Buddhist Hour
Script No. 402
Broadcast live on Hillside 88.0 FM
on Sunday 9 October 2005CE 2549 Buddhist Era
This script is entitled:
Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, Part X
Thank you for joining us. Today’s program is part ten of our series, Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment. Atisha Dipamkara was a notable Buddhist Master from India, and upon the request of his disciple, Byang-chub-oe, he composed a text called “A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment.”
In Tibet, the teachings of the Buddha had begun to decline. “Masters and Spiritual friends were arguing back and forth about things they themselves did not comprehend.” Any person who was seeking the true Dharma understood that this was not beneficial.
Atisha, who was of incredible power, came to Tibet and untangled the tangle, so to speak. With his concise manner of teaching, he was able to clarify the misconceptions of Buddhist philosophy and practice that had begun to pervade Tibetan practitioners.
The founder of our Temple, the Master John David Hughes, gave an oral commentary on “A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment.”
Master John Hughes gave this teaching to his students in 1989, during a five-day meditation course.
The teachings were recorded on audio-cassettes and have recently been transcribed.
In last week’s program, John D. Hughes explained how one’s practice can be enhanced by the having of strong faith and commitment to the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. He explained that by having true refuge in the Triple Gem one opens up a whole range of blessings to rely upon. He said:
Come to the blessing supermarket. Have as much as you like, there's an infinite reservoir of them. Those blessings are accumulated by the thoughts and efforts of countless beings past, present and future who dedicated their merit for the sake of other beings! It's like if they had no money, they'd give em' money. Had no food, give em' food!
These blessings can be had by anyone if they were to develop true refuge in the Triple Gem.
On today’s program, Master John Hughes expounds upon the subject of undertaking the vow of Bodhicitta. Bodhicitta is a word which literally means awakening mind. Bodhicitta is the mind that wishes to, and strives for the perfect enlightenment of a Buddha for the sake of ending the sufferings of all beings.
He began in the following way:
JDH: So, the characteristics of the good Guru is examined and, if you happen to find such a Guru, one takes the vow from any good Guru, who has the proper characteristics. One who is, a good Guru is one who is learned in the ritual of the vow, himself lives the vow he has undertaken, and has the compassionate forbearance to impart it. Knowing who to be the good Guru, but if after trying one cannot find such a Guru as this, I will explain another ritual for taking the vow in the correct way.
In this latter way, Manjusri, the Bodhisattva of compassion, in a former life when he was known as Ambaraja, begat the enlightenment thought and it's told in the Sutra called the Ornament of Manjusri's Buddha Field. I'll write it down clearly here now.
So this is what Manjusri said when he was Ambaraja. He said in the presence of the Lords, that is the Buddhas, I begat the thought of perfect enlightenment and issued an invitation to all creatures, I will save them from the cycle of rebirth. Beginning from this moment, henceforth until I attain the highest enlightenment, I shall not permit ill-will, or anger, avarice or envy to occupy my mind. I shall practice the pure life and renounce sin, that's unwholesome minds, and base desire. I shall imitate the Buddha by rejoicing in the vow of conduct. Myself, I am not keen to reach enlightenment in some swift way, I shall remain until the final end for the sake of but a single creature. I shall purify the inconceivable fields of the universe and by taking this new name, henceforth I shall live in the ten directions. Purifying the actions of my body and speech entirely, I shall clean my mind's activity as well. No un-virtuous activity will ever be mine.
That was Manjusri's vow. Then the thing goes on. In essence one's purity of body, speech and mind means keeping vows with a mind for progress. With a mind for progress. But by practicing well the three-conduct training’s appreciation of the same three become greater. Hence, when one has striven in the vows which take up the pure and perfect bodhisattva vow, he will bring to complete perfection the very equipment for perfect enlightenment.
All the Buddhas have held that perfecting this equipment, the nature of which is merit and knowledge, punna kamma is like merit, and knowledge is punna, wisdom, or in Sanskrit Prajna, lies essentially in the super-knowledge’s. Just as a bird with unfledged wings can't fly up into the sky, so without the super-knowledge's power one can't work for the good of others. The merit which a man with the super-knowledge’s gains in a single day cannot be had in a hundred lives by one without these knowledge’s.
He who seeks to bring perfection, swiftly, the equipment for perfect enlightenment, strives hard for the super-knowledge’s, and they are not accompanied by sloth, meaning laziness. As long as calmness is not attained, the super-knowledge’s will not come. Therefore, in order to achieve calmness, one must keep striving over and over. One who neglects the limbs of calmness, even though he strives to meditate for thousands of years, never will attain concentration. Therefore, when one is established in the limbs, as stated in the chapter on concentration equipment, one can then set the mind in virtue fixed on any topic he chooses, any topic.
When yogic calmness is achieved, so too are the super-knowledge’s. But obscuration is not destroyed without the perfection of insight. Hence, to remove all obstruction of his affliction of his knowledge, the yogi must continually cultivate the perfection of insight together with means.
Scripture says that bondage is from insight being divorced from means, and means from insight as well, if you uncouple the two, therefore neglect not this union. To remove any doubts about what insight is and what is means, I'll make clear the difference between means and insight.
The Victors have explained, that's the successful Bodhisattvas, explained that the means are all the equipment’s of virtue starting with the perfection of giving, up to but excluding that of insight, that’s nine perfections. There's sometimes six if you do Mahayana. One who combines mastery of means with a true cultivation of insight will swiftly attain enlightenment, but not by cultivating merely non-self. Insight is fully explained as knowing the emptiness of intrinsic nature and comprehending the aggregates and sense bases and elements do not arise. That's like third arupa jhana, sunyata.
But existence arising is impossible, and non-existence is like flowers in the sky. Flowers in the sky are fiction. For a thing to be both is absurd phallacy, so neither do they originate together. Since an entity does not rise from itself, and is not from another or either from both, nor is it yet without cause, therefore it has no intrinsic nature by way of it's own self-existence. Furthermore, if one analyses all things as identities or multiplicity’s, this is just some Buddha logic summarised, own existence is not perceived hence one is certain that the intrinsic natures do not exist. The reasoning of the seventy stanzas on emptiness in the text like the best six stanzas on the Middle Way, explain the proof that all entities are empty of intrinsic nature. Therefore, lest my text become too long, I don't elaborate it here, and we'll explain it only proven tenets in order to further contemplation. Thus not to perceive intrinsic nature in any phenomena whatever is to contemplate it's not-self, non-self, which is the same as contemplating of insight.
And this insight which does not see intrinsic nature in any phenomena is the same insight explained as wisdom. Cultivate it without conceptual thought. Without conceptual thought means without, like yatha buthum mind. For example you see something, your normal mind says how can I use that, or how can it harm me or, your always referring it back to yourself. It's just silly, and ignore self. There's no self. So if I see this book, see your mind's greed. It says what's in the book? How can I use this? The book is the book. I wouldn't throw away the book, I wouldn't grab. This dukkha arose out of samsara, one day it will fall out of samsara.
Cultivate without conceptual thought, so if you ask, who, what, why, when, where, that’s conceptual thought. The world of change springs from conceptual thought, which is it's very nature. It causes the rebirth, if you like. Keep asking questions of things. The breath is, the dog is, the cat is. The world is. It's enough. The complete removal of such thought, which conceptual thought is conditioned thought, unconditioned thought is the highest nirvana. Moreover the Blessed One declared conceptual thinking is the greatest ignorance and casts one into Samsara's ocean. But clear as the sky is one's contemplation who remains in concentration without concepts.
And he says in the non-conceptual progress formula, when a son of the victor meditates on this holy doctrine without conceptual thought, he gradually attains to the non-conceptual. When through scripture and reason one has penetrated the non-intrinsic nature of all arising phenomena, then contemplate without conceptual thought. And when he is contemplated thatness, and by stages has attained warmth, and the rest, he feels good about it, in other words then he will join the joyous level and so up. Buddha enlightenment is not far off.
Through the rites of appeasement, prosperity and so on, affected by the force of mantra and also by the strength of the eight great powers, starting with good flask and others, it is maintained that the equipment for enlightenment is perfected with ease. If one wants to practice mantra, as prescribed in the Tantras then to gain the preceptor initiation, one must first win a holy Guru by giving him attendance and precious things and by obedience to his word. And when the preceptor initiation has been conferred by the Guru he has won over, then one is purified of all sin, meaning unwholesome minds and becomes fit to exercise the powers, the super-normal powers. The secret insight initiations should not be taken by religious celibates, that means monks, because it is emphatically forbidden in the great Tantra of the Primal Buddha. If these initiations are taken by one who stays in the austerity of a religious celibate, it would violate his vow of austerity, you know, brahmacariya, since he would be practicing what is forbidden.
Transgressions would occur which defeat the man of religious observance; and by his certain fall to bad destinies, and he could not even succeed in mantra practice.
Having acquired the preceptor initiation he may listen to all Tantras and explain them, perform fire offerings, gift worship, and so on; there is no wrong in wisdom about reality.
I, the Elder, Dipamkarasri, Atisa Dipamkara is the full title of Dipamkara, have seen this explanation in texts such as the sutras, and at Byang0chub-od's request have explained concisely that Path to Enlightenment.
This completes the Lamp for the Enlightenment Path by the great Acarya, Dipamkarajnana. Translated and edited by the great Upadhyaya of India himself and this text was composed at the Tho-Ling temple at Zhang-zhung.
So that is the text. Now, of course, it needs allot of commentary on those slokes. However, when you get to a certain point, the commentary will make itself. So we go back a bit. One takes the vow with any good Guru who has the proper characteristics, and the explanation continues the ritual for taking the vow, the full extent of it. How the vow is forsaken, how it will not be forsaken, the benefits of conduct, so on.
And then the next bits are if you can't find a Guru, then that, how to understand without a Guru. So allot of it is for people who couldn't find Gurus which we might skip over perhaps. So you, the need for the super-knowledge’s, the Bodhisattva who is only studying the doctrine should refrain from preaching it yet. The scriptures do not tell us that we are helpful to others just from studying the teaching, and without acquiring the super-knowledge’s, until you can read the minds of others, yin-yang, and you're saying the right thing which most of you can do now.
Shantideva said, people will have their preferences and if even the Victor, the Bodhisattva doesn't please them, how much less will a bad Guru, so give up the idea of pleasing the world. Can't win em' all as they say.
So Nagarjuna said, when you have acquired the five super-knowledge’s, powers that will follow you in all rebirths, then strive constantly for the complete benefit and happiness of all creatures. But to attempt contemplation without an instruction from a Guru and relying on exclusive, one's own study of texts, is prohibited by the authorities he gave for the following reason: even though you strive diligently in such yoga, the super-knowledge’s still will not come about for the same reason which you will not reach the great and perfect enlightenment. In the commentaries that treat this subject the great Brahma Saraha, what we call instruction of the Guru is the essence of ambrosia, like ambrosia is the heavenly food. Anyone who does not drink to satisfaction as it were, will certainly die of thirst like a man in the middle of a desert full of treatises but no water. And Nagarjuna says, a man may study a great many tantras and even purify himself correctly according to scripture, but having little regard for a guru, he will not master that scripture.
He only defeats himself and he is mouthing treatises without authority. For him the texts are only reasons for argument. They're not reasons for practice, they're reasons for, so you can argue. That's not what the texts were written for. They weren't written to, for debate, they were written as instructions of practice. The merits which a man makes with the super-knowledges and so on, see, the super-knowledges depend on karmas. Karmas depend on conduct and that's why I talked about conduct first of all. So when calmness arises through conduct, calmness arises from five precepts and vows and the super-knowledges arise from karmas. So that's why the text says as long as calmness is not attained, the super-knowledges will not occur.
The super-knowledge which arises from calmness, and for which you first must go in calmness of these, super-knowledge of god-like insight. Celestial eye, celestial ear, so on. Super-knowledge of god-like hearing, celestial ear. Super-knowledge of the thoughts of other, like reading minds. Super-knowledge of previous lives, yours and other's previous lives. Super-knowledge of miraculous powers. Super-knowledge that all impurities have been destroyed. There's a very high knowledge where you know my impurities have been destroyed and I can go on.
So even if you neglect the karmas, if you neglect the conduct you won't get the karmas if you want to get the karmas for the super-knowledges. There's renunciation, preparation, avoidance, suppression of anxiety, dissatisfaction with the world which would bring you to renunciation, mindfulness of benefits, diligence, integrating and means of staying. Besides just learning, one must remain in the, these calm states.
So, when a man has acquired the eight limbs, meditation, it is result provided himself with his superior location and his food and appropriate lifestyle and clothes, and conducive companions, that means people who are in harmony with the Dharma, fellow Buddhists who agree. He should compose his mind, if you're a loner, the only Buddhist, everyone was bickering about other religions, would disturb your mind. So because you become Buddhist you don't dispute about what they're teaching. That will bring you calmness.
So if you can't compose your mind, let him strive again for the equipment of merit by making offerings, by circumambulation, you know, offer and offer and offer. If you can't calm your mind make merit instead. And when he sits about composing his mind he must cultivate eight good habits. So the hindrances or the defects in the concentration are five and you overcome, you use this logic to check this.
The first one is laziness, your too lazy to practice. The second, your forgetful, you forget the instruction the third is apathy, couldn't care less or anxiety too, you're right. They're linked as one. Apathy and anxiety. Different from laziness, apathy. Just looking at the world dully, like stupid apathy. Or anxiety, too anxious about the world. The fourth, failure to achieve the level. Five, a false achievement, to think you've achieved something when you haven't actually. The remedies against these five defects are the eight habits which avoid them.
Namely, desiring the state you want to attain. Two, the effort to remain yet. Three, faith which is the coarse confidence and it's result is, the result of, of confidence, is self confidence. You can't have self confidence if you won't have confidence. You can’t have self faith if you don't have faith. You can't have scrambled eggs if you haven't got eggs. You see, you've got to get faith first, or confidence first and then, as the thing fruits, you'll have self confidence. See, otherwise, if you're put on doubt you'll have self-doubt. You know, I've even had people here, one woman, sounds wacky, she had a, she used to be a model, she said I'm envious of the beauty of my own body. Self envy, how about that? When women envious of other women beauty, but his one went so bad she even felt jealous of the beauty of her own body. It was her body! So there's all sorts of mad things happening. So you, to get self anything, you want self-praise, praise others and then you get praises.
Well done all you people, well done Spike. Mindfulness, of course, always sati, always mindfulness. Everything in Buddhism, mindfulness, mindfulness, mindfulness. Awareness of one's apathy or anxiety, sometimes you get anxious or apathetic or, so what, couldn't care less, it's my life.
You just burble on about it and you, you're not aware of what you're saying. So it's one thing to have apathy, it's another thing to know it. It's one thing to have anxiety, it's another thing to know it. If you know it, if it, anxiety is below your conscious threshold, raise your conscious threshold and say anxiety, hello again. Nice to see you again. If you've got apathy, hello apathy! Nice to see you again. Awareness, awareness, awareness. You can't get rid of something if you're not aware of what you've got. Habitually avoiding these defects and when calm, when you get your mind calm which often comes, actually entering the state of calmness. So there's like two calmnesses, there's calmness out here, while the mind is calm, I told you to put your mind inside. Oh, ah! Calm. Mind out here's calm, should be in here, entering into the calmness.
The Ornament Sutra says, the first thing is to make an effort. The second is to bolster it, oomph it up. The third is to focus the attention. The fourth is the actual remedy of calmness if you, we've got five remember sati-patthana, but much the same. Some prefer this explanation, get rid of craving, get rid of ill-will, get rid of sloth and drowsiness, get rid of anxiety and guilt, and get rid of doubt. The retinue, and there's a lot of them, a lot of followers, sloth and drowsiness includes things like weariness, lack of zest, power, you know? Restlessness, kataka, restlessness, comes under sloth and drowsiness. Not taking the proper amount of food. If you've got anorexic behaviour patterns, then you would run out of energy. And slackness of mind, you know mind too sloppy. These things make the mind depressed. So if you want, if you want to get yourself into great depression get craving, get ill-will, get sloth and drowsiness, get anxiety, look, and get doubt. And then you'll succeed having big depression. But don't experiment like that just to prove me right, you'd better take that I'm right. I'm not suggesting you meditate like that.
May you attain calmness of mind.
If you would like to learn to develop calmness of mind through the teachings of the Buddha, please come to our meditation course on every Tuesday night at 7.0 PM to 9.00 PM at the Dandenong Ranges Cultural Community Centre or contact us on 9754-3334.
May you be well and happy.
May all beings be well and happy.
May all beings see the Buddha, hear the Dharma, and join the Sangha.
This script was prepared and edited by Alec Sloman, Anita Hughes, Frank Carter and Melba Nielsen.
References
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