Practical Ethics and Profound Emptiness Read online

  Nagarjuna also praises the Buddha because he fulfills the aim of others by having actualized the two form bodies of a fully awakened one. Motivated by love and compassion, he manifests physical bodies in order to lead sentient beings on the path. He appears to arya bodhisattvas as the enjoyment body in a pure land and appears to ordinary sentient beings as emanation bodies who guide and teach them. In this way, the Buddha protects sentient beings from duhkha — suffering and unsatisfactory experiences — and establishes them in temporal and ultimate goodness.

  “The sole friend of all sentient beings” indicates that the Buddha fulfills all the aims of others. He helps others attain their goals without being biased by attachment to some and adverse toward others. He doesn’t favor those that help or revere him or discriminate against those who have harmed or insulted him, but rather helps all beings equally. Out of compassion he engages in every method possible to free each and every sentient being from all of their duhkha forever. He also works to bring about their happiness in any way possible. Thus he indeed is the sole friend of all beings.

  To say that the Buddha is the sole friend of all beings highlights the difference between the Buddha and non-Buddhist teachers who may harm sentient beings by giving incorrect instructions that lead disciples to engage in destructive actions. For example, such teachers may tell their disciples to kill or may kill others themselves; they may instruct disciples to adopt stringent, ascetic lifestyles or opulent, self-indulgent lifestyles. The Buddha, however, knows the disposition and aptitude of each disciple and teaches accordingly, without leading them on erroneous paths.

  PROMISE TO COMPOSE THE TREATISE

  General Meaning of the Promise to Compose

  To understand Nagarjuna’s reason for composing this text, we need to know its subject matter, its immediate and ultimate purposes, and the connection between these. The subject matter is higher rebirth and the highest good together with their causes and effects. In other words, this text teaches us how to improve our mind in the present so that we will attain a higher rebirth — a fortunate rebirth in the human or celestial realm — in the future, which is the immediate purpose. On the basis of that higher rebirth, we can continue to improve our minds over a series of good rebirths, until we attain the ultimate goal, buddhahood, which is the highest good.

  Nagarjuna writes on these subjects because studying and understanding the methods by which we can attain higher rebirth and the highest good gives us the knowledge we will need in order to practice and to attain liberation and awakening, which is the essential purpose.

  Attaining liberation and awakening is based on understanding the causes of higher rebirth and the highest good. This understanding comes from studying the subject matter of the commentary. In this way, the subject matter, immediate purpose, and essential purpose of the text are related.

  Contrariwise, without teachings that explain how to attain higher rebirth and the highest good, we would be unable to create their causes effectively, and we would be unable to attain their effects — liberation and awakening. Therefore, Nagarjuna’s text is indeed precious.

  2.O King, I will explain to you the completely virtuous Dharma

  so that you may accomplish it —

  for the Dharma will be accomplished [when it is explained]

  to a vessel of the true Dharma.

  Meaning of the Promise to Compose in Detail

  By saying “O King,” Nagarjuna addresses a person who has dominion over his realm. He wants to tell the king about the completely virtuous Dharma — Dharma practices that are virtuous in the beginning, middle, and end — so that the king may accomplish them and fulfill his own and others’ aims.

  Dharma is that which holds us back from falling into the lower realms or any other rebirth in cyclic existence. Nagarjuna will go on to explain the practices that are the causes for accomplishing our own and others’ aims. Practicing the ten virtuous paths of action and so forth is the Dharma that is virtuous in the beginning, because it leads to rebirth as a human being or a celestial being. Cultivating the wisdom realizing emptiness is the Dharma that is virtuous in the middle, because it leads to awakening for those following the hearer, solitary realizer, or bodhisattva paths. Conjoining this wisdom with bodhichitta and the bodhisattva deeds is the Dharma that is virtuous in the end, for it brings buddhahood, our final objective.

  Rebirth as a human or celestial being is considered higher rebirth because these beings enjoy more happiness and experience less pain than others in cyclic existence. The three types of awakening are called highest good because they are states in which all duhkha has been eradicated forever.

  The Reason to Explain the Dharma to a Suitable Vessel

  When those who are suitable vessels hear the Dharma, they will practice it and gain magnificent results. In the Four Hundred Stanzas, Aryadeva says that those who are suitable vessels possess three qualities: they are unbiased and open-minded, neither opinionated nor encumbered by preconceptions; they are intelligent and can discern what is correct and incorrect; and they are eager and interested in the Dharma, seeking out teachings and enthusiastically practicing them.

  Given that the king is such a person, Nagarjuna knows that great benefit will come from teaching him the Dharma. The study of the Dharma — which includes reading and hearing it — is a treasure that can never be stolen from us. It is the lamp that clears away the darkness of confusion in our minds. It is our best friend that will never leave us. Studying the Dharma is the best path because it leads to liberation and awakening.

  Nagarjuna gives a series of instructions on the causes to attain higher rebirth and the highest good in both meditation sessions and daily life. Applying this to the king’s life, he advises how to treat citizens and travelers in the kingdom, to help monasteries, and to offer honor, respect, and service to the Three Jewels.

  OVERVIEW OF THE CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF HIGHER REBIRTH AND HIGHEST GOOD

  The actual explanation of the subject matter now begins. Nagarjuna identifies higher rebirth and highest good as the outcomes to work toward and gives a brief overview of the main and secondary causes for each one. He then goes into a more detailed explanation regarding their causes.

  3.That [vessel] first [practices] the Dharma of higher rebirth;

  afterward comes the highest good,

  because, having obtained higher rebirth,

  one proceeds in stages to the highest good.

  The Order in Which Higher Rebirth and Highest Good Are Taught

  Higher rebirth and highest good are taught in this order because it is very difficult to attain highest good without having first secured a higher rebirth. The purification, collection of merit, and study, contemplation, and meditation on the teachings that are needed in order to attain liberation or awakening require a series of higher rebirths to complete. If we practice the various types of virtuous activities to the best of our ability in this life, we will be able to secure a higher rebirth again in our next life.

  The idea is to continue like this over a series of lives as we cultivate the qualities of sharp intelligence, enthusiasm, profound wisdom, great altruism, and so on. We do this by first learning and practicing the foundational topics — impermanence, refuge, and karma and its effects. As we mature in the Dharma, we learn and practice the more difficult topics such as emptiness. In this way we gradually come to attain the highest good. Thus, creating the causes for higher rebirth is our immediate concern. If we fall into lower realms, we will not only suffer, we will also have no opportunity to progress along the path to liberation and awakening.

  Another reason that higher rebirth and highest good are presented in this order is to properly prepare the student for instruction in more advanced practices. If emptiness is taught to someone who is not a suitable vessel, he or she may mistake emptiness for total nonexistence and thereby disregard the law of cause and effect. Living as if our actions had no consequences creates destructive karma that is certain to result in rebirth in the
lower realms.

  We cannot attain the highest good by meditating on an incorrect understanding of emptiness, nor can we attain liberation or higher rebirth by ignoring the law of karma and its result and behaving however we wish. We must proceed by observing karma and its effects in such a way that our understanding of it doesn’t harm our understanding of emptiness. Likewise, our meditation on emptiness should be done in a way that doesn’t harm our understanding of karma and its effects. When we correctly understand these two, we will see that they do not contradict each other but complement each other. In this way we will progress on the path to the highest good.

  The Order in Which Higher Rebirth and Highest Good Are Ascertained

  In terms of ascertaining higher rebirth and highest good with reliable cognizers, the order is reversed: higher rebirth and its causes are more difficult to ascertain than highest good and its causes. Why is this? There are three types of phenomena: evident phenomena — such as a table and the sound of a bell — that can be realized by our senses; slightly obscure phenomena — such as subtle impermanence and emptiness — that must initially be realized through inference by power of the fact; and very obscure phenomena that are understood by relying on an authoritative scripture.

  To understand liberation and awakening, and their causes, we must realize emptiness and understand the way in which the wisdom realizing emptiness overcomes ignorance. All phenomena exist dependently, but self-grasping ignorance apprehends them as existing independently. Because self-grasping apprehends phenomena contrary to the actual way they exist, it is a wrong consciousness. Through reasoning we can gain an inference realizing that all phenomena are empty of independent existence because they exist dependently. This correct understanding — the wisdom realizing emptiness — knows that phenomena exist in the exact opposite way than ignorance grasps them to exist. This wisdom is free from all false projections and fabrications, and in addition, it has valid support: it is accompanied by factors on the method side of the path such as love, compassion, and bodhichitta. As the wisdom realizing emptiness grows in strength, it eradicates increasingly subtle levels of afflictions until all self-grasping ignorance and afflictions have been completely eradicated so that they can never reappear. This is nirvana, liberation. In this way liberation — a slightly obscure phenomenon — can be ascertained through sound reasoning. Relying on scriptural authority to ascertain it is not necessary.

  On the other hand, understanding higher rebirth and its causes involves understanding the law of karma and its effects — a very obscure phenomenon that is more difficult to realize. Higher rebirths are considered higher not only because the beings born in them experience less pain than those in the lower realms, but also because the causes for such rebirths — virtuous karma — are loftier than the causes for lower rebirths. Because the causes are higher, the effects are also higher. Our practice in previous lives of pure ethical conduct, accompanied by the six perfections and stainless prayers, led us to attain higher rebirth in this life.

  As a human being, I am a higher rebirth. But simply knowing me does not mean that you understand higher rebirth. To understand that I am a higher rebirth requires a lot of thought. For example, you can see a book that is empty of inherent existence without realizing the emptiness of inherent existence. Similarly, there is a difference between knowing a person who is a higher rebirth and knowing that a person is higher rebirth. To know that a person is higher rebirth necessitates having studied the virtuous paths of action that are its causes. Realizing that higher rebirth arises from those causes comes only by depending on a reliable scriptural quotation to that effect. That, in turn, depends on ascertaining that the scriptural passage is reliable and can be accepted as authoritative. The three factors for discerning an authoritative scripture are mentioned on page 23.

  In brief, realizing that liberation and full awakening are highest good is easier and is done first. Understanding that rebirth as a human or celestial being is higher rebirth is more difficult and is done later. This is due to the former being a slightly obscure phenomenon that can be realized through inference and the latter being an extremely obscure phenomenon that can only be understood in dependence on authoritative scripture.

  The order of attainment is the other way around. First we practice the causes for higher rebirth and attain higher rebirth. Then we practice the causes of highest good and attain the highest good.

  4.Here, [we] maintain that higher rebirth is happiness,

  and highest good is liberation.

  In brief, the method for attaining them

  is summarized as faith and wisdom.

  Briefly Identifying the Causes and Effects of Higher Rebirth

  “Higher rebirth is happiness” refers to the happiness that human beings and gods experience. Here happiness is an example of the characteristics of higher rebirth. Equanimity is also included since beings in the fourth concentration of the material realm and in the four immaterial absorptions do not experience feelings of happiness; they feel only equanimity.4 Those who enjoy higher rebirth as humans or celestial beings experience more happiness and equanimity than do beings in lower realms.

  Highest good is liberation — the cessation of ignorance, afflictions, and polluted karma. Karma literally means actions or work, specifically the actions of our body, speech, and mind. These may be destructive physical actions such as killing or destructive verbal actions such as lying. They may also be constructive actions, which include abstaining from destructive actions or acting in the opposite way. For example, abandoning killing is refraining from killing and saving life is doing the opposite of killing. The karmas that cause rebirth in cyclic existence are polluted because they are created under the influence of ignorance. Destructive actions are clearly underlain by self-grasping ignorance, but so are the constructive actions of ordinary beings. For example, under the influence of self-grasping we are generous and keep good ethical conduct. Even though constructive karmas bring happiness, when they are created under the influence of ignorance they are considered polluted and lead to rebirth in cyclic existence. Liberation is the eradication of ignorance, other afflictions, and the polluted karmas that lead to rebirth in cyclic existence.

  Being born in cyclic existence is like being bound, hand and foot, snared in a very tight net, and thrown into a river in the dark of night. It is already hard enough to escape when one’s hands and feet are bound, but it is even harder to do so when also snared in a net. If, bound in such a way, we were thrown into a river during the day, we’d still have some hope of escape — we could at least see the shore. If we were thrown into a river in the dark of night, escape would seem hopeless. Being bound hand and foot signifies being bound by our previous karma; being captured in a tight net represents grasping at true existence; darkness symbolizes ignorance. The river represents the four currents of sensual desire, craving for existence, ignorance, and wrong views. Liberation is freedom from all that.

  Highest good is good in every way. The first two truths of an arya — true duhkha and its origins — have been abandoned in such a way that they can never return. This state of true cessation — the third truth — comes about by meditating on the wisdom realizing selflessness, which is the fourth truth, the true path.

  In the second half of the verse Nagarjuna answers the question, “What are the causes of higher rebirth and highest good?” In brief, they are faith and wisdom. Although there are many causes for higher rebirth, faith is the fundamental one. Similarly, while there are many causes for the highest good, wisdom is principal.

  “Faith” refers to belief or confidence in the law of karma and its results, the four truths of the aryas, the Three Jewels, and so forth. As we learn about these things and think about them, our confidence in them will increase and we will put the instructions into practice. “Wisdom” refers to the wisdom realizing the emptiness of inherent existence, the ultimate mode of existence of all persons and phenomena. As we cultivate this wisdom, our confusion will a
bate.

  5.Due to having faith, one relies on the practices;

  due to having wisdom, one truly understands;

  of these two, wisdom is foremost,

  but faith must come first.

  Differences between the Principal and the Secondary Causes

  Faith in the law of karma and its results begins with understanding the four principal aspects of karma: (1) happiness always comes from virtue, never nonvirtue, and suffering always comes from nonvirtue, never virtue; (2) a small action can bring large results in the same way that a tiny seed can grow into a huge tree; (3) if we don’t create the cause, we won’t experience the result; (4) karmic seeds do not get lost, and unless we impede or destroy them, they will eventually ripen into their effects. These four apply to both virtuous and nonvirtuous paths of actions. Due to having faith in the law of karma and its effects, we will engage in the practice of the ten virtuous paths of action, which are the cause of higher rebirth.

  To generate this faith, we must rely on authoritative scriptures. But first we must investigate whether a scripture is reliable. We examine three factors: Does this scripture correctly present obvious phenomena — those knowable by our senses? Is its presentation of slightly obscure phenomena — such as emptiness — correct? Is its presentation of explicit and implied meanings free from contradiction and are its former and latter passages that discuss very obscure phenomena free from contradiction? If the answers to these questions are positive, there is reason to trust what this scripture says.

  Furthermore, if a reliable person such as the Buddha taught the scripture, we can trust what is said in it. The Buddha is a reliable person because he has eliminated all defilements and cultivated all good qualities; he has no reason to deceive us and is motivated only by great compassion. In addition, we can verify other teachings he gave — such as on the disadvantages of cyclic existence and the problematic nature of the afflictions — so we can trust what he says about very obscure topics such as karma and its effects.