Lecture No. 0276

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Global Lamrim II

Lecture No. 0276

Lamrim Volume 1:  Pg 36 L6 to LL12

Date: 7 Jul 2022

Topic:  The meaning of “eastern emperors”, and the genealogy of Master Atisha’s royal family

Next to be introduced ought to be the ruler of the palace, that is, the king. The [king’s resources, power, and wealth] of this kingdom are [said to be] “wealth were comparable to those of the eastern emperors.” Speaking of the eastern emperors in China, what does it mean? Again there are many versions of explanations, many of which can be found in Master Ba’s annotations. [The annotation] says, the status of this king is the same as the emperors in China. What is meant by “eastern”? Both the “eastern in Tibetan language and the “Sino” in “Zhi-ga” refer to China nowadays. As for the “eastern emperors”, there are also many speculations and different explanations. Some people said “eastern emperors” was a term in the Chinese language, and it means “the eastern dignitary” – nobleman or eminent people in the east, this is one explanation. Also, some others said it referred to the “Eastern Han Dynasty [25~220 AD].” However, there is a time discrepancy in the latter explanation. Why? Because by the time the translator [Nag-tso] composed the [Eighty Verses of] Praise and the time Master Jowo Je Atisha went to Tibet, it was around the beginning of the Song Dynasty [960~1127 AD]. Thus, [the term “eastern emperors”] should not be [referring to] the “Eastern Han Dynasty”. [00:54]

The word “eastern” in “the eastern emperors” in the Tibetan language means “thousand” in our numbering system. Master Ba also elaborated this point with many more annotations. So what exactly does “the eastern emperors” mean now, afterall? There were many various explanations. “The affluence of the kingdom can be drawn with an analogy: some people said”, meaning it was just one of the explanations, not necessarily representing the exact meaning. “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.” That is, such “leader” elephant with stone/calculus is only [found] one out of a thousand of the elephants, and this king had one thousand such elephant “leaders”; hence [he] was acknowledged as “the eastern emperor”. This statement is to describe how affluent the king is by the number of elephants he owned, hence [he] was [analogized] as the eastern emperors, signifying the affluence and profusion [of this kingdom]. [01:44]

Some people don’t agree with this, “There were one thousands golden spokes on a golden wheel, and each spoke was garnished with sumptuous dishes to offer to the emperor; by turning the spokes the emperor was able to enjoy the food to his heart’s content; thus entitled the emperor.” This is another version of explanation! This version seems to involve a very exquisite design, which was related to how the meals were served to the king. So, how affluent was this king, after all? [We can] catch a glimpse [of his wealth] by looking at how he had meals at his dining table. The king’s dining table had one thousand golden spokes on a golden wheel - this thousand-spoked-wheel was made of [pure] gold, laid out in the shape of one thousand flower petals; it looks like a very exquisite art piece having one thousand flower petals. What were the one thousand flower petals for? Laid on each flower petal were various sorts and varieties of gourmet delicacies. Such was how [the king] had [his] meal. The “thousand” here could be a counting term, maybe figuratively meaning many. [02:39]

When the king was having his meal, the golden wheel with one thousand spokes would rotate, it is probably like our rotating dining table in the modern days. Nowadays the rotating dining tables are already very common among us, back then the dining table of the king was made of gold, in addition, it was a golden wheel seemingly formed/adorned with many flower petals. When the golden wheel was turning, each dish would be rotated to the presence of the king. So the king could enjoy it as he pleased, he was therefore acknowledged as “the eastern emperor”. However, Master Ba still said all the above explanations were inaccurate! When hearing this, how would you all think? Wow! [So far] it has been quite fascinating to hear so many different explanations, yet all turned out to be still incorrect. [03:15]

Then, what comes next? “By drawing the emperor of China as an analogy to the king of the east, it was a means; there was no other reason” because it was a name used to address the king, [meaning] it was [just] an arbitrary name given by the first person at will and there was no other intention. For instance, what is something with warm/hot nature that can burn/ignite called? It is called “fire”. But why is it called “fire”? Not sure have you all asked this question while as a child? There was no specific reason, rather just a name randomly came up at initial stage. Why do we call something “water”? Why do we call another thing “fire”? Why do we call the sky, “sky”? And why do we call the ground, “earth”? Moreover, what else I also asked when I was young? “Papa, why do we call you ‘father’?” And my father would give [me] a lengthy explanation. Then [I] would repeat the [same] question over and over again. [03:56]

Here, Master Ba considered that: the term of the eastern monarch does not carry any particular implications, rather it is just a name given arbitrarily at random. “Master Ba’s teacher said: ‘By drawing the emperor of China as an analogy to the king of the east, it was a means; there was no other reason.’” This explanation was also not from Master Ba’s own interpretation, [but] from his teacher, who told him so. As we mentioned earlier, at the end the disciple is to abide by what the gurus of the lineage acknowledged and pass it down accordingly. [04:24]

So what exactly does “the eastern emperors” mean after all? You can imagine that the king must have been very wealthy, because the imperial residence was palatial and extensive. Were there really one thousand elephants? [You may imagine that] there were one thousand elephants with medicinal stones inside their bodies, and the rotating golden wheel used during dining, then there were various explanations of the king’s name, such are the few [ways] to imagine. You can expand your imagination. Anyhow, in brief, before [we] have met this king, [we] already can imagine: “Wow! This king must be very powerful and very wealthy!” [04:54]

Next,  the name of the king [is introduced to us] --- “The king of that country was Kalyanasri” the king’s name was Kalyanasri. “And the queen was Sriprabha”, the name of the queen was Sriprabha. Pay attention! Why [we] are introduced to the king and his queen? That is because this is to introduce Master Atisha to us, and they were the names of his royal parents. [Master Atisha’s] parents had three sons i.e., they had three princes: the eldest son and prince was Padmagarbha, the second son was Candragarbha, and the youngest son was Srigarbha. [05:35]

So, you all may wonder: Well, out of the three princes, exactly which one was Master Atisha? After the briefing [about the royal family, the great translator Nag-tso] then began to introduce the crown prince. The “crown prince” was Padmagarbha, right? As what was mentioned before, “Prince Padmagarbha had five queens and nine sons. His eldest son, Punyasri”, Crown Prince Padmagarbha had five queens and nine sons; and his eldest son was Punyasri, how was he related to Master Atisha? They should be uncle and nephew, right? Punyasri was Master Atisha’s nephew. Why was Punyasri mentioned in particular? Punyasri was “a great scholar of their time, known as Dha-na-shri”, this eldest son should be a lay practitioner – upasaka [as upasika is female lay practitioner]. It is said that he was exceptionally erudite, as well-learned as Panditas, and had mastered all Paramita teachings of Sutrayana. Therefore, although he was a lay practitioner who “come closer to the truly virtuous [v.1 p.194]”, he was a Pandita, he was not a monastic. So this introduction is meant for the grandson of the king, right? He was the royal offspring of the king. [06:44]

Subsequently, [we are] introduced to the youngest son of king Kalyanasri; after the introduction of the crown prince, next was the youngest son [Srigarbha]. “The youngest, Srigarbha, is the monk Viryacandra”, he was a monk. “Viryacandra” is translated into “moon of joyful perseverance”, “candra” [as in Viryacandra] means the moon [in India]. As a matter of fact, this is such a beautiful name! The moon of joyful perseverance. So why was [he] given this name of moon of joyful perseverance? Not sure if we can interpret it this way: the moon penetrates the clouds and dispels the mist, in order to bring light to people enshrouded in the darkness, therefore, the moon joyfully persists in shining brightly up in the sky. I am very fond of the moon, thus I am very happy to see this name – “the moon of joyful perseverance”. [07:26]

“He was skilled in Tantra practice“, how skilful was he with his Tantra practice? [He was] “able to manifest an original altar that is not visible to the naked eyes”. Having attained the sublime achievement in Tantra practice, he was able, by his own power/ability, to actually manifest an altar [for people to see]. This Venerable Viryacandra, i.e. the youngest prince, later went to Tibet as well. What had he done at this place [called] “Dui-long-tso-mei”, which is near Lhasa? He used incantations [and magic power] to summon hailstorm. Was that to perform a magic show? As we all know, Master Milarepa had the same capability to conjure hailstorm, but as to why [Venerable Viryacandra] would summon the hailstorm, it is unknown yet, nevertheless, [we] will check it in the Biography of Master Atisha [to be published by our translation academy]. [He] later also went to “Ya-long”, and “he passed away in a monastery in Tibet”, that is he drew his last breath in Tibet. This was the youngest son of King Kalyanasri. [08:20]

Then, since the king had three sons in total, and with the crown prince and the youngest prince introduced, [we come to] the middle one, i.e. the second prince – “Candragarbha, is our present guru Jowo Je.” The second prince was Master Atisha, his birth name was Candragarbha; candra means the moon. [08:44]

Let’s [take a pause] here and ponder on: [we are introduced to] the names of Master Atisha’s parents, how grand and spacious the royal city [and palace] was, how affluent and populous [his birthplace and] the king was, then [all the above] unveils the genealogy of the royal family. As you may notice that, in their family, Master Atisha and his younger brother were both great adepts, right? [They both had] significant achievements. Besides, both Master Atisha and his younger brother went to Lhasa, for this part, maybe [we] can check later in the biography [when  the book is available], what brought his younger brother to Tibet? And the elder son of the crown prince was also a great adept who mastered all Paramita teachings of Sutrayana. Therefore, in this royal family, apparently many of the princes and their offspring were knowledgeable in Buddha Dharma, and such excellent mastery was extraordinarily exceptional. [They are perfect examples of how they] “took rebirth in an excellent lineage”. About the word “excellent lineage,” there is a saying that goes “it is relatively difficult for people with wealth and high social status to take on the spiritual path”, evidently this statement does not apply here [to this royal family]. They were all very wealthy and with prominent social status, but they were all marvellous adepts. So [we] pay homage to Master Atisha, who took rebirth in an excellent lineage, as well as his younger brother, who went to Tibet. In fact, throughout the history, many great masters were born as princes, correct? Therefore, we need to practice diligently [to plant the seed for our future rebirth to an excellent lineage]. [10:02]

Everyone can visualize: Master Atisha was born to such a wealthy royal family living in a grand palace, with such an affluent father. However, he renounced [his royal family] to become a monk and went to such a impoverish place in Tibet. As we all know, he spent his last part of life residing in the Neytang Monastery. [I remember] it is very small when we went for our pilgrimage trip, I wonder if it was any bigger when Master Atisha was there? It seems that [the Neytang Monastery] is quite small. So, moving from such a wealthy luxurious palace to Tibet, he went through so much hardship and setbacks. The change of the external environment alone would bring incredible hardship for him to accommodate the gap [between his birthplace and a foreign land], which I have talked about in the previous teachings [like in teaching #270]. Thus, when we get to know more details about his life story on the aspect of “how he took rebirth in an excellent lineage”, we should contemplate that he came to Tibet to preserve the Buddha Dharma and pass down the teachings. [For such a good cause,] he had dedicated himself completely. [11:02]

Eng

【全球广论 II 讲次: 0276】

讲次 | 0276 (2020-11-19 ~ 2020-11-22)

标题 | “支那东君”意涵、尊者家族世系

《广论》段落 | 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 P101-L8 ~ P103-L4 这“国王的受用饶盛......这一科就讲完了。

(更新日期: 2022年7月7日)

00:00

接着应该再介绍这个王宫的主人，就是国王。这个国王“受用位饶盛，等支那东君”。讲到支那东君了，支那东君是什么意思呢？又有很多说法，巴梭法王的笺注里就有很多。说这个国王的地位和支那的国王一样。什么是“支那”呢？藏语的“支那”和“支嘎”中的“支那”，现在我们指的就是中国。关于“东君”也有很多疑点、有很多说法，有人说“东君”是汉语，就是“东贵”——东方的贵人，这是一种说法。还有人说是“东汉”，但这个说法时间是对不起来的，为什么呢？因为译师造这个赞的时候，觉窝杰阿底峡尊者进入藏区那时候大约是宋朝初期，所以应该不是“东汉”。00:54

藏文里边“东君”的“东”，就是我们数字里的“千”的意思。巴梭法王在这点上又写了很多注释。那么现在关于“东君”到底什么意思呢？有很多说法。“此义或谓”，说这是一种说法，并不代表绝对正确。“有象黄之象名为君，千象之中方得其一”，就是在千只大象之中，会有一头具象黄的大象，而这个国王有一千只这样的大象，所以称为“东君”。这个说法，就是以拥有多少象来形容这个国王富饶的程度，所以称为东君，就是指这样的富盛。01:44

有人会觉得不是这样的，“有谓于千辐金轮之一一辐上，各置一馔，来奉王前，转动其轮，王但能噉其前之食，不堪更食，故名为君。”又一个说法！这个说法好像有一个精美的设计，就是关于国王是怎么吃饭的。这个国王到底有多富呢？说看看他的餐桌、是怎么吃饭？国王的餐桌上有千辐金轮——用金子做的千辐金轮，形状有点像千瓣花瓣那样子，看起来是很精美的艺术品，有千瓣花瓣。那个千瓣花瓣是干什么呢？在每一朵花瓣上就摆放着各种各样的美食，这样吃一餐。这个“千”应该是一个计数词，可能很多。02:39

国王用餐的时候，这个千辐金轮还会转，可能像我们现在的旋转餐桌一样。现在的旋转餐桌已经各家都有了，那时候这个国王他的那个餐桌是金子做的，而且是像有很多花瓣构成的金轮。当那个金轮旋转的时候，旋转一个菜到这个国王面前。说请国王随意享用，因此就叫“东君”。但是巴梭法王又说上面所说都不正确！听到这里你们会怎么想？哇！听得这么高兴，结果还是不对的。03:15

那接下来是什么？“所谓东君，就是这个国王的称谓而已”，因为就是国王的一个名字称呼他，就是最初命名者随意取的名字，并没有其他意思。比如说具有热性而会燃烧的东西叫什么呢？叫火。那为什么叫“火”呢？不知道你们小时候有没有问过这个问题？也没有什么理由，就是一个最初随意取的名字。我们说为什么叫“水”？为什么叫“火”？天为什么叫“天”？地为什么叫“地”？还有我小时候问什么呢？“爸爸，为什么会叫你‘爸爸’？”我爸爸就会讲一堆。然后这个问题会被一直重复地问。03:56

巴梭法王在这里边认为：这东君没有什么特别的意思，就是随意称取的一个名字而已。“然余胜上师云：”“这是国王自己的名字而已，而不是其他的意思”，这个说法也不是巴梭法王自己说的，是巴梭法王的上师告诉他的。就像我们前面说的，最后弟子还是听上师的承许这样传承下来。04:24

所以那么“东君”到底是什么意思呢？你可以想他很富，因为王宫很大、广博。到底是有没有一千头大象呢？一千头有象黄的大象；还有吃饭的时候转动金轮；还有说就是他的名字，这几种。你可以展开你的想像力。总之，这位国王还没见到，就已经可以想像：哇！这是非常非常有权势的、非常非常富贵的一个国王！04:54

下面就该到了国王的名字——“其国王善胜”，国王的名字为善胜。“妃名吉祥光”，王妃的名字就叫吉祥光。注意！为什么要介绍国王和他的王妃呢？因为我们在介绍阿底峡，这是阿底峡尊者的父王和母后的名字。父母有三个儿子，就有三个王子；大儿子、大王子名为莲花藏，次子名为月藏，小儿子就叫吉祥藏。05:35

那么大家可能想：啊，到底这三个王子中哪一个是阿底峡尊者呢？写到这儿之后，就开始介绍太子：“王太子”就是莲花藏，对吧？刚才有说。“莲花藏，有五妃九子。长子福吉祥”，莲花藏太子有五妃九子；这个太子的长子福吉祥，他是跟阿底峡尊者什么关系呢？应该是阿底峡尊者的侄子，对吧？他的侄子。为什么单单介绍了他呢？“现时大善巧，称为陀那喜”，这个长子应该是一位居士、优婆塞身。传说他非常地博学，就像班智达们所通达的那样，无余通晓一切波罗蜜乘教授。所以他虽然身是“近事”，他是近事的班智达，他不是出家人。那么这个介绍了应该是国王的孙子对吧？王孙。06:44

接下来要介绍善胜国王的幼子，太子介绍完了，然后就幼子。“幼子吉祥藏，苾刍比惹赞札”，是位比丘。“比惹赞札”译为“精进月”，月亮的月。这个名字其实满美的！精进月。那为什么取名字叫精进月呢？不知道是不是能想像：这个月亮穿云破雾，要给黑暗的人带来光明，所以它很精进地一直在天空中照亮。我很喜欢月亮，所以看到精进月很生欢喜心！07:26

“此师善巧密咒教授”，他善巧密咒乘的教授到什么程度呢？“能化出真实坛城”，他获得密咒的殊胜成就，能凭着自己的能力将坛城真实地变现出来。这位精进月比丘，就是这个小王子，他之后也来西藏了，曾在拉萨附近的“ 堆隆措昧”这个地方做什么了呢？他使用咒术降雹，那是表演神通吗？大家都知道密勒日巴尊者也降雹，但是这个降雹不知道是做什么，要以后看看《阿底峡尊者传》。之后又到过“雅隆”，在“昂雪之龙寺示寂”，就是示寂在西藏。这是国王善胜的小王子。08:20

那么王太子介绍了、小王子介绍了，因为国王总共有三个儿子，中间的那个就是二王子——“善胜次子月藏者，即现至尊觉窝师”。二王子就是阿底峡尊者，他原来叫月藏，月亮的月。08:44

到此我们可以想一下：阿底峡尊者的父母亲的名讳，乃至他出生的王都有多大，国王富庶到什么程度，国王世系的族谱，然后就出现了。你看他们家里边，阿底峡尊者和他的弟弟都是成就者，对吧？都是大成就者。而且阿底峡尊者和他弟弟都去了拉萨，这个可能以后在传记里看一看，他的弟弟为什么去藏地的呢？还有王太子的其中一个儿子也是大善巧者，通晓一切波罗蜜多乘。所以这个王族，看来他们的王子还有王孙们很多都精通佛法，而且都不是一般的精通。可以说“圆满种中受生事理”，这个“圆满”二字，说“富贵学道难”，在此就不是这样写的了。他们很富贵，但是他们都是成就者。所以礼敬在圆满种中受生的阿底峡尊者，还有来到西藏的弟弟。在历史上有很多祖师都是王子出身的，对不对？所以我们要努力地修行。10:02

大家可以想像一下，阿底峡尊者出生在这么富贵的地方，在王宫里边，他的父亲富成这样子，但是他以后出家，到了西藏穷成那样的一个地方。大家都知道，他最后都是住在聂塘寺，聂塘寺我们去朝礼的时候觉得是很小的，不知道阿底峡尊者来的时候大不大？看起来是很小的。所以从这样富庶的王宫，然后经历这样的艰辛和挫折来到西藏，只是这个生活外境的一个转换，他本人要跨越何等一个适应程度的艰辛，我在前一讲有讲过。所以越是看他“圆满种中受生”的这个故事，你要想到他来西藏为了把教法传持下来，应该说奉献了他自己的一切。11:02