The Ten Conditions for Omniscience to Develop: The first topic of The Ornament of Clear Realization is the ten causes or causal conditions for wisdom of the Buddha, to be developed:
We must first develop a desire to help all sentient beings reach enlightenment.
2. Practice instructions
We must learn about the Buddhist path and apply ourself to these instructions. These instructions are found in the five paths.
3. The four stages of definite separation
We must go to through the four stages on the Path of Junction: 1. warming to the experience of emptiness 2. summit to the experience of emptiness 3. forbearance, realization of the dharmata 4. highest worldly dharma, threshold to experiencing true reality.
4. Buddha-nature, the basis for our practice
Our whole development of realization relies on the fact that we and all other sentient beings possess Buddha-nature (Skt. gotra, Tib. rigs).
5. The Objects of Focus
We must realize the emptiness of phenomena and we develop understanding of these through understanding eleven kinds of subjects such as understanding created and uncreated, ordinary and extraordinary, positive and negative actions, etc.
6. The Purpose
We need to understand the purpose for studying the Prajnaparamita and cultivating the bodhisattva path.
7. Armor-like Practice
Finally, there are four different practices we need to do to understand. This practice is perfecting the six paramitas.
8. Applied Practice
We need to then apply the four dhyana meditations to our practice
9. The Practice of Accumulation of wisdom.
We need to practice the accumulation of merit and the accumulation of wisdom
10. The Practice of Certain Release
We need to understand the inseparability of samsara and nirvana
These five paths (Sanskrit panca-marga, Tibetan lam lnga), toward enlightenment, are referred to many times in “The Ornament of Clear Realization” A Commentary on the Prajnaparamita of the Maitreya Buddha:
Path of Cultivation/Meditation (S. bhavana-marga, sgom lam) Development of insight, entry into the second through ninth bodhisattva levels
Path of No-More-Learning (S. asaiksha-marga, T. mi slob pa’i lam) Also called, Path of Fulfillment (S. nishtha-marga). Attaining complete mediation (S. samadhi), and Buddhahood
Maitreya Bodhisattva at the Thikse Monastery in Ladakh, India. Cropped source Wikimedia
Arouse skillful means of bodhichitta to ensure accumulation of positive merit; avoid conceptualization so merit is not destroyed by circumstance; seal action by dedicating accumulated merit…
“By this accumulation of virtues, May I attain all-seeing omniscience and may all faults be annihilated. The whirling turbulent waves of birth, old age, sickness and death, from this ocean of Samsara, May I liberate beings.”
All beings are Buddhas, but this is concealed by adventitious stains. When their stains are purified their Buddhahood is revealed.
Concentration of Mindfulness of Breathing (Ānāpānasati)
Mindfulness of breathing developed and repeatedly practiced, is of great fruit, of great benefit; mindfulness of breathing developed and repeatedly practiced, perfects the four foundations of mindfulness; the four foundations of mindfulness, developed and repeatedly practiced, perfect the seven enlightenment factors (mindfulness, investigation, energy, joy, tranquility, concentration, and equanimity); the seven enlightenment factors, developed and repeatedly practiced, perfect clear vision and deliverance.
Concentrate, contemplate, meditate…
This is a certain body among bodies, namely, the breath.
Know, “I breathe in long”; or “I breathe out long.”;
Or “I breathe in short”; or “I breathe out short.”
Experience the whole body breathe in, thus breathe out
Calm the body formations breathe in, thus breathe out
Abide contemplating body in body, ardent, clearly comprehending, mindful, having put away covetousness and grief regarding the world.
This is a certain feeling among feelings, namely, the complete attention to in-breathing and out-breathing.
Experiencing rapture breathe in, thus breathe out
Experiencing bliss breathe in, thus breathe out
Experiencing the mental formations breathe in, thus breathe out
Calming the mental formations breathe in, thus breathe out
Abide contemplating feelings in feeling, ardent, clearly comprehending, mindful, having put away covetousness and grief regarding the world.
There is no development of mindfulness of breathing in one who is forgetful and does not clearly comprehend.
Experiencing the mind breathe in, thus breathe out
Gladdening the mind breathe in, thus breathe out
Concentrating the mind breathe in, thus breathe out
Liberating the mind breathe in, thus breathe out
Abide contemplating mind in mind, ardent, clearly comprehending, mindful, having put away covetousness and grief regarding the world.
Having seen with understanding what is the abandoning of covetousness and grief, become one who looks on with complete equanimity.
Contemplating impermanence breathe in, thus breathe out
Contemplating fading away breathe in, thus breathe out
Contemplating cessation breathe in, thus breathe out
Contemplating relinquishment breathe in, thus breathe out
Abide contemplating phenomena in phenomena, ardent, clearly comprehending, mindful, having put away covetousness and grief regarding worldly attachments.
Praise be to the ‘ī-her, Inner ‘īghts heaven soar, Lion of Judah roared, “Praises to the most ‘īgh, Ras tafarī!”
In Jah house for ī-ver more, my refuge on path to lī-beration, without hate, greed, nor ī-llusion. Of any means to them end, “Wherein all find refuge on path to lī-beration, Absent hate, greed, and ī-llusion, In Jah house for ī-ver more.”
Lion of Judah roared, “Praise be to the most ‘īgh, Ras tafarī!”
Select sayings form “The Kebra Nagast The Lost Bible of Rastafarian Wisdom and Faith, from Ethiopia and Jamaica” edited by Gerald Hausman
“The core teachings of the Kebra Nagast, live by law of compassion [not] judgement.”
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And the Queen [of Sheba, Makeda,] spoke of the power of wisdom, and her people paid heed to what she said. For, she explained, “Wisdom is far better than the treasure of silver and gold. It is sweeter than honey and finer than wine, brighter than the sun, and to be loved more than precious stones. What is stored within it is greater than oil, and it satisfies one’s craving more than [flesh]. It is joy to the heart, light to the eye, speed to the foot, and shield to the breast. Wisdom is the best of all treasures. Who stores gold has no profit without wisdom, and who stores wisdom-none can steal it away.” Then the Queen made ready to set out on her journey.
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And Solomon said, “The Father loves the humble, and those who practice humility walk in the way of the Father and rejoice in His Kingdom. Blessed is the man who knows wisdom, which is to say compassion, which is to say love of the Father.”
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“Fools suffer for want of wisdom, fools die from lack of knowledge”
”Nothing, from the highest states of existence down to the lowest hells, has even a scrap of permanence or stability. Everything is subject to change, everything waxes and wanes.”
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Geshe Potowa [states] “If you want to use a single Dharma practice, to meditate on impermanence is the most important.
At first meditation on impermanence makes you cut your ties with the things of this life; in the middle it conduces to your casting off all clinging to samsara; in the end it helps you take up the path of nirvana.
At first meditation on impermanence makes you develop faith; in the middle it conduces to diligence in your practice; in the end it helps you give birth to wisdom.
At first meditation on impermanence, until you are fully convinced, makes you search for the Dharma; in the middle it conduces to practice; in the end it helps you attain the ultimate goal.
At first meditation on impermanence, until you are fully convinced, makes you practice with a diligence which protects you like armor; in the middle it conduces to your practicing with a diligence in action; in the end it helps you practice with a diligence that is insatiable.”
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“Bless me and misguided beings like me, that we may truly understand impermanence”
Selections from “Words of My Perfect Teacher” chapter 2, “The impermanence of life” by Patrul Rinpoche
From “The Heart of Meditation Discovering Innermost Awareness” By: The Dalia Lama translated by J. Hopkins Chapter 1 “Knowledge The Purpose of Concentration” Subsection “Progress To Enlightenment” herein abridged
This Sanskrit mantra translates as, “It is thus: Proceed, proceed, proceed beyond, thoroughly proceed beyond, be founded in enlightenment.”
Who is proceeding? It is the “I” that is designated in dependence upon the continuum of the mind. From what are you proceeding? You are moving away from cyclic existence, that state of being under the influence of contaminated actions and counterproductive emotions. To what are you proceeding? You are proceeding to buddhahood that is endowed with a truth body, forever free of suffering and the sources of suffering (afflictive emotions), as well as the predispositions established by afflictive emotions. Upon what causes and condition do you depend as you proceed? You are proceeding in dependence on a path that is a union of compassion and wisdom.
When Buddha says, “TADYATHA GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA” he is telling trainees to proceed over the five paths:
GATE – the path of accumulation [of merit]
GATE – the path of preparation
PARAGATE — the path of seeing [insight]
PARASAMGATE – the path of meditation
BODHI SVAHA — the path of no more learning
1. What is the initial path, the path of accumulation? It is that period when you mainly practice other-directed motivation and thereby accumulate great stores of merit. Also, although you are practicing a union of motivation and wisdom, your realization of emptiness has not reached the level where stabilizing meditation and analytical meditation are mutually supportive, called “a state arisen from meditation.” On this path, you achieve powerfully concentrated meditation , and are working toward a state arisen from meditation realizing emptiness. During this and the following path, you ascertain emptiness in the manner of a dualistic appearance of wisdom and the emptiness being realized.
2. At the point at which you achieve a state of wisdom arisen from meditation realizing emptiness, you pass to the path of preparation.
3. Eventually emptiness is realized directly, without even subtle contamination from dualistic appearance, which has vanished. This is the beginning of the path of seeing — the path of initial direct realization of the truth concerning the deep nature of phenomena, passing beyond the mundane level to the supramundane level of the path of seeing in which dualistic appearance has vanished. At this point in the Great Vehicle, the ten bodhisattva levels (called “grounds” because on them special spiritual qualities are engendered, like plants, growing on the earth) begin.
4…. Meditation must take place repeatedly over a long period of time, this phase of the path is called the path of meditation. Indeed, you have meditated on emptiness earlier, but the path of meditation refers to a path of extended familiarization.)
5. Now, through using the diamond-like concentrated meditation achieved at the end of the ten bodhisattva grounds — the culmination of still having obstructions yet to be overcome — you can effectively undermine the very subtle obstacles to omniscience. The next moment of your mind becomes an omniscient consciousness, and simultaneously the deep nature of the mind becomes the nature body of a buddha. This is the fifth and final path, the path of no more learning. From the very subtle wind, or energy — which is one entity with that mind – various pure and impure physical forms spontancously spring forth to assist sentient beings; these are called the form bodies of a buddha. This is buddhahood, a state of being a source of help and happiness for all sentient beings.
That is a brief explanation of emptiness, the object with respect to which a practitioner first develops the wisdom arisen from hearing, then ascertains it with the wisdom arisen from thinking, and finally in dependence, upon meditation on it, proceeds over the stages of the path.
“Tibetan tanka painted by Gonpo Tseten Rinpoche, not only a lama but also an accomplished painter and artist, with description(and Longchen Nyingthig detail )of all the deities and the masters of the lineage according to his tradition.” Source: https://www.longchennyingtik.org
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From “Masters of Meditation and Miracles Lives of the Great Masters of India and Tibet” by Tulku Thondup . Introduction and Linage herein.
Introduction
BUDDHA is the universal truth, and Buddhism is the path to realize it. Buddha is the true nature, the openness, and the enlightened state of the universe, “as it is.” All the phenomenal appearances are just the manifestative power of that true nature itself, “as they appear.” If we realize our own true nature, the ultimate peace, openness, oneness, and enlightenment, we are all Buddhas. Then all phenomena will spontaneously arise as the Buddha pure land, the power of the true nature.
Buddhism is the stages of the path to realize Buddhahood, and it is the teachings that inspire us to that realization.
Shakyamuni Buddha (fifth-fourth century BCE) is one of the many beings who became Buddha through the path of Buddhism in this age of ours. He is the master who propagated the path popularly known as Buddhism.
Tantras are the original esoteric scriptures of Buddhism. They include many Nyingma tantras, such as the tantras of the Longchen Nyingthig cycle. These are not necessarily the written records of words uttered by the Shakyamuni Buddha. However, they are Buddhist teachings since they came from the Buddha bodies, and they provide the methods that lead us to Buddhahood. Furthermore, they were discovered by the realized followers of Shakyamuni Buddha and are in harmony with his teachings.
Linage
THE Longchen Nyingthig lineage came from the primordial Buddha and reached Jigme Lingpa (1730-1798), the founder of the tradition, through the following lineage:
Prahevajra (Garab Dorje), the Nirmanakaya, the first human master of Dzogpa Chenpo
Mañjushrimitra
Shrisimha
Jñanasutra
Vimalamitra received the Nyingthig transmissions from both Shrisimha and Jñanasutra
Guru Rinpoche, Padmasambhava, received the Nyingthig transmissions from Shrisimha and Mañjushrimitra and concealed the teachings of Longchen Nyingthig, the essence of Nyingthig teachings, as ter (“treasure”). King Trisong Detsen (790-858), who was one of the previous incarnations of Jigme Lingpa, received Nyingthig teachings from Vimalamitra and Longchen Nyingthig teachings from Guru Rinpoche
Künkhyen Longchen Rabjam (1308-1363) received the Nyingthig transmissions from Guru Rinpoche when he was princess Pemasal. He also received Nyingthig transmissions from Rigdzin Kumaradza and Shö Gyalse
Rigzin Jigme Lingpa (1730-1798) discovered the Longchen Nyingthig as a mind ter and propagated it to his disciples. Thus he became the founder of the Longchen Nyingthig lineage. Jigme Lingpa was the incarnation of the king who received the Nyingthig transmissions from Guru Ripoche and Vimalamitra. Jigme Lingpa also was an incarnation of Vimalamitra and received the transmission from Longchen Rabjam in pure visions
In the different branches of lineages, from Lingpa himself to the present teachers, you will find that [often] a master is someone’s teacher and at the same time his disciple. This is because a master could receive a rare transmission or blessing from various sources, including his own disciple. Masters could also exchange teachings in order to receive transmissions that came through different lineages. Also, in order to train in the teachings, masters could receive the same transmission many times from the same or different masters. Receiving transmissions repeatedly is not just the beginning of a training, but is also the practice itself.
