REVIEW JE TSONG KHAPA'S LAM RIM CHEN- MO MATERIAL ON DILIGENCE/JOYOUS EFFORT PRESENTED IN CLASSES 2-5.

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1 Ornament for Clear Realization Perfection of Wisdom Studies Class Sept 28 Wednesday 1 Institute for Buddhist Dialectics, McLeod Ganj, India Teacher - GESHE KELSANG WANGMO REVIEW JE TSONG KHAPA'S LAM RIM CHEN- MO MATERIAL ON DILIGENCE/JOYOUS EFFORT PRESENTED IN CLASSES 2-5. To remind you what we ve talked about so far: Diligence or Joyous Effort. We didn t start off using the texts that are usually used in this class; we started off with Je Tsong Khapa s section on Diligence from the Lam Rim Chen- Mo. You ll see why we did that when we begin reading the texts that we usually use in class. They re a little harder and require you to think more, use more analysis, look behind the lines. There are not as many debates from the textbooks on Diligence, but when we begin the next topic which starts soon, there are quite a few debates and those will be a bit more difficult than what we ve been doing. We ve basically been talking about the causes for Buddhist practice. In order to engage in meaningful practice, developing the mind, making an effort, a repeated effort not just once or twice but to start a continuous, day- to- day practice, we need diligence, Joyous Effort or enthusiastic effort, perseverance, which is a delight in doing the Mahayana practice. That is a very important mental factor, without which, without joy, Buddhist practice is not very effective: you do it for sometime, and then we get fed up and look for something else that makes us happy. How do we newly cultivate such diligence? By thinking of the advantages of practice, etc. Three categories of Diligence: Armor- like, which is the motivation. Diligence of accumulating or gathering virtue, positive actions, beneficial actions (depending on their motivation). And third, working for the benefit of sentient beings. The next topic is the Method for Cultivating Diligence not just newly cultivating it but retaining and sustain diligence continuously. For that one needs to eliminate unfavorable conditions, the obstacles to diligence, the opposite of Diligence. There are opposites to everything although they re not necessarily exact opposites. For example, what is the opposite to patience? Anger. Sometimes the opposite of Anger is said to be love. So it s one of the two; it can only be one of the two. Both are actually said to be, so they are not directly opposite, but they counteract each other. The opposite to Joyous Effort is said to be laziness. Here we have three types of laziness: 1 ROUGH DRAFT -

2 Class 6 - Sept 28 Class Notes Draft Ornament For Clear Realizations Joyous Diligence (1) Laziness of being attached, or adhering to, negative actions. A bank robber may work really hard to pull off stealing, but because of the attachment to the money, it is still called laziness, the laziness of the attachment to non- virtuous actions. In relation to Joyous Effort, which is delight in virtuous action, beneficial actions, in relation to that, it is called a type of laziness, because it is an obstacle to Joyous Effort. Not the Joyous Effort of a bank robber joyfully robbing a bank. No, here, Joyous Effort means delight in virtuous action, something positive. Joyous Effort is a positive state of mind, and the opposite would be anything that is an obstacle to that kind of delight, so the laziness of being attached to negative actions, even though that kind of laziness can lead someone to work very hard. (2) Laziness of Procrastination. We re all familiar with that. I ll start some other time, not today. Today, I m very busy. I need to read my novel, watch movies, have a great meal with my friends, meet my friends. There s no end to all the activities. So procrastinating is the other type of laziness. (3) Laziness of Self- Contempt, feeling discouraged. I can t do that. That is the opposite to Joyous Effort, an obstacle to making an effort and delighting in virtue. So how do we overcome that? We need to overcome those three kinds of laziness. First, overcome the laziness of procrastination by meditating on what? Death. We re going to die, maybe soon. We don t know how soon, and we may not have the same opportunity again, so we shouldn t waste it. And not just death anything can happen. I could have an accident and not be able to meditate any more or something. Anything can happen. We see other people who suddenly get so sick that they can t practice any more, lose their eyesight or hearing. Right now we are healthy and fit. We can do anything: we can use our minds, develop our minds. Also, we re young, relatively young: Today is the youngest day of our lives. We re just going to get older every day, so it will just get more difficult as we go along. So we might as well start now. To stop the laziness of attachment we can reflect on impermanence and the law of Karma. Life is short. Why would we waste it with meaningless activities that are so short- lived. Also, reflecting on the law of Karma: If we engage in negative actions, in the future, we ll reap the result. So do we really want to experience that kind of suffering. That s the question, so reflect upon that. Is it really worth it. A little bit of happiness and satisfaction that results in great future suffering. Third is the stopping of discouragement. So the discouragement spoken of is with the difficulties of Mahayana practice which is difficult and long. There is a lot of discouragement that may arise regarding certain aspects of Mahayana practice. The first kind of discouragement is with the Mahayana goal. Maybe right now, we don t really understand what it means to be a Buddha if you haven t really heard and studied about it. But when you hear the sutric teachings and explanations by great masters, hear what it means to be a fully enlightened Buddha, that is so different from anything we could even or ever wish for. POWER OF MIND CREATOR OF ALL OUR EXPERIENCE, THE SOURCE OF BUDDHAHOOD Right now, we are so far away from being a Buddha that the idea that we could become like that seems impossible, so we may feel discouraged thinking, I could never be like that. I could never be a fully enlightened Buddha; no way.

3 2012 Class 6 - Sept 28 Class Notes Draft Ornament For Clear Realizations Joyous Diligence 3 So then we need to reflect on Buddha Nature: we have all the ingredients needed to become a fully enlightened Buddha already present here and now, everything required. Buddhist practice is not so much about gaining new qualities as it is about reducing the faults that keep us from being fully enlightened by uncovering our incredible minds that we already possess. The mind that we cannot utilize right now because of our self- cherishing, self- centered attitude. Sometimes we get some glimpses of what the mind can do, the power of the mind. This is not just a Buddhist concept. In the West, there s the idea that sometimes, through willpower, people can do unbelievable things. Whether you call them miracles or unexplainable, from a Buddhist point of view, they re not a big deal; they re nothing in comparison to what can be done. We can get glimpses of that. The point is to understand that everyone has the potential for full enlightenment. And to study about what it means to be a Buddha; understanding that right now we are in this situation, and understanding what the situation is for a Buddha; and that there are causes and conditions, that if they are applied, ensure we will become a Buddha. Therefore, there s no reason to be discouraged about the goal, because there are so many reasons for becoming a Buddha, and there are no reason for not becoming a Buddha. And it is explained that everyone, even a tiny fly, a dog, a cat, any living being, a human being, has the potential and will eventually become a Buddha. Then we may grow discouraged not so much about the goal: All right, I can become enlightened; okay. But it is very difficult! Those two are not contradicting each other. Even though everyone can become and will become a Buddha, that doesn t mean it is easy. It is a long and difficult process, because our minds even though they can be purified are very habituated, strongly used to, familiarized with our negativities. Therefore, it requires great effort. We may be scared or worried or discouraged about this, thinking I can never ever do these practices The practices that are described there are so many of them, and we have to start where we are with what we are capable of. Some of the very advanced practices, we can be inspired by them, thinking, Someday I ll be able to do those practices ; but we should not be discouraged by those and be happy to do the practices that we are capable of now. We do this in everyday life. No one in elementary school or five years old goes to University; that would be unrealistic. For us to do the advanced practices would be totally useless, like being five years old and going to University, sitting in class and understanding nothing. Likewise, with the advanced Buddhist practices. As Westerners, we want the best and quickest methods, so we aim for really advanced practices. Of course, we get no result; or if there is a result, we can t detect it; or there is not at all because we re not ready. So we turn against it; we lose interest, feel discouraged and leave it. So it is not a problem with the teachings or methods, but we are not ready for those methods and advanced practices. But when we are ready for them, it will be easy because as the text says, There s nothing that doesn t get easier over time (with persistent effort). And so many things that we couldn t do in the past, we can do those now. Everyone can change. We re all the same, or equal in the sense that we can all develop our mind and develop fully perfected minds like the Buddha that cannot be improved. That doesn t mean that a Buddha can do anything. A Buddha has limitations. Buddhas are not omnipotent, but our mental consciousness cannot get any better, and once we reach that mental state, we ll all be equal even though right now, we

4 Class 6 - Sept 28 Class Notes Draft Ornament For Clear Realizations Joyous Diligence have different abilities, interests and predispositions, etc., but we can all get to that kind of state. It s a step- by- step process, so to worry about the sufferings that lie ahead; there are sufferings. Just having a teacher, relying on a teacher, they make sure that it s not going to be always pleasant. What do spiritual teachers do, like H.H. Dalai Lama, these great lamas well, it is, of course, a little difficult to spend a lot of time in the presence of His Holiness, but other lamas can be very accessible, you can meet them. What do they do? A kind of painful process. Find your weak points, your ego. They re not going to tell you how wonderful you are or praise your great Buddha Nature. In the beginning, maybe. But then they ll bring them out so they ll be visible, because often we re in denial about their negativities. Our negativities that really give us trouble, oftentimes, we re not even aware of them, their frequency or strength or how they rule our lives and make us miserable. The task of those teachers is to bring those out, to bring the ego out. Sometimes if you re around them, in their presence, everything is so holy, and suddenly, this incredible negativity comes up and you can t help it There you sit with an incredible lama right in front of you. This happens in teachings, and your most negative mind comes up even though you don t want it there, but you can t help it; it s right there. That is the power of the lama. And we don t like it, because we want to look at ourselves as being you know. But it is the only way. When you wash clothes, unless you detect the stains, you won t make an effort to remove them, to clean the different kinds of stains. You need to know where they are; you need to identify them, to see them. It s painful to bring up the ego. the self- grasping mind comes up very strongly that s painful. It s like taking an injection that is painful but helps you to avoid worse problems in the future; to be prepared. We can understand that that suffering is worthwhile. So much of the suffering that we go through is not worthwhile at all. So much of our past and present sufferings, so much unnecessary suffering. So with this kind of suffering, there s a bit of discomfort, but they re there to protect you so it never gets that bad. So these are counters to the discouragement about the Path. Yes, there are some difficulties, but there s nothing that you cannot muster, overcome. There are much worse things in everyday life that are not Dharma practice. The third point, the last point of Lama Tsong Khapa s explanation: Stopping discouragement because wherever we are, there s a place to practice. Where we are right now, we can practice. That s the best we can have; our situation is the best it can be. Buddhism doesn t talk about a creator god. But there is a creator of our suffering, our difficulties, our happiness, our comfort. What is that creator? It s our own mind. That is the creator in Tibetan Buddhism. It s not another being it is our own mind. We experience what comes from our own mind. there s a very famous saying: If you want to know what your mind was like in the past, look at your situation now. If you want to know what your situation will be in the future, look at your mind now. So it is dependent upon the mind really. If you think about this, it makes it so much easier to deal with difficulties our own difficulties; not with other people! It is not a

5 2012 Class 6 - Sept 28 Class Notes Draft Ornament For Clear Realizations Joyous Diligence 5 thought that thinks, Oh, it s their own karma; let them suffer. No. We should help others right away. We should assist them for their sake and our own sake. However, when something happens to us that makes us really unhappy and depressed, if we think: Well, I did something in the past that caused that. Of course, there are other causes and conditions: there s the person who says things; and the circumstances and all that, but the main cause is something I ve accumulated in the past. It is liberating because then you don t feel like some sort of victim, I can t do anything kind of paralyzed. No. I ve done this in the past, okay. I can change it. I can make changes so this won t happen to me again. In terms of events that happen to us right now, we can deal with those better. Understanding that their causes lie in the past. Also for the future, the future is in our own hands. I want happiness; I want certain comforts in my life to be able to make choices in terms of material possessions, which are helpful and useful no denying that. So I better be generous in this lifetimes, then in future lives I ll be able to have the material comfort that will allow me to make certain choices. If I want other people to like me and be patient with me, I should be patient, kind and open, friendly, sincerely caring for others. If I wanted to be cared for, I should care for others. What else? If I want to be attractive, I should be patience. Attractiveness to the extent that people are drawn to you in a certain way, patience. This is obvious in every day life. Someone who is angry ever day of their life has wrinkles forming in a way that makes them look ugly, while someone who is generally happy, satisfied and patient, they have almost a half smile on their face or look of contentment. Sometimes I see someone who may be pretty or handsome, but sometimes they have a weird expression that shows a lot of anger in their faces. So even this lifetime it can show. From a Buddhist point of view if we want that in future lives, it is in our hands right now. So that is great; isn t it. We don t have too much freedom, but there s a degree of freedom that we can increase by effort right now. Also, it is said that even though we are in Samsara, and have this very limited mind and body, which is called Samsara. This mind and body is called Samsara. It is explained that with Buddhist practice, we will develop more happiness, so even though we re stuck in Samsara for a long time, if we enjoy it, that doesn t matter. So if we get discouraged by thinking, OMG, I m going to be in Samsara for so long! Not only does it take ages, lots of eons, but I m in a situation that really sucks, is really difficult, has lots of suffering. But what is Samsara? There s no objective Samsara. We all have our own personal Samsara of our own experiences. Reality is just the summary of each and everyone s reality; and each and everyone s reality is the result of each and everyone s mind. There s nothing more to it. If that is the case, if our mind improves, becoming more kind and loving, as a side effect, we just become happier. For a Bodhisattva, that is just a side effect; it is not really what they re aiming for. They aim for the happiness of others but by working for the benefit of others this is something we also know from our own experience. Sometimes, when we re so engrossed with helping a friend, we are totally engrossed in making gifts for others, we totally forget our own troubles because we re so absorbed in doing for others, in making someone happy and our own problems subside in that moment, become more bearable or totally disappear. For us, the problem is that we can do that for an hour and then the self- centered mind returns. We can be very selfless helping someone, but if they don t thank us or treat us

6 Class 6 - Sept 28 Class Notes Draft Ornament For Clear Realizations Joyous Diligence badly, then we get terribly upset because unconditional is never that unconditional. It is unconditional at first but then the conditions arise later. So unconditional love, while we are unconditionally loving, all right; but then later on we expect something in return. So a Bodhisattva is not like that at all; it s just for others all the time. So why would they suffer? Whatever people do to them, they don t suffer because their concern is the other person and not their own happiness. As a side effect, they experience great happiness. So it is explained that even though it takes a long time, immeasurable time, immeasurable sentient beings to work for; immeasurable qualities of enlightenment to be attained; immeasurable positive potential needs to be accumulated immeasurable, immeasurable, immeasurable. So don t hope for it be quick to attain Enlightenment. Just think immeasurable! Doesn t matter how long it will actually take. Just think, It takes forever. Then you can take it slow. You re not in a rush. You take it a step at a time. You don t try to jump and trip because of that. This basically concludes the explanation that Lama Tsong Khapa gives us in the Lam Rim Chen- Mo on Diligence. There is more explanation in the Lam Rim, but this all we need here. Every teacher of this course presents this general advice somewhat differently, more or less extensively. TRACK 2 BACKGROUND TO DEBATE & STUDY AT IBD & GELUK MONASTIC UNIVERSITIES BUDDHA S TEACHINGS & INDIAN COMMENTARIES Now we start the actual text. Since it s not straight forward, I ll need to give you explanation. What is the actual text we re study? It s the word of the Buddha, the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, a particular genre that explicitly teaches the ultimate nature of phenomena and implicitly teaches the meditative states that one must develop in order to become enlightened. We are studying the implicit meditative states in this course. The Buddha taught for about 45 years, and he is said to be a master pedagogue in the sense that he attempted to be of benefit to his immediate listeners. He taught the persons who were right in front of him according to their needs. So sometimes, he said one thing to one person and something else to another person depending upon their interests and needs, etc. This is an amazing way of teaching because it was highly effective right in that moment, but there s a problem with this. One problem is that the Buddha s teachings were not organized or systematized. After the Buddha passed away, the teachings of the Buddha were written down. People had amazing abilities to remember what the Buddha said due to their meditative abilities, so they were able to recite what the Buddha said word for word and it was written down. Then parts were taught here and there to different people. And this is a huge volume of teachings from 45 years of teaching. I don t think everything could ve been written down, but a lot was, so there are voluminous teachings. Now you needed people to organize and systematize the teachings. Maitreya was one of those who did so. Maitreya took the genre of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, which were taught at different times during the Buddha s life but a lot were taught in the middling part of his teaching. They teach Emptiness, the ultimate nature of reality, directly. And teach the meditative states indirectly. These types of teachings can be categorized into the

7 2012 Class 6 - Sept 28 Class Notes Draft Ornament For Clear Realizations Joyous Diligence 7 Perfection of Wisdom Sutras. Maitreya was a great master who read all of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, got an understanding of all of them, and composed a text where he just took the explanation of the meditative states that is hidden in the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras it s not explicit he took those and wrote them down and taught that text to his disciple, Asanga, about 1,600 years ago (400 A.D.). This was in Sanskrit, and was later translated into Tibetan in the 8 th - 9 th centuries. It was translated at different times, so there were improved versions of this text. But of course, since it was written so long ago, it is necessary to have commentaries on it. Actually, thinking of the time from the 4 th century to the 8 th century, there weren t that many commentaries written. There are about 17 from that period that are accepted as being good, explanatory commentaries on Maitreya s text. One of those is by Acharya (Lopon (! བ དཔ ན ) Haribhadra (Senge Sangpo, ས ང ག བསང པ, which means, the Gentle Lion) in the 8 th century. 2 His text is very brief. Maitreya s text was quite short. Both of their texts are not very long and require a lot of explanation. Even though there s a lot written down, the Buddhist tradition is primarily an oral tradition. So all the teacher needed was clues outlines or brief explanation to know the topic and give extensive explanation. And that was passed on orally by people who understood and gained realizations, which they passed on along with academic understanding. GELUK TRADITION OF TIBETAN BUDDHIST SCHOLARSHIP & STUDIES Over time, it becomes more difficult to understand what was taught in another country hundreds of years ago. So in Tibet, more lengthy commentaries were written and we rely on those by Lama Tsong Khapa, a 14 th century master who studied the three traditions existing Nyingma, Sakya and Kagyu. One of his most important teachers was from the Sakya tradition. Based upon the writings and teachings of Je Tsong Khapa, the Geluk tradition was founded although he didn t call it that. However, we rely on his explanations. There s one text by Lama Tsong Khapa and once by his disciple, Gyaltseb Je. He had two main, heart disciples, Gyaltsab Je and Khedrup Je 3. Gyaltseb Rinpoche his commentary on Maitreya s text is relied upon more than that by Je Rinpoche. So we rely on the Ornament for Clear Realizations (Abhisamaya- alaṅkāra or Abhisamayalamkara) by Maitreya, Haribadhra s commentary on the Ornament and Lama Tsong Khapa s (the Golden Rosary). There were other texts in between, but we focus on these. When Je Tsong Khapa was quite young he wrote the commentary on Maitreya s text, and thereby, on the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, i.e., the Golden Rosary. This is not the text we mainly rely on, because Gyaltsab Je s text (Ornament of the Essence) is the one we use more, even though Gyaltsab Je is a disciple of Je Tsong Khapa. Because Gyaltsab Je is acting as a secretary to Je Rinpoche, and the teachings on the Ornament that Je Rinpoche gave later in his life (than the Golden Rosary), when he was more spiritually mature are incorporated into Gyaltsab Je s commentary. Therefore, there are some contradictions between Gyaltsab Je s text and the Golden Rosary, and Gyaltsab Je s is considered the final expression of Je Rinpoche s views. These were 2 Clear Meaning Commentary or Commentary Clarifying the Meaning - < འ" ལ པ ད ན གསལ >. Haribhadra was a student of Shantarakshita, founder of Middle Way Autonomy- Yogic Practitioner (Madhyamika Svatantrika- Yogacara) tenet system and the saint who established the first monastery in Tibet. 3 Gyaltsab Je (!ལ ཚབ & ) Gyel- tsap Je Dharma Rinchen (!ལ ཚབ & དར མ ར ན ཆ ན ); Khe- drup Je ( མཁས %&བ! ) mkhas Grub rje dge legs dpal bzang po ( མཁས %&བ ( དག ལ གས དཔལ བཟང པ ).

8 Class 6 - Sept 28 Class Notes Draft Ornament For Clear Realizations Joyous Diligence written between the 13 th - 14 th centuries. These are the texts that everyone in the Geluk tradition relies on. The Nyingma and Kagyu tradition rely on Maitreya s text, Haribhadra s text, but not on Lama Tsong Khapa and Gyaltsab Je s texts, because they have their own masters who wrote commentaries. APPROACH TO STUDY: DEEP UNDERSTANDING RATHER THAN COLLECTING VAST INFORMATION So this actually quite simple, if you think about it, Buddhist studies take so long and are so extensive, but actually we read relatively few texts compared to other forms of higher education where people read volumes and volumes and volumes. You can in this tradition, but the emphasis is more on taking those few texts and really understanding them. So you can study one sentence really deeply. Is that similar to studying the Torah in Judaism? STUDENT: Talmud. You can study the Talmud your entire life. GESHE WANGMO: Your entire life, but is it a matter of studying lots and lot of other texts; or is it more a matter of understanding that text or going deep? STUDENT: Going deep. GESHE WANGMO: So it may be quite similar to that. This extensive study. One does read a lot of texts, but the emphasis is more on concentrating on those and understanding those well, because if you understand those well, you understand the teachings of the Buddha and that s what it s all about. Not much about reading this, this and this and gaining knowledge, but about understanding what is meant. People may think that, Oh, to become omniscient, don t I need to gain more and more knowledge? It doesn t work that way. It s not like you need to increase the amount that you know to become omniscient like the Buddha. It s more about removing the obstacles to omniscience because we have the potential to be omniscient right now but obstacles prevent that. Getting closer to omniscience does not mean knowing about more things. Therefore there are actually relatively few texts, and that makes it a little bit harder. Because the more information, you have but we do rely on two more texts. BRIEF HISTORY OF GELUK STUDIES & DEBATE Basically in the Geluk tradition, there are three main monastic universities: Gaden, Sera and Drepung. These three main monasteries are called the Pillars of the Geluk Tradition. They are subdivided into two colleges each. In the past there were more six in some, ten in others, etc. There were a lot more colleges. But in exile, each of the three has two sub- colleges. Each of those colleges relies on the same texts (described above), and on top of those they use texts by their own textbook authors. There are different Tibetan masters who wrote these texts after Lama Tsong Khapa. Somewhere contemporaries of Je Tsong Khapa and some lived later. These masters wrote commentaries on Je Rinpoche and wrote them in a way that would facilitate debate. The texts of Je Rinpoche and Gyaltsab Je contain the debates, but not in a format as easy to use, so the textbooks make it easier for us to debate because they wrote actual debate manuals.

9 2012 Class 6 - Sept 28 Class Notes Draft Ornament For Clear Realizations Joyous Diligence 9 Sometimes, if the textbooks of a college accepted on interpretation, the author of textbooks for a different college would purposely assert a different interpretation in order to facilitate debate. So they are not posing final views even though a final view does filter throughout but these different interpretations of the commentaries are intended to challenge debate on certain points by posing contradictions. PANCHEN SONAM DRAKPA TEXT BOOK AUTHOR FOR IBD, DREPUNG LOSELING & GADEN SHARTSE MONASTIC COLLEGES So that is reflected in our Handouts. At IBD, we use the textbooks by the author Panchen Sonam Drakpa for all our courses. Panchen Sonam Drakpa s textbooks are used at Drepung Loseling college (one of the two Drepung colleges, the other being Gomang), Gaden Shartse college (one of the two Gaden colleges, the other being Jangtse), and several nunneries. The Institute of Buddhist Dialectics follows Loseling because someone who studied at Loseling founded IBD. Many IBD teachers and students have studied at Loseling, and there s an affiliation between IBD and Loseling. So we rely on the master Panchen Sonam Drakpa. Panchen Sonam Drakpa has composed two texts for this course: General Meaning (! ད ན ) and Decisive Analysis ( མཐའ ད& ད ). In the General Meaning, he took the texts the Ornament, Haribhadra s and Gyaltsab Je s and Lama Tsong Khapa s, and mainly used Gyaltsab Je s and Haribhadra s (both of which contain the Ornament) as his main focus and he wrote a general explanation of those, giving you an easily accessible sense of those texts. In the Decisive Analysis you find all the dialectical debates. The debates always begin, Someone says Someone is always wrong. Someone doesn t have to say something that anyone actually posits, it can be a hypothetical view. And then our system logically refutes what Someone says. The Someone could be Sera Jey s textbook author. And Sera Jey s textbook author may refuge something posited by Panchen Sonam Drakpa. That is not a problem. They are refuting each other in order to foster debate and learn from each other. If you don t disagree, there s nothing to debate about. It may be that Panchen Sonam Drakpa s position is not your own final view after all. You can challenge views that you basically agree with and learn from the debate. You learn from your own mistakes; from the other person s mistakes. Sometimes you say something unexpectedly, it comes out of your mouth and you think, Oh, wow, that is the answer. It s almost like you say it before you actually realize that it makes sense. So debate is a very helpful method for learning. So we will go over these debates here in class in the way that they were presented in my studies. I found it extremely effective. The Tibetans have figured out a very effective way of doing this that has worked for hundreds of years. However, for this first topic, the Three Types of Diligence, Panchen Sonam Drakpa does not pose any debates in the DA, because they are very easy to understand. The debates begin with the next topic of our Fall 2012 term. So we need to think of debates about Diligence ourselves.

10 Class 6 - Sept 28 Class Notes Draft Ornament For Clear Realizations Joyous Diligence We re trained and I want to encourage you to adopt this that whenever we read something, look for the discrepancies; always be critical; always think, I m going to find a mistake in this presentation any moment now. Have that state of mind, and then you will read with a different state of mind: That doesn t sound right. That s contradictory. And then bring it up here in question & answer time or maybe reflect on your own. Then you understanding and wisdom increase, which as a part of Buddhist practice is extremely important. So it s an extremely effective approach to understanding things better. It is very different from just listening and making notes I mean, we never look at the notes! Most of the time, at least mine are in a cupboard getting kind of yellow now. It s not just about making notes and retaining the information, it s about going deeper and understanding it on a different level. Growing how it relates to other things, which is very important in Buddhism, because every principle is connected to everything else. H.H. Dalai Lama is someone who really comprehends this. His Holiness has an amazing ability of connecting everything. He starts off with one topic, and it takes you all over Buddhism, and before you know it, the entire path has been covered. This is the skill of someone who has really understood all the teachings because he sees all the connections and he can draw the connections. That is another way of gaining understanding Buddhist teachings because you need to understand how everything is connected. And that only comes from analysis, investigation, continuous thinking and checking that you can get to that kind of knowledge. So with this in mind, let s start. Track 3 - THREE TYPES OF DILIGENCE PER ABHISAMAYALAMKARA & COMMENTARIES BY HARIBHADRA AND GYALTSAB JE HANDOUT 7 THREE TYPES OF DILIGENCE Here is an explanation of the Tibetan word written the way it is pronounced and then in Tibetan. Tibetan: བ" ན འ'(ས - tsoen drue (brtson 'grus - བ" ན འ'(ས ), (tsoen = effort / exertion / perseverance / diligence / to exert/ to practice / devote oneself to / persevere in / be diligent / energetic / study hard / make effort / vigor / vigorous pursuit / strive for, drue pa = diligence / zeal / endeavor / industry / exertion / effort) English: diligence / perseverance / joyous effort / enthusiastic effort There are many English translations for the meaning of the first syllable (brtson), which is a Tibetan word itself, as is the second syllable ('grus). Often Tibetan two- syllable words are made up of two words that have the same or similar meaning. The English translations are essential the meaning of those syllables. As you see, there s no joy in the word itself or in its two syllables. So the English translation, Joyous Effort, is similar to what the Tibetans have done with some Sanskrit words, because this is diligence associated with a kind of joy. It is not the diligence of

11 2012 Class 6 - Sept 28 Class Notes Draft Ornament For Clear Realizations Joyous Diligence 11 having to make money, and hating it, and getting out of bed every day and being diligent about going to a job you hate. That s not the diligence meant here. Unfortunately, you don t get paid for Buddhist practice, so the only thing that gets you running is joy; no other rewards really. So you start off with some joy, and that s what keeps you going. Of course: Diligence can be categorized in different ways. Any state of mind has many different types. Our minds are so complicated and sophisticated. Watch your own mind. There are so many different kinds of anger. We have some words in English: hatred, resentment, aggression, belligerence, irritation, wrath. And there are even more types of minds: strong, middling and weak anger. Monday morning anger, different types influenced by other states of mind and with different objects (towards oneself, towards a table when you stub your toe, towards another person) and differences in the duration of the anger. Just to use a word to describe the spectrum of a mental state is inadequate, but that s all we have: diligence. THREE DILIGENCES PER ORNAMENT: NON- ADHERENCE, NON- WEARINESS, THOROUGHLY UPHOLDING THE PATH There are different ways of categorizing diligence. Maitreya Ornament gives a three- fold division here, but the three are different than we studied from the text we studied before which were Armor- Like), Gathering Virtue and Working for the Welfare of Sentient Beings. The Ornament categorizes it into three. However, the Ornament's threefold division is slightly different from the threefold division of diligence according to the Lam Rim Chenmo. Now, you will see how the Ornament is really short, just a list of different topics that we study. Sometimes there are some explanations, but not here. The Ornament verse that describes the Three Diligence is verse 22 The verse of the Ornament that describes the three diligences is: Practice, the truths, The three jewels such as the Buddha, Non- adherence, non- weariness, Thoroughly upholding the path, [22] We actually memorize the Ornament text, which is not long, about 70 pages in my book. And it is all in verse. The First chapter has about 75 verses, and it has eight chapters. The first chapter is one of the longest, so it is not impossible. However, it is difficult to memorize because when you memorize it before you start studying it, you have no idea what these words mean. So it is very difficult. Later the words are explained.

12 Class 6 - Sept 28 Class Notes Draft Ornament For Clear Realizations Joyous Diligence But if you have memorized it, that s very nice, then you recite it, you have the topics in your mind. Then when you ve done the studies, these words naming the topic trigger your memory of the whole topic. Of course, for debate, you need to have memorized the text. Actually, only the last lines of Verse 22 talk about Diligence. The first two lines of the Ornament outline the first three topics of practice instructions: 1) The two truths which are explained in order to understand the nature and the aspect of practice 2) The four noble truths which are the focal object of practice 3) The three jewels such as the Buddha and so forth going for refuge to them serves as the basis of one's practice If you remember, there are 10 topics regarding the (Mahayana) Practice Instructions given by Maitreya here. The first one is the Two Truths, Conventional and Ultimate Truth, and we studied this about two years ago. We covered the Three Jewels of Refuge in the Spring term this year. The next two lines describe the three types of diligences: 1. The diligence of non- adherence 2. The diligence of non- weariness 3. The diligence of thoroughly upholding the [Mahayana] path What does adherence mean? One of the three types of laziness mentioned this: one is adhering to negative actions in the sense of attachment to negative action. So here, adherence means attachment, clinging. Laziness was that of Procrastination and the third Laziness of being disheartened, self- contempt. So here diligence of non- adherence is that of not adhering to negative actions. The diligence of non- weariness is a different type. What does it mean to be weariness. STUDENT: In a way, it means to be discouraged. GESHE WANGMO: In a way, but not exactly. Just being tired. Not necessarily discouraged. If you re discouraged, you re weary; but if you re weary, you re not necessarily discouraged. I think basically weariness is just being tired: My knees ache, and anyway, I just want to have a good time. Never mind. Then the diligence of thoroughly upholding the [Mahayana] path. That is said to be the hardest. To work for our own benefit is so difficult, but to work to benefit all sentient beings; come on? And they re obnoxious; worse than myself according to me. Therefore, a lot of courage is needed. It s very difficult to uphold the Mahayana practice.

13 2012 Class 6 - Sept 28 Class Notes Draft Ornament For Clear Realizations Joyous Diligence 13 ORNAMENT COMMENTARIES BY HARIBHADRA, GYALTSAB JE RE: DILIGENCE Remember Panchen Sonam Drakpa is the textbook author of Drepung Loseling and IBD, and some of the nunneries study the same texts. Jamyang Choeling here, Jangchub Choeling in the south do. Gaden Choeling doesn t; they use the textbook author of Sera Jey. In the Geluk- pa tradition, you follow any of the six colleges textbook authors, and we follow Panchen Sonam Drakpa. It doesn t matter. I may not agree with some of what he says, and agree with the others. Although of them basically say the same, but invoke debates. Since Panchen Sonam Drakpa merely cites the three types of diligence with their sutric sources in his General Meaning, but does not give any further explanation, the scriptural quotations given in the handouts on the three types of diligence are from the following texts: i. Haribhadra's Commentary Clarifying the Meaning ii. Gyaltsab Je's Ornament of the Essence iii. Lama Tsongkhapa's Golden Rosary I apologize for any mistakes I ve made in these translations, and I m sure there are some. But it is very difficult to check, because whom am I going to check with? The people who know Tibetan and English well enough to check are too busy. And if I go to my teachers, they don t know English. So if there are mistakes, I apologize in advance. I tried to go over, and over and over it, but the difficulty is also that it was translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan; and the Tibetan is old Tibetan. Actually, we have an incredible advantage because at least the spelling of the words hasn t changed. In English, if you read a book from 200 years ago, the spelling is different. Many of the I s are Y s. And there was different grammar and spelling and words. So that doesn t happen in Tibetan, the written Tibetan, although the grammar has changed slightly. I find it easier to read contemporary texts than the older texts because I feel the grammar is clearer,.. Sometimes there are two ways to translate something, and I m not sure which one to use. That can be good in that the sentence has a double meaning. But English isn t like that so much since it is very precise grammatically. Older Tibetan grammar is much more ambiguous. In Sanskrit, I ve heard that there was a text that when you read it from the beginning to the end, it was a praise to the king; and when you read it from the end to the beginning, it was a critique of the king. Such was the nature of the language and the expertise of the author, that you could actually say two different things; that s quite an amazing language and is hard to imagine. You can read in- between the lines because one word has so many different meanings. So Sanskrit is such a great language because if you want to say three things, you can say them with one sentence. That was not fully the case in Tibetan but there s a bit of that flavor in that sentences can have double meanings. But in English that s impossible. Gyaltsab- je's Ornament of the Essence and Lama Tsongkhapa's Golden Rosary are both commentaries on Haribhadra s Commentary Clarifying the Meaning, which is one of the main Indian commentaries on Maitreya's Ornament that Tibetan monastics rely upon. However, due to Haribhadra's terse writing style... They are also, of course, commentaries on the Ornament. And Haribhadra s writing style is extremely terse, and the book is not very long.

14 Class 6 - Sept 28 Class Notes Draft Ornament For Clear Realizations Joyous Diligence his explanations can often be difficult to understand. Therefore, it is helpful to rely on Gyaltsab- je and Lama Tsongkhapa's commentaries since both the Ornament of the Essence and the Golden Rosary are composed in a way in which their extensive explanations are interspersed with Haribhadra's original words. They use Haribhadra s word and insert their own. Some people call this paraphrasing, but paraphrasing means changing the original words. They don t change the original, they add extension. Sometimes people highlight Haribhadra s words, but I decided that you should do so on your own, and also because it looks a little odd. Sometimes, I would translate one part, and then translate another part a few days later, and get confused about which translations I used. So I hope I didn t use different English words to translate one Tibetan. I tried to be consistent. This is to give you a sense of the Lama Tsong Khapa says, what Gyaltsab Je says and what Haribhadra says. I won t do this as much later on, because I d end up translating too much and not get around to translating the debate texts. Later on, there are Handouts on the debates and in those, I didn t translate all of Je Rinpoche, only the important and most interesting quotations that were not redundant with the others. TRACK 4 GYALTSAB JE S OUTLINE OF THREE DILIGENCES (PRESENTED BY MAITREYA AND HARIBHADRA) Here we have outlines, which is a Tibetan custom (not Indian). Gyaltsab Je created outlines for Haribhadra s text. MANIFEST DISCORDANT FACTORS According to Gyaltsab- je's Ornament of the Essence, the three types of diligence are explained under the following outlines: Instructions on eliminating manifest discordant factors (i.e. negativities) Discordant factors, mi thun chok ( མ མཐ#ན & གས ) in Tibetan, literally means a discordant direction. Anything that is a negativity, an obstacle to practice is a discordant factor. It s a popular word in Tibetan. So what does it mean to eliminate manifest obstacles to practice? This is very important: MANIFEST & DORMANT ANGER There is a difference between eliminating manifest anger and eliminating the seeds of anger, which are the potential for anger to arise again. Let s say I have practiced patience every day for the last month. Before I started the practice, I got angry day around 10 am and 7 pm. But because of my practice of patience, I am now able to eliminate the manifestation or the arising of anger. That is actually really good, helpful.

15 2012 Class 6 - Sept 28 Class Notes Draft Ornament For Clear Realizations Joyous Diligence 15 But the problem, there is no guarantee that anger will not arise again; and secondly, the moment I stop practicing patience, at some point, anger will arise again. So it is good, but more needs to be done. So to eliminate something manifest what I want to do eventually is get rid of the potential for anger ever to arise again, and that is called the seed. Just as a seed has the potential to arise into something else, likewise this seed has the potential to arise into anger again. So it is called the seeds of anger. ELIMINATING MANIFEST ANGER (WITH PATIENCE) VERSUS ELIMINATING ANGER S SEEDS So there are two ways to eliminate anger. The final mode is to eliminate the seed. That s always the goal in Buddhism, permanent, which means if I eliminate the seeds of anger, I eliminate the potential to ever become angry again; I can t be angry. But that is not the result of practicing patience. Patience is great and very helpful, because if I can t totally eliminate anger, than patience is the best I can do and it allows me to generate the mind that can totally eliminate anger. What is the mind that totally eliminates anger? Patience is a state of mind; right? Patience is not the actions of being patient smiling, whatever you do when you re patience are the result of the mental state called patience. So that only eliminates the manifest kind of anger for some time, making sure it doesn t arise, so that the anger lies dormant. Right now, I hope that none of you has manifest anger. Assuming you re ordinary people. I don t know: some of you may be enlightened. But if you re not, anger lies dormant, which means the potential for anger to arise is there if the right circumstances come about. If there s something that you do that helps you to not manifest anger over a period of time, you still have the potential to manifest anger later. What is the mind that can totally overcome anger? DORIS: The mind that realizes Emptiness directly. GESHE WANGMO: The mind that realizes the ultimate nature of phenomena, that directly realizes how phenomena exist. This will come up later. So you understand that difference. What does Diligence do here? It doesn t have that power, but it overcomes that which is a discordant factor or an unfavorable factor to our practice. What is this discordant factor? The state of mind that is an unfavorable factor to our working hard? STUDENT: Laziness. GESHE WANGMO: Exactly. So it eliminates that manifest form of laziness. Of course, the seeds remain for us to deal with later. But even for now, great! This is the instruction that Gyaltsab Je gives:

16 Class 6 - Sept 28 Class Notes Draft Ornament For Clear Realizations Joyous Diligence Therefore Gyaltsab- je describes the three types of diligence as an antidote that eliminates manifest discordant factors (i.e. negativities) such as laziness. Furthermore, since the three types of diligence are one of the topics of Mahayana practice instructions, they are presented in the form of instructions on diligence. The outline: Instructions on eliminating manifest discordant factors has three further outlines, with each of the three explaining one of the three types of diligence. The three outlines are: 1. Instructions on the causes of the non- degeneration of one's practice 2. Instructions on the causes of increasing one's practice 3. Instructions on the causes of not falling into the Hinayana [vehicle] So this is part of the Practice Instructions on Diligence. Who gives the instructions? The Buddha gave the instructions and other people comment on them. INSTRUCTIONS ON THE CAUSES FOR NON- DEGENERATION OF ONE'S PRACTICE - DILIGENCE OF NON- ADHERENCE. The first Diligence was the Diligence of Non- Adherence. So this is the cause of the non- degeneration of one s practice. You could, of course, exchange those: it s also the cause for the increase of one s practice, etc. But mainly, it prevents the degeneration of one s practice. Non- degeneration: if you have attachment to this and that worldly happiness, that immediately degenerates your little bit of practice. Even when we have a few seconds of inspiration, then the next minute, Oh, no. Can t do it; I m too busy. Too busy with my attachment. You need to be able to put these things together, that are spelled out here, on your own, e.g., the Non- Degeneration of One's Practice and Diligence of Non- Adherence. Later on, they won t be clearly spelled out in the Handouts so you can have that exercise. 1. Instructions on the causes of the non- degeneration of one's practice The type of diligence presented under this outline is the diligence of non- adherence, which counteracts the laziness of adhering to non- virtuous actions and assists practitioners in stabilizing their practice. In Tibetan the word 'adherence' (Tib.: zhen pa - ཞ ན པ ) has the connotation of attachment, clinging, craving, hanging on to etc. Therefore, the laziness that adheres to negative actions is a mental factor that is attached or clings to negative actions of body, speech, or mind. Even though zhen pa ( ཞ ན པ ) can be translated as attachment, it s translated as adherence because there s another Tibetan word used for attachment. ཞ ན པ is an interesting word. Someone can have zhen po ( ཞ ན པ ) towards one s own country. If I have ཞ ན པ towards my own country, then I always prefer someone from my own country, help someone from my own country. I m not sure what the English is. It s not