Chandrakirtis entrance to the middle way (1)

Thus writes Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche as interpreted and arranged by Shenpen Hookham in the introduction to Rinpoche’s Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness These increasingly subtle stages of meditative understanding and experience are first described in our historical epoch by the Buddha Shakyamuni in three major cycles of teachings that unfolded during his forty-five years of post-enlightenment teachings These three major cycles of teachings are referred to in Buddhist literature as the three turnings of the wheel of dharma or the three dharmachakras The writings of the various philosophical schools of Buddhism and the views of the nature of reality that they represent all emerge as commentaries on one or more of these three turnings The shravaka teachings on not-self or one-and-a-half-fold egolessness (selflessness) represent the hinayana view of the first dharmachakra The madhyamaka rangtong teachings on the emptiness of self-nature of all phenomena, including both the svatantrika madhyamaka and prasangika madhyamaka, represent the mahayana view of the second dharmachakra taught in the Prajnaparamita Sutras and further developed in the commentaries of Nagarjuna, Buddhapalita, Bhavaviveka, and Chandrakirti And the shentong teachings on the clear light nature of mind—that all things, including what we now see as external and solid sources of pleasure and pain, are mere appearances that are in reality the display or radiance or light of the mind which experiences them—represent the mahayana view of the third dharmachakra as developed by Maitreya in the Mahayana Uttara Tantra Sastra, and further developed in the vajrayana This vast and profound complex of Buddhist teachings, sutras, commentaries, philosophical schools, viewpoints, methods, and stages of practice Khenpo Rinpoche often divides into four: l Teachings on the way things appear to be, including the teachings on suffering, impermanence, rebirth, karmic cause and effect, atoms, and moments of consciousness, corresponding to the hinayana; Teachings on the way all things are fundamentally mind and that there is no real distinction between mind and matter, corresponding to the doctrine of the Cittamatra; Teachings on the way things really are—empty of true existence or self-nature, corresponding to the sutras of the second dharmachakra; Teachings on the ultimate reality of the way things really are merely the play, the display, the radiance, or the light of the clear light nature of mind, corresponding to the sutras of the third dharmachakra, the shentong, and the vajrayana, including the teachings of tantra, mahamudra, and dzogchen It is important to realize that none of these teachings are worthy of being discarded simply because more subtle and profound teachings SHENPEN ÖSEL were subsequently taught Even in the Buddhist lineages that hold and practice the most advanced vajrayana practices, the teachings of these various other levels of understanding are also still presented, because they are all useful according to the various levels of meditative understanding of students Furthermore, while it is important during one’s meditation to see the emptiness of all relative dharmas—including the emptiness of the teachings of the Buddha on karmic cause and effect, klesha, rebirth, suffering, impermanence, etc.—it is equally important to live one’s life in accordance with these teachings on relative truth when one is not meditating and therefore not free of grasping and fixation, and not free of attachment, aggression, and ignorance ◆◆◆ B ecause the teachings of the Buddha are presented at so many different levels, it is important to have a set of guidelines that will enable one to understand how to go about sorting them out These guidelines were presented by the Buddha in what have come to be known as the four reliances As set forth by His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyamtso, the four reliances are: “Do not rely on the person but on the doctrine Then, with respect to the doctrine, rely not on the word [or words] but on the meaning Then, with respect to the meaning, rely not on the interpretable meaning but on the definitive meaning And with respect to the definitive meaning, rely not on ordinary consciousness but on an exalted wisdom consciousness.” If one understands consciousness always to be dualistic and awareness to be non-dualistic, then this last reliance should read “exalted wisdom awareness.” The first reliance is not to rely on the person teaching, but on the doctrine being taught The Buddha enjoined his followers to apply this standard even to himself when he said, “Oh monks and scholars, you should not accept my word out of respect for me but rather upon analyzing and investigating it in the way that a gold-smith analyses gold by scorching, cutting, and rubbing it.” This means that regardless of the greater experience or perceived level of realization of the teacher, one should still rely on the teachings, ascertaining for oneself their truthfulness or lack thereof, rather than accept them simply because of the profound impression the teacher may have made on one or because of his or her reputation or hierarchical status The second reliance is, with respect to the doctrine or teaching, not to rely on the words of the teaching, but on the meaning One should not, for instance, accept a teaching simply because the words are eloquent— as we know even the devil can quote scriptures and charm the birds out of the trees—but because the meaning is truthful and conducive to SHENPEN ÖSEL happiness, personal liberation, and the benefit and liberation of others This second injunction is very important when it comes to translating the teachings from one language into another Oftentimes, for example, there does not seem to be any word in the recipient language exactly equivalent to the word used in the language from which the teachings are being translated In determining whether the Tibetan word dampa should be translated as genuine or as holy or even as venerable; whether the Tibetan word se should be translated as sons and daughters, daughters and sons, children, offspring, progeny, heirs, spiritual heirs, heirs apprentice, or whatever; or whether the term dharmakaya, which is given eight different meanings in the Mahayana Uttara Tantra Shastra, should be translated at all, translators and students alike must rely on the meaning of the teaching rather than exclusively on the words themselves Similarly, when we pray that Karmapa remain forever in the vajra nature, we have to understand that we are not praying for him magically to transform himself into a five-pronged iron ritual instrument, similar to what is used in advanced vajrayana practice, and remain that way in perpetuity The third reliance is, with respect to the meaning, not to rely on the interpretable meaning, but on the definitive meaning This injunction is very important when it comes to distinguishing the various levels of the Buddhist teachings, understanding which teachings supersede which other teachings when it comes to understanding absolute truth, and understanding when certain teachings should be applied and when they should not For example, the Buddha’s teachings on karma—that good and bad actions as causes invariably lead to the results of happiness and suffering—must be interpreted in the light of his subsequent teachings in the Heart Sutra that all dharmas (phenomena) are emptiness and his teaching that there is “no suffering, no origin of suffering, no cessation of suffering, no path, no wisdom, no attainment, and no non-attainment.” The teachings on karma are thus interpreted to mean that, given the rather coarse, commonplace level of understanding of things that we have at the beginning of our path, it is important to understand and live in accordance with the law of cause and effect It may be all well and good to understand that suffering is empty of true nature or of inherent existence, but if you have not realized that, the “you” that does not truly exist will still experience the immense suffering which also does not truly exist, and will take it all to be very real Therefore, when one has not realized emptiness, and even after one has developed the ability skillfully to meditate on emptiness but not the ability to maintain that realization when not meditating, it is still important to accept such an interpretable meaning in one’s post-meditation or between-meditations experience But in meditation, because it is the realization of emptiness SHENPEN ÖSEL or the true nature that liberates one from suffering and its causes, one should try to understand, meditate upon, and realize the definitive meaning, which in this example is that all phenomena, including suffering and its causes, are empty of true existence From the standpoint of the shentong madhyamaka teachings, the definitive meaning is that all things are merely the radiance of the clear light nature of mind, which can only be known non-dualistically by this non-conceptual wisdom mind itself From this point of view, the teachings of the cittamatra that all things are fundamentally mind, that there is no real distinction between mind and matter—which point of view reflects the Buddha’s statement that “The three realms are merely mind”—must be interpreted in light of his subsequent teachings that all dharmas, including mind, are emptiness, a point of view developed by the svatantrika madhyamaka The teachings that all dharmas are emptiness, however, from the standpoint of the prasangika madhyamaka (rangtong), is still subtly conceptual, implying that emptiness in some way exists Their doctrine, i.e the rangtong doctrine, which is taught in this commentary by Chandrakirti, therefore, is concerned with destroying any sort of conceptual formulation, fabrication, or elaboration of the nature of things But from the standpoint of the shentong madhyamaka, the rangtongpas are thereby implying, though adamantly refusing to assert, that absolute truth is simply the absence of conceptual fabrication or the absolute freedom from concepts This formulation, however, can not account for the existence of things, which are accounted for in the shentong philosophy as the radiance of the clear light nature of mind, which can only be realized non-conceptually and non-dualistically by the clear light nature of mind itself—which means that it is beyond the comprehension of the conceptual mind dualistically involved in the effort to refute any and all conceptual notions or understandings of reality All of these points of view were taught by the Buddha, and their meanings are applicable under different circumstances and at different levels of understanding and practice But how can one truly know for oneself which of these truths is the definitive truth? This question brings us to the fourth reliance, which is, with respect to the definitive meaning, not to rely upon ordinary consciousness, but on an exalted wisdom awareness This means that in order to understand the definitive truth, in order to understand beyond the need to interpret the true nature of things and which of the Buddha’s many teachings lead directly to that understanding, one must rely ultimately on the wisdom that arises in meditation and not on any of the workings of conceptual mind At the ultimate level, words and concepts are at best very useful lies; they are the finger pointing at the moon, not the moon itself SHENPEN ÖSEL ◆◆◆ A lso included in this issue is Khenpo Rinpoche’s commentary on Gyalwa Götsangpa’s song, The Eight Cases of Basic Goodness Not to be Shunned, a wonderful song, direct from the heart of the practice lineage, that gives extremely practical and efficacious advice to all practitioners for whom the intensity of practice is met with the intensification of obstacles ◆◆◆ A s always we would like to thank Khenpo Rinpoche for the great generosity and clarity of his teachings In addition, we would like to thank his translator Ari Goldfield for his continual and prompt willingness to clarify various aspects of the original transcripts of his translation We would also like to thank Shenpen Hookham, a long-time student of the dharma and of Khenpo Rinpoche, and one of the earliest, if not the earliest, of his translators in the West, for her masterful presentation of Khenpo Rinpoche’s teachings in Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness, from which much of the information in this introduction is drawn Finally, we would like to thank Michael Barraclough and Zhyisil Chokyi Ghatsal Publications in New Zealand for their gracious permission to use their graphic for the cover of our last issue of Shenpen Ösel —Lama Tashi Namgyal 10 SHENPEN ÖSEL ... Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyamtso, the four reliances are: “Do not rely on the person but on the doctrine Then, with respect to the doctrine, rely not on the word [or words] but on the meaning... elaboration of the nature of things But from the standpoint of the shentong madhyamaka, the rangtongpas are thereby implying, though adamantly refusing to assert, that absolute truth is simply the absence... consciousness always to be dualistic and awareness to be non-dualistic, then this last reliance should read “exalted wisdom awareness.” The first reliance is not to rely on the person teaching, but on the