WITH GREAT REVERENCE I pay homage to and seek refuge in the precious teacher Lord Serlingpa and his entire lineage, father and sons. Pray bless me!
Lord Serlingpa, the embodiment of wisdom and great compassion, once said to Atiśa, “My son, in order to serve others during this era of degeneration, you must distill the sacred words of the discourses, scriptures, and reasonings, and all the pith instructions of the teachers and undertake their practice in one sitting. For this you will require the following teaching, which makes you invulnerable to sickness, harm, interference from obstructive forces, demons, and upholders of false teachings, and all such adverse conditions and impediments.” Then he taught the following:
Level out all [false] conceptions,
carry forth the force of all antidotes,
concentrate all aspirations into one,
and seek the path where all paths converge.
These are the four enlightened factors, the antidotes.
They are vital if you are to tame barbarian borderlands,
and they are essential, too, in the age of degeneration,
The meaning of these verses is as follows. It is essential that you level out the conceptions at the very site of their origin. Examine, “Where do these appear? To what sense faculties do they appear? In what shape and color do they appear?” They are like a venomous snake or a rabid dog; do not allow them to be near you. Rather, without giving in to procrastination, destroy them the moment they arise by applying their antidote. It has been stated in a sutra:
O attachment, I’ve now discerned your root:
You arise from the proliferation of concepts.122
Also:
that casts one into samsara’s ocean.123
Entering the Middle Way states:
Ordinary beings are chained by their conceptualization;
yogis who are free of conceptualization gain freedom.
That which reveals the falsity of conceptualizations,
the learned ones taught, is the fruit of a thorough analysis.124
All the sacred scriptures and the treatises of the Great Vehicle, such as those cited here, assert conceptualization to be a great obstacle to attaining enlightenment. It is crucial, therefore, not to delay. Since, as it says here, harboring too many thoughts prevents you from going very far, do not engage in the proliferation of thoughts, even with respect to the profound truth. Rather, consolidate your aspirations decisively on the single task of destroying [false] conceptions. Even the sutras describe mental engagements as Māra’s activity.
Therefore, until you attain omniscient buddhahood, concentrate all your aspirations and relate all the grounds and paths—such as the paths of accumulation, seeing, and meditation—to destroying false conceptions the instant they arise by applying their antidotes. In brief, every time a conceptualization arises, make sure that its antidote arrives there too. For it is through antidotes that your aspirations must be concentrated to destroy false conceptions; and all the paths, too, must be traversed by way of destroying these false conceptions. For this purpose, adopt the four factors belonging to the class of enlightened phenomena.125
Again, the following was taught:
Adverse conditions are your spiritual teacher,
demons and possessor spirits, the Buddha’s emanations;
sickness is a broom for negative karma and defilements,
and sufferings are displays of the dharmadhātu, ultimate reality’s expanse.
These are the four thoroughly afflicted factors.
They are vital if you are to tame the barbarian borderlands,
and they are essential, too, in the era of degeneration,
to bear up amid the misguided ways of negative companions.
The meaning of these lines is as follows: Even if unwanted adverse conditions such as sickness and suffering befall you, turn these into catalysts and take on top of these the sickness and suffering of all sentient beings. Take these on mentally, without reservation, and rejoice for having taken them en masse. Similarly, as you give to sentient beings whatever favorable conditions you enjoy, such as your happiness, rejoice in sentient beings perfecting their accumulations of merit. Likewise, if you probe any conditions for the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and so on that arise, they are nowhere to be found. Place your mind in this truth of unfindability, and rejoice in [adverse conditions with the thought], “They are my spiritual teachers exhorting me to the ultimate expanse; they are conditions conducive to enlightenment.”
When harms from ghosts, ogresses, site spirits, and so on befall you, place upon these, with your entire heart, whatever harms and sufferings sentient beings are undergoing. Thinking “I have definitely taken these,” cultivate a sense of joy. By giving to the agents of harm whatever they desire—such as the flesh, blood, and so on of your body—out of compassion, out of loving-kindness, and out of the awakening mind, the harms are turned into factors conducive to attaining enlightenment and therefore assist your journey to enlightenment. Given that all these malevolent forces are emanations of the buddhas, you should cultivate inconceivable joy and respect toward them.
When you are suffering from an illness, take all the sickness and pains of sentient beings into the very core of your heart and imagine that all sentient beings attain perfect abandonment. Thinking, “This has served its purpose,” cultivate joy. When you are free of sickness, again motivated thus, give to sentient beings all your happiness and its causes and imagine that all sentient beings attain perfect realization. Thinking, “This has served its purpose,” cultivate joy. This sweeps away negative karma and the obscurations, for it does not allow negative karma and obscurations to linger unchallenged for even a single moment. If a hundred sufferings arise, a hundred ways to search for [their true nature] will emerge. However, given that these [sufferings] never truly existed, there are a hundred different ways to not find them. These are therefore the hundred abandonments and the hundred realizations—a great display of the ultimate expanse. Cultivate joy in this. These, then, are the objects to be relinquished, the four thoroughly unenlightened factors.
Again, the following was taught:
This training is the great counterbalance to happiness,
and the great successor to misery;
it is a charm that attracts misfortune,
and a wish capping the useless ones.126
These are the four antidotes to misguided ways.
They are vital if you are to tame the barbarian borderlands,
and they are essential, too, in the age of degeneration,
to bear up amid the misguided ways of negative companions.
The meaning of these lines is as follows: Harbor modest desires and cultivate contentment to counteract the longing for pleasures such as food, drink, wealth, fame, and so on, for these obstruct the pursuit of virtuous activities. Similarly, follow up sufferings with additional pain: If your leg hurts, go for circumambulation; if your back hurts, do prostrations; if you suffer too much greed, give things away to others; if you suffer distractions, enter into retreat; and if you delight in gossip, cease speaking. When you suffer great unwanted omens—such as a bad reputation, disputes, magical spells, and malicious gossip—since these are means for subduing the malevolent demon of self-grasping, welcome them as auspicious. As you might use a charm to attract good fortune, cultivate courage by shouting, “Send me more!” With the thought, “All these events befalling me, events that are normally of no benefit, if I can use them to subdue this self, from here on I will not be reborn in cyclic existence.” In this manner, you cap your desires and ensure that you achieve the strength of the three aspects of forbearance.127
These are, then, the four antidotes to misguided ways, the objects of thorough application of the antidotes.
Again, the following was taught:
“Self” is the root of negative karma;
it is to be discarded decisively.
“Other” is a source of enlightenment;
it is to be embraced enthusiastically.
These two teachings draw the remedies to a close;
they are vital if you are to tame the barbarian borderlands,
and they are essential, too, in the age of degeneration,
to bear up amid the misguided ways of negative companions.
The meaning of these lines is as follows: Given that the self is the source of all unwanted events and the root of all negative actions, you should never cherish it but discard it decisively. Reflect, “O enemies, if you like it, take it. O demons, if you like it, take it. If not in haste, cook it first; if in haste, just take it and run.” In this way, totally discard your own self and serve the well-being of all. And since the joyful embracing of others’ welfare through forsaking your own self-interest is the source of unsurpassable goodness, nurture sentient beings with kindness and take their sufferings upon yourself. These two teachings, which bring closure to the objects to be relinquished and their remedies, are the practice of great beings.
Cast away decisively, let go with ease,
dismantle thoroughly, and let be with gentleness:
These are the four aspects of the sealing of emptiness.128
They are vital if you are to tame the barbarian borderlands.
They are essential, too, in the age of degeneration,
to bear up amid the misguided ways of negative companions.
If you engage in the practices in this way,
beings will not be fettered but will attain freedom.
The meaning of these lines is as follows: You should decisively cast away all dualistic thoughts of perceived objects and perceiving cognition and let your mind rest free and radiant, absent of conceptualization and bondage in the ultimate expanse that is free of conceptual elaboration. Do not chase after earlier instants of cognition; do not anticipate the future; but, free of clinging, let the present remain as it is. Let it rest free in its natural state, uncontrived and free of any exaggeration or denigration. These are the four aspects of the sealing of emptiness. If you practice in this manner, you will not be chained by karma in cyclic existence; rather you will be free and you will attain liberation.
Some practice other than this would fail to tame the barbarous sentient beings of this era of degeneration. Yet, possessing this, you will be immune to obstacles, and you will achieve the well-being of sentient beings with ease. Thus it was taught. I have here presented the teachings of the peerless Serlingpa in precise accordance with his words.129
* * *
The Amoghapāśa Tantra states:
“Wisdom” refers to enlightenment, while “hero” indicates skillful means; with these two, the welfare of sentient beings will be achieved.130
Again, the Guhyasamāja tantra entitled Drop of Freedom states:
With compassion as the sole basis,
all enlightened qualities will arise.131
Again:
If the root of compassion is absent,
one cannot endure hardships.132
The sutra entitled Perfectly Gathering the Qualities states:
Whosoever aspires to attain full enlightenment swiftly should not train in many practices. What is that sole practice? It is great compassion. For whosoever possesses great compassion possesses in his palms all the teachings of the Buddha. He will achieve these without effort and without exertion. In brief, great compassion is the root of all the teachings.133
This instruction was given to Atiśa, the savior of beings, by his teacher Serlingpa Dharmakīrti to help tame the barbarian borderlands.