Four Illusions: Candrakirti's Advice for Travelers on the Bodhisattva Path

259 Pages·2003·1.18 MB·English

by  Candrakirti

FOUR ILLUSIONS
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FOUR ILLUSIONS
i
Candrak rti’s Advice for Travelers
on the Bodhisattva Path
Translation and Introduction by
KAREN C. LANG
1

3
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Candrakirti.
[Bodhisattvayogacaracatuh’sataktika. English. Selections]
Four illusions : Candrakiriti’s advice for travelers on the Bodhisattva path ; translations
and introduction by Karen C. Lang.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN---; ISBN --- (pbk.)
. åryadeva, rd cent. Catuòâátaka. . Mådhyamika (Buddhism) I. Lang, Karen C.
(Karen Christine), - II. Title.
BQ.B E
.'—dc 
        
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper

T
his book has had a long gestation period. Its origins began
with my work on Aryadeva’s Catuh1ataka. During my stay in
Dharamsala, India, in 1978, supported by a Fulbright-Hays doctoral disser-
tation fellowship, I benefited greatly from the opportunity to hear Geshe
Ngawang Dhargyey’s illuminating lectures on the Catuh1ataka and rGyal
tshab rje’s commentary. In addition to commenting on many of the stories
Candrakirti included in his text, Geshe Dhargyey supplemented his oral
commentary with some well-chosen stories of his own. Support from an
American Institute of Indian Studies short-term senior fellowship enabled
me to return to India in the fall of 1988 to begin work on a translation of
Candrakirti’s Catuh1atakatika. During this time, I was affiliated with the
Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies at Sarnath, and I am grateful for
the support rendered by Venerable Samdhong Rimpoche and Professor
K. N. Mishra. The first draft of the translations of the first four chapters of
this text was completed during the years 1989–90, thanks to the generous
support of a National Endowment for the Humanities Translation Grant.
This grant enabled me to return to Dharamsala in the fall of 1989, where I
was able once again to have the pleasure of discussing Madhyamaka phi-
losophy with Geshe Sonam Rinchen and Ruth Sonam.
Over the last ten years, parts of the introduction were presented at vari-
ous conferences and colloquiums in India, Europe, and the United States. I
cannot give credit to all the people who have enriched my own understand-
ing of Madhyamaka thought and Indian philosophy, but I would especially
like to thank my mentor David Seyfort Ruegg and two friends from my gradu-
ate school days, Edeltraud Harzer Clear and William Ames. Other friends and
colleagues who have contributed much to my understanding of Indian and
Tibetan Buddhist thought include Georges Dreyfus, Jeffrey Hopkins, Chris-
tian Lindtner, Elizabeth Napper, and Tom J. F. Tillemans. Thanks also to
Cynthia Read for her support in seeing this book through the press, to Mar-
garet Case for her patient and painstaking editing, and to two anonymous
readers, whose perceptive comments have made this a much richer book.
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Abbreviations, ix
Notes on the Translation, xiii
I. INTRODUCTION, 1
1. Travelers on the Buddha’s Path, 3
2. Mortal Bodies, 31
3. The Body in Pain, 50
4. The Danger of Corporeal Passions, 68
5. The King as the Embodiment of Egotism, 88
II. TRANSLATION, 109
6. Rejecting the Illusion of Permanence, 111
7. Rejecting the Illusion of Pleasure, 133
8. Rejecting the Illusion of Purity, 164
9. Rejecting the Illusion of Egotism, 186
Notes, 209
Bibliography, 223
Index, 235
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