Introduction
The mind training text, 37 Bodhisattva Practices, was written in Tibet in the fourteenth century by the Sakya master Togme Zangpo. Togme Zangpo was well known as being an actual bodhisattva, and his text is studied by all of the various Tibetan traditions. He was the teacher of Rendawa, who was one of Tsongkhapa’s main teachers.
Togme Zangpo wrote several other texts, the most famous of which is his commentary to Shantideva’s Engaging in Bodhisattva Behavior. He also composed the earliest commentary to Geshe Chekawa’s Seven Point Mind Training. These earlier Mahayana teachings are the source for the types of practices that he outlines. From these commentaries as well as from his 37 Bodhisattva Practices itself, we can see that he was certainly quite a specialist in the bodhisattva path.
The number 37 is significant; we see it appearing over and again in Buddhist material. For instance, there is a set of 37 practices or factors that lead to a purified state. These include the four close placements of mindfulness, the eightfold path, and so on. These are well-known practices that everyone follows as they progress toward either liberation, following a Hinayana path, or enlightenment, following a Mahayana path. This explains why the number 37 is chosen here for these bodhisattva practices.
Following the Indian custom, the text begins with paying homage:
Obeisance to Lokeshvara.
Lokeshvara is another name for the Buddha-figure Avalokiteshvara. Buddha-figures are representations of various qualities of a Buddha, in this case, compassion. Nearly all texts begin with the author paying homage to the Buddhas or a Buddha-figure. In a sense, the opening homage indicates the source of inspiration for the teachings contained in it. So for a text on bodhisattva practice, it is quite appropriate that obeisance is paid to compassion. The homage, or obeisance, is continued with prostration.
I prostrate always respectfully, through my three gateways, to the supreme gurus and the Guardian Avalokiteshvara who, seeing that all phenomena have no coming or going, make efforts singly for the benefit of wandering beings.
When we make prostrations, we always do so through our three gateways. These are the gateways, or doors, through which we act, speak, and think, and they correspond with our body, speech, and mind.
Who do we make prostrations to? First and foremost, it’s to the supreme gurus, the spiritual teachers. Secondly, it’s to our Guardian Avalokiteshvara, with the word “guardian” indicating that, in a sense, he inspires us, and that inspiration protects or guards us from acting selfishly without compassion. It’s significant that the gurus are mentioned before Avalokiteshvara. In fact, in most texts the order in which the words are presented is specifically chosen for a reason. One has to be quite careful in translating that the correct order is followed. The spiritual teachers are the sources of all the Buddha-figures, and in this case, Avalokiteshvara.
We have the account of the Indian master Naropa and his student Marpa, the great Tibetan translator. One day, Naropa manifested the entire mandala of the Buddha-figure Hevajra, somewhat like a grand hologram of Hevajra’s palace and all the figures in it. He then asked Marpa, “To whom are you going to make prostrations first: me or Hevajra?” Marpa replied, “Well, I see you every day, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen Hevajra! I should make prostrations first to Hevajra.” Naropa then snapped his fingers and the mandala completely disappeared. He corrected Marpa, saying, “You just made a big mistake, which will certainly have negative consequences for you. You must always remember that without the gurus, there is no way of ever actualizing these Buddha-figures. The gurus are primary.”
This account clearly indicates that we don’t just worship the various Buddha-figures as if they were saints, and similarly, nor do we worship the gurus as if they were saints. The gurus, from their side, aren’t going to save us. Rather, by following their instructions, and through their inspiration, we can gain liberation and enlightenment for ourselves.
The text then describes a characteristic of the supreme gurus and Avalokiteshvara, which is that they see that all phenomena have no coming or going. This refers to the teachings on voidness (emptiness), which they perfectly understand. They see clearly that nothing has any sort of impossible existence, including impossible ways of coming and going, a point also made by the great Indian master Nagarjuna in the homage verse to his Root Verses on the Middle Way:
I prostrate to the fully enlightened Buddha, the best of all teachers, who has taught dependent arising, stilled of mental fabrication and (thus) pacified, which has no ceasing, no arising, no annihilation, no permanence, no coming, no going, (and so) not different things and not one thing.
We can understand this in terms of our own disturbing emotions, and the suffering and problems they cause. When we examine these various problems that we all have, it’s not as if they exist as self-established concrete entities. They don’t come and go like ping pong balls that shoot into our minds, causing us trouble. Rather, all of our disturbing emotions and problems arise and continue dependently on causes and conditions, and thus if we remove these causes and conditions, we get rid of the disturbing emotions. If these disturbing states of mind just existed solidly and independently all by themselves, there wouldn’t be anything we could do about them. Whatever we might do to try and get rid of them would have no effect because they arose and continued on their own. In order to help others, it’s necessary to see that not only disturbing emotions, but all phenomena have no truly existent, self-established coming and going.
On the basis of understanding this, the supreme gurus and Avalokiteshvara make efforts singly for the benefit of wandering beings. It’s only with this understanding of voidness – actual reality – that one can really make effective efforts for benefiting others. If we have an unrealistic understanding of how people and their problems exist, then how could we really help them? In the end, we’ll tend to just cause them more problems and misunderstanding.
When they make efforts singly, it means that helping others is their sole aim. They’re not aiming for their own selfish purposes, but have the intention to work only for others. That’s why we refer to the supreme gurus, not just any guru, because there can be many spiritual teachers around who, although they might be helping others, are actually aiming for their own selfish purposes as well.
In the phrase for the benefit of wandering beings, “wandering beings” refer to all of us, who are sometimes referred to as “sentient beings.” We wander helplessly from one rebirth to another filled with various types of suffering and problems. To work for the benefit means to help them to achieve the appropriate spiritual goal that they’re aiming for, whether it’s liberation or enlightenment.
The second introductory verse reads:
Fully enlightened Buddhas, the sources of benefit and happiness, have come about from (their) having actualized the hallowed Dharma. Moreover, since that depended on (their) having known what its practices are, I shall explain a bodhisattva’s practice.
This is the promise to compose, where the author states what he’s going to explain, something standard in any Indian or Tibetan text. This begins with fully enlightened Buddhas, the sources of benefit and happiness. In other words, through their teachings we gain the benefit of either reaching liberation from all suffering, or enlightenment and the happiness that comes with that, and with this enlightenment we’re able to benefit everybody.
How did the Buddhas become these sources of benefit and happiness? It came about from their having actualized the hallowed Dharma. When we speak about the hallowed Dharma, we need to understand it in terms of the Dharma Jewel, which refers to the third and fourth noble truths. The third noble truth, in the context of this verse, refers to the true stoppings of all problems and their causes on the mental continuum of a Buddha, while the fourth noble truth presents the true path, or the true pathway of mind. It’s the understanding of reality that acts as a path to bring about that true stopping, and which is also the resultant state of that stopping. Here, we’re describing a state in which all the suffering, problems, disturbing emotions, and all these limitations are removed. In addition, all the possible realizations are attained. A fully enlightened Buddha has actualized that, meaning that he or she has actually made all of this actually happen on his or her mental continuum.
Buddhas were not always enlightened from the beginning, but were just like us. They worked very hard to be able to remove all of the confusion, disturbing emotions, suffering and so on that clouded their minds. It’s crucial that we know that these “fleeting stains” are simply like clouds that cover our mind. In no way are they in the nature of our mind, for they can be completely removed.
Of course, to understand all of that and actually become convinced of it requires a great deal of study and reflection. But we do need to try to become convinced that it actually is possible to get rid of all the confusion through correct understanding, and gain liberation and enlightenment. We must come to understand that it’s not only other people who can do it, but we ourselves are capable of developing this correct understanding, and to have it all the time. Each of us can get rid of all of this confusion in our minds and, like a Buddha, achieve a true stopping of all of them through actualizing the fourth noble truth – the true pathway of mind.
How was Buddha able to achieve this? Firstly, Buddha discovered, heard about, and listened to the actual practices that will bring this about. Buddha then contemplated, pondered, and analyzed until he understood correctly and completely, and finally meditated on it in order to actually integrate and actualize it. It’s very important to know, as Togme Zangpo says here, that this depended on their having known what its practices are. In other words, we need to learn what the bodhisattva practices are: what we have to put into practice in order to become Buddhas ourselves. Since becoming a Buddha depends on this, Togme Zangpo says that he will explain them so we’re able to learn them. On that basis, we can think about them, try to understand them, and then meditate upon them so that we can ultimately put them into practice.