Special Features of Atisha’s “Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment”

The following qualities pertain specifically to Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment. However, since this short, three-paged text is the prototype for all later expansions, we should apply the discussion to any study we make of its subject matter. 

Tsongkhapa has noted these four preeminent qualities (che-ba bzhi) in his Abbreviated Points of the Graded Path: 

(7) You understand all Buddha’s teachings with no contradictions. The scriptural pronouncements, without an exception, dawn (on your mind) as guideline instructions. You easily discover the Triumphant One’s intended meanings. They protect you from the abyss of the great misdeed (of forsaking the Dharma). Because of these (benefits), what scrutinizing persons among the erudite masters of India and Tibet will not have their minds enraptured by the stages of the path of three spiritual scopes, the supreme instructions to which many fortunate ones have entrusted themselves.

It Makes It Easy to Understand How There Is Nothing Incompatible in All the Buddha’s Teachings

The Buddha has indicated everything we must either rid ourselves of or realize (spang-rtogs, abandon or realize) in order to achieve any of the three scopes of spiritual aim, namely a higher rebirth, liberation or actualization of our fullest potential. He has communicated these through both his words about the Dharma as well as his being a realized example of what he has spoken. Thus, we can differentiate both scriptural Dharma (lung-gi bstan-pa, Skt. āgamanirdeśa) and realized Dharma (rtogs-pa’i bstan-pa, Skt. adhigamanirdeśa). The two are always harmonious, being merely two aspects of the same thing.

The scriptural Dharma has been gathered into The Three Baskets (sDe-snod gsum, Skt. Tripiṭaka), while the realized Dharma has been condensed into the three higher trainings. The Basket of Rules of Discipline (Dul-ba’i sde-snod, Skt. Vinayapiṭaka, Basket of Vinaya), The Basket of Sutras (mDo-sde’i sde-snod, Skt. Sūtrapiṭaka) and The Basket of Abhidharma (mNgon-pa’i sde-snod, Skt. Abhidharmapiṭaka, Basket of Special Topics of Knowledge) discuss respectively the trainings in higher ethical self-discipline, higher absorbed concentration and higher discriminating awareness (higher wisdom).

Some masters include the tantras in The Basket of Abhidharma, while others say they constitute a fourth Basket, as, for example, Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro (’Jam-dbyangs mkhyen-brtse chos-kyi blo-’gros) (1893–1959) in his Opening the Door to the Dharma (Theg-pa mtha’-dag-gi snying-po mdo-tsam brjod-pa chos-kyi sgo-’byed):

As for the Mahayana teachings of the secret tantras, some people say they belong to the inner teachings of abhidharma. It is more correct, however, to consider the Basket of the Knowledge-Holders as being in a category of its own. 

Atisha’s text on the graded stages of the path can show us on several different levels how there is nothing incompatible in all these teachings, whether they are scriptural or realized Dharma. This was an important point for Atisha to make since when he went to Tibet, many people there believed that the Hinayana and Mahayana teachings were completely contradictory and that the rules of vinaya were irreconcilable with the practice of tantra. In fact, however, everything the Buddha has indicated does fit together in terms of our own long-term practice, our helping of others, our achievement of omniscient awareness, and each point is amplifying the others. 

In the medical literature, we are told to abstain from meat and alcohol if we have a fever. However, as our temperature goes down, if we develop in reaction a certain nervous disorder (srog-rlung), that same meat and alcohol should be taken as a cure. These two prescriptions are polar opposites, but since they are treating different stages of sickness, they are not incompatible. Likewise, although the Buddha has given many seemingly opposite instructions, the graded stages of the path make it clear how each pertains to a different stage of training. All are designed for the practice of one individual working to become enlightened, and each of us must realize that the individual is ourselves. 

Thus, when completely bewildered (kun-tu rmongs-pa, Skt. saṃmūḍha) about reality, we train first to develop the Hinayana type of mind. By becoming aware of our suffering, our imminent death and so forth, we try to build up the motivation to improve our own future and eventually be rid of all problems. Once we are stronger, we can go beyond such self-centered concern by developing the Mahayana mind of bodhichitta, dedicating ourselves to others and to the highest purified state. Only then, when we are a completely fit vessel, can we enter the practice of tantra and adopt the speediest measures for achieving this level and thereby realizing our fullest potential for helping others.

From another point of view, since we are striving to develop the graded stages of the path that will lead us to enlightenment with the complete ability to help all beings, and since everyone’s life situation will be slightly different, we will need to know all the indicated methods of aid. A medical student must learn how to cure every disease, not just some. Treatments may vary for different disorders, but they are not incompatible since each is dealing with a specific malady. Likewise, as a student training to achieve Buddhahood, we must go through all the graded stages of the path. Only then will we be able to help everyone the best. How can we teach others something we do not know ourselves? 

As Dharmakirti (Chos-kyi grags-pa) (7th century) has said in A Commentary to (Dignaga’s Compendium of) Validly Cognizing Minds (Tshad-ma rnam-’grel, Skt. Pramāṇavārttika) (II.132c):

Methods to be implemented that are obscure (to you) will be difficult (for you) to explain to others.

Furthermore, since the graded stages of the path lead to omniscient awareness, a state in which all faults have been rid of and inadequacies corrected so that every good quality is attained, they cannot exclude anything. How could learning something be incompatible with our training to know everything?

As Shantideva has said in Engaging in Bodhisattva Behavior, V.l00ab: 

There isn’t anything in which the spiritual offspring of the Triumphant don’t train. 

Thus, it has been said in the Prajnaparamita Sutras:

Bodhisattvas must develop... and know all pathways of mind, namely the pathways of mind of a shravaka... (those) of a pratyekabuddha and... (those) of the Buddhas. They must, in fact, perfect these and go through as well the actions entailed by these pathways of mind.

On yet another level, Atisha’s text shows us how each of the paths the Buddha has indicated can include and thus amplify all the others. Dromtonpa once said of Atisha:

My lama is the one who knows how to take all the teachings as pathways of mind (similar to) a four-sided (cushion).

According to an explanation by Dagpo Jampel Lhundrub, the four sides or facets of the Dharma are the three scopes of spiritual motivation (skyes-bu gsum, Skt. tripuruṣa) and the tantra practices. Just as the entire seat comes when we pull a square cushion from any of its sides, likewise a similar phenomenon occurs whenever we gain a firm hold on any of the above four facets. 

No matter which of the graded stages we develop on our mental continuums, we will gain an understanding of all the others within its context. For instance, when we realize the nonstaticness of situations and events, we develop deep insight not only into our own present condition in life, but also into our future ones, the lives of others and into the nature of the tantra practices. Thus, as we train in the points of Atisha’s text, we will gain at each stage an ever-deeper understanding of how all the teachings fit together and how nothing in their scriptural or realized indications is incompatible. 

It Makes Every Scriptural Pronouncement, Without Exception, Dawn on the Mind as a Personal Instruction

Just as the Buddha’s scriptural teachings and their Indian commentaries (’grel-pa, Skt. vṛtti) are the sources for everything we must realize in order to achieve any of the three scopes of spiritual aim, so too are they the sources for the guideline instructions (gdams-ngag, Skt. upadeśa) for accomplishing those aims. 

Tsongkhapa has said in A Letter of Practical Advice on Sutra and Tantra (Lam-gyi rim-pa mdo-tsam-du bstan-pa) (Peking ed., vol. 153, 95):

The abbreviated, non-disarrayed, guideline instructions for how to lead (disciples) through these (pathway minds) are in fact only what have been condensed from these great classics.

Furthermore, there is no one superior to rely on for personal advice and instruction than the Buddha himself. Being omnisciently aware, he is better qualified than any other guide. With the sole wish to benefit us, he has taught 84,000 measures to be taken to prevent all suffering and deal with everything involved in achieving our spiritual aims. 

As all these teachings are personal instructions intended for our practical use and benefit, the yogi Jangchub Rinchen (rNal-’byor-pa A-mes Byang-chub rin-chen) (1015–1077) has said: 

To know the guideline instructions does not mean just to be certain about (the contents of) a cow’s nipple (pamphlet) (be’u-bum), the size of the palm of your hand, (written) for calf-like (disciples). Rather, it means to understand all the (Buddha’s) scriptural pronouncements as being the guideline instructions.

Although this is the case, it is not so simple to deal with the vastness of the scriptures. Atisha’s text, however, makes it easy for us to take the verbal indications in them as guidelines for practice. This is because the graded stages of the path are a compilation of guidelines, and the categories of its outline provide a convenient system for organizing our study of the great classics. 

For instance, if we do not have a well-organized kitchen with tins for rice, flour, sugar, tea and so forth, then when we buy groceries, we will not know where to put everything and it will be difficult later to prepare a meal. If, on the other hand, we have a complete set of containers, then whatever we purchase we will know where to store and we can immediately locate anything we need. This example was given by Dagpo Jampel Lhundrub, and it is cited in Pabongka, Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand. Likewise, when we know the categories of the graded stages of the path, then whenever we hear or read about whole-hearted commitment to a spiritual master or about bodhichitta and so forth, we know immediately where they fit into the outline. 

Thus, since the preventive measures indicated inhe scriptures can all be fitted into the outline and since the outline is of the graded stages of the path to enlightenment, therefore, when we realize that we must actualize these paths on our own mental continuums in order to purify ourselves and grow to achieve the highest attainments, then all the scriptural pronouncements will dawn on our minds as personal instructions.

As the contents of the scriptures are what we must practice, Dromtonpa has said:

It is a mistake to feel that after having studied many (spiritual classics on the) Dharma, you need to search elsewhere for methods of how to practice.

To do so would be like preparing a racetrack and then running the horserace outside on the gravel. This example is derived from Kamalashila’s (8th century) (Latter Presentation of) the Stages of Meditation (sGom-pa’i rim-pa, Skt. Bhāvanākrama). Or it would be like stocking our home with the finest brands of tea and then later, when thirsty, going out to a restaurant for something to drink.

We should model ourselves after Geshe Chengawa: whatever he read, he put at once into practice. When, for instance, he learned in Gunaprabha’s (Yon-tan ’od) (b. 7th century) Rules of Discipline Sutra (’Dul-ba’i mdo, Skt. Vinayasūtra) that renunciates should not sit on a leather cushion, he immediately threw away the one beneath him. Then, however, further on, when he saw that in cold, outlying regions an exception could be made, he quickly ran outside and fetched it. 

In short, Tsongkhapa has said in A Letter of Practical Advice on Sutra and Tantra:

To take the great classics as Dharma for lecturing and the brief personal instructions as Dharma for practicing, and thereby to hold these two as disharmonious, is not to understand the important point of the teachings at all. This is so because Buddha’s scriptural pronouncements as well as their (Indian) commentaries on their intended meanings are in fact only for eager practice and aimed at accomplishing such practice.

The process for taking all the Buddha’s words as personal advice involves three steps, none of which can be omitted. First, we must study the preventive measures indicated in the scriptures, otherwise how can we ever know what to do? Then, we must ponder or think about these pronouncements in order to figure out what they mean. Once we are certain and have no more doubts, we must personally adopt these measures in order to make them a reality in our life. This we do by building them up as habits of body, speech and mind, which is what meditation involves. 

Thus, Padmasambhava has said:

If great meditators have listened extensively to the teachings, there is little chance they will make any mistakes in their practice.

Dza Patrul has similarly warned:

Those who despise listening to the teachings will lack their share of actual attainments (dngos-grub, Skt. siddhi).

Dza Patrul, a dzogchen master from the Nyingma tradition, was the author of the text on the equivalent of lam-rim called Words of My Perfect Teacher.

Sakya Pandita has stated the case in A Precious Treasury of Elegant Sayings (Legs-bshad rin-po-che’i gter) (IX.43):

To say that for meditation you need not listen (to the teachings) is the talk of small-minded fools. Meditation on its own without having listened (to any instructions), even when done with great effort, is (simply) a method for actualizing rebirth as a dumb-witted beast!

Of the Three White (lay) and the Two Red (robed) masters who established the Sakya tradition (Sa-skya dkar-po rnam-gsum dmar-po rnam-gnyis), Sakya Pandita was one of the latter. With his nephew, Chogyal Phagpa (’Gro-mgon Chos-rgyal ’Phags-pa Blo-gros rgyal-mtshan) (1235–1280), he introduced Buddhism into Mongolia.

The mad Drukpa Kunle (’Brug-smyon Kun-dga’ legs-pa) (1455–1529), a master of the Drugpa Kagyu tradition, has put it even more sarcastically. Addressing himself to those who avidly try to meditate but have hardly listened to the teachings, he decried:

I used to have three belongings: anger, attachment and naivety. I lost them, but now I see others have picked them up!

On the other hand, too much listening and study without ever assimilating the contents is like collecting money and never using it. As Dza Patrul has told his disciples:

Please do not write my teachings down on a piece of paper, fold it up, put it away and never look at it again.

Therefore, whatever we learn, we must put it into daily practice and not just leave as interesting information. 

His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama has phrased it quite poignantly:

If those who do not accept the teachings destroy them through external violence, this is no surprise. We cannot blame a tiger for killing and eating flesh. The real atrocity is when those who accept the teachings destroy them by not putting them into practice.

By studying the graded stages of the path, we will make no such mistakes. When all the Buddha’s scriptural pronouncements dawn on our minds as advice, we will take all the teachings personally. If we sincerely do so, we will integrate them into our daily life by first listening, then pondering and finally building up their preventive measures as beneficial habits of our mind by meditating on them. 

We must emulate the outstanding example of Tsongkhapa who has said in The Progression of My Spiritual Life (rTogs-brjod mdun-legs-ma) (2):

First, I sought widely to hear extensive (teachings); in the middle, all the ways of the great classics dawned on my mind as guideline instructions. In the end, I strove day and night to put them all into personal practice. 

It Makes It Easy to Discover What the Buddha Intended

Although the great classics of the Buddha and of the Indian commentators who followed his example are the fundamental source for personal advice on how to accomplish any spiritual aim, these texts are often difficult to understand, and their order of practice is not always obvious. We need to rely on the written and oral guideline instructions of the great masters to gain easy access. These will act as master keys to open the meaning of not only one scriptural pronouncement, but of text after text, in order to reach ever more penetrating levels of insight and realization. 

As Tsongkhapa has explained in A Letter of Practical Advice on Sutra and Tantra:

Actually, the very meaning of a guideline instruction is that it is something to give us certainty more easily into the classics, which themselves are very extensive, the meanings of which are extremely difficult to comprehend and which, for necessary (reasons), scramble the graded order of understanding (and practice) in their showing of the teachings.

The best guideline instructions are those of the graded stages of the path. By studying them, we can easily see the intended themes in the Buddha’s teachings. In general, these are the three scopes of spiritual motivation and, more specifically, the three principal aspects of the path (lam-gtso rnam-gsum), namely: 

1. Renunciation, the determination to be free from suffering
2. The totally dedicated heart of bodhichitta
3. A correct view of reality.

If the scriptural pronouncements are likened to an ocean, these three principal pathway minds are the treasure to be found in its depths. Atisha’s guideline text is like a ship for gathering this treasure, and our spiritual mentor is like the captain of that vessel. Therefore, with the system of the graded stages of the path as a way to organize the teachings and see them as personal advice for our practice, we will be able to study any scriptural text and easily realize the essential points.

It Automatically Prevents Anyone from Committing “the Great Mistake”

If we understand the above three benefits, we will never make “the great mistake” (nyes-spyod chen-po, Skt. mahāduścarita) of abandoning or belittling any of the Buddha’s teachings through advancing our own limited, sectarian views (phyogs-ris). In other words, when we see there is nothing incompatible or contradictory in all the scriptural and realized teachings, we will not disparage or exclude any of them. When they all dawn on our minds as personal advice for one person at different stages of his or her training, we will not neglect any of their aspects. And when we can see through to the main point of any text, we will never be confounded by superficial differences. Thus, we will see Hinayana and Mahayana, sutra and tantra, all as mutually supportive.

It is very important to recognize what it means to abandon or do away with the Dharma (chos-spong-ba). In the Sutra on an All-Inclusive Interweaving of Everything (’Phags-pa rnam-par ’thag-pa thams-cad bsdus-pa zhes-bya-ba theg-pa chen-po’i mdo, Skt. Sarva-vaidalya-saṃgraha Sūtra), this great mistake has been clearly defined:

O Manjushri, to regard some of the enlightening words spoken by the Thusly Gone (Buddha) as good and some as bad is to abandon the Dharma. To say this is reasonable while that is not... (or that) this was spoken (only) for the sake of bodhisattvas and that was spoken (only) for shravakas... (or that) this is something in which bodhisattvas need not train is to abandon the Dharma.

The dire consequences of thinking or speaking in this way have been explained in the King of Absorbed Concentrations Sutra (Ting-nge-’dzin rgyal-po’i mdo, Skt. Samādhirāja Sūtra) (XVIII.31–32):

The negative karmic force that someone builds up from abandoning anything in a category of a sutra is much greater than that of someone who destroys all the stupas on this Rose-Apple Island (’dzam-bu gling, Skt. Jambudvīpa, Southern Continent)... (It) is much greater than that of someone who kills as many arhats as the number of sand grains on the (banks of the) Ganges.

We must be extremely careful never to disclaim not only any of the above-mentioned aspects of the Dharma, but also any of its traditions and lineages which have flourished in Tibet or elsewhere.

The First Panchen Lama, the tutor of the Fifth Dalai Lama, has said in A Root Text for Mahamudra (2B3–4):

From the point of view of individually ascribed names, there are numerous traditions… Nevertheless, when scrutinized by a yogi, learned in scripture and logic and experienced (in meditation), their definitive meanings (nges-don, Skt. neyartha) are all seen to come to the same intended point.

Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro (’Jam-dbyangs mkhyen-brtse chos-kyi blo-’gros) (1893–1959) has similarly said in Opening the Door to the Dharma (Theg-pa mtha’-dag-gi snying-po mdo-tsam brjod-pa chos-kyi sgo-’byed):

All these (Tibetan) traditions differ only in name. In essence they all converge on one point: each and every one of them teaches methods for attaining to the same ultimate goal, the full enlightenment of Buddhahood… Do not fabricate contradictions in the teachings and do not belittle (any of them). Buddha’s teachings are as vast and deep as the ocean. Understand that all are intended as methods for taming your own mind, and practice them sincerely.

Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro was a master of the Sakya tradition. His predecessor Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo (’Jam-dbyangs mkhyen-brtse dbang-po) (1820–1892) was a leader of the Rime (ris-med, nonsectarian) movement in Kham (Khams), Eastern Tibet.