In general, the perfection vehicle speaks about amassing the two collections over three countless great eons in order to attain buddhahood. For this reason, bodhisattvas take many lives in cyclic existence. According to the tantra vehicle, bodhisattvas can accumulate merit and wisdom quickly by special tantric techniques, so they are not obliged to become buddhas in Akanishta29 or in one of the many pure lands where tantric practitioners can become awakened. Those bodhisattvas who attain the stage of actual clear light will definitely attain awakening in their present human life, while those who attain example clear light will attain it in the intermediate stage if not in this life. Alternatively, they may transfer their consciousness to a pure land at the time of death and attain awakening there.
227.Thus, do not be discouraged
by thinking that buddhahood is so distant.
Always be assiduous in this practice
to eliminate faults and obtain good qualities.
For the above reasons, don’t be despondent or lackadaisical, thinking that it is a huge burden to collect so much merit and practice for such a long time to attain full awakening. Rather, practice the Dharma with enthusiasm to eliminate all your defilements and attain all the excellent qualities of awakening. Generating bodhichitta or understanding emptiness even for an instant can amass inconceivably huge quantities of merit and wisdom. Remembering this makes the mind extremely happy and eager to study and practice.
For example, to accumulate great merit when performing a Tara puja, make offerings of water, flowers, incense, food, and so forth in conjunction with the four immeasurable factors. Think that each offering arises from the enormous merit that you and others have created. Make offerings by imagining that what you offer expands in quantity and quality to fill all of space. Offer an inestimable number of magnificent offerings to incalculable assemblies of Tara and her entourage of deities. Request them to inspire you to receive the attainments of long life, merit, and wisdom. Thinking in this way amasses immense merit in a very short time.
To amass immeasurable wisdom, contemplate that the merit field of buddhas and bodhisattvas of the ten directions — the recipients of your offerings — appear but do not inherently exist. Similarly, the offerings themselves and you as the one making the offerings also appear but do not inherently exist. Imagine that these recipients who appear and yet are empty accept the offerings and experience the wisdom of great bliss. This kind of contemplation can be done for any offerings you make, and by doing so, in a very short time you will accumulate inestimable merit and wisdom.
THE ENTITIES OF THE TWO COLLECTIONS
Nagarjuna now reveals the nature or entity of the two collections and discusses the three poisons that are the discordant factors interfering with our ability to create the two collections.
228.Recognizing that they are flawed,
abandon attachment, anger, and confusion.
Realizing that they are good qualities,
devote yourself respectfully to non-attachment, non-anger, and non-confusion.
Advice to Abandon What Is Discordant with Merit and to Collect Merit
Understanding the defects of attachment, anger, and confusion, forsake them completely. These three poisons are called the three roots of nonvirtue, whereas non-attachment, non-anger, and non-confusion are called the three roots of virtue. Non-attachment isn’t simply the absence of attachment, it is the opposite — a balanced mind that isn’t drawn into clinging and craving. Non-anger is love, and non-confusion is wisdom. Knowing the benefits of these three — that they are the source of all good qualities — put effort into practicing them. If you do, you will experience the benefits immediately in this life as well as in future lives, up to awakening.
229.Through attachment you go to the realm of hungry ghosts.
Due to anger, you are pitched into hell.
Out of confusion, you are reborn as an animal.
Through their opposites, you become a human or celestial being.
The Results of the Three Poisons and of Their Opposites
Following the three poisonous attitudes of attachment, anger, and confusion brings great harm to ourselves and others, while practicing the three roots of virtue brings benefit.
There are different ways to describe the ripening result of karma. That there are differences do not make one right and the other wrong — rather, each is posited from a different perspective, and each perspective is reasonable. According to the standard presentation of karma, engaging in the ten nonvirtues in a heavy way brings rebirth in the hell realms, while engaging in them in a middling way brings rebirth as a hungry ghost, and engaging in them in a mild way brings rebirth as an animal.
In another presentation, the ripening rebirth has to do with the affliction that motivated its causal action. From this perspective, attachment brings rebirth as a hungry ghost. For example, someone whose strong miserliness and attachment prevents him from making offerings to the Three Jewels or from being generous to sentient beings takes rebirth as a hungry ghost who cannot get what he needs. Similarly, if a person has deep-seated hatred or rage and, motivated by this strong emotion, physically assaults and severely injures someone, it is likely that he will take rebirth in the hell realms. There, this person will experience much fear and pain.
Actions motivated by confusion bring rebirth in the animal realm, as ignorance is their prominent characteristic. Animals lack intelligence regarding anything beyond staying alive and being comfortable.
However, it is not always the case that we are born as hungry ghosts through attachment and as animals through ignorance. In general, ignorance regarding karma and its results can cause rebirth in any of the three lower realms. Motivated by ignorance of suchness, people can also create polluted virtue that leads to a higher rebirth.
Conversely, by engaging in actions motivated by non-attachment, compassion, and wisdom, we create the causes for higher rebirths where these same mental states are more evident than in the lower realms.
230.Eliminating faults and acquiring good qualities
is the Dharma for one seeking higher rebirth.
The elimination of all grasping by means of wisdom
is the Dharma for one seeking the highest good.
The Actual Two Collections
Eliminating faults means to abandon the three roots of nonvirtue — attachment, anger, and confusion. Acquiring good qualities means to practice the three virtues: non-attachment, non-anger, and non-confusion. Together, they are the principal cause for attaining higher rebirths. If they are done in conjunction with bodhichitta, they become the collection of merit. When practices to create merit are conjoined with the wisdom realizing emptiness, they also become the collection of wisdom.
In addition to practicing wisdom when acting to benefit sentient beings, it is essential to cultivate wisdom in meditation in order to eliminate all grasping, cease cyclic existence, and bring about the highest good. To bring liberation, this wisdom must be supported by the determination to be free from cyclic existence. To attain full awakening, it must be conjoined with bodhichitta. Bodhichitta gives the practitioner the internal strength to apply wisdom to purify all defilements from the mind and to create the immeasurable merit necessary to attain a buddha’s form body.
_______________
28.Dunne and McClintock, Precious Garland, 117: “. . . this verse does not appear in the Chinese version, and Gyaltsab Je does not comment on it. Nevertheless, it appears in all the versions in the canon.”
29.According to the perfection vehicle, this Akanishta is a pure abode where bodhisattvas first attain full awakening.
8. Advice for Gathering Merit and Gaining Wisdom
BRANCHES OF THE COLLECTION OF MERIT
Having described the general characteristics of the collections of merit and wisdom, Nagarjuna now describes branches of the collection of merit — specific deeds that bring enormous goodness in the world and create great merit that propels us along the path. This is followed by an ex
planation of the branches of the collection of wisdom — practices to do to increase our knowledge, understanding, and realization of the Dharma. This is presented in two cycles, first a brief explanation of the branches of the collection of merit and wisdom, followed by an extensive explanation of these two.
While some of these activities are applicable chiefly to someone with the political power and wealth of a monarch, we can engage in most of them according to our ability. The main point is to create merit, sustain the Dharma, and benefit sentient beings by making offerings to the Three Jewels and advancing projects that benefit the public to whatever extent we can.
231.In a respectful manner, make buddha images,
stupas, and vast monasteries,
providing extensive and excellent residences,
abundant riches, and so on.
232.From all kinds of precious substances,
please make well drawn,
beautifully proportioned images
of buddhas seated on lotus flowers.
Establish New Holy Objects
Nagarjuna exhorts his listeners to build large monasteries where the Sangha can reside and assemble. Use the most excellent building materials and construct them with a mind of respect. Inside the temples, place comfortable mats for the Sangha to sit on and provide them with whatever they need for their Dharma studies and practice. Make arrangements for abundant food and drink to be offered to the Sangha. By supporting them, the monastics will be able to properly fulfill their responsibility to learn, memorize, practice, and teach the Buddhadharma so that it will be purely maintained and accurately transmitted to future generations.
Make representations of the Buddha’s body, speech, and mind — statues, paintings, texts, and stupas — from the best materials and precious substances and install them in the temples. Ensure that they are made by skilled artisans according to required measurements. Make them beautiful in appearance, so that whoever sees them will be inspired and filled with faith. Offer lotus seats for the statues, and decorate the stupas with jewel ornaments.
233.With every possible effort, take care of the holy Dharma
and the community of monks and nuns.
Adorn the stupas with gold
and with lattices made from gems.
Offer to Already Established Holy Objects
Maintain and restore temples and monasteries that have already been constructed and see to it that they are not damaged. Respect and care for Dharma texts — the holy Dharma — so that they do not get lost, dirty, or damaged. Since texts were written on palm leaves during Nagarjuna’s time, this was especially important because books were extremely fragile. Protect the Sangha from harm caused by the four elements — earthquakes, floods, fire, and wind storms — as well as harm from animals and humans. Cherish them for the benefit of present and future generations.
234.Honor the reliquaries with offerings
of gold and silver flowers,
diamonds, coral, and pearls,
sapphires, lapis lazuli, and emeralds.
235.To honor those who teach the holy Dharma,
with goods and with services,
do what brings them joy
and respectfully devote yourself to the six dharmas.
236.Serve your gurus and listen respectfully;
aid them and attend to them.
Always respectfully honor
[other] bodhisattvas as well.
Make Offerings to Holy Objects and Holy Beings
A reliquary could refer to either the bones or ashes of a holy being. It may also be the entire body of a holy being, as in the case of Yongzin Ling Rinpoche, whose body was preserved after his death. Make offerings to reliquaries, adorning the topmost parts of stupas with gold and jewels. Crown them with the sun and moon, and hang strands of precious jewels on them, similar to those depicted in drawings of mandalas. Offer flowers made of gold and silver, coral, pearls, sapphires, lapis lazuli, rubies, emeralds, and other jewels.
To your spiritual mentors, offer requisites such as food, beverages, clothing, shelter, and medicine. Offer your service to them by preparing their seats and blankets, or arranging for parasols, victory banners, ceremonial umbrellas, and canopies. Go to them and inquire if they have all they need, and respectfully ask about their health. In brief, offer whatever goods and services please them, and help them accomplish whatever virtuous projects they undertake to benefit sentient beings.
Listen to Dharma teachings attentively, with respect and veneration. Serve your Dharma teachers according to their needs. In addition, respectfully make offerings to those who are not your Dharma teachers but are still special beings, such as bodhisattvas.
237.You should not pay such respect, honor,
or homage to others who are non-Buddhists.
Through that [misplaced respect],
the unknowing become attached to faulty [teachers].
Forgo Offering to the Unworthy
Do not pay respect, honor, or make offerings to the unworthy, those who teach or practice a wrong path. If the king were to show them great respect and make offerings to them, the citizens would think that they should follow suit. Since they lack discriminating wisdom, they could become enamored with these “teachers” and receive teachings from them. In that way, they would be led on a wrong path, which harms them in this life and for many lives to come.
Of course, the king should still be polite to these people, but honoring them simply because they wear special dress or have special titles is not wise.
BRANCHES OF THE COLLECTION OF WISDOM
Nagarjuna now instructs us on specific activities to fulfill the collection of wisdom.
238.Offer manuscripts and volumes
of the word of the King of Sages
and the treatises that come from it,
along with their prerequisites, pens and ink.
239.For the sake of increasing wisdom,
provide for the livelihood of the schoolmasters
in all the educational institutions of the land
and formally grant estates to them.
Offer manuscripts and volumes of the Buddha’s teachings and the reliable treatises that are derived from them. The sutras contain the Buddha’s teachings that benefit beings by instructing the way to attain higher rebirth and highest good, and the treatises and commentaries help us unravel their meaning. Also provide the paper, ink, and pens required to copy these texts and to compose new ones.
Education is the source of great good, as educated citizens will contribute to the flourishing of society. If people are able to read and study the Buddha’s words they will also help disseminate the Dharma, which will bring peace to individuals and to society as a whole. This being the case, find excellent teachers for all important subjects — mathematics, reading, writing, the arts and sciences. Provide them with housing, as well as whatever else they may need to teach without difficulty.
THE COLLECTION OF MERIT EXPANDED
What follows are more specific instructions to the king on how to enhance the collection of merit. First Nagarjuna teaches the king fourteen ways to use his wealth for the collective good. Just imagining a land where the wealthy and powerful care for others in the way Nagarjuna instructs brings joy to our hearts. While we may not have the great wealth or power of a king, we can adapt these instructions to our personal circumstances and employ them to create enormous merit. May we contribute what we can to this.
240.With [the proceeds from] your fields
establish wages for doctors and barbers
for the sake of the elderly, the young, and the ill
so as to relieve the suffering of sentient beings.
241.You of good wisdom,
establish rest houses and build parks and causeways,
pools, pavilions, and cisterns;
provide for bedding, grasses, and wood.
(1) Dispel the suffering of the elderly, children, the sick, and sentient beings tormented by great misery by providing
people with doctors, dentists, health care professionals, and barbers who are always available. Give special assistance to those who need it.
(2) In towns and villages and at crossroads, construct hostels and guesthouses for travelers. This will protect travelers and enable them to have what they need — without such amenities life could be difficult for them. In the larger towns provide places where people can relax, such as gardens and parks where they can walk and converse. Flower gardens especially gladden the mind.
Make embankments around lakes and walkways along the shores that blend with the environment and offer people the pleasure of uplifting walks. Build bridges over bodies of water that require them. Also install benches, pavilions, and the like where people can rest and enjoy themselves.
Leave water cisterns and other water vessels along the roadsides for travelers. Nearby those containers, provide beds and seats, food, and fodder for donkeys and horses. Leave firewood there too should travelers need to cook. Nagarjuna’s reference here to you of good wisdom indicates the king, who should supply each of those rest areas with what an intelligent person considers useful for those who travel long distances.
242.Build pavilions in all towns,
at temples and in all cities.
Along any thoroughfare
where water is scarce, provide cisterns.
243.Out of your compassion, always care for the ill,
the homeless, those afflicted by suffering,
the downtrodden and unfortunate.
Respectfully apply yourself to aiding them.
(3) In villages and towns and nearby temples, make areas for people to relax and enjoy themselves.
(4) Along the roads where water is scarce, leave containers filled with water here and there so people can quench their thirst and care for their animals.
(5) With compassion, care for those who are sick so that they might quickly recover. Be a protector for the homeless who have no one to turn to and no place where they feel safe. Reach out to those stricken with suffering so that they may be free of their suffering. Pay special attention to the lower castes and those with low social standing who have particular problems. Attend to the problems of the poor, and tend to the suffering of all these people with compassion, respect, and joy. Do not be condescending when helping others, but help them as you would help yourself.
Practical Ethics and Profound Emptiness Page 26