No More Learning

-- Answer: People like cowherds, who see neither virtues not faults in it, can hear about emptiness a hundred times without beginning to feel afraid, because they do not regard it as either beneficial or harmful. When one perceives emptiness directly through a gradual process of hearing, thinking and meditating, fear stops completely because one is free from conceptions of a self which are the cause of fear. Thus one can say with certainty that fear arises in people who have only a little knowledge of emptiness. It is like the following analogy: A well-trained person is not afraid to mount a mad elephant, nor is an extremely stupid person. Yet someone who knows a little about the dangers and benefits involved feels frightened. )
.
L6: [c. Why childish people fear emptiness]
.
\ ###
\ 284.
\ Childish beings are certainly only
\ Familiar with that which involves them.
\ Because of unfamiliarity
\ They fear that which extricates them.
.
(i. e. All of this because of unfamiliarity with emptiness: It is a childish reaction due to unfamiliarity with emptiness)
.
(-- Question: Why do they fear emptiness?
-- Answer: Because of a lack of familiarity.
--- Childish beings are certainly only familiar with innate and intellectually formed conception of a self which involve them in cyclic existence. Since such childish beings have no previous familiarity with a teaching that extricates one from the cycle of birth and death, they fear emptiness. One should therefore give up doctrines that are wrong and unwholesome.
-- Emptiness should be taught to those who, because they feel grateful to the Tathagata, are suitable vessels, but who, because of their great fear, are tempted to reject it. )
.
L5: [2. Faults of impeding others' understanding of emptiness]
.
\ ###
\ 285.
\ If someone who is shrouded in
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\ Complete ignorance and impedes suchness
\ Will not even attain good fortune,
\ What need to mention liberation? .
(i. e. The need of a gradual path: Do not present emptiness to an unprepared student; he might react in rejecting everything, or misunderstand completely -- going to the other extreme, nihilism. )
.
(-- Since rejecting emptiness makes it difficult to attain a good rebirth and impossible to achieve liberation, great care must be taken to prepare students sufficiently and ensure that they are receptive, otherwise this precious teaching acts as a poison instead of panacea.
-- Someone who not only has a total disregard for emptiness but is completely shrouded in ignorance and impedes teaching, hearing and thinking about suchness out of jealousy, meanness and the like will not even attain the good fortune of a high rebirth. This being so, what chance is there of such a person attaining liberation, since such actions are grave ill deeds? Rejecting dependent arising free from fabricated extremes is a more serious ill deed than killing a hundred million people, so one must take care in this matter to avoid deceiving oneself. )
.
L5: [3. Taking care to lapse from the view of suchness]
.
\ ###
\ 286.
\ Lapsing from ethics is preferable
\ To lapsing from the view.
\ Through ethics one gains a high rebirth;
\ The supreme state is reached by means of the view.
.
(i. e. Even if only emptiness is the final antidote: But, ultimately, only the wisdom realizing the emptiness of all dharmas is the final antidote to all karma formation and sufferings. All other methods can only create merit and better rebirth conditions; but we are still stuck in samsara. It is always necessary to combine wisdom to any method. )
.
(-- Since denying emptiness is most detrimental to oneself and others, a lapse in ethical conducts is preferable. One should never lapse from the view of emptiness, for while the result of ethical conduct is a high rebirth, the view that understands emptiness takes one to the supreme states of liberation and enlightenment. Sutra says:
~ A lapse in ethics is preferable;
~ A lapse in view is not. ) .
L5: [4. Stages leading towards suchness]
.
\ ###
\ 287.
\ For the unreceptive, conceptions of a self are best;
\ To teach them selflessness is not.
\ They would go to bad rebirths,
\ While the extraordinary attain peace.
.
(i. e. It is preferable to start with morality based on protecting a self from unwanted rebirths; until they are calm and their great fear is appeased enough. )
.
(-- A skilled teacher can recognize who is and who is not ready to receive such instruction.
-- The wise only teach the view of suchness after carefully examining the vessel. It is also said:
~ Taught to fools, it confuses them
~ And does not further peace.
~ When snakes drink milk
~ Their poison only increases.
-- It is best to teach the uneducated and unreceptive that there is a self in accordance with their conceptions of a self, for their attachment to the self will cause them to give up harmful behavior, making it easier for them to find a happy rebirth. It is not good to teach them emptiness, for they will ruin their three doors by rejecting or misunderstanding it. Thus teaching emptiness has a disadvantageous as well as an advantageous aspect. On the one hand, rejecting it through lack of appreciation or denying cause and effect because of taking non-existence to be the meaning of emptiness leads
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to a bad rebirth. On the other hand, the extraordinary who have mastered suchness attain peace. ) .
L5: [5. Recognizing suchness]
L6: [a. Recognizing the fundamental mode of existence]
.
\ ###
\ 288.
\ There is no other door to peace,
\ And it destroys wrong views.
\ That which is the object of
\ All Buddhas is called selflessness.
.
(i. e. But, ultimately, only emptiness is the final antidote; all other temporary views or methods are destroyed by emptiness. Ultimately, there is no absolute views, only adapted skillful means. All views and methods are empty of inherent existence - even this one. )
.
(-- The text continues by briefly identifying the nature of reality and explaining its importance, since neither liberation nor enlightenment can be reached without understanding it.
-- One must definitely understand suchness to reach enlightenment in any of the three vehicles.
-- Since the root of worldly existence cannot be cut without understanding emptiness, there is no other door to peace. Dependent arising's lack of inherent existence is called the fundamental mode of existence, ultimate truth, emptiness and selflessness, and is the object of Hearer and Solitary Realizer Exalted one and of all Exalted Buddhas. Understanding it destroys wrong views holding to extremes. )
.
L6: [b. Why fear arises in the weak]
.
\ ###
\ 289.
\ The unreceptive are terrified
\ Just by its very name.
\ What so-called strong man is seen
\ Who does not frighten the weak?
.
(i. e. The weak are always afraid of power: So it should not be presented to the beginners, they would have great fear. ) .
(-- Selflessness must not be taught to the weak-minded for the very word "emptiness" terrifies the unreceptive. Does one see any so-called strong man who does not frighten the weak? For instance, just the sight of a lion or tiger frightens small animals. )
.
L4: [C. The profound is not taught for the sake of argument]
L5: [1. Although not taught for the sake of debate this very teaching burns up wrong contentions]
.
\ ###
\ 290.
\ This principle is not taught
\ By Tathagatas for the sake of debate,
\ Yet it burns up others' contentions
\ As fire does its fuel.
.
(i. e. It is not another view or system: It is a negation without affirming anything. It is like space. It destroys all other views, but not in order to gain personal advantages. It means that the real nature of everything is not inherent existence, not non-existent, not both existent and non-existent together, and not anything else - another view. The real nature of everything is beyond all conceptualization, all systems, all views. - Emptiness itself is not an absolute truth; it is also just another adapted skilful means. When there is no belief in inherent existence, there is no need for its antidote: emptiness. Emptiness is also empty of inherent existence because dependently arisen. )
.
(-- The purpose of studying it is soteriological and not to outshine opponents in debate. Nevertheless, since a person
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.
\ ###
\ 293.
Aryadeva - The Treatise of the Four Hundred Stanzas on the Yogic Deeds of Bodhisattvas [3. 2]
who understands emptiness cannot be beguiled by wrong views based on false arguments, understanding it automatically destroys the deceptive reasoning used by others.
-- Assertion: Since this teaching destroys all wrong views, it should be taught to the unreceptive in order to defeat its opponents.
-- Answer: Tathagatas do not teach this principle only to outshine opponents in debate but as the door to liberation. Nonetheless this teaching of emptiness burns up others' wrong contentions just as fire consumes its fuel without formulation the intention to burn. The Master also says:
~ Like the dew on the tips of the grass
~ When it meets with the rays of the sun,
~ Opponents' arguments and errors
~ Evaporate when they meet you. ) .
L5: [2. Why this is so] L6: [a. Actual meaning]
.
\ ###
\ 291.
\ Whoever knows this teaching
\ Will not relish others.
\ Thus to me this teaching seems
\ Like the door to destruction.
.
(i. e. Emptiness is merely the antidote to any view, to inherent existence: It destroys all other views because they are all based on the inherent existence of something or another. By realizing the real nature of anything, its dependence and lack of inherent existence, one automatically drop any attachment or fears associated with it. Ultimately all views are seen as flawed, or not absolute; but still can be used when appropriate as adapted skillful means. )
.
( -- Question: How does this teaching burn up others' contentions, when understanding of it arises in the mind of someone with interest in it?
-- Answer: Whoever comes to know the nectar-like taste of this teaching, the emptiness of inherent existence, through hearing, thinking and meditating will not relish views adhering to the true existence of things. The Master Aryadeva therefore says that this teaching of emptiness seems to him like the door and means to the destruction of wrong views. Alternatively he says it with texts on emptiness in mind, in that the words of the Buddha that teach emptiness also seem like this to the Master. )
.
L6: [b. Why the Exalted do not experience fear]
.
\ ###
\ 292.
\ For those who think there is
\ In reality no self and abide in this thought,
\ How will existence cause pleasure
\ Or non-existence cause fear?
.
(i. e. No more cause for attachments and fears: By realizing the real nature of anything, its dependence and lack of inherent existence, one automatically drop any attachment or fears associated with it. )
.
( -- Question: Why does emptiness not cause the Exalted fear?
-- Answer: Because they have destroyed the seed of attachment to the self.
-- Since they have no attachment to views of a self or hostility toward selflessness, how will those who think that external and internal phenomena are in reality selfless and who abide in a direct understanding of this be pleased by the existence of the self or frightened by selflessness? Fear therefore does not arise in those who have direct understanding of selflessness because they have eliminated the cause of fear. )
.
L5: [3. Appropriateness of compassion for those following wrong paths]
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\ Seeing the many Forders
\ Who are seeds of futility,
\ Who would not feel pity
\ For people who long for a teaching? .
(i. e. All views, all absolute systems are necessarily flawed: Once one has enough understanding of the emptiness of everything, then a strong feeling of compassion automatically emerge from his heart toward all other beings stuck in samsara without knowing what is right and what is wrong. )
.
(-- How could such a person not fail to pity those who are led away from the truth by false teachers?
-- The Forders' many venomous snakes drive their students into thorny thickets of wrong views holding things to be truly existent, the seed of uninterrupted futile suffering in cyclic existence, daily killing their life force of virtue consistent with liberation. Seeing this and knowing the nature of these teachings, who with a Bodhisattva's disposition would not feel pity for those who long for a teaching that will liberate them from cyclic existence? Therefore one must show sentient beings the path of non-inherent existence so that they will not be ravaged by the Forders' snakes. )
.
L4: [D. Showing the comparative subtlety and coarseness of our own and others' teaching]
L5: [1. General explanation of why those of inferior intelligence value others' teaching but not the Buddha's]
.
\ ###
\ 294.
\ The teaching of the Sakyas,
\ Nirgranthas and Brahmins are perceived
\ By the mind, the eyes and the ears.
\ Thus the Subduer's teaching is subtle.
.
(i. e. People first prefer easy, concrete and superficial methods that are in accord with their own illusions and conditioning. But Liberation cannot be produced by any of those superficial methods alone. It is only through realizing the very subtle nature of everything that one can be truly Liberated from the whole cycle of samsara. On the other hand, to be able to appreciate this one needs to have already accumulated enough merit through virtuous methods. )
.
(-- Since emptiness is difficult to understand, and since the transformation of one's attitude, the focus of Buddhist practice, is hard to achieve, many people choose physical and verbal forms of practice by which they hope to attain liberation.
-- Question: Why, despite their inclination toward virtue, do people mostly follow Forders' systems and not the Buddha's teaching?
-- Answer: Since the teaching of the Sakyas, the Nirgranthas and Brahmins is understood by the mind, the eyes and the ears respectively, the Subduer's textual system is more subtle and thus most people do not follow it. The sun-like view, the understanding of non-inherent existence, is said to illuminate one's mindstream. It destroys all the thickets of unwholesome views. Seeing all products as being like dreams makes one's mindstream stainless. All this must be understood through meditative equipoise, and thus the Sakyas's teaching is subtle.
Since the practices of Nirgranthas consist of a lack of hygiene and physical pain caused by the sun and wind, they can be understood by merely seeing them, and since Brahmins take recitation alone as the essence of their practice, it can be understood by hearing it. These are therefore easier to comprehend. )
.
L5: [2. Specific explanation]
L6: [a. Those seeking liberation should not try these systems] .
\ ###
\ 295.
\ Brahmin practices are said
\ Mainly to be an outward show.
\ The practices of Nirgranthas
\ Are said to be mainly stultifying.
.
(i. e. Most of these methods are not even wholesome enough, or creating enough merit, because they are just for the benefits of the appearances and of the ego. Instead of helping to diminish the ego and the illusions, they amplify them. ) .
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(-- Assertion: If ordinary people engage in outsiders' practices because they may be perceived by coarse forms of awareness, it is right for you to do so too.
-- Answer: Since most Brahmin practices such as recitation, burnt offerings, auspicious incantation, repentance, confession and so forth are mainly an outward show for the sake of reward and respect, it is said that they should not be performed by those who seek liberation. Similarly it is said that most of the Nirgranthas' practices, such as allowing their hair to become matted and employing the five fires, are stultifying. Therefore those who seek liberation should avoid them completely. )
.
L6: [b. How those of inferior intelligence develop respect]
.
\ ###
\ 296.
\ Brahmins are revered
\ Because they adopt the orthodox.
\ Nirgranthas are pitied
\ Because they adopt the deluded.
.
(i. e. Do are done for short terms benefits and do not constitute a proper progressive path. They do not bring one closer and closer to the real nature of everything. )
.
(-- Brahmin practices are mainly for outward show. Thus some unintelligent people revere Brahmins because they adopt orthodox practices such as reciting the Vedas ad so forth. They revere and pity Nirgranthas because they adopt painful and deluded forms of behavior such as mortifying the body through sun and wind. )
.
L6: [c. Why those systems are not excellent teaching]
.
\ ###
\ 297.
\ Suffering is a maturation
\ And thus is not virtuous.
\ Similarly, birth too is not virtuous,
\ Being a maturation of actions.
.
(i. e. No method alone can produce Liberation from samsara: Liberation is not about ascetic practices or Brahmin's views. It is not about doing this or not doing that, getting this or dropping that. All choices are karma formation, all discrimination are based on ignorance. All methods, wholesome or unwholesome actions, are all creating more causes for suffering. Without wisdom they are all bondage. The only way out of samsara is by realizing the real nature of this cycle, the real nature of everything. )
.
(-- Painful sensations such as mortification of the body are not virtuous but are instead, like the suffering in the hells, the maturation of non-virtuous actions. Similarly, because it is a maturation of past actions as are eyes and so forth, birth as a Brahmin is not something virtuous enabling the attainment of liberation. )
L3: [II. Exposition of good explanation in brief] L4: [A. Actual meaning]
.
\ ###
\ 298.
\ In brief Tathagatas explain
\ VIRTUE AS NON-VIOLENCE
\ And EMPTINESS AS NIRVANA --
\ Here there are only these two.
.
(i. e. The Middle Way: What we need is both virtuous methods based on non-violence that diminish the importance of the ego and of the illusions (like morality, patience, love, compassion, bodhicitta) and wisdom based on emptiness. One is the accumulation of merit, the other the accumulation of wisdom. But, using only methods (dependent origination) is not enough. And using only wisdom (emptiness) is not enough. We need both method and wisdom together all the time,
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because only then are we more and more in accord with the real non-dual nature of everything, with the inseparability of the Two Truths. Only this kind of path can lead to total Enlightenment. )
.
(-- Although non-violence and emptiness are the salient principles of the Buddha's teaching and the only way by which a good rebirth and liberation can be attained, attachment to their own particular religious practices and views prevents people from adopting what the Buddha taught.
-- Question: If birth and suffering are not virtuous, what is?
-- Answer: Harmful thoughts toward others as well as physical and verbal actions thus motivated constitute violence toward others. Non-violence is the opposite of this, namely the ten virtuous paths of action.
-- In brief Tathagatas say that the principle through which one attains a high rebirth is non-violence. The principle through which liberation is attained is natural nirvana, the emptiness of inherent existence of all phenomena. By directly experiencing this and recognizing that suffering will never arise again, there is separation from adventitious stains -- the nirvana of separation from adventitious stains. Here [in this system] there are only these two.
"Sixty Stanzas of Reasoning" says:
~ When reality is seen
~ Nirvana is attained; the task is accomplished.
.
It is posited that having reached the path of seeing one attains mere nirvana. To attain this, all the aggregates do not have to cease. The reason for explaining this here is to show that one definitely needs to understand emptiness to attain liberation. )
.
L4: [B. Why outsiders do not appreciate the Teacher's doctrine]
.
\ ###
\ 299.
\ To ordinary people their own position,
\ Like their birthplace, is attractive.
\ Why would you find attractive
\ That which precludes it?
.
(i. e. The problem: habituation, resistance to change, belief in their own absolutes, pride, conceit, identifying self with those views, personally feeling threatened by opposing ideas. In short people are stuck with their own accumulated conditioning, their own karma; they can't even see what is good for them. )
.
(-- Question: When outsiders are aware of the Subduer's teaching, why do they not appreciate these two principles?
-- Answer: Because they are attached to their own mistaken positions.
-- Attachment to their own position is something ordinary people have been accustomed to since beginningless time. Like their birthplace they find it attractive and do not want to give it up because of their attachment. Why would you outsiders find attractive these two principles which preclude and are contrary to your own position? You do not follow the Buddha's teaching because you cling to your own wrong views. )
L3: [III. Advising those who seek emancipation to adopt good explanations]
.
\ ###
\ 300.
\ The intelligent who seek what is good
\ Adopt what is worthwhile even from others.
\ Does the sun not belong to all
\ On earth who have sight?
.
(i. e. The requirements: enough open-mindness, enough understanding of relativity, enough accumulated merit, enough renunciation, enough morality, love and compassion. And access to the Buddha's teachings. )
.
(-- The wise, however, are unprejudiced enough to adopt whatever is truly beneficial, even if it belongs to a tradition other than their own.
-- Wise people, who see their birthplace as a reason for their difficulties, leave and settle in a prosperous place.
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Likewise, intelligent people seek what is good and therefore adopt those points which facilitate the attainment of a high rebirth or liberation once familiarity with them has been gained, even though they are from others' texts. the sun is unbiased and thus provides light for all on earth who have sight. Does it not belong equally to all? Similarly, the practice of these two principles can only be of benefit to everyone. Thus it is fitting to practice them with a sense of appreciation. )
.
L3: [The summarizing stanza:]
.
\ ###
\ Become a proper vessel for good explanation
\ And learned in the non-inherent existence of dependent arising,
\ The final object of the path that severs worldly existence,
\ The understanding of which frees from attachment to extreme views.
.
(i. e. A gradual path: first accumulate enough merit through the various virtuous methods, then combine it with the gradual development of the wisdom based on emptiness, the only final antidote. )
.
\ ###
\ This is the twelfth chapter from the Four Hundred on the Yogic Deeds, showing how to meditate on refuting views.
.
This concludes the commentary on the twelfth chapter, showing how to meditate on refuting views, from Essence of Good Explanations, Explanation of the "Four Hundred on the Yogic Deeds of Bodhisattvas".
.
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.
.
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L2: [Chapter 13 - Refuting Truly Existent Sense Organs and Objects -
Refuting direct objective perception of an external reality independent of the mind and karma. Everyting is like an illusion. - P. 251]
-- SHOWING HOW TO MEDITATE ON THE REFUTATION OF SENSE ORGANS AND OBJECTS.
-- Refuting the true existence of sense organs and objects.
.
(i. e. One of the argument used to assert the true existence of things is based on the supposedly objective perception of everything. )
L3: [I. Extensively explaining the reasoning that refutes true existence]
L4: [A. Refuting true existence of that which is apprehended: the sense objects] L5: [1. General refutation]
L6: [a. Actual meaning]
L7: [(1) Refuting that a sense consciousness directly perceives
a pot existing by way of its own character]
.
\ ###
\ 301.
\ When seeing its form, one does not in fact
\ See the whole pot. Who that knows
\ Reality would claim that the pot
\ Is DIRECTLY PERCEPTIBLE also?
.
(i. e. Direct perception is impossible: otherwise we would perceive all of it, and there could be no mistake. There is no objective perception of an object; we only perceive part of it and make up for the rest. This also applies to the parts. We only perceive stimuli, compare them to memory and extrapolate the rest. )
.
(-- We feel that since objects are directly perceptible they must have true existence. In that case we should see every aspect of an object, such as a pot, at once. A pot, however, consists of many diverse elements of which visual perception apprehends only one, its visual form. Yet this visual form too has its specific components. Therefore the pot and its constituents are merely imputed to a collection of components and do not exist in and of themselves as directly perceptible objects
-- Question: When it says [in stanza 300]:
~ The intelligent who seek what is good
~ Adopt what is worthwhile even from others.
what is this good explanation?
-- Answer: It is about seeing that all phenomena have no inherent existence.
-- Assertion: It is impossible to cognize that all phenomena have no inherent existence, for if they would be totally non- existent like the horns of a donkey and so forth, and would not be directly perceptible. However, since a pot and blue are directly perceptible, all functional thing are in fact inherently existent.
-- Answer: It follow that direct perception of a pot which exists by way of its own entity is not feasible. If it were, the awareness perceiving the visible form of the pot should perceive all its parts. Yet when visual consciousness perceives the pot's form, it does not in fact perceive every single part of the pot. Who that knows the reality of things would claim that the pot is directly perceptible? "Also" refers to also blue existent by way of its own character.
The pot is imputed in dependence on eight substances and therefore cannot exist by way of its own character, nor by seeing one part can one see all its parts. Similarly, if fire existed by way of its own entity, the fallacy that it should always keep burning would arise, since it would not require fuel.
Dialecticians contradict both reasoning and common knowledge when they call awareness arising in dependence upon an individual sense organ direct perception, and assert that an awareness free from conceptuality in which a sound image and a generic image may be apprehended as merged is direct perception. Each individual moment of consciousness cannot be a direct perceiver. In the world objects like the waxing moon which are directly perceived by many people, are commonly held to be directly perceptible, whereas that which perceives these objects is not. Furthermore since they assert that sense consciousness is a direct perceiver, it is inconsistent to think that it is also a valid perceiver. An extensive explanation of this may be found in Candrakirti's commentary. it has not been included here for fear that it would be too long. )
.
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L7: [(2) Applying this reasoning to other instances]
.
\ ###
\ 302.
\ By means of this very analysis
\ Those with superior intelligence
\ Should refute individuality
\ All that is fragrant, sweet and soft.
.
(i. e. This applies to all five senses; there is no direct perception, no objective perception. )
.
(-- This same analogy procedure should be applied to the objects of the other senses: to sounds, smells, tastes and tactile objects. One will discover that none of these are truly existent directly perceptible objects.
-- By means of this very analysis using the reasoning which refutes the assertion that sense consciousness is a direct perceiver in relation to a pot, blue and so forth, existent by way of their own entity, the wise with superior intelligence refute separately in each case the contention that sense consciousnesses are direct perceivers in relation to fragrances such as the fragrance of jasmine flowers, sweet tastes and that which is soft to touch, all existent by way of their own entity. Since one cannot make distinction such as seeing one part but not seeing others, or distinctions with regard to what touches and what does not, or with regard to closeness and distant in relation to truly existent functional things, such fallacies ensue. )
.
L7: [(3) Absurdity of positing that other parts are seen because visible form existent by way of its own character is seen]
.
\ ###
\ 303.
\ If because the form is seen
\ Everything is seen,
\ Why because of what is not seen
\ Would the form not be unseen?
.
(i.