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Amitabha Buddhist Centre Special Insight From Medium-Length Exposition of the Stages of the Path Transcript of the teachings by Khen Rinpoche Geshe Chonyi on Special Insight at Amitabha Buddhist Centre Root text: Medium-Length Exposition of the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment by Lama Tsongkhapa. Course book: Tsong-kha-pa’s Final Exposition of Wisdom, by Jeffrey Hopkins; Snow Lion Publications, 2008. For overall structure and to facilitate easy cross reference, the main headings from the course book are included in these transcripts; they are indented and in italics. Lesson 4 27 April 2019 Root text, p.27—37. General exposition of the prerequisites for special insight. Benefits of contemplating the view. Need to study all tenet systems. Summary. Q & A. Let us turn immediately to our text. We are looking at this book called Tsongkhapa’s Final Exposition of Wisdom, page 27. We begin with some outlines. 1. THE SOURCE TRADITION (P. 27) The explanation of how to train … … … through meditative cultivation. Prerequisites for special insight This section has two parts: … the view in particular. General exposition of the prerequisites for special insight Kamalashīla’s second [of three works on the] Stages of Meditation … … … the special insight realizing the mode [of being of phenomena]. (P27) The essential meaning of this passage is that it is very important for us to realize the view of emptiness. If we are able to realize the view of emptiness, then we will be able to free ourselves from cyclic existence, i.e., we will be able to attain liberation. If we fail to do that, then we will be stuck in samsara and we will not be able to liberate ourselves from cyclic existence. So, we need to realize emptiness. In order to realize emptiness, we need to rely on someone who is skilled in the view of Lesson 4 Page 1 of 14 Amitabha Buddhist Centre Special Insight From Medium-Length Exposition of the Stages of the Path emptiness as taught by the Buddha. By depending on the spiritual guide who is able to unmistakenly know the essential points of the scriptures, we then have to generate this view realizing emptiness through the wisdoms of hearing and thinking or contemplation. In that way, we will be able to settle upon this view in an unmistaken way. It is an indispensable prerequisite for us to rely on a teacher unmistakenly and to engage properly in hearing and contemplation. So, we have to know how to engage in hearing and contemplation. BENEFITS OF CONTEMPLATING THE VIEW I don’t remember if I have mentioned this before. It is said in the Buddha’s sutras that if one were to make many offerings of the seven kinds of precious jewels to the buddhas equal to the atoms of the world systems, such a person will accumulate a lot of merit. It is said that compared to such an offering, if one were to engage in hearing scriptures that teach emptiness and learn about the view of emptiness, one will create far more merit. Then compared to the merit of hearing about the view of emptiness, the merit of contemplating the view of emptiness and generating an ascertaining consciousness regarding what one has heard, the latter merit is said to be even greater. If one then engages in familiarizing oneself with and meditating on the meaning of emptiness that has been contemplated, one will create even greater merit than just contemplating the view of emptiness. So, we should bear in mind what is said in the sutras and make the effort to engage in hearing, contemplating and meditating on the texts that teach emptiness. If we are able to do that, we will be able to accumulate an infinite collection of merit. In Aryadeva’s Four Hundred Stanzas, he talks about how even generating a doubt with respect to emptiness can shake the very foundation of samsara. So, one can think about emptiness and as a result, generate doubt. We know that doubt is of three types: 1. doubt tending towards fact 2. equal doubt 3. doubt not tending towards fact According to what is stated in this stanza of Aryadeva’s text, if one generates a doubt tending towards fact, thinking, “Hmm, is emptiness like that? Maybe it is like that.” Such a thought is very, very powerful. It has the ability to shatter samsara. So, just generating a doubt tending towards fact, thinking, “Well, perhaps emptiness is like that,” is so powerful. Therefore, we should make an effort to contemplate on emptiness. In the same text by Aryadeva, he said that those with little merit will not even generate a doubt with respect to emptiness. What this means is that even to wonder about the meaning of emptiness requires a considerable amount of merit. So, if someone has no merit, this person will not even wonder about emptiness nor generate a doubt with respect to emptiness. From our side, we need to be interested in knowing about emptiness. We need to have some curiosity and we need to have some wish to learn about emptiness. On that basis, Lesson 4 Page 2 of 14 Amitabha Buddhist Centre Special Insight From Medium-Length Exposition of the Stages of the Path then we can engage in hearing explanations and reading books that explain emptiness. If we are able to do that, this is a sign that we are persons of good fortune because being able to have such interest in itself is a result of our merit. So, knowing this, we should generate joy and feel happy to be able to listen to such explanations, to contemplate and so on. This is important. If we are not able to generate this kind of joyful attitude, then hearing the explanations on emptiness can become a kind of hardship. This should not be the case. Regardless of what kind of activity we embark on, we should understand the benefits of that activity. If we understand the benefits, then we will feel enthusiastic about engaging in that activity. In our case, we should remember that just hearing these explanations of emptiness will bring a lot of merit. So, by engaging in learning and contemplation, we will be able to accumulate boundless merit as explained in the sutras I have mentioned earlier. If a person were to make offerings filling all the world systems equal to the number of particles in all these world systems, this person will accumulate infinite merit. Compared to that, the merit of engaging in hearing explanations of emptiness is far greater. This is based on the Buddha’s words. So remembering that, we should generate great enthusiasm in learning about emptiness. If you have no idea what benefits there are in engaging in studying emptiness, then you will not feel enthusiastic about doing this kind of activity. Therefore, it is important for you to bear in mind the benefits as explained by the Buddha and to have confidence and faith in his statements. In that way, you will be able to generate enthusiasm and enjoy this activity of learning about emptiness. It all depends on your attitude. If you are able to generate this motivation wanting to learn about emptiness, wanting to engage in hearing, contemplation and so forth, then starting from that motivation, every step you take enables you to create an enormous amount of merit. So, by understanding these benefits, you should understand that it is very meritorious to engage in such an activity and you should feel very fortunate to be able to do so. With that understanding, you will be able to engage in the learning of emptiness very joyously. With that, let us carry on reading the text. There are these outlines that are sometimes added to the text. These outlines are composed by Trijang Rinpoche. The need to follow any of the great trail-blazers as appropriate1 Furthermore, such a view … … … an unmistaken commentary [of Buddha’s] thought. (p.27—28) In relation to the presentation of the view, there are many scriptures. The Buddha taught interpretable meaning scriptures and also definitive meaning scriptures. Between these 1 The outlines by Trijang Rinpoche are set in bold and are in Calibri font to differentiate them from the outlines that appear in the course book itself. Lesson 4 Page 3 of 14 Amitabha Buddhist Centre Special Insight From Medium-Length Exposition of the Stages of the Path two types of scriptures, we need to mainly rely on the definitive meaning scriptures. In other words, not everything that the Buddha taught is literally acceptable. So, we may need to rely on those that are literally acceptable. We have mentioned in a previous class that there are various openers of the chariot tracks or trailblazers. For example, Asanga is the opener of the chariot tracks of the Mind Only School (Cittamatra) and Nagarjuna is the opener of the chariot tracks of the Middle Way School (Madhyamaka). Here, it is stated that we need to rely on a treatise by one of the great valid openers of the chariot tracks or chariot-way who commentated on the Buddha’s thought. In this context, we will be relying on Nagarjuna’s treatise in order to settle on the view, to hear about the teachings on emptiness and to contemplate their meaning. The need to seek the view relying on Nagarjuna's system On whom should you rely? … … … in dependence on his texts. (p. 28) It is not the case that the Buddha did not teach emptiness in his sutras so that you have to rely on somebody else.
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