Bodhisattvacharyavatara

by Andreas Kretschmar | 246,740 words

The English translation of the Bodhisattvacharyavatara (“entering the conduct of the bodhisattvas”), a Sanskrit text with Tibetan commentary. This book explains the bodhisattva concept and gives guidance to the Buddhist practitioner following the Mahāyāna path towards the attainment of enlightenment. The text was written in Sanskrit by Shantideva ...

We have achieved a favorable rebirth, met with the dharma, and with qualified teachers. Having met with such good fortune, our intention should be to strive to free all our former mothers, all sentient beings, from their suffering, and to establish them on the level of omniscient and perfect buddhahood.

All sentient beings are completely caught up in their individual karmic perceptions within the six realms [rigs drug so so’i las snang]. Beings in each of the six realms share a common karmic perception, while at the same time each has his own individual experience, his own particular hopes and fears, happiness and sorrow.

The six afflictions are the direct causes that propel beings into birth in one of the six realms. According to which of the six afflictions predominates in the mind-streams of beings, they take rebirth in one of the six realms.

The three lower realms are the hell realm, the hungry ghost realm, and the animal realm. Anger [zhe sdang] is the main cause for taking rebirth in the hell realm; stinginess [ser sna] leads to rebirth in the realm of the hungry ghosts, the preta realm; and ignorance or delusion [gti mug] results in rebirth in the animal realm.

The three higher realms include the human realm, the asura or demi-god realm, and the celestial realm of the gods. Desire [’dod chags] is the major cause for rebirth in the human realm; jealousy [phrag dog] is the force that hurls us into birth among the asura demi-gods; and when pride [nga rgyal] dominates it leads to rebirth in the realm of the gods. These are the ‘six karmic perceptions’ [las snang drug], the six varieties of karmic perception experienced by sentient beings, and each realm possesses its own unique types of suffering.

Beings in hell are tormented by the suffering of heat and cold [tsha grang gi sdug bsgnal].
Pretas suffer from hunger and thirst [bkres skom gyi sdug bsngal];
animals are afflicted by delusion and ignorance;
human beings must endure birth, aging, disease, and death [skye rga na ’chi’i sdug bsngal];
demi-gods are tormented by incessant quarreling and fighting [’thab rtsod gyi sdug bsngal];
and even the gods experience tremendous sorrow at the approach of death and during the process of dying [’chi ’pho ba’i sdug bsngal].

Another result of beings experiencing their individual karmic perceptions within the six realms is that different beings perceive the same setting and situation in different ways. Where a human being sees a bowl of water, a hell being will perceive molten bronze.

Pretas would see the water as blood and pus, and beings of the god realms would see a vessel filled with the nectar of immortality. Some beings in the animal realm experience water as the environment in which they live.

A bodhisattva has the confidence [spobs pa] and the commitment [dam bca’ ba] to state,

“I will free all beings, my mothers, from their individual karmic perceptions, suffering, and habitual tendencies for each of the six realms, and I will establish them on the level of omniscient and perfect buddhahood.”

That commitment succinctly summarizes the bodhicitta of aspiration.

Without having truly recognized one’s own mind essence, non-dual wisdom [gnyis su med pa’i ye shes], profound emptiness [zab mo stong pa nyid], one will be unable to truly generate such confidence and commitment. Until mind essence is genuinely recognized and this unshakeable confidence gained, developing bodhicitta remains more of an aspiration [smon lam] than a commitment [dam bca’].

As noted above, bodhicitta has two inseparable aspects, compassion [snying rje] and knowledge [shes rab]. ‘Compassion’ here means focusing on the benefit of others [snying rjes gzhan don la dmigs pa] through the commitment:

“I will free all beings from their suffering.”

‘Knowledge’ means focusing on perfect enlightenment [shes rab kyis rdzogs byang la dmigs pa] through the commitment:

“I will establish all sentient beings on the level of perfect enlightenment.”

The dharma should be practiced while being endowed with four links [‘brel ba bzhi ldan]:

(1) Link your mind to the earnest wish [rang gi sems ‘dun pa dang ‘brel ba], thinking,

“May all sentient beings be free from both the causes and the fruition of suffering.”

(2) Then link your mind to the aspiration [rang gi sems smon pa dang ‘brel ba], thinking,

“Wouldn’t it be nice if all sentient beings were free of suffering.”

(3) Then link your mind to the resolve [rang gi sems dam bca’ dang ‘brel ba], thinking,

“I will free all sentient beings from suffering.”

Having made these three links,

(4) link your mind to the supplication [rang gi sems gsol ‘debs dang ‘brel], supplicating the three jewels, the undeluded refuge, which are free from both the causes and fruition of suffering, thinking,

“Please free my own mothers, all sentient beings, from their suffering, its causes and fruitions. Free them right now, as I am sitting at this very place, at this very spot.”

A beginner who attempts to develop bodhicitta might be intimidated by the magnitude of the thought:

“I will establish all beings on the level of complete enlightenment,”

thinking,

“How could someone like me ever do that? I’m not enlightened in any way. I don’t have the knowledge and power it takes to free beings from their suffering and lead them to enlightenment. I cannot even give temporary happiness to a few people. How could I ever bestow ultimate happiness on all sentient beings?”

An honest beginner knows his shortcomings and so can only practice bodhicitta as an aspiration. Rather than state the commitment to free all beings, he should make the aspiration,

“May I free all beings from suffering and establish them on the level of complete enlightenment.”

This crucial distinction is also a key point in knowing how to appoach the Bodhisattva-caryāvatāra. At first, one should study and practice the entire text as an aspiration and a supplication. As part of this process, one begins to apply the various methods for generating merit taught in the Bodhisattva-caryāvatāra.

In addition, seeking out qualified masters and receiving instructions on how to recognize one’s buddha nature, the non-conceptual wisdom [dmigs pa med pa’i ye shes] is most important. After genuninely recognizing the essence of one’s own mind, practicing the commitment [dam bca’ ba] of bodhicitta becomes a reality. Growing increasingly confident in one’s bodhicitta commitment also greatly enhances one’s practice of the buddha nature. One’s bodhicitta commitment and the recognition of buddha nature mutually enhance one another.

Genuine recognition of buddha nature is the practice of knowledge [shes rab] or wisdom [ye shes] and gives rise to a natural compassion [snying rje]. Knowledge and compassion inspire and enhance one another. This mutually enhancing quality of knowledge and compassion sets in motion the natural turning of the wheel of dharma. Great compassion allows knowledge [shes rab] to dawn; great knowledge [shes rab] allows genuine compassion to dawn. This illustrates very clearly the interdependent nature [rten ’brel] of knowledge and compassion.

The teachings of the Buddha all point to emptiness, and emptiness [stong pa nyid] is recognized by wisdom [ye shes]. Yet within this recognition of emptiness, there is no distinguishing or focus upon any subject [yul can] or any object [yul]. It is a non-dual wisdom [gnyis su med pa’i ye shes], a wisdom unconditioned by perceptual constraints of a subject-object dichotomy. As long as a perceptual dichotomy of a subject and an object exists, emptiness [stong pa nyid] has not been recognized.

Those who have attained the states of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas are genuinely endowed with great compassion. Both śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas have realized the egolessness of personal identity [gang zag gi bdag med]; the pratyekabuddhas have also partially realized the egolessness of phenomena [chos kyi bdag med]. A practitioner who has realized egolessness will naturally feel compassion for all beings who, due to grasping at a non-existent ’self’, still dwell in confusion.

Both śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas understand that the root of suffering is our involvment with afflictions and that afflictions spring from ego-clinging.

Since they clearly understand beings’ confusion, they cannot help but feel compassion for them. Nevertheless, they lack bodhicitta. Seeing clearly the defects of saṃsāra and the qualities of nirvāṇa, they aspire only to become śrāvaka-arhats or pratyekabuddha-arhats. As they do not aspire to perfect enlightenment even for themselves, they definitely do not aspire to establish all sentient beings on the level of perfect enlightenment.

The dharma places great importance on finding a qualified master [mtshan ldan gyi bla ma]. No sūtra, śāstra, or tantra speaks of any being ever attaining perfect buddhahood without having followed a spiritual teacher. However, before requesting dharma from a teacher it is extremely important to examine his qualities. This is especially true at present, when many have become disillusioned with spiritual teachers.

Such disillusionment results from beginning students not knowing how to examine their teachers. Students must read and reflect on the manuals that describe the qualities of a perfect teacher. These books also provide guidelines on how to detect a false spiritual teacher. Following such advice, students can discover a teacher’s qualities before placing their trust in the teacher. Thus, the negative karma of disillusionment and resentment can be avoided. Faith without discrimination is dangerous.

A qualified teacher of sūtra and tantra must be endowed with many qualities, particularly perfect kindness, compassion, and wisdom. He should be well-versed in the teachings and practices of the tripiṭaka, as well as in the four sections of tantra. He should have actualized all extraordinary qualities of realization in himself by having experienced the meaning of the teachings.

Briefly, a genuine teacher should be generous; his speech and language should be pleasant; he should teach each individual according to that person’s needs; and especially, he should act in conformity with what he teaches. He should be able to impart the true meaning of profound emptiness to his students. At the same time, he must be free from the pursuit of the eight worldly concerns and live a life of simplicity. At the very least, anyone who claims to teach Mahāyāna Buddhism must have studied, practiced, and developed bodhicitta.

The eight worldly concerns [’jig rten chos brgyad] are: gain [rnyed pa] and loss [ma rnyed pa]; fame [snyan] and disrepute [mi snyan]; praise [bstod pa] and blame [smad pa]; and pleasure [bde ba] and pain [mi bde ba]. These eight points describe the egocentric goals and fears of a worldly person. If a person pursues egocentric aims in thought and deed, he is not following the Buddha’s teachings.

If one is motivated in thought and deed by personal gain, fame, and so on, one is inwardly an ordinary worldly person, however one may appear outwardly. Being motivated by the eight worldly concerns takes one far from the practice of the Mahāyāna path, and farther still from the Vajrayāna path.

Dharma students who join a shedra, an institute for Buddhist studies, must understand that it is not a worldly institution. This has to do with the teacher-student relationship. A qualified Buddhist teacher is someone who has transformed his own character and mind.

A qualified student of Buddhism is someone who aspires to this same transformation of character. A qualified teacher must accept responsibility for the spiritual development of his student. A qualified student must respectfully acknowledge the teacher as someone who shows the path to enlightenment. The teacher and the sublime dharma he teaches must be treated with the utmost respect. Such a teacher-student relationship endures for many lifetimes.

Thus, the situation in a traditional institution of Buddhist learning is entirely different than when Buddhism is taught in an ordinary university. In the latter case, neither the teacher nor the student need be Buddhist. In an ordinary university neither the teachers nor the students necessarily regard the dharma as sublime and sacred. The sublime dharma instead becomes ’an interesting field of study’. In ordinary universities, students pay their tuition fees and study under teachers in order to receive an academic degree that may serve their own personal advancement.

The ordinary university professor assumes the responsibility to turn his students into skilled scholars. He lacks the inner knowledge as well as the capacity to take responsibility for the student’s ethical and spiritual development. Such a teacher-student relationship is limited and very short-term. Newcomers to shedras first need to learn to become suitable vessels for the dharma. They need to understand the nuances of receiving sacred knowledge and of how to behave toward sublime spiritual teachers.

When Khenpo Kunpal mentions the genuine dharma [yang dag pa’i chos], he is referring to teachings like ’Entering the Conduct of the Bodhisattvas’ [spyod ’jug]. When a qualified master teaches the genuine dharma to a qualified student, realization should be born in the student’s mind. Therefore, the sublime dharma, the genuine teachings of the Buddha, are the most precious treasure in the entire universe; even the wish-fulfilling jewel cannot produce realization in the mind of a student.

The quintessence of all dharma teachings is wisdom [ye shes]. Whoever imparts to you the gift of wisdom, through the teachings of sūtra or tantra, has become your spiritual teacher and is thus worthy of respect. If you ignore this and treat a genuine wisdom teacher as an ordinary being, you have adopted an improper attitude, a wrong view [log lta], having failed to acknowledge the wisdom teacher for what he is.

Beginning students find it very difficult to know for themselves whether or not a teacher is genuine. Therefore, the Buddhist teachings provide ample guidelines enabling students to evaluate prospective teachers. In general, a student can always check to see if the master’s teachings are helpful to his state of mind. When you put the teachings into practice, notice whether your afflictions decrease, or whether your positive attitude and virtuous mind [dge ba’i sems] become stronger. If the latter is the case, you must acknowledge the teacher’s kindness. A genuine teacher is a conduit for the genuine dharma.

A general positive attitude is to think,

“Whoever gives rise to any positive quality in my mind is my superior [gong ma].”

Our parents are our superiors because they have given us life, clothing, and nourishment. Titles such as ’master’ [slob dpon], ’guru’ [bla ma], ’teacher’ [ston pa], ’tutor’ [dge rgan], ’elder’ [rgan], ’superior’ [gong ma], and ’spiritual friend’ [dge ba’i bshes gnyen] all refer to those from whom we acquire knowledge and qualities. Once a teacher has imparted knowledge, or influenced us so that spiritual qualities arise, we should regard him as ’a superior of ours’ [nga las mtho ba].

For example, if a teacher has caused a student to arouse bodhicitta, then the student should immediately acknowledge this, thinking,

“Based on the teacher’s kindness, bodhicitta has arisen in my mind.”

Further, the student should think,

“Since it obviously benefits my mind greatly, I can place my trust in the dharma of the Buddha and in the teacher who has imparted the dharma to me.”

First, acknowledge the cause or catalyst of your newly-born qualities [yon tan gyi ’byung khung]; through this you become able to place your trust [yid ches] in the teacher, the cause for these qualities to arise. This understanding, this recognition of the situation, is the very basis of faith and devotion. The dharma is not merely information gathered from others without a bond of deep respect and gratitude toward the source of that sacred knowledge.

When receiving the dharma, a student should distinguish between the teacher’s personality [gang zag] on the one hand and the teacher’s capacity to impart the genuine dharma [chos] on the other. These considerations must also be measured against the student’s subjective responses [rang gi tshor ba] to the teacher and to the teachings. The ’perfect teacher’ [bla ma phun sum tshogs pa], a teacher who is perfect as an individual [gang zag] and whose capacity to teach the genuine dharma is equally perfect, is very difficult to find. To meet a buddha-like teacher requires incredible merit and aspirations on the part of the student.

The teacher-student relationship is based on their mutual merit [bsod nams] and their mutual aspirations [smon lam]. Students of inferior merit and aspirations will meet only inferior teachers. Even were such students to meet a genuine teacher, they would not be able to place their trust in such a teacher.

Their insufficient merit and force of aspiration means that they will at best form links with inferior teachers. If your teacher is not ’perfect’, both as an individual and as a teacher, do not focus your mind on the person of the teacher, but instead focus only on the dharma teachings he imparts.

You should ignore the flaws in the teacher’s personality while continuing to acknowledge whatever qualities he has in presenting the genuine dharma. If, however, you discover that your teacher is presenting a corrupted version of the dharma, you should by all means abandon such a teacher and continue making heartfelt aspirations to find a genuine master.

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