Buddhism is one of the major world religions that, originated in India.
Among the major world religions that originated in India Buddhism, Jainism and one sector of Sankhyaism, ancient Indian tradition, in all of these three major traditions of India, when we think of the founders of these great spiritual traditions such as the Buddha, Mahavira and the teachers of the Sankhyaism tradition given that these three major traditions are non theistic and the understanding of these founders were actually seen as human being originally just like us who then through the spiritual quest, attend the state of enlightenment, and these great teachers were undertaking spiritual practices and techniques that were available at the time of ancient India, and these techniques involve single pointedness of mind like Shamatha type practice and Vipasana which is more discursive and analytic type practice.
Vipasana, that involves comparison of the samsaric state and the more advance state of existence. So, it is based on the application of these techniques and cultivations of their mind they are able to attain the states that these great beings have attained.
Now, in the case of the Buddha, as he delves deeper into these understandings of the mind and one of the most important focus has been the analysis of the nature and existence of self, what is self, and through this deep process of inquiry, the Buddha has come to the realization that, there is no such thing as independent self that is independent of the body so therefore, when one subjects the existence and the true nature of self to such critical inquiry in the final analysis, there is no such self to be found.
Therefore, in the Buddha's scriptures in the sutras for example, the Buddha has stated that the notion that I am is in fact the source of our problem and however, if you search where that self is, our notion of self just turns out to be a view that we have and that view if you examine where it is based on, it is our physical and mental constituent that make up our existence but beyond that they are nowhere to be found.
Then the question is asked does that mean that we don’t exist? Does that mean there is nothing?, and there is no such thing as a person? Then the Buddha makes the following statements in the same sutra where he says that, just as on the basis of combination of various parts such as the wheels, axles and so on, the notion of our carriage comes to our mind in the same way it is on the basis of the combination of various physical and mental attributes that the notion of a person comes into being so, the Buddha is saying that, it is not the case that nothing exist, there is a person on the conventional level just as there is a carriage in the same way however, if we subject that notion to analysis beyond what is the basis of that label there is no any independent self.
So, to explain this the Buddha’s insight into the truth of no-self in a more deeper way, Nagarjuna in his stanza on the middle way explains how karma, the karmic actions, that really project existence into the Samsara are really arises through our mental projections, false mental projections, these false mental projections are rooted in a grasping at true existence of things attributing some kind of self existence to things therefore, this attribution of self existence to things is the fundamental ignorance and that fundamental ignorance can only be removed if we are able to stop attributing false projections onto reality and that process can only brought to an end by realizing the truth of emptiness and then Nagarjuna’s own student Aryadeva explains this points further, where he says that just as the body sense permeates all other senses; sense organ, the eye organ, ears and so on, in the same manner the fundamental ignorance grasping at objective existence permeates all of our cognitions, particularly our emotions and therefore the root of all of our afflictive emotions is this fundamental ignorance grasping at true existence and it is by seeing the truth of dependent origination in terms of emptiness that one will be able to put an end to that whole process and bring an end to this fundamental ignorance therefore, a wise person should really always engage in the discourse on emptiness and contemplation on emptiness.
Similarly Chandrakirti explains in the entering the middle way, where he says that, sentient beings revolve in this existence first by having the notion of "I am" so, the sense of self arises and based on the sense of “I” and “I am”, we then have the notion of “mine”, “my this”, “my that” and “my own” and then on the basis of “I” and “mine” and then we create a whole network of reactions and relation to the world around us and in this way we chained ourselves.
So therefore, reflecting upon all of these teachings and insights one that comes very clear how important it is to cultivate the view of no-self (anatman).
Although as explained before there are other non-theistic traditions that originated in India such as Jainism and one portion of Sankhya tradition, but it is only in Buddhism where the teachings on no-self is explained and emphasized. So, the view of no-self is unique in Buddhist tradition.
After the Buddha’s enlightenment according to the scriptures, the Buddha was actually reluctant to give a teaching, there is a beautiful passage scripture which says that, "I have this truth which is profound, tranquil and free of conceptual elaborations and unconditioned. So, it is like nectar of immortality, but, because I fear that no one will understand, I shall remain non-speaking and remain in the forest." So that’s the passage from the scripture.
So, the Buddha characterizes that truth that has attained in terms of attribute such as profound, tranquil, free of conceptual elaboration and unconditioned, all of these can be seen as attributes of the teaching of no-self (anatman) or one could also understand them separately by saying profound and tranquil refers to the teachings on Samsara and Nirvana.
It is the teachings of First Turning of the Wheel of Dharma which is teaching on the Four Noble Truths which explains the relationship and cause and effect of how the sentient beings goes into taking a birth in a Samsaric existence and how through practice one can gain freedom out of this so, which is the heart of the teachings on the Four Noble Truths and then the third attribute a freedom from conceptual elaboration or absence of conceptual elaboration can be seen as an attribute of emptiness which is the main teaching of Second Turning of the Wheel of Dharma whose primary texts includes such as the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajnaparamita sutras) and then the third, the final attribute which is clear light, luminous or luminous and unconditioned, these two attributes can be referring to the teachings of the Third Turning of the Wheel of Dharma where the main subject matter is Tathāgatagarbha, the Buddha nature and the Buddha nature is unconditioned and here in this way one can see how the Second Turning of the Wheel of Dharma emphasizes the emptiness which is the object of the wisdom and the Third Turning of the Wheel of Dharma the main subject matter is the luminous character of subject of mind.
So, you can say that is, the subjective clear light and the objective clear light and so in this way one can understand the Third Turning of the Wheel of Dharma really sort of set the stage for the further more advance teachings that emerges in the highest yoga tantra with the teaching on clear light becomes fully developed and explained and as a preliminary to the highest yoga tantra you have the preceding three classes of Tantra Kiriya, Charya and yoga.
So, in this way one can understand that even in the first statement of the Buddha immediately after his enlightenment there is a kind of an anticipation of what was going to come in future evolving into this three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma.
Now of course the Buddha did end up teaching and according to the scripture this was triggered by strong request made from some of his attendance such as Goudina Ya as well as according to the scripture including non human figures like the Brahma and so on so then, made the request to the Buddha to teach so, the first public sermon to the Buddha gave was in Varanasi in the Deer Park and the subject matter of that teaching was the Four Noble Truths and the Four Noble Truths what we see in those Four Noble Truths; the suffering and its origin, and the cessation, and the path leading to the cessation. What we see is in fact a two set of cause and effect, one set of cause and effect which is the first two; suffering and its origin, pertains to the cause and effect that a part of sentient beings taking a birth in the cycle of existence and then the next two form the another cause and effect set which is the cause and effect pertaining to the freedom from that existence.
So, one could say afflicted cause and effect and unafflicted, purified cause and effect process involved in this and then the Four Noble Truths when it’s further explained, they are explained in terms of what I referred to as the sixteen characteristics or attributes of the Four Noble Truths, each truth I explained in terms of four aspects further and so on such as the sufferings characteristics are dissatisfaction, impermanent, no-self, emptiness and so on.
So, in fact if you reflect upon what are the sixteen attributes of the Four Noble Truths actually gives you a powerful understanding of importance of the Buddha’s teaching on the Four Noble Truths I spoke about how the four aspects of suffering our dissatisfaction, impermanence, no-self and emptiness and then the four attributes of the origin of suffering are cause, condition, recurrence and then repeated arising and here one thing that would be helpful is to connect these attributes to the way in which Asanga explains about the origination of the whole condition world.
Asanga talks about three conditions, one is that, things and events do not come into being as a result of some kind of prior thinking or design of an intelligent mind in other words; they do not come about due to a creation a creature. Furthermore, he says that the causes themselves that give rise to the origination of things must be impermanent because if things give the causes themselves not impermanent then they wouldn’t have any capacity to produce anything because, if the causes themselves are not subject to change how they give rise to conditions that are also changing themselves so, the cause themselves must be impermanent and furthermore, there must be some relationship with the causes and effects, not everything produces anything so, it is not enough for a cause to be impermanent but also causes and effects must be commensurate, there needs to be a relationship, not everything produces everything so, these are the four attributes of the origin of suffering and then the four attributes of cessation, one is that, it is an attain state that is brought about through cessation by application of antidote and then the second attribute is the state of peace because once you have attained it, it is a true peace and then third is an excellent state and the final one is the definite release that is not something that you temporarily stop but then the afflictions come back again so, it is a once you have attained the cessation, the afflictions have been brought on and permanently and then the four attributes of the path are that, it is a part of the journey that what it is the means and then second is that the path themselves are grounded in reason, they are rational and then the third attribute is something that is cultivated in a path, it is not something that arises simply through a wishful thinking, it involves practice so, the one of the attributes of the path is cultivation and then the final aspect of the attribute of the path is the real antidote that brings about end to the afflictions so, even by simple contemplation of these sixteen attributes of the Four Noble Truths can give a sense of power of the teachings of the Four Noble Truths so the cessation within the path itself there leads to true cessation, the heart of that path is the realization of the truth of no-self and how do we attain that is to recognize how the causes and conditions that lead to suffering are all rooted in a fundamental ignorance which is a distorted state of mind. The fundamental ignorance attributes true existence to phenomena and when you subject that kind of ignorance to its antidote you will come to realize that no matter how powerful our afflictions are, they are very powerful because of our habituation to them, but no matter how powerful they are, so long as they are rooted in some kind of distorted vision of reality then they don’t have any real ground that support them.
So, through application of their antidote in principle they are removable because, once you see the truth of no-self then the ignorance will be shown to be distorted which then cannot support further arising of the afflictions.
So, it is through recognizing that the ignorance that supports all of these afflictions are distorted and fundamentally mistaken one will then be able to understand the no-self.
When you think along these lines you will really come to recognize that the teaching on the Four Noble Truths is really a powerful summation of all the teachings of the Buddha, it is like a kind of a framework, it is like a foundation of all the teachings of the Buddha, it is very comprehensive teaching.
We spoke about the Four Noble Truths and also we spoke about how the wisdom of no-self is the core of the path and how the opposite of wisdom of no-self, which is the fundamental ignorance is a distorted state of mind so, if we compare the two, whether it is the grasp at true existence which is the fundamental ignorance or the wisdom, both of these are actually states of mind, they are actually mental phenomena. Both of them are cognitive states however, they oppose each other and the way in which mental states oppose each other is by contradictory perspectives because the fundamental ignorance assumes things and events to have true existence objective reality where is the wisdom of emptiness and no-self perceives everything not to have any objective existence or independent existence so, they are directly contrasting perspectives so, it is by recognizing that directly contrasting perspectives we will also recognize how the wisdom of emptiness and no-self can really have the power to eliminate the fundamental ignorance and even in the material world we see contradictory phenomena like heat and cold and we know that heat and cold cannot endure together for long so when the heat goes up the cold goes down and when the cold goes up heat goes down so, we know that they don’t stay together without interacting and countering each other similarly, we also know darkness and illumination, darkness and light, the moment light is switched on the darkness disappears so they cannot coexist so, they are contradictory phenomena in the material world as well and similarly in the mental world they are contradictory mental states but in the mental world the difference is the contradiction takes the form of contrasting perspectives so, that is the difference but this is not to say that when you have an understanding of emptiness then instantly the grasping disappears but here it is a gradual process once you have an understanding that understanding needs to be deepened integrated and then cultivated, then gradually the intensity and the strength of the grasping will diminish, eventually then the grasping will be eliminated.
So, I think this is important to understand that that is how these things contradict each other.
Now we spoke about the Three Turns of the Wheel of Dharma and also I pointed out how the Second Turning of the Wheel of Dharma which is the teaching on the Perfection of Wisdom and emptiness, is really the one that fully explains the Four Noble Truths and particularly the truth of cessation and the truth of the path because after having listened to the Buddha’s first public sermon, his disciples will come to have an understanding that there is such a thing as a possibility of true cessation and freedom and there is a path, then the question arises what is that cessation? What is the nature of it? What is the path? What is the nature of that path? So, to answer these fully, one really needs to understand the teaching on emptiness as presented in the Professional Wisdom Sutra.
For example, there Nagarjuna in explaining the essence of the teachings on emptiness says that, it is by understanding the dependent origination, the truth of dependent origination one will appreciate the importance of the teachings of the Four Noble Truths and he explains and similarly we find in say a typical example of Perfection of Wisdom Sutra is the Heart Sutra which people are familiar with and in the Heart Sutra we find these fourfold presentation on emptiness that, form is empty and emptiness is form and form is no other than emptiness and emptiness is no other than form so, there is a fourfold presentation on emptiness so, in the first point the Buddha states that the things that we assumed have objective resistance such as the form, if we subject that to a critical inquiry we come to recognize that the form is nothing other than the combination of its various parts so it is shape, it is colour, it is location, the various parts that make up its existence and so on. Once you mentally deconstruct what makes up, what seems like a solid thing in front of you, you come to recognize that nothing stands there it is the true reference to which you can point and say this is it.
So therefore, the Buddha says that, the form is empty, so that is the first part of the fourfold formula and then the question arises does that mean nothing exists? Does that mean there is nothing there?
Then the second presentation is made which is that emptiness is form. In other words the Buddha is saying that it is not that nothing exists but things don’t exist in the way in which we tend to assume they do, they don’t exist as they appear to us so therefore, the second part of the fourfold presentation explains that form do exist but only as designations by our convention on the basis of things that we perceive so in fact, as far as the first part of the fourfold formula is concerned this is what quantum physics have also discovered as they go deeper into their understanding of what makes our physical world they don’t find anything so they have come to realize that there is no nothing that supports the objective reality of the material world that we assume but the difference is that quantum physics seems to have been stuck there therefore, they reject any notion of objective existence so therefore they actually reject external reality so they say it is all from the perspective of the observer but then the question is what is that observer there is no real answer so in some sense what the quantum physics have come to is very similar to what the "Mind Only" School, Chittamatra School in Buddhism has also come to and the assumption behind all of this is that if something truly exist they should be findable therefore, as they subject these things to inquiry and they don’t find anything then they assume that it does not exist so this is why in the Mind Only School external reality is rejected as well.
So, the second part of the presentation says that yes, it is not that nothing exists, things exist only as designations based on the combination of various things to which we attribute the existence and then the next two parts of the fourfold formula explains that the form and the emptiness are no two separate things, they actually share the same identity, there is nothing apart from the form that is empty and emptiness is also not something external something that is outside, externals to the form to which what is learning.
So, the point the Buddha is making is that, even emptiness is something that is contingent upon a thing that we attribute emptiness to, you cannot have a notion of emptiness that is somehow existing on its own.
So emptiness does not have again an objective existence so form and emptiness are in some sense the same thing there are no two separate things somehow, entering into a relationship so that point is being made in the final two paths of the formula so once we understand this then we come to recognize the point that the Nagarjuna is making which is that the Mind Only School rejects external reality but then they ended up according objective reality or intrinsic reality to the mental world so what the Nagarjuna is saying is that just as the external world do matter cannot be found when you subject to analysis, in the same way, if you apply the same reasoning that also applies to the mental world as well, our subjective world experiences also if you analyze them they cannot be found as well so you cannot accord a hierarchy of existence to the matter and mind, they are both devoid of intrinsic existence but, they do both exist on the basis of designation and causes and conditions so they have dependent origination but they don’t have intrinsic existence so this is the point Buddhapālita also brings up very powerfully, he says that the only way in which we can understand the existence of things is only in terms of dependent designation and therefore if things possess intrinsic existence, what is the point of even teaching the dependent origination because they would have their own objective intrinsic existence by themselves you don’t need to attribute any notion of dependence on them so therefore the Nagarjuna explains similarly in a fundamental treaties on the middle way he says that which is dependently originated has been taught by the Buddha to be empty therefore they are dependently designated and this is the true middle way.
So, here what we see is an equation between dependent origination, emptiness, dependent designation and the middle way. Therefore, in the Sutras themselves the Buddha often talks about mere words, mere names, and mere designations, ming tsam, da tsum. This is an important point because what it is pointing out is that, it is not that nothing exists but their existence can only be understood in terms of designations and in terms of their in a words, names and so on and this is also elaborated further in Chandrakirti’s entering the middle way where he presents the reasoning for understanding no-self by means of sevenfold analysis of identity, different shapes collection combinations and so on and then at the end of that analysis when something like person or a carriage is nowhere to be found then Chandrakirti goes on to say therefore, their existence can only be understood on the level of designation by convention and so on and in this way Nagarjuna, Chandrakirti in Buddhapālita really unpacked the Buddha’s phrase mere words, mere designations and explain them in terms of the understanding of the dependent of origination.
So, I think if you understand this then, you will appreciate the importance of the teachings on two truths so, what we are talking about here is the two levels of reality, one is the ultimate level of reality which is the emptiness where nothing can be found, but there is also another level of reality which is the conventional relative level on which causes and effects and everything function and this ability to distinguish between two levels of reality and two truths and understanding existence in terms of these two becomes very important.
Generally, the whole basic idea of two truths is not just unique to Buddhism we also see that in other ancient Indian tradition, for example, in Samkhya philosophy which is an older philosophy a distinction there is taxonomy of reality of twenty five basic units of reality within which the true Prakrit which is the nature and Purusha which is the self, these two understood to be ultimately real and all the remaining twenty three factors of existence are understood to be manifestations coming out of it. So there is a notion of two levels of reality, even in non Buddhist philosophy, however, in Buddhism two truths is explains in terms of the emptiness and the conventional reality, therefore Nagarjuna says that the all the teachings of the Buddha have been really presented from the point of view of two truths he who does not understand the two truths cannot understand the essence or the intentions of the Buddha’s teaching so we also see similar statement in Shantideva's Bodhisattvacharyavatara.
Similarly in Nagarjuna texts particularly Nagarjuna really responds to Buddhist realists who couldn’t understands the teaching on emptiness and then criticized critique the Madhyamaka School to falling into nihilism because emptiness suggest nothing exist, if nothing exist these consequences will follow and Nagarjuna responds to this by saying that those who critic raised objections to the teaching on emptiness for being nihilistic are doing so because they haven’t fully understood the purpose of the teaching on emptiness and what is the meaning of emptiness and what is the nature of emptiness so he responds by explaining each of these three.
So, it is by understanding these larger contexts and also the relationship between the Four Noble Truths and Two Truths and particularly as explained by masters like Nagarjuna and Chandrakirti and so on, we will really appreciate the larger teachings, the bigger picture of the Buddha’s teaching and also the importance of the Second Turning of the Wheel of Dharma and particularly the Perfection of Wisdom Scriptures the Prajnaparamita Sutra. The Prajnaparamita Sutra traditionally a distinction is drawn between the explicit subject matter which is emptiness there is presented and systematically presented by Nagarjuna and also the implicit subject matter of these Perfection of Wisdom Scriptures and the implicit subject matter relates to the stages of the path and that one cultivates and those that particular aspects of the subject matter is taught and developed more explicitly comprehensively in Asanga’s writing inspired by Maitreya and most important texts belonging to that genre of literature is really the ornament of realization Abisamaya-alamkara and in Abisamaya-alamkara the stages of the path are explained very clearly and also in the sequence where one starts with understanding the nature of the two truth first and then based on that understanding then the four truths are explained and once you have a deeper understanding of the four truths in particularly cessation and paths then you can also begin to have understanding of what the three jewels are, how can they be a dharma and how can they be Sangha’s that embody that and how can they be a Buddha who has fully accomplished the dharma so in this way in Abisamaya-alamkara texts clear explanations are given so then there is a Third Turning of the Wheel of Dharma where there two categories of Sutras belonging to that, one category of Sutra belonging the Third Turning has to do with the Buddha making a concession to his followers who may not be ready yet to receive the radical teaching of emptiness as presented in the Second Turning of the Wheel of Dharma where the notion of objective intrinsic existence is denied across the board in relation to the entire phenomena so for some of the disciples who were not ready to be receptive to such teaching, Buddha explained the teaching on emptiness contextually in terms of differentiating between three categories of phenomena the dependent phenomena of conditioned world and then the imputed phenomena the attributes that we imposed on reality, the imputed phenomena and then the perfected phenomena and he explained the emptiness in terms of what is known as the three types of absence of identity or identitylessness so this is essentially the main Sutra that is the basis for the emergence of the Mind Only School and then the second category of the third turning as the Buddha nature teachings which I already touched upon.
So, it is by understand this larger picture we can really appreciate the depth of the Buddha's teachings in Buddhism.
It reminds me once I was in Dharamsala, invited to a local school nearby Dharamsala and they had staged an exhibition supposedly introduction to the Buddhism and the exhibition involved starting right from the beginning the Guru Devotion practice and I told them this is wrong, I said, if you are going to present an introduction to Buddhism you cannot start with the relationship with the Guru, you have to start by presenting the Two Truths and then the Four Noble Truths and so on. Part of the problem with the Guru devotion emphasizing it too much is then Guru getting spoiled so I told them that this is incorrect. If you are to going to do any introduction to Buddhism you have to start from the Two Truths and the Four Noble truths and so on. But I can understand where they were coming from, they were probably basing their understanding based on the Lamrim teachings, stages of the path literature which begins with the relationship with the Guru and Lamrim texts are inspired by an important seminal work written by master Atiśa and I don’t mean disrespect to him.
The Boddi Pata Pari deepa lamp on the path enlightenment and if you look at the origin of that text in the colophon itself or it says that the Guge Kingdom, Guge ruler at the time Jangchu O, when Atiśa arrived in western Tibet requested for a teaching now you have to understand the historical context. Tibet used to be a great empire, a large nation which then became splintered into different smaller kingdoms.
So, we have to remember the historical in which that particular text was written and taught here we are talking about early 11th century by that time the great Empire of Tibet has become splintered into smaller kingdoms we are now in western Tibet it is a very small kingdom where the rulers of those kingdoms are already feeling pretty discouraged and demoralized because they are shrunk and so when the request was made for a teaching Jangchup O asked Atiśa it says I don’t want you to teach something that is profound and extensive I want you to teach something that is very simple and easily practicable so that was the request made and now compare that to the three stages of meditation the three books of the stages of meditation Bhāvanākrama which was written in the 8th century by Indian Buddhist scholar yogi Kamalashila at the request of the tenth Tibetan Emperor a unified Empire, Empire Trisong Detsen and if you look at the Bhāvanākrama the text is very grand it is very comprehensive in his approach and perspective.
So, according to the Chinese history book there were 7thth century, 8th century, 9th century at that time there were three Empires, the Chinese Empire, Mongol Empire and Tibetan Empire very powerful, so then later part of 9th century then collapse that so then Atiśa invitation sent by Tibetan small kingdom in the western part of Tibet.
So then, this was the request made and Atiśa actually wrote that text for that particular audience for that particular request so His Holiness was saying that here is a situation where both the ruler who was requesting for the text and that master was writing the text were both playing it very safe and very humble at the time so but the point is that Lamrim cannot be assumed to be the introduction to the Buddha Dharma. Lamrim presupposes that you already have an introduction so, if you are cultivating the knowledge and you want an introduction to dharma then you have to first begin by understanding the Two Truths, Four Noble Truths and so on and then Lamrim can be used as a practice a practical manual based upon that I think as an important point that has to be understood and even within Lamrim there are in the Kadampa (Bound by Command) tradition a particular lineage of Lamrim, known as the Lamrim Shungpaba the Lamrim of the treatises, Lamrim lineage of the treatises and in that particular tradition coming from Potova, they emphasized the study and practice of six text; Jatakamala (The Garland of Birth Stories) Jātaka tales and Udānavarga which is a collection of sayings by the Buddha so these two text are not that profound, not that extensive and then you have Bodhisattva Bhumi and Mahayana Sutra Alamkara so those two text present the stages of the path and quite an extensive way and then the final two texts are by Shantideva's Bodhisattvacharyavatara entering the Bodhisattva way and Shiksha-Samuccaya combination of training and both of these texts take them teaching on emptiness and presented quite extensively so for example if you look at Tsongkhapa’s a great treatise Lamrim Chemo (The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment), the great treatise on the stages of the path he is following that lineage of Lamrim which emphasizes the studies of the treatises and particularly if you look at the inside section of the great treatise on that text on emptiness you can see that how extensive it is so one should not assume that all Lamrim texts follow that very limited kind of instructional model. It can also emphasize the study of the treatises.
So, to sum up His Holiness was saying that one thing that becomes very clear is that, although for the followers of dharma, one can approach the dharma and the tradition recognizes this from the path of approach of faith and devotion but that is not really the ideal practitioner of dharma the ideal practitioner of dharma is the one who approaches the dharma from the approach of the intelligent one by emphasizing understanding the nature of reality and this is an important point that is made in the Buddhist texts and I often tell people that now in our day and age we should really emphasize the approach of the intelligent practitioner because which is emphasis on investigation, reasoning and understanding because if we rely too much on the approach of the faith and devotion it is doubtful whether the Buddha Dharma can last for long in this day and age but if we emphasize the approach of the intelligent using investigation and reasoning and understanding then there is a real chance that the Buddha Dharma will last for long time.
So this constitutes a brief introduction to the overall presentation of the Buddhist path and then the question is how do we put them together and apply it in terms of actual practice so that question is answered by Nagarjuna in his precious garland (Ratnavali) where he identifies three main elements of practice; one is cultivating universal compassion and second is cultivating Buddhachitta, the altruistic aspiration to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all beings and third is cultivating the wisdom of emptiness so universal compassion, Buddhachitta and emptiness.
So now how do we and what is the sequence in which we need to cultivate the path, here there is a passage in Aryadeva’s 400 stanzas where he explains the following he says that first what is non virtues must be averted and in the middle the self must be negated and finally all distorted views must be eliminated.
He who understand that sequence is a wise person so what exactly constitutes averting the non-virtues activities, here Nagarjuna explains that, in terms of the two aspirations, objects of aspiration of the Dharma practitioner, one is the temporary object aspiration which is the attainment of fortunate rebirth because as we recognize that if we are taking seriously the Buddhist path to enlightenment it requires a huge amount of application of our human mind, investigation, understanding, reasoning and so on. So it presupposes a kind of a cognitive ability that humans possessed and other species don’t. So, having a bodily existence that has the capacity to practice Dharma becomes important so therefore the temporary aim of Dharma practitioner is to seek the means that would ensure one would have a fortunate birth and a rebirth. What then are the means that would allow us and what are the causes and conditions that would give us assurance that there will be a fortunate birth and here Nagarjuna identifies sixteen factors and these are the ten elements of the basic morality which everybody is familiar with these are abstaining from the negative actions of body, speech and mind which are altogether 10 and in addition to these ten basic in a precepts of morality Nagarjuna adds avoiding taking intoxicant and then next is avoiding wrong means of livelihood and then the next one avoiding engaging in deceitful activities and then after that engaging in acts of charity and giving but out of respect.
When you engage in generous activity you have to respect the recipient in that act and then paying respects to those who are worthy of your respect and then finally cultivating loving kindness so these are the sixteen factors he emphasize that would ensure and that we will have a fortunate birth.
Now the main method for eliminating self is the meditation on emptiness and a meditation on no-self and so this is the teaching from the Second Turning the Wheel of Dharma one needs to cultivate, and then the final stage which is the overcoming and elimination of all views emphasizes that one’s understanding of emptiness must be complimented with skillful means, the method aspect of the path such as Boddhichitta and here the main point is that, in order for the wisdom of emptiness to become an antidote against not just afflictions but also subtle obscuration to knowledge which obstruct one from attaining Buddhahood the realization of emptiness must be complimented with all the method aspect of the path especially Boddhicitta and in this way one will be able to finally overcome all the views and then as for the cultivation of the Boddhicitta traditionally there are two main techniques or methods, one is the seven-point cause and effects approach which is quite a powerful technique but the more effective and more powerful one is Shanti Deva’s exchange an equalizing and exchanging of self and others which has it root actually in Nagarjuna’s Ratnavali as well as also in Nagarjuna’s commentary on the Boddhicitta so in these but more fully developed and explained in Shanti Deva’s entered the Bodhisattvas way.
In the Bodhisattva's way Shanti Deva explains in great detail the technique, that method of cultivating Boddhicitta based on equalizing and exchanging of self and others.
So here, today we will be presenting a, I will be briefly teaching a text which really is a text on cultivation Boddhicitta.
So the text belongs to the lineage of coming from Potowa which is the lineage that emphasizes the study and practice of the treatises Kadam Shungpawa and among Potowa’s disciples there were two principal, ones Langthangpa and Sharawa and author of this text is Langthangpa who was a student of Potowa.
So, I had the privileged to memorize these texts when I was very young and ever since I recite this daily.
So the first stanza reads "with the determination to achieve the highest aim for the benefit of all beings which surpasses even the wish-fulfilling gem may I hold them dear at all times." So, in this first stanza the author is reminding us that in fact if you contemplate deeply our dependents on others and our indebtedness to others is very profoundly right from the very beginning even when we accumulating good karma. Good Karma accumulation involves cultivating virtue engaging the virtues activities, even those basic moralities can only arise on the basis of our relationship with others. Similarly, when we meditate on loving kindness which in the Buddha’s scriptures described as a source of tremendous accumulation of merit, the loving kindness can only be practices in relation to other sentient beings taking the image of someone into the practice and you can cultivate it and on the path as well, if you think about the first stage which is the cultivation of Boddhicitta, the Bodhicitta can only be cultivated by taking seriously the wealth of other sentient beings because Boddhicitta is the altruistic mind that aspires to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all beings and without taking into account the wealth of other sentient beings there is no possibility of even cultivating Boddhacitta so whether on an ordinary state everyday life or even on the path our dependence on others is really profound and also if we think about more specific practices such as the six perfections a practice of generosity the perfection of generosity, professional morality, professional forbearance, in all of these practices, without others there is no basis for practice and particularly in relation to the perfection of forbearance or patience in Shanti Deva’s texts entering the Bodhisattva’s way he explains how first of all, how dependent we are on others for our practice of the path particularly in relation to forbearance our enemy become so important because it is the problem caused by someone that we don’t like, someone who causes a problem so called enemy who gives us the rare opportunity to cultivate forbearance so the perfection of forbearance can only be effected if we have those kind of opportunities so in fact he argues that one’s enemies for a practitioner should be viewed as true teachers, they are the ones who allow us and give us the opportunity to practice so the same is true of other practices of the perfections and including concentration and wisdom which may not seem immediately related to others but in order for these perfections to become a cause condition for attaining Buddhahood they need to be complimented by the factor of Bodhichitta so which means that on the path the success in practice of all dependent on our relationship to others.
So here, the author is reminding in our indebtedness the other sentient beings so therefore our attitude towards them should be that of recognition of their kindness so that we value them rather than see them in terms of enmity so that is the first point he is making about the importance of cultivating an attitude and perception of others where we value their presence and existence.
The second verse reads, “whenever I interact with someone, may I view myself as the lowest among all and from the very depths of my heart respectfully all the others as superior.”
So the point the author is making here is that, it is important when we interact with others and when we relate to others, we do not do so out of a place of arrogance and sense of self-importance thinking that I am the greatest, I am the best. One should relate to others with a feeling of humility but at the same time this phrase, this word that I am lowest among all should not be misunderstood at suggesting that you should feel yourself very discouraged and demoralize thinking I am nothing, I cannot do anything so that is not the point, the point is, it is important to the fact that you are someone who is aspiring to practice Bodhichitta already it indicates that you have a strong sense of confidence you want to do something so you need confidence but not arrogance and sense of self-importance but the confidence will be grounded in wisdom so with wisdom you have a confidence but you interact and your behavior and attitude towards others should reflect that humility and respect for others so it’s a wonderful balance that with wisdom confidence arises but in terms of your attitude and behavior you display a manner of humility.
In the third stanza we read; “In all my deeds, may I probe into my mind and as soon as mental and emotional afflictions arise as there they endanger myself in others may I strongly confront them and avert them.”
So, the author is making the point that as we engage in the practice of cultivating Bodhichitta and that we are bound to confront with obstacles, these obstacles generally are the afflictions that arises in us and particularly afflictions that take the form of thinking that I am the best, I am important and so on which manifestations of pride and conceit all of which have their root in grasping at inherent existence of a self as we discussed before so one needs to come to them and when we talk about countering these afflictions we need to apply antidotes and there are two types of antidotes one it is a more temporary antidotes that kind of bring about the temporary suppression of them and one is the lasting antidote which will actually help us eliminate them so in terms of immediate temporary antidotes, there are specific types of practice in relation to specific forms of afflictions for example to counter the affliction of anger and hatred loving-kindness is the recommended practice, to counter lust and greed and so on then there are specific forms of practice for example for the monastic and meditating on the impurity of the body and so on and for to counter arrogance and concede then reflecting upon the enumerations of list of Dharma is also recommended as a way of sort of toning down your arrogance so these are specific immediate antidote but the long term antidote is meditation on emptiness so one needs to apply these antidotes while you are practicing so again here the importance of wisdom of emptiness immediately becomes apparent.
The fourth stanza reads; “When I see beings of unpleasant character oppressed by strong negativity and suffering, may I hold them dear for they are rare to find as if I have discovered the jewel treasure.”
So, again for such a practitioner and when you interact with people if you find people with these kind of situations or conditions, one should not shun them, one should not immediately relate to them in an aversive manner or finding them disgusting or so on but rather one should recognize as if you have found a new treasure because they give you the opportunity to truly test your practice so this is important.
So, in the next two stanzas we read “When others out of jealousy treat me wrongly with abuse, slander and acorn, may I take upon myself to defeat an offer to others the victory.” And here, this echoes a passage from Nagarjuna’s precious garland where Nagarjuna talks about; he says that may all the effects of my virtues ripen upon others may the effects of other sentient beings negative karma ripen upon me. So, this is indicating that same line of thinking and the next stanza reads that when someone whom I have helped or in whom I have placed great hopes mistreats me in extremely hurtful ways may I regard him still as my precious teacher.
The next stanza reads in brief may I offer benefit enjoy to all my mother’s both directly and indirectly may I secretly of take upon myself all hurts and pains of my mother’s so this explains the practice of Tonglen giving and taking and the point about the word secretly is referring to using the movement of your breath as the medium for synchronizing with the giving and taking so when you breath in you take upon yourself or into yourself all the afflictions and problems of the others and when you breath out you give all your virtues, a good fortune and so on and then the word secretly can be understood as suggesting that his particular types of practice may not be completely appropriate for everybody so particularly the Bodhisattva practitioners who are not the intelligent mindset so therefore the word secretly is used.
So the final verse reads; “May all of these remain undefiled by the stains of the eight worldly concerns and may I recognizing all things as illusion devoid of clinging be released from bondage.”
So the first two lines emphasize the importance of your motivation when you are engaging in the practice especially such as Tonglen giving and receiving when you are engage in this practice there is a possibility that sometimes these practices could be spoiled by wrong motivations thinking that people will respect me, I am going to be a great meditator, I am going to be famous, people will honor me and so on so if these motivations become part of your practice reasons for practicing then they are inappropriate so one should not get against these kind of motivations creeping in and spoiling your practice and ultimately the main antidote that needs to be applied is the wisdom of emptiness that we spoke about and that is the one that is pointed out in the last two lines when the reference is made to, may I recognizing all things as illusion and getting rid of the clinging.
So that is the most important antidote that will help dealing with these afflictions and here the point is being emphasizing the importance of the teaching on emptiness and Aryadeva makes a very important point, he says that when engaging with the Buddha’s teachings especially in relation to those things that are very obscure, the way to lead people to that is to first teach emptiness and once the truth of emptiness is understood then they can be gradually lead to the other more obscure teachings, difficult teachings and this I think is a very important insight because I sometimes think in this way that if you look at the important elements of the Buddhist practice and path such as going for refuge or such as generating Bodhichitta or meditation on emptiness, Bodhichitta taking refuge and so on these are very specifically Buddhist you can see that they for such a person to do these, you require to be a Buddhist but when it comes to understanding emptiness I don’t think you need to be a Buddhist I in fact feel that sometimes. Some scientists are actually quite close to appreciating the teaching of emptiness and I remember having conversations with some scientists and I once asked one scientist do scientist and does science actually talk about the concept of interdependence and dependent origination in Bhuddhism we talk about Pratida Samupada, origination of things through mere dependence and one scientist told me that not in the past, science does not use such phraseology and there is no such concepts as interdependence but gradually through interaction with Buddhists and probably influence of the Buddhism and Buddhist thinking the notion of interdependence and dependent origination is beginning to find a seed in the scientific vocabulary as well and this I think is say something about the universal nature of the concept of emptiness and I don’t think you really have to be Buddhist just to appreciate it and understand it.
Addressed by H.H. THE 14TH DALAI LAMA Interpreted by Dr. Thupten Jinpa Langri
Transcribed by Tenzin Topjor
Transcribed by Tenzin Topjor
