On January 16 next year at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa in Italy, Geshe Jampa Gyatso will begin to teach An Ornament for Clear Realizations (Abhisamayalamkara), the first of the sutra and tantra texts included in the FPMT’s seven-year Master’s Program, devised by Lama Thubten Yeshe and adapted by Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Geshe-la, with his more than 20 years of experience teaching Westerners, is known for his great depth of knowledge of the Buddhist scriptures as well as his down-to-earth approach to the presentation and practice of Dharma. Widely respected by his Tibetan colleagues, he is the holder of a lharampa geshe degree from Sera Je Monastery, a ngagrampa geshe degree from Gyume Tantric College, and an acharya degree from the Sanskrit University of Varanasi in India. Well aware of the too often common fault of not integrating our intellectual knowledge into our daily life, Geshe-la will teach the philosophical and tantric subjects with an emphasis on their relevance to meditation and practice. Ven. Joan Nicell, the coordinator of the Master’s Program, asked Geshe Jampa Gyatso to outline the subjects covered in the texts included in the program and to explain the benefits of studying them.

The main purpose of studying the Buddhist scriptures is to develop good qualities, such as love and compassion, and to eliminate negative emotions, such as the mental poisons attachment, hatred and ignorance, through understanding and applying the appropriate antidotes. Therefore, with this in mind, in addition to teaching the texts in a traditional way, I will also explain how to meditate on the various topics as a means for developing one’s practice of the stages of the path to enlightenment, the lam-rim. In other words, I will try to teach in such a way that the study and understanding of the philosophical subjects will be of immediate and practical benefit.

The purpose of studying Buddhism is to subdue our minds, and the result of study should be that the mind becomes more happy, more relaxed and more satisfied. Study leads to knowledge; without study there is ignorance. Therefore, we need to first study and gain a good understanding of Buddhist teachings in order to be able to then integrate this knowledge into our meditation and practice as a means for subduing our minds. In this way we can attain enlightenment; we can become a holy being such as a bodhisattva; and we can become better human beings, develop a good heart, and take care of others through helping them in turn to develop their minds.

If someone is ignorant, one cannot meditate. The Kadampa geshes have a saying: “Meditating without having listened to teachings is like someone without hands trying to climb a snow mountain.” We need to listen to teachings in order to gain an understanding of the nature of all phenomena and thereby generate the wisdom that arises from thinking. And if we put effort into our meditation practice, we will gain the wisdom that arises from meditation. With these three levels of wisdom we will come to clearly understand the conventional and ultimate nature of phenomena and know how to apply the appropriate antidotes that eliminate our negative emotions.

In our daily life we experience many problems, which come from our negative emotions. Although we tend to think that our problems come from outside, from inanimate objects and from other beings, the main cause of our problems is our ignorance, our ego-grasping, our negative emotions. Therefore, we need to abandon these. This is possible through first studying and gaining an understanding of the Buddhist teachings, then engaging in effective meditation practice, thereby solving our problems from their root.

The first text I will teach will be Abhisamayalamkara, An Ornament of Clear Realizations by Maitreya Buddha, one of the five treatises of Lord Maitreya given in the 2nd century to Asanga in Tushita Pure Land. Since Abhisamayalamkara, which is a commentary on The Perfection of Wisdom Sutras, is said to be the root of the teachings on the stages of path, it is important to combine it with our understanding of lam-rim and to know how to integrate it into our meditation practice and daily life. I will try to teach this in as much detail as I can.

Abhisamayalamkara discusses eight categories and seventy topics. The first category is omniscient mind, and this covers the first ten of the seventy topics. Of these ten, the first is mind-generation, or the mind of enlightenment, the wish to attain enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings, called bodhichitta in Sanskrit and semkye in Tibetan. This is the basic motivation of a Mahayana, or Great Vehicle, practitioner; the name itself indicates the greatness of such a person’s mind, which thinks to take care of each and every sentient being. To practice the Great Vehicle we need to develop the qualities of a Mahayana mind – bodhichitta, or great compassion, and love – and to practice the bodhisattva activities of the six perfections: generosity, morality, patience, joyous effort, concentration, and wisdom, in our daily life.

Of all the texts in the Mahayana Buddhist canon, it is in Abhisamayalamkara that the most detailed explanation of the spiritual paths and grounds is given. Therefore, by gaining an understanding of Abhisamayalamkara in its entirety, our mind will become like a treasure rich in qualities. No one can steal the knowledge and qualities we gain through hearing the teachings. These qualities are likened to a wish-fulfilling jewel; however, such a jewel can be lost or stolen while the wisdom arisen from hearing cannot be stolen by anyone. Wherever you go this wisdom will accompany you.

In addition, if you acquire a good understanding of such texts as Abhisamayalamkara, wherever you go you will be able to teach. And if you are a good, clear teacher, you will not experience any financial problems; therefore study is like a wish-fulfilling jewel by which you can also gain money! In brief, knowledge and understanding of the Buddhist scriptures can lead to whatever one wishes: to a job and money if wishing this, or to enlightenment if wishing that.

The subject matter of these texts is the essence of all Shakyamuni Buddha’s teachings, the three canons or three baskets as they are literally called, which can be synthesized into three categories: the higher training in morality, the higher training in concentration, and the higher training in wisdom. On the basis of morality one can gain concentration, and on the basis of concentration one can gain wisdom. With these three qualities one can gain nirvana, the state of liberation. If in addition we wish to attain buddhahood we can do so by also generating great compassion, love and bodhichitta.

The two main obstacles preventing us from developing our good qualities and attaining the liberated state and buddhahood are self-cherishing, or selfishness, and self-grasping; they prevent us from achieving even the aims of ordinary daily life. Although we do not always recognize it, self-cherishing and self-grasping are the main causes of all our suffering, difficulties and dissatisfaction.

The self-cherishing attitude is the mind that thinks oneself very important while others are not so important. It causes us to put others down, to ignore and neglect them, and to think only of ourselves. Such a selfish attitude is not only bad from the point of view of Dharma but also from the point of view of normal human society. Therefore, we need to reduce self-cherishing, as well as self-grasping, to a minimum and eventually to eliminate them altogether. For this purpose we need to cultivate their respective antidotes, the conventional and ultimate minds of enlightenment. Conventional bodhichitta, which arises from great compassion, love and the extraordinary thought, can eliminate the self-cherishing mind. Ultimate bodhichitta, which in a very simplified way can be said to be the realization of emptiness, eliminates self-grasping.

Self-grasping refers to grasping at a self that is inherently or truly existent. This is a wrong conception that apprehends something that does not exist, namely an inherently existing self. However, this self appears to us to exist inherently, independently and concretely. This grasping at an inherently existent self is eliminated by the realization of emptiness, or selflessness, that is, the realization of the lack of an inherently existent self.

Self is of two types: the self that is an object of negation, that is, an inherently existent self; and a conventional self. The self that is an object of negation, whether it is a self supporting substantially existent self or an inherently existent self, is non-existent. The apprehension of such a self is a mistaken conception that produces negative emotions, which then motivate negative verbal and physical actions, or karma, that lead to suffering in this and future lives. Therefore, since the origin of suffering is self-grasping, we need to eliminate it, and this can be achieved only by meditating on emptiness.

In order to meditate on emptiness, or selflessness, we first need to understand how to do this in a correct way. This understanding can be attained by studying texts such as Chandrakirti’s Supplement to the Middle Way (Madhyamakavatara). We will come to understand what is right and what is wrong; then we can begin to work at eliminating our wrong conceptions and developing right conceptions, eventually realizing emptiness directly and attaining the path of seeing.

Buddhist teachings present five paths: the path of accumulation, path of preparation, path of seeing, path of meditation and path of no-more-learning. The path of accumulation is defined as a clear realization of Dharma. In this context, Dharma refers to the Buddha’s scriptures and the path of accumulation is so-called because it involves accumulating much listening to teachings and study of the scriptures. In other words, we begin our spiritual path by first accumulating much knowledge.

The path of accumulation is followed by the path of preparation on which we prepare to attain a direct realization of selflessness by meditating on it conceptually. With the transformation of this conceptual mind into direct perception one gains the path of seeing. This realization is then cultivated in continuous meditation on the path of meditation.

Familiarity with this clear realization of either selflessness or the four noble truths enables us to gradually abandon the objects of abandonment, the negative emotions, first those of the path of seeing  and then those of the path of meditation. Of the two types of negative emotions, the intellectually formed and the innate, the most difficult to abandon are the innate negative emotions, which are abandoned by the path of meditation. Having abandoned the negative emotions from the root we achieve the path of no-more-learning, so-called because one no longer needs to learn or train because the negative emotions an obscurations have been completely abandoned.

With regard to the two tantra texts included in the Master’s Program, A Commentary to the Tantric Grounds and Paths by Kirti Losang Trinle contains the condensed meaning of Lama Tsong Khapa’s Great Exposition of the Stages of the Path of Tantra (Ngag-rim Chenmo). Therefore, the more understanding one acquires of it, the more understanding one will have of the stages of the path of tantra.

As a basis for tantric practice we need to first develop the qualities of sutra, the lam-rim, by studying and meditating on the paths of beings of small scope, middle scope and great scope. In this way we train our minds to become a suitable vessel for the practice of tantra.

Before beginning to practice tantra it is essential to receive the initiation, or empowerment, of a deity related to one of the four classes of tantra: action tantra (kriya), performance tantra (charya), yoga tantra, highest yoga tantra (anuttarayoga). Of the four types of initiation – vase, secret, wisdom and word – one receives the vase initiation in order to engage in the practice of a deity of action tantra. The vase initiation is further divided into five: the water initiation in relation to Akshobhya, the crown initiation in relation to Ratnasambhava, the vajra initiation in relation to Amitabha, the bell initiation in relation to Amogahasiddhi, and the name initiation in relation to Vairochana. The vase initiation is also divided into eleven or nine initiations in the context of highest yoga tantra.

In terms of action tantra it is sufficient to receive just the water and crown initiations while all five parts of the vase initiation are conferred in the case of a performance tantra initiation. In a yoga tantra initiation one receives all five initiations of the vase initiation with the addition of the vajra master initiation and in a highest yoga tantra initiation one receives all four initiations – vase, secret, wisdom and word – in their entirety.

In the vase initiation the water in the victory vase is generated in the form of Akshobhya father and mother who then melt and become the water, the substance with which one is initiated. All the other initiations are also concluded with a brief water initiation. In the secret initiation one partakes of the special substances of the deity father and mother which generates the great bliss realizing emptiness. In the word initiation the guru explains the unification of clear light and the illusory body, the state of a buddha, whereupon you receive the initiation through generating a profound understanding of the meaning.

Initiation purifies the five aggregates and four elements, which are transformed into deities, and authorizes one to meditation the generation and completion stages. Having trained in the generation stage one goes on to practice the completion stage.

In action tantra the importance of external action or behavior, such as taking care of the body by keeping it clean and eating only pure, or white, food is emphasized as compared to internal meditation; however, in performance tantra meditation and behavior are of equal importance. In yoga tantra both meditation and action are important, but meditation is emphasized, there no longer being any need to depend on particular external behaviors.

Another topic discussed in the context of tantra is that of carrying attachment into the path. Here again there are differences between the four tantra classes. In action yantra one visualizes emanating a wisdom consort and by merely looking at her bliss arises in your mind; this is called carrying the attachment of looking into the path. In performance tantra, you emanate a wisdom consort and then by smiling or laughing at each other bliss arises in your mind; this is called carrying the attachment of laughing into the path. In yoga tantra you visualize holding hands or embracing your consort whereby bliss arises in your mind; this is called carrying the attachment of embracing into the path. In highest yoga tantra you enter into sexual union with your consort thereby generating the bliss realizing emptiness; this is called carrying the attachment of sexual union into the path.

The text by Kirti Losang Trinle also outlines the different types of highest yoga tantra, the father, the mother and the non-dual tantras, and also explains something about Kalachakra.

The second text on tantra included in the Master’s Program curriculum, A Commentary to the Two Stages of Guhyasamaja Tantra by Aku Sherab Gyatso, discusses the generation and completion stages specifically in relation to the practice of Guhyasamaja. It explains how to carry death into the path to the truth body (dharmakaya); the intermediate state into the path to the enjoyment body (nirmanakaya). It also describes how to visualize the mandala of Guhyasamaja – the celestial mansion, the deities within, and so forth. In terms of the completion stage it thoroughly discusses the six branches: the isolation of mind, illusory body, meaning clear light, and the union of clear light and the illusory body.

In order to receive the teachings on A Commentary to the Tantric Grounds and Paths, which includes the condensed meaning of all the tantric teachings, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has said that it is absolutely necessary for the listeners to have received a highest yoga tantra initiation, either that of Yamantaka, Guhyasamaja or Chakrasamvara. To receive the teachings on A Commentary to the Two Stages of Guhyasamaja Tantra one must have definitely received the highest yoga tantra initiation of Guhyasamaja.