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The Four Tenets The Introduction of The Ornament for Clear Realizations The Fourand Tenets Bodhichitta Dharma Friends of Israel Retreat Booklet of Israel GesheRetreat Kelsang Booklet Wangmoעמותת ידידי Friends הדהרמהDharma חוברת Wangmo מלווה Kelsang לריטריטGeshe עמותת ידידי הדהרמה Selfish חוברתHow to Be Wiselyמלווה לריטריט www.dharma.org.il www.dharma.org.il Handout for the course The BuddhistTuval Philosophy22-24.11.2012 program: Offered as part of Study of Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom) Kibbutz Ye'hiam, 4-7 December, 2013 ידידי הדהרמה של ישראל Dharma Friends of Israel ידידי ידידי הדהרמה של הדהרמהישראל DharmaDharma Friends ofFriends Israel of Israel THE INTRODUCTION OF THE ORNAMENT FOR CLEAR REALIZATIONS AND BODHICITTA Ornament for Clear Realizations The following handout presents the introductory verses of Maitreya's andPrajnaparamita the first topic of its Pharchinfirst chapter, on Bodhicitta. These presentations are part of the study of (Tib.: THE THREE). WHEELS OF DHARMA WheelAfter the of DharmBuddhaa attained enlightenment, he spent the remaining 45 years of his life travelling across the Indian subcontinent turning the , i.e. explaining and disseminating what he had come to realize. There are 84,000 collections of discourses taught by the Buddha according to the diverse dispositions, inclinations and interests of his disciples. Three Wheels of DharmaAmong the. different ways in which those teachings are classified, one of the most common is the classification into the The convention of the three wheels is an attempt to categorize the content and philosophical views of the large array of Buddhist teachings and there are different ways in which to classify the discourses into three wheels. One is from the point of view of time. The time from the Buddha's enlightenment until his passing away can be divided into three periods. The teachings the Buddha gave during the initial period fall into the category of the first wheel, the teachings he gave during the intermediate period fall into the category of the second wheel, and the teachingsSutra he gave on theduri Fourng the Noblelater period Truths fall intoCatvari the category aryasatyani of the sutra third wheel.'phags An example pa'i bden of pa a bzhi'idiscourse mdo that pertains to the first wheel is the (Skt. Tib.: ) that the Buddha gave in the Sarnath deer park near Varanasi to his first five disciples, shortly after his enlightenment. Another example is the teaching in which the Buddha explains to the 3 1 sham thabs first five disciplesMinor Teachings that the [oflower the partVinaya] of the monasticlung phran robes tshegs (Tib.: ) shouldFour be worn Texts in on a circularthe Vinaya fashio n. This'dul badiscourse lung sde is bzhifrom the (Tib.: ), which is one of the (Tib.: Perfec) taughttion of byWisdom the Buddha. Sutras Examples of discourses that pertain to the second wheel are the Sutra on the Essence ofgiven the onTathagata Vulture Peak Mountain in TathagathagarbhaRajghir. And examples Sutra of teachings de bzhin that gshegs pertain pa’i to thesnying third po’i wheel mdo are the Condensed Vinaya 'dul ba mdor (bsdusSkt.: Condensed Vinaya , Tib.: Minor Teachings [of the) Vinaya].and the (Tib.: ). The is also one of the discourses from the Another way to classify the Buddha's teachings into three wheels Sutra is Unravelingfrom the point the ofThought view the subjectSamdhinirmocana-matter, or more sutra precisely,dgongs from pa ngesthe point par ‘grel of view ba’i of mdo teaching selflessness. It derives from the (Skt. , Tib.: ) and does not include all the discourses. For instance, it does not include the teaching in which the Buddha explains that the lower part of the monastic robes should be worn in a circular fashion. Sutra Unraveling the Thought The threefirst wwheelsheel according to the are: SutraThe first on thewh eelFour constitutes Noble Truths HinayanaCatvari (Theravada/Fund aryasatyaniamental sutra 'pVehicle)hags pa'i teachings bden pa and bzhi'i refers mdo to the Buddha's first discourse, the Sutra (Skt.on the Four Noble Truths , Tib.: ). In the first wheel, i.e. the , the Buddha not only sets forth the four noble truths but also literally teaches that the five aggregates, the eighteen constituents, the twelve sense- spheres, the thirty-seven harmonies of enlightenment, and so forth existSutra truly. on the Four Noble Truths However, it is important to understand that the principal disciples of the are Hinayana practitioners who are followers of the Vaibashika (Great Exposition School), Sautrantika (Sutra School), and Prasangika Madhyamika (Middle Way Consequentialist School). The Buddha teaches true existence in 4 2 this sutra only to Hinayana practitioners who are proponents lack of the Vaibashika and Sautrantika. To Hinayana practitioners who are followers of the Prasangika Madhyamika he teaches the of true existence. Sutras thatSutra teach of the related Close subject Placement matter of Mindfulness and therefore on thepertain Sacred to the categoryDharmas of the firstSaddharma wheel are: smrtyupashthana sutra dam pa’i 1. chosThe dran pa nyer bzhag gi mdo Hundreds (Skt. of Kar: mic Deeds Karmashataka Sutra, Tib.: las brgya pa ) 2. Hundreds of Accounts of Realizations (Skt.: Avadanashataka, Tib.: Sutras ) rTogs brjod brgya pa 3. Scriptural Texts of the Rules of Discipline (Skt.: Vinayagama 'dul, Tib.: ba’i lung shes che ba ) 4. The (Skt.: , Tib.: ). Even though these four sutras pertain to the first wheel, they are not referredThe second to as w theheel first wheel. Perfection of Wisdom Sutras The second wheel constitutes Mahayana (Universal Vehicle) teachings and refers to the . They explicitly teach the ultimate truth, that is, the lack of true existence, and implicitly the meditational paths that lead to full enlightenment. Since they teach related subject matter, the following sutras pertain to the categoryDescent of in theto Lanka second Sutra wheel (thoughLankavatara they are Sutra not referred lang to as thekar second gshegs wheel) pa’i mdo: 1. The King of Concentration Sutra (Skt.: Samadhiraja , Tib.: ting nge ‘dzin rgyal po’i), mdo 2. The Sutra of the Ten Bhumis (Skt.Dashabhumika: SutraSutra, Tib.: mdo sde sa bcu pa ), 3. The Sutra on the Essence of the (Sk Tathagatat.: , Tib.: Tathagathagarbha), Sutra de bzhin gshegs pa’i snying po’i 4. mdoThe (Skt.: Sutra Requested by the, Tib.: Arya Shrimala Aryashrimala Pariprccha), Sutra 'phags pa dpal 'phreng gi mdo 5. The (Skt.: , Tib.: ), 5 3 Sutra of the Ornament for the Illumination of Exalted Wisdom Ye shes snang ba’i rgyan gyi mdo Jnanaloka Alamkara 6. SutraThe ( Sutra of the Great Final Nirvana, Skt.Mya ngan las ‘das pa chen po'i mdo), Mahaparinirvana Sutra 7. The Sutra of the Question of Dharanishvararaja ( gZungs kyi dbang phyug, Skt. rgyal pos zhus pa ) 8. DharanishvararajapariprcchaThe ( , Skt. The third wheel ) Sutra Unravelling the Thought The thirdQuestions wheel isby also Paramartha from the Samudgatapoint of view of theParamartha Mahayana and Samudgatarefers to the Pariprccha seventh chapter, don of th dame yang dag ‘phags kyis zhus pa, called (Skt.: Tib.: ). In the seventh chapter of this sutra, the Bodhisattva Paramartha Samudgata asks the Buddha what he had in mind when during the first wheel he said that the five aggregates, etc. exist truly and during the second wheel that they do not, for if taken literally, these two statements appear to be contradictory. Since the Buddha was aware that the principal disciples present at the time of Paramartha Samudgata's question were suitable vessels for the Chittamatra (Mind-Only) tenets, he replied by explaining that phenomena can be divided into those phenomena that exist truly and those that do not. With this explanation the Buddha presented the philosophical system of the Chittamatra, whose proponents assert that impermanent phenomena and emptiness exist truly, whereas permanent phenomena other than emptinessSutra Unravelling do not. the Thought The remaining nine chapters of the pertain to the category of the third wheel (but are not referred to as the third wheel). Sutra Unravelling the Thought Please note that the has ten chapters containing questions put by nine Bodhisattvas and one Hearer (Subhuti). In the first chapter a Bodhisattva replies, whereas in the remaining chapters the reply is given by the Buddha. The Sutra was Sutra on the Essence of the Tathagata taught in Vaishali. Tathagathagarbha Sutra de bzhin gshegs pa’i snying po’i mdo Even though the (Skt.: , Tib.: ) is described as pertaining to the category of the second wheel, 6 4 according to the categorization of the teachings of the Buddha into three wheelPerfections from the of Wisdom point of Sutrasview of time, itSutra pertains of the to Essencethe third of thewheel Tathagata. Perfection of Wisdom SutrasBoth the and the present Buddha nature. In the (the second wheel) the Buddha describes mainly the objectiveSutra Buddha of the NatureEssence - ofalso the cal Tathagataled the objective clear light - which refers to the ultimate truth of emptiness. On the other hand, in the (from the third turning of the wheel of Dharma) the Buddha additionally teaches about the subjective Buddha Nature (the clear light nature of the mind). This sutra is therefore regarded as a bridge between the Sutric and the Tantric teachings. This concludes a brief description of the three wheels. Perfection of Wisdom Sutras Of the three wheels, the teachings of the second wheel, the , are the principal genre of teachings relied upon for the study of Buddhist philosophy according to the Nalanda tradition of Buddhism. These sutras flourish in many countries, including China - from where they were taken to Japan, Korea and Vietnam - and Tibet, from where they were transmitted to Mongolia, the trans-Himalayan region Perfection and areas of withinWisdom the Sutras Russian Federation. The are also called 'Sutras of the Sublime Mother'. Here, 'Sublime Mother' refers to Prajna-Paramita, the female Buddha figure that represents the wisdom. Wisdom is called 'Sublime Mother' because like a mother gives birth to her children, the wisdom gives birth to all Arya beings (i.e.
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