Essential Practice: Lectures on Kamalashila's Stages of Meditation in the Middle Way School

220 Pages·2002·2.36 MB·English

by  Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche

by Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche
Translated by Jules B. Levinson
This work is dedicated to the Seventeenth Gyalwang Karmapa, Urgyen Droddl
Trinley Dorje
Introduction I
Technical Note 4
Acknowledgments 5
PART 1: First Treatise on the Stages of Meditation 7
Chapter One: Kamalashila, Compassion, and the Mind of Awakening 9
Chapter Two: Practice 19
Chapter Three: Contemplation 31
Chapter Four: Calm Abiding 43
Chapter Five: Insight 55
Chapter Six: Certainty 65
Chapter Seven: Meditative Stabilization 77
Chapter Eight: The Ten Grounds of Bodhisattvas and the Ground of a Buddha
89
PART z: Intermediate Treatise on the Stages of Meditation roi
Chapter One: Compassion 103
Chapter Two: The Mind of Awakening and the Causes of Calm Abiding 117
Chapter Three: The Causes of Insight 131
Chapter Four: The Selflessness of Persons 143
Chapter Five: The Selflessness of Phenomena 157
Chapter Six: The Six Transcendent Actions 171
Chapter Seven: The Fruit of Realization 187
Notes 199
Glossary 205
List of Works Cited 213
N THE SPRING OF 1988, the Ven. Thrangu Rinpoche traveled from his
home in Kathmandu, Nepal, to Boulder, Colorado, where, at the invitation of the
President and Faculty of the Naropa Institute, he gave a series of lectures on the
Indian master Kamalashila's First Treatise on the Stages ofMeditation in the
Middle Way School. He returned to the Institute in the fall of 1989 and gave a
second series of lectures, this time focusing upon Kamalashila's Intermediate
Treatise on the Stages ofMeditation in the Middle Way School A few words here
may help readers to understand the style of the instructions he gave then and the
style of the translations I have made now.
All sorts of people came to these talks. On any given evening, the listeners
would include students enrolled in the Naropa Institute's program in Buddhist
Studies as well as students focusing upon other areas of the arts and humanities,
faculty representing the full range of the Institute's various departments,
numerous members of Boulder's sizeable Buddhist community, and the merely
curious, carried in by serendipity. Some of those who came to the lectures
brought with them more than a few years of study and practice in Buddhist
communities; some may have known only that a fellow with a big smile had
come a long way to speak freely about wisdom. The diverse audience provided a
responsive canvas upon which to portray the view, meditation, and conduct
taught in the Great Vehicle (mahdydna) of the Buddhadharma.
Aiming to convey a clear and accessible account of Kamalashila's treatises
that would prove handy to practitioners of the Buddhadharma, Thrangu
Rinpoche weaves many layers of scholastic expertise into an unruffled
instruction. Rather than comment closely upon individual words and recalcitrant
passages, he focuses upon the themes of Kamalashila's essays and brings them
into plain view. A reader of Kamalashila's treatises will nevertheless find in
these lectures the precision and guidance required for the navigation of a
complex Buddhist treatise. Thrangu Rinpoche seems to hover gracefully just
above the text, listening carefully to its melody, savoring the beauty and drama
of its story, and then turning to us, his students, with whom he happily shares the
meaning lifted lightly from an ancient heritage. As his translator on the occasion
of these lectures, I marveled as the master worked his art, opening the palm
fully, lavishing treasure upon the unsuspecting, beguiling all, disappointing
none.
In translating these lectures, I have tried to remain faithful to Thrangu
Rinpoche's tone and manner. I started from scratch by listening to the recordings
that were made at the time and translating every word, aiming for accuracy and
completeness. On the next round, I listened to the tapes again and looked hard at
the English; wouldn't it be nice if the pleasure of listening to Thrangu Rinpoche
were to come through? I hope that his many students will recognize the voice of
their teacher in these translations. At minimum, readers will come away with a
sense of how a veteran teacher of the Buddhadharma unfolds a passionate insight
stage by stage.
Thrangu Rinpoche gave the first series of lectures one year after the death of
Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, the charismatic founder of the Naropa Institute
and a lifelong friend of Thrangu Rinpoche, alongside whom he had received
ordination from the Sixteenth Gyalwang Karmapa, Ranjung Rigpe Dorje, at a
young age. As a community, we stepped uncertainly into the void left by the
death of our teacher. We found inspiration in the strength of heart and easy
confidence, both in the Buddhadharma and in us, that Thrangu Rinpoche
demonstrated on the occasion of these lectures; we look for words that will
express our gratitude adequately but fail to find them.
In lecturing on Kamalashila's treatises outlining the stages of meditation
practiced in the Middle Way School, Thrangu Rinpoche remarked that "these
treatises were composed newly in order to help the people of Tibet when the
teachings of the Buddha were initially being established in Tibet. Now, because
the teachings of the Buddha are beginning to flourish in America, I thought it
would be helpful if I were to present these treatises, which are not like others."
Some who study these instructions will be embarking freshly upon this noble
journey. Others may feel that, after an extensive immersion in Buddhist teaching
and Buddhist practice, they have at last come to the beginning of the path. Either
way, a beginner's delight and a beginner's humility fit well with the accessible
and authoritative portrait given here of a bodhisattva's view, meditation, and
conduct. This record of a masterful teacher's instructions will help students old
and new to determine what is essential to the practice of the Buddhadharma and