COMMON BUDDHIST TEXT: GUIDANCE AND INSIGHT FROM THE BUDDHA: 6. Introduction to the selections from Vajrayāna Buddhism

 

Chief Editor: Venerable Brahmapundit
Editor: Peter Harvey
Translators: Tamás Agócs, Peter Harvey | Dharmacārī Śraddhāpa | P.D. Premasiri
G.A Somaratne | Venerable Thich Tue Sy

Introduction to the selections
from Vajrayāna Buddhism

Tamás Agócs

1.

The passages marked ‘V.’ in this book represent the textual tradition of Vajrayāna Buddhism. Vajrayāna emerged as a distinctive school of method (upāya) within the Mahāyāna, teaching ways of meditation said to effect awakening more rapidly than the practice of the perfections (pāramitās) presented in the sūtras. These esoteric methods are taught in a distinct class of Buddhist scriptures known as tantras, which started to appear in great number from the fifth century CE in India. Like the Mahāyāna sūtras, most Buddhist tantras also trace their origins back to the historical Buddha. But the tantric system of practice known as Vajrayāna seems to have been developed by a group of yogis known as mahā-siddhas (‘great accomplished ones’), most of whom were active under the Pāla Empire (750–1120).

2. The spread of the Vajrayāna

The Vajrayāna was introduced to Tibet during the eighth to eleventh centuries CE, and it here became the official state religion. From there it spread to Mongolia and parts of China. Today, though having suffered heavy losses during the Chinese ‘cultural revolution’, Vajrayāna Buddhism is still present in historically Tibetan areas of China (not only in the Tibetan Autonomous Region but also in Quinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, and Yunnan provinces) and everywhere in the Himalayan region where Tibetan culture prevails, including the kingdom of Bhutan, parts of Nepal, and the Himalayan states of India. After seven decades of Russian-backed Communist repression, it was revived at the end of the twentieth century in Mongolia, Buryatia, and Kalmykia (parts of Russia with people of Mongolian ethnicity). A separate strand of the Vajrayāna tradition has been preserved by the Newari Buddhists  of Nepal, and a tantric school known as Shingon has flourished as one of the schools of Japanese Buddhism.

3. The three Wheels of Dharma

Tibetan Vajrayāna is heir to the cultural forms of late North-Indian Buddhism, which was characterized by a double strand of philosophical study and tantric practice. The former flourished mainly in the great monastic universities, such as Nālandā, where a synthesis of different Buddhist philosophies was taught. All the teachings of the Buddha were seen as belonging to three turnings of the ‘Wheel of Dharma’ (or three teaching-cycles, Dharma-cakra): the first one on the four ‘Noble Truths’ (see *L.27) and ‘non-Self’ (*Th.170–171) represented the ‘Hīnayāna’ (‘Lesser Vehicle’) level of practice,[1] and the other two belonged to the Mahāyāna. The second Wheel emphasized the teaching of emptiness (śūnyatā) of inherent nature/inherent existence and the bodhisattva path as presented mainly in the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajñāpāramitā) Sūtras, and the third was seen to contain formulations of ultimate reality in terms more positive than ‘emptiness’, such as the teaching of ‘mind-only’ (citta-mātra) and the ‘Buddha-nature’ (Tathāgata–garbha). By extension, the tantras later also came to be seen as belonging to this latter category, though some Tibetan schools classified them as a fourth Wheel. The meaning of all these different teachings contained in the sūtras and their complex relationships were elucidated by the great Mahāyāna philosophers in their śāstras (treatises), and late Indian Buddhist philosophy developed an understanding based on a synthesis of their ideas. Thus, studies at the monastic universities centred on the treatises, rather than on the sūtras directly, though both the Indian and Tibetan treatises often cite the sūtras.

4. Vajrayāna, Mantrayāna, Tantrayāna

The Vajrayāna is also known as the Mantra-, or Tantra-yāna. Though the three terms are often used as synonyms, each one has a slightly different connotation. According to the Tibetan tradition, ‘mantra’ literally ‘protects the mind’ (man-tra), through disrupting negative mental patterns and focusing it on the awakened qualities being cultivated. ‘Tantra’ is understood to mean the ‘continuity’ of the awakened nature of the mind present in all sentient beings (not just humans) that is known as Buddha-nature (Tathāgata-garbha). It is uncovered or awakened through the unbroken ‘continuity’ of the master-disciple tantric lineages that are understood to go back to the Buddha himself. While in the general Mahāyāna, the process of attaining full Buddhahood is said to take three incalculable eons, in the Vajrayāna, one can aspire to attain Buddhahood in one lifetime through the methods taught by the great accomplished tantric masters (mahā-siddhas) of India. They gave rise to teaching lineages that eventually reached Tibet where it inspired the founding of different schools or orders (Nyingmapa, Kagyupa, Sakyapa, and Gelukpa being the four main ones) that were dedicated to preserving and transmitting the methods for realizing that continuity. Tantra-yāna is a general name for the way of practice laid down in the Buddhist tantras, characterised by visualization, mantra recitation, and cultivation of various states of meditative concentration (samādhi). Finally, the term ‘Vajra-yāna’ refers to the foremost symbol of the awakened mind, ‘vajra’, often translated as ‘diamond’ or ‘thunderbolt’. It is actually the name of the mythical weapon of Indra, chief of the pre- Buddhist gods in India, which was a symbol of indestructibility and mastery.

5. Schools of Tibetan Buddhism[2]

The Nyingmapa school are those who (pa) are ‘Adherents of the Old (Tantras)’. It looks to Padmasambhava, an eighth century Indian tantric guru who did much to establish Buddhism in Tibet, as its founder. It has a system of nine spiritual ‘vehicles’ (yāna): those of the Disciple, Solitary-buddha and Bodhisattva, which it sees as ways of ‘renunciation’ of defilements; those of the three ‘outer Tantras’, which it sees as ways of ‘purification’; and those of the three ‘inner Tantras: Mahā-yoga, Anu- yoga and Ati-yoga, which it sees as ways of transformation, which transmute defilements into forms of wisdom, rather than seeking to simply negate them. In Nyingmapa doctrine, these are all seen as appropriate for people at different levels of spiritual development. However, in practice, everyone is encouraged to practise the inner Tantras, provided that the basic refuge and Bodhisattva commitments and vows are also maintained. Ati-yoga, the highest teaching, concerns the doctrines and practices of the Dzogchen, or ‘Great Completion/Perfection’. This seeks to bring the practitioner to awareness of an uncreated radiant emptiness known as rig pa (Skt vidyā, insight-knowledge). This is symbolized by Samantabhadra (see *V.6), the primordial Buddha who embodies the Dharma-body (see *M.9), but it also already present in all beings, as in one interpretation of the Tathāgata- garbha/Buddha-nature teachings. The aim is to let go of all mental activities and content, so as to be aware of that in which they occur. The Nyingmapas follow the Old Tantras translated during the first dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet (7–10th centuries). Over the next centuries, they claim to have discovered many termas or ‘treasure’ texts, which are attributed to Padmasambhava and seen as discovered by a tertön or ‘treasure-finder’. Termas might be physical texts or religious artefacts. In the case of ‘mind termas’, they are seen to have been buried in the unconscious mind of a disciple by Padmasambhava, then rediscovered there by a later incarnation of that disciple. The teaching- transmission by termas, which is seen to jump direct from a past teacher to a present recipient, is seen to complement the more usual Kama (Oral Tradition) transmission, by which oral and written teachings are passed down the generations.

In the eleventh century, a renaissance of Buddhism led to its firm establishment throughout Tibet and the development of several new schools of Buddhism that were based on new translations of Buddhist texts, so as to be referred to as ‘new translation’ (sarma) schools. At the invitation of a regional king, the ageing monk-professor Atiśa came from India on a missionary tour in 1042. He helped purify the Sangha, emphasizing celibacy, and improved Tibet’s understanding of Buddhist doctrine, as based on a mix of Madhyamaka and the Tantras. His reforms led his main disciple to establish the Kadampa, or ‘Bound by Command (of monastic discipline) School’, and also influenced two other new schools of the period. The first was the Kagyupa, the ‘Whispered Transmission School’. Its founder was Marpa (1012–97), a married layman who had studied with tantric gurus in India and translated many texts. He emphasized a complex system of yoga and secret instructions whispered from master to disciple. His chief pupil was the great poet-hermit-saint Milarepa, whose own pupil Gampopa first established Kagyupa monasteries. The other new school was the Sakyapa, founded in 1073 at the Sakya monastery. It is noted for its scholarship and is close to the Kagyupa in most matters.

An idea which seems to have originated with the Kagyupas in the thirteenth century is that of recognized Emanation-bodies or tulkus, of which there are now around 3,000 in Tibet. A tulku is often referred to as a ‘reincarnate (yangsid) Lama’. Though in Buddhism all people are seen as the rebirths of some past being, tulkus are different in being the rebirth of an identified past person, who was a key Lama, and also an emanation of a celestial being. Tulkus are recognized as children, based on predictions of their predecessors and the child’s ability to pick out the latter’s possessions from similar looking ones.

The last major school of Tibetan Buddhism was founded by the reformer Tsongkhapa (1357– 1419), on the basis of the Kadampa school and Atiśa’s arrangement of teachings in a series of levels, with a purified tantrism at the top. He founded the Gelukpa, or ‘Followers of the Way of Virtue’, whose monks are distinguished from others by the yellow colour of their ceremonial hats. Tsongkhapa emphasized the study of Madhyamaka, and the following of moral and monastic discipline. In his ‘Great Exposition of the Stages of the Way’ (Lamrim Ch’enmo), he argues that one should progress from seeking a good rebirth (a worldly goal), to seeking liberation for oneself (Hīnayāna motivation), to seeking Buddhahood so as to aid the liberation of others (Mahāyāna motivation), with Vajrayāna methods then helping to more speedily attain the Mahāyāna goals. Higher levels of truth or practice are seen to build on, but not subvert, lower ones. Logical analysis prepares the way for direct, non- conceptual insight, and textual transmissions are as important as oral ones.

In the sixteenth century, the head of the Gelukpa school reintroduced Buddhism to the Mongols, who had lapsed from it. One of the Mongol rulers, Altan Khan, therefore gave him the Mongolian title of Dalai, ‘Ocean (of Wisdom)’, Lama. He was regarded as the second reincarnation of a former Gelukpa leader, Tsongkhapa’s nephew, so that the latter was seen, retrospectively, as the first Dalai Lama. Each Dalai Lama was seen as a tulku who was also a re-manifested form of the great Bodhisattva embodiment of compassion, Avalokiteśvara. The other major Gelukpa tulku is the Panchen Lama, seen as a repeated incarnation of Amitābha Buddha.

In 1641, the Mongolians invaded Tibet and established the fifth Dalai Lama as ruler of the country. From then on, the Gelukpa school became the ‘established church’. In the nineteenth century, a movement developed known as the Ri-may, meaning ‘Impartial’, ‘Non-aligned’ or ‘All- embracing’. This was a kind of universalistic eclectic movement that arose in Nyingmapa circles in eastern Tibet, and came to draw in adherents of other schools, even including some Gelukpa ones. However, the Ri-may movement was primarily a teachings-synthesis that rivalled the Gelukpa synthesis. With few exceptions, Lamas of the Ri-may traditions trained at Ri-may centres, and Gelukpa ones at Gelukpa ones, with only limited contact between them. The Ri-may synthesis drew together the three non-Gelukpa schools (and some of the semi-Buddhist Bön). These already had in common the existence of lay yogins, an interest in the old Tantras and termas, and the relatively formless Dzogchen teachings/practices provided a unifying perspective.

6. The Tibetan canon

In this book, the term ‘Vajrayāna’ is used in a wider sense to refer to the entire system of Tibetan (or Northern Mahāyāna) Buddhism, which has preserved the whole edifice of late Indian Mahāyāna. This is reflected in the structure of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon, which divides the Tibetan translations of Indian Buddhist texts into two main parts: the Kangyur (bKa’ ‘gyur[3]) or ‘Translated Buddha Word’ – two thirds of which is comprised of Mahāyāna Sūtras – and the Tengyur (bsTan ‘gyur) or ‘Translated Treatises’. In the Peking edition of these two collections, there are 330 volumes with 5,092 texts and 224,241 pages.31 The Kangyur contains mainly Mahāyāna sūtras and the root-tantras (mūla-tantras) attributed to the Buddha. In the Peking edition, it consists of 106 vols. With 66,449 pages and 1,112 translated texts, grouped in the following order:

(i) Tantras (738 texts in 25 volumes)
(ii) Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras (17 texts, plus 13 pre-Mahāyāna ‘Protection’ texts, in 24 )
(iii) Avataṃsaka Sūtras (1 text with 45 chapters in 6)
(iv) Ratnakūṭa Sūtras (49 Sūtras in 6)
(v) Other sūtras (268 texts in)
(vi) Vinaya (monastic discipline) (8 texts in 13)
vii) Praṇidhāna (aspiration prayers) (18 short texts at the end of final volume)

The Tengyur includes the authoritative treatises (śāstras) by Indian scholars, with a handful of texts by early Tibetan masters, who commented on the meaning of the sūtras and tantras. In its Peking edition, it consists of 224 vols with 3,980 texts and 157,792 pages, which are grouped as follows:

(i) Stotras (hymns of praise) (63 texts in 1)
(ii) Commentaries on the tantras (3,136 texts in 87)
(iii) Commentaries and treatises on the sūtras (and useful worldly subjects): commentaries on the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras and the vinaya; Madhyamaka and Yogācāra treatises, abhidharma works, tales and dramas, treatises on such topics as logic, medicine, grammar, arts and applied crafts (e.g., architecture), and other miscellaneous works (781 texts in 136 ).

Most of the canonical scriptures – sūtras, tantras, and śāstras – were translated from Sanskrit originals, under the guidance of Indian scholars (paṇḍita) who helped the transmission of Buddhism into Tibet. The translations were carried out in a ‘scientific’ manner – with standardized terminology and syntactic rules – to maintain maximum closeness to the original. Therefore, Tibetan translations are generally held to be very reliable. Yet, no text was meant to be studied without oral transmission and detailed practical instruction from a learned and experienced master. The tantras in particular have always been considered as esoteric, virtually unintelligible without oral transmission of their actual meaning and proper initiation into their practice.

By the time the enormous task of translating the Indian Buddhist heritage was completed, the development of an indigenous Tibetan scholarship was well under the way. Tibetan authors started composing their own treatises to elucidate the meaning of the sūtras and śāstras, including the tantric scriptures. Faced with the immense variety of narrative, doctrine, and liberating technique contained in the canonical texts, they inevitably found themselves at the job of ordering and systematizing the material. Following the tradition of North-Indian Buddhist scholarship, they based their doctrinal syntheses on the śāstras of Nāgārjuna (ca. 150–250), Asaṅga (ca. 310–90, with Maitreya-nātha as his teacher), Vasubandhu (ca. 310–400), Dharmakīrti (ca. 530–600), Candrakīrti (7th century), and Ṥāntideva (ca. 650–750) – to mention only the greatest Mahāyāna philosophers. The tantras were also studied through the commentaries, instructions, and practice manuals written by Indian mahā– siddhas and tantric scholars, which were contained in a bulky section of the Tengyur. The different tantric lineages – systems of tantric practice handed down from master to disciple reaching Tibet from the seventh to twelfth centuries – became institutionalized in the four main schools and their various branches. Over time, those schools each developed its own literary tradition, resulting in an astonishing proliferation of Vajrayāna literature. Though following the Indian ways was the norm everywhere, there was room for creative innovation. These include ‘treasure’ texts hidden in Tibet or in the mind stream of Tibetan students by the Indian masters to be rediscovered later at an appropriate time which were included in canonical collections.[4]

7. The selected passages

Passages selected from the Vajrayāna tradition for this book represent the Vajrayāna Buddhist views on the topics selected for the volume. In accordance with the kind of texts emphasized in Tibetan Buddhism, these are best summarized by well-known Tibetan authors like Gampopa (1079–1153) or the Nyingmapa teacher Patrul Rinpoche (1808–1887), whose works we have most often utilized as sources for the selections. From among canonical sources, we have included a few passages from treatises of Nāgārjuna (*V.12) and Ṥāntideva (*V.34–5, 38), as well as Atiśa’s (982–1054) ‘Lamp for the Path to Awakening’ (*V.10) in its entirety. Texts from Gelukpa teachers are Tsongkhapa’s ‘The Abbreviated Points of the Graded Path’ (*V.40), ‘Prayer of the Secret Life of Tsongkhapa’ (*V.91), on the latter, and ‘The Song of the Four Mindfulnesses’ (*V.69) of the Seventh Dalai Lama (1708–1757). ‘Mind Training: An Experiential Song of Parting from the Four Attachments’ (*V.16) is by Sakyapa and Ri-may teacher Khyentse Wangpo (1829–1870). The tantric genius for poetry is illustrated by some verses from Tibet’s greatest poet, Milarepa (*V.8, 11, 17, 23). Specifically tantric texts are best featured in Chapter 2. (‘Different Perspectives on the Buddha’) – where the tantric view of innate Buddhahood is illustrated by passages taken from the textual tradition of the Great Completion (Dzogchen; *V.2–6). More information on these and other texts are supplied in the introductions and footnotes.

Most English translations have been newly prepared from the Tibetan by myself for the purpose of inclusion in this volume, though they have profited from already existing translations, which are duly noted.

The translator wishes to thank all those who supported the project. May it benefit many!

Tamás Agócs

 

____________________________________

[1] See ‘Hīnayāna’ in Glossary.
[2] By Peter Harvey
[3] This book uses forms of Tibetan that give a fair guide to their pronunciation, but where another form follows in brackets, this is the more exact transliteration of the Tibetan.
31 For an overview of a number of Tibetan editions of the Kangyur and Tengyur, see: http://84000.co/kangyur- tengyur-genres/.
[4] Such as the Nyingma Gyubum (rNying ma’i rGyud ‘bum) of the Nyingma school.

Đức Đạt Lai Lạt Ma: Tâm Biên Kiến không thể thấy được Sự Thật

Tôi rất vui mừng tham gia hội nghị liên tôn giáo về việc bảo tồn sự hòa hợp tôn giáo, đồng hành và hòa bình toàn cầu do hiệp hội tự do tôn giáo quốc tế (IARF), Ladakh tổ chức. Cảm ơn quý vị rất nhiều vì đã giải thích chi tiết về lịch sử, hoat động, mục tiêu và sự liên quan của hiệp hội trong thế kỷ này. Tôi không có gì để thêm vào những gì quý vị đã nói ở trước. Nhưng tôi muốn nói vài điều.

Thánh Đức Đạt Lai Lạt Ma nói chuyện tại nhà thờ Hồi giáo Shia
ở Leh, Ladakh, J & K, Ấn Độ vào ngày 27 tháng 7 năm 2016. | Ảnh: Tenzin Choejor / VPTĐĐL

Hiện nay chúng ta đang sống ở thế kỷ 21. Chất lượng nghiên cứu về cả thế giới nội tâm và thể chất đều đạt đến mức độ khá cao, nhờ vào bước tiến vĩ đại trong tiến bộ công nghệ và trí thông minh con người. Tuy nhiên, như vài vị diễn thuyết đã trình bày trước, thế giới cũng đang đối diện với nhiều vấn đề mới, hầu hết là do con người tạo ra. Nguyên nhân gốc rễ của những vấn đề này là sự bất lực của con người trong việc kiểm soát tâm bị kích động của họ. Rất nhiều tôn giáo trên thế giới cũng dạy cách để kiểm soát tâm như thế nào.

Tôi là một người tu hành theo Phật giáo. Hơn một nghìn năm đã trôi qua kể từ khi các tôn giáo lớn của thế giới phát triển, bao gồm Phật giáo. Trong suốt những năm tháng ấy, thế giới đã chứng kiến những cuộc xung đột mà những người theo các tôn giáo khác nhau tham gia. Vì là một hành giả, tôi công nhận một sự thật rằng những tôn giáo khác nhau trên thế giới đã cung cấp những giải pháp về việc làm thế nào để kiểm soát một tâm trí bị kích động. Mặc dù vậy, tôi vẫn cảm thấy chúng ta vẫn chưa nhận ra hết tiềm năng của mình.

Tôi luôn nói rằng mọi người trên trái đất này đều có quyền tự do thực tập hoặc không theo tôn giáo. Cũng có thể theo cả hai. Nhưng một khi bạn chấp nhận tôn giáo, điều cực kỳ quan trọng là bạn có thể tập trung tâm mình vào đó và thực hành chân thành những lời dạy đó vào đời sống hằng ngày của mình. Tất cả chúng ta có thể thấy rằng chúng ta có khuynh hướng thỏa mãn chủ nghĩa thiên vị tôn giáo khi nói rằng: “tôi theo tôn giáo này hoặc tôn giáo nọ”, hơn là cố gắng kiểm soát tâm bị kích động của mình. Sự lạm dụng tôn giáo này, vì tâm trí bị rối loạn, đôi khi cũng tạo ra các vấn đề.

Một nhà vật lý ở Chile đã nói với tôi rằng thật không thích hợp cho một nhà khoa học có cái nhìn biên kiến với khoa học vì tình yêu và niềm đam mê anh ta dành cho khoa học. Tôi là một hành giả Phật giáo và có nhiều niềm tin và sự kính trọng đối với những lời dạy của Đức Phật. Tuy nhiên, nếu tôi hòa lẫn tình yêu cho Phật giáo và chấp thủ vào nó, thì tâm của tôi sẽ bị chấp trước vào nó. Một tâm chấp trước, sẽ chẳng bao giờ thấy được toàn cảnh và không thể nhận được chân lý. Và bất kỳ hành động nào từ trạng thái tâm như vậy sẽ không phù hợp với chân lý. Như vậy nó gây ra nhiều vấn đề.

Theo triết học Phật giáo, hạnh phúc là kết quả của tâm giác ngộ trong khi tâm tán loạn là nguyên nhân gây ra khổ đau. Điều này rất quan trọng. Tâm tán loạn, trái ngược với tâm giác ngộ, nó không phù hợp với chân lý. Mọi vấn đề, bao gồm các hoạt động chính trị, kinh tế và tôn giáo mà con người theo đuổi trên thế giới này, nên được thấu hiểu rõ ràng trước khi đưa ra phán xét. Vì thế, rất quan trọng để biết các nguyên nhân. Dù là vấn đề gì, chúng ta nên thấy được cái mặt toàn diện của nó. Điều này làm cho chúng ta thấu rõ được toàn bộ câu chuyện. Những lời dạy trong Phật giáo được dựa trên tính hợp lý, và tôi nghĩ chúng rất hiệu quả.

Cầu nguyện và phản ánh tại Tu viện Westminster
ở London, Anh vào ngày 20 tháng 6 năm 2012. | Ảnh của Ian Cumming

Hôm nay, nhiều người đến từ nhiều tôn giáo khác nhau hiện diện ở đây. Mỗi một tôn giáo, có những siêu việt riêng vượt ngoài ngôn ngữ và tâm thức. Thí dụ, khái niệm về thiên chúa trong Ki-tô giáo và Hồi giáo và thân chân tuệ trong Phật giáo là siêu hình, người thường khó mà nhận biết được như người tu. Đây là một khó khăn chung mà mỗi tôn giáo phải đối diện. Tất cả các tôn giáo, bao gồm Ki-tô, Phật giáo, Hindu giáo, Hồi giáo đều dạy rằng chân đế được niềm tin dẫn dắt.

Tôi muốn nhấn mạnh điều cực kỳ quan trọng cho những hành giả là tin tưởng một cách chí thành vào tôn giáo tương ứng của họ. Thường thì, tôi nói rằng rất quan trọng để phân biệt giữa “niềm tin vào một tôn giáo” và “niềm tin vào nhiều tôn giáo”. Điều trước trực tiếp mâu thuẫn với điều sau. Vì thế, chúng ta nên kiên quyết giải quyết những mâu thuẫn này. Điều này chỉ có thể bằng việc suy nghĩ trong những tình huống đó. Một điều tương phản trong một ngữ cảnh nào đó có thể không giống với cái khác. Trong tình huống của một người, một chân lý duy nhất gắn liền với một nguồn quy y duy nhất. Điều này cực kỳ cần thiết. Tuy nhiên, trong bối cảnh của xã hội hay nhiều hơn một người thì cần có những nguồn quy y, tôn giáo và niềm tin khác nhau.

Trước đây đó không phải là vấn đề chính vì các quốc gia cách biệt nhau với tôn giáo riêng của họ. Tuy nhiên, thế giới ngày nay gần gũi và liên kết với nhau, có khá nhiều sự khác biệt giữa các tôn giáo khác nhau. Chúng ta phải giải quyết rõ ràng những vấn đề này. Ví dụ, có rất nhiều tôn giáo ở Ấn Độ trong hàng ngàn năm qua. Một vài trong số đó được du nhập từ nước ngoài, trong khi một số có nguồn gốc ở chính Ấn Độ. Mặc dù vậy, thực tế các tôn giáo này có thể cùng tồn tại với nhau, và nguyên tắc bất bạo động (ahimsa) thực sự phát triển mạnh mẽ ở nước này. Thậm chí ngày nay, nguyên tắc này còn ảnh hưởng mạnh mẽ trong mỗi tôn giáo. Điều này rất quý báu và Ấn Độ thực sự nên tự hào về nó.

Phật giáo chiếm ưu thế trong nhiều thế kỷ ở Ladakh. Nhưng những tôn giáo khác như Hồi, Ki-tô, Hindu và Xích giáo cũng đã phát triển ở đây. Mặc dù người dân Ladakh có niềm đam mê và tình yêu dành riêng cho tôn giáo của họ một cách tự nhiên, nhưng nơi này có một môi trường an lành không có vấn đề gì về sự không nhượng bộ tôn giáo xảy ra. Trong chuyến thăm đầu tiên của tôi tới Ladakh, tôi nghe các trưởng lão Hồi giáo dùng cụm từ “cộng đồng Tăng Già” trong các bài diễn thuyết của họ. Mặc dù những cụm từ như vậy không có trong đạo Hồi, nhưng sự tham khảo của loại này dẫn đến nhiều sự tin tưởng trong giới Phật tử. Do đó, người ta có nguồn gốc tôn giáo khác nhau ở Ladakh sống rất gần gũi và hài hòa với nhau.

Theo như các vị Hồi giáo, thích hợp cho họ thành tâm hoàn toàn với thánh Allah khi cầu nguyện trong các thánh đường. Điều này cũng tương tự với các Phật tử, họ rất thành tâm với Đức Phật khi cầu nguyện trong các ngôi chùa Phật giáo. Một xã hội mà có nhiều tôn giáo cũng nên có nhiều giáo đồ và nguồn quy y. Xã hội như vậy có được sự hòa hợp và tôn trọng lẫn nhau giữa các tôn giáo và những hành giả của họ là rất quan trọng. Chúng ta phải phân biệt giữa niềm tin và sự tôn trọng. Niềm tin đề cập đến sự tin tưởng hoàn toàn, mà bạn phải có đối với tôn giáo của chính mình. Đồng thời bạn nên có sự tôn trọng với tất cả các tôn giáo khác. Truyền thống tin vào tôn giáo mình và tôn trọng những tôn giáo bạn đã có ở Ladakh từ thời tổ tiên quý vị. Do đó, quý vị không cần phải sáng tạo nó. Điều quan trọng nhất vào lúc này là bảo tồn và quảng bá truyền thống này. Tôi xin cảm ơn tất cả quý vị đã làm việc chăm chỉ về vấn đề này và mong rằng quý vị tiếp tục làm thế trong tương lai.

Nếu một mối quan hệ hòa hợp được thiết lập giữa xã hội và niềm tin tôn giáo trong thế giới đa sắc tộc, đa tôn giáo và đa văn hóa ngày nay, thì đó chắc chắn sẽ là thí dụ rất tốt cho những người khác. Tuy nhiên, nếu tất cả các bên trở nên bất cẩn, thì có nguy cơ có vấn đề xảy ra. Trong một xã hội đa sắc tộc vấn đề lớn nhất là giữa số đông và thiểu số. Thí dụ như ở thủ đô Leh, Phật giáo chiếm đa số trong khi Hồi giáo chiếm số ít trong cộng đồng. Đa số phải xem thiểu số như là khách của họ. Mặt khác, thiểu số có thể nhạy cảm với đa số. Nói cách khác, cả hai nên sống hài hòa với nhau. Để duy trì sự hòa hợp này, cả hai bên không nên xem nhẹ những vấn đề nhạy cảm giữa họ. Thực vậy, đa số nên chú ý và đánh giá cao quan điểm và chánh kiến của thiểu số. Cả hai nên thảo luận và diễn đạt rõ ràng những gì họ nghĩ về quan điểm và chánh kiến của nhau. Ngược lại, thiểu số nên quan tâm về những vấn đề nhạy cảm của đa số nằm ở đâu và diễn đạt bất kỳ khi nào nghi ngờ có trong tâm. Nếu những vấn đề được giải quyết thân thiện như vậy; thì cả hai bên đều có lợi. Nghi ngờ lẫn nhau chỉ gây hại cho cả hai cộng đồng. Do đó, rất quan trọng để sống hòa hợp và phân tích quan điểm của đối phương. Cách tốt nhất để thực hiện điều này là tham gia đàm phán, đàm phán và đàm phán.

Phần trích dẫn bài diễn văn của Thánh Đức Đạt Lai Lạt Ma tại Hội nghị liên tôn giáo do Hiệp hội Tự do Tôn giáo Quốc tế, Tập đoàn Ladakh tổ chức tại Leh vào ngày 25 tháng Tám.

Nguồn: VĂN PHÒNG THÁNH ĐỨC ĐẠT LAI LẠT MA

COMMON BUDDHIST TEXT: GUIDANCE AND INSIGHT FROM THE BUDDHA: 5. Introduction to the selections from Mahāyāna Buddhism

1.

The passages marked ‘M.’ in this book represent the textual tradition of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Unlike Theravāda, Mahāyāna does not represent one particular school or associated monastic fraternity. Rather, it is a broad movement encompassing many different schools and approaches, which developed expressions of the Buddha’s teachings centred on compassion and wisdom. Mahāyāna sūtras began to gain popularity by the first century BCE. Its origin is not associated with any named individual, nor was it linked to only one early school or monastic fraternity, though the main one was the Mahā-sāṃghika. It arose in south-eastern India, spread to the south-west and finally to the north-west.

2. Key Mahāyāna features

Like all forms of Buddhism, the Mahāyāna includes teachings directed at those who seek temporary relief from the ordinary stresses of life: on how to live more calmly, considerately and harmoniously, this also being a way to generate beneficial karma leading to relatively pleasant rebirths. Ultimately, though, timeless happiness depends on going beyond all that is impermanent and conditioned. In Buddhism, some aim to become an arhant (Skt, Pāli arahant), one who has ended the attachment, hatred and delusion that lead to repeated rebirths and their ageing, sickness, death, and diverse mental pains. This is the main higher goal of Theravāda Buddhists. A few have aimed to become a solitary-buddha (Skt pratyeka-buddha, Pāli pacceka-buddha), a person with greater knowledge than an arhant (see *LI.3, above), but of limited ability to teach others. Some aim to become a perfectly awakened Buddha (Skt samyak-sambuddha, Pāli sammā-sambuddha), a being with the ultimate knowledge, insight and means that can be used to compassionately guide countless other beings through his teachings and powers. This is the highest goal of Mahāyāna Buddhists.

Key features of the Mahāyāna outlook are:

• Compassion is the central motivating basis of the path: the compassionate urge to reduce the current suffering of others, encourage them to act in such a way as to reduce their future suffering, and aid them on the path to awakening/enlightenment so as to bring all their sufferings to an Compassion is the heart of the bodhi-citta, the ‘awakening-mind’, or aspiration to attain Buddhahood for the sake of others.
• Bodhi-citta arises from the renunciation of attachment to one’s own happiness, and the
• wisdom that sees into the nature of reality.
• Bodhi-citta is enacted through the path of the bodhi-sattva, a being who is fully dedicated to attaining the awakening (bodhi) of a perfectly awakened The path to developing a perfectly awakened Buddha’s qualities is seen as much longer than the path to attaining awakening as an arhant, hence greater compassion is needed to take this long path, as well as being a key aspect of the enactment of this path. The path is one of developing six qualities to the level of complete ‘perfections’ (Skt pāramitā): generosity (dāna), ethical discipline (śīla), patient acceptance (kṣānti), vigour or diligence (vīrya), meditation (dhyāna), and wisdom (prajñā). Sometimes a further four perfections are added: skill in means (upāya–kauśalya), vow or determination (praṇidhāna), power (bala) and knowledge (jñāna), and each of the ten qualities is seen as respectively brought to fullness in ten levels or stages (bhūmi) that are then followed by the attainment of Buddhahood.
• The bodhisattva in the eighth stage of the long ten-stage path to Buddhahood is seen to realize nirvana as an arhant does, in which all defilements are completely eliminated so that a person is no longer bound to future However, the Mahāyāna holds that this is not the ultimate nirvana, and that there is still spiritual work to do. The advanced bodhisattva has a deep non-attachment to the round of rebirths (saṃsāra), and this allows further progress to true, ultimate nirvana, realized exclusively by a Buddha with unsurpassed perfect awakening.
• Bodhisattvas can be at various levels along the path: monks, nuns and laypeople of various levels of spiritual development, some who have reached at least the first of the ten stages, which pertain to bodhisattvas of a spiritually ‘Noble’ level, as they have had some direct insight into the nature of reality, in what is called the ‘path of seeing’ (darśaṇa–mārga). Bodhisattvas at the higher stages of the Noble path are transcendent beings associated with Buddhas from other worlds; they are saviour-beings who may be called on for help by devotees.
• The Mahāyāna has a new cosmology arising from visualization practices devoutly directed at one or other Buddha as a glorified, transcendent being. Many such Buddhas besides Śākyamuni are seen to
• The Mahāyāna developed several sophisticated philosophies, on which see below.

The call to the bodhisattva path to perfectly awakened Buddhahood is inspired by the vision that the huge universe will always be in need of such Buddhas. The person entering this path aspires to be a compassionate, self-sacrificing, valiant person. Their path will be long, as they will need to build up moral and spiritual perfections not only for their own exalted state of Buddhahood, but also so as to  be able altruistically to help liberate other beings, ‘ferrying them out of the ocean of re-birth and re- death’ by teaching, good deeds, transference of karmic benefit, and offering response to prayer. While compassion has always been an important part of the Buddhist path, in the Mahāyāna it is more strongly emphasized, as the motivating factor for the whole bodhisattva path, and the heart of the bodhi-citta, or ‘awakening-mind’.

3. The nature of the Mahāyāna and its attitude to other types of Buddhism

The Mahāyāna perspective is critical of Buddhists who are concerned only with their own liberation from the suffering of this and later lives, neglecting the liberation of others. The emphasis is on what is seen as the true spirit of the Buddha’s teachings, and its texts seek to express this in ways unrestricted by formal adherence to only the letter of what the Buddha is said to have taught. They are directed at what the Buddha pointed to, rather than the words he used to do this – at the ‘moon’ rather than the pointing ‘finger’. Hence the Mahāyāna has many sūtras unknown to earlier Buddhist traditions, with teachings whose gradual systematization established it as a movement with an identity of its own.

At first, the new movement was called the Bodhisattva-yāna, or ‘(Spiritual) Vehicle of the Bodhisattva’. This was in contradistinction to the ‘Vehicle of the Disciple’ (Śrāvaka-yāna) and ‘Vehicle of the Solitary-buddha’ (Pratyeka-buddha-yāna), whose followers respectively aimed to become arhants and pratyeka-buddhas. As the new movement responded to criticisms from those who did not accept its sūtras, it increasingly stressed the superiority of the Bodhisattva-yāna, and referred to it as the Mahā-yāna: the ‘Great Vehicle’, or ‘Vehicle (Leading to) the Great’. The other ‘vehicles’ were disparaged as being hīna: ‘lesser’ or ‘inferior’. However, the term ‘Hīna-yāna’ is not seen as a name for any school of Buddhism, but is a term for a kind of motivation and associated outlook.

A key sūtra developed a perspective which, while hostile to the ‘Hīnayāna’, sought to portray it as incorporated in and completed by the Mahāyāna: the Saddharma-puṇḍarīka (‘White Lotus of the Wonderful Dharma’; ‘Lotus’ for short). Chapter 2 of this text achieves this accommodation by what was to become a central Mahāyāna concept, that of upāya-kauśalya: skill (kauśalya) in means (upāya), or skilful means. All Buddhist traditions accept that the Buddha adapted the contents of his teaching  to the temperament and level of understanding of his audience. This was by simply selecting his specific teaching from a harmonious body of teachings. The Mahāyāna also holds that the Buddha gave different levels of teaching which might actually appear as conflicting, for the ‘higher’ level required the undoing of certain over-simplified lessons of the ‘lower’ level. While the Buddha’s ultimate message was that all can become omniscient Buddhas, this would have been too unbelievable and confusing to give as a preliminary teaching. For the ‘ignorant with low dispositions’, he therefore begins by teaching on the four Truths of the Noble Ones,[1]  setting out  the goal as attaining  nirvana by becoming an arhant. The arhant is seen as still having a subtle ignorance, and as lacking full compassion in his hope of escaping the round of rebirths, thus leaving unawakened beings to fend    for themselves. For those who were prepared to listen further, the Buddha then teaches that the true nirvana is attained at Buddhahood, and that all can attain this, even the arhants who currently think that they have already reached the goal. The Buddha has just ‘one vehicle’ (eka-yāna), the all-inclusive Buddha-vehicle, but he uses his ‘skilful means’ to show this by means of three: the vehicles of the disciple, solitary-buddha, and bodhisattva. He holds out to people whichever of them corresponds to their inclinations and aspirations, but once he has got them to develop spiritually, he gives them all  the supreme Buddha-vehicle, the other ways being provisional ones. As the bodhisattva path leads to Buddhahood, it seems hard to differentiate the bodhisattva and Buddha-vehicles. The doctrine preached in the Lotus Sūtra asserts that every sentient being who has once heard the name of a Buddha and bowed down to him would definitely become a Buddha in the future, regardless of how long this took; because the Buddha-nature (seed of Buddhahood) is inherent in all. Almost all disciples of the Buddha were prophesied to become a Buddha in the far future in different realms of the universe known as ‘Buddha-fields’ (Buddha-kṣetra) or ‘Buddha-lands’. Not all Mahāyāna texts follow this ‘one vehicle’ perspective, however, for some, such as the Ugra-paripṛcchā (‘Inquiry of Ugra’) follow a ‘three-vehicle’ (tri-yāna) one in which arhants do not develop further. Others, such as the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā, emphasize the importance of bodhisattvas not falling back so as to seek the lesser goal of arhantship.

According to the standards of arhantship preserved by Śrāvakayāna schools such as the Theravāda, the arhant is also described as imbued with loving kindness and as compassionately teaching others. The Theravāda still acknowledges that the long path to Buddhahood, over many many lives, is the loftiest practice, as it aims at the salvation of countless beings (see heading above *Th.6). Nevertheless, while the bodhisattva path has been and is practised by a few Theravādins (often laypeople), it is seen as a way for the heroic few only. Most, though, have gratefully made use of the historical Buddha’s teachings so as to move towards arhantship, whether this be attained in the present life or a future one.

The particular feature of the Mahāyāna is that it urges all ‘sons and daughters of good family’ to tread the demanding bodhisattva path. Moreover, while the earliest Mahāyāna may have been developed by reformist monks, there is then evidence of a transition from a monastically-centred Buddhism, in which monks were dominant in the dissemination of the Dharma, to one where laypeople also made important contributions in spreading and developing the Dharma. The culminating point of this householder movement was characterized by the legend of Vimalakīrti who criticized the conservative elements in monastic Buddhism of devoting oneself to individual liberation which, while avoiding harm to others, was regarded by him as insufficiently concerned with bringing positive benefit to other suffering beings (*M.10, 113, 127, 136, 141, 168).

Over the centuries, many monks studied and practised according to both the disciple-vehicle and Mahāyāna; not infrequently, both were present in the same monastery. The Chinese, in fact, did not come to clearly differentiate the Mahāyāna as a separate movement till late in the fourth century.

4. The development of Mahāyāna texts

The Mahāyāna emerged into history as a loose confederation of groups, each associated with one or more of a number of previously unknown sūtras (Skt, Pāli sutta). These were preserved in a form of Sanskrit, the prestige language of India, as Latin once was in Europe. Originally, Mahāyāna sūtra texts were described as ones which were vaipulya, which means ‘extensive’ or ‘extended’; that is, the extension of what had been taught by the Buddha indirectly, implicitly, metaphorically. Vaipulya texts are one of nine early classifications of the Buddha’s words (buddha-vacana)[2] in terms of the mode of expression. It corresponds to the Pāli word vedalla as found in the titles of the Mahā-vedalla and Cūḷa-vedalla Suttas.[3] The Mahāyānists emphasized that the words of the Buddha should not be understood only literally, as a word is only a mere sign, which may be for a hidden, deep reality, a ‘finger’ pointing to the ‘moon’ far beyond.

Anyone accepting the Mahāyāna literature as genuine sūtras – authoritative discourses of the Buddha – thereby belonged to the new movement. This did not necessitate monks and nuns abandoning their old fraternities, as they continued to follow the monastic discipline of the fraternities in which they had been ordained. The Mahāyānists remained a minority among Indian Buddhists for some time, though in the seventh century, perhaps half of the 200,000 or more monks counted by the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang (Hsüan-tsang) were Mahāyānist.

Traditionalists denied that the Mahāyāna literature was ‘the word of the Buddha’ (Buddha- vacana), but Mahāyānists defended their legitimacy through various devices. Firstly, they were seen as inspired utterances coming from the Buddha, now seen as still contactable through meditative visions and vivid dreams. Secondly, they were seen as the products of the same kind of perfect wisdom which was the basis of the Buddha’s own teaching of Dharma.[4] Thirdly, in later Mahāyāna, they were seen as teachings hidden by the Buddha in the world of serpent-deities (nāgas), till there were humans capable of seeing the deeper implications of his message, who would recover the teachings by means of meditative powers. Each explanation saw the sūtras as arising, directly or indirectly, from meditative experiences. Nevertheless, they take the form of dialogues between the ‘historical’ Buddha and his disciples and gods.

The Mahāyāna sūtras were regarded as the second ‘turning of the Dharma-wheel’, a deeper level of teaching than that in the early suttas, with the Buddha’s bodhisattva disciples portrayed as wiser than his arhant disciples. Because of the liberating truth the sūtras were seen to contain, there was said to be a huge amount of karmic benefit in copying them out, and disseminating, reciting, expounding, understanding, practising, and even ritually venerating them.

Some Mahāyāna scriptures are in the form of a report of teachings given by the Buddha in a normal human context. Others utilize specific styles of literature to express an understanding of the Buddha’s teachings, such that, in them, the Buddha teaches within a marvellous setting of wonders and divine beings, as is found to a small extent in a few early suttas, such as the Mahā-samaya.[5] Many Mahāyāna sūtras reflect this style. In them, the Buddha uses hyperbolic language and paradox, and makes known many transcendent Buddhas and high-level bodhisattvas from other worlds, existing in many regions of the universe. A number of these saviour beings, Buddhas and, in other texts, bodhisattvas, became objects of devotion and prayer, and greatly added to the appeal and missionary success of the Mahāyāna.

5. Mahāyāna texts and philosophies

Mahāyānists have continued to be influenced by ideas from early Buddhism, preserved, for example in the section of the Chinese Canon on the āgamas, which are similar to the nikāyas of the Pāli Canon. Some early Mahāyāna texts such as the Śālistamba (‘Rice Seedling’: *M.130–31) Sūtra, on the conditioned nature of existence, show a transitional phase from earlier Buddhist ideas, while the Śatapañcaśatka-stotra (‘Hundred and Fifty Verses’: *M.2) of Mātṛceṭa (second century CE) praise the Buddha in rather traditional ways. Other texts are evidently expanded versions of pre-Mahāyāna  texts, such as the Upāsaka-śīla (‘Laypersons’ Precepts’: *M.1, 23, 30, 38, 42, 50, 53, 56, 64–5, 72–3, 79, 82–4, 87–92, 98, 102, 104, 160) Sūtra, translated into Chinese around 425 CE, which builds on texts such as that found in the Theravāda Canon as the Sigālovāda Sutta (Dīgha-nikāya, Sutta 31: *Th.49), but with an emphasis on the layperson’s practice as a bodhisattva. In the Ugra-paripṛcchā (‘Inquiry of Ugra’:
*M.49 and 81), first translated into Chinese in the second century CE, teaching lay and monastic bodhisattvas, we see signs of the origin of the Mahāyāna among monks living from alms and meditating in the forest.

The Mahāyāna doctrinal perspective is expressed in both sūtras, attributed to the Buddha, and a number of śāstras, ‘treatises’ written by named authors. These systematically present the outlook of particular Mahāyāna schools, based on the sūtras, logic, and meditational experience. Each school is associated with a particular group of sūtras, whose meaning it sees as fully explicit (nītārtha); other sūtras may be regarded as in need of interpretation (neyārtha). This process continued in the lands where the Mahāyāna spread, which also took on differing broad emphases of their own.

In the Prajñā-pāramitā (Perfection of Wisdom) Sūtras, the key idea was that, both due to the interrelation of everything, and the inability of concepts to truly grasp reality, everything we experience is empty of any inherent existence, or inherent nature: the idea of ‘emptiness’ (śūnyatā) of inherent nature/inherent existence (svabhāva) (see especially *M.137–41). Moreover, this means that the conditioned realm of ordinary experience, in this and other lives (saṃsāra), is not ultimately different from or separate from the highest reality, nirvana, which is empty of attachment, hatred and delusion, and cannot be pinned down in concepts. Hence nirvana is not to be sought as beyond the world but in a true understanding of it. Supported by the idea that everything is empty of anything that is worth grasping at, the bodhisattva practises the thirty-seven factors of awakening22 for the sake of their own benefit, and is devoted to the bodhisattva perfections, for the benefit of other sentient beings, knowing that the true benefit of self and other cannot really be separated. Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras include: the Aṣṭasāhasrikā (‘8000 Lines’: *M.54, 70, 76, 140, 153), the Vajracchedikā (‘Diamond-cutter’: *M.4, 9, 20, 44, 48, 103), and the Pañcaviṃśati-sāhasrikā (‘25,000 Lines’: *M.135, 139), and the very popular one-page Hṛdaya (‘Heart’: *M.137). A sūtra that uses the idea of emptiness to emphasize going  beyond  all dualities  is  the  Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa (‘Explanation of  Vimalakīrti’: e.g.

*M.127, 136, 141, 168), in which the wisdom of a lay bodhisattva outshines that of many leading monks. The idea of emptiness of inherent nature/inherent existence was taken up and developed in the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna philosophy, whose root text is the Mūla-madhyamaka-kārikā (‘Fundamental Treatise on the Middle Way’: *M.138) of Nāgārjuna (c.150–250 CE). Influential works by a later monk of this school, Śāntideva (c. 650–750), are the Bodhicaryāvatāra (‘Engaging in the Conduct for Awakening’: *M.43, *V.34, 35, 38, and cited in other V. passages), on the bodhisattva perfections, and Śikṣā-samuccaya (‘Compendium of (Bodhisattva) Training’), that quotes from many Mahāyāna sūtras.

As the Buddha eventually came to the end of his earthly life with his final nirvana, this gave rise to the question of whether he would continue to exist in some way after his supposed final ‘extinction’ (the literal meaning of the Sanskrit word nirvāṇa: extinction of what is painful, and the defilements causing this). The question was listed among others known as ‘the fourteen undetermined issues’[6] regarded as beyond the reach of human speculation and rationality. However, after the passing away of their greatly revered teacher, it is natural that the bereaved community, missing his guidance, raised again the question once deemed by the Buddha as unjustifiable. This question entails others concerning the nature of the great teacher. Mahāyāna views on the continuing nature of the Buddha are expressed in such sūtras as the Saddharma-puṇḍarīka (‘White Lotus of the Wonderful Dharma’: *M.7, 22, 55, 152), an influential text, and the Mahā-parinirvāṇa (‘Great nirvana’: *M.5, 6, 8, 40, 43, 111, 145).

The Mahāyāna also introduced the ideas of many other Buddhas currently active in other parts of the universe, but who could be contacted. One such Buddha, that became especially important in East Asian Buddhism, was Amitābha (‘Infinite Light’), also known as Amitāyus (‘Infinite Life’). He is seen to dwell in a ‘Bissful Land’ (Sukhāvatī) generated by his own powerful beneficial karma, an ideal realm where rapid spiritual progress is possible, and which is reached by true faith in Amitābha’s saving power. An early sūtra on the visualisation of him and other Buddhas is the Pratyutpanna Buddha Saṃmukhāvasthita Samādhi (‘Meditation on the Presence of All Buddhas’: *M.114), and two influential texts on him are the Larger and Smaller Sukhāvatī-vyūha (‘Array of the Blissful Land’: *M.158, 159) Sūtras, also known as the Larger and Smaller Sūtras on Amitāyus.

Texts such as the Saṃdhi-nirmocana (‘Freeing the Underlying Meaning’: *M.143) and Laṅkāvatāra (‘Descent into Laṅkā/Ceylon’: *M.142) Sūtras emphasize that the world that one experiences is fundamentally mental in nature. What one experiences is an end-product of a complex process of interpretation, influenced by one’s habits, tendencies and past actions, along with language. This also applies to our concepts of a material world. Indeed this perspective sometimes says that there is no material world existing beyond our flow of mental experiences. In this perspective, the important thing is to understand how our mind shapes experience, to go beyond the splitting of experience into an inner, supposedly permanent subject-self, and external objects, and experience a fundamental re-orientation at the root of the mind, in the store-house consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna) that is an unconscious store of karmic seeds that shape our conscious experience. This kind of perspective was taken up and developed in the Yogācāra or Citta-mātra school of Mahāyāna philosophy, founded by Asaṅga (310–90?) and his half-brother Vasubandhu. Asaṅga is said to have been inspired by the bodhisattva Maitreya to compose texts such as the Mahāyāna-sūtrālaṃkāra (‘Ornament of Mahāyāna Sūtras’), which includes a systematisation of Mahāyāna ideas on the nature of a Buddha.

Sūtras such as the Tathāgata-garbha (*M.12), Śrīmālādevī-siṃhanāda (‘Lion’s Roar of Queen Śrīmālā’: *M.13) and Mahā-parinirvāṇa (‘Great nirvana’) express the idea of the Tathāgata-garbha: the womb/embryo of the Tathāgata/Buddha, or Buddha-nature. This is seen as empty of greed, hatred and delusion, but not empty of wondrous Buddha-qualities, and as a radiant reality already present in all beings, for them to discover and mature into Buddhahood. This idea, while drawing on an earlier Buddhist idea that meditation uncovers the radiant nature of the mind (*Th.124), may have been in part a response to a resurgent Hinduism, with its idea of an essential, permanent Self within all beings. It repeatedly criticised Buddhism for its not accepting anything as ‘Self’, as well as for not accepting the Hindu system of divinely-ordained classes and castes. The Tathāgata-garbha was seen as the radiant inner potential for Buddhahood in all beings. While in some ways Self-like (as it is seen as a beginningless aspect of a being), it was seen as ultimately Self-less, beyond anything to do with the sense of ‘I am’ (*M.144–46). This idea was systematised in India in the Ratnagotra-vibhāga (‘Analysis of the Jewel Lineage’: *M.12), also known as the Uttara-tantra, (‘Highest Continuum’), attributed to Sāramati or to Maitreya, and had a great inflience on the Buddhism of China and other East Asian countries.

The Buddha-avataṃsaka (‘Flower Adornment of the Buddha’: *M.39, 46, 51, 62, 71, 96, 112, 149, 154) Sūtra is a compendium of many texts which also circulated separately, including the Daśa– bhūmikā (‘Ten Stages’) Sūtra on the stages of the bodhisattva path and the Gaṇḍa-vyūha (‘Flower-array’:
*M., 69, 148) Sutra. The latter, a literary masterpiece, is on the long spiritual quest of Sudhana, and 23 In the Theravāda tradition, these are usually ten in number (see *Th.20, cf. *Th.10). the many teachers he meets on this quest. It culminates in a phantasmagorical vision of the nature of reality, in which he sees the deep interrelation of all phenomena, and of their ultimate nature, with everything inter-penetrating everything else across time and space. A traditional Mahāyāna view is that this was the first sūtra taught by the Buddha after his awakening, under the bodhi tree.

6. Buddhist texts in China

Buddhism, mainly of a Mahāyāna form, spread along the Silk Road, through Central Asia, to reach China from around 50 CE. There it came to be of considerable and lasting significance, adapting to China’s Confucian-dominated cultural context. Chinese-influenced forms of Buddhism later spread to Vietnam, Korea and Japan. The gradual translation of the huge volume of Buddhist texts from Sanskrit and other Indic languages was a monumental exercise.

Perhaps the first Buddhist text translated (late first century CE) was the Sishierzhang jing (‘Sūtra of Forty-two Sections’: *M.31, 58). A summary of basic Buddhist teachings, later forms of it contained more Mahāyāna elements and some influence from Chinese Daoism. The Fo chui ban nie pan liao shuo jiao jie jing (Yijiao jing for short: ‘Bequeathed Teaching Sūtra’), translated around 400 CE, emphasizes monastic discipline in a Mahāyāna context. The Fan wang jing (Brahmā’s Net Sūtra’: 45, 90, 97, 100, 112), an influential text on monastic and lay bodhisattva ethical precepts, became popular in China in the mid-fifth century. Another influential text in China was the Dizangpusa benying jing (‘Discourse on the Past Vows of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva’:[7] *M.11, 24, 35, 68). The Confucian emphasis on ‘filial piety’, or respect for elders and ancestors, was also given a Buddhist form in texts such as the Yulanpen jing (‘Ullambana Sūtra’; mid-sixth century) and Fumuenzhong jing (‘Sūtra on the Importance of Caring for One’s Father and Mother’; eighth century?: *M.36).

Various new schools of Buddhism developed in China. Two of these developed over-arching syntheses of the teachings of the many Buddhist texts: the Tiantai (‘Heavenly Terrace’) and Huayan (‘Flower Ornament’) – in Japanese, respectively Tendai and Kegon. The Tiantai school was founded by Zhiyi[8] (539–97), and sees the Buddha’s highest teachings as expressed in the Mahā-parinirvāṇa Sūtra and the Lotus Sūtra, such that it emphasized the idea of the Buddha-nature, the heavenly nature of the Buddha, and his many skilful means in teaching according to the capacities of his audience. The Lotus Sūtra is also the main focus of faith in the Japanese Nichiren school. Works of Zhiyi that have extracts included in this book are these meditation guides: Fa-hua San-mei Chan-yi (‘Confessional Samādhi of the Lotus Sūtra’: *M.123) and Mo-ho Zhi-Guan (‘The Great Calm and Insight: *M.119).

The Huayan school was founded by Dushun (557–640) and systemised by its third patriarch, Fazang[9] (643–712). This saw the Buddha’s highest teaching as expressed in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, especially the Gaṇḍavyūha Sūtra section of it. Huayan sees ultimate reality as empty of a fixed nature, being a fluid substance that is the basis of everything, just as gold can be shaped into countless forms. Its ideas had considerable influence on the Chan school in China (Thien in Vietnam, Seon in Korea, Zen in Japan). This book contains extracts from Huayan wu jiao zhi-guan (‘Cessation and Contemplation in the Five Teachings of the Huayan’: *M.149), attributed to Dushun, and Fazang’s Jinshizizhang (‘Treatise on the Golden Lion’: *M.150).

Two schools of Chinese Buddhism emphasized particular kinds of practice: Chan (‘Meditation’) and Jingtu (‘Pure Land’). The Chan school has the semi-legendary Indian monk Bodhidharma (470–543) as its founder, and of great influence on it was its sixth patriarch Huineng (638–713; *M.167), especially via the Liuzi-tan jing (‘Platform Sūtra of the Sixth Patriarch’). Indian texts of particular influence on it were the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra and the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra. It also developed its own kind of literature centring on the gong-an[10] (Japanese kōan), or paradoxical sayings of Chan masters. This book includes extracts from the ‘Platform Sūtra’ (*M.125–27, 167), from the inspiring Xin Xin Ming (‘Inscription on the Mind of Faith’: *M.128) of Jianzhi Sengcan (d. 606), the third Chan patriarch, and from the Zuochan yi, ‘Manual for Seated Meditation Practice’ (*M.124), an influential description of how to sit in meditation by Chan master Changlu Zongze (d. 1107?).

The Jingtu school focuses on devotion rather than meditation, and values texts such as the two Sukhāvatī-vyūha Sutras. It was founded by Tanluan (476–542) and emphasizes open-hearted devotion to Amitābha Buddha, by chanting his name and visualising his ‘Blissful Land’ (*M.114, 158– 59). Its simple practice made it very popular in East Asia. In Japan, it has two forms, the Jōdo (‘Pure Land’) and Jōdo-shin (‘True Pure Land’), the latter emphasising a way of salvation by pure faith alone.

7. The Chinese and Tibetan Canons

The main sources for our understanding of Mahāyāna teachings are the very extensive Chinese and Tibetan Buddhist Canons. While most of the Pāli Canon (of Theravāda Buddhism) has been translated into English, only selected texts from these more extensive Chinese and Tibetan Canons have been translated into Western languages, though much progress is being made. While the texts used by Mahāyāna Buddhists of East Asia are mainly sūtra texts attributed to the Buddha and e.g. Chinese treatises based on these, in Vajrayāna areas the main texts used are Tibetan treatises that are systematic presentations of Buddhist thought and practices that extensively quote from the sūtras and tantras, and are based on earlier Indian treatises. In both areas, indigenous treatises played a huge role in the formation of distinctive regional schools of Buddhism.

The Chinese Canon is known as the Dazangjing or ‘Great Store of Scriptures’. The standard modern edition, following a non-traditional order based on systematization by scholars, is the Taishō Daizōkyō (‘Taishō’ for short), published in Japan from 1924 to 1929. It consists of 55 large vols, each of over 1000 pages, containing 2,184 texts (see: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Portal_talk:Buddhism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taish%C5%8D_Tripi%E1%B9%ADaka ) Its contents are:

• Translations of the āgamas (equivalent to the first four Pāli nikāyas) (151 texts in 2 )
• Translations of the jātakas on past lives of the Buddha, as a bodhisattva (68 texts in 2 )
• Translations of Mahāyāna sūtras (628 texts in 13 vols.), sometimes including several translations of the same text. These are grouped into sections on: the Perfection of Wisdom (42 texts in 4 vols.), the Lotus Sūtra (16 texts in most of 1 ), the Avataṃsaka (‘Flower Garland’; 32 texts in 1 vol. and a part vol.), the Ratnakūṭa (‘Heap of Jewels’; 64 texts in one and a part vol.), the Mahā– parinirvāṇa (‘Great Final Nirvana’; 23 texts in a part vol.), the Mahā–sannipāta (‘Great Assembly’; 28 texts in 1 vol.), and general ‘Sūtras’ (mostly Mahāyāna; 423 texts in 4 vols.)
• Translations of tantras (572 texts in 4 )
• Translations of various early vinayas (on monastic discipline) and some texts outlining ‘discipline’ for bodhisattvas (84 texts in 3 vols.)

• Translations of commentaries on the āgamas and Mahāyāna sūtras (31 texts in 1 and a part )
• Translations of various early abhidharmas (28 texts in 3 and a part )
• Translations of Madhyamaka, Yogācāra and other śāstras, or ‘treatises’ (129 texts in 3 )
• Chinese commentaries on the sūtras, vinaya and śāstras (158 texts in 12 )
• Chinese sectarian writings (5 texts in 4 and a part )
• Biographies (95 texts in 4 )
• Encyclopaedias, dictionaries, catalogues of earlier Chinese Canons, histories, non-Buddhist doctrines (Hindu, Manichean, and Nestorian Christian), and ‘ambivalent’ texts (800 texts in 4 vols.).

By 1934, there was also a Taishō Daizōkyō supplement of 45 volumes containing 736 further texts: Japanese texts, recently discovered texts from the Dunhuang caves in China, apocryphal texts composed in China, iconographies, and bibliographical information. An outline of the Tibetan Canon is given in the introduction to the Vajrayāna passages of this work.

Note that about half M. passages in this work come from the Taishō, and are therefore translated from Chinese. Where they are translated direct from Sanskrit, this is indicated.

Peter Harvey
Most Venerable Thich Tue Sy

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[1] See last but two paragraph of *LI.5, above, and Glossary.
[2] E.g. Aṅguttara-nikāya II.7.
[3] Majjhima-nikāya, suttas 43 and 44, which are in the form of questions on, and extended explanations of, a number of Buddhist concepts.
[4] Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra p. 4.
[5] Dīgha-nikāya, sutta 20.
[6] In the Theravāda tradition, these are usually ten in number (see *Th.20, cf. *Th.10).
[7] Which would be Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva Pūrvapraṇidhāna Sūtra in Sanskrit.
[8] In an earlier way of transliterating Chinese, Chih-i.
[9] In an earlier way of transliterating Chinese, respectively Tushun and Fa-tsang.
[10] An ‘Old case’ – a paradoxical story whose nub, such as ‘what is the sound of one hand clapping?’, is used as a focus of meditation in the Rinzai Zen school.