Sunday, February 19, 2012

Atisha's Precepts


By Lama Atisha Dipankara

At one time Atisha was asked by Ku, Ngok, and Drom (his close disciples); "What is the highest teaching of the path?"

 Atisha replied; "The highest skill is in the realization of egolessness. The highest nobility is in subduing your own mind. The highest excellence is in having a mind which seeks to help others. The highest precept is continual mindfulness. The highest remedy is in understanding the naturalness of everything. The highest activity is not to conform with worldly concerns. The highest siddhi is in the lessening and the transmutation of the passions. The highest giving is found in non-attachment. The highest moral practice is a peaceful mind. The highest patience is humility. The highest effort is to abandon attachment to activities. The highest meditation is the mind without pretension. The highest wisdom is not to grasp anything as it appears."

 "And what is the final goal of the teachings?" the three disciples asked.

 Atisha replied; "The final goal of the teaching is possession of the essence of voidness and compassion. Just as in the world there is a panacea for all sickness called the solitary heroic medicine, there is the realization of voidness which remedies all the fettering passions."

 "But many say they have realized voidness. Why do their anger and attachment remain?"

 "They are speaking empty words, for when you fuly realize the meaning of voidness, your body, speech and mind react with pleasure, like slipping fresh butter into barley soup. The great sage Aryadeva said:

  The nature of existence-
  Is it empty or not?
  Merely feeling this doubt
  Tears samsara asunder.

"Therefore, when you realize the correct meaning of voidness, it is just like the solitary heroic medicine, for all the path is included in that realization."

 "How do you include the entire path within the realization of voidness?" the disciples asked.

 "All the path is included in the six transcendences (paramita). When you realize the correct meaning of voidness -and lose your blind lust for all things, material and spiritual- your life becomes one flowing act of transcendent giving. In the absence of attachment, you are no longer defiled by non-virtuous deeds, and you enter the ever-flowing harmony of transcendent moral practice. In this freedom from defilement, you also liberate yourself from the passionate domination of 'I' and 'mine' and attain the ever-flowing transcendent patience. As you take great pleasure in the realization of voidness, your life becomes one ever-flowing transcendent effort. Though this, you lose all attraction to objects and enter the ever flowing transcendent meditation. And finally, when your mind is freed from the habit of seeing everything through the prism of three aspects (giver, receiver and object offered), you will attain the ever flowing transcendent wisdom."

Extracted from "The Door of Liberation" by Geshe Wangyal ~ copyright, Wisdom Publications

                                  
Atiśa Dipankara Shrijnana (Bengali: (980–1054 CE) was a Buddhist teacher from the Pala Empire who, along with Konchog Gyalpo and Marpa, was one of the major figures in the establishment of the Sarma lineages in Tibet after the repression of Buddhism by King Langdarma (Glang Darma).
Atisha remains an important figure in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. He refined, systematized, and compiled an innovative and thorough approach to bodhichitta known as "mind training" (Tib. lojong), in such texts as A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment, and established the primacy of bodhichitta to the Mahayana tradition in Tibet. In this sense, Atisha not only dictated a scholarly model for bodhichitta but acted as a living human example.