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Global Lamrim II

Lecture No. 0274

Lamrim Volume 1:  P36 L6 to LL12

Date: 6 Jul 2022

Topic: Master Atisha’s past life and the significance of his name, “Atisha”

Today, we will continue to study about the life of Master Atisha from the Introduction to the Four Interwoven Annotations, Chinese text. Please turn to page 96, the 2nd paragraph. What follows is the introduction to the life of Master Atisha, starting with the annotation from Master Nga-wang Rab-te (we translated as Venerable Yu in the past). It says, “When the Buddha was born, Atisha manifested himself as an elder at the Rajagrha, by the name of Bhadrapala Bodhisattva. Because Do-lung-ba said, “In Buddha’s time, the Elder was named Bhadrapala, the son of Buddha.” It means when our guiding teacher, Buddha came to this world, Master Atisha manifested himself as the Elder Bhadrapala Bodhisattva. This was one of the many lifetimes of Master Atisha. This was mentioned not only by Kadampa great teacher, Do-lung-ba, but also by translator, Trophu. The above is based on the annotation from Master Nga-wang Rab-te. [01:09]

Next, the text says, “The other name by which the great Master Dipamkarasrijnana is widely renowned is the glorious Atisha”. This is the respectful name after Jowo Je passed away. So what does Dipam mean? It means “lamp”; kara signifies “action”; sri suggests “propitious”, and jnana “wisdom”; thus, that is Dipam-kara-sri-jnana, also known as Atisha. What does the name “Atisha” mean? There were several versions: some said Atisha was a name given by the King Jang-chupo, because in India he was not referred to as “Atisha”. After Tibetan King Jan-chup-o invited Master Atisha to Tibet, he addressed him respectfully as Atisha, conferring him an honorific title, “Glorious” [as in Glorious Atisha]. However, Master Nga-wang Rab-te’s mentioned in his annotation: “This name denotes the guru is endowed with surpassing aspiration; thus he is known as Atis-a.” Because he was endowed with the purest aspiration, he was given the name Atisha. This is another way of interpreting. [02:26]

There is another account, says, “Many commentators of the science of language considered the meaning of the name to be the utmost tranquil;” that is, the scholars on the science of language considered the person who goes by this name is very serene in terms of his mental continuum; hence, that’s how the name Atisha was given. But how did Je Rinpoche interpret it? Lama Tsong-kha-pa did not consider it this way. Based on the annotation, it says, “’As Je Rinpoche says, Atisha has been widely praised for three hundred and ten years ’”; hence the meaning of Atisha that Je Rinpoche acknowledged is being superior or exalted.” Therefore, Master Ngawang Rab-te believed we should base on what Lama Tsong-kha-pa’s interpretation, namely “the name of Atisha should mean being superior or exalted”. This section is to introduce the respectful name of Master Atisha. [03:18]

Let’s continue to read the Chinese text of Introduction to the Four Interwoven Annotations page 97, it says:

The greatness of Master Atisha is divided into three parts:
1. How he took rebirth in an excellent lineage
2. How upon that basis he gained good qualities
3. Having gained those good qualities, what Atisha did to further the teachings

As it is set forth in the Eighty Verses of Praise, composed by the great translator, Nag-tso: “To the east of the Bodhimanda, there was a vast region known as Bengal; within this region there was the part known to Indians as Za-hor, and Tibetan named it the sacred  Za-hor region. This description is different from what was stated in the Voyages of the Drom-don-ba; ‘In the Za-hor region to the East of India, there was the city named Bengal’ with ‘about one hundred thousand households’. However, the former description [of Nag-tso] was adopted in the History of Buddha Dharma by Luo-Zha-BaWo; Sang-Guo-Ma’s Travel Notes kept similar account as well. Also in the Biographhy Prayers which Drom-don-ba composed for [Master Atisha] mentioned: ‘Bengal, the affluent area, was reigned by the emperor of the Za-hor descendants,’ which matches with the aforementioned records. This is the inquiry raised in the annotation. There were many great cities in the Bengal region, and among them [was the dignified city, Vikramanipura.] It was as prominent as the city, Ka-che-tsi-dun of Kashmir, with two million and four hundred thousand or two million seven hundred thousand households. In this annotation, it states two million seven hundred thousand households. There was the splendid residence for the royal family called the ‘Golden Banner’. It was the golden crown in the legend that we know of now. It says in the Voyages of the Drom-don-ba: ‘In the land of Za-hor, east of India was the great city Bengal’ so on and so forth; this requires further investigation. Its resources, power, and wealth were comparable to those of the eastern emperors. The affluence of the kingdom can be drawn with an analogy: some said that an elephant with stones inside its body was called “the leader”; [such calculus or stone can be used as special medicine;] there would be only one “leader” out of a thousand elephants. And this emperor had one thousand such elephant leaders, which represented the kingdom was affluent in wealth. There were thousand golden spokes on a golden wheel, and each spoke was garnished with sumptuous dishes to offer to the emperor; by turning the wheel, the emperor was able to enjoy the food to his heart’s content; thus entitled the emperor. Although there were different accounts, Master Ba’s teacher said, ‘By drawing the emperor of China as an analogy to the king of the east, it was just a means; there was no other reason; it is like naming the king of light or the nature of burning something as fire – there is no other specific reasoning either.’ The king of that country was Kalyanasri, and the queen was Sriprabha. They had three sons: the first son is Padmagarbha, the second son is Candragarbha, and the youngest son is Srigarbha. Prince Padmagarbha had five queens and nine sons. His eldest son, Punyasri, is a great scholar of their time, known as Dha-na-shri. He was an erudite lay practitioner who had mastered all Paramita teachings of Sutrayana. The youngest, Srigarbha, is the monk Viryacandra, meaning moon of joyful perseverance. There was a saying that he was skilled in Tantra practice and able to manifest an original altar which is not visible to the naked eyes. He had been to Tibet and performed the magic power of the dropping of hailstones at Dui-long-tso-mei, then he went to Ya-long, and later passed away in a monastery in Tibet. King Kalyanasri’s second son, Chandragarbha, is our present Venerable guru Jowo Je.” [07:04]

Now let’s take a look, I have just read the long passage on Rinpoche’s introduction. Whenever I pick up the Introduction to the Four Interwoven Annotations, I always feel that the books are beautifully printed. I remember once I went to Hong Kong to look for some scriptures; I couldn’t recall which bookstore it was in Hong Kong. I saw the scriptures published by He-yu Publishing Company. Wow! They were truly exquisite! I made a vow at that time, “I will print the scriptures as exquisite as these ones in future.” When we were ready to print the Four Interwoven Annotations and the Introduction to the Four Interwoven Annotations, we needed to figure out which paper to pick from the paper stock, the colours of  the font etc... And also the portrait of Lama Tsong-kha-pa and Rinpoche at the beginning of the  book. This picture of Rinpoche was taken while he was giving me the transmission of the Four Interwoven Annotations. The portrait and the photo are of great memorial significance, they have blessing power. Hence, everyone please cherish this publication of the Introduction to the Four Interwoven Annotations. We should study it, read it with great veneration, and then follow the teachings and practice accordingly. [08:13]

 [*Font color in annotations: red: Master Ba-so/Venerable Ba, blue: Master Jam-yang Shay-pa/Venerable Miao, green: Master Nga-wang Rab-ten/Venerable Yu]

讲次 | 0274 (2020-11-12 ~ 2020-11-15)

标题 | 尊者前世、“阿底峡”名号之意涵

《广论》段落 | P2-L13 ~ P3-L4 其殊胜分三……即现至尊师。”

入门段落 | 第1册 P96-L10 ~ P98-L14 接下来是介绍尊者......即现至尊觉窝师。”

(更新日期: 2022年7月6日)

00:00

今天我们继续学习阿底峡尊者的传，我们要看《四家合注入门》。请大家把书翻到 96 页，看第 2 段。

那么接下来我们就看 97 页的下面，说：

接下来我们看，我上面念这一大段的仁波切的讲记。每次拿起《四家合注入门》的时候，我都会觉得我们的书是印得非常好的。我很早的时候去香港请经典，在香港哪一家书店我忘记了，看到了和裕出版社出的经典，哇，实在是太精美了！当时我就发愿说：以后我要印经印成那么精美的。等到《四家合注》和《四家合注入门》开始印的时候，比如说字纸有好几号颜色的选择，然后字体确定为什么颜色......。还有我们这本书一开始有宗大师的像，还有仁波切的像。仁波切的这个像，就是在为我讲《四家合注》的时候拍的，都非常地有纪念意义、有加持力。所以大家要好好地珍惜这本《四家合注入门》这个解释的问世，要拿来看、拿来拜读，依教修行。08:13