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THE FOUR IMMEASURABLES, PART II with B. Alan Wallace Reading for Lesson 8 1. Excerpt from History of the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism by H. H. Dudjom Rinpoche Jikdrel Yeshe Dorje 1 The Superiority of Secret Mantra [131bA-143a.6] This [vehicle] which makes the result into the path is superior to the vehicle of the transcendental perfections234 which makes the cause into the path. There are adherents of the dialectical vehicle who object that, "When you proponents of the way of secret mantra make the result your path, it must either be a mature [result] which is made into the path, or an immature result which is made into the path. In the first case, this would lead to infinite regress because even after maturation, [the result] would be made into the path. You have accepted this logical entailment and it is proven that [the present instance] must be included therein, just as, for example, last year's fruit becomes the present's seed. So if this view is held, it is implied that the way of secret mantra is itself a long path. In the second case, it is not the result which is made into the path because this is immature. If this view were held, your own assertion would be refuted, and it is consistently proven that anything immature is not a conclusive result; witness for example a shoot and a stem." If this argument were raised, the reply would be that, from the standpoint of being, the genuine essence which is to be obtained abides intrinsically, and yet, because it is not understood from the standpoint of realisation, it is merely the means of realising it which is said to be made into the path. As it is said in the Sequence of the Path: In this way, the pristine cognition Which intrinsically abides Is the essence of all the paths and results. In order that the connection with it may be purified, The supreme means which make it manifest emerge intrinsically. If it is said that when the intrinsically abiding result is manifested by the path, it must either have been produced on the basis of a previous result or not, then with reference to the essence, there is nothing to be produced. This is just as when a prince who wanders among the 244 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofSecret Mantra populace is recognised as a prince his status does not essentially improve. Yet with reference to the manifest clarity [of the essence], it has been produced, just as when [the identity of] the prince has been confirmed he can hold sway over the populace. This vehicle of secret mantra should be known as such. It says in the Heruka Galpo: Through the causal vehicle of dialectics Mind-as-such is perceived as the cause of buddhahood. Through the resultant vehicle of mantras Mind-as-such is meditated upon as buddhahood. So, too, one should know well the tendency Of any cause or result. Therefore, in the vehicle of dialectics mind-as-such is merely perceived as the causal basis of buddhahood. Since it is held that buddhahood is obtained under the condition whereby the two provisions increasingly mUltiply, and since the purifying doctrines which form the causal basis of nirvaQa are made into the path, it is called the causal vehicle (rgyu'i theg-pa). Therein, a sequence in which cause precedes result is admitted. According to the vehicle of mantras, on the other hand, mind-as-such abides primordially and intrinsically as the essence of the result, iden- tified in the buddha-bodies and pristine cognitions. Mind-as-such is thereby established as the ground which exists within oneself from the present moment as the object to be attained. It is then established as the path through its functions of bringing about recognition and remov- ing the provisional stains which suddenly arise by means of inducing the perception of just what is, and it is established as the result through its function of actualising this very ground. Since a sequence in which cause precedes result is not really distinguished therein, it is called the resultant vehicle ('bras-bu'i theg-pa) and the vehicle of indestructible reality (rdo-rje theg-pa). It is said in the Secret Nucleus (Ch.12, v.14): From any of the four times and ten directions The perfect Buddha will not be found. Mind-as-such is the perfect Buddha. Do not search for the Buddha elsewhere. And (Ch.13, v.19): The result, definitive and most secret, Has been turned into the path. And also (Ch.9, v.29): This wondrous, marvellous, amazing reality Does not come into existence from elsewhere. But it emerges in those dispositions Which have the nature of discriminative awareness, Steadfast in skilful means. Superiority ofSecret Mantra 245 Then, in the Tantra of the Extensive Magical Net it is said: Since cause and result are primordially without sequence, When the result has been turned into the path, They are simultaneously united. Similarly, with reference to the outer tantras, the Sequence of the Path says: Through discriminative awareness And all branches of ritual According to the tradition of Kriyatantra, The Sugata made the result into the path. And with reference to the inner tantras, the same text says accordingly: Other than this there is nothing to be obtained. When everything indeed has been ripened, There is nothing to be reached. This reality is the essence of the path. Our predecessors, too, have claimed that there exists a distinction be- tween [the resultant vehicle] which can make the relative appearances into the path and [the causal vehicle] which cannot. Through the tran- scendental perfections, the ultimate reality is to be attained a~d the relative appearances are to be renounced, but through the mantras relative appearances are also made into the path without being re- nounced, since sameness with respect to all things is experienced. Therefore, the mantra vehicles are superior because they do not fall into biased tendencies with respect to the two truths. The Sequence of the Path says: Within the unsurpassed vehicle, there are those Holding ultimate reality to be indivisible And relative appearances to include everything, Both the pure and the impure. The great vehicle of skilful means, however, Does not divide even relative appearances According to purity and suffering. The higher and lower views are just SO.235 According to this system [i.e. the vehicle of skilful means] also, the result is made into the path because the essence of the result, in which all things are indivisible, is regarded as the buddha-body of reality in which appearances and emptiness are coalesced, and experienced by skilful means. It says in the Tantra of the Extensive Magical Net: 246 Fundamentals: Vehicles ofSecret Mantra In the nature of appearances, Including the animate and inanimate world, There is no inherent essence. This itself is the great body of reality. The way of secret mantra is verbally defined as that which makes the result into the path and as the vehicle of indestructible reality because, through the outer mantras, one meditates with reference to the body, speech and mind of the deity and, according to the inner mantras, all things are realised and then experienced as the natural expression of the maQ.~alas of buddha-body, speech and mind. The Miraculous Key to the Storehouse says: Concerning the resultant vehicle of indestructible reality: When the maQ.~ala of the seals236 has been made into the path, The result itself is then carried on the path. One's own body, speech and mind Are united in the indestructible reality of Buddha-body, speech and mind. Such is indicative of the vehicle of indestructible reality. Yet [the way of secret mantra] also has other distinctive features, as it is said in the Lamp of the Three Modes (Nayatrayapradfpa, T 3707): Though they are identical in purpose, The vehicle of the mantras is superior; For it is unobscured and endowed with many means, It is without difficulty And refers to those of highest acumen. Although both the causal and resultant phases of the greater vehicle are identical in their purpose of seeking enlightenment with the aim of benefitting sentient beings, the mantras are superior through four dis- tinctive features. [First,] they are unobscured in the area of skilful means which includes meditation on the deity and the recitation of mantras. [Second,] they are manifold because there are limitless ap- proaches among the tantrapitaka, beginning with the Kriyatantra and Caryatantra, which correspond to the degrees of acumen [in those who require training], without being confined to a single methodical ap- proach. [Third,] they are without difficulty because they are easily accomplished without requiring that three "countless" aeons and the lik~ be arduously passed as in the causal path. [Fourth,] they are taught with an intention directed towards those of highest acumen who actually require training through the vehicle of these very mantras. So the mantras are superior in these four ways. Superiority ofSecret Mantra 247 Moreover, if a somewhat detailed explanation is given according to the intention of the uncommon, inner tantras in this [Nyingma tradi- tion]; When the profound and vast abiding nature of inconceivable reality237 is appraised according to the dialectical vehicle, ultimate truth is established through the valid cognition of inference by means of perceptive judgements made according to logical syllogisms, and so is an intellectually created ground. Tranquillity is then secured by means of efforts directed to the birth of intellectual certainty, and it is the ideas and scrutiny in relation to that [ground] which are merely labelled as higher insight.
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