisive precepts” or “Three Lines that Strike at the Vital Point”; his last testament in the form of three essential statements given to Manjushrimitra; summing up the teachings of Dzogchen:
1. direct introduction to one’s own nature.
2. deciding that there is nothing other than this to be attained
3. directly continuing with confidence in liberation.
prana (S): Vital Air. Tibetan: rLung, “vital wind.” Chinese: Chi, “vital energy .” Life Force. From the root “pran,” to breathe.” Prana in the human body moves in the pranamaya kosha as five primary life currents known as vayus, “vital airs or winds.” These are prana (outgoing breath), apana (incoming breath), vyana (retained breath), udana (ascending breath) and samana (equalizing breath). Each governs crucial bodily functions, and all bodily energies are modifications of these. Usually prana refers to the life principle, but sometimes denotes energy, power or the animating force of the cosmos.
pranayama (S): Breath control.” See: Raja Yoga.
Prasanga: This word refers to the undesired consequences or contradictions revealed through reasoning and ‘reductio ad absurdum’ logic employed to dismantle concepts, theories and philosophical propositions. Thus Prasangika means making use of contradiction to reduce fallacious thinking to absurdities. Among the Madhyamika schools, the Prasangika Madhyamika continues what was set into motion with Nagarjuna, Aryadeva and Chandrakirti, who were among its early proponents, and persists today as the predominant philosophical view of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism, as ably propounded by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
prayer wheels: Cylinders filled with copies of the mantra “Om Mani Padme Hum,” as many as possible, printed on very thin tisssue paper (or these days on microfilm). The paper is wound around a spindle and covered with the free-floating protective cylinder. The wheels are made to be turned by hand, wind or water.
preta (S): Hungry ghost; T. yi-dvags. A lower dimensional being subject to intense suffering being plagued by deep attachments with manifest an immense hunger and thirst which are impossible to satiate.
prostrations: Whole bodily gesture of devotion and submission performed before the teacher or an empowered shrine. In the Tibetan preliminary or “foundational” practices, called ‘ngondro,’ practitioners chant or recite 100,000 purification mantras; mentally creates 100,000 offerings (mandalas); 100,000 mantra repetitions of the guru while mentally realizing that the teacher is a reflection of one’s true nature; and 100,000 prostrations, while seeking refuge in the Three Jewels; Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. When doing prostations, the practitioner touches the crown of the head, the throat, and the heart (standing for body, speech, and mind), lies down full-length on the floor, then comes back to a standing position and starts over. Most Tibetan Buddhists also prostrate three times on entering any sacred space such as a temple, to show respect for the teachings and let go of mundane concerns.
Protectors, Dharma Protectors: Tibetan: Cheu Chyong. There are three kinds: Jigtenpa, unenlightened energy-fields believing in a “self” are better avoided, they may be very difficult customers. If controlled by yogis like Guru Rinpoche, they become Damzigpas, held positive by the promise not to harm beings. They often look somewhat “unusual” and, gradually becoming Bodhisattvas, manifest a vertical wisdom-eye in their foreheads. The most important protectors are direct emanations of the Buddhas: male Mahakalas and female Mahakalis. They are harmonious in outer appearance and are always from the eighth Bodhisattva-level and up. From the taking of Buddhist Refuge they ensure that every experience becomes a part of the practitioner’s way towards Enlightenment. The Dharma Protectors are a category of deities whose rituals aim at the destruction, of all internal and external adverse forces which arise to menace either ones own spiritual practice, or that of another or the Dharma in general. These deities are tied to the Buddhas by oath to defend the Dharma and its practioners under all circumstances. They present unpleasant and wrathful aspects with the goal of repelling harmful beings that require such an appearence for their taming.
provisional and definitive meaning: Tibetan: trangdon [and] ngedön. On a general level, provisional meaning is for general, or relative, communication. A teacher teaches in provisional terms to a disciple because the audience could only understand duality or dualistic terms. Listeners who understand the essence can experience definitive meaning.
Pudgalavadin: See Vatsiputriya
psychic powers: Sanskrit: siddhis, T. ngo-drub. Also, the Six Psychic Powers: the heavenly eye; the heavenly ear; power with regard to past lives; power with regard to the mind; spiritually based psychic powers; the extinction of outflows.
puja (S): Worship, adoration. A ceremony in which prayers are offered to the deities to draw down their blessings or invoke their help. Pujas are performed to avert and clear the three types of obstacles, conditions which prevent us from achieving our worldly and spiritual goals. There are three types of obstacles: Worldly obstacles: those affecting day to day life, relationships, business, finances. Inner obstacles: emotions that affect health or mental state. Secret obstacles: subtlest patterns obstructing the attainment of innate wisdom. Pujas are also performed for the dying, to help pacify their mind, and for the deceased to bless and guide their mind to a higher state of rebirth and liberation. The type of puja performed depends on the type of affliction and the individual’s connection to the deity.
punya (S): Virtue or merit.
pure land: A land purified of evil, suffering, and difficulties through the work of a bodhisattva, or bodhisattvas. Pure lands are the subject of a genre of Mahayana scriptures, the most widely known being the Sutras discussing the pure land of the Buddha Amitabha, called Sukhavati (‘Blissful’), or Tibetan “Dewa-chen,” land of great bliss. In Indian Buddhism, these sutras seem to have been a minor current of devotional theology geared towards the less philosophically inclined, a current which would blossom into a major trend in China and Japan. This culminated into the Pure Land Sect of Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, which aimed to be a ‘populist’ sect catering to the spiritual needs of those lay Buddhists who were not able or willing to tread the highly disciplined and philosophical paths typical of the monastically oriented Buddhist sects. In China, the Pure Land Sect would be eclipsed by the Ch’an (J. zen) sect, who succeeded in becoming the dominant ‘populist’ sect (and which would literally absorb the Pure Land sect and adopt many of its practices, such as the chanting of Amitabha’s name). In Japan, the Pure Land sect would be more successful, splintering into a number of sub-sects. Its core methods were plagiarized to some extent by Nichiren, who would found a Tendai-oriented sect which chanted the title of the Lotus Sutra, rather than the name of Amitabha Buddha. Because of their populist character, both Nichiren and Pure Land Buddhism continue to thrive in Japan.
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Rahula (S): Literally, “fetter” or “impediment.” The son of Siddhartha Gautama born shortly before he chose to leave the palace as a homeless wandere and seek enlightenment. Rahula later became a buddhist monk.
Rainbow body: This term relates to one of the highest attainments when, upon dying, the corporeal form is transformed into a body of light, primordial awareness, a ‘light without shadow.’ At the time of death the adept’s physical body and mind are dissolved into the pure radiance of deathless awareness. The only worldly remains left behind are bits of hair and nails. Reports of the attainment of rainbow bodies persist throughout the history of Vajrayana Buddhism up until the present time, both in Tibet and India.
Raja Yoga: “King of yogas.” Also known as ashtanga yoga, “eight-limbed yoga.” The classical yoga system of eight progressive stages to Illumination as described in various yoga Upanishads, the Tirumantiram and, most notably, the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The eight stages are: yama (restraints), niyama (observances), asana (posture), pranayama (breath control) pratyahara (withdrawal), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (enstasy, mystic oneness).
Ratnasambhava (S): Jewel-born. Tibetan: Rinchen Jung-né. The third of the five Transcendental Buddhas, associated with the southern direction. With his right hand he makes the mudra of generosity. Seated upon a throne supported by horses, his body is a rich golden yellow and represents the primordial wisdom of equality. He is associated with the skandha of feeling-sensation and the transformation of pride.. His consort is called Mamaki, (T. She who makes mine).
Refuge: Tibetan: kyab. A reorientation towards values that can be trusted. One takes refuge in the state of Buddha as the goal, in the Dharma – the teachings – as the way, and in the Sangha – the practitioners – as one’s friends and companions on the way. These are called the Three Jewels. To practice Vajrayana, one needs the additional Refuge in the Three Roots, which are Lama, Yidam and Protector. They are the sources of blessing, inspiration and protection along the way.
reincarnation: Sanskrit: Punarjanma. “Re-entering the flesh.” In the Hindu systems, it is the process wherein souls take on a physical body through through the birth-death cycle. In Hinduism, the cycle ends when karma has been resolved and the Self God (Parashiva) has been realized. This condition of release is called moksha (liberation). The soul continues to evolve and mature, but without the need to return to physical existence. In Buddhism, the cycle ends when one awakens to one’s true nature, also called “enlightenment.” Technically though, in Buddhadharma, there is no actual being who moves in and out of the flesh, but rather a continuity (S. santana) of causes and effects which is sometimes expressed physically. Therefore, the term rebirth (as a step in a cyclic process) rather than reincarnation (implying an entity who is returning to the flesh) is preferred. In Mahayana Buddhism, practitioners vow to seek enlightenment and take rebirth in the cycle until all other sentient beings have been liberated. Such practitioners are termed Bodhisattvas.
Rimé : Lit. “unbiased” -the term applied to the current in Tibetan Buddhism that originated in eastern Tibet in the 19th century. It arose from the need to overcome closed-minded sectarian biases in the evaluation of the doctrinal traditions of the various schools and to accept each tradition on its own merits, emphasizing the generally broad common ground shared by all the schools. The movement was initiated by Jigme Lingpa and championed by the Sakyapa teacher Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820-1892). Among his students, the most important were Chögyur Dechen Lingpa (1829-1870) and Jamgon Kongtrul the Great (1811-1899). The fundamental attitude of unbiasedness in this movement was most evident in the person and work of Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Thaye. The rimé movement attracted several outstanding scholars whose writings comprise the authoritative texts used by many modern Tibetan teachers, especially those of the Nyingma and Kagyu traditions. The influence of the Rimé teachers and succeeding generations of their students was a clear structuring of doctrinal and practical materials, based on the example of the Gelugpa school. The process within the Rimé movement of reviving transmissions of teachings that had been thought lost and providing them with fresh commentary also embraced the traditions of the other schools. Works of the Kagyüpa, Sakyapa, Kadampa (a.k.a. Gelugpa) and Chöd lineages are also found in the Rimé collection of texts. Additionally, the Rimé teachers advocated revival of the Bön teachings. Besides their religious activities, they also found time to be politically active as mediators with the central government in Lhasa.
rinpoche (T): Honorific title used by Tibetans for highly respected spiritual teachers; literally, “Precious Jewel,” or “Great Precious One.” Reserved properly for incarnate lamas and eminent spiritual teachers. It is used as both a term of address, and as the last element of the name.
Rinzai (J): One of the three remaining schools of Zen in Japan, it was founded by Rinzai Gigen in China during the Tang Dynasty. It is known for the use of koans as a way to enlightenment.
Riwoche (T): A non-sectarian monastery in Kham (eastern Tibet) where both Kagyu and Nyingma traditions were practiced. The original Riwoche Monastery in the Riwoche region of Kham in eastern Tibet was home to 1,000 resident monks and was famous for the strength of its teaching and practice, its history filled with many wondrous and miraculous events. Trinley Jampa Jungne, the seventh Jedrung Rinpoche, was a high-ranking teacher at Riwoche Monastery and an important Nyingma lama. Jedrung Rinpoche also was a terton — his terma name was Dudjom Namkhai Dorje – and was one of the three principle root gurus of His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche, the late Jigdral Yeshe Dorje. Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche was trained at Riwoche. Riwoche was occupied in 1911 and temporarily served as a garrison for Chinese troops during a short-lived invasion of Tibet. The monastery was greatly damaged in the early 1960s during Red Chinese occupation.
Root Lama: Or root guru, root teacher. Tibetan: Tsa-wai Lama. Teacher from whom one has learned the most about ; from whom one has received empowerments, instructions, and precepts which form the core of one’s own practice.
Roots, Three Roots: Tibetan: tsa-wa sum. Guru, yidam, and dharmapalas; an expanded form of refuge invoked in the vajrayana. The guru is the source of inspiration and enables one to experience the nature of one’s own mind. The yidams are the source of siddhis. Yidams are sambhogakaya forms – subtle manifestations of dharmakaya – only directly experienced by realized bodhisattva. In the vajrayana they are visualized as objects of meditation. As meditational deities, yidams embody the practitioner’s enlightened nature. The dharmapalas and dakinis are also sambhogakaya forms. They are the source of actions and protect the practitioner from obstacles along the way to buddhahood. Both yidams and dharmapalas are in their essence inseparable from the guru.
Roshi (J): An honorific title given to a Zen Buddhist master. Literally “old man,” this title is also denotes a lineage holder.
Rudra : The word rudra is sometimes used for wrathful herukas in the Akanistha pure realm who appear standing on top of the bodies of different beings in order to subjugate them, or for emanations of buddhas or bodhisattvas in the fields of those needing training, in accordance with that particular field. It is more commonly used to designate a being born in a malignant form as a result of broken tantric commitments in previous lives. This type of rudra is usually accompanied by a retinue of other beings of less power but similar karma. Their main activity is to cause obstacles to the propagation of the teaching of the secret mantrayana. For this reason, special practices to slay and liberate rudras are performed before important ceremonies. The practices to subjugate rudras are always wrathful, as peaceful means are ineffective in this regard. The Vajrakilaya tantras were given to us by Guru Padmasambhava because he realized we would experience obstacles to our practice of the secret mantrayana by these malignant forces.
rudraksha (S): “Eye of Rudra; or red-eyed.” Refers to the third eye, or ajna chakra. Marble-sized, multi-faced, reddish-brown seeds from the Eleocarpus ganitrus, or blue marble tree, which are sacred to Siva and a symbol of His compassion for humanity. Garlands, rudraksha mala, of larger seeds are worn around the neck by monks, and nonmonastics, both men and women, often wear a single bead on a cord at the throat. Smaller beads (usually numbering 108) are strung together as a mala, or rosary, for mantra meditations and chanting. Rudrashka malas are also used by Tibetan Buddhists.
rupa (S): Tibetan: zug. Body. Also Buddharupa. Statue or image of a buddha or other enlightened being. Also, in the system of interdependent origination, rupa is half of the fourth nidana, the other being name, together comprising nama-rupa or name and form, a reference to the five skandhas, one of which is form (rupa), the other four being mental faculties (nama).
S
sadhaka (S): practitioner
sadhana (S): Tibetan: Drub-tob, method of accomplishment. 1. Religious or spiritual disciplines, such as puja, yoga, meditation, japa, fasting and austerity. The effect of sadhana is the building of willpower, concentration, faith and confidence in oneself and in the guru. 2. A highly structured technical text focussing on Deity Yoga using various meditation and recitation techniques. The basic tool for practicing the Two Stages of Yoga – Generation and Perfection. The stages of a practice guiding one to realization.
Saha world: Refers to the realm of existence where sentient beings must suffer the results of great delusion. Saha translates as “bearing” and “enduring.” The world where beings endure immense suffering. The opposite of a Pure Land. “Our way of appearance is to wander about in the cycle of existence, driven by the attachment to a self. We perceive as a self what does not exist as a self, as mine what doesnot exist as mine, and experience manifold suffering under the sway of this perception.” -Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche.
Sakya (T): Also Sakyapa – “School of the Gray Earth.” One of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Stressing the study of philosophy, this school has contributed some of the most important philosophical commentaries. Founded by Kunga Nyinpo of the Khon family, c. 1073, student of of the Indian yogi Virupa. Principal leaders of the Sakya Sect are still Khon family members. Three lineages: Zhalu, or Bupa – c. 1350; Jonang – c. 1350; Ngor – 1459.
http://www.tibet.com/Buddhism/sakya.html
Sakya (S): Also Saka, Shaka, Shakya. The clan or tribe to which the historical Gautama Buddha belonged, in northern India and Nepal. Observers of the Vaisnava (Hindu) religion that preserved its literature in Sanskrit. In the sixth century bce, north India was home to a dozen or more kingdoms and oligarchies, including the kingdom of Kosala, which in the Ramayana is described as being ruled by Dasaratha and his son Rama at one time, their capital located at Ayodhya. The Sakya tribe, which ruled over Kosala in the sixth century, had its capital at Sravasti in the Himalayan foothills. The Shakya clansmen dwelt along the river Rohini that flowed among the southern foothills of the Himalayas and it is at nearby Lumbini (now in Nepal) that Siddhartha Gautama was born in or around 563 bce on a full moon night. King Suddhodana Gautama had transferred his capitol to Kapila and there had built a great castle. His young wife Mayadevi died seven days after giving birth to her first son, the Prince Siddhartha Gautama, who left the palace at 29. Six years later he had attained his goal. After enlightenment, the Buddha returned to his people to share the teachings with them. King Suddhodana, suffering inwardly from his son’s choice to abandon the throne, held aloof, but afterward became his faithful disciple; Maha-Prajapati, the Buddha’s step-mother, Princess Yasodhara, his wife, Rahula, his son and all the members of the Shakya clan, had great devotion to the Buddha and followed him. Foremost among these was the Buddha’s cousin and attendant, Ananda. After Shakyamuni’s father died as a lay disciple, he declared that a lay disciple, whose mind is free from the poisons of lust, attachment, false views, and ignorance, is no different than anyone else who is free.
King Virudhaka, son of King Prasenajit of Kosala made war against the Sakyas during the lifetime of the Buddha. Sagarhawa is believed to be the site where thousands of Sakyas were massacred, marking the end of their republic. Since both Gautama and his son Rahula became monks, King Suddhodana had no heir. (It is not clear whether dynastic rule prevailed in the republic.) General Bhadraka succeeded Suddhodana, followed by Mahanama, who also became a monk. Sakya power weakened and Kapilavastu became a feudatory of the powerful kingdom of Kosala and then of Kasi. There had been repeated incidents of military aggression between the Kosalans and the Sakyans. Fearing a famine the Shakya warrior chiefs agitated for a war with the Kolyas over water rights to the Rohini River. The Kolyas had built a dike to conserve water; when they refused the Shakyas’ demand to dismantle it, both sides prepared for war. Just before the battle was to begin, the Buddha spoke to both sides, asking them to compare the value of earth and water to the intrinsic value of people and the human blood they were about to spill. King Prasenajit asked the Sakyas for a bride. The Sakyans were resistant to this, considering the Kosalans barbarians. Instead, they decided to deceive them and offered a beautiful Sakyan slave girl to the Kosalans. Unaware of her non-royal roots, the King married her and had a son, Prince Virudhaka. As a young man, Virudhaka was sent to Kapilavastu to train in the use of weapons. One day he was insulted by a Sakya military officer who made reference to the low origins of Virudhaka’s mother. When he grew older, after he had usurped his father’s throne at Sravasti and murdered his half-brother Prince Jeta, he invaded the Sakya country. The Buddha interceded a few times, but eventually Virudhaka had his way. Survivors fled to various places, including Vaisali and Rajgriha in Magadha. Some went to Vedi from where Asoka, three centuries later, got his bride. That perhaps explains the initial Buddhist influence on him.
samadhi (S): Tibetan: Ting nge dzin, deep meditation. State of profound mental absorption.”Sameness; evenness, contemplation; union, wholeness; completion, accomplishment.” Samadhi is the state of true yoga, in which the meditator and the object of meditation are one. Samadhi is of two levels. The first is savikalpa samadhi (enstasy with form), identification or oneness with the essence of an object. Its highest form is the realization of the primal substratum or pure consciousness, Satchidananda. The second is nirvikalpa samadhi (“enstasy without form or seed”), identification with formless bliss, in which all modes of consciousness are transcended. This brings in its aftermath a complete transformation of consciousness. See kundalini, Parashiva, raja yoga, Self Realization, trance.
Samantabhadra (S): Tibetan: Kuntuzangpo, “All Good.” The primordial Buddha associated with originary wisdom, and compassion. He is the antecedent of all and the expanse of reality. He holds sway over existence and quiescence in their entirety. He is naked and blue in color, and is most often pictured embracing his white consort Samantrabhhadri. They are another emanation of Adibuddha, the ever-present potential for Buddhahood, that has always been and always be. He symbolizes Dharmakaya, or “state of Truth.” A form of Vairocana and a dhyanibodhisattva (spiritual meditation buddha), who is depicted sitting on a throne carried by a white elephant. Also called Visvabhadra Bodhisattva, Universally Worthy Bodhisattva. In Chinese Buddhism, Samantabadhra is one of the Four Great Bodhisattvas, the Bodhisattva of Great Conduct, representing the Law and proclaiming the “Ten Great King Vows” — guidelines for cultivating dharma.
samaya (S): Tibetan: dam-tsig. A bond; to be bound by an oath, vow or promise. The sacred vow which binds tantric practitioners to their practice and the basis for rapid psychological and spiritual growth in Vajrayana Buddhism. Through the unbroken connection to the teacher, meditation forms and co-disciples, students quickly manifest their bodhi-potential. The bond to one’s first teacher is considered very important.
Sambhokakaya (S): T. longs-ku. Second of the three bodies of a Buddha. The body of perfect enjoyment, the illuminating potential of mind. The visionary and communicative aspect of Buddha nature directly perceivable only by high bodhisattvas
samsara (S): Tibetan: khor-wa. Going round in circles. The phenomenal world experienced dualistically, from the viewpoint of ego-clinging. Transmigratory existence, fraught with emotional reactivity, deluding notions, impermanence and change. The cycle of birth, death and rebirth; the total pattern of successive earthly lives until the moment of awakening in which one realizes the true nature of appearances.
samudaya (S): Cause of suffering. Second of the four noble truths.
Samye: This was the first great monastery built in Tibet and was the work of King Trisong Deutsen, Shankarakshita and Padmasambhava. Samye, ‘The Inconceivable One,’ was built in the shape of a great mandala modeled after a monastery in India featuring Mt. Meru as the center temple and four temples in each of the four directions. Samye became the most important place of meditation, worship, teaching, translation and research and included a great library, museum, and a vast treasury of Buddhist scriptures. In later years it was open to all schools of Tibetan Buddhism and served as a refuge for Indian pundits troubled by the decline of Buddhism in India.
sandalwood: Chandana. The Asian evergreen tree Santalum album. Its sweetly fragrant heartwood is ground into the fine, tan-colored paste distributed as prasada in Saivite temples and used for sacred marks on the forehead, tilaka. Sandalwood is also prized for incense, carving and fine cabinetry.
Sangha (S): inseparable (T) Gendun. Lit. virtuous aspiration. The community of those who practice the dharma.
Sangye (T): The Tibetan word for Buddha. It combines the notions of complete purification (sangs) and rgyas, expansion (that is, of knowledge and beautiful qualities).
Sangye Menla (T): The Medicine Buddha, Healing Buddha, Bhaisajyaguru.
sannyasin: “Renouncer.” One who has taken sannyasa diksha. A Hindu monk, swami, and one of a world brotherhood (or holy order) of sannyasins. See: swami.
Sanskrit: “Well-made; perfected.” The classical Aryan language of ancient India, systemized by scholars. A sacerdotal language, Sanskrit is considered a pure vehicle for communication with the celestial worlds. It is the primary language in which Hindu and Buddhist scriptures were written, including the Vedas and Agamas. Employed today as a liturgical, literary and scholarly language, but no longer used as a spoken tongue. With the exception of a few ancient translations probably from Pali versions, most of the original texts in Buddhism used in China were Sanskrit.
Sarasvati (S): Indian goddess of sound and music, the muse of learning and literature, patron of the arts and sciences. She manifested in human form as Yeshe Tsogyal. In India, was regarded as the source of the Sanskrit language and its Devangari script.
Sariputra (S): One of the 10 great disciples and right hand attendant to Shakyamuni Buddha, renowned for his deep wisdom. A former incarnation of Dudjom Rinpoche, Sariputra figures prominently in certain sutras. He is represented as standing on one side of the Buddha with Maudgalyayana on the opposite side. He is to reappear as Padmaprabha Buddha.
Sarma: After an initial dissemination of teachings during the Royal Dynastic period (7th through 9th centuries), there was a “dark period” during which central political control broke down. With the re-establishment of some political centralization in Central and Western Tibet, a second dissemination of Buddhism began. Initially, Buddhism had come into Tibetan regions from India, China, and Central Asia; during the second dissemination, India was the primary source. In India, there was never any division of Buddhism into old and new. In Tibet, however, as some translations occurred earlier and some later, we find such a division. Those involved in the new movements which developed during the second dissemination came to refer to themselves as the new ones (gSar Ma), while those who felt themselves to be continuing directly from lineages beginning during the Dynastic Period and the Dark Period gradually referred to themselves as the ancient ones (rNying Ma). Any translations which came before the time of Rinchen Zangpo (958-1055) came to be called rNying.ma, and texts translated by Rinchen Zangpo and the majority of translations which followed, came to be called gSar.ma or ‘new ones’. Almost all texts of the Vinaya, Sutra, Abhidharma and of the three outer tantras (Kriya, Carya and Yoga) were translated into Tibetan during the early flourishing of Buddhism in Tibet, (old translation period). The majority of the texts of Highest Yoga Tantra, such as Chakrasamvara, Hevajra, Kalachakra, Yamantaka, etc., were ‘new’ translations, although a great quantity of translations of Highest Yoga Tantra texts were also prepared during the old translation period. Two main systems of dividing the tantras exist in Tibet. The Nyingmapa employ a nine level system, the upper six being divided into the inner and outer tantras while the second is upheld by the new schools which divide the tantras into four classes.
Sarvastivadin: During King Asoka’s reign, a group of Bhiksus in Mathura developed certain convictions about the Buddha’s teachings concerning existence that distinguished them from the rest of the sangha. They became known as Sarvastivadins, Those Who Hold That Everything Exists. This school systematized the doctrine of the six perfections as the basic outline of the path. This definition is still primary in all Mahayana schools. Also evolving through this tradition is the masterpiece of buddhist iconography, theWheel of Life, which was painted on the walls of their monasteries, as per the injunctionof the Buddha. 300 years after the Buddha’s Parinirvana, the Sarvastivadin master Katyayana composed the Jñañaprasthana, one of the seven basic Abhidharma texts. The isolated valley of central Kashmir nurtured the development of the Sarvastivadin Abhidharma. Vaibhasika and the Sautrantika are offshoots of the Sarvastivadin school.
satguru (S): “True weighty or heavy one.” In the Hindu systems, a spiritual preceptor of the highest attainment, one who has accomplished Self Realization (Parashiva) and is able to lead others securely along the spiritual path. He is always a sannyasin, an unmarried renunciate. All Hindu denominations teach that the grace and guidance of a living satguru is a necessity for Self Realization. He is recognized and revered as the embodiment of God, Sadashiva, the source of grace and of liberation. Explain Upa-guru.
sati (P): Mindfulness. T. dran-pa
sattva (Skt.): T. sem chen. see sentient beings.
Sautrantika: Hinayana school that developed out of the Saravastivada around 150 C.E. The origin of the Sautrantikas can be traced back to Kumaralata, who appeared about one century after the Buddha’s Parinirvana. He is said to have authored the Drstantamala-sastra, the Garland of Similes, as well as hundreds of other widely circulated texts. Kumaralata was one of the first to explain the teachings of the Buddha through the use of simile. In literature of this period, the Drstanta (example or illustration) is set against sutras for which it serves as a complement or illustration. The followers of this school draw their support only from the Sutra-pitaka and reject the Abidharma-pitaka of the Sarvastivada. Adhering strictly to the original discourses of the Buddha as primary, Sautrantikas accepted the Sutras as the only authoritative source of the Buddha’s teachings.
The Sautrantikas posit the existence of a refined consciousness that constitutes the basis of a human life and that persists from one rebirth to the next. In contrast to the Vatsiputriyas, who postulate the existence of an entire ‘person’ that persists from one life to the next, Sautrantikas see the consciousness as no more than the bearer of the cycle of existence, the ticket into samsara. Into this consciousness the remaining four skandhas are absorbed at the time of death. This notion of a continuously existing consciousness had a strong influence on the Yogacara school. The theory of the instantaneity of everything existing is very pronounced in the Sautrantika school. It sees in each seemingly concrete existent nothing more than an uninterrupted succession of moments; duration is only a semblance, an illusion that is produced by the density of succession of individual moments (S. ksanika). Nirvana for the Sautrantikas is a purely negative spiritual event – it is nonbeing. He who has attained release is annihilated. For the Sautrantika, akasa or space is the same as the ultimate atom, since both are notions and nothing else. Sautrantikas assert the continuum of the aggregates to be the person
self-liberation: Libertation of thoughts and emotions by becoming aware of them in the very instant they arise. According to Garab Dorje: “If a thought arises, one liberates oneself in that which arises.”
Senge Dongchenma (T): Sanskrit: Simhamukha or Simhavaktra. Known as “the lion-headed one”, a powerful guardian dakini emanation of Padmasambava. She is most often dark blue but she can be red, as she dances with a vajra chopper and skull cup.
sentient beings: Sanskrit: Sattva. T. Sem-chen. The sentient being is generally defined as any living creature with a mind, one which has developed enough consciousness awareness to experience feelings, particularly suffering. This generally includes all animal life and excludes botanical life forms. These then are the object of Buddhist ethics and compassion. The religious order exists in a larger sense not simply to aid its membership in their own personal liberation but also to function within the world to improve the conditions of life for all sentient beings.
seva (S): Service. The purpose of Karma Yoga. An integral part of the spiritual path, where the aspirant strives to serve without thought of reward or personal gain. The central practice of the charyapada.
seven treasures: Seven precious materials, representing material wealth. The list varies somewhat from text to text. It usually includes gold, silver, lapis lazuli, crystal, agate, pearl, mother-of-pearl and carnelian. Seven qualities listed by Jigme Lingpa in a famous prayer found in Mipham’s Shower of Blessings. The seven treasures are faith and devotion, morality, generosity, knowledge of dharma, respect for others, self-respect, and wisdom.
Shakyamuni (S): “Silent Sage of the Shakya Clan.” The founder of Buddhism; born as the Prince of the Sakyans, a tribe of warriors (near today’s Lumbini, in Nepal), and was called Siddhartha Gautama. After six years of wandering and ascetic practice, at the age of 35, he attained the supreme Enlightenment, became the Buddha called Shakyamuni. The name is also translated as “capability and kindness.”
shamatha (S): Phonetic rendering of Samatha. “Dwelling in tranquility,” T. zhi-ne. Referring to calming and training the mind to concentrate on the meditative focus. It is the foundation of Vipassana meditation.
Shambhala (S): Phonetic rendering of Sambhala. From the Skt. sam, or happiness. Tibetan: de-byung (source of happiness). An ancient, perhaps mythical, kingdom. The historical period ranges from 4000 BCE with the emergence of equestrian warriors from the north, to 624 CE with the Arabic/Moslem incursions. The premise is that there was a very advanced spiritual kingdom in Northern Central Asia 6,000 years ago that had a tremendous influence on the origins of many “Eastern” and “Western” spiritual traditions. This would include the Semitic traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as well as the “outgrowths of the Aryan culture” — Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.
Shankara: Shankara lived in 8th century India and is regarded as the greatest proponents of Vedic Dharma of his time. He was born of a humble but devout Brahman couple and early in life developed the desire for renunciation and devotion to spiritual life. Shankara was accepted as disciple by Govinda Bhagavatpada, who recognized his ability and instructed him to expound the philosophy of Vedanta. He lived as a wandering monk as he fulfilled his guru’s instructions while still a young man. He is known for his scholastic and debating attainments as well as for many miraculous activities. Shankara studied Buddhist teachings as well as Vedic and debated with proponents of many different schools. He acquired many disciples and established several monasteries. When Shankara took the sannyasi vows, he promised his mother he would return to perform her funerary rites, as she had no other living relatives to do them. Since this was against the rules for a sannyasi, he could get no one to help him carry her body to the cremation grounds or to help with the lighting of the fire. Finally he built the pyre himself and cremated his mother in her own backyard, igniting the fire through yogic power.
shanti (S): Peace. T. Zhi-wa
Shantideva (S): 685-763. Master of Indian Buddhism, particularly famous for his work, “Bodhicharyavatara,” or The Way of Life of the Bodhisattva. Perhaps the most poetic and powerful expression of teachings on bodhicitta in Mahayana literature. Author of Siksa-sammuccaya, a compendium of scriptural excerpts.
shastra (S): A treatise upon or exposition of a sutra; a Mahayana texts that expounds the meaning of the sutra or group of sutras. The Indian Mahayana schools grew from an attempt to systemasize the teachings of two groups of sutras. The Madhyamaka school clarifed and categorized the Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom) sutras, while the Yogacarin school did the same for the “idealist” sutras, the earliest being the Samdhi-nirmocana (c. 2nd c.) and later the Lankavatara (4th c.). A number of the shastras are traditionally attributed to Maitreya, as received by Asanga, founder of the Yogacarin school. These texts include the Uttaratantra Shastra (Ratnagotravibhaga-mahayana-uttaratantra-shastra, or “Analysis of the Jewel Matrix, Supreme Tantra of the Universal Vehicle.” Other shastras attributed to Asanga include the Madhyantavibhaga, Mahayanasutra-lamkara, and the Abhisamaya-lamkara. These and shastras attributed to his brother Vasubhandu would be preserved, mostly in Tibet, but also in China where they would influence the doctine of the Fa-hsiang, or Chinese Yogacarin school.
Both Yogacarin and Madhayamaka shastras were transmitted to China, largely due to the efforts of Central-Asian scholar/translator Kumarajiva. Several Indian Buddhist schools were entirely transplanted to China with their Indian form more or less intact, including Kumarajiva’s “Three-Shastra School,” based on Madhyamaka shastras by Nagarjuna and Aryadeva and a Yogacarin shastra by Vasubhandu.
1.Madhyamaka Shastra
2.Dvadashamukha Shastra
3.Shatika Shastra: 100 verses, 32 words each. By Vasubhandu.
The Satyasiddhi Shastra, written by Harivarman and translated by Kumarajiva,was the text upon which on which the Hinayana Satyasiddhi sect based its doctrine. It was a Hinayana variation of the Sunyata (emptiness) doctrine. The term is defined as perfectly establishing the real meaning of the Sutras.
Sherpas: Ethnic group that originally migrated from eastern Tibet and settled in the Solu-Khumbu region of Nepal. They are often employed by trekkers as guides (sirdars), cooks and porters. In recent times the term refers to anyone of any ethnic group who does these tasks.
Shinay (T): zhi-ne. Sanskrit: Shamatha. Tranquility, or “calm-abiding” meditation, which develops calmness and concentration. One of the two basic meditations in all traditions of Buddhism, the other being Vipashyana (S. Vipassana, T. Lhag-tong), or insight meditation.
shunyata (S): Emptiness. T. tong-pa nyid. The fact that nothing inherently exists in and of itself. Everything arises from prior conditions, the ultimate nature of which is perfectly groundless. See Sunyata
shishya (S): Pupil or disciple, especially one who has proven himself and has formally been accepted by a guru.
siddha (S): “Perfected one” or accomplished yogi, a person of great spiritual attainment or powers. T. ngo-drub pa See siddhi.
Siddhartha Gautama (S): The Northern Indian noble, son of Prince Suddhodana, who became Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha. The name means “wish fulfilled.”
siddhi (S): Power, accomplishment; perfection; blessing. T. ngo-drub. This refers to the accomplishments that come with spiritual practice. Two kinds: Ordinary and extraordinary, ranging from the different worldly powers to the supreme power of attaining the state of the Buddha, the transcendental siddhi of attaining complete Enlightenment (nirvana. At lower levels, more mundane abilities come with spiritual practice (clairvoyance, invisibility, etc.). Extraordinary powers of the mind, developed through consistent meditation and deliberate, grueling, often uncomfortable practices, or awakened naturally through spiritual maturity and yogic sadhana. Through repeated immersion in samadhi, siddhis naturally unfold according to the needs of the individual. Even ordinary Siddhis may carry with them certain supernormal faculties such as clairvoyance, clear audience, telepathy, levitation… These can be attained by accomplished beings having obtained a certain degree of spiritual realization; one finds them also among others who aren’t in this category but who have developed high levels of concentration associated with certain particular practices. These powers aren’t always signs of spiritual realization; one should neither seek to cultivate them nor demonstrate them if acquired, except in exceptional occasions. The supreme accomplishment emerges throuhg the non-differentation of Samsara and Nirvana — this is the entryway to the Great Perfection, Dzogchen or Mahamudra, the 13th land (bhumi) of Dorje Chang. Thus, the Siddhas have powers and supernatural capacities which are a result of their practice of the path. See psychic powers
Sigalovada Sutra: The sermon taught to Sigala by the Buddha; how to achieve harmony, security and prosperity both within the family and in the society as a whole.
siksamana (S): A lay disciple who maintains the eight precepts, either temporarily or as preparation for leaving home. The Eight Precepts are: 1) not killing; 2) not stealing; 3) celibacy; 4) not lying; 5) not abusing intoxicants; 6) not using such adornment as jewelry or perfumes, and refraining from entertainment; 7) not sleeping on high or broad beds; 8) not eating food after noon.
sila (S): Morality, ethics. T. tsul-khrim. The mind-set of doing no harm either to oneself or to others. Often accompanied by precepts and vows for practical purposes. These number 5, 8, 10, 250 or 350. Also, one of the Paramitas.
Six Spheres: Tibetan: tig-le dug. The six fundamental aspects for understanding and practising the Dzogchen Semde (Mind Series).
1. Sphere of the Ultimate Dimension (jing kyi tigle)
2. Sphere of Purity of the Ultimate Dimension (jing mampar da pa’i tigle)
3. Sphere of the Ultimate Dimension of Phenomena (chonyi kyi tigle)
4. Sphere of Total Wisdom (yeshe chen po’i tigle)
5. Sphere of Samantabhadra (kuntuzang po’i tigle)
6. Sphere of Self Perfection (lhan gyi pa’i tigle)
six syllable mantra: (OM MANI PADME HUM) is the mantra of Avalokitesvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. The six syllables represent liberation from various negative states of mind. With OM releasing one from the realm of the Gods (Pride) , MA form the realm of the Asuras (Jealousy), NI from the realm of humans, PAD from the animal realm (Ignorance), ME from the Hungry Ghost realm (Desire), and HUM from the realm of Hell (Anger). Each of the mantra’s syllables also represents different aspects of one’s True Nature and of the Path. OM (AUM) is the Buddha’s Body (A), Speech (U), and Mind (M) MANI is the jewel which symbolizes the primordial reality of mind and one’s intention to become enlightened through revealing this jewel. Just as a jewel provides wealth that fullfills the wishes of beings, the altruistic intention to become enlightened is the means to fullfill the wishes of all beings. PADME means lotus. It symbolizes wisdom, mainly the wisdom of realizing emptiness. Just as a lotus grows from the slime and mud, so does wisdom raise one outof ignorance. HUM symbolizes indivisibility, the unity of intention (or means) and wisdom.
skandhas (S) heaps. T. phung-po. The five aggregates that constitute the personality: form, sensation, perception (recognition), mental formations, and conciousness.
soma (S): elixir of immortality; Since early Vedic times, soma remains a mysterious substance. Among the many theories: 1. Psychedelic substance used by the ancient dwellers in the civilizations of the Indus and Ganges River basins and said to be pressed from a plant, prossible fly agaric (Amanita muscaria); 2. a subtle fluid (neurotransmitter) released in pineal and/or pituitary gland during ecstasy. 3. According to some archeologists, some is to be identified with refined gold. 4. Cannibis, hashish, or marijuana.
Somapuri: Built in the 8th century, was the largest Buddhist university built in India. It was the home to Atisha, before he went to Tibet in the eleventh century. The excavation of its ruins revealed a structure more than eighty feet high. There were 177 rooms for 6-800 monks surrounding a courtyard, where the ruins of a stupa, still 66 ft high, stands above the surrounding land. The temple’s foundation is laid out in the form of a visva-vajra, a cross with arms projecting at equal distances from the center. The image of a sixteen armed Hevajra and his prajña, and accounts of siddas who were Vidyadharas of the Hevajra teachings, indicated that it was a center for Mantrayana study and practice. It was destroyed by Muhamad Bhakhtyar Khalji (1197-1206), along with the other great monastic centers in Magadha, Anga, Nalanda, Vikramasila and Otantapuri.
somaraja (S): Tibetan: so ma ra dza. “King of Soma.” Cannibis, hashish, or marijuana.
sangyum (T): Female practitioner of ritual sexuality.
Soto (J): One of the three schools of Zen in Japan, the other being Rinzai. It is most concerned with the practice of sitting meditation without koan.
sound: A form of energy and means to communicate among ourselves and with a specific power or source. Reciting mantra refines the mind and activates spiritual energy impluses. The traditional tantric advice of “entering into the state of the sound” suggests we go into the state of energy, to use it as a means of communication, healing and purification while present with clear awareness. One is asked to integrate with all energy manifestations and practices with sound.
space-gazing: Tibetan: rigpa namharte. Dzogchen technique to integrate one’s vision with space.
Sravaka (P): Sanskrit: Shravaka, listener, hearer. Early main branch of Buddhism. These people chose to base their practice on doctrines that were believed by everyone to be the public teachings of the Buddha to his monks and lay disciples. At one time there were many limbs of this Savaka branch, but only one of them has lived to modern times.That is the limb known as Theravada, which means “way of the elders.” According to Ngakpa Chogyam Rinpoche, seeing as this term was formed when the major style of communication was oral, the modern equivalent of this term in our culture of literacy would be ‘readers’.
Sri Singha (S): Also Sri Sinha, Shrisingha, Sri Simha: Indian teacher for whom no dates are known. He is said to have received his initiation into the Nyingtig teachings from Manjusrimitra, another early adept with an uncertain biography. The problem here is that Sri Singha is regarded as the teacher of people who lived more than 200 years apart in time (see Jnanasutra); a feat rather unlikely even for an accomplished master of secret (alchemical/sexual) Tantra. All lineages of the Innermost Essence are based in the work of Sri Singha (Four Cycles of Nyingtig) and reached Tibet by way of his 8th century successors Padmasambhava and Vimalamitra and through a group of 25 Tantras given by Sri Singha to his student Vairocana.
stupa: (S): Tibetan: Chor-ten. Sacred structure built to physically embody and preserve the spiritual power of a great lama. A physical representation of perfect enlightenment. It symbolizes the transformation of all emotions and elements into the five enlightened wisdoms associated with the five Buddha families. Its symmetrical form is usually filled with relics, mantras, etc. There are basically eight different forms which symbolize the awakening of the Buddhas.
Sudhana (S): A young boy mentioned in the scriptures who practised the perfection of energy by learning tirelessly from every situation and person he met.
Suddhodana (S): “Pure Rice Prince,” the father of Siddhartha Gautama (Shakyamuni Buddha). He ruled over the Sakyans at Kapilavastu on the Indian/Nepalese border. Son of King Singhahanu who was renowned as the best archer in the world. As a young prince, Suddhodana was successful in leading military expeditions to suppress raids by hill tribes (S. Pandavas). For his accomlishments, the Sakyan laws which stated that a man may only take one wife were changed so that Suddhodana was able to marry both daughters offered by King Suprabuddha, another Sakyan who ruled over Devadha. Mahamaya became the mother of the Buddha and her sister Maya also known as Mahaprajapati, cared for the Buddha after his mother’s death.
sukha (S): A range of contentment, from mild happiness to spiritual bliss. The opposite of “dukkha,”or suffering.
Sumedha (S): The young Bodhisattva who received the prediction from Dipankara Buddha that he would become a Buddha.
Sumeru (S): “Wonderful high mountain.” Mythical mountain composed of gold, silver, lapis lazuli and crystal, central to the four main continents which comprise our world-system. Abode of all classes of gods.
Sunyata: (S.) lit.,”emptiness, void”; T. tong-pa nyid. A central notion of Buddha’s Dharma. Ancient Buddhism recognized that all composite things are empty, impermanent, devoid of an essence, characterized by psycho-physical suffering, decay and death. In the original schools, emptiness is only applied to the “person” and not the elements of expereince; in the Mahayana, on the other hand, all things, including all phenomena are regarded as without a true essence; i.e. empty of self-nature. All dharmas are fundamentally devoid of an unchanging core or any independent lasting substances or self-identity, and are nothing more than mere apperances upon which mind imposes an identitiy through perceived continuity. None of these objects exist outside of the mind which perceives them and altogether, both subject and object are of the nature of emptiness. Sunyata is experiential realization, nondual, beyond conceptual extremes, and not communicable in conventional language. For beings used to discriminations and language, pointing is often done through negation. Sunyata is no-thing, unreal, non-self, insubstantial, not-originated, not produced, neither real nor unnreal. One should not, however, take this view of the emptiness of everything existing simply as nihilism. It does not mean that things do not exist in any way at all but rather that they are interdependent and only conceptually reified. Shunyata is often equated with the absolute in Mahayana, since it is without duality and beyond empirical forms. Personified as the goddess Prajnaparamita in the Mahayana Sutras, sunyata is know as the Mother of All the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Individual schools present different intepretations of sunyata.
Surya: (S.)”Sun.” One of the principal divinities of the Vedas, also prominent in the epics and Puranas. Saivites revere Surya, the Sun God each morning as Siva Surya. Smartas and Vaishnavas revere the golden orb as Surya Narayana. As the source of light, the sun is the most readily apparent image of Divinity available to man. As the giver of life, Surya is worshiped during harvest festivals everywhere. Esoterically, the sun represents the point where the manifest and unmanifest worlds meet or unite. In yoga the symbolism is opposite that used in the tantras. In Hindu yoga, the sun represents the masculine force, pingala, while the feminine (Ida) is associated with the moon Surya (chandra). Surya also signifies the Splendor of the Self within.
Suryachandrasiddhi (S): “Sun-Moon Accomplished One.” The great adept Padmasambhava is often said to have subdued those demons and dakinis that were fierce and demoniac, yet at other times it is clear that he himself was initiated by such female adepts and received special, magical knowledge from these Great Mothers. Of special interest in this regard is canto 34 of the Padma Kathang (Sheldrakma version), where the hero “prostrated himself to the enthroned dakini” (Suryacandra-siddhi) and “begged her for teachings; outer, inner and secret.” Also known as Laygyi Wangmo or “Great Sovereign Dakini of Deeds,” she then changes her new disciple in true magical/shamanic fashion into the sacred syllable HUM, swallows him whole, and lets him pass through her body. In the process, Padmasambhava is purified; he is initiated into certain teachings, and obtains a number of magical powers before being reborn and “ejected through her secret lotus”; that is, her yoni. The power and sublimitiy of this Magical Mother of Padmasambhava is emphasized in the text by the fact that even her servant Kumari (Sanskrit “young one; virgin”) was a woman of wonder: “With a crystal dagger she cut open her breast, within which appeared the many-colored splendor of the gods of the calm Diamond Plane.” Both Suryachandrasiddhi and Kumari lived in the Castle of Skulls, a term signifying that they were ancient Tibetan deities turned dharmapala; i.e. “Guardians of the Faith.”
sutra (S): Pali: sutta. “Thread.” T. do; meeting or juncture. An aphoristic verse; the literary style consisting of such maxims. A discourse by the Buddha or one of his major disciples. The Sutra collection is one of the three divisions of the Buddhist scripture adopted at the First Council.. This style was widely adopted by Indian philosophical systems and eventually employed in works on law, grammar, medicine, poetry, crafts, etc. Each sutra is often accompanied by a commentary called bhashya.
Swat: Region and River, now in the frontier province of northern Pakistan (35N..72E), between Afghanistan and Kashmir. Formerly the kingdom of Uddiyana (Tib: Orgyen), it is a largely inacessible region. Conquered by Alexander and became a stronghold of Buddhism. “Birthplace of Padmasambhava and also the region where Tilopa resided.”(Nalanda: 1980…pg 371) … Suvastu is the Swat River in the Rigveda…Oddiyana (Swat in modern Pakistan).
T
tanha (S): craving, desire, thirst
Tanjur (T): Also “Tangyur.” Part of the Tibetan canon, comprises about 225 volumes of commentaries on the Kanjur and related Buddhist literature translated from the Sanskrit. The Tanjur contains 17 sections of 3,387 commentaries by 700 scholars.
Stotra — Praises to the Buddhas
Tantra — Tantra Commentaries
Prajnaparamita — Perfection of Wisdom
Madhyamaka — Middle Way
Sutra Commentaries
Cittamatra — Mind-Only Teachings
Abhidharma — Science of Mind
Vinaya — Models for the Sangha’s Way of Life
Jataka — Life Stories of the Buddha
Lekha/Parikatha — Letters and Accounts
Pramana — Logic and Epistemology
Sabdavidya — Language Studies
Cikitsavidya — Medicine
Silpavidya — Sacred Art
Nitisastra — Social and Political Ethics
Visvavidya — Miscellaneous Subjects
tantra (S): Loom, weave, T. gyu; continuity. The Tibetan word for tantra is “gyud,” which means continuum, transmission, and secret teaching. The term Tantra has two clearly defined ways of usage: 1, a particular religious tradition with its roots in 5th century India; spreading soon to Tibet, China, and Japan — and more recently to Europe and the North America in the form of “neo-Tantra;” 2, a sacred text of that tradition. The Tibetan tantric writings give advanced, often cryptic directions of advanced yoga and meditation.
Tara (S): Tibetan: Drolma. “The Liberator” or “One Who Saves.” Tara, the “Wisdom Mother,” embodies the compassionate activity of all the Buddhas, and is invoked in times of personal difficulties, health problems, travelling and when there is need for quick, wise action. She manifests in 21 different forms to benefit all beings. To recite the Praises to the 21 Taras is considered helpful in all adverse circumstances. In the aspect of Cittamani Tara (the Green one, also called She of the Rosewood Forest) she quickly benefits quickly the minds of those who pray to her. White Tara is especially associated with long life and wisdom. Unlike the green form of this deity, White Tara has seven eyes — one in each hand and foot, and a third eye on her face — to show that she sees and responds to suffering throughout the universe; and she sits in full lotus posture. Her right hand is held in the mudra (gesture) of giving, and her left hand holds the stem of a pink-tinged white lotus in a gesture signifying the Three Jewels. The third eye on Tara’s forehead symbolises her realisation of non-duality and her ability to see past, present and future. Her expression is maternally gentle and loving.
Tashi Lhunpo : (T: bKra shis lhun po) is a major Gelugpa monastery founded in 1447 near Shigatse by Gendun Drupa, one of Tsongkhapa’s disciples. He served as abbot, and was posthumously appointed HHDL I. This monastery came to be the principal residence of the Panchen Lamas, the second highest spiritual leader of Tibet.
Tathagata (S): Thus Come or Thus Gone One. Moving as Thatness (T. de kho na nyid), name of Buddha; one who comes forth Thus, One who is of Suchness (T. de bzhin nyid), having realized What Isness, etc., the nature of a buddha who has followed in the steps of his predecessors.
Tathagatagarbha (S): The seed, germ or womb of Enlightenment, the potential for Buddhahood in every sentient being.
Tathatgatas (S): Also Transcendental Buddhas. Most commonly referred to as Dhyani Buddhas; they are emanations of Adi buddha and serve as the meditation Buddhas, occupying the cardinal directions in the primary tantric mandala. These Tathagatas are the Lords of five buddha families which are ultimately inseparable, representing different aspects of the relative world as well as the wondrous qualities of Buddhahood. Each Buddha is related to one of the skandhas or an emotional poison as well as an aspect of wisdom by which these can be transformed. These five Buddhas are also known as Jinas (Conquerors). They are invariably seated and each displays a different body color and hand gestures (mudras) reflecting their respective dispositions. Variochana occupies the center with Akshobya in the East, Ratnasambhava in the South, Amitabha in the West and Amogasiddhi in the North.
tattva: “That-ness” or “essential nature.” Tattvas are the primary principles, elements, states or categories of existence, the building blocks of the universe. Rishis describe this emanational process as the unfoldment of tattvas, stages or evolutes of manifestation, descending from subtle to gross.
Ten Directions: The 10 directions of space — the eight points of the compass plus the nadir and zenith. A term used in scripture to indicate all-pervasiveness.
Ten Powers.: T. stobs bcu. Those powers developed by bodhisattvas are 1) reflection, {bsam pa’i stobs} or aashayabala 2) superior reflection, {lhag bsam} or adhyaasa 3) acquisition {sbyor ba} or pratipatti 4) discriminative awareness, {shes rab} or prajnaa 5) aspiration {smon lam} or pra.nidhaana 6) vehicle {theg pa}. or yana 7) conduct {spyod pa}. or charyaa 8) transformation {rnam par ‘phrul pa} or vikurvana 9) enlightenment {byang chub kyi sems} or bodhicitta, and 10) turning the doctrinal wheel {chos kyi ‘khor lo bskor ba} or dharma-chakra-pravartana. The ten powers of a tathagata: 1) power of knowing what is possible and impossible; 2) power of knowing how actions will ripen; 3) power of knowing the different dispositions of human beings; 4) the power of knowing different elements; 5) power of knowing the supreme and lesser powers of human beings; 6) power of knowing the path that leads everywhere; 7) omniscience regarding the original of all suffering and which leads to dhyana, liberation, samadhi, and samapatti; 8)-power of knowledge that remembers former abodes 9) power of knowing death, transmigration, and birth 10)?
Terdak Lingpa c.1640-1714: Born Minling Terchen Gyurme at Dargye Choling monastery in Dranang, central Tibet. An incarnation of Vairocana, he began his religious training at four, attained realization at nine, and discovered his first terma at 17. A year earlier he became a disciple of the Fifth Dalai Lama, later to become one of his teachers. In this way a strong spiritual tie developed between them. It is said that once while giving His Holiness esoteric initiation, flowers fell from the heavens, and upon another occasion, was healed on advice of His Holiness to take a consort. He died amid auspicious signs at 68. Uniting kama and terma lineages, he revitalized and restored Nyingma teachings to their original prominence.
Terma (T): “Mother treasure.” A name for so-called “secret treasures” in the form of hidden teachings, texts or objects; intended to be re-discovered at a future time by an inspired terton (see below). According to the Vajrayana tradition, such texts were most often prepared, sealed and hidden by Padmasambhava and/or Yeshe Tsogyal during the time that monastic Buddhism, after a relatively short flowering, was outlawed in Tibet. Termas are subdivided into different types: Sa-Ter (earth-treasure): a text or sacred object actually discovered as a material treasure; for example in caves, lakes, trees, temple pillars, and even the sky where they are stored to be discovered at the right time by a qualified person, a terton. Tertons are special individuals who were once students of Padmasambhava and having already received these instructions, they are merely re-presenting it in this time and space for the benefit of those who require training.; and Gong-Ter (mind treasure): a text revealed to a terton by a non-human agency, usually a Dakini or Buddha. The Nyingmapas possess the most voluminous terma literature derived mainly from Padmasambhava and his consort Yeshe Tsogyal. They left thousands of teachings for future times, which have been revealed again and again by many great teachers. During the 10th and 14th centuries many terma were discovered through dreams and visions.
terton (T): “Revealer of treasure.” Term for an individual who discovers or reveals one or more previously hidden terma (“treasures”), hidden for the sake of future generations and/or because certain teachings were judged too advanced for the then living. Althought there are examples of this process at earlier times in Indian Buddhism, it became especially associated with the early Nyingmapa who used this “hide and recover” method for the transmission of advanced teachings.
thangka (T): A thangka is a complicated, composite three-dimensional object consisting of: a picture panel which is painted or embroidered, a textile mounting; and one or more of the following: a silk cover, leather corners, wooden dowels at the top and bottom and metal or wooden decorative knobs on the bottom dowel. Thangkas are intended to serve as a record of, and guide for contemplative experience. For example, you might be instructed by your teacher to imagine yourself as a specific figure in a specific setting. You could use a thangka as a reference for the details of posture, attitude, colour, clothing. etc., of a figure located in a field, or in a palace, possibly surrounded by many other figures of meditation teachers, your family, etc.
Theravada: Main Branch of Buddhism. Means “teachings of the elders,” but is also called Hinayana “the little vessel” by the followers of Mahayana. According to Theravada Buddhism, the individual has been given the teachings which allow one to work toward freedom from the suffering in the world. An elder is a monk who has been ordained for a minimum of 10 years and who is acknowledged to have attained insight. Officially, the Theravada school is based only on what has been transmitted by these elders down through the ages. This body of teachings have been preserved in a Pali, a word that means a straight line. The English word “canon” comes from a Greek word meaning a straight line or a straight-edge, so early translators of Buddhist texts translated the word “pali” as “canon” and redundantly named the works of this school the Pali Canon. The language in which that canon is preserved is called the Pali language. While many Theravadin teachers admire and study and refer to individuals and writings that are not in the Pali canon, the framework within which all teachings are interpreted is provided by the Pali canon. Theravada school exists nowadays in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and parts of Vietnam. Theravada is therefore also called the Southern Buddhism.
third eye: The inner organ of psychic vision associated with wisdom, located above and between the two physical eyes at the location of the ajna chakra. See: chakra.
Thousand Buddhas Empowerment: Shakyamuni Buddha prophesied that in this eon of time, a thousand Buddhas would arise to relieve sentient beings from suffering and guide them to enlightenment. This empowerment creates a karmic connection such that those who receive it will be present during the lives and teachings of the future Buddhas of this eon. The transmission takes place through the mandala of Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, who embodies the active compassion of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas throughout time. This connection matures through the intention to do no harm to other beings and the commitment to hold all life as sacred.
Three Marks: Impermanence, suffering and no self, which are the characteristics which pervade conditional existence and serve as the foundation of the Abidharmapitaka.
Three Times: The past, present and future.
Three Poisons: Craving, aversion and delusion; symbolized respectively by the cock, snake and pig in the center of the Wheel of Life. also, these are termed the three roots of unskillfull actions.
Three Realms of Samsara: Tibetan: Kham Sum. The desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm. To the realm of desire belong the hell, hungry ghost, animal, human, jealous god, and “lower” god realms; in these realms, sensations are the most important element of one’s existential experience. The other two realms correspond to the higher levels of the god realms. In the form realm, one still experiences the illusion of a subtle body, as opposed to the formless realm which is purely mental.
Throma Nagmo (T): The practice or sadhana of the wrathful black dakini T’hröma Nagmo was revealed by Dudjom Lingpa as a treasure of Guru Padmasambhava Rinpoche and Saraha inseparable. In a vision, Yeshe Tsogyal was told by a dakini that Guru Rinpoche held the lineage of the T’hröma practice. Yeshe Tsogyal requested the practice from Guru Rinpoche and then concealed it as a terma (hidden treasure teaching).
Tibetan Buddhism – Schools, Lineages, or Traditions:
1. Nyingma (Nyingma-pa) “Ancient Ones” or “Early Translation School – ca. 765
2. Kagyu (Kagyud-pa) “Oral Transmission”
3. Kadampa / Gelug “Bound by Command” – ca. 1050
4. Sakya (Sakya-pa) – 1073
5. Chöd (gCod) “Cutting, Severance” – ca. 1100
Tibetan calendar: The Tibetan calendar is divided into major cycles of 60 years duration. These cycles are further divided into five minor 12-year cycles, each year of which is identified by the name of an animal, bird or reptile. Moreover, each year in the 12-year cycle is consecutively paired with one of five distinguishing elements, which changes every two years. This yields a cycle of sixty years ie; Isaiah (b. 1975) and Gertrude (b. 1915) are both earth-rabbits. Each of the elements has alternating male and female attributes. Based on the lunar month, the Tibetan year consists of 355 days. LOSAR? SEE LUNAR CALENDAR
T’ien T’ai: Sect of Chinese Buddhism, initiated by Hui Man in the dynasty of Bei-Chai, and promoted by Chi-Hai in Tsui Dynasty. Mainly based on the Lotus Sutra, Tien Tai explains all universal phenomena with the “Three Dogmas.” Its practices emphasize cutting off the “Three Delusions,” and advocate the “Three Meditations of One Mind.”
Tilopa (988 – 1069): Wild yogin (mahasiddha) who lived like a beggar; Tilopa collected the full Vajrayana transmissions. Passing them to his main disciple, Naropa, he thus planted the seeds of the Kagyu Lineage.
tingsha (T): A pair of small brass cymbals (2-3 inches diameter) united by a leather tong. Tingshas are a sonorous aid to relaxation and a centered, balanced state of mind. The edges of the tingsha are struck together to produce a pure, resonating sound.
tonglen (T): Sending and taking. A meditation practice in which the practitioner takes in all the world’s sorrow on the in-breath and sends out light and happiness to all beings on the out-breath.
torma (T): Sanskrit: Balingta. Ritual figurine made of flour and butter which is used to either represent a deity or to be used as offering. Torma are usually formed in the shape of a cone and adorned with small and large ‘buttons’ and of various colors. During certain Vajrayana initiations the torma is used to represent the deity. This most often refers to an offering, very ornate and colored. It is made from a mixture of butter and barley flour, and is offered to the deities which are invoked during a ritual. The Torma is therefore like food of which the form and the colors are supposed to particularily please such and such a type of deity. In other rituals, such as iniation, they can also be the symbolic form of the very deity. By its use, the Lama transfers to the disciple protection and security against adverse forces.
training: There are three principal trainings or disciplines in which the teachings of the Buddha are regrouped according to the three vehicles. These are the discipline of ethics, the discipline of samadhi and that of wisdom.
tranquillity and insight: S. samatha/vipassana, T. zhi-né/lhag tong. All meditative practice can be categorized as one or the other of these disciplines. Asanga defined tranquillity as “Close contraction or binding of the mind, tranquillity, unification, and composure.” The qualities he associated with insight are inquiry, search, complete thought, and investigation of mind and mental activities. “By the power of calm, thought becomes unshakeable in relation to its own object, like a lamp in still air. By the power of insight, the light of right knowledge arises as a result of understaning the reality of dharmas as they are. All obstructions are thereby removed, just as darkness is removed by the appearance of light.” -Kamalasila, heart-student of Khenpo Santarakshita
tri-gug (T): Sanskrit: Dargu. Skull chopper. An elaborate ritual chopping knife, the hooked knife of the Dakinis that represents the power of wisdom to cut through ego-clinging.
Tripitaka: Literally, (S.) ‘Three Baskets’ canon of Buddhist scriptures.
These three collections are the parts of the Buddhist canon and, in one form or another, used by all Buddhists:
1.Vinaya-pitaka … this is about the origins and rules of discipline for the sangha. This code of conduct originated during the Buddha’s life in relation to misconduct as it came up among the monks and nuns of the sangha. Commonly held among various schools, from Hinayana to Vajrayana.
2. Sutra-pitaka … discourses from Buddha Shakyamuni. It is said that Ananda, the Buddha’s personal assistant, had a perfect memory and recited the Buddha’s teachings by heart at the First Council. Others were later added only if they met certain criteria, but these were not written down for another hundred years. The Sutras comprise the direct teachings of the Buddha.
3. Abhidharma-pitaka … a compendium of Buddhist psychology and philosophy. This basket varies in content across the schools of Buddhism. Many beautiful patterns emerge in carefully studying the spontaneously delivered teachings of the Buddha which here become the basis for insightful commentary , useful systemization, and lucid summary of seminal points, all in support of more in-depth considerations of how the mind works. This is an invaluable gift from the ancient masters to all who would understand the essential insights pervading the vast collection of the Buddha’s teachings. Buddhist psychology, philosophy and logic are the subject of this basket.
Trisong Deutsen (790 — 858): One of the Three Religious Kings, young Tibetan monarch who invited the scholar Shantarakshita to Tibet, and with his help sought to establish the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery. Shantarakshita was a bit too scholarly for local tastes and was naturally disturbed by local suspicions, ghosts and demons throughout the project. He therefore advised the King to invite the Indian master Lobpon (T. teacher) Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche) to help. King Trisong Deutsen followed his advice. With the aid of Guru Rinpoche who was able to convert some of the local demons into a labor force, they were finally able to build Samye (T. inconceivable) monastery. Trisong Deutsen invited many Indian scholars to Tibet. Under his regime Tibetan translators were well educated and he undertook the translation of all important Buddhist texts available into Tibetan. Believed to be an emanation of Vajra Manjusri, King Trisong Deutsen was a great devotee of Guru Rinpoche. Wisdom Dakini Yeshe Tsogyal was offered as a gift from King Trisong Deutsen to his teacher, the Buddha of the Three Times.
Troma Nakmo (T): Dakini, wrathful form of Vajrayogini and Yeshe Tosgyal, principal meditiational deity of the Chod teachings. With great splendor of original nature, she suppresses demonic forces as the Black Dakini, the female wisdom energy who severs attachment and cuts through extremes. In some texts, the dakini is red or black, or at first red and then black; sometime she holds the curved blade in her right hand; sometimes the damaru in her right hand and a thigh bone in her left; sometimes she is holding a curved blade in her right hand and a skull in her left. See Chod, Vajrayogini, Yeshe Tsogyal
tsampa (T): Roasted barley flour; a Tibetan staple food.
Tsang-tsen (T): One of the protective deities in the Nyingma tradition, who has the reputation of being easily irritated.
tsok (T): Literally, gathering — a gathering of offering substances and a gathering of disciples to make the offering.
Tsongkhapa (T): 1357-1419. One of Tibet’s greatest lamas; founder of the Gelug order.
tulku (T): A reincarnated lama who is confirmed after certain tests. Although these sages do not need to be reborn again, they do so out of compassion for sentient beings. Some tulkus have reincarnated many times. The Dalai and Panchen Lamas are Tibet’s best-known tulkus.
tulkuma: Female incarnation.
Tummo (T): Inner fire. Practice of tsa-lung yoga associated with the pot-shaped (S. kumbhak) generating an intense internal heat associated with a blissful experience.
Turning the Wheel of the Dharma: Shakyamuni Buddha turned the wheel of dharma three times; the second and third turnings represent Mahayana teachings, the latter of these being a further articulation known as Tathagatagarbha texts. Turning the “Wheel of the Dharma” means that the Buddha not only taught those disciples who were able to meet him personally, but that his teachings from that time onwards would remain available in ages to come.
Close to Varanasi, India there was a Deer Park in a suburb called Sarnath. In his first turning of the wheel, explained to five old friends how to practice positive actions and avoid negative actions; the Four Noble Truths, etc. He spoke of the relationship between cause and effect, and how it functions to create samsara or is understood to realize nirvana. The path to enlightenment was indicated. During the second turning at Vulture Peak, the Buddha emphasized the concept-free, sky-like emptiness (sunyata) of ultimate reality. During the third turning, the Buddha revealed the absolute nature, the luminous quality of the ground awareness and via the tantric transmissions, he taught the inseparability of emptiness and appearances.
The second turning of the wheel is identified with the Prajnaparamita teachings which emphasize the emptiness not simply of self, but of all conditioned things. The resultant Mahayana path is characterized by great compassion and a deeper understanding of emptiness. One is able to work effectively for the benefit of all beings. By means of the original turning one is able to purify grosser obscurations and reach a state of peace, but this is mainly concerned with one’s own benefit. It is very difficult to change this way of thinking, i.e. to think of others before oneself, but at least, as an arhat, one has removed the primary obscurations, the gross suffering. Furthering beyond this way station in the foothills, a bodhisattva goes on to the greater range where he accomplishes the liberating actions (paramitas), and develops beyond this initial wisdom where he knows the emptiness, not only of self but also of all conditioned phenomena which would otherwise limit or define the scope of what is truly possible. This insight into the true nature gives rise to a confidence and fearlessness that sustains bodhisattvas working in the depths of samsara, fulfilling their vow to work for all suffering sentient beings.
The third turning of the Wheel of Dharma took place at various locations (including Vaisali and Sravasti). The Buddha gave teachings according to the capacities of his listeners and only taught Secret Mantra to very advanced students – those who had great confidence in his realization and were familiar with the nature of their own minds. When turning the wheel the first two times, the Teacher gave only the provisional or relative meaning. At the third turning, he taught the definitive or absolute meaning, explaining the Buddha-nature which is present within all beings, replete with all the perfected qualities of enlightenment. These teachings enable us, by means of identification with the Buddha – to develop those qualities in ourselves, and with the necessary causes and conditions being present, to reach full enlightenment within one lifetime.
SUMMARY: At the first turning of the Wheel of Dharma, the Buddha taught how to accumulate merit, to practice harmlessness (S. ahimsa) how to give up negative actions, etc., in order to attain liberation. In this context he talked about existence as if karma existed. Having initiated certain actions, one will experience certain results. The second turning addressed the emptiness of all phenomena in order for beings to overcome any attachment to sublte forms of existence and formulas of knowledge. Here he spoke about the ground of non-existence, the fact that phenomena arise interdependently are individually empty of a true or permanent self-nature. In order to avoid falling into the extremes of either existence (first turning realism) or non-existence (second turning nihilism), he turned the Wheel of Dharma a third time. Here he explained the ultimate meaning, the Buddha Nature, Sugatagarbha, Tathagatagarbha, free from all extremes, the primordial wisdom beyond concepts which is the ultimate reality of self and world.
Twelve Links of Dependent Origination: S: Pratityasamutpãda. T: ten drel. Interdependent Arisings. The way that the self and all phenomena exist conventionally. They come into being in dependence upon: (1) causes and conditions, (2) their parts, (3) most subtly, the mind imputing or labelling them. Dependent origination means that the arising or the becoming of a phenomenon is dependent on the coming together of conditions and/or other phenomena. When conditions are ripe, a phenomena arises; when these conditions change, the phenomenon ceases to be. The 12 phenomena (links) of dependent origination illustrate the causal relationship and interdependence of the 12 links, which together constitute the existence and continuation of life. The forward cycle of these 12 links is the unending transmigration of a living being in the cycle of rebirth. On the other hand, the backward cycle implies that once this interdependent chain is broken, liberation is attained. These 12 links are: Ignorance; Volition; Consciousness; Body/mind; the six senses; Contact; Sensation; Desire; Attachment; Existence (becoming); Birth; Aging and Death. See Law of Dependent Origination
U
Ullambana (S): The occasion when Buddhists make offerings to the Triple Gem and dedicate their merits to the deceased.
upasaka (S): The male lay-disciples of the Buddha, characterized by their maintenance of the five precepts and Three Refuges. The five precepts are: to refrain from killing living beings, to refrain from stealing, to refrain from adultery, to refrain from lying, and to refrain from intoxicants.
Upavasatha (S): “New moon and full moon days.” When Buddhists gather in the monastery or temple for communal observances and when the members of the Sangha recite the Praktimosha.
upaya (S): Skillful means. T. thabs
utpala: Peony flower depicted in Buddhist iconography. The nomenclature is somewhat confusing since the flowers held by the Taras and the one supporting the book in the iconography of Manjushri is often referred to as utpala which usually denotes a frilly blue flower.
V
vairagya (S): “Dispassion; aversion.” Freedom from passion. Distaste or disgust for worldliness because of spiritual awakening. Also, the constant renunciation of obstacles on the path to liberation. Ascetic or monastic life.
Vairocana (S): Tibetan: nam par nang zhe. Emanation of Adibuddha, the primordial buddha who represents the cosmic element of consciousness. He is the primordial wisdom of the sphere of reality. His is in the center of the mandala consisting of the five Transcendental Buddhas, and his rites pacify negative emotions. He is white and his two hands are held against the chest with his thumbs and forefingers touching. He radiates the light of Buddhahood and his consort is Akashadhateshvari, the Sovereign Lady of Infinite Space. The dance of space and awareness is known as the Dharmadhatu. It is this dance that is represented by the sexual imagery depicted in Tantra.
Vairochana Rakshita (circa 728-764 C.E): A disciple of Padmasambhava and Sri Singha; author of the Vajrabhairava Mandalavidhi Prakasa. One of the first seven monks to be ordained in Tibet, and Tibet’s greatest translator.
Vaishravana (S): Militant guardian deity of north. See Jambhala.
vajra (S): Tibetan: do. “Lord of Stones.” In Hindu symbology, the vajra is an emblem and/or magical weapon thought to produce the lightning flash controlled by the god Indra. It is said to be of indestructible power and has often been compared to the thunderbolt of other Indo-European male deities such as Zeus. Such comparison does not apply to the Tibetan symbolism. A synonym for both vajra and dorje is mani (Skt., “jewel”), and these terms are often used as a code for true nature of mind as well as the lingam, still carrying the associations of power, hardness, and great worth. Mani therefore appears with Padma (Skt. “lotus”; i.e. yoni) in the famous chant “Om Mani Padme Hum;” a celebration of this primordial union as the means to overcome dualism of any kind. The corresponding female equivalent to the male dorje-mani-vajra is ghanta, the bell. Images of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Vajrayana dignitaries often show them with one or both of these attributes in their hands. Dorje/Vajra also represents one of the Five Buddha Families.
Vajracchedika-Prajnaparamita Sutra (S): The Diamond Cutter Sutra. A great dialogue between the Buddha and Subhuti on the true nature of mind, phenomena and designation. One of the first sutras to be widely available in English.
Vajradhara (S): Tibetan: Dorje Chang. “Thunderbolt Bearer.” An emanation of the Adi buddha, considered by some to be the highest deity of the Buddhist Pantheon in Vajrayana Buddhism, as well as its spiritual source. He is the central figure in the Refuge Tree of the Kagyupa school. This Tantric form of Shakyamuni and embodies the primordial awakened mind and many Tantric teachings are attributed to him. He is an expression of Buddhahood itself in both single and yabyum form. He is depicted with his arms crossed on his chest, holding a dorje and a bell.. In the Nyingma tradition, he represents the principle of the lama as enlightened holder of the Vajrayana teachings.
Vajrakilaya (S): Tibetan: Dorje Phurba. Diamond Spike. A wrathful form of Padmasambava, Vajrakilaya is one of the most important Nyingma tutelary deities (dharma or vajra protectors, Skt., ishta-devata; Tib., yidam), and is associated with the Phurba, a triangular-blade ritual dagger representing the unity of the three bodies of the Buddha (Skt., tri-kaya; Tib., kusum) brought to a single point to subjugate negative forces. This winged “heruka” (wrathful) deity with three faces and six arms is shown in union with his wisdom consort. Together they represent the union of the feminine aspect of wisdom (Skt., prajna; Tib., sherab) and the male aspect of method (Skt., upaya; Tib., tob). They stand on prostrate human figures to represent triumph over delusion. Vajrakilaya wears shawls fashioned from flayed elephant and human skins, a tiger-skin skirt, dried skull crowns for each of his faces, and a garland of 51 dripping human heads representing the transmutation of the 51 base emotions. His consort Diptachakra has one face and two arms, and is holding a flaying knife (Skt., katari; Tib., dri-guk) in her right hand and a skullcup (Skt., kapala; Tib., todpa) in her left hand, and is wearing a leopard-skin skirt. A powerful sambhogakaya buddha of wrathful demeanor, Vajrakilaya is sporting with his consort Diptachakra, raising a vajra in his right hand while bearing a phurba lowered in his left, his wings raised in the midst of a halo of flames. Blue in body, adorned by snakes and animal skins, Vajrakilaya is of the nature of primordial awareness and emanates across for practitioners of the inner tantras. His main purpose is to help sentient beings remove,deep seated dualistic conceptions. Vajrakilaya practice combines all three of the inner tantras. One of the Vajrakilaya teachings, ‘The Dark Red Amulet,’ was given by the Buddha Shakyamuni in the form of Vajrakilaya himself and taught to many vidyadharas. This was passed down to several great masters such as Garab Dorje, Shri Singha, Vimalamitra and Guru Padmasambhava. These teachings were later revealed by Tsasum Lingpa, a terton living in eastern Tibet during the 17th century, and through the Khenpo Rinpoches and other great lamas, they continue to be handed down today in an unbroken lineage.
Vajrakilaya Sadhana (S): Tibetan: Pudri Re P’hung, “The Razor That Destroys at Touch.” The practice of Vajrakilaya was the heart practice of Yeshe Tsogyal, given to her by Padmasambhava to remove obstacles on her path to enlightenment. In this century, while His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche was in retreat in a cave at Paro Taksang in Bhutan, he had a visionary dream in which Yeshe Tsogyal appeared to him and entrusted the practice to him. She tucked a meteorite phurba into his clothes telling him that Guru Rinpoche himself had manifested as Dorje Drolo in the same cave, and with the same phurba had subdued the eight classes of powerful worldly ones and liberated the male and female kingly demons Before he left Tibet, she said, “he gave me this phurba, and now I give it to you. Keep it as your heart’s jewel.” Vajrakilaya is the wrathful aspect of Vajrasattva; he fulfills the action of the buddha’s mind in cutting through delusion and the outer and inner obstacles to realization, all of which can be completely dispelled, opening the doors to limitless compassion. With diligence and concentration, one can gain power and victory over negative forces, the reflections of one’s own mind. See Dudjom Rinpoche
Varjrapani: (S): A wrathful Bodhisattva who with Avalokitesvara and Manjusri, is one of the three Vajrayana family protectors. According to Buddhist philosophy, the state of pure and total enlightenment is characterized by three qualities which are of benefit to others: limitless compassion, limitless wisdom, and limitless skillful means. The bodhisattvas Avalokitesvara and Manjushri embody the first two of these characteristics while Vajrapani embodies skillful means. Skillful means is the ability to enter into any situation, no matter how unpromising, and transform it into the path of spiritual fulfillment. Vajrapani is this tantric aspect of the enlightened mind, transforming the energy of negative emotion into active wisdom and magical perfection. He symbolizes the indestructible vajra mind of a Buddha. He stands on a lotus throne surmounted by moon and sun disk. His body color is dark blue-green, with a serpent garland around his neck, adorned with golden bracelets, silk scarves and ornaments of jewels and bone. He stands in the midst of a raging fire. In his right hand he holds a flaming meteorite vajra and his left hand is at his heart in the subjugation mudra. He has three eyes, a rolling tongue and gnashing fangs. Standing upon the negative forces, his right leg is extended and his left slightly bent in the style of wrathful deities. Vajrapani first generated the mind of enlightenment when, as a mendicant, he prepared food for the Tathagata known as King of Patterns. He will become the final Buddha of this time, to be known as Buddha Ma rig mun sel drön ma che, “The Guide of Men”. He will take birth in the land called Glorious Brilliance, where he will beof princely descent, and his glory will be measureless. He will be known as “Without Desire and Without Ignorance”. His human life span will also be measureless and he will hold a measureless number of extraordinary assemblies. He will accomplish as many perfect actions as were performed by all the previous Buddhas, his relics will be extensive and after his ascension to nirvana, his teachings will remain to benefit sentient beings for further countless thousands of years.
vajra posture: Sanskrit: vajrasana. Tibetan: dorje kyil krung. Meditation posture, cross-legged with the feet resting on the thighs.
Vajra Protector: Fierce deities who are Bodhisattvas or wrathful manifestations of the Buddhas who protect the Dharma. Known as Heruka or Yidam in Tibetan Buddhism.
Vajrasana : (S.) literally, diamond throne. The seat of the Buddha’s enlightenment, located under a pipal tree on the west side of the Mahabodhi Temple Compound, Bodhgaya India,
1) The Maha Bodhi Temple is the historical place at which the Enlightenment took place. About 250 years after the Enlightenment, the Buddhist Emperor Ashoka visited the site and is considered the founder of the Mahabodhi Temple. According to the tradition, Ashoka, as well as establishing a monastery, erected a great shrine at this spot with a canopy supported by four pillars over a stone representation of the Vajrasana, the Seat of Enlightenment. While the Vajrasana was the specific site of the enlightenment, the Bodhi tree, closely linked to the Buddha’s accomplishment, became a central focus of devotion early in the history of the Sangha and in much later artwork.
2) Also known as the “Thunder Bolt Pose”, or “Diamond Seat”. This is the well-known meditation pose (Dhyanasana) of utmost concentration requiring that the legs are crossed so that the soles of both feet are visible.
Vajrasattva (S): Tibetan: Dorje Sempa.”Diamond Being.” The Buddha of primordial purity, representing the original crystalline unity of the mind. He is the essence of the five male Buddhas for meditation and is one manifestation of the Adi-Buddha Kuntuzangpo who is much revered in Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism. Vajrasattva’s symbolism and iconography are complex, but among other things he represents one’s beginningless or ultimate purity, beyond space and time. One of the foundation practices of Tantric Buddhism, which involves the visualization of Vajrasattva and the repetition of his hundred syllable mantra, is highly revered for its role in purifying negative karmas and infractions of vows. Vajrasattva’s practice is one of the most important of the Four Preliminary Practices. This is because Vajrasattva eradicates negative hindrances accumulated since time immemorial.
A totally enlightened being who has the special power to remove mental, emotional and physical obscurations, Vajrasattva resides on the level of the Sambogakaya. When one does Vajrasattva practice, one visualizes him above one’s head on a one-thousand petalled white lotus. Upon the lotus is a moon disk upon which he sits in vajra posture. Vajrasattva, like all tantric deities, does not appear as if solid, instead he is seen as a wisdom rainbow body, intensely white in color like “a snow covered mountain bathed by full moon light; a very rich, brilliantly white”. When reciting his mantra, his blessings rain down in the form of a purifying nectar which descends in a flow of incandenscent light entering your central channel through the crown chakra. Practiced correctly, Vajrasattva’s blessing power purifies all obscurations to the realization of enlightened mind. He is typically depicted holding a vajra in his right hand, next to his chest, and a bell in his left hand, next to his left thigh. He is visualized with and without consort.
Vajrasattva Yoga: Purification yoga to remove karmic hindrances created by past negative actions and by breaking one’s tantric vows. Vajrasattva, who represents the essential purity, is invoked with his Hundred-Syllable Mantra.
Vajravarahi (S): Tibetan: Dorje Phagmo. “Diamond Sow.” Ecstatically fierce Dakini, a a two-armed, red goddess whose head is surmounted by the head of a sow, and whose screech obliterates all concepts and sharply confides the direct meaning or ro-chig — the one taste of Emptiness and Form. She is the consort of Heruka Hayagriva. Her six manifestations include Yeshe Tsogyal (speech incarnation), Mandarava of India (body incarnation), the dakini Prabhadhara (essence incarnation). Stated another way, she is the essence of the five kinds of knowledge and is the embodiment of pleasure. See Dechen Gyalmo, Padmasambhava
Vajrayana (S): Also Vajra Vehicle, syn. Tantric Buddhism. The Tibetan branch of Mahayana Buddhism utilizing a wide variety of sklfull means including mantra and visualization of deities giving great emphasis to the role of the guru. One of the means Tibetan Buddhists use to gain freedom is meditation on sublime thoughts and pictures or mandalas. While Vajrayana springs from the Mahayana traditions, it has become distinctive enough to be regarded now as a separate branch unto itself. The word “vajra” means both “thunderbolt” and “diamond.” The texts upon which this branch is based are known as tantras, so this form of Buddhism is also called Tantric Buddhism. Unlike other forms of Buddhism, the Tantrayana is largely esoteric. Tantras are often written in a kind of code so that their meaning is not apparent to non- initiates. One can neither study nor practice it effectively without a qualified teacher, who offers oral instructions, and confers ritual baptisms (abhisheka) that give people a special grace or power by which they can put the teachings into practice. Tantric Buddhism is the main form of Buddhism in Tibet and Mongolia (via Tibet). There were also tantric forms in China, which in turn transmitted them to Vietnam, Korea and Japan. Even forms of Buddhism that are not nominally tantric have been influenced by tantric thinking and practices. So, for example, Vietnamese Buddhism is now a very interesting and healthy synthesis of Theravada, several limbs of Mahayana such as Zen and Pure Land, and tantric Buddhism. Korean Buddhism is now a synthesis of Zen, Pure Land and various scholastic forms of Mahayana Buddhism, with elements of tantra appearing here and there.
Vajrayogini (S): Tibetan: Dorje Naljor-ma. Female sambhogakaya form of Buddha. A meditation deity of the anuttarayoga tantra wisdom (mother) classification, consort to Cakrasamvara. One of the most important dakinis. She is a yidam of the Highest Tantra and appears in many Tantric practices. She is youthful, naked and passionate for the Dharma. Her body color and eyes are bright red and she has a forked tongue protruding through her teeth. She wears a garland of 51 human skulls signifying mastery of all mental events while dancing on a human corpse. She dances with her right leg bent and left extended as she drinks from a skull cup. A khatvanga rests upon her shoulder.
Varanasi: Located in northern India, the holy city of Varanasi is seated on the western bank of the Ganges River, bordered by two tributaries, Varuna to the north and Asi to the south. There are miles of ghats along the river, all manner of concrete steps leading from the town to the water, much of it for ceremonial bathing. The older sections of town are a maze of narrow streets full of small shops and homes. The ruins of ancient Buddhist monasteries and temples are in nearby Sarnath, where Buddha delivered his first sermon in the 6th century BC. Varanasi, “the city of a thousand temples”, is revered as a sacred city by Hindus and each year more than 1 million Hindu pilgrims visit . The Visvanatha Temple, Varanasi’s most venerated temple like the city itself, is dedicated to Shiva. Varanasi is probably one of the oldest existing cities in the world. Originally known as Kasi, it was the capital of the kingdom of Kasi during the 6th century BC. It gained prominence as a center of education and artistic activities during the 4th through the 6th century AD. Under Muslim occupation beginning in 1194, Varanasi’s prosperity declined, and most of its ancient temples were destroyed. Because of this destruction very few of the shrines left in Varanasi were built earlier than the 18th century. The city was ceded to the British in 1775. In 1910 the British made Varanasi a new Indian state. In 1949, after India’s independence, the Varanasi, or Benares state became part of the state of Uttar Pradesh. Since then, Varanasi has once again become a center of arts, crafts, music, and dance, and its musicians and dancers have gained international fame. The major traditional handicraft is weaving silk brocades with gold and silver threadwork. As well,Varanasi still is home to numerous schools and centers imparting traditional religious education. Brahman pandits are responsible for the continuation of traditional learning. Benares Hindu University is one of the most prominent educational institutions in India.
vase empowerment: Tibetan: bum wang. Initial empowerment to purify physical obscurations, enabling the practitioner to meditate on the generation phase.
vata (S): Movement from vayu, “air-ether.” One of the three bodily humors, called dosha, vata is known as the air humor. Principle of movement in the body. Vata dosha governs such functions as breathing and movement of the muscles and tissues. See: ayurveda, dosha.
Vatsiputriya: There is controversy over the root of the name of the Vatsiputriya school. Like the Sarvastivadins, they believed that an arhat could fall and that heretics could also attain miraculous powers. Others feel it may be named for Vatsa, a brahmin, who is also called Vatsiputra. He was a leader or a member of the school known as Vatsiputriyas. The Vatsiputriyas advocated the theory of the ‘pudgala’, the permanent substance of an individual. The pudgala was neither the same as nor different from the skandhas; obviously they had not been exposed to Nagarjuna’s reasoning in his Mulamadhyakarikas which clearly refutes the existence of any such agent. However, the Vatsiputriyas provided a transitional link to the Madhyamika. They were aware of the inadequacy of a stream of elements to account for the basic facts of experience, memory, moral responsibility, spiritual life, etc. They believed in a permanent unity. In Kashmir, the sixth Patriarch, Krsna, who was given the Dharma by Dhitika, countered the false view of self being taught by the monk named Vatsa. Krsna was an arhat, who entered nirvana. He was the son of a prominent merchant family, and was known to have guided many disciples to realization. Vasubandhu’s Abhidharma Kosa devotes a chapter to the refutation of the atma doctrine of this school, which admitted a quasi-permanent self.
Vesak (P): Occasion that commerates the birth, Enlightenment and Paranirvana, or final Nirvana of the Buddha for the Theravada schools.
Vidyadhara (S): Tibetan: rig-dzin. Knowledge Holder. T. rigpa ‘dzin-pa, rig-dzin. One who holds (‘dzin-pa) to immediate Awareness (rig-pa). In the Nyingma tradition, there are four levels: Totally Matured (nam-min); Mastering the Duration of One’s Life (she-dbang); Mahamudra (chyagpa chenpo); Spontaneously Accomplished (lhun-drub).
Vijnanavada: literally “Doctrine of Consciousness,” was a school of Mahayana Buddhism founded by Maitreyanatha (270-350 CE) and developed further by his disciple Asanga (c.375-430 CE) and Asanga’s little brother, Master Vasubhandu (c. 400-480.) The name is often used interchangeably with Yogacara or Cittamatra, though the three came to denote different branches. All held that consciousness is essentially real, though the objects of mind and the pervasive division of the world in subject and object are not. The appearance of form and ideas to mind is the result of an inner modification of consciousness itself. In the exploration of this process, the doctrine of the eight consciousnesses, including the alaya vijnana or store-house consciousness evolved. See Yogacara.
Vikramasila: A famous Buddhist university that was a center for scholarship for many centuries. Founded by Dharmapala, the greatest king of Bengal, it rivaled the great center of learning at Nalanda. Among its luminaries were Atisha and Buddhajnanapada. Even though it may have been the last university to be destroyed by the Muslim invaders (early 11th century), it is said that the living spirit of Buddhism was no longer present there during its final days, with the teachings of the Buddha reduced to a single branch of study among the Hindu departments.
Vimalakirti-Nirdesa Sutra (S): The Bodhisattva Vimalakirti was said to be a native of Vaisali, and a highly evolved upasaka (lay practicioner) who assisted Shakyamuni in preaching and crossing realms of existence to aid sentient beings. The Sutra is the record of interesting conversation between Vimalakirti and Manjusri Bodhisattva about the understanding of the One Buddha Vehicle (S. ekayana) . Vimalakirti is said to be the only human being present when Vajrapani revealed the tantras in the human world.
Vimalamitra (S): Tibetan: Drime shenyen. Eighth century Indian adept known as the “Sage of Kashmir,” who also traveled and lived in China, Oddiyana and Tibet. He was a student of Sri Singha and Buddhaguhya, and later became an important teacher within the lineages of the Nyingma-Dzogchen traditions. He united two aspects the Nyingtig teachings: the explanatory lineage with scriptures, and the hearing lineage without scriptures – and concealed them to be revealed as the Vima Nyingtig , and also as the Secret Heart Essence of Vimalamitra.
Vinaya (S): One of the major divisions of the scriptures of the Theravada school of Buddhism; the Vinaya Pitaka is concerned with the rules of discipline for the monastic community.
Vipassana (P) / Vipashyana (S): Tibetan: Lhak-tong. “Insight meditation,” or meditation that develops insight into the nature of mind. It is sometimes described as analytical meditation. It is one of the two types of meditation found in all Buddhist traditions, the other being tranquillity or “calm-abiding” meditation (Skt., Shamatha; Tib., Zhi-nay).
Virupa (S): One of the 84,000 mahasiddhas of India; source of Sakya tradition teachings. The story of the siddha who fixes the sun in the sky because he cannot pay his tavern bill is attributed to both Virupa and the emanation of Padmasambhava known as Guru Nyima Od’zer. The Khenpo Rinpoches have stated that Virupa was the same person as this emanation of Padmasambhava.
virya (S): Energy; vigor, the vital energy necessary to maintain and progress in spiritual development. The term is associated with heroism and manliness. Also, the fourth paramita, usually translated as Joyful Effort.
visualize (visualization): To imagine, create mental images. Exercising the power of thought to transform the objective referent.
vows: Precepts taken on the basis of refuge at all levels of Buddhist practice. Pratimoksha precepts (vows of individual liberation) are the main vows in the Hinayana tradition and are taken by monks, nuns, and lay people; they are the basis of all other vows. Bodhisattva and tantric precepts are the main vows in the Mahayana tradition. Three types of vows are distinguished : outer, inner and secret. Outer vows involve a form of discipline through which one avoids harming others. They are called the vows of individual liberation and consist of seven or eight subsets of vows, for monks, nuns, lay householders, and so on. The inner vows is the bodhisattva vow. Secret vows are tantric vows of the vajrayana. See also Vinaya.
W
wang (T): see empowerment
White Tara: Mother of all the Buddhas, bestows the gift of longevity through an elegant emanation. She energizes those who visualize her, and that energy can be invested in one’s spiritual practice. She is still and centered sitting in a full lotus with a blue utpala flower blooming to the left of her head. She has seven eyes: one each on the soles of her feet; one each on the palms of her hands; one each in the normal place on her face and one in the “third eye” position on her forehead. Several important White Tara practices have been passed down through the Karmapas and Dalai Lamas.
wisdom: T: yeshe / sherab. S: jnana / prajna. This single English word corresponds to two distinct words in both Tibetan and Sanskrit. The Tibetan (yeshe) is intuitive, non-conceptual wisdom which relates to the knowledge of what is. It is the domain of spiritual realization revealing the true nature of ultimate and primordial truth. Then there is the Tibetan she-rab,which translates as excellent cognition, (S. prajna) in reference to the analytic, discriminating awareness which correctly cognizes relative appearances. This wisdom is identified with knowing the variety of things.
Wu-tai Shan: China’s sacred mountain of the north and a seat of Bodhisattva Manjusri. The pre-Buddhist tradition of sacred mountains in China stems partly from myths of the pillars of heaven and partly from sages and mystics who frequented the sparsely-populated heights. Interestingly, the Chinese word for pilgrimage means literally, paying ones respect to a mountain. In the 1st century ce., merchants returning from India via the Silk Route began the introduction of Buddhism into China. Later pilgrims returning from India with sacred texts and the desire for renunciate life founded hermitages and monasteries on or near peaks. Over time, Chinese Buddhists began to regard the five peaks as having primary sanctity, each associated with a different Bodhisattva.
Because of its isolated location in a range of northern China, Wu Tai Shan was barely touched by the ravages of the communist revolution and its child, the cultural revolution. The mountain, rising 10,000 feet above sea level, is actually a group of five flat topped peaks , which explains its name meaning Five Terrace Mountain. The first of over 50 temples were built in the 1st century ce. though all those remaining date from the late 7th century. These include10 Tibetan Lamaseries.
Wu Tai Shan was considered the center of Chinese Buddhism for 2,000 years and was widely known not only in China but also to Buddhists in Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Tibet and Nepal. Many well-known and accomplished masters of these countries made long pilgrimages to study and meditate in these sanctified surroundings. There are numerous stories of sightings of Manjusri riding a blue lion high in the mountains above the monasteries. For one pilgrim’s experience of Wu-tai Shan, check:
http://www.sacredsites.com/2nd56/3343640.html (last paragraph)
Y
yab-yum (T): The unification of a male and a female deity (originally: father-mother), means also the unity of clarity and emptiness, symbolised by vajra/bell or vajra/lotus. In the Tibetan pantheon, male and female deities are represented in sexual union (yab-yum) with their consorts. Peaceful deities are portrayed sitting in union, while wrathful emanations are usually standing.
yaksha (S): Tibetan: gnod sbyin. A class of spirits. Beings mentioned in the Buddhist Canon who are divine in nature and possess supernatural powers. In many cases Yaksas are wild, demonic, sexually prolific beings who live in solitary places and are hostile toward people, particularly those who lead a spiritual life. They often disturb the meditations of monks and nuns by making noise.
Yama (S): Lord of Death.
Yamantaka (S): also Vajra Bhairava. Tibetan: Dorje Jig-je and Shinjé. Conqueror or Slayer of Death, the wrathful emanation of Manjusri. He is a member of the Vajra Family of Akshobya and concerned with overcoming the poison of hatred. He is usually dark blue and is depicted in his simplest form with one bullhead and two arms. He wears a crown of skulls, has a third eye, a skullcap in his left hand and a vajra chopper in his right. In thankas he most often has nine heads, 16 feet and 34 arms; all his hands hold objects associated with tantric symbols.
yama-niyama: The first two of the eight limbs of raja yoga, constituting Hinduism’s fundamental ethical codes, the ten yamas and ten niyamas are the essential foundation for all spiritual progress. The yamas are the ethical restraints; the niyamas are the religious practices. See: raja yoga.
yana (S): Tibetan: theg-pa. Vehicle, way, school, teaching. Althought the literal meaning is “vehicle”, it is applied to the Buddhist path. Three yanas are distinguished in the early period of Buddhism; the shravakayana, the pratyekabuddhayana, and the bodhisattvayana. The first two belong to so-called hinayana (T. thegpa men) or “small vehicle.” Briefly stated, the main feature of these two yanas is that practitioners strive manly for individual liberation. The third yana, bodhisattvayana, is the so-called mahayana (thegpa chenpo) or “large vehicle”. T practitioner of this yana strives to attain enlightenment through compassion and wisdom for the benefits of all beings. Thus, his responsibility extends beyond that indicated in the hinayana. Mahayana can be further subdivided into sutrayana and tantrayana, both of which lead toward the same goal. However, in the tantrayana, the practitioner has access to an arsenal of highly effective means for developing compassion and wisdom and purifiying obstacles. Vajrayana, Phalayana and Mantrayana are synonyms for Tantrayana.
Yarlung: 416 BC -Nyatri Tsenpo founds a dynasty in Yarlung valley, according to legend. Yarlung Valley yar – up, upper; klung – valley [of a river], drainage basin, or cultivated field. A river valley in Central Tibet, the cradle of Tibetan civilization. Birthplace of Tibetan Culture and breadbasket of the region. The mixture of grasslands with farming all surrounding one is spectacular to behold…
yeshe (T): Sanskrit: jnana. Primordial awareness; primal wisdom.
Yeshe Tsogyal (T): “Princess of the Wisdom Lake.” Lived from C.E. 757-817. The most important female figure in the tradition of the Tibetan Buddhist Nyingma school was a young wife of Tibetan King Trisong Detsen who became the intimate companion of Padmasambhava at the age of 16. The famous Indian yogi and tantric master, believed to be the second reincarnation of the historical Buddha, brought Buddhism to Tibet, where he was known as Pema Junge, Guru Rinpoche. Padmasambhava took Yeshe as his consort and transmitted to her the teachings of the phurba cycle. She codified countless of her guru’s teachings in Terma texts and also composed his extensive biography, “Padma Kathang.” In the last part of her life she was active mainly in eastern Tibet. She is venerated up to the present day as a dakini. Tsogyal received full initiation into the Tantra and became a female adept of the highest order. Padmasambhava said to her, “The basis for realizing enlightenment is a human body. Male or female, there is no great difference. But if she develops the mind bent on enlightenment, the woman’s body is better.” For many years after the passing of Padmasambhava, Tsogyal worked for the good of all — feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, and instructing the ignorant. She died at a great age, and is now venerated as Tibet’s top female Tantric master. She is thought to have reincarnated since then as a number of important female adepts, including Machig Lapdron (1055—1145) and Yomo Memo (1248—1283). In turn, Yeshe Tsogyal herself is regared as an incarnation of the fierce dakini Vajravarahi (Tib., Dorje Phagmo).
The Secret Autobiography of Yeshe Tsogyal (Bodhi Jomo Yeshe Tsogyal) is believed to have been dictated by the lady herself to Namkhai Nyingpo in the early 9th century. Once completed, the text was treated as an earth treasure (see terma): written on the mysterious indestructible yellow parchment, assigned a protective spirit, hidden (in Kham, eastern Tibet). A number of possible discoverers (Tibetan, “terton”) were prophesied who might reveal this treasure text. This did happen, in the early 18th century, although the discovery seems to have been in the form of a so-called “mind treasure” (see terma). That second version was recorded by the terton Taksham Nuden Dorje, b. 1655, and shows, according to translator Keith Dowman, that it was composed by someone with historical knowledge far beyond Tsogyal’s time of death. However, both texts are similar enough to credibly represent a secret autobiography of Yeshe Tsogyal (757-817), probably the most important and influential woman of the Tantric tradition as practiced in Tibet. The work recounts her adventurous life, first as student and consort/lover of Padmasambhava and subsequently as a fully accredited teacher in her own right. Yeshe Tsogyal relates the events surrounding her initiations, explains the sexual rituals she practiced with Padmasambhava and others, her austerities and temptations as well as her efforts in spreading the then new teachings of the Inner Tantras.
yi-dak (T): yi-dvags. Sanskrit: Preta. Hungry Ghosts, occupants of one of the three unfortunate realms of samsara (i.e., Hell-Beings, Hungry Ghosts and Animals). The yidaks are tormented by unappeasable appetites and depicted as having needle-thin necks and enormous stomachs.
yidam (T): “Firm mind.” Derives from T. yid, which means intellect and dam from T. dam-tsig, commitment or solemn bond (S. samaya). The Yidam or tutelary deity is an emanation of the mind of the buddhas. The power of this deity as well as the possibility of obtaining the realization in dependence upon the practice, is conferred at the time of the initiation by the Lama. The energy of the tutelary deity is associated with the mantra which attaches the mind of the initiated with the mind of the Lama through the form of the deity. Because each mind has particularities of personal and cultural habit, each Yidam manifests the nature of Buddha’s Wisdom in through one of many possible aspects, . The meditation on the Yidams and performing the yogas which are associated with them, is one of the skilful methods utilized in Vajrayana to rapidly reach liberation. In this manner, one frees oneself from Samsara by using exactly the means which enchain oneself; the mind is committed to the practice of the Yidam by the engagement of the yogi to meditate on his body, his speech and his mind as being the same as that of the Yidam. In this manner, the three doors of the practicioner are progressively transformed into the three doors of the Buddhas of which the disciple realizes the four kayas thanks to the spiritual influence of the Yidam. The essence of the yidam is the Lama, present manifestation of all the Buddhas. Yidams are manifestations of the sambhogakhaya (buddha-body of delight) and are visualized in meditative practice, i.e. perceived with the inner eye. They can take on either a peaceful or wrathful form of manifestation. Tibetan Buddhism does not particularly regard yidams as protective deities (as the personal deities are regarded in Hindu Tantra); rather their function is as an aid in the transformative process in which the practitioner comes to acknowledge his or her own basic personality structure. The yidams also serve to bring the practitioner to a sense of ultimate connection with the traditional lineage whose teaching he or she follows.
yoga (S): “Union.” From yuj, “to yoke, harness, unite.” The philosophy, process, disciplines and practices whose purpose is the yoking of individual consciousness with transcendent or divine consciousness. One of the six darshanas, or systems of orthodox Hindu philosophy. Yoga was codified by Patanjali in his Yoga Sutras (c. 200 BCE) as the eight limbs (ashtanga) of raja yoga. It is essentially a one system, but historically, parts of raja yoga have been developed and emphasized as yogas in themselves. Prominent among the many forms of yoga are hatha yoga (emphasizing bodily perfection in preparation for meditation), kriya yoga (emphasizing breath control), as well as karma yoga (selfless service) and bhakti yoga (devotional practices) which could be regarded as an expression of raja yoga’s first two limbs (yama and niyama). See: austerity, bhakti yoga, danda, hatha yoga, raja yoga, siddhi.
Yogacara (S): Yoga practice. Philosophical school of Mahayana Buddhism, also known as the Vijnanavada or Consciousness School. The founders of this school in India were Maitreya (270-350 CE), his disciple Asanga (375-430), and Asanga’s younger half-brother Vasubandhu (400-480), who was also the greatest systematizer of the Abhidharma type of Buddhist philosophy. The Yogacara school, is a fourth century outgrowth of Madhyamika Buddhism. It has been said that Madhyamika is best for regarding emptiness (sunyata) while the Yogacara has proven valuable as the school that teaches knowing (Vijnanavada) or the understanding of the primacy of mind. The school held that consciousness (vijnana) is real, but its objects are constructions and unreal. The school’s teachings are thus often characterized by the phrase “consciousness-only” (cittamatra) or “representation-only” (vijnaptimatra). The content of consciousness is produced not by independently existing objects but by the inner modifications of consciousness itself. A theory of eight kinds of consciousness was formed to explain how this process functions. The deepest level of consciousness is the “store-consciousness” (alaya-vijnana), which is both individual and universal and contains the seeds or traces of past actions, which are projected into manifestation through the “defiled mind” and the six sense gates (five physical senses plus mind or thought). The school was transmitted to China as the Fa-hsiang. In some lineages, it eventually syncretized with the Madhyamika school.The yogic goal is to clarify alaya-vijnana, to attain cognizance of alaya, the “true home,” and place the light of meditation awareness upon it, so that the mind can be liberated from the alaya’s propensities toward illusion; beyond the pure emptiness of space there is awareness of universal light. Follower of yogacara practice great virtues (paramitas) and meditative concentration (samadhi). They follow a path consisting of four distinct stages:
1. Prayoga marga, a preparatory stage where there is teaching of the doctrine that all exists only in the mind.
2. Darsana marga, the “path of seeing,” where understanding and not just knowledge of the teaching develops (intuitive awareness of the identity of subject and object) – and the first of the “ten lands” or bhumi is entered on the “meditation way of the bodhisattvas”; the kleshas (defilements which are the cause of all misery and affliction) start to be eliminated and the alaya-vijnana to be clarified.
3. Bhavana marga, the “path of meditation,” where the ten lands (bhumis) of the bodhisattva are passed through and further progress made in insight and cleansing from defilements. 4. Asaiksa marga, the “path of no-more-learning” or “path of fulfilment,” when the kleshas are totally eliminated, the alaya-vijnana clarified (“the ground converted”) so the cycle of existence is over and the bodhisattva actualizes the dharmakaya or “body of the great order,” absolute-body awareness characterized as the “great awakening” and one of the trikaya (three bodies) of a buddha.
yogi / yogin (S): Tibetan: Naljor-pa / Naljor-ma. In general, a term used for a practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism. It is also used as a special term for a practitioner who is experiencing his/her mind on the absolute and the relative level simultaneously, or someone who experiences his/her mind in its natural form. Such yogis may well be teachers not bound by monastic vows. A male yogi is a “yogin;” female yogi, “yogini.”
yoni (S): Vulva, womb, source; the entire female genital system. A term from India’s ancient language, Sanskrit or “devanagari” (divine language). It can be translated by several English concepts (“origin”, “source”, “womb”, “female genitals”) and is the most respectful word available with nothing as respectful available in our modern language. The term yoni heralds from a culture and religion in which women have long been regarded and honored as the embodiment of divine female energy – the goddess known as Shakti – and where the female genitals are seen as a sacred symbol of Her.
Z
Zahor: Somewhere to the east of Bodhgaya lies the site of the ancient country of Zahor. In 29 AN (after nirvana), texts containing the esoteric tantra fell onto the roof of the palace of Indrabhuti (King Dza) ruler of the land of Zahor. Mandarava, consort of Guru Rinpoche was born to King Indrabhuti in this same area. When Mandarava met Guru Rinpoche, she became his disciple, which enraged her father who was trying to find her a suitable husband. So he ordered his ministers to burn the intruder alive, but Guru Rinpoche transformed the fire into a lake of sesame oil, and in its center bloomed a wondrous lotus, with Guru Rinpoche sitting comfortably amused in the center of it. The astonished King repented and gave Padmasambhava his crown, and firmly established Dharma in the land of Zahor.
zazen (J): The central sitting meditation practice of Zen Buddhism.
zen: J: meditation from C. ch’an from S. dhyana. The Mahayana Buddhist School that originated in China (as Ch’an) that later took root in Japan. Zen emphasizes the practice of sitting in meditative absorption (zazen) as the shortest path to Enlightenment. It de-emphasizes rituals and intellectual studies. Probably the most common form of Buddhism in the West, Zen practitioners usually devote themselves to monastic life, as accomplishment requires extensive periods of meditation. It concentrates on making clear that reality is beyond words and language and beyond logic. To accomplish this, it makes use of the koan, zazen and sanzen. This school is said to be for those of superior roots. On reaching Korea, it became known as Son. See Ch’an and Chinese Buddhism
zhi-khro: Tibetan: Peaceful/wrathful, a reference to the peaceful and wrathful deities found in the inner tantra. It is a condensed teaching based upon the essential meaning of the Guhyagarbha Tantra combined with the views expressed in the anu and ati yoga teachings (yanas 8 and 9). — the inner tantra of the inner tantra. This is the union of rigpa and emptiness, the oneness of birth, death, and life experiences. This teaching is known as the one that unifies everything into a single state. Zhi-khro is a practice of Tibetan Buddhism involving visualizing the body as a composite of the 108 peaceful and wrathful deities. In the practice, the deities are first visualized in mandalas of 58 peaceful and 42 wrathful deites centered in the heart, throat and crown chakra, and then in all the channels and nadis of the body. This is part of the group known as Bardo Teachings which were composed in Tibet in the 8th century by Guru Padmasambhava. Yeshe Tsogyal wrote them down and hid them to be discovered later. In the mid-14th century, they were recovered along with other texts in the Gampo hills of central Tibet by the accomplished yogi, Karma Lingpa. The collection of teachings entitled The Self-Emergence of the Peaceful and Wrathful Deities from Enlightened Awareness (zhi khro dgongs pa rang grol) also included the texts of the now famous Great Liberation upon Hearing in the Bardo also known as The Tibetan Book of the Dead. The practice is not one of imposing a visualization on the body we are accustomed to perceiving, but of uncovering a more true vision of what is. Mastering the visualizations of the deities completely can help with recognition and liberation from cyclic existence in the after-death state known as the Dharma Essence
Que todos possam se beneficiar!
Clear Elucidation of True Nature
An Esoteric Instruction on the Sublime Approach of Ati
and Miscelleneous Tidbits of Advice
ཐེག་མཆོག་ཨ་ཏིའི་མན་ངག་གནས་ལུགས་གསལ་སྟོན་གཞན་ཡང་ཞལ་ཤེས་འཐོར་བུ་བཞུགས་སོ།
theg mchog ati’i man ngag gnas lug gsal ston gzhan yang zhal shes ‘thor bu
By Za Patrul Rinpoche
Translated by Sarah Harding
Que todos possam se beneficiar!
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Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche’s Autobiography
Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche’s Autobiography
Khenchen Rinpoche’s autobiography has been left unfinished. Should any mistakes or typos occur, it is solely our fault and none of the Author.
Autobiography in Unicode format
Que todos possam se beneficiar!
E-books
Our e-books are free for download and personal use. They are not to be published commercially. All rights reserved.
These texts are in PDF format and require Adobe Acrobat Reader or other software capable of viewing PDF files. Acrobat Reader can be downloaded from Adobe website free of charge.
If your browser does not display Tibetan correctly, please download and install one of the Tibetan Unicode fonts.
The Blazing Lights of the Sun and Moon – English
The commentary on Mipham’s Sherab Raltri entitled-
INTRODUCTION [SPOKEN BY KPSR]
This text, the Sherab Raltri, Sword of Prajna, by Mipham Rinpoche, summarizes many important points from the sutras and tantras. There are two important spontaneously written texts in which Mipham expresses his vision of Buddhist teaching. They are this 1Sword of Prajna of the Completely True Meaning, and 2 The Precious Torch of Certainty. Many great masters say Mipham wrote five “sword” texts and five “lotus” texts, named for the scepters in the hands of Manjushri. To reach enlightenment is the main purpose of this text, of course. But in particular, among the three prajnas, hearing, contemplating, and meditating, this text focuses on contemplation. It is an overview that tells how to contemplate thoroughly what we have studied.
When the Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies was established in 1967, this was the first course in the Nyingma department. The root text was written by Mipham Rinpoche at the request of Lhagsam Tenpa Gyaltsen, a famous master in his own right. Mipham wrote a short commentary, which I studied in Tibet; but I couldn’t find it or any other commentary that had been brought to India. I did have some notes that Mipham made in the text, and I used them. I started writing every day, on the blackboard, and students would copy it down. By the end of the year the whole thing was done. Every year there would be another ten or twelve students, and the same thing would happen again. Everyone thought we should publish this, but we didn’t. Later, when I was in New York, some students wrote and asked if it could be printed, and if anything would need to be changed. When I went back to Nepal, I made some corrections and edited the text with the help of some students there. Then the Tibetan version was printed.
Guru Rinpoche wrote a famous commentary on the Manjushri-nama-sa.mgiti, called the 3Blazing Lights of the Sun and Moon. That seemed auspicious, so I adopted the title for this commentary.
Supremely kind crown jewel of the learned and accomplished,
Jetsun Manjushri emanating in human form,
Known as Jamgon Mipham Chokle Namgyal Gyamtso,
Supreme in glory and goodness, producing a hundred and eight Commentaries setting forth the intended meaning
Of the sutras and tantras of the Victorious One.
This treatise teaches without error the vast and profound piths of the mahayana sutras and tantras. The subject expressed is the two truths. It is expressed in terms of the four correct reasonings. The fruition is the great treasure of the eight confidences. That is the way in which this great text was composed. This treatise, the Sword of Prajna of the Completely True Meaning is one of four very famous commentaries. It is supreme among commentaries that explain without error difficult points of words and their meanings. This commentary on the Sherab Raltri 4 is entitled the Blazing Lights of the Sun and Moon. These days the precious teachings of the Buddha in general have been harmed and diminished, particularly in Tibet, the Land of Snow, by the army of the red Chinese. In this situation, replenishing the blaze of the former teachings from the remaining embers was supremely kind.
Born in Riwoche in Khams he indisputably went to the heights level of learning, discipline, and nobility. Born and remaining a glorious lord of the teachings and beings, This is Khenchen Palden Sherab, glorious, good, and excellent. It was he who composed this.
In 1967, in Varanasi, when the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies was established, this text was presented to students at the institute as lectures about Khen Rinpoche’s own Nyingma tradition. As no commentary on it had reached India, Khen Rinpoche, with supreme compassion for those under his care, newly composed this one. Until now, it remained as an active course, and so it could not be requested that it be published. Now after 13 auspicious presentations of those lectures, Khen Rinpoche has responded to new requests to publish it, from the country of America.
Greatly moved by these requests and the approach of this supreme occasion, he gave the order to print this, and the pure requests of those sitting at his feet were accomplished. After thirteen times sending a lamp to beings, in the 2530th year of the teacher’s passing in his sthavira-aspect, in the seventh tibetan month, tenth day, by these requests that this be printed, auspiciousness increased.
of the many who were formerly benefitted,
the Khenchen’s brother Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal Rinpoche.
Dge’o Dge’o
PRAISE TO MANJUSHRI DORJE NYINGPO, VAJRA SHARPNESS
Namo shri Vajrapadmatikshnaye
PRAISE TO BUDDHA SHAKYAMUNI
In the wind-chariot of the two accumulations, excellently leading the four forces 5 of the army of the ten powers 6,
You overcome the warfare of the gods of desire 7 and their host is overcome;
While with the sharp fangs and claws of the four fearlessnesses 8, you drink from the skulls of vicious feuding elephants 9, the eternalists and nihilists.
Knowing the nature and extent of dharmas 10, having removed the darkness of the two obscurations from the place of snow-mountains,11 by your generosity there are the two yogic disciplines.12
In the center of the wheel of 112 13 spokes you, the supremely exalted lion of men, Siddartha, bestow auspicious fortune. 14
Blazing with the deathless splendor of a thousand radiant marks, 15
Liberated 16 from a lotus blossom in the middle of a lake,
You are the nirmanakaya who overcomes the phenomenal world,17
My beautiful crown-ornament until the heart of enlightenment.
REQUEST BY MIPHAM TO MANJUSHRI 18
A hundred devotional petals crown the lotus anthers of teaching. 19
Dharma Lord, 20 I always offer you reverent homage. 21
You who are the ever-youthful lion of speech,
Bestow on these beings shining intelligence, filling the sky.
PRAISE TO SARASVATI OR TARA 22
In the expansive lotus-garden of speech of all the conquerors,
With 100,000 melodious blooms of holy Dharma,
You are a singing swan 23 that shines as bright as moonlight.
May you now enjoy the vast lake of my mind
SUPPLICATION TO THE VIDYADHARAS OF THE THREE LINEAGES
The secret streams of truth of the three collections of tantra 24
By a gulp of analysis swallowed into the belly of intellect. 25
Are regurgitated as excellent teaching, as with Agastya. 26
I praise a hundred times the former rigdzins and rishis.
PRAISE TO LONGCHENPA
At the council of well-written teachings, the sagely teacher,
In a bowing throng of attendant-ministers 27 unbiased in learning,
On his elephant vehicle, 28 which is the great perfection,
Surveying all like Indra, with a thousand different eyes, 29
Confidently manifesting the hundred pointed vajra 30
Whose prongs are the points of teaching, debate, and composition,
Wearing a crown that is set with gems of many traditions,
The incomparable lord of learning who is known as Longchenpa,
Is renowned as a king of the gods of a kind not seen before
His fame surpasses even that of the lord of the world. 31
PRAISE TO MIPHAM
A thousand elephants of vicious self-serving contention,
Arrogant, with no gentle thoughts of any kind,
You overcome and have no thought of enduring them,
The lion of speakers, with far-reaching laughter of proper reason,
Is the victorious one called Mipham Chokle Namgyal.
MIPHAM’S PRAISE TO HIS GURUS
By the sharp vajra-weapon of scripture and proper reason,
Opponent asuras’ arrogant power 32 is overcome.
Gracious one who sees the excellent path of truth,
Prevail among spiritual friends like Indra among the gods.
After these poetic expressions of homage, like beautiful white lotus petals strewn to welcome a teacher, now there is this terma-prophesy by the tamer of beings Sangngag Lingpa: 33
An emanation named Mipham of the great translator Nub
An especially noble master of mind-terma will arise.
Also here is a terma-prophesy manifested by the power of the great terton Tatung Dudjom Trolo 34:
By Mipham Gyamtso the host of extremes will be transformed.
The conqueror of all the doctrines of wrong view,
Will make the radiant secret mantra clear as day.
In accord with these and 35 the vajra prophesies of Padmasambhava, the second buddha of Uddiyana and others, you the omniscient intrinsic form, the supremely excellent omniscient embodied essence of all the victorious ones of mantrayana, the lion of vajra teachers, appear in the form of a spiritual friend. Mastering the eight great treasures of confidence 36 and the four discriminating knowledges, 37 you are an authority on ordinary and extraordinary fields of knowledge, beyond the scope of thought. In particular, revealing in an extraordinary way the well-taught word of the Sugata, the profound and vast intentions of the sutras and tantras, uniquely analyzing without depending on others 38, you, the jetsun inseparable from Manjushri, are truly omniscient and great in vision, a learned and accomplished master. You, the jetsun guru who possesses objectless compassion, whose very name is so awesome that we hesitate to utter it 39, are famed as Mipham Jamyang Namgyal Gyamtso or Jampel Gyepe Dorje throughout the three worlds. 40 The completely certain truth formerly well-taught by you in this Sherab Raltri is what I shall explain.
The explanation has three parts. 41 These are the name or title, the main part of the teaching so entitled, and the final conclusion.
First overall part.
The title of the text is the don rnam par nges pa shes rab ral gri, The Sword of Prajna, that Ascertains 42 All the Details of the True Meaning.
The meaning of the subject
Nubchen Sanje Yeshe 43 says in the Lamp of Meditation that Illuminates the Pith of Meditation: 44
The cause of certain knowledge of truth is prajna contemplating an example, a reason, 45 and a conclusion reached by correct reasoning. 46 These are evaluated by individually-discriminating prajna.
The profound and vast meaning told in the Buddha’s teachings in the sutras and tantras and the commentaries on their intention, accords with the way things are. This is revealed as profound, completely certain prajna through the process of true and genuine correct reasoning. This prajna cuts all at once like a sword through the nets of non-realization, wrong understanding, and doubt. That is the contents of this text.
The title expresses this by joining the example and the meaning.47 That intended meaning is named by the title in order to clear away stupidity about the conventional. The Lankavatara Sutra says:
If no names are given,
Everyone in the world will be confused.
Therefore, to clear away confusion,
The Protector used names.
Second overall part: the main text that teaches what the title denotes.
Within that are:
1. the ancillary parts of the composition that are good in the beginning,
2. the meaning of the composition that is good in the middle, and
3. the meaning of the conclusion that is good at the end.
The ancillary parts of the composition that are good in the beginning
Here there are the expression of offering and the promise to compose the text. Each of the two is presented in verse.
I. The expression of offering:
The Doctrine never possesses any kind of confusion.
It has completely abandoned any kind of error.
It is mind without any doubt about the three meanings.
Let us bow to the treasure of Manjushri’s knowledge.
The Doctrine
“The Doctrine”, grub mtha’ 48 in Tibetan, is the translation of the Sanskrit “siddhanta.” The Doctrine is the ultimate goal 49 of examination and analysis by scripture and correct reasoning. It is the certain knowledge at the end of establishing. Beyond this there is nothing further to establish.
“Confusion” cannot resolve the way things are. Non-confusion can. 50 These arise respectively as worldly doctrine, and The Doctrine beyond the world. 51
1 As for the FIRST, The second Buddha of Uddiyana said in his Oral Instruction on the Mala of Views:
The countless wrong views in the worldly realm are summarized under four headings, phyalwa, gyang phen, mur thug, and mu tek 52
Likewise, there are two kinds of paths beyond the world. These are the vehicle of philosophical characterization, and the vajrayana. The great translator Kawa Paltsek 53 says in his Explanation of the details of Views:
There are both the worldly and the world-transcending.
Like articles of gold, they appear from a single substance.
The levels of their appearance are five times three plus two, 54
Being known, these should be left alone and accepted.
Regarding the Buddhist view that is beyond the world, FIRST, the Buddhist teachings of The Doctrine are scriptural pramana. 55 As such, they have none of the faults of confusion. The reason is that the one who taught them is the Buddha Bhagavat. He has completely abandoned all errors of the two obscurations, 56 along with the habitual patterns which are the seeds of their continuation.57 The doctrine was taught by this great being whose knowledge is the vision of perceptual pramana. 58
The way of establishing this highest truth as The Doctrine, is to establish it as scriptural pramana, established teaching purified by the three analyses. 59 This is done through a process of correct reasoning. This process uses the three kinds of inferential reasoning 60 in such a way that the three modes of correct reasoning are all complete. 61 From so doing comes certainty without doubt. This certainty is the essence of profound intelligence. It is the great treasure of knowing Manjushri. 62 Again, let us pay homage with the three gates to the great treasure of you, Manjushri, arising by your blessing. 63
In regard to this, due to the correct reasoning of productive action, 64 homage is expressed chiefly to the pramana of the teachings. If this is established in a syllogism, it is said:
“The dharmin “Buddhist doctrine” has no confusion; because it was taught by the Buddha, who has completely abandoned all error.” 65
If it is established that Buddhist doctrine was taught by the Buddha, then the following are established, showing that the three modes 66 are complete:
1) the presence of the reason, “non-error,” in the subject, “Buddhist doctrine.”
2) the forward [universal] entailment: 67 “What is taught by the Buddha is certainly without confusion,” and
3) the reverse [universal] entailment: 68 “What is confused was certainly not taught by the Buddha.”
First it was taught that, since the Buddha has no error, therefore the teaching no error. Now it is taught that, since the teaching is authentic, the Buddha must also be authentic.
To prove this, when all the errors of the two obscurations, together with their habitual patterns, have been completely abandoned, ultimate knowledge, wisdom, arises.
Whoever has this ultimate knowledge can teach the path properly. Doing so depends only on the cause of compassion. The great compassion is the extraordinary cause attained by the Buddha. 69
Therefore, in regard to the Buddha Bhagavat, there are the cause of the benefit for oneself, complete renunciation-realization, and the cause of the benefit for others, the completed power of wisdom and loving-kindness. From these arise all the teachings of the holy Dharma, in accord with the faculties, power of mind, and thoughts of those to be tamed. If any of these is practiced, its own particular fruition will be attained. In that sense they are non-deceptive. Therefore, Buddhist doctrine is established as non-deceptive. 70 The Prajnaparamita Sutras say:
After attaining omniscience, the wheel of Dharma is turned. 71
They also say:
If we have not attained omniscience, we cannot turn the wheel of Dharma
Glorious Dharmakirti says in the tshad ma rnam ‘grel:
The one who has gone there has the meaning of realization. 72
The Buddha’s regent Maitreya says in the Abhisamayalankara:
Whoever has the authentic truth, has the omniscience of the sages and can teach all their different kinds of teaching.73
The great teacher Naagaarjuna in the bla na med par bstod pa, says:
Whoever knows clearly the solitary object of knowledge,
Will resolve completely all of the objects of knowledge.74
I therefore prostrate to a guru such as that
Who in such a way is equal and otherless.
Also Asanga says in the Suutraala.mkaara:
Truly liberated from all the obscurations,
You possess the knowledge that pervades all objects.
Mighty one, the tamer of everyone in the world,75
I prostrate to you who are completely liberated.
Also the great teacher Ashvagho.sha says In his Hundred and Fifty Praises:
Whether powers of mind are supreme or not
Whether they may be the lesser, middle, and greater
And all the limitless divisions of their aspects,
Are not realized by anyone but you.
Also he says:
You alone, by wisdom,
Encompass every object,
By everyone but you
Some objects are left out.
Also he says:
You do good even without urging.
You are kind to others without a reason,
A good friend, even for those who have not met you;
A helper and counselor that we do not need to know.76
Also he says:
If we should try to do this with even our flesh and blood
Why even speak of how to view all other things?
Doer of good deeds you even gave your life
For the beings who asked you, by your bodies and lives,
You have ransomed a hundred times the bodies and lives
Of those given over to slayers of embodied beings.
The great pandit Vimalamitra says in his commentary on the Uttering the name of Manjushri, ‘jam dpal mtshan brjod, Manjushri-nama-sa.mgiti:
In connection to the wishes of all sentient beings, you liberate them from the fetters of the kleshas. As many dharma-teachings as have been explained are one in being antidotes for taming the kleshas.
The great teacher GekpÈ Dorje,77 in his commentary on the king of tantras the gsang ba’i snying po, the ‘grel pa spar khab 78, says:
These teachings are so-designated79
From his knowledge and what they accomplish
But they appear differently
By differences between minds. 80
The great teacher Dharmakiirti, in his auto-commentary on the first chapter of the tshad ma rnam ‘grel the stong phrag phyed dang bshi pa says:
Again, to take another approach, the words that exhaust defects are not deceptive. Therefore, this inference should be made:
In teaching what is to be accepted and rejected
together with the means by which that should be done,
Which is the principal benefit of certainty,
As He was non-deceptive, this should be inferred.
What is to be accepted and rejected and what are the means of doing that are non-erroneous teachings. They are non-deceptive. For example, the way in which the four noble truths are explained is non-deceptive. Familiarity with this is a pre-requisite for the benefit of beings. Moreover the non-deceptive object of this should be proclaimed to be non-deceptive,
1. because to do otherwise would be contradictory
2. because to say that a teacher who explains it is unnecessary is a wrong and fruitless teaching. 81
And also Dharmakiirti says:
When someone’s words, by being pramana,
Are non-deceptive, people follow them.
Their words then attain to being scripture.
People will not do what does no good82.
“Words whose pramana is not confused” is the definition of scripture, rlung. Therefore, what is the same as what is said in the scriptures is also scripture by the power of its pramana.
Also the great teacher Asanga says in the sdud pa 83
Why is Buddhist doctrine true? Here is what has been said. The teachings do not disagree with actual reality. If this is seen, its meaning becomes the cause of complete purity. That is the meaning of its being true. Moreover, Buddhist doctrine is free from the six faults and has the three virtues. Therefore it is not deceptive. Rather, it is established as scriptural pramana, the teachings of holy Dharma.84
As for these six faults and three virtues, the SadÈ, Asanga’s Five Works on the Bhuumis says:
No benefit, wrong benefit, possessing benefit;85
Merely heard, merely contentious, genuinely established;86
Hypocritical, unkind, eliminating suffering:87
Free from these six faults, the treatises have these three virtues.
1) “Without benefit,” means not having the benefit of truly establishing liberation.
2) “Wrong benefit,” or “wrong sense” means falling into the extremes of eternalism and nihilism, saying things injurious to the Dharma and so forth. When these two faults are absent, then Buddhist doctrine is true and possesses benefit.
3) “Merely heard,” means just repeating what has been heard.
4) “Merely contentiousness,” means merely searching out faults in others.
Buddhist doctrine that is free from these faults is sincerely or genuinely established.
5) “Hypocritical” means that attesting to the dharma for motives that are not right.
6) “Unkind” means being without the compassion that wishes to protect sentient beings from suffering. When it is free from these two faults, Buddhist doctrine is the holy Dharma that eliminates the suffering of samsara.
The teachings of Buddhist doctrine remedy the cause of samsara, the kleshas, and their fruition, the sufferings of the three lower realms of samsara. Therefore, it is established that the teachings are scriptural pramana and unconfused. Vasubandhu’s rnam bshad rigs pa, says:
They remedy all the enemies, the kleshas,
And protect us from the lower realms of samsara,
Because of these virtues of remedy and protection
The teachings 88 are never other than these two virtues.89
The regent, Lord Maitreya, says:
Whoever has what is meaningful, fully connected to Dharma,
Is taught to abandon all the kleshas of the three realms.
Whoever teaches the beneficial virtues of peace
Is taught to be a sage and irreversible.90
Also he says in the Uttaratantra:
What is spoken only in terms of Conqueror’s teachings
Explained with a mind that is undistracted from that,
In accord with the path of attaining liberation,
Like the words of the Sage himself should be received on the head.91
Also:
The natural state of all the knowable dharmas of the phenomenal world of samsara and nirvana is taught as the true path of emptiness and interdependent arising, and therefore the Buddhist teachings are established as the unconfused doctrine of scriptural pramana.
The great teacher Nagarjuna says: 92
For whomever emptiness and interdependent arising
Are of one meaning in the madhyamaka path,
I prostrate to such a sage, who is a master
Of the secret that is unequalled and supreme.93
Thus, the Buddha taught the teachings included within the stages of the nine vehicles, as many as there are within the scriptural doctrine of holy Dharma, in accord with the nature, capabilities, and wishes of those to be tamed. If we practice these with devoted aspiration, the particular fruition of each will be gained without deception. Therefore, it is taught that the doctrine is not confused. For that reason, the Second Buddha of Uddiyana said:
All the vehicles, on their own level, are true doctrine without contradiction.94
As this is extensively taught there and elsewhere, if we have faith in all the doctrine and do not close our eyes to the intelligence of pure perception, that will be the first opening of the great gate of the path of liberation.
SECOND, the Buddhist teachings of Holy Dharma are The Doctrine or scriptural pramana. By reason of their being established as unconfused, the one who taught them, the Buddha Bhagavat, is established as a great being of pramana. As such, he has eradicated and completely abandoned all the errors of ignorance. He knows and sees all knowables with unobscured perception. The pramana of the teachings depends on the pramana of the teacher. As for the pramana of the teacher, the cause is explained as the intent of perfect benefit. For that reason, from the perfect activity of the teacher arises the perfect fruition. This has the benefit for oneself that one is a sugata, and the benefit for others that one is their protector. The great teacher Dignaga says in the first praise of the tshad ma kun btus95
Becoming authentic 96 should be regarded as
For the benefit of every sentient being.
I prostrate to the teacher, the Sugata and protector.97
Also in his auto-commentary he says:
The FIRST topic is a praise to the Buddha Bhagavat. By having a perfect cause and fruition, he has become authentic. That is the reason for my arousing devotion to him. 98
The perfect cause is his perfect intention and perfect action on it. It is explained that his wish is to benefit beings.99 The action is to teach the teachings to sentient beings. 100
The fruition is perfection of the two benefits, those for oneself and others.
The perfect benefit for oneself is becoming a sugata. This should be understood in three senses. 1) The benefit of supreme beauty is like having excellent personal form. 2) The benefit of irreversibility, is like a plague being well-cured. 3) The benefit without exceptions is like a vase being well-filled. These three benefits are without desire for externals. Therefore this perfection of the benefit for oneself is beyond being learned and unlearned alike.101
As for the perfection of the benefit for others, through the benefit of liberating them, we are their protectors.102 Having prostrated to the teacher who has such virtues,…
The great teacher Vasubandhu says:
The one who has eternally conquered all darkness,
leading beings out of the mire of samsara,
I prostrate to this teacher of things as they are.
According to the teacher mtho btsun grub:
Having abandoned all the other teachers,
I go for refuge to you Bhagavan.
If someone should asks why, it is because
You have no faults, but only excellence.
THIRD, given that this teaching, purified by the three analyses, is an unequalled way of entering into complete liberation, what is to be proved is that the teacher who has perfect intention, application, and fruition is a being of unequalled pramana. This can be established beyond doubt by syllogistic proofs, using the three kinds of inferential pramana in which all of the three modes of syllogism are complete. In syllogistic form:
The dharmin, “the teacher, the Buddha,” is an authentic being; because the teaching is scriptural pramana; for example, like that of the great rishis.
As for the teaching being The Doctrine, scriptural pramana:
It is established that the teacher who spoke it was the Buddha. So the FIRST mode is there, presence of the dharma in the subject.
When teaching is scriptural pramana, it is certain that the teacher of it is a buddha, an authentic being. That is the second mode, the forward entailment.
When the teacher is not an authentic being, it is certain that the scriptural teaching is not pramana. That is the third mode, the reversed entailment.
After the process of correct reasoning with the three pramanas, if confidence in the non-deceptive certain knowledge of such a teacher and teaching arises within our being, that is supreme faith. This is also the ultimate essence of refuge and supplication. It is also the root of the path of liberation, and of blessings entering into our being, the single root of a multitude of good things. 103 The second buddha of Uddiyana Padmasambhava says that if we have ultimate devotion, we will receive blessing, and if we are free from doubt our wishes will be fulfilled:
If our minds are devoted, 104 blessings will enter in.
By being free from doubt, our wishes are established
Also the omniscient great pandit Shantarakshita says in his auto-commentary to the Madhyamakala.mkara:
What is spoken by the Tathagata is good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end. Like fine gold being smelted, cut, and polished, it will not be harmed by perception, inference, or his own words in the scriptures. This wisdom unmixed with samsaric things, 105 is completely undisturbed by their total clutter. By this wisdom, having seen suchness, 106 you Buddha are the leader of the divine and human realms. You are the crown of them all. They offer garlands to adorn your two lotus feet, as master and guru of all the world. Who, having known you, would not generate faith, practicing from the heart with complete detachment?
Thus: 107
Whoever relies on that surmounts degeneracy,
With undeceived certainty in the guru and the three jewels,
Grasping that from now onward to the bone core of the heart,
I go for refuge until the essence of enlightenment.
Now there is a kind of analysis
This precious certain knowledge is essentially non-deceptive. It is unequalled intelligence free from the murkiness of doubt, possessing a thousand undefiled rays of light. 108 Since this is the great treasure of your knowledge, Manjushri, I bow to you. Or again, since that intelligence without doubt arises from the blessing of the great treasure of your knowledge, Manjushri, I bow to you. 109
That comes chiefly from the process of correct reasoning of the cause depending on the fruition. 110 I express homage to the chief of all benefits. Moreover, for these words of the root verses that express homage, the first verse refers to the jewel of the holy Dharma, the second to the jewel of the Buddha, and the third to the jewel of the sangha. 111 To you I bow as the embodiment of these three excellencies, the great treasure of jetsun Manjushri’s knowledge.
The purpose of this expression of homage is to benefit oneself by showing why these people are holy beings, 112 and also to gather the two accumulations. The benefit for others, is to inspire their faith in the teachings and teacher. The mdo rgya cher rol pa says:
The wishes of a person who possesses merit are established.
The great teacher Nagarjuna says:
It is not fruitless, when authors of the treatises
Express their homage to the teacher and teaching. 113
By so doing they give us inspiration. 114
The ched du brjod pa’i tshoms says: 115
For persons who have accumulated merit,
There can be no harm arising from others
Or obstacles of maras and of gods.
II. The promise to compose the text
Its vastness and profundity are hard to realize,
As for the amrita of the Sugata teachings,
For whomever wishes to experience it,
May this light of understanding be completely granted.
The absolute is free from all the complexities of existence, non-existence, and so forth. Therefore, it is profound. The relative is the bhumis, paramitas, and so forth. Its vastness is difficult to realize. These are the Sugata’s teachings of the mahayana.
Those teachings are like amrita. May whatever fortunate ones wish to experience their taste or to practice them be granted the light of undefiled understanding of the excellent teachings 116 of this Sword of Prajna. May it be produced within their being. The teacher Nagarjuna says:
The holy ones do not make many promises;
But if they ever promise something difficult,
It is as if their promise had been written in stone.
Even if they die, they do not relinquish it.
How the topic of composition is good in the middle
the subject to be analyzed is the two truths. The analyzer is the two correct reasonings. With the teaching of the fruition of what is to be analyzed, that makes three parts. As for the FIRST:
The Buddhas taught the Dharma
In terms of 117 the two truths,
The relative truth of the world
As well as the absolute truth.
The perfect buddha bhagavans taught something like 84,000 gates of Holy Dharma. In as many of these as were taught, briefly, what is spoken about relies completely on the two truths. These are the relative truth of the world and the ultimate truth beyond the world. As for the meaning of the worldly one, the Prasannapada of Chandrakirti says:118
Here the world consists of the well-known skandhas.
Worldly truth 119 is what depends on these.
Since they arise in dependence on the skandhas, imputed individual beings are the world.120
So he and many others have said. 121 No better realization is possible than realization of the nature of the two truths as they are. It should be known that, in the progression of the nine vehicles, realization of the nature of the two truths becomes ever more profound. 122
Here, to give a provisional analysis of the details of the system of the two truths, 123 there are the essence, semantic analysis, 124 definition 125, divisions and purpose, five altogether.
1) the essence of the relative is the objects contemplated by mind and the five sense-powers. All these are objects of thought. 126 The essence of the absolute is the sphere of individual and personal wisdom free from mind, free from all the extremes of complexity.
2) the semantic analysis, 127 of truth in the phrase “relative truth”. Natureless, illusory appearance is the confused viewpoint of transient relative. This viewpoint is “truth” insofar as its identifying characteristics 128 are not deceptive. It is also “truth” in the sense that it leads us to absolute truth, our ultimate aim. Since the dharmas of path and fruition are not deceptive, in that sense, relative truth is called “truth”.
3) the definition of relative truth, is the truth of “dharmas that are not beyond the sphere of mind and that will not bear analysis.” The definition of the absolute is that of “nature beyond mind where conceptions are completely pacified.”
4) the two divisions are the relative and absolute truths. The yab sras mjal ba’i mdo says:
There are two kinds of truth by which the world is known
No other distinctions are heard, and they are self-sufficient.
These are the absolute truth and the relative truth.
There is no such thing as any third kind of truth.
Because of the needs of worldly beings, within the relative, the distinction of true and false was made. As appropriate kinds of symbolic knowledge for this purpose, the classifications were created of the true relative and the false relative.
The true relative is the appearance of objects to a mind in which the six senses are not defective.
The false relative is the appearance of objects to the mind in which the six senses are defective, seeing hairs before the eyes and so forth. 129
5) regarding the purpose, the bden gnyis says:
Those who know the distinction of the two truths
Are not to be deceived by the Sage’s words.
Having collected all the accumulations,
They will go to the other shore, perfection.
The meaning of the composition that is good in the middle
Within this there are two sections
1. the short teaching of the two correct reasonings
2. the extensive teaching in terms of the four correct reasonings.
I. The short teaching of the two correct reasonings:
With regard to the natures of these same two truths,
If we enter into the non-erroneous mind of certainty,
The good eye of the two immaculate pramanas
Is the excellent view that is to be established.
The two objects of analysis 130 are the natures of relative truth and absolute truth. If philosophical analysts want to enter properly into these by means of 131 certain, unerring awareness, they must establish the excellent/ supreme view like a good eye that ascertains awareness of its two aspects. These two aspects are:
1) the pramana of conventional analysis without the faults of error
2) the pramana of absolute analysis.
These are pramana and madhyamaka respectively. They support each other, like the well-known emblem of two lions with crossed necks.132
II. The extensive teaching of analysis by the four correct reasonings.
The action 133 of these is the four reliances. The fruition is explained as the eight great treasures of confidence. First, the three first correct reasonings are explained together, and then the reasoning of proper establishing is explained.
FIRST there is the general teaching of appearance as interdependent origination; then the explanation of the particularizations of the correct reasonings of essence, cause, and effect. The meaning is summarized under those three.
A. FIRST The general teaching of appearance as interdependent origination:
Thus, regarding these appearances
The pattern of their arising is interdependence
Therefore, something that is not dependent
Like a lotus in the sky will not appear
How in the world are there these appearances of samsara and nirvana? Certainly and definitely, they all arise 134 interdependently from causes and conditions. What is other than that, with no dependence on causes and conditions, never appears within the scope of mind. For example, a lotus flower in the sky never appears. For that reason, all knowables that can be named should be understood as interdependent-arising-emptiness. To think interdependent arising is only the arising of conditioned things from their causes is a very small vision of that universal necessity. 135 If all things that are unconditioned do not also arise interdependently, there will be no equality between them. The great teacher Nagarjuna says:
Whatever arises interdependently
Is to be explained as emptiness.
The classification which depends on that
Is itself the path of madhyamaka.
Except in terms of interdependent arising
No dharmas can be said to be existent.
“But what is interdependent arising?” There are three aspects: the meaning of the word, the essence, and the divisions.
1) The meaning
The Sanskrit word pratitya samutpada means interdependent arising. The two volume grammar, sgra sbyor bam po gnyis pa says: 136
Pratityasamutpada means interdependent arising. Pratitya means dependent or conditional. sam is sambandha, which means connected together.
utpada is a word for arising. Outer and inner dharmas do not arise autonomously. They arise from an assembly of causes and conditions. In dependence on previous causes, other things arise unobstructedly later and later still. Therefore, this is called interdependent arising.
Glorious Chandrakirti says in the Madhyamakavatara:
That which arises interdependently
Is characterized as meeting and working together. 137
2) The essence
These dharmas, summarized under the inner and outer, never arise without a cause. They do not arise from non-causes, such as causeless eternal creators other than themselves, the self, time, or a god 138 Their arising is called interdependent because each thing arises in dependence on being connected to the assembly of its own particular causes and conditions.
3) The divisions
The divisions are external and internal interdependent arising.
a) External interdependent arising
All external dharmas arise interdependently as the sprout does from the seed.
b) Inner interdependent arising
Inner dharmas, the skandhas of sentient beings, high, middle, and low, arise interdependently in the style of the twelve links of interdependent origination, as exemplified by the arising of the sprout from the seed.
4) How these in turn are divided
a) external interdependent arising should be known in terms of the seven causal connections and six conditional connections.
1) The seven causal connections as they apply to the seed are
1 the sprout
2 the leaves
3 the stalk
4 the hollow within the stalk
5 the pith
6 the flower
7 the fruit.
From the former stage, the later stage arises, produced by the power of closely related causes. 139 So it is taught.
2) The six conditional connections are:
1 earth
2 water
3 fire
4 air
5 space
6 time.
According to the stages, there are firmness and endurance, gathering, ripening, increasing, expansive openness, and gradual change. 140
These co-producing conditions produce a six-fold association between sprout and fruit.
b) In inner interdependent arising, when there is connection of causes, there are the twelve links of interdependent origination. What are those? The sutras say:
Interdependent arising is like this: since this exists, this arises. Because of this having arisen, this arises.
In this case:
1) Conditioned by ignorance, there are 2) formations.
3) Conditioned by formations, there is consciousness.
4) Conditioned by consciousness, there are name and form. 141
5) Conditioned by name and form there are the six ayatanas.
6) Conditioned by the six ayatanas there is apprehension 142 of objects.
7) Conditioned by apprehension, there is feeling.
8) Conditioned by feeling, there is craving.
9) Conditioned by craving, there is clinging. 143
10) Conditioned by clinging, there is transmigration.
11) Conditioned by transmigration, there is birth.
12) Conditioned by birth there is old age and death.
There also arise pain, lamentation, 144 suffering, unhappiness, and disturbance. Thus only this great heap of suffering arises. By the cessation of ignorance old age, death, suffering and so forth, this great heap of nothing but suffering, will cease.
Conventionally speaking, when the previous ones of these twelve links exist, the later ones will subsequently arise. By the arising of the previous ones, the later ones are produced. If the former ones do not exist and have not arisen, neither will the later ones. Since they will not arise, the heap of suffering will cease.
As for the associated conditions, suffering arises from the kleshas, including ignorance, 145 being objects of attention, 146 and having been associated with the inner senses and so forth. 147 Karma also arises like that.
The seven-fold name and form etc. of suffering, 148
1) The inner earth element is solidity.
2) Inner water is wetness
3) Inner fire is heat, digestion of food and such.
4) Inhalation and exhalation of the breath and so forth are the inner air element.
5) Open orifices are the element of space.
6) Arising of the element of consciousness is produced when there has been the condition of the six elements being brought together.
The eye-consciousness arises by bringing it together its support the eye-power or organ, perceived form, light, unobscured space, and mental attention 149. Awareness is joined to the appropriate other-entity, and it is known.
Consciousness arises from its preceding moment of closely associated150 consciousness, and therefore is seen to remain as a continuous stream. Without preceding closely-associated causes, the one who has thoughts cannot arise, any more than a sprout can arise from a stone, or light from darkness. This continuity of the clear insight of consciousness, as it arises in someone well-trained in reading and so forth, is observed arising form earlier to later, in unbroken continuity.
If the assembly of causes is entirely complete, then how will the stream be broken at the time of death? This stream is like a viable seed. If it has the conditions of water, manure, heat, moisture and so forth, it will inevitably grow; or it is like the continuous flow of a great river. 151 Thus all outer and inner dharmas arise from the necessary associations of just the causes and conditions that each requires. If they are not all there, these dharmas will not arise. If they are all there, these dharmas certainly will arise. That is the nature of interdependent origination.
From beginningless time within the continual movement 152 of this stream, there is no ego to be its producer, no owner etc. at all. The causes do not think, “I will produce these fruitions.” They arise having the five interdependent connections of cause and effect.
What are these?
1. While the seed still exists unceasingly, the sprout does not arise. The sprout arises after the seed ceases. Therefore, the seed is impermanent.
2. After the seed ceases, the sprout does not arise after a gap. The ceasing of the seed and the arising of the sprout occur unbrokenly like the beam of a balance swinging up and down.
3. The seed and sprout are two, since in terms of essence and action they are not one. Nor does the earlier change into the later. 153
4. Since the diminishing of the seed yields the augmentation of the sprout, by a small cause a big fruition is established.
5. From a wheat seed a wheat sprout arises. From the goodness of merit, doesn’t there come a succession of good causes and fruitions? Outer and inner causes and effects should be known to have these five kinds of causal accord. For example, Lord Nagarjuna said:
Recitations of texts, lamps, and mirror reflections,
Burning glasses and insults, reverberating echos,
As well as the skandhas that are linked in the chain of rebirth,
Should be understood by the wise as never transferring. 154
B. The explanation of the particularizations of the correct reasonings of 1) essence, 2) cause, and 3) effect.
Within that there are the explanations of:
1) the correct reasoning of dependence of the fruition on the cause
2) the correct reasoning of productive action
3) the correct reasoning of suitable establishing
4) the correct reasoning of nature. 155
1) The correct reasonings of dependence of the fruition on the cause and productive action,
There are the main subject and its purpose.
a. The main subject:
If all the assembly of causes is there,
Their productive action produces the fruition.
However many individual fruitions there may be,
Each depends on its own cause.
The ‘phags pa dgongs pa nges par ‘grel ba’i mdo, says:
Correct reasoning should be understood to be of four kinds:
1) the correct reasoning of dependence
2) the correct reasoning of productive action
3) the correct reasoning of suitable establishing
4) the correct reasoning of nature.
Moreover the bstan bcos chos mngon pa sna tshogs kun las btus pa says:
As for the Dharmic effort of analyzing dharmas, if it is asked how many kinds of correct reasoning there are, it is said that there are four kinds of correct reasoning. These are the correct reasoning of dependence, the correct reasoning of productive action, the correct reasoning of establishing reasons, and the correct reasoning of nature.
FIRST To briefly explain the general meaning of these four correct reasonings,
FIRST: The meaning of “correct reasoning.”
Jamgon Mipham says:
Why is it called correct reasoning, rigs pa? Because it is suitable or reasonable, rigs pa nyid, that the nature of dharmas is as it is and, therefore, it is called rigs pa, correct reasoning. Also whatever is analyzed in accord with this is called correct reasoning.156
Also the lion of teachers rang zom dharmabhadra says:
“Correct reasoning, 157” in Sanskrit is called nyaya. Since nyaya consists of the nature or real state of things, the nature of things as they are, it is called correct reasoning.
Yukti or samyukti, since it is proper, is also called correct reasoning. Thus, correct reasoning should be known to consist both of both the way each thing is and the mind in accord with that.
In terms of to verbal etymology, nyaya means “to attain.” Since what is attained is indestructible 158, it is called correct reasoning.
Yukti is good connection. It consists of good connection of words. Nyaya consists of irrefutability. Pratipada also means irrefutability. A proposition that cannot be refuted by being contradicted by any words and thoughts at all, but can be well-established is called correct reasoning. Whatever characteristics and reasons produce such knowledge also are also are included in “correct reasoning.” These should be known as correct reasoning in the overall or general sense.
SECOND, The definition of the four correct reasonings in general
“From the power of the things themselves all dharmas, having the nature of interdependent arising, are established in a way free from exaggeration and denigration.” That is the definition of correct reasoning. The theg chen tshul ‘jug, says:
In regard to this, as for the manner of the four correct reasonings, in general the definition is that “all dharmas are established to arise by interdependent origination.”
THIRD, individual definitions of the four correct reasonings.
1 “Establishment by the collective power of the causes in terms of the fruition” is the definition of the correct reasoning of the producing cause. 159
2 “Establishment of the collective power of the fruition in terms of the cause” is the definition of the correct reasoning depending of the fruition. 160
3 “Establishment by that which is the nature of each dharma” is the definition of the correct reasoning of nature.161
4 “Establishing the way of knowables in regard to cause, fruition, and essence through correct reasoning from the power of the things themselves” is the definition of the correct reasoning of suitable establishing. 162
The former text says:
Establishment in terms of the fruition is the correct reasoning of productive action. Establishment in terms of the cause is the correct reasoning of dependency. Establishment in terms of the essence is the correct reasoning of nature. Correct reasoning itself, produced without defilements, is establishing. This is the correct reasoning of proper establishing.
FOURTH, that which is removed by the four correct reasonings, or their action.
1 The correct reasoning of productive action removes doubts about causal production. If the assembly of causes is not complete, the fruition will not arise.
2 The correct reasoning of dependence removes doubts about the fruition being completely dependent on the cause. An effect that does not depend on its cause is not possible.
3 The correct reasoning of nature removes doubts about essences, since it establishes the essences of the relative and the absolute.
4 The correct reasoning of suitable establishing removes doubt about correct reasoning itself. This is because the nature of the two truths is truly established by the pramanas of perception and inference.
The former text says:
As for the four things removed by these correct reasonings, respectively they clear away doubts about production, the established 163, the essence, and correct reasoning.
FIFTH The objects and validity 164 of the four correct reasonings.
Before debating both debaters must establish a dharmin that is established by shared perception or appears the same to both of them 165 and is indisputably established for them both. Otherwise the objects to be examined and analyzed by means of the four correct reasonings cannot be established. For example, If the particular object 166 someone calls “fire” is not hot and burning, it is the wrong object for fire. The former text says:
As for the objects and validity of these, if the object of the nature is undefiled, and if the object is not wrong, reasoning is properly classified as correct reasoning of nature. Similarly, if the objects of production, establishment, and correct reasoning are undefiled and if their objects are not wrong, these are properly classified as correct reasoning.
The object of nature being undefiled is like its being expected that a burning glass will heat.
The wrong object is like saying that fire, rather than water, means what a deer bathes in. That is the wrong object for a hot fire. The others too are joined to what is proper for them.
SIXTH The fault of excess,167 over-application, fault of the four correct reasonings.
When didactic conceptual reasoning in the scope of consciousness alone produces great obstinate rigidity, and this becomes extreme, there will be the fault of reification or materialism. Here the theg chen tshul ‘jug says:
Here are the excesses of the four correct reasonings: if by the correct reasoning of nature there is exaggerated extreme establishment,168 all things will not be eliminated. In the end, we will become exponents of self-existing causes.
As for excess 169 of the correct reasoning of productive action, all action and effort will not be eliminated. In the end we become exponents of doers of acts. 170
If the correct reasoning of dependency is excessive, all powers will not be eliminated. In the end we become exponents of causation by creator deities.
If the correct reasoning of proper establishing is excessive, all occasions of correct reasoning will be faultless. Then in the end pride will manifest.
When exponents of materialism and reification establish things, they are established mostly by excess in the correct reasonings of nature and of direct 171 perception. 172 Therefore, the right measure/ scope and excess of these should be told.
What the great teacher Chandragomin says in the rigs pa sgrub pa’i gron me is mostly in accord with the above. The tshad ma’i mdo says:
Whoever instructs in nature from the path of conceptual fixation harms the long continuation of the Sage’s teachings. When those with the authentic Dharma of the Tathagata depart into something else, this should be refuted.
As the profound nature of that is not within the scope of conceptual arguers, if we search for dharmata through conceptual argument alone, we are far from the Sage’s teachings, and they will have been damaged. Rather than that, wrong expositions and bad expositions of the profound nature, the intended meaning of the teacher, the Sage, should be refuted.
For that reason, the great teacher Nagarjuna said:
Whatever arises interdependently
Has no cessation and it has no birth;
It is neither nothingness nor eternal;
It is without coming and without going;
It is neither different things nor one.
It completely pacifies complexity.
To those who are the teachers of that peace,
The speakers who are perfect buddhas,
In homage to those holy ones I prostrate.
According to these special praises, the immaculate essence of the excellent teaching of the excellent teacher Shakyamuni, the supreme King of Exponents of the path of correct reasoning within these three realms of samsara, is the subject, the two truths.
One of these two truths is not refuted and the other established. Appearance is interdependent arising. Interdependent arising is emptiness. These two are inseparable in essence, like fire and heat. Existence and non-existence, both and neither, the four extremes; birth and cessation; eternalism and nihilism; going and coming; these eight complexities and so forth, in the union of appearance and emptiness, are like the eight examples of illusion. Ground, path, and fruition are on an equal footing, and become all-pervading.
If we realize this excellent profound certainty, having established the view of buddhism, we have reached its life-source, the profound pith. If we do not know this, having fallen into the places of excess of the four correct reasonings, as explained above, we will be far from establishing the view of the buddha. Knowing how to do this is very important.
That is how the way of existence of things is to be evaluated.
The evaluating mind in accord with that is called pramana or correct reasoning. When the knowable objects of correct reasoning have been analyzed in terms of the three aspects of cause, fruition, and essence, these are said to be the correct reasonings of productive action, dependence, and nature respectively. When within these objects of analysis exaggeration has been cut through, producing a proper style of affirmation and negation, that is the correct reasoning of proper establishing. So it is taught.
For objects that are directly perceived, the evaluator is the pramana of direct perception and for hidden or indirect objects 173 the evaluator is the pramana of inference. There are these two. Though inference has a hidden object, through the power of inference, the dharmin is grasped as pramana, so that, in the end, it becomes directly perceived. However, that direct perception can reach only its nature.
Though some production and dependence are also part of the nature of things, they are gathered together within the correct reasoning of nature alone. What resolves the style of all correct reasonings, and makes them praiseworthy 174 is the correct reasoning of nature. Having reached this, there is a suitable benefit with no need to establish anything else, just as the reason why fire is hot needs no further explanation. Thus rang zom mahaapandita says:
The aspects of nature, production, dependence, and proper establishing, the so-called four correct reasonings, are indeed establishable; but so that those of little learning and small mind may have easy realization, reasons conforming to the correct reasoning of nature alone should be told them.
Such mental analysis in accord with the nature of things is known as the correct reasoning abiding in the power of things themselves. 175
Since the way things are is unerringly evaluated, the meaning of this kind of correct reasoning cannot be appropriated by the others. Both conventional and ultimate pramana are said to dwell in the power of the things themselves. Thus, that fire is naturally hot is, relatively speaking, its nature, or the way it is. That fire is natureless is its nature, or the way it is absolutely speaking. By combining these two pramanas, the way things are is unerroneously resolved, but this is not to say it will be so for every single verse.
TWO Thus, having briefly explained the general meaning of that, now there is the main topic of the text, the correct reasoning of productive action.
For external causes, eg the seed, water, and manure and for inner causes, eg mental object, the senses, and so forth, when the assembly of causes is all present, there is the power of producing the fruition, eg the sprout, consciousness etc. From that being so, this is called the correct reasoning of productive action. The dgongs pa nges par ‘grel pa’i mdo, says this about it:
The correct reasoning of production is like this. By whatever causes and whatever conditions dharmas occur 176 or are established, saying what actions produce the arising of these is called the correct reasoning of causal production. 177
The great teacher Asanga says in the Shravaka Bhumi from the Yogacara-bhumis:
As for the skandhas, which are produced by their own causes and their own conditions, their own action produces the joining of those causes and those conditions. Thus, for example, the eye produces looking at forms. The ear produces the hearing of sounds,… and so on up to the mind produces knowledge of dharmas. Form is made to appear within the sphere of apprehension of the eye,… and so on up to dharmas are made to appear within the sphere of apprehension of the mind. Moreover the kind of productive action of these on one another with the configurations and means by which this comes about is called the correct reasoning of productive action.
The Dharma manifesting King Trisong Detsen in his summary of the bka’ yang dag pa’i tshad ma mdo says:
What is called the correct reasoning of productive action is described in terms of actions and causes. By the action of what and what else this and that are produced, ascertaining that such and such producers 178 are the causes and conditions, it is taught that what is produced 179, such and such fruitions, are produced.
As for the correct reasoning of dependence, whatever fruitions there are, sprouts, consciousness, etc., all those objects have their own individual causes that produce them. They must certainly depend on the seed, the sense powers, and so forth. This is called the correct reasoning of the dependency of the fruition on the cause. The dgongs pa nges par ‘grel ba’i mdo, says:
The correct reasoning of dependence is like this: By such and such causes and such and such conditions composite things arise, and whatever conventionally imputed things arise, these are called the correct reasoning of dependency.
The Yogacara-Shravaka-Bhumi says:
The correct reasoning of dependence is like this: In brief, dependence has two aspects, the dependence of arising and the dependence of imputation. 180 The dependence of arising is like this: By whatever causes and whatever conditions the skandhas arise, those skandhas depend on those causes and conditions.
The dependence of imputation is like this: By whatever assembly of names, of words, and of letters the skandhas are imputed, those skandhas are dependent on those assemblies of names, words, and letters.
These are called the dependency of arising and dependency of imputation of the skandhas.
the bka’ yang dag pa’i tshad ma’i mdo btus pa says:
The correct reasoning of dependence is said to be the correct reasoning of dharmas and their effects. Compounded things, whatever is imputed to those things conventionally, and whatever fruitions arise, these and their causes and conditions are taught to be in a relationship of dependence.
Classification of causes and fruitions
It may be asked, “Well what kinds of cause and fruitions are there?” As for the classification of the causes, conditions, and fruitions of arising, there are six causes, five fruitions, and four conditions.
A Regarding the six causes, the Abhidharmakosha says:
Producing cause and co-emergent arising
Equal situation, equality possessing,
All pervading and ripening;
Causes are said to be of these six kinds.
As for these six,
1 The producing cause
The Abhidharmakosha says:
The producing cause produces another from itself.
With regard to the producing cause the Vaibhashika school says that it is all dharmas other than the fruition itself. If so, all causes and non-causes are included within this.
The FIRST division, the producing cause with power, is like attributing to the sprout dependency on the seed.
The SECOND, the producing cause without power, is like saying that the sprout is uncompounded and arises within formless mind, like the skandhas of hell. Classifying these
181 producing causes without power as causes is done simply on the basis that arising was not hindered. Though it is said that some of these 182 may also have an indirect power, only producing causes with power need to be considered. 183 This is the general classification for all causes.
So that the producing cause will not be obscured, among the kinds of causes in a situation, a certain number of causes are taught. Within the classification of the producing cause, the direct cause 184 and co-producing condition 185 are taught.
a. The direct cause is like the sprout arising from the seed and so forth, or the arising of a later consciousness from an earlier one. 186
b. The co-producing condition is like water and manure for the seed or the perceived condition and the sense-power within awareness.
Moreover, there are the producing causes like that of the seed producing a sprout and like a lamp shining inside a vase in a dark house. Also ten kinds of producing cause are taught. The dbus mtha’ rnam ‘byed:
As for the ten producing causes there are arising
Duration, support and supported, becoming and separation.
Other, and belief, understanding, and attainment;
The eye, food, a lamp, and fire and so forth
Are the examples that are presented of them;
As are a sickle, and also knowing how to make things,
As well as smoke, and inner causes, the path, and so forth.
1) The producing cause of arising is like the arising of the eye-consciousness from the eye organ.
2) The producing cause of duration is like the four kinds of food producing the duration of the body.
3) The producing cause of support is like the dependence of the essence, sentient beings, being supported by the vessel, the earth. 187
4) The showing or clarifying cause is like a lamp illuminating forms within a dark house.
5) The change-producing cause is like fire producing burning.
6) The producing cause of separation is like reaping grass with a sickle.
7) The cause of transformation into something else is like knowing how to make something or the a goldsmith’s knowledge of how to make gold nuggets into jewelry.
8) The belief-producing cause is like the sign of smoke producing certainty of fire.
9) The understanding-producing producing cause is like certainty about the object arising from the cause and such and such reasons.
10) The cause of attainment is like attaining nirvana from the path.
2. Co-emergently arising cause.
The Abhidharmakosha says:
Things that co-arise are each others’ mutual fruition;
Like the four elements and subsequent cognitive acts 188
Or like characteristics and the characterized. 189
The co-emergently arising cause is like things being each others’ mutual fruition, depending on each other like the poles of a tripod. This is like a single assembly of the four elements; mind and its subsequent states, 190 and characteristics and the characterized.
What are subsequent cognitive acts? 191 These are like the linkage 192 of mental events and spotless meditation. Mind and those subsequent events are one without earlier and later time. The fruition arises simultaneously or as one with it; 193 as since the nature of virtue and so forth are one with the mind, they are called subsequent events or continuations of mind.
Generally, as for causes, there are the sorts of cause that produce the produced effect and the kind of cause without which it does not arise. From these two ways of classifying cause and effect, the FIRST is like the seed and water and so forth producing the sprout. The SECOND is like classification as “short” being dependent on “long,” or “there” being dependent on “here,” and so forth. In this case, the classification of latter resembles classification as cause and effect.
Really the one does not produce the other. The “effect” arises at one and the same time with the cause, so that if one is not there, that is a sufficient reason why the other also will not arise. In that sense it is classified as a cause.
3. the cause of equal situation
The Abhidharmakosha says:
The cause of equal situation is similar.
In the cause of equal situation, skal mnyam rgyu, the cause and the fruition are the same kind of thing, as virtue comes from a virtuous mind etc., barley grows from barley, and so forth. Here the cause does arise before the fruition, and is chiefly classified through being of the same kind of thing and in the same place.
4. The equality-possessing cause.
The Abhidharmakosha says:
In the equality-possessing cause, minds and mental events have equal dependence on each other.
According to what is said there, the equality possessing cause of minds is their being produced only because there are mental events. However, this is distinguished from co-emergent causation in that mind and mental events are equal in five ways:
1. Both mind and mental events equally depend on the support of ego and the condition, the senses.
2. With one sphere and one object, they have the same perception.
3. Neither earlier or later than each other, they are at one and the same time.
4. In the ways they take account of phenomena and so forth 194 they are one and the same.
5. Each has the same essence and substance.
In this cause, mind and mental events arise possessing mutual equality. This is taught for the sake of knowledge, and the way of classification is as before.
5. The all-pervading cause, kun a’gro’i rgyu.
The Abhidharmakosha says:
What is called the all-pervading cause is the intrinsic 5 all-pervading ones of those who possess the kleshas
As for the all-pervading cause, kun a’gro rnams, “all-pervading” refers to the kleshas. It is merely a separate explanation of production of dharmas possessing the kleshas, which is also otherwise explained, so that this is merely additional. It says that all dharmas having the kleshas is what produces them. Those having the kleshas are born from those having the kleshas. Accordingly, that from having the kleshas they arise with the kleshas is distinguished from equal situation. In this regard, the dharmas that arise intrinsically with the kleshas arise before those that have them as produced fruitions.
6. The ripening cause
The Abhidharmakosha says:
The ripening cause is only the possession
Of the defilements of vice and virtue.
The ripening cause is otherwise explained as the aspect of samsaric fruition that produces the pleasurable and unpleasurable. This is merely defiled virtue and non-virtue. Those were the six causes.
B. The five kinds of fruition
The sdom byang says:
There are ripening fruition and the ego fruition
According with the cause, and that produced by the person.
Also that which is called the fruition of separation.
These comprise the list of the five kinds of fruition.
1. the ripening fruition
The Abhidharmakosha says:
The ripening fruition is of the inferior.
Ripening fruitions are fruitions produced in dependence on the defiled joy and sorrow of samsara. The essence, being obscured, is not what can be expected to occur.195 What is to be expected is self-caused virtue or non-virtue. They arise from ripening causes. They are included within the continuua of sentient beings or designated as dharmas associated with them.
2. The ego fruition
The Abhidharmakosha says:
The ego fruition is first
As for the ego fruition, the first fully-produced fruition of the six causes is the ego, it is said.
3. The fruition according with the cause
The Abhidharmakosha says:
As for the one according with the cause
It is equal fortune and also all-pervading.
That which arises here is both of these.
The fruition according with the cause is both a fruition of equal fortune and a fruition of the all-pervading. This designation is used because these fruitions accord with their own causes.
4. The person-produced fruition
The Abhidharmakosha says:
When by someone’s power anything arises,
That fruition is a person-produced fruition.
The person-produced fruition is a fruition of both the co-emergent and equally-possessing causes.
When a person produces a vase, the maker and the object made both individually exist. The name is conferred on what is like that example.
5. The fruition of separation
The Abhidharmakosha says:
Separation is exclusively involved with mind.
In the fruition of separation, the prajna of mind, by its power of individual-discrimination, 196 eliminates the separable aspect to be abandoned. Our own uncompounded essence is classified as the fruition. Our own essence is not produced by a cause, but hindrances to it need to be abandoned. From their being abandoned the essence arises in experience. If they are not abandoned, this is the cause of its not so arising.
C. The four conditions
The sdom byang says:
The causal condition, and the preceding condition;
The perceptual-object condition, and the preponderant.
These are what are known as the four conditions.
1. the causal condition, the Abhidharmakosha says:
The so-called cause is five causes.
All the other five causes but the producing cause, are classified as casual conditions.
2. The immediately preceding condition
The Abhidharmakosha says:
Mind and whatever contents of mind may have arisen
If they are not last they are equally preceding.
As for mind and mental contents equally being preceding conditions, previous to any incorrect mind and mental events their own respective preceding incorrect mind and mental events have arisen. 197 Until the last moment before an arhat enters the mind without outflows, all mind and mental events are immediately preceding conditions.
3. The perceptual object condition the Abhidharmakosha says:
This is all the dharmas that are perceived.
The perceived condition, 198 is all dharmas. When they have been perceived, awareness of them arises.
4. The preponderant condition, the Abhidharmakosha says:
The producing cause, so-called, is explained as the controller.
The first of the six causes, the producing cause, is also called the preponderant or master-condition.
Of these four conditions the perceived condition and preceding condition are mental causes alone. The other two are conditions producing all compounded things.
SECOND
Therefore in regard to these causes and fruitions
Knowing the way in which they exist and do not exist,
Since by that they can be made to start and stop, 199
The arts and such 200 and doctrines all have this as their root.
Therefore these arts and doctrines have been gathered together,
As helpful advice 201 within the world and beyond the world.
For these formerly explained reasons, as for the cause of productive action and dependence of the fruition on the cause, by such causes such fruitions are produced. By knowing as they are the ways that those fruitions exist dependently on these causes, and how they are not produced by them and do not exist dependently on them, we engage in and refrain from actions in the world.
Thus there will be the creative arts and crafts 202 and so forth, medicine, grammar, pramana, the study of Buddhism the 5 major sciences dealing with worldly objects. there are also rhetoric, drama and dance, astrology, composition, and poetics, the lesser five sciences.203 There are these ten sciences of knowables. There are not only those but also the productive function of all the doctrines of Buddhists and outsiders 204 without remainder, and so by means of the style of these two dependencies205 we have the root of practical discrimination.206
For this reason, it should be known that within these two correct reasonings of production and dependency, all worldly helpful instructions and all helpful doctrines that are beyond the world are collected.
SECOND, the correct reasoning of nature is explained in two ways by means of the relative, appearance, and by means of the absolute, emptiness.
FIRST, The explanation by relative appearance
Within this there are two parts, the main topic and its classifications.
FIRST, The main topic:
Having arisen interdependently
All dharmas, by their own natures,
Each have their individually existing characteristics.
Solidity, moisture, heat, and so forth
These conventional natures have no falsity.
Interdependently arising through causes and conditions, whatever has arisen gathered under samsara, nirvana, and the three paths, 207 all these dharmas, none of which are produced by anything else, each by their own natures exist with characteristics which are not those of others. They have their own individual natures which are not shared. Earth is solid, water is moist, fire is hot, air is motile, space is unobstructed, and so forth. If anyone says these conventional natures are not like that, it is false. These indispensable conclusions are known as the correct reasoning of essential nature. 208 The dgongs pa nges par ‘grel pa’i mdo says:
The correct reasoning of nature is like this. It was proper even before the Tathagata arose in the world. Even if he had not arisen, it would be proper. The existence of natures 209 and the existence of dharmadhatu are the correct reasoning of nature.
the Shravaka-bhumi says:
The correct reasoning of nature is like this, why the skandhas are like that, and why worldly existences are like that. Why solidity is the defining characteristic of earth, that of water moisture, that of fire heat, and that of air motility. Similarly, why the defining characteristic of form is properly being visible/ sensible. 210 That of feeling is being emotionally felt 211. That of perception is knowing all characteristics. The defining characteristic of formations is forming 212 The defining characteristic of consciousness is producing consciousness of the factual.213 Why? Because that is their nature. That is the nature of those dharmas. Since their essences are like that, these natures which they have are said to be properly theirs. The bka’ yang dag pa’i tshad ma’i mdo btus pa says:
“the correct reasoning of natures” 214 is expressed by means of the natures 215 of dharmas. Whatever natures dharmas have in relative truth and absolute truth are taught.
SECOND, The classifications
Within a single dharma are also various dharmas.
Conventional terms that establish and eliminate
Distinguish limitless classifications of different objects.
Each of these exists with 216 its own particular nature.
By perception these objects are completely grasped.
By means of what characteristics pertain to each of these
Dharmas have their different characterizations.
Joined and distinguished by conceptual mind.
Knowables are to be understood. 217 from these two kinds:
Real substantial things 218 and imputed characteristics 219
From that come the classifications of many complexities.
For example, this is like there being various dharmas within the single dharma a vase. A vase has impermanence, is a material thing and so forth, By such statements of what it “is” and “has” what is established about it is asserted. Also it is not permanent, is without consciousness, and so forth. By means of these “nots” and “withouts” there are limitless distinctions of classifications negating or excluding conventional terms, excluded meanings 220 which are other than it and which it is said not to have at all. Thus by its own nature it exists as what it is.
As for what happens by such dharmas perceived, they are grasped as objects 221, substantial entities with their intrinsic individual characteristics, 222 like a vase. What has been produced has impermanence, arising, and so forth. Using such characteristics 223 it is constructed 224 as apparently different dharmas. Conceptions of it are grasped as a mixture of the verbal and the real. 225 They are grasped with a mixture of sound and meaning. By these characteristics, 226 conceptual mind distinguishes these as individuals and joins them together.
Thus dharmas that are things exist substantially and have characteristics attributed to them. By means of these two aspects in relation to knowables, without error we assert and deny, accept and reject. We become involved with or avoid them. 227 The way things are 228 is rightly realized.
From that come numerous extensive classifications of complexities such as things and non-things, object and perceiver, general and particular, compounded and uncompounded, permanent and impermanent, materiality and awareness, cause and fruition, substantial existence and imputed existence, conceptual and non-conceptual, contradiction and logical entailment, characteristic and characterized, the thing which is distinguished and the dharma that distinguishes it, the expression and expressed, clarifying and eliminating,229 negation and assertion, general characteristics and individual characteristics and so forth. Having produced these various conventional classifications of common meanings, in reliance on them the limitless topics of knowables are clarified.
SECOND explanation by means of the absolute:
Thus the dharmas whose essence is cause and its fruition
If they are rightly apprehended and analyzed,
They are not conceived as having been produced,
And so they also do not arise dependently.
Even though each appears according to its own essence,
The essence of all of these alike is emptiness, 230
Dharmadhatu possessing the three marks of liberation,
They are dharmata, the absolute nature of things.
As explained before, the producer, the cause, and the fruition, the thing dependent upon the cause, and dharmas that essentially have the nature of cause and fruition, if they are completely examined and analyzed by the correct reasoning that examines for the absolute, not even a particle of nature exists for them. 231 They are characterized by the three marks of liberation. 232
If we examine the cause, by the reasons of the vajra slivers,233 if knowable dharmas are well analyzed and examined, no producer, or “cause,” is observed to arise in terms of any of the four extremes, cause by self other, both, or no cause. Therefore cause is markless. 234
If we analyze the fruition, by the reasons of existence and non-existence or arising and cessation, through dependence on causes and conditions there may be arisings of fruitions. However, since those alleged fruitions will not be existent, non-existent, both, or neither, and so forth, these fruitions are unborn, and they cannot be wished for. 235
If we examine the essence, by the reason of being free from one and many, though conventionally there is that which is other, appearing with a nature of its own that is essentially not in common, that which is other has not been produced. Therefore, by its own nature it is emptiness free from being either truly one or truly many. It is essentially empty of nature. 236
If so, in the absolute, conventional cause, effect, and essence, are dharmadhatu having the three marks of liberation. It is properly said that their essence is that of the absolute.
THIRD, The summary of the essence:
Production and dependence
Since they are the nature of things themselves,
As for the end of correct reasoning,
When the nature 237 is reached, no reason is sought.
As explained above, conventionally the action of the cause produces the fruition. Each fruition is produced in dependence on its own producing cause. As this is the intrinsic nature of things, when there is such a reason, that is the end of correct reasoning. If we reach the proper intrinsic nature of things, we need seek no further for other reasons. This is the nature of things, like fire being hot.
SECOND, The reasoning of suitable establishing
Within suitable establishment there are the brief teaching, and the extensive explanation. As for the FIRST, the brief teaching:
When something has been evaluated
According to the nature of the two truths,
Since it is established by the power of the thing itself,
This is the correct reasoning of suitable establishing.
As it appears and as it exists
Its own essence is directly perceived.
Or depending on perceived appearances,
Without deception, other things are inferred.
As explained above, an object to be evaluated has both the apparent nature of relative truth and the empty nature of absolute truth. In accord with these what is evaluated or the perceiver arising from it, the evaluating mind is established from the power of the way things intrinsically are in themselves. Therefore it is also called the correct reasoning or pramana of suitable establishment. The dgongs pa nges par ‘grel ba’i mdo says:
The correct reasoning of proper establishing is like this. When we say by what cause and conditions something is entailed 238 to occur and explained, and the sense we want to establish established; that which was fully and truly comprehended 239 is called the correct reasoning of proper establishing.
The rnal ‘byor spyod pa’i nyan thos kyi sa says:
Properly established correct reasoning is like this. The skandhas are impermanent, or interdependently arising, or miserable,240 or empty, or egoless.
The three pramanas are accepted scripture, perception, and inference. They produce realization. So, as for correct reasoning of proper establishing, these are the three pramanas that appropriate 241 the essence of the holy ones. They are like this: The skandhas are presented and established as impermanent, or interdependently arising, or miserable, or empty, or egoless. That is called the correct reasoning of proper establishing. The bka’ yang dag pa’i mdo kun las btus pa says:
Reason-establishing correct reasoning is universal. It shows such and such established characteristics. 242
To explain briefly the supplementary points 243 of pramana taught here, the definition of pramana is “non-deceptive knowledge.” The tshad ma rnam ‘grel says:
Pramana is non-deceptive knowledge.
Within this definition of pramana, as non-deceptive, there are three distinctions.
1) The non-deceptive object of action consists of individual characteristics.
2) The non-deceptive agent is a mind with the two pramanas. 244
3) The non-deceptive mode 245 is such that when there is a distinction of existence, that existence is non-deceptive. When there is a distinction of non-existence, that non-existence is non-deceptive. When there is a distinction that something is or is not characterized as this or that, it is really so.
Someone may say, “but isn’t pramana also defined as “the producer of cognizance 246 of an unknown object?”
Yes, it is. These two are dissimilar only their style of verbal expression. The realities have no dissimilarity. How so? In knowledge that cognizes 247 unknown objects, there is first a mind deceived about that object. This is because that which is non-deceptive knowledge is the producer of cognizance about that unknown object.
Therefore these two definitions both join the individual definitions applying to conventional and absolute pramana. Since they join both of these, they are said to be definitions of pramana as a whole. Though what is said to have one meaning arises in three parts, in our own tradition only the latter should be grasped. So the Jamyang guru Mipham has said.
In general, the definition of mind, blo, is “that which understands,” rig pa. The definition of awareness, shes pa, is “apprehension248 and experience.”
As for the fortune of supreme knowledge, 249 if all thoughts of non-pramana are gathered into correct reasoning, intellectualizations, uncertain appearances, subsequent cognition, 250 wrong knowledge, and doubts are said to be gathered into it too. 251 The mind of pramana has two kinds of pramana. These are the two divisions. The tshad ma’i mdo, the Pramana Sutra says:
Direct perception and inference alike are pramana.
The definition of pramana is apprehended as double.
Also the tshad ma rnam ‘grel says:
There are two objects to apprehend. 252
Therefore there are two pramanas.
As is taught there, there are necessarily two kinds objects to be evaluated:
1. individual characteristics and
2. universal characteristics. 253
In terms of fruition, there are dharmas with a real productive power and those with no such power.
In terms of intrinsic nature 254 for different things the same dharma may be in common or not in common.255
In terms of word and object, there are cases where the expressing word expresses a real thing and those where it does not.
In terms of the knowledge of the perceiver, there are conceptually known apparent objects and non-conceptually known apparent objects.
In terms of the way the object appears, there are evident and hidden, which are necessarily two in number, and so forth. The mind apprehending these has both perception and inference, which are likewise necessarily two in number.
The definition of an evident object of evaluation 256 is “that which is realized by the pramana of direct perception.” The definition of hidden object of evaluation 257 is “that which is realized by inference.”
The definition of perception is “unconfused awareness that is free from conception.” There are four divisions of perception:
1. sense-perception
2. mental perception
3. self-awareness
4. yogic direct perception.
Their definitions are below.
The definition of inference is “mind that realizes what is to be established, its own hidden object, in dependence on a reason in which all the three modes are complete.”
The divisions of inference are:
1. inference for one’s own benefit
2. inference for the benefit of others.
There are also these divisions:
1. Inference from the power of the thing itself
2. Inference from reports
3. Inference from belief.
Correct reasoning with reasons for inference is extensively explained below.
Inference from the power of the thing itself is like realizing “impermanent” in dependence on the reason “having been produced.”
Inference from reports is like realizing, using one’s own knowledge of conceptual objects as the reason, that “the one with the rabbit’s image” = “the moon.”
Inference of belief
Depending on scripture purified by the three analyses is like realizing that what we have been taught is non-deceptive. For example:
Generosity is activity, discipline is merit,
Patience is a good form 258 and exertion splendor.
By meditation peaceful mind is liberated.
Following the presentation of these remaining subsidiary topics of pramana, now there is the main subject.
The two truths:
Relative truth 259 is the way things appear.
Absolute truth is the way things really are.
For each of these two distinct truths there is perception and inference.
Perception realizes individual natures. 260
Inference uses apparent signs or reasons to infer another object non-deceptively through analysis.
In that way each of the two pramanas is itself divided into two, making four altogether. Presenting in order the bases of distinguishing these:
1) Perception of essence within the relative, is like perception by a non-confused eye-consciousness of a blue utpala lotus
2) Perception of the absolute essence is like the wisdom of meditation of the noble ones. 261
3) Inference in conventional analysis is like inferring fire from smoke or from something’s having been produced that it is impermanent.
4) inference in absolute analysis is like inferring emptiness by reason of the absence of unity and so forth.
Therefore, glorious Dharmakirti says:
The meanings of things, seen and unseen
By the two aspects, perception and inference,
Are irrefutable and non-deceptive.
SECOND Suitable establishing of perception and inference
A. Suitable establishing of perception
Within this are the general teaching, the explanation of the particulars, and the summary.
1) the general teaching:
The classification of perception is four-fold:
There are the perceptions of non-confused sense and mind,
Those of self-awareness, and the perception of yoga.
Their objects appear as individual characteristics.
Therefore they are always non-conceptual.
If there is no perception, then there are no signs
Because there are no signs, there is no inference.
Things arising from cause, and cessation of such things,
All these appearances would be impossible.
If it is like that, their emptiness and such,
Depending on what could they be possibly known?
Therefore, without depending on the conventional,
The absolute as well will never be realized.
FIRST there is the explanation of proper establishing of perception. The rigs pa thigs pa, the Drop of Correct reasoning, says:
As perception is free from conception, it is unconfused. Conception is expressible knowledge and appearance appropriate to be mixed with that. Perception is free from that mixing, for example not confused by dimness, turning quickly, being in a boat, shaking about, and so forth. Such knowledge is perception.
There are four kinds of perception:
1. The knowledge of the senses
2 Mind consciousness
This is directly 262 subsequently produced to or by the knowledge of the senses, having sense knowledge as its own preceding object, and its immediately preceding condition. It is similar 263 to that sense knowledge.
3. Self-awareness of mind and all mental events
4. The limitlessly arising knowledge of yoga
This is excellent meditation on true reality.
The objects of these are individual characteristics. Whatever different objects far and near appear in awareness are individual characteristics. These same characteristics exist absolutely. This is because the characteristics of things exist only as productive powers. 264
There are also universal or general characteristics. 265 These are the objects of inference. However, the fruition of such inferential pramana is perceptual knowledge. This is because its essence is only to realize objects. That pramana is concerned with objects and their similarity, since by its power, realizations of objects are established. 266
The great pandit Shantarakshita, pad ma’i ngang tshul and ‘dul ba’i lha all say that freedom from conception eliminates inference. Non-confusion eliminates obscured knowledge and so forth. Both are explained as having the characteristic of eliminating what does not accord with correct reasoning. Dharmottara says:
As for non-confusion, since the meaning/ object grasped is not confused, it has the power to eliminate conceptualization. To clear away the wrong conceptions of the nyaiyaaikas, samkhyas, mimamsakas, and so forth who say that perception is conceptual, 267 it is said to be free from conception.
The mdo’i rang ‘grel, says:
This is distinguished from dependence on what is said by others.
In the case of sensory and mental perception, the essence of sensory and mental perception in general, or as a whole, is recognition or identification.268 There is not recognition or identification in perceptual pramana alone.
Pramana is “non-confused.” By being joined to that it should be known to be revealed in its particulars. 269
The supremely learned phya ba says:
When perception and perceptual pramana have been distinguished, the definition of the FIRST is “unconfused knowledge free from conceptualization.” The definition of the SECOND is that “by experiencing something we have not realized before, 270 exaggeration is cut through.”
So it is explained here, but the approach of our own tradition will be explained below.
The object characterized by perceptual pramana is exclusively non-confused knowledge.
The definition of perceptual pramana is “unconfused knowledge free from conceptualization.”
There are four divisions of perceptual pramana:
1. Sense perception 271
2. Mental perception
3. Perception of self-awareness
4. Yogic direct perception.
Here are their respective definitions:
1. The definition of the pramana of sense perception is
“unconfused knowledge free from conception that arises in dependence on the dominant condition of the bodily 272 senses.”
The divisions of the pramana of sense perception are the unconfused five sense consciousnesses, the eye consciousness and so forth.
Seeming sense perception corrupted by illusion 273, appearance of the one moon as two and so forth is not perceptual pramana.
2. The definition of the pramana of mental perception is
“unconfused knowledge free from conceptualization arising in dependence on the dominant condition of the mental sense.”
Non-conceptual mind subsequently associated with confused sense experiences, such as knowledge within a dream, is not pramana.
3. The definition of the pramana of yogic perception is
“unconfused knowledge free from conceptualization arising in dependence on the dominant condition of the yogas of shamatha and vipashyana.”
Phenomena like the appearance of skeletons in the meditation on repulsiveness are not unconfused. Therefore, they are not pramana.
4. The definition of the perceptual pramana of self-awareness is
“unconfused self awareness free from conception apprehending itself as the essence of mind and all mental events.”
Confused or unconfused, whatever awareness arises is unconfused and free from conception, as mere self-apprehending experience in itself.
In regard to their objects, those four kinds of perception do not mix up objects, times, and aspects. This is because actual individual characteristics appear in perception, with no conceptions that could confusedly grasp words and meanings. 274
In that case, what is the conceptualization that is to be separated from direct perception? In general regarding the divisions of conceptualization, the dbus mtha’ says:
Mind and mental events, and the three worlds as well
Always have the aspect of exaggeration.
Thus the essence is understood. 275
The mdzod says:
Conception and analysis are like fine and coarse. 276
As it says there, conceptual analysis is conceptual
The rnam ‘grel says:
Whatever is known, the meaning of the word for it is grasped. That is the conception of that.
As it says there, conceptualization has a mixed grasp of word and meaning. From those three quotations, direct perception is free from conceptualization. The tshad ma mdo says:
Joining names and kinds 277 etc. in freedom from conception is direct perception. 278
Here there are four styles.
1. Saying that the proliferation 279 of direct perception of sense and mind does not arise.
2. Saying that after an instant of sense knowledge there is only mental perception
3. Saying that at the end of a succession of sense perceptions,280 mental perception arises.
4. Saying that after the first moment of sense perception mental perceptions arise in a series accompanying another series of sense perceptions, and that finally at the end of the last moment of sense perception there arises the last moment of mental perception.
Of these four, the Jamyang guru says that just this last should be maintained.
These four perceptions, have two divisions in terms of individuals who have them
1) The perception of ordinary beings
2) The perception of the noble ones.
In terms of support:
The objects and understanding of sense and mental perception depend on the senses.
Self-awareness depends only on paratantra.
Yogic perception depends on meditation.
In terms of their objects:
Mental and sensory direct perception are aware of some object other than themselves.
Self-awareness coarsely perceives itself.
Yogic self perception is aware of both itself and others.
These four direct perceptions are not related by the difference that refutes one, since all four are real things.
Nor are they merely related by the difference of different manifestations of a single essence. This is because the three other perceptions are different substances, while also they are not different in essence from perception of self-awareness. The other three perceptions have one essence with perception of self-awareness, but they are different objects.
The purpose of the four perceptions is to clear away four wrong conceptions:
1. The Hindu rig pa can pa school do not accept the pramana of sense perception.
2. The rna ma phug pas do not accept the pramana of mental perception.
3. The vaibhashikas do not accept the pramana of self-awareness.
4. The rgya ‘phen pa school do not accept yogic direct perception.
The great teacher ‘dul ba’i lha says:
Because they clear any four wrong conceptions these excellent divisions are taught.
Some say that the sense-power itself is the seer of pramana. To eliminate this view, the FIRST is taught. The knowledge arising from the sense-powers is not the power of perception.
Some attribute faults to mental perception. The SECOND division is taught for the sake of completely abandoning this fault.
Some do not accept the self-awareness of mind and mental contents. The THIRD is taught to eliminate this.
Some do not accept the direct perception of yogins, and so this is called the FOURTH kind of perceptual pramana.
Also the great teacher dgra las rgyal pas says:
Saying that there are four kinds of perception is to eliminate particular wrong conceptions:
1. the thought that perceptual pramana is seen by the senses themselves, rather than by the knowledge that depends on them.
2. The thought that the phenomena of perception of the mental sense, whose essence has already been explained, exist as other.281
3. The thought that self-awareness is impossible.
4. the thought that yogic knowledge is impossible.
If these four direct perceptions were absent, since smoke and so forth would not appear, there would be no signs or reasons. Therefore, inference would be non-existent. If that were non-existent, that from the cause, the seed, the sprout arises, and that it ceases in destruction and so forth, all that appears and is heard in the world, all these conventional dharmas, would be unknown. If that is said, there would be no occurrence of the reasons by which the natural state of such relative entities, emptiness and so forth, is known.
Therefore it is taught that without dependence on the means of the worldly appearance of conventional truth, the absolute truth, emptiness, that arises from that would not be realized. Glorious Chandrakirti’s commentary, the Prasannapada, says:
Since this is the means of attaining nirvana, as those who want water first get a vessel, it should first be told how the relative exists.
Also the ‘jug pa rang ‘grel says:
Conventional truth alone is the teacher of the absolute. From fully comprehending 282 the teaching of the absolute, the absolute is attained. A treatise says:
Without depending on the conventional,
The absolute truth will not be realized.
Without relying on the absolute truth,
Nirvana likewise will not be attained.
SECOND, regarding sense perception, mental perception, the perception of self-awareness and yogic perception,
FIRST, Sense perception:
By whatever mind-events 283 have arisen from the five senses
Apprehension 284 of their objects is experienced.
Without this sense perception, objects would not be seen, As they are not in the case of those who are blind, and so forth.
Depending on the dominant condition the eye-power and similarly the ear, nose, tongue, and body-sense, the five consciousnesses of a person experience the apprehension of their objects, form, sound, smell, taste, and touchables. This is sense perception. without it, like those who are blind, deaf, and so forth, we could never perceive external objects.
SECOND, Mental perception:
Of outer and inner objects that rise from the mental sense
Mental perception is the drawer of clear distinctions.
Without this mental perception all the dharmas would be
Without the knowledge of ordinary understanding.
Arising in dependence on the mental sense as dominant condition, knowledge that understands objects 285 clearly distinguishes 286 experiences of outer objects, form and so on, and by knowledge of self-awareness, distinguishes the objects of inner awareness and dreams. 287 This is mental direct perception. A sutra says:
O monks, there are two kinds of knowledge of form. They depend on the eye and on the mind.
Also the tshad ma mdo says:
…and mental objects….
Its auto-commentary says:
Mind, 288 yid, engages with phenomena that are apprehended and experienced, such as form etc. This is exclusively non-conceptual.
The author of the rnam ‘grel rgyan sher byung sbas ba says:
Existing familiarly before one
That which is known as “this” and so forth
Since it produces such perception,
This is said to be mental perception.
Rngog pa says:
Co-emergently bound up with sense perception, there is the pramana of mental direct perception.
Without this, all external and internal dharmas would lack the understanding of ordinary knowledge.
THIRD, yogic direct perception:
Meditating well according to the instructions
One apprehends experience of the ultimate as our object.
If there is not this kind of yogic direct perception,
We will not see the real beyond the everyday.
By the yogin’s meditating well in accord with the precepts taught by the guru, the ultimate meaning of egolessness, the two emptinesses, and three and countless kinds are seen.
Moreover, in a single atom as many buddha fields as there are atoms, and limitless pure
phenomenal worlds, the mandalas of countless 289 buddhas, are seen and so forth. Clearly experiencing its own sphere, this is yogic direct perception.
The great teacher Dignaga says:
As shown by the experiences 290
Only unmixed objects are seen.
The teacher Dharmakirti says:
The knowledge of yogins was explained before.
It arises within their meditation.
To analyze in outline this clear realization of egolessness in yogic perception, there are the meaning of the word, the essence, the definition and the divisions. Regarding the FIRST, as for “yoga,” the sgra sbyor bam gnyis, The Two Volume Grammar, says:
“Yo” is yoga. This is the name of the meditation which unites shamatha and vipashyana. In Tibetan this is rnal ‘byor. Here the meaning is rnal ma, the natural state of the mind, or the state in which it is ‘byor joined to mastery.
Pratyaksha, in Tibetan is mgnon sum, direct perception. Prati means near or direct. It has many meanings such as “individual.” Yaksha is the equivalent of dbang po, the sense powers, so the overall meaning is “depending on the individual senses” or “depending on the senses.”
Of the four extremes of the words “description” and “denotation,291” Pratyaksha depends on the senses, but does not explain. 292 All knowledge grasping individual characteristics has a denotum.
Moreover, for both sense perception and mental perception there is the verbal description and the denotum.
For the perceptions of self-awareness and yoga there is only the denoted, and there is no description 293 For confused sensory knowledge, there is description but no denotum.
In general as to the four extremes of description and denotation, if we take for example the epithet, “the lake-born,” where the literal words mean “born in a lake” but the phrase refers to or denotes a lotus, there are the extremes of:
1. the description existing and the denotation not existing
2. the description not existing and the denotation existing
3. both description and denotation existing
4. neither description or denotation existing.
The FIRST is like living beings born in a lake.
The SECOND is like a lotus in a dry place.
The THIRD is like a lotus born in a lake.
The FOURTH is like a vase.
SECOND, the essence of yogic perception is the mind to which the egolessness of objects clearly appears.
THIRD, the definition of yogic perception in general is “non-confused knowledge depending on meditation, free from the conceptualizations of sentient beings.”
FOURTH, the divisions of yogic perception. Generally, to divide it into different kinds, there are the three kinds of yogic perceptions of:
1. shravaka noble ones
2. pratyekabuddha noble ones
3. bodhisattvas.
As for the pratyekabuddhas, the mdzod says:
They are one in that they all depend exclusively 294 on meditation.
As it says there, pratyekabuddhas do not study, and have no learning. Shravaka and bodhisattva noble ones may be either learned or unlearned. That makes five kinds altogether. Dividing these five in two by yogic perception of post-meditation with appearance, and yogic perception of meditation without appearance makes ten kinds in all.
If these individuals had no such yogic perception, it would therefore follow that they saw nothing especially noble beyond the scope of the minds of ordinary beings.
FOURTH, self-awareness:
Just as perceived experience of form cuts through distortion.
If such experience exists regarding our own mind,
Knowing that, we will not meet the existence of other.
Therefore by the essence, gsal rig, luminous insight,
Aware of objects 295 is of the nature of oneself,
Self-apprehension, rang gsal, is without dependence.
This is what is meant by terms like self-awareness. 296
That which is experienced by the other perceptions,
Being ascertained to be perception itself
Is the work of self-awareness. If that dod not exist,
No other modes of perceiving could establish anything.
For the perception of the eye consciousness, experience of the form of a white conch shell is the cause of cutting through the distortion of thinking it is yellow. In regard to our own mind, self-awareness is exists the cause of cutting through a similar distortion. For a knower who does not know self-awareness, other must exist. If we have self-awareness, the knower for who the other must exist and so forth will ultimately become non-existent. We will not meet with knowledge that something exists as other at the same time, or not at the same time, and so forth as self-awareness.
For that reason, in knowledge, a chariot, a building, and so forth, which have a material nature separate from awareness are eliminated. By their becoming of the essence of awareness, 297 while we have knowledge of external objects in consciousness, they are oneself and do not depend on any other. This self-apprehension is self-awareness. The great teacher Shantarakshita says in the Madhyamakala.mkara
Then there is full development 298 of elimination
From consciousness of the nature of material things
That which is of a nature that is not material
Is known as “this,” oneself.
Ascertaining whatever objects are experienced by the other three perceptions as perception itself is the function of self-awareness. This is because our own mind is not be hidden from one, as for example we have the power to decide whether we are happy or unhappy.
If there were no self-awareness, experience of other kinds of perception too could not be established as such by any other means. The reason is that self-awareness of them would not exist.
We may think that for example that blue would be established by being seen by the eye consciousness; but we should analyze how by perception or inference the eye consciousness is established. If first it is established by perception, then the perception would have to be both at the same time and not at the same time. That is unsuitable.
If the eye consciousness is supposed to be established through inference, there will be none, because the perception this presupposes will be non-existent. That is unsuitable.
For that reason, if objects such as a vase were material things, they could not be apprehended and perceived. 299 Therefore, their essence is produced within or as awareness. 300
Though a mind that is illuminated by and apprehends others must be dependent on them in some sense, this knowledge is not like knowledge of material things. As our own essence that is being intuited, this need not depend on other conditions.
The conventional classification “self-awareness” is totally suitable. This is because it has arisen from oneself alone, has the nature of awareness and is essentially free from action, actor, and karma. For example, it is like a lamp that illuminates itself. The tshad ma mdo says:
Even conceptualization is said to be self-awareness.
Since that is realized, conception is not real
Also the Madhyamakala.mkara says:
For that whose nature is being single and partless
Three natures are therefore unsuitable.
As for this being aware of itself
Act and actor are unreal.
Therefore, since this is the nature of knowledge,
It is properly called self-knowledge.
Third, the summary of the meaning:
Inference has perception existing as its root.
Perception in turn is ascertained by self-awareness.
Once experience by unconfused mind is reached,
There is no other establisher than that alone.
Therefore, for whomever relies on pure perception,
Unconfused and free from all conceptualization,
From whatever dharmas may be manifested
Exaggeration will be completely cleared away.
Since inference arises from having relied on the power of perceived signs as reasons, it has perception as its root. Since perception has been ascertained 301 by self-awareness itself, perception must be classified as self-awareness. If all experience of a mind that is not confused by the causes of confusion are the ultimate, self-awareness, 302 no other external establisher need be sought. That is the experience of unconfused mind. It is like finding the elephant. 303
Thus at the limits of inference, perception is what is reached. Apprehension of objects of perception 304 ultimately arrives at apprehension-experiencing self-awareness. Therefore, if we want to make a presentation of pramana of the seeing of this side, samsara, 305 it will be unsuitable without self-awareness. Therefore, the partiality of not accepting self-awareness has been refuted.
The ways of establishing that this is true are extensively taught in the texts of the two lords of correct reasoning Dignaga and Dharmakirti. Whoever is free from conception with its mixed grasping of word and meaning relies on the unconfused purity of the four perceptions. For such a person exaggeration will be completely cleared away from perceived 306 dharmas that seem to be a vase etc.. This occurs by the power of the experience that there is no vase, and so forth,. This is the suitable establishing of perception.
In brief, the pramana of inference is ultimately the pramana of perception. The pramana of perception is ultimately the pramana of self-awareness, the clear experience of our own mind apprehending itself as object. Therefore, if within the relative there is no self-awareness, all the world’s classifications of truth and falsity will be unsuitable.
As for the refutation of self-awareness in the texts of madhyamaka, it should be known that, by correct reasoning about the absolute, only the true existence of self-awareness is negated and not self-awareness itself. 307
SECOND Inference
In regard to inference there are the essence, divisions and abandoning contentiousness. Within the FIRST, the essence, there are the mind that infers, the signs from which inferences are made, and how inferences are made.
FIRST, the mind that infers
After the universal marks 308 of things are fully grasped,
By being mixed with names, they are understood. 309
This is called conceptual mind, and by its concepts
Various conventions are proliferated.
Even for persons who do not know linguistic symbols
Universal characteristics appear within their minds.
Mixable with names, conceptions such as these
Produce engagement and disengagement 310 with their objects.
If there were no such thing as this conceptual mind,
There would be no conventional statements and denials.
Any kind of teaching would be impossible.
Of inference or of any subjects of learning and study.
By concepts we can deal with the future and so forth.
We evaluate and establish what is not evident.
If there were conceptions, but no inference,
We would be like children who are newly born.
SECOND, within the explanation of the suitable establishment of inference, the definition of the pramana of inference was briefly explained above in the brief explanation of proper establishment. The mind that infers is conceptual mind. What is the essence of conceptuality? Having mentally grasped only the universal aspects 311 of the individual characteristics of objects, such as a vase, by confusing appearance and conceptualization as one thing, it mixes them. for example the word “vase” is mixed with its meaning. The producer of conceptions 312 about a vase and so forth is called conceptual mind.
As for the action of this, 313 in the world conceptual mind produces the proliferation of various conventionalities of assertion, denial and so forth. Within the minds even of persons who do not understand symbols, small children and those who are like animals, the universal characteristics of food and drink, at least, appear. Even if they do not know their own names, these conceptualizations which mix names and objects produce engaging and disengaging with objects or accepting and rejecting them. 314 If there were no conceptual mind, with its mixed grasping of word and meaning, then within the world there would also be no conventional classifications that refute others and establish our own view. There would be the fault that we could not infer hidden meanings, nor teach any subjects of study.
For that reason, through concepts, we think in terms of taking care of the future; we understand the past in terms of memory; and for present objects joining names and kinds, depending on relative concepts or signs, we analyze and establish concepts and so forth 315 that are not manifest. For this reason if there were no conceptual inference, there could be no reliance on reasons for accepting good and rejecting evil. All the people in the world would be like children before action is engendered within them. They could simply have no purposes at all.
SECOND, the signs from which inferences are made:
That relying on which something can be understood
Is that which is known as the reason or the sign of inference.
There are also the presence of the dharma in the subject
And the forward entailment and reversed entailment.
The three modes are complete, there is no confusion.
From reasons or signs that are resolved by perception
That which is hidden can thereby be inferred.
By the power of relations what is to be established,
In fruition will be established, and its nature, the reason,
Will be a reason such that by non-observation
Or that whose conception is contradictory with that,
That which is to be refuted, has been refuted.
Thus the three reasons will be purified.
But how does this conceptual mind infer other hidden dharmas? There are two divisions, inference for our own benefit and for that of others. Inference for our own benefit and inferential pramana have the same meaning.
FIRST, the essence of the first, inferential pramana for one’s own benefit, is a mind that realizes what is to be established from a reason for which all the three modes of syllogism are present.
The tshad ma mdo says:
Of the two kinds of inference, as for that for one’s own benefit
From the three modes of the sign, the meaning will be seen.
The rigs pa’i thigs pa says:
There are two kinds of inference, that for one’s own benefit and that for others.
Inference for oneself is known from a reason with the three modes. Here establishing the conclusion of correct reasoning is like perceiving. The three modes of the reason, 316 are these:
1. Its existence in what is to be inferred.
2. Its presence in similar cases.
3. Its absence in dissimilar cases.
What is to be inferred is the particular characteristic of the subject that we want to know about. Similar cases 317 also have the dharma to be established. Dissimilar cases 318 do not. There can be no cases other than these or contradictory to them.
The three modes are only possession of the three reasons regarding the unperceived, the nature, and the fruition.
As it says there, a reason or sign is a dharma depending on which there is the power of inferring another dharma. The sign establishing that the dharma to be proved is in the subject of the proposition to be proved is called the phyogs chos, the presence of the reason in the subject.319 That is the first mode.
If a sign is not established in a subject and its presence is debatable, analysis of the entailments will be useless. First, we must analyze whether the designated sign exists or does not exist in the subject in question, eg; a vase. That in which the sign is known to exist has the presence of the dharma in the subject. That is the first mode of syllogism.
When the reason has been established, the dharma to be established with this reason follows as a consequence, since these two have been analyzed and apprehended as connected. That is the forward entailment, the second mode. For example, “What is produced is impermanent,” is certain pramana because “impermanent” follows from “produced.” 320
If the dharma to be established is wrongly identified or non-existent, then the reason will be wrong and cannot apply. For example, “what is not impermanent cannot be produced.” That is the reversed entailment, the third mode of the three.
With these last two modes, by pramana, necessarily true statements of entailment and exclusion can be expressed. These are taught using an example such that:
1) all the according features are present
2) all the discordant ones are absent. 321
If all the three modes are present, there is a true reason that establishes the conclusion without confusion.
What are the definitions of the three modes?
As for the definition of the phyogs chos, presence of the dharma to which the reason applies in the subject, “the reason, itself said to be known to be established, is established to apply to the dharmin with necessity, according to pramana.” 322
The definition of forward entailment, 323 is that “the reason is established in such a way that things for which it is established certainly exist only in accord with its similar cases.”
The definition of reversed entailment 324 is that “according to the way the reason is established, what does not accord with the reason will certainly be without the dharma to which the reason applies. 325”
The definition of a genuine example is that “it is an object certainly pervaded by the certainty of what is to be established.”
The divisions of genuine examples, are two:
1) examples according with the reason
2) examples not according with the reason
The definition of an example truly according with the reason is that it is “truly a ground of the forward entailment of the reason to be proved.” For example, an according example of what is “produced” being “impermanent” is a vase.
The definition of a non-according example, is that it is “a true example of the reversed entailment of the true thing that is to be established.” Space is a non-according example of what is “produced” being “impermanent.”326
The definition of a merely apparent example, 327 is that it “is taken to be a true basis of entailment by the real thing to be proved, but this cannot be so.”
Relying on a reason resolved as valid by the experiential power of any of the four perceptual pramanas, some hidden dharma whose presence is to be evaluated is established inference by the power of logical relationships. Anything that is not logically related cannot be logically established. The tshad ma rnam nges says:
A reason having a logical relationship other than “if the phyogs is not there that which is to be established will not occur” is a merely apparent reason.
There are many other logical relationships such as having a characteristic, and inclusion in a class 328
Glorious Chandrakirti says:
All dharmas whatever have 329 either the nature of unity or that of difference. In the first case they are essentially one with the possessor or subject, while for things related by difference they can certainly be numbered as a second.
For the first, the relationship of unity with the subject, in unity with a single basis such as a vase, due to the characteristic 330 “impermanence” being dichotomous “permanent” is eliminated. If “unproduced” is eliminated for some object, “produced is established. From eliminating “non-thing,” there is its opposite the exaggeration-eliminating quality of individual existence. These can be understood from the individual names of each object, and cannot be understood in terms of any other.
Therefore, this very individual object that is presented as the object of the verbal concept is one with the essence of a vase alone.
As for its being produced, impermanent, and so forth, those qualities are related to it as further aspects of its single discrete selfhood. Over and above a vase they are connected to it by its single selfhood.
So it is presented. From the viewpoint of the conception that eliminates what is other than the characteristic in question, though there are supposed to be relationships of inclusion and discrimination, since it is said that in reality there is only a single discrete subject, it cannot connect itself to itself, any more than a sword cannot cut itself.331
SECOND, as for the relationships arising from that, there are the modes of cause and fruition. These are the direct cause 332 and co-emergently producing conditions. 333 Though in other texts six causes and four conditions, or five causes etc, have been presented, in reality, all causes are included under arising-producing producing causes 334 and logical causes of definitional dependency. 335
Though actually 336 such connected arising is impossible, having connected things together by conceptualizing them as an earlier cause and later fruition, when that cause does not exist, that fruition will not arise. That is conventionally called connected arising, ‘byung ‘brel.
As for the definition of relationship, ‘brel ba, from the viewpoint of a mind that has correctly excluded what is other than some quality, the other dharmas are not rejected.
There are two divisions. FIRST the definition of connection in a single possessor 337 is that from the viewpoint of rejection 338 of a dharma because of the subject’s single nature, the dharma that is other is not rejected. As for the definition, of that relationship, “by the power of that rejection the dharma that is other is not cleared away.”
The definition of subsequent contradiction 339, is that it occurs when two things are mutually contradicting and contradicted.
As for the FIRST of the two divisions, the definition of the contradiction of non-co-existence is that whatever dharmas things have, those with the contradiction of non-co-existence cannot be associated by the same causal power. The two divisions are
1) contradictory objects/ states of affairs 340 [eg hot and cold] 2) contradictory states of mind [eg ego grasping and egolessness.
SECOND, the definition of being mutually abandoned is that whatever dharma allegedly has a contradictory pair of characteristics 341 is unreal, eliminated by being contradictory. The two divisions are like:
1) permanence and impermanence being contradictory within the same thing342
2) being produced and being permanent being contradictory.
By having such a relationship, some reason in which the three modes are complete has the characteristic of proving what is to be established in a syllogism.
If this is divided, there are three kinds of reasons, gtan tshigs.
1) the reason of the fruition
2) the reason of the nature
3) the reason of non-observation, that which by non-observation or by being conceived as contradictory to the object, is refuted as what is to be denied.
Within these three reasons all the reasons that evaluate hidden things that are to be established are included. The tshad ma rnam ‘grel says:
There are three kinds of reasons establishing the entailment
Of the presence of the dharma in the subject of the thesis.
If they are absent, that dharma’s non-arising is certain.
Merely apparent reasons are those that are other than this.
If the classification in correct reasoning of these strictly necessary343 reasons is extensively explained, in general, as for the definition of a sign presented as a suitable sign or reason, 344 “if the basis is established, it is always a suitable reason.”
If reasons are divided, there are genuine reasons and apparent ones.
In the FIRST, genuine reasons, there are the definition and divisions. As for the FIRST, definitions, the definition of a genuine reason is that it is one in which the three modes are all present. Here dividing them to show the connections, there are three kinds:
1) the reason of fruition
2) the reason of nature
3) the reason of what is not conceived.
In the FIRST, the reason of fruition, there are the definition of the reason of fruition and the divisions. The definition of the reason of fruition is: “that which is connected to the arising of the fruition and has been presented as a reason of fruition, establishing the inference that is asserted, in which the three modes are complete.”
As for the divisions, in terms of the means of presenting the relationship, there are five kinds:
1. “The dharmin “actual 345 smoke” has fire, since it is smoke.” Such syllogisms establish a cause from an actually existing sign of the fruition.
2. Similarly, “The dharmin “the appearance of smoke” has not occurred before its preceding cause, fire, since it is smoke.” These establish a preceding cause from its effect.
3. “The dharmin “the proliferating 346 skandhas” occur with their respective causes, since they are things existing only some of the time.” 347 That establishes causes in general for temporary things.
4. “The dharmin “appearance of sense consciousness of green” is accompanied by its own object-condition, 348 because it is sense consciousness.” That establishes that there is a particular cause.
5. “The dharmin “a lump of molasses in the mouth” has form, because it has taste.” Here the dharma which is the cause is the reason for an inferred fruition. In reality from the present taste of molasses, both the former and present taste and form of the molasses, as a single association produced by a preceding cause can be inferred.
Thus, there are many ways of establishing the cause by the fruition, and by this splitting of hairs or making fine distinctions 349 that water is unmoving is attributed to its being supported by a support. From spoonbills, water, croaking frogs, and ants being carried away there is attributed the cause that rain has fallen, and so forth. All 350 such correct reasonings attributing causes to fruitions should be gathered under the heading of reasons of fruition.
SECOND, under the reason of nature there are the definition and divisions. FIRST, the definition of the reason of nature is when “a reason is presented that is of the same essential nature 351 as the thing to be proved itself, establishing what we want to say, in which all the three modes are present.” That is the definition of the reason of nature.
In the SECOND, the divisions of the reason of nature
There are divisions in terms of reasons and in terms of what is to be established. The FIRST, division in terms of reasons, is like, “The dharmin “sound” is impermanent, because it is produced or “…because it arises.” Here there is dependence on a distinction or qualification.352
The other is like “The dharmin “sound” is impermanent, because it exists as a thing.” What is presented here is a syllogism with a sign of the nature that is pure of distinctions. 353
Of these two ways of expressing the reason, the former shows another thing as fruition. This is like dependence on another. 354 The later, merely describes the essence autonomously. This is called pure of dependency or without dependency. 355 Aside from their mere classification these have no real difference.
SECOND there are real establishment and conventional establishment.
The FIRST, real establishment 356, is like, “The dharmin “sound” is impermanent, because it is produced.”
The SECOND, establishment by conventional terms 357 is like, “the dharmin “sound” is impermanent, because it is instantaneous.”
Third, a syllogism with a reason of non-observation, 358
Within this there are the definition and the distinctions. As for the FIRST, the definition of an syllogism with a reason of non-observation is “that which is presented as a reason for refuting what is to be refuted.” This is the definition of an reason of non-observation in which the three reasons are not observed to be complete.
If we divide, there are a true unobserved sign which is incapable of appearing, and a true unobserved sign which is capable of appearing.
Within the first are the characteristic and the subject with the characteristic. 359 In the FIRST we are unable to prove that a dharma to be refuted is necessarily absent in the basis of dispute, but are able to refute its existence. That is the definition of a non-apparent unobserved reason in which the three modes are complete.
In the way of establishing such a syllogism, for a continuum encountering that invisible object no pramana could produce the perception of such an object, for example, an invisible rakshasa. This non-apparent unperceived object, which we cannot evaluate 360 and so forth, in brief, is an unfathomable or uninferable 361 object that should neither be exaggerated or deprecated. 362
SECOND Perceivable but unobserved true reasons
Within this there are the definition and the divisions.
FIRST, the definition of a perceivable but unobserved reason is, “a basis of establishment 363 in which the dharmas to be refuted can be certainly established to be non-existent, by a reason having all of the three modes.” For example if an ordinary person were here we could see that person, so if we do not see anyone, no one is here. In the divisions of a perceivable but unobserved reason there are perceivable but unobserved reasons with a necessarily related pair and with a necessarily excluded pair. 364
FIRST, as for perceivable but unobserved reasons with necessarily related pairs,
Within this there are the definition and the divisions.
FIRST, the definition of necessarily related pair is: “a perceivable but unobserved true reason always paired with the thing to be refuted.” That is the definition of an apparent unperceived true reason joined to the reason for negation by non-affirming negation.
There are four divisions of necessarily related pairs.
FIRST, an unperceived nature is like: “In the dharmin “this house” there is no vase, since it is perceivable but not perceived by pramana.”
SECOND, there is an unperceived cause, because what is paired with it is not perceived. This is like: “The dharmin “the ocean at night” has no smoke, since it has no fire.”
THIRD, an unperceived class, 365 is like: “The dharmin “that rock fortress over there” has no shimshapa trees, since it has no trees at all.”
FOURTH, an unperceived actual fruition, is like, “The dharmin “a constructed circle without smoke” does not have the actual fruition of smoke, since there is no smoke there.”
SECOND, the reason where the opposite is perceived to be contradicted
Within this there are the definition and the divisions.
FIRST, the definition of a reason where the opposite is perceived to be contradicted, 366 is “a perceivable but unperceived true reason for a dharmin said to be known, for which the dharmas to be refuted are non-existent, making it into a sign that is certainly established.”
Second the divisions of a reason where the opposite is perceived to be contradicted
Within these, there are true reasons where the opposite is perceived to be contradicted depending on the contradiction of simultaneous non-existence, and on the contradiction of abandoned mutuality.
FIRST true reasons where the opposite is perceived to be contradicted depending on the contradiction of simultaneous non-existence
Within this there are the definition and divisions.
FIRST, the definition of a true reason whose simultaneous non-existence is contradictory is: “a reason where the opposite is perceived to be contradicted that depends on the contradictoriness of not existing simultaneously, and whose own necessary connection is certain.”
SECOND, there are three divisions of true reasons where the opposite is perceived to be contradicted depending on the contradiction of simultaneous non-existence:
1) The four perceptions of contradictory nature
2) The four perceptions of contradictory fruition
3) The four perceptions of objects of entailment. 367
These are twelve in all.
1) the four perceptions of contradictory nature are these:
1. Perceiving a nature contradicting the nature.
2. Perceiving a nature contradicting the cause.
3. Perceiving a nature contradicting the fruition
4. Perceiving a nature contradicting the class/ khyab byed
These respectively are like the following examples:
The dharmin “a thing on fire all over” 368
1. …is continuously cool to the touch;
2. …produces the fruition of cold, rising hairs;
3. …is a real cause of cool touch;
4. …is continuously without the feel of snow
because it is a thing on fire all over.
2) The four perceptions of contradictory fruition are these:
1. Perception of fruition contradicting the nature.
2. Perception of a fruition contradicting the cause.
3. Perception of a fruition contradicting the fruition.
4. Perception of a fruition contradicting the genus.
Respectively these are like the following examples:
the dharmin “a thing is pervaded by being compelled to give rise to strong smoke”
1. …is continuously cold to the touch;
2. …has the fruition of cold, rising hairs;
3. …is a real cause of cool touch;
4. …is continuously without the feel of snow
because it is thing that is pervaded by being compelled to give rise to strong smoke.
3) perception of a contradictory object of entailment. 369 There are perception of a object of entailment contradicting nature, cause, fruition, and genus. Examples are: the dharmin “a thing pervaded by a sandalwood fire,”
1. …is continuously cold to the touch;
2. …has the fruition of cold, rising hairs;
3. …is the real cause of cool touch;
4. …is continuously without the touch of snow
because it is a thing pervaded by a sandalwood fire.
SECOND, for the true reason depending on perception of contradiction through the contradiction of 370 abandoning what is mutual, there are the definition and the divisions.
FIRST, the definition, “a true reason of conceptual contradiction 371 depending on a contradiction of abandoning what is mutual whose universal connection is necessarily certain,” is the definition of this reason of perceived contradiction. There are two divisions,
the FIRST is true reason of conceptual contradiction with the genus.
This is like “the dharmin “sound” is empty of being an eternal real thing 372 because it is produced.”
The SECOND is the true reason of conceptual contradiction with a necessary entailment.
This is like “The dharmin “a vase” is not dependent on another object for a cause of destruction, because merely from its own existence,373 its destruction is certain.”
The number of things to which these two apply is not certain, since there are no known limits to what is not included within them. Therefore, it is a certainly true reason whose practical scope depends on the number established.
SECOND, merely apparent reasons
Within this there are the definition and the divisions.
FIRST, the definition of a merely apparent reason is “whatever is presented as a reason in which the three modes are not complete.”
SECOND, the divisions of a merely apparent reason are
1) the unestablished reason
2) the uncertain reason
3) the contradictory reason.
FIRST The unestablished reason
Within that are the definition and the divisions.
The definition of the unestablished reason is that what we say is known is not established as it is supposed to be.
the divisions of the unestablished reason
Within this are the reason unestablished in reality and the reason unestablished from the viewpoint of mind.
FIRST, the reason unestablished in reality
Within this there are four kinds, non-establishment because:
1. …the subject 374 does not exist
2. …the reason does not exist
3. …both do not exist
4. …both do exist, but are without connection.
FIRST, non-establishment because the subject does not exist, is like the subject “absolute sound.” Though a reason may be presented, the subject 375 does not exist. Therefore, the presence in the subject of the dharma to which the reason is applied cannot be established. 376
SECOND, non-establishment because the reason does not exist, is like: “because it is the horn of a rabbit.”
THIRD, non-establishment because both do not exist, is like “the dharmin “absolute sound” is permanent, since it is the horn of a rabbit.” Neither subject nor dharma are established.
FOURTH, non-establishment because both do exist but are without connection, within this are three kinds the reason said to be known is not established because
1. it is impossible
2. it is not universally so
3. it has both aspects that are universally so and aspects that are not.
The FIRST because it is impossible is like “The dharmin “sound” is impermanent, because it is unhearable.” or “The dharmin “sound” is impermanent, because it is apprehended by the eye.”
The SECOND because it is not universally so is like, “The dharmin “sound” always precedes the mind.”
The third, because it has both aspects that are universally so and aspects that are not is like “The dharmin “sense-consciousness of the appearance of two moons” is perceptual pramana, since it is free from conception and unconfused. The subject is established as universally free from conception, but it is not established as unconfused. So it follows that this is not established as a reason. Such over-entailment,377 is uncertain, has an unestablished reason, does not follow…six things like that
SECOND, not being established from the viewpoint of mind.
There are four kinds altogether, non-establishment from the viewpoint of mind of:
1)…the subject
2)…reason
3)…both being established but their connection not being established.
The FIRST is like a jewel being presented as the subject if we are not sure whether it is a jewel, rakshasa vase, or lamp.
The SECOND, it is like, “Since there is freedom from desire, it has been produced, if we are not sure whether there is freedom from desire. Or it is like, “Because there is smoke,” if we are in doubt whether what is there is smoke or mist.
The THIRD is like, “The dharmin “a rakshasa vase” is here, since an invisible rakshasa is here.” 378
In the FOURTH there are non-establishment through belief 379 in impossibility, non-entailment, and both.
The FIRST is like “The dharmin “sound” is impermanent, because it is produced,” for a mind that thinks sound is unproduced.
The SECOND is like, “the dharmin “words” is not self arising, because it is produced by a person,” for someone who thinks that some verbal sound is produced and some not.
The THIRD is like, “The dharmin “Indra” is permanent, because Indra both a thing and impermanent,” from the viewpoint of someone who thinks that, though things for the most part do not endure, gods like Indra may really be permanent.”
“Since there is virtue now, there was virtue before,” and “By a peacock’s cry in the midst of a mountain ravine, a peacock is established,” may be uncertain, even though the reason is established.” Gathering together here the others that are depended on in disputation and so forth, there are those like “sound is impermanent, because it arises by effort.” If someone thinks sound always arises from effort, this would be a true reason, and the inference would be established. Rally, if we think of certain naturally occurring sounds like the sound of water, it is not established for those. This entails that it is also not established for all sounds, and this should be explained. The six such kinds have twelve kinds of non-establishment.
SECOND, Uncertain reasons.
Within this there are:
1. The definition
2. The divisions.
FIRST, the definition of uncertain reasons is “a reason that produces doubt as to whether what is to be established has been established.”
SECOND, the divisions of uncertain reasons
Within this there are uncertain reasons with no common basis and with a common basis.
Within this are two divisions:
1. Uncertain reasons with no common basis where the characteristics are not different 380
2. Uncertain reasons with no common basis where a common basis exists does exist, but both the corresponding and non-corresponding classes are instantiated. 381
The two classes are the corresponding class, and the non-corresponding class, 382:
FIRST, Uncertain reasons with no common basis where the characteristics are not different
Within the FIRST there are these four sub-divisions:
1. The uncertain reason where subject and reason have no common basis because they are identical. 383 This is like, “the dharmin “sound” is impermanent, because it is sound.” 384
2. The uncertain reason where dharma and reason have no common basis because they are identical. This is like, “The dharmin “sound” is impermanent, because it is impermanent.”
3. The uncertain reason where basis, reason, and dharma have no common basis because they are identical. This is like, “The dharmin “sound” is sound, because it is sound.”
4. The uncertain reason with no common basis because the assembled meaning of the basis and dharma and the reason are identical. This is like, “The dharmin “sound” is impermanent, because it is impermanent sound.”
SECOND, Uncertain reasons with no common basis where a common basis does exist, but both the corresponding and non-corresponding classes are instantiated. There are four divisions:
1. The uncertain reason where no common basis is seen because both classes are non-existent. Neither the corresponding nor the non-corresponding class is seen. This is like, “The dharmin “sound” is impermanent, because it is unheard.” 385 Since both classes are non-existent, they are not seen.
2. The uncertain reason with no common basis where there is doubt because we cannot observe which of the two classes apply to the subject. This is because, although both the corresponding and non-corresponding classes exist, neither can be observed. This is like “The dharmin “this being” has transmigrated from the life of a god, because he has eyes. We are unable to observe either those with eyes who have transmigrated from the life of a god or those who have not; From not seeing either, we are in doubt.
3. The uncertain reason with no common basis where the corresponding class exists but is not seen. This is like, “The dharmin “sound” is permanent, because it is produced,” for a disputant who says that vedic sound is permanent and produced from the ultimate nature but not observed. The corresponding class is permanent sound, the non-corresponding class is impermanent sound From that viewpoint, the corresponding class exists, but is not seen. 386 However, really what is permanent cannot be produced and there is no permanent sound.
4 The uncertain reason with no common basis where the non-corresponding class exists but is not seen. This is like, “the dharmin “the Vedas” is impermanent, because it is produced from the vedic viewpoint which holds the opposite. The vedic view is that the Vedas have an unproduced eternal existence that cannot be observed by ordinary human beings. The corresponding class is permanent Vedas. The non-corresponding class is impermanent Vedas. From the vedic viewpoint the non-corresponding class exists, but is not observed.
Within the SECOND, reasons where a common basis is uncertain, there are
1) reasons uncertain about a common basis which is a real thing
2) reasons uncertain about a common basis depending on mind that has is uncertain about a remainder. 387
Within the FIRST, reasons uncertain about a common basis which is a real thing, there are four kinds.
1. The FIRST is like “The dharmin “sound” is impermanent, because it is evaluable. The reason, “being evaluable” is universally true for both classes, the according class “permanent things” and the non-according class “impermanent things”.
2. The SECOND is like “The dharmin “sound” arises from effort, because it is impermanent.” The reason, “being impermanent” is universally true for the corresponding class, “things that arise from effort,” such as “a vase.” The reason applies to some aspects of the non-corresponding class, “things that do not arise from effort” such as “a vase” and does not apply to some aspects, such as “space.”
3. The THIRD is like, “the dharmin “sound” does not arise from effort, because it is impermanent. The corresponding class has both pervaded and non-pervaded aspects. The reason applies to some aspects of the corresponding class, “things that do not arise from effort” such as “a vase” and does not apply to some aspects, such as “space. The reason, “being impermanent” is universally true for the non-corresponding class, “things that arise from effort,” such as “a vase.”
4 The FOURTH is like “The dharmin “the sound of a conch” is hearable, because it arises from effort.” The according class is hearable things. Some hearable things like the sound of a conch or trumpet arise from effort, but some like the sound of a waterfall do not. Some non hearable things like the visual appearances of a painting arise by effort, but others like the visual appearances of a waterfall do not. For both classes the reason applies to some aspects and does not apply to some aspects.388
Another example is “The dharmin “sound” is permanent because it is not touchable for the bye brag pas, a school which says that the atoms of the four elements are permanent and touchable, so that there is a basis of both of these, however that there are impermanent sounds and that some untouchable things are permanent.
Within the SECOND, reasons uncertain about a common basis depending on mind that has a remainder, there are
1) the true uncertain reason having a remainder
2) the contradictory uncertain reason having a remainder. 389
FIRST, the reason with uncertainty about there being a true remainder
This is like, “The dharmin “this being” is an omniscient being, because of speaking. 390” The reason is seen (eg. by a non-Buddhist opponent) to apply to the non-corresponding class, ordinary people, but the corresponding class, omniscient beings or buddhas, is not seen. Mostly beings are not omniscient, but whether there might not be a truly existing remainder of buddhas existing as the corresponding class exists is uncertain to the opponent.
SECOND, the uncertain reason having a contradictory remainder.
This is like “The dharmin “this being” is not an omniscient being, because of speaking.” the corresponding class of non-omniscient beings is seen and the reason, speaking, is seen to apply to it. The non-corresponding class, omniscient buddhas, is not seen and (the opponent) suspects that it does not exist. However (the opponent) is uncertain whether there may not be a remainder of omniscient buddhas who speak that would contradict the reason, “All speakers are non-omniscient.”
Third, the definition and divisions of the apparent contradictory reason.
FIRST, the definition of the apparent contradictory reason
it is certain that what is to be established by such a reason is erroneously established.
SECOND, the divisions of the apparent contradictory reason
Within this there are the contradictory reason of real dependence, and the contradictory reason of dependence from the viewpoint of mind.
FIRST, the contradictory reason of real dependence
Within this there are the contradictory reason of erroneous negation and the contradictory reason of erroneous assertion.
The FIRST, the contradictory reason of erroneous negation, is like “the dharmin “a lump of clay devoid of the shape of a bulging belly” is a vase, because it does not appear.” The reason of non-perception eliminates everything.
The SECOND, the contradictory reason of erroneous assertion, is like, “The dharmin sound is permanent, because it is produced.” The natures are contradictory. Or it is like, “The dharmin “sound” is permanent because it arises from effort.” A permanent fruition is contradictory. In brief, the fruition’s own reason and that which is to be proved are all wrong.
SECOND,
contradiction depending on viewpoint of mind, it is like, “The dharmin the sound of a conch is impermanent, because it is sound,” for someone who says that sound is permanent. If that were true, what is established would be contradictory.
Or it is like, “The dharmin a vase is not newly arisen, because it exists,” for someone who says that all existence is momentary and hence newly arisen. The denial is contradictory. In accepting it we accept a contradiction. When a mind depends on that, it is really an apparent reason. It is not a true reason and will never be one. In reality 391 it is not a proof. A reason that only seems true to the mind is not properly a true reason. In reality an apparent reason and a true one should be distinguished. Again it is said.
As said, mere seeming appearance of a genuine reason
Unquestioning, if we mount it quickly as valid reason 392
The very profound great level of conceptual understanding,
Will it not readily in an instant be destroyed?
THIRD how to make inferences
There are three parts. There are three classifications in terms of what is to be analyzed, four in terms of the manner of establishing, and two in terms of the manner of application. 393, classifications of how to make inferences in terms of what is to be analyzed:
All that truly appears
Is therefore primordial equality, and
By continua that are pure, since purity is seen,
One abides in possession of the nature in purity.
In dependence on things there is sure to be arising.
In dependence on non-things there is sure to be imputation.
Therefore things and non-things, are by nature emptiness.
The actual natural state is the basis of emptiness;
And since it is not something different from emptiness,
Inseparable appearance/ emptiness is inexpressible.
It has to be apprehended by personal experience. 394
By the ultimate madhyamaka that examines the absolute, if we examine by the correct reasoning of speech, in the genuine reality of the natural state, all this that appears as samsara, nirvana, and so forth has always been primordial equality without distinctions of good and evil and so forth.
Therefore, if we analyze with the ultimate correct reasoning that examines the conventional, as taught in vajrayana, since within our own pure continuum, only the pure environment and inhabitants of the mandala are seen. All that exists has the pure nature of the natural state.
Things arise in dependence on some kind of cause and conditions. Non-things do not arise from cause and conditions, but are imputed depending on that which is to be refuted being completely eliminated.
Therefore neither things like a vase and non-things like emptiness that hinders a vase are established in the natural state. They are empty by and of their own nature. 395
In reality, the ultimate, natural state of suchness, neither a thing that is empty, such as a vase, nor the emptiness that eliminates it, have separate individual characteristics. 396 Apparent objects such as a vase and the emptiness of their not being established are both inseparably empty from the time they appear, and apparent from the time they are empty.
This is not within the sphere of words or conceptions. It is inexpressible by any nouns, adjectives, and so forth at all. 397 Someone may think, “Well then who realizes it? it is realized by individual, personal wisdom.
SECOND, how to make inferences in terms of the manner of establishing:
As many aspects of assertion as there may be
May all be summarized under “has” and “is.”
As many aspects of negation as there may be
May all be summarized under “has not” and “is not.”
FIRST establishment
As many aspects as there may be that are included and established in the world are summed up under establishment as existing, and establishment as having such and such characteristics.
SECOND negation
As many aspects as there may be that are excluded and denied can be summarized under the two kinds of negation. These are the following:
1. Non-affirming negation is complete absence that does not bring in any other dharma.
2. Affirming negation that is not complete absence and does bring in other dharmas.
If so, the characteristic of establishment should be realized by the mind with complete definiteness and certainty, 398
The divisions of establishment
in the divisions of establishment there are the establishment of appearance and the establishment of elimination.
FIRST establishment of appearance
The definition of establishment of appearance is that it “is realized with complete definiteness by non-conceptual knowledge.”
The basis of characterization of establishment of objects of appearance 399 is individual characteristics of objects of appearance. 400
SECOND, the establishment of elimination
The definition of the establishment of elimination is “conceptual mind realizes exaggeration with complete definiteness and certainty.” Other existences that are so characterized are eliminated.
SECOND, negation/ refutation 401
the definition of negation/ refutation is that what is refuted is “understood by the mind to be completely cut off.”
The divisions of negation/ refutation are:
1. affirming negation
2. non-affirming negation.
FIRST, affirming negation
The definition of affirming negation. “What is to be negated or refuted by conceptual mind, after its negation or refutation has become completely certain, should be realized as completely cut off.” This and eliminative assertion or establishment have the same meaning.
SECOND, non-affirming negation
The definition of non-affirming negation, “when existence or establishment has been completely cut off for that which is to be negated by conceptual mind, it should be realized as exclusively cut off without remainder.” This has the same meaning as absolute negation. 402
Third, how to make inferences in terms of the manner of engagement:
Depending on pramana, after classification
Of assertions and denials has been properly ascertained,
Then moreover, in accord with correct reasoning,
Establishments and refutations are expounded.
As for refutation, there are three classifications,
These are reasons established by asserting one’s own thesis,403
Those depending on proclamations of another,
And refutation that states the consequence of a position.
In general, first the object to be evaluated by oneself is made unobscured. The object to be established is established using valid pramana of undeceived perception and inference. One produces certainty for oneself by refuting what is wrong and establishing what is right.
Inference for others depends on such a previous presentation of valid inference for one’s own benefit. For other disputants, 404 since what the topic to be evaluated is like405 is not realized and wrongly conceived by them, the same sense formerly seen by oneself is shown to accord with correct reasoning. It is made very clear. We establish our own tradition as suitable and present refutations of the unsuitable positions of others. The tshad ma mdo says:
As for inference for the benefit of others,
The meaning seen by oneself is completely clarified.
The rigs pa’i thigs pa says:
Inference for the benefit of others is said to be a reason with the three modes, because the cause is imputed as the fruition. There are two divisions, 406 proper and improper.407
According to what is said there, establishment and refutation are divided into four kinds:
1 genuine establishment
2. merely apparent establishment
3. genuine refutation
4. merely apparent refutation.
FIRST, genuine establishment
Truly establishing speech and valid inference for the benefit of others have the same meaning.
The definition of truly establishing speech is
“speech possessing the two limbs of teaching, which show the three modes of syllogism to the opponent.” This is done:
1. without anything omitted or spurious
2. by the reasoning established by a disputant’s own pramana.
The divisions of truly establishing speech are:
1) truly establishing speech in which the forward entailment and the presence of the dharma in the subject accord 408
2) proper non-connection establishing speech.
This is truly establishing speech in which the reversed entailment and presence of the dharma in the subject do not accord
FIRST, truly establishing speech in which the forward entailment and the presence of the dharma in the subject accord
This is like, “whatever is produced is impermanent, for example a vase, and sound too is produced, isn’t it? Then it must also be permanent.
The presence of the dharma in the subject and forward entailment are shown to an opposing disputant.
SECOND properly-disconnected establishing speech
This is like, “What is permanent is not produced, for example, like space. But sound is produced, isn’t it? So how can it be permanent?”
The presence of the dharma in the subject and the reversed entailment, are shown to the opposing disputant.
SECOND, apparently establishing speech
the definition of apparently establishing speech is what is presented as establishing speech, but has some sort of fault.
The divisions of apparently establishing speech are:
(1 faults of mind 409
(2 faults of meaning 410
(3 faults of words. 411
The FIRST, faults of mind, is like, “The dharmin “mental ease” 412 is without mind 413, since it is has birth and destruction.
The SECOND, faults of meaning, is like, “The dharmin “sound” is permanent, since it is any thesis and corresponding class at all. 414
The third, faults of words, is like “The dharmin “sound” is impermanent, since it is produced. For example like a vase. Sound too is produced. Therefore, it too is impermanent.”
Here there is the fault that the thesis 415, the reason, the example, and the conclusion entailed are run together.
The definition of true refutation is “speech that tells why a fault is a fault, so that we can understand it.”
The divisions of true refutation are:
1) refutation of a reason for one’s own benefit, having the three modes according to inference, after the reasons have been established within one’s own continuum.
2) refutations depending on the assertions of another, if the three modes of those assertions are not complete, by telling the consequences.
As for the respective objects characterized, here is what is said in order to refute an opposing disputant who says that sound is permanent, but produced.
For ourselves we establish, “The dharmin “sound” is impermanent, because it is produced.” Then for the opponent we say: “From what you say it follows that the dharmin “sound” is unproduced, because it is permanent.”
Setting out a proof using that reason, we draw the undesired consequence. If that is properly done, we reveal and bring out various necessary consequences of the reason established by pramana 416 or asserted by the opponent.
SECOND, apparent refutation.
The definition of apparent refutation 417 is “a refutation presented in speech that has a fault, 418 but where the one who presents it does not understand that it is faulty.”
Truly drawing out the consequences of what has been said
The definition of truly drawing out the consequences of what has been said, is “speech drawing consequences that are irrefutable 419 by one who receives them.”
Apparent drawing of consequences of what has been said
The definition of merely apparent drawing of consequences is that it is “speech such that the one who receives it can refute these consequences.”420
SECOND, within the divisions of apparent refutation,
there are the actual presentation and the summary of the meaning.
FIRST, The actual presentation of apparent refutation
Within that there are conventional pramana and the pramana that examines the absolute.
FIRST, Conventional pramana:
The way that things appear within the conventional
Does not coincide, with the way things really are.
There are two pramanas of all the conventional.
These depend on the impure seeing of this side
And pure vision, as with the human and deva eye.
These two are distinguished in essence, cause, fruition, and action.
The mind that is not deceived about temporary objects
Arises from having properly grasped its appropriate object.
Clearing exaggeration from objects perceived on this side,
It will completely grasp the meaning of situations.
Vast wisdom arises from having perception of the nature.
Clearing exaggeration from inconceivable objects,
It has as its fruition the knowledge of extent.
Within the conventional, relative truth, individual appearances which accord and do not are distinguished. These are appearances in which the way things appear coincide with the way things are, and those in which they do not. As either according with the way things are or the lack of it applies truly and universally without qualification,421 There are two pramanas that evaluate these two situations. These are:
1. The impure, worldly pramana of all the conventional which sees from this side.
2. The pramana of all the conventional depending on the pure seeing of the noble ones.
An example of the first is the human eye, which sees only its own object. An example of the second is the divine eye, which sees former situations as well as its own object.
Distinction of impure and pure pramana
These two pramanas are distinguished in four ways in terms of essence, cause, fruition, and action.
FIRST, for the impure, worldly pramana of all the conventional which sees from this side
Its essence is mind that is not deceived about the situation of its appropriate object, a temporary knowable.
Its cause arises from having truly and properly grasped things as they are in terms of the appropriate objects of situational pramana.
Its action is clearing away the exaggerated errors of the seeing of this side.
Its fruition is completely grasping situations that occur without error422
SECOND, the pramana of all the conventional depending on the pure seeing of the noble ones
Its essence is wisdom that is not deceived about the vast sphere of the extent of knowables.
its cause is having truly perceived the nature, the simplicity of how things are, in meditation.
its action clears away exaggerated conceptions about objects that are inconceivable to the mind that sees from this side.
its fruition is the wisdom that knows the extent of knowables.
With that we reach the buddhas’ vision of trikaya. This is the profound instruction of the vidyadhara gurus of the three lineages, the instructions of the three dharmas by the learned and accomplished lords of the three families. These depths of mind-samaya revealed by former learned and accomplished vidyadharas was again revealed in the valleys of the Land of Snow by the jamyang guru Mipham Rinpoche. He had the three-fold eye that sees the three realms of things to be evaluated in the sutras, tantras, and treatises.
Now this is said:
In the pramana that analyzes conventional truth
Are conventional pramana of impure seeing of this side
And conventional pramana of the pure seeing of the aryas.
The only proper thing is to make this distinction early.
SECOND:
Within the absolute there are also two divisions,
The accountable and the unaccountable absolute.
The pramana that analyzes for absolute truth
That evaluates these two is also of two kinds.
Within absolute truth,
FIRST there is the accountable absolute, emptiness as a mere non-affirming negation. It refutes the arising, enduring, and so forth of the objects of consciousness of the situations of post meditation. They are shown to be non-arising, non-enduring and so forth.
SECOND there is the unaccountable absolute. Here the objects of the ultimate wisdom of meditation are free from all complexities of the extremes of arising or not arising, existing or not existing and so forth.
There are also two kinds of pramana that evaluate these two kinds of absolute truth:
1) The pramana that examines the accountable absolute.
2) The pramana that examines the unaccountable absolute.
As ways to resolve absolute truth both in stages and as a unity, according to the essences of post-meditation and meditation, and in terms of the accountable and unaccountable absolute two schools called svatantrika and prasangika madhyamaka arose. These schools are defined by respectively
1 accepting and not accepting individual characteristics conventionally
2 establishing reasons as their own theses, or merely as consequences of the views of others;
3 joining or not joining what is to be refuted to the absolute;
3 proclaiming or not proclaiming that the dharmin has a common appearance with the absolute.
However, presenting such distinctions as these is merely making distinctions about their limbs. Here is the real distinction between the two:
Svatantrika first brings out the two truths of post-meditation by the power of distinguishing prajna, and then resolves it with the proclamation of the situational accountable absolute. Having done so, it then enters the stage of the ultimate, unaccountable absolute that is free from all proclamations.
Prasangika from the first having taught meditation as the inseparability of the two truths, the unity of appearance and emptiness, the unaccountable absolute truth, as thought-transcending ineffable sudden wisdom.
Here are the bases of distinguishing svatantrika madhyamaka and prasangika: For Svatantrika, in accord with evaluating the two truths by individual pramanas, one’s own assertions of them as separate exist, and from that for others, reasons established by pramana as their own theses, are presented chiefly as syllogisms to overcome the confidence of opponents. For that reason they are called svatantrikas = those who present their own theses.
The prasangikas remain free from all assertions about the complexities of the four extremes, but in disputing the assertions of others by presenting the consequences of the reasons presented by their opponents, they eliminate wrong conceptions. For that reason they are called prasangikas.
Respectively, as for the characteristics of the svatantrika and prasangika madhyamaka, the definition of svatantrika is “madhyamaka exponents who explain emphasizing assertions and teaching of the accountable absolute.” Those who teach with explanations emphasizing the unaccountable absolute free from all assertions are the prasangikas = those who draw out consequences.
In brief, from the teaching of the masters of svatantrika and prasangika having styles of explanation emphasizing the accountable and unaccountable absolute there arise the two streams of doctrine of svatantrika and prasangika. However, as for the ultimate great ocean of realization, without divisions or mixing up of higher or lower views they should be known to be of one taste. That is very important.
The way things are conventionally is the ultimate great purity and the way things are is the absolute great equality.
Those who teach that view of the inseparable truth of purity and equality as liberation use whatever means they have of trying to see it that way. So the kind ones teach.
THIRD, as for abandoning contention
Within this are the general teaching and the particulars.
FIRST, the general teaching of abandoning contention
Within this are abandoning contention about what is:
impossible, 423
unestablished, and
unnecessary.
As for the FIRST, abandoning contention about what is impossible:
Mind with thoughts or mind that is without any thoughts,
As with two moons, 424 or dreaming, or taking a rope for a snake,
Has confused aspects and aspects that are unconfused.
There is the classification of pramana and non-pramana.
If there is no pramana and no non-pramana,
Since it will never be possible to make the valid distinction
That the confused is false and the non-confused is true,
Established doctrine will not be able to exist.
Some may think that even if there is pramana it cannot possibly be unconfused; 425 but there is unconfused sense and mental consciousness, with no conceptualizations grasped in a way that mixes word and meaning. There is also mind consciousness with conceptual thought that has an unconfused grasp of mixing of word and meaning.
Also there is confused non-conceptual sense consciousness, such as one moon appearing to be two. There is confused non-conceptual mind consciousness, such as in a dream. there is confused conceptual mind consciousness, such as in a mind that grasps a multi-colored rope as a snake.
Within both conceptual and non-conceptual consciousnesses these confused and unconfused aspects are distinguished. Because unconfused awareness is not deceived, it is pramana; and because confused awareness is deceived, it is not pramana. These individual classifications are established by correct reasoning from the power of the thing itself.
If we could not distinguish pramana and non-pramana, we would not be able to distinguish what is false because it is confused, and what is true because it is unconfused. It would follow that we could not establish that the heretical doctrines of outsiders are false, and that Buddhist doctrine is true.
SECOND, abandoning contention about what is unestablished:
If we have genuinely examined and analyzed
Pramana and non-pramana of perception and inference,
Whatever sorts of classifications there may be,
And whatever sorts of complexities may occur in those,
These are all established as emptiness of essence. 426
There is freedom from all complexities like the heat of fire,
Yet all that exists as conventional complexity,
is inseparable with this as appearance/ emptiness.
Within all dharmas, upaya is found mixed with its source.
We cannot refute the one and still establish the other.
If someone thinks, “such emptiness therefore cannot established as absolute,” 427 if true reality, or the natural state of suchness, is examined and analyzed by the correct reasoning that examines for the absolute, the pramanas of sense and inference, as well as that which is non-pramana of sense and inference, objects and perceivers that are verbally established as well as those that are refuted, each and every one of these classifications of complexities is established as emptiness, free from all the extremes of complexity.
Therefore the nature free from all the complexities of existence, non-existence, both, and neither, exists universally within all conventional complexities, as heat does in fire. For that reason, appearances like a vase and the emptiness of their not truly existing are never separate.
Since this exists within all conventionalities, appearance, which is upaya, and emptiness, which is the source of upaya, are mixed. That after refuting one, such as the conventional, the other, such as the absolute, is established, or that after refuting the absolute, the relative is established, is impossible. This is because the natural state of things is the inseparable truth of appearance/ emptiness. Therefore, the Heart Sutra says:
Form is emptiness. Emptiness itself is form. Form is no other than emptiness. Emptiness is no other than form.
So the teachings were bestowed, after the arisen complexities of the four extremes of existence, non-existence, both, and neither had been refuted.
THIRD, abandoning contention about what is unnecessary:
Not examining pramana and non-pramana,
Only by worldly seeing, might we enter the absolute?
Indeed, the possibility cannot be refuted.
But as for those who see that “This arises from that,”
By this very dependence on the world’s perception
There is inference that penetrates to the truth,
They do not use its name, but have not abandoned truth.
As it says here, pramana and non-pramana are not individually examined, according to prasangika tradition. Someone may ask whether having proclaimed relatively merely whatever conventionalities are seen within the world, since we are able to enter directly into the absolute, it might not be unnecessary to classify things in terms of pramana and non-pramana.
It is indeed true that we can never refute that someone without the classifications of pramana and non-pramana might still enter into the absolute.
Nevertheless the worldly perception that sees that from this cause, the seed, this fruition, the sprout, arises, and sees that this fruition, the sprout, arises from its cause, the seed, and so forth, is also pramana. Depending on these perceptual reasons, there is penetration to whether hidden objects exist or not. This is inference, as well as the reasoning that establishes the absolute.
Therefore worldly people too, though they do not clearly distinguish the names of pramana and non-pramana and designate things by them, do not really abandon the classifications of pramana and non-pramana. Since worldly people produce negation and assertion, acceptance and rejection, entering and relinquishing, they very much need the classification of pramana.
Within the SECOND there are abandoning contention in conventional analysis, abandoning contention in absolute analysis, and a common summary.
FIRST, abandoning contention in conventional analysis:
If there were not the two conventional pramanas,
The noble ones’ pure seeing would have to be called false.
Impure seeing of a white conch as yellow
Would then not properly be either true or false.
Someone may think that conventional is single, and that one pramana analyzing it is enough and two unsuitable.
Well what if, within the pramana that analyzes the conventional, no distinction were made between the pramana of all the conventional depending on pure vision and the pramana of all the conventional of the impure seeing of this side. Then there would be only the pramana of the seeing of this side. No pure pramana other than this would exist. That within a single atom there are as many buddha fields as there are atoms, that there is sugatagarbha, that the pure phenomenal world is a universal, divine mandala–such pure visions would be false.
Moreover, 428 it would never be acceptable to say that a conch shell is truly classified as white and falsely as yellow. This is because there would be nothing else but a single pramana of whatever is seen on this side.
SECOND, abandoning contention in absolute analysis:
If absolute analysis were not two-fold in nature,
The union of the two truths could never come about.
The absolute would fall into extremes of concepts,
And it would destroy itself by doing so.
Someone may ask, “Well isn’t there just a single absolute truth? So why isn’t one pramana enough to analyze for it? What need is there for two?”
What if no distinction were made between the pramana that examines for the accountable absolute and the pramana that examines for the unaccountable absolute? Then we would be saying that the accountable absolute alone, the conceptually realized path of emptiness as non-affirming negation is the ultimate. This path has neither an ultimate natural state or exaggerations of it. Within it inseparable appearance emptiness, the meaning of the unity of the two truths, can never be realized, and is, in fact, impossible.
Since there would be only the complexities of non-affirming negation and so forth, even the absolute would fall into the extremes of complexity. In that case the absolute too would be a complexity. The absolute truth, the way things are, as well as the correct reasoning that examines the absolute and the pramana that examines the absolute, could not be innately or autonomously established 429 and so would be destroyed.
THIRD, the common summary:
If the relative, what is analyzed, is unestablished,
The analyzing mind, and self awareness too,
When analyzed, are not established, like the moon in water.
The ultimate truth, which is inseparable, single truth
Exists as nirvana, unqualified reality. 430
Since all dharmas whatever are that ultimate,
It is the inseparable kaya of knowledge and knowables,
Appearance for wisdom free from any center or limit.
In terms of the way things are, ultimate suchness, the object to be analyzed, the relative, is not established as real. The natures of the mind that analyzes are its seven collections of consciousness and self-awareness. If these too are examined and analyzed with the correct reasoning that examines for the absolute, they are not established either. They are no more established than, for example, the moon in water.
If such a natural state is the ultimate, these conventional appearances primordially appearing as empty are the single, unified truth of nature in which the two truths are not individually distinguished, is the primordial field of nirvana. This naturally established nirvana is unreservedly true. Within it, all dharmas are equal to that, and so there are no dharmas except for dharmadhatu. Within this supreme emptiness possessing all the supreme aspects, knowable dharmas never fall away from that. They too are the ultimate. This is the appearance of the kayas and wisdoms, in which knower and known are inseparable, naturally without center and limit. 431
SECOND, the action of the kayas and wisdoms, the four reliances
Within this there are the general teaching, and the explanation of the particulars. As for the FIRST, the general teaching:
Those in whom this vast profound good eye of prajna
Has opened are the children of the Sugata.
From these beings who are of great intelligence 432
The path on which they go ought to be well discerned.
This is the way of the sutra and the mantra vehicles,
Which is so hard to attain within the diversions of time,
Therefore let us not make it into something fruitless.
Those of brilliant intelligence who have the four reasonings,
Never abandon 433 others. By this discrimination,
The four reliances will certainly be produced.
If we do not have an attitude like this,
It is like a blind man leaning on his staff.
Due to opinion and words, and easy understanding,
We will misunderstand the four reliances.
As explained above, after the good eye of spotless prajna has opened, with the correct reasoning of the profound absolute and vast relative, we are sugatas, buddha bhagavats. The path of a sugata’s heart sons of supremely great intelligence, the bodhisattvas, is the good path that dwells neither in samsara or peace, but has gone into nirvana. Let us work hard with the means of seeing this.
Now within this world realm of forbearance, among the thousand and two guides of the good kalpa, like a mind-produced white lotus, the praiseworthy supreme leader, the son of king Zetsang, the Buddha, has taught in the extensive style the precious vehicles of the teachings of the sutras and tantras. this is very hard to obtain. However, from the power of collecting hundreds of our former merits, when the time for the auspicious connection of aspiration and karma has come, it is obtained. The taste of this is not now experienced within our continuum. Do not enter into the free and well favored situation without the fruition of listening. So those who wish for liberation are instructed by the kindly ones.
It may be asked, “Is such a good path to be seen?” The four correct reasonings are the correct reasoning of productive action, the correct reasoning of dependency, the correct reasoning of nature, and the correct reasoning of suitable establishing. The intellect having the spotless appearance of the four correct reasonings not following the speech of others, not making itself dependent on others, having the power of undefiled examination of its own correct reasoning from the power of things themselves, depends on these four correct reasonings. By so doing, the four reliances that are being explained, must certainly be produced within our continuum.
By our own power, as explained above, if we do not also have analyzing intellect, it is like being without eyes and having to rely on a staff. If we do not examine the world, we will therefore only follow opinion, and grasp things only verbally. If we produce only the easy reasons of the external provisional meaning and the sphere of consciousness, the four reliances will gradually be abandoned.
The four reliances are as follows:
1. Not relying on the individual, but relying on the dharma;
2. Not relying on the words of the dharma, but on their meaning;
3. Not relying on the provisional meaning, but the true meaning;
4. Not relying on the true meaning within consciousness, but within wisdom.
The great commentary on Kalachakra dri med ‘od says:
The four reliances are like this:
1) Rely on the Dharma, not on the individual
2) Rely on the meaning, not on the words
3) Rely on the true meaning, not the provisional meaning
4) Rely on wisdom, not on consciousness.
SECOND, the four reliances,
The FIRST is RELYING ON THE DHARMA, NOT THE INDIVIDUAL:
Therefore, do not rely on individuals.
It is the holy Dharma that we should rely upon.
One is liberated by the speaking, not the speaker,
Of the true path established by proper reasoning.
If it has been properly taught by anyone,
It will do its job whoever the speaker may be.
The Sugata himself by his power of taming
Emanated as butchers and similar kinds of people.
If the teachings contradict the meaning of mahayana,
The seeming teacher, however good, will not succeed.
If we do not have the kind of intellect described above that examines by its own power, it is taught that the four reliances will be reversed.434 For this reason, not relying on individuals as individuals, the mind should rely on the dharma they teach. The true means of liberation is the path established by the power of correct reasoning from the things themselves. We are liberated by this being spoken without confusion, but not by the speaker alone. Therefore do not rely on the individual but on the Dharma.
For this reason, when any being speaks about the true path established by correct reasoning, it is appropriate; this is so whether that particular speaker is good, bad, or whatever. Even the Sugata, the Buddha himself, by his power that necessarily tames beings, emanated as explained above and in other ways.
If the expressible essential meaning of the mahayana is just emptiness free from the complexities of the four extremes, which is what is known as the view of the Chinese Hwa Shang; and if it accords just with the absolute as examined by correct reasoning; and if this is said to be the ultimate, absolute truth and so forth; and if this is what is taught, That contradicts the tradition of mahayana. the teacher is behaving in a style of mere imitation and so forth. However “good” such person may be, it will be of no help. Even evil-doer maras may emanate as seeming to be buddhas with the major and minor marks, perfect in action, but teaching a dharma that reverses the mahayana and so forth.
SECOND:
Even when we have heard and contemplated the Dharma,
Do not rely on the words, rely instead on the meaning.
If we realize the meaning, whatever words we say,
There will be no contradiction in what is said.
Desiring verbal expressions to realize their meaning.
Understand them in terms of the meaning of their message.
Busying oneself with verbal complexities
Is like searching for an elephant we have already found.
If wanting words, we go our way with merely words,
Discursive thoughts are not exhausted, but increase.
Becoming farther and farther removed from the actual meaning,
Is the cause of silly fools’ completely exhausting themselves.
Yet even a single word, a little “and” or “but,”
If it reveals that the object, is inexhaustible,
By this alone and nothing more there will be suchness.
This is the exhaustion of any need for words.
If a finger points to the moon, a fool looks at the finger.
If fools depend on words alone and think they know,
The time of really knowing is difficult to find.
Even when we cut through the exaggerations of hearing and contemplating the Dharma, the mind should not rely on the expressing words, but on the expressed meaning. If the expressed meaning is realized as it is, the expressing words, whether expressed in good verses or bad and so on, will be suitable and without contradiction. As for the need of words, for the sake of realizing the meaning, the expression of human beings is wished for, and therefore symbols are joined together as a message.436
These should be understood to be words spoken for the purposes of a particular situation. 437 If that is understood, and later we devote ourselves to 438 complexities of words, it is like, for example, someone who has lost 439 an elephant and, even when it is found, still keeps on looking for it. This is like that. 440
Having given credence 441 and been attached only to words, if only words are extensively and genuinely being dealt with, 442 not only discursive thoughts, but verbal complexities as well, increase inexhaustibly. We wander farther and farther from the meaning to be understood. Since the meaning is not realized, we are childish fools. Such mere words are only a cause of exhaustion.
Take, for example the utterance, “Bring wood!” 443 If the places, times, and details and so forth are fully revealed, that may indeed yield inexhaustible extremes of the meaning, but even so, one will not necessarily understand what was really meant.
If the meaning on that occasion of use, “You Bring that wood over here” is understood, the intention of the expressing words is that alone.
If a person points his finger to show the moon to fools, the fools do not know they are supposed to look at the moon, but look at the finger instead. Just so, fools are attached only to the expressing words, and if they do not discriminate the expressed meaning, but only the expressing words, and think they understand the expressed meaning, it will be very hard for them to reach a time when they really do understand. The Great Commentary on Kalachakra says:
Even in barbarous dialects and in broken words,
Those in yogic union convey a grasp of the meaning
As there is truly milk mixed into the water,
When it naturally comes to the top, 444 then they will drink it down.
The absolute itself is the sort of object
Where the great ones never will rely on words.
Those who know what is actually meant by the names of objects,
What use will they have then for wordy of treatises?
Also the great gnubs sangs rgyas ye shes 445 said in his Lamp of the Eye of Meditation:
And so, in brief, knowing the meaning is much better than learning.
The Mirror of Dharma says:
An ocean of collected verbiage is not learning.
But understanding a single word is the very best kind.
The Lankavatara Sutra says:
What is called “having heard much,” is being competent with the meaning, rather than just the words.
It should be understood by what is taught there.
THIRD:
If we enter fully into the meaning of this,
Having come to know the true and provisional meanings,
Not putting our reliance on the provisional meaning,
Instead we should rely on the meaning that is true.
The omniscient one himself by using his omniscience,
Considers the powers and abilities of those to be tamed.
As for the stages and vehicles being in accord with those,
They are taught to be like the rungs of a ladder.
Whoever has realized what is their basic intention 446
Then goes by the eight concealed intentions and intentions.
Going literally by pramana Is something to be destroyed.
The teachings exist for that reason. In the four schools of doctrine
And in the vehicles up to the ultimate vajra vehicle,
Parts that are not understood by the lower ones
Have been explained by the higher ones.
Then what accords with scripture is made even greater by reason.
When it has been seen, the true meaning will be grasped.
Like milk rising out of water, is the play of supreme intelligence
Within the ocean of speech of all the victorious ones.
The profundity of vajrayana is also sealed
With six extremes and four ways of interpreting, 447
With the accompaniment the lineage instructions,
By undefiled correct reasoning they must be resolved.
All dharmas, eternally pure, are one in the great equality.
That is the meaning resolved by the two authentic pramanas
In the style of the paramitas, and of the developing stage,
The perfecting stage and also that of the great perfection;
In these manners the general designation of words
Enters into the ultimate pith without contradiction.
We gain the deepest certainty about their meaning.
That limitless Dharma treasure of supreme intelligence,
Is the victory banner of teachings of scripture and realization
That waves in the hands of the children of the Victorious One.
If we enter completely into the expressed meaning of the excellent speech of the teachings by hearing and contemplating, we will have come to know how to distinguish the provisional meaning and true meaning taught by the Victorious One. Our mind will not rely on the provisional meaning; but on the true meaning. The knowledge that perceives the nature and extent of knowables, and all dharmas without obscuration, is buddhahood.
By that, through omniscience about the place where there are those to be tamed, the means of taming them, and so forth,in accord with the perceptual constituents, powers of mind, and thoughts of those to be tamed, for the sake of leading them gradually to the level of omniscience, there are the stages of vehicles for entering the gate. These go from that of the shravaka Vaibhashikas all the way up to ati yoga, the highest unsurpassable secret of vajrayana. They have been taught to be, for example, like the rungs of a ladder. The Shrimahanirvana Sutra says:
Like the gradual stages of a ladder’s rungs
My profound teachings should be earnestly studied stage by state
Not skipping anything, 448 going through the whole succession.
This is also found in the tantras of Anuyoga. The sangs rgyas thams cad kyi dgongs pa ‘dus pa’i spyi mdo chen po says:
As for the vehicle of the true absolute,
The appearance of truth is in a three-fold way:
As the vehicles of the guide who shows the origin, 449
Heroic practice, 450 and means that transform our powers.
As is said there, the types of minds of those who are to be tamed are summarized under superior, intermediate, and lesser. If each of these again is divided into three, there are the stages of the nine vehicles. The second buddha of Uddiyana in his great commentary on Properly Pronouncing the Name of Manjushri called the Blazing Lights of the Sun and Moon said:
The minds of sentient beings who are to be tamed are higher, intermediate, and lesser. By each of these three being again divided into three, there are nine. They are not said to be easy to understand.
The lowest three teach the three collections of characteristics.
The middle three teach the three collections of yoga.
The highest three teach the three aspects of developing and perfection.
In regard to the distinctions in the powers of beings, the rin po che snang byed says:
By distinctions of minds there are nine stages of the vehicles.
Explaining view and action in their own discordant ways.
Of the Dharmas of the nine vehicles, the various lower ones are the provisional meaning, and the various higher ones are the true meaning.
What are the provisional and true meanings? The omniscient dharmaraja Longchen Rabjam explains the precious key to evaluating them like this:
As for the classifications of the provisional meaning and true meaning, the nature of all dharmas is the space of suchness, naturally pure, seeing the luminous nature of mind. Because it is naturally pure, it is the unchanging essence of space, beyond birth, enduring, and cessation. This is the true epitome of all the words of the teacher and of all the treatises. The dharmin, all that appears, arising and ceasing, coming and going, pure and impure, skandhas, dhatus, and ayatanas, and such various details are appearances like a dream. All teachings that analyze 451 and exaggerate the details of speech, thought, and expression are known as the provisional meaning. In the words of the teacher and all the treatises, this is included within the relative. For example. “The nature of mind like the sky.” If in speech, expression, or thought there is pride 452 about this, it too is relative. The nature of the absolute is the true meaning which is really so.
The dbu ma bsam gyis mi khyab par bstod pa says:
The emptiness of all dharmas
Is the true meaning as is taught.
What is born, ceases, and so forth
The lives of beings and so forth
Is taught as provisional meaning,
And as the relative.
The Shri Samadhiraja Sutra says:
As the teacher, the Sugata, has taught them,
Know the particulars of the true meaning sutras.
Wherever individual sentient beings are taught
Know that all those dharmas are the provisional meaning.
The ‘phags pa lo gros mi zad pa bstan pa’i mdo says:
What are the sutras of the true meaning? What are the sutras of the provisional meaning? Sutras taught for the purpose of entering the path are those of the provisional meaning. Sutras taught for the purpose of entering into the fruition are those of the true meaning.
Sutras that explain ego, sentient being, life, persons, and individuals, those born of Manu, self, the doer, the experiencer, and various words, and those that teach egolessness along with ego are of the provisional meaning.
Sutras that teach emptiness, no characteristics, non-aspiration, not collecting anything, the unborn, the non-arising, no things, and no ego, no sentient beings, no life, no individuals, and no interval until egolessness and liberation, these are those of the true meaning. As for these, it is said that we should rely on the sutras of the true meaning and not on the sutras of the provisional meaning.
In brief, the nature of the natural state and the sutras that teach it are the true meaning. The many means of entering into its nature, the impure, confused Dharmas that guide the minds of sentient beings there and all teachings about their divisions and so forth are the provisional meaning and Dharmas of the provisional meaning.
In this way a mirror for looking at Dharmas and a first key to distinguishing them is taught. In order that these may be clarified and the nature of the intended meaning realized, the presentation of the distinction between the intentions and concealed intentions must be explained. These are understandings explained with a little 453 exaggeration, having a purpose to which we are not explicitly guided. 454
First to instruct in the meaning of the Sanskrit word “tsaa twa ro a bhi pra ya,” it refers to the four intentions. 455
Regarding those the Sutrala.mkara says:
Equality, 456 other purposes 457
Likewise other times 458
And thoughts of individuals 459
Are the four intentionalities.
As is taught there, because of the purpose, as for having other intentions 460
with the intention of equality, the Buddha taught, “I at that time became the Buddha rnam par gzigs.” 461
The intention of other objects is like saying “all dharmas are essenceless, there is not form, feeling and such, with the intention that they are not non-existent as mere conventionalities, but in the absolute.
The intention of other times, is like teaching that just by apprehending462 the name of a buddha we will be born in his 463 buddha field. It is not certain that this will occur as soon as this life is over, but the intention is that it will certainly happen at some point.
the intention of the thoughts of individuals, is like discipline being praised, and generosity being said to be lower to someone having the thought that just generosity is enough. Here in truth discipline is nobler than generosity. Here each case has its own purpose.
SECOND “tsaa twa aa bhi sa ndi,” to instruct in the meaning of that word, there is also concealed intention. The Sutrala.mkara says:
There are the concealed intention of entering 464
The concealed intention of definitions/ characteristics,
The concealed intention of antidotes,
And the concealed intention of transformation.
These concealed intentions are mostly not to be grasped verbally, but are brought to apprehension 465 by other phenomena.
The concealed intention of entering is called that because the shravaka teachings enter gradually. When here it is taught that there is individual egolessness, but that dharmas such as form exist, the hidden intention is that they exist merely in relative truth.
As for concealed intention of characteristics, from the intention of the mtshan nyid gsum, the 3 natures of yogachara, having intended the absolute, it is like teaching essencelessness and primordial nirvana and so forth.
The concealed intention of antidotes gnyen po ldem por dgongs pa, is called that because it eliminates that which is to be abandoned from the continuua of those who are to be tamed. Having grasped that buddhahood is in both the excellent and the inferior, beings may therefore abandon trying to attain it, and there will be the vision of buddhahood explained above. If like that they think that the Dharma is easy to obtain, if it is said, “the antidotes attained are like those gained by worshipping as many buddhas as the sands of the river Ganges, then a wish for the mahayana Dharma will arise. The concealed intention is that that is what is taught to happen after realization is attained.
For a lazy person who thinks, “I cannot learn the path,” because of laziness, it is said, “If you aspire to the pure realm of Sukhavati you will be born there. For such sayings the intention is that it will occur at another time.
Having disparaged those who grasp merely small virtuous roots as enough, praising other virtuous roots has an intention for individuals with thoughts like the above. That is what expressed by means of those four intentions
Moreover, though it is not the real intention, having regarded or intended it in that way only for the thought of those individuals, for those who have pride in family, their bodies, or wealth, by praising other fields and individuals, they will have a lessened perception of themselves, they will perceive their own situation as inferior.
As an antidote to those who desire defiled objects, world-transcending wealth is highly praised.
It is taught that those who because they have done evil deeds of harming holy objects and so forth, repented, their minds are filled with great longing, and that when they harmed the buddhas and bodhisattvas they made a connection with virtue. The intention is that having confessed or exhausted their faults, that eventually they will act virtuously.
For those whose bodhicitta is uncertain and who have a desire to turn away from the mahayana it is taught that there is no vehicle but that one. The intention is that the individual fruitions of the three incidental vehicles 466 will not be attained, but the ultimate realization will be. If so, by teaching the Dharma of the supreme vehicle, all these obstructing faults will be abandoned.
Whoever grasps the words in mind or considering their meaning, puts them into practice does as is as taught in the above two verse dharani.
As for the concealed intention of interpretation/ transformation, by some of the heretics and so forth, it is said,”the Buddha’s teachings are easy to realize,” to reverse such grasping of them as inferior and so forth they have transformed them into other symbols, with a concealed or indirect intention that they should be known to have another meaning than the words explained by them. For example,
Knowing what is essenceless as an essence,
The kleshas will be extreme kleshas
If we dwell well on what is wrong,
We will attain true enlightenment.
As is taught there, if we explain the intended meaning of that, By engaging with both “Saa ra”, the essence, and the motion of agitation, for the mind training in trying hard to make them completely motionless,467 even having known the essence, performing the training of effort and discipline, the one who has the kleshas produces even more kleshas.
If those who wrongly grasp purity and virtue as an eternal ego, properly remain in training the prajna, by that they will attain true enlightenment. That is the concealed intention.
Similarly, that we should kill our fathers and mothers refers to the father and mother of the world of samsaric formations and the one who clings to them. It has the intention that we should abandoning them and so forth. All sayings of that kind should be known as concealed intention of interpretation.
Here, as for the distinction between intention and concealed intention, 468 the great translator rngog pa blo ldan shes rab says:
Not understanding another meaning than what speaker is thinking of from the speakers words by the listener is the intention. The same meaning the speaker is thinking of being understood by the listener is the concealed or indirect intention. The theg bsdud kyi ‘grel pa bshad sbyar says:
The intention is simply what is presented to the mind, It is not proclaimed to depend on grasping anything else. The concealed intention does depend on grasping something else.
Thus, whoever has realized the basic intention 469 of the skandhas and so forth, according to what was just explained, the four concealed intentions and four intentions according to those eight, in those in having grasped the words literally, as for that, by true pramana is also taught for the purpose of being something that has the existence of harm and the teachings also have that purpose
The Shravaka vaibhashikas and sautrantikas, and the mahayana exponents of mind-only and madhyamaka are the exponents of the four schools. The ultimate level of fruition of all of these is the secret mantra or vajrayana, including the three outer and three inner tantras, going up to the highest, ati yoga. When the lower doctrines are examined and analyzed by lower intellects, the mind does not enter into the true object. That very thing has been done with the highest clarity by the higher ones of the higher doctrines, and the meaning of the scriptures that exhausts faults should be realized or experienced as it is.
Having seen greater and greater things established by this great correct reasoning, not putting together a position out of the provisional meaning alone, we grasp the true meaning with naked directness, for example, like water that has naturally separated from milk. Those whose intelligence has become supreme, conquer the warfare of the four maras. They can play like swans or perform activity in the situation of the Buddha’s teachings as if it were a great ocean. This is very profound and hard to realize.
The vajrayana also says this, as in the gal po:
By extensive explanations of the six extremes,
Realization of the sense of provisional meaning
And realization of the true meaning are explained.
When words are not realized, their suchness is non-suchness.
The six extremes taught there are:
Those who have only the provisional meaning and those who do not.
Those who have realization and those do not.
Those who know how the words are meant and those who do not.
Since the six tantra vehicles of the vajrayana do not go beyond these six extremes of words and meaning, they are also called the six extremes.
Also the gal po says:
There are verbal, general, concealed, and ultimate.
There are four ways of interpreting the texts, verbal, general, secret, and the ultimate.
The verbal meaning works with explaining the literal meaning of the configurations of words and letters in accord with the texts of grammar and pramana.
As for the general meaning, 470 if we do not enter quickly into the blissful mantra path, if we regret dwelling on the slow sutra path and ascetic path, these are explained as bridging paths. 471 Also to live in sexual practices of union and liberation, not even dreaming of the pure mantra path, like a dog or a pig, is thought by the exponents of Dharma to be the dharma of the heretics.
If we repent of this, but do not also abandon grasping and attachment to the dream of purity of the sutra path, we will not see the meaning of equality. If we abide in virtuous mind, whatever accumulation of merit there may be, it is explained as in the mi nag mdung thung can bsad pa and so forth:
The secret meaning, is the extensive actions of the developing stage and the secret bindings and so forth produced by nadi, prana, and bindu.
The ultimate meaning is realization of the absolute, luminosity. This is the ultimate natural state in which the two truths are unified.
Moreover, in the verbal style the four kayas are taught as OM AAH HUUM, HRIH, or EVAM, A and so forth, or as the four chakras.
In the general style, the paths and bhumis of the paramitas and so forth are expressed by mantra as well.
In the secret style, the objects of the higher vehicles are not the objects of the lower ones.
The ultimate style is the wisdom of buddhahood for which views and vehicles are of no benefit.
By means of these six extremes and four styles, those without the good fortune of the vajrayana, who have wrong views, who are separated from buddhahood so that it does not appear to them, must realize the meaning of secret mind from the path of the instructions of vajrayana.
From the instructions of the lineage from dharmakaya Samantabhadra to one’s own root guru, we should correctly resolve the meaning of the realization of the profound, secret vajrayana, through pramana and analysis undefiled by accompanying faults. We should reason correctly by the reasons of the four correct reasonings, the extraordinary realizations of the four correct reasonings, and so forth.
That is the king of all tantras, the peak of all vehicles, the source of all teachings, the general commentary on all scriptures, and the great, direct path of all the buddhas.
The holy penetrating mind of all the sugatas, the glorious, miraculous, great net of miraculously arisen qualities, the guhya garba, or secret essence, the certain continuity of suchness, is taught by the great king whose correct reasoning is not in common with those of the lower vehicles.
Here there are three extraordinary correct reasonings:
1. The reason of the revelation of pramana
2. The reason of the meaning that is in accord with words, as taught by the noble ones 472
3. The correct reasoning where words and meaning are not in accord.
FIRST, the reasons of the teachings of pramana, 473
Within this there are four topics. These are the following:
1. The reasons of the four realizations.
2. The reasons of the three purities.
3, The reasons of the four equalities.
4. The reason of the mahatma 474, or great self.
FIRST, the reasons of the four realizations,
Within this there are the following:
1. The reason of the single cause.
2. The reason of the style of the syllables.
3. The reason of the blessing.
4. The reason of manifestation.
FIRST, the reason of the single cause
The dharmin, “the dharmas of the phenomenal world,” is eternally united with the space of the absolute as naturally existing wisdom. This is the single cause. No dharmas go beyond it.
SECOND, the reason of the style of the syllables
The dharmin, “appearances that arise from the space of the dhatu by way of the example-letters,” the relative, appears as the kayas and wisdoms. Therefore, it does not go beyond the nature of space.
THIRD, the reason of the blessing
The dharmins “the relative” and “the absolute” mutually bless each other and are inseparable. They are united and do not exist with separate natures.
FOURTH, the reason of manifestation
The dharmin “the inseparable natural state” is free from everything within the scope of mind. Therefore, it is the realm of individual, personal wisdom, the perception of yoga, which is incomprehensible to conventional mind.
SECOND, the reason of the three purities
The king of tantras, the Guhyagarba says:
The continuities 475 of the vessel and essence are purely realized.
As it says there, the dharmins “the five elements, the five skandhas, and the eight consciousnesses” dwell within the nature of the three purities. Therefore, they exist primordially with the nature of the five consorts, the five families, and the five wisdoms.
Third, the correct reasoning of the four equalities
The king of tantras, the Guhyagharba says:
Two equalities, with a further two equalities,
Are the mandala which is the buddha field of Samantabhadra.
The dharmins “the two absolutes,” the accountable absolute which cuts through every partial complexity and the unaccountable absolute which cuts through complexities altogether, are equal as the mere absolute. It manifests completely, simply because the natures of complexity are not established.
The dharmin’s appearance with causal efficacy is the true relative. Its appearance without causal efficacy is the false relative. These two are equal as the mere relative. Things appear to have self-nature, but if examined they have none.
The dharmins “the accountable absolute and the non-accountable absolute,” are equal in having a self-existing essence and having the seven exceptional riches of the absolute. 476 That is because the absolute is the space of the dhatu, the natural state non-dual with primordial wisdom.
The dharmins “the two kinds of the false relative” are also equal in being within the mandala of the kayas and wisdoms. This is because the nature of the way things really are is primordially pure.
FOURTH, the reason of the mahatma, the gsang snying says:
Naturally present wisdom appears without existing.
The dharmins “the many ways things appear,” the apparent dharmas of samsara and nirvana, in terms of the way things really are, are the mahatma, the great self, naturally present wisdom. That is because this is established as the wisdom that discerns 477 the ultimate natural state.
SECOND, the reason of being taught with similar words but exalted meaning
The tantras teach that the dharmin “the five poisons” should not be abandoned. Though the word “poisons” is the same, the meaning is exalted. The five poisons are not abandoned by antidotes, because in realization, they arise as the five wisdoms.
THIRD, the reason of non-according with a particular sense
The dharmin “the nature of dharmas” is definitely established not to have the nature of any complexity at all, because it arises as all the various appearances of samsara and nirvana. The dharmin “these appearances of the relative” is definitely not of a fixed nature and may arise as anything. This is because no nature of its own is established for it. What is said there and so forth is realized in the lower vehicles only with extraordinary correct reasoning.
To briefly summarize the profound main point of the views of both sutra and tantra, there is the correct reasoning that establishes the relative as the great purity, establishing all the dharmas of the phenomenal world, from their primordial beginning, as divine appearances, and the correctly established truth existing abiding with that as the essence of the perceiver wisdom.
There is also the reasoning that establishes the absolute as the great equality. All the dharmas of samsara and nirvana, free from their primordial beginning from all extremes of complexity, are within the state of the great emptiness beyond mind, inexpressible by speech or thought, the equality of all good and bad, and accepting or rejecting.
Thus, as purity is established from the viewpoint of appearance, and equality from the viewpoint of emptiness; these two are inseparable from all dharmas, equal with them in the sense of being of one taste with them. This is the utter, total purity of the great net of miracles, the uncompounded unity of insight-emptiness. It is dharmakaya, the single dot or drop of bindu, realized by the holy ones through their individual, personal wisdom. It is the unity of the great perfection.
When this has been truly resolved by the true pramana that analyzes the conventional and also by the pramana that examines for the absolute, the same meaning is found by both these analyses. If it is explained in terms of the two stages of the vajrayana path of the secret mantra, this meaning is as follows:
The developing stage, utpattikrama, with the symbolism of the relative body, teaches that all dharmas are like illusions and so forth. The teachings of the paramitas and the illusion-like bodies of the deities etc. are visualized. The divine body of prana and mind, taught to be like illusion etc., is perfected. Spontaneous presence, taught to be like the natural radiance of insight, is gradually brought into the way of being of the great perfection. When the verbal, general, secret, and ultimate meanings are resolved, we enter into this.
The perfecting stage, sampannakrama, denotes the luminosity of the absolute.
The mere luminosity also taught by the paramita-path is the verbal meaning.
Abiding in the luminosity of the developing stage is the general meaning.
The luminosity evoked by the four emptinesses of the perfecting stage is the secret meaning.
In both these two stages, all dharmas are realized as the primordial, natural state of eternal emptiness. The ultimate meaning, ultimate realization of the primordially-pure wisdom of the four abhishekas, has the style of luminosity of the great perfection.
By the power of entering into the profound meaning of the pith of these four styles, among which there is no contradiction, there is the profound sense of the teachings of the sutras and tantras, true knowledge that does not need to depend on anything else. Whoever has confidence in such intelligence, has the supreme mind of which no one can be deprived. We are great heart-children of the Buddha, participants in the kayas of the victorious one. Holders of this great, undiminishing treasury of holy Dharma, as taught in any of the teachings of the three vehicles or the nine, are bodhisattva-mahasattvas, the protectors of all those remaining within samsara to be tamed. These bodhisattvas have realized the twelve limbs of the buddha’s teaching, 478 the Dharmas of the scriptures included in the six tantra-vehicle-collections, the three excellent trainings 479 and the teaching of realization that includes both of the two stages. They are completely victorious over all partialities that do not accord with these precious teachings of scripture and realization.
Fourth:
If we practice the true meaning, we do not rely on consciousness,
The mind of grasper and grasped that follows verbal concepts,
Instead we put our reliance in non-dual wisdom itself.
As for the ego that has an object–that is mind.
Its nature is the grasper and the object grasped.
Whatever object it has, it is always false.
The reality of nature has nothing to do with things.
Conceiving things or non-things, with duality or without,
All conceptual objects, however they are conceived,
Whatever may be grasped, belongs to the realm of Mara.
So it has been taught by the Buddha in the sutras.
Denials or assertions can never destroy conceptions;
But if it is seen that there is no adding or taking away,
There is liberation, free from subject and object.
There is the natural radiance of luminosity.
Eliminating complexities of the four extremes,
This is taught to be the excellence of wisdom.
To the fool who has never seen it, it is like the sun to the blind,
They do not know it, but even from trying to think about it
Panic arises in the minds of fools like these.
Nevertheless by the power of authentic scriptural teachings,
By valid reasoning that eliminates all extremes,
And by the oral instructions given by the guru
It seems to us as if just now we first had eyes.
Then by the faith of experience of the Sugata’s Dharma-amrita,
Which is just a name for limitless expanding joy,
The wisdom of the Sugata is bestowed on us.
Since dharmas without remainder have reached the goal, equality,
One attains inexpressible depths of certainty.
The wise call this the inexhaustible Dharma treasure.
Having developed skill in the way of the two truths,
When the two truths are seen to be a unity
It is like threshing the husk for the sake of having the essence.
Know that all skillful means lead only to this end 480
Therefore, the Sugata, knowing these skillful means,
Referred to this as the genuine path of all skillful means.
Let irreversible faith arise for Teacher and teaching.
Having attained the supreme, non-dwelling state of wisdom,
We are free from all the extremes of samsara and nirvana.
The spontaneous flow of the stream of effortless compassion
Pervades to the farthest limits of time as well as space.
We should cultivate realization of the true meaning as it is in itself, not relying on the mind of consciousness, whose nature is grasped objects and the grasping mind which follows after words and concepts. Instead, rely on the mind of non-dual wisdom without grasper and grasped.
The ego has conceptions of empty, non-empty, both, and neither and so forth. Since that mind has the nature of the grasper and external objects that are grasped, it is confused. So conceived, it is false. Since it will not bear analysis, we cannot make contact and join with its real nature beyond all complexities of things.
What is the reason? The conception of things, and the opposite conception of non-things, the conception of neither and so forth, however they are conceived, are motions of the mind. They are concepts. Since they are concepts, whatever conceptions may grasp at things and non-things, these are the realm of Mara. So it has been taught in the ‘jam dpal rnam par rol pa’i mdo:
Whatever is conceived and whatever is compounded, that is the work of Mara
Therefore refuting things, establishing non-things, and so forth, whatever conceptual negation and establishment there may be cannot destroy the grasping of conceptual mind. The nature eliminates any dharmas whatever. When we do not establish or postulate any dharmas at all, all complexities of grasper and grasped subside. Therefore, we are liberated from conceptions and complexities. The regent Maitreya and lord Nagarjuna both have a single intention, and there is a song that says:
Nothing should be postulated at all
Truth will then be truly seen as it is.
Having seen it, we will be liberated.
In that case, since we are entirely free from conceptualized grasped objects and the conceptualizing subject that fixates them, there are no grasper and grasped. Materiality is empty, non-existence like space. This has the nature of intrinsic wisdom where knowledge arises by itself. This is luminosity in which all the complexities of the four extremes are naturally absent. The Victorious One has said that this is supreme wisdom. The rgyal yum sdud pa rin po che says:
In the pure worlds, whatever names of dharmas are named
They all arise transcended, abandoned in the truth.
There is no other deathless, holy wisdom than this.
Therefore, this is known as prajnaparamita.
As the blind never see the form of the sun, fools who see only this side have never seen nature free from all the extremes of concepts. By thinking, “It is simply empty,” and so forth, not knowing the mind of faith, these fools cannot enter into the nature free from all complexities, and terror arises in them.
However, if this has been well-resolved by the extraordinary three true pramanas, meditators realize the natural state as it is. The rgyud rdo rje me long says:
Those who evaluate using pure pramana,
Of scripture, proper reasoning, and the oral instructions,
Will enter into that which they are trying to know.
The word taught by the Buddha is genuine scriptural pramana of the true meaning. The pramana of correct reasoning, free from all proclamations and eliminating all extremes is the teaching of the mahatmas. The pramana of the oral instructions of the authentic guru with the lineage instructions practiced by the wise have the power to liberate. When world-transcending wisdom arises in our being by the power of unfeigned devotion for this, it is like a blind person obtaining eyes.
Here there is a style of patience or example wisdom in accord with the situation of individual beings. Since true perception of situations appears within one, the person having the distinctions of true knowledge then experiences the taste of the amrita of the Sugata’s holy Dharma. By confident faith in that, joy, the eye that sees the essence, develops. This is not the ordinary physical eye 481 but the supreme eye of wisdom. It always one-pointedly views dharmakaya, the wisdom of the Sugata.
In this case, all the different dharmas of samsara and nirvana, virtue and vice, good and bad, and so forth are realized as inseparable equality. By that there is a deep true knowledge inexpressible by names, words, and so forth. This cannot be refuted by anyone in the world, including the gods.
That is the subject of this work. It is what is expressed by the teachings and all the inexhaustible Dharma treasury of the three vehicles. As is said:
If we attain the depths of the true meaning, hundreds of thousands of Dharma treasures issue from our hearts.
Therefore, by having come to know the true way of the two truths by hearing, contemplating, and meditating; when the unity of the two truths is seen in a way where it is not seen by oneself, the essence of the fruition is attained. Like gradually removing the husk from the subtle inner truth, we should try to enter into and remain 482 in the unity of the two truths, the ultimate means of liberation of all those taught by the Tathagata.
By these the singularity of dharmadhatu is realized. Except for this one ultimate realization, there is nothing else.
The Sugata, the Buddha Bhagavat knows means of taming that accord with the faculties, powers, and so forth of those to be tamed. The final goal of all the means he taught is omniscience. Therefore, that is the true path. Irreversible faith arises that these teachings cannot be ravished from the mind by the host of billions of maras. This is because the way things fundamentally are has the essential nature of the unity of emptiness and compassion. If this is truly realized, we attain the manifestation of supreme self-arising wisdom, the genuine prajnaparamita, the fruition that dwells neither in samsara or in nirvana, as the benefit for oneself. We are liberated from the one sided extremes of samsara and nirvana, without having to refute them.
As the benefit for others, for sentient beings who do not realize this, there naturally arises the stream of the great compassion will naturally flow, pervading the ten directions and the three times to their limits. By the spontaneous, eternally-pervasive presence of buddha activity, the supports of the path,
the actual path, and the ultimate path are established.
Third, the explanation of the eight great treasures of confidence in the fruition:
Thus contemplating the way of the dharma of the two truths,
Using the skillful means of the four reliances,
The action of which is taught as the four correct reasonings;
From this undefiled 483 cause, by the deep wisdom of fruition,
If the phenomena of experience blossom forth;
One is set free by the eight great treasures of confidence.
That bring about this expansion into the space of insight.
Traditions that were formerly heard and contemplated,
Not forgotten, then become the treasure of memory.
The meaning of these, as profound as it is extensive,
Is then completely revealed as the treasure of intellect.
All the meanings of the sutras and the tantras
Are entered into as the treasure of realization.
All the details of the teachings we have heard
Never forgotten become the treasure of retention.
Explaining things properly to all sentient beings
Is the satisfaction-producing treasure of confidence.
As for the precious treasury of holy Dharma,
Completely guarded, this becomes the Dharma treasure.
The continuous families comprising the three jewels
Not cut off, are the treasury of bodhicitta.
In the unborn equality of the nature itself,
Attaining patience manifests as the treasure of practice.
These are inseparable and inexhaustible.
Those who attain the eight-fold power of the treasures of confidence,
As praised by the victorious ones and all their sons,
Over the three worlds they are empowered as lords.
As explained above, the way of the dharma of the two truths is analyzed and resolved by the non-erroneous analyzer, the four correct reasonings, whose well-contemplated action is the four reliances. By having this supreme cause that is undefiled by faults, when the fruition blossoms whose uttermost depths are very hard to penetrate, there is profound appearance of wisdom, as limitless as space. this is the fundamental space of primordial insight that is not realized by ordinary people. It is will be liberated by the eight great treasures of confidence, as if that was what made it blossom. What are these eight? The rgya cher rol pa says: will not be broken. This is the treasure of relative bodhicitta.
8. By practicing the Dharmas that have been resolved by hearing and contemplating, we attain patience within the unborn equality of nature. This is the treasure of practice.
These eight great treasures are attained. How is this done? These treasures of memory, intellect, realization, and grasping are the cause of confidence. The treasure of Dharma and so forth are the fruition of confidence. That is why these eight have the common name of treasures of confidence: From having the treasure of memory and so forth, irreversible confidence arises. From confidence the treasures of protecting the Dharma and so forth arise. Thus confidence is the chief of them, and they are known as the great treasures of confidence.
Having joined these eight great treasures of confidence to our own powers, every word and meaning become the wealth and power of the inseparable, inexhaustible, limitless eight great treasures. Holy persons who do this are supreme children of the victorious ones. They are praised as such by the victorious ones together with their sons. They will be lords of the three worlds of the nagas below the earth, human beings on the earth, and gods above the earth.
Third, the teaching of the fruition of analyzing in this way:
To gain pramana is the teaching of the Buddha.
If true authentic pramana has fully been established,
Through the certainty produced by the path of pramana,
By the teaching of pramana, we see the truth of fruition.
Here the benefit for those who become beings of pramana is explained. What is always taught in the teaching of the Victorious One, the perfect Buddha Bhagavat, is the conventional pramana that is not in contradiction with the path of correct reasoning, and the pramana that analyzes for the absolute. These are established as much higher than the doctrines of outsiders and so forth.
Therefore, glorious Chandrakirti, glorious lord Nagarjuna, and so forth taught the path of correct reasoning in their texts, teaching the analysis of the two truths and so forth. The path that they taught, the teachings of pramana, has produced the certainty of supreme faith. Therefore, those who are famed for learning in the world together with its gods, as well as the noble ones of the shravakas,
pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas, and so forth, who do not know things as they are, by this pure Dharma amrita, will see the highest true fruition.
Having the renunciation/ realization that completely perfects the five paths and ten bhumis, they will therefore produce mastery over the four bodies of a buddha and the five wisdoms.
Finally, there are the two sections of the meaning of entering into the merit of this,
1) the manner of composition
2) the dedication of merit.
As for the FIRST, the manner of composition:
As a result of vision that is completely pure
One will reach the ultimate goal, the great compassion.
The Sugata said, after this path had been taught by him,
“As for the taste of amrita of that which I attained
Those who are possessors of these four proper reasonings
Experienced by the means of the four reliances,
Produce by that the fortune of sharing that amrita.”
Corrupted nowadays, by the power of the dark age,
Due to its way of reversing the four reliances,
The excellent taste of the teachings is hard to experience.
Having seen it, have an attitude of devotion
To this the finest of thoughts, the most excellent of teachings.
In itself, the vision that sees the way all dharmas are as it is is very pure. Because of that, we reach the final goal, the great compassion, which in its kindness protects all other sentient beings as limitless as space, with their causes of suffering. The supreme being of the shakyas, the Sugata, the son of king Zetsangpa, for those to be tamed established the three or the nine vehicles, appropriate for the respective powers of each being. Because he has taught those paths, the tastes of holy Dharma amrita which the teacher, the perfect Buddha himself attained, is also genuinely experienced by those who have the four correct reasonings, by means of the four reliances. So both the sutras and tantras truly teach.
When the portion of amrita attained by oneself has been produced within this world, many beings of the good kalpa will experience this taste of holy Dharma. But by the 5 denigrating corruptions, and in particular in this present time by the power of defilements of the view, understanding of what is explained above is reversed. The certainty of the path of the four correct reasonings is not produced.
The non-erroneous way of the four reliances is the supreme taste of the supreme leader Gautama’s teachings of scripture and realization. After its perfect abundance, so difficult to experience, was genuinely seen, 484 there were only excellent wishes to benefit others. Having realized this precious teaching that is difficult to meet with, the great reason of certainty unequalled by others, was realized, by supreme devotion to the faith that desires the radiant essence, this treatise was composed.
SECOND, the dedication of merit:
Producing undefiled prajna from contemplating this,
By the merit embodied within this brief expression
My all beings come to abide in the state of Manjushri
The above mentioned intention is a special ultimate or quintessential purpose. For such a reason, the manner or means of producing within the continuua of sentient beings the prajna without the faults of defilement that arises from contemplating the three prajnas is discussed just a little in a few texts. Since the subject is naturally vast, by the limitless merit of composing this, reaching to the limits of space, may all these beings not be kept far away from inseparable space and wisdom, the jnanasattva level of Manjushri, but quickly attain it.
THIRD, the completely perfect, ultimate meaning:
In the direction manifesting the sun of Manjushri,
If the lotus of the essence blooms because of faith,
By the red honey droplets of good explanation having arisen
May celebration increase for the bees of the excellent kalpa.
According to previous advice to write this, and recently exhorted by the victory banner of the excellent thoughts of learned ones, in the Sakyong year, third month, twenty-ninth day, this was written by Jampel gyes pa, Mipham]. Mangalam. There are a hundred and four verses. Dge’o.
Here is the identifying scepter 485 of the colophon
When these, my good explanations, have been contemplated,
May various great and subtle doubts unwind themselves.
May total certainty rise by supremely clear intellect,
Bestowing the treasures of inexhaustible confidence.
fire horse year, fourth month, fourth day.
Jetsun Mipham, the sun of exponents of Manjushri, made his mind one-pointed by the great force of longing. Drawn by the three faiths in the direction he was looking, the lotus of the essence, drawn upward by the three faiths, was opened by the penetrating solar rays of blessing. When anything was explained, the good explanation rose from the hundred petals of intellect, like tiny red droplets of honey. For the host of bees of the good kalpa who want to taste the supreme flavor of this sage’s speech, together with the commentary on its intention, may the celebration of realizing the intention as it is not only put an end to samsara, but increase ever more and more.
Again this is said:
By the excellent teacher, the chief of two legged beings,
As for the natural state of knowing things without mixing,
The great knowledge mandala of the nature and extent
Seemingly emanating a hundred thousand rays,
The all-pervading light of the objectless compassion,
According with the powers and thoughts of those to be tamed,
Proclaiming the eighty-four thousands heaps of dharmas as one.
From the thick darkness of ignorance that makes them fall asleep
May the beings of the three worlds instantly be exalted.
Good in beginning, middle, and end, this excellent teaching,
Has the two-fold goodness and the four pure actions.
In the great ocean of amrita of this auspicious teaching,
There is seen the play of 10 million naga lords,
The learned accomplished ones of India and Tibet,
A country of valleys wreathed by surrounding snowy mountains.
Led by the three ancestral leaders, and khenpo, loppàn, and Dharma
The golden chariot of arousing bodhicitta
Is full of ten million rigdzins of the two accomplishments.
From now on possessors of the special six Dharmas
As the legacy of the ten million former rigdzins
Learned and accomplished, who have now passed on,
The difficult pith of the sutras, tantras, and oral instructions,486
The vajra vidya mantra tradition of joyful teachers
Is the play of the dance of the saffron lion of all teachers.
The three realms’ Dharma lord, jamgon guru Mipham,
From a meadow by the lake of play of supreme learning 487
From the welcome single circle the wheel 488 of the deepest sense,
With its day-producing power like the sun,
On the non-deceptive path of freedom and omniscience
May there gleam white parasol of pramana. 489
Within the circle of the two truths of the nine-fold vehicles,
May the retinue, the eighty-four thousand teachings,
Free from stain, amidst the great thousand petalled lotus
The explanation of teachings of the Victorious One,
Satisfy with the anthers of the four proper reasonings.
By interdependent arising, the essence of knowables,
Having the great vase of well-described analysis
Of the two pramanas, in the ocean of excellent teaching,
With the analysis of the two conventional pramanas,
Their insight flashing 490 auspiciously like the golden fish,
The nine-fold lineage precepts, coiled to the right,
May the dharma conch of the four reliances pleasantly sound.
From the pure and equal wisdom of the net of miracles,
Eight treasures of confidence gather into a knot of eternity,
The completely certain meaning of the sutras and tantras
May this victory banner the Sword of Prajna fly in samsara.
Within the vast and extensive ocean of all dharmas,
May those who want to sever at once the hundred nets,
The snares of non-realization, wrong realization, and doubt,
Grasp this thought-arisen razor-sharp sword of prajna.
Thus while staying in the great place of Varanasi,
In the Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies,
Being well-supplied with the needed Tibetan texts,
Since this is my own tradition, to benefit some new minds
By the kind teacher Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche
Quickly written, by the guru’s oral dictation,
With ornamentation by learned treatises of pramana,
He followed the early translation, a knower of ancient haughtiness
The supreme instructions of prajna, he arranged in the boldest style 491
I, by intellect, as narrow as the eye of a needle,
For the sake of good explanation as extensive as the sky
By the supreme and spotless merit of doing this
Having illuminated the thick darkness within all beings,
May they attain the ultimate level of omniscience,
Great prajna whose vision is the suchness of knowables.
Here within the extent of the limits of Jambudvipa,
The rain-clouds of the true view are gathering.
May rains of the benefits of loving-kindness fall,
May there be the perfect auspiciousness of the new young sun.
Here for the sake of gathering the glorious gift of blessings, are the great Rishi Ajita’s true and pleasant words of auspicious aspiration, the loosely rel;axed grace of a gandharva maiden
By this well-performed appearance of the sun
When the darkness of the dark age has finally been expelled,
The grove of young utpala lotuses of the truth of mind
Blossoms to the very limits of the directions.
May beings taste the joy of the celebration of this
I and all beings who open the treasure, the Sugata’s teachings,
Are rendered wealthy by the appearance of his mind.
Without all pride, but with the highest aspirations,
May the realm of benefits for those to be taught increase.
May the prophesied dharmaraja, the coming Dharma lord,
Victorious in all directions, just like Dharmakirti,
Discover the highest dharma, attaining the dharma-eye.
Eliminating adharma, may the way of Dharma flourish.
May the shining sun of Manjushri with its blazing heart,
Scatter huge petals of explanation everywhere. 492
May red honey droplets of benefit for other beings
Expand to the limits of space throughout the ten directions.
So may they be grasped by every sentient being.
The eye of prajna the seer of knowables in themselves,
Clears away the darkness of the mist of views.
By its producing that brilliant daylight in this world,
May all beings thereafter always glow with beauty.
The lotus feet of the Jamgon guru, lion of teachers,
Having touched my head, may the vase examining eye
The path of proper reason, limitless as space,
Beautify all this world with the sound of the lion’s roar.
This commentary was written in 1986 In the great Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, to explain my own Nyingma tradition. It was delivered orally and was not originally intended to be published. Having consideration for my students, strongly urged by their pure requests again and again, very moved, after the direct rain of the auspicious benefits of Nyingma was assembled on thirteen occasions, the chief Khenpo rigdzin dorje, the great leader, urged very strongly, further requests were made at the Nepali stupa, and the teachers Ugyen Tendzin and Tsering tendzin having written an important/ kind auspicious letter hardly needed to do so again.
This occurred in the year of the teachers passing 2530 in the eighth month on the tenth day, when I the holder of the name of Nyingma khenpo Palden Sherab was in Varanasi, in the place where the rishis had been in the Deer Park, and this was the cause of the good fortune of the place and time of composition being so perfectly auspicious. Sarva mangalam.
Thus in Varanasi at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies after thirteen presentations of the glorious happy sense of the former Nyingma, in the fire tiger year on the seventh month, tenth day (BE 2530) this was printed.
Translator’s note
Translating this text had the general purpose of presenting Buddhist logic in English. In particular it is a rare presentation of a uniquely Nyingma approach to reasoning, and the particular views of the subject of the great Mipham Rinpoche. There is no greater authority on Mipham than Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche, who is also one of the most learned Nyingma Khenpos in his own right.
This project was begun by members of the Nalanda translation committee. Later the committee members in Boulder, Colorado continued working on it with commentary by Khenpo Palden Sherab. Khenpo Tsewang Dongyal gave a running translation. The members most active in this were myself, Ann Helm, Gary Wiener, Nelson Dudley, and Tony Duff. This process covered only about 1/5 of the text. Ann especially did some further work, but for the most part I was on my own after that. I was able to ask some questions due to the kindness of Khen Rinpoche’s colleague Khenpo Tsewang Gyamtso, which made it possible to finish the text. rime lodrà Waldo, Guy Fawkes Day 1997. May it be auspicious.
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NOTES
1. don rnam par nges pa shes rab ral gri.
2. the nges shes rinpoche sgron me.
3. nyida barwe dronme.
4. don rnam par nges pa shes rab ral gri ‘i ‘grel pa nyi zla ‘bar ba’i sgron me
5. dpung tshogs yan lag bshi: horse, elephant, chariot, foot.
6. {stobs bcu} – Ten Powers. Those powers developed by bodhisattvas are 1) reflection, {bsam pa’i stobs} or aashayabala 2) superior reflection, {lhag bsam} or adhyaasa 3) acquisition {sbyor ba} or pratipatti 4) discriminative awareness, {shes rab} or prajnaa 5) aspiration {smon lam} or pra.nidhaana 6) vehicle {theg pa}. or yana 7) conduct {spyod pa}. or charyaa 8) transformation {rnam par ‘phrul pa} or vikurvana 9) enlightenment {byang chub kyi sems} or bodhicitta, and 10) turning the doctrinal wheel {chos kyi ‘khor lo bskor ba} or dharma-chakra-pravartana. See rgyud bla ma. The ten powers of a tathagata: {gnas dang gnas min mkhyen pa’i stobs} power of knowing what is possible and impossible; {las kyi rnam par smin pa mkhyen pa’i stobs} power of knowing how actions will ripen; {mos pa sna tshogs mkhyen pa’i stobs} power of knowing the different dispositions of human beings; {khams sna tshogs mkhyen pa’i stobs} the power of knowing different elements; {dbang po mchog dang mchog ma yin pa’i stobs} power of knowing the supreme and lesser powers of human beings; {thams cad du ‘gro ba’i lam mkhyen pa’i stobs: power of knowing the path that lads everywhere; {bsam gtan rnam par thar pa dang ting nge ‘dzin dang snyom par ‘jug pa’i kun nas nyon mongs pa rnam par ‘byung ba dang dang ldan pa tams cad mkhyen pa’i stobs} omniscience regarding the original of all suffering and which leads to dhyana, liberation, samadhi, and samapatti; {sngon gi gnas rjes su dran pa mkhyen pa’i stobs-power of knowledge that remembers former abodes {shi pho ba dang skye ba mkhyen pa’i stobs} power of knowing death, transmigration, and birth {zag pa zad pa
7. Grasping, duality and so forth.
8. {mi ‘jigs pa bzhi} – Four Fearlessnesses. Fearlessness in the knowledge of all things {chos thams cad mkhyen pa la mi ‘jigs pa}. or sarva-dharma-abhisambodhi vaishaaradya, fearlessness in knowing all the cessations of corruption {zag pa zad pa thams cad mkhyen pa la mi ‘jigs pa}. or sarvaashravak.saya jnaana-vaishaaradya, fearlessness according to the definitive prophetic declarations that these things which are intermittently cut off on the path. do not change into something else {bar du gcod pa’i chos rnams gzhan du mi ‘gyur bar nges pa’i lung bstan pa la mi ‘jigs pa}. or antaraayika-dharmaananyathaatva nishcitavyaakara.navaishaaradya, and the fearlessness that the path through which all excellent attributes are to be obtained, transformed and ascertained, is just what it is {phun sum tshogs pa thams cad thob par ‘gyur bar nges par ‘byung ba’i lam de bzhin du gyur ba la mi ‘jigs pa}. or sarvasampadadhigamaaya naira.nikapratipat tathaatvavaishaaradya.
Thus Buddha is compared to a lion. Of the four fearlessnesses two are related to the buddhas themselves and two to sentient beings. The buddha has no fear, hesitation or doubt in saying he is realized, has removed all obscurations. Those are the two pertaining to himself. He has no fear to show the clear facts to other beings and pacify their mistakes on the path. Those are the two relating to others.
9. Eternalists and nihilists have the greatest ignorance among human beings, as elephants have the largest bodies among animals.
10. Having perfected the two accumulations, one attains the two wisdoms of nature and extent.
11. The Buddha is compared to a snow lion living in glaciers and snowy mountains, and this again, in its brilliance, to the sun.
12. brtul zhugs gnyis
13. For bcu yi read bcu gnyis KPSR.
14. This is adopted from Jigme Lingpa to increase blessings. Most of this praise comes from various great masters, as does the next line, praising Padmasambhava.
15. He is compared to Amitabha.
16. This is how he was born.
17. This is his buddha activity.
18. At the beginning of his commentary on the tshad ma rnam ‘grel.
19. Compared to Indra’s hundred-pointed vajra.
20. Master not only of the teachings, but all the three jewels.
21. mchod KTDR said “praise.”
22. Also by Mipham.
23. Sarasvati is often called “daughter of the swan.”
24. The sems sde, klong sde, and man ngag sde ati text collections of mind, space, and the oral instructins.. Or perhaps also the vehicles of the teachings maha, anu, and ati. It could also denote outer inner and secret trios comprising all the nine yanas.
25. By {brgyud pa gsum} – Three Lineages. Intentional, or mind-to mind lineage of buddhas, symbolic lineage of awareness-holders, and aural lineage of mundane individuals.
26. In Hindu mythology he is a rishi who swallows all the rivers and oceans. The gods were very worried. They offered him praises and finally he vomited some up again. Similarly we should praise the vidyadharas. This was written by the first Kongtrul, Shechen, and Petrul, pupils of the first Khyentse. But KPSR also added something.
27. The learned masters are compared to Indra’s 32 ministers.
28. sa srung steng na: Elephants as the vehicle of Indra
29. Aryadeva once said Indra has 1000 eyes but still didn’t realize the true nature. I have one eye of wisdom and realize everything. KPSR.
30. With its four powers. This represents his buddha activity.
31. This was written by KPSR’s teacher Khenpo Khato. He came from kha to. He also adopted the next two lines from shechen master Dudul Namgyel, another shechen master. the following two lines are praise to Mipham by khato sechur chàkyi gyamtso, Mipham’s student.
32. Representing negative obscurations.
33. Now there is prediction of Longchenpa by Padmasambhava found quite late by a terton of the late 1900s. Gnubs refers to Nubchen Sangye Yeshe, one of the 25 main students of Padmasambhava. He was a yogi of Manjushri or Yamantaka. He predicts that his emanation of called Mipham will come and that he will have a great ability to reveal mind termas.
In many predictions it is said that when the first Khyentse, Kongtrul, and Mipham came that delayed by sixty years, the coming of a bad time in Tibet. Perhaps the fall of Tibet would already have occurred by 1900 without them. In particular Mipham was a predicted to be a special antidote for the armies at the edge of the bad time, the armies of the barbarians. It is said that in his time a Chinese army came to where he was in Chamdo. He stayed in the road, but the army never came. They went another way, and everyone was amazed.
Before his parinirvana he said, “Now I am going to die, and I will not come here again and reincarnate. Tibet will not be as it was any longer. Instead I will go to the kingdom of Shambhala and be the chief minister of the king there. They asked him to teach Kalachakra the day of his passing. Also he asked one of his students to teach Kalachakra at Khato monastery.
There are other predictions by Padmasambhava, but I could not find them all. Also Pema Osel Dangalampa said he could write a big book about Mipham’s previous lives and prophesies, but that Mipham wouldn’t like it. The first Khyentse, Mipham’s root guru enthroned him as an emanation of Manjushri, with a sword and lotus. He also wrote this one stanza saying, “You are like Manjushri and in revering the ultimate meaning of the teachings of Manjushri, Maitreya, Nagarjuna, Asanga, and Dharmakirti, you are incomparable, and therefore I honor you as Manjushri.
34. Now there is a prediction by the first Dudjom Rinpoche, khrag thung bdud ‘joms gro lod, predicting Mipham Rinpoche’s name and his activities.
35. There are many others, so many that KPSR could not find them all.
36. Discussed below. KTDR said spobs here could also be translated “courage.”
37. {so so yang dag par rig pa bzhi} – fourfold correct discriminations/knowledges, the four discriminating/analytical knowledges. Respectively they understand all 1) {don}. = meanings, 2) {chos}. = dharmas, 3) {nges pa’i tshig}. = languages, verbal discrimination 4) {spobs pa}. Confidences, here in the areas of ready speech, accurate penetration, etc.
38. He is very original, not simply repeating what is said by others.
39. Through respect.
40. He was given something like twenty names,
41. The outline KPSR follows in this commentary was composed by Mipham himself.
42. nges pa here has a verbal force like nges byed, KPSR.
43. Gnubs chen sangs rgyas ye shes
44. gnad gsal bar phye ba bsam gtan mig gi sgron me
45. gtan tshigs.
46. On the level of contemplation we cannot just look at things and get the whole truth about them. We have to explore them through reasoning, seek out their characteristics and so forth. Often rigs pa and gtan tshigs are the same, referring to reason in general. Here gtan tshigs is concerned more with the actual process of reasoning and rigs pa is more like the resulting certainty-wisdom, or unmistakable knowledge. Accurate gtan tshigs brings up unmistakable rigs pa in your mind. Then you contemplate and analyze it further. At last you find the wisdom of perfect meaning. Dharmakirti says that we cannot just accept any scripture at face value and expect to get the truth. Reliable understanding develops through the process of examination by reasoning.
47. Some titles reflect the meaning of a text, particular words that are discussed, the name of the place where the teaching was taught, or of the person who requested it, or a metaphor that is frequently used. Here the name unites the meaning and metaphor. KPSR.
48. grub mtha’, doctrine, is often used elsewhere in a sense where the doctrine is not necessarily true.
49. don.
50. By seeing the true nature.
51. All the Indian schools accept that there is something confused, unclear, or incomplete about the ordinary worldly viewpoint or doctrine. Their various viewpoints are meant to remedy this lack or confusion. They are the various kinds of doctrine beyond the world, which are supposed to be beyond confusion as well. However, the Buddhist view tends to consider all non-buddhist views as confused and worldly. They are opposed to Buddhist views as versions of the view beyond the world. KPSR.
52. phyal ba, rgyangs ‘phen, mur thug, and mu stegs. This text gives a condensed version of some teachings of the Guhyasamaja and Guhyagharba tantras. Here Padmasambhava’s summary of confused worldly views is not by names of schools, but kinds of beliefs. In this quotation there are only the names of the various kinds of worldly doctrine. However the text goes on to explain clearly and concisely what these terms mean. phyal ba means literally “flat ones,” are those who think the perfect state consists of temporary pleasures, eating, drinking, sleeping, and so forth. They think that is enough perfection for us and that there is nothing more.
The gyang phen pas have a stronger view of a similar kind. gyang phen literally means “throwing away.” They do not worry about past and future lives, but live for the here and now. They have a stronger tendency to ignorance and tend nihilistically to deny and deprecate the past and future. They cling to the present, and “throw away” the past and future.
Mur thug pas have a very limited and shrunken idea of what is proper. They are fixated on ritualistic, regimented orthodoxy. They all go in the same direction like sheep. It is like living in a small room with a low ceiling only one window to look out of, so that what can be seen is always the same very limited view. [mur thug literally means reaching the edge, limit, or an extreme state. They go about as far as they can go CIW]
mu steg pas express extreme views of eternalism and nihilism. They like to live on the edge in that sense, [mu stegs means literally taking extremes as a support, such as a table. CIW] KPSR.
53. ska ba dpal brtsegs, in his lta ba rim pa bshad pa. He was one of the first seven monks ordained by Shantarakshita. He is one of the three famous translators mentioned in histories and so forth as Ka, Chok, and Shang. {ska cog zhang gsum} – the three young translators. 1) {ska ba dpal brtsegs}. 2) {cog ro klu’i rgyal mtshan}. 3) {zhang ye shes sde}
Ka wa is his family name. He was one of the twenty-five famous students of Padmasambhava. This is a well-known text describing all the various kinds of views. KPSR
54. These numbers refer to seventeen different levels of view that he describes. The worldly level concerns tarkaya, in Tibetan rtog ge pas, those who are followers of conceptual thought. Those with views beyond the world to varying extents go beyond the realm of concept. One should understand the workings and relationships of the various kinds of views. They might be compared to various objects, that might be made out of gold, with varying levels of craftsmanship and artistry. Finally, one can stop, and leave them all alone, accepting only that which is best, the pure view beyond the world of the ultimate essence. The old masters of all schools learned the whole range of views, Buddhist and otherwise, so they could know what was good in each and what was best and why. KPSR.
55. Pramana, tshad ma means perfect, reliable, valid, authentic, and non-erroneous. It can be applied to perfect persons, correct perception, valid logical inference, trustworthy scripture, and so forth. Of course we must give reasons why this is so, since no one thinks their own doctrine is invalid. The three pramanas, tshad ma gsum, are perceptual, inferential, and scriptural pramana, mngon sum tshad ma, rjes dpag tshad ma, and lung tshad ma. In vajrayana the tshad ma gsum are a little different: lung, dam ngag, rig pa, scripture, oral instruction, and rig pa in the sense not of conceptual understanding but direct insight. KPSR.
56. Those arising from obscurations of the kleshas and distorted knowing.
57. That Buddha abandons all error entails that he has true knowledge, just as when all darkness and murkiness disappears, it follows that it is bright and clear. KPSR.
58. The buddhas have omniscient, direct knowledge of all natures throughout the three times. Therefore, they have no need to infer hidden characteristics by inference. KPSR
59. 3 analyses. What is valid knowledge of perception is commonly established by 1) investigating perception. Eg, by looking we can see that there is a glass here. But not all knowledge is perceptual. There is also valid inference using reliable signs. Eg we hear a car outside, and by that we infer that a car is there. This is not just unsupported opinion. 2) Inferential investigation shows that we have a justification for our conclusion. But it is not the highest certainty either. Wisdom could have direct perception of the car, just as when we directly see a car in front of us. It sees the nature of things as they are, eg. emptiness, impermanence etc. Things that are very hidden and hard to discover and cannot even be known by reasons can still be known by 3) investigation of true words. For example the Buddha predicted certain events that later actually occurred. He predicted that various good things would happen if certain practices were followed. Those who believed him eventually verified this. These teachings are beyond our ordinary thought. They cannot be verified at once by ordinary thought, but later can be by wisdom. For example, in the beginning we cannot verify that all beings have Buddha nature. We must take it on trust. But if we become enlightened, we can see the truth of this for ourselves. It becomes direct perception. Therefore, through these three investigations, we can eventually verify for ourselves with certainty that the Buddha’s teaching is reliable.
Moreover, if we simply take all the teachings on one level, without taking into account how they were taught for beings on different levels with different powers of mind and so forth they will seem to be contradictory, But if we understand the intention, they will be seen to be authentic and reliable.
60. The three kinds of inferential reasoning are 1) grags pa rjes dpag, inference from reports, 2) dgnos stobs rjes dpag, inference from the power of the thing itself, inference from reality itself. This is the one that ultimately shows that the teachings are true. 3) yid ches rjes dpag, the inference of trust of faith. For example, at first we take on trust the teachings that the practice of the six paramitas brings enlightenment. These three kinds of inferential reasoning having all the three modes are necessary when we are analyzing knowledge that at that time is not knowable by us through direct perception. The three analyses and the three pramanas, dpyad gsum and tshad ma gsum, are the same in general. But tshad ma gsum and 3 inferences are somewhat different. KPSR.
61. The presence of the dharma in the subject, forward entailment, and reversed entailment, phyogs chos, rjes khyab nd ldog khyab. These are discussed below.
62. To explain the last line of the above root verses, the inner nature of that individual certainty wisdom is Manjushri, so now we pay respect to him.
63. External knowledge is Manjushri’s blessing, which leads to wisdom through a proper attitude of devotion about what is known with the three gates.
64. One of the four reasonings as discussed below.
65. The reason in this case is, “because it is taught by the Buddha, who has completely given up all errors. This, in logical terminology, is a reason of effect. In general, there are three kinds of reason: gtan tshigs or in Sanskrit hetu. These are 1) rang bzhin gyi rtags, the reason of nature, 2) bras bu’i rtags, the reason of effect 3) ma dmigs pa’i rtags, the reason of non-observation. The reasons of effect and nature are quite similar in general. We look at the result, eg. a beautiful flower in the garden, we also see that the cause of that beauty is completely functioning. The cause is the right conditions and so forth. If we see the Buddha’s teachings as a result, and we can see its causes too as something wonderful. That is the reason of effect. Logically, the Buddha’s doctrine is the dharmin, or subject of inference. Non-confusion, or authenticity is what is to be established about it.
66. Which are the criteria of a valid syllogism. These are discussed below.
67. rjes khyab. khyab is literally pervasion, meaning that it applies in all cases.
68. The contrapositive.
69. Someone wise might conceivably show others the wrong path; but since buddhas are compassionate, they will not do so, any more than eg, a mother will purposely deceive her child. We know the Buddha has compassion, because compassion is intrinsically part of the seed of enlightenment. Therefore he will not deceive others.
70. In summary, first Buddha, as the benefit for himself, attained and realized everything through wisdom. Also he has wisdom, compassion, and so forth to help beings according to their inclination, capabilities, and wishes. [khams: element qua. mental state, their interest: eg whether they are inclined to sutra, vinaya, or whatever. dbang po, powers or capabilities, bsam pa is different thoughts and wishes. Each teaching brings its described result, so no one is deceived. So that teaching is without error and deception, khrul med.
71. Omniscience comes with enlightenment. One who is not enlightened cannot turn the wheel of Dharma completely properly.
72. gshegs pa has a meaning like de bshin gshegs pa, thus-gone, tathagata, and means “realized.” The tathagata is a realized one, or buddha. He understands perfectly, goes with complete understanding, and has developed the wisdom of enlightenment.
73. The Buddha has omniscience and by that he can turn the wheel of all kinds of teachings of the true and provisional meanings and so forth, as required by all kinds of sentient beings. That kind of thing comes about through dgnos stobs rigs pa, reasoning by the power of the things themselves. These quotes show that the thesis is supported by the teachings. KPSR.
74. The one knowledge of Buddha clears up all objects of knowledge and knows the measure of all knowledges. KPSR.
75. You, Buddha, have demolished all the conceptions of worldly beings by going beyond them.
76. KPSR explained this as meaning about the same as the previous line.
77. sgeg pa’i rdo rje.
78. Khab is palace or realm. so this is a blazing realm of the fire of wisdom without ignorance.
79. As tshad ma/ pramana.
80. Some teachings are for different sorts of mind. KPSR related this primarily to the idea of differences in capacity for receiving the true meaning teachings, which causes the Buddha to present some teachings in a provisional form.
81. Whatever Buddha taught, for example the four noble truths, his speech is found to be correct. Therefore we can infer that he is a buddha without obscuration. We know that what he taught was true, because he showed what to accept and reject, and the method for doing that. Everyone would like to get rid of suffering and achieve peace, but Buddha actually showed the perfect method to remove ego-clinging so that we can do this. As regards the principle purpose of his teaching, to remove samsaric obscuration and to obtain nirvana, Buddha was never deceptive. Those who practice as he says will reach the fruition he describes without fail. From this we know he is perfect.
82. If practitioners see that certain practices are good and suitable for them, they will follow them; but if they are found in practice to be deceitful, unsuitable contradictory, or fruitless they won’t. That is obvious. This is the opposite approach to what the Hindus sometimes said in the old debates, “The Vedas are non-deceptive because they come from the gods.” If Buddhists do not to go beyond saying, “the teachings are true because the Buddha taught them, that is no better. KPSR.
83. {shes rab kyi pha rol tu phyin pa sdud pa tshigs su bcad pa
Sanchayagaathaa-prajnaapaaramitaa-suutra, condensed perfection of wisdom sutra.
84. In brief, Buddha’s teachings are true, 1) because they correspond to the true nature, and 2nd because if we practice them, we achieve the promised result. KPSR.
85. Senseless: For example, debating whether a raven has teeth or not is useless for getting enlightened. Wrong sense, means being confused or mixed up about meanings. For example, because of falling into extreme views, one may adopt wrong practices, eg. seeking to stabilize eternal bliss or blank emptiness. The Buddha’s teaching doesn’t have these two errors so it is meaningful, beneficial,, and has the true sense, don ldan. KPSR.
86. Thos here means study without contemplation and meditation. rtsod pa is fixation on argument and criticizing others. The Buddha does not have these two errors, and therefore his teachings focus on establishing true vision of how things are through genuine practice of the path as a whole.
87. nyan g.yo deception and hypocrisy. Someone pretends to be very holy and special etc. brtse med means not being caring about others, having no compassion. Because the Buddha’s teaching does not have these two faults, it removes all sufferings from oneself and others.
88. bstan bcos here means the teachings altogether. KPSR
89. Only Buddhas and their teachings have such qualities, and others don’t.
90. Buddha’s teaching is meaningful, and therefore connected to compassion. Its compassionate activity is removing cause of the three realms of samsara. Its result is the ultimate state of peace. The teaching of the great sages [drang srong = .ri.shi] is like that. Without lack of knowledge, they and it have infallible meaning and benefit.
91. Such teaching will lead to the same enlightenment, and so it should be honored like the teaching of the Buddha.
92. In one of his praises.
93. Such a sage has found the middle way between eternalism and nihilism. KPSR.
94. Without contradiction, kha ‘dzin ma byed. This, which is explained below does not mean that they withstand analysis for being absolutely true.
95. These two lines are very famous. Dignaga had written many teachings on pramana, but in this text he brings them all together. This is part of his first praise to the Buddha. He wrote this on his cape. He wrote it three times. The first time the earth shook seven times. The second chapter of Dharmakirti’s tshad ma rnam ‘grel is based on these two lines. It establishes that the Buddha is truth and genuineness in a uniquely excellent way. Having seen that the teaching is true, we see that Buddha too is correct and authentic. Buddhas give up all errors from the root. They know all objects without blockage. The perfect teaching has a perfect teacher. He has perfect intention and activities, and so there is a perfect result. Buddha himself attained the realization of a sugata and also his activity helps others.
96. tshad mar gyur: gaining conviction, attaining pramana. KPSR said that the meaning is not simply that one has true ideas or perceptions, but that one becomes a genuine being as a whole.
97. Five attributes are mentioned. tshad par ‘gyur, becoming means that the Buddha is authentic, true, honest, and non-deceitful. ‘gro la phan, for the benefit of sentient beings, means intent to do benefit for all others impartially. ston pa, teacher, means that he has the ability, skill, and methods to teach perfectly. bder gshegs, sugata, means that he has perfectly gone to the enlightened state. This is the source of the ability to be a perfect teacher. So therefore he performs his various activities as skyob pa, protector, of beings All these establish that the Buddha is a perfect teacher.
98. I praise you with great respect and also invoke respect from others.
99. Here wish = intention. KPSR
100. Sbyor ba, the application of his intention, is his showing teachings in accord with the needs and capabilities of beings.
101. This praise to the Buddha says that Buddha has perfect cause and result, therefore he is perfect = tshad ma. The perfect cause is that his intention and actions are perfect. bsam pa is intention, compassion for all sentient beings without exception. The result is the two benefits for oneself and others. Those people who gain the perfect benefit for oneself become sugatas. This is understand in three ways: They have gone beautifully, without returning, and gone completely. Going beautifully means that they give up all major obscurations that are causes of samsaric birth. Going without returning means giving up any cause of returning to the world. The Buddha is even beyond nirvana. Gone completely means that he has no stains of obscurations, but has gone completely into enlightenment. Those three senses apply in three ways. The first shows that Buddha is very special compared to people, Buddhist or otherwise, with only a little temporary detachment. Second, Buddha is beyond all the arhats and pratyekabuddhas. Third he is beyond those of the mahayana, no matter how learned and accomplished who have not removed all the obscurations.
102. Perfect beneficial activity for others means the Buddha can give others the teaching, and liberate them. KPSR.
103. If, through the three pramanas, we have incomparable certainty wisdom within our hearts, that confidence is ultimate devotion, the ultimate refuge and Praise, and the root of enlightenment, and all blessings etc.
104. yid khyed shes kyi ded pas.
105. We see that all these are consistent, without the confusion that characterizes samsara.
106. i.e. reality, things as they are.
107. This is by KPSR himself. He had a dream in which he was reciting it. At first he thought it was from text, but could not find it. Still he rather liked it and decided to include it.
108. Like the sun. KPSR.
109. It can also be known in this way. KPSR. See above this distinction between the essence and blessing of Manjushri.
110. Or in terms of the three reasons, rtags gsum the ‘bras bu rtags, like seeing smoke and by that establishing fire.
111. The sangha possesses this awareness and liberating qualities of realization. These inner qualities arise from certainty-wisdom. Also it is the sangha who practices the Buddha’s teaching, and so establishes this certainty-wisdom.
112. It shows that people who do this are special, since they respect someone else. KPSR.
113. bstan bcos, usually shastra, as above. Here KPSR said that the sense was more the teachings in general, and US said that the connotation was the teachings when delivered for certain purposes.
114. This increases merit so that enlightenment is gained. If reasoning is rightly used it inspires people to appreciate directly the experiential meaning of the teachings and teacher. But often the result is just the opposite, to make it all seem very conceptualized, abstract, and proud of its orthodoxy. It becomes uselessly circular. The teachings are true because the Buddha taught them, and the Buddha is an authentic, true person because the teachings say so. We have to be inspired to see for ourselves what is meant. For example, the Gelugpas often begin more with reasoning and then practice. The Nyingmas and Kagyus tend to start in the middle with some of both. But in the end, if they practice well, they all go to the same place. KPSR.
115. 1 of the six root texts of the Kadampa school. So merit, as gained from expressions of homage and so forth, is important. KPSR
116. legs bzhad. Literally it means good/ excellent speech/ explanation/ teaching. It refers to all the true teachings of the sutras, tantras, and commentaries. KPSR
117. yang dag brten, completely relying on. KPSR
118. His commentary on Nagarjuna’s Mulamadhyaamakakaarikas. First Chandrakirti quotes the Buddha’s teaching in the sutras, then he comments on the meaning and says “that is what it says.” Then KPSR has a shes do mark the end of the quotation and notes that many others have also said this.
119. nges pa, certainty.
120. KPSR Here “the world” means “the individual beings in the world.” These beings arise in dependence on the five skandhas. “Beings” is a name imputed to the skandhas, so ultimately it is they that are the world. KPSR. The usage is something like the french tout le monde. Literally it means “all the world,” but the sense is “Everybody.” The worldly truth is not the real truth about the world, which would be the absolute truth. It is the erroneous beliefs about the world of people in general.
Then why not translate a’jig rten as people? That would obscure other meanings. The Chandrakirti passage also says the content of worldly truth = the skandhas, and explains this by saying it depends on the skandhas. How does it depend? Primarily logically, in the sense that entities in the world are imputed on the basis of patterns of dharmas included under the skandhas. Causal and compositional dependence presupposes the existence of these imputed entities. In that sense a’jig rten includes all statements about entities in the world, persons and otherwise that the world’s opinion would say are true. To make sense of this in English it helps to remember that while a’jig rten is usually translated “the world” that meaning comes from the literal sense “that which is a support of = is characterized by destruction.” The point is also being made that entities described in worldly truth = entities dependent on the skandhas = destructible entities.
121. There are two occurrences of zhes. The first indicates that Chandrakirti is referring to a similar quote from Nagarjuna. The second, zhes sogs, refers to what Chandrakirti has said as a whole, and notes that many others have also said this. KPSR.
122. bden gnyis dgnos pa’i gnas tshul. The meaning would be pretty much the same if dgnos pa’i were omitted. The primarily intended meaning is not “the two truths as the nature of things in general.” rdzi zab read rdze zab. KPSR. He considered rendering it, “the nature of these things the two truths.” Then he decided “the actual nature of the two truths” was better.
123. mtha’ dpyad na, literally search out the edge, analyze the details. system: rnam bzhag.
124. nges tshig refers to the meaning of the individual words of a term, in terms of semantics, etymology and the like. This sort of analysis is very common in Tibetan texts. Thus, for kun rdzob, relative truth, one would discuss what kun means and what rdzob means. In sanskrit it would involve breaking a word into components, eg. sam-v.riti.
125. mtshan nyid is more general meaning of a term. It can mean essential characteristic, defining characteristic, or definition. Students in monastic colleges learn many formulae defining Dharma terms. Both these formulae and the characteristics they describe are mtshan nyid.
126. blo dang dbang pos bsam pa’i yul. At first KPSR interpreted this as mind = sems or shes pa, dualistic consciousness and the objects of the five senses. Then he seemed to think the meaning might be clearer if the phrase were broken down as blo yis bsam pa’i yul dang dbang pos bsam pa’i yul. Objects contemplated by mind and objects contemplated by the five senses. The meaning is ultimately the same, but the second makes it clearer that mind insofar as it is beyond dualistic objects is not included. Relative objects are things we perceive “like Buddhas, dogs, and raccoons.”
127. nges tshig.
128. Svaalak.shana, rang mtshan. Individual characteristics are not deceptive on their own everyday practical level. We are not cheated in our ordinary expectations from knowing that fire is hot and so forth. We would be cheated on that level if we believed fire was cold. This is true even though on another level “Fire is hot” and “fire is cold” are on the same footing in being unable to bear analysis for being statements of absolute truth.
129. The names and systems of the two truths were formulated by the madhyamaka and higher schools to bring clearer understanding to the notions of worldly beings. They also made further divisions of true and false within the relative, making appropriate divisions within symbolic knowledge for that purpose or side of things. KPSR.
130. gshal bya, Literally measure. KPSR. One investigates things, trying to encompass them from every angle, until finally one sees them as they are.
131. <the mind of>.
132. If you want to know more about one you should also study the other. The lions look in opposite directions with their necks joined. That is a symbol of strength that will not fall into the two extremes. KPSR
133. byed las
134. <by the style of arising>.
135. khyab chung. If we think interdependence, tendrel, is concerned only with everyday matter of causal succession, such as the arising from each other of seed, stem, flower, and fruit, our understanding is very small and partial. Everything in the universe is within tendrel, and everything constantly depends on everything else. All the atoms in the whole of space are connected and so forth. This connection is not only within a single moment in time, but extends throughout the three times. That is to say, it transcends everyday notions of space and time.
136. This is a famous sanskrit grammar. It is in the Tengyur. It contains all the Sanskrit-Tibetan rules of translation that were made at the time of Trisong Detsen’s son Mutig Tsenpo. He invited many great masters like Vairochana, Kawa Peltseg and so forth. For example that is why bhagavat is always translated bcom ldan ‘das and so forth. sgra is sound, or word, and sbyor is how to apply them. sgra sometimes refers to sanskrit. For instance sgra mkhas doesn’t mean someone who knows about sound, but an expert on Sanskrit.
137. ‘du ‘phrod ‘du is joined or gathered together, and ‘phrod mingled, or harmonious meeting. Things meet and cooperate. The universe is a coop, as it were, a condominium. Also there is a sense of things working as they are supposed to: Weapons cut, medicines cure, and whatever. This is a mtshan nyid of tendrel, its definition, what is it really. Mtshan nyid means definition, but also characteristic or principle. For example, like people are essentially characterized by being able to think.
138. What arises interdependently does not arise without cause. Non-cause, rgyu min, means a completely external cause, unrelated to the nature of what arises. An eternal creator would be such a cause, whose nature is totally unrelated to that of the temporary things that arise. For example, as barley does not come from rice. Some systems say time brings about everything. It makes us sleep, wake, get old, die etc.
139. nyer len: for example eating food is not like this. The creation of an embryo from the father and mother is. The things in this list are so connected. For example sdug bsngal nyer len phung po eg the skandhas are closely connected to suffering.
140. go ‘byed,
141. Often name and form is explained as the five skandhas. In that case feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness are the skandhas of name.
142. rig pa.
143. len pa.
144. smra ngags ‘den read smre ngags ‘don. KPSR.
145. Literally ignorance etc.
146. dmigs pa’i yul. This is pretty much equivalent to objects of knowledge here. KPSR.
147. Emotional patterns, including ignorance, focus our attention or knowledge. Then the sense consciousnesses assist and reflect the emotion. We can also say emotion is projected onto sense-perception. Because of ignorance these are seen as independent external objects. The emotions are like a basic ground. The senses help project them. Then they increase. There is always ignorance, but without the helping conditions the emotions arise as the fully developed suffering of samsara.
148. The system of karma, the kleshas, and suffering refers to the close association of these elements in terms of the twelve nidanas. Of the 12 nidanas the first is ignorance, the eighth is attachment, srid pa, and the ninth is len pa, accepting. These three are known as kleshas. ‘du bshes, the second, and the tenth are called las, karma. The rest are called sdug bsngal. There are seven of those. They arise through the agency of the six inner elements or khams, which are related to the body. Thus the inner earth element makes us solid, the inner water element makes us moist etc. Here the subject is inner tendrel as related to our personal consciousness and skandhas, as opposed to the system of external tendrel as a whole.
149. bsam pa yid byed. Here both terms have a similar meaning, attention etc. except that bsam pa refers more to the object and yid byed to the subject. Both terms also have other meanings.
150. nyer len.
151. The point is that as long as there is dualistic consciousness etc there will be rebirth.
152. ‘jug pa. KPSR.
153. ‘phos. From the viewpoint of absolute analysis.
154. Generations of students learn to chant the same texts from each other, but recitation involves different word-events. Lamps may be used to light each other, but each has its own individual flame. Things do not actually go into a mirror when their reflections appear there. The power of producing fire is not in a burning glass by itself, but works by its concentrating the rays of the sun. People insulted at work may go home and insult their dogs and cats, but it is not the same insult-event in each case. The continuity of the skandhas in rebirth should be seen as analogous to these examples. KPSR.
155. ‘bras bu ltos pa rigs pa: the effect depends on the cause. That connection of reliance or dependence is reliable and unchanging, and makes systematic sense. One looks from the effect to the cause.
bya ba byed pa’i rigs pa: the reasoning of causal functioning. One looks from the viewpoint of the cause producing the effect.
‘thad pa grub pa’i rigs pa: suitable establishment. What happens is natural and in order. It is proper for fire to burn. That it is what it usually does, and what it is “supposed” to do. It snows in winter and rains in summer. Water washes things. Medicines heal and poisons kill. It can also be used to describe valid proofs, arguments, and so forth. Here the point is that sees things as they are without exaggeration and deprecation. The difference from the reasoning of action or function is that there is an emphasis not just on what something does, but on this being “suitable” within the system of relationships of things as they are. What is done fits in the system of things.
chos nyid rigs pa: Again this is like the nature of fire being hot, and water moist. This is more concerned with the quality of the thing itself and the last with what it might or can be expected to produce. For example fire is hot by nature, and therefore it is capable of burning, cooking, and so forth.
rigs pa can be applied to objects, e.g. seeing the nature and proper action of fire as it is; but it is also a mental state of seeing these natures and functions etc as they are. So it also has a subjective aspect.
156. The nature of things is not bizarre, capricious, and utterly unfathomable but reasonable and orderly in the sense of being workable. This well-known order really exists on the phenomenal level. We can discover it properly, and this is rigs pa. Being able to cook dinner and wash the dishes involves knowing things as they are to some extent. If we think fire will cool things off, we don’t have rigs pa.
157. rigs pa.
158. Ie not falsifiable and irrefutable by anything.
159. ‘bras bu’i sgno nas rgyu’i tshogs nus sgrub par byed pa rgyu bya ba byed pa’i mtshan nyid. producing cause/ function: EG from barley seeds + the other necessary conditions barley grows and nothing else.
160. rgyu’i sgo nas a’bras bu’i tshogs nus sgrub par byed pa a’bras bu ltos pa’i rigs pa’i mtshan nyid.
161. chos kun ngo bo gang yin pa sgrub par byed pa ngo bo chos nyid rigs pa’i mtshan nyid. chos kun ngo bo isn’t the nature of all dharmas [the absolute, emptiness] here. It refers to the natures of all dharmas, e.g heat for fire, wetness for water, though included among those is the nature of emptiness, the absolute.
162. rgyu a’bras ngo bo nyid gsum gyi shes bya gnas lugs dngos stobs gyi rigs pas sgrub pa a’thad pa sgrub pa’i rigs pa’i mtshan nyid.
163. mngon par grub pa: this can mean fully/ actually/ perfectly/ manifestly establishing/ existing; but here the difference between the sense bya ba byed pa in the last phrase and this is best considered in terms of the definitions of the different kinds of reasoning.
164. yul dang tshad. tshad here the same sense as tshad ma.
165. mthun snang su grub pa.
166. dgnos gshi.
167. thal sa.
168. bsgrub pa thal drags.
169. thal drags.
170. Ego.
171. In abhidharma perception is often said to be “direct.” This makes the most sense when we say we have direct knowledge of our own experiences. It means that the way we usually talk about experiences is such that we do not speak of experiences AS SUCH as obscured, or say that we do not know what they really are. We may say that a certain experience is obscured or illusory perception of an external object. Abhidharma sometimes gets in trouble by talking about direct perception of external objects. Later schools rightly refuted such statements, which entail an absolute knowledge of external objects that could never be wrong or incomplete.
172. It is said to be proper to establish such things in traditional Buddhist philosophy on the ordinary level, in abhidharma etc. What is not said to be proper is to take this kind of reasoning beyond its proper scope and attempt to use such reasoning to establish such entities as truly existing absolutes. The analysis for the absolute of madhyamaka is said to establish the sense in which this is improper. One also has to explain the seeming paradox of such statements as “The absolute is beyond words” of “The absolute is empty.”
173. lkog
174. zal sar skyel ba.
175. dngos po[‘i] stobs kyi rigs pa.
176. ‘thob.
177. rgyu bya ba byed pa’i rigs pa.
178. byed pa.
179. bya ba.
180. gdags.
181. ‘di dag.
182. ‘ga’ zhig.
183. a’dzin.
184. nyer len gyi rgyu. This is variously translated substantial cause, perpetuating cause etc. It is opposed to conditions because it is more directly connected or is the thing that would ordinarily be said to turn into the effect as the seed does the sprout.
185. lhan cig byed pa’i rkyen.
186. In abhidharma consciousnesses are momentary. Ordinarily we commonly speak of being aware of things over a space of time. This is explained in abhidharma as being due to a causal succession of dharmas like successive frames of a movie. [Let us ignore for now that apprehension is also said to become conceptualized or mentalized].
187. Not mentioned in the verse above.
188. sems kyi rjes ‘jug.
189. sems dang mtshan nyid mtshan gshi.
190. rjes ‘jug pa rnams. Sometimes this is translated continued functioning.
191. sems kyi rjes su a’jug pa.
192. sdom.
193. ‘bras bu gcig skyes pa.
194. rnam par sngo sogs kyi ‘dzin stangs.
195. lung ma bstan. The essence = the universal absolute essence, enlightenment, sugatagarbha etc.
196. so sor rtags pa’i stobs.
197. This of course raises a question of infinite regress, which has been dealt with in various ways historically.
198. dmigs pa’i rkyen.
199. ‘jug ldog.
200. bzo = bzo gnas kyi rig pa, mechanical arts and crafts, one of the five sciences, rig [pa’i] gnas lnga. And such, sogs refers to the rest of these as enumerated below.