Hate is never conquered by hate, hate is  only conquered by love.....

 

 

Buddhism in India and Nepal.......!

[page no. 9]

Following this, he remained for twelve months in his mother’s womb, which is the natural palace called “the Array of Jewels enjoyed by the Sons of the Buddhas”, and helped mature thirty-six hundred billion celestial and human beings.

A vinaya text, The Holy Treatise, states that when the householder Gonmed Zebyin (Anathapindika) asked the Buddha which month he was born, the Buddha said: “Househoder, I was born in the third month of spring”.

As stated, the Buddha was born on the 15^th day of the Saga month, at Lumbini grove from the rib cage of his mother without giving any pain to his mother. Using a fine Kashi cloth, he was received by the Tshangpa (Brahma) and Jajin (Indra) and bathed by the Lu (naga).

He took seven steps each towards each direction and uttered the lion’s roar.[1] At that time, there were thirty-two omens of auspiciousness such as all directions being filled with light of a golden radiance, the birth of four kings in the four great countries; the birth of five hundred noble persons, eight hundred girls including Drakzinma (Ya§odara), five hundred attendants including Dunpa (Channa), ten thousand stallions including the Ngagden (Kanthaka), ten thousand mares, ten thousand cattle, a pipal tree at the center of the continent, five hundred pleasure groves and five hundred treasures. As all wishes of the King were fulfilled, the prince was named Donthamched Drupa (Sarvasiddhartha*).

The astrologers predicted that if the child remained as a householder he would become a universal monarch who is victorious in all directions, and if he became a homeless renunciate, he would attain the Buddhahood.

[page no. 10]

His mother passed away seven days after he was born and he was brought up by his aunt Kyegui Dagmo (Mahaprajapati) and thirty-two nurses. As he grew up he was given four names; [Siddhartha as we have seen above and] Śākya Thubpa (Śākyamuni) for humbling the pretentious Śākyas when he visited Serchaizhi (Kapilavastu), Lhaiyang Lha (god of gods) for being saluted by Nodjin Śākya Phel, the god of Śākyas and other gods and Langpoche Tongthub (Subjugator of a thousand elephants). He joined the school to learn from Kungi Shenyen, Sidrub, his uncle Lharche and many others writing, arithmetic, arts, sports and such other fields of learning pursued in the world. In all these fields, he excelled his teachers. Although he was asked to marry, he initially turned down the proposals but with persistent request, he accepted with the following thought:

From within a muddy swamp, the lotus flower blooms magnificently.

Within a multitude of the subjects does the king get honoured.

The Buddhas in the past have risen from within their harem of queens,

And have attained the ultimate peace.

Thinking thus, he sought Yashodara, the daughter of Śākya Lagnabecon. She was placed as the prize in a competition to win her hand. At the age of seventeen, displaying matchless skills of sportsmanship, he defeated all opponents and won Yashodara. He received Yasodhara and also Bedma and Ridagkye, the three chief queens, who were accompanied by 60,000 beautiful maidens and lived a life full of fun and luxury until the age of twenty-nine.

As it is natural for the Buddhas of the ten directions to exhort [a Buddha-to-be on the path to enlightenment], at that point, he heard the following exhortation from the sounds of the musical instruments.

Thinking, ‘I shall quench those tormented by thirst with nectar,

Having attained the immortal sorrowless state of the Buddha’,

[page no.11]

Recollect the supreme words of your past aspirations,

And renounce this city as quickly as possible!

After he heard this, he saw old age, illness, death and a monk in the four directions and showed his unhappiness with the worldly life. He skillfully sought permission from his father to become a renunciate and assisted by the gods, he arrived mounted on his horse, Khanthaka, to the banks of Yiyong Den river in Pongbyed region, which lay twelve leagues to the east of Kapilavastu. He returned the horse and his royal clothes with Channa. He said:

Until I have arrived at the undying sacred state of enlightenment,

The holy land of immortality where there is no old age and death,

I shall not stand, sit, sleep or walk,

Toward the city of Kapilavastu.

Having thus resolved, he cut his own hair, put on saffron robes and became a self-ordained monk.

Under the rationalist teachers Gyutsal Shekyibu Ringphur and Rengjedkyibu Lhagchyod, who were renowned for their meditation instructions, he perfected the absorptive meditation of “Nothing Whatsoever” and “Peak of Existence”.

But he criticized [their methods] saying that they cannot bring about liberation [from samsara]. Then, accompanied by the five followers, he went to the banks of Neranjana river and started to fast. Entering into the meditative state called ‘Pervading Space’ he practiced austerity for six years. As his body turned dark and thin, he came to be known as the dark mendicant.

The Tathagatas then woke him up by snapping their fingers. Abandoning his unshakeable meditation,

[page no. 12]

he accepted the ‘nectar’ of milk porridge offered by the Brahmin girl Legkema, and his body revived gleaming like a polished bar of gold.

According to the tantras, the Buddha, at this point left behind his corporeal body and ascended to the magnificent mansion of Akanishtha heaven in his wisdom form. There he received the empowerment of the Vajra Sphere from the Tathagatas, who have gathered there like a heap of sesame seeds, and then attained full enlightenment. He then re-entered his [corporeal] emanation body and performed the act of attaining enlightenment again. Thus the Tantra says:

The real Buddha got enlightened over there;

Only an emanation became enlightened here.

Furthermore, the Lankavatara Sutra states:

In the desire and formless realms,

A Buddha will not reach Buddhahood,

But in Akanistha of the form realms,

You, one who is free from desire will attain Buddhahood!

This distinction (of where the Buddha become enlightened) is a doctrinal distinction between the Mahāyāna and Hinayāna.

Eventually, on the full moon day of the Saga month, the Bodhisattva proceeded towards the Bodhi tree of Ashvatatha at spiritual sanctuary Dorje Den—the central spot of enlightenment—located at Magadha. The great naga Nagpo saw through his clairvoyance that the Bodhisattva was soon going to become the Buddha. On his way, the Bodhisattva asked the grass-seller Tashi: 

 

O Tashi please give me some grass quickly,

Today these grasses will be of great benefit.

I will defeat the Maras and its armies,

And achieve the supreme tranquil enlightenment.

He collected a bunch of grass which was like feather from a peacock’s neck and upon arriving at Dorje Den, where one thousand pipal trees and one thousand lion-thrones sprung from the earth,

[page no. 13]

he went around the first three thrones and he took his seat on the fourth one. The five followers thought the Bodhisattva failed in the practice of penance and abandoned him. They went to Deer Park[2] in the region of Kashi. The Bodhisattva sat on the grass seat made this resolve:

On this seat, whether my body dries up,

Or my skin and bones disintegrate,

Until I achieve the enlightenment hard to attain in many aoens,

I shall not move from this seat.

In the evening of that day, he thought that it is not proper for him to attain Buddhahood without defeating the host of Maras and thus sent forth from between his eyes rays of light across the three-fold thousand world systems in order to destroy the assembly of Maras. The rays gave out the sound of the following verse:

The being who has practiced purity for many aeons,

The son of the Sudhodana has given up his kingdom.

Having pursued with strong desire the remedial nectar

He has come to [Bodhi] tree. Watch out today!

The evil force had thirty-two bad dreams. It mobilized tens of trillions of diabolic forces as said in the following verse.

The Mara took the forms of all kinds

Of wrathful and vile figures in the world

Such as the bodies of goblins, trolls, reptilian beasts

Demons, flesh eating spirits and hungry ghosts.[3]

They roared to create fear:

With chains of mountain ranges crushing in from all quarters,

With showers of rocks and weapons pouring down from the sky,

And with the indestructible flaming scepter,

Let us pulverize the Son of the Śakyas to dust.

 [page no. 14]

However, the Bodhisattva being was without a slight sense of fear.

The King of Śakyas has realized the law of interdependence,

The natural state of non-substantiality.

As he possesses a mind which is like the space,

No armies of deceptive forces can diminish him.

As the Bodhisattva was full of loving-kindness, the weapons flung against him were also transformed into rain of flowers.

Again, the evil one challenged:

For the continuous sacrifices I have done in the past,

I have you as the witness.

But as you do not have a witness to this [act of working for enlightenment]

You loss although you make the claim [to enlightenment].

In this manner, the Mara rejected that the Buddha practiced the path leading to enlightenment. Then the Bodhisattva touched the earth with his right hand and declared:

The earth is the witness for all beings.

She is impartial to both the mobile and immobile.

She is my witness and she does not lie.

O earth, you be my witness to this [act of working for enlightenment].

When the Bodhisattva said this, the earth shook and the goddess of earth showed half of her body above the ground and said:

O great being! That is so. I have clearly witnessed this fact but the Blessed One is the witness for everyone in the world.

As soon as they heard this, they retreated as stated in the lines:

 Like a pack of wolves in the forest hearing a lion’s roar

And crows scurrying when a stone is thrown at them,

They escaped in terror, their hearts nearly shattered.

The diabolic lord of desire (the Mara) entered into the state of grief.

At that time, the god of the pure abodes condemned the demonic lord in sixteen kinds of denouncement, while the tree gods applauded the Bodhisattva in sixteen aspects of praises. For the reason, he came out victorious from war against demons; he was entitled as the “Conqueror.” By midnight, the Bodhisattva achieved the four stages of concentrations [of the form realm] and particularly while abiding in the final phase of the fourth concentration, he investigated the law of interdependent origination both in successive and reverse order and attained the three kinds of knowledge. In the early dawn, around the time to ring the victory bell, with the wisdom in a stretch of one moment, the Bodhisattva manifestly attained the perfect Buddhahood.

Following this, he rose up in the sky for a height of seven palm trees stacked over the tip of each other, and expressed, “the continuity on the path is over.” The Buddhas of the ten directions congratulated him, “Just so we have achieved the Buddhahood, you have become a Buddha. And this is analogous to butter and the quintessence of the butter being the same.” The eight classes of spirits also worshiped the Buddha with massive offerings.

The so called Buddha is someone who is equipped with enlightened activities, and from the very time he became Buddha, he manifested his enlightened body to as many bodies of the sentient beings as there are, as many enlightened speeches as there are the speeches, as many enlightened mind as there the minds. This is either called as the inexhaustible ornamental wheel of the enlightened body, speech and mind of the Buddha or unimaginable secrecy of the Buddha.

[page no.16]

 

1) How the Buddha Laid the Foundation of His Precious Teachings

As for the laying down the foundation of his precious teachings, it is the natural phenomenon that when the Buddha attained the Buddhahood to have remained in the same crossed legged posture experiencing the bliss of enlightenment as he thought that He has taken himself out to the end of suffering. The Sutras support;

The Buddhas who are in possession of the ten powers,

For seven days on the earth essence,

Where they perfect their aspirations and receive empowerment,

The crossed legged posture will not be retreated.

The second week of his enlightenment, the Buddha spent staring at the Bodhi Tree (pipal), on the third week he walked until the ocean, explored the three thousand world systems during the fourth week, held and released the Nagas on the fifth week and on the sixth week, to a group of wandering mendicants under the Nayagrodha tree, he said;

Hearing the Dharma and seeing it are peaceful,

Having joy for solitude is peaceful,

And that who subdues the egos of egos,

That is also peaceful….

On the seventh week of his enlightenment under the “Drolgyu, skt??? tree when the merchant brothers Gagon skt?? and Bhadra made an food offering, he accepted the food in the stone bowl which was merged as one from the four stone bowls offered to him by the four guardians kings.  At this occasion, the Buddha spoke the following verses of auspiciousness.

With the auspiciousness of the gods that accomplishes all purposes,

And brings about an auspiciousness across all directions,

May you become peaceful and wholesome!

Thus both of them were granted a prophecy for their enlightenment. Following the Lord Buddha pondered;

Profound, pacified, elaboration-free, luminous and unconditioned by anything,

An ambrosia like Dharma, is what I have achieved,

Yet nobody can understand even if I shared to everyone,

Hence, I shall reside in the forest without speaking a word.

[page no.17]

The one who has fathomless compassion toward all the sentient beings,

If he is entreated by others [to teach the dharma], there will be no followers

And since all people worship the Brahma,

If he supplicates me, then I shall turn the Dharma Wheel!

Having thought this way, the Buddha sent forth rays which was understood by the Brahma with tuft hair and accompanied by fellow Brahma beings, sixty-eight hundred thousand Brahma gods entreated the Buddha with their hands folded together in the following verses.

Having accomplished the Mandala of the supreme and great gnosis,

You emanated rays across all the quarters thoroughly,

The rays of the gnosis open up the human lotuses,

Why is it so that the sun of speech is today remaining silent?

So forth were the verses offered in supplication, after which the Buddha agreed to turn the Dharma Wheel by remaining silent.  The Lord Indra was prompted to supplicate in the following verses as the Buddha became preoccupied in small activities.

The full moon like being released from the Rahula (eclipse)

Your mind has been thoroughly liberated.

O the comprehensive Conqueror of the battle, please rise up,

And please illuminate the darkness of the world with the light of wisdom…

But the Buddha still remained in silence, to which the lord Brahma requested in the following lines.

“You have become the achiever after a thorough search,

O the Able One, please teach us your teachings.”

Following this request, the teacher spoke,

“O Brahma, I having destroyed all the rigid [ignorance]

That which I have realized with great hardship,

This Dharma will not be realized easily

When one is wrapped up with the desire of cyclic existence.”

[page no.18]

The Brahma requested, “Since there are beings of inferior, mediocre and sharp faculty in this world, please grant upon us the teachings according to the faculty of mediocre beings.”

“O the Brahma, I shall grant the teachings briefly,

So that people will not seek criticisms toward the excellent Dharma.”

So forth were the verses with which the Buddha agreed to grant the teachings.  As the Buddha pondered over the first recipient of his teachings, he wished to start with his former master Lhagchyod skt?? but it was found that he passed just one week ago. And then the lord wanted to start with Ringphur, skt?? who also happened to have passed away just three days before. So he decided to grant the teachings for the first time to the group of five who accompanied the lord earlier. So the lord headed to Kashi while passing through places of Rigaya ?? toward the north, Tenge ??, Chandala and the city of Khalojur???, after which He arrived at the banks of River Ganges. There a boatman asked Him for boat fare but the Lord flew away saying “I don’t have a boat fare” toward the place where the group of five lived.

At that time, the five seeing the Lord approaching from afar and said, “See that mendicant Gautama who is relaxed, eats a lot and violated the Samadhi practice is coming!” So they vowed and made a condition amongst themselves that nobody will receive him, stand up in respect, pick up his robes and alms bowl but just let him sit on the empty cushion if he wishes. Kaudrinya did not accept it mentally. But when the Lord arrived there, the group of five couldn’t bear the charismatic radiance of the Lord and they broke their condition while some of them went on to receive the lord, some laid the cushion, and some arranged the water to wash feet. Having done this, they said it is so fortunate that you have come here and entreated to be seated on the cushion. The teacher taking up the seat,

[page no.19]

in order the group of five to be impressed, made lots of conversation. The five enquired, “O the venerable Gautama, if your faculty has become so clear and totally un-wrapped its cover, did you experience any manifest difference with the actualization of the gnosis?” The lord commanded, “You should not address the Tathagata as just venerable. You will become unhappy for very long. I have obtained the nectar. I’m enlightened. And I am the omniscient Buddha. Didn’t you all enact a rule [before my coming] like this?” The five repented and offered an apology and as they become confident of the noble path all of them became the fully ordained monks. Since all of them were dressed up in a manner of householder, the teacher commanded precept of wearing the lower-garment in a circular way.

Here, mostly claims that the Five Disciples became the fully ordained monks when they attained the path of seeing but [inferring from] the statements in the “Extensive Sport Sutra“ and other [records of the events of the first turning of the teaching],  in which the Buddha refers the Five Disciples as monk, well before the attainment of the path of seeing, the claim is incorrect. Hence, at the time when they became fully ordained monks, they have just achieved confidence of the path of seeing but not the actualization of it. ????

On the Fourth Day of the Month of Shadha (4^th Day of the 6^th Month), considered the place where the turning of the Dharma Wheel should take place and having found that the Deer Park Forest was the place used by the three former Buddhas to turn the Dharma Wheel, there in that place, appeared one hundred thousand thrones. The Lord circumambulated the first three thrones and took up his seat on the fourth throne in cross-legged posture.  The Five Disciples, the great group of eight, Bodhisattvas of the ten directions all assembled in the manner that not even a space of a single hair’s breadth on the Great Thousand World System were left out by the gathering. 

[page no.20]

Immediately, Lord Brahma bowed down touching the feet of the Bhagavan and offered the golden wheel with one thousand spokes—made from the gold extracted from the Dzambu river—which was ornamented fully, and so brilliant that even dim the sun rays, that which was also accepted by the three former conquerors, requesting to spin the Dharma Wheel.  At the same time, a pair of Ruru, skt?? golden deer came out of the forest and knelt down staring one-pointedly at the tip of the golden wheel.  The Buddha then observed the silence of the exalted beings in the morning, narrated inspirational allegories in the mid day, and in the afternoon calling upon the Five Disciples, the Lord turned the Dharma Wheel in twelve aspects by repeating [the Four Noble Truths] three times each. In this Great Thousand World System it is known that there are ten million-million and ninety four hundred thousand synonyms of the Four Noble Truths and each one of them resounded at the same time the Lord granted the teachings for the first time.

At that time, the gods exclaimed, “O friends, the Lord Bhagavan is turning the Dharma Wheel in twelve aspects—repetition of the Four Noble Truths three times—a Dharma Wheel that has been never before taught by any teacher as it is being taught, the family of the gods will increase while the classes of Asuras will decrease.” At the first recitation of the four noble truths, Kaudrinaya achieved the Dharma Eyes free from the dusts of ignorance while the second recitation made him an Arhat. Hence there came about the “Rare Three Jewels.” But his remaining four friends attained the Dharma Eyes only at the second recitation and they attained Arhathood at the third recitation. Eighty thousand gods saw the truth of realization. The Gezang, skt?? erected a Vihara. The close five disciples including the Dragpa, skt?? and others, fifty sons of the village chiefs, Katayana and his five hundred retinues, all took up the renouncer’s life.

[page no.21]

 

Then the teacher headed to Magadha where the Zangde’s group of sixty boys became monk. Arriving upon Tenge??? the three long haired Kashayapa brothers including their one thousand retinues become monk. Shariputra and Maudgalyana including their five hundred retinues also became the fully ordained monk and achieved the Arhathood.

Half of the disciples including the Supreme Pair of Attendant and their five hundred retinues were sent for the country visit and half of the disciples including the long haired Kashayapa and his retinues, altogether 250,000 monks were known to be the strength of the first assembly the Buddha’s disciples.

This turning of the Dharma Wheel was mainly emphasized on the path of the mediocre beings but nonetheless, the path of the inferior being was also included naturally. In other words, this is even known as the way of the such-ness of the noble truth. The householder Ananthapindada offered the Jetavana groves. Six years after the Buddha’s enlightenment, the meeting of his father, King Suddhana took place. For duration of thirteen years, the tradition of the Buddha teachings did not face any corruptions and at that time, only the brief version of the Pratimoksha Sutra was recited.

At the sacred places of Rajgir and Vulture Peak, to an assembly of the Four Groups of Disciples, particularly along with a huge gathering of the Bodhisattvas, the Bhagavan Buddha spread a cushion on the lion throne and the gestures of Dharma Wheel having displayed first, sat in cross-legged posture, straightened his back, and manifestly maintained the mindfulness. And then through the three kinds of miracles, he taught the Prajnaparamita Sutra that which was virtuous in the beginning, virtuous in the middle and virtuous in the end, in one hundred thousand verses to those who preferred the prose and elaborate version; the Sutra in twenty-five thousand verses, in eighty one thousand verses and

[page no.22]

the wisdom in ten thousand verses to those who did not prefer the elaborate version; in eight thousand verses which condensed the entire meanings of the sutra to those who understood by the mere mention of the outlines and preferred shorter version; and to those who preferred stanzas, the Compendium of the Precious Qualities which condensed the entire meanings of the Hundred Thousand Verses, was taught. This is the explanation given by the Arya Haribhadra while another version from the Tibetan historian Buton claims that for those who preferred elaborate explanation, the Buddha taught the Prajnaparmita Sutra in Hundred Million Verses and in One Hundred Thousand Verses. When this teaching was given by Lord Buddha the sons of the gods remarked, “O alas, we have noticed the second turning of the Dharma Wheel in the Zambudvipa.” And this is the reason why it is claimed as the second turning of the Dharma Wheel. As all the causal vehicles are condensed in these teachings, it was hence known as the manner of the Paramitas, the path of the great beings. As for the time of this event, in agreement with the assertion of the School of Elders (Sthavira), the Buddha taught these teachings sixteen years following his enlightenment.

????In the Samadhinirmocana Sutra: the Unraveling of the Thought Sutra of the Third Turning of the Dharma Wheel, there are teachings in regard to the ‘profound meaning’ [of the emptiness,] but that too should be classified under the Second Turning of the Dharma Wheel. Also, I did not see any reasonability with assertions of the several Indian and Tibetan scholars who comments ‘such teachings’ [after the Second Dharma Wheel] to be the Yogacara scriptures, for the reason that (the Unraveling of the Thought Sutra) and Irreversible Dharma Wheel Sutra, which explains the three methods of purification of the Buddha Nature and [what is claimed as the Yogacara Sutra] exactly corresponds to the third one of the three methods. This ‘[profound] meaning,’ when the Madyamaka School postulates “turning-down all views,” is described as “because of that (profound meaning) the subject to be tamed by this (Madyamaka School) has to enter into all the vehicles.” The implied meaning of this statement should be understood as;  for the sake of ‘profound meaning’ whichever vehicle one might enter into but eventually, at the end one must enter into this (vehicle of Madyamaka School) since it is impossible to attain Buddha without entering into this school. And also, the statement that all sentient beings will attain the Buddhahood, will become baseless if that is not the case of the statement. ???

[page no.23]

 

For the turning of the first and second Dharma Wheel, some claim that first wheel took seven years and while the second wheel took twenty-seven or thirty-one years, but this assertion is unreasonable because such teachings that belonged to both the first and second wheel were found right from the beginning of the teachings until the Buddha’s Mahaparnirvana.

As for the Third Turning of the Dharma Wheel which was on the Vajrayana, was taught shatteringly at various times and locations such as the Oddiayana and so forth. However, as for the locale of the turning of the Vajrayana vehicle at one time was at the glorious Kalacakara Mandala of the Rice Mound Temple.

The time of the Vajrayana teaching which is asserted to have taken place during the final years of the Buddha after enlightenment is incorrect as there is an inconsistency with the scriptural statements quoted bellow. The King of Bestowing Pith Instruction Sutra says,

“The trio of vehicles which bring about liberation,

Has definitively been taught by the Bhagavan,

Yet, what reason for you did not teach the ultimate vehicle,

Which conducts the cause and effects spontaneously,

And does not need to seek the Buddha from other sources?”

This question was asked by Manjushri to the Lord Buddha and the Lord replied,

“Having thoroughly turned the Dharma Wheel

Of the Cause to those who opted for the causal teachings,

A shorter way to Buddhahood, the Vajrayana,

Will appear at the time in future.”

During that time, it was not just Kalacakara but also all other Secret Mantras were teachings were taught. The Root Kalacakara Tantras states,

Similar to the event of Prajnaparamita Sutra teachings,

At the Vulture’s Peak by the Buddha,

At the Glorious Rice Mound Pagoda,

The entire teachings of the Secret Mantra were taught.

The Commentary of Manjushrinama Sangita authored by the Acharya Nyima Pal Yeshe, skt?? explains this verse as this:

---

[1] The lion’s roar refers to the Buddha’s claim immediately after his birth that he is the supreme in the world. In Buddhist literature, the Buddha’s speech is often figuratively called the lion’s roar.

[2] The full name for this place as given in the text is drang srong lhung ba ri dags kyi nags, “the forest of deer where ascetics have fallen”. The last part is in reference to story of how the physical remains of some solitary realizers have fallen on this grove after they have attained nirvāöa.

[3] These are different forms of non-human spirits. They are yak·a, kumbhanda, mahoraga, rak·a, piśāca and preta in Sanskrit and gnod sbyin, grul bum, lto ‘phye, srin po, sha za and yi dags in Tibetan. These generally fall within the preta group.