- Buddha-Nature
- Compassion
- Defining Bodhicitta
- Emptiness
- Equalizing & Exchanging Self and Others
- 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 Taking and Giving
- Types of Bodhicitta
The Profound View lineage is associated with Mañjuśrī and the philosopher Nāgārjuna, the founder of the Middle Way School. However, the most well-known promoter of bodhicitta in this lineage is Śāntideva, whose writings became the main literature for the lineage. The lineage's core practices—"equating self and others" and "exchanging self for others"—involve meditating on beings' fundamental equality and mentally taking on others' suffering while offering one's happiness, directly countering self-cherishing attitudes.
The Lineage of the Profound View
The Mahāyāna system which spread from around 100 BCE saw significant expansion and diversification in the subsequent centuries. Such expansion and variation came about partly through the appearance of numerous sūtras emphasizing different aspects of the bodhisattva path. For instance, while the Perfection of Wisdom highlighted the empty nature of all phenomena, the buddha-nature sūtras underscored the natural purity and intrinsic virtue of sentient beings. Still other sūtras focused on bodhisattva ethics, bodhisattva practices, life stories, and rituals such as stūpa veneration.
In addition to its expansion through a multiplicity of sūtras, the Mahāyāna system also saw diversification through the emergence of different understandings and interpretations of the sūtras. For instance, the Perfection of Wisdom sūtras saw four major traditions of interpretation propounded by Nāgārjuna, Asaṅga, Daṃṣṭrāsena, and Dignāga. Among the four, Nāgārjuna's interpretation, which focuses on emptiness, the explicit message of the Perfection of Wisdom sūtras, initiated the Madhyamaka (Middle Way) school, while Maitreya/Asaṅga's interpretation focused on the soteriological path, the implicit or hidden message of the Perfection of Wisdom sūtras. The latter was often philosophically aligned with the Cittamātra (Mind Only) school.
Thus, the Mahāyāna system in the Indo-Tibetan tradition became mainly classified into these two groups of what later came to be known as the Profound View Tradition (ཟབ་མོ་ལྟ་བའི་སྲོལ་ zab mo lta ba'i srol) and the Vast Conduct Tradition (རྒྱ་ཆེན་སྤྱོད་པའི་སྲོལ། rgya chen spyod pa'i srol). Kongtrul Lodrö Taye (1813–1899), in his Guidebook for the Path to Great Awakening: The Ritual for Generating Enlightenment Mind according to the System Followed in the Lineage of the Profound View writes:
Following The Stem Array Sūtra and The Sūtra of Ākāśagarbha and others, the tradition passed down from Ārya Māñjuśrī via Lord Nāgārjuna and his disciples and taken up by Śantideva and so forth is known as the Middle Way tradition. Following The Great Bodhisattva Ground and such sūtras, the tradition passed down from Lord Maitreya via Ārya Asaṅga and his brother and taken up by the master Candragomin, Lord Atiśa, and others is known as the Mind Only tradition.[1]
While the tradition names and lineage lists that Kongtrul presents were not clearly defined in India, a philosophical division did exist. Mahāyāna thinkers appear to have been grouped into two camps based on their philosophical positions as early as the time of Bhāvaviveka (c. 500–570). Bhāvaviveka criticizes Asaṅga and Vasubandhu for shamelessly diverging from the Middle Way understanding of Nāgārjuna, who, as Bhāvaviveka points out, was prophesied by the Buddha and is said to have attained the first sublime stage of the bodhisattva path.[2] There are also ample accounts of philosophical debates between the proponents of the Middle Way school and Mind Only school, confirming that Indian Mahāyānists were clearly divided along philosophical lines.
Beyond the philosophical differences that occupied Bhāvaviveka and others, a general division appears to have emerged in Mahāyāna approaches to understanding and practice. By the time of Ratnākaraśānti (late tenth century), we can see a general classification of the Mahāyāna system into two traditions, with one led by Nāgārjuna and another by Asaṅga. According to Ratnākaraśānti, Ārya Asaṅga presents the gist of the Mahāyāna system through seven topics such as the thought of awakening, while Ārya Nāgārjuna presents it through the six perfections and compassion.[3]
In Tibet, Ratnākaraśānti's disciple Atiśa is perhaps the first one to expound the two traditions and the two lines of transmission of bodhicitta practice. According to Atiśa:
Although there are many traditions on this among previous scholars, the religious tradition followed by a great number of people and the path set by the great pioneers should be explained to be two: the tradition of Ārya Asaṅga and the tradition of the Lord Śāntideva.[4]
From Atiśa's time onward, bodhisattva vows and bodhicitta practices were presented according to the two main Mahāyāna traditions. Tibetan scholars subsequently adopted this formulation, and bodhicitta teachings were transmitted through these two distinct lineages.
Sakya Paṇḍita Kunga Gyaltsen (1182–1251), in his Illumination of the Sage's Intent, for example, states that the Mahāyāna tradition consists of the Mind Only and Middle Way schools. The cultivation of the thought of awakening in the Mind Only school, he explains, follows the Maitreya lineage coming through Asaṅga and is the tradition of Candragomin's Twenty Bodhisattva Vows (Byang chub sems dpa'i sdom pa nyi shu pa) based on Asaṅga's Bodhisattvabhūmi (Byang chub sems pa'i sa). On the other hand, the tradition of the Middle Way school follows the Mañjuśrī line through Nāgārjuna, is the tradition of Śāntideva's Way of the Bodhisattva based on the Buddhāvataṃsakasūtra, and is the one undertaken by Jetāri and other masters.[5]
It must be noted, however, that Atiśa also presented a trifurcation in terms of the presentation of the general Mahāyāna system of thought. He listed Asaṅga, Vasubandhu, Sthiramati, Prajñākaragupta, et al. as those espousing the Aspectarian and Non-Aspectarian Mind Only school of thought, and Bhāvaviveka, Devaśarman, Buddhapālita, Avalokitavrata, Śāntarakṣita, and Kamalaśīla as expounding the Middle Way school of thought. He categorized Candragomin, Ācārya Śūra, Śāntideva, et al. as masters who promoted the Vast Conduct tradition through a focus on the practice of the four immeasurable thoughts, six perfections, and four means of attraction. Thus, it seems Atiśa divided the general Mahāyāna system into three main lines of thought or approaches[6] but included them into two main traditions with regard to the specific practice of bodhicitta and the bodhisattva vows.
Resembling Atiśa's trifurcation, Longchenpa Drime Özer (1308–1364) classified the Indian Mahāyāna thinkers into three groups: those holding the lineage of Vast Conduct (རྒྱ་ཆེན་སྤྱོད་པའི་བརྒྱུད་པ། rgya chen spyod pa'i brgyud pa) associated with Śāntideva, those holding the lineage of both the Vast Conduct and the Profound View associated with Asaṅga (ཟབ་ཅིང་རྒྱ་ཆེ་བའི་བརྒྱུད་པ། zab cing rgya che ba'i brgyud pa), and those holding the Profound View lineage (ཟབ་མོ་ལྟ་བའི་བརྒྱུད་པ། zab mo lta ba'i brgyud pa) associated with Nāgārjuna. He presents the list of masters in the three lines of transmission in his pith instructions associated with The Relaxation in the Nature of Mind. While he referred to the line associated with Śāntideva as the Vast Conduct tradition, as Atiśa did, he does not directly associate the Asaṅga line with the Mind Only school but refers to it as the lineage of both Profound View and Vast Conduct.
The Profound View line has the following figures:
- The Buddha
- Mañjuśrī
- Ārya Nāgārjuna
- Candrakīrti
- Vidyākokila
- Kusālipa Senior
- Kusālipa Junior
- Atiśa
- Newari Thangpa Dza
- Abhyākara
- Dawa Gyaltsen
- Drolungpa
- Chiwo Lhepa Jangchub O
- Ma Śākya Seṅge
- Chim Namkha Drak
- Kyotön Monlam Tsultrim
- Lopen Jangchub Drub
- Lopen Zhönu Dorje
- Longchenpa/Samyepa Ngagi Wangpo
The Indo-Tibetan masters in the Vast Conduct tradition starting from Mañjuśrī and Śāntideva and the lineage of both Profound and Vast starting from Maitreya and Asaṅga according to Longchenpa are given in the section on the Lineage of The Vast Conduct on this website.
A generation after Longchenpa, Tsongkhapa Lobzang Drakpa (1357–1419), the founder of the Geluk school, also mentions the three lines coming down from (1) Maitreya and Asaṅga, (2) Mañjuśrī and Nāgārjuna, and (3) Mañjuśrī and Śāntideva in his Middling Stages of the Path to Enlightenment.[7] Yet, Tsongkhapa, as Atiśa, Sakya Paṇḍita, and Longchenpa did before him, also repeatedly classifies the Mahāyāna system into the two traditions of the Profound View and Vast Conduct originating from Mañjuśrī/Nāgārjuna and Maitreya/Asaṅga respectively.[8] In his prayers to the masters of the lineage of the Profound View, he enumerates the following:
- The Buddha
- Mañjuśrī
- Nāgārjuna
- Candrakīrti
- Senior Vidyākokila
- Vidyākokila II
- Atiśa
- Dromtönpa
- Gönpawa
- Neu Zurpa
- Thagmapa
- Namkha Senge
- Namkha Gyalpo
- Senge Zangpo
- Gyalse Zangpo
- Namkha Gyaltsen
- Tsongkhapa
Tsongkhapa also lists the holders of the bodhicitta and lamrim lineages associated with the scriptural tradition and instructional tradition of the old Kadam school. Like Longchenpa and Tsongkhapa, most Tibetan Buddhist masters present an unbroken line of transmission for bodhicitta study and practice in their schools and traditions. The lists can be found in the study records (གསན་ཡིག་ gsan yig) of eminent masters and in supplications to the lineage holders (བརྒྱུད་པའི་གསོལ་འདེབས། brgyud pa'i gsol 'debs) found in different schools and subschools.[9]
At the height of the Rime movement in eastern Tibet, many of these separate lines of transmission were received by ecumenical and influential masters such as Patrul Rinpoche (1808–1887), Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (1820–1892), and Kongtrul Lodrö Taye. These masters worked laboriously to receive the countless transmissions in the entire range of Tibetan Buddhist traditions. They integrated the various lines and then passed down the teachings to their disciples, thereby safeguarding the transmissions and also disseminating them widely.
Patrul Rinpoche, a champion of bodhicitta teachings and an unparalleled teacher of The Way of the Bodhisattva, was an icon for the transmission of the study and practice of bodhicitta. Through his persistent teachings, writings, and saintly lifestyle, he shaped the course of the study and practice of bodhicitta not only in his Nyingma school but across almost all Tibetan Buddhist traditions. Yet, we do not have a clear record of the line of bodhicitta transmission for Patrul Rinpoche. Instead, we have a supplication to lineage masters that he composed, which presents the following list of masters who transmitted the teachings on The Way of the Bodhisattva up to his teacher.[10]
- Mañjughoṣa
- Śāntideva
- Jetāri
- Candrakīrti Junior
- Guṇaśrī
- Kanakaśrī
- Sumatikīrti
- Ngok Loden Sherab
- Master Jetsünpa
- Butön
- Tuksé Lotsāwa
- Yaktruk Sangye Pal
- Sangye Pel
- Könchok Jungne
- Karma Chakmé
- Pema Rigdzin
- Namkha Ösel
- Tekchok Tenzin
- Tashi Gyatso
- Rigdzin Zangpo
- Pema Tashi
- Shenpen Thayé
- Jikmé Ngotsar
- Jikmé Chökyi Wangpo
As this lineage comes directly from Mañjuśrī to Śāntideva, this would concur with the third line of transmission mentioned above and referred to as the Vast Conduct tradition by Atiśa and Longchenpa.
One of the doyens of the ecumenical Rime movement and perhaps the most important figure for the compilation and consolidation of Tibetan Buddhist traditions is Kongtrul Lodrö Taye. He initiated and led the massive projects of preserving, classifying, and promoting the diverse religious traditions of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, resulting in his Five Great Treasuries. In his Treasury of Precious Instructions, a compilation of all the pith instructions in the Indo-Tibetan meditation and contemplative traditions, he broadly classifies the Mahāyāna transmission into two traditions—the Profound View and Vast Conduct traditions. In his Catalog of The Treasury of Precious Instructions, he presents the following lineage of masters who transmitted the bodhisattva vows in the Profound View tradition until his time.
- The Buddha
- Mañjuśrī
- Nāgārjuna
- Āryadeva
- Candrakīrti
- Vidyākokila
- Kusāli Senior
- Kusāli Junior
- Dharmakīrti of Suvarṇdvīpa
- Atiśa Dīpaṃkara
- Dromtön Gyalwai Jungne
- Chenga Tsultrim Bar
- Jayulwa
- Yeshe Bar
- Gyachak Riwa
- Nazurwa
- Gampopa
- Dusum Khyenpa
- Karmapa Wangchuk Dorje
- Chökyi Wangchuk
- Karmapa Chöying Dorje
- Yeshe Nyingpo
- Karmapa Yeshe Dorje
- Rechen Sönam Drakpa
- Gyalse Sönam Dorje
- Drupchen Chökyi Lama
- Nyenre Gendun Bum
- Rangjung Dorje
- Yungtön Dorje Pal
- Gönpo Gyaltsen
- Zamling Chökyi Drakpa
- Kachö Wangpo
- Karmapa Dezhin Shekpa
- Chöpal Yeshe
- Karmapa Tongwa Dönden
- Jampal Zangpo
- Paljor Döndrup
- Karmapa Chödrak Gyatso
- Sangye Nyenpa
- Karmapa Mikyö Dorje
- Zhamar Könchok Yenlak
- Chökyi Döndrup
- Karmapa Jangchup Dorje
- Chökyi Jungne
- Karmapa Dudul Dorje
- Jamgön Pema Nyinje Wangpo
- Kongtrul Lodrö Taye
The above lineage from which Kongtrul received the bodhisattva vows is primarily associated with the Kagyu tradition, of which he was a leading master. From Chökyi Wangchuk, the line was also passed through Karma Chakme, Pema Kunga, Trinle Wangjung, Sherap Drakpa, Karma Tsangyang, and Karma Tenzin Trinle, from whom Kongtrul received the vows.
Kongtrul and numerous other masters passed down the transmission of the Profound View lineage to their disciples in the second half of the nineteenth century. The lineage continues to thrive today and has spread across many continents due to the works of modern Buddhist leaders such as the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.
Notes
- ↑ See Treasury of Precious Instructions, 3:282: སྡོང་པོ་བཀོད་པ་དང༌། ནམ་མཁའི་སྙིང་པོའི་མདོ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་རྗེས་སུ་འབྲངས་པ། འཕགས་པ་འཇམ་དཔལ་ནས་བརྒྱུད་དེ་མགོན་པོ་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ཡབ་སྲས་དང་རྒྱལ་སྲས་ཞི་བ་ལྷ་སོགས་ཀྱི་ཕྱག་བཞེས་དབུ་མ་ལུགས་སུ་གྲགས་པ་དང༌། བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་ས་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ་ལ་སོགས་པའི་རྗེས་སུ་འབྲངས་པ། མགོན་པོ་བྱམས་པ་ནས་བརྒྱུད་དེ་འཕགས་པ་ཐོགས་མེད་སྐུ་མཆེད་དང༌། སློབ་དཔོན་ཆེན་པོ་ཙནྡྲ་གོ་མི་དང་ཇོ་བོ་ཨ་ཏི་ཤ་སོགས་ཀྱི་ཕྱག་བཞེས་སེམས་ཙམ་ལུགས་སུ་གྲགས་པ་གཉིས་ཡོད།
- ↑ Bhāvaviveka, Madhyamakahṛīdayavṛīttitarakājvāla (Dbu ma snying po'i 'grel pa rtog ge 'bar ba), in Derge Tengyur, D3856, dbu ma, vol. 98, 199a: ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ་ཉིད་ཀྱི་སློབ་དཔོན་ཐོགས་མེད་དང་། དབྱིག་གཉེན་ལ་སོགས་པ་གཞན་དག་ནི་དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པས་ལུང་བསྟན་ཅིང་། ས་རབ་ཏུ་བརྙེས་པའི་འཕགས་པ་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱིས་ཡང་དག་པར་རྟོགས་པའི་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་དོན་གྱི་ལུགས་གཞན་དུ་འདྲེན་པར་བྱེད་ཅིང་ངོ་ཚ་དང་ཁྲེལ་མེད་པ་དོན་རྣམ་པར་མི་ཤེས་པ་དེ་བཞིན་དུ་རྣམ་པ་ཤེས་ཤིང་མཁས་པར་ང་རྒྱལ་བྱེད་པ་དག་འདི་སྐད་སྨྲ་སྟེ།
- ↑ Ratnākaraśānti, Sūtrasamuccayabhāṣyaratnālokālaṃkāra-nāma (Mdo kun las btus pa'i bshad pa rin po che snang ba'i rgyan ces bya ba) in Derge Tengyur, D3935, dbu ma, vol. 110, 251b: འཕགས་པ་ཐོགས་མེད་ཀྱིས་ནི་སེམས་བསྐྱེད་པ་ལ་སོགས་པ་རྣམ་པ་བདུན་བཤད་དོ། །འཕགས་པ་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱིས་ནི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་དྲུག་དང་སྙིང་རྗེ་ལ་བཤད་དོ། །
- ↑ Atiśa Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna, Bodhimārgapradīpapañjikā-nāma (Byang chub lam gyi sgron ma'i dka' 'grel), in Derge Tengyur, D3948, dbu ma, vol. 111, 265a: འདིར་སྔོན་གྱི་མཁས་པ་ཆེན་པོ་དུ་མའི་ལུགས་ཡོད་མོད་ཀྱི་འོན་ཀྱང་སྐྱེ་བོ་ཆེན་པོའི་ཆོས་ལུགས་ཤིང་རྟ་ཆེན་པོའི་ལམ་ཆེན་པོ་ཡིན་པས། སློབ་དཔོན་ཐོགས་མེད་ཀྱི་ལུགས་དང་། རྗེ་བཙུན་ཞི་བ་ལྷའི་ལུགས་གཉིས་བཤད་པར་བྱའོ། །
- ↑ Sakya Paṇḍita Kunga Gyaltsen, Thub pa'i dgongs pa rab tu gsal ba, in Sa skya bka' 'bum (Dehra Dun: Sakya Center, 1992–1993), 10:18, http://purl.bdrc.io/resource/MW22271_925536.
- ↑ Atiśa Dīpaṃkara Śrījñāna, Ratnakaraṇḍodghāṭanāmamadhyamakopadeśa (Dbu ma'i man ngag rin po che'i za ma tog kha phye ba), in Derge Tengyur, D3930, dbu ma, vol. 110:112b.
- ↑ Tsongkhapa, Rgyal ba'i gsung rab thams cad kyi gnad bsdus te gtan la phab pa byang chub lam gyi rim pa in 'Jam mgon bla ma tsong kha pa chen po'i gsung 'bum (Mundgod: Je Yabse Sungbum Project, 2019) 14:296: ཟབ་མོའི་ལྟ་བ་རྒྱ་ཆེན་སྤྱོད་པའི་ལམ། །རྒྱལ་ཚབ་བྱམས་པ་རྗེ་བཙུན་འཇམ་དབྱངས་ནས། །མགོན་པོ་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ཐོགས་མེད་ཞི་བ་ལྷའི། །བརྒྱུད་པའི་ཆུ་བོ་རྣམ་པ་གསུམ་འདྲེས་པ། །དཔལ་ལྡན་ཨ་ཏི་ཤ་ཡི་གདམས་པ་མཆོག ། See also Rgyud kyi rgyal po dpal gsang ba 'dus pa'i man ngag rim pa lnga rab tu gsal ba'i sgron me in 'Jam mgon bla ma tsong kha pa chen po'i gsung 'bum (Mundgod: Je Yabse Sungbum Project, 2019) 7:47: འདི་ནི་རྗེ་བཙུན་བྱམས་པ་ནས་ཐོགས་མེད་དང་། རྗེ་བཙུན་འཇམ་དབྱངས་ནས་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་དང་ཞི་བ་ལྷ་ལ་བརྒྱུད་པའི་ཆུ་བོ་གསུམ་འདྲེས་ ཀྱི་གདམས་པ་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཐེག་པ་དང་ཕར་ཕྱིན་ཐེག་པ་གང་གི་སྒོར་འཇུག་ཀྱང་བྱ་དགོས་པར་ཇོ་བོ་ཆེན་པོ་བཤད་དོ།།
- ↑ See Tsongkhapa, Mnyam med tsong kha pa chen pos mdzad pa'i byang chub lam rim che ba in 'Jam mgon bla ma tsong kha pa chen po'i gsung 'bum (Mundgod: Je Yabse Sungbum Project, 2019) 13:1. See also Rgyal ba'i gsung rab thams cad kyi gnad bsdus te gtan la phab pa byang chub lam gyi rim pa in 'Jam mgon bla ma tsong kha pa chen po'i gsung 'bum (Mundgod: Je Yabse Sungbum Project, 2019) 14:1, 288, 291, 708, 722, 723, etc.
- ↑ It is beyond the scope of this website to cover all major lineages of transmissions of bodhicitta teachings and bodhisattva vows which were received in the context of both Sūtra and Vajrayāna teachings.
- ↑ See Patrul Rinpoche, Spyod 'jug brgyud pa'i gsol 'debs, in Dpal sprul o rgyan 'jigs med chos kyi dbang po'i gsung 'bum (Khreng tu'u: Si khron dpe skrun tshogs pa/ si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 2009) 8: 64–65. See also Prayer to the Lineage of the Bodhicaryāvatāra, Lotsāwa House, https://www.lotsawahouse.org/tibetan-masters/patrul-rinpoche/bodhicharyavatara-lineage.
