Buddhism: One Teacher, Many Traditions (14th Dalai Lama and Chodron 2014)

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Contents

• Foreword by Bhante Gunaratanaxiii
• Prologue by His Holiness the Dalaixvii
• Lama Preface by Venerable Thubtenxix
• Chodron Abbreviationsxxiii

• • 1. Origin and Spread of the Buddha's Doctrine1
    • The Buddha's Life1
    • Buddhist Canons and the Spread of the Dharma2
    • Pāli Tradition4
    • Buddhism in China7
    • Buddhism in Tibet11
    • Our Commonalities and Diversity13

• • 2. Refuge in the Three Jewels17
    • Existence of the Three Jewels18
    • The Tathāgata’s Qualities19
    • Three Jewels: Pāli Tradition24
    • Three Jewels: Sanskrit Tradition28
    • Buddha’s Awakening, Parinirvāṇa, and Omniscience31
    • Taking Refuge and Maintaining Proper Refuge35

• • 3. Sixteen Attributes of the Four Truths39
    • Sanskrit Tradition39
    • Pāli Tradition49

• • 4. The Higher Training in Ethical Conduct61
    • The Importance of Ethical Conduct61
    • Prātimokṣa Ethical Restraints62
    • Why Celibacy?65
    • The Vinaya Schools66
    • The Value of the Monastic Community70
    • Fulfilling the Purpose of Monastic Life72
    • Monastics, Priests, and Lay Teachers74
    • Tibetan Monastics and Monastic Institutions75
    • Challenges for Western Monastics76
    • Full Ordination for Women77
    • Advice for Monastics79
    • The Joy of Monastic Discipline80
    • Bodhisattva and Tantric Ethical Restraints81

• • 5. The Higher Training in Concentration83
    • The Importance of Concentration83
    • Realms of Existence and Spheres of Consciousness84
    • Pāli Tradition85
    • Five Hindrances and Five Absorption Factors88
    • Four Jhānas91
    • Four Immaterial Absorptions95
    • Eight Meditative Liberations97
    • Superknowledges97
    • Sanskrit Tradition101
    • Meditation Position and Meditation Objects103
    • Five Faults and Eight Antidotes106
    • Nine Stages of Sustained Attention108
    • Serenity and Further Meditative Absorptions110
    • Chinese Buddhism113

• • 6. The Higher Training in Wisdom: Thirty-Seven Aids to Awakening115
    • Four Establishments of Mindfulness116
    • Mindfulness of the Body118
    • Mindfulness of Feelings121
    • Mindfulness of the Mind122
    • Mindfulness of Phenomena125
    • Four Establishments of Mindfulness for Bodhisattvas127
    • Four Supreme Strivings128
    • Four Bases of Supernormal Power128
    • Five Faculties and Five Powers129
    • Seven Awakening Factors130
    • The Noble Eightfold Path131
    • Conventional and Ultimate Natures of the Thirty-Seven Aids132

• • 7. Selflessness and Emptiness135
    • Pāli Tradition: The Self and the Aggregates136
    • Madhyamaka: The Object of Negation139
    • Seven-Point Refutation141
    • Six Elements Are Not the Self144
    • Refutation of Four Extremes of Arising148
    • Selfless and Deceptive156
    • Emptiness158
    • What Carries the Karma?160

• • 8. Dependent Arising163
    • Twelve Links of Dependent Arising163
    • Flow of the Links170
    • Who Circles in Saṃsāra?173
    • Benefits of Meditating on the Twelve Links of Dependent Arising175
    • Sanskrit Tradition: Levels of Dependence176
    • Causal Dependence177
    • Mutual Dependence177
    • Mere Dependent Designation179
    • Emptiness and Dependent Arising Are Compatible180
    • Pāli Tradition: Terms, Concepts, and Conventions182

• • 9. Uniting Serenity and Insight185
    • Pāli Tradition185
    • Sanskrit Tradition188
    • Chinese Buddhism190

• • 10. Progressing on the Path193
    • Pāli Tradition: Purification and Knowledge193
    • Sanskrit Tradition: Five Paths and Ten Bodhisattva Grounds198
    • Differences among the Three Vehicles201
    • Sanskrit Tradition: Nirvāṇa201
    • Pāli Tradition: Nibbāna204

• • 11. The Four Immeasurables207
    • Pāli Tradition207
    • Love209
    • Compassion213
    • Joy215
    • Equanimity215
    • Four Immeasurables and Insight216
    • Near and Far Enemies217
    • Sanskrit Tradition218

• • 12. Bodhicitta221
    • Tibetan Buddhism221
    • Equanimity222
    • Sevenfold Cause-and-Effect Instruction223
    • Equalizing and Exchanging Self and Others224
    • Self-Interest, Self-Confidence, Self-Centered Attitude, and Self-Grasping Ignorance228
    • Integrating the View with Bodhicitta229
    • Chinese Buddhism230
    • Four Great Vows233
    • Aspiring and Engaging Bodhicitta235
    • Pāli Tradition: Bodhicitta and Bodhisattas237

• • 13. Bodhisattva Training in the Perfections243
    • Sanskrit Tradition243
    • Pāli Tradition: Ten Pāramīs246
    • Perfection of Generosity249
    • Perfection of Ethical Conduct251
    • Perfection of Fortitude253
    • Perfection of Joyous Effort256
    • Perfections of Meditative Stability and of Renunciation259
    • Perfection of Wisdom259
    • Perfections of Unshakable Resolve and of Determination262
    • Perfections of Skillful Means, Power, and Exalted Wisdom263
    • Pāramīs of Truthfulness, Love, and Equanimity264
    • The Four Ways of Gathering Disciples265

• • 14. The Possibility of Awakening and Buddha Nature269
    • Is Liberation Possible?269
    • Pāli Tradition: Luminous Mind271
    • Yogācāra School: Buddha Nature272
    • Madhyamaka School: Buddha Nature273
    • Tantrayāna: Buddha Nature275
    • Chan: Buddha Nature, Bodhicitta, and True Suchness276
    • Understanding Tathāgatagarbha278

• • 15. Tantra281
    • Tantric Deities282
    • Entering Vajrayāna283
    • Excellent Features of Highest Yoga Tantra284

• • 16. Conclusion287

• • Notes291
  • Index293
  • About the Authors321

vinaya - Vinaya refers to the corpus of Buddhist teachings on moral discipline and precepts and is one of the three canonical sets of teachings alongside Sūtra and Abhidharma. It also refers to the monastic tradition which has been passed down since the Buddha's time until our time. Skt. विनय Tib. འདུལ་བ། Ch. 毘奈耶

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Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt. बोधिसत्त्व Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ། Ch. 菩薩

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Madhyamaka - Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. Skt. मध्यमक Tib. དབུ་མ་ Ch. 中觀見

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bodhicitta - The altruistic thought to seek enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings. It is said to have two aspects: compassion aimed at sentient beings and their problems and the wisdom of enlightenment as the solution. Skt. बोधिचित्त Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས། Ch. 菩提心

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Yogācāra - Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana). Skt. योगाचार Tib. རྣལ་འབྱོར་སྤྱོད་པ་ Ch. 瑜伽行派

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tathāgatagarbha - Buddha-nature, literally the "womb/essence of those who have gone (to suchness)." Skt. तथागतगर्भ Tib. དེ་བཞིན་གཤེགས་པའི་སྙིང་པོ་ Ch. 如来藏

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tantra - Tantra, when juxtaposed with Sūtra, generally refers to the scriptures and texts which discuss esoteric topics. While the term is used to refer to texts on other topics, it is mostly used to refer to the genre of scriptures and texts on themes and topics associated with Vajrayāna Buddhism. Skt. तन्त्र Tib. རྒྱུད། Ch. 密宗

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Vajrayāna - The esoteric Buddhist tradition which developed as a syncretic system involving deity worship, use of mantras, physical energy, and mystical practices. It is also known as the mantra tradition and the tantric school as a result of being based on texts known as tantras. Skt. वज्रयान Tib. རྡོ་རྗེ་ཐེག་པ། Ch. 金剛乘

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