Lecture No. 0255
Global Lamrim II
Lecture No. 0255
Lamrim Volume 1: Pg 36L5
Tape No | 4B 05:09 ~ 09:34
Date: (2020-09-07 ~ 2020-09-09)
Topic: Story of Master Atisha’s victory over the debate with non-Buddhist at the age of 15
Greetings to all! It is time for our Lamrim discussion again. In the previous teaching, Master introduced two books, The Life of Master Atisha and The Life of Lama Tsong-kha-pa, to us; I wonder if you have read them yet? I still hope that everyone can go over them. [00:17]
In fact, the monastics in our translation academy are translating a more extensive version of the biography of Master Atisha, so we will not go through the following commentary from Master line by line. Later on, I plan to go over the newly translated version, The Biography of Master Atisha, in great detail. Why? Because Master hoped that we could read it earnestly. [00:46]
Very well! We will continue listening to Master’s recordings; [in this section, Master] briefly mentioned several great undertakings of Master Atisha. [00:56]
Master Atisha was born as a prince to a great kingdom in eastern India, where Bangladesh is now today and east of Pakistan. The kingdom was a large empire in ancient India. And he was a prince, the second son. In fact, every aspect of Master Atisha’s life had its special meanings; the birth order as the second child conveyed a special implication. However, I will not go into the details here. He was extremely intelligent since childhood. What does this indicate? It indicates that both his blissful merits and his wisdom merits were perfectly fulfilled. Not only was he extremely intelligent, but he was also aspired to be ordained at a very early age. Well, he was certainly not an ordinary being! Actually, prior to his ordination, he was erudite with the mundane and supramundane knowledge. He had acquired all the knowledge of the mundane world before his teenage years, mastering everything, just like Shakyamuni Buddha – he knew everything in this mundane world. [01:59]
Here, I will share a classic story. There was once… It was also mentioned in the Lamrim text that when he was only fifteen – at the age of fifteen! He went to listen to the teaching on the Drop of Reasoning, which is about the science of reasoning, similar to the science of logic nowadays. It is not easy to learn. I believe that many of us who have studied Buddhism know that the science of reasoning is very challenging to master. Though we have studied it for many years, many of us are still baffled, unable to grasp many of its essences. Yet this Great Teacher went to hear a session on the science of reasoning. Let’s visualize it: what can we learn by having attended one session of the teaching? What kind of benefit did Master Atisha gain [with one session of the teaching]? Let me tell you more about this story here. [02:47]
In ancient India, it was a custom that the non-Buddhists and Buddhists often engaged in debate, following a proper methodology of debate. The way they engaged in debate was unlike our bickering, which everyone argues nonsensically. It was not like that. They had a complete methodology based on logic, and everyone debated skillfully. Besides, there were arbitrators on-site. The arbitrators were kings, elders, and people with high prestige. So, the debate must not be handled recklessly. What would happen if one side lost the debate? There were two options: the first was that I surrender to you. Suppose I am a non-Buddhist priest and you are a Buddhist; since I lose the debate, I have to de-robe completely, taking off the non-Buddhist priest’s cap and wear the monk’s robes and become your disciple. The defeated party has to convert their temples to worship Buddha, and vice versa. This is really serious! The other option was the defeated party had to offer their heads to the victor; that was how it worked in ancient India. [03:40]
At that time, Master Atisha followed an extraordinary Master in Buddhism, and this Master was debating with a non-Buddhist. After several sessions of debate, they were neck and neck. Later, another debate session drew near, but unfortunately, prior to the debate, this teacher fell sick. Since the debate required full attention, one could be defeated with a tiny careless loophole because of not feeling well! Thus, since this teacher was not feeling well, he needed to find another debater to take his place. However, no one dared to take the challenge, for if one was defeated in the debate, all the monks in the Buddhist monasteries, well, well, they would have to leave, and all the statues in the monasteries would be replaced by non-Buddhist ones. The monks would have to take off their robes and convert to the religion of the opponent. How could they allow such kind of things to happen! Under normal circumstances, of course, one could say that he couldn’t attend the debate because of not feeling well. However, people would say, “Look at him; he could not win the debate, so he pretended to be sick!” It was an awful and thorny situation. Alas! Everyone felt awkward! [04:38]
So, at that time, Master Atisha happened to finish one session of the teaching. He was exceptionally intelligent, and this teacher also thought that he would be competent. Everyone thought, “Well, this person is really brilliant. Why not ask him about it?” Surprisingly, he said… When asked, “Could you take the place of the Master and attend the debate?” Master Atisha replied, “Sure!” If we were in his position, how could it be possible for us to accept it! Yet, he agreed. Not only did he agree to debate on behalf of his teacher, but he also won the debate! You could just imagine how exceptionally intelligent he was! He won several critically decisive debates like this one and completely vanquished all his contemporary non-Buddhists. You can imagine how profound his knowledge and discernment were. How old was he at that time? He was fifteen years old! What about those fifteen-year-old youngsters nowadays? They probably know nothing that profound and philosophical. Thus, this showed how exceptionally intelligent Master Atisha was! Therefore, you should read the book carefully; The Life of Master Atisha is truly touching! [05:23]
In this section, when Master introduced to us the good qualities of Master Atisha, he exemplified one of his good qualities by telling us one episode of Master Atisha when he was 15; Master Atisha debated with a non-Buddhist on behalf of his teacher after hearing only one session of the teaching on the Drop of Reasoning. Such occurrence was rarely found in history, and most likely, it has never happened before. Try to imagine how the debate was performed in ancient India. There were kings and elders of prestigious social status. Thus, the stakes of losing the debate would be extremely high; the entire situation could be switched around. Understandably, this should be a very stressful debate because it was not just one person bearing the consequence of losing the debate; it would affect the entire community! Despite the grave [circumstances and the huge] responsibility, Master Atisha, merely a 15-year-old adolescent, took up the responsibility to step on the debate arena because his teacher said he was competent. He was absolutely intelligent, courageous, daring, and resourceful. All these accounts may sound like he was a legendary figure in mythology. [06:26]
Master said, “Master Atisha was exceptionally intelligent when he was a child, very smart; what does this indicate? It indicates that both his blissful merits and his wisdom merits were completely fulfilled. Besides, Master also praised Master Atisha, “Not only was he extremely intelligent, he was also aspired to be ordained at a very early age. Well, he was certainly not an ordinary being!” After hearing this section, we can reflect on it: Master Atisha was exceptionally intelligent; why was he so smart? Everything must have its cause; thus, when we are studying the biographies of the sages, we need to ponder what good causes should be planted so that we can reap the same effect in the future. [07:08]
【全球广论 II 讲次: 0255】
讲次 | 0255 (2020-09-07 ~ 2020-09-09)
标题 | 尊者十五岁辩胜外道的故事
《广论》段落 | P2-LL1 ~ P2-LL1 其殊胜分三……得已于教所作事业。 今初
音档 | 4B 05:09 ~ 09:34
手抄页/行 | 第1册 P115-LL2 ~ P118-L5 ( 2016 南普陀版：P115-LL2 ~ P118-L5 )
手抄段落 | 这个阿底峡尊者……《阿底峡尊者传》真动人哪！
(更新日期: 2022年8月1日)
00:00
大家好！又到了我们研讨《广论》的时间。上次师父给我们介绍《阿底峡尊者传》和《宗喀巴大师传》两本书，不知道诸位回家看了没？还是希望大家能够看一下。00:17
现在译经院的法师正在译一本稍广一点的《阿底峡尊者传》，所以对于师父接下来讲的《阿底峡尊者传》，我们就不特别一句一句地讨论。最后预计会把新翻译的《阿底峡尊者传》仔细地学一下，因为师父希望我们能够认真地读一下。00:46
好！那接下来我们就继续听师父略略地讲阿底峡尊者的几件伟大的事情。00:56
这个阿底峡尊者，自己出身他是个国王王子，而且是一个大国，东印度的大国，东印度相当于我们现在孟加拉，就是东巴基斯坦那个地方，那个时候印度当年非常大的一个大国。然后呢他是一个王子，他是个老二，实际上他每一个地方都有它的特别的意义，老二表示的位次，它有一个特别的关系在，这里不详细讲它。从小就是绝顶聪明，这个说明什么？说明宿生他的福德、智慧两样东西都这么圆满。不但是绝顶聪明，而且他从小就要出家。欸，这个人好不简单哪！那么然后呢出家，还没出家之前，他已经就去广泛地接触世间、出世间。世间的学问在十几岁以前已经统统学遍了，无所不通，就像我们释迦世尊一样，那世间没有一样东西不通的。01:59
这里讲一个典型的故事。那时候他有一次，仅仅啊，这个本论上面也说，只有就十五岁，十五岁喔！然后有一次去听了一趟《正理滴论》，这是因明上的，因明哪，这个因明拿我们现在来说就是理则学，这东西很难学。我想我们接触过佛教、佛法的很多这个同修们大家都了解，这个因明这是非常难学，教我们往往学了个几年哪还迷哩糊噜，里边的很多内涵弄不懂。结果这位尊者啊，跑得去听了一堂，在我们想像，这个听一堂能听些什么，结果它的效果是什么呢？不妨啊把这个故事讲一下。02:47
印度当年有这个习惯，这个外道跟这个佛法经常要辩，然后它这个辩的时候有一套正确的方法，不是像我们现在这样大家抬杠子，大家乱盖一通。它不是的，由于它完整的方法，合乎这个理则的，大家技巧地辩论，而且有旁边的人评断。这个评断的呢都是国王、长者，都是绝有声望的人，所以这不能乱来的。那么输的一方的话呢，有两个：要嘛就是我服你了，然后服你了，譬如说我是道士，你是佛教徒，那我输了，那么我们的那个道士道冠统统拿下来，改穿和尚服，做你的徒弟，然后呢这个道士庙统统供佛。反过来也是如此。这个很严重啊！要不然的话呢，我头给你，这样啊！03:40
结果那个时候，他阿底峡那时候去学的这个老师，他是这个佛教当中一个非常了不起的大师，正在跟一个外道辩论，辩了好几场还不分胜负。那么，那个时候又有一次大辩论，结果不幸在辩论之前哪，这个老师生了病了。这个辩论的时候那是要全部精神摆在那里，精神不好的稍微一个不小心，对不起，这个话柄漏出来了，那就要辩输掉了！所以啊这个老师有点身体不好，就不敢出去，那么要找一个人代替，但是谁也不敢，不敢应这个场。因为你万一你辩输了，那个所有佛教的庙，好、好，统统搬出去，然后把外道的像搬进来，那个和尚把和尚衣服脱下来，要跟人家走，这怎么可以啊！结果呢一般状态当中，当然可以说生病。那人家会说：“你看他辩不过啊，他就是装病啊！”这个东西对外面来说的话，这个很糟糕的呀！哎呀，大家觉得非常为难！04:38
那么，阿底峡尊者正好听了一趟，他是绝顶聪明，这老师也觉得这个人很行。大家想起：欸，这个人很精彩，何不妨问问他看呢？居然，他就说......问他的时候：“你去辩一辩。”“好！”要我们想这个怎么可能啊！欸，他去了。不但他去了，而且一辩，辩胜了！你可以想到，简直是何等聪明！他这样的决定性的大辩论，好几次，就把当时的整个的外道一下压服，可想而知这个人的识见。年纪那时候几岁啊？十五岁喔！要我们现在十五岁的，什么都不懂喔，这可以说这个人绝顶聪明！所以你们好好看看，啊，《阿底峡尊者传》真动人哪！05:23
师父在这一段介绍阿底峡尊者功德的时候，选择了十五岁的阿底峡尊者仅听闻了一次《正理滴论》然后就代表他的老师去辩论，这种事情实际上历史上是不多见的，乃至可能是没有的。想一想当时印度的辩论习惯，在场的有国王啊、长者呀都是绝有声望的人，一输的话代价会特别大，整个全都反过来。所以这应该是一个非常有压力的辩论，因为一旦输了之后，它不是一个人输了的问题，会影响到后面太多的人！在这么大的一个责任下，十五岁的阿底峡尊者——其实还是一个少年——老师说行，他就上去辩。他绝顶聪明，又勇敢、又有胆略，很难想像，听起来有点像神话中的人一样。06:26
师父说：阿底峡尊者小的时候就特别聪明、绝顶聪明，这个说明什么呢？说明他宿生的福德和智慧都这么圆满。而且师父还赞叹一句：“不但是绝顶聪明，而且他从小就要出家，这个人好不简单！”讲了这一段的时候，我们可以想一想：这么绝顶聪明，到底为什么他能这么聪明？说凡事都有因，我们学习这些圣者的传记就要去学习种那个因，将来就能够得到那样的结果。07:08