Trekcho #3 Commentary

[Guest guest]

" Joyce Short " <insight

 

Hi Victor - Im starting to write the commentary to the text - there are

statements in italics from the text and then the commentary but I dont know

how to get italics on the email so will use capital letters for text.

 

Introductory Section of the Root Text

 

The text we are studying consists of a brief versified root text and an

autocommentary, i.e. Paltrul Rincoche's expanded prose explanation of his

own root text. He begins his commentary with the invocation, " I PAY HOMAGE

TO THE KIND ROOT GURU WHO IS THE UNEQUALED EMBODIMENT OF COMPASSION. "

 

With regard to the characterization of his root guru as a supreme embodiment

of compassion, in general we would say that of course no one is superior to

the Buddha. But since we are unable, at this time, to meet Buddha

Shakyamuni, we are unable to receive instruction from him directly.

Nevertheless, we do have the good fortune to meet our personal teachers, our

root gurus, and these root gurus manifest in our world in a way that allows

us to communicate with them directly, to approach them personally, and it is

only on the basis of such closeness that we receive instruction and are lead

to buddhahood.

 

Hence, while no one is superior to the Buddha in an objective sense, from

our own subjective point of view, we would have to say that the root guru is

in effect kinder to us than even the Buddha. Furthermore, when you pay

homage to your teacher, as Paltrul Rinpoche does here, you do by implication

pay homage to the Three Jewels as well, because your acquaintance with or

exposure to the Three Jewels depends entirely on the instruction you receive

from your teachers. In that sense, the guru's mind is the Buddha, his or

her speech is the Dharma, and his or her body is the Sangha. What we

discussed are the first words in the autocommentary, and they provide a

commentary on the first line of the root text which reads, " I PAY HOMAGE TO

THE GURU. "

 

The essence of all of the view, meditation and conduct of the Great

Perfection is really included in the realization that one's root guru and

all the lineage guru's are inseparable from one's own mind, that they are

not to be found outside of one's own mind. In order to point that out, the

text begins with a three-line description of view, meditation, and conduct,

using the names of lineage gurus to describe the qualities of these

different aspects of the path of the Great Perfection.

 

The first of these three lines reads, " THE VIEW IS THE BOUNDLESS GREAT

EXPANSE. " " Boundless great expanse " in Tibetan is " longchen rabjam " which

is the name of the Omniscient Longchenpa. The meaning of this line is that

all of the appearances of samsara are complete within, or never pass beyond,

the great expanse of suchness and of sameness, which is the very nature of

the awareness of each and every being, the sugatagarbha, or Buddha-nature,

the nature of all things, an expanse that is totally beyond elaboration,

beyond conceptualization. Because the understanding of that is the " view "

of the Great Perfection, the first line reads, " THE VIEW IS THE BOUNDLESS

GREAT EXPANSE. "

 

The second of these lines reads, " MEDITATION IS THE LIGHT RAYS OF WISDOM

AND LOVINGKINDNESS. " " Light rays of wisdom and lovingkindness, " or

" khyentse oser " in Tibetan, is the personal name of the omniscient Jigme

Lingpa. Here again, we find that the name of the guru is used to decribe

the quality of meditation. The meditation is the cultivation of the view,

and the view is the ascertainment of the nature of all things being beyond

elaboration.

 

The recognition of the view is an insight, or a vipashyana; it is a wisdom

or a prajna, and that wisdom is actually revealed through the practice of

meditation. The revelation by means of wisdom, of the wisdom of emptiness

as the nature of all things, is one of the two aspects of meditation that

must be present. For this to occur properly, this generation of insight

must be founded in a one-pointed even placement, of shamatha, that is of the

nature of great compassion, of a nonconceptual, all-pervasive

loving-kindness and compassion.

 

In other words, the emptiness that is reavealed by insight must be

experienced with compassion. The insight itself must be conjoined with

tranquility, and therefore, the knowledge aspect, the prajna aspect, must

never be separated from the method aspect, the upaya aspect. This defines

the meditation of the Great Perfection: a cognition of emptiness, the affect

of which is compassion. Therefore, the text says, " MEDITATION IS THE LIGHT

RAYS OF WISDOM AND LOVING-KINDNESS. "

 

The third line reads, " CONDUCT IS THE CHILD OF THE BUDDHAS. " Of course,

Gyalwai Nyugu, " child of the buddhas. " is the name of Paltrul Rinpoche's

root guru, the student of Jigme Lingpa. But this is not a random

application; it has a particular significance. When someone is engaged in

such meditation as was described in the previous line, then the conduct

which is the natural outflow of that meditation in post meditation is the

conduct of a bodhisattva. The term " sprout of the victors, " or " child of

the buddhas, " is synonymous with bodhisattva; in fact, it can be used as a

generic title for all bodhisattvas. The conduct of the Great Perfection is

the implementation of the six perfections of the bodhisattva path for the

benefit of others, and therefore, the text says, " THE CONDUCT IS THE CHILD

OF THE VICTORS. "

 

The next two lines of the text actually have to be treated together because

they form a statement in two lines which reads, " FOR SOMEONE WHO PRACTICES

IN THAT WAY, THERE IS NO DIFFICULTY IN ATTAINING BUDDHAHOOD IN THIS VERY

LIFE. " Paltrul Rinppche's intention in this line is to remind us how

fortunate we are to possess the opportunity to practice the view,

meditation, and conduct of the Great Perfection. We are fortunate because

one only gains the opportunity to encounter and implement this practice if

one has gathered vast accumulations both of merit and of wisdom in previous

lifetimes.

 

If someone really puts the teachings of the Great Perfection into practice,

then it is entirely possible that they can attain full awakening in this

very life. To truly implement these teachings means to rely upon practice

in solitary retreat and to totally abandon the activities of this world and

this life, to abandon the obsessive concern that we normally have with

attempting to protect our friends and subdue our enemies, and with so many

other things. If you can in that way practice one-pointedly, then in this

life you will come to be liberated in the ground of primordial purity.

 

Even if you are unable to practice with that degree of diligence and

austerity, just by directing your mind towards the cultivation of this view,

meditation and conduct, you will attain the ability to take unpleasant

circumstances as the path. You will be able to not be unseated or overly

disturbed by various distasters, sickness and emotional upheavels that may

occur, and you will be freed from excessive anxiety and hope with regard to

the outcome of your various plans in this life.

 

These will be the benefits that will accrue in this life, and in future

lives you will go from bliss to bliss, which means that a momentum will be

established by your practice so that in each life you will come closer to

buddhahood until you finally attain it. In order to express all of this,

continuing from where it said, " THERE IS NO DIFFICULTY ABOUT ATTAINING

BUDDHAHOOD IN ONE LIFE, " the root text says, " AND EVEN IF NOT, YOU WILL BE

SO HAPPY. "

 

" These are the benefits of the view, meditation and conduct of the Great

Perfection. Both the root text and the commentary then continue to actually

explain these three aspects of the path; first the view, then the

meditation, then the conduct. Most of the explanation will be concerned

with the view. The next line in the root text is almost identical to one

found at the beginning. It just says, " THE VIEW OF THE BOUNDLESS VAST

EXPANSE: " - in English, we would place a colon at the end. This is just a

heading that introduces an extensive explanation of what the view is.

 

Earlier, we translated the title of this text as the " Three Words That Hit

the Point. " This phrase refers to the specific manner in which the teaching

is expounded in the text. Even though literally the title is " Three Words

That Hit the Point, " Garab Dorje's injunctions actually are not individual

words. Rather they are phrases, and it would be more correct to say " three

points " or " three injunctions. " The image intended is that these three

points are so incisive, so telling in a resolution of the view, that they

are like weapons that kill something on the spot. What they kill is

confusion. They are like a butcher who is expert at killing and knows

exactly where to hit an animal so that it drops dead on the spot. So

therefore, the next line of the root text reads, " HIT THE POINT WITH THREE

WORDS. "

 

THE FIRST WORD: RECOGNIZE YOUR NATURE (the View)

 

The first of these Three Words is the method by which the view of the Great

Perfection may be identified, if one has not yet recognized the view.

Within the various vehicles of Buddhadharma there exist different ways of

presenting their respective views. In the causal vehicles, i.e. the various

traditions connected with the sutras, the view is established by means of

scripture and of reasoning and logical analysis. In the common tradition of

Secret Mantra, i.e. the Vajrayana in general, the view is pointed out by

means of the fourth stage of empowerment which depends upon the example, or

similitude, established in the third stage of empowerment, and there exist

many different ways of doing this.

 

However, in Dzogchen neither of these two means is used. The holders of the

practice lineages i.e. the lineages that have come from the adibuddha

Samantabhadra down to Garab Dorje and through his lineage successors down to

the present day, have always introduced the view to students by means of

pointing out the dissolution of mind, pointing out where conceptual mind

dissolves or disappears.

 

For this to be successful, there first has to be some pacification of coarse

conceptuality. If your mind is agitated by waves of confused thought, then

these coarse thoughts, which are your mind running after various objects,

obscure the true face of your mind. Under such circumstances, because of

this obscuration by thought, you will not be able to identify and recognize

your mind's true nature, even if your teacher points it out to you. At a

minimum, coarse conceptuality must be allowed to be pacified naturally.

Therefore, the next line of the root text says, " FIRST, ALLOW YOUR MIND TO

SETTLE IN RELAXATION. "

 

Neither allow mind to be distracted nor attempt to fabricate anything, and

in particular, do not try to figure it out. While it is the case that one's

mind, allowed to rest naturally, is itself the luminous wisdom that one

attempts to identify, one will not be able to recognize the nature of the

mind as long as there is any fabrication present.

 

Although the basic instruction is simple, namely to allow mind to settle

completely and thereby to recognize the innate wisdom that is always

present, for beginners, it is impossible for there not to be adulteration of

some clinging to the various phenomena and experiences that arise. As one

allows one's mind to come to rest the various qualities of that stillness

will naturally arise, such as a sense of ease or bliss, an experience of

clarity, and an experience of absence of conceptuality.

 

There is nothing wrong with thrse experiences in themselves, but as long as

one is a beginner, it is impossible that one not be caught by them, because

one is experiencing a bliss and clarity and non-thought that one has never

known before. Something must be introduced into one's practice that would

enable one to break through the clinging to these experiences that will

naturally arise. There has to be something that frees one from this

fixation, because any fixation will obscure the recognition. What is

necessary is something that will break through the shell of clinging and

cause the innate wisdom to be unleashed, so that naked awareness is

displayed unobstructedly. The next line leads up to what is needed,

" THEREFORE, WHEN ONE IS AT REST IN THAT STATE, RESTING RELAXED AND

EVENLY..... "

 

What is to be done is indicated in the line that follows, " SHOUT A SUDDEN

PIERCING 'PHAT'. " What does shouting " phat " do, and how does one shout

" phat? " The function of shouting " phat " (pronounced " pay " ) is twofold. it

cuts off the flow of conceptuality; it interrupts it. And it destroys any

conceptual meditation. Anything conceptual, either meditative or

non-meditative, that is occurring in your mind when you shout " phat " , will

be interrupted.

 

For this to work, it is essential that one shout it in a certain way: it

has to be short, sharp and fierce! Thus, the next line in the root text,

continuing after the line that said, " SHOUT A PIERCING 'PHAT' THAT STRIKES

THE MIND, " is, " FIERCE, SHARP AND SHORT. HOW WONDERFUL! " This means that

you do not waft the sound " phat " on the wind in a melodious way. You also

do not plan it and crank yourself up; you do not think, " OK Im going to

shout " phat " now. " You do not prepare yourself for it. It should be sudden

and abrupt - like thunder and lightening.

 

Now why does Paltrul Rinpoche say, " How wonderful! " regarding this shouting

of " phat? " What is so wonderful about doing this? When you do this, your

mind loses for an instant all directedness, all fixation - and that is

liberation. In that instant, there is a flash of liberation. This is

described in the next line of the root text which says, " AN OPENNESS THAT

IS NOTHING WHATSOEVER, " that cannot be characterized in any way as " this " or

" that. "

 

This experience of the state of dharmakaya, of the nature of things, which

is characterized by being without any directedness or focus or fixation, is

the wisdom that totally transcends the mind as we know it, it is the naked,

unobscured experience of unobstructed awareness. In order to describe this,

the next line says, " IT IS OPEN AND YET UNOBSTRUCTED. "

 

I will give several translations of this line because there are no exact

English equivalents of the Tibetan words in this sentence. The Tibetan word

" hedewa, " translated here as " open " means something like " blank, " but this

does not imply obscurity; it has a connotation almost of " glaring. " As to

the other word in this line, " sang telewa, " think of it as three words all

in one - " penentrating, " " transparent, " and " unobscured " or " unobstructed. "

 

Hence, the line says that this state is characterized by an openness, an

absence of any kind of limitation, that is nontheless an unobstructed or

penetrating lucidity. This unobstructed awareness totally transcends any

form of elaboration and is beyond existence and non-existence. It is unborn

and unceasing. This inexpressible, innate wisdom totally transcends any

attempt we might make to describe it or even to think of it. So therefore,

the next line reads, " THIS TOTALLY OPEN, TRANSPARENT AWARENESS IS

INEXPRESSIBLE. "

 

The dharmakaya awareness which abides as the ground of one's being, which is

the primordial purity beyond elaboration, is the very essence of the path of

a practitioner of the Great Perfection. Until this one thing is recognized,

no matter how much you meditate and no matter what you practice, it can

never be anything other than a contrived and intellectually fabricated view

and meditation. If this is not recognized, then no matter what you do and

how you do it, you are farther away from the practice of the Great

Perfection than the earth is from the sky. In other words, there is more

distance between fabricated meditation and Dzogchen than there is between

the earth and the sky.

 

Until one recognizes this, one does not possess this essential point of

continuous non-meditation, of uninterruptedly encountering one's own natural

lucidity or luminosity. To recognize this is the most important thing of

all, and therefore, the next line of the text says, " RECOGNIZE THIS

DHARMAKAYA AWARENESS. "

 

This recognition is the first of the three vital points, and it constitutes

the view. If the view has not been recognized, then there is nothing to

maintain in meditation, since meditation is simply not being distracted from

the view. So therefore, right at the beginning, this recognition or

identification or awareness is essential.

 

Furthermore, this is only the recognition of a wisdom that is innate within

oneself. It is not at all like looking for, or trying to recognize,

something outside oneself. Nor is it the generation of something new within

the continuum of mind. It is not the case that this wisdom is not present

until recognition is present. This innate wisdom has always been there.

The only difference is that now one recognizes it, but this recognition did

not generate the wisdom.

 

Because what is recognized is something that has always been present within

oneself, this first point is called " recognition within oneself. " So of the

" three words, " which we would rather think of as three phrases or three

points, the first is " recognition within oneself, " and we have completed

then that first of the three points. "

 

 

..........to be continued.