MAINTAINING THE SPIRIT OF ENLIGHTENMENT
b' Maintaining and not weakening what you have attained
1' The training in the precepts that cause you not to weaken your spirit of enlightenment in this lifetime
a" The training in the precept to recall the benefits of the spirit of enlightenment in order to increase the strength of your enthusiasm for it
b" The training in the precept to generate the spirit of enlightenment six times each day in order to increase the actual spirit of enlightenment
1" Not giving up your development of the aspirational spirit of enlightenment
2" The training to increase the aspirational spirit of enlightenment
c" The training in the precept not to mentally abandon the living beings for whose sake you develop the spirit of enlightenment
d" The training in the precept to accumulate the collections of merit and sublime wisdom
2' The training in the precepts that cause you to not separate from your spirit of enlightenment in future lifetimes as well
a" The training in the precept to eliminate the four dark practices which weaken the spirit of enlightenment
b" The training in the precept to adopt the four light practices which keep the spirit of enlightenment from weakening
c' The method of repairing the spirit of enlightenment if you do weaken it
b' Maintaining and not weakening what you have attained
You need to know the precepts, so I will explain them. This has two parts:
1. The training in the precepts that cause you not to weaken your spirit of enlightenment in this lifetime
2. The training in the precepts that cause you to not separate from your spirit of enlightenment in future lifetimes as well
l' The training in the precepts that cause you not to weaken your spirit of enlightenment in this lifetime
The training in the precepts that cause you not to weaken your spirit of enlightenment in this lifetime has four parts:
1. The training in the precept to recall the benefits of the spirit of enlightenment in order to increase the strength of your enthusiasm for it
2. The training in the precept to generate the spirit of enlightenment six times each day in order to increase the actual spirit of enlightenment
3. The training in the precept not to mentally abandon the living beings for whose sake you develop the spirit of enlightenment
4. The training in the precept to accumulate the collections of merit and sublime wisdom
a" The training in the precept to recall the benefits of the spirit of enlightenment in order to increase the strength of your enthusiasm for it
Think about the benefits of the spirit of enlightenment, after you have either researched them in the sūtras or listened to them from your guru. They are explained in detail in the Array of Stalks Sūtra, so look there.111 As stated above112 this text says, “the spirit of enlightenment is like the seed of all the buddha qualities,” and it also states, “the spirit of enlightenment is like a summary because it includes all the bodhisattva deeds and aspirational prayers.” [327] It is a “summary” in the sense that everything is compiled into a brief indication although there are endless, detailed explanations of the parts. Like a summation of these parts, it is said to be a synopsis which brings together the key points of all the bodhisattva paths.
The benefits mentioned in the Bodhisattva Levels113 are those of the aspirational spirit of enlightenment. That text states two benefits for the first stable generation of the spirit of enlightenment: becoming a pure field for accumulating merit and being fully endowed with protective merit.
The first benefit, becoming a pure field for accumulating merit, is as follows. As Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds states, “And are revered both in the worlds of humans and deities,”114 you become an object of worship for all living beings immediately after you have developed the spirit of enlightenment. In accordance with the statement that immediately after developing the spirit of enlightenment you surpass all the great arhats in terms of your lineage, you become superior and highest. Even when you perform a small meritorious action it gives forth limitless effects, so you are a field for accumulating merit. “As all the world relies on you, you are like the earth.” Thus, you are like a father to all beings.
The second benefit, being fully endowed with protective merit, is as follows. As you are always protected by guardians that are twice as numerous as those of a universal monarch, you cannot be harmed by yakṣas or local spirits even when you are sleeping, drunk, or careless. Secret mantras and knowledge mantras that can cure epidemics, injuries, and infections but are not effective in the hands of living beings become effective when someone with a stable generation of the spirit of enlightenment uses them. Why mention the mantras that do work when used by living beings? The Bodhisattva Levels teaches that when your spirit of enlightenment is stable, you also easily accomplish the collections of actions—pacifying and so forth.115 So if you have this you also quickly accomplish ordinary spiritual attainments. Wherever you are staying, there will arise no fear, no causes of fear, no famine, and no harm from non-humans, and you will quell those that have already happened. [328] Also, after death you will have little trouble, and you will be naturally healthy in your next life; even if some harm does arise, it will not last long or be severe. When you engage in the welfare of living beings—giving teachings, etc.—your body will not feel tired, you will not be forgetful, nor will your mind degenerate.
If you are one who abides in the bodhisattva lineage, you naturally have few dysfunctional tendencies; once you have developed the spirit of enlightenment, the dysfunctional tendencies of your mind and body are extremely slight. You are patient and gentle, so that if someone harms you, you bear it and do no harm in return. If you see others hurting each other, you are very displeased. You seldom give rise to anger, jealousy, deceitfulness, concealment, and the like; if these do arise, they are not intense, do not last long, and quickly disappear.
It is difficult for you to be reborn in miserable realms; even if you are reborn there, you will quickly get free. Even while there, your suffering will be slight and because of it you will be very disenchanted with cyclic existence and generate compassion for the beings there.
If the merit of the spirit of enlightenment were to take form, it would not even fit into the sky. Nor does the merit of making material offerings to the Buddha equal even a mere portion of it. The Questions of the Householder Vīradatta Sūtra (Vīradatta-gṛha-pati-paripṛcchā-sūtra) states:116
If whatever merit there is
In the spirit of enlightenment had form
It would fill the entire vault of the sky
And then exceed it.
Were someone to fill the buddha-realms
With jewels as numerous as
The grains of sand of the Ganges
And offer this to the Protector of the World,
Far superior is the merit
In the offering of one who, joining his or her hands,
Reverently generates the spirit of enlightenment.
There is no limit to the merit in this.
While the Great Elder was circumambulating the vajra seat in Bodh Gayā,117 he thought, “How can I obtain full enlightenment quickly?” [329] Thereupon, he had a vision wherein the smaller statues stood up and asked the larger statues, “What should those who wish to quickly attain buddhahood train in?” The larger ones replied, “They should train in the spirit of enlightenment.” Also in the sky above the main temple a young woman asked this question to an older woman, and Atisha heard the same answer as before. Therefore, it is said, he became more certain about the spirit of enlightenment.
Accordingly, understand that the spirit of enlightenment comprises the key points of all the Mahāyāna’s personal instructions, is a great treasure of all the spiritual attainments, is the feature that distinguishes the Mahāyāna from the Hīnayāna, and is the excellent basis that spurs you to undertake the greatly effective bodhisattva deeds. Becoming even more fervent about cultivating it, act like a thirsty person hearing talk of water. For, when the conquerors and their children used their marvelous wisdom to examine the paths in great detail for many eons, they saw just this to be the excellent method of becoming a buddha. As Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds states:118
Reflecting for many eons, the Master of the Sages
Saw this alone to be beneficial.
b" The training in the precept to generate the spirit of enlightenment six times each day in order to increase the actual spirit of enlightenment
The training in the precept to generate the spirit of enlightenment six times each day has two parts:
1. Not giving up your development of the aspirational spirit
2. The training to increase the aspirational spirit of enlightenment
1" Not giving up your development of the aspirational spirit of enlightenment
You have taken as your witness the buddhas, bodhisattvas, and teachers and, in their presence, committed yourself to liberate all beings who are not liberated, and so forth. If you then see that living beings are so numerous and their behavior is mean, or that the time wherein you must strive for many eons is long, or that you must train in the two collections that are limitless and difficult to do, and you take this as a reason to become discouraged and to abandon your responsibility to develop the spirit of enlightenment, it is a sin greater than a cardinal transgression of the vows of individual liberation. [330] The Verse Summary of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines states:119
Though you practice the ten virtuous actions for ten million eons,
If you then generate the wish to become a pratyekabuddha arhat,
You damage and weaken your ethical discipline as a bodhisattva.
This breach of the spirit of enlightenment is far more serious than a cardinal transgression.
Thus it says that such a bodhisattva’s ethical discipline is faulty. Restraint from śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha considerations is the bodhisattvas’ highest ethical discipline, so were bodhisattvas to weaken this restraint, they would destroy their ethical discipline. For, if bodhisattvas do not cast aside such restraint, then even were they to indulge in sensory pleasures, they would not destroy the attitude of restraint that is unique to the bodhisattva. Again, the Verse Summary of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines states:120
Though bodhisattvas enjoy the five sensory objects,
If they take refuge in the Buddha, the teaching, and the community of noble beings,
And fix their minds on omniscience, thinking, “I will attain buddhahood,”
Understand that these adepts keep the perfection of ethical discipline.
If they give up their promised intention, they must wander for a long time in miserable rebirths. Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds says:121
It is said that once people decide
To give a small amount of a simple thing
And then do not give it,
They cause themselves rebirth as a hungry ghost.
So how could you be reborn in a happy realm
If you deceive all living beings
After you have sincerely invited them
To unsurpassed bliss?
Therefore it also says:
Like a blind person finding a jewel
In a heap of garbage,
By chance the spirit of enlightenment
Has arisen in me.
Think, “How very wonderful that I have attained something like this,” and never give it up. Devoting particular attention to this, vow over and over not to give it up for even an instant.
2" The training to increase the aspirational spirit of enlightenment
It is not enough merely not to give up the aspirational spirit of enlightenment; increase it with great effort three times during the day and three times at night. If you can practice the aforementioned extensive ritual, do so. [331] If not, visualize the field for accumulating merit and, after you make offerings, refine your love, compassion, and so forth. Then adopt the spirit of enlightenment six times, reciting the following ritual verse three times on each occasion:122
I go for refuge until enlightenment
To the Buddha, the teaching and the community;
By the merit of practicing the six perfections
May I achieve buddhahood in order to help living beings.
c" The training in the precept not to mentally abandon the living beings for whose sake you develop the spirit of enlightenment
Although this precept is not found in the pertinent sections of the Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment or Ritual Procedures for the Spirit of Enlightenment and the Bodhisattva Vows, in his Commentary on the Difficult Points of the “Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment,” Atisha says:123
By caring for and not abandoning living beings you maintain the spirit of enlightenment for the sake of its object, its benefits, the ritual for generating it, its general increase, and not forgetting it.
It is listed in this context and does not contradict the intended meaning of the root text so train in this also.
The measure of mentally abandoning living beings is when you produce the thought, “Now I will never work for this person’s welfare,” based upon some conditions such as unacceptable actions, etc.
d" The training in the precept to accumulate the collections of merit and sublime wisdom
After you have adopted the aspirational spirit of enlightenment through its ritual, strive daily to accumulate the collections—making offerings to the three jewels, etc.—in order to increase the spirit of enlightenment. Although I have seen no authoritative source for this being a precept other than former teachers’ statements, it is nevertheless very beneficial.
2' The training in the precepts that cause you to not separate from your spirit of enlightenment in future lifetimes as well
The training in the precepts that cause you to not separate from your spirit of enlightenment in future lifetimes as well has two sections:
1. The training in the precept to eliminate the four dark practices which weaken the spirit of enlightenment
2. The training in the precept to adopt the four light practices which keep the spirit of enlightenment from weakening
a" The training in the precept to eliminate the four dark practices which weaken the spirit of enlightenment
In the Kāśyapa Chapter (Kāśyapa-parivarta) of the Ratna-kūṭa Collection124 there are statements that list the four practices with respect to not actualizing or forgetting the spirit of enlightenment in future lifetimes and that list the four practices with respect to actualizing and not forgetting the spirit of enlightenment, not casting it aside until you reach enlightenment. [332] They are presented as precepts of the aspirational spirit of enlightenment.
The four dark practices are as follows.
1. Deceiving abbots, masters, gurus, and those worthy of offerings. Understand this in terms of two approaches: the objects of your action and what you do to these objects. According to the explanation in Sthiramati’s Commentary on the Kāśyapa Chapter (Kāśyapa-parivarta-ṭīkā),125 the objects are abbots and masters (this is obvious), gurus (those who want to help), and those worthy of offerings (though not included in the rank of the previous two groups, they have good qualities). What might you do to these objects that would be a dark practice? It is a dark practice if you consciously deceive any of them. With respect to how you deceive them, the Commentary on the Kāśyapa Chapter says that when they compassionately explain transgressions, and you then confuse them about yourself with lies, it is “dark.” It says that whenever you try to mislead your gurus about yourself with an intention to deceive, it is “dark.” However, it has to be misleading with lies—the deception which is not lying will be dealt with below. This is because its remedy is the first of the four light practices, and the Compendium of Trainings 126says that eliminating the dark practices is a light practice. Moreover, it is said that incorrigible students deceive their gurus when they say one thing to the guru and secretly say something very different to others, who then say, “Careful, this will come to the teacher’s ears.”
2. Making others feel regret about something that is not regrettable. This is understood through the same two approaches mentioned previously. The object is persons cultivating virtue without regret. What do you do to them? You intentionally make them regret something they should not regret. The Commentary on the Kāśyapa Chapter explains that deceitfully misleading fellow practitioners with respect to a training’s wording when they are observing the training correctly is “dark.”
For these first two dark practices, it is said to make no difference whether or not you are able to deceive or whether or not you are able to cause regret. The Commentary on the Kāśyapa Chapter concurs in this regard. The Commentary, however, takes the latter to be a case of misleading as well. [333]
3. Speaking disparagingly, etc., to beings who have correctly entered the Mahāyāna. Some say that the object is those who have the spirit of enlightenment, having adopted it through its ritual. Others say it is equally those who have previously developed the spirit of enlightenment and do not currently have it. This latter assertion contradicts the sūtras and is wrong. The Commentary says simply “a bodhisattva” with no further clarification. Even though in other scriptural contexts there are many statements that those with the bodhisattva vows who are learning the trainings are the ones who have correctly entered the Mahāyāna, I think that here the object has to be understood as any bodhisattva, starting with those who have generated the aspirational spirit of enlightenment.
What is done to these bodhisattvas is to speak disparagingly, with blame, with libel, and so forth. The assertion that what is said has to be motivated by hatred accords with the Commentary. But even though the Commentary says that the bodhisattvas to whom it is spoken are diligently seeking the teachings, and the words are spoken in order to stop their belief in or wish to practice the Mahāyāna, it seems to be enough if they understand the meaning of what is said. The Commentary explains that something disparaging is, for example, saying that he or she “has poor character,” wherein you do not mention any specific fault; blame is, for example, saying “He is not celibate,” wherein you are specific; and a libel is, for example, saying “In this or that way he engaged in sex,” making it more specific. The Commentary attaches the term “criticism” to these three.
I have already discussed briefly127 the danger of this great offense arising in us. Indeed, if bodhisattvas have even a despising thought toward other bodhisattvas, they have to stay in hell for as many eons as the moments of that thought’s duration. And the Sūtra on the Magic of Final Peace (Praśānta-viniścaya-prātihārya-sūtra) says that no other action apart from slandering another bodhisattva can make a bodhisattva fall into the miserable realms. [334] The Verse Summary of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines says:128
If bodhisattvas who have not received a prediction of their enlightenment
Have an angry dispute with bodhisattvas who have received a prediction,
They must put on the armor of practice again
For as many eons as the moments of their coarse, faulty attitude.
Thus it says that they must travel along the path, starting over again, for eons commensurate with their angry attitude; they become very far distant from their enlightenment. For this reason stop your anger on all occasions, and if it arises, immediately confess it and strive to restrain yourself. That same text states:129
Develop mindfulness, thinking, “This state of mind is not constructive,”
Confess each instance, and restrain yourself from doing it again.
Do not rejoice in it; train in the teaching of the Buddha.
If you give hatred a chance, the love and compassion you have developed will weaken and it will be hard to develop any new love and compassion, even if you practice for a long time. Thus, you cut the root of the spirit of enlightenment. If you stop hatred—the unfavorable condition for love and compassion—and cultivate love and compassion according to the previous explanation,130 they then progressively increase and eventually become limitless. Dharmakīrti’s Commentary on the “Compendium of Valid Cognition” (Pramāṇa-vārttika) states:131
If unharmed by that with which it is incompatible,
Love naturally comes into the mind.
And also:
As you familiarize yourself with
The attitudes of compassion and the like,
Which increase from the seeds of prior, similar experiences,
How could these attitudes remain the same?
4. In an absence of sincerity, using deceit and misrepresentation to get the service of others. The object is any living being other than yourself. What is done to this being? You act with deceit and misrepresentation. Sincerity is explained in the Commentary on the Kāśyapa Chapter132 to be your ordinary attitude. Deceit and misrepresentation are cheating while measuring with a scale and so forth. As Gyal-wa-yen-jung (rGyal-ba-ye-’byung) says, it is, for instance, like sending somebody to Dö-lung (sTod-lungs) in order to get them to go to Rag-ma [a place far past Dö-lung], and later asserting that they might as well go on to Rag-ma. [335] Asaṇga’s Compendium of Knowledge (Abhidharma-samuccaya)133 says that both deceit and misrepresentation arise because of attachment to goods and services and are similarly included in the category of either attachment or ignorance. He says that deceit is to pretend that you have a good quality that you do not have, and misrepresentation is hiding your fault. Hiding means using some method to conceal a fault.
b” The training in the precept to adopt the four light practices which keep the spirit of enlightenment from weakening
1. Forsaking consciously lying to any living being whatsoever even in jest or even for the sake of your life.134 The object of the first of the four light practices is any living being. What you do is forsake consciously lying even for the sake of your life or even in jest. In this way, you do not deceive special objects of your actions—your abbot, master, etc.—with lies.
2. Not deceiving but remaining sincere to all living beings. The object of the second of the four light practices is all living beings. What you do is not deceive them but maintain your sincerity; that is, remain honest. This is the remedy for the fourth dark practice.
3. Developing the idea that all bodhisattvas are the Teacher. The object of the third light practice is all bodhisattvas. What you do is develop the idea that they are similar to the Teacher, and voice in the four directions praise of their character. We cultivate some small likeness of virtue, but find that it has no signs of increasing and has many signs of decreasing; this is simply the outcome of our hating, despising, or reviling bodhisattvas and friends. Therefore, it is said that if you are capable of eliminating the first two faults as well as the reviling of bodhisattvas, all the harm related to persons mentioned in the Compendium of Trainings will be averted. This is based on the consideration that you do not know who is a bodhisattva, so, as stated in the Kāśyapa Chapter,135 you should train in the pure perception of all living beings that comes from developing the idea that all beings are the Teacher. You should praise bodhisattvas when there are listeners on hand, but you incur no fault if you do not go out into the four directions praising them. This is the remedy for the third dark practice.
4. Causing the living beings that you are helping to mature to not want the modest vehicle but to adhere to perfect enlightenment. The object of the fourth light practice is the living beings that you are helping to mature. What you do to them is cause them to not want the modest vehicle [Hīnayāna] but to adhere to perfect enlightenment. [336] Moreover, from your perspective it is necessary for them to connect to the Mahāyāna path, but if your disciples do not develop the intention for it, you incur no fault, because you were simply unable to accomplish it. This light practice eliminates the second dark practice [making others feel regret about something that is not regrettable], because if you want from the depths of your heart for others to set forth toward the culmination of all happiness, you will not do something that brings about unhappiness in others so as to make them feel some regret about their virtuous activity. The Sūtra Requested by a Lion (Siṃha-paripṛcchā-sūtra) also says:136
If you cultivate the spirit of enlightenment in all lives
And do not abandon it even in dreams,
What is the point of mentioning
Not abandoning it when you are not sleeping?
The Buddha said: “Cause to enter into enlightenment
The beings in villages and cities
Or in any other place they may dwell.
Then you will not relinquish the spirit of enlightenment.”
Furthermore, the Array of Qualities in Mañjuśrī’s Buddha-realm says that if you have these four—destruction of pride, elimination of jealousy, elimination of stinginess, and joy when you see the prosperity of others—you do not relinquish your aspirational prayer [aspirational spirit of enlightenment]. Once you cultivate the spirit of enlightenment, you will not be separated from this precious attitude even in future lives. This is stated clearly in the Cloud of Jewels Sūtra (Ratna-megha-sūtra) of the Ratna-kūṭa Collection:137
If you train in the spirit of enlightenment in all activities and if you preface any cultivation of virtue with the spirit of enlightenment . . .
and in the King of Concentrations Sūtra:
As much as people frequently examine
So much will their minds engage
Whatever they are thinking over.
and in other sūtras as well.
c’ The method of repairing the spirit of enlightenment if you do weaken it
Many scholars state the following view: “You relinquish the aspirational spirit of enlightenment if a certain period passes and there are the four dark practices, together with a fifth––mentally abandoning living beings—or a sixth, casting aside the spirit of enlightenment by thinking, ‘I cannot accomplish buddhahood.’ However, if within a period of time you regret these six, they weaken the aspirational spirit of enlightenment but do not cause you to abandon it. And if you fail to adopt the spirit of enlightenment six times each day and allow your training in the two collections to degenerate, it only weakens the spirit of enlightenment. If a cause of relinquishing it occurs, you must repeat the ritual for adopting the aspirational spirit of enlightenment, but for a mere weakening, you do not have to repeat it; making a confession suffices.” [337]
With respect to this, if you should think, “I cannot accomplish buddhahood,” you immediately abandon the spirit of enlightenment; it is never necessary to rely on the passage of a certain period of time, so such an assertion is absolutely incorrect. The four dark practices are not the cause of relinquishing the spirit of enlightenment in this life, but are causes for not manifesting the spirit of enlightenment in future lives, so we should stop them in this life. The Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment says:138
In order to remember the spirit of enlightenment even in future lives,
Maintain the trainings that have been explained.
The “that have been explained” means as explained in the Kāśyapa Chapter. This is what the sūtra means because it clearly says this in the context of the four light practices:139
Kāśyapa, the bodhisattvas who possess the four practices will manifest the spirit of enlightenment in all lives immediately after being born and will not cast it aside or forget it until they reach the heart of enlightenment.
So, although it is not stated clearly in the context of the four dark practices whether they affect this life or future lives, understand that it is the latter. (Still, if you resort to the dark practices in this life, your spirit of enlightenment will weaken.) Otherwise, if bodhisattvas who are keeping their vows just lie a bit as a joke, deceive others and misrepresent themselves to them in a trifling way, say something slightly bad about bodhisattvas out of anger, or just engender slight regret in others with respect to their cultivation of a virtuous root, and if they pass a period of time without feeling regret, then they would lose their bodhisattva vows. They would lose them because they would have lost the aspirational spirit of enlightenment, and, according to both the Bodhisattva Levels and the Compendium of Trainings,140 when you lose the aspirational spirit you lose the vows as well. If you make the assertion that they do lose their vows, then you have to posit these dark practices as fundamental transgressions, yet this is not said anywhere and is incorrect. [338] Furthermore, reckoning a period of time is based upon the period explained in the Questions of Upāli Sūtra (Upāli-paripṛcchā-sūtra), but since I have proven at length in my Basic Path to Awakening (Byang chub gzhug lam)141—an explanation of the chapter on ethical discipline of the Bodhisattva Levels—that this is not the meaning of the sūtra, I will not explain it again here.
To mentally abandon living beings means that when considering them in general you think, “I am not able to work for the welfare of this many beings.” When you abandon them with this thought, it is clear that you abandon the aspirational spirit of enlightenment. And when considering a particular living being, if you have the thought, “I will never work for the welfare of this one,” then, like destroying a whole collection by destroying just a piece of it, you destroy the spirit of enlightenment, which is developed for the sake of all beings. Were it otherwise, you could cast aside many beings—a second, third, fourth, and so forth, develop the spirit of enlightenment for the sake of the remaining beings, and would necessarily have thereby generated a completely perfect spirit of enlightenment. But this is not the case.
The Commentary on the Difficult Points of the “Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment” says142 of these precepts of the spirit of enlightenment that there are the different systems of King Indrabhūti, Nāgārjuna, Asaṇga, Āryaśūra, Śāntideva, Candragomin, Śāntarakṣita, etc. It says that some assert that the precepts of the spirit of enlightenment are “all the precepts for both the initial generation of the spirit of enlightenment and for engaging in the bodhisattva deeds.” Others, it says, assert that “you have to observe every precept stated in the sūtras,” while still others say that they are “all precepts for a person on the path of accumulation.” Some do not assert that they are “a specific training like this or that,” and yet others state that “in addition to the precepts of refuge you observe the eight practices of not abandoning the intention to take up the four light practices and forgetting the intention that leads to the four dark practices.” The Commentary explains, “My guru said that since the systems of these masters are each based on sūtra, you should uphold whatever system your guru gives you.’” It claims that all of these are the meaning of the sūtras. [339]
In general, the great teachers of the lineage descended from Geshe Drom-dön-ba do not recognize this Commentary on the Difficult Points of the “Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment” to be a commentary by the Great Elder, but the lineages from Nag-tso (Nag-tsho) accept this as the Great Elder’s composition and also accept it as a teaching hidden by Nag-tso. Still, it was well known to earlier scholars that Atisha composed a short commentary while in Bu-rang (Pu-rangs). It is said that when he thereafter arrived in Sam-ye, a translator asked him if he could add to it, and the translator subsequently expanded it. Therefore the Great Elder did compose a short commentary. This is supplemented by a number of explanations which are based on various gurus’ sayings. There are some obvious mistakes, and there are also many good explanations of the meaning of the scriptures. So I have cited it in this Stages of the Path (Lam rim) and elsewhere in explanation of the points on which it is not mistaken.
The aforementioned precepts of this Commentary on the Difficult Points of the “Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment” are not reliable. The statement that the precepts of the spirit of enlightenment are “all the precepts for both the initial generation of the spirit of enlightenment and for engaging in the bodhisattva deeds” is wrong, because if you take the precepts of the “generation of the spirit of enlightenment” to be the precepts for the engaged spirit of enlightenment, it cannot possibly be sufficient for them to be just avoiding the four dark practices and taking up the four light practices in addition to the precepts of refuge. If you take “generation of the spirit of enlightenment” to be only referring to the aspirational spirit of enlightenment, then when it comes to the precepts of the aspirational spirit, it is not necessary to train in every precept stated in the sūtras, nor in the precepts for everyone up to and including those who are engaged in the bodhisattva deeds. Otherwise, the precepts of the aspirational spirit of enlightenment would be the same as the precepts that come with the bodhisattva vows.
All the aforementioned precepts (except for the two precepts on the light and dark practices, which follow the Kāśyapa Chapter) follow the Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment and the Ritual Procedures for the Spirit of Enlightenment and the Bodhisattva Vows. There is a statement that says to train in the precepts in the Seven Dharmas Sūtra (Chos bdun po’i mdo), but since it says, “One who wants to quickly attain the superknowledges should observe the precepts,” these precepts are not specific to the spirit of enlightenment, so I have not written about them here.
Thus, my own position is that, with the exception of the precepts not to relinquish the aspirational spirit of enlightenment and not to mentally abandon living beings, breaking the precepts does not constitute a transgression relative to the spirit of enlightenment until you receive the bodhisattva vows. Nevertheless, if you break the precepts, you break the precept that comes with your commitment to virtue in the interim before you take the bodhisattva vows; you therefore commit a misdeed, and you should make a confession with the four powers.143 After you receive the bodhisattva vows, breaking these precepts is a transgression that now breaks the precepts which come with these vows. [340] Since it is a transgression, it is sufficient that you repair it in the manner in which you have been instructed, a procedure that is included in the precepts for the engaged spirit of enlightenment, and not anywhere else. However, generating the spirit of enlightenment six times a day is the one precept specific to the aspirational spirit of enlightenment.