The Vajra Yana in the Perspective of the Three Vehicles

The teaching of the Buddhas In the kalpa which we live, one thousand Buddhas are said to appear. The first three Buddhas were Krakukandra, Kanaka Muni, and Kashyapa, whose teachings have become blurred.

The fourth one is Shakyamuni Buddha, whose tradition today remains alive.

The teachings offered by these Buddhas are fundamentally identical. All have expounded the Vehicle of the "Listeners" and that of the "Solitary Buddhas" within the framework of Hinayana, as well as the bodhisattva vehicle in the Mahayana, just as the future Buddhas of this kalpa will teach. Because of his aspiration, wishes, and the circumstances of his manifestation, Shakyamuni Buddha differs from other Buddhas for he spread the Vajrayana teachings contained in the tantras on a large scale. As for the disciples, in essence, they present no difference.

All beings have a Buddha potential, the tathagatagarbha.

However, on a more immediate level, because of their respective karma, they have various spiritual capabilities. This explains the diversity of the vehicles. The extent of the Mahayana It would be useless to deny the differences between one vehicle and the other, while the Buddha himself made a strong distinction between Hinayana and Mahayana in a sutra. Mahayana shines like the sun and moon, Hinayana as a spark bursting out of fire;

Mahayana is high as Mount Meru, Hinayana no greater than an anthill; Mahayana is vast as the ocean, Hinayana small as a puddle of water.

Evolution and aspirations Because of these differences, there is the tendency to think that the Mahayana teaching, because of its superiority, should be the only one to be taught, at the exclusion of any other vehicle. From a practical point of view, rejecting Hinayana teachings would deprive us of an approach of great value. Let us suppose that we dress a child in adult clothes. They would not fit, no more than children's clothes would fit an adult. In the spiritual domain, appropriate teachings correspond to various degrees of evolution. We also must consider the diversity of individual aspiration and mentality. Let us take the example of a great restaurant. Theoretically, a dish or a single menu should fulfill its required function, which is to feed those who come there.

Nevertheless, a restaurant displaying a single dish would no doubt have few customers. Stomachs would be filled, but various tastes would not be satisfied. This is why restaurants present a list of various dishes. Even within a family, the children do not like the same food. In all areas, everyone has tastes, likings, inclinations, and this includes the spiritual domain. A teaching must take into account the maturity of disciples, and also their individual personalities.

Approaching refuge The distinction between Buddhists and non-Buddhists resides in taking refuge in the Three Jewels. Buddhists take refuge, non-Buddhists do not. The Three Jewels-Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha-are identical in the Hinayana and Mahayana, but the teachings have some differences in the notion of approaching refuge.

In the Hinayana, one takes refuge for oneself, with the purpose of liberating oneself from the suffering of samsara.

The vision of Mahayana is larger. In the Mahayana, one takes refuge for the purpose of liberating all beings in samsara, or by thinking of all beings as taking refuge at the same time and by doing so, eliminating their suffering. In the Hinayana, the practitioner takes refuge until death occurs, while in Mahayana, it is done until attaining Awakening.

Finally, the Vajrayana offers a unique approach. One takes refuge not only in the Three Jewels, but also in the Three Roots. - the lamas, that is to say, the source lama and the lamas of the lineage, are the root of the grace - the yidams, the root of accomplishments - the protectors of the Dharma and the dakinis, the root of activity that removes obstacles on the path Vajrayana also establishes a distinction among outer, inner, and secret levels of taking refuge. - the outer level refers to taking refuge in the Three Jewels and the Three Roots as they are usually conceived. - the inner level means taking refuge in the source lama considered only as the union of all places of refuge. In this case, the lama's body represents the Sangha, the lama's speech, the Dharma, and the lama's mind, the Buddha. Or, the body represents the lamas, speech represents the protectors and dakinis, and the mind represents the yidams. - the secret level refers to taking refuge in our own mind. This implies that we experience our mind's emptiness as the Absolute body (Sanskrit, dharmakaya), its clarity as the body of perfect experience (Sanskrit, sambhogakaya), and the union of emptiness and clarity as the body of emanation (Sanskrit, nirmanakaya).

Motivations If taking refuge separates Buddhists from non-Buddhists, motivation allows one to distinguish Hinayana from Mahayana. In the Hinayana teaching, one seeks liberation for oneself; in the Mahayana, one seeks liberation of all beings.

Vajrayana does not differ from Mahayana in the approach to motivation, although each approaches the notion of the liberation of all beings from a specific point of view. Indeed, Vajrayana considers that all beings are already Awakened, but they do not recognize this Awakening. What, then, is the real object of compassion? Compassion sees that all beings suffer because they ignore what they truly are, and compassion wishes to rid beings of this ignorance.

Various views The view differs from one vehicle to the other.

The vehicle of the "Listeners," first level of Hinayana, achieves the "nonself of the individual," thanks to mind dwelling in emptiness in the course of the meditation, but it does not perceive "nonself of phenomena."

The vehicle of the "solitary Buddhas" adds to the realization of nonself of the individual, a partial realization of the nonself of phenomena.

The bodhisattva vehicle, in the framework of the Mahayana, professes that all phenomena are only appearances produced by the mind. Phenomena possess no reality in themselves but are similar to dream appearances. A series of twelve traditional comparisons illustrates this vision.

Phenomena are similar to an image in a mirror, the reflection of the moon on water, a rainbow, a mirage, a castle in the sky, and so on. In this perspective, the nonself of phenomena is entirely achieved.

Vajrayana fundamentally summarizes the idea that any manifestation is of the same nature as a dream. It is what is expressed, for example, in the Heart Sutra of the Prajnaparamita.

"Form is empty. Emptiness is form. Emptiness is no other than form. Form is no other than emptiness." This agrees with Vajrayana and Mahayana. Nevertheless, Vajrayana goes further by asserting, Mind innate in itself is Dharmakaya.

Appearances are the luminosity of Dharmakaya.

Vajrayana teaches the union of mind and appearances.

Emptiness is achieved in this union.3 Appropriate treatments Differences that we emphasized between the vehicles do not mean that some vehicles are important, and others negligible. Once again, all have their place, because they answer to a variety of situations, aspirations, and capacities. Although medicines serve to eliminate illness, the same treatment is not given to all the sick people. Similarly, Buddha's teachings are all beneficial, but the context or individual aptitudes make it preferable to present one vehicle rather than another. People who may be healed by the Hinayana must take Hinayana.

Others must take Mahayana, while others the Vajrayana.