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Global Lamrim II

Lecture No. 0306

Lamrim Volume 1:  P40-L12 ~ L20

Date: 9 Apr 2022

Topic: Excellent virtues in the training in wisdom

Greetings to all! How nice that it is time for us to study Lamrim together again. Today, we will continue studying the good qualities of Master Atisha, and we are up to the section on how Master Atisha possessed the excellent virtues in the training in wisdom. Everyone please turn to page 128 of the Introduction to the Four Interwoven Annotations, Chinese text. The black print on the bottom of this page, now let’s read the text together: [00:28]

That Atisha possessed the excellent virtues in the training in wisdom has two aspects, common and uncommon trainings: 1) The common training in wisdom: he gained a concentration of insight that was union of meditative serenity and insight. 2) The uncommon training in wisdom: he gained a special concentration of the stage of completion. Since he attained the illusory body at the completion stage, his next rebirth is not liable to karma and mental afflictions; the path of enlightenment arose in his mental continuum; that he would achieve Buddhahood in this life. As it states in the Eighty Verses of Praise: [V.1, P.40]

It is clear that you achieved the path of preparation

In accordance with the texts of the mantra vehicle. [01′03″]

Next, let’s take a look at Rinpoche’s Introduction. The text goes on to talk about how Master Atisha possessed the training in sublime wisdom. This sublime wisdom training is further categorized into two parts: common training and uncommon training. What is the common training in wisdom? When reading this section, I am wondering what you are thinking. What is common training in sublime wisdom? The explanation is followed. “The common training in wisdom: he gained a concentration of insight that was a union of meditative serenity and insight”, meaning he achieved the union of meditative serenity and insight. And about the “Serenity and Insight – an introduction”, our Lamrim discussion is currently on the union of meditative serenity and insight; that is, what is the state of serenity and what is the state of special insight? And the concept of the union of the two, you would probably have a better

understanding when you study that part of “Serenity and Insight – an introduction”.[02:00]

“The union of meditative serenity and insight” means practitioners should apply serenity and insight in equal measure; this is what the union of the meditative serenity and insight means. As we all know, in general, the meditative serenity is achieved before the attainment of wisdom insight; by the time the wisdom insight is obtained, the union of the two is attained simultaneously. “Samadhi” is the transliteration from Sanskrit and it means concentration on a particular object or meditative stabilization, specifically referring to a mental factor that holds the mind single-pointedly and continuously on the chosen meditation object. In our discussion of the “Serenity and Insight – an introduction” [V.3, P.16~20], we mentioned that when we obtain the meditative serenity, one notable result is the state of mental pliancy and physical pliancy; namely, with the attainment of serenity as the foundation, when practitioners continue with their analytic meditation; they still need to attain physical and mental pliancy. This is to measure the cognized capacity; please bear this in mind! [02:47]

So, the common training means the attainment of samadhi – the union of meditative serenity and insight. Then, with the common training in wisdom as the foundation, there is the uncommon part, and what is the uncommon training in wisdom? As indicated in the text, “He gained a special concentration of the stage of completion”, it means Master Atisha obtained the samadhi at the stage of completion. In terms of the completion stage, it is the 2nd level of the highest yoga tantra, where yogis focus on the subtlest level of consciousness and bring the winds and energy currents into their central channel, from which the yoga state thus arisen is the stage of completion. [03:23]

In the Introduction, Master Nga-wang Rab-te (we translated as Venerable Yu in the past) annotated: “Since he attained the illusory body at the completion stage, his next rebirth is not liable to/under the control of karma and mental afflictions; the path of enlightenment arose in his mental continuum; that he would achieve Buddhahood in this life.” To put it simply, it means that during that life, he would attain Buddhahood. If Buddhahood is achieved in this life, so how could there be a next rebirth? That is to say, one is not subject to next rebirth due to karma and mental afflictions. That is, Master Atisha attained the level known as the illusory body at the completion stage; at this level, he achieved Buddhahood with the union of clear light and illusory body. Thus, this is also the achievement of the uncommon training in wisdom. [04:06]

Let’s go back to the text where it says, “Since he attained the illusory body at the completion stage.” The “illusory body at the completion stage” refers to the achievement of the good qualities tantric practitioners attained at the 3rd phase out of the five at the completion stages. Tantric practitioners during the training of their mind isolation to reach the ultimate state, they rely on the body of light to obtain the impure illusory body*; they have attained what is stated here the illusory body. Once the practitioners achieved this illusory body, pay attention! The words after that –they would attain Buddhahood instantly in this life. Hence, this is the ultimate achievement! [04:45]

[*Illusory body: there are two levels of illusory body, the practitioner advances from the impure to the pure illusory body. The difference is the understanding of wisdom of emptiness. In Tibetan Buddhism, the illusory body refers to the physical body. It is illusory, because it is impermanent. The energetic body is known as the “vajra body,””vajra” because it becomes permanent with practice of prana, nadi and bindu, also known as the “body of light,” or “rainbow body”]

In regard to this paragraph, because the content of the Great treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment does not cover the Tantric training, other than the mentioning of this part here - the good qualities of Master Atisha. I hope everyone would aspire to study broadly and profoundly the scriptures as well as many instructions from great masters who had experiential achievements. Because of “May I achieve Buddhahood in order to help living beings”, may we achieve Buddhahood as soon as possible! [05:11]

Next, let’s continue with the reading. It says in the Eighty Verses of Praise: “It is clear that you achieved the path of preparation in accordance with the texts of the mantra vehicle.” In this section, Rinpoche addressed the issue of the translation version: the middle two verses are missing from the Eighty Verses of Praise in the current The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment; nor are they found in several other editions of Lamrim. Rinpoche will mention this later; he said the Chinese translated version of Lamrim is based on the Qinghai edition; there is a remark in this edition, which indicates the discrepancy between editions over this quote. Why? That is because there should be verses in between. Nevertheless, Rinpoche said it was like this long time ago and many woodcarving Tibetan versions passed down were kept in the same manner. [05:58]

[Rinpoche explained that] it says in the Praise: “It is clear that you achieved the path of preparation in accordance with the texts of the mantra vehicle.” In terms of the Tantra vehicle, there is no path of preparation; only in the Sutrayana [perfection vehicle] are there the path of preparation, path of seeing, and path of meditation; that’s how the discrepancy arises. There should have been two more verses in between: “In accordance with the texts of the mantra vehicle, the stage of generation is thus stabilized”, meaning practitioners must master all the practices at the generation stage as the foundation. Then, what follows should be “In accordance with the texts of the perfection vehicle, it is clear that you achieved the path of preparation”, thus to make more sense of this so that we can better understand. [06:34]

While explaining this passage, all the great masters in the past only explained the quote we have now in the Lamrim text; neither did Venerable Fa-zun [1902~1980] update nor discover this while he was translating Lamrim from Tibetan to Chinese. It was only when the Qing-hai edition was about to be printed that the Ah-la Sha-ri-tong Rinpoche [1919~2001] noticed this and brought this forward with a note. No mention was made in the previous Lamrim versions; such discrepancy was not noticed in the Tibetan version, or in the Amdo or Dege editions. However, in the Praise, or the Eighty Verses of Praise, the two verses did appear in the original version of the Eighty Verses of Praise*: “The stage of generation is thus stabilized, in accordance with the texts of the perfection vehicle.” Thus, Rinpoche clarified it in his Introduction. [07:11]

[*The original quote should be as follows: In accordance with the texts of the mantra vehicle, The stage of generation is thus stabilized, In accordance with the texts of the perfection vehicle, It is clear that you achieved the path of preparation.]

Then, why is that the Lamrim has it as “It is clear that you achieved the path of preparation in accordance with the texts of the mantra vehicle”? To elaborate on it, there are five phases in the completion stage: what are they respectively? They are: speech isolation, mind isolation, illusory mind, clear light, and union. The first three phases correspond to the path of preparation of the perfection vehicle. Take heed! It is equivalent to the path of preparation of the perfection vehicle. The first part of the 4th phase is the clear light, right? It corresponds to the path of seeing, and the 2nd part of the clear light corresponds to the path of meditation; this is the approximate correlation. The 5th phase corresponds to the level above the 2nd bhumi of the ten Bhumis of the Bodhisattva – the stainless bhumi. Actually, in the Tantric scriptures, the five paths of the perfection vehicle were not mentioned. Thus, we can only do the cross reference to show the five phases of the mantra vehicle in comparison to the five paths of the perfection vehicle. However, we cannot conclude that Master Atisha was the practitioner at the path of preparation in accordance with the Tantric scriptures. Rather, what we can assert is, from the perspective of the Tantric scriptures, Master Atisha's achievement was equivalent to that of a practitioner at the path-of-preparation in the Sutrayana [perfection vehicle]. [08:18]

What is mentioned above is my brief explanation with a view to widen the scope of our reading! By reading extensively and deepen the exploration, I hope everyone can develop very strong aspiration toward the extensive stages of the path. During their meditation practice/cultivation, especially while reading such pure and perfect instructions from this lineage, many practitioners set their aspiration on “May I achieve Buddhahood in order to help living beings” in the very beginning and motivated to attain Buddhahood as quickly as they can. While discussing the good qualities of Master Atisha, we can notice the transition he took from Sutrayana [perfection vehicle] to Tantrayana [mantra vehicle], traversing over the stages of the path. He manifested how an eminent practitioner, with the leisure and opportunity monastic form, could have such extraordinary achievement. He is truly an epitome we should look up to! [09:07]

讲次 | 0306 (2021-03-04 ~ 2021-03-07)

标题 | 成就慧学之功德

《广论》段落 | P5-LL2 ~ P5-LL1 成就慧学中……显是加行道。”

入门段落 | 第1册 P128-LL4 ~ P129-LL1 成就慧学......如显教论中”这两句。

备注 | 四家合注《白话校注集》第1册 P131-LL8注释② ~ P132-LL3注释⑪完 奢摩他......显教中的加行道行者。

(更新日期: 2022年4月9日)

00:00

大家好！很高兴又到了我们一起学习《广论》的时间，今天我们要继续学习阿底峡尊者的功德，到了阿底峡尊者成就慧学这样的功德。请大家把书翻到《四家合注入门》128 页，看最下面的那一段黑字的部分。现在跟我看原文： 00:28

下面我们来看仁波切的讲记。下面说具足殊胜的慧学，这个殊胜慧学也分成共与不共两种，那么具足共通的殊胜慧学是指什么呢？看到这个问题的时候，不知道大家心里有没有什么想法？什么是共通的殊胜慧学呢？下面就有解释了。“共者，谓得止观双运毘钵舍那三摩地”，就是指获得了止观双运。那么现在我们在《广论》后面的奢摩他部分正好是讲到止观双运，什么是得止、什么是得胜观？然后止观双运这个概念，可能大家听到那部分会对这部分更清晰一些。02:00

“止观双运毘钵舍那三摩地”，就是指寂止和胜观两者的力量相等运行，就被称作止观双运。我们知道说一般是先获得奢摩他，之后获得毗钵舍那，获得毗钵舍那的时候就同时获得了止观双运。“三摩地”是梵语的音译，义为等持、定，指专注在所缘上的一种心所。在我们讲奢摩他的部分的时候，注意到说得止的时候有一个身心轻安，在得止的基础上继续观慧去观察的时候，还要有个身心轻安，这是一个量，大家别忘了！02:47

“共者”就是获得了止观双运的三摩地。那么，在共道的基础上还有“不共”，“不共”是什么呢？就是“谓得圆满次第殊胜三摩地”，就是指获得了圆满次第的三摩地。那么“圆满次第”，是无上瑜伽密法的第二个次第，以修力令风息进入安住并融入中脉，由此产生的瑜伽即是圆满次第。03:23

再回头我们再看一下，这里边涉及到说“圆满次第幻化身”，这个“圆满次第幻化身”就是指圆满次第五个阶段中第三个阶段的时候所获得的功德。密乘行者在修习心远离到达究竟，依靠喻光明获得了不净幻身的时候，就获得了此处所说的幻化身，修行者一旦获得此身的话——注意！后面那几个字——就决定了即身成佛。所以就是一个最圆满的成就吧！04:45

关于这一段，因为《菩提道次第广论》主要是没有涉及到密法的部分，这就涉及到阿底峡尊者功德的部分讲到这一点，希望大家能够发起对于经典还有实证的很多教授，进行广泛地、深入地学习的这样的一个希求心，因为“为利有情愿成佛”，愿速疾成佛！05:11

下面我们接着看。“如《赞》中云：‘如密咒乘教，显是加行道。’”在这一个部分仁波切讲了一个翻译版本的问题，这个“《赞》中云”这句话，中间还有《八十赞》中的两句，在这个《菩提道次第》的引文中、在一些版本里没有出现。下面会讲到，汉文翻译这个版本是青海版的，这个书上是有个记号的，这里边有个问题，这两句有点不通，为什么？因为它中间有偈子。但师父说：很早以前就是这样的，很多木刻版当中也全部都是这样流传下来的。05:58

说：“如密咒乘教，显是加行道。”密乘并没有说加行道，显乘才有说加行道啊、见道啊、修道，所以有个问题。应该另外加上两句：“如密咒乘教，生次必坚固”，就指获得坚稳的生起次第，接着再加上后面那句：“如显教论中，显是加行道”，这样就很恰当，就可以理解了。06:34

但是过去的大师在解释的时候，都是现在这两句，法尊法师翻译的时候也没有去更正、没有发现。在这个青海版在印行的时候，有个阿拉・夏日东仁波切提出了这个问题而做了记号，可是在过去的《广论》版本当中都是没有的，西藏的版本也没有，安多的、德格版的都没有。但是，因为它那个《赞》就是《八十赞》，在《八十赞》的原文中就有出现“生次必坚固，如显教论中”这两句，所以在这个部分交代一下。07:11

那为什么会“如密咒乘教，显是加行道”呢？如果解释一下，在圆满次第中有五个阶段，分别是什么？语远离、心远离、幻身、义光明、双运。前三个阶段相当于显教的加行道，注意！是相当于显教的加行道；第四个阶段的前段——第四个阶段就是义光明，对吧？义光明的前段——就属于见道，后段属于修道，这都相当于的；第五个阶段相当于菩萨十地中的第二地无垢地以上。密乘的教典中其实并没有宣说显教所说的五道，因此仅能把密法五次第与显教的五道相对照一下，但不能说依照密乘的教典来看，尊者是加行道的行者，只能理解为密乘教的教典来看，尊者相当于显教中的加行道行者。08:18

给大家略微了解一下，扩展我们的阅读吧！深广阅读，希望大家对广大的道次能够生起很强的希求心。因为很多很多的修行者在修行的时候，尤其是读到了这么清净圆满的传承教授的时候，都一开始就要发心“为利有情愿成佛”，而且要速疾成佛。所以在讲到阿底峡尊者的功德的时候，我们会看到由显入密，跨越了这样的道次第，显示了一个修行者在他示现为比丘的一个暇满人身的阶段中，他能显现的成就的高度，令人心生渴仰啊！09:07