The Three Principal Aspects Of The Path

by malalu Mon Feb 09, 2009 5:48 am

Fourteen verses written by Lama Tsong Khapa

I BOW TO ALL THE HIGH AND HOLY LAMAS.

1. As far as I am able, I shall explain
the essence of all high teachings of the Victors,
the path that all their holy sons commend,
the entry point for the fortunate seeking freedom.

2. Listen with a pure mind,
fortunate ones who have no craving
for the pleasures of life, and who to make leisure and fortune meaningful,
strive to turn their minds to the path which pleases the Victors.

3. There is no way to end,
without the pure renunciation,
this striving for pleasant results in the ocean of life.
It is because of their hankering life as well
that beings are fettered,
so seek renunciation first.

4. Leisure and fortune are hard to find; life is not long;
think it constantly, stop desire for this life.
Think over and over how deeds and their fruits never fail,
and the cycle's suffering; stop desire for the future.

5. When you have meditated thus,
and feel not even a moment's desire
for the good things of cyclic life,
and when you begin to think both night and day
of achieving freedom,
you have found renunciation.

6. Renunciation, though, can never bring
the total bliss of matchless Buddhahood,
unless it is bound by the highest wish;
and so, the wise seek
the high wish for enlightenment.

7. They are swept along on four fierce river currents;
chained up tight in past deeds, hard to undo;
stuffed in a steel cage of grasping "self";
smothered in the pitch-black ignorance.

8. In a limitless round, they are born,
and in their births, are tortured by three sufferings without a break;
think how your mothers feel;
think of what is happening to them;
try to develop this highest wish.

9. You may master renunciation and the wish,
but unless you have the wisdom perceiving reality,
you cannot cut the root of cyclic life.
Make efforts in ways, then, to perceive interdependence.

10. A person has entered the path that pleases the Buddhas
when, for all objects, in the cycle or beyond,
he sees that cause and effect can never fail,
and when, for him, they lose all solid appearance.

11. You have yet to realize the Thought of the Able
as long as two ideas seem disparate to you:
the appearance of things -- infallible interdependence
and emptiness -- beyond taking any position.

12. At some point they no longer alternate
[but] come together; just seeing that
interdependence never fails
brings realization that destroys how you hold to objects,
and then your analysis with view is complete.

13. In addition, the appearance prevents the existence extreme,
and emptiness [prevents] that of non-existence;
and if you see how emptiness shows in cause and effect,
you will never be stolen off by extreme views.

14. When you have grasped as well as I
the essential points of each of the three principal paths explained,
then go into isolation, my son,*
make mighty efforts,
and quickly win your ultimate wish.

The Three Principal Aspects Of The Path Default

A dharma talk by Ven. Choden Rinpoche on the three principal aspects of the path...

http://www.lamrim.com/lamrim/threeprincipals.html

by malalu Tue Feb 10, 2009 12:01 am

Here are very generalized overview of the "Three Principal Aspects" taken from a talk by Ven. Denma Locho Rinpoche...

The Three Principals

So if you ask – ‘what are these three principals of the path?’ Initially then it’s renunciation. So 'renunciation' here refers to a turning away from the faults of the cycle of existence and yearning or directing one’s spiritual career towards liberation from such a state of existence. Then the second is the mind of bodhicitta. This refers to a mind which for the benefit of all sentient beings, through seeing sentient beings’ suffering, strives to achieve the highest state of enlightenment in order to be of maximum or optimum benefit. So through seeing the faults in one’s state of mind, through abandoning those, gathering all the qualities, achieving the mind of omniscience of the Buddha - this desire to achieve such a state - the mind of bodhicitta - is the second of the three. Then the third of the three is what is known as the 'correct view', also known as 'wisdom'. 'Wisdom' here then refers to the mode of abiding of phenomena, that is to say the middle way view - 'middle way' here being a middle way between the two extremes of annihilation and permanence. So this correct view of reality then is the third of the three principal aspects of the path.

Renunciation

…initially then one would learn the alphabet, so you would learn the basic Tibetan grammar like [Tib], or in English 'A, B, C', then in dependence upon that you would learn how to form words and then sentences and then advance up into advanced grammar and so forth. So the Buddha taught his disciples in much the same way, that is to say, in a method which would lead them along a path. So 'path' here then is referring initially to renunciation. So there are two kinds of renunciation which are mentioned - one is to turn one's attention away from this life in and of itself and towards one's future lives; then to turn one's mind even away from future lives and put one's mind in a state where one wishes to achieve liberation from the cycle of existence. So thus then there is turning away from this life and then turning away from future lives, thus two kinds of turning away, and these are taught in stages to the aspiring disciples. In essence, we can say that the Buddhist teachings are taught as a method to subdue one's unruly mind, to subdue the destructive emotions which we find therein, and then to develop the spiritual qualities on top of that. So this is what is meant by 'the essence of all the teachings of the Conqueror', and here 'Conqueror' refers to having conquered all others, thus the Fully Enlightened One.

Bodhicitta

So then the second line of The Three Principal Teachings of the Path (which is the first in Tibetan) talks about the practice of renunciation. The third in English (and the second in Tibetan) - 'the path praised by the Conqueror's offspring'. So here then let us have a look at the word 'Conqueror's offspring'. Here then if we read from the Tibetan it says the holy Conqueror's offspring, or the exalted Conqueror's offspring. So this word 'exalted' means that a person in whose mental continuum, or mind, the wish to achieve full awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings has arisen, becomes a superior individual, thus kind of a holy individual. At that moment of generating the mind aspiring to the highest enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings, a lot of negative karma is destroyed, and that person then becomes what is known as one of the 'Conqueror's offspring', or the son or daughter of the Victorious One. This is mentioned quite clearly in Shantideva's book called The Bodhicharyavatara where it says that just through having given rise to this, no matter what caste one is born to, one becomes renowned as the son or the daughter of the Victorious One. So no matter what caste or what colour one might be, one is equal in the sense that one will be equally regarded, through having given rise to this mind, as the offspring of the Victorious One. This mind then is one is which is extremely important and its importance cannot be overestimated because through this mind one achieves the state of buddhahood, and if one doesn't have this mind, if one hasn’t given rise to this thought, then no matter what practice one engages in, one will not come any closer to the state of omniscience.

Correct View

Then the next line reads 'the entrance for the fortunate ones who desire liberation'. So 'fortunate ones' here then refers to those who are engaging in the Buddhist practice - fortunate in the sense that we have become into contact with the Buddha's teaching and are able to put them into practice, and in particular, fortunate in the sense that we have come into contact with the teaching of the greater vehicle, or the Mahayana teaching. So this sentence is describing the third of the three principals of the path which is correct view, correct view of reality. Because as the line says, 'the entrance for the fortunate ones who desire liberation'.

View the whole talk in it's entirety here....

http://www.lamayeshe.com/index.php?sect=article&id=269

by **LauraJ** Tue Feb 10, 2009 10:11 pm

Many thanks

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