Dharma Path BCA Ch1.doc Dzogchen Khenpo Choga Rinpocheʹs Oral Explanations of Khenpo Kunpal’s Commentary on Shantidevaʹs Bodhisattvacaryavatara (Entering into the Conduct of the Bodhisattva) Notes: ʺText sectionʺ‐s refer to Khenpo Kunpalʹs commentary on the BCA. ʺBCAʺ refers to the Bodhisattvacaryavatara, by Shantideva. The text sections relating directly to the individual stanzas of the BCA, which are the subject matter of Dharma Path classes, begin on ʺText section 158ʺ below. Dzogchen Khenpo Chogaʹs Oral Explanations, starting with ʺText section 37ʺ below are explanations both of the original BCA text, and also of Khenpo Kunpalʹs own commentary on this text. For more background on these teachings, see also Dzogchen Khenpo Chogaʹs ʺIntroduction to the Dharma Pathʺ available online at the Dzogchen Lineage website at: http://www.dzogchenlineage.org/bca.html#intro These materials are copyright Andreas Kretschmar, and are subject to the terms of the copyright provisions described on his website: http://www.kunpal.com/ ============================================================================== Text section 37: This word‐by‐word commentary on the Bodhisattva‐caryavatara was written by Khenpo Kunzang Palden, also known as Khenpo Kunpal, according to the teachings he received over a six‐month period from his root guru, Dza Paltrul Rinpoche, who is here referred to as the Manjugosha‐like teacher. These precious teachings are titled Drops of Nectar. The phrase personal statement connotes that Khenpo Kunpal received in person the oral instructions, which are themselves definitive statements, directly from Paltrul Rinpoche. 1 Dharma Path BCA Ch1.doc Text sections 38‐44: In his preface Khenpo Kunpal includes his declaration of respect, his pledge to compose the commentary, and a foreword. Text sections 38‐42 cover the declaration of respect, text section 43 is the pledge to compose this commentary, and text section 44 is a short foreword. Text sections 45‐133 introduce the prefatory topics. The actual commentary begins at text section 134. In his declaration of respect, Khenpo Kunpal pays homage to his meditation deity and to the lineage of masters through whom the Buddhist teachings came down to him. This lineage begins with Buddha Shakyamuni, continuing on through the great bodhisattvas such as Maitreya, Manjugo Sha, the sixteen elders, the seven heirs to the doctrine, the great panditas and siddhas of India, the Tibetan translators, and all the great masters of the Old and New Translation Schools of Tibetan Buddhism, down to Khenpo Kunpal’s root guru, Paltrul Rinpoche. When the scholars of India and Tibet composed a treatise or a commentary they would always start out with lines of homage to their favored deity‐form of the Buddha, called the declaration of respect. The purpose of this was to invoke the blessing of the Buddha and to dispel any obstacles that might hinder their composition. ’Declaration of respect’ means ’to make respectful praises’ or ’to supplicate the objects of offering’, as well as meaning ’to offer prostrations’. Both Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism emphazise the importance of this direct link between devotion to one’s root guru, the downpour of the Buddha’s blessings, and the dawn of realization within one’s own mind‐stream. While the sutra tradition considers the guru to be similar to the Buddha, the tantric tradition considers the guru to be the actual Buddha in person. The guru is regarded as the root of blessings. If the blessings of the guru do not enter into one’s mind, the mind’s full potential can never be actualized. Respect is declared out of the intent to fully actualize the mind’s potential. If you compose a book, teach the Dharma, enter into a debate or into your private meditation, you must always begin by bringing the blessings of your gurus down upon you through a supplication which opens up your heart and mind. This will saturate your mind‐stream with blessings and so lead you to realization. Khenpo Kunpal first pays homage in Sanskrit to his chosen meditation deity, the 2 Dharma Path BCA Ch1.doc bodhisattva Manjushri, whom Khenpo Kunpal, due to his pure perception and devotion, views as identical to his root guru, Paltrul Rinpoche. ’Declaration of respect’ also has the connotation of ’declaring one’s respect to sublime objects’. ‘Sublime objects’, objects worthy of refuge, refers, in the context of a Mahayana treatise such as this book, to the three jewels: the jewel of the Buddha, the jewel of the Dharma, and the jewel of the Sangha. The Mahayana Sangha refers particularly to the bodhisattvas who dwell on the bodhisattva levels of realization, the ten bhumis. When Khenpo Kunpal says homage to the teacher Manjushri, he pays respect to Manjushri with his body, speech, and mind. In doing so, he simultaneously acknowledges the Buddha as his teacher, the Dharma as his path, and the Sangha as his companions along the path. This is possible since all three jewels are embodied within the form of the teacher Manjushri. This declaration of respect is an expression of the faith, devotion, conviction, and certainty which Khenpo Kunpal places in the Buddha Dharma, in his meditation deity, and in his sublime teacher, Paltrul Rinpoche. Declaring one’s respect before composing a treatise renders it beneficial for manifold sentient beings. If future students of the Dharma find such a treatise, they will have faith in it, as they will be able to immediately recognize it as a Buddhist textbook. The declaration will inspire their faith and trust in the treatise. If the author did not declare his respect to the Buddhas at the very beginning of his treatise, future readers might have cause to doubt its validity. A ‘declaration of respect’ is not the same thing as a ’presenting of offerings’. The ’declaration of respect’ has several purposes: to cause any possible obstacles or adversities which might arise in the course of composing the treatise to subside, as well as to enable the author to successfully complete his composition free of obstacles in the beginning, during the middle, or at the end of the writing process. Beginning the treatise with such a declaration will inspire faith and trust in the reader and will sow an important seed of liberation in the reader’s mind‐stream. Text section 38: Namo means ’homage’ in the Sanskrit language. Guru means ’master’ or ’teacher’. Manjushri is the name of the bodhisattva who particularly embodies the 274 Khenpo Choga’s Oral Explanations quality of knowledge and wisdom. Jnana means wisdom’ or ’pristine cognition’, and sattva means ‘being’. 3 Dharma Path BCA Ch1.doc Khenpo Kunpal next declares his respect in verses to the lineage masters through whom the Buddhist teachings in general, and the explanations of the Bodhisattvacaryavatara in particular, came down to him. Text section 39: Buddha Shakyamuni, here saluted as the Lion of the Shakyas, is the root or source of the lineage. In our present cycle of time known as the Fortunate Aeon, it is said that one thousand Buddhas will appear. Buddha Shakyamuni is the fourth Buddha among these and is, therefore, called the ’Fourth Guide’ Hinayana and Mahayana cosmology both teach that myriads of world systems1268 develop over immeasurable time‐spans and that they follow periodic cycles of evolution and degeneration. The time‐span it takes for one world system to develop, abide, be destroyed, and then to remain in a state of emptiness after its destruction is what is known as ’one great aeon’, or ’one great kalpa’ in Sanskrit. These four stages of ‘one great aeon’ are also each individually regarded as aeons: the ’aeon of development’, the ’aeon of abiding’, the ’aeon of destruction’, and the ’aeon of emptiness’. The duration of each of these four aeons is further broken down into twenty ’intermediate cycles’. Consequently, ’one great aeon’ consists of eighty intermediate cycles’. The twenty intermediate cycles of an aeon of abiding unfold according to three phases: the initial phase, the intermediate phase, and the final phase. The initial phase: At the beginning, human life is measureless. The succession of birth within an aeon of abiding begins with birth as a god of ’Clear Light’. Here, in Buddhist cosmology, the arrival at a human birth in our world comes about through a process of involution, through a degeneration from the superior state of birth in the realm of the gods. Slowly, due to craving, the stature of beings begins to deteriorate as their lifespan decreases from being measureless to being eighty thousand years until it is gradually reduced to a mere ten years. This process of degeneration finally concludes with three periods of famine, plague, and war. Specifically, when the lifespan of beings is thirty years, they will experience a period of famine lasting for seven years, seven months and seven days. When the lifespan of beings is twenty years, there will be a period of plague lasting seven 4 Dharma Path BCA Ch1.doc months and seven days. Finally, when the lifespan of beings has degenerated to a mere ten years, beings will experience a period of weapons and war lasting seven days. This entire sequence during which the lifespan of beings gradually decreases from measureless time down to a mere ten years is termed ’the initial lengthy decline’, and is counted as ’one intermediate cycle’ . The intermediate phase: The intermediate phase consists of ’the eighteen cycles of ascent and decline’, also known as ’the eighteen intermediate cycles’. In this context, ’one intermediate cycle’ refers to the phases of both ascent and decline. In other words, one ‘intermediate cycle’ is the time required for the lifespan of beings to rise from ten years all the way up to eighty thousand years, and then to decline from eighty thousand years all the way back down to ten years.