- Buddha-Nature
- Compassion
- Defining Bodhicitta
- Emptiness
- Equalizing & Exchanging Self and Others
- Equanimity
- History of Bodhicitta Teachings
- How to Develop Bodhicitta
- Interdependent Origination
- Lineage of the Profound View
- Lineage of the Vast Conduct
- Mahāyāna
- Mind Training
- Non-Self
- Seven-Point Instructions of Cause and Effect
- The Bodhisattva Ideal
- The Bodhisattva Path
- The Bodhisattva Vow
- The Bodhisattva's Goal
- The Four Immeasurables
- The Six Perfections
- The Three Higher Trainings
- The Two Accumulations
- The Two Truths
- Tonglen: The Practice of Sending and Receiving
- Types of Bodhicitta
The two accumulations consist of merit and wisdom, which respectively cause the form body and truth body of a buddha. The three higher trainings provide a sequential foundation: ethical discipline creates stability, concentration develops focused awareness, and wisdom penetrates ultimate reality. Bodhisattvas engage in these practices because their compassionate motivation extends beyond personal liberation—they must first attain complete buddhahood themselves, gaining both the omniscient mind and ability to appear to beings, before they can effectively guide all sentient beings toward enlightenment.
Practicing the Bodhisattva Path
Having taken the bodhisattva vows, the Mahāyāna practitioner sets out on the journey along the path of the bodhisattva. The practices of the bodhisattva path can be explained by looking at them through many different lenses. For instance, they can be presented from the perspective of the two accumulations (sambhāradvaya, ཚོགས་གཉིས་)—that is, the accumulation of merit (puṇyasambhāra, བསོད་ནམས་ཀྱི་ཚོགས་) and the accumulation of wisdom (jñānasambhāra, ཡེ་ཤེས་ཀྱི་ཚོགས་). They can also be presented in the context of the three higher trainings (adhiśikṣātraya, ལྷག་པའི་བསླབ་པ་གསུམ་), in the context of the practices of the six perfections (ṣaṭpāramitā, ཕར་ཕྱིན་དྲུག་), or through the more extensive presentation of the ten perfections (daśapāramitā, ཕར་ཕྱིན་བཅུ་). Here, the practices of the bodhisattva path are primarily discussed in relation to the two accumulations, while a fuller discussion of the six perfections, ten perfections, and the three higher trainings is provided in separate articles.
The Two Accumulations
Engaging in practices connected to the two accumulations is a very important factor for the bodhisattva following the Mahāyāna path. Since their driving motivation is not merely to liberate themselves from samsara but also to be able to help place all sentient beings in the state of perfect enlightenment, they must first follow a path that will lead to themselves attaining the fully enlightened state. Only when they have become a buddha themselves can they then help others to follow in their footsteps. It is the qualities of complete buddhahood that hold the key to how buddhas can help other beings and what distinguishes this state from attaining liberation for oneself alone.
The buddhas are endowed with two bodies (kāya) or aspects—the truth body (dharmakāya) and the form body (rūpakāya). The truth body has several elements, but the principal one is that of the omniscient mind, a mind that knows all phenomena, both relative and ultimate, directly and nonconceptually. This omniscient mind also knows all of the predispositions of every individual being and is therefore able to aid them in following the path in the most effective way. But just knowing the minds of beings alone is not enough. If the buddhas do not have a way to directly appear to other beings and communicate with them, then no matter how much wisdom they have they will never be able to share that wisdom. For this, the second buddha body, the form body, is extremely important. The form body represents the aspect of the buddhas that manifests to living beings, connecting and communicating with them in an infinite array of ways that show them how to follow the path to enlightenment.
These two bodies are vital components of the buddhas, without which they cannot guide beings. Each of the bodies of a buddha is created through the two accumulations of merit and wisdom. There is a direct causal relationship between them. It is primarily the accumulation of wisdom that is the cause for the truth body, and it is the accumulation of merit that primarily brings about the form body. This is why the practice of the two accumulations is considered to be so important.
Definitions of the Two Accumulations
In the Great Dungkar Dictionary, the contemporary master Dungkar Rinpoche Lobsang Trinley explains the accumulations as follows:
The nature of the accumulations in general is anything that is either a virtue, a method, or wisdom that acts as means by which to accomplish the two bodies—the Dharma body (dharmakāya) and the form body (rūpakāya).[1]
The accumulations are divided into two accumulations: the accumulation of merit and the accumulation of wisdom. The accumulation of merit can be thought of as the progressive increase of virtuous karma, and the accumulation of wisdom can be thought of as the progressive deepening of spiritual understanding.
The Great Tibetan-Chinese Dictionary defines the accumulation of merit as:
Positive virtuous karma, such as offerings and generosity, which have a referent.[2]
Here, having a referent means that the mind connected with these virtuous practices still has some clinging to the inherent nature of reality and therefore objectifies the different elements of that virtuous act. For instance, if a person engaged in an act of generosity had not eliminated the mental states that cling to the true existence of phenomena, they would perceive the giver (themselves), the recipient, and the gift as all having some solid and independent nature, making this generosity a virtuous act that has a referent.
In the Great Dungkar Dictionary, Dungkar Rinpoche expands the definition of the accumulation of merit by emphasizing its relationship to the attainment of a buddha's form body:
The accumulation of merit refers to virtuous practices such as making offerings and guarding our ethical discipline that primarily lead to the result of accomplishing the form body of a buddha.[3]
The accumulation of merit does act as a cooperative condition for the accomplishment of the wisdom body of the buddhas, but it primarily acts as the substantial cause for the accomplishment of the form body of the buddhas.
In the same dictionary, Dungkar Rinpoche defines the accumulation of wisdom as follows:
One of the two accumulations; and that which is the collection of exalted wisdom with no referent. It is an accumulation of uncontaminated virtue that brings about the attainment of the wisdom dharmakāya (jñānadharmakāya), that which is the result of the influence of [the wisdom realizing] emptiness and bodhicitta.[4]
Once a practitioner has developed the wisdom that is the direct realization that all phenomena lack an inherently established or independent nature, they will then reduce and eventually abandon all clinging to the self and phenomena. Without this strong clinging when they engage in virtuous acts, there will be no inherent referent for them. This wisdom is the substantial cause that leads to accomplishing the omniscient mind of the buddhas, the wisdom dharmakāya.
The Relationship between the Two Accumulations and the Six Perfections
Relating the two accumulations to the practices of the six perfections, the first three perfections—generosity, ethical discipline, and patience—constitute the accumulation of merit. They are causes for achieving a buddha's form bodies: the emanation body (nirmāṇakāya) and the complete enjoyment body (sambhogakāya). This point is mentioned in Candrakīrti's Entering the Middle Way (Madhyamakāvatāra), where it states:
The three practices of generosity and so on the Sugata lauded mostly for the householder. They also constitute what is known as the collection of merit, and they are the cause of the buddha's form body. (3.12)[5]
The last two perfections, which include the practices of cultivating concentration and realizing the view of emptiness, are included within the accumulation of wisdom.
This is defined in the Great Dungkar Dictionary as:
The uncontaminated virtuous accumulation that primarily leads to attaining the wisdom truth body (jñānadharmakāya) and indirectly to the essential body of a buddha (svabhāvakāya).[6]
The perfection of diligence is different from the other perfections. The other perfections are the cause of either the accumulation of merit or the accumulation of wisdom. In contrast, the practice of diligence acts as the cause for both the accumulation of merit and the accumulation of wisdom. This point is mentioned in the fourth chapter of Candrakīrti's Entering the Middle Way, a chapter that describes the fourth bodhisattva ground, The Radiant.
All higher qualities follow after diligence; it is the cause of merit and wisdom, the two collections. (4.1ab)[7]
The Accumulations and the Bodies of a Buddha
Dungkar Rinpoche's dictionary also describes the fundamental importance of the two accumulations in eventually attaining the resultant bodies of the buddhas:
By gathering these two causal accumulations, one definitely achieves the two resultant bodies. Without completing these two accumulations, there is no means to attain buddhahood with its two purities.[8]
In the third chapter of his text The Precious Garland (Ratnāvalī), Nāgārjuna highlights the specific causal relationship between the two accumulations and their corresponding results, the attainment of the different bodies of the buddhas:
In brief, King, the buddhas' form-bodies arise from the collection of merit, and their dharma-body is born from the collection of wisdom. (3.12)[9]
Here, Nāgārjuna draws a direct causal relationship between two accumulations and their respective results: the accumulation of merit contributes to the eventual development of a buddha's form body, while the accumulation of wisdom results in the wisdom body (dharmakāya)—the omniscient mind that simultaneously knows all conventional and ultimate phenomena.
It must be noted here that while practitioners of the non-Mahāyāna Buddhist systems have presentations of merit and wisdom in their traditions of philosophy and practice, they do not accept that there is a resultant state of complete buddhahood, a state that is replete with these four bodies of a buddha. Instead, they focus only on the merit and wisdom that helps them to be liberated from the suffering of the samsaric condition.
In his text The Precious Garland, Nāgārjuna conveys a whole range of advice to his friend King Gautamīputra. In particular, he encourages the king, and therefore indirectly encourages us, to devote ourselves to gathering together these two accumulations of merit and wisdom so that we may bring about the state of complete enlightenment.
Thus, these two collections cause the obtainment of buddhahood; hence, in short, devote yourself always to merit and wisdom. (3.13)[10]
And to inspire us in this process, Candrakīrti writes poetically in his Entering the Middle Way of how important it is to gather these two accumulations in order to correctly follow the bodhisattva path that leads to the fully enlightened state. Without these two wings, we will never be able to fly far across the realm of birth and death, to the other shore, the citadel of perfect enlightenment.
And like a king of swans soaring ahead of other accomplished swans, with white wings of conventional and ultimate truths spread wide, propelled by the powerful winds of virtue, the bodhisattva would cruise to the excellent far shore, the oceanic qualities of the conquerors. (6.226)[11]
Notes
- ↑ Dunkar Lobzang Trinley, Dungkar Tsikdzo Chenmo - White Conch Encyclopedia (Beijing: China Tibetology Publishing House, 2002), 1718.
- ↑ Great Tibetan-Chinese Dictionary (Bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo) (Beijing: Nationalities Publishing House, 1985), 3051.
- ↑ Trinley, Dungkar Tsikdzo Chenmo, 1719.
- ↑ Trinley, Dungkar Tsikdzo Chenmo, 1719.
- ↑ See Thupten Jinpa, trans., Illuminating the Intent: An Exposition of Candrakīrti's Entering the Middle Way, by Tsongkhapa (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2021), 145.
- ↑ Trinley, Dungkar Tsikdzo Chenmo, 1719.
- ↑ See Jinpa, Illuminating the Intent, 148.
- ↑ Trinley, Dungkar Tsikdzo Chenmo, 1719.
- ↑ John Dunne and Sarah McClintock, trans., The Precious Garland: An Epistle to a King, by Nāgārjuna (Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications, 1997), 43.
- ↑ Dunne and McClintock, Precious Garland, 43.
- ↑ See Jinpa, Illuminating the Intent, 510.
