T H E TWENTY EMPTINESSES 203 Emptiness of the other entity59 Whether or not buddhas appear in the world, The natural emptiness of all entities Is proclaimed to be The "other entity." (222) Other names for this are "genuine reality's ultimate limit" and "suchness"These are the "emptiness of the other entity." These twenty emptinesses were taught extensively In the Sutras of Transcendent Wisdom (223) 59 Genuine reality is known as the "other entity" for three reasons: When compared with ordinary things it is supreme; it cannot be known by mundane consciousness but only by original wisdom; and in its nature it transcends everything in samsara Appendix An Authentic Portrait of the Middle Way A VAJRA SONG OF REALIZATION OF THE LORD OF YOGIS MILAREPA From the standpoint of the truth that's genuine There are no ghosts, there are not even buddhas, No meditator and no meditated, No paths and levels traveled and no signs, And no fruition bodies and no wisdoms, And therefore there is no nirvana there, Just designations using names and statements All animate, inanimate-the three realms, Unborn and nonexistent from the outset, No base to rest on, not coemerge, There is no karmic act, no maturation, So even the name "samsara" does not exist That's the way these are in the final picture, But oh, if sentient beings did not exist, What would the buddhas of three times all come from? Since fruition with no cause-impossible! So the standpoint of the truth that's superficial Is samsara's wheel, nirvana past all grief It all exists, that is the Sage's teaching Then what exists appearing to be things, And their nonexistence, reality that's empty, 206 Are essentially inseparable, one taste, And therefore there is neither self-awareness Nor awareness of what's other anywhere All of this a union vast and spacious, And all those skilled in realizing this Do not see consciousness, they see pure wisdom, Do not see sentient beings, they see buddhas, Don't see phenomena, they see their essence, And out of this compassion just emerges Retention, powers, fearlessness, and all The qualities embodied by a buddha Just come as if you had a wishing jewel This is what I, the yogi, have realized APPENDIX Glossary ABHIDHARMA A set of the Buddha's teachings from the first turning of the wheel of Dharma in which he described the charac teristics of, among other things, the sources of consciousness, aggregates, and dhatus In these teachings, the Buddha did not explicitly refute the true existence of the phenomena that he de scribed He did explicitly refute their true existence, however, in the teachings of the second turning of the wheel AGGREGATES (skandhas, Skt.) The five groups of psychophysical phenomena-forms, feelings, discriminations, formations, and consciousnesses Each individual sentient being is imputed to exist in dependence upon a unique collection of these skandhas See Dependently arisen mere appearances ARHAT ("foe conqueror") A practitioner who has attained the fru ition of either the Shravakayana or Pratyekabuddhayana by real izing the selflessness of the individual and thereby conquering the foe of the mental afflictions By cultivating strong revulsion for and renunciation of samsara, and by perfecting their realization of the selflessness of the individual, the arhats completely free themselves from the mental afflictions and gain liberation from samsara At a certain point, however, the buddhas wake them up from the peace of their meditative state, reveal to them that they have not yet attained the fruition of buddhahood itself, and 208 G L O S SARY exhort them to practice the Mahayana teachings for the benefit of all sentient beings Doing so, they eventually attain the com plete and perfect enlightenment of the buddhas BHAVAVIVEKA Indian master and author of a commentary on The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way from the perspective of the Middle Way Autonomy school BHIKSHU A fully ordained monk BODHICHITTA "The mind turned toward supreme enlighten ment." Bodhichitta has two aspects The bodhichitta of apparent reality is the vow to lead all sentient beings to the state of the complete and perfect enlightenment of buddhahood The bodhi chitta of genuine reality is the true nature of reality itself, which, in the second of the three turnings of the wheel of Dharma, the Buddha explained to be emptiness beyond conceptual fabrica tion In Mahayana Buddhist practice, one cultivates both types of bodhichitta BODHISATTVA "Courageous One of Enlightenment." A follower of the Mahayana path who cultivates the two types of bodhi chitta There are both ordinary bodhisattvas and noble bodhisatt vas, the latter distinguished by their direct realization of the true nature of reality Bodhisattvas are courageous because they take the vow to stay in samsara in order to benefit sentient beings, rather than seeking to escape from it BUDDHA The teacher; one who has attained complete and perfect enlightenment by perfecting the two qualities of the wisdom that realizes emptiness and compassion for all sentient beings BUDDHAPALITA Indian master and author of a commentary on The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way from the perspective of the Middle Way Consequence school CHANDRAKIRTI Indian master and exponent of the Middle Way Consequence school, most famously in his commentary called Entering the Middle Way, which explains the meaning of The Fun damental Wisdom of the Middle Way ...Appendix An Authentic Portrait of the Middle Way A VAJRA SONG OF REALIZATION OF THE LORD OF YOGIS MILAREPA From the standpoint of the truth that's genuine There are no ghosts, there are not even... I, the yogi, have realized APPENDIX Glossary ABHIDHARMA A set of the Buddha's teachings from the first turning of the wheel of Dharma in which he described the charac teristics of, among other... aspects The bodhichitta of apparent reality is the vow to lead all sentient beings to the state of the complete and perfect enlightenment of buddhahood The bodhi chitta of genuine reality is the