It
genuinely
transcends the entire range of expres- sions.
Dudjom Rinpoche - Fundamentals and History of the Nyingmapa
It should indeed be expres- sed by those who profess well-informed intelligence during debates with [extremist] Outsiders, during the composition of great treatises, and while establishing texts which concern supreme reasoning.
However, when the subtle, inner
Madhyamaka is experientially cultivated, one should medi- tate on the nature of Yogacara-Madhyamaka. 169
cognition.
Asanga
170 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
The Greater Vehicle 171
In this way, two Madhyamaka are spoken of, one outer and coarse,
the other inner and subtle.
Concerning the latter, the regent Ajita [Maitreya] has extensively
analysed the meaningful intention of the topics of vast significance which revealed all things in terms of the three essential natures. This he did by means of discourses connected with the irreversible intention of the final turning of the doctrinal wheel and with the utter purity of the three spheres [of subject, object and their interaction].
Whereas in the aforementioned tradition of Mind Only, the depend- ent nature is the ground of emptiness and is explained to be the absolute, empty of imaginary objects of refutation, here it is the absolute reality (chos-nyid yongs-grub) that is claimed to be empty of imaginary objects of refutation. Accordingly, the components, psychophysical bases and activity fields, which are dependently conceived, are said to be a ground which is empty of the imaginary self and its properties;
and the ground which is empty of that dependent ground of emptiness is absolute reality. This ground of emptiness never comes into existence because it is empty of the phenomena of sarpsara, which are charac- terised as suddenly arisen and which are divided according to essential stains and substantial faults. However this ground is not empty of the amassed enlightened attributes of nirvaI). a which spontaneously abide
from the beginning.
Accordingly, it is said in the Supreme Continuum ofthe Greater Vehicle
(Ch. 1, v. 1SS):
The seed which is empty of suddenly arisen
phenomena
Endowed with divisive characteristics
Is not empty of the unsurpassed reality "Endowed with indivisible characteristics.
1
And in the Commentary [on the Supreme Continuum ofthe Greater Vehicle,
Mahiiyiinottaratantrasiistravyiikhyii, T 402S, p. 76]:
If one asks what is revealed by this passage, the reason for there being no basis of all-conflicting emotions requiring t. o be clarified in this naturally pure seed of the tathagata IS that it is naturally free from suddenly arisen stains. It nothing at all which can be established as a basis for punfi- cation for its nature is reality, pure of divisive phenomena.
So it that the nucleus of the tathagata is empty of divisions . . which may be removed and of the entire nest of emotions, but it is not empty of the inconceivable of the buddhas which outnumber all the sands of the RIver
Ganges and are non-divisive and inalienable.
Now it is also said that the imaginary implies that attributes are without
substantial existence, the dependent that creation is without substantial existence and the absolute that ultimate reality is without substantial existence. The first two of these [indicate] that the conceptual aspects of the subject-object dichotomy, which are suddenly arising fictions, are empty of their own essence, and the latter refers to emptiness as the naturally expressed, fundamental essence itself which has no sub- stantiality. Since this [ultimate reality] is naturally pure, it abides, through its function of emptiness, as the enlightened attributes of the buddha-body of reality, and through its apparitional function as the ground on which the buddha-bodies, fields, celestial mansions and so forth arise. Through its function of awareness, it is spontaneously pres- , ent from the beginning, free from causes and free from results, because it is the supporting ground of the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses and the like. This natural expression of the buddhas, which is called the nucleus of the sugata, does not abide as the seed of creation, destruc- tion, transformation, change, increase or decrease, cause or condition, and so forth, and it is ever uncovered, without being an object of metaphor, thought or expression. It is said in the Play of Maiijusrf (Maiijusrfvikrftjitamahiiyiinasutra, T 96):
Sister, although suddenly arising conflicting emotions do emerge in relation to the natural inner radiance, the natural inner radiance cannot be defiled by those suddenly arisen all-conflicting emotions.
And the regent Ajita has said [in the Supreme Continuum ofthe Greater Vehicle, Ch. l, v. S]:
Uncompounded and spontaneously present, Unrealised through external conditions, Endowed with knowledge, love and power
Is the buddhahood possessing the two benefits.
If one were otherwise to apprehend all things as being exclusively empty of their own essence, in the manner ofthe proponents of intrinsic emptiness (rang-stong-pa), then it is said that according to the same [argument] the buddha-body of reality would also be empty of Itself. The buddha-bodies, pristine cognitions, fields and so forth be non-existent, the accumulation of the provisions and purifi- of obscurations, which depend upon these, would also be non- eXIstent, and indeed the teachings through which the causal and result- vehicles reveal all of purifying stains, whatever their
SIS or path, would be dImInIshed. The ground of purification being non-existent, there would be no need to effect purification. Being empty of pristine cognition, there would be no work on behalf of others and [enlightened] understanding. There being nothing existent, even WIth respect to the relative appearances of the impure dependent
172 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
nature, there would also be no enlightened attributes to impurities into the pure dependent nature. There would be no self to become the ground of bondage and liberation, and there would be no doctrine to be realised by each one individually. Many such faults would persist and by nature give rise to the source of unbearable views. This can be known from quotations such as the following from the Sutra o f the Dialogue with Kasyapa from the Sublime Pagoda o f Precious Jewels (Aryaratnakutakasyapaparivartas11tra, T 87):
o Ka§yapa, whoever, referring to emptiness, relies upon emptiness deviates from this discourse of mine; theirs is said to be a great deviation. 0 Kasyapa, it is better to abide in a view [which clings to] individual existence to the extent of Mount Sumeru, than with manifest egotism to adopt a view to emptiness. If you ask why, 0 Kasyapa, I have explained that although that which arises from all views is emptiness, Kasyapa, that which exclusively regards empti- ness is untenable.
If one were, on the other hand, to object that this would not be emptiness, it is not the case, as the Sublime Siitra ofthe Descent to Lanka says:
Ifyou ask what is the emptiness which is the ultimate reality of all things, the great pristine cognition of the sublime beings, it is as follows. The attainment of the pristine cogni- tion of the sublime beings, which is one's own intrinsic awareness, is empty of the propensities of all views and faults. This is called the emptiness which is the ultimate reality of all things, the great pristine cognition of sublime beings.
This ultimate reality that is empty of extraneous entities (gzhan-stong), is similarly found in siltras belonging to the intermediate promulgation of the doctrinal wheel. It is said in the Transcendental Perfection of Discriminative Awareness in Twenty-five Thousand Lines:
173
t rea er
The nature of, this expanse in the minds of sentient beings is like a treasure precIOUS gems within the earth, uncovered by stains in respect Its own essence, and yet it simultaneously assumes the sud- denly ansen of sarpsara, in the manner, for example, of water and Ice. It says m the Sutra of the King of Contemplation:
Pure, clear and inwardly radiant, Undisturbed and uncompounded Is the nucleus of the sugata.
It is the reality that abides from the beginning.
And in the master Nagarjuna's Eulogy to the Expanse ofReality (v. 23):
The water that lies within the earth Remains immaculately pure.
The pristine cognition within conflicting
emotions, too,
Remains similarly immaculate.
Such q,uotations that the status of the nucleus [of the tathagata] accor? mg to the defimtlve meaning is inconceivable.
ThIs nucleus of the tathagata, with respect to its own essence, is the throughout sarpsara and nirvat:la, without good or evil. As it is saId [m the Ornament ofthe Sutras ofthe Greater Vehicle, Ch. 9, v. 37]:
The nature of just what is, in all things, is undifferentiated.
When purified, it is the nature of the tathagata. Therefore all living beings possess that nucleus.
fUCh extensive quotations have an intention directed towards the abso- nature, which is unchanging reality. Therefore the Supreme Con-
tznuum of the Greater Vehicle (Ch. l, v. 51) says: Subsequently just as it was before
Is the unchanging reality.
In this context, if you ask what is the emptiness of other substances, it applies whether the tathagatas have appeared or not. As the abiding nature of reality, as reality itself, the expanse of reality, the faultlessness of reality, the nature of just what is, the unmistakable nature of just what is, the unalterable nature of just what is, and as the genuine goal, it abides as just what is. Therefore, this reality, which is empty of extraneous entities, is called the emptiness of other substances. Subhl1ti, this is the greater vehicle of the bodhisattvas, great spiritual warriors.
. .
':Vhen beings are circumstantially classified in relation to the stains whlch suddenly' h [; 11 ' " ,
in t
.
ans:, t ey a mto three categones. As It IS explained he Supreme Contmuum of the Greater Vehicle eCh. l, v. 47):
to order of being impure, unfymg that IS Impure and being utterly pure,
They are called sentIent beings, bodhisattvas and tathagatas.
The Greater Vehicle And it is extensively mentioned in the Supreme Continuum o+the G
. I ' '}
Vehzc e, as CIted above in the passage eCh. l, v. lss) which begins:
The seed which is empty of suddenly arisen phenomena Endowed with divisive characteristics. . .
174 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
And in the Commentary [on the Supreme Continum ofthe Greater Vehicle,
p. 40]:
Therefore, those in the circumstance of being impure are called sentient beings, those in the circumstance of purifying that which is impure are called bodhisattvas and those in the circumstance of being utterly pure are called tathagatas.
Similarly, everything appears according to distinctions such as the three vehicles, to diffLfentiations based upon hierarchical classifications such as the ten levels and the five paths, and likewise to ethical hierar- chies such as good and evil sentient beings, pious attendants and self- centred buddhas, and sublime bodhisattvas and buddhas. However, the natural inner radiance, which is the expanse of reality and the ultimate truth, pervades everything without [distinctions between] good and evil or decrease and increase, just as, for example, vases appear to be distinguished according to their quality, there being clay vases, wooden vases, vases of precious gems and so on, while the space within these vases is identical in that it is without qualities. Accordingly, the Supreme Continuum of the Greater Vehicle (Ch. 1, vv. 49-50) says:
Just as space is omnipresent,
Having a thoughtless nature,
So the natural expression of mind,
The immaculate expanse, is all-pervasive.
Its general characteristic pervades the limits
Of negative and positive attributes,
In the manner of the space
Within inferior, mediocre and superior material forms.
If one then asks what exactly the three circumstances just mentioned are, beings are separated between sarpsara and nirval). a according to the distinction of whether they are liberated or not liberated from the stains that obscure the nucleus. As the same text says:
One covered by the net of conflicting emotions Is truly called a sentient being.
On becoming free from conflicting emotions One is called a buddha.
Regarding this threefold circumstance, ordinary persons who are obscured by the great darkness of obscuration have nothing but_a portion of enlightened attributes. By contrast, the among the pious attendants and self-centred buddhas are more subhme than in enlightened attributes since they have gradually reduced the stamS covering the nucleus by the greater or lesser potency of the antidotes which have power to remove them. Then, the bodhisattvas appear to be even more sublime, having attained the levels, and surpassed those
The Greater Vehicle 175
who have not renounced all aspects of ignorance. Beyond that, the buddhas free from all obscurations appear yet more sublime.
Therefore, this ultimate truth which is the expanse [of reality] is not qualitatively perceived according to its abiding nature by the three lower kinds of sublime being, namely, the pious attendants, self-centred buddhas and bodhisattvas. It is not manifestly perceived by one who abides on the paths of provision and connection except as a mere volition of the scrutinising intellect. Again, although it is partially perceived on the paths of insight and meditation, the expanse cannot be perfectly perceived through these paths, apart from a mere proportion of its
enlightened attributes, just as a small child does not perceive the all-en- compassing sun apart from the mere glimpse of its rays through an aperture.
As has previously been cited [from the Supreme Continuum of the Greater Vehicle, Ch. 2, v. 68]:
Because it is not an object of speech, Is subsumed by ultimate reality,
Is not within reason's domain,
Is beyond exemplification,
Is unsurpassed and is subsumed neither by existence nor quiescence,
The objective range of the Conqueror is inconceivable Even to sublime beings.
It is on the buddha level that the natural expression [of reality] is directly and perfectly perceived. As explained in the Commentary on the Supreme Continuum of the Greater Vehicle (p. 77):
Just as the sun in the sky appears
Through an aperture in the clouds,
In this situation you are not fully perceived
Even by sublime beings endowed with pure eyes of Intelligence; for their intelligence is partial. However, Transcendent Lord, you who are the pure
body of reality,
Pervading the spacious expanse of limitless knowledge Are totally perceived by those whose intelligence is
limitless.
Would it then be, one ·might object, that sentient beings become bUddhas who have accumulated the two provisions and renounced the two obscurations by means of this naturally radiant expanse, which is effortlessly present in the nature of sentient beings? That is not so, because there are two kinds of renunciation, one that is naturally pure
and the other that becomes free from the suddenly arisen stains. The former is the reality which, in respect of its own essence, abides without
176 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
changing in the fundamental nature of great primordial purity. It is said in the Sutra of the Adornment of Pristine Cognition's Appearance which Penetrates the Scope of All Buddhas jiiiiniilokiilarrzkiirasutra, T 100):
MafijusrI, since the mind is naturally radiant, it is naturally undefiled by all-conflicting emotions, and is only [provision- ally] defiled by all the subsidiary conflicting emotions which suddenly arise. That which is naturally radiant is the very absence of all-conflicting emotions. For one who is without all-conflicting emotions, there is no antidote through which all-conflicting emotions should be renounced.
And in the Transcendental Pelfection of Discriminative Awareness m Twenty-five Thousand Lines:
"Kausika, what do you think of this? Are sentient beings created or do they expire? " He replied, "Venerable Subhiiti, that is not the case. If you ask why, it is because sentient beings are pure from the beginning. "
And also in the same text:
Since form is naturally radiant, it is pure without all-conflict- ing emotions. Since feeling, perception, habitual tendencies and consciousness are naturally radiant, they are pure with- out all-conflicting emotions. Since all manifestations up to omniscience are naturally radiant, they are pure and without all-conflicting emotions.
According to such extensive quotations, natural renunciation is that which transcends the phenomena of consciousness and is a genuine liberation from all obscurations. It is complete from the beginning in ultimate truth because absolute reality is naturally pure.
The second kind of renunciation is the removal of the suddenly arising obscurations by an appropriate antidote. Although, as previously explained, the unactualised enlightened attributes which exist in the· ground unrefined by the path are present in the situation of sentient beings, no defect is thereby introduced to this philosophical system because it is not claimed that sentient beings are buddhas free from all obscurations. •
In the same way, there are also two kinds of realisation, namely, the naturally present pristine cognition realised through the intrinsic aware- ness of primordial reality, and the dependently produced pristine cog- nition realised through the power of meditating on the path. The former is characterised as supramundane, being the naturally present pristine cognition or discernment through individual intuitive awareness which
The Greater Vehicle 177 realises the ultimate reality. Thus [the Litany ofthe Names ofMaiijusrf,
v. 155ab] says:
It is awareness of itself, awareness of others, And awareness of all.
It is the all-knowing sacred total awareness.
The two fundamental kinds of renunciation and realisation are complete in their own essence, which is the abiding nature of ultimate reality. As the venerable Maitreya [in the Supreme Continuum of the Greater Vehicle, Ch. l, v. 154]17o says:
Therein there is nothing to be clarified And nothing to be minutely established. Genuinely regarding that genuine reality, Genuinely perceiving it, one will be free.
The second kind of realisation is that pattern of realisation which is
expanded by the power of meditating on the path. It is called the
absolute which is incontrovertible because enlightened attributes of
obscurationless power are actualised once the two provisions of pristine
cognition have been accumulated through meditative equipoise and merit
during the aftermath. As the Ornament of the Satras of the Greater Vehicle , (Ch. 9, v. 22abd) says:
Though there is no distinction Between the former and the latter, It is the nature of just what is, Untainted by all obscurations, That is held to be the buddha.
4 The Superiority of Great Madhyamaka to Mind Only
aspects of consciousness is revealed in the ultimate truth A d' 1 . ' 'd' h . . ccormgy, It IS sal m t e Sublzme Siitra of the Descent to Lanka:
One who become without mind, intellect, the conscious- of . the mtellect, conceptualising thoughts and percep- tIOn,_wIll. receptive to the uncreated doctrine. 0 0ahamatl, smce the doctrine which is apparitionless and fr. om. con. ceptualising thoughts is revealed, this ul-
tImate reahty IS WIthout order or orderly intervals.
[84a. 4-92a. 6] This system, according to which the relative is. ,empty of its own essence and the ultimate empty of other entities, is variously revealed in both the intermediate and final promulgations. However, in particular, the presence of profound, radiant and non-dual pristine cognition, the nucleus of the sugata, as the ground of emptiness is extensively taught in the piIaka of the final transmitted precepts, and in those which speak ofall things as merely apparitional aspects ofmind.
Derived from these [precepts], certain masters of the past have been obliged to admit that the mind is ultimately real and thereby originated the school of the VijfUinavada [proponents of consciousness], which is one of those known at the present day as the four philosophical systems. While not reaching the genuine intention, that mind described as the mind of which all things are merely apparitional aspects partakes of two circumstances, one under which its intention is directed to the consciousness of the ground-of-all, and the other under which its inten- tion is directed to the absolute reality (chos-nyid yongs-gnlb).
When the former is intended, it is said not to be the ultimate truth because it is impermanent, the bewildered subject and object being relative appearances. For example, the Siitra ofthe Adornment ofPristine Cognition's Appearance which Penetrates the Scope of All Buddhas says:
SaradvatIputra, that which is called mind includes the con- sciousness of mind and intellect, the mental body, the faculty of the intellect and the base of the intellect. This is what is called the mind. If you ask how emptiness relates with it, SaradvatIputra, the mind is empty of the mind. In it there is no actor. If there were some actor, then its actions would be experienced as such by others. The mind is not manifestly conditioned even by the mind.
Though it is taught that all things are merely apparitional aspects of mind, there is no occasion so to speak in connection with the ultimate truth, for the pristine cognition transcending mind, intellect and all
Maitreya
And also [Ch. 3, vv. 40-1]:
Having renounced the mind and intellect
Consciousness, perception and thoughts ' Th . ,
e pIOUS attendants who have obtained the conceptualising doctrine
Become the sons of the Conqueror. Through the distinctions of [buddha-]field
and [bodhisattvas'] receptiveness [Th . ]. ,
eygam theVIrtuouspristinecognitionoftheTathagata.
Superiority ofGreat Madhyamaka 179
180 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
Superiority ofGreat Madhyamaka 181
There are, in addition, proponents of the Mind system who hold that consciousness is not the ultimate truth. But this is simply a subjective perception of sarp. sara, unable to sublimate the world. The ultimate truth is as. t. he unc? r-
rupted expanse, and as the WhICh realises it, namely, the supramundane, indIVIdual, mtUitIVe awareness of the sublime beings.
The distinction between these two [views] has been extensively taught in passages such as the following from that [same] sutra of the greater vehicle [Descent to Lanka, p. 64]:
In this context, Mahamati, pristine cognition is of three kinds: mundane, supramundane and most 0 Of these, that which having been created is destroyed IS consciousness; and that which is neither created de- stroyed is pristine cognition. Moreover, MahamatI, that which falls into the dichotomy of being symbolic or non-sym- bolic that which falls into the dichotomy of being and non- and that which is created from caus. es diverse character, is consciousness; whereas that WhICh IS terised as utterly transcending the dichotomy of symbol. Ic and non-symbolic is pristine cognition. And agam Mahamati that which is characterised as accumulatmg them is and that which is characterised as diminish- ing them is pristine cognition. . . .
Now these three kinds [of pristine cogmtIon respectIvely] generate the realisation of individual and general characteris- tics, the realisation of that which is created and destroyed and the realisation of that which is neither created nor ceases. The mundane pristine cognition is that of the extremists who manifestly cling to theses of being or non-being of all ordinary childish persons. The supramundane pnstme cognition is that of all pious attendants and . bud- dhas who openly cling to thoughts which fall mto and general characteristics. The most supramundane pnstme cognition is the analytical insight of the buddhas bodhisattvas into apparitionless reality. It is seen to be WIth- out creation or cessation, for they comprehend the level of the Tathagata who is free from theses concernmg being and non-being. .
Furthermore, Mahamati, that which is charactensed as unattached is pristine cognition, and that is charac- teristically attached to various objects is And again, Mahamati, that which is as pro- duced from the triple combination [of subject, object and
their interaction]l? l is consciousness and that characterised as the essential nature which is not so produced is pristine cognition. Then again, Mahamati, that which is charac- terised as not to be attained is pristine cognition, since
each one's own sublime pristine cognition does not emerge
as a perceptual object of realisation, [but is present] in the
manner of the moon's reflection in water. On this it must be said [Ch. 3, vv. 38-9]:
The mind accrues deeds and so forth)
But pristine cognition breaks them down)·
By discriminative awareness) too) the apparitionless Reality and powers are well obtained.
It is the mind which objectifies.
And similarly it is said in the Sublime Sutra of Clouds of Precious Jewels
(Aryaratnameghasutra, T 231):
.
This doctrine genuinely transcends all written and spoken words.
It genuinely transcends the entire range of expres- sions. It genuinely transcends all verbalisation. It is free from all conceptual elaboration and free from all that is accepted or rejected. It is free from all opening and closing, and free from all sophistry. It is not to be analysed and is
not within the range of sophistry. It genuinely transcends the range of sophistry. It is non-symbolic, free from sym-. bolism and genuinely transcends the range of symbolism. It genuinely transcends the range of the childish. It genuinely transcends the range ofall demons, and genuinely transcends
the range of all conflicting emotions. It genuinely transcends the range of consciousness. It does, however, lie within the range of the indetermin'ate, dynamic, quiescent and sublime pristine cognition. The individual, intrinsic awareness of these attributes is a topic which is taintless, uncovered, pure,
bountiful, supreme, sacred, perfect, permanent, firm, en- during and imperishable. Whether the tathagatas have ap- peared or not, this expanse of reality is exclusively present.
The inconceivability of the ultimate, sublime pristine cognition, ex- tensively revealed by such quotations, does not lie within the path [followed] by the proponents of the Mind Only system. It is admitted that this naturally radiant, intuitive awareness, the perception free from the subject-object dichotomy, is itself the true basis of buddhahood and it is held that the subject is dependently real. It is therefore
for anyone holding consciousness to exist substantially in ultimate reality to understand literally the selflessness of phenomena. In the same vein the Sutra of the Descent to Lanka (Ch. 10, vv. 359 and 358) also says:
182
Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
Being mind only, it is apparitionless.
Being apparitionless, it is uncreated.
These middle paths
Have been explained by myself, and others too. Realising that there is only mind,
External substances are clarified.
By reversing the pattern of conceptualising thought, That path becomes the middle one.
So it is that this intention of the final transmitted precepts, abiding in the Great Madhyamaka of definitive meaning, is clearly revealed in
172
the commentaries of great bodhisattvas
the two promulgators who were masters of the greater [Nagar- juna and Asailga] along with their followers. Although certam masters may well have developed other systems and tenets e. lsewhere of necessity, it is difficult to estimate whether they are ordmary or sublIme beings. There may well be occasion to speak in the manner [of these masters] owing to various basic intentions once one has reached the level of the sublime ones, but childish persons like ourselves should understand the importance of not accumulating evil deeds which re- nounce the doctrine, having clung to a single extreme [view].
If this system [of Great Madhyamaka] were also to be as Mind Only because the three essential natures are taught then the three essential natures are extensively revealed, too, m the mter- mediate transmitted precepts such as the Intermediate Mother:
Maitreya, regard any imaginary form as not substantially existent. One might regard any conceptualised form as sub- stantially existent because thoughts exist substantially, but do not confer independent status upon it. Then you should regard the very form of reality as being disclosed by ultimate reality, for it is neither substantially existent nor not substan- tially existent.
And again in the Epitome ofthe Transcendental Perfection ofDiscriminative Awareness in Eight Thousand Lines (AHasahasrikapirJ,qartha, T 3809, vv. 27-9):
The transcendental perfection of discriminative awareness Genuinely depends on three teachings:
The imaginary, dependent and absolute alone.
By negative expressions and the like
All that is imaginary is refuted.
By apparition and other such similes
The dependent is correctly revealed.
'fi . 173 Through the fourfold pun lcatlOn
The absolute is well known.
Superiority ofGreat Madhyamaka 183
Other than the transcendental perfection Of discriminative awareness,
The buddhas have no teaching.
Similarly, in the master Nagamitra's Introduction to the Three Bodies
(Kayatrayavataramukha, T 3890), the three essential natures are also
summarised as the causal basis for the attainment of the three buddha-
bodies, and in the Commentary [on the Introduction to the Three Bodies . ,
Kayatrayavrttz, T 3891] composed by the proponent of the Great Madhyamaka, ]fianacandra, the same point is explained. Despite all the definitive structures of the three essential natures which have been set forth in all such texts of Great Madhyamaka, those who propound that they belong not to the Madhyamaka tradition but just to that of
Mind Only have not even seen these relevant texts. As the Siltra ofthe Descent to Lanka (Ch. 10, vv. 256-7) says:
One who relies on Mind Only,
Does not discern external objects.
Relying on the apparitionless,
Mind Only should be transcended.
Relying on the genuine object of reference,
The apparitionless should be transcended. A yogin who abides in the apparitionless Does not perceive the greater vehicle.
Accordingly, after Mind Only has been provisionally taught and then genuinely transcended, the apparitionless Madhyamaka is taught; and when that too has been transcended, the apparitional Madhyamaka is revealed. If that is not reached, it is said that the profound meaning of greater vehicle is not perceived. It is, in general, erroneous to everything expressed by the word mind as the Mind Only
doctnne; for there are occasions when the abiding nature free from all
extremes, [known] inclusively as the nature of just what is, the genuine
the natural nirval). a, the expanse of reality, the mind of inner
ra? lance, and the intellect of Samantabhadra, is indicated by the word mznd. The Long Mother says:
Subhuti, that mind is not the mind.
The nature of that mind is inner radiance.
One should not therefore mistake that which is spoken of as mind-as- SUch, the inner radiance transcending the mind of samsara and its events, for the Mind Only system which does transcend
The latter is characterised in the Satra of the Descent to anka (Ch. 3, v. 32 and Ch. 10, v. 486) as follows:
Conne. cted ,with propensities of conceptualising thought, The diVerSIty which arises from the mind
and in the compositions of
184 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
And appears externally to mankind, Is the mundane Mind Only [view].
There is indeed a distinction between the mundane and the supra- mundane Mind Only which is identical in meaning to the distinction between consciousness and pristine cognition, as previously explained. Similarly, those terms revealed in the most profound [sutras] of the greater vehicle which are synonyms of mind should be likewise
It would indeed be a grave error to equate the tenets of mundane Mmd Only with the Great Sage's buddha-body of reality and the mass of its inseparable enlightened attributes, exceeding all the sands of the River Ganges, which are inclusively known as the uncorrupted expanse, . the inconceivable expanse, ultimate virtue, unchanging and firm reahty, truth in the ultimate abiding nature of reality, the primordially liberated buddha-body, freedom from all conceptual elaborations of the four extremes, and renunciation of the two concepts of selfhood. These are spontaneously present, utterly transcending the phenomena of con- sciousness.
In general, those whose intelligence is authoritative, without into prejudice, do not differentiate between the two modes of [rang-stong and gzhan-stong] when abiding in the Madhyamaka [VIew], which is the summit of the four philosophical systems dependent on different traditions of promulgation which have been precisely enumer- ated. This is clearly understood through the respective treatises of the two great masters, Nagarjuna and Asanga, whom the Conqueror prophetically declared would comment o? the ? fthe meaning; and in conformity with them, It has been SImIlarly explamed by the all-knowing dialectician Ratnakarasanti, the venerable Bhavya, the Guru of Suvan)advlpa, 17-+ the lord Atisa and others. Even the master Haribhadra gives confirmation of it because, when explaining the inten- tion of the Ornament of Emergent Realisation [in his AJin'or Commentary, T 3791], he resolves that this non-dual pristine cognition alone is the genuinely existing essence. He then asserts this resolution to be made through the sequence of [discriminative awareness] produced by tion, or through the yoga produced by the meditation of a on the third level. 175 And he additionally confirms this by the recognition of just what is to be pristine cognition, and by eXplal? I? g, in his commentary on the essential buddha-body, that the remammg three buddha-bodies, through which it abides, are reality. .
In this way, the emptiness directly revealed through t? e intermed? ate promulgation is claimed to have the definitive meanm. g of explicit negation in order that it might cut through the egotIsm that IS emergent with intellect in corporeal beings; as well as through the VIeW of self, which is newly postulated by the philosophical systems of the eternalistic extremists; and through the subjective, conceptual elabora-
tions of those of our own [Buddhist] philosophical systems which pro- pound substantial existence. 176 Since [this intermediate promulgation] teaches that one meditates on emptiness when meditating on nothing at all, and realises just what is when nothing at all is perceived, that [reality] and its significance are indeed perceived. The view of this
[promulgation] is therefore in the range of understanding or proper realisation of selflessness.
It is difficult to destroy attachment to superficial characteristics (mtshan-'dzin). I77 However, in order for the discriminative awareness born of study and thought to refute it, the Prasangika and Svatantrika reasoning which cuts through conceptual elaboration is sharp. But when the experiences of meditation are established, it is this tradition of the
Great Madhyamaka, as taught in the third promulgation, which is profound and vast. This naturally present pristine cognition, the ultImate tru. th of the naturally pure expanse, is the original abiding o! all and it is the pristine cognition to be experienced by mdlvldual mtultIve awareness. As it is said in Rahula's Praise of the
Mother [yum-Ia bstod-pa, T 1127, attributed to Nagarjuna]: Homage to the Mother of the conquerors of the three
times,
Who is the ineffable, unthinkable, inexpressible Transcendental perfection of discriminative awareness nature uncreated and unceasing as the sky, ' Wlthm range of the individual intuitive awareness
That is pristine cognition.
And [in the Sutra ofExtensive Play, Ch. 25, v. l]:
I have found a nectar-like doctrine
Profound, calm, unelaborate, radiant and uncompounded.
By such quotations, the inconceivable pristine cognition has been illus-
and through the vision of its nature the ultimate truth is per-
ceIved. It is wrong to refer to the mere emptiness, which is nothing at all, as the ultimate truth.
of r. ea! itY. is the pristine cognition of the non-dual nature J what IS. It IS mdicated by the words buddha-body of reality or buddha-body which genuinely transcends the phenomena of ConSCIOusness. Yet, also comprised within this doctrine, which is mis-
secret mantr . 178 h d fi . .
p ' . a, t e e mltlVe order of the ground, path and result of
v and so forth which are adhered to by followers of the greater t e m both its causal and resultant aspects, and which include [the
Superiority ofGreat Madhyamaka 185
as the philosophical systen1 known as the Mind Only, are: efinltlVe order of the three continua as taught in the way of
bl··.
ISS, emptmess endowed WIth all supreme aspects, the im-
Seurnllnology] of deities, mantras, embodiments of indestructible reality
preme
,
186 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
perishable seminal point which is the fundamental support of body, speech and mind; and also the uncommon definitive order of the ground, path and result. .
One should know that the intention of the final promulgation, even though not within the path upheld by the proponents of intrinsic emp- tiness (rang-stong-pa), is without contradiction by examining, one by one, the commentaries of the great lords of the tenth level and the teachings belonging to the tantrapiraka of the way of secret mantra.
Therefore, while the intention of the final transmitted precepts is not the same as that of the mundane Mind Only system in any of its forms, the purposes of the lower phases of the vehicle are gradually gathered within the higher, so that [Mind Only and the like] are not contradictory apart from their vindication of an extreme position. In- deed, one must truly comprehend that the great distinction ofthe higher over the lower phases is a feature of the precious teaching of the sublime Sugata. Otherwise, after one had been given teaching on suffering, selflessness, impurity and impermanence according to the first pro- mulgation and everything had been established as emptiness according to the intermediate transmitted precepts, if one were then to grasp literally the meaningful intention revealed according to the final trans- mitted precepts concerning bliss, purity, permanence and true self,179 without knowing how to accept them with an attitude confident in the four kinds of reliance, one would engage in conceptualising thoughts which would confuse those who require training and wrongly scrutinise the teaching.
With an intention directed toward this, the Commentary on the Supreme Continuum of the Greater Vehicle (p. 74) says accordingly:
To sum up, there are four kinds of individuals who do not possess the eye which perceives the nucleus of the tathagata. If you ask who these four are, they are as follows: ordinary persons, pious attendants, self-centred buddhas and bodhisattvas who have newly entered the vehicle. As it has been said,180 "0 Transcendent Lord, this nucleus of the tathagata is not within the range of those who fall into views concerning worldly existence, who openly delight in decep- tion and whose minds waver towards emptiness. "
This same point can also be proven thoroughly from all the transmitted precepts and treatises, but here one will suffice.
5 The Provisional and Definitive Meaning of the Transmitted Precepts
[92a. 6-95b. 6] When these teachings are allocated between the provi- sional meaning (drang-don) and the definitive meaning (nges-don), the three successive promulgations of the doctrinal wheel have the same common purpose, that is, to purify the stains covering the single nucleus of the tathagata. They differ only in the greatness of their means which respectively purify the gross, subtle and very subtle stains that suddenly
arise to obscure it. Thus, by teachings such as impermanence, the first promulgation arouses the mind from sarpsara and causes it to approach nirval). a. In the second, t. he three approaches to liberation become an antidote to attachment to superficial characteristics, which include the mundane view of self; and the third intends that the extensive way of the sugatas be comprehended through the topics of that irreversible
promulgation. This is extensively mentioned in passages such as the following from the Sutra of the Dialogue with King Dhara'fJfsvara (Dhara'fJfsvaraparipfcchasutra, T 147):
Son of the enlightened family, it is in the same way as, for example, a skilled jeweller, who knows well how gems are refined, takes an impure stone from a species of precious gemstones and, after wetting it in dirty salt water, has it cleaned with goats' hair, and similarly after then wetting it in a beverage has it cleaned with a woollen cloth, and after- wards, in the very same way, wets it in a herbal solution and has it cleaned with fine clean linen; when it is well refined, the stainless gem is said to be "a great gemstone of
the species beryl". Likewise, when a sentient being has first been induced to enter the Vinaya by the disturbing topics such as suffering and impermanence, and has then been made to realise the way of the tathagatas by means of the three approaches to liberation, he subsequently is made to enter the objective range of the tathagatas by the topics of the irreversible promulgation. To enter in this
188 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
way and realise reality is to become an unsurpassed object of
offering.
Thus, the three successive [promulgations] of transmitted precepts are classified into those 1)f provisional meaning and those of definitive meaning. It says in the Sutra which Decisively Reveals the Intention (Sandhininnocanasutra, T 106):
The first promulgation of the doctrinal wheel by the Tran- scendent Lord, through which the four sublime truths were taught to those who enter the vehicle of the pious attendants, is surpassed, circumstantial, of provisional meaning and con- tinues to be a basis for debate. Then, beginning with the Transcendent Lord's teaching that things have no essence, the second promulgation of the doctrinal wheel which teaches emptiness to those who correctly enter the greater vehicle is surpassed, circumstantial, of provisional meaning and con- tinues to be a basis for debate. And then, beginning with the Transcendent Lord's teaching that things have no es- sence, the third promulgation of the wheel of the exceedingly wondrous and amazing doctrine, which is well distinguished, was revealed to those correctly entering the entire vehicle. That promulgation of the doctrinal wheel is unsurpassed, not circumstantial, of definitive meaning and does not be- come a basis for debate.
The allocation of provisional and definitive meaning is determined in ways such as these.
The intermediate promulgation has accordingly been allocated pro- visional meaning because in this turning of the doctrinal wheel the enlightened attributes of ultimate reality, such as the powers of the sugatas, are mostly revealed to be empty of their own essence (rang- stong), though they are not actually empty of their own essence, and because it does not teach that these attributes are well distinguished and without inherent contradiction. For such reasons it is said to be surpassed and so on. Definitive meaning, on the other hand, is allocated to the third promulgation because [therein] things of relative appearance are empty of their own essence and the ultimate reality is empty of extraneous entities, so that the nature ofthese [attributes] is qualitatively well distinguished and then revealed.
If there are those who say that definitive meaning is contained in the intermediate promulgation because it teaches the transcendental perfec- tion of discriminative awareness, but that the final promulgation has an intention of provisional meaning because it teaches the contrary, then they have not made an accurate examination. The attributes, such as uncreated and unceasing original quiescence, which are terms relating
Provisional and Definitive Meaning 189
to the transcendental perfection of discriminative aw
extensively revealed in the final promulgation and afire mdolst
Id·hh· . Yproouny revea e m t e ve . Icle of mdestructible reality.
However, there IS no distinction in the essence of the tra d I
i'. fd·. . .
penectlon 0 Iscnmmatlve awareness
which is said to b
nscenenta d · · . h
'
as surpassed or unsurpassed depending on wheth
e IstmgUls ed . .
I I
clear y or very c early revealed; for all the limitless [attributes] which
er It IS unclearly are revealed by names such as the nucleus of the h
1"
h · . sugata, t e expanse of Ity, t e n:md of mner radiance, the naturally pure enlightened
famIly, the genume goal and the emptiness which is the esse t· I d. dfb . . . nIanature 0 su are Identical in the naturally present, non-dual
pnstme cognItIOn. ThIS same [pristine cognition] I·S the t
d ranscenental
· f·. . .
per ectIOn 0 dlscnmmatlve awareness
D · - emaster Ignaga
fi . h·E.
Therefiore th
[m IS pztome ofthe Transcendental Perfection ofDiscrimin t' A
ness, v. 1] has said:
Being the transcendental perfection of
Discriminative awareness,
pristine cognition is the Tathagata. It. possesses the meaning
WhIch IS to be accomplished
This term applies to the cent;al texts and path. I81
a Ive
ware-
Th. e. final precepts are proven to be the meanmg by [scriptural] transmissions and [logical] reason- . . . e hImself made the classification of provisional and
e lnItlVe meamng, and moreover, in his own words said:
A monk who is called Asanga
in the meaning of these treatises,
WIll dIfferentiate in many categories
The siitras of provisional and definitive meaning.
The final [tra . d
defi . . ns. mItte precepts] were accordingly allocated conclusive
by this whom the Conqueror had meanings. y declared would dlfferentlate the provisonal and definitive
Thereare onthe th h d . .
the inter '. 0 . er a n , no authontatlve passages declaring
the final7tedlate to have definitive meaning and the p ransmItted precepts] provIsIOnal meaning. Indeed even if
roponents of the Vi(- -d ld ' transmitt d nanava a cou have composed these final
sequence as such, . would have mistaken the correct and by oth . . y above SImIle of the refinement of gemstones and the S}7lles refer to the medical treatment of ill-health order made 0 There ,:ould be no need even for the definitive
there w y onqueror hImself and the sublime [Asailga] and ould be lImItless other such faults. In addition, after first
.
190 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
the provisional meaning and intermediately the definitive meaning to those who require training, the provisional meaning would then be repeated, so that one would be obliged to consider just what is the BuddHa's intention vis-a-vis the teaching. It should be known that by
proceeding in this way, there would be all kinds of unbearable evils, such as allocating the conclusive definitive meaning to philosophical systems which propound substantial existence, slandering the buddhas and great bodhisattvas as holders of a relative teaching, and abandoning this doctrine of the nucleus.
Furthermore, since the three vehicles have reference to the definitive meaning gathered in the final promulgation, the definitive meaning is conclusively proven. This is extensively mentioned in passages such as the following from the Siitra of the Irreversible Wheel (Avaivartacakra- sutra, T 240):
Then, in reverence to the Transcendent Lord, the great bodhisattva arose from his lotus posture and asked, "Transcendent Lord, what is the dimension of this world system of Patient Endurance? "
He replied, "Son of the enlightened family, in the western direction of this world system there is a world system which outnumbers the sands of the River Ganges. "
Then he asked, "Transcendent Lord, in that world system which Transcendent Lord teaches the doctrine? "
"He is called the Tathagata Sakyamuni. " "What manner of doctrine does he teach? " "He begins from the three vehicles. " "What are the three vehicles? "
"He reveals the doctrine beginning with the three vehicles, which are the vehicle of the pious attendants, the vehicle of the self-centred buddhas and the greater vehicle. "
"Do these conform to the doctrine revealed by the Trans- cendent Lord Buddha? "
"Son of the enlightened family, the doctrines revealed by the [different] Transcendent Lord Buddhas do conform. "
"Just in what respect do the doctrines revealed by the Transcendent Lord Buddhas conform? "
And he replied, "The doctrines revealed by the Transcen- dent Lord Buddhas conform to the irreversible promulga- tion. "
6 The Enlightened or Buddha Family
[95 6- 06b. 4 When this buddha family of the unsurpassed greater vehIcle IS clasSIfied, the Supreme Continuum ofthe Greater Vehicle (Ch. 1
v. 149) says: '
One know this enlightened family to be twofold: One SImIlar to treasure and the other to a fruit tree
The [first] is that which naturally abides from the .
beginning,
And the [second] is supreme through having been genuinely nurtured.
So .
Madhyamaka is experientially cultivated, one should medi- tate on the nature of Yogacara-Madhyamaka. 169
cognition.
Asanga
170 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
The Greater Vehicle 171
In this way, two Madhyamaka are spoken of, one outer and coarse,
the other inner and subtle.
Concerning the latter, the regent Ajita [Maitreya] has extensively
analysed the meaningful intention of the topics of vast significance which revealed all things in terms of the three essential natures. This he did by means of discourses connected with the irreversible intention of the final turning of the doctrinal wheel and with the utter purity of the three spheres [of subject, object and their interaction].
Whereas in the aforementioned tradition of Mind Only, the depend- ent nature is the ground of emptiness and is explained to be the absolute, empty of imaginary objects of refutation, here it is the absolute reality (chos-nyid yongs-grub) that is claimed to be empty of imaginary objects of refutation. Accordingly, the components, psychophysical bases and activity fields, which are dependently conceived, are said to be a ground which is empty of the imaginary self and its properties;
and the ground which is empty of that dependent ground of emptiness is absolute reality. This ground of emptiness never comes into existence because it is empty of the phenomena of sarpsara, which are charac- terised as suddenly arisen and which are divided according to essential stains and substantial faults. However this ground is not empty of the amassed enlightened attributes of nirvaI). a which spontaneously abide
from the beginning.
Accordingly, it is said in the Supreme Continuum ofthe Greater Vehicle
(Ch. 1, v. 1SS):
The seed which is empty of suddenly arisen
phenomena
Endowed with divisive characteristics
Is not empty of the unsurpassed reality "Endowed with indivisible characteristics.
1
And in the Commentary [on the Supreme Continuum ofthe Greater Vehicle,
Mahiiyiinottaratantrasiistravyiikhyii, T 402S, p. 76]:
If one asks what is revealed by this passage, the reason for there being no basis of all-conflicting emotions requiring t. o be clarified in this naturally pure seed of the tathagata IS that it is naturally free from suddenly arisen stains. It nothing at all which can be established as a basis for punfi- cation for its nature is reality, pure of divisive phenomena.
So it that the nucleus of the tathagata is empty of divisions . . which may be removed and of the entire nest of emotions, but it is not empty of the inconceivable of the buddhas which outnumber all the sands of the RIver
Ganges and are non-divisive and inalienable.
Now it is also said that the imaginary implies that attributes are without
substantial existence, the dependent that creation is without substantial existence and the absolute that ultimate reality is without substantial existence. The first two of these [indicate] that the conceptual aspects of the subject-object dichotomy, which are suddenly arising fictions, are empty of their own essence, and the latter refers to emptiness as the naturally expressed, fundamental essence itself which has no sub- stantiality. Since this [ultimate reality] is naturally pure, it abides, through its function of emptiness, as the enlightened attributes of the buddha-body of reality, and through its apparitional function as the ground on which the buddha-bodies, fields, celestial mansions and so forth arise. Through its function of awareness, it is spontaneously pres- , ent from the beginning, free from causes and free from results, because it is the supporting ground of the ten powers, the four fearlessnesses and the like. This natural expression of the buddhas, which is called the nucleus of the sugata, does not abide as the seed of creation, destruc- tion, transformation, change, increase or decrease, cause or condition, and so forth, and it is ever uncovered, without being an object of metaphor, thought or expression. It is said in the Play of Maiijusrf (Maiijusrfvikrftjitamahiiyiinasutra, T 96):
Sister, although suddenly arising conflicting emotions do emerge in relation to the natural inner radiance, the natural inner radiance cannot be defiled by those suddenly arisen all-conflicting emotions.
And the regent Ajita has said [in the Supreme Continuum ofthe Greater Vehicle, Ch. l, v. S]:
Uncompounded and spontaneously present, Unrealised through external conditions, Endowed with knowledge, love and power
Is the buddhahood possessing the two benefits.
If one were otherwise to apprehend all things as being exclusively empty of their own essence, in the manner ofthe proponents of intrinsic emptiness (rang-stong-pa), then it is said that according to the same [argument] the buddha-body of reality would also be empty of Itself. The buddha-bodies, pristine cognitions, fields and so forth be non-existent, the accumulation of the provisions and purifi- of obscurations, which depend upon these, would also be non- eXIstent, and indeed the teachings through which the causal and result- vehicles reveal all of purifying stains, whatever their
SIS or path, would be dImInIshed. The ground of purification being non-existent, there would be no need to effect purification. Being empty of pristine cognition, there would be no work on behalf of others and [enlightened] understanding. There being nothing existent, even WIth respect to the relative appearances of the impure dependent
172 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
nature, there would also be no enlightened attributes to impurities into the pure dependent nature. There would be no self to become the ground of bondage and liberation, and there would be no doctrine to be realised by each one individually. Many such faults would persist and by nature give rise to the source of unbearable views. This can be known from quotations such as the following from the Sutra o f the Dialogue with Kasyapa from the Sublime Pagoda o f Precious Jewels (Aryaratnakutakasyapaparivartas11tra, T 87):
o Ka§yapa, whoever, referring to emptiness, relies upon emptiness deviates from this discourse of mine; theirs is said to be a great deviation. 0 Kasyapa, it is better to abide in a view [which clings to] individual existence to the extent of Mount Sumeru, than with manifest egotism to adopt a view to emptiness. If you ask why, 0 Kasyapa, I have explained that although that which arises from all views is emptiness, Kasyapa, that which exclusively regards empti- ness is untenable.
If one were, on the other hand, to object that this would not be emptiness, it is not the case, as the Sublime Siitra ofthe Descent to Lanka says:
Ifyou ask what is the emptiness which is the ultimate reality of all things, the great pristine cognition of the sublime beings, it is as follows. The attainment of the pristine cogni- tion of the sublime beings, which is one's own intrinsic awareness, is empty of the propensities of all views and faults. This is called the emptiness which is the ultimate reality of all things, the great pristine cognition of sublime beings.
This ultimate reality that is empty of extraneous entities (gzhan-stong), is similarly found in siltras belonging to the intermediate promulgation of the doctrinal wheel. It is said in the Transcendental Perfection of Discriminative Awareness in Twenty-five Thousand Lines:
173
t rea er
The nature of, this expanse in the minds of sentient beings is like a treasure precIOUS gems within the earth, uncovered by stains in respect Its own essence, and yet it simultaneously assumes the sud- denly ansen of sarpsara, in the manner, for example, of water and Ice. It says m the Sutra of the King of Contemplation:
Pure, clear and inwardly radiant, Undisturbed and uncompounded Is the nucleus of the sugata.
It is the reality that abides from the beginning.
And in the master Nagarjuna's Eulogy to the Expanse ofReality (v. 23):
The water that lies within the earth Remains immaculately pure.
The pristine cognition within conflicting
emotions, too,
Remains similarly immaculate.
Such q,uotations that the status of the nucleus [of the tathagata] accor? mg to the defimtlve meaning is inconceivable.
ThIs nucleus of the tathagata, with respect to its own essence, is the throughout sarpsara and nirvat:la, without good or evil. As it is saId [m the Ornament ofthe Sutras ofthe Greater Vehicle, Ch. 9, v. 37]:
The nature of just what is, in all things, is undifferentiated.
When purified, it is the nature of the tathagata. Therefore all living beings possess that nucleus.
fUCh extensive quotations have an intention directed towards the abso- nature, which is unchanging reality. Therefore the Supreme Con-
tznuum of the Greater Vehicle (Ch. l, v. 51) says: Subsequently just as it was before
Is the unchanging reality.
In this context, if you ask what is the emptiness of other substances, it applies whether the tathagatas have appeared or not. As the abiding nature of reality, as reality itself, the expanse of reality, the faultlessness of reality, the nature of just what is, the unmistakable nature of just what is, the unalterable nature of just what is, and as the genuine goal, it abides as just what is. Therefore, this reality, which is empty of extraneous entities, is called the emptiness of other substances. Subhl1ti, this is the greater vehicle of the bodhisattvas, great spiritual warriors.
. .
':Vhen beings are circumstantially classified in relation to the stains whlch suddenly' h [; 11 ' " ,
in t
.
ans:, t ey a mto three categones. As It IS explained he Supreme Contmuum of the Greater Vehicle eCh. l, v. 47):
to order of being impure, unfymg that IS Impure and being utterly pure,
They are called sentIent beings, bodhisattvas and tathagatas.
The Greater Vehicle And it is extensively mentioned in the Supreme Continuum o+the G
. I ' '}
Vehzc e, as CIted above in the passage eCh. l, v. lss) which begins:
The seed which is empty of suddenly arisen phenomena Endowed with divisive characteristics. . .
174 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
And in the Commentary [on the Supreme Continum ofthe Greater Vehicle,
p. 40]:
Therefore, those in the circumstance of being impure are called sentient beings, those in the circumstance of purifying that which is impure are called bodhisattvas and those in the circumstance of being utterly pure are called tathagatas.
Similarly, everything appears according to distinctions such as the three vehicles, to diffLfentiations based upon hierarchical classifications such as the ten levels and the five paths, and likewise to ethical hierar- chies such as good and evil sentient beings, pious attendants and self- centred buddhas, and sublime bodhisattvas and buddhas. However, the natural inner radiance, which is the expanse of reality and the ultimate truth, pervades everything without [distinctions between] good and evil or decrease and increase, just as, for example, vases appear to be distinguished according to their quality, there being clay vases, wooden vases, vases of precious gems and so on, while the space within these vases is identical in that it is without qualities. Accordingly, the Supreme Continuum of the Greater Vehicle (Ch. 1, vv. 49-50) says:
Just as space is omnipresent,
Having a thoughtless nature,
So the natural expression of mind,
The immaculate expanse, is all-pervasive.
Its general characteristic pervades the limits
Of negative and positive attributes,
In the manner of the space
Within inferior, mediocre and superior material forms.
If one then asks what exactly the three circumstances just mentioned are, beings are separated between sarpsara and nirval). a according to the distinction of whether they are liberated or not liberated from the stains that obscure the nucleus. As the same text says:
One covered by the net of conflicting emotions Is truly called a sentient being.
On becoming free from conflicting emotions One is called a buddha.
Regarding this threefold circumstance, ordinary persons who are obscured by the great darkness of obscuration have nothing but_a portion of enlightened attributes. By contrast, the among the pious attendants and self-centred buddhas are more subhme than in enlightened attributes since they have gradually reduced the stamS covering the nucleus by the greater or lesser potency of the antidotes which have power to remove them. Then, the bodhisattvas appear to be even more sublime, having attained the levels, and surpassed those
The Greater Vehicle 175
who have not renounced all aspects of ignorance. Beyond that, the buddhas free from all obscurations appear yet more sublime.
Therefore, this ultimate truth which is the expanse [of reality] is not qualitatively perceived according to its abiding nature by the three lower kinds of sublime being, namely, the pious attendants, self-centred buddhas and bodhisattvas. It is not manifestly perceived by one who abides on the paths of provision and connection except as a mere volition of the scrutinising intellect. Again, although it is partially perceived on the paths of insight and meditation, the expanse cannot be perfectly perceived through these paths, apart from a mere proportion of its
enlightened attributes, just as a small child does not perceive the all-en- compassing sun apart from the mere glimpse of its rays through an aperture.
As has previously been cited [from the Supreme Continuum of the Greater Vehicle, Ch. 2, v. 68]:
Because it is not an object of speech, Is subsumed by ultimate reality,
Is not within reason's domain,
Is beyond exemplification,
Is unsurpassed and is subsumed neither by existence nor quiescence,
The objective range of the Conqueror is inconceivable Even to sublime beings.
It is on the buddha level that the natural expression [of reality] is directly and perfectly perceived. As explained in the Commentary on the Supreme Continuum of the Greater Vehicle (p. 77):
Just as the sun in the sky appears
Through an aperture in the clouds,
In this situation you are not fully perceived
Even by sublime beings endowed with pure eyes of Intelligence; for their intelligence is partial. However, Transcendent Lord, you who are the pure
body of reality,
Pervading the spacious expanse of limitless knowledge Are totally perceived by those whose intelligence is
limitless.
Would it then be, one ·might object, that sentient beings become bUddhas who have accumulated the two provisions and renounced the two obscurations by means of this naturally radiant expanse, which is effortlessly present in the nature of sentient beings? That is not so, because there are two kinds of renunciation, one that is naturally pure
and the other that becomes free from the suddenly arisen stains. The former is the reality which, in respect of its own essence, abides without
176 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
changing in the fundamental nature of great primordial purity. It is said in the Sutra of the Adornment of Pristine Cognition's Appearance which Penetrates the Scope of All Buddhas jiiiiniilokiilarrzkiirasutra, T 100):
MafijusrI, since the mind is naturally radiant, it is naturally undefiled by all-conflicting emotions, and is only [provision- ally] defiled by all the subsidiary conflicting emotions which suddenly arise. That which is naturally radiant is the very absence of all-conflicting emotions. For one who is without all-conflicting emotions, there is no antidote through which all-conflicting emotions should be renounced.
And in the Transcendental Pelfection of Discriminative Awareness m Twenty-five Thousand Lines:
"Kausika, what do you think of this? Are sentient beings created or do they expire? " He replied, "Venerable Subhiiti, that is not the case. If you ask why, it is because sentient beings are pure from the beginning. "
And also in the same text:
Since form is naturally radiant, it is pure without all-conflict- ing emotions. Since feeling, perception, habitual tendencies and consciousness are naturally radiant, they are pure with- out all-conflicting emotions. Since all manifestations up to omniscience are naturally radiant, they are pure and without all-conflicting emotions.
According to such extensive quotations, natural renunciation is that which transcends the phenomena of consciousness and is a genuine liberation from all obscurations. It is complete from the beginning in ultimate truth because absolute reality is naturally pure.
The second kind of renunciation is the removal of the suddenly arising obscurations by an appropriate antidote. Although, as previously explained, the unactualised enlightened attributes which exist in the· ground unrefined by the path are present in the situation of sentient beings, no defect is thereby introduced to this philosophical system because it is not claimed that sentient beings are buddhas free from all obscurations. •
In the same way, there are also two kinds of realisation, namely, the naturally present pristine cognition realised through the intrinsic aware- ness of primordial reality, and the dependently produced pristine cog- nition realised through the power of meditating on the path. The former is characterised as supramundane, being the naturally present pristine cognition or discernment through individual intuitive awareness which
The Greater Vehicle 177 realises the ultimate reality. Thus [the Litany ofthe Names ofMaiijusrf,
v. 155ab] says:
It is awareness of itself, awareness of others, And awareness of all.
It is the all-knowing sacred total awareness.
The two fundamental kinds of renunciation and realisation are complete in their own essence, which is the abiding nature of ultimate reality. As the venerable Maitreya [in the Supreme Continuum of the Greater Vehicle, Ch. l, v. 154]17o says:
Therein there is nothing to be clarified And nothing to be minutely established. Genuinely regarding that genuine reality, Genuinely perceiving it, one will be free.
The second kind of realisation is that pattern of realisation which is
expanded by the power of meditating on the path. It is called the
absolute which is incontrovertible because enlightened attributes of
obscurationless power are actualised once the two provisions of pristine
cognition have been accumulated through meditative equipoise and merit
during the aftermath. As the Ornament of the Satras of the Greater Vehicle , (Ch. 9, v. 22abd) says:
Though there is no distinction Between the former and the latter, It is the nature of just what is, Untainted by all obscurations, That is held to be the buddha.
4 The Superiority of Great Madhyamaka to Mind Only
aspects of consciousness is revealed in the ultimate truth A d' 1 . ' 'd' h . . ccormgy, It IS sal m t e Sublzme Siitra of the Descent to Lanka:
One who become without mind, intellect, the conscious- of . the mtellect, conceptualising thoughts and percep- tIOn,_wIll. receptive to the uncreated doctrine. 0 0ahamatl, smce the doctrine which is apparitionless and fr. om. con. ceptualising thoughts is revealed, this ul-
tImate reahty IS WIthout order or orderly intervals.
[84a. 4-92a. 6] This system, according to which the relative is. ,empty of its own essence and the ultimate empty of other entities, is variously revealed in both the intermediate and final promulgations. However, in particular, the presence of profound, radiant and non-dual pristine cognition, the nucleus of the sugata, as the ground of emptiness is extensively taught in the piIaka of the final transmitted precepts, and in those which speak ofall things as merely apparitional aspects ofmind.
Derived from these [precepts], certain masters of the past have been obliged to admit that the mind is ultimately real and thereby originated the school of the VijfUinavada [proponents of consciousness], which is one of those known at the present day as the four philosophical systems. While not reaching the genuine intention, that mind described as the mind of which all things are merely apparitional aspects partakes of two circumstances, one under which its intention is directed to the consciousness of the ground-of-all, and the other under which its inten- tion is directed to the absolute reality (chos-nyid yongs-gnlb).
When the former is intended, it is said not to be the ultimate truth because it is impermanent, the bewildered subject and object being relative appearances. For example, the Siitra ofthe Adornment ofPristine Cognition's Appearance which Penetrates the Scope of All Buddhas says:
SaradvatIputra, that which is called mind includes the con- sciousness of mind and intellect, the mental body, the faculty of the intellect and the base of the intellect. This is what is called the mind. If you ask how emptiness relates with it, SaradvatIputra, the mind is empty of the mind. In it there is no actor. If there were some actor, then its actions would be experienced as such by others. The mind is not manifestly conditioned even by the mind.
Though it is taught that all things are merely apparitional aspects of mind, there is no occasion so to speak in connection with the ultimate truth, for the pristine cognition transcending mind, intellect and all
Maitreya
And also [Ch. 3, vv. 40-1]:
Having renounced the mind and intellect
Consciousness, perception and thoughts ' Th . ,
e pIOUS attendants who have obtained the conceptualising doctrine
Become the sons of the Conqueror. Through the distinctions of [buddha-]field
and [bodhisattvas'] receptiveness [Th . ]. ,
eygam theVIrtuouspristinecognitionoftheTathagata.
Superiority ofGreat Madhyamaka 179
180 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
Superiority ofGreat Madhyamaka 181
There are, in addition, proponents of the Mind system who hold that consciousness is not the ultimate truth. But this is simply a subjective perception of sarp. sara, unable to sublimate the world. The ultimate truth is as. t. he unc? r-
rupted expanse, and as the WhICh realises it, namely, the supramundane, indIVIdual, mtUitIVe awareness of the sublime beings.
The distinction between these two [views] has been extensively taught in passages such as the following from that [same] sutra of the greater vehicle [Descent to Lanka, p. 64]:
In this context, Mahamati, pristine cognition is of three kinds: mundane, supramundane and most 0 Of these, that which having been created is destroyed IS consciousness; and that which is neither created de- stroyed is pristine cognition. Moreover, MahamatI, that which falls into the dichotomy of being symbolic or non-sym- bolic that which falls into the dichotomy of being and non- and that which is created from caus. es diverse character, is consciousness; whereas that WhICh IS terised as utterly transcending the dichotomy of symbol. Ic and non-symbolic is pristine cognition. And agam Mahamati that which is characterised as accumulatmg them is and that which is characterised as diminish- ing them is pristine cognition. . . .
Now these three kinds [of pristine cogmtIon respectIvely] generate the realisation of individual and general characteris- tics, the realisation of that which is created and destroyed and the realisation of that which is neither created nor ceases. The mundane pristine cognition is that of the extremists who manifestly cling to theses of being or non-being of all ordinary childish persons. The supramundane pnstme cognition is that of all pious attendants and . bud- dhas who openly cling to thoughts which fall mto and general characteristics. The most supramundane pnstme cognition is the analytical insight of the buddhas bodhisattvas into apparitionless reality. It is seen to be WIth- out creation or cessation, for they comprehend the level of the Tathagata who is free from theses concernmg being and non-being. .
Furthermore, Mahamati, that which is charactensed as unattached is pristine cognition, and that is charac- teristically attached to various objects is And again, Mahamati, that which is as pro- duced from the triple combination [of subject, object and
their interaction]l? l is consciousness and that characterised as the essential nature which is not so produced is pristine cognition. Then again, Mahamati, that which is charac- terised as not to be attained is pristine cognition, since
each one's own sublime pristine cognition does not emerge
as a perceptual object of realisation, [but is present] in the
manner of the moon's reflection in water. On this it must be said [Ch. 3, vv. 38-9]:
The mind accrues deeds and so forth)
But pristine cognition breaks them down)·
By discriminative awareness) too) the apparitionless Reality and powers are well obtained.
It is the mind which objectifies.
And similarly it is said in the Sublime Sutra of Clouds of Precious Jewels
(Aryaratnameghasutra, T 231):
.
This doctrine genuinely transcends all written and spoken words.
It genuinely transcends the entire range of expres- sions. It genuinely transcends all verbalisation. It is free from all conceptual elaboration and free from all that is accepted or rejected. It is free from all opening and closing, and free from all sophistry. It is not to be analysed and is
not within the range of sophistry. It genuinely transcends the range of sophistry. It is non-symbolic, free from sym-. bolism and genuinely transcends the range of symbolism. It genuinely transcends the range of the childish. It genuinely transcends the range ofall demons, and genuinely transcends
the range of all conflicting emotions. It genuinely transcends the range of consciousness. It does, however, lie within the range of the indetermin'ate, dynamic, quiescent and sublime pristine cognition. The individual, intrinsic awareness of these attributes is a topic which is taintless, uncovered, pure,
bountiful, supreme, sacred, perfect, permanent, firm, en- during and imperishable. Whether the tathagatas have ap- peared or not, this expanse of reality is exclusively present.
The inconceivability of the ultimate, sublime pristine cognition, ex- tensively revealed by such quotations, does not lie within the path [followed] by the proponents of the Mind Only system. It is admitted that this naturally radiant, intuitive awareness, the perception free from the subject-object dichotomy, is itself the true basis of buddhahood and it is held that the subject is dependently real. It is therefore
for anyone holding consciousness to exist substantially in ultimate reality to understand literally the selflessness of phenomena. In the same vein the Sutra of the Descent to Lanka (Ch. 10, vv. 359 and 358) also says:
182
Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
Being mind only, it is apparitionless.
Being apparitionless, it is uncreated.
These middle paths
Have been explained by myself, and others too. Realising that there is only mind,
External substances are clarified.
By reversing the pattern of conceptualising thought, That path becomes the middle one.
So it is that this intention of the final transmitted precepts, abiding in the Great Madhyamaka of definitive meaning, is clearly revealed in
172
the commentaries of great bodhisattvas
the two promulgators who were masters of the greater [Nagar- juna and Asailga] along with their followers. Although certam masters may well have developed other systems and tenets e. lsewhere of necessity, it is difficult to estimate whether they are ordmary or sublIme beings. There may well be occasion to speak in the manner [of these masters] owing to various basic intentions once one has reached the level of the sublime ones, but childish persons like ourselves should understand the importance of not accumulating evil deeds which re- nounce the doctrine, having clung to a single extreme [view].
If this system [of Great Madhyamaka] were also to be as Mind Only because the three essential natures are taught then the three essential natures are extensively revealed, too, m the mter- mediate transmitted precepts such as the Intermediate Mother:
Maitreya, regard any imaginary form as not substantially existent. One might regard any conceptualised form as sub- stantially existent because thoughts exist substantially, but do not confer independent status upon it. Then you should regard the very form of reality as being disclosed by ultimate reality, for it is neither substantially existent nor not substan- tially existent.
And again in the Epitome ofthe Transcendental Perfection ofDiscriminative Awareness in Eight Thousand Lines (AHasahasrikapirJ,qartha, T 3809, vv. 27-9):
The transcendental perfection of discriminative awareness Genuinely depends on three teachings:
The imaginary, dependent and absolute alone.
By negative expressions and the like
All that is imaginary is refuted.
By apparition and other such similes
The dependent is correctly revealed.
'fi . 173 Through the fourfold pun lcatlOn
The absolute is well known.
Superiority ofGreat Madhyamaka 183
Other than the transcendental perfection Of discriminative awareness,
The buddhas have no teaching.
Similarly, in the master Nagamitra's Introduction to the Three Bodies
(Kayatrayavataramukha, T 3890), the three essential natures are also
summarised as the causal basis for the attainment of the three buddha-
bodies, and in the Commentary [on the Introduction to the Three Bodies . ,
Kayatrayavrttz, T 3891] composed by the proponent of the Great Madhyamaka, ]fianacandra, the same point is explained. Despite all the definitive structures of the three essential natures which have been set forth in all such texts of Great Madhyamaka, those who propound that they belong not to the Madhyamaka tradition but just to that of
Mind Only have not even seen these relevant texts. As the Siltra ofthe Descent to Lanka (Ch. 10, vv. 256-7) says:
One who relies on Mind Only,
Does not discern external objects.
Relying on the apparitionless,
Mind Only should be transcended.
Relying on the genuine object of reference,
The apparitionless should be transcended. A yogin who abides in the apparitionless Does not perceive the greater vehicle.
Accordingly, after Mind Only has been provisionally taught and then genuinely transcended, the apparitionless Madhyamaka is taught; and when that too has been transcended, the apparitional Madhyamaka is revealed. If that is not reached, it is said that the profound meaning of greater vehicle is not perceived. It is, in general, erroneous to everything expressed by the word mind as the Mind Only
doctnne; for there are occasions when the abiding nature free from all
extremes, [known] inclusively as the nature of just what is, the genuine
the natural nirval). a, the expanse of reality, the mind of inner
ra? lance, and the intellect of Samantabhadra, is indicated by the word mznd. The Long Mother says:
Subhuti, that mind is not the mind.
The nature of that mind is inner radiance.
One should not therefore mistake that which is spoken of as mind-as- SUch, the inner radiance transcending the mind of samsara and its events, for the Mind Only system which does transcend
The latter is characterised in the Satra of the Descent to anka (Ch. 3, v. 32 and Ch. 10, v. 486) as follows:
Conne. cted ,with propensities of conceptualising thought, The diVerSIty which arises from the mind
and in the compositions of
184 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
And appears externally to mankind, Is the mundane Mind Only [view].
There is indeed a distinction between the mundane and the supra- mundane Mind Only which is identical in meaning to the distinction between consciousness and pristine cognition, as previously explained. Similarly, those terms revealed in the most profound [sutras] of the greater vehicle which are synonyms of mind should be likewise
It would indeed be a grave error to equate the tenets of mundane Mmd Only with the Great Sage's buddha-body of reality and the mass of its inseparable enlightened attributes, exceeding all the sands of the River Ganges, which are inclusively known as the uncorrupted expanse, . the inconceivable expanse, ultimate virtue, unchanging and firm reahty, truth in the ultimate abiding nature of reality, the primordially liberated buddha-body, freedom from all conceptual elaborations of the four extremes, and renunciation of the two concepts of selfhood. These are spontaneously present, utterly transcending the phenomena of con- sciousness.
In general, those whose intelligence is authoritative, without into prejudice, do not differentiate between the two modes of [rang-stong and gzhan-stong] when abiding in the Madhyamaka [VIew], which is the summit of the four philosophical systems dependent on different traditions of promulgation which have been precisely enumer- ated. This is clearly understood through the respective treatises of the two great masters, Nagarjuna and Asanga, whom the Conqueror prophetically declared would comment o? the ? fthe meaning; and in conformity with them, It has been SImIlarly explamed by the all-knowing dialectician Ratnakarasanti, the venerable Bhavya, the Guru of Suvan)advlpa, 17-+ the lord Atisa and others. Even the master Haribhadra gives confirmation of it because, when explaining the inten- tion of the Ornament of Emergent Realisation [in his AJin'or Commentary, T 3791], he resolves that this non-dual pristine cognition alone is the genuinely existing essence. He then asserts this resolution to be made through the sequence of [discriminative awareness] produced by tion, or through the yoga produced by the meditation of a on the third level. 175 And he additionally confirms this by the recognition of just what is to be pristine cognition, and by eXplal? I? g, in his commentary on the essential buddha-body, that the remammg three buddha-bodies, through which it abides, are reality. .
In this way, the emptiness directly revealed through t? e intermed? ate promulgation is claimed to have the definitive meanm. g of explicit negation in order that it might cut through the egotIsm that IS emergent with intellect in corporeal beings; as well as through the VIeW of self, which is newly postulated by the philosophical systems of the eternalistic extremists; and through the subjective, conceptual elabora-
tions of those of our own [Buddhist] philosophical systems which pro- pound substantial existence. 176 Since [this intermediate promulgation] teaches that one meditates on emptiness when meditating on nothing at all, and realises just what is when nothing at all is perceived, that [reality] and its significance are indeed perceived. The view of this
[promulgation] is therefore in the range of understanding or proper realisation of selflessness.
It is difficult to destroy attachment to superficial characteristics (mtshan-'dzin). I77 However, in order for the discriminative awareness born of study and thought to refute it, the Prasangika and Svatantrika reasoning which cuts through conceptual elaboration is sharp. But when the experiences of meditation are established, it is this tradition of the
Great Madhyamaka, as taught in the third promulgation, which is profound and vast. This naturally present pristine cognition, the ultImate tru. th of the naturally pure expanse, is the original abiding o! all and it is the pristine cognition to be experienced by mdlvldual mtultIve awareness. As it is said in Rahula's Praise of the
Mother [yum-Ia bstod-pa, T 1127, attributed to Nagarjuna]: Homage to the Mother of the conquerors of the three
times,
Who is the ineffable, unthinkable, inexpressible Transcendental perfection of discriminative awareness nature uncreated and unceasing as the sky, ' Wlthm range of the individual intuitive awareness
That is pristine cognition.
And [in the Sutra ofExtensive Play, Ch. 25, v. l]:
I have found a nectar-like doctrine
Profound, calm, unelaborate, radiant and uncompounded.
By such quotations, the inconceivable pristine cognition has been illus-
and through the vision of its nature the ultimate truth is per-
ceIved. It is wrong to refer to the mere emptiness, which is nothing at all, as the ultimate truth.
of r. ea! itY. is the pristine cognition of the non-dual nature J what IS. It IS mdicated by the words buddha-body of reality or buddha-body which genuinely transcends the phenomena of ConSCIOusness. Yet, also comprised within this doctrine, which is mis-
secret mantr . 178 h d fi . .
p ' . a, t e e mltlVe order of the ground, path and result of
v and so forth which are adhered to by followers of the greater t e m both its causal and resultant aspects, and which include [the
Superiority ofGreat Madhyamaka 185
as the philosophical systen1 known as the Mind Only, are: efinltlVe order of the three continua as taught in the way of
bl··.
ISS, emptmess endowed WIth all supreme aspects, the im-
Seurnllnology] of deities, mantras, embodiments of indestructible reality
preme
,
186 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
perishable seminal point which is the fundamental support of body, speech and mind; and also the uncommon definitive order of the ground, path and result. .
One should know that the intention of the final promulgation, even though not within the path upheld by the proponents of intrinsic emp- tiness (rang-stong-pa), is without contradiction by examining, one by one, the commentaries of the great lords of the tenth level and the teachings belonging to the tantrapiraka of the way of secret mantra.
Therefore, while the intention of the final transmitted precepts is not the same as that of the mundane Mind Only system in any of its forms, the purposes of the lower phases of the vehicle are gradually gathered within the higher, so that [Mind Only and the like] are not contradictory apart from their vindication of an extreme position. In- deed, one must truly comprehend that the great distinction ofthe higher over the lower phases is a feature of the precious teaching of the sublime Sugata. Otherwise, after one had been given teaching on suffering, selflessness, impurity and impermanence according to the first pro- mulgation and everything had been established as emptiness according to the intermediate transmitted precepts, if one were then to grasp literally the meaningful intention revealed according to the final trans- mitted precepts concerning bliss, purity, permanence and true self,179 without knowing how to accept them with an attitude confident in the four kinds of reliance, one would engage in conceptualising thoughts which would confuse those who require training and wrongly scrutinise the teaching.
With an intention directed toward this, the Commentary on the Supreme Continuum of the Greater Vehicle (p. 74) says accordingly:
To sum up, there are four kinds of individuals who do not possess the eye which perceives the nucleus of the tathagata. If you ask who these four are, they are as follows: ordinary persons, pious attendants, self-centred buddhas and bodhisattvas who have newly entered the vehicle. As it has been said,180 "0 Transcendent Lord, this nucleus of the tathagata is not within the range of those who fall into views concerning worldly existence, who openly delight in decep- tion and whose minds waver towards emptiness. "
This same point can also be proven thoroughly from all the transmitted precepts and treatises, but here one will suffice.
5 The Provisional and Definitive Meaning of the Transmitted Precepts
[92a. 6-95b. 6] When these teachings are allocated between the provi- sional meaning (drang-don) and the definitive meaning (nges-don), the three successive promulgations of the doctrinal wheel have the same common purpose, that is, to purify the stains covering the single nucleus of the tathagata. They differ only in the greatness of their means which respectively purify the gross, subtle and very subtle stains that suddenly
arise to obscure it. Thus, by teachings such as impermanence, the first promulgation arouses the mind from sarpsara and causes it to approach nirval). a. In the second, t. he three approaches to liberation become an antidote to attachment to superficial characteristics, which include the mundane view of self; and the third intends that the extensive way of the sugatas be comprehended through the topics of that irreversible
promulgation. This is extensively mentioned in passages such as the following from the Sutra of the Dialogue with King Dhara'fJfsvara (Dhara'fJfsvaraparipfcchasutra, T 147):
Son of the enlightened family, it is in the same way as, for example, a skilled jeweller, who knows well how gems are refined, takes an impure stone from a species of precious gemstones and, after wetting it in dirty salt water, has it cleaned with goats' hair, and similarly after then wetting it in a beverage has it cleaned with a woollen cloth, and after- wards, in the very same way, wets it in a herbal solution and has it cleaned with fine clean linen; when it is well refined, the stainless gem is said to be "a great gemstone of
the species beryl". Likewise, when a sentient being has first been induced to enter the Vinaya by the disturbing topics such as suffering and impermanence, and has then been made to realise the way of the tathagatas by means of the three approaches to liberation, he subsequently is made to enter the objective range of the tathagatas by the topics of the irreversible promulgation. To enter in this
188 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
way and realise reality is to become an unsurpassed object of
offering.
Thus, the three successive [promulgations] of transmitted precepts are classified into those 1)f provisional meaning and those of definitive meaning. It says in the Sutra which Decisively Reveals the Intention (Sandhininnocanasutra, T 106):
The first promulgation of the doctrinal wheel by the Tran- scendent Lord, through which the four sublime truths were taught to those who enter the vehicle of the pious attendants, is surpassed, circumstantial, of provisional meaning and con- tinues to be a basis for debate. Then, beginning with the Transcendent Lord's teaching that things have no essence, the second promulgation of the doctrinal wheel which teaches emptiness to those who correctly enter the greater vehicle is surpassed, circumstantial, of provisional meaning and con- tinues to be a basis for debate. And then, beginning with the Transcendent Lord's teaching that things have no es- sence, the third promulgation of the wheel of the exceedingly wondrous and amazing doctrine, which is well distinguished, was revealed to those correctly entering the entire vehicle. That promulgation of the doctrinal wheel is unsurpassed, not circumstantial, of definitive meaning and does not be- come a basis for debate.
The allocation of provisional and definitive meaning is determined in ways such as these.
The intermediate promulgation has accordingly been allocated pro- visional meaning because in this turning of the doctrinal wheel the enlightened attributes of ultimate reality, such as the powers of the sugatas, are mostly revealed to be empty of their own essence (rang- stong), though they are not actually empty of their own essence, and because it does not teach that these attributes are well distinguished and without inherent contradiction. For such reasons it is said to be surpassed and so on. Definitive meaning, on the other hand, is allocated to the third promulgation because [therein] things of relative appearance are empty of their own essence and the ultimate reality is empty of extraneous entities, so that the nature ofthese [attributes] is qualitatively well distinguished and then revealed.
If there are those who say that definitive meaning is contained in the intermediate promulgation because it teaches the transcendental perfec- tion of discriminative awareness, but that the final promulgation has an intention of provisional meaning because it teaches the contrary, then they have not made an accurate examination. The attributes, such as uncreated and unceasing original quiescence, which are terms relating
Provisional and Definitive Meaning 189
to the transcendental perfection of discriminative aw
extensively revealed in the final promulgation and afire mdolst
Id·hh· . Yproouny revea e m t e ve . Icle of mdestructible reality.
However, there IS no distinction in the essence of the tra d I
i'. fd·. . .
penectlon 0 Iscnmmatlve awareness
which is said to b
nscenenta d · · . h
'
as surpassed or unsurpassed depending on wheth
e IstmgUls ed . .
I I
clear y or very c early revealed; for all the limitless [attributes] which
er It IS unclearly are revealed by names such as the nucleus of the h
1"
h · . sugata, t e expanse of Ity, t e n:md of mner radiance, the naturally pure enlightened
famIly, the genume goal and the emptiness which is the esse t· I d. dfb . . . nIanature 0 su are Identical in the naturally present, non-dual
pnstme cognItIOn. ThIS same [pristine cognition] I·S the t
d ranscenental
· f·. . .
per ectIOn 0 dlscnmmatlve awareness
D · - emaster Ignaga
fi . h·E.
Therefiore th
[m IS pztome ofthe Transcendental Perfection ofDiscrimin t' A
ness, v. 1] has said:
Being the transcendental perfection of
Discriminative awareness,
pristine cognition is the Tathagata. It. possesses the meaning
WhIch IS to be accomplished
This term applies to the cent;al texts and path. I81
a Ive
ware-
Th. e. final precepts are proven to be the meanmg by [scriptural] transmissions and [logical] reason- . . . e hImself made the classification of provisional and
e lnItlVe meamng, and moreover, in his own words said:
A monk who is called Asanga
in the meaning of these treatises,
WIll dIfferentiate in many categories
The siitras of provisional and definitive meaning.
The final [tra . d
defi . . ns. mItte precepts] were accordingly allocated conclusive
by this whom the Conqueror had meanings. y declared would dlfferentlate the provisonal and definitive
Thereare onthe th h d . .
the inter '. 0 . er a n , no authontatlve passages declaring
the final7tedlate to have definitive meaning and the p ransmItted precepts] provIsIOnal meaning. Indeed even if
roponents of the Vi(- -d ld ' transmitt d nanava a cou have composed these final
sequence as such, . would have mistaken the correct and by oth . . y above SImIle of the refinement of gemstones and the S}7lles refer to the medical treatment of ill-health order made 0 There ,:ould be no need even for the definitive
there w y onqueror hImself and the sublime [Asailga] and ould be lImItless other such faults. In addition, after first
.
190 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofDialectics
the provisional meaning and intermediately the definitive meaning to those who require training, the provisional meaning would then be repeated, so that one would be obliged to consider just what is the BuddHa's intention vis-a-vis the teaching. It should be known that by
proceeding in this way, there would be all kinds of unbearable evils, such as allocating the conclusive definitive meaning to philosophical systems which propound substantial existence, slandering the buddhas and great bodhisattvas as holders of a relative teaching, and abandoning this doctrine of the nucleus.
Furthermore, since the three vehicles have reference to the definitive meaning gathered in the final promulgation, the definitive meaning is conclusively proven. This is extensively mentioned in passages such as the following from the Siitra of the Irreversible Wheel (Avaivartacakra- sutra, T 240):
Then, in reverence to the Transcendent Lord, the great bodhisattva arose from his lotus posture and asked, "Transcendent Lord, what is the dimension of this world system of Patient Endurance? "
He replied, "Son of the enlightened family, in the western direction of this world system there is a world system which outnumbers the sands of the River Ganges. "
Then he asked, "Transcendent Lord, in that world system which Transcendent Lord teaches the doctrine? "
"He is called the Tathagata Sakyamuni. " "What manner of doctrine does he teach? " "He begins from the three vehicles. " "What are the three vehicles? "
"He reveals the doctrine beginning with the three vehicles, which are the vehicle of the pious attendants, the vehicle of the self-centred buddhas and the greater vehicle. "
"Do these conform to the doctrine revealed by the Trans- cendent Lord Buddha? "
"Son of the enlightened family, the doctrines revealed by the [different] Transcendent Lord Buddhas do conform. "
"Just in what respect do the doctrines revealed by the Transcendent Lord Buddhas conform? "
And he replied, "The doctrines revealed by the Transcen- dent Lord Buddhas conform to the irreversible promulga- tion. "
6 The Enlightened or Buddha Family
[95 6- 06b. 4 When this buddha family of the unsurpassed greater vehIcle IS clasSIfied, the Supreme Continuum ofthe Greater Vehicle (Ch. 1
v. 149) says: '
One know this enlightened family to be twofold: One SImIlar to treasure and the other to a fruit tree
The [first] is that which naturally abides from the .
beginning,
And the [second] is supreme through having been genuinely nurtured.
So .
