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25.Nagarjuna is speaking to a heterosexual king and has in mind a future audience of monks who are assumed to be heterosexual. Thus he refers to the unclean nature of the female body, the object of their attachment. Nowadays society recognizes multiple gender identities and sexual orientations. The main point is to focus on the body of whomever you are sexually attracted to, remembering at the same time that your own body is just as foul.
26.The thirty-two signs were commonly known in Indian culture and their presence was used to confirm someone’s spiritual attainments. Nevertheless, as verse 198 explains, the thirty-two signs of a buddha are unique due to his or her great collection of merit.
27.Khensur Jampa Tegchok’s book Transforming Adversity into Joy and Courage contains clear and practical instructions on how to cultivate bodhichitta, compassion, and wisdom.
III. The Collections for Awakening
7. Joyfully Taking Up the Boundless Work of a Bodhisattva
Nagarjuna stated three main causes necessary to attain the state of peerless awakening: bodhichitta, wisdom free from the two extremes, and compassion. These three causes are precious; Chandrakirti praises them in his salutation for the Supplement by saying:
The hearers and middling buddhas (solitary realizers) arise from the excellent sages; the excellent sages are born from the bodhisattvas;
the compassionate mind and the nondual awareness, as well the awakening mind — these are the causes of the bodhisattva.
These lines are taught and debated extensively and emphasize the importance of practicing these three causes in order to fulfill the collections of merit and wisdom that lead to the attainment of the truth body and form body of a buddha. It is to the topic of the collections of merit and wisdom that Nagarjuna now turns.
FULFILLING THE IMMEASURABLE COLLECTIONS OF MERIT AND WISDOM
201.Great King, listen to the way
in which the signs of a buddha arise
from an inconceivable amount of merit
according to the great scriptures of the universal vehicle.
Exhorting the King to Listen
In the previous chapter, we learned the specific verbal and physical actions that are needed to attain the thirty-two signs of a buddha but not how much virtue is needed or for how long that virtue must be cultivated. Relying on the scriptures of the universal vehicle, Nagarjuna will now explain the limitlessness of the collection of merit.
202.A single pore of a buddha is made
from ten times the following amount of merit —
the total merit from which all solitary realizers have risen,
the total merit that produced all learners and those beyond learning
203.and the total merit of the entire universe,
which like the universe is measureless.
Each pore of a buddha likewise
arises from that much merit.
The Collection of Merit Is Immeasurable
Think of the inconceivably huge quantity of merit there would be if we added together all the merit needed to produce each and every solitary realizer and hearer, along with all the meritorious karma needed for every rebirth as a human being and celestial being. Multiply this by ten and that is the merit needed to receive just one of a buddha’s numberless pores!
204.A single mark of a buddha
is obtained through one hundred times
the amount of merit needed
to produce all of a buddha’s pores.
205.King, that amount of merit
completes one auspicious mark.
Likewise, from that amount of merit
arises each of them up to eighty.
If we compile all the merit required to attain all the pores of a buddha and multiply that by one hundred, that is the merit required for each of the eighty marks of a buddha.
206.A single sign of a great person
comes from one hundred times
the mass of merit
needed to produce all eighty marks.
207.Through a thousand times
the vast merit that causes thirty of the signs,
arises like the full moon
the swirl of hair between the brows.
The merit required for all eighty marks multiplied by one hundred is the quantity of merit necessary to attain one of the Buddha’s signs.
The merit needed for thirty of the signs multiplied by one thousand is the amount of merit necessary for the forehead curl, which is said to be like a full moon.
208.For a hundred thousand times the merit required for the forehead swirl is produced
the protector’s crown protrusion, the top of which is imperceptible.
You should realize that a single Dharma-conch of the One Who Possesses the Ten Powers
arises from the amount of merit that produces the crown protrusion multiplied a million ten million times.28
One hundred thousand times the merit required for the forehead curl is needed to produce the crown protrusion.
The merit required for the crown protrusion multiplied by ten zillion is the amount of merit needed to attain the “Dharma-conch” — a name for the Buddha’s speech that possesses sixty qualities. So much more merit is needed to attain the Buddha’s speech because it is more important to sentient beings than either his mind or body. Through his speech the Buddha performs the supreme activity of teaching the Dharma to trainees and leading us on the path to liberation and awakening.
209.Thus, even though the merit is incalculable,
it is merely said to have a limit,
just as one expresses all the regions of the universe
by subsuming them in the ten [directions].
The Collection of Merit Is Incalculable but Is Taught to Trainees as if Measurable
Although the merit required to attain a buddha’s body is immeasurable, Nagarjuna explains it to us trainees as if it were measurable. Although it is difficult to know exactly the qualities of each sign and how many causes are needed for it, we can be content to understand that in general the merit needed is inconceivable. Some trainees will want to know the cause of each sign in more detail and the amount of merit necessary to attain it, and the above explanation satisfies them. They will be pleased and want to engage in the path. But in truth we cannot grasp the full function of each sign, mark, and quality of the Buddha or the merit necessary to attain it.
The meanings of buddha and arya buddha differ, so some clarification may be helpful. The eighth chapter of Maitreya’s text the Ornament for Clear Realization extensively explains this topic. Buddha is an ultimate quality that has arisen from its cause — the fulfillment of the two collections. Buddha includes the four buddha bodies, and each of the four is buddha. In general, a buddha’s hands, arms, the thirty-two signs, and so forth are buddha, because they are a buddha’s physical qualities. Similarly, the twenty-one unpolluted wisdoms in the continuum of an arya buddha are buddha. They are the ripening result of having meditated for many eons on the unpolluted path.
Arya buddha refers to a person who is fully awakened such as an enjoyment body or emanation body. Not everything that is buddha is an arya buddha. For example, the nature truth body of an arya buddha is buddha but not an arya buddha because it isn’t a person. Likewise a buddha’s physical characteristics, compassion, and wisdom are buddhas, but are not arya buddhas because they are not persons. Shakyamuni Buddha, on the other hand, is both buddha and an arya buddha.
210.If the causes of a buddha’s form body
are immeasurable, like the universe,
how then could the causes
of the truth body be measureable?
The Collection of Wisdom Is Immeasurable
Just as the universe is boundless, the collection of merit that is the principal cause of a buddha’s form body is boundless. Just as the causes of the form body are immeasurable, so too is the collection of wisdom, which is the principal cause of a buddha’s truth body. Immeasurable refers to a quantity
so large that ordinary people cannot grasp, realize, or measure it — it is beyond thought.
211.If in all cases a vast effect arises from a small cause,
then one should cease to believe
that a measurable effect comes
from the immeasurable causes of a buddha.
The Result of the Two Collections Is Immeasurable
An enormous tree, so huge that many thousands of people can sit in its shade, grows from a tiny seed. By extension, unfathomable results can come from a great cause. The collections of merit and wisdom are each immeasurable, and their results are immeasurable. As ordinary beings our minds cannot fathom them. However, the Buddha’s omniscient mind can grasp this.
The qualities of the Buddha are inconceivable. So are the qualities of the Dharma, because practicing and realizing the Dharma enabled him to attain buddhahood and because the Dharma is the most valuable thing he teaches sentient beings. Because the Buddha is the ultimate Sangha member, the qualities of the Sangha are also inconceivable. Whenever, even for a moment, we generate faith in the Three Jewels and their inconceivable qualities, we create a cause to experience an inconceivable ripening result.
212.In brief, King, the buddhas’ form body
arises from the collection of merit,
and their truth body is born
from their collection of wisdom.
213.Thus, these two collections
cause the attainment of buddhahood.
Hence, in short, always devote yourself
to merit and wisdom.
The Results of the Collections
While inconceivable, the virtuous actions required to become a buddha can be subsumed in two, the collections of merit and wisdom. Although the collection of wisdom is the principal cause for the truth body and the collection of merit is the principal cause of the form body, a unified practice of the two collections yields the union of the truth body and the form body.
Practices on the method side of the path — including the determination to be free from cyclic existence and bodhichitta — are called the collection of merit. Practices on the wisdom side, such as meditating on the two kinds of selflessness and the two truths, are called the collection of wisdom. Of the six perfections, generosity, ethical conduct, and fortitude are included in the collection of merit, and concentration and wisdom in the collection of wisdom. Joyous effort, a mind that takes delight in virtue, applies to both, depending on whether the action is method or wisdom.
Because hearers and solitary realizers lack bodhichitta and aspire for arhatship, their accumulations of merit and wisdom are not called the collections of merit and wisdom. To be the collection of merit or wisdom, practices must be motivated by bodhichitta and bear the result of buddhahood. For those who aspire to become a buddha, relying on the two collections is essential. Nagarjuna emphasized this in the dedication in his Sixty Stanzas of Reasoning (verse 60):
Due to this virtue, may all beings complete the collections of merit and wisdom.
May they attain the two buddha bodies resulting from merit and wisdom.
We should always devote ourselves to creating merit and wisdom because the two buddha bodies arise dependent on this. Gyaltsap Je’s commentary to the Precious Garland explains this in more depth, beginning with the syllogism: the subjects, the person and aggregates, do not exist inherently, because they are dependent arisings. The reliable cognizer realizing the thesis (the person and aggregates do not exist inherently) is generated depending on a reason (dependent arising). This reason fulfills three criteria: (1) the presence of the reason in the subject (the person and aggregates are dependent arisings), (2) the pervasion (if it arises dependently, it doesn’t exist inherently), and (3) the counterpervasion (if it exists inherently, it is not a dependent arising).
This syllogism combines the person and the aggregates as the subject. However, when we initially establish emptiness, we do so first on the basis of the person and later the aggregates. Only after realizing emptiness can these two together be the subject of a syllogism. So this syllogism is not meant for initial meditators — it presupposes that the meditator has already realized emptiness.
Both of the collections, as well as the two truths, and method and wisdom are contained within this syllogism. Dependent arising is the reason, and to fulfill the first criterion we must understand that it applies to the subject — that the person and aggregates are dependent arisings. Dependent arising is a huge, limitless category that includes so many things: the causal dependence of an effect depending on its cause; the dependence of parts and wholes — for example, a car depending on its parts; and dependent designation — all phenomena depending on conceptual designation. Within causal dependence, there are the twelve links of dependent arising that describe how we take rebirth in cyclic existence and how to stop this cycle. In short, dependent arising includes everything on the method side of the practice. It corresponds with the collection of merit, conventional truths, and the vast bodhisattva practices. All of these are limitless. Thus when we contemplate the reason of the syllogism, dependent arising, there is so much to ponder.
In the syllogism, the thesis that we want to understand is that the person and the aggregates do not exist inherently. The predicate (do not exist inherently) has to do with emptiness, selflessness, and nirvana, which are the wisdom side of the path. This corresponds to the collection of wisdom, ultimate truths, the practices of the profound nature of reality. This, too, is a huge and limitless topic.
This syllogism is comprehensive because the reason and the predicate together contain the conventional and ultimate truths, which are the basis; the collections of merit and wisdom (method and wisdom), which are the path; and the truth body and form body of a buddha, which are the results. So when we meditate on the presence of the reason in the subject and on the thesis, we are meditating on the two truths, engaging in the practices of method and wisdom, accumulating the two collections, and creating the causes to attain the two buddha bodies.
We generate two important reliable cognizers by contemplating this syllogism. First, by pondering the method side of the path, we understand dependent arising in a comprehensive way and generate a reliable cognizer of the presence of the reason in the subject. Also, by contemplating dependent arising, we realize the pervasion — that whatever arises dependently is empty of inherent existence. Second, contemplating this enables us to establish the thesis — that the person and aggregates do not exist inherently and are empty. Meditation on the thesis becomes the collection of wisdom. These two reliable cognizers — one understanding that the person and aggregates are dependent arisings, and the other understanding that the person and aggregates are empty of inherent existence — contribute to fulfilling the two collections, which, in turn, give rise to the truth body and form body of a buddha.
Initially we have to understand the two truths and know that they are not incompatible. Without understanding conventional truths properly — the functioning of cause and effect; the relationship of agent, object, and action; and so forth — it is not possible to understand emptiness correctly.
Emptiness and dependent arising are not discordant; to the contrary, they are mutually supportive. Conventionalities exist — they arise and function, yet they are empty of inherent existence. The fact that things lack inherent existence doesn’t interfere with their functioning on the conventional level. Conventional truths appear inherently existent to an ignorant mind, but in fact they are empty of inherent existence. In short, phenomena are dependent arisings because they are empty, and they are empty because they exist by depending and relying on other factors. Nagarjuna expressed this in his seminal verses in Treatise on the Middle Way (24.18–19):
That which is dependent arising is explained to be emptiness.
That, being a dependent arising, is itself the middle way.
There does not exist anything that is not dependently arisen.
Therefore, there does not exist anything that is not em
pty.
Someone who lacks this integrated understanding of the two truths and is unable to posit that they are mutually supportive will have difficulty practicing method and wisdom in a unified manner on the path. They could end up with wrong philosophical ideas — for example, thinking that because the form body appears to sentient beings’ minds, which have the elaboration of true existence, it does not exist in the continuum of a buddha, who has gone beyond elaborations. They will not be able to engage in the two collections properly and thus will not be able to attain the resultant two bodies of a buddha.
Practicing method and wisdom in an integrated manner means that our meditation on emptiness is supported by the motivation of bodhichitta, and our practice of the six perfections of generosity, ethical conduct, fortitude, and so on is supported by wisdom. This wisdom, for instance, contemplates the dependent nature of the giver, recipient, gift, and action of giving and understands that because they are dependent, they lack inherent existence.
ABANDON DISCOURAGEMENT
While both collections of merit and wisdom are immeasurable, there is no reason to feel discouraged or inadequate while practicing them. With bodhichitta it is possible to create unfathomable merit and wisdom. In other words, just as the resultant two buddha bodies are inconceivable, so are their causes, the two collections. When we are motivated by a genuine altruistic intention that works for the welfare of an inconceivable number of sentient beings, it is possible to create those vast causes without stress.
We need not fear suffering while collecting the requisite merit and wisdom. Bodhichitta gives us the courage to do difficult deeds that we were previously unable to do and to endure hardship without suffering. Due to arya bodhisattvas’ great merit, they do not experience physical pain while doing the bodhisattva deeds such as giving away their bodies, and due to their great wisdom they do not experience mental pain or fear.
214.You should not be discouraged about
accumulating the merit for obtaining awakening,
Practical Ethics and Profound Emptiness Page 24