The Commitments of Awakening Mind 205 (4) The master behaves in accordance with the teachings in order to be a leading [example] for disciples in their virtuous endeavors and in [their pursuit of] the Buddha’s teachings The words “other ways” [in the above root verse] indicate that one should also earnestly put into practice the twelve ways [of helping others that are included in the four means of attraction], which are opposite to the twelve contradictions to working for the welfare of others previously mentioned Advice on Safeguarding the Trainings in the Aspiring and Venturing Minds [C] Awakening mind and its training are safeguarded with mindfulness and discriminating alertness Awakening mind should be safeguarded by relying on mindfulness, discriminating alertness, and conscientiousness Mindfulness means never to forget awakening mind and always to maintain its precepts Discriminating alertness is to recognize whether or not an infraction [of the precepts] has occurred Conscientiousness means to be strict in one’s observance of proper behavior and avoidance of wrongful acts In particular, once one has formed a precious mind of awakening and is engaged in its training, one should strive to preserve, refine, and enhance both this mind and its training To preserve awakening mind so that it does not deteriorate means to abide in the essence of the aspiring and venturing minds and abide by the precepts conducive to its preservation To refine awakening mind means to abide by the precepts whereby one shuns all wrong actions and avoids nonconducive conditions To enhance the virtue [of awakening mind] means to exchange one’s own happiness for others’ suffering and to abide by the precepts conducive to virtue’s enhancement To preserve the training means to scrupulously avoid what is prohibited and practice what is advised To refine the training is to forsake inappropriate actions of body, speech, and mind—purposeless jumping, running, and moving about; excessive, harsh, or divisive words; harboring desire for material gain or fame, and attachment to sleep and mental inertia—and to cultivate peaceful, relaxed, pleasant, and considerate behavior; gentle and moderate speech; and a mind of faith and detachment To enhance the training is to develop three aspects of the training: pristine awareness, discriminative awareness, and the dedication [of merit] 206 Buddhist Ethics Furthermore, both awakening mind and its training should be diligently preserved through techniques of mental development, such as making the forty-one [prayers] to cultivate awakening mind as taught in the Pure Domain chapter of the Flower Ornament Scripture.182 As well, the following four practices should be undertaken since all aspects of the commitments of the awakening mind are encompassed by them: To give others [one’s body, wealth, and virtues, which are] the three bases for generosity, to safeguard awakening mind, to refine it, and to enhance it Accordingly, the Compendium of Trainings states183: To give away to others one’s body and belongings And all virtues throughout time, And to guard one’s awakening mind, To refine it, and enhance it It is important to understand that a beginner will be primarily concerned with safeguarding [the awakening mind]; a bodhisattva whose practice is based on appreciation,184 with refining it; those who are on the seven impure levels,185 with giving [all they have to others]; and those on the three pure levels, with expanding [the awakening mind] THE FORMATION OF ULTIMATE AWAKENING MIND [VI] The ultimate awakening mind is discussed under five headings: (1) cause, (2) essence, (3) classification, (4) ceremony, and (5) nature Cause [A] A great wave of altruistic deeds is the cause of an ultimate awakening mind The formation of a relative awakening mind serves as the general condition for the arising of an ultimate awakening mind The specific factors that determine the formation of the ultimate mind are stated by the incomparable Gampopa in the following words186: It arises from the distinguished factors of scriptures, practice, and realization Ultimate awakening mind may arise as a result of learning and pondering the scriptural teachings or realizing it as spiritual accomplishment, or both of these together It may also arise from a realization awakened in the depths of one’s heart through the blessing of a The Commitments of Awakening Mind 207 marvelous connection between oneself and a qualified teacher In all cases, however, the actual cause of ultimate awakening mind is the generation of an immense wave of altruistic deeds Essence [B] Its essence is the pristine awareness of an exalted bodhisattva’s equipoise The essence of ultimate awakening mind is pristine awareness, the direct realization of the non-conceptual nature of reality Accordingly, the incomparable physician of Dakpo states187: What is ultimate awakening mind? It is emptiness endowed with the essence of compassion, clear, unwavering, and free from fabrications of any objectifiable attributes Such pristine awareness is an awakening mind existing as the nature of the meditative equipoise of exalted bodhisattvas dwelling on the various stages of awakening It also exists as the nature of indivisible equipoise and post-equipoise at the buddha’s stage Classification [C] It may be divided into the awakening mind of the first stage, and so forth Ultimate awakening mind, being in essence emptiness, is not divisible However, there are many distinctions according to the different ways it arises: awakening mind [that has the nature of] the realization [of reality] gained on the first stage of awakening, and so forth, up to awakening mind at the stage of a buddha Ceremony [D] Some scholars assert that ultimate awakening mind can be formed in a ritual; others deny this Lord of the Teachings Jikten Sumgön and his followers believe that ultimate awakening mind can be formed in a ritual and substantiate their assertion with quotations from discourses and tantras.188 The ultimate awakening mind taught in the tantras can arise in a ceremony; therefore (they say) the one taught in the discourses can be formed in a ritual, just as the vows of personal liberation [can be assumed in a 208 Buddhist Ethics tantric as well as a non-tantric ceremony] To prove that the Secret Mantra system speaks of the formation of the ultimate awakening mind, they say that in the context of the tantras, the “creative imagination of a vajra standing on a moon,”189 though it is not called so, is well known to be referring to the formation of the ultimate awakening mind The following objection may be raised to their position: One cannot speak of the formation of the ultimate awakening mind in relation to the “creative imagination of a vajra standing on a moon” because this creative imagination, being a technique to train on the path using the aspect [of the resultant buddhahood], does not produce the actual ultimate mind of awakening, but only a facsimile of it To this objection, they reply that [if one cannot speak of formation of ultimate awakening mind just because it is not the actual awakening mind that is formed but only a facsimile,] similarly one could not speak of the formation of the commitments of the venturing awakening mind or the generation of other vows as well However, this is not the case For example, though the vows of personal liberation are ordinary when initially assumed, they later become genuine when they become imbued with renunciation Likewise, the commitments of awakening mind initially exist simply as aspects of a virtuous mind Later, when the bodhisattva actually enters the path of accumulation, the totality of mind and mental states becomes of one nature with the commitments, and, as a result, the genuine aspiring and venturing minds are formed In the same way, [the ultimate awakening mind of] the non-conceptual pristine awareness [of reality] is initially cognized through a powerful ritual Later, when the roots of virtue ripen, the continuity of such cognition evolves into a direct realization [of reality, which is ultimate awakening mind] On the basis of such reasonings, Jikten Sumgön and his followers adopted the system [of performing a ritual for formation of ultimate awakening mind] Sakya Pandita, however, presents a different perspective on this argument190: Ultimate awakening mind arises through the power of meditation, not by a ritual If it were possible [by ritual], ultimate awakening mind would be formed simply by indications, and to call that [ultimate] is not logical.191 Although it is possible that the Buddha [as cited in the Hundred Rites of Renunciation and Fulfillment192] The Commitments of Awakening Mind 209 declared “You should form the ultimate awakening mind!” this refers simply to a promise, not to a rite [for the formation of the ultimate awakening mind] The followers of the outstanding Ngari Panchen also assert that the ultimate awakening mind cannot arise in a ritual.193 These two perspectives not contradict each other The former view [that of Jikten Sumgön] asserts that the ritual produces a facsimile [of ultimate awakening mind], while the latter [that of Sakya Pandita], that a ritual cannot produce a genuine [ultimate awakening mind] However, it would be unreasonable to say that the adherents [of Sakya Pandita’s view] categorically deny the possibility of ultimate awakening mind arising in a ritual In fact, the reasons and proofs that validate the statement, “the pristine awareness of the fourth empowerment arises depending just on words,” [which these followers are bound to accept] are similar to those that would validate the statement, “ultimate awakening mind arises in a ritual.” Nature [E] Ultimate awakening mind possessed of three ultimate aspects Is the pristine awareness that directly realizes the sphere of reality What is the actual nature of ultimate awakening mind? In the Secret Mantra system, it is considered to be non-dual pristine awareness The assertions of different masters seem to indicate many levels of subtlety However, from the perspective of the Way of the Perfections, ultimate awakening mind is awakening mind possessed of three ultimate aspects: absolute dedication, subsequent achievement, and realization,194 as stated in [Maitreya’s] Scripture Ornament195: Because the perfect buddhas have been well honored, And merit and awareness have been thoroughly cultivated, Because non-conceptual pristine awareness has arisen, It is said to be ultimate Scholars [of the Universal Way] consider ultimate awakening mind to be the pristine awareness of the direct realization of the selflessness of phenomena, which is naturally present on the first stage of awakening This pristine awareness arises as a result of honoring the ... and (5) nature Cause [A] A great wave of altruistic deeds is the cause of an ultimate awakening mind The formation of a relative awakening mind serves as the general condition for the arising of. .. 208 Buddhist Ethics tantric as well as a non-tantric ceremony] To prove that the Secret Mantra system speaks of the formation of the ultimate awakening mind, they say that in the context of the. .. the formation of the commitments of the venturing awakening mind or the generation of other vows as well However, this is not the case For example, though the vows of personal liberation are ordinary