Tantric Techniques (85 page)

Supreme key unlocking the treasury

Of all the countless scriptures of the Conqueror. It is right that fortunate seekers listen.

M
ā
t
ṛ
ceta and Dign
ā
ga’s
Interwoven Praise
(
Mi
ś
rakastotra
) says: I abide in the ocean of sa
ṃ
s
ā
ra of limitless depth.

The powerful sea serpents of desire devour my body. Where will I go for refuge now?

If one is intelligent, one will go for refuge To someone utterly without fault,

Who abides in all good qualities in every way.

It is proper to praise him, honor him, and abide in his teaching.
a

This section has two parts: a general presentation of the vehicles and the divisions of the Mah
ā
y
ā
na.

General presentation of the vehicles

The Hearer Vehicle, the Solitary Realizer Vehicle, and the Mah
ā
y
ā
na are divided in this way because there are two types of disciples: [1] those who bear the lineage of seeking pacification of just the suffering of sa
ṃ
s
ā
ra—a low object of attainment—for themselves alone, their object of intention, and [2] those who bear the lineage of seeking the state of a perfect buddha—the supreme object of attainment—for the sake of all beings, their object of intention. There are also two path vehicles causing them to proceed to those states when the two types of disciples aim for their [frui-tional] vehicle in accordance with their thought. Due to [there being two types of disciples and two types of paths,] two vehicles are posited: H
ī
nay
ā
na and Mah
ā
y
ā
na. The doctrine spoken for these two disciples is also twofold: the H
ī
nay
ā
na and Mah
ā
y
ā
na scriptural collections (
pi
ṭ
aka
). Maitreya’s
Ornament for the Mah
ā
y
ā
na S
ū
tras
(
Mah
ā
y
ā
nas
ū
tr
ā
la
ṃ
k
ā
ra
XI.1) says:

a
P2041, vol. 46, 87.5.2-6.

The First Pa
ṇ
-chen Lama’s Reformulation
361

The collections of the scriptures are either three or two. For nine reasons [three] are asserted.

Due to inclusion [they are called collections].
a

There is no contradiction in dividing the vehicles into two [H
ī
nay
ā
na and Mah
ā
y
ā
na] or three. The vehicles are divided into three—Hearer Vehicle, Solitary Realizer Vehicle, and Mah
ā
y
ā
na— because among H
ī
nay
ā
na disciples, those of superior faculties [Solitary Realizers] are able and those of inferior faculties [Hearers] are unable to extend their cultivation of the path [for one hundred eons]. Also, there is a difference in the superiority and inferiority of their fruition. Although Hearers and Solitary Realizers differ in faculty and fruition, it is said in Asa
ṅ
ga’s
Actuality of the Levels
(
Bh
ū
mivastu
) that the presentation of their paths is for the most part similar. Still, there is no difference with respect to Hearer and Solitary Realizer learners’ meditation: realization of the selflessness of persons, the antidote to the conception of self that is the root of sa
ṃ
s
ā
ra. The Vaibh
āṣ
ikas, Sautr
ā
ntikas, Cittam
ā
trins, and some Madhyamakas assert that realizing the person as empty of substantial existence and self-sufficiency is the meaning of fully realizing the selflessness of the person. The three former schools assert that Hearers and Solitary Realizers do not have an object of meditation of selflessness which exceeds that. The two Hearer [H
ī
nay
ā
na] schools assert that even for Mah
ā
y
ā
nists [as described by those schools] there is no object of meditation exceeding that selflessness.

Some Sv
ā
tantrika-Madhyamakas assert three modes of realizing selflessness: [1] Hearers realize the selflessness of the person, [2] Solitary Realizers realize the emptiness of duality with respect to forms and their apprehenders, which is a negation of external objects, [3] Mah
ā
y
ā
nists realize the emptiness of true existence of all phenomena.

The [Pr
ā
sa
ṅ
gika] masters Buddhap
ā
lita,
Śā
ntideva, and Candrak
ī
rti assert that as long as one does not understand all phenomena to be empty of intrinsic nature, then a realization of the full character of the selflessness of the person has not occurred. Through realizing that the person is empty of self-sufficiency or substantial existence and empty of being a permanent, single, independent self, one is not able to abandon, even in the least, the

a
P5521, vol. 108, 8.1.6.

362
Tantric Techniques

seeds of the conception of self that is the root of sa
ṃ
s
ā
ra. This is true no matter how much one cultivates what has been realized. Therefore, they assert that all three superior beings (
ā
ryan
) necessarily either are directly realizing or have directly experienced the subtle selflessness of phenomena. Just this is the flawless thought of the protector N
ā
g
ā
rjuna. Since this is established by hundreds of reasonings, our own system is presented in this way.

[Maitreya’s
Ornament for the Realizations
(
Abhisamay
ā
la
ṃ
k
ā
ra
)] says:

Production of the aspiration to enlightenment is the wish for

Complete enlightenment for others’ welfare.

Just the training in the practices—the six perfections—after having produced the aspiration—the wish for the supreme of enlightenments for the sake of the objects of intention, all sentient beings—is the basic structure of the path of Mah
ā
y
ā
nists in general. For it is said many times in the tantra sets that those training in the Vajray
ā
na must also engage in these. The body of the general path for the followers of the Perfection Vehicle is just this.

With respect to the Perfection Vehicle, there are two types from the perspective of view: Madhyamaka and Cittam
ā
tra, but separate vehicles are not posited. The chief disciples who are the intended objects of the Perfection Vehicle have the Madhyamaka lineage, whereas those with the Cittam
ā
tra lineage are the ordinary disciples.

Although the Mah
ā
y
ā
na thus has two views—Madhyamaka and Cittam
ā
tra—whoever holds the Madhyamaka view is not necessarily a Mah
ā
y
ā
nist, because the view of Hearer and Solitary Realizer superiors is that of Madhyamaka. Therefore, the Hearers among the four schools of tenets and the Hearers in the division [of followers of the H
ī
nay
ā
na] into two—Hearers and Solitary Realizers—are similar in name but completely different in meaning. The eighteen [H
ī
nay
ā
na] schools are designated Hearers because they do not ac-cept the Mah
ā
y
ā
na as the word of the Buddha and, within accepting only the scriptural collections of Hearers as the word of the Budd-ha, propound tenets following those texts. This is so even though they might not enter the Hearer path and make effort to attain the Hearer enlightenment.

When the Mah
ā
y
ā
na is divided by way of the speed or slowness

The First Pa
ṇ
-chen Lama’s Reformulation
363

of traversing the path, there are five types: two traveling as if by ox chariot and elephant chariot, one traveling as if by the sun and moon, and two traveling as if by the magical emanations of Hearers and Solitary Realizers or of buddhas. For, the
Introduction to the Forms of Definite and Indefinite Progress S
ū
tra
(
Niyat
ā
niyatagatimudr
ā
- vat
ā
ra
) says that there are these five.