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.]