The Tree of Enlightenment
An Introduction to the Major Traditions of Buddhism
by Peter Della Santina
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Part Two
The Mahayana
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Chapter Twenty-One
Mahayana Buddhism in Practice
We have looked at the origins of the Mahayana tradition and at three
representative
sutras that belong to the formative period of its canonical literature.
We have also looked
at the development of Mahayana exegetical thought, at the doctrine of
emptiness, at the
central importance of mind in the Buddhist tradition, and, in so doing,
at the philosophies
of the Middle Way and Mind Only schools. Finally, we have discussed the
subsequent
syncretic development of Mahayana philosophy. Having done all this, it
is important to
devote some time to the practice of the Mahayana path. The Mahayana is
not only a
highly developed and profound philosophy and psychology, it is also an
accessible,
dynamic vehicle for the achievement of Buddhahood. Although religious
and
philosophical developments may be its backbone, the Mahayana is also a
very attractive
and vibrant path to many people in different cultures throughout Asia
and in parts of the
Western world.
It is said that the Mahayana path begins with the awakening of the
enlightenment thought
(bodhichitta). But even before the awakening of bodhichitta, there are
certain important
preliminaries that need to be cultivated if one is to embark on the
path to
Buddhahood. As
we examine briefly these preliminary practices, it
will become clear
that the Mahayana is
not a path different from or
independent of the Buddhist path as a
whole. Rather, it is an
enhancement of the Buddhist path in general.
The first of the preliminary practices is the cultivation of faith,
or
confidence. Like a seed,
faith is said to precede all things. Faith
is like a treasure because
one can call on it when
in need; it is also
said to be like hands and feet because it is a
means of getting what
one
wants. Hence the cultivation of faith is the beginning of the
Mahayana
path. In this
context, we can divide faith into three
levels: (1) clear faith, which
consists of a clear
appreciation of the
qualities of the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha; (2)
aspiring faith,
which means that, having developed a clear appreciation of the
qualities of the Triple
Gem, one aspires to achieve these qualities
for oneself; and (3)
confident faith, which
means that, once clear
faith and aspiring faith have been firmly
established, one's faith
gradually becomes unshakable. Through these three levels of
faith--from
appreciation to
aspiration to confident certainty--one's
faith is developed to a point
where its progress
and effects are
irreversible.
The cultivation of faith is combined with the taking of refuge.
The
path to enlightenment
and Buddhahood is a long one, on
which the obstacles are many and our
own deficiencies
numerous,
so it is necessary to have a support, a stabilizing
influence. This
support is
provided by the practice of taking refuge. Through the
act of taking
refuge, we acquire a
guide, a path, and a community,
all of which contribute to our progress
on the path.
The cultivation
of faith and taking of refuge are followed by
contemplation of the
precious nature of the human form, that is, of the rare
circumstances
of human birth and
opportunity to practice the
Dharma. Nagarjuna said that one who uses a
jewel-adorned
golden vessel for vomit and spittle is surely foolish; similarly
foolish
is one who uses the
precious human form for the practice of
unwholesome acts. If we
consider the causes of
human birth, the
rarity of human birth, and the difficulty of securing
a situation in
which
we are able to practice the Dharma, then surely, having
secured all the
opportune
conditions, we must practice the Dharma
quickly. To motivate ourselves
to do so, and to
take up all the
practices that will eventually culminate in the
attainment of
Buddhahood,
we contemplate the rarity and precious nature of the
human form and of
conditions
conducive to practice of the
Dharma.
This contemplation is followed by meditation on death and
impermanence.
This
meditation is an incentive to practice; it is also
a key to
understanding the ultimate truth.
Just as the cultivation of
faith and the taking of refuge complement
each other, so
contemplation of the precious nature of the human form and
meditation
on death and
impermanence are complementary.
These contemplations are followed by careful consideration of
the truth
of the
universality of suffering in the six realms,
accompanied by
contemplation of the law of
karma.
The preliminary practices are meant to transform one's
attitudes to
such an extent that
one is ready to begin practicing the
Mahayana path. The result of the
preliminary
practices is twofold:
(1) enthusiasm for an elevated and exalted goal,
the goal of
Buddhahood; and (2) disengagement from, or renunciation of, all
attachment to the things
of this life and to the cycle of samsara as a
whole. At this point, as
Shantideva said in his
Introduction to the
Way of the Bodhisattva (Bodhicharyavatara), one is
ready to expel
attachment to the world the same way one would cough up spittle.
The Mahayana path only begins when disengagement from the world has
been achieved
with conviction. This is why it is a mistake
to regard the Mahayana as
intrinsically more
worldly than, say, the
Theravada path. When renunciation has thus been
achieved, we
come to the beginning of the path per se, which is the awakening of
the
enlightenment
thought praised by all Mahayana masters. In away, as we shall see,
this awakening of
bodhichitta is also the end
of the Mahayana path.
The enlightenment thought is awakened through cultivation of
great love
and great
compassion. Great love and great compassion
are the altruistic wish
that all sentient
beings be happy and free from
suffering. Love and compassion follow
upon
understanding the
equality of all sentient beings. This awareness of
the sameness of all
that lives is the great universality of the Mahayana tradition and of
Buddhism as a whole.
Each and every living being is alike in
wanting happiness and fearing
suffering.
This awareness of the equality of all living beings is not only
the
foundation of Buddhist
morality, it is also the foundation of
great love and great compassion
and of bodhichitta,
the resolve to
attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all living beings.
We cultivate
greatlove and great compassion by contemplating the sameness of
all sentient
beings. We
amplify and extend this feeling of love and
compassion by considering
the relationships
that bind us to all that
lives.In this context, we should remember that at one time or
another all
sentient beings have
been kind mothers to us. If we
remember the kindness of our own
mothers, then we
must
also
remember the debt we owe them. Just as it would not be right to
allow your mother
to continue to suffer, so it is not right that all
sentient beings, who
have at some time or
another been kind
mothers to you, should continue to suffer in samsara.
It is in this
sense
that the wish for all to be happy and free from suffering
implies the
wish to attain
Buddhahood--because, despite our
cultivation of the wish that all
beings become happy
and free fromsuffering, we are at present unable to do anything for
them.
No one other than a fully enlightened Buddha can secure the goal
of
ultimate happiness
and freedom from suffering for all beings. No
matter how much we may
try to do so, no
matter how much great
love and compassion we feel for living beings,
unless and until
we
ourselves have achieved supreme and perfect enlightenment, we
will
not be able to
secure the real happiness of living beings.
Recognition of the sameness
of all living
beings; recognition of the
debt we owe all living beings who have at
one time or another
been
our kind mothers; the consequent wish for all to be happy and free
from suffering;
and recognition of our present inability to do
anything to achieve this
goal--all these
culminate in the awakening
of the enlightenment thought, namely, the
determination to
attain
Buddhahood for the sake of all living beings.
It is this moment of
enlightenment consciousness which transforms a
miserable wretch
living in a prison into a son or daughter of the Buddha. This
bodhichitta, or consciousness
of enlightenment, is divided into two
categories: (1) the relative, or
conventional,
enlightenment thought,
and (2) the ultimate enlightenment
consciousness. The
conventional
enlightenment thought is the determination or resolve to
attain
Buddhahood
for the benefit of all living beings. In the conventional
enlightenment
thought, we still
perceive the dualities of subject and
object, samsara and nirvana,
ignorance and
enlightenment. Because
the resolve to attain Buddhahood is based on
these dualistic
conceptions, it is called 'conventional.' The ultimate enlightenment
consciousness,
which we can metaphorically term 'the Buddha mind,' is a state in which
dualities no
longer have any meaning.
Let us look a little more closely at the conventional
enlightenment
thought and at the
means of transforming it into the ultimate enlightenment consciousness.
The conventional
enlightenment thought is itself divided into two categories: (a) the
aspiring enlightenment
thought, and (b) the applied enlightenment thought. The former is the
mere wish or
aspiration to achieve enlightenment for the sake of all sentient
beings, and is analogous to
the decision to travel to a distant country. The latter is the
implementation of the means of
achieving Buddhahood, and is analogous to actually making such a
journey.
Specifically, the applied enlightenment thought entails practice of the
Six Perfections of
generosity, morality, patience, energy, meditation, and wisdom. It is
the practice of these
perfections that transforms the mere determination to achieve
enlightenment (or
conventional enlightenment thought) into the Buddha mind (or ultimate
enlightenment
consciousness).
It is important to remember the special role of meditation and wisdom
in the practice of
the perfections. Mahayana masters from the great Nagarjuna in India to
Hui Neng in
China have stressed that there is no meditation without wisdom and no
wisdom without
meditation. This means that, for Buddhists, a concentrated mind without
insight is an
unproductive and inconsequential achievement. It is only when such a
mind is coupled
with wisdom that meditation is productive of real freedom. Similarly,
without a
concentrated mind, insight cannot be achieved.
Wisdom is the crown of the Six Perfections. It is the perfection of
wisdom--the
penetrative, direct understanding of emptiness--that transforms the
practices of
generosity, morality, patience, energy, and meditation into
perfections. It makes them
transcendental. Without the perfection of wisdom, there is no
perfection of the other five
practices. This is why it is said that the perfection of wisdom is like
firing a clay jar, for
left unfired, the 'jar' of the other five perfections is easily
shattered. Similarly, if a
Bodhisattva does not practice the perfection of wisdom, he or she can
be easily overcome.
It is also said that the other five perfections are like blind men who
will never reach their
destination on their own, but who can do so with the help of a single
sighted guide.
Similarly, without the perfection of wisdom, the other five practices
cannot lead to the
goal of Buddhahood.
Why is the role of the perfection of wisdom unique among the Six
Perfections? It is in the
light of the perfection of wisdom that we see the emptiness of the
subject, object, and
action of the other five perfections. These are the three 'pure
circles' mentioned in
Mahayana literature: the purity, or emptiness, of the subject, object,
and action. In the
perfection of generosity, for instance, it is the perfection of wisdom
that causes us to
understand the emptiness of the giver (the subject of the action of
giving), the emptiness
of the recipient (the object of giving), and the emptiness of the gift.
Similarly, in the perfections of morality, patience, energy, and
meditation, it is through
understanding the perfection of wisdom that one understands the purity
or emptiness of
the subject, object, and action present in every sphere of action. In
every practice, too, it
is understanding the perfection of wisdom that enables one to act
perfectly to achieve the
perfection of generosity, the perfection of morality, and so forth. It
is in this context that
we need to appreciate the unique role of the perfection of wisdom.
We have arrived at the attainment of the ultimate
enlightenment
consciousness, or the
enlightened mind of a Buddha, with its perfect understanding of
emptiness. At this point
we might wonder whether the Buddha mind has any room left for
compassion, in light of
its understanding the emptiness of the object of compassion (living
beings), the subject of
compassion (the practitioner), and the activity of compassion. The
answer is that, at this
point, the Buddha mind undergoes a spontaneous or voluntary association
with suffering.
Let us look at an example that illustrates the compatibility of wisdom
and compassion on
the stage of enlightenment. Suppose you dream that you are trapped in a
burning house.
Naturally, you are distressed. Suppose, then, that you eventually awake
and realize that
the suffering you experienced in the dream was not real. Suppose, too,
that on the
following night you observe your roommate or partner thrashing about in
bed, muttering
'Fire! Fire!' or something similar. You know, in your awakened state,
that your friend's
fear and anxiety are groundless, and yet, to the person experiencing it
in a dream, the
suffering is real enough. Notwithstanding your knowledge of the
emptiness of that
suffering, your wisdom is automatically accompanied by compassion, by
the wish to
relieve the suffering of your friend.
It is this reintegration with the world of illusion, this voluntary
reassociation with
fictitious suffering, that finds its expression in what are called 'the
four secondary
perfections of the enlightened ones'--namely, skillful means,
resolution, power, and
knowledge: (1) the perfection of skillful means enables the Buddhas and
Bodhisattvas to
implement countless devices for the liberation of living beings; (2)
the perfection of
resolution enables them to shape the particular forms of the activities
they employ; (3) the
perfection of power enables the enlightened ones to work spontaneously
and effectively
for the benefit of others; and (4) the perfection of knowledge provides
them with all that
knowledge of the conditions and attitudes of sentient beings which is
necessary to effect
their liberation.
The four secondary perfections may also be termed soteriological or
altruistic perfections.
They are the automatic and spontaneous fulfillment of the enlightened
ones' intent to free
all living beings. All these activities of the enlightenment
consciousness expressing itself
in skillful means, resolution, power, and knowledge are a spontaneous
reflection of the
enlightened state. It is said that, just as a wind chime spontaneously
and appropriately
gives forth the right sound in response to the currents of air that
blow against it, so the
enlightened ones respond spontaneously and appropriately to each and
every current of
karmic energy emanating from sentient beings with a kind of automatic,
effortless
activity aimed at the liberation of all.
The state of Buddhahood is the culmination of the practice of the six
basic perfections.
The practice of the Six Perfections results in the accomplishment of
the two
accumulations of merit and of knowledge. The perfections of generosity,
morality, and
patience result in the accumulation of merit, while those of meditation
and wisdom result
in the accumulation of knowledge; the perfection of energy is necessary
in both cases.These two accumulations result in the twofold being of Buddhahood--(a)
the form
dimension (rupakaya), and (b) the truth or transcendental dimension
(dharmakaya).
The accumulation of merit through the practice of the perfections of
generosity, morality,
and patience is manifested in the form dimension. The accumulation of
knowledge
through the practice of the perfections of meditation and wisdom is
manifested in the
truth dimension. We can therefore see, in the practice of the Six
Perfections, the causes or
seeds of the being of a Buddha. In the practice of the six basic
perfections, we can see the
seeds of the Buddhas' two-dimensional being as form and truth. In the
practice of the four
secondary perfections, we can see the seeds of the Buddhas' activities
directed toward the
liberation of all sentient beings.
This twofold division of Buddhahood in terms of the form and truth
dimensions is
congruent with the classification of the three bodies (or dimensions)
of Buddhahood: the
terrestrial, celestial, and transcendental. The form dimension can be
divided into (i) the
terrestrial body, and (ii) the celestial body, but the truth or
transcendental dimension has
no division at all since it is inconceivable, inexpressible, and beyond
name and form of
any kind. The form dimension, however, takes innumerable names and
forms. We can
call the terrestrial body (or dimension) the earthly manifestation of
Buddhahood because
it is accessible to all of us all the time, regardless of our state of
spiritual development. In
contrast, the celestial or exalted dimension is manifested only to the
spiritually advanced.
These three bodies or dimensions of Buddhahood operate together to
effect the liberation
of sentient beings according to their natures and capacities. The
terrestrial dimension
manifests especially in the appearance of the historical Buddha
Shakyamuni, and also in
the appearance of enlightened living beings (spiritual friends) and
inanimate things. The
celestial dimension manifests itself in the appearance of the heavenly
Buddhas, like
Amitabha and Akshobhya, and in the exalted Bodhisattvas, like
Avalokiteshvara and
Manjushri.
This three-dimensional nature of Buddhahood reflects the unity of
samsara and nirvana,
of enlightenment and ignorance, of a pure vision of the universe and an
impure vision of
it. It also reflects the complete and total freedom of a Buddha. It
reflects his or her
freedom from the cycle of birth and death, and freedom to exercise his
or her enlightening
influence in countless, inconceivable ways for the liberation of all
sentient beings. This is
the greatness of the Mahayana conception of Buddhahood, the greatness
of the goal of the
Mahayana path.
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Contents
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01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11
| 12 | 13
| 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41
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Update : 11-05-2002
