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Manual of Madhyamika - CLASS NOTES 1

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Class One: The Author, and Structure of the Text

The reason you’re in this class is because you’re going to die. Getting old and dying has a cause. The purpose of the class is to study the forces which cause your world, and the causes which give you things and also will take it all away (including your life and identity). The point of class is to study and change those forces, so that life isn’t endlessly about change, loss and suffering. The Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life is a handbook on how to affect those forces so that you don’t have to suffer and die. The point of Buddhism is to learn how not to suffer— to live in paradise forever. This is the guidebook on how to do that.

The Root Text and Author: JANG-CHUB SEMPAY CHUPA LA JUKPA Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life,

Buddhahood warrior way of life entering the main text for the course

Bodhisattva – charya – avatara (skt.) into

CHUN JUK The short name for the text.

learning how to act

GYALSE SHIWA HLA skt: Shantideva (c. 700 A.D.) The author of the Guide Bodhisattva peace angel

Shanti deva

The Commentary:

GYALTSAB JE DARMA RINCHEN (1364-1432) is his monk’s name. He throne holder of Je (Tsongkapa) was Je Tsongkapa’s student, who wrote the commentary:

GYALSE JUK-NGOK Entry Point for Children of the Victorious Buddhas child of Buddhas entry point

DUSHE SUMBAWA (skt: Bhusuku) “Mister Three Thoughts.” This was Master on your mind only 3 things Shantideva’s nickname in the monastery

Outline of the 10 Chapters:

1. JANG-CHUB KYI SEM KYI PEN YUN Benefits of the Wish for Enlightenment.

Getting you excited about being a bodhisattva and having bodhichitta, which means to be a spiritual warrior and to fight against the mental afflictions in your own mind, the true battleground.

2. DIKPA SHAKPA Purifying Bad Deeds. The process by which you set your mind up to become a bodhisattva; you clean your mind and its negative energies in preparation to becoming a bodhisattva.

3. JANG-CHUB KYI SEM SUNGWA Acquiring the Wish for Enlightenment. Includes

a) developing the state of mind of a bodhisattva, and

b) the ceremony to commit yourself to becoming a bodhisattva. It covers many techniques for collecting good energy. You learn to draw in the spiritual energy of the universe, after first getting rid of negative energy through the methods described in chapter two; you clean out your mind and then build up positive energy so that you have the basis to acquire bodhichitta.

4. BAK-YU TENPA Learning to Be Careful. Once you learn how to think and act like a bodhisattva, you must take good care of that new frail ability, like a newborn baby.

5. SHE-SHIN SUNGWA Guarding Awareness (and recollection). Setting the watchman which alerts you when you’re about to misbehave, and keeps you focused on what you’re supposed to be thinking about.

6. SUPA TENPA The Chapter on Not Getting Angry. The art of not getting angry when circumstances warrant becoming angry.

7. TSUNDRU TENPA Joyous Effort. Having a good time doing good things; being excited or enthusiastic about doing good.

8. SAMTEN TENPA The Chapter on Meditation. Meditation is the platform from which you can see emptiness directly.

9. SHERAB KYI LEU The Chapter on Wisdom.

10. NGOWAY LEU The Chapter on Dedication. Taking a good thing you’ve done, trying to see the long-term effects of that deed, and dedicating it towards a particular goodness. Seeing the outcome of what you did.

The Six Perfections—A bodhisattva’s activities, and how they correspond to the chapters:

1. Giving ………………………….. Chapter 10 4. Joyous Effort ……………. Chapter 7

2. Morality ……………………….. Chapter 5 5. Concentration ………….. Chapter 8

3. Not Getting Angry ………. Chapter 6 6. Wisdom …………………… Chapter 9

Class Two: Bodhichitta, the Five Paths

JANGCHUB SEM KYE Bodhichitta

Enlightenment mind develop

The Five Paths:

LAM NGA The Five Paths. Five stages you progress through in order path five to become enlightened, five levels of spiritual development:

1. TSOK LAM Path of Accumulation. Real renunciation is reached on this accumulation path path. It’s very hard to reach.

2. JOR LAM Path of Preparation. It’s marked by four stages. You begin preparation path to understand more about emptiness with each stage, which leads to…

3. TONG LAM Path of Seeing. You see emptiness directly in the first seeing path instant of the Path of Seeing, while in very deep meditation. It lasts 15-20 minutes the first time. The second part of the Path of Seeing is what you experience when you come out of the direct perception of emptiness. It leads to…

4. GOM LAM Path of Habituation. You are getting used to what you saw habituation path during the path of seeing. You’re applying what you saw at the path of seeing to your everyday life. It leads to…

5. MI LOB LAM Path of No More Learning. If you have bodhichitta at this no more study path level, you reach total Buddhahood; if not, you reach nirvana. This path is the final result, the ultimate goal.

Maitreya’s Definition of the Wish:

SEMKYE PA NI SHENDUN CHIR YANGDAK DZOKPAY JANGCHUB DU wish for enlightenment for sake of all beings total enlightenment want bodhichitta to reach

“Bodhichitta, the Wish for enlightenment, is the desire to reach total enlightenment for the benefit of all beings.”

Bodhichitta Felt after Seeing Emptiness:

You feel a very special instance of bodhichitta just after seeing emptiness directly; this is very different from the general bodhichitta. It relates to two types of wisdom:

1. NYAMSHAK YESHE The wisdom attained in extremely deep meditation, the direct extremely deep wisdom perception of emptiness. meditation

2. JE TOB YESHE The wisdom you attain just after the direct perception subsequent wisdom of emptiness. If you’re on the Mahayana track, then you have an extraordinary, almost orgasmic thought to help every living being, as though a flood light is emanating out of your chest. All your relationships, all your money, everything is for others. It’s great to be released from the attitude of taking care of yourself alone. One minute of this feeling is worth everything. You overcome selfishness. You must meditate 1-2 hours every day to reach this state.

Two Kinds of Bodhichitta:

(This description of the two kinds of bodhichitta specifically relates to seeing emptiness, not to general bodhichitta without seeing emptiness.)

1. MUN SEM The wish for enlightenment in the form of a prayer. The emotion that you will devote all of your future lives to helping others. It’s like planning and wanting to do it, having this ideal.

2. JUK SEM The wish for enlightenment in the form of action. All throughout every day you constantly look around to see how you can help others. It’s not a conscious thought, but an undercurrent which leads you to always be looking for opportunities to help others. Committing yourself to bodhisattva vows and doing the six perfections.

Class Three: Preliminaries to Gaining Bodhichitta

Three Preliminaries:

GEL KYEN TUN KYEN

hindering condition conducive condition

There are things which block you from reaching a state where you care about others as much as yourself, and there are things which are conducive which you must gather and arrange. The blocks are inner spiritual obstacles, which you are not even aware of, that prevent you from reaching your spiritual goals.

After you have aspiring bodhichitta and engaging bodhichitta you must remove the obstacles to achieving real bodhichitta. You do that by removing negative imprints (karma).

Before you can purify negative karma, you must clear the obstacles to successfully purifying negative karma.

DIKPA SHAKPA Purification.

bad deeds split yourself open

Three Preliminaries to Purifying Karma:

1. Doing prostrations

2. Taking refuge

3. Making offerings.

You must do these to collect the positive energy needed to be able to purify karmic imprints.

You can’t purify karma without doing these. If you do not purify karma, you will never be able to develop real bodhichitta.

1. CHAK TSELWA Prostrations.

hand to look for something

When you prostrate the idea is that you think, “I’m in the presence of the Dharmakaya, and I must get down on the ground.” You think, “I believe the Dharmakaya is present, and the Buddha exists, and I acknowledge it.” That’s the point of prostrating; if you don’t think that, then there is no point in prostrating. It’s a chance to do something that is purely a sacred act, not commercial, admirable to others, etc. The objects of our prostrations (also of taking refuge and making offerings):

KOYN CHOK SUM The Three Jewels:

very rare highest three

A. SANGYE KONCHOK Pictures representing the Buddha are the “nominal” (so Buddha Jewel called) Buddha Jewel. They are not the main Buddha Jewel. The main Buddha Jewel is the Dharmakaya, the emptiness of the Buddha. (The Buddha Jewel is different than the Buddha.)

B. CHU KONCHOK The books and teachings are the nominal Dharma Jewel. The Dharma Jewel real Dharma Jewel is seeing emptiness directly, the five Paths which lead to the direct perception of emptiness, and the cessations which result from seeing emptiness. So we bow down to the direct perception of emptiness and its resulting cessations. (The Dharma Jewel is different than the Dharma.)

C. GENDUN KONCHOK The nominal Sangha Jewel is ordained monks and nuns. Sangha Jewel The real Sangha Jewel is everyone who has perceived emptiness directly.

2. KYAM DRO Taking Refuge. You take refuge in the Three Jewels. Taking refuge is what makes you a Buddhist. You take refuge for protection from suffering and death. **** Buddhism offers almost no protection until you understand emptiness well. Emptiness is the protection. ****

3. CHUPA Making Offerings. You should offer things that are significant to you, and without any ulterior motives of personal gain. It’s a statement that you believe there are beings beyond this world. Those beings derive no benefit from your offering. They experience everything as bliss all the time; your offerings give them nothing unique—offerings are not for their benefit, but for your own. You are preparing for purification—you must change yourself, your mind, and its predispositions. Offering creates positive energy for that.

Three Kinds of Offerings:

1. DAKPU MASUNG WAY DZE Offering things that no one owns: mountains, the sky, etc.

2. RANG GI LU ULWA Offering your own body: putting yourself your own body offer at the service of the Three Jewels; spending your life doing service.

3. LU TRULWAY CHUPA Offerings you send out with your own mind: with emanate offer Fantasize beautiful things in your mind and mind and offer them. Really get into it and enjoy it. It changes your thoughts and behavior. Master Shantideva mentions twelve such offerings.

If you go for refuge, prostrate, or make offerings without thinking about the emptiness of the Buddha, the direct perception of emptiness, and those who have seen emptiness, you’re not doing it properly and it won’t prepare you to purify negative karma. You won’t be able to purify negative imprints and gain bodhichitta.

Class Four: How to Purify Negativity

Removing Obstacles to Getting Bodhichitta:

Preparing and setting things up properly is critical for succeeding in any undertaking. If all the causes and conditions are established, the result must happen—you can’t stop it. Acquiring bodhichitta is very difficult, and to get it all of the preliminaries must be in place. If you establish the causes and conditions it must, and will, arise in your mind. Prostrating, going for refuge and making offerings are a warm-up to prepare you to purify your mind of bad deeds. Purification is necessary to develop bodhichitta, and if you don’t do these, purification won’t work.

To become enlightened you must stop collecting negative karma (doing non-virtue), eliminate all old bad karma, and collect only good karma. Purification is the practice of wiping out old negative mental imprints (karma).

Purifying Negative Mental Imprints:

TOB SHI Four Forces. If you have these four elements, you can wipe out the forces four negative imprints (karma) in your mind, or reduce their effect so those that would lead to a hell rebirth ripen as merely a headache, for example. All four forces must be present for this to work.

CHU SHI TENPAY DO Sutra which Teaches the Four Practices. Lord Buddha practice 4 which teaches sutra taught the four forces. This is the name of the sutra which Gyaltsab Je refers to in his teaching of the four forces.

The Four Forces:

1. NAMPAR SUN JINPAY TOB Destruction Force: Regret. The “intelligent regret of rip out, destroy force an educated Buddhist.” This is the one that badly damages the imprint—regret is behind the destruction. This is the regret of a person who understands how karma is planted in the mind, and how once you have commited a bad deed you have just set yourself up to suffer in the future. This intelligent regret is very different from feeling guilty.

2. TEN GYI TOB Foundation Force: Refuge and Bodhichitta, the foundation of force foundation which you use to get back up after falling. You need some solid ground to stand upon. By remembering refuge (emptiness) and bodhichitta (the wish to help others) you re-establish that correct motivation as your foundation, as the ground and basis of your behavior.

3. NYENPO KUNTU CHUPAY TOB Antidote Force. Undertaking an activity to make up antidote activity force for what you did.

Six Antidote Activities:

1. DODE SAMBO LA TENPA Study the scriptures that teach emptiness. You must sutras profound study have in mind that you are studying for the purpose of purifying a specific misdeed. Even just fifteen minutes of study is okay.

2. TONGPA NYI GOMPA Meditate on emptiness. This is the most powerful emptiness of meditating antidote.

3. DEPA LA TENPA Recite secret mantras. In order for a mantra to work, repeat practice it must have been composed by a very holy being, and the person who is reciting it must have a good heart, and pure motivation. If both of these elements are present, mantras can be incredibly powerful. To use a mantra for purification, think of the bad deed, and wish to purify it as you recite the mantra.

4. KU SUK LA TENPA Practice of the holy bodies. Making altars, statues, holy body practice paintings, stupas, and so on of the images and forms of holy beings.

5. CHUPA LA TENPA Practice giving offerings. offering practice

6. TSEN LA TENPA Practice the names. Learning and reciting the names name practice of holy beings, with devotion.

4. NYEPA LE LARN DOKPAY TOB Restraint Force. The resolution not to do the deed bad deed turn away from force again. This is the one which makes the four forces work. Resolve not to do the bad deed for a realistic amount of time, so that you will not also be telling a lie by saying that you will never do it again when you will slip, or forget and do it again. Promise that, “I won’t have that negative thought for the next hour,” or “I won’t do that deed at all in the next month.”

We collect vast amounts of karma (mostly non-virtuous) each day. Doing purification once in a while will not be significant enought to destroy vast accumulations of negative karma. You must do karmic purification consistently and frequently, or it will never keep pace with and overcome your negativities. You should do the Four Forces every day, and you don’t have to be in meditation to do it. Every time Master Atisha had a bad thought, he would stop immediately to purify it.

See Also

Source

jetsongkapa.wordpress.com

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