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                 CLASSICS OF {LOGO} MIDDLE ASIA

              THE PRINCIPAL TEACHINGS OF BUDDHISM


TSONGKAPA (1357-1419), also known as Je Rinpoche Lobsang
Drakpa, is the single greatest commentator in the 2,500 year
history of Buddhism.  He was born in the district of Tsongka in
eastern Tibet and took his first vows at a tender age.  As a
teenager he had already mastered much of the teachings of
Buddhism and was sent by his tutors to the great monastic
universities of central Tibet.  Here he studied under the
leading Buddhist scholars of his day; it is said as well that
he enjoyed mystic visions in which he met and learned from
different forms of the Buddha himself.
   The 18 volumes of Tsongkapa's collected works contain
eloquent and incisive commentaries on virtually every major
classic of ancient Buddhism, as well as his famed treatises on
the "Steps of the Path to Buddhahood."  His students, who
included the first Dalai Lama of Tibet, contributed hundreds of
their own expositions of Buddhist philosophy and practice.
   Tsongkapa founded the Great Three monasteries of Tibet,
where by custom nearly 25,000 monks have studied the scriptures
of Buddhism over the centuries.  He also instituted the great
Monlam festival, a period of religious study and celebration
for the entire Tibetan nation.  Tsongkapa passed away in his
62nd year, at his home monastery of Ganden in Lhasa, the
capital of Tibet.

PABONGKA RINPOCHE (1878-1941), also known as Jampa Tenzin
Trinley Gyatso, was born into a leading family in the state of
Tsang in north-central Tibet.  As a boy he entered the Gyalrong
House of Sera Mey, one of the colleges of the great Sera
Monastic University, and attained the rank of @geshe,@ or
master of Buddhist philosophy.  His powerful public teachings
soon made him the leading spiritual figure of his day, and his
collected works on every facet of Buddhist thought and practice
comprise some 15 volumes.  His most famous student was Kyabje
Trijang Rinpoche (1901-1981), the junior tutor of the present
Dalai Lama.  Pabongka Rinpoche passed away at the age of 63 in
the Hloka district of south Tibet.

GESHE LOBSANG THARCHIN (1921-   ) was born in Lhasa, and as a
boy also entered the Gyalrong House of Sera Mey.  He studied
under both Pabongka Rinpoche and Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, and
after a rigorous 25-year course in the Buddhist classics was
awarded the highest rank of the @geshe@ degree.  He graduated
from the Gyumey Tantric College of Lhasa in 1958 with the
position of administrator.  Since 1959 he has taught Buddhist
philosophy at various institutions in Asia and the United
States, and in 1975 completed studies in English at Georgetown
University.  For 15 years he has served as the abbot of Rashi
Gempil Ling, a Kalmuk Mongolian temple in New Jersey.  He is
the founder of the Mahayana Sutra and Tantra Centers of New
Jersey and Washington D.C., and author of numerous translations
of major Buddhist texts.  In 1977 he directed the development
of the first computerized Tibetan word processor, and has
played a leading role in the re-establishment of Sera Mey
Monastic College, of which he is a lifetime director.

MICHAEL PHILLIP ROACH (1952-   ) graduated with honors from
Princeton University and received the Presidential Scholar
medallion from Richard Nixon at the White House in 1970.  He
studied at the library of the Government of Tibet under the
auspices of the Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs,
and then for over ten years under Geshe Tharchin at Rashi
Gempil Ling, with additional course work at Sera Mey Monastic
College.  He is employed in the New York diamond industry and
has been active in the restoration of Sera Mey, where he was
ordained a Buddhist monk in 1983.








































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                           TSONGKAPA



              THE PRINCIPAL TEACHINGS OF BUDDHISM





                      with a commentary by


                       PABONGKA RINPOCHE







                         translated by


                     GESHE LOBSANG THARCHIN



                              with

                         MICHAEL ROACH








                 CLASSICS OF {LOGO} MIDDLE ASIA









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                    CLASSICS OF MIDDLE ASIA



        Published by the Mahayana Sutra and Tantra Press
                    216A West Second Street
                         Freewood Acres
                 Howell, New Jersey 07731, USA



       Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
       The Principal Teachings of Buddhism
       {data to be supplied here}
       88-063957
       ISBN 0-918753-09-0



    Copyright {copyright symbol} 1988 Geshe Lobsang Tharchin
                       and Michael Roach
                      All rights reserved



       Printed and bound in the United States of America























{page numbers here will change}


                           CONTENTS


  FOREWORD                                         1

  THE PRELIMINARIES                               17

        I. The Lama and the Word                  20
       II. Why Learn the Three Principal Paths?   20
      III. An Offering of Praise                  25
       IV. How to Take a Lama                     26
        V. A Pledge to Compose the Work           30
       VI. Encouragement to Study                 36

  THE FIRST PATH: RENUNCIATION                    39

      VII. Why You Need Renunciation              40
     VIII. Stopping Desire for This Life          42
       IX. Stopping Desire for Future Lives       53
        X. How to Know When You've
              Found Renunciation                  60

  THE SECOND PATH: THE WISH TO ACHIEVE
     ENLIGHTENMENT FOR EVERY LIVING BEING         63

       XI. Why You Need the Wish
              for Enlightenment                   64
      XII. How to Develop the Wish
              for Enlightenment                   65
     XIII. How to Know When You've Found
              the Wish for Enlightenment          73

  THE THIRD PATH: CORRECT VIEW                    75

      XIV. Why You Need Correct View              76
       XV. What is Correct View?                  80
      XVI. How to Know When Your Analysis
              is Still Incomplete                 86
     XVII. How to Know When Your Analysis
              is Complete                         87
    XVIII. A Unique Teaching of the
              "Implication" School                88











  PRACTICE                                        91

      XIX. Put Into Practice What You
              Have Learned                        92

  IN CONCLUSION                                   95

       XX. The Conclusion of the Explanation      96

  PRAYER                                         100

      XXI. A Disciple's Prayer                   101

  A SECRET KEY                                   104

     XXII. A Secret Key to the Three
              Principal Paths                    105

  NOTES                                          108

  BIBLIOGRAPHY                                   136

*n*





                           FOREWORD



     Yeshe Lobsang was sitting as usual, staring at the
ceiling, with his mouth wide open.  We were young monks in
Sera, one of the greatest Buddhist monasteries of Tibet.  We
sat in long rows facing each other, chanting one of the
holiest prayers of our religion--the @Offering to Lamas.@
     He was a full ten feet away, still day-dreaming with the
wide-open mouth.  I was the class cut-up, smart, but with a
mischievous streak that got worse around some of my
irreverent playmates.  Two were sitting with me, one to each
side, and not concentrating much on the prayer either.  I
made them a bet that I could hit Yeshe Lobsang right in the
mouth.
     We had this game called @pakda,@ which means "the arrow
of dough."  You take a little ball of barley dough and flick
it with your middle finger.  This was the sort of thing I was
good at, since I didn't waste much time studying, as I was
supposed to.
     Yeshe Lobsang was still slack-jaw, giving a good target.
As the chanting rose to a crescendo I took aim and fired--the
dough ball not only reached his mouth but shot right through
to the back, and made a tremendous satisfying $THWOCK!$ sound
as it hit.  And so he starts choking and spitting, and my
friends on each side are roaring with laughter.
     Up comes the Gergen, our housemaster who's supposed to
keep an eye on us young ones during the ceremonies, and spots
the offenders (they're still laughing; I kept a good straight
face through the whole thing).  He carries a small stick for
just such occasions, and begins laying it on them from the
back of the row.  They start crying but they can't stop
laughing, and get a good beating, and Yeshe Lobsang is still
choking, and I'm sitting like a good young monk and get away
scot-free.  They told me later it was worth the beating to
see Yeshe Lobsang's face all screwed up, and they didn't bear
me a grudge that I got off free.
     This little scene was very typical of my early years at
Sera.  Like many Tibetan boys, I was put into the monastery
at a young age--this was in 1928, when I was only seven.  At
first we miss our parents and brothers and sisters, but then
again our house in the monastery was a wonderful place for a
boy--we would be with about fifty other boys our own age,
which made for tremendous entertainment when we could get
away with it, and also a deep feeling of brotherhood as we
passed through the rigorous 25-year course together, and
finally graduated with the coveted degree of "geshe"--master
of Buddhist learning.
     My own house was Gyalrong, which was one of the larger
of about fifteen houses in Sera Mey College, itself one of
the three great divisions of Sera Monastery.  At its peak,
Sera had over 8,000 teachers and disciples studying the
ancient books of Buddhist wisdom.
     Our monastery was located just outside of Lhasa, the
capital of Tibet, which is the mountainous kingdom surrounded
by Mount Everest and the rest of the Himalayas, north of
India and west of China.  Although the Buddha was born in
India, Tibet is where his complete teachings have survived up
to the present day.  They were brought to our country over a
thousand years ago, translated carefully into our language
and kept safe in our mountain monasteries, while in the
outside world the Buddhist books and monasteries and monks
themselves have nearly disappeared, advocates of total non-
violence in a violent world.
     We young monks were not so noble.  My house tutor would
send us up to the rock cliffs behind the monastery with
buckets to fetch water from the spring there, and we would
dawdle for hours.  Sometimes we would tuck our feet into our
maroon-colored robes and slide down the long boulders until
the cloth was ripped to shreds, and again the housemaster
would give us our lumps.  Rock-throwing was a good way to
waste time, and I remember once hitting a lizard, and killing
him by accident, and feeling terrible regret.  For we believe
that all living creatures have feelings; that they seek to
feel good and avoid pain the same way you and I do.
     On our way back to the monastery, a favorite trick was
to lay out tacks on the path leading into the front gate.
Our country lay in sort of a pocket behind the Himalayas, and
was not as cold as most people imagine the "Land of Snows"
should be.  Some of the monks enjoyed going barefoot, and we
would stoop behind the wall near the gate, waiting for a
victim.  Our giggles would start breaking out even before his
feet reached the tacks, and then we would race away, robes
flapping and flying in the wind, before he could come and
catch us.
     Even at home I was not the model student.  My house
tutor, the one who usually teaches us reading and writing
before we begin our formal philosophical studies, was Geshe
Tupten Namdrol.  He was very strict with me and the other boy
who shared our rooms.  This boy was a notorious goof-off, and
started to affect me too.  As we entered our first courses in
Buddhist logic and debate, I went through all the motions--I
gave my exams well, memorized what I was supposed to, and
quickly grasped the principles of reasoning--but my heart
wasn't in it.  By the time we began the next course, twelve
long years on the meaning of Wisdom, I had gained a rather
bad reputation.
     Around this time my house tutor was offered the
abbotship of a monastery named Ganden Shedrup Ling, in the
district of Hloka, fairly far south of the capital.  It was a
great honor, for the position had been granted by the Kashak
--the High Council of the Tibetan Government--and approved
personally by the Dalai Lama, who is the great spiritual and
temporal leader of our land.  The post would bring with it a
substantial income which I, as Geshe Namdrol's right-hand
man, would share.  Everyone thought this would be a good
chance for me to get ahead and also bow out gracefully from
the tough course of study that lay before me, and which it
seemed I might never complete.
     It was at this time that the glorious Pabongka Rinpoche,
the author of the commentary you are about to read, came into
my life.  Like me he had as a young man taken his course of
studies at the Sera Mey College of Sera Monastery; in fact,
he was from the same house, Gyalrong.
     Pabongka Rinpoche was born in 1878, at a town called
Tsawa Li in the Yeru Shang district of the state of Tsang,
north of Lhasa.  His family were of the nobility and owned a
modest estate called Chappel Gershi.  As a child he exhibited
unusual qualities and in his seventh year was taken before
Sharpa Chuje Lobsang Dargye, one of the leading religious
figures of the day.
     The lama felt sure that the boy must be a reincarnated
saint, and even went so far as to examine him to see if he
were the rebirth of his own late teacher.  He was not, but
the sage foretold that if the child were placed in the
Gyalrong House of Sera Mey College, something wonderful would
happen with him in the future.
     Later on, the youngster was found to be a reincarnation
of the Changkya line, which included the illustrious scholar
Changkya Rolpay Dorje (1717-1786).1 The lamas of this line
had done much teaching in the regions of Mongolia and China--
even in the court of the Chinese emperor himself--and the
name "Changkya" had very strong Chinese connotations.
Already in those days the Tibetan government and people were
sensitive to the pressures put on us by our powerful neighbor
to the east, so the name "Changkya" was ruled out, and the
boy declared to be "Pabongka" instead.
     Pabongka, also known as Parongka, is a large and famous
rock-formation about three miles' walk from our Sera
Monastery.  The very word "pabong" means in our language a
large boulder, or mass of rock.  The place is historically
very important for Tibetans, for perched on top of the rock
is the palace of Songtsen Gampo, the 7th-Century king who
made Tibet one of the leading nations of Asia at the time,
and who helped bring the first Buddhist teachings from India.
     Until Songtsen Gampo's time, the Tibetans had no written
language.  The king, who desired that the great texts of
Buddhism be translated into our language, sent a number of
delegations to India with the charge of bringing back a
written alphabet.  Many of the young men who went died in the
terrible rainy heat of the Indian plains and jungles, so
different from our high Tibetan plateau, but the minister
Tonmi Sambhota finally returned.  He proceeded to create an
alphabet and grammatical system that last to this day.  And
it is said that he performed this great labor in the palace
of Songtsen Gampo, atop the cliffs of Pabongka.
     Pabongka Rinpoche was actually the second Pabongka, for
it was finally agreed to announce that he had been recognized
as the reincarnation of the Kenpo (or abbot) of the small
monastery atop the rock.  For this reason he was sometimes
referred to as "Pabongka Kentrul," or the "reincarnation of
the abbot of Pabongka."  Pabongka Rinpoche's full name, by
the way, was Kyabje Pabongkapa Jetsun Jampa Tenzin Trinley
Gyatso Pel Sangpo, which translates as the "lord protector,
the one from Pabongka, the venerable and glorious master
whose name is the Loving One, Keeper of the Buddha's
Teachings, Ocean of the Mighty Deeds of the Buddha."  He is
also popularly known as "Dechen Nyingpo," which means
"Essence of Great Bliss" and refers to his mastery of the
secret teachings of Buddhism.  We Tibetans feel that it is
disrespectful to refer to a great religious leader with what
we call his "bare" name--such as "Tsongkapa" or "Pabongka"--
but we have tried here to simplify the Tibetan names to help
our Western readers.
     Pabongka Rinpoche's career at Sera Mey College was not
outstanding; he did finish his geshe degree, but reached only
the "lingse" rank, which means that he was examined just at
his own monastery and did not go on for one of the higher
ranks such as "hlarampa."  The @hlarampa@ level requires an
exhausting series of public examinations and debates at
different monasteries, culminating in a session before the
Dalai Lama and his teachers at the Norbulingka summer palace.
It was only after his graduation from Sera Mey, and the
success of his teaching tours through the countryside outside
the capital, that Pabongka Rinpoche's fame started to spread.
Gradually he began to build up a huge following and displayed
tremendous abilities as a public teacher.  He was not tall
(as I remember about my height, and I am only 5'6"), but he
was broad-chested and seemed to fill the entire teaching
throne when he climbed up on it to begin his discourse.
     His voice was incredibly powerful.  On many occasions he
would address gatherings of many thousands of people, yet
everyone could hear him clearly (in those days in Tibet we
had never heard of microphones or loudspeakers).  Part of the
trick of course was to pack the audience in Tibetan-style,
cross-legged on the floor, with the lama on an elevated
platform.  Still the audience would flow out onto the porch
of the hall, and sit perched above on the roof, watching
through the steeple windows.
     Pabongka Rinpoche had an uncanny ability to relate to
his audience, and for this reason he became a teacher for the
common man as well as for us monks.  Generally speaking, the
majority of the Buddha's teachings as we learn them in the
monastery are extremely detailed, deep and sometimes
technical.  Moreover, we use rigorous tests of formal logic
to analyze them as we move up through our classes.  These
methods are important for gaining the highest goals of
Buddhist practice in a systematic way, and for passing these
teachings on to others.  But they were beyond the abilities
and time of many of our Tibetan laymen.  The Rinpoche's great
accomplishment was that he found a way to attract and lead
listeners of every level.
     His most famous weapon was his humor.  Public discourses
in Tibet could sometimes go on for ten hours or more without
a break, and only a great saint could keep his attention up
so long.  Inevitably part of the audience would start to nod,
or fall into some reverie.  Then Pabongka Rinpoche would
suddenly relate an amusing story or joke with a useful moral,
and send his listeners into peals of laughter.  This would
startle the day-dreamers, who were always looking around and
asking their neighbors to repeat the joke to them.
     The effects on his audience were striking and immediate.
I remember particularly the case of Dapon Tsago, a member of
the nobility who held a powerful position equivalent to
Minister of Defense.  Public teachings in Tibet were as much
social as religious affairs, and aristocrats would show up in
their best finery, often it seemed not to hear the dharma but
rather to put in an appearance.  So one day this great
general marches in to the hall, decked out in silk, his long
hair flowing in carefully tailored locks (this was considered
manly and high fashion in old Tibet).  A great ceremonial
sword hung from his belt, clanging importantly as he
swaggered in.
     By the end of the first section of the teaching he was
seen leaving the hall quietly, deep in thought--he had
wrapped his weapon of war in a cloth to hide it, and was
taking it home.  Later on we could see he had actually
trimmed off his warrior's locks, and finally one day he threw
himself before the Rinpoche and asked to be granted the
special lifetime religious vows for laymen.  Thereafter he
always followed Pabongka Rinpoche around, to every public
teaching he gave.
     The Rinpoche had never spent much time at the small
monastery atop the Pabongka rock, and his fame soon reached
such proportions that the Ngakpa College of Sera Monastery
offered him a large retreat complex on the hillside above
Pabongka.  The name of this hermitage was Tashi Chuling, or
"Auspicious Spiritual Isle."  There were some sixty Buddhist
monks in residence there, and as I remember about sixteen
personal attendants who helped the Lama with his pressing
schedule: two monk-secretaries, a manager for finances, and
so on.  The Rinpoche would divide his time between his
quarters here and a small meditation cell built around the
mouth of a cave, further up the side of the mountain.
     The cave was known as Takden, and it was here that
Pabongka Rinpoche would escape for long periods to do his
private practice and meditations.  The central chamber had a
high vaulted ceiling, so high that the light of a regular
fire-torch could not even reach it, and the darkness seemed
to go up forever.  In the center of the ceiling there was an
odd natural triangle in the rock, which looked exactly like
the outer shape of one of the mystic worlds described in our
secret teachings.
     In the corner of this wonderful cave, an underground
spring flowed from a rock--and above it was another natural
drawing, this one just like the third eye that we see painted
on the forehead of one of our female Buddhas.  By the way,
this "third eye" you hear about is largely metaphorical, and
stands for the spiritual understanding in one's heart.  We
believed the cave was home for a @dakini@--sort of a Buddhist
angel--because people often said they saw a wondrous lady
come from the cave, but no one had ever seen her enter.
     It was in his private quarters at the Tashi Chuling
hermitage that I first met Pabongka Rinpoche.  He had been
away on an extended teaching tour in eastern Tibet, and just
returned.  I was still the wild teenager and had been stuck
with the distasteful job of @nyerpa@ for Gyalrong House--this
means I was a kind of quartermaster and had to make sure
there was enough firewood and food to keep the house kitchen
going for several hundred monks.  Since the Rinpoche was a
member of Gyalrong, we were supposed to send a committee over
to the hermitage to welcome him back and present him gifts.
As @nyerpa@ I was expected to arrange some supplies and help
carry them along.
     In private conversation Pabongka Rinpoche was in the
habit of constantly attaching "Quite right!  Quite right!" to
everything he said.  So I distinctly remember when I came
into his presence, and he put his hand on my head, and he
said "Quite right!  Quite right!  Now this one looks like a
bright boy!"  From that day on I felt as though I had
received his blessing, and some special power to pursue my
studies.
     In my eighteenth year, the Rinpoche was requested to
come across to our own Sera Mey College and deliver a
discourse on the Steps of the path to Buddhahood.  He would
receive countless requests of this sort, usually from wealthy
patrons who hoped to collect some merit for the future life,
or from monks who wanted to receive the transmission of a
particular teaching so they could pass it on to their own
followers in the future.  The Rinpoche would usually promise
to consider the request, and then try to satisfy several at
one time by delivering a large public discourse.
     These discourses would be announced months in a advance.
The sponsors would rent a huge assembly hall in one of the
major monasteries just outside the capital, or reserve one of
the great chapels in Lhasa itself.  We monks had our regular
classes to attend but could sometimes arrange to make the
hour's walk to Lhasa (no cars in Tibet those days), attend
the teaching, and walk back quickly before the evening debate
sessions at the monastery park.  I remember the elderly monks
would start out before us and return later, or even get
permission to take a room in Lhasa for the duration of the
course, since the walk was difficult for them.
     This particular discourse at Sera Mey went on for a full
three months.  We sat for six hours a day: three hours in the
morning, with a break for lunch, and then three hours in the
afternoon.  Pabongka Rinpoche went carefully through the
entire @Lam Rim Chenmo,@ the great exposition of the entire
Steps on the path to Buddhahood written by the incomparable
Lord Tsongkapa--who is also the author of the root verses
explained by Pabongka Rinpoche in his commentary here.  The
Rinpoche referred to all eight of the classic texts on the
Steps of the path during his discourse, which was attended by
about 10,000 monks.
     Like so many others in the audience, I was stunned by
the power of his teaching.  Most of it I had heard before,
but the way in which he taught it and, I felt, the blessing I
had received from him made it suddenly strike home for me.
Here I was, living the short precious life of a human, and
fortunate enough to be a student at one of the greatest
Buddhist monasteries in the world.  Why was I wasting my
time?  What would happen if I suddenly died?
     In my heart I made a decision to master the teachings,
for the benefit of myself and others.  I remember going to my
room, to my house teacher Geshe Namdrol, and declaring my
change of heart to him: "Now the bad boy is going to study,
and become a master geshe!"  Geshe Namdrol laughed, and told
me, "The day you become a geshe is the day I become the
Ganden Tripa!"
     Now the Ganden Tripa is one of the highest religious
personages in Tibet: he holds the throne of Lord Tsongkapa
himself, and wins the position by attaining the highest rank
of geshe--the @hlarampa@--and then serving as the head of one
of the two colleges devoted to the study of the secret
teachings.  My house teacher had never gone above the
@tsokrampa@ rank of geshe, so could never have become the
Ganden Tripa anyway, and we both knew it.  I got angry, in a
good way, and swore to him that I would not only become a
geshe but a @hlarampa@ geshe as well.  In my later years,
after I had passed the @hlarampa@ examinations with highest
honors, Geshe Namdrol used to come a little sheepishly and
ask in a roundabout way if I could help him pick a good topic
for the day's debates.
     This was the great gift I received from Pabongka
Rinpoche: I attacked my studies with a passion, keeping my
mind on the shortness of life and the value of helping
others.  Up to this time I had been the house scribe, sort of
a clerk who wrote everyone's letters home.  To save time for
my studies I took my costly pens and paper one day and, in
front of my hundreds of house-mates, gave them away to anyone
who would take them.
     Then things got serious with the government's plan to
send Geshe Namdrol and me to the monastic post in south
Tibet.  The tenure of the position would be six years, and I
calculated my potential loss: one remaining year in the
"special topics" class for the perfection of wisdom, two
years in the class on the "middle way" or correct view, and
the final two years in the classes on transcendent knowledge
and vowed morality--all extremely important Buddhist topics.
It took some courage, but I went to my teacher and begged his
permission to stay and continue my studies at Sera Mey.
     To everyone's amazement he agreed, and chose my happy-
go-lucky roommate to accompany him instead.  He turned over
to me the keys to his apartments and left, much to the dismay
of all our neighbors, who were convinced I would destroy the
entire place.  Soon though they were calling me "Gyalrong
Chunze"--something like the "bookworm from Gyalrong House"--
and my studies had improved enough that I was able to obtain
a @miksel,@ or special release from all other duties so I
could devote every minute to my course work.
     I can say it was here that my life turned around, for
three reasons: Pabongka Rinpoche had put some renunciation
and other good motivation in my heart; I had given up wealth
and position to pursue spiritual studies; and I had gained
the free time to devote myself to practice.  In this last
category of leisure I would include the fact that I finally
got out from under the influence of my prankster roommate,
and also had the good fortune to meet the Venerable Jampel
Senge.
     As monastic custom goes, Jampel Senge's class (which was
a year ahead of mine) had been joined with my own at a
certain point in the curriculum.  Like some of the famous
figures mentioned in the teaching you are about to read, he
was originally brought up in a different religion and came to
our monastery rather late in his life, a confirmed skeptic.
He stayed though and became a real master of Buddhism; every
day we would spend hours together, reviewing what we had
heard in class and preparing each other for the evening
debates.  It was from Jampel Senge that I learned the value
of good spiritual friends; in the end, we reached the highest
ranks of the geshe together.  After our country was lost he
travelled to Italy, where he became the tutor of the famed
Tibetologist professor Tucci, and finally passed away there.
     It was well before my final exams that the precious
Pabongka Rinpoche himself passed from this earth.  After the
teachings I attended at Sera Mey, the Rinpoche had travelled
to the Hloka district in south Tibet, to teach his many
disciples there.  He continued on to the province of Dakpo,
teaching continuously, and passed away there at the age of
sixty-three, in 1941.  It is a custom in our country to
cremate the body of a holy person and preserve the ashes in a
small shrine, and I still remember the day when they brought
the Rinpoche's remains back to his mountain hermitage, Tashi
Chuling.  A shrine was constructed and a great many monks
including myself came to pay our respects, and make our final
offerings.
     We Buddhists believe that although the body dies, the
mind--since it is not destructible like physical matter--
continues on and eventually comes into a new body, within
your mother's womb if you are to be born as a human.  We
believe that great saints can select their birth, and that
out of compassion they will choose to return and teach their
disciples again if this will benefit them.  Thus it is a
custom for the disciples to seek the help of some great wise
men and go out to find the child who is the reincarnation of
their teacher.
     Pabongka Rinpoche's first reincarnation was born in the
Drikung area of central Tibet, during the troubled years when
the Chinese first invaded and began to take over our country.
He escaped along with many of our people over the Himalaya
mountains, and came down into the Indian plain.  Here most of
the monks who survived the perilous journey were placed by
the Indian government in a makeshift refugee camp set up in
the abandoned prison at Buxall, in the jungles of Bengal
state, west India.  (I myself was nearly killed during the
bombardment of our monastery, and upon reaching India was
chosen by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to work in the newly-
formed education office of the exile government at
Dharamsala, near the border of north India.)
     Buxall Prison had been built many years before by the
British during their rule of India.  It was a massive
structure of concrete and huge iron doors built purposely in
the middle of nowhere.  Mahatma Gandhi and Mr. Nehru, the
leaders of India's movement for independence, had been among
the distinguished inmates.
     India is a poor country but did her best to help us
refugees; the prison was the only immediate housing they
could find in their overpopulated land.  The jungle weather
was hot, steamy and humid--the complete opposite of our
homeland.  Like the delegations of translators who had come
to India over a thousand years before to bring us back an
alphabet, the majority of our monks came down with
tuberculosis and other tropical diseases.  A great many died.
     Buxall Prison did have one advantage though--total
solitude.  And for the first time in history, great scholars
from all the many traditions and monasteries of Tibet were
thrown together in one place, for over a decade.  In this
environment the second Pabongka Rinpoche excelled in his
studies, and before long was himself teaching the other monks
such subjects as grammar and composition.  He stood for his
geshe examination at an early age, and distinguished himself.
During these examinations he seemed weak and in some pain,
and immediately after their completion was hospitalized with
a serious case of tuberculosis.  To the dismay of all the
monks he suddenly died; his close followers could not believe
that he would chose to leave them at such a desperate hour in
our history--we were thrown into depression, and one great
geshe even tried to kill himself (although we do believe that
this is a sin).
     The second reincarnation of Pabongka Rinpoche was
discovered in Darjeeling, India, by his disciple Kyabje
Trijang Rinpoche and is now a promising young monk at the new
Sera Monastery, which was founded in south India by a
dedicated band of refugee monks who survived the ordeal at
Buxall.  He lives in comfortable quarters that were
constructed by his followers, some of whom also attended him
in his two previous lives.  His principal tutor was the late
Giku-la, Lobsang Samten, who also served as a leader of the
new Gyalrong House and director of the Sera Mey Scholarship
Fund, which I and my own students have established for the
continued training of young monks in our traditional course
of study.
     The original Pabongka Rinpoche also survives in the
labors of his principal disciples, and in his numerous
writings.  His collected works comprise some fifteen volumes
with a total of about a hundred different treatises covering
a wide range of topics from both the open and the secret
teachings of the Buddha.  His students played a special role
in preserving his teachings, as many of the major works that
we have today are actually records of his oral discourses
compiled by his closest followers.  The commentary on the
Three Principal Paths here, for example, was prepared from a
collection of lecture notes by the Venerable Lobsang Dorje.
The Rinpoche's great work on the Steps of the path to
Buddhahood, entitled @Liberation in Our Hands,@ was compiled
by Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, who
served as one of the two tutors of the present Dalai Lama and
was my own precious root lama.  Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche has
left us with a detailed biography of Pabongka Rinpoche, in
two volumes, along with some nine lengthy volumes of his own
masterly composition.  It is at Trijang Rinpoche's direction
too that I have undertaken an English translation of
@Liberation in Our Hands,@ and the first volume will be
published this year.
     Over many centuries, Tibet has produced an extraordinary
number of Buddhist saints and scholars; therefore it is rare
for a lama's teachings to become classics within his own
lifetime, as did the works of Pabongka Rinpoche.  Certainly
another exception to this rule was the matchless Je
Tsongkapa, the author of the original verses of the @Three
Principal Paths@ in the present volume.
     Lord Tsongkapa's full name is Gyalwa Je Tsongkapa Chenpo
Lobsang Drakpa, and he holds a unique position in our Tibetan
Buddhist tradition.  All in one he was the greatest
philosopher, and most eloquent writer, and most successful
organizer of Buddhism who ever lived in our land; as time
continues to pass after the forced opening of our country's
doors, I feel sure he will come to be recognized throughout
the world as one of the greatest thinkers in history.
     He was born in 1357 in the Amdo area of northeast Tibet,
in a district called Tsongka (hence his name, which means
"the one from Tsongka").  He was granted his first, basic
vows at a tender age from one Chuje Karmapa Rolpay Dorje, and
received the name Kunga Nyingpo.  By the age of eight he had
taken his vows as a Buddhist novice, and already received
initiations into the secret teachings of Buddhism.  He
excelled in his studies and on the advice of his teachers
journeyed to central Tibet in his sixteenth year, to seek
further instruction from the many sages there.
     It would be impossible to relate here all of what Je
Tsongkapa then studied.  Briefly put, he mastered the entire
open and secret teachings of Buddhism, as well as the various
classical sciences.  A few examples of the subjects he
covered with different teachers are: the secret teachings of
Naro and the Great Seal from Chen-nga Chukyi Gyalpo; the
ancient medical traditions from Je Konchok Kyab; the
perfection of wisdom from masters at Dewa Chen Monastery, the
great Sakya teacher Rendawa, and Nyawon Kunga Pel; the Steps
of the path and other Seer precepts from Hle Rinpoche;
classical logic from Lochen Dunsang, Venerable Rendawa, and
Dorje Rinchen; the treasure of knowledge from Lochen Dunsang
and Venerable Rendawa; the middle way from Venerable Rendawa
and Kenchen Chukyab Sangpo; older sutras from Kenchen Losel;
vowed morality from Venerable Rendawa and Master Chukyab
Sangpo; the secret teachings of the wheel of time from Yeshe
Gyeltsen and others; those on the secret collection from
Venerable Rendawa, as well as from Hle Rinpoche and others,
according to the system of their own teacher, Buton Rinpoche;
the "blue book" of the Seer masters, the deeds of
bodhisattvas, and early mental training texts from Kenchen
Chukyab Sangpo; and the list goes on and on.
     This does not include all the teachings that Lord
Tsongkapa is said to have received directly from enlightened
beings through dreams, visions, and direct contact; we read
for example that for many years he was tutored by the divine
being Gentle Voice.  At first one of his principal teachers,
Lama Umapa, acted as sort of a translator; later on, Lord
Tsongkapa was able to meet and learn from this being on his
own.
     We should say a word here about these "divine beings."
We Buddhists believe that there are many Buddhas in the
universe, and that they can each appear on one or more
planets at the same time, if this will help the beings who
live there.  We believe that a Buddha is the ultimate
evolution of all life; that he can know all things, but does
not have all power: he did not create the universe, for
example (this we have done by the force of our own past
deeds, good and bad), nor can he take all our sufferings away
from us by himself--these too we believe come from our own
past actions, and must be stopped by ourselves.
     We do believe that by studying and practicing the
teaching of the Buddha we ourselves can become Buddhas, as
can every living being.  Therefore when we speak of
enlightened beings appearing to a saint directly and so on we
do not mean that Buddhists believe in a great many gods or
the like, but rather that any being who has removed all his
suffering and gained all knowledge can appear to any one of
us, in any form that may help us to reach this ultimate state
ourselves.
     Only after he had received a great many teachings did
Lord Tsongkapa take his full ordination as a monk; this was
in Yarlung, south of Lhasa, when he was twenty-five.  The
ordination name he had already been granted, upon becoming a
novice, was Lobsang Drakpa--and it is in Lord Tsongkapa's
memory that so many Tibetans are given "Lobsang" as their
personal name.
     By now his transition from student to teacher was
accelerating quickly, and in fact he later tutored a number
of his own greatest teachers.  We can understand his life
from this point on more clearly if we look at the influence
his teaching still has on Buddhism today, rather than simply
retracing his career up to the final moment at Ganden
Monastery in 1419, when he passed away at the age of sixty-
two.
     Buddhism is counted among the handful of great religions
in the modern world, but it is actually close to extinction.
In some countries it has disappeared, only recently, through
violent political upheavals.  In other countries it remains,
but typically not in its whole form: the Buddha taught the
so-called "greater" and "lesser" ways, contained in four
great schools of thought, and all four of these are now
studied and practiced actively only in the Tibetan tradition.
This tradition itself survives mainly in our monastic
universities; among these, the three great institutions of
Ganden, Drepung, and Sera are the mainstays.  We can learn
much of the adult years of Lord Tsongkapa by searching for
his influence upon these last great bastions of the total
Buddhist path.
     And in fact we see his hand here everywhere.  A young
monk at Sera Monastery, for example, begins his formal
education with the study of logic, and as his textbook is
likely to use either the @Path to Freedom@ or the @Jewel of
Reasoning.@  Both were written by direct disciples of Lord
Tsongkapa: the former by Gyaltsab Je (1362-1432), and the
latter by Gyalwa Gendun Drup (1391-1475).
     For his next course, twelve years on what we call the
"perfection of wisdom," our monk will be using the @Golden
Rosary,@ a commentary composed by the Master at Kyishu and
Dewa Chen, following his final ordination.  The monk will
refer as well to the immense @Essential Jewel,@  another work
by Gyaltsab Je.  When he reaches the "special topics" part of
the course, he may well commit to memory the entire 230 pages
of Lord Tsongkapa's @Essence of Eloquence,@ on certain tenets
of the great Buddhist schools.
     Between courses the young monk will often have
opportunities to attend discourses delivered by visiting
lamas; perhaps by the Dalai Lama himself.  The present is the
fourteenth of his line and, as we might expect, the first was
another of Lord Tsongkapa's direct disciples.  Popular
subjects for these public discourses are the @Greater Steps
on the Path@ (by Lord Tsongkapa), @The Bodhisattva's Life@
(Gyaltsab Je's Door for Bodhisattvas is likely to be the
commentary used), or the @Three Principal Paths@ (our present
text, again by Lord Tsongkapa).
     The monk student's next course will be the very
difficult "middle way" philosophy of the highest school of
Buddhism.  He will be using Lord Tsongkapa's @Great
Commentary@ for understanding the early Indian commentaries.
If he goes deeper, the monk might read @Eye-Opener,@ the
great exposition on emptiness by Kedrup Je (1385-1438), again
a direct disciple of Lord Tsongkapa.
     Everywhere the young scholar goes he is surrounded by
the Master's influence.  The very monastery in which he walks
has been founded either by Lord Tsongkapa or one of his
direct disciples: Ganden in 1409 by the Lord himself, Drepung
in 1416 by Jamyang Chuje Tashi Pelden, and Sera in 1419 by
Jamchen Chuje Shakya Yeshe.  The very robes that the monk
wears were in part designed by Lord Tsongkapa.  When he sits
down in his room to meditate, he is likely to start off with
a mental picture of the Master, as taught in a popular @Lama
Practice@ manual.  When he fingers his beads, he may well be
counting @miktsema@'s, the Tibetan equivalent of Hail Mary's,
in supplication to Lord Tsongkapa.
     And the monk will eventually take his geshe examinations
at the great Monlam Festival, a national three-week holiday
devoted to spiritual activities and instituted by Lord
Tsongkapa in 1408.  If he is Mongolian, he will probably
count his birthday from the great Festival of Lights on the
25th of the tenth Asian month: a day devoted to the memory of
Lord Tsongkapa.
     If he gets that far, our monk's next course covers what
we call the "treasure of knowledge."  His basic commentary
will be that of the first Dalai Lama, Lord Tsongkapa's
student.  By now the monk is a master logician, and can use
the @Gyalwang Treasure,@ a dialectic exposition written by
Gyalwang Trinley Namgyal about a hundred years ago.  This
author is famous too for writing the @Great Biography@--of
Lord Tsongkapa.
     Throughout his course work, the student attends daily
debate sessions; he goes to an open park at the monastery and
must defend his understanding of the day's lesson, quoting
the texts from memory since no books may be brought along.
Here he is again following the example of the monk from
Tsongka, who travelled to central Tibet as a teenager and
distinguished himself in a great many public debates at the
monasteries of Dewa Chen, Sakya, Sangden, Gakrong, Damring,
Eh, Nenying, and others.
     If he passes his geshe examination with honors, the monk
will be eligible to attend one of the two tantric colleges,
where he will learn the secret teachings of Buddhism.  One of
his principal textbooks will be the @Greater Steps on the
Secret Path,@ by Lord Tsongkapa himself.  He may too use one
of the many detailed treatises of Kedrup Je, another of the
Master's illustrious students.  The collected writings of
Lord Tsongkapa and his two major disciples are usually
printed together under the title "Collected Works of the
Father and his Sons."  They run no less than thirty-eight
large volumes containing some 300 different treatises on
every subject of Buddhist philosophy.  Lord Tsongkapa's
composition is marked by extensive references to the early
classics of Buddhism, a strict use of the rules of logic and
precise definitions, a massive vocabulary of Tibetan which
will probably never be equalled, a flawless observance of the
rules of classical grammar, and a sensitivity to the needs of
students of every level--from beginning to advanced.
     This last point is why the present work, the @Three
Principal Paths,@ has been so popular in Tibet over the
centuries.  As the commentary here describes, Lord Tsongkapa
has managed to pack the entire teachings of Buddhism into a
mere fourteen verses.  We believe that, if the work is
studied with a pure heart and the right effort, it can
actually lead one to enlightenment.
     As its closing lines reveal, the text of the @Three
Principal Paths@ was written by Lord Tsongkapa for a student
of his by the name of Ngawang Drakpa, whom we also know as
Tsako Wonpo--the "friar from Tsako district."  Ngawang Drakpa
was not one of Lord Tsongkapa's most famous students,
although a wonderful drawing of him does appear in the group
of close disciples clustered around the Master in the central
painting of the @Tsongka Gyechu,@ a traditional rendering of
the life of Lord Tsongkapa in a standard set of fifteen
scroll-paintings.2
     Surprisingly, one of the best sources we have for
information about Ngawang Drakpa is the biography of Pabongka
Rinpoche, the author of our commentary here.  In the first
volume of the work we come across a captivating exchange
between the Rinpoche and his mother, who has shown up at Sera
Monastery and is dismayed by the austerity of his life there.
She wonders out loud how things might have been if the world
had recognized the boy for what he was--the reincarnation of
the great Changkya, who had served as personal spiritual
advisor to the Emperor of China some 200 years before, and
whose luxurious quarters still waited near the palace in
Peking, for the next incarnation.  But Pabongka Rinpoche says
to her,

        I don't see how I can say that I've ever shown
     even the slightest trace of the good qualities
     that Changkya Rolpay Dorje used to have: his
     knowledge and his spiritual attainments.  I will
     admit though that I feel tremendous faith and
     admiration for this great man, and when I read his
     works, they are definitely easier for me to grasp
     than other scriptures.  It is true too that ever
     since I was young I have had some strong attraction
     to the kind of Chinese sedan chair in which Changkya
     used to ride, and a tremendous predilection for all
     things Chinese.
        This and the fact that you, mother, used to talk
     so much about how I was recognized as him have led
     me to wonder if I might not really be Changkya--and
     I begin sometimes to identify myself with him.
        On occasion too the thought comes to my mind
     that I have been other people as well, in other
     times . . . during the days when our great and gentle
     protector Tsongkapa lived on this earth I was, I
     sometimes think, that friar from Tsako--Ngawang
     Drakpa.3

     Because of this revelation, the author of Pabongka
Rinpoche's biography relates something of the life of Ngawang
Drakpa.  We see one scene in the paintings of Lord
Tsongkapa's life where he is teaching a group of four monks
at a temple named Keru, and in the description of the great
Jamyang Shepa (1648-1721) we read that the Master is
imparting lessons on the topics of the perfection of wisdom,
logic, and the middle way to Ngawang Drakpa and his
classmates.4  This seems to be just after Lord Tsongkapa's
ordination, and well before the first contact with his three
more famous disciples: Gyaltsab Je, Kedrup Je, and the first
Dalai Lama.
     Pabongka Rinpoche's biographer concurs and quotes a
@Secret Biography@ to the effect that Ngawang Drakpa belonged
to a group of the Master's pupils named the "Original Four,"
previous to his period of seclusion.  Ngawang Drakpa is here
said to have been born into the line of the kings of Tsako,
to the far east of Tibet in Gyalmo Rong.  This is another
name for Gyalrong, which is also the very house at Sera Mey
College where the child Pabongka was placed, on the sage's
advice.
     We read that Ngawang Drakpa, like Lord Tsongkapa
himself, travelled to central Tibet in search of further
instruction.  He became adept in both the open and secret
teachings, met and learned from the Master, and accompanied
him on a journey to the Tsel monastery in Kyishu, a district
in east Tibet.  After their return to Lhasa, the capital, he
undertook various spiritual practices.
     One well-known story about Ngawang Drakpa says that
around this time he and his teacher agreed to take special
notice of their dreams during the coming night.  Ngawang
Drakpa dreamt that he gazed to the sky and saw two great
white conch-shells, the kind we hollow out in Tibet and use
as horns in our religious ceremonies.  The shells descended
into the lap of his robes, and suddenly merged into one.
     Ngawang Drakpa saw himself taking up the conch-horn and
blowing it--the sound that came out was deafening, and spread
to an inconceivable distance.  Lord Tsongkapa interpreted the
dream for his student, saying that it foretold how Ngawang
Drakpa himself would spread the Buddha's teachings in his
faraway home of Gyalrong.  This in fact he did, and is
credited with founding over a hundred monasteries in eastern
Tibet.
     Pabongka Rinpoche's biography also speaks of the close
relationship between this particular disciple and Lord
Tsongkapa.  In the final lines of the @Three Principal
Paths,@ the Master calls him "my son," showing a personal
affection not very typical of the great scholar.  He also
seemed especially willing to satisfy Ngawang Drakpa's
petitions for teachings (in the scene at Keru Temple we see
some of the monks in a pleading gesture before the Master),
and it is said that he composed his account of the famous
bodhisattva Ever-Weeping at Ngawang Drakpa's personal
request.5
     As final evidence of their deep bond, our biographer
quotes from a letter that Lord Tsongkapa sent his student.
From the context (the entire message is still extant), we
know that Ngawang Drakpa has already taken the long journey
back to Gyalrong, and is making tremendous efforts to teach
the people there.  In these few beautiful lines,6 the Master
implores his disciple to follow his private instructions.  He
urges him to act and pray, in all his lives, as his teacher
does.  And he invites Ngawang Drakpa to meet him again, at
the end, in enlightenment--where he promises to offer his
favored student the first sip of their cup of immortality.


                            ------


     The ending of our own story is not as happy; we are
refugees from Tibet, driven out of our Shangrila by the
Chinese armies.  The halls of Gyalrong house, where Pabongka
Rinpoche gained his knowledge and I played my tricks on Yeshe
Lobsang, have been bombed out and burned.  The Rinpoche's
mountain hermitage, Tashi Chuling, stands like some strange
skeleton--only the front wall of stone remains erect, for all
the rest was ripped down by the Chinese for firewood.  The
monk's cell at the mouth of his wonder meditation cave,
Takden, was smashed to rubble, which so fills the opening
that no one can even find it now.
     As Buddhists, we Tibetans do not feel anger at the
Chinese, only a deep sadness at the loss of our country and
traditions, and the deaths of over a million of our friends
and relatives.  In a way we have become more aware of how
precious and short life is, and how we should practice
religion while we are still alive to do so.  Our loss too is
perhaps the greater world's gain, as teachings like the one
you are about to read now reach the outer world for the first
time.  I pray that this little book will help us all, to
defeat our real enemies--the desire and anger and ignorance
within our own minds.

Sermey Geshe Lobsang Tharchin                    May 31, 1988
Baksha (Abbot)                            15th day of the 4th
Rashi Gempil Ling                             Buddhist month,
First Kalmuk Buddhist Temple                      Sagan Dawa,
Freewood Acres, Howell                         the day of the
New Jersey, USA                        Buddha's Enlightenment*n*
*jy y*









                 #THE THREE PRINCIPAL PATHS#




       @Herein kept is the "Key that Unlocks the Door
         to the Noble Path,"7 a record that was made
         when teachings on the Three Principal Paths
       were imparted by the glorious Pabongka Rinpoche,
                 the Holder of the Diamond.8@




































*n*
*jy y*








        @"Namo guru Manjugoshaya"--I bow to the Master
          of Wisdom, whose name is Gentle Voice.


         I bow first to my teacher, who out of unmatched
            kindness masquerades
         In the saffron robe,9 though in truth he's the
            secret three of every Victor.10
         Next I pledge I'll try to write here some
            brief notes in explanation
         Of the verses taught by Gentle Voice11
            himself: "Three Principal Paths."12@


































*n*














                      THE PRELIMINARIES





















































                   I. The Lama and the Word


     Now there was a lama, who was the very image of all the
knowledge, love, and power of every single one of the
absolute myriad of Buddhas.  All in one person.  Even for
those who had never met him he was the single greatest friend
that any of them, high or humble, could ever hope to have.
He stood at the center of our universe, the holy Lama, one
and only protector of all around him in these degenerate
days.  He was the great Holder of the Diamond, Pabongka
Rinpoche, whose kindness knew no match.  And from his holiest
lips he spoke a teaching.
     He spoke of the very heart of the "Steps to Buddhahood,"
a teaching which is itself the heart of all that is taught by
each and every Buddha, of the past or present or future.  He
spoke of the Three Principal Paths, the nectar essence of all
the wonderful words ever uttered by the Master, Gentle Voice,
has ever uttered.
     Over the years, Pabongka Rinpoche imparted this profound
instruction to us a number of times.  He followed the
original verses closely and savored the teaching well,
wrapping within it every deep and vital point.  Fearing we
would forget some part we took down notes, and have gathered
a number of them together from various sources, to make a
single work.



           II. Why Learn the Three Principal Paths?


     Pabongka Rinpoche opened his teaching with introductory
remarks that started off from a number of lines by the great
Tsongkapa, King of the Dharma13 in all three realms.14  The
first one read, "More than a wishing jewel, this life of
opportunity."15  By using these lines, the Rinpoche was able
to tie his opening remarks to the entire path from beginning
to end, summarizing a number of important points in brief.
     These began with the need for us in the audience to
truly try to change our hearts, and listen to the teaching
with the purest of motivations.  We were to avoid with
special care the three famous "problems of the pot,"16 and to
follow the practice where you use six images for the
instruction.17  Here Pabongka Rinpoche detailed for us the
various points; he said, for example, that he spoke first
about how we should avoid the problem of being like a dirty
pot because a good motivation was important not only for our
classroom hours, but essential too for the steps of
contemplation and meditation that should follow the initial
period of instruction.
     Now there is a great highway along which each and every
Buddha of the three times travels.  It is the single guiding
lamp for living beings in all three lands.18  It is none
other than the teaching known as the "Steps to Buddhahood."
And the heart, the very life of this teaching, is the
instruction on the three principal paths.
     We would all like to become Buddhas so we could help
others; but to do so, we have to work to achieve this state.
To do this though we have to know how.  And to know how, we
must study the dharma.  The study that we do, moreover, must
center on a path that never errs.
     This brings us to our present text, the @Three Principal
Paths,@ which was composed by the protector Gentle Voice as
he appeared to his disciples in the form of a man--the great
Tsongkapa.  He granted the teaching to Ngawang Drakpa, a
friar from Tsako district, out to the east in Gyamo Valley.19
We will offer just a brief account of this profound work,
following the words of each verse.
     Here we speak of the "three principal paths," while in
the teaching on the steps to Buddhahood we talk of
practicioners of "three different scopes."20  Aside from this
distinction in the names we give them, and some differences
in their section divisions, the teachings on the three
principal paths and those on the steps to Buddhahood are
essentially the same.  A separate teaching tradition has
developed for the present text because of the different
categories it employs for the very same subject matter.
     The three principal paths are like the main beam that
supports all the rest of the roof; your mind must be filled
with these three thoughts if you hope to practice any dharma
at all, whether it be the open or the secret teachings of the
Buddha.  A mind caught up in renunciation leads you to
freedom, and a mind filled with hopes of becoming a Buddha
for the sake of every living being brings you to the state of
omniscience.  A mind imbued with correct view, finally,
serves as the antidote for the cycle of life.
     Otherwise you can do non-virtuous deeds, what we call
"non-merit," and take a birth in one of the lives of
misery.21  Deeds of "merit" will only lead you to birth as a
man, or a pleasure-being of the desire realm.  The deeds we
call "invariable" will take you as far as a pleasure being of
the form or formless realms.  You can pretend to practice
anything--the Channels and Winds and Drops, the Great Seal,
the Great Completion, the Creation and Completion,
whatever.22  But unless the three principal paths fill your
thoughts, each of these profound practices can only bring you
back to the cycle of birth--they can't even begin to lead you
to freedom, or to the state of knowing all.
     We find it in the question that Geshe Puchungwa asked of
Chen-ngawa:23 "Let's say on the one hand that you could be
one of those people who has mastered all five sciences,24 who
has gained the firmest of single-pointed concentration,
someone with each of the five types of clairvoyance,25 who's
experienced all eight of the great attainments.26  And let's
say on the other hand that you could be a person who had yet
to gain any full realization of Lord Atisha's teachings,27
but who nonetheless had developed such a firm recognition of
their truth that no one else could ever change your mind.
Which of the two would you choose to be?"
     And Chen-ngawa spoke in reply, "My master, leave alone
any hope of realizing all the steps to Buddhahood--I would
rather even to be a person who had just begun to get some
glint of understanding, who could say to himself that he had
started off on the first of these steps to Buddhahood.
     "Why would this be my choice?  In all my lives to now
I've been a master of the five sciences, countless times.
And countless times I've gained single-pointed concentration,
even to where I could sit in meditation for an eon.  The same
with the five types of clairvoyance--and the eight great
attainments.  But never have I been able to go beyond the
circle of life--never have I risen above it.  If I were able
to gain a realization of the steps to Buddhahood that Atisha
taught, I would surely be able to turn from this round of
births."
     The same point is conveyed by the stories of the
Brahmin's son by the name of Tsanakya,28 the master meditator
of the practice called "Lo Diamond,"29 and others as well.
The lord Gentle Voice said it to our protector, the great
Tsongkapa:

        Suppose you fail to devote some part of your
     practice to thinking over the various problems of
     cyclic life, and the different benefits of freedom
     from it.  You don't sit down and meditate,
     keeping your mind on trying to open your eyes to the
     ugliness of life, or holding it on the wonders of
     freedom.  You don't reach the point where you
     never give a thought to the present life.  You
     never master the art of renunciation.
        And let's say you go out then and try to develop
     a skill in some great virtuous practice--the
     perfection of giving, or that of morality, or
     forbearance, effort, or staying in concentration.30
     It doesn't matter what.  None of it can ever lead
     you on to the state of freedom.  People who really
     long for freedom then should forget at first about
     all those other supposedly so deep advices.  They
     should use the "mental review" meditation to develop
     renunciation.
        People who are trying to practice the greater
     way should set aside some regular periods of time for
     consider how harmful it is to concentrate on your
     own welfare, and how much good can come from
     concentrating on the welfare of others.  Eventually
     these thoughts can become habitual; nothing that
     you ever do without them will ever turn to a path
     that leads you anywhere.
        Virtues performed the other way are altered
     by the fact that you are doing them for yourself--
     so all they can do in the end is bring you to what
     is known as a "lower enlightenment."  This is similar
     to what happens when you are unable to practice the
     various aspects of renunciation deeply because you
     have failed to devote some time to thinking about
     it--every virtue you do is affected by your concern
     for this present life, and only leads you back to
     the cycle of birth.
        It's a definite necessity then first to gain
     fluency in the attitudes of renunciation and the
     desire to achieve Buddhahood for every living
     being; so set aside for the time being all those
     supposedly profound practices, the secret teachings
     and so on.
        Once you've managed to develop these attitudes,
     every single virtuous act you perform leads you,
     despite yourself, to freedom and the state where you
     know all things.  Therefore it's a sign of total
     ignorance about the very crux of the path when a
     person doesn't consider these thoughts worth his
     meditation time.31

     What we mean above by "mental review" meditation is the
type of meditation where you choose a particular line of
thought and analyze it.  Now the three principal paths are
the top of the cream skimmed from all the holy words that the
Buddhas have uttered.  You see, the meanings of these words
and the commentaries upon them have all been packed into the
teaching on the paths for practicioners of three different
scopes.  And this teaching has all been packed further, into
the teaching on the steps to Buddhahood.  This teaching, in
turn, has been packed into that of the three principal paths.
     How is each packed into the next?  Every single thought
expressed in the holy words of the Buddhas, and in the
commentaries which explain them, was uttered for the sole
purpose of helping disciples to attain the state of
Buddhahood.  To achieve this state, one must verse himself in
the two causes that bring it about: we call them "method" and
"wisdom."  The main elements of these two causes are also
two: the desire to attain Buddhahood for the sake of all
living beings, and correct view.  To develop these attitudes
in the stream of one's mind, a person must first gain an
absolute disgust for all the apparent good things of the life
he himself is spending in the circle of births.
     Suppose you never manage to develop a desire to get free
of the cycle of life yourself--suppose you never reach a
renunciation which is complete in every respect.  It will be
impossible then for you to develop what we call "great
compassion"--the desire to liberate every other living being
from the cycle.  This makes renunciation a "without which,
nothing."
     Now in order to achieve the Buddha's body of form,32 a
person must first gather together what we refer to as the
"collection of merit."  This gathering depends principally on
the desire to achieve Buddhahood for the sake of every living
being.  To achieve the Buddha's dharma body, a person must
have the "collection of wisdom."  Here the most important
thing is to develop correct view.  All the most vital points
of the path then have been packed into the three principal
paths, and made into an instruction which can be carried out
by students.  These words of advice, imparted directly to our
precious lord by Gentle Voice himself, are therefore very
special indeed.
     There's no way to turn your mind to spiritual practice
unless you have renunciation from the very first.  And
there's no way for this practice to serve as a path of the
greater way unless you have the desire to become a Buddha for
the sake of every living being.  And there's no way to rid
yourself totally of the two obstacles33 unless you have
correct view.  This is why these three attitudes were spoken
to be the "three principal paths."
     Once you have gained some facility in the three
principal paths, everything you do becomes a spiritual
practice.  If your mind is not filled with these three
thoughts, then everything you try leads you nowhere further
than the same old circle of births.  As the @Greater Steps to
Buddhahood@ says,

        Suppose you try to perform some kind of
     virtuous deeds, but you have yet to find that
     special antidote that destroys your tendency to
     crave for the good things of this circling life
     --you have yet to succeed in that meditation
     where you've analyzed all the drawbacks of the
     circle of life using all the various reasons
     we've set forth above.  Suppose too that you still
     haven't been able to investigate the meaning of
     "no self-nature" as you should, using the
     analytical type of wisdom.  And let's say further
     that you still lack any familiarity with the two
     types of desire to reach Buddhahood for every
     living being.34
        If you happen to do a few good deeds this way
     towards some particularly holy object, you might
     get some good results, but only because of the
     object's power.  Otherwise everything you've done
     is simply the same old source of suffering--and
     you come back round around the round of rebirth.35

     The Seers of the Word in olden days were making the same
point when they used to say, "Everybody's got some mystic
being they're meditating about and everybody's got some
mystic words that they're talking about and all because
nobody's got any real practice they're thinking about."36
     Therefore those of us who are thinking about doing some
really pure practice of the spirit should try to find one
that will take us on to freedom and all-knowingness.  And for
a practice to be this way, it should make us masters in the
three principal paths.  These three are like the heart, the
very life within the teachings on the steps to Buddhahood.
As the all-knowing Lord, Tsongkapa, once said: "I used the
@Lamp on the Path@ as my basic text, and made these three the
very life of the path."37
     So now we ourselves will give just a brief teaching
using the @Three Principal Paths@--the words of this same
Lord Tsongkapa--as our basic text.



                  III. An Offering of Praise

     We'll start by discussing the general outline of the
work.  This instruction on the three principal paths comes in
three basic divisions: the preliminaries that lead into the
composition of the text, the main body of the text, and the
conclusion of the explanation.  The first of these divisions
has three sections of its own: an offering of praise, a
pledge to compose the work, and then a strong encouragement
for the reader to study it well.
     What we call the "offering of praise" is contained in
the opening line of the work:

           #I bow to all the high and holy lamas.#

The very first thing a person should do when he composes a
commentary is to bow to his lord of lords.  As Master Dandin
said,

            The benediction, bow, and the essence
            Must be written: they are the door.38

And we read as well that, "One should bow to the one he holds
his lord."
     The purpose of this prostration is that one be able to
bring his composition to its completion, and that he do so
without any interruptions or obstacles.  The word "all" in
the expression "all the lamas" is meant to refer in a general
sense to all of one's immediate and lineage lamas--those who
have passed on the teachings through traditions like those
known as the "far-reaching activity" and the "profound
view."39  In a very special sense, the word has the meaning
that we see it given in the prayer called "Knowledge Unlocks
the World": it refers to the victor, Diamond Holder; to the
glorious lord, Gentle Voice; and to the Hero of the
Diamond.40
     Now the lord, Gentle Voice, was appearing constantly to
the great Tsongkapa.  There are different ways such a being
can appear to a person: you can see him in a dream, in your
imagination, or directly.  There are two ways you can see him
directly: either with your physical senses, or with your
mental sense.  The way that Gentle Voice appeared to our
protector, the great Tsongkapa, was straight to his physical
senses; they sat like teacher and student, and Tsongkapa was
able to learn from him every one of the open and secret
teachings.
     We do see some people who think otherwise: that our Lord
Lama was able to write his various treatises merely out of
some scholastic skill and moral depth.  The truth though is
that there is not a single example in all the writings of
Lord Tsongkapa--no single treatise, great or small--that was
not spoken by Gentle Voice himself.  Lord Tsongkapa consulted
Gentle Voice in every single thing he did, and followed the
instructions he was given--even down to where he should stay,
and how many attendants he should take with him when he went
somewhere.
     This Lord of Lamas was able to make definitive
explanations of every deep and vital point in both the open
and secret teachings--of things that all the sages gone
before had never been able to fathom.  These explanations are
in no way something that Lord Tsongkapa came up with on his
own; they came, rather, from the lips of Gentle Voice
himself.
     In general it is the custom, when one writes the
offering of praise at the beginning of a Buddhist treatise,
to express obeisance to compassion, the three types of
knowledge,41 or any other of a great many holy objects.  Here
though the prostration is made to "the lamas," for a very
good reason.  The reader wants in general to gain the steps
of the path to Buddhahood--and more specifically, the three
principal paths--within his own mind.  The point of the
prostration is to make him realize that this is all going to
depend on how well he can follow the practice of proper
behavior towards his spiritual teacher.



                    IV. How to Take A Lama

     Now a lama is extremely important at the outset of any
attempts at a spiritual life.  As Geshe Potowa said,

        To reach liberation, there is nothing more
     important than a lama.  Even in simple things
     of this present life, with things that you can
     learn just by sitting down and watching someone,
     you can't get anywhere without a person to show
     you.  So how on earth are you going to get
     anywhere without a lama, when you want to go
     somewhere you've never gone before, and you've
     only just arrived from a journey through the lower
     births?42


     Therefore you're absolutely going to have to go and
learn from a lama; just reading dharma books is not going to
work.  There has never been a single person in history who
gained his spiritual goals without a lama, just by reading
books on dharma.  And it will never happen in the future
either.
     Now what kind of lama should he be?  It takes a guide
who knows every turn of the path just to get you somewhere
you can reach in a single day.  For a lama who's supposed to
lead you on to freedom and the state of knowing all things,
you're going to need one who has all the requisite qualities.
It's important to find a really qualified lama; it's not
something you shouldn't care much about, because you're going
to end up like him--for better or for worse.  The student
comes out according to the mold, like those little clay
tablets with holy images pressed into them.
     What are the characteristics that make a lama qualified?
According to the teachings on vowed morality he should be, as
they say, a "source of all good qualities" and so on.43 This
means that the lama should possess the two good qualities of
being steady and wise.44  According to the secret teachings,
he should fit the description that starts with the words "all
three gateways well restrained." According to general
tradition--that of both the open and the secret teachings--
the lama should have ten fine qualities, as mentioned in the
verse that begins with "You who have all ten..."
     At the very least, your lama must absolutely be a person
who has controlled his mind by practicing the three
trainings,45 who possesses a knowledge of the scriptures, and
who possesses actual realizations.  As the @Jewel of the
Sutras@ states,

     Take yourself to a spiritual guide controlled,
        at peace,
     High peace, with exceeding qualities and effort,
        who's rich
     In scripture, with a deep realization of suchness,
        a master instructor
     Who's the very image of love, and beyond becoming
        discouraged.46

The prospective disciple on his part should familiarize
himself with these descriptions of a proper lama's
qualifications, and then seek out a lama who possesses them.
Whether the disciple himself turns out to be more or less
blessed with virtues depends on the degree to which his lama
possesses high personal qualities.  If the disciple enjoys a
relationship with a lama who is capable of guiding him
through the entire range of the open and secret paths, then
the disciple will come to be one blessed, in the sense of
having heard about and gained some understanding of the paths
in their entirety.  Even just gaining this general idea of
the overall paths represents greater merit that any other
good qualities that the student might possess.
     Once the disciple does manage to locate a lama with the
qualities described above, he must rely on him in the proper
way.  Here there are eight great benefits a person can gain
through proper behavior towards his teacher, beginning with
being "close to Buddhahood."47  There are also eight
different dangers of improper behavior towards one's lama--
these are the opposites of the benefits just mentioned.
     As the great Lord Tsongkapa said himself,

     First then see that the very root for getting
        an excellent start
     Towards any of the goods things in the present
        or future lives
     Is effort in proper behavior in both thought
        and practice towards
     The spiritual guide who shows the path; so
        please him with the offering

     Of carrying out his every instruction,
        never giving up
     A single one even when it may cost you
        your life.
     I, the master meditator, put this
        into practice;
     You, who seek for freedom, must
        conduct yourselves this way.48

     Those of past days, people like Lord Atisha and the
great Drom Tonpa,49 gained matchless levels of realization
and were able to perform mighty deeds beyond equal--all of
this came because each of them succeeded in maintaining the
proper relationship with his own spiritual guide.  And it
doesn't end there--we can point to Lord Milarepa50 and others
of olden days, and say exactly the same thing.
     Proper behavior with one's spiritual guide has
tremendous potential--both good and bad--in determining
whether a person gets off to an auspicious start in his
practice.  Marpa slipped before Naropa and ruined his chances
for an auspicious beginning.51  Milarepa offered Marpa a
copper pot--empty, but absolutely clean.  His start with his
practice then was one both good and bad--in exact
correspondence to the good and bad of the gift.
     The great throneholder Tenpa Rabgye nursed the master
tutor Ngawang Chujor most effectively during the latter's
illness; as a result, he was able to gain a realization of
the "middle view."52  The Sakya Pandita as well performed
perfect service as the nurse of Venerable Drak-gyen.
Everything that came to him later was because of this
service: he was able to see his lama as the deity Gentle
Voice; he gained a totally unimpeded knowledge of the five
great sciences; a mass of human kind in all the lands of
China, Tibet, Mongolia, and elsewhere raised him in honor to
the very tip of their heads; and the list goes on and on.53
     We should speak here too of the dangers in improper
behavior towards one's lama.  A reference in @Difficult
Points to the Black Enemy@ puts it this way:

     A person who doesn't treat as a lama
     Someone who's taught him so much as a line
     Will take a hundred births as a dog
     And then be born in the lowest of castes.54

The root text of the secret teaching on the Wheel of Time
states as well:

     Seconds of anger toward your lama
     Destroy equal eons of virtue collected,
     Then bring equal eons in which you endure
     The terrible pain of hells and the rest.55

Now the length of time in the snap of a finger is itself made
up of no less than sixty-five of what we call "instants of
minimum action." If an emotion of anger towards your lama
comes up in your mind for this period, for sixty-five of
these split-seconds, then you will have to stay in hell for a
period equal to sixty-five @eons.@  This by the way is how
the tradition of the lesser way describes it; according to
the teachings of the greater way, the period is even
longer.56
     And there are even more dangers; a person who behaves
improperly towards his lama will, as the @Fifty Verses on
Lamas@ describes, suffer even more in this present life:
spirits, various sicknesses, and other such problems will
harass him constantly.  In the hour of death, he is tormented
by excruciating pain at the vital points and overwhelmed by
terror.  Moreover, he dies through one of the thirteen causes
of a premature death--and so on.57
     There are even further examples of the dangers; we can
recall the master Sangye Yeshe,58 whose eyes dropped out of
their sockets, or the disciple of Geshe Neusurpa who met with
an untimely death, among others.59  In short, it is stated
that the result which ripens onto a person in his future
lives once he has spoken ill of his lama is so horrible that
even a Buddha would be incapable of describing it fully.  The
person takes his rebirth in the lowest of all hells, known as
"Torment Without," where the pain goes on without stopping.
     When we speak of "proper behavior towards your lama,"
it's necessary for the student to realize that we draw no
distinction between the person who delivers him formal dharma
teachings and the person who teaches him the alphabet and so
on.  Whatever a disciple undertakes in the service of his
lama during the length of their relationship--whether it be
attending to him, paying him respects, or so on, everything
except those minor things like the personal daily recitations
that the student does for himself--all of it counts as what
we call "lama practice."  As such it is unnecessary for a
disciple in the service of his lama to go out and seek one of
the other, formal meditative techniques that are known as
"lama practice."
     Each of the eight benefits and eight dangers comes up in
exact accordance to how well or poorly one behaves with his
lama.  During the relationship the disciple should use what
we call "analytical meditation."  To do so, he first has to
lay out in his mind each separate point in the teaching on
how to behave towards a lama.  For example, he could start
with the fact that the Holder of the Diamond declared a
person's lama to be the Buddha himself.60  Then the disciple
should use various other cases of scriptural authority,
together with logical reasoning, to satisfy himself of the
truth of each point.
     This type of analytical meditation is something that you
absolutely can't do without.  Despite this fact, here in
Tibet the only person to recognize analytical meditation as a
form of meditation was Lord Tsongkapa.  There is a kind of
meditation known as "running" meditation, where you set your
mind to run along the concepts related to some words you are
reciting.  Then there is "reviewing," where you try to recall
each point in a particular teaching and think to yourself
simply "This one goes like this, and that one goes like
that."  Analytical meditation is something different; here,
you approach each point as something you have to prove or
disprove--you set it at center stage in your mind and analyze
it using a great number of statements from accepted
authorities, and various lines of reasoning.
     As a matter of fact, it's "analytical meditation" for
example when people like us direct our thoughts over and over
to some object that we desire, or something similar.  And
because of this meditation our desire--or whatever other
unhealthy emotion it might be--gets stronger and stronger
until we can say we have gained some fluency in it.  The idea
here is to turn the process around: to perform analytical
meditations, one by one, on points such as the fact that the
Holder of the Diamond declared that one's lama is the Buddha
himself.  This way we quickly come to a different type of
fluency--in the realization of truth.
     The entire concept of how one should take himself to a
lama in the proper way is indicated here in the work on the
principal paths with these simple words of praise: "I bow to
all the high and holy lamas."  There is, incidentally, a way
you can interpret the words "high," "holy," and "lamas" in
the line as referring to persons of the lesser, middle, and
greater scopes of practice.



               V. A Pledge to Compose the Work

     Here we have reached the second of the preliminaries
that lead into the composition of the text.  This is the
pledge to compose the text, and is contained in the very
first verse:

                            #(1)#

     #As far as I am able I'll 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.#

The principal thing that a person should put to practice@--
the essence of all the high teachings of the Victors--@is the
three principal paths, or what we call the "Steps of the
Path." This teaching on the Steps of the path to Buddhahood
is the only one where all the high teachings of the Victors
have been combined into a single series of Steps that any
given person can put into practice himself.  Such a
combination is found in no other separate instruction, open
or secret, in any of the traditions, whether we're talking
about the three of the Sakya, Geluk, and Nyingma, or any
other lineage.61  We see this in lines such as the one
written by Gungtang Jampeyang: "Every high teaching, literal
or not, and consistent..."62  The sentiment too is expressed
in the epistle that the omniscient Tsongkapa offered to Lama
Umapa:

        I have come to the realization that only the
     unerring exposition of the Steps to the paths in
     both the logical and the secret traditions
     contained in the work on the Steps of the path
     to Buddhahood imparted by that great being, the
     glorious Dipamkara Jnyana, is worthy of such
     wonder; as such, the steps along which I am
     presently leading my own disciples I have taken
     only from it.  This teaching of Lord Atisha's
     appears to me to give the entire contents of the
     formal commentaries and private instructions on
     both the words of the Buddha and later explanations
     of them, by combining everything into a single
     series of Steps along a path.  I feel thus that if
     people learn to teach it and to study it, and
     are thereby able to impart and put it into
     practice, they will (despite the relative brevity of
     the work) have gone through the entire teachings
     of the Buddha in their proper order.  For this
     reason I have not found it necessary to use a
     great number of different texts in my teaching
     work here.63

Thus we can say that, within just a single teaching session
devoted to this work on the Steps to the path to Buddhahood,
the teacher has taught and the disciples have heard the
essence drawn from every single volume of Buddhist teaching
that exists on this entire planet.
     Now all the teachings of the victorious Buddhas are
included into three collections,64 and all these are included
in the teachings on the Steps of the path to Buddhahood for
persons of three different scopes.  These teachings
themselves are included, in their entirety, within even any
one of the very briefest works on the Steps of the path.  As
the gentle protector, Tsongkapa, has described it himself,
"...an abbreviated abbreviation of the pith of all the
Buddhas' words."65  The great guide Drom Tonpa said as well,

     His wondrous word is all three the collections,
     Advice adorned by teachings of three scopes,
     A gold and jewel rosary of the Seers,
     Meaningful to all who read its beads.66

Thus it is that this teaching on the Steps of the path to
Buddhahood is far superior to any other teaching of the
Buddha that you might choose, for it possesses what we call
the "three distinguishing features" and the "four
greatnesses."67  The special qualities mentioned above are
found not even in such holy works as the glorious @Secret
Collection,@68 or the classical commentary known as the @
Jewel of Realizations.@69
     A person who develops a good understanding of these
Steps to the path reaches a point where he can go to any one
of those @tsatsa@ sheds around town where we dispose of old
scriptures and images, pick up any scrap of writing that he
finds there, and know just where it fits into his lifetime
practice.  When you go from here to there, meaning from this
single teaching on the Steps out to the mass of the Buddhas'
other teachings, the Steps are like a magic key that opens a
hundred different doors.  Going from there to here, the total
contents of that mass of teachings has been packed into these
Steps.
     Having the ability we've just described is, by the way,
what we mean when we say someone has "gained an understanding
of the teachings in their entirety." Therefore too the
expression "master of all the Buddhas' teachings" is not at
all meant to refer to somebody who has put together some
neither-here-and-neither-there concoction of all the earlier
and later systems, and who is trying to practice that.  This
point we get as well from something that Tuken Dharma Vajra
spoke: "Try to mix up all the systems, the earlier and the
later, and you end up outside of both."70
     When we say here that the entire teachings of the Buddha
are packed into the Steps of the path, what we mean is that
every vital point of the teachings has been expressed through
an abbreviated presentation of the topics contained in the
three collections of scripture.
     Now about the expression "Steps of the Path"; the royal
lama Jangchub Uw once made a petition to Lord Atisha, asking
for an instruction that would be of special benefit to keep
the teachings of the Buddha in the world.71  Lord Atisha then
spoke the @Lamp on the Path to Buddhahood,@ which from that
time onwards he referred to as the "Steps of the Path"--and
thus the expression began to spread.  This teaching though is
by no means something that Lord Atisha and the great
Tsongkapa invented themselves; rather, it is that grand
highway along which each and every Buddha has travelled.  As
the shorter @Sutra on the Perfection of Wisdom@ says it,

     It is this perfection, nothing else, which is
        the path that's shared
     By all the Victors, stay they in the past,
        the present, or the future.72

This by the way is the ultimate origin of the expression
"Steps of the Path."
     Therefore the teaching on the Steps of the path is one
for all Tibet; still though, some people feel no desire to
study it, for they hold it to be a private instruction of the
Geluk tradition.  They are not at fault; it is only because
they have insufficient merit from their past deeds that they
think this way.
     And that's not all; it is in fact by stepping on to this
path well-worn by all the Buddhas that one eventually arrives
at the very state all Buddhas have found.  Otherwise it
doesn't make sense that you'd get anywhere except to some
weird path or level that no Buddha or any other high being of
the past has ever reached.  You and I have no need to fear
that we might ever make such a blunder, for we have the Steps
of the path for our practice.  All this we owe to the great
kindness of Lord Atisha and Lord Tsongkapa.
     People who have hopes of doing some kind of spiritual
practice should study an unerring path such as this one.
It's not right just to practice anything you can get ahold
of, like some stray dog that gobbles down anything he can
find.  As the gentle protector, the Sakya Pandita, has said:

        Even in some insignificant business
        Over a horse, a gem, or the like,
        You check: ask everyone, consider it well.
        We see people taking pains like this over
        Even the smallest matters of this life.
        Gaining the ultimate goal of all our
        Countless lives depends on dharma,
        Yet we prize any dharma we might come across,
        Not checking if it's good or bad,
        And act like dogs with a scrap of food.73

That's just how it is--even in every little matter of this
present life, like when you're buying or selling something,
you take a lot of care: you do everything you can think of,
you run around and ask other people, you spend a lot of time
thinking over what to do yourself.  But no matter how big a
mistake you make with something like this, it's not going to
help or hurt you in your future life at all.  If you meet up
with a spiritual teaching that's wrong though, you make a
mistake that affects the ultimate goal of all your lives.
     Generally speaking a lot of us go off to some deserted
place with the notion that we're going to do some deep
practice there.  But unless you go with some instruction in
hand that is really complete and totally correct, and unless
you work to dig down to its core, most of what you do won't
be much more than simple wasted effort.  As Lord Milarepa
once said,

    @The point:@ if you don't meditate on advices
        passed down ear to ear;
    @The place:@ you can sit in a mountain cave,
        but only to torture yourself.74

     Now the master translators of old undertook a great many
hardships, journeying afar to the land of India to bear
authentic dharma teachings back here to Tibet.  But those in
Tibet who followed a mistaken path couldn't live up to them
at all.  Really good water should at the end of ends trace
back to some pure snow.  Just so, whatever dharma we choose
to practice should have its ultimate origin in something
infallible: in the very Lord of the Word, in the Teacher, in
the Buddha.
     You can spend a thousand years struggling to practice
some dharma teaching that has no authentic origin, and you
still won't get a single sliver of true realization.  It's
like thrashing water to make butter.
     Therefore we can say that the teaching we decide to
practice should have three distinguishing features:

     1) It should have been taught by the Buddha.

     2) It should have been cleaned of any errors:
        sages must have brought the teaching to its
        authentic final form, having examined it to
        determine whether any wrong ideas crept into
        it after the Buddha taught it.

     3) It should have brought true realizations to
        the hearts of master practitioners, once
        they have heard, considered, and meditated
        upon it.  And then it must have passed to
        us through the various generations of an
        unbroken lineage.

If the dharma we seek to practice has these three
characteristics, it is authentic.  We from our side still
might fail it, through lapses in our effort and daily
practice, but we need never fear that the teaching from its
side will fail us.
     And that authentic teaching is this very Steps to the
path.  The highest, the acme, of everything that the Buddha
spoke is the precious collection of teachings on the
perfection of wisdom.  The overt subject matter of these
teachings consists of the "instructions on the profound"--on
emptiness.  These are included in the Steps within those we
call the "profound steps."  The wisdom sutras also present
what are known as the "far-reaching" instructions: those on
working to save all living beings.  These points are included
in the Steps within those we call the "far-reaching steps."
This then is why only the teaching on the Steps of the path
is one both complete and free of error.  And this is why
people who are looking for a dharma teaching that is worthy
of their practice should most surely begin the Steps.
     We see a number of people who out of a mistaken loyalty
to their family traditions stick stubbornly to whatever
beliefs their parents happened to have held.  They follow the
Bon or some similar mistaken path and in the end it fails
them; the whole great purpose of the present life they live,
and their future lives as well, is carried away on the wind.
     That great accomplished sage, Kyungpo Neljor, was too a
follower of Bon in the beginning.75  Later on he realized
that Bon had errant beginnings, and so he got into the
earlier secret traditions.  These too, he came to learn, were
faulty--so he travelled to India.  Here he studied the later
secret traditions and brought his practice to its desired
end, gaining the great accomplishments.  And there were many
others as well--the great Sakya lama Kun-nying, for example--
who did the same.76
     So now we can put the first verse into perspective.
Lord Tsongkapa is saying, @"As far as I am able I'll explain
the@ teaching on the three principal paths.  It is that
excellent @path that all the Victors' holy sons commend@ with
their praise, the path on which they travel.  It has no
error.  It goes no mistaken way.  It is the highest of all
doorways: it is @the entry point for those@ people @of@ good
@fortune@ who are @seeking freedom."@
     The words "as far as I am able" in the verse are in
general put there by Lord Tsongkapa as an expression of
modesty.  More specifically they have the effect of saying,
"As far as I am able I will explain something of as great
meaning as can be put into the few words here."
     There is another way of glossing the verse, according to
which the first line of explanation--the one that includes
the words "all high teachings of the Victors"--refers to
renunciation.  As @Chanting the Names@ says,

            The renunciation of all three vehicles
            Lies in the end in a single vehicle.77

The point is that the Buddha, in some of his teachings which
should be interpreted rather than taken literally, said that
there were three different vehicles or ways.  These three
though are really only one, from the viewpoint of the
ultimate end to which they lead.  In a similar sense, all the
high teachings of the Victors were enunciated as a means to
produce the ultimate "renunciation"--the Buddha's knowledge--
within the minds of disciples.  And renunciation is what, at
the very beginning, urges one to develop a disgust for the
cycle of life and set his mind on reaching freedom.  This is
why the attitude of renunciation is taught here first, in the
first line.
     The second line of explanation--the one that includes
the words "their holy sons"--refers to the wish to achieve
enlightenment for every living being.  This is the attitude
that all the Victors and their sons take as their single most
important meditation, and the attitude whose praises they
sing.  It is like a great center beam that holds up the
entire structure of the greater way.
     The third line of explanation--the one with the words
"the fortunate seeking freedom"--refers to correct view.
This perception is the one and only entry point for disciples
who seek for freedom.  To achieve freedom, you have to cut
ignorance--the root of this circle of life.  And to cut
ignorance, you have to develop the wisdom which realizes no-
self.  And to develop wisdom, you need a correct view free of
all error.
     Correct view is the single door to nirvana, to peace.
And so it is that the great Tsongkapa, in the closing words
of the verse, pledges to compose his work on the three
principal paths--which include correct view.  His pledge is
made in the way prescribed by Master Dandin:78 he abbreviates
within it all the topics to be treated in the work itself--
which here would be to say he includes within his pledge
every @essential@ point in the entire body of the paths to be
explained.  In this sense, our Lama concluded, Lord Tsongkapa
had in the first verse already taught us the essence of the
paths.



                  VI. Encouragement to Study

     We have now reached the third and final of the
preliminaries that lead into the composition of the text.
This one consists of a strong encouragement for the reader to
study the work well, and is contained in the next verse of
the root text:

                            #(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.#

Here the great Tsongkapa is urging his readers to study the
work: "You, you people @who@ are seeking freedom and @have
no@ single moment's @craving for the pleasures of life;@ you,
who want to get the absolute most from the body you've found,
@to make your leisure and fortune meaningful;@ you now are
going to have to train yourself in a path that never errs, a
path that never strays, a path that is whole and complete,
@the path which pleases@ even @the Buddhas@--the one in the
end they advise, a path that is no erring path, a path that
is no path that strays, a path that is more than just some
piece or part of a path.  And if you want to train yourself
in a path like that, you're going to have to be a student who
has all the requirements of a student; you're going to have
to fit the description from the @400 Verses:@

     We call someone a proper vessel for study
     Who's unbiased, intelligent, and willing to strive.79

And @fortunate ones@ like you, disciples who have @turned
their minds@ to the dharma, are going to have to @listen with
a pure mind;@ avoid in your study those things which are
opposed to its success--the three problems of the pot; rely
in your study on those things which are conducive to its
success--the six images for the instruction."80
     There is another way of interpreting the verse which
says we should regard the line about those "who have no
craving for the pleasures of life" as referring to
renunciation--the first of the three principal paths.  The
next line, the one about making your "leisure and fortune
meaningful," applies then to the wish to achieve
enlightenment for all living beings, because anyone who's
trained his mind in this attitude has certainly gotten the
absolute most from his life of leisure and fortune.  And the
final line, the one about the "path which pleases Victors,"
relates to correct view since, as the root text itself states
later on,

     A person's 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.

     This then completes our presentation of the customary
preliminaries: the offering of praise, pledge to compose the
work, and encouragement for the reader to study it well.  We
can relate what we've said so far to the opening sections of
works such as the greater and medium-length presentations of
the complete Steps to Buddhahood.  The line that reads "I bow
to all the high and holy lamas" relates to the first section
in these works, known as "demonstrating the eminence of the
author in order to show that the teaching comes from an
authentic source."  The lines from "As far as I am able..."
up to "...seeking freedom" correspond to the second section,
on the "eminence of the teaching."  The verse that goes from
"Listen with a pure mind..."  up to "...path which pleases
the Victors" gives us the third section, which is "how to
study and teach" the Steps.  The last great section of these
presentations is known as "the instruction itself, by which
students can be led along the Steps" to Buddhahood.  This
part is contained in what we have called here the "main body
of the text" of Lord Tsongkapa's verses on the three
principal paths.  Thus we now move on to the first one of
these verses.81





*n*
*jy y*












                        THE FIRST PATH:


                         RENUNCIATION















































                VII. Why You Need Renunciation


     Our treatment of the main body of the text will break
down into four parts: an explanation of renunciation, an
explanation of the wish to achieve enlightenment for every
living being, an explanation of correct view, and some strong
words of encouragement--that the reader should try to
recognize the truth of these instructions and actually go and
practice them.  The explanation of renunciation itself will
proceed in three sections: reasons why one should try to
develop it, how one goes about developing it, and the point
at which we can say one has succeeded in developing it.  The
first of these sections is found in the next verse of Lord
Tsongkapa's work:

                            #(3)#

  #There's no way to end, without pure renunciation,
   This striving for pleasant results in the ocean of life.
   It's because of their hankering life as well that beings
   Are fettered, so seek renunciation first.#

     Now for all of us to escape from the cycle of life, we
have to want to escape.  If we never develop the wish to get
out, and we get attached to the good things of this circle of
life, then there will never be any way to escape it.
     A prisoner can sit in a jail, but if he never really
wants to escape, and never really attempts an escape, he
never will escape.  It's the same for us--if we never try to
find some way to escape this cycle of life, the day of our
escape will never arrive.  If we work to develop the wish to
escape, then surely there will come a time when we do.
     Here first we have to understand just how we spin around
in this life-circle.  The "cycle of life" is defined as
taking on, again and again, the impure groups of things that
make up a normal suffering being--it is their unbroken stream
from life to life.82   What is it that chains us to this
cycle?  Our own deeds and bad thoughts.  And to what exactly
are we chained?  To those impure parts of our being.
     To get free of this cycle of life we must recognize that
everything about it is, by nature, complete suffering.  This
brings a disgust for it, a loathing for it, and this then
brings renunciation for it.  Thus what the verse is saying
is: @"Without pure renunciation, there's no way to stop this@
attitude where one @strives@ for whatever @pleasant results@
he might get here @in life.  Moreover, it is@ precisely @by
force of their@ feelings of attachment and craving for the
pleasant things of @life@ (here @'hankering'@ is another name
for what we usually refer to as 'craving'), @that@ all
@beings are fettered.@  And if all beings are fettered, do
you imagine that you are not?  Of course you are.  If you
want some day to escape this cycle, @seek then,@ at the very
@first,@ a pure attitude of @renunciation."@
     This verse by the way incorporates what the works on the
Steps to Buddhahood refer to as the "instructions for those
of lesser and of medium scope."  We see some people around
with the notion that to reach enlightenment you only need to
practice the wish to achieve Buddhahood for all living
beings--that you don't need to practice renunciation.  The
truth though is that, even just to reach a lower nirvana,83
renunciation is an absolute necessity; in fact, it has to be
@fierce@ renunciation.  As the great Tsongkapa, our
Protector, has said himself:

        About this attitude--it's just the way
     Sharawa described it.  Suppose it's no stronger
     in your heart than a thin film of barley powder
     spread out on the surface of some homemade
     beer.  Then your feeling that you want to avoid
     the cause of the cycle of life--what we call
     the "origin"--will be no stronger than that.
     Then your aspiration to reach nirvana, where
     you stop both suffering and its origin, will
     be exactly the same way.  And then your wish to
     practice the path that brings this nirvana will
     be nothing but empty words.  So too for
     compassion, the state of mind where you can no
     longer bear to see other living beings wander
     through the cycle: there's no way you will gain
     it.  Then finally you will never find a genuine
     form of the wish to achieve matchless enlighten-
     ment for all living beings, a powerful wish that
     can urge you on.  And so the "greater way"
     becomes for you nothing but some flimsy
     understanding of the descriptions you find of
     it in books.84

     The point here is that, to develop the wish to achieve
enlightenment for all living beings, you must first develop a
kind of compassion where you can no longer bear to see these
beings tormented by the sufferings of life.  To develop this,
you must develop renunciation over your own situation; there
is no way otherwise you could gain compassion, for it
contemplates the situation that others must face.  This too,
concluded our Lama, is what Lord Atisha meant in his gentle
rebuke to us Tibetans: "Only in Tibet have they found people
with the wish for enlightenment who haven't yet found love
and compassion."85



             VIII. Stopping Desire for This Life


     This brings us to the second section of our explanation
of renunciation; that is, a description of how to develop it.
First we'll talk about how to stop desire for the present
life, and then how to stop it for future lives.  Stopping
desire for this life is the subject of the next two lines of
the root text:

                            #(4a)#

   #Leisure and fortune are hard to find, life's not long;
    Think it constantly, stop desire for this life.#

     What we mean by "desire for this life" is this desire
for happiness and fame in this life--where you say to
yourself, "If only I could get more of the good things of
life than anyone in the world--the best food, finest clothes,
biggest name, and all the rest."  Anyone who hopes to do some
spiritual practice must stop his desire for this life.
     How to stop it?  You must contemplate the two Steps
known as (1) the "great importance of this life of leisure
and fortune, and the difficulty of finding it," as well as
(2) our "impermanence, the fact that we must die."  These
thoughts then will turn back your desire for this life--in
your mind, you will give up on it.  The fact that you and I
right now never do any spiritual practice--no, worse, the
fact that we try and what we do is anything but spiritual
practice--is all because of our desire for this life.  @Free
of Four Loves,@ the mental-training text, puts it this way:

     No practitioner, a person who loves this life.
     No renunciation, a mind that loves the cycle.86

The border that separates spiritual practice from what is
not, and the border that separates real spiritual practice
from what is not, is this attitude of having given up on this
life.  Practice, in the form of reciting some lines, and the
world may somewhere meet; but there is no way that practice
in the form of giving up on this life will ever meet the
world, in the form of happily participating in this life.
There is no way you can keep the world, and still keep your
practice.
     This is what the precious preceptor, Drom Tonpa, had in
mind when he said to a certain monk, "It makes my heart glad,
uncle, to see you walking round this holy place to pay your
respects; how much gladder would I be, if you did something
spiritual!" And he went on to say the same thing about making
prostrations, and reciting prayers, and meditating, and
everything else.  So finally the monk couldn't decide at all
what was supposed to be spiritual practice and he asked Drom
Tonpa, "Well then, how am I supposed to practice?"  And the
only answer he got was "Give up on this life!"--repeated
three times, and loud.87
     Then there was the Seer geshe by the name of Shang
Nachung Tonpa, who once said,

        I go to Lord Atisha and ask him for teaching.
     But all he says to me is some little sentence like
     "Give up on this life," or "Practice love,"
     "Practice compassion," or "Practice the wish to
     achieve enlightenment for all living beings."

Lord Drom Tonpa overheard this complaint, and remarked that
"It's amazing.  He's just been granted the absolute essence
of all Lord Atisha's instruction, yet even someone so great
as Shang doesn't comprehend what it is to have a teaching."
And later on in his life, Shang would also say to his
students that "If you want to practice the spiritual life,
the most important thing you can do is give up on this
life."88
     In a broad sense we can start with what are known as the
"eight worldly thoughts."  These then can be shortened into
three concerns of this life: food, clothes, and a big name.
These three are what you have to give up on.
     The worst of the three by the way is Big Name.  Sages,
holy men, great meditators of the past--even we can say a
majority of them--have been able to live without great food,
keeping themselves alive on one of those mystical practices
where all you eat is some tiny pills or the essence of a
flower.  And they've been able to live without great clothes
too: they sit in deep retreat, wearing tattered robes covered
with dirt--they glue their backs to the wall of a cave and
seal the only entrance.  But in the bottom of their hearts
they still crave fame--the Big Name--and they dream that all
the local people outside are talking about what a holy master
meditator they are.
     There have been many, many sages and scholars and monks
who were pure in their moral lives but misled in this same
way.  As the great Droway Gonpo has said,

     They go into seclusion, post a sign on the door,
     See not a soul, these master contemplators who still
     Hope in this life they call me the "Great Meditator."89

As well as,

     And so they fill their minds with hopes and plans,
     Thoughts that come in everything they do,
     And so their spiritual practice goes to waste,
     Spirited away by bandit locals.
     Take a spear then, strike it into every
     Thought that comes for this life, and remember
     Should a single spear not hit the mark
     Being a sage, saint, scholar, meditator
     Cannot close the door to the three lower realms.

The great Ngaripa too has said,

        All the spiritual practice you've
     done has turned into some ambition for
     eminence in this life.  This then turns into
     what we call the "origin"--a cause for more
     of the cycle; it increases in you your
     feelings of pride, and jealousy, dislike for
     some things and longing for others.  Then what
     you thought was spiritual practice actually
     takes you to the three lower realms.  It's no
     different than if you'd gone there by doing
     bad deeds.90

     Therefore if we want to do any spiritual practice we
must quell the eight worldly thoughts--we must stand neutral,
free of both members of each of its four pairs.  "Eight
worldly thoughts" is a name we give to the following eight
emotions:

     1) Being happy when we acquire some thing,
     2) And unhappy when we don't.
     3) Being happy when we feel good,
     4) And unhappy when we don't.
     5) Being happy when we become well known,
     6) And unhappy when we don't.
     7) Being happy when someone speaks well of us,
     8) And unhappy when someone speaks ill of us.

As the @Letter to a Friend@ states,

     Oh worldly wise!  To gain or not, feel good
     Or not, be well-known or not, be spoken of
     Well or ill, these are the eight worldly thoughts.
     Quell them; let them not come to your mind.91

The great saint Lingrepa has said as well,

     In the city of daily concerns in our circle of life
     Scurry the waked cadavers of eight worldly thoughts.
     This is where you can find the most frightening
          cemetery of all;
     This is where you lamas should keep your midnight
          vigil among the dead.92

     It doesn't matter who you are--some great sage, or
saint, or master, or meditator--and no matter how profound
the practice you imagine you are doing, it is all a hollow
sham if it's mixed up with the eight worldly thoughts.  We
find this truth in the words of Yang Gonpa, a disciple of the
victorious Gu-tsangpa:

        It doesn't do any good that the teaching
     is the holy and secret "Great Completion."
     The person himself has to become holy and
     secret, great complete.  We see a whole pack
     of cases where the way a person describes his
     spiritual practice, it would buy a whole herd
     of horses--but the person himself isn't worth
     a dog.  Religion that's all words and never
     gets put into daily practice is all the same
     as some talk a parrot's been taught to squawk;
     the person and the practice are miles apart;
     his mind and his religion never quite mix into
     one, there's lumps of flour that never dissolve
     in the batter.  Babbling on about spiritual
     practice and never letting it sink in, leaving
     it to bob around on the surface like some
     uncooperative vegetables in a soup, is missing
     the whole point of spiritual practice.  I tell
     you all, what I teach as the crux of all
     practice is to give up on this life.93

     Therefore if a person fails to stand free of the eight
worldly thoughts for this life he will find it hard even to
shut the doors to a birth in the realms of misery, much less
do something that's a spiritual practice.  To do such a
practice, you must take up the instruction called the "Ten
Ultimate Riches"--a teaching of the masters called the Seers
of the Word for quelling the eight worldly thoughts, and
giving up on life.  These ten "ultimate riches" are the
following:94

          The Four Aims.
          The Three Diamonds.
          The Three of Being Thrown Out,
              and Reaching, and Attaining.

The "four aims" are,

     Aiming your mind ultimately to practice.
     Aiming your practice ultimately to the beggar.
     Aiming the beggar ultimately to death.
     Aiming death ultimately to some dusty ravine.

And the "three diamonds" are,

     Sending the uncatchable diamond ahead of you.
     Laying the unabashable diamond behind you.
     Keeping the wisdom diamond at your side.

The three of "being thrown out, and reaching, and attaining,"
are, lastly,

     Being thrown out from the ranks of men.
     Reaching the ranks of dogs.
     Attaining the ranks of the gods.

     @"Aiming your mind ultimately to practice"@ means to
practice religion with the following thoughts: This time I've
been able to obtain a good human body and circumstances; they
are extremely hard to find, they are incredibly valuable, and
they include all the necessary leisure and fortune.  This is
the one and only time I will have such a life.  And it will
not be here long; it is absolutely sure that I will die, I
have no way of knowing when my death will come.  And when I
die, only this holy spiritual practice will be of any use to
me.  All the things and honors I have gathered in this life,
every bit of fame I've gained, everything else of the money
and possessions I may have with me, will not be the slightest
help to me.
     @"Aiming your practice ultimately to the beggar"@ is
like this: Suppose you think to yourself "But well now, if I
stop trying to do what it takes to live well in this life so
I can do my spiritual practice, I'm afraid that I won't even
find the bare necessities for doing the practice: I'll become
a beggar." Think then to yourself this way: "I will undertake
any hardship for my practice; and if it means I have to
become a mere beggar, then let me become a beggar.  I will
find a way to do my practice, even if I have to live on lousy
scraps of food that I beg off others, and wear any old
clothes they give me."
     @"Aiming the beggar ultimately to death"@ means never
giving up on your practice.  Suppose you think to yourself,
"So I try to do some practice, and I turn into a beggar,
because I haven't taken the time to collect even the single
smallest material thing.  But then I won't even have what it
takes to sustain this human life.  I'm afraid some day I'll
die, without enough food, without enough clothes." But
instead you should think this way: "In all my many previous
lives, I've never given up my life for the sake of my
practice.  If I can die this one time trying to practice, I
might make up for it.  And anyway we are all the same: rich
or poor, we all are going to die.  Rich people, to get rich,
have collected a lot of bad deeds and will die with them.
I, on the other hand, will accomplish something of very great
meaning if I die from the hardships of trying to practice.
So if for my practice I freeze to death, let me freeze.  If
for this I starve, let me starve."
     @"Aiming your death ultimately to some dusty ravine"@
comes like this: Suppose you think to yourself, "But there
are certain things that I need from now up to the time I die.
If I don't have any money at all, how am I going to get
someone to help me when I'm sick?  Who will attend me in my
old age?  Who will be there at my deathbed?  And who will
take care of things after I die--who will take the body away,
and all the rest?" All these kinds of thoughts come under the
category of attachment to the good things of this life.
There's no way at all you can be sure that you'll even live
long enough to reach any old age.  Better to go to some
lonely mountain retreat, and give up attachment to anything
at all, and think to yourself "Now I'm going to practice, and
I don't care if I die like some stray dog in a dusty ravine,
with no one to look after me, and maggots crawling all over
the corpse."
     @"Sending the uncatchable diamond ahead of you"@ has
this meaning: You may be able to give up on life as described
above, and start to try your practice.  But then your parents
and other family, your friends and all the rest will try to
catch you and bring you back.  Make yourself uncatchable;
keep your mind as firm and unchanging as a diamond, even if
you have to leave behind your most beloved family and
friends, those close to you as the heart in your breast,
standing with tears in their eyes from the pain.  Leave, go
to some lonely mountain hermitage, without any regrets,
without any attachments.  Stay there and devote yourself to
the purest of practice.
     @"Laying the unabashable diamond behind you"@ looks like
this: Suppose you do give up on this life, and leave.  People
will despise you, and condemn you, and say things like "Now
he's nothing but a useless wandering beggar."  But whatever
they say you must give up on all of it, and think to
yourself, "If they say I'm as pure as a god, that's fine.  If
they say I'm as evil as a devil, that's fine too.  It doesn't
make any difference to me.  Trying to keep up a good image
with friends who are all devoted to this life can lead to a
great many problems, and acts as a great obstacle to
spiritual practice."
     @"Keeping the wisdom diamond at your side"@ means never
transgressing the pledge you have made to yourself.  Abandon,
and abandon forever, all the absolutely meaningless actions
you do out of desire for this life.  Keep your mind in the
spiritual, firmly, and make your life and your practice one
and the same.
     @"Being thrown out from the ranks of men"@ comes like
this: Now you will start to see that desiring the good things
of this present life is your real enemy.  Your whole outlook
then will start to clash with the outlook that other men
have, men high or low, who all nonetheless strive for this
life's happiness. To them you are acting like a madman, and
so you will be thrown out from the ranks of men--men who live
for this life.
     @"Reaching the ranks of dogs"@ means that you live your
life without any great food, or clothes, or reputation.  For
the sake of your practice, you endure whatever comes to you
in the way of hunger, or thirst, or tiredness.
     @"Attaining the ranks of the gods"@ starts with going to
some secluded place, and giving up on all the normal
activities of the world.  You bring your practice to its
desired end, and within this very life attain the state of a
Buddha--the very god of gods.
     By the way, you need never fear that if you give up on
things to practice the way we've described it above you'll
become some poor beggar and starve to death.  It is possible
for a worldly person to die of hunger, but absolutely
impossible for a religious practitioner to do so.  This is
because our compassionate Teacher, when he reached the state
of total enlightenment, still had merit enough from his past
deeds to go and take some 60,000 births as a "Wheel Emperor"-
-one of those incredibly powerful beings who rule the entire
world.  Instead he took the fantastic power of these deeds
and dedicated it to the food and other necessities that all
his future followers might require.  In the @White Lotus, the
Sutra on Compassion,@ we hear the following oath from the
Buddha as he first commits himself to reaching enlightenment
for the sake of living kind:

        And in the days when my teachings spread in
     the world, any man who wears so much as four
     inches of the saffron robe shall find food and
     drink to his heart's desire.  If he does not,
     then I shall have cheated the state of Buddhahood.
     And then may I lose my Buddhahood.95

The Buddha also says,

        In future days, there will come in the
     world a time of famine, when men must pay a
     box of pearls to buy a box of flour.  Not
     even in such days will a follower of the
     Teacher ever want for life's necessities.96

And finally Lord Buddha has stated,

     Householders, each and every one,
     May plow their crops on a fingernail,
     But those who've left their homes for me
     Will never want for necessities.

These quotations are taken from the collection of sutras and
the like; they are the words of a being who cannot lie, and
whose words can never fail.
     Now when we say to "give up on this life," the main
thing that you have to give up is those eight worldly
thoughts or attachments, towards the pleasures of this life.
Giving up these thoughts doesn't necessarily mean that you
have to throw away all your material possessions and become a
beggar.  Holy teachers of the past have pointed out for us
examples of people who succeeded in giving up on life, and
these have included personages of fantastic material wealth
such as Gyalchok Kelsang Gyatso and the Panchen Lobsang
Yeshe.97
     Then too there is our own Teacher, the compassionate
Buddha, who could have had the kingdom of a World Emperor,
but gave it up and left the home life.  The princes
Shantideva and the Great Lord, the glorious Atisha, also
relinquished their thrones and left the home.98  The mighty
Lord Tsongkapa as well, acting on the instructions of Gentle
Voice, left behind close to a thousand learned students with
tears in their eyes, and everything else he had, to go into
isolation with but a few hand-picked disciples: the followers
known as the "Purest Eight."  The Emperor of China in those
days even dispatched a letter with his golden seal, carried
forth by a Tashin and other high officials, inviting Lord
Tsongkapa to the imperial court--but could not induce him to
come.99
     These high beings lived only off their own asceticism
and whatever food someone might offer them.  They spent their
days striving to perfect their practice, and in such
activities led a way of life that followed the real meaning
of the Ten Ultimate Riches--the teaching of Lord Atisha and
the Seers of the Word.
     Many are the holy songs of experience from those who
have given up this life.  The great victor Wensapa, who
achieved Buddhahood in this one human life, in this one man's
body, spoke the following:

     Milarepa, of days gone by,
     And Lobsang Dundrup in our times
     Had no need for keeping a single thing
     Beyond today's food and the clothes they wore.
     Make the most of your leisure and fortune:
     In isolation, from like and dislike;
     Live life well, follow this way,
     Reach enlightenment in this one life.100

The great master of all master meditators, Milarepa, has said
as well:

     If in your heart you wish to keep the holy
          practice, son,
     Within the very depths of it then find
          this thing first--faith,
     Never turn and look back once again
          upon--this life.
     If in truth you'll follow after me,
     Your loved ones turn to demons, hold you back;
     Do not think them true--cut all the ties.
     Food and money are the demons' advance guard;
     The closer the worse, give up all want for them.
     The objects of the senses are the demons' snare;
     "They will entrap me!" stop your craving them.
     Your young love is the daughter of the demons;
     "She will mislead me!" so be on your guard.
     The place you grew up is the demons' prison;
     Hard to free yourself from, flee it quick.
     You will have to leave it all behind and
          go on--later,
     Why not make it meaningful and leave it
          all--right now?
     It will fall down one day anyway, this
          mannequin apparition;
     Better to use this body now, get off to a
          good quick start.
     This skittish bird of mind will anyway fly
          from the corpse one day;
     Better now to soar across some wide
          expanse of sky.
     If you listen and act upon this one man's
          words--of mine,
     Then the grace to keep the holy practice,
          my boy--is yours.101

He said too,

     No way my loved ones know I'm glad,
     No way my enemies know I'm sad;
     If I can die here in this cave
     My hermit's wishes have come true.

     No way my friends know I've got old,
     No way my sister knows I'm sick;
     If I can die here in this cave
     My hermit's wishes have come true.

     No way that people know I've died,
     No rotting corpse that vultures spy;
     If I can die here in this cave
     My hermit's wishes have come true.

     Flies will suck my meat and bones,
     Maggots eat tendons, ligament;
     If I can die here in this cave
     My hermit's wishes have come true.

     No footprints leading from my door,
     No bloodstains left here on the floor;
     If I can die here in this cave
     My hermit's wishes have come true.

     No one to hold a deathbed vigil,
     No one to weep when I am gone;
     If I can die here in this cave
     My hermit's wishes have come true.

     No one to wonder where I went
     No one who knows where I am found;
     If I can die here in this cave
     My hermit's wishes have come true.

     May this death prayer of a beggar
     In the wild of a mountain cave
     Come to help all living beings;
     Then my wishes have come true.102

     Now there is one instruction which we can call the very
essence of all the teachings on how to get rid of the eight
worldly thoughts of this life.  This is the meditation on
one's own impermanence and death.  People like us though must
prepare our minds for this meditation by first contemplating
how valuable, and how hard to find, our present life of
leisure and fortune is.  Then gradually we will be ripe for
the realization of death.
     The all-knowing Lord Tsongkapa has said himself,

     This body of leisure's more valuable than
          a jewel that gives any wish,
     And now is the only time you will ever
          find a one like this.
     It's hard to find, and easily dies,
          like lightning in the sky.
     Think this over carefully, and come
          to realize
     That every action of the world is like
          the chaff of grain,
     And so you must strive night and day
          to make the most of life.
     I, the master meditator, put this
          into practice;
     You, who seek for freedom, must
          conduct yourselves this way.103

The point here is that, to rid yourself of the eight worldly
thoughts and undertake a spiritual practice which is truly
pure, you must gain two different realizations: first, of how
valuable and hard to find one's life of leisure and fortune
is; secondly, of one's own impermanence and the fact that he
must die.  Once you gain these realizations, it doesn't
matter--the hills can turn to gold, the rivers into milk, and
every man your slave--but to you it's all repulsive, useless,
like a feast set before a sick man vomiting.  And it's not
enough for these realizations to come to you just from the
outside--from sitting and listening to someone describe them.
They must come from the inside, from thinking about them
yourself.  Then they will be firm in your mind, and never
change again.
     Now a single expression in the root verse, the one that
reads "Leisure and fortune are hard to find," serves to
introduce three different concepts: recognizing one's leisure
and fortune, contemplating their incredible value, and
contemplating how hard they are to find.  What we mean by
"leisure" is to be free of the eight different ways a person
can lack opportunity, and to the opportunity to attempt some
spiritual practice.104  "Fortune" refers to the fact that one
is fortunate enough to possess all the inner and outer
circumstances that will allow him to undertake his practice.
These include having taken birth as a human being, having
entered the Buddha's teaching, and so on.105
     This body we live in gives us in our own two hands the
ability to achieve everything from good things in our next
life on up to the state of Buddhahood itself, and thus is
incredibly valuable.  Such a body and life are difficult to
find, from three different points of view.
     We can start with the "causal" viewpoint.  This life of
leisure and fortune is hard to find because it is a specific
result of the special causes that can bring one leisure and
fortune, and these causes are extremely rare--keeping your
moral life completely pure, and so on.  Then there is the
viewpoint of the "nature of the thing."  Generally speaking,
there are fewer beings in the happier realms than there are
in the realms of misery.106  Of all those in the happier
realms, humans are the fewest.  Of all the different human
beings, those who live in the world we know are the fewest.
And of all the humans in our world, those who've attained
leisure and fortune are very, very few.  Thus this life's by
nature hard to find.
     Finally a life like ours is hard to find from the
viewpoint of the "classical example."  Suppose there were a
single yoke-like ring of pure gold that could float upon the
surface of the great ocean.  The swells of the sea push it
back and forth, in every direction you can imagine.  Far down
in the very depths of the ocean lives a great sea-turtle.  He
is sightless.  Once, and only once, in the span of an entire
century he swims to the surface, to poke his head up
momentarily.  And suppose the golden ring happens to catch
him around the neck.  The odds against it are nearly
infinite.
     Our case is the same.  The teachings of the Buddha pass
now and again among the various planets of the universe.
Here are we, blinded by our ignorance.  We are permanent
inhabitants of the deepest reaches within the ocean of cyclic
life.  A human body, complete with leisure and fortune, will
be fantastically hard to find; the odds against it are almost
infinite.  But this time we have found one.
     So our life of leisure and fortune is incredibly
valuable, and difficult to find; this is the first and last
time we will ever have such a chance.  We must now make the
greatest use we can of it.  The single highest thing we can
do with this life is to practice the Greater Way.
     And we must begin this practice now, right now.  Little
time remains before the inevitable death comes to us.  We
must constantly bring our death to mind; just some vague
awareness that someday death will come, or thinking some
about death, is not enough to really keep your coming death
in mind.  You must train yourself, meticulously, in what it
is to die.
     In our root text, the instruction on how to keep your
mind on death is presented in the words "life's not long."
This instruction includes a number of categories: the
benefits that come from keeping your mind on death, the
problems that come from not keeping your mind on death, and
how then actually to keep your mind on death.  This last
category itself includes the three basic principles, the nine
reasons for them, and the three resolves to be made because
of them--all ending with the meditation on what it's like to
die.107  A person who trains himself in these categories over
a long period of time is able to develop the true attitude of
keeping his mind on death, and then gains the ability to turn
back his desire for the pleasures of the present life.  When
a person through the process of careful contemplation has
developed this attitude of keeping his mind on his own death
and impermanence, then we can say the virtuous way has taken
its root within him.
     At this point one should study the more detailed
presentation of death meditation that appears in the standard
works on the Steps of the path to Buddhahood.  This applies
as well to other topics following, such as how to go for
refuge, and the teaching on actions and their consequences.
Here in this text, concluded our Lama, the traditional
contemplations on the sufferings of the lower births and the
entire set of instructions about going for refuge are
conveyed by implication, though not directly in the actual
words of the verses.



             IX. Stopping Desire for Future Lives


     This brings us to the teaching on how to stop desire
for one's future lives, which is the second step in
developing the path known as renunciation.


                            #(4b)#

    #Think over and over how deeds and their fruits
          never fail,
     And the cycle's suffering: stop desire
          for the future.#

     Now what we mean by "desire for the future" is the kind
of attitude where you think to yourself, "I hope in my future
births I can live like some god-like being, such as the
creatures they call Pure-One and Hundred-Gift, or like one of
those Wheel Emperors who rule the entire world.  May I live
in some wonderful state of happiness, in the best of places,
with the best of things, with a beautiful body and everything
I wish for at my fingertips."  Incidentally, we also see
people who pray to be born in one of the truly pure realms of
a Buddha, where they will never have to suffer and can enjoy
everlasting happiness--but they pray so without any intention
of reaching this high state in order to help other beings.
If we really follow this line of thinking to its end, it
would appear that people like this have for the most part
simply slipped into the base desire for future lives.
     In standard texts on the Steps of the path to
Buddhahood, we are taught the principles of actions and their
consequences in the section for people whose practice is of a
lesser scope, in order to stop our desire for this present
life.  The instructions for people of a medium scope then are
meant to help us stop our desire for a future life.  Here in
the teaching on the three principal paths though we are
advised to meditate on our leisure and fortune, as well as
impermanence, in order to stop our desire for this life; our
desire for future lives is to be stopped by a combination of
understanding the principles of actions and their
consequences and contemplating the various sufferings of
cyclic life.
     This latter way of making the presentation is meant to
convey two important points.  The first is that, since the
forces of action and consequence are so extremely subtle, the
consequences of any misdeed will wheel one back into the
circle of life if one fails to make a complete escape from
the cycle first.  The second is that, in order to defeat this
circle, one must stop each and every action he performs which
is motivated by ignorance.
     Thus we can say that, in order to escape the circle of
life, one must take up white actions and abandon black
actions.  But to do this, he must believe in the law of
actions and consequences at all.  And to do this, he must
contemplate upon actions and consequences.
     This contemplation is done by considering, very
carefully, the four principles of action which the Buddha
enunciated:

     1. Actions are certain to produce similar
          consequences.
     2. The consequences are greater than the
          actions.
     3. One cannot meet a consequence if he
          has not committed an action.
     4. Once an action is committed, the
          consequence cannot be lost.

Once a person has gained a well-founded belief in these
principles, he will automatically in his daily life avoid
doing wrong things and begin doing right things.
     In texts on the Steps of the path to Buddhahood, the
instruction on impermanence is followed by sections that
treat the three lower births and how to go for refuge.  Here
we will weave in some of these points from the Steps--which
is also the intent of the text at hand.
     After you die, your consciousness doesn't just go out
like a lamp--you must take another birth.  And there are only
two kinds of birth you can take: one of the births of misery,
or one of the happier births.  As for which of the two you do
take, you are totally helpless: you must follow the direction
of your past actions.  Virtuous actions throw you into one of
the happier types of birth, and non-virtuous actions throw
you into one of the three of misery.
     Great non-virtuous acts lead you to the hells; medium
ones lead you to a birth as an insatiable spirit; and lesser
non-virtues make you take birth as an animal.  Great virtuous
acts, on the other hand, bring you a birth as a pleasure-
being in one of the two higher realms; medium virtues make
you a pleasure being of the desire realm; and lesser virtues
bring birth as a human in the same realm.108  As our glorious
protector, Nagarjuna, has stated,

     Non-virtue brings all sufferings
     And all the births of misery.
     Virtue brings all happier births,
     And happiness in all one's births.109

Since this is the case, and since all the virtues you and I
have are feeble--while all our non-virtues are ever so
mighty--then if we were to die in our present condition it's
a foregone conclusion that we would take birth in one of the
realms of misery.
     Taking our birth in one of these realms, we would meet
unbearable sufferings.  As a hell-being there would be
unspeakable heat or cold, our bodies boiled or scorched, and
more.  As insatiable spirits we would always be hungry, or
thirsty, in a constant state of exhaustion and fear.  As
animals we would be mindless brutes incapable of saying a
thing, exploited by humans for their work or food.
     There is a way to avoid these births of misery, and this
is to turn ourselves over to the three rare jewels110 for
their protection, and do so from the bottom of our hearts,
and strive our best in choosing correctly which actions we
should undertake, and which we should abandon.
     This correct decision in choosing our actions is
actually the single most important instruction in the entire
teaching on how to go for refuge.  Once we disregard the
principles of action and consequence, it's already decided
that we will take our birth in the realms of misery.  People
like you and I here in this assembly, mostly monks, are not
likely to take one of these lower births simply because we
know nothing of the spiritual teachings.  But remember: there
have been absolute multitudes of people like us, who had a
knowledge of the teachings, but who passed to the realms of
misery because they could not put these teachings into actual
practice, or because they chose to disregard the laws of
action and consequence.
     And we must heed these laws.  A man who does not must
take a lower birth, and it doesn't matter how knowledgeable
he was, or how saintly.  You can be a sage who has mastered
the entire contents of the canon, you can be an advanced
meditator with fantastic spiritual accomplishments, you can
have great extra-sensory powers, and ability to perform
miracles; but if you cannot behave with care around action
and consequence, you will suffer.
     We have for example the monk named Lekkar, who could sit
and recite all twelve of the great collections of
scripture,111 as well as Devadatta--who had in his memory no
less than that vast amount of scriptures we call a "heap."112
And yet ultimately it was no use to either one, for they took
their rebirth in the hells.  This again would seem to be a
case where the person had a knowledge of the teachings, but
was unable to put them into actual practice, or disregarded
the principles of actions and their consequences, or never
gained any belief in these principles in the first place.
Accounts like these of people who lived before us and made
the same mistake are almost countless--and we should learn
from them.
     So this brings us to the four most general principles in
our contemplation of actions and their consequences:
     1) If the cause involved is a virtuous act, then the
consequence it produces can only be pleasure, and never pain.
If the cause involved is a non-virtuous act, then the
consequence it produces can only be pain, and never pleasure.
Thus the first principle is that @actions are certain to
produce similar consequences.@
     2) The causes involved may be virtuous or non-virtuous
acts which are relatively minor, but the consequences they
each produce--the pleasure or the pain--will be of tremendous
power.  The second principle then is that @the consequences
are greater than the actions.@
     3) If one never performs the virtuous or non-virtuous
action to act as a cause, he will never experience a
consequence of either pleasure or pain.  Thus the third
principle: @One cannot meet a consequence if he has not
committed an action.@
     4) The fourth principle states that once a person has
collected a virtuous or non-virtuous action to act as a
cause, @once an action is committed, the consequence cannot
be lost@--so long as the power of a good deed, for example,
is not destroyed by an emotion like anger, or a bad deed by
applying an appropriate antidote.113
     There are other principles as well; it is said that
whether the action is virtuous or non-virtuous, its power is
multiplied if one performs it towards some especially
important object.  The same thing happens if the thought
behind the action is particularly strong, or if the material
with which one performs the deed is somehow special, or even
if the person performing the deed is someone special.
     You must try to gain some well-founded belief in these
principles.  Take time to contemplate even the most deep and
subtle workings of actions and their consequences, and then
put this understanding into actual practice.  Putting the
laws of action and consequence into practice means keeping
them--and this means keeping the rules by avoiding the ten
non-virtues.114
     You've heard of the correct view that we call the
"worldly" one--well this understanding of actions and
consequences is what it refers to.  This view by the way is
something that everyone should adhere to, regardless of
whether they're a monk or nun or layman.  You should realize
that the word "worldly" in this case is not just meant to
refer to people who are still living the secular life.  There
is an expression we use, "ordinary people," to refer to any
person who has yet to reach the path of a realized being.115
Whatever else we may be, we are "worldly" people so long as
we are ordinary people in this sense.
     Putting religion into practice then must start from
keeping the laws of actions and their consequences.  It's
been said that,

     The path begins with proper reliance on
          a spiritual guide.
     The steps of the path begin with contemplating
          your leisure and fortune.
     Meditation begins with your motivation; and
     Putting religion into practice begins with
          observing the laws, of actions and
          their consequences.116

Therefore we must never allow our body or speech or mind--any
of the three doors through which we express ourselves--to be
tainted by misdeeds.  And if by some chance we do, we must
purify ourselves of the misdeed through the process of
confession.
     Generally speaking, contemplation upon the principles of
actions and their consequences is enough to stop desire for
the future life.  But really the main way is to contemplate
the many sufferings of this cyclic life.  In a broad sense,
we can say that renunciation has just begun to sprout in a
person's heart once he has meditated on the torments of
"Revive" (the lightest hell) and feels a sense of terror.117
But complete proficiency in renunciation comes only when one
feels a total disgust even for the supposed good things of
this revolving life.
     The traditional contemplation of the sufferings of
cyclic life has two parts: considering these sufferings in
general, and thinking them over one by one.  The text called
@Word of the Gentle One@ describes the individual sufferings
first, and then goes on to the general ones.118  The works
known as @Path of Bliss@ and @Quick Path,@ on the other hand,
present the general sufferings first and the individual
sufferings later.119  Each way of doing it conveys a very
valuable lesson; here we will follow the @Word.@
     Doing your best to follow the teaching on going for
refuge, and to make the right decisions with regard to
actions and their consequences, will free you from having to
take one of the three lower births.  But what you really need
is to free yourself from the cycle of life altogether; for
while you may have avoided a lower birth, achieving some
wonderful life in one of the happier births is nothing but
suffering anyway.
     Let's say you are born as a human; still you must suffer
as you come from the womb.  Still you must suffer as your
body gets older, day by day.  Still you must suffer when you
are ill.  Still you must suffer as you die.  You must suffer
the pain of missing your beloved family.  You must suffer the
pain of encountering your hated enemies.  You must suffer the
pain of working for the things you want, and not being able
to get them--and on and on.
     Suppose you take the second type of happier birth--in
some kind of heavenly place, as one of the lesser beings of
pleasure.  Still in your life you suffer during the
fighting,120 and suffer from intense jealousy towards the
higher pleasure-beings, and suffer as you body is sliced
apart or ripped to pieces, and on and on.
     Suppose finally that you become one of the higher
pleasure-beings.  They live in all three realms of existence;
let's say you get to be a being of pleasure in the first of
them--in the realm of desire.  Still you go through terrible
suffering as after an incredibly long and pleasure-filled
life the signs of death begin to ruin your body, and then as
you take your fall to a lower birth, and on and on--for the
vast majority of pleasure-beings go straight to one of the
lives of misery.  All the stored-up positive power of the
good deeds they did in their past lives is squandered as they
enjoy its consequences--the delights of a pleasure-being's
existence.  During this existence they have no chance to
store up any more of this positive power.  Still though they
possess great supplies of bad deeds--tremendous negative
power in the form of mental afflictions like desire and
attachment.  These then hurl them into a rebirth of misery
when they die.
     Or let's say lastly you can reach a birth as a being of
pleasure in one of the higher two of the three realms of
existence.  These beings have no overt pain at all, but still
by the very nature of life possess the most subtle form of
suffering: the ever-present suffering of instant-by-instant
aging.  And these beings are totally helpless to keep
themselves in their paradise; there always comes a day when
the power of their past good deeds, which threw them there in
the first place, finally runs dry.  Then they touch the
energy of one of their past bad deeds, and are forced to a
lower birth.  So you see, it doesn't really matter what
wonderful things might come to you in the circle of life--
none of them is stable, none of them is worth your trust.
The very highest form of existence, that rare meditation
level we call the "peak of life," is not the least bit better
than the very lowest we can reach--hanging over a pot of
molten steel in hell, about to be dipped in.
     Lord Tsongkapa, in his great exposition on the Steps of
the path to Buddhahood, divides the contemplation of life's
general sufferings into three sections.  These are
contemplating the eight sufferings, the six sufferings, and
the three sufferings.  The group of eight though applies more
to life as a human, and the group of three is given as sort
of a summary.  Here then we'll speak some of how to do the
contemplation on the six sufferings.121
     These six are as follows:

     1) The problem that life has no certainty.
     2) The problem that we always want more
          than we have.
     3) The problem that we have to keep shucking
          off bodies, over and over again.
     4) The problem that we have to keep going
          into a new life, over and over again.
     5) The problem that we go up and down in our
          fortunes in life, over and over again.
     6) The problem that no one can come along
          with us; ultimately we are alone.

These six problems are described at length in the standard
works on the Steps to Buddhahood.  We should remember though
King Mefeed, whose last words were "There is no greater evil
in the world than the fact that we always want more than we
have."122  You and I are monks, and there are only two things
we should be doing:

     Read the holy books, get teaching on them,
          contemplate their meaning.
     Live a life of rejection, and stay in
          meditation.

Here a "life of rejection" means a life where we keep our
morality, and reject bad deeds.  If we can keep from going
beyond these two activities, then one day we can become both
wise and realized.  If though we neglect these two, we will
lose ourselves to what they call "lots of things to think
about and lots of things to do."  And then we won't do any
spiritual practice at all.  People make this mistake, by the
way, because they are unable to stick to the precept of "Keep
your wants few; be easy to satisfy."123
     Since the three types of suffering are mentioned later
on in our root text, we'll describe them briefly.  All impure
feelings of pain constitute the first type of suffering: the
"suffering of suffering."
     All impure feelings of pleasure constitute the second
type of suffering: the "suffering of change."  We can explain
this suffering as follows.  When you're in a place that's
very hot, then something cool seems like pleasure.  When
you're in a place that's very cold, then something warm seems
like pleasure.  The same is true when you've had to walk a
long way (sitting would seem a pleasure), or had to sit for a
long time (walking would seem a pleasure).
     None of these things that seem to be pleasure though is
pleasure by nature, or pleasure in its very essence.  If they
were, then you would feel more pleasant the more you had of
them.  But this is not the case, for as you get more and more
of them they too start to give you pain.  When this happens
we can understand that they are not pleasure by nature.  They
are, in fact, suffering--they are what we call the "suffering
of change."
     The third type of suffering is known as the "pervasive
suffering, which brings in more."  The point here is that,
regardless which one of the six kinds of birth we take, we
take on a body which, by its very existence, comes complete
with its own particular sufferings built in.  From the first
moment we take the various impure parts of our being on, from
the first moment of their existence, they provide a basis for
all the sufferings we have to look forward to in life: birth,
aging, sickness, death, and all the rest.  The impure parts
of ourselves are like a big pot, sucking in the suffering of
suffering, sucking in the suffering of change, in both this
and our future lives. We must find a way to stop taking
births, to stop taking on all the impure parts we're made of.
Until we do, our existence will be like lying on a bed of
upright needles--never a thing but pain.
     When we talk about "escaping cyclic life," it's not like
running away from one country and managing to reach another.
"Cyclic life" is precisely the continued existence of, the
very fact of, the impure parts that make us up, the impure
parts of our being that we've taken on.  And when the
continued existence of these parts is stopped at its root by
the wisdom that realizes that nothing has a self-nature, this
then is our "escape from cyclic life."
     This completes our explanation of how to stop desire for
your future lives.



        X. How to Know When You've Found Renunciation


     The third and final section of our explanation of
renunciation describes the point at which we can say a person
has succeeded in developing it; as the next verse of the root
text reads,

                            #(5)#

    #When you've meditated thus and feel not even
     A moment's wish for the goods things of cyclic life,
     And when you begin to think both night and day
     Of achieving freedom, you've found renunciation.#

     Suppose @you've contemplated thus,@ on the points
already mentioned: your impermanence, the births of misery,
the principles of actions and their consequences, and the
sufferings of the happier births.  And because of this you
see for yourself that it's all meaningless: that even if you
could achieve the kind of happiness that pleasure-beings
enjoy in their paradises, it's really nothing but suffering;
that until you can escape forever from cyclic life, this is
the only way it will be.
     @And@ then it comes even stronger: in your heart, you
@feel not even a moment's wish@ even @for the@ fantastic
@riches@ of the god-like beings they call Pure-one and
Hundred-Gift; you feel no wish even for the wealth of a Wheel
Emperor, who rules the world.  And then a certain thought
comes to your mind @both "night and day";@ that is, in every
conscious minute, the thought rushes into your mind on its
own--the way a man with some great worry on his mind
remembers his problem all in a rush, every time he wakes up
during the night.  @When you begin to think@ this way @of
achieving freedom,@ when you genuinely want freedom this way,
well then you know @you've found renunciation.@
     Now the standard texts on the Steps to Buddhahood have
sections ranging from the teaching on the difficulty of
finding leisure and fortune, on up to instructions on
renunciation, all included under the two headings of "paths
for practicioners of lesser scope" and "paths for
practicioners of medium scope."
     Here in the @Three Principal Paths@ though, they all
come under the one heading of "renunciation."  This is a
unique feature of this work, and there is a reason for it.
Renunciation is the one special cause that brings you what we
call "great compassion"; to get this compassion, you must
first find true thoughts of renunciation.  Great compassion
is a state of mind where you can absolutely no longer bear to
see other beings tormented by the sufferings of life; there's
no way you can achieve it as long as your concern about the
way life torments you yourself is so feeble that it couldn't
blow down a single upright hair.  As the famous verses of @
The Bodhisattva's Life@ say,

          If people like these have never before
          Even in the dreams they dream
          Felt such a wish just for themselves,
          Then how can it come to them for others?124

Thus we can say that renunciation and compassion are the same
state of mind, just that one is developed by meditating on
your own situation, and the other by meditating on others'
situation.
     To develop this compassion, we must undertake to study
and contemplate the Steps on the path to Buddhahood, that
great teaching of the gentle protector Tsongkapa, and thus
gradually train our minds.  People like you and I see our
feelings of desire, and our other mental afflictions, grow
stronger day by day; the problem is that we have not even
been able to train our minds in the paths for people of
lesser and medium scopes of practice.
     Intelligent people then should stop giving any thought
to practicing mistaken paths that any local shaman or
follower of some deficient "religion" could master: things
like trying to develop extra-sensory powers, or the ability
to perform miraculous feats, or the so-called "opening day"--
pay-as-you-go religion.  Discriminating people should instead
learn, and contemplate, and meditate upon the three
collections of scripture (which contain the important bulk of
the teaching in general), and upon these Steps to Buddhahood
(for they are the collected essence of the path of the three
trainings).125
     If you start off on these Steps, then you will never
err, and will gradually gain the high meditative state called
"quietude," and the three principal paths, and everything
else on up to the two levels of the secret way.  Any hope we
have of attaining Buddhahood then rests upon this very
teaching.  And we must absolutely try to develop great
compassion in our hearts; if we cannot develop this
compassion, our Lama concluded, then there is no way at all
we can develop the sublime wish to achieve Buddhahood, for
the sake of every living being.*n*
*jy y*









                       THE SECOND PATH:




              THE WISH TO ACHIEVE ENLIGHTENMENT

                    FOR EVERY LIVING BEING













































         XI. Why You Need the Wish for Enlightenment


     We have now reached the second of the four parts in the
actual body of the text.  This is an explanation of the wish
to achieve enlightenment for the sake of every living being.
This explanation itself will include three sections: why you
need the wish for enlightenment, how to go about developing
this wish, and how to know when you've finally developed it.
The next verse of the root text tells us why we need this
great wish:


                            #(6)#

    #Renunciation though can never bring
     The total bliss of matchless Buddhahood
     Unless it's bound by the purest wish; and so,
     The wise seek the high wish for enlightenment.#

     You may be able to gain some fierce feelings of
renunciation as we described it above; any good deeds you do
under their influence though can only bring you an ordinary
nirvana--they alone can never serve to bring you to
omniscient enlightenment.  We can see this from the fact that
even practicioners of lower paths--people we call "listeners"
and "self-made victors"--can possess true renunciation.126
     For full enlightenment then a person needs to develop
within his mind all three of the principal paths--and more
specifically, he must have gained the second path: the wish
to achieve enlightenment for every living being.  You may
possess extra-sensory powers, you may be able to perform
miracles, you may have any number of fantastic qualities--but
unless you have this precious jewel in your heart, you will
never enter that select group of people who practice the
greater way.  Without this highest wish, none of your
qualities will ever bring you total bliss--none of them, none
of them at all, will bring you Buddhahood: the ability to
free each and every living being from all the troubles of
cyclic life, and from those of a lower escape from cyclic
life.127
     Those great practitioners of the lower paths--"enemy
destroyers" of the "listener" or "self-made" type--possess
fine qualities like a huge mountain made of pure gold; even
such qualities as the ability to perceive emptiness directly.
But these paths never bring them to Buddhahood.  Why?
Because they lack the wish to achieve enlightenment for every
living being.128
     If you do gain this great wish, you become a person who
truly deserves to have the entire world--with all its
different kinds of beings up to humans and gods--bow down at
your feet, just as holy books like @The Bodhisattva's Life,@
and @Entering the Middle Way,@ and @The Rare Stack@ describe
it.129  You find yourself in a different class of being, and
then you completely outshine listeners and self-made
victors--practitioners of the lower paths.  Every virtuous
act you do, even down to throwing a scrap of food to some
wild bird, becomes a practice of the greater way; becomes a
cause for your future Buddhahood; becomes the way of life of
a bodhisattva.
     If a person possesses this holy wish to achieve
enlightenment for the sake of every living being, then all
the countless Buddhas in all the ten directions of space look
upon him as their son.  And all the great bodhisattvas look
upon him as their brother.
     But that's not all; the whole question of whether you
have reached the greater way, and the whole question of
whether you will be able to achieve Buddhahood in this one
short life, depend on whether you have truly gained this
wish.  So if you want enlightenment, our Lama concluded, you
must train your thoughts in the wish.



        XII. How to Develop the Wish for Enlightenment


     The second section in our explanation of the wish to
achieve enlightenment for every living being describes how to
develop this wish.  As the next two verses say,


                           #(7,8)#

    #They're 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.

     In a limitless round they're born, and in
          their births
     Are tortured by three sufferings without a break;
     Think how your mothers feel, think of what's
          happening
     To them: try to develop this highest wish.#

     We may begin with another pair of verses, from @The
Bodhisattva's Life:@

     Even just wishing you could stop
     A headache another person has
     Can bring you merit without measure
     Because of the helpful intent you feel.

     What need then to mention the wish
     That you could stop the immeasurable pain
     Of every being, and put every one
     In a state of measureless happiness?130

The @Sutra that Viradatta Requested@ says as well,

     Were the merit of the wish for enlightenment
     To take on some kind of physical form
     It would fill the reaches of space itself
     And then spill over farther still.131

     The benefits of this wish to achieve enlightenment for
all living beings are thus described, in these and other
texts, as limitless.  And so here are the mass of living
beings, all of them our mothers, @swept along@ the flow of
@four river currents,@ all @fierce@ suffering.  From one
viewpoint, while they are acting as causes, these four are
the torrent of desire, the torrent of views, the torrent of
the ripe force of deeds, and the torrent of ignorance.
Later, when they serve as results, they are the four torrents
of birth, and aging, and illness, and death.
     And these mother beings are not just hurtling along in
these four great rivers; it's just as if their hands and feet
too were bound fast--they are @chained up tight,@ they are
snared, @in@ their own @past deeds, hard to undo.@
     But that's not all; the bonds which hold them tight are
no regular ties, like our twined ropes of yak-skin or hair.
It's more like our mothers are clasped in fetters of iron,
ever so hard to sever, ever so hard to unshackle--for while
they are swept along they are @stuffed in a steel cage of
grasping@ to some non-existent @"self."@
     And there's more.  If there were some daylight, these
mother beings would have some glimmer of hope--they could at
least cry out, and try to get some help.  But it is night,
and the darkest hour of the night, and in pitch-black dark
they are swept downstream the mighty river: they are
@smothered@ completely @in pitch-black ignorance.@
     @In a limitless round,@ in an endless round, @they are
born@ into the ocean of life, @and in these births@ they @are
tortured by three@ different kinds of@ suffering:@ the
suffering of suffering, the suffering of change, and the all-
pervading suffering.  And their torture comes to them @
without a break--@it is always there.
     This is @what's happening to them,@ to our mother
beings, this is their situation: unbearable pain.  There's
nothing they can do like this to help themselves; the son
though has a chance at hand to pull his mother free.  He must
find a way, and find it now, to grasp her hand and draw her
out.  And the way he must @try@ is @to develop this@ jewel
@wish@ for enlightenment: he must do so first by @thinking
how@ his @mothers feel,@ tortured by pain; then by deciding
to take personal responsibility, the duty of freeing them,
upon himself; and so on, all in the proper stages.
     To actually gain the wish for enlightenment he must
first contemplate it.  To contemplate it, he must first learn
about it from another.  "Loving-kindness" is an almost
obsessive desire that each and every living being find
happiness.  "Compassion" is an almost obsessive desire that
they be free of any pain.  Think of how a mother feels when
her one and only and most beloved son is in the throes of a
serious illness.  Wherever she goes, whatever she does, she
is always thinking how wonderful it would be if she could
find some way of freeing him quickly from his sickness.
These thoughts come to her mind in a steady stream, without a
break, and all of their own, automatically.  They become an
obsession with her.  When we feel this way towards every
living being, and only then, we can say we have gained what
they call "great compassion."
    Here in the teachings of the Buddha there are two methods
given for training one's mind in this precious jewel, the
wish for enlightenment.  The first is known as the "seven-
part, cause-and-effect instruction."  The second we call
"exchanging self and others."  No matter which of the two you
use to train your mind, you can definitely gain the wish for
enlightenment.  The way to train oneself in the wish, the way
which is complete and which never errs, the way unmatched by
any other here upon this earth, is the instruction of the
Steps of the path to Buddhahood, the very essence of all the
teachings of our gentle protector, the great Tsongkapa.  Thus
you should train your mind in the wish for enlightenment by
using this very instruction.
     Here we'll give just a brief summary of how one trains
himself in the wish to achieve enlightenment for every living
being.  The start-off is to practice feelings of neutrality
towards all beings; after that, one begins meditation on each
of the steps from "mother recognition" on up.  The first
three steps are to recognize all beings as one's mothers, to
feel gratitude for their kindness, and to wish to repay that
kindness.  These three act as a cause for what we call
"beautiful" loving-kindness.  This type of loving-kindness is
itself the fourth step; it is both an effect brought about by
the first three, and a cause for the fifth: great compassion.
     The relative intensity of one's wish for enlightenment
depends on the intensity of one's feeling of great
compassion.  If you find it difficult to develop compassion,
you can practice the meditation known as "Lama Loving-Gaze"
to help you gain it.  If you make good efforts to perform
this meditation and the proper supplications, as well as the
practice where you visualize that your mind and that of
Loving-Gaze are mixed inseparably, then you can gain a
blessing for it.132  This is a very special personal
instruction for developing great compassion.  There were, our
Lama explained, a number of other profound points in this
regard--but he would not detail them in a public gathering.
     Once you develop great compassion, then you can develop
the extraordinary form of personal responsibility, where you
take upon yourself the load of working for others' benefit.
And the wish to achieve enlightenment for every living being
comes from this.
     The meditation on neutrality goes like this.  First you
put your thoughts in an even state, free of feelings of like
and dislike, by thinking about someone who is for you a
neutral figure: neither your enemy nor your friend.  Then you
imagine that two people are sitting before you: one of your
best-loved friends, and one of your ugliest enemies.  Next
you think very carefully about how the friend has, in many of
your previous lives, taken birth as your enemy and hurt you.
You think too about how the enemy has, in so many of your
past lives, taken birth as your friend and helped you.  This
puts your mind in the even state, free of feelings of like
and dislike.
     You go on then to think about how all living beings are
equal in that, from his own point of view, each one of them
wants to be happy.  They are equal too in not wanting pain.
And they are equal in that every one has acted as both my
enemy and my friend, many many times.  So who am I supposed
to like?  And who am I supposed to dislike?  You have to keep
on practicing this way until, one day, you gain neutral
feelings towards all sentient beings, as vast in extent as
space itself.
     The next step is the meditation where you recognize that
every living being is your mother.  Gaining this recognition
is much easier if you apply the line of reasoning mentioned
in the @Commentary on Valid Perception@ for demonstrating the
infinite regression of one's awareness.  We'll present this
reasoning here, in brief.133
     Your awareness of today is a mental continuation of the
awareness you had yesterday.  This year's awareness is a
mental continuation of the awareness you had the year before.
Just so, your awareness over this entire life is a mental
continuation of the awareness you had in your former life.
The awareness you had in your former life was, in turn, a
mental continuation of the awareness you had in the life
before that.  You can continue back in a regression like this
and absolutely never reach some point where you can say,
"Prior to this, I had no awareness."  This then proves the
infinite regression of one's awareness.
     My own circle of life then must also be beginningless,
and the births I have taken as well can have no starting
point.  There exists no place where I have never taken birth.
I have taken birth in every single place, countless times.
There exists no creature whose body I have not worn.  I have
worn every kind of body, countless times.  Just the lives I
have taken as a dog are themselves beyond any number to
count.  And the same is true for every living being.
     Therefore there exists no being who has never been my
mother.  Absolutely every single one of them has been my
mother a countless number of times.  Even the number of times
that each has been my mother in just my births as a human is
past all counting too.
     Do this meditation over and over until you gain a deep-
felt certainty that each and every living being has been your
mother, over and over, countless times.
     Developing a sense of gratitude is the next step, and
you can start by taking your mother in this present life.
She began her hardships for me while I was still in her womb,
gladly taking it upon herself to avoid anything she felt
might hurt me--even down to the food she ate--treating
herself with care, as though she were sick.  For nine months
and ten days she carried me in her womb, looking at her own
body as though it belonged to someone else, someone very ill,
and hesitating even to take big steps.
     As she gave me birth, my mother was torn with violent
suffering, excruciating pain, and yet still felt an
overwhelming joy, as though she had discovered some precious
gem that would grant her any wish.
     Right then I knew absolutely nothing more than to cry
and wave my arms around somehow.  I was totally helpless.
Totally stupid.  Incapacitated.  Nothing more than some baby
chick with a red-rubber beak still yet to harden.  But she
swayed me on her fingertips, and pressed me to her body's
warmth, and greeted me with a smile of love.
     With joyful eyes she gazed on me, and wiped the snot
from my face with her lips, and cleaned my filthy shit with
her hands.  Sometimes she chewed my food for me, and fed me
things like milky porridge straight from her mouth to mine.
She did her best to protect me from any hurt.  She did her
best to get me any good.
     In those days I had to look to her for everything; good
or bad, happy or sad, all the hope I could have lay in one
person: mother.  But for her kindness, I wouldn't have lasted
an hour; they could have set me out in the open right then
and some birds or a dog would have come and made a meal of
me--I'd have no hope of coming out alive.  Every single day
she protected me from harms that could have taken my life, no
less than a hundred times.  Such was her kindness.
     And while I was growing up she gathered together
whatever I needed, avoiding no bad deed, and no suffering,
and caring nothing for what other people might say of her.
All the money and things she had she handed over to me,
hesitating to use anything for herself.
     For those of us who are fortunate enough to be
practicing the monastic life, it was mother who put forth all
the necessary expenses, giving without reservation, to
arrange our admission into the monastery.  And from that time
on she supported us here, from whatever resources she had.
Thus the kindness she has shown us is truly without measure.
     And this is not the only life in which my present mother
has given this kindness to me.  She has showered me with this
kindness, great kindness, over and over, countless times, in
my many lives before.  And she is not the only one; every
single living being has been my mother in my past lives, and
during those lives cared for me no less than my present
mother does--it is only my transitions from death to birth
that prevent me from recognizing all these mothers now.
     Look now, concluded our Lama, at the way any common
animal--a dog or bird, even the tiny sparrow--shows affection
for its young, and cares for it well.  From watching this we
can imagine what kindness we were given too.
     The next step in gaining the wish for enlightenment is
to develop a wish to repay this great kindness.  So every
living being is my mother, and has given me her loving care
over and over endlessly, for time with no beginning.  And we
know from what was described above that they are being swept
along by four great currents, out to sea--to the vast expanse
of the ocean of cyclic life.  They are tormented, without a
break, by the three types of suffering, and all the other
pains.  Their situation is desperate.
     And here am I, their child.  Right now I have a chance
to rescue them from this ocean of cyclic life.  Suppose I
simply sit and bide my time, and give no thought to them.
This is the lowest a person could stoop--base and absolutely
shameless.
     Right now I could give them things that they would be
happy to get--food, or clothes, or beds to sleep on,
whatever.  But these are only some temporary happiness within
the circle of life.  The very highest way of repaying their
kindness would be to put them into the state of ultimate
happiness.  So let me decide within myself that every living
being must come to have every happiness.  And every one
should be freed as well from every form of pain.
     Right now it's absurd to say that these beings have any
kind of pure happiness--they don't even have any of the
impure kinds.  Every single thing they think is happiness is,
in its essence, nothing more than pain.  They want wantables
but don't want to know about doing the good deeds that bring
happiness.  They want no unwantables but don't want to know
about giving up the bad deeds that bring pain.  They act ass
backwards: they do what they shouldn't and don't what they
should.  And so my dear aged mothers, these living beings,
are made to suffer.

       "How good it would be if they could all find
     every happiness, and every cause of happiness.
     I wish they could.  I'll see that they do."

       "How good it would be if they could all be free
     of every pain, and every cause of pain.  I wish
     they could.  I'll see that they do."

     Let these two trains of thought run through your mind;
meditate on them over and over again.  Then you will come to
feel the very strongest loving-kindness and compassion.
     Some people might come up with the idea that "Why should
I take upon myself this great load, of every living being?
There are plenty of Buddhas and bodhisattvas around to guide
them on their way."  This kind of thought though is
absolutely improper.  It's base.  It's shameless.  It's as if
your mother in this life was hungry, and parched, and you
expected someone else's child to go and give her food and
drink.  But it's you for whom she has cared, and the
responsibility of paying her back has fallen only to you.
     It's the same with all these living beings, who for
beginningless time have served as my mother so many times,
and who in each of these times cared for me in every way with
the kindness of this present mother.  Returning their
kindness is no business of anyone else at all, not for some
Buddha or bodhisattva--it is my responsibility, and only
mine.
     So someone is going to do it--to make sure every
sentient being has every happiness, and never a single pain.
It is going to be myself; I'll rely on no one else.  I by
myself will see to it that every single being comes to have
every single happiness.  And I by myself will see to it that
every single being gets free of every single pain.  I will by
myself put them into the state of the Lama, the state of
Buddhahood.  Meditate strongly on these thoughts; they are
the step we call the "extraordinary form of personal
responsibility."
     I may be able to develop this noble intention, but the
fact is that I'm completely incapable of leading a single
being to Buddhahood--much less every one of them.  Who then
has the capacity?  This power is had by a fully enlightened
Buddha--only by him, and by no one else at all.  If I can
reach the same state, I will by definition have brought both
mine and others' benefit to its perfection.  And then every
single ray of light that emanates from me, whether it be an
action of my body, or my speech, or my thoughts, will have
the power to accomplish the ends of countless sentient
beings.
     And so, for the sake of every living being, I will do
anything I can to achieve this one great goal--the state of a
Buddha--with every speed.  Think this way to yourself, and do
anything you can to develop the genuine wish to reach
enlightenment for every living being.
     While you practice these meditations to develop the wish
for enlightenment, you can also reflect that--when you
achieve Buddhahood--you will by the way automatically gain
everything you need for yourself as well.  Our Lama mentioned
that this point was stated in Lord Tsongkapa's exposition on
the Steps of the path as being very helpful in preventing a
person from slipping to the lesser way.134
     The first three of the seven parts in this cause-and-
effect instruction provide a foundation for great compassion.
The "beautiful" form of loving-kindness comes out as a result
of these three, so there is no separate meditation
instruction for it.135  One must though in its place meditate
upon the loving-kindness where you wish that every being gain
every happiness.
     This loving-kindness, as well as compassion and the
extraordinary type of personal responsibility, are all forms
of an attitude of striving for the welfare of others.  The
actual wish for enlightenment is their result.  The works on
the Steps of the path themselves have a similar structure.
The paths for people of lesser and medium scopes represent a
preliminary to developing the wish for enlightenment.  The
teaching on how to meditate on this great wish is the main
stage.  In conclusion then come the sections on bodhisattva
deeds--advices in acting out the wish.
     When you're practicing to develop this wish for
enlightenment, you should train your mind in its basic nature
and all its various attributes: these include the twenty-two
forms of the wish, the distinction between praying and
actually engaging, and so on.136
     This precious jewel, the wish to gain enlightenment for
every being, is the inner essence of all the high teachings
of the victorious Buddhas.  It is the single centermost
contemplation of every one of their sons--the bodhisattvas.
As @The Bodhisattva's Life@ relates,

     It's the purest essence of the butter
     Churned from the milk of the holy word.

We see too,

     Many eons the Able Lords considered,
     And found but this to be of benefit.137

Our gentle protector, the great Tsongkapa, has as well
composed the lines that begin with "Center beam of the
highest way, the wish..." and conclude with "...Bodhisattva
princes, knowing this, / Keep the high jewel wish their
center practice."138  It was only this precious wish for
enlightenment, and nothing else at all, that the all-knowing
Lord ever described as the "center practice."  Therefore
those of us who wish to become followers of the greater way
must make the wish for enlightenment our very centermost
practice.
     Nowadays when you go up to someone and ask him what his
very most important practice is, he'll tell you he's
meditating on one of those powerful tutelary deities.  You
don't meet people who say their chief practice is meditating
on the wish to achieve enlightenment for every living being.
Much less, for in fact it's quite difficult to find anyone
who even realizes that he should make this wish his
centermost practice.
     We see people making all different sorts of things their
central practice: the Elimination Ritual for getting rid of
bad spirits, the Golden Tea offering, the Spell for Ending
Evil Litigation, the ritual they call Stopping All Harms, the
Sheep Spell, the Horse Spell, the Money Spell, the ritual for
No More Problems, the ritual for Stopping Bad Luck at the End
of the Twelve-Year Cycle, the ritual for Preventing the
Praise that Others Give You from Turning to a Curse, and on
and on.  These are all so bad that they make it look pretty
good when a person can say he's making a central practice out
of anything at all associated with some authentic tutelary
deity.139
     We also see a number of works gaining some popularity in
different localities that seem to be just anything somebody
could think up: the String of Jewels for those Bound by
Blood, the Blade of Gold for Confessing Sins, the so-called
"Dog Sutra," the so-called "Wolf Sutra," the so-called "Fox
Sutra," the so-called "Bear Sutra," the so-called "Snake
Sutra," and all the rest.  We find though absolutely no
legitimate origin for any of these works.
     If you really do need a text to use for confessing your
bad deeds, you should stop wasting your time with fake
scriptures and meaningless efforts like these.  The Victors
have, in all their open and secret teachings, given us more
than enough appropriate works: the @Three Heaps Sutra,@ the
@Sublime Medicine Sutra,@ the @Sutra of the Great Freedom,@
the @Sutra of the Eon of Fortune,@ and others of the like.140
It is texts like these, our Lama told us, authoritative texts
with a legitimate origin, that we must use for our study and
recitations.
     Now there are also some people around who think to
themselves, "But I @do@ have the wish for enlightenment.
After all, at the beginning of all my devotions I recite the
'Buddha-Dharma-Sangha' prayer141 and think about achieving
Buddhahood so I could help every living being."  This though
is just expressing a hope that you gain the wish for
enlightenment--it's just making a prayer about the wish.
It's not the actual wish itself.  If it were, then developing
the wish to achieve Buddhahood would have to be the very
easiest of all the many practices of virtue we are supposedly
trying to do.  And so, concluded our Lama, we must rather
gain this true wish by putting our minds through the training
described above--one by one through each of the steps, in
order.



             XIII. How to Know When You've Found
                  the Wish for Enlightenment


     This brings us to the third and final section in our
explanation of the wish for enlightenment: how to know when
you've finally developed it.  This point is covered with
great detail in various works, including both the more
extensive and the briefer presentations on the Steps of the
path to enlightenment, which at this point employ material
from the first of the @Stages of Meditation.@142 To put it
briefly, suppose a mother has watched her beloved child slip
down into a pit of red-hot coals.  The fire is searing his
body.  She cannot stand to see it go on for a single second.
She throws herself forward to pull the child out.
     All the living creatures of the universe, all our dear
mothers, are burning in the same way, in the unbearable pain
of the three lower realms, and the circle of life in general.
When we cannot stand to see it go on for a single second
more, when we finally feel the true wish to reach total
enlightenment, immediately, for the sake of every living
being, well then--our Lama concluded--you can say you have
gained the wish for enlightenment.*NEW PAGE*














                       THE THIRD PATH:



                         CORRECT VIEW
















































                XIV. Why You Need Correct View


     We have now reached the third of the four parts of the
body of the text: the explanation of correct view.  Here there
are five sections; the first, which explains why you need to
meditate on correct view, is expressed in the next verse of the
root text:


                            #(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.#

     What the verse is saying is this: "Unless you have that
very profound correct view about suchness--unless you have the
wisdom that perceives reality, or ultimate truth--you can
strive to perfect renunciation and the wish for enlightenment
(along with all the other 'method' practices) as much as you
please; but you cannot cut the root of cyclic life, grasping to
a 'self,' since these practices alone do not act as a direct
antidote for your grasping."
     And that's not all.  A person without this profound view
may be able to attain various levels on up to the first of the
five paths of the greater way, the "accumulation" path, by
force of renunciation and the wish for enlightenment alone.
But he can never go any further.  And if he is a follower of
the lesser way he cannot even reach the second of its paths,
the path of "preparation."143
     Suppose though that your mind is completely filled with
thoughts of renunciation and the wish to achieve enlightenment
for every living being, and then in addition you open your eyes
to this profound view.  Now you can achieve all the various
levels and paths of the greater way, from its second path (also
called "preparation") on up.  Then too the things you do take
on a very special power, to bring about for you the states of
freedom and all-knowing.
     All of us sitting here have decided that we will take it
upon ourselves to liberate living beings.  But unless we find
some actual way of liberating them, this will never be more
than some noble intent.  Thus at the very start we have to gain
an outlook that says, "I am going to go and find the final form
of that profound view that cuts the root of cyclic life." Now
there is a kind of correct view that we call the "worldly"
type; with it, you perceive the laws of actions and their
consequences.  This view alone though is not enough.  It too,
by the way, is ultimately tied to the view with which you
realize that no self exists.
     Certain non-Buddhist sages can put themselves into a deep,
single-pointed state of meditation--and they attain all eight
levels of concentration and formlessness.144  But they lack the
view with which you realize no self exists, and fail therefore
even to reduce their harmful emotions slightly--much less to
eliminate them.  As the sutra called @King of Concentration@
says,

     The worldly meditate on concentration
     But it doesn't destroy their concept of a self.
     This feeds their unhealthy thoughts, stirs them up,
     And ends like the meditation of Udraka.145

     Our tendency to grasp to some "self" is the very root of
our circling life.  To cut this root we absolutely must gain
the view that perceives that no such self exists.  As the same
work says,

     Suppose you analyze, see the no-self of things,
     And suppose you meditate on what you've seen;
     It leads you to the result of gaining nirvana--
     Nothing else can lead you to this peace.

To win freedom you must eliminate, from its root, this grasping
to a "self."  To eliminate it, you must meditate on how nothing
has a self: you must find a path or mental viewpoint which
holds things in a way that is completely incompatible with the
way you now grasp for a "self."  You can make any great efforts
you want in practices like charity and morality, but without
this meditation on no-self you will never be able to attain
freedom.  As the @400 Verses@ says, "There is no second door to
peace."146  This wisdom which perceives that no self exists is
then a "without which nothing" for freeing yourself from the
circle of life.
     Wisdom though is not enough by itself either. Compassion
too is a "without which nothing."  And this is why we say you
must have both "method" and "wisdom," never one without the
other.  As we read in the @Sutra of Vimalakirti,@

     Wisdom not steeped in method is bondage.
     Wisdom steeped in method is freedom.
     Method not steeped in wisdom is bondage.
     Method steeped in wisdom is freedom.147

     The result we want to achieve is the two bodies of an
enlightened being: the "dharma body" and the "form body."  To
get them, we must gather together a perfect union of two great
masses of goodness.  To do this we must rely on method and
wisdom, one always with the other.  As our glorious savior, the
realized being Nagarjuna, has written:

     By this virtue may all beings
     Gather the masses of merit and wisdom.
     May they achieve the ultimate two
     That the merit and the wisdom produce.148

The illustrious Chandrakirti has said as well,

     On vast wide-spreading wings of both
           the conventional and the real
     The king goose flies on at the
           center point in the formation
     Of the other geese, all beings, spurred
           by the wind of virtue,
     Reaching to the farthest shore of the ocean
           of Victors' qualities.149

Here the word "conventional" refers to "method"; that is, the
wish to achieve enlightenment for every sentient being.
"Reality" refers to "wisdom"--meaning correct view.  A great
bird with both wings complete can soar unimpeded in the sky;
just so, a person who wants to travel to that farthest shore
where he possesses each and every good quality of the
victorious Buddhas must have method and wisdom--the wish for
enlightenment and correct view--and he must have them both
together.  A person who has one without the other is like a
bird with a broken wing.  He cannot make the journey.
     "How then do I gain this view?" you may ask.  Not just
anything will do: you must rather follow one of the scriptures
taught by the enlightened Conquerers--a true teaching, and one
which treats the "literal."  Generally speaking, we draw the
distinction between "literal" and "figurative" as follows:
something is "literal" when its nature actually lies in the
ultimate, and something is "figurative" when its nature does
not lie in the ultimate. "Literal" scriptures then are those
that deal chiefly with ultimate truth, while other types of
scriptures we call "figurative."
     Not every ancient sage was capable of clarifying the true
meaning of the literal and figurative scriptures.  For
commenting on the true intent of the "literal" it took the
savior Nagarjuna, as foretold by the Buddhas themselves.  He
was able to introduce an entire system clarifying the "literal"
and profound view just as the victorious Buddhas intended it.
He did so through the @Root Wisdom@ and other works in his
famed "Collection on the Reasoning of the Middle Way," basing
them all on the scripture known as @Understanding that Has No
End.@150
     Later on came the masters Buddhapalita, author of the
commentary that bears his name, and Aryadeva--who composed the
@400 Verses on the Middle Way@ and other titles.  Most
especially there was Master Chandrakirti who, following the
intent of the realized being Nagarjuna, wrote various works
including @A Clarification of the Words@ (which explains the
wording of Master Nagarjuna's @Root Wisdom@) and @Entering the
Middle Way@ (which enters into the meaning of the @Root@).151
     Here in the Land of Snows, in Tibet, it was the gentle
protector Tsongkapa--and no one else but him--who was able to
elucidate the true meaning of these works with absolute
accuracy, without the slightest taint of error.  Thus you and I
should follow the excellent system of that highest of realized
beings, Nagarjuna, and his spiritual sons; we should rely on
the great textbooks of the omniscient Lord Tsongkapa, on his
high and wondrous words.  As @Entering the Middle Way@ states,

     There's no way to peace for people who've
           stepped from the path
     Of the system taught by the Master Nagarjuna.
     They've lost the truths, the conventional
           and the real;
     Those who've lost the truths cannot be free.152

The matchless Lord Atisha has said as well:

     Nagarjuna's student was Chandrakirti;
     The instructions handed down from them
     Bring you to see reality, truth.153

You can see then that this profound viewpoint on things is
indispensable for both the open and the secret teachings.
     Broadly speaking, there were four great schools of
Buddhist thought that came out of India--the "land of the
realized."  Members of the Vatsiputriya section of the
"Detailist" school154 assert that what we seek to see does not
exist is any self which is unchanging, and singular, and
independent.  Other members of the Detailist school, as well as
those of the "Scripturalist" school,155 teach that what we seek
to deny is something that can stand on its own, something which
exists in a substantial way.
     The "Mind-Only" school156 says that what we come to
realize does not exist is any case where the subject that holds
an object and the object which it holds are made from any
different "substance."157  What we call the "Independent," one
part of the Middle Way school,158 believes that what we come to
refute is any object that exists in some unique way of its own,
rather than being established as an existent thing simply by
virtue of its having appeared to an unaffected awareness.159
     The "Implication" section of the Middle Way school,160
finally, teaches that what we come to see has no existence is
an object which exists from its own side, rather than simply
existing through a concept supplied from our side.
     Here in the verses of the @Three Principal Paths@ our
gentle protector, the great Tsongkapa, has urged us to try to
perceive interdependence; as the line goes, "Make efforts in
ways then to perceive interdependence."  This he does instead
of telling us to "Make efforts in ways to perceive emptiness,"
and for an extremely important reason.
     Different schools have different ways of explaining
"interdependence."  The "Functionalist" group161 says that when
something is "interdependent," it's because it has come about
through various causes and conditions.  This doesn't allow them
to establish interdependence for those objects which are
unchanging, and have no causes.
     The "Independent" group has a way of describing
interdependence that's a little bit better.  They say that
something is interdependent whenever it exists in dependence
upon its parts.  They then can establish interdependence with
both changing and unchanging objects: for those with causes and
without.
     The way the last group, the one we call "Implication,"
decides that something is interdependent is subtler than all
the rest.  They say that something is interdependent when we
have taken two things--a reasonable basis to be given a name
and a reasonable idea to give it a name--and come out with an
object we gave a name.
     This subtle form of interdependence is not itself the way
to perceive emptiness, but there is a good reason why we
present interdependence--in the cause-and-effect interpretation
accepted by all the schools--here at the very outset.  First of
all it prevents students from swinging to the opposite extreme
where they believe that, if all things are empty, they can have
no existence at all.  Secondly, a correct understanding of
interdependence does lead one to the way of perceiving
emptiness.  And so, concluded our Lama, there is crucial
significance to presenting the instructions on interdependence
first--as the first step on the way to perceiving emptiness.



                  XV. What is Correct View?


     The second of the five points in our discussion of the
third principal path addresses the question: what is correct
view?  The answer appears in the next verse of the root text.


                            #(10)#

    #A person's 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.#

     The line here about "when for all objects" gives us the
subject under consideration: what we will see is empty.  The
line with the words "cause and effect" is meant to give us the
classic logical reason for proving things are empty: "because
they are interdependent."  The line with "they lose all solid
appearance" presents us the premise that the reason is meant to
prove.
     The expression "all objects" refers to each and every
object from basic physical matter on up to the omniscience of a
Buddha.  They all exist in dependence upon their parts, so in a
manner of speaking their "cause and effect can never fail."
The antithesis, which we seek to disprove, is that these
objects could have the solid existence they appear to have:
that they could exist naturally.  "When they lose all solid
appearance"--that is, when we perceive that there is not a
single thing in the universe which has any true or natural
existence--then we have found "the path that pleases the
Buddhas."
     If we look for the very root that keeps you and I going
round in this circle of life, we come down to ignorance, to our
grasping for a "self."  To cut this root, we must develop
wisdom which perceives that no such "self" exists.  If we were
to discuss what no-self is in any detailed way, it would be
best to apply a number of sections from the works on the Steps
to the path; one example would be the "fourfold analysis."162
Here though we will give only a brief presentation of the most
vital points concerning correct view, and we will use the
classical reasoning based on interdependence.
     Now every existent object is a product of something to be
given a name and something else to give it a name.  There is
not a single atom of anything in the universe which does not
rely on this process--there is nothing which exists from its
own side.  I too then am a product: someone has taken two
things together, my body and my mind, and called it "me."  I am
nothing more than that.  There is no "me" which exists from its
own side; there is no "me" which does not rely on someone
taking my body and mind together and granting it the name.
Neither in fact do my body or my mind themselves exist from
their own sides.
     We can express all this in the classical form of a logical
statement:

     Consider all objects, those of the cycle
           and those beyond it.
     They have none of the true and solid existence
           that I hold them to have; they cannot
           exist on their own,
     Because they are interdependent.

What we mean here by "interdependence" is that all objects are
interrelated with others on which they depend; that is, they
occur through dependence on other objects.  This is why there
is absolutely no way they can exist on their own.
     We can take for example the way we appoint the chanting
master of a monastery, or the governor of some district, or any
similar figure.  First there must be a reasonable basis to be
called "chanting master": there must be a person who is worthy
of being the chanting master.  Then there must be someone like
the abbot of the monastery who says, "He is now the chanting
master."  Until the abbot does so, until the abbot applies the
name and the concept to this person, he cannot be the chanting
master--even though he may have all the qualities you need to
be named "chanting master."
     If this were not the case, and if the person were somehow
the chanting master from the beginning, all on his own without
anyone putting the name or idea on him, then he would have to
have been the chanting master all along--from the time he lay
in his mother's womb.  And when he was born, the moment he came
out of her womb, people then should have said, "Here comes the
chanting master!"
     But people didn't say it, because getting to be the
chanting master depends on many other factors.  We don't call
someone "chanting master" until there is a basis to give the
name--a monk who is fit to be chanting master, and until a
person qualified to give him the name hangs it on him, and says
"This is the chanting master."  Neither until this time does
the person himself think "I am the chanting master."  But once
the concept has been applied to him, "You are the chanting
master," then people start to talk about him as "chanting
master," and he too begins to think "I am the chanting master."
     The case is the same with something like a horse.  We take
the body and the mind of the horse, and we put them together--
we take all the proper causes and conditions together--and
label them with the name "horse."  A building is the same too:
nothing but a name put on a certain collection of parts that
act as the basis to receive the name.
     And the same goes for every existing entity: they are
nothing but a name and a concept, "This we call this, and that
we call that," applied to the collection of parts that acts as
the basis of the particular entity's name.  There does not
exist the single tiniest bit of anything that is some kind of
object on its own, divorced of the parts we give its name.
     "Well then," you might think to yourself, "if every object
is nothing more that what we label it, then I can go out and
call gold 'brass,' or call a pillar a 'pitcher,' and that's
just what they will be."  But it's not; we do say that things
are just labelled what they are, but for the label to be
applied, the basis that gets it must be a reasonable one for
the particular label.
     When we apply a label, three conditions must be present.
The three are as follows: (1) the object must be known to a
conventional perception; (2) no other conventional perception
can contradict its existence; and (3) no ultimate analysis can
contradict its existence either.  All three must be there.
     Now here is what we mean when we say that one conventional
perception has been contradicted by another.  We can be
standing looking at a scarecrow way off in the distance, and
someone next to us says "That's a man over there," and we
believe him.  Then someone comes up who's seen for himself that
the thing is a scarecrow and tells us "It's just a scarecrow."
Our initial perception of the thing as a man then vanishes.
This is an indication that the basis was not a reasonable one
for the given name.
     That's not all--we can go around giving out all sorts of
names, we can say "Rabbits have horns," but that's not going to
make the horns exist; there's no reasonable basis to get the
label.  Therefore we must have a reasonable, conventional state
of mind that is applying a name to a reasonable collection of
parts which acts as the basis we want to give the name--and
which actually exists.
     Thus too when we go to name somebody governor of a
district we have to have a person who is suitable to be given
the name--we must have a reasonable basis for our label.  We
don't take some deaf-mute bastard kid and appoint him governor.
     If any of these things existed from its own side, it
wouldn't have to rely on the group of parts we give its name,
and then each one would have to exist out there, on its own.
But that's not the way it is: they can only exist in dependence
on the group of parts we give their name.  And this is why they
do not exist from their own side, and they do not exist
naturally, and they do not exist truly.
     We can take some local chieftain; he is chief only so far
as we on our part call him "chief," and not out there from his
own side.  To us though the chief appears to exist out there on
his own, and we take him to be this way.  A chief that could
exist as we take him to is just what we want to see does not
exist.
     This "me" is the same way too.  It is not something that
exists out there on top of my body and mind.  Rather, it is
only something that appears to me only because I have applied
the name: I have taken the collection of parts and put upon
them the label and concept of "me": the "me" is only in name.
     The process of labelling occurs like this.  The basis to
be given the name exists out there.  From our side come the
concept that applies the name and the name itself.  We come out
then with something labelled--and it's nothing more than that.
     We can illustrate this with a building.  Say that someone
has just put up three new buildings, each with the same
attractive design.  They cannot be the "sleeping quarters" or
anything else from the very beginning, before they are given
their separate names.  But then the owner comes and puts a
different name on each building: he says, "This one will serve
as the sleeping quarters, and this one will be the kitchen
facility," and so on.  Only after this do we think to
ourselves, "These are the sleeping quarters," or "This is the
kitchen facility"--and only then do each of them exist as such.
We can have a basis to get the name--the group of buildings--
but until the one to give them the name actually does so,
they're not the three.  Thus a building too is nothing more
than something labelled with a name and a concept.  And we are
talking about more than just some building; the point is that
any existent entity is just the same: we must take it to be a
product of the labelling process, and not the basis which
receives our label.
     This applies equally to the conventional "me"--it only
exists insofar as I label it with some concept.  You and I tend
to think of "me" as something more than just a creation of
names; we have this vivid mental image of him out there on his
own, the intimate experiencer of all that he feels, pleasure or
pain or whatever.  The state of mind that clutches to "me" this
way is what we call "inborn grasping to a self," or the "inborn
destructible view."163  And the oh-so-vivid, self-standing "me"
that this state of mind clings to is the self that we must come
to see does not exist.  As the glorious Chandrakirti has said
as well,

        Here what we call "self" refers to any
     nature or state objects could have in which
     they relied on nothing else.  The non-existence
     of this is what we call "no-self."164

     Now the conventional "me"--the one that does exist--is
only something we've created with a label, using some basis to
take the label and some idea to give the label.  This is what
those lines in the ritual for the secret Frightener teaching
are referring to as they start off, "Since every object is
labelled, in dependence..."165  The same sentiment is
expressed, among other places, in the ritual for the secret
teaching of Highest Bliss: "Like an illusion, just labelled
with a concept."166
     If we really get into fine detail, we must analyze not the
way that objects appear to us, but rather how we grasp them.
Thus it is too with the object we want to see does not exist:
it is not that we will deny what appears to us, but rather what
we grasp.  This then can be like our refrain:

     Let me realize that these things are labelled,
           creations of concepts;
     That they can exist only in dependence on a basis
           to receive a name and someone to give the
           name;
     That they occur in dependence on many
           other factors;
     That they don't exist out there, on their own.

     Let's talk then about the thing we will see does not
exist, in terms of the object we grasp.  When we start to
examine whether it exists or not, the image that comes to our
mind is not the "me" that we have created with our labels, but
rather some "me" that looks like it exists out there, on his
own.  The object we grasp therefore consists not of the "me"
which is nothing but a label applied to our body and mind, but
rather of the "me" which seems to exist out there on its own,
on top the body and the mind together.
     Let's say for example that dusk has fallen and you see
some piece of rope with a checkered pattern. At first you put a
name onto it and think to yourself, "Oh my!  A snake!" After
that you forget it was you who put the name on it and it starts
to look like a snake out there on its own.  The way that it
looks just then is @not@ what we want to see doesn't exist.
Rather what we want to deny is @what we grasp:@ that the thing
we hold could really exist the way it looks to us to exist.
     It's just the same when we investigate this idea of "me."
Suppose someone comes up and calls you out by name.  At first
the "me" that appears to you is simply the conventional one:
you think to yourself, "He's calling me."  But then he says to
you, "So you're the thief!" or something like that.  Then your
"me" starts getting stronger and stronger; you start thinking
to yourself "Why is he pointing the finger at me? It wasn't me
who stole it.  They can't blame $ME!$"  You start saying "me"
"me" and the "me" starts looking like a "me" that can stand on
its own, a very vivid "me."
     Now we are not denying the existence of the ordinary,
conventional "me" that first appeared to you.  Nor are we
denying that "me" appeared to stand on its own, that it
appeared to truly exist.  We are not even denying the "me" that
appears to stand on its own, the "me" that appears to truly
exist.  Rather we are denying that "me" could actually stand on
its own, that "me" could actually exist naturally: we are
denying any "me" that could actually naturally exist.
     And when you deny this "me," when you see that this "me"
does not exist--when for your this so-vivid "me" that stands
out there on his own without relying on the two of mind and
body ceases to be, and all that's left is simple emptiness of
him, then as the sages say you have first found the "view of
the middle way."  And then you have found the "path that
pleases the Victors."
     When you do this sort of analysis, and you seek the thing
with the name, you will never be able to find a single atom of
anything in the universe that exists in itself.  All the normal
workings of the world though are quite logical and proper;
things make other things happen, things do what they do, though
all in only an apparent way, in a conventionally agreed-upon
way.
     A building for example can be without a single atom of
"true" existence, and yet so long as the causes and conditions
for the building have come together--so long as it exists
solely by virtue of a name and our concept of it--then it can
do everything a building is supposed to do, and perfectly so.
The reflection of some object in a mirror too may never be more
than just something that appears to the mind and gets itself a
name, it may never win any endorsement as being the object
itself, but it can still exhibit all the normal workings of
causation; the reflection may be nothing more than an
apparition, but it can still show you whether you have a spot
on your face, or whatever.  This then is why we say that "to
exist, it's enough to exist conventionally; but not existing
ultimately, is not enough to not exist."
     Any person who really understands interdependence in the
sense that we've just described it begins to develop a strong
recognition of the laws of actions and their consequences--
they become more and more important for him.
     And this is why.  First of all, good deeds lead to
pleasure and bad deeds lead to pain; each cause is connected to
its own result--it can never go wrong somehow and produce the
other result.  This invariable relationship comes from
interdependence.
     Once you understand the sense in which "interdependence"
refers to lack of any natural existence, then you understand by
implication that interdependence in the form of cause and
effect is, in a merely conventional way, entirely proper or
infallible.  This then allows you to gain a total conviction
towards the laws that govern all actions and consequences--
whether they be those within the circle of life or those that
are beyond it.
     We can say then that, because it depends on some other
group of things, no object can exist naturally.  And the fact
that nothing exists naturally is what makes cause and effect
perfectly plausible.  And the fact that all the workings of
cause and effect are perfectly plausible is what allows seeds
to turn to sprouts, and sprouts to grains, and all the rest.
     Suppose this were not the case, and seeds of barley or
whatever existed naturally--then they could never turn into
sprouts.  Neither could children ever turn into adults, or
anything of the like ever occur, if they all existed naturally.
If the higher births existed naturally, then it would be
impossible for a person in a higher birth to fall into the
hells.  If ordinary living beings existed naturally, then it
would be impossible for such a being to become a Buddha, and so
forth--the logical problems of being something "naturally" are
many.
     What we've said above, concluded our Lama, conveys a
teaching which is therefore unique to the "Implication" section
of the Middle Way school: that these two principles--cause and
effect, or interdependence, and the fact that nothing exists
naturally--go hand in hand, each supporting the other.



             XVI. How to Know When Your Analysis
                     is Still Incomplete


     The third of the five sections in our treatment of correct
view explains how to know when the analysis you are conducting
with the view you have is still incomplete.  This point is
brought out in the next verse of the root text:



                            #(11)#

    #You've yet to realize the thought of the Able
     As long as two ideas seem to you disparate:
     The appearance of things--infallible interdependence;
     And emptiness--beyond taking any position.#

     Let's say you've meditated on the instructions we've given
above.  You are directing your view to analyze all phenomena.
If your analysis is really complete, then interdependence and
emptiness must appear to you to go hand in hand, supporting
each other.
     Despite this fact, it appears that people like some of the
ancient Indian sages, and the earlier Tibetan Buddhists as
well, who made it seem like they had grasped the concept of no
self-nature nonetheless did not understand how to explain
interdependence.
     What the verse is saying then, concluded our Lama, is
this: "Suppose you do have some understanding of the two
concepts individually: of (1) the @'appearance of things,'@ or
interdependence, @and@ (2) @emptiness@--the fact that nothing
exists naturally.  But suppose to you they seem like
contradictory characteristics--you think that no object could
possess one, and still possess the other.
     "Consider these @two ideas:@ (1) @infallible
interdependence,@ where causes (that is, actions) of a certain
kind must always lead to results (consequences) of the same
kind; and (2) emptiness, the idea @beyond taking any position@-
-the fact that no existent object in the universe contains a
single atom of something that can exist on its own.
     "For such time as they appear this way to you@--so long as
@ the two ideas @seem to you@ mutually exclusive, like hot and
cold--then @you've yet to realize@ perfectly the ultimate point
of @the thought of the Able@ Ones, the Buddhas."



             XVII. How to Know When Your Analysis
                         is Complete


     This brings us to the fourth section: how to know when the
analysis you are performing with the view you've developed is
complete.  This is explained in the next verse of the root
text:

                            #(12)#

    #At some point they no longer alternate,
           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.#

     Now here's what we mean when we say that "at some point
they no longer alternate."  We take two things: first, the fact
that everything about the way things work, and about good deeds
and bad deeds, is perfectly proper, despite the fact that no
single object is anything more than labels, just names.
Secondly there is the fact that, when we try to seek out the
thing that got the name, we find only emptiness: that there is
not a single atom of natural existence in whatever object we
have chosen.
     @At some point@ you gain an ability to explain these two
facts so that @they come together,@ and @no longer alternate.@
That is, you come to realize how both emptiness and
interdependence can apply to one and the same object, with no
contradiction at all.
     You see then that interdependence is infallible, that it
is nothing but using a concept to label the collection of parts
that serve as the basis to take our label.  @Just seeing@ this
fact, @that interdependence never fails, brings@ you a
@realization@ that completely obviates @the way@ that your
tendency to grasp to true existence @holds its objects.@  And
then when you think of emptiness, you see interdependence; when
you think of interdependence, you see emptiness.  This is by
the way what certain holy sages have meant when they said,
"Once you grasp the secret of interdependence, the meaning of
emptiness comes in a flash."167
     Once all this happens to you, you come to realize that the
point of interdependence is that nothing exists truly.  And
this point itself, that nothing exists truly, has the power
then of bringing out in your mind a strong and certain
realization that interdependence never fails.  @And then@ you
know that the @analysis@ you are performing, now @using@ the
pure @view@ of the "Implication" section of the Middle Way
school, @is@ finally @complete.@  We can also say, concluded
our Lama, that you have then found the unique thought of
Nagarjuna himself.



                   XVIII. A Unique Teaching
                  of the "Implication" School


     The fifth and final section in our explanation of correct
view concerns a unique teaching followed by the "Implication"
group of the Middle Way school.  This instruction is contained
in the following verse of the root text.

                            #(13)#

    #In addition, the appearance prevents the
           existence extreme;
     Emptiness that of non-existence, and if
     You see how emptiness shows in cause
           and effect
     You'll never be stolen off by extreme views.#


     Now all the schools except for the members of the
"Implication" group hold that an understanding of the
appearance of things prevents you from falling into what we
call the "extreme of thinking things do not exist," while an
understanding of emptiness prevents you from falling into what
is known as the "extreme of thinking things do exist."
     The position of the Implication group though is that no
particular object you can choose has any true existence, aside
from merely appearing this way; and understanding this prevents
you from going to the extreme of thinking things exist--that
is, exist in an ultimate way. And because this mere appearance
itself cannot exist on its own, an understanding of emptiness
prevents your falling into the extreme of thinking things do
not exist--that is, do not exist in a conventional way.
     Once something is interdependent there is no possibility
for it to be anything else but something which does not exist
naturally--something which cannot stand on its own.  This is
because it must then occur in dependence on the collection of
parts which serve as the basis that receives our label.  Look
at the example of some feeble old man, unable to rise from his
chair by himself, who must seek some other support to get up--
he cannot stand on his own.  Here it's a similar case: no
object can stand on its own, no object can exist just
naturally, so long as it must depend on any other factor.
     Generally speaking, there are a great number of logical
proofs that can be used when you want to establish the meaning
of no self-nature.  There is one though which is like the king
of them all, and this is it: the "proof through
interdependence."  Let's say we put forth this argument to
someone, and we say:

           Consider a sprout.
           It cannot exist truly,
           For it is interdependent.

Members of certain non-Buddhist schools will answer "I disagree
with your reason," which is to say, "Sprouts are not
interdependent."  This they must say because they believe that
every object in the universe is a manifestation of some
primeval One.
     The majority of the earlier Tibetan Buddhists fell into
the extreme that we call "thinking things have stopped," for
they would say that if something did not exist truly it could
not exist at all.  The schools from the Mind-Only on down, the
group of schools known collectively as the "Functionalists,"
all fall into the extreme of "thinking things are permanent,"
for they cannot explain interdependence if they accept that
nothing exists naturally. Members of the "Independent" group
within the Middle Way school accept the idea of
interdependence, but do not agree that if something is
interdependent it cannot "exist by definition."  This too is
tantamount to the extreme of thinking things are permanent.
     The real sages of the Middle Way school make a fourfold
distinction: they say that nothing exists naturally, but not
that nothing exists at all; everything exists merely by
convention, but everything exists without existing naturally.
The point of error for the Functionalists and those other
schools is their failure to distinguish between these four: two
kinds of "nothing exists" and two kinds of "everything exists."
     According to the Implication system, both extremes--
thinking things are permanent and thinking things have stopped
--can be prevented with a single logical statement: "It cannot
exist truly, because it is interdependent."  The first part of
the statement keeps us from the extreme of thinking things are
permanent; the second, from the extreme of thinking things have
stopped.
     My own precious teacher, Chone Lama,168 was always saying
that both parts of the statement @each@ prevent @both@ of the
extremes--permanence and stopping.  He would explain this as
follows: the literal sense of the statement's first part, "It
cannot exist truly," serves to prevent the extreme of thinking
things are permanent.  The implication of saying that something
cannot exist "truly" though is to say that, more generally, it
is not non-existent; this then disallows the extreme of
thinking that things have stopped.  And this description, he
would say, was enough for us to figure out for ourselves the
process for the second part of the statement: "...because it is
interdependent."
     With this understanding we can see why the glorious
Chandrakirti stated:

     Therefore this proof employing interdependence
     Cuts the net of every mistaken view.169

So we've shown that no object in the universe exists truly;
we've given "because it's interdependent" as our reason for
saying so; and we've demonstrated that these two facts can
prevent one from falling into either extreme.  This too is why
we see statements like the following, from @Root Wisdom:@

     Everything is right for any thing
     For which the state of emptiness is right.170

Or the well-known sutra lines:

           Form is emptiness,
           Emptiness form.171

These last lines by the way are stated to show that
interdependence is itself empty, and emptiness itself
interdependent.  It helps your understanding of this point if
you take the same pattern and read it as

           I am emptiness,
           Emptiness me.


     In short, concluded our Lama, the laws of cause and effect
are all totally proper for any entity which is empty of any
natural existence.  If you can just keep yourself from falling
into the two extremes, you will make no great other blunders in
your effort to develop correct view.*NEW PAGE*












                           PRACTICE




















































         XIX. Put Into Practice What You Have Learned


     We have now reached the last, the fourth part to our
overall explanation of the actual body of the text.  It
consists of some strong words of encouragement--that the reader
should try to recognize the truth of these instructions and
then actually go and practice them.  As the final verse of the
root text says,


                            #(14)#

    #When you've 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.#

     This verse is a very personal instruction that Lord
Tsongkapa, out of deepest feelings of love, has granted to all
of us who hope to follow him.  He is saying to us, "Go first
and try to grasp the essential points of the three principal
paths as I have explained them above; do so by listening to
teachings on them over and over again.
     "Then use contemplation to gain a recognition of the truth
of these points; do this in retreat, staying in a state of
isolation where you cut all ties to this life, and live
according to the principle of having few material wants and
being satisfied with whatever you have--keep your concerns and
activities few.  Make mighty efforts at this practice; act
quickly, never lose yourself to putting off your practice; and
then win, my son, the ultimate wish of all your many
lifetimes."
     There are profound essential points even within these
words the Lord has used about essential points.  The word
"isolation," for example, is meant to refer to isolating
yourself not only on the outside--staying in some place far
from the hustle and bustle of life--but within your own mind:
keep your mind from making its usual intercontinental tour of
the eight worldly thoughts and your thousand daily hopes and
fears.172
     "Making efforts" has its own special meaning: we don't say
for example that you are "making efforts" when you are trying
your hardest to do some bad deed.  Real "efforts" are those you
make with an enthusiasm for good.
     "Your ultimate wish" in a sense really starts from now,
and continues on up to the point where you become a Buddha
yourself.  And what the verse is saying is that you must put
all your strength into winning your goal now, quickly, for you
cannot be sure how many days are left in your life.
     Just what does it mean to "make mighty efforts?"  People
like you an I can start a practice in the morning, like going
into retreat to gain a special relationship with some holy
being, and by the time evening comes around we begin looking
for some mystical sign that the practice is having its effect--
we expect by then to meet some deity face to face, or hear some
voice that tells us we are going to get enlightened on such and
such a date, or have some special dream or vision.
     But that's not what religious practice is all about. The
scriptures say that even our compassionate Teacher, the Lord
Buddha, had to practice for three "countless" eons173 before he
attained the state of enlightenment.  You and I then have to
think to ourselves, "I am ready to spend no less than a hundred
thousand lifetimes in my practice, if this is what it takes."
     We must spend much time in learning, and reasoning out,
and then meditating on the various Steps on the path to
Buddhahood.  To do this we have to set a goal for ourselves,
for practicing and then fully realizing the three principal
paths: we have to say, "At best, I am going to gain them in a
day.  If it takes me a month, I'll consider it average.  But at
the very least I will see that I have them within this year."
     We should follow the words of Geshe Dolpa, one of the
Seers of the Word, who said:

          Steps of the path! Steps of the path!
          They all come down to three short words:
          "Look far ahead,"
          "Think very big,"
          "Keep a pace."174

What he meant by the expression "Look for ahead" was that we
should set our sights on becoming a Buddha.  "Thinking big"
means we should think to ourselves, "To reach my enlightenment,
I'm going to practice absolutely all the paths, one by one:
those of the three increasing scopes, and those of the secret
teaching--the levels of creation and completion."
     Now in the worldly side of things, people who know they
must die within the year still make grand plans and act as if
they're going to live a hundred.  In the spiritual side of
things, you and I are the opposite: we set our sights as low as
we can when it comes to the threefold practice of learning,
contemplating and meditating--even down to the few prayers
we're supposedly reciting daily.  We always pick out the
easiest practice possible--we always think small, we think
"This is about all I could manage."
     But you're wrong: if you really put forth the effort,
there's no question that you can even become a Buddha. As @The
Bodhisattva's Life@ says,

     Don't be a quitter, and think to yourself
     "How could I ever become a Buddha?"
     Those who've Gone That Way only speak
     The truth, and this is a truth they spoke:

     "Even those who live as bugs,
     Flies or gnats, and even germs,
     Reach matchless, hard-won Buddhahood
     If they really make an effort."

     Here am I born as a man,
     Able to tell what's right and wrong;
     What's to keep me from getting enlightened
     If I keep on acting an enlightened way?175

Therefore you should think as small as you can in your worldly
work, but as $BIG$ as you can in your spiritual.
     Now the words "Keep a pace" mean that you should avoid the
kind of practice where you go back and forth between making
fierce efforts at it and then letting it go completely--laying
around and doing nothing.  You should rather keep a steady pace
in the effort you give your spiritual practice: let it flow on
constant, like some great river.  Do anything in your power,
our Lama concluded, to draw the very essence from this life of
opportunity.














                        IN CONCLUSION




















































            XX. The Conclusion of the Explanation


     This brings us to the last of the major divisions of the
work: closing remarks that come with the conclusion of our
explanation of the text.  These are indicated in the colophon
that appears after the last verse of the root text:

       #These instructions were imparted to Ngawang
     Drakpa, a friar from the Tsako district, by that
     very learned Buddhist monk, the glorious Lobsang
     Drakpa.#176

Now some of you, by listening and thinking carefully about the
three principal paths as we've explained them above, might
finally have come to some real recognition of what they mean--
and you may wish to go on to the next step: meditating on these
paths, so you can actually grow them in your mind. Here you
will need to know the proper series of visualizations.177
     The very first line of the root text, "I bow to all the
high and holy lamas," tells us--in an indirect way--the first
steps we will have to take.  These will include visualizing the
traditional assembly of holy beings, what we call the
"Collection Field,"178 as well as going through the practices
of collecting great loads of good deeds, and purifying
ourselves of our bad deeds.  In short, we will have to use one
of the "preliminary practice" or similar texts, related either
to @Path of Bliss@ or @Quick Path.@179
     Even just in the sections there where you raise a correct
motivation, you are going to have to do a complete mental
review of the entire length of the path, from beginning to end.
This means that you will also be giving thought to those Steps
of the path where you try to recognize how valuable your life
of leisure and fortune is, how hard such a life is to find, and
so on.  There is a very important difference here if, as you go
along in the meditation, you keep your mind filled with a truly
exceptional motivation--the wish to become a Buddha for every
living being, the attitude of the highest scope.  Then the
realizations that come to you at these particular Steps will be
for you paths that you merely share with people of the lesser
and medium scopes, rather than the actual paths or attitudes as
these people have them.180
     When you come to the part where you go for refuge, you can
use either system--the one in @Path of Bliss@ and @Quick Path@
or the one from the Collection Field painting related to this
teaching--for visualizing the beings who are going to shelter
you.  There are two ways as well of picturing how the ambrosia
descends from them to purify you: it can pulse or twist down
along the outside of a light ray, or else flow down to you
through the inside of a tube-like ray.
     What the ambrosia has to purify is our past bad deeds and
all the things that block our spiritual progress.  The root of
all these problems is the tendency we have, at the very bottom
of our hearts, to cherish ourselves rather than others.
Therefore you imagine all the bad deeds and blocks piled in a
pitch-black lump in this same place: within your heart.
     The ambrosia-light drops through your body and forces all
the blackness down ahead of it.  Underground, sitting below
you, is the lord of Death in the form of a huge black sow.181
She has come because she hungers for your life, and her jaws
are opened wide, pointed up, waiting.  It is extremely
important at this point that you imagine the blackness dropping
into her open mouth--that it satisfies her fully, and that she
will never again seek to harm you.
     As you take your refuge, you keep your mind on the two
reasons for doing so.182  If these two feelings are for you
just artificial, and forced, your refuge will be no better.
But if they are true feelings, your refuge too will be true.
     At the stage in your meditation where you practice the
wish to become enlightened for every living being, there is a
point where you imagine that you have already reached the goal,
in order to help you actually do so later.  Here you visualize
that all the inhabitants of the universe are pure, free of any
bad deeds or spiritual obstacles.  The universe itself, the
place which these beings inhabit, is a product of their
collective deeds--and so you must imagine that it too is
completely pure.  This instruction is of high importance; it
comes from the same source as the holy practices in the great
secret traditions where you become the lord of a mystical
world.
     Next in the meditation you come to the practice of the
"immeasurables";183 here you must be aware that they are not
just what they call the "four places of the Pure One," but
rather something quite different.  The compassion, for example,
is not just that ordinary type: it is Great Compassion.  And
the loving-kindness is Great Loving-Kindness.
     As for the order of the four immeasurables, it is
important that you meditate first on the feeling of neutrality
towards all beings; this then matches the feeling's position in
the seven-part, cause-and-effect instruction for developing the
wish to become a Buddha for every living being.
     The next section in the meditation is the one we call the
"special wish for Buddhahood."184  It is not the wish itself,
but it is very effective in furthering one's development of the
wish.
     Here are some notes about the next step in the meditation,
where you visualize the "Collection Field." There is a magical
tree at the base of the picture, a tree that gives you whatever
you wish.  You should imagine that it has grown from a union of
your own merit and the enlightenment-wish of the beings of the
assemblage.  Lord Tsongkapa, at the center of the group, is
white; this symbolizes the quality he possesses and which we
would like to achieve: cleaning ourselves of both kinds of
obstacles--those that prevent us from reaching nirvana and
those that prevent us from reaching total enlightenment.
     To Lord Tsongkapa's own left is a volume of scripture,
which you should visualize as the @Eight Thousand Verses@ on
the perfection of wisdom.185  This is meant to symbolize the
varying levels and needs that various disciples have, depending
on how sharp their intellects are.  These points, our Lama told
us, were an oral teaching from his own teacher, the Great
Tutor--the Holder of the Diamond.186
     The volume of scripture in your meditation is speaking out
loud, relating to you its contents.  You should imagine that
the book is talking about the very practices you are working
on--renunciation, the wish to become a Buddha for all beings,
and so on.  Our Lama went on to give us some special
instructions on the "threefold being," where we picture a holy
being inside Lord Tsongkapa's heart, and yet another holy being
within this being's heart.
     When you visualize the teachers of what we call the
"Blessings for Practice" lineage, you should follow the verses
known as "Knowledge Unlocks the World".187  Here you picture
that all these figures, with the exception of the Holder of the
Diamond, appear in the form of Gentle Voice. When you visualize
this same lineage in the meditation from the @Offering to Lamas
@manual,188 there is a distinction of whether you involve it
with the practice of the Great Seal or not.
     The tutelary deities and similar beings in the
visualization are pictured according to @Path of Bliss@ and
@Quick Path.@  This means that in front you have those who
belong to the group of secret teachings known as the
"Unsurpassed." To the center figure's own right are those of
the "Master Practitioner" group; to the rear are those of the
"Activity" group, and to the left those of the "Action"
group.189
     You can do this visualization another way too.  Picture
the divine being known as "Secret Collection" at the front. On
the central figure's right is "Frightener," on the left is
"Highest Bliss," and at the back is "Lo Diamond," or the like.
Outside of them then come deities of the Master Practitioner
group, and outside of them those of the Activity group, then
the Action group, and so on.190
     There are three different ways of visualizing the crystal
bath house when you come to the part where you imagine that you
are washing the body of each of the holy beings as an offering
to him.  You can make a house appear in each of the four
directions, or to the east, or else to the south.  At this
point you see yourself sending out copies of yourself, so that
three of you stand before each member of the assembly.  The act
of emanating out many bodies of yourself here and at other
places in the meditation has an additional benefit: it serves
to ripen the potential in you of actually learning to emanate
yourself.  You will gain this ability when you reach the
various bodhisattva levels, and use it for the good of others.
     When you get to the final preliminary practice, the
supplication, you should use mainly the text of "Knowledge
Unlocks the World."  It's permissible here if you wish to
picture the central figure with a "body mandala"--a complete
secret world and its inhabitants, all part of his own body.
Use the one that you find in the @Offering to Lamas.@191
     For all the other parts of the meditation--whether they
relate to preliminaries, to the main meditation itself, or to
its proper conclusion--you should refer to the various texts on
the Steps of the path to Buddhahood and apply the appropriate
sections.  It is very good if, at the very conclusion of your
meditation session, you can recite a closing prayer starting
with the line, "May this good deed, standing for whatever ones
are done..."192
     I have been fortunate enough, our Lama concluded, to
receive these instructions on the @Three Principal Paths@--on
both the verses of the text and their commentary--at the feet
of many saintly, accomplished sages.  I heard them from the
holy lips of my own precious Lama, my protector and savior, who
is the lord of the wish to achieve Buddhahood for all beings,
and who was one and the same with the savior Serlingpa.193  And
I heard them from my refuge and lord, the Holder of the Diamond
from Drupkang, whose blessed name my lips are hardly worthy to
pronounce: the good and glorious Lobsang Ngawang Tenzin Gyatso.
     I have tried here to offer you but a very brief teaching
on the three principal paths, using the lines of the root text
as our guide.  I beseech every person here, please be so very
kind, as to take what I have offered in my words and put it
into actual practice, to the absolute best that you can.
     Thus did our Lama bless us, and with joy then uttered the
verse with which we dedicate a great good deed, to the good of
every living being.194



















                            PRAYER





















































                   XXI. A Disciple's Prayer


     He's the lord who stages and then withdraws the
          show, a myriad @ocean@
     Of @mighty deeds@ the Victors in all three times
          perform to @keep@
    @The teaching@ tradition that joins both ways,
          those passed from Gentle Voice
     And from the savior @Loving One,@ the deep thought
          of the Victors.195

     He's a god who goes to the matchless mystery
          of his mind, a treasure
     Resplendent with all ten forces, to speak
          the gold mine of the sages;
     He's Lobsang Drakpa, of shining fame, and
          into this world came
     The jewels of the holy dharma spewed out
          from his lips.196

     He's the revered father of all Victors; in the
          form of their son, a child197
     Gave a teaching that draws the essence of
          the nectar from the cream
     Of the eighty thousand,198 the mystery of
          the Buddhas' speech: we call it
     Three Principal Paths, well-known as the sun
          in the sky of the immaculate Word.

     His lines are none of those empty words,
          supposedly deep, incomplete,
     But rather spout a thousand riches, advice
          from experience
     Of each step of the meaning itself, the
          high paths in their entirety,
     Capturing the glory of good of the world
          or peace, wherever.199

     Come great warrior, who has no fear of what
          will make him wise;
     Take up the bow of these wonderful books, the
          true Word, open and secret;
     Use it with the feathered shafts of reasoning,
          way of the wise
     Throughout the world, pierce the hearts of
          those who would teach wrong.

     When will I decide to give the rest of my
          life some meaning?
     When will I throw away this lie of
          happiness in this life,
     The shining embrace of grabbing after
          good things in this world,
     My forever friend, the foe of my
          forever happiness.

     In this and my future lives may I never
          fail to collect
     More of the short and long-term causes
          which bring me both the bodies;200
     May I win the beauty of eyes that guide
          myself and others too
     On the excellent paths, fixed upon
          the wise and adept ahead.

     This is not a load that the likes of me
          could ever bear,
     But I've tried my best to put his eloquence
          down in black and white.
     I may have slipped, and lost some words
          or meaning, or the like;
     I kneel before my Lama and freely admit
          any errors made.

     By the pure white force in deeds like this
          endeavor I've completed
     May my thoughts, those of others too, all turn
          to the holy dharma.
     May it come to cause us all to cut what
          ties us to this life,
     And help us take best essence from the time
          and chance we have.

So this is the teaching on the three principal paths given by
our lord and lama, the one who granted us all three kinds of
kindness,201 our savior, the god who stood at the center of our
universe, the Holder of the Diamond himself, the good and
glorious Pabongka.  He bestowed upon us many times this
profound instruction, using the words of the root text as a
guide.
     Various records were made on the different occasions that
he delivered this teaching; there were five such manuscripts in
the hands of different people.  They have been compiled here by
myself, Suddhi Vadzra,202 a monk from the monastery of Den, a
man who ails from his lack of spiritual knowledge, a mere
pretender dressed in robes, the very lowest of the whole great
circle of disciples who have reverently bowed and touched their
heads at the holy dust upon the feet of the great Lama, our
dear father, whose kindness defies repayment.
     I was able to complete this work because of the blessings
of this highest of guides himself; those received during the
many years I spent at his side while he was living, and those
which even now emanate from his remains, his precious relics.
     I have written these pages where those relics themselves
reside, bathed in the light that blazes from them, at that holy
hermitage known as Tashi Chuling.203
     May it help all living beings!



                         A SECRET KEY






















































                      XXII. A Secret Key
                 to the Three Principal Paths



     Here is a "Secret Key to the Three Principal Paths,"
consisting of notes composed by Gungtang.204


     The opening line of Lord Tsongkapa's @Three Principal
Paths,@ what we call the "offering of praise," is meant to
indicate the root of all successful practice--proper reliance
on a spiritual teacher--and the six preliminaries.205
     The lines including the one that reads "The essence of all
high teachings of the Victors" can be taken as applying to the
three principal paths individually, or to the three as a whole.
When you teach someone these three paths, you go through them
one by one; but when you meditate upon them, each one must be
suffused with the other two.  This fact you can ascertain from
the introductory reference to the latter two paths in the very
first verse.  If you didn't do your meditations this way, then
your feelings of renunciation could not be considered a path of
the greater way.
     Everyone gets the urge from time to time to do some
spiritual practice, but all of us are cheated of the chance by
our tendency to put our practice off for another day. This is
why, in the root text, Lord Tsongkapa gives the teaching on
this precious life of opportunity right together with the
advices on our approaching death.
     He also juxtaposes the teaching on the problems of cyclic
life and the teaching on actions and their consequences--for
the reason that every pain we feel in this circle of life is
caused by the bad deeds we have done before.
     In the verses where he explains how to meditate on the
wish for enlightenment too he manages to interweave both
systems--the one taught by Lord Atisha and the one which Master
Shantideva gave.  The fact that the word "mothers" in these
verses is plural is meant to refer to the one system, where you
exchange you self-concern with a concern for others--a kind of
even-mindedness.206  The very mention of the word "mother" at
all is meant to refer to the step in the other system where you
recognize that all beings are your own mother.  And the words
that come before the mention of "mothers" are meant to bring
out the step of compassion.
     When you "think of what's happening"207 here you can do it
two ways.  You can @think of what@ other beings did for you in
the past when they were your mothers; this is how you remember
their kindness in the step that follows recognizing them as
mothers in the first place, in the one system.  On top of that
you can also @think of what@ other beings are doing for you
even now, every day; this is how it's done in the system where
you exchange yourself and others.  This second way of doing it
gives fantastic results: you no longer have to worry that you
lost your chance to plant this fertile field by repaying their
kindness then, for here they are around you, lots of fields to
plant.  It's only your own failure to recognize their present
kindness; they are your ticket to fulfilling the needs of every
living being, but you don't give them any credit for it.
     Now the concept of interdependence can refer to the fact
that things come from causes.  Sometimes though things can be
turned all upside down, like spears that you plant points-up to
support a canopy, and we can say in many cases that "causes"
depend on "results."  Therefore the system that we use here is
based principally on interdependence in the sense of labelling
due to dependence.
     How does the labelling work?  Suppose there's a person who
never had the name "Tashi," and then one day you go and give
him the new name "Tashi."208  After a few days you begin to
forget that it was you who gave him the name "Tashi," and he
starts looking like he is "Tashi" all on his own.  The process
by which your perception changes here is rather subtle and
difficult to recognize.  You can read all the books and start
to think you know what no-self is, but then you've got to go
back to the lower school systems and work your way up: make
sure you can picture what they think "no-self" means as well.
If you can't then you're probably pretty far from correct view
yourself.209
     Here in his verses Lord Tsongkapa first makes the
statement that, unless you have the wisdom that perceives
ultimate reality, the other two principal paths can never free
you.  Then the next thing he mentions, at least directly, is
interdependence.  The point he is trying to make is "If you
understand interdependence, you understand ultimate reality; if
not, then you don't."
     And the same can be said for grasping the fact that an
understanding of the appearance of things prevents you from
falling into the extreme of thinking things exist.  Even a
non-Buddhist school like the so-called "Cast-Offs"210 can think
the opposite: not even they make the mistake of denying that
understanding the appearance of things prevents you from
falling into the extreme of thinking that nothing exists.
Therefore the idea that it keeps you from falling into the
first extreme is truly unique.
     The above are only a few words of instruction, but they
represent the concentrated essence of everything that the
Master Tutor, the Precious One, has taught.  Hold them
therefore very dear to your heart.


                           -------


     The original woodblock printing of this text was sponsored
by a devotee of matchless faith and morals, from the house of
Hlalu, a veritable garden of bliss.211  He dedicates this act
to the higher good of every living being.









                            NOTES



1. @illustrious scholar Changkya Rolpay Dorje:@ An excellent
introduction to the history of the Changkya line has been
written by E. Gene Smith and is included in his foreword to the
collected works of the Tibetan sage Tuken Dharma Vajra (see pp.
1-7, vol. 1, bibliography entry 52).

2. @fifteen scroll-paintings:@ There are at least four sets of
the paintings outside of Tibet; they are very much alike
because the "paintings" are actually block-prints.  In my
student days these prints were available at Narthang Monastery
near the town of Shigatse to the southwest of Lhasa--one would
hire a painter to fill in the colors and write the traditional
inscriptions explaining each scene.

3. @I don't see how...@ See pp. 221-2 of Vol. I of the
Rinpoche's biography, bibliography entry 55.

4. @Ngawang Drakpa and his classmates:@ See p. 293,
bibliography entry 27.

5. @famous bodhisattva Ever-Weeping:@ The text is still extant;
see bibliography entry 64.

6. @these few beautiful lines:@ The lines quoted by Pabongka
Rinpoche's biographer appear on p. 584 (bibliography entry 69).
Immediately following this letter in Lord Tsongkapa's collected
works are preserved two more sent to Ngawang Drakpa; the first
of these contains the @Three Principal Paths.@

7. @Door to the Noble Path:@ The edition of Pabongka Rinpoche's
commentary translated here is listed at bibliography entry 46;
the original verses by Lord Tsongkapa are found in his
collected works at entry 68.  Some other useful explanations of
Lord Tsongkapa's @Three Principal Paths@ are those by the
following masters:

     The Great Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang
        Gyatso (1617-1682) at entries 16 and 17;
     Tsechok Ling, Yeshe Gyeltsen (1713-1793) at
        entries 78 and 79;
     Tendar Hlarampa (b. 1759) at entry 30;
     Welmang Konchok Gyeltsen (1764-1853) at entry 7;
     Ngulchu Dharmabhadra (1772-1851) at entries
        37 and 38; as well as
     Mokchok Trulku (modern) at entry 59.

8. @Holder of the Diamond:@ A form of the Buddha in which he
gives secret teachings.

9. @the saffron robe:@ The robes of a human, Buddhist monk.

10. @secret three of every Victor:@ The mystery of body,
speech, and mind of every one of the countless Buddhas.
Buddhas are called "Victors" because they have overcome the
obstacles that prevent one from eliminating all bad thoughts
and knowing all things.

11. @Gentle Voice:@ Divine form representing all the wisdom of
the Buddhas.

12. @Three Principal Paths:@ "Path" in Buddhist philosophy
refers to a stage of mental realization.  The title has often
been translated as "Three Principles of the Path," but the
point is that renunciation, the wish for enlightenment, and
correct view are each one a principal path.

13. @Dharma:@ A word of many meanings, most often "spiritual
teachings" or "existing object."

14. @all three realms:@ Meaning all the world.  Buddhism
teaches that there are three realms of existence.  We live in
the "desire" realm, so called because our principal interests
are food and sex.  Higher up is the "form" realm, where beings
live in a state of meditation and have beautiful forms.  Even
higher is the "formless" realm, where beings are free of gross
suffering and have only mental bodies.

15. @More than a wishing jewel...@ From the very brief version
of Lord Tsongkapa's @Steps on the Path to Buddhahood@ (f.  56a,
bibliography entry 63).  The entire context appears below in
the discussion of renunciation.

16. @three "problems of the pot":@ How not to listen to a
teaching--like a pot with the lid closed (not paying attention
to what is going on), a pot full of grime (listening with
ignoble motivations, such as the desire for a big reputation),
and a pot with the bottom fallen out (not retaining what was
heard--one is advised to review daily with one's fellow
students).  See Lord Tsongkapa's greater @Steps on the Path,@
entry 61, f. 16; as well as Pabongka Rinpoche's famed
@Liberation in Our Hands,@ entry 47, ff. 54-5.

17. @six images for the instruction:@ How one should listen to
a teaching--

     a) Think of yourself as a patient, for your
          mental afflictions (desire and the rest)
          make you sick.
     b) Think of the dharma as medicine.
     c) Think of your teacher as a master physician.
     d) Think of following his teachings exactly,
          and as long as needed, as following the
          doctor's orders to get better.
     e) Think of the Buddhas as infallible, or of
          the Infallible One (your teacher) as a
          Buddha.
     f) Pray that this great cure, the teachings
          of the Buddhas, may long remain in the
          world.

See Lord Tsongkapa, entry 61, ff. 16-19, and Pabongka Rinpoche,
entry 47, ff. 55-61.

18. @three lands:@ That is, below the earth (where the serpent-
beings and similar creatures live), upon the earth (where men
are found), and in the sky above the earth (where deities make
their home).

19. @Ngawang Drakpa:@ See the Foreword for a description of
this disciple's life.

20. @three different scopes:@ The wish to escape oneself from
the lower realms, the wish to escape oneself from the entire
circle of life, and the wish to achieve full enlightenment for
the sake of every living being.

21. @lives of misery:@ A birth in the hells, as an insatiable
spirit, or as an animal.

22. @Channels and Winds, etc.:@ All highly advanced practices
from the secret teachings of the Buddha.

23. @Geshe Puchungwa (1031-1106) and Chen-ngawa (1038-1103):@
Source of quotation not found.  Geshe Puchungwa, full name
Shunnu Gyeltsen, was one of the "three great brothers," direct
disciples of Lord Drom Tonpa who helped him found and spread
the Seer tradition of the early Tibetan Buddhist masters (see
notes 36 and 49 below).  Chen-ngawa, also known as Tsultrim
Bar, was another of the three, as was the great Potowa (see
note 42).

24. @five sciences:@ Classical grammar, logic, Buddhist theory,
the fine arts, and medicine.

25. @five types of clairvoyance:@ Supernormal powers of
emanation, sight, hearing, perception of the past, and
knowledge of others' thoughts.

26. @eight great attainments:@ These are to gain "the sword,"
which allows one to travel anywhere; "the pill," which enables
you to become invisible or assume any outer form; "the eye
ointment," which helps you see minute or very distant objects;
"swift feet," the ability to travel at high speeds; "taking
essence," an ability to live off nothing but tiny bits of
sustenance; "sky walk," the ability to fly; and "underground,"
the power to pass through solid ground like a fish through
water.

27. @Lord Atisha (982-1054):@ Full name Dipamkara Shri Jnyana,
illustrious Indian sage who brought the teachings of the Steps
of the path to Tibet.  Author of @Lamp on the Path,@ a
prototype text of this genre (bibliography entry 57).

28. @the Brahmin's son Tsanakya:@ In his classic work on the
Steps to Buddhahood, Pabongka Rinpoche explains that Tsanakya
was able to master the difficult secret practice of the Lord of
Death, but fell to the lowest hell because he used his
knowledge to harm other beings (f. 225b, entry 47).

29. @master meditator of Lo Diamond:@ The Rinpoche's @
Liberation in Our Hands@ again explains (f. 291b, entry 47).
The practitioner undertook one of the most powerful practices
of the secret teachings, but due to his less than perfect
motivation was able to achieve only a lower result.  Lord
Atisha notes here that such practitioners had even dropped to
the hells.

30. @giving, morality, etc.:@ The first five of the six
Buddhist perfections.  The last is the perfection of wisdom.

31. @Suppose you fail...@ Quotation from Lord Tsongkapa's
report to his teacher and disciple, the venerable Rendawa, on
teachings received from Gentle Voice himself (ff. 2b-3a, entry
62).

32. @body of form and dharma body:@ The physical form of a
Buddha and his mind (along with this mind's ultimate nature)
are called the "form body" and "dharma body," respectively.

33. @two obstacles:@ See note 10.

34. @two types of desire to reach Buddhahood:@ See note 136.

35. @Suppose you try...@ Quotation from Lord Tsongkapa's @opus
magnum@ (f. 156b, entry 61).

36. @Everybody's got some mystic being...@  Original source of
quotation not found; it appears also in Pabongka Rinpoche's
@Liberation in Our Hands@ (f. 294a, entry 47).  The Seers of
the Word were an eminent group of early Buddhist masters in
Tibet whose lineage descended from Lord Atisha and his
principal disciple, Lord Drom Tonpa.  The school's name in
Tibetan, "Kadampa," is explained as meaning that they were able
to see the Word of the Buddha @(ka)@ as personal instruction
@(dam)@ that applied immediately to their own practice.

37. @I used the "Lamp on the Path":@ The full context of this
quotation appears in Pabongka Rinpoche's @Liberation in Our
Hands@ (f. 37b, entry 47); it reveals much of the sources of
our text and restates its comprehensive nature.  Lord Tsongkapa
has just related the contents of a major section of his massive
@Greater Steps on the Path to Buddhahood@ to his divine mentor,
Gentle Voice.  And then,

        Gentle Voice asked the Lord in a playful way,
     "Well now, is there anything in your work that
     isn't covered in those three principal paths
     I taught you?"
        Lord Tsongkapa replied, "This is how I composed
     my work.  I took the three principal paths which
     you, oh Holy One, taught me, and made them the very
     life of the path.  I used the @Lamp on the Path@ as
     my basic text, and supplemented it with many other
     advices of the Seers of the Word."

38. @Master Dandin:@ Hindu poet dated to about the 7th Century
A.D., author of @The Mirror of Poetics,@ a renowned treatise on
composition (quotation on f. 322b, entry 34).  We have not been
able to locate the next quotation in the text.

39. @traditions of "far-reaching activity" and "profound view":
@Refer, respectively, to the teachings on the wish for
enlightenment and correct view (the former assuming
renunciation, the third principal path).  See also note 195.

40. @"Knowledge Unlocks the World":@ Famed verses of
supplication by Lord Tsongkapa himself, named from the opening
line (see f. 3a, entry 65).  The three beings mentioned are
different forms of the Buddha.

41. @three types of knowledge:@ Realizations of the true nature
of reality, in varying degrees.

42. @To reach liberation...@ Geshe Potowa (1031-1105), full
name Rinchen Sel, was a master of the Seer tradition and one of
the three great disciples of Lord Drom Tonpa (see notes 23 and
49).  His @Metaphors@ (with commentary at entry 19) are an
important predecessor to later works on the Steps.  The
quotation here is found on p. 14 of Hladri Gangpa's commentary
to the @Blue Book@ (see entry 89), a compilation of the great
Potowa's teachings written out by his student Geshe Dolpa (see
note 174).

43. @source of good qualities:@ Opening words of a supplication
from a famed devotional text, the @Offering to Lamas,@ by the
venered Lobsang Chukyi Gyeltsen, first of the illustrious
Panchen Lamas of Tibet (p. 54, entry 51).  The three verses
mentioned here read as follows:

     Source of all good qualities, great sea
        of morality;
     Brimming with a mass of jewels, teachings
        you have learned;
     My lord, second Lord of the Able, wearing
        a saffron robe;
     I seek you blessing, master who keeps
        the knowledge of the vows.

     You who have all ten qualities that one
        must possess to be
     Worthy to teach the path of all those
        who have gone to bliss;
     Lord of the dharma, regent standing in
        for every Victor;
     I seek your blessing, spiritual guide
        for the greater way.

     All three gateways well restrained, wise,
        and patient, and straight;
     Free of guile, deception; learned in
        the secrets and their texts;
     Master at writing and edifying two tens
        of secret lore;
     I seek your blessing, first among all of
        those who hold the diamond.

"Lord of the Able" refers to the present Buddha; the "ten
qualities" are listed in the verse directly following.

44. @steady and wise:@ A Buddhist monk is "steady" when he has
kept his vows pure for at least ten years following his
ordination.  "Wise" refers to knowledge of a whole list of
subjects in the study of ethics, such as understanding what is
a moral downfall and what is not, or which misdeeds are more
serious than others.

45. @the three trainings:@ These are exceptional morality,
exceptional concentration, and exceptional wisdom.

46. @Jewel of the Sutras:@ A "sutra" is an open teaching of the
Buddha.  The verse is from a famed commentary taught to Master
Asanga (c. 350 A.D.) by Loving One, the Future Buddha (ff. 20a-
20b, entry 43).

47. @eight great benefits:@ The eight are described as coming
close to Buddhahood, pleasing the Buddhas, overcoming evil
influences, avoiding improper activities and thoughts, reaching
high realizations, always meeting teachers, never falling to
the lower realms, and attaining temporary and ultimate goals
with ease (Lord Tsongkapa, entry 61, ff. 33-6; Pabongka
Rinpoche, entry 47, ff. 124-9).

48. @First then see...@ Again, quoted from the briefer version
of his @Steps on the Path@ (f. 56a, entry 63).

49. @the great Drom Tonpa (1005-1064):@ Full name Gyalway
Jungne, most famed disciple of Lord Atisha, himself the great
progenitor of the teaching on the Steps in Tibet.  Founded the
renowned Radreng Monastery in central Tibet.  The @Blue Annals@
relate how he gained miraculous powers after clearing Lord
Atisha's excrement off the floor of the Master's cell (p. 259,
entry 94).  Lord Atisha himself, it is said, took a perilous
journey by sea for over a year to meet one of his principal
teachers in what is now Indonesia.  After arriving, he examined
his teacher for some time before becoming his student, and then
served him for twelve years.

50. @Lord Milarepa (1040-1123):@ The famed cave-meditator of
Tibet, author of some of the greatest spiritual poetry in any
language (some examples appear below in the section on
renunciation).  The hardships he undertook as a test from his
teacher Marpa are famous; see for example the @Blue Annals,@
entry 94, pp. 430-1.

51. @Marpa (1012-1097) and Naropa (1016-1100):@ Marpa, also
known as the "Great Translator," was a teacher of Lord Milarepa
and an early Tibetan Buddhist who helped bring the secret
teachings from India.  His own teacher was Naropa, a renowned
Indian master who also instructed Lord Atisha.  As Pabongka
Rinpoche again relates in his @Liberation in Our Hands@ (f.
133a, entry 47), Marpa was once faced with the choice of
prostrating first to his teacher or to a fantastic divine being
who had made his appearance in the room; he made the mistake of
selecting the latter.  Milarepa's offering to Marpa himself is
mentioned on the same folio.

52. @throneholder Tenpa Rabgye and the master tutor Ngawang
Chujor:@ Lobsang Yeshe Tenpa Rabgye, also known as Achi Tuno
Monhan, was a distinguished scholar of the Gelukpa tradition of
Tibetan Buddhism; his title indicates that he held the throne
passed down from Lord Tsongkapa himself.  His collected works--
chiefly on the secret teachings--are still extant in two
volumes (entry 32).  From the colophons of these works we learn
that he did most of his writing at Ganden Monastery near Lhasa,
and seems to have been born about 1758.  Here he also states
that he learned about the two forms of the wish for
enlightenment chiefly from the great Ngawang Chujor.

53. @Sakya Pandita (1182-1251):@ Full name Kunga Gyeltsen, one
of the greatest spiritual teachers of all Central Asia,
renowned translator and commentator of the Buddhist canon,
brought the tradition from Tibet to the Mongolians. Venerable
Drak-gyen (full name Drakpa Gyeltsen, 1147-1216) was his uncle
and mentor; see also note 86 below.

54. @A person who doesn't treat as a lama...@ The quotation is
found on f. 161b (entry 82) of a commentary on the secret
teaching of the Lord of Death composed by Ratnakara Shanti,
also known as Shantipa.  He was a famed master of the great
Vikramashila Monastery in northeast India during the 10th
Century, and taught Lord Atisha before his journey to Tibet.

55. @Wheel of Time:@ Original source for the quotation not
found; it appears in Pabongka Rinpoche's great work on the
Steps of the path (f. 130b, entry 47), attributed only to the
"Wheel of Time" with no mention of "root text."  The root text
for the secret teaching on the Wheel of Time was huge, twelve
thousand verses long, and only abridgements have been included
in the Tibetan canon. See entry 24 for the principal version.

56. @the greater way:@ The Buddha gave various levels of
teachings for disciples of different capacities; these are
known as the "greater" and "lesser" ways.

57. @Fifty Verses on Lamas:@ Traditional manual on how to
behave towards one's spiritual guide, by the great Buddhist
poet Ashvaghosha (c. 100 A.D.).  The thirteen causes of a
premature death are listed on f. 10a (entry 29) and explained
by Lord Tsongkapa in his commentary (pp. 334-6, entry 66) as
follows: an unbearable pain in the skull, injury by various
powerful animals, different illnesses, demonic forces, plague,
poison, authorities of the land, fire, snakes, water, spirits,
thieves, and fierce demigods.  After dying in one of these
ways, the person descends directly to the hells.

58. @the master Sangye Yeshe:@ In his masterpiece on the Steps
to Buddhahood (f.  132a, entry 47), Pabongka Rinpoche relates
the story of how the Indian master Sangye Yeshe (not to be
confused with the later Tibetan savant of the same name) was
delivering a teaching when he spotted his tutor passing by.
This was the great Paktsangwa, whose name means "Swineherd,"
for he was posing as a common pig farmer.  Sangye Yeshe
pretended not to notice his lama, so he would not have to pay
the pig herder obeisance before his assembled students.  He
later swore to his teacher that he had not seen him, and as a
result his eyes fell from their sockets.  The account is also
mentioned in passing by Sonam Hlay Wangpo in his book of
illustrations for the @Heap of Jewel Metaphors@ (p. 172, entry
88).

59. @disciple of Geshe Neusurpa:@ Pabongka Rinpoche, on the
same folio as the preceding note, somewhat elucidates by saying
that the disciple had failed in his pledges to his teacher and
so showed great terror at the moment of his death; the
disciple's name is not mentioned.  Geshe Neusurpa, full name
Yeshe Bar (1042-1118), was one of the early Seer masters of
Tibetan Buddhism; he studied under Potowa and other great
teachers, and counted among his many disciples the illustrious
Langri Tangpa Dorje Senge, author of the popular @Mental
Training in Eight Verses.@

60. @the Buddha himself:@ A number of such declarations by the
Buddha himself that one's lama is the Buddha himself are quoted
by Lord Tsongkapa himself in his greater work on the Steps (see
f. 29@ff@., entry 61).

61. @Sakya, Geluk, and Nyingma:@ Names of three of the lineages
that developed in Tibet for passing on the Buddha's teachings.
The Geluk tradition began with Lord Tsongkapa himself.

62. @Every high teaching...@ Textual source not located.
Gungtang Jampeyang (1762-1823), also known as Gungtang Konchok
Tenpay Dronme, was a student of the first reincarnation of the
great Jamyang Shepa (see the Foreword and entry 27).  He is
known for his eloquent spiritual poetry and philosophical
works; his incisive comments on the @Three Principal Paths@
have been appended to the edition of Pabongka Rinpoche's
commentary used for the present translation, and are included
in the final section.

63. @I have come to the realization...@ Lord Tsongkapa's letter
to his teacher is still extant; the quoted lines appear on f.
69b (entry 67).  The name "Dipamkara Jnyana" refers to Lord
Atisha.

64. @the three collections:@ Three principal divisions of the
Buddha's teachings: the collection of vowed morality (which
concerns principally the training on morality), the collection
of sutra (principally the training of concentration), and the
collection of knowledge (the training of wisdom).

65. @an abbreviated abbreviation...@ Again, from the very brief
version of Lord Tsongkapa's @Steps on the Path to Buddhahood@
(f.  56a, entry 63).

66. @His wondrous word...@ Source of quotation not found.  See
note 49 for the author's background.

67. @three distinguishing features and four greatnesses:@ The
three features that distinguish the teaching on the Steps from
other instructions are that it includes all the subjects of
both the open and secret teachings, is easily put to practice,
and has come down to us through masters of the two great
traditions described in note 195 (Pabongka Rinpoche, entry 47,
ff. 48b-50b; Lord Tsongkapa, entry 61, f. 8b).  The four
greatnesses of the teaching are that one comes to realize all
the teachings as consistent, one perceives all the scriptures
as personal advice, one easily grasps the true intent of the
Buddhas (none other than the three principal paths), and one
automatically avoids the Great Mistake of disparaging any
teaching (Lord Tsongkapa, entry 61, ff. 8b-14b; Pabongka
Rinpoche, entry 47, ff. 41b-48b).

68. @the glorious Secret Collection:@ One of the major secret
teachings of the Buddha (entry 87).

69. @Jewel of Realizations:@ Important text on the perfection
of wisdom imparted to Master Asanga by Loving One; refer to
note 46 (entry 44).

70. @Try to mix up all the systems...@ Source of quotation not
found.  Tuken Dharma Vajra, also known as Lobsang Chukyi Nyima
(1737-1802), was the third of the Tuken line of spiritual
masters and is famed for his work on comparative Buddhist
school systems, as well as for biographies of saints such as
Changkya Rolpay Dorje, said to be the former life of Pabongka
Rinpoche himself (see the Foreword, and also his collected
works at entry 52).

71. @royal lama Jangchub Uw:@ 11th Century ruler of the Guge
kingdom of western Tibet, instrumental in bringing Lord Atisha
and his teachings to the Land of Snows.

72. @It is this perfection...@ The wording of the sutra as
found in the Tibetan canon differs slightly, although the
intent is the same (f. 206a, entry 84).

73. @Even in some insignificant business...@ Quotation from f.
95a of his famed work on the three types of vows (entry 2, see
also note 53).

74. @The point: if you don't meditate...@ Source of quotation
not found.  See note 50 for information on its author.

75. @the sage Kyungpo Neljor (978-1079):@ His persistence in
seeking the secret traditions in India and bringing them to
Tibet is well documented in the @Blue Annals@ (pp. 728ff.,
entry 94).  Bon is the shamanistic religion which was prevalent
in Tibet prior to the introduction of Buddhism.

76. @Sakya lama Kun-nying (1092-1158):@ Full name Kunga
Nyingpo, son of the founder of the famed Sakya Monastery in
north-central Tibet, and grandfather of the illustrious Sakya
Pandita (see note 53).

77. @The renunciation of all three...@ From a work in the
secret teachings devoted to Gentle Voice (quotation from f.
10a, entry 25).

78. @Master Dandin:@ Refer to the word "essence" back in his
verse explained at note 38.

79. @We call someone...@ From a classic text on the teachings
of emptiness by Master Aryadeva (c. 200 A.D.).  Quotation from
f.  13a, entry 40.

80. @six images for the instruction:@ For these and the three
"problems of the pot," see note 16.

81. @the first one of these verses:@ The greater "Steps on the
Path" treats the eminence of the author on folios 3a-8a, and
the eminence of the teaching on folios 8a-14b.  Advice on how
to teach and learn the steps is found on folios 14b-22a.  The
actual instructions on how to lead students along the Steps of
the path comprise folios 22a-523a.  These four basic sections
are found in the middle-length version of the "Steps on the
Path" at folios 2a-5b; folios 5b-8b; folios 8b-13b; and folios
13b-201b.  Both works are by Lord Tsongkapa (see entries 61 and
60, respectively).

82. @normal suffering being:@ Our being consists of our
physical form, our feelings, our ability to discriminate, our
remaining mental functions and various other parts, and our
consciousness.  These are known as the "heaps," or groups of
things that make us up, since each of the five divisions
involves numerous members piled together.  They are "impure"
basically because they are products of and also promote bad
thoughts and ignorant actions.

83. @lower nirvana:@ Nirvana, or the permanent end of all one's
mental afflictions, is equivalent to Buddhahood if one attains
it with the wish to liberate all beings.  Nirvana without this
wish is a "lower nirvana."

84. @About this attitude...@ Quotation found on ff. 168a-168b
of Lord Tsongkapa's @Greater Steps on the Path@ (entry 61).
Sharawa (1070-1141) was one of the pillars of the early Seer
tradition of Tibetan Buddhist masters; he was a student of the
great Potowa and a teacher of the illustrious Chekapa.

85. @Only in Tibet...@ Original source not found.  The
quotation also appears in the greater work on the Steps by Lord
Tsongkapa (f. 206b, entry 61).

86. @No practitioner, a person who loves this life...@
Quotation from p. 436 of this classic "mental training" text of
the venerable Drakpa Gyeltsen (entry 12, see also note 53).
    The "four loves" are listed this way:

        Love for this life, which makes one
          no practitioner.
        Love for this world, which is no
          renunciation.
        Love for one's selfish interests, which
          makes one no bodhisattva.
        Grasping to a real "me," which is no
          correct view.

87. @repeated three times, and loud:@ A full account of the
incident is found in the @Collected Sayings of the Seers,@
compiled by Tsunpa Chegom; see f. 21, entry 18.  For
information on Lord Drom Tonpa, see note 49.

88. @Shang Nachung Tonpa:@ The incident with Lord Atisha is
related by Lord Tsongkapa in his @Greater Steps on the Path@
(f.  192a, entry 61); similar exchanges appear in Pabongka
Rinpoche's @Liberation@ (ff. 169a and 294a, entry 47) and in
the @Collected Sayings of the Seers@ (f. 5b, entry 18).  We
read in the @Blue Annals@ that this student was himself a
master of the teachings of Loving One, the Future Buddha, and
imparted them to Monton Jung-ne Sherab, a nephew of the
renowned translator Ma Lotsawa (pp. 232-3, entry 94).

89. @They go into seclusion...@ Source of this and the
following quotation not found.  Both appear in Pabongka
Rinpoche's @Liberation in Our Hands@ (f. 171a, entry 47).
"Droway Gonpo" is a name applied to a number of Tibetan sages;
Pabongka Rinpoche adds the word "Gyer" before the name in one
instance, but it is still not clear to whom the quotations are
to be attributed.

90. @All the spiritual practice...@ Original source of
quotation not found.  Ngari Panchen, full name Padma Wangyal
(1487-1543), was a sage of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan
Buddhism.

91. @Oh worldly wise!@ From the famed epistle of spiritual
instruction sent by the great Buddhist philosopher Master
Nagarjuna (c. 200 A.D.) to the Indian king Udayibhadra (f.
42a, entry 6; for English translation see p. 68, entry 95).

92. @In the city of daily concerns...@ Original source of
quotation not found; the lines appear as well in Pabongka
Rinpoche's work on the Steps (f. 169b, entry 47).  It is a
practice for Buddhist meditators to go to some frightening
place, like a cemetery or a high cliff, to observe their
heightened sense of a "self" and better understand it.
Graveyards in Tibet and India were especially fear-inspiring
because bodies were simply laid out rather than buried, and
this would attract dangerous wild animals.  The great Lingrepa,
full name Padma Dorje (1128-1188), was a student of Droway
Gonpo Pakmo Drupa and founded one of the orders of the Kagyu
tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.

93. @It doesn't do any good...@ The quotation is found,
fittingly, in his treatise on the secret practice of "great
completion" (p. 221, entry 76).  Yang Gonpa, full name Gyal
Tsen Pel (1213-1258) and his teacher Gu-tsangpa Gonpo Dorje
(1189-1258) were also founding fathers of one of the orders of
the Kagyu tradition.

94. @ten "ultimate riches":@ We see the roots of these ten
riches in the instructions of Geshe Shawopa among the @
Collected Sayings of the Seers@ (ff. 47b-48b, entry 18).

95. @And in the days when my teaching...@ The Buddha's eloquent
oath appears on f. 414, entry 28.  The "saffron robe" is that
of a Buddhist monk.

96. @In future days...@ Source of this and following quotation
not located.

97. @Gyalchok Kelsang Gyatso (1708-1757) and Panchen Lobsang
Yeshe (1663-1737):@ The former was the seventh of the Dalai
Lamas, spiritual and temporal rulers of Tibet.  He built the
Norbulingka, magnificent summer palace of the Dalai Lamas, and
sponsored a carving of the wooden printing-blocks for the
entire collection of over 4,000 titles in the Tibetan Buddhist
canon.  The latter figure was the second of the Panchen Lamas,
another exalted lineage of spiritual and temporal leaders
centered at the great Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in south-central
Tibet.  He was an eminent practitioner and scholar of Buddhism
while still one of the most powerful political figures of his
time.

98. @relinquished their thrones and left the home:@ The Buddha
himself turned down the opportunity to become a World Emperor,
and was originally Prince Siddhartha, son of King Suddhodana
and Queen Maya of the vast Shakya empire of north India.
Master Shantideva, the great 8th Century Buddhist philosopher
and poet, was born son of the king of Saurashtra, in what is
now Gujarat (north of Bombay).  Lord Atisha was the son of King
Kalyanashri and Queen Prabhavati, rulers of the 10th Century
Sahor kingdom of Bengal, around Calcutta; their might was said
to equal that of the Emperor of China.

99. @the emperor of China:@ The incident occurred in 1408, and
the emissaries were dispatched by Yung Lo, the third emperor of
the Ming Dynasty.  In his stead, Lord Tsongkapa sent Jamchen
Chuje Shakya Yeshe, who later went on to found the great Sera
Monastery, where Pabongka Rinpoche was himself trained nearly
500 years later.  The "Purest Eight" who followed the Master
into retreat were Jamkarwa Jampel Chusang, Neten Sang-kyongwa,
Neten Rinchen Gyeltsen, Neten Jangsengpa, Lama Jampel Gyatso,
Geshe Sherab Drak, Geshe Jampel Tashi, and Geshe Pelkyong.

100. @Milarepa, of days gone by...@  The great Wensapa (1505-
1566) was the learned teacher of Kedrup Sangye Yeshe, who was
in turn the teacher of the first Panchen Lama.  The "Lobsang
Dundrup" of the verse is Wensapa himself, for this was his
ordination name.  His glowing reference to his own attainments
seems presumptuous until we realize that he is referring only
to what he hopes he can be, for the verse is found in a section
of his writings entitled "Advices to Myself" (see f. 26B, entry
53).

101. @If in your heart...@ The quoted lines appear on p. 163 of
the famous biography of Lord Milarepa by his disciple Rechung
Dorje Drakpa (1083-1161); see entry 36.

102. @No way my loved ones know...@ The lines are found in the
section about Lord Milarepa (ff. 72-100) from the @Ocean of
Songs of the Kagyu@ by Karmapa Mikyu Dorje (1507-1554); see
entry 58.

103. @This body of leisure...@ Another quotation from the very
brief version of Lord Tsongkapa's @Steps on the Path to
Buddhahood;@ see f. 56a, entry 63.

104. @eight ways of lacking opportunity:@ These are to hold
wrong views, such as believing that what you do does not come
back to you; to be born as an animal; birth as an insatiable
spirit; birth in the hells; birth in a land where the Buddha's
teachings are not available; birth in an "uncivilized" land,
where no one keeps the vows of morality; birth as a human who
is retarded or otherwise handicapped, so cannot practice the
teachings; and birth as a long-lived being of pleasure in one
of the temporary paradises (Lord Tsongkapa, pp. 135-7, entry
61; Pabongka Rinpoche, ff. 154b-156b, entry 47; and Master
Nagarjuna, pp. 95-6 of the English translation, entry 95).

105. @"Fortune":@ The "fortunes" we have are divided into two
groups of five: those that relate to ourselves--personal
qualities--and those that relate to "others," or the outside
world.  The first five are to be born as a human; to be born in
a "central" land, where people keep the traditional vows of
morality; to be born with all one's faculties intact; not to
have committed heinous misdeeds, such as killing one's parents;
and to have faith in the teachings.  The second five are to
live in a world where a Buddha has come; where his teachings
have been spoken; where the teachings spoken have not been
lost; where people still practice them; and where practitioners
enjoy the kind support they require (Lord Tsongkapa, entry 61,
pp. 137-8; Pabongka Rinpoche, entry 47, ff.  156b-158a).

106. @happier realms:@ These consist of the beings who live as
humans, as full pleasure beings in the temporary paradises, and
as lesser pleasure beings.

107. @benefits that come from keeping your mind on death, etc.:
@In his masterwork @Liberation in Our Hands,@ Pabongka Rinpoche
lists six benefits of keeping your mind on death: your practice
becomes really pure; it gains power; the thoughts help you
start practice; they help you strive hard during your practice;
they help bring your practice to a successful conclusion; and
in the hour of death you go with satisfaction, for you know you
have spent your life meaningfully.
     The Rinpoche also lists six problems that come from not
keeping your mind on death: you neglect your religious life,
and spend all your days in thoughts of what to eat or wear--
this life's distractions; you consider death occasionally but
always think it will come later, and delay your practice; or
you do practice, but for the wrong reason--with hopes of
reputation; you practice but with no enthusiasm, and drop it
after a while; you get deeper into this life, your attitude
gets worse, and life begins to hurt you; and at death you
naturally feel intense regret, for you have wasted all your
efforts on this present life.
     The three principles, for how actually to keep your mind
on death, have three reasons each, making a total of nine.
First of all, death is certain: no power in the universe can
stop death when it arrives; there is no way to add time to your
life, you come closer to death every minute; even while you are
alive, the free time available for your practice is extremely
limited before you have to die.
     The second principle is that there is absolutely no
certainty when you will die.  We are in a time and realm where
the length of life is uncertain; we can be sure we will never
have enough time to defeat all our enemies, raise up all our
friends, and still complete our religious practice before we
die.  The things that can kill us are many; the things that
keep us alive are few.  And in general the body we have is
fragile, weak: a small splinter in the hand can give us an
infection that kills us--we are like bubbles, like candles in a
windstorm.
     The third principle is that, at the moment of death,
nothing at all can help us but our spiritual practice.  None of
your money or things can help you.  None of your friends or
family can help you--they can be holding you tightly by the
arms and legs, but still you will slip away alone.  And not
even your own body can help you--you have to give up your most
cherished possession, your beloved body, along with everything
else.
     The three principles call for three resolves on our part.
Knowing that we shall have to die, we must resolve to begin our
practice.  Knowing that we could die any time, we must quit our
worldly work immediately and start our practice today.  And
finally, since nothing else can help us, we must devote
ourselves to our practice only.  A man who is hiking many miles
doesn't fill up his pack with a lot of crap that he won't be
needing.
     The above points are paraphrased from the works on the
Steps of the path by Lord Tsongkapa (entry 61, ff. 65-75) and
Pabongka Rinpoche (entry 47, ff. 168-182).  For the last point
mentioned in the text, the meditation on what it's like to die,
we quote the Rinpoche directly (ff. 182b-183a):

        They try all different kinds of treatments
     and holy rituals but your condition gets worse
     and worse.  The doctors start lying to you.  Your
     friends and relatives say all sorts of cheery
     things to your face, but behind your back they
     start wrapping up your affairs, because everyone
     can see you're going to die.
        Your body starts to lose its familiar warmth.
     It's hard to breathe.  The nostrils collapse.
     The lips curl back.  The color starts to drain
     from your face.  All sorts of repulsive signs
     begin to show, inside and outside of you.
        You think of all the wrong things you did in
     your life, and wish so badly you had never done
     them.  You can't quite be sure if you ever really
     got rid of them all when you confessed; or that
     you really did any true good deed.
        Then comes the final pain, the unspeakable
     searing pain that comes with death.  The basic
     building blocks of your body begin their domino
     collapse, you are blinded by catastrophic images,
     hallucinations of pure terror crowd into your
     mind, and carry you away, and the whole world you
     have been living blinks out.
        People take your corpse and wrap it up in a
     sheet and lay it in some corner.  They hang up a
     curtain to hide it.  Somebody lights up a smudgy
     little candle and leaves it there.  If you're one
     of those reincarnated lamas, they dress you up in
     you fancy ritual robes and try to make you look
     good.
        Right now we are all running around trying to
     arrange ourselves a nice house, soft clothes, cozy
     chairs.  But you know the custom here in Tibet--when
     you die they'll tie your arms and legs up against
     your chest with a leather strap, carry the body far
     from town, and throw it naked out on the rocks.
        Right now we all go home and try to cook
     ourselves up some delectable dish--but there will
     come a day when you stand there praying for a little
     taste of those cakes they offer the spirits of the
     dead.  Right now we have the big name--they call us
     Doctor Professor, or Respected Sir, or Your
     Reverence.  But there will come a day when they
     look at your body and call you nothing but "that
     stinking corpse."  There will come a day when the
     title they put in front of your name is "the late,"
     or "that guy they used to call..."
        So now when you respected lamas out there in the
     audience look at your ritual robes, let it come into
     your thoughts that these are the robes they will
     dress your remains in after you have expired.  And
     all the rest of us, when we look at our bedsheets
     before we go to sleep, should try to remember that
     these are what they will wrap our stinking corpse
     in when we die.  As Milarepa said,

        That frightful corpse they talk about
        Is the very body you wear, meditator.

     He means look at your own body now, and always
     see the future corpse.

108. @the realms:@ See note 14.

109. @Non-virtue brings all sufferings...@ Quotation from f.
116b of the Master's @Jewel Rosary,@ entry 3.

110. @the three rare jewels:@ So named because they are
supremely valuable and infrequently found--the Buddha, defined
as the ultimate shelter, a being who has completed the highest
possible good for himself and others; the Dharma, realizations
or the end of undesirable qualities within a person's mind; and
the Sangha, or any being who has perceived the true nature of
reality directly.

111. @the monk named Lekkar:@ He spent many years in the
service of the Buddha himself but failed miserably to
understand his teachings.  The dismaying story is found in the
twelfth chapter of the @Total-Nirvana Sutra@ (ff. 285b-418b,
vol.  2, entry 81) and references to it appear often in later
literature: see for example f. 136b of Pabongka Rinpoche's
@Liberation@ (entry 47); p. 161 of the great Potowa's @Jewels@
(entry 19); and f. 5a of the first Panchen Lama's @Path of
Bliss@ (entry 50).

112. @as well as Devadatta:@ A close relation of the Buddha who
was driven by jealousy to despise the Teacher.  A "heap" of
scriptures is sometimes described as the amount you could write
with the quantity of ink that Rabten, a fantastic mythical
elephant, could carry on his back.  One sutra says that
Devadatta could recite enough scriptures to make 60,000 loads
for the great elephant "Incense."  Numerous textual references
to the story of the misled monk are listed by Prof. Edgerton
(p. 271, entry 92).

113. @an appropriate antidote:@ Buddhism teaches that there are
four antidote forces, which together can remove the power of
any bad deed.  The "basis" force consists of thinking who it
was that was offended by your deed, and who it is you will rely
on to clear yourself of it.  The "destruction" force is an
intense feeling of shame and regret for the deed, which will
certainly return to hurt you.  The "reverse" force is to turn
yourself away from doing that kind of deed again.  The
"counteragent" force is to undertake some spiritual practice
--confession, meditation, or any good deed--to offset the power
of the wrong (see Pabongka Rinpoche, entry 47, ff. 109-113,
246-8).

114. @the ten non-virtues:@ The ten non-virtues to be avoided
in Buddhist practice are said to be a very gross abbreviation
of the many thousands that we do.  The ten include three by
body (killing any being, stealing, and sexual misconduct); four
in speech (lying, divisive speech, harsh words, and idle talk);
and three within the mind (coveting others' things, thoughts to
harm, and wrong views such as believing that there is no
connection between what you do now and what you experience
later).

115. @realized being:@ Any person who has directly perceived
"emptiness"; this will be explained below in the section on
correct view.

116. @The path begins...@ Source of quotation not found.

117. @Revive:@ The hell is so named because the inhabitants
beat each other until they all fall down senseless; then they
revive and start to fight one another again.  The process is
repeated over and over for thousands of years, until the beings
are finally able to die.

118. @Word of the Gentle One:@ Counted among the principal
works on the Steps of the path to Buddhahood, and composed by
the "Great Fifth" Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (1617-
1682); see entry 15.  This same Dalai Lama has written two
commentaries on the @Three Principal Paths@ (entries 16,17).

119. @"Path of Bliss" and "Quick Path":@ The former work is
another of the classic explanations of the Steps to Buddhahood
and was composed by the first of the great Panchen Lamas,
Lobsang Chukyi Gyeltsen (1570-1662), who was also the tutor of
the above-mentioned Fifth Dalai Lama.  The latter treatise was
written in explanation of the first by Panchen Lama II, Lobsang
Yeshe (see note 97, and entries 50,54).

120. @the fighting:@ It is said that the lesser pleasure beings
are driven out of attachment and jealousy to wage frequent war
on their slightly more glorious cousins, the full pleasure
beings.

121. @eight, six, and three types of suffering:@ The eight
sufferings are being born, getting older, getting sick, dying,
encountering things that are unpleasant, losing what is
pleasant, trying and failing to get what you want, and the
suffering of simply being alive and having all the impure parts
of ourselves that we do (Lord Tsongkapa, entry 61, ff. 137-
151; Pabongka Rinpoche, entry 47, ff. 250-267).  An explanation
of the three sufferings follows in the text.

122. @King Mefeed:@ A legendary king of yore who was said to
have been born spontaneously; he was named from the fact that
the concubines of his father competed to breast-feed the
miraculous child and thereby become the Queen Mother.  His
story is mentioned in many works; see Pabongka Rinpoche's
@Liberation@ (f. 252a), as well as the list in Prof.
Edgerton's @Dictionary@ under the king's Sanskrit name,
Mandhata (p. 430, entry 92).

123. @Keep your wants few...@ The dictum is expounded upon by
the great Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu (c. 300 A.D.) in the
sixth chapter of his classic @Treasure of Wisdom@ (see pp. 316-
7, entry 14).

124. @If people like these...@ From the eloquent manual for
bodhisattvas by the Buddhist poet-philosopher Shantideva (695-
743 A.D.).  Quotation on f. 3a, entry 71.

125. @three collections and three trainings:@ See note 64.

126. @listeners and self-made victors:@ Practicioners who have
not yet developed the highest motivation of attaining
Buddhahood for the sake of all beings.  "Listeners" are so
named because they can listen to the higher teachings and
relate them to others, but not practice these instructions
themselves.  "Self-made victors" can reach their goal without
relying on a spiritual guide in this life, although only
because of extensive instruction by countless teachers in their
past lives.

127. @a lower escape:@ See note 83.

128. @"enemy destroyers":@ Those who have permanently defeated
the enemy of mental afflictions--such as desire, anger, and
ignorance--and have therefore achieved nirvana.  See also note
83.

129. @"The Bodhisattva's Life," "Entering the Middle Way," and
"The Rare Stack":@ Master Shantideva's manual for bodhisattvas
has been listed at note 124.  The classic text on correct view
by Master Chandrakirti, the illustrious 7th Century Indian
philosopher of Buddhism, will be covered below with the third
of the principal paths.  In each case, the benefits of the wish
for enlightenment appear in the opening verses.  @The Rare
Stack@ is a separate section of the Buddhist canon containing
some 49 different sutras.  One often quoted in explanations of
the wish for Buddhahood is @The Chapter of Light Protector@
(entry 75); it contains eloquent descriptions of the benefits
of the wish throughout, and the section around f. 237 is
particularly relevant here.

130. @Even just wishing...@ Quotation on f. 3a of this textbook
for bodhisattvas (entry 71).

131. @Were the merit of the wish...@ Quotation from f. 352b of
this teaching of the Buddha himself (entry 11).

132. @Loving-Gaze:@ The divine form of the Buddha that
represents all his compassion.  The practice mentioned can be
learned from a qualified lama.

133. @Commentary on Valid Perception:@ Famed treatise which
forms the basis for the study of formal logic in Buddhist
monasteries.  It was composed by Master Dharmakirti (c. 630
A.D.) in explanation of the @Compendium on Valid Perception@
written by Master Dignaga (c. 450 A.D.), great forefather of
the Buddhist logic traditions.  The reasoning mentioned is
found in the second chapter, the "Proof of Infallibility,"
beginning from line 142 (ff.  108b-109a, entry 22).

134. @preventing a person from slipping:@ Some discussions of
these benefits appear in Lord Tsongkapa's work on ff. 182-6 and
189 (entry 61).

135. @"beautiful" form of loving-kindness:@ Means to see every
other living creature as beautiful or beloved as one's only
child; this loving-kindness is distinguished from the one
mentioned next.

136. @twenty-two forms of the wish:@ These metaphors are found
on f. 2b of the @Jewel of Realizations@ (see note 69).  Here
the wish for enlightenment is compared to earth, gold, the
first day's moon, fire, a mine, a cache of gemstones, the
ocean, a diamond, the king of mountains, medicine, a spiritual
guide, a wish-giving jewel, the sun, a song, a king, a
treasure, a highway, a riding horse, a fountain of water, a
sweet sound, a river, and a cloud.  Each metaphor stands for
the wish at a different level of realization; the venerable
Lama of Chone, Drakpa Shedrup (1675-1748) gives a concise
explanation of them in his commentary (pp. 45-6, entry 13).
     The distinction between "praying" for and "engaging" in
the wish for enlightenment is described as the difference
between wanting to go somewhere and then actually stepping
along with the resolve to reach the goal.  In the latter case
one has taken the formal vows for the wish and is acting with
the conscious intention of attaining enlightenment for all
living beings.  See pp. 109-110 of entry 31, the commentary to
the @Jewel@ by Kedrup Tenpa Dargye (1493-1568), a renowned
scholar from Pabongka Rinpoche's own Sera Mey College.

137. @Many eons the Able Lords...@ This quotation found on f.
2a; the preceding reference is on f. 7b (entry 71).

138. @Center beam of the highest way...@ Again from the very
brief version of his @Steps on the Path@ (p. 310, entry 63).
The entire context reads as follows:

     Center beam of the highest way, the wish;
     Foundation, support for those of mighty deeds;
     Alchemist elixir for turning both the collections;
     Gold mine of merit, full of a mass of good.
     Bodhisattva princes, knowing this,
     Keep the high jewel wish their center practice.

The "two collections" are the accumulations of knowledge and
virtue which produce the bodies of a Buddha (see note 32).

139. @the Elimination Ritual, etc.:@ We have not located the
spurious texts listed.

140. @Three Heaps Sutra, etc.:@ These four teachings of the
Buddha himself are listed at entries 39, 21, 33, and 10
respectively.

141. @Buddha-Dharma-Sangha prayer:@ A traditional prayer for
refuge and developing the wish for enlightenment.  It reads,

     I go for refuge, until I reach enlightenment,
     To the Buddha, Dharma, and the highest Sangha.
     By the merit of giving and other goods deeds I do
     May I become a Buddha to help all living beings.

The Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha are explained in note 110.

142. @Stages of Meditation:@ The point is discussed by Lord
Tsongkapa at ff. 89-92 of his shorter @Steps on the Path@
(entry 60), and ff. 191-202 in his longer version (entry 61).
Here a number of times he quotes the @Stages of Meditation,@ a
treatise in three parts by the eighth-century Buddhist master
Kamalashila (entry 1).  Kamalashila is best known for his
successful defense of the Indian Buddhist teaching of
analytical meditation before the Tibetan king Trisong Detsen.
His opponents were Chinese monks who wrongly asserted that
meditating on nothing at all would be of any benefit.

143. @path of preparation:@ Another set of five paths, or
levels of realization, is described in Buddhism.  Included are
the paths of accumulation, preparation, seeing, habituation,
and "no more learning."  The five for the "greater" way differ
from those of the "lesser" way (see note 56).

144. @all eight levels:@ Refers to intensely deep forms of
meditation that lead to later births in the eight sections of
the form and formless realms, which are still counted as
suffering (see note 14).

145. @The worldly meditate on concentration...@ The verse is
found on ff. 44a-44b of this famous teaching of the Buddha (see
entry 23).  The following citation is the next verse in the
sutra, from f. 44b.  The wording of the edition available to us
is slightly different, but the intent equal.  Udraka was a non-
Buddhist sage who woke from an extended period of meditation
and went into a rage because mice had in the meantime chewed
away at his impressive yogi's locks of hair; because of his
anger, he was then born in the hells.

146. @There is no second door...@ Quotation from f. 13b of
Master Aryadeva's work (see entry 40 and note 79).

147. @Wisdom not steeped in method...@ The lines appear on f.
313a of this well-known sutra, and are clarified by it
immediately afterward (see entry 35).

148. @By this virtue may all beings...@ Final lines of the
Master's @Sixty Verses of Reasoning,@ and often used nowadays
as a prayer of dedication after the good deed of listening to a
teaching.  Original from f. 22b, entry 5.

149. @On vast wide-spreading wings...@ Quotation on f. 212a of
@Entering the Middle Way@ (see entry 74 and note 129).

150. @Understanding that Has No End:@ A famed teaching of the
Buddha requested by a disciple of this name (entry 49).  The
@Root Wisdom@ of Master Nagarjuna (c. 200 A.D.) is listed at
entry 4; for other works of his famed "Collection," see the
biography in the English translation of his @Letter to a Friend
@(p. 10, entry 95).

151. @the masters Buddhapalita, etc.:@ For the commentary of
Master Buddhapalita (c. 500 A.D.), see entry 85.  Master
Aryadeva's work has already been listed (see note 79), as has
Master Chandrakirti's @Entering the Middle Way@ (note 129).
For @A Clarification of the Words,@ see entry 73.

152. @There's no way to peace...@ From the sixth chapter of
Master Chandrakirti's work (f. 205a, entry 74).  Briefly, the
"two truths" mentioned are what are usually called "deceptive
truth" and "ultimate truth."  Both are valid, and all objects
have both.  The dependence of objects (especially in the sense
described below, upon concepts and names) is their conventional
or deceptive truth.  Their appearance is "deceptive" because to
the minds of normal people they appear to be something other
than what they actually are.  The "ultimate" (here called
"real") truth of objects is their lack of non-dependence, and
is first seen directly in the all-important meditative state
known as the "path of seeing." Seeing this truth directly acts
immediately to stop the process through which we suffer.

153. @Nagarjuna's student was Chandrakirti...@ The lines are
from his work on the two truths; see f. 72a, entry 56.

154. @"Detailist" school:@ So called because "they devote their
study exclusively to the classical commentary known as @
Detailed Exposition,@ or else because they understand the
@Exposition@'s meaning" (the First Dalai Lama, entry 14, p.
14).

155. @"Scripturalist" school:@ The name is said to come from
the fact that "this school of philosophers holds that scripture
[eg. sutra] is valid, but denies the validity of classical
commentaries such as the Seven Works on Knowledge" (ibid).

156. @"Mind-Only" school:@ The name comes from the school's
assertion that "every existing object is nothing but part of
the mind," although this general description is further refined
by the school.

157. @made from any different "substance":@ That is, come from
any different principal cause or latency.

158. @"Independent" part of the Middle Way school:@ The school
is so named because its followers advocate a middle way which
avoids the extreme of thinking things exist (naturally) and the
extreme of thinking things can't exist (if they don't exist
naturally).  The "Independents" are one of the two parts of the
school; they believe one must lead a person to the correct view
that things are empty of natural existence by means of taking
an independent object and discussing it in common terms--rather
than starting from the person's own incorrect view and
demonstrating the absurdity that it necessarily implies.  These
points are illuminated by the great Changkya Rolpay Dorje, said
to be a former life of Pabongka Rinpoche himself, in his
@Comparative Systems@ (pp. 289, 305, 325; entry 80).

159. @unaffected awareness:@ Any normal, "reasonable"
perception--the vast majority of our everyday perceptions; the
opposite would be those infrequent cases where we take
something wrong, such as mistaking a moving leaf for a small
animal as we drive a car, or believing in something unreal that
we think we see under the influence of alcohol or a drug.

160. @"Implication" section of the Middle Way school:@ So named
because of their belief that a line of reasoning which implies
a necessary absurdity in an opponent's incorrect view on the
subject is sufficient to inspire in his mind the correct view
of the nature of existence (again see Changkya Rolpay Dorje, p.
407, entry 80).

161. @"Functionalist" group:@ Refers collectively to the
Detailist, Scripturalist, and Mind-Only schools, since all
assert that functional things exist truly.

162. @the fourfold analysis:@ Briefly, Pabongka Rinpoche lists
the four as follows in his treatise on the Steps (entry 47, ff.
362-377):

     1) @Identify what you deny:@ any object that could
          exist truly.  You cannot catch a thief if
          you don't know what he looks like.
     2) @Recognize the necessity:@ that if an object
          exists truly, it must be truly one or
          truly many.
     3) @Perceive that it is not truly one:@ if you were
          truly your parts, you couldn't say "parts,"
          since you are only one.
     4) @Perceive that it is not truly many:@ if your
          parts were truly you, then when you took
          any one part it would be you--the same way
          you get a cow when you have a goat and a
          sheep and a cow and take out the goat and
          the sheep.

The conclusion is that since you are neither truly one nor
truly many, you do not truly exist.  Lord Tsongkapa discusses
these points on ff. 374-475 of his greater Steps (entry 61).

163. @destructible view:@ This way of looking at things is
called "destructible" both because it focuses on me, and I will
one day perish, and because the wrong view itself will one day
be corrected and disappear.

164. @Here what we call a self...@ Quotation from his
commentary on the @400 Verses@ of Master Aryadeva (note 79).
See f. 187b, entry 72.

165. @Since every object is labelled...@ Found on p. 396 of
entry 45.

166. @Like an illusion...@ The full line is found of f. 16a of
the work, entry 70.

167. @Once you grasp the secret...@ Source of quotation not
found.

168. @precious teacher Chone Lama:@ Refers to Pabongka
Rinpoche's teacher named Chone Geshe Lobsang Gyatso Trin.

169. @Therefore this proof employing interdependence...@
Quotation from his @Entering the Middle Way,@ ff. 206b-207a
(entry 74).

170. @Everything is right...@ Quotation from f. 15a of Master
Nagarjuna's masterpiece (entry 4).

171. @Form is emptiness...@ From the famous @Heart of Wisdom
Sutra,@ f.  259b (entry 20).

172. @eight worldly thoughts:@ They were listed above in
section VIII, on "Stopping Desire for This Life."

173. @three "countless" eons:@ The word "countless" here
actually refers to a specific number--1,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.  The length of
an "eon" is variously described in Buddhist scripture, and is
tied to cycles in the lifespans of beings; suffice to say it
entails millions of years.

174. @Steps of the path!@ Original source of quotation not
found.  Pabongka Rinpoche's @Liberation@ twice credits the
three instructions to Gompa Rinchen Lama (entry 47, ff. 168a,
334a), who is said to have been a student of Lord Atisha (see
Lord Tsongkapa's @Greater Steps,@ entry 61, f. 12a), and of
Lord Drom Tonpa (@Blue Annals,@ entry 94, p. 264).  Geshe
Dolpa, full name Marshurpa Rok Sherab Gyatso (1059-1131) was a
student of the great Potowa and compiled his mentor's teachings
into a famed text of the Seer tradition entitled the @Blue
Book@ (see its commentary at entry 89).

175. @Don't be a quitter...@ From the chapter on effort in
Master Shantideva's classic (f. 20a, entry 71).  "Those who've
Gone That Way" refers to the Buddhas.

176. @the glorious Lobsang Drakpa:@ As mentioned in the
Foreword, this was Lord Tsongkapa's ordination name.

177. @the proper series of visualizations:@ The section that
follows was included in Pabongka Rinpoche's commentary for the
benefit of his disciples already familiar with the practice.
It is translated here for completeness, but like any Buddhist
teaching requires the personal guidance of a qualified lama for
successful results.
 
178. @Collection Field:@ Traditional paintings of this
visualization are fairly common; one good example appears in
the Newark Museum's catalogue (illustration P20, p. 170, entry
93).  The name of the visualization is meant to show that these
holy beings are the best field in which one can plant the seeds
of his enlightenment: the two collections of merit and wisdom.
The symbolism of the picture is detailed carefully by Pabongka
Rinpoche in his @Liberation in Our Hands@ (ff. 92-102, entry
47).
 
179. @"Path of Bliss" or "Quick Path":@ See note 119.

180. @attitudes as these people have them:@ As mentioned above
(note 20), the practitioner of lesser scope seeks to save
himself from the lower realms.  The practitioner of medium
scope hopes to escape from all forms of suffering life, even
the higher realms.  The practitioner of the greatest scope
shares these attitudes, but seeks equally to assure that every
other being reaches these goals too.

181. @huge black sow:@ Also stands for ignorance, the root of
all our suffering.

182. @two reasons for taking refuge:@ These are (1) to fear the
lower realms and cyclic life in general, and (2) to believe
that the three jewels have the power to protect you (see note
110).

183. @the "immeasurables":@ These are immeasurable loving-
kindness, compassion, joy, and neutrality; they are described
in a classic verse, respectively, as follows:

     May all living beings gain happiness and
        what causes happiness.
     May all living beings escape suffering and
        what causes suffering.
     May all living beings never be without the
        happiness free of every suffering.
     May all living beings stay neutral, free of
        all like for their friends and dislike
        for their enemies.

The four are called "immeasurable" because they are thoughts
directed at an immeasurable number of beings, and because one
gains immeasurable merit from thinking them.  There is another
set of four attitudes with the same names, known collectively
as the "four places of the Pure One."  Pabongka Rinpoche
elsewhere explains that the loving-kindness of this set covers
many, but not all, sentient beings, and so one who meditates
upon it is born as a being like the worldly god named Pure One,
whose authority extends over many, but not all, places.  By
focussing on all beings, one achieves nirvana "without a place"
(beyond both this suffering world and a lower nirvana) as the
Great Pure One (another name for a full Buddha) (see ff. 308b-
309a, entry 47).

184. @special wish for Buddhahood:@ The lines read "For the
sake of all my mother beings, I will do anything I have to in
order to reach precious total enlightenment, as fast as I can.
Thus I will now begin a meditation on the teaching of the Steps
on the path to Buddhahood, using the profound path of practice
that centers upon my lama, my god" (f. 5a, entry 26).

185. @Eight Thousand Verses:@ One of the most famed and
eloquent sutras on the perfection of wisdom, or correct view
(entry 83).

186. @the Great Tutor, the Holder of the Diamond:@ Probably
refers to Pabongka Rinpoche's root master, Dakpo Lama Jampel
Hlundrup.

187. @"Knowledge Unlocks the World":@ See note 40 on these
lines composed by Lord Tsongkapa himself.

188. @"Offering to Lamas" manual:@ See note 43; the Great Seal
is a practice of the secret teachings.

189. @"Unsurpassed" group, etc.:@ These refer to the four
traditional classes of the secret teachings.

190. @"Secret Collection," etc.:@ The beings mentioned are all
forms which the Buddha takes to give the secret teachings, and
belong to the "Unsurpassed" group.

191. @body mandala in the "Offering to Lamas":@ See pp. 44-7 of
the work (entry 51).

192. @May this good deed...@ Final verses of "Knowledge Unlocks
the World" (pp. 207-8, entry 65).  They read as follows:

     May this good deed, standing for whatever
        ones are done
     By myself and others throughout all
        of the three times
     Never even for a single moment
        in the many
     Lives we take give forth its fruit
        by turning into something

     Which will lead us to the kinds of things
        the world hopes for:
     Gains that put themselves ahead, or else
        some reputation,
     Crowds of followers, life's enjoyments,
        others' gifts and honors;
     Rather may it only bring us enlightenment
        unmatched.

     By the wondrous blessings of the Victors
        and their sons,
     By the truth that interdependence
        cannot ever fail,
     By the might of my willingness to free
        all beings myself,
     May all that I have prayed for here
        so purely come to pass.

193. @same with the savior Serlingpa:@ Again refers to Pabongka
Rinpoche's root teacher, Dakpo Lama Rinpoche (see note 186).
Lama Serlingpa, also known as Dharmakirti (but different from
the sage of the same name who composed the @Commentary on Valid
Perception@), was a great master of the teachings on the wish
for enlightenment.  He lived in what is now Indonesia and
instructed Lord Atisha for twelve years (see note 49).

194. @to the good of every living being:@ Among the verses that
Pabongka Rinpoche spoke in his final prayer of dedication was
the following.  It comes from the end of @The Hundred Gods of
Bliss Paradise@ (see entry 86), which is a lama-practice text
centered on the great Tsongkapa, Lobsang Drakpa:

     May whatever virtue I've collected in
        this deed of mine
     Be of all possible benefit to all beings
        and the teachings.
     Especially may it help me to illuminate
        for long
     The inner essence of the teachings
        Lobsang Drakpa gave.

195. @deep thought of the Victors:@ "Victors" refers to the
Buddhas; in our world, the instructions of the Steps of the
path to Buddhahood have been passed down along two great
lineages: the Steps on correct view through disciples of Master
Nagarjuna, who learned them from the divine being Gentle Voice;
and the Steps on the wish for enlightenment through disciples
of Master Asanga, who heard them from Loving One--the Future
Buddha.
     It is a tradition of Tibetan poetics to weave a great
personage's name into a verse, often with special marks under
the appropriate syllables.  Here the italics stand for Pabongka
Rinpoche's full name (see the Foreword).

196. @spewed out from his lips:@ Poetic metaphor based on a
traditional belief that the mongoose vomits up jewels.  The
"ten forces" are the ten supreme forms of knowledge possessed
by a Buddha, such as knowing perfectly what is actual and what
is not, and exactly how deeds will ripen upon a person. The
words "shining fame" are a pun on the second part of Lord
Tsongkapa's ordination name, Lobsang Drakpa, since @drakpa@
means "famed."

197. @their son, a child:@ Lord Tsongkapa is said to have
actually been a Buddha who appeared to his disciples in the
form of a bodhisattva, or a "son of the Victors."  The word
"child" is an allusion to the youthful aspect in which Gentle
Voice sometimes appears.

198. @eighty thousand:@ Refers to the 84,000 different masses
of teaching or "heaps of scripture" imparted by the Buddhas
(see note 112).

199. @world or peace, wherever:@ Refers in this case to the
world and what transcends it.

200. @both the bodies:@ See note 32.  The mental body is caused
primarily by correct view; the physical body by activities
motivated by the wish for enlightenment.  See also text related
to note 148.

201. @three kinds of kindness:@ In the tradition of the open
teachings, a lama pays his student the kindnesses of granting
him personal instructions, oral transmissions, and formal
explanations of scripture.  Within the secret tradition, he
allows the student initiation, explanation, and advices.

202. @Suddhi Vadzra:@ Tibetan transliteration for the Sanskrit
equivalent of the name of the Tibetan editor, Lobsang Dorje.
His home district was Den Ma, in the southeast of Tibet (see
also Foreword).

203. @Tashi Chuling:@ Pabongka Rinpoche's mountain hermitage;
see Foreword.

204. @Gungtang:@ Refers to Gungtang Jampeyang; see note 62.
This "Key" to the @Three Principal Paths@ is found in his
collected works (see entry 9) and is followed by an instruction
(entry 8) on how to perform a formal meditation session upon
the three paths, using the lines of Lord Tsongkapa's original
text.

205. @six preliminaries:@ The six practices before a meditation
session are cleaning one's room and setting up an altar,
putting forth offerings, sitting in the proper posture and
preparing one's mind by the thoughts of seeking refuge and the
wish for enlightenment, visualizing the traditional assemblage
of holy beings, going through the steps of gathering virtue and
removing bad deeds, and then supplicating the lamas.  See also
note 177.

206. @a kind of even-mindedness:@ The phrase itself is a double
entendre, since the second system's first step is neutrality
towards all beings (see section XII, "How to Develop the Wish
for Enlightenment").

207. @"think of what's happening":@ This phrase as well is
lifted from the eighth verse of Lord Tsongkapa's root text, and
then played upon.

208. @Tashi:@ A common Tibetan personal name.

209. @far from correct view yourself:@ The tenets of the lower
Buddhist schools concerning "no-self" have been explained above
in section XIV, "Why You Need Correct View."

210. @the so-called "Cast-Offs":@ A philosophical school of
ancient India, considered one of the crudest since they did not
accept the concepts of past and future lives, and the relation
between one's past deeds and present experiences.

211. @the house of Hlalu:@ A well-known aristocratic family of
old Tibet.  Their principal holdings were located to the
northwest of Lhasa, on the road to Drepung Monastery.










                         BIBLIOGRAPHY


     We would like to acknowledge the assistance of Robert
Lacey, Artemus Engle, and Susan Meinheit in compiling the
bibliography and notes.  Information on many of the works and
authors mentioned is as yet far from standardized; dates are
taken for the most part from Roerich, Vostrikov, and available
Library of Congress listings.  These last are a tremendous
resource resulting from the selfless efforts of E. Gene Smith
over the entire length of the Library's commendable SFCP
foreign texts collection program.
     Some of the works listed below include both Tibetan and
Western pagination; these are indicated by "f" (folio) and "p"
(page) respectively.  The following abbreviations are also
used:

    KG  =@bKa'-'gyur@ collection of Buddhist scripture,
             in 101 vols.  Lhasa: Zhol par-khang, 1934;
             microfiche edition Stony Brook, New York:
             Institute for Advanced Studies of World
             Religions, 1974.

    TG  =@bsTan-'gyur@ collection of Buddhist commentary,
             in 209 vols.  Co-ne, Tibet: Co-ne dgon
             chen, c. 1725; microfiche edition also available
             from IASWR.

    Toh = Ui, Prof. Hakuju, et al. @A Complete Catalogue
             of the Tibetan Buddhist Canons (Bkah{.}-
             h{.}gyur and Bstan-h{.}gyur),@ in 2 vols.
             Sendai, Japan: Tohoku Imperial University,
             1934 (for ref. nos. 1-4569).

          Kanakura, Prof. Yensho, et al.  @Catalogue of
             the Tohoku University Collection of Tibetan
             Works on Buddhism.@  Sendai, Japan: The
             Seminary of Indology, Tohoku University,
             1953 (for ref. nos. 5001-7083).

A. Works in Tibetan and Sanskrit

1. (Slob-dpon) Ka-ma-la-sh'i-la (Kamalas{'}i{-}la).  @bsGom-
pa'i-rim-pa (Bha{-}vana{-}krama),@ ff. 22a-42b (first); 42b-56b
(second); 56b-70a (third); vol. 31 (ki) in the dBu-ma section
of the TG.  Toh refs. 3915, 3916, 3917.

2. (Sa-skya pan{.}d{.}i-ta) Kun-dga' rgyal-mtsan.  @sDom-pa
gsum-gyi rab-tu dbye-ba'i bstan-bcos bzhugs-so.@ sGang-tog:
n.p., 1967?, 101 ff.

3. (dPal-mgon 'phags-pa) Klu-sgrub (Na{-}ga{-}rjuna). @rGyal-po
la gtam-bya-ba rin-po-che'i phreng-ba (Ra{-}japarikatha{-
}ratnama{-}la{-}),@ ff. 116a-135a, vol. 93 (ge) in the sPring-
yig section of the TG.  Toh ref. 4158.

4. ------.  @dBu-ma rtza-ba'i tsig-le'ur byas-pa shes-rab
ces-bya-ba (rTza-ba shes-rab) (Prajn{~}a{-}na{-}mamu{-
}lamadhyamakaka{-}rika{-}),@ ff. 1a-19a, vol. 17 (tza) in the
dBu-ma section of the TG.  Toh ref. 3824.

5. ------.  @Rigs-pa drug-cu-pa'i tsig-le'ur byas-pa zhes-bya-
ba (Yuktis{.}as{.}t{.}hika{-}ka{-}rika{-}na{-}ma),@ ff.  20a-
22b, vol. 17 (tza) in the dBu-ma section of the TG.  Toh ref.
3825.

6. ------.  @bShes-pa'i spring-yig (Suhr{.}llekha),@ ff.  40b-
46a, vol. 94 (nge) in the sPring-yig section of the TG.  Toh
ref. 4182.

7. (dBal-mang) dKon-mchog rgyal-mtsan.  @Lam-gyi gtzo-bo rnam
gsum gyi zin-tho,@ pp. 531-552, vol. 5 of collected works.  New
Delhi: Gyaltan Gelek Namgyal, 1974, 629 pp.

8. (Gung-thang 'Jam-pa'i dbyangs) dKon-mchog bstan-pa'i sgron-
me.  @Lam gyi gtzo-bo rnam-gsum rtza-tsig gi steng nas gzhungs-
bsrangs te, nyams-su len-tsul,@ pp. 641-49 in vol. 3 (ga) of
collected works.  New Delhi: Gedan Sungram Minyam Gyunphel
Series, Ngawang Gelek Demo, 1972, 934 pp.

9. ------.  @Lam-gtzo'i zin-bris gsang-ba'i lde-mig,@ pp. 639-
40 appended to @Byang-chub kyi sems gnyis sgom-tsul theg-pa
mchog-gi 'jug-ngogs zhes-bya-ba bzhugs-so,@ pp. 621-40 in vol.
3 (ga) of collected works (ibid).

10. @('Phags-pa) bsKal-pa bzang-po zhes-bya-ba theg-pa chen-
po'i mdo (mDo-sde bskal-bzang) (A{-}ryabhadrakalpikana{-
}mamaha{-}ya{-}nasu{-}tra),@ ff. 1b-548a, vol 1 (ka) in the
mDo-mang section of the KG.  Toh ref. 94.

11.  @('Phags-pa) Khyim-bdag dPas-byin gyis zhus-pa zhes-bya-ba
theg-pa chen-po'i mdo@ (variant spellings @dPa'@ and @dPal@)
@(A{-}ryavi{-}radattagr{.}hapatiparipr{.}ccha{-}na{-}mamaha{-
}ya{-}nasu{-}tra),@ ff. 339a-355a, vol 5 (ca) in the dKon-
brtzegs section of the KG, etc.  Tohoku ref. 72.

12. (rJe-btzun) Grags-pa rgyal-mtsan.  @Zhen-pa bzhi-bral
bzhugs-so,@ pp. 436-39 of the collection @Sems-dpa' chen-po
dKon-mchog rgyal-mtsan gyis phyogs-bsgrigs mdzad-pa'i blo-
sbyong brgya-rtza dang dkar-chag gdung-sel zla-ba bcas bzhugs-
so.@  Dharamsala, India: Shes-rig par-khang, 1973, 478 pp.
Several related texts follow in the collection.

13. (Co-ne rje-btzun) Grags-pa bshad-sgrub.  @rGyan gyi t{.}i-
ka zhes-bya-ba bzhugs-so.@  Bylakuppe, India: Sermey Monastery
Printing Press, 1988, 233 pp.

14. (rGyal-ba) dGe-'dun grub-pa.  @Dam-pa'i chos mngon-pa mdzod
kyi rnam-par bshad-pa thar-lam gsal-byed ces-bya-ba.@
Varanasi, India: W'a-n{.}a mtho-slob dge-ldan spyi las-khang,
1973, 391 pp.  Toh ref. 5525.

15. (rGyal-mchog lnga-pa) Ngag-dbang blo-bzang rgya-mtso.
@Byang-chub lam gyi rim-pa'i 'khrid-yig 'jam-pa'i dbyangs kyi
zhal-lung zhes-bya-ba bzhugs-so.@  Thim-bu: Kun-bzang stobs-
rgyal, 1976, 108 ff.  Toh ref. 5637.

16. ------.  @Lam gyi gtzo-bo rnam gsum gyi mchan-'grel,@ 4 ff.
in vol. 12 (na) of collected works, edition held at the
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University
Library, New Haven.  Toh ref. 5641.

17. ------.  @Lam gtzo rnam gsum gyi dgongs-'grel lung-rigs
gter-mdzod,@ 26 ff. in vol. 12 (na) of collected works (ibid).

18. (bTzun-pa) lCe-sgom.  @bKa'-gdams kyi skyes-bu dam-pa rnams
kyi gsung-bgros thor-bu-ba rnams bzhugs-so,@ ff 1b-51a of 60.
N.p., n.d.: modern Indian reprint sponsored by dGe-slong Thub-
bstan don-yod with a printing prayer by sKyabs-rje Khri-byang
rin-po-che.  Note: There is some confusion about the author's
dates and exact name; we have listed as reported in this and
the following text.  We see the variant @sPyil-sgom rdzong-pa
Shes-rab rdo-rje@ in the @bKa'-gdams chos-'byung@ of Pan{.}-
chen bSod-nams grags-pa; there is also a @lCe-btzun Seng-ge
dbang-phyug@ pictured in the @Iconography@ of Lokesh Chandra
(figure #1722, see entry 90 below).

19. lCe-sgom-pa (Shes-rab rdo-rje). @dPe-chos rin-chen spungs-
pa'i 'bum-'grel.@  Sarnath, Varanasi: The Pleasure [@sic@] of
Elegant Sayings Printing Press, 1965, 366 pp.

20. @bCom-ldan-'das-ma shes-rab kyi pha-rol-tu phyin-pa'i
snying-po (Shes-rab snying-po) (Bhagavati{-}prajn{~}a{-}pa{-
}ramita{-}hr{.}daya),@ ff.  259a-261a, vol. 1 (ka) in the Sher-
phyin sna-tsogs section of the KG.  Toh ref. 21 (also found at
531).

21. @('Phags-pa) bCom-ldan-'das sman gyi bla bai-d{.}'urya'i
'od-kyi sngon gyi lam gyi khyad-par rgyas-pa zhes-bya-ba theg-
pa chen-po'i mdo (sMan bla'i mdo) (A{-
}ryabhagavatobhais{.}ajyaguruvaid{.}u{-}ryaprabha{-}syapu{-
}rvapran{.}idha{-}navis{'}es{.}avista{-}rana{-}mamaha{-}ya{-
}nasu{-}tra),@ ff. 419a-433b, vol. 9 (ta) in the rGyud section
of the KG.  Toh ref. 504.

22. (Slob-dpon) Chos-kyi grags-pa (Dharmaki{-}rti).  @Tsad-ma
rnam-'grel gyi tsig-le'ur byas-pa (Prama{-}n{.}avarttikaka{-
}rika{-}),@ ff. 94a-151b, vol. 95 (ce) in the Tsad-ma section
of the TG.  Toh ref. 4210.

23. @('Phags-pa) Chos thams-cad kyi rang-bzhin mnyam-pa nyid
rnam-par spros-pa ting-nge-'dzin gyi rgyal-po zhes-bya-ba theg-
pa chen-po'i mdo (mDo ting-nge-'dzin gyi rgyal-po) (A{-
}ryasarvadharmasvabha{-}vasamata{-}vipan{~}citasama{-}dhira{-
}jana{-}mamaha{-}ya{-}nasu{-}tra),@ ff. 1b-269b, vol. 9 (ta) in
the mDo-mang section of the KG.  Toh ref. 127.

24. @mChog gi dang-po'i sangs-rgyas las byung-ba rgyud kyi
rgyal-po dpal dus kyi 'khor-lo zhes-bya-ba (Parama{-
}dibuddhoddhr{.}tas{'}ri{-}ka{-}lacakrana{-}matantrara{-}ja{-
}),@ ff. 28b-186b, vol. 1 (ka) in the rGyud-'bum section of the
KG.  Toh ref. 362.

25. @('Phags-pa) 'Jam-dpal ye-shes sems-dpa'i don-dam-pa'i
mtsan yang-dag-par brjod-pa ('Jam-dpal mtsan-brjod)
(Man{~}jus{'}ri{-}jn{~}a{-}nasattvasyaparama{-}rthana{-
}masam{.}gi{-}ti),@ ff.  1b-19a, vol. 1 (ka) of the rGyud-'bum
section of the KG.  Toh ref.  360.

26. (Dvags-po bla-ma rin-po-che) 'Jam-dpal lhun-grub.  @Byang-
chub lam gyi rim-pa'i dmar-khrid myur-lam gyi sngon-'gro'i 'don
gyi rim-pa khyer-bde bklags-chog bskal-bzang mgrin-rgyan zhes-
bya-ba bzhugs-so.@  Kalimpong, India: Mani Printing Works, c.
1965, 25 ff.

27. (Kun-mkhyen) 'Jam-dbyangs bshad-pa'i rdo-rje. @ Rje-btzun
Tzong-kha-pa chen-po'i rnam-thar ras-bris kyi tsul brgya nga-
gsum-pa tzinta-ma-n{.}i'i phreng-ba thub-bstan rgyas-byed
phan-bde'i rol-mtso chen-po,@ pp.  285-336 of vol. 4 (nga) of
collected works.  New Delhi: Ngawang Gelek Demo, 1972.

28. @('Phags-pa) sNying-rje padma dkar-po zhes-bya-ba theg-pa
chen-po'i mdo (sNying-rje pad-dkar) (A{-}ryaka{-}run{.}a{-
}pun{.}d{.}ari{-}kana{-}mamaha{-}ya{-}nasu{-}tra),@ ff.  209b-
474a of vol. 6 (cha) in the mDo-mang section of the KG, etc.
Toh ref. 112.

29. (Slob-dpon) rTa-dbyangs (As{'}vaghos{.}a).  @Bla-ma lnga-
bcu-pa (Gurupan{~}ca{-}s{'}ika{-}),@ ff. 9b-11b, vol. 207 (tsu)
in the rGyud section of the TG.  Toh ref. 3721.

30. bsTan-dar lha-rams-pa.  @Lam gyi gtzo-bo gsum gyi 'grel-pa
'dod-'jo'i dpag-bsam zhes-bya-ba bzhugs-so,@ pp. 323-370, vol.
1 (ka) of collected works.  New Delhi: Lama Guru Deva, 1971,
755 pp.

31. (mKhas-grub) bsTan-pa dar-rgyas (dpal bzang-po).  @bsTan-
bcos mngon-par rtog-pa'i rgyan rtza-'grel gyi spyi-don rnam-
bshad snying-po rgyan gyi snang-ba zhes-bya-ba bzhugs-so
(Phar-phyin spyi-don).@  New Delhi: printing sponsored by Geshe
Lobsang Tharchin, 1980, 604 pp.

32. (A-chi thu-no-mon-han Blo-bzang ye-shes) bsTan-pa rab-
rgyas.  @Collected Works.@  Dharamsala, India: Library of
Tibetan Works and Archives, 1985.  Toh refs. 6199-6257.

33. @('Phags-pa) Thar-pa chen-po phyogs-su rgyas-pa 'gyod-
tsangs kyis sdig sbyangs te sangs-rgyas su grub-par rnam-par
bkod-pa zhes-bya-ba theg-pa chen-po'i mdo (Thar-pa chen-po'i
mdo) (A{-}ryamaha{-}moks{.}adis{'}unpus{.}yakrokramtyapa{-
}pam{.}s{'}odhanana{-}maviharatisma),@ ff. 423a-506a, vol.  21
(zha) of the mDo-mang section of the KG.  Toh ref. 264.

34. (Slop-dpon) Dan{.}d{.}i (Dbyug-pa-can) (Dan{.}d{.}in).
@sNyan-ngag me-long (Ka{-}vya{-}dars{'}a),@ ff. 322a-345b, vol.
118 (se) in the sGra-mdo section of the TG.  Toh ref.  4301.

35. @('Phags-pa) Dri-ma med-par grags-pas bstan-pa zhes-bya-ba
theg-pa chen-po'i mdo (A{-}ryavimalaki{-}rtinirdes{'}ana{-
}mamaha{-}ya{-}nasu{-}tra),@ ff. 270b-376b, vol. 14 (pha) in
the mDo-mang section of the KG.  Toh ref. 176.

36. (Ras-chung) rDo-rje grags-pa.  @rNal-'byor gyi dbang-phyug
dam-pa rje-btzun Mi-la-ras-pa'i rnam-thar thar-pa dang thams-
cad mkhyen-pa'i lam-ston bzhugs-so.@  Modern edition from
blocks stored at the monastery of Chitari in Kulu Manali,
India, 639 pp.

37. (dNgul-chu) Dharma Bhadra.  @Lam gyi gtzo-bo rnam gsum gyi
t{.}'i-ka tsig-don rab-tu gsal-bar byed-pa'i sgron-me,@ pp.
487-511 in vol. 5 of collected works.  New Delhi: Champa Oser,
1973, 445 pp.  Toh ref. 6404.

38. ------.  @Lam gyi gtzo-bo gsum gyi 'khrid-yig skal-ldan
'jug-ngogs sogs,@ pp. 133-145 in vol. 3 of collected works
(ibid), 799 pp.  Toh ref. 6342.

Pha-bong-kha-pa: see (sKyabs-rje Pha-bong-kha-pa rje-btzun)
Byams-pa bstan-'dzin 'phrin-las rgya-mtso (dpal bzang-po).

39. @('Phags-pa) Phung-po gsum-pa zhes-bya-ba theg-pa chen-po'i
mdo (Phung-po gsum-pa'i mdo) (A{-}ryatriskandhakana{-}mamaha{-
}ya{-}nasu{-}tra),@ ff. 133b-164a, vol. 22 (za) of the mDo-mang
section of the KG.  Toh ref. 284.

40. @(Slop-dpon) 'Phags-pa lha (A{-}ryadeva).  bsTan-bcos bzhi-
brgya-pa zhes-bya-ba'i tsig-le'ur byas-pa (bZhi-brgya-pa)
(Catuh{.}s{'}atakas{'}a{-}straka{-}rika{-}na{-}ma),@ ff.  1a-
18a, vol. 18 (tsa) in the dBu-ma section of the TG.  Toh ref.
3846.

41. (rGyal-dbang) 'Phrin-las rnam-rgyal.  @'Jam-mgon chos kyi
rgyal-po Tzong-kha-pa chen-po'i rnam-thar thub-bstan mdzes-
pa'i rgyan gcig ngo-mtsar nor-bu'i 'phreng-ba (rNam-thar chen-
mo).@  Sarnath, India: Sa-ra-n{.}a-tha'i legs-bshad gter-mdzod-
khang, 1967, 636 pp.

42. @Bod-rgya tsig-mdzod chen-mo,@ 3 vols.  Beijing: Mi-rigs
dpe-skrun khang, 1985.

43. (rJe-btzun) Byams-pa (Maitreya).  @Theg-pa chen-po'i mdo-
sde'i rgyan zhes-bya-ba'i tsig-le'ur byas-pa (Maha{-}ya{-
}nasu{-}tra{-}lam{.}ka{-}rana{-}maka{-}rika{-}),@ ff. 1a-37a,
vol. 44 (phi) in the Sems-tzam section of the TG. Toh ref.
4020.

44. ------.  @Shes-rab kyi pha-rol tu phyin-pa'i man-ngag gi
bstan-bcos mngon-par rtogs-pa'i rgyan zhes-bya-ba'i tsig-le'ur
byas-pa (Mngon rtogs rgyan) (Abhisamaya{-}lam{.}ka{-}rana{-
}maprajn{~}a{-}pa{-}ramitopedes{'}as{'}a{-}straka{-}rika{-}),@
ff. 1a-13a, vol 1. (ka) in the Shes-phyin section of the TG.
Toh ref. 3786.

45. (sKyabs-rje Pha-bong-kha-pa rje-btzun) Byams-pa bstan-'dzin
'phrin-las rgya-mtso (dpal bzang-po).  @Bcom-ldan-'das dpal
rDo-rje 'jigs-byed dpa'-bo gcig-pa'i sgrub-thabs bdud las rnam-
rgyal gyi ngag-'don nag-'gros blo-dman las-dang-po-pa la khyer
bde-bar bkod-pa bzhugs-so,@ pp.  377-451 in @Bla-ma'i rnal-
'byor dang yi-dam khag gi bdag-bskyed sogs zhal-'don gces-btus
bzhugs-so.@  Dharamsala, India: Tibetan Cultural Printing
Press, 1985, 704 pp.

46. ------. @rDo-rje 'chang Pha-bong-kha-pa dpal bzang-pos lam-
gtzo'i zab-khrid stzal-skabs kyi gsung-bshad zin-bris lam-
bzang sgo-'byed ces-bya-ba bzhugs-so.@  Lhasa printing
sponsored by Lha-klu family, c. 1930, 41 ff.  Comprises pp.
375-455 in vol. 8 (nya) of collected works, New Delhi: Chophel
Legden under the guidance of Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, 1973.

47. ------. @rNam-grol lag-bcangs su stod-pa'i man-ngag zab-mo
tsang la ma-nor-ba mtsungs-med chos-kyi rgyal-po'i thugs-bcud
byang-chub lam gyi rim-pa'i nyams-khrid kyi zin-bris gsung-rab
kun gyi bcud-bsdus gdams-ngag bdud-rtzi'i snying-po zhes-bya-ba
bzhugs-so (Lam-rim rnam-grol lag-bcangs).@  Blocks at dGa'-ldan
Monastery, Mundgod, India: Indian recarving sponsored by
sKyabs-rje Khri-byang rin-po-che Blo-bzang ye-shes bstan-'dzin
rgya-mtso, c. 1974, 392 ff.

48. @Bye-brag tu rtogs-par byed-pa chen-po (Maha{-}vyutpatti),@
2 vols. Tokyo: ed. Ryo{-}zaburo{-} Sakuki, 1962.  Also at ff.
1a-131a, vol. 125 (co) in the sNa-tsogs section of the TG.  Toh
ref. 4346.

49. @('Phags-pa) Blo-gros mi-zad-pas bstan-pa zhes-bya-ba theg-
pa chen-po'i mdo (A{-}rya{-}ks{.}ayamatinirdes{'}ana{-}mamaha{-
}ya{-}nasu{-}tra),@ ff. 122b-270b, vol. 14 (pha) in the mDo-
mang section of the KG.  Toh ref. 175.

Blo-bzang grags-pa: see (rGyal-ba rJe) Tzong-kha-pa (chen-po
Blo-bzang grags-pa)

50. (Pan{.}-chen) Blo-bzang chos kyi rgyal-mtsan (dpal bzang-
po).  @Byang-chub lam gyi rim-pa'i dmar-khrid thams-cad mkhyen-
par bgrod-pa'i bde-lam zhes-bya-ba bzhugs-so.@  N.p., n.d.,
woodblock edition on Tibetan paper in possession of Geshe
Lobsang Tharchin, 31 ff.  Toh ref. 5944.

51. ------.  @Zab-lam bla-ma mchod-pa'i cho-ga bde-stong dbyer-
med-ma (Bla-ma mchod-pa),@ pp.  39-68 of @Bla-ma'i rnal-'byor
dang yi-dam khag gi bdag-bskyed sogs zhal-'don gces-btus
bzhugs-so.@  Dharamsala, India: Tibetan Cultural Printing
Press, 1985, 704 pp.

52. (Thu'u-bkvan dharma badzra) Blo-bzang chos kyi nyi-ma.
@Collected Works, Vol. 1 (Ka).@  New Delhi: Ngawang Gelek Demo,
1969, 966 pp. (10 vols. total).

53. (dBen-sa-pa) bLo-bzang don-grub.  @Rang la gdam-pa bde-chen
gter-mdzod sogs thor-bu skor,@ ff. 20b-35a, vol. 1 (ka) of
collected works.  New Delhi: Don-'grub rdo-rje, 1976, 131 pp.

54. (Pan{.}-chen) Blo-bzang ye-shes.  @Byang-chub lam gyi rim-
pa'i dmar-khrid thams-cad mkhyen-par bgrod-pa'i myur-lam zhes-
bya-ba bzhugs-so.@  Modern Indian reprint sponsored by Blo-
bzang dpal-sgron, concluding prayer by sKyabs-rje gLing rin-po-
che, 87 ff.  Toh ref. 6980.

55. (sKyabs-rje Khri-byang rin-po-che) Blo-bzang ye-she bstan-
'dzin rgya-mtso, ed.  @Rigs dang dkyil-'khor rgya-mtso'i khyab-
bdag He-ru-ka: dpal ngur-smrig gar-rol skyabs-gcig Pha-bong-
kha-pa bDe-chen snying-po dpal bzang-po'i rnam-par thar-pa don-
ldan tsangs-pa'i dbyangs-snyan zhes-bya-ba bzhugs-so,@ pp.  5-
592 of vol. I, pp.  1-542 of vol. II.  New Delhi: Ngawang Sopa,
1981.

dBen-sa-pa: see (dBen-sa-pa) bLo-bzang don-grub

56. (dPal) Mar-me mdzad ye-shes (Di{-}pam{.}kara S{'}ri{-
}jn{~}a{-}na).  @bDen-pa gnyis la 'jug-pa (Satyadvaya{-}vata{-
}ra),@ ff. 71b-73a, vol. 30 (a) in the dBu-ma section of the
TG.  Toh ref. 3902.

57. ------.  @Byang-chub lam gyi sgron-ma (Bodhipathapradi{-
}pa),@ ff. 242a-245a, vol. 32 (khe) in the dBu-ma section of
the TG.  Toh ref. 3947 (also found at 4465).

58. (Karma-pa) Mi-bskyod rdo-rje.  @mChog-gi dngos-grub mngon-
du byed-pa'i myur-lam bka'-brgyud bla-ma rnams kyi rdo-rje'i
mgur-dbyangs ye-shes char-'bebs rang-grol lhun-grub bde-chen
rab-'bar nges-don rgya-mtso'i snying-po (bKa'-brgyud mgur-
mtso).@  Sikkim: Rumtek Monastery, modern reprint, 142 ff.

59. rMog-lcog sprul-sku.  @Lam gyi gtzo-bo rnam gsum gyi mchan-
'grel bzhugs-so,@ pp. 2-9 of the collection @Lam gyi gtzo-bo
rnam gsum dang de'i 'grel-pa, lta-mgur a-ma ngo-'dzin dang de'i
'grel-pa, rMog-lcog gsung-mgur rnams gzhugs-so.@  N.p., n.d.:
set in movable type in Western book form, printing prayer by
Nang-sog P'a-ru'ang su-nyid-shog gi mchog-sprul Chos-rje bla-ma
et al., 35 pp.

60. (rGyal-ba rje) Tzong-kha-pa (chen-po Blo-bzang grags-pa).
@sKyes-bu gsum gyi nyams-su blang-ba'i byang-chub lam gyi rim-
pa (Lam-rim chung-ba),@ pp. 4-406, vol. 14 (pha) of collected
works.  New Delhi: reprint sponsored by Geshe Lobsang Tharchin,
1979.  Toh ref. 5393.

61. ------.  @mNyam-med Tzong-kha-pa chen-pos mdzad-pa'i byang-
chub lam-rim che-ba (Lam-rim chen-mo),@ pp. 33-1077, vol. 13
(pa) of collected works (ibid).  Toh ref. 5392.

62. ------. @rJe-btzun 'Jam-pa'i dbyangs kyi lam gyi gnad rJe
Red-mda'-ba la shog-dril du phul-ba bzhugs-so,@ pp. 671-81,
vol. 14 (pha) of collected works (ibid).  Toh ref.  5397.

63. ------.  @Byang-chub lam gyi rim-pa'i nyams-len gyi rnam-
gzhag mdor-bsdus (Lam-rim bsdus don),@ pp. 308-13, vol. 2 (kha)
of collected works (ibid).  Toh ref. 5275 (59).

64. ------.  @Byang-chub sems-dpa' sems-dpa' chen-po rTag-tu
ngu'i rtogs-pa brjod-pa'i snyan-dngags dpag-bsam gyi jon-pa
zhes-bya-ba,@ pp. 397-444, vol. 2 (kha) of collected works
(ibid).  Toh ref. 5275 (70).

65. ------. @Byin-rlabs nye-brgyud kyi bla-ma rnams la gsol-ba
'debs-pa dngos-grub kyi snye-ma (mKhyen srid ma),@ pp. 206-8,
vol. 2 (kha) of collected works (ibid).  Toh ref.  5275 (2).

66. ------. @Bla-ma lnga-bcu-pa'i rnam-bshad slob-ma'i re-ba
kun-skong zhes-bya-ba,@ pp. 315-71, vol. 1 (ka) of collected
works (ibid).  Toh ref. 5269.

67. ------.  @Bla-ma dBu-ma-pa la mDo-khams su phul-ba'i chab-
shog,@ pp. 334-7, vol. 2 (kha) of collected works (ibid).  Toh
ref. 5275 (65).

68. ------.  @Lam gyi gtzo-bo rnam gsum,@ pp. 584-6, vol. 2
(kha) of collected works (ibid).  Toh ref. 5275 (85).

69. ------.  @Tsa-kho-ba mKhan-chen Ngag-dbang grags-pas phrin-
yig springs byung-ba'i lan,@ pp. 580-4, vol. 2 (kha) of
collected works (ibid).  Toh ref. 5275 (84).

70. (Ser-sngags) Tsul-khrims dar-rgyas.  @dPal 'Khor-lo sdom-pa
grub-chen Dril-bu zhabs-lugs lha-lnga'i sgrub-dkyil gyi cho-
ga'i chog-bsgrigs bde-chen 'dod-'jo'i bum-bzang zhes-bya-ba las
mngon-rtogs kyi rim-pa bzhugs-so.@  Lhasa: printing sponsored
by sMin-skyid chos-sgron, "1921", 46 ff.

71. (Slob-dpon) Zhi-ba lha (S{'}a{-}ntideva).  @Byang-chub
sems-dpa'i spyod-pa la 'jug-pa (Bodhisattvacarya{-}vata{-}ra),@
ff.  1a-39a, vol. 26 (la) in the dBu-ma section of the TG.  Toh
ref.  3871.

72. (dPal-ldan) Zla-ba grags-pa (Candraki{-}rti).  @Byang-chub
sems-dpa'i rnal-'byor spyod-pa bzhi-brgya-pa'i rgya-cher 'grel-
pa (Bodhisattvayoga{-}ca{-}ryacatuh{.}s{'}atakat{.}i{-}ka{-}),@
ff. 29a-236a, vol. 24 (ya) in the dBu-ma section of the TG.
Toh ref. 3865.

73. ------. @dBu-ma rtza-ba'i 'grel-pa tsig-gsal ba zhes-bya-ba
(Mu{-}lamadhyamakavr{.}ttiprasannapada{-}na{-}ma),@ ff. 1a-
197a, vol. 23 ('a) in the dBu-ma section of the TG.  Toh ref.
3860.

74. ------. @dBu-ma la 'jug-pa zhes-bya-ba (Madhyamaka{-}vata{-
}rana{-}ma),@ ff. 198a-216a, vol. 23 ('a) in the dBu-ma section
of the TG.  Toh ref. 3861.

75. @('Phags-pa) 'Od-srung gi le'u zhes-bya-ba theg-pa chen-
po'i mdo (A{-}ryaka{-}s{'}yapaparivartana{-}mamaha{-}ya{-
}nasu{-}tra),@ ff. 211a-260b, vol. 6 (cha) in the dKon-brtzegs
section of the KG.  Toh ref. 87.

76. (rGyal-ba) Yang-dgon-pa (rgyal mtsan dpal) (lha gdong-pa).
@Phyag-rgya chen-po lhan-cig skyes-sbyor gyi thon-chos bzhugs-
so,@ pp. 207-242 in vol. 1 (ka) of collected works.  Thimphu,
Bhutan: Kunsang Topgey, 1976, 570 pp.

77. (Tse-mchog gling Yongs-'dzin) Ye-shes rgyal-mtsan.  @rJe'i
thug-sras Tsa-kho dbon-por grags-pa mkhan-chen Ngag-dbang
grags-pa'i skor,@ pp. 830-2, vol. 1 of @Byang-chub lam gyi rim-
pa'i bla-ma brgyud-pa'i rnam-par thar-pa rgyal-bstan mdzes-pa'i
rgyan-mchog phul-byung nor-bu'i phreng-pa zhes-bya-ba bzhugs-
so.@  New Delhi: Ngawang Gelek Demo, 1970, 947 pp.

78. ------.  @Lam gyi gtzo-bo rnam-pa gsum gyi khrid-yig lam-
bzang gsal-ba'i sgron-me,@ pp. 1-91 in vol. 5 of collected
works.  New Delhi: Tibet House Library, 1974, 445 pp.  Toh ref.
5987.

79. ------.  @Lam gyi gtzo-bo gsum gyi snying-po'i gnad ston-
pa'i man-ngag skal-ldan 'jug-ngog,@ pp. 345-437 in vol. 19 of
collected works (ibid), 488 pp.  Toh ref. 6094.

80. (lCang-skya rol-pa'i rdo-rje) Ye-shes bstan-pa'i sgron-me.
@Grub-pa'i mtha'i rnam-par bzhag-pa gsal-bar bshad-pa thub-
bstan lhun-po'i mdzes-rgyan zhes-bya-ba.@  Sarnath, Varanasi,
India: The Pleasure [@sic@] of Elegant Sayings Printing Press,
1970, 545 pp.

81. @('Phags-pa) Yongs-su mya-ngan las 'das-pa chen-po'i mdo
(A{-}ryamaha{-}parinirva{-}n{.}ana{-}masu{-}tra),@ vols. 1 (ka,
528 ff.) and 2 (kha, 529 ff.) in the Myang-'das section of the
KG, etc.  Toh ref. 119.

82. (sLob-dpon) Ratn'a-ka-ra Shanti (Ratna{-}karas{'}a{-
}ntipa).  @dPal gShin-rje dgra-nag-po'i rgyud kyi rgyal-po
chen-po'i dka'-'grel rin-po-che'i sgron-ma (S{'}ri{-
}kr{.}s{.}n{.}ayama{-}rimaha{-}tantrara{-}japan{~}jika{-
}ratnapradi{-}pana{-}ma),@ ff. 124b-173b, vol. 174 (bi) in the
rGyud section of the TG.  Toh ref. 1919.

83. @('Phags-pa) Shes-rab kyi pha-rol tu phyin-pa brgyad-stong-
pa (A{-}rya{-}s{.}t{.}asa{-}hasrikaprajn{~}a{-}pa{-}ramita{-}),
@ff. 1b-450a, vol. 1 (ka) in the brGyad-stong section of the
KG.  Toh ref. 12.

84. @('Phags-pa) Shes-rab kyi pha-rol tu phyin-pa sdud-pa
tsigs-su bcad-pa (Sher-phyin mdo sdud-pa) (A{-}ryaprajn{~}a{-
}pa{-}ramita{-}san{~}cayagatha{-}),@ ff. 189a-215a, vol. 1 (ka)
in the Sher-phyin sna-tsogs section of the KG.  Toh ref. 13.

85. (Slob-dpon) Sangs-rgyas bskyangs (Buddhapa{-}lita).  @dBu-
ma rtza-ba'i 'grel-pa Buddha-p'a-li-ta (Buddhapa{-}litamu{-
}lamadhyamakavr{.}tti),@ ff. 154b-278a, vol. 17 (tza) in the
dBu-ma section of the TG.  Toh ref. 3842.

86. (rGyud-chen) Sangs-rgyas rGya-mtso, comp.  @dGe-ldan snyan-
brgyud kyi man-ngag las byung-ba'i bla-ma'i rnal-'byor dGa'-
ldan lha-brgya-mar grags-pa bzhugs-so (dGa'-ldan lha-brgya-ma),
@pp. 11-14 in @Chos-spyod zhal-'don nyer-mkho phyogs-bsdebs
bzhugs.@  Varanasi, India: W'a-n{.}a mtho-slob dge-ldan spyi-
las-khang, 1979, 352 pp.

87. @(dPal) gSang-ba 'dus-pa zhes-bya-ba rgyud-kyi rgyal-po
chen-po (S{'}ri{-}guhyasamajamaha{-}tantrara{-}jana{-}ma),@ ff.
431b-536a, vol. 4 (nga) in the rGyud sction of the KG.  Toh
ref. 442.

88. (dGe-slong) bSod-nams lha'i dbang-po.  @dPe-chos rin-chen
spungs-pa'i gsal-byed rin-po-che'i sgron-me'am gtam-brgyud rin-
chen phreng-mdzes su grags-pa bzhugs-so.@  Dharamsala, India:
Tibetan Cultural Printing Press, n.d.; dedication by sKyabs-rje
Khri-byang rin-po-che, 278 pp.

89. Lha-gri sgang-pa.  @bKa'-gdams kyi man-ngag be'u bum sngon-
po'i 'grel-pa.@  Bir, India: Tsondu Senge, 1976, 481 pp.

(Jo-bo rje dpal-ldan) A-ti-sha: see (dPal) Mar-me-mdzad ye-
shes.


B. Works in English

90. Chandra, Lokesh.  @Buddhist Iconography.@  New Delhi:
Aditya Prakashan, 1987, 2 vols.

91. Das, Sarat Chandra.  @A Tibetan-English Dictionary.@
Reprint New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1970, 1353 pp.

92. Edgerton, Franklin.  @Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and
Dictionary, Volume II: Dictionary.@  Reprint New Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass, 1972, 627 pp.

93. Reynolds, Valrae, et al.  @Catalogue of The Newark Museum
Tibetan Collection, Volume III: Sculpture and Painting.@
Newark: The Newark Museum, 1986, 208 pp.

94. Roerich, George N., tr.  @The Blue Annals [of 'Gos lo-tsva-
ba gZhon-nu dpal, 1392-1481].@  Reprint New Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass, 1979, 1275 pp.

95. Tharchin, Geshe Lobsang, and Artemus B. Engle, tr.  @Na{-
}ga{-}rjuna's Letter: Na{-}ga{-}rjuna's "Letter to a Friend"
with a Commentary by the Venerable Rendawa, Zhon-nu Lo-dro.@
Dharamsala, India: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1979,
163 pp.

96. Vostrikov, A.I.  @Tibetan Historical Literature,@ tr.  H.C.
Gupta.  Calcutta: Indian Studies, Past & Present, 1970, 275 pp.Changes to Bibliography
Principal Teachings of Buddhism
January 31, 1989


1) Add the following entry after bibliography entry 82 and
   before entry 83:

82A  (sLob-dpon) Sh'akya blo (S{'}a{-}kyabuddhi).  @Tsad-ma
     rnam-'grel gyi 'grel-bshad (Prama{-}n{.}ava{-
     }rttikat{.}i{-}ka{-}),@ vols. 97 (je, 319 ff.) and 98
     (nye, 287 ff.) in the Tsad-ma section of the TG.  Tohoku
     ref. 4220.


2) On bibliography entries 10 and 11, add a period after the
   word "vol" in each case (followed by one space and then
   the volume number).


3) On bibliography entry 87, correct the word "sction" to
   "section".