Maitreya's Semtsema (Part 5 of 6)

by Khenchen Appey Rinpoche

We have seen in the previous part of this profound teaching on the qualities of the Buddha how His mind is unfathomable, utterly and permanently aware, and free from all conceptual fabrications and duality. His Mahakaruna, or Great Compassion, embraces every single being and knows each one’s defilements and their respective antidotes. There is not a single one of the Buddha’s activities that is not completely virtuous and dedicated to the benefit of all beings. Another among the qualities of the Buddha that this eulogy describes - is His omniscience, His perfect knowledge of the spectrum of all phenomena without exception.

All the qualities described here are inherent in the three kayas, or bodies, of the Buddha. The first among these is the dharmakaya, or form body. This true body is one that is devoid of any impurities or obscurations, and it is defined by its complete realisation of the lack of inherent existence of phenomena. The dharmakaya refers to the mind of the Buddha.

The second kaya is the sambogakaya. This refers to the enjoyment body of the Buddha. This is a manifestation of the form body, which by definition spins the wheel of Dharma of the greater vehicle, the Mahayana, and the only disciples who receive teachings from the sambogakaya are Bodhisattvas.

The third kaya is the nirmanakaya. This is a manifestation of the sambogakaya that appears to beings of superior qualities. It is the result of a deliberate act by the Buddha of assuming any physical form that can be seen by beings and is beneficial to them.

There are three kinds of nirmanakaya, containing as many manifestations as are needed to suit the needs of beings of different levels or predispositions. The first of these three is birth nirmanakaya. An example of birth nirmanakaya is Maitreya Buddha, who is currently residing in Tushita heaven. Although He is enlightened, He is the reigning Buddha in Tushita heaven.

The second kind of nirmanakaya is excellent nirmanakaya, referring to the excellent qualities possessed by this manifestation of the Buddha. An example of this is Shakyamuni Buddha, who assumed a physical form and displayed twelve great deeds of enlightenment in order to bolster the faith of disciples.

The third is artistic nirmanakaya, and an example of this is the story of the Buddha when, shortly before attaining mahaparinirvana, He tamed a proud disciple called Rabga. The latter was a great Gandarva, or king, who was so proud of his lute-playing talents, that he felt that he didn’t need to attend the Buddha’s teachings. In order to correct Gandarva Rabga’s arrogance, the Buddha artistically assumed the form of a lutist and, challenging the proud musician to a contest, played infinitely better than him, shattering his exaggerated sense of self-importance. Gandarva Rabga was one of the last disciples to be tamed by the Buddha.

There are three levels of enlightenment, with that of the Buddha being great enlightenment, or mahabodhi, which is superior to the other two levels. Mahabodhi means that the Fully Enlightened One has perfect knowledge of the nature of both relative and ultimate phenomena, of the way things appear in the relative form and the way things actually are in ultimate reality. The Buddha is omniscient and is able to sever the doubts and obscurations of all sentient beings. If a being is able to make a single mistake, he is likely to make others, and is therefore not fully enlightened. On the other hand, there is absolutely no possibility that one who is fully enlightened can make the slightest mistake.

The next set of qualities with which the Buddha is endowed, is that of the six perfections. The six perfections are the path of the great vehicle, and one who has accomplished these perfections has, by the same token, overcome their opposing factors. And so here, the author pays homage to “You who are without grasping”. An act of giving, whether it be offering one’s virtuous behavior or one’s body, must be free from grasping to either the act itself or to its result. Here, the Buddha’s total freedom from grasping to acts of giving is being praised.

The second perfection is that of morality, and here the Buddha is praised as “You who are without moral fault”. Most beings, as ethical as their conduct may be, are prone to committing moral infractions at some point or another. But the Fully Enlightened One will never transgress moral dictates by an iota. His morality is perfect.

The third perfection is patience. “You who are never distracted” applies to the Buddha’s quality of equanimity, acquired through the practice of patience. This means that whatever harm is directed to Him, instead of letting Himself become disturbed or agitated by this, He remains in an unperturbed state of tranquility.

The fourth perfection is diligence. “You who do not remain lazily” refers to the quality of diligence, whereby the Buddha never ceases to engage joyously in virtuous activities, without ever being affected by any kind of indolence or laziness.

Meditative concentration, or samadhi, is the fifth perfection. This is the ability to remain one-pointedly focused on the object of meditation without being distracted by anything or being agitated by discursive thoughts. There is never a single moment when the Buddha is not in samadhi.

And the last of the six perfections is that of wisdom. This is the knowledge of the nature of things as they are, not as they appear. It is the understanding of reality, totally free from discursive elaboration. The Buddha’s mind remains fixedly in the understanding of things as they are, and there is no object or phenomenon whatsoever that causes it to fall prey to digressive thought.

Thus ends the eulogy to the Buddha composed by the Lord Maitreya. He now pauses and elaborates no further. This is not because he knows no additional qualities of the Buddhas that are worthy of praise, but rather because He feels contented with the ones that He has expounded so far.

Sakya Pandita, who felt that there were more qualities of the Buddha that were worth praising, writes the rest of the Semtsema. This begins with the two meaningful activities of accomplishing perfection for oneself and for the benefit of others. He writes; “You who have acquired all obtainable excellent qualities”, alluding to the Buddha being endowed with both common and unique qualities, that is to say, those gifted by arhats as well as those unique to the Buddha. In short, the Buddha possesses all conceivable qualities. These very qualities provide Him with the potential to engage in activities that lead not only to His own accomplishment, but also to that of others.

These activities of the Buddha directed to the accomplishment of others are of inconceivable magnitude and constancy. The Fully Enlightened One never ceases even for a fraction of an instant to benefit beings, and He constantly benefits as many beings as there are atoms.

Further, the Fully Enlightened One knows everything that is knowable and carries out every single beneficial activity that needs to be completed, and each one of these activities leads to accomplishment. So these three: perfect knowledge, activity, and accomplishment - constitute another set of the qualities of the Buddha.

Sakya Pandita then begins to describe a further set of qualities of the Buddha called the ‘thirty-seven attributes of enlightenment’, or ‘Bodhipaksha’. These are divided into seven categories, the first of which is called the ‘four frames of reference’. This indicates the qualities of mindfulness of body, feelings, consciousness and mental attributes, through which the Fully Enlightened One achieves full realisation of selflessness, of the lack of inherent existence of self.

The second of the seven categories is that of the vigours, or exertions. This refers to the four pure accomplishments, or the four thorough renunciations attained by pure effort. These are: the joyous effort of destroying non-virtuous habits, not introducing new non-virtuous habits, sustaining existing virtuous conduct and introducing non-existing wholesome conduct.

The third category is that of meditative absorption. In this context, meditative absorption refers to the ability to create miraculous appearances. There are four attributes related to this faculty, called the four legs of miraculous accomplishment, which points to the fact that meditative concentration is as important to attaining enlightenment as legs are to walking.

The fourth and fifth classifications are the five faculties and the five powers. They both have the same five components – faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom, but their meaning is different in each respective category. For example, the five powers have the potential to destroy their opposites – doubt, laziness, and so forth, while the five faculties empower one to carry out activities conducive to helping beings. While the first three categories are related to the path of accumulation, the two latter ones are linked to the path of preparation.

The sixth category is the seven factors of awakening, and is related to the path of seeing, which leads to insight into the true nature of things. This is related to the meditative stabilisation of the first bhumi or state of enlightenment.

The seventh and last category is the Eightfold Noble Path, which corresponds to the path of meditation. Having gone through the first three paths of accumulation, preparation and seeing, one arrives at the path of meditation, where one becomes stabilised in the state of full realisation.

Moreover, the verse “I pay homage to you who have well accomplished all thirty-seven attributes” is very important, in the sense that the arhats and pratyekabuddhas also possess these attributes, but that the latter are only fully accomplished by the Fully Enlightened One.

And here, Sakya Pandita begins the eulogy of the Buddha’s nine meditative absorptions. These are the four samadhis of meditative concentration, the four meditative stabilisations in relation to the formless realms and the meditative stabilisation of total cessation.

The function of these meditative absorptions or samadhis is to eradicate all defilements and mental afflictions of all beings residing in the three realms of existence. The author says “You who have brought perfect completion, the power that crushes the hard, uncultivated soil”, referring to the mind stream of beings that is completely hardened with residues from afflictions and is difficult to penetrate. The power of the Buddha’s mindfulness and teachings is able to crush and pulverise the hard soil of the mind stream of beings.

And then, the author pays homage to the quality called ‘the three thorough doors of liberation’. The first among these is the thorough door of the liberation of emptiness, illustrating that the Buddha’s mind sees no inherent duality between subject and object, but only sees its absence. The second is the thorough door of wishlessness, which means that the Buddha’s mind is no longer concerned with contaminated phenomena, whether this is form, object or body. There’s not a single object that His mind covets or feels aversion to. Third, is the thorough door of signlessness, which means that the Buddha’s mind remains in a state that is free of signs. Signs of empty and non-empty, existent and non-existent - these are all dualistic concepts - from which the Buddha’s mind is free.

The three thorough doors of emptiness, wishlessness and signlessness are also within the domain of arhats, but only the Buddha is endowed with their perfect forms.

Sakya Pandita goes on to praise the conquest of the Buddha over the four evils or maras, the first of which is the klesha mara, or mara of the defilements of desire, hatred and ignorance. The Fully Enlightened One has completely overcome and destroyed any trace of these afflictions. The second mara is that of the skandas, or psycho-physical constituents to which we’re subjected due to our karma and defilements – we have a psycho-physical body that is the basis of all our suffering, whereas the Fully Enlightened One has overcome the desire to have a body. As for the mrityu mara, or mara of death, the Buddha is not threatened by it because He is not pushed by the desire to take a body that can die. Also, the devaputra mara, or mara of the son of god, is one that creates obstacles and harm to those who engage in the practice of the dharma, and it can be easily defeated by the Buddha.

The verse “To you who have subdued well” pays homage to the one who, through eons of practicing wisdom and compassion, has made His mind both worthy and powerful in order to conquer the four maras. The first three maras are subdued by the practice of wisdom. Because primordial wisdom is the root cause for the realisation of the lack of inherent existence of the self, it defeats the defilements, or kleshas. Once the kleshas are defeated, the desire that pushes one to be reborn is also defeated and, as mentioned above, if we are not born into an ordinary body, then we are not subject to death.

As for the mara of the son of god, this is vanquished by compassion. If one practices loving kindness and compassion toward all beings, the chances of attracting obstacles are greatly reduced and eventually eliminated.

And so the Fully Enlightened One has completely vanquished all the maras, and is free from any kind of obscuration or defilement.

Extreme conceptions arise with the conception of inherently existent phenomena. It has been thoroughly analysed how phenomena do not inherently exist; when the conception of an inherently existent phenomenon does not exist, these extreme conceptions do not arise, just as there is no fire when there is no fuel.

-- Chandrakīrti

居家安稳快乐的修法

文 ｜董良

作为居家生活的在家众，所考虑最多的问题是如何过好居家生活，做到在经济方面不仅能够满足日常需求，还能做到收支平衡，以使家庭经济保持正常运转。

对于在家众如何处理好居家经济收支，过上安稳的居家经济生活，佛陀在《杂阿含经》卷四第九十一经中有详细地论说。本经讲述了佛陀住在舍卫国树给孤独园时，有个郁迦的少年婆罗门来到佛陀住所，在顶礼佛陀之后，退坐一边请问佛陀说：“世尊！俗人在家当修行哪几种法，能够得以现世的安稳和快乐？”

佛陀告诉郁迦：“有四种修学方法，俗人在家可得现世的安稳和快乐。究竟是哪四种修行方法呢？所谓方便具足、守护具足、善知识具足和正命具足。”佛陀告诉郁迦，在家俗人通过这四种修学方法，即能够如法处理居家经济收支，从而现世能够得到安稳和快乐。

方便具足

佛陀告诉郁迦，在家俗人若想过上理想的经济生活，应当首先修行方便具足。对于什么是方便具足，佛陀在经中也作了解说：“何为方便具足？谓善男子种种工巧业处以自营生，谓种田、商贾，或以王事，或以书疏算画。于彼彼工巧业处精勤修行，是名方便具足。”在家众若想过上比较富足的生活，应当有挣钱谋生的技能。通过努力学习掌握一种或几种谋生的技能，就能够依靠自己的技艺来获取财富。掌握一门技艺只是获取财富的一个方面，在家人还可以通过从事种田经商，服务王事，书法注疏，算术绘画等职业来获取财富。不论学习哪一种技能，抑或从事某一种职业，都应当将本行业的专业技能钻研得精深纯熟，从而以自己的技能取得大众的信任和赞许，如此则可以充分发挥自己的技术专长做更多的事情，并由此获得更多的财利。

对于以技能获得财富，佛陀在多种经典中都有论述。如《善生经》中说：“先当习技艺，然后获财业。”经文说明一个人在获得财利之前，应当先学习能够获得财富的技艺。对于一个人所从事职业的类型，《杂阿含经》卷四十八中也说：“营生之业者，种田行商贾。牧牛羊兴息，邸舍以求利。造屋舍床卧，六种资生具。方便修众具，安乐以存世。如是修善业，黠慧以求财。财宝随顺生，如众流归海。如是财饶益，如蜂集众味。昼夜财增长，犹如蚁积堆。”

可见，一个人可以从事的职业多种多样，诸如种田、经商、放牧、租房，建造房屋和家具出售等职业。俗话说，“三百六十行，行行出状元”，一个人不论从事何种职业，只要能够辛勤劳动，经常思考提高技能的方法，自己的财富就会与日俱增。

一个人若想在世上生存和发展，必须要拥有一门技艺或者说特长。有了一技之长，就能够依靠自己的技术专长为人服务，自己也可以在服务他人的同时获得相应的报酬。当你拥有了别人不具有的某一方面的专长之后，不论你是自谋职业，还是到某一个单位工作，都能够以自己的技艺特长获得他人的认可，并获取相应的报酬。

假使一个人既没有专业知识和技能，也没有正当的职业来谋生，他就无法获得理想的收入，有的甚至无法在这个世上安身立命。在现实生活中，也有很多大事干不了，小事不愿干的年轻人，他们不愿意干一些待遇低的工作，而待遇和技术含量高的工作，他们又因缺乏技能无法胜任。他们就在这种两难的处境下，依靠啃老来生活。但是，老人毕竟不能跟年轻人生活一辈子，等到老人过世，这些人也会变老，将来靠什么来生活呢？

从佛教观点来看，一切正当的职业都可以取得生活所需的财富。而那些违背戒规的职业，虽然能够获得财利，则是居家佛教信徒不能从事的。诸如从事杀生、邪淫、卖酒，以及从事看相、占卜、大秤小斗欺诳他人的职业等。居家佛教信徒若从事这些违背戒律的职业，则会造作众罪，将来会遭致苦报。

守护具足

一个人通过所学技艺获得财富之后，必须善于守护财富，才能使财富不至于流失和浪费。我们获得财富的目的，是为了用于家庭日常开支，以及赡养父母，教育子女，自己学习技能等各项开支。对于守护财富，佛陀在经中也做了解说：“何等为守护具足？谓善男子所有钱谷，方便所得，自手执作，如法而得，能极守护，不令王、贼、水、火劫夺漂没令失，不善守护者亡失，不爱念者辄取，及诸灾患所坏，是名善男子善守护。”佛陀指出，在家善男子，应当对家中所有通过自己努力所得，以及自己亲手工作所得到的钱财谷物，都能够尽力守护，使这些家财不会因为国王盘剥、盗贼所盗、大水所漂、大火所烧而失去，也不有像不善于守护财之人那样丢失财物，也不被贪爱财物之人取走，以及不被各种天灾人祸所破坏，能够做到这样，就是善于守护财富。

财富的守护有时候比获取财富更为重要。如果我们通过自己的辛勤劳动获得了财富，而不知道妥善地加以守护，造成财富的流失和浪费，那么财富就会日日损减，以至于最后财富丧失殆尽，一个人不得不过着贫困的流浪生活。佛教认为，财富是无常的，为五家所共有。所谓的五家，即指被大水所漂走，被大火烧成灰烬，被可恶的盗贼偷走，被国王剥削，以及被不孝子孙败光。生活中的众多因缘，都有可能使一个人的财富受到损失。为了守护自己来之不易的财利，一个人就应当谨小慎微，对有可能造成财产受损的所有因缘，都要严防死守，防止稍一不慎，造成财产的损失。

善知识具足

一个家庭若要过上正常的经济生活，家庭所有成员都应当结交善知识，而不要与那些恶知识来往。因为与善知识结交，能够得到善知识的帮助指导，使自己德行不断进步，而与恶知识来往，不仅自己会受染污，还容易损失自己的财物，造成得不偿失的后果。对于善知识具足，佛陀有如下论述：“何等为善知识具足？若有善男子不落度、不放逸、不虚妄、不凶险，如是知识能善安慰，未生忧苦能令不生，已生忧苦能令开觉，未生喜乐能令速生，已生喜乐护令不失，是名善男子善知识具足。”一个人在结交朋友时，不可与那些堕落狂放、放逸虚妄，以及凶狠奸险的人来往，如果与这些人来往，这些恶友就会通过各种途径破坏你的财产，使你最后与他们同流合污，财富也会受到破坏。只有与真正的善知识结交，当你在心情沮丧时，就能够得到善知识的善言安慰；我们没有生起的痛苦，善知识能开导令不生；已经生起的痛苦能令觉悟；没有生起的喜乐能令迅速生起，已经生起的喜乐能够守护令不失去。当我们与这样善知识结交时，我们不仅财富不会损失，德行还能不断得到提升。

佛陀在《善生经》中与善生谈及耗损财业的问题时，曾经提到六损财业：一者耽湎于酒，二者博戏，三者放荡，四者迷于伎乐，五者恶友相得，六者懈堕。一个人若有以上六种行为，不仅能够损害自己的财富，而且还会使自己堕落。在这六种损失财物的事项中，其中第五恶友相得是造成财产损失的重要因素。在论及恶友相得的过患时，佛陀指出：“恶友相得复有六失：一者方便生欺，二者好喜屏处，三者诱他家人，四者图谋他物，五者财利自向，六者好发他过。是为恶友六失。若长者、长者子习恶友不已，其家财产日日损减。”当你与恶人交友时，这些恶友会强令你与他们一起为非作歹，欺行霸市，当遇到稍有不如自己意的人，则会施以拳脚。由于与恶友一起做恶会受到法律的惩罚，家人不仅要耗费钱财为你张罗，自己还要遭受囹圄之苦。恶友还会与你一起秘密地筹划一些为非作歹的阴谋，使你原本清纯的内心，变得污秽不堪。很多时候，与恶人一起筹划阴谋时，往往需要你拿出一定数量的钱财作为铺垫。可是，一旦你将这些钱财投进去之后，就会血本无归。恶人一起还会经常诱惑他们的家人，劝说家人支持他们为非作歹，最后也影响了家庭的清纯。与恶友一起常常会不务正业，造成自己财产的损失。当自己财富损失殆尽的时候，恶友还会怂恿你夺取他人财物供自己挥霍。

恶人之间其实都自私自利的，他们表面上结为朋友，在涉及到切身利益时，他们总会将财利据为己有，而丝毫不为对方着想。有时甚至为了财利大动干戈，最后反目成仇。恶友之间的关系，正应了世间一句话：“有酒有肉亲兄弟，急难何曾见一人。”恶人之间表面上结成朋友，其实，他们根本不为朋友考虑，有时候还将朋友告诉他们的隐私到处宣扬，破坏了朋友之间的信任。《菜根谭》中说：“不责人小过，不发人隐私，不念人旧恶，三者可以养德，亦可以远害。”这种“好发他过”的恶友，连做人基本的道德修养都没有，还能谈什么交友呢？由此可见，善知识具足对于保护自己的财富不受损失是很重要的。

正命具足

佛陀在经中还指出，在家众为保持家庭正常的经济生活，还应当做到正命具足。对于正命具足，佛陀也作了论述，经云：“云何为正命具足？谓善男子所有钱财出内称量，周圆掌护，不令多入少出也、多出少入也。如执秤者，少则增之，多则减之，知平而舍。如是，善男子称量财物，等入等出，莫令入多出少、出多入少，若善男子无有钱财而广散用，以此生活，人皆名为优昙钵果，无有种子，愚痴贪欲，不顾其后。或有善男子财物丰多，不能食用，傍人皆言是愚痴人如饿死狗。是故，善男子所有钱财能自称量，等入等出，是名正命具足。”佛陀重点讲述了居家生活，应当做到量入为出的问题。任何一个家庭，在支出财物时，首先应当考虑到自己的收入如何，然后根据自己的收入来合理安排支出。只有这样，才能保持收支的平衡，而不至于最后入不敷出，造成家庭生活的困难。因此，在筹划家庭经济收支的时候，遵循开源节流，量入为出的原则，就能够保持家庭收支的平衡。

佛陀讲到在处理家庭收支时“不令多入少出也、多出少入”，做到“等入等出”。对于这种观点，很多人都不表赞同。他们认为，依照佛陀这种说法，就等于将所有的收入吃光用光。万一自己有急事需要用钱怎么办呢？其实，佛陀这种“等入等出”的观点，并非让人将所有积蓄都花光，而是指在管理家庭经济账目时，要量入为出，量力而行。既要避免支出大于收入，造成家庭生活拮据，又要避免过于吝啬，变成一个守财奴。经文“或有善男子财物丰多，不能食用，傍人皆言是愚痴人如饿死狗”，说的就是一个人不要过于吝啬，而不是收入多少就支出多少。其实，我们通过辛勤劳动增加收入的目的，是为了不断改善自己的生活，如果只知道挣钱却又十分吝啬，就失去了挣钱的意义。

其实，佛陀不仅向弟子谈到如何增加家庭收入的问题，也谈到了财产的分配问题。如《杂阿含经》中说：“始学工巧业，方便集财物。得彼财物已，当应作四分，一分自食用，二分营生业，馀一分藏密，以拟于贫乏。”佛陀明确指出，对于自己获取的财物，应当分为四分：一分用于家庭日常生活开支，二分用于经营事业，以增加收入，留存一分做储蓄，以备不时之需。

居家生活的在家众，如果能够依照佛陀言教，从方便具足、守护具足、善知识具足以及正命具足四个方面如法运作，不仅能使家庭经济收支顺畅，而且还能使家庭生活和乐幸福，如意自在。

An appearance can only exist if there is a mind that beholds it. The 'beholding' of that appearance is nothing other than experience; that is what actually takes place. All the elements are vividly distinguished as long as the mind fixates on them. Yet they are nothing but a mere presence, an appearance. When the mind doesn't apprehend, hold, or fixate on what is experienced, 'reality' loses its solid, obstructing quality.

-- Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche

Maitreya's Semtsema (Part 4 of 6)

by Khenchen Appey Rinpoche

We have already seen in the preceding parts of this teaching that the Buddha’s qualities are infinite and impossible for ordinary beings to fathom. We have seen how through His clairvoyance, wisdom and infinite compassion, the Fully Enlightened One has the power to liberate sentient beings from the four maras, the causes of the suffering of beings.

The text goes on to expound a further set of qualities of the Buddha, known as the four fearlessnesses of the Fully Enlightened One. According to these, the Buddha has total inner confidence and courage, which make Him totally unaffected by any kind of opposition to, or criticism of, Himself and His teachings. The activities related to these four fearlessnesses are twofold: first, they provide the Buddha with an unequivocal sense of confidence in His teachings, thus keeping Him completely safe from any vilification by detractors. Secondly, this complete conviction in His teachings allows Him to help beings; for example, through His absolute knowledge of the thirty-seven attributes of Enlightenment, the Fully Enlightened One intrinsically knows each one of the defilements of sentient beings and each one of their antidotes; furthermore, He knows how every single defilement of every single being can be purified. Through this conviction, He can help beings to become free of their defilements and thus ripen their liberation.

Because of these four fearlessnesses, the Buddha is indomitable. He is impervious to any kind of challenge by holders of extreme views, heretics or even powerful gods. However valid or logical these challenges might seem, the Buddha is easily capable of defeating them, and they are unable to cause the slightest dent in His confidence and courage.

A further set of the Buddha’s qualities is that He has no need to keep anything secret. He feels no apprehension that, by others being privy to His views or thoughts, He might make Himself vulnerable to refutation or intimidation. When in the midst of large gatherings, nothing makes Him feel inhibited, nervous or threatened, and so He’s able to dispense His teachings with great confidence and glowing qualities, instilling consummate respect in the minds of His listeners.

Yet another set of qualities is that of the three well-established recollections, or mindfulnesses. This refers to the ability of the Buddha to stabilise the mind with awareness. When the Fully Enlightened One teaches, He feels no attachment or aversion to the reaction of His audience. Whether His listeners are filled with good intentions, respect and devotion, or whether they are physically present but mentally absent and do not appreciate the teachings, or whether they begin the session with great enthusiasm and gradually lose it, the Buddha is not affected. He feels no attachment to those who revere Him, and no aversion toward those who ignore or reject Him. The Buddha is able to free Himself from the two extremes of aversion and attachment, and can thus remain in a perfect state of equanimity. This is what we call the power of stabilising the mind with mindfulness.

Another aspect of the three mindfulnesses is that the Fully Enlightened One shows no sign of weariness while dispensing the teachings and is able to abide in the equanimity of mindfulness from the beginning to the end of His exposition. Due to these qualities of mindfulness, the Fully Enlightened One is persuasive and is able to attract and captivate the minds of His audience.

The next verse reads: “Homage to You, the Omniscient One, who are truly meaningful because You are not capable of anything but omniscient conduct at all times and in all Your activities.” This refers to the ability of the Buddha to only perform appropriate actions of body, speech and mind. There is never a single activity of the Buddha that is not in accord with the needs and benefit of sentient beings, never an activity that is ill-timed or ill-gauged. Whilst certain actions of Arhats, however well-established in their enlightened qualities they may be, can at times be flawed, there is not the remotest possibility of any single action of the Buddha being faulty.

And the text goes on in saying: “In Your activities in the world for all beings, You’re never untimely and therefore Your deeds are always meaningful. Homage to You who are never forgetful.” The Buddha is perfectly accurate in His timing, His activities are always performed at exactly the right time, never an instant too early or too late. The mind of the Buddha is completely and permanently aware and conscious and therefore never suffers from any kind of forgetfulness or lack of punctuality; thus He is able to carry out the right activity at exactly the right time, in exactly the right place.

The following verse eulogises the evercompassionate mind of the Buddha, whose single intent to benefit each and every sentient being is actualised at every moment. The Buddha gazes and, through His watchful eye, He sees the needs of sentient beings and looks after their well-being. Unfailingly altruistic and compassionate in His intention, He knows how best each and every kind of suffering can be relieved.

The compassion of the Buddha is ‘mahakaruna’, or great compassion. There is a great difference between compassion and great compassion. Whereas the Sravakas and Pratiekabuddhas are endowed with compassion, only the Fully Enlightened One is endowed with great compassion. Sravakas and Pratiekabuddhas do not have compassion for all sentient beings. They feel compassion primarily for beings suffering in the Kharmadatu, or desire realm. They only see the manifest suffering of sentient beings, and do not take the initiative of relieving or eliminating it. They don’t have the altruistic compassion to take the suffering of others upon themselves.

On the other hand, the great compassion with which only the Fully Enlightened One is endowed, is such that there is not a single being that is not its object, from beings in the lowest forms of rebirth to those dwelling in the Bodhisattva stage, including the Sravakas and Pratiekabuddhas, not to mention ordinary beings. His great compassion includes every single being that is not fully enlightened, and it takes on their suffering and the causes of their suffering. His willingness and determination to relieve this suffering, this ardent act of empathy, is what is referred to as Mahakaruna.

So in the light of this, when we practise the path of Mahakaruna and we begin to feel the suffering of sentient beings, we should be driven to take on all that suffering, and create the firm intention to relieve and remove it. Such an altruistic shouldering of the responsibility of eradicating the suffering of all beings is proper to the path of the Great Vehicle.

The next set of qualities of the Buddha that are described in the eulogy is that of His eighteen unmixed unique characteristics. This refers to the characteristics of the Buddha that are unique to Him, and are therefore unmixed, unshared by anyone else.

These eighteen unique characteristics are: six unique qualities related to the conduct of body, speech and mind; six unique characteristics related to realisation; three unique characteristics related to wisdom; and three unique characteristics related to enlightened activities.

Of the six unique characteristics related to the conduct of the Buddha, the first appertains to the conduct of the Buddha’s body, which is absolutely free from mistaken physical conduct. The physical conduct of the Sravakas far surpasses that of ordinary beings, but in comparison to that of the Fully Enlightened One, if is somewhat faulty. There is nothing in the physical conduct of the Buddha that is inappropriate or flawed.

As for the unmistaken verbal conduct of the Buddha, His voice is utterly unable to produce an unpleasant or undesirable sound. Even Arhats at times will generate certain ungainly sounds with their voices or their laughter, but this never happens with the Buddha.

And as regards the unmistaken mental conduct of the Buddha, His unfailing mindfulness ensures that it is always impeccable. Unlike Sravakas and Arhats, who sometimes lack mindfulness and therefore whose actions don’t always live up to their intentions, the Buddha never strays from meditative stabilisation, and therefore His mental conduct is flawless. A further quality of the Buddha’s mind is that He sees no duality between Samsara and Nirvana. Unlike Sravakas and Arhats, who are still prone to dualistic conceptions and feel attachment to Nirvana and aversion to Samsara, the Buddha doesn’t see an iota of duality in anything whatsoever within Samsara and Nirvana. One more unmistaken quality of the Buddha’s mental conduct is that His mind doesn’t suffer from lack of analysis. Whereas Arhats may sometimes engage in analysis as to how to best help beings, but actually fail to apply the correct remedy, the Buddha’s mind is free of any kind of faulty analysis, and His actions are always well analysed and well executed.

The reason why a comparison is made between Arhats and the Buddha is not to diminish the qualities of the Arhats. The purpose of this exposition is rather to emphasise the magnitude of the infinite qualities of the Buddha by comparing them favourably to those of Arhats, themselves endowed with supreme qualities. This comparison is made with an aim to inspire ordinary beings to generate stronger faith in and veneration for the Buddha’s qualities.

The next set of unmistaken qualities of the Fully Enlightened One refers to qualities related to realisation. First among these is the willingness or determination to show the truth of the Dharma to sentient beings in order to eliminate their suffering. The Buddha engages joyously and with perfect mindfulness in His effort to show beings the path of remaining in the meditative concentration that leads to the understanding of the lack of inherent existence of the self. As a result of this, moksha, or thorough liberation is attained by these beings.

And so these are the six unmixed unique characteristics in relation to the realisation of the Buddha. These are not shared by Sravakas and Arhats because of the degeneration of their realisation. This does not mean that they were formerly endowed with something that degenerated, but rather that there are gross defilements, obscurations of knowledge, still obstructing their minds and preventing them from attaining realisation. The Fully Enlightened One, on the other hand, has removed all defilements and obscurations of knowledge, and has therefore attained thorough liberation.

Next are the three unmixed qualities in relation to the aspect of the mind of the Buddha that knows the present, past and future, instantly and spontaneously. There is nothing that obstructs or hinders effortless and simultaneous realisation of all things present, past and future, no matter how lengthy the passing of time. In this aspect as well, the knowledge of the Buddha infinitely surpasses that of the Arhats. There is a story related to this. It is about a householder called Palkye who strongly desired to become ordained. He approached Shariputra with his request, but was turned down because he was not deemed by Shariputra to have the necessary merit or seed of virtuous inclination that would make him worthy of ordination. Palkye approached several Arhats with the same plea but, as none of them could see any virtuous inclination in his mind, he was again rebuffed on the same ground that he lacked the required merit. When Palkye’s wish was finally brought to the attention of the Fully Enlightened One, He reprimanded Shariputra and the Arhats, saying that Palkye did indeed have the seed of virtuous inclination that would warrant him to be ordained. The Buddha related how, in a previous life where Palkye had been reborn as a pig, he had been chased by a dog around a stupa, thus creating the meritorious seed that would make him worthy of ordination. And so, whereas the Arhats cannot perceive the duration of eons and the space between eons, the mind of the Buddha transcends any duration of time, nothing is beyond His omniscience.

The same applies to inconceivable space, what we call ‘eons of eons of space’, meaning the distance between one place and another. Whereas even the Arhats’ concept of space is limited, the Buddha’s omniscient mind is unhindered by distance, however great. As an example of this, there is the story of Maugdalyanaputra, who had many miraculous abilities and great clairvoyance, but nevertheless could not see where his mother would be reborn. He consulted many Arhats, but none could help except the Fully Enlightened One who, through His omniscient mind, unhindered by the concept of distance, knew that Maugdalyana’s mother would be reborn in a realm called Öserchen, or the “Light-Filled Realm”. No one apart from the Buddha could see this, not even Maugdalyana himself.

Like eons of eons of time and space, the mind of the Buddha is unfathomable and inconceivable, it cannot be comprehended by anyone, not even by the Arhats.

Next are the three unmistaken characteristics of the Buddha relating to His enlightened activities, or ‘thinley’ in Tibetan. Of all the enlightened activities of the Buddha’s body, speech and mind, there is not a single one that won’t be virtuous or beneficial. On the other hand, although Arhats would never engage in non-virtuous deeds, there are times when their virtuous actions become mixed with neutral activities. But there is not the slightest possibility of the Enlightened One engaging in an activity that is not virtuous, while even His neutral activities are transmuted into virtuous ones. This is because there is not a single activity of the Buddha that is purposeless or meaningless. Every single one of His activities is generated by His primordial wisdom.

And here the author pays homage to these eighteen unique characteristics of the Fully Enlightened One, which make Him the peerless master and supreme teacher of all beings, including Sravakas and Pratiekabuddhas.

We do analytical meditation to understand the various unsatisfactory conditions or sufferings of cyclic existence. When we gain an experience of them, we then place our mind firmly on that experience using stabilising meditation. The more we meditate on suffering, the more we are motivated to rid ourselves of it. We will want to find out its causes and cease creating them. Thus, after contemplating true suffering, we contemplate true origin. Investigating this, we will see that suffering arises from karma, which is produced in dependence on the disturbing attitudes. These in turn are rooted in self-grasping ignorance. We will want to eliminate this ignorance, and will see that because it is a faulty attitude or misconception, it can be eliminated. Thus we will be certain that we can attain the true cessation of suffering and its origin. Through further contemplating the four noble truths, we will recognise that the way to abandon self-grasping ignorance is to meditate on the true path, since this path is principally the wisdom realising the non-existence of the self that is adhered to by ignorance. This is the order in which the four noble truths unfold in meditation and thus is the order in which to practice them. So, although the actual order in which the four occur is first the causes and then the effects, when the Buddha taught for the purpose of practice, he explained the results first.

-- Khensur Jampa Tegchok

不用财物的布施

圣开法师

在一般人的想法，总认为布施是有钱人的事，所以若逢有人介绍他们布施修福时，总是推辞说：「待我将来赚大钱时，再行布施吧！」其实也不一定要发了财才能布施，布施的方式很多，无财之人也可行施。在优婆塞戒经里佛说：「善男子！无财之人，自说无财，是义不然，何以故？一切水草，人无不有，虽是国主，未必能施，虽是贫穷，非不能施。」由此可知，有钱的人，如果不发慈悲之心，未必人人能施，贫穷的人，只要一念慈心，即肯布施，虽然没有丰盛的财物，但能尽心诚意，无相布施，一麻一麦，其福报亦是无量无边的。

布施的机会很多，只是人们忽略了它，总认为离开了钱财，就没法行施了，殊不知在日常生活中，为人处世，处处都有成就行施修福的好因缘，今在此略举数则，不一定财物，也能行施获大果报。兹分叙如左：

一、眼施：世人常以好的眼色，礼待父母、师长、沙门及一切人们，而不以恶眼相向，即名为眼施。此人今生命终，来世受身，当得清净眼，将来成佛之时，必得天眼、佛眼之大果报。

二、和颜悦色施：世人对于父母、师长、沙门及一切人们，若能时时和颜悦色，不以忧愁苦脸相待，来世将得端正色身之报；未来成佛，当得身金色之果报。

三、言辞施：世人对于父母、师长、沙门及一切的人们，若能以柔软好语相向，不出粗暴恶言，舍身之后，来世受身，即得言语辩才，所有言说，当为人所信受敬重；将来成佛，可得四无碍辩才。

四、身施：世人若见父母、师长、沙门及一切人们来时，能够起身迎接作礼，是名身施；今世命终，来世受身，将得端正庄严身、长大之身、人所敬身；往后成佛，身如尼拘陀树，无见顶者之胜报。

五、心施：世人虽能以上事布施供养，但若心不和善，即不名为施；如果世人在布施之时，皆能做到喜心和善，深生尊重供养悦意，即可名为心施；来世可得智慧明心、不痴狂心，未来成佛，得一切种智心。

六、床座施：世人如见父母、师长、沙门及有缘之人来访，即能亲手敷床设座，乃至以自己之座，使之上座，来生受身，当得尊贵七宝床座；未来成佛，得师子法座。

七、房舍施：世人若能让父母、师长、沙门于自己家中，行住坐卧，一切自在，即名房舍施；今生舍报后，来世受身，得自然宫殿舍宅；未来成佛，得诸禅屋宅。

以上七种乃非财物，却能得大果报的布施，只要世人尽心去行，不分贫富贵贱，人人皆能做得到。

Simple awareness helps us to understand the existence of different opinions. If we can enhance this meaningful skill, this may enable us to avoid embarrassment and could even save a life. Therefore, although we may look the same, this does not mean that we think the same.

-- Zurmang Gharwang Rinpoche

Maitreya's Semtsema (Part 3 of 6)

by Khenchen Appey Rinpoche

I t is one of the attributes of the Buddha that His qualities are infinite and so, as hard as one may try to describe them, one can never even come close to embracing them all.

We have already described the first set of the Buddha’s qualities, which are referred to as ‘the four immeasurables’ - the Buddha’s attributes of kindness, compassion, joy and equanimity. We have also seen that the Buddha has attained thorough liberation, which means that not only is He free from all obscurations, but also that He is able to help beings become free of their own defilements. He has dominion over all phenomena, which serves to induce and inspire beings onto the path. His mind is liberated from the obscurations of knowledge and defilements. He has exhaustive meditative Samadhi, and can transmute all the ingredients that produce appearances. As He is omniscient and omnipresent, He embraces all knowable things with His knowledge, and exposure to His mind liberates beings. He has the capacity for spontaneous achievement, for achieving anything whatsoever, without any difficulty whatsoever. The Buddha is endowed with the supreme intelligence of distinctive awareness – He knows all phenomena, their nature, their base and definition, and He knows how to expound all of these.

And so, the next set of qualities of the Buddha that are eulogised in these verses is that of the six supreme clairvoyances. The first among these is what is called the supreme knowledge of magical clairvoyance. According to this, the Buddha can actualise His clairvoyance by creating non-existing manifestations and dissolving existing ones. Such an ability is called the clairvoyance of creating magical manifestations.

The second clairvoyance is that of reading people’s minds, their thoughts, their feelings and emotions, and their state of mind.

The third is the clairvoyance of divine ear. This refers to the visual and aural clairvoyance according to which He can see and hear all things without any difficulty, whether the object of His perception is gross or subtle, near or far.

The fourth is the clairvoyance of clearly recalling all past incarnations – not only His own, but also those of others – past lives, physical appearances, habits, experiences, activities.

The fifth is called the clairvoyance of divine eye – this is rather similar to the third one, except that this clairvoyance of divine eye means that the Enlightened One is able to see the future, everything that will happen in the future and in future incarnations. This means that the Buddha can predict and prophesy all future occurrences.

The sixth and last one is the clairvoyance of total exhaustion. This refers to the total elimination of contaminations. As beings progress along the path, they gradually purify themselves of their obscurations, and achieve certain stages of purification, such as the first bhumi. The Fully Enlightened Buddha has the clairvoyance of seeing the degree to which each being has eliminated his or her contaminations.

The author then goes on to describe the activities of these six clairvoyances. The Buddha performs three kinds of miraculous activities – those of body, speech and mind.

The activity related to the first clairvoyance of creating miraculous manifestations, is that of the Enlightened One miraculously appearing to those who are spiritually ripe, wherever they are, in order to train them. This is a miraculous activity of the body of the Buddha.

He performs this sort of activity in order to arouse faith in the minds of those potential trainees before whom He manifests. During the time when the Fully Enlightened One was in our world, it was quite common for Him to appear miraculously in certain places. If He needed to go somewhere that was too far for Him to walk, He would not only travel there miraculously, but He would also invite whoever shared the ability to travel miraculously to join Him, giving them a special piece of wood that they were to bring with them.

As an example of this, there was, at the time of the Buddha, a famous Dharma sponsor by the name of Anathapindika. He had a daughter called Mahā- Subhaddā, or Mahadabhadri, who was married to a king in a distant land where the Buddha’s teachings were not heeded. The king and his subjects adhered to other religious practices, and paid obeisance to preceptors of other spiritual persuasions, often making great feast offerings in their honour. Since Mahadabhadri was a devout Buddhist, this caused her much grief. But one day, she managed to persuade her husband to invite the Buddha to his palace.

Mahadabhadri knew of the Buddha’s omniscience and of his ability to read people’s minds, and she was aware that He could miraculously appear wherever He wished. And so, after obtaining the consent of her inlaws, she asked the family to prepare a feast worthy of the Enlightened One and of His companions, and then, holding in her hands a bunch of incense sticks, she prayed fervently to all the Buddhas to come and partake of her feast offering, along with whoever would care to accompany Him. In His omniscience, the Buddha heard her prayer and immediately invited all those who also had the miraculous ability to travel, to come with him to Mahadabhadri’s house. And so the Sravakas and Pratiekabuddhas all went, and were there to greet the Buddha when He arrived. This is an example of the miraculous omniscience of the Buddha, whereby He knows people’s thoughts, and of His ability to physically appear instantly, as soon as His presence is needed, combining the first two supreme clairvoyances, one of the mind, and one of the body.

Many other people experienced this kind of event during the Buddha’s lifetime. The Buddha’s own father, Suddhodana once invited Him to Kapilavastu, and the bikkshu Charka was sent there early to make preparations for the Buddha’s visit. As usual, the Sravakas and Pratiekabuddhas arrived and performed all kinds of airborne feats above the palace. Amazed, and convinced that this was the Buddha Himself, Suddhodana asked Charka who they were, and was astonished to learn that they were merely disciples of the Buddha, and that He Himself was yet to appear.

As for the miraculous activities of the speech of the Buddha, they reveal themselves in four different ways.

The omniscient divine ear, first among the four qualities of the Buddha’s speech, empowers Him to know the language of each and every sentient being, enabling Him to expound the teachings in whatever language a particular being understands.

By the power of recalling past incarnations, the Buddha knows how beings have become what they are. The activity related to the divine eye, is that the Buddha knows the future of beings, what they will be and experience.

These two forms of omniscience, that of knowing the past and that of knowing the future, transcend the two pitfalls of nihilism and eternalism, countering both false notions, the one that denies past and future incarnations, and the one that is attached to a permanent self.

The fourth of the speech activities of the Buddha is related to the clairvoyance of eliminating contaminations – it reveals itself in the absolute knowledge of what procedure is most effective for beings to attain the complete elimination of their contaminations and to reach ultimate liberation.

Of these three kinds of miraculous activities of the Buddha, those of body, speech and mind, the most beneficial and far-reaching is the miraculous activity of speech. This is because it is through His speech that the Buddha teaches, and this is what most effectively establishes beings on the path.

So far, the qualities of the Buddha that have been expounded have been those of the Dharmakaya or the true body.

The following verse, on the other hand, is a eulogy to the qualities of the Rupakaya, the Buddha’s form body, His physical manifestation. It reads: “When all embodied beings see You, they know You to be a great person.” The Buddha appears as a sublime being, one endowed with unique physical characteristics– what we call ‘lakshan’ in Sanskrit and ‘tzen’ in Tibetan. These physical qualities are unequivocally the marks of an Enlightened One, and whoever sees these ‘lakshans’ are left with no doubt that their bearer is a great person or ‘Mahapurusha’. Of these marks, there are 32 major ones, such as a protuberance on the crown, and 80 minor ones, including coppery red nails. They have the function of instilling faith in those who see Him, and even of making liberation possible by the mere beholding of this great being.

The form body of the Buddha is incomparably attractive, and its beauty defies anyone’s imagination. Each of these major and minor marks is the result of unique virtues derived from the practice of the ten perfections, in particular that of tolerance.

Impatience and intolerance lead to a rebirth with an unattractive appearance, whereas the practice of patience and tolerance leads to a rebirth with a beautiful appearance, and eventually to the attainment of the perfect beauty of the Enlightened One. And so, by reflecting on these qualities, one comes to appreciate their value, and ones strives to attain them by practising virtue and avoiding negative behaviour. One does one’s best to avoid negative emotions, particularly anger. Even a short-lived moment of anger can bring with it many miseries and difficulties and can destroy many virtuous qualities.

As Shantideva said, if someone causes us harm and as a result we become angry, then we have been doubly wronged. If we have become agitated by someone’s words or behaviour and our mind cannot settle, Shantideva advises us to do anything we can to ease the situation that is agitating us, and to do our very best not to fall prey to anger. He stresses that it is particularly important not to bear resentment toward anyone, whatever they have done to us, as this emotion is extremely harmful to us.

There’s a famous story about resentment. Once, when the Tibetan translator Natso Lotsawa was working in Lhasa with Atisha, he accidentally spilled some ink, as was wont to happen with a translator whose tools were pen and ink. Atisha became quite agitated and, in no uncertain terms, asked Natso Lotsawa to leave. Natso Lotsawa felt dejected and complained: “You expelled me once in Ngari, and now you’ve done it a second time.” And Atisha answered: “See, I can become agitated, but I don’t hold a grudge. You’re filled with resentment. You should know how to curtail that emotion.”

The author then goes on to eulogise the four purities of the Buddha, which empower Him to easily perform the four activities.

The first among these is the purity of the base, or form. It empowers the Buddha to assume whatever physical form is necessary at any given time. This base, or physical manifestation, has the capacity to remain as long as the Buddha deems it necessary. This body also has the characteristic of giving itself unconditionally and unlimitedly in response to the needs of sentient beings.

The second purity is the purity of objects. This means that the Enlightened One is able to transmute objects – to render existing things non-existent and to create things from non-existence. The Enlightened One also has the purity of knowing what objects to create and what objects to cause to vanish, in order to benefit beings.

The third purity is the purity of mind. This empowers the Enlightened One to remain in meditative concentration as long as is useful or necessary.

The fourth one is the purity of primordial wisdom. It is unique to the Fully Enlightened One, and it means that nothing whatsoever obstructs Him from recognising, knowing and understanding whatever needs to be recognised, known and understood.

Next, the eulogy pays homage to the ten spiritual powers of the Buddha. This mainly refers to the invincible power of His mind.

The first among these is the power of knowledge, according to which the Enlightened One knows exactly the nature of things in relation to cause and effect. He knows the cause of existence as it is.

The second is the power of knowing the causes and effects of actions. A particular action creates this result. A particular action does not create that result.

The third is the power of knowing the result of a particular meditative concentration and what kind of liberation will derive from it.

The fourth is the power of knowing the aptitudes and predisposition of each and every sentient being. Among other things, the Enlightened One knows whether a person is of very sharp intelligence or of mediocre intelligence in relation to faith, diligence and wisdom.

The fifth one is more unique to the Enlightened One. It is the spiritual power of knowing the particular interests of all sentient beings. For instance, the Buddha will know whether a being is more inclined toward the higher vehicle or toward the lower one or, for instance, whether a being is more attracted by form or by sound, and so on. This will determine the way in which the Buddha will help this being.

The sixth is the power of knowing the basic elements of sentient beings, the seeds latent in their mindstreams. These refer to natural characteristics proper to each being – whether this be an innate talent or inclination, or a latent defilement, the Buddha will recognise these characteristics and dispense His teachings to each being accordingly.

The seventh is the spiritual power of knowing all the pathways that lead to the different realms, from the hell realms to the highest state of Enlightenment. The Buddha knows what predisposition in a being leads him or her to perform an action, whether this action leads to a higher or a lower rebirth, and knows what means to use to liberate this being and what path is most suited to each trainee.

The eighth, ninth and tenth spiritual powers have already been described in the previous set of qualities. The eighth one is that of recalling past incarnations, the ninth is the spiritual power of knowing future incarnations, and the tenth is the spiritual power of eliminating contaminations.

The eulogy then goes on to describe the activities derived from the ten spiritual powers. Generally speaking, the ten spiritual powers provide the ability to vanquish the four maras or the four evils.

Of these four evils, the first is the evil that deceives one into implementing the wrong method. It leads people to engage in wrong practices, such as slaughtering animals and sacrificing them to deities. The activity related to the first of the ten spiritual powers is that of discerning whether a particular practice is proper or improper.

The second is the evil that deceives one into finding refuge in the wrong object. By taking refuge in Ishvaras, or worldly gods, and by venerating them and seeking their favour by sacrificing animals to them, beings create causes that will produce negative results. The second spiritual power counters this, by fully knowing the causes and effects of each action, and avoiding all actions that bring about negative results.

The third is the evil that deceives one from knowing the correct purity. While some beings are deluded in thinking that bathing in rivers will wash away one’s sins, or that certain ascetic practices will gain them liberation, the Enlightened One knows that only meditative concentration can ultimately cleanse one’s karma.

The fourth is the evil that deceives one from finding the Mahayana path. If a person is fully ready to receive Mahayana teachings, but receives teachings from the lower teachings instead, this person is robbed of the opportunity to embark on the Mahayana path. Thanks to the seven last of the ten spiritual powers, according to which the Buddha knows the aptitudes, interests and elements of each being, He will recognise whether a being is ready to follow the Mahayana path, and if he or she is indeed ready, the Enlightened One will place this being on it, thus defeating the fourth evil.

All phenomena are projections of the mind. Mind is not "a" mind; the mind is empty in essence. Although empty, everything constantly arises in it. Through the deepest examination of the mind may we find its innermost root.

-- 3rd Karmapa Rangjung Dorje