CHAPTER 11: THE BENEFITS OF THE TEXT

CHAPTER 11: THE BENEFITS OF THE TEXT

[377] The Uttara Tantra shows that all beings possess buddha essence. How these qualities manifest, what qualities develop once enlightenment has been achieved, what qualities will develop from enlightenment, and how these qualities continue to help all sentient beings are the four points of the Uttara Tantra. These are called the four inconceivables because most beings, including bodhisattvas, cannot understand these points directly.

[378] These points are inconceivable but the wise, meaning those with intelligence, diligence, and faith, will become a vessel for the multitude of buddha qualities. To have great faith and sincere aspiration and an indirect idea of what these qualities are is a good condition because one becomes a vessel to achieve all the qualities of freedom and maturity of the Buddha. So the Uttara Tantra is like the first step towards realizing the qualities of a Buddha because it gives one the confidence that one can actually achieve enlightenment. Those who have interest in these qualities are planting the garden of delight in their minds and from these qualities all the virtues grow. It is the same as if one has planted a root which will give rise to a tree and grow. However, without planting a root, there is no hope of having a tree. Once one has planted a very strong root of virtue, it will grow until realization. Somebody with this type of virtue surpasses the virtue of any other beings, because it’s the virtue that will bring one to the qualities. Studying and meditating on the Uttara Tantra causes greater benefit than practicing generosity, skillful conduct, or patience.

The subject of this text is very precious because if someone studies this text, it will definitely help him or her reach Buddhahood. Although this text is inconceivable to ordinary beings, if one studies this teaching with faith and practices it accordingly, one will reach Buddhahood. In more detail:

[379] Suppose a bodhisattva practices great generosity to reach enlightenment. Every day he or she would make as many offerings of golden lands adorned with jewels as there are atoms in the buddha lands. If another bodhisattva just heard the words of this text and understood that this teaching is really a direct cause for reaching enlightenment and with faith and inspiration was moved to achieve enlightenment, this bodhisattva would have more virtue than the other bodhisattva who was making the offerings.

[380] A second example shows how even the virtue of keeping very pure moral conduct is eclipsed by the feeling of faith for this teaching. If a person aspires for enlightenment by keeping immaculate conduct of body, speech, and mind for eons and eons so that all bad actions are given up effortlessly were compared with a person inspired by this text, and had great enthusiasm, great joy, faith, and devotion, the virtue of the latter person would be much greater.

[381] Suppose someone had practiced meditative stability to extinguish the fire of defilements that leads to the existence in the three dimensions of samsara and through this meditation had extinguished the fire of these defilements. If this person were compared to someone studying and practicing this text, the benefits of studying and practicing the text would be greater than the practice of meditative stability.

[382] How is it possible that the virtue of simply hearing this teaching and feeling interest and faith in it would be greater than the virtue that comes from very great generosity, skillful conduct, or meditative stability? The answer is that generosity brings affluence, the practice of skillful conduct brings rebirth in higher realms, and the practice of meditation decreases defilements. The Uttara Tantra, however, teaches the inconceivable points which can lead to prajna. The development of prajna decreases one’s obscurations and as a result one develops the understanding and the qualities of realization which are the first steps toward Buddhahood. Hearing this teaching and developing an interest in it will cause one to achieve Buddhahood so the development of prajna is better than the development of other virtues.

There is a further benefit of this teaching. The Uttara Tantra teaches that there is buddha essence in all beings, but it is veiled by transitory obscurations. However, these can be removed so that enlightenment manifests. When this has happened there isn’t a vacuum, but one develops full possession of the qualities of freedom and maturity. With the possession of these qualities, then spontaneously, effortlessly, and ceaselessly one will work for the benefit of all beings.

What is taught in the Uttara Tantra constitutes the exclusive domain of knowledge of all of the Buddhas. But if one hears this teaching and studies it, one will begin to understand that one already has the seed of Buddhahood in oneself and knowing this, one will be confident of becoming Buddha. So once one has heard this teaching and believed it, it would become the cause of becoming a Buddha. If one understands the four inconceivables, then this understanding will effortlessly give rise to the qualities of strong aspiration, diligence, mindfulness, meditative stability, prajna, and so on. These qualities will arise spontaneously and the bodhicitta wish to achieve enlightenment to liberate all other beings will grow.

[388] Once we have understood these teachings, we won’t fall back and the virtue we have accumulated will be brought to perfection by the practice of the other five paramitas. This is because when we study this teaching with aspiration,.\\e will develop a quality which is opposed to thinking in terms of “I” and “other.” This teaching can then vanquish triplistic thought and by vanquishing these thoughts we will be made complete and pure.

[389] Through the five paramitas of generosity, conduct, patience, meditation, and exertion virtue is gathered. The virtue that comes from generosity is gathered through giving; the virtue from skillful conduct is gathered by keeping very pure conduct; the virtue of meditative patience and meditative stability comes from practice; and the virtue that comes from exertion comes from diligence in practicing all other qualities.

[390] The next benefit of knowing this teaching and practicing it correctly is that it helps elim inate obscurations. The cognitive obscurations are those of triplistic thougnts, meaning that one divides all actions into a subject, object, and the action between them. For example, with generosity the outer object may be the poor person, the subject may be a bodhisattva, and the action is what is given. Believing these links are real will make the generosity impure and create a cognitive obscuration.

Emotional obscurations are negative thoughts such as those of greed which would prevent generosity. These obscurations keep us from enlightenment and with them, there is no way to achieve liberation. Even diligent practice of the paramitas will not eliminate these obscurations. The only way to eliminate obscurations is through prajna. This is why the practice of prajna is so important. We can develop prajna by studying sutras or the sastras on the profound teachings pertaining to absolute truth. This is why the cause for developing prajna is the study of the profound topics and why studying the Uttara Tantra is so important. How the Uttara Tantra was Composed

[392] First, the Uttara Tantra was written by Asanga as a result of Buddha Maitreya’s teachings. It was based on the words of the Buddha and written in accordance with the sutras, particularly two sutras about absolute truth.

Second, besides relying on the words of the Buddha, Asanga relied on logical reasoning to clarify doubts. He also used the direct cognition of the yogis. His purpose was to purify the buddha essence which is the very nature of the dharmakaya and help those who aspire to the Mahayana path to achieve Buddhahood. One might think that if scriptural sources are used, one doesn’t need to use logic. But a combination of both scriptures and logic is required. For example, if one looks at objects, one needs an external condition of a light of some sort such as the sun or a lamp and one needs an inner condition of good eyesight. It isn’t enough to have just one condition. In the same way, a combination of the outer condition of knowledge of the meanings of the words and the inner condition of logical reasoning are needed to understand what the Buddha said.

Third, one needs to determine if one can trust these teachings of the Buddha. The teachings of the great sages remove all defilements connected with the three realms and show the benefit of peace. So, authentic teachings have to show the possibility of achieving nirvana and be closely connected with the dharma. They should remove the defilements of all three dimensions of samsara and should give peace of mind once liberation is achieved. A teaching without these characteristics wouldn’t be the Buddha’s teachings.

The sastras, while not the Buddha’s words, are worthy of respect and have the following characteristics. They should not be written out of a desire for fame, but written to help spread the teachings and help other beings on the path. Authors of the Sastras don’t follow their fancy, but write with a completely unobstructed mind strictly in accordance with the Buddha’s teachings. Their works also have the quality of being conducive to the path of liberation so it is possible through practicing the sastras to achieve liberation because these teachings are in harmony with the conditions that lead to liberation. Because those who compose the sastras have pure motivation and because the teachings are so close to what the Buddha said himself, they are worthy of being placed on one’s head in the same way one would place the words of the Buddha himself.9(9 It is Tibetan custom that when one receives a religious object, one touches it to the lop of one’s head to receive a blessing from it.)

[396] The Buddha has total knowledge of the nature of phenom ena because of his com plete purity. The bodhisattvas have many but not all of these characteristics. Whatever the Buddha taught in the sutras shouldn’t be adulterated, meaning one shouldn’t say that this part of the teaching is correct, but that part is not. This would be mixing everything up and the true teaching would be destroyed.

[397] Since dharma is so valuable, it is very harmful to abandon it. One might give up the dharma by not understanding things the way they really are and therefore have contempt for the teachings. This happens because these persons are so attached to and involved their own ideas, that they can never change their minds. For example, one can dye a clean piece of cloth any color, but if it has grease stains on it, one can never dye it properly. In the same way, if the mind is clouded by fixed views even though it is exposed to the dharma, it just will not change its own ideas. This is an indirect cause for abandoning dharma.

[398] A more direct cause of not making spiritual progress is not having very good intelligence so that one does not understand the nature of phenomena. Another is the absence of an aspiration to goodness. Without this there’s no wish to help other beings or to do anything good.

When this aspiration is absent, everything becomes polluted and generates wrong views such as giving up the dharma. One may have great pride, boasting of qualities one doesn’t possess. Or one may not have been exposed to dharma in a previous life and obviously not practiced much and as a result, one is quite heavily obscured by ignorance.

The next cause is being so heavily obscured that one confuses the expedient meaning of the Buddha’s teaching with the absolute meaning or vice versa.

In addition, there are the six causes of wrong associations. If one associates closely with those who reject the dharma; if one avoids those who hold the teachings; if one has a low level of aspiration and enjoys things that are in contradiction with the dharma, then the teaching of the Buddha are likely to be abandoned. This is why one should know these causes and should try and eliminate them.

[399] Those who understand the dharma need not fear fire, venomous snakes, murderers, or lightning. One should instead fear losing the dharma because fire, snakes, murders, etc. can only make one lose one’s life, but to lose the dharma causes the terrible sufferings of the lower realms and the suffering of samsara. Therefore losing the teachings is more dangerous than anything else.

[400] If one associates very closely with friends who encourage one to do what is wrong, then very negative things will develop. Under this bad influence one may wish to kill the Buddha or kill one’s own father, mother, or an arhat. One may also try to create a division among the sangha. These are the worst possible actions and are called the five actions of immediate result which means that when one dies, one falls immediately into the worst possible realm.

There are even worse actions, but if one does these acts and then realizes the magnitude of these actions, one may use the four remedial powers to purify oneself and even reach liberation. So even these five very bad actions won’t have such bad results if one is capable of purifying them.

However, if one has wrong views of the dharma and dislikes it strongly in the short term, it doesn’t seem sobad, but in the long-term it could be very dangerous because one will remain involved with outer thing?, not seeing one’s good qualities, and one may embark on the wrong path. Until one has given up the wrong attitude towards the dharma, one will never be able to reach liberation. If one never thinks in terms of reaching liberation, then one will never get there. This then is worse than committing the five actions of immediate results because with this attitude there is no prospect of ever obtaining liberation. This is why one must be careful of those who dislike of the dharma and those with wrong views.

Dedication

[401] The dedication is a wisdom prayer to Amitayus and is also a summary of the whole text. It begins with the prayer that whatever virtue Maitreya has obtained through properly explaining these seven vajra points may all beings be able to meet Amitayus who is the sage of boundless life and endowed with lim itless life. To see him in his sambhogakaya form has a short-term benefit of havinglong life and a long-term benefit of being able to achieve perfect enlightenment once one’s dharma eyes have been opened.

[402] Following is a recapitulation of this concluding chapter on the benefits of the text. The line “on what basis” refers to the first two lines of verse 392 stating the text was composed from the words of the Buddha and on the basis of logical reasoning. The two lines of this stanza answer the question “for which reasons” which is in order to purify oneself and to help other beings reach Buddhahood. The question “in which way” is answered in stanza 393 which states it was given by relying on the Buddha’s teaching and relying on Maitreya’s understanding using the example of the necessity of light and eyes to see something properly.

“That which has been explained” refers to stanza 394 on how to recognize a true Buddhist teaching and the Sastras which are defined in stanza 395.

[403] Next are the means for purifying oneself. One shouldn’t change any of the Buddha’s teachings and one should practice them as properly as possible (referring to stanzas 396 and 397). Then it refers to the causes for the loss of dharma (stanza 398) and what would be the results of this loss (stanzas 399 and 400). The immediate result is being reborn in a lower state, the ultimate result is being deprived of a choice for liberation for a long time.

[404] The last stanza of the text refers to the dedication (stanza 401) and shows the short-term and the long-term fruition. Through practice and dedication of virtue one can be born in the mandala of the Buddha, see the sambhogakaya aspect of the Buddha, and therefore be able to see the true nature of everything and achieve supreme enlightenment. This shows that if one attains the relative level of enlightenment of a bodhisattva, one is in the company of the sambhogakaya Buddha and once the dharma eyes are opened, one achieves the ultimate level of enlightenment.

Summary

We Buddhists have to follow the path outlined by the Buddha. We have to practice according to what the Buddha taught in the sutras and the tantras and we should understand them just as they are. However, the sUtraS sometimes were answers to a given situation or a disciple’s particular question and sometimes the Buddha would answer questions based on the understanding suitable to his audience at the time. So sometimes the sutras were quite difficult to understand because some passages are extremely clear and others less clear. Also a sutra would specialize in a particular topic so if one wanted to know the general concepts of Buddhism, one had to read sutras scattered throughout various books. This is why most Buddhists in Tibet resorted to studying the sastras. These made the deeper meaning of Buddha’s words more accessible and they didn’t change the meaning of the dharma. This is why the sastras were so extremely important.

The Uttara Tantra was composed by Maitreya who was no ordinary being because he is a representative of the Buddhas and will be the next Buddha in our world. So he is the most superior author of the Sastra that one could find.

The Uttara Tantra was translated from Sanskrit to Tibetan by the great scholar Sadzana who was the nephew of Brahmin Ratnavajra, he who was from the “City of Glory” which we believe is the city of Srinagari, but we are not completely sure. It was also translated in that same City of Glory by the Tibetan monk Loden Sherab./.