Jewels from the treasury vasubandhus ( (125)

NOTES That ON AREA VI is, stream-enterer, once-returner, nonreturner, and arhat 281 bcu tshan bcu ston p a i lung 282 VI.50ab 283 sol b a i p h u n gpo Ita b u i mdo 28 V L 4lcd 285 Liberated through both full knowing and samadhi, as explained in V I.64 In this passage, “clearly knowing” is a translation of the Sanskrit abhijna and T i­ betan mngon shes, which in many instances refer to clairvoyance However, from the descriptions in various commentaries, it appears in this context to refer to merely knowing something clearly, not clairvoyance T he fo u r foundations o f mindfulness are mindfulness o f body, feeling, mind, and dharmas, discussed above in VI I4ff The fo u r complete abandonments (also called right endeavors) are abandoning nonvirtuous dharmas that have arisen, preventing those that have not arisen from arising, producing virtuous dharmas that have not yet arisen, and developing virtuous dharmas that have arisen T he fo u r fe e t o f miracles are devel­ oping faith, being diligent, taking control o f the mind, and fully engaging oneself to manifest wisdom T he five faculties are faith, diligence, mindfulness, samadhi, and full knowing, described above in II.l T he five powers are the same as the faculties, but more highly developed T he seven branches o f enlightenment are mindfulness, full dis­ cernm ent o f dharmas, diligence, joy, pliancy, samadhi, and equanimity T he noble eighrfoldpath is right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right samadhi 288 Cf VL15ab That is, the foundations of mindfulness arise on the path of accumulation The complete abandonments arise on warmth, the feet of miracles on the peak, the faculties on forbearance, the powers on supreme dharma, the branches of enlightenment on the path of meditation, and the noble eightfold path on the path of seeing T h at is, W angchuk Dorje’s teacher Shamar Konchok Yenlag Notes on Area VII 291 A divine robe clear on both the outside and inside Knowing, view, and forbearance 293 It appears that rhinolike is used here as a general term, inclusive o f the congregat­ ing self-buddhas as well as the rhinolike self-buddha: the autocom m entary states that self-buddhas in general have three knowings This line appears slightly differently in the autocomm entary and Chim Jamyang s commentary: “because it first arises in the continuum of a being whose action has 619 NOTES ON AREA VI I been completed.” This might be the result of a typographical error: the Tibetan only differs by two letters However, the meaning in both instances is similar 295 See VII 13 According to Yas'omitra, “the m ind which does not possess” means undefiled, “place” here means characteristics, and “basis” means cause (Tengyur ngu pa, 251A-B) T he three fires of greed, hatred, and delusion In other words, the Sutra school posits that when we perceive something, we not directly perceive it Instead, we perceive its aspect, a mental image or impression o f the object For example, when we see a vase, there is an image o f the vase that arises in our mind, and that image is the aspect T he Great Exposition, on the other hand, posits that when we perceive an object, our consciousness engages it directly T he as­ pect is thus more like what we think about it For example, when contemplating the five aggregates o f grasping, nobles consider them as im permanent, suffering, and so forth, so those are the aspects Since this is in essence full knowing— distinguishing the true nature o f the object— the Great Exposition posits that the aspects are full knowing 9 N ot Unable, four actual practices, and special dhyana 0 The previous six plus the first three levels of Formless 301 T h at is, m ind and mental factors 02 Prince Yas'omitra provides an example: someone who on the support o f N ot U n­ able becomes detached from Desire and achieves the first dhyana attains two future relative knowings: one o f N ot Unable (the level of the path) and one of the first dhyana (the level attained for the first time) (Tengyur ngu pa, 262 ) 303 In Yasomitras example, when someone on the support o f the second dhyana be­ comes detached and attains the third dhyana, the path (the path of liberation over the ninth discard o f the second dhyana) is on the level o f the second dhyana T he level that is attained by removal of attachm ent is the third dhyana U pon achieving that level, the yogi attains undefiled knowings o f the level o f the path (the second dhyana), the attained level (the third dhyana), and also the lower levels such as the first dhyana, special dhyana, and N o t Unable (Tengyur ngu pa, 262 - 263 ) Mikyo Dorje explains this example further: when you cut the cords that bind a basket, it springs back to shape as if it were a living thing (Mi bskyod rdo rje 20 , vol , ) 305 T he Great Exposition holds that the Bodhisattva can only attain complete awak­ ening to Buddhahood on the support o f a male body W om en attain a male body (in a future life) in order to completely awaken See IV 109 This position is not necessarily accepted by all schools o f Buddhism 620 NOTES ON AREA VII T he way all dharmas are divided into ten categories is described above in V II.i ab: there are concurrent and nonconcurrent dharmas for each o f the three realms and the undefiled, virtuous noncom pound, and neutral noncom pound In Sanskrit, the powers are called prakrtahastin , gandhahastin , mahdnagna, praskandin, varahga, canura, and ndrayana 30 T h at is, other than the resultant touches o f soft, rough, and so forth described in I.lOd Here tikas refers to Indian commentaries in general, not specifically to Mikyo Dorje’s commentary 310 T h at is, compassion is in essence nonhatred and great compassion is nondelusion Compassion focuses on one realm and great compassion on three Compassion has the one suffering o f suffering as its aspect, and great compassion all three types o f suf­ fering Compassion is on all four dhyanas; great compassion on the fourth Com pas­ sion is found am ong the listeners and great compassion am ong the Victors Com passion is attained by detaching from Desire; great compassion by detaching from the Peak of Existence T he compassion o f the listeners and self-buddhas does not have the power to fully protect beings from samsara, but great compassion does Compassion sees suffering beings partially; great compassion sees all beings impartially (Mi bskyod rdo rje 0 , vol 3, 308 ) 311 Such as discards o f seeing See VI.58ab 312 T he unprovocative samadhi and knowledge from aspiration 313 T hat is, one starts in Desire, enters the first dhyana, second dhyana, and so forth up to the Peak o f Existence T h en one returns down through N othingness and so forth to the first dhyana and Desire T hen one ascends to the fourth dhyana 314 As in the four alternatives of two dharmas: something can be the first, or the sec­ ond, or both, or neither There is no possibility beyond the fourth alternative 315 See VII.5cd & 316 T he divine eye is the clairvoyance o f knowing death and rebirth 317 The miracle of addressing is telling someone, “Your m ind is like this.” The miracle o f teaching is teaching correctly just as things are (Yasomitra, Tengyur ngu pa, 281) 318 For instance, transforming oneself into a lion is connected to one’s own being Em anating a lion separate from oneself is connected to another being (Tengyur ngu pa, 281) 319 An unafflicted, defiled dhyana See V III.5—6 Skt.: Dirghama; Tib.: lung ringpo 321 A type o f ghost 621 NOTES ON AREA VIII 322 See I.39cd 323 T h at is, they see the general prime thousand, the middle world realm, and the three thousands described in III.73 and 74 324 Tib rin chen phreng ba , Skt Ratnavali Notes on Area VIII 325 III.2cd 326 See III.3 327 gang yan g bsus po che mdo 328 m am p a r bsgyur b a i mdo 329 bsam tan g yiya n Lag b sta n p a i mdo 330 T he sense consciousnesses excluding scent and taste, which are not present in the dhyanas See 1.30b—d 331 O ne o f the classifications o f the pure absorption S e e V lll.\7 - \S 332 T he Tibetan and Sanskrit verses literally read “up to three levels,” but this is count­ ing the level that one is on inclusively as the first of the three levels In common English parlance, this would generally not be counted, and so here it is translated as two levels T he meaning is the same: from an undefiled third dhyana, for example, one can skip up two levels to Infinite Space, but not higher to Infinite Consciousness, etc 333 Skt.: Abhisamaydlankdra Tib.: mngon rtogs rgyan 334 See VI.47cd 335 In the first o f these, attention on thorough knowledge o f the characteristics, one considers the lower realm coarse and the upper realm peaceful In the second, attention produced by interest, one discards the hindrances to generating the third In the third, attention on complete withdrawal, one discards the three greater sets o f meditative discards In the fourth, attention on taking delight, one feels joy and pleasure at having abandoned the greater discards and discards the three m edium sets of discards In the fifth, attention on examination, one examines oneself to see which discards remain In the sixth, attention on the end o f training, one abandons the three lesser meditative discards (Mi bskyod rdo rje 0 , vol 1, 286 - ) 336 T he preparations for the second dhyana and higher 337 T he first emancipation, viewing external form while conceiving o f internal form, is viewing external forms and m editating on them as repulsive while conceiving of ones own form as existing T he second is the same, except the conception o f one’s own form has been demolished (Yasomitra, Tengyur ngu pa, B) For more on the repulsiveness m editation see V I.9d ff 622 NOTES ON AREA VIII 338 See 11.43 339 Asanga, according to Mikyo Dorje (Mi bskyod rdo rje 0 , vol , 438 ) Cassia fistula 341 Yasomitra quotes the passage from the sutras as follows: “W hile conceiving that there is no internal form, view a blue external form, blue-colored, that is seen as blue, that radiates blue, for example, a flax flower or an excellent fabric from the land of Varanasi that is blue, blue-colored, that is seen as blue, that radiates blue, and know that those forms have been overpowered, see that they have been overpowered T hat sort o f conception is the fifth overpowering sense b ase ” It continues similarly for yellow, red, and white (Tengyur ngu pa, 308 ) 342 See I.13cd 343 See I.13cd 44 Yogacaryabhumi by Asanga 345 Bsdu ba chen mo II.43ff 47 bskal bzang las 348 zla ba snyingpos zhus p d i mdo 49 ’bum tik 350 dus bzhi gsal byed 351 T he Tibetan root text is ambiguous about whether this is singular or plural, and W angchuk Dorje com m ents on it as if it were singular T he Sanskrit, however, is specifically in the plural, and so in the root text, it is translated in the plural 352 Uddnavarga, chapt , verse 353 Nagarjunas Suhrllekha (Tib bshes p a i spring yig) 354 so so thar pa 355 This compares Namgyal D rakpa to King Bhagiratha, who is said to have brought the Ganges down to earth to purify the ashes o f his ancestors, the sixty thousand sons o f Sagara 356 This is a play on the name o f W angchuk Dorje’s master Namgyal Drakpa, whose name means “Renowned as victorious.” 357 A synonym for the sun com m on in Sanskrit and Tibetan poetry; here it is a m etaphor for the Buddha 623 ... achieving that level, the yogi attains undefiled knowings o f the level o f the path (the second dhyana), the attained level (the third dhyana), and also the lower levels such as the first dhyana,... (the level attained for the first time) (Tengyur ngu pa, 262 ) 303 In Yasomitras example, when someone on the support o f the second dhyana be­ comes detached and attains the third dhyana, the. .. dhyana, the path (the path of liberation over the ninth discard o f the second dhyana) is on the level o f the second dhyana T he level that is attained by removal of attachm ent is the third dhyana