1. The Path of Accumulation and
2. The Path of Application are the paths of ordinary beings.
3. The Path of Vision is the beginning of the paths of nobility and is related to the first Bodhisattva bhūmi or ground
4. The Path of Cultivation is related to the second through the tenth Bodhisattva bhūmis or grounds.
5. The Path of Accomplishment is the ground of Buddhahood.
Ground, bhūmi – definition: A state of mind
- Unification of wisdom and method
- Bodhicitta
Four noble beings: Śrāvaka (T), Pratyekabuddha (T), Bodhisattva (M) and Buddha
First Ground = pramuditā or Supremely Joyful
- develop bodhicitta
- Bodhisattva is free from the three fetters: fetter from the mistaken belief in self; fetter from doubt and the fetter of thinking only rites and rituals as guarantee for liberation.
- no longer compelled by karma for rebirth
- After rising from meditation he can, in one instant:
1. see a hundred Buddhas;
2. receive blessings of a hundred Buddhas;
3. go to a hundred Buddha lands;
4. illuminate a hundred lands;
5. vibrate a hundred worldly realms;
6. live for hundred eons;
7. see with true wisdom the past, present and future for a hundred eons;
8. enter into and rise from a hundred meditative stabilizations;
9. open a hundred different doors of doctrine;
10. ripen a hundred sentient beings;
11. emanate a hundred of his own body;
12. cause each of the hundred bodies to be surrounded by a hundred bodhisattvas.
- Give with joy and without regret/pain
- Perfection of giving
Second Ground = Vimalā, the Immaculate or Stainless
- Perfection of Morality (must guard against pride)
- simultaneous observance of the ten wholesome actions
- foundation of all good qualities
- leads to higher rebirths
- Analogy of ocean and corpse = ocean throws back dead bodies (also realm of Nagas) = immoral activities cannot exist with morality
- Relieves suffering of human beings
Third Ground – the Luminous- the perfection of patience
- like fire, consumes more and more afflictions
- gets rid of gross afflictions
- minor or residual afflictions remain (jar of lotion - when empty, scent remains)
- practice of patience = compassion & knowledge:
We understand that our attacker or assaulter is himself suffering through affliction. He attacks us not because of his free will but because he is under the sway of the afflictions: under the sway of greed, under the sway of anger and under the sway of delusion.
- Bad effects of impatience = mutually assured destruction during Cold War
- Also Destruction of merit
- Cancels unwholesome merits from past
- Good appearance, good reputation, noble character, good judgment, and rebirth in the higher realms
- Emptiness of three factors (subject, object, action)
- Concentration and Clairvoyance
- Complete eradication of attachment and aversion
- Ability to help others to abandon sensual desire
Fourth Ground – the Radiant – the Perfection of energy – energy precedes all qualities
- The Bodhisattva on this fourth ground is particularly adept at meditation. He has a lot of energy that he can dedicate in meditation and the objects of his meditation on this ground are particularly the Thirty-seven Practice conducive to enlightenment.
- eliminates residual erroneous views regarding the self
Fifth Ground, the Unconquerable – the Perfection of meditation
- Conquering the four Māras or negative forces: aggregates, afflictions, death and the devil
- Advanced practice – meditation on the Four Noble Truths and characteristics: impermanence, suffering, emptiness and not-self
- In the Mahāyāna - thirty-two characteristics and thirty-two negations (item and mirror image)
- If we want to negate permanence we have to negate impermanence also.
- We can't hold on emptiness, because emptiness itself is also empty.
Sixth Ground = Abhimukhī, the Directly Approaching
- Perfection of Wisdom
- the beginning of the end of conceptual clinging, cessation, like a reflection
- often equated with a sighted guide who leads a group of blind men to their goal
- 3 Categories of people who should be taught emptiness (dangerous subject):
1) people who react by hearing the teaching because of their previous karmic connection.
2) people who have studied fundamental teachings of Buddhism: impermanence, not-self, suffering, Karma - concept of graduated teachings
3) adherents to other systems of thought - trained to think systematically (scientists, etc.)
- The thesis negating origination from the four alternatives:
a) self, b) other, c) both and d) without a cause
- 16 types of emptiness
Seventh Ground = Going Far – Upāya, the Perfection of Means
- Entering and exiting states of concentration moment by moment
- The Bodhisattva far transcends conceptual clinging and attaining cessation surpasses the Śrāvaka and the Pratyekabuddha
- Still needs to accumulate merits
Eight Ground = Acalā, the Immovable, the Perfection of Prayer
- the Bodhisattva acquires a particular momentum that will carry him through to Buddhahood
- Effort and the analogy of a ship setting sail
- Bodhisattva’s prayers acquire great purity and efficacy
- He is awakened from meditation on cessation
- Still needs to do work:
1) accomplishment of his particular prayer
2) maturation of his disciples
3) purification of his Buddha field
- Now has Ten Powers or Strengths:
1. the power over life (āyurvaśitā). The eighth stage Bodhisattva can live as long
as he wishes;
2. the power over state of concentration (cittavaśitā). He has complete mastery
of concentration on the eighth stage;
3. the power over object (pari=kāravaśitā) and that means the Bodhisattva can
fabricate any object that he needs;
4. the power over karma (karmavaśitā);
5. the power over birth (janmavaśitā) and with this power he is born in the
world;
6. the power over prayer (pra7idhānavaśitā);
7. the power over intention (adhimuktivaśitā);
8. the power over miracles (4ddhivaśitā) ;
9. the power over transcendental wisdom (jñānavaśitā) and
10. the power over dharma (dharmavaśitā) So these are the ten powers of the
eighth stage Bodhisattva. Through the eighth stage Bodhisattva's power over
birth, he can manifest himself in the world in many different forms in order to
benefit living beings, and in order to accumulate merits that is required for
the attainment of final and ultimate Buddhahood.
Ground Nine = Sādhumatī, the Good Intellect – Bala, the Perfection of Power- Pure, free from conceptual clinging and mental fabrication
- extremely pure
- Obscuration of knowable objects can be divided into three categories = gross, medium, subtle
- Acquires four correct cognitions:
a) the correct cognition of dharma,
b) the correct cognition of meaning,
c) the correct cognition of characteristic and lastly
d) the correct cognition of confidence.
Tenth Ground = Dharmameghā, the Cloud of Dharma – Jñāna, the Perfection of Knowledge
- The Bodhisattva is consecrated by all the Buddhas and is prepared for his coronation
- transcendental wisdom is the highest among the grounds
- transcendental wisdom of the Bodhisattva on the tenth ground is like the cloud, the teaching of the Dharma is like the rain and the virtue of the human being is like crop.
GROUND of BUDDHAHOOD
- immediately after Tenth Ground, deep concentration
Three dimensions:
1 - dharmakāya the transcendental
- fire consumes all
2 - sambhogakāya the celestial
- used to teach. Potters wheel, continues to turn due to energy (merits) invested
-Miraculous display of previous existences and practices - illusion like - displays infinite worlds and infinite activities
- possesses extra-ordinary control over phenomena and over space and time
3 - nirmāṇakāya the terrestrial
- accessible to all living beings
- Guide and treasure island
What is exactly enlightenment? Here the definition is given - that enlightenment is the awareness; the knowledge or wisdom of suchness, the wisdom
of tathatā. Tathatā is the synonym for reality. But it also means that which is indescribable; that which is just what it is - suchness or thatness.
Water and water merge in-distinguishably. So the un-originated or empty knowledge of the Buddha merges with the un-originated or empty reality
which is suchness and thus the knowledge of the Buddha can know suchness.
Ten Powers of Buddha
1. the appropriate and the inappropriate
2. the maturity of karma
3. various desires
4. element
5. faculties
6. paths
7. affliction and purification
8. previous places
9. birth and death
10. the cessation of contamination
- Two-fold character of Buddhahood – profound and vast
- The path – unification of wisdom and method
- The foundation – the conventional and ultimate truth
- Compassion is like the seed, the rain and the fruit
BODHISATTVA IDEAL
- Ethics = commitment, compassion, bodhicitta, middle way, wisdom, etc.