Commentary on A Lamp for the Path to
Enlightenment
Khunu Lama Rinpoche
Before listening to this teaching, first cultivate bodhicitta, thinking, "I
want to receive enlightenment for the benefit of all mother sentient beings."
In other words, before listening to teachings, it is necessary to think of,
to remember, all mother sentient beings.
The subject today is Lam-drön, A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, which
was written in Tibet by Atisha, who was also called Dipamkara Shrijnana, who
was born the son of a Bengali king. Bengal is in northeast India.
Buddhadharma had already been established in Tibet before Atisha's arrival there,
but an evil king called Langdarma (Udumtsen), who was said to have horns growing
from his head, hated the Dharma and cause it to degenerate in Tibet. But even
though the teachings had been corrupted, they still existed, but not as purely
as before. It took about sixty years to restore the teachings to their original
purity in what became known as the later spreading of the Dharma in Tibet.
How that happened was that in western Tibet, in the kingdom of Gugé,
there lived a Tibetan king, Lha Lama Yeshe Ö, and his nephew, Jangchub
Ö. They decided to invite a learned and realized teacher from the great
Indian monastery of Vikramashila to spread Dharma in Tibet. When they investigated
to see who was the most learned and realized person there, they discovered that
Atisha would be by far the best one to invite.
But before Lha Lama Yeshe Ö could request Atisha to come from Vikramashila
to Tibet, he needed to find gold to make a proper offering, so went to a place
called Garlog in search of it. But the ruler of Garlog threw him in prison,
where he died. In that way, Lha Lama Yeshe Ö he sacrificed his life to
bring Atisha to Tibet.
Then his nephew, Jangchub Ö, sent emissaries to India to invite Atisha
to Tibet. When he finally met Atisha, he explained how the Dharma there had
degenerated during Langdarma's rule and how correct teachings no longer existed
in Tibet. He requested Atisha to write the precious teaching, A Lamp for the
Path to Enlightenment, to give fundamental teachings to the Tibetan people because
they were so ignorant. He requested Atisha to explain about refuge, bodhicitta
and so forth. Therefore, Atisha wrote the precious teaching, A Lamp for the
Path to Enlightenment, the source of all the Gelug lam-rim texts, as well as
those of the Sakya and the other schools of Tibetan Buddhism, who all practice
the graduated path to enlightenment and quote the Lam-drön in their teachings.
Furthermore, the Lam-drön is based on the Prajnaparamita teachings of Shakyamuni
Buddha.
After generating bodhicitta, our main task is to attain enlightenment. Now,
even though we might think that life in samsara is pleasant, it's not. There
is no true pleasure in samsara. Enlightenment can be attained only through the
practice of Dharma. Therefore, we should all practice Dharma.
In terms of teachings in general, there are two types: Buddhadharma and the
teachings of the mu-teg-pa (Skt: tirthika) [See Meditation on Emptiness, pp.
320-21.] The latter are teachings based on mistaken beliefs, an understanding
opposite to that of Buddhadharma - teachings followed by outsiders. By following
such non-Buddhist teachings, you can be born anywhere from the lower realms
to the peak of samsara, the highest of the four formless realms, but can never
escape samsara.
Within the Buddhadharma, there are also two divisions: Hinayana and Mahayana.
By following Hinayana teachings, you can escape from samsara but cannot attain
enlightenment. To attain enlightenment, you have to practice Mahayana teachings.
Within the Mahayana, there are the teachings spoken by the Buddha himself and
those recorded later by the learned followers of the Buddha, the great Indian
pandits. Included in the latter are such teachings as those written by the six
great pandits, the ornaments of the world. Then there are also the teachings
written by learned Tibetan masters. The teaching we are discussing here is that
written by the learned pandit Dipamkara Shrijnana.
What does the Lam-drön contain? It derives from the Abhisamayalankara and
explains the three levels of teaching: the paths of the lower, intermediate
and highest practitioner, especially that of the highest.
The text opens with the title of this teaching in Sanskrit, which in Tibetan
is Jang-chub lam-gyi drön-ma. This is followed by homage to Manjushri.
1. The first verse includes three things. First there is homage to the Triple
Gem: the buddhas of the three times, the oral teachings and realization of them,
and the sangha-those who have received the unshakable, or noble, path. Second,
he mentions that his pure disciple, Jangchub Ö, requested him to give this
teaching. Third, he makes the promise, or vow, to write this teaching, this
lamp for the path to enlightenment, the Lam-drön.
2. In the second verse, Atisha explains what he's going to write about: the
graduated paths of the persons of least, intermediate and greatest capacity.
These are also the paths that Lama Tsong Khapa explains in his short, middle-length
and great lam-rim teachings; in the various lam-rim teachings of Lama Tsong
Khapa, he, too, explains the graduated paths of the persons of least, intermediate
and greatest capacity.
3. Of the three levels of follower, Atisha first explains the graduated path
of those of least capacity. Such people think, "I don't care what suffering
or happiness I experience in this life; I must avoid rebirth in the lower realms
and attain an upper rebirth." With this in mind, beings of least capacity
abstain from negative actions and practice virtue.
4. Persons of intermediate capacity develop aversion to not only the sufferings
of the three lower realms but also to those of the upper realms; to the whole
of samsara. Such practitioners abstain from negative actions in order to free
themselves from samsara, without concern for other sentient beings.
5. Who, then, are the beings of greatest capacity? They are those who, having
understood their own suffering, take it as an example of the suffering that
other beings are also experiencing and generate the great wish of wanting to
put an end to the suffering of all sentient beings.
6-11. There are six preparatory practices. First, visualize the merit field
and make offerings. Then kneel down with your hands in prostration and take
refuge in the Triple Gem. After that, generate love for other sentient beings
by thinking of the sufferings of death, old age, sickness and rebirth as well
as the three sufferings and the general suffering of samsara. In that way, generate
bodhicitta.
12-17. It is necessary to generate the aspiration to attain enlightenment, and
the benefits of doing so have been explained in the sutra called Array of Trunks.
Atisha also quotes three verses from another sutra, the Sutra Requested by Viradatta,
to further explain the benefits of bodhicitta.
18-19. There are two types of bodhicitta, relative and absolute. Within the
category of relative there are two further divisions, the bodhicitta of aspiration-wanting
to receive enlightenment for the benefit of other sentient beings, thinking,
"Without my receiving enlightenment, I cannot enlighten others"-and
the bodhicitta of engagement, actually following the bodhisattva's path by taking
the bodhisattva precepts and engaging in the actions of a bodhisattva, thinking,
"In order to engage in positive actions and avoid negative ones, I am going
to practice the six perfections."
20-21. The teachings explain that in order to practice engaged bodhicitta, we
should take the bodhisattva ordination, but in order to do so we should hold
one of the seven levels of pratimoksha ordination, such as gelong, gelongma,
getsul, getsulma and so forth. Ideally, then, we should hold one of these fundamental
ordinations before taking the bodhisattva vow, but the learned ones say that
in general, those who avoid negative karma and create virtuous actions can receive
bodhicitta, even if they don't hold any pratimoksha precepts.
22. The bodhicitta of aspiration can be generated without dependence upon a
lama, but engaged bodhicitta depends on a lama. To find a lama from whom we
can take the bodhisattva vow, we have to know the qualifications of such a lama.
23-24. First, the lama should know all about the ordination and how to bestow
it. He should have compassion for the disciple and himself be living in the
bodhisattva ordination. That's the kind of lama we need to find in order to
take the ordination. But what if we can't find a perfect lama like that? Atisha
then goes on to explain what we should do in that case.
25-31. The Ornament of Manjushri's Buddha Land Sutra explains how, long ago,
Manjushri received bodhicitta. This is what we can do. Visualize the merit field
and all the buddhas and generate bodhicitta, the wish to receive enlightenment.
Then promise, "I invite all sentient beings as my guest to the sublime
happiness of liberation and enlightenment. I will not get angry or harbor avarice,
covetousness, jealousy and so forth. I will not harm other sentient beings in
any way. I will live in pure discipline by avoiding all negative actions, even
worldly desires and sense objects of attachment, such as attractive sounds and
beautiful forms and so forth. I shall give up such things. As all the buddhas
have followed pure moral conduct, so shall I.
"I will not try to receive enlightenment for myself alone. Even though
it takes and endless amount of time to work for even one sentient being, I shall
remain in samsara. I shall make pure the impure realms of sentient beings, places
where there are thorns, rocks and ugly mountains. I shall also purify my three
doors of body, speech and mind and keep them pure. I shall create no negative
actions from now on."
32-35. The best way of keeping our three doors pure is by generating the bodhicitta
of aspiration and engaging in bodhicitta and following the path to enlightenment.
This depends on observing the three different levels of moral conduct. If we
do this properly, we can complete the two collections of merit and transcendent
wisdom. One thing that really helps us complete these two collections is the
ability to foresee the future, therefore we should try to acquire clairvoyance.
Without it, we are like a baby bird that has not yet grown feathers and whose
wings are undeveloped, and remains stuck in its nest, unable to fly. Without
clairvoyance, we cannot work for other sentient beings.
36-37. The person who has achieved the psychic power to foresee the future can
create more merit in a day than a person who does not have this ability can
create in a hundred years. Therefore, to complete the collections of merit and
transcendent wisdom quickly, it is necessary to acquire the psychic power to
see past, present and future.
38. In order to do this, it is necessary to achieve samadhi-single-pointed concentration.
For this, we must understand the details of the method of attaining samadhi,
such as the nine stages, the six powers and the four mental engagements. [See
Opening the Eye of New Awareness pp. 53-66.]
39. In order to practice samadhi meditation properly, we must ensure that the
conditions are perfect. If they are not, then even though we try practicing
it hard for even a thousand years, we'll never achieve it. Therefore, we should
find a perfect environment, remain quiet and avoid having to do work such as
healing the ill and making astrological predictions-any activity that keeps
us busy.
40. The way to meditate to attain single-pointed concentration is to focus our
mind on a virtuous object, such as an image of the Buddha. Visualize such an
image in front of us and simply concentrate on that. As we focus our mind on
the object again and again, we'll be able to hold it for increasingly greater
periods of time, and through the continuity of such practice will eventually
attain calm abiding (shamatha) and single-pointed concentration. Thus we will
gain ngön-she or, literally, higher seeing, the psychic power to see the
future and so forth.
41-43. But that is not the point. Next we have to practice lhag-tong, or vipashyana-penetrative
insight. Without it, our samadhi cannot remove our delusions. In order to eradicate
our two levels of obscuration-the obscurations of delusion (nyön-drib)
and the obscurations to knowledge (she-drib)- we must achieve the wisdom realizing
the non-self-existence of the I. Doing so also depends upon achieving method,
such as compassion and so forth. It's a mistake to practice only wisdom and
not method. This can lead us to fall into individual liberation, the lower nirvana.
Similarly, practicing only method and not wisdom is also a mistake and causes
us to remain in samsara.
44-46. The Buddha taught that of the six perfections, the last of the six is
the path of wisdom and the first five-charity, morality, patience, effort and
concentration-are the path of method, or skillful means (Tib: thab). First,
we should meditate on method, then on wisdom, then on both together. By practicing
both together, we can receive enlightenment; by practicing the wisdom of selflessness
alone, we can't.
47-49. Realizing the five aggregates (Skt: skandhas), the twelve sources and
the eighteen constituents as empty of self-existence is recognized as higher
wisdom. There is existence and non-existence: there is no such thing as the
production of the existent, nor is there such a thing as production of the non-existent.
There is no such thing as production of both existent and non-existent, nor
is there production of neither existent nor non-existent. That is one form of
logic negating the production of both the existent and the non-existent. There
is also another form of logic negating production of a thing from self, other,
both or neither-the four extremes. The main thing to discover here is non-self-existence.
That can be found through the first line of logical reasoning, which negates
production of the existent and the non-existent, and through the second, which
negates production of the four extremes.
50-51. It can also be discovered through a third line of reasoning that examines
things to see whether they are one or many. These lines of reasoning are elaborated
by Nagarjuna in his Seventy Stanzas on Emptiness and in other texts such as
his Treatise on the Middle Way.
52-54. These things are explained in those texts, but here they are mentioned
just for the purpose of practicing meditation. Meditating on the non-self-existence
of the I and the non-self-existence of all other phenomena is meditation on
shunyata, or emptiness. When the wisdom realizing emptiness analyzes the subject
and the object, it cannot discover self-existence in either of those. Moreover,
it cannot find self-existence in the wisdom of emptiness. Thus, we realize the
emptiness of even the wisdom of emptiness itself.
55-58. Since this world is created by superstition (Tib: nam-tog) [conceptuality],
if we eradicate the creator, superstition, we can attain liberation. The Buddha
said that it is superstition that causes us to fall into the ocean of samsara.
Therefore, that which is to be avoided is superstition, but the emptiness of
superstition, which is like the sky, like empty space, is that which is to be
practiced. By achieving this, we will be able to see the absolute nature of
existence. Therefore, the bodhisattvas' practice is to avoid superstition and
thus to achieve the non-superstitious mind. Through the various different means
of logic-by realizing the emptiness of the produced and of inherent existence-we
can avoid superstition and achieve the wisdom of shunyata.
59. Then we can also attain the different levels of the path of preparation
(Tib: jor-lam), the second of the five paths. We attain the four levels of this
path and gradually the ten bhumis (Tib: sa), or bodhisattva grounds, as well.
Finally, we attain the eleventh level, enlightenment itself.
60-67. Having realized shunyata, we can also gain the general realizations of
tantra, such as the four powers of pacification, wrath, control and increase,
and other attainments, such as accomplishing the "good pot." Accomplishing
the good pot means doing a particular meditation in retreat for a long time,
and if you are successful, just by putting your mouth to the opening of a pot
and saying something like, "May I become the king of this country,"
your wish will be fulfilled-in this case, you will become king of that country.
Or, we can gain the tantric power of "eye medicine." By accomplishing
this technique, if you apply this ointment to your eye, you can see such things
as gold, jewels and other precious things even hundreds of miles beneath the
surface of the earth; no matter how far away it is, you can see it.
By practicing tantra, we can receive enlightenment without the need of much
austere practice. The tantric was to enlightenment is through happiness, while
other paths to enlightenment are through hard, austere practice.
There are four different level of tantra, such as highest yoga tantra and so
forth; four different aspects of the tantric teaching. So, first we have to
receive initiation. In order to do so, we have to make material offerings, such
as gold, or even members of your family; a spouse, or a sibling, requesting
our guru for the initiation with great devotion. If our guru is pleased, he
will then give us the initiation out of his compassion. Having taken an initiation,
we also receive the great fortune of being able to receive enlightenment and
all these high realizations that come with it.
There are four different initiations: the vase, secret, transcendent wisdom
and word initiations, the latter being where the guru imparts clarification,
or proof, through verbal explanation. However, the secret initiation should
not be given to those living in ordination. If monks, for example, take the
secret initiation, they have to leave the monastic order, because those who
have taken the secret initiation are required to practice with a female consort.
If they do these practices without first returning their ordination, they lose
it, the consequence of which is rebirth in the hells.
To receive tantric commentaries, you first have to receive initiation. Without
initiation, you cannot receive tantric teachings. You also cannot perform pujas
of burnt offering or give tantric teachings.
68. In the last verse, Atisha closes this text by describing himself as an elder
(Tib: nä-tän), a full monk who, in the first twelve years after taking
ordination, hasn't created any moral falls; a senior full monk. He states that
he has briefly explained the teaching on the steps of path as requested by his
noble follower, Jangchub Ö.
Conclusion
Every lam-rim teaching ever written refers back to this text, A Lamp for the
Path, irrespective of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition; not only Gelug, but also
Nyingma, Kagyu and Sakya. Where does the Lamp itself refer back to? That is
to the prajnaparamita teachings. In terms of prajnaparamita texts, there are
elaborate, intermediate and short, but the author of all of them is the Buddha.
Therefore, all lam-rim texts have their source in the teachings of the Buddha.
If you want to understand the lam-rim well, you should study it as extensively
as possible. When you understand the lam-rim well, you will understand the Lamp
for the Path. Once you do, you should teach it all over the world. Even within
the Mahayana tradition, the teaching has many aspects, but in general, it contains
great knowledge. The main thing, however, the fundamental thing, is concern
for others, working for others, benefiting others. Followers of the Hinayana
are concerned with only their own samsaric suffering; in order to escape it,
they follow the path of the three higher trainings: higher conduct, higher concentration
and higher wisdom. But there are many ways in which the Mahayana is different
from and higher than the Hinayana, many ways in which this can be explained,
but the main difference is that Mahayana practitioners are more concerned with
working for the welfare of others than their own.
People nowadays might think of helping other people, but Mahayana practitioners
benefit not only other people but also suffering hell beings, pretas, animals
and every other sentient being. There is not one sentient being who has not
been our mother; all sentient beings have been our mother numberless times,
therefore, we should be concerned for their welfare, wanting them to become
enlightened as quickly as possible. This, then, is the fundamental difference
between the Hinayana and the Mahayana, this concern more for others than oneself,
in particular, the wish to enlighten all sentient beings. That's what makes
the difference.
It is excellent that you are studying the vast and profound teachings of the
Mahayana, thinking about them, analyzing them intently, and you should continue
to do so. In general, there are many religions and everyone thinks that the
teaching of his or her own religion is the best. But just saying that one's
own religion is the best doesn't prove it's the best; that doesn't mean anything.
Therefore, simply saying that Buddhadharma is the best religion in the world
doesn't make it so. However, there are many logical reasons you can use to prove
that Buddhadharma is, in fact, the best.
For example, even accepting and practicing bodhicitta is very different from
not practicing bodhicitta. Even in this, there's a big difference between Buddhism
and other religions; the fact of the presence of the practice of bodhicitta
shows that Buddhism is higher than other religions, that Buddhism is the best.
Buddhism also talks about dependent origination and emptiness; it explains dependent
origination as it exists, right there. So, not only in conduct but also in view,
Buddhism is very different from other religions and therefore the best. There
are many ways to prove this.
However, Buddhadharma is something that the more and more you study it, the
deeper and deeper it becomes, the more and more profound you find it to be.
This is a quality unique to Buddhadharma. With other teachings, the more you
study them, the lighter they become.
If you have understood any of what I have taught here, keep it in mind and build
upon it. When you have understood more, keep that as your foundation and build
further upon that. In this way, your knowledge will continually increase. Then,
like the sun rising, spread Dharma in the West.
There are many countries, such as Vietnam, where Buddhism existed for centuries,
but none were like Tibet. In those countries, there existed only one aspect
of the Buddhadharma, not all, but in Tibet, all the aspects of the teaching
existed, Hinayana, Sutrayana and Vajrayana. In order to study all this, you
should learn the Tibetan language, study its grammar, and follow your lama properly.
[Dedication prayers are made and then the monks and nuns try to make offering
to Rinpoche.]
Please, don't offer me anything. I have enough to eat and drink; that's all
I need. The reason I have given you this teaching is not to receive something
but for you to practice purely. I'm not building monasteries or making offerings
to statues and so forth, so I have no need for money. I accept offerings only
when I lack for something. When I have enough, I don't accept offerings, especially
not from monks or nuns. My idea of wealth is different. Otherwise, teaching
and taking money is a bit like making business. For now, I just want you to
practice, but if things get bad and I don't have enough to eat or drink, then
maybe I'll accept something.
[Then everybody received a blessing from Rinpoche, one by one.]