Download Transcript of the teachings by Geshe Chonyi

Amitabha Buddhist Centre
Basic Program – Module 9
Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds
Transcript of the teachings by Geshe Chonyi
Root
verses from Engaging in the Bodhisattva
Deeds
(Bodhisattvacharyavatara) by Shantideva, Chapter IX: WISDOM, translated by
Ven. Joan Nicell, February 2006, used with permission from the FPMT
Education Department.
Root verses are centred, in italics, with verse numbers added
Outline
from The Subject Headings from Gyalsab Je’s Commentary to the
Bodhicaryavatara, translated by Ven. Losang Sopa (Bob Miller), ed. Feb. 2002;
used with permission from the FPMT Education Department, October 2005.
Outlines are in bold, numbered.
Lesson No: 23
Date:30th September 2007
Chapter Nine, Verses 151-154, Outline D a 3) a) i) onw
Dependent Arising - A Praise of the Buddha
42
Of all Buddha’s deeds his words were the greatest,
and they were words of dependent arising.
Let the wise therefore remember him this way.
Lama Tsong Khapa had mentioned how he finally attained mental peace upon
gaining the unmistaken realisation of dependent origination in reliance on the
kindness of his own teachers and the great treatises composed by Nagarjuna
and Chandrakirti.
When we study the great treatises in our quest to understand and realise
dependent origination, we have to focus on three things:1. Making whole-hearted requests to our guru-deity
2. Continuously studying and analysing the treatises and
3. Accumulating merit and purifying obscurations
Some intelligent students may think, “I have sharp faculties. I will be able to
study these great treatises without accumulating merit.” Such students, who
focus only on studying and do not perform any purification practices or work
at accumulating merit, may learn something but they will never be able to
complete their studies. Instead, they will encounter many obstacles and find it
difficult to understand the treatises, especially the teachings on emptiness.
Then there are those who do not study at all thinking, “Studying is not
important. I will concentrate on accumulating merit and purifying my negative
karma. That is enough.” There is no way such people can realise emptiness
without listening to, studying and reflecting on the great treatises, especially
the presentations on dependent origination.
Can we realise emptiness and the meaning of dependent origination simply by
making requests to the guru-deities? This is also impossible. We may
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Amitabha Buddhist Centre
Basic Program – Module 9
Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds
supplicate our guru-deities with single-pointed faith, “Please grant me
blessings to realise emptiness.” That alone will not bring the realisation we
seek.
So, the three things must go together hand-in-hand: supplicating our gurudeities, studying and analysing the great treatises, accumulating merit and
purifying negativities. This is what Lama Tsong Khapa did and we should
follow his example.
When it comes to studying the treatises, we should not simply study any
treatise or a text that looks like a treatise. We should study an unmistaken
treatise. We saw how Lama Tsong Khapa only studied the treatises composed
by the fully qualified great Indian masters, especially the texts composed by
Nagarjuna and Chandrakirti.
Amongst the enlightened activities of the body, speech and mind of the
Buddha, the best was said to be the enlightened activities performed by his
holy speech. The Buddha said: “The Subduers do not wash away the
negativities of sentient beings with water nor do they remove their suffering with
their hands. They also do not transfer their realisations to sentient beings. They
liberate through teaching suchness.”
The Buddha wants to help us eliminate our suffering and unhappiness but he
cannot do so with his body or mind or by giving us his realisations in the form
of a present. He helps us by teaching us the Four Noble Truths, particularly
what is to be abandoned and what is to be cultivated. His teachings are the
best medicine for our problems and that is why the enlightened activities of his
speech is praised as the best.
Amongst his teachings, the supreme teachings are said to be the ones on the
meaning of dependent origination, which help us to cut the root of our
problems and suffering. As mentioned in the beginning of chapter 9: “The
Subduer taught all these branches for the purpose of wisdom.”
The root of our suffering is ignorance. Its antidote is the unmistaken
realisation of dependent origination, which Lama Tsong Khapa sees is only
correctly taught by the Buddha. Seeing this unique characteristic of the
Buddha’s teachings, Je Rinpoche thinks about the kindness of the Buddha
and advises us to do likewise.
In the next verse, Lama Tsong Khapa talks again about his respect for the
teachings.
43
Becoming ordained into the way of the Buddha
by not being lax in study of his words,
and by yoga practice of great resolve,
this monk devotes himself to that great purveyor of truth.
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Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds
Following the footsteps of the Buddha, Lama Tsong Khapa was ordained when
he was very young. As a monk, he studied the great treatises in detail
particularly the texts composed by the Two Supremes and the Six Ornaments.
Having done this, he reflected and meditated on their meaning day and night,
gaining many realisations and developing extraordinary faith in his mind.
He sees all this is due to the kindness of his teacher who, in this context, is
the Buddha. He is declaring here, “This is me, the fully ordained monk, named
Losang Dragpa, paying respect to the Buddha.”
It is very important that we begin, in the same way, with studying extensively
and then reflecting on and analysing what we have learnt. Only then can we
gain firm ascertainment of the teachings, which should be followed by
constant meditation on them. In this way, realisations can come and
extraordinary faith in our teachers and in the great composers of the treatises
will arise.
Different levels of faith are generated in this process. When we first listen to
and have some understanding of the teachings from our guru, we develop
some faith in him. Our faith in our guru deepens when we reflect on and
ascertain the teachings we have received from him. Then, when we meditate
and develop some realisations based on his instructions, we will generate
extraordinary faith in our guru.
From there, we can generate irreversible faith in the lineage lamas going all the
way back to the Buddha himself.
We can see from this that the power of our faith depends on whether we have
done extensive studying, reflection and meditation. The greater the faith in our
teachers, the greater will be our effort to put the teachings into practice. Then,
we will definitely be able to pacify and remove our suffering.
The sutras say that faith is the foundation of all our virtue. A mind without
faith cannot generate virtue just as a burnt seed is unable to produce a plant.
When we strongly develop the correct kind of faith, our virtue will increase. For
such faith to arise in our minds, we have to study, reflect and meditate on the
teachings. We must understand the reasons for and the importance of
studying in order to generate the determination to apply ourselves to our
studies. We should aspire to be like Lama Tsong Khapa.
Our minds will not change or improve when our faith is weak and unstable
and we do not practise properly. Faith comes when we taste and experience
the teachings for ourselves and that experience can only come from reflection
and meditation. Whether we develop faith or not depends on us.
In the last lesson, we studied how we can equalise the eight worldly dharmas
based on conventional methods as well as our understanding of the emptiness
of inherent existence.
We like getting (1) material things, (2) praise (3) happiness and pleasure and
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Basic Program – Module 9
Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds
(4) hearing pleasant words. We should reflect on the disadvantages of these
supposedly desirable things: how we become obsessed with them and become
unable to do anything else, especially virtuous activities. They are actually
obstacles to our Dharma practice. On the other hand, we dislike those things
opposite to these four. To equalise our reactions to them, we should reflect on
the benefits of encountering them.
This advice on analysing the problems that come with the eight worldly
dharmas is targeted at practitioners who assert past and future lives, who
believe in the possibility of liberation and who wish to achieve it.
Many people think: “As much as I would like to go into retreat, I can’t do so
now because I don’t have enough money. So I can’t go. But if I have a million
dollars now, I will definitely go into retreat.” Who is to blame for that kind of
thinking? Money becomes so important to such people. They are saying they
cannot go into retreat due to lack of funds.
Actually the time to go into retreat is when one has no money! This is because
when one has money, especially when one has a million dollars, one will never
go into retreat. The more money one accumulates, the more attached one will
become to it to the point where one is bound by one’s wealth and loses one’s
freedom. Judging from historical accounts, there does not seem to be a single
instance of a millionaire going into retreat! Milarepa did retreat in isolation
with absolutely nothing. Even today, some practitioners are doing the same.
Geshe-la: I heard this story two or three years ago from my friend in
Dharamsala. There was a monk who went into retreat after having saved some
money. Before he began his retreat, he loaned the money (between Rp20, 000 to
Rp50, 000) to someone in order to generate interest.
While he was in retreat, he kept on thinking about his money - calculating the
interest, worrying that the money may disappear, considering whether to
deposit it in a bank to gain higher interest and so on. He could not meditate. He
then decided to offer the money away (to someone or to the monastery). After
that, his meditation went very well.
We value money, praise and reputation when we do not have these things.
Once we have them, however, it is difficult to let go of them and give them up.
Take the example of money which we normally think of as something
desirable. The more we have, the more attached we are to it and we are less
free to do as we wish. In retreat, we are unable to meditate properly. Our
wealth becomes an obstacle for virtue.
Another type of people does not do retreat for fear of having to suffer and
lacking this and that during the retreat. Actually, in retreat, we only
experience happiness. We do not want to go into retreat because we are
happier with our current samsaric situation, pursuing the eight worldly
dharmas as our source of pleasure and happiness.
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Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds
We can see from our own experience how much effort we put into looking for
happiness in the eight worldly dharmas. What we finally achieve, however, are
only problems and difficulties. We seek material gain, praise, reputation and
pleasant words and are unhappy when we cannot get what we want. We need
to reflect on their faults from many different angles.
We experience material gain, praise, pleasure and good reputation because we
had accumulated the causes in the past. When we are praised, however, we
are drawing on our store of merit and depleting it. It is like withdrawing our life
savings of $100,000 from the bank leaving nothing behind, making us feel
insecure. Reflecting like this, we understand there is nothing to be happy
about when we are praised, enjoy material success and so on.
When we do not have material success and experiencing unhappiness and
criticism and having a bad reputation, we should remember they are the
results of the negative karma we had accumulated and experiencing them
depletes that negative karma. When our negative karma is exhausted, we will
not have to experience it again.
The great Kadampa masters said: “All the unfavourable conditions or obstacles
are our teachers because we only think about virtue after experiencing problems
and obstacles.” When we reflect that it is problems and obstacles that lead us
to think about doing virtuous activities, our minds will not be shaken or
disturbed when we encounter them. If we accept the workings of karma, we
will understand that difficulties only help to exhaust our negative karma.
We can see for ourselves that when people are healthy, wealthy and happy,
they do not develop any interest in virtue. But once they start to experience
problems, difficulties or sicknesses, they turn to reciting sutras or mantras.
Previously, such people would have no interest at all in Dharma practice even
if the Buddha himself were to appear before them. What caused them to begin
engaging in Dharma practice, something even the Buddha was unable to
persuade them to do? It was their problems or sicknesses. Therefore, their real
guru is the sickness or problem they were experiencing..
Seeing how all our problems come from pursing the eight worldly dharmas, we
should weaken their hold on us as much as possible. The conventional way of
doing this was taught in the chapter on patience. If we have the correct
understanding of emptiness, then the best way to equalise the eight worldly
dharmas is through the understanding that they are all equal in the sense of
not existing inherently.
Praise or criticism are basically words which, when sought, are not findable.
They do not exist inherently. Since praise and criticism are equal in this sense,
then it is inappropriate for us to swing from the extreme of great excitement to
the other extreme of great depression when we hear them. The reason for our
extreme responses is because of our failure to understand the ultimate nature
of praise and criticism and grasping at them as inherently existent.
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Basic Program – Module 9
Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds
a) Explaining the chapter’s material
1) Teaching that one who wants to attain liberation must develop the wisdom realizing emptiness
2) The methods by which one develops the wisdom realizing suchness
3) Instructions on making effort to develop that [realization of emptiness]
a) The actual instructions
i) Teaching the mode of existence [or nature; lit, mode of abidance]
ii) It is reasonable to make effort to realize that
b) Teaching the focus of compassion by way of teaching the disadvantages of cyclic
existence
c) Teaching the subjective aspect of the way in which great compassion apprehends
things [lit. the aspect of great compassion's mode of apprehension
i) Teaching the mode of existence [or nature; lit, mode of abidance]
(9,151)
What is there to gain and what is there to lose
With things that are empty (of true existence) in this way?
Who is there to pay me respect,
And who is there to abuse me?
(9,152)
From what are pleasure and pain derived?
What is there to be happy or unhappy about?
The above verses talked about equalising the worldly dharmas from the
ultimate perspective by reflecting on their lack of inherent existence. We have
also covered equalising the worldly dharmas using conventional methods.
(9,152 cd)
When I search for the ultimate nature,
Who is there to crave, and what is there to crave for?
When we investigate further, we find that both the person who is craving and
the object of craving do not exist inherently. Both the person of the present life
and the person of the past life also lack inherent existence.
Likewise, friends or relatives who benefit us also do not exist inherently.
Discovering this will definitely reduce our attachment or craving.
(9,153)
Upon analysis, this world of living beings (is found to have no
true existence),
Therefore we can die here?
What is there to come and what has been?
Who are friends and who are relatives?
When we recognise that we ourselves are not inherently existent, the “we” who
will die in the future are also not inherently existent. Understanding this will
reduce any sense of fear for death. In the same way, having ascertained that
our friends and relatives are not inherently existent, parting or being separated
from them will lead to less suffering and agony for us.
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Amitabha Buddhist Centre
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Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds
ii) It is reasonable to make effort to realize that
(9,154)
O you (who are investigating reality),
Please recognize, as I have done, that all is just like space!
Therefore, it is appropriate to strive to realise emptiness. All phenomena are
empty of inherent existence, like space. Shantideva is talking to himself and at
the same time, instructing us: “You should realise that things are like space,
just as I have realised the nature of emptiness.” Emptiness is likened to space,
which is posited as the mere lack of obstructive contact. It is not findable.
Likewise, emptiness is the mere negation of true existence.1
Translated by Ven. Gyurme
Transcribed by Phuah Soon Ek, Vivien Ng & Angie Xiao, 10th October 2007
Edited by Cecilia Tsong, 17th October 2007
Checked by Yap Siew Kee, 21st October 2007
Vetted by Geshe Chonyi, 20th October 2007
Amended: 14th November 2007
1
Shantideva exhorts those who are engaged in understanding the meaning of
emptiness to recognize that all phenomena are like space, or not truly existent. [154]
Before continuing the exposition on the subject we are discussing, Shantideva
states that the Dharma is as vast as space and its explanation very difficult; he apologizes
for not possessing the qualities and abilities required to explain it adequately. Nevertheless,
he cannot refrain from expounding and commenting on it, since this is both useful and
precious. We too must appreciate and rejoice in it! In reality, in the Bodhicharyavatara,
Shantideva has given the complete explanation of wisdom and bodhichitta, which lead to
the attainment of buddhahood. In spite of having discussed these subjects extensively, he
shows humility, which is a sign of his greatness.
Wisdom is like the sword that is able to cut at the roots of all suffering; and
bodhichitta, concurrently used, is the path that leads to buddhahood. These subjects are
therefore very important, and in spite of the difficulties, Shantideva has generated the
necessary courage needed to expound them. We too say at times that we had to accept an
undertaking that was beyond our abilities, and apologize for having done so, and
Shantideva expresses the same in a verse. (The Way of Awakening by Geshe Yeshe Tobden,
pgs. 345-346)
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