A Lamp for the Path and Commentary
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Contents:
I shall give up such things. As all the buddhas have followed pure moral conduct, so shall I. Even though it takes an 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.
From now on, I will create no more negative actions. The best way to keep our three doors pure is to generate aspirational bodhicitta, engage in the practice of bodhicitta and follow the path to enlightenment. This depends on observing the three levels of moral conduct—the pratimoksha, bodhisattva and tantric vows.
A commentary on Atisha's text, given to Western monks and nuns in Boudhanath, Nepal, in The teaching is translated by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and edited. The Buddhist Path to Liberation: An Analysis of the. Listing of Stages, by Rod Bucknell. 7. 2. Temporary Ordination in Sri Lanka, by Richard Gom- brich. 3.
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 whose wings are undeveloped and has not yet grown feathers and remains stuck in its nest, unable to fly. Without clairvoyance, we cannot work for other sentient beings. The person who has achieved the psychic power to foresee the future can create more merit in a day than a person without 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. In order to do this, it is necessary to achieve single-pointed concentration [Skt: samadhi ; Tib: ting-nge-dzin ]. 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. In order to practice samadhi meditation properly, we must ensure that the conditions are perfect. 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.
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. We visualize such an image in front of us and simply concentrate on that. But that is not the point.
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Next we have to practice penetrative insight [Skt: vipashyana ; Tib: lhag-tong ]. Without it, our samadhi cannot remove our delusions. Doing so also depends upon achieving method, such as compassion and so forth. This can lead us to fall into individual liberation, or lower nirvana. Similarly, practicing only method and not wisdom is also a mistake and causes us to remain in samsara. 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 [Skt: upaya ; 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 cannot. 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 the existent and the non-existent, nor is there production of neither the existent nor the 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. 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.
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.
WiersbeYou are shown the a lamp for the path and commentary of this son. Read a free preview of the book. Add your interests. Join the discussion. Without it, we are like a baby bird whose wings are undeveloped and has not yet grown feathers and remains stuck in its nest, unable to fly.
Since this world is created by superstition, or conceptuality [Tib: nam-tog ], 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. 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. 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. Through the practice of tantra we can receive enlightenment without having to undergo many great austerities.
The tantric way to enlightenment is through happiness; other paths to enlightenment are through hard, austere practice. First we have to receive initiation. In order to do so, we have to make material offerings, such as gold or even members of our family—a spouse or a sibling— and with great devotion request our guru to give us the initiation. Having taken it, we also receive the great fortune of being able to attain enlightenment and all the high realizations that come with it.
In Highest Yoga Tantra 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 hell.
To receive tantric commentaries, you first have to receive initiation. Without initiation, you cannot receive tantric teachings. You also cannot perform fire pujas [Tib: jin-sek ] or give tantric teachings. Where does the Lamp itself refer back to? 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.
A lamp to my feet and a light to my path
There are many aspects of the Mahayana tradition, 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 mainly concerned about 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. There are many ways to explain how the Mahayana is different from and higher than the Hinayana, 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.
Original Audio from the Seminar
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.
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