LTF 73: Take Heart, Rejoice, Dedicate; the Final Result

Then he starts the encouragement for putting the above points into practice. This begins with the second half of Verse 115:

[115] Even householders, in whose laps rest glory, can, with awareness, ford cross the rivers of the disturbing emotions.

This is Nagarjuna speaking to the king. He says that the king is a householder (he is not a monk), and in his lap rests glory, which means that he holds all the symbols of the power of a king and all the things that go with it. He says that even people like him can, if they get correct awareness, correct understanding of how persons exist, how we all exist, get across the river to the other side of the emotional obscurations (referring to the disturbing emotions). In other words, he can gain liberation. 

Looking at the Text as a Proto-Mahayana Formulation of the Path 

It is interesting here that in the – what shall we call it? – proto-Mahayana formulation, which I think characterizes this letter, all that is mentioned are the emotional obscurations. It doesn’t speak of the cognitive obscurations, which are the things that prevent someone from understanding everything, from becoming omniscient. 

We spoke long ago, I think, when we were studying Shantideva’s text, Engaging in Bodhisattva Behavior (Bodhicharyavatara), about the development of Buddhism in India, the historical development. In the early stages, like in Theravada and Sarvastivada, they didn’t really speak about the two types of obscurations; they just spoke about the emotional obscurations. So, they didn’t make such a huge difference between a liberated being (that’s an arhat) and a Buddha. The only difference was how fully engaged one was in helping others and teaching others as Buddha Shakyamuni did. 

But within that context, even in Theravada, they explained a path for becoming an arhat, a liberated being, and a path for becoming a bodhisattva. And this seems to be what Nagarjuna is teaching here – what would be proto-Mahayana, the bodhisattva path within this earlier formulation.

We, as Householders, Are Able to Achieve Liberation

According to the commentaries, the reference here to householders is a reference to a previous occurrence of a householder gaining liberation – namely, that of King Bimbisara. King Bimbisara was the king of the kingdom of Magadha, which is where Buddha lived. This king became a very devoted disciple of Buddha. He is the one who gave him the garden, this grove, a sort of forest type of park, which became the place where the monks who followed Buddha first stayed. I don’t know whether you’d call it a monastery, but it was the place where they spent the monsoon – the summer retreat. King Bimbisara made many suggestions to Buddha regarding various institutional things that could help with the formulation of the monastic community, like holding a bi-monthly meeting of the monks, which actually, the Jains were already doing. The Jain tradition came before Buddhism in India.

What is interesting about king Bimbisara is that he had a son called Ajatashatru. Ajatashatru was a good friend of Devadatta, the cousin of Buddha. Devadatta and Ajatashatru both planned to take over, Ajatashatru from his father the king, and Devadatta from Buddha. They plotted together. Ajatashatru plotted and tried to kill his father the king to take over the kingdom. This didn’t succeed; he didn’t actually kill his father. But king Bimbisara, rather than punishing the son or getting very angry or upset, actually just gave up the throne, abdicated the throne, and let Ajatashatru become the king. So, this is a very good example of somebody who was not overcome by anger and disappointment about his son and holding a grudge and all these sorts of things but overcame his emotionally these emotional obscurations, these disturbing emotions. 

Devadatta conspired with Ajatashatru to try to kill the Buddha. That didn’t succeed either, but Buddha didn’t abdicate and let Devadatta run the monastic community. So, this is different.

Anyway, king Bimbisara was a householder, and he was able to make this great attainment – to gain liberation. So, Nagarjuna encourages the king, his friend, saying that he can do it as well. 

He goes on to say, verse 116:

[116] Whoever’s made the Dharma manifest (in themselves) – they’re not, in fact, (beings) who’ve fallen from the sky; they aren’t (beings) who’ve sprung up, like crops, from the womb of the earth; they were merely (ordinary) people before, who were dependent on their disturbing emotions; and so,

“And so” gets into the next verse. So, he is saying that those who made the Dharma manifest (in themselves) (that is referring to those who have gained liberation or become Buddhas) didn’t just fall from the sky already enlightened or liberated, and they didn’t just grow from the ground. They were originally (ordinary) people, just like you or me, who were under the control and, therefore, totally dependent on their disturbing emotions – greed, anger, jealousy, pride and all these sorts of things. So, don’t get discouraged; don’t think that it is impossible to gain liberation. Everybody who has gained liberation and everybody who has become a Buddha started out in the same situation that you and I are in. 

Tame Your Mind!

Then Nagarjuna goes on:

[117] What need to counsel (you) more, Fearless One? The (most) important advice that’s of benefit is this: tame your mind! The Vanquishing Master has proclaimed, “Mind is the root of (all preventive measures) of Dharma.”

This, again, encapsulates the Buddhist teachings in just a few words: “tame your mind.” When we speak about mind here, we are talking about the heart as well. 

Nagarjuna refers to the king as the “Fearless One.” The king, being in control of the kingdom, is not afraid of anybody, but what he would need to fear, of course, are the disturbing emotions in his own mind – his own anger, his own greed, his own arrogance, and so on. So, the most important piece of advice is to tame your mind: don’t act under the control of your disturbing emotions, of your attachment, greed, desire, anger, hostility, jealousy, envy, arrogance, whatever (there is a huge, long list of disturbing emotions), but tame your mind like a wild animal. The mind is like a wild animal that just acts according to these instincts, these destructive instincts, without exercising any self-control. But if you can exercise self-control, tame the mind, and not just through the force of self-control (that’s just the beginning) but also by gaining the wisdom and understanding that will allow you to get rid of these disturbing emotions – that is the main thing. 

So, when our minds are tamed, our behavior will be tamed, our speech will be tamed; we won’t act in destructive, stupid ways, and we won’t say destructive, stupid things. In this way, we will stop creating problems for ourselves and problems for others. Therefore, the mind as the Vanquishing Master… that refers to the Buddha who has vanquished or gotten rid of all the disturbing emotions and also, from a Mahayana point of view, the cognitive obscurations, the things that prevent him from seeing everything clearly, and who has mastered all the positive good qualities. 

So, the Vanquishing Master has proclaimed “Mind is the root of (all preventive measures) of Dharma.” In other words, everything that we would do (“Dharma” means a preventive measure) to avoid or prevent ourselves from experiencing suffering – that is the Dharma. These are things that we do: tame the mind – like developing patience, developing love and compassion, and controlling ourselves not to act on anger. All of these come from the mind. That is the main thing that we have to work on. And again, mind is a word that, here, covers both the way we think, our attitudes, and also our emotions – everything is included in one word.

Doing as Best as We Can to Develop the Good Qualities and to Make Our Lives Meaningful

Nagarjuna goes on, Verse 118:

[118] Whatever guidelines there are for you in those words (“those words,” referring to “tame your mind”) would be difficult even for a monk to carry out perfectly. (So, try to make as) the essential nature of your conduct whatever (aspects) of these (that you can), and by entrusting (yourself) to the good qualities (coming) from that, make (this) lifetime meaningful. 

So, Nagarjuna is stating what I have often repeated, which is that nobody said that taming the mind was easy. Nagarjuna says it quite nicely: it would be difficult even for a monk who is devoting his entire life to tame the mind. It would be difficult for even a monk to do, let alone somebody like you, the king, who has big responsibilities with family, with running the kingdom, and so on. But he says, “make the essential nature of your conduct whatever (aspects) of these that you can.” In other words, do as much as you can. That, I think, is a very, very important piece of advice. We try to do as much as we can without trying to do what is beyond our ability to do now. We can always do a little bit more. 

I think I’ve given the example of my translating for my teacher Serkong Rinpoche. Whenever I felt completely tired and exhausted, he would always push me to go on for another five minutes. He said, “No matter how tired you are, you can always do five minutes more.” That’s very true. That’s very true. I go to a fitness club now, and I do exercises in a class, which are very, very strenuous, I must say. And when doing an exercise, they have you repeat it many, many times, and they count and so on. You reach a point where you feel, “I can’t possibly do this anymore,” and the instructor says, “Four more times.” And it is true: you can do it four more times. 

So, I often think of this as a very good example because if I did it on my own, I would stop. But because the instructor says to do more – and also because of the embarrassment: it’s a whole class of many people – I can, in fact, always do four more. I mean, we respect the boundaries of what we are capable of doing and putting into practice now, but we shouldn’t think of these as fixed boundaries that are going to be there forever. Instead, we think of them as temporary boundaries and try always to expand, always to be able to do just a little bit more, a little bit more. That way we will develop ourselves. 

So, Nagarjuna concludes that verse “and by entrusting (yourself) to the good qualities (coming) from that, make this lifetime meaningful.” So, by doing just as much as we can, we will gain many good qualities like patience, endurance, perseverance, strength of character, courage and these types of things that will help us to make this lifetime meaningful rather than waste our precious human rebirths with trivial things that, in the end, don’t matter. 

The amount of television hours that we have seen in our lifetime, at the end, will not make any difference in terms of future rebirths or how we face our deaths. That will have been trivial. But if we have built up positive habits so that we can face our deaths without fear and, instead, have confidence that, particularly in the Buddhist context of future lives, we have built up positive habits that will continue in future lives, we can die with peace of mind and feel that we have not wasted this lifetime.

The final verses comprise the epilogue, which indicate how to rejoice and dedicate the positive force from that.

This is the first three quarters of the next verse 119:

[119] (Then,) having rejoiced in all the constructive (deeds) of everyone and dedicated fully, for the sake of attaining the state of a Buddha, the three aspects of your own good conduct as well; 

This is very important. When we have done anything positive (and here, Nagarjuna is referring to whatever positive things that the king has done based on the advice that he has given him in this text), it is important to feel happy about that, to rejoice. 

At the End of the Day, Reviewing What We Have Done During the Day

It is very important, at the end of the day, to review what we have done during the day – not only what we have physically done but also how we have been thinking – and also, of course, to review how we have spoken to others. We look to see whatever negative things we have done or negative moods that we have been in and so on, and then we feel regret about that, which doesn’t mean to feel guilt. Guilt means to call it “bad,” and then to think, “I’m bad, and what I have done is bad,” and then we never let go. Instead, it’s to regret it, like "I am sorry that I did that, and I will try my best to the best of my ability not to do that again.” So, we regret it, like we regret having eaten so much food that we have a stomachache. We regret that we ate it; we don’t feel guilty that we ate it. Obviously, some people could feel guilty, but… In any case, regret is not the same as guilt. 

The other aspect is not only to regret the negative things that we have done and to reaffirm that we are going to try better the next day but also to rejoice in the positive things that we have done. Looking at only the negative could reinforce a negative self-image. We want to reinforce a positive self-image, so it is important to acknowledge what positive things have we done and to feel happy about that – to feel happy, not to feel arrogant. Just as regret shouldn’t go over into guilt, feeling happy and rejoicing shouldn’t go over into being arrogant: “Oh, I am so wonderful. I helped somebody today. I called my grandmother who is lonely,” and so on. That isn’t what we are talking about here. It’s feeling happy about that, rejoicing. 

And it is very important not only to rejoice in the positive things that we have done but to rejoice in the positive things that other people have done as well, rather than feel jealous or envious of what they have done. Rejoicing is the opposite of that. If we feel envious or jealous and begrudge them, feeling badly that they did well – “I didn’t do well on the examination in school,” or whatever it was – that becomes a very negative state of mind that just goes further and further down into unhappiness. So, it is important to rejoice in whatever positive things anybody has done. If we know of specific positive things that specific people have done, it is good to do that. If not, then we rejoice just in general. 

Then we dedicate all that positive force. The positive force is not just from the constructive things that we have done but also from rejoicing. Rejoicing amplifies, makes that positive force greater. Then we dedicate that for the sake of attaining the state of a Buddha. So, this is clearly the bodhisattva path that Nagarjuna is speaking about. And we dedicate the three aspects of our own good conduct. That refers to what we have done with body, speech, and mind – so, “May made that positive force act as a cause for reaching enlightenment for the benefit of everyone.” 

Nagarjuna goes on to say what the temporary result will be and what the ultimate result will be that we will attain from this stockpile – this network, or accumulation, or whatever you want to call it – of positive force. 

He says, at the end of 119 and the rest of 120:

[119] And then, with this stockpile of positive (force) from that, 

[120] You’ve mastered all the yogas, in countless rebirths in the worlds of the gods and of men, and have nurtured numerous wretched beings with the conduct of an Arya Avalokiteshvara, 

This is saying that, on the way to becoming a Buddha, we have – temporarily – mastered all the yogas, in countless rebirths in the various worlds of the gods and of men. According to the commentaries, these yogas refer to the yogas of (the Sanskrit words) dharanis and samadhis. Dharani is a “devotional Sanskrit formula that, when chanted, helps practitioners to retain the words and meaning of the Dharma so as to uphold constructive phenomena and eliminate destructive ones.” That’s the definition. 

“Dharanis”

A dharani is basically a short Sanskrit phrase or sentence that is usually chanted over and over again. Mind you, at the time when Nagarjuna was writing this, it was the time when the Bhagavad Gita was composed and had become popular in India. So, it was a time of devotional chanting (the Harikrishna type of thing came out of that). A Buddhist equivalent to that is these dharanis. You chant them over and over again. The word dharani in Sanskrit means to “retain” or “hold” something – so, to hold the meaning of the Dharma through this. So, it helps you to remember. It’s a sort of a longer version of a mantra. Mantra is usually just a few syllables. This is usually a sentence that is chanted over and over again so that we can stay mindful of doing constructive things and avoiding destructive things. 

In Tibetan, the word they used to translate it means something that is a “vital measure,” something that makes the teachings living within us. It’s interesting, they use the same word in Tibetan for what they stuff inside a Buddha statue. When you make a Buddha statue, it is not supposed to be empty inside, so they fill it usually with a stick in the middle… this is Mount Meru and this type of symbolism. Anyway, they put a stick in the middle. Then they print various dharanis, these little sentences or scriptures of the Buddha or various mantras on these long, long rolls, and they roll them up so that you have millions and millions millions of words. It is an incredibly big task to fill a big Buddha statue. They fill every cubic centimeter of the inside of the statue. And this is called by the same word, “vital measure.” So, it gives it life; it helps it to retain, to hold, the significance of the teachings in a symbolic form as represented by the texts themselves. 

So, this verse is saying that, temporarily, from all this positive (force), you will master all the yogas of these dharanis. So, with these formulas and samadhis, you will master all the means to retain the meaning of the teachings. Samadhis, as we had mentioned earlier in the text, are these states of deep meditative absorption called the “four dhyanas,” the “four formless realm absorptions,” in which, basically, you withdraw from the desirable sensory objects of the desire realms. Eventually, you get so absorbed that you withdraw from ordinary feelings of unhappiness, feelings even of ordinary happiness – so, just neutral type of feelings. If this is done with the proper understanding, it helps to overcome attachment to all of these things. If it not done with that understanding, then it just produces samsaric rebirth in these higher god realms. In any case, it’s saying that you have mastered all these yogas. So, you will be able to master these meditations and so on in the worlds of gods and of men. “Gods” would refer to these deeper absorptions. 

Helping to Nurture Others Like the Arya Avalokiteshvara

Also, you have nurtured numerous wretched beings with the conduct of an Arya Avalokiteshvara. This clearly refers to a bodhisattva type of path. In the earliest scriptures of Mahayana, we already find mention of Avalokiteshvara as the embodiment of the compassion of all the Buddhas and represents the ideal bodhisattva path of those who work to help (the technical term is “ripen” and “liberate”) others’ mental continuums. In other words, it is Avalokiteshvara who gives the instructions, the inspiration and so on, which helps other people’s potentials to ripen so that they develop positive states of mind and act in a constructive way, and who inspires them so that they will be able to liberate themselves. It’s not that there is a savior or something like that in Buddhism who can, by his or her own power, liberate somebody else or save them, but the Buddhas can give instructions and inspire others so that they, through their own efforts, liberate themselves.

So, this positive force will enable us to act like the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. In other words, we don’t wait until we’ve become Buddhas to start helping others; we help others now all along the path as much as we are able to.

And what is the final result? Nagarjuna says 

[121] (Then,) having taken a (final) rebirth, and rid yourself of sickness, old age, desire, and anger, make (that) lifetime immeasurably (long) as a guardian for the world, like the Vanquishing Master Amitabha in (his) Buddha-field. 

This is a very, very interesting verse because you’ve taken a final rebirth. We can understand this in two ways. The bodhisattva path does refer to the final rebirth as a bodhisattva before becoming a Buddha. There is that terminology, so one could easily understand it in that way. But also, if you recall, in early Hinayana systems like Theravada, they speak of achieving nirvana – either liberation as an arhat or enlightenment as a Buddha –in a particular lifetime and then parinirvana when you die from that rebirth. At that point, the mental continuum goes out like a candle; it’s extinguished. Later, Mahayana says, no, that is not the case. And even later Theravada, according to some Thai masters that I have spoken with, likewise say that they are just talking about the end of one’s samsaric existence – that mental continuum goes on. But one could understand this verse in either way: as referring either to a final rebirth before becoming a Buddha and then going on or to an actual final rebirth and then going out like a candle.

In that final rebirth, you get rid of sickness, old age (referring to the type of body of an ordinary rebirth, which entails  sickness, old age and all these faults) and desire and anger. So, you’ve gotten rid of all the disturbing emotions. And during that lifetime, you make (that) lifetime immeasurably (long) as a guardian for the… well, you have done that, which means that you have now attained Buddhahood in that lifetime. Then you want to make (that) life immeasurably (long) as a guardian for the world, like the vanquishing master Amitabha in (his) Buddha-field.

Having an Infinitely Long Life Like Amitabha

This is very interesting because we have here mention of Amitabha’s Buddha-field. The earliest Mahayana texts that appeared in India… there were two of them. One was the Prajnaparamita Sutras (that’s the so-called Perfection of Wisdom Sutras) that speaks about voidness. Nagarjuna was the one who recovered those texts from the nagas underneath the sea (whatever that means) and wrote the main commentary explaining the teachings on voidness that are in that. The other one was Sukhavati-vyuha Sutra. Sukhavati-vyuha is the spreading out of Sukhavati (that’s the pure land of Amitabha; Amitabha is the Buddha of Infinite Light). From that you get all the Pure Land schools in China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. The Tibetans never made a big deal out of pure lands like the East Asians did. But in any case, it is mentioned in this Mahayana text, and here, clearly, is a reference to that. 

So, what he is saying is that you want, for the rest of that lifetime as a Buddha, to have an infinitely long life like Amitabha (another name for Amitabha is Amitayus, Infinite Long Life) in a Buddha-field – in other words, make everything around you perfect for helping all beings. 

Also, it suggests something that we get in kriya tantra, which is the first class of tantra practice. There, when it talks about achieving enlightenment in one lifetime, it’s talking about extending your lifetime through special breathing practices so that your lifetime becomes unbelievably long and that, in that kind of lifetime, you achieve enlightenment. So, there are many things that are suggested by this verse. It is a very interesting verse.

Then we have a summary of the result, the final two verses of the text:

(122, 123) (Then,) having spread throughout the celestial realms, space, and on the face of the earth the stainless great fame of discriminating awareness, ethical discipline, and generous giving, and subsequently, having attained the powerful state of a Triumphant One – which, for men on the earth and celestials in higher status realms, completely and definitively quiets down their taking delight in pleasures with outstanding young maidens and (other) delights, 

In other words, which, for the masses of limited beings, wretched through their disturbing emotions, quells their fears, their births and their deaths – then attain the high rank which is beyond the perishable world: name-only, fearless in its peace, unaging, never possessing a flaw.

That is a very complex two-verse thought, which is here as a summary. Let’s go through it more slowly.

What Nagarjuna is saying is that you spread throughout everywhere – so, the celestial realms (the god realms), space (everything that’s in between the god realms), and on the face of the earth – the fame of the Buddha’s teachings, what Buddha taught: discriminating awareness – so, to see reality clearly; ethical discipline, which is to refrain from destructive behavior and thought; and generous giving – helping others, basically, giving help to others. These are the main points of Buddha’s teachings. 

So, having taught all of this to others and then having attained the powerful state of a Triumphant One… so, it’s very clear that he is speaking about the bodhisattva path and becoming a Buddha. Buddha is also called a “Triumphant One,” someone who has triumphed over all the disturbing emotions. What does that powerful state of a Buddha, a Triumphant One, do? He says, “Which, for men on the earth and celestials in higher status realms,” so, for men and for higher beings, “completely and definitively quiets down their taking delight in pleasures with outstanding young maidens and (other) delights.” So he is warning the king about his harem – that he shouldn’t be attached to all the young girls and maidens that he has in his harem. So, it quiets down their being attached to all of this and other delights. 

Also, that was mentioned in his discussion of concentration (Shantideva mentions it as well) – that sexual desire is the biggest distraction to meditation. So, that is something that one has to always watch out for because, in addition to just normal desire, there is a biological component to sexual desire that makes it very, very strong. So, one has to watch out for that type of distraction. In other words, it’s the teachings that help to quiet down other people’s desire – the gods’ and the humans’ desire for attractive bodies and so on. 

In other words, which, for the masses of limited beings, wretched through their disturbing emotions, quells their fears, their births and their deaths – 

So, it helps them to quiet down… because they’re miserable; they’re wretched. Why? Because of their disturbing emotions – their anger and greed. It quells their fears – so, it quiets their fears about what’s happening in life, what might happen to them, all these sorts of things and their births and their deaths – so, their uncontrollably recurring rebirths. So, this is what we will do once we have attained Buddhahood. Then at the end of that life, attain the high rank which is beyond the perishable world. Again, what does this refer to? Does it refer to parinirvana where one goes out like a candle, or is it just another way to summarize the whole path? It is hard to say here. But it certainly seems to be proto-Mahayana – before Mahayana is well formulated. 

And how is this high rank described? “Name-only.” That is the most difficult word in the text to interpret. It’s difficult to know what it actually means because “name-only” is what Nagarjuna writes about only very much later – that things exist in name only. In other words, what establishes that something exists? It is that there is a name for it, and it is what a name refers to, but there is nothing on its own side that makes it solid and exist all by itself – so, name-only. Or it could refer to going out like a candle – that you can just have the name “parinirvana,” but you aren’t substantially there anymore. So, there are two ways of interpreting it. But that’s a word that is very suggestive of the later Mahayana teachings of Nagarjuna.

It is fearless in its peace – in other words, it pacifies all the disturbing emotions and tendencies, possible samsaric rebirths, so there’s no longer anything to fear. It is unaging. That means that it is a static attainment, something that will last forever; it is not going to change and wear out. And it never possesses a flaw. So, it is untainted, completely untainted by any disturbing emotion, or in the later Madhyamaka sense, it is untainted by appearances of true existence. In other words, the mind no longer makes appearance of true existence.

That concludes the text. I don’t have here the colophon that was written by Nagarjuna to the king.

Now, the tradition is to read again the first verses of the text as an auspicious sign to be able to study it again.

Letter to a Friend:

[1] O you, with a nature of good qualities, who’ve become worthy through constructive deeds, (he is talking to the king) please listen to these (verses) in noble meter, which I’ve compiled in short for the sake of (instilling) an intention for the positive force that comes from (following) explanations of the Blissfully Gone (Buddha’s) speech. 

[2] Just as the wise venerate a statue of the Blissfully Gone, even out of wood, regardless of how it’s been made; likewise, although this poetry of mine may be deficient, please do not scorn it, since it’s based on expressions of the hallowed Dharma. 

[3] Although a profusion of the resonant words of the Great Sage (Buddha) may already have entered your heart, isn’t something made of limestone made even whiter by the light of a winter’s moon?

[4] The Triumphant has proclaimed six (objects) for continual mindfulness: the Buddhas, the Dharma, the Sangha, generous giving, ethical discipline, and the gods. Be continually mindful of the mass of good qualities of each of these.

So, that is the beginning of the text – Nagarjuna apologizing for his poetry. The text is written in perfect meter of Sanskrit poetry, and it was translated into Tibetan, also in perfect meter of Tibetan poetry. I have tried to make it sound nice in English here.

That concludes the text. What I had planned to do (but today, we were late in starting) was to go over in a little bit more detail the outline of what has been actually been covered in the text so that we can refresh our memories and get an overview of the whole thing and how it hangs together, now that we have gone through the text. A year and a half, actually, it took us to go through this text. Then after that, we can choose some topics within it for some meditation as our final class on this text.

OK? Good.