2.2. THE EXPLANATION OF THE ACTUAL TREATISE
2.2.1. The branches of entering into the composition of the treatise
2.2.2. The extensive explanation of the nature of the treatise to be composed
2.2.3. Bringing the composition to completion
2.2.1. THE BRANCHES OF ENTERING INTO THE COMPOSITION OF THE TREATISE
2.2.1.1. The praiseworthiness of great compassion, the root of all virtue and excellence
2.2.1.2. The praise describing its focal objects
2.2.1.1. THE PRAISEWORTHINESS OF GREAT COMPASSION, THE ROOT OF ALL VIRTUE AND EXCELLENCE
2.2.1.1.1. The teaching on how all noble beings are born from the three qualities of compassion and so on
2.2.1.1.2. The teaching on how compassion is foremost even from among these three qualities
2.2.1.1.1. THE TEACHING ON HOW ALL NOBLE BEINGS ARE BORN FROM THE THREE QUALITIES OF COMPASSION AND so ON
Hearers and middling buddhas arise from the lords of sages,
Buddhas are born from bodhisattvas,
And compassionate mind, nondual intelligence,
And bodhichitta are the causes of the victors’ heirs. (1.1)
At the outset of this supreme being’s activity of composing this treatise, which enters the Middle Way in a vast and profound way, it is appropriate for him to first praise and pay homage to an exalted object and then embark upon the main composition. This verse lists, from the lowest to highest in praiseworthiness and worthiness for homage, the hearers (shrāvaka, nyentö/nyan thos), the solitary realizers (pratyekabuddha, rang sangye/rang sangs rgyas), perfect buddhas, bodhisattvas, and the great compassion of the heirs of the victorious ones (gyalwe se/rgyal ba’i sras), or bodhisattvas.
Hearers and middling buddhas120 arise from the lords of sages,121 because the liberations of the hearers and solitary realizers are produced through the tathāgatas’122 teaching the dharma. One may wonder, “If the solitary realizers manifest their own realization without depending upon others, how is it that they arise from the lords of sages?” In the beginning, those bearing the disposition of a solitary realizer hear the profound dharma of interdependence from a tathāgata. After that, they do not pass into nirvāṇa during that lifetime, but through the cause [of their previous training] they actualize nirvāṇa in their final lifetime, a lifetime during which no buddha appears in the world. Therefore the birth of the solitary realizers from the lords of sages is logical.
As to the meaning of the term “hearer,” certain individuals are called hearers because when they attain the results of the authentic instructions, they proclaim those instructions to others.123 Alternatively, they are called hearers because they proclaim instructions to those who are dedicated to the path of perfect buddhahood after they hear teachings on that path from a buddha in person. From that perspective, the term “hearer” can also be applied to bodhisattvas. The White Lotus of Genuine Dharma says:
Protector, today we have become hearers.
We will correctly proclaim genuine enlightenment
And fully express the terms of enlightenment.
Therefore, we are like inexhaustible124 hearers.
Moreover, since the bodhisattvas not only hear the dharma but also teach it to others, the term “hearer” applies to the qualities of bodhisattvas that are shared with the hearers proper.
Perfect buddhas are born from bodhisattvas, because they arise due to the causes of persistence on the path and exertion in gathering and purifying. One may wonder, “Are the bodhisattvas not called ‘heirs of the victorious ones?’” This is true from the point of view that the victorious ones act as the dominant condition that produces bodhisattvas through teaching them the dharma. Nevertheless, it is not contradictory to say that the heirs of the victorious ones themselves are the cause of the victorious ones. For, the victorious transcendent conquerors (bhagavan, chomden de/bcom ldan ’das) transform into buddhas from the state of bodhisattvas. Furthermore, all victorious ones take a bodhisattva as their master in the beginning. They are able to attain the resultant state of the victorious through relying on bodhisattvas, who in turn serve as the dominant conditions for their attainment of buddhahood.
One may wonder, “What are the causes for becoming such a bodhisattva?” The causes of the victors’ heirs are compassionate mind (the focal objects and aspects of which will be explained later); nondual intelligence, supreme knowledge free of all extremes such as conceptions of the existence or nonexistence of things; and bodhichitta, the desire to attain enlightenment for the benefit of others (a desire congruent with supreme knowledge). Bodhichitta is the cause that enables someone to be called a bodhisattva.
2.2.1.1.2. THE TEACHING ON HOW COMPASSION IS FOREMOST EVEN FROM AMONG THESE THREE QUALITIES
Since it is asserted that love is the seed of the victorious ones’ abundant harvest,
Is like the water that causes it to grow,
And is the ripening that allows it to be enjoyed for a long time,
I therefore praise compassion first. (1.2)
Since compassion itself is the cause of the other two causes of becoming a bodhisattva, it is praised first. To have an abundant harvest, the seed, water, and ripening are essential in the beginning, middle, and end, respectively. Compassion is praised here in correlation to the harvest example. Why is it praised? Because love—great compassion—is essential to the victorious ones’ abundant harvest in all of its three phases.
In the beginning, compassion is like a seed that produces all the qualities of the buddhas, since it gives rise to the sprouts of the two types of bodhichitta that have not yet arisen. It is essential in the middle because it is like water that causes the bodhichitta that has already arisen, and the virtue of the two accumulations, to grow and flourish. Without the nourishment of the water of compassion, some types of students would proceed to attain an inferior nirvāṇa, even if they have generated bodhichitta previously.
It is essential in the end because it is asserted to be like the ripening of the harvest that is the enjoyment upon which the hosts of ordinary and noble students depend for a long time. Even if one attains the dharmakāya for one’s own benefit, if one lacks the form kāyas, which are ripened by the compassion that benefits others, the disciples will not enjoy any harvests for a long time. Conversely, if the form kāyas that are fully ripened by compassion are available to the hosts of ordinary and noble disciples as objects of reliance, the continuity of enlightened activity will flourish for a long time, until saṃsāra is emptied.
For these reasons, the master Chandrakīrti praises great compassion first, at the outset of composing this treatise.
2.2.1.2. THE PRAISE DESCRIBING ITS FOCAL OBJECTS
2.2.1.2.1. The praise to compassion that focuses on sentient beings
2.2.1.2.2. The praise to compassion that focuses on phenomena and nonreferential compassion
2.2.1.2.1. THE PRAISE TO COMPASSION THAT FOCUSES ON SENTIENT BEINGS
First, thinking “I,” they cling to a self.
Then, thinking “This is mine,” attachment to things develops.
Beings are powerless, like a rambling water mill.
I bow to compassion for these wanderers. (1.3)
Compassion is of three types: the compassion that focuses on sentient beings, the compassion that focuses on phenomena, and nonreferential compassion. Those three types of compassion all possess the aspect of desire for sentient beings to be free from suffering.
The first compassion focuses on sentient beings whose substantial existence as persons and so on has been superimposed. The second compassion focuses on sentient beings as being mere imputations in reference to the aggregates and so on. This compassion entails the realization that sentient beings are devoid of substantial existence. The third compassion observes the absence of inherent nature, in relation to which the existence of sentient beings is a mere label. This compassion entails the realization that both sentient beings and phenomena are devoid of inherent nature.
One may wonder, “In whose mindstream do these types of compassion arise?” In the system that holds that hearers and solitary realizers do not realize the selflessness of phenomena, the three arise in ordinary beings, hearers and solitary realizers, and heirs of the victorious ones, respectively. When correlated to the philosophical systems, they arise in tīrthikas, Proponents of Things (Ngö Mawa/dngos smra ba),125 and followers of the Middle Way, respectively. In terms of the stages of Mahāyāna, they arise in those who have attained the Mahāyāna paths of accumulation and juncture, those dwelling on the seven impure grounds,126 and those dwelling on the three pure grounds127 and upwards,128 respectively.
From the standpoint of this tradition, [that of Chandrakīrti], in which the hearers and solitary realizers do realize the selflessness of phenomena, the latter two types of compassion are taught to be the same basic mental state, but with different modes of perceptual focus. Thus it is taught that all noble beings possess the latter two types of compassion.
Before beings begin to cling to the world as something that could be possessed by a self, they think “I,” reifying the self even though the self does not exist. Consequently, attachment to things develops: all things not fixated on as “I” are thought of as “mine.” This includes sentient beings and nonsentient objects.
These beings, who cling to “me” and “mine,” or self and entities connected to the self, are like the flow of a rambling water mill: due to karma and mental afflictions they are powerless. They wander without pause from beginningless time in the great well of saṃsāra, from the Avīchi hell to the peak of existence.129 Thus the praise is made by Chandrakīrti: “I bow to the compassion that delights in saving these beings from such suffering.”
2.2.1.2.2. THE PRAISE TO COMPASSION THAT FOCUSES ON PHENOMENA AND NONREFERENTIAL COMPASSION
Beings are like a moon on rippling water:
They move and are empty of inherent nature. (1.4ab)
Again an example is used: when the image of a moon appears on the surface of a very clear pool of water that has been blown gently by the wind, the actual moon seems to appear simultaneously with the water, the basis for the reflection. Genuine beings130 understand that the reflection of the moon, along with the water that is its support, is impermanent, changing from moment to moment. They also understand that the moon is empty of an inherent nature. The example illustrates its meaning in the following way.
In the ocean of the views of the transitory collection, which is moved by the winds of incorrect conception, beings appear in the eyes of bodhisattvas like the reflection of a moon. They are born from the interdependence of their previous actions, which in turn depend on the vast blue waters of ignorance. The bodhisattvas, overcome with compassion, see that these beings, who exist in dependence upon karma and mental afflictions, are moved—they suffer the changes of impermanence from moment to moment.
Bodhisattvas also see that all of these phenomena are empty of an inherent nature. Seeing in this way, they form a desire to attain the state of the only true friend of beings, buddhahood itself, which vanquishes the suffering of movement and possesses the nectar of genuine dharma, free from all mistaken conceptions.
Thus, “I bow to the compassion for beings that is a transcendent conqueror.”