Recap
Tonight will be our last class of this course on Wheel of Sharp Weapons; there are only few verses left to go. We have seen that this text presents quite an extensive and full treatment of this basic material on changing our attitudes, particularly to change our attitudes about selfishness and self-cherishing and grasping for a so-called truly existent – which is actually not existent at all – impossible “me.” The text has gone through this type of material in several ways. First, we saw how we are experiencing various difficulties because of destructive behavior that we’ve done and that the basis behind this is a self-cherishing attitude. We have looked at various ways to change our behavior. We have used the tonglen method of giving and taking. With this, we take on everybody else’s similar problem and give them the change of behavior that we would do ourselves as a way of overcoming the self-cherishing attitude that caused the problem in the first place.
Then, we went on to look at how we make various positive plans, but nevertheless these plans fail and we experience quite the opposite of what wanted. We saw that that also comes from not just a self-cherishing attitude but also grasping for a solid “me,” which is behind that self-cherishing attitude. We think of ourselves in terms of this solid “me:” “I have to get my way,” “I’m the center,” etc. We then invoked the strong force of Yamantaka to smash that false attitude and concept of a solid, so-called truly existent “me.” In this way, we applied a double-pronged approach to overcoming our difficulties and problems. We approached it from the point of view of the self-cherishing attitude – that we deal with with the method of tonglen, giving and taking; and we also approached it from the point of view of grasping for a solid “me.” For that, we also applied tonglen, but we need a lot of strength to break through that false view. We also need discriminating awareness, which is the so-called wisdom in its forceful aspect that we all have as part of our Buddha-natures.
Then, we reaffirmed that we need to do this tonglen practice very strongly. We saw that the deepest method, however, to overcome this self-cherishing and grasping for a solid “me” is the understanding of voidness. Then there was a whole section – we’re at the end of that section – which deals with the matter of voidness. Although voidness, as we have seen, means an absence of impossible ways of existing, here we’re focusing primarily on ourselves and other people. We don’t exist as independent entities, totally existing by ourselves. What happens to us doesn’t just exist in isolation. What you do doesn’t just exist in isolation, independent of causes and conditions and all the various things that condition it and the concepts of how we regard it and so on. When we project this impossible way onto others and ourselves and situations, that obviously causes our difficulties. We saw that voidness means a total absence of any referent thing that all of this is referring to – it’s just absent, no such thing; never was there, never will be.
But yet, things function. And, besides the fact that things function, because of our habits of this grasping and believing in these impossible ways of existing, our mind still makes things appear in this impossible way. The first thing that we have to learn to do, after we’ve become convinced that what our mind is producing is complete garbage, is not believing in it. If we stop believing that it’s true, then we don’t act on the basis of what appears to us; we’re able to see through it. This is explained in terms of an analogy: we understand that things are like an illusion. The actual illusion is true existence – it doesn’t exist at all, this solid existence – and the appearance of things is like an illusion in the sense that it appears to exist in this impossible way, but it doesn’t really exist that way. We have this understanding of appearances being like an illusion.
Understanding Dependent Arising: Cause and Effect
What we are up to now, in verse 113, is a little more of a presentation of cause and effect in the sense of dependent arising. The verse in the old translation is 114:
When a vase has been filled by the dripping of water, the first drops themselves did not fill it alone; nor was it made full by the last several drops. It was filled by an interdependent collection of causes and forces that came all together – the water, the pourer, the vase and such things.
The literal translation:
When a vase has been filled by drops of water, the vase wasn’t filled by the first drop and likewise not by each (of the others) – the last one and so on. But rather the vase is full through a dependently arisen accumulation.
Then it says “similarly” and goes on to the next verse; the two go together, but let’s first explain the analogy. This is speaking about cause the effect and the analogy here is quite good because it’s quite easy to understand. When we fill a vase, obviously it’s not the first drop that fill sit, it’s not the last drop that fills it, but it’s filled by the whole accumulation of all the drops. This analogy actually comes from the Dhammapada – a much earlier text by the Buddha himself. It’s a very good analogy in terms of people’s behavior and what we experience and that is therefore used as an analogy for the next verse, 114. It’s interesting that they use the words “dependently arisen” here often. That is a very key technical term: things arise dependent on many different factors. We can speak in terms of cause and effect; we can speak in terms of parts; we can also speak in terms of this object in front of me arises as a table dependent on the word and concept “table.” I would see as a table dependent on the word and concept “table.” The termite would not see it as a table; the termite would see it as food and that also is dependent is on the concept of “food.” These are all the various things that are involved when we speak about dependent arising: things arise dependent on many things, they’re not just sitting there by themselves.
That’s the case with the filling of the vase. The analogy here is in verse 115 in the old translation:
It’s precisely the same when we come to experience pleasure and pain: the results of our past. Effects never come from the first causal actions, nor do they arise from the last several acts. Both pleasure and pain come from interdependent collections of forces and causes combined. So, please, in this world of appearances only, let’s always be sure what we do is of virtue and shun all those acts that would cause us great pain.
In the literal translation:
When we experience any happiness or suffering as a karmic result, it isn’t by means of the first instance of its cause and it isn’t by means of the last instance and so forth. We experience happiness and suffering through a dependently arisen accumulation. Yet, while being mere appearances, hey, I tell you, “We must accept and reject (the appropriate actions).”
When we look at this dependent arising, there are many factors which are involved and so it’s not just the first drop and the last drop but it’s also the person who poured the water, the water itself, the vase and such things. So, when we have a vase full of water, it depends on many aspects. Similarly, here, we’re talking about the analogy of what we experience. We experience happiness and unhappiness as the results of various karmic actions: if we experience unhappiness, it’s the result of destructive behavior; if we experience happiness, it’s the result of constructive behavior – our ordinary happiness, which doesn’t last and is never enough.
We are then often confused about that because when we experience happiness or unhappiness, we tend to think that it is caused just by the immediately preceding moment or the immediately preceding event that happened – like somebody coming in late and speaking and disturbing a class, for example and one might experience unhappiness and anger because of that. – don’t take it personally, Jorge – just as an example, a random example. But that obviously is caused by many things, not just the event of the person walking in late and being noisy. The response of feeling unhappy is because of many previous situations acting in a destructive way, because one could experience it in terms of being happy: “Somebody has shown up to class.” But being happy and seeing them obviously also is affected by the particular relationship that we have with them – we can also be unhappy whether they came on time or he came late – that also is part of the formula. It’s dependent on them; it’s dependent on us; it’s dependent on the fact that we started already; it could be dependent on why they are so late; it could be dependent on their cultural background. It is dependent on so many different things.
What is the significance of that? The significance of it is not putting the blame on one particular causal ingredient and that’s very important. We tend to think, “Oh, I’m with this person, I love them so much and my happiness is due simply to you and being you” – well, that’s not the case. There are so many other karmic factors that have entered into it besides the factors of the situation that you even met that are involved. But when we make it special – “You are the special cause of my happiness,” “What you did is the special cause;” or, “What you did is the special cause of my unhappiness,” “You ignored me,” “You abandoned me” or whatever – and we just single that one thing out, then we have a lot of problems. Then we get very upset, very disturbed. But we can deconstruct it in the sense of seeing that it’s arisen dependently on so many different things, as well as the mental concept that we have of “being late;” one could have a different mental concept and association of being late as well. The response of happiness and unhappiness, as it says here, arises dependently on millions and millions of factors. It’s like having an argument with somebody that you’re living with. It’s not simply because of, “You said this” or, “You act like this” – even if it’s a pattern, because that pattern has arisen from so many different causes and your own patterns have arisen from so many different causes and not just in this lifetime. The happiness and unhappiness that you experience in terms of the conflict – that also is the result of so many different factors; and the indecisiveness about it – so many different factors that are involved. So, the vase is not filled by the first drop, it’s not filled by the last drop, but it’s filled by an accumulation of all the different drops plus the vase plus the water plus the person who poured it, etc. That’s an important point in terms of trying to minimize the suffering that we create for ourselves. It doesn’t have to be like that.
So, we experience happiness and suffering – it’s a dependently arisen accumulation. “Yet, while being mere appearances, hey, I tell you, “We must accept and reject (the appropriate actions).” Just because it appears to be this way or it appears to be that way – nothing is existing a solid manner – cause and effect is very important to honor and to live by means of. What does that mean? That means, on one level for example, that we might say, “Well, what I experience is going to be the effect of a million different things that involve not only me but everybody else that I interact with, so what difference does it make, the one action that I do now, of accepting to do something which is constructive and rejecting doing something destructive – it’s only a drop in the bucket;” a drop in the vase is the example here. That’s the point that the text is making – nevertheless, we do something. That has very interesting consequences, if you think about it. For instance, we could say, “What difference does it make whether or not I protest against a war that I feel is unjust? The war is caused by a million different factors and I certainly have no control over it, so what difference does it make what I do with respect to it?” I think that’s the consequence of this, which is that although the bucket is not filled by the first drop or the last drop, each drop is significant. It’s an antidote against hopelessness. Look at His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibet situation. You could look at it as totally hopeless and so why even bother? Or you can look at it as, “Well, we have to do something, try to add something to the bucket,” regardless of all the history and economics and so on that’s behind China’s policy. I think that’s the significance here.
His Holiness is always saying that in complex situations, there aren’t easy answers; you have to really take in as much as possible and really think what would be the most beneficial thing. For instance, His Holiness was saying that it’s not very helpful to protest against the Chinese when we are engaged in negotiations with the Chinese, because if there are protests – especially protests of people saying “free Tibet” – then the Chinese use that to say, “Well, you don’t really want autonomy within the People’s Republic, you want complete independence,” and so that damages the negotiations. So, here’s a case where His Holiness says, “Well, better not to protest,” so one in general would try to rely on the advice of the people who give the best analyses.
The point here is that despite things arising from so many causes, so many conditions, that doesn’t mean that you are not responsible for your behavior and that your behavior will not affect what you experience and what other people experience. It contributes. “I can yell at you, but it really is your karmic thing whether you’ll become happy or unhappy at my yelling at you” – it’s certainly not that. It’s true that whether you experience happiness or unhappiness in response to anything I do is a ripening of your previous karma, but I’m providing circumstances. You don’t want to provide circumstances, if you can help it, that could cause others to experience difficulties.
This is why it says in the Thirty-Seven Bodhisattva Practices that one of the bodhisattva practices is to leave your homeland when being with certain people just causes attachment to increase, being with other people causes your anger to increase and being with yet other people causes your naivety and wasting time to increase. If you’re in a situation in which the people around you are just providing circumstances for more and more disturbing emotions to occur, then, if you have the ability, it’s better to get out of those circumstances. Why do people go to retreats rather than do retreats in their home with the computer and the television and telephone? It’s the same principle: you want to avoid the circumstances that can cause you distraction. Similarly, we don’t want to provide the circumstances that will cause other people’s distraction.
Understanding How Things Appear and How They Exist
Verse 115; in the old translation, 116:
When not making formal dissections with logic, merely letting life’s happenings flow freely on, although we experience feelings of pleasure, in ultimate truth, this appearance of happiness lacks self-existence inherently real. And yet on the everyday operative level this seeming appearance has relative truth. To understand fully this deep profound meaning for slow-minded persons, alas, will be hard.
The literal translation:
Wow! These appearances of pleasant things which, unexamined (seem to exist as if) all alone, have no core and yet these things (still) appear as if truly existing! That’s profound! But, it’s difficult for the lesser-minded to see.
What this is saying is that if you don’t examine appearances, they appear to exist all by themselves: “Here’s my unhappiness, here’s my happiness.” We often don’t even realize any cause to it, let alone ascribe it to just one cause. That’s an interesting phenomenon – I’m sure that you’ve experienced it because I experience it. Sometimes you have unspecific feelings of unhappiness; you can’t pinpoint any reason why you feel sad or low. Sometimes you can’t even think of a cause. But when you examine it, it has no core. You can understand that on a very profound level: there’s nothing inside it that is making it exist all by itself, by its own power – something inherent inside the situation or inside me that makes me miserable. So, it has no core, “yet these things (still) appear as if truly existing!” It still appears as though it does have a core, it appears in this crazy way. Why does it do that? That’s because of the habits of believing in true existence: our mind continues to make appearances of it.
This is very profound: how can things appear in an impossible way when they don’t exist in that way? It’s very profound because to understand that, you have to understand the mind and how the mind makes appearances of things. The way that the mind makes appearances of things is affected by our habits and our beliefs – what we believe in reality. The more and more you examine this, this is very deep. “But, it’s difficult for the lesser-minded to see” – this is referring to those who don’t examine and who don’t really question what’s going on in their lives. This could be because a lack of motivation; it could be because of lack of intelligence. That doesn’t sound very nice, but you have to be able to discriminate between what’s correct and what’s incorrect, between what makes sense and what doesn’t make sense – that I think is part of the definition of having a certain level of intelligence. That doesn’t mean in an arrogant sense that only intelligent people can really reach enlightenment, but you have to realize that nobody is inherently intelligent or not intelligent – that is something which changes, even within one lifetime.
That’s something that we have to develop. You have to develop the ability to analyze, to discriminate and first of all to question: to question the projections that your mind makes; to question appearances, not just look at them at face value. Most people don’t question; they just project whatever type of preconceived notion of people in the world that they might have. A good example is projecting that the whole is divided into good and evil; God-fearing people and the devil; those who are with those who are against us: “If you’re not with us, you’re against us.” To question appearances, you have to have that ability to differentiate between what’s correct and what’s incorrect. You can question it but not be able to go any further than questioning and that’s okay; that’s a start.
It’s very interesting: when we talk about receptive disciples, it says that someone who is very intelligent but very arrogant and proud and thinks that they know everything – this is a completely improper disciple, they’re not the person to teach. Someone who maybe has a lot of difficulty understanding, who’s not so bright, but who’s totally sincere in wanting to learn – always take them as a disciple, because whether they learn or not is dependent on the skill and patience of the teacher. The other one, even if Buddha himself were teaching them, they’re not going to listen, they think they know everything. So, it’s not simply a matter of intelligence; intelligence isn’t the main factor – although it contributes – and that’s something that can be developed with the help of a good teacher. But you have to question, you have to be sincere. That’s very important. It’s not going to be easy to understand to don’t expect it to be easy to understand, because we’re so accustomed to our false way of viewing the world and our projections that we think it’s totally normal. Since most of society agrees with us about this false view, then that’s very difficult and a lot of people don’t have the courage to question the values of society. That’s the verse – that was 115.
Absorbing on Voidness
The next verse in the old translation, 117:
And now, when we try to do close contemplation on voidness, how can we have even a feeling of conventional truth at the very same time? Yet what can there be that has true self-existence? And what can there be that lacks relative truth? How can anyone anywhere believe in such things?
The literal translation:
Yet now, when we totally absorb on this (voidness), what is there even that is definitely merely appearing? What is there that is existent (at all)? What is there that’s even nonexistent? What is there anywhere that can be asserted as existence or nonexistence?
What’s the most difficult is that you absorb on voidness and the absorption on voidness is an absorption on “no such thing.” When you absorb your concentration totally on “no such thing,” nothing appears. If you try to focus on “there is no Santa Claus,” the more you focus on it, what appears in your mind? Nothing appears. Nevertheless, here is somebody who’s dressed in a red suit who looks like Santa Claus. So, nevertheless there is the appearance – these are the difficult things to put together. If there really is no such thing, how can things appear like that? Well, with the example of Santa Claus, of course somebody can go out and buy a Santa Claus suit and get paid to sit somewhere and pretend that they’re Santa Claus. But that’s not the case with these false appearances of how things exist. Even though there is no such thing, nevertheless things appear like that. They don’t have to be, but that’s the way that our mind makes them appear and this is difficult to put together.
When we are totally absorbed, it says, “what is there even that is definitely merely appearing?” Well, there isn’t: nothing appears when you’re totally focused on voidness. “What is there that is existent at all?” Well, there is no such thing as a truly, solidly existent thing, but “What is there that’s even nonexistent?” So is that non-existent something which is solid and real and that’s not solid either. It’s not there’s just a big nothing, that the universe is a big nothing – that’s nihilism. “What is there anywhere that can be asserted as existence or nonexistence?” Where can you find it? There’s existence over here, when you open your eyes and non-existence when you close your eyes? It’s not like that either. This is what they say is profound and difficult to really understand: how does it work? Despite the fact that there’s no findable referent thing to anything – no core making it what it is – things appear, they function and so on.
To my non-enlightened mind – even if I were liberated – it would still appear in this crazy way; only to a Buddha it doesn’t appear like that, because a Buddha can see the million zillion causes and things that affect everything, simultaneously. But anybody else has a limited mind, so it appears as if it were one thing, causing it by itself. That’s really what one has to do, before being a Buddha: to be able to see appearances, deal with them – despite the fact that they seem to be truly existent, encapsulated in plastic all by themselves – while realizing that they don’t exist in the way that they appear, so constantly remembering dependent arising. That requires quite a lot of practice – to constantly remember that and be mindful of that. “This person is acting the way they are acting because of a million different causes,” for example, “This person’s body that I find so attractive is made up of a billion cells – what am I attracted to, this cell, that cell? What is it? If I look at them under a CAT scan or a microscope, what is it? What is it, what am I attached to? Nevertheless, here they are.”
This is very important in earlier stages as well – where most of us are, of course. Take the example of being attracted to somebody. You see their body – you’re attracted, desire comes, hormones flow. All of that happens. You realize that – if you’ve trained – that, “Well, it’s made of what’s on the inside of their body and the cells and all the stuff and I’m attracted for a million different causes and a million different causes have brought us together and the happiness I experience is all of that and the happiness won’t last and any meeting is going to end in a parting” – you realize all this stuff. It gives you the energy and the strength to be able to apply some of these methods. “Okay, I’m not going to be able to stop feeling attracted, I’m not going to be able to stop the hormones from flowing, but nevertheless I can, by applying some understanding, transform the situation so that I don’t create a tremendous amount of negative karma by acting destructively and saying stupid things that are going to cause you to reject me – although that’s not going to be the cause of you rejecting me because there are a million other causes. But nevertheless, I don’t want to provide the circumstance.” This is why it’s saying that all of this is quite difficult because so many factors are involved here, and it requires a great deal of training to remember all of this and to apply all of this. But it can be done on much earlier stages; you don’t have to wait until you’re an arhat or are way advanced on the path. The point is to have enough conviction in all of this to actually apply some of the methods – that’s the point, I think, at our stage. Because the methods help, they definitely do. It’s not going to stop you from feeling attracted, that’s going to continue; desire will be there, the anger will be there, all these things will be there. Don’t buy into it, don’t let it rule you.
Achieving the Deepest State
Then, the next verse is 118 in the old translation:
Just as objects of voidness are non-self-existent, the voidness of objects itself is the same. The shunning of vice and the practice of virtue are likewise devoid of all mental constructions that they’re independent, self-contained acts. In fact, on the whole, they are lacking completely all mental projections and all preconceptions. Thus, if we can focus our clear concentration on voidness without our mind wandering astray, then truly we’ll come to be wondrous beings with a deep understanding of the most profound void.
That adds a tremendous amount to the original verse. The original verse in the literal translation, 117:
But if we place our intelligence, without any contriving, serenely in its primordial state, which doesn’t contain objects and what have those objects (both) having actual true natures and which is parted from all accepting and rejecting and parted from mental fabrication, we shall become great beings.
“If we place our intelligence” – again, the emphasis is on the ability to discriminate between what’s correct and incorrect. “Without any contriving” – in other words, without making anything up, without making projections. If you place it “serenely in its primordial state” – this is getting into this whole type of Mahamudra approach which is the approach of just quiet down to the natural state of the mind, which is getting down to the clear-light level – that’s the level of mind that doesn’t make any projections of true existence. In that “primordial state” – that’s its deepest state – you place it serenely in that. Now, what kind of a state is this? It’s a state which “doesn’t contain objects and what have those objects” – “what have those objects” are minds that take those objects as their focus – “(both) having actual true natures” – this gets into this whole discussions of non-dualism. “Here is a truly existent ‘me’ and a truly existent mind and a truly existent object of the mind,” and so from the side of truly existent mind there’s the big “me;” from the side of the truly existent object, it’s the big “you.” “You just said that to me,” “You just did this or that” – when we go deeply enough, cognition is all about our experiencing; you can’t experience without experiencing something, but it’s not that the experiencing mind is on one side and what it experiences is on the other. They are together. Experienced object and experiencing mind are part of the same thing, but when we have this projection of true existence, then it makes a dual appearance and then we get into difficulties.
So here it’s saying, this primordial state – the totally calmed down state, which doesn’t project all of that – is “parted from all accepting and rejecting.” Before, we were saying that “We must accept and reject (the appropriate actions)” – we’re not talking about that level. We’re talking here about the level of judgments: this is good, this is bad; this is good, this is evil. We’re talking about this type of judgmental accepting and rejecting, that type of division-making, which is based on putting things in truly existent categories; labeling them, with judgment and then thinking, “This is my side and I accept that, and this is the bad side, your side, and I reject that.” So, it’s parted from that and it’s “parted from mental fabrication” – the mind making things up. If we can get into that state, we become great beings. In other words, if we can maintain that, then it’s in that state of mind that we can see the actual, correct appearance of things, which is all this arising dependently on a million causes and conditions. We understand voidness and we understand dependent arising simultaneously. But that we can only do if what we’ve activated is this primordial state, the deepest level of mind.
Practicing Bodhichitta
Then, the text is ended with a last verse. In the poetical translation, 119:
By practicing this way the two bodhichittas of the ultimate and the conventional truth and thus by completing without interference collections of insight and merit as well, may all of us quickly attain full enlightenment granting what we and all others have wished.
The literal translation:
By practicing conventional bodhichitta and deepest bodhichitta like that and bringing to completion, without interruption, our buildup of the two enlightening networks, may we attain the splendor (of enlightenment, fulfilling) the two aims.
Summing up the text: if we practice and achieve relative bodhichitta – relative bodhichitta is having our minds focused on our future enlightenment, based on compassion and love, with the intention to achieve that enlightenment, based on conviction that it’s possible – we will benefit everybody as much as is possible and we will try to benefit them as we can all along the way. That’s the relative bodhichitta, so actually that’s based on accepting what is constructive behavior and rejecting what is destructive behavior but not calling them “good” and “bad.” That’s why I don’t like these translations of “virtuous” and “non-virtuous” – those are judgmental words, at least in English. We try to use non-judgmental words. Deepest bodhichitta is the understanding of voidness. By working like that, we bring to completion “our buildup of the two enlightening networks” – this is the network of positive force and deep awareness – what’s often translated as “merit” and “wisdom” or “insight.”
Working on the side of relative bodhichitta, helping others, we build up more and more positive force – that acts as the primary cause for having the physical body of a Buddha. Working with the deepest bodhichitta, we build up the network of deep awareness, which is the main cause for the mind of a Buddha. Through that, we will “attain the splendor” – that’s all the qualities of enlightenment, “fulfilling the two aims” – the two aims are the aims of oneself and the aims of others. By achieving the mind of a Buddha, we fulfill our own aims of being free from all suffering and free from all limiting projections of true existence and so on – a blissful mine etc., so that fulfills our own aim; and having all the physical appearances – the bodies of a Buddha – is the way that we fulfill the aims of others, by actually manifesting and helping them.
That’s the last verse of the text.
Colophon
Then the colophon that ends the text, in the poetical translation:
The Wheel of Sharp Weapons Effectively Striking the Heart of the Foe was composed by the great Yogi Dharmarakshita in his retreat in the jungle where many fierce animals prey. What this great yogi, the possessor of vast scriptural knowledge, the full powers of logic and deep profound insight has written here is the essence of the teachings of all his holy gurus. He always practiced in accordance with this essence in his fearsome jungle retreat during the degenerate age in which he lived.
From among his many disciples, Dharmarakshita transmitted these teachings to Atisha; and Atisha practiced them wherever he traveled in order to tame those who were most wild. When Atisha developed true insight into the two bodhichittas through these teachings, he composed the following:
I went through much hardship abandoning royalty, but, by collecting much virtuous merit, I met my true guru, Dharmarakshita. By showing me these supreme nectar-like teachings, he has granted me sovereignty over my mind; so that now I have attained all the forceful opponents, having memorized fully these words he has taught.
Although I don’t favor a partisan viewpoint: whenever I study the various teachings I always make efforts to broaden my wisdom to see boundless wonders in every tradition; yet I have to admit that these teachings especially have been of great help in this age of decay.
From among his many unimaginably great disciples in both India and Tibet, Atisha transmitted these teachings to Upasaka Dromtonpa, who had been prophesied to be his most fitting disciple by many of Atisha’s meditational deities such as Tara. Atisha transmitted these teachings to Dromtonpa in order to pacify the minds of the disciples of remote Tibet who were difficult to tame. This work has been translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan by the fatherly Atisha himself and his spiritual son Dromtonpa.
The literal translation:
In a jungle retreat where various fearsome beasts of prey roamed, Dharmarakshita, a great yogi (endowed with) scriptural knowledge, logic and realization, composed (this text) called The Throwing Star Weapon, Striking the Vital Point of the Foe in accord with the words of his hallowed gurus. Then he practiced it in that fearsome jungle retreat during his degenerate age.
He imparted it to Atisha and then Atisha, as well, practiced it, never just partially in this direction or that, in order to tame the many limited beings that were difficult to tame. When he developed realization, he proclaimed these verses in fact:
When I abandoned royalty and practiced difficult austerities, I built up the positive force so that I was able to meet my superlative guru. In showing me this nectar-like teaching, he conferred upon me the power of the Dharma. Having obtained an opponent for the present day (problems), I committed it to memory.
When, having spread my intelligence out and studied all around, without being partisan toward any system, although I saw fathomless wonders (in all of them), this teaching (in particular) has brought benefit in these degenerate times.
From among the many unimaginable disciples he had in India and Tibet, Atisha imparted this teaching to Upasaka Dromtonpa – who had been prophesied by fathomless Buddha-figures, such as the Vanquishing Lady Tara, to be their most fitting vessel – so that it could tame the uncivilized disciples of remote Tibet. The triumphant fatherly (Atisha) and his spiritual son (Dromtonpa) themselves served as the pandit teacher and translator for it.
That completes the text, basically. The colophon is just saying that Dharmarakshita practiced this in the jungle – he was a great yogi; and he transmitted it to Atisha, who had gone to study with him and then Atisha brought it to Tibet. He found this especially helpful to him, particularly in terms of the bodhichitta teachings. In Tibet, he imparted this to Dromtonpa and that’s the beginning of the Kadam lineage within Tibet. Dromtonpa had been prophesized by Tara – this is a status on the stupa in Bodh Gaya – whether it’s the original statue or not, I don’t know, but there’s supposedly this Tara statue on the stupa in Bodh Gaya – that’s the one that spoke to Atisha and prophesized Dromtonpa. Atisha and Dromtonpa were the ones who actually translated it themselves from Sanskrit into Tibetan.
So, that’s the text.
Re-reading the Beginning
The custom at the end of a teaching is to read the beginning of it again, as an auspicious sign, as it were, that we will continue to study this and practice this in the future. So, The Throwing Star Weapon, a Mahayana Cleansing of Attitudes – I’ll just read the literal translation.
I make prostration to the Three Rare Supreme Gems. “The Throwing Star Weapon Striking the Vital Point of the Foe.” I make prostration to forceful Yamantaka.
In the case of peacocks strutting in jungles of poisonous plants, although medicine gardens have been finely decked out, the masses of peacocks don’t find (them) enjoyable. Rather, peacocks thrive on the nutriment of poisonous plants. Similarly,
In the case of brave (bodhisattvas) engaging themselves in the jungles of recurring samsara, although glorious gardens of delights and pleasures have been decked out, the brave ones are never attracted. Rather, the brave-hearted thrive in the jungles of suffering.
Thus, it’s the case that, despite our gladly taking on delights and pleasures, we bring sufferings (onto ourselves) through the power of our cowardice. But those brave hearted ones take sufferings on gladly and always are blissful through the power of their bravery.
That ends this teaching.
Conclusion
This began the tradition lojong – the attitude training and mind training – which became an integral part of all the Tibetan lineages. Everybody in all the traditions in Tibet have these texts – the popular ones are the Eight-Verse Attitude Training and the Seven-Point Attitude Training, which came later – but the foundation in this genre of literature was set here, with this text, particularly with its emphasis on tonglen, giving and taking.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to explain this. This is something which is very helpful to try to put into practice, even if it’s just on a very superficial level. When we are mindful enough to discover ourselves acting in a foolish manner, to just remember, “Trample him, trample him, dance on the head” – the poetical translation is a little bit nicer here – to just stop acting like an idiot, to wake up and see what we’re going and see that we are really just creating more suffering for ourselves and others. It really is based on self-cherishing and that’s based on this projection of a false appearance of how exist and everybody else exists and our belief in that. Try to remember that and not follow it out – that way, less suffering and more of a possibility of bringing happiness to ourselves and others.
Dedication
Let’s end with a dedication. We think whatever positive force, whatever understanding has come from all of this, may it go deeper and deeper and act as a cause for us and everybody to reach enlightenment for the benefit of all.