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Having purified the mind and made it pliable, one must apply the mind to the practice of mindfulness. The first | Having purified the mind and made it pliable, one must apply the mind to the practice of mindfulness. The first of the four practices of mindfulness is the mindfulness of the body, which was partly covered in the preceding chapter while discussing the repulsiveness and impurity of the body. Delving further into the mindfulness of the body, Śāntideva cites ''The Compendium of Dharma Sūtra'' (''Dharmasaṃgītisūtra)'') to argue how a bodhisattva must mentally dissect and break down the body into many parts and see the body as merely an assembly of many parts and empty of true nature. "Thinking this body is like space, one must remain in mindfulness of space and see everything as space,"<ref>Derge Tanjur, Khi, f. 128b ལུས་འདི་ནི་ནམ་མཁའ་དང་མཚུངས་སོ་སྙམ་ནས་དེ་ལུས་ལ་ནམ་མཁའ་ལྟར་དྲན་པ་ཉེ་བར་འཇོག་གོ། །དེ་ཐམས་ཅད་ནམ་མཁའ་ལྟར་མཐོང་ངོ་། །</ref> states the sūtra. There is no beginning, end, middle, base, owner, and no real thing as body, aggregate, enjoyment, habitat, foundation, and sense-fields. They are mere labels, and the body has no essence. Moreover, it is a repulsive and impure thing and a nest of hundreds of illnesses. | ||
Śāntideva makes the same point | Śāntideva makes the same point in a long citation from ''The Questions of the Vīradatta'' (''Vīradattaparipṛcchāsūtra'') using numerous analogies. The body is compared to an empty house with nine doors, an anthill haunted by snakes, a bad friend, a jealous monkey, a fleeting bubble, a deceptive mirage, a pithless plantain tree, a misleading magical illusion, a demanding king, an opportunistic thief, a hateful enemy, an indifferent stranger, a murderer, etc. Each of these and other analogies are used to illustrate the transient, unreliable, deceptive, and demanding nature of the body and how meaningless it is to be attached to the body. The body is a bag of impurity and of 84000 kinds of worms and microbes, which ooze out of the nine orifices. | ||
As the body is a fleeting thing that is bound to end in death, ''The Jewel Crest Sūtra'' (''Ratnacūḍasūtra'') recommends getting the best out of it, or " | As the body is a fleeting thing that is bound to end in death, ''The Jewel Crest Sūtra'' (''Ratnacūḍasūtra'') recommends getting the best out of it, or "extracting the essence" of one's body, possessions, and livelihood. One does so by thinking of the impermanent nature of the body and using it as a servant of sentient beings, not engaging in any negative bodily actions, not craving for enjoyments but giving them away, and wishing to use one's body to turn the bodies of all sentient beings into the bodies of enlightened buddhas. | ||
To discuss the next topic of mindfulness of sensation, Śāntideva cites ''The Jewel Crest Sūtra'', which states that a bodhisattva who is meditating on the mindfulness of sensation will generate compassion toward even those beings experiencing a pleasant or blissful sensation, for true bliss or pleasure is the state of being without sensation. A bodhisattva must experience any kind of sensation—blissful, painful, or neutral—with a sense of compassion. When | To discuss the next topic of mindfulness of sensation, Śāntideva cites ''The Jewel Crest Sūtra'', which states that a bodhisattva who is meditating on the mindfulness of sensation will generate compassion toward even those beings experiencing a pleasant or blissful sensation, for true bliss or pleasure is the state of being without sensation. A bodhisattva must experience any kind of sensation—blissful, painful, or neutral—with a sense of compassion. When they experience pleasure, they should cultivate compassion toward sentient beings engaged in attachment and work to eliminate the tendencies of attachment. When they experience suffering, they should cultivate compassion toward sentient beings engaged in aversion and work to eliminate the tendencies of aversion. And when they experience neither pleasure nor pain, they should cultivate compassion toward sentient beings engaged in ignorance and work to eliminate the tendencies of ignorance. They should not be attached to pleasant sensation, averse to painful sensation, or indifferent to neutral sensation but destroy attachment, aversion, and ignorance. They should know pleasant sensations to be impermanent, unpleasant ones to be dissatisfactory, and neither pleasant nor unpleasant ones to be lacking self. | ||
''The Teachings of Akṣayamati'' instructs a bodhisattva to generate compassion toward beings in suffering when | ''The Teachings of Akṣayamati Sūtra'' (''Akṣayamatinirdeśasūtra'') instructs a bodhisattva to generate compassion toward beings in suffering when they encounter unpleasant sensations and to recognize that sensation leads to attachment, craving, grasping, apprehension, and wrong thoughts. ''The Compendium of Dharma Sūtra'' recommends that a bodhisattva see that there is no one having the sensation in reality. A wise person must abide in the mindfulness of sensation, seeing it as peaceful and luminous, like the state of enlightenment itself. | ||
Śāntideva's presentation of the mindfulness of the mind involves a very reductive and deconstructive approach. He quotes ''The Heap of Jewels Sūtra'', which asks what the mind | Śāntideva's presentation of the mindfulness of the mind involves a very reductive and deconstructive approach. He quotes ''The Heap of Jewels Sūtra'', which asks what the mind afflicted by attachment, aversion, or ignorance really is. Does it exist in the past, present, or the future? Mind cannot be from the past, as what is past has ceased to exist. It cannot be from the future, as what is in the future is yet to exist. And it cannot be in the present, as there is no present that remains. Mind is not outside, inside, or both. It is not form, visible, tangible, dependable, cognizable, or knowable. The buddhas have not seen, do not see, and will not see it. It is the mere creation of a mistaken notion. The sūtra uses many analogies, such as magical illusion, waterfall, wind, light, space, lightning, sandcastle, and dream, to illustrate the nonessentiality and futility of the mind. | ||
"O Kāśyapa! You cannot find the mind even if you look everywhere," claims the Buddha in this sūtra, "and what cannot be found is inapprehensible and beyond the three times."<ref> | "O Kāśyapa! You cannot find the mind even if you look everywhere," claims the Buddha in this sūtra, "and what cannot be found is inapprehensible and beyond the three times."<ref>Derge Tanjur, Khi, f. 131a: འོད་སྲུང་། སེམས་ནི་ཀུན་ཏུ་བཙལ་ཀྱང་མི་རྙེད་དོ། །གང་མི་རྙེད་པ་འདི་ནི་མི་དམིགས་པའོ། །གང་མི་དམིགས་པ་འདི་ནི་འདས་པ་ཡང་མ་ཡིན་མ་འོངས་པ་ཡང་མ་ཡིན་ད་ལྟར་བྱུང་བ་ཡང་མ་ཡིན་ནོ།། གང་འདས་པ་ཡང་མ་ཡིན་མ་འོངས་པ་ཡང་མ་ཡིན་ད་ལྟར་བྱུང་བ་ཡང་མ་ཡིན་པ་དེ་ནི་དུས་གསུམ་ལས་ཡང་དག་པར་འདས་པའོ།། གང་དུས་གསུམ་ལས་ཡང་དག་པར་འདས་པ་དེ་ནི་ཡོད་པ་ཡང་མ་ཡིན་མེད་པ་ཡང་མ་ཡིན་ནོ།།</ref> It is therefore neither existent nor nonexistent. ''The Jewel Crest Sūtra'' also investigates the existence of mind by looking outside, inside, in the aggregates, elements, and sense-fields, and cannot find any mind in them. If apprehension or fixation generates the mind or consciousness, what is apprehension? "Is it one with the mind or different?" asks the sūtra to conclude that both options are not tenable.<ref>See Karma Phuntsho, ed., རྒྱལ་སྲས་ཞི་བ་ལྷའི་གསུང་རྩོམ་བཞུགས་སོ།། The Written Works of Śāntideva (Bhutan: Loden Foundation, 2026), 234.</ref> The reductive analyses found in the sūtras that Śāntideva cites here are also succinctly presented in his ''Way of the Bodhisattva'' while discussing the mindfulness of the mind. | ||
The same kind of reductive analysis is used in establishing the points for the mindfulness of all phenomena. According to ''The Teachings of Akṣayamati'', a bodhisattva who sees phenomena as they are will see no phenomena, no buddhas, buddhahoods, paths, freedoms, or bondages. Yet, as things appear, such a bodhisattva will generate compassion for sentient beings and perceive all phenomena, including afflictive emotions, like a magical illusion, for in reality there are no afflictive emotions, no aggregates, no attachment, no aversion, and no ignorance. Such a bodhisattva will maintain the mindfulness of the fact that the nature of afflictive emotions is exactly the nature of enlightenment. | The same kind of reductive analysis is used in establishing the points for the mindfulness of all phenomena. According to ''The Teachings of Akṣayamati Sūtra'', a bodhisattva who sees phenomena as they are will see no phenomena, no buddhas, buddhahoods, paths, freedoms, or bondages. Yet, as things appear, such a bodhisattva will generate compassion for sentient beings and perceive all phenomena, including afflictive emotions, like a magical illusion, for in reality there are no afflictive emotions, no aggregates, no attachment, no aversion, and no ignorance. Such a bodhisattva will maintain the mindfulness of the fact that the nature of afflictive emotions is exactly the nature of enlightenment. | ||
In maintaining the mindfulness of phenomena, ''The Jewel Crest Sūtra'' focuses on the point that there is no self-existence, being, soul, person, or individual who is born, dying, or moving apart from the process of arising and ceasing phenomena. This is the reality of things | In maintaining the mindfulness of phenomena, ''The Jewel Crest Sūtra'' focuses on the point that there is no self-existence, being, soul, person, or individual who is being born, dying, or moving apart from the process of arising and ceasing phenomena. This is the reality of things that should be realized while also maintaining the thought of bodhicitta. ''The Play in Full Sūtra'' gives many similes, including an unfired clay pot, sandcastle, light rays, wind, bubble, plantain tree, and magical illusion to show the nonessentiality and ephemerality of all phenomena, although the childish world perceives them as real and permanent. Things arise from causes and conditions, like the sprout arising from the seed and like a clay image from a mold. The seed does not become the sprout, but the sprout cannot be without the seed. The mold is not transferred to the clay image, but the clay image emerges from the mold. It is a fleeting and illusory process of dependent-arising, and this applies to all conditioned phenomena. A flame can arise from the convergence of two twigs and the effort of the hand, but it dies when the causes cease to exist. Yet, if a wise person investigates from where the flame has come and where it has gone, it cannot be found. There is no real coming or going, production or cessation, apprehension or cognition. This is the main point of the mindfulness of phenomena. | ||
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- Chapter 1: Giving One's Body, Possessions, and Virtues
- Chapter 2: Upholding the Dharma from the Perfection of Discipline
- Chapter 3: Perfection of Discipline: Protecting the Dharma Teacher
- Chapter 4: Perfection of Discipline: Discussion of Major Harms in the Sūtras
- Chapter 5: Perfection of Discipline: Avoiding the Harms
- Chapter 6: Protecting the Body
- Chapter 7: Protecting the Possessions and Merit
- Chapter 8: Expiation of Sinful Actions
- Chapter 9: Perfection of Patience
- Chapter 10: Perfection of Effort
- Chapter 11: Praise of Wilderness
- Chapter 12: Purifying the Mind
- Chapter 13: Mindfulness
- Chapter 14: Purification of the Body
- Chapter 15: Purification of Possessions and Merit
- Chapter 16: Enhancement of Body, Possessions, and Merit
- Chapter 17: Benefit of Prostration and Other Practices
- Chapter 18: Recollecting the Three Jewels
- Chapter 19: Enhancing Merit
Having purified the mind and made it pliable, one must apply the mind to the practice of mindfulness. The first of the four practices of mindfulness is the mindfulness of the body, which was partly covered in the preceding chapter while discussing the repulsiveness and impurity of the body. Delving further into the mindfulness of the body, Śāntideva cites The Compendium of Dharma Sūtra (Dharmasaṃgītisūtra)) to argue how a bodhisattva must mentally dissect and break down the body into many parts and see the body as merely an assembly of many parts and empty of true nature. "Thinking this body is like space, one must remain in mindfulness of space and see everything as space,"[1] states the sūtra. There is no beginning, end, middle, base, owner, and no real thing as body, aggregate, enjoyment, habitat, foundation, and sense-fields. They are mere labels, and the body has no essence. Moreover, it is a repulsive and impure thing and a nest of hundreds of illnesses.
Śāntideva makes the same point in a long citation from The Questions of the Vīradatta (Vīradattaparipṛcchāsūtra) using numerous analogies. The body is compared to an empty house with nine doors, an anthill haunted by snakes, a bad friend, a jealous monkey, a fleeting bubble, a deceptive mirage, a pithless plantain tree, a misleading magical illusion, a demanding king, an opportunistic thief, a hateful enemy, an indifferent stranger, a murderer, etc. Each of these and other analogies are used to illustrate the transient, unreliable, deceptive, and demanding nature of the body and how meaningless it is to be attached to the body. The body is a bag of impurity and of 84000 kinds of worms and microbes, which ooze out of the nine orifices.
As the body is a fleeting thing that is bound to end in death, The Jewel Crest Sūtra (Ratnacūḍasūtra) recommends getting the best out of it, or "extracting the essence" of one's body, possessions, and livelihood. One does so by thinking of the impermanent nature of the body and using it as a servant of sentient beings, not engaging in any negative bodily actions, not craving for enjoyments but giving them away, and wishing to use one's body to turn the bodies of all sentient beings into the bodies of enlightened buddhas.
To discuss the next topic of mindfulness of sensation, Śāntideva cites The Jewel Crest Sūtra, which states that a bodhisattva who is meditating on the mindfulness of sensation will generate compassion toward even those beings experiencing a pleasant or blissful sensation, for true bliss or pleasure is the state of being without sensation. A bodhisattva must experience any kind of sensation—blissful, painful, or neutral—with a sense of compassion. When they experience pleasure, they should cultivate compassion toward sentient beings engaged in attachment and work to eliminate the tendencies of attachment. When they experience suffering, they should cultivate compassion toward sentient beings engaged in aversion and work to eliminate the tendencies of aversion. And when they experience neither pleasure nor pain, they should cultivate compassion toward sentient beings engaged in ignorance and work to eliminate the tendencies of ignorance. They should not be attached to pleasant sensation, averse to painful sensation, or indifferent to neutral sensation but destroy attachment, aversion, and ignorance. They should know pleasant sensations to be impermanent, unpleasant ones to be dissatisfactory, and neither pleasant nor unpleasant ones to be lacking self.
The Teachings of Akṣayamati Sūtra (Akṣayamatinirdeśasūtra) instructs a bodhisattva to generate compassion toward beings in suffering when they encounter unpleasant sensations and to recognize that sensation leads to attachment, craving, grasping, apprehension, and wrong thoughts. The Compendium of Dharma Sūtra recommends that a bodhisattva see that there is no one having the sensation in reality. A wise person must abide in the mindfulness of sensation, seeing it as peaceful and luminous, like the state of enlightenment itself.
Śāntideva's presentation of the mindfulness of the mind involves a very reductive and deconstructive approach. He quotes The Heap of Jewels Sūtra, which asks what the mind afflicted by attachment, aversion, or ignorance really is. Does it exist in the past, present, or the future? Mind cannot be from the past, as what is past has ceased to exist. It cannot be from the future, as what is in the future is yet to exist. And it cannot be in the present, as there is no present that remains. Mind is not outside, inside, or both. It is not form, visible, tangible, dependable, cognizable, or knowable. The buddhas have not seen, do not see, and will not see it. It is the mere creation of a mistaken notion. The sūtra uses many analogies, such as magical illusion, waterfall, wind, light, space, lightning, sandcastle, and dream, to illustrate the nonessentiality and futility of the mind.
"O Kāśyapa! You cannot find the mind even if you look everywhere," claims the Buddha in this sūtra, "and what cannot be found is inapprehensible and beyond the three times."[2] It is therefore neither existent nor nonexistent. The Jewel Crest Sūtra also investigates the existence of mind by looking outside, inside, in the aggregates, elements, and sense-fields, and cannot find any mind in them. If apprehension or fixation generates the mind or consciousness, what is apprehension? "Is it one with the mind or different?" asks the sūtra to conclude that both options are not tenable.[3] The reductive analyses found in the sūtras that Śāntideva cites here are also succinctly presented in his Way of the Bodhisattva while discussing the mindfulness of the mind.
The same kind of reductive analysis is used in establishing the points for the mindfulness of all phenomena. According to The Teachings of Akṣayamati Sūtra, a bodhisattva who sees phenomena as they are will see no phenomena, no buddhas, buddhahoods, paths, freedoms, or bondages. Yet, as things appear, such a bodhisattva will generate compassion for sentient beings and perceive all phenomena, including afflictive emotions, like a magical illusion, for in reality there are no afflictive emotions, no aggregates, no attachment, no aversion, and no ignorance. Such a bodhisattva will maintain the mindfulness of the fact that the nature of afflictive emotions is exactly the nature of enlightenment.
In maintaining the mindfulness of phenomena, The Jewel Crest Sūtra focuses on the point that there is no self-existence, being, soul, person, or individual who is being born, dying, or moving apart from the process of arising and ceasing phenomena. This is the reality of things that should be realized while also maintaining the thought of bodhicitta. The Play in Full Sūtra gives many similes, including an unfired clay pot, sandcastle, light rays, wind, bubble, plantain tree, and magical illusion to show the nonessentiality and ephemerality of all phenomena, although the childish world perceives them as real and permanent. Things arise from causes and conditions, like the sprout arising from the seed and like a clay image from a mold. The seed does not become the sprout, but the sprout cannot be without the seed. The mold is not transferred to the clay image, but the clay image emerges from the mold. It is a fleeting and illusory process of dependent-arising, and this applies to all conditioned phenomena. A flame can arise from the convergence of two twigs and the effort of the hand, but it dies when the causes cease to exist. Yet, if a wise person investigates from where the flame has come and where it has gone, it cannot be found. There is no real coming or going, production or cessation, apprehension or cognition. This is the main point of the mindfulness of phenomena.
Notes
- ↑ Derge Tanjur, Khi, f. 128b ལུས་འདི་ནི་ནམ་མཁའ་དང་མཚུངས་སོ་སྙམ་ནས་དེ་ལུས་ལ་ནམ་མཁའ་ལྟར་དྲན་པ་ཉེ་བར་འཇོག་གོ། །དེ་ཐམས་ཅད་ནམ་མཁའ་ལྟར་མཐོང་ངོ་། །
- ↑ Derge Tanjur, Khi, f. 131a: འོད་སྲུང་། སེམས་ནི་ཀུན་ཏུ་བཙལ་ཀྱང་མི་རྙེད་དོ། །གང་མི་རྙེད་པ་འདི་ནི་མི་དམིགས་པའོ། །གང་མི་དམིགས་པ་འདི་ནི་འདས་པ་ཡང་མ་ཡིན་མ་འོངས་པ་ཡང་མ་ཡིན་ད་ལྟར་བྱུང་བ་ཡང་མ་ཡིན་ནོ།། གང་འདས་པ་ཡང་མ་ཡིན་མ་འོངས་པ་ཡང་མ་ཡིན་ད་ལྟར་བྱུང་བ་ཡང་མ་ཡིན་པ་དེ་ནི་དུས་གསུམ་ལས་ཡང་དག་པར་འདས་པའོ།། གང་དུས་གསུམ་ལས་ཡང་དག་པར་འདས་པ་དེ་ནི་ཡོད་པ་ཡང་མ་ཡིན་མེད་པ་ཡང་མ་ཡིན་ནོ།།
- ↑ See Karma Phuntsho, ed., རྒྱལ་སྲས་ཞི་བ་ལྷའི་གསུང་རྩོམ་བཞུགས་སོ།། The Written Works of Śāntideva (Bhutan: Loden Foundation, 2026), 234.
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