The Bodhisattva’s Jewel Garland
Commentary by Ngakpa Jigdal Chopel (Michael Madrone)
-Sri Atisha
Atisha Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna was born the second son of a royal house in eastern India in 982 CE. After experiencing a vision of Tārā at the age of eleven, on the eve of his marriage, he entered a religious path. He later dreamed that the Buddha himself urged him to ordain, and at the age of twenty nine he did so in a monastery in Bodhgaya. He studied with many great teachers and later voyaged to Sumatra where he trained in bodhicitta mind training with the monk Guru Suvarṇadvīpa (Serlingpa), residing on the island for twelve years. He returned to India at age forty-five. Later he traveled to Tibet and there are many stories about the time he spent there.
Atisha’s text The Bodhisattva’s Jewel Garland
To the great compassion I offer homage!
To the Gurus I offer homage!
To the deities who inspire faith I offer homage!
Atisha begins by offering homage to great compassion. Great compassion is not the same as ordinary compassion. Great compassion is the compassionate aspiration to attain Enlightenment for sake of all sentient beings in order to free them from the suffering of cyclic existence. Atisha then pays homage to the Gurus. It is said that the Guru is even kinder than the Buddha because we can no longer see and hear the Buddha to receive teachings, whereas the Guru is with us now to guide us on the path. Finally Atisha pays homage to the deities who have inspired great faith in him.
Atisha: Doing away with all doubts,
Cherish assiduous practice.
Thoroughly abandoning lethargy, fogginess and laziness,
Always exert yourself with joyful vigour.
Of course when embarking on a spiritual path it is normal to have doubts and questions. However, we need to clear them up in order to progress and develop. The way to do that is the three-fold process of listening, contemplating, and meditating. First we need to listen carefully without prejudice to the teachings that the Gurus give us. Not only listen to them, but remember them. If we have a beautiful cup with a crack in it, it is useless if the contents leak out of it.
Then after listening, we need to contemplate the teachings. We need to examine and think about them. We need to understand clearly what they are and what they are not. Sometimes we may need to ask clarifying questions in order to make sure that we understand correctly. Finally we need to meditate on the teachings. Here, meditation means one-pointed concentration on a wholesome object. In this case, the wholesome object is the Guru’s teaching. Meditating on it allows the teaching to enter into us, so to speak, on a deeper level, to really sink in. And in this way we can be sure about the meaning and do away with any doubts. We may need to do this again and again.
Atisha says we need to “…cherish assiduous practice.” To practice means to actualize the teachings that we received. That’s how we develop spiritually. There is no point in listening, contemplating, and meditating on a teaching if we don’t put it into practice. Strong medicine will not cure our illness if we leave it sitting on a self. We have to actually take the medicine for it to work. Assiduous means showing great care and perseverance. So we need to practice carefully, making sure that we do the practice correctly and continuously. Medicine needs to be taken in the right dosage and for the right length of time, etc.
A Bodhisattva by definition has vowed to attain the Great Enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings and to never give up until it is attained. This aspiration is a noble one, but it is also a very big undertaking. It isn’t going to just happen overnight or by wishful thinking. We need care and perseverance. We must apply joyful enthusiasm and effort.
Atisha: “Thoroughly abandon lethargy, fogginess and laziness.” Bodhisattvas are motivated by compassion for all sentient beings who have, at one time or another, been their mothers. It is unbearable for Bodhisattvas to see their mothers suffering in cyclic existence and so their compassion causes them to abandon lethargy and laziness.
There are many different kinds of laziness. For example, there is what we normally think of as laziness, which is, “Oh, I know, I should do it, but I really don’t feel like it now, so I won’t. I’ll do it tomorrow or next week when I am in the mood.” Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche said, “According to your mood, you practice intensely one day and the next day not at all… That is not the way to practice.” We need to be constant.
Then there is the laziness of busyness, which sounds something like, “Oh, I would love to practice, I really would, but I am just too busy now. I’ll do it when I have time.” This way of thinking allows us to fool ourselves into thinking that we are not lazy, no, far from it. I’m a busy person and I’ll get around to it later. Of course the only person we are fooling is ourselves. The end result is the same. We don’t practice and therefore we don’t progress on the path toward Enlightenment.
There is also the laziness of spiritual low self esteem. It goes something like this, “Oh I am not a great saint. I am just an ordinary person. Those great saints accomplished great things because they were extraordinary. I could never do what they did. Why should I even try. I couldn’t do it anyway.” This is a kind of laziness masquerading as false humility. The Buddhas came from Bodhisattvas who came from ordinary beings who exerted great effort out of great compassion. They were busy too. They had problems too. The difference is that they cherished assiduous practice and they had joyous enthusiasm. All beings have the potential for Enlightenment. The difference is that the Buddhas applied themselves. To be a Bodhisattva we need to do the same and they have showed us the way.
Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltsen said, “It is apparent that most of the causes of laziness arise from our attachment to working for the sake of this life alone…The most effective immediate antidote for overcoming laziness is to reflect again and again on impermanence.”[1]
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama said, “Whether you are concerned with practice or the work of ordinary life, you must maintain confidence.”[2]
When Atisha refers to “joyful vigour”, he means one of the six Perfections[3] called Joyous Enthusiasm, (sometimes referred to as Diligence.) It is important that we understand the meaning. It refers to having joy in accumulating merit. Merit is the word we use to describe the positive spiritual energy that is generated when we do the practices of the six Perfections or any correctly motivated spiritual practice. The accumulation of merit is what allows us to accomplish the Perfection of Wisdom, which is necessary to attain Enlightenment. Bodhisattvas know the preciousness of the Dharma teachings and practices and feel joy in the rare opportunity to accomplish Enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings who have been their mothers. Joyous Enthusiasm is like a precious jewel. Thus the title of Atisha’s teaching, “The Bodhisattva’s Jewel Garland.”
Atisha: With mindfulness, vigilance and conscientiousness,
Constantly guard the gateways of the senses.
Three times by day and by night, again and again,
Inquire into the mind-stream.
The Buddha’s teachings frequently divide our behavior into the three categories of body, speech, and mind. That is, what we do, say and think. It is pointed out that mind is the most important of the three because the state of our mind determines what we say and do. These three can be either virtuous or non-virtuous. In order to maintain virtue and avoid non-virtue we need to be aware of what we are thinking, saying, and doing. This may seem obvious but actually we don’t always think, speak, and act with complete awareness. That can lead us to fall into non-virtue, which in turn leads us to commit negative thoughts, words and deeds, which of course leads us to suffering and away from the path to Enlightenment. Therefore we need to pay close attention to what we do, say, and think so as not to fall into negativity. All of this takes practice because of our own negative habits and the negative influences of people with whom we sometimes associate . Atisha refers to the three tools we need to do this: mindfulness, vigilance, and conscientiousness.[4]
It is important to distinguish that in this case, mindfulness means not forgetting which behaviors of body, speech, and mind are to be implemented and which are to be avoided.[5] For this reason, mindfulness is sometimes referred to as memory. Vigilance means introspective watchfulness that repeatedly examines our physical, verbal, and mental behavior. Conscientiousness is the conscious implementation of what is to be done and rejection of what is not to be done. Of course this implies that we need to listen, contemplate, and meditate on the teachings regarding what is virtuous and non-virtuous behavior regarding body, speech, and mind.
Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche succinctly said that there is really only one problem:distraction, and that therefore there is only one solution: mindfulness.
Atisha: “Constantly guard the gateways of the senses.” This means that we need to not only watch what we are doing, saying, and thinking, but we need to adopt the attitude of an alert guard who is entrusted with taking care of something precious. That is in fact the case, for our mind is the most precious thing we have and we need to be very careful with it and take care of it. We should guard it in the same way that we would protect a sensitive wound while walking in a crowd.
His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama said, “If you always remain careful and alert you will know what is to be practiced and what is to be given up.”[6]
When Atisha says, “Three times by day and by night, again and again…” he doesn’t mean that we should count on our fingers up to three and then forget about it. It is a literary expression which really means “constantly.” In other words, we should never let our guard down. We should always be checking and guarding our body, speech, and mind to see if we are committing virtue or non-virtue. This is how a Bodhisattva acts on the path to Enlightenment.
Atisha: “Inquire into the mind-stream.” Buddhist teachings often use the expression “mind-stream” because normally the mind has the characteristic of being similar to a stream in that the mind’s thoughts and feelings have a constant flow. If one wants to take fresh water from a stream, it is important to check the quality of the water every time, because a stream by definition is flowing. What is pure water one moment could change and become polluted in another moment. Similarly our mind is positive sometimes but can also change and be negative. So we need to constantly be checking to see what state our mind is in every moment. Just as we don’t want to draw polluted water from a stream, likewise we don’t want to slip into polluted negative mental states without being aware and correcting it.
Atisha: Declare your own faults;
Don’t search for confused mistakes in others.
Hiding your own qualities,
Proclaim the qualities of others.
It’s often easier to see the faults of others than it is to see our own. In any case, it isn’t our job to look at others faults. Our job is to purify our own. Boasting about our good qualities is also a waste of time. Better to acknowledge and appreciate others.
Atisha: Shun gains and praise,
And always renounce fame.
With few wants, know contentment
And repay the kindness done to you.
Gain, praise, and fame are three of the 8 poisonous dichotomies that are to be shunned. The teachings tell us that there are 8 poisonous dichotomies, grouped in four pairs. They pair up as follows: gain and loss, fame and disgrace, praise and blame, and pleasure and pain. These are considered to be poisons that are to be avoided and treated with non-attachment.
The first items of the pairs are gain, fame, praise, and pleasure. The second items are loss, disgrace, blame, and pain. Now it is obvious why we might want to shun these last pairs. After all, who wants pain or loss? Surely no one in their right mind. What is not necessarily so obvious is why we would want to shun gain, fame, praise, and pleasure. Those are things that most of us like. Actually it is the attachment to these things that we need to avoid. The problem is that we don’t see the poison in the attachment to these things because they feed our ego. It’s nice to be praised but we must be careful not to be so attached to the praise that our ego increases, for example.
We can become euphoric when we are praised or when we win, and we can become depressed when we are blamed for something (especially if we are falsely accused.) Non-attachment to these 8 is where the teachings tell us we want to be. We tend not to see the downside of any of the 8 and we can easily fall into being strongly attached to one set, and strongly repulsed by the other set. They are poisonous but we don’t always see the poison and that makes them particularly insidious for our spiritual development.
Atisha, “With few wants, know contentment.” Being content with what we have is the foundation of happiness. Always wanting more, or being jealous of those who have more, is the foundation for unhappiness.
Chatral Rinpoche said, “You might dine on the finest meal of delicious meat and alcohol, but it turns into something impure the very next morning, and there is nothing more to it than that. So be content with life-sustaining provisions and simple clothes, and be a loser when it comes to food, clothing, and conversation.”
Geshe Tashi Namgyal said, “Be content with your money. A contented mind is a good mind…Being content is a very powerful way to be happy. Being content makes it
easy. But don’t be content with your level of practicing the 6 Perfections.”
Atisha: Cultivating love and compassion,
Stabilize bodhicitta.
Giving up the ten non-virtuous deeds,
Always keep faith firm.
Love and compassion are really what the Buddha’s teachings are about. All the different Buddhist schools agree on that. They may debate various philosophical points, but all agree on that. Cultivating love and compassion allows us to stabilize our Bodhicitta, the aspiration to attain Enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings who have been our mothers at one time or another, and who are drowning in the suffering sea of cyclic existence.
Geshe Tashi Namgyal said, “Bodhicitta (Enlightenment Thought) is the only true friend that goes with us until Enlightenment…Attainment of Enlightenment depends on Bodhicitta, which in turn is dependent on compassion. All spiritual practices are included in compassion.”
Atisha: “Giving up the ten non-virtuous deeds…”
According to the teachings, the ten non-virtuous deeds are: killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, slander, harsh words, idle talk, greed, maliciousness, and wrong views. This is the Buddhist version of the ten commandments so to speak. Interestingly, they involve avoiding doing something harmful. Just avoiding these non-virtues is considered positive and virtuous. It is said that we live in degenerate times. Looking at the nightly news, it would be hard to dispute that. Because of that, it is said that avoiding non-virtue is something in and of itself to be cultivated.
Atisha: “Always keep faith firm.”
Buddha was very clear that he did not want his disciples to believe his teachings out of blind faith. He said it would be wrong to believe his teachings out of respect for him. Instead he encouraged his disciples to examine and test his teachings as if one would test gold with fire and so on before buying it, “Ordained monastics and scholars –just as gold is burned, cut, and filed down [by a goldsmith], take up my instructions after you’ve thoroughly checked or analyzed them, and not just out of reverence for me.”
Then having tested the teachings by closely examining them and practicing them, one can develop a strong faith based one’s own personal experience of seeing how they hold up. Once one has that type of faith it should be kept firm.
Atisha: Overcoming aggression and self-aggrandizement,
Undertake a humble attitude.
Abandoning wrong livelihood,
Live a life of Dharma
Atisha: Overcoming aggression and self-aggrandizement, Undertake a humble attitude. According to the teachings, self-cherishing is the cause of all our suffering and all our problems. So obviously, being aggressive and proud is not the path. Humility is a better approach.
Atisha: Abandoning wrong livelihood, Live a life of Dharma. It is not possible to be a good practitioner if we don’t practice morality, one of the six Perfections. If we have a job which is immoral, we need to abandon it. Jobs which cause harm are immoral by definition. Examples might be arms merchant or drug dealer. Abandoning wrong livelihood, we should turn our mind to living a life according to the Dharma. We will be happier both in this life and in future lives.
Another way of looking at wrong livelihood is described by Kunzang Pelden:
“(Wrong livelihood) is an attempt to secure a living by flattery, hypocrisy (i.e. pretending to be a good practitioner), self-interested generosity, putting forward one’s status or position as being a person worthy of support, and indirect theft (e.g., pretending that one has nothing.)”[7]
Atisha: Abandoning all material assortments,
Adorn yourself in the jewels of the Aryans.
Abandoning all frivolous distractions,
Dwell in solitary areas.
Atisha: Abandoning all material assortments, Adorn yourself in the jewels of the Aryans: We spend a lot of time, money, and energy taking care of our body. Of course we need to maintain it in order to be able to do our practice. But sometimes we overdo it and invest in expensive or gaudy jewellery etc. That should be abandoned in favor of adorning ourselves in the jewels of the Aryans. What are the jewels of the Aryans? In this case Aryans does not refer to a human race. It refers to the Exalted Bodhisattvas. There are two kinds of Bodhisattvas: ordinary beings such as ourselves who have taken the Bodhisattva vows and are on the Bodhisattva path. We are like Bodhisattvas in training. Then there are the Arya Bodhisattvas (Exalted Ones) who have attained at least the first stage or ground of the ten Bodhisattva stages. These are truly advanced Bodhisattvas who are very far along the path. Sakya Pandita has an extensive explanation of these ten grounds in his masterpiece, “Clarifying The Sage’s Intent.”
Exalted Bodhisattvas wear their jewellery on the inside, not on the outside. Usually when jewels are mentioned in Dharma texts, they refer to good inner qualities, not external jewellery. So the Bodhisattvas have the good inner qualities of a spiritual person. They don’t care so much about externals.
Atisha: Abandoning all frivolous distractions. Today we have no shortage of frivolous distractions. There are so many things to distract us online, not to mention friends who want to chat about all kinds of frivolous things. Idle talk is one of the ten non-virtuous acts in Buddhist morality.
Atisha: Dwell in solitary areas. Atisha advises us to live in a quiet solitary environment. Many masters advise living in a quiet place, a forest or a cave. This is possible for some; for others it can be a challenge for various reasons. So what are we to do?
Geshe Tashi Namgyal offered an interesting solution to this question. He explained that there are two kinds of retreat: body retreat and mind retreat. Body retreat is when you go into a solitary place to practice. That doesn’t guarantee of course that your mind is focused on your practice. If it isn’t, your retreat has little value. Also, we might even develop unhealthy pride, thinking, “Oh I am a great practitioner because I spent such a long time in retreat.”
The other kind of retreat, “mind retreat”, is when you keep your mind focused on your practice. This is of great value even if we are living in a noisy, busy environment. So the main point being that what we are doing with our mind is more important.
Abandoning all careless and meaningless talk,
Always be restrained in speech.
When you see your Gurus and Preceptors,
Generate the wish to attend them with respect.
Atisha: Abandoning all careless and meaningless talk, Always be restrained in speech. As mentioned, idle talk is considered to be one of the ten non-virtuous acts and should be avoided, so we should monitor and restrain our speech.
Shantideva said, “And if you find yourself engaged in different kinds of pointless conversation and curious sights, the like of which abound, be rid of all delight and taste for them.”[8]
Atisha: When you see your Gurus and Preceptors, Generate the wish to attend them with respect. Our Gurus and Preceptors are said to be kinder than the Buddha, because we can see and receive teachings from Gurus and Preceptors, so therefore showing them great respect is appropriate.
Atisha: To people with the eyes of Dharma
And sentient beings who are beginners on the path,
Generate the perception that they’re your teacher.
When you encounter any sentient being,
Generate the perception that they’re your parents, your children, your grandchildren.
Atisha: Generate the perception that they’re your teacher. Sentient beings allow us to practice the Six Perfections. They provide us with objects with which to practice generosity and patience and so on. We should view them with gratitude. There would be no path to Enlightenment without them.
Atisha: When you encounter any sentient being, Generate the perception that they’re your parents, your children, your grandchildren. Because the number of sentient beings is infinite, and rebirths are beginningless, all sentient beings at one time or another have been our parents, children and grandchildren. This is not a metaphor, it is actually the case. We should therefore view them as our relatives even if they don’t appear in that form now.
Atisha: Abandoning association with degrading acquaintances,
Rely on virtuous friendships.
Abandoning the mind of hostility and unhappiness,
Be blissful wherever you may go.
Atisha: Abandoning association with degrading acquaintances, Rely on virtuous friendships. Because we are social beings, “running with the wrong crowd” can lead us to non-virtuous actions which cause us to deviate from the path we are on. Peer pressure can be strong and difficult to resist at times. So it is important to be careful about whom we associate with. Even if our friends are good people, if they are not involved in spiritual practice, they may frequently invite us to socialize, thus taking away our time which could be spent in virtuous practice. Virtuous friendships, on the other hand, support our practice. Therefore they are more reliable.
Atisha: Abandoning the mind of hostility and unhappiness, Be blissful wherever you may go. It is impossible to have a peaceful state of mind if we are hostile and unhappy. Therefore we should abandon those states of mind and be happy. We can choose where to focus our mind. Being blissful refers to spiritual bliss, not ordinary worldly bliss.
Atisha: Abandoning attachment to anything,
Dwell with non-attachment.
With attachment, one doesn’t behold destinations;
In fact, it kills the life-force of liberation.
Atisha: Abandoning attachment to anything, Dwell with non-attachment. Attachment, or emotional grasping, causes us all kinds of problems. When we hold on to something or someone, we suffer. Better to develop and dwell in non-attachment. That doesn’t mean we are cold-hearted or indifferent. In fact, non-attachment allows us to develop true loving kindness and compassion.
Atisha: With attachment, one doesn’t behold destinations; In fact, it kills the life-force of liberation. Attachment keeps us from attaining our destination. What is our destination? For a Bodhisattva, it is attaining Enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. Attachment not only keeps us from attaining our destination, but it actually sucks away the energy we need to practice and attain our noble goal.
Atisha: When encountering a cause of bliss,
Constantly persevere in that.
Whatever you undertake first,
Accomplish that as a priority.
Thus, all will be successful,
Otherwise neither is accomplished.
Atisha: When encountering a cause of bliss, Constantly persevere in that. In this case, bliss refers to spiritual bliss. We need to learn what that means from qualified teachers and then persevere.
Atisha: Whatever you undertake first, Accomplish that as a priority.
Thus, all will be successful, Otherwise neither is accomplished. We should complete what we start without starting a lot of things and not finishing anything.
Atisha: Never is there joy in degrading negativity,
So whenever the mind gives rise to arrogance,
At that time, put an end to self-aggrandizement
And remember your Guru’s upadesa.
Atisha: Never is there joy in degrading negativity, Negativity will never bring true joy. It should be avoided.
Atisha: So whenever the mind gives rise to arrogance, At that time, put an end to self-aggrandizement, Ego-clinging and self-cherishing are the enemy that causes us to suffer. When it arises, immediately put an end to it.
Atisha: And remember your Guru’s upadesa. Upadesa refers to your Guru’s spiritual guidance. When negativity, especially self-cherishing, arises, remember your Gurus’s teaching that self-cherishing is the enemy of happiness.
Atisha: When the mind gives rise to discouragement,
Uplift the mind with esteem.
Meditate on the voidness of both.
Whenever objects of attachment and aversion arise,
View them as like illusions or apparitions.
Atisha: When the mind gives rise to discouragement, Uplift the mind with esteem. When practicing over a long period of time, it is common to have discouragement arise from time to time. When that happens it’s important to not dwell on it and become stuck in that feeling. We need to uplift our mind with esteem. If we practice Sutrayana, we can feel that by taking the Bodhisattva vow we have been given the rightful title of Buddha’s heir. We don’t need arrogant pride, but having a feeling of esteem being Buddha’s heir will keep us from sinking into discouragement and even depression.
If we practice Vajrayana, we can remember the teachings on divine pride, and recall that it is part of our practice. Neither discouragement nor arrogance are appropriate so we can simply let them go as we come deeper into our practice.
Atisha: Meditate on the voidness of both. Whether we are in a state of discouragement or esteem, both are empty. Empty of what? Empty of independent inherent existence. So there is nothing be attached to. Emptiness is not nothingness.
Atisha: Whenever objects of attachment and aversion arise, View them as like illusions or apparitions. It is helpful when meditating on emptiness to remember that all appearances are like illusions or apparitions. They have no independent solidity or reality. Instead, they are like an illusory rainbow which appears to us but has no solidity when we try to touch it. Likewise, any object of attachment or aversion which arises should be viewed as illusory, and so attachment dissolves.
Atisha: When you hear unpleasant words,
Regard them as being like echos.
When the body is harmed,
Regard it as the fruition of previous karma.
Atisha: When you hear unpleasant words, Regard them as being like echos. Words, just like the feelings that were just mentioned, are empty. Empty of independent inherent existence. They have no actual reality. Just as an echo is sound that has no true, independent reality, unpleasant words, like insults for example, carry no weight. The only weight they carry is the weight we give them, and we should not give them any, as they are empty and illusory. “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me.” This is only true if we remember they are illusory, like echos.
Atisha: When the body is harmed, Regard it as the fruition of previous karma. Any harm we receive is the result of the ripening of our previous negative karma. There is no need to blame or accuse anyone or anything else. We alone are responsible for this harm. The good news is that by experiencing the ripening of the harm, we have exhausted that karma and it is finished.
Atisha: Dwell utterly in solitude beyond the edge of towns,
Still like the carcass of a deer.
Hiding yourself away, alone,
Dwell in non-attachment.
This is similar to a previous verse where we talked about the difference between body retreat and mind retreat. This verse refers to body retreat. Of course it is assumed that when we put our body in solitude, we will also put our mind in retreat. That is, not letting our minds be distracted by non-virtuous thoughts.
Atisha: Always maintaining your resolve,
When the mind gives rise to laziness or idleness,
At that time, enumerate these faults to yourself
And recall the essence of yogic discipline.
Atisha: Always maintaining your resolve, What is our resolve? For a Bodhisattva it is to attain Enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings.
Atisha: When the mind gives rise to laziness or idleness, At that time, enumerate these faults to yourself. These two faults (as well as all non-virtues) are obstacles to our practice. We have obtained our precious human rebirth and this chance to practice the holy Dharma. We don’t know when, if ever, we will have this rare opportunity again. To waste our life in laziness or idleness is an incredible tragedy. Therefore we should recall that all the pain and suffering that we experience is the result of not practicing in the past. We must now take hold of this moment and use it to make our life meaningful by striving to attain Enlightenment in order to be able to help others.
Atisha: And recall the essence of yogic discipline. Discipline is one of the six Perfections. A simple way to translate discipline would be “carefulness.” We need to be careful regarding what we think, say, and do. If we are careful, when we see ourselves slipping into laziness or idleness or any non-virtue, we will immediately bring our awareness back to what it is we need to do and what it is we need to avoid in order to continue our practice on the path.
Atisha: Then, when you do encounter others,
Express yourself calmly, tenderly, and sincerely.
Abandoning frowning and unpleasant expressions,
Always keep a smile.
Atisha: Then, when you do encounter others, Express yourself calmly, tenderly, and sincerely. Manjushri, the Buddha of wisdom, is called The Gentle Voiced One. We can take him as our model in how to speak to others.
Atisa: Abandoning frowning and unpleasant expressions,Always keep a smile. Khenpo Ngawang Jorden said, “Wipe that frown off your face and be friendly.” Since we have encountered the Buddha’s rare and precious teachings, there is no reason not to be happy and smile.
Atisha: Continually, when you encounter others,
Be without avarice and give joyfully,
Abandoning all forms of jealousy.
Generosity is the first of the 6 Perfections. There is a reason for the order of the Perfections. Generosity is first because it is the basis, or foundation of Dharma practice. The whole Bodhisattva ideal is based on altruism. We are practicing to obtain Enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is a generous thought. So we develop generosity as the first step, so to speak. If we perfect generosity, the rest of the path follows naturally and joyfully. The motivation with which we give is more important than what we give. Generosity isn’t giving something of which we have a surplus. Generosity is being sensitive to and compassionate about the needs of others.
Atisha: In order to guard others’ minds,
Abandon all conflict
And always have patience.
Patience is the second of the 6 Perfections. It is said to be the greatest virtue because it is the antidote to the greatest non-virtue: anger/hatred (considered to be two sides of the same coin). When we are patient in a situation where another is agitated, we naturally calm the flames of their agitation, and in effect we are guarding the mind of the other by giving them less reason to continue to be agitated. There is a greater chance they will eventually calm down. Abandoning conflict does not mean we should become a doormat and let people walk all over us. It simply means that if it is possible, we should seek to avoid conflict which may have the risk of turning for the worse.
It is said in “The Nectar of Manjushri’s Speech,” that in regard to patience, we should protect four virtuous disciplines: “Never to repay abuse with abuse; never to be angry in return for anger; never to strike back when struck; never to expose the faults of others when they reveal our own.”[9]
Atisha: Without flattery and volatility in friendship,
Always be steadfast and reliable.
Abandoning mistreating others,
Live with a respectful manner.
The essence of being a good Buddhist is to be a good person. Being reliable and respectful are basic qualities. They should be just part of who we are. Kunzang Pelden says, “As much as we reverence the Buddhas we must also reference beings. For there is not such thing as Buddhahood if beings are abandoned.”[10]
Atisha: When giving advice to others,
Have compassion and the wish to benefit them.
Never defaming the Dharma,
Motivate oneself to whatever is most inspiring.
Through the ten Dharmacaryas (virtuous acts)
Persevere through the day and at least half the night.
Compassion and the wish to benefit others is to be the motivation behind all of our thoughts, words, and deeds. So it goes without saying that when giving advice, we should keep our motivation pure.
Atisha: “Motivate oneself to whatever is most inspiring.” Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche said to find one or two practices that you like and then do them. Of course the most important word in that sentence is “do.” We have to actually do the practices. But having said that, we are much more likely to do practices that we like and that inspire us. Lord Buddha taught for 45 years and left us with 84,000 teachings. Surely we can find one or two that suit us and that we like to do.
Atisha: Through the ten Dharmacaryas[11] Persevere through the day and at least half the night. The ten Dharmacaryas (virtuous acts) are our ticket to Enlightenment for the sake of all beings. We should practice them constantly, all day and half the night. Doing that we can sleep well, knowing that our life has become meaningful.
Atisha: Whatever virtues accrue through the three times, (past, present, future)
Dedicate to the unsurpassable mahabodhi. (Enlightenment)
Impart your merits to sentient beings.
Always recite the seven-limbed prayer
And great aspirations.
Practicing virtues accumulates positive spiritual energy which is referred to as merit. The practice of dedicating that merit after it is accumulated is a way of sharing that benefit with all sentient beings. Dedicating merit also preserves it from being destroyed by subsequent non-virtue. When Atisha refers to dedicating virtue to unsurpassable mahabodhi, it means that we do our virtues with the motivation of attaining Enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. Dedication makes sure that our merit is applied to that benefit.
Atisha: “Always recite the seven-limbed prayer…” The seven-limbed prayer is a practice which is found in many practice texts. The reason it is so popular is that it is a very quick way of accumulating merit. The prayer has 7 practices in it which accumulate merit. An example of the 7-limbed prayer is as follows:
“Reverently, I prostrate with my body, speech, and mind,
And present clouds of every type of offering, actual and imagined.
I declare all my negative actions accumulated since beginingless time,
And rejoice in the meditation of all holy and ordinary beings.
Please remain until the end of cyclic existence,
And turn the wheel of Dharma for living beings.
I dedicate my own merits and those of all others to the great enlightenment.”[12]
Atisha: “And great aspirations.” Typically aspirations are recited at the end of a spiritual practice. Aspirations are like the seeds we plant in order to reap a future benefit when they ripen. Aspirations are a way of stating explicitly what we hope to eventually accomplish, for example, to attain Enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings.
Atisha: If one proceeds thus,
The two accumulations of merit and wisdom will be perfected.
And the two obscurations will be exhausted too.
Human life will be made meaningful;
The unsurpassable bodhi will be attained.
Atisha: The two accumulations of merit and wisdom will be perfected. According to the teachings of the Buddha, in order to attain Enlightenment, one must accumulate vast amounts of merit and wisdom. Merit, as was stated earlier, is the positive spiritual energy accumulated by the practice of virtue. Wisdom, in this case, refers to realizing the nature of reality. Put in simple terms, this is the path to Enlightenment.
Atisha: And the two obscurations will be exhausted too. The two obscurations are the emotional obscurations and the cognitive obscurations. In essence, emotional obscurations are the opposite of the six Perfections and are caused by the self-cherishing grasping at the personal ego.
Cognitive obscurations are thoughts that involve the three conceptual spheres of subject, object and action. Their cause is grasping at phenomena as truly existent, or, in other words, the self of phenomena. Cognitive obscurations are considered subtler than emotional obscurations.
Atisha: Human life will be made meaningful; Dorje Chang Sakya Dagchen said that “Samsara is meaningless; we just go round and round.”[13] When we practice Dharma we make our life meaningful, because it leads us out of the meaninglessness of cyclic existence.
Atisha: The unsurpassable bodhi will be attained. If we practice diligently and correctly, we will definitely attain Enlightenment, as have numerous other sentient beings in the past.
Atisha: The wealth of faith, the wealth of morality,
The wealth of giving, the wealth of learning,,
The wealth of personal conscience, the wealth of social conscience,
And of wisdom itself constitute the seven riches.
Why spend our lives accumulating material wealth which can only last, at most, the duration of our present lifetime? Better to accumulate spiritual qualities which will serve us from now until Enlightenment.
Atisha: These seven riches
Are the seven riches that cannot be exhausted.
Don’t bother trying to talk about them to non-humans.
Examine your speech in company and,
When alone, examine the mind.
Atisha: These seven riches Are the seven riches that cannot be exhausted. When we develop these seven spiritual riches, they will not diminish and they will travel with us in our mind-stream until Enlightenment. Therefore they are truly riches which benefit us.
Atisha: Don’t bother trying to talk about them to non-humans. We should appreciate how truly rare and special a precious human re-birth, with its 18 prerequisites, is. We cannot expect an animal or a spirit being to understand the depth of these precious teachings of Atisha.
Atisha: Examine your speech in company and, When alone, examine the mind.
If we were to practice these two practices of examining our speech and examining our mind, we would accomplish so many spiritual qualities. For this reason, Atisha leaves us with that parting advice.
This completes The Bodhisattva’s Jewel Garland composed by the Indian Abbot Dipamkarasrijnana. (Atisha)
[1] Sakya Pandita: “Clarifying the Sage’s Intent.” p.71
[2] “The Joy of Living and Dying in Peace” -HH the 14th Dalai Lama p.115
[3] Generosity, Patience,Morality, Joyous Enthusiasm, Meditation, Wisdom
[4] This topic is discussed extensively in the 5th chapter of the famous text “Entering The Bodhisattva’s Path” (Bodhisattvacharyavatara) by the Indian sage Shantideva.
[5] Unfortunately, many modern day non-Buddhist writers and teachers have taken the word mindfulness and used it to mean vigilance. This has sometimes created confusion among readers who now have been given a different meaning to what is meant in traditional Buddhist texts.
[6] “The Joy of Living and Dying in Peace” -HH the 14th Dalai Lama p.78
[7] The Nectar of Manjushri’s Speech, Kunzang Pelden p.212
[8] “Entering The Bodhisattva’s Path” (Bodhisattvacharyavatara). Chapter 5, verse 45.
[9] The Nectar of Manjushri’s Speech, Kunzang Pelden p.210
[10] The Nectar of Manjushri’s Speech, Kunzang Pelden p.230
[11] The ten spiritual trainings of writing, making offerings, generosity, listening to the Dharma, memorizing, reading, teaching, recitation, contemplation and meditation.
[12] Migtrugpa sadhana
[13] Personal commentary.