By Ven Tenzin Damchoe
These days, His Holiness The Dalai Lama is giving teachings in Dharamsala and unlike last year, due to his poor health, he can’t teach for a long time. He teaches only for two and a half-hour in the mornings from 9 to 11.30am. Sometimes more. Some thousands of people have come to attend the teachings. There are around 650 Taiwanese, Malaysian and Singaporeans among those who have come for the teachings. As per the schedule, the teaching was to be on Tsongkhapa’s Great Exposition of Tantric Stages. But the topic was later changed and instead of High Tantra, His Holiness is teaching The Way of Boddhisattva (BODHICARYAVATARA) by Shantideva and, Stages of Meditation-middle part (the second of the three parts of Bhavanakrama) by Kamalasila. Both the teachings are very important.
The Way of Boddhisattva (BODHICARYAVATARA) is a classical text devoted to Mahayana ethics. It is intended for the spiritual development of the Mahayana Bodhisattva. The titles of the ten chapters herein are,
1. The Excellence of Boddhichitta.
2. Confession
3. Commitment
4. Awareness
5.Vigilance
6. Patience
7. Heroic Perseverance
8. Meditation
9. Wisdom and,
10.Dedication.
One stanza from The Way of Bodhisattva:
As long as the space endures,
As long as sentient beings remain,
Until then, may I too remain,
And dispel the miseries of the world.
The great Shantideva was in the southern country of Saurastra. He was the son of a King. From the very early age, he was fully devoted to the Buddha dharma and had a natural affinity to the Mahayana. Later, he became a monk and stayed at Nalanda University. Inwardly and in secret, he received the entire Tripitake {(Three Baskets) which are as follows;
1. Vinaya Pitaka or Basket of Discipline
2. Sutra pitaka or basket of Discourses and,
3. Abhidharma Pitaka or Basket of higher philosophy.
The Abbot ordered him to give the teachings and while sitting on the throne, asked the Sanghas and the public, “Would you like me to expound the teaching of a former scholar? Or, would you prefer that I recite something you have never heard before?”. All assembled asked him to teach something new. So he gave the teaching about The Way of Bodhisattva. At the time of the teaching, Manjushri appeared and, the most interesting thing happened. When Shantideva was starting with the ninth chapter, both he and Manjushri rose in the air, higher and higher until they disappeared into the sky. However,Shantideva continued to resound so that he could pass the whole commentary to those assembled. Later, he was found in the south. He is best known for his two texts, The Bodhicaryatara and The Sikasasamuccaya.
About the Bhavanakrama by Kamalasila, the source is from the book, The A to Z of Buddhism, by Charles S. Prebish. To say a few words on the three Buddhist meditation texts, originally written in sanskrit by Kamalashila in the eighth century and, which became the standard approach for much of Mahayana Buddhism,
The first Bhavankrama is roughly divided into two parts, focusing first on the requisites of Mahayana practice, and then on the discussion of what develops from study, examination and meditation.
The second of the Bhavanakrama retraces the subject area of the first, but from a different perspective, illustrating how convert theoretical items into practice.
The third Bhavankarama again has two parts, the first of which explains samatha (or calming) practice, while the second part rejects the viewpoint as well as the meditational method of the Chinese monk Hva-shang, as presented at the Council of Lhasa during 792-794.
Kamalasila was the famous disciple of Santaraksita. He studied at Nalanda University. Dharma king Trisong Deutsen invited him to Tibet to spread the Buddha dharma. But the main reason for inviting him was to diminish the view or the ideology of the Chinese monk Hva-shang. Late in his life, Kamalasila traveled to Tibet and he succeeded in spreading the Buddha dharma and also defeated the Chinese monk through debate. In order to stop the view of the Chinese monk, he wrote Bhavanakrama and became well know all over Tibet.
