Articles/Confession of Negativity Overview: Difference between revisions
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|quote-text=Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling in the Sudharmā assembly hall in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, together with a great gathering of five hundred monks, and very many bodhisattva mahāsattvas, including Maitreya and Mañjuśrī. | |quote-text=Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling in the Sudharmā assembly hall in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, together with a great gathering of five hundred monks, and very many bodhisattva mahāsattvas, including Maitreya and Mañjuśrī. | ||
At that time the Blessed One said to the bodhisattva mahāsattva Maitreya, [F.59.b] | At that time the Blessed One said to the bodhisattva mahāsattva Maitreya, [F.59.b] "O Maitreya, bodhisattva mahāsattva, if you possess four factors, the misdeeds you have committed and accumulated will be overcome. | ||
"What are these four? The action of repentance, antidotal action, the power of restraint, and the power of support.<ref>[[Pearcey, A.|Adam Pearcey]], trans., ''The Sūtra Teaching the Four Factors'', ''Caturdharmanirdeśasūtra'', Toh 249 ([[People/84000:_Translating_the_Words_of_the_Buddha|84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha]], 2023), https://read.84000.co/translation/toh249.html?#UT22084-066-007-55.</ref> | |||
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These verses specifically reference the eight bodhisattvas (Maitreya, Avalokiteśvara, Samantabhadra, Vajrapāṇi, Mañjuśrīghoṣa, Sarvanivāraṇaviṣkambhin, Kṣitigarbha, and Ākāśagarbha). They are the main retinue of Buddha Śākyamuni and are also called his eight heart sons. Although they possess the same qualities, powers, and great compassion, they personify different aspects of the bodhisattva’s activities and exemplify different roles in helping beings. For instance, Gyale Thokme Zangmo highlights the way in which these verses relate to each bodhisattva. | These verses specifically reference the eight bodhisattvas (Maitreya, Avalokiteśvara, Samantabhadra, Vajrapāṇi, Mañjuśrīghoṣa, Sarvanivāraṇaviṣkambhin, Kṣitigarbha, and Ākāśagarbha). They are the main retinue of Buddha Śākyamuni and are also called his eight heart sons. Although they possess the same qualities, powers, and great compassion, they personify different aspects of the bodhisattva’s activities and exemplify different roles in helping beings. For instance, Gyale Thokme Zangmo highlights the way in which these verses relate to each bodhisattva. | ||
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|quote-text=Through fear of the sufferings such as those of the hell realms, I feel terror. I offer myself to the great bodhisattva Samantabhadra, I offer my very own body to Mañjuśhrīghoṣha. To the protector Avalokiteśhvara, who is infallible in both compassionate thought and deed, stricken with suffering I cry out for help, t | |quote-text=Through fear of the sufferings such as those of the hell realms, I feel terror. I offer myself to the great bodhisattva Samantabhadra, I offer my very own body to Mañjuśhrīghoṣha. To the protector Avalokiteśhvara, who is infallible in both compassionate thought and deed, stricken with suffering I cry out for help, t "I beseech you to be a refuge for such a sinner as me.” Calling out in despair from my heart I cry, "In the exalted Ākāśhagarbha and Kṣhitigarbha, Maitreya and Samantabhadra, and in all the compassionate protectors I seek for and go for refuge.”I also take refuge in Vajrapāṇi, the one who possesses the vajra, and who on being beheld scatters to the four directions those who strike fear in beings, such as the Messenger of the Lord of Death (Yamārāja).<ref>[[People/Thogs med bzang po|Ngul Chu Thokme Zangpo]], ''[[Texts/Spyod_%27jug_gi_%27grel_pa_legs_bshad_rgya_mtsho|An Ocean of Excellent Explanation]]'' (Varanasi: Sakya Students Union, 2003), 155–56.</ref> | ||
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Śāntideva sums up this section on the force of support as follows: | Śāntideva sums up this section on the force of support as follows: | ||
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In verse 56 Śāntideva chides us, saying "How can you be so delusional as to turn your back on the supreme doctor, the all-knowing physician, and their medicine which has the potential to liberate yourself from all the afflictions and the pain that they bring you?" But Thrangu Rinpoche provides a chastening context to the instruction to turn to the Three Jewels for help with clearing away the effects of all our negative karma. | In verse 56 Śāntideva chides us, saying "How can you be so delusional as to turn your back on the supreme doctor, the all-knowing physician, and their medicine which has the potential to liberate yourself from all the afflictions and the pain that they bring you?" But Thrangu Rinpoche provides a chastening context to the instruction to turn to the Three Jewels for help with clearing away the effects of all our negative karma. | ||
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|quote-text=At this point, we may wonder whether the Three Rare and Supreme ones and all the great bodhisattvas are able to immediately clear away the result of negative actions. The answer is | |quote-text=At this point, we may wonder whether the Three Rare and Supreme ones and all the great bodhisattvas are able to immediately clear away the result of negative actions. The answer is "no”. They can’t do this because we accumulated these negative actions; they did not. Therefore they do not have the power to immediately clear away the results of our negative actions. They do, however, have great compassion for all sentient beings, so if we are able to eliminate these unpleasant future results, they would do so. But since we have committed these negative actions, they cannot undo them. It does, however, help to pray to them and request their help because if we develop faith and devotion for these great beings , then they will show us the path and method for eliminating our negative karma. So it is our personal effort that allows us to clear away the future effects of negative karma.<ref>[[People/Thrangu_Rinpoche|Thrangu Rinpoche]], ''[[Books/Shantideva%27s_A_Guide_to_the_Bodhisattva%27s_Way_of_Life_(Thrangu_Rinpoche_2016)|Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life]]'', 31.</ref> | ||
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The second example that Śāntideva uses to spur us on in applying the antidotes is that of a precipice. | The second example that Śāntideva uses to spur us on in applying the antidotes is that of a precipice. | ||
Latest revision as of 16:35, 21 April 2026
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Inspired by the qualities of this jewel-like bodhicitta and the amazing practices of the bodhisattva, our interest is now raised to enter into this Mahāyāna path.
Although we may be enthusiastic to get going on the path, at the beginning obstacles may lie in our way. Dungkar Rinpoche Lobsang Trinley, in his Introduction to the Way of the Bodhisattva, mentions that when beginning our engagement in any spiritual activity, our progress will be best facilitated by two important practices—accumulating merit and purifying the negative actions that we have performed.[1] Chapters 2 and 3 of The Way of the Bodhisattva is basically divided into these two sections, although chapter 3 is also concerned with practices related to merit.
In the Bodhicaryāvatāra the practice of accumulating merit is explained through the classical seven-limb prayer. This is also referred to as the supreme worship (annutara pūja) and includes a series of religious activities such as rejoicing in the merit of others, making offerings, and dedicating our own merit to other beings' awakening. It provides us with a complete form of daily religious practice. Chapters 2 and 3 basically cover the branches of practice of the seven-limb prayer, with this second chapter containing the first three branches of the practice—prostration or paying homage, making offerings, and the confession of negative actions.
Making Offerings
The first section of the chapter deals with making offerings of the physical actions of our body, the verbal actions of our speech, and and the mental actions of our mind. We make these offerings to the Three Jewels—the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.
To the Buddhas, those thus gone, And to the sacred Dharma, spotless and supremely rare, And to the Buddha’s offspring, oceans of good qualities, That I might gain this precious attitude, I make a perfect offering.36The actual confession, from which this chapter takes its name, begins at stanza 27. It is preceded by the traditional formulas of homage and offering. See note 48
Page(s) 37
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
༈ རིན་ཆེན་སེམས་དེ་གཟུང་བར་བྱ་བའི་ཕྱིར། །
དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པ་རྣམས་དང་དམ་པའི་ཆོས། ། དཀོན་མཆོག་དྲི་མ་མེད་དང་སངས་རྒྱས་སྲས། །
ཡོན་ཏན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་རྣམས་ལ་ལེགས་པར་མཆོད། །!_rin chen sems de gzung bar bya ba'i phyir/_/
de bzhin gshegs pa rnams dang dam pa'i chos/_/ dkon mchog dri ma med dang sangs rgyas sras/_/
yon tan rgya mtsho rnams la legs par mchod/_/We go on to offer everything in the universe. This is not limited to the things we actually own, but we also offer up even things which do not have any owner, such as the beauty of the natural world:
Every mountain wrought of precious jewels, All sweet and lonely forest groves, The trees of paradise adorned with blossom, Trees with branches bowed with perfect fruit;
Page(s) 37
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
རིན་ཆེན་རི་བོ་དང་ནི་དེ་བཞིན་དུ། །
ནགས་ཚལ་ས་ཕྱོགས་དབེན་ཞིང་ཉམས་དགའ་དང་། ། ལྗོན་ཤིང་མེ་ཏོག་རྒྱན་སྤྲས་སྤུད་པ་དང་། །
ཤིང་གང་འབྲས་བཟང་ཡལ་ག་དུད་པ་དང་། །rin chen ri bo dang ni de bzhin du/_/
nags tshal sa phyogs dben zhing nyams dga' dang /_/ ljon shing me tog rgyan spras spud pa dang /_/
shing gang 'bras bzang yal ga dud pa dang /_/We also offer a host of wonderful offerings which are mentally created, as exemplified by verse 10.
A bathing chamber excellently fragrant, With even floors of crystal, radiant and clear, And graceful pillars shimmering with gems, All hung about with gleaming canopies of pearls—
Page(s) 38
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
ཁྲུས་ཀྱི་ཁང་པ་ཤིན་ཏུ་དྲི་ཞིམ་པ། །
ཤེལ་གྱི་ས་གཞི་གསལ་ཞིང་འཚེར་བ་བསྟར། ། རིན་ཆེན་འབར་བའི་ཀ་བ་ཡིད་འོང་ལྡན། །
མུ་ཏིག་འོད་ཆགས་བླ་རེ་བྲེས་པ་དེར། །khrus kyi khang pa shin tu dri zhim pa/_/
shel gyi sa gzhi gsal zhing 'tsher ba bstar/_/ rin chen 'bar ba'i ka ba yid 'ong ldan/_/
mu tig 'od chags bla re bres pa der/_/
Homage
The verses of homage and prostration come after the verses of offering.
To Buddhas of the past, the present, and all future time, And to the Dharma and Sublime Assembly, With bodies many as the grains of dust Upon the earth, I will prostrate and bow.39In the traditional practice of prostration, it is normal to imagine that one possesses innumerable bodies, all prostrating at the same time.
Page(s) 40
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
དུས་གསུམ་གཤེགས་པའི་སངས་རྒྱས་ཀུན། །
ཆོས་དང་ཚོགས་ཀྱི་མཆོག་བཅས་ལ། ། ཞིང་རྡུལ་ཀུན་གྱི་གྲངས་སྙེད་ཀྱི། །
ལུས་བཏུད་[p.13]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
dus gsum gshegs pa'i sangs rgyas kun/_/
chos dang tshogs kyi mchog bcas la/_/ zhing rdul kun gyi grangs snyed kyi/_/
lus btud [p.13]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
Bringing to mind the qualities of those Three Jewels, Śāntideva physically and mentally prostrates to them. He imagines himself to have innumerable bodies, as innumerable as there are atoms in the universe, and respectfully recites the words of homage. The chapter then goes on to discuss the Buddhist method of taking refuge in the Three Jewels.
Refuge
Refuge is the key orientation for Buddhists and is essential in considering oneself a Buddhist. We place our trust in the Three Jewels and commit to relying on them regardless of what is happening in our lives. It is not just a request seeking help when times are hard but an understanding of the qualities of the Three Jewels, particularly the Dharma Jewel, which is said to be the real refuge.
Until the essence of enlightenment is reached, I go for refuge to the Buddhas. Also I take refuge in the Dharma And in all the host of Bodhisattvas.
Page(s) 41
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
བྱང་ཆུབ་སྙིང་པོར་མཆིས་ཀྱི་བར། །
སངས་རྒྱས་རྣམས་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི། ། ཆོས་དང་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ་ཡི། །
ཚོགས་ལའང་དེ་བཞིན་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི། །byang chub snying por mchis kyi bar/_/
sangs rgyas rnams la skyabs su mchi/_/ chos dang byang chub sems dpa' yi/_/
tshogs la'ang de bzhin skyabs su mchi/_/Refuge is a shared practice across all the Buddhist traditions. Because Śāntideva is introducing us to the conduct of the bodhisattvas, here the refuge is specifically Mahāyāna refuge. We go for refuge for the purpose of attaining the unsurpassed, fully enlightened state for the welfare of all sentient beings. We carry this refuge with us until we reach the ultimate state of buddhahood, where we will then be able to spontaneously and most effectively work for their benefit.
Khenpo Kunzang Palden, aka Khenpo Kunpal (1862–1943), in his famous commentary to the Bodhicaryāvatāra entitled The Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, reminds us of the general way in which we take refuge.
In accordance with the formula "The Buddha is the teacher unsurpassed; the sacred Dharma is the guardian unsurpassed, the Sangha is the leader unsurpassed," the actual protector or refuge for beginners is in fact the Dharma. The Buddha said, "I have taught you the methods that lead to liberation. Practice with diligence; your liberation depends on you."[2]
The Buddha is telling us that, for beginners, the main refuge is the teaching and one's own realization. But he also makes sure to point out that, although he has revealed the way, walking the path must be done by ourselves. Thus, taking refuge does not involve giving up responsibility to another higher power who will pull us along the path but is a process of relying on someone with deep experience and knowledge and then integrating their advice and teachings into our own lives. As the famous and oft-repeated lines on this say:
The Sage does not wash sins away with water, Nor wipe away the pain of beings with his hands. His realization he does not transfer to others, He frees by showing them the peace of ultimate reality.[3]
There are two main causes of refuge. One is the fear of the suffering that is an inevitable consequence of the negative actions we have done. The other cause is to understand that the Three Jewels have the power to protect us from those sufferings.
Confession of Our Negative Actions
The second half of chapter 2 explains the next branch of the seven-limb prayer, confession. Of course, we must strive from the beginning in trying not to engage in negative actions. Even whilst following the path we may stumble, whether through carelessness or our many afflictions, but it is not suitable to thoughtlessly just leave our negative actions unconfessed. Confession means literally "laying aside" or "laying down or putting down" all negative actions of body, speech, and mind that we have performed in the past. It is a combined process of acknowledging our faults, honestly admitting to them and disclosing them, and then laying them aside and letting go of them.
Confession of downfalls from specific vows that we have taken, such as monastic vows, individual liberation vows, and the bodhisattva or tantric vows, should be confessed and restored according to their respective methods. Here, Śāntideva explains to us the process of purifying our general negativity.
Firstly, we must visualize those who will witness our confession.
To perfect Buddhas and to Bodhisattvas, In all directions where they may reside, To them who are the sovereigns of great mercy, I press my palms together, praying thus:
Page(s) 41
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
ཕྱོགས་རྣམས་ཀུན་ན་བཞུགས་པ་ཡི། །
རྫོགས་སངས་རྒྱས་དང་བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས། ། ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེན་པོ་མངའ་རྣམས་ལ། །
ཐལ་མོ་སྦྱར་ཏེ་གསོལ་བ་ནི། །phyogs rnams kun na bzhugs pa yi/_/
rdzogs sangs rgyas dang byang chub sems/_/ thugs rje chen po mnga' rnams la/_/
thal mo sbyar te gsol ba ni/_/Khenpo Kunpal explains in his commentary how this is done.
In the sky in front of himself, Shantideva visualizes the object of confession: all the perfect Buddhas, victorious, virtuous and transcendent, together with all the great Bodhisattvas, who reside in the infinite buddhafields in the ten directions and who are the sovereigns of great compassion. He prays to them with his palms pressed together.[4]
We fold our hands together and we make sincere supplications to the fully enlightened buddhas and the bodhisattvas who abide in all directions, requesting them to pay heed to us. Filled with regret, we confess the negative deeds we have committed.
Since we have been bound to the wheel of samsaric existence since beginningless time, we confess every negative action that we have done in this and all other lives, actions which we did through lack of knowledge about the ripening results of karma.
Gyaltsap Je Darma Rinchen also points out in his commentary The Entrance for the Children of the Conquerors that all karma can be overcome with confession:
If the created and accumulated karmas are karmas definitely to be experienced then, since they can be cleared away, what need is there to say about those that are not definite.[5]
There are two kinds of karma—karma whose result will definitely be experienced and karma the result of which it is not definite to be experienced. If it is possible using the correct methods to clear away even those karmic seeds whose result is definite, then there is no doubt that this is also true for those actions whose result is not definite. But what kind of method can we adopt to clear away the effects of the negative actions we have done? In The Sūtra Teaching the Four Factors (Caturdharmanirdeśasūtra) it says the following:
Thus did I hear at one time. The Blessed One was dwelling in the Sudharmā assembly hall in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three, together with a great gathering of five hundred monks, and very many bodhisattva mahāsattvas, including Maitreya and Mañjuśrī.
At that time the Blessed One said to the bodhisattva mahāsattva Maitreya, [F.59.b] "O Maitreya, bodhisattva mahāsattva, if you possess four factors, the misdeeds you have committed and accumulated will be overcome.
"What are these four? The action of repentance, antidotal action, the power of restraint, and the power of support.[6]
Here, Śāntideva explains the practice of confession of more general negative actions through the four antidotal forces, which are:
- the force of regretting that one has done wrong, or repentance
- the force of the support
- the force of the antidote
- the force of turning away from repeating the fault, or the force of restraint
In their commentaries, both Minyak Kunzang Sonam and Khenpo Kunpal use "the force of restoration" or "the force of amendment" instead of the more commonly used phrase "the force of turning away from repeating the fault."
The Power of Regretting That One Has Done Wrong
Verses 27 to 46 explain in much greater detail the power of regretting that one has done wrong.
"In this and all my other lives, While turning in the round without beginning, Blindly I have brought forth evil, And incited others to commit the same.
Page(s) 41
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
ཐོག་མ་མེད་ལྡན་འཁོར་བ་ནས། །
ཚེ་རབས་འདི་འམ་གཞན་དག་ཏུ། ། བདག་གིས་མ་འཚལ་སྡིག་བགྱིས་པའམ། །
བགྱིད་དུ་སྩལ་བ་ཉིད་དང་ནི། །thog ma med ldan 'khor ba nas/_/
tshe rabs 'di 'am gzhan dag tu/_/ bdag gis ma 'tshal sdig bgyis pa'am/_/
bgyid du stsal ba nyid dang ni/_/"Deceived and overmastered by my ignorance, I have taken pleasure in such sin,40Western readers sometimes object to the use of the word sin in translations of Buddhist texts, on the grounds that it carries too many Judeo-Christian associations. They apparently fail to realize that the same principle might equally apply to a host of other terms, such as love, compassion, vow, monk, cause, meditation, etc., whose meanings, in the cultural, philosophical, and religious setting in which they evolved, are notably different from the ideas that they are expected to convey in a Buddhist context. When used to express Buddhist ideas, many common English words require careful redefinition in order to remove exclusively Jewish or Christian connotations. In the case of the word sin, once the associations connected with the doctrine of the Fall, divine punishment, etc., are discounted, its standard meaning (an evil act, whether by nature or by virtue of being a transgression of a vow or precept, that will provoke deadly consequences if not purified by confession) corresponds closely with the sense of sdig pa (Skt. pāpa) as used by Shāntideva. See V. and A. Wallace, p. 24. And seeing now the blame of it, O great protectors, I confess it earnestly!
Page(s) 41
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
གཏི་མུག་འཁྲུལ་པས་བདག་ནོན་ཏེ། །
རྗེས་སུ་ཡི་རང་གང་བགྱིས་པ། ། ནོངས་པ་དེ་ནི་མཐོང་བགྱིས་ནས། །
བསམ་པ་ཐག་པས་མགོན་ལ་བཤགས། །gti mug 'khrul pas bdag non te/_/
rjes su yi rang gang bgyis pa/_/ nongs pa de ni mthong bgyis nas/_/
bsam pa thag pas mgon la bshags/_/Confession does not mean just simply absolving ourselves of the bad actions we have done. It involves a full understanding of why what we did was negative and the heartfelt promise to not engage in these actions in the future. We put them aside but at the same time continue to improve by trying to prevent them from occurring again. Confession is also not done in the way of wallowing in self-absorption with respect to past actions. It is a practical acceptance that we did wrong, but this is turned into a positive process which has the element of encouraging us to improve in the future.
We confess these negative actions to the buddhas, the bodhisattvas, and our gurus. And we confess not only the negativities that we ourselves have done but also those that we have induced others to do. Likewise, we confess the faults of having rejoiced in the negativities of others.
But this is not asking a savior to wash away those sins with the wave of the hand. This process involves a clear awareness of what we have done and heartfelt regret at the harm that those actions may cause.
Gyaltsap Je describes how the power of regret must arise from cultivating the understanding of the way in which negative actions give rise to the three kinds of result. [7]
Here the three kinds of result refers to the fully ripening result, the dominant result, and the result similar to the cause. The result similar to the cause is further divided into (1) བྱས་པ་རྒྱུ་མཐུན་གྱི་འབྲས་བུ་, the fruits corresponding to its actions (e.g., the fact that a person who may have been a sinner in the past life has the natural urge to do similar actions in this life), and (2) མྱོང་བ་རྒྱུ་མཐུན་གྱི་འབྲས་བུ་, the fruits corresponding to its experience (e.g., the fact that a person who practices generosity in this life would become rich in his future life).
Fear of Dying Without Confession
We may feel lazy to carry out this process of confession everyday and may wonder if it is really necessary to do it regularly. We feel that since we will be alive for a long time there is nothing wrong with leaving negative actions unconfessed. Śāntideva chides us and reminds us that death can be just around the corner:"It may be that my death will come to me
Before my evil has been cleansed.
How then can I be freed from it?
I pray you, quickly grant me your protection!”[p.42]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
Page(s) 41
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
བདག་ནི་སྡིག་པ་མ་བྱང་[p.14]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)
Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
སྔོན་དུ་འགུམ་པར་འགྱུར་དུ་མཆི། ། ཇི་ལྟར་འདི་ལས་ངེས་ཐར་བར། །
མྱུར་བའི་ཚུལ་གྱིས་བསྐྱབ་ཏུ་གསོལ། །bdag ni sdig pa ma byang [p.14]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)
Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
sngon du 'gum par 'gyur du mchi/_/ ji ltar 'di las nges thar bar/_/
myur ba'i tshul gyis bskyab tu gsol/_/He reminds us that our lives are fleeting and that we do not want death to catch us unaware, sending us on to the next life with a whole mass of negative actions left unconfessed. We must be careful and attentive to make sure that whenever we commit transgressions, we must repair them and work to never repeat them.
We go forth into the next life completely alone, leaving everything behind us. In these next verses Śāntideva confesses that he has been forgetful of this and instead has been engaged in many wrongdoings.
And we must pass away, forsaking all. But I, devoid of understanding, Have, for sake of friend and foe alike, Provoked and brought about so many wrongs.
Page(s) 42
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
ཐམས་ཅད་བོར་ཏེ་ཆས་དགོས་པར། །
བདག་གིས་དེ་ལྟར་མ་ཤེས་པས། ། མཛའ་དང་མི་མཛའི་དོན་གྱི་ཕྱིར། །
སྡིག་པ་རྣམ་པ་སྣ་ཚོགས་བྱས། །thams cad bor te chas dgos par/_/
bdag gis de ltar ma shes pas/_/ mdza' dang mi mdza'i don gyi phyir/_/
sdig pa rnam pa sna tshogs byas/_/But all my foes will cease to be, And all my friends will cease to be, And I will also cease to be, And likewise everything will cease to be.
Page(s) 42
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
མི་མཛའ་རྣམས་ཀྱང་མེད་འགྱུར་ཞིང་། །
མཛའ་བ་རྣམས་ཀྱང་མེད་པར་འགྱུར། ། བདག་ཀྱང་མེད་པར་འགྱུར་བ་སྟེ། །
དེ་བཞིན་ཐམས་ཅད་མེད་པར་འགྱུར། །mi mdza' rnams kyang med 'gyur zhing /_/
mdza' ba rnams kyang med par 'gyur/_/ bdag kyang med par 'gyur ba ste/_/
de bzhin thams cad med par 'gyur/_/He tells us that he himself has committed many negative actions such as killing, lying, and stealing, as well as encouraging others to do so. These were driven by attachment to protect his family and those close to him and by aversion to his enemies and the wish to get the better of them. But this has all been pointless. Everyone and everything will eventually disintegrate. Khenpo Kunpal expands on the theme of this last verse in his commentary.
For even if he has failed to overcome them, his enemies will die in any case and cease to exist. Even if he is successful in guarding and caring for his friends and loved ones, nothing is achieved; they too will vanish in death. And he himself will die and cease to be. The entire universe, with its continents and mountains, with all the beings that it contains, friendly, hostile, or indifferent—be they as high-ranking as the heavens, as strong as thunder, as rich as the nagas, as beautiful as the gods, as fascinating as rainbows—all is destined to destruction. Whatever strongholds have been built, whatever wealth has been accumulated, whatever families have come together—everything will go. How absurd to do evil for their sake![8]
Throughout the text, Śāntideva provides us with constant reminders of how everything will eventually pass. All that we own and everyone that we love will eventually become just memories, remaining nothing more than a fleeting dream. Although the situations in which we created the karmic actions have receded into the past, the imprints of those actions remain behind with us. As these imprints remain in our mindstream, they can easily mature and produce results when causes and conditions coalesce.
All that I possess and use Is like the fleeting vision of a dream. It fades into the realms of memory, And fading, will be seen no more.
Page(s) 42
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
རྨི་ལམ་ཉམས་སུ་མྱོང་བ་བཞིན། །
དངོས་པོ་གང་དང་གང་སྤྱད་པ། ། དེ་དེ་དྲན་པའི་ཡུལ་དུ་འགྱུར། །
འདས་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་མཐོང་མི་འགྱུར། །rmi lam nyams su myong ba bzhin/_/
dngos po gang dang gang spyad pa/_/ de de dran pa'i yul du 'gyur/_/
'das pa thams cad mthong mi 'gyur/_/Śāntideva also encourages us to imagine the situation when death comes to us. As we lie on our deathbed, no one can help us. However many caring friends and family members are there at our bedside, we will have no choice but to go on to the next life alone:
There I’ll be, prostrate upon my bed, And all around, my family and friends. But I alone shall be the one to feel The cutting of the thread of life.
Page(s) 43
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
བདག་ནི་མལ་ན་འདུག་བཞིན་དུ། །
གཉེན་བཤེས་ཀུན་གྱིས་མཐའ་བསྐོར་ཀྱང་། ། སྲོག་འཆད་པ་ཡི་ཚོར་བ་དག །
བདག་ཉིད་གཅིག་པུས་མྱོང་བར་འགྱུར། །bdag ni mal na 'dug bzhin du/_/
gnyen bshes kun gyis mtha' bskor kyang /_/ srog 'chad pa yi tshor ba dag_/
bdag nyid gcig pus myong bar 'gyur/_/The thread that ties us to this birth is almost worn through and the messengers from the Lord of Death approach us. Who can help us? What can be done?
And when the heralds of the Deadly King41Yama, the King of Death—not a sentient being but a symbol and personification of death. have gripped me, That help to me will be my friends and kin? for then life’s virtue is my one defense, And this, alas, is what I shrugged away.
Page(s) 43
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
གཤིན་རྗེའི་ཕོ་ཉས་ཟིན་པ་ལ། །
གཉེན་གྱིས་ཅི་ཕན་བཤེས་ཅི་ཕན། ། དེ་ཚེ་བསོད་ནམས་གཅིག་བསྐྱབས་ན། །
དེ་ཡང་བདག་གིས་མ་བསྟེན་ཏོ། །gshin rje'i pho nyas zin pa la/_/
gnyen gyis ci phan bshes ci phan/_/ de tshe bsod nams gcig bskyabs na/_/
de yang bdag gis ma bsten to/_/Śāntideva replies that at this moment, as our life force fades, there is only one real protection. Only the Dharma can really help us at that moment, and in particular it is only the merit that derives from the positive karmic actions we have done throughout our life that can be of aid in this stricken moment. It is therefore important to develop a strong sense of regret that we had opportunities to act in more positive ways and yet we never took them. The feeling of regret for missing such an opportunity to engage in virtue and instead acting in negative ways can also be taken as a kind of confession.
For all these reasons, Śāntideva advises us to look for a source of guidance and protection, a true place of refuge.
Who can give me safe protection From this horror, from this frightful dread? And then I’ll search the four directions, Seeking help, with panic-stricken eyes.
Page(s) 43
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
སུ་ཞིག་འཇིགས་ཆེན་འདི་ལས་བདག །
ལེགས་པར་སྐྱོབ་པར་བྱེད་འགྱུར་ཞེས། ། བྲེད་ཤ་ཐོན་པའི་མིག་བགྲད་ནས། །
ཕྱོགས་བཞིར་སྐྱབས་དག་ཚོལ་བར་བྱེད། །su zhig 'jigs chen 'di las bdag_/
legs par skyob par byed 'gyur zhes/_/ bred sha thon pa'i mig bgrad nas/_/
phyogs bzhir skyabs dag 'tshol bar byed/_/But in those four directions no protection shall I find.
And I shall sink into despairing woe.
No refuge will there be for me;
At such a time, what shall I do?[p.44]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
Page(s) 43
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
ཕྱོགས་བཞིར་སྐྱབས་མེད་མཐོང་ནས་ནི། །
དེ་ནས་ཀུན་ཏུ་ཡི་མུག་འགྱུར། ། གནས་དེར་སྐྱབས་ཡོད་མ་ཡིན་ན། །
དེ་ཚེ་བདག་གིས་ཇི་ལྟར་བྱ། །phyogs bzhir skyabs med mthong nas ni/_/
de nas kun tu yi mug 'gyur/_/ gnas der skyabs yod ma yin na/_/
de tshe bdag gis ji ltar bya/_/As we near death, the possibility of falling into the lower realms suddenly becomes real. But if we have not made any effort to seek out and correctly rely on a valid source of refuge, and if we have failed to recognize our past negative actions and confess them, we will be helpless at the time of dying. Gyaltsap Je's conclusion here is that we must put all of these practices into place now while we have the leisure and time, since leaving them to our last moments will be disastrous.
The Force of Support
Verses 47 to 53 discuss the force of support. Gyaltsap Je describes this third force as being the meditation on such practices as bodhicitta.[9]
The main body of this chapter is about the confession of negativity and how the Three Jewels can act as a support for that confession. But the Three Jewels are also able to act as a support for the process of purification.
These supports may be used either as the object to which confession is addressed or that which we rely on for purification. In the present case, we are concerned with the latter.
Understanding that we will be unable to find any source of help if we leave it until the time of death, when terror overwhelms us, Śāntideva implores us to look around right now for a source of support. When we carefully examine who can be such a reliable support, Śāntideva argues that we will find that it is only the buddhas, the supreme guardians of beings, who can truly protect us from all sorrow. Coming to this conclusion, Śāntideva takes refuge.
Thus, from this day forward I take refuge In the Buddhas, guardians of beings, Who labor to protect all wanderers, Those mighty ones who scatter every fear.
Page(s) 44
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
དེ་བས་རྒྱལ་བ་འགྲོ་[p.16]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)
Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
འགྲོ་བ་སྐྱོབ་པའི་དོན་བརྩོན་པ། ། སྟོབས་ཆེན་འཇིགས་པ་ཀུན་སེལ་ལ། །
དེ་རིང་ཉིད་ནས་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི། །de bas rgyal ba 'gro [p.16]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)
Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
'gro ba skyob pa'i don brtson pa/_/ stobs chen 'jigs pa kun sel la/_/
de ring nyid nas skyabs su mchi/_/And in the Dharma they have realized in their hearts, Which drives away the terrors of saṃsāra, And in all the host of Bodhisattvas Likewise I will perfectly take refuge.
Page(s) 44
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
དེ་ཡིས་ཐུགས་སུ་ཆུད་པའི་ཆོས། །
འཁོར་བའི་འཇིགས་པ་སེལ་བ་དང་། ། བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་ཚོགས་ལ་ཡང་། །
དེ་བཞིན་ཡང་དག་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི། །de yis thugs su chud pa'i chos/_/
'khor ba'i 'jigs pa sel ba dang /_/ byang chub sems dpa'i tshogs la yang /_/
de bzhin yang dag skyabs su mchi/_/We may wonder why Śāntideva is bringing up refuge again in the same chapter? What is the difference between the refuge mentioned here and that mentioned in the earlier part of this chapter? Here, the great Drukpa Kagyu master Pema Karpo sheds further light on this issue.
The previously (mentioned) refuge is an essential support for the arousing of bodhicitta. With the latter, if we take refuge in it, we will be liberated from all negative actions. For that reason, it says in scripture:
Whoever has gone for refuge to the buddhas Will be liberated from all negativity.[10]
The previously mentioned refuge was presented in a much more general way, identifying what the objects of refuge are. But here Śāntideva wants to show us how the Three Jewels are a support for confession and purification of our negative actions.
In his word commentary the great Sakya master Sonam Tsemo gives an interesting explanation of the reasons why the Three Jewels are the ultimate source of refuge.
The Buddhas are 'conquerors' of the benefit of self in respect of abandoning the defilements and possessing good qualities. They are 'protectors' of beings in that they fulfill the benefit of others:
- Everything that is harmful,
Non-methods [of mistaken paths], the lower realms,
The transitory collections and lesser vehicles—
Because of protecting from these, he is supreme among refuges.
Thus the protectors of beings strive in these ways, using manifold powers and dispelling fears of samsara. The 'dharma' means the dharma of realization which, when it is taken to heart, is cessation —freedom of the dhatu from adventitious impurities—and the dharma of the path, which dispels fears of samsara. The 'sangha' means the community of bodhisattvas.[11]
Sonam Tsemo describes two qualities that the buddhas have that make them the most supreme of refuges—the quality of being a conqueror (jina) and the quality of being a protector (natha). Here, they are called the conqueror because they have overcome all that is to be abandoned, such as the afflictions and their seeds, and they have attained all the positive qualities, such as the ten powers and the four fearlessnesses. They are called the protectors of beings because they fulfill the aims and welfare of all beings by protecting them from everything that is harmful and that endangers us, especially the fears and sufferings of samsara.
In his commentary to verse 48, Khenpo Kunpal elaborates on the Dharma and Sangha Jewels.
Accordingly, the Dharma that resides within the Buddha's heart, in other words, the Dharma that he realized, includes all the teachings profound and vast. If practiced, it scatters and pacifies all the terrors of samsara. Therefore from now on, we must take refuge in the Dharma of transmission and realization and take it as our path. Henceforth too, we must take refuge—perfectly, straightforwardly, and without hesitation—in the Sangha of the noble Bodhisattvas residing on the grounds of realization from which there is no regression. For they are our companions on the path.[12]
Here, Khenpo Kunpal says that the Sangha Jewel is specifically the bodhisattvas who have realized emptiness directly and who have reached the bodhisattva's grounds, or bhūmis.
Prayers to the Eight Great Bodhisattvas
Verses 50 to 52 connect to the practice of refuge in the exalted bodhisattvas who are the Sangha Jewel. Realizing the miserable situation he has found himself in, Śāntideva is gripped with dread and cries out to the children of the conquerors, the great bodhisattvas, for help, particularly to help eradicate the future results ensuing from our negative karma.
To him whose deeds of mercy never fail, My lord Avalokita, I cry out from depths of misery. "Protect me now an evildoer!”
Page(s) 44
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
ཐུགས་རྗེའི་སྤྱོད་པ་མ་འཁྲུལ་བ། །
སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་མགོན་དེ་ལ་ཡང་། ། ཉམ་ཐག་ང་རོས་འོ་དོད་འབོད། །
སྡིག་ལྡན་བདག་ལ་བསྐྱབ་ཏུ་གསོལ། །thugs rje'i spyod pa ma 'khrul ba/_/
spyan ras gzigs mgon de la yang /_/ nyam thag nga ros 'o dod 'bod/_/
sdig ldan bdag la bskyab tu gsol/_/Now to the noble one, Ākāshagarbha, And to Kṣhitigarbha, from my heart I call.42Ākāshagarbha and Kṣhitigarbha are two of the eight major Bodhisattvas known as the Buddhaʼs ‟eight close sons.” To all protectors, great, compassionate, I cry to them in search of refuge.
Page(s) 44
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
འཕགས་པ་ནམ་མཁའི་སྙིང་པོ་དང་། །
ས་ཡི་སྙིང་པོ་དག་དང་ནི། ། ཐུགས་རྗེ་ཆེ་མགོན་ཐམས་ཅད་ལ། །
སྐྱབས་འཚོལ་* ཚོལ་ in the source text. སྙིང་ནས་འོ་དོད་འབོད། །'phags pa nam mkha'i snying po dang /_/
sa yi snying po dag dang ni/_/ thugs rje che mgon thams cad la/_/
skyabs 'tshol * tshol [ in the source text.] snying nas 'o dod 'bod/_/To Vajrapaṇi I shall fly, For at the sight of him All vengeful things like Yama’s host Escape in terror to the four directions.
Page(s) 44
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
གང་ཞིག་མཐོང་ནས་གཤིན་རྗེ་ཡི། །
ཕོ་ཉ་ལ་སོགས་སྡང་བ་རྣམས། ། སྐྲག་ནས་ཕྱོགས་བཞིར་འབྱེར་བྱེད་པ། །
རྡོ་རྗེ་ཅན་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི། །gang zhig mthong nas gshin rje yi/_/
pho nya la sogs sdang ba rnams/_/ skrag nas phyogs bzhir 'byer byed pa/_/
rdo rje can la skyabs su mchi/_/These verses specifically reference the eight bodhisattvas (Maitreya, Avalokiteśvara, Samantabhadra, Vajrapāṇi, Mañjuśrīghoṣa, Sarvanivāraṇaviṣkambhin, Kṣitigarbha, and Ākāśagarbha). They are the main retinue of Buddha Śākyamuni and are also called his eight heart sons. Although they possess the same qualities, powers, and great compassion, they personify different aspects of the bodhisattva’s activities and exemplify different roles in helping beings. For instance, Gyale Thokme Zangmo highlights the way in which these verses relate to each bodhisattva.
Through fear of the sufferings such as those of the hell realms, I feel terror. I offer myself to the great bodhisattva Samantabhadra, I offer my very own body to Mañjuśhrīghoṣha. To the protector Avalokiteśhvara, who is infallible in both compassionate thought and deed, stricken with suffering I cry out for help, t "I beseech you to be a refuge for such a sinner as me.” Calling out in despair from my heart I cry, "In the exalted Ākāśhagarbha and Kṣhitigarbha, Maitreya and Samantabhadra, and in all the compassionate protectors I seek for and go for refuge.”I also take refuge in Vajrapāṇi, the one who possesses the vajra, and who on being beheld scatters to the four directions those who strike fear in beings, such as the Messenger of the Lord of Death (Yamārāja).[13]
Śāntideva sums up this section on the force of support as follows:
Formerly your words I have transgressed,
But having seen these terrors all around,
I come to you for refuge praying:
Swiftly drive away my fear![p.45]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
Page(s) 44
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
སྔོན་ཆད་ཁྱེད་ཀྱི་བཀའ་ལས་འདས། །
ད་ནི་འཇིགས་པ་ཆེ་མཐོང་ནས། ། ཁྱེད་ལ་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི་ལགས་ཀྱིས། །
འཇིགས་པ་མྱུར་དུ་བསལ་དུ་གསོལ། །sngon chad khyed kyi bka' las 'das/_/
da ni 'jigs pa che mthong nas/_/ khyed la skyabs su mchi lags kyis/_/
'jigs pa myur du bsal du gsol/_/Gyaltsap Je expands on this.
Previously I transgressed your words, committed negativities and did not practice virtue. Now, having seen the infinity of cyclic existence and the great horror of the lower realms, I take refuge in you.
By my implementing what has to be practiced and what has to be abandoned according to your advice, please quickly eliminate all dangers I pray.[14]
The great contemporary Kagyu master Thrangu Rinpoche ends this section of his commentary to The Way of the Bodhisattva by explaining how we should think as we make our confession.
In the presence of all the buddhas we now make our confession and ask for the support of the Three Jewels by thinking, "In their omniscience the buddhas know all the faults and misdeeds that I have been doing. When I confess, they see that I am confessing all the wrong that I have been doing. Before them I will now do what is wholesome and forever turn away from what is unwholesome." [15]
Thrangu Rinpoche makes a very important point here—that is, the buddhas through their omniscient mind know all that we have done and continue to do. We cannot hide from them and should therefore not hesitate to confess all our negativity to them and turn toward all that is beneficial, both for oneself and others.
The Force of the Antidote
Verses 54 to 59 deal with the force of the antidote. Gyaltsap Je describes this force in the following way:
There are, as explained in the Compendium of Trainings, relying on profound sutras, meditating on emptiness, relying on recitation, relying on the holy form, relying on offerings and relying on the names.[16]
In relation to this force, Śāntideva provides us with reasons why confession is necessary. He does this using two examples, the first of which is the example of a common illness, which is used to explain why it is necessary to make effort in applying the antidote.
For if, alarmed by common ailments, I must implement the doctor’s words, What need to speak of when I’m constantly brought low By ills like lust and faults a hundredfold?
Page(s) 45
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
ཐ་མལ་ནད་ཀྱིས་འཇིགས་ན་ཡང་། །
སྨན་པའི་ངག་བཞིན་བྱ་དགོས་[p.17]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)
Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
tha mal nad kyis 'jigs na yang /_/
sman pa'i ngag bzhin bya dgos [p.17]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)
Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
If we are scared of ordinary illnesses, particularly serious ones that might threaten our lives, we will immediately attempt to overcome that sickness by implementing all the advice of the trained medical practitioners and taking the appropriate course of medicine. If that is so, Gyaltsap Je advises us:
. . . what need is there to mention that it is appropriate to rely on the antidote according to the instructions of the conqueror, the supreme physician, in order to be cured from the great chronic disease of the three poisons of attachment, anger and ignorance, as one has been continuously beaten down since beginningless time by the sources of hundreds of thousands of shortcomings.[17]
The next verses indicate the great faults of the illnesses in our mindstream, of the many defilements such as attachment, hatred, and delusion, and how it would be utterly inexplicable to turn our backs on the cure for these ills, the Buddha's Dharma:
And if, by one of these alone, The dwellers in the world are all thrown down, And if no other remedy exists, No other healing elsewhere to be found
Page(s) 45
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
དེ་གཅིག་གིས་ཀྱང་འཛམ་གླིང་ན། །
གནས་པའི་མི་ཀུན་བརླག་བྱེད་ན། ། དེ་དག་གསོ་བའི་སྨན་གཞན་ནི། །
ཕྱོགས་རྣམས་ཀུན་ནས་མི་རྙེད་ན། །de gcig gis kyang 'dzam gling na/_/
gnas pa'i mi kun brlag byed na/_/ de dag gso ba'i sman gzhan ni/_/
phyogs rnams kun nas mi rnyed na/_/Than words of the all-knowing doctor, Which uproot our every ill, The thought to turn on him deaf ears Is abject and contemptible stupidity.
Page(s) 45
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
དེ་ལ་སྨན་པ་ཐམས་ཅད་མཁྱེན། །
ཟུག་རྔུ་ཐམས་ཅད་འབྱིན་པ་ཡི། ། བཀའ་ལྟར་མི་བྱེད་སེམས་པ་ནི། །
ཤིན་ཏུ་གཏི་མུག་སྨད་པའི་གནས། །de la sman pa thams cad mkhyen/_/
zug rngu thams cad 'byin pa yi/_/ bka' ltar mi byed sems pa ni/_/
shin tu gti mug smad pa'i gnas/_/Sonam Tsemo explains how the first two lines of verse 55 indicate the great faults of such illness. The next two lines indicate the rarity of the remedy.[18]
We may wonder at the meaning of this verse. How can just one of these poisons drag down all the beings in this world system and cast them into the lower realms? In his commentary, Gyaltsap Je qualifies this statement, explaining the shortcomings of the three poisons and the rarity of the medicine which counteracts them.
Even one moment of anger towards a bodhisattva can destroy all humans in Dzambuling and throw them into the lower realms. The medicine against this great sickness, meditating on the path and so forth, one will not find anywhere else, apart from the texts that reveal it. If one cannot find it in any other place, such as the world of Brahma and so forth, then it is unfindable elsewhere and therefore rare.[19]
In verse 56 Śāntideva chides us, saying "How can you be so delusional as to turn your back on the supreme doctor, the all-knowing physician, and their medicine which has the potential to liberate yourself from all the afflictions and the pain that they bring you?" But Thrangu Rinpoche provides a chastening context to the instruction to turn to the Three Jewels for help with clearing away the effects of all our negative karma.
At this point, we may wonder whether the Three Rare and Supreme ones and all the great bodhisattvas are able to immediately clear away the result of negative actions. The answer is "no”. They can’t do this because we accumulated these negative actions; they did not. Therefore they do not have the power to immediately clear away the results of our negative actions. They do, however, have great compassion for all sentient beings, so if we are able to eliminate these unpleasant future results, they would do so. But since we have committed these negative actions, they cannot undo them. It does, however, help to pray to them and request their help because if we develop faith and devotion for these great beings , then they will show us the path and method for eliminating our negative karma. So it is our personal effort that allows us to clear away the future effects of negative karma.[20]
The second example that Śāntideva uses to spur us on in applying the antidotes is that of a precipice.
Along a small and ordinary cliff If I must pick my way with special care, What need to speak of that long-lasting chasm Plunging to the depths a thousand leagues?
Page(s) 45
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
གཡང་* གཡངས in the source text. ས་ཐ་མལ་ཆུང་ངུ་ལའང་། །
བག་ཡོད་གནས་པར་བྱ་དགོས་ན། ། དཔག་ཚད་སྟོང་དུ་ལྟུང་བ་ཡི། །
ཡུན་རིང་གཡང་སར་སྨོས་ཅི་དགོས། །g.yang * g.yangs[ in the source text.] sa tha mal chung ngu la'ang /_/
bag yod gnas par bya dgos na/_/ dpag tshad stong du ltung ba yi/_/
yun ring g.yang sar smos ci dgos/_/If we need to take so much care and attention when close to just a small precipice, what need is there to speak of the care and conscientiousness we require when we are in danger of falling into the deepest chasm of suffering, from which we will need to remain for a vast stretch of time before we can be free of that place. The danger to us here is our habitual negative patterns. Therefore, we must take great care to avoid engaging in faulty karmic actions, and we must rely on the antidote to the afflictions.
The next verse encourages us not to waste time.
"Today, at least, I shall not die.” So rash to lull myself with words like these! My dissolution and my hour of death Will come to me, of this there is no doubt.
Page(s) 45
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
དེ་རིང་ཁོ་ན་མི་འཆི་ཞེས། །
བདེ་བར་འདུག་པ་རིགས་མ་ཡིན། ། བདག་ནི་མེད་པར་འགྱུར་བའི་དུས། །
དེ་ནི་གདོན་མི་ཟ་བར་འབྱུང་། །de ring kho na mi 'chi zhes/_/
bde bar 'dug pa rigs ma yin/_/ bdag ni med par 'gyur ba'i dus/_/
de ni gdon mi za bar 'byung /_/We must not lull ourselves into a false sense of security, thinking that we are alive today and that all is well. We must never fall prey to procrastination and delay our practice of virtue, which is the main remedy.
In his Letter to a Friend (Suhṛllekha), Nāgārjuna makes this point very strongly.
With all its many risks, this life endures No more than windblown bubbles in a stream. How marvellous to breathe in and out again, To fall asleep and then awake refreshed. (verse 55)[21]
Continuing with this theme Śāntideva warns us against letting our guard down and feeling too much at ease.
Who can give me fearlessness, What sure escape is there from this? It’s certain that I’m going to die, So how can I relax, my mind at ease?
Page(s) 45
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
བདག་ལ་མི་འཇིགས་སུ་ཡིས་བྱིན། །
འདི་ལས་ཇི་ལྟར་ངེས་ཐར་འགྱུར། ། གདོན་མི་ཟ་བར་མེད་འགྱུར་ན། །
ཅིའི་ཕྱིར་བདག་ཡིད་བདེ་བར་འདུག །bdag la mi 'jigs su yis byin/_/
'di las ji ltar nges thar 'gyur/_/ gdon mi za bar med 'gyur na/_/
ci'i phyir bdag yid bde bar 'dug_/Khenpo Kunpal gives some very emotive commentary to this verse, imploring us not to forget that death can come at any moment.
What guarantee can anyone give that we will not die today and that death is nothing to be afraid of? There is no one who can give us such assurance, not even a Buddha. What escape is there for us from the horrors of death? It is said in the Bhadrakaratri-sutra:
- What man is sure he will not die tomorrow?
This very day you should prepare yourself.
The great hordes of the Lord of Death—
Are they not your faithful friends?
Death, our own death, is coming. How can we relax in careless ease? It is highly inappropriate to rest at our leisure, eating, drinking, and amusing ourselves. As Ashvaghosha once said in his Shokavinodana:
- Of all those born upon this earth
Or in the upper realms,
Did you see, or hear, or even doubt,
That some were born that have not died?[22]
Pema Karpo makes a very interesting point in his commentary about how the force of the antidote ties in with the three higher trainings, and he relates that to a very famous verse from The Sūtra of Individual Liberation (Pratimokṣasūtra).
In terms of the manifest realizations of the three higher trainings, ethical discipline is the dam which acts as an antidote to hold back the manifest causes of negative actions, that is to say non-virtue. The mind acting as an antidote (concentration), which is empowered with that (ethical discipline), suppresses nonvirtue such that it cannot intrude. Wisdom destroys the seeds of the nonvirtue, which are completely uprooted such that they can never arise again. These three trainings are explained in the three pitakas. The meaning of this is summed up in The Sūtra of Individual Liberation:
- Commit not a single unwholesome action,
Cultivate a wealth of virtue,
Tame completely your own mind—
This is the teaching of the Buddha.[23]
The Force of Turning Away from Repeating the Fault, or The Force of Restraint
In verses 60 to 64, Śāntideva mentions the last key feature of confession through the four antidotal forces—the promise never to engage again in the actions which we have confessed. This section of the text explains how to restrain ourselves from committing the same kind of actions again, as we have done in the past. Understanding who the valid objects of refuge are, we reflect on all the negative actions we have done and confess them to those objects of refuge, as we set a course for ourselves moving forward.
How instead can I make sure To rid myself of evil, only cause of sorrow? This should be my one concern, My only thought both night and day.
Page(s) 46
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
མི་[p.18]Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa (1990)
Slob dpon zhi ba lha and Mkhan po kun dpal. Byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa rtsa ba dang 'grel pa. Khreng tu'u: Si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang, 1990.
དེ་ལས་ཇི་ལྟར་ངེས་ཐར་ཞེས། ། ཉིན་མཚན་རྟག་ཏུ་བདག་གིས་ནི། །
འདི་ཉིད་འབའ་ཞིག་བསམ་པའི་རིགས། །g.yang sa tha mal chung ngu la'ang /_/
bag yod gnas par bya dgos na/_/ dpag tshad stong du ltung ba yi/_/
yun ring g.yangs sar smos ci dgos/_/We swear to ourselves that our one course of action must be to break free of all of our negative habitual patterns and actions. Khenpo Kunpal expands on this point in the following way:
So we should ask ourselves, how can we make sure to rid ourselves of evil, which alone is the cause of sorrow? This should be our only concern, as the text says—our sole and constant thought. This should be our daytime obsession and something that keeps us awake at night! It is thus that we should strive to confess our evil actions.[24]
In his commentary, Khenpo Kunpal also makes a very important point regarding our negative actions: it is not just that they lead to future suffering in the lower realms, but they also prevent our virtuous actions right now, such as trying to study, contemplate, and meditate on the teachings, from being effective and coming to fruition.[25]
To conclude this chapter, Śāntideva implores the buddhas and bodhisattvas to accept him as he is, along with all the negativity he has engaged in.
I pray you, guides and guardians of the world,
To take me as I am, a sinful man.
And all these actions, evil as they are,
I promise I will never do again.[p.47]The Way of the Bodhisattva (2006)
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
Page(s) 46
Blankleder, Helena, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans. The Way of the Bodhisattva: A Translation of the Bodhicharyāvatāra. By Śāntideva. Rev. ed. Shambhala Classics. Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2006.
འདྲེན་པ་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་བདག་གི་སྡིག །
ནོངས་པ་ལགས་པར་གཟུང་དུ་གསོལ། ། འདི་ནི་བཟང་པོ་མ་ལགས་པས། །
སླན་ཆད་བདག་ནི་ཡོང་མི་བགྱིད། །dren pa rnams kyis bdag gi sdig_/
nongs pa lags par gzung du gsol/_/ 'di ni bzang po ma lags pas/_/
slan chad bdag ni yong mi bgyid/_/He promises never to do those negative actions again, which is a central part of the practice. We do not expect to say some simple words of how sorry we feel and then simply be absolved from any further consequence. Confession in the Buddhist tradition is an active process of recognizing the bad things we have done, admitting honestly to them, and confessing them to the buddhas and our teachers. Through this confession, we mark a line in the sand and commit to not transgressing these boundaries again.
Kunga Wangchuk describes this force of turning away from repeating the fault as the force of amendment.
We recognize that our previously committed wrong deeds of body, speech, and mind are unwholesome, and that they are the cause and conditions which produce all of the suffering of the lower realms of samsara. We think "From this day on, I will never commit any of these nonvirtuous negative actions, even at the cost of my life." The force of amendment is the promise from now on never to commit unwholesome actions.[26]
In a very beautiful passage of his commentary, Khenpo Kunpal explains the importance of amending our behavior so that we turn away forever from all forms of unwholesome conduct.
To engage in evil action is like passing from light into darkness. It produces effects that are difficult to bear. For holy beings, such unwholesome conduct is an object of derision. Therefore, from now on, we must promise never to repeat such actions even at the cost of our lives. And when pronouncing such a resolution, we should consider that rays of many-colored light stream from the bodies of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and cleanse and purify our every fault and downfall—every negativity and obscuration of ourselves and other beings—like the sun rising in the midst of darkness.[27]
Nāgārjuna provides us with a final word of hope in regard to this whole process of confession. He reminds us of the only redeeming feature of the negative actions, which is that they can be purified by confession. As he says in his Letter to a Friend:
Those who formerly were careless But then took heed are beautiful and fair, As is the moon emerging from the clouds, Like Nanda, Angulimala, Darshaka, Udayana.[28]
Gyalse Tokme Zangpo concludes this chapter by instructing us to confess our negative actions day and night.
In the direct presence of the protectors we place our palms together, and with a mind of fear of suffering we prostrate again and again, confessing all of our negative actions.[29]
Notes
- ↑ Dungkar Rinpoche Lobsang Trinley, "Spyod 'jug gi gzhung ngo sprod dang sangs rgyas chos lugs kyi mtshan nyid rig pa", in Gsung 'bum blo bzang 'phrin las (pod ta pa) (Dharamsala: sa rA bod kyi dpe skrun khang gis par skrun zhus, 2017), 40.
- ↑ Helena Blankleder and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans., The Nectar of Manjushri’s Speech, by Kunzang Pelden (Boston: Shambhala Publications, 2010), 90.
- ↑ Although it is somewhat difficult to trace the source of these exact lines, they appear to derive at least in part from the Udānavarga or Prajñāvarman's commentary on the Udānavarga.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 95.
- ↑ Fedor Stracke, trans., The Entrance for the Children of the Conquerors - A Commentary on the Introduction to the Actions of Bodhisattvas. Chapter Two: Purifying Negativities, by Gyaltsab Rinpoche (N.p.: Happy Monks Publication, 2016), 15, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/. Note that the pagination starts over for every chapter in Stracke's translation.
- ↑ Adam Pearcey, trans., The Sūtra Teaching the Four Factors, Caturdharmanirdeśasūtra, Toh 249 (84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha, 2023), https://read.84000.co/translation/toh249.html?#UT22084-066-007-55.
- ↑ Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter Two, 15, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 102.
- ↑ Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter Two, 15, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.
- ↑ Pema Karpo, A Lamp for the Middle Way: A Commentary on the Bodhisattvacharyavatara, Spyod 'jug gi 'bru 'grel dbu ma'i lam gyi sgron ma (Kathmandu: Shree Gautam Buddha Vihara, 2017), 19 (e-book). https://dharmacloud.tsadra.org/library/?post_types=book,book_author&search-terms=A+Lamp+for+the+Middle+Way:+A+Commentary+on+the+Bodhisattvacharyavatara&subjects=any&view=list/
- ↑ Adrian O'Sullivan, trans., Bodhicaryāvatāra with Commentary (Los Angeles: Dechen Foundation, 2019), 63.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 109.
- ↑ Ngul Chu Thokme Zangpo, An Ocean of Excellent Explanation (Varanasi: Sakya Students Union, 2003), 155–56.
- ↑ Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter Two, 23, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.
- ↑ Thrangu Rinpoche, A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life of Shantideva: A Commentary by the Venerable Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, trans. Ken and Katia Holmes and Thomas Doctor (Dharamsala: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 2016), 29.
- ↑ Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter Two, 15, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.
- ↑ Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter Two, 24. https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/
- ↑ O'Sullivan, Bodhicaryāvatāra with Commentary, 100.
- ↑ Stracke, Entrance for the Children: Chapter Two, 24, https://happymonkspublication.org/product/bodhisattvacharyavatara-chapter-1-10-commentary/.
- ↑ Thrangu Rinpoche, Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, 31.
- ↑ Stephen Gethin, Helena Blankleder, and Wulstan Fletcher (Padmakara Translation Group), trans., Nagarjuna's Letter to a Friend: With Commentary by Kangyur Rinpoche (Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2005), 49.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 114–15.
- ↑ Pema Karpo, Lamp for the Middle Way, 19 (e-book). https://dharmacloud.tsadra.org/library/?post_types=book,book_author&search-terms=A+Lamp+for+the+Middle+Way:+A+Commentary+on+the+Bodhisattvacharyavatara&subjects=any&view=list/
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 116.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 116.
- ↑ Khenpo Kunga Wangchuk, A Commentary on the Bodhicaryāvatāra, Theg pa chen poi do'i dgongs don gyi bstan bcos byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa zhes bya ba'i 'grel pa (Chos kyi blo gros rtsom sgrig khang, 2016), 143.
- ↑ Blankleder and Fletcher, Nectar of Manjushri's Speech, 118.
- ↑ Gethin, Blankleder, and Fletcher, Letter to a Friend, 33.
- ↑ Thokme Zangpo, Ocean of Excellent Explanation, 159.
