GENERAL
INTRODUCTION
Classifications
of Buddha Dharma Teachings
By
way of very general introduction, when we speak of the Buddha Dharma we are
speaking of what are traditionally said to be the 84,000 collections of
teachings that the Buddha Shakyamuni transmitted in the holy country of India.
To speak of these in a more concise way, we very often speak of the Three
Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma, because the Buddha Shakyamuni first turned the
Wheel of the Dharma of the Four Noble Truths in Varanasi, secondly Turned the
Wheel of the Perfection of Transcendent Knowledge, the Prajnaparamita teachings,
at Vulture Peak near Rajagrha, and thirdly Turned the Wheel of the Dharma that
dealt with Definitive Ultimate Truth in a very precise way in Vaisali and other
places around the northern part of the Indian sub-continent. When we speak of
the scriptures associated with the Buddhist teachings, we hear reference to the
Tripitaka, the three baskets or collections of the teachings, and these are the
Vinaya or ethical codes, the Sutras, and the Abhidharma, or the teachings on
metaphysics and psychology. In the case of the Vajrayana we have a fourth
collection, that of the Tantras. This, from the general scriptural point of
view, is the breadth of the Buddhist teachings that will be presented here. If
we were to further classify and categorize these 84,000 collections of teachings
in a concise way, we could distinguish between the Sutra approach and the Tantra
approach. In the Sutra approach there are, on the one hand, the more obscure
teachings, those that are not completely evident, which are presented in such a
way that much of the meaning is concealed; on the other hand, there are Sutra
teachings concerning emptiness, which deal quite forthrightly with the nature of
reality as a state of emptiness.
Origins
of the Prajnaparamita Texts
Teachings
on emptiness are primarily derived from the middle turning of the Wheel of
Dharma. It at the peak known as Vulture Peak, near Rajagrha, in India, when the
Buddha was turning the Wheel of the Prajnaparamita (the "Perfection of
Wisdom") that he presented the teachings dealing with emptiness. When these
teachings were actually expounded by the Buddha, he taught seventeen primary and
secondary Sutras of Prajnaparamita, the Perfection of Wisdom. But, on that
occasion, not only were human beings present, but also present were Devas (or
Gods) of Samsara, Nagas, and other powerful beings from other realms who
received these teachings and took them back to their own regions, so that some
of the Sutras that the Buddha presented on this occasion did not spread in the
human realm, although there is a record in our literature of them having been
transmitted. For example, the Sutra in 10 Million Verses was taken by the Devas
to their realm, the Sutra in 2 Million Verses was taken to the realm of the
Gandarvas, and the Sutra in 100-Thousand verses was taken to the realm of the
Nagas. When we speak of these Sutras being taken, it simply indicates that these
beings had total recall. It was as though they made a tape recording of the
Buddha speaking. They could simply go back to their realms with all of the
teachings that the Buddha had given in their memories. It's not as though a book
was there and was taken, but that the teachings themselves, as they were given,
were completely remembered by these beings when they returned to their realms.
However, these teachings did not spread in the human realm on that occasion.
Nagarjuna
In
the teachings of the Mahayana tradition of Buddhism, there is an account of the
Buddha, before he passed into Nirvana, issuing a prophecy that some years
following his passing into Nirvana there would appear an extraordinary teacher
who would bear the name of the Nagas in his name, and who would re-vivify the
teachings of the Prajnaparamita, establish the unsurpassable view of the
Perfection of Wisdom, and thus establish circumstances for enormous benefit to
the teachings and to beings. This is widely held to be a prophecy of the coming
of Nagarjuna, the great Buddhist master who did so much too further spread the
teachings of the Prajnaparamita. Following the passing of the Buddha into
Nirvana, the early history of Buddhism in India was based upon the teachings of
the Hinayana, so the earliest schools of Buddhist philosophy and practice in
India were Hinayana schools. At that point, the Mahayana did not exist as its
own tradition in India. But at a certain point, more than a hundred years after
the passing of the Buddha into Nirvana, there appeared in the south of India an
individual who grew up to become the great master Nagarjuna. This is not to say
that the Mahayana teachings were extinct or absent before this, but there was
not an integrated tradition of what we would call Mahayana Buddhism. When
Nagarjuna grew up and began to study the Dharma, he was fortunate to come into
contact with such great masters as the Siddha Saraha, who introduced him to the
teachings of the Mahayana. Through his practice, Nagarjuna achieved a state of
deathlessness. His name Nagarjuna means "one who has conquered, tamed, and
gained mastery over the Nagas". So one aspect of his spiritual attainment
was his ability to control the Naga spirits. Because of his mastery over these
Naga spirits, Nagarjuna was invited by the Nagas to visit their realm. Knowing
through his spiritual practice that the Sutra in 100 Thousand Verses was present
in their realm, Nagarjuna made the journey. His specific purpose in journeying
to that realm was to recover the Sutra in 100,000 Verses, because he realized
that the absence of this Sutra in the human realm was a great loss. When
Nagarjuna was preparing to return from the Naga to the human realm, the Naga
spirits offered him great wealth, the Nagas being extraordinarily wealthy, but
Nagarjuna refused all of their offers of material wealth. He said that the only
suitable offering was the Sutra in 100,000 Verses. So the Sutra was offered to
him, and he returned to the human realm with this teaching. But when the Sutra
was offered to Nagarjuna, it was offered in an incomplete version. The Nagas
offered him twelve volumes containing the bulk of the Sutra in 100,000 Verses,
but they held back a portion of the text because they were afraid that, if they
gave Nagarjuna the entire text, he'd never return to the Naga realm. So what
came back to the human realm was in fact an incomplete version. The original
text that Nagarjuna brought back from the Naga realm was written in Sanskrit,
which is considered to be the language of the Gods, the language of the Devas.
There are extant manuscripts of this Sutra in 100,000 Verses. In one of the
libraries in Nepal, for example, there is a manuscript of this text in Sanskrit.
The
Mulamadhyamakakarika
When
Nagarjuna brought this text back to the human realm, he realized that the volume
of the material was so great that people would not be able to absorb all of it
because they had short lives, little merit, and very little time to study. So he
composed his famous commentaries which are more concise and were based upon the
Prajnaparamita. Perhaps the most famous of these is the Mulamadhyamakakarika,
"Root Verses on the Middle Way Philosophy", which is one of six major
commentaries written by Nagarjuna, each of which was famous for its concise
presentation of the view of the Madyamika or "Middle Way" philosophy
that emptiness is the true nature of reality.
Aryadeva
Nagarjuna
also trained students who carried on his tradition of teaching by writing
commentaries on their master's original commentaries. Aryadeva, who was the
student of Nagarjuna who wrote most upon the subject of meditation, wrote a text
called the Catuhsataka or the "400 Verses", which is a direct
commentary on the "Root Verses of the Middle Way" that Nagarjuna
wrote. In the presentation of emptiness in Aryadeva's text, the Catuhsataka or
the "400 Verses", the emphasis is on meditation upon emptiness, upon
the direct experience of emptiness through practice.
Shantideva
Among
those who followed the tradition of Nagarjuna were those who commented primarily
upon conduct, upon how the Bodhisattva conducts him or herself in the pursuit of
enlightenment. Perhaps the most famous student of this type was the great
Shantideva, who lived and taught at the monastery and the University of Nalanda,
and whose life was marked by seven utterly miraculous events. The most famous
text that Shantideva wrote is the Bodhicharyavatara "The Entry into The
Path of the Bodhisattva" or "Entry into The Conduct of the
Bodhisattva. The primary emphasis in Shantideva's text is upon conduct, upon
what kind of ethical choices the Bodhisattva should make: what to avoid and what
to encourage in his or her actions.
Chandrakirti
It
was a student of a student of Nagarjuna's, the great master Chandrakirti, who
wrote a text called the Madyamikavattara, "The Entrance Into the Middle
Way", which is held to be perhaps the finest example of a text that
comments upon view, meditation, and conduct simultaneously, without emphasizing
any one of these. In all of Chandrakirti's discussions there is a very analysis
of the different paths of the Mahayana, the Five Paths of the Mahayana and the
ten levels of Bodhisattva realization, the Ten Bhumi.
Shantarakshita
Yet
another master in the tradition of Nagarjuna was Shantarakshita who wrote a text
called the Umagen (Sanskrit Madhyamakalankarakarika), "The Ornament of The
Middle Way", which concisely details the teachings on view, meditation, and
conduct from the point of view of the understanding and direct experience of
emptiness.
Transmission
to Tibet
These
are the teachers and commentaries that are derived from the Indian tradition of
Buddhism, from the original tradition as it developed in India. These
commentaries were translated from the original Indian languages into Tibetan and
form part of the large collection known as the Tanjur, which contains more than
200 volumes. In fact, the number of Indian commentaries extant in Tibetan
translation represent perhaps 25% of what was available in Buddhist India. There
was such a wealth of material that not all of it could be translated. The
particular text that I will be teaching is written by a Tibetan; however, it is
a text by a great master of the Tibetan tradition of Buddhism. There is no
comparable collection to the Tanjur for the Tibetan commentaries. Any collection
that might be attempted would be much larger than the Tanjur. The Tibetans were
so prolific in writing commentaries on the subjects contained within the Tanjur
that nobody has ever attempted to put every writing from the Tibetan traditions
together in a single collection.
The
Four Main Indian Buddhist Schools
In
the development of Buddhist philosophy in India, four major schools of
philosophy historically have come to be recognized. The first of these is known
as the Vaibashika school, which literally means "the analyst", those
who analyze things in detail. The second is known as the Sautantrika, which
means "those who follow the Sutras". The third is the Cittamatra, or
Yogacara school, which literally means the "mind-only" school. And the
fourth is the Madhayamika or "Middle Way" school of philosophy. When
you hear discussions of Buddhist philosophical schools, these four tend to be
mentioned.
The
Four Main Tibetan Buddhist Schools
In
the case of the Tibetan tradition of Buddhism, the earliest school of thought
established in Tibet is the one that we know as the Nyingma, "the early
translation" or "ancient school". Then, in chronological order,
the Sakya school, the Kagyu school, and the Gelugpa school developed. Again, if
we were to try to count, or assess, the number of commentaries written by the
masters of these four schools of Tibetan Buddhism on Madhayamika, on emptiness,
all we can say is that there are a lot. Nobody's ever sat down and actually
figured out how many, but there are an enormous number of commentaries. In ratio
to the amount of commentary about the Middle Way philosophy of emptiness, there
was a profusion of controversy among the various schools of thought as to who
had the right view, who had the correct interpretation, and so-forth. There has
been quite a history of spirited controversy and debate in Tibet.