Explanation of Atisha's Lamp For The Path To Enlightenment

Explanation of Atisha's Lamp for the Path to
Enlightenment
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Alexander Berzin
Prague, Czech Republic, January 2003
Session One: The Initial Scope

Unedited Transcript
Listen to the audio version of this page (0:46 hours) {1}
This text was written by Atisha, a great Indian master who lived about a thousand years ago.
He had studied in Indonesia, the island of Sumatra; he'd made a long journey there, a very
difficult journey. Buddhism had spread there long before and he went there particularly to get
the teachings on compassion and bodhichitta and these type of topics from this famous master
who lived there. Those teachings were not so strong in India at that time, so some of those
lineages he brought back.
He was at one of the great Indian monasteries in north India, Vikramashila. And he was
invited by the king of western Tibet to come to Tibet because there was a lot of confusion
about Buddhism at the time and they wanted him to help to revive it. There are various
versions of the history: there's the so-called pious Buddhist version of it, the holy Buddhist
version; then there's a more historical version of what actually took place:
There had been a repression of Buddhism about a hundred and fifty years earlier, but actually
it was a movement against the monasteries there and the excessive policy of the previous king.
This previous king had assigned many houses and villages to support the monasteries and to
support the monks and no money was coming into the government and so this was a problem.
He was a bit of a religious fanatic. And so his brother assassinated him and took the throne -
this was the infamous king Langdarma.
And he closed the monasteries, but he didn't destroy them and he didn't kill all the monks or
anything like that, so libraries were still very much intact when Atisha came. But, in any case,
what happened was that there weren't great centers of learning, and so over the years after the
empire of Tibet broke apart and so on, then the people no longer really understood terribly
much about the teachings. That was the situation. And they had some very strange ideas about
what Buddhist practice was, taking many things in the teachings, particularly concerning
tantra, very literally in a way that it was never quite intended.
So it was at this time that a king in western Tibet, Yeshey-wo, decided to invite translators and
sent people down to India to learn the languages and eventually he invited Atisha. There's a
long story in the Buddhist histories of the sacrifice of King Yeshey-wo in order to bring
Atisha to Tibet. From a historical point of view, it seems quite doubtful that that actually
occurred; but it doesn't really matter. In any case he got to Tibet through a great deal of
hardship, particularly by one of the next kings, the nephew of Yeshey-wo called Jangchub-wo;
Explanation of Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment 1

Explanation of Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment (audio + transcript)
that's the disciple mentioned in the text.
And he stayed there for quite a few years and he helped to clarify a lot of misunderstanding.
So he was one of the main figures for what's called the second flourishing of Dharma in Tibet.
And he wrote this text there in western Tibet and, as he said, also to hopefully help the
Indians. This text is considered a very important text for a whole genre of literature or
teachings that came afterwards called lam-rim, the graded stages of the path to enlightenment.
These stages can be presented in many different ways; you find them in all four traditions of
Tibetan Buddhism. And although the content is the same of this graded path in all four
traditions, the actual structure with which it's presented is slightly different. The structure that
Atisha uses are these three scopes of spiritual aim. This was then followed in the Kadam
tradition, which traces from Atisha, and then the Gelug tradition, which was the renewed
Kadam tradition after it had split into many branches. And the same structure of these three
scopes is also used in one of the Kagyu traditions, the Shangpa Kagyu.
So, anyway, a little bit of its background. Atisha starts here:
I prostrate to the Bodhisattva Youthful Manjushri.
He gives the name in Sanskrit and then the name in Tibetan and here in our Western
languages the name is A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment. The tradition is always to give
the Sanskrit title first and presumably he wrote it in Sanskrit. Out of respect, you give the
Sanskrit title first, then you give the Tibetan. And the standard Indian texts always start off
with a homage or a prostration. Manjushri is the embodiment of the wisdom or clarity of mind
and understanding of all the Buddhas. Often prostration is made to him at the beginning of
texts.
Promise to Compose
In the West we often have a little summary in the beginning of some sort of article that says
what's going to be in it; this is also the Indian tradition. So Atisha gives what's called the
promise to compose. It says what he's going to write about.
(1) Having prostrated most respectfully to all the Triumphant

of the three times
To their Dharma and to the Sangha community,
I shall light a lamp for the path to enlightenment,
Having been urged by my excellent disciple, Jangchub-wo
"The Triumphant" are the Buddhas. The teachings always start with prostration, we pay
homage; so he starts with prostration to what's called the Three Supreme Gems. They're called
"gems" because they're very rare and they're very precious, and we call them in Sanskrit the
Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. I'll explain that a little later what that's referring to. Then he
says he'll "light a lamp for the path to enlightenment" - that's the actual title of the text -
trying to illuminate what's going on on that path.
And he was requested by this king that followed Yeshey-wo, Jangchub-wo; he was requested
by him as his disciple to write this. That indicates a basic Buddhist principle, which is that a
Buddhist teacher only teaches when requested, except under exceptional circumstances, when
there is an exceptional disciple and the teacher sees some special connection. Then a teacher
can offer to teach, but normally the disciple has to request. It's not a missionary type of
Session One: The Initial Scope 2

religion the teacher tries to push on people.
In the second verse Atisha says more specifically what he's going to write about. He says:
(2) Since (practitioners) come to have small

intermediate, and supreme (scopes),
They are known as the three types of spiritual persons.
I shall therefore write about these specific divisions,
Clarifying their defining features.
When you talk about the Buddhist spiritual path, there are different spiritual scopes that one
passes through, and often this is referred to with "different levels of motivation." But this
word "motivation," I don't know about in your language, but in English it doesn't quite give
the correct meaning here. When we talk about motivation in our Western languages, we're
talking about the psychological or emotional reasons of why we do something - you're
motivated by greed or by anger or by jealousy or these sort of things, or by love and
compassion.
But although those are important factors to examine what's the emotional state that is
motivating us to do something, particularly our spiritual practice, that's not what the Tibetan
word is referring to. The Tibetan word is referring to the aim: what it is that you're aiming for,
the goal. And so when we follow a spiritual path, our goals are going to grow. This is what it's
talking about when he says that "come to have" these different scopes of aim. He uses a word
that means that they develop, they grow, from one spiritual aim to another.
What this implies is two things: it could be that there are various people that you might meet
who have one or another of these spiritual aims, but that's not really the main point here, to go
and classify people according to their spiritual aim. But the fact that it says "the small,
intermediate and supreme scopes" - it's not like they're value judgments of others, but it's
referring to an organic process that each of us needs to go through in order to mature on the
spiritual path.
It's like a flower opening: it starts small and then intermediate and then it's wide open. In this
way it grows larger and larger and more full. Likewise, the scope or aim of our practice
similarly may start very small, very limited. It might be, for instance, that "I have a lot of
problems and I'd like to be happy, somehow improve things." And that may be how we begin;
it may be the aim to become happier. But as we grow and mature on the spiritual path, our
minds and our hearts open more and more and our scope, our aim becomes wider and wider.
This is what Atisha says that he will speak about, about these levels of growth. And what is
very important here is that, although for various reasons we might be naturally inclined to one
or another of these scopes, it is very important for a stable spiritual path to actually go through
each of these levels. There are some people who very naturally are very loving and thinking of
helping everybody and so on, which is very nice. And we might think that, "This is the
advanced scope, Mahayana, so I can skip the first two levels. I don't really need that because
I'm advanced. I already have an advanced level of aim."
There are a lot of people who go even worse. They see all this tantric stuff with these various
figures and they hear Buddhist propaganda about that, like the advertising outside a movie
theater advertising the movies makes it look really exciting to draw people in, so that they
should see it. Some people present tantra like that. People were doing that at the time of
Atisha. This is one of the reasons why the king invited him, and they do that today as well, I'm
Promise to Compose 3
sorry to say. And people might feel, "Oh, I'm attracted to that, so I don't have to do anything
that comes before that. I'm an exceptionally advanced person."
But if we do that and just immediately jump into either regular Mahayana practice or tantra
Mahayana practice, without really seriously working on these initial levels, then we have quite
serious problems on the spiritual path. We not only don't have a foundation, but we don't have
any roots in the ground. And so what we're doing in the end turns out not even to be Buddhist,
but often becomes some sort of Disneyland fantasy trip, in which we go off into our tantric
fairyland. Atisha states here very clearly that the spiritual path is one of gradual growth,
maturity, as I said, like a flower. So, he says he's going to "write about these divisions and
clarify their defining features."
What's really a little bit odd, I must say, is that Atisha only spends one verse each on the
initial and intermediate scopes and all the rest of the text is on the advanced scope. He wrote a
commentary, his own commentary to this text, and even in that commentary he doesn't write
anything about the first two scopes. He says that's discussed elsewhere. It really raises a
question: why did he write it like that? What's going on here?
We find that the teachings which would need to be filled in for this initial and intermediate
scope, we find them already in quite an expanded form in the next major lam-rim type of text
that was written - that's Gampopa's Jewel Ornament of Liberation. That was written - I didn't
do my homework very well, I don't remember how many years afterwards - Atisha was a
contemporary of Marpa, who lived a little bit afterwards, and Gampopa was the disciple of
Milarepa, who was the disciple of Marpa. So it must be about a century later it was written.
Anyway, Gampopa is famous for having combined the lineages of Kadampa, what followed
from Atisha, with mahamudra lineages. What that means is that Gampopa didn't make up the
teachings for these initial and intermediate scopes. Even though Gampopa doesn't use those
terms - he doesn't speak about the three scopes - it's the same material, but he doesn't use that
structure. But what it implies is that those teachings were there in the Kadam tradition. So that
means that they needed to have come from Atisha.
Therefore the logical conclusion is that Atisha taught much more extensively about the initial
and intermediate scope while he was in Tibet, but he didn't really write about it here because,
as he says in his commentary, it's elsewhere. What he puts here are basically the bodhisattva
teachings, which were what he went to Indonesia for, to Sumatra, to bring back. So this was
what he felt was more rare to write down.
Why I mention that is I think it's wrong logic to conclude from the text that since initial scope
is one verse, intermediate scope is one verse, and then advanced scope is sixty-four verses, to
conclude from that that the first two scopes are really very trivial and unimportant and we
don't have to spend much time on them. That, I think, is false logic.
So, what are the defining characteristics of these three levels?
Initial Scope
(3) Anyone who takes keen interest in himself or hersel

(Achieving), by some means, merely the happines
Of uncontrollably recurring samsar
Is known as a person of minimum spiritual scope.
Initial Scope 4
Initial scope is aiming for the happiness of samsara, only the happiness of samsara for oneself
alone. So, we would think, when you look at the lam-rims that follow from this, that this is a
bit different here, because in the later formulations, where it's spelled out a little bit more
fully, it says quite specifically that the initial scope is aiming for improving future lives. And
when we see here "improving the happiness of samsara," wouldn't that include happiness of
samsara in this lifetime?
And since samsara would include both this life and future lives, we might think that both of
these aims - happiness in this life and happiness in future lives - would be included here in the
initial scope. As I say, that's a very, very crucial point to the spiritual path, because we read:
"What is the dividing line between spiritual persons, somebody into the Dharma and
somebody not into the Dharma?" And the dividing line is if you're more interested in
improving future lives than this life.
Working just to improve this lifetime... Well, an animal does that as well. There's nothing
terribly spiritual about a squirrel putting away nuts to survive the winter - that's to be happy
and improve this lifetime. Or somebody building a house to be happy in this lifetime, that's
not particularly spiritual. An actual spiritual person is one that is thinking in terms of
improving future lives.
This presents a major obstacle for most of us Westerners, because most of us don't believe in
past and future lives. We do have in our Western religions discussion of an afterlife, going to
heaven or hell, but one really wonders how many people who approach Buddhism believe in
heaven or hell.
So, one has to look at this word "samsara" which is used here, "uncontrollably recurring
samsara" I call it here. It actually is talking about rebirth that occurs over and over again and
we have no control over it.
Now, I make a distinction between Dharma-Lite, which is like Coca-Cola Lite, and Hard-Core
Dharma, The Real Thing. And Hard-Core Dharma, The Real Thing, is talking about rebirth. It
absolutely assumes that everybody believes in past and future lives. I believe they take that so
for granted that they don't even discuss it. Dharma-Lite is what we in the West often feel
much more attracted to, which is talking about the practice of Dharma basically in this
lifetime and the scope of our practice being restricted to this lifetime.
And we are not just thinking limited in terms of immediate gratification and happiness, but we
are looking to try to improve our situation later in life, but still in this life. And when we speak
about samsara, we talk about it in terms of "uncontrollably recurring situations." I myself
translate it like that. We get into an unhealthy dependency relationship with someone and that
has lots of problems; it doesn't work out, we break up, and then we get into another one. It's
the same dependency again and then that breaks up and then we get into another one. It recurs
uncontrollably - that's samsara.
And we turn to the Buddhist teachings in order to help us to break out of this uncontrollably
recurring syndrome because it brings lots of pain and suffering. And we even look at these
three scopes in terms of this lifetime. The initial scope, we want to make things better, a little
better; the intermediate scope, we want to gain liberation from all problems whatsoever, not
just make it a little better; and then the advanced level, we want to help everybody else
achieve that same goal. And that does describe a progression of aims and from a certain point
of view we could say these are spiritual aims. But are they really spiritual aims?
Initial Scope 5
I don't know. Or are they the type of aims that we would also progress through if we were
going to some form of a Western therapy? I think that there's not very much difference here
between a Buddhist training in this manner and a more sophisticated form of therapy. In other
words, this reduces Buddhism to just another form of therapy. And this is what I call
Dharma-Lite, like Coca-Cola Lite, with basic teachings that we all like, which is fizzy like
Coca-Cola, "Be a nice person" and "Don't hurt anybody," and so on. There's nothing wrong
with Coca-Cola Lite. And this type of Dharma-Lite also, there's nothing wrong with it, it's
very helpful. But if you look at the real definitions of what is Dharma practice, that's not quite
it.
Hard-Core Dharma, The Real Thing, we talked about these three scopes, is first wanting to
improve future lives, which obviously assumes that we understand and believe in the
existence of future lives, otherwise why would we want to improve them? And of course that
requires understanding past and future lives according to the Buddhist explanation, not
according to the Hindu or Christian or other type of explanations. And then the intermediate
scope is wishing to gain liberation from rebirth completely, no rebirth anymore. Obviously,
how can you aim for liberation from rebirth if you don't even believe in rebirth?
And then the advanced scope is to work to help liberate everybody else from rebirth.
Obviously, if you don't believe in rebirth, why would you help anybody get liberated from it?
And if you look at the highest class of tantra, anuttarayoga tantra, then what we're doing is
that we're meditating in analogy with death, bardo, and rebirth in order to overcome that and
help others overcome that. If we don't believe in rebirth, what are we doing in tantra practice?
It's a complete joke.
Then we go back to Atisha's text. So what is he saying? Obviously rebirth is a very central
point, which is totally taken for granted in the Buddha's teachings. So, if we talk about aiming
for the happiness of samsara in the initial scope, especially since Atisha doesn't spell it out
what he means, we have two possible ways of understanding this. One would be that what he
really means is improving future lives - and this is the way that all the later lam-rims that
elaborate on this interpret it. But I think that there's another way of interpreting it, which
would be to work for the happiness of samsara both in this life and in future lives.
However, this wouldn't mean to work only for this lifetime with absolutely no interest in
future lives. But I think that in order to be faithful to the tradition, we would have to say
"working for the happiness of this lifetime as a stepping stone on the way to working for the
happiness of future lives." At our stage we'd say, "I don't really understand the Buddha's
teachings on rebirth..."
Actually they're very complicated. To understand the teachings on rebirth we have to

understand the whole explanation of how mind has no beginning and no end, and we'd have to
understand what actually passes from moment to moment, which fits into the whole Buddhist
teachings on there being no solid self. So we'd say:
"OK, I admit that I really don't understand this yet. I acknowledge that rebirth is very
important, very central for the Buddhist path. I have sincere interest and intention to try to
understand the teachings on rebirth, to learn them, and to really think about them, meditate on
it, and try to understand them so that if I speak in terms of working to improve future lives,
that that actually means something to me on an emotional level. It's not just words and I'm not
just thinking in terms of a Christian idea of going to heaven, which is not what Buddhism is
talking about at all. But in the meantime, I'm going to do Dharma-Lite and work to try to
Initial Scope 6
improve this lifetime as a stepping stone."
And I think that Atisha has phrased this defining characteristic of the initial scope so that it
would allow that second interpretation, even though that's not the standard Tibetan
interpretation, because - now we have to get into a quick debate - if working for the happiness
of samsara did not also include the happiness of this life, then the absurd conclusion would
follow that this life was not samsara. That we can't accept.
It's for that reason that I speak of these stages of Dharma-Lite and Hard-Core Dharma. And I
think that's very important for us Westerners approaching material like Atisha's text, otherwise
we get really a very unstable idea of what he's talking about. We could just leave it totally in
terms of, "He's just talking about this life; forget about future lives or anything like that," but
really from a great deal of experience that I've seen of Buddhism in the West, that's not The
Real Thing, it doesn't go in the proper way. There's something missing, very strongly missing
here.
So, what are the teachings of the initial scope? I don't want to spend a great deal of time on the
initial and intermediate scope, because Atisha doesn't spend so much time. So let's do it in
brief. Basically, what one needs to do in order gain the happiness of samsara - alright, so we're
talking about improving this life and future lives - we need to have what's usually called
"refuge."
"Refuge" is too passive; it implies going to Buddha and saying, "Oh Buddha, help me, save
me," and then we're saved. It's not that at all. But rather it means "a safe direction in life," so
it's something active. We go in that direction, we have to go in that direction, and going in that
direction is safe in that we save ourselves from problems. And what indicates that direction?
Three Rare and Supreme Gems. The Dharma is the main thing. Dharma is talking about the
total removal of all problems and their causes and the state of mind that will eliminate them
and the state of mind that results when these problems and their causes are eliminated. That's
the third and fourth noble truths - we refer to the teachings of the four noble truths - the state
of the problems being removed and the mind that removes them and has them removed. That's
what we're aiming for.
Now, that doesn't just exist abstractly; it has to exist on the mental continuum of somebody.
So, the Buddhas are those who have achieved this in full and they teach us how to do that
ourselves. And when we talk about the Sangha, this is the community of highly realized
beings who have achieved this goal in part, not completely yet, but in part, because they've
had nonconceptual cognition of voidness, of reality. So they're very, very advanced. This is
what is going to be the first thing that we need in order to gain the happiness of samsara. We
have to have a safe direction in life and a clear direction of what are we doing in life, what are
we aiming for, what is the purpose of our lives.
People often trivialize refuge into a little ceremony where you cut a piece of hair and repeat
some words in Tibetan and get a Tibetan name and that's it and now you've joined the Tibetan
Buddhist club and you can wear a red string around your neck. That is so unbelievably trivial
that it's a joke. Really having a safe direction in your life, knowing what that direction is, clear
about it, and being confident that it's possible to achieve this goal and confident that I can
achieve it myself, not just these Buddhas in the past, and then actively, "I'm going to put that
direction in my life. This is what I'm working toward. My life has a meaning, has a direction,"
this is a huge change in life, an unbelievable change in life.
Initial Scope 7
So, first thing in order to gain the happiness of samsara, we need to have some positive safe
direction in our life. We're working to get rid of our problems and their causes and to get this
state of mind that will remove them and that has them removed from it - the way the Buddhas
have done in full, completely, and the way the Sangha have done partially. Now, to do that, to
achieve this goal, we need some conducive circumstances, circumstances that are favorable
for this. So first of all we have to look at our situation now and if we have favorable
circumstances. It's called the precious human life.
We need to appreciate that, recognize it and appreciate it. And we have to take advantage of it
and use it to follow this path, because it will end someday, death will come for sure. Now, if
we think in terms of Hard-Core Dharma, then once we die, there's going to be rebirth and
things could be a lot worse. We could be born in a situation, like being born a cockroach, in
which we have no real chance to improve our situation. As a cockroach, everybody who sees
us just wants to step on us. That's not very nice. Because we want to avoid that, we need to
really do something now to prevent that. And that brings us to the teachings on karma.
Karma is talking about impulses, the impulse that drives us to do something compulsively,
and these impulses come because of habits from our previous behavior. And so if we act in a
destructive manner - and there's a lot of teachings on what are the different types of
destructive actions, there's no need to go into detail - killing, stealing, lying, thinking
constantly, "How can I get what somebody else has?" All these sort of things are destructive,
which will cause us compulsively to repeat these type of actions and get into situations where
other people act like that toward us, and generally it causes us to feel unhappy.
Whereas if we act constructively, which means to restrain from acting destructively, then it's
just the opposite. One thing I need to point out: just the fact that I don't hunt or fish, that in
itself is not constructive, so that's not the constructive action we're talking about. The
constructive action is: when the impulse comes to kill something, like a mosquito is buzzing
around your face and the impulse comes to kill it - at that time, to decide not to kill it, because
you realize that that would be destructive and would lead to future unhappiness and
difficulties. It's actually restraining yourself from acting destructively when you want to act
destructively - that's what's constructive.
So, if you act destructively it brings unhappiness; if you act constructively it brings happiness.
But when we observe our lives, it doesn't bring that immediately, does it? Somebody steals
something and they never get caught and they get a lot of money and they're able to buy a lot
of things and are happy. What's this? Or a monk in Tibet: he's been meditating and doing all
sorts of positive, constructive things and then they get thrown in a Chinese prison and are
tortured to death. Where's the karma in that?
Or, "I've been such a good practitioner and I've been trying so hard in my lifetime, and then I
get some horrible cancer and die a very painful death." If one doesn't think in terms of future
lives and just practices Dharma on the basis of thinking of this life, then you have very serious
questions and problems with karma, "I was practicing so well and now I got this horrible
cancer," and you think, "Oh, the Dharma was useless. I was supposed to experience happiness
as a result of this practice that I did and it didn't work."
This is why it's very important from the beginning to have some understanding of future lives,
because karma ripens mostly in future lives; some can ripen in this life, but more in future
lives. Otherwise these teachings are very difficult to really have confidence in.
Initial Scope 8
So, if we want to have favorable circumstances in the future - here in the initial scope
particularly in future lives - following restraint from destructive actions will help us to achieve
that. But that's not the final goal. The goal of Buddhism is not to be reborn in a heaven or a
paradise: that's not Buddhism. There are many other religions to achieve that. The whole
initial scope actually isn't terribly Buddhist by itself. We can think about, "Well, I have a
precious life and I want to use it because I'm going to die and I don't want to go to hell, I want
to go to heaven. So I'm going to be a good person."
That's not necessarily Buddhism, is it? One could follow that course and be a Christian. What
makes it Buddhist is that improving future lives is to continue to have conducive
circumstances so that I can achieve this goal that we're talking about in terms of safe direction.
And we can practice a valid Dharma-Lite version of this by saying:
"OK, I'm going to try to avoid destructive behavior now, because I want to continue in this life
to have the circumstances that'll be most conducive for Dharma practice, because death is
going to come. Whatever amount of time I have, I want that to be the most productive for the
spiritual path, and if I just act destructively, I'm wasting my time really. But I realize that what
I will experience in this lifetime is not determined or shaped solely by what I do in this
lifetime; a lot is going to be ripenings from past lives. So I'm going to try to purify negative
karma as much as possible, realizing that I can't get rid of it completely until I get liberation -
and liberation is a long ways away." And "I'm working like that with this safe direction,
working with karma and so on."
This is the initial aim with the provision that, "Yes, I want to understand future lives and I see
that this is a necessary step for working to improve future lives. And if I really want to make
progress on this path, I'm going to have to really face this whole issue of rebirth and really
look into it very seriously."
OK, so that's the initial scope. Do you have any questions?
Questions and Answers
Question: Could you read it again, the scope?
Answer: The verse is:
(3) Anyone who takes keen interest in himself or hersel

(Achieving), by some means, merely the happines
Of uncontrollably recurring samsar
Is known as a person of minimum spiritual scope.
All that Atisha says is: working by some sort of method to gain the happiness of samsara for
oneself. But obviously he's not talking about, "Just get rich by any means that you can,
cheating others and so on, in order to be able to buy everything and be happy." Actually it
raises a very interesting question, "What is the happiness of samsara?" That's something to
think about. What do we mean by happiness? "I want to be happy." What actually is that
happiness that we're looking for? That's a topic to contemplate by oneself.
Question: That's a good question because if you steal some money and build a house for your
old mother, you can be happy from that.
Questions and Answers 9

Answer: If we steal money and build a house for our old mother, we will be happy? Again, I
ask the question, "What is that happiness that you experience? How long will it last? And
what is that feeling like?" "I'm sitting in my room and I don't feel very happy. I don't
particularly know why, but I don't feel very happy, I feel unhappy, and I'd like to feel happy."
Well, what is it that we would like to feel? And what would make us feel that? And would it
last? As I say, it's not a question to answer just like that, superficially. And when Atisha says
"by some means," does he mean by destructive means?
It gets into the teachings on karma; it's very complex. The act of stealing the money has given
you one type of result - you got the money. Now, as a result of that, you built a house and
your old mother has a house. And seeing your old mother now have a nice house, you feel
happy. But from a Buddhist point of view, when we talk about happiness coming from a
constructive action and unhappiness coming from a destructive action, they're not talking
about this type of result. What you're talking about is more like a mechanical result: you steal
the money and then you have money - that's the mechanical result of the action, that's not the
karmic result of the action.
You could build a house and your mother could hate it. Whether your mother likes the house
or dislikes the house, that's a result of her karma. And whether you feel happy at that or not is
also a result of your karma; it's not the result of the action. The action of stealing just enabled
you to build the house; what you feel is something else. You could still have lots of arguments
with your mother and not be very happy.
Question: So it means it doesn't matter what happens, but just how we feel about it?
Answer: No, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is: what happens and what we feel
about it can be coming from different causes.
You could steal the money, you get the money, you try to build the house, but the house
collapses. There's lots of things: the house could burn down, all sorts of things, it's very
complicated. And each of those things comes from a karmic cause. And that's not just talking
about the mechanical cause of "you knocked over the lamp and the house caught on fire."
Any other questions?
OK, then let's end here for the evening. Tomorrow I'll speak, again just briefly, on the
intermediate scope and then we'll get into the rest of the text, not just spend all our time on
this.
So, the way we end is with a dedication and this is very important when we think in terms of
karma. If we do something positive or constructive, like listening to a teaching, trying to
understand it - we wanted to go to the movies, but we restrained ourselves and came here
instead, or whatever - there's a certain positive force that is built up by this constructive action.
That's usually translated as "merit," which, at least in English, is a very silly word, because it
sounds as though, "Well, I got three points for coming here," and we keep score and at the
end, maybe, if we get enough points, we'll win the game. That's not what we're talking about,
but there's some sort of "positive force," energy.
Now, what does positive karma do? It will ripen into the happiness of samsara. So if we don't
do anything after we do something constructive, if we don't dedicate it, then that positive force
will automatically contribute to improving samsara. We can use the analogy of a computer.
Questions and Answers 10

The default setting on our internal computer is that the positive force gets saved in the
"improving samsara" folder. If we want it to contribute to achieving enlightenment, you have
to actually save it in the "enlightenment" folder.
You have to press the button and save it in the "enlightenment" folder, otherwise it's
automatically going to go in the "samsara" folder. So that's the dedication, saving it in the
"enlightenment" folder. So that's what we do at the end. We say, "Whatever positive force is
built up, may that contribute to achieving enlightenment to be able to benefit all." It's giving a
push in that direction to that energy, to that positive force, so that it's not just going to
contribute to being able to have an interesting conversation about this over a cup of tea and
everybody will be entertained - that's improving samsara, no big deal.
We think, whatever positive force has built up from this, may this truly help us and contribute
to achieving enlightenment for the benefit of all.
Session Two: Intermediate Scope and Pledged

Aspiring Bodhichitta
Unedited Transcript
Yesterday we started our explanation of Atisha's text and we saw that he was speaking about
the stages with which we develop or progress as we go along the spiritual path. And we saw
that one way of describing how we progress is that our scope or aim of our goal gets
progressively greater. And this is described in terms of these three spiritual scopes or persons
of three spiritual scopes. And then we spoke about the initial scope yesterday.
This word that Atisha uses for the three types of spiritual persons is quite interesting. It's the
word purusha in Sanskrit. Purusha is actually a technical term that appears in Hindu
philosophy and it makes me wonder whether or not there's a certain connotation to it from
that. Because we have two categories in this Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy: there's
something called matter, primal matter, and then purusha as opposed to that. And purusha is
speaking more about the mind that goes on from lifetime to lifetime, and so more like the
person in terms of what goes on from lifetime to lifetime. That's why I think that he's not
talking about individual people, but he's talking about our state of mind as it progresses from
lifetime to lifetime and as it progresses to enlightenment.
The initial scope is to be interested in gaining the happiness of samsara with rebirth, and this
is mostly speaking about continuing to have a precious human life in future lives as well, not
only in this life, so that we can continue on the path all the way up to liberation and
enlightenment. Because the odds are that we're not going to reach liberation or enlightenment
in this lifetime, so we need to be able to continue in future lives as well.
That's why, when we think in terms of following the entire path, even when we are on a
Mahayana level or a tantra Mahayana level, still this initial scope is absolutely essential as a
foundation, because we are going to need to have precious human life, the ability to continue
our practice in the future as well. So if we don't take measures now to insure our future lives,
then we're going to be in big trouble when we die. Because at the time of our death, if we
haven't reached liberation or enlightenment, which is most likely going to be the case, then we
Session Two: Intermediate Scope and Pledged Aspiring Bodhichitta 11

could feel, "Oh, this was all a big waste."
But if we've made provisions for having continuing conducive circumstances in the future and
it being even better circumstances, then we can feel, "In this lifetime I've taken a few steps in
that direction, very good," and "I'll be able to continue," and die with great peace of mind. It's
important not to look at this initial scope as just, "I want to be reborn in heaven, or a paradise,
and everything is going to be so wonderful." That's not really the point of this initial scope.
Intermediate Scope
(4) Anyone with the nature to turn his or her back

on the pleasures of compulsive existence
And to turn back negative impulses of karma,
And who takes keen interest in merely his or her own state of peace,
Is known as a person of intermediate spiritual scope.
The main point of the intermediate scope is that we want to get free completely from samsara,
which means uncontrollably recurring rebirth, because we are just completely fed up with the
whole cycle that repeats over and over again - of rebirth, all the problems of growing up, all
the problems of making a living, all the problems of having to work very hard, and sickness,
old age, death, and it just repeats over and over and over again and that really is very tiresome.
And if we look more closely what is always going on with samsara is that it's going up and
down. It's not only going up and down in terms of different rebirths that we have, but from
moment to moment it's going up and down: sometimes you feel happy, then the next minute
we feel unhappy. Our moods go up and down and our emotional states go up and down and
we never know what's coming next, which is what's so horrible about it.
Now that point, that samsara goes up and down, is very important to remember while we're
following the spiritual path, because that is going to continue until we gain liberation, which
means until we're a completely liberated being as an arhat. So that means even when we're a
very, very advanced practitioner, but haven't reached liberation yet, our experience is going to
continue to go up and down. Sometimes we're going to feel like practicing; sometimes we're
not going to feel like practicing. That is natural; that's one of the characteristic features of
samsara. Sometimes things will go well, sometimes they won't and we'll get sick or get hurt
and so on. It's natural, nothing surprising.
If we understand that, then we're not discouraged when things go up and down, but we have
this perseverance that just continues - it's called "perseverance which is like a suit of armor -
that's not going to be discouraged when things go up and down, but just continue.
But at this stage of this intermediate scope, we say, "I really have had enough of this. I am
completely not only tired of it and disgusted with it, I'm bored with it. It's really boring and I
really want to get out." It's when you get bored with samsara that you really start to do
something about it. Then we develop what's called "renunciation of samsara." This is a special
word that we really need to understand well. "Renunciation" - the Tibetan word for it means
"to become firm." It's a determination, and what we become determined in is to turn away
from samsara and all its unsatisfactory, unsatisfying features, and we become determined to
get free of it.
So that means we become determined in giving up certain things. What we're talking about
giving up, or ridding ourselves of, are various problems that we have and the causes of these
Intermediate Scope 12
problems. This we want to get rid of, so we want to give it up, get out of it. We're not talking
about giving up neutral things like ice cream and so on; it's not talking about that. We're
talking about certain states of mind and the experiences that they lead to that basically are
disturbing and causing a lot of problems and that, "I'm really determined that I don't want to
continue that. I want to stop that, get out of that." That means giving it up.
It's relatively easy to give up watching television or ice cream; these are fairly trivial things, in
a sense. But what we're talking about here is giving up greed, giving up attachment, giving up
anger. And you can't just say, "Well, I give up being attached," or "I stop being angry." We
have to really work very hard to rid ourselves of these disturbing states of mind. It's not just a
matter of discipline, "Well, I'm going to stop." It means working very, very deeply to rid
ourselves of these problems and the causes of them.
"What is really the cause of my greed, my attachment, my anger?" Go deeper. "Well, it's
insecurity." "What's the cause of insecurity? I want to give it up, I want to stop being insecure,
which means I need to rid myself of what's causing it." Go as deeply as possible. That's what
is usually called "to abandon" these things, but that's not quite the right word, it means to rid
ourselves of them, get rid of them. When our minds are completely firm, no wavering here,
but completely firm, "I'm determined to do this," that's the meaning of renunciation.
As we saw with safe direction or refuge, it's a very important part of this determination here,
this renunciation, that we are convinced that it's possible to get rid of these things and that we
are capable of it. It's not just a nice dream that we don't think is possible to actually fulfill.
That's why for all of this it's very important to have a clear understanding of the nature of the
mind, the mental continuum, that it's not by nature stained by these things, that it's actually
possible to eliminate all the confusion and so on that's causing the problems. That's very
essential; otherwise all of Buddhism just is a nice dream, a nice wish, but without any
conviction that it's possible to achieve the goals of Buddhism.
How does Atisha describe this intermediate scope? Atisha says that this is somebody that
"turns their back on the pleasures of compulsive existence." This means our ordinary type
of happiness and to turn our back on that doesn't mean that, "I'm never going to eat anything
nice," or "I'm only going to go around wearing clothes made out of coarse hair and walk
barefooted and beat myself and stuff like that, because I don't want to ever have any worldly
pleasures." It certainly doesn't mean that.
But rather it means that, "Our worldly happiness, that's not my ultimate goal," because this
type of worldly happiness has a lot of problems associated with it, because it doesn't last and
we never know when it's going to end and we never know what we're going to feel like
afterwards. "I feel happy now, but in two minutes from now I could feel quite miserable. I'm
having a nice time with you, but one minute from now I might get bored, or you might say
something that I don't like, and then I'm not happy anymore." So there's no guarantee of what's
coming next.
There's no security with our ordinary type of happiness; this is what is unsatisfactory about it.
And it is never going to eliminate our unhappiness completely. So it's not enough. This is why
we turn our back on that, "That's not the ultimate goal that I'm looking for. If I have that
worldly happiness, of course that can be a circumstance that's conducive for practicing. If I'm
not in complete pain all the time, then obviously I can help others more." It's a circumstance
conducive for practicing and helping - very good health and so on. So we use this worldly
happiness when we have it, but we're not surprised when it ends.
Because of course it's going to end. It's the nature of samsara, it goes up and down. And when
we feel unhappy as well, it's not something that is going to make us stop practicing, because
when we are having suffering, it can also be a helpful circumstance for appreciating and
developing compassion for other people who suffer.
That's one feature of this intermediate scope, to "turn your back on the pleasures of
compulsive existence," "This is not what I want as my ultimate aim." And the next feature is
somebody who "turns back negative impulses." So the verb here is a different verb from
what we have in the first part of this verse.
In the initial scope we had: when the impulses of karma to act destructively come up we're
going to restrain ourselves from acting them out. That was the initial scope, "I have the
impulse to say something cruel to you, but I realize that that's going to hurt your feelings and
it's going to build up negative habits in myself, and so I refrain from saying it." That's initial
scope. Here, in the intermediate scope, we're not just talking about not acting out negative
impulses. We're talking about turning them back, which means to eliminate the causes for
these impulses to arise. So we want to go really as deeply as possible and discover the causes
for these negative impulses.
And we discover it's our confusion about reality - it's usually called "unawareness" or
"ignorance." This unawareness of how we exist and how everybody exists is discussed more
fully later on in the text. But if we describe it very simply, it's basically a feeling that, "I'm a
solid me that is separate from everything that's happening and I have to always get my way."
We're preoccupied with this seemingly solid me, "I'm the most important one in the world and
anything that I don't like, I have to destroy with anger. And anything that I like with greed I
have to get it. And if I have it, I have attachment, I don't want to let go."
That causes us to act in compulsive, destructive ways. It even causes to act compulsively in
constructive ways, "I'm compulsively trying to please you, because I want you to love me,
because I'm so preoccupied with me that I think that everybody in the universe has to pay
attention to me, but I'm going to be nice to you so that you will pay attention to me and love
me." This grasping for this solid me is what causes us to build up karma by acting either
destructively or constructively, but in a compulsive type of way, in order to gratify this me.
This grasping for a solid me, this confusion, is also what causes the potentials of karma to
ripen so that we experience the results of these things in terms of getting happy or unhappy
and then we continue in our old ways. So here on the intermediate scope we want to turn that
back. We want to get rid of these negative impulses so that they don't arise, which means we
want to rid ourselves of the causes of that, which is our confusion about how we exist. We
renounce that, that confusion.
And the third characteristic is that they "take keen interest in merely their own state of
peace," "I want myself to get out of this." We're not really talking here about Theravada
Buddhism, but this is the level of motivation which is "in common with Hinayana" - this is the
way that it's described from the Mahayana point of view. But you have to remember that it
was the Mahayanists who made up the word "Hinayana." It appears first in the
Prajnaparamita Sutras, the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras. It didn't appear before.
Mahayana means "large vehicle," "the great vehicle," and Hinayana means "small vehicle," so
one could look at it as a derogatory term, Mahayana looking down on Hinayana, "We are so
great and you're so small." But I think that we need to look at the word "yana" (vehicle) more
in terms of Atisha's presentation of the three scopes. It is a vehicle of mind that brings us to a
goal - that's what it means and, as in our discussion of these scopes, that vehicle of mind, as
one who progresses along the spiritual path, becomes wider and wider, greater and greater in
the scope of its aim.
So, Hinayana and Mahayana, these terms are referring then to levels of our own development
as our spiritual scope broadens and I don't think that it's really fair to apply that term
"Hinayana" then to talking about certain historical schools of Buddhism. I don't think that that
really is the most mature way of looking at the meaning of these terms. There are eighteen
schools of Buddhism that developed, of which Theravada is one, and Mahayana is often
contrasted with these eighteen schools, but the problem is that there's no term for all eighteen
of these, so "Hinayana" is used as the term to refer to all eighteen.
But in the context of Mahayana and particularly the lam-rim, it's important to not really
identify this Hinayana level of motivation with these historical schools, because certainly in
these schools one has the practice of love and compassion and so on. And we would get the
impression here that on the intermediate scope somebody is just totally selfish and only
concerned with themselves. In the intermediate scope never is included teachings on love and
compassion, although certainly in Theravada you have these teachings and practices.
But it is true that no matter how much love and compassion we have for others and no matter
how much we try to help them, ultimately everybody has to understand reality for themselves
and everybody has to rid themselves of the causes of their problems. Nobody can do that for
anybody else. So it is very important to really work on getting rid of our own confusion, the
source of our own problems.
And that's very important and absolutely essential if we're going to try to help others. Because
if one just instantly from the beginning tries to follow the Mahayana path, this advanced
scope, then although we might try to help other people, if we're not working also to rid
ourselves of our own confusion, then helping others could become a big ego trip. We become
very attached to people that we're trying to help and if they don't take our advice or they don't
get better, we get angry with them. Then if it does work, we want them to like us and love us
and thank us and all of this - a big ego trip.
So that's going to make a big obstacle in really being able to help others. So we have to work
on ourselves emotionally, not just work on our emotions in terms of developing love and
compassion, but work on ourselves also to rid ourselves of attachment, anger, impatience,
these sort of things. So intermediate scope is very necessary as a stage on the way to
developing a stable Mahayana level of practice.
Bodhichitta as the Entranceway for the Advanced Scope
(5) Anyone who fully wishes to eliminate completely

All the sufferings of others
As the sufferings included in his or her own mental continuum
Is someone of supreme motivation.
On the intermediate scope we want to eliminate all the sufferings that are included or
experienced on our own mental continuum, which means to get rid of the causes of suffering
as well. And on the advanced scope we would "wish to eliminate completely..." completely
means from the root, the causes and so on, "...completely all the sufferings of others," as the
same as our own sufferings.
Bodhichitta as the Entranceway for the Advanced Scope 15

In other words, we take them on, same as our own sufferings, and we would want to eliminate
them in the same ways we would want to eliminate our own sufferings and their causes. So we
appreciate that we're all the same in that everybody wants to be happy, nobody wants to be
unhappy, and we are all the same in our experience of the problems of samsara - things going
up and down, uncontrollably recurring rebirth, and so on. And as Shantideva says, suffering
needs to be removed not because it's my suffering or because it's your suffering. Suffering
needs to be removed simply because it's suffering and it hurts. Suffering has no owner.
It's like if you live in an apartment building and you go out into the hall downstairs and there's
some paper or garbage on the floor, that paper or garbage is to be picked up and thrown away,
not because I dropped it, not because you dropped it, but because it's there on the floor and it
needs to be cleaned up. That's the way of thinking. You just pick up the paper and throw it
away. There's no big deal about that. It's not that, "Oh, these terrible neighbors who are always
dropping paper on the floor," which is really thinking of me as being so holy and wonderful
compared to them, and it's not, "Oh, I always have to clean up after everybody," which is also
thinking of me or, "How wonderful I am and such an angel, I'm cleaning up." Nothing like
that. It's just there. It's on the floor, so naturally you pick it up, because it needs to be cleaned
up. Everybody enjoys a clean hall.
So the same thing in terms of helping others to eliminate their problems. If somebody doesn't
understand something, or we don't understand something, you explain; it doesn't matter who
the person is, you explain. If somebody needs help, you help, if it's possible. This type of
scope is when we are thinking in terms of helping everybody, not just a few people, not just
the people that we like, but we would like to be able to eliminate everybody's sufferings,
everybody's problems, the same as we would ourselves. So this is a huge scope. "And I'm not
going to give up, but I'm going to continue trying to help everybody, so everybody becomes
free of all their problems and so on."
That means that with this scope, this advanced scope or supreme scope, we develop what's
called "bodhichitta" based on love and compassion - love is the wish for others to be happy
and to have the causes of happiness, compassion is the wish for others to be free of suffering
and the causes of suffering - and then the extraordinary wish, which is "I'm going to take
responsibility to actually help them to achieve this," and realizing that the only way that we're
going to fully be able to help others as much as is possible is to become enlightened, not just
gain liberation. This is because if we are merely liberated from our problems and their causes,
still our minds are limited.
We are a little bit like submarines under the water, looking out through a periscope. We're
only able to perceive what's in front of the periscope, what's in front of our eyes. Even though
we don't have any problems with what we perceive, still we can't see what's behind us. We
can't see the future effects of our behavior, we can't see everything that's come before that's
affected what's happening now. Although we may be able to perceive more than ordinary
people because we're more highly developed, liberated and so on, still we're viewing people in
the universe through a periscope. It may be a very large one, but it's still a periscope.
And so what we want to do is, "I've got to become enlightened, I've got to become a Buddha
to get rid of this periscope vision to be able to perceive everything about everybody. So I want
to get rid of not just the obscurations which are the disturbing emotions, what prevents
liberation, but I want to get rid of the obscurations that prevent me from knowing everything,
knowing everything in terms of karma and relations and if I teach you this, what effect is it
going to have on you and so on - and not only what effect is it going to have on you, but what

effect is that going to have then on everybody else that you interact with and then everybody
else that they interact with... forever."
That's enlightenment, when we get rid of all those obscurations, no periscope whatsoever.
Although we want to achieve this state - in that state we will be able to be of best benefit to
everyone - nevertheless, we still realize that we can only help those who are receptive. A
Buddha can't just eliminate everybody's suffering just by a Buddha's own power, otherwise
everybody would be free already. So we understand the reality of cause and effect, what
actually are we able to do. So we have a realistic idea of how we're going to be able to help
others once we're enlightened.
So when we talk about bodhichitta, the main intention that we start with is that, "I have got to
be able to help others as much as is possible." With that motivation then we look and we see,
"Well, to be able to do that I need to become enlightened." Bodhichitta is a state of mind
which is focused on enlightenment; but it's not focused on enlightenment in general or the
enlightenment of Buddha Shakyamuni. It's focused on our own enlightenment that we will
attain in the future, our own individual, specific enlightenment way further down on our
mental continuum.
And with this intention that I've got to achieve this as soon as possible, because then I'll really
be able to help others as much as is possible. And this is very much based, it has to be with the
confidence that that future attainment, that future enlightenment is possible for me to attain,
that that is a possible state in the future of my mental continuum, and that it is totally possible
for me to attain it. Without that, then it's just a nice wish but it's not practical, it's not sincere.
This is what bodhichitta is, it's very important to have a clear understanding of it.
(6) For these hallowed beings

Who have come to wish for supreme enlightenment,
I shall explain the perfect methods
That the gurus have shown.
So for somebody, he calls them "hallowed," sacred, which is really showing great respect, for
somebody who really has that wish for that enlightenment, in other words, is aiming for their
own enlightenment and working as hard as possible to achieve it because they want to be able
to help others more, for those then, "I'll explain the perfect methods" for achieving that
enlightenment the way "that the gurus have shown," in other words, I'm not just going to
make it up.
Such people are really worthy of respect. It's not just that we show respect to other people who
have achieved this, we show respect to ourselves in terms of our own potential to achieve that.
So, let's pause here for our tea break. Then we'll go on to the rest of the text of what are the
methods, as Atisha says, for following this advanced scope of practice, this Mahayana
practice.
The last two verses were, according to the outline by the First Panchen Lama in his
commentary, the talking about "bodhichitta as the entranceway for the advanced scope." Now,
the next section is called:

The Ceremony for Wishing Bodhichitta, Together with Advice
When we talk about developing bodhichitta, then of course this is a process that we need to
work up to and which requires a great deal of work and effort in order to sincerely feel. There
are stages of meditation for developing this aspiration to achieve our enlightenment in the
future to benefit others and these were outlined earlier in teachings by various Indian masters,
like Kamalashila, before Atisha. And in the lam-rims that follow from Atisha, these
meditation methods are elaborated more fully, because we need to sincerely develop this
concern for others and for all others on the basis of having equanimity or an equal regard
toward everyone. That takes a lot of work to really sincerely feel that.
As I said, also what is really important in terms of bodhichitta is the confidence that we
actually can achieve enlightenment, that it's not just a nice wish. And that, of course, is based
on a realistic view of compassion. It's very nice to wish everybody to be free of suffering and
the causes of suffering, but if we don't actually believe that it's possible for them to be free of
it, then again, what's the point? When we take responsibility to be able to actually help them,
if we don't have confidence that, "I can actually do anything," then again, we're promising to
do something that we'll never be able to fulfill, so that also one has to really very seriously
think about.
But when we have actually worked on ourselves and really contemplated and meditated and
we start to feel this bodhichitta sincerely as, "This is my aim. This is my goal. I set my heart
on this, focus on this goal of enlightenment," bodhichitta, "I'm going to achieve it" - when we
can do that, then it's very helpful to have some sort of a ritual or a ceremony with which we
make that quite formal. Because then we take this whole state of mind and orientation in life
more seriously.
That's the reason for any sort of ceremony. To mark some sort of a major event in our life you
have a ritual and so on. You could just live with somebody, you don't have to have a ritual to
get married, but a ritual makes it formal, makes it into an event that one can go back to and
think, "Ah, yes, this is where I formally made this commitment." So this is why Atisha is
speaking here about a ritual for developing this aspiring bodhichitta.
This bodhichitta has two stages: the one is called relative bodhichitta, the other is called
deepest bodhichitta or ultimate bodhichitta. Relative bodhichitta is what we've been talking
about, aimed at enlightenment with the wish to help all beings and to achieve that
enlightenment to help everyone more fully. So it's a mind which is aimed at the appearances
of all beings, the appearances of everything and how to benefit others in terms of what's
appearing. It's dealing with the relative truth of everything, the appearances.
And then deepest bodhichitta is dealing with the deepest truth of everybody and everything,
which is their voidness. Voidness is referring to their absence of existing in impossible ways -
we'll talk about that later. When we talk about deepest bodhichitta, we're talking about gaining
the understanding of voidness. It's a mind focused on the voidness of everyone.
Within relative bodhichitta there's the aspiring state, a wishing state, and the involved or
engaged state. The aspiring state is the wish to achieve enlightenment to help others and that
has two stages: the merely aspiring, so merely the wish to achieve enlightenment to benefit
everyone, and the pledged aspiring state, in which I pledge that I'm never going to give up
until I actually achieve that enlightenment. And then the engaged state of relative bodhichitta
is when we actually take the bodhisattva vows, "I'm going to engage in the bodhisattva
The Ceremony for Wishing Bodhichitta, Together with Advice 18

behavior that's going to bring me to enlightenment and I'm doing that very, very seriously, so
that means I'm taking the bodhisattva vows, which are going to shape my behavior, a
bodhisattva behavior."
Atisha now first speaks about the ritual for confirming our aspiring state of bodhichitta, and
specifically the pledged aspiring state that, "I'm never going to turn back."
(7) Before paintings, statues, and so on of fully enlightened Buddhas,

As well as stupas and hallowed (Dharma texts),
Offer flowers, incense,
And whatever material things you may have.
This is basically how we start any type of a ritual and actually how we start any type of
meditation as well. First we set up some sort of "shelf" for our offerings; that's often called an
"altar," but since "altar" implies a sacrifice or something from a Biblical religion, it's not the
greatest word to use. On this offering shelf or platform we set up representations of the body,
speech, and mind of a Buddha.
The "paintings and statues," that refers to a representation of the body of a Buddha, which is
referring to the physical faculties of a Buddha, the enlightening physical faculties, all the
physical features of a Buddha which will help to bring others and lead others to
enlightenment, so I call them "enlightening." A "stupa" is a little monument that holds a relic
of an enlightened being or a great teacher and here it is regularly used to represent the
enlightening mental faculties of a Buddha, So usually on your shelf you have some little statue
of a stupa. And then a "hallowed," the text only says "hallowed" or "holy," and that's referring
to the Dharma texts, so usually you put a Dharma text; often it's a copy of The Heart Sutra, or
one of these short Prajnaparamita Sutras. So that represents the enlightening verbal faculties
or speech of a Buddha.
With bodhichitta, we're aiming for achieving this. Or when we speak just in terms of safe
direction, this is the direction that we want to go in, we want to achieve the enlightening
physical, verbal, and mental faculties of a Buddha. When we spoke about the Dharma source
of safe direction, that was a state in which all the shortcomings, the problems, suffering, and
their causes are removed, so that state in which it's removed. And the state of mind, and not
only state of mind, but the appearances of that mind that will eliminate it and that is the result
of that - what is present when that elimination has been attained.
Body, speech, and mind of a Buddha represent actually the goal, just as the Dharma represents
the goal. With safe direction or refuge, that's the direction we want to go in and with
bodhichitta this is representing our own future attainment of these enlightening faculties that
we wish to attain. And it's also representing the enlightening faculties of the Buddhas of the
past who have achieved this and shown the way to achieve this goal ourselves.
And then we set up offerings in front of this, so that's why Atisha says, "Offer flowers,
incense, and whatever material things you may have." Normally we put there seven water
bowls representing the seven-limb offering that's mentioned in the next verse. And Atisha
taught the Tibetans that even if you don't have anything to offer, at least use your teacup or
bowl and offer a bowl of water, at least offer something. And the water in Tibet was very pure
and clean, so this was a very good offering.
Obviously, the Buddhas don't need our offerings. What's Buddha going to do with a stick of
incense or a candle or a piece of fruit? They don't need that. But the point is that we are

offering this to our future enlightenment; so we are offering everything and the material
offering is just representing that. We want to offer all our study, all our insights, all our time,
all our effort to reaching our future enlightenment, so that we can truly help others and in this
way we offer everything that we have to others.
And it builds up a great positive force of energy - "merit" usually it's translated - a very
positive force to actually achieve these goals and the positive force to enable us to help others.
In tantra when we make offerings, we always make offerings to the Buddhas and to all
sentient beings. It's through offering to the Buddhas that then what we offer can go to all
sentient beings. In other words, through offering everything we have to our achievement of
enlightenment, that will enable us to offer it in the fullest way to everyone.
Then we sit down and then Atisha says:
(8) Also with the seven-limb offering mentioned in

(The Prayer of) Excellent Conduct,
With the mind never to turn back until
The ultimate (realization) of your Buddha-essence,
(9) With supreme belief in the Three Supreme Gems,
With bent knee touching the ground
And palms pressed together,
Firstly, take safe direction three times.
The seven-limb practice comes from this text, The Prayer of Excellent Conduct. Shantideva
also speaks very extensively about it in Bodhicharyavatara (Engaging in Bodhisattva
Conduct). These seven are:
First, making prostration. We have our own enlightenment as a focus and the Buddhas
representing that, and with prostration we throw ourselves fully in this direction, represented
by throwing ourselves down on the ground, full prostration, throwing very literally our whole
energy in this direction. Showing respect to those who have achieved the goals that we want to
achieve, enlightenment mainly, the Buddhas and the great masters, and showing respect to our
own ability to achieve this, so our own Buddha-nature - these are the factors that we all have
that will enable us to become a Buddha - and showing respect to our own future attainment of
enlightenment, our own enlightenment of in the future.
Then the second limb is we make offerings. So, again we imagine offering everything. We've
offered something material as a representation and we imagine offering everything - our
energy, our efforts, our time, our hearts, our minds - everything to reaching enlightenment and
to benefiting others.
The third limb is we openly admit that we have difficulties and problems in helping others and
achieving these goals - we're lazy, we are confused, and so on - and then we apply the four
opponent forces: "I sincerely regret that I'm like that; I really wish I were not like that. I'm
really going to try not to repeat it. I'm going to try to get out of these negative habits. And I
reaffirm my foundation. What am I doing in life? Safe direction, bodhichitta. And whatever
positive things I do, whether it's study, meditation, or here having this ritual of aspiring
bodhichitta, whatever I do, I want to apply it as an opponent to overcome these shortcomings I
have."
The fourth limb is rejoicing, "I rejoice in the fact that the nature of mind is pure," and so, "I
have Buddha-nature, I have the ability to get rid of all of this, it is possible," and "I rejoice in

the Buddhas and the great masters that have taught the way to do this, have taught bodhichitta,
and I rejoice that they actually have taught all of this. Thank you." The fifth limb is requesting
teachings, "Please, Buddhas, teachers, please teach me. I'm not just going to have this ritual
here, but teach me the way, guide me. I really, really want to learn. I'm absolutely determined
to follow this path, so please teach me; my mind is open."
And the sixth limb, "Don't pass away!" "Buddhas, teachers, please don't go away, don't leave
me. I'm absolutely sincere. I'm not just a Dharma tourist coming for a quick look and leaving,
but I want to go all the way to enlightenment. So continue teaching me all the way. Don't go
away." And then the seventh limb is the dedication, as we had yesterday, "Whatever positive
force comes from this, may it act as a cause for reaching that enlightenment to truly be of best
help to everyone.
So that's the first thing here, we've set up the shelf, made offerings, and we do the seven-part
practice - or the seven-limb prayer or offering - and then we have, he says, "a mind never to
turn back until the ultimate realization of your Buddha-essence." "Buddha-essence" is
referring to Buddha-nature; and the ultimate realization of Buddha-nature is our attainment of
enlightenment. Buddha-nature is referring to the factors we have that will enable us to reach
enlightenment. So, "I'm going to go all the way. I'm not going to turn back until I reach
enlightenment."
And then "with supreme belief in the Three Supreme Gems" - "belief" here has a very
specific meaning in Buddhism; it's a little bit different from our Western concept of belief. It
doesn't mean faith in our Western sense, but it means to "believe a fact to be true." It's not, "I
believe that it's going to rain tomorrow." That's just a guess, I don't really know. Or, "I believe
in God," which I can't really understand, but just sort of "I believe." And it's not that "I believe
in Santa Claus," or something that doesn't exist. But we believe in something which is true, a
fact.
And what do I believe about it? "I believe that that fact is true." And so here, what are we
talking about? The Three Supreme Gems, so, "I believe that it is a fact. It's true that there is
this state from which all the problems, shortcomings, and so on are removed from a mental
continuum and that mental continuum then fully uses all its potentials. That is something that I
believe is true; it's a fact that there is such a thing - that's the Dharma. The Buddhas have
achieved it in full and the Sangha have achieved it in part."
There's three types of belief here. There's the confident belief based on reason, "I am
convinced that this is the case based on reason - that the mind is by nature pure and that those
stains of the mind can be removed and that the potential of the mind is that the mental
continuum has all these incredible qualities to be able to perceive everything and to have a
heart which is open equally to everybody. Based on reason, I'm confident that this is so." This
is the first type of belief here.
Then there's the aspiring belief, "I am convinced that this is something which is attainable and
I wish to achieve it and I'm confident that it is possible for me to achieve that."
And then there's the clear-minded belief, which is, "In believing these facts to be true - I'm
totally convinced of it - it clears my mind of disturbing emotions." So, "I don't have doubts
about it. I'm very secure about that. It makes me very emotionally stable." It's not a state of, "I
believe the Buddhas are so wonderful and I'm such a horrible creature down here. I can't
achieve anything." That's very neurotic. I'm not talking about that. This is a belief in

something that makes us more emotionally stable.
And then, "with bent knee touching the ground and palms pressed together," that's just
sort of the posture of respect, undoubtedly coming from customs of ancient India, then we
"take safe direction three times," in other words, we reaffirm, "This is the direction that I'm
going in."
(10) Next, with a mind of love toward all limited beings as a start,
Look to all wandering beings, barring none,
Suffering from birth and so forth in the three worse realms,
And from death, transference, and so on.
(11) Then, with the wish that all wandering beings
Be liberated from the suffering of pain,
From suffering, and from the causes of suffering,
Generate pledged bodhichitta with which you will never turn back.
It says that we start "with a mind of love," in other words, we need to build ourselves up,
work ourselves up to this bodhichitta aspiration and the next step after we have this safe
direction - we reaffirm this, we work for this - then now we think of love toward all beings.
And it refers to "all limited beings" - this is how I translate the word "sentient beings," it's
referring to everyone who's not a Buddha, so they're still limited, a limited mind.
And it is a "mind of love" - love, as we said, is the wish for everybody to be happy and to
have the causes for happiness - we want them to be happy; but they're not happy, so then we
remind ourselves that they're not happy, they have a lot of problems.
And it says "look to all wandering beings." "Wandering beings" are those that wander
through samsara, in the sense of wandering from one rebirth to another rebirth, sometimes
better states, sometimes worse states. And it says to look at all of them, "barring none," don't
leave any out. This is a very important point and when we talk here about love and
compassion we're talking about what's called "great compassion," with which we are aiming at
everybody. When we talk about bodhichitta we're aimed at everybody. To be aimed at
everybody requires equanimity toward everybody, so everybody's equal - not having
attachment to some and repulsion from others or indifference toward yet others.
Although we could focus on the Buddha-nature of everybody and in this sense see everybody
as equal, this becomes far more profound if we again bring in rebirth here. Because when we
think in terms of rebirth, then we're thinking in terms of individual mental continuums,
everybody's individual mental continuum with no beginning and no end. And that mental
continuum, although it's individual - I'm not you and you're not me; even in enlightenment
Buddhas are still individual - although it's individual, nevertheless it does not have an inherent
identity as this life form or that life form, as a mosquito, as a human, or this gender or that
gender, as a male or a female.
So, it's just a matter of karma that's built up in terms of that mental continuum that in this
particular lifetime, this particular rebirth, it manifests this type of life form and this gender, or
in another lifetime, another life form and another gender. So that mental continuum is not
inherently my friend or enemy or somebody that I don't know and so on, because it's
beginningless. It's been everything; it's manifested as everything. It's a "wandering being,"
each one is a wandering being going from one lifetime to another, appearing in one form after
another, constantly changing, although individual, in individual sequence.

It's on this basis that then we can open up to everybody - there's no difference. This is yet
another reason why Hard-Core Dharma, The Real Thing does really require an understanding
of rebirth, past and future lives.
Although from one point of view you can say that everybody is this sort of almost impersonal
mental continuum, it doesn't have an inherent identity, it's dangerous to just focus on that and
ignore the relative appearance that they have now. Because if you ignore the relative
appearance that they have now, as a dog or a man or a woman or whatever, then you can't
really relate to them in a close way. You need to be able to see two levels here - that on the
one hand it's a beginningless mental continuum with no inherent form, constantly changing;
but yet to relate to this person I need to relate to what age they are now, what gender, what life
form, culture, and so on.
What is the condition of these wandering beings, of everybody? Atisha says, "They're
suffering from birth and so forth" - sickness, old age, that's what's included here in the "so
forth" - "in the three worse realms," but in any realm, whether it's the worse realms or the
better realms. But in the worse realms, as animals, insects, etc., they have the most sufferings.
So it mentions that here, and continues: and in each birth then there's the problem of
"suffering from death, suffering of transference," that means transference to yet another
rebirth state and it just goes on and on and on.
So everybody's the same and then the "so on" after that means then that there's never any
satisfaction, there's never any certainty, no security of what's coming next. And then we have
"the wish that all wandering beings be liberated from all this suffering," so that's
compassion.
Alright, so what kind of suffering do they have? First, the "suffering of pain," sometimes
called the "suffering of suffering," so in other words, being unhappy and having pain, the
gross sufferings that we all recognize as suffering. And then the next "suffering" in the line is
referring to the two other kinds of problems or sufferings. The first is the problem of change
or suffering of change. That's referring to our ordinary happiness. It's a big problem because it
changes, it doesn't last, and we never know what's coming next.
And then the third one is the all-pervasive suffering, all-pervasive problem, which is that
we're constantly being reborn with aggregates, in other words, body, mind, all these things,
which are just going to help us to perpetuate the cycle in terms of more karma, more
disturbing emotions, and so on, more problems.
And we don't just want everybody to be free from all these problems and suffering, but we
"want them to be free from the causes of it," so that they never experience it again. That
means we understand that the causes of their problems are not something which is external,
but the causes of it refers to the confusion, the disturbing emotions, the karmic impulses, and
so on that are on each individual mental continuum.
So, with this compassion - and what's not mentioned here is the pure wish or the pure thought
to take responsibility to do something about it - then we "generate pledged bodhichitta with
which we will never turn back." So this is not just merely the aspiring bodhichitta of, "I just
wish to achieve enlightenment to help them," but a much stronger state that, "I'm not going to
turn back until I actually achieve it," that's the pledged state of aspiring bodhichitta.

The text is not simply referring to the first time that we do this, that we have a ritual that
marks that, but each day in our meditation, to accustom ourselves to this, it's very helpful to
follow this type of procedure, because then it makes it much more firm in us, rather than just
sort of, "Well, yeah. I think like that." By making it into a personal ritual that we do each day
with offerings and so on, then that's really showing respect to ourselves and to what we're
doing with our lives.
But when doing a ritual like this each day, a ritualized practice, which means following a set
procedure, then you really have to watch out for it becoming mechanical with no feeling in it.
And it's sort of "just do it" and then you do it out of duty and obligation, and if you don't do it,
then you feel guilty, so you do it just to avoid guilt, or you do it just to please your teacher,
because the teacher said to do that. All those are very neurotic ways of approaching this type
of practice and so it's really quite important to think of the benefits of doing this. It's why
Atisha next talks about the benefits of this type of state of mind, this type of practice and to
have it be very sincere, with feeling.
So, we'll speak about the benefits after lunch.
Session Three: Bodhisattva Vows and Commitments

Unedited Transcript
The Benefits of Developing a Bodhichitta Aim
Atisha was describing the ritual with which we can generate and then reconfirm our pledged
state of aspiring bodhichitta and then he goes on to mention the benefits. He says:
(12) The benefits of generating aspiring minds like this

Have been thoroughly explained
By Maitreya in
The Sutra Spread Out Like a Tree Trunk .
This uses the word in the plural, the " aspiring minds like this," and it's referring to the two
stages that we mentioned, the merely aspiring and the pledged aspiring states. And this sutra -
in Sanskrit it's called The Gandavyuha Sutra - is a very famous sutra about the bodhisattva
path and it explains a great deal about the benefits of developing bodhichitta. Tsongkhapa, the
founder of the Gelug tradition, praises it a great deal. He says that one of the reasons why
teachings about bodhisattva are so widespread is because of this particular sutra.
Atisha doesn't mention the specific benefits here, but the benefits are also discussed by
Shantideva. And it's very, very important when one tries to develop a certain state of mind to
understand what the benefits of it are, then we appreciate it much more fully. And by
reminding ourselves of the benefits over and again, that encourages us to go further in this
direction.
[See: Engaging in Bodhisattva Behavior, chapter 1 {4}.]
So, if we always are keeping this bodhichitta in mind, we're always keeping this goal of focus
on our future enlightenment in mind. When we speak about a state of mind, Tsongkhapa says
Session Three: Bodhisattva Vows and Commitments 24

quite clearly that we need to know what is it focused on and how does the mind take that
object. Here, as I said, with bodhichitta it's focused on our own future enlightenment. The way
that our mind takes that object, our future enlightenment, is with the intention, "I've got to
help everybody. I really want to help everybody. And in order to help them the best I need to
achieve this future enlightenment. And when I achieve that, then I will benefit others as much
as I can."
Of course, there are long lists of the traditional benefits which are mentioned in the texts, but
if we speak in general, here our whole mind is opened up completely. It's aimed at the fullest
development that we can possibly achieve and we're always thinking, "I need to achieve this, I
want to achieve this, and I can achieve this." So we're thinking in terms of the highest state of
evolution that's possible and "I'm going to do it" and "I can do it."
And we're doing that in order to be able to help others, "It's not just because of myself." The
mind is expanded to being able to help everybody, so the mind is as vast as it can possibly be.
This gives us a tremendous amount of energy, much more than if we're just thinking in a very
limited way of doing something to benefit ourselves, or to benefit just a few people.
We know this from just a simple example, like if we're living by ourselves and we have a
headache, we don't feel very well, then we might not bother to make a meal when we come
home in the evening. We just go to sleep. But if we have children, then obviously we can't do
that. So our concern for our children gives us the strength to overcome that headache that we
might have and that doesn't stop us. And so we're able to do something helpful for somebody
else, we make a meal for our children.
The way it's explained in the texts is that we're not thrown off by obstacles because of the
need that everybody has. And the need for us to grow and overcome these obstacles, it gives
us the strength to break through. Although we can have, let's say safe direction in life, refuge,
our life has a meaning, but there's much more urgency to it. There's much more energy to it
when we really want to reach this goal, because of our concern for others, and it gives us the
energy to undertake huge things.
Look at people who are working for the cause of Tibet or for anti-war or whatever. They're
thinking in terms of the welfare of everyone, then that gives you this tremendous energy to do
something really big, not just sit in our homes and think only about ourselves and worry. And
it gives us the courage to try new things, to try to discover new abilities, new talents that we
have and to use them, to use them as fully as possible, which we might not have the energy to
explore otherwise.
(13) When you have read this sutra

or heard from your guru concerning this,
And have become aware of the boundless benefits
of full bodhichitta,
Then as a cause for making it stable
Generate this mind over and again.
When we learn about these benefits from either reading about them in this sutra or we've
listened to our spiritual teacher explain about them and we become aware of this - that doesn't
mean that we just find out about it, but we really know it and we know it from the depths of
our heart, we really feel this and we're convinced " of the boundless benefits of bodhichitta,"
then we need to try to " make this state of mind stable" and a very firm part of ourselves, a
whole way in which we'r e always thinking, in which we're always moving in our lives.
The Benefits of Developing a Bodhichitta Aim 25

And to do that we need to " generate this mind over and again." That means to strengthen it,
to reaffirm it, over and over again. Now, in the beginning we're going to have to work
ourselves up to feeling this state of mind, so we would need to go through a process in
meditation of taking love and compassion and how to help others, the best way is to become
enlightened, and like that we work ourselves up to this bodhichitta. And this is natural; this is
the way that we need to do it at first.
It's like when we work with the understanding of voidness, we need to go through the lines of
reasoning over and again in order to reconfirm that conviction in voidness and be totally
convinced that this is how things exist. I mean, with voidness it's being convinced that things
don't exist in certain impossible ways, to be more precise. But once we are able to build
ourselves up to this state of mind, whether it's bodhichitta or the understanding of voidness,
through a process, and we do that over and over and over again, then eventually it'll reach a
point where it becomes so familiar that, without going through this line or process, we just
feel it instantly.
If we skip this step of working ourselves up to bodhichitta through a process and in the very
beginning just instantly go, "May I achieve enlightenment for all sentient beings," if we do
like that, then there's a danger. The danger is that we won't feel very much of a positive
emotion behind the bodhichitta and it's not going to have the strong support of love and
compassion which need to accompany bodhichitta.
In other words, "May I achieve enlightenment to help all beings," we just sort of say that in a
very casual type of way, but we don't really feel. We're not really reminding ourselves of the
suffering that others have and how terrible that is and how we really would like to do
something about it and, "This is what I'm going to try to do to help them." So there's an
emotion behind, a feeling behind the bodhichitta.
This is very important, because it's very easy to just skip over that, and then bodhichitta is just
words, it's not really a felt emotion. And by reminding ourselves of the benefits of bodhichitta,
this gives us even more incentive to really work on it in a proper way.
(14) The positive force of this is shown extensively

In The Sutra Requested by Viradatta.
As it is summarized there in merely three stanzas,
Let me quote them here.
When I say " positive force," this is what's usually translated as "merit," and it is referring to
the positive energy. It's the positive energy that comes from developing this state of mind, and
that positive force is something which is very, very strong. It gives us a tremendous
momentum to achieve this goal. And so if we look at these three verses from the sutra, it says:
(15) "If the positive force

Of bodhichitta had form,
It would fill completely the sphere of space
And go beyond even that.
(16) Although someone may totally fill with gems
Buddha-fields equal in number
To the grains of sand on the Ganges
And offer them to the Guardians of the World,
(17) Yet should anyone press his or her palms together
And direct his or her mind toward bodhichitta,
The Benefits of Developing a Bodhichitta Aim 26

His or her offering would be more specially noble;

It would have no end."
When we are working with bodhichitta, we're thinking to achieve enlightenment, and
enlightenment is something in which our minds and our hearts are going to be open as broadly
as is all of space and we're going to think to benefit everybody throughout all of space. That is
really quite extraordinary that we're thinking on such an unbelievable scope; and obviously
the positive force from thinking on such a large scope likewise is going to be as enormous.
If you think about that, to take that seriously, even if we're not thinking in terms of past and
future lives, to really be sincere about, "I'm going to try to liberate and bring to enlightenment
every insect in the world, every cockroach, every mosquito, and so on" and to really be
sincere about that, that's extraordinary, isn't it? Unbelievable. That one could actually be
totally serious about that and actually feel that, that somebody could really be like that and not
only that somebody could be like that, but that "I can be like that."
If we were to actually be able to reach that state and be totally sincere about that, the positive
force of that, the energy that that would give us, it's inconceivable. As it says, " it would fill
all of space," just as our mind fills all of space, " and it would be even more than that."
Of course, to reach that state we have to work in stages. Very often people say, "Oh yes, I
want to benefit all sentient beings." But you're not really taking seriously all sentient beings in
this statement; so it's almost meaningless, it's jargon. We need to work on a small scale first:
think in terms of ourselves, people that we know, friends, neutral people, people we don't like,
and extend it to everybody in our city, our country, this planet, and different life forms, other
planets.
You work gradually in steps. You can't just go instantly, "all sentient beings" and have that
really be meaningful on an emotional level. Somebody who's saying that they're working for
all beings, but there's no time for their family or no time for their friends, then what is the
meaning of working for all beings?
As the second two verses say, developing this bodhichitta attitude, this bodhichitta mind is far
more positive force then making offerings to all the Buddhas. Buddhas don't need offerings of
gems and so on; what are they going to do with money? That's not what a Buddha needs in
order to be able to benefit others. I mean, of course, if they're great beings who are working to
help others, then obviously they do need some sort of financial help and so making offerings
for great projects of service to others, of course this is beneficial. But actual Buddhas in
Buddha-fields, that's something else.
But in any case, if we develop this attitude ourselves, it has far more positive force, because
that really is going to drive us on to reach this state of enlightenment ourselves and bring
much more help to everyone.
The Trainings from Having Developed the Aspiring States of

Bodhichitta
(18) Having generated the aspiring states of bodhichitta,

Ever enhance them with many efforts;
And, to be mindful of it in this and other lives too,
Thoroughly safeguard as well the trainings explained in the texts.
The Trainings from Having Developed the Aspiring States of Bodhichitta 27

Once we've " generated these two aspiring states of mind" - merely wishing to achieve
enlightenment and pledging not to ever turn back until we reach that enlightenment - then we
need to strengthen it and strengthen it with a lot of work, as it says " with many efforts." We
want to strengthen it so that we don't have to work ourselves up to this state of mind through
the meditations on love and compassion, but it just comes instantly on a very sincere level.
And then we want to strengthen it even further, so that we have it all the time, not just when
we remember. In order to remember it - that's what it means when we say here " to be
mindful of it in this and other lives too" - then there's a certain set of trainings that helps us
to achieve this. There are four things that we train in, that we train with, that's going to help
our bodhichitta resolve not to decline, not to get weaker in this life:
The first of these is: each day and night we recall the advantages of having this bodhichitta
motivation. Well, every day and night, sometimes I say, "Do it three times in the morning,
three times in the evening," it doesn't matter, as much as we can. Atisha himself was pointing
this out in an earlier verse, when we think about the benefits of bodhichitta, if we are mindful
and remember these benefits every morning, every evening, for instance in our meditation,
then this resolve is not going to weaken.
The second training is to reaffirm and strengthen our bodhichitta motivation by rededicating
our hearts to enlightenment and others three times each day and three times each night.
Then the third one is to strive to build up these, what I call "enlightenment-building networks
of positive force and deep awareness." This is often called "the collections of merit and
wisdom," but here we're talking about the positive force, rather than merit, of doing many
constructive things, like actually helping others, meditating on bodhichitta. And it's not that
we're getting points for every time that we help somebody and we're collecting points like in
"collection of merit," it's not like a collection of stamps. But rather that positive force from all
of these constructive actions are going to network with each other. We're dedicating it to
enlightenment, so it's going to build up a force to bring us to enlightenment, to actually have a
physical body of a Buddha that can fully help others.
And then the other one is deep awareness, that is our awareness of voidness, basically. And
again, the more frequently that we meditate on voidness, that deep awareness that we get of
voidness also is going to network with each other, so that our understanding becomes deeper
and deeper, becomes more and more firm. And that also is going to be
enlightenment-building, it builds and acts as the main cause for having a mind of a Buddha.
So if we're always working to try to strengthen these networks, these enlightenment-building

networks all the time, then obviously we're doing that with bodhichitta, because what is the
purpose of it? The purpose of it is to achieve enlightenment; the purpose of it is to be able to
benefit others more as we progress further and further toward enlightenment and ultimately
when we achieve enlightenment.
[See: The Two Enlightenment-Building Networks (The Two Collections) {5}.]
And the further that we go along this path of strengthening these networks, then as a result of
that, our resolve is going to get stronger and stronger. We'll start to get some benefits from
these networks in terms of our whole way of being. And our life becomes very, very
meaningful, very directed, and our mind stays in a more positive state more and more
frequently. This helps our bodhichitta resolve not to decline, not to weaken in this life.

And then the fourth one is never giving up trying to help anyone, or at least wishing to be able
to do so, no matter how difficult the person might be. If we give up on somebody, then our
resolve to be able to help everybody obviously is going to get weaker and weaker, "Because I
really don't want to have to deal with that one; and that one over there is just too terrible, too
difficult."
So, even if we can't help somebody and it would be not a very productive use of our time,
because there are many other people that we can benefit more fully and so, "OK, temporarily
I'm not going to make a big effort with you," at least we would still maintain the wish to be
able to benefit this person when they become more receptive, when they become more open
and so on. If we never give up on anyone, then likewise this resolve will not decline. Those
are the four trainings for our bodhichitta resolve not to decline in this lifetime.
Then there are various points of training for not losing this bodhichitta resolve in future lives.
The training for not losing our bodhichitta resolve in future lives is to rid ourselves of the four
types of murky or dark behavior and to develop instead the four glowing types of behavior.
The literal Tibetan words are the four "black" actions and the four "white" actions, but that's
not very politically correct nowadays to use that type of terminology, so I use instead "murky"
and " glowing." Anyway, the first one is the negative action that we avoid and the second one
in each of these pairs is the positive one that we adopt.
The first is we need to stop deceiving, ever deceiving our spiritual teachers or our parents or
the Triple Gem and instead to be honest with them concerning our motivation and our efforts
to help others.
It's very important to be honest about how much are we actually helping others, how much are
we actually thinking of others, and not pretend that we're such wonderful, great bodhisattva
practitioners when in fact we're not, we're just very, very selfish. Again, it's important to be
realistic about this. And just as samsara and our moods are going to go up and down until we
become a liberated being, until we become an arhat, similarly, until we completely rid
ourselves of any type of grasping for a solid me, our motivation is always going to be slightly
mixed with some selfish thoughts.
Again, we're not going to get rid of that until we become a liberated being, an arhat. And so,
as His Holiness the Dalai Lama always says, if we're honest and we look at ourselves, we
always find that we're going to have a mixed motivation: part is going to be altruistic, but
there's going to be a little bit of self-interest in there as well. Don't worry about that, but try to
make the altruistic part stronger than the self-interested part.
So, we need to be honest about this, not deceive our teachers, not deceive our parents, not
deceive ourselves, not deceive the Triple Gem.
The second training is to stop ever faulting or being contemptuous of bodhisattvas, but
instead, since only Buddhas can be certain who actually are bodhisattvas - "How do I know if
that person is a bodhisattva or not?" We don't know - so since only a Buddha really could
know, then we try to regard everyone in a pure way as our teachers. Even if people act in
terrible ways, still they can teach us to not act like that, so we follow.
If we are not honest about our motivation, then obviously in future lives that's going to go
down and down. How are we going to really continue in that direction if we're not being
honest about it, if we're deceitful about it? And similarly, we want to work toward

enlightenment in future lives as well, work as a bodhisattva. So if there are other people who
are working in that direction and we say, "Oh, what you're doing is no good and it's too big,"
or "...not the way that I would want to do it," like that, then again, that's going counter to this
whole direction of bodhichitta. So naturally in future lives we're not going to continue to have
that resolve.
We don't need to agree with everything that everybody is doing, but it's not helpful to have a
very critical, negative mind. If we don't agree with what the person is doing, "But I can learn
from that, reaffirm in myself not to act like that," for example. So, always try to see the
positive side of things, "What is it I can learn from things that really is in the flavor of
bodhichitta?" When we're thinking of the positive goal that we want to attain, rather than "all
my shortcomings," we think of all our good qualities that we want to develop more and more;
and in terms of the shortcomings, "That's what I want to eliminate." Likewise other people and
shortcomings that they have, "Well, I'd want to eliminate them in myself as well." So, they
teach us; it's something positive that they're doing.
The third one is stopping ever causing others to regret anything positive that they've done. If
we ask somebody to help us, let's say to type something on the computer, and they make a lot
of mistakes, if we yell at them, then they may never offer to help us again. They were trying to
help us; they were trying to be positive, trying to develop more and more and we say, "You're
stupid. You can't do anything." Then they regret and turn away from trying to act positive and
that has a negative effect on our own future development.
Instead what we try to do is to encourage others to be constructive and - if they're receptive -

encourage them to work on overcoming their shortcomings, realizing their potentials, to be of
more benefit to others, in other words, encourage them in the Mahayana path - but not as a
missionary pushing them, and only if they're receptive.
And then the fourth one, the last one, is stopping ever being hypocritical or pretentious in our
dealings with others, in other words, hiding our faults and pretending to have qualities that we
lack. Instead, we take responsibility to help others and we're always honest and frank about
our limitations and about our abilities. If we're trying to help somebody, we don't promise
more than we're capable of doing - that's important, otherwise we let them down. They get
very disappointed and then we get discouraged as well. So, don't pretend to be able to do more
than we can and don't hide the faults and limitations that we have - very important.
[See: Actions for Training from the Pledged State of Aspiring Bodhichitta {6}.]
So, these are the trainings to enable us not to lose this bodhichitta resolve in future lives.
When Atisha says " to be mindful of it," meaning bodhichitta, " in this and other lives," in
future lives " too, thoroughly safeguard as well the trainings explained in the texts," that's
referring to these trainings.
Taking the Vows for Involved Bodhichitta, Engaged Bodhichitta
(19) Except through the vows that are the very nature
of engaged bodhichitta,
Your pure aspiration will never come to increase.
Therefore, with the wish to progress toward aspired full enlightenment,
Take them definitely on, energetically for that sake.
Taking the Vows for Involved Bodhichitta, Engaged Bodhichitta 30

The engaged state of bodhichitta is when we actually engage ourselves in the practices that
will bring us to enlightenment, and that means taking the bodhisattva vows. Basically, a vow
is setting up the boundaries and saying that, "I'm going to refrain from negative behavior
which is beyond these boundaries," So a vow is to restrain from something negative.
And the way that we actually are going to reach enlightenment is through practicing the six
far-reaching attitudes - that's sometimes called the "six perfections." They're "far-reaching,"
that's literally what the Tibetan and Sanskrit mean; it's going to take us all the way to
enlightenment.
And so the bodhisattva vows - there are various vows in association with each of these
far-reaching attitudes, things that we are going to avoid, that would make a serious problem in
terms of our practice of generosity or of ethical discipline or patience or joyous perseverance,
mental constancy - constancy of mind, concentration - and discriminating awareness or
wisdom, or which would prevent us in general from helping others. So, these are things that
we want to avoid. There are eighteen primary ones and forty-six secondary ones, and you can
find a big discussion of these in my website.
[See: Root Bodhisattva Vows {7}. See also: Secondary Bodhisattva Vows {8}.]
Atisha says here, " unless we take these vows, which is the nature of engaged bodhichitta"
- in other words, engaged bodhichitta means taking the vows, structuring our behavior in this
way - " then that aspiration" to achieve enlightenment is not going to take us all the way
there, " is not going to increase" all the way to actually bringing us to enlightenment. We
have to do something; we have to work to develop ourselves.
He says if we want to make progress toward that full enlightenment that we aspire to, that
we're wishing to achieve, then we have " to definitely take on these vows," in other words,
do it very consciously, in a very formal manner. " And energetically," he says, which is not
casual, but we put effort into actually keeping these vows.
What would be the preparation? Is there a prerequisite for taking these vows? Atisha says:
(20) Those who maintain at all times other vows

From any of the seven classes for individual liberation
Have the proper share for the bodhisattva vows;
Others do not.
The vows for individual liberation, that's called the pratimoksha vows in Sanskrit. And the
seven classes are the vows for a layman or a laywoman and then a provisional nun -
provisional means you're trying it out for a few years before you make up your mind to
actually do it - and then the vows for a novice monk and a novice nun and then the vows for a
full monk and a full nun. So, those are the seven classes.
When we speak about lay vows, there are five of them, but it's not necessary to take all five,
any number of them will be sufficient. The five are: refraining from (1) taking a life, killing,
(2) stealing, (3) lying, (4) indulging in inappropriate sexual behavior, in other words, acting
under the influence of extreme disturbing emotions, with complete overwhelming desire or
hatred, to hurt somebody through sexual behavior, or naivety, thinking that it's a path to
liberation, and the fifth one is taking intoxicants, that's alcohol, and also we would include in
there drugs.

If we maintain one of these vows for individual liberation or liberation from samsara, also on
the way we get liberated from the indecisiveness, "Should I have a drink? Should I not have a
drink?" "Should I kill this mosquito? Should I not kill this mosquito?" When you've taken a
vow, your mind is made up, "I'm not going to do it," and then you're free from this indecision,
from this tension. So these vows are very liberating not only in the sense of helping us to
achieve ultimate liberation, but also very liberating on the path.
So, if we are keeping some level of these vows, then we " have the proper share," he says.
We have the proper portion of ethical discipline that will serve as the basis for us to be able to
take and keep the bodhisattva vows - the bodhisattva vows are more subtle than these
pratimoksha vows.
For instance the first one, what we want to avoid is praising ourselves and putting down others
because of our attachment to getting things from people. So saying, "Oh, I'm the best teacher,"
or " I'm the best this or that and nobody else is any good," because you want to get people to
come to you. That really prevents us from being able to help others, because we're trying to
get others to give us something over anybody else, so it's really very self-interested. And if
people understand that, if people are not so stupid so they can figure that out, then they're not
going to trust us and not going to trust our motivation. So that's going to make a big obstacle
to being able to help others, so we want to avoid that.
Well, that's a very subtle type of discipline with our speech and what's going to give us the
basis for being able to restrain ourselves from that type of harmful speech is if we at least have
a foundation of restraining ourselves from lying, from the pratimoksha vows. Then that gives
us the opportunity to restrain - I guess it's the share of discipline, to be able to restrain - from
something a little bit more subtle. Those who don't have this type of basis of one of these
seven classes of vows, Atisha says they don't really have a firm foundation for being able to
keep the bodhisattva vows.
Not all Buddhist masters, particularly in some of the Tibetan traditions, agree with Atisha.
Some of them say, "Well, tantric vows are enough; you don't need to take any other vows."
But Atisha's advice is followed very strictly in the Gelug tradition at least - and there's a great
deal of wisdom behind Atisha's advice.
(21) As for the seven classes for individual liberation,

The Accordingly Progressed has asserted in his explanations
That those of glorious abstinence are supreme;
And those are the vows for fully ordained monks.
The " Accordingly Progressed," that's how I translate the word "Tathagata." "Tathagata" is
another name for a Buddha. The "gata" of "Tathagata" is "progressed," they have progressed
or gone through stages, and "tatha" means "accordingly," according to the proper
understanding of voidness, so that when they achieve enlightenment, what they have
progressed to is according to all the descriptions of a Buddha and they've seen things
according to how they actually are. There's a lot of meaning to the word "Tathagata."
So, Buddha has said that of these seven classes, the one that's supreme are the vows of "
glorious abstinence." Atisha explains in his commentary that " abstinence" means restraining
from sexual conduct and from alcohol, from intoxicants, it's abstaining from both. And "
glorious" abstinence is saying that this is something which is a very positive thing and he's
talking about the full abstinence from it and this is referring to the vows of a fully ordained
monk.

One has to understand this within the context of Indian society at that time, since obviously
fully ordained nuns have the exact same vow. But in that context of ancient India, women
were not treated in an equal type of way; and Atisha's statement is not a reflection on female
rebirth, but it's a reflection on the society of the time. It's not a fault within women, it's a fault
within society of that time - a woman would face many more obstacles in trying to help others
as a bodhisattva than a man would face.
A woman going out and trying to help men in a difficult situation might be raped by them, for
example, so they would face more obstacles. So that's why he's saying as a monk one has a
better situation for being able to benefit others. This may not be the case at present in our
Western societies. One has to understand these type of statements about men and women
within the context of the time when these were taught.
And here it's referring to having a partner, or we're married - obviously in this context of India
we're talking about being married and having a household and so on - that this might be a bit
of a problem in terms of really working to benefit all beings because you have a very serious
responsibility to family and taking care of them. And when we have a sexual partner, then
likewise our attention is very strongly focused on this person and we would like to spend more
time with this person than with anybody else. And so we tend to want to stop helping others,
at least for a while, so that we can go off and have our private life with our lover.
So, that could be a problem. Similarly, if we are taking intoxicants, alcohol, drugs, and so on,
that clouds our judgment, our discrimination. We can get very lazy; it can make us sleepy; it
has many drawbacks that could prevent us from really helping others. We become dependent
on it usually, that we feel we can't do certain things unless we have our drug.
This is not stating that unless we are a fully ordained monk, we can't really follow the
bodhisattva path, it's not stating that. It's just saying that if we are a fully ordained monk and
live this type of life of abstinence, that this would be the optimal situation for being able to
take the bodhisattva vows and keep them.
So, how do we take these bodhisattva vows? Atisha says:
(22) Through the ritual well expounded in

The "Ethical Discipline Chapter" of The Bodhisattva Stages
Take the (bodhisattva) vows
From an excellent, fully qualified guru.
The Bodhisattva Stages is a text by Asanga. It's called Bodhisattvabhumi in Sanskrit. It talks
about the stages of the bodhisattva path, and in it there's a chapter on ethical discipline and
there it talks about the bodhisattva vows and so there there's a ritual for actually taking them.
And if we take the vows with that type of a ritual, then we need to take it from a spiritual
teacher, "a guru," and that teacher needs to be "fully qualified."
One of the qualifications for such a Mahayana guru, someone who can give the vows, Atisha
gives in the next verse. He says:
(23) Know that an excellent guru is someone who

Is skilled in the vow ceremony,
By nature lives by the vows,
Has the confidence to confer the vows,
And possesses compassion.

The teacher has to be " someone who is skilled in the ceremony," in other words, knows how
to perform the ritual. And " by nature" they're somebody that actually " lives according to
these vows." They have bodhichitta and they have these bodhisattva vows and they really
follow them, they really keep them, so they're somebody with pure bodhisattva vows
themselves.
And they have " the confidence to confer the vows." This word " confidence" here, actually
the Tibetan word is the word for patience. "Patience" can imply that they have the patience to
endure all the difficulties that are involved in keeping the vows, that are involved in teaching
others the bodhisattva path, the patience not to get discouraged in terms of helping others,
because sometimes people are very difficult to help and give you a hard time. So we can
understand all of this from the word that's used here, " patience."
But many of the commentaries explain that word as "confidence," in the sense that if the
teacher has these different types of patience, then they a great deal of strength, inner strength,
that of keeping the vows, of being able to deal with others, helping others, and so on. And it's
this strength or self-confidence that allows them to really serve as an ethical authority, an
authority of bodhichitta that will inspire confidence in us as well when taking the bodhisattva
vows from them.
A good example is His Holiness the Dalai Lama. We look at His Holiness and how much
difficulty he faces, what a hard time he faces from the Chinese, from the difficulties within the
Tibetan community itself, and from the nearly hopeless situation that the Tibetans face. And
yet he still continues to help others, to have compassion, to have patience with all of this, and
this really gives him moral authority, this " confidence to confer the vows."
And the fourth quality which Atisha mentions is that the teacher needs to actually " possess
compassion," is sincerely compassionate, really wishing for others to be free from suffering
and the causes for suffering and really is working in that direction, not just saying.
So, what happens if we can't find such a guru? Then there's another ritual for being able to
take the bodhisattva vows without a guru. This is actually quite significant. For pratimoksha
vows, vows for individual liberation, or for tantric vows, you have to have a teacher in order
to take them. You can't just take them without a teacher, although tantric vows you can renew
without a teacher, but to take it for the first time it has to be with a teacher. But bodhisattva
vows, it is possible to take it for the first time without a teacher. And actually it's not that you
take the vows from a teacher, in a sense, because one makes these promises in terms of the
Buddhas; the teacher is the vehicle through which it is done.
(24) However, if you have made effort in this

And have been unable to find such a guru,
There is a ritual other than that for receiving the vows,
Which I shall explain in full.
There's a source for this in the sutras, it's not just something that he makes up. He says:
(25) Concerning this, I shall write here very clearly

How Manjushri generated bodhichitta in previous times
When he was King Ambaraja,
Just as is explained in The Sutra of
An Adornment for Manjushri's Buddha-Field .

This is the source and the following verses are what Manjushri recited and what we would
also recite for taking the bodhisattva vows in this way, without a teacher. And obviously
there's a more elaborate ritual than this. This is just giving the main features of how Manjushri
did it.
(26) "Before the eyes of my Guardians,

I generate bodhichitta
And, inviting all wandering beings as my guests,
I shall liberate them from uncontrollable rebirth.
By " Guardians," this is referring to the Buddhas, that they are guardians for us. They help us
along the path and protect us from wandering astray. " With them as my witness, I
regenerate this bodhichitta resolve," reaffirm it, " and I invite all wandering beings as my
guests." In other words, "I'm focused on everybody that's wandering through uncontrollable
rebirth and they're my guests, I invite them," that means that we're not going to let them down.
And what am I going to do for them? I'm going to try to liberate them from uncontrollable
rebirth. That means that I'm going to work to help them as much as I can now and try to
achieve enlightenment so that I can help them as best as possible, although obviously it's
impossible for anybody with just a snap of the fingers to liberate everyone.
(27) From now until my attainment

Of a supreme purified state,
I shall never act with harmful intentions,
An angered mind, miserliness, or jealousy.
To talk about " purified state" - that's the word bodhi in Sanskrit and that can be the purified
state of a liberated being, an arhat - either a shravaka or pratyekabuddha arhat - or the supreme
purified state is the attainment of a Buddha, so enlightenment. So " now until my attainment
of that supreme purified state," in other words, enlightenment, " now until then, I'm going
to never act," which means "I'm going to try never to act," because obviously it's impossible
to promise that we're never going to get angry again, "I certainly am going to try my best not
to do that."
" I'm not going to act with harmful intentions" - that's the exact opposite of love, we want
them to be happy, not for them to be unhappy. " Harmful intention" is the wish for them to
be unhappy, that something terrible happens to them.
"I'm not going to act with an angered mind," that "I'm really angry with you and I don't like
you anymore and I reject you," "I'm not going to act like that." And "not act with miserliness"
- miserly means that we hold back and, "I don't want to share what I have with you. I don't
want to give anything to you," whether we're talking about help, time. It doesn't mean
necessarily material things; we can be very miserly with our time, our energy and so on. So
it's saying, "I'm not going to be that way."
And, "I'm not going to act with jealousy." Jealousy can have many negative connotations here
of: somebody else does something that's helpful and "I'm jealous that I didn't do it, because I
want all the credit." We are unhappy about anything positive that the other person did and we
wish that they hadn't done it. So that's also very negative in terms of working for the benefit of
everybody. The benefit of everybody doesn't mean that " I have to benefit them," "If anybody
benefits them that's wonderful."

Another form of jealousy is if somebody gave something to somebody else, did something
nice for somebody else, we're jealous that, "They didn't give it to me." If they're showing love
to somebody else, "They're not showing their love to me," so "I'm jealous." That also, we are
not going to act like that; it's not that we want things for ourselves.
(28) I shall live according to abstinent behavior;

I shall rid myself of negativities and attachment/greed.
Taking joy in the vows of ethical discipline,
I shall continually train myself as the Buddhas have done.
This is in the context of being an ordained monk going to live according to abstinent behavior.
And certainly one would want to at least not have as the motivating main force in our lives
devoting all our time to our sexual partner and having a lover and all of that and getting drunk
all the time. Best is if we devote all our time and energy to basically helping others. Of course
that has to be within the context of knowing when to take a break and not pushing too hard
and being a fanatic, otherwise it's self-defeating.
Now obviously sexual drive is something which is very strong in many of us. And to deny that
or repress that, especially if it's done in an unhealthy way, can also be a big obstacle. But it is
important to not be ruled by our sexual drives, not be overwhelmed by them, particularly if
we're trying to help somebody whom we find attractive. What is our motive for helping them?
Is it just, " I want to help this one because I find them attractive? And what really am I after?
Am I after them liking me, or getting some sort of sexual favor from them, rather than really
helping them?"
That can really distract us, really make a big problem; and if the other person realizes that,
they can become very negative toward us. And even if we are actually helping them, there's
part of us that still wants to get physically close to the other person, so this undermines our
pure motive. It's quite interesting, if this is the case, to examine ourselves and see, "Would I
be so interested in helping this person if they didn't look the way that they look; if I found this
person ugly?"
And if we find that we wouldn't be so interested in helping the person if they looked like
somebody that we find very unattractive, then we really need to examine what's going on with
our motivation. So, if our sexual drive is strong, we need to somehow deal with that, be honest
with that, find some sort of resolution with that that's not going to make a major impediment
in our helping others. Also, as Shantideva points out in his text, when we're trying to gain
concentration, single-minded concentration, the biggest distraction is going to be mental
wandering because of sexual desire.
And Atisha says, " I need to rid myself of negativities and also attachment" - and it's a
word that can mean either attachment or greed, wanting to get something that we don't have,
or if we have it, not wanting to let go. " Negativities" can also refer to the negative force that's
been built up by our destructive behavior, so we want to purify ourselves of that. Because
when we have such negative force, we're always thinking in a very depressed way and in a
very defeatist, negative type of way, so we want to rid ourselves of that.
And " taking joy in the vows of ethical discipline," in other words, not feeling that this is a
terrible burden and like a prison sentence that I'm abstaining from these things, but taking joy
in it, "This is wonderful. This is giving me a structure that will allow me to be able to help
others. How wonderful it is that Buddha has pointed out what are the things to avoid if we
want to be able to help others. This is great. I didn't have to learn by mistake myself; the

Buddha has pointed out the things to avoid." So, "I'm delighted with this, this is wonderful.
Thank you."
So, taking joy in these vows and in this discipline, "I'm going to continually train the way the
Buddhas have done," so follow their examples. That doesn't mean that we have to do
absolutely everything exactly the way that our teacher does. And we're not going to be
monkeys and just blindly imitate. We obviously have to adopt what the Buddhas have done,
what our teachers have done to the circumstances that we face in life and the people that we
meet, that we have the connections to be able to help, but follow the basic themes of the
training the way the Buddhas have done.
(29a) I shall take no delight in attaining enlightenment

By a speedy means for my own self,
In other words, we're not going to just work to achieve enlightenment for myself, but we're
going to work for the sake of others. So he says in the second half,
(29b) But I shall remain until the end of the future,

If it be a cause for (helping) one limited being.
So, even if we're helping just " one limited being," "I'm going to continue to work" and "I'm
not just working for myself."
(30) I shall cleanse everything into

Immeasurable, inconceivable realms
And remain everywhere in the ten directions
For those who have called my name.
That means that I'm going to try to make everything around me into, what he says is, an "
immeasurable, inconceivable realm," in other words, make everything into like a
Buddha-realm, "so that everything around me is conducive for people being able to make
spiritual progress." In this sense we " cleanse" the atmosphere around us.
" And remain everywhere in the ten directions," so no matter anywhere, "I'm going to
remain to help those who have called my name," in other words, those who have some sort
of karmic connection with me to be helped by me and who call for me to help them.
Then the last verse of this quotation:
(31) I shall purify all the actions

Of my body and speech,
And purify as well the actions of my mind:
I shall never commit any destructive acts."
In " purify the actions of body, speech, and mind," " purify" can have two meanings: either
we purify away all the obstacles that are preventing our body, speech, and mind from
functioning at their fullest, so purify away the negative potentials, basically. Or " purify" can
be understood in the sense of we're going to try to make " all the actions of my body and
speech" pure, in other words, act in a pure way with a proper bodhichitta motivation and aim.
And, " I will never commit any destructive acts" - at least "I'm going to try not to act in a
destructive way from the negative emotions or attitudes.
That finishes this section of "Taking the Vows for Engaged Bodhichitta" and that perhaps is a
good place to stop for today.

So, we end with a dedication. We think, whatever understanding we've gained, may it go
deeper and deeper and may it act as a cause for not just improving my samsaric situation, but
may it act as a cause for reaching enlightenment and truly being able to benefit all beings as
much as is possible.
Thank you.
Session Four: The Trainings in Higher Ethical

Discipline and Higher Concentration
Unedited Transcript
In our discussion last time, we completed the presentation that Atisha gave for taking the
bodhisattva vows. Once we take the bodhisattva vows, which are the essence of developing
this engaged level of bodhichitta, then we need to actually practice what's called "enlightening
conduct," bodhisattva conduct. And this is actually what bodhisattva vows shape; they shape
that type of conduct. They shape the actions of our body, speech, and mind so that we don't
act in such a way that's going to prevent us from helping others.
We can discuss this bodhisattva conduct or bodhisattva behavior in several ways. Atisha
presents it in terms of what's called "the three higher trainings." These are the training in
higher ethical discipline, higher concentration, and higher discriminating awareness or
wisdom.
The first of these is the training in higher ethical discipline. It's not just the discipline to stand
on one foot, but it's discipline regarding our ethical behavior.
In the standard lam-rims that follow, we have the presentation of these three higher trainings
as a practice which is in common for both the intermediate scope and the advanced scope,
because for gaining liberation or enlightenment, for either one of them, we have to practice
these three. The difference between the two levels of practice of the three is in terms of the
motivation or aim: whether one is practicing them with the aim to achieve liberation for
oneself alone or whether one is practicing them in order to reach enlightenment to benefit all
others.
Training in Higher Ethical Discipline
Verse thirty-two starts the discussion of higher ethical discipline. And we need to understand
Atisha's presentation of these three higher trainings in terms of approaching them with
bodhichitta motivation. So, we can understand this verse on ethical discipline in this context.
(32) If you train yourself well in the three trainings of ethical discipline
By living in accord with the vows
that are the very nature of engaged bodhichitta
And which are a cause for purifying completely
your body, speech, and mind,
Your respect for the three trainings in ethical discipline will increase.
Session Four: The Trainings in Higher Ethical Discipline and Higher Concentration 38
There are three aspects of ethical self-discipline - we're talking about discipline of ourselves,
not the ethical discipline of trying to discipline somebody else - and these are discussed
specifically in the teachings for a bodhisattva in terms of the far-reaching attitudes or the
perfections. So, we have (1) the ethical discipline to restrain from destructive behavior, which
means keeping the vows. And here the emphasis is on keeping the bodhisattva vows, but as
Atisha emphasizes, the basis for that is keeping some level of the pratimoksha vows.
One of the reasons why Atisha puts so much emphasis on the pratimoksha vows, I think, is
because of the circumstance that was occurring in Tibet which prompted his invitation.
Remember, at that time there was a great deal of misunderstanding about Buddhism,
particularly about tantra. Many things in the tantra teachings were taken in a very literal
fashion and then led to a great deal of abuse; and this was particularly in the realm of killing
and inappropriate sexual behavior.
There's a discussion of liberating the consciousness to a higher realm and many people
misunderstood that to allow for basically killing people in the name of helping them from a
religious point of view. You take their life and in this way you send them to a higher rebirth,
but this was really just greatly abused. Likewise, people were indulging in ritual sexual
behavior, thinking that this was what tantra practice was calling for, and the original tantra
teachings were never to be taken so literally as this.
And because the king of western Tibet invited Atisha specifically to clarify these things,
therefore Atisha put such an emphasis here on keeping the vows of individual liberation, not
killing and particularly the vows of abstinence, that it's best not to engage in any sexual
behavior at all and that this is a proper basis for bodhisattva conduct. So I think that his
emphasis on this in the text needs to be understood in the historical context with which he
wrote this.
But just because he emphasized this doesn't mean that his advice is limited to that historical
period. It's something which is valid advice in all situations. In our present day, where there is
likewise a lot of misunderstanding about tantra, particularly concerning the sexual aspects of
it, then I think that it's extremely relevant today as well. It doesn't mean that everybody has to
become a monk and a nun in order to practice tantra; what's important is to avoid the extreme
of taking things in the tantra teachings literally.
The "three trainings in higher ethical discipline" is to refrain from negative behavior, which
means keeping the vows, and then (2) the discipline of engaging in constructive behavior,
which means specifically meditating and practicing the various teachings, and then the third
ethical discipline is the discipline involved in actually helping others.
Atisha says that by "training in these three," which means "by living in accord with the
bodhisattva vows," and "these are a cause for purifying negativities of our body, speech,
and mind," so we don't act in negative ways, that then, by living in this manner, our
appreciation for the value of this ethical training will grow and grow. "Respect" here implies
that we understand completely the benefits of ethical discipline, we appreciate that, we are
confident it has these benefits, and we appreciate how it helps us to be able to benefit others.
In this way we take this ethical discipline very seriously, which obviously at those times
people were not doing.
Training in Higher Ethical Discipline 39

(33) Through this (will come) the completely purified,

full state of enlightenment;
For, by exerting yourself in the vows of the bodhisattva vows,
You will fully complete the networks needed
For total enlightenment.
By keeping the bodhisattva vows very strictly and following the other types of ethical
discipline, then we are able to strengthen and "complete building up the two
enlightenment-building networks." These are the networks that we spoke of yesterday: the
network of positive force from actually helping others, meditating, and so on, and the network
of deep awareness, deep awareness of voidness. These are usually called "the two collections,
collections of merit and wisdom."
The bodhisattva vows, particularly in the set of the secondary vows, it is speaking about the
various damaging actions that would prevent us from really practicing the six far-reaching
attitudes and from helping others. If we avoid things that would damage our discipline and
would damage our concentration, that would damage our development of deep awareness of
voidness, that would damage our actual helping others in different situations. Then obviously
we will be able to build up and strengthen these enlightenment-building networks, complete
them, so that we can achieve enlightenment.
So putting great effort in keeping these bodhisattva vows is essential for reaching
enlightenment. And he's saying indirectly here that keeping the bodhisattva vows are
absolutely essential for reaching enlightenment, whether we follow the sutra path of
Mahayana, or the tantra path of Mahayana. There are, again, some people who think that you
can practice tantra without, not only without the pratimoksha vows, the vows for individual
liberation, but even without the bodhisattva vows and Atisha is asserting that that's not the
case.
Training in Higher Concentration
(34) As for the cause that will fully complete these networks
Having the nature of positive force and deep awareness,
All the Buddhas have asserted that it is
The development of advanced awareness.
Here he's saying that to be able "to complete these networks," which are the two networks,
as he said, of positive force and deep awareness, we need to develop what is called "advanced
awareness," which comes from perfecting higher concentration. So ethical discipline is not
enough, we also need concentration. Now, a byproduct of gaining perfect concentration is
gaining five types of advanced awareness, sometimes they're referred to as ESP, extrasensory
perception, but that's just part of it - there are five of these.
The first is extraphysical abilities - to be able to run very, very quickly, fly through the air,
walk on water, these sort of extraphysical abilities. The second one is extrasensory sight,
being able to see very far distances that we couldn't normally see. (3) Extrasensory hearing,
being able to hear things far away that normally we couldn't hear. And then (4) knowing other
people's and one's own past lives. And fifth is knowing others' thoughts.
These are not exclusive to Buddhism. Anybody following a non-Buddhist path as well, if they
gain perfect concentration, will gain these abilities as a byproduct. In other words, there's a
tremendous amount of information and if we are concentrated enough, we can become
sensitive enough to be able to read that information and to know these various things.
Training in Higher Concentration 40

Therefore, it's advanced awareness.
Here Atisha is saying that the Buddhas have emphasized that this advanced awareness is very
important for being able to complete these two networks. How do we understand that? The
point is that we're not talking about gaining these five in any context; we're talking about
gaining these five in the context of bodhichitta motivation. In other words, we want to use
these five to benefit others. To build up the network and strengthen the network of positive
force, that means building up positive force from actually helping others.
So, if we can see very, very far away when people are in trouble and need help, or we can hear
what's going on very far away, that enables us to be able to help far more people than if our
senses are limited to just being able to perceive what's in the room. And in going to help
others, if we can get there very, very quickly with these extraphysical powers and even fly
from one mountaintop to another mountaintop, so you don't have to go all the way down the
valley and all the way back up, and we can walk across very fast streams, which would be
very difficult to cross and so on, this would enable us to get there much more quickly and help
others.
Likewise, if we can see through walls and all these sort of things, we can also be of more help.
And similarly, if people are acting in certain ways that are causing problems, if we can
understand their past lives, we also are able to understand some of the reasons why they're
acting in a certain way and it gives us a much better indication of how to help them. And
particularly when people are uncommunicative, it's very important to be able to read their
thoughts to know what's going on, again, in order to be able to teach them properly, help them
properly.
Although the description of these five types of advanced awareness perhaps reminds us of a
bodhisattva being a little bit like Superman or Superwoman - seeing something far away,
"There's trouble!" and then they fly through the air to get there to help them - this is not really
a fiction. I've lived among the greatest Tibetan masters long enough to have personally
witnessed examples of - I haven't seen somebody fly through the air, but - of this type of
advanced awareness.
With my own teacher, Serkong Rinpoche, with whom I spent nine years living very closely,
for example, we were going once to a Buddhist center in Dharamsala and we were in the car
on the way there and, as we approached the center, Rinpoche told the people, "Run quickly
into the gonpa," into the temple, "because a candle has fallen over and a fire is starting,"
which obviously he couldn't see from the car way down the road. And of course the people ran
and it was absolutely true that a candle had fallen and the curtain was on fire.
Translator: The people that were in the car...?
Answer: Right.
Translator: He told them to run...?
Answer: "Go quickly and run inside because there's a fire starting!"
So, I've seen examples like this. Or in terms of past lives, he wouldn't speak in terms of
specific information about past lives, but he would know, "This person I have the karmic
connection from previous lives to be able to help." And sometimes people would come to him

with a problem and he would say, "I don't have the karmic connection with you to be able to
help you, but this other lama does for this specific problem," and he would send this person to
somebody else who in fact was able to help them.
And although I never saw Rinpoche flying or anything like that - he was a very fat, heavy old
man and when he was sitting on a cushion on the ground he needed help to get up - once I was
with him, we were sitting next to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the wind had blown some
pages of the text His Holiness was reading on the floor and Rinpoche jumped up much quicker
than I could have jumped up and got the pages and handed them to His Holiness. So obviously
he was able to do many things that ordinarily with that type of body one would not be able to
do.
With these different types of advanced awareness and abilities, we're able to help others much,
much more. So this builds up a tremendous amount of positive force, helps to complete that
network, and as a result of that strong positive force, that allows us to be able to build up the
network of deep awareness of voidness, because without that strong positive force we're not
able to really understand. Atisha goes on to emphasize this with quite a few verses that follow
and I think he's trying to make a point to his audience that if they really want to help others
they need to practice meditation very seriously and gain perfect concentration.
Also I think that the context of where he was teaching also plays a role in his emphasis here,
because he's emphasizing these advanced awarenesses in the context of the bodhisattva
conduct and building up the two networks. At this time in Tibet there was a lot of practice of
magic, black magic and so on. So obviously people had various powers, but they weren't using
it for great benefit, they were using it for harming others. And since people were already quite
familiar with these type of powers and so on, Atisha was emphasizing that the importance of
them is to use them to benefit others and reach enlightenment.
So I think that helps to explain a little bit why Atisha put so much emphasis on this and we
don't really find that type of emphasis in other texts. We just need to think of the biography of
Milarepa, who lived shortly after Atisha, to appreciate a little bit the cultural atmosphere in
Tibet that Atisha was encountering and the skillful method for being able to teach others in a
way that brings in something which is very familiar with their experience and show how it can
be used on the path.
We can think of a similar type of situation nowadays, not so much with advanced awareness
and magic, but in terms of technology. Rather than using technology for destructive purposes,
we can use it for beneficial ones with the bodhisattva motivation. We have our own types of
advanced awareness, because of the technology that allows us to see things that we ordinarily
couldn't see, or hear things we couldn't ordinarily hear. So this has a relevance, even if we
don't have any experience or witnessing of these specific types of advanced awareness that
come from concentration.
I'll just read the next three verses, because they just emphasize the importance of this
advanced awareness for being able to help others.
(35) Just as a bird without fully developed wings

Cannot fly in the sky,
Likewise lacking the force of advanced awareness,
You will be unable to fulfill the aims of limited beings.

(36) Whatever positive force is had in a day and a night

By someone possessing advanced awareness
Is not had even in a hundred lifetimes
By someone lacking advanced awareness.
(37) Therefore, if you would wish to fully complete,
Quickly, the networks for total enlightenment,
Make effort and thereby come to attain
Advanced awareness. It is not to be had by the lazy.
Atisha goes on:
(38) Someone who has not achieved a stilled settled mind

Will not attain advanced awareness.
Therefore, repeatedly exert effort
To actualize a stilled settled mind.
"A stilled settled mind" is referring to what's called in Sanskrit shamatha, or in Tibetan
zhinay (zhi-gnas), sometimes translated as "calm abiding" or "mental quiescence." This state
of mind is one which is one step beyond having a perfect single-minded concentration:
Not only is the mind stilled of all mental wandering or dullness and not only is it settled
single-pointedly on some constructive object - which is literally what zhi and nay (gnas) mean
of the word zhinay, Tibetan for shamatha - but in addition to this perfect concentration that's
stilled and settled, there is an exhilarating sensation, an exhilarating state of mind that is fit for
being able to concentrate on anything. So, there's this feeling of exhilaration, of fitness, in
addition to the perfect concentration - that's zhinay or shamatha, that's the stilled settled mind.
The advanced awarenesses come as a byproduct of the attainment of that stilled settled mind,
so it's not that you can get it by any other means. It's by gaining this stilled settled mind, then
automatically your mind is so concentrated, so focused, and it's so fit, it's so exhilaratingly fit
to concentrate that it is able to perceive all these things, like far distant sights and sounds and
karmic connections and so on, that normally we would never be able to perceive.
(39) However, should the factors for a stilled settled mind be weak,
Then even if you have meditated with great effort
And even if for thousands of years,
You will not attain single-minded concentration.
In order to attain this stilled and settled state of mind, you need various factors, which are
going to support that meditation practice, to achieve this. Without the support of those factors
it will be impossible to gain single-minded concentration. What are these factors?
(40) Therefore, maintain well the factors mentioned

In the chapter on A Network for Single-Minded Concentration.
Then place your mind on something constructive,
Namely one of the appropriate objects of focus.
There are generally six conditions that are conducive for achieving this stilled settled mind.
The first is being in a conducive place. A conducive place is where food and water are easily
obtainable - we're talking about the place where you do retreat to achieve single-minded
concentration. It needs to have an excellent spiritual situation, in other words, it's been
approved and sanctified by our own spiritual teacher or previous masters who have meditated
there.

It has to have an excellent geographic situation, so it's secluded, quiet, distant from people
who upset us; it has a long distance view; it doesn't have the sound of running water or the
ocean nearby. If there's water running, some people think, "Oh, it's so nice to have a
fast-moving stream of water next to where we're meditating," but that tends to mesmerize you,
it tends to hypnotize you, puts you into a daze, so it's not at all conducive for having a clear
mind and concentration. The same thing with the sound of the ocean. It should be very quiet,
without such things. And it needs to have a good climate. All of that is the geographic
situation.
The place should also have the excellent company of friends who are similarly engaged, that
are either practicing with us or living nearby. Also it says we need to have "the items that are
required for making a happy bond with the practice." In other words, we have texts and things
there that give us the correct information about the practice. And we've studied them and
we've understood them, but they're there for reference, in case we have further questions. But
it's very important before we practice to have cleared up our questions.
So, all of those are the first of the six conditions, a conducive place. The second thing is that
we need to have very little attachment. The biggest distraction is attachment to people, to
friends, to loved ones, to food, to clothing, attachment to receiving affection, attachment to
comfort, attachment to sleep - these sort of things. You have to have very little of that,
otherwise it's very difficult to achieve concentration.
Then the third thing is we need contentment - contentment with the food, clothing, weather
conditions, and so on that we have. Then we have to (4) be rid of the busywork of having
many distracting activities, like e-mail and carrying on business and worldly affairs and
elaborate cooking and all of that. Alright? No cell phones while you're in retreat and no
television either.
Then the fifth one is pure ethical self-discipline. And the last one is being rid of obsessive,
prejudiced thoughts about what we usually consider desirable to do, thoughts like, "I'm
somebody that has to listen to music all the time," or "I have to always consult my astrology
chart," or these sort of things. "I have to read a novel before I go to sleep," or listening to
music, "I have to have music, I have to have my music."
So, we need these factors that are going to give us the conducive circumstance for gaining a
stilled and settled mind. Without them, as Atisha says, "even if we've meditated for thousands
of years, we're not going to gain single-minded concentration."
When we meditate, Atisha says, "place the mind on something constructive, namely one
appropriate object of focus." In other words, we choose one object and don't change objects.
And when he says "something constructive," he's not talking about something neutral like
the breath. Although we could gain single-minded concentration on the breath, but as a
bodhisattva practice one would choose something constructive, like for instance the
visualization of a Buddha image.
Because if we are focusing on a Buddha, then this represents the enlightened stage that we're
aiming to achieve with bodhichitta, and so it helps us very much - at the same time as gaining
concentration - to reinforce our safe direction toward Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha and our
bodhichitta, so it's a very constructive object to focus on. And we want to be able to develop
single-minded concentration and stilled and settled mind with mental consciousness, not with
sense consciousness, because we want to then apply that mental consciousness with perfect

concentration to the understanding of voidness.
(41a) When a yogi actualizes a stilled settled mind,

He or she attains as well advanced awareness.
That just sums up: when we gain that shamatha state, then we gain these advanced
awarenesses.
Let's take our tea break and then we'll continue with his discussion of the training in higher
discriminating awareness or wisdom.
Session Five: Higher Discriminating Awareness,

Manifesting the Result, and Tantra
Unedited Transcript
Additional Instructions for Gaining Concentration on a Visualized

Buddha
Let me say a few words about gaining concentration by focusing with a visualization of a
Buddha. When we do this, we need to be familiar with what a Buddha looks like and this
could be based on seeing a painting of a Buddha or a statue. But when we visualize, we're not
looking at this image with our eyes, rather we are imagining it with our imaginations.
Imagination here doesn't mean that we make up something that is our own invention or
fantasy. It's based on what the standard image of a Buddha looks like, because the body of a
Buddha has thirty-two major and eighty minor physical features that each has a deep
significance, and so the form of a Buddha is very standardized. Each of these features
represents one or another of the causes for achieving Buddhahood.
When we visualize a Buddha, we're visualizing a very small figure, about a few centimeters
high, three-dimensional, alive, but made of clear, transparent light. So, we're not visualizing a
painting, we're not visualizing a statue, we're not visualizing something solid. And we
visualize it about an arm length away from us at the level of our mid-brow. And our eyes are
neither closed, nor looking in the direction of what we're visualizing, but rather our eyes are
loosely focused looking down at the floor while we visualize at the level of our forehead. And
once we choose the object and the appropriate size and so on, then we don't change. We keep
it like that.
Anyway, that's just a little bit of information about how it's done or what we do if we've not
heard of that before. But obviously, if we want to actually practice this, we need much further
instructions. Actually, it's quite difficult for most of us in the West who don't have so much
familiarity with visualization. But what's very important is, at the beginning, to have just very,
very short sessions, just a couple minutes. Don't try to push yourself to do this for too long,
then there's a danger of really upsetting the energies in the body by squeezing too hard or
trying too hard. So, one has to be very careful.
Session Five: Higher Discriminating Awareness, Manifesting the Result, and Tantra 45
Training in Higher Discriminating Awareness
The discussion of training in higher discriminating awareness starts with the second half of
verse forty-one:
(41b) However, if you have failed to apply yourself

to far-reaching discriminating awareness,
You will be unable to deplete the obscurations.
The concentration, a stilled and settled mind by itself and the advanced awarenesses by
themselves are not enough for gaining enlightenment. To gain enlightenment we have to get
rid of the two sets of obscurations. The first set is referring to the various disturbing emotions
and disturbing attitudes that we have and their seeds, karmic seeds or legacies. These
obscurations prevent our liberation from samsara. They obscure our ability to see reality
clearly.
And then the second set of obscurations are regarding all knowable phenomena. This second
set of obscurations was what we were referring to yesterday in terms of our periscope vision.
They prevent us from gaining enlightenment in the sense that they prevent us from being able
to see all sentient beings and all the karmic connections and all the influences of everything on
them and what effects all our teachings will have on various people, and so on. So, we need to
get rid of this second set of obscurations in order to achieve enlightenment.
And in order to eliminate each of these sets of obscurations we need this discriminating
awareness of voidness.
(42) Therefore, in order to rid yourself of all obscurations,

without exception,
Regarding the disturbing emotions and knowable phenomena,
Always meditate on the yoga of far-reaching discriminating awareness
Together with methods.
If we speak of the obscurations preventing liberation as basically our ignorance or
unawareness of voidness and the disturbing emotions and attitudes that come from that and
the legacies from our previous unawareness that cause this to recur, then the obscurations that
prevent omniscience refers to the habits of that unawareness. The habits are what causes
things to appear as if they were truly existent or solidly existent - they go with the
unawareness itself, where you grasp at it and believe it to exist in the way that it appears.
To get rid of both these sets of obscuration we need this discriminating awareness of voidness
to get rid of our unawareness. And we need this in conjunction with the methods. Just sitting
and gaining this discriminating awareness by itself is not sufficient.
(43) This is because discriminating awareness lacking methods

As well as methods lacking discriminating awareness
Have been said still to be bondage.
Therefore, never abandon having both.
If we have just this discriminating awareness of voidness, but we don't actually involve
ourself with methods of helping others and actually help others, then that just remains
intellectual knowledge. We don't actually apply it in a practical way. And in order for that
discriminating awareness to get deeper and deeper, we need some positive force behind it;
otherwise we're not able to really get deeper insights. That discriminating awareness by itself,
if we just approach it in a very dry way, without actually doing anything to build up positive
Training in Higher Discriminating Awareness 46

energy, it's not going to get deep enough.
Similarly "methods lacking discriminating awareness." In other words, if we just try to help
others as much as possible, but without that discriminating awareness in terms of what's
appropriate, what's inappropriate, how do they exist, how do we exist, and so on, then we can
easily have our help degenerate into a big ego-trip and that also is not going to bring liberation
or enlightenment. So, in either case it's "said still to be bondage." We need both; it says
"never abandon having both."
Then what actually is this division between discriminating awareness and methods? Atisha
elaborates this in the next two verses:
(44) To get rid of doubts concerning

What is discriminating awareness and what are methods,
I shall clarify the actual division
Between methods and discriminating awareness.
(45) The Triumphant One has explained that

Leaving aside far-reaching discriminating awareness,
All networks of constructive factors,
Such as far-reaching generosity and so forth, are the methods.
What's usually called "method and wisdom" is defined in terms of the six far-reaching
attitudes or perfections. So, the sixth of these, discriminating awareness, is obviously the
discriminating awareness or wisdom side and the other five are the method side. Those five
are far-reaching generosity, ethical discipline, patience, joyous perseverance, and mental
constancy or concentration.
(46) It is by the power of having meditated on the methods that,

Through meditating thoroughly
on something with discriminating awareness,
Someone with a (bodhichitta) nature can quickly attain enlightenment.
It does not come about by having meditated on
the lack of inherent identity alone.
For our meditation on discriminating awareness to be able to cut through our unawareness and
its legacies and its habits and so on, it needs to have a strong amount of positive force behind
it. So we need a great deal of patience, we need a great deal of discipline, we need a great deal
of perseverance, and obviously concentration, and so on, and generosity that we're going to
use this understanding to help others, give it to others.
If we have all of that, a strong positive force from that, then by "meditating on
discriminating awareness," that discriminating awareness will cut through the unawareness
and habits. Then, if we have this "bodhichitta nature," this Buddha-nature to achieve
enlightenment, then we can "quickly attain enlightenment," in other words, if we have this
bodhichitta motivation. Just "meditating on the lack of inherent identity" by itself is not
going to be sufficient, is not going to bring us enlightenment.
When we talk about inherent identity, this means that there is something inside an object -
that's what "inherent" means, that it's inside the object - that by its own power makes the
object what it is, gives it its identity. An example that I often use is: if we are driving a car or
riding a bicycle and there's somebody in a car on the road trying to pass us and beeping the
horn very wildly and so on, then it seems to us, it appears to us that "this person is an idiot,"

that there's something wrong with this person inherently, on the side of the person, that makes
them into an idiot.
It doesn't appear to us at all that being an idiot arises dependently on the concept of "an idiot"
and the situation that we're in and all these sort of things. It seems that inherently there's
something wrong with this person; they really are an idiot, truly. So, that's what we mean by
inherent identity and that's an impossible way of existing. Nothing exists as what it is by the
power of something inside it making it what it is, independent of anything else.
Even if we look at it on a very basic level, the person in the car there is made of atoms, the
atoms are made of little particles and energy - what's inside there that's making this person an
idiot? Nothing. That absence of impossible ways of existing, that's what voidness means.
Voidness means there's no such thing as this, completely absent, there never was this type of
an impossible existence.
(47) Awareness of the voidness of inherent existence

That has come to realize that the aggregates, cognitive sources,
And cognitive stimulators lack (inherently existing) arising
Has been fully explained as discriminating awareness.
Now, we have to go a little bit quickly because we don't have so much time, so I can't explain
absolutely everything here, but "aggregates, cognitive sources, and cognitive stimulators"
are referring basically to everything that we experience in terms of body, mind, emotions, and
so on.
[See: The Five Aggregate Factors of Experience, Twelve Cognitive Stimulators and Eighteen
Cognitive Sources {11}.]
Translator: Everything we experience...?
Answer: Body, mind, emotions, various sights, sounds that we hear, and so on.
When we speak about voidness, "voidness of inherent existence," that there's no such thing
as these impossible ways of existing, then we're talking about the inherent existence of
everything that we experience. Like for example, we were talking about this idiot in the car
next to us. Now, that's an impossible way of existing, that this person inherently exists as an
idiot, an inherently existent idiot. Let's use an image here: it's an idiot, somebody, with a solid
line around them like out of a child's coloring book, that "there they are," a solidly existent,
inherently existent idiot.
There's no such thing, so obviously such an idiot couldn't arise, you can't have the birth of an
inherently existent idiot, because there is no such thing as an inherently existent idiot. How
could somebody like in a coloring book be born? Nobody exists that way. That total absence,
which is what we mean by voidness - the discriminating awareness of that voidness is what
we're talking about here as far-reaching discriminating awareness.
(48) If things inherently existed (at the time of their causes),

it would be illogical for them to have to arise.
Further, if they (inherently) did not exist at all
(they could not be made to arise),
like a flower out of space.
Moreover, because there would be the absurd conclusions

of both these faults,

Things do not come about from being both
(inherently existent and nonexistent
at the time of their causes) either.
That's filling in a bit from the actual words of the text. If we leave out what's filled in here,
then the verse would just read:
(48) If things inherently existed,

it would be illogical for them to have to arise.
Further, if they did not exist at all,
they would be like a flower out of space.
Moreover, because there would be the absurd conclusions
of both these faults,
Things do not come about from being both either.
This is saying that in order to really gain this discriminating awareness of voidness, we need
to have certainty about it, certainty that there is no such thing as these impossible ways of
existing. We gain that certainty through logical conviction, through a process of inferential
understanding, through logic. The logic is what's called "the exclusion of the middle" in
Western logic. It's like, if something were inherently existent, it would have to be either this,
or that, or both, or neither. And if it's none of those, then there's no alternative, so it's
impossible.
It's saying, "If something inherently existed at the time of their cause, then it's illogical
for them to arise." In other words, we're looking now in terms of causation. So, if this person
inherently existed as an idiot at the time of, for instance, this person's birth, then there's no
reason for them to actually arise. That's not a very good way of explaining it. Let me explain it
in a different way. This is not really speaking in terms here like that. Here we don't have to
speak just in terms of an inherently existent identity as this or that, we just can speak in terms
of inherently exists at all.
We're talking about, on a more general level, how is it that something exists at all? Inherent
existence would be that there's something inside it that makes it exist in general. So, if things
inherently existed - there's something on its own side that made it exist, independent of
anything else - then the question is, how could they ever arise? If something already existed
by its own power at the time of its cause, then how could external circumstances and things
bring about its existence? Because it would already exist.
The usual example is a sprout and a seed: if the sprout already existed at the time of its cause,
at the time of the seed, then how could the sprout ever arise? There would be no need for it to
arise, it already existed. And at the time of the seed, if you say that the sprout doesn't exist at
all and that it inherently doesn't exist at all, that there's something inside it that makes it
inherently not exist by its own power. Then it could never arise at all; it would have to be like
that always.
Translator: Could you repeat that point?
Answer: If that sprout inherently did not exist at the time of the seed, in other words, if there
was something inside the sprout at the time of the seed that made it inherently by its own
power not exist then, then it could never arise.

Nothing could make it arise, because there's something already there that made it not exist by
its own power, so nothing could affect that. So its creation would be like a "flower" magically
appearing "out of space," it couldn't happen. And you'd have these "absurd conclusions of
both these faults," if you said, "Well, in one way it inherently exists, but from another point
of view it really inherently doesn't exist either." That's impossible as well.
Question: [inaudible]
Answer: The question is: how can someone with special powers, like Sai Baba, make things
materialize, like a flower out of space, without a cause?
Well, things arise not on the basis of inherent existence - there's no such thing as inherent
existence. So he's not making an inherently existent flower appear in space. There's nothing on
the side of the flower that makes it either inherently exist before he's materialized it, or
inherently not exist before he materializes it. Because there's nothing on the side of that flower
that makes it either inherently exist or inherently not exist, then through a combination of
various methods, of his concentration and ability to control the elements and so on, then he's
able to materialize something or cause something to appear which does not inherently exist. It
relatively exists, but it doesn't have inherent existence.
So, this first line of reasoning is that things don't either inherently exist, or inherently not
exist, or both, or neither at the time of their cause. So, how do things arise?
(49) Phenomenal things do not arise from themselves,

Nor from something (inherently) different, nor from both.
Neither do they (arise) from no causes at all.
Because of this, everything by nature lacks inherent existence.
Let's say the sprout, does it come from the seed? Well, is the sprout already in the seed and so
it's arising from itself? Well, that's not possible. If something was already there, then how
could it arise? That again doesn't make any sense, that the cause is the same as the result.
And it can't arise from something inherently different. If the cause has a big solid line around
it and the effect has a big solid line around it and they exist totally by themselves by their own
powers, then the effect couldn't possibly arise from the cause. The cause couldn't do anything.
So it can't arise from something different than itself.
And things don't arise from either both themselves and something different, something that's
both itself and yet something different. And things don't arise from neither, in other words
"from no cause at all." So, because of that, there's no such thing as inherent existence in
terms of things arising from self or from other.
(50) Furthermore, when you analyze all things

If they are (inherently) one or many,
Then since you cannot be aimed at anything that has existence
from its own nature,
You can become certain of the nonexistence of inherent existence.
This is the argument of "neither one nor many," and this is saying that if there was such a
thing as inherent existence, there would have to be either just one thing or many things that
inherently existed.

If we talk about "me" and "my identity," let's say as a father - I'm not a father, I don't have
children - but let's say my identity is a father, and if these had inherent existence, me and
father, with solid lines around it, then if there was such a thing as inherent existence, then
there'd have to be either only one thing that inherently exists or many things that inherently
exist. And so, if there's only one thing that inherently existed, then me and father would have
to be absolutely identical, just one thing, which would mean that I would have to be a father
even before I had children, which is absurd.
And if there were many inherently existent things, then me would be one inherently existent
thing, father would be another inherently existent thing. They'd have to be able to exist totally
separately by their own power. So then who's the father? It couldn't be me. This means that
that also is an impossible way of existing.
From all these different logical reasonings, we gain conviction: we're convinced that although
things appear to have inherent existence - this person in the car appears to be an idiot
inherently, but that's impossible, that's not referring to anything real. Although it appears to us
as though there's inherent existence, nevertheless, as Atisha says, our mind is "not aimed at
anything that actually does have inherent existence." It's like an illusion, it appears to be
inherently existent, but it's not. We're not actually aimed at something that really has inherent
existence, because that's impossible.
Therefore we "can become certain of the nonexistence of inherent existence." That's

voidness, that there is no such thing as inherent existence. When we focus on that absence,
"there's no such thing," with conviction that it's impossible, that's the understanding of
voidness, that's the discriminating awareness of voidness. And then, when we're really
familiar with that, then we no longer believe that things actually exist in the way that they
deceptively appear to us.
So, "Although that person appears to be like an idiot, an inherent idiot, I know that they don't
really exist like that. They are acting this way in terms of my concept of an idiot and all the
circumstances and so on." That understanding helps us to avoid getting angry; we don't get
angry. This is the way you get rid of the disturbing emotions.
And the more familiar we become with not believing in inherent existence, not being fooled
by it, eventually our minds will stop making that appearance of inherent existence. Then we're
rid of the obscurations preventing omniscience - we are enlightened, an enlightened being.
But for our conviction, to be totally convinced that this is an impossible way of existing,
inherent existence, we need to rely first on valid lines of reasoning, because the ordinary
perception is not going to indicate that at all. These lines of reasoning come from texts, so
Atisha says:
(51) Furthermore, the lines of reasoning in

The Seventy Stanzas on Voidness
And from The Root Text on the Middle Way and so forth
Explain as well how the nature of phenomenal things
Is established as voidness.
So he mentions some of the sources. Then he goes on:
(52) However, because this text would have become too long,
I have therefore not elaborated here.

What I have explained has been for the purpose of meditation

On merely a proven system of philosophical tenets.
So, he just mentions these things in brief, he says that it's "for the purpose of meditation," in
other words, one has to meditate on this, really think about it, accustom it, and so on. And this
is an explanation of reality which has been "proven," in other words, it has been proven
logically, it's been proven then by experience, by valid experience. Once one is convinced that
this is so, that gives us the opportunity to actually perceive this, to perceive things in this way.
So, it has been proven; it's not just an invalid set of philosophical tenets.
He summarizes:
(53) Thus, since you cannot be aimed at the inherent existence

Of any thing, without exception,
Meditation on the lack of inherent identity
Is meditation on discriminating awareness.
No matter what we focus on, nothing has inherent existence, nothing has an inherent identity.
Then what about voidness itself? Does that have an inherent existence? And how do we
actually go from a conceptual to a nonconceptual cognition of voidness? Those two questions
are very much related to each other.
(54) With discriminating awareness, an inherent nature

Of any phenomenon is never seen;
And it is explained that the same is true regarding
the actuality of discriminating awareness itself.
In this (way) meditate (on voidness) nonconceptually.
When we meditate on voidness, first we would gain a conceptual cognition of it. That
conceptual cognition would be to focus on voidness through some idea of voidness. And so
we meditate, "Well, there's no such thing as inherent existence. That's impossible and so
there's a total absence of it." How do you focus on an absence? Well, you have some sort of
idea of it: it's sort of like empty space, an absence of everything. One focuses on voidness
conceptually through an idea that represents voidness, namely an idea of some sort of empty
space. That's an idea of, "there's no such thing," a total absence.
But when we're focusing conceptually like that, that idea itself of an absence, that can't either
have inherent existence. And when we talk about an absence, an absence can't have something
inside it that by its own power makes it a total absence. So when we focus conceptually on
voidness and there's some idea of an empty space, an absence, an idea of voidness, that as well
lacks an inherent existence. We can't really be aimed at an inherently existent absence of
inherent existence; that's impossible as well.
Shantideva says it very nicely in his text, Bodhicharyavatara, Engaging in Bodhisattva

Conduct. He says that when a mind is not focused on inherent existence and it can't be focused
on noninherent existence, so the voidness of inherent existence, either, as solidly existent
objects, then mind can't be aimed at anything like that - that's nonconceptual cognition of
voidness. The mind is not aimed at inherent existence, it's not aimed at some representation of
an absence of inherent existence, it's not aimed at anything, it says.
But it has - this is absolutely one of the most important points here - it has, nevertheless, the
conviction that there's no such thing as inherent existence. In other words, to just be blank
with no conviction, that's useless. It still has that conviction - that's left - that there's no such
thing as inherent existence. That's the nonconceptual cognition of voidness.

When we understand the voidness of a phenomenon, we get a conceptual cognition of

voidness. When we go further and get the cognition of the voidness of voidness, of that
conceptual cognition of voidness, then we get the nonconceptual cognition of voidness. That's
what really will get rid of our unawareness, the cause of our problems and suffering.
(55) This compulsive existence which comes from conceptual thoughts

(of inherent existence)
Has a true nature (merely fabricated) by these conceptual thoughts.
Therefore, the state of being rid of all these conceptual thoughts,
without an exception,
Is the supreme Nirvana State Beyond Sorrow.
When we talk about grasping for true existence, for inherent existence, this is something
which occurs in a manifest way only with conceptual cognition. Everybody accepts that. But
the habits of that grasping for inherent existence are there while we have just a sense
perception. So we're not rid it by just getting nonconceptual sense cognition.
But we have it in a manifest form conceptually, with conceptual cognition. So, grasping for
inherent existence means to grasp at things to exist inherently the way that they appear, so it
means believing it. So, our "compulsive existence" in samsara, with all its problems, "comes
from these conceptual thoughts," in other words, the grasping for inherent existence.
And samsara "has a nature that's merely fabricated by these conceptual thoughts," in
other words, that conceptual thought makes up that things exist in this impossible way in
which they appear - and mind you, all conceptual thoughts have this grasping for inherent
existence - and the habits of that is what makes the appearances of inherent existence. That
also is indicated here, our samsara is "fabricated by these conceptual thoughts."
So, "the state of being rid of all these conceptual thoughts without an exception, that's
nirvana" - here referring to not just nirvana of liberation, but of enlightenment.
Atisha now supports his explanation with quotations from the Buddha:
(56) Like this as well, the Vanquishing Master Surpassing All has said,
"Conceptual thought (of inherent existence) is great unawareness,
That which makes you fall into the ocean
of uncontrollably recurring existence.
That's samsara
By abiding in single-minded concentration

devoid of conceptual thought (of inherent existence),
You will make clear (the mind) that is
without these conceptions just as is space."
The "Vanquishing Master Surpassing All," that's the meaning of the word bhagavan;
vanquished, gotten rid of all the obscurations, mastered all the good qualities, and surpassed
even Brahma.
So, Buddha said that when we have this conceptual thought, that this is unawareness. The
conceptual thought itself has not only grasping for true existence... well, conceptual thought is
not merely, as I say, just thinking verbally, the main point of it is that it has the grasping for
inherent existence. That's what is meant by "conceptual thought is great unawareness."

It is very important to identify what is the fault of conceptual cognition. The fault of it is not
that it focuses on something through an idea of it, which is what conceptual cognition is - if
you have no idea of what voidness means, how could you actually focus on it? So that's not its
fault. Its major fault is that it has grasping for inherent existence with it. That's the
troublemaker of it. So, it's this grasping for inherent existence that comes with conceptual
cognition, that conceptual cognition has as part of it, that makes you fall into samsara.
Atisha says to "stay in single-minded concentration devoid of this conceptual thought,"

and the only way it can be devoid of this conceptual thought is with the understanding of
voidness - not only voidness, but the voidness of voidness. By staying with this nonconceptual
cognition of voidness, then that will clear the mind, so that it is "without these conceptions,"
in other words, without grasping for inherent existence, "just as space is" free of that.
The second verse that Atisha quotes:
(57) Also, from The Dharani Formula

for Engaging in the Nonconceptual, he has said,
"If the Offspring of the Triumphant
Offspring of the Triumphant means bodhisattvas
involved in this pure Dharma practice

Were to contemplate this state
of no conceptual thoughts (of inherent existence),
They would transcend these conceptual thoughts
which are difficult to pass through
And would gradually attain the state of no such conceptions."
That means that if you're on the bodhisattva path, you really have to think about - this is
"contemplate" - think about what it means to be nonconceptual, what actually is the point of
nonconceptuality. When we really understand what it means to be nonconceptual then,
through meditation in accordance with that correct understanding, we'll be able to break
through this level of conceptual cognition and "attain the state of no such conceptions," in
other words, nonconceptual cognition of voidness.
Remember, when we talk about nonconceptual cognition, there are two types. There's
nonconceptual sense cognition - seeing, hearing, etc. - these things are automatically
nonconceptual, but they're still accompanied by unawareness. We're unaware of how what
we're seeing exists. That's not what we're aiming for, to just have nonconceptual sense
cognition; we have that anyway. What we're aiming for is nonconceptual cognition of
voidness; that's what we're aiming for, and that's only attained by getting rid of grasping for
inherent existence. So, we have to understand very clearly what it means, this "state of no
conceptions."
(58) When you have become certain,

by these quotations and lines of reasoning,
That all things are devoid of inherent existence
And without an (inherently existent) arising,
Meditate in a state of no conceptual thoughts (of inherent existence).
Question: [inaudible]
Answer: The question is: isn't voidness of voidness also a conception?

We could have a concept of it, that's true, but what we're talking about here is not the idea of
the voidness of voidness, we're talking about what you actually experience in meditation.
Because when you have no conception of inherent existence and then you get rid of the
concept of the absence of inherent existence, then there's no concept left. Then you get
non-conception. He's talking about the actual process in meditation.
So, that completes the section on higher discriminating awareness.
Manifesting the Result
(59) When you have meditated on actuality like this

This is referring to voidness
And have gradually attained the heat (stage) and so forth,

You will then attain (the stage of) extremely joyous one and so on,
And the enlightenment of Buddhahood will not be far.
In the stages to enlightenment one passes through five paths - these are pathway minds, in
other words, five different levels of mind, of understanding. You achieve the first of these, a
pathway mind of accumulating or building up, when - if you're following this in a Mahayana
way - when you have uncontrived bodhichitta; in other words you don't have to build up to it
with all the meditation lines of reasoning. You're able to just automatically have it.
And then you're building up or accumulating, basically, the two enlightenment-building

networks more and more and you're working to gain shamatha, the stilled and settled state of
mind, and vipashyana, an exceptionally perceptive state of mind, which has a correct
understanding of voidness. So, that's what you're working on on this first path.
When we actually gain that shamatha and vipashyana, in other words, when we gain the
perfect concentration with the correct understanding of voidness - first it's going to be a
conceptual cognition of voidness - then we achieve the second path, which is the path of
application or a path of preparation - we're applying the skills that we've learned in the first
path, that we've developed in the first path, going deeper and deeper with the understanding of
voidness. So, that second state or path has various stages and "heat stage" is the first of these.
So what it's saying is that "when you've meditated on voidness and then gradually you
attain the heat stage," that means the conceptual cognition of voidness, then we achieve
nonconceptual cognition of voidness and then we start progressing through the ten bodhisattva
stages, the ten bhumis. And the first of these is the "extremely joyous one." So he says, "and
then," basically after you achieve the conceptual cognition of the heat stage, the conceptual
cognition of voidness, "you attain the extremely joyous one," that's the nonconceptual
cognition of voidness, and then, it says, "the enlightenment of Buddhahood will not be far."
Then we have to proceed to the fourth path, which is the path of meditation or accustoming
ourselves to this nonconceptual cognition of voidness so that we're going to be able to have it
all the time, not just in meditative absorption, and that we are able to cut through everything
that's blocking enlightenment.
"Buddhahood will not be far" - the fifth path is the path of no more training, when you
actually achieve Buddhahood. But although it's possible to achieve enlightenment in this way,
it's going to take a very, very long time. We have to build up positive force over what's called
"three countless eons," that's three zillion eons of time.
Manifesting the Result 55

The first zillion eons is to get the nonconceptual cognition of voidness; the second is with that
to get rid of the obscurations preventing liberation, so in other words, no more grasping for
true existence at all. And then the third is to get rid of the appearances, the appearance-making
of true existence, that our mind makes the appearances of true existence. So it's the third
zillion eons to get rid of the obscurations preventing enlightenment.
Translator: In the first you get the...?
Answer: ...the nonconceptual cognition of voidness. So you get rid of the intellectual grasping
for true existence, the true existence which is based on conceptual thought; it's made up by
concepts of strange systems, propaganda, philosophical systems and so on. That's the first.
Translator: The second is getting rid of also the conceptual?
Answer: No, let me say it more slowly, I'm sorry. The first zillion eons is to get the
nonconceptual cognition of voidness. So, when we first get that, then we no longer have
grasping for true existence that's based on conceptual frameworks. But we still have
automatically arising grasping for true existence. So the second set of a zillion eons is required
to get rid of that. Then, when we've gotten rid of that, we are rid of the obscurations
preventing liberation, in other words, we're liberated, we're an arhat.
But we're still left with our mind making appearances of inherent existence due to the habits
of grasping for true existence. That appearance-making of inherent existence is what prevents
enlightenment or omniscience. So it takes the third set of zillion eons of building up more and
more positive force so that our nonconceptual cognition of voidness will get rid of those
obscurations. Because basically, if we're able to stay focused nonconceptually on voidness
always, absolutely forever, then no more appearance-making of inherent existence, it's
finished.
Tantra
That's going to take a very long time, three zillion eons, and if our bodhichitta is really, really
strong, then we want to find a method which is going to build up this positive force more
efficiently and quickly. This would mean that we would need to engage in anuttarayoga.
(60) If, however, through actions such as pacifying,

Stimulating, and so forth, attained from the force of mantras
And through the power as well
of the eight great actual attainments and so on,
Such as actualization of an excellent vase and so forth,
These are all methods for building up a tremendous amount of positive force very quickly.
(61) And through a blissful awareness,

that's yet another method for building up great positive force
you wish to fully complete

The enlightenment-building networks,
In other words, through all of these things we want to build up this tremendous positive force
to be able to break through unawareness and these habits and so on that would normally take
three zillion eons - we want to do that.
Tantra 56
And if you wish also to practice the actions of the secret mantras
Discussed in the kriya, charya, and so forth classes of tantra,
So we want to be able to follow all the procedures of tantra which will bring us enlightenment
more quickly. So, if we want all of that and so we want to follow the tantra path, the highest
tantra path,
(62) Then, in order to be conferred the (vajra) master empowerment,

Please your hallowed guru by all such things
As respectful service, giving him precious substances, and so on,
And doing what he says.
For practicing tantra we need an empowerment, which is usually called "initiation," which
basically is to activate our Buddha-natures. There are many, many different parts of a tantric
empowerment. For the highest class of tantra, anuttarayoga, there are four empowerments:
vase empowerment, secret empowerment, deep discriminating awareness empowerment,
sometimes called wisdom empowerment, and the fourth empowerment. The vase
empowerment has two basic parts, the vajra disciple empowerments - there's five of them -
and the "vajra master empowerment."
The first class of tantra, kriya, has only the first two of the five vajra disciple empowerments;
charya tantra, the second class, has all five vajra disciple empowerments; yoga tantra has the
vajra master empowerment as well, so it has the complete vase empowerment; and
anuttarayoga tantra, the highest class, has all four empowerments, the complete vase
empowerment and then the other three as well. It's only when we receive the vajra master
empowerment that we take and receive the tantric vows - so that's only with yoga tantra and
anuttarayoga tantra, the two highest classes.
Now remember, Atisha was teaching at a time where people were practicing tantra very wildly
with a great deal of misunderstanding. So he put a big emphasis on keeping vows and
following the vows if one is going to practice either the Mahayana sutra path of bodhisattvas
or the tantra path - the tantra path is also Mahayana bodhisattva path. So he emphasized you
have to keep one level of the pratimoksha vows, individual liberation, a huge emphasis on the
bodhisattva vows, and here, by pointing out the vajra master empowerment, he's putting the
emphasis on the tantric vows as well.
So indirectly he's saying that if you really want to achieve enlightenment through tantra, really
you need to take the tantric vows and that's with the vajra master empowerment. That's why
he specifies that specific empowerment out of all the stages of empowerment.
Now, in order to have success on the tantric path, we absolutely need the guidance of a fully
qualified tantric master and the main reason for that is that the tantric master not only guides
us in our practice, but provides the inspiration which will awaken the Buddha-nature and
which will continue to cause that Buddha-nature to grow and grow through our practice. That
inspiration from the spiritual teacher is absolutely essential. And so it's very important to have
a very pure, close bond with the tantric master.
That word "close bond" is the Sanskrit word samaya or the Tibetan word damtsig (dam-tshig).
To have that close bond it's important to "please" the teacher and so what pleases the teacher
is "respectful service," in other words, you help the teacher in whatever way that you can.
And you make offerings to the teacher so the teacher doesn't have to go out and work a regular
job in order to make money; the teacher is supported so that the teacher can spend full time in
teaching and helping others. And the main way to please the teacher is "to do what the
Tantra 57
teacher says" in terms of our practice; it doesn't mean to become a mindless slave like in the
army.
(63) By being conferred the complete (vajra) master empowerment

From having pleased your guru,
You will purify yourself completely of all negative forces
And, in nature, become endowed with the proper share
to achieve the actual attainments.
When we've established that close bond with the teacher - by thoroughly examining the
teacher, we're fully convinced that the teacher has all the qualities of a tantric master, they're
fully qualified, and we've established a close bond with that teacher and then we receive the
empowerments, then that empowerment will help us to "purify negative forces" and to gain
the activation of our Buddha-nature, which will allow us "to achieve the actual
attainments," not only the ones along the way that are mentioned earlier with the excellent
vase and so on, but the greatest supreme actual attainment of enlightenment.
Remember, in Tibet there was a great deal of abuse of tantra, misunderstanding of tantra, by
taking the sexual imagery literally, particularly in terms of monks who have vows of
abstinence, of celibacy. And in anuttarayoga tantra, after the vase empowerment, we have the
secret and the discriminating awareness or deep discriminating awareness empowerments.
In anuttarayoga we are trying to generate a blissful awareness, an extremely blissful state of

mind, through an inner yoga dealing with the energy channels within the body, because that
blissful awareness is a state of mind that is conducive, that's helpful for making the energy
winds of the body more and more subtle, which then is going to help us to be able to bring
those energy winds into the central channel to dissolve them so that we're able to manifest the
most subtle level of consciousness - that's called clear light - which is far more subtle than any
conceptual mind and so it's the level of mind that is the most efficient for gaining
nonconceptual cognition of voidness.
So, this blissful awareness that we want to generate is something which is generated, as I said,
through an inner, very sophisticated, unbelievably difficult yoga with the energies of the body.
That blissful awareness is represented by sexual bliss and sexual bliss can stimulate or help to
bring on this blissful awareness. But it's not something which is actually practiced literally,
particularly not by those with vows of celibacy, monks and nuns.
And obviously in Tibet, monks and nuns were taking all of this literally and indulging in
various sexual type of behavior, particularly during empowerments. And so that occurs
specifically in the secret and the discriminating awareness empowerment. The secret one is
one which involves something that's done on the part of the teacher, and in the discriminating
awareness something that's done on the part of the disciple. And so Atisha says:
(64) Because it has been strictly prohibited

From The Great Tantra of the Primordial Buddha,
That's referring to the Kalachakra Tantra that Atisha studied in Sumatra when he went there,
in Indonesia.
(64´) The secret and discriminating awareness empowerments

Are not to be (conferred or) received (in a literal fashion)
by those who are abstinent.
Tantra 58
He's making it very, very clear. The secret one, where the disciples have a taste of the blissful
awareness of the teacher, is not to be done in a literal fashion and so it's represented by tasting
a little bit of yoghurt and tea. And in the discriminating awareness empowerment, in which the
disciple is instructed to have his or her own experience of a blissful awareness, this is done in
terms of visualization of being in union, not literally being in union with somebody. If one
were to do these things in a literal fashion, particularly if one were a monk or a nun with vows
of celibacy, then that would be completely improper, so Atisha says:
(65) If you were to take these empowerments so conferred

in other words, in a literal fashion
While living according to the ascetic practice of abstinence,

You would be committing prohibited actions
And because of that, your vows of asceticism would degenerate.
(66) In other words, as a practitioner of tamed behavior
You would contract the downfalls of total defeats
And since you would definitely fall to one of the worse rebirth states,
You would never have any attainments.
So, he's saying very strongly that this is not to be done in a literal fashion at all. This would be
completely violating all the vows. And the way that it's practiced actually is that this is the
case not only for those with vows of celibacy, but for everybody. None of this is ever to be
practiced in a literal fashion. And Atisha says this quite specifically, saying that when you
receive this in a nonliteral fashion, don't think that you haven't actually received the
empowerment.
(67) However, if you have received (in a nonliteral fashion)

The conferral of the (vajra) master empowerment
and are aware of actuality,
There is no fault in your actions of listening
to all the tantras, explaining them,
Performing fire pujas, making offering pujas, and so forth.
Starting with the vajra master empowerment in which you visualize, you imagine that you're
embracing a partner, from there - the implication is that you're keeping the tantric vows, it's
conferred there - so if you do that "and you're aware of actuality," in other words, through
the whole process of the empowerment one is working with the understanding of voidness and
so it's the combination of the understanding of voidness with a blissful awareness - if one is
doing that on the basis of this being nonliteral, visualization and so forth, then one has actually
received the empowerment.
As a result of that, "then there's no fault in" doing all the things that the empowerment
qualifies us for, which he lists here, "listening to the tantras, explaining them, performing
fire pujas and offering pujas, and so forth."
Then, the conclusion of the text:
I, the Elder Shri Dipamkara,

That's Atisha's name.
having seen (everything to be) as is explained from the Dharma teachings of the sutras
and so on, and having been requested by Jangchub-wo, have composed this abbreviation
of the explanation of the path to enlightenment.
Tantra 59
This concludes A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment composed by the Great Master
Dipamkara Shrijnana. It was translated, edited, and finalized by the Indian Abbot
himself (Dipamkara Shrijnana) and the Tibetan translator monk Geway-lodro.
In other words, Atisha helped to translate it into Tibetan.
This Dharma (text) was composed at the Toling Temple in Zhang-zhung.

In other words, in west Tibet, where Atisha was invited and where he went.
It's the Tibetan custom to read the first lines of the text again as an auspicious sign that we
will continue studying this further in the future.
A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, in Sanskrit Bodhipathapradipam, in Tibetan

Jangchub lamgyi dronma (Byang-chub lam-gyi sgron-ma).
I prostrate to the Bodhisattva Youthful Manjushri.

Having prostrated most respectfully to all the Triumphant
of the three times,
To their Dharma and to the Sangha community,
I shall light a lamp for the path to enlightenment,
Having been urged by my excellent disciple, Jangchub-wo.
I myself studied this text first with my main teacher Serkong Rinpoche and then, afterwards,
also I listened to teachings on this text from His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
So, that concludes the teaching on this text, requested by Khyongla Rato Rinpoche. I'm really
very happy and appreciative, in fact, for this opportunity to meet with you and to offer you
this explanation. And even if there are things in this which we might not understand yet,
particularly in terms of the teachings on voidness, this is a start and it gives us a general idea
of the graded stages.
As we've seen, one of the main things that Atisha is emphasizing throughout the text is ethical
self-discipline - this is very, very important - in other words, if we want to make progress and
eliminate problems in our lives, we need to take control of what we do, how we speak, and
how we think and use our human ability to discriminate between what's helpful and what's
harmful. And when we know from our own experience and from the experience of the great
masters of the past and the Buddha what is harmful, what causes harm and suffering to
ourselves and others, then to avoid that. And when we know what's helpful, to practice that.
Just as we don't take the appearances of inherent existence literally, even though things appear
that way to us, but we try to understand more deeply how things actually exist, similarly in
Buddhist writings, particularly in tantra, we don't just take the appearance of things literally in
terms of various teachings. Whether we're talking about the sexual imagery in tantra or we're
talking about amazing stories from the biographies of great masters and so on, we need to look
more deeply to see what actually is the meaning behind all of this, so that with our feet firmly
on the ground, based on reality and being realistic, we can follow the path to enlightenment
for the benefit of all.
Are there any final questions?
If not, let's end with a dedication.
Tantra 60
We think, whatever understanding we've gained, may that go deeper and deeper and act as a
cause not to just improve our samsaric situation, but act as a cause for reaching enlightenment
for the benefit of all.
Links
{1} http: / / www.berzinarchives.com / media / audio / en / hi / explan_lamp_for_path_32bit /
explan_lamp_path_1_32kb.mp3
{4} http: / / www.berzinarchives.com / web / en / archives / e-books /
unpublished_manuscripts / bca_shantideva / translation / engaging_bodhisattva_01.html
{5} http: / / www.berzinarchives.com / web / en / archives / sutra /
level4_deepening_understanding_path / path / 2_enlightenment_build_networks.html
{6} http: / / www.berzinarchives.com / web / en / archives / practice_material / vows /
bodhisattva / actions_train_aspiring_bodhichitta.html
bodhisattva / root_bodhisattva_pledges.html
bodhisattva / secondary_bodhisattva_pledges.html
{10} http: / / www.berzinarchives.com / media / audio / en / hi / explan_lamp_for_path_32bit
/ explan_lamp_path_5_32kb.mp3
{11} http: / / www.berzinarchives.com / web / en / archives / sutra /
level4_deepening_understanding_path / types_phenomena /
5_factors_12_stimulators_18_sources.html
Links 61

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Explanation of Atisha's Lamp for the Path to

Session One: The Initial Scope

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Explanation of Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment 1

that's the disciple mentioned in the text.

So, anyway, a little bit of its background. Atisha starts here:

I prostrate to the Bodhisattva Youthful Manjushri.

(1) Having prostrated most respectfully to all the Triumphant

Session One: The Initial Scope 2

religion the teacher tries to push on people.

(2) Since (practitioners) come to have small

So, what are the defining characteristics of these three levels?

(3) Anyone who takes keen interest in himself or hersel

Actually they're very complicated. To understand the teachings on rebirth we have to

improve this lifetime as a stepping stone."

OK, so that's the initial scope. Do you have any questions?

Questions and Answers

Question: Could you read it again, the scope?

Answer: The verse is:

(3) Anyone who takes keen interest in himself or hersel

Questions and Answers 9

Any other questions?

Questions and Answers 10

Session Two: Intermediate Scope and Pledged

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Session Two: Intermediate Scope and Pledged Aspiring Bodhichitta 11

could feel, "Oh, this was all a big waste."

(4) Anyone with the nature to turn his or her back

Bodhichitta as the Entranceway for the Advanced Scope

(5) Anyone who fully wishes to eliminate completely

Bodhichitta as the Entranceway for the Advanced Scope 15

Bodhichitta as the Entranceway for the Advanced Scope 16

(6) For these hallowed beings

Bodhichitta as the Entranceway for the Advanced Scope 17

The Ceremony for Wishing Bodhichitta, Together with Advice

The Ceremony for Wishing Bodhichitta, Together with Advice 18

(7) Before paintings, statues, and so on of fully enlightened Buddhas,

The Ceremony for Wishing Bodhichitta, Together with Advice 19

Then we sit down and then Atisha says:

(8) Also with the seven-limb offering mentioned in

The Ceremony for Wishing Bodhichitta, Together with Advice 20

The Ceremony for Wishing Bodhichitta, Together with Advice 21

something that makes us more emotionally stable.

The Ceremony for Wishing Bodhichitta, Together with Advice 22

The Ceremony for Wishing Bodhichitta, Together with Advice 23

So, we'll speak about the benefits after lunch.

Session Three: Bodhisattva Vows and Commitments

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The Benefits of Developing a Bodhichitta Aim

(12) The benefits of generating aspiring minds like this

[See: Engaging in Bodhisattva Behavior, chapter 1 {4}.]

Session Three: Bodhisattva Vows and Commitments 24

(13) When you have read this sutra

The Benefits of Developing a Bodhichitta Aim 25

(14) The positive force of this is shown extensively

(15) "If the positive force

The Benefits of Developing a Bodhichitta Aim 26

His or her offering would be more specially noble;