Five Treatises of Maitreya
Five Treatises of Maitreya (Tib. བྱམས་ཆོས་སྡེ་ལྔ་, Wyl. byams chos sde lnga) — the bodhisattva Maitreya, who will be the next buddha after Shakyamuni, transmitted the root teachings to Asanga, who transcribed them as the ‘Five Treatises of Maitreya’.
Among the five, four are classed as shastras (commentaries) proper, and one falls into the class of oral instructions. The four that are shastras are extensive are:
- 1. The Ornament of Clear Realization (Skt. Abhisamayalankara, Abhisamayālaṃkāra; Tib. མངོན་པར་རྟོགས་པའི་རྒྱན་, ngönpar tokpé gyen, Wyl. mngon par rtogs pa'i rgyan).
- 2. The Ornament of the Mahayana Sutras (Skt. Mahayanasutralankara, Māhayānasūtrālaṃkāra; Tib. ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ་སྡེ་རྒྱན་, tekpa chenpö do de gyen, Wyl. theg pa chen po'i mdo sde rgyan).
- 3. Distinguishing the Middle from the Extremes (Skt. Madhyantavibhaga, Madhyāntavibhāga; Tib. དབུས་དང་མཐའ་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པ་, ü dang ta nampar jepa, Wyl. dbus dang mtha' rnam par 'byed pa).
- 4. Distinguishing Dharma and Dharmata (Skt. Dharma-dharmata-vibhaga, Dharma-dharmatā-vibhāga; Tib. ཆོས་དང་ཆོས་ཉིད་རྣམ་པར་འབྱེད་པ་, chö dang chönyi nampar jepa, Wyl. chos dang chos nyid rnam par 'byed pa) is very brief and direct in its presentation and is included within the class of oral instructions.
- 5. The Sublime Continuum (Skt. Uttaratantra Shastra, Uttaratantra Śāstra; Tib. རྒྱུད་བླ་མ་, gyü lama, Wyl. rgyud bla ma).
Overview
Khenpo Shenga[1] says:
Five Treatises of Maitreya: Texts transmitted to Asanga by Lord Maitreya that form the heart of the Yogachara School. These include; the
Jewel/Ornament for Clear/Manifest Realization (Abhisamaya-lamkara),
Ornament for the Mahayana Sutras (Mahayanasutra-lamkara),
Sublime Continuum of the Mahayana (The Mahayana Uttaratantra Shastra or Mahayanottaratantra-shastra,
Ratnagotravibhaga), Distinguishing Phenomena and Pure Being (Dharmadharmatavibhanga), and
Distinguishing the Middle and the Extremes (Madhyantavibhanga).
- "The treatises are:
- The Ornament of Clear Realization, which explains the intent of the sutras teaching profound emptiness;
- The Ornament of Sutras and the two ‘Distinguishing’s, which explain the intent of the sutras teaching the aspect of extensive conduct; and
- The Sublime Continuum, which explains the intent of the sutras teaching the inconceivable nature of reality (dharmata).
- Moreover, these texts were given for the sake of guiding three types of individual:
- The three intermediate treatises of Maitreya were composed for those to be trained through the teachings of the mahayana Mind Only system of philosophy;
- The Ornament of Clear Realization was composed for those to be trained through the teachings of the mahayana Svatantrika system; and
- The Sublime Continuum was composed for those to be trained through the teachings on the mahayana Prasangika system."
Footnotes
- ↑ Prologue to Abhisamayalankara Commentary by Khenchen Shenga
Source
RigpaWiki:Five Treatises of Maitreya
Five Teachings of Maitreya (byams chos sde lnga)
Five teachings that were entrusted to the Indian saint Asanga (thogs med) in Tushita Heaven by the Buddha's regent Maitreya:
- Dharmadharmata Vibhanga - chos dang chos nyid rnam 'byed
- Madhyanta Vibhanga - dbus mtha' rnam 'byed
- Sutralamkara - mdo sde rgyan
- Abhisamayalamkara - mngon rtogs rgyan
- Uttaratantra - rgyud bla ma
Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche explains: "The Ornament of Realization (Abhisamayalamkara) clarifies the Second Turning of the Wheel of Dharma. The next three teachings are general works given to clarify all of Buddha Shakyamuni's teachings. These are called the Ornament of the Sutras (Sutralamkara), Discerning the Middle and the Extremes, and Discerning Dharmas and Dharmata. The fifth work taught by Lord Maitreya truly establishes the Third Turning of the Wheel of Dharma. It is called the Uttaratantra". (Erik Pema Kunsang) The Light of Wisdom, Vol. 1, pgs. 222 & 223. (Erik Pema Kunsang)
