·
Even at the time of being a sentient being, the nature of mind has the apparent Buddha qualities of Rupakaya and the Buddha qualities of the emptiness aspect as Dharmakaya; (i.e. The two inseparable aspects of the real nature of everything, are called the two kayas in the fruition.)·
But since they are obscured by un-removed defilements, this is called the dhatu or enlightened family. (i.e. the potential, the Buddha-nature)·
At the time of Buddhahood, since mind is free from all defilements, it is called enlightenment. (i.e. the potential realized: Buddha. One cannot be called a Buddha until it is fully realized. But still, nothing change. It is the same in both case.)·
This occurs merely by the appearance or non-appearance of the perfected power of the nature, mind itself. It is not maintained that first, at the time of being a sentient being, the qualities are non-existent, and later they are newly produced. This is because they are changeless. (i.e. There is nothing added or removed. Sentient beings in samsara and Buddhas are not different or separate, not the same. Not one, not two. Nirvana, or Enlightenment, is not produced, not caused, thus not impermanent.)(i.e. The mind is not existent, not non-existent. It is empty of inherent
existence, but still dependently arisen and functional. That is the
complementarity expressed with the Two Truths, and the need to use both method
and wisdom. The Rupakaya is the equivalent of affirming conventional truths,
dependent origination, causality, space and time. Dharmakaya is the equivalent
of affirming the ultimate / sacred truth, the emptiness of inherent existence of
all of this. Those two aspects are inseparable, that it the real nature of the
mind, that is the Svabhavikakaya. Everything has always been like that, that is
their unborn Buddha-nature. But because of ignorance, fixations and
obscurations, we do not see this.
-- The apparent Buddha qualities of Rupakaya and the Buddha qualities of the
emptiness aspect as Dharmakaya)
The Sutra of the Supreme Appearance of the Essence says:
The dhatu has no temporal beginning.
It exists as the true state of all dharmas. (i.e. The Buddha-nature is the real nature of our own mind and of everything.)
Since it exists, all beings have attained nirvana.
As it was before, it will be later.
This is the changelessness of such-ness. (i.e. This real nature of everything is not changing; it is just hidden by veils caused by ignorance.)
The luminous nature of mind is not obscured by the kleshas. (i.e. This real nature of our mind, and of everything, is not changed by those veils covering it, by our ignorance. Like the sun is not touched by the clouds covering it from our sight.)
The Uttaratantra says:
The nature of the mind is luminosity.
It is just as changeless as the space of the sky.
By the rising of false conceptions, desire and so forth obscure it,
But its nature is not obscured by incidental defilements.
The divisions are the primordial gotra and the removable gotra, whose arising depends on clearing away incidental defilements. As for their beginning-less existence as dharmin (i.e. the realm of dharmas) and dharmata (i.e. the real nature of the dharmas), the Nirvana Sutra says:
O son of noble family, as for the nature of mind, naturally luminous and naturally essence-less, the way naturally pure mind appears is by participating in Buddha qualities that blaze with the major and minor marks, and not being separate from them. Nevertheless its empty and apparent natures are distinguished. (i.e. Non-dual: not one, not two. Not separate or different, not the same. Inseparability of the two aspects: luminosity or appearances and emptiness.)
The established gotra, superimposed on the primordial gotra is the incidental upaya and prajńa of the four paths of learning, produced by mind and so forth. Purification occurs through the activities of the two accumulations of merit and wisdom.
(i.e. This purification, a skillful means consisting of using both method and wisdom (the two accumulations), although being empty itself, is building karma in accord with the goal: transcendence from all extremes. It is like as if producing something (good karma), but at the end even this is seen for what it really is: just a temporary raft, and this good karma formation is also transcended. The important point is to use any adapted skillful means (a progressive path) required to be able to ultimately directly see the real nature of our own mind, and thus of everything. So the gradual purification is the gradual removal of obstacles preventing one to be able to do this, and gradually seeing the real nature of everything. Those two accumulations are supporting each other along the path. One without the other would not go far.)
The Gandavyuha Sutra says:
Kye, sons of the Victorious One! This, which is called the gotra of enlightenment, is genuine [31] Dharmadhatu
(i.e. The Buddha-nature is the real nature of our own mind and of everything. That is what has to be directly seen by gradually purifying the mind, by bringing the result into the path. That is why we need the two accumulations, because it is in accord with the non-dual nature of everything: not existent, not non-existent, not both, not neither; the Union of the Two.)
It is vast like the sky. When its naturally luminous nature has been seen, training in accord with the great accumulations of merit and wisdom is purified.
The Uttaratantra says:
Like the buried treasure and the fruit
The two aspects of the gotra should be known
They are the beginning-less natural presence
And supremacy that has been truly received.(i.e. The Buddha-nature is the real nature of our own mind and of everything. Its two aspects are the two aspect of the real nature of our own mind and of everything. The Two Truths should be known. Both method and wisdom should be used, accumulating both merit and wisdom. The two kayas should be produced. The real nature of everything should be seen as both not existent, not non-existent; the Union of dependent origination and emptiness.)
As is taught, arising from these two gotras,
The Trikaya of the Buddha is attained.
By the first arises the first of the kayas, [32]
By the second arise the subsequent two. [33](i.e. The two aspects of enlightenment, the union of dependent origination and emptiness, the union of the two truths, the inseparability of appearances and emptiness, the union of body and mind, have always been like that. This is not a mental fabrication. It is just a matter of directly seeing our real unborn mind nature, and thus the real nature of everything, to be free from all uncontrolled karmic formation and conditioning. The two kayas are the real nature of a being when directly seen without all the defilements. They are not produced they are always there. The two aspect of the potential are then called the two aspects of the Buddha.)
All the splendor of svabhavikakaya,
Like the precious statue of the Buddha.
Is self-arising and therefore un-produced.
It is a mine of precious qualities.(i.e. Since the real cause of Buddhahood is the Buddha-potential, nothing is produced. The wholesomeness of the path is already present in this Buddha-potential, in the real nature of everything. That is because wholesomeness is being in accord with the real nature of everything. It is in accord with Liberation because it combines both method and wisdom, because if is not based on egoism, not based on hurting other, not based on maintaining and amplifying the belief in inherent existence, in objects of desire or hate. It is wholesome because it is progressively perfected by getting closer and closer to this non-dual nature of everything, this Buddha-nature.)
Because it has great dominion over the dharmin (i.e. the realm of dharmas)
It is fully expressed, like a universal monarch.
Its phenomenal nature is like a reflection,
With emanation-bodies like forms of gold.(i.e. The Buddha-nature is the real nature of our own mind and of everything.)
Svabhavikakaya is mind itself, the naturally existing gotra. This is like a naturally existing jewel. From within it comes the gotra with the nature of the dharmin (i.e. the realm of dharmas). Here there are the universal monarch of Sambhogakaya, and its reflected emanation, arising in dependence on it, Nirmanakaya, the supreme emanation for those who are to be tamed. At the time of existing as a sentient being, these do not appear, because defilement obscures them.
(i.e. The real nature of our own mind is the real non-dual nature of everything, the inseparability of the two aspects. From the aspect of luminosity comes the appearances of the Sambhogakaya and Nirmanakaya. But they are not seen for what they are. -- From this real nature of everything beyond existence and non-existence, come naturally the mind's function, the various mind's objects, and the illusions. The only problem is by not being aware that all of these colors / concepts and emanations / appearances are empty of inherent existence while being naturally produced.)
·
By accumulating merit through visualization and so forth, defilements that obscure Rupakaya are cleared away.(i.e. By purifying the body, speech and mind one generated the causes for the Nirmanakaya, the Sambhogakaya, and the Dharmakaya. Once the real nature of the impure body, speech and mind is directly seen, they are seen as pure kayas. Just acting as if they were pure the body and speech are the cause of the Rupakaya because then they are acting in accord with their real nature.)
·
By the accumulation of wisdom through emptiness meditation and so forth, obscurations are cleared away from the dharmata-svabhavikakaya, the body of the self-existing-essence, the nature of dharmas.(i.e. By purifying the three as inseparable, one attains the Svabhavikakaya - the inseparability of the three kayas. But the real transmutation occurs only by directly seeing the whole picture, the real nature of our own mind and of everything.)
·
The support, the naturally existing gotra, is like clear water.·
Within it the supported, the established gotra, rises like a variety of reflections.·
The two exist primordially, like reflector and reflection.
(i.e. Inseparability of emptiness and dependent origination. When correctly seen these two are seen as inseparable, unborn, primordial. Everything is dependently arisen because of emptiness. All the appearances of the mind, and the mind itself as the chief of appearance, naturally arise.)
·
Within the gotra that exists as the ground,·
as knowable objects, the incidentally established gotra exists as the phenomena of knowing mind.·
These are respectively support and supported.·
The dharmin (i.e. the realm of dharmas) exists separately from dharmata (i.e. the real nature of the dharmas), the naturally existing gotra.·
As a separable fruition, it is non-existent. The produced gotra is an antidote to purify defilements.·
Though the two kayas exist as if they were produced effect and producing cause,
there is no actual causation.·
That gotra makes the perfect Buddha qualities to be born as the realization of the paths of learning. This is their liberation or ripening as the level of Buddhahood.
The Mahayanasutralankara says:
The nature and the vast extent of its blossoming;
That these exist as support and what is supported;
Their existence and non-existence; their Buddha qualities.
Are what should be known as the meaning of liberation.
(i.e. The essence of the teachings is the inseparable two aspects. The unimpeded manifestation of luminous space. Like the three aspects of the mind: empty, luminous, unimpeded wisdom; or essence, nature, compassionate energy. All of this meaning that the real nature of everything is not existence, not non-existence, not both, not neither.)
Sugatagarbha pervades all sentient beings.
By the nine examples it is taught to exist within the covering of the kleshas.
The Uttaratantra says:
A Buddha in a decaying lotus, bees and honey.
Gold within a covering of an unclean nature.
Treasure in the earth, the germ within a fruit,
An image of the Buddha that is covered with rags.
A king within the belly of a poor and ugly woman.
Jewels in the earth, in such a form,
Obscured by the incidental defilements of the kleshas,
This dhatu exists within sentient beings.
These nine examples are related to the obscured dhatu as it exists in ordinary individuals, Arhats among the shravakas and Pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas dwelling on the paths of seeing and meditation.
Ordinary people are those who have not entered into the path; or those who have entered but their being is obscured by to the assembly of the four obscurations, passion, aggression, ignorance, and all of these together. From the four examples of the dhatu within them,
First, as for the example of how the essence exists, when it is obscured by propensities of desire, the Uttaratantra says:
Existing in a lotus that is evil-colored,
A Tathágata-statue, blazing with a thousand marks,
Having been seen with the undefiled eye of the gods,
The statue would be removed from its mud-born lotus cover.
For Tathágatas dwelling in places without torment
The intrinsic Buddha eye sees what will later be un-obscured. [34]
Their intrinsic endless compassion will free them from obscuration.
Second, the example of the dhatu existing in a covering characterized by propensities of aggression:
Like honey that is surrounded by a swarm of bees,
Capable persons have a wish that they could acquire it
Having seen it is there, by using skillful means,
They completely separate it from the swarm of insects,By the all-knowing eye of the great sage himself
Having seen the honey of the dhatu or gotra,
Having obscurations like the swarm of bees,
He makes them be completely abandoned and disappear.
Third, the example of the dhatu existing in a covering characterized by propensities of stupidity:
Just as kernels of grain still covered by their husks
Are not usable in that form by human beings,
They remove the grain from out of the covering husk.
Using the part they want for food and otherwiseJust so, mixed with defiling kleshas of sentient beings,
As many victorious ones as there are in the three worlds,
If they are not liberated from being mixed with these kleshas,
So many will not be made into victorious ones.
Fourth, the example of the essence existing in a covering manifesting kleshas characterized by the arising of passion, aggression and stupidity all together:
Just as on a journey someone's treasured gold
In the confusion might fall into a filthy place,
That dharmin (i.e. the realm of dharmas) by falling there, would not have been destroyed,
Remaining there like that for many hundreds of years.By a god who had the pure eye of the gods,
If the gold existing there was seen and found
People would say the god established that precious thing,
This supremely precious thing, that actually was abandoned,So the Buddha qualities of sentient beings.
Have sunk and disappeared among the filth-like kleshas.
Having been seen by the Sage, to purify them that filth,
For all beings he caused the dharma to arise.
As for the example of the dhatu existing in a covering of habitual patterns of ignorance, in the Arhats of the shravakas and Pratyekabuddhas:
Just as in the house of a poor man, under the floor,
An inexhaustible treasure might be lying buried;
But he would not know the existence of this treasure,
Nor would the treasure say to him that it was there.So with the precious treasure that is within the mind,
Spotless dharmata, with no adding or taking away,
When it is not realized, we experience
The poverties of suffering, continuously arising.
(i.e. dharmin, the realm of dharmas, and dharmata, their real nature)
if the covering is abandoned when seen,
here is the first of the two examples of how the essence is:
Just as in a mango or in other fruits
There are undestroyed dharmas of seed and germination,
And then if there should be plowed earth, and water and such,
The stuff of a king of trees will gradually be established.
So in the fruit of the ignorance of sentient beings,
Inside the covering skin is the good dharma-element
Which similarly depending on the condition of goodness
Will gradually be the stuff of the King of Sages.
As for the second example:
As a precious statue of the Victorious One
Might be covered up in dirty tattered rags,
But still a divine one on the path might seen and uncover it,
And then it would be said, "He really dwells on the path."So the Sugata nature, wrapped in beginning-less kleshas,
Having once been seen, even within an animal,
There would be a real means of by which it could be set free.
From the two examples of how, within the covering of defilements that is to be abandoned by cultivation, there exists the splendor of the good dhatu of dharmas,
as for the first:
Just as an ugly woman with no one to protect her
Staying in a shelter for the poor and homeless
Might hold a splendid king in the confines her womb.
And would not know this lord of men was in her belly.In the refuge mission of life within this world,
Impure sentient beings are like that pregnant woman.
With only what she has, she will one day have a protector.
Gestation of the spotless dhatu is similar.
As for the second example:
Just as gold ore that has a big nugget inside of it [35]
Has a external nature that is very drab,
Having seen it those who know it for what it is,
In order to purify the gold that is inside,
Undertake to remove the outer covering.Having seen the luminous nature that is within us,
Although it has been covered up by the incidental;
Likewise the source of seeing what is precious in sentient beings
Removes the obscurations of supreme enlightenment.
Though the obscurations to the pure ground are many, the same text says:
Passion, aggression, and ignorance; active or as an imprint;
That to be abandoned by seeing and meditation;
The higher Bhumis relatively impure and pure, [36]
Many defilements are taught by the covering lotus and so forth.
Transcending all the divisions of closely-connecting kleshas,By these defilements fools and those with the learning of Arhats,
Are meant by respectively four and one of these examples.
Seeing and cultivation, and the pure and impure levels
Have two and two comparisons of their impurities.
Joining these examples of defilements and the essence to a determination of their meaning, the same text says:
Just as when a lotus arises from the mud,
When it first manifests the mind is very joyful,
But afterward it decays and then there is no more joy.
The joy arising from desire is like that.Just as delicious honey is completely crawling
With irritated bees that sting like an army of spears;
Just so, if aggression rises, and swarms within our minds
Suffering will be produced within our hearts.Just as the essence, the kernels rice and other grain
Is hidden by an external husk which covers it,
So sight of the essential meaning Buddhahood
Has been obscured within the egg of ignorance.Just as filth is something that is unsuitable,
So are those who have desire for these poisons
That is because depending on the cause of their desire,
What is like filth will be arising everywhere.Just as when wealth is hidden underneath the ground,
One who does not know this will not attain the treasure,
So the self-arising treasure of the nature
Is hidden in the ground of habitual patterns of ignorance.Just as by gradual growing of the sprout and so forth
The shell of the seed is cut apart and falls away,
So by seeing the such-ness of the natural state
What is to be abandoned by seeing is reversed.Those who conquer the essence of transitory collections
Through being connected to the path of the noble ones,
Make wisdom the thing to abandon on the path of meditation.
This is taught to be like being wrapped in rags. [37]The defilements supported by the first seven Bhumis,
Are like the defilement found in the covering of a womb.
Non-thought is like being free of the covering of the womb,
This completes the ripening of the insight of wisdom.Defilements associated with the three highest Bhumis
Should be known to like a covering of mud and clay.
By a great being's having attained the vajra view,
The vajra-like samádhi destroys that covering.Thus the many defilements of desire and so forth
Are like the examples of a decaying lotus and so forth.
The Enumeration of Dharmas of the Complete Passing Beyond Suffering of the Noble Ones says:
Then the Bhagavan spoke to Kashyapa. O son of noble family, It is, for example, like this. A wealthy king had on his forehead a vajra jewel. With other wealthy ones, radiating power, it touched the heads of those other wealthy ones. The jewel on the forehead sunk inside his flesh, and he did not know where it had gone. Because a wound arose, he asked a doctor, "Cure me." From this instruction, a very capable doctor would not treat him for that wound of the jewel going into his flesh, saying these words, "Kye most powerful one, why are you asking about your forehead-jewel? That wealthy one, from aversion, would say to the doctor, "Because my forehead jewel should not go anywhere." he would think, "Is it an illusion that it is not there?" This would produce much suffering. Then that doctor producing joy in that wealthy one would say, "Thus do not produce suffering. If you emanate power, the jewel will sink into your flesh, a mere reflection will appear externally. If you emanate power, hatred will arise. Though the power of the jewel has sunk into your flesh you did not feel it." Not believing these words that were said, the king would say, "Doctor don't lie. If it sinks into my flesh, which is matter and blood that is very opaque, it is not reasonable that a reflection would appear." Then the doctor would say, "A mirror is likewise opaque, but the jewel will also clearly appear in it. When you have seen that this is like that, a wondrous, marvelous perception will arise. O son of noble family, all sentient beings are like that. Since they do not venerate the spiritual friend, though they have the Buddha nature they cannot see it. It is obscured by passion, aggression, and ignorance. Many different beings who have so been overcome are within samsara and suffering. From that nature, O son of noble family, within the bodies of all sentient beings there are the ten powers, the thirty-two major marks, and the eighty excellent minor marks.
This has been taught in many ways. The Hevajra says:
Within the body there exists the great wisdom
The truth of this has abandoned all conceptions.
Universal, it pervades all things.
Embodied existence does not arise from the body.(i.e. The Buddha-nature is the real nature of our own mind and of everything. Seeing the real nature of our own mind is seeing the real nature of the world; and vice versa. The reason we seek the real nature of our own mind instead of seeking the truth outside is that we cannot directly see something outside of our own mind, but we can directly see the real nature of our own mind. Buddhists seek the truth inside; scientists seek the truth outside. It is all the same truth. There is no real distinction between the levels.)
he Precious Mala says:
I and limitless sentient beings are primordial Buddhas.
By the power of discursive thoughts there is samsara.
From that I shall produce the supreme mind of enlightenment.(i.e. A Buddha knows its real nature, the real nature of everything, and act accordingly in perfect harmony with this; we ignore our real nature and our actions are based on accumulated errors, conditioning.)
The Wisdom of the Moment of Death says:
Since whoever realizes mind is a Buddha, produce the supreme perception by not searching anywhere else.
(i.e. The only thing we have to do to become a Buddha is to realize the real nature of our own mind, and of everything.)
The Praise of the Vajra of Mind says:
Water that exists within the earth
Exists there pure without defilement.
Just so, within the covering of the kleshas,
Wisdom exists without defilement.(i.e. The Buddha-nature is the real nature of our own mind and of everything. The real nature of everything is not changed by our ignorance of it, and our errors because of this.)
The Secret Essence says:
Throughout the ten directions and four times,
Perfected Buddhas are nowhere to be found.
Except for the perfect Buddha, the nature of mind,
Do not look for any other Buddha.
The victorious ones themselves, if they should search,
Would never find it anywhere at all.(i.e. Buddhas are not something external, not something inherently existing somewhere. It is the real nature of our own mind and of everything: the inseparability of dependent origination and emptiness, the unimpeded luminous space, the flow of interdependence without any entities in it, the purified mind stream. Becoming a Buddha is realizing our own real non-dual nature; it is the perfect and permanent Union of The Two Truths. It is like stopping to identify ourselves with impermanent objects or phenomena, and identifying ourselves with the whole non-dual flow.)
So it is taught, there and elsewhere.
In brief, by the example of the great billion-fold expanse of the three-fold thousand worlds it should be known that within all sentient beings primordially exists the kayas and wisdoms of Buddhahood, without adding and subtracting, like the sun and its light. That dhatu is always naturally pure. Its self-nature does not change. Its defilements are false conceptions and temporary changes.
(i.e. The Buddha-nature is the real nature of our own mind and of everything. We can study and directly see the real nature of everything, the truth, within us. And once we have removed this ignorance, there is no more illusions, no more obstructions. The everything we do is in accord with the real nature of everything; All Buddha activities are in perfect harmony with this because he is constantly aware of the real nature of everything as he acts. He has realized the perfect Union of the Two Truths, the inseparability of the two aspects of the real nature of everything. -- Meanwhile, the difference between unwholesome and wholesome is that wholesomeness is more in accord with this real non-dual nature. And these wholesome methods are not artificially invented, but the fruit of this real nature that is part of us. Compassion is inseparable with emptiness.)
(i.e. So our real nature is not sinful, but Buddha-like. And wholesomeness, like acting for the benefit of others, instead of out of egoism, is more powerful, more efficient, bringing more happiness, because it is more in accord with the real nature of everything.)
The commentary on the Uttaratantra says:
O great rishi, the kleshas are darkness (i.e. ignorance).
Complete purity is light (i.e. wisdom, seeing the real nature of everything).
The kleshas are weak (i.e. There is no real power in mistaken views).
Clear seeing is powerful (i.e. Acting with knowledge of the real nature is surely more efficient).
The kleshas are temporary. (i.e. All views are flawed, dependently arisen and impermanent.)
Natural purity is the root. (i.e. The real nature of everything is the unchanging basis-of-all.)
So it is taught there and elsewhere.
Since the dhatu is primordially without defilement, it is pure. Since it is changeless, it is the true self, since it always exists it is permanent. Though it falls into the sufferings of samsara, it is not overcome by them, and this is the perfection of bliss.
(i.e. Everything is dependently arisen, impermanent, unsatisfactory, empty of inherent existence; but we imagine a support that is not. What this sentence should say is that it is not impure, not dependent and continually changing, not caused, not impermanent, not non-existent. But it is not their opposites either, nor both together, nor something else.
-- With Chittamatra (Yogacara) there is the belief in something inherently existing, an absolute, a real flow. That is what it is all about here. But with Madhyamika there is no absolute, only adapted skillful means. Everything is empty of inherent existence because dependently arisen ... even this. The flow of interdependence is also a mental fabrication. There is no absolute causality anywhere.
-- No absolute, only adapted skillful means, only relative truths. Everything is not existent, not non-existent, not both, not either. The real nature of everything is beyond any description, beyond any conceptualization, beyond causality space and time, beyond all dualities. But, still, we use concepts to say what it is not, and to point toward it. We use concepts like: Union of the Two Truths, inseparability of appearances and emptiness, inseparability of dependent origination and emptiness, unimpeded luminous space, original awareness, Buddha-nature, etc. We even used words like pure, permanent, changeless, unborn, Nirvana ... But it is really beyond those concepts. Those concepts are used only as pointers toward more and more wholesomeness, more and more in accord with the real non-dual nature of everything. They are all only adapted skillful means.
-- We look for the subtle nature of the mind and we find it when we find nothing inherently existing, but still dependently arisen and functional. That is not complete non-existence. It is important to realize that, otherwise we might fall into nihilism. The concept of Buddha-nature, or of a dhatu covered by defilements, is an aid to remember that, a skillful means for those who cannot think about emptiness without falling into nihilism. But, on the other hand, thinking that this Buddha-nature, or this dhatu, is really existing as a permanent something is to fall into the other extreme.
-- The real nature of our own mind and of everything, the real nature of Buddha, is beyond pure and impure, beyond change and immobility, beyond permanent and non-permanent, beyond existence and non-existence. It is the Union of the Two.)
The Uttaratantra says:
Purity, self-nature, bliss, and permanence
Are the perfect qualities of the fruition.
The dhatu of the Tathágata pervades all sentient beings...The Mahayanasutralankara says:
Just as space is maintained as eternal and omnipresent,
This too is maintained to be eternal and omnipresent.
Just as space is an aspect found within all forms,
This too is in all the assembly of sentient beings.(i.e. The support, the basis-of-all, the flow, is seen here as really existing and permanent. But as Nargarjuna pointed out, even space is a mental fabrication. There is no inherently existing dhatus. -- Karikas - Section 5 - An Analysis of the "irreducible Elements" (dhatus): "7.Therefore space is neither an existing thing, nor a non-existing thing, neither something to which a defining characteristic applies (i.e. separate from a defining characteristic), nor a defining characteristic. (i.e. the same as a defining characteristic) Also, the other five irreducible elements can be considered in the same way as space. " -- The important point is that the defilements covering it are "not permanent", "not really impure", "not really the self", and that there is a way to transcend them by directly seeing their real nature, thus becoming free from these obstructions.)
When this essence is obscured by clouds, they do not stain it, any more than when the sun is obscured by clouds. At the time of primordial Buddhahood, the dhatu exists indestructibly and inseparably. (i.e. The Buddha-nature is the real nature of our own mind and of everything. The real nature of everything is not changed by our ignorance of it, and our errors because of this.)
The commentary to the Uttaratantra says
The dhatu of the Tathágata existing in the three occasions is present within all beings.
All their kleshas and phenomenal appearances are composed of this changeless reality.(i.e. Everything is necessarily in accord with the real nature of everything. Seems tautological, no? A mind without or with appearances is still following the real nature of everything. It is still perfect and pure. It is just a matter of seeing this. Thinking there is good and bad, self and others, this kind of discrimination is ignorance of the real nature of our own mind and of everything. When we see this, then we are automatically free from all obsessions, attachments, fears, obstructions. Free from our accumulated conditioning, and not producing any more conditioning.)
As regards the three occasions, the Uttaratantra says:
These are the three-fold stages of impurity,
Both pure and impure, and being completely pure.
They are said to be the stage of sentient beings,
And those of bodhisattvas, and of Tathágatas.
The impure situation is that of sentient beings.
That which is both pure and impure is that of bodhisattvas.
Complete purity is the situation of the Buddhas.
As nothing is like the gotra, it cannot be exemplified by anything at all.
(i.e. The three occasions are three occasions to observe the nature of the mind: from gross, to subtle, to very subtle. They correspond to three stages of purification of the mind: within the influence of conditioning and producing conditioning, within the influence of conditioning without producing more conditioning, and outside of the influence of already accumulated conditioning without producing more conditioning. These three stages are seen while going asleep, dying, of while practicing the eight Dhyanas, or as a more permanent characteristic of a being who has gradually purified his mind. But the real nature of the mind is not the mind completely still. It is beyond any description, beyond a mind completely still or a mind completely wild. A mind with or without defilements is still following the real nature of everything. That real nature is what has to be directly seen.)
The same text says:
Since it is completely beyond the world
No example is seen within the world.
Therefore the Tathágata and the dhatu
Are taught to be similar in this respect.(i.e. The Buddha nature is the real nature of our own mind and of everything in all occasions. Seeing the real nature of our own mind and of everything is seeing the Buddha; and vice versa. This real nature of everything is beyond any description, beyond any conceptualization, beyond any duality, beyond causality space and time. It has to be directly seen by seeking and directly seeing the real (very-very subtle) non-dual nature of our own mind. That is the only way to fully convinced ourselves of this truth without using imperfect conceptualization.)
As to how it is incomparable, it is essentially single. Therefore, to explain it by many examples from different situations would be merely partial characterization of it.
It may be asked, "How can this gotra be seen as it is?
Beings who do not see the natural state are accepted by the spiritual friend. Those who have devotion to the vehicles of the shravakas, Pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas; and also beings dwelling on the Bhumis realize it in a single way. This realization is one with that of the bodhisattvas dwelling on the tenth bhumi. As for this being the way it really is, it is not seen otherwise even by the Buddhas themselves.
(i.e. And the way to be able to directly see this truth is by following the path. But the efficiency of this path cannot be proven conceptually, it becomes evident only when the truth becomes evident. They are both beyond description, beyond conceptualization. So there is a minimum of faith necessary. When one has seen the truth, one sees that the gradual wholesome methods of the paths are in accord with it and are causes (without being real causes) of it. Only then everything becomes perfectly united: not one, not two ... Only a fully realized Buddha can totally understand this truth and the path. Until then we need to rely on some faith as for the ultimate explanation. But there is still much proof in the practice of the two accumulations and its gradual results.)
The commentary to the Uttaratantra says:
Seeing clouds and the sun, whether from here on the earth or from the sky above the clouds, we have a similar apprehension. The noble ones whose eye of the mind is pure also see all this very clearly. Bhagavan, your completely pure understanding of Dharmakaya sees all the limitless knowable objects pervading the space of the sky.
The dhatu or essence is the Buddha field of the three kayas of one's own mind
itself, along with their wisdoms, existing as the circle of the ornament.
How is this seen? Since this is Buddhahood, it is properly explained in these
texts. By having faith in the paths of learning it is entirely apprehended.
The former text says:
The absolute truth of the self-arisen ones
Has to be realized by means of faith.
The blazing light in the circle of the sun
Is not seen by those who have no eyes.
The Sutra on the Essence of Buddhahood says:
No matter what they rely on, individual sentient beings, shravakas, Pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas do not see the essence of the Buddhas as it is. For example, a blind man cannot see what is painted by others in oil colors. When they say, "it is like this pillar, and he touches the pillar with his hands and grasps it as cold. They say, "It is like the wings of a swan." By hearing the sound of the wings of a swan the color of a pillar is grasped as a fluttering sound. He asks, "What is the color of those wings like?" "It is like a conch." By touching a smooth conch, he grasps it as smooth. Just as a blind person does not know colors as they are, seeing the highest nature of Buddhahood is very difficult.
It is also very hard for sentient beings to realize it. The same text says:
A king assembled many blind men, and having shown them an elephant. Asked to describe the characteristics of an elephant, those who had touched the trunk said, "It is like a hook." Those who touched the eye said, "It is like a bowl. Those who touched the ear said, "It is like a winnowing basket. Those who touched the back said, "It is like a tray. Those who touched the tail said, "It is like a rope." These blind men were not talking about anything other than an elephant, but they had not understood its totality.
The Buddha nature is also like that. Those who have said different things, that it is emptiness, like illusion, luminous and so forth, have not realized its totality.
(i.e. No absolute, only adapted skillful means. All views are necessarily dependently arisen, impermanent, flawed. The real nature of everything, and the full explanation of the path, is beyond description, beyond any conceptualization, beyond any extremes.
-- He who says he knows the truth, knows nothing. He who knows more, knows that he knows nothing.)
Beings who are noble ones have a little realization of it, but not as it is. The Nirvana Sutra says:
O son of noble family For example, it is like this. A blind man in order to have his eyes healed went to a capable physician. The physician holding a gold knife removed the hindrance. Having cut off the opaque part that obscured the eye. He lifted up a finger. When he showed it, the blind man said, "I do not see it." If he showed two or three fingers, the patient would say, "I see a little bit."
O son of noble family, if this Sutra of Complete great Nirvana is not taught, as many are not among the bodhisattvas, even after they have perfected the ten paramitas, even when they exist on the tenth bhumi, they will not see the nature of Buddhahood. It is like that. When this is taught by the Tathágata, they will see it a little.
The birds soaring in the sky above must examine where the pure sky is. If a swan is in the top of a tree it examines whether it is a tree or water, and thinking about the top of a ship on the ocean, or in space, also knowing the top of the second. Though by such examples the essence is not seen, it is taught to be the manner of non-ascertaining seeing.
If it is asked, "what is the use of teaching this essence that is subtle and difficult to examine, not seen with certainty while one is a sentient being?" (i.e. No absolute truth, just another skillful means.)
·
By teaching that the essence of Buddhahood exists within the being of oneself and others, having reversed one's own discouragement, knowing that establishing liberation is not difficult, we gain confidence.·
Eliminating contempt for other sentient beings, we respect everyone equally with the teacher as Buddhas.·
Having eliminated not knowing that realization of the kayas and wisdoms exists within one as true reality, prajńa realizes the space of the absolute. Knowing the natural state like that, it eliminates glorifications and deprecations of is and is not, Eternalism and nihilism.·
Then wisdom realizes true reality, and the supreme self. Having eliminated pride and desire for anything more, it sees self and other as equal.
It is taught that these are the five necessities for the arising of the great kindness for others. The Uttaratantra says:
Like clouds, dreams, and illusions, and the other examples
All the dharmas of knowables are always emptiness.
When this has been taught by victorious ones to sentient beings
Why do they also teach them that they have the essence.To answer that question: [38]
Contempt for lesser ones and dis-enheartened beings,
Joining those who grasp untruth to the truth of dharma,
For those who have abundant faults of ego-grasping
It is taught so that those like that will abandon them.As for those who wrongly slight the body and are enslaved by the golden net of wrong view, or who support realization of the true meaning of the sutras and secret mantra with partialities, their "essential meanings" are really provisional. They teach the intention that, "If the cause occurs, the fruition will arise." It is not like that. This is like the eternal self of the Hindu extremists. "The two kayas of Buddhahood arise from the two accumulations. This should be stated as definitely true." O you with your lotus net of Eternalism, you truly do not know the intention of saying that there were three turnings to the wheel of dharma. You are truly grasping the extreme of emptiness.
Ř
The first turning of the word, intended for beginners and those of weak mind, made the four noble truths and renunciation into an antidote. This was so that these beings could eliminate samsara as a means of complete liberation from what is to be abandoned.Ř
In the second turning, intended for them eventually when they had completely abandoned this and for those of intermediate capacity of mind, he taught the eight examples of illusion and emptiness like space. This was a means of liberating them from the bondage of grasping the antidote.Ř
For those who reached that goal and from the viewpoint of those of the highest powers, he taught the self-nature of knowables as it really is. This is not like the self of the heretics. Their impossible self is a nonexistent, exaggerated nature. They make measures of greater and lesser, and therefore they do not maintain the dharmas of the kayas and wisdoms.
It is not the true meaning that self and non-emptiness were taught simply as an antidote for you who are attached to ego-less-ness and emptiness.
The Nirvana Sutra says:
O son of noble family, moreover it is like this. For example a woman was nursing her small child who was afflicted by mouth rot, [39] and when the child was struck by sickness, that woman too was tormented by suffering, and sought out a physician. The physician gave her as medicine, oil and milk and shakara. When the child was given this to drink, he instructed the woman with these words. "Because we are giving medicine to this child, for a little while until you, the mother, are cured, it shouldn't be given your milk to drink. So he would instruct her. Then so that it would not nurse, he put bile on the nipples; the child would have said that her nipple was smeared with poison and not suitable for sucking. The child, tormented by thirst, desired the breast, but having tasted it, would not take it. After being treated by the physician the woman would wash her breast clean. When the child cried she would go to it. "Now take the breast and nurse," she would say. That child, though tormented with thirst, because of the former taste it experienced, would not come when called. In this instance the mother would give these instructions. "You have drunk the medicine I gave you before. With this medicine, until the mother is cured, since it is not proper that the nipple be given for nursing, it was smeared with bile. Now, even taking your medicine, the nipple will have no taste in your mouth." When she said that, gradually approaching as before, it would drink.
Son of noble family, The Tathágata also, in order to liberate all sentient beings, is the persistent teacher of ego-less-ness to sentient beings. By his having persistently done that, the attitude of "ego" is non-existent. Suffering is completely eliminated. This is in order to clear away the bad views of the worldly charvakas. By meditating on the dharma of ego-less-ness, the body will become completely pure. Just as that woman, because of her son, smeared bile on her breast, the Tathágata too is like that. So that there will be emptiness meditation, he teaches that all dharmas are selfless. Just as that woman later washed off the bile and called her child, saying take the nipple and nurse, my teaching Tathagata-garbha is like that. O monks so that you will not be afraid, as the mother called the child, and it gradually drank her milk, O monks, you too should make a distinction. Tathagata-garbha should not be said to be non-existent. In my former sayings in the Prajńápáramitá sutras, which taught emptiness, understand that the intention was merely nature-less-ness. Otherwise by meditating on the emptiness of nothing at all, the fruition produced would accord with the cause, and the kayas and wisdoms would not arise.
(i.e. No absolute, only adapted skillful means. The real nature of everything is not existence, not non-existence, not both existence and non-existence, not neither existence nor non-existence. Emptiness is not the absolute truth; it is just another skillful means, an antidotes to too much realism. But still observing causality, regularity, is the antidote to too much emptiness, or nihilism.)
Emptiness expresses the idea that the apparent dharmin (i.e. the realm of dharmas), from the time it appears, is empty of complexities grasped as one and many, and empty of individual existences, like the reflections in a mirror, that all extremes are completely non-existent, and that non-existent now and primordially, things are not like their confused appearance.
The Heart Sutra says:
Form is emptiness.
Emptiness is form.
Emptiness is nothing other than form.
From is nothing other than emptiness.
Similarly, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness are empty.
The Middle Length Prajńápáramitá says:
Every dharmin (i.e. the realm of dharmas) in its own turn is taught to be empty of essence.
But if it is formless, how will there be the view that form is empty?(i.e. If there is no belief in inherent existence, there is no need for the antidote of emptiness.)
The Uttaratantra says:
The emptiness that has the supreme of all aspects
Is emptiness that is expressed as form.(i.e. Form and emptiness are inter-dependent, co-arisen: not different or separate, not the same.)
And also: 39-40
Here there is nothing at all that is to be cleared away,
And nothing that is to be added to what there is.
Within reality the real is what is seen.
If thus one sees the truth, one will be liberated.Of what has the characteristic of separate-ability
The dhatu, pure of the incidental, is empty.
Of that which has the characteristic of being inseparable,
The unsurpassable dharmas, it is not empty.(i.e. The Middle Way: nothing to accept, nothing to reject; beyond existence and non existence; beyond all dualities)
Its commentary says:
Why is this taught here? For the reason that it is not contradictory with saying that this dhatu of the Tathágata is by nature completely pure from all the kleshas that are to be cleared away. It is free from incidental obscurations because it is its nature to be so. Within this there is nothing to be added for reasons of phenomenal appearance. Completely undivided dharmata is also its nature. Therefore, sugatagarbha having divisions and what is separable is empty of all the separable coverings of the kleshas. What is indivisible and inseparable from it is the Buddha dharmas beyond being encompassed by thought, surpassing the grains of sand in the Ganges. They are not empty.
(i.e. dharmin, the realm of dharmas, and dharmata, their real nature)When something does not exist in something, the latter is said to be empty of the former but we must subsequently assert that whatever remains there eternally exists and is known truly as it is.
Though obscurations of the two primordial kayas of Buddhahood,
are cleared away by the two accumulations,
they are not producing cause and produced effect.
If they were, Dharmakaya and Sambhogakaya
would be composite productions, and hence impermanent.
However, Dharmakaya is changeless.
(i.e. No absolute causality, no total absence of causality: Nirvana cannot be caused, otherwise it would be dependent on causes and conditions, and thus impermanent, and thus not Nirvana. But if we reject completely all causality, then we are good for the worst hells. The best approach is The Middle Way: not accepting, not rejecting.
Buddhahood is beyond causality space and time, beyond all discrimination and non-discrimination, beyond existence and non-existence, beyond all dualities. So the "result of the path" is not caused by our own actions (methods), but by directly seeing our unborn non-dual true nature.
So it is taught that there is an unborn Buddha-nature in all of us so we would not get attached to the means and develop pride and sectarianism. Otherwise that would be counter-productive. The goal is to transcend all attachment, all-conditioning, not to get attached to a path. No absolute, only adapted skillful means.)
The Madhyamakavatara says:
The kaya of peace is like a wish fulfilling tree,
Like a wish-fulfilling, gem it is inconceivable.
Till beings are liberated, it is always in the world,
And it will appear without complexity.
The Uttaratantra says:
The Mara of death has been conquered by the lord of Dharma.
Being without essence, he is the permanent lord of the world.Contradicting this idea that it has cause and effect it also says:
Uncompounded and self-existing,
Not realized by other conditions,
Having wise and compassionate power,
Buddhahood has the two benefits.
That refutes its having a producing cause and produced effect. Saying it is "ego-less," "emptiness," "non-dual," and so forth should be understood in this way. The Great Nirvana of the Noble Ones says:
The secret essence of the Tathágata is shown to be the completely pure Buddha nature that neither changes nor transmigrates. If it so exists, it is unreasonable for those who are skilled in prajńa not to maintain that. To say it is non-existent would be false speaking, and likewise that it has development or succession. Those of the race of fools espouse nihilism, not knowing the secret essence of the Tathágata. If it is said to suffer, the blissful nature could not be within the body. Stupid fools think, "All bodies are impermanent." This is like sending the freshness of awareness into clay. Those who are skilled in prajńa make distinctions. They do not say that everything is impermanent in every way. Why? Because within our bodies there exists the seed of Buddha nature. Stupid fools grasp the thought that all the dharmas of Buddhahood are selfless. For those skilled in prajńa, selflessness is just an abstract label. It should be discriminated as having no true existence. Knowing this, one will produce no doubts about the matter. When someone says that Tathagata-garbha is empty, stupid fools give rise to views of nihilism and non-existence. Those who are skilled in prajńa make a distinction. Within human beings there is the single Tathágata. It is said to be eternally existent, unchanging, and does not transmigrate. If by the condition of ignorance, composite things are said to arise, stupid fools when they have heard this think that insight and ignorance are to be distinguished as two. Those who are skilled in prajńa realize that their natures are non-dual. That which is non-dual is reality. When someone says that by formations consciousness arises, stupid fools grasp formations and consciousness as two. Those who are skilled in prajńa realize their natures as non-dual. Non-duality is purity. All dharmas have no self, and Tathagata-garbha also has no self. When this is said, stupid fools grasp it dualistically. Those who are skilled in Prajńa realize that their natures are non-dual. Self and selflessness are intrinsically non-dual. Tathagata-garbha has been supremely praised by the Buddha Bhagavats as immeasurable, beyond evaluation, and limitless. I too have taught this in all the sutras about the qualities it possesses.
(i.e. The real nature of everything including the self is not existence, not non-existence, not both, not neither. So it would be wrong to say that it exists, or that it doesn't exist completely. No absolute, only adapted skillful means. Emptiness is an antidote to realism, and Buddha-nature is an antidote to nihilism from too much impermanence or emptiness. The real nature of everything is beyond any description, beyond any concepts, beyond any dualities.)
So it should be known. The Sutra of Miraculous Display says:
Those who have wrong craving have the characteristic of never transcending suffering. (i.e. never, or for a long time ?)
When this is taught regarding these and those of the cut off family, we may think that not all beings are pervaded by the garbha; but it is not like that. The intention is that those with wrong craving who abandon the Mahayana dharma will not be liberated for a long time. Those who are reversed from the path are only temporarily cut off from the family of those in whom the path is established. They are not cut off from the dhatu, the luminous nature of mind. The commentary to the Uttaratantra says:
"Those who have wrong craving have the characteristic of never transcending suffering." This teaches that wrong craving causes hostility towards the dharma of the Mahayana. This is said with the intention that this hostility to the Mahayana dharma will be reversed at another time. Because the dhatu exists with a nature that is completely pure, it is not proper to say that some will never become pure. Therefore the Bhagavats intention was that all sentient beings without distinction are capable of being completely purified. Though samsara is beginning-less, it does have an end. The naturally pure and eternal is obscured by a covering of beginning-less obscurations, and therefore not seen, just as gold might be hidden.
Since within the dhatu of dharmas all goodness exists, it can always be purified. Though, samsara is beginning-less, it has an end. By that is it established.
The reasons that the two gotras are awakened are two.
As for the reason that Dharmakaya, the naturally- existing gotra, is awakened, the Madhyamakavatara says:
When someone hears about emptiness, as an ordinary person,
The highest joy will arise within them again and again.
Their eyes are wet with tears that flow because of this joy.
The hairs of their body arise with wonder and stand on end.Within them the seed of attaining Buddhahood exists
They have become the vessels of direct and straightforward teachings.
Now the absolute truth has really been taught to them.
As for the reason that the dharmin-gotra of Rupakaya is awakened, the Mahayanasutralankara says:
As for why one becomes a connected vessel,
Practicing compassion, and devotion,
And dedication to what is truly good
Is truly explained as being due to the gotra.
Regarding the benefits of awakening the gotra, the same text says:
The lower realms are far off, and liberation is quick.
When that occurs, one experiences little suffering.
By sadness sentient beings will then be quickly ripened.
Once the gotra is awakened, from then on one is liberated from the lower realms like growing jasmine naturally falling to the ground. There is little suffering. By strong weariness sentient beings will be ripened.
If there were no such gotra within sentient beings, no matter what sufferings arose, they would not be saddened. The attitude that aspires to nirvana and rejects samsara would not arise. The attitude of desiring liberation could also not arise. That in some, without being taught by anyone, compassion for the suffering of others arises, and that some who experience suffering develop renunciation and so forth is due to the power of goodness of the beginning-less dhatu of dharmas. The Uttaratantra says:
If there were no dhatu of Buddhahood,
Suffering would never make us sad.
There would be no desire for nirvana,
Or effort and aspiration to that goal.
Being able to see the comparative attractiveness of samsara and nirvana, seeing their faults and virtues is therefore due to the existence of the gotra. If the gotra did not exist, neither would these.
Thus from the extensive teaching that by having the gotra the essence of Buddhahood exists within us, now some summary verses are interposed:
Without exception all sentient beings have sugatagarbha.
In the covering veil of incidental obscurations,
Exists the primordial lamp, the luminous dhatu of dharmas.
This is the kayas and wisdoms this itself is the Dharma.
Within it nothing is added, and nothing is taken away.Existing within us, this itself is self-existing.
By devoting ourselves to this essence of emptiness and compassion,
Having attained this dhatu, called by the name "enlightenment,"
We will benefit all the host of beings without remainder.Primordially self-arising, like the sun in space,
When it is obscured by clouds, temporarily dimming the daylight,
Then we experience the dreamlike sufferings of samsara.
So make a powerful effort to clear away obscuration.Confused incidental appearance, appearances of the six realms,
Are emanated like dreams, from habitual patterns and karma,
Appearing as what never was, nor is, and shall not be.
The spontaneous presence of wisdom primordially exists.
It always exists, but nevertheless it is not seen.As what we perceive in sleep, is not seen to be within us.
Dharmas defiled with false conceptions are vain and futile.
Do not grasp them, but train in the luminous nature of mind.
Grasp the two benefits, bringing wealth to oneself and others.
"If this gotra exists in everyone, why, pray tell, are we wandering in samsara?" We exist this way, not knowing our own face, because of the futile grasping of a meaningless ego. As lineage-holders of our kleshas from earlier to later, we are in bad company. We have poverty-mentality. Conditioning is produced by relative reference point. [40] This is samsara.
The Mahayanasutralankara says:
Well-practiced in our kleshas, and in bad company.
With impoverished attitude, and relative reference point;
Briefly stated, these are the four that should be known.
These are the degradations that have defiled the gotra.
The Details of Light says:
Primordial luminosity itself is ignorant.
So-called "rising" of mind produces attachment to ego.
By these objects having been grasped as so-called "others,"
Beings become confused, within the realm of samsara.
Because of their karma of inappropriate joys and sorrows,
They have the experience of individual beings.
The All-Creating King says
This phenomenal play, which is wonderful and marvelous,
Is action-less existence, like the space of the sky.
Ignorance without apprehension of anything,
Rises immediately from nothing but itself.This is the path that is alike for everyone.
This is the nature as it is within all beings.
Defiled by the removable, it therefore is confused.
Also it says there:
By gathering in the light that exists in all directions
To the limits of the four directions, above and below,
In an unpredictable rainbow whose colors are not fixed
The different kinds of gotra will manifest in appearance.
Suchness moves and particles never move at all.
This is the principle one of all the five elements.
The Secret Essence says:
E MA HO! From out of sugatagarbha,
From out of our karmic relationships comes confusion.
At this time, the aspect that does not know its intrinsic wisdom to be its own nature is co-emergent ignorance. [41] The aspect that fixates its own projections as other is the ignorance of false conception. [42] Because of not knowing that all this has arisen within the natural state, by the power of attachment of ego-fixation to its objects, habitual patterns of the vessel, the external world, ripen as body. Habitual patterns of the essence, sentient beings within the world, ripen as mind. This is confusion, the various phenomena of the five poisons.
The All-Creating King says
When the nature of me, the doer of all, is not realized,
The dharmas created by me are imputed with fixed existence.
By the power of desire and craving, apparent things exist.
And so their impermanent nature as illusion is destroyed.
The part-less nature becomes like colors to the blind.
The root of confusion is not knowing what we are. The Prajnapramitsamgatha says:
As many sentient beings as there may be,
Of lesser, middle, or of higher rank,
All of these have arisen from ignorance.
So it has been taught by the Sugata.
The Prajńápáramitá in Eight Thousand Lines teaches that confusion is conditioned by dualistic grasping:
Grasping an I and a mine, beings whirl in samsara.
The Prajńápáramitá in Twenty Thousand Lines says:
Childish sentient beings perceive the non-existence of skandhas as skandhas. They perceive the non-existence of ayatanas as ayatanas. They perceive the non-existence of things that arise interdependently as interdependent arising. Therefore, they are completely within the grasp of the ripening karma of all these dharmas that are wrongly perceived as interdependent arising.
As to how these dharmas arise, from the two ignorance’s come samsaric formations. From that comes the succession of births of individual beings. Name and form are established. When the body has been established by the embryonic stages from an oval to birth, there are contact, perception, feeling, the six ayatanas, and old age and death. So with the twelve links of interdependent arising, we cycle in samsara.
"The primordial natural state does not exist within samsara. It is not proper that sugatagarbha should be samsaric."
Not so! It is like clear, un-muddied water becoming solid rock-like ice, in a transparent winter wind. From the primordial state, conditioned by the arising of grasping and fixation, confused appearance displays itself as a variety of solid things. A song from the Dohakosha says:
When the wind gets into water and thereby stirs it up
The softness of the water becomes as hard as rock.
Having been stupefied through being disturbed by concepts,
What was formless becomes completely hard and solid.
Sugatagarbha is the primordially pure, changeless essence, Dharmakaya,
designated as the alaya of reality (ii-b). When this becomes confused, it and
the connected wealth of the nature of mind, Rupakaya and the Buddha fields, the
perfect entities of wisdom, are obscured through the confused grasping and
fixation of ignorance. This is the due to the alaya of the various habitual
patterns (ii-c). Within this, since beginning-less time, have been planted the
various seeds or habitual patterns of confusion. Their great power becomes
individual experiences of the higher and lower realms, and so forth. When we are
within dream-like samsara, fixating I and ego, experiencing desire, aggression,
and the five poisons, collecting karma and kleshas, from meaningless confusion,
we live with a variety of attachments to truly existing entities.
Day and night the wheel of confused appearance continuously turns, and since its succession is groundless, we are never liberated from it. It is like the confusion of a dream. Wandering because of kleshas, because of good and evil, is like a prince wandering along a road, separated from his kingdom. It is intrinsically a time of suffering. Since he was born into a royal family, the happiness of true wealth is naturally within him; but now he suffers temporarily. As to what is taught by this example, the Song of the Oral Instruction of the Inexhaustible Treasury, says:
Beings bound in samsara, as if they were tangled in vines,
In the desert of ego-grasping are completely mad with thirst:
Like a prince without a kingdom, separate from his father,
Without a chance for happiness, he gives in to despair.
As to the way that Tathagata-garbha exists at this time of wandering futilely on the plan of samsara, the Tathagata-garbha Sutra says:
Kye, Son of the Victorious One, it is like this. For example, the measure of a three-fold thousand-world system is one billion. That billion perfectly records the number of all worlds of the three-fold great thousand-world system. Similarly the measure of the great surrounding wall of the world is written "the great surrounding wall of the world." The measure of characteristics is written "characteristics." The measure of the second or middle thousand world realms is "the second or middle thousand world realm." The measure a thousand world realms, is "a thousand world realms." The fourth thousand world realms are "the fourth thousand world realms." The measure of the great ocean is "the great ocean." The measure of Jambuling is "Jambuling." The measure of the eastern continent Videha is "Videha." The measure of the western continent, Aparagodaniya is "Aparagodaniya." The measure of the northern continent Kurava is "Kurava." The measure of mount Meru is "Mount Meru." The measure of the palaces of the gods of the terrestrial realm is written "the palaces of the gods of the terrestrial realm." The measure of the palaces of the gods of the desire realm is "the palaces of the gods of the desire realm." The measure of the palaces of the gods who course in the form-realm is written "the palaces of the gods who course in the form-realm."
A billion is the measure of worlds in a threefold-thousand world system. A billion is also the measure of such worlds that enter into an atom. Just as an atom enters into those billion worlds, similarly all the particles of atoms without remainder enter into the measure of that billion.
Then living, active beings are born on middle earth, learned and wise with clear minds. Their eye is the divine eye. Everything is completely pure and luminous. By their divine eye they view phenomena, seeing those billion within this small atom. Some sentient beings cannot fully understand that. They think, "Kye ma, by what mother, by great force of effort was this billion later put in this atom?" All such beings, thinking that, invented a powerful agent. They thought that atom particle had been opened by a subtle vajra to that billion-fold world system in which all sentient beings lived. From one like that, the rest did the same.
Kye Son of the Victorious One, like that the measureless wisdom of the Tathágata dwells within all sentient beings. Within the mind-continuum of all sentient beings it dwells without deception. These mental continuums of sentient beings do not have a measure like that of the wisdom of the Tathágata. Fools bound by grasping perception do not know the wisdom of the Tathágata. They do not know it at all. They have never experienced or manifested it. Seeing how each sentient being is within Dharmadhatu is the perception of a master, the desire-less wisdom of the Tathágata. Kye ma, these sentient beings do not know the wisdom of the Tathágata as it is. Those sentient beings in whom the Tathágata’s wisdom continues to function were directly taught the path of the noble ones. All the perception-created bonds were cleared away. They were eliminated.
d. How by awakening the gotras liberation is attained:
(i.e. The progressive Vajrayana Path: Mapping the stages of Vajrayana on the previously explained concepts. -- Once we have purified it, or have directly seen our own Buddha-nature, then poisons are transmuted into wisdoms, everything becomes pure, happiness, the two kayas are seen.)
The wakening of these gotras arouses the two bodhicitta’s.
Establishing the manifestations of compassion
As accumulation of merit, within the relative. (i.e. relative / conventional
truths)
This is the three abhishekas (i.e. empowerments) of the pure developing
[generation] stage.
Establishing realization of the nature of emptiness
Is accumulation of wisdom, within the absolute. (i.e. Absolute / sacred Truth)
This is the fourth empowerment, fulfillment [completion stage], and Mahamudra.
When we meditate well, by the growing of the two stages,
Kleshas turn into wisdom. Happiness grows and grows. (i.e. The five poisons are
transmuted into the five wisdoms, the sign being bliss)
By this the obscurations of Dharmadhatu are cleansed.
The sun of Dharmakaya and Rupakaya is seen. (i.e. The two Buddha kayas; then the
Unions ...)
In naturally pure and essentially spotless mind itself, the holy wisdom of Buddhahood,
·
The primordially existing spontaneous presence of the luminous nature of mind, the apparent aspect, exists as the qualities of the Rupakaya of Buddhahood. This is taught by many examples.·
The qualities of the aspect of emptiness, Dharmakaya, are explained everywhere in the sutras and tantras by the example "being like space."·
The inseparability of these two is the good dhatu of dharmas (i.e. Svabhavikakaya). Since it is changeless it is the "naturally existing gotra."·
After its defilements are purified, by manifesting its full-blown Buddha qualities, it is called the "developed gotra." Its root, self-awareness wisdom, is luminosity.·
When those two gotras are awakened, by the two accumulations being accumulated, defilements of the two gotras are purified. The Buddha qualities are made capable of appearing. Ultimate Rupakaya with its Buddha qualities is attained.
Just as the six perfections are classified in terms of the two accumulations, so are the stages of development and fulfillment. The Net of Illusion says:
Development and fulfillment are the two accumulations,
Those of merit and wisdom, as well as the three empowerments,
Plus the fourth, which is the nature of such-ness itself.
There are other ways of dividing beyond all measure.·
The first three empowerments, or abhishekas, are the vase, secret, and prajńa jnana abhishekas. Producing the purity of the developing stage, these are the accumulation of merit. The developing stage includes all meditations with complexity on the mandalas of deities and so forth.·
The fourth, the precious word-empowerment, producing the purity of the fulfillment stage, is the accumulation of wisdom. The fulfillment stage includes all meditations on luminosity and so forth that are without complexity.·
By these purifying defilements of the gotra, as the sun emerges from dark clouds, self-existing Buddhahood comes forth from the coverings of the kleshas.
As for the extensive explanation, the gotras were previously taught. The stages
of secret mantra will be explained below, so we shall not deal with them here.
(i.e. See Chapter IX. Unifying the developing stage and the perfecting stage)
e. The related explanation of the virtues
(i.e. We need both method and wisdom together. The Middle Way: not accepting, not rejecting. We need to perfect the wholesome actions. It is by directly seeing the real nature of kleshas, karma, and samsara, with their two inseparable aspects, that we can transcend definitively the whole conditioning. Even though karma and everything is empty, we cannot ignore it as if non-existent. Everything is not existent, not non-existent, not both, not either. Understanding this is realizing the Union of The Two Truths.)
There are three sections:
·
1) How the unification of the two accumulations is perfected(We need both methods (the morality of the ten wholesome actions, the concentration of the Dhyanas, bodhicitta) and wisdom (seeing impermanence, relativity, emptiness) together. Then it is in accord with Liberation, with the real nature of the mind and of everything, with its two aspects. The path has been designed by someone who has directly seen the real nature of everything and thus is in accord with it. That is why it is efficient, but beyond our actual understanding.)
·
2) How one does not dwell in samsara or nirvana(Even though virtues and wholesome actions are also karma formation, conditioning, they are preferable and required because they are gradually creating the conditions necessary to be able to see through all conditioning and to transcend it all definitively. But those virtues and wholesome actions should not be grasped as absolute. Liberation is not caused by them. -- The Middle Way: not accepting methods as absolutes, not rejecting everything because of emptiness. Not accepting karma as absolute, not rejecting karma completely. Not accepting the world as it appears, not rejecting the world completely with no compassion at all and aiming at personal liberation. Knowing samsara to be impermanent, unsatisfactory, empty of inherent existence, but still having compassion for all sentient beings. Staying away from both extremes. It is not a matter of accepting or rejecting something; it is a matter of directly seeing the real nature of our own mind and of everything. -- Even though everything is relative, it is not total chaos and free for all. There is a real nature of everything and actions that are relatively more in accord with it or not, and their consequences. And hiding from everything by dropping all is not a permanent solution; it only increases ignorance.)
·
3) The explanation of the fruition [of the ten virtues, and of all other wholesome skillful means of the Mahayana](The goal of developing virtues, of accumulating merit, is to be in a position out of the influence of conditioning, in order then to be able to see its real nature, and be able to transcend it definitively. This is done gradually from gross to subtle, to very subtle. That is like a gradual purification of the body, speech and mind. It is working because while doing it we get closer and closer to the real nature of our own mind and or everything, thus not going against it and suffering the consequences. That is like a gradual de-conditioning, deprogramming, from a very bad habit based on eons of ignorance and accumulation of errors.)
Ř
a) The brief teachingsŘ
b) The extensive explanation
1) How the unification of the two accumulations is perfected
(i.e. We need both methods (the morality of the ten wholesome actions, the concentration of the Dhyanas, bodhicitta) and wisdom (seeing impermanence, relativity, emptiness) together. Then it is in accord with Liberation, with the real nature of the mind and of everything, with its two aspects. The path has been designed by someone who has directly seen the real nature of everything and thus is in accord with it. That is why it is efficient, but beyond our actual understanding.)
The actions of the ten virtues are the best dharmas in the world
The formed and formless Dhyanas are part of gathering merit,
That is concerned with relativity and appearance. (i.e. relative / conventional
truths)
What is completely without the complexities of the world
Is accumulation of wisdom, which is the absolute. (i.e. Absolute / sacred Truth)
These are the objects of meditation and post-meditation.
By practicing the unification of these two, (i.e. Using both method and wisdom;
the two accumulations; Union of the Two Truths)
Everything that is excellent will be established. (i.e. Transcendence of all
conditioning, all dualities)
As previously taught, the ten virtues, Dhyanas, and formless attainments are in accord with merit; but when a being has aroused bodhicitta and attained prajńa and upaya; the ten virtues, Dhyanas, formless attainments, and so forth become causes of liberation. The Middle Length Prajńápáramitá says:
O Subhuti, those who develop the conduct of the ten virtues, the four samádhis, and the four formless attainments, when they also arouse bodhicitta, aspiration to unsurpassable enlightenment, at that time,
Since this is in accord with liberation, it becomes a cause of omniscience.
This should be performed. By being mastered, this should be established.
2) How one does not dwell in samsara or nirvana:
(i.e. Even though virtues and wholesome actions are also karma formation, conditioning, they are preferable and required because they are gradually creating the conditions necessary to be able to see through all conditioning and to transcend it all definitively. But those virtues and wholesome actions should not be grasped as absolute. Liberation is not caused by them. -- The Middle Way: not accepting methods as absolutes, not rejecting everything because of emptiness. Not accepting karma as absolute, not rejecting karma completely. Not accepting the world as it appears, not rejecting the world completely with no compassion at all and aiming at personal liberation. Knowing samsara to be impermanent, unsatisfactory, empty of inherent existence, but still having compassion for all sentient beings. Staying away from both extremes. It is not a matter of accepting or rejecting something; it is a matter of directly seeing the real nature of our own mind and of everything. -- Even though everything is relative, it is not total chaos and free for all. There is a real nature of everything and actions that are relatively more in accord with it or not, and their consequences. And hiding from everything by dropping all is not a permanent solution; it only increases ignorance.)
Just like wholesome actions that are samsaric formations,
Formations of nirvana are explained as karmic actions.
But since the latter are a means of transcending samsara,
They are also a means of liberation from karma.
The ten wholesome actions that accord with merit are samsaric confusions. However, if one thinks that with these, we will become confused, it is not so. These activities lead to liberation when we know that karma is nature-less, as is taught by similar examples. Insofar as these activities are a means of being liberated from samsara, they do not produce samsaric formations. In any case, the great compassion by which we become saddened with samsara exists within samsara without being covered by its defects. While it knows all dharmas to be unborn, and by skillful means, the great compassion does not fall into one-sided peace.
The Abhisamsayalankara says:
By knowledge we do not dwell within samsara,
By compassion we do not dwell in peace.(i.e. Not falling for any of the two extremes. The Middle Way: not accepting, not rejecting.)
The Precious Mala says:
Exponents of nothingness go to the lower realms.
Exponents of being will go to the higher ones.
By knowing reality exactly as it is,
Without dualistic dependence, we will be liberated.(i.e. Ignoring cause and effect, on goes to hell -- for an eternity. Following cause and effect, one goes to heaven -- for a while. Using the Middle Way, the union of both dependent origination and emptiness, one may transcend all conditioning, and be liberated from samsara.)
And that is how it is.
3) The explanation of the fruition [of the ten virtues]
(i.e. The goal of developing virtues, of accumulating merit, is to be in a position out of the influence of conditioning, in order then to be able to see its real nature, and be able to transcend it definitively. This is done gradually from gross to subtle, to very subtle. That is like a gradual purification of the body, speech and mind. It is working because while doing it we get closer and closer to the real nature of our own mind and or everything, thus not going against it and suffering the consequences. That is like a gradual de-conditioning, deprogramming, from a very bad habit based on eons of ignorance and accumulation of errors.)
From the brief and extended teachings,
·
a) The brief teachings (i.e. same logic as with the unwholesome actions)·
b) The extensive explanation
a) The brief teachings (i.e. same logic as with the unwholesome actions)
Now the fruition of entering into the ten virtues of the path is explained:
For those who are on the path, the fruit of the ten wholesome actions
Has ripening, concordant cause, the power, and action. (i.e. same logic as with the unwholesome actions)
These are its four aspects.
(i.e. Each of the ten virtuous actions has four components or factors. For the action to be complete, i.e. to bring the full karmic result, all four components must be present. These four are:
·
The basis or object of the action·
The intention: the state of mind of the person performing the action. This has 3 parts: recognition, motive and delusion·
The deed: actually performing the action·
The final step, or completion of the action
There are 3 different results of a complete karma:
·
Ripened result - the future rebirth state you will experience as a result of having created a complete karma. [1]·
Results congruent with the causeŘ
Experiences congruent with the cause - you will have experiences similar to your original actions.Ř
Actions congruent with the cause - you will have the instinctive tendency to commit the original action again and again.·
Environmental results - when born in the human realm, you will experience results of your actions in the form of environmental conditions.)
b) The extensive explanation,
There are nine sections
·
i) Ripening [of the fruition] (rebirth in one of the higher realms)·
ii) Karmic fruition that accords with the cause (having experiences similar to the cause -- the wholesome action)·
iii) The fruition of its power [the results of the ten virtues]·
iv) The fruition of action (i.e. in short: they are like good habits, the more we do them, the more we will do them again with even more ease -- like developing a skill. So happiness will come more and more. So we have more freedom and conditions to be able to develop concentration and insight, and more opportunity to use this precious human life to transcend all conditioning.)·
v) The fruition of the six perfections [, of kindness, of actions motivated by bodhicitta: Enlightenment]·
vi) The fruition of the Four Immeasurables: [gradual progression closer and closer to perfection with its two aspects]·
vii) The fruition of the Two Truths (The real nature of samsara: everything is empty because dependently arisen; everything is merely imputed by the mind; empty of inherent existence, but still appearing; non-dual -- not one, not two; not existent, not non-existent, not both, not neither. It is the Union of the Two. The Two Truths are not separate or different, not the same; not one, not two. All of our actions and perceptions are conditioned by our five aggregates, which are the results of past choices and actions; but this conditioning is empty of inherent existence. Karma and its consequences are not permanent, not nothingness. Seeing the real non-dual nature of samsara, of everything, with its two inseparable aspects, we can transcend all karma formation, all-conditioning, and be free from all obstructions.)·
viii) The individual fruitions of virtue and evil deeds (The real nature of karma: everything, even karmas and kleshas [even the flow of interdependence], is empty of inherent existence, but still dependently arisen and functional. Everything is described by these two aspects: not existent, not non-existent, not both, not neither. But the real nature of everything is beyond description, beyond conceptualization. Because of ignorance as the root we produce appearances of karma and its consequences. They are empty, but we cannot ignore them, hope to die without paying the consequences, or hide from them in the higher Dhyanas. That would be only a conditioned and temporary solution. No cause is without an effect; no effect is without a cause; no karma is ever lost. It is only by seeing through the conditioning, seeing its real non-dual nature, that we can transcend it all.)·
ix) The fruition of profound interdependent arising (The real nature of karma, and samsara: karma is empty but still dependently arisen and functional, beyond the two extremes of existence and non-existence, non-dual. It is by seeing its real non-dual nature, with its two inseparable aspects, that we become liberated. -- The perfection of dependent origination is its perfect Union with the emptiness of everything: not one, not two; not different or separate, not the same.)
i) Ripening [of the fruition] (rebirth in one of the higher realms)
As for the fruition of ripening:
Depending on whether such practice is small, between, or great,
We will be born as human beings or as gods,
Elsewhere we will attain to ultimate truth and goodness.
The aspect according with merit is not exhausted. Temporally we experience the happiness of gods and human beings. Ultimately, we will attain the level of Buddhahood. The Prajńápáramitá in Eight Thousand Lines says:
O noble Shariputra, what is gained by virtuous roots is that after going among gods and human beings, we become un-surpass-ably enlightened. What are virtuous roots? There are the ten virtues, which possess the single arousal of bodhicitta, the aspiration to supreme enlightenment, the four Dhyanas, the four formless attainments, and the six paramitas. These never have any gaps and never become non-existent.
ii) Karmic fruition that accords with the cause (having experiences similar to the cause -- the wholesome action)
As for the fruition according with the cause:
Actions that have compatibility with the cause
Are those of one who is by nature inclined to the wholesome.
Experience of this is of long life and great enjoyment.
We have a compatible consort and are without enemies.
We are not reviled. Relationships are friendly.
Our words are taken to heart, and people gladly hear them.
Satisfied, we are kind to others, and have good views.
The Sutra Teaching the Ten Purities says:
Because of the karma of these ten virtues, the field is ennobled by our efforts. Our lives are lengthened. Our enjoyments are greater. We have compatible spouses and no enemies. We are not disparaged. Everyone is pleasant to us. Our words are considered worthy of being heeded. Everyone is glad to hear them. We become contented. There is mutual kindness. There are good views.
iii) The fruition of its power [the results of the ten virtues]
As for mastery or power:
We are born by its power in rich and brilliant countries.
Potent food, drink, and herbs are easily digested.
We are born in clean places of medicinal herbs and such.
The odor and atmosphere is good and agreeable.
Others do not cheat us, and we are not in fear.
There are no harmful obstacles or danger to our lives.
People suit us and contact with them is very happy.
The flow of the seasons is good, and grain is plentiful.
We live in level places, adorned by lakes and ponds.
The many flourishing flowers and fruits are very good.
Vegetables, fruits, and herbs are delicious with fine aromas.
Everything grows well and there are friends and protectors.
By giving up cutting off life, we are born in good and pleasant countries. By giving up taking what is not given, we are born in places where food and drink are good-tasting and easily digested and medicinal herbs are potently effective. By abandoning inappropriate sex, we are born in clean and good-smelling places. By abandoning false speaking, the places in which we are born are without danger of harm from enemies, thieves, and so on, and we are not deceived.
By abandoning divisive speaking, we are born in places with many compatible people, with few rocks, stones, and thorns. By abandoning harsh language, we are born in a place where the seasons are regular, and grain ripens at a good time. By abandoning sophistic speech, we are born in level places ornamented with lakes and ponds.
By abandoning covetousness we are born with places where many flowers and fruits and abundant good harvests are seen. We have excellent protectors, relatives, and friends. This is taught in the Sutra of the Ten Purities
iv) The fruition of action:
(i.e. in short: they are like good habits, the more we do them, the more we will do them again with even more ease -- like developing a skill. So happiness will come more and more. So we have more freedom and conditions to be able to develop concentration and insight, and more opportunity to use this precious human life to transcend all conditioning.)
The actions of beings spread happiness on happiness.
All good thoughts are established just as one desires.
The Vast Play says:
By good behavior one's stock of merit is increased.
We are made holders of that which is excellent,
The supreme accumulation of enlightenment.
The Excellent Action says:
These excellencies occur even within this human life.
v) The fruition of the six perfections [of kindness, of actions motivated by bodhicitta: Enlightenment]
Generosity brings enjoyment and discipline happiness
Patience brings beauty and diligence brilliant qualities
Meditation beings peace of mind and prajńa liberation.The accomplishments of bodhicitta are that possessiveness is renounced, harmful behavior is checked, anger is abandoned, we exert ourselves in what is wholesome, the mind is one-pointed in virtue, and the nature of the two truths is known. By good actions of the six paramitas, true fruition is attained.
The Precious Mala says:
Generosity, discipline, patience, and exertion
Meditation and prajńa, and compassion are cultivated.
Generosity completely bestows our intrinsic wealth.
Discipline performs beneficial actions for others.
Patience is the way that we abandon aggression.
Exertion is enthusiastic, wholesome action.
Meditation is one-pointed-ness, without the kleshas.
Prajna is resolving the meaning of the truth.
Compassion is a heartfelt noble identification
With all other sentient beings as of one taste with ourselves.
Generosity beings enjoyment, discipline happiness;
Patience radiance and exertion brilliancy.
Meditation brings peace, and prajńa liberation.
Their essential kindness is the accomplishing of all goals.
When all of these seven activities, without remainder,
Have been brought to complete perfection all at once,
There is the sphere of wisdom beyond the compass of thought.
We have attained the being of a world-honored one.
The six paramitas are essentially kindness. This is the accomplisher of the deeds of bodhicitta. The extensive explanation is below. (See chapter 8)
vi) The fruition of the Four Immeasurables: [gradual progression, closer and closer to perfection with its two aspects]
As for the benefits of the four immeasurables:
Kindness makes us pleasant and compassion beneficial.
Joy fulfills and equanimity makes us sublime.
In short the ultimate fruit of the two accumulations
Is that incidentally higher states are manifested.
Ultimately truth and goodness are established.
This excellent path is the chariot of the Mahayana.
It establishes the perfection of the Buddhas of the three times.
Through kindness, we are pleasant to everyone.
Through compassion we perform limitless benefits.
Joy brings perfect wealth.
Equanimity makes the mind workable.
The sutras say:
By having kindness mind is vast, the seven activities have been performed.[43] One's knowledge is certain. Shravakas, Pratyekabuddhas, and extraordinary ones will attain the pleasures of gods and human beings and be colorfully adorned.
The Precious Mala says:
Food of fish for three hundred
Offered three times each day
Cannot match the pure merit
Of just a minute of kindnessKind ones will be gods and humans.
They will be well-restrained.
Unharmed by poison and weapons,
Their minds will be good and happy.
Born in the world of Brahma,
Their success will be effortless,Even if not liberated,
They will attain the eight qualities. [44]
Beings will be made to produce
The mind of bodhicitta.Having relied on that,
They will become as solid
As the lord of mountains.
Within them bodhicitta
Will be forever attained.It will never happen
That they have no chance for faith.
By custom becoming excellent,
By emptiness and so forth,
Without desiring dharmas,
Carefully they will attain
To everything that is wholesome.
By their motionlessness,
They will gain mindfulness.Producing discursive thoughts
They will gain intellect.
By offering and homage, they will realize the meaning.By carefully guarding Dharma
They will develop prajńa.
Those listeners to the Dharma
Who have the gift of faith,By having no obscurations,
Will accompany the Buddhas.
Everything they wish for
Will quickly be obtained.Without even wanting to do so
They will accomplish their goals.
As they are not miserly,
Enjoyments will increase.
Since they have no pride,
They will be principal ones.
By patience in the Dharma,
They will grasp its power.With essential generosity
And fearless generosity
Unharmed by all the Maras.
They will gain the highest powers.Stupas strung with lamps,
Lamps to those in darkness
By these generous lamps and ships
The divine eye will be gained.By offerings of stupas,
Services, music, and bells,
Excellent yak tails and conches,
The divine ear will be gained.Not discussing confusions of others,
Not mentioning injured limbs,
Because they guard their minds,
They know the minds of others.Giving boots and horses,
Growing humble and reverent,
Giving mounts to the guru,
They gain miraculous powerFor the sake of Dharma and such
They remember the meanings of texts.
By spotless generous Dharma
Remembering former lives.Knowing things as they are,
They know that things are essence-less.
They gain the six higher perceptions,
Exhausting all defilements.To accomplish the liberation
Of limitless sentient beings,
They possess equanimity,
Knowing the nature of such-ness,Because their meditation
Is moistened with compassion,
Having the supreme aspects,
They are victorious ones.By various pure aspirations,
The Buddha field is purified.
Giving precious things to the sages,
They emanate limitless lightWith such pure karma and fruit,
Always thinking of beings,
They will always do benefit.
That will benefit you.
Just those are the realm means of crossing over to the level of Buddhahood. The Succession of Beings says:
Of the two accumulations of merit and wisdom
The highest fruit is entering holy liberation
No other way of entering was ever known to exist.
Descending from the gathering clouds of purity
Make the cool rain of excellent dharmas now appear.
vii) The fruition of the Two Truths:
(i.e. The real nature of samsara: everything is empty because dependently arisen; everything is merely imputed by the mind; empty of inherent existence, but still appearing; non-dual -- not one, not two; not existent, not non-existent, not both, not neither. It is the Union of the Two. The Two Truths are not separate or different, not the same; not one, not two. All of our actions and perceptions are conditioned by our five aggregates, which are the results of past choices and actions; but this conditioning is empty of inherent existence. Karma and its consequences are not permanent, not nothingness. Seeing the real non-dual nature of samsara, of everything, with its two inseparable aspects, we can transcend all karma formation, all conditioning, and be free from all obstructions.)
Thus the formative actions of samsara and nirvana
Depend on mind whose nature is luminosity.
Simplicity like the sky, it does not think of a doer,
The meaning of both the two truths is dependent origination.
(i.e. Here, following the Chittamatra tradition, Yogacara, the author is putting the emphasis on the real inherently existing flow of interdependence (dependent origination). This is part of the basis for Tantra yana practices. As if this one was inherently existing, and everything else was not. But according to Nargarjuna and the Madhyamika, the real nature of everything is not dependent origination, not emptiness, not both, not either. It is the Union of the Two Truths, the inseparability of dependent origination and emptiness.)
(i.e. Everything is empty of inherent existence because dependently arisen.
- There is a progression on the understanding of emptiness, the object of
refutation goes more and more subtle as we progress.
- Emptiness means dependently arisen. But the object to what it is dependent on
is more and more subtle.
The various (progressive) understanding of emptiness:
- not permanent
- dependent on its parts
- dependent on causes and conditions
- dependent on the collections of the base and the continuation of that
- not a self-entity
- dependent of our mind
- dependent on the labeling of an un-defective mind or not existing from its own
side
- just merely labeled by the mind
- leaving nothing that is "not merely labeled by the mind". )
All karma depends on mind; if we examine mind, it is essence-less and luminous. The supreme distinction of the relative and absolute truths, because of the nature of interdependent arising is completely pure.
The Shri-Samadhiraja Sutra says:
At that time without evil deeds, and with the ten powers,
There is the supreme samádhi of the Victorious One.
Beings in samsara are like beings in a dream.
None of them is ever born or ever dies.Though in transmigration we go to other worlds,
None our karmic actions is ever left behind.
Within samsara their black and white fruitions ripen.
They are not permanent, nor are they nothingness.Without any gathered karma, there would be no pure lands.
Even if they were created, they could not be reached.
If another produced them, they could not be seen.
Without any transmigration, there is no rebirth.Nothing at all exists, and nothing is non-existent,
Or it would not be pure to enter the natural state.
There would be no entering perfect pacification
Of all the activities of deluded sentient beings.The three worlds like a dream are utterly essence-less.
Quickly vanishing, they are impermanent like illusion.
Because there is no coming, there also is no going.
Constant things, eternally empty, have no marks.This is what is realized by the Sugatas--
With the excellent Buddha qualities of the victorious ones,
The mark-less natural state is the peace of the unborn.
Its powers and strengths are powers of Buddha qualities.This itself is the Buddha, supreme among all leaders.
By collecting the qualities of excellent white dharmas
We attain the power of wisdom and Buddha qualities
And the excellences of miracle and higher perception.
viii) The individual fruitions of virtue and evil deeds
(i.e. The real nature of karma: everything, even karmas and kleshas [even the flow of interdependence], is empty of inherent existence, but still dependently arisen and functional. Everything is described by these two aspects: not existent, not non-existent, not both, not neither. But the real nature of everything is beyond description, beyond conceptualization. Because of ignorance as the root we produce appearances of karma and its consequences. They are empty, but we cannot ignore them, hope to die without paying the consequences, or hide from them in the higher Dhyanas. That would be only a conditioned and temporary solution. No cause is without an effect; no effect is without a cause; no karma is ever lost. It is only by seeing through the conditioning, seeing its real non-dual nature, that we can transcend it all.)
Appearing even while it is nothingness; karma is explained by the example of being like a dream:
Primordial purity appearing as nothingness,
Like a painter, karma produces everything.
It follows us everywhere, as a shadow does the body.
Like physical pleasure and pain, it never slips away.
Like a waterfall, it is difficult to deflect.
Making beings rise or fall, it is like the ruler of beings.
It is extremely vast, like the endless space of the sky.
Whether black or white, it never changes at all,
Any more than the white kunda lotus becomes the blue utpala.
(i.e. Empty and still functional. A flow of interdependence without any entities in it. Everything is arising, but nothing is essentially wholesome or unwholesome. Everything is pure in emptiness.
-- Even though everything is empty of inherent existence, because we ignore this truth and believe in essence / inherent existence, we fixate things and suffer because of this. So karma is still functional in samsara.)
Though karmas and kleshas are nature-less, they ceaselessly appear . Therefore, they depend on ignorance as their root. The condition is the arising of objects. The cause is connection with the three poisons.
The Objects of Mindfulness says:
The ground of karma is ignorance, and if there is insight, one will not come into the power of karma. It is like a skilled and confident painter, who produces a variety of works. The condition is thoughts of objects. like a monkey, it is very active. Like a fish, it dwells in the ocean of samsara. Like a householder, it collects a variety of habitual patterns. Like illusion, something that does not exist still appears. Like a shadow, it always follows us. Like joy and sorrow, it does not transmigrate. Like a river, it is hard to turn back. Like a king, it can exchange happiness and unhappiness. Like the sky, it is vast. Like utpala and kumut lotuses, one does not become another.
ix) The fruition of profound interdependent arising:
(i.e. The real nature of karma, and samsara: karma is empty but still dependently arisen and functional, beyond the two extremes of existence and non-existence, non-dual. It is by seeing its real non-dual nature, with its two inseparable aspects, that we become liberated. -- The perfection of dependent origination is its perfect Union with the emptiness of everything: not one, not two; not different or separate, not the same.)
Though examining karmas, they have no nature at all,
Like dreams they are still creators of various joys and sorrows.
Except as mere projections, they have no substance or quality.
Profound dependent arising, infallible cause and effect,
Neither existent nor nothing, they are non-duality.
They ripen as something like the action that was done.
This is the vision of things in their nature and extent.
As it was well-taught by the Omniscient One.(i.e. Here, following the Chittamatra tradition, Yogacara, the author is putting the emphasis on the real inherently existing flow of interdependence (dependent origination). This is part of the basis for Tantra yana practices. As if this one was inherently existing, and everything else was not. But according to Nargarjuna and the Madhyamika, the real nature of everything is not dependent origination, not emptiness, not both, not either. It is the Union of the Two Truths, the inseparability of dependent origination and emptiness.)
The inner and outer realms are false conceptions. If they are analyzed, even if we look for them, no karma and kleshas are found. The Bodhicaryavatara says:
If the kleshas are not in objects, the senses, between, or elsewhere,
Where are these harmers of beings? They are like illusion.
Abandon the fear in your heart and try to rely on prajńa.
In the absolute there is no karma; but here in the dream-like relative, there is happiness and unhappiness and joy and sorrow are distinguished. If it is discriminated and examined by the mind, karma, beyond existence and non-existence, is like space. Since there is no karma to be accumulated, do not accumulate karma by the mind being confused over and over again. That is the instruction. This presentation is known and taught only by the Omniscient One, and not by the traditions of others. The teacher Bhajya says in his Precious Lamp of Madhyamaka:
Karmas with non-deceptive cause and effect,
As it has been taught, are like a dream.
Bhagavan this is taught by you alone.
Aside from that, it is not explained in treatises.
f. Refuting other wrong conceptions [about karma],
(i.e. After refuting the view thinking that one can produce Liberation with specific methods through accumulating merit alone, here are refuted various forms of nihilism: rejection of karma, rejection of the path, rejection of thoughts, thinking emptiness is an absolute truth. We need both method and wisdom together. Only this is in accord with Liberation, with the real nature of everything: not existent, not non-existent, not both, not either. -- The real nature of everything is not dependent origination alone, not emptiness alone, not both together, not either or something else. It is the Union of The Two: not one, not two. -- Everything is empty of inherent existence, but still dependently arisen and functional. The two, dependent origination and emptiness, are not contradictory, but interdependent. They are not different or separate, not the same. No absolute cause, effect or causality; but still no no-causality. The luminous space.)
There are four sections
·
1) Eliminating denial of cause and effect(Those who deny both cause and effect. Proud nihilists rejecting karma, conditioning, dependent origination, and virtues, accepting emptiness as an absolute --> rebirth in hot hells)
·
2) Refuting the view of emptiness(Those who deny the cause and affirm the effect. Saying that the practice is to reject everything, even virtues, because everything is empty, and thinking that this will still produce Liberation. Again, accepting emptiness as an absolute. Developing only wisdom without method. Trying to accumulate only wisdom, without accumulating merit. This ends up in misunderstanding emptiness, accepting emptiness as an absolute truth meaning nothingness. Thinking that dropping all is the meaning of Liberation leads to rebirth in hell. -- Note: This is what is done in the Dhyanas, but those are just temporary skillful means used to set the conditions for Vipashyana. The perfect Samadhi, the perfect Union of Shamatha and Vipashyana is not rejecting everything, not accepting everything. It is Buddha activities while knowing the real nature of everything. It is the perfect Union of compassion and emptiness; the Union of The Two Truths. The two inseparable aspects are part of the real nature of everything in samsara and Nirvana. Everything has always been like that; it doesn't change. That is the meaning of non-duality.)
·
3) Refuting those having the mind of the summit of samsara(Those who claim, "It is like space," who think Liberation is attained by meditating on nothingness alone leads to rebirth as a stupid animal)
·
4) The true explanation of cause and effect(So, we cannot adopt just one aspect as the real nature of everything; we need both in perfect non-dual union, otherwise we fall into one of the extremes: realism, nihilism, dualism, or monism. Everything has the two inseparable aspects: the real nature of the mind and of everything, the cause of both samsara and Nirvana, karma and conditioning, the gradual path with its two accumulations, the meditation consisting of the Union of Shamatha and Vipashyana, the fruit with its inseparable Trikaya, wisdoms and Buddha activities. That is the meaning of the perfection of wholesomeness and merit, the perfection of bodhicitta, the perfection of dependent origination, the perfection of emptiness, the perfection of the Union of The Two Truths, Buddhahood. -- The Middle Way: not accepting karma, or the path, as absolute [determinism] (rejecting emptiness, accepting dependent origination as an absolute), not rejecting them completely as if completely non-existent [chaos] (rejecting dependent origination, accepting emptiness as an absolute truth). Perfecting the wholesomeness by getting closer and closer to the real nature of everything: inseparability of appearances and emptiness, inseparability of appearances and natural-essences. The real nature of everything is not dependent origination alone, not emptiness alone, not both together, not either or something else. It is the Union of The Two: not one, not two. -- Everything is empty of inherent existence, but still dependently arisen and functional. The two, dependent origination and emptiness, are not contradictory, but interdependent. They are not different or separate, not the same. No absolute cause, effect or causality but still no no-causality. The luminous space--So the path, the Middle Way, is designed in accord with this, "in accordance with the goal, in accord with liberation," in accord with the transcendence of the four extremes: existence, non-existence, both, or neither. As for the real nature of everything, it is beyond description, beyond any conceptualization.)
1) Eliminating denial of cause and effect
(i.e. Those who deny both cause and effect. Proud nihilists rejecting karma, conditioning, dependent origination, and virtues, accepting emptiness as an absolute leads to rebirth in hot hells)
Now other sorts of wrong conceptions are eliminated:
Those who deny the validity of cause and effect
Are students of the heretics and the nihilists.
Whoever has confidence merely in emptiness
Falls into the extreme of the nihilistic view!
These go lower and lower upon an evil path.
Never liberated from the lower states of being,
They are ever more distant from the happy ones.
Such fools are conspicuous in their pride. Some who do not know the intent of the Dharma say there is no karma and no fruition of karma -- within such-ness like space they do not exist at all. Giving up virtue, they practice the evil deeds that are natural to them. The Good Army Sutra [45] says:
Those who say there is no karma and no ripening of karma are fools who have only the literal meaning. Those who say this and rely on a great collection of unwholesomeness may promise this Dharma with their mouths, but are not within this Dharma. They rely on the path of the worldly charvakas. They say, "It should be understood as a delusion of Mara."
The Precious Mala says:
In short, a view like this is nihilism.
They say there is no such thing as fruition of karma.
Having no merit, they go to the lower realms.
They are said to be persons with wrong view.
Also it says:
Nihilists like these will go to the lower realms.
2) Refuting the view of emptiness.
(i.e. Those who deny the cause and affirm the effect. Saying that the practice is to reject everything, even virtues, because everything is empty, and thinking that this will still produce Liberation. Again, accepting emptiness as an absolute. Developing only wisdom without method. Trying to accumulate only wisdom, without accumulating merit. This ends up in misunderstanding emptiness, accepting emptiness as an absolute truth meaning nothingness. Thinking that dropping all is the meaning of Liberation leads to rebirth in hell.
-- Note: This is what is done in the Dhyanas, but those are just temporary skillful means used to set the conditions for Vipashyana. The perfect Samadhi, the perfect Union of Shamatha and Vipashyana is not rejecting everything, not accepting everything. It is Buddha activities while knowing the real nature of everything. It is the perfect Union of compassion and emptiness, the Union of The Two Truths. The two inseparable aspects are part of the real nature of everything in samsara and Nirvana. Everything has always been like that; it doesn't change. That is the meaning of non-duality.)
Some also say:
"Cause, and effect, and compassion, and the gathering of merit.
With these childish literal Dharmas one will never get enlightened."
They do not speak the truth, whose meaning is like the sky.
The story great yogins tell is "Go and do your practice!"
As for those who say such words:
Such a view is more nihilistic than nihilism.
They are on a path that goes ever lower and lower.
To deny the cause and affirm the effect is very strange!
Even such outsider materialist extremists as the charvaka nihilists do not say that perceived appearances are without cause and effect; you deny a cause of liberation, but still maintain the effect. This is strange. You do this by maintaining that there is liberation because of action-less meditation.
3) Refuting those having the mind of the summit of samsara
(i.e. Those who claim "it is like space", who think Liberation is attained by meditating on nothingness alone leads to rebirth as stupid animal)
When people claim, "it is like space," we should say:
If space is reality, why do we need to meditate?
If not, then meditation is useless drudgery.
If liberation is gained by meditating on nothingness,
Those who have a vacuous mind will get enlightened.
But proclaiming such meditation establishes cause and effect.
Therefore, put aside this bad and inferior path.
Some people claim, "It is like space." If so, and if it is already established, we do not need to meditate.
If it is not established, meditation will be of no use. This non-existent thing will never become an existent thing, just as empty space will not later become something else. This is a reply to those who say, "Liberation from the kleshas is attainment of liberation altogether."
Saying it is attained by this alone postulates that this occurs by cause and effect. Therefore, they cannot say that there is no cause and effect. If it is maintained that there is liberation by meditating on nothingness, even worldly hedonists could be liberated by doing that. The Dohakosha says:
Someone who says, "I have been pierced by an arrow,"
Will never be liberated by having a mind like space.
This refutes such a view; so do not think like that.
4) The true explanation of cause and effect.
(i.e. So, we cannot adopt just one aspect as the real nature of everything; we need both in perfect non-dual union, otherwise we fall into one of the extremes: realism, nihilism, dualism, or monism. Everything has the two inseparable aspects: the real nature of the mind and of everything, the cause of both samsara and Nirvana, karma and conditioning, the gradual path with its two accumulations, the meditation consisting of the Union of Shamatha and Vipashyana, the fruit with its inseparable Trikaya, wisdoms and Buddha activities. That is the meaning of the perfection of wholesomeness and merit, the perfection of bodhicitta, the perfection of dependent origination, the perfection of emptiness, the perfection of the Union of The Two Truths, Buddhahood. -- The Middle Way: not accepting karma, or the path, as absolute [determinism] (rejecting emptiness, accepting dependent origination as an absolute), not rejecting them completely as if completely non-existent [chaos] (rejecting dependent origination, accepting emptiness as an absolute truth). Perfecting the wholesomeness by getting closer and closer to the real nature of everything: inseparability of appearances and emptiness, inseparability of appearances and natural-essences. The real nature of everything is not dependent origination alone, not emptiness alone, not both together, not either or something else. It is the Union of The Two: not one, not two. -- Everything is empty of inherent existence, but still dependently arisen and functional. The two, dependent origination and emptiness, are not contradictory, but interdependent. They are not different or separate, not the same. No absolute cause, effect or causality; but still no no-causality. The luminous space. -- So the path, the Middle Way, is designed in accord with this, "in accordance with the goal, in accord with liberation", in accord with the transcendence of the four extremes: existence, non-existence, both, either. As for the real nature of everything, it is beyond description, beyond any conceptualization.)
Now the true meaning is explained:
The genuine path has interdependence and cause and effect.
This is spontaneous union of prajńa and upaya.
Using the means of apparent but nature-less cause and effect,
There is the apparent nature-less path of meditation.
And thus the apparent nature-less fruit can be attained.
Apparent but nature-less benefit for sentient beings
Is produced in a way that is apparent but nature-less.
This is pure cause and effect, profound in its interdependence.
Therefore, the essence of sutras and tantras of the true meaning
Is that by having united the two accumulations,
And by the two stages of development and completion,
Perfect Buddhahood will quickly be established.
From the two accumulations, whose illusion-like appearance is nature-less, Buddhahood is established. The Knowledge of Illusion Sutra Requested by Supreme Goodness Lady says:
By gathering the illusion-like accumulations,
There will be illusion-like enlightenment.
There will be a performance that is like illusion
Of illusion-like benefits for the sake of sentient beings.
The sutras of the true meaning and all the tantras explain it in the same way. In the tantras, the stages of development and fulfillment establish the two accumulations, and by that one becomes enlightened within the mandala.
C. The final summary
(i.e. We need to renounce the whole samsara, aim at transcending all conditioning. We have to use the Middle Way: both method and wisdom, staying away from all extremes. -- To use a raft, without getting attached to it. A raft designed by someone who has seen the real nature of everything, the Buddha. But we won't be able to see the real nature of everything, and the ultimate validity of the skillful means / the path, until the very end. So we need some faith here, but not blind faith. -- We cannot drop everything and hope to transcend everything just like that; there is nothing to drop, nothing to accept. We need to use the freedom and opportunity of this precious human life while we can.)
Therefore, abandon all the aspects of cause and fruition
That have a part in constructing formations of samsara.
But then we should produce with wholehearted diligence
The cause and fruition of the state of liberation.
By that the highest truth and goodness will manifest,
There will be the establishment of enlightenment.
(i.e. Even though everything is empty of inherent existence, even though
there is no absolute, to be able to transcend all conditioning and be free from
samsara, we still need adapted skillful means, to practice the ten virtues and
not practice the ten non-virtues, to practice the accumulation of merit in order
to support the accumulation of wisdom, otherwise we will just lose the
opportunity of this precious human life, get a rebirth in the lower realms, and
be stuck there for a very long time. Enlightenment is not gained by dropping all
method and adopting emptiness, nothingness, or meaninglessness as an absolute.
The Middle Way is not accepting, not rejecting; and this applies to everything
including the concepts of dependent origination, causality, emptiness, good and
bad...dualities, discrimination...
-- The virtuous actions are virtuous because they are in accord with
liberation, compatible with three goal, which is to become free of all
conditioning. They are so because they are practiced while remembering their
real nature. And this is done by joining the two accumulations together.
Otherwise any practice would just be another attachment.)
(i.e. Upajjhatthana Sutta - Subjects for Contemplation:
There are these five facts that one should reflect on often, whether one is a
woman or a man, lay or ordained. Which five?
·
"I am subject to aging, have not gone beyond aging." This is the first fact that one should reflect on often, whether one is a woman or a man, lay or ordained.·
"I am subject to illness, have not gone beyond illness"....·
"I am subject to death, have not gone beyond death"....·
"I will grow different, separate from all that is dear and appealing to me"....·
"I am the owner of my actions (kamma), heir to my actions, born of my actions, related through my actions, and live dependent on my actions. Whatever I do, for good or for evil, to that will I fall heir"....
Acintita Sutta – Un-conjecturable:
"There are these four un-conjecturables that are not to be conjectured
about, that would bring madness and vexation to anyone who conjectured about
them. Which four?
·
"The Buddha-range of the Buddhas [i.e., the range of powers a Buddha develops as a result of becoming a Buddha] is an un--conjecturable that is not to be conjectured about, that would bring madness and vexation to anyone who conjectured about it.·
"The jhana-range of a person in jhana [i.e., the range of powers that one may obtain while absorbed in jhana]....·
"The [precise working out of the] results of kamma....·
"Conjecture about [the origin, etc., of] the world is an un-conjecturable that is not to be conjectured about, that would bring madness and vexation to anyone who conjectured about it.
"These are the four un-conjecturables that are not to be conjectured about, that would bring madness and vexation to anyone who conjectured about them.")
All virtues are to be established. All evil deeds are to be left behind. The goal of life must be made to exist, since one should quickly go to it. The Spiritual Letter says:
With many harms, this life is blown away on the wind.
If even a river of water is impermanent,
Exhaling and inhaling, when we go to sleep,
That we ever awake is really miraculous.
For that reason to do evil to oneself and others is not suitable. To go so far as to do evil deeds for the sake of khenpos, loppons, and the three jewels, is senseless, since by the evil ripening within us, we will not be able to participate in them. The same text says:
Practice virtue. For the sake of Brahmins and gods
For feasting, [46] fathers and mothers, queen and retinue,
Even for their sake do not do evil deeds,
You will get no reward but ripening in hell.As for doing any sort of evil deeds,
If this is not cut off at once, as if with a weapon,
When the time of death arrives, then there will manifest
The karmic fruition of all these various evil deeds.
Therefore, even with the elimination of evil actions, it also says:
As for the seeds of these unwholesome activities,
By purifying defilements of body, speech, and mind,
We should earnestly strive with all our present skill.
Not to create an atom of these for any reason,
This cannot be established by anything other than our own powers, or by any association with others. Accepting good and rejecting evil must come from themselves alone. It is said:
As for liberation depending on oneself,
It does not come from association with another,
If we have learning, discipline, and meditation,
A purified world will thus attain to happiness.
Let us attain a happiness like that of the Brahma realms.Completely abandoning through practice of the four Dhyanas,
The happiness and sorrow of desiring and acting,
Let us make an effort in the four noble truths.
As to how this should be done, it says:
The proper noble master always day and night
Transcends the ordinary kind of highs and lows.
Not without fruition even in the womb,
By being mindful, anything else will become weaker.
One will always experience kindness, joy, and compassion.
And always meditate in genuine absorption.Even if it does not please superior ones,
May we attain the happiness of the Brahma realms.
The happiness and sorrow of desiring and acting,
Completely being abandoned through practice of the four Dhyanas,
May purity, radiance, and happiness increase,
And our fortune of fruition be equal to the gods.Without conception, without attachment and antidotes,
Having the principal virtues of the four Dhyana states,
As for the five great virtues and the five non-virtues,
Let us strive to perform the ones that are virtuous.In a bit of water, a bit of salt will change its taste;
But this is not the case with the stream of the river Ganges.
Similarly, though our evil deeds are very few,
They will be known within the scope of our virtuous roots.Wild discursiveness and sinking in sluggish depression
Are states that will be harmful to dark and murky minds.
Sleepiness and doubt and yearning with desire,
These five obscurations are thieves of happiness.However as for faith, pure effort, and mindfulness
The supreme dharmas of samádhi, and the five good prajńa
We should make an effort to manifest all of these.
Then there will be the highest powers and faculties. [47]
In that way much that is to be transcended will be transcended, and good dharmas that are true and excellent will be established.
D. The dedication of the merit of this extensive explanation of the aspects of the meaning and what is proper
Thus with the cooling Dharma rain of mahasukha
May the two accumulations, merit and wisdom,
Grow and flourish widely within the fertile soil,
Of well-manured minds of limitless sentient beings.
Here in samsara, completely filled with karma and kleshas,
May the weary nature of mind today find ease from fatigue.
That is the good aspiration. By the cooling dharma rain of words and meaning, in the field of the minds of sentient beings, by the increase of the good harvest of happiness, may whatever kleshas there may be cleared away, removing the impoverishment of those who have been deprived with accumulating happiness. By the wealth of the sky-treasury of Buddha qualities, may our weariness be eased.
By these present teachings the gates of Dharma are opened.
The profound and precious meaning is there to be received.
With the thought that they would benefit others, this was composed.
By them may all sentient beings encounter supreme enlightenment.Within the sky of mind, the planets and stars of the kleshas,
Improper mental creations, produce the white glow or appearance.
By merit overcoming their luminous/empty nature,
May there come the daylight of the dawn of wisdom.May the wishes of beings for joy and happiness be fulfilled.
May we cross over the ocean of karma and the kleshas.
May there be effortless increase of all that is good and happy.