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find such a panacea. Therefore, we need to cultivate a number of spe- existence before cultivating those for attaining enlightenment.
cific antidotes that relate to specific types of afflictions. If, for example, These three points correct understanding of the nature of the
people are building a very complex structure such as a spacecraft, they path, its completeness and practicing its various elements in the right
need to assemble an enormous variety of machines and other equip- sequence are all suggested in the term  lam-rim.
ment. In the mental and experiential world, we need an even greater
diversity of means. THE ORIGIN OF THE LAM-RIM TEACHINGS: THE GREATNESS OF THE
With respect to afflictions of the mind and flawed ways of perceiv- AUTHORS
ing and relating to the world, Buddhist texts speak of four principal false
views: A great number of commentaries came into being on the basis of Atisha s
root text, A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment. Among these is the
1. The false view of perceiving impermanent phenomena as per- genre of writings by the Kadampa masters known as ten-rim, or
manent. Presentation of the Stages of the Path, as well as Lama Tsong Khapa s lam-
2. The false view of perceiving events, our own existence and rim works. These teachings present different skillful means for teaching
the various aggregates as desirable when they are not. the Dharma, but they are all grounded in the writings of authentic
3. The false view of perceiving suffering experiences as happi- Indian masters. In the texts of some of the early Indian masters, we find
ness. what is known as  the five methods of teaching or  the five aspects of
4. The false view of perceiving our own existence and the world the skillful means of teaching.
6
as self-existent and independent when they are utterly Later, at Nalanda Monastic University, a unique tradition of pre-
devoid of self-existence and independence. senting the Dharma to students developed the skillful means of  the
three purifications or  the three pure factors :
In order to counteract these false views, we need to cultivate all the var-
ious elements of the path. This is why there is a need for completeness. 1. Ensuring that the teaching being given is pure.
The third point is that we re not just accumulating material things 2. Ensuring that the teacher giving the teaching is pure.
and collecting them in a room; we re trying to transform our mind. The 3. Ensuring that the students receiving the teaching are pure.
stages of this transformation must evolve in the right order. First, we
26 ILLUMINATING THE PATH TO ENLIGHTENMENT FEATURES OF THE LAM-RIM TEACHINGS 27
With respect to the second pure factor, even though the teaching being Dharmapala, who became the main source of the great inspirational
given may be pure, if the teacher giving it lacks the necessary qualities teachings of the Sakya lam-dre path and fruition teachings, was a
and qualifications, there will be shortcomings in the presentation. It monk at Nalanda Monastery. In addition to being a monk, he was also
thus became a tradition that before teaching the Dharma, teachers had a great practitioner of Vajrayana and later became known as the
to receive permission to do so from their own masters. With respect to mahasiddha Virupa. One day, while the disciplinarian of the monastery
the third pure factor, even though the teaching and the teacher may be was on his rounds, he looked into Dharmapala s room and saw that it
pure, if the students minds are not properly prepared, then even an was full of women. In fact, this great mystic tantric master was emanat-
authentic teaching may not bestow much benefit. Therefore, the third ing dakinis, but since monks were not allowed to have women in their
pure factor means to ensure that the motivation of the listeners is pure. room, Dharmapala was expelled from the monastery. It didn t matter
Later on, when the Buddhadharma underwent a period of decline that his infraction was a display of high levels of tantric realization; the
in the Nalanda area, it began to flourish in Bengal, particularly at fact remained that Dharmapala had broken the codes of monastic disci-
Vikramashila Monastery, where a new tradition in the style of teaching pline and had to go.
emerged. Here it became customary to begin a teaching by talking about There is a similar story about the great Indian master Nagarjuna,
the greatness of the person who composed the text, the greatness and founder of the Middle Way School, whom all Mahayana Buddhists
quality of the teaching itself, and the procedure by which the teaching revere. At one time, the entire Nalanda area was experiencing a terrible
and the listening of that teaching would take place, before moving on to drought and everybody was starving. Through alchemy, Nagarjuna is
the fourth skillful means, teaching the actual procedure for guiding the said to have transformed base metals into gold to help alleviate the
disciple along the path to enlightenment. famine, which had also affected the monastery. However, the practice of
In those days, the majority of the people sustaining and developing alchemy was a breach of the monastic code and Nagarjuna, too, was
the Dharma in the land of the noble beings, ancient India, were monas- expelled from the monastery.
tics, most notably monks from monasteries like Nalanda and
Vikramashila. If you look at the masters from these great centers of Lines of Experience: Verse 1
learning, you will understand how they upheld the Buddhadharma.
They were not only practitioners of the Bodhisattvayana, having taken I prostrate before you, (Buddha), head of the Shakya clan.
bodhisattva vows, but also practitioners of the Vajrayana. Nevertheless, Your enlightened body is born out of tens of millions of
the daily life of all these practitioners was very much grounded in the positive virtues and perfect accomplishments; your
teachings of the vinaya the teachings on monastic ethics. The vinaya enlightened speech grants the wishes of limitless beings;
teachings of the Buddha were the actual foundation upon which these your enlightened mind sees all knowables as they are. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]