Global Lamrim II
Lecture No. 0317
Lamrim Volume 1: P42-LL21 ~ P42-LL12
Date: 30 Mar 2022
Topic: Chosen deities’ protection (1): Reliance on the 6 chosen deities, frequently listen to Dharma widely and deeply
Today, we will continue studying the good qualities of Master Atisha. Everyone, please turn to page 146, the Introduction to the Four Interwoven Annotations. Look at the middle section of the page, starting with “the 4th subtopic has three parts”. This section will introduce how his chosen deities looked after Master Atisha. Let’s read the text now. [00:22]
The 4th subtopic has three parts:
1. How his chosen deities looked after him: With regard to how his chosen deities looked after him, the Praise says: Due to having visions and receiving permission From the glorious Hevajra, [Trisamayavyuharaja, the Kriya teacher with the gesture of giving the teaching, as indicated in the Ocean of Sadhanas [or Sadhanasagara in Sanskrit], and the like. The Trisamayavyuharaja represents physical, verbal and mental actions; or it refers to these three: not lying in bed, not drinking intoxicant, not eating food shaped like the mudra gestures.]
2. The hero Lokesvara [Avalokitesvara],
3. The noble and venerable Tara, and so forth, [namely: Heruka and Acalanatha, six of them in total]
4. He listened always to the excellent teaching
5. Of the profound view and the vast deeds of compassion
6. Either in dreams or in person. [01:09]
[*color scheme of annotations: red: Master Ba, blue: Master Jamyang Zhepa, green: Master Nga-wang Rab-ten/Venerable Yu]
Now, let’s look at Rinpoche’s Introduction. The 4th subtopic has three parts; the first one is “how his chosen deities looked after him”. What was the condition of Master Atisha’s of possessing these three ideal qualifications? First, “With regard to how his chosen deities looked after him, the Praise says;” this Praise here is the Eighty Verses of Praise; “the Praise says: Due to having visions and receiving permission, from the glorious Hevajra, Trisamayavyuharaja”, the “glorious Hevajra” refers to the chosen deity; “samayavyuharaja” is Shakyamuni Buddha. It says in the Introduction that “the Kriya teacher with the gesture of giving the teaching, as indicated in the Ocean of Sadhanas [or Sadhanasagara in Sanskrit], and the like. The Trisamayavyuharaja represents physical, verbal and mental actions; or it refers to these three: not lying in bed, not drinking intoxicant, not eating food shaped like the mudra gestures.” “The Kriya teacher” is part of the four levels of Tantra – Kriya [meaning action], Carya [meaning performance], Yoga tantra and Anuttara Yoga [Highest Yoga tantra]. This Kriya is the first of the four Tantra levels. Why is it named Kriya? It is mainly through bathing, cleansing and various external actions when one is meditating on the Tantric practice. Thus, it is named Kriya. The teacher is Shakyamuni Buddha of the Kriya tantra. [02:25]
Here, one point needs further explanation is this: usually “samaya” is the pledge. However, here “samayavyuharaja” refers to the Shakyamuni Buddha. What needs to be clarified is that samaya refers to the pledges of physical, verbal and mental actions; or it refers to not lying in bed, not drinking intoxicant, not eating food shaped like the mudra gestures. What does “not eating food shaped like the mudra gestures” mean? That means one should refrain from eating food made in the shape of hand gestures, or shape of human or animal figures. [03:00]
Next the text says, “The hero Lokesvara [Avalokitesvara], the noble and venerable Tara, and so forth”. “The noble and venerable Tara” means the Green Tara, whereas “the hero Lokesvara” refers to Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. There are many salutations to Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, like the Lord of Putuo, the Lord of the World, the Worldly Hero, the Great Compassionate One, and the Lotus Hand, so on and so forth. Here the text also says Avalokitesvara is one of the eight closest disciples of the Shakyamuni Buddha. Furthermore, the hero Lokesvara is the general aggregate of the great compassion of all Buddhas of the three times [past, present and future], representing the great compassion. As for the Tara, here the noble Tara means the chosen deity in Buddhism; and primarily they are the White Tara and the Green Tara. [03:51]
It says in the text, “namely: Heruka and Acalanatha; six of them in total”, “Heruka” is the female chosen deity of the Anuttara Yoga Tantra [Highest Yoga tantra], or some people refer to as Cakrasamvara or Heruka. As for the “Acalanatha,” Rinpoche said is the Wrathful form of the Acalanatha, instead of the Akshobhya Buddha out of the Five Tathagatas. These are the six Kadampa chosen deities. Jowo Je [Master Atisha] usually chanted the Generation rites of these six chosen deities as his routine practice; and relied mainly on these six chosen deities. [Ru-yue] Geshe explained that the “Acalanatha” means the uncommon Dharma protector of Master Atisha. During the trip he took to visit Master Serlingba, he encountered many obstacles. Master Atisha got over all them safely due to the protection of this Dharma protector. Sometimes the chosen deity and the Dharma protector are the same one. For instance, Mahakala is both the wrathful Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva and the uncommon Dharma protector, the Mahayana Dharma protector. Here, Rinpoche introduced to us the six chosen deities of the Kadampa School. Master Atisha frequently practiced on the Generation rites of these six chosen deities, and Master Atisha also primarily relied on these six chosen deities. [05:07]
“Having visions and receiving permission“ means he met with them in person and received permission. “He listened always to the excellent teaching, of the profound view and the vast deeds of compassion, either in dreams or in person.” That is to say, either in dreams or see them face to face – what does “see them face to face” mean? It could be that during meditation session, though the chosen deity may not necessarily appear during the practitioner’s meditation session, they appear as if the teacher and disciple were having conversation facing each other. Just like our everyday conversation – Master Atisha often listened to excellent teachings of the profound and vast sublime teachings from his chosen deities. [05:41]
Among all these chosen deities, Tara often appeared in front of Master Atisha and the way they communicated with each other was like our usual conversation, which was recorded in considerable amount of history documents. Before Master Atisha came to Tibet, he asked Tara: “Will this trip benefit Tibetans?” Tara instructed: “It will greatly benefit Tibetans. It is especially so if you rely on one Upasaka – Drom-dun-ba; that will certainly bring enormous benefit. Through the help of this Upasaka, you will be able to instate great Dharma Works.” This is the part on “having visions and receiving permission”. [06:20]
讲次 | 0317 (2021-04-12 ~ 2021-04-14)
标题 | 本尊摄受（一）：依止六本尊，常闻深广法
《广论》段落 | P7-L7 ~ P7-L8 其为本尊所摄受者……及广大正法。”
入门段落 | 第1册 P146-L9 ~ P147-LL4 第四分三：第一、本尊所摄受者......这就是“谒见本尊天颜”的部分。
(更新日期: 2022年3月30日)
今天我们继续学习阿底峡尊者的功德。请大家翻开《四家合注入门》146 页，看中间“第四分三”，这里边会介绍阿底峡尊者为本尊所摄受的状况。看原文。 00:22
第四分三：第一、本尊所摄受者：其为本尊所摄受者，如《赞》云：“胜欢喜金刚、〔立 三三昧耶王， 属事部之能仁，结说法印，即今《修法大海》等论所载者是。三三昧耶者，谓身语意；或指不卧于床、不饮酒、不食似手印三者。〕雄猛世自在 观世音、主尊度母等 即胜乐轮、不动尊共六尊，谒颜得许故，或梦或现前，常闻最甚深，及广大正法。” 01:09
现在大家可以看一下仁波切的讲记。这科判第四个分三，第一就是“本尊所摄受”。觉窝杰具德阿底峡尊者具备这三个圆满因的状况是如何呢？首先，“其为本尊所摄受者，如《赞》”，这个赞就是指《八十赞》，“如《赞》云：胜欢喜金刚，立三昧耶王”，“胜欢喜金刚”就是指本尊喜金刚，“立三三昧耶王”是指释迦牟尼佛。“属事部之能仁，结说法印，即今《修法大海》等论所载者是。三三昧耶者，谓身语意；或指不卧于床、不饮酒、不食似手印三者。”“事部之能仁”，密续有四部——事部、行部、瑜伽部、无上瑜伽部，这个事部，它是密续四部中的第一部，为什么叫事部呢？它主要是透过沐浴、清洁等外在的行为修持密法，所以称为事部；这里边是事部的释迦佛。 02:25
这里边要解释的就是，通常“三昧耶”是指誓言，但是“立三三昧耶王”就是指释迦佛。然后这里边还要解释一下，它说“三昧耶者”指身语意的三昧耶，或者是指不卧于床、不饮酒、不食似手印三者。“不食似手印”是指什么呢？就是指不食用形状做得像手印和人、动物的食物。 03:00
接下来就讲到：“雄猛世自在观世音、主尊度母等”。“主尊度母”就是绿度母；这里边提到“雄猛世自在观世音”，就是指观世音菩萨。有很多对观世音菩萨的称名，像普陀主、世间主、世间自在、大悲尊、莲花手等等；这里边说还是导师释迦佛的八大近侍佛子之一，另外雄猛世自在观世音是三世诸佛大悲的一个总聚体，大悲的代表。那么度母——这里边说主尊度母，度母就是指佛教的本尊，主要是白度母和绿度母。 03:51
接下来，“即胜乐轮、不动尊共六尊”，“胜乐轮”就是无上瑜伽部的母续的本尊，或者有人称胜乐金刚、黑茹迦。“不动尊”，这里边仁波切解释为是忿怒不动明王，不是五部如来的不动佛。这是噶当派的六个本尊，觉窝杰尊者平常的课诵就是这六位本尊的自生法等仪轨，主要依止的本尊也就是这六尊。格西对“不动尊”的解释是说，是指阿底峡尊者的不共护法，尊者在前往拜见金洲大师的途中遇到了很多的灾障，都是由于他的护持而顺利度过的。也会有本尊和护法都是一尊的，像玛哈嘎拉，他是忿怒的观世音，但是他也是不共的护法、大乘的护法。在这里边，仁波切为我们介绍说噶当派的六个本尊，阿底峡尊者常常修的是这六位本尊的自生法等仪轨，主要依止的本尊也是这六尊。 05:07
“谒颜得许故”，就是直接地现见了他们，并且获得开许。“或梦或现前，常闻最甚深，及广大正法”，就是说或者在梦里呀、或者直接现前——直接现前是什么意思？可能静坐的时候，或者有的时候本尊现前也不一定是在静坐的时候，已经直接就像师生一样对话，像生活一样地这样对话——经常从他们听闻甚深、广大的正法。 05:41
这些本尊当中，度母是以常人谈话互动的方式在尊者的面前，这个有大量的史料记载。在尊者进入西藏之前，尊者就启问度母说：“此行是否有利藏人呢？”度母就授记说：“对藏人有广大的利益，尤其是依靠一位优婆塞——种敦巴，会产生很大的利益。透过这位优婆塞，就能作广大的佛教事业。”这就是“谒见本尊天颜”的部分。 06:20
