The Fourth Chapter of the commentary of the Great Perfection

• bohiruci

  27 Jul 06, 13:18

  A. The brief teaching of the essence.
  
  (i.e. All happiness and suffering come from the mind, from self-conditioning, from accumulating good or bad karma. The message here is that we are conditioned by our past choices, but still have enough freedom to see through it. No total freedom, no total determinism. That is the introductory model; and its problem is "How is individual karma transmitted between lives? What is the support? Is karma individual, or universal?")
  
  Why do these lives of wandering in the sufferings of samsara, each with its own appearances of joy and sorrow appear?
  They occur because of karma:
  
  Thus, Samsára’s heights and depths of pleasure and pain
  Arise from former accumulations of our karma.
  That is how it has been taught by the Sage, the Buddha.
  
  (i.e. Our conditions, our happiness and suffering are not causeless, or the fruits of chance, or decided by an omnipotent god. There is a reason why some people are happy, while some others are suffering a lot. If we observe carefully our actions and their effects we will understand that there is logic of cause and effect. Then we will understand that our own happiness and suffering are caused by our own past actions.)
  
  (i.e. Saleyyaka Sutta - The Brahmins of Sala, MN41:
  
  4. When they were seated, they said to the Blessed One: "Master Gotama, what is the reason, what is the condition, why some beings here, on the dissolution of the body, after death, reappear in states of deprivation, in an unhappy destination, in perdition, even in hell; and what is the reason, what is the condition, why some beings here, on the dissolution of the body, after death, reappear in a happy destination, even in the heavenly world?"
  
  5. "Householders, it is by reason of conduct not in accordance with the Dhamma, by reason of unrighteous conduct, that beings here on the dissolution of the body, after death, reappear in states of deprivation, in an unhappy destination, in perdition, even in hell. It is by reason of conduct in accordance with the Dhamma, by reason of righteous conduct, that some beings here on the dissolution of the body, after death, reappear in a happy destination, even in the heavenly world.")
  
  From the different conditions of beings, different fruitions of their associated karma exist. Many kinds of connection with their happiness and sorrow ripen. The Hundred Actions says:
  
  E ma ho! Karma comes from the world.
  Joy and sorrow are a painting produced by karma.
  The assembly of conditions arises karmically.
  Happiness and suffering are produced by karma.
  
• bohiruci

  27 Jul 06, 13:19

  http://www.buddhistinformation.com/tibetan/greatchariot5-1.htm
• bohiruci

  27 Jul 06, 13:49

  At the very time it is obscured by defilements, its essence is undefiled such-ness. The nature of mind is primordial luminosity. The Gyu Tongpa [30] says:
  
  Mind is not mind. The nature of mind is luminosity.
  
  That is the dhatu of Buddhahood, the gotra or enlightened family, which all sentient beings possess. The Uttaratantra says:
  
  Because the perfect Buddha kaya radiates
  Because of such-ness being inseparable,
  And because of possessing the dhatu every sentient being
  Always possesses the very essence of Buddhahood. (i.e. Possessing the Buddha potential, but not being realized Buddha yet.)
  
  This should be known to be the good dhatu of the Dharma. It is fundamentally enlightened from the beginning. (i.e. The Dharma is not something invented. The wholesome actions are not artificially created. Their basis is the real nature of everything. They seem separate because of our obscurations.)
  
  The Expressor of Marks says:
  
  Buddhahood is without beginning and end.
  The primordial Buddha is without any bias. (i.e. We are not creating a new state, or reaching another shore. We are just realizing our own nature by removing the obstructions (the conditioning) that have been added because of ignorance. Wholesomeness is more in accord with this real non-dual nature than unwholesomeness. Perfecting this wholesomeness is acting like a Buddha.)
  
  The Two Examinations says:
  
  Sentient beings are Buddhas, in actuality.
  But they are obscured by incidental obscurations.
  When these are cleared away, then they are Buddhas. (i.e. When we fully realize our own nature, we will be like a Buddha. When we directly see the real nature of our own mind, and of everything; when we see through all conditioning, see the real nature of samsara and Nirvana, then we are Buddha.)
  
• prajna_garbha

  28 Jul 06, 13:31

  By the coarsened vice and virtue of conceptual desire
  Alaya supports the seeds [10]of constructing what is desired.
  (i.e. The five sense consciousnesses are non-conceptual.
  They only communicate directly with the present.)
  The mental consciousness is the process of analyzing former objects of these or saying,
  "These are the apparent objects of the five gates," when these first arise. It is conceptual.
  Klesha-mind occurs after that, when desire, hatred or indifference (the three poisons)
  arise simultaneously with experience. The kleshas are the emotional conditioning
  based on the belief of inherent existence.
  -- The mind under the influence of conditioning, and producing more conditioning.
  -- The objects of meditation are material and limited objects, objects of the senses, associated with the body.)
  
  Luminous non-thought is reconstructed as form.
  (i.e. The luminous aspect, free from thought, is alaya-consciousness.
  -- The mind in the four Dhyanas, not producing karma, but still subject to karma seeds.
  -- The objects of meditation are immaterial, limited objects, associated with the speech.)
  
  Depending on these seeds there is one-pointed, formless non-thought.
  (i.e. The aspect of non-thought is alaya itself, the such-ness of space.
  -- The mind in the highest formless Dhyana, not producing karma, not subject to karma seeds.
  -- The objects of meditation are immaterial, limitless objects, associated with the mind.)
  
  The removable two obscurations, the nature of samsara,
  Are an essential part of their environment.
  (i.e. But any rebirth in any of these three worlds is still a rebirth in samsara.
  They are all impermanent, unsatisfactory, based on ignorance of the real nature of everything.)
  
  · From the false conceptions of the coarse grasping and fixation of mind, one falls into the good and bad karma of the desire realm.
  
  · If the natural state is not attained in samádhi, meditation in which conceptualization of apparent objects as appearances does not arise, karma collects on top of alaya in the realm of form.