Wisdom Journal Spring 2019

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F R O M T H E P U B L I S H E R Welcome to the latest issue of the Wisdom Journal.

I am excited to share the news about some of our outstanding spring titles with you.

One of our first titles to be published this year was Samsara, Nirvana, and Buddha Nature. We are honored to publish this third volume in His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Venerable Thubten Chodron’s The Library of Wisdom and Compassion series. This volume demonstrates for readers how the mind can be the basis for both the dukkha of samsara and the bliss and fulfillment of nirvana. Readers will develop a deeper understanding of buddha nature, which will directly help them to cultivate a flourishing Dharma practice. The featured artwork of this issue is from the cover of Samsara, Nirvana, and Buddha Nature, and we include an excerpt explaining the Wheel of Life as well (see page 28).

In this issue, we also feature an interview from the Wisdom Podcast with Janet Gyatso (see page 8). In this interview, she describes for us her experience starting a doctoral program and learning Tibetan and Sanskrit languages. Janet also shares with us inspirational memories about Kalu Rinpoche and her experience living with the lamas while studying for her doctoral thesis. I’m sure that you will enjoy these unique stories.

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First-time author Narayan Helen Liebenson shares with us heartfelt advice on moving past the “constant squeeze” of everyday life in The Magnanimous Heart.

Her warmth and compassion are evident in every page.

We have included an excerpt about overcoming the three kinds of attachment in this Wisdom Journal (see page 10).

I’m also excited to announce the release of accomplished author David R. Loy’s latest book, Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis. David shows us how relevant Buddhism is for addressing our modern ecological concerns and provides advice for preventing activist burnout or hopelessness. A must-read for Dharma center discussion groups and those passionate about combating climate change (see page 6).

I hope you enjoy our spring issue this year!

Daniel Aitken CEO/Publisher Wisdom Publications

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N AV I G AT I N G T W O W O R L D S An Interview with Janet Gyatso

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H E A R T O F T H E M I D D L E W AY Barry Kerzin

1 0 W O R K I N G W I T H T H E T H R E E K I N D S O F AT TA C H M E N T Narayan Helen Liebenson 1 2 T U R N I N G P O I S O N I N T O B E A U T Y

2 4 T H E I M P O R TA N C E O F T H E A B H I D H A R M A K O Ś A I N T I B E T

2 9 T H E M ADHYAMAKOPADEŚA: AT I Ś A' S S P E C I A L I N S T R U C T I O N S O N

Ian James Coghlan

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2 5 E L E V E N - F A C E D A V A L O K I TA I N T H E T R A D I T I O N O F T H E N U N L A K S M Ī Edited by Martin Willson, Martin Brauen, and Robert Beer 2 8 O F

T H E W H E E L L I F E

His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Venerable Thubten Chodron

Chan Master Guojun

David B. Gray P U T Y O U R R E S T

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Seon Master Subul 1 8 W H A T I S I N T I M A C Y ?

Ben Connelly 2 1 O F

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M E A N I N G V A J R A

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W AY

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B L I S S

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C O N S T R U C T S

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Saraha 3 2 T H E

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B U D D H A S

Lama Zopa Rinpoche 3 4 I N T H E B U D D H A’ S W O R D S Translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi

1 5 T H E C A K R A S A M V A R A TA N T R A

1 6 T O

M I D D L E

Atiśa; translated by James Apple

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Yael Bentor and Penpa Dorjee 2 2 B L I S S O N T H E P AT H O F I N S I G H T

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T H E E C O S AT T VA PAT H David R. Loy

3 5 T H E B U D D H A : O N E P E R S O N Bhikkhu Bodhi 4 0 Q U E S T I O N S E M P T I N E S S

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Translated by Mark Siderits and Shōryū Katsura 4 3 O V E R C O M I N G O U R I N D I V I D U A L P E R S P E C T I V E S Kodo Sawaki and Kosho Uchiyama 4 4 B O O K CO L L E C T I O N S A selection of our favorite books from the Tibetan, Theravada, and Zen traditions, as well as perennial bestsellers and new releases.

Venerable Mahāsi Sayadaw W I S D O M P U B S . O R G

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HEART OF THE M I D D L E WA Y A N E XCER PT FROM NĀGĀRJUNA’S WISDOM

BY BARRY KERZIN

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he heart of the chapter—and of the book—is presented in the eighteenth verse. Understanding this verse properly becomes the cornerstone of correctly understanding the Middle Way. Whatever dependently originates is empty of existing intrinsically. There are only two possibilities: either things exist objectively from their own side, or they exist subjectively from the side of the mind.

Existing from the side of the mind means they are dependently designated by the mind. Rejecting things existing intrinsically from the side of the object means they must exist subjectively through dependent designation. This is the identity of emptiness and dependent arising. Emptiness means absence of intrinsic or independent existence. Absence of intrinsic or independent existence means dependent origination. What is dependently arisen is explained as emptiness. Even this identity itself is a dependent designation. This is the Middle Way. This is the powerful meaning of verse 18: [of chapter 24 of Nāgārjuna’s Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way.] 18. Whatever is dependently originated is explained to be emptiness.

That, being a dependent designation, is itself the Middle Way. Not only is the identity of dependent arising and emptiness a dependent designation, but everything is a dependent designation, being dependently arisen. As everything is dependently arisen, everything is empty. This includes all phenomena, as stated in verse 19: 19. There does not exist anything that is not dependently originated.

Therefore, there does not exist anything that is not empty.

Thus, these two verses in chapter 24, verse 18 and verse 19, distill the essence of Nāgārjuna’s Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way. The Dalai Lama says he recites, reflects upon, and meditates on these two verses daily, and he advises us to do the same. This is a pith instruction from a realized master: Nothing exists that is not dependent on others.

Therefore, nothing exists intrinsically. Tsongkhapa, in his Ocean of Reasoning, argues that this verse is the essence of the whole text. Thus, these verses summarize Nāgārjuna’s important work. They are also an important instruction to deepen our understanding.

The twentieth verse goes on: “If all phenomena were not empty of intrinsic existence, then there would be no production and no disintegration. If there were no production and no disintegration, then the four noble truths would be impossible.”

The twenty-first verse argues, if things did not depend on others, then how could suffering be produced? The Buddha taught that phenomena are impermanent and that all

contaminated things are in the nature of suffering. This precludes the possibility that things could exist from their own side intrinsically.

Moreover, if things did in fact exist intrinsically, how could they ever be produced? Those who reify reality would be rejecting everything in the world, all things and events, since all are produced. As those who reify reality would reject all phenomena, including production, they would therefore also reject the cause of suffering. This is the conclusion drawn in the twenty-second verse.

“The Dalai Lama says he recites, reflects upon, and meditates on these two verses daily, and he advises us to do the same.”

Furthermore, if suffering existed intrinsically, then the cessation of suffering would be impossible. As the cessation of suffering would be impossible, suffering would last forever. In this way, those who reify reality are forced into a position whereby they must reject the cessation of suffering based on their own logic. This is the presentation in the twenty-third verse.

If the path existed intrinsically, then how could there be meditation? When those who reify reality propose a path to enlightenment that complements meditation, that path cannot exist intrinsically. For if it did exist intrinsically, the absurd consequence would follow that we could never relate to that path. Without relating to the path, we could never meditate on the path. This is the further absurd consequence of intrinsic existence drawn out in the twenty-fourth verse.

COMING SUMMER 2019

N Ā G Ā R J U N A’ S W I S D O M A PRACTITIONER’S GUIDE TO T H E M I D D L E WAY

BY BARRY KERZIN PA G E S 7 9 – 8 1

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T H E E C O S AT T V A PAT H AN EXCERPT FROM ECODHARMA: BUDDHIST TEACHINGS FOR THE ECOLOGICAL CRISIS

BY DAVID R. LOY

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ultivating insight and equanimity supports what is most distinctive and powerful about spiritual activism: the bodhisattva acts without attachment to the results of action. Aphorism 28 of the Tibetan lojong training offers a classic formulation: “Abandon any hope of fruition.

Don’t get caught up in how you will be in the future; stay in the present moment.”

I refer to “spiritual activism” rather than Buddhist activism because this principle is also an essential aspect of karma yoga in the most important Hindu text, the Bhagavad Gita: “Your right is to the work, never to the fruits. Be neither motivated by the fruits of action nor inclined to give up action” (2:47).

“This vow goes beyond any attachment to any particular accomplishment—or defeat.”

Yet acting without attachment is easily misunderstood, suggesting a casual attitude. “Yes, our local power company needs to convert from coal to renewables. We organized and protested for a while, but there was a lot of resistance. It just didn’t work. But that’s okay, because what’s important are the intentions behind our actions, not the results.”

That approach will never bring about the changes that are necessary, because it misses the point about what nonattachment really means.

To begin with, consider the difference between a marathon and a 100-meter dash. When you run a 100-meter race, the only thing that matters is sprinting to the goal as quickly as possible. You don’t have time to think about anything else.

But you can’t run a marathon that way, because you’ll soon exhaust yourself. Instead, you follow the course without fixating on the goal line somewhere far ahead. If you run in the right direction you will eventually get there, but in the process you need to focus on being here and now, just this step, just this step . . . There is a Japanese term for it: tada, “just this!”

Dharma friends who do marathons tell me that this attitude can lead to a “runner’s high,” when the running becomes effortless. This is a taste of what Daoists call wei wu wei— literally, “the action of nonaction.” When the (sense of) self temporarily merges or becomes one with what the physical body is doing, one’s usual sense of dualistic effort disappears: the mind is no longer willing or pushing the body.

This type of nonaction does not mean doing nothing. The runner does not give up and sit by the side of the road in the belief that there’s really no need to go anywhere. Instead, the running is a kind of “nonrunning” inasmuch as one is not rejecting the present moment in favor of a goal that

will be achieved sometime in the future. Nonetheless, one is approaching the goal because one is doing what is needed right now: just this!

That is one aspect of nonattachment to the results of action, but there is more involved. Although a marathon is a long race, sooner or later one reaches the end and stops. What about a path with no end, with a task so difficult that it is difficult not to become discouraged?

In Japanese Zen temples, practitioners daily recite the four “bodhisattva vows.” The first is to help all living beings awaken: “Sentient beings are numberless; I vow to liberate them all.” If we really understand what this commitment involves, how can we avoid feeling overwhelmed? We are vowing to do something that cannot possibly be accomplished. Is that just crazy—or what?

That the vow cannot be fulfilled is not the problem but the very point. Since it can’t be achieved, what the vow really calls for is reorienting the meaning of one’s life, from our usual self-preoccupation to primary concern for the wellbeing of everyone. On a day-to-day level, what becomes important is not the unattainable goal but the direction of one’s efforts—a direction that in this case orients us without providing any endpoint. What does that imply about how we respond to the eco-crisis? Someone who has already volunteered for a job that is literally impossible is not going to be intimidated by challenges because they sometimes appear hopeless!

No matter how momentous the task of working with others to try to save global civilization from destroying itself, that is nonetheless a small subset of what the bodhisattva has committed to doing. No matter what happens, we are not discouraged—well, not for long, at least. We may need a few mindful breaths first, but then we dust ourselves off and get on with it. That’s because this vow goes beyond any attachment to any particular accomplishment—or defeat.

When our efforts are successful, it’s time to move on to the next thing. When they’re not successful, we keep trying— indefinitely. Once we realize our nonduality with other people and with this magnificent planet that takes care of us all, we don’t want to do anything else. It becomes our passion and our joy.

ECODHARMA BUDDHIST TEACHINGS FOR THE ECOLOGICAL CRISIS B Y D AV I D R . L O Y PA G E S 1 7 0 – 1 7 2

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N AV I G AT I N G T W O W O R L D S A W ISDOM PODCAST I NT ERV I EW W ITH JA NET GYATSO

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n a recent episode of the Wisdom Podcast, publisher Daniel Aitken spoke with Janet Gyatso, scholar and professor of Buddhist studies at Harvard University. An author of several books on the cultural and intellectual history of Tibetan Buddhism, Janet spoke with us about her graduate studies and meaningful encounters with teachers like Kalu Rinpoche, including how she has negotiated the two worlds of being a scholar and practitioner. The following conversation has been edited and condensed for the Journal.

Daniel Aitken: Did attending UC Berkeley give you the opportunity to learn the Tibetan and Sanskrit languages?

Janet Gyatso: Yes. So the thing was I was learning Tibetan privately from Lama Kunga, but then from many other

Tibetan teachers in various ways. And I did learn Sanskrit.

But there’s a whole deal about my becoming a scholar as opposed to a practitioner that came up once I entered the doctoral program. My professors were not particularly sympathetic with the idea of being subjectively involved or believing any of this stuff. You’re supposed to be just this objective, scientific scholar. We actually fought about that, and I told them you cannot be totally objective—it’s not possible, so you shouldn’t try to do that. You should try to figure out what your actual feelings are. But anyway, there is definitely a difference in worldview between academics, for example, who believe that the Buddha never taught the tantras or the Mahayana sutras historically, that he actually didn’t teach any of these works—maybe some of them

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were close to some oral stuff going back to the Buddha.

It was like a conflict of, you might say, epistemologies. It’s been something that I’ve struggled with and been working through. I’m actually still working through, actually, in terms of those so-called two poles. It is more complicated than that; it’s a very complicated issue. But you know, in the end, I’m very glad I did [the program]. Reason being, otherwise you’re just going off into Tibet-world and Buddhism-world, and I wanted to have a foot in the real world that I came out of and where I live and where—you know what I mean.

brought it back. One day I come home from school and go into Kalu Rinpoche’s room, do prostrations and stuff, and I notice that he’s got lipstick on his lips and he’s trying to keep a straight face. And then I notice on all ten fingers, he’s got these ladies’ fingernails—and he was going so hysterical. It was just so funny; he was so mischievous like that.

DA: It seems like he was very free.

JG: He was very free. He was a truly incredible person. He was a magical person … And here’s another amazing story.

Okay, these are totally true stories. I’ve told this many times to people who know me. He had brought with him the ashes of DA: Were you going in and out of his teacher; I think he probably brought it those two worlds or were you feeling out of Tibet with the intention of scatterlike they were just one world for you? ing it in the ocean. He had never seen an Or was it really like going and sitting ocean before. One day we all, like two or with lamas and then going and studying three Volkswagen vans, drive down to the with professors? beach in San Francisco, we all get out and JG: No, it was like, I’d say three-quarters he’s wearing his monk robes, and we’re of a one world. But there were times when all standing on the beach. There’s nobody I definitely felt that my Tibetan teachelse around, and he takes this small urn ers—at that time I had like amazing Ti“He was very free. and he’s throwing the ashes in the ocean. betan teachers, like, Kalu Rinpoche was And at that very moment, I swear to God, He was a truly living in the house where I was living. there is a huge rainbow, immediately, that like suddenly comes over the whole ocean. incredible person.”

DA: So tell us about that, living with And in addition to which someone said, Kalu Rinpoche.

“Look behind you!” and then there was JG: Oh my God, we could be here all night. Kalu Rinpoche also another one, like, there was a double rainbow. We were was amazing. I felt at the time that these teachers were the real standing between two rainbows. I swear. And we all saw this. deal and my teachers at school didn’t know very much actually; It was like, it was amazing. Then after a few minutes it went I thought they were wrong and they didn’t understand the away. texts . . . because I was a practitioner and I was on the inside of DA: Amazing. So you’re living with these lamas and it’s in a the thing. . . . But anyway, he was living in the house that I’m living in; I’m in another room and I’m going down to Berkeley way very magical. And then you’re going down to Berkeley and every day. [When I was] coming up at 3:00 or 4:00 in the after- you’re studying Sanskrit—. noon, he’d be sitting in his room. He had this single bed, and JG: Down in the valley, down in samsara! [laughing] during the day they would make the bed and he would just sit DA: But when you’re in samsara, what you’re doing is studying on it as his seat with his legs crossed the whole time. So he’s just Abhidharmakośa in Sanskrit! This is a pretty amazing life, sitting there, and he would greet you and you’d get blessings. I right? read texts with him. They prayed every morning, and I honed JG: I know, it was fantastic. And at that point in history, my Tibetan by praying with him. Like we say in Yiddish, it would be “dovening”: it’s like praying, but because they go real- people of my generation, nobody was thinking pragmatically ly fast, I was getting good at reading the Tibetan really quickly. about, “Oh, how am I going to earn a living later?” It was the I usually would get like two, four syllables and I would miss the hippie time, you know? Everybody was just going with the flow as long as you can get from year one to the next. So yeah, it was final three, but I’d jump ahead and get ready for the next one. amazing. It was an amazing time.

So here’s, like, an amazing story. So there was a drugstore a few blocks away from this house, and the youngest monk went down there to pick up stuff and saw there the product whereby women could put false fingernails, you know, on your fingers Listen to the full interview and others with guests Bhikkhu Bodhi, H. H. The Karmapa and then you’d file them and you’ll have like really nice-lookOgyen Trinley Dorje, and more at ing fingernails, and also lipstick. So he bought a set of that and wisdompubs.org/podcast.

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WORKING WITH THE THREE K I N D S O F AT TA C H M E N T AN EXCERPT FROM THE MAGNANIMOUS HEART B Y N A R AYA N H E L E N L I E B E N S O N

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n our study of our own attachment, being aware of a sense of urgency about anything is worth noting. Urgency is the inner pressure of having to own, to be, or to do. It is the burning need to get a desire met. When desire is strong enough, attaining the object of our desire seems absolutely necessary. Urgent clinging or desperate grasping is attachment and thus is suffering.

One form of attachment is the effort to sustain pleasure, to hold on to it, to make it last or last longer. This kind of attachment includes a sense of urgency. We want to own and possess. The Dharma medicine for this type of attachment is to practice nondwelling, ease, and spaciousness. While aware of what we are attached to, we practice including other elements of present moment experience as well. When we are trying to hold on to something, we tend to isolate it Attachment can also be recognized in the form of anxiety. as something special. When we see something as special, we If we can approach the mind state of anxiety without cling even more. The Dharma medicine aversion, and with curiosity, awareness “Does attachment is to minimize the tendency to isolate of anxiety can lead to a deeper to perceive what we are attached to understanding. Awareness of anxiety really bring what the and as more important than whatever else is reveals the belief that it can offer happening in life in this moment. In this heart yearns for?” accurate information. It is beneficial regard, a wise question to ask is: What to form the intention to avoid acting else is happening right now? when anxiety is happening, because thoughts of anxiety cannot be depended upon. Anxiety manifesting as a thought is also a thought, and the thought does not need to be believed.

Look closely: How does attachment manifest itself? What does it look like, what does it feel like in the body? What is the Dharma medicine? There are three different ways of approaching and working with attachment dependent on the form the attachment takes, three distinct kinds of medicine in response to each expression of attachment.

Attachment also appears in the form of rejection and judging. When an experience is unpleasant, our instinct is to try to push it away and get rid of it and to dwell in resistance and aversion. This is natural, but it does not alleviate suffering. Trying to push away what we don’t like is a tried and untrue way to keep what we want to get rid of from leaving on its own. The effort keeps it locked in instead of allowing it to dissipate. Whatever we resist, will, due to that resistance, continue. The medicine in this case is the

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practice of acceptance and nonresistance. It is the practice of allowing. A wise question to ask in the midst of resistance and aversion is: Can I make space for this?

The third form of attachment is identification with something as being essential to who or what we are. This kind of attachment means seeing what is really just another impermanent element of life as inherently me, as who I am, instead of simply as another conditioned phenomena.

The Dharma medicine is to see that all elements of life are nature, rather than self. What we experience is always just an experience. It is never who we are. This is universal and true for all beings.

In the stages of practice, we are instructed to find an anchor to steady the mind upon. This initial training helps us understand how not to cling to thinking. As we develop in steadiness and skillfulness, we can apply attentiveness to all phenomena. With metta and compassion as companions and allies, we gently allow the inner knots to untie themselves.

We cannot force letting go. However, we can practice allowing, acceptance, and nondwelling. We can study our attachments. We can inquire into the very nature of attachment. We can encourage ease and spaciousness. And we can view what is happening as nature and not-self.

Observing attachments even when subtle is imperative.

We study attachment whether strong or weak. When our attachments are weak, we have a good chance to gather the strength to be able to see our stronger attachments.

We can take an interest in how attachments manifest, in thoughts, emotions, speech, and actions. Following through, we can bring our attention to the results of attachment in daily situations in our lives. Does attachment really bring what the heart yearns for? Each of us needs to find this out for ourselves.

We begin by accepting that we will attach, that we are wired to attach. This acceptance is part of the path, yet we don’t stop with acceptance. We can also see that the practice offers an entirely different perspective than we have learned in the past, which allows for a natural deconditioning of the heart.

THE MAGNANIMOUS HEART CO M PASSION AN D LOVE, LOSS A N D GR I EF, J O Y A N D L I B E R AT I O N B Y N A R AYA N H E L E N L I E B E N S O N PA G E S 1 6 4 – 1 6 9

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TURNING POISON INTO BE AU T Y AN EXCERPT FROM FA L L I N G I S F LY I N G

BY CHAN MASTER GUOJUN

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priceless piece of agarwood was my undoing.

Agarwood comes from the infected heartwood of a family of evergreens indigenous to Southeast Asia.

The trees produce a dark resin in response to the attack of a certain mold. Agarwood is prized for its fragrance and used in perfume. It also has extraordinary physical properties: the resinous, crystallized heartwood is tremendously hard and dense—so dense, in fact, that it doesn’t float. In Middle Eastern desert cultures, it is ground into powder and applied in an aromatic body rub. In Asia, there is a tradition of carving agarwood into sacred objects.

A piece of prized wild (as opposed to cultivated) agarwood fetched an astounding $1,000 per kilo in 2010. The agarwood’s value is determined by the age of the tree and the quality and mass of its resinous oil. The original wild

population of trees is disappearing, and today agarwood is one of the most valuable natural substances on the planet. And as the wild trees are cut and processed, natural agarwood is becoming increasingly rare.

In 2006 I visited Putian, in southern China, with my close friend and fellow monk Dahui, where I commissioned three statues to be built for the Hall of Universal Light on the main floor of Mahabodhi, the monastery in Singapore that I was in the initial stages of rebuilding. These huge statues, each weighing several tons, were carved to my specifications from solid pieces of white camphor trees that were said to be 1,400 and 2,000 years old. White camphor was chosen not only for its size but because of its other properties: its strong odor repels insects, fungus, and mold, and it has a medicinal quality and a purity and integrity that resist defilement.

Image credit: Pixa

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It was at the carvers in Putian that I encountered the agarwood—an impressive piece, about seven feet long, three feet high, and eighteen inches thick. It must have weighed over a thousand pounds. I bent down to take a closer look at its intricate carving of deities, many of which I realized I use in my own personal practice.

One such deity, prominently featured, was Mahamayuri Vidyarajni, a bodhisattva who sits on a white peacock.

In China, the peacock represents transformation. It eats poisonous insects and worms, and the more poison it ingests, the more lustrous and radiant its plumage becomes.

This symbolizes the way we seek to convert the negativity inside us—the three poisons of anger, ignorance, and greed—into something beautiful, beneficial, and pure.

The peacock’s tail, with its multiple halos, signifies the eyes of the bodhisattva who can see in all directions.

The thousand-eyed living embodiment of compassion sees everywhere, even into the darkest and most hidden places, wherever there are sentient beings, in order to help relieve their suffering. Legend has it that Mahamayuri was pursued by hunters who captured him in a net. I recite the mantra that he used to free himself. The net, of course, is the net of suffering in which we are entrapped when we are not mindful.

Another personal deity featured in the agarwood was Ucchusma, which translates from the Chinese as “unafraid

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of dirt.” He is a manifestation of Shakyamuni Buddha.

After Buddha attained enlightenment, the celestials came to pay respects and rejoice—all except one: the Spiral HairKnot Brahma King was cavorting with his consorts in his heavenly palace. (A hair knot is twisted, not straight, and represents entanglements.) Outraged that he failed to show Buddha proper respect, the celestials sought to drag the Brahma King out of his heavenly abode. But he made his

“Our life experiences sculpt us and make us who we are. This is how we grow, mature, and transform.” palace so smelly and foul that no one dared go in. Then, from the Buddha’s heart, Ucchusma appeared. Undaunted by the foul odors and filth, he seized the Brahma King and dragged him down to earth to bow at the Buddha’s feet.

Dahui could tell I was drawn to the agarwood.

“If you like it, get it for yourself,” he said.

“Don’t joke! It’s much too expensive.”

“I know a way,” Dahui said. He asked one of his devotees, a

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Image credit: Somchai Siriwanarangson

businessman who invested in hotels and textiles, and who also knew me and had heard my teachings, to buy it for me to install at Mahabodhi. The businessman was happy to oblige and accumulate the merit that would accrue from such a generous gift. He purchased the piece for about $60,000 Singapore dollars ($30,000–$40,000 US) and donated it to me.

Two years passed, and then in 2008 the work was finally completed in Putian on the camphor Buddhas that would sit in Mahabodhi’s main hall. I went to China on a pilgrimage tour with my sangha and asked the manufacturer to send the agarwood to one of my students for safekeeping until the work on the monastery was completed and we could find a suitable place for it. Yet when the monastery was finally finished and the carving was ready to be installed, the ownership of the agarwood was called into question, leading to lawsuits, accusations of financial impropriety, and bogus but nonetheless damaging innuendos of sexual misconduct—which were all widely covered in Singapore’s newspapers.

My name and reputation were dragged through the mud, and I have spent countless hours preparing documents and large sums of money on legal fees to defend myself in the courts. In the midst of all this, I left Singapore and traveled through China. I gave serious thought to giving up the abbot’s position of Mahabodhi. I even considered disrobing.

Members of my sangha persuaded me to come back to Mahabodhi, and, strangely, the whole incident has caused me to renew my bodhisattva vows.

The court ruled that the agarwood should be returned to Mahabodhi. I had it installed in the conference room. The agarwood had rapidly appreciated in value and was now worth millions. I have decided to give it to Dahui to sell, to

raise money for the charitable work he is doing for children with cleft palates and other congenital disorders in Vietnam.

I have continued my personal practice with the bodhisattva Mahamayuri Vidyarajni, who sits atop a white peacock and freed himself from the hunters’ net, and with Ucchusma, who was “unafraid of dirt” and dragged the Spiral HairKnot Brahma King out of his filthy abode to bow at the Buddha’s feet.

I have come to realize that I need to be like the agarwood.

Its special properties are produced when the tree’s heartwood is attacked. Life is like that. When you’re bitten, stung, or stabbed, you secrete substances to protect yourself.

It’s a natural response. And sometimes this can be a precious thing, if we approach this process with the right perspective.

Our life experiences sculpt us and make us who we are. This is how we grow, mature, and transform. The peacock spreads his fan. He ingests poison and turns it into luminous halos: our eyes opening to the suffering of others. Falsely accused, branded with depraved behavior and broken vows, I remembered the Dharma of the agarwood. When the tree is attacked, it does not strike out. It turns the poison at its core into something fragrant, precious, and beautiful.

FA L L I N G I S F LY I N G THE DHARMA OF FAC I N G A DV ER S I T Y

BY A JAHN BR AHM AND CHAN MASTER GUOJUN PA G E S 6 9 – 74

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T H E C A K R A S A M V A R A TA N T R A T H E C A K R A S A M VA R A TA N T R A B Y D AV I D B . G R AY

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he Cakrasamvara Tantra is a very cryptic text.

While this is due in part to its relative brevity, and in part to the somewhat simplified and prosaic form of Sanskrit in which it is written (a form which was increasingly common from the early medieval period onward), it is largely the text’s contents and their treatment that account for its obscurity. Like most tantras, it is primarily a ritual text, dedicating most of its fifty-one chapters to the description of rites such as the production of the mandala, the consecration ceremonies performed within it, as well as various other ritual actions such as homa fire sacrifices, enchantment with mantras, and so forth. Moreover, like many tantras, and perhaps more than most, it fails to give sufficient information for the performance of these rituals. It also

often obscures crucial elements, particularly the mantras, which the text typically presents in reverse order, or which it codes via an elaborate scheme in which both the vowels and consonants are coded by number.

The text was thus written so as to require commentary. This was no doubt due to the imperative of secrecy, which the text itself repeatedly demands of its adepts.

Only initiated adepts were to receive the Root Tantra (mūlatantra), and they would have required oral instructions from their gurus in order to understand it. It probably did not take long, however, for Buddhists to begin composing literature to expand upon and explain the root texts. Indeed, the earliest surviving commentary (Jayabhadra’s) was probably composed within fifty years of the Root Tantra itself.

RECENT FROM THE TREASURY OF THE BUDDHIST SCIENCES

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t r ehis a sisu the r y second o f tofhtwo e volumes b u d dpresenting h i s t Dr. s c David iences Gray’s study and translation of the Illumination of the Hidden Meaning (sbas don kun gsal) by the Tibetan Buddhist scholar-yogi Tsong Khapa Losang Drakpa (1357–1419). The Illumination contains Tsong Khapa’s magnificent commentary on the Indian Buddhist Cakrasamvara Tantra, one of the earliest and most influential of the yoginī tantras, a genre of tantric Buddhist scripture that emphasizes female deities, particularly the often fiercely depicted yoginīs and ḍākinīs. Together with the first volume, this contains the first English translation of this important work that marks a milestone in the history of the Tibetan assimilation of the Indian Buddhist tantras.

Illumination of the Hidden Meaning (sbas don kun gsal)

part i: chapters 1–24 “A crucial contribution to our understanding of the formation of tantric Buddhism in Tibet and an impressive feat of translation by a leading scholar. Gray’s lucid introduction to Tsong Khapa’s early fifteenth-century commentary explores the key sources available to the Tibetan author and how he established himself as a major authority on Cakrasaṃvara while grounding tantric practice in philosophical study and the realization of emptiness.”—Jacob Dalton, Studies University of California, Berkeley

Man. d. ala, Mantr a, and the Cult of the YoginĪs by Tsong Khapa Losang Drakpa

“Consistent and exemplary: careful in working with the translation of original texts and their commentaries; thorough in drawing upon relevant traditional sources that illuminate the meaning of the work; always thoughtful in providing both specialist and general reader with a consistently useful analysis.”—Todd Lewis, Collegeintroduction of the Holy Crossand translation by

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his is the first volume in a two-volume annotated translation of Tsong Khapa’s Illumination of the Hidden Meaning (sbas don t r ecommentary a s u r y ono the f the buddhist sciences kun gsal), a magnificent

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aibs Cakrasamvara Tantra. This is the first English

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translation of this important work, which marked a milestone in the history of the Tibetan understanding and practice of the Indian Buddhist tantras.

This first volume, which includes Tsong Khapa’s detailed introduction to chapters 1–24 of the 51-chapter Cakrasamvara root tantra, covers the history of the tradition, its interpretation, and a wide range of topics including the construction of the maṇḍala, the consecration therein, the decoding of mantras and their ritual applications, and details concerning the clans of the yoginīs.

The author situates the work in context, and ii: chapters 25–51 part explores in depth the sources used by Tsong Khapa in composing this commentary. He also provides detailed notes, a trilingual English– Tibetan–Sanskrit glossary, and an appendix that includes a translation of Sumatikīrti’s synopsis of the Cakrasamvara Tantra entitled the Laghusaṁvaratantrapaṭalābhisandhi, which is quoted by Tsong Khapa in its entirety in his commentary.

Together with the author’s related publications in this series—including translations of the root Cakrasamvara Tantra (2007, 2010, 2019); the critically edited Sanskrit and Tibetan texts of the root tantra (2012); and the second volume of this master Tibetan commentary (chapters 25–51), subtitled Yogic Vows, Conduct, and Ritintroduction and translation ual Praxis (2019)—the reader will have the first Gray full study of this important tantra available in English.

Yogic Vows, Conduct, and Ritual Praxis | Tsong Khapa Losang Drakpa

Davidthoughtful B. Gray is Bernard J. Hanley Profes“Consistent and exemplary . . . careful . . . thorough . . . always sor of Religious in providing both specialist and general reader with a consistently useful Studies at Santa Clara University. He is the author of The Cakrasamvara analysis.”—Todd Lewis, College of the Holy Cross Tantra (The Discourse of Śrī Heruka): A Study and Annotated Translation (2007, 2010, 2019); The Cakrasamvara Tantra (The Discourse of Śrī Gray Heruka): Editions of the Sanskrit and Tibetan Texts (2012); Tsong Khapa’s Illumination of the Meaning: Maṇḍala, Mantra, and the b u d d h i s m / g eHidden neral CultUSof$59.95 the Yoginīs (Chapters 1–24) (2017); as ISBN 978-1-935011-09-5 | CAN $80.00 well as numerous 55995articles.

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Illumination of the Hidden Meaning

Man.d.ala, Mantra, and the Cult of the Yoginīs | Tsong Khapa Losang Drakpa

David B. Gray is Bernard J. Hanley Professor of Religious Studies at Santa Clara University. He is the author of The Cakrasamvara Tantra (The Discourse of Śrī Heruka): A Study and Annotated Translation (2007, 2010, 2019); The Cakrasamvara Tantra (The Discourse of Śrī Heruka): Editions of the Sanskrit and Tibetan Texts (2012); Tsong Khapa’s Illumination of the Hidden Meaning: Yogic Vows, Conduct, and Ritual Praxis (Chapters 25–51) (2019); as well as numerous articles.

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he Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences series is copublished by the American Institute of Buddhist Studies (AIBS) and Wisdom Publihis is the first of two volumes presenting Dr. David Gray’s study cations in association with the Columbia Uniand translation of the Illumination of the Hidden Meaning (sbas don versity Center for Buddhist Studies and Tibet aibs House US.Losang AIBS established this series to prokun gsal) by the Tibetan Buddhist scholar-yogi Tsong Khapa cucbs thus authoritative Drakpa (1357–1419). The Illumination contains Tsongvide Khapa’s magnifi- translations, studies, and editions of theone textsofof the Tibetan Tengyur (bstan cent commentary on the Indian Buddhist Cakrasamvara Tantra, its associated literature. The Tibetan the earliest and most influential of the yoginī tantras, ’gyur) a genreand of tantric Tengyur is a vast collection of over 4,000 clasBuddhist scripture that emphasizes female deities, particularly the often sical Indian Buddhist scientific treatises (śāstra) fiercely depicted yoginīs and ḍākinīs. Together with the second volume, written in Sanskrit by over 700 authors from this contains the first English translation of this important that ce, now preserved mainly the firstwork millennium marks a milestone in the history of the Tibetan assimilation of the Indian in systematic 7th–12th century Tibetan transBuddhist tantras. lation. Its topics span all of India’s “outer” arts and sciences, including linguistics, medicine, astronomy, socio-political theory, ethics, art, and so on, as well as all of her “inner” arts and “A timely, painstakingly precise, and engagingly readable translation sciences such asof philosophy, psychology (“mind science”), meditation, and yoga. an important scholastic treatise on Buddhist tantric tradition from early Theanalysis presentbywork is included within the fifteenth-century Tibet . . . worthy of extended reflection and Works of Jey Tsong Khapa and Sons anyone wanting to understand Tibetan perspectives onComplete Indian Buddhist collection, a subset of the Treasury of the Budtantra.”—Kurtis Schaeffer, University of Virginia dhist Sciences series. Comprised of the collected works of Tsong Khapa (1357–1419) and his “A crucial contribution to our understanding of the formation of tanspiritual sons, Gyaltsap Darma Rinchen (1364– tric Buddhism in Tibet and an impressive feat of translation leading Gelek Pelsang (1385–1438), 1432)by anda Khedrup scholar . . . explores the key sources available to the Tibetan author and how the numerous works in this set of Tibetan he established himself as a major authority on Cakrasamvara whileand groundtreatises supercommentaries are based on ing tantric practice in philosophical study and the realization emptiness.” the of thousands of works in the Kangyur and Tengyur, the Tibetan Buddhist canon.

—Jacob Dalton, University of California, Berkeley

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Illumination of the Hidden Meaning

he Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences series is copublished by the American Institute of Buddhist Studies (AIBS) and Wisdom Publications in association with the Columbia University Center for Buddhist Studies and Tibet House US. AIBS established this series to provide authoritative translations, studies, and editions of the texts of the Tibetan Tengyur (bstan ’gyur) and its associated literature. The Tibetan Tengyur is a vast collection of over 4,000 classical Indian Buddhist scientific treatises (śāstra) written in Sanskrit by over 700 authors from the first millennium ce, now preserved mainly in systematic 7th–12th century Tibetan translation. Its topics span all of India’s “outer” arts and sciences, including linguistics, medicine, astronomy, socio-political theory, ethics, art, and so on, as well as all of her “inner” arts and sciences such as philosophy, psychology (“mind science”), meditation, and yoga.

The present work is included within the Complete Works of Jey Tsong Khapa and Sons collection, a subset of the Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences series. Comprised of the collected works of Tsong Khapa (1357–1419) and his spiritual sons, Gyaltsap Darma Rinchen (1364– 1432) and Khedrup Gelek Pelsang (1385–1438), the numerous works in this set of Tibetan treatises and supercommentaries are based on the thousands of works in the Kangyur and Tengyur, the Tibetan Buddhist canon.

Illumination of the Hidden Meaning (sbas don kun gsal )

Yogic Vows, Conduct, and Ritual Pr axis by Tsong Khapa Losang Drakpa

David B. Gray

David B. Gray

by

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T H E C A K R A S A M VA R A TA N T R A

his is the second volume in a two-volume annotated translation of Tsong Khapa’s Illumination of the Hidden Meaning (sbas don kun gsal), a magnificent commentary on the Cakrasamvara Tantra. This is the first English translation of this important work, which marked a milestone in the Tibetan understanding and practice of the Indian Buddhist tantras.

This second volume, which includes Tsong Khapa’s detailed introduction to chapters 25–51 of the 51-chapter Cakrasamvara root tantra, covers the vows, observances, and conduct of the initiated yogī, particularly in relation to the yoginīs, whose favor he must cultivate. It describes in great detail the rites of the tradition, including homa fire sacrifice and the uses of the mantras of the maṇḍala’s main deities. The author provides a trilingual English–Tibetan–Sanskrit glossary.

Together with the author’s related publications in this series—including translations of the root Cakrasamvara Tantra (2007, 2010, 2019); the critically edited Sanskrit and Tibetan texts of the root tantra (2012); and the first volume of this master Tibetan commentary (chapters 1–24), subtitled Maṇḍala, Mantra, and the Cult of the Yoginīs (2017)—the reader will have the first full study of this important tantra available in English.

T R A N S L AT E D B Y D A V I D B . G R A Y W I T H M A G N I F I C E N T C O M M E N TA R Y F R O M T S O N G K H A PA I N

T H E I L L U M I N AT I O N O F THE HIDDEN MEANING, PA R T S I A N D I I T R A N S L AT E D B Y D A V I D B . G R A Y

buddhism / general

ISBN US $59.95 | CAN $80.00 I S B978-1-949163-04-5 N 978-1-949163-04-9

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PUT YOUR MIND TO REST AN EXCERPT FROM A BIRD IN FLIGHT LEAVES NO TRACE

BY SEON MASTER SUBUL

Pei Xiu asked, “For the saints, no-mind is the buddha. For worldlings, wouldn’t no-mind mean that they end up being submerged in emptiness and quiescence?”

問 聖人 無心即是佛 凡夫 無心 莫沈空寂否.

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he minds of saints and worldlings are not different because both are originally no-mind.

Sentient beings who do not know this fact tend to discriminate between saints and worldlings. Therefore masters with bright eyes develop expedients to help break down sentient beings’ delusions and provide an opportunity for those who have aroused faith to practice Buddhism.

it is nonexistent. The dharma may originally not be nonexistent, but do not then generate a view that it is existent.

師云 法無凡聖亦無沈寂 法本不 有 莫作無見 法本不無 莫作有見.

Since those who have had a breakthrough in their training know that there are originally no dharmas to be established, they never create such a view. They employ such views without actually employing anything. They know that, in the mind, there is no distinction between saints and worldlings.

The master replied, “In the dharma, there are no saints or worldlings and no submersion in quiescence, either. The dharma may originally be nonexistent, but do not then generate a view that

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Although it may seem that the minds of saints and worldlings exist separately, what is really happening is that their different karma makes them appear to be different. In the mind, how would there be either saints or worldlings?

“Whether [the dharma] is existent or nonexistent is entirely a discriminative view that is like a phantasm.

有之與無 盡是情見 猶如幻翳.

Since all discriminations in the phenomenal realm are created by the sense consciousnesses, be fooled by phantasms no longer. Opening the true eye of the Way, you will transcend all discriminations and dualistic views involving the mundane world and embrace these relative values within the nondual middle way. Therefore enlightened people have overcome all dualistic tensions and live freely in their everyday mind. Practice diligently with a distinguished master, never neglecting self-examination. Such is the good fortune that comes to practitioners.

“This is why it is said, ‘Seeing and hearing are like phantasms.’ Sensing and perceiving are indeed

what it means to be a sentient being. In the gate of the patriarchs and teachers, we only discuss resting the [mind’s] operations and remaining oblivious to views.

所以云 見聞如幻翳 知覺乃眾生 祖師門中 只論息機忘見.

Although there is originally no distinction between buddhas and sentient beings, people discriminate between the two, creating false impressions because of their ignorance. When sentient beings realize that they themselves are buddhas, all discriminations will disappear.

Although you generate various thoughts all day long, nothing is generated. If you perfectly realize this fact, discrimination will cease.

“Therefore, ‘If you remain oblivious to mental impulses, the Buddha Way will thrive; but if you discriminate, Māra’s minions will swarm.’”

所以 忘機則佛道隆 分別則魔軍 熾.

Since there is no mind to rest, there is no need even to say, “Remain oblivious to mental impulses.” But Master Huangbo said such words out of his concern for his disciples.

A BIRD IN FLIGHT LE AV ES NO TR ACE THE ZEN TEACHINGS OF HUANGBO WITH A M O D E R N C O M M E N TA R Y

BY SEON MASTER SUBUL PA G E S 1 3 1 – 1 3 3

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W H AT IS I N T I M ACY? A N E XCER PT FROM MINDFULNESS & INTIMACY

BY BE N CON N E L LY

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ntimacy in its simplest definition means close familiarity and friendship. Words, however, have power and meaning beyond their definitions. No matter what the dictionary says, some words evoke very different meanings or feelings to different people. To some folks the word religion evokes inspiration, warmth, and wonder, to others constriction and closed-mindedness. Intimacy is a word a bit like this. It can evoke feelings of connection and safety, but for some people it’s pretty scary or stickily sentimental. And then there are the folks who think it just means sex. I want to point toward a way of understanding and experiencing the word intimacy that fosters compassion, calm, and joyful action. I use intimacy as we often use it in Zen discourse; it’s about harmony between autonomy and interdependence. In intimacy we are individuals who are connected, and we are also one undivided whole; we can develop both healthy boundaries and healthy boundarylessness.

I invite you to take a moment to reflect on the most healthy, rewarding, intimate relationship you’ve known. Notice how thinking about it makes you feel. For some of us, intimate relationships have been so fraught throughout our lives that this kind of recollection is quite painful. For others of us the list of wonderful relationships is so long we can’t decide which one to focus on. No matter where you fall on this spectrum, you can use what you know and feel about intimacy to deepen your ability to connect on a profound level to yourself, to other people, and to the entire world.

Your feeling about intimacy is a reflection of what intimacy is about: it’s your feeling right now, personal and immediate, and it is the result of infinite conditions and is connected to everything that will ever happen.

Human consciousness has evolved so that we experience life from a position of alienation. We generally feel like we exist as beings separate from the rest of the universe. We walk down the street, and it seems as if we are an awareness bobbing around on top of a body, perceiving a bunch of things outside ourselves: trees, bikes, cars, dog barks, graffiti.

We listen to others talking and sometimes we understand them and sometimes we don’t, but they always seem separate from us on some level.

practices to help us realize, to experientially know, that we are in fact a part—or not even separate enough to be a part—of a vast, ever-unfolding whole. The reason is simple: people who let go of this habit of alienation report a sense of oceanic peace and well-being and tend to devote themselves to lots of compassionate actions for those around them.

Many neuroscientists say that our sense of being a separate,

“People who let go of [the] habit of alienation report a sense of oceanic peace and well-being...” persistent self is just a construct of the processes in our brain.

Regardless of what all these experts say, it still seems like I’m typing, and I suspect that you sense that it is a real, separate you that is reading right now.

The practice and cultivation of intimacy is not ultimately about eliminating or getting rid of this sense that we are apart from the world. Since intimacy is about harmonizing autonomy and interdependence, what we really need to do is get our sense of separateness in balance with our sense of connection.

MINDFULNESS & INTIMACY B Y B E N C O N N E L LY PA G E S 1 1 – 1 4

Buddhist teachings, and mystic teachings from many other religions, have long focused on helping us let go of the habit of feeling like we are separate from everything. They provide

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“In intimacy we are individuals who are connected, and we are also one undivided whole; we can develop both healthy boundaries and healthy boundarylessness.�

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Image credit: Himalayan Art Resources

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T H E M E A N I N G O F T H E VA J R A AND THE BELL AN EXCERPT FROM T H E E S S E N C E O F T H E O C E A N O F A T TA I N M E N T S T R A N S L AT E D B Y YA E L B E N T O R A N D P E N PA D O R J E E

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ith regard to relative deities, the nave of the vajra, known as the egg of the three times, signifies Vajrasattva, the five upper prongs signify the five tathāgata families, namely, Vairocana and so forth, and the eight upper lotus petals signify Image credit: the eight bodhisattvas, namely, Maitreya Utilisateur:Djampa and so forth, who share in the nature of the eight paths of the noble ones, for the Saṃpuṭa Tantra teaches: “Set Vairocana on the central prong, Akṣobhya on the eastern, and similarly Ratnasaṃbhava on the southern prong. Set Amitābha on the western, and Amoghasiddhi on the northern prong. The five prongs are these very deities.

Set the eight limbs of enlightenment on the lotus.” The text continues, closing with the words: “Dissolve the wisdom deities in the egg of the three times at the center.”

The five lower prongs signify the five classes of Sky Travelers, while the eight lower lotus petals signify the four female gatekeepers and the four female deities, Cundā and so forth, eight altogether, for the Saṃpuṭa Tantra teaches: “Set the five Sky Travelers on the prongs.”

The three parts of the bell signify the three realms, and the hollow space within signifies that the three realms are devoid of an intrinsic nature, for the Vajraḍāka Tantra teaches: “The cavity at the center is a deep, all-pleasing abode of nectar.”

The bell’s handle signifies the methods for realizing that all phenomena are devoid of intrinsic nature and the wisdom of the great innate bliss during fruition. The vessel of nectar on the handle signifies the indivisibility of this wisdom from the void or emptiness. The face of perfect wisdom above the vessel of nectar signifies the wisdom of indivisible bliss and emptiness appearing as the Perfection of Wisdom. The eight syllables resting on the lotus signify the four mothers, the four wealth-bearing goddesses, Vasudhārā, and so forth.

That being so, the vajra signifies the method—Vajrasattva— and the bell the wisdom—Vajradhātvīśvarī. Holding the vajra and bell in mutual embrace signifies the saṃbhogakāya endowed with the seven features of union. The sound of the bell signifies the saṃbhogakāya continuously turning the wheel of the Dharma of the Vajrayāna.

The five prongs signify the five wisdoms formed with the conceptual differentiation of the great innate bliss. Their projection out of the mouths of the sea monsters signifies the compassion that does not abandon sentient beings. The strings of jewels above and below the lotus and the design of light-rays signify the far-reaching enlightened actions that fulfill the hopes of the disciples, for the Vajraḍāka Tantra teaches: “The cavity at the center is a deep, all-pleasing abode of nectar.”

Furthermore, the vajra signifies the mind or nondual wisdom; the bell marked by the face, the seed syllable, and so forth, signify the body; while the sound of the bell proclaiming emptiness signifies speech. In brief, you should be inspired to perceive these three as being endowed with the nature of ultimate bodhicitta, and thus view the three vajras of body, speech, and mind as the indivisible essence, for the Cluster of Instructions teaches: “The vajra is mind, the bell is body, and its sound is speech.”

That being so, in their definitive meaning, the vajra is the wisdom resulting from great bliss, and the bell is the perfect wisdom realizing emptiness. These three terms are synonymous: (1) the vajra and bell in their definitive meaning, (2) the inner vajra and bell, and (3) the vajra and bell in their signified meaning. When the vajra and bell in their definitive meaning—the wisdom of indivisible bliss and emptiness—are differentiated, five paths emerge, for the Saṃpuṭa Tantra teaches: [. . .] “Through the vajra of wisdom, afflictions are overcome instantaneously—just as darkness is—when the lamp-like clarity ensues. All those who attain the vajra and achieve the appearing aspect are known as having the nature of the vajra.”

THE ESSENCE OF THE OCEAN O F AT TA I N M E N T S T R A N S L AT E D B Y Y A E L B E N T O R A N D P E N PA D O R J E E PA G E S 4 6 – 5 0

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B L I S S O N T H E PAT H O F I N S I G H T AN EXCERPT FROM MINDFULNESS AND INSIGHT B Y V E N E R A B L E M A H Ā S I S AYA D A W

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ue to the momentum of insight knowledge [the practitioner is] likely to see a bright light or experience rapture as a result of being greatly delighted with both the noting mind and the noted objects. You may get goose bumps, feel a tear roll down your cheek, or find your body shaking. A meditator may experience a “springy” feeling, often mistaken for dizziness, or a light, comfortable feeling, as if swaying back and forth in a hammock, that creeps over his whole body. You may experience a peaceful calm that makes you feel comfortable whether sitting, reclining, standing, or in any other posture.

Both the mind and body will become so light, supple, and flexible due to this quality of lightness that you will feel comfortable even during long periods of sitting or reclining, without any pain, heat, or stiffness.

At this point, the noting mind and the noted objects flow along concurrently and harmoniously. Your mental attitude becomes straightforward. Your mind avoids unwholesome activities and becomes extremely clear due to your strong faith and confidence. At times this mental clarity may last for a long period, even when there is no object to be noted. As your faith grows stronger, you may reflect: “It really is true that the Buddha knew everything,” or, “There really is nothing other than impermanent, unsatisfying, and impersonal mental and physical phenomena.” While

noting, you will often see, extremely clearly, the arising and passing away of mental and physical phenomena, as well as impermanence and unsatisfactoriness, and you will probably think about encouraging others to practice. Without too much strain and free from laziness, balanced effort will manifest. It will seem as if objects are known of their own accord and so insight equanimity (vipassanupekkhā) dawns.

A meditator is likely to experience an unusual degree of very strong delight or happiness and will be excited to tell others about it.

“Every object you note helps you to realize impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and not-self.”

A meditator may like any of the pleasant experiences that occur—the bright light, good mindfulness, insight, rapture, and so on. This liking will cause him to think: “This practice is exceedingly enjoyable!” He may really enjoy the practice. But do not waste time enjoying the bright light and other pleasant experiences. Instead, whenever they arise,

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Image credit: Patrick Foto

note them as “brightness, comfort, knowing, reflecting, venerating, happiness, liking, delight,” and so on, according to whatever you experience.

If you notice brightness, note it as “bright, bright.” If you think that you see it, note it as “seeing, seeing” until it disappears. You may often forget to note bright light and other pleasant experiences because you are so happy to experience them. Although you are noting, the light may not disappear very quickly because you are delighting in it. Only after experiencing it many times will you be able to note it skillfully enough that it disappears quickly. For some meditators, light is so powerful that even if they note it for a long time, it doesn’t disappear; it remains. In this case, ignore the light completely and divert your attention to some other mental or physical object. Do not think about whether the light is still bright. If you do, you will find that it is. Any thoughts about the light should be noted so precisely that your awareness of them is very clear and firm.

Since your concentration will have become very powerful, other unusual objects besides bright light can arise if you incline your mind toward them. Do not let the mind incline in this way. If you do, quickly note it until it disappears.

Some meditators see various kinds of faint shapes and forms arise one after another, like the linked carriages of a train. If this happens, note it as “seeing, seeing.” With each noting,

an object will disappear. If your insight weakens, the shapes and forms will tend to become more pronounced. But if you note them closely, each object will disappear on the spot as it is noted. Eventually they will stop coming.

To delight in bright light and other pleasant experiences is to be on the wrong path. The correct path of insight is to just continue noting. If you keep this in mind and carry on noting mental and physical phenomena that actually arise, your awareness will grow clearer and clearer. You will clearly see the sudden appearance and disappearance of phenomena.

Every time you note, you will see each object arising and passing away on the spot. A meditator clearly sees that successive occurrences are distinct from one another, break up bit by bit, and cease. Thus every object you note helps you to realize impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and not-self.

MINDFULNESS AND INSIGHT THE MAHĀSI METHOD

BY VENER ABLE MAHĀSI S AYA D A W PA G E S 1 9 8 – 2 0 0

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T H E I M P O R TA N C E O F T H E ABHIDHARMAKOŚA IN TIBET AN EXCERPT FROM ORNAMENT OF ABHIDHARMA

BY IAN JAMES COGHLAN

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he classical and post-classical periods saw steady progress in the refinement of Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma, and as previously mentioned, the most complete record of this process is found in Chinese translation. Xuanzang was clearly a central figure in this process, as Pruden notes: “The early part of this Abhidharma literature—dating from the death of the Buddha to approximately the fifth century CE—is today preserved in Chinese translations, translations carried out largely

by Hsuan-tsang [Xuanzang] in the mid-seventh century.”

The efforts of Tibetan translators focused mainly on the Abhidharmakośa of the later period. La Vallée Poussin notes: “Though the Chinese have translated these works, the Tibetan Lotsavas [or translators] did not think it proper to put these works into Tibetan (with the sole exception of the Prajñāpti), doubtless because the Abhidharmakośa, in accord with the resolution of Vasubandhu, constitutes a veritable summa, embracing all problems—ontology, psychology, cosmology, discipline, and the doctrine of action, the theory of results, mysticism and sanctity.”

Because of its comprehensiveness and compactness as a root text, the Abhidharmakośa became a kind of encyclopedia on key Buddhist topics for Tibetan scholars and students.

And with the establishment of the Chim lineage at Narthang in central Tibet, one of the most influential Buddhist scholastic centers in Tibet at the time, systematic study of the Abhidharmakośa became well established.

Atiśa, who founded the Kadam tradition to which Chim Jampaiyang belonged, was often called “the karma-teaching lama,” suggesting his reliance on the Abhidharmakośa, the key source for instruction on karma. We know, for example, the Kadam master Kharak Gomchung developed a special instruction on generating bodhicitta combining contemplations from Vasubhandu’s Abhidharmakośa with Atiśa’s teachings.

It also became the prime reference for the study of Abhidharma in the five textual disciplines, those of Abhidharma, Prajñāpāramitā, Pramāṇa, Vinaya, and Madhyamaka. In fact, Abhidharma unites or combines all

five textual disciplines, as is most evident in its connection with the Prajñāpāramitā, or Perfection of Wisdom. Not only do both disciplines explain the means for attaining uncontaminated wisdom, the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras are identified as the Abhidharma Piṭaka in the Mahāyāna, where the Hundred Thousand Verse Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra is referred to as the Abhisūtra. This crossover is also evident in Tibetan debate manuals, which drew widely on the Abhidharmakośa when explaining topics in Prajñāpāramitā studies such as the twenty Saṅgha, the absorption and formless states, and so on; or in major Prajñāpāramitā commentaries such as Tsongkhapa’s Golden Rosary of Elegant Explanation (Legs bshad gser phreng), which frequently cites the Abhidharmakośa.

The Abhidharmakośa, together with Kālacakra, became a key source on Buddhist cosmology and astronomy as well as systems of measurement and calculation. Its treatment of the faculties (indriya), which lists and analyzes the mental factors, remains an important resource for the Tibetan tradition’s views on psychology. Also its presentation of negative tendencies (anuśaya), and especially its analysis of how the branch afflictions are in one way or another derivatives of one of the six root afflictions or combinations of them, became an invaluable resource for understanding the afflictive emotions. Its importance as a resource on the theory of action is also clear from Drolungpa’s Tenrim or Tsongkhapa’s Lamrim Chenmo. In the light of such evidence, it is no wonder that the Abhidharmakośa attracted so many commentaries and independent studies in Tibetan.

ORNAMENT OF ABHIDHARMA B Y C H I M J A M PA I Y A N G T R A N S L AT E D B Y IAN JAMES COGHL AN PA G E S 1 4 – 1 5

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E L E V E N - FA C E D AVA L O K I TA IN THE TRADITION OF THE NUN LAKSMĪ

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ou whom all the Buddhas praise, Basis of all excellent virtues, Given the name Avalokita,

Ever-compassionate—homage to you!

Your body, complete with all the Marks and Signs, Shines like a hundred thousand autumn moons; Ornaments of ten million jewels adorn it.

Greatly Compassionate—homage to you!

DEITIES OF T I B E TA N B U D D H I S M EDITED BY MARTIN WILLSON, MARTIN BRAUEN, AND ROBERT BEER PA G E S 6 4 , 2 6 3 – 2 6 4

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THE WHEEL OF LIFE AN EXCERPT FROM S A M S A R A , N I R VA N A , A N D B U D D H A N A T U R E

BY HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA AND VENERABLE THUBTEN CHODRON

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he process of rebirth in saṃsāra is illustrated by the Wheel of Life. This painting of the samsaric cycle of existence has its origins in the time of the Buddha when the king of Vatsā, Udāyana, presented a jeweled robe to the king of Magadha, Bimbisāra. Bimbisāra consulted the Buddha about an appropriate gift to send in return, and the Buddha recommended a painting of the Wheel of Life that has the verses below written on it. Upon contemplating the Wheel of Life, King Udāyana attained realizations.

Practicing this and abandoning that, enter into the teaching of the Buddha.

Like an elephant in a thatch house, destroy the forces of the lord of death.

Those who with thorough conscientiousness practice this disciplinary doctrine will forsake the wheel of birth, bringing duḥkha to an end.

The wheel consists of a series of concentric circles held in the mouth of the anthropomorphized lord of death, who symbolizes our impermanent nature. The center

“Above and outside the wheel clutched by the lord of death is the Buddha pointing to the radiant full moon: he shows us the path to nirvāṇa.” circle contains a pig, snake, and rooster, signifying the three poisons of ignorance, animosity, and attachment, respectively. Each animal has the tail of another in its mouth, indicating that they mutually reinforce each other, although in some paintings the tails of the snake and rooster are in the pig’s mouth, showing that ignorance is the root of all afflictions.

The next circle has two halves: the left half (as we look at the painting) is light with happy beings ascending to fortunate rebirths; the right is dark with suffering beings descending to unfortunate rebirths. The imagery indicates that, dependent on ignorance, we create virtuous and nonvirtuous karma that lead to agreeable and disagreeable births.

These births are the five classes of being—devas (including asuras), humans, animals, hungry ghosts, and hell beings.

They are shown in the next circle, which is divided into five sections. The outermost circle has twelve sections, each one illustrating one of the twelve links of dependent origination.

Above and outside the wheel clutched by the lord of death is the Buddha pointing to the radiant full moon: he shows us the path to nirvāṇa. The two verses cited above encourage us to follow this path to free ourselves from all duḥkha forever.

S A MS A R A , NIR VA N A , A N D B U D D H A N AT U R E VOL. 3 IN THE LIBRARY OF W I S D O M A N D CO M PA S S I O N

BY HIS HOLINESS THE DAL AI L AMA AND VENER ABLE THUBTEN CHODRON PA G E S 1 5 5 – 1 5 6

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T H E M A D H YA M A K O PA D E Ś A : AT I Ś A ‘ S S P E C I A L I N S T R U C T I O N S O N T H E M I D D L E W AY A N E X C E R P T F R O M J E W E L S O F T H E M I D D L E W AY B Y AT I Ś A ; T R A N S L AT E D B Y J A M E S A P P L E The following text is a translation of Atiśa’s instructions on the practice of Madhyamaka in meditation. Special Instructions on the Middle Way, along with Entry to the Two Realities, are considered by traditional Gelukpa historians to be the two foremost textual teachings (gzhung) on the view (lta ba) within Atiśa's works. An early Kadampa commentary on Entry to the Two Realities, attributed to Naljorpa Sherap Dorjé (ca. 1125), who was a direct disciple of Sharawa Yönten Drak, understands Special Instructions on the Middle Way to be a text on meditation (sgom pa). Be that as it may, most all traditional sources mention that this teaching was given by Atiśa in Lhasa at the request of Ngok Lekpai Sherap.

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he special instructions of the Mahāyāna’s Middle Way are as follows: Conventionally, all things, from the perspective of the deluded whose vision is narrow, including all presentations of cause and effect and so forth, are real according to how they appear. Ultimately or actually, when the conventional as it appears is closely examined and clarified by the great reasonings, one should thoroughly understand with certainty that even something the size of the tip of a hair that is split a hundred times cannot be grasped.

While sitting in a cross-legged position on a comfortable seat, [contemplate] for a while as follows: There are two kinds of entities, material and nonmaterial. In this regard, material entities are collections of minute particles. When these are closely examined and broken up according to their directional parts, not even the most subtle [part] remains and they are completely without appearance. Nonmaterial is the mind. In regard to this, the past mind has ceased and perished. The mind of the future has not yet arisen or occurred. Even the mind of the present is extremely difficult to examine: it has no color and is devoid of shape; since it is similar to space, it is not established; and since it is free of unity and multiplicity, unproduced, and having a luminous nature and so forth, when it is analyzed and examined with the weapon of reasoning, one realizes that it is not established.

In this way, when those two are not established as having any nature at all and do not exist, the very wisdom that individually discriminates is not established either. For example, through the condition of fire occurring by rubbing two sticks together, the two sticks are burned up and become nonexistent. Just as the very fire that has burned subsides by itself, likewise when all specific and generally characterized things are established as nonexistent,

wisdom itself, without appearance and luminous, is not established with any nature at all. All faults such as laxity and excitement and so forth are eliminated. In this interval of meditation, consciousness does not conceptualize, does not apprehend anything at all. All recollection and mental engagement are eliminated. Consciousness should reside in this way for as long as the enemies or thieves of phenomenal marks and conceptual thought do not arise. When you wish to arise, slowly release from the cross-legged position and stand up. Then, with a mind that sees all things like illusions, do as many virtuous deeds as you are able with body, speech, and mind.

Accordingly, when one practices with devotion, for a long time and uninterruptedly, then those with good fortune will see reality in this very life and all things will be directly realized, effortlessly and spontaneously, like the center of space. Through the attainment [of wisdom] after [meditation], all things are understood to be like illusions and so forth. From the point of time onward when the vajra-like concentration has been realized, [buddhas] will not have any subsequent attainment, as they are settled in meditative equipoise at all times.

R E A D M O R E AT W I S D O M P U B S . O R G / M A D H YA M A KO PA D E S A

JEWELS OF THE M I D D L E WAY T H E M A D H YA M A K A L E G A C Y O F AT I Ś A A N D H I S E A R LY T I B E TA N F O L L O W E R S

BY JAMES APPLE PA G E S 2 7 7 – 2 7 8

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COMING SOON ON THE HOR IZON AT W ISDOM PU BLICAT IONS

The next season of new publications holds exciting new work by everyone from Lama Zopa Rinpoche to Koshin Paley Ellison—enjoy a sneak peek of what’s to come!

Bodhichitta: Practice for a Meaningful Life is a new book by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and a beautiful treatise on this central aspect of Mahayana Buddhism.

Rinpoche weaves together the philosophical and practical masterfully, showing us how we can achieve the awakening mind for ourselves.

From Koshin Paley Ellison, Zen monk, psychotherapist, and coeditor of Awake at the Bedside, comes Wholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up. If you’re feeling disconnected or overscheduled, Koshin’s friendly, downto-earth voice can guide you to reconnect with your true self and others around you—opening up a way to live wholeheartedly.

In Always Remembering: Heartfelt Advice for Your Entire Life, Khenpo Sodargye shares poems and teachings from the late Nyingma master Jigme Phuntsok in memory of the anniversary of his passing. A terton and celebrated Dzogchen master, Jigme Phuntsok offers here beautiful advice that can help us live with more ease and joy.

This step-by-step introduction to Madhyamaka philosophy is presented in the unique manner the Dalai Lama himself teaches this famously obfuscating work, the Fundamental Verses of the Middle Way, opening up for us key insights on emptiness and dependent arising.

In addition, on the horizon this summer are a few more books we are excited to make available for your learning and inspiration: The Theravada Abhidhamma: Inquiry into the Nature of Conditioned Reality, by acclaimed scholar Y. Karunadasa; Manjushri’s Innermost Secret: A Profound Commentary of Oral Instruction on the Practice of Lama Chöpa by Kachen Yeshe Gyaltsen, a key work for Gelug practitioners and the first publication in our new partnership with Dechen Ling Press; Tsongkhapa’s The Brilliantly Illuminating Lamp of the Five Stages, translated by renowned scholar Robert Thurman; and many more—stay tuned!

Yours in the Dharma, Brianna Quick and the Wisdom editorial team

We are also pleased to share Nāgārjuna’s Wisdom: A Practitioner’s Guide to the Middle Way by Barry Kerzin.

F R E E

E B O O K

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ON HAPPINESS This free ebook, created from excerpts and quotes from books i n W i s d o m ’s c o l l e c t i o n , i n c l u d e s teachings from His Holiness on the subject of happiness.

D O W N L O A D

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A T

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BLISS FREE OF CONSTRUCTS AN EXCERPT FROM A SONG FOR THE KING

BY SARAHA

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he mind released from mindfulness engages in samādhi.

It is completely purified of the afflictions.

As the [utpala] born from a swamp is not stained by it, So [the mind itself] is not affected by the faults arising from

samsara nor by the qualities found in the

Victorious One. [Mindfulness] also sees with certainty that all [things]

are like an illusion.

Transcending the world, [take] this moment

[into your mind] and rest evenly in meditation.

Those whose minds [recognize] the teaching bind up ignorance.

Self-arising and inconceivable, [wisdom] naturally abides [within].

A lamp is lit in the darkness of ignorance.

While you differentiate mental categories, You discard the mind’s flaws.

Reflect upon the nature of nonattachment.

B

There is no negating, no constructing, And no apprehending: it is inconceivable.

The ignorant are bound by mental categories.

The inseparable, the coemergent, is utterly pure.

Examining [emptiness] with [the reasoning of] one or many,

[you see that] it is neither.

Through mere recognition, living beings are utterly freed.

Meditate recognizing what is clear and unmoving.

I apprehend the stable mind to be [just] that.

Through attaining the vast land of happiness, These appearances have [the nature of] clarity; from the And through seeing [its own nature], mind becomes vast.

very first they are unborn.

You walk through the land, yet [mind’s nature] They do not [arise as an entity] with form; discard [as well

thinking they arise] in the aspect of form’s characteristics. is not separate.

Abide continually within the [mind] itself and practice only deep meditation.

[Coemergent] joy [is the dharmakāya]. [The sambhogakāya] Without thought, [rest] in this meditation free of mental

is the seedling of joy

activity and free of flaws.

And superior; the leaves come forth.

At the time [of the path, the dharmakāya] does

not radiate in the ten directions.

Intellect, mind, and mental appearances have Bliss free of constructs is fruition itself. this very nature.

All the worlds appearing in their diversity have this very nature.

A SONG FOR All the varieties of the seen and the seer have this very nature.

THE KING Attachment, desire, aversion, and bodhicitta, too, have SARAHA ON this very nature.

M A H A M U D R A M E D I TAT I O N

BY KHENCHEN THRANGU RINPOCHE Image credit: Mahasiddha, Saraha | Eastern Tibet, 19th Century Pigments on Cloth | Rubin Museum of Art Gift of Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation | F1997.40.8 (HAR589)

PA G E S 1 3 5 – 1 3 8

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CHILD OF THE BUDDHAS AN EXCERPT FROM B O D H I C H I T TA : P R A C T I C E F O R A M E A N I N G F U L L I F E B Y L A M A Z O PA R I N P O C H E

T

he second benefit of bodhichitta is that we receive the name “child of the buddhas.” Of this, Shantideva said, The moment an Awakened Mind arises in those fettered and weak in the jail of

cyclic existence, they will be named a “child of the buddhas” and will be revered by both humans and gods

of the world.

At the very moment we attain bodhichitta, we become an object of prostration for worldly people and samsaric gods.

We are a child of the buddhas because, just as a child is physically created by the union of the father and the mother, we have attained bodhichitta through taking refuge in the Three Rare Sublime Ones—the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha—and we will become a buddha by depending on the buddhas, particularly Shakyamuni Buddha, his teachings, and his Sangha.

This name “child of the buddhas” is true of even a new bodhisattva who has yet to directly realize emptiness and

so become an arya bodhisattva. The Tibetan translation for this level of bodhisattva is something like “ordinary” bodhisattva, but comparing the ordinary worldly being’s mind and the “ordinary” mind of the new bodhisattva is like comparing the earth and the sky—the difference is huge. But this bodhisattva mind is ordinary in comparison to the higher bodhisattvas, those who have realized emptiness directly.

Shantideva showed us that even though we are still trapped by delusion in samsara, “fettered and weak in the jail of cyclic existence,” the very second we attain the mind of bodhichitta, we become a holy being to be revered by all.

All other human beings and higher samsaric gods will prostrate to us and admire us, no matter what our external appearance might be.

Bodhichitta is the best beauty. No matter how ugly or poor we are by worldly standards, we become the object of reverence because of our amazing altruistic mind. A bodhisattva might be a penniless, filthy beggar, with torn rags for clothes and dirty matted hair; they might be a

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hippie, skinny and dirty, shunned by everybody, looking and acting completely crazy; they might have leprosy and be a despised outcast. But the very second that person generates bodhichitta, they are considered a holy being, an object of veneration, surpassing even an arhat who has realized emptiness and removed all gross delusions. In The Jewel Lamp, Khunu Lama Rinpoche said, Bodhichitta beautifies the whole appearance

of the face.

Bodhichitta lends beauty to the wideness

of the eyes.

Bodhichitta gives beauty to the sound

of the voice.

Bodhichitta makes behavior beautiful.

With the power to lead all of us out of the sufferings of samsara, the bodhisattva’s mind has the power to shake samsara. It is said that when a being first attains bodhichitta, that act has such power that not only does the physical world really shake but also even the thrones of the buddhas shake.

The buddhas are all overjoyed and call the new bodhisattva “child of the buddhas” because they are just like a prince destined to become a great ruler. Even before being able to communicate or walk, a prince is still more important and more revered than the highest noble because of his potential; although still a baby, he has the power to control a whole kingdom. In the same way, the new bodhisattva has the potential to realize enlightenment and serve all sentient beings. Nothing could make the buddhas happier.

B O D H I C H I T TA PRACTICE FOR A MEANINGFUL LIFE B Y L A M A Z O PA R I N P O C H E PA G E S 7 1 – 7 3

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In the Buddha’s Words A regular Wisdom Journal feature with passages from the Pāli Canon W H AT I S D E P E N D E N T O R I G I N AT I O N ?

“Monks, there is one person who arises in the world for the welfare of the multitude, for the happiness of the multitude, out of compassion for the world, for the good, welfare, and happiness of devas and humans. Who is that one person? It is the Tathāgata, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One. This is that one person.

“Monks, there is one person arising in the world who is unique, without a peer, without counterpart, incomparable, unequalled, matchless, unrivalled, the best of humans.

Who is that one person? It is the Tathāgata, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One. This is that one person.

“Monks, the manifestation of one person is the manifestation of great vision, of great light, of great radiance; it is the manifestation of the six things unsurpassed; the realization of the four analytical knowledges; the penetration of the various elements, of the diversity of elements; it is the realization of the fruit of knowledge and liberation; the realization of the fruits of stream-entry, once-returning, nonreturning, and arahantship. Who is that one person? It is the Tathāgata, the Arahant, the Perfectly Enlightened One. This is that one person.”

AN 1: xiii, 1, 5, 6; I 22–23

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THE BUDDHA: ONE PERSON C O M M E N TA R Y B Y B H I K K H U B O D H I

A

ccording to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha Gotama is not merely one unique individual who puts in an unprecedented appearance on the stage of human history and then bows out forever. He is, rather, the fulfillment of a primordial archetype, the most recent member of a cosmic “dynasty” of Buddhas constituted by numberless Perfectly Enlightened Ones of the past and sustained

by Perfectly Enlightened Ones continuing indefinitely onward into the future. Early Buddhism, even in the archaic root texts of the Nikāyas, already recognizes a plurality of Buddhas who all conform to certain fixed patterns of behavior, the broad outlines of which are described in the opening sections of the Mahāpadāna Sutta in the Dīgha Nikāya. The word “Tathāgata,” which the texts use as an epithet for a Buddha, points to this fulfillment of a primordial archetype. The word means both “the one who has come thus” (tathā āgata), that is, who has come into our midst in the same way that the Buddhas of the past have come; and “the one who has gone thus” (tathā gata), that is, who has gone to the ultimate peace, Nibbāna, in the same way that the Buddhas of the past have gone.

Though the Nikāyas stipulate that in any given world system, at any given time, only one Perfectly Enlightened Buddha can arise, the arising of Buddhas is intrinsic to the cosmic process. Like a meteor against the blackness of the night sky, from time to time a Buddha will appear against the backdrop of boundless space and time, lighting up the spiritual firmament of the world, shedding the brilliance of his wisdom upon those capable of seeing the truths that he illuminates. The being who is to become a Buddha is called, in Pāli, a bodhisatta, a word better known in the Sanskrit form, bodhisattva. According to common Buddhist tradition, a bodhisatta is one who undertakes a long course of spiritual development consciously motivated by the aspiration to attain future Buddhahood. Inspired and sustained by great compassion for living beings mired in the suffering of birth and death, a bodhisatta fulfills, over many eons of cosmic time, the difficult course needed to fully master the requisites for supreme enlightenment. When all these requisites are complete, he attains Buddhahood in

order to establish the Dhamma in the world. A Buddha discovers the longlost path to liberation, the “ancient path” traveled by the Buddhas of the past that culminates in the boundless freedom of Nibbāna. Having found the path and traveled it to its end, he then teaches it in all its fullness to humanity so that many others can enter the way to final liberation.

This, however, does not exhaust the function of a Buddha. A Buddha understands and teaches not only the path leading to the supreme state of ultimate liberation, the perfect bliss of Nibbāna, but also the paths leading to the various types of wholesome mundane happiness to which human beings aspire. A Buddha proclaims both a path of mundane enhancement that enables sentient beings to plant wholesome roots productive of happiness, peace, and security in the worldly dimensions of their lives, and a path of world transcendence to guide sentient beings to Nibbāna. His role is thus much wider than an exclusive focus on the transcendent aspects of his teaching might suggest. He is not merely a mentor of ascetics and contemplatives, not merely a teacher of meditation techniques and philosophical insights, but a guide to the Dhamma in its full range and depth: one who reveals, proclaims, and establishes all the principles integral to correct understanding and wholesome conduct, whether mundane or transcendental. This passage highlights this wide-ranging altruistic dimension of a Buddha’s career when it praises the Buddha as the one person who arises in the world “for the welfare of the multitude, for the happiness of the multitude, out of compassion for the world, for the good, welfare, and happiness of devas and humans.”

I N T H E B U D D H A’ S WORDS AN ANTHOLOGY OF DISCOURSES FROM THE PĀ L I C A N O N EDITED & INTRODUCED

BY BHIKKHU BODHI PA G E S 4 3 – 5 0

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THE WISDOM PODCAST The Wisdom Podcast features interviews with leading thinkers from the Buddhist world. Each episode takes you on a fascinating exploration of Buddhism and meditation as our guests share stories and discuss life-changing practices, timeless philosophies, and new ways to think and live. Subscribe now via your favorite podcasting app, and don’t forget to give us a five-star rating if you like what you hear!

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LAMA ZOPA RINPOCHE Foundations for the Flourishing of Dharma in the West

H. H. THE 17TH KARMAPA Vegetarianism, Online Education, and Nuns’ Ordination

H. H. THE SAKYA TRICHEN Learning from the Lives of Great Masters

BHIKKHU BODHI The Buddha on Social Harmony

THUPTEN JINPA Translating for His Holiness the Dalai Lama

ANI CHOYING DROLMA A Voice for Nepalese Buddhist Nuns

JANET GYATSO Tibetan Buddhism, Animal Ethics, and Compassion

DAVID NICHTERN Mantra and the Power of Pure Sound

ELIZABETH MATTIS NAMGYEL On Faith and Dependent Arising

GESHE TASHI TSERING From Monk to Abbot at Sera Mey Monastery

MALCOLM SMITH The Seventeen Tantras of the Great Perfection

BHIKKHU ANĀLAYO Rebirth in Early Buddhism

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T H E S E L F -A R I S E N V I D YĀ TA N T R A & T H E S E L F - L I B E R AT E D V I D YĀ TA N T R A T R A N S L AT E D B Y Ā C Ā R YA M A L C O L M S M I T H

If one knows the Self-Arisen Vidyā Tantra, the Self-Liberated Vidyā Tantra, and the Tantra Without Syllables, one will have command over the general meaning of the tantras, like a king who has command over his subjects.”

— T R E A S U R Y O F T H E

SUPREME VEHICLE The eleventh-century Seventeen Tantras are the most important texts in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of the Great Perfection. This boxed set provides two luminous translations. The first is the only complete English translation of the Self-Arisen Vidyā Tantra, which is the major commentary tantra on all aspects of the doctrine of the Great Perfection. The second, the Self-Liberated Vidyā Tantra, outlines the structure of Dzogchen tantras in general and also provides a detailed outline of the SelfArisen Vidyā Tantra.

Malcolm Smith also offers a comprehensive introduction and two vital appendices: (1) a brief historical account and survey of the Seventeen Tantras and (2) an examination of the themes of the Seventeen Tantras, translated from the commentary to the String of Pearls Tantra. This is vital reading for any student of Dzogchen.

THE SELF-ARISEN V I DYĀ TA N T R A ( V O L 1) AND THE SELFL I B E R AT E D V I DYĀ TA N T R A ( V O L 2 ) T R A N S L AT E D B Y Ā C Ā R Y A MALCOLM SMITH

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THE SELF-ARISEN V I DYĀ TA N T R A ( V O L 1)

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D Ü D J O M L I N G PA’ S VISIONS OF T H E G R E AT P E R F E C T I O N T R A N S L AT E D B Y B . A L A N WA L L A C E

D

üdjom Lingpa (1835–1904) was one of the foremost tantric masters of nineteenth-century Tibet. This series includes Düdjom Lingpa’s five visionary teachings on the Great Perfection (Dzogchen), the pinnacle of practice in Tibet’s oldest Buddhist school, along with three essential commentaries. The teachings in this series have inspired generations of Tibetans.

Volume 1 contains four works, beginning with The Sharp Vajra of Conscious Awareness Tantra, considered the root distillation of Düdjom Lingpa’s wisdom. Unpacking these quintessential verses is the Essence of Clear Meaning, a definitive commentary based on Düdjom Lingpa’s oral teachings recorded by his disciple Pema Tashi. In The Foolish Dharma of an Idiot Clothed in Mud and Feathers, Düdjom Lingpa narrates the essential Dharma teachings from the perspective of an old man rejecting superficial appearances.

Volume 2 includes Düdjom Lingpa’s most widely taught work, Buddhism Without Meditation, and two complementary works by his charismatic female disciple, Sera Khandro, who is accomplished and well loved in her own right.

Volume 3 contains Düdjom Lingpa’s magisterial Vajra Essence, his most extended meditation on the path of Great Perfection, in many senses a commentary on all his other Dzogchen works.

D Ü D J O M L I N G PA’ S VISIONS OF THE G R E AT P E R F E C T I O N

)

T R A N S L AT E D B Y B. AL AN WALL ACE

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QUESTIONS OF EMPTINESS AN EXCERPT FROM N Ā G Ā R J U N A’ S M I D D L E W AY T R A N S L AT E D B Y M A R K S I D E R I T S A N D S H Ō R Y Ū K AT S U R A

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na saṃsārasya nirvāṇāt kiṃcid asti viśeṣaṇam | na nirvāṇasya saṃsārāt kiṃcid asti viśeṣaṇam || 19 || 19. There is no distinction whatsoever between saṃsāra and nirvāṇa.

There is no distinction whatsoever between nirvāṇa and saṃsāra. nirvāṇasya ca yā koṭiḥ koṭiḥ saṃsaraṇasya ca | na tayor antaraṃ kiṃcit susūkṣmam api vidyate || 20 || 20. What is the limit of nirvāṇa, that is the limit of saṃsāra.

There is not even the finest gap to be found between the two.

The same reasoning that leads to the rejection of the four lemmas with respect to nirvāṇa applies as well to saṃsāra.

Since all things are, according to Nāgārjuna, empty of intrinsic nature, it follows that ultimately there is no such state as saṃsāra. For in order for saṃsāra to be something about which ultimately true claims could be made, there would have to be ultimately real mental forces that could produce it.

And if all things are empty, then there are no mental forces that are ultimately real. Consequently one cannot say that ultimately saṃsāra exists, does not exist, and so forth. Note, however, that this says nothing about the conventional status of nirvāṇa and saṃsāra. A Mādhyamika can still hold it to be conventionally true that nirvāṇa and saṃsāra are very different states, that the former should be sought while the latter should be stopped, and so on. paraṃ nirodhād antādyāḥ śāśvatādyāś ca dṛṣṭayaḥ | nirvāṇam aparāntaṃ ca pūrvāntaṃ ca samāśritāḥ || 21 || 21. The views concerning what is beyond cessation, the end

of the world, and the eternality of the world are dependent [respectively] on nirvāṇa, the future life, and the past life.

Among the indeterminate questions the Buddha refused to answer are questions concerning whether there is a state of being following the cessation of such composite things as persons, whether the world is limited in space, and whether the world has limits in time. These questions all presuppose one or another answer to the question whether nirvāṇa has a beginning and an end. The argument of chapter 11 was to the effect that there can be no prior and posterior

parts of saṃsāra. And in that chapter it was claimed that the same analysis applies to all supposed existents. Here its application to the case of nirvāṇa is being utilized. śūnyeṣu sarvadharmeṣu kim anantaṃ kim antavat | kim anantaṃ cāntavac ca nānantaṃ nāntavac ca kim || 22 || 22. All dharmas being empty, what is without end, what has an end?

What is both with and without end, and what is neither

without end nor having an end? kiṃ tad eva kim anyat kiṃ śāśvataṃ kim aśāśvatam | aśāśvataṃ śāśvataṃ ca kiṃ vā nobhayam apy atha || 23 || 23. What is identical with this, what is distinct? What is

eternal, what noneternal?

What is both eternal and noneternal, and what is then neither?

To say of all dharmas that they are devoid of intrinsic nature is to say that there are no ultimately real entities. And since a statement can be ultimately true only by virtue of correctly describing an ultimately real entity, it follows that no possible view concerning nirvāṇa and the person who attains it can be ultimately true. Notice the inclusion here of a question that was not mentioned earlier—the question of identity and distinctness. One might, for instance, wonder whether the enlightened person is identical with the person who sought enlightenment or is instead some distinct person. Given the present understanding of nirvāṇa, such a question cannot arise. sarvopalambhopaśamaḥ prapañcopaśamaḥ śivaḥ | na kvacit kasyacit kaścid dharmo buddhena deśitaḥ || 24 || 24. This halting of cognizing everything, the halting of hypostatizing, is blissful.

No Dharma whatsoever was ever taught by the Buddha to anyone.

N Ā G Ā R J U N A’ S M I D D L E WAY M Ū L A M A D H YA M A K A K Ā R I K Ā T R A N S L AT E D B Y M A R K S I D E R I T S A N D S H Ō R Y Ū K AT S U R A PA G E S 3 0 2 – 3 0 4

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OVERCOMING OUR INDIVIDUAL PER SPECT IVES AN EXCERPT FROM THE ZEN TEACHING OF HOMELESS KODO B Y K O D O S AWA K I A N D K O S H O U C H I Y A M A

KODO SAWAKI Everyone reads the newspaper in a different order.

One person reads the stock page first, another turns first to sports or a serialized novel or political columns. We’re all different because we see things through our individual discriminating consciousnesses.

Grasping things with our thoughts, we each behave differently. When we stop perceiving with our illusory discriminating consciousnesses, we can experience the world that we share. True reality isn’t something we see from our individual perspective. Therefore human beings make mistakes despite careful thinking.”

KO S H O U C H I YA M A From the street I heard, ‘We are representatives of such-and-such a party. Let’s stand against . . . .’ This was over a loudspeaker from a political propaganda car, but I couldn’t hear clearly what they objected to. I could only hear them saying, ‘Let’s stand against . . . ! Let’s stand against . . . !’

A stone is silently and simply a stone. No stone says whether it’s valuable or not. And yet these days, there’s a boom in garden stones. Rocks suitable for traditional Japanese gardens seem ridiculously expensive.

through human eyes, we apply different systems, appraising in various ways, and take action accordingly. Inevitably, at the same time, some voices are raised saying, ‘Let’s stand against . . . !’

If these remain mere voices, they don’t matter much.

But if the voices give rise to fights or even war, which nowadays poses the threat of destroying the world, this is a big problem. Human beings make mistakes despite careful thinking.

Because we have eyes and brains, we can’t stop seeing and thinking. However, I hope we understand that the world we see and the things we think are merely stories generated in our heads. We must be careful not to cause serious problems by being turned around by our thoughts. Zazen is a posture that enables us to see through the illusions of our thinking selves.”

THE ZEN TEACHING OF HOMELESS KODO B Y KO S H O U C H I YA M A AND SHOHAKU OKUMURA PA G E S 9 6 – 9 7

Similarly, the true reality of all things exists silently, just as it is, before any evaluation. But when things are viewed

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About Wisdom Wisdom Publications is the leading publisher of contemporary and classic books and practical works on Buddhism, mindfulness, and meditation.

We trace our beginnings to the influential Tibetan teachers Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Lama Yeshe’s vision of “publications for wisdom culture” led to the founding of Wisdom.

We are a nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to • connecting you with Buddhist wisdom, • cultivating writers and teachers the world over, • advancing critical scholarship, • preserving and sharing Buddhist literary culture, • and helping people find and engage with the teachers, teachings, and practices for a wise and compassionate life.

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ImageWisdom credit:Journal Ahmed Safu Spring 2019 7.indd 50

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SPRING A N

NI G HT:

IMPR O M P TU

P O E M

T H E W I L D R E E D B R E E Z E S H AV E S E C R E T LY L E F T W I T H

THE WIND,

THE BRILLIANCE OF THE CHAOTIC SPRINGTIME ALREADY

HALF GONE.

LEANING OVER THE STONE BALUSTRADE, I REST FOR

A LITTLE WHILE,

T H E C O U R T YA R D M O O N S O M E W H E R E B E T W E E N T H E R E

A N D N O T.

— JINGNUO,

L AT E M I N G O R E A R LY Q I N G D Y N A S T Y

DAUGHTERS OF EMPTINESS POEMS OF CHINESE BUDDHIST NUNS E D I T E D B Y B E ATA G R A N T

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