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THE SPECIFIC GUID ANCE TO THE PROFOUND MIDDLE VIEW OR THE DIRECT MESSAGE OF BLO-BZAN. G 1 - 7

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Praise to Manjughosa !

In heartfelt devotion I praise the Gurus sublime

Who grant all attainments, the highest and the common, And who, if only to their feet one bows the head, Wipe out the shortcomings of this world and the next.
Especially I bow to the Teacher beyond compare ,
The Compassionate Lord, of loving-kindness full For beings so hard to manage in this evil age
And for the countless host of those who the ten powers possess •
In bowing to the great treasure-house of knowledge 5,
Which embodies the spiritual awareness
Of every Buddha in the vast spiritual realms,
I show the mode of being of that which is profound.
 

To Tsong-kha-pa I bow down who, through the power
Of his prayers and resolves in former lives,
Combined the Sutras and Tantras in Tibet For graded study by the fortunate.
May my whole being be enriched by deeply venerating
The gracious Gurus 1 who point to the unerring path from which
Springs certainty about the real, Profound and difficult to grasp.
The real purpose of direct instruction which is to be experienced as valuable in this life by those who are fortunate to be human and capable of reasoning, and which is the essence of all Buddha-words and the path

travelled by all true sages and saints of yore, has been stated by Nagarjuna :
Through this good all beings store Merits and acquire knowledge.
Let them acquire the two true goals That from knowledge and merits spring.
According to these words it is by making an inner experience of the path complete in its unity of fitness of action and intelligence , that the meaning of this purposeful striving reveals itself as goal-attachment, the entrance into the firm citadel of the unity of the two modes, the cognitive­
relational and the operational • Here, the infinity of merits is necessary ro6
as the cause for the realization of the operational modes 1, just as bound­
lessness of awareness is a prerequisite for the cognitive-relational one 2• In this connection the precious enlightened attitude is like the foundation or core of all merits, and the profound 'middle view' 3 is the essential feature of all awareness. Therefore, all the basic and interpretative writings have stated again and again that an enlightened attitude and a middle view have to be practised to form a unity if you want to reach the citadel of Buddhahood. But should either be lacking there is no chance to reach it. For instance, a sprout grows when such factors as soil, water, temperature and seed combine, but not if any one of them is absent. Similarly, regarding Buddhahood, the path to it must be complete
in fitness of action and intelligence. Either aspect alone is insufficient for reaching the goal.
Furthermore, the nature of fitness of action and intelligence must be grasped clearly and in the graded process of their practice there must be no errors. If the cause is faulty no proper result can come of it. For instance, you may have heard that a cow gives milk, but do not know from where the milk comes. Certainly you will get none by pulling the cow's horns or tail.
Therefore, the method of developing a precious enlightened attitude is as follows :
First you have to think about the unsatisfactoriness of the world in general and in particular, and, like a swan flying away from a frozen lake, you have to develop a strong sense of disengagement so as to become
thoroughly free from the involvements in the multifarious affairs of the world. Then you must feel the content of your thought when you

easily with action. The unity of the Dharmakaya and the Sambhogakaya-cumNirmal)akaya thus refers to the structure of the noetic capacity and the operations with others in a situation. Buddhahood is never a static ideal, it is an authentic act of existing. See also Tskhp III 16a and its translation in part I, p. 61. 1 Riipakaya. See also previous note.

2 Dharmakaya. See note 3 on the preceding page.

3 "'Middle' view" (dbu-ma'i lta-ba) : In the Mahayanist context the 'middle' view means such more than the mere avoidance of the extreme judgments of eternalism and nihilism. It indicates, rather, the intentional structure of the act of seeing. Literally translated it would have to be rendered 'the seeing of the middle', but such a linguistic translation is, as is the case with most such trans­ lations, prima facie absurd. 'Middle' is a name for no-thing-ness (stong-pa-nyid, sunyatii) which signifies the fact that things do not exist in truth. Hence, the 'middle view' is, so to say, to be intuitively aware of the fact that there is nothing which could be said to exist in truth.

consider the intolerable misery of all sentient beings in the world, who, in a sense, are your old mother, and you must develop compassion and loving-kindness which are far stronger and deeper than the love a mother has for her only child. The more intense this feeling of compassion becomes the more you forget about yourself and make the great undaunted resolve to deliver all sentient beings from their involvement in Samsara. By the power of this resolve you must, to the best of your ability, develop a strong intention to attain supreme Buddahood for the sake of all sentient beings. This intention must be like that of a merciful leader

who in his compassion for the beings of the human world in their desperate plight due to poverty and affliction, sets out in a ship to fetch the Wish-Fulfilling Gem for their sake, not caring for his own body and life. Thus it becomes very important that you strive with all your strength and skill, in all possible ways, to let a precious enlightened attitude grow. As soon as such an attitude develops you become known as a Bodhisattva or a Buddha-son. This attitude is said to be the specific cause of Buddhahood and is likened to a father's seed. As is stated in the Bodhicaryavatara (I 9) :

The moment an enlightened attitude is born

The shackles that bind a being to Sarpsara Fall off : he is called a son of Buddha

And in this world revered by men and gods.

And (III zs)

In the family of Buddha have I been born Today; I have become a Buddha-son.

In the Gatt¢avyuha (p. 494) :

Oh son of a noble family, an enlightened attitude is like the seed of all

Buddha qualities. As it makes the good qualities of beings grow it is like a field; as it is a support for the whole world it is like the earth; as it abolishes all poverty it is like VaisravaD-a (the god of wealth) ; as it protects all Bodhisattvas it is like a father; as it grants all desires it is like the \iVishFulfilling Gem ; as it perfects all aspirations it is like an auspicious jar.

And in the Rajavavadaka :

Your Majesty, you are fully occupied with your many duties, and while you cannot practise the perfections beginning with liberality and ending with an appreciative-discriminative understanding, in each and every way, at least aspire for an enlightened attitude, have faith in it, strive for it, pray for it, and whether you walk, stand, sit, rest, wake up, eat or drink, constantly and always be mindful of it and make it a life-experience. Gather all the roots of the good pertaining to Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Sravakas, Pratyekabuddhas

and ordinary beings, of your own past, future and present, and reJOice in measuring and counting them. The best way to do so is to let this joy attain the highest pitch and become as pervasive as the sky and as intensive as the feeling experienced when one has passed beyond suffering. After that make offerings to all the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Sravakas and Pratyekabuddhas. Then do the same to all other beings. Then thrice a day direct this good to unsurpassable, truly perfect enlightenment so that all sentient beings may attain omniscience and all Buddha qualities become perfect. Your Majesty, if you do so, not only will your affairs of state not suffer, but all that pertains to enlightenment will be accomplished. Your Majesty, when your Karma permeated by the good of a truly enlightened attitude ripens you will be born many times among gods and men, and everywhere, be it among gods or men, you will be a ruler. But, Your Majesty, at present it is unknown whether your Karma due to the good of an enlightened attitude is deficient or replete. Anyhow, Your Majesty, by merely attempting an unsurpassable truly enlightened attitude in order to deliver all sentient beings, to free them and to make them breathe freely and to liberate them from suffering, countless and immeasurable foundations of good are accumulated. What more is there to be said and done ? Thus it has been stated repeatedly in many Siitras, and Tsong-kha-pa said in this connection 1 :

An enlightened attitude is the foundation of the finest road ;

The ground and support of far-reaching moral conduct (for which) the two

Accumulations, like that stone of the philosophers,

Are a treasure of virtues in which the highest good is found. Knowing this, the heroes, the sons of Buddha treasure this precious J cwel of a mind as the source of true spirituality.

By virtue of being supported by such an attitude, whatever good may have been done, even the most minute, it will not become exhausted but will grow until the goal, Buddhahood, has been reached. But if there is no enlightened attitude, you cannot set out on the Mahayana path however much you may busy yourself with contemplative exercises that relate to such topics as structure, motility, and creativity 2• Rather,

The meditation topics mentioned (structure (1'tsa, nar;li), motility (rlung, vayu) and creativity (thig-le, bindu or tilaka in Buddhist Sanskrit) are not ends in themselves, rather they are means to overcome the preoccupation with things. Linguistic translations render these operational terms by 'veins', 'vital air' and 'seminal drop'. In so doing they fail to understand the intentional meaning of these highly technical terms. I do not deny that these terms may sometimes mean what the


your good dwindles, as a rule, and often becomes exhausted. But even if this should not be the case there is apart from following the Hinayana path no chance of entering the Mahayana fold. This is stated in the Bodhicaryavatara (I rz) :

All other good is like a weed,

For when it has born fruit it fades ;

But the tree of enlightenment grows slow

And sure and does not wither when it fruits.

In the M atisagarapariprcchasutra :

Drops of water falling in the ocean

Are not lost as long as the sea remains ;

So the good directed to supreme enlightenment Will not lessen 'til enlightenment is won.

And Nagarjuna said:

How can you become a Bodhisattva If you followed the Hinayana path

And have not been instructed in his aspiration Or how he dedicates his conduct (to enlightenment) ?

Since this has been expressly stated in many Sutras and Sastras, Tsong-kha-pa declared 1 :


quantitative language of the physical world points to, but this reduction of technical terms to physical (and physiological) counters overlooks the fact that terms have no meaning in themselves but are noises used by someone to refer to something. Just to look in a dictionary and find that this or that word means this or that is to be naively ignorant of meaning and to be too lazy to find out what was the intention of the person who used the term. As to the systematic ambiguity of the words 'meaning' and 'means', which has caused so much harm to a proper understanding of alien thought, see L. S. Stebbing, A Modern Introduction to Logic, Methuen & Co., London 1953, pp. 499 seqq. A detailed analysis of the import of what is pointed to by 'structure', 'motility', and 'creativity' is given in my The Life and Teaching of Naropa, pp. 149 seqq.

The meditational body-image indicated by the term rtsa is radically different from our ordinary body-image; it indicates 'structure' rather than anatomical sections. Similarly, rlung relates to the vibrations that pass along the structured paths; it is not identical with breath or breathcontrol which may assist in focusing one's attention on bodily sensations for their exteriorization. Lastly, thig-le is rather a feeling of expanding and of seeing in a new light and order, as it is felt when life is pulsating in fullness and freshness ; a feeling that can be compared only inadequately with the exultation of the orgasm. 1 Tskhp XIII 172a; XIV I , 87b.


It is not enough that the religion is Mahayanist; the individual himself must become a Mahayanist. Since to be a Mahayanist depends on an enligh­ tened attitude, your being one is proportionate to your understanding of this attitude. If this attitude is complete in all its aspects, so will be the Mahayanist. Hence you have to strive for it. Therefore, according to the statement in the bKa' -gdams blo-sbyong, which says that Two things have to be done in the beginning and the end, it is of the utmost importance to strive to develop a precious enlightened attitude at the very beginning of your spiritual life ; and so also the venerable

bLo-bzang chos-kyi rgyal-mtshan said 1 :

From now until enlightenment,

Whether you live one year, one month,

But starting now this day or night,

Kill the chance of there arising the major and attendant States of emotion that the belief-in-an-ens has caused; Again and again remember to devote yourself to practising The development of two kinds of enlightened attitude, Their stability and growth by deed, by word, by thought.

That is, as soon as you get up in the morning you should cease completely to be concerned with this life, hold firmly to an enlightened attitude, and remind yourself strongly to do your work, as long as you live, this year, this month, and particularly, these twenty-four hours, in a spirit benefitting sentient beings. At the same time you have to envisage clearly the desire to do everything for the sake of sentient beings, whether you walk, sit, rest or stand. When you do so, the words of the Samadhirajasutra apply: However much yuo think of Him,

While with Him stay these thoughts, in Him

Rests the mind. And thus you are Aw are of Sakyam uni

Whose qualities of body and of spiritual knowledge

Cannot be measured. When constantly you have practised this, To it is your mind attuned.

Wheter you sit, stand or rest

For the Buddha-awareness

You yearn, for enlightenment you pray, Desiring to conquer the whole world.

1 The two kinds of an enlightened attitude are the conventional one of intending to find Buddhahood in order to become a living example to others in their attempt to set out on the path of integration, and the ultimate one of realizing the nonexistence in truth of all that is with the coimplicate of its apparitional presence.

III

And, Pure in body, speech and mind He recites the Buddha's names. By training thus his mind, each day And night he sees the Lord of the world. Should he feel ill or despondent, Or that the pains of death approach He will not lose sight of the Buddha, he will Not be overcome by feelings of distress. There are countless passages to this effect. Since, whether you start from the Siitras or Tantras, a precious enlightened attitude is the very life of the Mahayana path, only an outline of it could be given here. The way to develop and cultivate such an attitude is detailed in the Byang­ chub lam-rim to which you should refer .

The necessity to strive for the awareness of the profound middle view as the true cause for the realization of the ultimate existential norm, is stated by Nagarjuna :

There is no other way

To freedom but the one Followed surely by all Buddhas, Pratyekabuddhas and Sravakas.

This is to say that any goal attainable within the three spiritual courses can be reached only by this 'middle view'. And to call the culmination of intelligence 'mother' means that when this profound middle view is practised in unity with an enlightened attitude, it becomes the cause of Buddhahood by proceeding along the Mahayana path ; but when you practise it through the three disciplines , without an enlightened attitude, the Hinayana goal is attained. To give an example, when a female cohabits with various males the child born is determined by the status of he who begot it • Therefore the M ahiiyanottaratantrasastra (I 34) says :

Aspiration for the highest way is the (causal) seed ; Intelligence is the mother bearing Buddha-qualities. Here the enlightened attitude is likened to a father's seed and the intelligence which intuits no-thing-ness to the mother 1• Just as to produce a child a father and mother are both necessary, neither being able to do so alone, so for the birth of Buddhahood both an enlightened attitude and the middle view are necessary, for neither can effect this alone. And

so Tsong-kha-pa said 2 :

If by intuition one cannot understand that which Being is,

However much one may withdraw from the world and win enlightenment, One never will cut off Sarp.sara's root.

Strive then to understand the relative.

What, then, is this profound middle view ? It is the intelligence which intuits no-thing-ness or the true existentiality of all that is. And how can this existentiality (be described) ? A Sutra answers :

Deep, peaceful, beyond all judgment, abstract And radiant - like nectar have I found it.

Even if pointed out n:me can understand it

Discursively. \Vhere you cannot speak, be silent.


courses its objective reference is sunyatii, no-thing-ness. That which is discerned as non-existing is different with the three courses and is determined by the 'enlightened attitude', which distinguishes a 'saintly person' from an ordinary man. For the Sravakas it is the non-existence of a Self, be this a Pure Ego or a Central Event; for the Pratyekabuddhas the non-existence of external objects in addition; and for the Mahayanists (Bodhisattvas) the non-existence in truth of all that is. This goal-consciousness together with the readiness to be there for others is the real differentiating factor. See Tskhp XIV 1, 88b.

1 In Tskhp II 2, 2o7b seq., Tsong-kha-pa says : "Since the discriminative acumen which immediately apprehends no-thing-ness, like a mother, is the common cause for bringing four sons (i.e., the four philosophical schools of the Vaibhaikas, Sautrantikas, Vijfianavadins and Madhyamikas) into the world, one speaks of it as 'Mother' (yum), and since an enlightened attitude is the specific cause of Buddhahood, it has been many times likened to a father's (yab) seed. The reason for calling a man in whose mind that which prevents him from falling into the Hinayana is present, a Buddha-son, is precisely this presence of an enlightened attitude. Hence to the best of one's ability one should try to have such a precious enlightened attitude come about, if it has not yet done so; to have it continue if it has already come about; and to have it develop more and more if it continues. Then it will have to be taken as the starting-point of one's practice. If only lipservice is paid to it the whole Mahayana becomes a farce ; but if it is something genuine Mahayana will be genuine".

2 Tskhp II 2, 231a seqq.

And Nagarjuna said 1 : No-thing-ness conceived wrongly Destroys those with little minds Like a snake grasped by the tail Or a spell when wrongly used. Since the unintelligent Ever find this teaching hard,

Buddha was reluctant To divulge it to them. As, then, the profound existentiality of all that

is is difficult to understand, how can people as dull as I be expected to decide that it is this or that ? Nevertheless, I will try to explain it a little as I have heard it from my noble Gurus who are in the spiritual tradition. 

Candrakirti once said :

I bow down to him who feels compassion for the beings Who are as powerless (to act) as a water-mill 2• Attached to a self by the mere index

'I' they have concretized it as a 'Mine'.

And in his Prama1Javarttika he said:

If there be an 'I' then there is a 'Thou'

And from the 'I' and 'Thou' come lust and hate, From the two together All evil has been born. It is certain that we beings of the three worlds roam about in Samsara with no independence left, suffering unbearable misery. This fact ultimately is reducible to the deceiver 'Belief-in-an-ens', and, therefore it is necessary to find a way to expose him. But as we cannot do thjs in the way we extract a thorn from our flesh, we have to destroy his sham

1 Mulamadhyamakakarika XXIV r r-12.

2 In Tskhp XVI r, 13ab six reasons are given for comparing man's life with a water-mill : (r) men are tightly fettered by their karmic acts and emotional upsets; (2) they are urged on by consciousness which is like the man operating the water-mill; (3) without interruption they go up and down in the well of Salflsara; (4) without efforts on their part they fall into evil forms of life, but it is hard work to be pulled up to higher forms ; (5) although the chain of interdependent origination can be divided into three sections relating to emotional dispositions, karmic acts, and emotively toned responses, it is impossible to say where the one ends and the other begins; and (6) every day man's life becomes disordered by three types of misery. - Considering these three types of misery see note 3, p. 83.

fortress by recognizing the faultiness of this straying into bad thinking and dismantle its stronghold by finding genuine certainty about reality. This is done thus : If you are afraid that there is a scorpion in your house you do not feel at ease until this fear has been removed and so you have to do something to dispel it. However, you cannot do so merely by thinking that there is no scorpion in the house. You have to search all the nooks and corners with your eyes wide open and when you have convinced yourself that there really is no scorpion, your former apprehensiveness and terror are overcome. This simile points out that the belief-in-an-ens, our ego, has to be refuted because from beginningless time until now our mind, which has been taken in by and desires the phenomenon of the 'I' as something true with regard to our psycho-physical constituents, has brought us misery. However, this belief is not refuted by sitting idle and stopping all discursive reasoning by not thinking at all. You must become certain that an 'I' does not exist in truth as a separate entity. It cannot be denied that even in our dreams we are clearly aware of ourselves as '1', 'I'. If, however, we investigate this phenomenon of dreaming we find that the fact of the 'I', as being true in connection with the psychophysical constituents, appears to be an established fact, and not a projection of this wandering of the mind. Having been taken in by and wanting this phenomenon, the mind is hopelessly bewildered through the 'belief-in-an-ens' or 'I'. If the 'I' in this process of appearing is with the psycho-physical constituents, we must ask ourselves whether our body or our mind is this 'I' or whether it exists apart from them. If the body is the 'I', it should end when the body is cremated after death. (This is not the case, as each new existence is tied up with the 'I') 1, hence the body is not the 'I'.

If the mind is the 'I', I should not be susceptible to ailments, burns and wounds, because mind is not something that can be set afire or be burnt to cinders. But this is contrary to common experience. Furthermore, it would be meaningless to say: 'my mind', just as it is nonsense to say: 'the I of the I'. When I say 'my mind' I have the idea that 'I' am the owner and the 'mind' is my property. If the mind were the 'I' this

1 In Tskhp XVIII 7, 4b, Tsong-kha-pa declares that if one holds to the view that the 'I' ends with the cremation of the body, then the axiom of life continuing through various forms would be meaningless. The same statement is found in Khg X 3, 3b. That the axiom of repeated existences does not necessarily imply the existence of an 'I' or 'Pure Ego' is clearly stated in Zhdm 2o1b.

could never happen. To illustrate this point : when you say 'the ornaments of a woman', the woman appears to be the owner and the ornaments her property. It is meaningless to say that the woman is the ornaments. If the 'I' exists apart from the body and mind, it ought to be demonstrable as this or that after the body and mind have been separated. Since this is not the case, the 'I' does not exist apart from the body and mind. ' ' When, in spite of your search, you have been unable to find an I , you have become absolutely certain that an 'I' does not exist in truth as such, by itself apart from being used as an index with which to label the psycho-physical constituents. This is called the 'profound mjddle view'. It is possible to think of many other similes to illustrate this point and so there are a great many ways to bring this certainty about. Since my Gurus, the lords of saintly sages, have said that there are many other means to overcome this belief-in-an-ens or ego, a few similes may be given :

(I) If you travel over a wide plain and see three scarecrows in the distance you may have the illusion of these scarecrows being three men. This illusion does not manifest itself as a projection of your mind but as the perception of some persons in the distance. If, moreover, they appear to move about you become afraid that they are robbers or take them for fellow-travellers. When you have come nearer and look them over properly you see that they are but stones and heaps of straw, and you become thoroughly convinced that they are not men. Similarly, although for us the 'I', mountains, fences, palaces, and houses appear to be true as real objects, by the instruction of a Guru we become convinced that if we search with clear reason we find that nothing exists in truth except the set of postulates in use.

(n) When horses, oxen, and other natural things appear in our dreams, not knowing them to be created by our minds, we believe that they are there as real objects and we experience a variety of joys and sorrows, affections and a versions. If we examine this when we wake up we become convinced that there have never been any horses or oxen apart from the fact of our dreaming. Similarly the idea of an 'I' and 'he' or 'she', 'friend' and 'enemy', are but manifestations of our own ignorant erring minds, and we should become accustomed to think that there is not a single entity existing in truth as such. (In) When in the twilight we walk along a road and see a dusty rope we may have the illusion of a snake, and since this illusion does not manifest as a projected creation of our mind but as if a snake were coming

toward us as a real object, we feel terrified and worried; but if in order to dispel this fright we take a lamp and investigate with our eyes open, we see that what frightened us is but a dusty rope and we become convinced that apart from the illusion there is no snake at all. In the same way we have the idea of an 'I' or of our body, this idea does not come as a postulate but as a solid objective fact. On account of this we develop love and hate towards that which seems to be acceptable or unacceptable ; through love and hate we accumulate Karma and through the power of Karma we wander about in Sarp.sara with no independence left, and experience many sorts of misery. When you have investigated this matter with the help of a Guru's instruction and have become convinced that the 'I' apart from being a postulate or index does not exist as it seems to do, you still must think further about it. In order to corroborate this matter so as to help the development of this certainty the following quotations will serve. It is stated in the A .tasrihasrika: The belief in an 'I' and a 'Mine' makes sentient beings roam in Sarp.sara.

In the commentary of the Catu(l,sataka :

It is certain that 'existence' due to a positive fiction and 'non-existence' due to a negative one do not exist as such by virtue of an essence through

which they are what they are, but only like a coiled rope labelled a snake.

In the Lam-rim chen-mo :

That which exists as a substantival constituent or an essence without having been posite by a mind, is called 'ontological status' or 'being-itself'. Its non-existence with regard to the specific reference 'individual' is called 'the non-existence of a self as an absolute principle', and regarding such references as eyes, ears and other physical constituents, it is considered as 'the non-existence of the entities of reality as absolute principles'. The belief in such 'being-itself' existing with reference to any thing can easily be underswod as the belief in the two forms of an ens (psychological and physical). The great rGyal-ba dbEn-sa-pa declared:

The immediate appearance of an 'I' as agent is the perverse appearanceprocess of this very phenomenon. Since it is found with all beings of the world it is called the 'co-mergent belief' in existence being true in itself. It is also belief in something entitatively absolute as well as a belief-in-an-ens. It is referred to by the term 'that which is to be refuted'. II7

Further, he said:

Oral precept is the Guru's direct instruction about the proper procedure which leads to the experience of what is meant by the scriptures instead of letting oneself be fettered by their wording. When you have become acquainted thoroughly with all that has been explained previously, you should take up the meditation posture called the 'seven points' as described in the ·rNamsnang 1, and relax your mind in a condition where no projective postulations occur. When in this state if you watch how the projective-postulational activity sets in when the idea of the 'I' has risen, you (will realize) how the terms self-evidence, factuality, being-itself, and other labels have been used in connection with the appearance of the 'I' as a self-evident and factual object before the mind. And,

If you investigate existentiality or the being-itself of all phenomena linked up with the belief-in-an-ens and the (attendant) belief in a 'Mine', they turn out to possess no criteria for existence in truth and as such because they are void of a truth-principle, and so are like empty space. For instance, white, black, and other kinds of clouds appear in the sky and, in the end, not being

something permanent, they vanish. In other words the truth-nothingness of clouds is void of any truth-principle. Similarly, all common appearances due to this belief in a self and in a 'Mine' disappear upon investigation and are like empty space, being nothing (in themselves) and yet true without being something that exists in thruth. Just as clouds gather by chance, so all the entities of Sa:rp.sara and Nirvana, the belief-in-an-ens and in a 'Mine' are like an apparition, appearing under specific conditions but being nothing as such. Further,

For us beings of the world all external things do not exist in truth by themselves apart from being postulated as existing. When we become aware of them they seem to exist in truth by themselves, and we, according to this apparent mode, develop an unfortunate love for ourselves and hatred for others and other sundry emotions, and experience various kinds of misery through them in Sa:rp.sara. How is this non-existence in truth of things to be demonstrated ? Four logical procedures 2 apply here : the certainty of the ap-

1 This is the V airocaniibhisambodhitantra in which the postures of the body for fruitful meditation are discussed, such as sitting cross-legged, straight and so on.

2 Meditation as a means towards goal-achievement must be done with the help of 'intelligence' and not by merely staring empty-minded into empty space. 'Intelligence', which in the Buddhist sense of the word always relates to man's existence and not to solving tasks the solution of which is already at hand, works best when properly trained by 'logic'. Unfortunately the term 'logic' is likely to raise a serious misunderstanding because it is almost exclusively understood to refer to a mathematical ('symbolic') treatment of a subject matter. 'Logic' in

pearance of that which can and is to be refuted ; the certainty of the principle of entailment; and the certainty of the principles of neither singularity nor plurality. Through these four principles certainty about the non-existence of any thing in truth is achieved. The first principle states : When you have relaxed your mind in a condition of peace and tranquillity so that no projective postulations occur, cognition clears, becomes radiant and translucent. Out of this condition of peace the idea of the 'I' may rise by itself or it may be made to rise. At the same time as this idea stirs, the mode of its arising must be understood.

The venerable bLo-bzang chos-kyi rgyal-mtshan said:

Whatever appears for us ordinary beings as the manifestations of Sa11s1 ara and Nirvana with its 'I' and so on does so as if it were independent, inasmuch as it is a self-evident objective reference. The belief that it exists as it appears is precisely that which has to be refuted. When you are certain of this you have to think that whatever appears in general and as an object before the mind in particular, appears so in relation to many factors. The essence of any instruction is the preservation of the continuity of this conviction by intelligent inspection which reveals that appearance and appetance do not exist in truth.

And in the dGa' -ldan bka' -brgyud rin-po-che' i bka' -srol phyag-chen yang-gsal sgron-me we read :

For us, when we are not subject to the naive belief in things, all entities should appear merely as postulates or names. That this is not the case is due to the deceptive activity of the demon 'Un-knowing' through which the existentiality (of that which is nothing as such) appears in the perverted form (of being something as such) and through addiction to this perversion we accumulate Karma. Through the power of Karma we roam about in Sai!lsara and suffer all sorts of misery. To put things bluntly : This mode of appearance and of appetance is called the appearance of that which is refutable or the appearance of something existing in truth, and the belief in things as existing in truth or appetance respectively.

Buddhism is an instrument of knowledge and its adequacy is appraised in terms of the real which is known through this instrument. The difference in meaning of the word 'logic' in Buddhism and in modern Western philosophy lies in the fact that in Buddhist logic the discipline is adapted to its subject matter, while in modern mathematical logic the subject matter is subordinated to the tool. See the trenchant critique by Henry Babcook Veatch, Intentional Logic, New Haven. Yale University Press. I952, passim. The four logical procedures outlined in the text can only be applied when the state of tranquillity has been achieved, because tranquillity facilitates 'insight' and 'logical' investigation. See Ktsh I87b; Khg VII II, zb.

From the lTa-ba'i nyams-mgur :

\i\'hen the mind has been disturbed by the demon 'Belief-in-Things' It postulates perversions and then becomes involved in them. Through this power you differentiate between the self and others, Through Karma and emotive states you wander in Sarp.sara. If the foe 'Belief-in-an-ens' is not deprived of life By the sharp sword 'Understanding-essentiality', In this ocean of the world in which it is so hard To live, this great round of misery will never end. And,

When you look into the face of what appears to be You will know it to be unstable and deceptive. ·when you cognize it, truth's face is revealed : the mind Stands naked of its veils deprived, - nothing as such.

All acts, whether pure or defiling, indivisibly do Blend together in the sphere of ultimate reality.

The path free from assertion and negation winds on as good And evil to be done or shunned by a discerning mind. And,

If the enchanter 'Belief-in-an-ens' has entered once Your heart, you overestimate yourself without restraint

As to your status, you are (at once) tormented by

Those devilish views, eternalism and nihilism ;

You are afflicted by diseases, the fevers and chills of love and hate; You suffer from blood-streaked diarrhoea and vomit all your evil deeds. Again and again life frustrated is in higher forms And a vast mass of suffering met with in the world. In view of this your tears should flow, despondent, To be pitied, you should take fright and recoil. But when you see what is as such, Laugh, be happy and contented. And,

From the time without beginning until now

This demon has (long) dwelt within my heart:

That which has no self for self has been taken. Deluded by the guiles of a quick profit

For times that are countless I have burned in hell. Today through the Guru's favour I have seen The real nature of mind, beyond assertions.

Now that I have seen the lure of 'Belief-in-an-I', that foe

And that enchanter, the young groom called 'Cognition Self-arisen' And the sweet bride 'Reality' have met in radiant bliss.

The marriage of appreciation and cognition, blending with blissful awareness and the real

That can be known, is the glorious friendship that need not be consummated and never can be split

And,

I looked at all beings and all realms as friends And when I thought of all their being, my mind Became intoxicated by the wine of 'Belief-Things'.

I tired of winnowing the chaff, of the non-existence

Of deeds and effects, but when I saw they were related I rejoiced and felt compassionate in this round of forms.

Those whom the demon 'Belief-in-an-I' ensnares May well believe in what appears as really true. But when reason and revelation clear the mind

And the eye discerns the Real, you see the object Of your desires brought like a flower in the sky By that great enchanter 'Belief-in-an-ens'.

Having twisted the truth of an 'I' into truth absolute,

This old heap that is myself, causing so much regret, Today has vanished into the sphere of no-thing-ness.

If you are certain about existentiality in the sense that an 'I' or self does not exist in truth, all the other entities of reality are easily understood to be of the same nature by the same logic, and certainty about the real existentiality of all that is is quickly won. As is stated in the Samadhirajasutra :

When you know the 'I' Try all else to know. That which all things are Like the sky is pure. All is known through one, By one all are seen. When one thing is seen Aryadeva said:

So is all the rest. The no-thing-ness of one Is no-thing-ness of all. Against this the objection might be raised that if all things are mere fictions they do not exist at all. This is not the case : I and all the other entities exist, but not as they appear to do through the bewildering workings of the mind. How then do they exist ? They exist only in so far as

they are names, indexes, and labels. For instance, when different pieces of wood are joined together in a certain way we speak of a cart and by this label the cart is said to exist and thereby exerts its efficacy. Similarly the combination of a body and a mind is given the label 'I' or 'self' and only in this respect does the 'I' exist, capable of accumulating Karma and experiencing joys and sorrows as its result. This allocation of Karma and its result to a mere label is very difficult to understand and as long as you are not clear about it you have not won the 'middle view'. Such are the words of my venerable Gurus. This also is what the Buddha wanted to convey, as explained by Nagarjuna and his disciples, and this unquestionably is what Tsong-kha-pa and his disciples mean.

The A navataptapariprcchasutra states :

That by conditions caused has never come about, For in it nothing comes about by being this. All that depends on conditions is nothing. Nagarjuna declared:

Origin through relations is

The Buddha's rich, profound treasure.

Candrakirti asserted :

Since things are caused by that to which they are related, Their presence does not stand investigation. This logic inherent in the relative

Destroys countless webs of erroneous views.

Tsong-kha-pa himself declared 1 :

It is not difficult to understand, when one critically examines the matter, that there is nothing which lasts as an object existing through a principle by which it is what it is, and that everything appears by way of relations is merely ephemeral like mist. The real difficulty, since the above features apply to the smallest items which have been revealed by the Madhyamika philosophy to be non-existent as being-itself, is to abolish this (assumption of a) being-itself in all its ramifications, and to have this certainty that the individual, who is nothing in himself, is the perpetrator of acts and the receiver of their results. Since these two features, non-existence in truth and apparitional existence, are rarely realized, the middle view is so difficult to win.


And ,

All the frailties of the world Are rooted (deep) in ignorance : That which destroys all when seen Relativity is called. How can a thinker Not become convinced

About the most important truth that you have taught : The path of relational origination ?

If so, when praising you, the Lord,

Who will not feel Of wonder full About relativity ?

What deeper and more wondrous ways

Are there but to say : whatever Depends upon conditions Is void of any being ?

And ,

He who sees that all things in Sa111sara and Nirvana Are infallible in their cause and in their effect And in whom all preconceived ideas have vanished, Has set out down the path in which all Buddhas delight.

As long as the twin ideas of appearance, infallible in the relative,

And of no-thing-ness that cannot be described, are separate, the Buddha's message

Has not been understood. But when certainty In which there is no belief in things prevails, By seeing all at once and not alternately

That relativity is most infallible,

The philosophical search comes now to an end.

The venerable bLo-bzang chos-kyi rgyal-mtshan said :

By looking at the things of Sa111sara and Nirvana One sees that the cause-effect relation Is most infallible and subtle.

Like a rainbow in the sky where walk

Immortals, appearance and no-thing-ness are not an alteration : The sphere, pure and free at first from straying into the belief in truth And the relation between cause and effect are infallible.


The middle path of unity knows, indeed, no bounds. Through your favour I have found This path, you second Buddha. And,

Things by name are devoid of truth, but in a game Of cause and effect appear as truth and naught.

By the Guru's favour (alone) is found the path

Where no-thing-ness and cause-effect united lie.

Ah, from dangers of eternalism and nihilism is this path free.

And, In Sarpsara and Nirvana

There are no things except This game of naming them and so vVe have no fear of birth and death.

\Vhen never finding rest I used to roam, but now have reached The home of peace, no-thing-ness and ambrosial nectar.

When I think of this I see My gracious Guru's work.

A son in spirit of the second Buddha,

I sing this song of Seeing Truth, I amuse Myself on the path with Mahamudra.

If you want freedom, do the same, my friends.

And, \Vhen I, looked at all things as

Appearances deceptive

They could not withstand my scrutiny And thus revealed their double nature.

Although I never doubted this profound being

When I heard the words

'The world has crumbled',

This resounding cry made my mind most happy.

And,

Out of a play that has no being in itself, appeared A many-coloured picture of all the good and evil.

In Sarpsara and Nirvana

I have seen nothing that was not A mere postulate or label. And,

In Sarpsara and Nirvana be not caught by the appearances Of things, but look at them in all their existentiality.

If you can see the nature of appearance and no-thing-ness,

From eternalism and nihilism will you be free. I have


Found satisfaction in serving the venerable one who was well Qualified so that the continuance of his favour did not fail.

Thus the support by Sutras and Tantras became stronger And the importance of instruction (far) more rapturous.

If through your good fortune you seek liberation, Look in the face of reality and put your trust

In the famous Guru for whom

Dry prattle is not scholarship

And a life of uneducated practice is not

Worth the name. Extend far your learning and your studies.

If you have become convinced about no-thing-ness through trustworthy revelation and clear reasoning, the actual practice of it derives from the oral instruction. Having first become attracted by the profound path, the union with the Guru, you should bring your body into the proper posture for meditation and develop this certainty through both discursive and intuitive contemplation. My revered Gurus have said that intuition alone is not sufficient. It has been said that this profound middle view is the very life of the path outlined in the Siitras and Tantras, and that in particular the highest Tantras cannot be pursued without this view being present. Therefore, in order to acquire this middle view you first have to remove the blemishes of your karmic actions by making four powerful confessional and expiatory vows 1 and by praying fervently whilst conceiving your Guru and the lordly Mafijughoa as indivisible by nature. Then you must strive to pile up merits and acquire knowledge by a sevenpoint ritual 2 including the offering of a matt4ala, and must purify your actions and observe that to which you have committed yourself. Not only is this of greatest importance, it has also been stated that it is of particular value to recite the profound Siitras that reveal the direct

2 The seven features are : (r) saluting the Guru with folded hands; (z) worshipping him ; (3) confessing whatever evil one has done; (4) rejoicing in the good done by others; (5) requesting the Buddhas in all the regions of the world to turn the 'V\Theel of the Dharma' (i.e., to proclaim their message) ; (6) begging them to stay on in the world and not to pass into Nirvana; and (7) directing everything good one has done to the realization of enlightenment. The preparation of a ma'l;l(lala is an elaborate procedure. The maJ;l(lala represents the whole universe, not only in its physical aspect but also as a psychological attitude. The ma'l;l(lalas found on Tibetan painted scrolls are, so to speak, the blue­ print of the mansion in which the god of one's contemplation lives and of the world in which one sees everything, including oneself, in a light of transfiguration.


meaning of the Buddha's word and thus create a disposition for the middle view to grow, by reading them again and again. To this effect the Samiidhirajasutra may serve :

Know all things to be like this :

A mirage, a cloud castle, A dream, an apparition,

Without essence but with qualities that can be seen.

Know all things to be like this :

As the moon in a bright sky In some clear lake reflected,

Though to that lake the moon has never moved.

Know all things to be like this :

As people who have gone (alone) to mountain solitudes Or forests hear the echo of laughter, songs and weeping, But see not nor hear a thing.

Know all things to be like this : As an echo that derives

From music, sounds and weeping, Yet in that echo is no melody.

Know all things to be like this : Just as you a dream enjoy

But when you wake see nothing,

Only fools will yearn and hanker for this pleasure.

Know all things to be like this :

As a magician makes illusions

Of horses, oxen, carts and other things, Nothing is as it appears.

Know all things to be like this : A young woman in a dream

May see her son both born and dead. Yet when he dies She is sad, while at his birth she was overjoyed.

Know all things to be like this :

As at (mid)night the bright moon

Appears in water crystal-clear, yet There is no moon and grasped it cannot be.

Know all things to be like this :

At noon in midsummer

A man by thirst tormented, marching on, Sees a mirage as a pool of water.

Know all things to be like this :

If in a mirage there's no water


Only fools will want to drink it, For it never can be drunk.

Know all things to be like this :

If you split weeds to find their marrow, You will always fail. In the same way Within and without is nothing. While here only an outline has been given in order to show how necessary it is to learn the union of fitness of action with intelligence and how this can be done, a more detailed account is found in the precious writings of Tsong-kha-pa and his disciples, in the instruction manuals for the enlightenment path, in the basic works of the dGa' -ldan M ahamudra dealing with the ultimate in instruction and in the commentary on it • To sum up : I have written down the essence of what my Gurus taught,

It contains the core of all the Siitras and all Tantras, Of sages sublime and nobles it is the essence spiritual, The best entrance for the fortunate who deliverance desire. I heard it from my Gurus, a treasured gem transmitted By oral teaching from Tsong-kha-pa, that second Buddha,

From rGyal-ba dbEn-sa-pa, that saint of the great Snow Mountains. If I have omitted something or said something that is wrong, Though I have studied much, have reasoned clearly, and have followed Revelation that can be trusted, may all others Who have spiritual vision correct all my mistakes. How can one with little sense like me,

Of all simpletons the simplest, know

The meaning deep and hard to fathom A fool's attempt the sky to measure ? If something good be written here,

As wise and saintly Gurus wrote,

Let discerning people judge and say :

'This man has not disgraced the Teaching'. For this good deed and for all beings' sake

May omniscience be won by all

When, after many (future) lives encouraged by my friends, I shall Have travelled to its end that auspicious path uniting

Fitness of action and intelligence. May I become

The foremost leader to liberate all those in the endless

Dread ocean of Sarpsara swept on by currents turbulent,

By birth, illness, old age and death, to be drowned (at last) By their larmic acts, by storms by their emotions raised. May the thousand-rayed sun of Mafijugho?a's teaching,

The eye that sees and shows the path to countless beings, Shine for ever in the sphere of Buddha's doctrine And then open wide the lotus minds of beings.




Source