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Global Lamrim II

Lecture No. 0296

Lamrim Volume 1: P39-L18 ~ LL6

Date: 06 April 2022

Topic: The Most Important Practice of Vajrayana is to Uphold Vows and Precepts

Greetings to all! It is time again for us to study Lamrim together. Today we will continue learning the good qualities of  Master Atisha – “that Atisha possessed the vows of the Vajrayana”. In the past few teachings, we have studied his good qualities in upholding monastic vows and Bodhisattva vows. Now, let’s turn to the Introduction to the Four Interwoven Annotations, the Chinese text, page 120, the first paragraph; it says, “that Atisha possessed the vows of the Vajrayana.” [00:33]

3) That Atisha possessed the vows of the Vajrayana [V.1, P. 39]
Nag-tso’s Eighty Verses of Praise:
Having entered the door of the Vajrayana,
You saw yourself as a deity and possessed the vajra mind.
Lord of contemplation, Avadhutipa,
I bow down to you who engaged in the secret conduct.

Nag-tso expressed praise in general, calling Atisha a chief of yogis due to his reaching the concentration of the stage of generation, in which he saw his body as divine, and the concentration of the stage of completion, whereupon he attained the vajra state of mind. In particular, with respect to his guarding properly the pledges and not transgressing the boundaries of the tantric rules, the Eighty Verses of Praise says:

Because you had mindfulness and vigilance,
You had no unethical thoughts.
Conscientious and alert, with no deceit or pretension,
You were not stained by the faults of infractions. [V.1, P. 39] [01:25]

If we interpret this section into plain language,  it is that Master Atisha upheld the Tantric vows in its entirety, as it is described in the Praise: “Having entered the door of the Vajrayana, you saw yourself as a deity and possessed the vajra mind; Lord of contemplation, Avadhutipa, I bow down to you who engaged in the secret conduct.”  Master Atisha was endowed with the capability of reaching the concentration of the stage of generation, in which he saw his body as divine, as well as the concentration of the stage of completion, whereupon he attained the vajra state of mind. Not only this is to praise  Master Atisha as the chief of yogis, but  also  especially praise him for guarding properly the pledges and not transgressing the boundaries of the tantric rules. As mentioned in the Praise: “because you had mindfulness and vigilance, you had no unethical thoughts. You are conscientious and alert, with no deceit or pretension, you were not stained by the faults of infractions.” [02:35]

Now, let’s read from the commentary from the Introduction to the Four Interwoven Annotations by Rinpoche. Next, with the monastic vows and the Bodhisattva vows as the foundation,  Master Atisha  properly upheld the Tantric vows. Let me read from the original text again:

3) That Atisha possessed the vows of the Vajrayana [V.1, P. 39]

Nag-tso’s Eighty Verses of Praise:

Having entered the door of the Vajrayana,
You saw yourself as a deity and possessed the vajra mind.
Lord of contemplation, Avadhutipa,
I bow down to you who engaged in the secret conduct.

Nag-tso expresses praise in general, calling Atisha a chief of yogis due to his reaching the concentration of the stage of generation, in which he saw his body as divine, and the concentration of the stage of completion, whereupon he attained the vajra state of mind.

“Having entered the door of the Vajrayana” illustrates that  Master Atisha entered the  entrance of sacred Vajrayana. Because he was able to reach the concentration of the stage of generation and he was able to see himself as the divine being,  thus, he fully obtained the experiential knowledge of the stage of generation. The “vajra mind” describes the samadhi state at the stage of completion. “Lord of contemplation, Avadhutipa*” is meant to describe that  Master Atisha had obtained all good qualities of the stage of completion, reaching samadhi, and mastered the highest yoga tantra of the completion stage. Since Master Atisha fully possessed all good qualities of both the generation stage and the completion stage, thus Master Nag-Tso expressed in his praise. [03:51]

 [*Vol. 1 Page 379, #32: Avadhutipa - an epithet for Atisha, means one engaged in practices involving the central channel.]

It says in the text, “Lord of contemplation, Avadhutipa;” let’s look into the explanation of a few terms in the Praise. For instance, in the original Tibetan text, the word “Avadhutipa” is used to describe one who engaged in the practice on the “central path”, and it is very easy to confuse this name as  Master Atisha’s teacher, Avadhutipa. However, according to Ru-yue Geshe*, “Avadhutipa” means the practitioners who abide by the Middle-way practice. In general, there are many interpretations as to what the term “Avadhutipa” means; here,  it praises  Master Atisha for being able to uphold the Tantric practice properly, practicing the Middle-way  instead of falling into two extremes. However, Rinpoche believed  “Middle” here means the central channel, and that those who practice the complete stages and purify their central channel  as a result are known as the “Avadhutipa”. These are two different explanations. In short, we should not mistake this Avadhutipa for the teacher of  Master Atisha. [04:47]

 [*Ru-yuh Geshe is our resident Tibetan Lharamba Geshe Yig-nyen]

Now we come to “due to his reaching the concentration of the stage of generation, in which he saw his body as divine”. Within the highest yoga tantra practice, there are two stages of practice, the generation stage and the completion stage. The practice of the generation stage primarily focuses on visualizing oneself as the chosen deity that one venerates; the “divine” in the quote here refers to the main object of veneration, that is, the chosen deity. Once this object of meditation is developed in the visualization, the practitioner has attained the generation stage. And then “the concentration of the stage of completion, whereupon he attained the vajra state of mind”, “vajra” means tightly inseparable. It is as adamantine as the diamond, which implies that no other sharp objects can break it apart. The Vajra King Jeweled Sword means any other swords could not cleave it; it is the  most powerful sword among all swords, right? The vajra has the meaning of inseparability, something indivisible. Therefore, when training in the  concentration of the completion stage, one should tightly integrate both the wisdom and expedient means  until they are indivisible; thus it is named “vajra mind”. [05:41]

Let’s continue. In the Tantric teaching, the key component of practice is to uphold the Tantric vows and  follow the guidance. If  one is able to properly  uphold the Tantric vows – to abide by the ethical discipline and vows received at the initiation ceremony - even when one is not used to meditate on the main object of veneration, one can still achieve Buddhahood  within 16 lifetimes. “In particular, with respect to his guarding properly the pledges and not transgressing the boundaries of the tantric rules”, it means that he could properly abide by all the Tantric vows he committed to during the initiation ceremony, without any transgression at all. [06:18]

We can all apply this passage for our own examination: is our perception about Tantric teachings the same as that of Master Atisha? Like, when speaking of the Tantric teachings, we may feel it is more important to attend the initiation ceremony, thus, we may want to obtain as many  initiations as possible. However, as  the guru indicated here: the key component in the Tantric teachings is to abide by the vows and guidance, which are the Tantric precepts,  and the pledges. Then, he said if the practitioner can properly uphold the Tantric disciplines - properly uphold the ethical disciplines and vows received during initiations,  even though the practitioner has not formed the habit of meditating on the object of veneration, nor is he skilled, he  is still able to become a Buddha within 16  lifetimes. For this, we can analyse our own perception. The practitioner could become a Buddha within 16 lifetimes; that is, Tantric training is swift, it is fast. However, what makes it fast? Is it because we have obtained the initiation which makes it fast? Or we are proficient in meditating on our chosen deity, the rituals, visualization, and the various mudra gestures but rather lax in terms of upholding the tantric vows and  following the guidance, or even forget about them?  If this is the case,  it  will be impossible  to reap the quick effect of attaining Buddhahood. [07:42]

Hence, we should introspect if we hold the same view, if we perceive that actually the  most important aspect in Tantric training is precepts  – which aligns with Buddha’s original instruction. Thus, regardless of monastic vows, Bodhisattva vows, or Tantric vows, the  most important aspect is to uphold the vows and precepts. And here it praises: properly uphold all the Tantric precepts received during initiation, without any transgression.  [08:15]

“Reaching the concentration of the stage of generation, in which he saw his body as divine;” – this is Master Tsong-kha-pa’s  explanation on  “You saw yourself as a deity” in the Praise. [V.1 P.39] “And the concentration of the stage of completion, whereupon he attained the vajra state of mind” explains “possessed the vajra mind, Lord of contemplation, Avadhutipa”. Among them, the most critical reminder is as follows: “In particular, with respect to his guarding properly the pledges and not transgressing the boundaries of the tantric rules.” [08:45]

讲次 | 0296 (2021-01-28 ~ 2021-01-31)

标题 | 密法中最重要的，是守护誓言与戒律

《广论》段落 | P5-L4 ~ P5-L7 成就金刚乘律仪者……犯罪不染尊。”

入门段落 | 第1册 P120-L1 ~ P121-L5 成就金刚乘律仪者......不越制限

(更新日期: 2022年4月6日)

00:00

大家好！又到了我们一起学《广论》的时间。今天我们要继续学习阿底峡尊者的功德——“成就金刚乘律仪者”。前两次我们学习了别解脱律仪和菩萨律仪的功德，现在我们要把书翻到《四家合注入门》的 120 页，阿底峡尊者成就金刚乘律仪者，看上面的第一段。00:33

成就金刚乘律仪者：如《赞》中云：“尊入金刚乘门已，自见天具金刚心，瑜伽自在获中者，修密护禁我敬礼。”成就观见自身即天生起次第，及金刚心圆满次第三摩地故，总赞为其瑜伽中尊，特赞如理护三昧耶，不越制限。亦如《赞》云：“由具念正知，不作意非戒，慎念无谄诳，犯罪不染尊。” 01:25

如果把这一段白话翻译一下的话，就是尊者具足金刚乘律仪，就像《赞》中所说的：“您进入了金刚乘门之后，能观见自身为本尊，并且是具足金刚心的瑜伽自在、阿哇都帝巴，修持隐密禁行的尊者，我对您敬礼。”尊者具足观见自身为本尊的生起次第，以及金刚心圆满次第三摩地。所以不仅总体赞叹尊者为瑜伽师之首，更特别赞叹尊者如理守护三昧耶戒，不逾越制限的行谊。如《赞》中也提到：“由于具足正念正知，因此不作意不符合戒律的事，持念不放逸、无有谄诳，您丝毫不沾染任何堕罪。”02:35

现在我们看一下《四家合注》仁波切的讲记。接下来，在具足别解脱律仪以及菩萨律仪的基础上，宣说具足金刚乘律仪的持守。再念一下原文：“成就金刚乘律仪者，如《赞》中云：‘尊入金刚乘门已，自见天具金刚心，瑜伽自在获中者，修密护禁我敬礼。’成就观见自身即天生起次第，及金刚心圆满次第三摩地故，总赞为其瑜伽中尊”，“尊入金刚乘门已”，就是说阿底峡尊者进入了密乘圣教之门。由于能如生起次第所说，视自身为本尊，所以具足了生起次第的证德。“金刚心”，就是指圆满次第的三摩地。“瑜伽自在获中者”，就是获得一切圆满次第的功德、三摩地，并且对圆满次第的瑜伽获得自在。由具足生圆二次第的一切功德而作礼赞。03:51

在这里边说：“瑜伽自在获中者”，我们现在看这个《赞》中的几个词义的解释。像这个“获中者”的藏文原文为阿哇都帝巴，常人非常容易误解，以为是阿底峡尊者的上师阿哇都帝巴。但是根据如月格西解释，阿哇都帝巴是指住于中道者；一般而言，住于中道者有诸多的解释，此处赞叹尊者为修持密法能够不堕二边，住于中道。仁波切认为此处“中”是指中脉，修习圆满次第而净化中脉者称为“获中者”。这有两种解释。总之，不能认为此处在说阿底峡尊者的上师。04:47

“观见自身即天生起次第”，修学无上密续分为生起次第和圆满次第两个阶段，修习生起次第时，主要修习观想自己就是本尊，此处所说的这个“天”就是本尊。观见自己的身就是本尊，观想起来就是生起次第。然后“金刚心圆满次第”，这个金刚有紧密不分之义。像金刚那么坚韧，就是它不能被什么利器分割的意思。金刚王宝剑就是它不能被其他的宝剑所斩断，它是宝剑中最厉害的！对不对？所以这个金刚有密不可分、紧密不分的意思。那么修习圆满次第的时候，融合智慧、方便二者直到紧密不分，所以名为“金刚心”。05:41

再接下来看，说在密法中，最主要的就是必须要守护密乘的誓言与学处，如果能持好密乘戒——持好灌顶的时候所受取的律仪和誓言——就算未惯修本尊法，十六生内也能成佛。“特赞如理护三昧耶，不越制限”，就是说能如理地守护在灌顶时承许的所有的密乘戒，毫无违犯。06:18

这个部分大家可以观察一下，自己是不是对于密法是这样看待的？比如说谈到密法的部分，我们可能会觉得得到一个灌顶是比较重要的，大家可能会非常非常想要学很多灌顶。但是此处就上师所解释的，密法最主要的是必须守护密乘的誓言与学处，就是密乘的戒律，还有誓言。然后说如果能够持好密乘戒——持好灌顶的时候所受取的律仪与誓言，就算本尊法修得不是很习惯、不是很熟练，十六生内也能成佛。所以这件事我们可以自己观察一下自己的见地。说十六生内也能成佛，密法速疾，说是很快的，但是它快在哪儿呢？是不是我们因为得到灌顶而快呢？或者我们本尊法修得很熟练，仪轨啊什么、怎么观想啊，各种手印都非常地熟练，但是却对誓言和学处马虎，甚至都忘了，这样的话，是不可能会得到它速疾成佛这样的一个功效的。07:42

所以在此处，我们应该观察一下自己会不会有这样的见地，认为在密法中其实最重要的，和佛陀最初的教诫也都是一样的——最重要的就是戒律。无论是别解脱还是菩萨、还是密乘，最重要的都是要守护誓言与戒律。然后它这里赞美说：如理守护灌顶时所承许的所有密乘戒，毫无违犯。08:15

“成就观见自身即天生起次第”，宗喀巴大师解释《赞》文的“自见天”。“及金刚心圆满次第三摩地故，总赞为其瑜伽中尊”，这个是解释“具金刚心，瑜伽自在获中者”。这里边最重要的就是下面的，“特赞如理护三昧耶，不越制限”。08:45