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Global Lamrim II

Lecture No. 0008

Tape no.

1A 18:26 ~ 22:42

Date

2018/04/26 ~ 04/29

Outline: Foundation

Topic: History of Buddhism in Tibet

Vol. 1 of Master’s discourse handbook P10 LL1 – P12 LL5

Very well, let’s continue listening to next section from Late Master.

[Venerable Jih-Chang’s commentary book 1, tape 1A on page introduction-10~11]

In addition to the written language and the establishment of national policy, most importantly, Buddhism also laid its foundation in Tibet at that time. Three generations after that, the third Emperor Trisong Detsan, who was also a fabulous emperor of Tibet, invigorated Buddhism and invited a highly accomplished master, Santarakṣita, to spread Buddhism in Tibet. Hence, Tibet officially had the “Three Jewels”, including the establishment of the Sangha. However, at that time in Tibet, there was an indigenous religion called the Bon, also known as the Dark Bon religion. It was strongly influenced by local ghosts and divinities! Therefore, there was a strong counterforce from both the Tibetan people and the ghosts and divinities of the Dark Bon. In fact, we can see its similarity to the Eighteen Lords [in Taiwan] and so on. Those divinities and ghosts have their force. The Dark Bon could cast spells and perform all kinds of strange tricks. Thus, Tibet encountered various demonic obstacles while establishing Buddhism. [01′39″]

Santarakṣita was a great master who said, “I have no power to surmount such evils. Now, in India, there is a great Buddhism adept, Padmasambhava. If you can invite him to Tibet, the problem will be subdued.” Thereby, the Tibetan King endeavored to do so. At that time, causes and conditions had matured so this great adept was already traveling from India to the east and had just arrived at Nepal. The envoy sent by the Tibetan King met him there and invited him to Tibet. Having invited Padmasambhava, who had attained perfection of both Vajrayana and Sutrayana Buddhism, [they asked him to] perform many sacred rites. In doing so, he tamed various demons and ghosts one by one and spread Buddhism widely [in Tibet]. [02′39″]

There are two great eminent Monks mentioned in this section. One is the great commentator Santarakṣita*, who was invited by emperor Trisong Detsan*. That was also the time when Tibet began to have the Three Jewels and started their Sangha community. The other one is Padmasambhava*, who was later highly recommended to be invited by Venerable Santarakṣita. Nowadays, many of us are quite familiar with Padmasambhava, however more than 2 decades ago not many knew about him. So, these two distinguished Masters were invited to Tibet. [03 Tibe [*Santarakṣita: a great Middle-way teacher. *Trisong Detsan: He ruled from AD 755 until 797 or 804. The empire he inherited had declined somewhat from its greatest extent under the first Dharma King, Songtsen Gampo. *Padmasambhava: the name literally means lotus-born, known to Tibetan as Guru Rinpoche. He was an 8th-century Indian Buddhist master. He is widely venerated as a “second Buddha” across Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Himalayan states of India, and whoever believes in Tibetan Buddhism.] [03′13″]

Here, Master brought up Bon religion in passing. I remembered, in the past, I asked Late Master’s opinion about learning [Buddhism] scriptures in the Tibetan region. At that time, Late Master urged me very earnestly, “If you go to such a faraway place to study,you must abide with a virtuous teacher! If you don’t follow the virtuous teacher and barge about on your own, it could have been chaotic. It is likely that, you may not be able to differentiate the Buddhist and Bon's monks. It is impossible to tell the difference from their clothes appearance. You might be learning from the Bon religion without much realization. Hence, at that time Master specifically and strongly emphasized if one wanted to go for the teaching, one must rely on a virtuous teacher. One must abide by the guidance from the virtuous teacher, instead of barging around on one’s own. [Why?] Because we lack the discerning vision for the (correct) teaching, not to mention the unfamiliarity one might feel about the locality and the language barrier. Everything is so foreign to us. Back then, Master also urged specifically, “(We) Must follow a virtuous teacher. Only by entrusting a true virtuous teacher can one obtain the wisdom of discerning vision from the teacher. With that, one is able to determine the actual path for advancement on the learning of the teaching - a true path to hear the pure sublime teaching, without wasting precious time.” [04′37″]

So in this section, Master mentioned these two great Masters. They brought Three Jewels to Tibet initially. Followed by taming demons and all sorts of vanquishing works, which was performed by Padmasambhava. Let’s continue with our listening. [04′49″]

[Venerable Jih-Chang’s commentary book 1, tape 1A on page introduction11~12]

However, because [Buddhism] had just been founded and the foundation was newly established, the foundation was not stable and it declined again not long after the departure of Padmasambhava. A hundred years later, there was a serious tragedy. A few generations after Emperor Trisong Detsan, I can’t remember how many generations, there was an emperor called Langdarma. He was anti-Buddhist and under the influence of the Dark Bon religion. This king destroyed Buddhism entirely. [05′35″]

This was equivalent to what Emperor Wu-zong did during the Tang dynasty. In Chinese history, there were also the “Disasters of Three Wu and One Zong.” Those four emperors were opposed to Buddhism and, by royal order, demolished temples and forced monks to disrobe. Langdarma did the same in Tibet – he destroyed Buddhism entirely! After that, it totally collapsed and was unable to recover. In China, Buddhism had already been well established so it recovered to some extent even after the Three Wu’s destruction. In Tibet, where it recovered, it was distorted. Another hundred years later, Buddhism [in Tibet] was extremely chaotic, extremely chaotic. Usually, everyone applies personal imagination or personal view, so Let’s try to visualize these chaotic situations. [06′32″]

Did all of you listen with earnest attention? After Santarakṣita and Padmasambhava, something very tragic happened, the destruction of Buddhism by Langdarma. The depth of his damage done to Dharma was deep and extensive. At that time, there were only 3 monks left in Tibetan area. Some novice monks requested to take the monastic vows, but there must be at least 5 monks in order to transmit the monastic vows. Thus, they invited 2 monks from Han Dynasty China and, together with the 3 local monks in Tibet, they performed the transmission of monastic vows. Thus, up till now, there is the blue trim on the Tibetan monastic robe. That blue trim is to commemorate the passing of monastic vows from China to Tibet. I am wondering if you have noticed the blue trim on their robes. It is evident that the dissemination of Dharma is truly and extremely arduous! [07′36″]

讲次 0008

科判 道前基础

主题 西藏佛法历史

音档 1A 18:26 ~ 22:42

日期 2018/04/12 ~ 04/15

手抄页/行 1册 P10-LL1 ~ P12-LL5　( 2016 南普陀版：1册 P10-LL4 ~ P12-L9 )

手抄段落 那么除了文字以外……情况我们可以想见。

好，那我们再听下一段。

那么除了文字以外，制定法律，最主要地佛法那个时候奠了基。之后有一个皇帝叫持松德贞，或叫赤松德贞，这个也是一个非常了不起的皇帝、藏王。那么他又大大地振兴佛法，从印度请了一位大成就者，大成就者所谓静命大论师，到西藏去弘法，所以西藏的正式有三宝所谓僧伽等等，从那位大师开始的。不过当时西藏的地方上面有一种土著的教，叫作苯教，我们有的时候称它为黑苯教，那个势力很强，那是民间的鬼神这些。所以不但民间反对势力很强，而且黑苯教里那个鬼神，那个东西还是很有力量的。其实我们现在世间也是一样，你看什么十八王公啊或者什么，那种鬼神是有他的力量。那黑苯教里边，他们还有他们的什么咒术啊，各式各样的这种怪招，所以这个佛法刚进去的时候遭到了种种魔难。 [01′39″]

那么这个静命大师，这是一位了不起的成就者，就说：「像这种魔难，我没有力量克服它，现在印度有一位佛教的大成就者——莲花生大士，如果请到他的话，那一定没有问题。」那么这个藏王就努力去请。这也是因缘成熟，那个时候那位大师也正好从印度向东方走，那么正好到尼泊尔，于是藏王派去的使者遇上，就把他请进去。请进去了以后，这个莲花生大士是显密圆融的成就者，他有种种的殊胜的方法，所以把那些各式各样作祟的妖魔鬼怪一一降服，大弘教法，这样，大弘教法！ [02′39″]

在这里边提到了两位伟大的高僧，一位就是赤松德赞那个时候迎请的静命大论师——也是从那个时候开始有三宝、开始有僧伽；后来，静命论师说还是要请莲花生大士——莲花生大士现在我们知道的人就多了，可能二十多年前知道的人也不多。所以这两位大师都被迎请到了西藏。 [03′13″]

在这里边，师父还顺便介绍了一下苯教。像以前我也跟师父说我要去哪儿学习呀、去藏地学习呀、学经典啊，那时候师父就非常非常殷重地叮咛说：「去那么远的地方学习的话，一定要跟随一个善知识！因为如果你不跟随善知识、你自己乱闯的话，实际上到了那里之后，你可能都分不清楚佛教和苯教的出家人，就外表的僧服都看不出来，你可能都学了苯教还不知道。」所以师父那个时候就特别特别强烈地建议说去求法一定要依止善知识，跟随善知识的指导，不要自己乱闯，因为我们并没有择法眼，也不知道当地的状况是什么，语言也有隔阂，什么都是不熟的。所以当时师父还特别特别嘱咐说：「一定要跟随善知识，这样的话我们才能够参访到真正的善知识，才能够从善知识那里得到择法慧，然后去选择一条真正的求法的路，真正地能够听闻到清净正法的路，而不辜负了大好的光阴。」 [04′37″]

所以在这里边提到了这两位大师，首先把三宝带到了藏地，接着降魔呀、做了各种降伏的事业，那就是莲花生大士。大家再接着听： [04′49″]

不过因为刚开始初初建立，虽然刚开始是建立了，等到莲花生大士走了不久，它那个基础没有稳固，所以很快地又衰下来了，衰下来了。再加上过了一百多年以后，就发生了一个很不幸的事情。就是那个赤松德贞又传了几代以后，我一下子记不住几代，它那个一个皇帝叫朗达玛，他反对佛法，反对佛法，所以皇家听了那个黑苯教的影响，整个把佛法摧毁，整个摧毁。 [05′35″]

那个时候相当于我们的唐朝唐武宗，我们中国历史上面也曾经所谓「三武一宗之难」，那几个皇帝都是反对佛法的，以皇家的命令把庙拆掉，叫和尚还俗。那个时候朗达玛也是这个样，所以把它彻底地摧毁掉，摧毁掉了以后，后来那简直是一蹶不振。在我们中国来说的话，因为已经很普遍了，所以这个三武虽然摧了以后，还可以恢复一点，西藏简直是恢复以后就不成样子。那么就这样经过了一百多年的时候，那个教法是非常地乱、非常地乱，平常的时候大家都是凭个人的想像，凭个人的想像，所以这个凌乱的情况我们可以想见。 [06′32″]

不知道刚才大家有没有认真听哦？在静命大师和莲花生大士之后，发生了非常不幸的事情，就是朗达玛破坏佛法，他破坏佛法的深度是很深的，状况是很惨的。当时藏区只剩下三位比丘，有出家人想要求受比丘戒，但是因为至少必须有五位比丘才能传比丘戒，所以就从汉地请来两位比丘，再加上原本的三位比丘，一起为藏区的出家人传授了比丘戒。所以到现在为止，藏系出家人的僧服上有一块蓝布，那块蓝布就是为了纪念和感恩汉族的出家人把比丘戒传给了他们。不知道你们有没有留心，他们的袈裟上有一块蓝布？可见佛法的弘传是非常非常不容易的！ [07′36″]