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<h4>Dedicating with the Context of Emptiness</h4> | <h4>Dedicating with the Context of Emptiness</h4> | ||
It is often stated that the dedication of our merit should be sealed with the wisdom of emptiness. But how does that process of sealing virtue with emptiness take place? It means that at the time of the virtuous action, there should be an associated wisdom which is unstained or contaminated by concepts of inherent existence in relation to the three spheres [Link to GLOSSARY]. When performing an action, there are three spheres in relation to that action: (1) the agent who is performing the action, the "who," (2) the action itself, the "what," and (3) the person that the action is performed in relation to, the "to whom." | |||
This concept of making dedication unstained by incorrect concepts about these three spheres is mentioned in many chapters of Candrakīrti's ''Entering the Middle Way'' (Skt. ''Madhyamakāvatāra''). For instance, in chapter 2, when discussing the divisions of the perfection of ethical discipline, Candrakīrti explains how the presence or absence of mistaken concepts about the reality of the three spheres at the time of the action itself determines whether the perfection (Skt. ''pāramitā'') qualifies as a mundane one or a supramundane one. | |||
The following verse and commentary from Tsongkhapa's ''Illuminating the Intent'' illustrates this point: | |||
{{QuoteCite | |||
|quote-text=Who relinquishes what and in relation to whom— | |||
when any of these three is objectified, | |||
such morality is described as mundane perfection; | |||
free of attachment to these three is supramundane. (2.9) | |||
When someone is incapable of ceasing the seed of objectifying the three as real—the person who relinquishes, what objects of abandonment he relinquishes, and in relation to which sentient beings he relinquishes—such morality is described as mundane perfection. If that very morality is free of attachment to these three spheres in the form of perceiving them as real— that is to say, if it is sustained by uncontaminated wisdom realizing them as not perceivable—it is supramundane perfection. Hence, by this distinction, morality is twofold.<ref>Thupten Jinpa, trans., ''Illuminating the Intent: An Exposition of Candrakīrti's Entering the Middle Way'', by Tsongkhapa (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2021), 126–27.</ref> | |||
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