This
extremely
magnificent mandala of great mantric spells, this extreme profundity, this un- fathomable immeasurable, this much more secret than secret, this which is not properly taught to sinful beings -you, 0 Vajrapal)i, proclaim it very rarely !
Thurman-Robert-a-F-Tr-Tsong-Khapa-Losang-Drakpa-Brilliant-Illumination-of-the-Lamp-of-the-Five-Stages
The Terminal Action Investi- gation - which determines the four voids - is taken as authoritative [by
Chandrakirti] in the Illumination of the Lamp. However, in the transla- tion we have nowadays, there are 160 instinctual imaginations explained in the summary; in the detailed explanation, the eighty instincts are not completely listed, and it seems to abbreviate them into fifty-four instincts; so it seems to have the faults of an incorrect Tibetan book or of a transla-
tion of a faulty Indian text.
28 See above, p. 67 (Tib. 20b ). There does not seem to be such a work in the Tengyur. and Tsong Khapa here, though he refers to a text accessible to him, indicates it to be a later work perhaps written in Tibet, referring to a very late Indian commentary on the Illumi-
29 Tsong Khapa here refers to a text that we no longer have. Kuladhara is not in the DharmaIndex,Toh. cat. ,ortheBlueAnnals. KramaTantricismofKashmir(VolI. p. 156) by Navjivan Rastogi (a book on Kashmiri Shaivism) has this entry: "Kuladhara (950- 1000 A. D. ). We know nothing about him except that he directly came into the line of the
gupta. " EBL 28b says he iii a Kashmiri, and 29b names this commentary he wrote on the
? ? [IV. B. - How the treatises of the other three sons were composed]
nation of the Lamp.
Stotrakara after Bhaskara. He, therefore. appears to be a contemporary of Abhinava-
Illumination ofthe Lamp.
78 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
There are many texts falsely attributed to this master; there are three commentaries on the Five Stages claimed to be his: the Jewel
the Clear Meaning. and the Concise Source on the Stages. The first of these was accepted as authority by many Tibetan mentors, but [then] more contemporary sages considered it and the Clear Meaning false. In the first one. there are many things in its way of elucidating the Community that disagree with the Noble father and son: it seems to claim
that the text of Buddhajiianapilda, a disciple of the master Haribhadra who accepted Chandrakirti's text as authority, was the text of Nagabodhi, itself accepted as authority by Chandrakirti; and it seems to be unable to determine decisively whether Nagarjuna or his disciple Shakyamitra wrote the Second Stage. So it seems merely falsely attributed to Naga- bodhi. Also the claim that the commentary, Clear Meaning, was composed
by him is merely a false attribution.
The Concise Source on the Stages was accepted as Nagabodhi's by
Tibetan sages, though the translator Chag asserted it was written by another scholar of the same name "Nagabodhi. " [27al This text claims that the six stages from creation stage up to communion stage each has six [recapitulative] stages within itself, just as in the Ornament of Realiza- tions each of the six transcendences has six [transcendences] within itself. When the pattern of such containment is explained, though, it seems that each stage has five meditative stages within it; it is not made definite. For example, in the context of mind isolation, there is stated the creation stage of creating the deity from moon and vajra etc. , and this is asserted to be
the "mind-isolation creation stage. " Thus there is no distinction between explaining it in the context of that stage and practicing it as contained in the practice of that stage. Since there seem to be many such [garbled] explanations, they could only be made by a text falsely attributed to Naga- bodhi. It seems this text and the Jewel Rosary were composed by some otherIndian [scholar].
As for the works of master Shakyamitra, we have already explained the way he wrote the Second Stage. 30 The Integrated Practices Commen- tary said to be by SMkyamitra might just possibly be by some author of
30 See above, p. 74 ff.
Rosary
.
? Chapter /-Introduction ? 79
a similar name, but if it is supposed to be the Shakyamitra disciple of the Noble [Nagarjuna] it is definitely not his work. 31
As for the works of master Chandrakirti, his Illumination of the Lamp is extremely famous. The Six-Branched Yoga attributed to him seems to diverge from the content of the twelfth chapter of the Lamp. His
Vajrasattva Performance [Sadhana] was commented on by Tathagata- rak? hita and Lalitavajra, and was also accepted as a Chandrakirti text by the (27b1 Magadha Par:t4it Munishribhadra. As for a root text and auto- commentary called Ornament ofRealization ofthe Community attributed to him, the Tibetan sages thought it worthy of investigation. These might possibly be written by someone with a similar name, but they seem only false attributions if we suppose the Chandrakirti in question to be the author of the Illumination ofthe Lamp.
Now, Aryadeva, Nagabodhi, and Shakyamitra were the most fa- mous disciples of the Noble one; still, the Marpa Esoteric Community tradition accepts Mataugi as the Noble one's disciple. Chandrakirti was accepted as the Noble [Nagarjuna] ' s [direct] disciple by former mentors such as Master Go [the translator]. Some Tibetan Madhyamikas claim that Chandrakirti did not meet the Noble [Nagarjuna], since [Chandra- kirti] stated at the end of the Lucid Exposition:
Due to the fact that there has been a decline [in the tradition] over such a long time since the [writing of the] treatises of the Noble one and his disciple, nowadays their interpretive tradition is not clear. 32
That reason is uncertain; Chandrakirti attained the state of scientist-adept and lived a long time, according to the report relayed by the translator
31 It is interesting that Tsong Khapa and colleagues are quite ready to consider that differ- ent Indian scholars with the same name could cause confusion as their works could be attributed to each other. The fact that they think thus critically about questions of author- ship and false attribution, requires us to take more seriously their insistence that Nagar- juna, Aryadeva, Chandrakirti, and many others who wrote important Tantric treatises
were the same persons who also wrote well-known philosophical treatises.
32 This passage in the Derge redaction (see note to Tibetan text) gives more detail than in Tsong Khapa's paraphrase: "There has been a decline for a long time in the treatises written by the bodhisattva Nagarjuna, who went to the Sukhavati buddhaverse, and in the
? society of his disciples; since his sun has set, the interpretive tradition is not at aU clear. "
80 ? Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
Patsab transmitting what the adept Vajrasanaguru had said. Therefore, it is not contradictory that by the end of his life span the treatises and dis- ciples of Nagarjuna had declined and yet that he had himself already met Nagarjuna. 33 Therefore, the Tibetan sages accept the statement that "Chandrakirti was the disciple of the Noble one ! " according to the asser- tion of the glorious Atisha that he was the [direct] disciple of Nagarjuna.
[28a]
Chandrakirti discovered the imports of the Community from Nagarjuna. In this regard, Bhavyakirti commented [in his Commentary on the Illumi- nation of the Lamp, entitled the Extreme Illumination of the Lamp] :
He says he discovered [the profound import] by the grace of glorious Nagarjuna; and this indicates he was a personal disciple in the presence of the illustrious Nagar-
juna, and not an indirect one.
And [the tradition] that the Brahmin Rahulabhadra-Saraha instructed Nagarjuna and [also] instructed Chandrakirti was recounted along with their virtues, by [Bhavyakirti's] Extreme Illumination ofthe Lamp:
In the city of Konkana,
On the peak of Shri Parvata, The man first having lived there In the place of solitude.
He was like the Lord of humans and gods. He taught the supreme Dharma
33 There is also the point that the Lucid Exposition is an exoteric philosophical text, and so Chandra was referring to the long time since the writing of Nagarjuna's exoteric works such as the Wisdom. Or perhaps Chandra wrote those words in that colophon early in his own career, before he attained the stage of scientist-adept.
As the Illumination ofthe Lamp declares:
Having discovered, through the grace of Nagarjuna, [the meaning of the Esoteric Community] , sealed by all the buddhas, standing with the two stages,
[1], Chandrakirti, bow to the Glorious Lord Vajrasattva, and will explain it systematically.
? Chapter /- Introduction ? Received from the mouth of Rahula[bhadra-Saraha].
May he triumph here on this earth!
Having propitiated that very [master Rahulabhadra] That yogi obtained the Universal Vehicle,
He achieved the [eighth] stage, working to help others- May the illustrious Nagarjuna triumph !
Winning the very same jewel from [Nagarjuna] , And becoming famous in the three worlds,
He crossed the ocean of the Community -
May that illuminator, Chandrakirti, triumph !
8 1
So it is said. Also, masters such as the paQ. Qit Kumara, disciple of Lak? h- mirilkara, said [in his Illumination of the Lamp Concise Commentary
"Heart Mirror " ] :
These [statements] demonstrate that [Chandrakirti] was the real disciple in the presence of Nagarjuna ! 28bl and so was really in possession of the personal instructions.
Thus, all those who elucidate the Community following the Noble father and sons, such as Naropa, Abhayakara, KaruQ. ashripada, the Kash- miri Lak? hmi, Munishribhadra, Bhavyakirti, Kumara, Kuladhara, Tatha- gatarak? hita, and Lilavajra, all accept Chandra[kirti]pada as being worthy of trust just like the Noble ones.
[IV. C. - How the treatises of their followers were composed]
As for treatises written by other Indians about the Community, fol- lowing the Noble father and son, there is the commentary on the Further Tantra called Esoteric Lamp, which some editions claim to be authored by Lord Naropa and some claim to be authored by Yashobhadra, the colo-
phon to the translation of Smrti stating:
This is a form of annotating commentary on Root and Explanatory [Tantras by] Samantabhadra, * Akasha- garbha, Yashobhadra, Naropa, and Jiianasiddhi.
-Stntiti was the disciple of both Naropa and Jiiiinagarbha.
There seem to be two texts supposedly composed by Naropa and translated by Marpa, a large text called the Five Stages, Personal Instruction
? 82 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
in the Community, and a smaller one called Concise Five Stages Elucida- tion. The first of these expresses many gross errors contradicting the Five Stages and the Integrated Practices, such as the claim that the path of the dull and the mediocre disciples was gradual like the rungs on a ladder while the path of the sharp disciple was instantaneous; therefore it seems only falsely attributed to Naropa [2911) by some Tibetans. The Concise Five Stages Elucidation is taken as authoritative by both traditions of Marpa's personal instruction in the Community, apparently descending through the teacher, Tsur. In regard to most of the personal instructions of
Mentor Marpa, they are present in various short Indian texts, but there do not appear to be any extra short texts on the personal instruction in the five stages, and so this one seems to be taken as the authoritative treatise. And this seems to have the combined import of all the great treatises of the noble tradition; hence it should be accepted as the authoritative root treatise of the Marpa tradition's personal instruction in the five stages. [Nevertheless,] in its colophon it states:
The Noble father and son explained the process Of the Glorious Esoteric Community Tantra, And Naropa found that very inner intention. [But] with a commentator who does not know How to explain the Tantra on his own, concisely,
This blessed path is not in common.
Such a statement deprecating the Illumination ofthe Lamp was made, in- terpolated there by one who was intending to praise Naropa but did not know how to praise him. For, in his commentary on the Further Tantra, Naropa [himself] states:34
This elucidation of the import of the Further Tantra Follows according to the Illumination ofthe Lamp, And explains the secret instruction of Nagarjuna.
And :
34 This and the following verses do not appear to be the work of Naropa, but rather occur in Slll{tiijl\lnakJrti's colophon to Yuhobhadra's Esoterit? Lamp.
? Chapter /-Introduction ? 83
Depending in order upon the personal instruction Of masters Nagarjuna, Aryadeva,
Nagabodhi, Shakyamitra,
And Chandrakirti, and so forth,
I compose. . . [etc. ]
By this you should know how to refute the multitude who uphold the superiority of the commentary on the Tantra alone composed by the Khampa Ronyam Dorjey, disciple of Tsur, who explains the Tantra itself in disagreement with the Illumination of the Lamp, ! 29bJ claiming the supremacy of the tradition of Naropa.
The Commentary up to the middle of the forty-fourth chapter made by the pa-:u. fit Alarhkadeva or Alarhkakalasha on the Explanatory Tantra Vajra Rosary does accord with the Noble father and sons.
The commentary on the Condensed [Sadhana] called Precious Rosary, said to be by Shantipa, is considered by Tibetan scholars to be falsely attributed, not even the work of a man of the same name. There is the difficult-point commentary by VibhOti on the Condensed [Sadhana]; and in comment on the Five Stages along with the Condensed [Sadhana], there are three: the Moonlight, written by Abhaya; the difficult-point com-
mentary by Kr? hl)a Samayavajra; and the difficult-point commentary by Bhavyakirti.
Munishribhadra wrote the Captivator of Yogr/nfs on four [of the five] stages and on the Condensed [Sadhana], leaving out the second stage. And there is the Five Stages Difficult Point Commentary by VIryabhadra, and the commentary on the five stages by the Kashmiri scholar Lak? hmi
[the Clear Meaning ofthe Five Stages]. Including all the above-mentioned falsely attributed texts, these are the texts of the noble tradition.
I have already explained about the Integrated Practices Commen- tary and the commentary on the Vajrasattva Sadhana. 35
There is the Illumination of the Lamp extensive commentary, the Extreme Illumination of the Lamp [by Bhavyakirti] ; the Illumination of the Lamp Concise Commentary "Heart Mirror" [by Kumara]; and the Illumination of the Lamp Extensive Commentary by KaruQashripada.
? 35 See p. 78 ff. above.
84 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
There is the Illumination ofthe Lamp Explanation Verses by Kuladhara;36 (30aJ the Illumination ofthe Lamp Concise Difficult Point Elucidation by a Bhavaviveka, someone with a similar name as the Bhavaviveka who is the author of the Wisdom Lamp;31 and the Illumination ofthe Lamp Com- mentary said to be by an Aryadeva, apparently having the same name, but not being the well-known Aryadeva. This text and that falsely attrib- uted to Nagabodhi, the commentary Clear Meaning [of the Five Stages],
seem to be [Indian], not Tibetan [misattributed texts].
There is also Shraddha's Explanation of Vajra Recitation which
discusses the Revelation ofthe Hidden Intention [Tantra], and his Eluci- dation ofthe Seven Ornaments; Ekadashanirgho? ha's Stages ofthe Path of Vajradhara; Rahulashrimitra's Mandala Rite; and Samayavajra's Mandala Rite and his Vajrasattva Pujii Art. These constitute the texts of the Noble tradition.
Here, I give a contextual verse:
When this earth upholds the great burden
Of the jewels of hundreds thousands of sage adepts, With great effort one partakes of the eloquence From the presence of each of them.
When they decline by the power of time,
The heart's essence of them all,
Put into writing in the many treatises,
Should be well studied and practiced,
Relying on the mentor's personal instruction.
The wise know this replaces [their living presence], And thus you can discern the paths [of practice], Distinguishing authentic from spurious.
37 Again. Tsong Khapa here critically rejects an attribution, supporting the argument that he could have done so with the supposed "doubles" of Nagarjuna etc. , if he had a reason to do so.
? 36 Krama Tuntridsm of Kasllmir (Vol I , p. 1 56) by Nuvjivan Rastogi: "Kuladhara (950-
1000 A. D. )
cwne into the line of the Stotrakllrll after Bhaskam. He. therefore. appears to be a contemporary of Abhinavagupta. "
. . . .
Chapter /-Introduction ? 85 (V. - were trans-
The illustrious Atisha taught the Illumination ofthe Lamp in Ngari, and the lineage of the Five Stages gradually descends from there. (. \Ohl The great being Rinchen Zangpo made the basic translation and the polished determination of many treatises of the five masters, the Noble father and sons, and of the Root Tantra and the Revelation of the Hidden Intention and other [explanatory] Tantras. But that tradition of explana- tion did not survive long. Mentor Marpa was renowned as having seven styles of explaining the Esoteric Community. Although he seems to have studied the Illumination ofthe Lamp under Naropa, along with the Kash- miri Akarasiddhi, he did not begin its explanation in Tibet. However, he
spread very widely the private instruction in the Five Stages.
The Master Go visited India twelve times, relying in general upon seventy pa. J)Qit mentors and upon two c,takini mentors. He investigated the Noble tradition of the Community in particular, and he relied upon the Bengali sage Abhijiia, the Zahor sage Tsunmojen, the Konkana sage Meghavegin, the Kashmir throne-holding Chandahari, Jiianakara who was blessed by Maiijushri, the Nepali Tilgyi Tsahangu, the Nepali Dzongi Nagakoti, the paQ. Qit Saraha, the sage of Bodhgaya Kr? hQ. a Samayavajra, the sage of Vikramashila DipariJ. karashrijiiana [Atisa] - and these last two he heard in Tibet. From them he learned the explanations of the texts based on the treatises of the five members of the Noble tradition. He also determined well the initiations and the secret instruc- tions. He took Abhijiia, Tsunmojen, and Kanhapa [Kr? hQ. a Samayavajra]
as his supreme mentors, taking the traditions of those three (3Jal as chief both in explanation of texts and also in personal instructions. Since the miraculous activities of the Community entered the life of this mentor, he had many disciples upholding his pioneering style of teaching, producing four sages in each phase of his life, early, middle, and late, and the con-
tinuum of his teaching still survives until today.
There is also a personal instruction in the Five Stages descending
from Jiianakara to Nagtso [the translator]. Further, the translator Patsab also studied the Noble tradition of the Community and translated many treatises. As above explained, these translators who translated the exten- sive commentaries of the Illumination of the Lamp first gave a measure of teachings, but their styles did not last long. The translator Shudpu and
? The way the private instructions (of the Communityl
mitted in Tibet]
86 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
the translator Chag studied Go's style of teaching in Tibet, and then met [other] par:tc,lit mentors and developed their own method of explaining the Noble tradition.
Thus, although there are many other styles of teaching the Tantra in the Noble tradition of the Esoteric Community spread in Tibet from India, the very style of teaching of the precious Master Go is seen as the supreme of all these.
[VI. -
1VI. A. - The way of leaming the general path or that common to the two Universal Vehicles]
First, as for the basis for first entering into the Vajra Vehicle, it is stated in the Vajra Rosary Tantra:
Which excellences does a disciple need To be the vessel of the Yoga Tantra?
In response to this question:
Faithful and reverent to the mentor, Always 1-'lbl persisting in virtuous actions, Abandoning all bad thoughts;
Having widely learned the discourses, Abandoning killing and harming,
With the total effort arising
From the messianic resolve to save beings; The one who has such excellences
Is the fine disciple of great faith.
If one teaches a disciple without those good qualities of fitness, the dis- ciple will be ruined in this and future lives. and the master will be far distanced from the gaining of accomplishment in tenns of the swift arisal
From the same [Vajra Rosary Tantra]:
? The sixth has two parts: [A. ] The way of learning the general path
? of the path in his experience
.
Just as you don't keep lion's milk in an earthen vessel,
The import of the actual precious jewel of personal instruction]
or that common to the two Universal Vehicles; and [B. ] The way of learning the special, uncommon Community path.
do not bestow upon unfit disciples this Tantra of great yoga.
That disciple will die in that instant
And will be ruined in this and future lives.
If he teaches private instructions to the unfit, The master's accomplishments also will decline.
Further, granted that the characteristics of the physical foundation of the disciple need not be newly achieved, the characteristics of the excel- lences of the mental foundation, such as faith in the Dharma, reverence for the mentor, constant perseverance in the tenfold path of virtuous action, wide learning in the textual teaching, and effort motivated by the intense aspiration of resolve to save living beings; these are not spon- taneous in beginning disciples and so must be newly created. They are not to be generated after having been [mistakenly] recognized as origi-
nally fit and already having been introduced into the vehicle of Mantra. Thus, those qualities of the fit vessel are produced by cultivating the mind in the path common to both [exoteric and esoteric] Universal Vehicles.
As the Vajrapil! Ji Initiation Tantra [32a] also states:
"0 great bodhisattva!
This extremely magnificent mandala of great mantric spells, this extreme profundity, this un- fathomable immeasurable, this much more secret than secret, this which is not properly taught to sinful beings -you, 0 Vajrapal)i, proclaim it very rarely ! If one has not previously learned it, how can one explain it to
beings? "
Vajrapal)i replied, "Mafi. ju&lri! Whoever engages in the meditation of the spirit of enlightenment, whenever they achieve the spirit of enlightenment, then, Mafi. juShri, those bodhisattvas who practice the bodhisattva deeds through the door of the secret Mantra vehicle should be introduced to the mandala of great mantric spells where they are consecrated in great wisdom; but those who have not finished their attainment of the spirit of enlight- enment, they should not be introduced. One should not let them even look at the mandala. One should not show
them either gestures or mantras. "
Chapter /-Introduction ? 87
8 8 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
Thus, he states that those who have not completed their cultivation of the spirit of enlightenment are not fit to be initiated. The Mentor Fifty also state s :
The disciple of pure aspiration,
Who takes refuge in the three jewels
And who follows the mentor,
Should be given daily recitations,38
Then blessed by mantras etc. ,
And made a vessel of the noble Dharma. . .
Here "pure aspiration" [32bl refers to the cultivation of the spirit of enlight- enment. The ["refuge"] taken is the uncommon refuge, and, according to the Mentor Fifty, after having received the blessing of the method of relying by thought and deed on the Tantric mentor, one should be made a fit vessel by initiation.
Also from the Integrated Practices:
The process is like this: at the very beginning one be- comes educated in the aspiration of the buddha-vehicle. When one has become educated in the aspiration of the buddha-vehicle, one becomes educated in the samadhi of single-mindedness on the new vehicle.
Thus in entering the Community path, you must learn gradually and not suddenly. After having established this necessity of the method of gradual learning, he declares that you must cultivate the spirit of enlightenment, the aspiration of the Universal Vehicle, the buddha-vehicle.
As for the way to cultivate completely the willing and acting spirits of enlightenment, this is how it comes from the private instruction of the great Lord Anita. First, he teaches that you should practice properly the
38 Tsong Khapa's commentary on this (bla ma lnga bcu pa 'i rnam bslwd) indicates that the "given daily repetitions" refers to the Fifty {V? rs? . ? 1 011 th? Guru text, itself. (Cf. Sparham, Fulfillm? nt of All Hop? l? , pp. 78-79, 1 22): sbyin par bya zh? . ? bshad gzhir bya 'o, ,gang sbyi11 na rang dba11g dor ne1s ble1 ma 'i rj? s su 'jug pa 'i bst? n tshul gyi gzhung 'di 'o, ,ci ;:hig gi don du sbyin zla? nc1, kha bton bya bar sbyin pa st? . . . . '"Give ! ' means make it a basis for explanation. What is to be given'! It is this text on how to be devoted to a mentor by giving up one's independence and following. For what purpose is it given'' It is given as a daily recitation. "
? Chapter /-Introduction ? 89
method of reliance in thought and deed on a Universal Vehicle spiritual mentor with the necessary qualifications. He then teaches the great import and the difficulty of finding evolutionary leisure; you educate yourself in that attitude and generate the great ambition to extract the essence of this life of evolutionary leisure. The best way to take this essence is to enter the Universal Vehicle; of which the door is the spirit of enlightenment itself. If this authentically emerges in your personal experience, you become a non-artificial universalist. If it is just lip service, you become merely a verbal universalist. Thus, the wise person (JJaJ dispels gradually the resistance to that spirit, and conceives it in complete form.
Prior to that, if you have not reversed your ambition for this life, it will be an obstacle either to the Individual or Universal Vehicle; so you should be mindful of death. This life will not last long. Then, you should reflect on the wandering in the bad states after death, which will reverse the interest in this life. After that, you can reverse the interest that craves
successes in the future life by thinking over thoroughly the drawbacks of all states of the life cycle. In this way, you should orient the mind to tran- scendent liberation.
After that, in order to reverse the interest in your own peace and happiness, you should persist in cultivating love, compassion, and the spirit of enlightenment rooted in them; in this way, you cultivate the non- artificial spirit of enlightenment. Then, having recognized the deeds of the bodhisattvas, you generate the desire to learn them. When you can take up the burden of the deeds of the buddha-children, you can uphold
the bodhisattva vow and practice its precepts. When you can take up the burden of the vow and commitments of the vajra vehicle, studying the Mentor Fifty, and perfecting the ways of relying on the mentor, you
should enter into the Mantra [vehicle] .
Intending such a procedure, Rahula! hrimitra, the eminent member
of the Noble tradition of the Esoteric Community, said, [in his Illumina- tion of the Communion] :
At such a stage,
At a time of favorable date and stars,
The disciple should join palms together and bow, Confess all sins,
And renew the threefold refuge.
Relying well on the spirit of [33bJ enlightenment,
Brilliant Illumination of tht? l. tlmp
Undertake the layperson' s vow
And the bodhisattva's vow.
And the vow of monthly purification.
The foiJowing procedures
Are to rely in the best way on the vajra master,
And here I do not write
Out of fear of prolixity.
Having thus served. one requests the mentor, "Please grant me initiation! "
Thus before initiation, one should uphold the individual liberation [vows], the conception and vow of the spirit of enlightenment, and then one should request the mentor to confer initiation. The vows of the upasaka layman and its purification, the monk-for-a-day vow, are in terms of the householders. The monastics who enter the Tantras must totally purify their vows of renunciation and so on. This is also stated in the Vajra Summit:
Abandoning killing, stealing, sex, Lying, and intoxicants,
Abiding in the lay vows,
Attain the king of science state.
If one is a monastic,
Persist in all three vows,
Individual liberation, spirit of enlightenment, And supreme scientist-adept vows.
If you do not practice well the above stages of the path of the common vehicle, not having cut off ambition for this life, your aspiration for the Dharma will not be stable. Not having produced a faith that is not just verbal profession, you will not take refuge with a deeply committed mind. Without attaining firm certainty in the effects of evolution, you will become filled with ambivalence, without 134ul any specific determi- nation to uphold whatever vow. Without generating a core aversion to the life cycle, your aspiration for liberation will be no more than a superficial idea. Without generating the non-artificial, aspiring spirit of enlighten- ment rooted in love and compassion, you become merely a nominal uni- versalist. Without feeling an intense desire to practice the messianic deeds in general, a heartfelt vow of the activated spirit of enlightenment will
QO ?
not arise. Without gaining a precise general understanding of quiescence and insight, even the subtle samadhi will become erroneous. Until you have gained certitude about the view of selflessness, which precludes all such [errors], you should practice the general path of the two Universal Vehicles.
This is the precept emerging from the confluence of three streams. one descending from His Holiness Maitreya through Asanga, one from His Holiness Mafijuiui through Naga. rjuna, and the last [also from Mafi- juilri] through Shantideva. The great Lord AtiSha maintained that this teaching must be employed whether you enter the door of the Vajra Vehicle or that of the Transcendence Vehicle.
Well, one may wonder if this is the position of the Tibetan mentors of the Esoteric Community.
The Master Go also taught that the meaning of the above quote from the Integrated Practices was that the prerequisite of both creation and perfection stages is the cultivation of the view that realizes voidness and the spirit of enlightenment rooted in compassion. The Four Point
Treatise39 [by Serdingpa] -the instruction in the five stages of the Marpa tradition-explains that the yogi/ni with complete initiation must practice by establishing the basis for achieving the path. One must take refuge in the three jewels, have confidence in the ripening of the fruits of evolu- tion, habituate oneself to the ten virtues, take the vow of individual libera- tion preceded by the common refuge, and develop the aspiring and acting spirit [of enlightenment] , [34bl preceded by the uncommon refuge. This teaching, which shows in detail how to guide the mind in that way, is
called the "stages of the path. " So it is not that such is not the system of the former Tibetan mentors who learned the Community path.
Having developed a rather thorough understanding of the complete body of the path, you should actually begin to practice such a teaching distinctive from others by its provision of a complete basis for progress-
ing on the path. This is the program for practicing the ordinary path, which I have already explained elsewhere [in the Stages of the Path of Enlightenment] .
Chapter /- Introduction ? 9 1
? 39 See note to the text under the Tibetan folio 68b below.
CHAPTER [[
General Learning ofthe Tantric Path (34b. 3-66a. 3J
[YIJL - The way of learning the special. uncommon Community path1
The second has four parts: [ l. ] How to become a fit vessel for the path of the two stages; [2. ] Having become fit, how to purify vows and commitments; [3. ] Having purified vows and commitments, how to meditate; and [4. ] How the fruition will be attained at meditation's end.
I VI. B. l
When a qualified master has initiated a fit disciple with the initation rites proclaimed in the Tantras, with their import having been elucidated by the authorities, the door of the Mantra [Vehicle] teaching is opened, setting in place the infallible relativity for the path to be developed in personal experience and the fruition to be attained. Hence, having first become a fit vessel for entrance into Mantra, one should achieve the
second fitness authorizing one's study of the path of Mantra by means of the pure initiation. I have already explained that process elsewhere [in my Stages ofthe Path ofGreat Vajradhara].
Having become fit, how to purify vows and commitments]
During the time of initiation, one calls to witness all the mentors, buddhas, and bodhisattvas [35a] and undertakes to uphold the vows and pledges taken in their presence. So it is indispensible to know how to
[uphold them] and to have the experience of maintaining [them], before one can contemplate the path. . The procedure of doing that should be learned from the previous extensive explanations in the Mentor Fifty, the Vow Upholding, the Famous Treatise, and the Elucidation of the Root
Downfalls and Gross Infractions.
When one finds certitude in the fact that the practices concerning the pure initiations and the vows must begin to lead one into the two stages , one ' s preliminary practices such as mentor yoga, the hundred syllable [mantra-recitation], and the mandala [offering] come in the wake
? ? 93
- How to become a fit vessel for the path of the two stagesI
I'VI. B. 2. -
94 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
of that [initiation, as is proper. Otherwise,] if one finds that certitude only afterward, it seems that the realization possible through the previous prac- tices does not develop; so strive to understand this [importance of initia- tions and vows] beforehand.
[VI. B. 3. - Having purified vows and commitments, how to meditate]
The third has three parts: [a. ] Verifying the order of the two stages; [b. ] How to meditate the two stages in order; and [c. ] The conduct which is the method of bringing out the impact of the two stages.
[VI. B. 3. a. -
The person who aspires to the ultimate does not fail to meditate the creation stage. One follows the order of meditation by first thoroughly cultivating the creation stage and later entering the perfection stage. [Nagarjuna,] in the Five Stages, makes the order definite:
To those well situated on the creation stage And yet aspiring to the perfection stage, The perfect buddhas taught this method Just like the rungs of a ladder.
[Aryadeva adds] in the Integrated Practices, which extensively elucidates the intention of the Five Stages:
"Alienated individuals such as us, through our beginning- less habitual investment in the variety of outer [35bJ things, are involved in the habitual investment in conceptual thinking by the cause of the [reificatory] instincts for intrinsic realities in such [things] as existence and non- existence. one and many. duality and nonduality, neither existence nor non-existence, permanence and imperma- nence. Thus if they learn the samadhi of the perfection stages, must they practice according to the usual stages?
Or may they spiritually realize those instantaneously through the personal precept of the mentor? "
The Vajra Master replies, "Practice entering by stages, and not suddenly. "
? ? Verifying the order of the two stages]
Chapter 11-Learning the Tantric Path ? 95
Thus, when asked: if those who are engaged with objects under the influence of instincts beginninglessly invested in the four extremes should practice the perfection [stages] beginning gradually from the first stages, or should practice suddenly by means of a profound precept of a mentor, without needing such [a gradual procedure]? [Aryadeva] answers that, other than gradual practice, there is no door of sudden entrance. And he establishes that by quoting the authority of the Mission to Lan ka [Satra] and the Heroes ' March Samadhi Satra. Thus, even if it were thought that the finest, jewel-like disciple to enter this path would never [need to] have a beginner's stage, there would result the absurdity that one should be liberated from the beginning without requiring any path [at all]. It is essential that one accept [the inevitability of having] a beginner's stage. One must accept [Aryadeva's] statement in the Integrated Practices:
In order for beginner [36a] beings
To enter into the ultimate reality,
The perfect buddhas created this artful system, Just like like rungs of a ladder.
Here some protest that the sudden practice is taught thinking of some powerful persons who practiced the lower paths in many former lives, and so [in this life] do not need to be led through lower paths but are properly led through the higher paths. 40
This is like saying: when one investigates whether or not one needs first to go through the paths of accumulation and application to generate the insight path, one does not need any preliminary accumulation or appli- cation paths, giving the reason that one has already attained the insight
path. It is a ridiculous [because so obvious] objection. Thus, just as, although one can put one's boat aside when one gets across a river, one must still depend on it while crossing; so, although one can abandon the creation stage once one has attained the non-artificial, core realization of the perfection stage, the artificial creation stage is necessary in the process of attaining that. Thus for the beginner, the creation stage is very highly
recommended and very important. As the Vajra Angel states:
40 Here we encounter a definitive position taken in regard to the nowadays still controver- sial debate between sudden enlightenment and gradual enlightenment.
? 96 ?
Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
In order to realize the core yoga One should practice the artificial Meditation and recitation.
Once one realizes the core yoga, Since it is realized by going out Beyond the artificial yoga,
One should not practice any artifice. For example, one takes a boat
And goes across the water,
And then leaves it, once beyond. Artifices are like that:
Such rites as mandalas and so on,
Which are made with the [. 36bl artificial mind, Since they clear up one's [habitual] outer actions, Are recommended for beginners.
All those accomplishments are present here [in the
creation stage],
But not in the knowledge reality of the Victor.
The same points are made in the Liberation Drop and the Spring Drop. Also. as for the meaning of some statements in them that not liberation but only painful hardships will be attained by striving in the artificial practices, they mean that such will be the result if one only strives in such paths and does not [go on to] meditate the perfection stage [at all]. They do not mean that one who aspires to enlightenment should not employ those [artificial practices]. One can understand this by applying the meaning of the example of the boat. So do not make the statement about abandoning the boat on the other side of the water your grounds
for abandoning the boat on this side of the water!
Here one might object that it is all right to establish the definite-
ness in the order of the two stages by references from the Tantras, but how can references from So tras establish anything?
[SO tra references were also used here] to help us understand that, although there are differences of speed between So tra and Tantra, they are similar in that beginners need to enter gradually. As for the statements about the order of the two stages in the Tantras, the Vajra Rosary states:
Then, at the beginning, the yogi/ni who knows The six yogas achieves the supreme;
Chapter 11-Learning the Tantric Path ? 97 Then one should recite very extensively
The letter HA without any vowel.
Here, as for the six yogas: in the first application there are yoga, continu- ing yoga, and so on to make four; and then the mandala triumph and the evolution triumph to make six. Reciting the letters without vowels is explained as referring to the Vajra recitation.
As the Esoteric Accomplishment states:
In the glorious [37lt] Community,
The savior of beings taught very clearly Four things to be meditated,
On the higher than highest path.
First, one should establish the letter,
And abide on the stage of creation. Second, the lords of yoga should meditate. The very reality of the self.
Third, one meditates the wisdom seal The supreme divine substance. Fourth, proclaimed the highest,
One meditates the universal seal.
Misunderstanding the many texts such as the Enlightenment Songs (Dohas), which explain that, relying on a progression through such stages of the path in the context of meditating primarily the innate [orgasmic] wisdom, one ceases the elaborated meditations of the creation stage; it seems that [some] have [mistakenly] thought that the system of the Great
Brahmin was sudden and the system of Nagarjuna was gradual. Never- theless, the interpretation that asserts two paths, a gradual one for dull and mediocre intellects in the stage of first entering in this path, and a sudden one for the extremely sharp intellects, is contradictory to the Tantra and to all authoritative treatises. But I have already extensively explained
these interpretations in the Stages ofthe Path ofGreat Vajradhara. IVI. B. 3. b. - How to meditate the two stages in order]
The second has two parts: [i. ] The way to meditate the creation stage; and [ii. ] The way to meditate the perfection stage.
?
Chandrakirti] in the Illumination of the Lamp. However, in the transla- tion we have nowadays, there are 160 instinctual imaginations explained in the summary; in the detailed explanation, the eighty instincts are not completely listed, and it seems to abbreviate them into fifty-four instincts; so it seems to have the faults of an incorrect Tibetan book or of a transla-
tion of a faulty Indian text.
28 See above, p. 67 (Tib. 20b ). There does not seem to be such a work in the Tengyur. and Tsong Khapa here, though he refers to a text accessible to him, indicates it to be a later work perhaps written in Tibet, referring to a very late Indian commentary on the Illumi-
29 Tsong Khapa here refers to a text that we no longer have. Kuladhara is not in the DharmaIndex,Toh. cat. ,ortheBlueAnnals. KramaTantricismofKashmir(VolI. p. 156) by Navjivan Rastogi (a book on Kashmiri Shaivism) has this entry: "Kuladhara (950- 1000 A. D. ). We know nothing about him except that he directly came into the line of the
gupta. " EBL 28b says he iii a Kashmiri, and 29b names this commentary he wrote on the
? ? [IV. B. - How the treatises of the other three sons were composed]
nation of the Lamp.
Stotrakara after Bhaskara. He, therefore. appears to be a contemporary of Abhinava-
Illumination ofthe Lamp.
78 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
There are many texts falsely attributed to this master; there are three commentaries on the Five Stages claimed to be his: the Jewel
the Clear Meaning. and the Concise Source on the Stages. The first of these was accepted as authority by many Tibetan mentors, but [then] more contemporary sages considered it and the Clear Meaning false. In the first one. there are many things in its way of elucidating the Community that disagree with the Noble father and son: it seems to claim
that the text of Buddhajiianapilda, a disciple of the master Haribhadra who accepted Chandrakirti's text as authority, was the text of Nagabodhi, itself accepted as authority by Chandrakirti; and it seems to be unable to determine decisively whether Nagarjuna or his disciple Shakyamitra wrote the Second Stage. So it seems merely falsely attributed to Naga- bodhi. Also the claim that the commentary, Clear Meaning, was composed
by him is merely a false attribution.
The Concise Source on the Stages was accepted as Nagabodhi's by
Tibetan sages, though the translator Chag asserted it was written by another scholar of the same name "Nagabodhi. " [27al This text claims that the six stages from creation stage up to communion stage each has six [recapitulative] stages within itself, just as in the Ornament of Realiza- tions each of the six transcendences has six [transcendences] within itself. When the pattern of such containment is explained, though, it seems that each stage has five meditative stages within it; it is not made definite. For example, in the context of mind isolation, there is stated the creation stage of creating the deity from moon and vajra etc. , and this is asserted to be
the "mind-isolation creation stage. " Thus there is no distinction between explaining it in the context of that stage and practicing it as contained in the practice of that stage. Since there seem to be many such [garbled] explanations, they could only be made by a text falsely attributed to Naga- bodhi. It seems this text and the Jewel Rosary were composed by some otherIndian [scholar].
As for the works of master Shakyamitra, we have already explained the way he wrote the Second Stage. 30 The Integrated Practices Commen- tary said to be by SMkyamitra might just possibly be by some author of
30 See above, p. 74 ff.
Rosary
.
? Chapter /-Introduction ? 79
a similar name, but if it is supposed to be the Shakyamitra disciple of the Noble [Nagarjuna] it is definitely not his work. 31
As for the works of master Chandrakirti, his Illumination of the Lamp is extremely famous. The Six-Branched Yoga attributed to him seems to diverge from the content of the twelfth chapter of the Lamp. His
Vajrasattva Performance [Sadhana] was commented on by Tathagata- rak? hita and Lalitavajra, and was also accepted as a Chandrakirti text by the (27b1 Magadha Par:t4it Munishribhadra. As for a root text and auto- commentary called Ornament ofRealization ofthe Community attributed to him, the Tibetan sages thought it worthy of investigation. These might possibly be written by someone with a similar name, but they seem only false attributions if we suppose the Chandrakirti in question to be the author of the Illumination ofthe Lamp.
Now, Aryadeva, Nagabodhi, and Shakyamitra were the most fa- mous disciples of the Noble one; still, the Marpa Esoteric Community tradition accepts Mataugi as the Noble one's disciple. Chandrakirti was accepted as the Noble [Nagarjuna] ' s [direct] disciple by former mentors such as Master Go [the translator]. Some Tibetan Madhyamikas claim that Chandrakirti did not meet the Noble [Nagarjuna], since [Chandra- kirti] stated at the end of the Lucid Exposition:
Due to the fact that there has been a decline [in the tradition] over such a long time since the [writing of the] treatises of the Noble one and his disciple, nowadays their interpretive tradition is not clear. 32
That reason is uncertain; Chandrakirti attained the state of scientist-adept and lived a long time, according to the report relayed by the translator
31 It is interesting that Tsong Khapa and colleagues are quite ready to consider that differ- ent Indian scholars with the same name could cause confusion as their works could be attributed to each other. The fact that they think thus critically about questions of author- ship and false attribution, requires us to take more seriously their insistence that Nagar- juna, Aryadeva, Chandrakirti, and many others who wrote important Tantric treatises
were the same persons who also wrote well-known philosophical treatises.
32 This passage in the Derge redaction (see note to Tibetan text) gives more detail than in Tsong Khapa's paraphrase: "There has been a decline for a long time in the treatises written by the bodhisattva Nagarjuna, who went to the Sukhavati buddhaverse, and in the
? society of his disciples; since his sun has set, the interpretive tradition is not at aU clear. "
80 ? Brilliant Illumination ofthe Lamp
Patsab transmitting what the adept Vajrasanaguru had said. Therefore, it is not contradictory that by the end of his life span the treatises and dis- ciples of Nagarjuna had declined and yet that he had himself already met Nagarjuna. 33 Therefore, the Tibetan sages accept the statement that "Chandrakirti was the disciple of the Noble one ! " according to the asser- tion of the glorious Atisha that he was the [direct] disciple of Nagarjuna.
[28a]
Chandrakirti discovered the imports of the Community from Nagarjuna. In this regard, Bhavyakirti commented [in his Commentary on the Illumi- nation of the Lamp, entitled the Extreme Illumination of the Lamp] :
He says he discovered [the profound import] by the grace of glorious Nagarjuna; and this indicates he was a personal disciple in the presence of the illustrious Nagar-
juna, and not an indirect one.
And [the tradition] that the Brahmin Rahulabhadra-Saraha instructed Nagarjuna and [also] instructed Chandrakirti was recounted along with their virtues, by [Bhavyakirti's] Extreme Illumination ofthe Lamp:
In the city of Konkana,
On the peak of Shri Parvata, The man first having lived there In the place of solitude.
He was like the Lord of humans and gods. He taught the supreme Dharma
33 There is also the point that the Lucid Exposition is an exoteric philosophical text, and so Chandra was referring to the long time since the writing of Nagarjuna's exoteric works such as the Wisdom. Or perhaps Chandra wrote those words in that colophon early in his own career, before he attained the stage of scientist-adept.
As the Illumination ofthe Lamp declares:
Having discovered, through the grace of Nagarjuna, [the meaning of the Esoteric Community] , sealed by all the buddhas, standing with the two stages,
[1], Chandrakirti, bow to the Glorious Lord Vajrasattva, and will explain it systematically.
? Chapter /- Introduction ? Received from the mouth of Rahula[bhadra-Saraha].
May he triumph here on this earth!
Having propitiated that very [master Rahulabhadra] That yogi obtained the Universal Vehicle,
He achieved the [eighth] stage, working to help others- May the illustrious Nagarjuna triumph !
Winning the very same jewel from [Nagarjuna] , And becoming famous in the three worlds,
He crossed the ocean of the Community -
May that illuminator, Chandrakirti, triumph !
8 1
So it is said. Also, masters such as the paQ. Qit Kumara, disciple of Lak? h- mirilkara, said [in his Illumination of the Lamp Concise Commentary
"Heart Mirror " ] :
These [statements] demonstrate that [Chandrakirti] was the real disciple in the presence of Nagarjuna ! 28bl and so was really in possession of the personal instructions.
Thus, all those who elucidate the Community following the Noble father and sons, such as Naropa, Abhayakara, KaruQ. ashripada, the Kash- miri Lak? hmi, Munishribhadra, Bhavyakirti, Kumara, Kuladhara, Tatha- gatarak? hita, and Lilavajra, all accept Chandra[kirti]pada as being worthy of trust just like the Noble ones.
[IV. C. - How the treatises of their followers were composed]
As for treatises written by other Indians about the Community, fol- lowing the Noble father and son, there is the commentary on the Further Tantra called Esoteric Lamp, which some editions claim to be authored by Lord Naropa and some claim to be authored by Yashobhadra, the colo-
phon to the translation of Smrti stating:
This is a form of annotating commentary on Root and Explanatory [Tantras by] Samantabhadra, * Akasha- garbha, Yashobhadra, Naropa, and Jiianasiddhi.
-Stntiti was the disciple of both Naropa and Jiiiinagarbha.
There seem to be two texts supposedly composed by Naropa and translated by Marpa, a large text called the Five Stages, Personal Instruction
? 82 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
in the Community, and a smaller one called Concise Five Stages Elucida- tion. The first of these expresses many gross errors contradicting the Five Stages and the Integrated Practices, such as the claim that the path of the dull and the mediocre disciples was gradual like the rungs on a ladder while the path of the sharp disciple was instantaneous; therefore it seems only falsely attributed to Naropa [2911) by some Tibetans. The Concise Five Stages Elucidation is taken as authoritative by both traditions of Marpa's personal instruction in the Community, apparently descending through the teacher, Tsur. In regard to most of the personal instructions of
Mentor Marpa, they are present in various short Indian texts, but there do not appear to be any extra short texts on the personal instruction in the five stages, and so this one seems to be taken as the authoritative treatise. And this seems to have the combined import of all the great treatises of the noble tradition; hence it should be accepted as the authoritative root treatise of the Marpa tradition's personal instruction in the five stages. [Nevertheless,] in its colophon it states:
The Noble father and son explained the process Of the Glorious Esoteric Community Tantra, And Naropa found that very inner intention. [But] with a commentator who does not know How to explain the Tantra on his own, concisely,
This blessed path is not in common.
Such a statement deprecating the Illumination ofthe Lamp was made, in- terpolated there by one who was intending to praise Naropa but did not know how to praise him. For, in his commentary on the Further Tantra, Naropa [himself] states:34
This elucidation of the import of the Further Tantra Follows according to the Illumination ofthe Lamp, And explains the secret instruction of Nagarjuna.
And :
34 This and the following verses do not appear to be the work of Naropa, but rather occur in Slll{tiijl\lnakJrti's colophon to Yuhobhadra's Esoterit? Lamp.
? Chapter /-Introduction ? 83
Depending in order upon the personal instruction Of masters Nagarjuna, Aryadeva,
Nagabodhi, Shakyamitra,
And Chandrakirti, and so forth,
I compose. . . [etc. ]
By this you should know how to refute the multitude who uphold the superiority of the commentary on the Tantra alone composed by the Khampa Ronyam Dorjey, disciple of Tsur, who explains the Tantra itself in disagreement with the Illumination of the Lamp, ! 29bJ claiming the supremacy of the tradition of Naropa.
The Commentary up to the middle of the forty-fourth chapter made by the pa-:u. fit Alarhkadeva or Alarhkakalasha on the Explanatory Tantra Vajra Rosary does accord with the Noble father and sons.
The commentary on the Condensed [Sadhana] called Precious Rosary, said to be by Shantipa, is considered by Tibetan scholars to be falsely attributed, not even the work of a man of the same name. There is the difficult-point commentary by VibhOti on the Condensed [Sadhana]; and in comment on the Five Stages along with the Condensed [Sadhana], there are three: the Moonlight, written by Abhaya; the difficult-point com-
mentary by Kr? hl)a Samayavajra; and the difficult-point commentary by Bhavyakirti.
Munishribhadra wrote the Captivator of Yogr/nfs on four [of the five] stages and on the Condensed [Sadhana], leaving out the second stage. And there is the Five Stages Difficult Point Commentary by VIryabhadra, and the commentary on the five stages by the Kashmiri scholar Lak? hmi
[the Clear Meaning ofthe Five Stages]. Including all the above-mentioned falsely attributed texts, these are the texts of the noble tradition.
I have already explained about the Integrated Practices Commen- tary and the commentary on the Vajrasattva Sadhana. 35
There is the Illumination of the Lamp extensive commentary, the Extreme Illumination of the Lamp [by Bhavyakirti] ; the Illumination of the Lamp Concise Commentary "Heart Mirror" [by Kumara]; and the Illumination of the Lamp Extensive Commentary by KaruQashripada.
? 35 See p. 78 ff. above.
84 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
There is the Illumination ofthe Lamp Explanation Verses by Kuladhara;36 (30aJ the Illumination ofthe Lamp Concise Difficult Point Elucidation by a Bhavaviveka, someone with a similar name as the Bhavaviveka who is the author of the Wisdom Lamp;31 and the Illumination ofthe Lamp Com- mentary said to be by an Aryadeva, apparently having the same name, but not being the well-known Aryadeva. This text and that falsely attrib- uted to Nagabodhi, the commentary Clear Meaning [of the Five Stages],
seem to be [Indian], not Tibetan [misattributed texts].
There is also Shraddha's Explanation of Vajra Recitation which
discusses the Revelation ofthe Hidden Intention [Tantra], and his Eluci- dation ofthe Seven Ornaments; Ekadashanirgho? ha's Stages ofthe Path of Vajradhara; Rahulashrimitra's Mandala Rite; and Samayavajra's Mandala Rite and his Vajrasattva Pujii Art. These constitute the texts of the Noble tradition.
Here, I give a contextual verse:
When this earth upholds the great burden
Of the jewels of hundreds thousands of sage adepts, With great effort one partakes of the eloquence From the presence of each of them.
When they decline by the power of time,
The heart's essence of them all,
Put into writing in the many treatises,
Should be well studied and practiced,
Relying on the mentor's personal instruction.
The wise know this replaces [their living presence], And thus you can discern the paths [of practice], Distinguishing authentic from spurious.
37 Again. Tsong Khapa here critically rejects an attribution, supporting the argument that he could have done so with the supposed "doubles" of Nagarjuna etc. , if he had a reason to do so.
? 36 Krama Tuntridsm of Kasllmir (Vol I , p. 1 56) by Nuvjivan Rastogi: "Kuladhara (950-
1000 A. D. )
cwne into the line of the Stotrakllrll after Bhaskam. He. therefore. appears to be a contemporary of Abhinavagupta. "
. . . .
Chapter /-Introduction ? 85 (V. - were trans-
The illustrious Atisha taught the Illumination ofthe Lamp in Ngari, and the lineage of the Five Stages gradually descends from there. (. \Ohl The great being Rinchen Zangpo made the basic translation and the polished determination of many treatises of the five masters, the Noble father and sons, and of the Root Tantra and the Revelation of the Hidden Intention and other [explanatory] Tantras. But that tradition of explana- tion did not survive long. Mentor Marpa was renowned as having seven styles of explaining the Esoteric Community. Although he seems to have studied the Illumination ofthe Lamp under Naropa, along with the Kash- miri Akarasiddhi, he did not begin its explanation in Tibet. However, he
spread very widely the private instruction in the Five Stages.
The Master Go visited India twelve times, relying in general upon seventy pa. J)Qit mentors and upon two c,takini mentors. He investigated the Noble tradition of the Community in particular, and he relied upon the Bengali sage Abhijiia, the Zahor sage Tsunmojen, the Konkana sage Meghavegin, the Kashmir throne-holding Chandahari, Jiianakara who was blessed by Maiijushri, the Nepali Tilgyi Tsahangu, the Nepali Dzongi Nagakoti, the paQ. Qit Saraha, the sage of Bodhgaya Kr? hQ. a Samayavajra, the sage of Vikramashila DipariJ. karashrijiiana [Atisa] - and these last two he heard in Tibet. From them he learned the explanations of the texts based on the treatises of the five members of the Noble tradition. He also determined well the initiations and the secret instruc- tions. He took Abhijiia, Tsunmojen, and Kanhapa [Kr? hQ. a Samayavajra]
as his supreme mentors, taking the traditions of those three (3Jal as chief both in explanation of texts and also in personal instructions. Since the miraculous activities of the Community entered the life of this mentor, he had many disciples upholding his pioneering style of teaching, producing four sages in each phase of his life, early, middle, and late, and the con-
tinuum of his teaching still survives until today.
There is also a personal instruction in the Five Stages descending
from Jiianakara to Nagtso [the translator]. Further, the translator Patsab also studied the Noble tradition of the Community and translated many treatises. As above explained, these translators who translated the exten- sive commentaries of the Illumination of the Lamp first gave a measure of teachings, but their styles did not last long. The translator Shudpu and
? The way the private instructions (of the Communityl
mitted in Tibet]
86 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
the translator Chag studied Go's style of teaching in Tibet, and then met [other] par:tc,lit mentors and developed their own method of explaining the Noble tradition.
Thus, although there are many other styles of teaching the Tantra in the Noble tradition of the Esoteric Community spread in Tibet from India, the very style of teaching of the precious Master Go is seen as the supreme of all these.
[VI. -
1VI. A. - The way of leaming the general path or that common to the two Universal Vehicles]
First, as for the basis for first entering into the Vajra Vehicle, it is stated in the Vajra Rosary Tantra:
Which excellences does a disciple need To be the vessel of the Yoga Tantra?
In response to this question:
Faithful and reverent to the mentor, Always 1-'lbl persisting in virtuous actions, Abandoning all bad thoughts;
Having widely learned the discourses, Abandoning killing and harming,
With the total effort arising
From the messianic resolve to save beings; The one who has such excellences
Is the fine disciple of great faith.
If one teaches a disciple without those good qualities of fitness, the dis- ciple will be ruined in this and future lives. and the master will be far distanced from the gaining of accomplishment in tenns of the swift arisal
From the same [Vajra Rosary Tantra]:
? The sixth has two parts: [A. ] The way of learning the general path
? of the path in his experience
.
Just as you don't keep lion's milk in an earthen vessel,
The import of the actual precious jewel of personal instruction]
or that common to the two Universal Vehicles; and [B. ] The way of learning the special, uncommon Community path.
do not bestow upon unfit disciples this Tantra of great yoga.
That disciple will die in that instant
And will be ruined in this and future lives.
If he teaches private instructions to the unfit, The master's accomplishments also will decline.
Further, granted that the characteristics of the physical foundation of the disciple need not be newly achieved, the characteristics of the excel- lences of the mental foundation, such as faith in the Dharma, reverence for the mentor, constant perseverance in the tenfold path of virtuous action, wide learning in the textual teaching, and effort motivated by the intense aspiration of resolve to save living beings; these are not spon- taneous in beginning disciples and so must be newly created. They are not to be generated after having been [mistakenly] recognized as origi-
nally fit and already having been introduced into the vehicle of Mantra. Thus, those qualities of the fit vessel are produced by cultivating the mind in the path common to both [exoteric and esoteric] Universal Vehicles.
As the Vajrapil! Ji Initiation Tantra [32a] also states:
"0 great bodhisattva!
This extremely magnificent mandala of great mantric spells, this extreme profundity, this un- fathomable immeasurable, this much more secret than secret, this which is not properly taught to sinful beings -you, 0 Vajrapal)i, proclaim it very rarely ! If one has not previously learned it, how can one explain it to
beings? "
Vajrapal)i replied, "Mafi. ju&lri! Whoever engages in the meditation of the spirit of enlightenment, whenever they achieve the spirit of enlightenment, then, Mafi. juShri, those bodhisattvas who practice the bodhisattva deeds through the door of the secret Mantra vehicle should be introduced to the mandala of great mantric spells where they are consecrated in great wisdom; but those who have not finished their attainment of the spirit of enlight- enment, they should not be introduced. One should not let them even look at the mandala. One should not show
them either gestures or mantras. "
Chapter /-Introduction ? 87
8 8 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
Thus, he states that those who have not completed their cultivation of the spirit of enlightenment are not fit to be initiated. The Mentor Fifty also state s :
The disciple of pure aspiration,
Who takes refuge in the three jewels
And who follows the mentor,
Should be given daily recitations,38
Then blessed by mantras etc. ,
And made a vessel of the noble Dharma. . .
Here "pure aspiration" [32bl refers to the cultivation of the spirit of enlight- enment. The ["refuge"] taken is the uncommon refuge, and, according to the Mentor Fifty, after having received the blessing of the method of relying by thought and deed on the Tantric mentor, one should be made a fit vessel by initiation.
Also from the Integrated Practices:
The process is like this: at the very beginning one be- comes educated in the aspiration of the buddha-vehicle. When one has become educated in the aspiration of the buddha-vehicle, one becomes educated in the samadhi of single-mindedness on the new vehicle.
Thus in entering the Community path, you must learn gradually and not suddenly. After having established this necessity of the method of gradual learning, he declares that you must cultivate the spirit of enlightenment, the aspiration of the Universal Vehicle, the buddha-vehicle.
As for the way to cultivate completely the willing and acting spirits of enlightenment, this is how it comes from the private instruction of the great Lord Anita. First, he teaches that you should practice properly the
38 Tsong Khapa's commentary on this (bla ma lnga bcu pa 'i rnam bslwd) indicates that the "given daily repetitions" refers to the Fifty {V? rs? . ? 1 011 th? Guru text, itself. (Cf. Sparham, Fulfillm? nt of All Hop? l? , pp. 78-79, 1 22): sbyin par bya zh? . ? bshad gzhir bya 'o, ,gang sbyi11 na rang dba11g dor ne1s ble1 ma 'i rj? s su 'jug pa 'i bst? n tshul gyi gzhung 'di 'o, ,ci ;:hig gi don du sbyin zla? nc1, kha bton bya bar sbyin pa st? . . . . '"Give ! ' means make it a basis for explanation. What is to be given'! It is this text on how to be devoted to a mentor by giving up one's independence and following. For what purpose is it given'' It is given as a daily recitation. "
? Chapter /-Introduction ? 89
method of reliance in thought and deed on a Universal Vehicle spiritual mentor with the necessary qualifications. He then teaches the great import and the difficulty of finding evolutionary leisure; you educate yourself in that attitude and generate the great ambition to extract the essence of this life of evolutionary leisure. The best way to take this essence is to enter the Universal Vehicle; of which the door is the spirit of enlightenment itself. If this authentically emerges in your personal experience, you become a non-artificial universalist. If it is just lip service, you become merely a verbal universalist. Thus, the wise person (JJaJ dispels gradually the resistance to that spirit, and conceives it in complete form.
Prior to that, if you have not reversed your ambition for this life, it will be an obstacle either to the Individual or Universal Vehicle; so you should be mindful of death. This life will not last long. Then, you should reflect on the wandering in the bad states after death, which will reverse the interest in this life. After that, you can reverse the interest that craves
successes in the future life by thinking over thoroughly the drawbacks of all states of the life cycle. In this way, you should orient the mind to tran- scendent liberation.
After that, in order to reverse the interest in your own peace and happiness, you should persist in cultivating love, compassion, and the spirit of enlightenment rooted in them; in this way, you cultivate the non- artificial spirit of enlightenment. Then, having recognized the deeds of the bodhisattvas, you generate the desire to learn them. When you can take up the burden of the deeds of the buddha-children, you can uphold
the bodhisattva vow and practice its precepts. When you can take up the burden of the vow and commitments of the vajra vehicle, studying the Mentor Fifty, and perfecting the ways of relying on the mentor, you
should enter into the Mantra [vehicle] .
Intending such a procedure, Rahula! hrimitra, the eminent member
of the Noble tradition of the Esoteric Community, said, [in his Illumina- tion of the Communion] :
At such a stage,
At a time of favorable date and stars,
The disciple should join palms together and bow, Confess all sins,
And renew the threefold refuge.
Relying well on the spirit of [33bJ enlightenment,
Brilliant Illumination of tht? l. tlmp
Undertake the layperson' s vow
And the bodhisattva's vow.
And the vow of monthly purification.
The foiJowing procedures
Are to rely in the best way on the vajra master,
And here I do not write
Out of fear of prolixity.
Having thus served. one requests the mentor, "Please grant me initiation! "
Thus before initiation, one should uphold the individual liberation [vows], the conception and vow of the spirit of enlightenment, and then one should request the mentor to confer initiation. The vows of the upasaka layman and its purification, the monk-for-a-day vow, are in terms of the householders. The monastics who enter the Tantras must totally purify their vows of renunciation and so on. This is also stated in the Vajra Summit:
Abandoning killing, stealing, sex, Lying, and intoxicants,
Abiding in the lay vows,
Attain the king of science state.
If one is a monastic,
Persist in all three vows,
Individual liberation, spirit of enlightenment, And supreme scientist-adept vows.
If you do not practice well the above stages of the path of the common vehicle, not having cut off ambition for this life, your aspiration for the Dharma will not be stable. Not having produced a faith that is not just verbal profession, you will not take refuge with a deeply committed mind. Without attaining firm certainty in the effects of evolution, you will become filled with ambivalence, without 134ul any specific determi- nation to uphold whatever vow. Without generating a core aversion to the life cycle, your aspiration for liberation will be no more than a superficial idea. Without generating the non-artificial, aspiring spirit of enlighten- ment rooted in love and compassion, you become merely a nominal uni- versalist. Without feeling an intense desire to practice the messianic deeds in general, a heartfelt vow of the activated spirit of enlightenment will
QO ?
not arise. Without gaining a precise general understanding of quiescence and insight, even the subtle samadhi will become erroneous. Until you have gained certitude about the view of selflessness, which precludes all such [errors], you should practice the general path of the two Universal Vehicles.
This is the precept emerging from the confluence of three streams. one descending from His Holiness Maitreya through Asanga, one from His Holiness Mafijuiui through Naga. rjuna, and the last [also from Mafi- juilri] through Shantideva. The great Lord AtiSha maintained that this teaching must be employed whether you enter the door of the Vajra Vehicle or that of the Transcendence Vehicle.
Well, one may wonder if this is the position of the Tibetan mentors of the Esoteric Community.
The Master Go also taught that the meaning of the above quote from the Integrated Practices was that the prerequisite of both creation and perfection stages is the cultivation of the view that realizes voidness and the spirit of enlightenment rooted in compassion. The Four Point
Treatise39 [by Serdingpa] -the instruction in the five stages of the Marpa tradition-explains that the yogi/ni with complete initiation must practice by establishing the basis for achieving the path. One must take refuge in the three jewels, have confidence in the ripening of the fruits of evolu- tion, habituate oneself to the ten virtues, take the vow of individual libera- tion preceded by the common refuge, and develop the aspiring and acting spirit [of enlightenment] , [34bl preceded by the uncommon refuge. This teaching, which shows in detail how to guide the mind in that way, is
called the "stages of the path. " So it is not that such is not the system of the former Tibetan mentors who learned the Community path.
Having developed a rather thorough understanding of the complete body of the path, you should actually begin to practice such a teaching distinctive from others by its provision of a complete basis for progress-
ing on the path. This is the program for practicing the ordinary path, which I have already explained elsewhere [in the Stages of the Path of Enlightenment] .
Chapter /- Introduction ? 9 1
? 39 See note to the text under the Tibetan folio 68b below.
CHAPTER [[
General Learning ofthe Tantric Path (34b. 3-66a. 3J
[YIJL - The way of learning the special. uncommon Community path1
The second has four parts: [ l. ] How to become a fit vessel for the path of the two stages; [2. ] Having become fit, how to purify vows and commitments; [3. ] Having purified vows and commitments, how to meditate; and [4. ] How the fruition will be attained at meditation's end.
I VI. B. l
When a qualified master has initiated a fit disciple with the initation rites proclaimed in the Tantras, with their import having been elucidated by the authorities, the door of the Mantra [Vehicle] teaching is opened, setting in place the infallible relativity for the path to be developed in personal experience and the fruition to be attained. Hence, having first become a fit vessel for entrance into Mantra, one should achieve the
second fitness authorizing one's study of the path of Mantra by means of the pure initiation. I have already explained that process elsewhere [in my Stages ofthe Path ofGreat Vajradhara].
Having become fit, how to purify vows and commitments]
During the time of initiation, one calls to witness all the mentors, buddhas, and bodhisattvas [35a] and undertakes to uphold the vows and pledges taken in their presence. So it is indispensible to know how to
[uphold them] and to have the experience of maintaining [them], before one can contemplate the path. . The procedure of doing that should be learned from the previous extensive explanations in the Mentor Fifty, the Vow Upholding, the Famous Treatise, and the Elucidation of the Root
Downfalls and Gross Infractions.
When one finds certitude in the fact that the practices concerning the pure initiations and the vows must begin to lead one into the two stages , one ' s preliminary practices such as mentor yoga, the hundred syllable [mantra-recitation], and the mandala [offering] come in the wake
? ? 93
- How to become a fit vessel for the path of the two stagesI
I'VI. B. 2. -
94 ? Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
of that [initiation, as is proper. Otherwise,] if one finds that certitude only afterward, it seems that the realization possible through the previous prac- tices does not develop; so strive to understand this [importance of initia- tions and vows] beforehand.
[VI. B. 3. - Having purified vows and commitments, how to meditate]
The third has three parts: [a. ] Verifying the order of the two stages; [b. ] How to meditate the two stages in order; and [c. ] The conduct which is the method of bringing out the impact of the two stages.
[VI. B. 3. a. -
The person who aspires to the ultimate does not fail to meditate the creation stage. One follows the order of meditation by first thoroughly cultivating the creation stage and later entering the perfection stage. [Nagarjuna,] in the Five Stages, makes the order definite:
To those well situated on the creation stage And yet aspiring to the perfection stage, The perfect buddhas taught this method Just like the rungs of a ladder.
[Aryadeva adds] in the Integrated Practices, which extensively elucidates the intention of the Five Stages:
"Alienated individuals such as us, through our beginning- less habitual investment in the variety of outer [35bJ things, are involved in the habitual investment in conceptual thinking by the cause of the [reificatory] instincts for intrinsic realities in such [things] as existence and non- existence. one and many. duality and nonduality, neither existence nor non-existence, permanence and imperma- nence. Thus if they learn the samadhi of the perfection stages, must they practice according to the usual stages?
Or may they spiritually realize those instantaneously through the personal precept of the mentor? "
The Vajra Master replies, "Practice entering by stages, and not suddenly. "
? ? Verifying the order of the two stages]
Chapter 11-Learning the Tantric Path ? 95
Thus, when asked: if those who are engaged with objects under the influence of instincts beginninglessly invested in the four extremes should practice the perfection [stages] beginning gradually from the first stages, or should practice suddenly by means of a profound precept of a mentor, without needing such [a gradual procedure]? [Aryadeva] answers that, other than gradual practice, there is no door of sudden entrance. And he establishes that by quoting the authority of the Mission to Lan ka [Satra] and the Heroes ' March Samadhi Satra. Thus, even if it were thought that the finest, jewel-like disciple to enter this path would never [need to] have a beginner's stage, there would result the absurdity that one should be liberated from the beginning without requiring any path [at all]. It is essential that one accept [the inevitability of having] a beginner's stage. One must accept [Aryadeva's] statement in the Integrated Practices:
In order for beginner [36a] beings
To enter into the ultimate reality,
The perfect buddhas created this artful system, Just like like rungs of a ladder.
Here some protest that the sudden practice is taught thinking of some powerful persons who practiced the lower paths in many former lives, and so [in this life] do not need to be led through lower paths but are properly led through the higher paths. 40
This is like saying: when one investigates whether or not one needs first to go through the paths of accumulation and application to generate the insight path, one does not need any preliminary accumulation or appli- cation paths, giving the reason that one has already attained the insight
path. It is a ridiculous [because so obvious] objection. Thus, just as, although one can put one's boat aside when one gets across a river, one must still depend on it while crossing; so, although one can abandon the creation stage once one has attained the non-artificial, core realization of the perfection stage, the artificial creation stage is necessary in the process of attaining that. Thus for the beginner, the creation stage is very highly
recommended and very important. As the Vajra Angel states:
40 Here we encounter a definitive position taken in regard to the nowadays still controver- sial debate between sudden enlightenment and gradual enlightenment.
? 96 ?
Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp
In order to realize the core yoga One should practice the artificial Meditation and recitation.
Once one realizes the core yoga, Since it is realized by going out Beyond the artificial yoga,
One should not practice any artifice. For example, one takes a boat
And goes across the water,
And then leaves it, once beyond. Artifices are like that:
Such rites as mandalas and so on,
Which are made with the [. 36bl artificial mind, Since they clear up one's [habitual] outer actions, Are recommended for beginners.
All those accomplishments are present here [in the
creation stage],
But not in the knowledge reality of the Victor.
The same points are made in the Liberation Drop and the Spring Drop. Also. as for the meaning of some statements in them that not liberation but only painful hardships will be attained by striving in the artificial practices, they mean that such will be the result if one only strives in such paths and does not [go on to] meditate the perfection stage [at all]. They do not mean that one who aspires to enlightenment should not employ those [artificial practices]. One can understand this by applying the meaning of the example of the boat. So do not make the statement about abandoning the boat on the other side of the water your grounds
for abandoning the boat on this side of the water!
Here one might object that it is all right to establish the definite-
ness in the order of the two stages by references from the Tantras, but how can references from So tras establish anything?
[SO tra references were also used here] to help us understand that, although there are differences of speed between So tra and Tantra, they are similar in that beginners need to enter gradually. As for the statements about the order of the two stages in the Tantras, the Vajra Rosary states:
Then, at the beginning, the yogi/ni who knows The six yogas achieves the supreme;
Chapter 11-Learning the Tantric Path ? 97 Then one should recite very extensively
The letter HA without any vowel.
Here, as for the six yogas: in the first application there are yoga, continu- ing yoga, and so on to make four; and then the mandala triumph and the evolution triumph to make six. Reciting the letters without vowels is explained as referring to the Vajra recitation.
As the Esoteric Accomplishment states:
In the glorious [37lt] Community,
The savior of beings taught very clearly Four things to be meditated,
On the higher than highest path.
First, one should establish the letter,
And abide on the stage of creation. Second, the lords of yoga should meditate. The very reality of the self.
Third, one meditates the wisdom seal The supreme divine substance. Fourth, proclaimed the highest,
One meditates the universal seal.
Misunderstanding the many texts such as the Enlightenment Songs (Dohas), which explain that, relying on a progression through such stages of the path in the context of meditating primarily the innate [orgasmic] wisdom, one ceases the elaborated meditations of the creation stage; it seems that [some] have [mistakenly] thought that the system of the Great
Brahmin was sudden and the system of Nagarjuna was gradual. Never- theless, the interpretation that asserts two paths, a gradual one for dull and mediocre intellects in the stage of first entering in this path, and a sudden one for the extremely sharp intellects, is contradictory to the Tantra and to all authoritative treatises. But I have already extensively explained
these interpretations in the Stages ofthe Path ofGreat Vajradhara. IVI. B. 3. b. - How to meditate the two stages in order]
The second has two parts: [i. ] The way to meditate the creation stage; and [ii. ] The way to meditate the perfection stage.
?
